16
T here are two sides to a coin. If the entire country was unified in celebrating the medal clinching performances by Sakshi Malik and PV Sindhu, we should stand unit- ed in supporting Indian marathon runner OP Jaisha, who was given a hard deal by Indian officials at the Rio Olympics and ridiculed by Sports Minister Vijay Goel back home for flagging up their apathy and callous attitude. Who would have thought that while the whole nation was celebrating the achievements of its daughters Sakshi Malik and PV Sindhu and lauding the hard work and stellar perfor- mance of Dipa Karmakar, another of India's daughters would be denied even basics by Indian officials. Jaisha, India's national record holder was running a tough race when she collapsed at the finish line. The 42.195 km run couldn't have been pos- sible to win without water and energy drinks. But that's exact- ly what Jaisha missed. Thanks to the apathy of the Indian offi- cials who failed to provide her water and energy drinks at refreshment points, the runner finished her race in 2 hours, 47.19 seconds. "I could have died there", said a distraught Jaisha as she recalled the women's marathon event at Rio Olympics during which she claimed she was not provided any water and ener- gy drinks by the officials despite designated stations being given for India. "It was very hot there. The competition was at 9 am, I ran in scorching heat. There was no water for us, neither recovery drinks nor food. Only once in 8 kms did we get water (from the Rio organisers) which did not help at all. All the countries had their stalls at every 2 kms but our country's stall was empty," said the runner. Jaisha had collapsed at the finish line after completing the marathon and had to be rushed to a hospital where her coach Nikolai Snesarev got into an altercation with one of the doctors and ended up being detained for half a day by the local police. The runner claimed that she got no response from offi- cials when she asked why water was not provided to her at the stalls. "I asked officials why there was no water for us but I got no response. I don't know what they were doing. There were lot of people in the Indian athlet- ics contingent, anybody could have done this job," Jaisha told 'Times Now'. When asked about the inci- dent, Sports Minister Vijay Goel said it was the Athletics Federation of India's (AFI) responsibility. "Every time any small incident happens, we take note. It was the AFI's job, it is the federation which should have taken care of this," he said. AFI, on its part, said that Indian officials in Rio were not told by the athletes or their coaches about any specific requirement for any drinks. "It is the responsibility of the organisers to provide water and energy drinks. For that there are water and energy stations throughout the course. We could have provided water and energy drinks to our ath- letes but neither they nor did their coaches inform us that they would need water and energy drinks separately," AFI Secretary CK Valson, who was also in Rio during the compe- titions said. Meanwhile, Indian athlete Sudha Singh, who returned from Rio Olympics with fever and body ache last week, has been undergoing treatment at a private hospital here for a sus- pected Zika virus. I ndicating the Government's readiness to initiate a dia- logue process to defuse the volatile situation in Kashmir Valley, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday expressed "deep concern and pain" over violence and deaths in Jammu & Kashmir. He also urged all political parties to work together to find a "per- manent and lasting" solution to problems in Jammu & Kashmir. In a statement after meeting delegation of opposition parties, the PM emphasised need for dialogue for permanent and lasting solution within the frame work of Constitution. An official statement issued after his 75-minute-long meet- ing with a joint Opposition del- egation led by former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the Prime Minister appreciated the "constructive suggestions" made by them during the talks and reiterated his Government's commitment to the welfare of people. "The Prime Minister expressed deep concern and pain at the prevailing situation in the State. He said that those who lost their lives during recent disturbances are part of us, our nation; whether the lives lost are of our youth, security personnel or police, it distresses us. He conveyed that his Government and the nation stand with the State of Jammu & Kashmir and sug- gested that all political parties should reach out to the people and convey the same. He expressed his commitment to the development of the State and its people, and appealed for restoration of normalcy," said the statement from the PMO. The Prime Minister emphasised that there has to be dialogue and “we need to find a permanent and lasting solu- tion to the problem within the framework of the Constitution.” He underlined the need for all political parties to work togeth- er to find a solution to the prob- lems in the State of Jammu & Kashmir, said the statement. The 20-member delega- tion comprising Omar and seven of his National Conference MLAs, Congress legislators led by PCC chief GA Mir, and CPI(M) MLA MY Tarigami called on the Prime Minister on Monday morning and made an appeal for a polit- ical approach for resolving the crisis in the Valley and to ensure that the "mistakes" of the past are not repeated. Immediately after the release of PM's statement , Omar tweeted, "we welcome the statement of the Hon PM @narendramodi ji and look forward to working together to find a lasting solution to prob- lems of J&K." Omar told reporters after the meeting that they request- ed the Prime Minister for find- ing a political solution to the Kashmir issue so that a lasting peace is ensured in the State as well as in the country. T he flood situation in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh continued to remain grim on Monday with the major rivers in the regions flowing above danger mark. As per official figures, at least 17 people have died in Madhya Pradesh, 14 in Bihar and nine in Uttar Pradesh because of drowning, electrocution or injuries from collapsed houses. Normal life is also out of gear in Rajasthan. More than 26,400 people have so far been rescued by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) from the flood- ravaged areas in Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and other States. The NDRF has fanned out 56 rescue and relief teams to help people hit by heavy rains in various States and tasked two Deputy Inspector General-rank officers in Bihar and UP with moni- toring the situation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday promised Centre's total support to five flood-hit States in rescue and relief operations. He said Home Minister Rajnath Singh is close- ly monitoring the situation and has spoken to the Chief Ministers of UP, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh to take stock of the situation. "Centre assures total support in rescue & relief operations. I hope the situation in the affected areas normalis- es at the earliest," the Prime Minister said in a tweet. Incessant rain since the past few days have caused the Ganga River and its tributaries to rise above the danger level during the past 48 hours in about 20 districts of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. In Bihar, Patna is said to be experiencing the worst floods since 1994. The Ganga was flowing above the danger mark at six places in various parts of four districts. Continued on Page 4 I n a worst reminder to the 1990s, the anti-talk faction of the Ulfa has abducted the son of a BJP leader in Assam and has demanded 1 crore for his release. The incident came to the focus on Monday when the Ulfa faction emailed a ISIS- styled video footage to the media where one Kuldip Moran, son of a BJP leader in Assam's Tinsukia district, was shown held captive. Moran appealed to his parents, BJP MLA from Sadiya constituen- cy Bolin Chetia and Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal to secure his release. “I am abducted by the Ulfa and I request my father, Bolin Chetia and Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal to secure my release. They (the militants) have been holding me hostage and my health condition have deteriorated. I may die some day in cross firing,” said the abducted Moran, who was seen surrounded by five armed men with their faces covered in the video. Continued on Page 4 A medium intensity earth- quake measuring 3.5 on richter scale hit Haryana on Monday, with tremors being felt in the national Capital and neighbouring areas too. According to the National Centre for Seismology, a unit of Ministry of Earth Science, the epicenter of the quake was i n Mahendragarh in Haryana. The quake occurred at 2:50pm at a depth of 10 kms. Mahendragarh is nearly 120 kms from the national Capital. However, there were no reports of casualties or damage to property. P rime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the State- level function to be held on November 1, this year to mark the golden jubilee year of the inception of Haryana. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal on Monday invit- ed Prime Minister to attend the function during a meeting in New Delhi. Interacting with mediaper- sons after meeting the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister said that Narendra Modi will attend the State-level function to be held on November 1 as he has accept- ed Haryana’s invitation. Haryana Government has chalked out grand plans to cel- ebrate State’s golden jubilee year. Haryana would enter its golden jubilee year on November 1. At the State-level function, the Government would announce 50 big projects as a part of golden jubilee year cele- brations of Haryana. 28 sites have been identified for installing ‘Swaran Jayanti’ (golden jubilee) gates at entry points into the state during the celebrations. The main gate would be installed on the Delhi-Gurgaon road. The Chief Minister said the Prime Minister has congratulat- ed the people of Haryana for holding the International Gita Jayanti Mahotsav in Kurukshetra from December 6 to 10. Besides, various other issues related to Haryana were also dis- cussed at the meeting with the Prime Minister, including HMT Pinjore, developing Hisar airport as international or Integrated Aviation Hub and setting up of Mass Rapid Transit System from Gurgaon to Bawal at a cost of 20,000 core under the Delhi- Mumbai Industrial Corridor, said he. Manohar Lal has also demanded that an MRO be established in the state with assistance from the Defence Ministry for repair and mainte- nance of planes and helicopters of the armed forces, manufac- tured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). This would be the second such MRO in the country; the first having been established at Bengaluru in Karnataka. During the meeting, the Chief Minister informed the Prime Minister about various development programmes of the state, including WIN City to be developed in Kharkhoda by Wanda Group of China, kerosene-free Haryana by 2017, savings through welfare policies with the use of IT, and teachers transfer policy. The Chief Minister said that HMT in Pinjore is a complicat- ed case. The Prime Minister sympathetically heard the issues concerning the arrears payable to the employees, amendment in the VRS proposal, and land and assured to get these resolved through the ministry concerned, said he.

event at Rio Olympics during ... The Ganga was flowing above the danger mark ... Jayanti Mahotsav in Kurukshetra from December 6 to 10

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Page 1: event at Rio Olympics during ... The Ganga was flowing above the danger mark ... Jayanti Mahotsav in Kurukshetra from December 6 to 10

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There are two sides to acoin. If the entire country

was unified in celebrating themedal clinching performancesby Sakshi Malik and PVSindhu, we should stand unit-ed in supporting Indianmarathon runner OP Jaisha,who was given a hard deal byIndian officials at the RioOlympics and ridiculed bySports Minister Vijay Goelback home for flagging uptheir apathy and callous attitude.

Who would have thought

that while the whole nation wascelebrating the achievements ofits daughters Sakshi Malik andPV Sindhu and lauding thehard work and stellar perfor-mance of Dipa Karmakar,another of India's daughterswould be denied even basics byIndian officials.

Jaisha, India's nationalrecord holder was running atough race when she collapsedat the finish line. The 42.195km run couldn't have been pos-sible to win without water andenergy drinks. But that's exact-ly what Jaisha missed. Thanksto the apathy of the Indian offi-cials who failed to provide her

water and energy drinks atrefreshment points, the runnerfinished her race in 2 hours,47.19 seconds.

"I could have died there",said a distraught Jaisha as sherecalled the women's marathonevent at Rio Olympics duringwhich she claimed she was notprovided any water and ener-gy drinks by the officialsdespite designated stationsbeing given for India.

"It was very hot there. Thecompetition was at 9 am, I ranin scorching heat. There was nowater for us, neither recoverydrinks nor food. Only once in8 kms did we get water (fromthe Rio organisers) which didnot help at all. All the countrieshad their stalls at every 2 kmsbut our country's stall wasempty," said the runner.

Jaisha had collapsed at thefinish line after completingthe marathon and had to berushed to a hospital where her

coach Nikolai Snesarev gotinto an altercation with one ofthe doctors and ended up beingdetained for half a day by thelocal police.

The runner claimed thatshe got no response from offi-cials when she asked why waterwas not provided to her at thestalls.

"I asked officials why therewas no water for us but I got noresponse. I don't know whatthey were doing. There were lotof people in the Indian athlet-ics contingent, anybody couldhave done this job," Jaisha told'Times Now'.

When asked about the inci-dent, Sports Minister VijayGoel said it was the AthleticsFederation of India's (AFI)responsibility. "Every time anysmall incident happens, wetake note. It was the AFI's job,it is the federation whichshould have taken care of this,"he said.

AFI, on its part, said thatIndian officials in Rio were nottold by the athletes or theircoaches about any specificrequirement for any drinks.

"It is the responsibility ofthe organisers to provide waterand energy drinks. For that

there are water and energystations throughout the course.We could have provided waterand energy drinks to our ath-letes but neither they nor didtheir coaches inform us thatthey would need water andenergy drinks separately," AFISecretary CK Valson, who wasalso in Rio during the compe-titions said.

Meanwhile, Indian athleteSudha Singh, who returnedfrom Rio Olympics with feverand body ache last week, hasbeen undergoing treatment ata private hospital here for a sus-pected Zika virus.

��!����!�-����� �'���.2<��2=>?

Indicating the Government'sreadiness to initiate a dia-

logue process to defuse thevolatile situation in KashmirValley, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Mondayexpressed "deep concern andpain" over violence and deathsin Jammu & Kashmir. He alsourged all political parties towork together to find a "per-manent and lasting" solution toproblems in Jammu & Kashmir.In a statement after meetingdelegation of opposition parties,the PM emphasised need fordialogue for permanent andlasting solution within theframe work of Constitution.

An official statement issuedafter his 75-minute-long meet-ing with a joint Opposition del-egation led by former Chief

Minister Omar Abdullah saidthe Prime Minister appreciatedthe "constructive suggestions"made by them during the talksand reiterated his Government'scommitment to the welfare ofpeople.

"The Prime Ministerexpressed deep concern andpain at the prevailing situationin the State. He said that thosewho lost their lives duringrecent disturbances are part ofus, our nation; whether thelives lost are of our youth,security personnel or police, itdistresses us. He conveyedthat his Government and thenation stand with the State ofJammu & Kashmir and sug-gested that all political partiesshould reach out to the peopleand convey the same. Heexpressed his commitment tothe development of the Stateand its people, and appealed

for restoration of normalcy,"said the statement from thePMO.

The Prime Ministeremphasised that there has to bedialogue and “we need to finda permanent and lasting solu-tion to the problem within theframework of the Constitution.”He underlined the need for allpolitical parties to work togeth-er to find a solution to the prob-lems in the State of Jammu &Kashmir, said the statement.

The 20-member delega-tion comprising Omar andseven of his NationalConference MLAs, Congresslegislators led by PCC chief GAMir, and CPI(M) MLA MYTarigami called on the PrimeMinister on Monday morningand made an appeal for a polit-ical approach for resolving thecrisis in the Valley and toensure that the "mistakes" of thepast are not repeated.

Immediately after therelease of PM's statement ,Omar tweeted, "we welcome thestatement of the Hon PM@narendramodi ji and lookforward to working together tofind a lasting solution to prob-lems of J&K."

Omar told reporters afterthe meeting that they request-ed the Prime Minister for find-ing a political solution to theKashmir issue so that a lastingpeace is ensured in the State aswell as in the country.

!��� .2<��2=>?

The flood situation inMadhya Pradesh, Bihar and

Uttar Pradesh continued toremain grim on Monday withthe major rivers in the regionsflowing above danger mark. Asper official figures, at least 17people have died in MadhyaPradesh, 14 in Bihar and ninein Uttar Pradesh because ofdrowning, electrocution orinjuries from collapsed houses.Normal life is also out of gearin Rajasthan.

More than 26,400 peoplehave so far been rescued by the

National Disaster ResponseForce (NDRF) from the flood-ravaged areas in Bihar,Rajasthan, Madhya Pradeshand other States. The NDRFhas fanned out 56 rescue andrelief teams to help people hitby heavy rains in various States

and tasked two DeputyInspector General-rank officersin Bihar and UP with moni-toring the situation.

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Monday promisedCentre's total support to fiveflood-hit States in rescue and

relief operations. He said HomeMinister Rajnath Singh is close-ly monitoring the situationand has spoken to the ChiefMinisters of UP, Bihar,Uttarakhand, Rajasthan andMadhya Pradesh to take stockof the situation. "Centre assurestotal support in rescue & reliefoperations. I hope the situationin the affected areas normalis-es at the earliest," the PrimeMinister said in a tweet.

Incessant rain since thepast few days have caused theGanga River and its tributariesto rise above the danger levelduring the past 48 hours inabout 20 districts of MadhyaPradesh, Bihar and UttarPradesh.

In Bihar, Patna is said to beexperiencing the worst floodssince 1994. The Ganga wasflowing above the danger markat six places in various parts offour districts.

Continued on Page 4

�!���������� (!<�>�,?

In a worst reminder to the1990s, the anti-talk faction of

the Ulfa has abducted the sonof a BJP leader in Assam andhas demanded �1 crore for hisrelease.

The incident came to thefocus on Monday when theUlfa faction emailed a ISIS-styled video footage to themedia where one KuldipMoran, son of a BJP leader inAssam's Tinsukia district, wasshown held captive. Moranappealed to his parents, BJPMLA from Sadiya constituen-

cy Bolin Chetia and AssamChief Minister SarbanandaSonowal to secure his release.

“I am abducted by the Ulfaand I request my father, BolinChetia and Chief MinisterSarbananda Sonowal to securemy release. They (the militants)have been holding me hostageand my health condition havedeteriorated. I may die someday in cross firing,” said theabducted Moran, who was seen surrounded by five armedmen with their faces covered inthe video.

Continued on Page 4

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Amedium intensity earth-quake measuring 3.5 on

richter scale hit Haryana onMonday, with tremors beingfelt in the national Capital andneighbouring areas too.

According to the NationalCentre forSeismology, aunit ofMinistry ofEarth Science,the epicenter ofthe quake wasi n

Mahendragarh in Haryana.The quake occurred at

2:50pm at a depth of 10 kms.Mahendragarh is nearly 120kms from the national Capital.

However, there were noreports of casualties or damageto property.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi will attend the State-

level function to be held onNovember 1, this year to markthe golden jubilee year of theinception of Haryana.

Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal on Monday invit-ed Prime Minister to attend thefunction during a meeting inNew Delhi.

Interacting with mediaper-sons after meeting the PrimeMinister, the Chief Minister saidthat Narendra Modi will attendthe State-level function to be heldon November 1 as he has accept-ed Haryana’s invitation.

Haryana Government haschalked out grand plans to cel-ebrate State’s golden jubilee year.Haryana would enter its goldenjubilee year on November 1.

At the State-level function,the Government wouldannounce 50 big projects as apart of golden jubilee year cele-brations of Haryana. 28 sites havebeen identified for installing‘Swaran Jayanti’ (golden jubilee)gates at entry points into the stateduring the celebrations.

The main gate would beinstalled on the Delhi-Gurgaonroad. The Chief Minister said thePrime Minister has congratulat-

ed the people of Haryana forholding the International GitaJayanti Mahotsav in Kurukshetrafrom December 6 to 10.

Besides, various other issuesrelated to Haryana were also dis-cussed at the meeting with thePrime Minister, including HMTPinjore, developing Hisar airportas international or IntegratedAviation Hub and setting up ofMass Rapid Transit System fromGurgaon to Bawal at a cost of�20,000 core under the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor,said he.

Manohar Lal has alsodemanded that an MRO beestablished in the state withassistance from the DefenceMinistry for repair and mainte-nance of planes and helicoptersof the armed forces, manufac-tured by Hindustan AeronauticsLimited (HAL). This would be

the second such MRO in thecountry; the first having beenestablished at Bengaluru inKarnataka.

During the meeting, theChief Minister informed thePrime Minister about variousdevelopment programmes ofthe state, including WIN City tobe developed in Kharkhoda byWanda Group of China,kerosene-free Haryana by 2017,savings through welfare policieswith the use of IT, and teacherstransfer policy.

The Chief Minister said thatHMT in Pinjore is a complicat-ed case. The Prime Ministersympathetically heard the issuesconcerning the arrears payable tothe employees, amendment inthe VRS proposal, and land andassured to get these resolvedthrough the ministry concerned, said he.

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Page 2: event at Rio Olympics during ... The Ganga was flowing above the danger mark ... Jayanti Mahotsav in Kurukshetra from December 6 to 10

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Himachal Chief MinisterVirbhadra Singh on

Monday launched free Wi-Fifacility for Palampur town andwith this, the entire Palampurtown would be covered underthe facility.

As many as 51 sites of Wi-Fi have been set up at differentplaces in the town making it thefirst such town in the State tobe fully covered with this facil-ity provided by Reliance-Jio.

Virbhadra Singh said thatthe State Government wouldprovide Wi-Fi facility in all theGovernment colleges of thestate in near future. He said thatthe State Government wouldsoon implement the State-levelPolicy (SLP) for Wi-Fi, whichwould enable all telecom oper-ators to install Wi-Fi equip-ment in urban areas of the Stateto make Himachal Pradesh, thefirst State to come up with such

a policy.The Chief Minister said

that Digitalization and devel-opment go hand in hand andthe State Government wascommitted to provide highspeed internet access to all itscitizens.

He said that launching ofthis service by Reliance Jio inPalampur and other fewGovernment colleges was awelcome step.

Information Technologyand IPH Minister Vidya Stokesappreciated the efforts and saidthat it would go a long way instrengthening IT services in theState.

IT Advisor to ChiefMinister Gokul Butail said21 Government colleges in theState, Mall Road, Manali,Kotwali Bazar Dharamshalaand 17 Bus Stands in theState were connected withWi-Fi facility provided by thecompany.

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Following the demand of people of Haryana, the A2milk of indigenous cows has been made available

online.The State Government had in July launched pas-

teurised A2 milk of indigenous cow for sale to pub-lic and had become the first State in the country toprovide pure milk of desi cow to the consumers.

The A2 milk is now provided online by Vita plantat a rate of �60 per litre.

Chairman, Haryana Dairy Development Co-oper-ative Federation Limited, GL Sharma while interact-ing with media persons in Sirsa on Monday said thatthe Federation would soon have capacity of 5,000 litresfor which concerted efforts are being made. A plantfor A2 milk of desi cow has been set up atKurukshetra where 5,000liters of milk would beprocessed soon.

Earlier, there was capac-ity of only 2,000 litres of cowmilk to be made available, butnow it has been increased to3,000 litres, said he.

Sharma said that milk ofindigenous cows has A2ingredient in it which is veryuseful for people sufferingfrom various diseases.

Vita is providing A2 milk in North India. Vita pro-vides this milk in India after producing it with highquality. The A2 milk being obtained from Haryanvi,Sahiwal and Rathi breeds of indigenous cows, is test-ed by National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal andNational Dairy Development Board. At present, milkwas being obtained from 300-350 cows only and soonthis capacity would be increased, he said.

Recently, a memorandum was signed betweenIndian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) and HaryanaDairy Development Cooperative Federation Limited.As per the MoU, the Vita milk booths would be setup at about 1500 petrol pumps of IOCL for the saleof milk and milk products.

Shimla: The Himachal PradeshAssembly on Monday unani-mously ratified the ConstitutionAmendment Bill on Goods andServices Tax (GST) that waspassed by Parliament this month.

The Bill was introduced byChief Minister Virbhadra Singhon the first day of five-dayMonsoon Session.

It was passed by theAssembly in less than five min-utes without discussion andwith thumping of benches, bothby the treasury and theOpposition BJP.

The ruling Congress hadalready announced its supportfor the legislation.

Just before theConstitutional Amendment Billwas introduced, the BJP stageda walkout from the Assemblyover the purported remarks ofthe Chief Minister against them.

They were demandingbringing of a privilege motionagainst the remarks thatappeared in a section of themedia.

As Virbhadra Singh, whoholds the finance portfolio, intro-duced the GST Bill for ratifica-

tion, the BJP members returnedto the house.

Himachal Pradesh hasbecome the fourth after Assam,Bihar and Jharkhand to ratifythe Bill. Virbhadra Singh toldreporters that the GST Bill wasearlier brought by theCongress-led United

Progressive Alliance (UPA)Government at the centre.

"The present BJP Govern-ment brought the same GST Billwhich was earlier brought by ourGovernment," he said.

He said the GST Bill, the sin-gle biggest tax reform the nationhas seen, would facilitate coun-

trywide trade and commerce.In the 68-member assembly,

the Congress has a majoritywith 36 members. The BJP has28 legislators.

There are four independentlegislators, who are now associ-ate members of the Congress.

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To ensure transparency andspeedy disbursal of finan-

cial assistance being given tothe beneficiaries belonging toScheduled Castes andBackward Classes in Haryana,the State Government hasmade five schemes online whilethe process is on to also makethe remaining schemes online.

Besides, the StateGovernment would soon con-

stitute Haryana VimuktGhumantu Jati Vikas Board.

Five schemes made onlineincluded Mukhya Mantri VivahShagun Yojana, Dr BRAmbedkar Awas Yojana, DrAmbedkar Medhavi ChhatraYojana, Post-matricScholarship Scheme for stu-dents belonging to ScheduledCastes and Post-matricScholarship Scheme for stu-dents belonging to BackwardClasses, said a spokesman ofWelfare of Scheduled Castesand Backward ClassesDepartment.

A high-level committeeunder the chairmanship ofWelfare of Scheduled Castesand Backward Classes Ministerhas been constituted for theoverall development of theScheduled Castes and redressalof their complaints.

He said that Gadi LoharCaste has been included in thelist of Tapriwas so that the peo-ple of these castes could alsotake the benefit of various wel-fare schemes. In addition,Haryana Backward ClassesCommission has been consti-tuted by implementingHaryana Backward ClassesCommission Act 2016, headded.

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To honour and encourage girlchild and spread the mes-

sage of “Beti Bachao-BetiPadhao”, Haryana Governmenthas decided to celebrate thebirthday of girls born inSeptember.

The birthdays of girls bornin September and studying inGovernment schools in theState, would be celebrated intheir schools this time, saidHaryana Education MinisterRam Bilas Sharma.

On September 6, the birth-days of girl students born in

September would be celebratedin their schools in the presenceof their parents under the ‘BetiKa Janamdin, Vidyalaya MeinAbhinandan’ programme.

The programme would beheld under the activitiesplanned for ‘mid-day mealweek’ to be observed in allGovernment schools ofHaryana from September 5 to10.

Earlier, as a part ofIndependence day celebrations,Haryana Government had invit-ed the most educated girl ineach village to hoist the NationalFlag on August 15.

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After a Gurdaspur courtrejected the anticipatory bail

of Punjab Police SP SalwinderSingh, Punjab and HaryanaHigh Court on Monday put astay on the arrest, while direct-ing him to join the investigation.

Counsel for Salwinder,Maninder Singh Bajwa submit-ted that the petitioner has beenfalsely implicated in this case onthe basis of a false complaint. Hesaid the complainant had earli-er also lodged complaint in thisregard and the officer was givena clean chit after the enquiry.

He contended that now aftera lapse of two years, the com-plainant again raised the same

complaint and the probe foundthe officer guilty. The Bench ofJustice MMS Bedi, having heardthe submissions of the petition-er, issued notice of motion to thestate for September 23 to filereply and ordered the abscond-ing officer to join investigationat the earliest. GurdaspurAdditional District and SessionsJudge, Kamaljit Lamba, haddenied anticipatory bail toSalwinder Singh on August 11.

Salwinder Singh is anaccused in a case of rape and cor-ruption that was registeredagainst him on August 3 on thecomplaint of a Gurdaspur resi-dent, who had alleged thatSalwinder Singh exploited hiswife physically for dropping

charges of rape against the com-plainant. The complainant hadalso accused Salwinder Singh ofasking Rs 50 thousand as bribefrom him.

The complainant had takenhis complaint to Punjab ChiefMinister during the SangatDarshan and the probe wasconducted thereafter.

Salwinder Singh, posted asAssistant Commandant with75th battalion of Punjab ArmedPolice at Jalandhar, is the samepolice officer, who was kid-napped by Pakistani terrorists,before they attacked thePathankot Air Force Base earlythis year. He was quizzed byNational Investigation Agencyafter the Pathankot attack too.

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Medical services wereaffected on Monday after

resident doctors of the Post-Graduate Institute of MedicalEducation and Research(PGIMER) went on strikedemanding better facilities andsecurity on the campus.

The strike by the PGIMERjunior doctors was sparked byan incident on Sunday in whichan angry relative slapped adoctor in the Emergency wardfor delay in attending to his

mother hours after she wasadmitted.

Medical services in theout-patient department (OPD)were severely affected on thefirst day of the week due to thestrike. Patients in the OPD hadto suffer.

The striking doctors haveblamed the PGIMER higherauthorities for inaction andnot putting a system or facili-ties in place to ease the burdenoff the junior doctors who attimes face unpleasant situationswith patients and their atten-

dants during heavy rush."We are doing our duty

with utmost sincerity. However,the rush is too much at almostall times. Though there areother government hospitals inthe city, most patients preferPGI even when it is essential.This puts extra burden on thedoctors, especially in the emer-gency," one of the striking doc-tors said.

Patients and their atten-dants said that they were beingmade to suffer with the author-ities and doctors not resolving

their issues to end the strike."Most patients come here

from nearby states and have tofend for themselves. This strikemeans that the patients andtheir attendants have to suffermore," Gurpal Singh, residentof Sangrur town in Punjabwho brought his mother fortreatment on Monday, said.

A premier health instituteof the region, the PGIMERcaters to patients from Punjab,Haryana, Himachal Pradesh,Jammu and Kashmir,Uttrakhand and Chandigarh.

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Page 3: event at Rio Olympics during ... The Ganga was flowing above the danger mark ... Jayanti Mahotsav in Kurukshetra from December 6 to 10

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To provide basic informationon weather updates, crop

prices and expert advices, thePunjab Government onMonday launched a mobileapp, Kisan Suvidha, for farm-ers.

The app, launched by ChiefMinister Parkash Singh Badal,is a simple interface and pro-vides information on five crit-ical parameters - weather, inputdealers, market price, plantprotection and expert advi-sories, in three languages-Punjabi, Hindi and English.

Praising the stateAgriculture Department's ini-tiative to make our farmerstech-savvy, Badal said that thiswould go a long way to keepthe farmers abreast with thechanging agricultural practicesand marketing support, cou-pled with the latest agronom-ical techniques to enhance pro-ductivity.

To begin with, a farmer hasto register his mobile number,choose a language fromEnglish, Hindi or Punjabi, andenter the details of the state,district and block or sub-dis-trict, said a governmentspokesperson.

The 'weather' button showsthe temperature, humidity,wind speed and rainfall for thecurrent day and the forecast forthe next five days.

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After the announcement bythe Haryana Roadways

Workers' Union to go on strikeon September 2, the StateGovernment on Mondayappealed to the HaryanaRoadways employees not to goon strike in public interest.

A day before, members ofthe Haryana Roadways Workers'Union (INTUC) hadannounced to join the nation-wide strike of the trade unionson September 2. The buseswould remain off the road in theState on that day.

The union had also criti-cised the new road safety Billand urged the Government toincrease the fleet of the roadwaysbuses to 10,000, to carry out reg-ular recruitment, regularise theservices of temporary employ-ees and put forth otherdemands.

Haryana Housing Boardchairman, Jawahar Yadav whiletalking to the mediapersons onMonday said that TransportMinister, Krishan Lal Panwar,had, in a telephonic conversationwith representatives of theRoadways employees' union,appealed to them not to go onstrike as it would cause incon-venience to the people. Most oftheir demands have alreadybeen accepted by the StateGovernment, and the remainingare being considered sympa-thetically, said he

Yadav alleged that due to thefailures of the previous govern-ments, some Haryana Roadwaysdrivers and conductors, recruit-ed after 2003, had not been reg-ularised, due to which they wereunable to avail themselves of thebenefits of ACP and NPS.

The State Government isexploring possible provisionsto regularise them at the earli-est so that they could also get thebenefits. After regularisation,drivers and conductors recruit-ed between January 1, 1998and December 31, 2002 wouldbe able to enjoy these benefits,Yadav said.

He added that the recruit-ment to the 930 posts of con-ductors and 908 posts of helpersand storemen on a regular basisand 1,500 posts of drivers oncontract basis in the TransportDepartment would soon beconducted through the HaryanaStaff Selection Commission. Anadvertisement in this regardwould be released within oneweek, said he while respondingto the demands of the roadwaysemployees union.

Also, 300 new buses wouldbe inducted into the fleet ofHaryana Roadways and theprocess to induct Volvo and air-conditioned buses is also under-way. Night halt allowancebeyond 25 kilometres fromheadquarters or depot, would beprovided to all drivers and con-ductors. Uniform allowance hasalso been issued to the workersof Haryana Roadways, addedYadav.

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Facing a problem of plentyand apprehending rebel-

lion, Punjab Congress presi-dent Capt Amarinder Singh onMonday asked all 1,661 appli-cants for 117 Assembly seats towork with a team spirit andensure victory of the party inthe ensuing elections.

"The overwhelmingresponse from the applicantsfor the Congress tickets indi-cates what way the wind isblowing," he said, whileexpressing confidence aboutparty forming the Governmentin 2017.

"The overwhelmingresponse from the ticket aspi-rants is indicative of a strongand robust mood among thecadres over the imminent vic-tory in the elections," said theformer chief minister after thecompletion of the process ofsubmission of applications bycandidates for 117 assemblysegments.

"As there are 117 slotsonly, there will be 1,544 otherswho will not get the partynomination and I assure all ofthem that once the governmentis formed, there will beumpteen options available to allof them and they will be suit-ably accommodated," he said,

while hoping that all of themwill work with a team spirit andensure the victory of the can-didate who gets the party nom-ination.

PPCC president claimedthat after the party announcedthat about 35 tickets will be dis-tributed among the youth,there has been an overwhelm-ing response from the youngergeneration and most of themwell-qualified graduates andpost graduates.

While exact figures havenot been worked out as yet, theinitial perusal suggested thatthe number of youth applicantsis quite substantial and may bearound 30 to 35 percent, hesaid adding that a large num-ber of women candidates havealso applied for the tickets.

The applications will bescreened for various mandato-ry formalities that wererequired, said Capt Amarinder,adding that after the screening,each and every applicant's cre-dentials will be verified, whichwill be followed with his per-formance and assessment at theground level.

"Details and claims will bethoroughly cross-checkedbefore processing these fur-ther," he added.

Reiterating that winabilitywill be the sole criterion for

selecting the candidates, CaptAmarinder said that the assess-ments will be made at multiplelevels and through multiplechannels. The party has adopt-ed a scientifically foolproofmethod to ensure that the bestcandidate gets nominated, hesaid.

At the same time, PPCCpresident clarified that thosewho will not be able to make itto the final list, as there will bemany like those, will be equalstake holders in the govern-ment formation and will be asimportant as those getting thenominations.

"For the party, they are asimportant as the candidategetting the nomination, as theywill be the campaign drivers,"he said, while adding that theirperformance during the elec-tions will qualify them for therespective positions in the gov-ernment later.

He pointed out that hehas already clarified that theMLAs and those contestingelections will not be appointedto any boards, corporations andtrusts as the chairmen. "Thesepositions will be reserved onlyfor those who do not get thetickets and who ensure the vic-tory of the party candidatefrom the particular con-stituency," he said.

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Haryana Vidhan Sabha has decided that former ChiefMinister Om Prakash Chautala and his son and ex-MLA

Ajay Singh Chautala, convicted and currently serving theirjail terms in a teachers recruitment scam, are entitled to drawtheir pension.

"Ajay Singh Chautala and OP Chautala, both ex-MLAsare fully entitled to draw pension and their pension cannotbe withheld only on the ground of their conviction becausethey have never been disqualified neither under the provi-sions of the Representation of People Act, 1951 nor AntiDefection Law," said RK Nandal, Secretary, HaryanaVidhan Sabha while talking to the mediapersons.

The Secretary has also issued orders on Monday in thisregard. Om Prakash (81) draws a monthly pension of Rs2,15,430 and his son Ajay Chautala (55) draws Rs 50,100.

Earlier this month, Nandal heard arguments onChautalas' entitlement to pensions as ex-MLAs despite theirconviction in the JBT recruitment scam.

Notably, a senior advocate here had moved a petitionin the Punjab and Haryana High Court earlier this year andlater on also appeared before Secretary of the HaryanaAssembly with a plea not to disburse them pension in lightof the conviction. The petitioner had claimed both fatherand son had received around Rs 95 lakh as pension after theirconviction in a graft case.

The Chautalas and three others are serving 10-year-termin the Haryana teachers' recruitment scam in 2000.

The High Court had recently directed the SecretaryVidhan Sabha to take the call on Chautalas' entitlement topension as ex-MLAs despite their conviction in a case underthe Prevention of Corruption Act.

In an order issued on Monday, Nandal said Chautalas'pensions cannot be withheld only on the ground of their con-viction because they have never been disqualified - eitherunder the provisions of the Representation of People's Act,1951, or the anti-defection law.

"In view of the provisions of law, I am of the consideredopinion that Ajay Singh Chautala and Om PrakashChautala, ex-MLAs, are fully entitled to draw pensions," theorders stated.

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Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal onMonday urged the Union Minister of

State for Minority Affairs Mukhtar AbbasNaqvi to make necessary amendments inWakf Act and Lease Rules.

The Chief Minister also put forth var-ious demands for the welfare of MinorityCommunity in a meeting held with theUnion Minister in New Delhi.

Manohar Lal urged the Union Ministerthat the amendments made after the year2014 in Wakf Act and Lease Rules has ren-dered its various rules illogical and unjus-tifiable due to which lease holders of WakfProperties are facing many difficulties.

The representatives of various leaseholders have requested for re-amend-ments in these rules and the concernedMinistry was earlier apprised about thesedemands of the Leaseholders, said he.

The Chief Minister apprised the UnionMinister that amendment was mandatoryin the Wakf Lease Rules No. 7, 18 and 19.Under rule no 7, the Right to fix theMinimum Lease Rate should rest with theWakf Board. Under rule no. 18, the renew-al of Lease should be done without bid.Similarly, under rule no 19, for shops, coldstorages and other commercial activities,the maximum limit of Lease should beincreased from five years to 30 years, headded.

Manohar Lal said that after the amend-ments made in the year 2014, under rule

no. 7, the Right of the Lease was given tothe Union Ministry whereas the workregarding renewal was being carried outunder Bidding System. The leaseholders arefacing a lot of difficulty with such a com-plexity in the procedure.

The Chief Minister also urged theUnion Minister to launch major public wel-fare projects on properties of Wakf Boardin district Gurgaon and Palwal throughNational Wakf Development Corporation(NAWADCO).

During the meeting, Manohar Lalalso put forth the demand for constructionof girls hostel in Mewat EngineeringCollege costing about Rs 2.38 crore.

Naqvi assured the Chief Minister thatthe Union Ministry would take appropri-ate measures to resolve all the issuesbrought into account by the Chief Minister.

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Punjab Chief MinisterParkash Singh Badal has

asked the Punjab PollutionControl Board (PPCB)to com-plete the construction of pondsand the Sewerage TreatmentPlants (STPs) along the HolyBein to prevent discharge ofwaste water from 74 villageslocated across its banks.

As many as 74 villageshave been identified across thebanks, of which 52 were inKapurthala district, 2 inJalandhar and 20 inHoshiarpur.

The decision was taken byBadal during a high level meet-ing with the delegation led bythe environmentalist SantBalbir Singh Seechewal onSunday evening.

Out of these 74 villages,ponds have been constructed in55 villages comprising 42 in

Kapurthala district, one inJalandhar and 12 in Hoshiarpurbesides 19 ponds were yet to beconstructed out of which 10were in Kapurthala, one inJalandhar and eight inHoshiarpur.

Meanwhile, the PunjabPollution Control Board(PPCB) chairman told theChief Minister that in 10 vil-lages in Kapurthala district, allthe works starting from con-necting of villages discharge tothe ponds and its final dispos-al in the fields for irrigationpurposes have been completedin all respects.

In 32 villages, the pondshave already been constructedbut still some pending workswere left for which it wasdecided to get all the pendingworks completed on priority bythe concerned departmentswithin two months.

It was also informed in the

meeting that in the remaining10 villages, where the pondswere yet to be constructed, themajor issues related to thenon-availability of land for theconstruction of these ponds.

Responding to this issue,the Badal asked KapurthalaDeputy Commissioner toarrange private or some otherland in concerned villagesthrough negotiations so thatthis gigantic task could beaccomplished at the earliestwithout any further delay.

Likewise, in Jalandhar dis-trict, construction work of thepond in one of the villages hadbeen stalled due to disputeamongst villagers.

Badal directed the PPCBchairman to get this workcompleted with personal inter-vention of Sant Seechewal andformer Minister Dr UpinderjitKaur, the funding for whichwould be done by the PPCB.

It was also informedapprised that in Hoshiarpurdistrict, 20 villages were iden-tified to be located on thebanks of Holy Bein, of whichponds have been completed in12 villages.

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Under the 'Green Punjab Mission',Punjab Government has decided

to distribute two crore saplings dur-ing 2016-17, out of which 60 lakhsaplings would be provided 'free ofcost' to social, religious, educationalinstitutions and paramilitary forceswith an aim to give a big push toincrease the forest cover across theState.

"Chief Minister Parkash SinghBadal launched the Green PunjabMission in 2012 to ensure larger par-ticipation of all sections of societybesides providing 60 lakh saplings freeof cost annually, which resulted inincrease of eight square kms forestcover as per the latest report of ForestSurvey of India," said State Forest andWildlife Preservation Minister ChunniLal Bhagat, while addressing the State-level function on 67th Van Mahotsav.

He said that to engage the farm-ing community in saving environmentthrough agro-forestry, the PunjabGovernment has established ForestResearch Institute at Ludhiana with Rs23.69 crore which will work in col-laboration with the Forest ResearchInstitute, Dehradun to develop newvarieties of saplings.

"With the Centre's assistance,saplings would also be planted in 3,000acres in Kandi areas of Punjab," he said.

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After a gap of 19 months, thepoll bound Punjab on

Monday got a regularGovernor. Senior BJP leaderfrom Rajasthan and formerMember of Parliament VPSingh Badnore was sworn in asPunjab Governor.

Haryana Governor KaptanSingh Solanki has been holdingthe additional charge of Punjabafter Shivraj Patil completed histerm on January 21, 2015.

Badnore will also be theAdministrator of the UnionTerritory of Chandigarh.Notably, the BJP led CentralGovernment had initiated amove to de-link the post ofChandigarh's Administratorfrom the post of PunjabGovernor, but owning politicalpressure, by the ally ShiromaniAkali Dal (SAD), the move wasstalled.

Badnore, who took theoath in English, was sworn-inby Chief Justice of the Punjaband Haryana High CourtJustice SJ Vazifdar at Punjab RajBhawan, amidst rain.

Coming from a royal back-ground, Badnore, a four-timelegislator and former IrrigationMinister from Rajasthan, wasfirst elected to the Lok Sabhafrom Bhilwara parliamentaryconstituency in 1999 andretained the seat in 2004. In2010, Badnore was elected tothe Rajya Sabha.

Besides Chief Minister

Parkash Singh Badal, UnionMinisters Harsimrat KaurBadal, Rajiv Partap Rudi,Maneka Gandhi, and PunjabCongress chief Capt

Amarinder Singh, Punjab cab-inet Ministers, MPs, and seniorofficers of Punjab Governmentwere present at the swearing-inceremony.

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Lashing out at the Aam AdmiParty national convener and

Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on the issue of drugs inGoa, the Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) on Monday said that itseems that the AAP leaderwanted to “befool” the people oftwo states on a single issue withthe motive of achieving power.

“It is disgusting to see thatKejriwal has tried to incite peo-ple on the issue of narcotics inGoa as he had tried in Punjab.Delhi Chief Minister has leveledsame allegations on the rulingparty of Goa which he had lev-eled on SAD leadership inPunjab,” pointed SAD secretary-cum-spokesman and the stateEducation Minister Daljit SinghCheema.

He said that similar was hisclaim of nexus between politi-cal class, police and narcoticstraders in Goa which was inPunjab. “It is very surprisingthat he is using same tactic ofcreating a fear among the mass-es and exploiting their senti-ments on the issue whose grav-ity is perhaps he is unaware of,”he said.

Cheema reminded the AAPleader that in this era of socialmedia and high-tech media,“his gestures of trying to befoolpeople of two states won’t workas he stood exposed nationallyfor his lies”.

Expressing surprise overKejriwal’s statement saying ‘AAPdoes not have funds to contestelections’, Cheema said that thisis his old ploy to win sympathyof the people wherever he goesand to earn money in the formof donations as well as sale oftickets.

Cheema asked him that ifthe party did not have money,then was it the reason behindthat he wasted crores of rupeesof people of Delhi on his cam-paign in media in Punjab? “Hisstatement of empty coffers ofAAP is nothing but a sheerattempt to gain sympathy of theNRIs so that he could get morefunds for the elections,” he said.

“Everybody knows thatAAP is major receiver of fundsfrom abroad and his statementis only an attempt to get morefunding from abroad as the localIndians are already aware of hismischiefs and don’t contributetowards the party,” he added.

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Giving relief to the retiringprofessors of Panjab

University, Punjab andHaryana High Court onMonday allowed them to con-tinue with their jobs on thebasis of re-employment afterthe age of 60.

Making an interimamendment to the orderspassed by the Single Bench onAugust 16, the Bench of JusticeSurya Kant and Justice SudeepAhluwalia also allowed theprofessors to continue withtheir official accommodation,until the final outcome of the

petition on the retirement age.The orders are bound to

get immediate relief to at least68 professors, teaching inPanjab University or the affil-iated colleges.

In their appeal against theSingle Bench orders of August16, the teachers of PunjabUniversity said that the PanjabUniversity Syndicate andSenate had approved the hikein the retirement age of teach-ers of the university to 65.

The appellants’ haveclaimed that the the retirementage as per the UGC regulationsclaiming Panjab University tobe a centrally funded institu-

tion, as more than 90 per centgrant was coming from theUnion of India.

The petitioners submit-ted that a task force commit-tee by the Prime MinisterOffice to had recommendedhike in retirement age. Thecounsel for the petitionerscontended that the petitionerswould be retired from serviceby the varsity by wrongly tak-ing the superannuation age as60, instead of 65, as mandat-ed under the University GrantsCommission regulations,2010.

On August 16, JusticeAmol Rattan Singh has dis-missed the petition of theteachers for raising the age ofretirement and directed theuniversity to retire the teach-ers, who had crossed the deter-mined age.

During the course of hear-ing, the Union Ministry ofHuman ResourceDevelopment had submittedthat the Panjab University wasnot a centrally funded institution.

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The sporadic incidents ofgang war in Punjab reached

the corridors of justice onMonday when the members ofthe two gangs indulged in a clashin the Judicial Complex wherethey were brought for hearing.

Seven persons were injuredin the clash and rushed to CivilHospital, sources said, addingthat cops on the duty had atough time to control the gang-sters.

Panic spread in the courtcomplex when the members oftwo gangs - identified as Gondergang and Sukha Kahlwan Gang- entered into a clash.

Seven people of the twogroups were brought to thecourt complex to appear incases of serious nature registeredagainst them

Initially, gangsters were seenindulging in heated argumentand within no time it turned intoviolence.

All received injuries and thepolice had a tough time beforethey were overpowered andseparated them.

Sources said that those fromSukha Kahlwan Gang, includedJarnail Singh, Gulwant Singh,Amarjit, and Vikrant, residentsof village Uppalan in the districtof Jalandhar.

The three from GonderGang were identified asVarinder, Anil and VikrantBagga, residents of YamunaNagar in Haryana.

All seven were taken toCivil Hospital for medical exam-ination and the cops at PoliceStation Baradari were in theprocess of registering an FIR inthe matter.

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From Page 1The Ulfa had earlier admit-

ted that the Eastern Commandunit of the outfit had abductedthe boy on August 1 this year.However, the top leaders of theoutfit are not aware about thewhereabouts of the boy as theircommunication with the unitwas snapped a few days ago.

The Ulfa faction had kid-napped the boy from Changlangdistrict in Arunachal Pradesh onAugust 1 and demanded Rs. 1crore for his release. SadiyaMLA Bolin Chetia said he hadreceived a phone call demand-ing Rs 1 crore as ransom torelease Kuldip.

Kuldip's father, RatneswarMoran is a senior BJP leader inthe eastern Assam district and heis also the vice-president ofTinsukia Zila Parishad.Ratneswar is also a close aide ofSadiya BJP legislator BolinChetia. "According to our infor-mation, the boy was kept some-where in Myanmar. It is not ourcase as the boy had been abduct-ed from Changlang district.However, as the boy hails fromTinsukia, I have been regularlycoordinating with police inChanglang district," saidTinsukia SP MJ Mahanta.

Ratneswar Moran and thefamily, however, have appealedto release the boy without anycondition as the family is not ina financial position to pay anyransom. "I am a poor man andcannot pay the amount. I onlyappeal to the outfit to releasehim," said Moran.

The abduction came as aworst reminder of 1990s whenthe Ulfa leaders had abductedSanjay Ghose from Assam andsubsequently killed him. Whilethe abduction of Sanjay Ghosetook place in 1997, the Ulfa hadresorted to high-profile abduc-tions in 1990s which includesRussian coal mine engineerSergei Gritchenko, working forCoal India Ltd from Ledo etc andpolice officer Dulal Borkotoki,who were killed subsequently.

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Observing that IT executiveJigisha Ghosh in 2009 was

murdered in a "brutal, coldblooded and cruel manner", aDelhi court on Monday refusedto show any leniency to twoconvicts and awarded deathpenalty to two convicts -- RaviKapoor and Amit Shukla.However, third convict BaljeetMalik Baljeet escaped gallowsfor his good conduct in jail.Interestingly, the trio also arefacing trial for the murder of TVjournalist SoummyaVishwanathan in 2008.

While awarding capitalpunishment to Ravi Kapoor

and Amit Shukla, AdditionalSessions Judge Sandeep Yadavsaid that the offence committedby the convicts was not only agruesome crime against women,which is also on the rise, anyleniency to them would send awrong message to the society."To be hanged by neck tilldeath," said the court.

"The offence was commit-ted in a brutal, cold blooded andcruel manner. The victim washelpless and remained in cap-tivity for hours and the convictsbrutally mauled her to death. Itwas an uncivilised act done ina barbaric manner. The magni-tude and brutality of the crimemakes it fall in the category ofrarest of rare," the judge said,pronouncing the order on sen-tence in a packed court room.

The trio were sentencedunder Section 201(Causing dis-appearance of evidence ofoffence), 364 (Kidnapping orabducting in order to murder),302 (Murder), 394 (Voluntarilycausing hurt in committingrobbery), 468 (Forgery), 471(Using as genuine a forged doc-ument), 482 (Punishment forusing a false property mark) 34(Acts done by several persons infurtherance of common inten-tion.)

The court also imposedvarying fines on the convicts,with Kapoor being slapped witha fine of �1.2 lakh due to hisincapacity to pay, while Shuklaand Malik directed to pay �2.8lakh and �5.8 lakh respectivelyas the pre-sentencing reportsuggested they were financial-ly strong.

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From Page 1Low-lying areas of Patna,

riverine areas of Patna, Vaishaliand Saran districts are reportedlyunder water.

Further, the flood water isreportedly spreading to newareas in Bhojpur, Buxar, Munger,Bhagalpur and Khagaria. Themovement of trains has beenstopped between Chapra andBalia because of submergedrailway tracks at many places.The surging water of the RiversSone and Punpun has alsospread to the low-lying areas ofJahanabad and Arwal districts.

Flood situation in the east-ern parts of Uttar Pradesh is alsogrim. Both the Ganga andYamuna are rising continuous-ly in the districts, including thecities of Allahabad and Varanasi.Over 100 villages in Varanasi arefacing critical situation.

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External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj on Monday

raised the issue of cross-borderactivities by certain insurgentgroups during her maidenmeeting with Myanmar’s firstd e m o c r a t i c a l l y - e l e c t e dGovernment in five decades.President U Htin Kyaw assuredSwaraj that his Governmentwill not allow any anti-Indiaactivities. Describing India asa friendly country, Htin toldSwaraj that he looks forward toa productive partnership.

This was the first high-levelvisit from India after the civil-ian government assumed officein Myanmar. Apart fromPresident Htin, Swaraj heldtalks with State Counsellorand Foreign Minister AungSan Suu Kyi on bilateral issues,including cross-border activi-ties by insurgent groups.Swaraj's visit comes just days

after the Indian Army had anencounter with NSCN-K mil-itants in Nagaland who weretrying to enter the countryfrom Myanmar.

“Both sides agreed to makeefforts to ensure peace andsecurity along the long sharedborder. The Myanmar sidestated that activities of insur-gent groups would not becountenanced from Myanmarterritory and suggested that thisissue should be addressed andtaken forward through co-operation in established bilat-eral forums,” sources said. Thiswas Swaraj's first visit outsideIndia after recovering from along illness.

The two sides discussedareas of possible collaborationincluding power. India isalready supplying 3 MW elec-tricity to Myanmar through theMoreh-Tamu link but this canbe further upgraded. They alsodiscussed the possibility ofcooperation in agriculture, par-

ticularly pulses where there isa possibility of importing largeamount of pulses fromMyanmar.

Swaraj also conveyedIndia's strong support toMyanmar in exploring possi-bilities of further strengtheningdemocratic institutions."Discussions were held in avery cordial and friendlyatmosphere as befitting thetraditionally close ties andstrong people to people linksbetween the two countries.Myanmar leaders were deeplyappreciative of the fact thatEAM represented the firstCabinet-level dignitary whohad paid a visit to Myanmarafter the new government tookoffice," sources added.

Swaraj extended invita-tions to both the MyanmarPresident and Suu Kyi to visitIndia at their earliest conve-nience. Both Suu Kyi and thePresident said they were look-ing forward to a visit to India.

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Minister of State forExternal Affairs, MJ

Akbar, on Monday held talkswith Iraqi leadership inBaghdad and sought its help torescue 39 Indians kidnappedtwo years back in Mosul.

Akbar held extensive talkswith President Fuad Masumand other top Iraqi leaders inBaghdad on a range of issuesincluding threat from IslamicState. The Iraqi leadershipassured full cooperation andsupport in the matter, sourcessaid.

The two sides discussed theentire gamut of bilateralengagement, including inspheres of trade, investment,energy security, defence andsecurity and counter terrorism.“The two sides acknowledgedthe grave threat posed by inter-

national terrorism and its spon-sors to international peace andsecurity as also the very archi-tecture of nation state. Theyconveyed strong support toeach other in their commonfight against the menace of ter-rorism,” sources said.

Akbar conveyed India’ssupport for the unity and ter-ritorial integrity of Iraq andconveyed New Delhi’s abidingcommitment to the emergenceof a stable, peaceful, united anddemocratic Iraq, which was inthe interest of regional andglobal peace and security.

The Minister conveyed NewDelhi’s willingness to partner inthe reconstruction of Iraq as alsofor continued assistance throughIndia’s well acknowledged capac-ity-building programmes underIndian Technical and EconomicCooperation Programme(ITEC).

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Hinting at Pakistan as theexternal factor destabilis-

ing Afghanistan, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onMonday assured PresidentAshraf Ghani that despite suchchallenges before it, Indianswill always work to help thecountry towards peace andprosperity. Modi inauguratedthe renovated Stor Palace inKabul with Ghani throughvideo conferencing. AfterAfghan Parliament and SalmaDam this is the third project byIndia that has come to conclu-sion.

“Afghanistan is a closefriend. Our societies and peo-ple have had age old ties andlinks. It, therefore, saddens us tosee that your proud nation con-tinues to be challenged by exter-nally sponsored instrumentsand entities of violence and ter-ror. Let me assure the people ofAfghanistan that in your questto build a prosperousAfghanistan and to bring peace,security and stability to your

society, the 1.25 billion peopleof India will always be on yourside,” Modi said while speakingfrom his South Block office.

Responding to Modi’sstatement, Ghani said the logicof peace and benevolence willdefeat the logic of terror andviolence while adding Indiaand Afghanistan have alwaysbeen close friends and joint ini-tiatives like these are a fruitfuljourney of cooperation

between the two nations.“The pledge of our part-

nership and strength of ourfriendship with Afghanistan isunwavering. Today’s event is atestimony to the resolve andrange of our cooperativeendeavours. We want eachAfghan to flourish and yoursociety to be benefited fromfruits of economic growth,”Modi said. He also thanked theAfghan Government for pro-

tecting Indian Embassy andConsulates and ensuring thesafety and security of Indianexperts working in Afghanistan."The sacrifices made by ourAfghan brothers will not be for-gotten," Modi stressed whileadding that whatever may bethe odds, India will work withAfghanistan for a bright futurefor all Afghans.

Calling Afghanistan a closefriend PM said the societies

and people of the two nationshave had age-old ties and links."It, therefore, saddens us to seethat your proud nation con-tinues to be challenged byexternally sponsored instru-ments and entities of violenceand terror," PM said. He addedthe Stor palace "brings back tolife a valuable landmark ofAfghanistan's cultural heritage."

Ghani recalled that theGovernment of India in Exileformed by Raja MahendraPratap had declared indepen-dence from the British rule in1915 from this palace. The StorPalace (also known as the StarPalace or Kasre-estar), locatedwithin the premises of theAfghan Ministry of ForeignAffairs, is one of the importanthistoric palaces in Kabul. Therenovated building will providehigh-quality space for hostingofficial domestic and interna-tional events by Ministry ofForeign Affairs, andGovernment of Afghanistan. Itwould also give great publici-ty to India's reconstructionefforts in Afghanistan.

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The IAF will construct anaerospace museum close to

the Indira Gandhi interna-tional airport to highlightIndia’s rich aviation history.The Defence Ministry recent-ly cleared the proposal and afinal financial sanction is await-ed. The museum will be readyin three to five years once theapproval comes through.

Giving details of the pro-posed museum, IAF officialssaid here on Monday the cen-tre is not only meant to pre-serve the glorious tradition ofthe force but also to createawareness amongst massesabout India’s rich aerospaceheritage. They also believed themuseum will be a populartourist attraction and a land-mark in the national capital.

Spread over 43 acres, thenew museum will have exten-sive indoor and outdoor dis-plays including huge aircraft

parked and hanging in flyingattitude with mural depictingthe golden era.

A dedicated children's areawill be part of the museumwhere children can enter cock-pits of displayed aircraft and getthe feel of flying controls. Avideo arcade would also be cre-ated. As per the plan, the inter-nal displays would have a his-tory section in which all IAFsquadrons’ history would be

displayed along with aviationlegends, major campaigns andwars fought by the IAF. Alongwith this history, major human-itarian assistance and disasterrelief operations undertaken bythe IAF would also be high-lighted.

At present, the IAF has amuseum near the technicalarea of Air Force Station Palam,which was established in 1967.The museum has an average

footfall of 500 tourists daily andexhibits details about combatoperations undertaken by theIAF depicting IAF’s rich histo-ry since its formation in 1932to present date, along with thedisplay of various aircraft andequipment on the IAF’s inven-tory, since its inception. Thevintage aircraft on displayinclude Spitfires and someother aircraft used duringWorld War II.

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Just a day after attending hisparty chief ’s rally in Agra,

former BSP MP Brajesh Pathakon Monday left Mayawati’scompany to the join the BJPahead of the State polls earlynext year and become the lat-est addition to the list of keyleaders who have deserted theBSP in recent times.

The two-term BSP MPcrossed over to BJP expressingfaith in its “developmental”agenda in Uttar Pradesh in thepresence of BJP president AmitShah and Union CultureMinister Mahesh Sharma, theMP from Noida.

In the run up to the poll,the BJP thinks Pathak, aBrahmin, is a major catch whocould bolster their vote bank inthe community and strength-en winning caste combina-tions. Sharma said Pathak join-ing BJP will help the party con-solidate Brahmin votes.

BJP is counting on the for-mer Unnao Lok Sabha MP andnow a sitting Rajya Sabhamember, to help it win overBrahmin voters, who are also

being aggressively wooed byCongress which has decided togive a big chuck of tickets to themembers of Brahmin com-munity in the State. BSP is alsotrying to rope in Brahminwhich constitute over 13 percent of the State population.

Pathak was described as a

“pillar” in the Hardoi-Unnaoregion of the state by the BJPleaders.

Even as Pathak was at theBJP headquarters completinghis joining formalities, BSPexpelled him from the party,apparently after coming toknow of his plans.

Pathak said he had playeda role in swinging Brahmin vot-ers to BSP during the 2007Assembly polls, but Brahminswere disappointed by the party.

Earlier, Swami PrasadMaurya, one the close confi-dants of Mayawati , had leftBSP and joined BJP after initialindecision.

Pathak said nepotism, cor-ruption and goondaism hadruled the roost in the state. He,however, refrained from direct-ly attacking the BSP chief.

Asked about his presence inthe BSP rally Sunday and hejoining BJP is less than 24 hours,he said he was doing his job inBSP as long as he was there.

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The status of a national andregional party will now be

reviewed by the ElectionCommission after every 10years instead of five, giving amuch-needed reprieve to majorpolitical parties who faced pos-sible de-recognition after beingrouted in an election.

This was made possibleafter the Election Commissionon Monday amended theOrder governing the Allotmentof Election Symbols wherebyany recognised political partythat fails to gain the requisitenumber of seats or percentageof vote share to retain itsnational or State party status inan election will be given a sec-ond chance till the next assem-bly or general election to con-tinue its status.

A political party becomeseligible to be recognised as a

national party if it wins two percent seats in the Lok Sabhafrom at least three differentStates or if it polls six per centvotes in a Lok Sabha orAssembly election in at leastfour States. They must also winat least four Lok Sabha seats.

The order issued by the ECamending Paragraph 6C of theElection Symbols (Reservationand Allotment) Order, 1968said, “If a recognised politicalparty continues to be treated asrecognised National Party orState Party after the next elec-tion to the House of the Peopleor, as the case may be, to theLegislative Assembly of theState under the provisions ofsub-paragraph (1), the questionwhether it shall further con-tinue to be so recognised afterany subsequent general electionto the House of the People or,as the case may be, to theLegislative Assembly of the

State concerned, shall be sub-ject to the fulfillment by theparty of the conditions speci-fied in Paragraph-6A or 6B, asthe case may be.”

The order is set to benefitregional political parties suchas the BSP, CPI and NCP whofaced prospect of losing theirnational party status after theirdismal performance in the2014 Lok Sabha elections. TheEC had served them notices in2014 to show cause as to whytheir national party status benot withdrawn. By this order,the EC will review the nation-al/State party status after everytwo consecutive Lok Sabha orassembly elections instead ofone.

At present, there are sixnational parties-BSP, BJP,Indian National Congress,NCP, CPI and CPI-M, and 64recognised state parties inIndia.

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Activists and members of thetransgender community on

Monday urged the Ministry ofSocial Justice and Empowermentto review the new Transgender(Protection of Rights) Bill 2016thoroughly before passing it.

Pointing that there werenumerous lacunas and draw-backs in the Bill, RajeshUmadevi of Sangama, an NGO,said that it offered no cleardirection on how the differentdepartments would co-ordinateto implement its provisionsand how the community willaccess those welfare measures.

“If we do not remove thenumerous lacunas, loopholes,drawbacks and disadvantages itcould lead to miscarriage ofjustice rather than setting rightthe decades and centuries ofsocial injustice and discrimi-

nation,’ he said at an interactionwith the media here.

Nish Gulur, an activist,noted that the definition of thetransgender was not at parwith a Supreme Court orderand that the Bill in its presentform does not recognise the selfidentification process.

While Christy Raj, a transman, alleged that the new billis silent on the word abuse,Saampurna Behura fromReachLaw and Venkatesh, anadvocate, lamented that vio-lence against the transgender bythe family members and policehas not been incorporated in it.

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The trouble in Kashmir hasto be dealt politically as it

cannot be managed judicial-ly by issuing an order, said theSupreme Court while dispos-ing a petition by a senioradvocate from Jammu andKashmir who sought imposi-tion of Governor’s Rule fol-lowing the tension that pre-vailed in the State after thedeath of Hizbul Mujahideenterrorist Burhan Wani.

Incidentally, since thepetitioner Bhim Singh alsoheads a political party in thestate - J&K National PanthersParty, the bench headed byChief Justice TS Thakur askedSolicitor General RanjitKumar to facilitate a meetingof the petitioner with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, who met Opposit ion leaders from the state on Monday.

But dismissing the peti-tion to impose Governor'sRule, the bench said, “Thisissue has various dimensionsand therefore should be dealtpolitically and moreover,everything cannot be man-aged within the judicial parameters.”

The pet it ioner, whoaccepted the Court's offer,expressed apprehension thatthe “RSS-dictated” govern-ment would not invite him.The bench warned him,“Don't make a political state-ment here.” SG agreed to talkto Home Secretar y for facilitating a meeting withPM.

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Soon after the Oppositionmembers of Jammu and

Kashmir on Monday called onPrime Minister Narendra Modiover the Kashmir crisis, theCongress alleged that theCentre is not serious enough insolving the over a month longcrisis that has victimised thepeople of valley.

Stating that Government isnot clear on the agenda withwhom the Prime Ministerwants to have a dialogue,Congress dismissed as “shoot-ing from the hip” the PrimeMinister’s call for a dialogue tofind a lasting solution to theunrest in Kashmir Valley

“It looks that the PrimeMinister’s words keep changing.What he said at the all-partymeeting, his remarks in theIndependence Day address andtoday he is talking of dialogue,but dialogue with whom? Thereis a suspicion that these aremere words, mere empty

rhetoric for the Prime Minister.He is unfortunately shootingfrom his hip and merely shoot-ing the breeze,” AICCspokesman Manish Tewari said.

‘When you talk of a dia-logue, to talk to people who areestranged from you. You do nottalk to such people who arewith you and are part of themainstream,” said the formerInformation and BroadcastingMinister.

Tewari said that FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley’s asser-tions that those indulging instone-pelting in Kashmir are“not satyagrahis but aggressors”showed that he and the PrimeMinister are not on the samepage. He also claimed that sev-eral Union Ministers are alsospeaking in different voices.

“The essence of theFinance Minister’s statement isthat there is no political prob-lem in Jammu and Kashmir,” hesaid, adding that Jaitley’s com-ments implied that he felt therewas no need for dialogue.

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Page 6: event at Rio Olympics during ... The Ganga was flowing above the danger mark ... Jayanti Mahotsav in Kurukshetra from December 6 to 10

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In a show of strength, grit andarticulation, Chief Minister J

Jayalalithaa on Monday single-handedly demolished theOpposition DMK’s allegationsthat the party MLAs were notbeing allowed by the rulingAIADMK to raise public issuesinside the Legislative Assemblyand they were suspended forone week to prevent them fromattending the Session onMonday as the former was topresent the Home Department’sdemand for budgetary grants.

Initiating the debate forbudgetary grants for the HomeDepartment, a portfolio underher, Jayalalithaa declared thatthe DMK chief M Karunanidhiand his son MK Stalin who isalso the Leader of theOpposition “do not have theguts to face the LegislativeAssembly” as the duo knowvery well that their misdeedswould be exposed in an opendiscussion. “I have come fullyprepared with details of thehappenings in Tamil Naduduring the 2006 to 2011 DMKrule,” thundered Jayalalithaa.She said the commotion creat-ed by the DMK MLAs insidethe Assembly has been seen bythe outside world. “Stalin him-self said that he was ashamedand hurt due to the acts of hisown party MLAs and he was

even ready to tender an apol-ogy to the Speaker,” saidJayalalithaa.

Following the ruckus cre-ated by the DMK MLAs insidethe House on Wednesday,Stalin and 79 DMK Legislatorswere suspended by the Speakerfor one week. Since then theDMK MLAs are on a path ofagitation with the Governmentand they even staged a mock-assembly outside the legislaturebuilding on Friday.

“The Speaker has suspend-

ed only 80 DMK MLAs. MKarunanidhi, the DMK chiefwho is also a party MLA andnine others have not been sus-pended. They could have cometo the Assembly and took partin the debate where they werefree to point out any discrepan-cies. But the fact is that neitherKarunanidhi nor Stalin doeshave the courage and boldnessto face realities and truth. That’sthe reason why Karunanidhialways stays away from theHouse,” said Jayalalithaa.

The Chief Minister saidwhile she was the Leader of theOpposition in 2006 she hadactively participated in thedebate in spite of the fact that thethen ruling DMK had got allother AIADMK legislators sus-pended from the House. “I sin-gle handedly faced the DMK atthat time. Does the DMK chiefhave the courage to attend theHouse and take part in thedebate? I am ready to furnish thedetails of the number of crimesand the quality of law and orderseen by Tamil Nadu during hisregime,” asked Jayalalithaa.

She explained with factsand figures that law and orderin Tamil Nadu is far better thanwhat it was under the DMKrule. “In 2005, at the end of ourprevious regime, the number of

murders in the State was 1,336.But it touched 1,715 at 2010during the DMK regime. In2015, it has come down to1,641,” said Jayalalithaa. Shemade as many as 71 announce-ments to strengthen the policedepartment.

Jayalalithaa who has beenmaintaining a studied silenceover the verbal assaultslaunched by the DMK, told theOpposition party that the peo-ple could not be cheated bymedia blitzkrieg all the time.“They have understood thedifference between good gov-ernance and misrule. That’s thereason why the people votedthe AIADMK back to power inthe May 2016 assembly elec-tion. This is a lesson to all,” saidJayalalithaa.

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In a bid to leave no stoneunturned for the upcoming

Assembly elections, the rulingBJP assigned two importantposts of the Speaker and theDeputy Speaker of the StateAssembly to Dalit and tribalcandidates respectively. Thenewly-elected SpeakerRamanlal Vora is a Dalit can-didate while the DeputySpeaker Shabhuji Thakor isfrom a tribal community.

The move came after theVijay Rupani Government'sCouncil of Ministers wasformed, in which efforts weremade to balance caste andregional equations. Even theparty high command appoint-ed Jitu Vaghani as the newGujarat BJP president, whobelongs not only to Saurashtraregion but also hails from apowerful Patidar community.

While tribal population inthe State is around 14 per centDalits cover a seven per cent lothere and combined togetherthey share a 20 per cent lion'sshare in the votebank.

Knowing the fact thatChief Minister Rupani is froma Jain Bania community whichholds less than one per centGujarat's population, maxi-mum berth were given toOBCs and Patidars in the 25-member Council of Ministers.Rupani, with exceptional

organisational skills, has alsoappointed 11 ParliamentarySecretaries keeping caste andregional equations in mind.

Vora was the sole candidatefor the Speaker's post as theOpposition Congress support-ed his candidature. He hasbecome the third Speaker of the13th Gujarat Assembly consti-tuted post the 2012 elections.

BJP MLA from Tharad inNorth Gujarat Parbat Patel actedas the Protem Speaker as theHouse commenced on Monday.Chief Minister Rupani movedthe motion for election of Voraas Speaker and Leader ofOpposition ShankersinhVaghela supported it. However,the Congress wanted its candi-date Chandrika Baraiya to begiven the Deputy Speaker's post,but on the strength of majorityin the House, BJP candidateShabhuji Thakore was finallyelected. With 121 MLAs in theHouse, the saffron party enjoysa thumping majority in 182-member Gujarat Assembly.

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Continuing its confronta-tionist stance, the Mamata

Banerjee Government has onceagain objected to the UnionPower Ministry’s suggestionthat Bengal reduce its cesscharged on coal.

Reacting rather stronglyto the Union Power MinisterPiyush Goyal’s suggestion that the State should form acommittee to explore the pos-sibility of bringing down thecess charged on coal from ahigh of 25 per cent BengalPower Minister SobhandebChattopadhyay said the Central Minister’s suggestionamounted to “interference inthe affairs of the State.”

Goyal after meetingChattopadhyay said that BengalGovernment should form acommittee “to study with anopen mind on how the State isimposing 25 per cent cess incoal extraction which is different from other Stateswhere there is 14 per cent royalty system and the benefitsand losses from it.”

He further made “sugges-tions that if 14 per cent royal-ty which is imposed by theother States is applied toBengal, I think the State will bebenefitted as the production of

coal will rise and overall rev-enue will rise and not fall.Power cost too will come downand help the industry.”

The Union Minister saidthat the small committeeshould be chaired by the StatePower Secretary and shouldsubmit its report in fourweeks’ time.

However, Chattopadhyaysoon reacted saying it was an“interference and encroach-ment in the affairs of the State.“Though it is a suggestion wesee this as an encroachment inthe State’s domain” former StatePower Minister Manish Guptasaid adding, “the revenue gen-erated from the coal cess goesfor funding developmental pro-jects like primary education.Reduction of cess will hit therevenue earning.”

Gupta also questioned thelogic behind Goyal’s statementwhen the Centre had itselfraised the coal cess by 300 percent recently.

The State PowerDepartment’s reaction toGoyal’s suggestion is a contin-uation of Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee’s hardeningstance against the Centre whenshe attacked Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for bulldozingthe State’s by proposing toappoint officials in districttreasuries and the BDO officesto monitor expenses.

“The Centre is bulldozingthe States in the name of cor-porate federalism,” she said,blaming Modi for “giving Indiaan arrogant, dictatorship.”Speaking on the naming of thecentrally sponsored schemesshe wondered, “why will ascheme be launched after thePrime Minister and the BJP willtake advantage out of that?” sheasked saying “I will write a let-ter to the President seeking hisopinion on the issue not as aprivate person but as a consti-tutional figure head of thecountry.”

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Gujarat Chief MinisterVijay Rupani presented a

resolution in the House tocondole the death ofBochasanwasi AksharPurushottam SwaminarayanSanstha (BAPS) headPramukh Swami Maharaj,who passed away last week. Asthe Leader of the House,Rupani placed the resolutionon the floor. The ChiefMinister described PramukhSwami as a noble seer and saidthat he spread Indian cultureand became a messenger ofpeace around the world.Leader of OppositionShankersinh Vaghela, seniorMinisters and SpeakerRamanlal Vora also paid trib-ute to him.

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The Trinamool Congresswent ahead with its job of

decimating the elected bodiescontrolled by the Oppositionparties in Bengal even as it"forcibly" took over the Maldadistrict board held for more thanthree decades by the Congress.

More than a dozen districtboard members — some fromthe Left and some from theCongress — joined theTrinamool on Monday in thepresence of party all-India vicepresident Mukul Roy and StateMinister Suvendu Adhikaryeven as the Opposition allegedmassive horse trading.

Curiously Monday’s devel-opment came barely two daysafter Mamata Banerjee blamedNarendra Modi Governmentfor “bulldozing the States byinterfering in their affairs.”

Six members from theCongress and 10 from the Leftjoined the Trinamool whichhad six members to take thetotal tally to 22 in a 38-mem-ber house. Earlier, about 19Opposition members hadjoined the Trinamool in theneighbouring Murshidabad dis-trict though the Trinamool fellshort by six members and failed

to take over the board there.In the past one month the

Trinamool had toppled at leastsix municipalities in several dis-tricts of Bengal run by theOpposition parties mostly Leftand the Congress.

“The Trinamool is investingthe money earned from chitfund, syndicates and corruptpractices in the name of devel-opment in the State to purchaseopposition members” SujanChakrabarty Left LegislatureParty leader said while MaldaMP Mausam Benazir Noor said“Malda will remain a Congressbastion and the people willnever forgive the Trinamool.”

PCC president AdhirChowdhury earlier said theTrinamool was applying stickand carrot policy to engineerdefection. “First they aremanipulating the elections.Where they are not able to doso they are luring them withcrores of rupees. And even ifthat strategy fails they arethreatening the oppositionelected representatives withfalse police cases,” he said.

However Adhikary said “thepeople have refused to take theunethical alliance between theCongress and the Left and sothey are leaving them in hordes.”

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The first family of theSamajwadi party headed

by party chief Mulayam SinghYadav met here on Mondayand deliberated over the issueof whether to go all alone innext Assembly election andcontest the poll on the soleplank of development orexplore the possibilities ofalliance with other politicalparties, including the Congress.

Right now the ruling partyis busy hammering out the issueof battle of development vsalliance. SP sources said party

chief Mulayam Singh Yadavalso favours alliance with smallparties but he before taking adecision wants to consult allstake holders and create a con-sensus within the party over theissue. The meeting of the firstfamily to hammer out the issueremained inconclusive and allmembers will meet again.

The meeting was attendedby the SP general secretaryand spokesman Ram GopalYadav, Chief Minister AkhileshYadav and his uncle and PWDMinister Shivpal Yadav. SPsources said Shivpal Yadav andRajya Sabha MP Amar Singh is

pressing for alliance withRashtriya k Dal, Quami EktaDal and also exploring the pos-sibility of electoral under-standing with the Congresswhile Ram Gopal Yadav and theChief Minister are againstalliance with any party andfavour going to the 2017Assembly polls on the sole pollplank of development worksdone by the SP Governmentduring the last over four years.

Samajwadi party sourcessaid Shivpal Yadav pushed theline of alliance with small polit-ical parties. He is reported tohave pleaded that the electoral

battle would get very tough if theparty decides to go alone in theelections. “Time is running outfor conducting the negotiationsfor alliance which includes work-ing out the seat sharing formu-la. If we delay it further than allother parties will decide their lineand position and entering intoalliance with any party will bedifficult’’, said a SP leader who isprivy to ongoing battle within thefirst family of the SP.

Sources said the recent out-burst by Shivpal Yadav onAugust 14 over he being ignoredin the party and theGovernment and illegal activi-

ties of the party leaders was themanifestation of his frustra-tion over the deadlock in theparty over the issue of alliance.None other than the party chiefMulayam Singh came to the res-cue of his younger brother andpublically rebuked his son andthe Chief Minister AkhileshYadav only to create some polit-ical space for his younger broth-er in the party and prevent himfrom taking any hasty decision.Amar Singh, who was expelledfrom the party in January 2010and readmitted after six yearsand nominated to the RajyaSabha by the party in June last,

also fired a salvo in favour ofShivpal Yadav on Monday.

“Balram Yadav, ShivpalYadav and I were insulted in theSamajwadi party. Jayapradawas appointed as the chairper-son of the Film developmentboard but she was removed atthe instance of Jaya Bacchan. Iwant to meet the ChiefMinister but not getting anappointment and the ChiefMinister’s office tells me thatmy name has been to the ChiefMinister. Now this is my levelin the Samajwadi party, saidAmar Singh in Delhi onMonday.

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Bengaluru: Under attack overthe Amnesty International row,Karnataka Home Minister GParameshwara on Monday saidhe had not given a clean chit tothe rights advocacy group,which has been booked forsedition for hosting an eventwhere anti-India slogans wereallegedly raised.

"First of all let me clarifybecause there is a lot of talk inthe media about it.... Let me bevery clear, I have not given anyclean chit to AmnestyInternational," Parameshwaratold reporters here as he wentinto damage after his remarksdrew sharp criticism.

"All I have said is that I havenot heard AmnestyInternational being involvedin any anti-national activity.Second thing is, there is aninvestigation going on, and I amnot a fool to say that everythingis well," he said. To a query,Parameshwara said his remarkshad been misinterpreted.

"Of course, I have beenmisinterpreted. That is why Idid not want to react to itunnecessarily," he added.

"Now that the investigationis going on, the law will take itsown course. That's all I havesaid and I am also standing by

that statement," he said.He said he is not going to

interfere with the probe asHome Minister and it has beenleft to the police to decide onthe next course of actionagainst Amnesty International."The (police) commissionerhas made a statement whichwill be on record. It is left to thepolice and the IO (InvestigatingOfficer) to take action accord-ingly — whether to close thecase; whether to take it for-ward... I am not going to inter-fere in that". Parameshwararejected the charge by someUnion Ministers that the StateGovernment was protectingAmnesty International and hadvirtually given it a clean chit.

He asked the Centre to getthe activities of the NGO probedand take action accordingly.

"Why they (central gov-ernment) think that we inKarnataka are trying to protectthem, trying to give them(Amnesty international) aclean chit and all those things.

"They (BJP) have the Govtof India in their hands and alsoall investigation agencies intheir hands. Let them find outwhat Amnesty international isdoing and take action accord-ingly," he said. PTI

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Shillong: About 14,000 teach-ers of Government-aidedschools in Meghalaya havegone on a 14-day strike start-ing today in protest against theState Government's delay topay them on par with those inGovernment schools.

Students of over 4,500Government-aided schools inthe state are at the receiving endwith their teachers on strike.

School teachers haveunanimously decided to jointhe protest and stay out ofschool in support of the gen-eral strike called by the Joint

Action Committee of AllTeachers' Association ofMeghalaya (JACATAM) tillSeptember 4.

"The State-wide generalstrike was taken into consid-eration after the state govern-ment paid no heed to thedemand of the teachers,"JACATAM chairman EDNongsiang said.

He said they had to resortto the strike as there were nosigns that the StateGovernment was making anyeffort even to have a dialogue.

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Page 7: event at Rio Olympics during ... The Ganga was flowing above the danger mark ... Jayanti Mahotsav in Kurukshetra from December 6 to 10

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Union Minister forShipping, Road Transport

& Highways Nitin Gadkari hasmooted a proposal seekingallocation of 5 per cent of theCentral Road Fund for devel-opment of Inland Waterways.

Speaking at theInfrastructure Session of theIndo-American Chamber ofCommerce’s Annual Conven-tion in Mumbai on Monday,Gadkari said that his Ministryhad sent a proposal seekingallocation of 5 per cent of theCentral Road Fund for devel-opment of Inland Waterways.“My Ministry has prepared theproposal, but the final decisionwill be taken by the Ministry ofFinance. I am pursuing the mat-ter” Gadkari said.

Created from a cessimposed on petrol and high-speed diesel, the Central RoadFund is a non-lapsable fundunder the Central Road FundAct, 2000. The funds are meantto be used to develop andmaintain national highways,state roads and railway overand under bridges. The moveto seek a pie in the CRF followsGovernment’s ambitious planto tap India’s vast network of

rivers and canals stretching14,500 kms for moving goods.

“It is far more cheaper totransport goods by water thanby road or rail. Currently, thecargo movement along the fiveexisting national waterways ispaltry 3 per cent of all cargomovement in India. We want toraise the share of waterways inoverall cargo movements to 15per cent,” the minister said.

Earlier, last week, Gadkariflagged off a cargo vessel car-

rying 200 Maruti cars fromVaranasi to Kolkata as part ofa pilot run. The Governmenthas commissioned the Jal MargVikas project with the techni-cal and financial support of theWorld Bank to augment capac-ity of River Ganga fromVaranasi to Haldia. When com-pleted in swix years, the �4,200crore project will facilitatemovement of up to 2,000 tonnevessels.

Under the National

Waterways Act 2016, 111 inlandwaterways have been declared asNational Waterways. Of these,Allahabad-Haldia GangaWaterway (NW1),Brahmaputra (NW2), WestCoast Canal in Kerala (NW3),Mandovi river in Goa (NW 68),Sundarbans Waterway in WestBengal (NW97) and ZurariRiver (NW 111) are currentlyoperational. Six more waterwaysare likely to be commissionedduring this financial year.

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Uttar Pradesh CongressCommittee (UPCC)

president Raj Babbar claimedthat the party is ready tothrow out all the three polit-ical opponents who hadpushed the State towardsunder-development, back-wardness, poverty, lawless-ness et al during the last 27-years of non-Congress rule.

"This is the land of MalikMohamed Jais from whereformer Prime MinisterJawahar Lal Nehru hadpledged to throw out theBritish from India. Now fromthe same land, we again tookpledge to free this State fromthe misrule of SP, BSP, BJP andput it again on the path ofdevelopment and progressand particularly to end thefight between the communi-ties and religions", assertedBabbar, while addressing ahuge gathering that turned outat Jais in Amethi during thesecond day of the party's busyatra "27 Saal-UP behal" cam-paign on Monday.

The yatra was flagged offby AICC general secretaryand State in-charge GulamNabi Azad on Sunday. Babbaraccompanied by seniorCongress leader and MPPramod Tewari appealed tosupport the Congress so thatthe dreams of every citizencould be fulfilled.

Meanwhile, chairman ofthe UPCC Media CellSatyadeo Tripathi claimed thatthe yatra received an encour-aging response as it spread themessage of no caste, religiousdivide rule. "We have suc-cessfully put across the mes-sage to the people to unitethem and not divide them onthe basis of caste and religion,as parties like SamajwadiParty, Bahujan Samaj Partyand BJP have done duringtheir rule in the State in thelast 27 years," Tripathi said.

According to him, the busyatra undertaken under theleadership of UPCC chief RajBabbar and chief ministerialcandidate Sheila Dikshit suc-cessfully highlighted the fail-ures of the successiveGovernments in the State.

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Chief Justice of CalcuttaHigh Court Justice Dr

(Mrs) Manjula Chellur onMonday took oath of office asthe new Chief Justice ofBombay High Court.

Maharashtra Governor ChVidyasagar Rao administeredthe oath of office to JusticeChellur at a brief swearing inceremony held at Raj Bhavanin Mumbai.

Prior to her appointmentas Chief Justice of the BombayHigh Court, Justice ManjulaChellur was the Chief Justiceof the Calcutta High Court.She also functioned as theChief Justice of the KeralaHigh Court earlier.

Sixty-year-old Chellur hasbecome only the second

woman Chief Justice of theBombay High Court in its 154-year-old history of BombayHigh Court which was inau-gurated on August 14, 1862and celebrated its 155thanniversary last week.

Born on December 5,1955 at Bellary as daughter ofC. Bheemappa Chetty andRangamma, Chellur complet-ed her LLB degree fromRenukacharya Law College,Bangalore in 1977. Sheenrolled herself as an Advocateon August 11, 1978.

She was the first ladyadvocate to practise at courtsof Bellary. She served as legaladvisor for several banks, agro

industries, KarnatakaElectricity Board and han-dled several important cases incourts on both on civil andcriminal sides,

Having become KarnatakaJudicial Service as DistrictJudge on April 15, 1988,Chellur was appointed asAdditional Judge of theKarnataka High Court inFebruary 2000 and as a permanent judge August 17,2000.

Before becoming theAdditional Judge of Karnatakahigh court, Chellur did a fel-lowshop training on Genderand Law in 1997 at WarwickUniversity in England.

Besides being thePresident of the KarnatakaJudicial Academy from June21, 2008 to March 25, 2010.She also worked as theExecutive Chairperson of theKarnataka State Legal ServicesAuthority. While holding thispost, she worked for the wel-fare of transgenders andarranged seminars throughoutthe State.

On her transfer to theKerala High Court, Chellurassumed charge as ActingChief Justice on 09.11.2011.Later on September 25, 2012,Chellur became the ChiefJustice of the Kerala HighCourt.

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On a day when PrimeMinister Narendra Modi

expressed “deep concern andpain” over the prevailing situ-ation in Kashmir, normal lifecontinued to remain out ofgear in the Valley for the 45thconsecutive day, albeit a relatively peaceful day passedwith no untoward incident.The protests and clashes, how-ever, continued in variousparts of valley amid curfew andrestrictions.

The old parts of Srinagarcity continued to remain undercurfew after the latest killing of19-year-old youngster IrfanFayaz Wani who was hit withpellets in malarta pocket of oldSrinagar on Sunday evening.Thousands of people attendedWani’s funeral prayers late inthe night before he was buried

in martyr’s graveyard at Eidgahwhere most of the civilians andmilitants killed during the past27 years are buried.

With Wani’s death, thecivilian toll in Kashmir duringthe current unrest has gone to64 including three womenwhile two policemen have alsolost their lives during clasheswith protesters.

On Monday, policemenappeared in several localities ofJawahirnagar, Rajbagh andBatmaloo and asked the shop-keepers to open their shops.This is in contrast to the policepractice in previous days whenthey would arrive in the morn-ing to scare away the shop-keepers. Sources said that someGovernment employees werealso seen attending to theirduties in civil lines area, firsttime during the past one and ahalf month.

The curfew continued inmost parts of Srinagar andAnantnag town while curfewlike restrictions remainedimposed in other major townsand areas in south, centraland north Kashmir. The nightcurfew remains imposed inSrinagar since last Wednesday(Aug 17). Similar restrictionson the movement of people,public and goods transportduring late evening and night hours are in force innorth Kashmir’s Sopore,Baramulla, Bandipora andKupwara areas.

Reports said protest rallieswere also held in various areasin south and north Kashmirareas. Over two dozen personssustained injuries when clash-es erupted between army andpolice allegedly vandalized thecanopies, other logistical itemsput up for the proposed ’refer-

endum rally’ at Ganapora areain south Kashmir’s Shopian.

Similar separatist spon-sored also joined by local Sikhpopulation was foiled in SeerSaali village of Aishmuqamarea in Anantnag district.However, local Gurudwara

Prabhandak Committee officialalleged that security forces des-ecrated the local Gurdwara bysmashing its windowpanes andlobbed teargas shells on peoplein the village. Locals allegedthat security forces set ablazethe tents and other logistical

items for the proposed rally.A well-attended rally was

organized at Haaripaarigamarea of Tral town in southKashmir’s Pulwama district.Clashes between protesters andsecurity forces were reportedfrom the area.

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Mumbai’s otherwise har-ried suburban Railway

commuters have something tocheer. They can now make themost of free high-speed wi-fifacility introduced by theIndian Railways at eight sta-tions in Mumbai and Thane.

As part of an initiative toprovide net-connectivity tosuburban commuters, RailwayMinister Suresh Prabhu onMonday inaugurated a freehigh-speed wi-fi Internet facil-ity for railway commuters ateight suburban stations atLokmanya Tilak Terminus(LTT) and Kalyan Railway sta-tion on the Central Railway,Dadar (W.Rly & C.Rly), BandraTerminus, Bandra, Churchgateand Khar Road stations on theWestern Railway.

Currently, wi-fi services areactive in the suburban sectionsof CST and Mumbai CentralTerminus. The users can followuser instructions on theirmobiles to avail the high-speedwi-fi for the first 30 minutesafter which the speed will dropand the user must login afresh.

The Wi-Fi services are

being provided under 'RailWire',which has been designed tooffer users the best and fastestinternet experience to anyonewho has a smart phone. Asmany as 17 suburban stations inMumbai have been chosen forinstallation of the Wi-Fi facili-ty, which is being provided byRailTel at a speed of 1 Gbps.

At a function jointly organ-ised by the Central Railway andWestern Railway at Dadar innorth-central Mumbai, Prabhualso inaugurated the CentralRailway’s 12-car EMU serviceson Harbour line, two new 12-coach platforms for harbour lineand 2 lifts at Andheri, deck andbooking office (south end) atGoregaon, foot-over bridges atKarjat, Shahad, Kurla, King'sCircle, Reay Road and Chemburand a foot-over bridges andescalator at Vasai Road andNallasopara by unveiling aplaque.

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Page 8: event at Rio Olympics during ... The Ganga was flowing above the danger mark ... Jayanti Mahotsav in Kurukshetra from December 6 to 10

With seeminglycasual remarksfrom the ram-parts of the RedFort, Prime

Minister Narendra Modi haschanged the political template inBalochistan and Jammu &Kashmir, both on the Indian sideand in the territory occupied byPakistan in 1947-48 in defianceof international law and thedirectives and resolutions of theUnited Nations.

The new strategy, first articu-lated at an all-party meeting onKashmir on August 12, meansthat New Delhi has crossed therubicon, smashing the decades-old paradigm of Indian foreignpolicy, viz., to ignore the Pakistaniannexation of Balochistan (March27, 1948) and downplay its occu-pation of roughly one-third of theerstwhile kingdom of Jammu &Kashmir which acceded to Indiaon October 26, 1947.

Regardless of the pace at whichevents now unfold in Balochistan,Gilgit Baltistan and so-calledAzad Kashmir, Modi has sentmultiple signals to the internation-al community. For Beijing, themessage is simple: The One BeltOne Road (now called Belt &Road) from Xinjiang throughGilgit Baltistan, Balochistan, andon to Gwadar Port, will only beviable with Indian agency, asNew Delhi alone is trusted by thenative populations. FormerAfghanistan President HamidKarzai’s unequivocal support toModi’s speech underlines thegoodwill and trust for India inPakistan’s penumbra.

As legal adviser to the Kalatstate, Muhammad Ali Jinnahhad agreed it would be indepen-dent on August 5, 1947, andwould return to its original sta-tus of 1838. He annexed it a fewmonths later, without murmurfrom the international commu-nity. Later, this encouragedPresident Zia ul-Haq to seek“strategic depth” in Kabul, anambition not renounced by sub-sequent rulers, despiteAfghanistan’s formidable reputa-tion as a ‘graveyard of empires’.

In time, Beijing may reconsid-er its dependence on Islamabad.After the abortive coup of July 15,Turkish President Recep Erdoganlost his desire to join theEuropean Union and visibly tilt-ed towards Moscow and Iran; allthree nations are negotiating adeal to ensure the survival ofPresident Basher al-Assad and theterritorial integrity of Syria. Thereis talk that Russia may be offered

the Incirlik base, which current-ly houses NATO troops andnuclear weapons, for its opera-tions in Syria. This is an amazingabout-turn. Beijing is nothing ifnot diplomatically agile, so sur-prises cannot be ruled out.

Beijing knows Islamabad can-not adequately pacify either GilgitBaltistan or Balochistan to ensurethe security of the enormousinvestment ($46 billion) involvedin the China Pakistan EconomicCorridor (CPEC). An added riskin Balochistan is that it is used asa base by the Afghan Talibanwhich is fighting the regime inKabul, and by Sunni groupsalienated from Tehran. Thesearmed groups, added to a rebel-lious populace in both places, willmake the operation of the Belt &Road and Gwadar port a logisti-cal nightmare. However, disen-gaging both regions fromPakistani control would leaveIslamabad responsible only forthe security of that portion of theBelt & Road that passes throughits own territory. It is an ideaworth thinking about.

Perhaps a small signal hasalready been sent with the state-run Global Times referring, twice,to Pakistan-occupied Kashmiras PoK, rather than as Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The arti-cle said that Beijing is unlikely to

take sides with Pakistan or Indiaon the Kashmir issue, though ten-sion between the two countries iskeeping “PoK” undeveloped.

Modi’s signal to Islamabad isthat the silence and stalemateover the illegal occupation of1947-48 has ended. In time, thepro-India surge in the erstwhilekingdom of Maharaja Hari Singh,as also in Balochistan, willunleash its own dynamics. To theIndia-held portion of the State ofJammu & Kashmir, the promiseis that the Srinagar valley will nolonger be the sole voice that willbe heard from the erstwhilekingdom and that the entireState of J&K would be the unit forconsideration. This, as the PrimeMinister emphasised, involvesJammu, Kashmir valley, Ladakhand Pakistan-occupied Kashmir,and future talks with Islamabadwould be held only along theselines. Of course, these issueswill take time to ripen as vestedinterests can be expected to digin their heels.

With one stroke the PrimeMinister has decimated Pakistan’sattempts to legitimise its occupa-tion of one-third of J&K andclaim that the rest is disputed ter-ritory over which the internation-al community must take a stand.Pakistan’s cross-border terrorismand its atrocious human rights

record in Balochistan andOccupied Kashmir has also beenbrought out of the shadows.Since this conforms to our con-stitutional position, it is surpris-ing that New Delhi has hithertoneglected to doggedly articulatethe same at all talks withIslamabad, and before the international community.

Nor has New Delhi attempt-ed to fill the five Parliamentaryand 24 Assembly seats reservedfor Occupied Kashmir. Most ofthe luckless refugees from POK,who have been languishing with-out rights under the dispensationof Sheikh Mohammad Abdullahand his successors, are Hindusand Sikhs. The failure to nomi-nate persons to fill these seats,therefore, has perpetuated a com-munal agenda to maintainMuslim dominance in the State.This gross injustice needs to beredressed; it will also fulfill thepromises made by Modi duringthe 2014 general election.

With hindsight, raising theBalochistan issue was not a boltfrom the blue. New Delhi hadallowed Baloch activist NaelaQuadri Baloch to visit somemonths ago and speak aboutPakistan’s atrocities. She spokeeloquently about human rightsviolations, the abductions, thedaily killings, including of youngchildren, which has assumedgenocidal proportions.

The Balochistan gambit isremarkably bold becauseNarendra Modi has leap-froggedover India’s 1947 boundaries intodistinctly foreign — Muslim —territory, and poked an Indian(predominantly Hindu) fingerinto a dispute between Muslimantagonists, viz, the annexedBaloch and their Pakistani aggres-sor. This is an unprecedented actof boldness that surpasses the lib-eration of Bangladesh, whereIndia had little choice but to inter-vene to stop an ongoing genocideand staunch the flood of refugeesinto its territory.

India is a long way fromacceding to Baloch requests formilitary assistance. But it will sup-port their cause bilaterally and ininternational forums. It is heart-ening that the Congress realisesthat Prime Minister ManmohanSingh erred at Sharm-el-Sheikh(2009) by equating Pakistan’sallegations of Indian interfer-ence in Balochistan with India’swell-documented case onPakistani support to terrorism onits territory, and has decided notto oppose Modi’s tentative new moves.�

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Sir — India’s Rio performancehighlights its debilitating status asa sporting nation. Being the sev-enth largest nation in size, with apopulation of 1.2 Billion people,India should perform much bet-ter. However, we lag behind notjust the US and China, but alsoCuba and Switzerland. India is theonly major country of its size thatis struggling to win even a singlegold at the Olympics. There is alot of latent talent but that has tobe nurtured.

We need a renewed sportingpolicy and increased monetaryand budgetary support. Privatesector investment must be ropedin for establishing world-classsporting infrastructure.

The politico-bureaucraticnexus must be broken. Sportingclubs and federations must beoverhauled and manned by expe-rienced managerial minds.

To kickstart the sporting cul-ture, medal winners can be pro-moted as ambassadors of theirrespective sports. Rather than giv-ing crores of tax-payer money toindividual medal winners, wecan spend the money for devel-oping existing infrastructure.

Gaurav SinghalRewari

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Low hanging fruit ignored”(August 20). India’s medalsdrought at Rio ended with SakshiMalik getting a bronze and PVSindhu bagging a silver. But thereis no gold in our kitty.

There was a time when theOlympic gold was reserved forIndia in hockey. In recent years,apart from Abhinav Bindra’s goldfor shooting, we haven’t securedthe top spot in any sport. Indiahas just 28 Olympic medals to itscredit wheras America’s MichaelPhelps alone has 26 medals,including 23 golds.

Another nation worth emu-lating is China, which having par-ticipated for the first time in 1984,matches the US in the medalstally in most of the games.

The editorial has rightlynoted few individual medal-win-ners are able to repeat their per-formances, whereas athletes fromother countries are able to deliv-er repeatedly. Look at Jamaica’sUsain Bolt as an example, not tomention Phelps. TheGovernment needs to keep politi-cians away from sports, andinvest in sporting infrastructure.

Sagar Singh New Delhi

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Sir — The management of ourmajor sports bodies and federa-tions is in the hands of a select fewwho treat the organisation andthe sport as their fiefdom. This issimilar to the problem at theBoard of Control for Cricket inIndia, except that this body hasfar greater public exposure andmonetary muscle. Hence, theBCCI has been under high-levelscrutiny. We should considerusing the Lodha panel recom-mendations for the BCCI, as areference for other sporting bod-ies. State-level sport federationsmust follow by a common formatof rules of association to meritaffiliation to a Central sportsboard. Players must meet thequalifying norms of this board tobe considered for representing the nation.

Once there is oversight andaccountability, central fundingwill follow for upgrade of infra-structure. Rewarding medalistsliberally is like betting on the win-ning horse after the race. It doeslittle to improve the stable.

R NarayananGhaziabad

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The recent breakthrough inthe refugee crisis afterlong deliberations

between Turkey and EuropeanUnion shows the seriousness ofthe issue of immigration andhuman smuggling around theworld and particularly inEurope. The United Nationshas already expressed concern.

The gravity of the problemcan be visualised in the attemptsof European powers to hold itsnext meeting in October towork out a road map for nego-tiation. Although it is too earlyto comment on such an agree-ment, it appears that the refugeecrisis can be a bigger challengefor Europe than the two WorldWars, if not handled head on.More than one million refugeeshave moved into Europe duringthe last one year mainly throughsea routes. The civil war in Syriaand political unrest in Iraq hasworsened the situation.

For the sake of survival in

the competitive world order,thousands of people fromunderdeveloped countries haveillegally moved to Europe forgreener posture mainly throughillegal transit .

In another such incident, aboat carrying more than 80 ille-gal migrants drowned in Libya.It is high time that Europeancountries developed sophisticat-ed mechanism to handle theproblem as it has already causedtension between countries.

The issue of migration hasalso caused fuelled human traf-ficking across the globe. In cer-tain pockets, it has led to terror-ism. The problem of refugeeswho have fled due to distur-bances in Afghanistan andUzbekistan has added a newdimension to the existing prob-lem of violence and crime in theCentral Asian Republics.

The number of atrocitiesagainst refugees over the yearhas shown an upward trend.

They are not only subjected toeconomic exploitation but alsosocial discrimination.Refugees are exploited forpolitical and strategic gains bypowerful syndicates.

Afghanistan is a clearexample wherein refugees weremisled and organised into adeadly force. Despite varioussteps by the United NationHigh Commissioner forRefugees, there has not beenany significant improvement intheir conditions.

Contrary to claims made bynations about the distribution ofresources for refugee welfare,economic vulnerability hasworsened their lot. The rise inatrocities against the refugees,particularly in foreign camps, ismainly due to the delay ininvestigation and the partisanattitude of the local Governmentmachinery.

Women have increasinglybeen subjected to injustice and

foul play. There are numerouscases of women being abusedand raped by people who aresupposed to protect them.According to one survey, over 70per cent of the 26 millionrefugees in the world are womenand children.

The problem of refugeesbecame more pronounced after1965 due to a rapid increase inpersecution, poverty, naturaldisasters and civil wars.Although most countries havefaced the problem, it hasassumed alarming proportionsin Afghanistan, Rwanda,Vietnam, Bosnia, Cambodia,Burundi, Ethiopia, Sudan, Iraq,Sri Lanka, Democratic Republicof Congo, Bangladesh andother countries of South andCentral America.

The serious problems inKampuchea, Vietnam and Laoscompelled people to seek refugein Malaysia, Thailand andIndonesia. Victims in African

countries have taken refuge inSomalia, Kenya and Zambia.

India witnessed a tremen-dous influx of refugees after1971, when a Bengalis fled thenEast Pakistan. About 50,000refugees took shelter in Tripuraafter clashes betweenBangladesh authorities and theShanti Bahani (a militant tribalmovement started in 1973). Anumber of Chakma refugeestook shelter in Meghalaya,Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura.The recent, peaceful repatriationof 6,000 Chakma refugees totheir homes in Bangladesh’sChittagong Hill Tract is a wel-come sign.

The lack of infrastructurefacilities for accommodation inthe host countries has createdserious problems. In this regard,a burden sharing approachamong countries can yield pos-itive results. Often, refugees aredetained on the ground ofapprehension. For example,

many asylum-seekers werecharged with illegal immigrationin Thailand. There have beeninstances when refugee campshave been attacked by the armedforces of countries across theborder. Adequate protection forsuch camps is an important issuethat should get immediate atten-tion. The UNHCR, non-govern-ment organizations andGovernments should worktogether to protect the interestof refugees, particularly womenand children.

This is a ‘catch 22’ situationfor most countries. Neither totalelimination of the problem ispossible nor can one afford totake it laying down as it fuelsviolence and crime. It is hightime we frame a policy bywhich illegal migration can becontrolled, and also preventatrocities on refugees.

(The writer teaches politi-cal science at PunjabUniversity, Chandigarh)

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This is neither the first norwill it be the last hand-wringing piece written onthe cringe-inducing per-formance at these Olympics

by India. However, at the very outset,let it be made clear that this is not anattack on the athletes. The tremendoussacrifices our athletes have madethroughout their lives, and not justthem, the sacrifices their parents, sib-lings and coaches have made mustalso be celebrated.

And so what if people take a fewselfies? Michael Phelps took a selfiewith Novak Djokovic, but you wouldnot accuse either of those men of notgiving their best. Heck, America’s newsweetheart Simone Biles is a selfie star.These are young men and women onpossibly one of the biggest momentsof their lives, and unfortunately self-ies are a modern affliction. Big deal.

However, the fact remains that fora nation of 1.25 billion people whichsent 155 athletes in 15 disciplines tothe Olympics this time, a return of asilver and a bronze medal seems piti-ful. Make no mistakes Sakshi Malikand PV Sindhu put up valiant efforts.On the day, Sindhu played herremarkable final against the ulti-mately victorious Spanish womanCarolina Marin, a majority of thiscountry was tuned in watching bad-minton. And despite the relative suc-cess of the sport (invented in Pune, noless) that Indians have had, that wasquite a feat.

But everywhere else, it seemedthat Indians made valiant efforts andlost. Again, all of the athletes who

wore our country’s colours havestrived and sacrificed immensely tohave made it to Rio and most of themhad qualified fair and square.

After the six medals at London2012, the fact that India was sendingher largest delegation was seen as amatter of pride and progress.However, the progress that Indiamade was nothing compared to theleaps and bounds made by GreatBritain and the dominance of theUnited States. If Donald Trump wantsto make America Great ‘Again’; theOlympics were a repudiation of thatstatement. America’s dominance at thetop of the medal tables is a tremen-dous display of soft power.

If we truly aspire to be a ‘big’country, a superpower even, it cannotbe solely due to economic heft andmilitary might, there has to be a sport-ing and cultural element to it. Ourvarious movie industries have the cul-tural bit down pat, but sporting suc-cess? Other than cricket, the cupboardis fairly bare.

In 1984, when China returned tothe Olympics after a 32-year self-imposed exile, it stormed back to win15 gold medals. Sure, the 1984Olympics were lopsided due to theboycott by the Eastern Bloc, butthose 15 golds were a statement ofintent by the People’s Republic. Andin the 32 years since then, China hasnot only become an Olympic super-power it has become a global economic superpower.

There will be tens of editorialswith multiple recommendations onhow to fix Indian sport. There will be

social media campaigns demandingthat the Ministry of Sport be shutdown. However, fixing sports will haveto be done with the InternationalOlympic Committee’s blessings, oth-erwise India and Indian sportingassociations run the risk of being disqualified.

Despite the IOC demandingsports bodies not be touched, it isunlikely that they will ever questionChina or Russia. The last time theGovernment intervened was to fix themess in Indian hockey and while thatwas a good thing and Indian hockeyhas taken long strides back, in ahyper-competitive world countrieslike Argentina which won the goldmedal at Rio have taken even bigger strides.

Not all Indian sports associa-tions should be tarred with the samebrush. The Badminton Association ofIndia in 2006 decided to make PullelaGopichand the head coach of Indiaand despite a player revolt against hismethods in the early days, stuck by theAll-England champion — and we haveseen the emergence of Saina Nehwal,PS Sindhu and Srikanth Kidambi. Yet,much more money needs to be sunkin Gopichand’s academy for the futureto remain bright.

There have to changes drivenfrom the very top for India’s sportingsuccess. Our Prime Minister has spo-ken about the potential of India’syouth, but these young people shouldbe out there winning internationalhonours for the country. One believesthat Modi realises this and puts someof the top brains he has at his dispos-

al towards fixing this problem. But the biggest change that has to

be made is in the attitude of parents.Your columnist has said this before,many children are extremely talentedsportspersons, but thanks to a per-verse system which rewards a careeras a mediocre engineer over that of asuccessful sportsperson, parents dis-courage participation. Sports becomesa means to an end, some athletes wantto get into national-level sports to snaga Government job. Not to fly the flagon a foreign field.

And the second major change,and this is happening slowly, is toincrease private sector participation insport. Several companies notably JSWSteel and Apollo Tyres have promot-ed sports, and sports television net-work Star Sports has made severalattempts, not always successful, to setup professional sports leagues. Butwhy can’t contributions to recog-nised sports academies be made tax-deductible? Why can’t more privatecompanies sponsor athletes as part oftheir corporate social responsibility?

If India wants to stand up and becounted, it has to garner some successon the sports fields of the world. Wecannot lament about the dominance ofcricket. Keep in mind that dominancewas achieved thanks to a glorious flukeat Lord’s in 1983. It is thanks to thesmart minds that leveraged cricketafterwards that it has become so suc-cessful. Success begets success, yet wehave to start somewhere and it willtake all of us to put in an effort here.Not just the Government and not just administrators.

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Page 10: event at Rio Olympics during ... The Ganga was flowing above the danger mark ... Jayanti Mahotsav in Kurukshetra from December 6 to 10

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Finance Minister ArunJaitley may do away with

the age-old practice of readingout lengthy proposals on newrailway lines and trains oncethe 92-year-old colonial prac-tice of a separate Railway bud-get is scrapped and mergedwith the general Budget.

Instead, these will be putin the form of an annexure inthe Budget. As part of a larg-er exercise of Budget overhaul,the government is looking atadvancing the dates of pre-sentation by a month toJanuary-end to ensure thewhole process is completedbefore the beginning of thenext financial year.

“Advancing the date ofBudget presentation toJanuary-end is a suggestion.There are some data-relatedissues. We are seeing (it),” a topFinance Ministry official said.The off icial added thatadvancing the general Budgetpresentation by a month toJanuary-end will streamlineexpenditure.

“Currently, as the fullBudget gets passed by May,most of the expenditures cur-rently happen in the third orfourth quarter (of the financialyear). If the Budget happens inJanuary, expenditure can bestreamlined,” he said.

While the Constitutiondoes not mandate any specif-ic date for presentation of theBudget, it is usually presentedon the last working day ofFebruary and the two-stageprocess of parliamentaryapproval takes it to mid-May.On merger of the railway bud-get with the general one, hesaid a decision is yet to betaken.

“Even if it happens, theFinance Minister will not read

the proposal of laying newlines or new trains (in hisBudget speech in the LokSabha),” the official said,adding that it would be put inthe Budget as annexure.Railway Minister SureshPrabhu has favoured scrappingthe tradition of having a sep-arate railway budget. He wantsit to be merged with the gen-eral Budget like it happens inall other ministries, includingthe all-crucial Defence.

The Finance Ministry hasalso constituted a 5-membercommittee to work out themodalities for the merger. Thecommittee has been asked tosubmit its report by August 31.

Another official said theFinance Ministry is consider-

ing advancing Budget presen-tation by a month to January-end. “But that doesn't signalchanging financial year soon,”he added. Having ruled by theBritish for around 150 years,India followed the accountingperiod of April to March, inline with the Gregorian cal-endar of accounting.

The Government has con-stituted a committee headedby former chief economicadvisor Shankar Acharya tostudy the feasibility of adopt-ing a new financial year.

The panel will submit itsreport by December 31, 2016.Previously, the LK JhaCommittee appointed in May1984 to look into the matterhad recommended switching

over to the calendar year, butthe Government did notaccept the recommendation,saying it would cause large-scale problems as most Indiancompanies follow the April-March cycle.

As the financial yearbegins on April 1, the govern-ment in March takesParliament approval for Vote-on-Account for a sum ofmoney sufficient to meetexpenditure on various itemsfor the next 2-3 months till thefull Budget is passed. TheDemands and AppropriationBill entailing full-year expen-diture as well as tax changes isthen passed in April/May.

The off icial said theFinance Ministry is of theview that if the process is ini-tiated earlier, there will be noneed for getting a Vote-on-Account and a full Budget canbe approved in 1-stage processbefore March 31. The propos-al before the Government is topresent the Budget in lastweek of January, preferably onJanuary 31, and wrap up theentire process by March 31.

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Reliance Industries, India'slargest conglomerate, has

asked its 40,000-plus employeesto stop using phones connec-tions of existing operators, likeAirtel and Vodafone, and insteadswitch to its own high-speed 4GJio. RIL has asked employees toport their existing phone num-bers to Jio, a move that may openanother front with the existingoperators, who have been up inarms against the MukeshAmbani-led firm's prolongedbeta testing.

“We are excited to announceyet another milestone towardsgreater excellence, where wewill be switching our existingcorporate connections to Jio,”RIL’s HR department wrote to allits employees. It asked employ-ees to use MNP to port theirexisting numbers to Jio andexplained to them the step-by-step process.

Mobile number portability(MNP) enables telephone usersto retain their number whenchanging from one carrier toother. “Once you have submit-ted the required information, wewill initiate the Mobile NumberPortability (MNP) process withthe existing operator. This will

take around seven working daysto complete,” the company HRsaid in the email.

So far, the company sub-scribed to corporate plans of allmajor operators including Airteland Vodafone for the employees.Reliance Jio test launched its ser-vices last December, but nodates for commercial launch hasyet been announced. Initially, JioSIM was available only to itsemployees, and later bundledwith Reliance’s own Lyf-brand-

ed smartphones. Now, all Samsung and LG

smartphones users could walk-in to a Reliance Digital storeand procure a Jio SIM. It nowhas over 1.5 million users. Thecompany says it has created theworld's largest end- to-end allIP network and invested over�1.34 lakh crore. Oncelaunched, the services will coverover 18,000 towns and over 2lakh villages across all the 22service areas of the country.

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NEW DELHI: In a no holdsbarred attack, MukeshAmbani-led Reliance Jio onMonday lashed out at mobilephone operators body COAI,of which it is a member, foracting ‘maliciously’ as‘mouthpiece’ of certain dom-inant incumbent operatorshaving vested interestsagainst the company.

Hours after the CellularOperators Association ofIndia (COAI) wrote to thePMO alleging free data andvoice being offered byReliance Jio under beta test

was generating hugetrafficusing spectrum allocated forcommercial use but no rev-enue came to government, thecompany shot of a letter to theassociation with copiesmarked to all the addressesthe COAI letter had gone to.

Reliance, which is a mem-ber of the COAI, alleged that itreceived an email from COAIat 1505 hours stating it wouldbe sending a letter to theGovernment on Jio's test servicebut the letter was actually sub-mitted to the Government offi-cials ‘as early as 1250 hrs’. PTI

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Government on Mondayexpressed hope that as the

next Governor of RBI, UrjitPatel will keep in mind the needto push growth and ensure cred-it flow to sectors like agricultureas well as small industries whiletrying to meet the inflation tar-get. The Government onSaturday appointed DeputyGovernor Patel as the 24th headof the Reserve Bank. He willreplace Raghuram Rajan whodemits office on September 4.

“He (Patel) will keep mindthe inflation target and themonetary policy. He will alsokeep in mind the require-ments of growth which is amandate of the Reserve Bankof India Act,” EconomicAffairs Secretary ShaktikantaDas told reporters here.

“In particular, he has toensure flow of credit to varioussectors of economy, in particularagriculture and the MSME(Micro, Small and MediumEnterprises) sectors,” he said.

Patel has been holdingcharge of the monetary policydecisions of the central bank.

“The job of RBI Governor is

not only the monetary policy, RBIGovernor also looks into the reg-ulations of banks, and non bank-ing financing companies. In thatrole he has ensure the smoothrunning of the financial sector,”Das added.

The Government has noti-

fied monetary policy frameworkagreement under which RBI willtarget to contain inflation at 4 percent with an upper and lower tol-erance band of 2 per cent. The six-member monetary policy com-mittee will decide on interest ratesbased on this inflation target.

NEW DELHI: Amidstmounting bad loans ,Finance Minister ArunJaitley will hold a meetingwith the heads of publicsector banks on September16 to find ways to dealwith the situation.

“The Finance Ministerwill review the first quarterperformance of public sectorbanks and financial institu-tions on September 16,”sources said.

Besides, he will also dis-cuss credit growth and badloan situation, they said,adding that the variousrecovery measures by banksand the legislative steps takenby the Government to expe-dite recovery are also part ofthe agenda. The banks havestepped up efforts as far as

recovery of bad loans is con-cerned, the sources added.Gross NPA of the public sec-tor banks have surged from5.43 per cent (�2.67 lakhcrore) in 2014-15 to 9.32 percent (�4.76 lakh crore) in2015-16. As per the latestFinancial Stability Report byRBI, the Gross Non-Performing Assets ratio forpublic sector banks may goup to 10.1 per cent by March2017 under the baseline sce-nario.

Many banks includingBank of India, Dena Bank,and Central Bank of India,reported losses for the quar-ter ended June 30, due to asharp jump in provisions forNPAs on account of an assetquality review mandated bythe RBI in December. PTI

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Pfizer will purchase biotechfirm Medivation, which

specializes in cancer treat-ments, for some $14 billion,the US pharma giant said in astatement on Monday.

Pfizer’s offer for the SanFrancisco-based Medivationgoes far beyond the company'smarket value of $11.1 billion.The boards of directors ofboth companies have unani-mously approved the merger,the statement said.

“The proposed acquisitionof Medivation is expected toimmediately accelerate rev-enue growth and drive overallearnings growth potential forPfizer,” said Ian Read, Pfizerchairman and chief executiveofficer. The transaction is asnub to the French pharma-ceutical group Sanofi, whichearlier offered $58 a share,which Medivation rejected inlast month.

Medivation turned downan uninvited offer worthabout $10 billion from Sanofias ‘not in the best interests’ ofits shareholders. The com-pany's founder said Pfizer, bycontrast, was the ideal mar-riage partner.

“We believe the combina-tion with Pfizer is the rightnext step in our growth tra-jectory and is a testament tothe passion and dedication bywhich the Medivation team hasdelivered on our mission toprofoundly transform patients’lives through medically inno-vative therapies,” said DavidHung, founder, president andCEO of Medivation.

“This compelling trans-action will deliver significantand immediate value to ourstockholders and providesnew opportunities for ouremployees as part of a larg-er company.”

By purchasingMedivation, Pfizer would addto its portfolio the drugXtandi, a promising treat-ment against prostate cancerthat analysts estimate willgenerate some $1.33 billion inannual sales by 2020.

It a lso produces thepromising new talazoparibbreast cancer drug, current-ly in a phase three study. Thepurchase of Medivation, ifapproved by regulators ,would be Pfizer's biggest buysince it bought the medicaldevice company Hospira lastyear for $17 billion.

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Stating to be a historic day fortyre manufacturer JK Tyre &

Industries Ltd, Chairman andManaging Director (CMD)Raghupati Singhania on Mondaysaid that the company is the firstIndian tyre major to roll out 10-millionth truck/bus radial tyrefrom Vikrant plant here.

“Starting 1977, when we setup our first tyre plant in Rajasthanwith an annual capacity of 5-lakhtyres, we have come a long way.Today, JK Tyre has grown multi-fold by setting up greenfieldplants, expansion of the existingcapacities and acquisitions,including that of Vikrant Tyre inKarnataka, as also a tyre compa-ny in Mexico, apart from the lat-est one - acquisition of threeplants of Cavendish Industries inUttarakhand,” Singhania said onthe rollout occasion.

The mega event was heldhere in the august presence ofKarnataka Industry Minister RVDeshpande, PWD Minister SCMahadevappa, JK Tyre Industries

CMD Raghupati Singhania andother dignitaries as well.

“Rolling out of 10-millionradial tyres is unique milestonewhich only JK Tyre has achieved.The company has pioneeredbus/truck radial tyres way back in1999 and today it is the largestproducer in this category,”Singhania added.

The company had rolled out1-million tyres in way back in July2005, so it took a span of only 11years to cross the 10-millionmark on August 22, 2016. Whiletalking about investment in theKarnataka State, Singhania said,“We have invested more than�1,200 crore in modernisationand expansion. With the recentacquisitions, we have entered thehigh growth segment of 2 and 3-wheeler tyres and thus JK Tyrenow manufactures a completerange of tyres - right from a 3kiloscooter tyre to the 3.7 tonne largeultra large OTRR tyres.”

Singhania also said that tech-nology has played a pivotal rolein JK Tyre and the company isinvesting heavily in research and

development to stay ahead in thetyre industry.

“We are setting up world-class research centre in Mysuruonly, which will house mostmodern and advanced equip-ment, manned by highly-experi-enced engineers and scientistswith deep insight into materialresource, designs, aesthetics andstructures,” he said.

JK Tyre is a multinationalcompany with 12 plants globallywith a future ready capacity of 350lakh per annum. “We care for ourprized customer so we have 4000dealers to service them acrossIndia,” Singhania added. JK Tyreis a leading four-wheeler tyremanufacturer in India and

amongst the top 25 manufactur-ers in the world with a wide rangeof products catering to diversebusiness segments in the auto-mobile industry. JK Tyre hasglobal presence in 100 countriesacross six continents, backed byproduction support from 12plants - 9 in India and 3 inMexico. Currently, the capacityacross all its plants is about 35 mil-lion tyres per annum.

In April 2016, JK Tyreacquired Cavendish IndiaLimited from Birla Tyres. Whilethe acquisition added three mod-ern plants to its portfolio takingthe total count to 12. It alsohelped the tyre major foray intothe two/three-wheeler segmentas well. Being pioneers of radialtechnology, JK Tyre producedthe first radial tyre in 1976 andis currently the market leader intruck-bus radial segment. Withover three decades of techno-logical innovation, JK Tyre offerstyre for entire range of passen-ger and commercial vehicles,starting from a 3-kg two-wheel-er tyre to a 3.5-ton OTR tyre.

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French auto major Renault onMonday launched a new

version of small car Kwid inIndia powered by 1.0 litre petrolengine and priced up to �3.95lakh (introductory price, ex-showroom Delhi), as it aims totake on the market leader AltoK10 from Maruti Suzuki.

Renault currently sells Kwidwith an 800cc (0.8L) enginepriced between Rs 2.64 lakh and�3.73 lakh. The new 1.0 litrevariant comes in two variantspriced at �3.82 lakh and �3.95lakh, respectively. Buyers, willnow have to shellout �22,000more for the top model of the1,000cc variant.

Maruti Alto K10 is pricedbetween �3.25 lakh and �3.82lakh for manual variants (allprices ex-showroom Delhi). Italso comes with CNG and autogear shift options.

“With this launch, we lookforward to welcoming morecustomers into Renault family aswe endeavour to aggressivelybuild our presence in India,”Renault India Country CEO &Managing Director SumitSawhney told reporters here.

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Within days of ReserveBank Governor

Raghuram Rajan expressingconcerns on banks’ aggressiveretail play at the cost of infrafinancing, SBI ChairmanArundhati Bhattacharya onMonday said there is no bub-ble-like situation in the con-sumer lending segment.

“I don’t think we are in abubble territory as yet, as longas we continue to maintain ourgood underwriting standardsand also get he help of digital(tools), which will enable us tohave an even better picture,”Bhattacharya said.

She was speaking inresponse to a question onwhether banks are headingtowards a possible bubble inthe consumer financing seg-ment. Stating that there is a lotmore that can be done in theretail sector, she said, “Retailloans to GDP (ratio) in ourcountry is amongst the lowestin the emerging markets, at lessthan 10 per cent. In Malaysia,it is in 30-35 per cent and in

developed nations it is stillhigher. I think we have still lotof uncovered space to grow.”Addressing the annual con-vention of the Indo-AmericanChamber of Commerce here,she said the median age in thecountry is 26.5 years and theseare the people who need loansto fulfil their aspirations.

“Therefore, I think whatis being done now is to ful-fil those unmet demands,”she said. Last week, outgoingReser ve Bank GovernorRaghuram Rajan had raisedconcerns over banks, espe-cial ly state-run lenders,shunning project loans andaggressively targeting retailborrowers.

Talking about the upcom-ing redemptions of FCNR-Bdeposits, Bhattacharya said itwill put pressure on liquidity.“Some amount of liquidity willgo out with the FCNR redemp-tions. So, it is important for usto have comfort on liquidityside,” she said. She said the RBI'sstance of maintaining liquidityat neutral level is good andneeds to be maintained.

Page 11: event at Rio Olympics during ... The Ganga was flowing above the danger mark ... Jayanti Mahotsav in Kurukshetra from December 6 to 10

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Moody’s Investors Serviceon Monday said con-

tinued reforms to enhancebusiness environment andmoderate inflation will helpIndia achieve robust growthbut cautioned that rising con-tingent liability risks in thebanking sector could affectits credit quality.

Evidence of success in pol-icymakers’ efforts to introducegrowth-enhancing economicand institutional reforms wouldprovide support for a ratingupgrade, Moody’s said in itsAnnual Credit Analysis as itforecast GDP growth at around

7.5 per cent for next two years,“Sustained fiscal consoli-

dation, stable inflation at mod-erate levels and progress onreforms aimed at enhancing thebusiness environment wouldcontribute to sustained growthat robust levels. In turn, persis-tent income and profit growthwould raise Government rev-enues and contribute toimproved fiscal metrics.

However, we expect thebenefits to be very gradual,”Moody’s said. India's creditprofile is supported by stronggrowth potential and high pri-vate savings rate, it said.

“Conversely, signs of slip-page in progress towards those

goals or indications of risingcontingent liability risks relat-ed to the banking sector couldweigh on India’s credit quality,”Moody’s added. India’sstrengths are balanced againsta high government debt burden(67.4 per cent of GDP in 2015),regulatory and infrastructureconstraints on its competitive-ness, slow pace of policy reform,and the contingent liability riskto the sovereign from publicsector banks' high and risingnon-performing loans.

“Looking ahead, evidenceof success in policymakers’efforts to introduce growth-enhancing and growth-stabil-ising economic and institu-

tional reforms would providesupport for a rating upgrade,” itsaid.

Moody’s further said thatinstitutional strength is appar-ent in robust democratic appa-ratus. Offsetting weaknessesinclude an uncertain regulato-ry environment, corruption, aslow-moving judicial systemand, in general, inefficiencies inthe delivery of Governmentservices, it added.

“At the current juncture,political fragmentation leadsto slow and ad-hoc progresson reforms. Progress on landand labour reforms, when ithas occurred has been limit-ed and gradual,” it said.

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Handset maker Gionee will setup a manufacturing unit in

northern India, pumping inabout �500 crore, to tap into thedemand in India as well as toserve markets like Africa andSouth East Asia.

The Chinese company,which assembles its smartphonesin India through third-partyplayers like Foxconn and Dixon,expects the plant to be opera-tional in about 2 years.

“We are in process of gettingland in northern India. The 50-acre unit have an annual capac-ity of 30 million units. It shouldbe operational in about twoyears,” Gionee India MD andCEO Arvind Vohra told PTI. Hedeclined however to share detailsabout the location of the plant.

“It will be an end-to-endmanufacturing unit. It will helpus cater to demand in India aswell as nearby markets andAfrican region. We will investabout �500 crore on the plant,”Vohra said.

About 60 per cent of GioneeIndia's devices sold in the coun-try are manufactured locally atfacilities run by Foxconn (TamilNadu) and Dixon (Noida).According to research firm IDC,smartphone shipments in Indiagrew 17.1 per cent sequentially to27.5 million units in April-Junequarter, with Chinese vendorslike Lenovo, Xioami, Gionee andVivo driving the growth.

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Under pressure for the sec-ond straight session, the

BSE Sensex fell over 91 pointsto crack below the 28,000-mark with investors adoptingcautious stance after theappointment of Urjit Patel asthe next RBI chief, who is veryunlikely to cut rates in view ofhigh inflation.

Besides, a weaker senti-ment among Asian andEuropean investors amid risingprospects for a rate hike by USFederal Reserve was also a rea-son behind the volatile domes-tic bourses. The rupee depre-ciating by 19 paise to trade ata fresh three-week low of 67.24(intra-day) too negativelyimpacted market's mood.

The Government on lastSaturday announced theappointment of Urjit Patel asthe next Reserve BankGovernor with effect fromSeptember 4. Vinod Nair, Headof Research, Geojit BNPParibas Financial Services Ltd,said, “The Market fell, rupeeweakened and bond yield roseamid the announcement of thenew RBI Governor. The marketbelieves that the prospect for arate cut in the near-term isunlikely as the priority will beto contain inflation.”

“Global market was volatileon concern over interest ratehike due to contradictorystatement from the FED offi-cials and the minutes,” headded. Beginning on a highernote at 28,088.07, the Sensextouched the day's high of28,143.28 following selectivebuying by participants inbluechip stocks amid sustainedforeign fund inflows.

However, the index laterslipped into a negative terrainto slip below the 28,000-markand touched a low of 27,918.05before winding up at 27,985.54,a fall of 91.46 points or 0.33 percent. This is the lowest closingsince August 11. The gauge hadlost 46.44 points in the previ-ous session on Friday afterinvestors locked-in gains.

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MUMBAI: Care Ratings onMonday said Rajesh Mokashi hastaken charge as its new manag-ing director and chief executive.Mokashi, who was serving as DyMD of the credit rating agency,has been appointed as MD andCEO for a term of five years, acompany statement said.

He has been with the compa-ny since inception in 1993 andhas over 30 years of work expe-rience. He had earlier workedwith Otis Elevator CompanyIndia, DSP Financial Consultantsand Kotak Mahindra Financebefore joining Care. “Mokashi hasworked in diverse areas in ratingssuch as rating operations, crite-ria development, business devel-opment, disinvestment advisoryservices, international ventures,among others,” it said. PTI

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Page 12: event at Rio Olympics during ... The Ganga was flowing above the danger mark ... Jayanti Mahotsav in Kurukshetra from December 6 to 10

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Five cases, including that ofsedition, have been regis-

tered against three top Balochnationalist leaders in Pakistanfor allegedly backing PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s sup-portive words on Balochistan inhis Independence Day speech.

Brahamdagh Bugti,Harbiyar Marri and BanukKarima Baloch were bookedunder Sections 120, 121, 123 and353 of the Pakistan Penal Codeat five police stations in Khuzdararea in the restive province fol-lowing complaints, a seniorpolice official said on Monday.

The sections relate to “con-cealing design to commitoffence punishable with impris-onment”, “waging or attemptingto wage war or abetting wagingof war against Pakistan”, “con-cealing with intent to facilitatedesign to wage war”, and“assault or criminal force to

deter public servant from dis-charge of his duty”.

The complainants havealleged that Bugti, Marri andBaloch had ‘supported’ Modi’sspeech, Acting District Police

Officer Khuzdar MuhammadAshraf Jatak said.

On August 15 from the his-toric Red Fort, Modi said thatpeople from Balochistan hadthanked him for highlighting

the atrocities by the PakistaniState on the people ofBalochistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK).

Pakistan has said Modicrossed the “red line” by talk-ing about Balochistan andasserted it will “forcefully”raise the Kashmir issue at nextmonth’s the UN GeneralAssembly session.

India and Pakistan havebeen engaged in a war of wordsover Pakistan and its PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif ’s state-ments on the situation inKashmir, which has been wit-nessing unrest following thekilling of Hizbul commanderBurhan Wani on July 8.

Following Modi’s supportivewords for the people ofBalochistan, protests against himwere held in Balochistan, withlarge numbers of tribesmencoming out on the streets in DeraBugti, Khuzdar, Quetta, Chamanand other parts of the province.

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Even while denying a flip-flopon his much-touted plan to

deport 11 million illegal immi-grants, Donald Trump onMonday indicated that he maybe softening his position on anissue that has been central to hispresidential campaign, sayinghe wants to come up with a“firm but fair” policy.

A day after his new cam-paign manager KellyanneConway set tongues waggingby saying that his plan for adeportation force was some-thing “to be determined”,Trump himself asserted: “No,I’m not flip-flopping. We wantto come up with a really fair,but firm answer.”

“It (the policy to deal withillegal immigration) has to bevery firm. But we want tocome up with something fair,”Trump told Fox News.

Trump’s possible recali-bration is being seen as a bid towin over America’s largestminority, the Hispanics, amidgrim projections with a recentpoll showing 66 per cent of the

community’s support forHillary Clinton and just 20 percent for him.

But the issue is nothingshort of a double-edged swordfor Trump. Even if he is able togain the support of moreHispanics than the presentabysmal numbers, he may con-versely lose a chunk of his exist-ing supporters who are weddedto his hard-line proposal todeport all illegal immigrantsand build a wall along theMexican border.

Close on the heels ofConway’s comments to CNNon Sunday, much of theAmerican media was abuzzwith speculation that Trumpwas possibly gearing up for his

biggest policy flip-flop to date.She made the comments afterTrump held a meeting onSaturday with Hispanic leadersto hear their views on the con-troversial issue.

Republican Senator JeffSessions, a close ally of Trump,also said that the Republicannominee was still workingthrough his plans for deporta-tions should he win the WhiteHouse. “He’s wrestling withhow to do that. People that arehere unlawfully, came into thecountry against our laws, aresubject to being removed.That’s just plain fact,” Sessionstold CBS News, adding, “He’sthinking that through.”

Some of the Hispanic lead-ers who attended the meetingtold Univision, the Spanish-lan-guage TV network, that Trumpwas toying with the idea of find-ing a way to legalize millions ofundocumented immigrants –something unheard of Trumphimself so far. The New Yorkbillionaire has all along heldthat all illegal immigrants mustleave and try to return to USlater through the legal route.

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Bangladesh’s Cabinet onMonday approved a draft law

with a provision of life impris-onment and Tk 1 crore com-pensation for defaming the 1971Liberation War against Pakistanand the country’s founder SheikhMujibur Rahman.

“The proposed law sug-gests that if anybody conductspropaganda against the War ofLiberation and its spirit, Fatherof the Nation ‘Bangabandhu’Sheikh Mujibur Rahman or theLiberation War issues, which areresolved by the court, throughelectronic media, he or she willsuffer maximum life imprison-ment and the minimum three-year imprisonment and thehighest Taka 1 crore (about$1.27 lakh) fine or both the pun-ishment,” Cabinet SecretaryShafiul Alam told reporters.

Coming out of the Cabinetmeeting, Alam said the pro-posed Digital Security Act-2016prescribed punitive action of 14-year imprisonment for attackingor hacking into important infor-mation infrastructure like state-run airline Biman Airline’s

Cyber Management, using dig-ital devices. Officials earlier said the proposed lawsought to replace sections of theexisting Information andCommunication Technology(ICT) (Amendment) Act, 2013— meant to deal with cyber-crimes that could cause finan-cial and administrative damageto the country.

They said the draft lawwould not replace the ICT Actbut scrap provisions which wereincorporated in the new pro-posal. The new law has been pro-posed while Bangladesh alreadyhas Information andCommunication Technology(ICT) Act-2006 in effect and itrecently drafted Liberation WarCrimes Denial Act-2016 to checkdistortion and denial of estab-lished historical facts related tothe 1971 war against Pakistan.

Tehran: Russia has stopped using an Iranian air base for launch-ing airstrikes on Syria for the time being, Iran’s Foreign Ministryspokesman said on Monday, just hours after the Iranian defenseminister criticized Moscow for having “kind of show-off andungentlemanly” attitude by publicising their actions.

There was no immediate response from Moscow, which hadused the Shahid Nojeh Air Base to refuel its bombers striking Syria at least three times last week. Foreign Ministryspokesman Bahram Ghasemi told reporters in Tehran that theRussian airstrikes on militants in Syria were “temporary, based ona Russian request.” AP

Washington: Signalling a newera, a top NASA official hassaid that a commercial space-flight company may take overthe International Space Station(ISS) to carry on key researchin the low-Earth orbit.

In a video showing a paneldiscussion on NASA's planstowards a mission to Mars, BillHill, Deputy AssociateAdministrator of NASA'sexploration systems develop-ment division, said the USagency is exploring to hand

over the international orbitinglaboratory to a commercialentity in the next decade.

“NASA's trying to developeconomic development in low-Earth orbit. Ultimately, ourdesire is to hand the space sta-tion over to either a commer-cial entity or some other com-mercial capability so thatresearch can continue in low-Earth orbit. We figure that willbe in the mid-20s,” technologywebsite The Verge quoted Hillas saying on Monday. IANS

Melbourne: A Sikh candidate, who is running for a place in thecity council of Hamilton in New Zealand, has had one of his elec-tion billboards defaced with the word ‘ISIS’ plastered over it inblack paint.

Yugraj Singh Mahil, the first Sikh to run for a place onHamilton’s city council, was pictured on the billboard with anoth-er candidate Anna Casey-Cox, Radio New Zealand reported. Bothare first time candidates in the city’s east ward, standing as partof the Community Voice group. Mahil said the campaign hadbeen going well until he received the news that one of his bill-boards in the suburb of Hillcrest was graffitied with the word“ISIS”. “It’s more than insulting. People mostly change the appear-ance of the person but tagging such a group is very harsh, verydistressful,” he was quoted as saying. Mahil said in his 17 yearsin Hamilton he had never faced this sort of behaviour. “I thinkthis is due to the turban; that happens sometimes, people get con-fused, they think only Muslims wear turbans,” he said. PTI

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Egyptian President AbdelFattah al-Sisi said Russian

counterpart and close allyVladimir Putin wants to host anIsraeli-Palestinian summit torevive peace talks, in an interviewpublished on Monday. Sisi saidhe believed Israel was increas-ingly convinced of the need fora peace deal, saying it was a “pos-itive sign.”

But Palestinian infightingbetween the Islamist Hamasrulers of Gaza and Palestinianpresident Mahmud Abbas’sFatah in the West Bank remainedan obstacle, he said in the inter-view. Talks between Israeli PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahuand Abbas have been suspend-ed since 2014, despite a push byWashington and France toresume the peace process.

Sisi, who is seen as havinggood ties with both Israel andAbbas’s Palestinian Authority,has also been pushing for aresumption of negotiations.

“Putin has told me that heis ready to receive both (Abbas)and Netanyahu in Moscow tocarry out direct talks to find asolution and solve the issue,”Sisi said.

New York: Lovers need tomeet at least four times beforecupid strikes their hearts,according to a new study whichsuggests that love at first sightmay be a myth.

Researchersfrom HamiltonCollege in the USgave pictures ofpeople’s faces to agroup of youngmen and women.

They wiredtheir brains to monitors as theparticipants ranked the attrac-tiveness of people in the photos.

Participants were thenshown the images for a secondtime. They rated the faceswhich they found attractive

more highly. The attractionwas even higher on the thirdoccasion and strongest of all onthe fourth, researchers said.

Monitors showed extraactivity aroundthe excitementand pleasurecentres of thebrain, dai-ly s tar. c o. u kreported.

“Much totheir surprise,

people often find themselvesdrawn to individuals after mul-tiple encounters, even whenthere was no initial attrac-tion,” said Ravi Thiruchselvam,psychologist at HamiltonCollege. PTI

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Kabul: Taliban destroyed animportant bridge connectingAfghanistan and Tajikistanamid intense fighting in thenorthern Kunduz province, inwhich 16 Taliban rebels died inthe last 24 hours, the AfghanDefence Ministry said onMonday in a statement.

The entire province, espe-cially Kunduz and Takhar, anda part of Kabul, was also leftwithout electricity, said aspokesperson of the nation'spower regulatory authoritybody, Wahidullah Tawhidi.

Around 1,00,000 housesin the capital are at presentwithout power and repair workwas delayed as fighting con-tinues in the region, Tawhidiadded, Efe news reported.

The bridge was among oneof the major transit and tradepoints between Afghanistanand Tajikistan and an impor-tant line of communication.

“The destruction of thebridge affects trade between thecountries as hundreds of trucksand vehicles passed through itevery day,” said Kunduz policespokesperson Hijratullah Akbari.

Last weekend, the Talibantook control of the Khan Abaddistrict for 24-hours, beforethey were repelled. IANS

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Turkey said on Monday theSyrian border region must

be “completely cleansed” fromthe Islamic State (ISIS) group,after a weekend suicide bomb-ing in Gaziantep blamed on thejehadists left at least 54 dead.

In a sign of a key battle tocome, Syrian rebel fightershave amassed on the Turkishside of the border in prepara-tion for an offensive on thetown of Jarablus, ISIS’s lastmajor transit point on theSyrian side of the border.

“Our border must be com-pletely cleansed from Daesh,”Foreign Minister MevlutCavusoglu said in televisedremarks, using an Arabicacronym for ISIS.

“It is our most naturalright to fight at home andabroad against such a terroristorganisation.”

A child suicide bomber,

aged “between 12 and 14”, issuspected of having carried outthe attack late Saturday in thesoutheastern city of Gaziantepnear the Syrian border on theorders of the ISIS jehadis group,according to President RecepTayyip Erdogan.

Cavusoglu said Turkey hasalready taken an “active” role inthe fight against ISIS, allowingcoalition forces to use a key airbase in the south of the countryfor strikes on extremist group.

Quoting security sources,some Turkish media reportedearlier that the Gaziantep attackcould have been retaliation byISIS for an operation carriedout by Ankara-backed Syrianrebels against the jihadists inJarablus, northern Syria.

According to the SyrianObservatory for Human Rights,“hundreds of rebel fighters areinside Turkish territory, prepar-ing to launch an offensive onJarablus against ISIS”.

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If the sheer volume of peopledescending on just concludedIndia Art Fair are any indica-

tion, the art scene in the nation-al Capital is on a major upswing.How much the jamboree is trulyconnecting with whatever’s on dis-play is another story, for now feelgood that it’s seeking somethingout-of-the-box. Even better, theauthorities are heeding to it.

Weeks before the fair, theNew Delhi MunicipalCorporation (NDMC) proposed apublic-private-partnership pro-ject under which artists can pro-duce and sell “live paintings andsculptures” in the Capital. The “artspace with three amphitheatres” islikely to come up in the next twomonths near Rajiv GandhiHandicrafts Bhawan inConnaught Place.

In alignment, the Delhi Metrohas tied up with the India HabitatCentre for “Metro Art”, a three-month long exhibition of pho-tographs, art prints as well as videoand digital works from the colo-nial era. The Delhi Metro has beenexperimenting with public artsince a while now. Last year, theDMRC, the NDMC and theEmbassy of France held a pan-India “Fete de la photo” exhibitionwith works of over 22 photogra-phers.

In a related development, theDelhi Urban Art Commission(DUAC), for its 40th anniversary,is planning a design competitionwhere citizens will be asked toconceptualise something “relatedto the city.” It could be a model, anapp or a video on safety, cleanli-ness or anything related to public

works. A public art initiative is alsoplanned on select street. “There isa plan to introduce public art andlater, a public art network forDelhi”, says a DUAC member.

������������This administrative leaning

towards public art has been in theworks for over a year now. But itwouldn’t have been so strong hadit not been for some sustained cre-ative efforts — by big ticket eventslike India Art Fair as well as littleknown graffiti signatures likeDaku, Pyaaj, Bond who repeated-ly took to public walls to changethe way they looked and read, inan expression of the public mind.Perhaps it was the persistent —though illegal — work done bythese artists on city roads thatactually pushed the envelope.

“Lodhi Gardens was the firstproject for which we approachedthe Delhi government in 2013. Buttheir initial reluctance, which wasunderstandable given the anti-sys-tem reputation of the graffiti sub-culture, gave way once we con-vinced them that what we plannedwas nothing distasteful or contro-versial but something that will givethe park a character. All the 150garbage bins in Lodhi Gardensbecame public canvases for ama-teur and professional artists. Todayit’s a unique public park with artworks conceived, created and dis-played within the premises,” saysYogesh Saini of the Delhi StreetArt which, in a way pioneered thestate’s involvement with streetartists and has been involved withseveral such endeavours since.Transformation of some of the

cities prominent landmarks likethe National Bal Bhavan, ShankarMarket, Nehru Place and theJanak Puri District Centre areamong them.

St. Art festival, another pub-lic art effort, that has worked withthe NDMC, PWD and theLieutenant Governor’s office onsprucing up places like the DelhiPolice HQ, Shahpur Jat, HauzKhas Village and Tihar Jail, in its

first edition last year, is collaborat-ing on refurbishing Khan Marketas well as seven other spots includ-ing women and night shelters, fly-overs, underpasses in 2015. “Thisyear we’ve partnered with govern-ment bodies like the MCD,NDMC, PWD, Department ofWomen and Child Development,Delhi Urban Shelter ImprovementBoard and there’s a marked recep-tiveness for art among them now.

However, some monetary helpwould’ve been equally welcome,”says organiser Haneef Qureshi.

�������������Elaborates OP Mishra, direc-

tor, NDMC, a major partner in allthese ventures, “One per cent ofevery public structure in the cityis towards public art, only itnever gets used because nobodyknows about it. As a public bodythough we do our basic adminis-trative, welfare and culture duties,art some how has been a distor-tion. Our chairman JalajShrivastav thought of giving someattention to the city’s “HappinessQuotient” as well and so theLodhi Gardens project was start-ed as an experiment to find outhow participative the citizens arein art. Following the success ofthat, we started trying it out atother places. This year, we’veopened two subways nearConnaught Place to tribal artistsand in the next step we plan to putup screens in subways wherepeople can vent their creativity ingraffittis. We also plan to get somebudget allocations made for artiststo decorate some open marketspaces. Our history shows thatgreat empires were always greatpatrons of culture. We’re onlyworking towards creating a happycultural atmosphere.” Sums upAlka Pande, curator for “MetroArt”, “The authorities have to besupportive of us. Ultimately we’reall on the same page — we allwant to reach out to the peopleand sensitise them to social, polit-ical, cultural concerns throughvisual imagery.”

Among the countless ways todecorate our homes, the clas-

sic style is certainly one of themost appreciated approaches.Classic furniture is timeless andfills the environment with itscompactness, does relive thewarmth of a time and at the sametime is a sign of prestige andsophistication.

A British furniture brand,known for its classic designslaunched its first store in India.

Occupying two floors of thefour-storey Tarun Vadehra

Interiors showroom, the store hasbrought British heritage alive witha modern energy in the furnitureand home accessories.

Walking into the new galleryfeels like stepping into a differentworld. Queens’s guards welcomedus into the gallery; we could seerose petals on every step we tookas the party got into full swing.

Surrounded by dramatic chan-deliers hanging from rope noos-es, the store is a medley of classicand modern British culture.

“New Delhi has this incredi-

ble blend of rich heritage withmodern vibrancy, it’s that contrastof tradition with innovation that’salso reflected in our designs. NewDelhi’s been evolving over recentyears, people today live a muchmore global lifestyle and want tocome home to somewhere thatinspires them, where they canrelax and connect with familyand friends. It's those ideas that arereally at the heart of our collec-tions”, said Timothy Oulton whowas in the capital for the launch ofhis brand.

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From canvases, installation tosculptors, Krupa Makhija's worksreflect her culture, identity and

lost roots. They cant but reflect pangsof migration for she is also a migrantand still unable to cope with the lostof cultural identity. Hence she has pre-sented ‘Sindhi’, the language that nolonger exists in India after the partitionin 1947, in her works. In ‘map of lostlanguage’ Krupa has created the mapin ‘Sindhi’. “I have used computer keysto make a map of ‘Sindh’. The creationis like an attmept to transform the keysinto the language, but the attempt failsas the keys are defunct. I am trying togive a rebirth to the language throughmy works”, explains the artist.

Talking about how her workstake inspiration from the real life, shesays, “My family migrated fromPakistan during the partition. Mycommunity and language is amongthe constitutional minorities in India.We feel culturally destructed as we lostour language. Being the first genera-tion of the family born in India wehave been grown up with lots of sto-ries on the pre- partition period. Allthese stories are transformed into myworks. I am worried about how cul-tural destruction travels from gener-ation to generation. And as a migrantto the country, through my works, Iattempt to answer the question- we areoutsiders or an insiders. These con-flicts and the complexities that followare the creative fundamentals of myworks.”

The exhibition titled ‘AnAmnesiac’s Memory’, going on at ArtDistrict XIII in Lado Sarai, showcasesworks in different mediums createdduring her three-month stay at theGlenfiddich distillery in the quaint

town of Dufftown, Scotland. Whilesharing about her experience atGlenfiddich, Krupa says that “theworks at the exhibition were createdafter returning from Scotland. MyGlenfiddich residency works arefocused on the history of 'Balveniehouse', which is the house of WillaimGrant, the founder of Balvenie andGlenfiddich distilleries. I have collect-ed fallen pieces of walls and floor plas-ters from there to use in my work, andalso transformed images of buildings-

of their heydays and former occupants-in to my works”.

“Scotland was a great platform tointeract with emerging and contempo-rary artists. I got the opportunity towork with many artists from differentcountries who work with diversemediums which have broadened myvision in many ways. I won the awardfor the works about ‘Cultural Amnesia’,which are also related to my own expe-riences. I prefer the medium which canbest justify my works. For example for

the installation titled ‘DiscardedMemories’ I had collected 2000 switch-es from discarded buildings in Barodaand screwed them to a wooden plank.Six switches out of these are connect-ed to a bulb and a bell that goes off ifyou press the right ones. And these sixswitches have letters on them that spellthe word memory. These switches sig-nify cultural amnesia”, says Krupa, whohas won The Emerging Artist of theYear 2015 Award by Glenfiddich in2015.

Roaming bulls, buffalosbathing, gathering of

pigeons, children besmearedwith mud as they splash inpools in neglected parks, anyimage from a daily life makestheme for Sabya Sachi Ghosh’swork. The rebirth of the imageson canvas make the upcomingshow by the artist titled 'cityanimosity universality andother stories'. The artist,through the drawings, has triedto portray certain interestingaspects of human and animalbehavior that are unlikely to beassociated with cityscapes;which urban people fail tonotice. The artist, in a subtle

way, has depicted the humannature and the way he survivesin society. He has createdhuman gatherings and settle-ments on canvas that is part ofurban landscapes or in simplewords city life.

But Ghosh himself is not acity person. “I am not a cityperson even though I live in anurban sprawl but deep down Ilong for the quiet and the soli-tude an open field of crops offerme. The environment of a cityhas conditioned me to believethat when too many peoplecongregate in one place theyinevitably step on each others'toes metaphorically speaking.

The hustle bustle of people’smovement is a cacophonousaffair. This disharmony as Iwould like to call it is a univer-sal phenomenon and I find thisway of life anachronistictowards the progress of civili-sation and the irony is that manhas made civilisation anddevelopment synonymous with

urbanism. The title of my showexplains how Indian urbanismwould mean to an observingperson”, he says.

The painting titled ‘smilefrom a veil’ is a work on theplay of light on black and yel-low. The veiled woman and herpet dogs are enjoying eachother's company against a yel-

low back ground. The dogs donot see her smiling face nor dowe. Yet we can hear a lot oflaughter emitting from thatsurface. This is a metaphoricalallusion to harmony whichdepends on the seeker, whomone may or may not find it ina city. In another work a groupof pigeons typically representurnabism; watching themreminds of our daily life. Hisartworks manage to capturemoments of joy, suffering, fail-ure, success, fret and fever ofday to day life.

“I am expressing myobservation of city life in myown way without drawing anybuildings. I started working onthis theme a year ago and havedone a series of 31 large can-vases during the time. Theseworks have been developed toshow intense contrast of dark-ness and light, of stillness andnoise, of solitude and crowd,and above all, love and passion”,says Ghosh.

The paintings in this exhi-bition are done on large canvas-es with acrylic colours. Thereare some abstract paintingsalso showcased in order tobreak the monotony on agallery wall. "All my works arewhat I observe and interpreta-tion of the things I see around.I wont be able to create any-thing out of nothingness”, heconcludes.

The show will begin onSeptember 1 at Visual ArtsGallery, India Habitat Centre.

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Utthan Samiti, a socialorganisation, is pre-

senting “Krishna Utsav”to celebrate the birthday ofKrishna on August 24 and25 at Triveni Kala Sangam.On the opening dayNamrrta Raai (kathak) andAjay Prasanna (flute) willperform and on 25 VidhiSharma (vocal) andGaurav Mazumdar (sitar)will be on stage.

The artistes for theshow were selected by apanel of experts. NamrrtaRaai is a renowned kathakexponent, and AjayPrasanna is a musicianwith a great sense of aes-thetics. Vidhi Sharma is atrained vocalist who willrecite Krishna bhajanswhereas GauravMazumdar is a disciple ofpandit Ravi Shankar andhas been performing allover the world for manyyears now.

“The celebration ofJanmashtmi marks thebeginning of the season ofcelebrations and it bringsthe society closer to eachother which is more signif-icant. It is an integral part

of our great civilisationthat we celebrate everyoccasion with music anddance”, says SatendraSingh, Chairman, UtthanSamiti.

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After hopping on the Rapid Metro and cap-turing the cinematographic beauty of the

evolving city, the filmy style on-the-wheelpanoramic extravaganza, GAADI BULAA RAHIHAI, was a treat for Bollywood fans out there.Conceptualised by Kumaon Literary Festival inassociation with Gurgaon Rapid Metro and QuizCraft, the two hour long ride started fromSikanderpur Metro Station.

“There is a great connection betweenBollywood and literature. People like Bimal Roy,Guru Dutt, K. A. Abbas and Gulzar always triedto familiarise the work of the literary figures likePrem Chand and Tagore with the masses of Indiathrough cinema”, said Sumant Batra, founderKumaon Literary Festival. The journey was asentertaining as the 14 reels family drama of aBollywood blockbuster that comprises all ele-ments of wholesome entertainment. “Thefusion of Literature and Cinema always producea great work and a healthy entertainment”, headded.

The ride began with a mind-twisterBollywood Quiz, which was a test for a realBollywood fan. “We didn't expect a lot ofquizzers though but the kind of answers we gotwas phenomenal”, said quizmaster Aditya NathMubayi, who led the Bollywood quiz. Sharinghis experience of the ride, he said, “It was rock-ing and rolling. When everybody is flying offto exotic destinations around the world, it feelsgreat to revisit the scenic and beautiful cities

through train”, he added.After an hour long thrill, the post interval

session was rather musical. Participants sangsongs as the train moved towards end. “Musicis one thing that has always defined Indian cin-ema. We don’t find much of it in the west. Butmusic and songs are the elements that have keptIndian cinema alive and fresh. They tell so manystories”, said Aditya. At the end of the Bollywoodride, Sumant said, “Kumaon Literary Festival ispromoting the emerging talent that aid in cul-tural progress and social consciousness ofcommunities, and these are essential indicatorsfor measuring the happiness quotient, growthand success of its members.”

Raising the bar of Literature, the second ses-sion of Kumaon Literary Fest will be held from11th to 15th October.

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Page 15: event at Rio Olympics during ... The Ganga was flowing above the danger mark ... Jayanti Mahotsav in Kurukshetra from December 6 to 10

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In an unprecedented move, the coun-try's highest sporting award — RajivGandhi Khel Ratna — will be con-

ferred upon four athletes with Olympicmedallists PV Sindhu and Sakshi Malikset to be honoured alongside trail-blaz-ing gymnast Dipa Karmakar and aceshooter Jitu Rai.

The Sports Ministry announced thison Monday.

While shuttler Sindhu created histo-ry by becoming the first female athletefrom India to win a silver in the just-con-cluded Rio Olympics, Sakshi bagged abronze in the 58kg female wrestling.

Dipa, India's first female gymnast toqualify for Olympics, went on to miss abronze by 0.15 points but her clean fin-ish in the high-risk Produnova vault wonthe hearts of the nation.

While Jitu bagged over half a dozenmedals in the past two years, includinggold at Asiad and Commonwealth Gamesand a silver in World Championships,

which booked his ticket to Rio.Besides, the Ministry also selected 15

athletes for this year's Arjuna Award. The notable names in the list are

boxer Shiva Thapa, long distance runnerLalita Babar, cricketer Ajinkya Rahane,hockey players VR Raghunath and RaniRampal among others.

This year's Dronacharya Award hasbeen conferred upon six coaches, themost notable among being Dipa's coachBishweshwar Nandi and India Test teamcaptain Virat Kohli's mentor Raj KumarSharma.

Besides Nandi, others who will hon-oured with the Dhronacharya Award areNagapuri Ramesh (athletics), Sagar MalDhayal (boxing), Pradeep Kumar (swim-ming, lifetime) and Mahabir Singh(wrestling, lifetime).

The Dhyan Chand LifetimeAchievement Award will be given to SattiGeetha (athletics), Sylvanus Dung Dung(hockey) and Rajendra Pralhad Shelke(rowing).

Besides, the Punjabi University of

Patiala will be awarded the Maulana AbulKalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy 2015-16.

The National Sports Awards aregiven every year to recognise and rewardexcellence in sports.

The Khel Ratna Award is given forspectacular and most outstanding perfor-mance in the field of sports by asportsperson over a period of four years.Apart from a medal and a citation, theKhel Ratna Awardee will receive a cashprize of �7.5 lakh.

The Arjuna Award is given for con-sistent performance over four years,while the Dronacharya Award is given tocoaches for producing medal winners atprestigious international sports eventsand the Dhyan Chand Award for lifetimecontribution to sports development.

Arjuna, Dronacharya and DhyanChand Awardees will receive statuettes,certificates and cash prize of �5 lakh each.

The Recipients of Rashtriya KhelProtsahan Puruskar will be given trophiesand certificates.

Overall top performing university in

inter-university tournaments will begiven MAKA Trophy, award money of Rs10 lakh and certificates.

The awardees were selected from alarge number of nominations by a selec-tion committee consisting of formerOlympians, Arjuna Awardees,Dronacharya Awardees, Dhyan ChandAwardees, sports journalists, experts,commentators and sports administrators.

The selection committee for RajivGandhi Khel Ratna Award and ArjunaAwards was headed by Justice SKAgarwal, Retired Delhi High CourtJudge.

The selection committee forDronacharya Awards and Dhyan ChandAwards was headed by Olympian boxerMC Mary Kom, while selection panel forRashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar washeaded by Rajiv Yadav, Secretary (Sports).

The awardees will receive theirawards from the President of India, Mr.Pranab Mukherjee at a specially organ-ised function at the Rashtrapati Bhawanon August 29, 2016.

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Dope-tainted Narsingh Yadav onMonday admitted that his

career would be over if the four-year ban imposed on him by theCourt of Arbitration for Sports(CAS) is not reviewed and said thatthe country should take up his caseas India lost out on an Olympicmedal in 74kg category.

Narsingh was debarred fromrepresenting India at the RioGames in 74kg freestyle wrestlingevent after he was slapped with afour-year ban by CAS for flunkinga dope test following WADA'schallenge to the clean chit given tohim by NADA.

"My career will be over. Incase, my ban is not reviewed, itwould be all over for me," Narsingh

said after arriving in the capital onMonday morning.

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While handing down a four-

year ban on Narsingh Yadav, theCourt of Arbitration for Sportshas ruled that the wrestler failedto produce any "real evidence"regarding the sabotage theory hehad advanced and the balance ofprobabilities" was that he orallytook the banned substanceintentionally in tablet form onmore than one occasion.

In its full award, the ad hocpanel of the CAS relied on expertevidence that Narsingh's dopeoffence was not due to one-timeingestion of the prohibited sub-stance and its concentration in thefirst test result (of June 25) was sohigh that it had to come from anoral ingestion of one or two tabletsof methandienone, rather thanfrom a drink where the powder hadbeen mixed with water.

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The Olympics ended withBrazil having shown twice

in two years that it is capableof hosting the world's biggestsporting events. But was theeffort worth the trouble?

The initial excitement ofknowing Brazil would hostboth the 2014 World Cup andthe 2016 Summer Olympicsturned bittersweet, at best.

There were mass protestsin 2013 against corruption andwhite elephant stadiums for thefootball.

How did Rio de Janeiroand the country as a wholecome out in the end?

"The main legacy of theGames was the party for Rio'speople, who will never forgetthese days," said leadingBrazilian sports analyst JucaKfouri. "But the bill to pay willbe very high."

"Hopefully the Games havealso provided a bit of a lessonfor Brazilian fans, although Idoubt it," Kfouri added, refer-ring to the loud booing at for-eign athletes in everythingfrom tennis to pole vaulting,and even during nationalanthems and medal cere-monies. The glorious days of2009 when the Olympics wereawarded to Rio are a distantmemory.

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Twenty years after a stingingOlympic failure, Britain

has risen from the ashes tobecome a sporting "super-power" typified by the exploitsof cycling lovebirds JasonKenny and Laura Trott.

Kenny won three golds inRio to take his career total tosix. His partner Trott wontwo to double her total fromtwo Olympics.

Rival nations have been

left confounded by Team GB'scool performance with 27golds out of 67 won in Riowhich gave them second place

in the medals table behind theUnited States.

But rather than revolution-ary coaching or technology, itis the National Lottery Fundand good old taxpayer's cashthat has paid off handsomely.

The government and lot-tery fund has spent hundredsof millions of pounds on sport-ing success in the past twodecades. And it has paid off.

UK Sport chief executiveLiz Nicholl declared Sunday:"We are one of those sporting

superpowers now."It was "spectacular" to be

ahead of China in the rankingsthanks to the likes of distancerunner Mo Farah, AndyMurray in tennis, Justin Rose ingolf, boxer Nicola Adams, Trottand Kenny, Max Whitlock andBritain's first ever women'shockey champions.

Britain's Daily Mirrornewspaper called it "Britain'sgolden age". Several paperscalled for a knighthood for theSomali-born Mo Farah.

���������!����� China put a brave face ontheir worst Olympics for 20 years but theywill work hard to make sure they aren'tembarrassed again in 2020 — when theGames are hosted by arch-rivals Japan.

A third-placed finish on the medalstable below the United States and Britain,made for a sobering Games after China tri-umphantly topped the standings at Beijing2008 and finished second in 2012.

"You kidding me? The country whichhas never finished above China is aboutto," spluttered the official Xinhua newsagency, in a tweet that was later removed.

As well as their lowest gold medalstally (26) since Atlanta in 1996, when JiangZemin was president, China were also leftsmarting on a couple of occasions.

Australia rebuffed China's demand foran apology after Mack Horton called swim-ming rival Sun Yang a "drugs cheat", an inci-dent which prompted a furious responsefrom Chinese media and web-users.

Liu Peng, head of China's Olympiccommittee, said China would learn lessonsfrom Rio, when rising standards in otherteams had taken them by surprise.

AFP

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As doping-tainted athletics emerges fromits darkest hour fighting to restore its

credibility, the reality for track and field isthat it will have to cross that rocky roadwithout Usain Bolt.

The Jamaican, who sealed an amazingthird haul of three Olympic sprint goldmedals in Rio, has consistently been a bea-con for clean athletes amid doping and cor-ruption scandals that mired SebastianCoe's first year in officeas IAAF president.

Bolt will com-pete at next year'sworld champi-onships inLondon ashis swansong.

Coe insists,however, that athleticswill endure, telling AFPthat Bolt had transcend-ed his sport in a way thatwas comparable to boxingicon Muhammad Ali.

"The man is a genius," hesaid. "There's been nobodysince Ali who's got remote-ly near to what this guy hasdone in terms of grabbingpublic imagination."

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Rains failed to dampen the famous Riocarnival spirit as this Brazilian city bid

an emotional farewell to the thousands ofathletes of the world in a colourful clos-ing ceremony to bring down curtains onthe 31st Olympic Games here.

International Olympic CommitteePresident Thomas Bach declared theGames closed to mark the official end ofthe 16-day sporting spectacle competedamong more than 11,000 athletes from205 countries in 42 disciplines.

"I declare the Games of the 31stOlympiad closed. In accordance with tra-dition, I call upon the youth of the worldto assemble in four years time in Tokyo,Japan to celebrate the Games of the 32ndOlympiad," Bach said to the huge applauseof the packed gathering at the iconicMaracana Stadium on Sunday night.

This was after the Olympic flag waslowered and handed over to the represen-tative of Tokyo 2020, the next host of theGames. Bach handed over the flag tofemale Governor of Tokyo Yuriko Koike.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abemade a dramatic entry in a high-techshow, a trademark of the far eastern coun-try, during a short but impressive perfor-mance titled 'See You in Tokyo'.

The athletes entered the pitch withGreece coming first according to tradition.

Led by Sakshi Malik, the first Indianwoman wrestler to win an Olympicmedal whose bronze opened the medal

count of two including a silver, the coun-try's contingent also braved the rains asshe stood tall waving the tri-colour.

The honour of bearing the Indian flagcame to Sakshi as silver medalist shuttlerP V Sindhu had left yesterday as about 50Indians, including the men's and women'shockey teams, the wrestlers and boxer duoof Shiva Thapa and Manoj Kumar, par-ticipated in the athletes' parade.

India ended the Games at 67th posi-tion with one silver and a bronze. UnitedStates of America topped the medals tallywith 121 medals (46 Gold, 37 Silver, 38Bronze), followed by Great Britain (27 2317) and China (26 18 26). Host countryBrazil were at 13th position with 7 Gold,6 Silver and 6 Bronze.

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Dipa Karmakar,who finished ahistoric fourth in

gymnastics at the justconcluded Rio Olympics,was today given a rousingwelcome on her returnhome.

Thousands of peoplegathered at the SwamiVivekananda stadiumwaving the tricolour andburst crackers to cheerDipa, the first Indianwoman gymnast to com-pete in Olympics and thefirst to do so in 52 years.

Dipa apologised tothe people for her failureto bring home anOlympic medal butpromised to do so thenext time.

"Before going to RioOlympic I was asked bySports Authority of India(SAI) if I needed foreigntraining under a foreigncoach. I had said Indiancoaches have a lot ofenergy to train their stu-dents. I am very happywith the coaching ofBisweswar Nandi," shesaid. "Shakshi andSindhu, the two whosecured medals in Rioalso have Indian coaches,"she said. Expressing hap-piness over the perfor-mance of womenatheletes from the coun-try in the Olympics, shesaid, "I appeal to all - savethe girl child and encour-age the girl child."Citations were given toDipa by Tripura govern-ment and to Nandi byChief Minister ManikSarkar and sports minis-ter Shahid Chowdhury.

Sarkar announcedthat Dipa, who is now asports officer in thedepartment of Sports andYouth affairs would bepromoted as assistantdirector of the depart-ment and her coach, whois an assistant director,would be promoted asdeputy director. The chiefminister also announcedthat the government hastaken the initiative tomake a world class gym-nasium where Dipawould get all facilities sothat she could equip her-self for the coming com-

petitions."We cannot

deny that infra-structure forgymnastics inTripura is poor.Had there beenbetter infrastruc-ture, it is pre-sumed that Dipacould performbetter inO l y m p i c s , "Sarkar saidadding the thestate governmenthas appealed tothe Centre formore funds tocreate infrastruc-ture for sports.

"Even if theCentre does notallocate funds,we wouldmake a worldclass gymnasi-um for Dipaand other gym-nasts to prac-tice," he said.

T r i p u r aE d u c a t i o nMinister TapanChakrabortya n n o u n c e dthat all schoolsand colleges ofthe state wouldremain closedtomorrow inhonor of Dipa.

Nandi said,"Create betterinfrastructure,I can talk aboutcreating moreDipas. There isno dearth oftalent in gym-nastics in Tripura. Ipromise you that I willwork very hard to seeDipa in the podium inthe next Olympics."

Chowdhury claimedthat Dipa's participationin the Olympics had beenuncertain due to infight-ing in Gymnastics feder-ation.

"One group was ledby the federation presi-dent and the other by itssecretary. We immedi-ately informed the matterto the union sports min-ister and she could final-ly participate," he said.

Meanwhile, Olympicsilver medallist P VSindhu arrived here thismorning to a grand wel-come at Hyderabad

International Airport.Amid scenes of jubi-

lation and loud cheersfrom scores of people,Sindhu, accompanied bycoach Pullela Gopichand,was greeted by her par-ents — P V Ramana andP Vijaya — besidesTelangana Deputy ChiefMinister MohdMahmood Ali, and someministers from Telanganaand Andhra Pradesh.

Later, displaying thesilver medal, she alsowaved to the cheeringcrowds from the open-top-motorcade as theprocession began fromthe airport towardsGachibowli stadium,where the Telangana gov-ernment has organised a

gala felicitation in honourof the star shuttler.

The Telangana gov-ernment had announced�5 crore cash reward forthe 21-year-old, a 1,000square yard housing sitenear the PullelaGopichand BadmintonAcademy in Gachibowliand suitable governmentjob, if she is willing.

Telangana govern-ment had also announcedcash prize of Rs one crorefor Sindhu's coachGopichand.

Cheering crowds,particularly school chil-dren, some with nation-al flags in their handswaved to a beamingSindhu, who seemed tobe basking in glory, at

several road junctionsalong with route to thestadium where excite-ment was in the air.

School children heldbanners hailing the bad-minton star, who caughtthe imagination of thecountry with her superbrun at Rio, and raised slo-gans 'PV Sindhu Pride ofIndia', and some of themalso showered flowerpetals on the motorcade.

A celebratory moodprevailed at the stadium,where an enthusiasticcrowd, mostly school andcollege students, gath-ered, amidst beating ofdrums by traditional'Dappu' dance artistes, asTelangana governmentmade it a point to make

the event a memorableone.

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PV Sindhu is beingclaimed by both AndhraPradesh and Telangana astheir own, but theOlympic silver medal-list's mentor PullelaGopichand on Mondaysaid that "she belongs" toIndia.

When a reportersought Sindhu's views onthe bragging rights,Gopichand jumped in totry and put an end to theregional controversy bysimply stating, "Well, Ican only say she (Sindhu)belongs to India."

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Half-centuries from AaronFinch and skipper Steve

Smith helped Australia pull offa tricky chase to defeat aresilient Sri Lanka by threewickets in the first One-dayInternational here on Monday.

Australia, who sufferedtheir first series whitewashagainst the hosts in the threeTests, chased down 228 in 46.5overs at the R. PremadasaStadium to lead the five-matchODI series 1-0.

Pacers James Faulkner andMitchell Starc, who became thefastest to reach 100 wickets in

his 52nd match, also playedtheir part with seven wicketsbetween them after Australiaelected to bowl.

Opener Finch, who scoreda quickfire 56, gave Australia abrisk start despite the earlywicket of David Warner, whowas out for eight after a scratchy17-ball stay at the crease.

Finch took on the SriLankan bowlers with ease as heregularly cleared the infield tonotch up seven boundariesand two sixes. Earlier half-cen-turies from Kusal Mendis andDinesh Chandimal helped SriLanka post 227 for eight intheir 50 overs.

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The BCCI will be holding itsAnnual General Meeting

on September 21 as per its exist-ing constitution and is expect-ed to wait for the Review peti-tion verdict before getting intothe implementation phase ofthe Lodha Committee Reforms.

"The BCCI will have itsAGM in Mumbai onSeptember 21. It will be held asper the existing constitution,"BCCI president Anurag Thakurtold reporters after its workingcommittee meeting here.

However, the validity of theAGM will depend on theLodha Committee as it canterm the meeting null andvoid as per the Supreme Courtverdict passed on July 18.

Asked about filing of thefirst compliance report to thecommittee on the 11-pointreform implementation, Thakursaid: "We have already filed areview petition. The state asso-ciations have been supplied with

the document given to us by thethree-member committee."

However, Thakur, whorecently attended the AsianCricket Council Meeting inColombo, said the continental

body has expressed concernsabout outside interference.

"In a recent meeting of theACC, concerns were expressedabout outside interference inBoards like Nepal, Sri Lankaand BCCI. The ACC askedabout the possible implica-tions of such interference,"said the BJP MP fromHimachal Pradesh.

Speaking to the membersof the Working Committee, itwas learnt that implementa-tions will be awaited but aCompliance report will be filed.

"We will be awaiting theverdict of Review Petition. Theimplementation part starts afterthat. Obviously a ComplianceReport will be submitted to theCommittee with relevantdetails. As far as theConstitutional amendments ofstate associations are con-cerned, it will be only doneafter the BCCI constitution isamended," a senior officialfrom a state association toldPTI post meeting.

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