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In an emerging newtrend in terrorismin Jammu &Kashmir, ex-terror-ists who returned

through Nepal andsurrendered in Jammu& Kashmir over theyears have now joinedterrorism again. Thesecurity agenciesidentified at least sixsuch cases recently

and advised the J&KPolice and its CrimeI n v e s t i g a t i o nDepartment, besidesthe Army, to keep tabson ex-terrorists in

their respective

operational theatres. Reports said that surren-

dered terrorist MohamamdIqbal Ganie, resident ofNowpora, Doru, Anantnag,joined Lashkar-e-Tayyeba(LeT) on May 5, 2018.

In the past, ex-terroristGhulam Ahmed Sofi, alias JaniBaba, resident of Jahama,Baramullah, was arrested by theArmy and Special OperationsGroup (SOG), Baramullah, ofthe Jammu & Kashmir Police .

Ex-terrorists likeMohammad Shafeeq Bhat,Diarwani, Batmaloo and Rahi-ul-Amin Dar of Qazogund,Kulgam, are back on the radarsof the security agencies.

Bhat, resident of Diarwani,Batmaloo, Srinagar, is a sur-rendered ex-terrorist and had

come to India via Nepal in 2001.He had been noticed providingshelter to terrorists in Batmaloo.

Another case is that ofRahi-ul-Amim Dar, alias Asifof Veesu, Kazigund, Kulgam,who had rejoined terrorism(2010-Hizbul Mujahideen) andwas later killed in an encounter.

Yet another case in point isthat of Sajad Ahmed Bhat, res-

ident of Wayan, Pampore,Pulwama, who was found to bean overground worker (OGW)of Pakistan-based terror groupJaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).

“Member agencies, espe-cially, CID, JKP (Jammu &Kashmir Police) and the Armyare requested to provide us thedetails of such cases (surren-dered terrorists re-joining ter-

rorism) available with them,”reads an Intelligence report.

The trend is being takenseriously and a detailed exercisehas been undertaken to ascer-tain more such cases so thatremedial measures can betaken. The surrendered ter-rorists get benefits under therehabilitation packages andtheir coming back to the terror

fold implies that they are fight-ing the forces from funds beingmade available to them underthe Government amnestyschemes, a senior securityagency official said.

The return of the ex-ter-rorists to terror activities ismatter of serious concern forthe security agencies becausethese hardcore terrorists havewell-established links acrossthe border. These terroristsare well trained in terror activ-ities and can provide bothlogistical support and strategicinputs to foreign ultras enter-ing into the country.

The Union Home Ministryhas been opposed to keepingNepal as a “designated” routefor return of these “terrorists”from Pakistan-occupied

Kashmir under the J&KGovernment’s surrender andrehabilitation policy in forcesince 2010. This is mainlybecause ultras have been usingNepal as an informal transitroute to re-enter India alongwith their families, and asNepal becomes designatedroute they could be spotted bythe ISI and targeted whilereturning to India.

Around 450 terrorists havereturned from POK to India viaNepal even though under thesurrender policy it does notentitle them to any benefit. Incontrast, a few ultras have re-entered India via the threedesignated routes: Salamabad,Chakanda-Bagh and IndiraGandhi International Airport,Delhi.

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Starting his speech by payingtribute to Pandit DeendayalUpadhyaya on his jayanti andsaying that Upadhayaya’sthoughts are an an inspirationfor the BJP, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Tuesdayaccused the Congress of look-ing for support outside thecountry, in a veiled reference toPakistan whose former Ministerrecently tweeted in favour ofRahul Gandhi.

In an apparent reference tothe corruption allegations overthe Rafale fighter jet deal, Modiaccused the Congress ofindulging in mud-slingingagainst the Government, sayingthe Opposition party found iteasier than debating issues like

development.Addressing a rally here

ahead of Madhya PradeshAssembly polls, along with BJPchief Amit Shah, Modislammed vote-bank politicsand the practice of triple talaq.

The Congress has beenreduced from 440 seats in theLok Sabha to 44 seats due its“arrogance” but it is still notready to introspect or correctitself, he said.

“What a condition the 125-year-old Congress been reducedto! Nothing remains in theCongress... You need to look forthe Congress party with amicroscope now,” he said at therally also addressed by MadhyaPradesh Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan.

BJP president Amit Shah

said the process of evicting ille-gal infiltrators from the coun-try will not stop. Referring tothe NRC, Shah said, “Theprocess to evict illegal infiltra-tors will not stop, irrespectiveof the Congress’ opposition.”The recently published NRChas identified 40 lakh as illegalimmigrants, he added.

Mocking the Congress,Modi said the party has beenreduced to such a conditionthat it is “begging” with smallparties for alliances.

He went on to add, “Evenif they get allies, the coalitionwill not be successful. So, they(Congress) are looking for sup-port from outside India...Now,will some countries decidewho will become the PrimeMinister of India?”

He was apparently refer-ring to a tweet by formerPakistan Interior MinisterRehman Malik, who had saidRahul Gandhi will be next PMof India if he follows “Jet Gate”(Rafale deal) properly.

Modi asked, “Congress,what has happened to you?Have you lost (mental) bal-ance after losing power?”

At the rally seen as launchof poll campaign, the PrimeMinister said vote-bank poli-tics, like termites, has destroyedthe country.

Apparently referring to thecharges of corruption beinglevelled by the Congress in theRafale fighter deal, the PrimeMinister said, “They (Congress)are indulging in mud-slingingbecause they find it easier.”

He said the Congress hadindulged in “mud-slinging”earlier too. “But I want to tellthem, the more you throwmud at us, the more the lotus(BJP’s symbol) will bloom,” headded. Modi said the Congress’attempts to defame him in thelast two decades haven’tworked.

“Ever since I came into pol-itics in 2001, you (Congress)have used all your strength tohurl abuses at me. There wouldnot be a single abuse left in thedictionary now,” he said.

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Congress president RahulGandhi on Tuesday con-tinued to attack the ModiGovernment on the contro-versial Rafale deal and assert-ed that more facts on the “dubi-ous” deal should be expected inthe coming days. “This is thebeginning, there will be morefun ahead,” Rahul said, address-ing the media at his Lok Sabhaconstituency Amethi.

The Congress has beenattacking the ModiGovernment over an offsetagreement signed by Rafalemanufacturer Dassault withAnil Ambani’s RelianceGroup. Rahul, through socialmedia Twitter handle, alsostated that he understands thepain of jawans, Air Force offi-cers, the families of martyredpilots as well as HindustanAeronautics Limited (HAL)workers, and will work tobring to justice all those whodishonoured them.

“To every Air Force officerand jawan who has servedIndia. To the family of everymartyred Indian fighter pilot.To every person whoeverworked for HAL. We hear yourpain. We understand how youfeel. We will bring to justice allthose who dishonoured andstole from you,” he said onTwitter.

Reminding his constituentsthat an HAL unit was locatedin Amethi district, Rahul reit-erated the charge that an offsetdeal wrongly went to AnilAmbani’s Reliance groupinstead of the public sectorHAL. “The youth shouldunderstand that employmentopportunities have beensnatched from HAL and fromyou all. The truth will be before

you and you can judge,” he said.“The youth should pay

attention. Anil Ambani hasnot made an aircraft all his life.He floats a company just 10days before and gets the con-tract,” Rahul claimed.

“Narendra Modi becomesthe Prime Minister and the�526-crore aircraft is boughtfor �1,600 crore,” he claimed.Rahul also recalled the recentrow over former FrenchPresident Francois Hollande’sreported claim that the Indianside insisted that Dassault pickthe Ambanis as their localpartner.

The Congress also rejectedBJP’s claim that Rahul wantedthe Rafale deal scrapped to helpa firm linked to his brother-in-

law Robert Vadra and said theModi Government wasresponding to the alleged“scam” with abuses and mud-slinging.

The BJP has alleged theCongress president is involvedin a “conspiracy, internation-ally” and former FrenchPresident Francois Hollandewas part of the “nexus” to sab-otage the Rafale deal.

Union Minister GajendraShekhawat had dragged theGandhi family into the inten-sifying political row over thefighter aircraft deal, allegingthat the UPA Government hadcalled off the multi-billion dol-lar deal after a private compa-ny linked to Vadra was not cho-sen as a broker.

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Recurring downpour inDelhi has washed awaydangerous pollutants from theair, ensuing in the most cleanair quality of this year in thenational Capital on Tuesday. Itwas the third time in the yearthat the Air Quality Index wasregistered as “Good”.

According to the System ofAir Quality and WeatherForecasting and Research insti-tute (SAFAR), the Air QualityIndex (AQI) was recorded at38, the lowest this year.

An AQI in the range of 0-50 is considered “good”, 51-100“satisfactory”, 101-200 “mod-erate”, 201-300 “poor”, 301-400 “very poor” and 401-500“severe”.

Last Saturday, the AQI was48, while on July 28 it was 43.The PM10 level was recorded

as “good” at 37 in NCR and 35in Delhi.

The PM 2.5 level was 19 inNCR and 18 in Delhi, accord-ing to the Central PollutionControl Board data.

Meanwhile, Union

Environment Minister DrHarsh Vardhan claimed theimprovement is the fruitfulresult of the UnionGovernment’s endeavour.

“With the concerted effortsof the Government, the Air

Quality Index of Delhi hasimproved during the last threeyears. The ‘Good’ to ‘Moderate’categories days have increasedfrom 99 in 2016 to 142 in 2017,and 147 till September 24,” saidthe Union Minister.

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In the wake of ongoing seal-ing of shops in the NationalCapital and no visible attemptby the Government agencies tode-seal the shops sealed inDecember last year, theConfederation of All IndiaTraders (CAIT) on Tuesdayannounced “Delhi TradeBandh” on September 28. Thebandh has been called todemand immediate promulga-tion of an Ordinance to stopsealing in Delhi.

Prominent markets ofDelhi, including ConnaughtPlace, Chawri Bazar, ChandniChowk, Bhagirath Place,Sadar Bazar, Kashmiri Gate,Pahar Ganj, Karol Bagh,Kamla Nagar, Rohini, marketsof North Delhi, SouthExtension, Greater Kailash,Amar Colony will remainclosed on Friday.

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The CBI has asked Interpol’sNigeria wing to confirm ifabsconding promoter ofVadodara-based SterlingBiotech Nitin Sandesara,wanted in �5,300 crore bank-ing fraud, has moved there.

The CBI poser to theInterpol comes after reportssuggested that Sandesaraalong with his family mem-bers have fled from the UAEto Nigeria. India does nothave any extradition treatywith Nigeria.

In October 2017, the CBIhad booked Sterling Biotech,its directors Chetan JayantilalSandesara, Dipti ChetanSandesara, RajbhushanOmprakash Dixit , NitinJayantilal Sandesara and VilasJoshi, chartered accountantHemant Hathi, Andhra Bankex-director Anup Garg.

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With the common mansuffering due to the fuelprices hitting an all-time timehigh in the country, the fivenorthern States of New Delhi,Haryana, Himachal, Punjab,Uttar Pradesh and the unionterritory of Chandigarh onTuesday decided to constitutea sub-committee of seniorofficers to come out with astrategy to ensure uniformityof fuel prices in these Statesand give a relief to the gener-al public.

The meeting was attendedby Delhi’s Deputy ChiefMinister and Finance MinisterManish Sisodia, HaryanaFinance Minister Capt.Abhimanyu, Punjab FinanceManpreet Singh Badal andsenior officers from other Statesand UT Chandigarh here.

While the BJP led CentralGovernment and other BJPled State Governments haveremained under fire for highfuel prices, Congress led

Punjab Government has alsomaintained that the State can-not afford to forego revenuefrom value added tax (VAT) on petrol.

The Opposition parties inthe State of Haryana, whichhosted the conference ofFinance Ministers on Tuesday,had been demanded slashingVAT on petrol and diesel. TheCongress has alleged that theHaryana Government hasincreased VAT on petrol anddiesel from 21.5 to 26.25 per-cent and 9.24 to 17.22 per centrespectively since 2014.

The Congress has alsoalleged that while the prices ofcrude oil are falling in the inter-national market, the prices ofdiesel and petrol have sky-rocketed in the country.

The representatives of fiveState Governments and UTChandigarh during Tuesday’smeeting held detailed discus-sion for fixing a uniform ratefor value added tax (VAT) onpetrol and diesel.

Continued on Page 4

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After incessant rains forthree days in HimachalPradesh, which triggered flashfloods in some areas, it waslargely dry weather on Tuesdaygiving much needed relief tothe people who had been bat-tling the bad weather.

The Indian MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) on Tuesdaypredicted dry weather for thehill State from Wednesday

onwards, a much-neededrespite. At least eight peoplehave been killed in rain-relat-ed incidents in the state sinceSunday.

The monsoon activity,which was vigorous in in thestate on Monday, remainedless active on Tuesday, Director,Meteorological Centre Shimla,Manmohan Singh said. Theweather will generally remaindry in the state fromWednesday onwards, he added.

Earlier in the day, an offi-cial said around 300 people,including 45 IIT Roorkee stu-dents, stranded in various partsof Lahaul and Spiti district,were safe.

Following the snowfall, theRohtang Pass and inner roadsgot blocked due to which about300 people, including the stu-dents, who were on a trekkingexpedition, got stranded,Keylong Sub DivisionalMagistrate Amar Negi said.

He said two Indian AiForce (IAF) helicopters havebeen sought from the stategovernment to rescue them.

The MeT said rainfalloccurred at most places overthe state in the morning andsnowfall at isolated places intribal Lahaul and Spiti district.The administrative centre ofLahaul-Spiti, Keylong, received55 cm and 35 cm snow onSeptember 23 and September24, respectively, it added.

Meanwhile, as per datarecorded Tuesday at 8.30 am,Una received 142 mm of rain-

fall in the last 24 hours. Thestate capital, Shimla, witnessed53.3 mm of rain during thesame period.

Very heavy rainfalloccurred at isolated places inBilaspur and Hamirpur dis-tricts, whereas heavy rainfalllashed isolated places in Solan,Kullu and Mandi districts inthe last 24 hours, The MeTsaid.

Keylong continued to bethe coldest area in the state withlowest temperature of 0.2degrees Celsius.

The highest temperature inthe state, 24.2 degrees Celsius,was recorded in Chamba, theMeT said.

Jhandutta in the statereceived a rainfall of 190 mm,followed by Naina Devi 180mm, Mehre 133 mm,Hamirpur 105 mm, Dharmpur96 mm, Banjar 94 mm,Sarkaghat 87 mm and Gohar

80 mm since Monday.Meanwhile issuing a flood

warning, the Bhakra BeasManagement Board (BBMB)said excess up to 49,000 cusecsof water from Pong Dam inKangra district would bereleased on Tuesday. The reser-voir level in Pong Dam, alsoknown as Beas Dam, is inchingtowards the danger level of1,390 feet. The water level ofthe Dam has already reached1,389 feet at 10 am on Tuesday,it added.

The residents of low-lyingareas in the state and adjoiningPunjab should remain vigi-lant, it said, adding that the offi-cials have been asked to makeall kinds of preparations.

Schools were closed forthe second consecutive day onTuesday in Kangra, Kullu andHamirpur districts as a pre-cautionary measure, officialssaid.

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Himachal Chief Minister JaiRam Thakur on Tuesdayvisited Kullu to take first handinformation on the spot aboutthe losses, rehabilitation andrescue operations being under-taken by the State Governmentkeeping in view the incessantand heavy rains in the State ingeneral and Kullu district inparticular for the last few days.He also took aerial survey ofthe Lahaul valley uptoChandertal to access the dam-ages caused due to untimelysnow.

Thakur said the State hassuffered a loss of over Rs. 1230crore excluding the recent loss-es due to heavy rains in theState for the last four days. Hesaid that the State Governmenthas urged the UnionGovernment to provide liber-al assistance to the StateGovernment and Rs. 200 croreas immediate relief for under-taking relief, restoration andrehabilitation works.

The Chief minister said thestate government at its own hasreleased Rs. 230 crores forrehabilitation works. In addi-tion to this, the State

Government has decided torelease Rs. 30 crore to Kulludistrict for undertaking main-tenance of roads, bridges andother infrastructure.

He said that on his requestthree helicopters of Indian AirForce has been provided by theUnion Government for evacu-ating the tourists and all thosestranded in Lahaul valley dueto untimely and unpredictedheavy snowfall. He said that theUnion Government hasassured all possible help and ifrequired more choppers wouldbe made available for the res-cue of stranded people.

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As part of year-long cele-brations of the Sikhs’ firstmaster Guru Nanak Dev’s550th birth anniversary, PunjabGovernment would undertakean extensive plantation drive byplanting 550 saplings in everyvillage of the state bySeptember 30, next.

Announcing the decision,Chief Minister Capt AmarinderSingh on Tuesday appealed tothe people to join the drive,underlining the need to plantmore trees to make Punjabclean, green and pollution free.

He asked the people tocome forward for making thisplantation drive a grand successas this gigantic task could notbe accomplished without theiractive support and participa-tion.

“Nearly 66 lakhs saplings ofseasonal trees would be plant-ed in all 12,700 villages, which

would be provided free of cost,”he said.

Capt Amarinder said thatthe Departments of Forestsand Rural Development andPanchayats, as the nodaldepartments, had been entrust-ed the task of supplying 550saplings to the each of the vil-lages under this year-longdrive, beginning fromSeptember 30.

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Haryana Cabinet on Tuesdayapproved a proposal toprovide monthly financial assis-tance in the form of pension toacid attack victims.

"Financial Assistance toWomen and Girl Acid AttackVictims Scheme” wasapproved by the cabinet underwhich a monthly pension to awoman or girl acid attack vic-tim will be provided to allowher a continuous source ofincome throughout her life.

Under the scheme, anywoman or girl victim facingacid attack on or after May 2,2011 will be eligible for thebenefits of the scheme. Thefinancial assistance will begiven on the basis of the per-centage of disability. On 40-50per cent disability, 2.5 times ofDivyang pension, 51 to 60 percent, 3.5 times of Divyangpension and more than 61 percent, 4.5 times of Divyangpension.

The cabinet which metunder the chairmanship ofChief Minister Manohar Lalhere also reviewed theprogress of implementation ofUjwal Discom AssuranceYojna (UDAY) scheme inHaryana power Discoms- theUttar Haryana Bijli VitranNigam (UHBVN) andDakshin Haryana Bijli VitranNigam (DHBVN).

The cabinet also approvedthe Har yana MataBhimeshwari Devi Mandir(Ashram) Beri Shrine Act,2018 for the better manage-ment of the shrine.

“Har yana Cabinetapproved to amend theHaryana Development andRegulation of Urban AreasRules, 1976 to enable mainte-nance of town-wise EDC

Account. The amendment hasbeen made for making anenabling provision regardingmaintenance of a town-wiseEDC account and for utilisingthe amount collected towardsexternal development worksfor such town alone,” said anofficial spokesman.

The Chief MinisterManohar Lal had made anannouncement in this regardrecently.

While reviewing UDAYscheme, the cabinet placed onrecord its appreciation forunprecedented reduction inaggregate technical and com-mercial (AT&C) losses by theHar yana Discoms andremarkable achievement inachieving financial turn-around in FY 2017-18 byeliminating the gap betweenaverage cost of supply andaverage revenue return, thespokesman said.

It also congratulated theUHBVN and DHBVN forbeing ranked 10th and 13thbest performing utilitiesamong 42 Discoms in 6thAnnual Integrated Ratingissued by Ministry of Power

The cabinet was informedthat the Discoms haveachieved 20.29 per cent reduc-tion in AT&C losses as againstthe target of 20.04 per cent inthe year 2017-18 and 25.43per cent as against the targetof 24.02 per cent in the year2016-17, thus showing signif-icant reduction in AT&C loss-es over a period of two yearswhich constitutes 5.14 percent and 4.40 per cent.

Similarly, the line losses inrural areas have been reducedfrom 69 per cent in financialyear 2016-17 to 60 per cent infinancial year 2017-18 and inurban areas from 20 per centin financial year 2016-17 to 15

per cent in financial year2017-18.

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The State Government hasdecided to revise the fee forregistration of non – testa-mentary documents relatingto immovable property. Therates of registration fees werelast time revised on November6, 2006 according to which themaximum rate of registrationfee is Rs 15000 if the value ofconsideration in money termsis exceeding Rs 25 lakh.

As per the revised rates, ifthe registration of non – tes-tamentary documents suchas exceeds Rs 25 lakh but doesnot exceed Rs 30 lakh, the ratewill be Rs 15000. If it exceedsRs 30 lakh but does notexceed Rs 40 lakh, then therevised rate would be Rs20000 and it would be Rs

25000, if the money termsexceeds Rs 40 lakh but doesnot exceed Rs 50 lakh. If itexceeds Rs 50 lakh but doesnot exceed Rs 60 lakh, the

revised rate would be Rs30000, and similarly, it would50000, if it exceeds Rs 90 lakh.

It had become necessaryto increase the rates of regis-

tration fee in order to aug-ment the state revenue tomeet the increased develop-ment expenditure and to feedthe expenditure of registrationdepartment, a spokesmansaid.

Non testamentary docu-ments relating to immovableproperty are instrument ofsale, gift, mortgages, sale cer-tificates, rent or lease deed,collaboration agreement, deedof exchange of property, deedof settlement and deed ofpartition, he added.

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The cabinet approved the

Haryana Mata BhimeshwariDevi Mandir (Ashram) BeriShrine Act, 2018 for the bet-ter management, administra-tion and governance of MataBhimeshwari Devi Mandir(Ashram), Beri and its endow-ments including the landsand buildings attached orappurtenant to the Shrine.

Shree Bhimeshwari DeviMandir (Ashram) Beri is anancient temple and about 5-6lakh pilgrims all over Haryanaand neighbouring states cometo the temple every year to paytheir obeisance to the deity.Two big fairs during Navratrasare held annually inBhimeshwari Devi MataMandir at Beri in Jhajjar.

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Haryana Cabinet on Tuesdayapproved the PanchgramDevelopment Bill, 2018 fordeveloping five new cities overan area of 50,000 hectares oneach side of the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) express-way. Panchgram DevelopmentAuthority will be constituted asthe Apex Body for policy mak-ing, development and regulationfor the development ofPanchgram Region.

The cabinet approved theconcept of the PanchgramRegion and developing fivecities on the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) expressway on50,000 hectares each side of theexpressway which would covereight districts of the state name-ly Sonipat, Rohtak, Jhajjar,

Gurugram, Rewari, Mewat,Faridabad and Palwal. While theentire vacant area between theKMP expressway and Delhihas been included in the cities,the area on the outer side variesdepending on the developmentpotential, said an officialspokesman.

He said that the HaryanaState Industrial andInfrastructure DevelopmentCorporation(HSIIDC) has ini-tiated the process for hiring aworld class consultancy firmthrough a global tender forundertaking the master plan.

Urbanization of the regionalong the KMP e-way isinevitable. It is estimated thataround 50 per cent of the totalpopulation of India will beresiding in urban areas by 2050.In case of Haryana, urban pop-

ulation will reach 50 per centmark before 2040, he said.

The cabinet also approvedthe collection of toll on 6-laneKundli-Manesar section ofKundl i -Manesar-Pa lwa lexpressway project.

The work on the Kundli-Manesar section is likely to becompleted by October 31 andthe toll on this section is to belevied immediately after actualcompletion of the work, thespokesman said.

The toll points on which thetoll fee will be levied initiallyincluded toll plaza at villageAbbaspur and village Pipli inSonipat district, at villageMandhoti and village Badli indistrict Jhajjar and at villagesnamely Sultanpur, Patli-Hazipurand Mokalwas/Fazliwas in dis-trict Gurugram, he added.

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Asum of �3 crore in thedenomination of demone-tized currency of �500 and�1,000 have been gathering dustin Malkhana (abditory),Panchkula court and lookers ofTreasury office, Panchkula.

Due to the laxity ofPanchkula Police, the said oldcurrency notes were notexchanged or deposited in bankafter demonetisation announcedon November 8, 2016,

The old currency was caseproperty seized in various casesof gambling, thefts and othersbefore demonetisation.

A letter has now been writ-ten by the chief judicial magis-trate cum secretary, DLSA, VivekGoyal to the Panchkula DCP,Abhishek Jorwal to initiateappropriate action for depositingthe old currency notes lying inthe Malkhana, Panchkula Courtsor in the lockers of treasury.

“The matter is of greatfinancial importance to thestate exchequer and involveshuge money of the claimants.Therefore, you are requestedto look into the matter onurgent basis and submit reportto the DLSA office within 15days positively,” the letter ofCJM stated.

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After three days of incessantrains in Punjab andHaryana, dry weather pre-vailed in the two states onTuesday, the MeteorologicalDepartment here said.

Heavy rains in the region,that had hit normal life, arefeared to have caused damageto kharif crops at some placesin Punjab and Haryana.

A MeT department officialsaid mainly dry weather pre-vailed at most places in Punjaband Haryana.

The weatherman has pre-dicted dry weather over thenext three days barring lightrains at isolated places.

Chandigarh, the joint cap-ital of the two states, is expect-ed to witness overcast condi-tions over the next three daysand mainly clear skies there-after.

Meanwhile, the maximumtemperatures hovered a fewnotches below normal limits atmost places in the region onTuesday.

Chandigarh recorded a

high of 30.7 degrees Celsius.In Haryana, Ambala

recorded a high of 30.7 degreesCelsius, two notches belownormal limits while Bhiwani'smaximum temperature settledat 28 degrees Celsius, down fivenotches. Hisar's maximumtemperature settled at 28.2degrees Celsius, down sevendegrees while Karnal's maxi-mum temperature was record-ed at 28 degrees Celsius, fourbelow normal limits.

In Punjab, Amritsarrecorded a high of 30.1 degreesCelsius, down three notches.

Ludhiana registered a max-imum temperature of 30.2degrees Celsius, down threedegrees while Patiala recordeda high of 30.6 deg C, twonotches below normal limits.

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Even as the efforts are beingmade by the Aam AadmiParty (AAP) high commandto win over its disgruntledand sacked leaders in thewake of prevailing turmoil theparty is facing in Punjab, its‘rebel’ faction on Tuesdaydeclared that none of themhave been approached “sofar”.

In fact, it has decided totake the initiative, and resolvethe issue but on its own terms.The rebel faction, comprisingeight out of total 20 MLAs ledby Sukhpal Singh Khaira, hasset up a five-member com-mittee to resolve the internaldifferences within AAP’sPunjab unit.

“Despite announcementsin the media, none of theseven MLAs with me havebeen approached so far,” saidKhaira.

Making an announce-ment to this effect, Khairasaid that the five committeemembers — includingKanwar Sandhu, Nazar SinghMansahia, Baldev Singh,Jagdev Singh (all MLAs) and

Suresh Sharma — will holddiscussions with other mem-bers to resolve the differ-ences over autonomy for thestate unit and other matters.

At the same time, it hasbeen made amply clear thatthe basis of talks, if any, withAAP leadership will be “onthe basis of six resolutionspassed at the AAP’sVolunteers’ Convention atBathinda on August 2”.

AAP ‘rebel’ faction cameinto being soon after Khairawas unceremoniouslyremoved from the post of theLeader of Opposition inVidhan Sabha, while replac-ing him with Dirba MLAHarpal Singh Cheema “with-out consulting all the partyMLAs”.

Khaira was backed byseven MLAs, and the groupraised the demand for com-plete autonomy to party’sstate unit.

At Bathinda convention,convened by Khaira-led fac-tion, six resolutions werepassed including declaringAAP’s Punjab unit free fromDelhi bosses, dissolving cur-rent organizational structurein the state, and setting up a

new one for which it has setup an eight-member politicalaffairs committee (PAC).

The divide between thetwo has become so apparentthat the party is being run bytwo parallel power centres —one led by Khaira and otherowing allegiance to DelhiDurbar.

Seeing AAP’s declininggraph in Punjab, AAP haschalked out a strategy to winover its displeased-cum-rebelleaders including the formerstate party convener SuchaSingh Chhotepur.

As a part of the same, theparty has approachedChhotepur, who had floatedhis own party — Apna PunjabParty (APP) — ahead 2017Punjab assembly electionsafter being expelled on cor-ruption charges. During hismeeting with Harpal SinghCheema and AAP state co-president Dr Balbir Singh,Chhotepur lashed out at theDelhi leadership while alsobacking Khaira-led faction;sdemand for autonomy.

The party’s senior leaderSanjay Singh had also metparty’s Patiala MP DrDharamvira Gandhi, who has

been under suspension since2015 for “anti-party activities”but vigorously raising Punjab-related issues in theParliament. However, DrGandhi too batted for auton-omy for the state unit.

It was also announcedthat efforts would be made towin over its rebel MLASukhpal Singh Khaira andthe seven legislators support-ing him. But, Khaira’s state-ment has put a question markof AAP leadership’s commit-ment to resolve prevailinginfighting.

Party has total of four

MPs from Punjab, out ofwhich two — Dr Gandhi andHarjinder Singh Khalsa —have been placed under sus-pension since 2015. Out oftotal of 20 MLAs in theVidhan Sabha, eight haverevolted against the party.

The division has createdconfusion among the partycadre as the rebel faction hasset up its own political affairscommittee, and an ad-hocstate executive headed byKhaira, besides undoing thedecision of the state AAPunit and projecting itself asthe “real AAP”.

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The second edition of Punjab’sMilitary Literature Festival (MLF)will be held from December 7 to 9 withschool and college students to be active-ly involved in the programme.

The decision was taken at a meet-ing chaired by senior advisor to PunjabChief Minister Lt General (retired) TSShergill on Tuesday.

Shergill underlined the need toinvolve students in all the proposedevents to expose them to the sacrificesmade by the armed forces besidesencouraging them to join the forces.

“The festival is aimed at invokingpatriotism amongst the youth, andgive them exposure to the rich militaryhistory of Punjab,” he said while point-ing out that the Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh, who himself is a mil-itary historian, had set the tone for theevent by underlining the importance of

focusing on youth.Top military thinkers, authors, his-

torians, curators, defense experts fromvarious parts of the country wereexpected to participate in the uniqueevent to make it a great success.

Giving details of the event, Shergillsaid that the main event had been

scheduled for December 7 to 9, to bepreceded by many curtain raisers to beheld in Chandigarh and Patiala tobuild the momentum for grand finalewhich would include a polo match,para-drop display, youth shooting andarchery competition, to be held inPatiala from October 26-28.

Among other things, the pre-mainfestival events to be held in Chandigarhinclude Children Military ThemesPhotographs Competition, Para MotorDisplay, Air Force Display andSkydiving Display, Equitation Tattooand Saragarhi Light and Sound Show,Military Equipment Display.

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Haryana Government onTuesday said that it hastaken various steps for creatingpeace and harmony in the soci-ety and to deter the individualsfrom taking law into theirhands in view of the incidentsof lynching and mob violence.

The commissioners ofpolice and superintendents ofpolice have been designated asnodal officers to investigatesuch cases, said an officialspokesman.

Only a day before, theSupreme Court had pulled upthe Centre and the states overthe issue of cow vigilantism andmob killings. The Apex Courthad on Monday also soughtresponse from the states oncompensation for the familiesof mob killing victims.

The Centre and the StateGovernments were also askedto give wide publicity within aweek on how mob violence ofany kind will invite seriousconsequence under the law.

Notably, the incidents oflynching of 31-year-old Rakbar

in July this year and 17-year-oldJunaid Khan in June last yearhad shocked the entire nation.

Rakbar, a resident ofHaryana’s Nuh district, waslynched by a mob who hadaccused him of cow smugglingin Rajasthan’s Alwar district onthe night of July 20. Junaid, whoboarded the Mathura-boundtrain from Delhi, was stabbedto death when he, along withhis brothers and cousins, wasreturning home to Khandawalivillage after shopping for Eid.His body was later dumpednear Asaoti village in Haryana’sFaridabad district.

Both the incidents had letto national debate over theincidents of brutal attacks bygau rakshaks (cow protec-tors/vigilantes groups) againstminorities on the issue of cowprotection and others.

To curb incidents of moblynching, a spokesman ofHaryana Government onMonday said that irresponsibleand explosive messages, videosand other material on socialmedia which have the tenden-cy to incite mob violence and

lynching of any kind are strict-ly prohibited.

Under relevant provisionsof law, stringent action for reg-istration of criminal case wouldbe taken against such persons,he said.

He further said thatdepartmental action would betaken against those officers oflaw enforcement agencies whofail to prevent such incidentsdespite having prior knowl-edge. The general public isrequested to maintain peaceand harmony and report thematter about any suspectedevent to the nearest policeauthorities and desist from tak-ing law in their hands, headded.

Besides this, certain areashave been identified as sensitiveareas and efforts are beingmade to eradicate hostile envi-ronment in these areas.Moreover, law enforcementagencies have been instructedto exercise their powers for pre-vention of such incidents andpolice patrolling is being carriedout in the sensitive areas, thespokesman added.

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Chandigarh Internationalairport will soon be readyto handle wide-bodied air-craft, linking the city to far offinternational destinations inthe US and Europe, UnionMinister of State for CivilAviation, Jayant Sinha said onTuesday.

Addressing a conferenceon "Making India an AviationHub: Giving Wings to AviationSector in North", organised bythe Confederation of IndianIndustry (CII), here, he said

Chandigarh airport will bemade available for night oper-ations as well by March 2019.

The operation of wide-bodied aircraft would providethe city direct air linkages tomajor international destina-tions, including those in theUS, Europe, Canada and theUK. The airport would be suit-able for big aircrafts such asBoeing 787, Boeing 777 andAirbus 330.

The existing Chandigarhairport runway can cater onlyto middle-body aircraft thatcould fly only to domestic des-

tinations and a few closer des-tinations abroad includingDubai, Sharjah and Bangkok.

The airport lies in defenceairfield which is increasinglybeing used by civilian opera-tors. The Air Traffic Controland runway operations lie withthe IAF.

The first phase of the air-port runway repairs was carriedout from February 12 to 26 thisyear and the airport remainedshut for all flights. The secondphase of closure was from May12 to May 31.

Sinha said the Indian avi-

ation sector is booming at anunprecedented rate with thedomestic passenger trips reg-istering a double digit growthfrom 6 crores in 2013 to 12crores in 2017, while the over-all trips have gone up from 10crore in 2014 to 18 crore in2018.

On growth of the aviationsector in Haryana, AdditionalChief Secretary DevenderSingh of the state's Industriesand Civil Aviation Department,said Hisar is being developed asan aviation hub in the state,under the RCS-UDAN scheme.

"The state governmentintends to invite NonScheduled Operator Permit(NSOP) Holders to operate onmutually acceptable routesfrom Hisar, with attractiveincentives. The state govern-ment has proposed tie ups forflights from Hisar-Chandigarhto Shimla, Kullu, Dharamsalaetc," he said.

Punjab Civil AviationSecretary Tejveer Singh saidboth Ludhiana and Pathankotare being developed as fully functional airports inPunjab.

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$$��%)/��.$��,)��),?/?,'AAP’s Kharar MLA Kanwar Sandhu on Tuesday said thatthey had decided to revive all 43 NRI Chapters of theparty abroad. These chapters were disbanded by the party’sOverseas Convener a few weeks ago, he said.

Sandhu said that the party’s earlier decision of disbandingthe Chapters was taken without consulting them. “Since NRIsfrom Punjab had contributed majorly to the party in the past,the PAC decided to revive them...Wherever such NRIChapters don’t exist, they would be constituted,” he said.

“The PAC also decided to give three members of the NRIsrepresentation in the PAC as Special Invitees. The NRIChapters abroad will be requested to give us the three names,”Sandhu added.

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From Page 1Apart from this, two other

issues including liquor mafia andregistration or permit fee ofvehicles in the northern stateswere also discussed.

A similar meeting of FMs ofnorthern states was held in theyear 2015 in New Delhi where,the Aam Aadmi Party is leadingthe State Government.

After the meeting, the threeFinance Ministers, while talkingto the mediapersons expressedhope to provide some relief tothe public from skyrocketing fuelprices “Suggestions have beendiscussed to bring uniformity inVAT on fuel in the northernstates. We have decided to con-stitute a committee of senior offi-cers of five participating statesand union territory ofChandigarh, who would discussall factors and work out a strat-egy to ensure uniformity in theprices of petrol and diesel,” saidCapt. Abhimanyu.

He said that on the sugges-tion of Delhi Deputy CM, wehave also decided to worktogether to deal with the prob-lem of liquor mafia and put anend to illegal liquor trade.”

The excise officers of par-ticipating states will also held ameeting in the first week ofOctober to discuss issues relat-ed to revenue loss, funds diver-sion and other excise relatedmatters, Capt Abhimanyu said.

Similarly, Punjab FinanceMinister raised the issue of vari-ation in registration fee of vehi-cles in the northern states. Toaddress the issue, the transportcommissioners will also held ameeting in October, he added.

Adding to this, ManishSisodia said, “Excise officersand Transport Commissionersof northern states will meetnext month to discuss the wayout to variations in excise rates,registration of vehicles and oth-ers duties leading to revenue lossand diversion in these states.

Finance Minister ManpreetBadal said that it was discussed

that the registration or permit feeof vehicles is different in north-ern states and it is impacting therevenue of states. It is beingobserved that people fromPunjab are going to Rajasthanand people from Haryana areeven going to Nagaland for thispurpose , he said.

It is important that a solu-tion is worked out to address thisissue so that one state does notundercut the other, ManpreetBadal said.

“A sub-committee of officersof northern states will meet innext 15-20 days to discuss thevariations in petroleum pricesand will come out with sugges-tions to ensure uniformity,” headded.

Notably, the VAT rates arehighest in Maharashtra.

In northern states, Punjabcharges the highest VAT of 36percent on petrol and 17 percenton diesel. Himachal charges 26percent VAT on petrol and 15percent on diesel and Haryana26 percent on petrol and 17 per-cent on diesel.

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Come November 6, two newdaily flights will be startedfrom Amritsar to Bangkok andGoa with SpiceJet on Tuesdayannouncing the launch of thesetwo flights by handing over thefirst ticket to Punjab ChiefMinister Capt Amarinder

Singh. A three-member team

from SpiceJet, led by ChiefCustomer Service OfficerKamal Hingorani, met CaptAmarinder to announce thelaunch of the new flights fromSri Guru Ram Das JeeInternational Airport.

Capt Amarinder said there

was a huge potential of tourismin Punjab, especially the holycity of Amritsar, which is vis-ited by a large number of devo-tees thronging from around theworld to pay obeisance at SriDarbar Sahib and DurgianaMandir, besides paying tributesto the great martyrs atJallianwala Bagh.

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India stands just behindSudan and ahead of Namibiawhen it comes to its invest-ments in education and health-care mapped as a measurementof its commitment to econom-ic growth in 2016, according toa study on human capital pub-lished in The Lancet, a globaljournal.

The study has noted thatIndia is falling behind in termsof the health and education ofits workforce, which couldpotentially have long-term neg-ative impact on its economy. Incontrast, Nepal, a country withsignificantly lower per capitaincome than India made thebiggest improvement—increas-ing its functional health scoreby 28% over a 16-year period—followed by Bangladesh (22%),Sri Lanka (21%) and then India(18%). Pakistan andBangladesh lagged behindthough they fared betterhealthwise.

Human capital is definedas “the educational attainment,learning, and health status ofthe workforce that contribute toeconomic productivity.”

However, that India slight-ly improved human capitalranking from 162 in 1990 to158 out of 195 countries in2016 came as a big solace. Thelongitudinal study that spannedfrom 1990 to 2016 was con-ducted by the Institute forHealth Metrics and Evaluation(IHME), an independent glob-al health research centre at theUniversity of Washington.

Finland topped the list, asper the study “Measuringhuman capital: A systematicanalysis of 195 countries andterritories, 1990 to 2016.”

Other interesting detailsfrom the study included theranking of United States at 27,down from its earlier ranking at6 in similar comparative stud-ies in 1990, because of minimalprogress, particularly in edu-cational attainment, whichdeclined from 13 years to 12.

Explaining India’s rankingof 158th in 2016, an improve-ment from its 1990 ranking of162, an IHME note said that itcame from seven years ofexpected human capital, mea-

sured as the number of years aperson can be expected towork in the years of peak pro-ductivity, taking into accountlife expectancy, functionalhealth, years of schooling, andlearning.

“Overall, India’s residentshad 39 out of a possible 45years of life between the ages of20 and 64; expected educa-tional attainment of 10 yearsout of a possible of 18 years inschool; and a learning score of66 and a functional healthscore of 43, both out of 100.

“Learning is based on aver-age student scores on interna-tionally comparable tests.Components measured in thefunctional health score includestunting, wasting, anemia, cog-nitive impairments, hearingand vision loss, and infectiousdiseases such as HIV/AIDS,malaria, and tuberculosis”, thenote said.

The study looked at fourmain drivers of human capital:educational attainment levels,learning outcomes measuredby test scores, health outcomesacross seven key areas - includ-ing rates of anaemia, hearingloss and infectious diseases -and mortality rates.

The IHME scored coun-tries on several components ofhuman capital: the number ofyears workers spend in school,the quality of their learning, andtheir health status. These com-ponents directly correlate tohow much a government pri-oritises and invests in the edu-cation and health of its people.

“Our findings show theassociation between invest-ments in education and healthand improved human capitaland GDP — which policy-makers ignore at their own

peril,” said Dr ChristopherMurray, director IHME at theUniversity of Washington.

Last year, World BankPresident Dr. Jim Yong Kimasked IHME to develop a mea-surement to rank human cap-ital as it could helpGovernments and investorsget an insight into the areaswhere investments were need-ed to improve health and edu-cation. He defined human cap-ital as “the sum total of a pop-ulation’s health, skills, knowl-edge, experience, and habits.” Inother words, a recognition thatall labour is not equal, and thequality of workers can beimproved by investing in them.

Rankings for the 10mostpopulous countries in 2016, inaddition to China,India, andthe United States wereIndonesia (131st), Brazil (71st),Pakistan (164th), Nigeria(171st), Bangladesh (161st),Russia (49th), and Mexico(104th).

Researchers found thatnations with greater improve-ments in human capital alsotend to have faster growth inper capita GDP. Countries inthe highest quartile of improve-ments in human capitalbetween 1990 and 2016 had a1.1% higher median yearlyGDP growth rate than coun-tries in the bottom quartile ofhuman capital improvements.

There were notable differ-ences in expected human cap-ital by sex in 2016. Across theboard, expected years livedbetween 20 and 64 years aregreater in females than inmales. In addition, health sta-tus tends to be higher amongfemales than males, with theexception of high-incomecountries.

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In top level appointments inthe Army, Lt General MMNaravane has been appointedthe next Eastern ArmyCommander while Air MarshalAnil Khosla will be the nextVice Chief of Air Force afterincumbent S B Deo retiresnext month. These are amongseveral postings in the Armyand Indian Air Force (IAF)notified on Tuesday.

Naravane, commissionedinto the Sikh Light Infantry, iscurrently heading the ArmyTraining Command, ARTRAC.He will replace Lt GeneralAbhay Krishna who has beenappointed as the Central ArmyCommander. Naravane will bethe senior most Army

Commander by December2019 when current Army ChiefGen Bipin Rawat completes histenure.

In the IAF, Air MarshalKhosla who is currentlyCommander-in-Chief ofEastern Air Command basedin Shillong will be replaced bypresent Deputy Chief AirMarshal R Nambiar. His placewill be occupied by Air ViceMarshal V R Chaudhari whohas been promoted to rank ofAir Marshal. Meanwhile, AirMarshal HS Arora will go as thenext Commander-in-Chief ofSouth Western Air Commandbased in Gandhinagar. AVMAmit Deo who has also beenpromoted to next rank will bethe next Director General AirOperations.

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India and Morocco dis-cussed the entire range ofbilateral ties and agreed toenhance co-operation in thefield of defence and securityduring talks between visitingMinister Delegate to theHead of Government incharge of the NationalDefence Administration,Morocco, Abdeltif Loudyiand Defence MinisterNirmala Sitharaman here onTuesday.

The visiting dignitary ison a two-day official visit toIndia and this is the first evervisit by a Moroccan DefenceMinister to India.

Giving details of the talksbetween the two Ministers,officials said the two sidesidentif ied f ields ofHydrography, Peacekeeping,Telemedicine, InformationTechnology andCommunications as well asCounter Terrorism andCounter Insurgency aspotential areas for bilateralengagement.

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Former Prime MinisterManmohan Singh onTuesday said that India’s armedforces are a splendid embodi-ment of the country’s “secularproject” and it is vitally impor-tant that they remain uncont-aminated from any sectarianappeal.

He also said that the judi-ciary, as an institution, shouldnot lose sight of its primaryduty to protect the secularspirit of the Constitution as thistask has become much moredemanding with political dis-putes and electoral battlesbecoming increasingly over-laced with religious overtonesand prejudices.

“The judiciary needs toarrive at its own enlightenedview of its custodianship of theConstitution — irrespective of

the irresponsible and selfishpoliticians who have no qualmsin injecting communal virus inour body politic,” he said whiledelivering the second A BBardhan memorial lecture here.

Singh also said it wasimportant for the ElectionCommission to ensure thatreligion, religious sentimentsand prejudices do not getworked into election discourse.“As the custodian of the integri-ty of the electoral process, it isincumbent upon the ElectionCommission to see to it thatreligion and religious senti-ments and prejudices do notget worked into the electiondiscourse,” he said.

“The Commission mustbe thinking of rolling back theeasy acceptance of over-manip-ulation of religious imagery,”the senior Congress leadersaid.

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt is likely to pronounce itscrucial verdict on Wednesdayon a batch of pleas challengingthe constitutional validity ofCentre’s flagship Aadhaarscheme and its enabling 2016law.

A five-judge constitutionbench headed by Chief JusticeDipak Misra had on May 10reserved the verdict on thematter after a marathon hear-ing that went on for 38 days,spanning four-and-halfmonths.

As many as 31 petitions,including one by former HighCourt judge K S Puttaswamy,have been filed in the matter.

When the judgement wasreserved by the court, AttorneyGeneral K K Venugopal hadtold the bench, which alsocomprised Justices A K Sikri,A M Khanwilkar, D YChandrachud and AshokBhushan, that this matter had

become the “second longest”one in terms of days of hear-ing after the historicKesavananda Bharati case of1973.

The Kesavananda Bharaticase, which was heard by a 13-judge bench, by a majority of7:6 had propounded the doc-trine of the ‘Basic Structureand of the Constitution’. Ithad held that the amendmentswhich may affect this structurewere subject to judicial review.

A battery of senior lawyers,including Shyam Divan, GopalSubramaniam, Kapil Sibal, PChidambaram, Arvind Datar,K V Vishwanath, AnandGrover, Sajan Poovayya and afew others, had argued onbehalf of the petitioners oppos-ing the Aadhaar Scheme onvarious grounds.

Besides the former HCjudge, the top lawyers arguedfor petitioners, who includedMagsaysay awardee Shanta

Sinha, feminist researcherKalyani Sen Menon, socialactivists Aruna Roy, NikhilDe, Nachiket Udupa and CPIleader Binoy Visman.

A key argument againstthe Aadhaar scheme was thatit was violative of the nine-judge bench verdict that hadheld that Right to Privacy is afundamental right under theConstitution.

The Centre, the UniqueIdentificaiton Authority ofIndia (UIDAI), theGovernments of Maharashtraand Gujarat and the RBI hadargued in favour of theAadhaar (Targeted Deliveryof Financial and OtherSubsidies, Benefits AndServices) Act, 2016 and wererepresented by the AttorneyGeneral, Additional SolicitorGeneral Tushar Mehta, senioradvocates Rakesh Dwivedi andJayant Bhushan and lawyerZoheb Hossain. PTI

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BJP on Tuesday stepped upattack on the Congress onthe Rafale deal controversyalleging a nexus betweenCongress president RahulGandhi’s brother-in-law RobertVadra and arms dealer and‘middleman’ Sanjay Bhandari.

“Bhandari, who has closelinks with Vadra, formed acompany named Offset IndiaSolutions (OIS) in 2008 and heformed a joint venture withRafaut, an aeronautics andarmament company, as he triedto enter into an offset clause inthe Rafale fighter jets dealthrough the back door,” BJPspokesperson Sambit Patra saidhere at a press conference.

The BJP leader alleged thatthe then UPA Governmentmounted pressure on theFrench firm Dassault Aviationto give works to Bhandari’scompany.

“But when Dassault veri-fied the infrastructure of OIS,it found that they did not havethe required criteria. It alsofound Bhandari’s links withVadra. So Dassault becameadamant and they made itclear that they do not want to

enter into any kind of deal withthe OIS,” he alleged. .

“And this was the reasonwhy the Rafale deal was thenscrapped after years of negoti-ations as Vadra was not gettingthe commission out of thedeal,” he accused.

Patra also said that theCongress played with nation-al security and the strength ofthe Indian Air Force.

He said Bhandrari whohas fled abroad was broughtunder investigation by theModi Government. He saidthat Bhandari’s company wasalso blacklisted by the IndianGovernment.

“When the BJP

Government came to power in2014, investigations startedagainst Bhandari. And duringraids at 18 places in 2016 at thepremises of Bhandari a lot ofclassified documents wererecovered,” he said.

Alleging links betweenVadra and Bhandari, the BJPleader said that during raids in2016, the emails exchangedbetween Vadra, Bhandari,Vadra’s close associate ManojArora and a relative of Bhandarinamed Sumit Chahdha, alsocame to the fore.

“In an email it was revealedthat Bhandari’s relativeChahdha paid �19 crore for aflat in London for Vadra,” Patra

alleged.He also alleged that

Bhandari’s firm also paid for theair travels of Vadra in 2012.

The BJP leader furtheralleged that the then CongressGovernment also rejectedHindustan AeronauticsLimited (HAL)-developedHindustan Turbo Trainer-40and went for the Swiss aircraftPilatus in 2012.

“This deal was given to theSwiss company to bribe theGandhi family and to pay com-mission on the deal to theGandhi family,” he alleged.

Meanwhile, Union LawMinister Ravishankar Prasadhit out at Congress presidentfor his “fun has just begun”remark over Rafale deal.

Prasad was quoted by thenews agency ANI that nothingelse could be expected from aleader whose entire family isinvolved in scams.

The Union Minister said“We can not expect anythingbetter from a leader whoseentire family is involved inscams be it Bofors or NationalHerald. It is s matter a shamethat a man who is a big liar andirresponsible is their partypresident.”

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/�����������������������������New Delhi: The Supreme Courton Tuesday said it cannot “usurpthe power” of law-makingwhich is vested with the legis-lature, but was burdened withthe duty of being the finalarbiter of the Constitution andprotector of the constitutionalethos.

Though criminalisation ofpolitics is a “bitter manifesttruth”, which is a “termite” to thecitadel of democracy, the courtcannot make a law to check it,a five-judge constitution benchheaded by Chief Justice DipakMisra said.

The bench left it toParliament to bring in a stronglaw by which it should bemandatory for political partiesto revoke the membership ofthose against whom chargeshave been framed in heinousoffences.

“In a multi-party democra-cy, where members are elected

on party lines and are subject toparty discipline, we recom-mend to Parliament to bring outa strong law whereby it ismandatory for the political par-ties to revoke membership ofpersons against whom chargesare framed in heinous andgrievous offences and not to setup such persons in elections,both for Parliament and thestate assemblies.

“This, in our attentive andplausible view, would go a longway in achieving decriminali-sation of politics and usher in anera of immaculate, spotless,unsullied and virtuous consti-tutional democracy,” the benchalso comprising Justices R FNariman, A M Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and InduMalhotra.

In its verdict, the benchnoted the submission ofAttorney General K KVenugopal that the court should

not cross the “lakshman rekha”vis-a-vis the separation of pow-ers. The top court said going bythe constitutional framework, itwould be inappropriate for thecourt to take recourse to anyother method as it cannot leg-islate but only recommendbringing in of a law.

While referring to the con-stitutional provisions, the benchsaid that according to the lawslaid down earlier, it was clearthat regarding disqualificationof lawmakers, “the law has to bemade by Parliament”.

“It would not be appropri-ate to take recourse to anyother method for the simon-pure (completely genuine) rea-son that what cannot be donedirectly, should not be doneindirectly,” the bench said.

The bench said the legisla-ture has very clearly enumerat-ed the grounds for disqualifi-cation and the language of the

provision under theRepresentation of the PeopleAct leaves no room for any newground to be added or intro-duced. “Any attempt to the con-trary will be a colourable exer-cise of judicial power for it isaxiomatic that — what cannotbe done directly ought not to bedone indirectly — which is awell-accepted principle in theIndian judiciary,” it said.

“A candidate bereft of partysymbol is, in a way, disqualifiedfrom contesting under the ban-ner of a political party. It is con-tended that the person con-cerned can contest the electionas an independent candidatebut, as we perceive, the impactwould be the same. That apart,without a legislation, it may bedifficult to proscribe the same.Additionally, democracy that isbased on multi-party system islikely to be dented,” the benchsaid. PTI

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Although hemophilia is awell-known bleeding dis-order in men, not many doc-tors know that women carriersof hemophilia too have higherrisk of bleeding and that thesymptoms may be frequentand severe. Also, females withmost common inherited bleed-ing disorders like vonWillebrand disease (VWD) toofail to get timely and propertreatment as they remain mis-diagnosed.

“In fact, many times eventhe family of the affectedwoman or she herself is notaware of her medical condition.As a result, they are under-diagnosed or misdiagnosed.However, if left untreated,bleeding disorders risk seriouscomplications during mensu-artion, pregnancy, labor anddelivery,” cautions Dr NitaRadhakrishnan, AssistantProfessor at Department of

Pediatric HematologyOncology, Super SpecialtyPediatric Hospital & PostGraduate Teaching Instituteand Post Graduate TeachingInstitute, Noida.

She explains: “A significantnumber of females too haveclotting factor levels that wouldclassify them as having mild,moderate and even severehaemophilia.”

With such risks, womencarriers of hemophila or hav-ing family history shouldensure a proper diagnosis andtreatment from a specialist,called a hematologist. Also,women carriers should sharetheir health status to their doc-tors to ensure correct treat-ment.

Dr Renu Saxena, Head ofthe Hematologist Departmentin AIIMS stressed on carrierdetection and prenatal diag-nosis of the pregnant womenparticularly those with bleed-ing disorders and carriers of

hemophila. “If the family has ahistory of blood disorder thenpregnant woman should comefor pre-natal test within 16weeks of pregnancy, so thatthey have option to abort thefetus.” Preimplantation genet-ic diagnosis and non?invasiveprenatal testing are among thelatest methods of prenatal diag-nosis available to couples.

The first step in doing pre-natal diagnosis of hemophiliais to determine the sex of thefetus, since only male fetusesare at risk of having hemo-philia. Thus, subsequent testingmay not need to be done if thefetus is found to be a female.

If the woman is found to bea carrier, then with each malepregnancy there is a 50 per centchance that the infant willhave hemophilia. The type andseverity will be the same as thatof other affected members ofthe family, Dr Saxenaexplained.

To reach out to the sector,

the Union Health Ministry hasrecently come out with a draftpolicy for “Prevention andControl ofHemoglobinopathies —Thalassemia, Sickle CellDisease and variantHemoglobins In India,” focus-ing on screening of pregnantwomen and neo-natals todetect such disorders.

Vinita Srivastava, NationalConsultant, Blood Cell(NHM), Union HealthMinistry said that. “We want toestablish hemoglobinopa-thy/hemophilia units at districtlevel and above, operating in ahierarchical manner to carryout the treatment and to mon-itor for complications by nec-essary laboratory and imagingstudies among others as envis-aged in our policy. “

Dr Chandra Mansukhani,senior gynecologist at SirGangaram Hospital added thatthe risk of transmittinghaemophilia and bleeding

complications during preg-nancy and at time of the deliv-ery represent major implica-tions for haemophilia carriers.

To address the psycholog-ical issues of women withbleeding disorders, hemophilacarriers and men with hemo-philia, Empowering MindsSociety for Research andDevelopment, an NGO hasbeen frequently holding work-shops and interaction with thecommunity. “Lots of igno-rance, taboos and stigma sur-rounds the bleeding disordersparticularly when it comes towomen. Diagnosis can havesignificant impact on women’sphysical and emotional quali-ty of life. We try to equipthem better to deal with it, ,”said Richa Mohan, head of theEmpowering Minds.

“Self-medication, tattoos,body piercing are strictly no nofor the community. Delayeddiagnosis can lead to psycho-logical problems. Loss of vir-

ginity should be consideredvery carefully,” she added.

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Heavy menstrual periods;Flooding or gushing of blood;Passing clots that are biggerthan a quarter; Changing tam-pon and/or pad every 2 hoursor less on heaviest day;Bleeding symptoms andsomeone in the family has ableeding disorder, such as vonWillebrand disease, or a clot-ting factor deficiency, such ashemophilia; heavy bleedingfrom dental surgery, othersurgery, or childbirth and/orhave other additional bleedingsymptoms such as frequentprolonged nose bleeds, pro-longed bleeding from cuts oreasy bruising.

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The Twitter war betweenthe ruling TelanganaRashtra Samiti and the BJP hastaken a new turn with the BJPnational president Amit Shah'shandle tweeting in Telugu totake the fight into the rivalcamp.

In his first tweet in Telugu,Amit Shah strongly objected tothe Telangana Governmentkeeping itself out of the"Ayushman Bharat" nationwidehealth insurance scheme and itevoked an immediate responsefrom the State's InformationTechnology Minister K TarakaRama Rao.

While Amit Shah said thatTRS was being selfish by refus-ing to implement theAyushman Bharat scheme,Rama Rao pointed out that theState was already implementing

health an insurance scheme,Aarogya Sri.

Amit Shah said in his tweetin Telugu that it was saddeningto see that the people ofTelangana were not able to ben-efit from the scheme because ofthe selfish thought of TRS,KTR shot back on Twitter,"you are clearly misinformed@amithshah ji. The successfulArogya Sri program ofTelangana is far superior interms of coverage (80 lakhfamilies) in comparison toAyushmann Bharat (only 25lakh families in Telangana). Weare a role model sate in uni-versal health coverage".

While Ayushmann Bharatscheme provides a coverage of�5 lakh per family per annumArogya Sri provides an annu-al coverage of �2 lakh perbelow poverty line family andit can be extended to �13 lakh

on cases to case basis. State Health Minister C

Lakshma Reddy also joined thewar of words pointing out thatthe 8 million families in the Statewere benefiting from the free ofcost medical treatment under theArogya Sri scheme. He arguedthat if the Central Governmentscheme was implemented it willcreate complications as identi-fying only 25 lakh beneficiariesout of 80 lakh and leaving out 55lakh families will be difficult.

Amit Shah said that theTRS Government shouldexplain to the people why ithad not implemented thescheme and deprived the poorpeople of the benefit. AmitShah's handle tweeting in Teluguwas being seen as an indicationof the BJP's strategy to put theIT tools and the social media tothe full use in the run-up to theAssembly elections.

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Visakhapatnam police hasachieved a major break-through in its investigationinto the the killing of twoTelugu Desam Party leaders,including MLA Kadir iSarveshwara Rao, on Sunday.The probe teams have man-aged to secure the footage ofhow the women Naxals hadstopped the car of the MLAand his associate, formerMLA Siveri Soma, and afterkilling them how they wentinto the jungle.

Through fringe footagepolice could identify at leasttwo squad members -Jalamuri Shrini Babu aliasRhino of East Godavari andKameshwari alias Sindri ofWest Godavari.

"This has helped us inintensifying the search forthe killers", said a police official.

Already six teams of policewere combing the forest areaon AP-Odisha border.

From the footage policehave gathered that on the roadto Livittiputtu a group ofwomen stopped the car ofSarveshwara Rao and hestopped the vehicle under the

impression that they had cometo air some grievances.

But when he realised thatsome of them were armed heasked the driver to drive away.But the armed women came inthe way and stopped the vehi-cle dragging the occupants.

Visakhapatnam Rural SPRahul Dev Sharma said thatone of the women was Aruna,area committee leader whocarried a reward of �5 lakh onher head in the group.

What has caught theattention of the probe teamwas that in the footage oneMaoist was seen talking on agadget with an antenna rais-ing a suspicion that theMaoists might have used satel-lite phone as there was no cel-lular signal in the area.

Police officials believe thata network of informers andhuman intelligence was used bythe ultras to monitor the move-ment of the MLA through theforest area.

Police officials and thepeople in the area suspect thatwith the anniversary of the for-mation of outlawed CPI Maoistparty and the electionsapproaching the Maoists willstep up their attacks.

The search and combingoperation has picked up thepar with the State Intelligencechief AB Venkateshwara Rao.He personally went to thespot where the MLA was killedin forest area.

Meanwhile, the StateGovernment will be paying acompensation of �42 lakh tothe family of slain MLASarveshwara Rao. Under thenorms of the StateGovernment a family memberholding graduation or higherdegree will be given aGovernment job equivalent tothe deputy collector's post.

Officials said that the fam-ily of former MLA Soma willget a compensation of �12lakh on the lines of the fami-lies of any other victims ofMaoist violence.

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The case of May 2018 riotsagainst the Sterlite Copperplant at Thoothukudi whichclaimed 13 lives took a new turnin the last two days with the pro-Sterlite brigade submitting peti-tion demanding opening and theopposing group demanding clo-sure of the copper smelter unit.Both the public hearings held atThoothukudi and Chennai onSunday and Monday by theNational Green Tribunal-appointed committee saw tensemoments with petitioners resort-ing to fisticuffs and assaults.

The committee of expertsconsisting of Tarun Agrawal, for-mer Chief Justice of MeghalayaHigh Court, Satish C Garkoti,scientist, Ministry ofEnvironment, Forests andClimate Change and HDVaralaxmi, senior environmen-tal engineer, Central PollutionControl Board, examined thefactory premises at Thoothukudiand surrounding areas and alsoheld a public hearing on Sunday.

Though hundreds of peo-ple had gathered atThoothukudi PolytechnicCollege to submit their sub-missions, groups which werebehind the riots against Sterlitedrove them away from thevenue on Sunday.

The company managementhas succeeded in spreadingthe word through selective leak

in the media that all is well atThoothukudi.

Muthukumaran andGaneshan, two farmers fromUdangudi village were man-handled by the agitators andhad to be escorted out of thepremises by the police. “Wewanted to tell the authoritiesfrom New Delhi that there areno environmental or ecologicalissues here," saidMuthukumaran.

Agrawal told reporters thatmajority of the persons who hadassembled for the public hear-ing were for the closure of thefactory. As the crowd becameuncontrollable, the committeetold the people supporting thefactory to attend Monday’s pub-lic hearing at Chennai.

“I was assaulted by uniden-tified persons and the police didnothing to stop them. When itbecame clear that I cannot with-stand further blows, the policetook me out and sent me away,”said S Thyagarajan, a 62-year-old contractor who also said thatthe anti-Sterlite agitation was yetanother attempt by radical andchauvinist elements to get thefactory closed.

Thyagarajan made it toChennai on Monday and sub-mitted a memorandum to thecommittee stating that thelocals and workers of the fac-tory were unanimous in theirdemand that the factoryshould be opened.

“The rioting was a pre-

planned move and the localpeople do not have any role init. But the people who fell to thebullets were innocent while therioters escaped without anytrace,” said Thyagarajan.

Though the NGT appoint-ed committee had announcedthat they would meet onMonday only those peoplewho want the factory to beopened, many anti-Sterlite peo-ple had assembled in Chennaitoo. Vaiko, the MDMK leaderalleged that he company man-agement had paid money tomobilise supporters while thelocals were left high and dry.According to the MDMKleader, all submissions by theSterlite employees were lies.

Shanmugasundaram, alawyer