ˇ ˇ)...realms of numerology, Karnataka BJP president BS Yeddyurappa changed his last name to...

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S eeking his political future in realms of numerology, Karnataka BJP president BS Yeddyurappa changed his last name to Yediyurappa a few weeks ago. The stars did smile on him and on Friday he took oath as Chief Minister of Karnataka for the fourth time on Friday. Governor Vajubhai Vala administered the oath of office and secrecy to the 76-year-old Yediyurappa at a ceremony at the Raj Bhavan. Only Yediyurappa was sworn in. BSY, as he is popularly called, carried the last name of Yediyurappa till 2007 when he became the Chief Minister for the first time in 2007. Then he changed his name to “Yeddyurappa” on the advice of numerologists. The name change then wasn’t of much help as the coalition with the JD(S) Government survived for only a week. Sources said acting on the advice of a numerologist, BSY has reverted to older spelling. Sources said BSY had got his name changed in State Assembly records a few weeks ago. Yediyurappa-led BJP Ministry is assuming office three days after the collapse of the Congress-JD(S) Government with the defeat of the motion of confidence moved by HD Kumaraswamy in by 99-105 votes. Yediyurappa met the Governor to stake the claim for Government formation and requested him to administer the oath of office and secrecy on Friday itself. Before the swearing in, Yediyurappa said he would decide on members to be inducted into the ministry after consulting party president Amit Shah. This is the fourth times Yediyurappa will occupy the chair of the Chief Minister — the last one was after the May 2018 Assembly polls, when he barely lasted three days after being sworn in. In Delhi, BJP working pres- ident JP Nadda said the Congress-JD(S) coalition Government fell due to inter- nal reasons and asserted that his party would provide a sta- ble Government in the State. “They (Congress-JD-S) fell under their own weight due to internal reasons...The BJP is synonymous with stability. Wherever we go, we bring sta- bility,” Nadda told reporters at his maiden Press conference where he also shared the Narendra Modi Government’s achievements in its first 50 days. Nadda played down queries about the fact that Yediyurappa is over 75-year age bar the party has stipulated for its leaders holding any Government position. Yediyurappa was the leader of the BJP legislature party in the State and it was natural for him to be the party’s choice for the Chief Minister’s post, he said. “It depends,” he said when quizzed about the party’s age- bar and then added, “you see, first of all he is a leader, he is an elected leader of the legis- lature party. Accordingly, he is taking oath. It is a continuous process and the party takes note of ongoing developments from time to time.” As the leader of Opposition he is alright and the day he takes oath the question is asked about his age, he said, adding that it does not work like that. The BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and its president Amit Shah has introduced the 75 years limit for Ministers in the party-run Governments as well as for its candidates in the recent Lok Sabha election to ease out many veterans, including LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Sumitra Mahajan among others. O pposition parties on Friday strongly protested to Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu over the hurried passage of Bills in Parliament without requisite scrutiny and in breach of convention. Leaders of 17 parties, including Congress, Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Telugu Desam Party, Communist Party of India and CPI(M) urged Naidu to ensure that the voice of the Opposition is not “smothered”. “We, the undersigned par- ties, wish to register our anguish and serious concern over the manner in which the Government is hurriedly pass- ing legislations without any scrutiny by Parliamentary Standing or Select Committees. This is a fundamental depar- ture from the established prac- tice and healthy traditions of enacting legislations,” the letter said. It said that in the 14th Lok Sabha, 60 per cent of Bills were sent for scrutiny to Parliamentary Committees while in the 15th Lok Sabha, 71 per cent of Bills were sent for scrutiny. However, the letter said, in the 16th Lok Sabha, only 26 per cent of Bills were sent for scrutiny. “Now, in the 17th Lok Sabha, 14 Bills have already been passed in the first session. None of these Bills has been referred to a Standing Committee or Select Committee for legislative scrutiny. Public consultation is a long established practice where parliamentary commit- tees scrutinise Bills, deliberate, engage and work towards improving the content and quality of the legislation,” the letter stated. The parties also asked Naidu, the Vice President, to intervene in the matter. The let- ter further said the ongoing Lok Sabha Session has the “dubious” record of passing 14 Bills, none of which has been scrutinised by any Parliamentary Committee. Further, 11 more Bills have been listed for introduction, consideration and passing, it said. The parties said that the first sessions of the 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th Lok Sabha had about 10 sittings each and dur- ing that time only a handful of Bills that had undergone par- liamentary scrutiny were passed. The Opposition parties also demanded that short dura- tion appeals should be allowed in the House. “We urge you to ensure that the voice of the Opposition is not smothered in the Rajya Sabha. While we understand our responsibility and the need to enact legisla- tion, any attempt by the Government to undermine the privileges of members, the rules and established conven- tions will diminish the role of the Council of States as envis- aged by our founding fathers,” the letter stated. T he Lok Sabha on Friday saw a massive uproar over Samajwadi Party MP Azam Khan’s “sexiest” comment against BJP woman MP Rama Devi with members of the House authorising Speaker Om Birla to seek an apology from the lawmaker. MPs cutting across party lines condemned Azam’s remark in strong terms with some saying that if such sexi- est behavior prevailed in the august house against women than what is to be expected elsewhere. After hearing out the House for one hour, the Speaker said he would decide on the issue after consulting all leaders. According to sources, the Speaker may ask the SP to tender an unconditional apol- ogy to resolve the issue. Azam’s remarks to Rama Devi when she was in the Chair during a discussion on the triple talaq Bill on Thursday were slammed as malicious, utterly condemnable and a blot on all legislators by the Ministers and MPs who spoke after BJP’s Sanghmitra Maurya raised the issue during the Zero Hour. Several women MPs, including Central Ministers, TMC, NCP, DMK and BJP, vociferously demanded strongest possible action against the SP MP as the Speaker opened the floor and allowed all to speak during the Zero Hour. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said the Speaker was the custodian he could take strong action against the MP. He said all MPs have to maintain decorum in the House and asked the Speaker to take “most exem- plary punishment” in the case. Other Central Ministers, including Ravishankar Prasad, Nirmala Sitharaman, Smriti Irani and Anurag Thakur, vociferously condemned the Azam’s remark. Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said his party does not approve of such behaviour and Privilege or Ethics Committee should look into the issue. He, however, also said that at times a Congress leader was also referred as “daughter of Italy, Italy ki kath- putli”. This evoked protests from the Treasury Benches which demanded the Congress to come clean on its stand on the current issue. Chowdhury later agreed with the prevailing view that the Speaker should take a call on punishing Azam. D ay after the Supreme Court directed setting up of a centrally-funded designated court in each district having more than 100 FIRs under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act to deal exclusively with cases of sexual offences against chil- dren, the Delhi Cabinet approved the proposal of the Law Department to set up 18 permanent fast-track courts and 22 new commercial courts. According to the CrPC, cases of rape and incidents of sexual assault against minors under the POCSO Act should be decided in two months after the filing of the chargesheet. Such trials necessitate the exis- tence of fast-track courts. The Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also approved a proposal of creation of 22 posts of Delhi Higher Judicial Services (DHJS) in super time scale for Commercial Court judges along with ancillary staff. A total 212 posts, request- ed by the Delhi High Court in January, have been approved. The Government decision will have the annual financial implication of 13,55,90,280. When it comes to fast- track courts, Delhi already has 20 of them, all set up in 2005, but they operate entirely with ad-hoc staff. C handigarh’s JW Marriott Hotel may have to cough up a penalty of 25,000 for charging an exorbitant amount for two bananas served to Bollywood actor Rahul Bose during his stay at the luxury hotel. The actor was charged 442.50 for two bananas at the hotel which is located in Sector 35 here. A team headed by RK Chaudhary, Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Chandigarh, has already begun probe into the levying of tax on fresh fruits and other items at JW Marriott and the hotel authorities have been asked to submit a reply by Saturday. A senior officer of UT Excise and Taxation Department said under the GST regime, fresh fruits are tax-free items and this is a clear violation by the hotel authori- ties. While the hotel is expect- ed to submit its reply by Saturday, under the Section 125 of CGST Act 2017, any person who contravenes the provi- sions of this Act is liable to a penalty which may extend to 25,000. “A day before, the team of UT Excise and Taxation Department had also seized documents related to the sale in the hotel to check whether they have been depositing reg- ularly the relevant tax to the department or not. We are checking the violations from all angles and will act against the hotel authorities accordingly,” the officer said. Bose had posted a video on Twitter expressing shock over being charged 442.50 for two bananas at the hotel in which he is seen explaining how he was charged 442 (including GST) for two bananas. “You have to see this to believe it. Who said fruit was- n’t harmful to your existence? Ask the wonderful folks at JW Marriott Chandigarh,” the actor, captioned the video, adding “bananas are just too good for me. A s India commemorated 20 years of Kargil war, Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Friday warned Pakistan against attempting another Kargil-like “misadventure”. General Rawat was asked by a reporter at a Press con- ference to share his message for Pakistan on the 20th anniver- sary of India’s victory in the Kargil war. Earlier on Thursday, while interacting with the media- persons in Drass, the Army chief had said, “The enemy would never be allowed to succeed. No matter what heights they capture, we will always get back to them and this was evident during the Kargil war in 1999. They will not dare to repeat it.” “Don’t do it. This was a misadventure. Misadventures are normally not repeated. You will get a bloodier nose next time,” the Army chief reacted firmly standing tall in the backdrop of a war memorial located at the foothills of the Tololing feature. Meanwhile, speaking in the Lok Sabha on the occasion as Parliament paid tributes to Indian soldiers who drove out enemy forces and reclaimed Kargil heights, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the bravery and sacrifice of soldiers cannot be forgotten. To commemorate the 20 years of the Kargil War, Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared pictures of his visit to the area during the conflict and his interaction with the sol- diers. “During the Kargil War in 1999, I had the opportunity to go to Kargil and show soli- darity with our brave soldiers,” he said on Twitter. The Prime Minister said that in 1999, he was working for the BJP in Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. “The visit to Kargil and interactions with soldiers are unforgettable,” Modi said. In the photographs, he is seen interacting with Army men and meeting wounded soldiers. Meanwhile, bad weather prevented President Ram Nath Kovind from visiting the Drass war memorial to attend the ‘Kargil Diwas’. He landed in Srinagar and participated in the Vijay Diwas function at Badami Bagh Cantonment. In Drass, Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh, Air Force chief BS Dhanoa both accompanied by Army chief General Bipin Rawat paid trib- utes wearing their respective forces’ combat fatigues. GoC-in-C, Northern Command, Lt-Gen Ranbir Singh, Lt Gen YK Joshi, GOC Fire and Fury Corps, former Army Chief (Retd) Gen VP Malik too were present on the occasion. I n an apt celebration of Kargil Vijay Diwas, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh came as a saviour for a Kargil War hero on Friday ordering double promotion for Vir Chakra awardee Satpal Singh after learning that he was managing traffic after being re- employed as a senior police constable — a rank below his stature — in Sangrur district of the State. The CM, himself a former Army man, accused the pre- vious SAD-BJP Government of ignoring the credentials of Satpal at the time of his recruit- ment in 2010. “Satpal, who joined the Punjab Police after his dis- charge from the Army, has been awarded a double pro- motion to the rank of Assistant Sub-Inspector following direct orders from the Chief Minister in recognition of his valiant contribution during the Kargil War,” a Punjab Government spokesperson said. As a special case, he will be recruited as an Assistant Sub- Inspector, in relaxation of Rule 12.3 of the Punjab Police Rules by the DGP, who has been so authorised by the Chief Minister, he said. Satpal was posted in Drass Sector during Operation Vijay and was part of the team that helped the Indian Army capture Tiger Hill. He killed Pakistani Captain Karnal Sher Khan of the Northern Light Infantry and three others. RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015

Transcript of ˇ ˇ)...realms of numerology, Karnataka BJP president BS Yeddyurappa changed his last name to...

Page 1: ˇ ˇ)...realms of numerology, Karnataka BJP president BS Yeddyurappa changed his last name to Yediyurappa a few ... Janata Dal, Telugu Desam Party, Communist Party of India and CPI(M)

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Seeking his political future inrealms of numerology,

Karnataka BJP president BSYeddyurappa changed his lastname to Yediyurappa a fewweeks ago. The stars did smileon him and on Friday he tookoath as Chief Minister ofKarnataka for the fourth timeon Friday.

Governor Vajubhai Valaadministered the oath of officeand secrecy to the 76-year-oldYediyurappa at a ceremony atthe Raj Bhavan. OnlyYediyurappa was sworn in.

BSY, as he is popularlycalled, carried the last name ofYediyurappa till 2007 when hebecame the Chief Minister forthe first time in 2007. Then hechanged his name to“Yeddyurappa” on the advice ofnumerologists.

The name change thenwasn’t of much help as thecoalition with the JD(S)Government survived for onlya week.

Sources said acting on theadvice of a numerologist, BSYhas reverted to older spelling.Sources said BSY had got hisname changed in StateAssembly records a few weeksago.

Yediyurappa-led BJPMinistry is assuming officethree days after the collapse ofthe Congress-JD(S)Government with the defeat ofthe motion of confidencemoved by HD Kumaraswamyin by 99-105 votes.

Yediyurappa met the

Governor to stake the claim forGovernment formation andrequested him to administerthe oath of office and secrecyon Friday itself. Before theswearing in, Yediyurappa saidhe would decide on membersto be inducted into the ministryafter consulting party president

Amit Shah.This is the fourth times

Yediyurappa will occupy thechair of the Chief Minister —the last one was after the May2018 Assembly polls, when hebarely lasted three days afterbeing sworn in.

In Delhi, BJP working pres-

ident JP Nadda said theCongress-JD(S) coalitionGovernment fell due to inter-nal reasons and asserted thathis party would provide a sta-ble Government in the State.

“They (Congress-JD-S) fellunder their own weight due tointernal reasons...The BJP is

synonymous with stability.Wherever we go, we bring sta-bility,” Nadda told reporters athis maiden Press conferencewhere he also shared theNarendra Modi Government’sachievements in its first 50days.

Nadda played downqueries about the fact thatYediyurappa is over 75-year agebar the party has stipulated forits leaders holding anyGovernment position.

Yediyurappa was the leaderof the BJP legislature party inthe State and it was natural forhim to be the party’s choice forthe Chief Minister’s post, hesaid.

“It depends,” he said whenquizzed about the party’s age-bar and then added, “you see,first of all he is a leader, he isan elected leader of the legis-lature party. Accordingly, he istaking oath. It is a continuousprocess and the party takesnote of ongoing developmentsfrom time to time.”

As the leader of Oppositionhe is alright and the day hetakes oath the question is askedabout his age, he said, addingthat it does not work like that.

The BJP under PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andits president Amit Shah hasintroduced the 75 years limitfor Ministers in the party-runGovernments as well as for itscandidates in the recent LokSabha election to ease outmany veterans, including LKAdvani, Murli Manohar Joshiand Sumitra Mahajan amongothers.

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Opposition parties on Fridaystrongly protested to Rajya

Sabha Chairman M VenkaiahNaidu over the hurried passageof Bills in Parliament withoutrequisite scrutiny and in breachof convention.

Leaders of 17 parties,including Congress, SamajwadiParty, Trinamool Congress,Bahujan Samaj Party, RashtriyaJanata Dal, Telugu DesamParty, Communist Party ofIndia and CPI(M) urged Naiduto ensure that the voice of theOpposition is not “smothered”.

“We, the undersigned par-ties, wish to register ouranguish and serious concernover the manner in which theGovernment is hurriedly pass-ing legislations without anyscrutiny by ParliamentaryStanding or Select Committees.This is a fundamental depar-ture from the established prac-tice and healthy traditions ofenacting legislations,” the lettersaid.

It said that in the 14th LokSabha, 60 per cent of Billswere sent for scrutiny toParliamentary Committeeswhile in the 15th Lok Sabha, 71per cent of Bills were sent for

scrutiny. However, the lettersaid, in the 16th Lok Sabha,only 26 per cent of Bills weresent for scrutiny.

“Now, in the 17th LokSabha, 14 Bills have alreadybeen passed in the first session.None of these Bills has beenreferred to a StandingCommittee or SelectCommittee for legislativescrutiny. Public consultation isa long established practicewhere parliamentary commit-tees scrutinise Bills, deliberate,engage and work towardsimproving the content andquality of the legislation,” theletter stated.

The parties also askedNaidu, the Vice President, tointervene in the matter. The let-ter further said the ongoingLok Sabha Session has the“dubious” record of passing 14Bills, none of which has beenscrutinised by anyParliamentary Committee.

Further, 11 more Bills havebeen listed for introduction,consideration and passing, itsaid. The parties said that thefirst sessions of the 13th, 14th,15th and 16th Lok Sabha hadabout 10 sittings each and dur-ing that time only a handful ofBills that had undergone par-liamentary scrutiny werepassed.

The Opposition partiesalso demanded that short dura-tion appeals should be allowedin the House. “We urge you toensure that the voice of theOpposition is not smothered inthe Rajya Sabha. While weunderstand our responsibilityand the need to enact legisla-tion, any attempt by theGovernment to undermine theprivileges of members, therules and established conven-tions will diminish the role ofthe Council of States as envis-aged by our founding fathers,”the letter stated.

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The Lok Sabha on Friday sawa massive uproar over

Samajwadi Party MP AzamKhan’s “sexiest” commentagainst BJP woman MP RamaDevi with members of theHouse authorising Speaker OmBirla to seek an apology fromthe lawmaker.

MPs cutting across partylines condemned Azam’sremark in strong terms withsome saying that if such sexi-est behavior prevailed in theaugust house against womenthan what is to be expectedelsewhere.

After hearing out theHouse for one hour, theSpeaker said he would decideon the issue after consulting allleaders. According to sources,the Speaker may ask the SP totender an unconditional apol-

ogy to resolve the issue.Azam’s remarks to Rama

Devi when she was in theChair during a discussion onthe triple talaq Bill on Thursdaywere slammed as malicious,utterly condemnable and a bloton all legislators by theMinisters and MPs who spokeafter BJP’s Sanghmitra Mauryaraised the issue during theZero Hour.

Several women MPs,including Central Ministers,TMC, NCP, DMK and BJP,vociferously demandedstrongest possible actionagainst the SP MP as theSpeaker opened the floor andallowed all to speak during theZero Hour.

Parliamentary AffairsMinister Pralhad Joshi saidthe Speaker was the custodianhe could take strong actionagainst the MP. He said all MPshave to maintain decorum inthe House and asked theSpeaker to take “most exem-plary punishment” in the case.

Other Central Ministers,including Ravishankar Prasad,Nirmala Sitharaman, SmritiIrani and Anurag Thakur,vociferously condemned the

Azam’s remark.Congress leader Adhir

Ranjan Chowdhury said hisparty does not approve of suchbehaviour and Privilege orEthics Committee should lookinto the issue. He, however, alsosaid that at times a Congressleader was also referred as“daughter of Italy, Italy ki kath-putli”.

This evoked protests fromthe Treasury Benches whichdemanded the Congress tocome clean on its stand on thecurrent issue. Chowdhury lateragreed with the prevailing viewthat the Speaker should take acall on punishing Azam.

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Day after the Supreme Courtdirected setting up of a

centrally-funded designatedcourt in each district havingmore than 100 FIRs under theProtection of Children fromSexual Offences (POCSO) Actto deal exclusively with cases ofsexual offences against chil-dren, the Delhi Cabinetapproved the proposal of theLaw Department to set up 18permanent fast-track courtsand 22 new commercial courts.

According to the CrPC,cases of rape and incidents ofsexual assault against minorsunder the POCSO Act shouldbe decided in two months afterthe filing of the chargesheet.Such trials necessitate the exis-tence of fast-track courts.

The Cabinet chaired byChief Minister Arvind Kejriwalalso approved a proposal ofcreation of 22 posts of DelhiHigher Judicial Services(DHJS) in super time scale for

Commercial Court judgesalong with ancillary staff.

A total 212 posts, request-ed by the Delhi High Court inJanuary, have been approved.The Government decision willhave the annual financialimplication of �13,55,90,280.

When it comes to fast-track courts, Delhi already has20 of them, all set up in 2005,but they operate entirely withad-hoc staff.

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Chandigarh’s JW MarriottHotel may have to cough

up a penalty of �25,000 forcharging an exorbitant amountfor two bananas served toBollywood actor Rahul Boseduring his stay at the luxuryhotel.

The actor was charged�442.50 for two bananas at thehotel which is located in Sector35 here.

A team headed by RKChaudhary, Assistant Exciseand Taxation Commissioner,Chandigarh, has already begunprobe into the levying of tax onfresh fruits and other items atJW Marriott and the hotelauthorities have been asked tosubmit a reply by Saturday.

A senior officer of UTExcise and TaxationDepartment said under theGST regime, fresh fruits aretax-free items and this is a clearviolation by the hotel authori-ties. While the hotel is expect-ed to submit its reply bySaturday, under the Section 125

of CGST Act 2017, any personwho contravenes the provi-sions of this Act is liable to apenalty which may extend to�25,000.

“A day before, the team ofUT Excise and TaxationDepartment had also seizeddocuments related to the salein the hotel to check whetherthey have been depositing reg-ularly the relevant tax to thedepartment or not. We arechecking the violations from allangles and will act against thehotel authorities accordingly,”the officer said.

Bose had posted a video onTwitter expressing shock overbeing charged �442.50 for twobananas at the hotel in whichhe is seen explaining how hewas charged �442 (includingGST) for two bananas.

“You have to see this tobelieve it. Who said fruit was-n’t harmful to your existence?Ask the wonderful folks at JWMarriott Chandigarh,” theactor, captioned the video,adding “bananas are just toogood for me.

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As India commemorated 20years of Kargil war, Army

chief General Bipin Rawat onFriday warned Pakistan againstattempting another Kargil-like“misadventure”.

General Rawat was askedby a reporter at a Press con-ference to share his message forPakistan on the 20th anniver-sary of India’s victory in theKargil war.

Earlier on Thursday, whileinteracting with the media-persons in Drass, the Armychief had said, “The enemywould never be allowed tosucceed. No matter whatheights they capture, we willalways get back to them and

this was evident during theKargil war in 1999. They willnot dare to repeat it.”

“Don’t do it. This was amisadventure. Misadventuresare normally not repeated. Youwill get a bloodier nose next

time,” the Army chief reactedfirmly standing tall in thebackdrop of a war memoriallocated at the foothills of theTololing feature.

Meanwhile, speaking inthe Lok Sabha on the occasionas Parliament paid tributes toIndian soldiers who droveout enemy forces andreclaimed Kargil heights,Defence Minister Rajnath

Singh said the bravery andsacrifice of soldiers cannot beforgotten.

To commemorate the 20years of the Kargil War, PrimeMinister Narendra Modishared pictures of his visit tothe area during the conflict andhis interaction with the sol-diers. “During the Kargil Warin 1999, I had the opportunityto go to Kargil and show soli-darity with our brave soldiers,”he said on Twitter.

The Prime Minister saidthat in 1999, he was workingfor the BJP in Jammu &Kashmir and HimachalPradesh. “The visit to Kargiland interactions with soldiersare unforgettable,” Modi said.

In the photographs, he isseen interacting with Armymen and meeting woundedsoldiers.

Meanwhile, bad weatherprevented President Ram NathKovind from visiting the Drass

war memorial to attend the‘Kargil Diwas’.

He landed in Srinagar andparticipated in the Vijay Diwasfunction at Badami Bagh

Cantonment.In Drass, Navy chief

Admiral Karambir Singh, AirForce chief BS Dhanoa bothaccompanied by Army chief

General Bipin Rawat paid trib-utes wearing their respectiveforces’ combat fatigues.

GoC-in-C, NorthernCommand, Lt-Gen Ranbir

Singh, Lt Gen YK Joshi, GOCFire and Fury Corps, formerArmy Chief (Retd) Gen VPMalik too were present on theoccasion.

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In an apt celebration of KargilVijay Diwas, Punjab Chief

Minister Capt AmarinderSingh came as a saviour for aKargil War hero on Fridayordering double promotionfor Vir Chakra awardee SatpalSingh after learning that he wasmanaging traffic after being re-employed as a senior policeconstable — a rank below hisstature — in Sangrur district ofthe State.

The CM, himself a former

Army man, accused the pre-vious SAD-BJP Government ofignoring the credentials ofSatpal at the time of his recruit-ment in 2010.

“Satpal, who joined thePunjab Police after his dis-charge from the Army, hasbeen awarded a double pro-motion to the rank of AssistantSub-Inspector following directorders from the Chief Ministerin recognition of his valiantcontribution during the KargilWar,” a Punjab Governmentspokesperson said.

As a special case, he will berecruited as an Assistant Sub-Inspector, in relaxation of Rule12.3 of the Punjab Police Rulesby the DGP, who has been soauthorised by the ChiefMinister, he said.

Satpal was posted inDrass Sector duringOperation Vijay and was partof the team that helped theIndian Army capture TigerHill. He killed PakistaniCaptain Karnal Sher Khan ofthe Northern Light Infantryand three others.

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Page 2: ˇ ˇ)...realms of numerology, Karnataka BJP president BS Yeddyurappa changed his last name to Yediyurappa a few ... Janata Dal, Telugu Desam Party, Communist Party of India and CPI(M)

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Claiming that the Congress-JD(S) coalition in

Karnataka collapsed under its“own weight” and internal con-flicts, BJP’s working presidentJP Nadda on Friday dismissedthe argument of age bar of 75years applicable to BSYediyurappa saying he is mov-ing from being the leader ofOpposition to taking the man-tle of Chief Minister of the State.

Nadda said the BJP wassynonymous with “stability”and would provide a firmGovernment in Karnataka.

He dismissed the charges ofhorse trading in the State sayingthe Government fell on accountof its own contradictions.Quizzed on West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee’s alle-gation that BJP was destabilisingStates, Nadda said, “Apne kara-no se unko dar laga hai” (she isscared for her own reasons.)

“They (Congress-JDS) fellunder their own weight due tointernal reasons...The BJP issynonymous with stability.Wherever we go, we bring sta-bility,” Nadda told reporters athis maiden Press conferencewhere he also shared theNarendra Modi Government’sachievements in its first 50 days.

Asked about the fact thatBJP leader Yediyurappa, who istaking oath as Chief Minister,

is over the 75-year age bar theparty has stipulated for its lead-ers holding any Governmentposition, he played it down.

Yediyurappa was the leaderof the BJP legislature party in theState and it was natural for himto be the party’s choice for theChief Minister’s post, he said.Yediyurappa is 76 years old.

“It depends,” he said whenquizzed about the party’s age-barand then added, “You see, firstof all he is a leader, he is an elect-ed leader of the legislature party.Accordingly, he is taking oath.It is a continuous process and theparty takes note of ongoingdevelopments from time totime.” As the leader of opposi-tion he is alright and the day hetakes oath the question is askedabout his age, he said, addingthat it does not work like that.

The BJP under Prime

Minister Narendra Modi and itspresident Amit Shah has intro-duced the 75 years limit forMinisters in the party-runGovernments as well as for itscandidates in the recent LokSabha election to ease out manyveterans, including L K Advani,Murli Manohar Joshi and

Sumitra Mahajan among others.Asked about reports that

some rebel Congress-JD(S)MLAs may be accommodatedby the BJP Government inKarnataka as Ministers, Nadda said it is for these MLAsto decide their future course ofaction.

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Issues like exorbitant feescharged by private schools

and a demand to regulate them,illegal sand mining in variousparts of the country therebyposing threat to environmentand lack of facilities like hearseand ambulance to ferry thedead from the hospital saw themembers from nearly all polit-ical parties expressing concernin the Rajya Sabha on Friday.

Raising the fees issue,Shwait Malik(BJP) demandedthat such schools should beregulated to provide succor tohapless parents. He said edu-cation had now become likeshops with industrialists andtraders opening educationalinstitutions and exploit throughvarious charges like buildingfund and force the parents tobuy books and uniform fromthe school.

Associating himself withhis assertion, Surendra SinghNagar (SP) said schools haveseen 150 per cent rise in fee inthe last 10-15 years. In 2018,Uttar Pradesh made a law tocontrol private schools but it hasnot been implemented, he said.The Centre should frame a lawto end exploitation of parentsand students by private schools,he added and various othermembers cutting across linesagreed with his contention.

Highlighting the hazardscaused by illegal mining inmany parts of the country,Kumari Selja (Congress) saidnatural resources weredestroyed and cited instances in

Haryana. She alleged illegalmining was taking place withconnivance of political partiesand administration.

Echoing similar sentiments,Vikas Mahatame (BJP) saidafter China, India is the biggestconsumer of sand for con-struction. As the demand andsupply gap is growing, sandmafia was exploiting the situa-tion. He also said instances ofofficers and locals getting mur-dered and assaulted after object-ing to illegal mining also cameto notice. The entire Houseassociated with the issue.

Drawing the attention tothe plight of poor in ferryingthe bodies of their relative fromhospital, Javed Ali Khan (SP)said several instances came tolight where due to lack of trans-port, bodies were taken on

cycle carriers, motorcycles andin one case in Odisha a mancarried the body on his head.

Khan demanded that itshould be made mandatory forall private hospitals to havesome vehicles earmarked forferrying bodies and soughtsame systems in theGovernment hospitals. Almostthe entire house agreed withKhan who lauded the OdishaGovernment decision to pro-vide free facilities to take thebodies from hospitals to homes.

Among other matters, DPVats (BJP) demanded that aheroes’ gallery showing pic-tures of Defence personnelwho have sacrificed their livesfor the country be set up at theJawaharlal Nehru University(JNU). He said elite institutionsof armed forces like NationalDefence Academy (NDA) andArmy Cadet College are affil-iated with the JNU. He said stu-dents passing from those insti-tutes simultaneously becomealumni of JNU.

RK Sinha (BJP) saidBhojpuri language should beincluded in the Eight Scheduleof the Constitution. He said thelanguage is spoken in overtwo dozen countries besides by20 crore people in India. Vaiko(MDMK) opposed the drillingfor hydrocarbons permitted inTamil Nadu, saying the “mostdisastrous and dangerous”activity will destroy fertile landin the Cauvery delta. Dola Sen(TMC) opposed corporatisa-tion of Indian OrdinanceFactories saying it will eventu-ally lead to privatisation.

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Maharashtra and Karnatakawill go for cloud seeding

or artificial rain procedure totackle deficient rainfall. Thetarget areas for cloud seedingwill be identified based onfactors such as rainfall deficitand moisture deficiency, cloudformation and data generatedby the radars.

According to the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD), cloud seeding will be car-ried out in Aurangabad, Solapurand Ahmednagar districts inMaharashtra and Mysuru andHubballi in Karnataka fromMonday. Maharashtra had con-ducted a similar cloud-seedingexperiment over Marathwada in2015 while Karnataka had pre-viously carried out cloud seed-ing in 2017.

The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) predictsIndia is likely to get above-aver-age rainfall in the next two weeksafter receiving below averagerains in the past two weeks.

IMD said the Governmenthas decided to carry out cloud

seeding for artificial rain inthese regions. For that officialswill survey the skies for nextsome days. “If the cloud den-sity is sufficient then seedingwill be done for artificial rain.Three planes for bringing aboutartificial rain in southern dis-tricts of Maharashtra alongthe borders of Karnataka andTelangana have arrived at theSolapur airport,” the IMD said.

Cloud seeding is a type ofweather modification in whichchemicals like silver iodide,potassium iodide, dry ice (solidcarbon dioxide) or liquidpropane is dispersed in the air toact as cloud condensation to alterits microphysical processes.

In Karnataka, the progressof monsoon in Karnataka hasnot been satisfactory so far.While half of the State hasreceived normal rains, there isdeficit in the remaining areas.Cumulative rainfall acrossKarnataka this monsoon sea-son has witnessed a deficiencyof 19 per cent till date. TheMalnad region that consists ofWestern Ghats has the highestdeficit of 33 per cent, while the

shortfall in the drought-proneNorth Interior Karnataka is at21 per cent. The deficit inCoastal Region and SouthInterior Karnataka is estimat-ed at 16 per cent each.

On the other hand,Maharashtra’s water crisis hasbeen steadily worsening sincelast year, particularly indrought-hit Vidarbha andMarathwada. Nearly twomonths into the monsoon —that officially begins on June 1— Marathwada and Vidarbhaare facing rainfall deficits of 35per cent and 42 per cent respec-tively (as on July 26).

Solapur, Osmanabad andseveral districts fromMarathwada and Vidarbhahave received rainfall between50-75 per cent of their averageprecipitation whileMaharashtra is experiencing anoverall 9 per cent shortfall inrainfall. As on July 26, dams inthe State have just 24 per centwater stock, compared to 46.5per cent stock during the sametime last year. Shockingly, damsin Marathwada have just 0.82per cent of water.

According to IMD, themonsoon rains were 35 per centbelow average in the week end-

ing July 24, after receiving 20 percent less rainfall in the priorweek, raising concerns over theoutput of summer-sown crops.

Overall, the country hasreceived 17 per cent less rainthan average since the monsoonseason began on June 1, but insome states such as Gujarat, thebiggest producer of cotton andgroundnut, the rainfall deficit isas high as 42 per cent. Thecountry has received 325.5 mmas against the normal rainfall of394.5 mm so far.

According to theAgriculture Ministry datareleased on Friday, the totalkharif crops area covered so farremained 688.78 lakh hectares(lh), as compared to 736.18lakh hectare, a less than 47.39lakh hectare planted during thecorresponding period last year,The sowing of rice, pulses,oilseeds and coarse cereals areworst affected. Rice planting tillthis week is stood at 185.14lakh hectare as compared to215.71 lakh hectare sown in thesame week last year. Similarly,pulses cultivation recorded 9.24lakh hectares less this year.

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The deadly connectionbetween toxic lead and

fatty liver disease has beenknown for a while, but IITMandi researchers have recent-ly unraveled the process bywhich the harmful metal canpromote accumulation of fat inthe liver, causing non-alco-holic fatty liver disease(NAFLD). The NAFLD is relat-ed to conditions like diabetesand obesity. It’s also linked toan increased risk of cardiovas-cular disease (CVDs).

Lead toxicity is a seriousconcern in India given that useof paints containing lead, pes-ticides, packaging and evenbeer contributes towards highexposure of people to this toxicmetal and its salts.

Experts say, NAFLD is adangerous epidemic of thisgeneration and is a rapidlygrowing health problem inti-mately related to the metabol-ic group of diseases such asobesity and diabetes, amongothers. While obesity has beenknown to be the leading causefor NAFLD, recent observa-tions have shown that even thinpeople can be ‘metabolicallyobese’ and have NAFLD.

Researchers from Council ofScientific and IndustrialResearch (CSIR)-Indian Institute

of Toxicology Research,Lucknow and School ofChemical and Life Sciences —Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi hadjointly conducted the researchwork, which was recently pub-lished in a reputed peer-reviewedjournal “FEBS Letters”.

Dr Prosenjit Mondal,Assistant Professor, School ofBasic Sciences, IIT Mandi, whohas uncovered the pathway bywhich lead promotes NAFLD,said, “While the connectionbetween lead and fatty liver dis-ease has been known for a while,the actual mechanism by whichlead worsens this condition hashitherto remained unknown.”

NAFLD, and most meta-bolic group of diseases, are oftencaused by the poor regulation ofDe novo lipogenesis (DNL), acomplex process in which car-bohydrates circulating in theblood are converted into fat. Thepoor regulation of DNL leads toabnormal production of fat,

which settles in the liver andother internal organs as viscer-al fat. Lead salts absorbed by thehuman body is stored in soft tis-sues, and autopsy studies haveshown that the liver hoardsalmost 33 per cent of the totallead cruising in the body.

De novo lipogenesis or DNLis a complex process that involvesnumerous biomolecules, one ofwhich is CarbohydrateResponsive Element BindingProtein (ChREBP). ChREBPactivates the regulatory enzyme,fatty acid synthase, which isresponsible for fat production inliver cells. The activity ofChREBP in human liver cells iskept in control by another bio-molecule called sorcin. “Weobserved Pb2+ ions to suppresssorcin activity, and this over-acti-vates ChREBP, which in turntriggers fatty acid synthase. Thisincreases fat production in theliver, leading to NAFLD,”explained Dr Mondal.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday sought theCentre’s response on the allegation that it has notimplemented a slew of directions issued last year tocurb lynching and mob violence. A Bench compris-ing Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice DeepakGupta issued notices to the Ministry of Home Affairsand State Governments on a petition filed by an organ-isation, Anti-Corruption Council of India Trust.

Senior advocate Anukul Chandra Pradhan,appearing for the trust, said incidents of lynching wereincreasing and no step was being taken to implementthe directions of the apex court aimed at tackling themenace of mob lynching. The trust said a slew ofdirections passed on July 17, 2018, by the apex courtto the Government to provide “preventive, remedi-al and punitive measures” to deal with offences likemob violence have not been implemented.

The directions were passed on the PIL byCongress activist Tehsin Poonavall who hadbrought the issue of rising incidents of moblynching and cow vigilantism.

The apex court had asked Parliament to con-sider enacting a new law to sternly deal with moblynching and cow vigilantism, warning that suchincidents may rise like a “Typhon-like monster”across the country.

The top court had said that it was the duty ofthe States to strive and promote fraternity amongstall citizens, as such mob violence was being insti-gated by intolerance and misinformed by circula-tion of fake news and false stories.

The apex court had said there was a need toenact a special law as it would instill a sense of fearfor law amongst those who involve themselves inmob lynching.

It had said it was the duty of State Governmentsto ensure law and order in the society, besides ensur-ing that the rule of law prevailed. PTI

New Delhi: Karnataka political rivals, BJP’s BSYediyurappa and DK Shivakumar of Congress,were seen on the same side in the SupremeCourt on Friday — opposing an applicationseeking to revive an alleged corruption caserelating to denotification of land in Bengaluru.

The matter, which came up for hearingbefore a bench of Justices Arun Mishra andMR Shah, saw their advocates questioning themaintainability of the application filed by anintervenor for reviving the criminal case inwhich the complainant has already with-drawn his plea. The issue relates to denoti-fication of 4.20 acres of land allegedly in con-travention of the Karnataka Restriction ofTransfer of Land Act, 1991.

Senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and AMSinghvi, who were appearing forYeddyurappa and Shivakumar respectively,told the bench that the complainant in thecase had withdrawn his appeal from the apexcourt last year and a third party, who hasnothing to do in the case, cannot be allowedto intervene at this stage.

Shivakumar was present in the court-room during the hearing.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearingfor intervenor NGO ‘Samaj ParivartanaSamudaya’, told the Bench that complainanthad withdrawn his plea from the apex courton mentioning the matter before a Bench butintervention plea can be heard. He soughtrecall of the February 21 order by which theplea filed by the complainant was “dismissedas withdrawn” by the top court. PTI

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Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Friday informed

the Lok Sabha that the Governmenthas de-registered 4 lakh shell com-panies and tightened the CorporateSocial Responsibility (CSR) norms.She was speaking during the debateon the amendments to theCompanies Bill.

Piloting the CompaniesAmendment Bill 2019, the Ministersaid companies not spending themandatory 2 per cent profit on CSRactivities for a total period of fouryears will be required to deposit theamount in a special account.

The amendments in theCompanies Act, she added, wereaimed at improving ease of doingbusiness and also reducing compli-ance burden on the companies, espe-cially the smaller ones. The Bill waslater passed unanimously afterCongress leader Adhir RanjanChowdhury withdrew statutory res-olution opposing it.

Responding to the concerns ofmembers on shell companies,Sitharaman said the word “shell com-panies” has not been defined in therule book, but it is loosely referred toinactive companies or those which donot maintain a registered office.“Four lakh companies have beenidentified and de-registered,” shesaid, adding non-maintenance ofregistered office will be a ground forde-registration of companies.

A key change in the Bill pertainsto CSR spending, wherein companieswould have to mandatorily keepunspent money into a specialaccount. Under the Act, companiesearning profit of over Rs 5 crore,turnover of Rs 100 crore or networthof more than Rs 500 crore are

required to shell out at least two percent of their three-year annual aver-age net profit towards CSR activities.India, Sitharaman said, has becomethe first country to make CSR spend-ing mandatory through a law.

The companies will have one yearto firm up the CSR proposal andanother three years to spend funds.In case money remains unspent forone plus three years, the money willhave to be moved to an escrowaccount, she said, adding it could evenbe the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.

Opposing the ordinance broughtearlier, Chowdhury and Saugata Roy(TMC) said it was not required as thelaw has been amended on severaloccasions. Pinaki Misra (BJD)described the bill as “disastrous”, say-ing the legislation has been draftedby bureaucrats and the lawmakershave just rubberstamped it. A Raja(DMK) said the registrar of compa-nies has been given “excessive pow-ers” which is not good. PPChaudhury (BJP) said once the lawis amended, it will help in ease ofdoing business and give a boost tocommerce.

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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attachedassets worth Rs 66.57 crore in the Manesar Land

Scam under Prevention of Money Laundering Act.The attached assets consisting of 14.56 acres of landat Gurgaon (valued at Rs 43.54 crore) belongs toMahamaya Exports Pvt. Ltd., and 4 acres of land andbank balances worth Rs 23.03 crore of other accusedpersons.

ED initiated investigation under the provisions ofPMLA, on the basis of an FIR registered initially byGurgaon police under IPC sections related to cheat-ing, criminal conspiracy and forgery besides provisionsof the Prevention of Corruption Act. Subsequently thecase was transferred to CBI for investigation againstunknown public servants of Government of Haryanaand unknown private persons.

The Government of Haryana had issued notifi-cation under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 onAugust 27 and had issued notification to the effecton August 25 for acquisition of land measuring about912 acres for setting up an Industrial ModelTownship in villages Manesar, Naurangpur andLakhnoula of Gurgaon district.

A large number of land owners, in haste, had tosell about 400 acres of their land at throwaway priceto private builders and thereby caused a wrongful lossof Rs 1,500 crore to the land owners of Manesar,Naurangpur and Lakhnoula villages and corre-sponding wrongful gains to the realtors.

“Investigations under PMLA revealed that the pri-vate builders, to whom the licences were granted, madewrongful gain by conspiring with the public servantsof Haryana Government and politicians, who wereinvolved in decision making for release of land,” the EDsaid in a statement. Most of the land was purchased byABWIL Group controlled by Atul Bansal. After obtain-ing the licences, ABWIL had fraudulently sold thelicenced/ unlicensed land and licences to the private per-sons/ developers, making huge profit, the agency said.

Proceeds of crime consists of 14.56 acres of landof Mahamaya Exports Pvt. Ltd in which Atul Bansaland Sona Bansal hold 74 per cent of shares and fouracres of land and balances in the bank account ofother accused persons were provisionally attachedunder PMLA. Earlier in this case, assets worth Rs42.19 crore were attached.

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Speaking on the 50-day deci-sion making in the Modi-2

Government, Nadda said thesewere much more and concretethan taken during last 50 yearsof other parties and reflectspolitical will of the leadership.He said by 2024, 1,00,24,000houses with electricity, toiletsand gas connections would beready for delivery and make wayfor “ease of living”. He said by2024 every rural house will gettap drinking water which itselfwould be a “revolutionary step”.

PM Gram Sadak Yojanawill have 1.25 crore km roadsmade in rural areas, providingrural connectivity and creatingnetwork for business and mar-keting. He said Modi

Government has deleted 44labour laws and ensured theirminimum wages, improvedworking conditions, andupgraded their health, safetyconditions which would bene-fit 50 crore workers. He men-tioned pension for smalltraders which would help threecrore small traders.

Nadda said Governmenthas taken steps to supportwomen employment by helpingself-help groups in the countryby giving Rs 5,000 and Rs 1 lakhloan to them that would go along way to improve ruraleconomy.

Similarly, he said thescheme of scholarship to mar-tyred families in the army hasnow been extended to policeand para-military forces too.

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Page 3: ˇ ˇ)...realms of numerology, Karnataka BJP president BS Yeddyurappa changed his last name to Yediyurappa a few ... Janata Dal, Telugu Desam Party, Communist Party of India and CPI(M)

chhattisgarh 03RAIPUR | SATURDAY | JULY 27, 2019

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

The state government is plan-ning to introduce ‘light rail’

system as a new public transportmode to ease the traffic pressurebetween Raipur and Durg.

As a pilot project, ChiefMinister Bhupesh Baghel hasasked officials of NuamTechnopreneur Private LimitedMumbai to develop a light railroute between the busy ShashtriChowk and Tatibandh.

Officials of the Mumbai-basedcompany met Chief Minister hereat Mantralaya on Friday.

During the meeting the

officials of the NuamTechnopreneur Pvt Ltd informedthe Chief Minister that light railsystem is based on RussianTechnology. This battery-operatedrail has eight bogies that run on anelevated rout.

The modern coaches of therail are fully air-conditioned, wifiequipped with sitting capacity of1,068 passengers. The rail trackscould be used for installing streetlight and telecom cables.Construction of elevated rail linerequires only 3X3 feet land,company officials stated.

The official proposed that the

company will bear the completeproject cost and after operating itfor 30 years the project will behanded over to the stategovernment.

As per company officials thelight rail has a guaranteed life of 70years and in past two years, theyhave already installed 100 km railline and are operating the same. Itcould be also used as rail cargo,they added.

Forest Minister MohammedAkbar, Principal Secretary toChief Minister Gaurav Dwivedialong with key officialsparticipated in the meeting.

State govt mulls light railto ease traffic pressurebetween Raipur & Durg

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

To simplify the process of castecertificate issuance, a

five-member committee has beenconstituted that will study castecertificate issuance process forscheduled castes, scheduled tribesand OBCs in various states.

The committee will visitJharkhand and Odisha to studythe caste certificate issuanceprocess there.

This decision was taken in themeeting of state-level Vigilanceand Monitoring Committeechaired by Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel on Friday atMantralaya (Mahanadi Bhavan).

In the meeting, cases filedunder Scheduled Caste andScheduled Tribe (Prevention ofAtrocities Act) were reviewed,according to a governmentcommuniqué.

The committee constituted forsimplification of the castecertificate issuance process will beheaded by former minister andMLA Rampukar Singh. Besides,Nankiram Kanwar, Punnulal

Mohile, Bhuvaneshwar Baghel,Manoj Mandawi along withsecretary and director ofScheduled Caste, Scheduled TribeDepartment will be the membersof the committee.

Chief Minister said that thiscommittee will visit various statesof the country and collect therelevant information from

government officials and localcommunity there. He gaveinstructions to the committee tosubmit report in three months.

Chief Minister has giveninstructions to expedite theprocess of caste certificateverification and to take strictimmediate action against people,who are working in government

services on the basis of fake castecertificates.

Baghel also gave instructionsto ensure speedy redressal of casesfiled under Scheduled Caste andScheduled Tribe (Prevention ofAtrocities) Act. Chief Ministersaid that efforts should be made tostay vacate the cases, which havebeen put on stay by the court.

Chief Minister said that thepending payment of incentives tothe beneficiaries of AntarjaatiyVivaah Protsahan Puruskar VivahProtsahan Yojana should becleared as soon as possible.

Baghel also directed principalsecretary of Law Department toreview the works of publicprosecutors in the courts underScheduled Caste and ScheduledTribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The meeting was attended byTribal Caste DevelopmentMinister Premsai Singh, HomeMinister Tamradhwaj Sahu,Women and Child DevelopmentMinister Anila Bhendiya, IndustryMinister Kawasi Lakhma, FoodMinister Amarjeet Singh Bhagatamong others.

Caste certificate issuanceprocedure will be simplified: CM

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Newly appointedChhattisgarh Governor

Anusuiya Uikey is arriving inthe state capital on Saturdayevening.

She is going to take oath ofoffice and secretary on July 29.

According to officialsources Uikey would bearriving in the state capital at7.15 p.m. by a regular flightfrom New Delhi.

On July 29 she will payhomage to Martyr VeerNarayan Singh memorial at9.00 in the morning beforetaking the oath.

She will be taking oath atDarbar Hall of the Rajbhawanat 4.00 p.m. on July 29. Theoath will be administered toher by Chief Justice of theChhattisgarh High Court,Bilaspur, P.R. RamchandraMenon.

New Governor Uikey to arrive today

Departments vow to createawareness on AIDS controlRAIPUR: Several departments and organisations vowed tocreate awareness on AIDS and its prevention during thereview meeting of the National AIDS Control Organisationheld at New Circuit House, Raipur on Thursday.

Representatives of government departments, public andprivate sector organisations were briefed on the HIV infesta-tion status and efforts to control it. All representatives wereurged to take effective steps and play role in AIDS control.

As per details of the meeting, telecommunicationdepartment assured to seek assistance of all service providersto fight the dreaded disease, an awareness drive will be car-ried out among drivers at the refueling centre at MandirHasaud, sports and youth welfare department has alsoassured for cooperation, National Cadet Core (NCC) willspread message through its camp while social welfaredepartment will ask all NGOs under it to spread the message.

Similarly, South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) willprovide HIV counselling and testing facilities in all its hospi-tals. The facilities will be extended to truck drivers and con-tract workers. The other departments, private industrialunits have also agreed to spread AIDS control messages andinform people about the HIV AIDS toll free number 1097.

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

In an important decision, ChhattisgarhHigh Court, Bilaspur gave a stay order

on the appointment of Vijendra Katre asChief Executive Officer (CEO) of NodalCentre of Ayushman Bharat Scheme.

The appointment made by healthdepartment of the state was stayed bythe court on petition of a social activist,Uchit Sharma, on the grounds thatKatre didn’t had essential qualificationfor the post of the CEO. The hearinginto the matter was taken place onWednesday.

Katre is a graduate in DairyTechnology while the essential mini-mum qualification for the post of CEOwas a medical degree with specializationin community medicine.

Notable, the appointment of Katreto the post was controversial right fromthe beginning and the then HealthSecretary, Shikha Rajput Tiwari had toface the wrath on the issue and wasremoved from the post and wasassigned a new post as a DistrictCollector, Bemetara.

HC stays appointment of Katreas CEO in Ayushman scheme

STAFF REPORTER n SUKMA

Two hardcore Naxals surren-dered before police in the

insurgency-hit Sukma districton Friday. One of the surren-dered ultras carried a cashreward of Rs 1 lakh on his head.

Police said they had decid-ed to join the mainstream afterbeing dissatisfied with theMaoist ideology and violencebeing perpetrated by Naxals inthe Bastar region.

The surrendered ultraswere identified as MadkamSukka who was president ofbanned Maoist outfitDandkaranya Kisan AdivasiMadjur Sangh (DKAMS) and

Madkam Soni member of NaxalKAMS (Kisan Adivasi MadjurSangh), police said.

Sukka was pre-salwa judumNaxal operative and had joinedthe rebel outfit in his childhoodas a member of Bal Sangham.He was then promoted asSangham member, DKAMSmember and later President ofDKAMS operating inKondapalli region of the dis-trict, police informed.

Sukka was carrying areward of Rs 1 lakh on his head.

The duo will be providedwith compensations and reliefas per the state government’srehabilitation policy for theultras, police sources said.

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

AHigh power committee,constituted by the state

government to decide thefate of an under-construc-tion skywalk in the capitalcity, deliberated on the pos-sible future of the contro-versial structure.

The meeting held atMahanadi Bhawan in NavaRaipur was chaired by ChiefSecretary Sunil Kujur.

The committee comprisedprivate technical experts, offi-cials of government depart-ments like Department ofPublic Works and Town andCountry Planning as well asdistrict collector and superin-tendent of police.

E n g i n e e r - i n - C h i e fPublic Works Department,D.K. Agrawal informed ThePioneer that this was pre-

liminary round of meetingof the committee and thatthe meeting remainedinconclusive as there wasdifferences of opinionsamong the experts.

On a query whether thecommittee also discussed

on dismantling the struc-ture as it was creating hin-drance in normal traffic atthe hub of the city, the offi-cial said the committee hadall the options open andrazing the structure was alsoa possible alternative.

According to informa-tion some of the expertswere of the view that in a bidto save the public moneyfrom being wasted, thestructure might be convert-ed into a foot over bridgeinstead of dismantling it.

High-Power Committeedeliberates on skywalk’s fate

Two Naxals surrender in Sukma

STAFF REPORTER nJASHPUR

Two girl students ofTatkela government pri-

mary school of the districtdied of snake bite on Fridaydue to alleged negligence ofschool teacher.

Taking cognizance of thealleged negligence by theschool faculty member,Jashpur District CollectorNilesh Kumar MahadevKshirsagar ordered of mag-isterial enquiry into the mat-ter. He also ordered immedi-ate suspension of the absenthead mistress and a schoolteacher.

Kshirsagar while talk-ing to The Pioneer saidprima facie it was foundthat there was negligence

on part of the schoolteacher who instead of tak-ing the girls to PrimaryHealth Centre took them totheir homes. In the absenceof their parents at home, theteacher left the students ontheir own fate.

“If the girls were taken tohospital on time they mighthave been saved”, he said. Amagisterial probe had beenordered and harsh actionswould be taken if the teach-ers were proved to be guilty,he said.

Notable, Jashpur is asnakebite prone area andhundreds of deaths due tosnakebites are reported hereevery year. The incidents ofsnakebites increase in therainy season.

Two girl students die ofsnakebites in school,magisterial probe ordered

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Adelegation of Japanese corpo-rate giant Nippon Electronic

Company (NEC) met ChiefMinister Bhupesh Baghel here onFriday and expressed interest inworking smart city, transport androad safety sectors inChhattisgarh.

“Chhattisgarh needs research-based IT solution providinginstitution. If the corporation(NEC) takes initiative in thisdirection then it will be wel-comed,” the Chief Minister stated.

Deputy Managing Director,NEC Masaharu Hasegawa, in themeeting informed that NEC is oneof the fortune 500 companieswhich has over 64,000 IT, ITECpatents. The company is knownfor ICT innovation and is

currently working in the trafficsafety, BRTS, bus service sectoralong with Aadhar.

He informed that the compa-ny wants to work in the sector ofroad safety, smart city and trans-port in Chhattisgarh. It was alsoinformed in the meeting that in

2017 about 4,500 people and in2018, about 5,000 people werekilled in road accidents. PrincipalSecretary to Chief MinisterGaurav Dwivedi, PrincipalSecretary Commerce andIndustries along with other keyofficials took part in the meeting.

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

PHE and Gramodyog MinisterGuru Rudra Kumar inaugurated a

sanitary napkin production Centre inNarayanpur headquarters onThursday.

On the occasion, the minister saidit’s a commendable effort of the gov-ernment and administration to pro-vide employment to tribal women andmake them aware towards importanceof hygiene.

The Centre is being operatedunder Antyavsayi Training Centre.

The minister distributed chequesamounting Rs 3 lakh as financial aidfor self-employment to six youths,under various schemes of antyavsayi.He also distributed sewing machines

to eight women, according to a gov-ernment source.

Meanwhile, safety equipmentswere also distributed to womanlabourers under schemes of LabourDepartment. PHE Minister was onday-long visit to Narayanpur.

Collector PS Elma informed that30 tribal women have been giventraining to manufacture low-cost san-itary napkins. Sanitary napkin manu-facturing machine costs around Rs7.50 lakh. Women are provided train-ing through computer-based projec-tor, which costs around Rs 3.50 lakh.

He informed that raw materialssupplied from capital city Raipur areused. Main objective of this initiativeis to provide them employment and tocreate menstrual hygiene awareness.

Sanitary napkin productioncentre inaugurated

Japan’s NEC keen to work in C’garh

Page 4: ˇ ˇ)...realms of numerology, Karnataka BJP president BS Yeddyurappa changed his last name to Yediyurappa a few ... Janata Dal, Telugu Desam Party, Communist Party of India and CPI(M)

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Even as the CongressGeneral Secretary turns on

the heat in the plains with herpolitical posturing, PriyankaGandhi Vadra has readied her-self a place in the cool climesof Shimla and is all set to moveinto her dream house set amidcherry, peach and apple trees

Currently, the five-roomcottage —with wooden framesand shingled exteriors and asloping tiled roof —is beingfurbished with interiors at aheight of more than 8,000 feetamid thick forests of pine andcedar in Charabra, some 15 kmuphill from the HimachalPradesh capital.

A State Congress leadersaid the earlier house had lessspace in its backyard and thatit was not secure from the secu-rity point of view. Moreover,the cottage had a seepage prob-lem in the slate roof.

Priyanka Gandhi alongwith her children and motherSonia Gandhi are regularlyvisiting to inspect the con-struction work of the two-storey house on a four-bighaplus agricultural plot that waspurchased in 2007.

"We are getting the bestpossible wood for the interiorwork," an official supervising

the cottage construction toldIANS.

He said the walnut wood isbeing mainly used for carvings,ceiling designing and for somedaily use furniture items. Themain furniture has already beenpurchased from the designer.

"After the monsoon rains,the polish work of the woodwill begin. The entire interiorwork is likely to be over byOctober and will be ready forpossession too," he added.

Congress leader and for-mer Cabinet Minister VidyaStokes had played an importantrole in helping PriyankaGandhi buy a three-and-a-halfbigha (one bigha is 0.4 hectare)agricultural plot for around �47lakh in 2007.

The then Congress gov-ernment in the state hadrelaxed norms to let the Vadrasbuy the land.

The plot is close to TheRetreat, the summer holidayresort of the Indian President.

Oberoi Group's luxury spaWildflower Hall also lies closeto Priyanka Gandhi's cottage.The Congress leader is one ofthe most high-profile people tobuild a house in HimachalPradesh years after formerPrime Minister Atal BihariVajpayee chose Kullu Valley fora cottage.

The work for the cottagewas initially handed over toDelhi-based architects in 2008.

In 2011 the entire buildingwas pulled down -- not becauseof any dispute -- but apparent-ly the Gandhi scion was unhap-py with the size of the roomsand the building design, lead-ers privy to the Gandhi familysaid.

Later, it was re-construct-ed and redesigned byrenowned Shimla-basedbuilder Tenzin in the hill archi-tecture style with strong foun-dation, an open terrace at thetop, bigger rooms and drive-in.

Already the planted cher-ry trees in the lawns are bear-ing fruits. Last month somecherry boxes were sent toPriyanka in New Delhi, a care-taker said.

He said some saplings ofalmond were also planted inthe lawns.

The then HimachalPradesh government hadrelaxed land rules underSection 118 of the LandReforms and Tenancy Act tofacilitate the sale for the Gandhifamily. The law prohibits out-siders from buying land in thehilly state and those who wishto buy land for non-agriculturalpurposes have to seek a relax-ation from the government.

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Haryana Chief Minister,Manohar Lal Khattar on

Friday offered Nepal to be thepartner Country for theInternational Gita JayantiMahotsav scheduled to beheld at Kurukshetra this yearfrom December 3 toDecember 8.

He made this offer whenAmbassador of Nepal to IndiaNilamber Acharya called onhim here.

Khattar said that Haryanahas been celebrating GitaJayanti Mahotsav ofInternational Level for thelast three years and everyyear a country is invited tobecome a partner country forthe event. This year, Nepal isinvited to be a partner coun-tr y. He said that anInternational Seminar on

Shrimad Bhag wad Gitawould also be organized aspart of the celebrations onDecember 6 and the devoteesand scholars from Nepalcould participate in it.

He said as a result ofefforts made by Haryana forthe promotion of ShrimadBhagwad Gita at a grand

scale, many other countrieshave also started celebratingGita Jayanti in their coun-tries.

"Mauritius organized GitaMahotsav in the month ofFebruary 2019 and now it isbeing organized in UnitedKingdom (UK) from August7 to August 9, 2019. Canadahas also proposed to organizesimilar Mahotsav in theircountry," he added

Ambassador of Nepal toIndia Nilamber Acharya saidthat India and Nepal has lotof similarities though Nepal isa small country.

He said that bothHaryana and Nepal couldcollaborate in the fields ofagriculture, agro industry andindustrialization and sharetheir best practices thus con-tribute significantly in thedevelopment of India andNepal, he added.

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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar on

Friday announced that top100 schools of 10th and 12thstandard in the State would bedeveloped as Model School onthe basis of evaluation of theirresults and infrastructure forthe academic session 2019-20.

Besides, new Super 100Centres (in addition to theexisting 2) would be opened infor government school stu-dents where top performingstudents would be providedcoaching in competitive exam-inations like JEE Mains,National Eligibility cumEntrance Test (NEET), CLATetc. for admission into engi-neering, medical and law col-leges.

Khattar made thisannouncement while speakingat the State Level SakshamSamman Samaroh inPanchkula.

Moreover, over 200 districtand block education officersalong with over 500 best per-forming principals attendedthe function while all 22Deputy Commissioners and10,000 schools in the Statewere also connected to the pro-gramme through video con-ferencing.

Khattar also announcedthat to ensure employment tothe skilled students, careercounseling would be started inthe schools. Apart from this,arrangement of vocational

training would also be madefor them. He said that pro-gramme would also be organ-ised after regular intervals forhonouring the teachers inrecognition of their contribu-tion in the field of education.

He also launched SakshamCM Scholarship under whichmore than 8000 meritoriousstudents of 6th to 12th stan-dard would be given scholar-ship.

He also launched onlineservice book under which ser-vice book of 1.15 lakh employ-ee of the education departmentwould be made availableonline, Saksham AdhyapakApp, a mobile App whichwould have question banks,

videos and other teachingtraining material, SakshamSamiksha app - a GIS basedapplication for the effectivemonitoring of 15,000 schoolsand Saksham DistrictDashboard to see the key per-formance indicators of all dis-tricts online.On this occasion,640 Board toppers of class10th were given away laptops.While Chief Minister present-ed laptops to 23 students, lap-tops to the remaining 617 stu-dents were given away by therespective DeputyCommissioners.

He said that the State haswitnessed a revolutionarychange in the field of educationduring the last few years. He

said that 107 out of 119 blocksare Saksham and 14 out of total22 districts have become fullySaksham.

State Education MinisterRam Bilas Sharma said that theState Government has imple-mented the teachers transferpolicy and 13 states includingPunjab is following our edu-

cation policy in their States. He said that as a result of

various initiatives taken toimprove the quality of educa-tion in the State, about 56,000students have migrated fromprivate schools to governmentschools last year and this fig-ure would be increased furtherin the time to come.

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Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on Friday

paid floral tributes to the mar-tyrs of the Kargil war on the20th anniversary of the event.

The Chief Minister laidthe wreath at the WarMemorial at the BougainvilleaGarden here, with glowingtributes to the heroic acts of thesoldiers, including the 54 bravesons of Punjab, who laid theirlives during the KargilOperations.

Remembering their sacri-fices on the Kargil Vijay Divas,Capt Amarinder exhorted theyouth to follow their ideals touphold the country’s sover-eignty and integration, besidesimbuing themselves with aspirit of patriotism and nation-alism.

Capt Amarinder said theheroics of the Indian Army sol-diers will remain etched asdefining moments in thenation''s history. In a tweet, thePunjab chief minister said, "Isalute our Bravehearts, whomade the ultimate sacrificeprotecting the sanctity of ournation".At the wreath laying

ceremony, Director, DefenceServices Welfare, BrigadierSatinder Singh apprised CaptAmarinder that such com-memorative functions werealso being simultaneously heldat Amritsar, Jalandhar,Ludhiana, Hoshiarpur andSangrur, to honour the next ofkin of the 54 Kargil heroes ofPunjab.July 26 is celebrated asKargil Vijay Diwas every yearto mark India''s triumph overPakistan in Operation Vijay.The Indian soldiers recapturedthe mountain heights in Kargilsector on this day in 1999from intruders backed by thePakistani army, after an armedconflict that lasted a little overtwo months. On the occasion,the Chief Minister also inter-acted with the young cadets ofMai Bhago Armed ForcesPreparatory Institute, Mohali.

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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar on

Friday paid tributes to theKargil martyrs at WarMemorial, Panchkula.

He said that the debt of themartyrs, who sacrificed theirlives for safeguarding of themotherland, can never be paidand the people of the countrywill always remember theirmartyrdom. He said that 527brave soldiers of the countryhad sacrificed their lives inKargil.Paying glowing trib-utes, the Haryana ChiefMinister said the heroes wouldnever die and "if they do, theywill live in the hearts of thepeople."

"Let''s honour and salutethe victorious Kargil heroeswho sacrificed their lives forthe motherland''s peace andprosperity," Khattar tweeted.

Earlier, a police contingentpaid homage to the martyrsand the Chief Minister boweddown to pay homage to the

sacrifice of the martyrs. He said that the forces of

the country are fully capable toface any challenge of the enemy and our Armed forcesare world famous for theirbravery.

On this occasion, theChief Minister also interactedwith ex-servicemen and prayed for their betterhealth.

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Punjab Government woulduse the talent and exper-

tise of Olympic Gold medal-ist Abhinav Bindra to guidebudding athletes in the newSports University coming upin Patiala.

After meeting Bindrahere, Sports and Youth AffairsMinister, Rana Gurmit SinghSodhi said that the Sportslandscape in Punjab is set towitness a transition with newinitiatives being undertaken inSports Science andTechnology, facilitated byAbhinav Bindra TargetingPerformance, India's leadingHigh-Performance Centre.

"The brand, an initiativeby Beijing Olympic GamesGold Medallist AbhinavBindra, makes use of the tech-nology that was used by himduring his training," the min-ister said.

The Olympic Championon the occasion also saw thegallery of photographs ofeminent sportspersons,including his, displayed at theminister's room, who havecarved out a niche for them-selves as well as brought lau-rels to Punjab.

The minister also recalledthe memories of BeijingOlympics (2008) in whichBindra won India's first GoldMedal in Individual categoryand where the minister wasalso present.

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North Korea’s test of a newmissile is meant as a

“solemn warning” over rivalSouth Korea’s weapons devel-opment and plans to hold mil-itary drills with the UnitedStates, Pyongyang said Fridayas it continued its pressurecampaign ahead of potentialnuclear talks.

South Korea’s military latersaid that the flight data of theweapon launched Thursdayshowed similarities to theRussian-made Iskander, a short-range, nuclear-capable missile.A North Korean version couldlikely reach all of South Korea— and the 28,500 US forces sta-tioned there — and would beextremely hard to intercept.

The North Korean state-ment was carried in state mediaand directed at “South Korean

military warmongers.” It appearsto be part of broader efforts dur-ing recent weeks to make surePyongyang gets what it wants asUS and North Korean officialsstruggle to set up working-leveltalks after a recent meeting onthe Korean border betweenNorth Korean leader Kim JongUn, who supervised Thursday’stest launch, and PresidentDonald Trump seemed to pro-vide a step forward in stallednuclear negotiations.

Although the North hadharsh words for South Korea,the statement stayed away fromthe kind of belligerent attacks onthe United States that havemarked past announcements, apossible signal that it’s interest-ed in keeping diplomacy alive.

It made clear, however,that North Korea is infuriatedover Seoul’s purchase of U.S.-made high-tech fighter jets

and US-South Korean plans tohold military drills this sum-mer that the North says arerehearsals for an invasion andproof of the allies’ hostility toPyongyang. US Secretary ofState Mike Pompeo playeddown Thursday’s launches andsaid in an interview withBloomberg TV that working-level talks with North Koreacould start “in a couple weeks.”

“Everybody tries to getready for negotiations and cre-ate leverage and create risk forthe other side,” Pompeo said ofthe launches.

The North Korean state-ment was gloating at times, say-ing the weapons test “musthave given uneasiness andagony to some targeted forcesenough as it intended.” It alsoaccused South Korea of intro-ducing “ultramodern offensiveweapons.”

That’s likely a reference toSouth Korea’s purchase andongoing deployment of U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets. Earlierthis month, North Korea saidit would develop and test “spe-cial weapons” to destroy theaircraft. In its biggest weaponspurchase, South Korea is to buy40 F-35 fighter jets fromLockheed Martin by 2021. Thefirst two arrived in March and

two others are to be deliveredin coming weeks.

After watching the launch-es, Kim said the new weaponsare hard to intercept because oftheir “low-altitude gliding andleaping flight orbit,” the North’sKorean Central News Agencyreported Friday. He was quot-ed as saying the possession of“such a state-of-the-art weapon-ry system” is of “huge eventfulsignificance” in bolstering hiscountry’s armed forces andguaranteeing national security.

A joint South Korean-US analysis of the launchesshowed the North Koreanweapons are of a new type ofshort-range ballistic missilethat have a “similar flight fea-ture” as the Iskander, which hasbeen in the Russian arsenal formore than a decade, a SouthKorean defense official said,requesting anonymity because

of department rules.That missile is designed to

fly at a flattened-out altitude ofaround 40 kilometers (25miles) and make in-flight guid-ance adjustments. Both capa-bilities exploit weaknesses inthe US and South Korean mis-sile defenses that are now in

place, primarily Patriot missilebatteries and the THAAD anti-missile defense system. TheIskander is also quicker tolaunch and harder to destroyon the ground, because of itssolid fuel engine. Its advancedguidance system also makes itmore accurate.

Cairo: Libya’s coast guardrecovered dozens of bodies ofEurope-bound migrants whoperished at sea as search oper-ations continued on Friday, aday after up to 150 people,including women and chil-dren, went missing and werefeared drowned after theirboats capsized in theMediterranean Sea.

A top UN official describedThursday’s shipwreck as “theworst Mediterranean tragedy” sofar this year. Also Friday, Libyanauthorities transferred dozens ofmigrants rescued from the dis-aster to a detention center nearTripoli that was hit by an airstrikeearlier this month despite UN

objections to such a move, theUN refugee agency said.

The Anti-IllegalImmigration Agency in thecapital, Tripoli, said that up to350 migrants were on board theboats that capsized onThursday off the coast of theLibyan town of Khoms, around120 kilometers east of Tripoli.

The migrants includenationals from Eretria, Egypt,Sudan and Libya, the agencysaid. Libyan officials said morethan 130 migrants have beenrescued since Thursday. Atleast a dozen were taken to ahospital in Khoms while therest were transferred to differ-ent detention centres. AP

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Hundreds of Hong Kongers,including flight attendants,

held a rally in the airport’sarrival hall on Friday to “edu-cate” visitors about the demon-strations currently grippingthe international finance hub asit braces for another weekendof protests.

The cavernous hall is usu-ally filled with excited friendsand relatives waiting to greetloved ones as they make theirway out of one of the world’sbusiest airports.

But on Friday visitors were greeted by a sea of black-clad protesters chantinganti-government slogans, hold-ing banners and handing out flyers.

The rally is the latest bid tokeep pressure on Hong Kong’spro-Beijing leaders after sevenweeks of largely peaceful massdemonstrations followed byviolent clashes, an unprece-dented challenge to Beijing’s

authority since the city’s 1997handover.

The protests were trig-gered by a controversial billwhich would have allowedextraditions to mainlandChina, but they have evolvedinto a call for wider democra-tic reforms and a halt to slid-ing freedoms.

Organisers billed the air-port rally as an opportunity tobrief arrivals on the politicalunrest, particularly visitorsfrom mainland China wherethe state-controlled news hasportrayed the protests as aviolent, foreign-funded plot todestabilise the motherland.

The demonstration waspeaceful and good-humoured,and there were no reports ofany disruption to flights.

One particularly creativegroup were using a television todisplay a satirical version of anairline safety announcementvideo that details the move-ment’s demands and warns ofprotests in the city.

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The European Union onThursday flatly rejected an

aggressive push by Britain’snew prime minister BorisJohnson to rewrite the Brexitagreement. Chief Brexit nego-tiator Michel Barnier warnedEU member states that Johnsonwas trying to divide them byamping up the threat of adamaging “no-deal” divorce.

And the president of theEuropean Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, told Johnson ina phone call that EU leadershave given Brussels no mandateto renegotiate.

Earlier, in a pugnaciousparliamentary debut as leader,Johnson had urged theEuropean Union to “rethink”its opposition to re-opening thecurrent deal.

“If they do not, we will ofcourse have to leave the EUwithout an agreement,” hedeclared, vowing to “turbo-charge” preparations ahead ofthe latest deadline of October31. The former London mayor

warned that the terms of theagreement struck in Novemberby his predecessor TheresaMay were “unacceptable” andwould “sign away our eco-nomic independence”.

The former foreign secre-tary also threatened to with-hold the $39 billion ($49 bil-lion) divorce bill that Britainhas previously said it owes theEuropean Union and spend itinstead on preparing for a no-deal outcome.

Just hours later, Barnierwarned that Johnson’s demandswere “unacceptable”, in anemail to member state ambas-sadors seen by AFP thatdescribed the speech as “rathercombative”. “PM Johnson hasstated that if an agreement is tobe reached it goes by way ofeliminating the backstop,”Barnier wrote, referring to aclause of the current deal thatwould keep the Irish borderopen under all scenarios.

“This is of course unac-ceptable and not within themandate of the EuropeanCouncil,” he wrote.

Paris: Boris Johnson will trav-el to France to meet FrenchPresident Emmanuel Macronin the next few weeks, Frenchofficials said on Friday, whilewarning the new British pre-mier against “posturing” and“provocations.” The Frenchleader, who has said he ishappy to be considered the“bad guy” in the Brexit nego-tiations, is set to be a key fig-ure during the tricky andpotentially bad-tempered talksin the months ahead.

Macron extended the invi-tation to Johnson in a call lateon Thursday from his officialsummer vacation residence inthe south of France. But in asign of wariness in Franceabout Johnson’s anti-EUrhetoric, France’s EuropeMinister Amelie de Montchalinurged Britain’s new leader towork on creating a workingrelationship with his partnerson the continent. AFP Houston: The Indian-American

foster father of 3-year-old SherinMathews, sentenced to life inconnection with the death of thetoddler whose body was foundin a culvert in 2017, has start-ed serving the jail term in a stateprison, days after he filed anappeal for a fresh trial.

Wesley Mathews, 39, wastransferred from Dallas CountyJail to a state prison around12:58 am on Thursday to servehis life sentence, Dallas CountySheriff officials said.

In a case that attractedmuch international attention,Mathews pleaded guilty on June24 to a lesser charge of injury to

a child in Sherin’s tragic death.He was originally charged

with capital murder by author-ities in the US state of Texas afterthey discovered Sherin’s highlydecomposed body after a mas-sive search that lasted 15 days.A Dallas County jury heard thecase in June and Mathews wassentenced to life in prison onJune 26 in Sherin’s death. He willbe eligible for parole after 30years’ imprisonment, US mediareported in June. Last week,Mathews’ attorney confirmed heis appealing the sentence and hisattorney also filed a motion fora new trial. PTI

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The UN human rights chiefon Friday condemned

“international indifference” inthe face of mounting deaths inSyria, warning that thoseresponsible for air strikes tar-geting civilians could becharged with war crimes.

Since late April, the Syrianregime and Russia have steppedup deadly raids on the Idlibregion of three million people,a jihadist-held bastion in thecountry’s northwest.

United Nations HighCommissioner for HumanRights Michelle Bachelet saidshe was alarmed at “the appar-ent international indifference tothe rising civilian death tollcaused by a succession ofairstrikes in Idlib.”

Bachelet stressed that med-ical facilities, schools, marketsand other clear civilian targetshave been hit.

Dublin: Boris Johnson has delib-erately set Britain on a “collisioncourse” with the EU over Brexitnegotiations, Ireland’s ForeignMinister said. “He seems tohave made a deliberate decisionto set Britain on a collisioncourse with the European Unionand with Ireland in relation to theBrexit negotiations,” SimonCoveney was quoted by Irishstate broadcaster RTE as sayingin Belfast. “I think only he cananswer the question as to whyhe’s doing that.” In his maidenparliamentary speech as PMJohnson promised to reopenthe deal agreed with the EU —despite firm pushback fromother EU leaders. AFP

London: With Britain’s depar-ture from the European Uniondue in less than 100 days, newPrime Minister Boris Johnsonis a man in a hurry. But he’s notrushing off to Brussels.

The UK leader has nomeetings scheduled with EUofficials. Instead, he is in cen-tral England on Friday, talkingabout his promise to recruit20,000 more police officers. Inthe coming days, he’ll speak onother aspects of a packeddomestic agenda that lookssuspiciously like an electionplatform.

Britain’s next scheduledelection is three years away, butsigns suggest Johnson may bepreparing for a snap poll tobreak the Brexit impasse thatdefeated his predecessor,Theresa May.

Observers say there may beno other way Johnson can ful-fill his pledge leave the EU byOctober 31. AP

London: US President Donald Trump relationship with new UKPrime Minister Boris Johnson is going to be “sensational” as thetwo have a lot in common in their leadership style and desireto “get things done”, US ambassador to the UK Woody Johnsonsaid on Friday. “I think they do have a lot (in common). Boththese leaders have their own style, but they have similarities andI think they have clear vision of what they want to accomplish,”the ambassador told the BBC. Trump had welcomed BorisJohnson’s rise to power earlier this week, saying he would do a“great job” and even described him as “Britain Trump”. “We havea really good man who’s going to be the Prime Minister of theUK now,” the US President had said. IANS

$ �������%�� �������'���(%�������)����*����) ���� �+��)�*����*����������� ������� &�����Washington: The United States said it wanted to continue talkingwith North Korea but called for a halt to “provocations” after a freshmissile test by Pyongyang. Earlier in the day, North Korea fired twoshort-range missiles into the sea, its first test since an impromptumeeting between US President Donald Trump and North Koreanleader Kim Jong Un last month that produced an agreement toresume a working-level denuclearisation dialogue. “We want to havediplomatic engagement with North Korea and we continue to urgethem to resolve all the things that the president and Chairman Kimhave talked about through diplomacy,” US State Department spokes-woman Morgan Ortagus told reporters in Washington. AFP

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Page 6: ˇ ˇ)...realms of numerology, Karnataka BJP president BS Yeddyurappa changed his last name to Yediyurappa a few ... Janata Dal, Telugu Desam Party, Communist Party of India and CPI(M)

Pakistan Prime Minister ImranKhan has been walking thetightrope of the genealogical andevolutionary compulsions that areunique to his nation. His jazba

(passion) of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)had stormed the elections in 2018 andpromised a “Riyasat-e-Madina”, where all cit-izens are equal in the eyes of the law withguaranteed full fundamental rights — anidyll that is historically, Constitutionally andpractically undeliverable.

Acknowledging the enormity of hispromise and reset, he instinctively suggest-ed reconstructing the edifice of Pakistan andrechristened it as “Naya Pakistan.” The inher-itance of an economy in slide with risingdebts, falling currency, inflation and deplet-ed coffers had him scurrying to the Arab cap-itals, Beijing and even to the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF). This to impress uponthem an economically-prudent, austere andreformist agenda that would no longer beprofligate or reckless with the sanctioned“aid.”

This entailed the toning down of hisanti-IMF tirade that he had invoked duringthe pre-election campaigning, as indeed, per-sonally chauffeuring the all-importantPrincelings from the rival camps of SaudiArabia and Qatar. While money has start-ed trickling in bits, it has extracted a severeprice from the common citizenry as they reelunder spiralling price rises and shortages.

The onerous task of re-setting to “NayaPakistan” essentially implies the reneging ofvarious Pakistani positions. The opening actof the tenure was lavish in promising suchchange, including the famous “If Indiatakes one step, Pakistan will take two.” Theoptics and soundbites emanating from theprime ministerial house were in conformi-ty with the naya way of things and soon theusual ostentatiousness was frowned uponand the all-powerful razzmatazz was suppos-edly cut.

The world at large waited with batedbreath to figure out if it was yet another exer-cise in political posturing or if Pakistan hadindeed evolved to the portents of “NayaPakistan.” But the cracks showed up almostimmediately as Imran Khan succumbed tothe nation’s ingrained bigotry and droppedthe economist, Atif Mian, from the econom-ic advisory, apparently on account of hisbelonging to the minority and the persecut-ed Ahmediya faith.

From the Indian perspective, ImranKhan continued making naïve statementsagainst terrorism while the Pakistani incor-rigibility continued in Afghanistan. Then thePulwama episode happened. The trustdeficit between Pakistan and all its irateneighbours (India, Afghanistan and Iran)widened. A certain disillusionment againstthe built-up hype of “Naya Pakistan” start-ed afresh.

The US was already breathing downPakistan’s neck for its duplicity and US

President Donald Trumpfamously tweeted that Pakistandoes not “do a damn thing” inreturn for the billions of dollarsin American “aid.” Imran Khanretaliated and tweeted back:“No Pakistani was involved in9/11 but it decided to participatein the US’ war on terror” andadded, “Pakistan suffered 75,000casualties in this war and over$123 billion was lost to theeconomy.” US aid “was a minus-cule $20 billion.” The free-for-allbetween Pakistan and the USensured that Islamabad swungeven more sharply towards thewilling arms of Beijing andalmost started behaving like abeholden and vassal state ofChina.

Providentially, for ImranKhan and Pakistan, the whim-sical Trump, who had rantedagainst the Pakistani establish-ment, had a re-think on hisAfghanistan strategy andrealised that he would need theservices of its bête noire ie,Pakistan, in extricating itselfout of the mess in Afghanistan.

In a move reminiscent ofdumping Afghanistan in thelurch after ensuring the Soviet-withdrawal from Kabul, the USis yet again working towards asimilar vacuum; with Pakistanrubbing its hands in glee.Suddenly, Islamabad is back infavour as all is seemingly forgot-ten and forgiven and ImranKhan is back to reverse-swing-ing his “Naya Pakistan” withrevised gusto — this time inWashington, DC.

Both Pakistan and the USare masters of selective amnesiaand their dalliances of the past,which included flying and fetingof the Afghan mujahideen to theWhite House and supportingthese warlords with weapons,have become a lost memory.Both Imran Khan and Trumpnow shake hands and the formerthanks the Presidents of theUnited States of America(POTUSA) with “his under-standing of Pakistan’s point ofview!”

The incredulity continueswith Imran Khan promising, “Iwant to assure President Trump,Pakistan will do everythingwithin its power to facilitate theAfghan peace process” — a rotestatement that has consistentlyand unfailingly been dishon-oured by Pakistan.

The hapless Afghan regimeof Ashraf Ghani looks on withshocked bewilderment and NewDelhi is left having to deal withTrump’s creative memory ofPrime Minister Modi apparent-ly asking him to mediate inKashmir!

The US President’s state-ments were rightfully, stronglyand unequivocally slammed byNew Delhi as outrightly incor-rect and the same got acknowl-edged by other functionaries atthe Capitol Hill. However, ImranKhan persisted with his façadeof “surprise” at the Indianresponse to “Trump’s offer ofmediation” as he feigned igno-rance at India’s unwavering andconsistent stand on a bilateral

framework on Kashmir. Today, Imran Khan is on a

charm offensive both domesti-cally (flying commercial) andinternationally, staying at hisAmbassador’s residence to avoid“unnecessary expenditure.”Trump has added one more tohis embarrassingly long list ofdocumented inexactitudes,which now “exceed 10,000.”

Both the US and Pakistanare again in a convenient andtactical huddle that suits theirindividual and topical urgen-cies, without bothering aboutthe past, present or future withsuch tenuous underpinnings.Beyond the reality of US-Pakistan sparring openly, just afew months back, this regionhas not forgotten the murkyhistory of American hand in thebloodshed of the 1980s duringthe height of the Cold War orindeed in India with the US’seventh fleet sailing menacing-ly towards the Bay of Bengal in1971. It would be premature foreither the US to trust thePakistanis or vice versa as his-tory suggests that both nationsultimately succumb to theirbasic instincts and while India,Afghanistan and Iran will licktheir wounds for now — the“deep state” within Pakistan willultimately rear its head andboth Trump and Khan willend up looking like their pre-decessors.

(The writer, a military veter-an, is a former Lt Governor ofAndaman & Nicobar Islandsand Puducherry)�������������� ����� ����������

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “India on the moon” (July23). Scientists at the IndianSpace Research Organisation(ISRO) have achieved a spectac-ular success with the launch ofChandrayaan 2. India hasbecome the fourth nation afterthe United States, Russia andChina to send a mission to themoon. One hopes that the lan-der, Vikram, and the moonrover, Pragyan, will function asplanned.

NR RamachandaranChennai

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “BoJo joins the gang!” (July26). It is far easier to come upwith a cool acronym than man-aging the Brexit in favourableterms. By agreeing to leave theEuropean Union (EU), theBritish inflicted self-harm. Withsuch a massive divide betweenpeople across their society, noone knows what would happennext and what should be done.

Boris Johnson, the new

Prime Minister of the UK, hashis task cut out. The October 31deadline to leave the EU is notfar away. He should look for ameaningful and logical solu-tion to crack a deal with otherEuropean nations. The bestoption for the UK is to stay putin the EU. It will be a win-winsituation for both.

Bal GovindNoida

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“BoJo joins the gang!” (July 26).Over time, the mighty Britishempire has been reduced to a merekingdom even as the centres of itseconomy shifted elsewhere. Theglobal economic downturn of2008 aggravated problems as itstruggled to provide jobs to its

natives. Britain, like most liberaldemocracies, found a scapegoat inits immigration policies. Rightwingers everywhere lost little timein grasping the coat-tails of neo-nationalism and isolationism.

Brexit was floated as a politicalteaser, a trial balloon. None hadexpected it to turn menacingly realand burst on a disillusioned popu-lace. Soon enough, the UK not onlytied itself into knots over Brexit but

thrust many nations into the chaos.The anointment of Boris

Johnson as the nation’s PrimeMinister is ominous. Boris, muchlike US President Donald Trump,comes with a colourful personalhistory, having solutions up hissleeve for everything and sport-ing a loose tongue. Both revel inriding an opportunistic vehicle ofhollow nationalism. While Trumphas managed to traverse this far,armed with the might of his dol-lar and an ardent fan club, Borismay well succeed in draggingdown both the pound andBritain’s stature in global politics,trade and finance.

R Narayanan Navi Mumbai

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Sir — With the auto industry fac-ing its worst slump, the situationcalls for immediate attention of theGovernment in order to save thisindustry from a huge fall and theconsequent serious impact onemployment and the economy.

ShubhamVia email

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Page 7: ˇ ˇ)...realms of numerology, Karnataka BJP president BS Yeddyurappa changed his last name to Yediyurappa a few ... Janata Dal, Telugu Desam Party, Communist Party of India and CPI(M)

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The nationalisation of the 14 largest com-mercial banks on July 19, 1969, by the thenIndira Gandhi Government, was the most

significant decision, which has had wide impli-cations across the economy even 50 years later.These 14 banks accounted for 85 per cent of thebank deposits in the country. Nationalisation wasdone to free up the banks from the hands of afew industrial houses, who tried to use thedepositors’ money under their control toincrease credit flow and thereafter address therank neglect of rural and agricultural sectors,which were starved of funds.

Circumstances leading to nationalisationRecognising the need to improve the flow

of credit in rural areas as also the agriculturalsector, the then Government took the move tonationalise 14 large banks by passing theBanking Companies (Acquisition and Transferof Undertaking) Bill in 1969. India’s agricultur-al growth had just started recovering after thesuccessive drought years of 1966 and 1967 withhelp from green revolution technologies, whichresulted in more intensive farming than tradi-tional methods. Industrial recovery, too, had justbegun after the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war and by1968, the country recorded an industrial growthof 6.2 per cent. All of these created huge demandfor credit across sectors, especially from farm-ers and small-scale industrialists. Petty business-men, farmers and consumers suffered a cashcrunch all those years as business houses main-tained their dominant position and the banksfocussed on giving credit to them with an aimto earn profits. This total neglect of agricultureand the rural sector by private banks prompt-ed the Government to nationalise the banks andtake direct control of credit delivery. The movealso made banking in unbanked areas a realitywhile also giving a powerful tool to a vast major-ity of weaker sections, including the rural andagricultural farmers and labourers. This was themost prudent decision taken by the IndiraGandhi Government at that time.

Shift from class to mass bankingImmediately after the nationalisation of

banks, a plethora of measures was taken by suc-cessive Governments to enhance the flow ofcredit so as to make it accessible to diverse sec-tions of society. The focus of banks shifted from‘class banking’ to ‘mass banking’. The commit-ment to spread the reach of banks began withthe introduction of the Lead Bank Scheme (LIS)in 1969, the constitution of the State LevelBankers’ Committee (SLBC), district creditplans, priority sector lending (PSL) norms in1974, branch expansion policy and the forma-tion of Regional Rural Banks in 1975.

Spread of banking networkWith nationalisation, unreachable and

unbanked areas were easier to reach. The num-ber of bank branches increased from 8,187 in1969 to 59,752 in 1990, to 1,41,756 as of March,2019. The share of rural and semi-urbanbranches increased from 58.4 per cent to 77.2per cent, to 62.89 per cent during the same peri-od. The total network of rural and semi-urbanbranches increased from 4,781 in 1969 to46,128 by 1990 and further increased to 89,144in March 2019. In addition, 1.26 lakh bankmitras (business correspondents) provide

branchless banking in villages. Now, one ATMis available for every three villages and for every375 people, one Point of Sale is available in India.Effectively, 80 per cent of adults aged 18 andabove have a bank account as of today. Of the36 crore new savings bank deposit accountsopened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan DhanYojana till May 2019, Public Sector Banks (PSBs)accounted for 96.6 per cent, reflecting their suc-cess in achieving socially responsible banking.

Banks as an extended arm of theGovernment

The nationalised banks, now popularlyknown as PSBs, played a major role in the imple-mentation of a plethora of credit-linked inter-est subsidy schemes. Programmes such as theIntegrated Rural Development Programme(IRDP), Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana(SGSY), Indira Awas Yojana (IAY), Self HelpGroup-Bank Linkage Programme (SBLP),MUDRA loans and the most recent one, JanDhan Aadhaar Mobile initiative, all depend onthe banks to distribute subsidies so as toachieve the target of integrated rural develop-ment, higher interest subvention, facilitatedebt-waiver schemes and, thus, fulfill themandatory lending norms for agriculture andsmall-scale industries. Further, a wide networkof PSBs has helped in the implementation of var-ious Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) schemes likesubsidy on LPG gas, MGNREGA wages, assis-tance under PM-KISAN, Rythu Bandhu schemeand various other pension schemes ensuringtransparency and zero leakages.

Flipside of nationalisationAlthough nationalisation of banks worked

well until the 1980s, the Government overstayedits welcome and delayed the process of privati-sation, which was badly needed under changedcircumstances. The administered interest ratesand the burden of direct lending to priority sec-

tor constrained the autonomy of PSBs to oper-ate on commercial lines. The mandatory expan-sion of branches in unbanked centres with lowbusiness potential impacted their working.Regulatory entry barriers for private sector tomake a foray into the banking sector acted ashindrance for the development of a healthy com-petition between the two. Too much involvementof the Government in the banks’ operations andfailure to invest in new technology perpetuat-ed the inefficiency of the banking sector for aprolonged period.

Entry of private sector banksSince 1993, the entry of new private sector

banks brought new technology and institution-al innovations. Their entry infused the much-needed competition in the banking sector. Postthis, the PSBs had to compete with the privatebanks in spite of their social responsibility ofmeeting various Government scheme targets. Ontop of it, PSBs had to also meet the capital ade-quacy standards in line with the Basel frame-work from time to time. Recent data from theReserve Bank of India (RBI) show that privatesector banks are taking away market share fromPSBs and will extend that pie from the current30 per cent to 40 per cent in near future.

High NPAs and lossesAs per data, aggregate gross advances of

PSBs increased from over �18.19 lakh crore ason March 31, 2008 to more than �52.15 lakhcrore as on March 31, 2014. This is due to thecumulative effect of the pressure to achieve socialbanking targets to cater to the low profitable sec-tors in un-bankable areas, frequent loan waivers,slower adoption of technology and inept mon-itoring and control systems.

Because of huge NPAs and losses, some PSBswere put under the Prompt Corrective Action(PCA) and were not able to cater to the grow-ing credit demand. To strengthen the PSBs, the

Government PSBs were recapitalised to theextent of �3.12 lakh crore, with an infusion of�2.46 lakh crore by the Government and mobil-isation of over �0.66 lakh crore by PSBs them-selves. As per RBI data on global operations(provisional data for the financial year endingMarch 2019), gross NPAs of PSBs have declinedby �89,189 crore from the peak of �8,95,601crore in March 2018 to �8,06,412 crore in March2019 (provisional data).

It is questionable as to how long theGovernment can infuse capital into the PSBsthrough recapitalisation by spending hugesums of tax payer’s money.

Way forwardThe current situation demands a totally dif-

ferent approach compared to the one taken in1969. There is a need for “denationalisation” and“privatisation” barring three to four large strate-gic banks. This will hasten the spread of banknetworks and establish a healthy competitionamong them as well as provide a wide choice tothe consumers.

Banks should be freed from all Governmentcontrols in exercising commercial activities,including stake sale, privatisation and mergers,to maximise their profitability and competitive-ness. However, the need is also for enforcementof stringent regulations, improved governanceand internal monitoring and control system toreduce NPAs so as to enhance trust in the bank-ing system. All large ticket NPAs need to bedeclared as willful defaulters and subjected tojustice to maintain good health of the bankingsector. Instead of brick and mortar bankingbranches, the focus should shift to simplified vir-tual banking systems with proper cyber secu-rity measures. This alone can take the outreachto remote people and areas.

(The writer is Principal Scientist, AgriculturalEconomics, ICAR)

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Politicians in Tamil Nadu, espe-cially those who are mouldedin the Dravidian gharana, have

a penchant for publicity and fame.They want to be the cynosure of alleyes wherever they go. Starting fromthe ward committee member to thepresident of a party, none is free fromthis “passion” for recognition. Theywill not move out of their housesunless they are accompanied by acavalcade of SUVs or cars, depend-ing on their hierarchy in the party.Ward-level leaders are accompa-nied by an army of followers in auto-rickshaws and two-wheelers shout-ing: “Thalaivar Vaazhka”, meaning“Long Live the Leader.”

If they are invited for marriages orany social get-togethers, the organis-ers must ensure that the larger-than-life size posters of these leaders are dis-

played along the route they travel.Vayapuri Gopalasami, popularlyknown as Vaiko, the Telugu speakingTamil leader of the MarumalarchiDravida Munnetra Kazhagam(MDMK), is no exception. Though heheads a letterhead organisation, hismission is to establish a separateTamil Eelam in Sri Lanka. He was aDravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)member of the Rajya Sabha for threeterms (1978-96). When he turned outto be a threat for the coronation of MKStalin as party chief, M Karunanidhi,threw Vaiko out of the party.

Vaiko had no option but to launchhis own political outfit, the MDMK.But he saw the writing on the wall wellin advance and sided with JJayalalithaa’s All India Anna DravidaMunnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).He was elected to the Lok Sabha in1998 with active support fromJayalalithaa and the BJP. When the lat-ter pulled down the then NDAGovernment led by Atal BihariVajpayee, Vaiko turned emotionaland jumped to the DMK. He waselected in the 1999 mid-term electionwith support from the DMK and theBJP. The MDMK managed to win foursears, including that of Vaiko.

By 2004, Vaiko turned secular,dumped the BJP and joined the UPA,led by the DMK and the Congress.Though his party won all contestedseats, Vaiko stayed away from electoralpolitics as he had been arrested underthe Prevention of Terrorism Act 2002and was detained for 18 months fordelivering pro-LTTE speeches.Jayalalithaa was adamant in her stanceagainst the LTTE and Vaiko failed todilute her hatred for the Tamil Tigers.

But his association with the DMKdid not last long. Some of his closeaides began to cross over to the DMKas they understood that Vaiko’s LTTEhopes would always remain apipedream. Tamil Nadu has a motleycrowd of LTTE supporters, whichincludes Maoists, Islamic extremists,Tamil nationalists, fringe politicalparties, some of the major factions ofthe Church and professional humanright organisations. They are allfinanced by the LTTE and these ben-eficiaries return gratitude through pro-Eelam speeches and literature.

What is common among thesegroups is their opposition to any kindof progressive measure taken by theCentral or State Government. Forexample, they demanded the abroga-

tion of the Supreme Court order thatbanned the taming of bulls. These werethe organisations, who stood againstthe Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant.It is the same crowd, which is againstthe Sterlite Plat at Thoothukudi andthe greenfield eight-lane Chennai —Salem state-of-the-art highway. Theyare also against the hydrocarbonexploration projects undertaken by theCentral Government-owned Oil andNatural Gas Commission. Whatmakes these agitations and groupsunique is the presence of Vaiko, whois always in the forefront. His double-standards with respect to the Sterliteagitation became a butt of jokes.

Vaiko is also among those who aredemanding the release of those con-victed for the assassination of formerPrime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. TheCongress is against any kind ofamnesty to these assassins as they wereall saved from the gallows by the topcourt and their sentence was convert-ed to life-term as part of amnesty. Itis strange that Vaiko has been brayingfor the blood of Sri Lanka, an islandnation strategically important to India.Our ties with Colombo should neverbe sacrificed to satisfy the ego and vest-ed interests of self-serving people.

KS Radhakrishnan, former asso-ciate of Vaiko, who switched over tothe DMK, mentioned in his blog, MyLove Affair with Don Quixote, the heroof a Spanish novel by the same nameauthored by Miguel de Cervantes.Alonso Quixano, a knight-errant,wanders all over the land in search ofadventures to prove his chivalricvirtues. Most of the characteristics dis-played by Vaiko have similarities withAlonso Quixano, who addresses him-self as Don Quixote!

Vaiko’s recent outbursts againstHindi is a point of interest. His “find-ing” is that the debates in Hindi havebrought down the standard of discus-sions in Parliament. His allegation thatHindi, Hindu and Hindu Rashtra areall the same should be viewed as astatement made with ulterior motive.In a country where nearly two-thirdsof the population speak Hindi, it is asin to portray that language as belong-ing to a particular religion. If whatVaiko said is right, he should put anembargo on the Tamil actors’ penchantto act in Bollywood. Vaiko should alsotell the Tamil film makers not to pla-giarise Hindi songs.

Hundreds of thousands of chil-dren in Tamil Nadu are denied the

opportunity to learn in JawaharNavodaya Vidyalayas because chau-vinists like Vaiko will not allow theopening of such public schools, citingthe two-language policy. It is a crim-inal offence to deny the poor and ruralchildren an opportunity to learn in apublic school, which charges nothingfor quality education. The Congressremained a mute spectator even asVaiko rubbished the very concept ofJawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya,launched by its own leader as part ofthe New Education Policy 1985. TheCongress is afraid to tell this DonQuixote to stay away from preventingthe opening of the schools in the State.Tamil Nadu is the only State whichdoes not have a single NavodayaSchool thanks to the hardliners.

It may be a strange coincidencethat while children of poor parentsstruggle to get admission in privateschools, sons and daughters of lead-ers like Vaiko get admitted to the bestschools and universities all across thecountry. Most of them end up as highpaid managers in multi-national cor-porations or as monopoly dealers oftobacco products manufactured byMNCs. Vaiko’s love for Tamils in SriLanka itself is dubious. It was during

the Manmohan Singh tenure that theSri Lankan Army tamed the last chal-lenge put up by the LTTE terrorists.A person no less than GotabayaRajapakshe, former defence secretaryand the brain behind the obliterationof the Tamil Tiger terrorists, had toldThe Pioneer that the IndianGovernment as well as the then TamilNadu Government led by MKarunanidhi were kept in the loopabout the Sri Lankan Army’s actions.

If Vaiko has any decency left andif he still loves Sri Lankan Tamils, heshould maintain safe distance fromboth the Congress and the DMKinstead of criticising Hindi debates inParliament. Vaiko can never survivewithout publicity and media coverage.It is because of this reason that heattacked Hindi language. Now, whenhe makes an appearance in the RajyaSabha, thanks to an act of charity byDMK president MK Stalin, he wouldbe the “cynosure.” But Stalin sitting inthe DMK headquarters may be chuck-ling. It was the same Vaiko who hadchallenged Stalin’s elevation in theDMK and left the party to formMDMK. Strange are the ways of fate!

(The writer is SpecialCorrespondent, The Pioneer)

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Mumbai: Three days after agroup of eminent citizens wroteto Prime Minister NarendraModi on the lynching ofminorities and hate crimes, 61high-profile personalities fromvarious fields on Fridayresponded with a counter state-ment against “selective outrageand false narratives”.

The July 23 letter by 49“self-styled guardians and con-science keepers” expressedselective concerns and demon-strated a “clear political biasand motive”, said the statementsigned by actor KanganaRanaut, lyricist Prasoon Joshi,dancer Sonal Mansingh andfilmmakers MadhurBhandarkar and VivekAgnihotri and others.

"It (the July 23 letter) isaimed at tarnishing India'sinternational standing and tonegatively portray the primeminister's untiring efforts toeffectuate Governance on thefoundations of positive nation-alism and humanism which isthe core of Indianess," thestatement read.

The document of selectiveoutrage, it said, comes across asan "attempt to foist a falsenarrative with the intention ofdenigrating the democraticethos and norms of our col-lective functioning as a nationand people".

On July 23, 49 personali-ties, including filmmakersMani Ratnam, AnuragKashyap, Shyam Benegal and

Aparna Sen as well as vocalistShubha Mudgal and historianRamchandra Guha, expressedconcern at the number of "reli-gious identity-based hatecrimes" and noted that Jai ShriRam' has become a provocativewar cry with many lynchingstaking place in its name.

In their statement onFriday, 61 signatories ques-tioned the silence of the letterwriters on their silence "whentribals and the marginalisedhave become victims of Naxalterror".

"They have kept silentwhen separatists have issueddictates to burn schools inKashmir, they have kept silentwhen the demand for dis-membering India, for makingpieces of her -Tukde Tukde –were made, they kept silentwhen slogans chanted by ter-rorists and terror groups wereechoed in some leading uni-versity campuses in the coun-try," the statement said.

The civil society leadershad noted in the open letter tothe prime minister that criti-cising the lynchings inParliament is not enough.

"What action has actuallybeen taken against the perpe-trators? We strongly feel thatsuch offences should bedeclared non-bailable, and thatexemplary punishment shouldbe meted out swiftly and sure-ly," they said.

The response, also signedby actor Pallavi Joshi, singerMalini Awasthi, film producerSaikat Mukherjee and formervice chancellor Netaji SubhasOpen University, RadharamanChakraborty, emphasised thatthe PM has spoken out repeat-edly against lynching.

"Prime Minister has spo-ken out against it repeatedlyand respective state govern-ments are empowered to takeaction. We would urge every-one to give up being selectiveand condemn lynching, dis-

crimination and desecration ofreligious places with equalvehemence when they occur.

"Instead of indulging ingrand-standing, personalitieswith a social and public profileought to generate greaterawareness on the need to tack-le and eliminate the mind-setthat leads to lynching," thestatement added.

Terming the open letter tothe PM agenda driven, thesignatories said the selectiveoutrage "makes us believe thatthey are working to a certainagenda and are only playinginto the hands of those forcesthat out Balkanise India".

Targeting those that sup-ported the July 23 letter, thestatement said they had beenquiet on issues like killing ofpeople for chanting 'Jai ShriRam', the exodus of KashmiriPandits from Kashmir Valleyand Hindus from Kairana inUttar Pradesh and not stand-ing beside women who arefighting the practise of tripletalaq.

Those who have signedFriday's statement also includeacademics such as DebashishBhattacharya from VisvaBharati in Santiniketan, AvadhUniversity Vice ChancellorManoj Dikshit, AnirbanGanguly of the Dr SyamaPrasad Mookerjee ResearchFoundation as well as MP andjournalist Swapan Dasguptaand yesteryear actor BiswajitChatterjee. PTI

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Lucknow: BSP supremoMayawati on Friday attackedSamajwadi Party leader AzamKhan for his sexist remarkagainst MP Rama Devi in theLok Sabha, saying he shouldnot only apologise inParliament but to all women.

"The indecent languageused by Azam Khan, an SP MPfrom Uttar Pradesh, against awoman presiding officer inLok Sabha yesterday hurt thedignity and honour of women,and is very condemnable. Forthis he should not only apolo-gise in Parliament but to allwomen," Mayawati said in atweet.

Khan on Thursday court-ed a fresh controversy when hemade a sexist remark againstDevi, who was in the Chair inthe Lok Sabha, sparking anuproar and demands for hisapology. PTI

2+�����'��������������� � �������'��������%�����$��� Kannur: A sessions court here

on Friday sentenced fiveCPI(M) workers to life impris-onment for hacking to death aBJP activist in 2008.

Thalassery AdditionalDistrict Sessions court judge PN Vinod also slapped a fine ofRs 1 lakh each on the convictsfor murdering K V Surendran(62).

The court sentencedThiruvangod residents

Akhilesh (35), M Kalesh (36),M Lijesh (32), Vineesh (25) andP K Shaijosh (28) in the case.

It also directed that the fine

amount be paid to the family ofSurendran.

The court, however, acquit-ted two persons in the case.

The prosecution case wasthat the convicts hacked todeath Surendran at his houseon March 8, 2008 to settle polit-ical scores.

The court relied on the tes-timonies of witnesses, includ-ing the prime witness Soumya,wife of the deceased. PTI

Kolkata: The West BengalGovernment on Fridayannounced a hike in the gradepay of primary teachers in theState on the fourteenth day oftheir hunger strike.

The enhancement of gradepay for trained and untrainedprimary teachers was notifiedby the school educationdepartment of theGovernment.

"The grade pay of trainedprimary teachers in enhancedfrom �2,600 in pay band 2 to�3,600 in Pay Band 3 and thegrade pay of untrained prima-ry teachers is enhanced from�2,300 to �2,900 in Pay Band2 with effect from August 1,2019," the notification said.

Members of Usti PrimaryTeachers Association (UPTA)have been on indefinite hunger

strike in front of Bikas Bhawanin Salt Lake, which houses thestate directorate of school edu-cation for the past fortnight.

"We have not seen theorder yet. But we have heardabout it. If this announce-ment is true we are not at allhappy. We are waiting for theGovernment's decision on therevocation of transfer orders of14 primary teachers," SandeepGhosh, one of the agitatingteachers, said.

State Education MinisterPartha Chatterjee had said onThursday that the Governmentwas ready to effect a hike in thegrade pay of the primaryteachers.

Chatterjee had reasonedthat the teachers were trans-ferred to schools having short-age of teachers. PTI

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Senior juristJ a g d e e p

Dhankar whowill replaceKeshri NathTripathi as theBengal Governor is likely to besworn in on July 30, sourcessaid.

The Chief Justice ofCalcutta High Court willadminister the oath to the newGovernor. Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee whohad earlier welcomed Dhankara former MP to his new assign-ment is scheduled to remainpresent at the swearing-in pro-gramme along with other dig-nitaries, sources said.

Dhankar will swear in asthe 20th Governor of the Statereplacing Tripathi who com-pleted his term on July 23.

Gandhinagar: The Justice DKTrivedi Commission whichprobed the death of two chil-dren who studied at a residen-tial school run by controversialgodman Asaram inAhmedabad in July 2008 hasgiven a clean chit to him and hisson Narayan Sai.

The commission's report,submitted to the Gujarat gov-ernment way back in 2013, wastabled in the Assembly onFriday, almost six years later.

The commission, however,held that school authoritieshad been negligent.

On July 5, 2008, decom-posed bodies of cousins DipeshVaghela (10) and AbhishekVaghela (11), studying atAsaram's 'Gurukul' (residentialschool) in Motera area ofAhmedabad, were found on thebank of the Sabarmati river.

The children had gonemissing from the school's hos-tel two days earlier. Asaram's`ashram', which housed theschool and hostel, is situatedalong the riverbank.

"There is no evidence tosuggest that in the ashram,Asaram-ji and his son NarayanSai performed Tantrik Vidhi(black magic rituals)," thereport said. "The managementof the gurukul as well as ashramauthorities are custodians andguardians of the children whoare staying in gurukul hosteland it is their duty to look afterthe children," it said.

"From the perusal of theevidence, the commission is ofthe view that the same is lack-ing by the management of thegurukul," the report added.

Parents had alleged thatAsaram and his son performed

black magic rituals on the twochildren, causing their death.

"Missing of Dipesh andAbhishek, from the ashramcampus from 3-7-2008 in thelate evening is due to the neg-ligence of the management andaccording to the commissionsuch negligence is not at all tol-erable," the report said.

The medical evidence wasconclusive and the possibility ofdeath due to drowning cannotbe ruled out, the commissionsaid. It also noted that noorgans were missing from thetwo bodies. It was speculatedearlier that some organs hadbeen removed. Following a vio-lent agitation demanding actionagainst Asaram over the deaths,the state government set up aprobe panel headed by JusticeTrivedi, a retired high courtjudge, in July 2008. PTI

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Morigaon (Assam): The car-casses of two rhinos have beenfound from Assam's flood-hitPobitora Wildlife Sanctuarywhich had recorded no animaldeaths because of inundationeven four days ago, an officialsaid.

Forest Protection Force inPobitora recovered the carcassof a rhino calf from the floodwaters near Amaramul Campinside the sanctuary on Friday,its ranger said.

The forest guards had alsofound the carcass of anotherrhino calf on Wednesday fromthe sanctuary which was flood-ed by the Brahmaputa, he

added. The cause of the deathof both the animals was drown-ing in the flood inside the sanc-tuary, said the forest official.

The entire PobitoraWildlife Sanctuary, the densesthabitat of one horned rhinos inthe world covering an area of46 sq km, was completely sub-merged by the flood watersforcing its wild animals toleave for the nearby highland,the ranger said.

Over 100 rhinos living inthe sanctuary have been facingserious problems as there is nogreen grass or sufficient food forthese endangered species, forestdepartment sources added. PTI

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Kolkata: The Border SecurityForce (BSF) on Friday appre-hended six Bangladeshi andone Indian national while theywere trying to cross the inter-national boundary illegally inWest Bengal.

"We had apprehended six Bangladeshi national and one Indian national duringthe night when they were trying to crossover to India and vice verse. They werearrested from various sectors ofMalda, Baharampore and Nadia," a senior BSF offi-cial of south Bengal frontiersaid. PTI

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Bengaluru: BJP Karnatakachief BS Yeddyurappa hasreverted to the earlier Englishspelling of his name BSYediyurappa, apparently influ-enced by numerology.

The change became pub-lic on Friday in his letter toGovernor Vajubhai Vala, stak-ing claim to form the gov-ernment, and later, in theofficial invitation for theswearing-in ceremony of theBJP leader as Karnataka chiefminister.

There are reports that theBJP strongman, who will

become chief minister for thefourth time this evening, hasgone in for the change basedon numerology.

He had changed thespelling of his name fromYediyurappa to Yeddyurappaafter he had to resign as chiefminister in 2007.

He had to quit barely aweek after becoming the CMas the then coalition partnerJDS reneged on its promise toshare power for 20 monthseach.

However, it seems to havefailed to bring him any luck as

the two subsequent terms aschief minister did not lastlong.

Meanwhile, BJP workersheld celebrations across thestate after the party stakedclaim to form the governmentthree days after the fall of theHD Kumaraswamy-led coali-tion front of the Congress andthe JD(S).

Party workers danced todrumbeats in various parts ofthe state, burst crackers andraised slogans hailing the BJPand Prime Minister NarendraModi. PTI

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Mumbai: The Bombay HighCourt on Friday reserved itsverdict on a plea filed by rightsactivist Gautam Navlakha,seeking that the FIR filedagainst him by Pune Police inthe Elgar Parishad-BhimaKoregaon case be quashed.

A bench of Justices RanjitMore and Bharati Dangre,which heard the plea, saidwhile some documents placedon record by police suggestedthat activist Navlakha wasinnocent, the rest of the mate-rial on record needed furtherinvestigation.

The case, in whichNavlakha is an accused, relat-ed to an event, Elgar Parishad,and subsequent violence atBhima Koregaon village nearPune between December 31,2017 and January 1, 2018.

He is among the five rightsactivists booked in the case.

Navlakha has been bookedon a slew of charges, includingsections under the UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Act(UAPA), an anti-terrorism law.

On the last hearing earli-

er this week, Pune Police'scounsel Aruna Pai alleged thatthe police had adequate evi-dence to show that Navlakhawas complicit in the BhimaKoregaon incident.

Pai had also alleged thatNavlakha had links with Naxal

groups and banned terror out-fit Hizbul Mujahideen.

She had said the police hadrecovered some documentsfrom the laptops of RonaWilson and SurendraHandling, Navlakha's co-accused in the case, to provethe same.

However, on Friday,Navlakha's counsel, YugChaudhary, denied thecharges.

He argued that a mereclaim by the police of havingfound some documents withhis client's name did not provethat he was a "terrorist".

The bench, however, saidthat Section 13 of the UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Actalso provided for punishmentfor "advocating, abetting, andadvising on unlawful activities.

"Can you say that onlysomeone who drops a bomb isa terrorist, there are abetterstoo," the bench said.

"Some of the documentsgiven by police show inno-cence, others need an investi-gation. We will apply our mindand pass an order," the courtsaid while reserving its verdict.

The interim protectionagainst arrest granted toNavlakha by the high courtearlier this month will contin-ue till the verdict, it said.

The police had arrested thefive activists in August last yearin connection with an FIRlodged following a conclave —'Elgar Parishad' — held inPune on December 31, 2017,that had allegedly triggeredviolence the next day at BhimaKoregaon. PTI

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Mumbai: Former Lok SabhaMP Eknath Gaikwad was appointed the workingpresident of the MumbaiCongress.

The announcement wasmade by AICC general secretary (organisation) KCVenugopal through a statement on Friday, with party sources claiming thatone more person will beappointed to the post of work-ing president.

Milind Deora, who had

announced his resignation asMumbai unit chief owing to theparty's poor Lok Sabha show-ing, has been asked to contin-ue, sources close to the formerMumbai South Lok Sabha MPsaid.

Later in the day, in a state-ment, Deora asked the party'sleadership to take a decision onhis resignation.

"I trust that the party willtake a decision on the post ofMumbai Congress president atthe earliest," Deora said. PTI

Kohima: A political solution tothe Naga issue has to beachieved within a year becauseNagaland needs permanentpeace for development andprogress, outgoing Governor PB Acharya has said.

"And for this, we havePrime Minister NarendraModi, who has the will andguts to resolve the issue,"Acharya said while addressinga farewell programme, organ-ised by the State Government,on Thursday.

Noting that Nagaland isrich but Nagas are economi-cally weak, he said, "We alsoneed to march along withother states towards develop-ment and progress."

Acharya was sworn in asthe 19th Governor of Nagalandon July 19, 2014. His successor,

R N Ravi, is scheduled to takecharge on August 1.

He expressed hope that thenew governor will delivergoods to the people and workfor the solution of the Nagapolitical issue.

Ravi had been the Centre'sinterlocuter for the Naga peacetalks.

Acharya also offered toextend his support to the state,whenever required.

"I am leaving as the gov-ernor of the state but not theNagas, and I will always be atyour disposal," he said.

Mentioning that the Nagapeople were fortunate to havesuch an eminent personality astheir governor, Chief MinisterNeiphiu Rio said, the peoplehave been enriched throughhis guidance and leadership.

"Your support to the gov-ernments efforts towards real-ising permanent peace andsolution to the Naga politicalissue is well appreciated," Riosaid.

As constitutional head ofthe State, Acharya had a metic-ulous and exemplary tenure,the chief minister said.

"The state experienced afew political crises during thepast few years but the governorconducted himself in animpeccable manner and upheldthe Constitution of India inexemplary fashion, for whichhe deserves to be compliment-ed," the chief minister said.

Leader of Opposition T RZeliang expressed hope thatAcharya will continue to sup-port the Naga people for anamicable solution to the Naga

political problem.He also recalled the frame-

work agreement signedbetween the NSCN-IM gener-al secretary ThuingalengMuivah and the governmentsinterlocutor R N Ravi, in thepresence of PM Modi, onAugust 3, 2015.

As the governor, Acharyahad played his role in thisevent, which makes him anintegral part of Naga history,Zeliang said.

The agreement had comeafter over 80 rounds of nego-tiations spanning 18 years,with the first breakthroughmade in 1997 when the cease-fire agreement was sealed afterdecades of insurgency inNagaland, which started soonafter the country's indepen-dence in 1947 . PTI

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Srinagar: National Conferenceleader Omar Abdullah onFriday warned the people ofKashmir against boycottingthe forthcoming Assemblyelections in the State, saying itwould benefit the BJP.

He said the election boy-cott had benefited the BJP inthe 2019 Lok Sabha polls in theTral segment of Anantnag LokSabha constituency.

"If the trend of parliamen-tary polls continues in theassembly elections, then therewill be a BJP MLA from Tral,"Abdullah said addressing partyworkers here.

The NC vice-president was

referring to the BJP's lead in theTral assembly segment of southKashmir's AnantnagParliamentary constituency dueto poll boycott.

Abdullah asked the peopleto imagine a scenario wherethere could be a BJP MLA fromTral — a town where slainHizbul Mujahiddeen com-mander Burhan Wani and

Ansar Gazwatul-ul-Hind com-mander Zakir Mussa belongedto — pointing out a contradic-tion because of the boycott ofthe polls.

"Imagine, there will be aBJP MLA from the same Tralwhere from Burhan Wani andZakir Mussa were if there is aboycott," he said.

Later, referring to the con-troversy over his remarks withsome news channels accusinghim of praising the slain mili-tant commanders, the formerchief minister said he was onlypointing out the strange con-tradiction of the boycott anddid not praise anyone. PTI

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Akola: A gang of eight people,two of them from adjoiningMadhya Pradesh, was arrestedfor allegedly practicing blackmagic while looking for a "hid-den treasure" here inMaharashtra, police said onFriday. Acting on a tip-off, apolice team went to Dahikhedvillage near here on Thursdayand nabbed these people, allpart of a gang, when they wereconducting rituals at an agri-culture field as part of blackmagic, Akot rural police stationin-charge Inspector DnyanobaPhad said. PTI

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The Human ResourceDevelopment (HRD)

Ministry on Friday issued anadvisory informing that a fakeboard, which has cheated morethan 10,000 students fromacross the country, has beenoperating in the name of “Boardof Higher Secondary Education,Delhi’, and it has not given anyrecognition to the same.

"It has come to the notice ofthat one entity operating in thename of 'Board of HigherSecondary Education, Delhi' isclaiming to be a recognisedboard of education by us. Onscrutiny of the relevant recordsof this, it has been found that nosuch letters, as being circulated,have ever been issued by us infavour of the so-called board,"

the HRD Ministry said in theadvisory.

"Both the letters are, there-fore, completely forged and fab-ricated. It is abundantly clarifiedthat no letters have ever beenissued by the ministry recog-nising the said entity," it added.

The advisory stated that ifany other documents are pro-duced in relation to the board'srecognition, then the same maybe deemed to be fake and theveracity of the documents mayfirst be confirmed from the con-cerned organisation.

Delhi Police had inDecember last year busted agang operating the fake board."The gang has cheated morethan 10,000 students from UttarPradesh, Bihar, Gujarat,Chhattisgarh, and several otherstates. The fake board syndicate

also provided documents ofhigher education fromrenowned institutes of differentstates in the country," police hadsaid.

The ministry has advised allstudents, parents and otherstakeholders to not engage withthe fake board in any manner.

In a separate communica-tion HRD Ministry said thatstudents pursuing teacher train-ing courses, including BEd andMEd, will now be able to getdegree verification certificateonline with the NationalCouncil of Teacher Education

(NCTE) launching a portal forthe purpose. So far the processused to be manual. Union HRDMinister Ramesh Pokhriyal'Nishank' launched the portal atthe inauguration of the newbuilding of NCTE on Friday.

"The platform has beendesigned by NCTE to facilitateregistration of teacher-pupiland essential documentationwhile seeking employment asschool teachers," Nishank saidat the launch. According toofficials statistics, there are19,000 BEd colleges in thecountry and 90 lakh teachers.

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Following reports that thou-sands of crores have gone

into campaigning during theLok Sabha polls, Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee haswritten to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi seeking thor-ough “electoral reforms” andState funding of elections.

In her letter she has calledupon the Prime Minister toexplore possibilities of publicfunding of elections and buildup a consensus through an all-party meeting.

Public funding of electionswill lead the Government to bearthe expense of contesting theelections on behalf of the polit-ical parties.

She has referred to news-paper reports which alleged�60,000 crore had been spent inthis year’s parliamentary elec-tions saying such reports will notdo any good to India’s reputa-tions as a democratic country.Fearing that this amount may

surpass �1 lakh crore in the nextgeneral elections, Banerjee saidthe issue should be addressedimmediately.

“I urge you to call an all-party meeting with the singleagenda of public funding of elec-tions in India, with the objectiveof rooting out what has beencalled the mother of all corrup-tion,” the Chief Minister haswritten in her letter, sources said.

Referring to the lettersources said how the ChiefMinister has expressed her deepconcern about the degeneratingelectoral scenario. “She hasdrawn the Prime Minister’snotice for an urgent electoralreforms,” so that elections can beconducted in a “free, fair andtransparent manner,” a seniorofficial said.

State funding of polls mayimply the political parties con-tributing on their behalf the elec-toral expenses to theGovernment which will thenspend the money on their behalfso that transparency will be

maintained, sources said.Alternatively the governmentmay also bear the expenses onbehalf of the parties for fightingthe elections.

This will also ensure somesorts of level-playing field for allthe parties and the competingideologies, experts maintained.

The Chief Minister hasreferred to how State fundedelections take place in advancedcountries like Japan, Italy, UK,Germany, Canada, Australiaand France where the “politicalparties receive direct funding forfighting the elections.”

She said, “the poll expenditure of Parliamentaryelection in 2019 had crossed alllimits, reaching a minimum of�60,000 crore (�8.65 billion)and maximum expenditureremains unknown and could bemuch higher,” adding “may Ipoint out that combined expen-diture in the United States ofAmerica for Presidential andCongressional elections in 2016was $ 6.5 billion.”

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Pilibhit (UP): An FIR waslodged against 43 persons onFriday after a video showingsome villagers beating an adulttigress to death went viral onsocial media.

According to PrincipalConservator of Forests, SunilPandey the tigress had onWednesday attacked and injurednine villagers while they wereworking in an agriculture fieldin Deurea range of the Pilibhittiger reserve.

The forest staff rushed to thespot but was manhandled by thevillagers, Pandey alleged.

The staff later found thetigress dead, Pandey said, addingthat a three-member panelwhich conducted the postmortem examination of the ani-mal found broken ribs, injuriesand excessive bleeding as thecause of the death.

Later, a video showing thelocals beating the adult tigresswith sticks surfaced, he said.

A case was registered against31 named an 12 unnamed per-sons at the Puranpur Kotwaliand a probe is underway, apolice officer said. PTI

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Election from Vellore LokSabha Constituency which

was rescinded following theseizure of a large cache ofmoney from the residence andoffice premises of the DMKcandidate would be held onAugust 5. Tamil Nadu is in thegrip of another poll feverdespite the fact that the resultwould not make any impact onnational politics.

People are watching withinterest whether the DMKwould walk away with the seatas the party-led alliance won 37of the 38 seats where electionwas held in the month of April2019. The DMK-front’s onlyloss was at Theni where formerunion minister EVKSElangovan was defeated byAIADMK’s Raveendra Kumarby a narrow margin.

Vellore which has a con-siderable Muslim population isa DMK stronghold. The partyhas fielded D M Kathir Anand,son of local DMK chieftainDurai Murugan . Murugan ,

deputy leader of the DMK inthe assembly is a former PWDminister. The AIADMK hasallocated the seat to the NewJustice Party , one of thefringe groups in the region. AC Shanmugan founder of theNJP is contesting in the TwoLeaves symbol of theAIADMK.

Next week will see ChiefMinister EdappadyPalamiswamy and Leader ofthe Opposition M K Stalintouring the constituency solic-iting votes for the respectivecandidates. Most of the politi-cal observers are of the viewthat the DMK is likely to winin Vellore because there hasbeen no major political changesin the State over the last twomonths which could make anyimpact in the political for-tunes of the main contenders.

But K A Johny, politicalcommentator and a keen DMKwatcher chose to differ slight-ly from other analysts . “It istrue that there is nothingagainst the DMK as of now. ButShanmugan , who owns a uni-versity and medical colleges is

a rich man and in Tamil Nadupolitics money matters a lot.You should take note of whathappened in the case of T RParivendhar, who contestedfrom Perambalur under theDMK symbol. He won with amargin of more than 4 lakhvotes though he is a non-enti-ty in the State,” said Johny.Parivendhar owns the SRMUniversity in Chennai andheads a party by name IndiaJananayaka Katchi. He wasimprisoned in a cheating casefor weeks by the Tamil NaduPolice but still managed to winthe election, pointed out Johny.

The Vellore election is aprecursor to the two Assemblyby-elections to be held fromTamil Nadu. Nanguneri assem-bly constituency fell vacantfollowing the resignation ofVasanth Kumar (Congress)who was elected to the LokSabha while K Radhamani, theDMK legislator representingthe Vikravandi constituencydied last month. Moreover,Tamil Nadu is getting ready forthe local body elections whichare long overdue.

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Jalpaiguri (West Bengal): Tenpeople were electrocuted afterthey came in contact with ahigh tension wire in WestBengal's Jalpaiguri district onFriday, police said.

Their condition is stable,the police said.

The incident occurred atMainaguri block's Uller Dabriarea on Friday afternoon whenthey were boarding a Siliguri-bound private bus and a 11,000volt overhead wire snappedand fell on them, Mainaguripolice said.

Deaths were averted as thepower connection in the wiregot disconnected as soon as itsnapped, he said.

Five of the injured havebeen shifted to Siliguri super-specialty hospital, the policesaid. PTI

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Guwahati: Assam IndustryMinister Chandra MohanPatowary on Friday said a geo-graphical indication (GI) tagwould have helped "save" thestate's ailing tea industry.

Opposition Congress MLARupjyoti Kurmi raised the issueof the tea industry in theassembly, stating that GST andhigh fuel prices were some ofthe deterrents to its economicprogress. "Despite noticingthese shortcomings, there is nosincerity of the state govern-ment to revive the tea industry,"Kurmi alleged.

In reply, Patowary said

there are two lakh small teagrowers in Assam, but they arenot getting the just price fortheir produce.

"Our tea has not been ableto compete with the new vari-eties of tea... The big tea leafsellers blend our tea with otherteas and then brand them tosell as theirs, because we do nothave GI (tag) for Assam Tea,"Patowary said. "If we had GI, itwould have saved the state's teaindustry. Our government hastaken it up so that Assam Teacannot be used and brandedwithout our permission," theminister added. PTI

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradeshgovernment on Friday said ithas accepted recommendationsof a committee formed after theYamuna Expressway accidentfor breath analyser test of dri-vers travelling on longer routes.

Twenty-nine people werekilled and 18 others injuredwhen their bus veered off theYamuna Expressway andplunged into a deep drain onJuly 8.

"We have accepted the rec-ommendation of the commit-tee formed after the Yamunaexpressway incident that breathanalyser test of long routes beconducted," ParliamentaryAffairs Minister Suresh KumarKhanna said.

He was replying to a ques-tion in state legislative assem-bly.

When asked about the rea-sons which led to the accident,Khanna said nothing concretecould be said about the state inwhich the driver was at thattime.

"The bus before falling intogorge ran 50 metres. The steer-ing of vehicle should have beenturned, which was not. Nothing

could exactly be said about thestate of the driver as the post-mortem report says he died dueto drowning," the minister said.

He said the duty of the busdriver on that fateful day wasscheduled as per norms.

"He had joined after threedays of leave and took the busat 11 pm on the route on whichhe had gone earlier as well. Asper the norm, a long route dri-ver is put on eight-hour dutyand half-an-hour rest after five-hour travel. In a week, driversworking hours are fixed at 54hours," Khanna said.

According to the UP StateRoad Transport Corporation(UPSRTC) officials, it has beenrecommended to use breathanalyser on each driver beforeand after completion of everytrip.

The corporation officialsare in the process to equip 286government-run bus stations inthe state with breath analysers.

Any bus driver founddrunk during checking will besuspended immediately whilecontractual drivers will beremoved from the service onthe spot, the officials said. PTI

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Mumbai: Sounding an orangealert for Raigad, Ratnagiri andSindhudurg districts ofMaharashtra, the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD) on Friday also predict-ed heavy to very heavy rainfallin Mumbai, Thane and NaviMumbai in the next 24 hours.

An orange alert signifiesthat the authorities should getready for necessary action.

"We have issued an orangealert for Raigad, Ratnagiri andSindhudurg districts. An orangealert is merely a warning forauthorities to get prepared,while a red alert directs them totake action as the situationmight turn severe," an IMDofficial said.

"Heavy to very heavy rain-fall is likely in Mumbai, Thane,

and Raigad districts, whileextremely heavy rainfall is like-ly at isolated places in Palghardistrict," the official added.

Meanwhile, K S Hosalikar,Deputy Director General(DDG) of the IMD tweeted,"Rainfall in last 24 hrs at morn-ing 6.30 am today in Mumbaiand around: few stations report-ed heavy rainfall in Mumbai andNavi Mumbai. Rest it was mod-erate as expected. Today watchfor more rains please." PTI

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After deciding to privatisesix major airports in

February this year, the Centralgovernment is planning to pri-vatise 20-25 more in the nextphase with an expectation thatthere will be a significant par-ticipation by foreign airports,said AAI ChairmanGuruprasad Mohapatra onFriday.

Adani Group had won thebids to operate, manage anddevelop the six airports —Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur,M a n g a l u r u ,Thiruvananthapuram, andGuwahati — which theAirports Authority of Indiahad put up for privatisation inthe first round.

“We have privatised sixairports... We are now planningto privatise 20-25 airports innext phase,” said Mohapatra ata press briefing here.

He said the AAI will decidethe names of these airports —with annual passenger trafficover 1.5 million — soon andrecommend them to theMinistry of Civil Aviation.

“They will take a final call,”he said.

In the latest bureaucraticshuffle, Mohapatra was trans-ferred to the Department forPromotion of Industry andInternal Trade, which comesunder the Ministry of

Commerce.On Friday, Mohapatra said

he would take charge as DPIITsecretary on August 1.

Explaining about the plan-ning related to the secondround of privatisation, he said,“What we have done is we haveappointed a consultant tounderstand relative attractive-ness of various airports for pri-vate sector investments.”

“It is open for everyone tobid. There are tremendouspossibilities. With this (successin first round), I am sure thatin the next round of privatisa-tion we do, I am hoping to seea lot of foreign airports partic-ipating in it.”

He said airports such asDublin and Munich showedtremendous interest but they“probably required more con-fidence” and waited to see thesuccess of the first round of pri-vatisation.

“They have seen that nowthat it is successfully happen-

ing. So, in the second round, weexpect signification participa-tion coming from airports likethem,” he said.

In November last year, thegovernment had decided toprivatise airports in Lucknow,Ahmedabad, Jaipur,M a n g a l u r u ,Thiruvananthapuram, andGuwahati for operation, man-agement and developmentthrough public-private part-nership (PPP) model.

In February, the AdaniGroup bagged contract for allsix airports by winning the bidswith huge margins.

The AAI had chosen thewinner on the basis of the “per-passenger fee” offered by thebidders.

On July 3, the UnionCabinet had approved the leas-ing out of Ahmedabad,Lucknow and Mangaluru air-ports to Adani Group. The cab-inet is yet to approve the leas-ing out of the other three.

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The American economy hitthe brakes in the second

quarter, as activity declined inan increasingly skittish indus-trial sector and exports fell, butthe US continues to outper-form other advancedeconomies, according to gov-ernment data released Friday.

Officials also slashedgrowth for last year using newlyavailable data — cutting a cru-cial 2018 GDP measure to 2.5per cent, undercutting PresidentDonald Trump’s frequent boastsabout beating 3.0 per cent.

The new data covering thepast five years now show theworld’s largest economy actu-ally slowed in the year afterTrump pushed through asweeping tax overhaul.

The updated data alsohighlight how momentumdeteriorated in the final monthsof 2018, when the FederalReserve raised interest rates indefiance of intense pressurefrom Trump.

The central bank next weekis widely expected to cut itsbenchmark lending rate,reversing December’s increase.

The CommerceDepartment reported that GDPin the April-June quarterslowed to 2.1 per cent from thefirst three months of the year,slowing sharply from 3.1 percent growth in the first quarter,but that was better than expect-

ed, helped by strong consumerspending.

Taken together the newdata portrayed an economythat enjoys robust strength insome quarters but has begun tosputter worryingly in others,even while the US is outshin-ing sluggish economies inEurope, Japan and elsewhere.

Analysts had expected sec-ond quarter growth of just 1.8per cent, but the economy gota boost from strong consumerspending on autos, food andclothing.

Federal spending also tookits biggest leap in a decade —with non-defense spending ris-ing at the fastest pace in 21 years— a one-time jolt when thegovernment resumed payingemployees following the five-week partial government shut-down at the start of the year.

But that was not enough tomake up for tumbling invest-ment in factories and com-mercial buildings, which sankmore than 10 percent for thequarter, and falling incomefrom software royalties andother intellectual property.

Amid a global economicslowdown, weakening foreigndemand for US exports meantAmerican factories sold fewerautos, parts and factory equip-ment. The ailing Americanmanufacturing sector also pro-duced fewer non-durablegoods while retail and whole-sale trade softened.

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The Government on Fridayadmitted in Rajya Sabha

that doubling of farm incomeby 2022 was not possible withthe current rate of growth inthe agriculture sector, and saidit was trying to promote alliedsectors to achieve the target.

During the Question Hour,SP member Ram Gopal Yadavsaid going by the presentgrowth rate of 4 per cent in theagriculture sector, it was notpossible to double the farmersincome by 2022. Replying tosupplementaries, Minister ofState for AgriculturePurshottam Rupala said, “Weagree with Ram Gopal ji’s querythat it was not possible to dou-ble farm incomes with the cur-rent growth rate in agri sector.”

He said the raising of farmincome was not possible withgrowth in only one sector, but thegovernment was making effortsto promote allied sectors of agri-culture and that will aid in help-ing double the farm income.

Rupala also informed thehouse that the governmentwas making efforts to increasethe clusters under organicfarming and was giving themvarious incentives.

“We are running 20 centresfor promotion of organic farm-ing.... We have set a target ofsetting up 1 lakh clusters oforganic farming in this Plan,”he said.

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IT industry body Nasscomand property consultant

CBRE on Friday said they willmentor and support three star-tups that offer tech-based solu-tions for the real estate market.

The startups —Touchwizard Technologies,XLSYS Technologies andWEGoT Utility Solutions —were declared winners postthree stages of evaluation byindustry leaders from acrosssectors, CBRE said in a state-ment.

The National Associationof Software and ServicesCompanies (Nasscom) andCBRE South Asia had startedthis competition in May thisyear.

Srikanth Srinivasan, HeadMembership, Nasscom said,“We see this initiative as a stepforward towards building asustainable ecosystem forPropTech start-ups in the

country.”“We wanted to create a

platform in India that advo-cates PropTech and slowly butsteadily walk towards creatinga truly global experience forconsumers in the Realty sec-tor,” said AnshumanMagazine, Chairman andCEO, India and South EastAsia, CBRE.

C h e n n a i - b a s e dTouchwizard Technologies,which came first in the chal-lenge, deals in manufacturingand trading of video projectors,interactive boards, projectorscreens, interactive floor sys-tems, virtual field trip serviceand virtual reality kit trip ser-vices.

Bengaluru-based XLSYSTechnologies offers jobsitemanagement and analyticsservices for the real estateindustry. WEGoT UtilitySolution specialises in utilitymanagement and water man-agement solutions.

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Senior bureaucrat and formerfinance secretary Subhash

Chandra Garg on Friday tookover as the new PowerSecretary.

The senior most officer inthe Ministry of Finance, Gargwas shifted to the PowerMinistry on Wednesday.Thereafter he announced thathe had applied for voluntaryretirement from service onThursday.

“Handed over charge ofEconomic Affairs today(Thursday). Learnt so much inthe Finance Ministry andEconomic Affairs Dept. Willtake charge in Power Ministrytomorrow (Friday). Have alsoapplied for VoluntaryRetirement from the IAS witheffect from 31st October”, Garghad tweeted on Thursday.

An interaction of Gargwith media is scheduled lateron Friday.

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Markets watchdog Sebi onFriday eased the condi-

tions for exchanges to provideincentives under liquidityenhancement schemes (LES) inthe first five years of operation.

Under the scheme, brokersand other market intermedi-aries are given incentives for aspecified period of time tobring in liquidity and generateinvestor interest in securities,which have limited tradingactivity.

The move comes after theregulator noted that “anexchange in early years of itsformation or commencementof business may not be able togenerate profits or have freereserves from business opera-tions”.

Laying down the condi-tions for such exchanges, Sebiin a circular said the yearlyincentive that an exchange canearmark for LES will notexceed 25 per cent of its audit-ed net-worth as on the last dayof the previous financial year.

New Delhi: Reckitt Benckiser on Friday launched Vanish, an ’All-New’ detergent booster. Studies conducted by leading market-ing agencies Nielsen and Third Eye revealed that more than 60per cent consumers are inherently dissatisfied with their laun-dry results despite using premium detergents. Vanish aims to fillthe void in the market by providing home makers with the per-fect laundry solution. The Post use consumer research showedthat 9 out of 10 consumers after trying the product were moti-vated to buy the product. PNS

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Wimbledon champion andworld number one

Novak Djokovic has with-drawn from next month’s USOpen hardcourt tuneup eventin Montreal, saying he needsmore rest after capturing his16th Grand Slam singlescrown.

The 32-year-old Serbian,who outlasted Roger Federerin an epic All-England Clubfinal earlier this month, wasjoined by Argentina’s 12th-ranked Juan Martin Del Potroin pulling out of the ATPMasters Canada tournament.

“I’m sorry to announcethat I decided to pull out ofRogers Cup,” Djokovic said ina statement released by TennisCanada.

“With the support of myteam, I have decided to givemy body longer rest andrecovery time before comingback again to play.

“I love Canada and I havemany friends there thatalways make me feel likeI’m at home and I’mlooking forward to com-ing back again to play infront of all of you inMontreal.”

Djokovic’s withdrawalmeans Spanish star RafaelNadal, an 18-time GrandSlam singles champi-on, will be the topseed in Montrealwhen main drawbegins August 5.

Nadal hascaptured theCanadian crownfour times, mostrecently last yearby defeatingStefanos Tsitsipasin the final.

D j o k o v i chas won theC a n a d i a nevent thata l t e r n a t e sb e t w e e nToronto andM o n t r e a lfour times,twice ineach city —Toronto in 2012 and2016 and Montreal in2007 and 2011.

He was ousted last year inToronto by Greek starTsitsipas in the third round.

“We would have loved forDjokovic to have the chance tobe crowned champion for athird time in Montreal, but weunderstand his decision andwe wish him a quick returnfor the rest of the season,”Montreal tournament directorEugene Lapierre said.

Del Potro was injured lastmonth at Queen's and under-went r ight knee patel lasurgery and is undergoingrehabilitation for the setback.

“In del Potro’s case, wewish him a speedy recovery,he who has experienced hisshare of injuries in the pastfew years,” Lapierre said.

“We look forward to see-ing him back on court in thenear future.”

World number threeFederer said after hisWimbledon final loss that hetoo intended to skip Montreal.

Frenchman RichardGasquet and Mikhail

Kukushkin of Kazakhstanwill take the two avail-able spots in theMontreal main drawas a result of the with-drawals by Djokovicand Del Potro.

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Olympic Silver-medallist PV Sindhu crashed out ofthe Japan Open bad-

minton tournament after a sec-ond successive defeat to localfavourite Akane Yamaguchiwhile B Sai Praneeth continuedhis good form to advance to thesemifinals here on Friday.

Sindhu lost to Yamaguchi18-21, 15-21 in a 50-minutewomen’s singles quarterfinalmatch. This was Sindhu’s sec-ond defeat at the hands ofYamaguchi, who had beaten theIndian in the final of theIndonesian Open last week.

However, in men’s singles,Sai Praneeth recorded an easywin over Indonesia’s TommySugiarto to reach the semifinals.

His 21-12, 21-15 win overSugiarto fetched him a clashagainst top seeded JapaneseKento Momota in the semifi-

nals.Meanwhile, India’s men’s

doubles pair of SatwiksairajRankireddy and Chirag Shettylost to second seeded Japaneseduo of Takeshi Kamura andKeigo Sonoda 19-21, 18-21 in a41-minute clash in the quarter-finals.

Sindhu was leading 12-7 inthe first game but she squan-dered the advantage as herreigning Asian champion oppo-nent clawed her way back tolevel the scores at 14-14.

From there on, Sindhu lostmomentum allowingYamaguchi to surge ahead to18-15 and then to 20-16.

Sindhu won two consecu-tive points to narrow the gap to18-20 but could not stop heropponent from bagging thenext point and the first game.

In the second game, bothwere locked 6-6 initially butfrom there on, it was Yamaguchiall the way as she raced to 13-7and then to 16-10. Sindhurecovered a bit by winning twoconsecutive points but in notime, the Japanese had five

match points and she wrappedup the tie without much hassle.

Sai Praneeth, in contrast,hardly broke a sweat as he justtook 36 minutes to clinch up thematch.

The unseeded Indian ledalmost all through the firstgame leaving the former worldchampionships bronze-medal-

list Indonesian to play the catch-up game.

The second game was a bitcloser but Sai Praneeth kept thelead from the start. Not morethan four points separated thetwo for most part but the Indianreeled off three consecutivepoints from 18-15 to win thematch.

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India’s leading table tennis playerManika Batra on Friday said she

doesn’t want to burden herself aheadof the next year’s Tokyo Games and isinstead targeting a singles medal at the2024 Olympics.

The 24-year-old paddler madehistory last year by winning as manyas four medals at the CommonwealthGames including a singles Gold.

At the Asian Games, Batra and vet-eran Sharath Kamal almost did theunthinkable by clinching a mixeddoubles Bronze, ending India’s 60-year-long wait for a medal in the sport.

“All the paddlers are working hardfor the Olympics and if we play our bestand are lucky, we will win a medal. ButI don’t want to put pressure on myselffor 2020, I am aiming for a singlesmedal in 2024 Games,” Manika said onthe sidelines of Ultimate Table Tennis(UTT).

Manika, who recently parted wayswith her childhood coach SandeepGupta to train with Sanmay Paranjape,said she is happy with the progress inher game after moving her base toPune.

“I changed the coach because Ineeded something new in my game. Ihave improved a lot. My forehand hasimproved. I have beaten Chinese andKorean players, so I am quite happywith my training in Pune.”

The Commonwealth Games Goldmedallist, who feels opponents are nowable to read her game, said she has beenworking on introducing variations inher style of play.

“I am working on changing mygame because internationally playersare taking note, they are studying mygame.

“Everyone used to play on my fore-hand because they knew that wasn’t

strong so I have worked on that. I haveworked on it a lot now. I turn andswitch and finish from the forehand. Ihave also been working on my rallies,”she explained.

With the Olympics less than a yearto go, India’s best shot at winning amedal in table tennis comes from theAsian games Bronze medallist mixeddoubles pair of Manika and Sharath.

Talking about the preparation,Manika said the duo is keen to win anOlympic medal as both the players havethe potential to succeed.

“We are keen to get an Olympicmedal in this event and we have alsogot a Bronze in Asian Games. So I

think if we practice more we will be incontention for a medal. Sharath and Ihave a good understanding which isvery important in mixed doubles.

“Practice is important, so we havedecided we will train for mixed dou-bles before the Asian Championshipand also before Grand Finals. We maygo to Europe and train together,” sheadded.

On Tuesday, new national coachDejan Papic accepted the one-year con-tract offered by the Sports Authority ofIndia (SAI) to coach the Indian tabletennis team.

Since the Asian Games last year,the Indian paddlers have been without

the services of a coach but the worldnumber 56 feels the appointment ofPapic will help in doubles and teamevents but it will be a difficult roadahead.

“Individually it’s easy like Sharath,Sathiyan, everyone go outside to train.But for mixed doubles we need thecoach and are already scheduled tohave a camp.

“Massimo (Constantini) knew thegame of all the Indian players. Nowwhen the new coach comes, it will bevery difficult for him and for us. It willtake time for him to settle down. Weneed the coach for team matches,”Manika said.

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Star wrestler Bajrang Punianeeded less than four minutes

to book a berth in India's WorldChampionship squad while RaviKumar Dahiya earned hischance by winning the mostcompetitive category during thetrials, here on Friday.

Presence of proven per-former Bajrang in the 65kg tri-als meant that most of thewrestlers in this category pre-ferred to stay away.

Only Harphul Singh, thereigning national champion,took on the world number onebut he could not compete withBajrang for two full rounds.Harphul suffered a knee injurywhen the Asian Games gold-medallist got hold of his right legin the second three-minute peri-od.

Bajrang was leading 7-0when the bout had to bestopped.

"If the bout had lasted forfull six minutes, it would havebeen good for me as well as thefans who came to watch us wres-tle. It feels bad when the bout hasto end like that. When a wrestlersuffers an injury,it really pegshim back. All of us work hard,I feel bad for him," said Bajrang.

The 57kg category featuredseven wresters, including thevery talented Sandeep Tomarand Utkarsh Kale. However, itwas Ravi, the last year's U-23World Championship silver-medallist, booked a flight toKazakhstan.

Ravi, who trains atChhatrasal stadium under his

coach Virender, outplayed Rahul12-2 in the final bout.

The final was expected to bea stiff battle but Rahul, whoknocked out 2016 AsianChampion Sandeep Tomar, andKale, were no match to a wilyRavi.

"There will be stiff compe-tition at the Worlds. Asia is apowerhouse of wrestling. Youhave tough wrestlers from Japan,Iran, Mongolia and Kazakhstan.I am training hard and hopeful-ly I will have good result," saidthe 22-year old from Haryana.

The 86kg category also fea-tured just two grapplers withDeepak Punia winning 5-0against Pawan. The 20-year-oldDeepak has considerable inter-national exposure but it will behis first senior WorldChampionship. He also trains atChattrasal with Virender.

A few exciting bouts werewitnessed in the 97kg categoryin which Mausam Khatriemerged winner by beatingSatyawart Kadiyan 8-1 in thefinal.

Satyawart, husband of Rio

Olympics bronze-medallistSakshi Malik, opted for anattacking approach but Khatrinot only defended well but alsooutsmarted his rival with hiscounter-attacks.

Also booking a berth in theWorld Championship, slated tobe held in Kazakshtan fromSeptmber 14-22, was SumitMalik in the 125kg category. Hebeat Satender 3-0 in the final.

The trials for the 74kg cat-egory, in which two-timeOlympic medallist Sushil Kumarcompetes, have been pushed tonext month since both JitenderKumar and Praveen Kumar areinjured.

They sought more time torecover and the WFI obliged.

Meanwhile, it has come tolight that a few wrestlers werenot allowed to compete at thetrails but WFI explained itsdecision.

A wrestler Shravan Kumarhad alleged that the Federationdid not allow him to compete in65kg and instead asked him tofight in either 57kg or 61kgweight division.

"This wrestler was injuredand was no anywhere to be seenin the last 18 months. Suddenlyif he comes and wants to com-pete for such prestigious event,we can't allow," WFI AssistantSecretary Vinod Tomar said.

"He is not a part of thenational camp, how can weallow him. This is not Nationalshappening, it's WorldChampionship trials. You mustprove your fitness at nationallevel then be a part of the camp,only then we can allow.

���� �35�6347#�

Former junior world champion Nikhat Zareen (51kg) was thelone woman boxer to make the finals, while Asian silver-win-

ner Deepak Singh (49kg) led a four-strong Indian men's chargeinto the summit clashes of the Thailand International Tournamentin Bangkok on Friday.

Ashish Kumar (75kg), Commonwealth Games bronze-medal-list Mohammed Husammuddin (56kg) and Brijesh Yadav (81kg)were the other three men to make the gold medal bouts.

However, former Asian youth silver-medallist Ashish (69kg)lost his semifinal bout to sign off with a bronze medal. Ashish lostto Thailand's Wuttichai Masuk in a split decision after an exhaust-ing clash.

Among the women, Manju Rani (48kg) and Bhagyabati Kachari(81kg) ended with third-place finishes. Manju went down toChuthamat Raksat of Thailand, while Bhagyabati lost to China'sLi Qian.

Earlier, Deepak hardly broke a sweat against Bhutan's TashiWangdi. The Indian's dominance was such that Wangdi faced twostanding eight counts and was left with a gash above his right eye.The judges eventually ruled unanimously in the Indian's favour.

Nikhat was up against Thailand's Jutamas Jitpong. TheHyderabadi impressed with the ferocity of her punches as she edgedpast the local favourite 4-1 and let out a scream to express her ela-tion when her hand was raised by the referee.

"I dedicate my today's Semi-Final victory at the Thailand Opento our brave soldiers of Kargil war who sacrificed their lives forour country," Nikhat said after the bout.

Also advancing was Husammuddin (56kg). In a messy slugfestwith Thailand's Ammarit Yaodam, the Indian came out as the moreaggressive and clean puncher to emerge triumphant in a 3-2 deci-sion.

In the 75kg category, Ashish defeated Uzbekistan's FanatKakhramnov to make the finals.

Brijesh was up against local favourite in Saranon Klompian inthe last bout of the day and produced a ferocious performance. Aleft hook just a minute into the second round sent his opponentcrashing and the Thai could not regain his composure after that.

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The legendary M C MaryKom and Asian Games

gold-medallist Amit Panghalare among the stars who willtake the ring in the inauguralIndian Boxing League whichwill be held from October 20 toNovember 9.

The rights holder andorganisers of the league,SportzLive, will also auctionthe live digital streaming rightsfor the initial three seasons of theleague through a separate ten-der process.

"There will be a total of 90bouts of three rounds each,spread over 18 days across threevenues. With 5 bouts across dif-ferent weight categories betweentwo teams, each day...," theBoxing Federation of India saidin a press release.

"...(with) leading boxers likeMary Kom, Amit Pangal,Gaurav Bidhuri, and SoniaLather and over 50 leadinginternational boxers participat-

ing, the League is set to estab-lish Boxing as one of the mostpopular sports in India," itadded.

The auction will cover bothIndia and global rights. Theleague has set a base price of �four crore for India rights and �4.5 crore for the global rights perseason.

"...Big Bout will be anotherfeather in the cap of Indian box-ing as the first amateur boxingleague in the world. It definite-ly has the potential to take thesport to the next level and thisOTT bid, a first of its kind forany Olympic Sports in India willset an example for others to fol-low," BFI President Ajay Singhsaid.

Echoing his view, AtulPande, MD of Sportzlive added,"We believe that OTT & Mobilewill be a key consumption des-tination for this sport."

SportzLive, is also the long-term rights holder of thePremier Badminton League(PBL).

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American star Caeleb Dressel,swimming's chiselled, tat-

tooed pin-up boy, destroyedMichael Phelps's 100 metres but-terfly world record Friday ascountrywoman Simone Manuelretained her 100m freestyle worldtitle.

Reigning champ Dresselclenched a fist in the direction offlag-waving American fans afterclocking an astonishing 49.50seconds in Gwangju to eclipse theAmerican legend's old bodysuitmark by 0.32 and rob him of asecond world record in 48 hours.

Dressel's fireworks werematched in the next event whenAmerican teenager Smith crushedthe women's 200m backstrokeworld record, before RussianAnton Chupkov emulated themas he stormed to gold in the 200mbreaststroke.

But Dressel, who has alreadywon three gold medals this week,remains the hottest ticket inSouth Korea.

"It can be a scary thought,"said Dressel, who looks on courseto match or even surpass theseven golds he scooped at the2017 world championships inBudapest.

"I woke up today and I want-ed to do it," added the 22-year-old,who logged a 21.18 in the 50mfreestyle semis after a quick turn-around.

"I didn't really have thenerves, I just wanted to do it.Records are meant to be broken,I hope Michael was happy watch-ing me do that."

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Indian’s challenge came to anend at the Badminton Asia

Junior Championships afterboth the boys and girls dou-bles teams crashed out afterlosing in the quarterfinals inSuzhou, China on Friday.

The boys’ doubles pair ofIshaan Bhatnagar and VishnuVardhan Goud Panjala lost 14-21, 19-21 to the unseededSingapore combination of JiaHao Howin Wong and ChuanShen Aaron Yong.

It was the same story for

India in the girls doubles as theduo of Tanisha Crasto andAditi Bhatt went down to sec-ond seeds Li Yi Jing and LuoXu Min 7-21, 16-21.

The Indian contingentthis time has returned emptyhanded from the event, a yearafter Lakshya Sen won theboys’ singles title.

“Despite facing toughopponents, the Indians did notfeel intimidated which was ahuge positive to take from thistournament,” said India’sjunior national coach SanjayMishra.

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Pakistan’s tarnished left-arm pacer MohammadAmir retired from Test cricket on Friday but

affirmed his commitment to continue playing lim-ited-overs for his country.

Convicted in the 2010 spot-fixing scandal inEngland, the 27-year-old has been indicating forsome time now that he wanted to quit playing Testcricket and focus on ODIs and T20s.

In a statement issued by the Pakistan CricketBoard, Amir said: “It has been an honour to rep-resent Pakistan in the pinnacle and traditional for-mat of the game. I, however, have decided to moveaway from the longer version so I can concentrateon white ball cricket.”

Amir, who played 36 Tests for his 119 wick-ets, has also appeared in 59 ODIs and 49 T20 inter-nationals. In the recent World Cup in England, heended with 15 wickets.

In a recent interview, Amir had said that hewas a human being and not a machine while refer-

ring to the non-stop cricket he played since return-ing to the Pakistan team after the end of his five-year ban for spot-fixing in 2015.

Last year, he had informed head coach MickeyArthur about his intentions but was told to carryon till the World Cup.

“Playing for Pakistan remains my ultimatedesire and objective, and I will try my best to bein the best physical shape to contribute in the team’supcoming challenges, including next year’s ICC T20World Cup,” he said.

“It has not been an easy decision to make andI have been thinking about this for some time. Butwith the ICC World Test Championship commenc-ing shortly, and Pakistan boasting some very excit-ing young fast bowlers, it is appropriate that I callon my time in Test cricket so that the selectors canplan accordingly,” he added.

“I want to thank all my team-mates as well theopponents in red ball cricket. It has been a privi-lege to play with and against them. I am sure ourpaths will continue to cross in limited-overs crick-et as all of us play and compete with the samevigour and determination.”

PCB’s Managing Director, Wasim Khan saidAmir has been one of the most exciting and tal-ented left-arm fast bowlers in Test cricket in recenttimes.

“He overcame adversity as a young cricketerand came back stronger not only as a cricketer butalso as a better human being. His skill, on the field,and his personality will be missed in the dressingroom in the longer format,” he said.

“However, we respect his decision and look for-ward to him continuing to play an integral role inwhite ball cricket for Pakistan,” he added.

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England bowled Ireland out forjust 38 to win their one-off Testat Lord’s by 143 runs on Friday,

emphatically crushing the visitors’hopes of a stunning upset.

Ireland, playing only their thirdTest, were chasing just 182 runs tocomplete what would have been oneof the biggest upsets in cricket his-tory.

But they did not get close, last-ing just 94 balls as Chris Woakestook a career-best six wickets for 17runs and Stuart Broad returned fig-ures of 4-19 .

Their second innings score wasthe seventh-lowest total of all time.

“I knew that was a lot of runs (tomake) on that surface,” said Root,whose side mustered just 85 runsthemselves in their first innings.

“It’s very pleasing, the way wemanaged certain pressure situa-tions,” he added. “It wasn’t by anystretch the perfect game for us butsometimes that can be a reallyimportant part of your learning.We’ll take a lot from this game.”

Ireland, playing England for thefirst time in a Test, have now lost allthree of their Tests following lossesto Pakistan and Afghanistan, buttheir day started brilliantly.

The home side resuming ontheir overnight 303 for nine, sawtheir second innings end with thefirst ball of the third day’s play whendebutant Olly Stone was bowled fora duck by Stuart Thompson.

Rain delayed the scheduled startby a few minutes but any hopesEngland had of adding to theirovernight total evaporated whenThompson’s inswinger knocked overStone’s leg stump.

Ireland had yet to give off themark in their second innings whenrain stopped play just seven ballsinto their chase and kept the play-ers off the field for more than anhour.

But when the match resumedthe overcast conditions — the flood-lights were switched on — madeconditions ideal for seamers Woakesand Broad.

�� ������� ���The cascade of wickets in an

innings where only opener JamesMcCollum made it into double fig-ures began when Woakes had Irelandcaptain William Porterfield caughtbehind by wicketkeeper JonnyBairstow for two.

Andy Balbirnie, who top-scored

with 55 in Ireland’s first innings totalof 207, fell next when he edged Broadto Root at first slip.

Kevin O’Brien, who hit thequickest World Cup century whenIreland beat England at Bangalore in2011 and made a hundred in theirinaugural Test at home to Pakistanlast year, fell for just four, lbw to Broad

— one of three wickets that fell forno runs to leave the visitors 24-6.

An extraordinary match endedwhen Woakes cleaned up tailenderTim Murtagh for his best return inTest cricket.

One-day world championsEngland, missing injured pacemanJames Anderson, were indebted tonightwatchman Jack Leach’s sec-ond-innings 92 — his career-bestscore — with the Somerset left-armspinner named man-of-the-matchfor his batting heroics.

Yet there was no disguising thatEngland’s top-order batsmen strug-gled badly in the match, just a weekbefore the start of a five-matchAshes series against Australia atEdgbaston.

Ireland captain WilliamPorterfield said his side were partic-ularly disappointed because theyhad put themselves in a position towin the game.

“We knew it was going to betough with the lights on and drizzlein the air,” he said.

“But we had to dig deep and getthrough that. Fair play to the two ladsto how they bowled — they made itdifficult.”

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Kusal Perera scored a quick-firecentury to power Sri Lanka to

314-8 in the first of a three-matchOne-day International series againstBangladesh in Colombo on Friday.

Perera struck 111 off 99 ballswith 17 fours and a six, his fifthODI century, as Sri Lanka punishedBangladesh's wayward bowlingafter skipper Dimuth Karunaratnewon the toss and elected to bat first.

Perera put on 97 runs withKarunaratne for the second wick-et before adding 100 with KusalMendis for the third to set up theplatform for a strong total.

Shafiul Islam, who finishedwith 3-62 in his first match in threeyears, drew first blood forBangladesh when he had openerAvishka Fernando caught bySoumya Sarkar at slip for seven.

Perera was reprieved on 49runs when the third umpire over-turned a caught behind decision offShafiul.

Part-time seamer Soumyaended the valiant knock of Pereraas he was caught at short fine leg byMustafizur Rahman.

Mendis who was dropped on28 by Mahmudullah Riyad offSoumya fell to Rubel Hossain thenext over after making 43 off 49

balls. Mendis walked after a mutedappeal for caught behind fromwicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahimand bowler Rubel.

Angelo Mathews took SriLanka's total past the 300-runmark with 48 off 52 balls.

Mustafizur dismissed Mathewsbefore finishing with 2-75.

Tamim Iqbal is leadingBangladesh, becoming the coun-try's 14th ODI captain.

The game at R. PremadasaStadium is also special for SriLanka's Lasith Malinga, who willretire after the match.

Malinga was unbeaten on six inhis final ODI innings.

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Veteran opener Chris Gayle was on Fridaynamed in the West Indies squad for the

three-match ODI series against India, beginningAugust 8.

Left-handed opener John Campbell, fellowbatsman Roston Chase and all-rounder KeemoPaul have all been recalled to the 14-membersquad for the series which will be contested onAugust 8 at the Guyana National Stadium, andon August 11 and 14 at the Queen’s Park Ovalin Trinidad.

Ahead of the England series in March, Gaylehad said that he planned to retire following theODI World Cup but he changed his mind dur-ing the tournament and has made himselfavailable for this series.

The southpaw will miss the preceding T20series as he will be busy with GT20 Canada.

The self-proclaimed “Universe Boss” also hasthe extra motivation to chase two records dur-ing the ODI series.

Gayle currently has 10,338 runs and needsjust 11 more to pass batting legend Brian Lara(10,348) for the highest aggregate in ODIs forWest Indies.

He has also amassed 10,393 runs and needs13 to again overtake Lara (10,405) for the mostruns by a West Indian in the history of ODIs.

“Chris is a very valuable player and he bringsa lot of experience, a lot of knowledge, he lendsa lot to any dressing room and it is great to havehim in the squad,” said interim West Indies headcoach Floyd Reifer.

Reifer said Campbell, Chase and Paul havebeen brought back to add more balance to thesquad, whilst Sunil Ambris, Darren Bravo,Shannon Gabriel and Ashley Nurse have allmissed out on selection for the matches againstVirat Kohli’s side.

The rest of the World Cup squad remains inplace.

“We have a mixture of some experienced andyoung ODI players,” said Reifer.

“It is good to have Keemo, John and Rostonback, and they will help to bring further balanceto the team. Looking ahead to the series, I thinkwe have a lot to build upon following the WorldCup. We have retained a large number of play-ers from the World Cup squad, so there is a lotto build on and I am looking forward to theseries,” he added.

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Opening batsman CameronBancroft was on Friday

included in Australia’s 17-mansquad for a five-Test Ashes seriesagainst England alongside SteveSmith and David Warner.

All three batsmen servedlengthy bans for their roles in aball-tampering scandal in SouthAfrica last year.

Former captain Smith and histhen deputy Warner were bothgiven 12-month suspensions byCricket Australia, with Bancroft— who actually applied sandpa-per to the ball while in the fieldduring a Test in Cape Town —banned for nine months.

Both Smith and Warner wereexpected to be in the Ashes squadafter doing well in the recentWorld Cup, when the defendingchampions reached the semi-finals.

Bancroft, who has been cap-taining English county sideDurham, appears to have forcedhis way in after making anunbeaten 93 in the tourists’ intra-squad match at Southamptonthis week.

“David Warner, Steve Smithand Cameron Bancroft haveforced their way back into the Testsquad through the excellence oftheir recent performances,” saidAustralia national selector Trevor

Hohns in a statement.“David and Steve also have

the advantage of being provenplayers at Test level whileCameron has produced impres-sive numbers for county sideDurham this season.

“His innings in the intra-squad match in Southampton ona tough pitch was outstanding andshowed his quality.”

Holders Australia are lookingto win their first Ashes series inEngland since 2001.Australia’s 17-man squad for afive-Test Ashes series againstEngland announced on Friday:Tim Paine (capt/wkt), CameronBancroft, Patrick Cummins,Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood,Travis Head, Usman Khawaja,Marnus Labuschagne, NathanLyon, Mitchell Marsh, MichaelNeser, James Pattinson, PeterSiddle, Steve Smith, MitchellStarc, Matthew Wade, DavidWarner.

�'����August 1-5: First Test, Edgbaston,Birmingham.August 14-18: Second Test,Lord’s, LondonAugust 22-26: Third Test,Headingley, LeedsSeptember 4-8: Fourth Test, OldTrafford, ManchesterSeptember 12-16: Fifth Test, TheOval, London.

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India’s current bowling coach BharatArun is likely to retain his position

even if there are multiple candidateswhile R Sridhar will have his noseahead despite South African starJonty Rhodes throwing his hat in thering for the fielding coach’s position.

But batting coach Sanjay Bangarmight find it difficult to retain hisposition when the national selectorspick the support staff for the Indianteam.

As per norms, while the newCricket Advisory Committee —chaired by Kapil Dev — will decideon the head coach, the selectors have

been tasked to conduct interviews forthe rest of the support staff.

If those privy to the develop-ments are to be believed, Arun couldturn out to be a unanimous choiceconsidering the performance ofIndia’s pacers in all formats of thegame.

“In the last 18 to 20 months, thework put in by Arun has been phe-nomenal. The current Indian attackis considered to be the best in thelongest format. Mohammed Shamiback at his best and (Jasprit) Bumrah’sconsistency are a few things Arunmust get credit for. It’s up to the selec-tors but they might find it difficult toreplace him,” a senior BCCI official

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said on Friday.However, same can’t be said

about Bangar, who many believehasn’t been able to create a solidmiddle order despite four years inthe job.

“Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharmahave been performing much beforeBangar came into the fray. He hasno role in their success. However,his job was to create a few solidoptions in the middle order and wehave seen in the World Cup that hehas failed miserably in that,” theofficial added.

There have been reports that itwas on Bangar’s insistence that MSDhoni was asked to bat at No 7 in

the lost semifinal against the NewZealand, a decision that has beenroundly criticised.

While Arun is the favouriteamong three specialist coaches,Sridhar is also not far behind asIndia has made rapid strides in thefielding department.

But he will get a tough fightfrom Rhodes, who is set to get anopportunity to give a presentationto the selection committee.

“Rhodes is a big name and hiscandidature can’t be ignored.However, this also needs to betaken into account that how theteam’s fielding performance hasbeen,” the official said.