3 4 .5 . /067/89 /1 ˆ!˙˜!#ˇ˜ˇ˙˜$˚˜%&˙˚˜’˚( who has to take pills/capsules before...

16
A mid allegations and counter-allegations from candidates and political parties over EVM functioning, the Election Commission of India (ECI) is taking no chance as more than 40,000 personnel will be deployed at 37 centres, where counting of votes will be conducted for the Gujarat Assembly polls on Monday. Apart from 20,000 officials for counting of votes from EVMs, there would be more than 20,000 security personnel to ensure peaceful process across all centres. Gujarat’s Chief Election Officer BB Swain said the counting process will begin at 8 am on Monday for all 182 Assembly constituencies across 33 districts of Gujarat. In Ahmedabad, the count- ing will take place at three venues while Surat and Anand districts will have two centres each for the process, said Swain. According to him, there would be 14 tables for each Assembly constituency where votes would be counted from EVMs. Every table will have one supervisor, one counting assistant, and one micro observer. For the first time in the his- tory of elections in the country, Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines were used. VVPAT slips from any one booth selected through ran- domisation will be counted. Counting will be done under strict surveillance. Element of technology is set to add more transparency in the counting process as apart from an observer at each Assembly seat, there will be webcast of entire process across 182 Assembly seats, so that author- ities, including the ECI, State election office and district authorities, can watch the counting live. “There will be three-lay- ered security checks at count- ing centres. Mobiles or any other electronic gadgets will not be allowed inside counting centres,’’ said Swain, adding that one-time password (OTP) will be provided to returning officers responsible for han- dling EVMs for counting. Their mobile phone num- bers would be linked to the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot Paper System (ETPBS), he said. Counting process would be initiated only after the OTP authentication of EVM, he added. Meanwhile, adhering to the order of ECI, re-polling of 16 booths across 12 Assembly constituencies was conducted on Sunday. All these booths were undergone for polling on Thursday as part of the second phase of Gujarat Assembly polls. Result of all these booths will be declared on Monday along with their respective constituencies. I n a major development reported after decades of cross-border insurgency along India’s eastern frontier, the BSF has said that camps and hide- outs of Indian Insurgent Groups (IIGs) across the coun- try’s frontier on the Bangladeshi soil have been reduced to “almost zero”. Director General of the Border Security Force KK Sharma said that this first- time achievement was the result of an excellent and pos- itive cooperation between the border guarding forces of the two countries over the past few years. The BSF’s counterpart in the neighbouring country is the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB). “Whenever we have information about exodus or insurgents of the North- Eastern States in Bangladesh, we share the information and immediate raids are under- taken (by the BGB). “As a result, the number of training places and hideouts of these insurgents have been reduced to almost zero,” the BSF DG said. If there are some still exist- ing, they are of a floating nature, Sharma said, indicating that no permanent camps of these banned terror and insur- gent groups now exist on the Bangladeshi side. “I congratulate our coun- terparts (BGB),” the DG said. The development is being seen as a major victory of the security forces over the insur- gency and terrorism situation along the Bangladesh border in the North-East. T wo suicide bombers attacked a packed church during a Sunday service in the restive Pakistani city of Quetta, killing nine people and injuring 44 oth- ers in a targeted assault on the minority Christian community ahead of Christmas in the Muslim nation. The ISIS terror group claimed responsibility for the attack. The group’s Amaq News Agency posted a statement online, saying attackers had stormed the church in Quetta — the capital of Balochistan province. But the terror group provided no evi- dence for the claim. Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti said that at least two suicide bombers were involved in the attack on the Bethel Memorial Church on Zarghoon road in Quetta. Detailed report on P12 I magine the life of someone who has to take pills/capsules before going to sleep at night just to bear the pain in his mus- cle and bones due to heavy weights, which he had to lift during daytime. There is no life for Palledaar (terminology for coolies, who lift grain sacks) after the age of 40 as they often succumb under various kinds of illness and deformities that they develop acting as a ‘human crane’ for couple of years. Due to spinal problems, most of them cannot stand straight after working for five years in the narrow alleys and lanes of Chandni Chowk, Khari Baoli and adjoining areas, lifting heavy weights on their backs. “We earn around Rs 200 to 300 per day. It depends on the load we carry on our backs,” said Neeraj, a labourer from Bihar. “We generally carry loads on our back and sometimes use carts to drop goods to the ware- houses. As due to narrow lanes others vehicles cannot move in this areas,” he explained. The market at Chawari Bazar is so crowded and in this case demands of labourers who carry loads on their backs are always on high. Raju Bhai, 45, has been working as a daily labourer in Chawari Bazar market. When asked, he said that he cannot even stand straight due to car- rying heavy goods on his back for long time. You have to bend while carrying load on your back and after working whole the day I find it difficult to rest with severe body ache. Many of them claimed to have taken pain killers before going to sleep. Even after work- ing day and nights they cannot afford to send their children to schools. Instead they prefer them to join the same services to earn extra money for the family. Nitin Rawat and his two sons are involved in the jobs for years but still they are not liv- ing their life with dignity. “My sons want to send their children to schools but what will happen after schooling. We are not as much qualified to guide our children to become officers. T he State Government on Sunday announced to give death and retirement gratuity to the employees who have joined service after 2005. Finance Minister Sashi Bhushan Behera said the Government has decided to pay death gratuity to the employees and the administrative process for it has begun. The proposal for retirement gratuity for the employees is also being consid- ered. With the State Government’s move, more than one lakh Government employees are going to benefit. Usually, the employees get 16 and a half months’ salary on head of gratuity and 10 months’ salary towards unutilised leave post retirement. The facilities were not available for those who got job after 2005. The employees have expressed happiness over the development and said the employ- ees, who have joined after 2005, are not entitled to get pension. However, the opposition political parties have alleged that the Government has taken the deci- sion keeping in mind the forth- coming elections as the Government employees are a major vote bank. Congress MLA Ansuman Mohanty questioned, “Why had the Government in the first place stopped the pension of employees in 2005 and again implemented it? The BJD Government only knows vote bank politics.” BJP spokesperson Golak Mohapatra said the BJD is linking everything to vote bank politics and elections. It remains to be seen whether they are giving it or not. R attled by the pictures of the interiors of the Shree Jagannath Temple here being posted frequently on the social media platforms, the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) on Sunday decided to sensitise the devotees and all other stakeholders about the ban imposed on such photography by putting up hoardings near the temple and on the route to the holy city. Hoardings would be dis- played around the Shreemandir to create aware- ness about the ‘photography ban’ in the temple premises, said SJTA Chief Administrator Pradeep Jena. Talking to mediapersons, Jena stated, “Electronic display board will also be put on the Puri-Bhubaneswar highway to create the awareness.” It might be mentioned that despite security person- nel manning the four entrances to the temple and installation of metal detectors, smart phones are being smug- gled into the temple premis- es and pictures are being taken notwithstanding the ban on any kind of photogra- phy in the temple premises. On Saturday, a couple from Uttar Pradesh and their son were detained by police after the son was found click- ing pictures of the interiors of the shrine. P olice on Sunday had to intervene and pacify angry cricket fans who went on a ram- page at the Barabati Stadium after they were told all tickets had been sold out for the India- Sri Lanka T20 International here on December 20. The ticket seekers who had waiting from Saturday night in huge numbers to purchase tick- ets at the counters outside the stadium, smashed the windows of the counters , broke barri- cades and even hurled stones and abused the Odisha Cricket Association (OCA). They alleged that not even a single ticket was sold since Sunday morning while the announcement about non- availability of tickets at the counters was made very late by officials of the private bank entrusted with the duty. Many of them alleged that the OCA officials and the counter staff have kept the tickets for themselves, to be sold later in the black-market. “I came yesterday evening and could not buy a ticket despite standing in a huge queue. Today again, I made it to the counter in the wee hours and yet could not get even one ticket. We had queued up here sleepless and skipping breakfast but the officials did not announce earlier that no more tickets were available. They announced it at 11 am after we stood in queue patiently since 5 am,” alleged a spectator. Meanwhile, police have made elaborate security arrangement for the two teams’ arrival at the airport in Bhubaneswar on Monday, their stay at the hotel and from there to the Barabati Stadium.

Transcript of 3 4 .5 . /067/89 /1 ˆ!˙˜!#ˇ˜ˇ˙˜$˚˜%&˙˚˜’˚( who has to take pills/capsules before...

Page 1: 3 4 .5 . /067/89 /1 ˆ!˙˜!#ˇ˜ˇ˙˜$˚˜%&˙˚˜’˚( who has to take pills/capsules before going to sleep at night ... ban on any kind of photogra-phy in the temple premises.

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Amid allegations andcounter-allegations from

candidates and political partiesover EVM functioning, theElection Commission of India(ECI) is taking no chance asmore than 40,000 personnelwill be deployed at 37 centres,where counting of votes will beconducted for the GujaratAssembly polls on Monday.

Apart from 20,000 officialsfor counting of votes fromEVMs, there would be morethan 20,000 security personnelto ensure peaceful processacross all centres. Gujarat’sChief Election Officer BB Swainsaid the counting process willbegin at 8 am on Monday for all182 Assembly constituenciesacross 33 districts of Gujarat.

In Ahmedabad, the count-ing will take place at threevenues while Surat and Ananddistricts will have two centreseach for the process, said Swain.

According to him, therewould be 14 tables for eachAssembly constituency wherevotes would be counted fromEVMs. Every table will have one supervisor, one counting assistant, and onemicro observer.

For the first time in the his-tory of elections in the country,Verifiable Paper Audit Trail(VVPAT) machines were used.VVPAT slips from any onebooth selected through ran-domisation will be counted.

Counting will be doneunder strict surveillance.Element of technology is set toadd more transparency in thecounting process as apart from

an observer at each Assemblyseat, there will be webcast ofentire process across 182Assembly seats, so that author-ities, including the ECI, Stateelection office and districtauthorities, can watch thecounting live.

“There will be three-lay-ered security checks at count-ing centres. Mobiles or anyother electronic gadgets willnot be allowed inside countingcentres,’’ said Swain, addingthat one-time password (OTP)will be provided to returningofficers responsible for han-dling EVMs for counting.

Their mobile phone num-

bers would be linked to theElectronically TransmittedPostal Ballot Paper System(ETPBS), he said. Countingprocess would be initiated onlyafter the OTP authentication ofEVM, he added.

Meanwhile, adhering tothe order of ECI, re-polling of16 booths across 12 Assemblyconstituencies was conductedon Sunday. All these boothswere undergone for polling onThursday as part of the secondphase of Gujarat Assemblypolls. Result of all these boothswill be declared on Mondayalong with their respectiveconstituencies.

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In a major developmentreported after decades of

cross-border insurgency alongIndia’s eastern frontier, the BSFhas said that camps and hide-outs of Indian InsurgentGroups (IIGs) across the coun-try’s frontier on theBangladeshi soil have beenreduced to “almost zero”.

Director General of theBorder Security Force KKSharma said that this first-time achievement was theresult of an excellent and pos-itive cooperation between theborder guarding forces of thetwo countries over the past few

years.The BSF’s counterpart in

the neighbouring country is theBorder Guard Bangladesh(BGB). “Whenever we haveinformation about exodus orinsurgents of the North-Eastern States in Bangladesh,we share the information andimmediate raids are under-taken (by the BGB).

“As a result, the number oftraining places and hideouts ofthese insurgents have beenreduced to almost zero,” theBSF DG said.

If there are some still exist-ing, they are of a floatingnature, Sharma said, indicatingthat no permanent camps ofthese banned terror and insur-gent groups now exist on theBangladeshi side.

“I congratulate our coun-terparts (BGB),” the DG said.

The development is beingseen as a major victory of thesecurity forces over the insur-gency and terrorism situationalong the Bangladesh border inthe North-East.

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Two suicide bombers attackeda packed church during a

Sunday service in the restivePakistani city of Quetta, killingnine people and injuring 44 oth-ers in a targeted assault on theminority Christian community ahead of Christmas in theMuslim nation.

The ISIS terror groupclaimed responsibility for theattack. The group’s Amaq NewsAgency posted a statementonline, saying attackers hadstormed the church in Quetta — the capital ofBalochistan province. But theterror group provided no evi-dence for the claim.

Balochistan HomeMinister Mir Sarfaraz Bugtisaid that at least two suicide bombers were involvedin the attack on the BethelMemorial Church onZarghoon road in Quetta.

Detailed report on P12

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Imagine the life of someonewho has to take pills/capsules

before going to sleep at nightjust to bear the pain in his mus-cle and bones due to heavyweights, which he had to liftduring daytime. There is no lifefor Palledaar (terminology forcoolies, who lift grain sacks)after the age of 40 as they oftensuccumb under various kindsof illness and deformities thatthey develop acting as a ‘humancrane’ for couple of years. Dueto spinal problems, most ofthem cannot stand straightafter working for five years inthe narrow alleys and lanes ofChandni Chowk, Khari Baoliand adjoining areas, liftingheavy weights on their backs.

“We earn around Rs 200 to300 per day. It depends on theload we carry on our backs,” saidNeeraj, a labourer from Bihar.

“We generally carry loads onour back and sometimes usecarts to drop goods to the ware-houses. As due to narrow lanesothers vehicles cannot move inthis areas,” he explained.

The market at ChawariBazar is so crowded and in thiscase demands of labourers whocarry loads on their backs arealways on high.

Raju Bhai, 45, has been

working as a daily labourer inChawari Bazar market. Whenasked, he said that he cannoteven stand straight due to car-rying heavy goods on his backfor long time. You have to bendwhile carrying load on yourback and after working wholethe day I find it difficult to restwith severe body ache.

Many of them claimed tohave taken pain killers beforegoing to sleep. Even after work-ing day and nights they cannotafford to send their children toschools. Instead they prefer themto join the same services to earnextra money for the family.

Nitin Rawat and his twosons are involved in the jobs foryears but still they are not liv-ing their life with dignity. “Mysons want to send their childrento schools but what will happenafter schooling. We are not asmuch qualified to guide ourchildren to become officers.

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The State Government onSunday announced to give

death and retirement gratuity tothe employees who have joinedservice after 2005.

Finance Minister SashiBhushan Behera said theGovernment has decided to paydeath gratuity to the employeesand the administrative process forit has begun. The proposal forretirement gratuity for theemployees is also being consid-ered.

With the State Government’smove, more than one lakhGovernment employees are goingto benefit.

Usually, the employees get 16

and a half months’ salary onhead of gratuity and 10 months’salary towards unutilised leavepost retirement. The facilitieswere not available for those whogot job after 2005.

The employees haveexpressed happiness over thedevelopment and said the employ-ees, who have joined after 2005,are not entitled to get pension.However, the opposition politicalparties have alleged that theGovernment has taken the deci-sion keeping in mind the forth-coming elections as theGovernment employees are amajor vote bank. Congress MLAAnsuman Mohanty questioned,“Why had the Government in thefirst place stopped the pension ofemployees in 2005 and againimplemented it? The BJDGovernment only knows votebank politics.”

BJP spokesperson GolakMohapatra said the BJD is linkingeverything to vote bank politicsand elections. It remains to be seenwhether they are giving it or not.

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Rattled by the pictures ofthe interiors of the Shree

Jagannath Temple here beingposted frequently on the socialmedia platforms, the ShreeJagannath TempleAdministration (SJTA) onSunday decided to sensitisethe devotees and all otherstakeholders about the banimposed on such photographyby putting up hoardings nearthe temple and on the route tothe holy city.

Hoardings would be dis-played around theShreemandir to create aware-ness about the ‘photographyban’ in the temple premises,said SJTA Chief AdministratorPradeep Jena.

Talking to mediapersons,Jena stated, “Electronic displayboard will also be put on thePuri-Bhubaneswar highwayto create the awareness.”

It might be mentionedthat despite security person-nel manning the four

entrances to the temple andinstallation of metal detectors,smart phones are being smug-gled into the temple premis-es and pictures are beingtaken notwithstanding theban on any kind of photogra-

phy in the temple premises.On Saturday, a couple

from Uttar Pradesh and theirson were detained by policeafter the son was found click-ing pictures of the interiors ofthe shrine.

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Police on Sunday had tointervene and pacify angry

cricket fans who went on a ram-page at the Barabati Stadiumafter they were told all ticketshad been sold out for the India-Sri Lanka T20 Internationalhere on December 20.

The ticket seekers who hadwaiting from Saturday night inhuge numbers to purchase tick-ets at the counters outside thestadium, smashed the windowsof the counters , broke barri-cades and even hurled stonesand abused the Odisha CricketAssociation (OCA).

They alleged that not even

a single ticket was sold sinceSunday morning while theannouncement about non-availability of tickets at thecounters was made very late byofficials of the private bankentrusted with the duty.

Many of them alleged thatthe OCA officials and thecounter staff have kept thetickets for themselves, to be soldlater in the black-market.

“I came yesterday eveningand could not buy a ticketdespite standing in a hugequeue. Today again, I made itto the counter in the wee hoursand yet could not get even oneticket. We had queued up heresleepless and skipping breakfastbut the officials did notannounce earlier that no moretickets were available. Theyannounced it at 11 am after westood in queue patiently since5 am,” alleged a spectator.

Meanwhile, police havemade elaborate securityarrangement for the two teams’arrival at the airport inBhubaneswar on Monday, theirstay at the hotel and fromthere to the Barabati Stadium.

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��������������� ��������������������In a review meeting with the Chief Secretary of Odisha in the

StateSecretariat, the NHAI authorities have said that concreteroad from Barkot to Birmitrapur in the National Highway No.243 is divided into three segments. They can start the work ofthe 6 -lane 2nd Brahmani bridge of Rourkela only when 90 percent of the land is transferred to them. This segment consistsof a total 29.1 km stretch out of which 12.62 km of land is yetto be transferred. This portion of land comprises 4.81 forest landwhich remains to be transferred to the NHAI authorities. Earlier,there had been confusing statements by leaders of various polit-ical parties and a blame game was on. The imbroglio contin-ued quite long, and now, when the cat is out of the bag, the rul-ing Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is hiding its face. Before making a hueand cry on the issue, including spoiling the valuable time of theAssembly, couldn’t they check the factual accuracy? What anend to the long political slugfest indeed! Making mountain outof a molehill has become the habit of the politicians these days.

������������������������������ ��The Mahanadi water row where Chhattisgarh is alleged to be

the villain No. 1 by the BJD Government of Odisha has turnedugly as the Centre has been charged of taking a partial viewbecause of its own Government there. Once agreed for a tribunalto resolve the water dispute between the two States, the BJP- ledNDA Government has gone back on its promise and instead filedan affidavit in the Supreme Court with dubious reasoning forturning down Odisha’s request. This created a spark in OdishaAssembly leading to constitution of an all party committee ledby the Chief Minister to meet the Prime Minister. Earlier, sucha committee had met the President of India and apprised himof a series of illegal construction of dams and barrages by theChhattisgarh Government upstream Mahanadi. The BJD alsotried to raise the issue as an election plank before the PRI elec-tion in its own State but failed to convert the same into a pop-ular demand in the affected areas of the State. But this time, theOpposition seems to be more serious on this. Some of the Centralparties have also commented on Odisha’s demand for the tri-bunal as genuine. Affidavits and counter affidavits are now beforethe Supreme Court on the basis of which the apex court will pro-nounce the verdict. Meanwhile, 14 political parties of the State,including the newly registered outfit KJD, have planned for a sit-in at Jantar Mantar to protest the Centre’s apathy to Odisha. Bykeeping itself out of the committee, the State BJP is pitted againsta conflict of interest between the party and the State.

����������������������������������Years after the BJD got the public mandate to come to power

in Odisha, its Government constituted a Regional ImbalanceCommission under the chairmanship of retired Justice SKMohanty of Orissa High Court. The commission had also someexpert members of various subjects related to the inquiry. Thecommission submitted its report four years later in 2008. In thelast session of the State Assembly which was abruptly ended,BJP member Dilip Ray had raised questions regarding the dateon which the inquiry commission submitted its reports, whatare its recommendations and whether the Government has takenany step to implement any of the recommendations. In reply,Planning and Co-ordination Minister Usha Devi said the inquirycommission set up in 2004 submitted its report in 2008. Thereport is now given to a sub-committee chaired by theDevelopment Commissioner with Secretaries of eleven depart-ments as members. The subcommittee has met once in a yearin 2008, 2010, 2013 and 2015. This sub-committee also consistsof seven other members, including former Vice-Chancellor ofSambalpur University Dr PK Pati, Professor of Economics DrPrasanna Tripathy, Prof PC Mohapatra and four others. Out ofthese members, Dr PK Pati, who is no more, still exists as a mem-ber according to the statement of the Minister. But that is notthe issue. The crux of the issue is how with so many intellec-tuals, the committee has failed to arrive at its analytical conclusionin nine years is the moot question. Who can convince thisGovernment that Odisha cannot be among the developed Statesof India unless it ensures an inclusive growth strategy for Odisha?

�����������������������������������Some brands of atta alleged to be having plastic contents sold

in the local market of Paradip town were found. They wereadulterated as children developed stomach pain and other ail-ments after eating the spurious substance. It was plastic egg ear-lier and now it is plastic flour. The flour is manufactured in localgrinding mills and the dishonest businessmen sell it by packingafter names of branded companies. They have even withdrawnthose particular brands from the market against which complaintswere made by the consumers. It is difficult to make the doughas 70 per cent of the atta is not blending with water properly.Moreover, the dough can be stretched like rubber and it burnsif set on fire, they say. According to doctors if plastic is consumedon a sustained basis, it will lead to hormonal imbalance, indi-gestion, absorption problems, birth defects and even cancer. Evenas there is a spark of panic in Paradip town, the HealthDepartment is said to have collected samples of wheat flour forsending it to the Food Safety departments for tests to know thequality of the atta. Till then selling of the particular brand of attamust come under the close scrutiny of the officials concerned.Plastic egg to plastic atta, those creating health hazards for inno-cent consumers must get exemplary punishment.

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Two young Maoists, includ-ing a woman, surrendered

before police here on Sundaymorning after combing opera-tions intensified in the LeftWing Extremism (LWE)-hitareas in the State.

The two Red rebels, iden-tified as Sukuram Purti aliasGulshan (18) and KhusbooZarari (17), both fromJharkhand surrendered beforeAngul Superintendent of PoliceBrijesh Rai. .

Gulshan and Khusboo had

been working as 303 riflecadres in the Sambalpur-Deogarh-Sundergarh (SDS)Division of the banned CPIMaoist outfit since 2012.

After security forces inten-sified anti-Maoist operations,the two rebels were changingtheir locations. Finally, theydecided to give in to the policeto join the social mainstream tobegin a normal life. The indus-trial district of Angul is nowwitnessing the presence ofMaoists which has posed agreat threat to industrialisationand mining activities.

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In a huge relief to the fisher-men community, the Paradip

Port Trust (PPT) Board hasdecided to undertake dredgingof the Paradip Fishery Harbour.The harbour, on which thou-sands of fishermen’s bread andbutter depend, has beenshrinking badly.

The board at its meeting onFriday decided to undertakedredging of the Mahanadi rivermouth to allow smooth flow offishing vessels, said sources.Local fishermen have hailed thedecision and expressed their

gratitude to the PPT Trustees.Notably, several mishaps at

the Mahanadi mouth have ledto casualties. Chief MinisterNaveen Pattnaik had written tothe Centre for dredging of themouth, but no action was ini-tiated. Chief Secretary APPadhi had also brought to thenotice of the Ministry ofShipping and urged for fund-ing the dredging.

Against this backdrop, thePPT Trustees had requested thePPT management to look intothe matter for the benefit of thefishermen. So, the PPT Boardheaded by Chairman Rinkesh

Roy has decided to go in fordredging the Fishery Harbour.

Chairman Roy said thedredging work would be car-ried out as part of the InlandWaterways project under theUnion Ministry of Shipping.

The PPT Board has alsodecided to request the Ministryof Shipping for an investigationinto the sinking of vessel MVBlack Rose.

Way back in 2009, the shipsank off the Paradip Port anda lot of investigation into theincident has already beenundertaken without any sub-stantive result.

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Khariar Kendu Leafdivision Divisional

Forest Officer (DFO)Laxmikant Mishra wasarrested by theVigilance police whileaccepting bribe onSaturday night.

The Vigilancesleuths caught Mishra red-handed while he wastaking bribe of �2.20 lakh from RangerParshuram Patel for the bills for clearing quar-ters and construction of a kendu leaf storagebuilding. During a raid, the Vigilance officialsseized cash of �2.20 lakh from Mishra and �10

lakh from hisG o v e r n m e n tquarters, saidB h a w a n i p a t n aVigilance DSPS a t y a b a nMahananda.

According toreports, theVigilance had laidthe trap to nab

Mishra red-handed following complaint byPatel, who was asked by the DFO to pay thebribe.

Following his arrest, Mishra was for-warded to the territorial Vigilance Court onSunday morning.

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Many mines are likely to beclosed after March 31,

2020, the expiry date of thenon-captive leases, as the min-ing industry is now subject toconsiderable stress on accountof hefty penalty imposed onthem following the SupremeCourt’s decision.

Several experts viewed

this at a workshop organisedby the Society of Geoscientistsand Allied Technologists(SGAT) here on Sunday.

Organisations l ikeGeological Survey of India,Oil and Natural GasCorporation, Steel and MinesDepartment, Odisha MiningCorporation, Tata Steel, TataSponge Iron, HindalcoIndustries, Jindal Steel andPower, Essel Mining andIndustries, Rungta Mines,Vedanta, OCL India, MGMMinerals and SNM Groupparticipated in the workshop,among others.

Various companies andmining law consultant RNSahu presented papers on themining scenario in the coun-try post MMDR AmendmentAct.

They viewed that amend-ment to MMDR Act in 2015is a watershed in the mineraladministration and develop-ment of the country, beneficialand retrograde.

The post amendmentregime has attracted the atten-tion and scrutiny of theJudiciary and Judgementsdelivered which are subject tointrospection.

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The TG Surakshya Trustand the Bright Life Welfare

Charitable Trust held ademonstration at MasterCanteen here on Sundayprotesting against the “anti-transgender” Bill to be passedby the Central Government inthe Parliament.

The kinnars alleged thatthe Bill has no provisionsabout the transgenders’ reser-

vation in politics, educationand employment and otherfields and employment as perthe Supreme Court’s Nalsa

judgement and no provisionsof formation of a ThirdGender Commission.

They said the CentralGovernment is unnecessarypassing a Bill which is beingopposed by all the transgen-ders of the country. Amongothers, Bright Life chairmanPratap Sahu and kinnarsMenka, Sweety, Rina, Guduli,Priya, Puja, Deepa, Sonam,Minati, Basanti, Mamata andRiya were present.

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AClass-XII student of theK h a n d a g i r i - b a s e d

Xavier’s School here onSunday drowned in the sea atJahania, about 6 km fromAstarang in Puri district. Thedeceased was identified asPratik Mahapatra.

Sources said students ofthe school had gone for a pic-nic. While taking bath withhis friends in the sea, Pratikdrowned. He was rescued bylocals and admitted to theAstarang Primary HealthCentre (PHC) and later shift-ed to the NimaparaCommunity Health Centre(CHC), where doctordeclared him brought dead.

Later getting informa-tion, his parents rushed to thehospital.

The sources said thatwhile the students were tak-ing bath, no teacher or otherschool staffs were present tokeep a watch on them.

To make matters worse,there were no lifeguards atthe sea beach during the inci-dent.

Though a huge numberof tourists and locals throngthe sea beach, the StateGovernment hasn’t taken anymeasure for their safety andsecurity.

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Odisha has a good busi-ness environment to

nurture Startups and, hence,the Government is movingahead with a mission to setup 1,000 startups with avision to emerge amongst thetop 3 startup hubs in thecountry by 2020.

MSME Minister PrafullaSamal said this at the two-

day “TiEcon Delhi 2017”entrepreneurship conferenceheld in New Delhi with thetheme “Dare to Dream” onSaturday.

MSME Additional ChiefSecretary LN Gupta said asmany as 152 Startups in allsectors and four Incubatorshave been recognised underthe Startup Odisha Initiativeduring the last nine months.Of these, 15 Startups are ledby women, he informed.

“Startup Odisha is pro-viding highest benefits inthe country in terms ofmonthly allowance of �20,000, product developmentand marketing assistance up

to �15 lakh and need-basedassistance to Startups and

capital grant up to �5 croreto Incubators,” said Gupta.

As many as 15 startupsfrom Odisha participated inthe event. The Startupsbelong to diverse sectors likehealthcare, IT, biotechnolo-gy, electronics and services,food processing etc. Theydisplayed their products andser vices at the ‘OdishaPavilion’.

DIPP Secretary RameshAbhishek lauded the effortsof Government of Odisha inpromoting Startups andInnovators. Gujarat, AP,Punjab and Uttarakhandwere the other States partic-ipated in the conference.

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The snake rescuers should workin association with the local

forest officials, take stricter safetymeasures and obey the WildlifeProtection Act, said PrincipalChief Conservator of Forest(Wildlife) Dr Sandeep Tripathy ata workshop on ‘Occupationalsafety and workshop on BLS forsnake rescuers of Odisha’ held atthe AIIMS here on Sunday.

Tripathy thanked the ForensicMedicine and ToxicologyDepartment and Trauma andEmergency Medicine Departmentof AIIMS, Bhubaneswar for tai-loring such innovative ways ofsharing knowledge and creatingprogrammes for the benefit of thesociety.

AIIMS Bhubaneswar Director

Dr Gitanjali Batmanabaneapplauded the noble work ofsnake rescuers in reducing human-snake conflict which minimisessnakebites. She said this initiative

by the AIIMS is the first of kind,which would encourage and ben-efit the delegates immensely andexpected that they would furtherspread this knowledge to the peo-

ple. Besides, she also announcedtreatment on a priority basis for thesnake rescuers at the AIIMS here.The snake rescuers as the mes-sengers should spread awarenessamong public about do’s anddon’ts in cases snakebite andshould blow away various pre-vailing myths, she added.

On the occasion, healthcareprofessionals, forest officials andmediapersons were educated andguided by more than 50 snake res-cuers from across the State con-sisting of volunteers of the SnakeHelpline and employees of theForest Department. Ten delegateswere felicitated with the BijuPattnaik Wildlife Award forwildlife conservation.

The World HealthOrganisation (WHO) declaredsnakebite as a “neglected tropicaldisease” in 2017. As per WHOreports, India tops the list ofsnakebite deaths in the worldwith about 45,000-50,000 deathsevery year.

A photography session wasalso held on ‘Hands on training onmannequin.’

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Minister for Petroleum andNatural Gas and Skill

Development andEntrepreneurship DharmendraPradhan on Sunday laid thefoundation stones for newDhamra - Angul 36 inch mainline and Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Paradip 12 inch spur line atHaripur, Sukinda in Jajpur dis-trict.

The 600-km-long naturalgas pipeline project is a new yeargift for the people of coastal dis-tricts of Odisha from theNarendra Modi-led Governmentat the Centre.

He said gas would beimported from countries likeAustralia, Katar in cape size ves-sels and supplied to Allahabad of

Uttar Pradesh through 2500 kmlong pipeline. Out of that, 600-km-long natural gas pipelinewould be constructed in Odishacovering 13 districts and con-necting major industrial clusters.

This will add more values tothe minerals of the mineral richState like Odisha. As of now, steelproduced in Odisha was limitedto construction of houses andangle making.

But now the steel and alu-minium which will be producedin Odisha using gas will be ofhigh quality and lead to manu-facturing of automobiles andOdisha can be a centre of highquality steel production, he said.

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Baleswar BJD MP RabindraKumar Jena has sent legal

notices to two Odia news chan-nels for airing a report that theEnforcement Directorate(ED) hasattached properties of the Balasore

Alloys belonging to Jena onSaturday. The MP has sent thenotices to the OTV and theNews7 channels through his advo-cate Pradipta Kanungo. Thesenews channels, besides carryingthe item in the breaking newsslots, carried in their scrolls too.

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The International Tea Day(December 15) was cele-

brated here with a programme“Chai Pe Charcha” held withcity dwellers, media friendsand intellectual mass here.

Organising the day, theSamparka Mass Media invit-ed hundreds of people gettingtogether at BadakhemundiStreet having cup of tea inevery hand. The morning teasession began with “GoodMorning Brahmapur”

addressed by CMD ofSamparka Mass Media SanatPanda. It was presided over byeditor of Paryatan Bharat

Narayan Mahankuda.Intellectuals, including

Editor Bibidhh SambadGourango Choudhury, gen-

eral secretary of Ganjam BarCouncil Pitabas Panda andJagan Mohan Mohapatro ofNitidin Odia daily, took partin the event. The speakersmarked the tea as an instru-ment of friendship and delib-erated on a host of issues.

Assistant Health Officer ofBerhampur MunicipalCorporation participating inthe discussion, urged to keepBrahmapur clean.Distribution of dustbins andtheir continuous use in teastalls will make the silk city

shine, he added.Among others, local

Corporator Li l i KumaiBehera, advocate MadanMohan Patro, Rajesh Pattnaik,Asutosh Mahapatra, AsitPanda, Prasanta Kumar Das,Sarat Kumar Singh were pre-sent.

The day was speciallymarked by sand artist SatyaNarayan Maharana, present-ing a model of sand art of cupand saucer. AVT tea spon-sored by the brand was dis-tributed among the people.

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Preparations have begunfor a State-level Balangi

Mahotsav here. The festwould be held on the banks ofriver Budhabalanga nearChipat Astia on the suburbsof this town in April next. Theannual event this year is goingto showcase many new, inno-vative programmes, accordingto its organizers.

The meeting was presidedover by former District BarAssociation president SrinivasPradhan and was attended byRajya Sabha member SarojiniHembram, BJP State vice-president Rajkishor Das,Mahotsav’s founder-secretarySarat Chandra Nayak, formerCDMO Kumud Ranjan Rout,educationist KamalenduMohanta and social activistDeepak Kumar Nayak. Manyleading intellectuals andsocial workers also took partin the meeting and offeredtheir valuable suggestions.

It was decided at themeeting that several pro-

grammes will precede the 5-day-long main festival whichwill be held from April 14 toApril 18, 2018.

Different types of com-petit ions among theschool/college students ofMayurbhanj will be organizedbetween March 2 and March15, while Sriram ChandraBhanj Jyoti Parikrama with aview to creatingculturalreawakening among the peo-ple shal l be organizedthroughout the district onMarch 16, 17 and 18.

Culture lovers ofMayurbhanj, it may be noted,have been organizing herethis mega socio-cultural fes-tival called for the last 15years.

The annual fest ivalattempts to reflect the lan-guage, literature, art and cul-ture of the district.

The fact that theMahotsav is held at the veryconf luence of the threerivers/r ivulets namedBudhabalang, Chipat andItajodi and that the place isvery close to the famousBudharaula Mutt makes itvery attractive and drawstowards it thousands of visi-tors every year.

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The annual MayurbhanjPustak Mela began here

on Saturday. The 10-day-longbook fair was marked muchfanfare at the local ChhowPadia.

Mayurbhanj CollectorSurendra Kumar Meena inau-gurated it, while renownedscholar of Odia language andliterature Rajat Kumar Karwas the chief guest on theoccasion.

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Forest Department officialsfoiled a poaching bid late

on Saturday night with arrestof six elephant hunters inKeonjhar district.

Among arrested persons,two were sharpshooters fromArunachal Pradesh.

Based on information, theforest officials conducted araid in the forest area nearNalapanga village under theSadar Range and arrested thepoachers, who used to killjumbos to extract their tusks.

The accused were caughtred-handed while laying a

trap with nylon ropes anddigging a trench to hunt elephants late on Saturdaynight. The arrested personswould be booked under var-ious Sections of the WildlifeProtection Act, 1972, saidforest officials.

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The United Nations’International Migrants

Day is obser ved onDecember 18 to recognise theefforts, contributions andrights of migrants world-wide.

There are 106 urban localbodies (ULBs) in Odisha andevery urban body in the Statehas more or less migrantpopulations. Bhubaneswar asthe capital city has attractedmigrants from both ruraland urban areas for betteropportunity for business andemployment.

Migration has been con-sidered as the persistentproblem of Odisha for a longtime. The State suffers fromdistress migration mostlyfrom south west regionsincluding KBK districts. Theprevalence of small farmershaving small sized land hold-ings, seasonal unemployment

in Odisha forced the peopleto search for alternate sourcesof livelihood. Besides, migra-tion is an outcome due to therepeated disasters that strikeOdisha at regular intervals.Cyclones, floods, droughtsand famines hit the State atdifferent times in differentregions.

Due to this, thousands ofpeople from Odisha leavetheir native village in searchof food and employment.They work in brick kilns inthe neighbouring State ofAndhra Pradesh, the con-struction sites of the othercities. Besides, nearly thou-sands of labourers go toSurat.

This is a long termmigration, mostly in the tex-tile-weaving and diamond-polishing businesses. Thismigration occurs as a sur-vival strategy and not a stepfor better livelihood options.

Today there is also massmigration of villages wherethe whole family migrates insearch of job.

The number of migrantworkers from Odisha to otherStates is rising steadily.Compared to 55,000 workersmigrating from Odisha in2007, 1.46 lakh left the Statein 2015. 87,000 seasonalmigrant workers left Odishato other States in 2008, whichrose to 1.05 lakh in 2012, 1.2lakh in 2013 and 1.35 lakh in2014. Maximum migrantswere from the Balangir dis-trict all these years (45,000 in2015).

Areas with urban centres,administrative head quarterslike Bhubaneswar, and busi-ness sectors attract themigrants from backwardareas where employmentopportunities are very less.

Migrant labourers ofBhubaneswar are the con-struction worker, shop man,rickshaw puller and dailyworker. Some are alsoengaged as street vendor,hawkers, domestic jobs likehouse and utensil cleaningetc. Lacks of employment inthe surrounding rural pock-ets are the main reason fortheir migration to the city. Inthe town they get better wagecompared to their villages.Some of them are seasonalmigrants.

Whenever agriculturalstarts they go back to theirvillage and during the off –season, they come to the cityin search of work.

The migrant labourers ofBhubaneswar generally settlein the Bastis of various slumpockets of the city. Many ofthem reside in kutcha hous-es in Basti and some have nohouse in basti also.

In many cases unafford-able rents in slums forcethem to live at their work-places, on the verandahs ofthe shops and markets, shoppavements, railway stationsor in open areas in the city innight. Most of the time, theyexperience harassment bythe police and other localauthorities.

Bhubaneswar, the fast

growing cities in India haslost its earlier planned statusdue to massive growth ofmigrant population and theincreased informal sectoractivities in the recent years.

During the initial plan-ning stage constructionworkers, people engaged inservice sector were not envis-aged as a permanent sector ofthe city’s growing population.

Migrants constitute a‘floating’ and invisible popu-lation in the society. In low-income regions especially,rural–urban migration isseen as contributing to short-ages in the provision of ade-quate housing, basic infra-structure and services; also toovercrowding and conges-tion as well as increasingexposure to environmentalhazards. In India, internalmigration has been accordedvery low priority by theGovernment.

Besides, in the absence ofa coherent policy frameworkand strategy, migrationimposes heavy costs onhuman development throughpoor labour arrangementsand working conditions ofmigrants, and obstacles intheir access to shelter, edu-cation, healthcare and food.

There is not enough pro-vision for the housing andother infrastructural facilityfor the migrant people in thecity. They suffer from poorliving and working condi-tions, social isolation andpoor access to basic ameni-ties. In fact, cities grow in dif-

ferent ways, which can be dif-ficult to distinguish. It may bethrough migration or thenatural growth of the city’spopulation. Migration tocities significantly contributesto urbanisation.

Therefore the city shouldplan for the migrants.Unplanned migration can bea serious problem for the city.Migrant population shouldbe included in the city plan-ning process. If well planned,migration can enhance thedynamism of cities and mak-ing the cities healthier, moreprofitable and more interest-ing places to live in future.

There is a need toimprove institutional pre-paredness and build capaci-ty for facilitating and pro-moting migration. Inter-dis-trict and inter-state coordi-nation committees may becreated to jointly plan insti-tutional arrangementsbetween administrative juris-dictions of sending andreceiving areas to ensure ser-vice delivery.

Odisha launches specialaction plan to reduce migra-tion problem. Initially, theaction plan would be imple-mented in Balangir andNuapada districts.

The special action planhas been prepared for intenseaction in 30 gram panchay-ats of the two districts to curbmigration and facilitate cre-ation of livelihood opportu-nities for migrant workerswithin the State. Internalmigrants positively con-

tribute to the development ofthe society. Some of thestrategies that need to beadopted to ensure a betterinclusion of internal migrantsin society include main-streaming internal migrationin a comprehensive mannerin policy and national devel-opment plans; generatingreliable data on all facets ofinternal migration, particu-larly on short-term migrationand multiple reasons formigration; developing porta-bility of benefits in all gov-ernment social protectionschemes and public services;providing support servicesfor migrants at the sourceand destination areas andincreasing representation ofmigrants in decision-makingprocesses. Migration helps tominimize regional, socioe-conomic, and cultural dis-parities, and is considered tobe an integral component ofthe development process.

But absence of coherentpolicy framework posesmany challenges in achievingsafe migration. There is aneed to provide legal or socialprotection to this migrantpopulation.

This will promote safemigration practices in vul-nerable communitiesimprove the working andliving conditions of migrantworkers in cities.

(Dr Praharaj teaches inthe Department ofArchitecture, College ofEngineering and Technology,Bhubaneswar)

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Union Water ResourcesSecretar y Upendra

Prasad Singh has said thatsoon the State Governmentswould have a major role ingroundwater regulation andconservation.

Singh said that the pro-posed guidelines would leadto strengthening the States’role in ground water sector.

The Union Governmenthas proposed new guidelineswhich stipulate that all indus-tries, mining and infrastruc-ture dewatering projectswhether existing or new, thatdraw or propose to drawgroundwater will now needto obtain a No-ObjectionCertificate (NOC).

The draft guidelines alsopropose to levy a new waterconservation fee based onquantum of groundwaterextracted, officials said.

The fee proposed is basedon use, area and quantity andvaries from Re 1 to �6 percubic metre. A cubic metre is1,000 litres.

The Union Ministry ofWater Resources, RiverDevelopment and GangaRejuvenation has sent thedraft guidelines for theissuance of NOCs to theState Government seekingfeedbacks. Singh has request-ed the Odisha Governmentto provide feedback byDecember 22 so that thecomments would be includ-ed in the guidelines, saidsources.

The draft guidelinescome after several ordersfrom the National GreenTribunal (NGT) asking theGovernment to ensure thatgroundwater withdrawal is inaccordance with the law.

The major revisions pro-posed in the draft guide-lines are about pan-Indiacoverage, decentralisation ofthe NOC issuing authoritiesand introduction of a waterconservation fee in lieu ofrecharge mechanism whichwould be used by States for

effective groundwater man-agement. It does away withprovisions regarding artificialrecharge and constructionof artificial recharge struc-tures by project proponents.

The guidelines state thatthe authority to issue NOCsfor various uses will now bevested with the DistrictMagistrates , StateGroundwater Authority andthe Central Ground WaterAuthority (CGWA) based onfactors l ike category ofgroundwater assessmentunits and quantum ofgroundwater.

However, farmers areexempt from obtainingNOCs. “Since livelihood offarmers is dependent on agri-culture, they should beexempted from obtainingNOC,” the draft guidelinesstate.

“The revised guidelinesare intended to furtherstreamline the current appli-cation process and will leadto strengthening of States’role in ground water regula-tion and management,” saidSingh in his letter to the StateGovernment, sources said.

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The Tusura police inBalangir district on Sunday

arrested four persons, NirabGalla, Sunil Bhatt, Lalit KumarUpadhyay and GajendraChhatra, in connection withillegal trading and transportingof explosives and forwardedthem to court.

This was informed at aPress conference by SDPONarayan Naik here on Sunday.

He said that on December1 3 morning, a truck (TN-88-A-3144) while going toTitilagarh from Balangir wasdashed by two vans frombehind near Ratanpur, result-ing in traffic jam. Worse, thedrivers of the vans picked upquarrel with the truck driverand even assaulted him.

As police from theDeogaon outpost arrived atthe spot and started inquiryinto the situation, they foundthat the vans were loaded withexplosives. During verifica-tion, 1,250 kg of powerGeletine and 30,000 electricaldetanotors were found.

The drivers could not pro-duce valid documents fortransporting the explosives.

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The G Udayagiri-based ChristianJanakalyan Samaj has appealed

to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik tofulfil the demands of the 2008communal riot survivors ofKandhamal district.

The Samaj in a letter onSaturday stated that the financialsupport provided by the State andCentral Governments in 2008 wasnot given to all the victimised fam-ilies in full. No steps have been takenby the Government to provide theremaining amounts even after nineyears.

The organisation appealed tothe Chief Minister to grant a sup-port of �10 lakh to each victimisedfamily to help them survive better.

They also requested for inclu-sion of some other families of thevictimised community in the districtdamage list because they deservecompensation but were unfortu-nately omitted from the list.

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At his age when everyonehas been enjoying life withfriends and families, this

ill-fated youth has been lead-ing a cursed life inside home.

The 26-year-old youth,

who has been living miserablyfor last six years with a tumourin his brain, on Friday soughthelp from all quarters for histreatment.

Chamrulal Sethi, son oflate Purna Chandra and JasodaSethi of Tikripara in Sonepur,had developed the tumour atthe age of 19.

According to reports,Chamrulal is suffering fromtumor since 2011. In a singleroom, Chamrulal along withhis three sisters and motherare staying. For sustenance,Jasoda is working as a domes-tic help in different homes.

The family tookChamrulal to various hospitalsin Subarnapur, Sambalpur and

also Burla. However, he didn’tget any relief and rather thetumour increased day by day.

The doctors in Burla con-firmed about the tumour inChamrulal’s brain and advisedthem to go for a surgery. Thecost of the operation would benearly �3 lakh, doctors said. Asthey belong to BPL category,they couldn’t afford the treat-ment and returned home.

Not just that, ignoranceand illiteracy have preventedthem from seeking help of thedistrict administration.

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The world is inching towardsdevastation for climate change

caused by pollution. If strong poli-cies are not adopted world over,the entire living habitats will beannihilated sooner than later.

Experts viewed this at anawareness campaign, ‘Pollutionand Climate Change’, organisedby the ‘Drushtanta’ here onSunday.

Quoting the report of the‘Lancet Commission on Pollutionand Health’, they said India is nowwitnessing highest number ofpollution-related deaths.

Drushtanta secretary

Abinash Mohapatra, TanjujaDash, Mantu Nayak, AmareshMohapatra, Bikram Dash, NiharSamal and Ashok Sahoo were pre-sent, among others.

A proposal of 15 necessarysteps was presented on the occa-sion.

They are organic living, nat-ural habitation, huge plantation,eco-friendly public transport sys-tem, cycle riding, no industriali-sation near residential areas, zerouse of plastic bags and disposableitems, promotion of eco-friend-ly products, establishment ofwaste management plants andwater treatment plants, 100 percent drainage system in all urbanareas, water conservation system,ban on firecrackers, no use ofchemical fertilizers and pesti-cides and adoption of compulso-ry pollution measures for all thecivil construction works.

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In a glaring example of theeasy availability of firearms

and the rapidly spreading gunculture in Bhubaneswar, fiveyouths of Rental Colony andNayapalli were detained bypolice for trying to terrorise arival group at gunpoint atBaramunda in the city.

Sources said two groups ofstudents on Saturday had

played a cricket match at RentalColony. However, due to somereason there was a brawlbetween them.

On Sunday, one groupwent to the Baramunda areaand in retaliation tried toassault the rival group by bran-dishing a Mouser. But the localpeople managed to overpowerand snatch the gun from them.Later, the police arrived at thespot and took them into cus-

tody.“Probe till now has

revealed that a fight betweentwo groups during a cricketmatch held yesterday led totoday’s incident,” said city DCPSatyabrata Bhoi.

The incident has sentshockwaves among the resi-dents,who demanded thepolice to investigate how theteenagers managed to get holdof such a sophisticated weapon.

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Atwo-day national semi-nar “Reaching the

Unreached through Scienceand Technology” was jointlyorganized by the IndianScience Congress Association(ISCA) Bhubaneswar Chapterand the KIIT DeemedUniversity here. It was inau-gurated on Sunday at KIITcampus by Prof Dr AshokSaxena, former general pres-ident of ISCA.

He said the seminar is aforum for scientists andresearchers to share theirknowledge and ideas. It is

also beneficial for studentresearchers as they will get achance to interact with greatscientists and researchers.Presiding over the seminar,general president, ISCA andfounder of KIIT and KISS DrAchyuta Samanta said, “I workas a catalyst to promote sci-entific activities and propagatescientific knowledge acrossthe country and globe as wecan’t live without science.”

Among others, generalsecretary, scientific activities,ISCA Prof PP Mathur, ProfVijay Laxmi Saxena and KIITDeemed University VC ProfHrusikesh Mohanty spoke.

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Featuring nearly 300 Odishidancers and delegates from

16 countries, the capital city ofBhubaneswar would host theOdishi International-- the 8thannual international Odishidance festival – fromDecember 18 to 23 at theBhanja Kala Mandap here.

The event is being hostedby 28 years’ old cultural orga-nization Samskritiki in collab-oration with various Odishidance institutes of the world.

The objective of the festi-val is to unite the ever growingglobal Odishi family once everyyear and to encourage thedancers to discover the cultur-

al roots of the dance tradition.It further aims at promotingcultural tourism and fosteringfriendship among people of dif-ferent countries and culturesthrough this annual union andcelebration in the land of

Odishi, explained the hosts.The countries being rep-

resented in event includeArgentina, Australia, Brazil,Canada, China, France,Hungary, Japan, Korea,Malayasia, Russia, Singapore,

Sri Lanka, Ukraine and USAapart from India. The largestcontingent of dancers is com-ing from the USA this year,they informed.

The festival will featureperformances by several inter-nationally acclaimed dancerslike Padma Sri Aruna Mohantyand Sujata Mohapatra apartfrom senior exponents likeSikata Das from Odisha, RatnaRoy and Vishnu Tattwa Dasfrom USA. It will further fea-ture three Ustad BismillahKhan Yuva Prativa PuraskarAward winners of the CentralGovernment who are interna-tionally known young andacclaimed dancers likeMadhusmita Mohanty,Lingaraj Pradhan andRajashree Praharaj. Similarly,several well-known dancetroupes like Odisha DanceAcademy and RudrakshyaFoundation from

Bhubaneswar, Urvasi OdissiEnsemble from USA,Nrityantar Academy fromBengaluru, Kalpodip fromNorth Bengal, i-Gurukul fromUSA will present group per-formances, it was learnt.

Kolkata-based eminentOdishi exponent GuruPoushali Mukherjee will behonoured with the OdishiInternational LifetimeAchievement Award duringthe festival for her pioneeringcontribution to Odishi.

Besides, Ambassador ofOdissi Award will be present-ed to Guru Mohan Bode fromAmaravati, Maharashtra, forintroducing and promotingOdishi in Vidarbha region forthe past four decades. The fes-tival is dedicated to legendaryOdishi dancer and scholarRitha Devi who passed awayearlier this year in Pune, thehosts informed.

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Activist Debashisha Hotaduring talks with

Dhenkanal CollectorBhupinder Singh Puniaurged the local administra-tion to prevent illegal andforceful land acquisition formining without any validPalli Sabha at Asurabandhain the Bhuban area. Hota leda five-member delegationof Asurabandha ChromiteMines Anchal Praja Samiti.The samiti is a forum of theaffected villagers. He hand-ed over a five- point charterof demands to the Collector.

Collector Punia assuredof taking immediate legalaction.

Notably, in last seven toeight years, one Abhisek

Rath, member, Board ofDirectors of Real IndiaConsultancy Ltd (AChromite mines company),purchased many acres ofland illegally from poorfarmers at throwaway prices.All the purchases were madethrough brokers and thereal beneficiaries, the poor

farmers, were at the receiv-ing end. Many of them,whose land was sold away,even did not have an inklingof it.Though it is said thatPalli Sabha/ Gram Sabhawere held before purchase ofthe land, in practice, noth-ing of the sort took place,alleged Hota.

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The Watershed DevelopmentMission has been working

under the Soil ConservationDepartment, which is operat-ed by both the State and theCentral Governments. InOdisha, 741 workers have beenworking in the mission but theyare reeling under uncertaintiesover job.

Though many of them arehighly qualified but after work-ing more than 15 years in this

mission, they are still to gettheir due remuneration. Somewho have crossed the age 48 aregetting only �10,000 as salary,stoking much resentment.

It is so hard to survive onpart of them with the lowsalary. Their long standingdemands are yet to be fulfilled.

They have been demand-ing that the written procedureshould be stopped in theappointment of soil conserva-tion extension workers andthe DWMT'S should beappointed in these posts onregular basis.

Besides they want hike insalary.

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Ingeborg Krukkert, a nation-al from the Netherlands, on

her first visit to Odisha andBhubaneswar, was very happy toparticipate in the heritage walkin the city on Sunday.

Krukkert will be soon mov-ing to Ganjam to work as ananthropologist for a sanitationproject run by an NGO, but sheadded that whenever she wouldget time in future, she will def-

initely make it a point to see theheritage sites of Bhubaneswar asthey are beautiful and unique on

their own.Professor Chitta Baral from

Arizona State University came

to the 53rd Ekamra Walks (OldTown and Lingaraj Circuit)with his wife Matsumi Baral.

During the early days of EkamraWalks, just after its launchingthe US-based computer sci-ence professor had also partic-ipated in the heritage walk. OnSaturday, he was also there atMonks, Caves and Kings, thesecond heritage walk underEkamra Walks, at Khandagiri-Udayagiri.

Col Chandan Jha of IndianArmy and Lt. CommanderAmar Lahariya from IndianNavy both stationed atBrahmapur, came to join thewalk and were very happy withthe experience. “We are reallyproud of the heritage walk andwill join the walks in theKhandagiri-Udayagiri coming

Saturday. However, we will betelling our friends and familymembers to take part in thesenice initiatives, whenever theyare in the temple city,’’ they said.

The visitors, 30 in numbers,went to Mukteswar,Parasurameswar, Kotitirtheswar,Bindusagar, Ananta Vasudev,Old Dharamsala, Lingaraj,Chitrakarini, Sari Deula, BharatiMutt, Mohini, Vaitaal and themedicinal plant garden atEkamra Van.

Towards the end of theheritage walk, the participantsexperienced a beautiful recital ofOdishi by the students ofrenowned Odissi dancer IleanaCitaristi at Art Vision.

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To create awareness and sen-sitise local community

members on JapaneseEncephalitis (JE), the JSPLFoundation of Jindal Steel andPower Ltd (JSPL) launched athree-day campaign in Koirablock here recently.

TRB Iron Ore Mine unithead Pramod Kumar Patrasaid, “Healthcare being thecore area of our CorporateSocial Responsibility (CSR)programme we have been fol-lowing it consciously with an

aim to sensitise locals about theJE. Besides awareness, peo-ple’s participation is essential toovercome the challenge.”

He also demonstrated anddiscussed the benefits of vac-cination with the participantsand urged them to spread themessage among other com-munities. During the cam-paign, a five-member team ledby JSPL’s Dr Debasis Duttainteracted with the people inmore than 10 villages and heldmeetings in nearby schools tomake the students aware aboutthe killer disease.

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Taking the Swachh BharatPakhwada to next level,

the Indian Oil Odisha StateOffice organised awalkathon aimed to ensureeverlasting behaviouralchange to achieve the goal ofSwachh Bharat Mission ini-tiative by Government of India to promote clean-liness here on Saturday.

Office GM (CSR) Debi Prasad Satapathyflagged off the rally and administrated theSwachhta pledge to the employees, security per-

sons, contractual work-men and school childrenfrom different schools.More than 200 school stu-dents, holding placardsand banners, took partthereby spreading aware-ness about Swachhta.

Satapathy urged thestudents to be responsible

for the society and do their bit towards achiev-ing the objectives of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

Among others, OSO DGM (HR) BikashMohanty, HR Officer Santosh Panigrahi and AMHR Meera Panda were present.

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Continuingthe drive

under SwachhtaPakhwada forSwachh, Swasthaur ShresthaBharat, theN a t i o n a lA l u m i n i u mC o m p a n yLimited (Nalco)on Sundayorganised amega cleanli-ness drive alongthe stretch ofroad connect-ing NalcoSquare and Nalco Nagar, atBhubaneswar. CompanyChairman Dr Tapan KumarChand, many distinguishedpersonalities from differentwalks of life, including edu-cationists, eminent media per-sons, writers, artistes, singers,sportspersons and socialactivists, picked up broomsand shovels to actively par-

ticipate in the cleanlinessdrive. Besides, as part of beau-tification, a stretch of uncleanboundary wall was painteddepicting ‘Paika Bidroha’ anda garden at vending zone wascreated. A dance on the themewritten, sung and directed bySabita Patnaik was presentedby the girl students ofVivekananda School. On the

spot slogan completion wasalso conducted. Directors ofNalco, Mahila Samiti presi-dent Preeti Roy, employees,students from various insti-tutions and senior officialswere present. Dr Chand alsoannounced about ‘NALCOGulgul Kunmun award’ toencourage schools/schoolchildren .

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As part of its ongoingefforts to provide opti-

mum security and comfortto senior cit izens, theBrahmapur police havedecided to affix a particularsticker on their vehicles sothat they would not be sub-jected to regular vehiclechecking in the city.

SP Asish Singh said thisat the identity card distrib-ution campaign held at theGosaninuagaon police sta-tion.

“Senior citizens shouldnot be stopped for vehiclechecking. A particular kindof sticker will be given tothem with the help of thedistrict administration.Vehicles affixed with thosestickers will not be checked,”said the SP.

It may be noted thathelp cells have been openedat different places for attend-ing to grievances of thesenior citizens. Police offi-cials in charge of the helpdesks have been asked tovisit senior citizens residingalone in their house toinquire about their problemsonce every 15 days.

Sub-Collector ErSidharth Sankar Swain toldsenior citizens to informhim if they face any problemin getting pension.

Among others, ASPSantanu Dash, ASP TrinathPatel and SDPO PravatRoutray were present. Atotal of 98 senior citizenswere distributed identitycards on the occasion.

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The Government RailwayPolice (GRP) on Thursday

night seized seven bundles ofprocessed kendu leaf from therailway station here anddetained two persons in theconnection.

Sources said the leaf whichwas packed in a gunny bag wasworth Rs 40,000.

The two arrestees wereidentified as Abhijit Manna andSR Majunu of Midanpur (East)district of West Bengal.

As the duo couldn't pro-duce any valid documents fortransporting the kendu leaf,they were handed over forestofficials.

The officials have regis-tered a case under Section 21of Odisha Forest permit TransitRules of 1980 and underSection 14 of Odisha KenduLeaf Control and Trade Act1961 and forwarded the twoaccused Abhijit Manna and SRMajanu to court.

Forest officials suspect thatthe smuggling of processedleaves has been possible due toconnivance of the peopleinvolved in binding of kenduleaf and some dishonest offi-cials. Besides, they suspect thatit might have been broughtfrom kendu leaf godowns,located near railway line fromhere to Titilagarh orKantabanji.

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A teacher of aGovernment School inSundargarh district has beenabsconding in a wood smug-gling case for over aweek andhas recently filed his bailapplication in the CivilCourt.

Sundargarh Forest officialshave written to the CivilCourt, Sundargarh not togrant him bail. The officialshad recoveredillegal teak woodslippers worth about Rs 60,000from his house. Theteacher,Bira Bikram Singhdeo, worksin a Government girls’ highschool in the district. He hadescaped arrest since he was notpresentin his house during theraid. His family members couldnot produce any legitimatedocuments insupport of thewood. Singhdeo is stillabsconding and we havewritten to Civil Court,Sundargarh not to grant himbail,” said Forest range officer,Sundargarh sadar RK Swain.

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The State Government sus-pended Jharsuguda CSO PDMKhosla and ACSO SandipKumar Guru for their allegedlink with an unscrupulousmiller resulting in financialloss to the Government. TheChief Minister M took theaction against the officers onrecommendations by Food andCivil Supplies Minister SurjyaNarayan Patro. Earlier, SeniorAccounts SupervisorChintamani Patra was also-suspended for receiving fakebank guarantee of Rs 1.5 crore.Meanwhile, the Minister hasdirected the department tobook economicoffence casesagainst the suspended officersand proprietor ofShriBajrangwali RiceMill.Sources said action againstthe unscrupulous officers andthe miller was taken after theissue of mismanagement of53,984.67 qtl paddy 2016-16Kharif came to the notice.

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Last Saturday evening onwards, socialmedia saw angry tweets by many babus and

IAS OfficersAssociation againstthe conviction offormer CoalSecretary HC Gupta.Some officers gaveclean chit to Gupta by describing him as anhonest officer. Some even called for amend-ment to Prevention of Corruption Act. Someeven blamed the judiciary. By night, many ofthese officers deleted their posts, especiallythose in which they castigated the judiciary.Grapevine has it that the PMO gave an earfulto these officers for going public with theirreaction on judicial verdict.

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Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu who took over as the

Chairman of the RajyaSabha last Friday left hisimprint by his famousone-liners. WhenOpposition memberstrooped in the Well hecame out with “All inwell, not well.” Again,when an MP sought toraise a ‘Point of order’,Naidu quipped: “Thereis neither order nor apoint.” Further, on notfinding DMK MPTiruchi Siva, he said, “(Lord) Shiva is every-where but not here today.”

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Cutting across party lines, MPs congratu-lated Defence Minister Nirmala

Sitharaman in the Rajya Sabha last week afterPrime Minister Narendra Modi introducednew ministers inducted into the cabinetbetween monsoon and winter sessions ofParliament. Congress MP Kumari Selja andRajani Patil shook hands with Sitharamanwhen the house was adjourned briefly after adin by the Opposition. D Raja(CPI) was alsoseen exchanging pleasantries with the defenceminister. The Elders also vigorously thumpeddesks when Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu con-gratulated Mary Kom (nominated) for winningan international boxing medal two weeks back.Many members were seen looking at her vacantseat. Mary Kom is now busy training for someupcoming tournaments.

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High-decibel arguments by lawyers havebecome a norm in the Supreme Court

much to the dislike of the judges. Lastweek, two judges — ChiefJustice of India Dipak Misraand Justice AK Sikri — in sep-arate cases, openly airedtheir sentiments by sayingthey are “allergic” to lawyerswho shouted down theiropponents. But that was not the case with for-mer Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar. He bari-tone voice seem not to irritate judges as much.When one lawyer complained to the CJI againstKumar raising his voice, the CJI remarked,“God has given him this decibel. He has beenknown to have a loud voice since the time wehave watched him argue.”

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The latest to join the central flagship scheme,Swachchh Bharat Mission’s bandwagon is

business house PHDCCI. It has chosen to takeup special cleanliness drive under its CSRactivities around the premises of tem-ples located in Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s Lok Sabhaand UP Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath’s turfs —Benaras and Gorakhpur.The business chamber hasplans to install waste-to-com-post machines at Gorakhnath Math,Gorakhpur, and Vishwanath Temple, DurgaTemple and SankatMochan temple in Benaras,and Banke Bihari Temple of Vrindavan toreprocess the flowers and other bio-degradablewaste within the temples’ premises to convertthem into manure.

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With the Archeological Survey of India(ASI) shifting from its premises at

Janpath to the Tilak Marg, the NationalMuseum in the capital can now hope to see theresumption of phase III of its building expan-sion plan that was conceived way back in 2003.The land vacated by the ASI is adjacent to theNational Museum, which is the country’slargest museum. Union Culture MinisterMahesh Sharma will lay the foundation stoneof the project on Monday.Presently, National Museumis displaying just 7.61 percent of its total over 2 lakhcollections at its 29 perma-nent galleries.

New Delhi: The CBI has bookeda Hyderabad-based retail com-pany for allegedly cheating theState Bank of India of nearly�134 crore by availing variouscredit facilities on the basis offorged documents between 2007and 2014. In its FIR, the agencyhas alleged that PCH Retail, rep-resented by its directorsBalvinder Singh and Baljit Kaur,availed credit facilities of Rs133.95 crore during the seven-year period using false financialstatements and documents.

The directors of PCHRetail entered in criminal con-spiracy with chartered accoun-tant Bhavesh R Vithlani, andTaran Jyot Singh, DirectorVersant Home Appliances PvtLtd (both named in the FIR asaccused) and unidentified bankofficials of the SBI and cheat-ed the bank, the FIR alleged.

The CBI alleged that theaccused diverted the credit facil-ities availed by them to fictitiouscompanies floated by them andothers and siphoned off bank’sfunds. “It was further revealedthat out of the loan amount Rs2.76 crore was fraudulentlytransferred to Versant HomeAppliances Pvt Ltd for the pur-chase of immovable propertywhich was subsequently trans-ferred to the daughter ofBalvinder Singh,” it alleged.

It said the account wasdeclared a non performing asseton September 28, 2013. Allegingthat a wrongful loss of Rs 133.95crore was caused to the bank,the CBI booked the accused forcriminal conspiracy, cheating,forgery and criminal miscon-duct by public servant andabuse of official position. PNS

New Delhi: Work has begun tointegrate the Brahmos super-sonic cruise missile on 40

Sukhoi combat aircraft whichis expected to fulfil criticalneeds of the Indian Air Forcein the wake of evolving securi-ty dynamics in the region.

The air-launched variant ofthe Brahmos, the world’s fastestsupersonic cruise missile, wassuccessfully test fired from aSukhoi-30 combat jet onNovember 22, marking a major milestone to enhance theprecision strike capability of theair force.

The work to integrate theBrahmos missile on 40 Sukhoicombat aircraft has begun. Atimeline for the project is being

set, official sources said with-out elaborating.

It is learnt that the projectis expected to be completed by2020. The fleet of 40 Sukhoi jetwill undergo structural modifi-cations at the state-run aero-space major HindustanAeronautics Ltd (HAL) for inte-gration of the missile on them.

The 2.5-tonne missile fliesalmost three times the speed ofsound at Mach 2.8 and has arange of 290 km. The range ofthe missile, an Indo-Russia jointventure, can be extended up to400 km as certain technicalrestrictions were lifted after

India became a full member ofthe Missile Technology ControlRegime (MTCR) last year.

Brahmos missile is theheaviest weapon to be deployedon India’s Su-30 fighter aircraft.

Once the project to inte-grate the weapon on the com-bat fleet was over, the IAF capa-bility to strike from large stand-off ranges on any target in seaor land is expected to go upmanifold.

“It is a very important pro-ject considering IAF’s evolvingrequirement to boost air powerwhen the possibility of a two-front war cannot be ruled out,”

said an official.After the test firing of the

air-launched version, the IAFhad said the missile coupledwith the superlative perfor-mance of the Su-30 aircraft willgive the force a strategic reachand will allow it to dominatethe ocean and the battle fields.

The integration of the mis-sile on Sukhoi aircraft is a verycomplex process involvingmechanical, electrical and soft-ware modifications of the Su-30 jet. Brahmos is a joint ven-ture between DRDO of Indiaand NPO Mashinostroyenia(NPOM) of Russia. PTI

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To evict unauthorised occu-pants from the

Government allocated bunga-lows and flats, the Ministry ofHousing and Urban Affairs(HoUA) will table a Bill called‘the Public Premises (Evictionof Unauthorised Occupants)Amendments Bill, 2017’ in theLok Sabha on Monday. As perthe amendment the existingprolonged procedure — ofserving a notice, giving time fora show-cause, issuing a vaca-tion order, giving time forvacation, followed by an optionto appeal in lower courts — hasnow been cut short.

As per provisions of thedraft Bill, the Government canevict even overstayed Ministerswithin three days.

According to officials ofUrban Development Ministry,the Centre is bringing this Billkeeping in mind the shortage ofGovernment accommodationin the national Capital.According to the reports, thereare thousands of cases came intothe light where Governmentservants did not vacate theiraccommodation even after theend of their terms. Also, cur-rently, there are several casesMinisters procuring a stay ordertwo years after the expiry of theirterms have been witnessed.

“It is often seen that theunauthorised occupants do notvacate the Government accom-modation on expiry of theterms and conditions of thelicence as per the rules and uses

dilatory tactics to withholdthe accommodation, by chal-lenging the eviction orderbefore an appellate officer orbefore the High Court and byobtaining stay of the evictionorder,” the draft Bill said.

The Central Governmentprovides residential accom-modation to its employees,Members of Parliament andother dignitaries while they arein service or till the term oftheir office on licence basis. Asper the existing allotment rules,after the expiry of the termsand conditions of the licence,the occupants of such residen-tial accommodations becomeunauthorised for staying insuch accommodation andshould vacate the same.

The said Bill, confers pow-ers upon the estate officers toevict such unauthorised occu-pants from “public premises” ina smooth, speedy and time-bound manner. Under theexisting provisions, the evictionproceedings of unauthorisedoccupants from “public premis-es” take around five to sevenweeks time. It may take aroundfour more weeks if the unau-

thorised occupants file appealunder the said Act.

However, eviction pro-ceedings take much longer peri-od than the timeline prescribedin the said Act. Sometimes, ittakes years to evict the unau-thorised occupants.

It is, therefore, proposed toapply summary eviction proce-dure to residential accommo-dation given on licence basiswith a short show cause noticeof three days to the unautho-rised occupants by insertingnew Section 3B. It is also pro-posed to define the term “resi-dential accommodation occu-pation” by amending Section 2.

“The Bill would facilitatesmooth and speedy eviction ofunauthorised occupants fromresidential accommodations,and ensure retrieval of the res-idential accommodation fromthe unauthorised occupantswithout requiring elaborateprocedures under sections 4and 5 of the said Act. This will further increase avail-ability of residential accom-modations to new incumbentsand improve the overall satis-faction level,” it said.

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Two factions of the KarnatakaCongress, one of them led

by Chief Minister KSiddaramaiah, have approachedthe Congress Central leadershipto sort out the difference overimposing prohibition on liquorin the election-bound State.

While a section of partyMLAs and workers want to fol-low the Bihar and Gujarat modelof blanket ban on liquor in theState, Siddaramaiah is opposedto the move protect revenue lossof about �19,000 crore.

Shrugging off the demandsmade by some MLAs and partyvolunteers, Siddaramaiah hasconveyed to them that liquorban will impact the State’s rev-enue and lead to corruption.

“Prohibition deprives legit-imate manufacturers of rev-enues, thousands of others oftheir income earned in manu-facture, sale and distributionand the State of much-neededrevenues through various taxes,”said a close aide of the CM. He

pointed that in the wake ofSupreme Court ban of liquoralong National Highways,Karnataka is already losingalmost Rs 4,000 crore and about10,000 related establishmentshave been closed down.

MLA BR Patil and formerMLC Allam Prabhu Patil havetaken up the cause of total pro-hibition in Karnataka and aretrying to convince leadership inDelhi to back their move. “Wewill wait for the call from ournew party boss Rahul Gandhi),”

said a Karnataka leader, who iscamping in Delhi.

The leaders of the pro-banlobby claim that liquor businesspromotes crime and corruptionand harms the youth in a big way.

But the anti-ban lobby hasits own arguments. “Bengaluruhas built a reputation as one ofIndia’s most cosmopolitancities, which include its openattitude towards alcohol.Professionals from across theworld. Bengaluru has also pro-vided its citizens with a mod-

ern and world-class lifestyle,leisure and entertainment envi-ronment. Moderation and notdeprivation and bans are thekey to social reforms of anysort. Drinking, like so manyother lifestyle choices can neverbe banned,” said a leader fromthe CM faction.

The share of tax slated to becollected from alcohol inKarnataka for the fiscal year (FY)2017-18 stood at 12.3 per cent ofthe total receipts by the State.Karnataka has collected morethan one-fifth of the total alco-hol taxes collected by 17 States.

The JD(S)-BJP-led Govern-ment had banned “arrack” in2006-07 in the State, claimingthat poor people suffer becauseof it. The 2007 ban, however, didlittle to stop hooch tragedies inthe State, and in 2008, Karnatakahit the highest hooch death tollof 180. In addition, liquor com-panies manufacturing cheapWhiskey and Brandy mush-roomed across the State to caterto these poor drinkers whocould no longer get arrack. Thatban was soon lifted.

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At a time when India andRussia celebrate 70th

anniversary of diplomatic rela-tions, Indian students in Russiacontinue to face uncertaintyover mutual recognition ofmedical and other degrees,pay heavy fees due to involve-ment of middle-men in admis-sions and are expelled in mid-dle of their courses.

In order to address some ofthese issues, the Ministry ofExternal Affairs (MEA) onMonday is hosting a day-longconference involving the stu-dents groups, Russian univer-sity representatives, educationconsultants and RussianGovernment officials.

The MEA plans to take upthese problems with variousstakeholders and try resolvingthem by engaging the Russiansin order to boost studentexchanges between the twocountries.

Russia is a popular destina-tion for education among Indianstudents with nearly 6,500 ofthem currently studying in var-ious educational institutes there.Majority of these students arepursuing medical courses whileothers are doing engineering,economics, aviation and man-agement. On the other hand,

about 750 Russian students arestudying in India at present.

The main issue concerningstudents remains mutual recog-nition of educational qualifi-cations between India andRussia. While India recognis-es only high school certificatesobtained after 12 years ofschooling, the Russian schooleducation is for 11 years.

On the duration of cours-es, India insists on the mentionof 3-4 years duration forBachelors/Diploma courses inScience, Social Science andHumanities, while Russia hasdifferent durations of coursesand does not wish to mentionthe period of such duration.Besides, Masters in India is atwo-year course while most ofthe Masters courses in Russiaare of one year duration.

Lack of recognition ofsome of the Russian degrees bythe Medical Council of Indiaand the poor success rate in theMCI conducted ForeignMedical Graduate Examination(FMGE) of the students whohave studied in Russia adds tothe post-education problems ofIndian students.

“Due to the non-recogni-tion of Medical EquivalenceQualification (MEQs) betweenthe two countries, Indian stu-dents are reluctant to avail ofeducational prospects in Russiaand similar problems areencountered by the Russianstudents desirous of higherstudies in India,” sources said.

With regard to medicaleducation in Russia, there werecomplaints about Indian stu-dents being expelled from

Russian university on flimsygrounds while they were study-ing in 4th or 5th year of med-ical courses. Indian medicalstudents have also complainedthat they were forced to studyin Russian language in thevery next year which givesthem no option but to move toanother institution where themedium of teaching is English.

Several students who areunable to adjust well with theclimate of a particular region inRussia are also compelled tochange the university. However,such migrations are prohibitedby the MCI as it does not con-sider the ‘Eligibility certificate’issued earlier to these studentsas valid in case of change of theinstitution.

Sources said that in manycases, the problems faced by the

students are genuine anddeserve sympathetic consider-ation of the MCI to for one-time waiver for ‘Migration’ oncase-to-case basis.

Another major problemfaced by the Indian studentcommunity in Russia, especial-ly in the medical field is due tothe involvement of the con-tractors or the educational con-sultants, hired by the institutionsfor the admission process.Educational consultants chargealmost 200 per cent more com-pared to the University educa-tion fee putting three timesburden on the students.

Education in Russia hasbeen a subject of intense debateover the past several years, fol-lowing the break-up of theSoviet Union. Russia inheritedthe Protocol on Equivalence ofCertificates, Degrees andDiplomas which was earlierconcluded between India andUSSR in November 1987, and ispresently in existence but needsto be replaced in view of the cur-rent requirements. The twocountries are negotiating anAgreement/Protocol on MutualRecognition of EducationalDegrees/Diplomas (orAcademic qualifications) tofinalise agreement enablingIndian students to avail of edu-cational opportunities in Russia.

New Delhi: Hospitals have toset up approval committeesfor considering cases of passiveeuthanasia, and any distortionof facts before such panelsmay lead to a maximum of 10years in jail and a fine of up to�1 crore, a redrafted Bill states.

The panels will decide onapplications of “Living will”, awritten document that allowspatients to explicitly state theirdesire against life-prolongingmeasures when recovery is notpossible from a terminal con-dition. The redrafted Bill alsoprovides for palliative care topatients even if they have optedfor passive euthanasia, which isthe withdrawal of medicaltreatment and life support sys-tem of a terminally-ill patient.

The “Management ofPatients with Terminal Illness-Withdrawal of Medical LifeSupport Bill” states that allsuper-speciality hospitals shouldhave approval committees onpassive euthanasia. PTI

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In a move to bring moretransparency during acqui-

sition process of immovableproperty, the Centre has decid-ed that the property owner orany person claiming compen-sation on the property will begiven opportunity to be heard.The Ministry of Housing andUrban Affairs (HoUA) willtable a related Bill called ‘TheRequisitioning of Acquisitionof Immovable Property(Amendment) Act 2017’ inthe Lok Sabha on Monday.

The Bill seeks to amend theprovision to allow the Central

Government to re-issue thenotice of acquisition in order toensure that the property’sowner gets an opportunity tobe heard. The property ownerat such hearing will have toprovide reasons for why theproperty should not beacquired. Interestingly, theGovernment is introducingthis Bill on the day of countingday of Gujarat and HimachalPradesh Assembly polls.

The Bill is being intro-duced amid instances of per-sons interested in a propertychallenging the acquisitionmove citing that they were notgiven the opportunity for per-sonal hearing. The Bill wasintroduced in the Lok Sabha inthe last Monsoon Session butcould not be taken up.

Sources in the HoUAMinistry, there could be situa-tions that result in prolongedlitigations and if the SupremeCourt quashes the notice ofacquisition, there might be

astronomical hike in compen-sation amount on account ofmarket value appreciation.Against this backdrop, the billseeks to amend a section of theRequisitioning and Acquisitionof Immovable Property Act to“enable the centralGovernment to re-issue thenotice of acquisition to theowner or such other personinterested in the property, forthe purpose of giving (an)opportunity of being heard”.

As per the Bill, theGovernment may re-issue theacquisition notice to the prop-erty owner (or a person inter-ested in the property) to givethem adequate opportunity fora hearing.

This would be irrespectiveof any past court orders orjudgments setting aside anypast notices for acquisition.However, the re-issue of noticewill not apply to cases wherethe compensation has alreadybeen awarded and accepted by

the claimants. The Bill also provides in

cases where a notice has beenre-issued, the property ownerwill be entitled to an interest onthe compensation payable tothem. The Bill also providesthat such enhanced compen-sation will be awarded only ifthe acquisition notice has beenre-issued, and the land is beingacquired for the purpose ofnational security and defence.It is proposed to give effect tothe amendments from the dateof enactment of theRequisitioning and Acquisitionof Immovable Property Act,1952, namely, the 14th March14, 1952.

“The owner or the personinterested in the propertywould also be entitled to annu-al rate of interest — prevalentat any relevant time on thecompensation payable — fromthe date of publishing the firstnotice till payment of the finalcompensation,” the Bill said.

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The son of a former BJPMLA was shot dead at a

spot close to the Uttar Pradeshlegislature complex lateSaturday night and the lawand order issue is again likely torock the State Assembly and theLegislative Council tomorrow.

Anticipating the possi-bi l ity of uproar in theAssembly, Speaker HridayNarain Dixit said if memberswere bent upon derailing thelisted business, stopping thelive telecast during pande-monium may be consideredas there was a perceptionthat proceedings were some-times disrupted for publicity.

Vaibhav Tiwari (36), son offormer Domariyaganj MLAPrem Prakash Tiwari, wasallegedly shot at from pointblank range at the KasmandaHouse, barely 300 metres fromthe UP legislature buildingand the state BJP headquarters,police officials said.

His father was the BJPMLA from Domariyaganj in1989, 1991 and 1993. In 2014,he had joined the SamajwadiParty though in this year'sAssembly polls, he campaignedfor the BJP.

The killing happened at atime when the opposition hasbeen attacking the Adityanathdispensation on the law andorder front.

Opposition MLAs indicat-

ed that they were in no moodto spare the government overVaibhav Tiwari's killing, anincident that sent shock-wavesacross the political spectrum.

“We will not allow theHouse to function. The stategovernment has to give a cat-egorical answer on the lawand order situation. It has tomake clear who is patronisingcriminal elements,” SamajwadiParty legislator Sunil SinghSajan told PTI.

The first two days of theongoing winter session of thestate legislature witnessed tur-moil over law and order andother issues leading to repeat-ed adjournments.

The scene is unlikely to beany different in both theHouses tomorrow as the oppo-

sition has decided to press fora discussion on the law andorder situation.

“As soon as the QuestionHour is over, we will press fora discussion. If the governmentruns away from discussion,we will launch a mass move-ment,” Sajan said.

Leader of the CongressLegislature Party (CLP) in thestate Assembly, Ajay KumarSingh Lallu said, “It is indeeda very serious matter. There isfear among the public and nota day passes off in UP withoutany major incident of crime.”

We will raise this issueaggressively in the Assemblytomorrow and seek answerfrom the government, he said.

The lone MLA of RashtriyaLok Dal, Sahender Singh, too

criticised the UP governmentfor the “poor law and order sit-uation” in the state.

“I will definitely raise theissue of deteriorating law andorder scenario in the House.The situation is so poor thatcriminals do not fear the policeand go scot-free after commit-ting crime,” he said.

UP Assembly SpeakerDixit, however, was not amusedat the possibility of the listedbusiness of the House beingdisrupted.

“We may consider stoppingthe live telecast of proceed-ings...It may not be the entireproceedings, but only the por-tion during which there ispandemonium...But, no deci-sion has been taken or decla-ration made in this regard sofar, we are only contemplating,”Dixit told PTI.

“There is a perception thatlaw makers stall proceedings togain easy publicity,” he said.

Tabling of the first supple-mentary budget is on tomor-row's agenda in the legislativebusiness after the question andzero hours.

The agenda for the sessionthat concludes on December 22also includes introduction ofbills to repeal ordinances forcreating the Prayag Raj Melaauthority, Allahabad for hold-ing Kumbh, and ensuringstringent punishment, includ-ing death penalty, for thosetrading in spurious liquor.

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Union Finance MinisterArun Jaitley on Sunday

called for radical reforms in thejudicial and education systemsof the country, saying theywere long overdue.

He also said the youthneeded to be adequately trainedso that they became the futureleaders in all walks of life.

“Radical reforms are need-ed in our judicial and educa-tional systems. Reforms havebeen very belated in these twoareas,” Jaitley said, speaking atthe 14th convocation ceremo-ny of Symbiosis International(Deemed University) here.

Without elaborating on thekind of reforms needed, he saidevery effort must be made toensure that the millions ofyouth in the country weretrained well, so that theybecame the future leaders in allwalks of life.

Jaitley advised the gradu-ating students to prepare andtrain themselves to be eligible

to serve those countries whichwere facing a crisis by way ofpopulation de-growth.

“This is the best way toutilise our demographic divi-dend,” he said, adding that thegovernment alone could notcreate enough jobs. In thiscontext, Jaitley said the privatesector needed to do more totrain people and make themskilled and added, “Otherwise,our demographic dividend can

become a liability.” Jaitley was,in fact, responding to the crit-icism and concern expressed bySymbiosis chancellor S BMujumdar over a recentSupreme Court order, askingthe University GrantsCommission (UGC) not toallow any private institute tomarket itself as a university.

In an order passed in earlyNovember, the apex court haddirected the UGC to restrain allthe deemed universities fromusing the word “university” intheir names.

Pointing towards the eco-nomic reforms of 1991, thathad lifted the economy to itscurrent heights, Jaitley saidputting curbs had neverworked in any sector andwould not work going for-ward. “If the survival of thefittest is the rule, it has neverbeen so true as it is today,” hesaid and urged the students toidentify their key strengthsand become the leaders oftomorrow as there was enoughspace for everyone to excel.

In his address, noted indus-trialist Rahul Bajaj, who wasawarded an honorary D.Litt.Degree by the institute, saidthere was a reason why indus-trialists and businessmen werehated by the public in generaland the poor in particular.

This was because theincome inequalities had beenon a steady rise, he said.

The Bajaj group patriarchsaid this attitude was prevalent,despite the businessmen andindustrialists being the highesttaxpayers, creating wealth andgenerating jobs.

He warned that if theinequalities were not looked atand arrested, “our country willnot be far from the violent pub-lic protests seen elsewhere inthe world”.

“We should not continue totest the patience of the tens ofmillions of our poor people,”Bajaj said.

Jaitley conferred doctoral,post-graduate and graduatedegrees and diplomas to 3,450students of 17 streams.

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One of the major reasons behindMamata Banerjee’s decision against

towing the Congress line in Parliament isto maintain an image independent of theCongress Party, and more so of its newpresident Rahul Gandhi who will in alllikelihood be projected as the Congress(read Opposition) prime ministerial can-didate in 2019, insiders in the Bengal rul-ing outfit say.

According to a State Minister and asenior Trinamool leader from southernKolkata the Bengal Chief Minister has “allthe abilities to take any responsibility evenbigger than that the one she is handlingnow.”

Apart from her decision to ditch theGandhi in his declared “all-out war againstthe BJP” Banerjee is also planning toundertake “political tours” in BJP-domi-nated areas — with good presence ofminority vote bank — where she has ambi-tions of carving out an anti-BJP image big-ger than that of the Congress, sources closeto her say.

“Though these two propositions maynot be joined immediately there is a con-nection between the two against the back-drop of her pan-Indian image among theMuslims as an anti-BJP crusader,” said aparty ideologue and a professor.

A number of Ministers and MPs closeto the Chief Minister have convincedBanerjee about her abilities to run thecountry if and when such a chanceemerges in 2019.

Notwithstanding the decision takenby the Chief Minister informed sourcessaid she may tweak her strategy in the last

moment. For this “she is keeping a closewatch on the election results in Gujarat.”If the Congress does well in that Statethen Banerjee may review her status,insiders said.

But currently the top Trinamool lead-ership’s view is: “the Congress is not accept-able to many fringe parties. There is a like-lihood of a situation emerging whenCongress and some other parties may beforced to go for a compromise candidatein which case Mamata Banerjee’s imageindependent of the Congress may come inhandy.”

An MP from South 24 Parganasadding “we are already the third largestparty in Parliament and god-willing in thenext elections we can emerge even as thesecond largest party in Opposition.”

When asked to comment on the effi-cacy of the letter the Chief Minister wroteto Finance Minister Arun Jaitley request-ing him to immediately withdraw the

FRDI Bill “to save the country fromfinancial ruin,” if at all she would not allowher MPs to raise the issue in Parliamentin a loud manner, the Minister said “theseare two things. Writing a letter on the offi-cial level is making your opposition of thesubject known officially whereas creatingruckus in Parliament amounts to playingto the gallery only.”

“I will like to sincerely appeal to theCentre to desist from enacting this dra-conian law and withdraw the Bill toensure that the common people in thecountry are saved from financial ruin,” shewrote.

When the Trinamool MPs were raringto go hammer and tongs against the BJPin Parliament the Chief Minister in a corecommittee held on Friday asked them to“keep off Congress” for the time being“particularly when it comes to stalling theHouse.”

On whether this decision was theresult of the vehement opposition theTrinamool is facing from the Congress inBengal, the leaders say the two are “dif-ferent issues. The Congress is a virtual non-entity in Bengal. It has no force left so itsopposition hardly matters. The questionis whether a time has come for our ChiefMinister to assume a pan-India role whereshe can serve the country.”

On why Banerjee earmarked addi-tional responsibilities for party MP and for-mer Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi, hith-erto sidelined in the Trinamool Congressinformed sources said the Chief Ministeralso wants a ceasefire for the time beingbetween Delhi and Kolkata at the officialand administrative level though “thestruggle on the streets will continue.”

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Massive clashes erupted innorth Kashmir’s

Kupwara district on Sundayagainst the killing of a cab dri-ver during an ambush laid bythe Army to capture mili-tants. While the State admin-istration announced probeinto the killing, the Armysaid the individual died dur-ing the exchange of fire withmilitants.

Locals said Asif Iqbal Bhat,a 22-year-old cab driver ven-tured out of his home atThandipora village in Kralporapocket of Kupwara late in thenight after he received a phonecall to escort a patient to hos-pital. As soon as he came outof his home, he was fired uponand fell down in a pool ofblood. The locals tried to shifthim to hospital but he diedmidway.

Police have termed the

killing a case of “mistakenidentity”.

Thousands of people fromvarious village participated inthe funeral. The shouted pro-freedom and pro-Islam slogansand demanded punishment tothe guilty.

Independent legislatorSheikh Abdur Rashid alsojoined the protests demandingregistration of case against thecul;prits. He was later takeninto custody and detained in

nearby police station. The pro-cession of mourners was inter-cepted by police leading toclashes that continued forhours. Police used teargas shellsto disperse the protesters. Onepolice official was reported tohave sustained stone injuryduring clashes.

Police said the situation inKupwara was under control.Reports said complete shut-down was observed in Kralporaarea and partial shutdown in

the adjoining parts.Srinagar based defence

spokesman Lt Col Rajesh Kaliain a statement said that on thebasis of information of pres-ence of militants in Thindpuravillage, army placed ambushesto maintain surveillance overthe area on night 16/17December. “At around 2255hours, the ambush partyobserved suspicious movementof three persons near nallah inThindpura village, the state-ment said adding the individ-uals were challenged by troops,however, they did not respond.Thereafter, militants openedfire towards Army ambushparty which was retaliated to.In the crossfire one personidentified as Asif Iqbal Bhat ofThindpura was killed due togunshot wound. “The investi-gations are in progress,” thestatement said.

Meanwhile, a police state-ment said that an FIR has

been lodged in Police StationKralpora Kupwara and inves-tigation has been started.

Army Sunday said thatAsif Iqbal was killed in thecrossfire.

Giving details, an Armyofficial said based on informa-tion of presence of militants inThindpura village, Armyplaced ambushes to maintainsurveillance over the area onnight 16/17 December.

Meanwhile, the incidentevoked widespread condem-nation across the Valley.

Chief Minister, MehboobaMufti expressed grief over thedeath. An official spokesmansaid that the Chief Minister hasdirected the district adminis-tration to speed up the probeinto the killing to know the rea-sons behind the incident andpunish the persons, if foundinvolved in the killing. She alsoexpressed sympathies with thebraved family

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UP Chief Minister YogiAdityanath launched the

‘Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana’(Saubhagya) from Unnao dis-trict on Sunday. The powerdistribution scheme aims toprovide electricity connection toall the poor households in theState by the end of MarchDecember 2018. On the day oflaunch of the scheme one lakhelectricity connection were pro-vided to the poor families acrossthe State on Sunday. The ben-eficiaries of the scheme wouldbe selected from among thosecovered by the SECC (Socioeconomic caste census) con-ducted in 2011.

“The BJP Government hadended the long practice of dis-crimination in providing powerconnection and power supply tothe consumers across the state.The people across the State arenow easily getting the powerconnection and there is also nodiscrimination in the quantumof power supply to any regionor district of the state’’, said YogiAdityanath while addressingthe meeting at Bighapur inUnnao district. The UnionMinister of State for power RKSingh was also present on theoccasion.

Chief Minister said thePrime Minister Narendra Modihad launched the scheme for theuplift of the poor and the downtrodden sections of the society.Under ‘Saubhagya’ scheme, UPGovernment has set the targetof providing electricity con-nection to 1.54 crore householdacross the State. In urban areas3.02 lakh households will becovered by the scheme. UnderSaubhagya scheme the SECC

families will get free electricityconnection while the other cat-egories of poor families not cov-ered by the SECC norm will getthe connection by �500 in fivemonthly installments.

The Saubhagya scheme wassimultaneously launched at2,300 power distribution substations across the state onSunday and One Lakh connec-tions were given on the first dayof the launch of the scheme. Theletters for power connectionswere distributed by the deputyChief Ministers, Ministers andthe BJP MLAs. In Lucknow thedeputy Chief Minister DineshSharma distributed the lettersfor power connection inPyrepur village of the district.

All the electricity connec-tions under ‘Saubhagya’ schemewill be metered connections andthe beneficiaries will have toproduce Aadhar card, voter IDcard, driving license or thebank account. The power con-nection will be given after theverification of the personalinformation.

Prime Minister NarendraModi on September 25 hadlaunched a �16,320-crorescheme Pradhan Mantri SahajBijli Har Ghar Yojana‘Saubhagya’ — to provide elec-

tricity connections to over 4crore families in rural andurban areas by December 2018across the country. The schemesaim to bring monumentalchange in the lives of the poor.Under the scheme, theGovernment proposes to pro-vide electricity to all householdsin the country by the end ofMarch, 2019.

The outlay for the ruralhouseholds is �14,025 croreand for the urban householdsthe outlay is �2,295 crore. TheCentre will provide largely fundsfor the scheme to all States/UTs.The beneficiaries for free elec-tricity connections would beidentified using Socio Economicand Caste Census (SECC) 2011data.

As per the scheme theunelectrified households notcovered under the SECC datawould also be provided elec-tricity connections under thescheme on payment of �500which shall be recovered byPower distribution companies(DISCOMs) in 10 installmentsthrough electricity bill. TheRural ElectrificationCorporation Limited (REC)will remain the nodal agency forthe operationalisation of thescheme throughout the country.

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Chief Minister YogiAdityanath on Sunday

lauded the elite ProvincialArmed Constabulary (PAC)for its role in effective conductof Gujarat Assembly elections.

He was addressing the PACDay celebrations held at the35th PAC battalion here.

“PAC has earned manylaurels for Uttar Pradesh, willbe increased with recruitmentof 18,000 more jawans in nearfuture”

“PAC is among the elitepolice forces in the country andhas worked for maintainingpeace and delivered serviceseven during natural calamities.The strength of the PAC shouldbe 273 companies but 74 com-panies are not active because oflack of manpower. TheGovernment is keen to appoint18,000 jawans to make these

companies active ,” he saidwhile speaking at a 69th PACRaising Day function here onSunday. Yogi Adityanath saidthat PAC battalions that havebeen dormant would be madeoperational and entrusted withgreater responsibilities.

This Government is com-mitted to improve law andorder in the state. Though pri-marily this is the work of civilpolice but time and again PAtoo has been asked to chip inwith its contribution.

The Chief Minister saidthat PAC was working effi-ciently and protecting vitalplaces, including the LucknowMetro.

It has played instrumentalrole in the conduct of manyreligious festivals like KumbhMela in Prayag and other func-tions in other parts of the stateincluding Mathura, Ayodhyaand Varanasi.

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After heavy snowfall, theMughal road remained

closed for vehicular movementfor the eighth consecutive daytoday, while one-way trafficwas plying smoothly on theJammu-Srinagar NationalHighway, traffic police depart-ment officials said.

The Mughal road con-nects the twin districts ofPoonch and Rajouri of Jammuregion with south Kashmir'sShopian district.

It was closed for vehicular

traff ic on December 10evening as a precautionarymeasure owing to predictionof heavy snowfall.

“The road clearance oper-ation was not started so far anda team of officials are visitingvarious areas along the roadtomorrow to take stock of thesituation,” a police official said.

A decision to reopen theroad for vehicular traffic afterclearance operation woulddepend on the emergingweather conditions, he said.

About four-feet of snowhad accumulated on the

ground at Peer Ki Gali alongthe road during the inclementweather between Dec 11 and14, hampering restoration ofthe road link.

The road usually remainsclosed for vehicular trafficduring winter months owingto heavy snowfall in Peer KiGali area.

Meanwhile, the officersaid the one-way traffic fromSrinagar to Jammu wassmooth on the strategic high-way, the only all weather roadlinking Kashmir with rest ofthe country.

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The former Samajwadi partyleader and the Rajya Sabha

MP, Amar Singh has advocat-ed construction of RamTemple at Ayodhya at the ear-liest and praised PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andUP Chief Minister YogiAdityanath for their contribu-tion to the country.

“A grand temple of LordRam will be constructed inAyodhya as BJP will get all itscredit in the future elections,”he said in Faizabad on Sunday.“I can say with confidence thatthe BJP and the Prime MinisterNarendra Modi are invincibleand no party or the alliance isin a position to challenge theprime minister. In Gujarat andHimanchal Pradesh theBharatiya Janta Party will get alandslide victory,” he said.

Amar Singh, who was inFaizabad on Sunday to attend

a meeting of his Purvanchalregional party, said that Modihad made Gujarat one of themost developed states in thecountry and people will giveoverwhelming verdict in thefavour of the BJP in return.

Talking about UP chiefminister, the former SP leadersaid “Yogi AdityanathGovernment is doing well andthe government has takenseries of steps in the directionof good governance’’.

He added “the BJPGovernment in UP was doingexcellent work and the benefitof the development schemes isreaching the intended benefi-ciaries and the changes are vis-ible in a short span of ninemonths of the BJP Governmentin UP.

Amar Singh was nominat-ed for the Rajya Sabha in June2016 by the then Samajwadiparty chief Mulayam SinghYadav.

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The Margazhi month as perTamil almanac began on

December 16 and will end onJanuary 13, 2018. According tolegends, this is a period dedi-cated to spiritual activities.The month has not been kindto Tamil Nadu, if past instancesare any indication.

Tamil Nadu lost two of itscharismatic leaders on themonth of December. MGRamachandran, the founderof AIADMK and popularlyknown as Makkal Tilakam(Star of the people) died on 24,December 1987 whileJayalalithaa, his chosen heirpassed away on December 5,2016.

It was in December 2004,the tsunami waves devastated

Tamil Nadu and carried awaynearly 2,000 people from theState’s coast. EV RamasamyNaiker, the founder of theDravidian movement and for-mer Chief Minister CRajagopalachari too breathedtheir last in December. This hasmade the month of Decemberas well as Margazhi inauspi-cious for the people of TamilNadu.

If reports coming out of theAIADMK camp are true, thisDecember is going to be inaus-picious for the party. The

AIADMK is fighting with itsback to the wall against a com-bined Opposition onslaughtin the by-election to be held atthe RK Nagar Assembly con-stituency on December 21.The DMK, independent candi-date TTV Dinakaran and alliesof the DMK are unanimous intheir allegation that theAIADMK is pumping inmoney to retain the seat whichwas held by former ChiefMinister J Jayalalithaa whosedemise on December 5, 2016left the seat vacant.

The political situation inTamil Nadu is so fluid that theAIADMK Government led byEdappadi Palaniswamy isexpected to fall at any timefrom now.

According to the ElectionCommission of India verdict,the AIADMK has only 111MLAs in the House which hasan effective strength of 234.The party should have 118MLAs to claim absolute major-ity in the House. Even if it winsthe RK Nagar constituency, itshould have to find out anoth-er six MLAs to prop up the EPSGovernment, which looksunlikely now.

“We feel we made a bigmistake by merging our factionwith the EPS faction,” a seniorAIADMK leader told ThePioneer on Sunday. He saidmany of the leaders, MLAs and

MPs belonging to thePalaniswamy faction are stay-ing away from campaigning forMadhusudanan, the party can-didate. “You can see either anexplosion or an implosion inthe party after the RK Nagarby-poll,” he said.

The year 201 mars thebirth centenary of partyfounder M G Ramachandran.It also marks the 40th anniver-sary of MGR becoming thechief minister of the State. “Itwas our Amma’s (readJayalalithaa) wish that TamilNadu should have aGovernment led by theAIADMK during the centenaryyear of MGR. But it seems theparty itself would get disinte-grated in the centenary year ofMGR,” said the AIADMKleader who did not want hisname to be quoted.

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Union Home MinisterRajnath Singh accused

Congress Government inKarnataka led by ChiefMinister Siddaramaiah ofdividing the State communal-ly. Addressing the State BJP’smonth old Parivartan Yatraled by BS Yeddyurappa inBengaluru on Sunday heblamed SiddaramaiahGovernment of communallypolarising the State for gains.

He said “CongressGovernment here wants todivide Karnataka communityto rule.

I received information thateven though there is no suchregulation in the constitution,Muslim community here wasbefooled with reservationwhich was later out ruled by theCourt.”

“Paresh Mesta was recent-ly killed. What is this Govtdoing in these murder cases?Gauri Lankesh was killed. Iwant to assure Karnataka pub-lic that when our Govt isformed, we will probe herdeath from all angles, and cul-prits will be punished. Wewon’t save anyone” he added.

For both the rulingCongress and for the majorOpposition BJP Karnataka iscrucial and ensuing Assembly

polls is testing ground forCongress president RahulGandhi who is playing softHindutava politics afterGujarat.

On Rahul Gandhi becom-ing President he said “I want tocongratulate him (RahulGandhi) but also ask- did thefire of communalism, terrorism& Naxalism in India erupt due

to BJP’s policies? Did fire eruptin Kashmir erupt due to BJP’spolicies? If someone formedGovernments by setting thefire, it is Congress. BJP is try-ing to douse it.”

He also announced that theBJP will be fighting the upcom-ing State Assembly electionsunder the leadership of formerChief Minister BS

Yeddyurappa.Union Home Minister

Rajnath Singh accompaniedby BJP State chief B.S.Yeddyurappa, Union MinisterAnanth Kumar and SadanandaGowda and other leaders par-ticipated in the rally.Yeddyurappa has undertakenparivarthan yatra, a tour acrossthe State under the instructions

from party national presidentAmit Shah to counter theappeasement politics of ChiefMinister Siddaramaiah.

The BJP is making allefforts to make Congressmukth Karnataka in the ensu-ing elections scheduled to beheld in 2018. Poll punditsobserve that Karnataka will bethe real testing ground for

Rahul Gandhi who has takenover as the Congress Presidenttwo days back. After witness-ing Congress President RahulGandhi’s temple hopping andpracticing soft Hindutva inGujarat, a perceptional changeto woo Hindu voters, tocounter BJP, in the electionbound Karnataka Congressleaders too are following theirleader to counter the majorOpposition BJP following thenew mantra of Hindutva poli-tics.

Chief MinisterSiddaramaiah who has taken aone month poll yatra calledKarnataka Nava Nirmana fromWednesday to counterYeddyurappa’s parivarthanayatra to launch developmentprojects across the State hasmore than one time spokeabout himself being a Hindu.

Some of his Ministers havealready started saying theywere Hindus to counter BJP’sHindutva politics a new foundstrategy adopted post Gujaratelections.

In the impending electionsSiddaramaiah stressed thespelling of his name which hasRama in it. Apart from templehopping a change the con-gress leaders have started talk-ing about Hindu and Hindutvaa new idiom in the century oldparty.

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Aphasing out ceremony ofWar horse Mi-8

Helicopters was held at the AirForce Station, Yelahanka inBengaluru on Sunday. Mi-8also known as the “PRATAP”arrived in India in the year1971 at Bombay and were for-mally inducted in the IndianAir Force helicopter inventoryin the year 1972.

Between 1971 and 1988,Indian Air Force inducted107 Mi-8 helicopters, rechris-tened as the “PRATAP”. Mi-

8’s served for 45 years aftertheir induction and is cur-rently being phased out.

The Mi-8, PRATAP wasinducted in ten operationalhelicopter units and it operat-

ed in several major IAF oper-ations including OperationMeghdoot in the SiachenGlacier and Operation Pawanin Sri Lanka. The helicopteralso operated extensively inHumanitarian and Disaster Reliefoperations across the length andbreadth of the country.

The Mi-8 has also beenassociated with VIP/VVIP fly-ing for over decades. Mi-8through its glorious servicecareer, did not just establishitself as a mainstay of thehelicopter operations but alsoleft an indelible mark on the

future by providing the IndianAir Force with a lineage ofprofessional helicopter air-crew. 112 Helicopter Unitbased here at the Air ForceStation, Yelahanka, is the lastunit to operate this formida-ble platform 112HU is thealma mater of HeliLift.

The unit has the record ofpassing out 119 pilot courses,89 Flt Eng courses and 57 Fltgunner courses. Mi-8 has beenthe backbone of medium liftcombat capability of IndianAir Force and was ideal plat-form for graduation of MLH

aircrew. The ceremony wasattended by veterans headed byAir Chief Marshall (Retd) FaliHomi Major PVSM, AVSM,SC, VM, ADC. He flew the lastMI-8 mission along with CO112HU.

Air Marashal SRK NairPVSM, AVSM, VSM, AirOfficer Commanding-in-Chief, Training Command,IAF was the chief guest on theoccasion. Air Marshal JasjitSingh Kler, VM, CommandantNDA, the senior most MI-8helicopter was also presenton the occasion.

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The Kerala Government onSunday decided to extend

the search for the fishermenwho had gone missing inArabian Sea in Cyclone Ockhiup to the Goa coast andrequested the State’s boat own-ers to make available the ser-vices of 200 boats for this. TheGovernment is also planning tomake a presentation on theextent of the Ockhi tragedybefore Prime MinisterNarendra Modi during his visitto the cyclone-affected regionon Tuesday.

As per the decision takenat a meeting Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan held with rep-resentatives of boat ownersand fishermen inThiruvananthapuram, thesearch operations will now beheld in a stretch of about 400nautical miles of sea betweenMunambam near Kochi andGoa on the basis of reports thatbodies of fishermen could havebeen trapped in this zone.

The discussions betweenthe Government and represen-tatives of various sectors relat-ed to fishing was held in thecontext of increasing demandfor intensifying search opera-

tions as many fishermen hadnot returned even 18 days afterthe cyclone. MinistersKadakampally Surendran andE Chandrasekharan, ChiefSecretary KM Abraham andothers attended the meeting.

“What is apparent is thatwe will have to scour the sea forthe missing fishermen. TheMarine Enforcement will leadthe operation. Its crafts and(private) fishing boats will par-ticipate in the search,” PinarayiVijayan told newsmen after themeeting. He added that theChief Secretary had beeninstructed to prepare a detailedplan for this.

Though most of the fisher-men who had gone missing in

the cyclone were from south-ern districts, especiallyThiruvananthapuram, manybodies have so far been foundfrom the sea off the NorthKerala coast and fishermensay that this could be due to thenorthward current. Boat own-ers have promised all possibleassistance in the search.

Meanwhile, theGovernment is planning tomake a presentation using sta-tistical details and images onthe extent of the Ockhi tragedy’to Prime Minister NarendraModi when he arrives in theState on Tuesday. He is expect-ed to visit some of the cyclone-affected areas of Lakshadweepand Tamil Nadu but reports

suggested that he may not visitKerala’s Ockhi-hit places.

Late reports on Sundaysaid that Modi might not visitthe Ockhi-affected fishinghamlets in Kerala due to secu-rity reasons but would meetrepresentatives of fishermenat Raj Bhavan in the State cap-ital, Thiruvananthapuram. TheGovernment’s plan is to makethe presentation to the PrimeMinister at Raj Bhavan.

But it is not yet certainwhether Modi, who is expect-ed to spend only an hour in theState capital, will get the timeto sit through the presentationduring his flash visit. The ChiefSecretary had informed thePMO about the plan to makea presentation to Modi but nofavourable response had comefrom there till late Sundayevening.

The Government’s objec-tive is to convince the PrimeMinister that the State has suf-fered losses amounting to morethan �2,000 crore in the cycloneand that the Centre shouldcompensate this. The StateGovernment has already soughta Central assistance of �1,834crore to meet the emergencyarising out of Cyclone Ockhi.

As per reports, the Prime

Minister will fly to Agatti islandin Lakshadweep to visit theOckhi-hit regions there onTuesday morning. He wouldarrive in Thiruvananthapuramfrom Lakshadweep by after-noon and leave forKanyakumari in Tamil Nadu tovisit the cyclone-affected areasthere and would return toThiruvananthapuram byTuesday evening.

Meanwhile, a pastoral let-ter issued by Archbishop MSoosapakiyam of the KeralaLatin Catholic Church askedthe faithful to maintainabsolute transparency aboutthe cyclone rehabilitation fundthe Church, to which a largenumber of fishermen fromT h i r u v a n a n t h a p u r a mbelonged, would be mobilizingby ensuring that not even “asingle paisa” of it leaked out.

Stating that the coastalarea of Kerala presently was asea of grief, the letter asked thebelievers not to allow anybodyto cash in on the situation. TheChurch will observe December29, the 30th days since thecyclone, as a memorial day forthe fishermen who were killedor were missing in the cyclonewith a special Mass andprayers.

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Kerala’s Marxist FisheriesMinister J Mercykutty

Amma on Sunday admittedthat the Government did notknow how many fishermenhad been missing in CycloneOckhi even 18 days after thestorm while the Police, DisasterManagement and her ownFisheries Department put thenumber at around 300. She saidthe exact number could beknown only by Christmas.

“Where did this number –300 – come from? TheGovernment has not acceptedit,” Mercykutty Amma toldnewsmen inThiruvananthapuram. As perthe estimates drawn up tillSaturday by the three depart-ments on the basis of the firstinformation reports, 300 fish-ermen had gone missing inArabian Sea following thecyclone that hit the Keralacoast on November 30.

The departments’ esti-mates’ say that FIRs have beenregistered about the missing of72 fishermen fromThiruvananthapuram districtand 32 from Kochi. Apart fromthese numbers, the cases offishermen missing in whichFIRs have not been registered

are 13 in Kollam district and 83in Thiruvananthapuram.

The number of deaths inCyclone Ockhi in Kerala,according to the Government,is 60 and 40 bodies were yet tobe identified. Informal esti-mates say that a minimum of72 persons have been killed.The number of bodies foundfrom the sea off the coast ofKozhikode alone stood at 22 ason Sunday.

The estimates of the KeralaLatin Catholic Church, towhich a large number of fish-ermen in Thiruvananthapuramdistrict belong, about the num-ber of missing fishermen differin a big way from the officialfigure. The Church says that aminimum of 250 fishermenhad gone missing fromThiruvananthapuram alone.

Minister MercykuttyAmma claimed that there wasnot much difference betweenthe estimates of theGovernment and the Church asfar as men who had gone insmall boats. The Governmentdid not have the exact numberof fishermen who had gone inbig boats but they were expect-ed to be back only byChristmas, said the Minister.

“Even the families of thesefishermen are expecting themby Christmas. When this is thesituation, there is no point indrawing up estimates on them,”she added. However, a fisher-men’s union leader in Kochipointed out that theGovernment did not have asystem by which details of thefishermen going to the sea onbig boats could be known.

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Bihar Chief Minister NitishKumar on Sunday expressed

concern over decline in convic-tion rate for crimes and askedofficials to expedite the processof speedy trial to achieve thedesired results as in the past.

On his assuming power ofBihar for the first time in 2005,Kumar had successfully used theprocess of speedy trial to expe-dite conviction rate for crimesas an effective measure to con-trol law and order in the State.

He was emphasising on thesame successful weapon tocontrol crimes.

“The concerted and coordi-nated steps that increased con-viction rate since 2006 has nowweakened”, he said expressongconcern while addressing a day-long seminar attended by HighCourt Judges, top civil and policeofficials among others here.

The seminar on “EffectiveInvestigation, Speedy Trial andTimely Justice” was organised byHome department in associationwith Bihar Judicial Academy.

Patna High Court judgeJustice K K Mandal, JusticeDinesh Kumar Singh, AdvocateGeneral Lalit Kishore, ChiefSecretary Anjani Kumar Singh,Director General of Police P K

Thakur besides several District Judges, District Magistrates

and Superintendent of Policeand Public Prosecutors attend-ed the function.

Kumar assured the gather-ing that the Government wasready to make any invest-ment to achieve the goal ofspeedy trial and conviction, beit the use of technology suchas video conferencing or cre-ation of posts.

Kumar suggested thatBihar Judicial Academyshould hold training pro-gramme for Superintendentsof Police but it should alsocome out with short termtraining course of one or twoor three days for Sub-Inspectors engaged in investi-gation work.

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Page 8: 3 4 .5 . /067/89 /1 ˆ!˙˜!#ˇ˜ˇ˙˜$˚˜%&˙˚˜’˚( who has to take pills/capsules before going to sleep at night ... ban on any kind of photogra-phy in the temple premises.

While the world is busy get-ting ready to welcome2018, two ancient cities —Ayodhya and Jerusalem— have been in the news

for civilisational reasons in the last monthof the outgoing year. Jerusalem, the focusand spiritual centre of the Jews, hit the head-lines when the Trump Administrationdecided to shift the US embassy in Israelthere from its current location in Tel Aviv.

Ayodhya, one of the holiest cities ofHindus, figured in public discourse recent-ly after the Supreme Court decided to hearthe Babri Masjid-Ram Janam Bhumi case.Appeals against the Allahabad High Courtverdict in this case have been pendingbefore the apex court for the last seven years.

Both Ayodhya and Jerusalem, located intwo different parts of the globe, have a lotin common in terms of travails and the trau-ma they have suffered at the hands of suc-cessive invaders, who claimed divine inspi-ration from their respective religious textswhile repeatedly sacking the ancient cities.

Like Ayodhya, whose existence pre-dates even Lord Rama, the history ofJerusalem too is lost in antiquity, tracingits hoary past to Adam, the first man cre-ated by god. It is believed that Adam livedin Jerusalem all of his life.

During its chequered history,Jerusalem has been attacked 52 times, cap-tured, and recaptured 44 times, besieged23 times and destroyed twice. In the 1stcentury CE, Jerusalem became the birth-place of early Christianity. The EmperorConstantine developed the city as aChristian centre of worship and the Jewswere banned from their city.

In 638 CE, the city was over-run byMuslims, led by their first Caliph Umar ibnAl-Khattab. However, in July 1099, cru-saders captured the city and nearly all theMuslim and Jewish inhabitants were mas-sacred. In 1517, Jerusalem was taken overby the Ottoman empire and after its collapse, by the British.

The way the name of Lord Rama (andby association that of Ayodhya) permeatesIndia and Hindus the world over, the city ofJerusalem is central to the faith and identityof Jews. Here are some Jewish customs.

A tiny amount of ash is touched to theforehead of a Jewish groom before he goesto stand beneath the bridal canopy. This sym-bolically reminds him not to allow his ownrejoicing to be greater than the ongoing needto recall Jerusalem’s repeated destruction.

Another ancient custom is to leave a pathof interior wall opposite the door to one’shome unpainted, as a remembrance of thedestruction of the temples and city ofJerusalem at the hands of successive invaders.

According to the Bible, Jewish templesstood on Temple Mount. According toJewish tradition and scripture, the first tem-

ple was built by King Solomon, the son ofKing David, in 957 BCE and destroyed bythe Babylonians in 586 BCE. The secondwas constructed under the auspices ofZerubbabel in 516 BCE and destroyed bythe Roman Empire in 70 CE. Jewish tra-dition maintains it is here that a third andfinal temple will also be built.

The location is the holiest site inJudaism and is the place Jews turn towardsduring prayer. Due to its extreme sanctity,many Jews will not walk on the Mount itself,to avoid unintentionally entering the areawhere the Holy of Holies stood, since accord-ing to Rabbinical law, some aspect of thedivine presence is still present at the site.

However, after Islamic take-over in 638CE, the Mount was declared the third holi-est site for Sunni Muslims. It is revered asthe Noble Sanctuary, the location ofProphet Muhammad’s journey toJerusalem and ascent to heaven.

The Prophet is believed to have beentaken by the miraculous Steed, Buraq, to visitJerusalem, where he prayed and then to visitheaven, in a single night in the year 610.

While the Hindus are repeatedly toldto prove Lord Rama’s birthplace atAyodhya, none has ever asked for evidencefor the Islamic belief about the Prophet’ssojourn to heaven on a flying horse.

Thanks to their steadfast commitmentto their culture and faith, unity, and clarityof purpose, the Jews today have complete con-

trol over Jerusalem. On the other hand, divid-ed Hindus have been struggling to build aRam temple at his birth place for hundredsof years, but without any tangible results.

The Hindu aspiration to build a grandRam temple, at the site believed to be hisbirth place in Ayodhya, is not directedagainst Islam or Muslims. What theKarsevaks demolished on December 6,1992, was not a place of worship (amosque) but a monument built by aninvader to humiliate the locals. The situ-ation is best summed up in the words ofArnold Toynbee, one of the great histori-ans of the present century. While deliver-ing the Azad Memorial Lecture, he said:

“As I have been speaking, some vividvisual memories have been flashing up in mymind’s eye. One of these is a mental pictureof the principal square in the Polish City ofWarsaw sometime in the late nineteen twen-ties. In the course of the first Russian occu-pation of Warsaw (1614-1915) the Russianshad built an Eastern Orthodox ChristianCathedral on this central spot in the city thathad been the capital of the once independentRoman Catholic Christian country, Poland.

“The Russians had done this to give thePoles a continuous ocular demonstrationthat the Russians were now their masters.After the reestablishment of Poland’sindependence in 1918, the Poles hadpulled this cathedral down. Demolition hadbeen completed just before the date of my

visit. I do not greatly blame the PolishGovernment for having pulled down thatRussian Church. The purpose for which theRussians had built it had been not religiousbut political, and the purpose had also beenintentionally offensive.

“Aurangzeb’s purpose in building thosethree Mosques was the same intentionallyoffensive political purpose that moved theRussians to build their Orthodox Cathedralin the city centre at Warsaw. Those threeMosques were intended to signify that anIslamic Government was reigning supreme,even over Hinduism’s holiest of holy places.

“I must say that Aurangzeb had a ver-itable genius for picking out provocativesites. Aurangzeb and Philip II of Spain area pair. They are incarnations of the gloomi-ly fanatical vein in the Christian-Muslim-Jewish family of religions.

“Aurangzeb — a poor wretched misguid-ed bad man spent a lifetime of hard labourin raising massive monuments to his own dis-credit. Perhaps the Poles were really kinderin destroying the Russians self-discreditingmonuments in Warsaw than you have beenin sparing Aurangzeb’s Mosques. Anyway, itis Aurangzeb, and not the Hindu holyground on which his Mosques are planted,that suffers from their very conspicuous pres-ence...” (One World and India, compiled byNational Book Trust, pp 59-61)

(The writer is a political commentator anda former BJP Rajya Sabha MP)

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Sir — Exit polls conducted by var-ious polling agencies predictedthat the BJP would retain Gujaratwith a reduced margin of seats inthe 182-member Assembly,though one of them predicted asweep. The Congress’ tally waspredicted to go up by a few seats.If projections are correct, it willmean that the BJP’s campaign, ledby Prime Minister NarendraModi, triumphed over theCongress’ yet again in Gujarat.

Nevertheless, people will final-ly breathe a definite sigh of reliefthat at last, the absurdly long cam-paign for the Gujarat Assembly hascome to an end. Sober and seriousobservers are still at loss to explainthe Prime Minister’s excessive pre-occupation and involvement withthe campaigning in Gujarat.

Apart from the implicationsfor the Prime Minister’s prestige,the campaign assumed its ownimportance for Congress presidentRahul Gandhi. Whatever be theoutcome, this electoral roundseems to have administered amuch-needed dose of reality intothe Congress calculus.

J AkshayHyderabad

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Fake news: Clear and presentdanger” (December 14) by IshanJoshi. India is a multi-lingualnation, therefore, more localmedia, in Print or Electronic,looking at both and/or all aspectsof pan-national opinions, whichare reasonable in language, is the

key to fighting fake news. Further, freedom of speech

can only be controlled when polit-ical parties stop playing vote bankpolitics. Politicians themselvesmust not campaign in theaccusative, rather they can remindthe people of any success of theirpolicies, past or present. Divideand rule is the source of untrust-worthy promises.

J Rogers Via web

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Working towards peace in ourtime” by (December 15) by RKPachauri. The writer’s ferventappeal to India to offer to theworld what this civilizationalways preached and practicedmust be well taken by all saneelements in this country. Thereality is that countries havealways fought during the entirehistory for one reason or theother. This country, however,has never thrust a war on anoth-er country in its entire existence.

India always stands for peace.This peace, however, never com-promised the righteousness. Fromthe time of Lord Rama andMahabharata to the Kargil war,that has always been our stance.Even Gandhi said, “Fight if youmust on the path of righteousnessand God will be with you”.Whether we go out to the worldwith an olive branch or not, ouractions precisely confirm that.

Prakash C DixitRishikesh

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Page 9: 3 4 .5 . /067/89 /1 ˆ!˙˜!#ˇ˜ˇ˙˜$˚˜%&˙˚˜’˚( who has to take pills/capsules before going to sleep at night ... ban on any kind of photogra-phy in the temple premises.

Languages always play a vital rolein shaping society and develop-ing understanding between

communities. The history ofhumankind shows that every lan-guage its own culture and back-ground which has an importanteffect on future generations. It isbelieved that if you have to destroyany community or country, firsttarget its main language. In this back-drop, if we analyse the status of Urduin India today, we will find that Urduis at not only at the receiving endfrom opponents of the language butalso from them who claim to be itspromoters and lovers.

Research is an important compo-nent in the development, acceptabil-ity and viability of any language. The

same stands true of Urdu also. Largesections of Urdu-speaking peopleaccuse the Government for the lan-guage's but the truth is thatGovernments have very limited rolein developing or degrading any lan-guage, Urdu included. It is the speak-ers of the language who can take it toheights or ensure it plunges into obliv-ion. Urdu is one of the 22 Scheduledlanguages in our Constitution. It hasofficial language status in New Delhi,Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Telangana andJammu & Kashmir. No doubt Urduis a morphologically rich language. Itis also the language of our freedomstruggle which has given such slogansas Inqilab Zindabad. Considering itscontribution in developing our com-posite culture and national freedomstruggle, Urdu should be accorded ahigh status without any grudge. Butthis can be achieved only whenUrdu-speaking people do justice withit before seeking favours from others.

As far as research in Urdu is con-cerned, nearly every university inIndia has an Urdu department whereevery year a large number of research

scholars take admission and conductresearch. Apart from them, professorsof the respective Urdu departments notonly publish books and researchpapers but also contribute to a betterunderstanding of the nuances of thelanguage through seminars and con-ferences. Let us take up first an analy-sis of the standard of research in theUrdu departments of various univer-sities. It is a well-known fact that orig-inal sources are the best medium forconducting research. Where originalsources are not available, secondarysources gain great importance.

But what is going on in theresearch field, is that now professors andresearchers are not using any sourcesat all! They just collect, compile and editextant material and get published,which has no value at all academical-ly. For example, a close scrutiny of somecurrent research publications in Urdureveals a new trend among scholars -— pick up the work of a poet, tag to italready published reviews of the poemsand compile the whole to present as'research'. Another trend is to pick anytwo Urdu poets and compare them on

the pretext of research. Is this really aca-demic research? Another worryingtrend that has emerged in Urdu acad-emia is of influential professors, writ-ers and poets getting their studentsand/or well-wishers to undertakeresearch on themselves during theirown lifetime. This is pure and simpleself-promotion and cannot be acade-mically justified.

There are Urdu bodies likeNational Council for Promotion ofUrdu Language (NCPUL) with accessto huge public funds. For a sustainableanalysis, their role should also betaken into account. Although theseorganizations were founded with theaim of encouraging research and pop-ularizing Urdu as a language, what isreally going on within them? Well, tobe charitable, they have become just ameeting place for gup-shup between afew Urdu writers and poets. Grants areused for achieving interests of the var-ious lobbies at work instead of chalk-ing out any plan or programme todevelop Urdu. Such bodies have notencouraged or undertaken seriousresearch for years and are, in fact, fast-

becoming White Elephants which arejust a waste of tax-payer money.

Urdu academies, on the otherhand, have long since been function-ing as personal fiefdoms of those incharge. Instead of promoting the Urdulanguage they are prisoners to lobbiesand busy bestowing awards to the cho-sen few. We should not forget that inthis vast country there are many Urduwriters and poets who are unrecog-nized because they do not have accessto any lobby. This is not service to Urdu,rather it is an onslaught on the language.Madarsas play an important role in theuse and spread of Urdu. Why don’tbodies like the NCPUL or various Urduacademies flush with Governmentgrants over decades play a positive roleby backing these Madarsas to promoteUrdu (and by implication an inclusive,syncretic India)? Obviously, becausethese schools for the poor cannot givethem any under-the-table benefit orpolitical clout!

It is not true that Urdu is laggingbehind in adapting to the modernworld. It is used by a large numberof users on the Internet. Not only

individuals, but companies and evenGovernment agencies are analysinguser-generated online Urdu content.There are many websites whichprovide information in Urdu. But theburning question is how much haveour researchers and Urdu bodiescontributed to these websites? TheUniversity Grants Commission(UGC) also promotes research com-pilations. So many Urdu scholars justcompile and collect material andtake an ISBN numbers from others.This has damaged the interest ofUrdu. The UGC should demandauthentically researched books andmust constitute a Committee toscrutinize any book submitted aswell as its ISBN number.

If we are true lovers of Urdu thenwe should accept our shortcomings.Urdu language must be freed from thetrap of a shayari-mushaira mentalityand begin the process of adopting mod-ern research parameters to do seriousacademic work too.

(The writer is former MediaAdviser, Aligarh Muslim University,Aligarh)

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West Asia appears to becursed. When wasthe last time theregion was portrayedor perceived in pos-

itive light in public discourse? Anydevelopment that augurs well for thefuture is matched by an unnervingdevelopment that suggests animpending catastrophe. First, SaudiArabia arrested eleven princes ongrounds of corruption. This was asensational piece of news, yet innocu-ous as compared to the happeningsin the region, and brought the regioninto spotlight again. Then we heardabout the mysterious disappearanceand resignation (later withdrawn) ofLebanese Prime minister Saad Hariri.This was followed by Iraq’s PrimeMinister Haider Al-Abadi’sannouncement that evil ISIS hadbeen defeated. And to top it all camePresident Donald Trump’s announce-ment regarding the status ofJerusalem and its significance. Hisstatement, which recognizedJerusalem as the capital of Israel, hassparked a outrage in Muslim major-ity countries, Islamic theocracies andEuropean powers. America founditself isolated when 14 members of theUN Security Council (UNSC)emphatically condemned this move.

Historically, America has alsoused its veto power in the UnitedNations to protect its closest ally inWest Asia, Israel, and sheltering theIsraeli Defence Forces (IDF) which,at times, have been accused of com-mitting war crimes. FormerPresident Barack Obama’s frustrationregarding Israel was evident whenthe US decided to abstain from a votethat criticized Israel’s expandingsettlements in the West Bank, andthereby, let it pass 14-0 at the UNSC.This was a rare case. Out of the 226resolutions condemning Israel since1948, the US has barely vetoed tenper cent of them.

There was tremendous anxiety inWest Asia when Trump was electedin November last year. The region,which has been intertwined innumerous conflicts and alliances,appeared perplexed. How would thenew leader of the free world enun-ciate his policies regarding the trou-bled region; a region plagued by con-flict and hatred. His ambiguous andblurry stance on a number of issuescoupled with his image of a fledglingleader raised eyebrows around the socalled Islamic world. The decision torecognize Jerusalem as the capital ofIsrael has put to rest the concernsallegations of ambiguity; Trumpclearly knows what he is doing. Butnew questions are floating aroundnow: Was it a wise choice to recog-nize Jerusalem as the capital ofIsrael? If so, then what took the US

close to six decades to do so? Further,will this decision help or hinderpeace in West Asia?

Post World War II, the Jewishlobby in America has perfectlyunderstandable wielded tremendouspower. The American Israel PublicAffairs Committee (AIPAC) is veryinfluential in dictating and mould-ing public policy. In their widely readbook, 'The Israel Lobby and USForeign Policy', John Mearsheimerand Stephen Walt delineate theauthority the lobby commands.There is no doubt that this power-ful organization had an instrumen-tal role to play in Trump’s decisionon Jerusalem. The history of the cityitself is chequered. The city is of greatsignificance to the three majorAbrahamic religions; Judaism,Christianity and Islam. Israel’s KingDavid captured Jerusalem, hisdescendants erected the Temple onthe Mount; a site which is revered byJews world over. Even though theyare barred from entering the Temple,they pray at the Western Wall. TheChristians visit the empty tomb ofJesus, and Muslims venerate the‘Muslim Dome of Rock’ and the Al-Aqsa Mosque which is regarded asa very holy site in Islam. The imageof Jerusalem as a melting pot of cul-tures and Abrahamic religions, how-ever, compounds the conundrum.

When the United Nationsannounced resolution 181 in 1947,it essentially divided Israel into twoparts; Israel and the Palestinian ter-ritories. But the resolution explicit-ly stated that the city of Jerusalemshall be established as a corpus sep-

aratum (separated body) and wouldbe administered by the UnitedNations. However, the carnage thatfollowed the 1947-48 Arab-Israeliwar and the division of Jerusalembetween Israel and Jordan put allsuch plans on the shelf. Events couldsaid to have overtaken the decisionand when in the 1967 War Israelemerged victorious, the Jewishnation captured East Jerusalem fromJordan and it has been under its con-trol since. That’s the ground reality.However, throughout the negotiationprocess in peace talks between Israeland the Palestinians, it was implic-itly acknowledged that a final settle-ment would have to answer thequestion: What will be status ofJerusalem? The Palestine LiberationOrganization (PLO) and Israelagreed in the Oslo accord (1993) thata more permanent solution regard-ing Jerusalem can only be foundthrough active negotiations betweenthe parties concerned; Israel and thePalestinians in this case. One of themost iconic photographs which hasbeen imprinted in public memory isof former US President Bill Clinton,PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat andIsraeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabinsigning the historic accord.

Against this backdrop, it wouldsafe to say that the coming year isgoing to be a tumultuous one for thecity of Jerusalem. Many observershave pointed out that if Hamas con-vinces the Palestinian people that thesacred Al-Aqsa’ mosque will bethreatened then there could be blood-shed on the streets of Jerusalem. TheOrganization of Islamic Cooperation

(OIC), a coalition of 57 countries, hasundermined the US position by stat-ing that East Jerusalem is in fact thecapital of an independent state ofPalestine. West Asia has been soengrossed in its own power play overthe years that the issue and status ofPalestine has been put on the back-burner. Needless to say, that Trump’sforeign policy trump card, seen as alack of coherence and diplomaticfinesse by his critics, is escalating ten-sions in an area that is already bleed-ing due to the vicious and violentnature of power politics in the region.His statement regarding Jerusalem’sstatus is bound to be challenged andit will be contested vigorously bymany stakeholders.

Is this a feasible policy choice?The issue under scrutiny is so hotlycontested that a unilateral decisionwill simply not be palatable to thecountries involved in the conflictapart from Israel. A piece written bythis writer for the Jerusalem Post lastyear had championed the idea of acloser bilateral relationship betweenIndia and Israel. There is no doubtthat this relationship will thrive inthe years to come. But the IndianGovernment must take a firmerstand on the unilateral US decisionthat betrays a lack of understandingof the complexities of the regionrather than just trying to tread a del-icate rope trying not to hurt Israeli,Palestinian and American senti-ments. That would be a testament tothe lack of independence in our ownforeign policy framework.

(The writer is a socio-economiccommentator)

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Q. To start with, could you pleaseshare with me how you are feelingnow after reaching at the top posi-tion in the same bank where youhad started your career as proba-tionary officer, serving more than37 years in various verticals in dif-ferent levels?

It is very humbling to head a greatinstitution, but the feeling to get theopportunity to head the organisation,where you began your career, ispriceless. State Bank of India is a greatorganisation and my 37 years of asso-ciation with the bank has been a spec-trum of wide ranging experiences. Ihave worked in multiple assign-ments across different verticals, likelarge credit, project finance, foreignexchange and retail banking, alongwith two overseas assignments. SBIhas provided a vast sea of opportu-nities and a challenging career pathas it continues to do so even now. Oneunique thing about working at SBI isthat there has been novelty andlearning in each of the assignments.I feel that the bank has helped me togrow not only in professional life butalso at personal level.

Q. What is your top priority asChairman of the bank? How wouldyou like to handle bank’s business-es with your ‘corporate mantra’ inall respect, including issues of ris-ing bad loans, improving assetsquality, etc?

Reviving credit growth and a forwardmovement on resolution of stressedassets are immediate top priorities. Inthe long run, the bank has to emergestronger financially and be in the fore-front of adoption of technology forenhanced customer experience andcost efficiency.

Handling of bad loans requiresboth systemic and structuralapproaches. To handle stressed assets,a dedicated position of MD (StressedAssets Resolution Group) has beencreated for resolution. Many morechanges are being implemented toaddress this issue. The worst seems tobe over so far as fresh slippages areconcerned. Once the resolution ofNCLT cases starts happening and thelosses arising are absorbed by thebanks, aided by the recapitalisation ofpublic sector banks, the asset qualitywill show improvement.Underwriting standards, supervision,follow up and monitoring of loans areall being further strengthened.

Q. For the bank, lending opportu-nity in the infrastructure segmentis huge. Have you set any targets orany stipulated timeframe? Apartfrom infrastructure, are not alsothere many other fields such as agri-

culture, MSME etc where bank cangrab opportunities?

The portfolio of assets is beinglooked into. There will now beemphasis on what yields best returnfor the bank apart from lending to thepriority sectors.

Q. Could you throw some light onissue of waiving farmers’ loan, anyplan to minimize interest rate onhousing loan and bring back min-imum balance amount into savingsbank account to �1,000 or less asthere are many account holders whocan’t afford to keep even morethan �500 in their accounts?

An opportunity for settlement ofsmall value non-performing assetshas already been provided by thebank under Rinn Samadhan whichhas received huge response.Recently, we have already reducedour home and auto loan rate by 5basis points. Our home loans arealready the lowest in the industry.

The minimum account balanceamount has also been reduced from�5,000 to �3,000 in metro centres.Besides, savings banks accounts ofpensioners and beneficiaries of wel-fare schemes and minors havealready been exempted from mini-mum balance requirement. For

people, who can’t maintain mini-mum balance, they can open BasicSavings Bank Deposit (BSBD)accounts or convert their existingaccounts to BSBD accounts withoutany fee. For accounts opened underPradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojanathere is no requirement for main-taining minimum balance. SBIalways takes care of banking needsof all sections of the society.

Q. As far as revival of credit growthand resolving the NPA issues areconcerned, what steps have youtaken and how confident are you tobring it into reality in short time?

CRAR of the bank as on 30 June2017 stood at 13.31 per cent (CET1of 10.06 per cent, tier 1 of 10.67 percent and tier 2 of 2.64 per cent) onthe back of capital of �15,000 croreraised by the bank through QIP dur-ing Q1FY18. This is against the reg-ulatory minimum CRAR require-ment of 12.10 per cent (CET1 of8.60 per cent, tier 1 of 10.10 per centand tier 2 of 2.00 per cent) as onMarch 31, 2019. At present, the bankis adequately capitalised, but I willlike to strengthen loss absorptioncapacity further.

Revival of credit growth dependsupon both demand side and supplyside factors. With recapitalisation of

bank, supply side constraints areexpected to be removed. Additionalexpenditure on infrastructure asannounced by the Government islikely to boost demand for credit.

Q. After the recent announcement bythe Government towards majorrecapitalisation, is there any certaindemand you are going to put in withyour requirement of funds despiteSBI being better positioned as com-pared to all other nationalised banks?

The Government has decided tocapitalise all public sector banks(PSBs) in a front-loaded manner tosupport credit growth, revival ofMSME sector and job creation as well.We expect that a fair share of therecapitalisation funds will be madeavailable to us, as we are well posi-tioned to leverage our strength asproxy to the economy, to drive thecredit growth.

Q. After the merging of 5 associatebanks with SBI to become the largestbank in the country, do you feel anyimmediate threats from othernationalised and even private banks?

SBI has the capability to respond tocompetition from other banks aswell as financial intermediaries.Productivity or efficiency parame-

ters for the bank do need toimprove. The bank is doing quitewell on the operating income front.Through adoption of technologyand review of processes, cost toincome ratio is expected to comedown. Once the asset qualityimproves, the credit costs are alsoexpected to come down.

Q. Your predecessor ArundhatiBhattacharya at her first Press con-ference as Chairperson talked toughagainst non-performing staff, whileyou were not much open after tak-ing the charge. Can you pleaseshare your views on this issue?

My message to the frontline staff hasbeen around the key issues of cus-tomer service, empathy, politenessand strong ethics in dealing with oneand all. I have always believed that ourfrontline people are the face of ourbank and customers are our assets.We may have the best products, tech-nology or ambience, but if we are notcourteous and polite to our customersour business will not endure.

Bhattacharya’s tenure has beenpath-breaking in many ways. Her ini-tiatives have taken our bank to newheights. I hope to carry forward the211-years-old legacy of the bank withsame level of efficiency and vision likemy predecessors.

Q. As far as corporate socialresponsibility or CSR wing ofyour bank is concerned, is thereany specific message or suggestionyou have in your mind towardsexpansion in different fields ofsociety, say for the weaker sectionand the needy?

CSR is not new to SBI, we havebeen extending our ‘ServiceBeyond Banking’ to the societyunder the name innovative bank-ing since 1973. Every branch ofSBI undertook activities like blooddonations camps, tree plantationetc. SBI Foundation (SBIF) hasbeen established to undertakeCSR projects that are long-term,impact-oriented, and focuses onuplifting the lives of marginalisedcommunities in the country.

We have the right people whoare heading SBI Foundation andCSR department of the bank witha common goal to reach more andmore underprivileged at the bot-tom of the pyramid every year.The focus areas of intervention areeducation, healthcare, skill devel-opment, women empowerment,care for women and elderly anddisability.

Q. As SBI has a large number ofemployees, will digitalisation andtechnology reduce the require-ment of employees in near future?In a country where we need to pro-vide employment, is this not some-thing worth worrying for theyouth?

This was the argument whencomputerisation started in thebanks. The point to be consideredis whether the banking systemcould have developed the way ithas if it was still in manualmode. In five years, SBI shouldemerge financially very sound,cost efficient, customer friendly,new age bank.

Q. You are an avid traveller aswell as a good administrator. Youalso love sports like badmintonand others. Could you please tellhow you manage yourself withtime and energy?

I believe that prioritising jobs andplanning ahead for the day helpsa lot in managing our time well.I do the same. I try to allot a ded-icated time for leisure and do notallow myself to be distracted byunimportant things during work-ing hours. This saves me a con-siderable amount of time andenergy to dedicate to sports andother personal commitments afterending the day’s work.

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Not all banks will be eli-gible for capital sup-port of the Government

this fiscal, but those who haveperformed relatively better andneed capital most will be con-sidered for fund infusion,sources said.

It is not necessary that allbanks will be issued recapital-isation bonds in the firsttranche, but the money will begiven depending on fulfilmentof various parameters, includ-ing reforms undertaken, asenior official said.

Capital infusion would becontingent upon performance,reforms undertaken and futureroad map, official said.

The quantum of the capitalinfusion during the current

fiscal would be known afterParliament will give nod forthis, the official said, addingthat the Government is yet todecide on SLR (StatutoryLiquidity Ratio) status forrecapitalisation bonds. TheSLR status will ensure trade-ability of bonds.

Finance Minister ArunJaitley in October hadannounced an unprecedented�2.11 lakh crore two-year roadmap to strengthen Public

Sector Banks, reeling underhigh non performing assets(NPAs) or bad loans.

Their NPAs have increasedto �7.33 lakh crore as of June2017, from �2.75 lakh crore inMarch 2015.

The plan includes floatingre-capitalisation bonds of �1.35lakh crore and raising �58,000crore from the market by dilut-ing Government’s stake.

The Government equity,as per the current policy, can

come down to 52 per cent instate-owned banks.

Jaitley had also announcedthat banks would get about�18,000 crore under theIndradhanush plan over thenext two years.

Under the Indradhanushroad map announced in 2015,the Government hadannounced infusion of �70,000crore in state-owned banksover four years while they willhave to raise a further �1.1 lakhcrore from the market to meettheir capital requirement inline with global risk norms,known as Basel-III.

In the last three-and-a-halfyears, the Government pumpedin �51,858 crore capital in thePSBs. The remaining �18,142crore will be injected into thebanks over the next two years.

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In order to increase credit avail-ability to small businesses, the

Finance Ministry has asked pub-lic sector banks to open MSMEintensive branches.

Micro, small and mediumenterprises (MSMEs), which area huge employment generator inthe country, contribute 40 percent of the India's manufacturing.

To cater to the segment,banks have been advised to openspecialised branches with skilledmanpower to handle therequirement of employmentintensive MSME sector, sourcessaid. The decision to this respectwas taken in the 'PSB Manthan'organised by the FinanceMinistry last month.

Besides, they were alsoadvised to strengthen clusterbased lending, sources said,adding that branches would help

in channelising loans to the sec-tor which is engine of growth.

As many as 50 clusters havebeen identified for enhancedaccess to financing, sourcesadded. Small IndustriesDevelopment Bank of India(SIDBI) has revampedudyamimitra.In portal, so thatbanks compete for financingMSME projects.

It is to be noted that FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley in Octoberhad announced an unprece-dented �2.11 lakh crore plan tostrengthen public sector banksthat are reeling under high non-performing assets (NPAs) orbad loans.

The capital infusion, Jaitleyhad said, will be accompanied byreforms to enable the state-owned banks to play major rolein the financial system and givea strong push to the job-creatingMSME sector.

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NEW DELHI: The Governmentshould bring down its stake inpublic sector banks (PSBs) to 33per cent in the next three yearsas it plans to recapitalise banksto strengthen NPA-hit lenders,industry body CII said.

“Over the next 2-3 years, theGovernment could considerbringing down its stake in mostPSBs to 33 per cent. It couldretain a larger share in the StateBank of India in order to meetpriority needs. The off-loadingof stake may be in the form ofpreference shares instead ofequity shares to maintain themajority voting rights with theGovernment with nil transfer-

ence to the investors. On a moreimmediate basis theGovernment may consider goingfor public issue to dilute itsstake to 52 per cent with the 33per cent being a target over thenext 3 years,” the industry bodysaid in a statement.

Currently, PSBs are major-ly owned by the Governmentwith a minimum stake of 58 percent which has now been relaxedto 52 per cent, it added.“However, many PSBs have amuch higher Government equi-ty holding at over 80 per cent,while only 4 have brought downthe share to 58 per cent as ofMarch 2017,” said CII. PTI

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Page 11: 3 4 .5 . /067/89 /1 ˆ!˙˜!#ˇ˜ˇ˙˜$˚˜%&˙˚˜’˚( who has to take pills/capsules before going to sleep at night ... ban on any kind of photogra-phy in the temple premises.

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Two promising first yearstudents of Vellore

Institute of Technology (VIT),Utkarsh Kumar and VanshArora earned rare distinctionat ‘Rajasthan Hackathon 3.0’ -the biggest Governmenthackathon even organised atUdaipur. The students, whowere also the youngest partic-ipants at the event, signed acontract with the RajasthanGovernment worth �15 lakh,which was given by the ChiefMinister, Vasundhara Raje.

Utkarsh Kumar and VanshArora built an AugmentedReality (AR) app (Team Bhai)for tourism, which enhancestourists' experience. Over 1,800participants gave a demon-stration of 450 different pro-jects in the preliminary statesand 13 of them were shortlist-ed for the finals. Some of theparticipants who competed inthe event also included profes-sionals working in big indus-tries and also former studentsof IITs and IIMs. “Most par-

ticipants were experienced andwere also older. We did notexpect to win the hackathon. Itis our biggest achievement,”said Utkarsh Kumar on win-ning the biggest Governmenthackathon in India.

“Our AR app will help inenhancing experience oftourists as it explains the storybehind the places they visitwith its help. Our App will be

the only augmented realitycompany to have Governmentvalidation,” said Vansh Arora.

On the inspiration behindthe startup Utkarsh Kumarsaid, “My mother is fond of his-tory and she is the reasonbehind making the AR app areality.” The team will start withRajasthan tourism and willmove to the other Indian States.

The App can help not only

tourism, but also educationsector to make learning moreinteresting. The team wentsecond to pitch and floored thejudges, who seemed reallyimpressed with the idea and thedemonstration. ‘Wow’ is howNick Booker, co-founderIndoGenus reacted to the pro-totype and Mohandas Pai,Chairman of Manipal GlobalEducation also lauded the app

of the VIT students, stating thatthey were brilliant.

‘Rajasthan Hackathon 3.0’was conducted to give a platformfor enterprising youth, startupsand entrepreneurs across thenation and to think out of the boxon more than nine topics includ-ing Artificial Intelligence,Augmented Reality/VirtualReality, Blockchain, Big Data,Internet of Things, Bio-infor-matics, Bhamashah, E-MITRA,Tourism. Participants werejudged by Mohandas Pai, PulakGhosh, Professor at IIMBangalore and Nick Booker.They will now be their mentorsto build their initiative.

They are also given achance to get incubated underiStart, a Rajasthan Governmentincubation programme. Othernotable guests were theDirector Public Affairs of Uber,MD of Autodesk, the CountryHead of Oracle, CEO of OYORooms, CEO of Zoomcar,CTO of PepsiCo and Director,Startups and NationalTechnology Off icer ofMicrosoft.

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State-owned ONGC has torninto regulator DGH’s pro-

posal for auctioning its dis-covered oil and gas fields, say-ing national oil companiescan raise production if they areoffered the same fiscal con-cessions as being extended toprivate companies.

In para-wise commentson the Directorate General ofHydrocarbons’ (DGH) pro-posal to auction 60 per centstake in some producing oiland gas fields of ONGC andOil India Ltd, ONGC saidnational oil companies (NOCs)should also be allowed to par-ticipate in the auction.

DGH has identified 15 dis-covered and producing fields -11 of Oil and Natural Gas Corp(ONGC) and four of Oil IndiaLtd - with a cumulative in-placereserve of 791.2 million tonnesof crude oil and 333.46 billioncubic metres of gas, for auc-tioning on the plea that private

involvement will raise output.The fields “may be offered

to NOCs in case the NOCassures to raise the productionby working out financial via-bility of the field with the

extending of incentives likelesser royalty and no cess to theNOC”, ONGC said on theDGH’s draft ProductionEnhancement Contract Policy.

DGH has in the policy pro-

posed to auction the fields to thebidder who commits the max-imum investment and pledgesthe largest share of its net rev-enue to the Government.

The bidder, who would payreduced royalty rates and beexempted from payment of oilcess and import duty on capitalgoods under the HydrocarbonExploration and LicensingPolicy (HELP), would get 60 percent equity in the field andreceive 60 per cent of net pro-ceeds from sales from the fourthyear after production.

ONGC said the provisionof the selected bidder gettinga 60 per cent of net proceedsfrom sales should apply onlywhen output rises above apredecided base profile.ONGC said as per proposal,DGH shall invite bids frominterested parties, evaluate andfinalise the selection.

“The methodology pro-posed to finalise a private com-pany does not foresee any rolefor ONGC,” it said demanding

a leading role in defining bidevaluation criteria and bid eval-uation. “Alternatively, freedomto farm-in (take sake) may begiven to ONGC itself,” the com-pany said.

Also, the provision ofreverting back the field to NOCmay be made in the policy incase of non-performance by aselected partner, without anycompensation, it said. The firmalso said it should be examinedif the state governments wouldaccept the reduction in royaltypayment and no cess.

ONGC quest ionedDGH’s mathematical formu-la which used indices likecut-of f reser ve volume,exploitation rate, currentrecovery rate and averageproduction decline to iden-tify the 15 fields. Techno-commercial factors such ascrude oil quality, its price,proximity to market, etcneeded to be taken intoaccount before handing overto the private players, it said.

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The Department of Telecom’s(DoT) working group on

backhaul spectrum -- includingE and V bands that connectmobile towers with each other-- is mulling to allot such air-waves through auction insteadof ‘fixed fee’ as suggested by thesector regulator TRAI.

“The working group onmicrowave access andmicrowave backbone at the DoTis largely in favour of allocatingE and V band spectrum throughauction. The report of the com-mittee will be placed before theTelecom Commission in itsmeeting scheduled for December21,” an official source told PTI.Data through E (71-76 Gigahertzfrequency and 81-86 Ghz) and V(57-64 Ghz frequency range)band can be transmitted with aspeed of around 1000 megabitper second.

Spectrum in these bandcan ease work of telecom oper-ators from laying optical fibrecable (OFC). Telecom opera-tors are required to pay hugeprice for laying OFC to localauthorities and frequentlymaintain it as well. Expertsopine that these spectrum canbe used for developing ecosys-tem for 5G services as well.

TRAI had recommendedthat E-band spectrum should becharged at �10,000 per annumper slot of of 250 MHz each andthere should be an initial pro-motional discount of 50 percent for three years from thedate of allocation of first car-rier in this band. For spectrumin V-band, the regulator hasrecommended a charge of�1,000 per annum per slot of50 MHz each.

TRAI recommended thatthe price of E and V bandshould be reviewed after 5years based on deploymentand usage of the links. Theregulator had also recom-mended spectrum in 26 GHz,28 GHz, 32 GHz, 38 GHz and42 GHz should be earmarkedfor fixed point-to-point con-nections of mobile towers.

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Market watchdog Sebiwill come down heavi-

ly on illicit ‘initial coin offers’seeking public investmentswith promise of high returnsfrom Bitcoins and other vir-tual currencies , amid amushrooming of suchschemes in the absence ofany regulatory regime.

However, Sebi is not keen totake on the mantle of a regulatorfor such ‘trading’ - currently beingoffered on a number of so-calledexchanges despite there being norules in his regard - as the under-lying product, which is Bitcoin orany such crypto currency, is notan approved product by RBI orany other agency, top officials said.

At the same time, Sebi cannotallow gullible investors to be takenfor a ride with unlawful promisesby these exchanges and thoseclaiming to ‘mint’ crypto curren-cies. A number of them are sus-pected to be indulging in fraudu-lent activities without actuallyminting any such virtual curren-cies that require very complexalgorithms, the officials noted.

A number of ‘coin offerings’being made in India are nothingbut fraudulent Ponzi or pyramidschemes, including some offering

secondary trading in Bitcoins orother established virtual curren-cies, while many others are plainfrauds without any such currencyactually being in play, they added.

RBI has already made publicits disapproval for all such curren-cies and has said it has notapproved any of them, while taxauthorities recently conductedsearches at various exchanges andare believed to have collectedinformation on lakhs of entities

including HNIs who could have‘traded’ there. The regulators andGovernment agencies are in a stateof quandary as even imposing a taxwould amount to giving a legal sta-tus to such currencies, for whichany consensus remains elusivegiven the huge risks, includingmoney laundering and terroristfinancing, attached with suchactivities.

However, there is a kind ofunanimity emerging about sub-

jecting such trading to lawsagainst black money, moneylaundering and frauds so that theinterest of general public remainssafeguarded, a senior officialsaid, while adding that any finaldecision would be taken at high-est level and a multi-regulatorypanel may be assigned that job.A gravity-defying bitcoin rally toover �10 lakh a unit, interspersedwith 'stories' of people makingcrores from thousands, has leftthe regulators flummoxed.

The RBI has been issuingwarnings since 2013, the firsttime when the surge in bitcoinscaught the attention of Indians,but the risks have multipliedmanifold now in the wake of asignificant spurt in the valuationof many such virtual currenciesand a rapid growth in InitialCoin Offerings (ICOs).

Modelled on the IPOs forissuance of new shares in thestock market, some entitieshave begun resorting to ICOs toraise funds from investors,including HNIs and other indi-viduals, who are getting luredinto claims of huge returnsfrom bitcoins and other suchvariants -- apparently gettingminted in the digital world butalso reaching the real worldincluding as wedding gifts.

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Commerce and IndustryMinister Suresh Prabhu said

this was probably the first timein recent history that India wasnot being blamed for the col-lapse of talks at the ministerialmeeting of the World TradeOrganization (WTO).

“We came here with an openmind” but things did not movebecause of the adamant attitudeof some members, Prabhu toldreporters here. The talks at the11th ministerial conference of theWTO collapsed with the USgoing back on the commitmentmade by it along with othermember countries to find a per-manent solution to the publicfood stockpile issue.

Following the breakdown oftalks, there was no ministerial dec-laration at the end of the conference,though chair and ArgentineanMinister Susana Malcorra made astatement highlighting the devel-opments. “This is (for the) first timethat India is not being blamed...Weare definitely not going back as vil-lains,” Prabhu said, adding thecountry has not lost anything butgained a lot, especially in terms ofthe goodwill of the developingnations.

At previous ministerial meet-ings, India was often blamed foradopting an uncompromising andstern attitude which thwartedattempts of member nations toreach consensus on key issues. TheMinister said that during the courseof the 11th ministerial conference,he had over two dozen bilateralmeetings during which heexplained the position of India aswell the developing nations on dif-ferent issues.

Observing that trade negotia-

tions are always difficult, theMinister said, “we knew that noth-ing was going to happen becauseof the way the US administratingwas moving... questioning the effi-ciency of the global trading system.”

As regards the food securityissue, the Minister said that Indiawas keen to have a permanent solu-tion which ought to have been bet-ter than the ‘Peace Clause’ and ledthe battle for it. However, talksreached a dead end after AssistantUS Trade Representative SharonBomer Lauritsen in a small groupmeeting said that permanent solu-tion to the food stockholding issuewas not acceptable to America.

The Minister said that USobjections were not directed againstIndia but some other country,probably China. Under the globaltrade norms, a WTO membercountry's food subsidy bill shouldnot breach the limit of 10 per centof the value of production based onthe reference price of 1986-88.Apprehending that full implemen-tation of food security programmemay result in breach of the WTOcap, India has been seeking amend-ments in the formula to calculate thefood subsidy cap.

As an interim measure, theWTO members at the Bali min-isterial meeting in December2013 had agreed to put in placea mechanism popularly calledthe Peace Clause and had com-mitted to negotiate an agreementfor permanent solution at the11th ministerial meeting atBuenos Aires. However, as noagreement was reached at MC11, Peace Clause will continueand also the existing mandate tofind a permanent solution.

During the ministerial,Prabhu said, India continued topress for reduction of farm sub-sidies by the developed countriesand resisted inclusion of newissues on the negotiating tablelest it should dilute the commit-ment to complete the existingagenda. The Minister furthersaid there is life after BuenosAires and the WTO will con-tinue to thrive as a transparentmultilateral trading organisa-tion for the good of the world.

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BUENOS AIRES: Commerceand India Minister SureshPrabhu has said India will calla meeting of some WTOmembers in February to mustersupport for food security andother issues. “We are planninga meeting of WTO members inFebruary,” the Minister said,adding it would be like a mini-ministerial meeting.

Although the contours of themeeting would be worked outlater, he said the aim was to bringlike-minded nations togetherand explain to them the country'sposition as well as concerns overissues of common interest.

This comes against thebackdrop of developed nationsforming groupings to preparethe ground for pushing invest-ment facilitation, preparing rulesfor e-commerce, promotinggender equality and reducingsubsidy on fisheries with a viewto curbing illegal, unreportedand unregulated fishing.

India has been keenly push-

ing agriculture issues at theWTO. It has also been raising itsvoice against bringing newissues, especially those which arenot directly linked to trade, onthe negotiating table.

The meeting, according toofficials, would help India inexplaining its stand on variousissues to the member nations andpreparing them for collectiveaction. India has been arguing thatthere are various other interna-tional forums to deal with specificsubjects and non- trade issues,especially those concerning gen-der and climate change, need notbe taken up at the WTO. PTI

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With more routes set to beoperational under UDAN,

the civil aviation ministry islikely to face paucity of funds inproviding viability gap funding toparticipating airlines, accordingto a senior official.

To connect unserved andunder-served aerodromes as wellas make flying more affordable,the ministry has launched UdeDesh ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN)and as many as 128 routes con-necting 70 airports were award-ed in the first round of bidding.A total of 141 initial proposalshave been received from variousplayers in the second round ofbidding, the results of which areexpected to be announced thismonth. As participating airlinesare extended Viability GapFunding (VGF), the ministryfeels that amount that will beavailable towards it might not besufficient once more players startoperating UDAN flights.

The ministry contributes 80per cent of the VGF amount,while the remaining comes fromthe state governments concernedand in the case of north-easternstates and union territories, thesharing ratio is 90:10. A seniorministry official said funds avail-

able for providing VGF might notbe enough as more routesbecome operational underUDAN.

Towards VGF, the ministryis levying �5,000 per flight on keyroutes and proceeds from thisroute is estimated to be around�200 crore annually. So far, theministry has garnered around�70 crore by way of levy for theVGF.

In the coming year, all theairports in the first round wouldbe operational, the official said.While a final decision is yet to betaken, the ministry might askstate governments concerned tocough up more money to meetthe VGF requirements. Anotherpossibility could be by way ofbudgetary support, the officialadded.

Under the regional connec-tivity scheme, VGF will be pro-vided for the flights for three

years from the date of com-mencement of operations.

As per the ministry, in thefirst and second rounds, there areairlines that have not asked forany VGF. A total of 141 initial and55 counter proposals have beenreceived. There are altogether 18applicants, including 17 whohave put in their initial propos-als in the second round of bid-ding. The initial proposals involve502 routes that seek to connecta total of 126 airports and heli-pads. These include 49 unservedand 15 under-served airports aswell as 24 helipads, the ministrysaid last month.

Out of them, 108 are for fly-ing fixed wing aircraft and 33for operating helicopters. Thenumber of UDAN flights to beoperated in a week with VGFshould be at least three and amaximum of seven departuresper week from the same airport.

BEIJING: India’s exports to Chinaregistered a sharp increase of over53 per cent year-on-year to reach$1.24 billion in October, but thetrade deficit continued to mount,according to data released by thecustoms. The trade deficit forOctober stood at $3.86 billion.Despite the strains in the bilateralties, India-China trade increased by13.56 per cent year-on-year toreach $6.33 billion in October.

Significantly, India’s exports toChina increased by 53.04 percentyear-on-year to reach $1.24 billionthough the trade deficit continuedto grow. The Indian exports toChina around the same time lastyear was $0.81 billion, data showed.China’s exports to India also con-tinued to grow registering an year-on-year growth of 6.87 per cent toreach $ 5.09 billion. It were boost-ed by natural pearls, preciousstones and precious metals, organ-ic chemicals, copper and articles,cotton, including yarn and wovenfabric, ores, slag and ash. PTI

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NEW DELHI: A committeeconstituted by the Irdai has sug-gested host of changes in the lifeinsurance sector, including in theinvestment norms to improvethe returns generated by thefunds. The insurance regulatorhad notified the IRDAI (Non-Linked Insurance Products)Regulations, 2013 and IRDAI(Linked Insurance Products)Regulations in February, 2013.

However, it was observedthat there is a need to review theregulations due to changingmarket and economic environ-ment, Irdai said. In Jan this year,it constituted an eight membercommittee to make recommen-dations on the amendmentsrequired in the regulations. PNS

NEW DELHI:Automobile industry body SIAM is seeking two tax ratesfor passenger vehicles (PVs) under the GST regime instead of multi-ple rates levied currently, as part of its wish list for the upcoming bud-get. The industry body has also sought from the FM Arun Jaitley a spe-cial tax rate of 12 per cent for electric and hydrogen fuel cell poweredvehicles. “The automotive industry has been suggesting two rates forcars in place of multiple tax rates, and requests the Govt to keep onlytwo rates for vehicles under the GST regime,” SIAM said in its sugges-tions for the Union Budget 2018-19. Currently, under the GST regime,small petrol cars with engine capacity less than 1200cc attract 1 per centcess, while diesel cars with engine capacity of less than 1500cc attract 3per cent cess, on top of the 28 per cent tax. Similarly, cess on hybridcars, including mid, large and SUVs, remains at 15 per cent, likewisethose vehicles used for transport of not more than 13 passengers. PNS

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Two suicide bombersattacked a packed church

during a Sunday service in therestive Pakistani city of Quetta,killing eight people and injuring44 others in a targeted assault onthe minority Christian com-munity ahead of Christmas inthe Muslim nation.

The Islamic State (ISIS) ter-ror group claimed responsibil-ity for the attack. The group’sAmaq News Agency posted astatement online, saying attack-ers had stormed the church inQuetta — the capital ofBalochistan province. But theterror group provided no evi-dence for the claim.

Balochistan HomeMinister Mir Sarfaraz Bugtisaid that at least two suicidebombers were involved in theattack on the Bethel MemorialChurch on Zarghoon road inQuetta.

"One attacker was killed atthe gate by police after anintense gunfight while theother wearing suicide vestentered the church and deto-nated his explosives," he said.

Bugti said that the terror-ists had weapons and it seemsthey wanted to take hostagesinside the church. "The securityforces foiled their plan," he

added.Balochistan's Inspector

General Moazzam Ansari saidthere were 400 worshippersinside the church when it wasattacked.

Ansari said that policeassigned to the church's secu-rity reacted in a timely mannerand averted a much largertragedy.

"It was a coordinatedattack," he said, adding that the

security forces have clearedthe church.

Dr Wasim Baig of CivilHospital said that nine peoplewere killed in the attack,including two women.

Two women were amongthe dead, and 10 women andseven children were amongthe injured, hospital officialssaid.

According to the church'sFacebook page, it had organ-

ised different programmes allthroughout December to markChristmas, and was holding a'Sunday School ChristmasProgramme' at the time of theattack.

The Bethel MemorialChurch has been the target ofa terrorist attack in the past.

Sources in the Balochistangovernment said that few daysback Methodist schools andchurches had received threat-

ening notes from the Sajjangroup of the Tehreek-e-TalibanPakistan.

The threatening notes werealso received in Karachi andLahore which led to mission-ary schools cancelling theirexaminations and taking anearly winter/Christmas break.

Following the attack, anemergency was declared in allhospitals across Quetta.

Army chief Gen Qamar

Javed Bajwa condemned theattack, calling it "an attempt tocloud Christmas celebra-tions/create religious cleav-ages."

"Quetta church attack tar-geting our brotherly ChristianPakistanis is an attempt tocloud Christmas celebra-tions/create religious cleav-ages.

Effective response by LEAsis commendable. We stay unit-

ed and steadfast to respondagainst such heinous attempts,"he said.

Pakistan Interior MinisterAhsan Iqbal condemned theattack, which came a day afterPakistan observed the thirdanniversary of the Peshawarschool attack of 2014 whichkilled at least 150 people, most-ly students.

Foreign OfficeSpokesperson Muhammad

Faisal condemned the terrorattack, saying Pakistan's resolveagainst terrorism cannot bedeterred by these cowardlyacts of terrorists.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-InsafChairman Imran Khan alsostrongly condemned the terrorattack.

"The Government mustensure special protection forchurches as Christmasapproaches. My prayers go tothe victims' families and for thespeedy recovery of the injured,"Khan tweeted.

On March 15, 2015, theTaliban suicide bombersattacked two churches inLahore’s Youhanabad neigh-bourhood, killing 15 peopleand wounding 70 others.

Christians make up an esti-mated 1.6 per cent of Pakistan's200 million people. Today'sassault raised concerns aboutthe security of religious minori-ties, especially Christians, in acountry with a dismal recordwhen it comes to the treatmentand protection of religiousminorities, analysts say.

Pakistani officials deniedthat ISIS had an organisedpresence in the country, how-ever, even though the terroristgroup has claimed responsi-bility for several other attacksin Baluchistan in recent years.

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United Nations: The UN Security Council isconsidering a draft resolution that would affirmthat any change to the status of Jerusalem has nolegal effect and must be rescinded, in responseto the US decision to recognise the city as Israel'scapital.

Egypt circulated the draft text on Sunday anddiplomats said the council could vote on the pro-posed measure as early as Monday.

Breaking with the international consensus,US President Donald Trump this monthannounced that he would recognise Jerusalemas Israel's capital and move the US embassy therefrom Tel Aviv, sparking protests and strong con-demnation.

The draft resolution obtained by AFP stress-es that Jerusalem is an issue "to be resolvedthrough negotiations" and expresses "deep regretat recent decisions concerning the status ofJerusalem", without specifically mentioningTrump's move. It affirms that "any decisions andactions which purport to have altered the char-acter, status or demographic composition" ofJerusalem "have no legal effect, are null and voidand must be rescinded."

Diplomats said they expected the UnitedStates to use its veto power to block the measurewhile most, if not all, of the 14 other councilmembers were expected to back the draft reso-lution.

The status of Jerusalem is one of the mostcontroversial issues in the Israeli-Palestinian con-flict. Israel seized control of the eastern part ofthe city in the 1967 Middle East war and sees thewhole of Jerusalem as its undivided capital. ThePalestinians view the east as the capital of theirfuture state. AFP

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The British Government willspend 50 million pounds

more to boost intelligence andsurveillance capabilities, andpay for armed officerspatrolling the streets as part ofits counter-terrorism efforts.

The rise follows warningsfrom police and security ser-vices of a step change in thethreat from Islamist terrorismthis year, following a series ofattacks across the UK.

Chancellor PhilipHammond and HomeSecretary Amber Rudd havestruck a deal to raise the HomeOffice budget from 707 millionpounds (USD 941 million) to757 million pounds (USD 1 bil-lion) next year.

Rudd is believed to havesecured the extra funding after

days of "quiet diplomacy" withthe Chancellor.

The extra funds sanctionedfor the Home Office will boostintelligence and surveillancecapabilities and pay for armedofficers patrolling city centres.

"This represents our com-mitment to backing the bravecounter-terrorism forces withthe resources they need tokeep people safe," Rudd toldThe Sun today.

MI5 spies had revealedrecently that the security ser-vices have managed to thwartnine terrorist attacks on homesoil since March, when a vehi-cle-bound terrorist struck at theUK Parliament complex, killingfour people.

That attack was followed bya suicide bombing at an ArianaGrande concert in Manchesterin May and a vehicle and knife

rampage on the streets ofLondon in June in terrorattacks claimed by the IslamicState (ISIS) terror group.

The ruling Conservativeparty was criticised byOpposition Labour leaderJeremy Corbyn in the generalelection in June for cutting thenumber of police officers onstreets.

Since 2015, the UKGovernment has increasedcounter- terror spending by 30per cent, which includes morearmed officers plus an extra500 million pounds for theSpecial Air Service, intelli-gence service MI5 and theGovernment CommunicationsHeadquarters — the intelli-gence and security organisationresponsible for providing infor-mation to the Governmentand armed forces.

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Hailing LeT and JuD terrorgroups as "patriotic", for-

mer military dictator PervezMusharraf has said that hewas ready to enter into analliance with them forPakistan's "safety and security",according to a media report.

The 74-year-old retiredgeneral, who is on self-exile inDubai, had last month said thathe was the biggest supporter ofthe LeT and its founder HafizSaeed, the Mumbai terrorattack mastermind who headsthe banned Jamaat-ud Dawah.

"They (LeT and JuD) arepatriotic people. The mostpatriotic. They have sacrificedtheir lives for Pakistan inKashmir...," the ARY Newschannel quoted him as saying.

Musharraf said the twogroups have large public sup-port and good people and noone could object if they formeda political party.

The LeT was banned fol-lowing the 2008 Mumbai attackin which 166 people werekilled, while the JuD wasdeclared as a foreign terroristorganisation by the US in June2014.

JuD chief Saeed, accused ofmasterminding the Mumbai

attack, had last month unveiledhis political ambitions by for-mally announcing that hisgroup will contest the generalelections in 2018 under thebanner of the Milli MuslimLeague.

The former military rulerfurther said that so far the twogroups have not approachedhim but if they desire to enterinto an alliance with his party,he has no objection.

Musharraf had last monthannounced the formation of agrand political alliance after aconsultative meeting betweenrepresentatives of around twodozen political parties.

However, several partiesdissociated themselves fromMusharraf 's Pakistan AwamiIttehad alliance.

Musharraf, who plottedthe Kargil conflict, then toppledprime minister Nawaz Sharif ina bloodless coup in 1999 andruled over Pakistan for nineyears, is facing a slew of courtcases in Pakistan.

He unsuccessfully contest-ed 2013 elections after return-ing from five years of self-exilein Dubai.

He claimed that he wasready to face all charges as thecourts are not under "NawazSharif 's control anymore".

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Witnesses and health officialssay an airstrike by a Saudi-

led coalition has struck a wed-ding procession east of Yemen'scapital, killing 10 women.

They say today's airstriketargeted the women as theymarched to a village in Maaribprovince. They said the bride wasamong the women, but it was notimmediately clear whether shewas wounded.

It's a tradition in ruralYemen for the bride's femalefriends and relatives to escort herto the wedding ceremony, wherethe groom awaits.

The witnesses and officialsspoke on condition of anonymi-ty because they feared retaliationor were not authorized to briefthe media.

The US-backed coalitionhas been at war with Iranian-supported Shiite rebels since2015. Its airstrikes have hit civil-ians on a number of occasions.

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At least 11 Afghan police offi-cers were killed on Sunday

when Taliban fighters assaultedtheir checkpoints in volatileHelmand province in southernAfghanistan, authorities said.

The assaults on two policeposts are the latest in a series ofdeadly attacks on Afghan secu-rity forces claimed by theTaliban.

Taliban insurgentslaunched the attacks in theearly morning in the QalaiSang area of the provincialcapital Lashkar Gah.

"Our police fought themback, but unfortunately 11 ofour police were martyred andtwo wounded," provincialGovernor Hayatullah Hayattold AFP, adding that the mil-itants fled after the attack.Provincial police chief GhafarSafi said 15 Taliban fighterswere also killed during theskirmish.

After 16 years of war theresurgent militants show nosigns of fatigue, ramping uptheir campaign against belea-guered government forces,underscoring rising insecurityin the war-torn country.

Afghan police and troops -- beset by a high death toll,desertions and non-existent"ghost soldiers" on the payroll— have been struggling tobeat back the insurgents sinceUS-led NATO troops endedtheir combat mission inDecember 2014.

Also on Sunday, a suicidecar bomb attack targetingNATO forces in neighbouringKandahar province killed atleast one woman and wound-ed four other Afghan civilians,General Abdul Razeq, theprovincial police chief, toldAFP.

A NATO spokesman inKabul told AFP they were stillchecking reports concerningthe attack.

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Aslow-moving storm hasleft more than 30 people

dead and several others miss-ing mostly due to landslidesand floods and stranded thou-sands of holiday travelers in thecentral Philippines, officialssaid today.

Sofronio Dacillo Jr, a dis-aster-response officer, said 26villagers died and 23 otherswere missing mostly due tolandslides in different areas inthe island province of Biliran,where the weather hasimproved after Tropical StormKai-Tak blew over on Saturday.

At least seven other peoplewere killed in landslides andfloods in four central areas dueto Kai-tak, which weakenedinto a tropical depression butmoved southwestward andpicked up speed Sunday withsustained winds of 55 kilome-ters per hour, according toofficials and police.

The National Disaster RiskReduction and ManagementCouncil said it was trying toconfirm the reported deathscaused by the storm, whichforced more than 89,000 peopleto flee to emergency shelters.

Thousands of Christmasholiday travelers were strand-

ed due to canceled inter-islandferries and flights.

Kai-tak, known locally asUrduja, has remained almoststationary over the eastern sec-tion of the central Philippinesin recent days, drenching islandprovinces, setting off land-slides and floods and knockingout power in some areas.

President Rodrigo Dutertesaid he would visit the storm-hit region. About 20 typhoonsand storms, mostly from thePacific, lash the Philippineseach year, making the poorcountry of more than 100 mil-lion people one of the most dis-aster-prone in the world.

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Thousands of Islamists haverallied in two major cities

in Pakistan to condemn USPresident Donald Trump fordeclaring Jerusalem Israel'scapital.

Supporters of the Jamaat-e-Islami party in Karachi andadvocates of US-wanted IslamistHafiz Saeed in Lahore dispersedpeacefully after rallying Sundayfor the Palestinian cause.

Protests have persisted inPakistan since Trump'sannouncement angeredMuslims across the world.

The chief of Jamaat-e-Islami, Sirajul Haq, called on allMuslim nations to suspenddiplomatic ties with the US

until it reconsiders itsJerusalem decision.

Hafiz Saeed said thatMuslims the world over shouldput aside any differences andunite around the cause of "lib-

erating" Jerusalem.Muslim-majority Pakistan

has reiterated its support for thePalestinians, who claim eastJerusalem as the capital oftheir hoped-for state.

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Forget mistletoe, Christmasis not Christmas in Italy

without a slice of panettone —and festivities kicked off inMilan on Sunday with freeslices of the biggest Italiancandied cake in the world.

Weighing in at 140 kilo-grammes, the two-metre (oversix foot) high marvel was slicedup into 1,200 pieces for sweet-toothed tourists and locals atthe Victor Emmanuel II shop-ping gallery near the city'sGothic cathedral.

"Panettone is theChristmas dessert par excel-lence. Fashions may change,

but panettone remains anunshakable tradition," AngeloBernasconi, owner of the SanGregorio patisserie behind thegiant dome-shaped delight,told AFP.

The Milanese factorymakes the traditional cake withits candied fruits and raisinsnot just for Italy but around theworld, with some 200 of thegolden buns headed to a NewYork caterer alone each week.

In the run-up to Christmas"we never stop," saysBernasconi's partner SavinoMoretti, who is retired butcomes twice a week to pass onhis 50 years of experience to thepastry team.

The pair, aged 67 and 68,say the secret to their successlies in the mother dough, whichthey inherited along with theshop from the master baker,who made it — so legend hasit — by adding a dash of horseurine to the mix for acidity.

It takes 36 hours to turnout a panettone, with raisinsand candied peel added to themix of water, sugar, flour, eggs,butter and vanilla. Once baked,the cakes are hung upsidedown for 10 hours to allow thebutter to drop.

The giant version had to becooked in a special oven andwas baked "a lot longer andmore slowly," Bernasconi says.

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ADemocratic member of the Houseof Representatives has become the

sixth US lawmaker to be felled byreports of sexual misconduct as theswirl of allegations of sexual harass-ment this season has taken the CapitolHill as well in its broad sweep.

Ruben Kihuen, the Democraticlawmaker from Nevada, announcedon Saturday that he would not seek re-election next November, even whiledenying the allegations. Theannouncement came after the HouseEthics Committee said that it hasopened an investigation into allega-tions levelled against Kihuen by a for-mer campaign aide.

The 37-year-old first-termCongressman faced demands of res-ignation since BuzzFeed News report-ed on December 1 that betweenDecember 2015 and April 2016, hetouched a female staffer’s thigh with-out her permission and also alleged-ly “propositioned her for dates and sexdespite her repeated rejections”.

Regarded as one of the risingDemocratic stars till not long ago,Kihuen faced accusations by anotherwoman as well. The NevadaIndependent quoted a woman lobbyistas alleging that Kihuen had made mul-tiple unwanted sexual advancestowards her when he was a State

Senator earlier.In a statement on Saturday,

Kihuen refuted the allegations onceagain and said he looked forward tobeing cleared by the ethics panel.While committing to fully cooperatewith the probe, he stressed that theguiding principles of due processand presumption of innocence shouldnot be lost in the meantime to “unsub-stantiated hearsay and innuendo”.

“However, the allegations thathave surfaced would be a distractionfrom a fair and thorough discussionof the issues in a reelection campaign.Therefore, it is in the best interests ofmy family and my constituents tocomplete my term in Congress andnot seek reelection,” he said.

In all, three Democratic andthree Republican lawmakers in the UScongress have been hit by sexualharassment allegations. Prior toKihuen, veteran DemocraticCongressman John Conyers resigned,while Democratic Senator Al Frankenannounced that he would be leaving“in the coming weeks”.

The 88-year-old Conyers, whoused to be referred to as the “Dean”of the House and the longest-servingAfrican-American Representative inhistory until the allegations surfacedlast month, denied wrongdoing butresigned as pressure grew in thewake of multiple former aides accus-

ing him of unwanted advances andmistreatment. Senator Franken’sannouncement, too, came after severalwomen accused him of kissing andtouching inappropriately.

On the Republican side,Congressman Trent Franks hasannounced he would resign effectiveJanuary 31, after the House EthicsCommittee said it would investigatecomplaints that he had asked two for-mer female staffers to bear his childas a surrogate.

Another Republican lawmaker,Blake Farenthold from Texas,announced last week that he wouldnot seek re-election in November 2018after allegations that he sexuallyharassed some female staffers and cre-ated a hostile work environment.Media reports also said that he had set-tled a sexual harassment complaintwith his former communicationsdirector in 2014.

Another RepublicanCongressman from Texas, Joe Barton,has already announced that he, too,would not seek another term. The 68-year-old Barton’s announcement morethan two weeks ago came after ananonymous Twitter user’s move topost a nude selfie Barton had sent toa former paramour, Politico reported.A Texas newspaper had also postedracy text messages he had sent to aRepublican activist.

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Just when we were pondering overNewton dropping out of the

Oscar race, an Assamese film abouta 10-year-old girl’s dream to owna guitar despite being born topenury and her battle with adversecircumstances has brought a smileto our faces. A self-taught Assamesefilmmaker, Rima Das has wonmany accolades for her second fea-ture film, Village Rockstars, that hasworked its magic at the acclaimedfilm festivals including TorontoInternational Film Festival (TIFF),Cannes Film Festival and SanSebastián International FilmFestival.

Closer home, the Assamesedrama film was screened at the firstGuwahati International FilmFestival, Dharamshala InternationalFilm Festival, MAMI Mumbai FilmFestival and Kerala InternationalFilm Festival. She didn’t expectsuch an overwhelming response.“You can’t really decide how peo-ple will respond to your film as it’san artform that can be interpretedand appreciated differently. But Iam glad to hear all the wonderfulthings people are saying about thefilm.” She is hopeful that the appre-ciation will open doors money-wiseand will be able to find producersfor her next. “I want to expand thereach of film-making throughonline platforms. We are talking tosome crowd funders.”

Interestingly, Das has severalfeathers in her cap, being thescreenwriter, executive producer,editor, production designer, direc-tor and cinematographer of theflim. It was the opening film at theSmile International Film Festival

for Children and Youth (SIFFCY).Exclaimed she, “Directing this filmwas a life-changing event for me. Ihave given four years of my life toit. I was living in Mumbai since thelast eight years and have beentravelling wherever my work takesme to. I have grown up in the lanesof Assam and this movie gave methe opportunity to reconnect withmy roots. It made me relive mychildhood as I was working withchildren. They have a pivotal rolein the shooting process as they keptthe mood lively and light-hearted.Also, they were patient enough allthis while and believed in me. Weshot for around 150 days. It’s a dif-ferent journey and close to myheart.”

This Assamese director sharesa special and emotional bond withthe film. And wanted to tap intoraw talent. “I auditioned the childactors casually. It was less about thetalent and more about their passionand dedication, which I was looking for.” They taught her how

to unlearn, not take things seriously and be more sponta-neous. And most importantly to befree.

She believes that there is talentin every nook and cranny of thecountry — singers, actors, dancers,musicians et al but the consisten-cy and the zeal to work was herrequirement.

Added she, “It was a spontae-nous process, be it the auditions orworkshops under the blue sky,learning with each scene and from

mistakes we made this little film. Itwas a smooth and enjoyable jour-ney as there was no outer pressurein terms of time limit or moneyinvolved that I had to complete theshoot within a certain frame oftime. I didn’t have any producer ora financer but I am not complain-ing as it gave us the creative free-dom.” She feels that no one willinvest their money in her film asshe is still learning.

Das chose Assam as it calledout to her. “I shot in Assam as I amfamiliar with the surroundings,culture, traditions, lifestyle andthe people. It was a crucial factor,especially in this film as it talksabout a girl belonging to anAssamese village.” She added thatif one is not really familiar with theplace and the local people, it can getdifficult to make an honest piece ofwork.

With no formal backgroundin direction, she learnt the art bywatching and closely observingnumerous films. “I think that direc-tion is about telling a story. So, Ifirst wrote this script (2014), whichtook around six months and thendirected it according to my vision.The camera became my eyes inviewing situations, emotions andpeople. Technicality is just a formula, a tool helping to give formto one’s vision.” The film wasreleased in September and hasbeen leaving its mark across theglobe ever since.

In a first, a team of Australian and Dutch engineers hascreated a complete design for a quantum computer chipthat can be manufactured using mostly standard silicon

technology.The new chip design, published in the journal Nature

Communications, details a novel architecture that allowsquantum calculations to be performed using existing semi-conductor components, known as CMOS (complementarymetal-oxide-semiconductor) — the basis for all modernchips.

“Creating a microprocessor chip with a billion operat-ing devices integrated together to work like a symphony -that you can carry in your pocket is an astounding techni-cal achievement, and one that’s revolutionised modern life,”said Andrew Dzurak, Director of the Australian NationalFabrication Facility at the University of New South Wales(UNSW).

“With quantum computing, we are on the verge of anoth-er technological leap that could be as deep and transforma-tive. But a complete engineering design to realise this on asingle chip has been elusive,” Dzurak said.

“I think what we have developed at UNSW now makesthat possible. And most importantly, it can be made in a mod-ern semiconductor manufacturing plant,” he added.

The power of the new design is that, for the first time,it charts a conceivable engineering pathway toward creat-ing millions of quantum bits, or qubits, said study lead authorMenno Veldhorst of QuTech, a collaboration between DelftUniversity of Technology and TNO, the NetherlandsOrganisation for Applied Scientific Research.

The researchers explained that today's computer chips,although remarkable, cannot harness the quantum effectsneeded to solve many important problems.

To solve problems that address major global challenges— like climate change or complex diseases like cancer — itis generally accepted we will need millions of quantum bitsworking in tandem.

“To do that, we will need to pack qubits together andintegrate them, like we do with modern microprocessorchips. That’s what this new design aims to achieve,”Veldhorst said.

A quantum computer exponentially expands the vocab-ulary of binary code used in modern computers by usingtwo spooky principles of quantum physics — namely, “entan-glement” and “superposition”. Qubits can store a 0, a 1, oran arbitrary combination of 0 and 1 at the same time.

And just as a quantum computer can store multiple val-ues at once, so it can process them simultaneously, doingmultiple operations at once.

This would allow a universal quantum computer to bemillions of times faster than any conventional computer whensolving a range of important problems.

“Our design incorporates conventional silicon transis-tor switches to “turn on” operations between qubits in a vast

two-dimensional array, using a grid-based “word” and“bit” select protocol similar to that used to select bitsin a conventional computer memory chip,” Veldhorst

said. “By selecting electrodes above a qubit, we can control

a qubit’s spin, which stores the quantum binary code of a 0or 1. And by selecting electrodes between the qubits, two-qubit logic interactions, or calculations, can be performedbetween qubits,” he added.

Use caution before participating in any gift exchangeprogramme on Facebook as a Christmas con is doing

the rounds on social media to take advantage of your gen-erosity during the festive season, warns a report.

Christmas is meant to be the time of giving, but conartists are capitalising on that in a cynical scam onFacebook. The online “Secret Sister Gift Exchange”scheme claims that participants will receive up to 36 giftsin exchange for sending one gift valued at $10.

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) in America, a non-profit focused on advancing marketplace trust, earlierwarned that the exchange has been circulating on socialmedia sites and advised consumers to completely ignoreit altogether.

How does this scheme work?It claims that if a consumer purchases one gift for a

stranger, he/she will receive as many as 36 gifts in return,a typical pyramid scheme. And starting this gift exchangecomes with a catch — you need to disclose your person-al information, such as your home address.

This is on Facebook instead of the old way of usingletters because social media allows it to spread a lot faster,the BBB said in its advisory.

“To avoid this scam, the best thing to do is complete-ly ignore it altogether. Do not give out personal informa-tion to anyone,” it said.

Mustard oil has been used forcenturies as a food additiveand remains a staple in a

majority of Indian homes.Incorporating mustard oil into yourdaily diet is known to protect againstheart disease. The oil is rich inmonounsaturated fats and polyunsat-urated fats, both of which help lowerbad cholesterol and raise good HDLcholesterol hence maintaining one’scholesterol balance, which in turnleads to healthy cardiac functioning.

In Eastern and NortheasternIndia, it is hard to imagine life with-out a bottle of mustard oil at home.It is believed to have miraculousproperties, and therefore is used as aremedy to treat cold, boost immuni-ty, encourage hair growth, providenourishment to skin (especially incase of babies who are massaged withmustard oil during winters and madeto sunbathe for a dose of Vitamin Dand also to strengthen the bones), oralhealth, so on and so forth.

Said Executive Chef ArunSundararaj, “Mustard oil also workswell as an antibacterial, antiviral andantifungal agent and can help fightbacterial infections in the digestivesystem. From the taste point of view,. I believe that there is no ingredientthat comes close to it — mustard oilhas a unique texture to it. At the TajMahal Hotel, we use mustard oil indishes such as Mustard Prawns andBhatti Murgh,” he added.

At the same time, Sundararajadded: “It is recommended that onedoes not use mustard oil as the solemedium for cooking and instead usesa combination of different oilsdepending on the dish you are cook-

ing. Mustard oil has a highsmoking point and

as a result, is

ideal for deep frying.”Executive Chef Sonu Koithara

had a similar take on the benefitsfrom the health and palate point ofview of cooking in mustard oil.

Noting that mustard oil has culi-nary as well as therapeutic uses,Koithara told: “It has an edge overother oils due to the optimum ratioof omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acidsand its low content of saturated fats.It contains about 60 per centmonounsaturated fats (MUFA), aswell as polyunsaturated fats (PUFA),and saturated fats. These fatty acidsare considered ‘good fats’.”

He also pointed to researchwhich suggests that mustard oil hasstrong cancer-fighting propertiesand that it contains ample amountsof linolenic acid, which when con-verted to omega-3 fatty acid, helpsprevent cancers.

“Mustard oil also benefits theheart as it contains rich amounts ofMUFA and PUFA as well as omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Thesegood fats lower the risk of develop-ing heart diseases and is also a verypowerful natural stimulant andimproves digestion and appetite bystimulating digestive juices,” Koitharaexplained.

Umesh Verma, DGM (CorporateCommunications) at Puri Oil MillsLtd, the makers of P Mark mustardoil, said: “Mustard oil is the preferredchoice of generations of chefs acrosstraditional Indian cuisine spanningKashmir, Punjab and West Bengal asit bring alive the flavour of food.

“Indians like to carry the taste ofIndia to whichever country theymove to — and find inge-nious ways tot r a c k

down their favourite brands in thosecountries. We keep hearing of ourmustard oil being available in the USand in various European cities. It’s agreat feeling.”

Are there any foods that partic-ularly lend themselves to beingcooked in mustard oil?

The oil is one of the best-suitedfor Indian homes because of its ver-satility, Sundararaj said, adding itcomplements Indian spices and beau-tifully brings out the flavours of ourfood.

“While mustard oil complementsboth vegetarian and non-vegetarianingredients, dishes such as pickles ofall kinds taste best when made inmustard oil. In addition, mustard oilcan be used as a salad dressingalong with lemon and honey.

“Also there are many Bengali fishpreparations like sarson bata maach,paturi fish and other dishes likemangsho (mutton), murgir jhol(chicken) are best enjoyed whencooked in mustard oil,” he said.

For, Koithara, the use of mustardoil in Bengali food “is immense andit absolutely complements the Bengalipalate. Foods like Shorshe bata ilishand Chingri bhapa are delicacies thatcannot do without the generous useof mustard oil.”

Any other thoughts they’d like toshare on the subject?

“There are some ingredients thatcan never be replaced in the Indiankitchen and mustard oil is one suchessential because of its unique andpungent flavour,” Sundararaj said.

Pointing to mustard oil’simmense health benefits, Koitharasaid it is very good during winter asit produces body heat and protects thebody from cold.

“For this reason, people inRajasthan use mustard oil on theirbodies during winter to keep theskin supple and themselves healthy.Additionally, mustard oil has beenused extensively as a cure for coldand cough for decades,” he added.

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Many of us have certainly expe-rienced this that our mind is

always jumping ahead or laggingbehind but it is never in the moment.Why? The reason being its constantchattering or wandering, as a resultof which it robs us of being in themoment and living a wholesome life.So, how can we live to the fullestwhen our mind is chattering to itselfeven while we are engaged in ourdaily activities? The simple solutionto this problem is “meditation.”With meditation our mind becomesa useful instrument, instead ofenslaving us with its constant chat-ter. Meditation helps us train ourthoughts to stay in the presentmoment which in turn providespeace. Thoughts of the future or ofthe past prevent us from feeling thepeace that is in the present moment.In other words, being totallyfocussed in the present means thatyou do not think about the past orthe future, and are free from the neg-ative emotions that accompanythose thoughts.

Just like we cannot be taught howto sleep, it is not possible to teachsomeone how to meditate, becauseit’s so natural that it cannot be forced,but unlike sleep, it is to be practisedby remaining conscious. We requirea certain degree of will power toremain in the state of heightenedawareness that occurs when wemeditate. However, at the sametime we do need to relax, letting goof all our expectations and desires.This subtle balance between theeffort needed to sustain concentra-tion on one hand and detachmentfrom all distractions on the other iswhat is called the art of meditation.

Meditation is the cultivation ofself-awareness. The effectiveness ofour actions and interactions withinour relationships with others beginswith the quality of our thoughts anddecisions. Self-awareness is crucialas it gives one the ability to judgehis/her’s hold on our thoughts andfeelings. In fact, the vast majority ofpeople cannot even see that it is the“self” and not someone else who cre-ates their thoughts and feelings. Sowhen we fall under the illusion that

others are responsible for what wethink and feel, and, therefore, forwhat we do, we end up creating astressful life, becoming dependenton external sources of stimulation inorder to feel good. Meditation on aregular basis will gradually help onelearn to lessen one’s dependence onexternal things for our feelings andbegin to live an independent life.Meditation reconnects you to you!

Which really means restoresyour awareness, your real nature,which is calm, contented, yetdynamic and alive. To attain thisstate of relaxed awareness, we needto prepare ourselves by training ourthoughts in the right direction. It isimportant to reiterate that medita-tion is a process, and as such, takestime. Hence, the need to havepatience, perseverance and faith inourselves in order to develop anddeepen our meditation experience.However, it is crucial to rememberthat ultimately only you can teachyourself, as learning does not comefrom outside but needs to be culti-vated from within. Even if you falldown numerous times while learn-ing to ride a cycle, your parents won’tgive up. The same is valid for med-itation as nobody can stabilise theirmind the first few times, but withpractice it becomes a normal courseof life.

Bhagwad Gita states that mancan be his own best friend or his ownworst enemy. But in order to be mybest friend, I have to spend time withmyself. I have to learn to love andrespect myself so that I can love oth-ers and respect them as well. By get-ting to know myself and by keepinga watch on what is going on in mymind, I gently push the mind backon the right track. If during the day,I allow my mind to be negative orto have unnecessary thoughts, itwould be a difficult task and I wouldend up struggling to meditate. Onthe contrary, if I make sure mythoughts are good and positive, itwill be that much easier to have thatelevated experience. Alas, it is notsufficient to just read about it, oneneeds to be practical as well.

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Cancer is a lethal disease that is swallow-ing India silently. Even those types

which were once known to be rare are nolonger so. In India, approximately 4.5 lakhpeople are living with the disease, and thereare more than 7 lakh new cases being regis-tered yearly. About 5,56,400 deaths areknown to be cancer-related. Also, it’s estimat-ed that 71 per cent of all cancer-related deathstake place between the age group of 30 to69.

Among women, cancer cases as well asmortality are increasing. The main reason canbe attributed to low awareness and late detec-tion. Our country stands third after Chinaand USA in terms of the highest number ofcancer cases among women which is grow-ing per annum at 4.5 to 5 per cent. Amongmen, lung, oral and stomach cancers are theleading causes of death.

Today, one is aware about the variouscauses which play a role in the developmentof cancer, and many more factors are at leastsuspected of contributing to the emergenceof cancer. Therefore, it is rather questionablewhether a single main cause for the devel-opment of cancer will ever be identified.However, some obvious reasons due towhich the disease is on the rise in India arethe consumption of tobacco, excess exposureto ultraviolet radiation, consuming carcino-genic chemicals and food along with theexposure to rays and emissions of ionisingradiation.

������"����5.;�@��������Cancer is not bound by age or sex, nor

is it one of a kind. About hundred differenttypes of cancers are known to humans, andall differ from one another — the average atwhich they appear, the growth rate and thetendency to metastasis. Furthermore, inci-dence of cancer is higher in the metros thanin the rural areas due to the changing lifestyleand imitation of the Western lifestyle. It’s cru-cial to follow a healthy diet, exercise daily tobe cancer-free.

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Considering the impact and progression

of cancer, immunotherapy is a new class ofcancer treatment. Scientists working onimmunotherapy have basically taken adiverse route by tricking the body’s owndefences into combating the rival cancerwithin. For centuries, this has been an aspi-ration of medical scientist which has nowbecome a reality.

Human tumours express a number ofprotein antigens that can be recognised by Tcells, thus providing potential targets for can-cer immunotherapy. Dendritic cells (DCs) arerare leukocytes that are uniquely potent intheir ability to present antigens to T cells, andthis property has prompted their recent appli-cation to therapeutic cancer vaccines. IsolatedDCs loaded with tumor antigen ex vivo andadministered as a cellular vaccine have been

found to induce protective and therapeuticanti-tumor immunity in experimental ani-mals. In pilot clinical trials of DC vaccina-tion for patients with non-Hodgkin’s lym-phoma and melanoma, induction of anti-tumour immune responses and tumourregressions have been observed. Additionaltrials of DC vaccination for a variety of humancancers are under way, and methods for tar-geting tumour antigens to DCs in vivo are alsobeing explored. Exploitation of the antigen-presenting properties of DCs thus offerspromise for the development of effective can-cer immunotherapies.

Immunotherapy with dendritic cells hasgive a new ray of hope for patients. Countlessresearch and treatment facilities worldwideare increasingly turning towards this dendrit-

ic cell therapy. In fact, even modern nationslike USA have accepted and approved thistreatment. Prostate and pancreatic cancershave even got FDA approval for usingimmunotherapy for its treatment in the coun-try.

Although immunotherapy has been therein the country in the form of vaccine andinjections since the last five years, the resultsand the success rate were neither promisingnor encouraging. On the other hand, theeffectiveness of a treatment with dendriticcells has been encouraging. It has been provenin the case of skin, kidney, breast, pancreat-ic, colon, ovarian and prostate cancer.

Effective implementations of the thera-py with LANEX-DC, which utilises bettertechnology and technique, has been encour-aging. Cancer patients who have used thistherapy as compared to those who haveundergone the previous versions ofimmunotherapy, have witnessed an increasein the quality of life — prolonging the life spanand controlling symptoms by facilitating themlive a routine life.

For most types of cancer there exist stan-dard treatments which have been developedover decades. It is recommended to make useof these treatments and supplement themwith immune therapy, since it is known thattumour cells damaged by chemotherapy orradiation are much easier to destroy withimmune cells than undamaged tumour cells.

Treatment with dendritic cells is oftenused when conventional therapies have notbeen successful. In addition, it is a gentle treat-ment in contrast to other forms of treatment,such as chemotherapy or radiation, alongwith rare cases of side effect.

While there are other similar medicalfacilities already available in India that havebeen in use for a few years and which givevaccination in six cycles, at some outlets thesame treatment can be done in only one cycleand the treatment is like injecting immuni-ty medicine into the body.

Doctors who have recommendedimmunotherapy for their patients are nowsatisfied with the results, calling it a miracle.

(The author is an oncologist at ArtemisHospital, Gurgaon)

In Mungaska village ofRajasthan, all it tookwas the arrival of one

laptop and the internetconnection to embold-en women there tostand up to domesticviolence.

Two sisters, Reenaand Basanti, whoweren’t married as childbrides because they hadlearnt to use computers andnavigate the internet, are nowa confident voice of their commu-nity in Baran. In the same place, childrenfrom multi-caste villages sing together acrossa broadband wireless network. Traditionalsilk weavers in Chanderi have set up shop onthe web while others in town had not evenseen a computer. A family of poets, story-tellers and musicians has found refuge for thedying culture on the internet.

Then there’s young Raghav who hasestablished his own radio station to broad-cast from a modified wireless microphone.Raghav is illiterate and self-taught. His wife,Kiran, is neither. They both run a rural com-puter and information resource centre wherethey provide low-cost access to the internet,teach young people how to navigate it andscreen documentaries and educational dra-mas on their outdoor, shop-front cinema.

Digital empowerment in rural India andits transformative impact have been aptlycaptured by Australian musician and film-maker Andrew Garton, who has a history incommunity media, in his new documentaryfilm, Ocean in a Drop. Shot across 14 villagesof Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Biharfrom 2015, it portrays the need for digitalempowerment — broadband and broadcast

— in rural India. Garton wants to highlight

the consequences of Inform-ation CommunicationTechnology (ICT) usagein rural and tribal com-munities where evenradio barely works.“Where we usually forget

things easily, people fromrural India have a strong

capacity for retaining mem-ories. We might think rural

communities are poor but they arenot in terms of knowledge. Time and

again, we met people who, we were told, wereilliterate because they couldn’t read or write,and yet we found them to have such strongoral traditions and knowledge that continueto shape their culture and — to some degree— their interpretation of what the internet isand how it can be of use to them.”

For Garton, the amount of researchnever matters. What matters is the under-standing of a particular concept, “easilyachieved by spending quality time with peo-ple, observing them and trying to understandwhat are they grasping out of the digital mar-ket. With the availability of computers in someof the areas, I was able to observe that peo-ple were hardly interested in applications.Their knowledge was limited to the usage andknowledge of MS office, notepad, paint andFacebook”.

However, with digital access, “they are ableto find information for personal knowledgethat they could share with others in the vil-lage.” During an interaction with a woman,Garton came to know how she searched fora good cream for her pimples and got to knowthat aloe vera is one such thing that can solveher problem. “I found it revolutionary as

women are gradually using technology forpersonal information. This way people aregradually getting educated to search for nec-essary information,” he said.

Garton strongly felt that the governmentshould provide digital literacy to all.“However, they should also be providedcyber-security and made aware of cyber-stalking and fraud information. A ruralwoman shared the good news about themessage she received for winning a car andin return was asked to provide personalaccount details. Fortunately, she wasinformed well in time about such cyber-crimes,” he said.

Internet is an amazing place and yet hasits pitfalls. A lot of improvisation needs tobe done in terms of security and awarenessabout cyber-crimes and vulnerability online.

It’s a huge call for the government to

provide faraway communities computerswith basic digital literacy. Through theDigital Empowerment Foundation initiative,computers are in areas where radios andtelevisions barely exist. When asked aboutthe purpose of his film, Garton replied, “Theprominent purpose is to understand andmake the unintended consequences ofrural India visible to the public. It’s great tohave access to so much information, cultur-al exchange in terms of films and documen-taries. What it means to me and what itmeans to all of us working on it is that itdescribes the delicate balance betweenproviding access to the internet and all thatit may offer and all it can consume. Will themajority of new arrivals online be swept upin its panopticon of distraction, or will theybring something entirely different to it?”

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��� #��� ��&�)���

Shikhar Dhawan struck a sublimehundred in the nick of time as Indiadelivered yet again in a series

decider to beat Sri Lanka by eight wick-ets in the third ODI and record theireighth successive win in a bilateral con-test.

India raced to the 216-run target in32.1 overs with Dhawan (100* off 85)completing his 12th ODI ton in whatturned out to be the penultimate overof the match.

Shreyas Iyer made a significant 65off 63 balls, his second successive halfcentury, but missed on the opportuni-

ty of scoring a hundred in a winningcause. Dinesh Karthik remained unbeat-en on 26 alongside Dhawan and hit thewinning runs.

The quick run chase came after a SriLankan collapse that saw them gettingall out for 215 from a promising 160 fortwo.

The visitors failed to apply them-selves on a pitch that offered decent turnas Indian spinners Yuzvendra Chahaland Kuldeep Yadav picked up threewickets apiece.

With the professional performancetonight, India won their sixth ODI seriesof the year and eighth in a row since July2016.

Sri Lanka, on the other hand, wereconsigned to yet another defeat in arather miserable year in which they havewon only five matches.

The hundred was there for the tak-ing and Dhawan grabbed the opportu-nity with both hands.

During the course of his match-winning knock, Dhawan crossed the4,000-run barrier in his 96th ODI. Hehit 13 boundaries and two sixes over-all as he toyed with the Sri Lankanattack.

Iyer reached his second ODI fifty in44 balls before throwing his wicket awayby attempting a big shot off ThisaraPerara only to sky a catch to SurangaLakmal at mid-on.

The Mumbai batsman survivedtwo dropped chances, when on 25 and38. In the first instance, AngeloMatthews grassed a catch at slip offSachith Pathirana's first delivery and thesecond life came when AkilaDhananjaya couldn't hold on to a

tough chance at the deep third-manwhen on 38.

India skipper Rohit Sharma was notable to reproduce his Mohali magic hereas he fell in the fourth over after hittinga big six off Akila Dhananjaya.

The leggie got his googly to comein sharply and deceive Sharma much tothe disappointment of the crowd. Thecaptain made just seven after havingdecimated the Lanka attack in Mohaliwith a brilliant double ton.

Dhawan and Iyer made light of theearly departure of their skipper and puton 135 runs in 19 overs to put India onthe road to victory.

Iyer, who scored his maiden ODIfifty at Mohali, hit a flurry of boundariesafter a cautious start and hoistedPathirana for six over long-on.

Earlier, Sri Lanka suffered a dra-

matic collapse undoing the good workdone by opener Upul Tharanga.

Spinners Kuldeep Yadav andYuzvendra Chahal shared three wick-ets each for India as Sri Lanka squan-dered a blistering start provided byTharanga (95 off 82).

The wicket offered decent turn forthe spinners but the visitors failed toapply themselves, losing the last fivewickets in the space of 18 runs and thelast eight for 55 runs.

Put in to bat by India captain RohitSharma, Sri Lanka were cruising withTharanga and SadeeraSamarawickrama (42) sharing a 121-run stand for the second wicket afterDanushka Gunathilaka (13) fell in thefourth over.

Tharanga played some superbshots and was not afraid to hit aerial.

The southpaw hit all his three sixes offChahal, who otherwise was the bestbowler on show with his drift and turntroubling the batsmen.

Hardik Pandya came in as the firstchange bowler in the seventh over,replacing Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Hewas taken for 20 runs in his second overby Tharanga, who looked increasinglyconfident but got lucky on a few occa-sions.

The seasoned Angelo Matthews,who walked in following his exit, puton 24 overs with Tharanga, before theleft-hander was stumped by MS Dhonioff Kuldeep's bowling for 95.

The opener, who missed out on awell-deserved ton, completed 1,000runs for the calendar year during thecourse of the knock. Thereafter, it allwent downhill for Sri Lanka.

��� #��� ��&�)���

India on Sunday recorded their eighth successive win in abilateral series and stand-in captain Rohit Sharma said the

team needs to maintain the consistency in the upcomingtours overseas.

Rohit feels the young lot of cricketers in the team areready for the tough battles ahead.

"We need to continue this consistency. We are goingabroad now, the next one and half year will be challengingand we have to be ready for that," Rohit said at the post-matchpresentation ceremony after clinching the series 2-1.

"The youngsters bring a lot of energy and I'm sure theyare ready for all the upcoming challenges," he added.

The skipper hailed his team for the "terrific comeback"they made after the morale-shattering defeat in the first ODIin Dharamsala.

Rohit also said thatthe just-concluded seriesgave him a toast of whatcaptaincy actually is.

"(It was a) terrificcomeback after the firstgame in Dharamsala. Weshowed plenty of charac-ter. This has been thehallmark of the team.Whenever we weredefeated, we have alwayscome back strong," hesaid.

"I think the first gamewas a bit testing as a cap-tain, because we didn'tput enough runs on theboard, and in the secondgame since we had runs I had the luxury to try out a fewthings, and today was perfect," Rohit explained.

Terming the win as "team effort", Rohit singled outShreyas Iyer for special praise.

"Whenever we put into tough situations, we respondedwell. We played as a team and that's what counts at the endof the day.

"The batting of Shreyas Iyer was a big positive. He showeda lot of intent. The way he came and batted was brilliant.He batted fearlessly," he said.

Losing skipper Thisara Perera failed to hide his disap-pointment after losing the series but preferred to look ahead.

"Really disappointing for us. We played well in the firstgame, and it was a good chance to beat India in India, butwe didn't execute the plans well in the last couple of gamesin both the departments," he said.

��� &�)�

England is facing an innings defeat toAustralia in the third Ashes cricket test

on the crumbling WACA pitch Sunday.Facing a deficit of 259 runs, England's

day was saved by rain as it finished on 132-4 with Dawid Malan 28 not out and JonnyBairstow 14 not out taking the game intothe fifth and final day.

England needs to survive 95 overs overthree sessions Monday to stop Australiafrom reclaiming the Ashes.

England is 127 runsshort of making Australiabat again and save theignominy of an inningsdefeat.

Australia leads thethree-match series 2-0following wins in Brisbane and Adelaideby 10 wickets and 120 runs, respectively.

The cracks claimed an unlucky victimin James Vince (55) when a Mitchell Starcdelivery darted from leg to uproot the righthander's off stump.

Vince held the innings together for twohours while the rest fell around him, andhit 12 fours off 95 balls.

Vince's dismissal is a sign of the diffi-

culty England will face on a surface that isnotorious for cracking and producingdisconcerting bounce.

After losing both openers and reducedto 29-2, England then slumped to 60-3 and100-4 when Vince was dismissed.

England's first innings batting heroesMalan and Bairstow weathered theAustralian pace attack for over an hour tofight another day.

"We've got to have belief that we cansave the series and get over the linetomorrow," said Vince.

"It's going to betough. I'm surethere's going to besome good balls fly-ing around outthere, but these two(Malan and

Bairstow) especially showed in the firstinnings that they can occupy the crease fora long time, so hopefully they get off to agood start in the morning."

Batting the second time after Australiahad hit 662-9 declared, its highest total inAshes tests at home, England was reducedto 29-2 as fast bowler Josh Hazlewood (2-23) made inroads.

Hazlewood had Mark Stoneman (3)

caught behind, and then grabbed a one-handed return catch to dismiss AlastairCook (14) to remove the former skipperand extend his miserable form with the bat.

Cook, the senior batsman, has man-aged 83 runs in six innings, averaging 18.33.

Then, skipper Joe Root fell for 14 as hetried to hit offspinner Nathan Lyon's firstdelivery and edged to slip Steve Smith viawicketkeeper Tim Paine's gloves.

"It was just one of these that hit thecrack and did a fair bit," Hazlewood said

of Vince's dismissal. "That angle from him(Starc) around the wicket to the right han-der is not bad.

"You only need a couple to straightenand you're in the game. It's pretty simplemethod . there is not much out there to aimat than that crack."

Earlier, Australia lost three wickets afterresuming the day on 549-4 but wicket-keeper Tim Paine, 41 not out, and PatCummins, 36 not out, continued theassault on the England bowlers with anundefeated 82-run stand for the eighthwicket to extend Australia's lead.

Smith (239) and Mitchell Marsh (181)shared 301 runs for the fifth wicket to pro-vide the backbone of Australia's 662-9declared which now ranks sixth highest inAshes history, and fourth highest inAustralia between the rivals.

Swing bowler James Anderson returned4-116, including 2-6 in an 11-ball spell toremove Marsh and then Smith - bothtrapped lbw - after Australia resumed theday on 549-4.

If Australia wins, England's first inningsof 403 will be the highest total for any los-ing side at the WACA since India made 402and lost by 2 wickets here in December 1977.

��� 2� �)�

Abhimanyu Mithun claimed athird five-for of the season as

Vidarbha collapsed for 185 beforeKarnataka were left reeling at 36for three on the opening day oftheir Ranji Trophy semi-final,here on Sunday.

Mithun returned with brilliantfigures of 16-6-45-5, his 11thfive-wicket haul, and was finelyaided by skipper R Vinay Kumar(2/36) as Karnataka bundled outVidarbha under 200 in 61.4 overs.

But the eight-time Ranjichampions were tottering at 36 forthree in 14 overs when bad lightstopped play.

Karnataka still trail Vidarbhaby 149 runs with four days playstill remaining.

Young Rajneesh Gurbani(2/9) put up a fine display of pacebowling under the shadow ofUmesh Yadav (1/22) as 13 wick-ets fell on the eventful opening dayon a green Eden top.

Karnataka's in-form openersR Samarth and Mayank Agarwalreturned to the pavilion with thescoreboard reading 21, while DNischal was cleaned up for aduck in his comeback match afterbeing beaten by a nice pace vari-ation by Gurbani.

At close vice-captain Karun

Nair was batting on six alongsidewicketkeeper batsman CMGautam (9).

Having caught up by a trafficjam due to Kolkata 25K run eventthat caused a 30-minute delay instart of the match, Vidarbha sur-prised all and sundry when skip-per Faiz Fazal opted to bat on agreen top.

Vidarbha were going steadyon 49 for two after some earlymorning jitters when Mithunopened the gates in the third overafter lunch striking with his firstand sixth balls.

Mithun's first victim wasGanesh Satish (31) who edged onebehind the stumps and wicket-keeper C M Gautam latched on toa one-handed diving catch to hisleft.

Apoorv Wankhade (1) fol-lowed suit after an inside edge offMithun while S Aravind took theprized scalp of veteran WasimJaffer (39) as he took an outsideedge playing forward to be caughtby R Samarth at second slip.

Mithun was on fire in his thirdspell of 4-0-12-3 as he took threescalps in a single over to reduce

Vidarbha to 171 for nine.Aditya Sarvate and Akshay

Wakhare were going steady beforeMithun's burst ensured a collapse.

Mithun was even on a hat-trickbut Umesh kept out the hat-trickball before falling to the samebowler off the final delivery of theover.

Vidarbha's top scorer AdityaSarvate (47) was caught in thecover with spinner Shreyas Gopaltaking the last wicket.

Vidarbha were bolstered by thereturn of Umesh Yadav but Fazal'sdecision denied the India pacer achance to make full use of the con-ditions on offer.

Karnataka skipper VinayKumar drew the first blood, trap-ping his Vidarbha counterpartand leading rungetter Fazal for 12.

Stuart Binny then removedanother in-form batsman SanjayRamaswamy for 22.

With the wicket offering assis-tance, Vidarbha looked in troubleat 49 for two inside 17 overs.

It was left to their experiencedduo of Jaffer and Satish as theysteadied the ship to see through thefirst session with some element ofluck.

Satish got a reprieve on 14,while Jaffer got an edge on 30 butit fell short of Mayank Agarwal atthird slip.

��� &5�

Atrocious shot selection fromskipper Manoj Tiwary and his

deputy Sudeep Chatterjee sawDelhi take control of the pro-ceedings, restricting Bengal to273 for 7 on day one of the RanjiTrophy semifinal here.

On a pitch where there wasgood carry but no demons, Bengalbatsmen batted comfortably tillthey committed harakiri in thefinal session.

Bengal were comfortablyplaced at 200 for 3 when a coupleof innocuous deliveries from left-arm spinner Manan Sharma (2/37in 13 overs) changed the com-plexion of the match.

Having added 68 for thefourth wicket, Tiwary looking seton 30, decided to give Manan thecharge.

It was bowled with a flattertrajectory and Tiwary charged out.His intention was to loft the spin-ner over mid on but what heplayed was a chip shot. HimmatSingh took the easiest of catchesat mid on.

If that wasn't enough,Chatterjee, who was on 83 playedan even more irresponsible shot inManan's very next over which wasthe 65th of the innings.

A rank half-tracker sawSudeep rock back trying to smashone through covers which substi-tute Unmukt Chand plucked inch-es above the ground.

Chatterjee's 162 ball inningshad 10 fours but he lost out on agolden opportunity to prove hismettle on a big stage with nation-al selector Sarandeep Singh inattendance.

He also shared 78 runs for thethird wicket with WrittickChatterjee (47) with the latterbeing adjudged leg before offVikas Tokas.

More importantly, themomentum shifted in favour ofDelhi once Manoj and Chatterjeewere gone.

4���� �.���3;;��53�5?���?Bengal were dealt a big blow

even before the start of the semi-final with Wriddhiman Sahapulling out due to ill health.

It was learnt thatWriddhiman suddenly felt fever-ish around midnight.

"In the early morning, he toldthe team physio that he was run-ning temperature and had severebody ache. Since he was not feel-ing well, we did not take achance," a member of the supportstaff said after the day's play.

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