· Amid hammering out a pre-poll alliance with the Samajwadi Party, BSP chief ... general...

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I n a major move ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Centre on Monday cleared a 10 per cent job and education quota for “economically weaker” sec- tions, a long pending demand of the upper castes. In view of the Supreme Court cap of maximum 50 per cent reservation, the decision could face judicial challenges even if it is passed by Parliament. In the past several State Governments had tried to increase the limit of reserva- tion, but the decisions were struck down by the courts. The Government hopes that the Bill will have a smooth passage in Parliament because no political parties could risk opposing and face political backlash. The Congress said it will support the Bill, but ques- tioned the timing of the Government’s decision which it termed as an “election gim- mick” to fool people. “It’s political jumla, but we will support the Bill because our party has always backed the cause of economically back- ward groups irrespective caste, creed and religion,” said Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala. Among the major castes to benefit from the proposed law are Brahmins, Rajputs (Thakurs), Jats, Marathas, Bhumihars, several trading castes, Kapus and Kammas among other upper castes. The poor among the other religions are also likely to ben- efit from it. Influential castes like Marathas, Kapus and Jats have hit the streets in the last few years, seeking reservation ben- efits. Their protests at times have turned violent. Though Governments in States like Haryana, Rajasthan and Maharashtra have made laws, they are often struck down by the court on the ground of a Supreme Court judgement in the Indra Sawhney case had fixed a ceiling of 50 per cent on reservation. The announcement took the country by surprise prompting the Opposition par- ties to term it another poll gim- mick by the Modi Government. Sources said a constitutional amendment Bill will be tabled in Parliament on Tuesday on the scheduled last day of the Winter Session. In a late evening decision to facilitate the amendment, the Rajya Sabha sitting has been extend- ed till Wednesday while Lok Sabha will be end up on Tuesday where the Amendment Bill will be taken. The constitutional amend- ment Bill seeks to insert a clause in Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution, introducing reservation for economically weaker sections in education- al institutions and Government jobs. So far, the Constitution envisages quota for socially and educationally backward classes besides Scheduled Castes and Tribes, and has no mention of economically weak- er people. At least two-thirds of the members in both the Houses need to support the bill for its passage. The Modi Government’s decision to bring a law to nul- lify a Supreme Court order, which critics said had diluted provisions in a law on atroci- ties against Dalits and tribes, was also used by some upper castes groups to campaign against the BJP in recent state polls. The BJP had lost to the Congress in three States, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, where it was in power. According to the Cabinet decision chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the proposed reservation will be over and above the existing 50 per cent reservation enjoyed by the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward Classes, taking the total reservation to 60 per cent. Continued on Page 4 A mid hammering out a pre- poll alliance with the Samajwadi Party, BSP chief Mayawati dialled SP president Akhilesh Yadav and extended her full support to him after reports suggested he might be quizzed by the CBI in connec- tion with a mining scam. Other Opposition parties, including the Congress, have been criti- cal of the CBI’s reported move to question Akhilesh. Amid Opposition uproar, the CBI on Monday dished out details of the illegal mining case and claimed that then UP Chief Minister Akhilesh’s office had cleared 13 projects on a single day on February 17, 2017, in violation of the e-ten- der policy that was ratified by the Allahabad High Court on January 29, 2013. “Do not be shaken by such gimmicks,” Mayawati told Akhilesh on Sunday, while trashing reports on SP chief’s impending questioning by CBI as “political animosity” of the ruling BJP against Opposition parties. The BSP chief alleged like the Congress, the ruling BJP is “misusing” the Government machinery to “trap” its opponents in false cases. “The CBI raids and later the threat of quizzing by the CBI in a mining scam is noth- ing but political animosity of the BJP. Such petty politics and political conspiracy are not new for the BJP. The people of the country have understood it and they will teach the BJP a lesson in the Lok Sabha polls,” she said in a Press release. Mayawati called up Akhilesh on Sunday and talked to him over the issue, the release said. “The day news of the SP- BSP top leadership meeting came out, the BJP Government used the CBI and raids were conducted in an old mining scam and the news of quizzing Akhilesh Yadav was deliber- ately spread. Is it not an action to defame the SP-BSP alliance?” Mayawati said. Akhilesh may face a CBI probe in a case of illegal min- ing, according to the agency FIR made public on Saturday, the day the SP and the BSP indicated their intent to join hands in UP to contest the BJP in the Parliamentary polls. The agency had also carried out searches at 14 locations. “If this CBI action is not a political conspiracy, then why did BJP leaders issue statements and why did a BJP leader and minister acted as CBI spokesperson,” she posed. Claiming that she was “framed” in the Taj corridor case in 2003 when she did not agree to an alliance for the 2004 general elections, Mayawati said, “But later people took revenge and the BSP got absolute majority in the 2007 Assembly polls.” Continued on Page 4 T o tackle the massive rush of visitors during the upcom- ing Kumbh Mela, the Uttar Pradesh Government will use artificial intelligence software which will help in prediction analysis of crowd at a particu- lar spot of the venue or a par- ticular point of time during Kumbh from January 15 to March 4 at Prayagraj. This is the first time that artificial intelligence is being used to control crowd during such event. The UP Government additional chief secretary Avinash Kumar Awasthi told The Pioneer that this will also help to keep the crowd under control during Kumbh. On Monday, the UP Government Sugarcane Development Minister Suresh Rana came to Delhi to invite Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia for Kumbh mela on behalf of the State Government. The State Government has spent 4,300 crore on infra- structure in Prayagraj for this year kumbh mela. “Artificial intelligence will provide video analytics service using AI for crowd control, sev- eral powerful CCTVs will be set up to monitor the situation. Also, LED screens will be installed for displaying infor- mation. An integrated com- mand control room has been set up to monitor crowds at Kumbh”, Awasthi said. He said the UP police has developed software based on artificial intelligence which is also known as agent-based modelling, which will be help- ful in crowd management as well as in knowing more about crowd behaviour.” Artificial intelligence is an area of com- puter science that emphasises the creation of intelligent machines that work and reacts like humans. According to Awasthi, it is expected that 12 million pil- grims will attend the event on January 15 (Makar Sankranti), 5.5 million pilgrims on January 21 (Paush Purnima), 30 million pilgrims on February 4 (Mauni Amavasya), 20 million pil- grims on February 10 (Basant Panchami), 16 million pilgrims on February 19 (Maghi Purnima), and 6 million pil- grims on March 4 (Mahashivratri). A whole city would come up temporarily at Prayagraj spread across 3,200 hectare on the banks of the Ganga and Yamuna. He said for the first time Saraswati Kund will be opened for visitors. With the investment of 4,300 crore for Kumbh in 2019, as compared to just 1,214 crore in 2013, the State Government has already com- pleted 671 schemes in Prayagraj. The Government has allo- cated more than 264 road con- struction work projects. Besides, 40,700 LED lights installed in the Kumbh city and more than 500 shuttle buses for pilgrims. “The Kumbh in 2013 had only 34,000 toilets, while this year, we have 1.22 lakh toi- lets, 20,000 dustbins and 15,000 sanitation workers,” Rana said. Considered to be the world’s largest religious event, it is expected that more than 100 million devotees and Hindu ascetics will attend the almost two-month-long Kumbh. P olitical parties have hit back at the Modi Government’s proposal to give 10 per cent reservation in jobs and educational institutions for economically backward sec- tion in the general category. Calling the proposal a joke, the political parties said the move is just a ‘chunavi jumla’ (election gimmick) since the general elections are right round the corner. Adding that the BJP was afraid to lose in the 2019 polls, the Congress said the quota proposal was a gimmick to fool people. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said the Government did not think about this for four years and eight months and brought this just months before the model code of conduct coming into effect. He also asked whether the Government has the majority to bring about a Constitution amendment in Parliament. “Why did you not think of this for four years and eight months? So obviously, thought of as election gimmick three months before the model code. You know that you cannot exceed 50 per cent maxima so it is done only to posture that you tried,” he tweeted. Congress spokeperson Randeep Sujrewala said, “100 days are left for elections and Mr Modi now remembers the economically weaker sections [EWS] of society.” “The Government accept- ed in Parliament that there are 24 lakh vacant posts that have not been filled by the Modi Government. We are in favour of reservation in jobs, but the youth is asking when will they get the jobs,” Surjewala said. Congress leader Harish Rawat said, “Bohot der kar di meherbaan aate aate, that also when elections are around the corner. No matter what they do, what ‘jumlas’ they give, nothing is going to save this Government.” Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal dared the Government to bring an amendment Bill in Parliament, saying his party will support the NDA Government on the Continued on Page 4 RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015

Transcript of  · Amid hammering out a pre-poll alliance with the Samajwadi Party, BSP chief ... general...

Page 1:  · Amid hammering out a pre-poll alliance with the Samajwadi Party, BSP chief ... general elections, Mayawati said, “But later people took ... RYP DN/34/2013-2015 ˘ˇˆ ˙ ˇ˝

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In a major move ahead of theLok Sabha polls, the Centre

on Monday cleared a 10 percent job and education quotafor “economically weaker” sec-tions, a long pending demandof the upper castes.

In view of the SupremeCourt cap of maximum 50 percent reservation, the decisioncould face judicial challengeseven if it is passed byParliament. In the past severalState Governments had tried toincrease the limit of reserva-tion, but the decisions werestruck down by the courts.

The Government hopesthat the Bill will have a smoothpassage in Parliament becauseno political parties could riskopposing and face politicalbacklash. The Congress said itwill support the Bill, but ques-tioned the timing of theGovernment’s decision which ittermed as an “election gim-mick” to fool people.

“It’s political jumla, but wewill support the Bill becauseour party has always backed thecause of economically back-ward groups irrespective caste,creed and religion,” saidCongress spokespersonRandeep Surjewala.

Among the major castes tobenefit from the proposed laware Brahmins, Rajputs(Thakurs), Jats, Marathas,Bhumihars, several tradingcastes, Kapus and Kammasamong other upper castes.

The poor among the otherreligions are also likely to ben-efit from it.

Influential castes likeMarathas, Kapus and Jats havehit the streets in the last fewyears, seeking reservation ben-efits. Their protests at timeshave turned violent. ThoughGovernments in States likeHaryana, Rajasthan andMaharashtra have made laws,they are often struck down bythe court on the ground of aSupreme Court judgement inthe Indra Sawhney case hadfixed a ceiling of 50 per cent onreservation.

The announcement tookthe country by surpriseprompting the Opposition par-ties to term it another poll gim-mick by the Modi Government.Sources said a constitutionalamendment Bill will be tabledin Parliament on Tuesday onthe scheduled last day of theWinter Session. In a lateevening decision to facilitatethe amendment, the RajyaSabha sitting has been extend-ed till Wednesday while LokSabha will be end up onTuesday where theAmendment Bill will be taken.

The constitutional amend-ment Bill seeks to insert aclause in Articles 15 and 16 ofthe Constitution, introducingreservation for economicallyweaker sections in education-al institutions and Governmentjobs.

So far, the Constitutionenvisages quota for sociallyand educationally backwardclasses besides ScheduledCastes and Tribes, and has nomention of economically weak-er people. At least two-thirds ofthe members in both the

Houses need to support the billfor its passage.

The Modi Government’sdecision to bring a law to nul-lify a Supreme Court order,which critics said had dilutedprovisions in a law on atroci-ties against Dalits and tribes,was also used by some uppercastes groups to campaignagainst the BJP in recent statepolls.

The BJP had lost to theCongress in three States,Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthanand Chhattisgarh, where it wasin power.

According to the Cabinetdecision chaired by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, theproposed reservation will beover and above the existing 50per cent reservation enjoyed bythe Scheduled Castes,Scheduled Tribes and the OtherBackward Classes, taking thetotal reservation to 60 per cent.

Continued on Page 4

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Amid hammering out a pre-poll alliance with the

Samajwadi Party, BSP chiefMayawati dialled SP presidentAkhilesh Yadav and extendedher full support to him afterreports suggested he might bequizzed by the CBI in connec-tion with a mining scam. OtherOpposition parties, includingthe Congress, have been criti-cal of the CBI’s reported moveto question Akhilesh.

Amid Opposition uproar,the CBI on Monday dished outdetails of the illegal mining caseand claimed that then UPChief Minister Akhilesh’s officehad cleared 13 projects on asingle day on February 17,2017, in violation of the e-ten-der policy that was ratified bythe Allahabad High Court onJanuary 29, 2013.

“Do not be shaken by suchgimmicks,” Mayawati toldAkhilesh on Sunday, whiletrashing reports on SP chief ’s

impending questioning by CBIas “political animosity” of theruling BJP against Oppositionparties. The BSP chief allegedlike the Congress, the rulingBJP is “misusing” theGovernment machinery to“trap” its opponents in falsecases.

“The CBI raids and laterthe threat of quizzing by theCBI in a mining scam is noth-ing but political animosity ofthe BJP. Such petty politics andpolitical conspiracy are notnew for the BJP. The people ofthe country have understood itand they will teach the BJP alesson in the Lok Sabha polls,”she said in a Press release.

Mayawati called upAkhilesh on Sunday and talked

to him over the issue, therelease said.

“The day news of the SP-BSP top leadership meetingcame out, the BJP Governmentused the CBI and raids wereconducted in an old miningscam and the news of quizzingAkhilesh Yadav was deliber-ately spread. Is it not an actionto defame the SP-BSP alliance?”Mayawati said.

Akhilesh may face a CBIprobe in a case of illegal min-ing, according to the agencyFIR made public on Saturday,the day the SP and the BSPindicated their intent to joinhands in UP to contest the BJPin the Parliamentary polls. Theagency had also carried outsearches at 14 locations.

“If this CBI action is not apolitical conspiracy, then whydid BJP leaders issue statementsand why did a BJP leader andminister acted as CBIspokesperson,” she posed.

Claiming that she was“framed” in the Taj corridorcase in 2003 when she did notagree to an alliance for the 2004general elections, Mayawatisaid, “But later people tookrevenge and the BSP gotabsolute majority in the 2007Assembly polls.”

Continued on Page 4

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To tackle the massive rush ofvisitors during the upcom-

ing Kumbh Mela, the UttarPradesh Government will useartificial intelligence softwarewhich will help in predictionanalysis of crowd at a particu-lar spot of the venue or a par-ticular point of time duringKumbh from January 15 toMarch 4 at Prayagraj.

This is the first time thatartificial intelligence is beingused to control crowd duringsuch event. The UPGovernment additional chiefsecretary Avinash KumarAwasthi told The Pioneer thatthis will also help to keep thecrowd under control duringKumbh.

On Monday, the UP

Government SugarcaneDevelopment Minister SureshRana came to Delhi to inviteLieutenant Governor AnilBaijal, Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal and Deputy ChiefMinister Manish Sisodia forKumbh mela on behalf of theState Government.

The State Government hasspent �4,300 crore on infra-structure in Prayagraj for thisyear kumbh mela.

“Artificial intelligence willprovide video analytics serviceusing AI for crowd control, sev-eral powerful CCTVs will beset up to monitor the situation.Also, LED screens will beinstalled for displaying infor-mation. An integrated com-mand control room has beenset up to monitor crowds atKumbh”, Awasthi said.

He said the UP police hasdeveloped software based onartificial intelligence which isalso known as agent-basedmodelling, which will be help-ful in crowd management aswell as in knowing more aboutcrowd behaviour.” Artificialintelligence is an area of com-puter science that emphasisesthe creation of intelligentmachines that work and reacts

like humans. According to Awasthi, it is

expected that 12 million pil-grims will attend the event onJanuary 15 (Makar Sankranti),5.5 million pilgrims on January21 (Paush Purnima), 30 millionpilgrims on February 4 (MauniAmavasya), 20 million pil-grims on February 10 (BasantPanchami), 16 million pilgrimson February 19 (MaghiPurnima), and 6 million pil-grims on March 4(Mahashivratri).

A whole city would comeup temporarily at Prayagrajspread across 3,200 hectare onthe banks of the Ganga andYamuna.

He said for the first timeSaraswati Kund will be openedfor visitors.

With the investment of

�4,300 crore for Kumbh in2019, as compared to just�1,214 crore in 2013, the StateGovernment has already com-pleted 671 schemes inPrayagraj.

The Government has allo-cated more than 264 road con-struction work projects.

Besides, 40,700 LED lightsinstalled in the Kumbh city andmore than 500 shuttle buses forpilgrims. “The Kumbh in 2013had only 34,000 toilets, whilethis year, we have 1.22 lakh toi-lets, 20,000 dustbins and 15,000sanitation workers,” Rana said.

Considered to be theworld’s largest religious event,it is expected that more than100 million devotees andHindu ascetics will attend thealmost two-month-longKumbh.

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Political parties have hitback at the Modi

Government’s proposal to give10 per cent reservation in jobsand educational institutions foreconomically backward sec-tion in the general category.

Calling the proposal ajoke, the political parties saidthe move is just a ‘chunavijumla’ (election gimmick)since the general elections areright round the corner.

Adding that the BJP wasafraid to lose in the 2019 polls,the Congress said the quotaproposal was a gimmick to foolpeople. Congress spokespersonAbhishek Singhvi said theGovernment did not thinkabout this for four years andeight months and brought thisjust months before the modelcode of conduct coming intoeffect.

He also asked whether theGovernment has the majorityto bring about a Constitutionamendment in Parliament.

“Why did you not think ofthis for four years and eightmonths? So obviously, thoughtof as election gimmick threemonths before the model code.You know that you cannotexceed 50 per cent maxima soit is done only to posture thatyou tried,” he tweeted.

Congress spokeperson

Randeep Sujrewala said, “100days are left for elections andMr Modi now remembers theeconomically weaker sections[EWS] of society.”

“The Government accept-ed in Parliament that there are24 lakh vacant posts that havenot been filled by the ModiGovernment. We are in favourof reservation in jobs, but theyouth is asking when will theyget the jobs,” Surjewala said.

Congress leader HarishRawat said, “Bohot der kar dimeherbaan aate aate, that alsowhen elections are around thecorner. No matter what theydo, what ‘jumlas’ they give,nothing is going to save thisGovernment.”

Meanwhile, Delhi ChiefMinister and AAP chiefArvind Kejriwal dared theGovernment to bring anamendment Bill in Parliament,saying his party will supportthe NDA Government on the

Continued on Page 4

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Page 2:  · Amid hammering out a pre-poll alliance with the Samajwadi Party, BSP chief ... general elections, Mayawati said, “But later people took ... RYP DN/34/2013-2015 ˘ˇˆ ˙ ˇ˝

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Defence Minister NirmalaSitharaman and Congress

chief Rahul Gandhi on Mondaycontinued to trade chargesagainst each other over theirclaims pertaining to workorders to state-ownedHindustan AeronauticalLimited (HAL) against the backdrop of Rafale fighterjet deal.

While Rahul said the BJP-led NDA Government is“undermining” HAL and push-ing it to a financial crisis,Sitharaman, both inside andoutside Parliament, rejectedthe “doubts” raised by theCongress on her statement onthe PSU contracts terming it as“incorrect and misleading”.

In a brief statement in theLok Sabha, Sitharaman said shehas received confirmation thatcontracts amounting to morethan �26,000 crore have alreadybeen signed between 2014 and2018. She also said that otherprojects amounting to �73,000crore are in the pipeline.

Her clarification cameamid a political furore over herstatement in the House regard-ing orders placed with HAL,with Rahul alleging that she

had “lied” that the Governmentorders worth �1 lakh crorewere provided to the company.Congress MP KC Venugopalsaid his party has moved abreach of privilege against theDefence Minister for “mis-leading the House”.

Both national parties havebeen involved in war of wordsafter a media report claimedthat HAL, grappling with lowfinances, was forced to borrow�1,000 crore to pay salaries toits employees, for the first timein years. There was anotherreport that claimed “not a sin-gle rupee of the said �1 lakhcrore has come to HAL, sincenot a single order, as claimed,has been signed till now”.

Procurement order specif-ically mentions 83 Tejas aircraft

worth �50,000 crore, 200 heli-copters worth �20,000 crore, 19dornier aircraft worth �3,400crore, other helicopters worth�15,000 crore and aero-engineworth �8,400 crore. Ordersworth �73,000 crore are in thepipeline, she noted, adding allof them put together amount to�1 lakh crore, she said.

“Above documents clearlyconfirm correctness of mystatement and the doubts raisedin this regard are incorrect andmisleading,” the Minister said.

Addressing reporters out-side Parliament, Rahul said,“The strategy of theGovernment is to weaken HAL,do not give it money anddestroy India’s strategic capa-bility and give a gift to AnilAmbani.” He further alleged

that the Government gave�20,000 crore to France’sDassault Aviation, the makersof Rafale jets, even though ithas not supplied a single air-craft. “But why have HAL’sdues of �15,700 crore not beencleared?” he asked.

Rahul alleged that it was“necessary” for theGovernment to “destroy HALbecause with a strong HAL, yousimply cannot give the contractto anybody else”. TheGovernment as well as Ambanihas rejected all such allegations.

Congress leaderMallikarjun Kharge quotedHAL CMD R Madhavan tosupport his party’s contentionthat the company was strug-gling financially and demand-ed a joint parliamentary com-mittee probe into the matter. Heclaimed that Sitharaman hadsought to correct her statementand said wrong facts should notbe put before the House.

Union Minister Arjun RamMeghwal questioned if Khargewould authenticate the reporthe was quoting, while someother BJP leaders took a jibe atthe party while referring to aDefence dealer, who is wantedin criminal cases.

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The differences within theCongress over a possible

tie-up with the Aam AadmiParty (AAP) surfaced again onMonday. Punjab Chief MinisterAmarinder Singh on Mondayruled out the need for anyalliance with the “non-existent”AAP, but said the decision ontie-up would be taken by thehigh-command.

Amarinder, who metCongress chief Rahul Gandhiearly in the day, said the AAPis non-existent in Punjab and“there is absolutely no need forthe Congress in the State to gofor an alliance with ArvindKejriwal’s party”.

His reactions came afterwidespread speculation thatthere could be a Congress-AAP pre-poll alliance in Delhiand Punjab for the Lok Sabhaelections. Delhi State unit chiefof Congress Ajay Maken too issaid to have resigned from hispost presuming about the pos-sible Congress-AAP allianceagainst his wishes. There areseven Lok Sabha seats from thenational Capital all held by theBJP now and before that all the

seats were held by the Congress. The Punjab CM said the

Congress’ State unit has alreadyconveyed this view to the high-command, however, the matterwas not discussed in his meet-ing with Rahul. Singh is learntto have discussed a host of issuesrelating the State Governmentand the party in view of theupcoming national elections. Healso congratulated RahulGandhi on the Congress’ victo-ry in three States.

“The AAP has becomedefunct, with no identity nowin Punjab, as against the situ-ation prevailing in the last LokSabha elections. However, anydecision on a coalition with theAAP or any other party wouldbe taken by the Congress high-command, keeping in mind thenational perspective and elec-toral compulsions and wouldbe followed by the PunjabPradesh Congress Committee(PPCC),” Singh said talking tothe media.

Exuding confidence thatthe Congress will win all the 13Lok Sabha seats in Punjab, hesaid the best and winnablecandidates will be chosen by theparty. However, there has been

no discussion yet on selectionof the candidates, he said.

On the issue of theKartarpur corridor, Amarindersaid while Pakistan has alreadystarted work on construction ofthe road on their side, devel-opment work is yet to start inthe Indian side as the StateGovernment has not receivedany funds from the Centre foracquiring land for buildinginfrastructure.

Responding to anotherquestion, the Chief Ministerclarified that he gave permis-sion to his Cabinet colleagueNavjot Singh Sidhu to visitPakistan for the ground-break-ing ceremony of the Kartarpurcorridor. “No Minister canleave without the ChiefMinister’s approval,” Singh said,adding Sidhu wanted to gothere in his personal capacity.

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Expressing concern over theslow pace of modernisation

of the armed forces due toinadequate funds, a parlia-mentary panel has pulled upthe Government on theFinance Ministry’s reluctanceto create a non-lapsable fundfor Defence expenditure.

In a report tabled inParliament on Monday, theStanding Committee onDefence also noted that thoughthe Defence Ministry project-ed a requirement of �1.72 lakhcrore under capital budget for2018-19, only �93,982 crore was

allocated by the FinanceMinistry. The allocation undercapital budget not only fell farshort of projections by Ministryof Defence, but the allocationdoes not even cover committedliabilities, the report said.

The parliamentary bodyalso criticised the FinanceMinistry for its reluctance to cre-ate a ‘Non-Lapsable CapitalFund’ for defence forces. Undercurrent norms, the unspent bud-get allocation in a fiscal year goesback to the Finance Ministry.The armed forces have for a longtime sought that unspent fundsbe kept in a non-lapsable pool sothat capital acquisition can be

made using it.“The very fact that the

allocation of resources undercapital budget for the year2018-19 (Budget Estimate)which is not even sufficient tocover committed liabilities leav-ing alone new projects and

other capital requirementsstrengthens the Committee’scase for creation of such afund,” the report said.

The committee said in2018-19, the shortfall was�17,756 crore for the Army,�15,691 crore for the Navyand �41,924 crore for the AirForce. It also noted the sub-mission by the Vice Chief ofArmy Staff (VCOAS) beforethe committee that the mar-ginal increase in capital budgetallocation for Army had dashedhopes for modernisation.

“The Committee were par-ticularly alarmed to note fromhis oral evidence that although

the Ministry of Defence haddelegated financial powers up to�14,097 crore to the VCOAStowards security related issues,there was no separate allocationfor this in the Capital Budgetallocation in 2018-19,” it said.

“Hence, the Ministry isleft with no other option but toreduce resources for security ofmilitary stations or compro-mise on other acquisitions,” thecommittee said.

On allocation of funds fordefence forces, the panel saidthe expenditure incurred was�10,81,644 crore during 12thFive Year Plan as against a pro-jection of �11,39,000 crore.

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For the first time, in high altitudesof Himachal Pradesh’s Lahaul &

Spiti, Indian scientists have suc-cessfully sown high-quality seeds ofAsafoetida locally known as heeng(botanical name: Ferulaassa-foeti-da L.), imported from Iran, to helpthe cold deserts’ farmers to com-mercially grow the much-soughtafter high-valued spice.

Given that currently Indiaimports about 1,145 tonnes of rawHeeng annually from Afghanistan(73 per cent), Iran (14 per cent) andUzbekistan (13 per cent) incurringapproximately $77 million per year,all eyes are now on the indigenousproject undertaken by the scientistsfrom the CSIR-Institute ofHimalayan Bio-resourceTechnology (IHBT), Palampur.

Though, some farmers havetaken initiative to grow the heengherb in their land privately, it is ofinferior quality or adulterated whichare not good for health, said DrSanjay Kumar, Director of the IHBT.

Whereas, he pointed out, theheeng seeds procured by our insti-tute (IHBT) have been quarantined

by the national authorised body,ICAR-National Bureau of PlantGenetic Resources (NBPGR),declaring them to be healthy andfree of pests.

“The seeds have been quaran-tined so that they are weed-free.We have sown them in a tract atour Centre for High AltitudeBiology (CeHAB) at Ribling,Lahaul & Spiti as well as at our labin Palampur. “While at the locallab, seeds have been already ger-minated, we are now waiting forthe snow to melt at the CeHABcentre where seeds will germinatein natural cold conditions,” said DrSanjay Kumar.

In India, it can be cultivated ina wide range of sub-Himalayanregion of northern India, viz.Himachal Pradesh, Jammu &Kashmir and Uttarakhand, addedDr Ashok Kumar, Scientist,Agrotechnology of Medicinal,Aromatic and CommerciallyImportant Plants Division, IHBT.

Once it is commercially culti-vated, the spice has potential to notonly provide jobs to unemployedyouths, boost the income of thefarmers but also offer alternate sub-

stitute to regular crops which arefacing animal menace or extremeweather conditions.

“Once the heeng project kicks-off, we will also work on improv-ing the technology for extractingresin efficiently as well as conductexperiment if it can be grown

in the lower altitudes also,” said DrAshok Kumar.

Heeng or Asafoetida is a peren-nial herb that produces pungent-ly flavoured oleo-gum resin in itsfleshy roots which has medicinalproperties related to digestive sys-tem, cleansing and strengthening

the gastro-intestinal tract, DrAshok Kumar said.

The international value crop hashigh demand in the pharmaceuticalsector. This plant takes five years formaturing shrubs and producinggum. An average of 30 gm fresh gumcan be extracted from a single shrub.

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Union HRD MinisterPrakash Javadekar on

Monday approved an increaseof 5,000 seats at JawaharNavodaya Vidyalayas acrossthe country. In the last fouryears there has been an addi-tion of 9,000 seats in the residentialschools for talented rural children.

With the Human ResourceDevelopment (HRD) Ministry approv-ing the addition of 5,000 more seats,the number of seats has increased from46,600 to 51,000 at the JawaharNavodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs). Theadmission to the additional seats willstart in the 2019-20 academic session.

“This is a step in the right direc-tion. This is the biggest-ever expansionof quality education for rural students.This unprecedented expansion ofJNVs, nearly free of cost residentialschools, will provide more opportuni-ty for talented children from rural areas

to get quality education,”Javadekar said.

Navodaya schools arethe only institutions inthe country where stu-dents give entranceexamination for admis-sion to Class 6. In 2001,5.50 lakh aspirants

appeared for the entrance examinationfor Class 6. Over the years the num-ber of aspirants appearing for the testhas increased considerably.

For the 2019 entrance test, 31.10lakh students have registered for theentrance examination. “This reflects thegrowing aspirations of rural children foracquiring quality education and theGovernment’s consistent effort to meetthis aspiration, under the dynamic lead-ership of Prime Minister NarendraModi,” the HRD Minister said.

The Government is also activelyconsidering setting up of NavodayaVidyalayas in each of the newly-creat-ed districts.

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Both the Houses ofParliament on Monday

continued to witness bedlamand were adjourned for the dayafter disruptions on variousissues, including the CBI probeagainst Samajwadi Party pres-ident Akhilesh Yadav, and thecontroversial Rafale deal forc-ing Speaker Sumitra Mahajanto suspend four MPs for unrulybehaviour in the Lower House.

The two Houses witnessedhigh drama over the CBI probeagainst the SP President withthe Opposition members up inarms against the move allegingit to be politically motivated.

Rajya Sabha was rocked byprotests by parties like the SP,BSP, AAP, RJD and the TMCover alleged misuse of CBI,while the Congress membersshouted slogans demanding aJPC probe into the Rafale jetdeal, leading to adjournment ofthe House for the day.

SP and BSP MPs were ontheir feet as soon as listed offi-cial papers were presented,crying “political vendetta” inthe CBI initiating a probe intoalleged irregularities in themining of minor minerals dur-ing 2012 and 2016 when Yadavheld the mining portfolio in theUttar Pradesh Government.

Left party members too gotup to raise the issue of violencein Kerala over the entry ofwomen in Sabarimala templewhile Congress MPs wereprotesting on Rafale issue.

Chairman M VenkaiahNaidu said he has receivednotices from some members

under Rule 267 for suspensionof business to take up discus-sions on issues but has notallowed any of the notices. Aftermembers refused to resumetheir places and continued tocreate disruption, Chairmanadjourned the house until 2 pmand soon after for the day.

In the Lok Sabha also,from the word go Congressmembers trooped into the Wellof the House with placards,demanding a JointParliamentary Committeeprobe into the Rafale deal.

A lone AIADMK memberwas also in the Well, protestingthe construction of a damacross the Cauvery river. Hewas joined by a TDP member,who was dressed like formerTamil Nadu chief minister MGRamachandran.

Members from SP shoutedslogans alleging CBI andCentral Government “nexus”in the sand mining case. AfterSP member DharmendraYadav raised the issue, theparty MPs stormed the Well ofthe House, raising slogansagainst the BJP and the CBI.

Yadav alleged that the CBIhas become a parrot of the rul-ing BJP, which was “allying”with the probe agency againstAkhilesh Yadav, also a formerUttar Pradesh chief minister.

While saying that AkhileshYadav had met BSP chiefMayawati on January 4, healluded that the CBI raids inthe case of illegal mining in thestate were conducted onJanuary 5.

SP supremo MulayamSingh Yadav was present in the

House when his party mem-bers created ruckus. Amid theuproar, Speaker adjourned theproceedings till noon.

As the House met again,the protests continued and theSpeaker suspended four mem-bers, including three AIADMKMPs and one TDP lawmakerfor unruly behaviour. AIAMDKMPs KN Ramachandran, PVenugopal and KK Gopal wereprotesting over proposed con-struction of a dam by Karnatakaon the Cauvery river whileTDP MP Naramalli Sivaprasad,whose party has been raisingthe issue of special status toAndhra Pradesh, played a Tamilsong in the house.

The Congress and SPmembers continued sloga-neering and the Speaker againadjourned the House till 12.30pm. As the Lok Sabha met postlunch, members from theCongress and the SP continuedtheir protests. Majahan thenadjourned the House for 20minutes till 2.30 pm.

Amid the noisy scenes, theHouse gave its nod to theamendments passed by theRajya Sabha to ‘Right ofChildren to Free andCompulsory Education(Amendment) Bill, 2018’, and ‘National Council forTeacher Education(Amendment) Bill, 2018’.

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Leprosy patients and human rightsactivists across the country had

a reason to rejoice on Monday as theLok Sabha passed a Bill seeking toremove the crippling disease as aground for divorce. Now, the legis-lation awaits clearance from theRajya Sabha.

Meanwhile, the Rajya Sabhasaw introduction of two Bills -- theNational Commission for IndianSystem of Medicine Bill 2019 and theNational Commission forHomoeopathy Bill, 2019.

Replying to a discussion on‘The Personal Laws (Amendment)Bill, 2018’, in the Lok Sabha, Ministerof State for Law, PP Chaudhary said,“Leprosy is being removed as aground for divorce as it is now a cur-able disease as against the earliernotion of it being incurable.”

The Bill which was introducedin Lok Sabha in August 2018 seeks

to remove leprosy as a ground fordivorce in five personal laws —Hindu Marriage Act, Dissolution ofMuslim Marriages Act, Divorce Act(for Christians), Special MarriageAct and the Hindu Adoptions andMaintenance Act.

Chaudhary said leprosy as aground for divorce is a “discrimina-tory” provision. The Human RightsCommission and judgements of var-ious courts had also underlined theneed to amend the laws to removethis discrimination. The Bill ensureselimination of discrimination againstleprosy-affected persons and providefor their integration into the main-stream of the society.

“Leprosy patients were isolatedand segregated from society as theleprosy was not curable and the soci-ety was hostile to them. However, asa result of intensive healthcare andavailability of modern medicine tocure the disease, the attitude of thesociety towards them began to

change,” states the Bill. The Law Commission in its

report had also recommended repealof laws and provisions which werediscriminatory against leprosy affect-ed people. Besides, India is a signatory to a UN Resolution whichcalls for elimination of discrimina-tion against persons suffering from leprosy.

However, in the Rajya Sabha,amid the din, Minister of State forAYUSH Shripad Yesso Naik intro-duced two Bills -- the NationalCommission for Indian System ofMedicine Bill 2019 and the NationalCommission for Homoeopathy Bill,2019.

The Medicine Bill provides fora medical education system thatimproves access to quality andaffordable medical education andensures availability of adequate and high quality medical profes-sionals of Indian System of Medicinein the country.

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The Chhattisgarh govern-ment will focus more on

promoting setting up of indus-trial units requiring small cap-ital while also encouragingestablishment of Agri and for-est produce based processingunits in the State, GovernorAnandiben Patel said in heraddress to the first session offifth Chhattisgarh LegislativeAssembly here on Monday.

She said that theGovernment will amend StateIndustrial Policy to boostemployment of locals whileproviding them resources forskill based training.

The Governor said that theGovernment will make effortstowards linking more youthwith skills required inElectronics and InformationTechnology sector to makethem economically self reliant.

She said that within 10days of the formation of theGovernment the farm loanstotalling Rs 6,100 crore of

16.65 lakh farmers were waivedin the first Cabinet meetingheld on December 17, 2018.

The Governor said that theshort-term loans of farmersfrom Co-operative and

Chhattisgarh State rural bankswere waived till November 30,2018.

During the first Cabinetmeeting, Minimum SupportPrice for paddy was endorsed

at Rs 2,500 per quintal, shesaid.

The SIT was formed forprobing the Jheeram valleymassacre in 2013 in the firstCabinet meeting, the Governorsaid.

The Government alsodecided to return 1700 hectorsof land acquired for Tata Steelby the previous regime in 10villages of Bastar, she said.

The Government has alsoexempted registration of landof less than five dicimil to pro-vide relief to middle and smallincome families, she said.

The Governor said that theGovernment will take sternaction against economicoffenders and those directorsof chit fund companies cheat-ing investors and will alsowork towards getting themoney of investors returned bythe offenders.

The Government will alsotalk to the victims of Maoistviolence to restore peace in theinsurgency-infested regions,she said.

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Chief MinisterB h u p e s h

Baghel on Mondaysaid that theGovernor's addresshad focussed onoverall develop-ment ofChhattisgarh.

The addresshad paid attentionto all sections of thesociety. It has themention of farmloan waiver, pro-curement of paddy at Rs 2500per quintal, SIT formed forprobing the Jheeram valleymassacre and proposed billfor protection of journalists,lawyers and doctors, he said.

The Chief Minister said

that the BJP is unable to digestthe pace at which the newCongress government hadbeen working in the State andit might be thinking why it didnot work at that pace when itwas in power.

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About 10.48 lakh households are left to be electri-fied in four States mainly Assam, Rajasthan,

Meghalaya and Chhattisgarh. These States are also tak-ing all concerted efforts to achieve, at the earliest, sat-uration of household electrification in their respec-tive States, the Central Government has informed.

Since launch of Saubhagya, in the State of UttarPradesh 74.4 Lakh willing households have been elec-trified and State Government has declared satura-tion of all 75 districts. Government of Uttar Pradeshhas launched a special campaign in all parts of theState to identify any left out un-electrified householdsand to provide electricity connections to suchhouseholds.

Under the campaign, a special vehicle ‘SaubhagyaRath’, is moving around in villages/towns and any leftout households may approach them to avail electric-ity connection under the scheme. Also, any left outhousehold requiring electricity connection may dial1912 to avail the facility, the Government informed.

The Central government launched ‘PradhanMantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana’ (Saubhagya) inSeptember 2017 to achieve the goal of universal house-hold electrification in the country by March 31, 2019.The scheme envisages to provide last mile connectivityand electricity connections to all remaining house-

holds in rural as well as urban areas. The Governmentwith the support of State Power Departments and

DISCOMs have already connected about 2.39 crorehouseholds since launch of scheme.

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Th r e eA n g a n w a d i

workers fromChhattisgarh havebagged NationalAwards in NewDelhi on Mondayfor effective imple-mentation of vari-ous Governmentschemes.

The threewomen workersare- PremlataChakresh (districtJashpur), MeenaVerma (districtDurg) andP o o n a mBeenjhwar (districtKorba).

U n i o nMinister forWomen and ChildDevelopment Maneka Gandhigave away the awards in NewDelhi today. The Anaganwadisexcelled in nutritious mealscheme, inoculation and infor-mal education projects.

Chief Minister BhupeshBaghel has congratulated thethree Chhattisgarh Anganwadiworkers who bagged the pres-tigious national awards in NewDelhi.

In a congratulatory mes-sage, the Chief Minister men-tioned that the achievements ofthese Anganwadi workers willbe a source of inspiration toothers also.

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Former Chief MinisterRaman Singh on

Monday said that theCongress has ignored theissue of enforcing prohibi-tion and also has nothingin the Governor’s addresswhich promises to halvethe power tariff of farmersas promised in its pollmanifesto.

There is also no men-tion of unemploymentallowance and allowancefor senior citizens andthere is a limit set on farmloan waiver, Singh said.

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London: A British court onMonday cleared the extraditionof Sanjeev Kumar Chawla, akey accused in the cricketmatch-fixing scandal involvingformer South African captainHansie Cronje in 2000, in amajor boost to India's efforts tobring back the alleged bookieto face match-fixing charges.

The WestminsterMagistrates' Court in Londongave the go-ahead to extradite50-year-old Chawla.

A spokesperson for theCrown Prosecution Service,which argued on behalf ofIndia in the extradition case,said, "the district judge onMonday quashed its earlierorder and cleared the extradi-tion of Sanjeev Chawla toIndia."

The case will now go toHome Secretary Sajid Javid fora formal extradition order. Ifthe Home Secretary thinksextradition should go ahead, hehas to order extradition with-in two months from the datethe matter was referred to him.

According to court docu-ments, the Delhi-born busi-nessman had moved to the UKon a business visa in 1996,

where he has been based whilemaking trips back and forth toIndia.

After his Indian passportwas revoked in 2000, Chawlaobtained a UK passport in 2005and is now a British citizen.

Chawla has been accusedof acting as link betweenCrownje and bookies whowanted to fix matches in early2000. He was arrested inLondon in June 2016.

In November, the UK HighCourt quashed a lower court'sorder against extraditingChawla to India and directedthe District Judge to re-start theextradition proceedings againsthim after being convinced withthe assurances by the IndianGovernment on the safety ofprison conditions in NewDelhi's Tihar jail.

Chawla had won the caseagainst his extradition to Indiain 2017 after the WestminsterMagistrates' Court concludedthere was a prima facie case toanswer but his human rightscould not be guaranteed inTihar jail, where he was to beheld.

In its ruling, the HighCourt said that it is convinced

with the assurances providedby the Indian Governmentregarding the safety of prisonconditions in Tihar jail as itquashed the lower court's orderagainst extraditing Chawla.

District Judge Crane'sjudgment dated October 16,2017, had accepted a primafacie case against Chawla overhis role in the fixing of "crick-et matches played betweenIndia and South Africa duringthe tour of the South AfricanCricket Team to India underthe captainship of Cronje inFebruary-March 2000".

The significant move toorder Chawla's extraditioncame nearly a month after aUK court in December orderedliquor baron Vijay Mallya'sextradition and said there weresubstantial "misrepresenta-tions" in flamboyant billion-aire's characterisations of hisfinancial dealings.

Mallya, wanted in India onfraud and money launderingcharges amounting to nearly�9,000 crore, has denied theallegations and disputed the jailconditions at Arthur Road Jailin Mumbai as part of hisdefence. PTI

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From Page 1The BJP hailed the move with

several leaders describing it ashistoric and exercise in sync withgovernment’s motto of “SabkaSaath Sabka Vikas” (with all, devel-opment for all). BJP ally and Dalitleader Ram Vilas Paswan alsotermed the decision by the gov-ernment as “historic”.

A Union Minister said the Billonce passed will amend theConstitution accordingly to givereservation to the poor among thegeneral castes and classes. “The Billwill provide a shelter for uppercastes under the rubric of funda-mental rights. The court’s rule ofthe maximum 50 per cent quotacannot fetter Parliament’s right toamend the Constitution,” he said.

In its famous Indra Sawhneyjudgement, the Supreme Courthad set a cap of 50 per cent cap onquotas. Government sources saidthe proposed constitutionalamendment will pave the way forthe additional quota. “The reser-vation will be given to those eco-nomically weaker people whopresently do not avail any benefitsof reservation,” explained aGovernment official. The SupremeCourt has also asserted that theConstitution makes no case for

quota on economic ground andonly talks of educational and socialbackwardness besides those for theSCs and STs.

The BJP believes that ifOpposition parties, whose supportis a must for its passage in the RajyaSabha where the Government lacksnumbers, vote against it, then theywill risk losing support of an influ-ential section of society.

A senior leader explained thatthe demand for providing quota tothe poor from the general casteswas made in the constituentassembly too. “For the first time,we (Govt) are now going to giveconstitutional recognition to thepoor from the upper castes,” hesaid.

The Bill is likely to introducescriteria like an annual incomebelow Rs 8 lakh and not owningmore than five acres of agricultur-al land for those seeking quota ben-efits. They should also not own aflat of 1,000 sq ft or more, land of100 yards in notified municipalityarea and 200 yards in non-notifiedarea, sources said.

The ruling BJP hopes that theBill will help consolidate the gen-eral castes in its support as itbegins campaign for the Lok Sabhaelections scheduled in April-May.

From Page 1The BSP chief reminded

Akhilesh of these past inci-dents and asked him not toget shaken while assertingthat people will give a befit-ting reply to the BJP.

The BSP chief a lsoalleged that the BJP aftercoming to power in 2014 hadbeen misusing Governmentmachinery for political gainsand threatening rivals andgiving relief “to BJP leadersin criminal cases”.

Terming the CBI raids“politically motivated”, the SPchief had on Sunday alsoquestioned the credibility ofthe federal probe agency.Uttar Pradesh has 80Parliamentary constituen-cies, making it the most

politically crucial State forthe general elections.

The CBI on Mondayclaimed that on February 17,2017 the leases were grantedby Hamirpur Distr ic tMagistrate B Chandrakalaafter getting approval fromthe Chief Minister’s office inviolation of its 2012 e-tenderpolicy, which was ratified bythe Allahabad High Court onJanuary 29, 2013.

Chandrakala, an IAS offi-cer, Samajwadi Party MLCRamesh Kumar Mishra andSanjay Dixit (who unsuc-cessfully contested the 2017Assembly polls on a BSPticket) besides eight othersare named accused in theCBI case to probe illegalmining of minor minerals in

Hamirpur district during2012-16.

Yadav, who was the ChiefMinister of the State between2012 and 2017, held the min-ing portfolio during 2012-13apparently bringing his roleunder scanner.

He was succeeded byGayatri Prajapati, who tookcharge as mining minister in2013 and was arrested in2017 following a complaint ofrape by a woman residing inChitrakoot.

This is the third FIRrelating to illegal miningcases which was registered bythe agency on January 2 thisyear, nearly two-and-a-halfyears after it was directed bythe Allahabad High Court toprobe the matter.

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Jammu: National Conference(NC) vice-president OmarAbdullah on Monday stronglypitched for single-partyGovernment in Jammu &Kashmir as "coalition culture hasfailed in the State".

"I want people of the State toelect a single party Governmentin Jammu & Kashmir, keeping inview the challenges and magni-tude of problems faced to thepeople. Experiment of coali-tions has not worked well in theState," he said at a function atSher-e-Kashmir Bhavan here onMonday evening.

"In fact, the coalition culturehas failed in various parts of thecountry as well and in a state likeJ&K, a stable and strong dis-pensation was of paramountimportance to steer it out of themess created during the pastnearly four years," Abdullahsaid. The function was held towelcome PDP's general secretaryand former IAS officer MehboobIqbal and Bhaderwah MunicipalCouncil president ShahidMougal into the NC. He claimedthat the people, dejected by thePDP-BJP's misrule during overthree years, are yearning forearly elections to send out a tersemessage to the Centre about itsmisadventure by thrusting an"insensitive" and an "anti-poorGovt" upon the State. PTI

Chennai: Hours after he wassentenced to three years rigor-ous imprisonment by a specialcourt here in a two-decades oldriot case, Tamil Nadu MinisterP Balakrishna Reddy onMonday resigned from the KPalaniswami-Cabinet.

The case related to a protestagainst illicit liquor at Hosur in1998.

Reddy submitted his resig-nation to Chief Minister KPalaniswami who forwarded itto Governor Banwarilal

Purohit who has accepted it.His portfolio of Youth

Welfare and SportsDevelopment has been handedover to School EducationMinister K A Sengottaiyan.

"..Governor of Tamil Naduhas accepted the resignation ofP Balakrishna Reddy, from theCouncil of Ministers," a RajBhavan release said on Mondaynight.

"Based on the recommen-dation of the Chief Minister,the Portfolio of Youth Welfare

and Sports Development hasbeen allocated to K ASengottaiyan, Minister forSchool Education who shall bere-designated as Minister forSchool Education, YouthWelfare and SportsDevelopment," the release said.

In a jolt to the AIADMKGovernment, a special courtMonday sentenced Reddy tothree years rigorous imprison-ment in a two-decades old riotcase related to a protest againstillicit liquor in Hosur. PTI

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Patna: RJD leader TejashwiYadav and Rashtriya LokSamata Party chief UpendraKushwaha on Monday cameup with a fresh allegation ofuse of foul language by BiharChief Minister Nitish Kumar.

After a meeting ofMahagathbandhan (grandalliance) leaders at Yadavs res-idence, the two leaders allegedthat Mukesh Sahni, who float-ed his political outfit VIP twomonths ago and joined theGrand Alliance last month,was called sadak chhap (road-side) by the chief minister.

The meeting was attended,among others, by AICC in-charge for Bihar ShaktisinhGohil, BPCC president MadanMohan Jha, former ChiefMinister and HAM presidentJitan Ram Manjhi and ArjunRai of the LJD founded bySharad Yadav besides thesetwo leaders.

The former Deputy CMand the ex-Union ministertold reporters that Kumar hadmade the remark at his LokSamvad programme earlier inthe day.

The chief minister, whoalso heads the JD(U) and is analliance partner of the BJP, hadmocked at the grand alliance

saying it was picking up peo-ple from the roadside (sadakpar se logon ko utha keshaamil kar lete hain).

Kushwaha and Yadavalleged that the remark wasaimed at Sahni, a Bollywoodset designer-turned-politicianand was tantamount to insult-ing Nishad community.

Kumar had first called meneech (lowly). Now he is call-ing our alliance partner 'sadakchhap'. He must apologize. Westrongly protest," saidKushwaha as Yadav nodded inapproval.

The RLSP chief was refer-ring to a controversy that haderupted while he was in theNDA fold and Kumar, whilebeing asked by a journalistabout the problems beingfaced in reaching a seat-shar-ing arrangement withKushwaha, had remarkedbahas ka star neeche matgiraiye (do not lower the levelof discourse).

Kushwaha had alleged thatthis was tantamount to himbeing called lowly even as his party took out demon-strations in protest againstthe alleged "insult" of theirleader at the hands of the ChiefMinister. PTI

��2�+�.�3�4*+�.������*+��%�-�+����*+� 0���*�� 0*�0� Shillong: An unmanned,

remotely operated vehicle(ROV) of the Navy which wassent down the 370-feet-deeprat-hole coal mine inMeghalaya, where 15 minersare trapped since December 13,to determine visibility at thebase of the shaft reportedly gotstuck on Monday, officials said.

The unmanned vehicle wasput into service to determinethe visibility deep down at thebottom of the mine shaft andin case if there was any sign ofthe trapped miners, a seniorGovernment official told PTI,requesting anonymity.

"The underwater remotelyoperated vehicle got stuck at thebottom of the 370-feet-minewhere the depth of water is over160 feet," the official told PTI.

How the machine got stuckis yet to be established, but res-cue officials at the site suspectthat the vehicle could have gotitself entangled with some partsof the pump put in by KirloskarBorthers Ltd which had fallendown.

Chief Minister Conrad KSangma, who was overseeingthe entire operation, was alsonot alerted about the matter asit was "too sensitive", accordingto the official sources.

This information was alsonot disclosed by the operation

spokesperson R Susngi in hisroutine update to the media inthe evening.

Meanwhile, according toSusngi, Coal India Ltd pumpsmanaged to pull out 2.25 lakhlitres of water in two hours asthe pump was operational onlyin the afternoon.

CIL pumps were installedin the abandoned mine nearbythe main shaft while OdishaFire Service pumps wereinstalled along the way to takethe water up to the river Lytein,he said.

The two pumps put in byOFS for 10 hours managed topump out approximate 1.8 lakhlitres of water from anotherabandoned mine shaft nearby,Susngi said. Today was the26th day of the Meghalayamine disaster. PTI

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Chennai: The Madras HighCourt on Monday ordered thearrest of Tamil Nadu highereducation secretary MangatRam Sharma, taking a seriousview of his failure to appear inthe court in a contempt casedespite advance notice.

"Contempt proceedings areserious proceedings and theycannot be taken lightly, espe-cially, by a higher official likethe higher education secre-tary," Justice N Kriubakaransaid in his order.

Directing the court registryto issue a bailable warrant

against the IAS official, thejudge ordered the ChennaiPolice Commissioner to arrestand produce him before thecourt by January 9.

He was passing furtherinterim orders on a contemptpetition filed by the Associationof Self Financing Arts andScience and ManagementColleges in Tamil Nadu againstthe Coimbatore-basedBharathiyar University oversetting up of distance educationstudy centres through fran-chises institutes in areas outsideits jurisdiction. PTI

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Cuttack: A day after PipiliMLA Pradeep Maharathy ten-dered his resignation from theState Cabinet over his com-ments on the acquittal verdicton the 2011-12 rape and mur-der case of a 19-year-old girl, theState Crime Branch police hereon Monday said they wouldchallenge the lower court verdictin the High Court.

Briefing reporters here,Crime Branch ADG SantoshUpadhaya maintained that theprosecution has sufficient evi-

dences and material to ensurethat the accused persons in thecase face conviction.

Refusing to comment overthe court verdict, the senior copsaid the case would be proper-ly and effectively conducted inthe High Court.

"We have already appoint-ed a special public prosecutor toconduct the sensitive case in theHigh Court," the ADG saidadding that the Director ofPublic Prosecutor had alreadybeen moved in the matter to

challenge the BhubaneswarAdditional District Sessionscourts verdict.

The State Advocate General(AG) would also be consulted inthis case, he added. OnePrashant Behera and his broth-er Sushant were arrested in thePipili case but they were exon-erated by the Bhubaneswarcourt last month observing thatthe prosecution (crime branch)failed to adduce clinching evi-dence against the arrested per-sons during the trial. PTI

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Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel onMonday said that his government will

not be run by a ‘bunch of officials’ as theleadership knows how to run a government.

Referring to Chief Minister RamanSingh, he said that the former relied on a setof officials to run his government but it willnot happen in the new regime. 'We know

very well how to extract work from officials',he said.

Baghel was replying to former ChiefMinister Raman Singh's reported commentthat it is only second day in the Assemblyand the Home Minister does not know thatan official had been given portfolios of EOWand ACB without his knowledge in hisDepartment by the Government whilereferring to a senior IPS officer.

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Commerce and IndustryMinister Kawasi Lakhma onMonday directed officials thatefforts should be made to min-imize acquiring private land forindustrial use.

Addressing a review meet-ing held at the Mantralayahere, the Minister said that the

industrial units would beallowed to set up in the stateonly after winning confidenceof the locals.

He said that the officialsneed to encourage those indus-tries which employ maximumnumber of locals.

Whereever an industrialunit is established, there mustbe balanced extraction of nat-

ural resources and balance ofeco-system is maintained, hesaid.

The State government willencourage setting up of smallunits and as per the poll manifesto,200 food parks are to be estab-lished, Lakhma said.In Dantewada, Kanker and Bijapur districts ofBastar, Agri-based industrial unitsmust be encouraged, he said.

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Page 5:  · Amid hammering out a pre-poll alliance with the Samajwadi Party, BSP chief ... general elections, Mayawati said, “But later people took ... RYP DN/34/2013-2015 ˘ˇˆ ˙ ˇ˝

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Sheikh Hasina was sworn inas Bangladesh’s prime min-

ister for a third consecutiveterm on Monday after herAwami League’s landslide vic-tory in the December 30 elec-tion. President Md AbdulHamid administered the oathof office to 71-year-old Hasinaat the Bangabhaban. It isHasina’s fourth term in office.

The president then admin-istered the oaths for the newministers, ministers of state anddeputy ministers who will formthe Cabinet. Hasina will lead aCabinet of 24 ministers, 19

ministers of state and threeState Ministers. Her rulingGrand Alliance won 96 per centof the seats contested in the elec-tion, which was marred by accu-sations of ballot stuffing, voterintimidation and violence.Hasina and her ruling party havedismissed the accusations.

Hasina’s Cabinet is mostlymade up of new faces. Thirty-one members of the newCabinet are first-timers. TheCabinet exclusively consists ofmembers of the Awami League.

On Thursday, she was cho-sen as the leader of the Housefor the fourth time.

Hasina, the daughter of

Bangladesh’s founderBangabandhu Sheikh MujiburRahman, is termed by many asthe country’s iron lady.

Several veterans weredropped from the council ofministers amid speculationabout the inductions as majorportfolios like defence wereretained by Hasina herself.

The Jatiya Party, a keypartner in the Awami League-led Grand Alliance of Hasina,on Friday decided to occupythe opposition benches inParliament after the mainopposition BNP led by ex-pre-mier Khaleda Zia rejected theresults of the general election.

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China on Monday said itwould welcome the UN

officials to visit its volatileMuslim-majority Xinjiangprovince provided they remain“fair and objective”, days afterthe official media reportedthat Beijing passed a five-yearplan to “sinicise Islam” to makeit compatible with its version ofsocialism.

UN’s Geneva-basedCommittee on the Eliminationof Racial Discrimination saidlast year that it was alarmed by“numerous reports of ethnicUyghurs and other Muslimminorities” being detained incamps Xinjiang region andcalled for their immediaterelease.

China defended the camps,saying they were for re-educa-tion and aimed at de-radical-ising some sections of theUygur Muslim population.

The US and several othercountries have also expressedconcern over the camps.

UN human rights officialMichelle Bachelet said inDecember that her office hadsought access from China tovisit Xinjiang to verify the re-education camps for Muslimminorities.

“Xinjiang is an openregion. We welcome UN andother parties to visit Xinjiangwhile abiding by relevant rules,regulations and necessary pro-cedures,” Chinese ForeignMinistry spokesman Lu Kangtold a media briefing here.

“We also believe that theyshould avoid interfering ininternal affairs and harmingour sovereignty. They shouldstay objective and fair. We arewilling to maintain contactwith UN to meet each otherhalf way,” he said.

China has about 20 millionMuslims who are mostlyUyghurs, an ethnic group of

Turkic origin and Hui Muslimswho are of Chinese ethnic ori-gin.

Both Uyghurs and HuiMuslims are about 10 millioneach, according to an officialpaper. While Uyghurs lived inXinjiang bordering Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), HuiMuslims resided in Ningxiaprovince.

China is currently carryingout a massive crackdownagainst the East TurkistanIslamic Movement (ETIM) inthe volatile Xinjiang provincewhere Uyghurs who form amajority there express con-cern over the increasing set-tlements of the Han commu-nity.

Meanwhile, official mediareported that China passed afive-year plan to ‘sinicise Islam’in a bid to make it compatiblewith its version of socialism.

“China passed a five-yearplan to sinicise Islam at ameeting on Saturday with rep-resentatives from China’s eightIslamic associations,” an articlein the state-run Global Timessaid on Sunday.

“During the meeting, the

participants agreed to guideIslam to be compatible withsocialism and implement mea-sures to sinicise the religion.This is China’s important act toexplore ways of governing reli-gion in modern countries,” itsaid.

Asked about his reaction,Lu said “I have not heard aboutwhat you said”.

“China is a country of var-ious ethnic groups. We respectthe religious activities. But Ibelieve that the religious activ-ities should be carried outwithin the framework of thelaw in a country. There is noexception even in other coun-tries like the UK and so on,” hesaid.

The ruling CommunistParty of China (CPC) has beenfollowing much highlighted“Socialism with Chinese char-acteristics”, an ideological lineenunciated by former leaderDeng Xiaoping, who succeed-ed Mao Zedong after his deathin 1976.

Under this line, China fol-lowed reforming and openingpolicies, liberalising the econ-omy to allow private sector.

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Atop Sri Lankan court onMonday dismissed a peti-

tion seeking to test PresidentMaithripala Sirisena’s mentalhealth for firing Prime MinisterRanil Wickremesinghe anddissolving Parliament, contro-versial moves which plungedthe country into unprecedent-ed political crisis.

On October 26, PresidentSirisena, 67, sackedWickeremesinghe as PrimeMinister and replaced himwith ex-strongman MahindaRajapaksa, triggering the never-seen-before political and con-stitutional impasse which last-ed for over two months.

The two-judge bench of theCourt of Appeal dismissedwith costs the petition filed bya woman named ThakshilaLakmali Jayawardena, saying ithad no authority to hear thecase. The court orderedJayawardena to pay Rs 100,000as legal costs.

Jayawardena sought anorder directing the police chiefscrutinise Sirisena’s mentalstate. The petition called for amedical report on thePresident’s mental status.

Jayawardena’s Attorneysaid after filing the case that

President’s unusual actionswarranted a medical check upon his mental status.

The petition was filedbefore the Supreme Courtorder on December 13 whichruled that Sirisena’s action todissolve parliament to call freshparliamentary election wasunconstitutional and illegal.

Sirisena move to sackWickremesinghe was describedas a “constitutional coup” by theprime minister’s supporters,arguing that the president hadno power to sack a sittingPrime Minister as per the 19thamendment to theConstitution.

Sirisena’s appointment ofRajapaksa was also questionedin the court as theWickremesinghe camp ques-tioned as to how Rajapaksafunctioned in the prime min-ister’s job when he had failed toprove his parliamentary major-ity.

Rajapaksa sought to securea majority in the 225-memberParliament but failed. Sirisenathen dissolved Parliament andcalled snap elections onJanuary 5.

However, the SupremeCourt overturned his decisionand halted the preparations forsnap poll.

Taipei: Six former and currentengineers for German chemi-cals giant BASF have beenarrested in Taiwan on suspicionof leaking valuable technologyto a competitor in China,authorities said on Monday.

Taiwan’s CriminalInvestigation Bureau (CIB)released a statement saying thesuspects were involved in a plot“to leak crucial technology andmanufacturing processes... Tomake illegal profits”.

An official with knowl-edge of the investigation saidthe group allegedly sold thetrade secrets to JiangyinJianghua MicroelectronicsMaterials, a tech companybased in China’s eastern Jiangsuprovince, pocketing USD 1.3million.

“The technology involvedin the case has an estimatedmarket value of 100 millioneuros ($114 million) althoughthe suspects were caught beforethey could sell the most confi-dential information,” the offi-cial, who asked not to benamed, told AFP.

The CIB did not provide abreakdown of how many sus-pects were working for BASF atthe time of the arrests but theysaid they included “high rank-ing” officials. AFP

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The Saudi woman who madea desperate plea for asylum

after landing at Bangkok air-port has been placed “underthe care” of the United Nationsrefugee agency, a Thai officialsaid late on Monday.

Rahaf Mohammed Motlaqal-Qunun told AFP she ranaway from her family whiletravelling in Kuwait becausethey subjected her to physicaland psychological abuse. The18-year-old said she hadplanned to seek asylum inAustralia and feared she wouldbe killed if repatriated by Thaiimmigration officials whostopped her during transit onSunday.

The incident comes asSaudi Arabia faces intensescrutiny over the shockingmurder of journalist JamalKhashoggi last year, which hasrenewed criticism of the king-dom’s rights record.

Thai immigration chiefSurachate Hakparn had saidSunday that Qunun was deniedentry because of her lack ofdocuments.

But he made an abruptabout-face the next day, fol-lowing a global media frenzy asthe young woman pleaded onTwitter for different countriesto help her.

After announcing thatThailand “will not force her” toleave, Surachate told reporterslate Monday that Qunun would

be “allowed to stay” after ameeting with officials fromthe UN refugee agencyUNHCR.

“She is under the care ofthe UNHCR now but we alsosent Thai security to help takecare (of her),” Surachate toldreporters at Suvarnabhumi air-port.

He said Qunun had toldUNHCR officials she “wants tostay in Thailand for a whilewhile seeking asylum to a thirdcountry”.

The agency “will take fivedays to consider her status” andanother five days to arrange fortravel, Surachate said, addingthat he would meet with Saudidiplomats on Tuesday toexplain Thailand’s decision.

Following the announce-ment, a relieved Qunun tweet-ed that she felt safe “underUNHCR protection with theagreement of Thailand author-ities”, adding that her passporthad been returned to her afterbeing taken away on Sunday.

Surachate had toldreporters earlier MondayQunun was stopped by immi-gration because Saudi officialshad contacted them to say shehad fled her family. “Thailandis a land of smiles. We will notsend anyone to die,” he said.“We will take care of her as bestas we can.”

The UNHCR said it hadbeen granted access to Qununat the airport “to assess herneed for international refugee

Libreville: Gabon’s govern-ment has retained control ofthe West African country afteran attempted military coupearly Monday, the governmentsaid. Five army officers whotook over state radio in thecoup attempt have been arrest-ed, government spokesmanGuy-Betrand Mapangou, toldRadio France International.

Authorities have regainedcontrol of the state broadcast-ing offices and a major thor-oughfare in the capital,Libreville, which were the onlyareas taken over by the officers,according to the spokesman.

Earlier Monday a soldierwho identified himself as Lt.Obiang Ondo Kelly, comman-

der of the Republican Guard,read out a statement saying themilitary had seized control ofthe government of this WestAfrican country.

He was flanked by twoother soldiers holding weaponsand all were dressed in cam-ouflage uniforms and greenberets. He had said they weretaking over to “restore democ-racy.”

Those soldiers have beentaken into custody andPresident Ali Bongo’s govern-ment remains in control, saidthe spokesman.

A curfew has beenimposed over the capital,Libreville, and the internet hasbeen cut. AP

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�� �<������� ������������:�� ������������;����� 8����� Vatican City: Pope Francissays next month’s meeting ofbishops from around the worldaims to “shed full light” on cler-gy sex abuse and covers-ups.

Speaking to diplomatsMonday at the Vatican, Franciscalled the abuse of minors“one of the vilest and mostheinous crimes conceivable.”

He said the church wasworking to combat and preventabuse and its concealment, touncover church hierarchy’s

involvement and to deliver jus-tice to minors who have “suf-fered sexual violence aggravat-ed by the abuse of power andconscience.”

The Catholic Church’scredibility has been eroded bysex abuse by clergy and bishopsand its often systematic con-cealment.

Francis called February’smeeting “a further step in theChurch’s efforts to shed fulllight on the facts.” AP

Page 6:  · Amid hammering out a pre-poll alliance with the Samajwadi Party, BSP chief ... general elections, Mayawati said, “But later people took ... RYP DN/34/2013-2015 ˘ˇˆ ˙ ˇ˝

Aprime ministerial interview isan occasion for the incumbentto address his constituents,not an opportunity for criticsto extract their pound of flesh.

In an interview to news agency, ANI,Narendra Modi tackled a range of issueswith finesse. Deflecting charges of corrup-tion in the Rafale deal, Modi made the sub-tle distinction that the allegations were notagainst him, but his Government: “Ifthere is any allegation against me person-ally, let them dig who gave what, when andwhere and to whom”.

This is a gentle dare to Congress pres-ident Rahul Gandhi to find a link to Modi;the Bofors kickbacks trail led directly toSonia Gandhi crony Ottavio Quattrocchi,whose London bank accounts wereunfrozen by the UPA Government to allowhim to withdraw the money. The �30,500crore offset deal with Dassault, underwhich the Defence Research andDevelopment Organisation, HindustanAeronautics Ltd and nearly 70 private firmswill manufacture varied equipment, lackssimilar resonance. Modi pressed the pointmildly, “What is the need for middlemenin defence deals? … Had ‘Make in India’been initiated 70 years back, the malaikhane wala raasta from outside would havebeen closed”.

Modi expanded on the surgical strikes:“When Uri happened, when our jawanswere killed, burnt... there was rage withinme… I realised that the anger in the Armywas much more than mine. For the moraleof the forces, they somehow wanted justiceto be done…” Thus, the operation wasplanned. “I gave clear orders that whetheryou get success or failure, don’t thinkabout that, but come back before sunrise”.Revealing that he was in live contact thatwhole night, he said there were anxiousmoments when the flow of informationstopped for an hour after sunrise, until hewas finally told the men had returned safe-ly. Thereafter, Pakistan was informed, theCabinet Committee on Security met and anArmy officer briefed the nation.

Denying that his Government or partypoliticised the issue, Modi countered thatthe very same day, “leaders of some partiesraised doubts over the surgical strikes. It wasnecessary for Pakistan to speak like this tokeep their morale intact. But what Pakistanwas saying, was being said here too….Politicisation started from that point”.

Regarding overtures to the thenPakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif andcongratulatory message to Imran Khan,Modi said India, be it UPA or NDA,favours dialogue, but talks are inconsistentwith cross-border terrorism. Dismissing crit-icism of his foreign trips, he said all PrimeMinisters have similar travel schedulesbecause of the numerous multilateralforums; “If the level is lower than the PrimeMinister, the voice is not heard… I try that

India’s voice reaches theworld… My visits are noticedbecause I interact with peopleand take decisions”.

Combative over allegationsthat his Government has weak-ened institutions, Modi chargedthat the previous Governmentcreated the National AdvisoryCouncil against the PrimeMinister and Prime Minister’sOffice; a Cabinet decision wastorn up by a big leader (readRahul Gandhi) at a Press con-ference; judges were selected onthe basis of ideology, and manyReserve Bank of IndiaGovernors were forced outbefore completion of theirterms. However, when hisGovernment learnt of the bick-ering in the Central Bureau ofInvestigation, the top two offi-cials were asked to go on leave.He insisted Urjit Patel resignedfor personal reasons.

Denying charges ofvendetta raids, Modi hinted atthe Sohrabuddin judgementwhere the Supreme Courtobserved that the case seemedtailored to implicate politicalleaders. The EnforcementDirectorate secured a “raz-daar” from a foreign country,and a Congress worker turnedup as Christian Michel’slawyer. Nirav Modi, MehulChoksi and Vijay Mallya fledbecause tolerance for theiractivities ended, but interna-tional laws are being invokedto bring them back, and theirproperty is being seized even

in foreign countries. Whilethose, who absconded underprevious regimes, have notreturned, Modi promised,“those who fled during thisGovernment, will be broughtback… Those who have stolenIndia’s money, will have tocompensate for each and everypenny”.

Modi said he was the firstto raise the issue of black moneyand banking havens at the G20;this was accepted as a seriousconcern and a source of terrorfunding; nations agreed to shareinformation. While many well-connected accused are movingfreely, he remarked, “those con-sidered first family, who ran thecountry for four generations, areout on bail, that too for finan-cial irregularities. It is a bigthing... The country’s formerFinance Minister is makingrounds of courts…”

On the generally clubbedissues of Ram temple, tripletalaq and Sabarimala, the PrimeMinister said the Ordinance wasa response to the SupremeCourt verdict; triple talaq is anissue of justice and is banned inmost Islamic countries; whileSabarimala temple has its owntraditions, just as there are tem-ples where men cannot go.Moreover, “a woman judge inthe Supreme Court has madecertain observations..… Thereshould be a debate on that aswell sometimes”. As forAyodhya, the matter is at its finalstage in the Supreme Court.

Urging Congress lawyers not tocreate obstacles, he promisedthat once the judicial processends, “whatever be our respon-sibility as Government, we areready to make all efforts”.

Regarding Congress’promises of loan waivers forfarmers, Modi said these havefailed to resolve the farm crisis;farmers have to be saved fromincurring debt in the first place.On Opposition plans for agrand alliance, he said partieswith no national agenda wereuniting on a single agenda ofopposing him (Modi). OnUddhav Thackeray’s criticisms,he said the BJP adhered to coali-tion dharma in 2014 when itwon its own majority, and hewas committed to giving spaceto regional aspirations.

Modi condemned lynchmobs in the name of cow pro-tection and the political violencein which BJP workers have beenkilled in West Bengal, Kerala,Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Assam,and Jammu & Kashmir. OnGanga, he said a drain pollutingthe river for 120 years has beenclosed and the next step is tocleanse the tributaries that draininto the river. The PrimeMinister answered questionson all important and currentissues; in the run up to the polls,as in 2014. More televised inter-views can be expected.

(The writer is Senior Fellow,Nehru Memorial Museum andLibrary; the views expressed arepersonal)

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Aerial warfare” (January 4).Directly or indirectly by compar-ing Rafale with Bofors, theDefence Minister has made itclear that both the deals wereshady. If the Modi Government isserious, it should take on theCongress head-on and set up aJoint Parliamentary Committee toinvestigate the deal.

N Nagarajan Via email

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Sir — The tussle between bash-ers and supporters of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi seemsto have become a regular phe-nomenon now that the battlelines for the 2019 Lok Sabha pollhave been drawn. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s opponents seemto have taken an extremely neg-ative attitude towards him. Theyclaim that in the last nearly fiveyears of the NDA rule, theGovernment has not done any-thing for the country and its peo-ple; it failed to fulfil the promis-es made to the people; promot-

ed anti-minority feelings andhas, thus, divided the country.

However, these accusationsmay be highly unfair. It may bethe case that the Governmentfailed us on some occasions.The Prime Minister’s nation-wide campaign for SwachhBharat has been a hit. Similar hasbeen the fate of other pro-grammes such as the PradhanMantri Jan Dhan Yojana,

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana(Housing for All 2022 Scheme)and the Ayushman BharatYojana. Besides, road connectiv-ity has tremendously improvedeven in the rural areas. Shouldn’twe, the citizens of this country,recognise and appreciate thesenation-wide efforts aimed at ourwelfare?

M Ratan Via email

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Aerial warfare” (January 4).Defence Minister NirmalaSitharaman, during her speech inParliament, appeared to have asense of humour. We know it fullywell that it is neither theAgustaWestland nor the Rafaledeal that will bring the BJP or the

Congress to power in the 2019general election.

Non-performance of the rul-ing party will play a huge role inthe Lok Sabha poll. Voters can nolonger be fooled. The list of thepromises made by the BJPGovernment is long and cannot beforgotten.

ShashiVia email

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Real lionheart” (January 7). Thelion-leopard story represents thefeeling of warmth and compassionbetween inter-species. Their storyalso bestowed lessons for human-ity. We must learn to help eachother instead of repudiating. It isnot always essential that those whoneed our aid, should belong tosame caste, creed, family andsociety. A needy may be someoneunfamiliar and unknown to us.Taking care of someone in need isthe precedent of affectionatehumanity.

Kirti Wadhawan Kanpur

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Page 7:  · Amid hammering out a pre-poll alliance with the Samajwadi Party, BSP chief ... general elections, Mayawati said, “But later people took ... RYP DN/34/2013-2015 ˘ˇˆ ˙ ˇ˝

In recent times, it has becomealmost customary to rank differ-ent entities across various indi-

cators. Of course, this trend start-ed with the World Bank attemptingto rank countries by their score ofdoing business.

The original idea was to providean objective measure of businessregulations and their enforcementfor 190 nations across the world.Given the diverse range of coun-tries, most indicators are assessedat the elementary level so that dataof countries be collected.

Many countries, includingIndia, lay credence to these type ofranks, such as the doing businesssurvey. Furthermore, India is at theforefront of this ranking challenge

as it uses a similar methodology torank its States, districts and cities,among others. The focus remainson a variety of issues.

To usher competitive spiritacross various Indian States, theUnion Government went a stepahead to provide additional financeto States, districts and cities, whowere the front runners in this ratrace. Some States, too, have beenfollowing this approach to ranktheir districts and blocks. Not to beleft behind, international organisa-tions as well as some private think-tanks are also in this race of rank-ing Indian States, districts, blocksand cities.

However, these methodologieshave several inherent weaknessesthat are rarely ever considered.Faultlines remain important sincehigher rankings by these indicatorsdraw additional funds from theUnion Government.

First, ranking on the numberscale instead of giving importanceto grade is an inherent problem.This results in high degree of fluc-

tuations when the index is mea-sured on an annual basis. Generally,most of these indices consist ofunweighted/weighted average ofscores on several measurable para-meters. Typically, some of them arebased on survey feedback of stake-holders’ perception in respect togovernance issues and role playedby various administrative depart-ments of the Government at nation-al/sub-national levels.

The ranking of an economical-ly developed State may decline inthe current year, as compared to thelast year on some measure notbecause it functioned poorly but forthe reason that it had no furtherrealistic scope of improvement as ithad achieved al l goals.Furthermore, when respondentsare asked to rank their performancewith respect to perception feedback,they would be non-committal orambivalent.

On the other hand, an econom-ically backward State has amplescope of improvement andsmall/medium actions by policy-

makers with respect to perceptionof the survey are rewarded byrespondents with high score.

Second, there are inherent sta-tistical weaknesses that relate tostakeholders’ perception survey inthe index measure as most of themhave weak statistical foundationwith respect to sampling the frameand the size of sampling units.Many of these are not drawn ran-domly and, thus, inference drawnfrom these surveys needs to betaken with caution.

Third, ranking of States, blocksand cities without ascribing to anyminimal standard is an inherentfutile exercise. It is similar to rank-ing students in a class where all mayhave failed to secure the passmarks.

In all these ranking exercises,there is no minimum standard forany indicator/parameters that onehas to secure at least to be consid-ered for ranking. As a result, thesetype of ranking exercises give awrong picture.

For illustrative purpose, let us

consider the smart cities ranking bythe Union Government.

Undoubtedly, the so-calledsmart city project should have asmart garbage disposal that consistsof at least the following: (a) the cityshould be free from VAT forgarbage so as to restrict accessibil-ity of birds, animals, rainwater andthereby minimise the spread of vec-tor-borne diseases and bad odour(b) segregation of household wasteshould be done for better process-ing of garbage and value additionfrom the same (c) odourless trans-portation from the VAT to thedumping station in a cost efficientway (d) extend the life span of thedumping site by way of reductionof volume of waste and providehygienic environment to the citi-zens.

The last point is extremelyimportant since all Indian citiesfind it difficult to locate sites todump the garbage due to pressureson land and protests from citizensresiding in nearby areas. Negativeexternalities associated with the

dumping sites are far too many.Sadly, none of the so-called

smart cities fulfil the above men-tioned criteria with respect to thedisposal of waste. The overflowinggarbage VAT exists in most smartcities, including the national capi-tal city. Most of these cities have notadopted smart garbage solutions,like the modern compactor methodto make the city free of VAT.

By contrast, star rating of elec-trical instruments conceived bythe Bureau of Energy Efficiency isa right approach since the standardin saving electricity is at the core ofthis concept.

In sum, one needs to set mini-mum standard for eachparameter/indicator and ranksshould be given only if one scoresabove the minimum standard.Furthermore, it is advisable to givegrade (A/B/C) instead of ranks(1/2/3) so as to minimise year toyear fluctuations.

(The writer is Senior Fellow,National Council of AppliedEconomic Research)

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President Ram Nath Kovind may havesought to deepen our civilisationallinks and hoped to build on a sharedanti-colonial narrative with Myanmarduring his visit to that country but

semantics cannot paper over the fact that ourneighbour has signed the Kyaukpyu deep seaproject with China in November and that couldpose a security threat to India. This is partic-ularly worrying considering the Chinese areattempting to ring the Indian Ocean with its“string of pearls diplomacy” and hem India in,already acquiring strategic depth with thePakistani port of Gwadar and the Sri Lankanone at Hambantota.

Yes, the President did emphasise onstrengthening bilateral cooperation throughincreased connectivity, capacity-building andgrowing commercial and cultural exchanges.And it is true that Myanmar is also unhappyabout China’s economic imperialism by creat-ing debt traps for smaller states in the regionas part of its Belt and Road Initiative. But theChinese have already invested in developing a$7.3 billion deep sea port at Kyaukpyu, a $10billion Special Economic Zone in RamreeIsland and a $3.2 billion industrial park recent-ly. And as late as September, it has also signeda Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) forthe China-Myanmar Economic Corridor(CMEC).

At the moment Myanmar has to factor inthese imperatives, even if unhappily. The portis very important for Beijing to resolve itsMalacca Straits dilemma but India is apprehen-sive about its proximity, particularly in the eraof hybrid warfare and China has been knownto mask its surveillance and muscular vigilantedesigns through such port exercises in theSouth China Sea. At the same time India hasto tread cautiously as Myanmar is a frontlinestate when it comes to our Look East policy. Infact, Prime Minister Narendra Modi heraldedhis Act East vision in Yangon during theASEAN summit of November 2015, as also dur-ing his subsequent visits to our North-easternStates. As academician Swaran Singh, profes-sor of Diplomacy and Disarmament in JNU,says, “In view of China’s ‘early harvest’ overdriveunder BRI, its decades-old ambition to connectits least developed regions of Yunnan to Bay ofBengal using rail, road, inland navigation andby developing Myanmar’s ports like Kyaukpyuhas become a far deeper concern for NewDelhi.”

And as Major General P K Chakravorty(Retd), defence analyst, Centre For LandWarfare Studies (CLAWS), foresees, “TheChinese may use this port for military purpos-es in future, but at present, they are establish-ing ports to provide logistics and parking facil-ities to merchant ships.” Experts believe thatsuch ports can become potential strategic sup-port bases through which China can developlogistics hub that supports expanded militarypresence and helps it access vital Sea Lines ofCommunications (SLOCs), circumvent theMalacca dilemma and overcome perceived con-tainment by foreign powers.

It is important to understand how this port

will change the geo-strategic equation,particularly in the Indo-Pacific region.It will enable Chinese ships carry oilfrom the Middle East, avoid themuch-crowded Malacca Straits and,hence, neutralise the US’ capability toimpose barrier on Chinese oil imports.The oil received through the searoute is already being transported toYunnan province through the ShwePipeline, operational in August 2014.Though both sides have declared thatthe Kyaukpyu port won’t be convert-ed for military purposes, the naviga-ble corridor puts us in the arc ofChina’s big brother eye for our projectsin Myanmar too.

At a time when China is provid-ing financial and material support tothe armed ethnic groups operating inMyanmar, including the United WaState Army (UWSA) and six of itsallies, for India, the security of its per-sonnel, investments, construction andoperation of infrastructure projects inMyanmar are a matter of seriousconcern. These include the India-Myanmar-Thailand Tri lateralHighway and the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project. Inthe past, these armed groups have pro-vided safe havens and arms to India’sNorth-East based militant groups asproxies to interfere with or slowdown New Delhi’s projects inMyanmar. China could very well usethese groups again to pressure NewDelhi and counter our strategic weightin the region.

If China does surreptitiously con-vert the Kyaukpyu port into a militarybase, with its other ports Hambantota(Sri Lanka ) and Gwadar (Pakistan),then defence experts believe thatBeijing can interfere with the freedomof navigation, posing a threat not only

to India but also to other countriesusing sea lanes in the Indian Ocean.Besides, it could also have implicationsfor the freedom of air space as Chinahas already imposed an Air DefenceIdentification Zone (ADIZ) in EastChina Sea.

India, being a peninsular country,considers oceans as a global commonand has always advocated open andfree movement along shipping lanes.So how can it neutralise China’s over-lordship and policing of the watersgiven the latter’s growing militarypresence in the region? Consideringthe results of a recent survey thatshowed that most Southeast Asiannations are now wary of China’s eco-nomic adventurism, India must ropein regional players like Japan, Vietnamand Australia to balance the equation.Similarly, to wean Myanmar awayfrom Chinese designs, it also has toincrease its economic involvement byway of larger investments. India’sfinancial support and project assis-tance to Myanmar in terms of grantsis close to a billion dollars and interms of lines of credit close to about$750 million.

India also needs to tap into thediscontent of the Myanmarese peoplevis-à-vis China. President U TheinSein’s Government decided to suspendChina’s $3.6 bi l l ion Myitsone hydroelectric dam project in KachinState in September 2011 after massiveprotests by locals over environmentalconsequences. Protests against a copper mine project in Letpadaung,which is a joint venture between theChinese Wanbao Mining Coppercompany and the Union of MyanmarEconomic Holdings, is yet anotherarea of discomfort. The Shwe pipelinewas also delayed due to protests

by locals.India’s stakes in Myanmar are con-

siderably higher given its buffer sta-tus vis-à-vis China. Then there’s thelarger issue of the Rohingya Muslims,who have links with Saudi Arabia andPakistan and could be used to fomentterrorist activities in the region, par-ticularly India.

Experts say the Rohingya insur-gency is not an indigenous one butcreated by Ataullah abu AmmarJunjuni, a Pakistani national whohad worked as a Wahhabi imam inSaudi Arabia prior to his arrival inMyanmar. The radicalisation ofRohingyas has the support of globaldesignated terrorist and chief ofJamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) Hafiz Saeed.His charitable trust Falah-e-InsaniyatFoundation (FIF) is carrying outrelief work for them in parts ofPakistan, including Karachi. It is alsoimportant to note here that the IslamicState has been eyeing South Asia toexpand its Islamic State Khorasan.

The Chinese Kyaukpyu port andpipeline projects are in Rakhine state.Chinese are wary about these armedgroups moving into the western partof the state and affecting their oper-ations, including tampering with thepipelines. Beijing also needs addition-al space to expand, should it decide tocreate a military base in that part ofthe state. It will, therefore, be inBeijing’s interest to have a Rohingya-free Rakhine state and deepen its pres-ence in Myanmar as a whole. It is inthis context that India needs to workon existing strengths and bolsterMyanmar as a frontier state if itwants the Indian ocean region to bea part of its sphere of influences.

(The interviewer is PrincipalCorrespondent, The Pioneer)

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NDA constituent Apna Dal(Sonelal) on Monday

warned its ally BJP of going to “any extent” if it does not change its attitude towards smaller parties in theruling coalition.

Apna Dal (S) presidentAshish Patel told party mem-bers in Lucknow that the partycan take “any decision” butdeclined to elaborate.

“Our party (Apna Dal-S)has been in alliance with theBJP since 2014 and is dis-charging the alliance dharmawith full honesty. But in UttarPradesh it is not at all gettingthe respect, which it deserves,”he said addressing a meeting.

Patel said, “You (BJP)should change your behaviour,otherwise our leader (UnionMinister Anupriya Patel) cantake any decision or go to anyextent. Whatever decision ourleader takes, the entire partywill support it.”

He also said that he is not giving threats, but mak-ing requests.

“Our demand is that theBJP Government in the Stateshould end the sadness pre-vailing among the Dalits andbackwards caste people. How this will be done? Youknow it,” Patel said.

He said though AnupriyaPatel is the Union Minister of

State for health and familywelfare, she does not get invitesto the programmes pertainingto schemes of her Ministry.

“Apart from this, the BJPGovernment in the State hasgrossly ignored Apna Dal (S) inappointing chairpersons andother officials of corporations.

There is a section of peo-ple in the BJP, which does notwant that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi is re-elected in2019 Lok Sabha polls and it isthis section of the BJP, which istorturing us,” he said.

The Apna Dal (Sonelal) isa breakaway of the Apna Dal,which was founded in 1995 bySone Lal Patel. The Apna Dal(Sonelal) was founded byJawahar Lal Patel, who was alsoa founding member of theApna Dal.

In October 2014, fissureswithin the Apna Dal becamepublic for the first time, as theparty’s then national generalsecretary Anupriya Patel wasremoved from her post.

Lucknow: Ram JanmbhoomiTrust Chairman Mahant NrityaGopal Das on Monday saidconstruction of a grand RamTemple in Ayodhya shouldstart at the earliest and hopes ofcrores of devotees are withPrime Minister Narendra Modito get this issue resolved.

He also said seers would takea “concrete decision” on the tem-ple issue at a ‘Dharma Sansad’from January 31-February 1 dur-ing the ‘Kumbh Mela’. “Thegrand temple constructionshould start soon as hopes ofcrores of Ram bhakts (devotees)still are with Modi. The extensionof dates by the Supreme Court isemotionally hurting Hindus,who feel it should be considered(by the court). For past 70 years,the matter is pending in courts.They should get justice now,”Mahant said in a statement here.

The Supreme Court onFriday had said an “appropriatebench” on January 10 will fixthe date of hearing in the RamJanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid

land title dispute case. On thesame day, the court also dis-missed a fresh plea thatdemanded urgent hearing onday-to-day basis in the Ayodhyaland dispute matter.

The petition was filed byadvocate Harinath Ram, whohad submitted that in view ofthe inordinate delay in theadjudication of the matter andin the prevailing sentimentssurrounding, the Ayodhya landdispute matter should be givena hearing on priority.

“Not only us, but the entireHindu community hopes thatPM Modi will ensure that thematter is resolved and pay realtributes to ‘karsewaks’ (volun-teers) killed by Mulayam SinghYadav Govt in 1990,” Mahantsaid. On a call given by the VHP,a large number of ‘karsevaks’had assembled in Ayodhya nearthe disputed site and several ofthem lost their lives after Yadav,then Chief Minister of UttarPradesh, ordered police firingon October 30, 1990. PTI

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Ahmedabad: A special SITcourt on Monday allowed for-mer Gujarat Minister Mayaben Kodnani, an accusedin the 2002 Naroda Gam riotcase, to go out of Gujarat for six months.

Seeking deletion of a bailcondition in the case thatbarred her from going out ofGujarat, Kodnani’s lawyer AmitPatel had argued before thecourt that if the condition is notdeleted, she should at least beallowed relief for a year or sixmonths.

The court of special judgeM K Dave partially allowed thebail modification applicationand permitted Kodnani to gooutside Gujarat for six months.

Kodnani was granted bailin the case by a sessions courtin May 2009, a few weeks afterher arrest in the case.

Among the conditionsimposed by the court at thetime was that she could not goout of Gujarat. PTI

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In a move which could bedescribed as an anti-climax to

the ensuing poll fever inThiruvarur Assembly con-stituency, the ElectionCommission of India by a latenight order on Sunday rescind-ed the by-election it had sched-uled in the constituency forJanuary 28. The bypoll wasnecessitated by the demise of MKarunanidhi, the former pres-ident of the DMK who had beenrepresenting the constituency inthe Tamil Nadu Assembly.

The ECI had announcedon January 3 that the bypoll atThiruvarur would be held onJanuary 28 and the resultannounced on January 31. Butthe order issued by the ECI onSunday said the poll has beenrescinded following represen-tations from various sourcespointing out that the bypollworks would come in the wayof the relief and resettlementoperations necessitated by

Cyclone Gaja which had dev-astated the constituency in themonth of November.

“Chief secretary, TamilNadu, in her letter dated 3-12-2018 apprised the Commissionregarding Cyclone Gaja, men-tioning that it devastated thedelta district and severelyaffected 12 districts in theState. The cyclone causedextensive damage to the stand-ing , agriculture, horticulturecrops and livelihood of peoplein these 12 districts. In the lightof letter received from ChiefSecretary, the Commission videits letter dated December 28,2018, requested the Ministry ofHome Affairs, Government ofIndia, to give its views in thematter,” said the order issued bythe ECI on Sunday.

It also stated that D Raja,national secretary of the CPItoo had asked the Commissionto postpone the bypoll in thebackdrop of the cyclone whichhad devastated the 12 districts.An all-party meeting convenedby the district electoral officer,

Thiruvarur on Sunday was ofthe unanimous view that thebypoll should be postponedsince it would affect the reliefand rehabilitation measures inthe constituency and elsewherein the affected regions. Hencethe election Commission ofIndia has declared as null andvoid all the steps taken till nowby the authorities and alsoannounced that the bypollwould be held as and when itwas convinced that the situa-tion was conducive to holdingthe poll.

The DMK and the AMMKhad already declared their can-didates for the bypoll while theruling AIADMK was in theprocess of finalising its candidate.

MK Stalin, DMK presi-dent was the first politicalleader in the State to welcomethe decision of the ECI. In arelease he thanked theCommission to postpone thebypoll and asked it to hold thesame to all the 20 Assemblyconstituencies along with theParliament election.

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court Mondayrestrained the Karnataka Government frompumping secondary treated water from itssewage treatment plants (STPs) in Banglore intoirrigation tanks in Kolar district for recharging the groundwater table after takingnote of a report claiming that the water wascontaminated.

The apex court stayed the Karnataka HighCourt order by which the state government wasallowed to pump the secondary treated waterfrom Banglore-based STPs to the minor irri-gation tanks situated in Kolar District forrecharging the ground water table under as theK & C valley project.

A Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi andJustice SK Kaul took note of the submission oflawyer Prashant Bhushan that the high court“overlooked” a report which had pointed outthat the water, to be pumped for recharging theground water table, was contaminated and hadcontained “higher heavy metals, high nutrients,higher Biochemical Oxygen Demand andChemical Oxygen Demand”.

It also issued notices to the StateGovernment and other Government bodiesincluding Department of Minor Irrigation,Central Ground Water Board and KarnatakaState Pollution Control Board on the plea of RAnjaneya Reddy, a resident of Chikkaballapurain Karnataka. PTI

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Mondayissued notice to Reliance Communication Ltd(RCom) Chairman Anil Dhirubhai Ambaniand others on a plea filed by Ericsson India PvtLtd for allegedly not clearing its dues of �550 croreafter selling its assets to Reliance Jio.

A Bench of Justices RF Nariman and VineetSharan sought a response from Ambani and oth-ers in four weeks.

Appearing for RCom, senior advocates KapilSibal and Mukul Rohatgi urged the bench toaccept �118 crore towards the dues to establishits bonafide. Senior advocate Dushyant Dave,appearing for Swedish telecom equipment makerEricsson, said they would not accept �118 crorebeing given by RCOM and want their entire �550crore with interest. Dave said it is a case of grosscontempt and even after RCom received �3,000crore after selling its assets it has not compliedwith apex court’s order to pay the outstandingamount to Ericsson.

Sibal said RCom is giving two demand draftsof �118 crore just to establish its bonafide andwould pay the remaining outstanding amount indue course. “This would not lead you (RCom) any-where. You have to deposit the entire amount.However, you can deposit the two demand draftsamounting to �118 crore in the apex court reg-istry,” the bench said while posting the matter forfurther hearing after five weeks. PTI

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Ahead of the 2019 generalelections, Yogi Adityanath

Government in UP plans toextend �4,000 crore of soft loanto sugar mills to help them clearsugarcane farmers’ dues, whichstand at about �4,700 crore cur-rently. “Out of the total dues, lastseason’s cane arrear has comedown to �1,700 crore. This sea-son’s dues till December areabout �3,000 crore. We havekept a target for sugar mills toclear the dues in a speedy man-ner,” Uttar Pradesh CaneDevelopment Minister SureshRana said on the sidelines of anevent pertaining to Kumbh Melaat the national Capital.

Earlier, attacking the Centreover alleged farm distress,Congress president RahulGandhi on Monday said the BJPGovernments of Uttar Pradeshand Maharashtra have not givendues of �11,000 crore to sugar-cane farmers, but �30,000 crorewas “put in the pocket” of a bigbusinessman. “Just imagine, on

one hand the farmer grows sug-arcane with his hard workthroughout the year, takes it tosugar mill. But when the farmerasks for remuneration for hishard work, the BJPGovernments of Uttar Pradeshand Maharashtra do not give�11,000 crore dues to sugarcanefarmers,” Gandhi said in aFacebook post.

The UP Government pro-vided a soft loan worth �4,000crore in the last season(October-September) when thecane arrear was as high as�34,400 crore. The loan was pro-vided at five per cent interest rateof sugar mills.

“Farmers are on the priori-ty list of the Government. If millswant to avail the soft loan, wewill extend it, provided they keepready the matching grant,” Ranasaid. The Minister said that outof the �4,000 crore worth of softloan, about �1,700 crore was dis-bursed to sugar mills so far. Theloan instalment started from July2018 and repayment will beginfrom July this year.

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In fresh trouble for Congressleader Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-

law Robert Vadra, theEnforcement Directorate onMonday filed yet anothermoney laundering case againstSkylight Hospitality, a firmallegedly linked to him, inconnection with irregularitiesrelated to land deals inGurgaon (Haryana) in 2008.

Vadra is already beingprobed by the ED in connec-tion with two other moneylaundering cases — one relat-ed to Bikaner land scam ofRajasthan and another linked to arms dealer SanjayBhandari and acquisition ofoverseas assets through the“proceeds of crime”.

The agency has filed an

Enforcement Case InformationReport (ECIR), FIR in police parlance, under thePrevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA).

The latest case followssearches conducted by the EDlast month against three per-sons linked to Vadra in con-nection with its probe intoalleged “commissions receivedby some suspects in Defence deals” and illegal assetsstashed abroad.

The fresh case was regis-tered after taking cognisance ofan FIR filed by the Haryana Police in September last year,officials said.

According to the HaryanaPolice FIR, Skylight HospitalityPvt. Ltd. purchased 3.5 acres ofland in Gurgaon’s Sector 83from Onkareshwar Propertiesfor �7.50 crore in 2008 when

Bhupinder Singh Hooda of theCongress was the ChiefMinister and also held theportfolio of the Town andCounty Planning Department.

Later, Skylight Hospitalitysold this land to realty majorDLF at a price of �58 crore,after procuring a commerciallicence for the development ofthe colony with the influence ofHooda, the police had alleged.The company thus made aprofit of about �50 crore. Vadrahas denied the charges.

In return for the allegedfavours to Skylight , the StateGovernment allotted 350 acresof land to DLF at Wazirabad inGurgaon in violation of rules,claims the FIR. In the allegedquid pro quo, the real estategiant made an undue profit of�5,000 crore, it had said.

The ED will probe if sucha financial irregularity led tolaundering of funds and cre-ation of illegal assets by theaccused.

The ED is also probing therole of Hooda in connectionwith a similar land deal case inGurgaon’s Manesar area.

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Chennai: Tamil Nadu ChiefMinister K Palaniswami onMonday lashed out at the DMKfor not getting the Cauvery tri-bunal’s order on sharing of theriver water notified in thegazette in 2007 when it was part of the then ruling UPA atthe Centre.

The final award of theCauvery Water DisputeTribunal should have been noti-fied in the gazette within themandatory 60 days, but DMKtook no steps, he told the stateassembly.

Intervening Leader ofOpposition M K Stalin of DMKwho raised the issue ofKarnataka’s proposal to con-struct a dam at Mekedatu acrossriver Cauvery, Palaniswamiunderlined his government’scommitment to uphold TamilNadu’s rights.

The state has filed a con-tempt plea against Karnataka inthe Supreme Court for ‘violat-ing’ its orders on the Cauverydispute by proposing the new dam while theAIADMK MPs were stallingproceedings in Parliament overthe issue, he said.

Tamil Nadu is stronglyopposed to Karnataka’s pro-posal to construct a balancingreservoir at Mekedatu, saying itwill affect the farmers in thelower riparian state.

The state assembly hadrecently passed a resolutionurging the Centre to withdrawits permission to Karnataka forundertaking a detailed projectreport.

Seeking to turn the tableson the DMK, Palaniswami saidthe Congress-led UPA was in power with the DMK

being a key constituent whenthe tribunal’s final award wasgiven in 2007.

“Members of your partywere (central) Ministers too. Itwas your government in TamilNadu as well. You failed touphold the rights (on sharing ofthe river water) given to us inthe final award... In those 60days, you took no steps,” he said.

Detailing the steps take byhis government against theMekedatu project, he said itwould support the Centre onprojects that would benefitTamil Nadu, but opposeschemes that were detrimentalto its interests.

The 2007 tribunal awardwas notified by the Centre inFebruary 2013 following aSupreme Court direction on aplea by the then Jayalalithaa-ledAIADMK Government. PTI

Patna: Bihar Chief MinisterNitish Kumar on Monday saida joint parliamentary commit-tee probe into the Rafale dealwas not required as the SupremeCourt had given its judgmentand the Lok Sabha had debat-ed the issue.

The Janata Dal (United)president also urged theGovernment to hear the peo-ple of Assam on the theCitizenship Amendment Bill,which has been opposed by alarge section of people andorganisations in the Northeast.

Targeting opposition par-ties that have attacking the gov-ernment over the Rafale issue,Kumar said, “The SupremeCourt has delivered its judg-ment on the issue. It has alreadybeen debated in Lok Sabha. Itis no more an issue.”

“It is beyond one’s fathom aswhat is left now that needs to beconvinced to the people...JPCshould be constituted for what?,”he told reporters here after his‘Lok Samvad’ (public interac-tion) programme. Kumar wasaccompanied by his Deputy Sushil Kumar Modi,Cabinet colleagues and senior

bureaucrats.The JD(U) president also

refused to give much impor-tance to the mahagathbandhanwhich, he said, had “no future”in Bihar. “I am quite confidentthat Prime Minister NarendraModi will again become thePrime Minister after the LokSabha polls... But the people aresupreme, they will take thedecision ultimately,” Kumar,who will play an importantrole for the NDA in Bihar in theparliamentary election, said.

He said he does not buy theargument that the BJP willlose the Lok Sabha polls as ithas lost Assembly elections inMadhya Pradesh, Rajasthanand Chhattisgarh.

The mahaghatbandhan(grand alliance) in Bihar has nofuture even though it attemptsto make caste equations togain electoral success by cob-bling up with various politicalparties, the Chief Minister said.

“They (RJD and others likeit) have made such attempts inthe past also. But these equa-tions have no force as peoplewill ultimately vote on the workof a party,” he said. PTI

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Kolkata: The West BengalCongress unit on Mondaykicked off its month-longprotest programme againstTMC Government over issueslike worsening law and ordersituation, farmers distress andunemployment in the State.

Led by Bengal Congress

president Somen MitraMonday, the party organissedprotest at Barasat area of North24 Parganas district.

Carrying placards againstthe Mamata Banerjee and theState Government protestersshouted slogans against theTMC Govt. “We will continue

our fight against the worseninglaw and order situation in theState. The number of unem-ployed youths have increased byleaps and bounds in the Stateunder the TMC regime. Thefarmers are facing a tough sit-uation in getting prices fortheir produce,” Mitra said. PTI

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The Union Cabinet onMonday cleared the

redrafted CitizenshipAmendment Bill, which seeks to provide Indian citi-zenship to non-Muslims fromBangladesh, Afghanistan andPakistan. The Cabinet meetingchaired by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, cleared the Billand it is expected to be tabledin Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

The move came withinhours of the presentation inLok Sabha of a report of theJoint Parliamentary Committeeexamining the bill that was first introduced in Parliamentin 2016.

The fresh bill seeks toamend the Citizenship Act 1955to grant Indian nationality topeople from minority commu-nities — Hindus, Sikhs,Buddhists, Jains, Parsis andChristians — from Afghanistan,Bangladesh and Pakistan aftersix years of residence in Indiainstead of 12 even if they don’tpossess any proper document.This was an election promise ofthe BJP in 2014.

Many parties and organi-zations in Assam and otherNorth-Eastern States have beenprotesting against the bill, say-ing it would nullify the 1985Assam Accord under whichany foreign national, irrespec-tive of religion, who hadentered the state after 1971should be deported.

The JPC report was pre-pared with a majority vote asOpposition members haveopposed the move to grant cit-izenship on the basis of religionsaying it is against theConstitution.

Speaking in Silchar inAssam on Friday, the primeminister reiterated the Centre’scommitment to pass theCitizenship Amendment Bill.“The Citizenship Bill is anatonement of the wrong thatwas done during India’sPartition. I hope this Bill ispassed soon in Parliament.

India will safeguard all who hadbeen victims of the Partition,”he said.

The Congress, TrinamoolCongress, CPI(M) and a fewother parties have been stead-fastly opposing the bill claim-ing that citizenship can’t begiven on the basis of religion asIndia is a secular nation.Interestingly, BJP’s ally ShivSena and JD(U) haveannounced that they wouldoppose the Bill in Parliament.

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Guwahati: A number of stu-dents’ organisation and politi-cal parties have called an 11-hour northeast ‘bandh’ onTuesday to protest theCitizenship Amendment Billwhich seeks to provide Indiancitizenship to non-Muslimsfrom Bangladesh, Pakistan andAfghanistan.

Several students’ bodies ofthe region have decided toobserve the 5 am to 4 pm‘bandh’ in support of the call

given by the North EastStudents’ Organisation(NESO), an umbrella organi-sation of students’ unions, ofwhich the AASU is a con-stituent.

The All Assam Students’Union (AASU) has called for astate-wide bandh after a gap of10 years and it is supported bythe Asom Gana Parishad(AGP), which withdrew sup-port to the BJP-led governmentin Assam during the day, the

opposition Congress, theAIUDF, and the Krishak MuktiSangram Samiti (KMSS).

The bill seeks to amend theCitizenship Act 1955 to grantIndian citizenship to peoplefrom minority communities— Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists,Jains, Parsis and Christians —from Afghanistan, Bangladeshand Pakistan after six years ofresidence in India instead of 12even if they don’t possess anyproper document. PTI

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Guwahati: Protests eruptedacross Assam on Monday, withsome agitators stripping inpublic, over the controversialCitizenship (Amendment) Billand tabling of the JointParliamentary Committee(JPC) report on it inParliament.

The influential All AssamStudents’ Union (AASU)launched a statewide protestagainst the bill by observing‘Black Day’, with the KrishakMukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS)and 30 ethnic organisationsjoining the agitation.

Leaders of the Congress,the CPI and the pro-talk ULFA

faction, besides journalists,teachers and civil society groupsalso hit the streets with blackflags and placards, shouting slo-gans against Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and ChiefMinister Sarbananda Sonowaland burning their effigies.

The Citizenship(Amendment) Bill, 2016 wasintroduced in the Lok Sabha toamend the Citizenship Act,1955 to grant Indian citizenshipto Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists,Jains, Parsis and Christians,who fled religious persecutionin Bangladesh, Pakistan andAfghanistan and entered Indiabefore December 31, 2014. PTI

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Hours after a video footageshowing an IAS officer

and his wife mercilessly beat-ing up a youth for posting lewdcomments on Facebook wentviral, the erring officer was senton leave, sources at the StateSecretariat Nabanna said.

The alleged bawdy com-ments were about the wife ofthe said officer.

Nikhil Nirmal the erring2011 batch IAS officer andDistrict Magistrate ofAlipurduar was promptly senton leave after instructions camefrom the topmost level came,sources said adding the inci-dent had been taken note of.

The video footage showedthe erring officer raining blowson the hapless youth Shankarwith the senior officer’s wife lending her husband a“helping hand.”

The man was picked up bythe police and brought to theFalakata Police Station wherehe was beaten up inside thechamber of the local inspectorin-charge who only did the pre-

cious little by managing tothwart an attempt to use lathion the victim who continu-ously cried for mercy butapparently not getting it.

The officer had since thenremained incommunicado,neither police IC SoumyajitRoy was available for com-ments. “The political leadershiphas taken the incident veryseriously and will take stringentaction against the accused,” aTrinamool Congress MLAfrom North Bengal said.

The DM was not only beat-ing up the man but was repeat-edly heard threatening himwith dire consequences,sources said. “In my district noone will talk over me,” the DMreportedly told the man. Evenas he begged for mercy the offi-cer told him how “I can enteryour house and kill you there.”

The better part of the inci-

dent was that when the wife ofthe erring officer who alsoallegedly slapped the victimasked someone to bring a lathifrom the vehicle parked outsidethe police officer present there-advised against using sticks.

Shockingly the incidentunfolded inside the police sta-tion without any complaint orFIR being drawn against theman.

“Why did they beat him uplike this? Anything could havehappened to my son. The DMsahib could have arrested himand taken legal actions but whybeating up like this? We wantjustice and we will move thecourt for justice,” said the vic-tim’s parents.

Meanwhile, human rightsactivists took up the issuedemanding penal actionagainst the top officer.“Thankfully someone hadposted it on the social media.Had it not been so it wouldhave been another incident ofbureaucratic excesses passingoff without any protest,” saidhuman rights activists andmember of APDR Ranjit Basu.

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The MaharashtraGovernment on Monday

distanced itself from the con-troversy over the organisers ofthe 92nd Akhil BharatiyaMaratahi Sahitya Sammelan,revoking the invitation toEnglish litterateur NayantaraSahgal to inaugurate the con-clave, even as the celebratedauthor indicated that the liter-ary conference’s organisingcommittee might have beenunder “political pressure” towithdraw the invite extended toher earlier.

A day after the organisingcommittee of the ABMSSrevoked its invitation to Sehgalon the ostensible ground that

it had received threats thatthere would be disruptions inthe proceedings if she attend-ed the three-day conferencebeginning on January 11 atYavatmal in easternMaharashtra, Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis and StateCultural Affairs Minister VinodTawde issued separate state-ments distancing the BJP-ledsaffron alliance Governmentfrom the controversy.

On her part, Sahgal saidthat in an email received fromthe Sammelan organisers, noreasons had been given forrevoking the invitation extend-ed to her to attend the literaryconference. “The organisersmay have given in to the polit-ical pressure. I don’t know, I

have no idea why they withdrewmy invitation as the organiserswere very keen on me attendingthe event. Maharashtra is a BJPstate. Maybe, the BJP unit inMaharashtra did not want me tobe there,” she told a televisionchannel.

The controversy should beseen in the context of the factthat the Sahgal is a critic ofPrime Minister Narendra Modiand she was on the forefront ofthe “award wapsi” campaign acouple of years ago.

In his statement, Fadnavissaid: “It is prerogative of theSammelan organisers whomthey should invite or not. It isthey who take this kind of deci-sions. The State Governmenthas no role to play in this”.

“A controversy has onceagain been raked up on theissue of revoking an invitationextended to a prominent per-sonality for the inauguration ofa literary conference. Somemedia organisations are tryingto drag the Maharashtra gov-ernment. The Akhil BhartiyaMarathi Sahitya Mahamandal(ABMSM) is an independentbody. There is absolutely nointerference from the office ofChief Minister or the StateGovernment in the functioningof the Mahamandal,” the ChiefMinister said.

Echoing similar views onthe issue, State CulturalMinister Tawde disapprovedthe efforts to drag the state gov-ernment in matters of the all

India Marathi literary confer-ence to be held at Yavatmal andsaid: “It is the organising com-mittee that decides on whowould inaugurate the confer-ence, who will participate in theproceedings there and whowill be the invitees for the con-clave. Except extending finan-cial assistance to hold the con-ference, the State Governmenthas no role to play in the mat-ters relating to the conclave”.

Fadnavis will preside overthe inaugural function of theSammelan being organisedjointly by the Akhil BhartiyaMarathi Sahitya Mahamandaland Yavatmal’s Dr V B KolteSanshodhan Kendra AniVachanalay which is the localorganiser.

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Rakesh Sinha, MP and BJPleader has demanded that

Kerala should be broughtunder President’s Rule asthere has been a total break-down in law and order in theState. Speaking to media per-sons at Kochi, after a whirl-wind tour to Kannur districtin northern Kerala wherethere were many clashes between the BJP andthe Sangh Parivar activists following Thursday’shartal, Sinha said the Marxists along with Islamicextremist organisations have unleashedunprecedented attacks on Hindus in the region.

The MJP MP, whowas in Kozhikode toaddress anational sem-inar rushed to Kannuron hearing reportsaboutr widespreadattacks on the houses ofRSS and BJP activists byactivists of the CPI-M,said that the State was experiencing a situ-ation similar to that of acivil war.

“Hindus are selectively targeted by theaggressors and innocents are being jailedlabelling them as criminals. Political rivals arebeing subjected to hitherto unheard kind of sup-pression and victimisation,” Sinha said.

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The Bengal Governmentbraced up for the two-day

Bharat bandh called by the Lefttrade unions and supported bythe Congress’ Indian TradeUnion Congress after ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee saidshe would no more allow thebandh culture to flourish in Bengal taking the State further back.

Even as the Left partiescampaigned intenselythroughout the State eventhreatening to “actively resistany attempt to use force by the

administration and theTrinamool,” State administra-tion made elaborate policebandobast to keep the Stateopen and working on Tuesdayand Wednesday.

“The Government haseven directed the police toensure security to the centralGovernment offices lest theyfall prey to violence,” StateMinister Partho Chatterjeesaid while Transport MinisterSubhendu Adhikary said“additional buses, trams andferry services will be plied onMonday and Tuesday to keeplife normal.”

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Shillong: Unidentified per-sons lobbed a molotov cocktailat a BJP office here partiallydamaging it, a police officersaid on Monday.

No casualty was reportedin the explosion.

The office was attackedbefore Tuesday’s proposedNorth East bandh called by theNorth East StudentsOrganisation, an umbrellaorganisation of students’ bod-ies of the region, in protestagainst the Prime Minister’sannouncement to pass theCitizenship Bill.

An investigation has beeninitiated into the bomb attackon the BJP office, said Davis NR Marak, superintendent ofpolice of East Khasi Hills districtin which Shillong falls. PTI

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The Indian economy isexpected to grow at 7.2 per

cent in 2018-19, a tad higherfrom 6.7 per cent in the pre-vious fiscal, mainly due toimprovement in the perfor-mance of agriculture andmanufacturing sectors, theCentral Statistics Office saidMonday.

Releasing the first advanceestimates of National Incomefor 2018-19, the CentralStatistics Office (CSO) said,

“The growth in GDP during2018-19 is estimated at 7.2 percent as compared to the growthrate of 6.7 per cent in 2017-18.”

“Real GVA (Gross ValueAdded) is anticipated to growat 7 per cent in the current fis-cal as against 6.5 per cent in2017-18,” it said.

According to the CSO data,the expansion in activities in‘agriculture, forestry and fish-ing’ is likely to increase to 3.8per cent in the current fiscalfrom 3.4 per cent in the pre-ceding year.

The growth of manufac-turing sector is expected toaccelerate to 8.3 per cent thisfiscal, up from 5.7 per cent in2017-18.

The Gross DomesticProduct (GDP) had expandedby 7.1 per cent in 2016-17 and8.2 per cent in 2015-16.

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Equity benchmark SensexMonday climbed over 155

points to close over 35,850,tracking positive cues fromglobal markets coupled with adovish tone from the FederalReserve and hopes of betterChina-US trade relations.

The 30-share Sensexopened higher and continuedits upward march to regain the36,000-mark, hitting a high of36,076.95. It, however, lostsome ground towards the fag-end due to profit-booking anda weak trend in european mar-kets and settled 155.06 points,or 0.43 per cent, higher at35,850.16.

The gauge had gained over181 points in the previous ses-sion on Friday.

Similarly, the broader 50-share NSE Nifty gained 44.45points, or 0.41 per cent, to endat 10,771.80 after touching ahigh of 10,835.95 and a ow of10,750.15.

Gains in realty, teck, IT,power, consumer durables,banking and oil & gas stockshelped both the key indices toscore gains.

Both the US and Chinahave expressed an interest insettling their tariff war. Envoysof both nations will have dis-cussions during meetings onMonday and Tuesday.

Traders said supportiveglobal cues following robust USjobs data for December andFederal Reserve chairmanJerome Powell’s comments thatthe Fed would be flexible inpolicy decisions this year and

optimism ahead of Q3 earningsseason which begins this weekalso bolstered trading senti-ments.

Top software servicesexporters TCS and Infosysscheduled to report their resultsfor the December quarter onJanuary 10 and January 11,respectively.

Investor sentiment also gota boost after China’s centralbank announced an easing inpolicy Friday, with 100 basispoints of cut to bank reserverequirements freeing uparound $116 billion for newlending, they said.

Meanwhile, domestic insti-tutional investors bought equi-ties to the tune of �240.60crore, while FIIs sold shares aworth �157.72 crore Friday,according to provisional data.

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Reserve Bank GovernorShaktikanta Das on

Monday said the central bankwill take steps if there is a short-age of liquidity in the economythough the current cash needsare largely met.

The governor also said thathe will be meeting with repre-sentatives of non-bankingfinance companies (NBFCs)on Tuesday in Mumbai tounderstand the liquidity crunchfaced by the sector.

Pointing out that liquidityin the system is regularly mon-itored, Das said the RBI willtake steps whenever there is anydeficit.

“At the same time, I mustalso add the RBI would not likea situation where liquiditybecomes a kind of loose money.Any infusion of liquidity willhave to be carefully consideredand has to be need-based.

“Therefore, caution and carehave to be exercised by the RBIso that excess liquidity, ...Sometimes have adverse conse-quences, that is not created,” hetold reporters here after meetingrepresentatives of MSMEs.

Asked if there are any pres-sure points as far as liquidity isconcerned, he said it would notbe right to mention any par-ticular sector.

“It’s market-related infor-mation, so, anything that I sayon this matter during market

hours has other implications,”he said.

Based on several inputsfrom various stakeholders, theRBI recently announced addi-tional Open Market Operation(OMO) of �60,000 crore spreadover December and January, hesaid.

“We do believe that the liq-uidity requirement of the econ-omy and financial institutionsto a great extent are met,” hesaid.

On meeting with theNBFC sector, Das said the RBIwill have detailed interactionwith stakeholders.

“Over the last severalmonths you would be aware thatthere has been a lot of viewsexpressed about the issue of liq-uidity faced by NBFCs. So,tomorrow’s meeting will beutilised to get a perspective fromthe NBFCs ... I am looking for-ward to our interaction withNBFCs and understand theirperspective on various issues.Liquidity issue has been men-tioned time and again,” he said.

Last month, he had a meet-ing with public, private coop-erative banks.

Talking about the meetingwith the MSME sector onMonday, Das said the purposewas mainly to interact and toget their views about the cur-rent state of functioning of theMSME and the implementa-tion of the restructuringscheme which the RBI hasannounced earlier.

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RBI Governor ShaktikantaDas on Monday said the

central bank will announce adecision on giving interim div-idend to the Government oncesuch a final view is taken.

The Government hasalready said it will seek inter-im dividend from the RBI inorder to maintain its fiscaldeficit of 3.3 per cent of theGDP for 2018-19.

Last fiscal, the RBI paid aninterim dividend of �10,000crore to the Centre. RBI followsthe July-June calendar.

“As and when RBI takesany decision on any matter(interim dividend), you willcome to know about it,” Dassaid.

Last month, EconomicAffairs Secretary SubhashChandra Garg had said theGovernment will seek interimdividend from the ReserveBank of India (RBI).

As per the BudgetEstimate, the Government pro-jected to collect �54,817.25crore as dividend or Surplus ofReserve Bank of India,Nationalised Banks andFinancial Institutions in thecurrent financial year (2018-19).

The Government received�40,000 crore as dividend forthe current fiscal while �10,000crore was paid as interim div-idend in the last financial year(2017-18). In all, the RBI paida dividend of �50,000 crore tothe Government in 2017-18.

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The rupee pared early gainsbut managed to end 4 paise

higher at 69.68 against the USdollar on Monday followingdovish stance by the FederalReserve and rising hopes of athaw in ongoing US-Chinatrade tiff.

Besides, smart gains indomestic equities and weak-ening of the greenback in over-seas markets propped up theIndian currency.

This was the secondstraight session of gain for thedomestic unit. It had risen by48 paise to settle at 69.72against the US dollar on Friday.

At the Interbank ForeignExchange (forex) Monday, therupee opened on a firm note at69.38. It gained further to hit ahigh of 69.23 following dollarselling by exporters, before final-ly closing at 69.68, up 4 paise.

Traders mainly attributedthe rupee firmness to sus-tained selling of the Americancurrency by exporters follow-ing the US Fed chief JeromePowell’s hints that the centralbank will apply brakes on itstightening of monetary policythis year.

“Clearly, the Fed is at thetail end of a rate hiking regimeand a move towards neutralpolicy will be welcome forfinancial markets in 2019.Positive sentiments reverber-ated across US and Asian mar-kets,” said Sunil Sharma, ChiefInvestment Officer, SanctumWealth Management.

Globally, sentiments werehigh after two major supereconomies the US and Chinaexpressed interest in settlingtheir tariff war. Envoys of bothnations will have discussionsduring meetings on Mondayand Tuesday.

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China and the US onMonday held their first

face-to-face negotiations hereto ease a bitter trade warbetween the world’s two largesteconomies amid growing con-cerns about China’s slowingeconomy and its impact onAmerican businesses.

The US and China havebeen locked in an escalatingtrade spat since early 2018, rais-ing import tariffs on more than$300 billion of each other’s goods.

Last year, US PresidentDonald Trump imposed tariffhikes of up to 25 per cent on$250 billion of Chinese goods.The move prompted China toincrease tariffs on $110 billionof US goods.

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Jivi mobiles launches premiumFull View Smart Phone “OPUS

S3” · New Opus S3 with PremiumHolographic back finish priced atjust �6,499· The Phone is loadedwith dual rear camera and is pow-ered by 3000 mAh battery whichhas a standby time of 24 hours 22minutes· Face Detection,Fingerprint sensor and Dual rearcamera among prime features ofOpus series. It has 3000 mAh bat-tery (Standby: 24 hours 22 min-utes, Talk time: 12 hours), 2GBRAM and 16 GB ROM (expand-able up to 128 GB).

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Real Madrid may not even challengefor the title let alone win it as ashock 2-0 defeat at home to Real

Sociedad left them 10 points behindBarcelona in La Liga.

Barca took their advantage overtheir fiercest rivals into double figures bybeating Getafe 2-1 while Atletico Madridand Sevilla also gained on the Europeanchampions, despite earlier sharing a 1-1draw.

Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez's goalswere enough for Barca, for whom theweekend could hardly have gone better.Antoine Griezmann's stunning free-kickearned Atletico a point at the RamonSanchez Pizjuan.

Madrid played with 10 men for halfan hour after Lucas Vazquez was sent offbut by then they already trailed toWillian Jose's early penalty.

Ruben Pardo wrapped up a brilliantvictory for La Real, who had won this fix-ture only once in their last 22 attempts.

This was their first victory at theSantiago Bernabeu since 2004 and then,Madrid fired coach Carlos Queiroz a daylater.

Santiago Solari is not there yet, evenif he was asked afterwards if he deservedto keep his job. "We fight to win the nextgame," he said.

The honeymoon period Solarienjoyed in November though afterreplacing Julen Lopetegui is well and trulyover.

This loss, coming after the draw awayto Villarreal on Wednesday, means

Madrid sit fifth, outside even theChampions League places.

"Everything went against us today,"Solari said.

"We did everything we could but theball just would not go in."

A stoney-faced Florentino Perez wasamong the 53,412 watching on, theclub's second lowest attendance of the sea-son. "We will try to get them back," Solarisaid, before making a swift exit.

Barcelona have won seven out of the

last 10 La Liga titles and now own a five-point cushion. If they are to slip up in2019, Atletico or Sevilla would seem theones able to take advantage.

Gareth Bale was missing with a calfinjury but it was the 18-year-old ViniciusJunior that came in, not Isco, who is yetto start a league game under Solari.

La Real's penalty was awarded after75 seconds and converted after 150. MikelMerino ghosted past Sergio Ramos andinside Marcelo.

Casemiro tried to cover but bundledMerino to the ground. Willian Jose wenthigh and down the middle.

����J������������Karim Benzema spurned the best of

Madrid's chances before the break, lash-ing wide with only Geronimo Rulli tobeat.

Rulli was not needed then but hewould be, many times. He deniedVinicius, Benzema and Luka Modric in

quick succession. Ramos wanted a penal-ty for a push in his back but the appealwas desperate.

Vazquez clipped the post with a loop-ing cross but that was not enough to hushthe angry whistles at the end of the half.

The second period was frantic, withchances at both ends. La Real could havesealed it when Mikel Oyarzabal fired overand the weaving Januzaj twice went close.

Isco replaced Casemiro in the 57thminute and in the 61st Vazquez was sentoff. A rash sliding challenge had earneda yellow card towards the end of the firsthalf and even if the chip at Merino's heelsseemed harmless, he was foolish to takethe risk.

Down to 10, Madrid still pushed andhad a more convincing penalty appealwhen Vinicius tumbled over the arm ofRulli. Referee Jose Munuera stood firm.The decision was "scandalous", Ramossaid later.

Januzaj should have wrapped it upwhen his shot was saved by the legs ofThibaut Courtois but Pardo did, head-ing in a cross from Willian Jose, whocould even have made it three in injurytime.

Defeat made Griezmann's superbfree-kick seem all the more valuable asthe Frenchman's fifth goal in as manygames earned Atletico a point away toSevilla. Wissam Ben Yedder had putSevilla ahead.

Barca rode their luck as Getafemissed several chances to snatch a draw.Instead, Messi's 399th La Liga goal anda sumptuous volley from Suarez did thejob at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez,despite Jaime Mata giving Getafe hope.

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Indian football captain SunilChhetri on Monday said his

team's first win in the Asian Cupafter more than five decades wasthe best match of his illustriousinternational career in which hehas out-scored superstar LionelMessi.

India thrashed Thailand 4-1 intheir group opener on Sunday. The34-year-old goal machine struckon either side of the lemon breakin the country's stunning win, thefirst in Asian Cup since 1964.

"It (Thailand match) staysright top there. I'm fortunate toplay a lot of good games for mycountry but this game is right topthere. It's one of those gameswhere the team did really well,"Chhetri said from Abu Dhabiwhen asked to rate the Group Amatch.

In the process, he became thesecond highest international goal-scorer among active players with67 strikes from 105 matches. Hewent past Argentine superstarMessi, who has scored 65 from 128matches. Portugal's CristianoRonaldo is the highest scorer with

85 from 154 matches.Chhetri, who made his India

debut in 2005, said his side did notexpect to win against Thailand bysuch a big margin.

"We were confident of a goodshow but honestly speaking, wedid not think it could have been4-1. They (Thailand) are a verygood side, technically very good.

I'm sure none of us could think ofa 4-1 win but we were confidentof a good outing," he said.

"I am very happy with the per-formance and it has been a greatstart for us. I think the team unity,team understanding and spiritplayed the role behind the win.The indomitable spirit of the teamactually is one of the importantreasons why we won the game," headded.

A draw against either hostsUnited Arab Emirates (January 10)or Bahrain (on January 14) couldsee India through to the round of16, which, if achieved, will be a his-toric first for the country.

Chhetri refused to predictanything but said the team willtake one game at a time. He, how-ever, agreed that the goal differenceof three from the Thailand matchcould be useful later.

"...We can't predict anythingright now. We take one game at atime. As I said, we might not bethe strongest team in the group butwe'll fight till the end. We are notthinking about qualifying now butjust concentrating to do well in thenext match and then we'll seewhere we land," he said.

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Members of the IndiaODI squad, including

M S Dhoni and RohitSharma, on Monday left forAustralia for the three matchseries beginning on Saturday.

The players took theflight in the afternoon, aBCCI official confirmed.

All-rounder Kedar Jadhav, who is

part of the ODI squad,posted pictures withDhoni and Rohit onsocial media beforedeparture.

"Off to Australiawith @msdhoni@ImRo45," tweetedJadhav.

Rohit, who was alsoin the Test squad, had flown back toMumbai for the birth of his child.

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Fast bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile has crit-icised poor communication from

Australia selectors following his omissionfrom the ODI squad to face India thismonth, saying they have not checked his fit-ness status properly.

Cricket Australia selector Trevor Hohnshad said Coulter-Nile was not picked dueto lower back soreness but the paceman,who has a long injury history, claimed sub-sequent scans had cleared him.

Just a day after Australia named theODI team on January 4, Coulter-Nileclaimed 3 for 25 for Perth Scorchers in theBig Bash League.

He said the back soreness that was givenas the official reason should not have beenenough to exclude him.

"I didn't take (the news) the best, to behonest. I think it was communicated to mereally poorly," Coulter-Nile was quoted as

saying by 'ABC Radio'."I won't go into it, but I don't think sore-

ness is really any excuse for not playingcricket. In fairness, I hadn't had a scan yet.I had had back soreness and back history,but I hadn't had a scan to see what waswrong. I had one when I got home and itwas all clear."

He said the selectors had picked theteam even before he underwent a scan toknow what was wrong with his back.

Coulter-Nile said he understood therewill always be a cautious approach taken forfast bowlers with a history of back problemsbut added he wanted to be aware of the fullpicture.

"I was getting some mixed messagesabout what was happening -- that's just theway it is. I have no issue with being dropped,I just like to get a clear message about why- I was told it was because I had a sore back,"he said.

"JL (coach Justin Langer) asked mewhen they were selecting the team, I saidI have a sore back but I haven't had a scanyet. With my history, it was just better offto check it. I think communication used tobe a little bit better - from everyone."

There has been some disquiet amongthe axed players over lack of communica-tion on selection decisions.

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Aspectacular goalkeepingblunder helped Marcello

Lippi's China avoid a humili-ating defeat as they came frombehind to narrowly beat min-nows Kyrgyzstan 2-1 at theAsian Cup on Monday.

The Central Asians, ranked91st in the world and playingtheir first major tournament,bossed the first half anddeservedly led 1-0 at the breakof their Group C clash afterAkhlidin Israilov's raspingstrike.

But panicky Kyrgyz goal-keeper Pavel Matiash commit-ted the howler of the Asian Cupso far when he palmed the ballinto his own net shortly afterhalf-time, before Beijing Guoanforward Yu Dabao grabbedthe winner 12 minutes beforethe end.

It spared China's blushesagainst a team of players whoply their trade in leagues asdiverse as Bangladesh and theTurkish amateur ranks, whileboth Matiash and Israilov areclubless.

Kyrgyzstan were far fromoverawed by their Asian Cupdebut as they attacked from theoutset at Al Ain's sun-drenchedKhalifa Bin Zayed Stadium.

In an open first half,China's Wu Lei had the firstshot in anger but Vitaly Luxshould have scored for

Kyrgyzstan on 26 minuteswhen he fired well over after abrilliant touch from MirlanMurzaev.

Wu Xi, set up by Wu Lei,flashed one wide three minuteslater but Kyrgyzstan were caus-ing serious problems at theother end, with 14 playerspacking the six-yard box forone corner.

Lux couldn't get on the endof Bekzhan Sagynbaev's entic-ing header across the face ofgoal but it wasn't long beforeKyrgyzstan's imaginative build-up play created the break-through.

Three minutes before half-time, Murzaev's header fell

perfectly for Israilov just outsidethe box and the out-of-contractmidfielder smashed his shot inoff the right post.

Moments later, Lux had agilt-edged opportunity to makeit 2-0 but he poked his shot justwide when one-on-one withChina goalkeeper Junling Yan.

China came out withrenewed purpose after thebreak and they benefited froman outrageous piece of luckwhen Matiash handled into hisown net on 50 minutes.

Matiash attempted to palmBernhardt Edgar's defensiveheader from a corner over thebar but only succeeded in bat-ting it over the line.

It took the wind out of theWhite Falcons' sails and asthey tired, Wu Xi and Wu Leiboth came close with headers— while Matiash nearly giftedthem a second goal when hefumbled a back pass.

A Chinese winner lookedinevitable and it was Yu whocompleted the turnaround,rounding Matiash and scoringfrom a tight angle on 78 min-utes.

The win for China, whohave never lifted the Asiantrophy despite making their12th consecutive appearancessince 1976, means that theyhave won their opening gamefor the sixth straight occasion.

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The humiliating loss to Indiain the Asian Cup has result-

ed in Thailand head coachMilovan Rajevac's sacking butthe Serb was effusive in hispraise for the StephenConstantine-coached side.

Rajevac, who was sackedby Football Association ofThailand hours after India'sstunning 4-1 win on Monday,said his side's opponents thor-oughly deserved to take allthree points.

"They (India) absolutelydeserved to win the match. Forus, the first half was mostlyokay, even though we conced-ed the opening goal after a cor-ner of our own. In the secondperiod, India were more

aggressive, and they clearlywanted the victory," Rajevacsaid.

"We under-performed afterthe break. At the start of thesecond half we conceded anearly goal which forced us toopen up a little as we tried tofind an equaliser. The realproblem for us was that we didnot have a response to India'saggressive style of play."

The Serbian was appoint-ed Thailand head coach inApril 2017. He then signed fora two-year contract extensionin February last year.

Rajevac's assistant SirisakYodyardthai will take over asinterim head coach for the restof the tournament, beginningwith the team's group matchagainst Bahrain on Thursday.

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Page 12:  · Amid hammering out a pre-poll alliance with the Samajwadi Party, BSP chief ... general elections, Mayawati said, “But later people took ... RYP DN/34/2013-2015 ˘ˇˆ ˙ ˇ˝

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India captain Virat Kohlitermed his team's historic 2-1

series win on Australia soil as his"biggest achievement" which willgive the current team a "differentidentity".

Eight summers back at theWankhede, Kohli was theyoungest member of a star-stud-ded team led by Mahendra SinghDhoni which lifted the WorldCup but this according to himwill remain on "top of the pile".

"By far this is my bestachievement. Has to be on top ofthe pile. When we won theWorld Cup, I was a young play-er. I saw the others getting emo-tional. This series will give us adifferent identity as a team. Whatwe've been able to achieve issomething to be really proud of,"Kohli said at the post-match pre-sentation ceremony.

It was at Sydney that Kohliwas annointed with permanentTest captaincy and it is at thevery ground that he created anepic chapter in Indian crickethistory.

"Our transition started herewhen I became the captain forthe first time. Only one word tosay, I'm proud. To lead theseplayers is an honour and a priv-ilege. They make the captainlook good. Definitely deserve toenjoy this moment," the elatedskipper said.

He was all praise forCheteshwar Pujara, one ofIndia's stand-out performer inthe series apart from JaspritBumrah. The skipper alsopraised young Mayank Agarwaland Rishabh Pant.

"Want to give a special men-tion to Pujara. He's one guyalways willing to accept things.He's the nicest man around.Special mention to MayankAgarwal too. To come in onBoxing Day and play like thatagainst a high quality attack.Someone like Rishabh as well,coming into his own and dom-inating attacks," he said.

The bowling attack has per-formed through the year andKohli got another opportunity tolaud their efforts.

"We knew once the batsmenscore, our bowlers are lethal. Theway the bowlers have dictatedterms in this series. And not justthis one, the previous two toursas well. I've not seen happen inIndian cricket. They don't lookat a pitch and think there'snothing for us. It's a revelationfor Indian cricket and a learningfor the other bowlers backhome."

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India coach Ravi Shastriequated India's maiden Test

series win on Australia soilwith the historic 1983 WorldCup triumph terming it "as bigif not bigger".

"I will tell you how satis-fying it is for me. World Cup1983, World Championship ofCricket 1985 - this is as big, oreven bigger, because it is in thetruest (Test) format of thegame. It's Test cricket, whichis meant to be the toughest,"Shastri said on Monday.

Not someone who is shiesaway from expressing histhoughts, Shastri said that hebelieves in living in the pre-sent as he expectedly laudedskipper Virat Kohli.

"Past is history, future is amystery. We have won todayafter 71 years and I'd like tolive in the present. And salutemy captain for being the cap-tain of the team that beatAustralia for the first time inAustralia in a series," headded.

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Former captain Sourav Gangulyon Monday hailed India's his-

toric Test series win in Australiaand said wicketkeeper RishabhPant is one for the "future".

Having made his Test debutin August 2018, the 21-year-oldPant has gone from strength tostrength, scoring a Test hundred

each in England and Australiawithin months.

In Australia, Pant amassed

350 runs in seven innings, the sec-ond highest after Pujara, whilebehind the stumps he broke therecord for most catches — 20 —by an Indian wicketkeeper in aTest series.

"He will be a superb player forIndia in the future. He has beenso good in the series and in futurealso, he will shine," Ganguly said.

Terming India's win terrific,

Ganguly said: "It's a terrific win.They played excellent cricketthrougout and the batting clicked.They scored 400-600 runs andthat was the key."

Asked to compare Kohli'sside with teams of the past includ-ing his side that drew 1-1 in 2003-04, Ganguly said: "I don't compareever. So I can't answer that ques-tion.

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Though rain spoilt India's party in Sydney by savingAustralia from the humiliation of losing the fourth

Test and going down 1-3 at home, it couldn't protect thedefending world champions from losing Border-Gavaskar trophy against the young Virat Kohli led Indianside that completely outclassed the hosts in every sec-tion of the game.

While it was Cheteshwar Pujara's brilliance thatalways kept India at the forefront, everytime the visi-tors were asked to bat first against the mighty Aussieattack. The combined impactful performance by bowl-ing unit equally complemented to script historic win.

On each of the three occasions when India startedproceedings, Pujara proved his worth and batted sen-sibly throughout the day to cancel Australia's early advan-tage, which kept coming to them as a favor followingthe poor performance by Indian openers KL Rahul andMurali Vijay.

The talismanic middle order specialist, who wasdropped from the playing XI of the first Test againstEngland at Edgbaston in August 2018, shows the greatamount of temperament and continued to makebowlers work for his price wicket.

He was clearly the difference between the two sidesbecause apart from him all the other batsmen from boththe sides combined looked clueless about the skill andtechnique that is required to produce match-winning

performances in the longest format of thegame.

The number three batsmen clearlyenjoyed the tag of being the dark horsein the eleven, as the entire focus was over

Indian skipper Virat Kohli, who cameinto the series as the player to watchout for after his record-breakingperformance in England and alsothe last time India traveledAustralia.

But since game one, whenIndia was struggling at 56 forfour in Adelaide and the hosts'

bowlers were in complete flow to seizethe moment, the new wall of Indianlineup stood tall and added valuableruns with the tail enders to lead Indiato challenge total.

It was his 123 runs innings on thefirst day of the first Test that shifted themomentum and paved way for Indiato counterattack and bring unsettledhosts under pressure.

It was his individual master classthat helped India to beat Australia in thefirst Test by 31 runs and go 1-0 up in theseries. It was the also the first time that

India won the series opener in overseasconditions.

However, the early lead couldn't lastlong for the visitors, as Australia despiteKohli's ton and Shami's six wickets in sec-ond innings, leveled series 1-1 by winning

the second game in Perth.But the momentum that India gained after winning

the first Test continued to help India in the next twocrunch games.

Pujara brought his second hundred of the series inBoxing Day Test and helped India to retain the trophy.His 106 at Melbourne was another classic example ofhow to bat in Test match cricket, he nearly batted forfive sessions and consumed 319 balls. While his 193 runsin Sydney threw Tim Paine boys completely out of thecontest.

In together, he compiled 521 runs in seven inningswhich includes three hundred and was the leading run-scorer of the series.

Apart from him, dynamic Rishabh Pant, who wasin headlines throughout the series because of his ver-bal banters behind stumps showed his skill and assem-ble 350 runs.

But this first series win in 70 years wasn't just lim-ited to Pujara's heroics that kept Aussies at bay every timehe gets into the middle of the ground. But also aboutIndian pace attack, which continued to impress over-seas.

Under sensational Jasprit Bumrah's leadership, com-bined with Ishant Sharma's experience and MohammedShami's brilliance, the trio didn't let the hosts bat freelyin the entire series.

The three of them combined were such dominantthat for the first time in all these years, Australian bats-men were seen struggling in their home conditions. Andnone of the Australian batsmen was able to reach threefigures in the entire series.

While in the final match, playing his maiden gameof the series china man Kuldeep Yadav bags five-wick-et haul and restrict Australia for 300 runs, enforcing themto play follow-on for the first time in 31 years.

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India's top run accumula-tor Cheteshwar Pujara on

Monday described the cur-rent team which clinchedthe country's maiden Testseries win in Australia as thebest he has been a part ofwith lethal bowling attackcomplementing the batting.

Pujara, who scored 521runs at an average of 74 withthe help of three hundreds,was named Player of theSeries in the historic serieswin.

"It's a great feeling for allof us. We've been workinghard to win a series over-seas, and winning inAustralia has never beeneasy. This is the best Indianside I have been part of. Iwould like to congratulatethe team," he said afterIndia clinched the four-match series 2-1.

The 30-year-old Pujarawas all praise for the bowl-ing attack.

"We've had four

bowlers, and it's not easytaking 20 wickets, so cred-it goes to all our fast bowlersand spinners...It is remark-able," he said.

Asked about histremendous form in theTest series, Pujara said, "Iam really pleased with mycontribution. As a batsman,I was just getting used to thepace and bounce.

"Apart from that, play-

ing in South Africa andEngland has helped meimprove my technique. Forme, it's all about preparationand I was very well pre-pared."

He said his first hun-dred of the series inAdelaide was special.

"Scoring a ton atAdelaide and going 1-0 upis what we were aimingfor."

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Indian cricket got its new seminalmoment after the talismanic ViratKohli led the country to a maiden

Test series victory on Australian soil,ending a 71-year wait to script a gold-en chapter in the game's history.

Gloomy weather and a dark Sydneyskyline were witness to Indian cricket'sbrightest hour in what was the coun-try's 12th attempt to achieve somethingperceived as impossible at one point oftime.

The fourth and final Test match atthe SCG petered to a barren draw due

to inclement weather but not beforeproviding India with a 2-

1 series win andthe Border-G a v a s k a rTrophy.

It is a rarefirst Down Under

for India since LalaAmarnath's side vis-

ited the country back in1947-48 months after

independence to face Sir DonBradman's 'Invincibles'.

Things turned out to be a bitof anti-climactic in the end as India hada fair chance of adding insult to theinjury with a 3-1 victory margin as theygot the home team to follow-on in theirden for the first time in 30 years afterscoring 622 in their only innings.

Cheteshwar Pujara for his 521runs deservingly got the 'Player of theSeries' award.

It was a 'freeze the frame' as theIndian team took a 'Lap of Honour' ofthe SCG with the both Indian andAustralian fans cheering them.

Such was the fragility of theAustralian batting, a full day's play pos-sibly could have been enough to win arecord three Test matches in a singleseries in Australia had the heavens notopened up.

While Australian batting wasseverely handicapped due to the sus-pensions of their premier batsmen

Steve Smith and David Warner but itcan take nothing away from the headyachievement of Kohli's men, who haveconquered an unchartered frontierwith a lion-hearted display.

If this victory is put into perspec-tive with some of Indian cricket'sfamous away series wins, it will be rightup there both in terms of novelty as wellas quality.

Alongside Ajit Wadekar's side'stwin triumph in the West Indies andEngland in 1971, Kapil's Devils orRahul Dravid's sides' winning the 1986or 2007 series in England, the membersof the current side have now success-fully etched their names in recordbooks.

Skipper Kohli, who has alwaysfocussed on the endeavour to make histeam the best travelling side, has beenfinally able to walk the talk after the dis-

appointments in South Africa andEngland where poor batting let theteam down during some of the defin-ing sessions.

In Australia however, it was a nearflawless team effort from India, espe-cially the bowling unit which has set itup for its batsmen for the better partof last year.

While skipper Kohli hit the besthundred of the series in terms ofsheer class on a difficult Perth Stadiumtrack, the unflappable Pujara and theunconventional Jasprit Bumrah (21wickets) were the heroes of the mem-orable 'first'.

With their full focus on how todecode Kohli's genius, Australian teamled by an out of depth Tim Painerealised late that Pujara has struck fromthe 'blind side' with his near perfectdefensive technique and three hun-dreds.

However it was their batting thatlet them down and a one piece of sta-tistic will scare the die-hard Aussiefans.

No other Asian captain leavealone Indian captain has won fouraway Test matches in South Africa,England and Australia in a singlecalender year.

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Australian captain TimPaine on Monday

conceded that the currentIndian bowling attack isthe best in the world andtheir relentless pressure onhis side's batsmen was akey factor in the visitingteam's maiden Test serieswin on Australian soil.

"This (Indian) attackwas seriously good, I don'tthink in Australia we havegiven them enough cred-it for how relentless theyare. The three quicksbowled pretty good pace,they are relentless in pres-sure," Paine said after thefourth Test ended in adraw.

"So, it was hard workbatting against their attackfor seasoned Test players.For Marcus (Harris) andTravis (Head) to showthey have got the game tomake runs against thebest attack in the world isa real positive," he said,while talking about hisbatsmen who had per-formed reasonably.

He said he was reallydisappointed to lose theTest series and the teamfelt the absence of a fewplayers.

"Coming into theseries, we honestly felt inAustralia we could beatIndia. But throughout theseries, more often thannot, when those big

moments came up, Virathas scored runs, Pujarahas scored runs, Bumrahhas bowled a great spelland we could not quite getthrough those moments.That's how you win Testmatches. That's why Indiawon this series," saidPaine.

"Their best playersstood up in the bigmoments or when theywere falling behind in agame, one of their goodplayers dragged themback into contest, or whenthey were in front of thegame they put us out ofthe game like they did inMelbourne. We can learna lot from the way theywent about it," he added.

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