English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today News in … · 2019. 8. 25. · Amit Shah, Lok...

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Former Finance MinisterArun Jaitley was cremated

at the Nigambodh Ghat withfull State honours on Sunday.A host of dignitaries, includingVice-President VenkaiahNaidu, Defence MinisterRajnath Singh, Home MinisterAmit Shah, Lok Sabha Speaker

Om Birla, veteran BJP leaderLK Advani, party’s workingpresident JP Nadda and UnionMinisters Nirmala Sitharaman,Harshvardhan, Smriti Irani andAnurag Thakur paid their lastrespects. Chief Ministers ofMaharashtra, Uttarakhand,Karnataka, Gujarat, Bihar andDelhi were among the digni-taries who were present when

the mortal remains of thedeparted leader were consignedto the flames amid chants of“Arun Jaitley amar rahen”.

Earlier, the top leadersfrom across the political spec-trum and hundreds of hisadmirers and party workersgathered at the departedleader’s residence at KailashColony in the morning and at

party headquarters on DeenDayal Upadhyaya Marg fromwhere his last journey beganand the mortal remains weretaken to the Nigambodh Ghatfor cremation.

A huge crowd gathered atthe cremation site along thebanks of the Yamuna to bidfinal farewell to the 66-year-oldBJP stalwart who passed away

at AIIMS on Saturday after aprolonged illness.

People started chanting“Jaitley ji amar rahen” (long liveJaitley) soon after his bodywhich was wrapped in thenational flag and taken to thecremation ground in a flower-decked carriage.

Jaitley’s son Rohan per-formed the last rites as the skiesopened up to heavy rainfall.Jaitley’s body was placed on thesame platform where DeenDayal Upadhyaya, the RSSthinker and president ofBharatiya Jan Sangh, was cre-mated in 1968.

BJP MPs, including VijayGoel and VinaySahasrabuddhe, Congress lead-ers Ghulam Nabi Azad,Jyotiraditya Scindia and KapilSibal, and NCP leader PrafulPatel too were present at thecremation site.

A visibly emotional Naidu,who had worked closely withJaitley in the BJP as BJP presi-dent and then in theGovernments of Atal BihariVajpayee and Narendra Modi,stood with folded hands forseveral minutes near the body.The V-P was seen wiping offtears with a handkerchief.

Prime Minister NarendraModi, who is on a foreignvisit, had on Saturday paid anemotional tribute to Jaitley,saying he cannot imagine thathe was far away from India inBahrain while his “dear friend”and party colleague passedaway in New Delhi.

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PV Sindhu on Sunday script-ed history as she became

the first Indian to win bad-minton World Championshipsgold by beating arch-rivalNozomi Okuhara of Japan in alop-sided summit clash here.

The Olympic silver-medal-list won 21-7, 21-7 in the finalthat lasted just 38 minutes.

Two years after beingrobbed off the gold by Okuharain an epic 110-minute final atGlasgow that was considered asone of the greatest battles inbadminton history, Sindhufinally exorcised the ghost ofthat heart-wrenching loss witha completely dominating winover the same opponent.

“Last time, I lost in thefinal, before that also I lost inthe final, so it is a very impor-tant win for me. I want to thankthe crowd for supporting me.I won it for my country and Iam very proud being anIndian,” Sindhu said.

“A big thanks to my coachKim and Gopi sir and my sup-porting staff and I dedicate thiswin to my mom, it’s her birth-day today,” she added.

It was third time lucky forSindhu, who had lost toOkuhara and Carolina Marinof Spain respectively in the2017 and 2018 finals to settlefor a silver twice.

With her fifth medal of theWorld Championships, the 24-year-old Indian was already oneof the greatest ever women’s

singles players in the showpieceevent’s history. She had won abronze each in the 2013 and2014 editions.

Sindhu is now the jointhighest medal winner inwomen’s singles in the WorldChampionships history withformer Olympic championZhang Ning of China who haswon an identical 1 gold, 2 sil-ver and 2 bronze between 2001and 2007.

Prakash Padukone becamethe first Indian to win a medalin World Championships witha men’s singles bronze in the1983 edition while SainaNehwal bagged a silver and abronze in 2015 and 2017respectively in women’s singles.

Jwala Gutta and AshwiniPonnappa also won a bronze inwomen’s doubles in 2011 whileB Sai Praneeth was the latest tojoin the club as he settled for abronze in the men’s singles inthis edition on Saturday.

Sindhu, who has also wona silver each in the 2018Commonwealth Games and2018 Asian Games, was a indifferent class on Sunday as shetowered over her Japaneseopponent in all departments ofthe game.

The fifth seeded Indian,who enjoyed a 8-7 head-to-head lead over third seededOkuhara ahead of Sunday’scontest, was simply unstop-pable as she dished out anattacking game right from thestart to race to 8-1 lead.

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The J&K flag that flutteredatop Civil Secretariat

complex alongside thenational flag in Srinagar wastaken off on Sunday, threeweeks after the abrogation ofArticle 370.

With this went away thelast sign of Article 370 whichgranted special status to theState of Jammu & Kashmir.

J&K Assembly SpeakerNirmal Singh was first toremove the State flag from hisofficial vehicle on August 6.

The tricolour alone willnow flutter atop the CivilSecretariat complex andother Government buildings.

Before the abrogation ofArticle 370, the J&K Statewas permitted to fly its ownflag along with the Nationalflag under Article 370.

The State flag was adopt-ed by the ConstituentAssembly of J&K on June 7,1952.

According to highlyplaced official sources, theJ&K flag was removed fromthe Civil Secretariat complexearly on Sunday after neces-sary instructions were passedby the authorities concerned.

The decision to removethe J&K flag was delayed par-tially due to prevailing ten-sion in the region.

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In a veiled attack on Pakistan,India and Bahrain on Sunday

called on the internationalcommunity to reject the use ofterrorism against other coun-tries as both sides agreed to fur-ther enhance cooperation inthe field of security andcounter-terrorism.

A joint statement, issuedafter Prime Minister NarendraModi held talks with KingHamad bin Isa Al Khalifa andPrince and Prime MinisterKhalifa bin Salman Al Khalifaduring his two-day visit toBahrain, said the two sidesexchanged views on bilateral,

regional and multilateral issuesof mutual interest during themeetings.

“Both sides called on allstates to reject the use of ter-rorism against other countries;dismantle terrorism infra-structures where they happento exist and to cut off any kindof support and financing to theterrorists perpetrating terror-ism from all territories againstother states; and bring perpe-trators of acts of terrorism tojustice,” the statement saidwithout naming any country.

India has been pressingPakistan to end its state policyof backing cross-border ter-rorism and its support to ter-

ror groups on its soil.During Modi’s visit to

Bahrain, the first by an IndianPM, that concluded on Sunday,the two sides also discussedways and means to furtherpromote cooperation in cybersecurity, including preventionof use of cyber space for ter-rorism, radicalisation and fordisturbing social harmony.

The leaders also noted the“need for concerted action bythe international communityagainst terrorism” and “under-lined the importance of com-prehensive sanctioning of ter-rorists and their organisationsby the UN”.

Continued on Page 4

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Every year in India, morethan 35,000 kids are born

with cleft lip/cleft palate, acondition when the two sidesof the lip, developing in anunborn baby, do not com-pletely fuse. It adversely affectsnutrition, leads to chest infec-tions, ear problems, poorspeech and inability in prop-er chewing.

Hundreds of thousandsof children with untreatedclefts live in isolation as theycannot afford/ receive therequired comprehensive treat-ment, said Prof OPKharbanda, an eminent cleftcraniofacial orthodontist andchief of the Centre for DentalEducation and Research atAIIMS here.

With an aim to providecomprehensive treatment forsuch facial deformities in chil-dren, a "first-of-its-kind" threeday workshop was held at theAIIMS to train more than 100orthodontists from across thecountry and neighbouringNepal.

Specialists from medicaland dental fraternity, includ-ing plastic surgeons, cleftorthodontists, pediatricians,clinical geneticist and clinicalpsychologists, contributed as

course faculty to sensitise par-ticipants about complete pro-tocols of the cleft treatmentwith greater emphasis on cor-recting deformities of facedue to poor dental alignmentand unintelligible speech.

The abnormal arrange-ment of teeth, poor jaw rela-tions and facial aestheticsmake a child socially andfunctionally handicap. Cleft lipand palate anomaly constitutenearly one-third of all con-genital malformations of thecraniofacial region with anaverage worldwide incidenceof 1 in 700, said ProfKharbanda.

Its incidence in the Asianpopulation is reported to bearound 1.7 per 1,000 livebirths or higher. In India,more than 35,000 cleft chil-dren are born every year, andthey add to huge existingpatients, many of whom may

not have received the requiredcomprehensive treatment, thedoctor said.

"Only a fortunate few havethe opportunity to get com-prehensive cleft care. Althoughmost patients nowadays getcleft surgery treatment, theoutcomes are not necessarilyreflective of quality care. Theyremain deprived of the twomajor aspects -- correction ofdisfigurement of the face dueto poor dental alignment andpoor speech," he said.

Dr Tradib Jayapal, an emi-nent orthodontist fromCochin and vice president ofthe Indian OrthodonticSociety, said, "There existstreatment protocol of varyingstandards, and this pro-gramme will lay down a blue-print to start holistic cleftmanagement." He also empha-sised the need for a uniformprotocol across the country.

The workshop was held incollaboration with the IndianOrthodontic Society.

A multi-centric hospital-based study from differentcities conducted by the AIIMSas part of an Indian Council ofMedical Research's task forceIndia-Cleft project revealedthat around 35 per cent ofpatients show poor outcomeslike a hole remaining in palateand complex dental disfig-urement after cleft surgery.Also, about 70 per cent ofpatients presented with diffi-culties in speech.

A study published onlineby JAMA Facial PlasticSurgery too echoes similarobservation as it notes that therate of unrepaired CL/Psranged from less than 3.5 per100,000 population in Keralaand Goa to 10.9 per 100,000population in Bihar.

"The results describes theprevalent unmet need for cleftsurgery in India by each stateand includes patients olderthan the surgery target ages of1 and 2 years for cleft lip andcleft palate repair, respective-ly," said researcher Barclay T.Stewart from the University ofWashington. The study saidthat safe, timely and effectivesurgery can result in success-ful outcomes.

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The lawyers' fraternityremembered former

Union Minister Arun Jaitley asa stalwart, helpful and a greathuman being whose demisewas a huge loss for the pro-fession.

The Bar Associationsacross the national Capitalare planning to hold seminarsto carry forward his legacy andto "make the younger genera-tion learn from his life". Jaitley,66, passed away at the AIIMShere on Saturday. He wasundergoing treatment at thehospital, where he was admit-ted on August 9.

Delhi High Court BarAssociation (DHCBA) presi-dent senior advocate MohitMathur, who was also from thesame school where Jaitleystudied, said it was a "person-al loss" while rememberinghim as "very helpful and a stal-wart".

"He was a leader of the Barand a stalwart. He was always

helpful for lawyers and peoplein general. It's very recentlywhen we approached him fora lawyers' welfare associationand he helped us wholeheart-edly.

"It was a personal loss for

me. He was from the sameschool, where I went to studylater. Whenever we organisedanything on behalf of theschool alumni association, heused to participate and help usout very enthusiastically,"

Mathur said.He said the Executive

Committee of DHCBA willmeet and decide to hold pro-grammes in Jaitley's honour.Jaitley was 1969-batch studentof St. Xavier's Sr. Sec. School.

R K Wadhwa, Chairmanof the CoordinationCommittee of All BarAssociations of Delhi, saidthat seminars will be held tohighlight Jaitley's work and life

so that young lawyers canlearn from him.

"He was a great lawyer. Hisuntimely demise is very sad forthe entire country, especiallyfor the legal fraternity. He

was a wonderful lawyer, politi-cian but above all a greathuman being," he said.

"We will be holding sem-inars highlighting his work sothat young lawyers can learn

about him. The real tribute tohim will be making youngbudding lawyers learn fromhis work," Wadhwa said.

New Delhi BarAssociation's SecretaryNagendra Kumar said Jaitley'sdemise has created a "vacuum"in the legal fraternity and wasa "huge loss" for the profession.

He also stressed on holdingseminars to highlight his worksfor the younger generation"who have heard a lot abouthim but were not fortunateenough to see him arguingbefore the courts and learn".

A former office-bearer ofthe Delhi High Court BarAssociation, senior advocateVikas Pahwa said, "I feelpained to hear about the saddemise of Arun Jaitley. He wasa magnificent person, phe-nomenal lawyer, an accom-plished politician and a greatleader, who achieved unprece-dented success both in thelegal and political life. Henever walked alone; alwayswith his team."

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Crime Investigation Agency(CIA), Palam Vihar, of

the district police arrestedfour persons, including twobuyers for their al legedinvolvement in the smugglingof cannabis (ganja), a contra-band drug. The accused usedto smuggle the contrabandfrom Odisha.

The police have seized 54kg of cannabis is valued ataround �3 lakh. A truck anda bike were also recoveredfrom their possession whichwas used to commit the crime.

The accused have beenidentified as Chagla Sahu andRamakant Pradhan of Angul,Odisha. While the buyers havebeen identified as Govind ofBharatpur, Rajasthan andSonu of Sector-46, Gurugram.

"The probe team had spe-cific information about thecriminals who were involvedin smuggling contrabanddrugs. Following secret infor-mation the police teamnabbed the criminals red-handed on Saturday andseized a truck and contra-band," said Subhash Bokenspokesperson of theGurugram police.

A police official said theculprits smuggling the drugfrom Odisha and used to sup-ply in the district as per thedemand.

"During the questioning,the culprit reveals that theyused to arrange cannabis fromthe forest of Odisha and sellthe drug in the city at a prof-it of �5,000 to �6,000. Theywere involved in cannabissmuggling for the past oneyear," Boken said.

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The much-awaited bird's eyeview of Delhi for the tourist

from the viewing gallery ofSignature Bridge, situated at theheight of 165 metre, is likely tobe thrown open for the publicby the end of September. TheGovernment is also planning todevelop the bridge as an inter-national tourist destination bydeveloping biodiversity parks,amphitheatres, markets, riverfronts, and other such devel-opments on both banks of theYamuna.

After missing two dead-lines, the first phase of the sig-nature bridge project will becompleted with the opening ofthis viewing gallery.

The eight-lane signaturebridge is the country's firstasymmetrical cantilever sparcable-stayed bridge. The pylonof the bridge is the tallest struc-ture in the national Capital afterQutub Minar. The bridge hasbeen constructed on theYamuna connecting Wazirabadto East Delhi was thrown opento the public in November2018. The bridge was con-

structed by the Delhi Traveland Tourism DevelopmentCorporation (DTTDC).

As per the officials, thesite lifts that were being usedfor the construction will bedismantled over the next fewweeks to prepare the access tothe Gallery for the public."The viewing gallery will beconstructed with the glassfaçade and it will be dividedinto three levels and will beequipped with two elevatorsthat will carry people to the

top of the pylon. About 50-60people will be carried to see thebirds view," said a SeniorDTTDC official.

Further, the Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal along withDeputy Chief Minister ManishSisodia and Delhi ChiefSecretary Vijay Dev has recent-

ly visited and inspected thebridge.

During his visit to thebridge recently, the CM said,the Signature Bridge will bedeveloped as the pride and life-line of the city's tourism sectorand directed the officials toensure that commuters using

the bridge face no inconve-nience in both Phase I and IIof the project. He has directedthe Tourism department tobeautify the access points to theViewing Gallery, and provideadequate facilities for visitorslike toilets, parking lots andothers.

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The Delhi Police has arrest-ed six people, including

three women and appre-hended one juvenile withillicit liquor on 'dry day' atdifferent locations in outernorth Delhi. The police hasrecovered 8,242 quarters ofillicit liquor from their pos-

session.Special picketing were

put up to control the illegalactivities in the district.During this seven people inseparate incidents werenabbed. The staff was check-ing the vehicles atPrahaladpur-Khera road areawhere Maan Singh (42) wasarrested with 75 boxes ofillicit liquor in a Mahindra

Champion. Maan Singh waspreviously involved six cases,police said.

While in Narela area dur-ing checking a 15 year old boywas apprehended, while hewas carrying 2000 quarters ofillicit country made liquor in40 boxes in a car. In Alipurarea during checking atSinghu border, Randhir (32)was arrested while he was

transporting liquor in his car.35 cartoons containing 1750qtrs was recovered. Similarlythe patrolling staff nabbedAmarjeet (46) fromMukhmailpur with 185 Qtr ofillicit Liquor. While patrollingin Swaroop Nagar area, 227qtrs were recovered from thepossession of three women inseparate instances, a policeofficial said.

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A36-year-old man died whilehis cousin sustained serious

injuries after their two wheelerlost control on Barapulla flyover,southeast Delhi. The duo hadfallen from the flyover onSaturday evening. The deceasedhas been identified as RohitMakol (36) and his brother,Pradeep. They were riding ascooter when the accidentoccurred on Saturday evening,police said. While Makol died inthe accident, Pradeep, who wasriding pillion on the two-wheel-er, was seriously injured and isbeing treated at the AIIMSTrauma Centre, cops said.Makol worked at a private firmand stayed with his family inTilak Nagar. On Saturday atabout 5 PM, the PCR receivedtwo calls regarding "falling oftwo persons from Barapullahflyover", Deputy Commissionerof Police (Southeast) ChinmoyBiswal said.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday launched

the $4.2 million redevelop-ment project of the 200-year-old Lord Sri Krishna templehere and said it manifests thestrong ties between India andBahrain.

Modi, the first IndianPrime Minister to visit the keyGulf nation, offered prayers atthe Shreenathji Temple inManama, the oldest temple inthe region, and also the“prasad” that he bought withthe RuPay card after launchingit in the UAE on Saturday.

"Spent time at Bahrain'sShreenathji Temple. This isamong the oldest temples in the

region and manifests the strongties between India and

Bahrain," Modi tweeted andshared some of the blessedmoments from the temple inhis tweet. Modi also greetedand interacted the Indian dias-pora, who came to witness theevent at the temple.

Prime Minister thenunveiled the plaque, thus offi-cially launching the redevel-opment project of the iconictemple.

“Thank you Bahrain forthe warmth and affection. PM@narendramodi concludes hishistoric visit with prayers at the200 years old ShreenathjiTemple in #Manama, the old-est temple in the region. Thetemple reflects the pluralism of

Bahraini society,” ExternalAffairs Ministry spokespersonRaveesh Kumar said in a tweet.

The facelift for theShreenathji (Shree Krishna)temple in Manama will kick offlater this year.

The $4.2 million redevel-opment project will be on apiece of land measuring 16,500square feet and the new four-floor structure covering 45,000square feet will have an over-all height of 30 meters.

The heritage and the 200-year-old legacy of the templewill be highlighted in the rede-velopment and the new iconiccomplex will house the sanc-tum sanctorum and prayer

halls. There are also facilities fortraditional Hindu marriageceremonies and other rituals,promoting Bahrain as a wed-ding destination and boostingtourism. The temple corridorswill be adorned with paintingsby various Indian and Bahrainiartists and people of all faithsare welcome.

Around 350,000 Indiannationals, mostly from Kerala,live in Bahrain. The Indiancommunity comprise a third ofBahrain's total population of1.2 million.

Modi arrived here onSaturday, the first ever by anIndian Prime Minister toBahrain.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday arrived in

France to attend the G7Summit where he will speak onburning global issues of envi-ronment, climate and digitaltransformation and also meetthe world leaders.

Modi arrived here fromManama after concluding histhree-nation tour to France, theUAE and Bahrain where heoffered prayers at theShreenathji Temple, the oldesttemple in the Gulf region.

"The Prime Ministerreached Biarritz in France,where he will take part in G-7Summit. In addition to themultilateral components of theSummit, he would also bemeeting world leaders in sep-arate bilateral interactions," thePrime Minister's Office tweet-ed.

During the G7 Summit,which will be held in the pic-turesque seaside French townof Biarritz, the Prime Ministerwill address sessions on envi-ronment, climate, oceans anddigital transformation.

"PM @narendramodiarrives in Biarritz to participatein @G7 Summit as a SpecialBiarritz Partner. Apart fromparticipating in two Sessions onClimate, Biodiversity, Oceans &Digital Transformation, PMwill hold a number of bilater-al meetings with other leaderson the sidelines," Ministry ofExternal Affairs spokespersonRaveesh Kumar tweeted.

Though India is not amember of the G-7 grouping,Modi has been personally invit-ed by French PresidentEmmanuel Macron.

The Ministry of ExternalAffairs (MEA) had said that theinvitation was a "reflection ofthe personal chemistry"between the two leaders andalso "recognition of India as amajor economic power".

The countries which arepart of the G7 include the UK,Canada, France, Germany,Italy, Japan, and the US.

On the sidelines of the G7Summit, Modi and USPresident Donald Trump arelikely to discuss the situation inKashmir, trade issues and othertopics of mutual interest.

Earlier this week inWashington, Trump said thathe would discuss with PrimeMinister Modi the situation inKashmir and help ease theIndo-Pak tensions when theymeet at the G7 Summit inFrance this weekend.

Tensions between Indiaand Pakistan spiked after Indiaabrogated provisions of Article370 of the Constitution towithdraw Jammu andKashmir's special status andbifurcated it into two UnionTerritories, evoking strongreactions from Pakistan.

India has categorically toldthe international communitythat the scrapping of Article370 of the Constitution was aninternal matter and alsoadvised Pakistan to accept thereality.

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Pakistan's Senate ChairmanSadiq Sanjrani on Sunday

cancelled his official trip to theUAE, a day after PrimeMinister Narendra Modi washonoured with the Gulfnation's highest civilian awardduring his visit to the country,according to a media report.

Sanjrani was scheduled tovisit the UAE from August 25to August 28 with a parlia-mentary delegation on the invi-tation of the UAE government.His delegation was to holdmeetings with the UAE parlia-mentarians and governmentofficials, Geo TV reported.

He, however, decided tocancel the trip as Pakistanvehemently supports Kashmiripeople, the channel said, citinga statement from the SenateSecretariat.

Prime Minister Modi was

honoured with the 'Order ofZayed', the UAE's highest civil-ian award, on Saturday as amark of appreciation for hisefforts to boost bilateral tiesbetween the two nations.

Modi thanked the UAEgovernment for the honourand dedicated the award to theskills and abilities of 1.3 billionIndians. The UAE in Aprilhad announced to confer thecountry's highest award onModi. Meanwhile, ForeignMinister Shah MehmoodQureshi said the UAE wouldnot disappoint Pakistan once itwas "presented with the facts"about Kashmir.

Talking to the media in hishome town of Multan onSunday, Qureshi tried to playdown the significance of theUAE's highest honour to Modi,which many in Pakistan inter-preted as endorsement of hisKashmir policy.

From Page 1Recalling Jaitley’s associa-

tion with Gujarat, GujaratChief Minister Vijay Rupanisaid the BJP would seek hisadvice on strategy wheneverthere was an election in the State where the party is in power for twodecades.

“He has been a Rajya Sabhamember from Gujarat. Wehave won several elections inthe State by working on hisstrategy. We will always feel hisabsence,” Rupani told reporters.

Union Health and FamilyWelfare Minister HarshVardhan said Jaitley’s deathwas an irreparable loss and he

will always be remembered forhis contribution.

Party workers rememberedJaitley, saying that he has beenone of the greatest leaders incontemporary India. “Jaitelyji’s contribution cannot beruled out in reforming theeconomic condition in thecountry. He introduced theGST Bill in the Lok Sabha tosimplify taxes which has great-ly benefited the nation,” saidRaguvir Sahay, a BJP workerwho visited party headquarters to pay his lastrespect.

Another party workerIqbal Ahmad from JamaMasjid area said that Jaitely was

a very friendly person andtreated everyone with dignity.I once met him at party officeand he stopped and asked mywellbeing after I greeted him.I do not think there is manylike him who pays attention toeven a party’s grassroots work-ers,” he said.

“I have visited his resi-dence a number of times withsenior party leaders. He wasvery humble and polite to all ofus. He used to listen to con-cerns of everyone and neverturned down any request forhelp by party workers,” saidVishnu Pandit, a party worker from MalviyaNagar.

Jaitley, who as FinanceMinister piloted India’s biggesttax reform and f lagshipschemes like Jan Dhan, was thechief troubleshooter of the BJPand the Modi Government.Jaitley who completed gradu-ation degree from Shri RamCollege of Commerce and hisLLB degree from the Faculty ofLaw, University of Delhi (DU),started his political career asstudent leader with AkhilBharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad(ABVP) in the DU campus. Hewas also the president of theyouth wing of the BJP and the Secretary of the Delhi Unit in the year1980.

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From Page 1The Indian targeted the

deep corners and unleashedher big smashes to gatherpoints at will.

A precise net shot helpedOkuhara to snap Sindhu’s runof straight eight points but theIndian quickly got the controlback when Okuhara went wideand then unleashed two good-looking smashes to enter thebreak with a massive 11-2 lead.

Okuhara tried to step upthe pace but an alert Sindhuwas up to the task. The Indiantargeted Okuhara’s forehandcorner to take two more points.

Sindhu used her height toproduce those attacking clearswhich Okuhara could notnegotiate. At 16-2, Sindhucommitted a couple ofunforced errors before againtaking control of the match.

Sindhu eventually grabbedas many as 13 game pointswhen Okuhara went long andshe sealed the first game witha body blow which her rivalsent out.

In the second game,Sindhu continued her ram-paging form, grabbing twoquick points before Okuharaearned a point with a crosscourt smash.

Okuhara had no answer toSindhu’s razor sharp returns.The Indian made the Japaneserun to the deep corners withher acute angled returns andthen swiftly followed them atthe net to make life difficult forher opponent.

Okuhara seemed cluelessas she ended up hitting the netsor missing the lines to allowSindhu grab 11-4 lead at theinterval.

Nothing changed after thebreather as a relentless Sindhukept her stranglehold on theJapanese, who crumbled underpressure.

At 16-4, Sindhu made acouple of rare errors when shehit long but that did not mat-ter as she pounced on a weakreturn from Okuhara and sentit to the backline and then lefther rival stranded with anoth-er powerful smash.

Sindhu grabbed the matchpoint when Okuhara went longagain and \sealed the title whenanother superb return beforethrowing her hands in the airin celebration.

With Sindhu’s gold andPraneeth’s bronze in this edi-tion, Indian shuttlers also con-tinued the six-year streak ofwinning at least one medal inthe prestigious event.

��From Page 1

They also said that region-al connectivity projects shouldbe based on international law,including respect for sover-eignty and territorial integrityof states, in an apparent refer-ence to China’s push for its Belt and RoadInitiative (BRI).

During the meetings, thetwo sides also noted theincreasing trend of bilateraltrade and existing potentialfor two-way investments andreaffirmed their desire to provide favourable environ-ments for trade and invest-ments.

The two countries agreedto focus on enhancing cooper-ation in energy, covering theareas of joint exploration andtraining of human resources.

The two leaders agreed toenhance cooperation tostrengthen maritime security inthe Gulf region, vital for the

security and safety of sea lanes.The two sides underlined

the importance of enhancinghigh-level political exchanges,defence and higher educationcooperation, trade and eco-nomic relations and people-to-people linkages.

The leaders also noted theincreasing trend of bilateraltrade and existing potentialfor two-way investments andreaffirmed their desire to pro-vide favourable environments for trade andinvestments.

India also welcomed theinterest of Bahrain to join theInternational Solar alliance(ISA), recognising the impor-tance of it as internationalintergovernmental organisa-tion, which has become aneffective platform to facilitatethe deployment of solar ener-gy.

Both the sides also empha-sised on the urgent need to

pursue UN reforms, includingthe Security Council throughan expansion of both cate-gories of its membership, tomake it more representativeand effective in tackling glob-al challenges. The two coun-tries also signed MoUs on cul-tural exchange programme,space technology, solar energy,the statement said.

An MoU was also signedbetween BENEFIT, a Bahraincompany handling ATM andPOS transactions among oth-ers, and National PaymentsCorporation of India (NPCI)for launch of RuPay card in theGulf Kingdom, it said.

During the official meet-ings, the two sides also under-lined their close bilateral ties,deep-rooted in shared historyand cultural affinities, sus-tained and nourished throughgrowing economic linkagesand close people-to-peoplecontacts.

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From Page 1Partial restoration of nor-

malcy in the last one weekmotivated the officials to exe-cute the task.

During the recently con-cluded 73rd Independence Daycelebrations, the State flag wasseen fitted alongside Nationalflag on the official vehicles ofVIPs who inspected the paradeafter unfurling the tricolour.

Meanwhile, situationremained peaceful across theValley on Sunday. Posting atweet on Sunday evening,Kashmir Zone police said, “Nountoward incident has beenreported from anywhere sofar.”

On the other hand, defend-ing the decision to suspend net-work services and internetfacilities since August 5, J&KGovernor Satya Pal Malik onSunday claimed the decision

was taken to prevent a backlashin the region.

Referring to media reportshighlighting shortage of essen-tial commodities includingmedicines in Kashmir Valley,the Governor told reporters inNew Delhi that there is noshortage of essential com-modities. He said the lack ofcommunication lines is a bet-ter option than loss of lives.

Referring to similar situa-tions in the past, he said “In allthe crises that happened inKashmir in the past, at least 50people used to die in the firstweek itself.” So far, no deathshave been reported from theState.

“Our attitude is such thatthere should be no loss ofhuman lives. If there’s no tele-phone for 10 days, so be it. Butwe will roll back these measuresvery soon,” he added.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi and his British coun-

terpart Boris Johnson met hereon Sunday and the two leadersdiscussed ways to strengthenbilateral cooperation in tradeand investment, defence, secu-rity and other key areas.

"PM Modi begins by con-gratulating PM Johnson onEngland's spectacular win inthe Third Test of the Ashes ashort while ago. The two lead-ers are discussing ways tostrengthen India-UK coopera-tion," the Prime Minister'sOffice tweeted.

This is the first meetingbetween the two leaders afterJohnson became PrimeMinister last month, the thirdin fairly quick succession sinceBritain voted to leave the EU inJune 2016 - following on fromDavid Cameron and TheresaMay.

"PM @narendramodi had agood meeting with UK PM@BorisJohnson on margins of#G7 summit. Discussionsfocused on strengthening ourbilateral ties going forward,inter alia, in trade & investment,defence & security, S & T andeducation sectors," Ministry ofExternal Affairs spokespersonRaveesh Kumar tweeted.

The two leaders are here toattend the G-7 Summit. Theirmeeting came against the back-drop of the Indian governmentrevoking the special status toJammu and Kashmir and bifur-cating the state into two UnionTerritories.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi and UN Secretary

General Antonio Guterres held"fruitful discussions" on a widerange of issues of mutual inter-est here on Sunday.

Modi met Guterres on thesidelines of the G-7 Summitbeing held in this in this pic-turesque southwestern seasideFrench town. The prime min-ister arrived in Biarritz fromManama, the capital of Bahrainafter concluding the first-everprime ministerial visit to theGulf nation.

"PM Narendra Modi metUN Secretary General MrAntonio Guterres on the side-lines of the G7 Summit. Thetwo leaders had fruitful dis-cussions on a wide range ofsubjects," the Prime Minister'sOffice tweeted.

"PM Narendra Modi metwith UNSG Antonio Guterreson the margins of G7 summitin Biarritz. Good exchange ofviews on India's participationat the Climate Action Summitat the UN and other issues ofmutual interest," Ministry ofExternal Affairs spokespersonRaveesh Kumar tweeted.

Their meeting cameagainst the backdrop of theIndian government revokingthe special status to Jammu andKashmir and bifurcating thestate into two UnionTerritories.

The two leaders are here toattend the G-7 Summit. Modiarrived in Biarritz fromBahrain after concluding histhree-nation tour to France, theUAE and Bahrain.

Sagar: As many as 20 cowsdied after coming into contactwith a live wire lying on theground on Sunday morning inSagar district of MadhyaPradesh, police said.

The incident occurred nearKadta village when the cowsout for grazing in a forestedarea stepped on the powersupply cable that got snappedfrom poles and lying on theground, an official said.

Confirming the death ofthe 20 cows due to electrocu-tion, Sagar superintendent ofpolice Amit Sanghi said policethe are investigating the cir-cumstances surrounding theincident.

"Further action will be takenafter investigation," he said.

Meanwhile, Leader ofOpposition and local MLAGopal Bhargava, who repre-sents Rehli assembly con-stituency, has demanded com-pensation for owners of thedeceased cows. PTI

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Afew villages in Punjab'sborder district Ferozepur

are facing a flood threat after amajor portion of an embank-ment in the catchment area ofthe Sutlej river was washedaway following the pakistan'srelease of water into the Indianterritory.

Officials on Sunday saidthe Ferozepur district admin-istration is on high alert, whileprecautionary deployment ofthe NDRF and the Army teamshas been made in view of theflood threat which looms largein some villages.

"Pakistan has releasedwater in huge quantity whichcaused damage to the embank-ment in Tendiwala village, andthere is danger of floods insome villages," a spokespersonof the Punjab government said.

"Being on guard, the dis-trict administration hasannounced evacuation in mostsensitive villages along theSutlej river as a precautionarystep besides deploying variousteams of the health department,food and civil supplies depart-ment and others," he said

Punjab Chief MinisterAmarinder Singh asked theWater Resources Departmentto work out a joint action planwith the Army to strengthenthe embankment at the villageon the Indo-Pak border.

Presiding over a high-levelmeeting to review the flood sit-uation in Ferozepur, Jalandhar,Kapurthala and Rupnagar dis-

tricts, he directed the principalsecretary Water Resources toensure strengthening ofTendiwala embankment onwar footing to avert the flood-ing of nearby villages, an offi-cial statement said.

The chief minister, it said,also directed the Ferozepurdeputy commissioner to keepNDRF teams on standby tomeet any exigency arising outof the floods. The spokespersonsaid people need not panic asthe administration is geared upfor the task with relief work atvulnerable points being under-taken at a fast pace.

Irrigation and drainagedepartments are alreadyengaged to repair the damagedembankment in Tendiwala vil-lage, he said. Sand filled gunnybags have been stacked in hugequantity and work is on tostrengthen the embankment,he added.

"In the wake of the damageto the embankment due toheavy discharge of water fromthe Pakistan side, the strength-ening work of Tendiwalaembankment is being under-taken on war footing," thespokesperson said.

Ferozepur DeputyCommissioner Chander Gaindand district police chief VivekSheel Soni took stock of the sit-uation, he said.

A few days back, as manyas 17 villages of Ferozepur dis-trict were f looded afterPakistan opened headworksgates in its area on the Sutlejriver.

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Indian laws may have man-dated right to education to

every kid while prohibitinganyone under the age of 14from working — and certain-ly not in dangerous jobs likemining. But a Governmentbody has found that over 5,000children in the age group of sixto 14 years quit education toslog away in mica mining sup-plement their family income.

According to a survey con-ducted by the NationalCommission for Protection ofChild Rights (NCPCR) whichcame following a report byTerre Des Hommes, an inter-national development agencyworking in India, revealed lastyear that more than 22,000children are employed as childlabourers in the mica miningareas of Jharkhand and Bihar.

Taking serious view in thematter, the child rights’ bodyhas called for making the sup-ply chain of the mica miningand industry free of childlabour.

In a report based on thesurvey, the NCPCR said it hasobserved that a section of chil-dren in the mica mining areasare deprived of opportunitiesand have started working aslabourers to supplement theirfamily income.

The survey was conducted

in the districts of Koderma andGiridih in Jharkhand andNawada district in Bihar. “As perthe survey, there are 4,545 chil-dren in the age group of six to 14years in the area of Jharkhandreported as not attending school,”the NCPCR said.

The survey on ‘education& well-being of children inmica mining areas ofJharkhand and Bihar’ foundthat 649 children in the sameage group were reported as notattending school in Nawadadistrict of Bihar.

The reasons for not attend-ing school included lack ofaspiration, lack of interest and

also cases of collecting micascraps, according to the survey.

It also found that childrenin the age group of six to 14years in 45 habitations ofKoderma, 40 habitations ofGiridih and 15 habitations ofNawada go for mica scraps col-lection.

Officials say selling micascraps is the main means oflivelihood for many families inthese areas.

“Several families do notsee the benefit of sending theirchildren to schools and insteadprefer them working in col-lecting and selling mica scraps,”an official said.

India is one of the world’slargest producers of mica, withJharkhand and Bihar beingthe main mica producing statesin the country. Mica is used invarious sectors, includingbuildings and electronics, andeven in cosmetics and paintproduction.

The objectives of the sur-vey conducted by the NCPCRwere to find out the educationalstatus of children in the micamining areas, number of chil-dren who are not attendingschool, whether children areinvolved in collecting micascraps, if vocational trainingsare provided to the adolescents,

and the presence of NGOs inthe areas.

The NCPCR said strictaction should be taken againstbuyers of mica scraps from chil-dren, and said a special drive toabolish child labour in themica mining areas of Jharkhandand Bihar should be carried outby the administration.

It also recommended theimplementation of PENCILscheme. “The PENCIL scheme(Platform for EffectiveEnforcement of No ChildLabour) may be introducedand implemented properly inthe district of Koderma andGiridih to help in effectiveenforcement of no child labourin the areas,” the NCPCR saidin its report.

It said residential schoolsand hostel facilities should bemade available in the micamining areas to accommodatechildren who are not attendingschool.

The NCPCR also flaggedthe issue of malnutritionamong children in these areas.

“In case of Giridih andKoderma, the undernutritioncases reported in 14 per centand 19 per cent of the habita-tions and villages, respectivelyin the survey area. In case ofNawada, 69 per cent habita-tions have reported that somechildren are undernourished,”it said.

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The Election Commission(EC) on Sunday

announced by-elections to oneassembly seat each in UttarPradesh, Tripura, Chhattisgarhand Kerala. The bypolls forDantewada (Chhattisgarh),Pala (Kerala), Badharghat(Tripura) and Hamirpur (UttarPradesh) Assembly seats will beheld on September 23. Thenotification for the by-electionswould be issued on August 28,counting will be held onSeptember 27, the EC said.

The bypoll in Hamirpurwas necessitated by the dis-qualification of BJP MLAAshok Kumar Singh Chandelfollowing his conviction in amurder case. He was awardedlife imprisonment in the mur-der case of five persons. By-elections to 12 other Assemblyseats in UP are also due as mostof the sitting MLAs won theLok Sabha elections this year.But the dates are yet to beannounced by the poll panel.

The Dantewada, Pala andBadharghat bypolls were neces-

sitated following the death ofthe respective sitting MLAs.

The Pala seat had becomevacant after the demise ofKerala Congress (M) supremoKM Mani. The former KeralaFinance Minister, KM Manihad represented the Pala con-stituency since its formation in1965 and until his death onApril 9 earlier this year.According to political experts,this round of Pala bypoll maysee some internal bickeringthat could decide the fate of thesecond-biggest Kerala ally ofCongress - Kerala Congress(Mani) or KC(M) party. Afterthe recent death of Mani, theparty was split between Mani’sson Jose K Mani and a splinterfaction led by senior leader PJJoseph. Both groups haveaccused each other of a hostiletakeover of the party.

The Dantewada seat inChhattisgarh fell vacant aftersitting BJP MLA BhimaMandavi was killed by allegedNaxals in April this year. TheBhadarghat seat in Tripura fellvacant after the death of sittingMLA Dilip Sarkar.

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The Archeological Survey ofIndia (ASI) has made a

sort of record by declaring asmany as 10 monuments ofnational importance in thelast one year itself. Theseinclude four important tem-ples-one each in Jammu andKashmir and Odisha and twoin Uttarakhand, taking thetotal tally of monumentsunder its protection umbrellato 3,697.

The “national importance”tag puts the sites on the worldtourism map, and ensure themregular fund for conservation,preservation and maintenanceby the ASI on priority basis, asper archaeological norms.

Uttar Pradesh, Karnatakaand Tamil Nadu have the high-est number of sites maintainedby the country’s premier con-servation body, an autonomousorganization under the UnionCulture Ministry.

Excavated by the ASI wayback in 1950s, Jagatgram vil-lage, the 2,000-year-old site inDehradun is associated withthe ancient practice of horsesacrifice or the ritual ofAshvamedha. It been nowdeclared a monument of‘national importance’.

An official in the ASI said

the site known as Jagatgram hasremains of three fire altarswhere the horse sacrifices werepresumably conducted. Theexcavated remains of the threefire altars here reveal that theywere built in the eagle-shapedSyena Chiti form, where thebird is depicted with its wingsspread. According to experts,such altars are extremely rare.

Similarly, the 12th-centuryold Janardhanagudi temple in

Kerala’s Wayanad has beenrecently been given nationaltag. An artist’s delight, thetemple’s huge stone pillars havenearly 300 intricate and elabo-rate carvings, sculpture of afishing man, a primitive warscene featuring tuskers, a stoneedict in old Kannada script, fig-ures of Jain deities and sculp-tures of the ‘Dashavathara’.

Yet another monument isan ancient complex housing

ruins of over 52 temples in thetwin villages of Ranipur-Jharialin Odisha’s Balangir district.The site has a famous shrineknown as Chausathi Yoginitemple showcasing 64 yoginisin various dancing poses,which is already a centrally pro-tected monument. Datingback to the 9th/10th centuryAD, pertaining to the reign ofSomavanshi Keshari kings, theplethora of temples showcase

cults such as Shaivism,Buddhism, Vaisnavism andTantrism.

Two Mughal-era structures- Haveli of Agah Khan andHathi Khana, both located onthe eastern side of Taj Mahal-have been declared as ‘monu-ments of national importance.’

Largely in a state of dilap-idation, the 11th-12th Centuryold Buddhist monastery WanlaGompa housing 16-feet-high

statue of Avalokiteshvara, theBodhisattva (prospective orfuture Buddha) on lotuspedestal, in the cold deserts ofLadakh’s Wanla village toohave been brought under theASI fold.

The Ministry has notifiedthese structures as protectedmonuments under the AncientMonuments and ArcheologicalSites and Remains Act(AMASR), 1958.

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As many as 1,159 parks havebeen developed on 4,288

acres across the country underthe Atal Mission forRejuvenation and UrbanTransformation (AMRUT) aflagship programme of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

According to the Housingand Urban Affairs Ministry,more than 4,288 acre is beingenriched as green spaces andparks under the mission, aflagship programme of the cen-tral government. “So far, a totalof 1,159 parks have been devel-oped across the country underAMRUT,” the official said.

He said the components ofparks developed include chil-dren friendly equipment,divyang (disabled) friendly fea-tures, open gym, besides pro-viding park-related softscapeand hardscape elements andother horticulture works.“Development of parks andpublic places is one of themajor thrust areas under the

mission to increase the ameni-ty value of the cities by devel-oping greenery,” he added.

Around �1,768 crore wasallocated for the green spacesand parks sector, and a total of2,355 park projects costing Rs1,522 crore was taken up underthe AMRUT, the HUA min-istry said. In addition to thecompleted projects, 990 pro-jects worth �812 crore areunder progress, it said. TheAMRUT was launched byPrime Minister Narendra Modiin June 2015 in 500 citiesacross the country, coveringabout 60 per cent of the totalurban population.

According to officials,water scarcity will also be

addressed through this flagship programme. In the firstphase, 496 ULBs have beenidentified in 200 districts. Inthe second phase, betweenOctober 1 and November 30,the guidelines will be imple-mented in 260 ULBs in 55 dis-tricts. In all, according to theministry, 255 districts (Indiahas a total of 725 districts), 756urban local bodies (ULBs;municipalities and corpora-tions), and 1,597 blocks acrossthe country face a severe watercrisis and shortage of drinkingwater from a rapid decline inground water levels due toindiscriminate extraction,erratic monsoons, and unau-thorised development.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday in his

radio talk urged people toobserve the 150th birthanniversary of MahatmaGandhi this year as a day tomake India plastic-free andexhorted municipalities, NGOsand the corporate sector tocome up with ways for safe dis-posal of accumulated plasticwaste before Diwali. The callfor a mass movement camedays after Modi’s Independence

Day’s address in which hehad urged people to shun ‘sin-gle-use’ plastic to protect theenvironment.

In his monthly radioaddress ‘Mann ki Baat’, theprime minister also urged peo-ple to participate in the annu-al ‘Swachhta Hi Seva’ or ‘thequest for cleanliness is service’campaign, which will begin onSeptember 11 this year. “Thisyear, on October 2, when wecelebrate Bapu’s 150th birthanniversary, we shall not onlydedicate to him an India that isopen defecation-free but alsoshall lay the foundation of anew revolution against plastic,by people themselves, through-out the country,” he said.

He said people from allstrata of the society should cel-ebrate Gandhi Jayanti this yearas a day to make “MotherIndia plastic-free”.

The prime minister urgedall municipalities, municipalcorporations, district adminis-

trations, gram panchayats, gov-ernment and non-governmen-tal bodies to work towardsensuring adequate arrange-ment for collection and storageof plastic waste.

“I also appeal to the cor-porate sector to come out withways and means for appropri-ate disposal of all accumulatedplastic. It can be recycled; it canbe transformed into fuel. Thisway we can accomplish ourtask of ensuring safe disposal ofplastic waste before thisDiwali,” he said.

Diwali festival this yearfalls on October 27.

He said all that is requiredto take up the challenge isresolve and “what can be agreater inspiration thanGandhi?”.

In his Independence Day’saddress, Modi had urged citi-zens to eliminate ‘single-use’plastic and suggested that shop-keepers provide eco-friendlybags to customers.

“This campaign hasenthused people ... Many of mymerchant brothers and sistershave put up a placard at theirestablishments, boldly men-tioning that customers ought tocarry shopping bags with them.This will result in monetarysavings as well as one would beable to contribute towards pro-tection of the environment,” hesaid.

Prime Minister also sharedhis experiences in theDiscovery Channel’s show withBear Grylls. “Whenever I

spoke, it was instantly trans-lated into English. Bear Gryllshad a small cordless instrumentin his ear. So I used to speak inHindi and he heard it inEnglish... The communicationbecame very easy. This is anamazing aspect about tech-nology,” the prime ministerexplained. He said, with somehesitation, people do ask himas to how could Grylls under-stand Hindi.

“Was the episode editedlater? How many times did theshooting happen for thisepisode and how it happened?They ask with great curiosi-ty...There is no secret in this.Many people have this questionin their minds, so I will unrav-el this secret. In a way it is nosecret at all the reality is thattechnology was used exten-sively in my conversation withBear Grylls,” Modi said.

After the show’s broad-cast, a large number of peoplehave been discussing aboutthe Jim Corbett National Park,he said. “You must also visitsites associated with natureand wildlife and animals. As Ihave said before, and I empha-sise, that you must visit thenortheast in your lifetime,” hesaid.

Walking through the wildand taking a ride on a cold riverin a makeshift boat were someof the things that Modi put upwith as he teamed up withGrylls to promote causes closeto his heart -- conservation ofnature and cleanliness.

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Senior Congress leader RahulGandhi is furious over the

way he and several otherOpposition leaders werepacked off from the Srinagarairport to Delhi on Saturdayand denied permission to visitthe valley. On Sunday, Rahulsaid leaders of the Oppositionand the press got a taste of the“draconian administration” and“brute force” unleashed on thepeople of Jammu & Kashmirwhen they tried to visitSrinagar.

The delegation was thereto take stock the situation fol-lowing massive deployment oftroops in the wake of abroga-tion of Article 370

The delegation includedCongress’s Ghulam Nabi Azad,Anand Sharma and KCVenugopal, CPI(M) leaderSitaram Yechury , Tiruchi Siva(DMK), Sharad Yadav (LJD),Dinesh Trivedi (TMC), D Raja(CPI), Majeed Menon (NCP),Manoj Jha (RJD) and DKupendra Reddy JD(S).

TV journalists coveringthe visits beamed live picturefrom the Srinagar airportwhere policemen assaultedthem in an attempt to preventthem from talking to anyone.

“It’s been 20 days since thepeople of Jammu & Kashmirhad their freedom and civil lib-erties curtailed,” Leaders ofthe Opposition and the Pressgot a taste of the draconianadministration and brute forceunleashed on the people of J&Kwhen we tried to visit Srinagaryesterday,” he said.

The former Congress pres-ident also posted a video of

Saturday’s events, showingauthorities reading out an orderto the opposition leaders andGandhi addressing the media.

The video showed Gandhispeaking to the media andalleging that media personsaccompanying the delegationwere mishandled and beatenup. He also said it is clear thatthings are “not normal” inJammu and Kashmir.

Meanwhile, Rahul’s sisterand Congress s general secre-tary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra onSunday shared a video of aKashmiri woman breakingdown before Rahul Gandhi

on a flight to New Delhi.Priyanka lashed out at theCentre for the restrictions inKashmir and accused it ofbeing anti-national by silencingthe people of the valley.

“How long is this going tocontinue? This is one out ofmillions of people who arebeing silenced and crushed inthe name of “Nationalism”.There is NOTHING more‘political’ and ‘anti national’than the shutting down of alldemocratic rights that is takingplace in Kashmir. It is the dutyof every one of us to raise ourvoices against it, we will not

stop doing so,” Priyanka tweet-ed.

In the video, the woman isseen recounting how the lock-down in the Valley has affect-ed the lives of those in Jammuand Kashmir. “Our childrenhave not been able to move outof their houses. My brother isa heart patient. He could notsee the doctor for 10 days. Weare in trouble,” she said sob-bing. In the video, Rahul can beseen trying to console thewoman.

The woman met RahulGandhi in the flight that he andother opposition leaders had

taken on their way to Delhiafter the administration did notallow them to move out of theSrinagar airport.

On his return to Delhi theformer Congress chief saidthings were not normal inJammu and Kashmir. “Wewanted to get a sense of whatpeople are going through andhelp the situation if we could.But unfortunately we were notallowed to go beyond the air-port. The press people with uswere mishandled, beaten. It’sclear that things are not normalin Jammu and Kashmir,” Rahulsaid.

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Rashtriya Samaj Paksha(RSP) chief and Dairy

Development MinisterMahadev Jankar on Sundaycreated a sensation by claimingthat Bollywood actor SanjayDutt would join his party onSeptember 25.

Jankar made the claim atthe RSP’s 16th foundation dayevent here in the presence ofMinister of Rural Development,Women and Child WelfarePankaja Munde, after a video ofthe “Munnabhai MBBS” actorwas played out at the event.

In the video clip, Dutt said:“I congratulate RSP NationalPresident Mahadev Jankar, myfriend and my brother. if Iwould have been here, I wouldhave come,” said Dutt in the 17-second video.

Later, speaking at the func-tion held at the historic ShivajiPark in north-central Mumbai,Jankar claimed: “Just now youheard the byte of big boss...bigbrother. Sanjay Dutt has givendate of 25 September to join(RSP).He is in Dubai (today).Had he been in Mumbai, he

would have joined us”.There are not many takers

to Jankar’s claim that Duttwould join the RSP. An emo-tional person that he is, Duttmay not have even realised asthat his mere greetings to Jankarwould result in Jankar’s claim.

It may be recalled that onMay 1, 2016, the presence ofDutt — who had just then beenreleased from Pune centralprison after serving his sen-tence in the 1993 serial blastscase — at a BJP’s MaharashtraDay function organised atDindoshi in north Mumbaion Sunday night — had settongues wagging in the Statepolitical circles

Donning an orangeMaharashtrian ‘pagdi’ at thefunction organised by hisfriend and BJP leader MohitKambhoj on the occasion of“Maharashtra day”, the actorhad pledged not only to do any-thing for his friend (Manoj) butalso reportedly said that theBJP seats in the state “mustincrease”, a statement the actordid not deny later.

Jankar’s claim should beseen in the context of the fact

that he is the son of late actor-politician Sunil Dutt and afive-time Congress MP fromMumbai and late actress NargisDutt, who had also been aRajya Sabha MP. His sisterPriya Dutt-Roncon is theCongress’ former MP.

Priya had representedCongress for two terms in Lok

Sabha from November 2005 toApril 2014. Dutts have beenvery close to the Nehru-Gandhifamily for decades now. Duttcampaigned for his sister Priyain the recent Lok Sabha polls,in which the latter suffereddefeat at the hands of the BJP’sPoonam Mahajan.

Jankar said the RSP’s powerin the State had increased con-siderably. “We have 98 mem-bers of zilla parishads. The RSPholds the reign of several mar-ket committees. We have askedfor 57 Assembly seats in theAssembly after considering ourparty’s increased strength,”Jankar said.

An engineer, Jankar —who is born in a poor family inMann taluka of Satara districtin western Maharashtra, has forseveral years been champi-oning the cause of the Dhangarcommunity. Having started hiscareer with then Kanshi Ram-led BSP, he became the presi-dent of Yeshwant Sena. Afterfloating RSP in 2003, heunsuccessfully contested theLok Sabha polls from Baramatiin 2014. He was elected amember of Maharashtra

Legislative Council in 2015,with the support of BJP.

Later, talking to media per-sons, Jankar said that his partycontinued to remain in theBJP-led ruling alliance in thestate, despite the fact that it didnot get even one seat in the seatallocations for the recent LokSabha polls. “Since the BJP hasannounced reservations for theDhangar community, we arewith the principal ruling partyin the state. Though we havedemanded 57 seats, we expectat least 14 seats,” he said.

Addressing the rally,Pankaja Munde said that frombeing a party that was confinedto chowks had now reachedShivaji Park. “The BJP willgive befitting number of seatsto the RSP in the StateAssembly polls. “The earlierCongress-NCP had fooled theDhangar community. It tried tocreate rift among the backwardcommunities. The Dhangarand other backward commu-nities have seen through theirgame. The BJP-led rulingalliance will return to power inthe state with a thumpingmajority,” she said.

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The Bengal BJP seems to bedivided on the induction of

alleged “corrupt” leaders fromother parties particularly theTrinamool Congress. A sectionof the BJP leadership hasobjected to the induction ofleaders like Sovan Chatterjeeand further talks of taking insome other MPs and MLAswho are facing charges of cor-ruption against them.

“I have no doubt about theorganisational capabilities ofSovan Chatterjee. He is a bigleader in Bengal politics but itis also true that he is facingcharges against his nameNarada case. It will be difficultfor the BJP to go to the peoplewith a clean face and a partywith a difference,” a State party leader said adding hewould raise the issue at thenational level.

Another leader from North24 Parganas who have beeninstrumental in expanding thebase of the party in the regionsaid, “the party will not onlyface difficulty in explaining itsstance but also we will faceproblem in carrying out ouranti-corruption movement invarious places.”

How the BJP would carryout its anti-cut money cam-paign against the local TMCleadership he wondered.Aftervehement protest the BJP lead-

ers of Birbhum had succeededin reversing the induction ofturncoat TMC MLA ManirulIslam who is also a local strong-man facing a number ofcharges against him.

On Chatterjee who wasonce blue-eyed boy of ChiefMinister Mamat Banerjee aleader said “what is the suretythat he will not quit the BJP ifsituation changes tomorrow.”Making massive inroads inBengal politics the BJP won 18out of the 42 Lok Sabha seatsin the state in the last LokSabha polls. Since then hordesof local leaders are joining thesaffron outfit.

Meanwhile, in a separatedevelopment tension ran high inKulri town near Asansol wherea TMC councilor murderedlate on Saturday night. TheTMC has accused the BJP forthe violence while the latterparty has rejected their claims.

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Two persons were killed andfour others injured on

Sunday in a clash betweenmembers of two communitiesin Gujarat’s Anand district,police said.

According to police, vio-lence broke out following anargument over money betweenthe groups of the Patel andMolesalam Garasiya (Muslim)communities in Undel villagein Khambhat taluka in after-noon. “The clash left two deadand four injured. Sharpweapons were used in thefight,” said DeputySuperintendent of Police(Khambat) Reema Munshi.

Four to five persons fromeach group were involved in theviolence, the officer said.

“The injured have beenhospitalised in Karamsad andVadodara,” said the Dy SP. Noarrests have been made so far.“A police contingent has beendeployed at the site to maintainlaw and order and for investi-gation,” Munshi added.

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The Coastal Security Policein coastal Malpe in

Karnataka has issued a publicnotice asking people to be onalert in view of intelligencereports about infiltration of six

Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) ter-rorists into neighbouring TamilNadu, police said on Sunday.

The public notice asked thepeople of Malpe area in Udupito be vigilant and inform thepolice if they come across anysuspicious looking persons,

they said. It comes days afterTamil Nadu was put on highalert after intelligence agenciessaid six LeT terrorists, includ-ing a Pakistani, have sneakedinto the state from Sri Lanka tocarry out destructive activities.

CSP Malpe Police station

inspector Pramod Kumar toldPTI that based on informationfrom the intelligence, all policestations had been put on alert.

Following the intelligenceinput, an alert has also been sounded in Kerala, Tamil Nadu.

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Agroup of Muslim villagersin Assam’s Kamrup district

has performed the last rites ofa Hindu man, who had stayedat a Muslim friend’s residencewith his family for over 25years, officials said on Sunday.

S i x t y - f i v e - y e a r - o l dRajkumar Gaur used to stay atSaddam Hussain’s residence inRangia’s Khandikar village afterthe death of his father renderedhim homeless in the 1990s.After Rajkumar Gaur died onSaturday, Hussain and hisfriends pooled money to pur-chase the items required for aHindu cremation and arrangeda priest, said Shukur Ali, a res-ident of Khandikar village.

They also carried his bodyto the cremation ground and setfire to the funeral pyre amidstchanting of Vedic chants, MaidulIslam of the same village said.Upen Das of a neighbouringHindu village backed this ver-

sion saying the people ofKhandikar had asked him forthe list of items needed forGaur’s last rites.

Official sources said theadministration was not involvedin the cremation but was awareof the incident. Hussain said hehad given shelter to Gaur afterhe was forced to vacate theRailway quarters where he wasliving following the death of hisfather who had come to Assamfrom UP.

“I had built a dwelling forRajkumar inside my premises sothat he could live with his fam-ily,” he said. Gaur remained aHindu but used to take part inMuslim religious and socialfunctions, another villagerMajibar Rahman said. His twodaughters were married toMuslims. “The gesture is in linewith the traditional Shankardeb-Azan Fakir communal harmonyculture of Assam,” All BTADMinority Students’ Union centralsecretary Najrul Islam said.

Deoria: The administrationimposed Section 144 of theCrPC in Barhaj area of the dis-trict after a 25-year-old manwas allegedly beaten to deathby some youths onJanmashtami.

Section 144 of the CrPCprohibits the assembly of morethan four persons in an area.

District Magistrate AmitKishor said the restrictionswould remain in force tillSeptember 15. Sumit wasinjured when he tried to savehis father from the attackers,who were enraged over theobjection to loud music duringthe festival.

The incident had takenplace on Saturday night in

Barhaj’s Patel Nagar, police said.“On the occasion of KrishnaJanmashtami, some youths wereplaying DJ in Patel Nagar ofBarhaj on Saturday night.Munnu Lal asked them to stopit, which enraged 10-12 youths,”Deoria SP Shripati Mishra said.

“They attacked Munnu Lalwith sticks. When his sonsSumit and Sachin, along withhis wife Sanju Devi, rushed tosave him from the attackers,they too were beaten up,” the SPadded. On getting information,police rushed to the spot andadmitted the injured to thelocal health centre, where doc-tors referred Munnu Lal andSumit to the district hospital fortreatment. PTI

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In a freak stone-pelting inci-dent, protesters on Sunday

evening hurled stones at acivilian truck in southKashmir’s Anantnag district,killing the driver, police said.

Noor Mohammed Dar, 42,who belonged to the sameZradipora Uranhall locality,was returning home when pro-testers mistook his truck for asecurity force vehicle andhurled stones at it. The driver,who was hit on the head, wasshifted to a hospital, where doc-tors declared him broughtdead, they said.

Police said protesters havebeen hurling stones even at

civilians and earlier this month,they injured an 11-year-oldgirl in the eye at downtown ofSrinagar city.

Director General of Jammu& Kashmir Police Dilbag Singhhas directed officials to catchthe culprits and ensure thatstern action is taken againstthem, police added.

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Senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah onSunday took a dig at Chief Minister BS

Yediyurappa over the delay in allocation ofportfolios to his ministerial colleagues andsaid he has become unwanted baby of the BJP.

The former Chief Minister claimed BJPwas facing rebellion within due to whichthe portfolios could not be alloted evenafter five days of the Cabinet expansion andthe party high command had also been notgiving any response to Yediyurappa.

What has happened is, Yediyurappa hasbecome an unwanted baby for the BJP highcommand...On one side there are dis-gruntled MLAs who went there (to BJP).They are threatening them and then thereare many disgruntled within BJP too.Hence portfolio allotment is not happen-ing, Siddaramaiah told reporters here.

Yediyurappa had been going to Delhiand coming back and was not able to meetBJP president Amit Shah (to finalise theportfolio allocation), he claimed.

Attacking the BJP, Siddaramaiahalleged it never had the mandate and cameto power through back-door throughOperation Lotus (engineering defections)and horse trading.

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The war of words between the Congress and JD(S)continued unabated with Siddaramaiah on Sunday

slamming HD Kumaraswamy for treating him as an“enemy” and indicated that it led to the fall of the coali-tion Government headed by the latter.

His comments were in response toKumaraswamy’s recent interview to a news portal,in which he reportedly said Siddaramaiah treatedJD(S) as its first enemy. However, Kumaraswamy onSunday clarified that he had not made such remarksand his interview had been ‘distorted’.

“There lies the problem. He (Kumaraswamy)started nurturing grudge against me by treating meas an enemy. Instead of foe, had he considered meas a friend, a trusted man and an ally from the coali-tion party, nothing would have happened,”Siddaramaiah told reporters in Mysuru.

The Congress stalwart charged Kumaraswamywith “hiding” his failure by blaming others. “How canI be an enemy? Those who don’t know how to rulesay such things,” Siddaramaiah said.

The JD(S) leader reportedly alleged Siddaramaiahwas never happy with the government formation underhim. Kumaraswamy in a tweet said: “Some news chan-nels have distorted my interview to a news portal a fewdays ago. “I had only said that more than BJP,Siddaramaiah had targeted our party during the elec-tions but I never said Siddaramaiah is my first enemy.There is no need for unwanted confusion,” he said.

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Most of the chemist shopsremained open in the

Kashmir Valley on Sunday asGovernor Satya Pal Malikdenied any shortage of medi-cines and essential commoditiesin Jammu & Kashmir, and saidcommunication curbs helpedsave many lives in the State.

In a statement, the Jammuand Kashmir administrationsaid 1,165 out of 1,666 chemistshops in Srinagar remainedopen on Sunday.

The Kashmir Valley has7,630 retail chemist shops and4,331 wholesale shops, it said,adding that around 65 percent shops remained openthere. Malik said there was noshortage of medicines andessential commodities any-where in Jammu & Kashmirand enough stocks were avail-able for people to buy. “In fact,we delivered meat, vegetablesand eggs to people’s doorstepson Eid,” he said.

Medicines worth Rs 23.81crore have reached end userretail shops in the last 20 days.“That’s slightly higher than themonthly average,” the state-ment said. It said all 376 noti-fied drugs are available at gov-ernment shops and also privateretailers. Sixty-two essential/lifesaving drugs were also avail-able. “Both categories for 15-20days stock,” it added.

The average delivery timefrom placement of order is 14-18 hours from Jammu, as mostof the distributors are fromthere, the statement said.

Noting that there was someshortage of baby food in theValley for nearly two days, itsaid fresh stocks have beenreceived and they are sufficientfor the next three weeks.

“No cases of overpricingreceived in 72 test check cases,”it added. Governor Malik, whowas in the national capital topay his last respects to former

Union Finance Minister ArunJaitley who died on Saturday,also said no life has been lostin Jammu & Kashmir due toany violence in the last 10 daysafter the abrogation of the spe-cial status given to Jammu &Kashmir and its division intotwo Union Territories.

“If blockade of communi-cation helps saves lives, what isthe harm?” he told reporterswhen asked to comment onhow long the restrictions willcontinue.

Malik said in the past,whenever there was a crisis inKashmir, at least 50 people usedto die in the first week itself.“Our attitude that there shouldbe no loss of human life. ‘10 dintelephone nahi honge, nahihonge, lekin hum bahut jaldi sabwapas kar denge. (If there is nophone connection for 10 days, sobe it. But, we will restore every-thing soon),” he said.

Fondly rememberingJaitley, Malik said it was thedeparted leader who had insist-ed him to take up the respon-sibility as the Jammu &Kashmir Governor last year.

“I was advised by ArunJaitley to take up the responsi-bility as Governor. He told methat it will be historic. He alsotold me that his in-laws arefrom Jammu,” he said.

New Delhi: A Minority AffairsMinistry team will visit theKashmir Valley for two daysfrom Tuesday to identify theareas to implement centrally-sponsored development pro-jects after provisions of Article370 were abrogated, Unionminister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvihas said.

He also asserted that thoseopposing the government’swithdrawal of J&K’s specialstatus, acting as per their “polit-ical prejudice”, will also comearound to support the moveafter seeing its impact.

“A team of senior officials,including the Secretary, will bevisiting the area (KashmirValley) on August 27-28. Theteam will explore developmentpossibilities — where schools,colleges, skill development cen-tres can be opened,” Naqvitold PTI in an interview. The

team will look at all possibili-ties of social-economic devel-opment projects, he said.

The Minister also said“precautions” taken in J&K aretargeted at a “handful of sepa-ratists” who can mislead thepeople. “It is the job of aresponsible government to notallow any misinformationcampaign to be run,” he said.

Naqvi said the team willalso visit Jammu & Ladakh ata later date. The MinorityAffairs Minister ruled outreconsideration on abrogationof Article 370 provisions, say-ing there was no going back.

“It is (Narendra) Modi’sGovernment. Everybodyknows that in this govern-ment, decision is made after alot of thinking, but there is noquestion of a rethink after adecision has been made,” hesaid. PTI

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Congress leader PriyankaGandhi Vadra on Sunday

hit out at those accusing theOpposition of “politicising”the Jammu & Kashmir issue,saying there is nothing more“political” and “anti-national”than the alleged “shuttingdown” of democratic rights inKashmir.

She also asserted that theCongress will not stop raisingits voice against it.

Her remarks come a dayafter a delegation of oppositionleaders, including RahulGandhi, which wanted to visitKashmir Valley to take stock ofthe situation there after theabrogation of Article 370 pro-visions, was not allowed toleave Srinagar airport by the state administrationand had to return to the national Capital.

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New Delhi: The Centre onSunday launched 85 people-oriented developmentschemes, like PM-KISAN,P M - K I S A N - P e n s i o n ,Pradhan Mantri Jan DhanYojana and Stand-Up India, inJammu & Kashmir.

The Government aims toachieve 100 per cent coverageof these schemes, which comeunder 21 Ministries, withinone month (by September 30).

A slew of insurancesschemes, including the AtalPension Yojana, has also beenintroduced in the newlycarved Union Territory andthe Government plans to pro-vide electricity to all the J&Khouseholds.

The PM’s special initia-tives, like LPG connection tothe poor household and directbenefit transfer (DBT) forLPG and kerosene, focussingto empower women especial-ly in rural areas, have alsobeen introduced.

IANS

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The Government is about to makea terrible mistake with its seedpolicy. The Ministry ofAgriculture & Farmers’ Welfarehas decided to withdraw certi-

fied/notified varieties of seeds that are olderthan 10 years from the market. TheGovernment system, backed by the IndianCouncil of Agricultural Research (ICAR),cancelled the indent of seed producers, whohave requested for popular varietiesbetween 10-15 years old.

Several small and medium seed com-panies across the country obtain breederseeds from ICAR every year and take upthe production of foundation seeds and cer-tified seeds to distribute them to thefarmers. Older varieties, between 10 and 15years, are still very popular among thefarmers. In fact, they demand varieties thatare older than 25 years, too, because of theiradaptability, resilience and high-yieldingcapabilities under adverse conditions. Thesudden disappearance of the seeds from themarket will rob the farmers of freedom,their right to choose the seeds he/she wantsto grow and the market of laissez-faire prin-ciples. Besides, this conservative policydecision may also cause extreme chaosamong the farming community, disrupt theseed economy and impact crop productionnegatively.

Any sound agriculturist will tell youthat diversity breeds resilience, deliveringboth higher yields and immunity for theplants from diseases and pests. This can beachieved through breeding and introduc-tion of newer varieties to maintain pacewith natural evolution among pests andpathogens. With time, older varieties needreplacement as they become vulnerable tobiotic and abiotic factors. Seeds bred for dis-ease resistance may lose those traits aspests/diseases keep evolving, depending onagro-climatic conditions, among otherthings. This results in decreased efficien-cy of the seed or requirements of more cropprotection or artificial boosters to maintainsustained yields. So when it comes to sci-ence, the Government is making an objec-tive decision, a scientific one.

But a one size fits all approach does notwork in the farm sector. And why shouldit? The category of the Indian farmer isoccupied by many — starting from the for-est-dwelling Santhal farmers of Jharkhandto the progressive cereal farmers fromPunjab, the Gond farmers growing corn incentral India, the Assamese farmer culti-vating paddy in the fields of North-East, thedesert farmers of Ladakh and Thar and thecoastal farmers from Kerala. The list cango on and on.

The Indian farmers are a diverse groupwith different qualities and limitation buthave one common requirement of certi-fied/superior seeds. While farmers inPunjab are very progressive and quick toadapt to newer schemes and seeds, the

Gond farmers of MadhyaPradesh may not even knowabout the many Governmentschemes and seeds, given theyare remotely located.

It can be concluded fromhistorical evidence based on thespread of Green Revolution inIndia that there are threegroups — Core areas, coveringPunjab, Haryana, WesternUttar Pradesh, AndhraPradesh, Tamil Nadu; periph-ery, covering eastern UttarPradesh, Bihar, Karnataka,Kerala; and remote, coveringNorth-Eastern and hilly States,Goa and Puducherry — whenit comes to the spread of tech-nological innovation in agricul-ture.

The time of adaptation oreven a variety being accepted byone zone differs to a greatdegree. After the commercial-isation of a variety, it may takearound one to three years for itto be widely accepted by coreareas such as Punjab andHaryana. For the same varietyto trickle down to eastern UttarPradesh, it may take anotherthree to four years and for it toreach remote areas likeJharkhand, six to eight years. Bythe time farmers across thesezones gain confidence in thevariety and raise demands, the10-year period is already over.

Old is gold, there is no bet-ter adherent to this adage thanIndian farmers. General con-sensus on a good seed is builton how it performed last yearor when some farmers gethigher yields or less disease.The approach to buying seedsis very conservative. Mostly,varieties that have provedthemselves over a season or twoin the region are sold. Smallerfarmers do not gamble withnew varieties. Medium/largefarms may experiment withnewer varieties but it takestwo to three seasons before theintended advantage is delivered.

Farmers need to trust avariety before they adopt it.And given the climatic varia-tions and water scarcity, it maytake a longer time for the seedto perform ideally. Hence, thetime of adaptation increases,depending on the area.

The harshest truth of theseed world is that its economyis based on the choices made bythe farmers. The market is dri-ven by demand and is based notonly on science but farmers’intuition. They trust their logicover and above theGovernment/seed retailer orthe labelling. To cultivatedemand for a particular varietyof seed, therefore, may take tenyears or more. In India, the sat-

uration point may be reachedway beyond the 25-30 yearperiod. There are many exam-ples. PBW-343 (1996), WH-147(1978) in wheat, Varuna (1976)for mustard, Pusa Basmati 1(1989), Govind (1989) in paddyamong others are still the farm-ers’ favorites and they have con-tinuously given yields and per-formed optimally. If suddenlythey are removed from themarket, with no alternative tothe farmers, this may lead todiscontentment among theagrarian community.

This will also encourageblack marketing, hoarding oftrusted varieties as the farmerswill not gamble. Besides, itmay give birth to a shadow seedeconomy. Instead of aiding thefarmers, the Government maywell push them to act complic-itly with black marketers. Therural economy will suffer andthe seed economy along withthe markets will see a decline,which may translate to adecrease in crop production.

But the Government canstill steer the moment towardscreating a positive impact. Itmay begin by allowing varietiestill 15 years to be producedthrough the ICAR system.Then, it should do a detailedstudy to get an estimate of mar-ket penetration of new varieties

and understand market trendsto bring transformativechanges. This policy needs to bereviewed on a case-to-casebasis.

While less popular varietiescan be phased out after 10-12years, more popular varietiesmay continue up to 20-22years. Preparing for the replace-ment drive of a variety of seed,the Government can use digi-tal media to showcase effi-ciency, using farmer-friendlyvideos in regional languages and live crop demon-strations.

This campaign can bestrengthened by efforts of Krishimitra/village-level agricultureofficers. The Government cansupply new varieties to thefarmers directly so that they cansow them in small patches intheir region. Once the farmerssee the new varieties performbetter, they will develop trustfor new seeds and, thus, natur-al demand can be created. TheGovernment must not onlymake the best use of scientificprinciples but also keep inmind economic forces ofdemand as for many farmers,old seed is still gold.

(The writer is ProgrammeDirector for Policy and Outreachat the National Seed Associationof India)

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Sir — The Bombay High Courthas asked the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) to file a reply on aPublic Interest Litigation (PIL)filed by the National Associationfor the Blind, seeking the Centralbank’s assurance that sizes ofcurrency notes will not bechanged in future as visuallychallenged people take time to getfamiliar with new-sized notes.

The subject came to lightafter the size of �100 and �500notes were gradually changedafter demonetisation. The RBIshould give an assurance that inthe future, if notes are required tobe changed, it will be done simul-taneously for notes of all denom-inations. The problem alsoextended to coins.

Visually differently abled peo-ple face the same problem whennew �2 coins of exactly the samesize, shape and weight of the thenprevailing old �1 coins are circu-lated. The RBI should also ensurethat similar sized coins in differ-ent denominations are not in cir-culation simultaneously. We mustbe sensitive in policy-making.

SC AgrawalDelhi

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Chidambaram in a spot”(August 22). The ugly spectacleof a former Union HomeMinister going through unseem-ly contretemps and evasions tododge the Central Bureau of

Investigation (CBI) had unnec-essarily rivetted the nation to itstelevision sets.

Any top politician gettingarrested — be it Lalu Prasad ofRashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in thefodder scam in 1997 or MKarunanidhi in 2001 — becomesa premise for settling political

scores. A look at all such cases,where high-profile leaders areinvolved, points to a similaroutrage and hullabaloo sur-rounding their arrest, though themerits of allegations in eachcase may vary drastically.

So, the Congress’ charadethat Chidambaram is a victim of

“political vendetta” ought to bedismissed. Whether the chargeslevelled against him are true ornot is for the judiciary to deter-mine. Nobody is above the law.Ultimately, corruption in highplaces must be weeded out.

J Akshay Bengaluru

��

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Chidambaram in a spot”(August 22). It is indeed ironicalthat Congress leader PChidambaram has had to spendtime in custody of the CentralBureau of Investigation (CBI) atthe very guest house that wasinaugurated by him. Whether thecharges against him in the INXMedia case are true are not, itcannot be denied that the modusoperandi adopted by the CBI toarrest him was deplorable. Italso defies logic as to whyChidambaram had to knock thecourt’s door numerous times ifindeed he is not guilty?

Shubham KashyapVia email

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The political movement headed by SheikhAbdullah, that originated in Kashmir in 1931,to some extent remained unsuccessful in gain-

ing the support of Jammu, especially the Hindu-dominated areas. Its genesis, growth and ideolog-ical moorings made it suspect in the eyes of Dogranationalists who viewed it as something alien andunacceptable. Pandit Prem Nath Dogra led the AllJammu and Kashmir Rajya Hindu Sabha as the mainopposition party. It merged with Praja Parishadwhich was formed in Jammu immediately after thetribal invasion in November 1947.

The struggle for total integration of Jammu andKashmir (J&K) with India began with the birth ofthe All Jammu & Kashmir Praja Parishad, popu-larly known as Praja Parishad. It opposed Abdullah’smajor policy planks such as abolition of landlords,anti-Dogra drive, attempts at framing a separate con-stitution for J&K, a separate flag and so on.

Sheikh Abdullah became the Prime Ministerof J&K in March 1948. He abhorred opposition andwanted to become de facto ruler of the state. As anadvocate of a one-party State, he forced the thenPrime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to introduceArticle 370 in the Constitution of India to ensureKashmiri Muslim domination. After, that he beganannihilation of the opposition. His cronies chant-ed slogans like, “ek rehnuma (mentor), SheikhMohammad Abdullah, ek tanzeem (organisation)National Conference, ek jhanda (flag), Halwala, ekmanshoor (manifesto) Naya Kashmir, whichalarmed the pro-integration Dogras of Jammu.Prem Nath Dogra and his colleagues felt this wasdangerous for democracy and would fulfillAbdullah’s totalitarian ambitions.

Moreover, Abdullah’s policies were exclusive-ly confined to the welfare of Kashmiri Muslims andignored the sentiments and interests of the peo-ple of Jammu and Ladakh. His animosity towardsthe Maharaja transformed into hatred for theDogras of Jammu. Unfortunately, he had clout withthe ruling party at the Centre which had a Kashmir-centric inclination. This was a major cause of con-cern for the people of Jammu. Praja Parishad wascommitted to full integration of J&K with theIndian union and safeguarding the legitimatedemocratic rights of the people of Jammu.Consequently, it became popular in Jammu,including among Muslims there. Its growing pop-ularity irked Abdullah who resorted to suppress-ing its growth. Several activists, including theauthor’s grandfather, Bishan Das Mahajan, wereexpelled from the state. Praja Parishad leaders werealso put behind bars in February 1949 and by mid-1949, Abdullah imprisoned as many as 294 of itsworkers. In May 1949, the Parishad began a protestfor the release of Prem Nath Dogra.

Abdullah finally yielded to the combined pres-sure and intervention of some nationalist leadersin Delhi and released him from jail in October1949. However, the persecution did not end thereand Abdullah’s hatred for the nationalists was fur-ther aggravated by the fact that the Parishad’sdemand for full integration clashed directly withthe National Conference (NC) demand for com-plete autonomy for J&K. As many as 15 youthswere shot and some others injured at various placesfor hoisting the Tricolour. The agitationists evenincluded the demand for abolishing the permit sys-tem for entering or leaving J&K.

Many may argue about the relevance of this

article under the changed circumstancesbut it is imperative for the present gen-eration to be aware of the struggles andsacrifices made by their predecessorswhich acted as the enabler of the presentlandmark achievement.

The Parishad tirelessly tried to unitethe people of Jammu with a view to foilthe attempts of those who either favouredautonomy or tried to separate the statefrom the Indian Union. It also opposedthe setting up of a separate ConstituentAssembly and favoured the application ofthe Indian Constitution.

Despite being opposed to a separateconstitution for the state, a special sessionof the party held on May 8, 1951, decid-ed to contest the elections to theConstituent Assembly. Because of large-scale rejection of nomination papers of itscandidates and nefarious manipulation ofthe elections by Abdullah, the partydecided to boycott the elections. In spiteof its strong support base, it did not havea single member in the ConstituentAssembly, which under Abdullah’s lead-ership, framed a constitution that promot-ed the concept of “State within a State.”

The NC and Abdullah did everythingto ensure that all party members were partof the J&K Assembly. Abdullah dubbedthe Parishad as communal, ignoring thefact that many Muslims were also contest-ing on its tickets. Slowly, the Parishadturned into a mass movement and playeda key role in opposing separatist and com-munal politics in J&K.

Emboldened by the support heenjoyed from Nehru and after signing ofthe Delhi Agreement, Abdullah beganhoisting the NC flag at official functionsand atop government buildings. However,

in keeping with his habit of double-speak,he implemented the agreement only inpart to further his agenda of autonomy.On January 15, 1952, he delivered a speechat an official function at Gandhi MemorialCollege, Jammu and hoisted the NC’s flagalongside the Tricolour, asking the stu-dents to salute it but they objected. Thisinfuriated Abdullah and he ensured thatthey were penalised.

This was followed by a 38-dayhunger strike by students in 1952. OnFebruary 8, 1952, the people of Jammucame out in solidarity with them that ledAbdullah to impose curfew and get PNDogra arrested. The intense publicpressure that followed this forced Delhito act and ensure the release of Dograand others. It soon turned into a pub-lic movement against Abdullah’s despo-tism and his anti-national activities. Themovement found support nationally inthe form of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh,which was formed in 1951.

Another mass movement waslaunched by the Parishad in November1952 against the separatist and commu-nal politics of Abdullah. In December1952, Jan Sangh president Syama PrasadMookerjee announced the launch of anation-wide agitation for the abolition ofArticle 370. On May 8, 1953 he decidedto enter J&K, thus violating the prevalentpermit system and was arrested byAbdullah as soon as he set foot in the state.He was jailed and tortured at Srinagar,which led to his mysterious death on June23, 1953. An estimated 10,000 activistswere imprisoned in Jammu, Punjab andDelhi, including Members of Parliament,leading to an uproar in India.

Blinded by his ambition, Abdullah

indulged in competitive communalismand worked towards the establishment ofan independent Muslim majority-stateclaiming that India was not secularenough. The Parishad opposed it toothand nail and accused Abdullah of notbeing Indian enough. Abdullah wasfinally arrested in August 1953 after hemade secessionist speeches at RS Pura onApril 10 and on July 13.

After this, the Praja Parishadmovement largely subsided and it final-ly merged with the Jana Sangh in 1963.Ever since then, Jana Sangh and later itssuccessor, the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP), had been struggling and agitat-ing for ending J&K’s special status,which not only promoted separatism,religious militancy but was the majorcause of rampant corruption and poordevelopment. The re-entry of SheikhAbdullah in state politics in 1975 underan agreement with the then PrimeMinister Indira Gandhi and the subse-quent Rajiv-Farooq accord and Rahul-Omar bonhomie gave a new fillip to thedemand for autonomy and saw the riseof jihadi and radical forces in Kashmir.

The historic decision of August 5,2019 is the result of the struggle andsacrifices of three generations of PrajaParishad, Jana Sangh and BJP workers.The BJP, as a successor of the JanaSangh, remained focussed and commit-ted to abolition of Article 370 and J&K’sfull integration with India. Manyaccused the party of using it only as anelection plank to woo voters in theHindi heartland but all of them havebeen proved wrong.

(The author is a Jammu based political commentator and columnist)

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The newly-introduced Surrogacy(Regulation) Bill, 2019, passed bythe Lok Sabha, has once again

stirred the big debate regarding reproduc-tive autonomy, women’s rights and theextent to which the State should intervene.The Bill prohibits commercial surrogacybut allows it for altruistic purposes. It man-dates that the intending couple shouldhave a “certificate of essentiality” and a“certificate of eligibility” that are issuedupon fulfillment of certain conditions.

For instance, the couple must beIndian citizens and married for at least fiveyears; the wife should be between 23 to 50years of age and the husband between 26to 55-years-old. They must not have anysurviving child (biological, adopted or sur-rogate). However, this would not include

a child who is mentally or physically chal-lenged or suffers from life-threatening dis-order or fatal illness. This apart, the cou-ple must also fulfill other conditions thatmay be specified by regulations.

The Bill was introduced to clampdown on rampant commercial surrogacy,with India fast becoming a hub. Surrogacyis a $400 million a year business with anestimated 3,000 fertility clinics in majorIndian cities, says a 2012 UN study.

Worldwide, it is estimated that around15 per cent of reproductive-aged couplesare affected by infertility. According to theWorld Health Organisation (WHO), theinfertility rate in India is between 3.9 to16.8 per cent. Infertility rates vary fromState to State. While it is 3.7 per cent inUttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh andMaharashtra, it’s 5 per cent in AndhraPradesh and 15 per cent in Kashmir.

Hence, there’s a big population thatneeds help starting a family but the newlaw will make surrogacy inaccessible forthis cohort. There are arguments for easyavailability of the option for adoption inIndia, but in the end, the state shouldn’tdecide how couples expand the family.

While this Bill makes altruistic surro-gacy legal in India just like South Korea,

Hong Kong and Vietnam, in most of theneighbouring countries it’s either bannedor there are no regulations governing it.After widespread reports of Indian womentravelling to Nepal once India enforcedvisa restrictions for foreigners commis-sioning surrogacy in India in 2013, theSupreme Court of Nepal ruled againstcommercial surrogacy in August 2015.

To date, however, normative standardson surrogacy have been relatively limited.The UN international human rightsmechanisms have not yet taken up theissue of surrogacy in a focussed or uniformway. The UN Special rapporteur on thesale of children, child prostitution andchild pornography has addressed theissue and highlighted the lack of regula-tion of commercial surrogacy. It hascalled upon countries to adopt legislationto protect the rights of women and chil-dren and develop and implement interna-tional standards.

Coming back to the Bill, another stick-ing point is that surrogacy remains onlyfor the married heterosexual couples andcompletely excludes singles, live-in part-ners and same-sex couples.

The other problem that various sec-tions of women groups and activists have

with this Bill is that the following aspectsare missing from it and must be addressed.

First, the reason for not having a com-mon position on surrogacy as outlined inthe Assisted Reproductive Technology(Regulation) Bill, 2017 is not having anintegrated approach towards the use ofassisted reproductive technologies.

Second, as per the definition of “infer-tility”, the Bill excludes women who con-ceive but are unable to carry a childthrough the period of the pregnancy dueto miscarriage, fibroids, hypertensionand diabetes. In some countries like TheNetherlands, South Africa and Greecemedical conditions that permit altruisticsurrogacy are well-defined.

Third, the Bill includes a sub-clausefor National Surrogacy Board to define“any other condition or disease” for whichsurrogacy may be allowed. For a robustimplementation, the eligibility criteriashould not be left to regulations but be partof the law.

Fourth, as part of the certificate ofessentiality, the Bill outlines the followingconditions, a certificate of proven infer-tility of one or both the partners from aDistrict Medical Board; an order ofparentage and custody of the surrogate

child passed by a magistrate’s court.However, the Bill lacks any review orappeal procedure in case of rejection of theapplication.

Fifth, the surrogate mother is requiredto be a close relative of the intending cou-ple. However, the “close relative” or thenature of this relationship is not defined.

While it provides flexibility to theintending couple to broaden the choice ofsurrogates, it may also be subjected to per-ceptional scrutiny at the time of receivingthe certificate of essentiality.

Sixth, the eligibility criterion thatspecifies that the couple should be mar-ried for at least five years stops the cou-ple from deciding the size of their familyas per their requirement. It’s not clear thatonce infertility is established, why a cou-ple should be made to wait for five years.

Seven, the criteria of not having“been a surrogate mother earlier” cannotbe monitored until there’s a centralised sys-tem to record pregnancies in the country.

Eight, the purpose of imposing a focuson “altruistic surrogacy” is an assumptionthat it will not be exploitative or coercive.With commercial surrogacy, there is atleast an option for stringent contract andlegal provisions but it will be difficult to

monitor altruistic surrogacy. There isenough evidence that families can also beexploitative towards women who may becoerced to become surrogates for close rel-atives. Thus, the argument that the altru-istic surrogacy cannot be an exploitativearrangement does not stand.

From a surrogate mother’s perspective,there are several concerns like preventionof coercion or any other form of exploita-tion, legal counselling for the implicationsof surrogacy on health and lives, informedconsent, access to remuneration for sur-rogacy, nature of the relationship with thelegal family of the child, among others.

The Bill violates the fundamentalrights of surrogates and potential parents.The banning of surrogacy will make itmore discreet and underground, puttinga lot of these women at further risk.

Despite all the intricacies of the Bill,it leaves us with these questions — Whereis the choice of surrogate women? Willbanning commercial surrogacy address allthese pressing issues? Why ban surroga-cy and not regulate it?

(The writer is Senior Technical Advisor,Advocacy and Accountability atInternational Planned ParenthoodFederation, South Asia)

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Overseas investors have pulled out a net amountof �3,014 crore from the Indian capital markets

this month so far, but the trend may reverse follow-ing the removal of enhanced surcharge on FPIs, expertssaid.

According to depositories data, foreign portfolioinvestors (FPI) withdrew a net amount of �12,105.33crore from equities, but pumped in �9,090.61 croreinto the debt segment during August 1-23.

This has translated into a total net outflow of�3,014.72 crore from the capital markets (both equi-ty and debt).

“Out of 15 trading sessions, foreign investors werenet buyers in only two sessions. The sell off in equi-ties continued due to a mix of factors including USFed rate cut, US-China trade war and the post Budgettax hike on high income investors,” said Harsh Jain,co-founder and COO of Groww.

The Centre on Friday announced a slew of mea-sures to revive growth momentum, including rollbackof enhanced super-rich tax on foreign and domesticequity investors imposed in the Budget.

Prior to the announcement of enhanced super-rich tax in the Union Budget for 2019-20 in July, FPIswere net buyers for five consecutive months.

FPIs had infused a net �10,384.54 crore in June,�9,031.15 crore in May, �16,093 crore in April, �45,981crore in March and �11,182 crore in February into theIndian capital markets.

However, the position reversed in July, when FPIsturned net sellers to the tune of �2,985.88 crore.

Now, with the withdrawal of the enhanced sur-charge on FPIs, confidence in the market is likely tobe restored, analysts said.

“One can now expect reversal of the FPI selling.The market is likely to look up from now on. However,sustained rally in the market will happen only whenwe have visibility on good earnings growth and rever-sal of the slowdown underway in the economy whichrequires more reforms.

“The Finance Minister has announced that she willcome back with more reforms soon. So, there is hope,”said V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist atGeojit Financial Services.

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The stock markets may see a relief rallythis week after the government

removed enhanced surcharge on FPIs andalso unveiled various measures to jumpstartgrowth, analysts said.

Giving in to the demands of overseasinvestors, Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Friday announced rollbackof enhanced surcharge on foreign portfo-lio investors levied in the Budget.

The Budget proposal to hike sur-charge on FPIs had spooked foreigninvestors, who withdrew more than USD3.4 billion (Rs 24,500 crore) from domestic equitiesin July and August. The massive capital outflows alsoput pressure on the rupee, which slumped to 72-levelagainst the US dollar last week.

“Withdrawal of enhanced surcharge on FPI is abig positive for Indian markets as it could reverse theoutflows seen since post Budget. It should also helpINR appreciation. Overall, a good sentiment boost-er for the Indian economy,” said Rusmik Oza, Headof Fundamental Research, Kotak Securities.

The Centre also announced a raft of measuresto revive growth momentum, including exemptingstartups from ‘angel tax’, a package to address dis-tress in the auto sector and upfront infusion of Rs70,000 crore into public sector banks.

“Withdrawal of the surcharge on FPIs is a shotin the arm for the sagging market. One can nowexpect reversal of the FPI selling. The market is like-ly to look up from now on,” VK Vijayakumar, ChiefInvestment Strategist, Geojit Financial Servicessaid.

“However, sustained rally in the market will hap-pen only when we have visibility on good earningsgrowth and reversal of the slowdown underway inthe economy. This requires more reforms,”Vijayakumar added.

In a bid to address slowdown in the auto sector,the government lifted ban on purchase of vehiclesby government departments, and allowed addition-al 15 per cent depreciation on vehicles acquired fromnow till March 2020.

The revision of one-time registration fees has alsobeen deferred till June 2020.

These steps are likely to prop up the automobilesector and revive demand, said Ashwin Patil, SeniorResearch Analyst (Auto Sector) at LKP Securities.

“These are just the kind of measures which wererequired to boost the economy. In the immediateterm, we can expect the markets to bounce back onMonday with a gap up opening, and continue the rallyfor a few sessions to come,” said Amit Gupta, Co-Founder and CEO of TradingBells.

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USPresident

Donald Trumpon Sundayrowed backfrom a sugges-tion made justhours earlierthat he regretshis trade warwith China,saying insteadhe’s only sorrynot to haveraised tariffs even higher.

Trump’s spokeswomanStephanie Grisham toldreporters at the G7 summit inthe French resort of Biarritzthat the president’s earlier com-ments had been misunder-stood.

“The president was asked ifhe had ‘any second thought onescalating the trade war withChina’. His answer has beengreatly misinterpreted,” she said.

“President Trump respond-ed in the affirmative — becausehe regrets not raising the tar-iffs higher.”

Earlier on Sunday, Trumpappeared to signal he might beconsidering a softening of hisposition in the trade war, whichhas seen Washington imposesteep levies on all Chinese

imports — and China respond-ing with billions of dollars oftariffs of its own.

“I have second thoughtsabout everything,” he said.

He also said he would holdoff for now on declaring anational emergency whichwould allow him to invoke anobscure law that he says giveshim the power to order UScompanies out of China.

“I have the right to, if Iwant. I could declare a nation-al emergency,” he said.

“I have no plan right now.”Trump first brandished the

possibility of the drastic mea-sure on Friday, when he tweet-ed that American companies“are hereby ordered to imme-diately start looking for analternative to China.”

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India, projected to have thelargest working population

between 2022 and 2034, hascalled upon nations to joinhands with it to leverage itsskilled manpower, with anestimated 10 million youthsentering the workforce perannum.

India, with a strong 48-member contingent, is amongthe 63 countries participatingin the world’s biggest interna-tional vocational skill compe-tition -- WorldSkills Kazan2019, which is underway inthe capital of Tatarstan.

“As we know, India is ayoung nation in an ageingworld with the median age of27.6 years as compared tomedian age of above 40 inlarge parts of developednations. India is also project-ed to be the region with thelargest working populationfrom 2022 till 2034. In view ofthis, skilling on global stan-dards can ensure global mobil-ity of highly skilled Indianworkforce,” Minister for SkillDevelopment andEntrepreneurship MahendraNath Pandey said here.

He urged nations to comeforward to encash this oppor-tunity while attending the sec-

ond edition of the Summit forMinisters, held in Kazan onthe sidelines of the 45thWorldSkills Competition.

Ministers from more than40 countries participated inthe summit and deliberated onthe most advanced approach-es to workforce training sys-tem excellence.

Participants includedTatyana Golikova, DeputyPrime Minister of the RussianFederation; Olga Vasilyeva,Minister of Education of theRussian Federation; Jos deGoey, Vice President forStrategic Affairs and Chair ofthe Strategic DevelopmentCommittee at WorldSkillsInternational; Tang Tao, ViceMinister of Human Resourcesand Social Security, People’sRepublic of China, amongstothers.

Pandey said India’s focus ison ensuring that its demo-graphic dividend is appropri-ately skilled, and people areproductively employed indecent work.

“For India, this demo-graphic dividend is a limitedopportunity which will peakaround year 2040 wherein it isestimated that there would be46 dependents per 54 work-ers,” he said.

Currently, India has more

than 10 million youths enter-ing the workforce every year,he said.

“To provide access to qual-ity skilling opportunities with-in a short time frame, India hasadopted an accelerated modu-lar competency-based pro-gramme of 200 to 600 hoursduration. For enhancing theemployability of youths com-ing out of these short-termprogrammes, it is envisaged tofurther skill them under anindustry-led apprenticeshipprogram. Youths directly enter-ing the labour market aretrained on in-house bridgecourses by industry,” he said.

At the same time, the min-ister said industry interfacewas equally important andone of the key strategies forskilling with scale, speed andstandard is the focus on indus-try-led apprenticeship train-ing.

“A comprehensive set oflegislative, policy and admin-istrative reforms have beenundertaken to create one ofthe most liberal and industryfriendly interventions inapprenticeship.

“The intent behind theseinterventions is to reduce theburden of compliance by mov-ing towards self-certification,provide flexibility to industry

in terms of hiring and trainingapprentices, creating a rolefor Industry Chambers to bethird party aggregators andleveraging technology forprocess standardisation andsimplification,” he said.

A National ApprenticeshipPromotion Scheme (NAPS)was launched in August 2016to extend financial benefits bythe government to industriesfor taking up apprentices.

Targeting high populationof youths migrating overseasfor good opportunities, theminister said the governmenthas taken numerous initiativesto improve opportunities fordecent overseas work andenhance the skills level ofemigrating workforce.

Detailing initiatives, hesaid these include a number ofgovernment-to-government(G2G) agreements focused ontesting centres and jointskilling programmes.

“A case study in point isthe Technical Intern TrainingProgramme (TITP) ofJapan...Indian workers are nowgoing to Japan under this pro-gramme due to a G2G agree-ment. This has also led to set-ting of several Japan-IndiaInstitute of Manufacturing atvarious locations in India,”the minister said.

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State-run hydro power giantNHPC is likely to begin

construction of the 2,000 MWLower Subansiri power plantin October this year as it hasreceived the requisite approvalfrom the Assam Government,an official said.

NHPC had inked a mem-orandum of agreement (MoA)with Arunachal Pradesh forsetting up the project in 2010.However, since the projectfalls in the territories of bothArunachal Pradesh andAssam, the latter’s approvalwas needed as well.

“NHPC inked MoA withAssam on August 23, 2019 forLower Subansiri project. Asyou know, the National GreenTribunal (NGT) had givengo-ahead to the project on July31, 2019, and NHPC isexpected to begin construc-tion of the plant immediatelyafter monsoon season is overby October this year,” theofficial said.

Developers of power pro-jects are required to signMoAs with the respectivestates for setting up plants in

their territories. The Lower Subansiri pro-

ject has been stuck for the pasteight years due to variousissues. The run-of-the-riverproject on the Subansiri, atributary of the Brahmaputrariver, is mostly situated inArunachal Pradesh. However,some parts of the submer-gence area fall in Assam.

Work on the project isexpected to be completed inthree-and-a-half years with atotal expenditure of Rs 20,000crore (on completion).

The official said to allaysafety fears, the dam has beendesigned and strengthened towithstand seismic activity upto a magnitude of 8 on theRichter scale, which makes itone of the strongest dams inIndia.

Work on the Subansiriproject was started in 2006,but it came to a halt in 2011due to various issues.

In 2013, the NGT stayedany further work on the pro-ject. Thereafter, the projectwas examined from everyangle, be it safety or environ-mental issues, by national andinternational experts.

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The NCLT has initiatedinsolvency proceedings

against NCR-based real estatefirm Today Homes Noida Ltdon a petition filed by a groupof homebuyers.

A two-member NCLTbench, headed by PresidentJustice M M Kumar, hasappointed an interim resolu-tion professional (IRP) to takeover the management of thecompany.

There are many companiesin Delhi-NCR which are facinginsolvency proceedings, includ-ing Jaypee Infratech, because ofdefault to home buyers andbankers.

The tribunal rejected thesubmission of the real estatefirm that it has got four-yearextension from UP Real EstateRegulation Authority (RERA)to complete the project, sayingthat Insolvency and BankruptcyCode (IBC) overrides provi-sions under the realty law.

Today Homes Noida Ltdhad contended that UP-RERAhas extended its timeline till

June, 2021 to complete theRidge Residency housing pro-ject in sector 135, Noida.

Observing that there is“overwhelming evidence toprove default” against the com-pany, the tribunal directed theerstwhile promoters, directorsand employees of TodayHomes Noida to “provide everyassistance and cooperation” toIRP in managing the affairs ofthe company.

The National CompanyLaw Tribunal (NCLT) alsogranted it protection from thelenders by prohibiting them torecover the amount for a cer-tain period. The tribunal ordercame over a batch of petitionsfiled by home buyers of the realestate firms, who are now afinancial creditor of the com-pany following amendments inthe IBC.

The petitioners hadentered into home buyingagreement with the firm onMarch 29, 2012 and had paidalmost 90 per cent of theiramount for flat in the RidgeResidency Housing Project,sector 135, Noida.

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The Central VigilanceCommission (CVC) has

constituted Advisory Boardfor Banking Frauds (ABBF)headed by former VigilanceCommissioner T M Bhasin toexamine bank fraud over Rs 50crore and recommend action.

The panel in its previousavatar called the AdvisoryBoard on Bank, Commercialand Financial Frauds.

The ABBF, formed in con-sultation with the RBI, wouldfunction as the first level ofexamination of all large fraudcases before recommenda-tions or references are made tothe investigative agencies bythe respective public sectorbanks (PSBs), CVC said in anorder.

The four-member board’sjurisdiction would be confinedto those cases involving thelevel of officers of GeneralManager and above in the PSBin respect of an allegation of afraud in a borrowal account, itsaid.

Lenders would refer alllarge fraud cases above Rs 50crore to the board and onreceipt of its recommendationor advice, the bank concernedwould take further action insuch matter, it said.

“Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) may alsorefer any case or matter to theboard where it has any issue ordifficulty or in technical mat-

ters with the PSB concerned,”it said.

Other members of thepanel are Madhusudan Prasad- former Urban DevelopmentSecretary, D K Pathak - formerDirector General of the BorderSecurity Force and Suresh NPatel - former MD and CEO ofAndhra Bank.

The tenure of theChairman and members wouldbe for a period of two yearsfrom August 21, 2019, theorder said.

It further said the boardwill also periodically carry outfrauds analysis in the financialsystem and give inputs for pol-icy formulation related to thefraud to the RBI.

Headquartered in Delhi,the Reserve Bank of India willprovide required secretarialservices, logistic and analytical

support along with the neces-sary funding to the board.

In a bid to check such inci-dences, the government hasalready issued the ‘frameworkfor timely detection, reporting,and investigation relating tolarge-value bank frauds’ toPSBs, which makes it clearthat all accounts exceeding Rs50 crore, if classified as an NPA,should be examined by banksfrom the angle of possiblefraud, and a report be placedbefore the bank’s Committeefor Review of NPAs based onthe findings of the investiga-tion.

Besides, the PSBs havebeen advised to obtain a certi-fied copy of the passport of pro-moters/directors and otherauthorised signatories of com-panies taking loan facilities ofmore than Rs 50 crore.

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Th eGovernment

will soon con-sider a proposalof relaxing rulesfor complyingwith the manda-tory 30 per centlocal sourcingnorms by foreignsingle brandretailers, officialsources said.

As per the proposal, single-brand retail firms would alsobe permitted to open onlinestores before setting up brick-and-mortar shops.

Currently, online sale by asingle-brand retail player isallowed only after opening ofphysical outlet.

Relaxations are expected ina provision where foreign retailtraders are presently allowed toadjust procurement of goodsfrom India for their globaloperations for meeting themandatory local sourcingrequirement.

However, “incremental”sourcing of goods from Indiais only taken into accountpresently, and it will be allowedonly for five years.

“Amendments and easingare also likely in this provision,”the sources said.

The move comes in thebackdrop of announcements

made by the Government inthe Budget.

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman in her Budgetspeech had said that localsourcing norms will be easedfor FDI in single brand retailsector.

In January 2018, the gov-ernment allowed 100 per centFDI in the sector, permittingforeign players in single-brandretail trade to set up ownshops in India without gov-ernment approval.

In February 2006, the gov-ernment for the first timeopened the sector for foreignplayers by allowing 51 percent FDI.

In January 2012, the capwas raised to 100 per cent - upto 49 per cent through auto-matic route and beyond thatwith the Government approval.

During April-September2018-19, FDI in India declinedby 11 per cent to $22.66 billion.

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Industry body CII on Sundaysaid the multi-sectoral and

multi-dimensional policy stim-ulus announced last week willhave significant impact,imparting stability and under-pinning a new growth impetusfor India.

CII said the measuresannounced come at a timewhen the world economy isbuffeted by global headwindsand trade slowdown.

“Coming in the wake ofseveral retaliatory and counter-retaliatory trade measuresbetween the two largest globaltrading nations, the economicpackage announced by NirmalaSitharaman, Minister ofFinance and Corporate Affairs,on Friday imparts stability andunderpins a new growth impe-tus for India,” it added.

“It is indeed commendablethat all these multi-sectoralsteps were carried out withoutpressure on the fiscal deficit.With her six-dimensionalannouncement, FM has indeedhit a sixer out of the grounds,”he added. The industry bodysaid it expects that the econo-my will climb up in the com-ing months.

New Delhi: Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) isplanning to continue to sell diesel models in thecountry even as prices of such vehicles areexpected to go up significantly with the upcom-ing BS-VI emission norms from April 1 nextyear, a top company official has said.

“We still see demand for diesel variants, andwill continue to manufacture them till we havethe future technology setting in,” TKM Vice-Chairman Shekar Viswanathan told PTI.

The company has even invested in a plantin India to make diesel engines which is capa-ble of manufacturing diesel BS-VI engines withminimum investment, he added.

This was done keeping in mind the ‘Makein India’ philosophy, Viswanathan said.

TKM sells popular models such as InnovaCrysta and Fortuner in the country and basedon its total vehicle sales from January to July2019, the current diesel-petrol ratio is 82:18.

However, considering only the passenger carsegment, the petrol-diesel ratio is close to50:50.

With diesel cars set to become costlier fromnext year with the implementation of stricter BS-VI emission norms, major automakers are con-templating about the future of such vehicles intheir portfolios.

Market leader Maruti Suzuki India hasalready announced phasing out of diesel carsfrom its portfolio with effect from next year.

Similarly, Tata Motors is also contemplatingphasing out small diesel cars.

The company, which is a joint venturebetween the Japanese auto major and Kirloskargroup, said it has the technologies in place forvarious kind of electric vehicles (EV) which itcan introduce depending upon the marketrequirements. PTI

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Bajaj Finance Limited, a Non-BankingFinance Company (NBFC) and a lending

arm of Bajaj Finserv group offers personal loanwith Flexi Loan Feature for salaried customers.Under this facility, the entire loan amount isdisbursed to the customer’s account and areprovided with a facility of multiple part pay-ment and withdrawals. Customers can part payand withdraw from the loan amount as pertheir convenience and pay interest only on theloan amount utilized. A Flexi personal loan canbe used by the customers to meet their imme-diate cash requirements for a variety of pur-poses such as taking a vacation, paying forhigher education, planning a wedding, med-ical emergency, home renovation, and a vastarray of other requirements.

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Cranberries in India are quickly gaining pop-ularity as three leading Delhi ice cream

brands have updated their menus to includethe superfruit. Giani’s, Emoi, and Kulfianolaunched a range of cranberry ice creams dur-ing the US Cranberry Ice Cream Carnival, andthanks to their popularity, have converted themost popular items to permanent menu offer-ings. During the Ice Cream Carnival, NCR res-idents enjoyed cranberry flavored desserts suchas Cranberry Sorbet, Vanilla and CranberrySnowmen, Cranberry Cheesecake, and MalaiCranberry Kulfi. The 45-day event delightednearly 8 lakh people in and around Delhi city.Over half of the carnival participants said thatthey will begin to consume cranberries regu-larly for their great taste.

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Hong Kong: Hong Kongpolice used water cannon forthe first time on Sunday, rais-ing the stakes against protest-ers who have staged sometimesviolent rallies that have rockedthe city for the past threemonths.

Officers were also seenwith drawn sidearms as pro-testers clashed with police inthe district of Tsuen Wan aftera rally at a nearby sports sta-dium.

The financial hub has beengripped by mass rallies thatwere initially against a pro-posed extradition bill to China,but have spun into a wider pro-democracy movement target-ing the pro-Beijing govern-ment.

As thousands of peoplemarched in the pouring rain toTsuen Wan, a group of hard-core protesters erectedmakeshift roadblocks and dugup bricks from the pavements.

After firing tear gas in anattempt to disperse the crowds,police drove water cannonvehicles onto the streets,unfurling signs warning pro-testers they would deploy thejets if they did not leave.

The jets were later firedfrom the moving truckstowards a crowd of protesterswho ran away, but hardcoregroup of protesters later threw

bricks and Molotov cocktails inviolent confrontations withriot police.

There were no immediatereports of injuries.

Police had previously saidthe vehicles, complete withsurveillance cameras and mul-tiple spray nozzles, would onlybe used in the event of a"large-scale public distur-bance".

Throughout the protests,Beijing has used a mix ofintimidation, propaganda and

economic muscle to constrictthe protests in a strategydubbed "white terror" by themovement.

The MTR - the city's metro- is the latest Hong Kongenterprise to face public cen-sure, after appearing to bend toChinese state-media attacksaccusing the transport systemof being an "exclusive" serviceto ferry protesters to rallies.

On Sunday the MTR shutstations near the main demon-stration area in Tsuen Wan, in

the second day of station clo-sures in-a-row.

"However bleak our futureis, we're trying to express our-selves rationally," said Peter, inhis 20s, before the clashesbegan.

"We have faith in our-selves and we have faith in ourcity that some day ourdemands will be answered."

A second rally in the after-noon of a few hundred people- some of them family mem-bers of police - criticised the

government for leaving officersto handle the brunt of the cri-sis, while also calling for anindependent investigation intothe police handling of theprotests.

"I believe within these twomonths, police have gotenough opprobrium," said awoman who asked not to benamed and said she was apolice officer's wife.

The city's officers are oftenthe focus of protesters' angerbecause of their perceivedheavy handling of the rallies.

Ten people were left inhospital after Saturday's clash-es - two in a serious condition- staff said, without detailing ifthey were police or protesters.

On Saturday police baton-charged protesters and firedtear gas, while demonstratorsthrew rocks and bottles laterinto the night in a working-class neighbourhood.

Protesters say Hong Kong'sunique freedoms are in jeop-ardy as Beijing tightens itspolitical chokehold on thesemi-autonomous city.

The city had appeared tohave pulled back from a sharpnosedive into violence, withthe last serious confrontationtaking place more

than a week ago, shortlyafter protests paralysed theairport. AFP

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Biarritz: World leaders at the G7summit have agreed to help thecountries affected by the hugewildfires ravaging the Amazonrainforest as soon as possible ,French President EmmanuelMacron said Sunday.

"We are all agreed on help-ing those countries which havebeen hit by the fires as fast aspossible," he told journalists atthe summit in the southwesternFrench resort of Biarritz.

Ahead of the gathering,Macron called on world leadersto hold urgent talks on the wild-fires ripping through the world'slargest rainforest, pledging "con-crete measures" to tackle it.

The vast forest also takes inparts of eight other countries:Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador,French Guiana, Guyana, Peru,Suriname and Venezuela.

"This morning, Colombiacalled on the international com-munity (to help), so we musthelp out," he said.

"Our teams are making con-tact with all the Amazon coun-tries so we can finalise some veryconcrete commitments involv-ing technical resources andfunding." Macron's bid to putthe Amazon crisis high on theagenda at the G7 angered Brazil'sfar-right leader Jair Bolsonaro,who lashed out over what hesees as outside interference,denouncing the French leader's"colonialist mentality". AFP

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Vatican City: Pope Francis onSunday voiced concern for theAmazon rainforest, a "vital"lung for the planet, as theworst blazes in years havesparked a global outcry.

"We are concerned aboutthe vast fires that have devel-oped in the Amazon," the popetold the faithful at the Vatican.

"That forest lung is vital forour planet." He urged theworld's 1.3 billion Catholics topray for the fires to be extin-guished as quickly as possible.

Official figures show

78,383 forest fires have beenrecorded in Brazil this year, thehighest number of any yearsince 2013.

The Argentine pope, whowill gather bishops for a con-ference on the Amazon inOctober, met Brazilian indige-nous leader Raoni in 2013when he toured Europe warn-ing of the dangers of defor-estation. The pope denouncedthe exploitation of the Amazonby "huge international eco-nomic interests" in a 2015encyclical. AFP

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Seoul: North Korea said onSunday leader Kim Jong Unsupervised the test-firing of a"newly developed super-largemultiple rocket launcher,"another demonstration of itsexpanding weapons arsenalapparently aimed at increasingits leverage ahead of a possibleresumption of nuclear talkswith the US.

The North's KoreanCentral News Agency saidSaturday's weapons test wassuccessful and cited Kim as say-ing the rocket launcher is"indeed a great weapon."

Kim underscored the needto "continue to step up thedevelopment of Korean-stylestrategic and tactical weaponsfor resolutely frustrating theever-mounting military threatsand pressure offensive of thehostile forces," according to the

KCNA.The "hostile forces" likely

referred to the United Statesand South Korea, whoserecently ended regular militarydrills infuriated North Korea.

The North has called thedrills an invasion rehearsaland conducted a slew of mis-sile and rocket tests in response.

Some experts said North

Korea aims to show off itsweapons to try to get an upperhand ahead of a possible restartof nuclear negotiations, whichremain largely stalemated sincethe second summit betweenPresident Donald Trump andKim in Vietnam in Februaryfell apart due to squabblingover US-led sanctions on NorthKorea. AFP

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Biarritz: US President DonaldTrump on Sunday said he was"not happy" about NorthKorea's latest missile test butplayed down the seriousness ofthe incident.

"I'm not happy about it butthen again he's not in violationof the agreement," Trump toldreporters on the sidelines of the

G7 summit after North Korea'sKim Jong Un supervised thetest-firing of a "super-largemultiple rocket launcher".

Trump has staked enor-mous political capital on per-sonal diplomacy with Kim in aso-far unsuccessful effort to per-suade the dictator to give up hisnuclear weapons arsenal. AFP

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Biarritz (France): USPresident Donald Trump onSunday denied signing off ona joint G7 message to Iran overits nuclear programme asannounced by his Frenchcounterpart EmmanuelMacron.

"No I haven't discussedthat," Trump told reporterson the sidelines of the G7 sum-mit in the southwestern Frenchresort of Biarritz.

This contradicted Macronwho shortly beforehand hadsaid the G7 countries "agreedon what to say to Iran".

Trump said: "We'll do ourown outreach. But you can'tstop people from talking. Ifthey want to talk, they cantalk."

A landmark 2015 nucleardeal between Western powersand Iran all but collapsed afterTrump unilaterally withdrewUS support last year, reimpos-

ing sanctions that have crip-pled Iran's economy.

Macron has been leadingefforts to defuse the crisis byfinding ways of resuming dia-logue, meeting Iran's top diplo-mat Mohammad Javad Zariffor rare talks in Paris on Friday

on the eve of the summit.He has also held telephone

talks with President HassanRouhani on Sunday, a diplo-matic source said G7 leadershad mutually agreed to taskMacron with sending a mes-sage to Iran. AFP

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Biarritz (France): US PresidentDonald Trump on Sundaybacked British Prime MinisterBoris Johnson as the "rightman" for Brexit and sent mixedsignals about his trade war withChina at a G7 summit domi-nated by worries about theglobal economy.

Johnson and Trump wereon obviously friendly terms asthey sat down for a workingbreakfast in the southernFrench resort of Biarritz whereGroup of Seven leaders aregathering this weekend.

"He's going to be a fantas-tic prime minister," Trumpsaid in their first meeting sinceJohnson took office last month.

Asked what his advice was

for Brexit, Trump replied: "Heneeds no advice. He's the rightman for the job. I've been say-ing that for a long time."

In the lead-up to the talks,Johnson had appeared at painsto distance himself fromTrump after facing accusationsin the past of being too cosywith the American leader.

And at their meeting,Johnson again pressed a com-mon message from Europeanleaders at the summit aboutTrump's escalating trade warwith China.

"Just to register a faint,sheep-like note of our view onthe trade war — we are in favourof trade peace on the whole,"Johnson told Trump. AFP

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Tehran: Iran's Foreign MinisterMohammad Javad Zarif land-ed in the French seaside resortof Biarritz on Sunday for talksduring a G7 summit, aspokesman for his Ministrysaid.

"Zarif... Has arrived inBiarritz, where the G7 is beingheld, to continue talks regard-ing the recent measuresbetween the presidents of Iranand France," spokesman AbbasMousavi tweeted, referring to

their efforts to salvage a nucleardeal.

"There will be no meetingsor negotiations with theAmerican delegation duringthis trip," he added.

French PresidentEmmanuel Macron and hisIranian counterpart HassanRouhani have held a series ofphone calls in recent weeksaimed at de-escalating ten-sions between Tehran andWashington. AFP

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Kutupalong: Some 200,000Rohingya rallied in a Bangladeshrefugee camp to mark two yearssince they fled a violent crack-down by Myanmar forces, justdays after a second failed attemptto repatriate the refugees.

Around 740,000 Rohingyafrom Myanmar's Rakhine stateescaped in August 2017 duringthe brutal offensive, joininganother 200,000 who fled earli-er persecution in vast camps insoutheast Bangladesh.

Children, hijab-wearingwomen, and men in long-skirtlungis shouted "God is Great,Long Live Rohingya" as theymarched at the heart of theworld's largest refugee camp tocommemorate what theydescribed as "Genocide Day".

Under the scorching sun,

thousands joined in a popularsong with the lyrics "the worlddoes not listen to the woes ofRohingya".

"I have come here to seekjustice for the murder of my two

sons. I will continue to seek jus-tice till my last breath," 50-year-old Tayaba Khatun said as tearsrolled down her cheeks.

Myanmar had said theywere conducting counter-insur-

gency operations againstRohingya extremists after theyattacked police posts, but theUN last year called forMyanmar's top generals to beprosecuted for genocide over the

crisis. Rohingya leader MohibUllah said the stateless minori-ty wanted to return home, butonly after they were granted cit-izenship, their security wasensured and they were allowedto settle back in their villages.

"We have asked theBurmese government for dia-logue. But we haven't got anyresponse from them yet," Ullahtold the rally.

"We were beaten, killed andraped in Rakhine. But still thatis our home. And we want to goback." Police officer ZakirHassan told AFP some 200,000Rohingya took part in the peace-ful gathering.

Security has been tightacross Kutupalang camp, theworld's largest refugee settlementand home to more than 600,000

Rohingya."Hundreds of police, army

and border guards have beendeployed to prevent any vio-lence," local police chief AbulMonsur told AFP.

The rally came three daysafter the failed attempt to repa-triate the refugees, which sawnot a single Rohingya turn up toreturn across the border.

On Saturday, Bangladeshpolice said they shot dead tworefugees during a gunfight in acamp after the pair were accusedof killing a ruling party official.

The Rohingya are notrecognised as an official minor-ity by the Myanmar govern-ment, which considers themBengali interlopers despite manyfamilies having lived in thecountry for generations. AFP

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Beirut: Two Israeli dronescrashed in a Hezbollah strong-hold in the Lebanese capitalovernight, Lebanese andHezbollah officials said onSunday, saying the first fell onthe roof of a building housingthe group's media office whilethe second landed in a plotbehind it.

The spokesman for theIran-backed Hezbollah saidthe group did not fire on anyof the drones, which crashedamid heightened tensionsbetween neighbouring Israeland Iran and shortly afterIsraeli warplanes attacked tar-gets near the Syrian capital,Damascus.

Israeli aircraft continued toviolate Lebanese airspaceSunday, flying low over Beiruthours after the drones hadcrashed, raising fears of a widerconflict.

Hezbollah spokesmanMohammed Afif said a small,unmanned reconnaissancedrone fell on a building hous-ing Hezbollah's media office inthe Moawwad neighborhoodin Dahyeh, the group's strong-hold in southern Beirut.

He said a second drone,which appeared to have beensent by Israel to search for the

first one less than 45 minuteslater, exploded in the air andcrashed in an empty plot near-by, shattering windows in sur-rounding buildings. He said thesecond drone was likely armed,judging by the damage itcaused. AFP

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Beirut: Lebanon condemnedan Israeli "aggression" after twodrones Sunday targeted theBeirut stronghold of the Iran-backed Shiite group Hezbollah,warning of further regionaltensions.

Hezbollah, considered aterrorist organisation by Israeland the United States, is amajor political actor in Lebanonand a key backer of theDamascus regime in war-tornSyria. The early morning inci-dent in south Beirut camehours after Israel said it hadconducted air strikes in neigh-bouring Syria to prevent anIranian force from launching anattack on the Jewish state. AFP

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Tehran: A high-ranking Iranianofficial on Sunday deniedIranian positions had been hit byIsraeli air strikes near the Syriancapital overnight.

"This is a lie and it is nottrue," Mohsen Rezaie, the sec-retary of the ExpediencyCouncil, told ILNA news agencyin response to Israeli claims itsair force struck Iranian positionsin the war-torn country.

"Israel and America do nothave the power to attack variouscentres of Iran, while the advi-sory centres that we have, havenot been harmed," said Rezaie,a former commander of Iran'sRevolutionary Guards. "Actionstaken jointly by Israel andAmerica in Syria and Iraq areagainst international regulationsand defenders of Syria and Iraqwill soon respond to them." AFP

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Tehran: Iran has blacklistedUS-based think-tank theFoundation for Defense ofDemocracies and its chief MarkDubowitz on accusations ofbeing behind "economic ter-rorism" against the Islamicrepublic.

The Iranian ForeignMinistry said in a statementissued late Saturday that it had"added the so-called Foundationfor Defence of Democracies(FDD) and its director to thesanctions list".

"The American institutionwith the deceitful name" andDubowitz were accused of beinginvolved in "designing, impos-ing and intensifying the impactsof economic terrorism againstIran", it said.

The FDD and Dubowitzwere blamed for "seriously andactively trying to harm the

Iranian people's security andvital interests", according to theEnglish-language statementposted on the ministry's website.

They were accused of doingso through "fabricating andspreading lies, encouraging,providing consultations, lob-bying, and launching a smearcampaign" against Iran.

As a result, they would be"subject to legal consequences",it said.

The move would be "with-out prejudice to any further legalmeasures that the other admin-istrative, judicial or securityinstitutions and organisationsmay take" against them andtheir "collaborators and accom-plices". The FDD describes itselfas a Washington-based "non-partisan research institute focus-ing on national security and for-eign policy". AFP

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Automakers have introduced aflurry of new automotive

safety and convenience technol-ogy features the past few years.Close-to-new vehicles with thesefeatures are now increasinglyshowing up on dealership lots asused vehicles. The upshot: Youdon’t have to buy a new car to getmodern convenience and safetyfeatures.

Picking a used model comingoff a two- or three-year lease, inparticular, is an ideal opportuni-ty. Edmunds has identified sevendesirable technology and safetyfeatures to look for. We’ve alsoprovided example vehicles thathave that particular feature.

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driving on the highway easier byautomatically maintaining a safedistance between you and thevehicle in front. This featuredebuted on high-end luxury carsroughly two decades ago, and ithas now trickled down to lessexpensive vehicles. Adaptivecruise control is typically anoption on slightly used cars, andyou can find it on affordable vehi-cles such as the 2016 HondaCivic and 2016 Mazda 3.

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Apple CarPlay and AndroidAuto are two systems that allowyou to easily control some smart-phone apps through your vehicle’sinfotainment display. Doing socan add functions such as naviga-tion and streaming audio to avehicle that might not otherwise

have them. These systems helpreduce driver distraction as well.Manufacturers began offeringthese two systems in the 2016model year. However, AppleCarPlay and Android Auto can beadded to certain older models,including the 2014 Kia Soul and2015 Hyundai Sonata.

��D�� There are few things more

distracting at night than a carbehind you with overly brightheadlights. Auto-dimming mir-rors alleviate this problem bydarkening the surface of the mir-ror to eliminate the intensity andglare of the light. This feature isstandard on many lightly usedluxury cars, including theMercedes-Benz GLC SUV andLexus IS 300 sedan. It’s also wide-ly available on high-trim versionsof standard vehicles.

�� An automated parking system

takes the stress out of parking bycomputer-controlling most of theprocess. Not all systems are cre-ated equal, however, and theydon’t always offer both perpendic-ular and parallel parking. Someautomate acceleration and brak-ing, while others keep those func-tions under the driver’s control.

These systems are relatively new,but you can find them on slight-ly older luxury vehicles such as theBMW i3 or Jaguar XJ and wallet-friendly cars such as theVolkswagen Golf and FordEscape.

�� D�� A blind-spot monitor (BSM)

uses sensors to identify any vehi-cle that might be outside yourperipheral vision. A light on theoutside mirror or inside the carilluminates whenever a vehicle isin your blind spot. The systemalso sounds an alert if you activateyour turn signal when a vehicle isin your blind spot. BSM debutedon luxury and expensive versionsof non-luxury vehicles in the late2000s. Starting with the 2016model year, you’ll typically findBSM available on top trim levelsof non-luxury cars or as part of asafety package on luxury vehicles.

��Automakers are increasingly

swapping out traditional halogenheadlights for high-intensity dis-charge (HID, or xenon) and LEDheadlights. These new headlightsstarted to appear on high-end carsin the early 1990s, giving them anassociation with luxury that con-tinues to this day. Besides giving

a car an upscale appearance,these headlights typically providebetter road illumination. By 2016,a lot of non-luxury vehicles start-ed to offer HID and LED lights.The 2016 Toyota Corolla andToyota RAV4 are examples ofaffordable cars with standardLED lighting.

� ��Ventilated seats cool down

passengers by either blowing coldair on their backsides or suckingin hot air and dispersing it else-where. A few years ago it wasunusual to find this feature innon-luxury cars. High-trim ver-sions of Hyundai and Kia modelswere the exception — aventilated driver’s seat was option-al on the compact Kia Forte, forinstance. Seat ventilation is nowmuch more widely available,though this feature is typicallyreserved for the most expensivetrim levels.

Edmunds says, “If you wantmost of the safety and tech fea-tures offered on a new car but alsowant to save some money, a light-ly used vehicle might be the wayto go. In particular, vehicles com-ing off-lease cost a fraction of newmodels but have many of the samefeatures.”

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The experience of the runway waselevated further as it was embell-ished with flowers and mirrors. The

models sashayed down in a treasure troveof colours, ranging from ivory, ecru,champagne, sapling blue to emeraldgreen which set the mood for Day 4 ofthe Lakme Fashion Week.

It saw designers blending tradition-al weaves with modern techniques. Theshow commenced with designersAbhishek Sharma, Sunaina Khera andKshitij Jalori presenting their latest col-lections.

Sharma’s collection reminded one ofMithila paintings and drew inspirationfrom the “union of male and female formsin ancient Indian philosophy”. Thedesigner tried to draw a contrast betweensilhouettes, colours, textures and embroi-dery. Fabrics like chiffon, satin, organzaand handloom silks were used to createcrop tops, skirts, dresses, gowns and blaz-ers in colours, including off white, ivory,pastel shades of lavender. The use of glasspipes and cut work added surface textur-ing and intricate detailing to the collec-tion.

Designer Sunaina Khera’s collection,Dear Mom, was an ode to her motherwho she says is the “strongest female fig-ure in her life”. The collection sawSunaina incorporate all things dear to her,including motifs, colours and techniques.Channelising her emotions and life jour-ney through her design sensibilities andaesthetics, Sunaina created an eclectic

vocabulary of ensembles. The beautifulcuration of feminine motifs and silhou-ettes allowed the designer to use emotionas her design language.

The line-up was dominated by redand green colours and included shades ofpink, burgundy, beige and black, includ-ing motifs of lilies, roses and cherry blos-soms. There were intricately embell-ished sarees worn with straight kurtas, thebrand’s signature lehengas with hand-embroidered dupattas and dresses madeof fabrics like organza, tulles and crepes.

Jalori presented his collection whichhad contemporary, free-flowing silhou-ettes, including a breathtakingly beauti-ful black sequined saree paired with a

matching blouse and a plain silk lehen-ga, choli with embroidered dupattas inoff-white and ivory colours. A crop topwas paired with a pencil skirt while theskater dresses and sequined midi dress-es had flower motifs, surface texturingwhich made the collection ideal fortoday’s modern women who wants tolook for comfortable yet glamorous out-fits.

Further, Designer Gaurang launchedhis latest collection, Peshwai, inspired bythe grandeur of the Peshwas. The showsaw a line-up of ethnic wear that com-prised sarees, lehengas, cholis, dupattasand suits with motifs of birds, trees andflowers. For men, the collection had kur-

tas with dhotis, churidaar, dupattas andsherwanis. The collection also sawPersian designs and mosaics andranged from shades of pink, yellow,orange, red, golden and white.

Actresses Pooja Hegde, DianaPenty and Tara Sutaria walkedthe ramp. Pooja turned show-stopper for designer JayantiReddy’s collection, Benaresand Beyond, which drewinspiration from the oldcities, Kashi and Varanasi.Diana and Tara closed theshows for Riddhi Mehraand veteran Ritu Kumar.

Mohenjo Daro actressPooja wore a purplelehenga, choli with intri-cate mint green-coloured meenakaridetailing, and a con-trasting silver dupatta.She completed herlook with a glossymakeup and beachwavy hair. Them o d e l - t u r n e d -actress whoreturned to the run-way said her jour-ney from the rampto films and toramp again hadmade it a “fullcircle”. On herlook, she said, “I

would definitely choose a similar lookas it gives a modern twist to the tra-

ditional outfit.”Diana wore an ivory lehenga that

had a lot of surface texturing and pearlembellishment with a matching

blouse and dupatta for Mehra’s col-lection, An Ode to Heirlooms,

that saw a mix of ikat,bohemian and Kashmiri

prints with a contempo-rary touch. The rangewas inspired by rich

Kashmiri pashminashawls, Basra pearls, inher-

ited vintage jewels and hand-woven silk sarees. Dianasaid, “Walking for RidhiMehra was such a delight.Not only is she lovely, hercollection was so regaland elegant, it made mefeel every bit gorgeous.”

Tara Sutaria, whomade her Bollywooddebut with KaranJohar’s Student of theYear 2, walked theramp donning a boholook. She wore a slipdress with white, full-sleeved blouse, lay-ered with long tasslesand knee-lengthblack boots.

— With inputsfrom agencies

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Green activists of BrajMandal have demandedprotection of the original

Sri Krishna land, with man-groves, water bodies and theYamuna river restored, asdescribed in ancient texts.

The right bhakti and tributeto Sri Krishna would be to savenature, save the environment ofthe area and return to pre-devel-opment days, said local greenactivists who are alarmed by themad race for urbanisation.

The so-called ‘developmentlobby’ has created havoc in Brajarea by disturbing the ecologicalbalance.

“Now you see concrete struc-tures everywhere. The holy landwhich was once decorated witha cluster of trees, attracting a vari-ety of flora and fauna, is now cov-ered by ugly looking structuresand garbage heaps,” said JaganNath Poddar, Friends ofVrindavan convener, who hasbeen waging a relentless waragainst deceptive beautificationprojects by various governmentbodies.

The 84-kos, roughly 150kilometre area around Mathura,is described as Braj Mandal, theleela bhoomi of Sri Krishna. Eachyear millions of devotees from all

over visit Vrindavan, Goverdhan,Barsana, Gokul and other shrinesassociated with the Sri Krishna-Radha lore.

On Saturday, as lakhs ofdevotees line up for a darshan oflittle Sri Krishna in the templesof Mathura and Vrindavan on hisbirthday, nature lovers, riveractivists and heritage conserva-tionists have sounded an alarmover the frenetic pace of develop-ment that is eating up all thegreen spaces and gobbling upwater bodies.

Braj or Sri Krishna land, islosing its pristine glory and tran-quility, thanks to a spurt in con-struction activity and illegal sandand stone mining.

Once upon a time there usedto be more than a dozen denseforests from Vrindavan toAgravan, from Kaamvan toMahavan, Kokilavan to Kotvan.All have disappeared, only thenames remain to make way for‘demonic’ concrete structures ina most haphazard and out of syncwith local ambience manner, saylocals.

Acharya Sri Vats ji maharaj,Vrindavan’s eminent spiritualleader, rued that “Sri Krishna wasan environmentalist. He con-sumed Davanal to cool off heat,

eating mud he purified the soiland by killing the Kalia Naag, hepurified the Yamuna water.”

“Lord Krishna was an envi-ronmentalist. He was a protectorof hills, ponds, rivers, forests andanimal life. The mor pankh (pea-cock feather, tulsi, bansuri, lovefor cows, these are all manifes-tations of his bonding withnature. But his followers in theholy towns of Mathura,Vrindavan, Goverdhan are doingjust the opposite of what Krishnasymbolised,” lamented a SriKrishna bhakt Surendra Sharma,president of the Braj MandalHeritage Conservation Society,in Agra.

Along with physical assaults,there were attempts being made

to foist a spurious culture bytransforming an essentially reli-gious centre into a tourism hub.The intellectual, musical andemotional wealth of Braj is understress and on the verge of extinc-tion, say activists.

Music maestro Acharya TNJaimini said, “Haveli sangeetparampara of the Sri Krishnatemples appears to be alreadygone, replaced by a loud filmyCD culture. The lanes ofVrindavan no longer reverberatewith divine music, its all cacoph-ony at the loudest, shops sellingspurious music to lakhs oftourists.”

Vrindavan and Radha Kundare now attracting hordes offoreign devotees of Sri Krishna.

Locals feel that though theIskcon has been doing a splen-did job through its various socialwelfare projects, the white bhak-ts have also brought in a lot ofcultural change, not all good.

In Goverdhan, the 21 kmlong parikrama marg is not onlyheavily encroached upon butlarge scale construction hasdestroyed the original ambienceand nature. Fortunately, theNational Green Tribunal hasnow woken up to these threatsand is addressing the issuespromptly.

Environmentalists active inthe area point out that there weremore than a thousand waterbodies in the Braj area, now youcan count them on your fingertips. Most of them have beenencroached, others heavily silt-ed while a few others have beenreduced to waste water disposalholes.

With ongoing urbanisationand the influx from outside, thesensitive ecology of the area isunder threat. Effective pre-emp-tive steps to stal l furtherencroachment and safeguard thenatural assets are required topreserve the heritage values ofSri Krishna land, say activists.

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Pruning is one of the most funda-mental tasks in gardening, and

knowing when to trim is as essen-tial as knowing how. Pruning woodyplants at the wrong time can inter-rupt bloom cycles and damagestressed plants.

“It’s time to prune wheneveryour pruners are sharp” is an oldadage that applies only when remov-ing diseased, dead or dying branch-es — the “three D’s” of pruning thatcan be done at any time.

Otherwise, certain times of theyear are better for pruning than oth-ers, based on plant life cycles, saidRyan Pankau, an Extension horticul-turist with the University of Illinois.

“It’s pretty safe to say that mostwoody plants are best snipped inwinter, during their dormant peri-od,” Pankau said. “At other times ofthe year, such as leaf out, leaf dropor during flowering, pruning canhave a very negative impact on plant

health.”Plants expend a lot of energy

during those stages, and snippingcan place undue stress on trees andshrubs because it causes so much of

that vital energy to be lost, he said.Spring-flowering plants often

bloom on flower buds produced theprevious year. Pruning before springflowering removes many of those

buds, reducing the number ofblooms that would have emerged.Pruning them shortly after theyflower gives them time to regener-ate.

But If your plant is alreadystressed and it has to be cut, it maybe best to sacrifice some of the com-ing year’s flower buds and pruneduring winter, since snipping dur-ing dormancy has the least impacton plant health,” Pankau said.

Why prune at all? Many rea-sons. It eliminates the threat of prop-erty damage, controls plant growth,improves aesthetics, boosts cropyields, shapes and rejuvenates,reduces disease threats and preventsinsect infestations.

Deciduous trees should bepruned in the spring, before theyleaf, said Leonard Perry, Extensionprofessor emeritus with theUniversity of Vermont. Summer-flowering shrubs, like hydrangea,should be pruned in early springbefore they bud. Fruit trees shouldbe pruned in late winter whilethey’re still dormant but before thebuds begin to swell, Perry said.

Evergreen trees usually don’trequire pruning except for shaping.Pruning evergreen shrubs may berequired in mid-summer to keepvigorously growing plants at thedesired size, he said.

“Wait until after flowering or ifthe plant produces berries, after theberries fall,” Perry said in a factsheet.

Pruning is never the answer formaintaining a plant too large for itsspace, Pankau said.

“Consider the mature size of theplant before deciding where toplant it,” he said. “By selecting theright plant for the right place in yourlandscaping, you can avoid a lot ofmaintenance issues and you willhave a much healthier plant in thelong run.”

Disinfect pruning equipmentwith alcohol before using it onanother tree or shrub, Perry said.“Disinfecting tools helps reducethe spread of disease,” he said.

As a general rule, wound dress-ings or pruning paints are unneces-sary, said Bob Polomski, anExtension horticulturist withClemson University. He cited stud-ies showing “that these topicalapplications impair the naturalwound closing process,” Polomskisaid. “In some cases, these paintstrap moisture, which fosters fungalinfections.” I�

All of us have heard the mostfamous verse from chapter eightof the Bhagavad Gita, where God

says that he will appear on this earth dur-ing every age to protect the righteous, toannihilate the wicked and to re-establishthe principles of dharma. However, thequestion that one might raise here is thatwhen, in the history of this world, didthe Almighty perform thistask?

The words sambhavamiyuge yuge in the Gita has ledmost of us to believe thatGod’s descent takes place ineach of the four yugas orages in the cycle of time.Really? Well, after somereflection, it becomes clearthat this is not possiblebecause the time cyclebegins with the golden ageor the satyuga, when bothhuman souls and the elements of naturewere in their purest state. Humans at thattime were replete with divine virtues andfree of all vices, for which they are wor-shipped as deities even now. They wereblessed with health, wealth and happi-ness.

Evil did not exist in that age andhence every soul lived in a blissful statethrough the golden and silver ages, eventhough they lost some of their shine overthe time. Thus, it is obvious that therewas no need for God to intervene in thishappy state of affairs.

As we all know, humans call out toGod in times of sorrow and whenthings deteriorate beyond human toler-ance. So, God, the redeemer, rejuvena-tor and remover of sorrows, comes torestore peace and happiness in thisworld. Practically-speaking, God’sdescent is meant to remove human suf-fering and rejuvenate the world.

In the copper age, as humans cameincreasingly under the influence of

vices, their pain and suffering increasedand they lost the awareness that theywere souls and begin to identify them-selves with their bodies, which gave riseto lust, anger, greed and ego. As the cop-per age gave way to the iron age, thisprocess of degradation gathers pace,which would not have happened hadGod come to salvage humanity at the end

of the age. Finally, seeingthat his beloved children areunable to get out of the gripof vices and suffering, hecame to this world toremind them of their true,spiritual identity. God alsoreminded them about theirrelationship with him andhow they could regain theiroriginal, pure state by re-connecting with andremembering him. By thisremembrance, souls filled

themselves with power and virtues,gradually overcoming the influence ofvices. Those who made the effort to getcleansed in this way and attained a divinestatus became worthy of taking birth inthe golden age that dawned after the ironage. All others were also liberated fromsorrow in this process of change whenthe Almighty brought about the destruc-tion of all evil and paved the way for thegolden era.

So in the entire cycle of time, it wasonly at the end of the iron age that thismassive and positive process of worldtransformation took place and it couldonly be carried out by the Supreme.During the rest of the cycle, soulsunderwent a process of degradation —which was quite slow in the beginningand faster as time went by. Thus, it wasonly at the confluence of the iron andgolden ages, also called the sangambetween the kaliyuga and the satyuga,when God intervened, did his job oftransformation to start a new beginning.

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While a host of young rivals hope to dis-rupt the dominance of the “Big

Three” in men’s tennis, Novak Djokovic,Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer remain theUS Open favorites.

The year’s final Grand Slam showdownstarts today on the Flushing Meadows hard-courts with top-ranked Djokovic, 20-timeGrand Slam champion Federer and Spanishsuperstar Nadal having combined to win thepast 11 Grand Slam titles.

Federer, 38, doesn’t see a problemwith the dominance by the sport’s elderstatesmen, who together own 54 of the past65 Slam titles.

“I don’t think it’s a problem, per se,”Federer said. “Now that Novak, Rafa and meare healthy again, Andy (Murray) also slow-ly coming back again, has made it muchharder for young guys to come through.

“They are definitely knocking on thedoor big-time now. I think that’s veryencouraging for those who want to seesomebody else win. I think also Novak’sdomination, Rafa’s domination is also notnormal for the game of tennis.

“I think there’s going to be chancesmoving forward, but it’s not surprising withthe type of tennis they’ve been playing inrecent years.”

Third-seeded Federer also throws in achance for Swiss compatriot Stan Wawrinka,who like Britain’s injured Murray has wonthree Slam crowns during the “Big Three”reign, but figures a familiar face will be lift-ing the US Open trophy.

“Yeah, it seems like the same guys arethe favorites again this time around,”Federer said. “It will be a surprise if anybodyelse won.”

Defending champion Djokovic, seek-ing a 17th career Grand Slam title, has wonfour of the past five Slams, denied only byNadal’s French Open win in June. The 32-year-old Serbian says he has adjusted to theextra pressure of defending over the years.

“It’s a paramount challenge to defenda Grand Slam title,” he said. “These are thetournaments you want to win the most. Thisis where you want to shine.”

Nadal, 33, has made an impressive runwith titles at Rome, the French Open andMontreal and a Wimbledon semi-final lossto Federer.

But the second-ranked isn’t too excit-

ed over Federer and Djokovic both beingin the opposite half of the draw.

Russia’s Daniil Medvedev has enjoyeda stellar US Open run-up with a win atCincinnati and runner-up efforts atWashington and Montreal.

Austrian fourth seed Dominic Thiemlost to Nadal in the Roland Garros final andwill be a threat.

Germany’s sixth-ranked AlexanderZverev warns not to ignore other lowerseeds such as Japan’s seventh-seeded KeiNishikori, the 2014 US Open runner-up,and Greece’s eighth-ranked StefanosTsitsipas.

ANDERSON OUTTwo-time Grand Slam finalist Kevin

Anderson withdrew from the tournamenton Saturday due to a right knee injury.

The 33-year-old South African lost the2017 final at Flushing Meadows to RafaelNadal and finished runner-up to NovakDjokovic last year at Wimbledon.

Anderson’s place in the draw will go toItalian lucky loser Paolo Lorenzi, the USTennis Association announced.

World number 17 Anderson has notplayed since his third-round exit atWimbledon last month. Injury ruled himout of the recent hardcourt events atWashington, Montreal and Cincinnati.

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Serena Williams faces MariaSharapova in a blockbuster first-

round match today at the USOpen, the feature showdown onthe first day of the year’s finalGrand Slam tennis event.

Eighth-ranked Williams, wholost to Naomi Osaka in last year’sUS Open final and to SimonaHalep in last month’s Wimbledonfinal, is seeking her 24th careerGrand Slam singles title to matchMargaret Court’s all-time record.

The 37-year-old Americanowns a 19-2 record against Russia’s87th-ranked Sharapova and hasbeaten her 18 consecutive timesdating to 2005.

That lopsided rivalry, howev-er, has not prevented the matchupfrom being the talk of the tourna-ment since Thursday’s drawannouncement.

“Of course I’m going to watchit,” Osaka said. “I think everyonein New York is going to watch it.”

Williams owns a 3-1 recordover Sharapova in Grand Slammatchups, having lost their firstsuch meeting in 2004 atWimbledon, but this will mark thefirst time they have met in a USOpen.

Williams last won aGrand Slam at the 2017Australian Open,while pregnant.

F i v e - t i m eGrand Slam cham-pion Sharapova, 32, failed a drugtest at the 2016 Australian Openand served a one-year ban. The2006 US Open winner last won aSlam at the 2014 French Open. Shehas reached the fourth round at thepast two US Opens.

Other first-day matches inArthur Ashe Stadium send Swissthird seed Roger Federer againstIndia’s 190th-ranked Sumit Nagal,top-seeded defending championNovak Djokovic against Spain’s76th-ranked Roberto CarballesBaena and French Open champi-on Ashleigh Barty, the secondseed from Australia, against 77th-ranked Zarina Diyas ofKazakhstan.

Eighth-seeded Williams could

meet second-seeded French Openchampion Ashleigh Barty ofAustralia in the quarter-finals.

Barty, Osaka, Halep andCzech third seed KarolinaPliskova, seeking her firstSlam title, are among the

foes trying to deny Williamsyet again in a quest she insists does-n’t dominate her thoughts.

She has not played since retir-ing from the WTA Toronto finalwith back spasms, handingCanada’s Bianca Andreescu thetitle.

OSAKA ‘VERY CONFIDENT’Osaka won last year’s final after

Williams was given a game penal-ty by umpire Carlos Ramos, whoUS Open officials have decided willnot work on any match withSerena or Venus Williams at thisyear’s US Open.

This time, Osaka has had abetter run-up to the Open despitea first-round Wimbledon crashout.

“This year I went to two quar-ter-finals back to back and I feelvery confident about how I amright now.”

While it’s Osaka’s first timedefending a Slam, she had her firsttaste of defending a title this yearat Indian Wells.

Meanwhile, Halep, who hascrashed out of the US Open in thefirst round the past two years,enters with confidence after beat-ing Williams at Wimbledon.

“It cannot be worse than thelast two years, to lose in the firstround,” Halep said. “I’m reallygood. I’m feeling healthy. I’m feel-ing fresh.

“The pressure of doing some-thing special, it’s off. Now whatcomes, comes as a bonus. I’m stillworking, I’m still motivated to wintitles. I’ve started to feel more andmore that I’m capable to do that somy confidence is very high.”

Barty says “nothing has reallychanged for me” since her title atRoland Garros.

“I just come here to play anddo the best that I can,” Barty said.“I’m focused on my first round onMonday and that’s all I’m worriedabout for the moment.”

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Two-time silver medallist P VSindhu was left speechless afterher agonising wait for the elusive

gold finally ended with a maiden WorldChampionship title here on Sunday.

Sindhu became the first Indian towin World Championships Gold bythrashing familiar rival NozomiOkuhara of Japan 21-7, 21-7 in one ofthe most lop-sided finals ever.

Two years after being robbed of theGold by Okuhara in an epic 110-minute final that went down as one ofthe greatest battles in badminton histo-ry, Sindhu finally exorcised the ghost ofthat heart-wrenching loss with a dom-inating win over the same opponent.

“I am really very happy. I have wait-ed for this victory and finally I havebecome a world champion,” Sindhu toldreporters.

“I have no words to express, becauseI have been waiting for solong. Last time, it wasSilver, before that it wasSilver and finally I am aworld champion so I amreally really happy. I havebeen expecting this for avery long time. So I got it finally and Iwant to enjoy it, feel it.”

It was Sindhu’s fifth WorldChampionships medal — most by afemale singles player alongside formerOlympic and world champion ZhangNing of China — to go with the two suc-cessive silvers and a couple of Bronzemedals.

“This win makes it more specialbecause I am the first woman in Indiato win Gold and I would like to thankeverybody out there for their support,”she said.

Sindhu has also won an OlympicSilver in 2016 Rio Games, a Silver atGold Coast Commonwealth Games, anAsian Games Silver at Jakarta and theBWF World Tour Finals last year.

Sindhu credited her coaches for theperformance and dedicated the win toher mother P Vijaya.

“A lot of credit to my coaches, GopiSir and Kim (Ji Hyun) and also to myparents, my support staff and sponsorswho believed in me,” she said.

“I dedicate this win to my mom, itsher birthday today. I thought I will gifther something and finally I gift her thisgold medal. It is because of my parentsthat I am here today.”

As the Indian national anthemreverberated across the St Jakobshallestadium here, Sindhu stood at thepodium with moist eyes.

“It was really special when the flagwent up and national anthem wasplaying and I had goosebumps, I have

no words to express because you playfor your country and it is definitely aproud moment for me,” she said.

The Olympic Silver medallist saidshe approached the finals like anyother match and it took the pressure offher as she could produce her best.

“I think I just focused on mymatch and didn’t think it was a final. I

just thought it was just another matchlike I played the semifinals and quar-terfinals. I just went in that way and gavemy 100 percent.

“Winning and losing is secondarybut for me just going to the court andgiving my 100 percent is very impor-tant.”

Talking about the final, Sindhu said,

“Usually the Japanese girls play a lot ofrallies, so there were long rallies andthen I was dominating all of them andfrom the starting I maintained the leadand finished it off.

“I had to be alert on court. For me,I had to be prepared for everything,attack or defence. So not any particu-lar strategy against her. It is just that each

point mattered to me.“I was very confident even though

I was giving one or two points, then Iwas getting those points back andfinally I did it.”

Crestfallen after the devastating loss,Okuhara, the 2017 champion, said shejust couldn't match up to the pace ofSindhu.

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Sergio Aguero reached 400career goals as the

Manchester City striker inspiredthe champions’ 3-1 win atBournemouth, while Tottenhamsuffered a shock defeat againstNewcastle on Sunday.

With Premier League lead-ers Liverpool off to a perfect startwith three successive victories,City are already underpressure to keep pace.

Pep Guardiola’s sidedid just that thanks toAguero as City’s recordgoalscorer hit anothermilestone with a clinicaldouble in the south-coastsunshine.

Raheem Sterling wasalso on the scoresheet — mak-ing it six goals in four games thisterm for the England winger —as City’s second win of the sea-son lifted them to within twopoints of Liverpool.

It was a landmark day allround for City, with captainDavid Silva involved in all threeof the goals on his 400th appear-ance for the club.

“We felt Bournemouth’sphysicality, a nice three pointsand a big compliment to theplayers, a few things to improve,that’s good it’s happened whenwe are winning games,”Guardiola said.

“The quality of our players

in front made the difference andwe won the game.”

Guardiola was less enthusedby a VAR review that deniedCity a penalty when JeffersonLerma appeared to trip Silva.

City were last week leftfrustrated during a 2-2 drawwith Tottenham when a last-gasp goal from Gabriel Jesus wasdisallowed by VAR due to ahandball against Aymeric

Laporte.

RELIEF FOR BRUCEMeanwhile, Steve

Bruce silenced his criticsas Newcastle won 1-0 atTottenham to securetheir first points underthe new Magpies boss.

Since taking overfrom Rafael Benitez in theclose-season, Bruce had foundhimself under pressure after los-ing his first two games, withfans doubting his credentialsand former players claiming hissquad were uncertain about hismethods.

But Joelinton’s first goalfor Newcastle in the 27thminute gave Bruce somebreathing space for a few daysat least.

Davinson Sanchez wascaught playing the offside trap,allowing Brazilian forwardJoelinton to collected ChristianAtsu's inch-perfect ball andfire home.

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Every season of the Pro Kabaddi League is a rollercoaster ride and this season has not been any dif-

ferent for the Haryana Steelers. It has been an hon-our for me to lead an inspiring bunch of players onthe mat throughout the season so far. We were inmajor trouble when we lost three matches in a rowat the start of the tournament, but the way the sidehas fought back has been incredible. Grit and deter-mination is far more important than talent in sport

and the players in theHaryana team have showntheir mettle in this competi-tion. It was magnificent todefeat Patna Pirates,Bengaluru Bulls and UPYoddha in consecutivematches. The side gained a lotof confidence after triumph-ing in tough contests.

After performing well inthe first match against PuneriPaltan, we couldn’t play to ourpotential in the next three

matches. And then wechanged our strategy. Our fortunes changed fromthereon. We had issues in our defense unit. The coach-es and the team management thought about whichplayer will be most suitable in which position.Thereafter, we had our strategies in place for the raidersof the opposition team. The better the defense does,the better the team will perform.

Haryana’s raider Vikash Kandola has been a bigboost for the team. We missed him terribly in the firstthree matches. The team’s spirits were uplifted afterhis return. He has been in tremendous form and hewill continue to contribute to the side’s victories in theupcoming matches. Vikash has been our top raiderwith 58 points in 6 matches.

Along with Vikash, it has been brilliant to see theway our youngsters and especially Vinay (raider) per-form in this season. The 19-year-old Sunil has alsomade vital contributions for the team in the defenseset-up.

However, the Haryana Steelers’ main advantagethis season has been our coach Rakesh Kumar. Ourcoach is also young, who was playing until last year.He has a good knowledge about how much a certainplayer should practice and how far to push a certainathlete. He decides the amount of practice for eachplayer. Rakesh knows what is best for each athlete toperform at his best.

The Haryana Steelers are in a good position inthe standings, but we have to keep believing in our-selves to win games. The most important aspect in aleague format is momentum. Therefore, once we wina match, we should ensure that our performance does-n't drop in the next game. Mistakes happened, but theteam is prepared to correct each of its mistakes andmove forward in the tournament. The team dissectsits performance after each game to play even betterin the upcoming matches.

The team has put up a great performance in theseason so far. The management isn’t looking too farahead as yet. We are aiming to qualify for the knock-out stages at the moment and then we’ll think aboutthe semi-finals of the tournament.

(The writer is captain of Pro Kabaddi League side Haryana Steelers)

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Contrasting half-centuriesfrom BJ Watling and Colin

de Grandhomme helped NewZealand lead by 138 runs intheir first innings against SriLanka on day four of the rain-hit second Test on Sunday.

Only 48 of the scheduled98 overs were possible as NewZealand reached 382 for five atstumps. The tourists resumedthe day on 196-4. The first ses-sion was washed out by rainand a wet outfield at Colombo’sP Sara Oval.

De Grandhomme scored83 in an unbeaten 113-runstand for the sixth wicket withWatling, who finished the dayon 81.

Watling also played thesupporting role in an earlier

partnership of 143 with TomLatham, who hit 154.

Off-spinner DilruwanPerera broke the marathonstand after trapping Latham legbefore on a delivery thatpitched and hurried on to thebatsman’s pad.

Latham, who started theday on 111, registered his fifth150-plus score in Tests. Hiscareer-best 264 not out alsocame against Sri Lanka inWellington last year.

No 7 De Grandhommeattacked hitting the homebowlers around the ground,smashing five fours and fivesixes.

Watling, who started theday on 25, played a patientknock during his 208-ball stay.

Sri Lanka were withoutcaptain and opening batsman

Dimuth Karunaratne, whostrained a muscle of his left legand will be unable to bat untilthe fall of the fifth wicket, andwicketkeeper NiroshanDickwella.

Angelo Mathews is thestand-in-captain and substituteDinesh Chandimal is keepingwicket in the absence ofDickwella, who sustained a cuton the little finger of his left-hand on day three.

The Kane Williamson-ledNew Zealand will be lookingto bat only once and then lettheir pace duo of Tim Southeeand Trent Boult have a crackat the Sri Lankan batsmen ina bid to square the series.

Play will get under way at9:45 am (0415 GMT) today,the final day of the match,weather permitting.

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Ajinkya Rahane scored his first Testcentury in two years before India

blew away the West Indies top-order toclose in on a comfortable victory in thefirst Test, here on Sunday.

Rahane scored a patient 102-runknock but young batsman HanumaVihari (93) missed out on his maiden Testton by just seven runs as India declaredtheir second innings at 343 for seven toset West Indies a stiff 419-run target.

Rahane and Vihari raised a 135-runpartnership for the fifth wicket after Indialost skipper Virat Kohli (51) early dur-ing the fourth day’s play.

Jasprit Bumrah and Ishant Sharmathen blew away the West Indies top-orderto leave them gasping at 15 for five attea.

The hosts need 404more runs but even sur-viving the final sessionon the penultimateday will be a hugechallenge forthem.

B u m r a hand Ishantexposed thefeeble WestIndies’ battingline-up withtheir fieryspells asnone of thehome batsmencould reach dou-ble-digit.

B u m r a hremoved boththe openers —K r a i g gBrathwaite (1)

and John Campbell (7) — before rattlingthe timber of Darren Bravo (2).

Ishant too joined the party by gettingrid of Shamarh Brooks (2) and ShimronHetmyer (1).

Kohli’s scalp did not help WestIndies much as Rahane and Vihari grad-ually took the game away from the hostswith their confident yet contrasting bat-ting.

The moment Vihari miscued a pullwhich landed in the gloves of wicket-keeper Shai Hope, India declared theirsecond innings.

It was Rahane’s first Test hundredsince his 132 against Sri Lanka in August2017 while Vihari threw away a goldenopportunity to get his maiden hundred

in only his fifth match.R a h a n e ’ s

patient knockcame off 242balls with just

five shots to thefence but Vihari

paced his inningsnicely. The Hyderabadbatsman hit 10 foursand a six in his 128-ballknock with an impres-sive strike rate of 72.65.

However, in anattempt to get somequick runs, he pulledHolder but could not

connect theball andthe under-

edge waseasily taken by

Hope.Before that

Rahane too fell whiletrying to score quickly,getting caught by

Holder off Shannon Gabriel.Off-spinner Roston Chase (4/132)

was the most successful bowler for thehosts as he got rid of Rishabh Pant (7)after dismissing Kohli (51).

India lost Kohli in the opening ses-sion of the fourth day when his leadingedge off Chase flew to John Campbell,who took the catch on second attempt.

That ended the fourth-wicket part-nership between Kohli and Rahane thatyielded 106 runs for India.

The other overnight batsman Rahanewas joined by Vihari, who easily workedthe ball around in gaps to keep the score-board ticking.

As soon as the new ball was available,pacers Kemar Roach and Gabriel oper-ated in tandem but before that WestIndies part-timers had bowled 41 oversin this innings alone.

While Roach and Gabriel bowled a

few testing deliveries, it largely remainedan untroubled stay for both Rahane andVihari.

Opener Mayank Agarwal (16) wasthe first wicket to fall for India in the sec-ond innings, trapped by Chase in the 14thover although TV replays showed the ballwas missing the leg stump but the bats-man didn’t go for review on Saturday.

After Agarwal’s departure, KL Rahul(38) and Chesteshwar Pujara (25) added43 runs for the second wicket to takeIndia forward.

Before that, India bowled out WestIndies for 222 in 74.2 overs in their firstinnings in reply to 297 with IshantSharma returning with best figures of 5for 43.

Besides Ishant, Mohammed Shami(2/48) and left-arm spinner RavindraJadeja (2/64) scalped two wickets apiece.

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Ben Stokes was the hero yet again ashis incredible unbeaten centurysaw England to a thrilling one-

wicket win in the third Ashes Test atHeadingley on Sunday.

England — all out for a woeful 67 intheir first innings — were 286-9, stillneeding 73 more runs to reach a victo-ry target of 359 when bespectacled No11 Jack Leach walked out to bat to joinStokes at the crease.

Leach, however, held firm withWorld Cup final winning batting starStokes’ astonishing 135 not out seeingEngland complete their highest success-ful fourth innings chase as they squaredthe five-match series at 1-1.

“There’s nothing like being out therein the end and getting your team over theline. I didn’t get nervous till we neededsingle figures, I didn’t know what to dothen,” admitted Stokes.

Australia, who would have retainedthe Ashes had they won, missed a clearchance to run Leach out when NathanLyon failed to gather a throw and thenpaid dearly for squandering a review.

All-rounder Stokes eventually playedfast bowler Pat Cummins for four to seala famous victory arguably even more

improbable than England’s celebrated1981 Ashes Test success at Headingleywhen they won after following-on.

This was only the fourth time a teamhad made more than 300 to win in thefourth innings of a Test at Headingley.

“It was a very special feeling. Stokesywas unbelievable. It was like nothing I’veever seen before. And the crowd wasinsane,” admitted Leach.

Australia captain Tim Paine said: “It’shard to take, losing that from that posi-tion but you tip your hat sometimes.

“Ben Stokes played an unbelievableinnings and in the end he was too goodfor us.”

As Leach looked on, all-rounderStokes went into one-day mode by dri-ving off-spinner Lyon for two straightsixes and then produced a stunningreverse against him that sailed high overdeep point.

Stokes’s extravagant scooped six offCummins reduced the target to 40.

Despite Australia captain Tim Painehaving scattered all his fielders to theboundary, Stokes pulled Josh Hazlewoodfor four to complete a remarkable 199ball-century — his second in a row afterhis 115 not out in the drawn second Testat Lord’s — featuring eight fours and fivesixes.

Stokes then hoisted the next two ballsfor six.

He rode his luck when a sliced twooff Cummins was dropped by a divingMarcus Harris at third man.

Stokes, however, commandinglypulled and drove Cummins's next twoballs for for four to leave England justnine runs shy of victory.

RUN-OUT CHANCEBut a single left Leach on strike with

two balls left in the over.The first of those sailed over Leach’s

head and the next saw Australia waste areview for a ball that pitched outside legstump.

England now needed eight — or twoboundaries — as Stokes faced Leach.

The third ball of the over saw Stokes

drive Lyon for a six that just clearedMarnus Labuschagne at long-on andEngland needed two to win.

A colossal mix-up between Stokesand Leach should have seen the No 11run out but Lyon fumbled the return.

Lyon then had an lbw appeal againstStokes turned down by umpire JoelWilson only for replays to suggest itwould have been out.

But Australia had used up all theirreviews.

England still needed two to win butLeach, who made a career best 92 asnightwatchman in a recent Test win overIreland, was on strike to Cummins.

Leach though managed a singlethat tied the scores as he got off the markafter 59 minutes at the crease.

And Stokes then cut Cummins for

a boundary to seal an astounding tri-umph.

The left-handed batsman faced 219balls in total, with 11 fours and eight sixesin a superbly paced five-and-a-half hourinninngs.

It seemed England’s chances hadevaporated when they lost three wicketsfor just 16 runs after lunch to be reelingat 261-7.

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Steve Smith is set to make hisreturn to action in a tour match

against Derbyshire after the Australiastar batted against bowlers for the firsttime on Sunday since being con-cussed.

He is expected to return to actionin a three-day tour match at Derbystarting Thursday with a view to beingavailable for selection for the fourthTest at Old Trafford, Manchester, thatbegins on September 4.

“Steve Smith batted againstbowlers for the first time today(Sunday),” said an Australia teamspokesman.

“The session lasted 25 minutes.He also did some high intensity run-ning.”

The spokesman added: “He willcontinue to be assessed but is expect-ed to play in the tour match atDerby.”

Smith has made a spectacularreturn to Test cricket in what is theformer Australia captain’s first seriessince he completed a 12-month banfor his role in a ball-tampering scan-

dal in South Africa.He made 144 and 142 in

Australia’s 251-run win in the firstTest at Edgbaston and 92 at Lord’s,having retired hurt on 80 whenstruck on his unprotected neck byArcher.

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English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today News in … · 2019. 8. 25. · Amit Shah, Lok...

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