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News Brief

VOL. 53 * NO. 15* AHMEDABAD *THURSDAY 1/8/2019

People offer 'vavu bali,' a sacrificial ritual per-formed in memory of the departed souls of ances-tors, on the auspicious day of Karkidaka Vavu atShanghumugham beach at Thiruvananthapuramon Wednesday UNI.

Union Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change and Information& Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar launching the New Website, in New Delhi onWednesday. UNI

GOC Cross Swords Division Maj. Gen R Dewan paying tributes to martyred jawan at Akhnoor inJammu on Wednesday UNI.

SC asks Centre toconsider law toregulate Ola, Uber

New Delhi, The Supreme Court on

Wednesday asked the cen-tral government to considerbringing a law to regulatemobile app-based taxi ser-vice providers like Ola andUber to ensure safety andsecurity of women passen-gers. A bench headed byJustice S.A. Bobde alsoasked petitioner NipunSaxena to make representa-tion before the Ministry ofTransport and suggest lawson regulating the app-based aggregator services.

The court order camewhen it was informed by thepetitioner that there wereno laws to regulate theseservice providers.

The petitioner also toldthe court that the centralgovernment had framedguidelines and standardoperating procedures onrunning of a Crisis Centrebut the state governmentswere not complying.

Doctors from Punjab,Haryana joinnationwide strike

Chandigarh, Medical services were

affected in Punjab andHaryana on Wednesday af-ter doctors of state-run hos-pitals joined a day-longstrike called by the IndianMedical Association (IMA) toprotest against the NationalMedical Commission (NMC)Bill, 2019. The impact of thestrike was seen more in ru-ral areas of both the states.In urban areas, private doc-tors too joined the strike.

Medical services in theout-patient departments(OPDs) were severely af-fected due to the strike.

Patients and their atten-dants said they were madeto suffer due togovernment’s failure to re-solve the issue amicably.“Only the common man suf-fers because of the strike,”Ajaib Singh, a resident ofBathinda town in Punjabwho brought his father fortreatment here, said.

CPI-ML NewDemocracy rebelkilled in encounterin Telangana

Hyderabad, A member of left-wing

extremist outfit CPI-ML(New Democracy) was killedin an encounter with thepolice in Telangana’sBhadradri Kothagudem dis-trict on Wednesday.

The exchange of fire oc-curred in RollagaddaDevallagudem forest area inthe district, borderingChhattisgarh, police said.

The encounter tookplace during intensifiedsearch operations byTelangana police in view ofthe ongoing martyrs’ weekbeing observed by the CPI-M (Maoist). The police per-sonnel came face-to-facewith an armed squad of CPI-ML (New Democracy), asplinter group of Maoists.

Fresh supply ofInBev banned inDelhi

New Delhi, World’s leading brewer

Anheuser-Busch (AB) InBevis not allowed to bring innew stock to the nationalcapital. The Delhi Excise De-partment has banned thebrand after finding irregu-larities.

The ban was imposedlast week after certain ir-regularities were found bythe Department, an ExciseDepartment official toldIANS. “The fresh supply fromthe company has beenbanned. They are only al-lowed to sell the existingstock. The brand has filed anappeal against the order.The litigation is underway,”the official said.

The duration of the ban,the official said, will be de-cided when the appeal isfinalised.

Mumbai, On anticipated lines, the

beleaguered Maharashtraopposition Congress andNationalist Congress Party(NCP) lost four sitting legis-lators, one former minister, astate-level woman leaderand other activists whocrossed over to the rulingBharatiya Janata Party (BJP)here on Wednesday, partysources said.

Seven-time Congresslegislator Kalidas Kolambkar(Wadala in Mumbai), NCP’sSandeep Naik (Airoli),Vaibhav Pichad (Akole) andShivendra Raje Bhosale(Satara) had already quittheir parties and legislativeseats on Tuesday.

Another prominent en-trant was the state NCP’sformer Women’s Wing Presi-dent Chitra Wagh and NeetaHole, a descendent of thegreat social reformer Ma-hatma Jyotiba Phule, whojoined the BJP to a hugeround of applause.

NCP’s Navi Mumbai ex-Mayor Sagar Naik and re-tired IPS officer SahebraoPatil were other notableswho joined the BJP.

All the newcomers werewarmly welcomed to theparty fold by state BJP Presi-dent Chandrakant Patil and

Congress, NCP lose 4 MLAs, ex-Minister, woman leader to BJPChief Minister DevendraFadnavis, Mumbai BJP chiefM.P. Lodha, cabinet minis-ters and senior party leadersat a function here onWednesday morning.

Patil assured that all thenew entrants would begiven suitable roles befit-ting their stature in theparty as he hinted at morewalkovers from the Opposi-tion to the BJP before theAssembly elections to beheld in October.

Fadnavis said that nowthese “leaders are in theright party” and said thedoors of the BJP are alwaysopen to accommodatepeople from different par-ties.

The crossover of theseleaders took place a day be-fore Fadnavis before em-barks on his state-wide‘Mahajanadesh Yatra’ tokickstart the poll campaignfrom August 1.

However, senior NCPleader Ganesh Naik, aformer close confidante ofNCP President SharadPawar, did not show up onWednesday but he is ex-pected to join the BJP in afew days after a show ofstrength in Navi Mumbai.

The Naik family is con-sidered the most influential

in the satellite city on themainland and surroundings,and around 55 corporatorsfrom the Navi Mumbai Mu-nicipal Corporation havealso followed them to theBJP.

The senior Naik was for-merly with the Shiv Senaand had served in the firstsaffron government be-tween 1995-1999, and laterjoined the NCP, becoming aminister in successive gov-ernments till 2014.

On the other hand,Pichad is a prominent triballeader from Ahmednagar,again belonging to Pawar’sclose circle, while Bhosale, adescendent of ChhatrapatiShivaji Maharaj’s clan, enjoysconsiderable political cloutin Satara.

All the four legislatorswho joined the BJP onWednesday, were in contactwith Fadnavis for some time,besides other senior leaderslike state BJP PresidentChandrakant Patil, MinisterGirish Mahajan and UnionMinister Raosaheb Patil-Danve, before they took theplunge.

Last week, the ball wasset rolling when MumbaiNCP chief Sachin Ahir re-signed to join the ruling allyShiv Sena.

once the products werewithdrawn globally, howthey (medical device firms)could enter the Indian mar-ket? Number two, we don’thave a joint registry becauseof which these pharmacompanies which are sellingmedical devices in Indiawhich has a market only ofimplants of almost $500 mil-lion are escaping and evad-ing responsibility,” Sharmasaid.

He said the governmenthad appointed an expertscommittee which had rec-ommended Rs 20 lakh ascompensation for 4,000 pa-tients but J&J said only 66patients were identified andlocated in India. The com-pany, in a filing in the DelhiHigh Court, agreed to pay Rs25 lakh.

The Congress leaderstated that another com-mittee had recommendedRs 1.20 crore for each pa-tient.

“The governmentought to look at the regu-latory law in our countryincluding the joint registry.The Ministry of Health and(Family) Welfare issuedrules in 2017 on hip im-plants and other devices.My submission for the gov-ernment is to bring a law toregulate medical devices inIndia.”

The joint registry is ex-pected to track implantablemedical devices that couldpose health risks to patients.

“But because of weakregulations in India andflawed presentations whichwere made they were al-lowed to enter the Indianmarket and after that a largenumber of patients havesuffered,” he said.

—IANS

Faulty hip implants by Johnson& Johnson raised in RS

New Delhi, In a bid to rein in

pharma majors like Johnson& Johnson (J&J) for sellingfaulty implants in the coun-try, Congress leader AnandSharma on Wednesdayasked the government totighten regulatory norms.

Speaking in the RajyaSabha, Sharma noted that

J&J had in the US agreed topay over $1 billion as com-pensation but suggestedthat such medical devicefirms were escaping andevading responsibilities inIndia.

He wondered how someof the implants banned glo-bally were sold in India.

“My submission is that

Monday evening, police hadsaid, almost 24 hours afterhis driver raised an alarmabout the missing business-man.

Two days prior to his dis-appearance, the 60-year-oldhad left behind a note to hisemployees that revealed hewas in deep debt.

The mountain of debtwas impairing his businessas working capital require-ments could not be met. Itled him to sale his stakes inIT firm Mindtree that gavehim some room to manoeu-vre.

“I have failed to createthe right profitable businessmodel despite my best ef-forts. I would like to say Igave it my all. I am very sorryto let down all the peoplethat put their trust in me. I

Coffee baron’s mysterious disappearancecomes to an end, body found

Bengaluru,Almost 36 hours after

Cafe Coffee Day owner V.G.Siddhartha went missing,his body was found early onWednesday, police con-firmed.

A group of fishermenrecovered the body fromthe Netravathi river inKarnataka, at a distancefrom the bridge where thecoffee baron was last seenlate on Monday.

“Body of missing CCDfounder was found by twofishermen,” said Ullal Con-gress MLA U.T. Khader inMangaluru.

It was a fisherman onTuesday, who had claimedto have seen a man, likely tobe the CCD founder, jump-ing into the Netravathi riverfrom the same bridge on

fought for a long time buttoday I gave up as I couldnot take any more pres-sure...,” his note read.

In his desperation, hewas also reportedly in a dia-logue with global beveragemaker Coca-Cola for an eq-uity sale in flagship Cafe Cof-fee Day (CCD) at an enter-prise valuation of around Rs10,000 crore may have beenon the anvil.

In a complaint to thepolice, his driver, who lastsaw him alive, said thatSiddhartha told him to stopby the side soon as theydrove on to the bridge andasked him to wait in the carat the end of the bridge ashe wanted to walk up andhad to make calls.

“When the rain started, Itook a u-turn and drove

back to the spot where I leftSir and searched around forhim. As it was dark, windyand raining, I could not findhim anywhere on thebridge or in the river,” Patilsaid in the complaint.

Siddhartha leftBengaluru on Monday after-noon to Sakleshpur nearHassan where he has ahouse and one of his coffeeestates. As it was on way toMangaluru, he told Patil todrive towards Mangaluruafter a short break atSakleshpur to fresh-up.

Siddhartha is the elderson-in-law of senior BJPleader, S.M. Krishna, whowas External Affairs Ministerin the UPA-2 government(2009-12) and state ChiefMinister (1999-2004) whenin the Congress. —IANS

New Delhi, The CBI has filed a FIR

against BJP MLA KuldeepSingh Sengar, his brotherand nine others, includingthe kin of another UttarPradesh Minister, after aroad accident left a girl whohad accused the MLA ofrape in critical condition.

The Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) has alsoregistered FIR against 20other unknown persons.

The FIR against all ofthem has been filed undervarious sections of the In-dian Penal Code includingmurder, attempt to murder,criminal intimidation andcriminal conspiracy.

The MLA’s brother isManoj Singh Sengar.

CBI files FIR in accident, anotherUP Minister’s kin named

Others accused in theFIR are Vinod Misra, Hari PalSingh, Navin Singh, KomalSingh, Arun Singh,Gyanendra Singh and RinkuSingh and advocateAwadhesh Singh. They areall residents of Unnao,where the rape victimhailed from.

Accused Arun Singh isthe son-in-law of anotherMinister of State in UttarPradesh, Ranvendra PratapSingh aka Dhunni Bhaiyya.

He is the Minister ofState for Agriculture, Agri-culture Education and Re-search in the YogiAdityanath governmentand a BJP MLA fromHusainganj in Fatehpur.Arun Singh, close to

Kuldeep Sengar, is a blockpramukh from Nawabganjin Unnao.

Ram Singh, CBI’s Addi-tional Superintendent ofPolice in Lucknow, has beenasked to carry out the inves-tigation.

The CBI move comes af-ter the Centre on Tuesdayhanded over the probe intothe truck-car collision to theCBI. The accident has alsoleft the rape victim’s lawyerbattling for life.

On Sunday, the rape vic-tim, who had accusedKuldeep Sengar of rapingher in 2017, was travelling toRae Bareli with her lawyerand two relatives when atruck being driven on thewrong side hit them.

One of the dead womanwas a witness to the crime.

The truck that crashedinto the car in Rae Bareli be-longed to a SamajwadiParty leader from Fatehpur.

The CBI team has al-ready collected the relevantcase documents and otherdetails from the UttarPradesh Police and will startinvestigations by visitingthe crime scene.

An order from the De-partment of Personnel andTraining said the case wasbeing handed over to theagency to probe “abetmentand conspiracies” in the ac-cident.

Kuldeep Sengar hasbeen in jail since a FIR wasfiled against him. —IANS

investigation.A preliminary enquiry

against Justice Shukla wasordered by former Chief Jus-tice Deepak Misra after re-ceiving a complaint fromUttar Pradesh AdvocateGeneral Raghvendra Singh,alleging judicial misconductby Justice Shukla in Septem-ber 2017.

Then CJI Misra set up apanel comprising MadrasHigh Court Chief JusticeIndira Banerjee, then SikkimHigh Court Chief Justice S.K.Agnihotri and MadhyaPradesh High Court JusticeP.K. Jaiswal.

This panel investigatedthe allegation levelledagainst Justice Shukla andconcluded there was suffi-cient evidence to indicatehis involvement in the mat-ter.

The panel indicted himfor breaching the oath ofoffice. Then CJI Misra askedhim to resign or retire volun-tarily but Justice Shukla didnot budge.

Reportedly, Chief JusticeGogoi has written to the CBIDirector to convert the pre-liminary enquiry into a regu-lar case.

Justice Shukla had writ-ten to Gogoi requesting re-allocation of judicial work,which was withdrawn fromhim in January 2018 follow-ing his indictment by thepanel. Justice Shukla’s re-quest has been denied.

—IANS

Gogoi allows CBI to lodge caseagainst Allahabad HC judge

New Delhi, Chief Justice Ranjan

Gogoi has permitted theCentral Bureau of Investiga-tion (CBI) to register a caseagainst S.N. Shukla, a judgeof the Allahabad High Court,for his alleged role in amedical admission scam.

Justice Shukla has be-come the first sitting HighCourt judge to be investi-gated — after a gap ofnearly 28 years.

Justice Shukla has beenaccused of extendingfavours to a private medicalcollege by allowing it to ex-tend its deadline to admitstudents, which was consid-ered against the existingrules and a violation of theSupreme Court order.

In 1991, the top court, inthe case of K. Veeraswamy,did not allow any investigat-ing agency to register a FIRagainst any sitting SupremeCourt or High Court judgewithout sharing the infor-mation on the nature of evi-dence with the Chief Justice.

After this process, theinvestigating agency canseek permission to begin

New Delhi/Lucknow, The CBI has filed a FIR

against BJP MLA KuldeepSingh Sengar, his brotherand nine others, includingthe kin of an Uttar PradeshMinister, over the road-truckaccident that left an Unnaogirl who had accused theMLA of rape in a critical con-dition.

The Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) has alsoregistered a FIR against 20other unknown persons.

The FIR against all ofthem has been filed undervarious sections of the In-dian Penal Code includingmurder (302), attempt tomurder (307), criminal in-timidation (506) and crimi-nal conspiracy (120B).

The MLA’s brother isManoj Singh Sengar.

The others accused inthe FIR are Vinod Misra, HariPal Singh, Navin Singh,Komal Singh, Arun Singh,Gyanendra Singh and RinkuSingh and advocateAwadhesh Singh. They areall residents of Unnao,where the rape victim hailedfrom. Accused Arun Singh isthe son-in-law of anotherMinister of State in UttarPradesh, Ranvendra PratapSingh aka Dhunni Bhaiyya.

He is the Minister ofState for Agriculture, Agri-culture Education and Re-search in the YogiAdityanath governmentand a BJP MLA fromHusainganj in Fatehpur.

CBI files FIR, another UP Minister’skin named in Unnao case

Arun Singh, close toKuldeep Sengar, is a blockpramukh from Nawabganjin Unnao.

Ram Singh, CBI’s Addi-tional Superintendent ofPolice in Lucknow, has beenasked to carry out the inves-tigation. The CBI movecomes after the Centre onTuesday handed over theprobe into the truck-car col-lision to the CBI. The acci-dent has also left the rapevictim’s lawyer battling forlife. On Sunday, the rape vic-tim, who had accusedKuldeep Sengar of rapingher in 2017, was travelling toRae Bareli with her lawyerand two relatives when atruck being driven on thewrong side hit them.

One of the dead womanwas a witness to the crime.

The truck that crashedinto the car in Rae Bareli be-longed to a SamajwadiParty leader from Fatehpur.

The CBI team has al-ready collected the relevantcase documents and otherdetails from the UttarPradesh Police and will startinvestigations by visitingthe crime scene.

An order from the De-partment of Personnel andTraining said the case wasbeing handed over to theagency to probe “abetmentand conspiracies” in the ac-cident.

Kuldeep Sengar hasbeen in jail since a FIR wasfiled against him.

Ahmedabad, Page 2

EditorialFromEditor’sDesk

2 AHMEDABAD THURSDAY 1/8/2019

Ban or regulate?The recommendations of an inter-ministerial com-

mittee that India should ban all privatecryptocurrencies, that is, Bitcoin and others like it, hardlycomes as a surprise. Indian policymakers and adminis-trators have time and again made clear their distastefor them, their existence owed almost entirely to ad-vanced encryption technologies. In his Budget speechin 2018, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the Govern-ment doesn’t consider them legal tender. The ReserveBank Of India has repeatedly warned the public of therisks associated with dealing with cryptocurrencies.Bitcoin, the most prominent among them, has yoyoedwildly in value, even over short periods of time. A May2019 article by Bloomberg, citing data from block-chainanalysis firm Chainalysis, said “Speculation remainsBitcoin’s primary use case”. Its use in illegal on-line mar-ket places that deal with drugs and child pornographyis well-documented. There have been cases of consum-ers being defrauded, including in India. Given all this, itis understandable that the committee, under the chair-manship of Subhash Chandra Garg, the former Eco-nomic Affairs Secretary, has come across as being waryof private cryptocurrencies even while advocating acentral bank-issued cryptocurrency.

Governments and economic regulators across theworld are wary of private cryptocurrencies. As they needneither a central issuing authority nor a central validat-ing agency for transactions, these currencies can existand thrive outside the realm of authority and regula-tion. They are even deemed a threat to the official cur-rency and monetary system. The question then iswhether banning cryptocurrencies is the most effectiveway to respond. The inter-ministerial committee be-lieves it is, going so far as to draft a law that mandates afine and imprisonment of up to 10 years for the offencesof mining, generating, holding, selling, dealing in, trans-ferring, disposing of, or issuing cryptocurrencies. But sixof the seven jurisdictions that its report cites have notbanned cryptocurrencies outright. Many of them, in-cluding Canada, Thailand, Russia and Japan, seem, to bemoving on the path of regulation, so that transactionsare within the purview of anti-money laundering andprevention of terror laws. China, which India has takena cue from, has gone for an outright ban. Even there,the report says, “Owing to the network based nature ofcryptocurrencies, after banning domestic crypto ex-changes, many traders turned to overseas platforms tocontinue participating in crypto transactions.” Tradingin China is now low but not non-existent. But why wouldan outright ban a superior choice to regulation, espe-cially in a field driven by fast-paced technological inno-vations? The report, unfortunately, doesn’t clarify thatpoint.

U.S. President Donald Trump (C) participates in a signing ceremony for the"Permanent Authorization of the September 11th Victim Compensation FundAct" at the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, on July 29, 2019.U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday signed into law a bill that extends fund-ing for victims of the Sept. 11 terror attacks .

Aerial Silk Fantasy performs at the Bristol Renaissance Faire in Bristol, Wis-consin, the United States, July 28, 2019. The Renaissance Pleasure Faire opensSaturdays and Sundays from July 6 through Sept. 2, .

Opposition MPs of Samajwadi Party, DMK, TMC and Congress holding a dem-onstration in protest against the allegedly deteriorating law and order in UttarPradesh after recent incidents of a road accident of Unnao rape victim and thekilling of an ex-serviceman, in front of Mahatma Gandhi Statue at Parliamenthouse premises in New Delhi .

Gujarat expects decent rains afterlow atmospheric pressure in MP

Gandhinagar, Even though the rain

gods have made a late en-try into the parched lands ofGujarat, the state expectsdecent rainfall in the weekahead with a low pressuresystem being created inneighbouring MadhyaPradesh.

“In the next five days oreven a week, we expectgood rains. Due to the goodrains in South Gujarat, weare receiving 53,500 cusecof waters in Tapi river daily.Moreover, after heavy rainsin the catchment area in MP,we are receiving 9,500 cusecwaters in the Narmada riverdaily,” Relief CommissionerManoj Kothari said.

He added that, “Even inthe Saurashtra region, due

to rising water levels, wehave had to place somedams on high alert and onalert mode.”

Following the change inpressure and weather, aweather watch meeting washeld in Gandhinagar at theState Emergency Opera-tions Centre (SEOC). Accord-ing to the relief commis-sioner, after good rains dur-ing the last two days, sow-ing had been carried out in58 lakh hectares of land,which is 68 per cent of thetotal cultivable land in thestate.

“Like every year, we havereceived good rainfall inSouth Gujarat in July. Apartfrom the National DisasterResponse Force (NDRF)teams, we have also alertedthe local administration inareas prone to heavy rain-fall,” Kothari said.

In all, 15 NDRF teams

have been deployed in vari-ous parts of the state. Threeteams have been deployedat Vadodara, while one eachin Navsari, Valsad, Olpad,Upleta, Rajkot, Gir-Somnath,Patan, Aravalli, Palanpur, Bujand Dahod. One team hasbeen kept reserved atGandhinagar. The ReliefCommissioner also re-viewed the relief works car-ried out in Vav and Tharadtehsils of Banaskantha dis-trict in North Gujarat.

“Heavy to very heavyrains in South Gujarat andmore rains in various partsof the state are expected tillAugust 4 following lowpressure created in easternMP. Heavy rainfall is also ex-pected in many Saurashtraregions like Dwarka,Jamnagar and Kutch,” ac-cording to Jayant Sarkar, In-dian MeteorologicalDepartment’s Gujarat head.Slum kids spread word about gender sensitisation

By Ayushree Nandan

New Delhi,The scorching sun

pushed its way throughPrahladpur, a low-incomecommunity in Delhi knownfor its festive market. Closeto a man frying pipingsamosas in a wok, many kidsdecorate the walls of ahouse with origami butter-flies. Dubbed Khoj Basti byits patrons, its a learningspace founded three yearsago by a social worker at agovernment school inPrahladpur. Since then, it hasbeen maintained by the stu-dents of the school. At a cor-ner, Nandini Kumari, an 11thgrader, sits in a room full ofteenage girls.“What is theworst possible name youhave seen people use for awoman?” she asks the gath-ering at the beginning ofthe session. There is confu-sion on the faces of thosepresent.

With a population ofover 47,000, Prahladpur issurrounded by Lakkarpur

and Lal Kuan. Locals and mi-grants rub shoulders withjeach other. There are widestreets and efficient trans-port connectivity. But,Prahladpur also struggleswith innumerable socialchallenges. “Girls are oftenvictims of restrictions,stigma and are never con-sidered to have an opinion,”says Varsha Rani, 16, a resi-dent. She claims everywoman faces sexism butwhat women face dependson how developed an areais.

Santosh Jadon, a resi-dent and a shopkeeper, says,“A girl returning home lateis usually frowned upon. Butthese [gender biases] arenormal because they hap-pen everywhere.” Nandinifeels “Bollywood culture” hasled to the present situation.She started Nazariya, mean-ing viewpoint, in 2018 to un-derstand the unexploredperspectives of biases andraise awareness about theinequalities of society. Apartfrom conducting awareness

campaigns for the commu-nity, Nazariya also conductsself-help workshops for thegirls.Jyoti Singh Chauhan, a15-year-old resident of LalKuan, believes voices can beexpressed in many forms. In2018, Jyoti started Gurukul,which is an initiative to letevery child express them-selves through art, dance,theatre, music and poetry.

She mentioned that shehad the opportunity tostudy in an English-mediumschool but there are manywho can’t. She also addedthat they might not be ableto pay for learning extracur-ricular activities. She re-vealed that Gurukul ismeant to cater to kids fromall types of schools andbridge the inequality, whichhas been created by choicesof education.

“Gurukul is for every-body. Every child deservesto find their voice,” addedJyoti. With gradual supportreceived from peers to buildteams, today, both Jyoti andNandini impact close to 300

kids, of which 98 per cent aregirls. Many girls considerGurukul a platform to ques-tion and express, claimedJyoti. Whether it’s weeklyvocational sessions led byGurukul or Nazariya’s aware-ness campaigns, Khoj Bastiis the roof that sheltersthestories.Anchal Tiwari, astudent of class eight, islearning music at Gurukul.She credits the project forher confidence as she canexpress her feelings herewithout any judgement.While she always liked writ-ing poems, 13-year oldArpita Tiwari felt more vali-dated about her habit ofpenning down her feelingsafter attending reflectionsessions at Nazariya. Shefeels her poem, Pyaar (love),is a milestone in her protestagainst the communalmindset that dismisses agirl’s feelings related to af-fection and fondness.

Nandini mentioned thatmembers of Nazariya arenow conducting surveys inPrahladpur on gender gapsand their solutions. They arealso slated to conduct one-day workshops in differentschools of New Delhi withthe help of an NGO. Nazariyaalso has a YouTube channelwhere upload content rel-evant to sensitisation to-wards marginalised com-munities.

Love, elopement, marriage,attempt to kill all in 3 months

Bareilly (UttarPradesh),

A girl from Tinsukia inAssam and her husbandwere found lying uncon-scious along railway tracksin Uttar Pradesh’s Fatehganj( West), police said onWednesday.

Police said the couplewere admitted to the emer-gency ward of the districthospital.

The girl, Baby, 18, allegedthat her husband Hira, 25, aresident of Moradabad, hadthrown her off a speedingtrain on Tuesday evening,and then jumped off it him-self, according to the police.

She told the police, “Iused to receive calls from anunknown number foraround three months. Even-tually, I started talking to the

caller Hira and then fell inlove with him. We then de-cided to get married. On July26, Hira reached Tinsukiaand I eloped with him. Wereached Patna the next day,stayed in a hotel for twodays and got married in atemple on July 29.”

Baby said that theyboarded a Moradabad-bound train on Tuesday. Thetrain had just crossedBareilly when Hira threw heroff. Hira was not in a condi-tion to narrate his side of thestory, but Baby insisted shehad been thrown off therunning train, after whichher husband followed vol-untarily.

She also said her father,Upendra Ram, was an em-ployee of Tinsukia munici-pality.

RSS to open army schoolin name of Rajju Bhaiyya

Bulandshahr (UttarPradesh),

The RashtriyaSwayamsewak Sangh (RSS)plans to set up an Armyschool next year in thememory of its former chiefRajendra Singh or RajjuBhaiyya.

To be called ‘Rajju BhaiyaSainik Vidya Mandir’, theschool will be set up inShikarpur tehsil ofBulandshahr district, wherethe former RSS sarsanghchalak was born in 1922.

The school will be run byVidya Bharti, the educationwing of the RSS, and will of-fer defence training to

students.The RSS Armyschool will follow the Cen-tral Board of Secondary Edu-cation (CBSE) curriculumand will have students fromClass 6 to Class 12. Theclasses are set to begin fromApril 2020 and its first batchis expected to comprise 160students.

Vidya Bharti alreadyruns over 20,000 schoolsacross India.

The construction of theresidential school for boyshas already begun on the 8acre land donated by ex-Army man ChaudharyRajpal Singh.

According to reports,the three-storey buildingwill have a hostel, quartersfor staff, a dispensary and astadium.

Samajwadi Party (SP)President Akhilesh Yadav

has questioned the need ofopening another armyschool.

“The project is likely toentail an expenditure of Rs40 crore. We already havefive military schools in thecountry, of which two are inRajasthan, two in Karnatakaand one in HimachalPradesh. There is also aSainik school in Lucknowand one each in Jhansi,Amethi and Mainpuri. Theseinstitutions are run by thegovernment so where is theneed for RSS to run its ownarmy school,” he said.

Yadav said that the RSSapparently wanted to serveits political purpose byopening the army schoolwhere the students will“probably be taught lessonsin mob lynching and dis-rupting social harmony”.

Yogi transfers 26 IAS officers in UPLucknow,

The Uttar Pradesh gov-ernment has transferred 26IAS officers, including Princi-pal Secretary (Home) ArvindKumar.

Late on Tuesday, ArvindKumar was transferred tothe Transport Departmentand

Additional Chief Secre-tary (Information) AwanishAwasthi was given addi-tional charge of the HomeDepartment.

Awasthi is now the Ad-ditional Chief Secretary ofInformation, Religious

Works, Home, Intelligence,Visa, Passport, Jail Adminis-tration and Reforms andVigilance Department. Healso continues to hold thepost of Chief Executive Of-fice (CEO) of Uttar PradeshExpressways Industrial De-velopment Authority(UPEIDA) and Uttar PradeshState Highways Authority(UPSHA) .

However, he has beenrelieved from the posts ofAdditional Chief SecretaryTourism Department andthe Managing Director (MD)of Uttar Pradesh Tourism.

Overseas laws, triggering of GAARroadblock in conversion for FPIs: Experts

By Ravi Dutta Mishra

Mumbai, The increase in sur-

charge on super-rich pro-posed in the Union Budget,a negative for most ForeignPortfolio Investors (FPIs)elicited a sharply adversereaction from the markets.

While Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman on July18 ruled out any chance ofa roll-back, she offered theconversion to corporatefrom trust structure as a so-lution in the face of heavycriticism over taxing a key-driver of stocks markets.

Tax experts, however,say that the process of con-version has several compli-cations. One, they areguided under foreign juris-diction which differs fromcountry to country and sec-ond, the conversion couldtrigger General Anti Avoid-ance Rules (GAAR), resultingin nullifying any benefitfrom the conversion.

General Anti AvoidanceRules (GAAR) allows tax of-ficials to deny tax benefits, ifa deal is found without anycommercial purpose otherthan tax avoidance.

“The procedure toswitch to corporate’s fromtrusts is governed by over-seas laws because all theseFPIs have been structuredunder their home jurisdic-tion laws where they are in-corporated,” said Amit

Singhania, Partner, ShardulAmarchand Mangaldas toldIANS.

Singhania furtheradded: “However, if FPIsswitch to corporate struc-ture then tax authoritiescould apply General AntiAvoidance provisions to nul-lify the benefit of the pri-mary purpose of shifting tocorporate structure in orderto avoid higher surcharge.”

“The conversion wontbe a simple trick and mayconsume some time, had itbeen simple people wouldhave converted but wehaven’t heard such news,”he added.

On the basis of countryof incorporation, as on

March 31,2019 a total of9,390 FPIs were registered inIndia from 59 differentcountries with a total Assetunder custody (AUC )of Rs33,42,680 crore, SEBI datashows.

Based on the country ofincorporation, the numberof FPIs registered was thehighest from USA (3,204),followed by Luxembourg(1,080), Canada (651), Ire-land (589) and Ireland (589).

In terms of AUC as well,FPIs from the USA had themaximum AUC (Rs10,93,734 crore) followed byMauritius (Rs 4,58,183 crore),Luxembourg (Rs 3,26,064crore) and Singapore (Rs3,10,179 crore).

RIP Siddhartha: CCDoutlets shut for a day

Bengaluru, The popular retail chain

Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) de-cided to shut shop onWednesday across thecountry in memory of itsfounder-chairman V.G.Siddharatha, who died inKarnataka under mysteriouscondition, a companysource said.

“All our 1,750 retail out-lets in about 240 cities willremain shut for the day as amark of respect to ourf o u n d e r - c h a i r m a n

Siddhartha who is no more,”the source told IANS here.

The decision came justhours after Siddhartha’sbody was fished out of theNetravathi river on the westcoast earlier in the day.

“A holiday has also beendeclared for the workersand employees of all coffeeestates in the three coffeedistricts of Chikkamagaluru,Hassan and Kodugu in thesouthern state due to thesudden death of coffee kingSiddhartha.,”

80-year-old woman toget flood compensation

Ahmedabad,It took two years and the

intervention of the Gujarathigh court for the stateGovernment’s compensa-tion to reach 80-year-oldShanta Koli, for the loss shesuffered due to her field be-ing washed away during the2017 floods in Banaskanthadistrict. It was not that theGovernment did not makethe payment of Rs 60,000 tothe octogenarian fromBhadra village near Deesatown. The money was re-leased in time, but had beeninadvertently deposited insome other bank account.

Koli has an account withthe Dena Gujarat GraminBank in Deesa. Instead oftransferring the money toher account No.736510003745, it was trans-ferred to account No.736510008050. IN Decem-ber 2017, the old womanwrote to tall the concernedauthorities as well as to thebank pointing out to themistake, but nobody seemedto be concerned.

She filed a petition in thehigh court through advocateNishith Joshi and urged thecourt’s to intervene and se-cure her compensation.

When the high court in-quired, it was surprised tolearn that all the authoritiesincluding the bank, knewabout the mistake that de-prived Koli of the money.Thestate government told theHC that the director of agri-culture had written a letterpointing out the mistakeand the bank officials alsoknew about the problem.The HC said, “All the authori-ties have admitted thatthere was a mistake, in trans-ferring the compensation tothe wrong account number,but till date, corrective ac-tion has not been taken. Thepetitioner, who is an 80-year-old woman is now thereforeleft without compensationsince 2017.” Justice A Y Kogjelast week ordered the stateGovernment to transfer themoney to Koli’s account intwo weeks. The high courtalso ordered the bank au-thorities to initiate action torecover the amount fromthe person in whose ac-count it had been wronglytransferred.During the 2017monsoon, the state Govern-ment had announced a Rs1,500-crore relief packagefor flood-affected people innorth Gujarat.

High court stays arrest inDisturbed Areas Act FIR

Ahmedabad,The Gujarat high court

on Monday stayed the arrestof 12 persons against whomPaldi police had registeredan FIR for violation of theDisturbed Areas Act, in thecontroversial Varsha Flatcase.After telling the copsnot to take coercive actionagainst the 12 petitionersand the secretary of theJankalyan CooperativeHousing Society Ltd, JusticeS H Vora issued notice to thestate Government andsought its reply over a peti-tion seeking quashing ofthe FUR. The case pertainsto the sale and purchase ofproperties in Varsha Flats.

The Gujarat Prohibitionof Transfer of ImmovableProperty and Provision forProtection of Tenants fromEviction from Premises inDisturbed Areas Act, 1991,prohibits a person from

buying property belongingto a person of another reli-gion in areas notified underthe Act.The petitioners sub-mitted that due to the di-lapidated condition of thebuilding, the civic body hadissued a notice to it. Theresidents decided to rede-velop the society. The newconstruction had 32 extraflats, over the 24 originalones. Those who becamemembers of the housing so-ciety were allowed to buythe flats. They argued thatthere was ambiguity overwhether Varsha Flats fell ina notified disturbed area.

However, of the 56transactions, prior permis-sion was not obtained in 13cases. It was also submittedthat the process to obtainpermission from the districtcollector was initiated, andthe issue had even reachedthe high court.

Facebook AR device to letyou type with your mind

San Francisco, Facebook is developing

a brain-computer Aug-mented Reality (AR) inter-face device that would helpusers type with their mind.

At its F8 Developers’Conference in 2017, thecompany announced itsBrain-Computer Interface(BCI) programme — outlin-ing its goal to build a non-invasive, wearable devicethat lets people type by sim-ply imagining themselvestalking.Facebook is support-ing a team of researchers atUniversity of California, SanFrancisco (UCSF) who areworking to help patientswith neurological damagespeak again by detecting in-tended speech from brainactivity in real time.

In a paper appeared inthe journal Nature Commu-nications, the UCSF team“has shared how far wehave to go to achieve fullynon-invasive BCI as a poten-tial input solution for ARglasses”, said Facebook in ablog post on Tuesday.

The UCSF team hasbeen able to decode a smallset of full, spoken words andphrases from brain activityin real time — a first in thefield of BCI research.

The researchersemphasise that their algo-rithm is so far only capableof recognising a small set ofwords and phrases, but on-going work aims to trans-late much larger vocabular-ies with dramatically lowererror rates.

“The promise of AR liesin its ability to seamlesslyconnect people to the worldthat surrounds them and toeach other. Rather thanlooking down at a phonescreen or breaking out alaptop, we can maintain eyecontact and retrieve usefulinformation and contextwithout ever missing abeat,” Facebook added.AsChief Scientist MichaelAbrash and the team atFacebook Reality Labs (FRL)see it, “we are standing onthe edge of the next greatwave in human-orientedcomputing, one in whichthe combined technologiesof AR and VR converge andrevolutionise how we inter-act with the world aroundus”.“

Ahmedabad, Page 3

A H M E D A B A D * M A R K E T * G U I D E

In the news 3AHMEDABAD THURSDAY 1/8/2019

Heavy shelling underway at Karnah sector of Kupwara in Jammu and Kash-mir. Reportedly worst since the last 15 years.

Security officials examine the plane crash site on the outskirts of Rawalpindi,Pakistan on July 30, 2019. A trainer plane of Pakistani army crashed at a residen-tial area on early Tuesday morning in Pakistan's eastern district of Rawalpindi,killing at least 12 persons and leaving 10 others injured, local media and militarysaid.

Fifth or sixth floor?Dispute over origin of fire

Ahmedabad,A team consisting of po-

lice, the fire brigade and fo-rensic experts visited the EBlock of Ganesh Genesis onMonday and inspected thefifth and sixth floors. Theentire building block hasbeen vacated after a majorfire broke-out on July 26,which killed a 50-year-oldwoman and left a dozen-odd persons in hospital dueto burns and smoke inhala-tion.

Sources privy to the de-velopment said the secondvisit was made after resi-dents of the fifth and sixthfloor submitted applicationsto investigators. While onefamily on the fifth floorclaims that the fire startedon the sixth floor and thencame to the fifth floor, thebrother of woman who diedsent an applications to thepolice commissioner claim-ing that there were chemi-cal containers in the resi-dence and there was a blastin an airconditioning unit.

“AS thorough investiga-tion was carried out on July

27, but the team was sent tothe spot after these claimswere made. While it’s pre-mature to comment on thecause of the fire, out investi-gation pointed to the originof the fire being on the fifthfloor and there was no ex-plosion outside the houseor presence of the chemi-cals alleged. A report fromthe electricity company isawaited, which will shedlight on the electricity loadof the apartment in ques-tion,” said a senior city po-lice official;.

Residents of the E Blockhave already requested in-vestigators to expedite theprocedure so they can moveback in.

“Some of them told usthat they want to be backwithin a fortnight, as theycannot stay at otherpeople’s homes for long andwant to return. We are try-ing our best,” an official said.Electricity and water con-nections to the block havebeen cut off and some fami-lies have temporarily beenallotted vacant flats.

Mastermind of ATM theftsnabbed, 11 cases detected

Rajkot,In a major breakthrough,

Kutch police arrested mas-termind of a gang special-ized in bank ATM thefts fromJodhpur in Rajasthan. Thegang was invovled in asmany as 11 ATM theft casesacross Gujarat.

After receiving a tip-offthat the key accused,Hasamdeen Khan (46), washiding in Malar village ofFalodi taluka in Jodhpur,Kutch police officials wentthere and nabbed him onSunday.It is reported thatKhan confessed of commit-ting 11 ATM thefts inGandhidham, Rajkot,Ahmedabad, Vadodara,Panchmahal, Surat andBharuch.Khan led a team of10 gang members whosemodus operandi was tosearch for ATMs on Googlemap. After zeroing on thetarget, they would take out

their pick-up van and put itinside a truck of Haryanapassing to avoid toll boothsand to camouflage cops sothat the van could not betracked. the ATM with a gascutter and steal the cash.Thereafter, they would putthe van back in the truckand take the van out onlyafter reaching five to 10kmfrom the crime spot,” saidParikshita Rathod, superin-tendent of police, Kutch(East).

With the arrest of themastermind of this gang,police would be able tocrack ATM loot cases atPadana in Gandhidham andVarsana in Anjar police said.

Mewat gang is aHaryana-based gang, Gangmembers keep theircellphones switched offwhile committing the crimeso that their locations couldnot be traced.

New Delhi,Payoneer,global cross-

border B2B digital pay-ments provider, which hasbeen empowering busi-nesses around the world togrow globallyconductedtoday the 3rdedition of Payoneer Forum -the biggest sellerevent inIndia exclusively focused oncross-border eCommercecommunity in Ahmedabad.

In addition to hostingsome of the world’s largestdigital marketplaces, over5000 local businessestookpart in the event, whichspans India’s largest techhubs. It was also announcedduring the event thatPayoneer has partneredwith PayTabs, a paymentsprocessing company whichwill bring a seamless way tocollect and move the pay-ments for Indian serviceproviders selling goods be-yond India.

With more than 30,000sellers in India including2000+ from onlyGujarat,Payoneer has part-ners with DHL, ICICI BANK,IndusInd and many othersto help and build an ecosys-tem for Indian sellers andhas also built services forsellers like TAX.

With India becoming a

India’s biggestcross border e-commerce seller event by Payoneer

major e-commerce hub, the3rd edition of Payoneer Fo-rum will be hosted in fourcities: Delhi, Jaipur,Ahmedabad and Mumbai.The forum saw speaker par-ticipation from global mar-ketplaces like Amazon,Shopify, eBay, GoogleExpressand service Provid-ers like DHL andHyperSKUamong others. The forumalso hostedindustry expertsfrom banks like ICICI Bank,IndusInd Bank, DeutscheBank and Citi Bank whospoke on digital banking ini-tiatives for SMB’s.

This edition of thePayoneer forum is aimed atproviding value for bothnew and existing cross-bor-der sellers. The event willfeature three themes:“Payoneer Pathshala” will aidthousands of e-sellers tolaunch, manage and growtheir business at a globalscale. “Payoneer Parichay”will feature sessions whereparticipants can speed datewith curated service provid-ers and meet the market-place domain experts. Fi-nally, “Payoneer Pratiyogita”seeks to fuel the passionwithin sellers.

Commenting on the an-nouncement, Mr. RohitKulkarni, Country Manager,Payoneer India noted, “This

year’s Forum has beencrafted after detailed re-search on what the commu-nity wants. With thesethemes, we hope the eventwill be as informational as itis exciting for the sellers.

Our mission is to sup-port businesses to grow in-ternationally. We are proudto be a partner for Indianbusinesses as they seek togo beyond borders.”

Unnao rape case:Survivor’s aunt crematedamid security

Unnao, The mortal remains of

Pushpa Singh, aunt of theUnnao rape survivor, wereconsigned to flames at MisraGhat on Wednesday by herhusband Mahesh Singh. Thelast rites were conductedamidst tight security and inthe presence of district offi-cials. Mahesh Singh, who islodged in Rae Bareli jail, per-formed the last rites. Hisone-day parole ends at 6p.m. on Wednesday.

The rape survivor andher lawyer, Mahendra Singh,were critically injured in thesame accident and are un-dergoing treatment at theTrauma Centre of KindGeorge’s Medical University(KGMU).

Mumbai,TCI Express Ltd. (“TCI Ex-

press”), market leader in ex-press distribution in India,today announced its finan-cial results for the quarterended on June 30, 2019.

Performance Highlights:Q1 FY2020 vs. Q1 FY2019

* Revenue from op-erations of Rs. 256 Crores inQ1 FY2020 from Rs. 248Crores in Q1 FY2019, growthof 3.5%

* EBITDA of Rs. 30Crores in Q1 FY2020 from Rs.27 Crores in Q1 FY2019,growth of 9.8%

* PAT of Rs. 18 Croresin Q1 FY2020 from Rs. 16Crores in Q1 FY2019, growthof 14.2%

Commenting on theperformance, Mr. ChanderAgarwal, Managing Director,said: “I am pleased to reportthat despite a subdued eco-nomic environment, TCI Ex-press has delivered a resil-ient performance. DuringQ1 FY2020, Revenue fromoperations increased by3.5% to Rs. 256 crores com-pared to Q1 FY2019. TheCompany delivered an

TCI Express Resilient Financial Performancewith 3.5% Revenue and 14.2% PAT

EBITDA of Rs. 29.6 crores andmargins expanded by 67bps to 11.6% during thesame period. Profit after taxof Rs. 18.4 crores in Q1FY2020, represented an in-crease of 14.2 % on Y-o-Ybasis.

The revenue growth wasdriven by an increase in cus-tomers from the Small andMedium Enterprises (SME)sector. The margin improve-ment was attributable tooperational efficiency andbetter working capital man-agement.

In line with our long-term strategic objective, weare investing in our sortingcenters. Approval for Puneand Gurgaon sorting cen-ters are in place, the con-struction is expected to becompleted by the end of thefiscal year and operationswill commence from thebeginning of FY2021. Wehave incurred capex of Rs. 2crores during the quarterand reduce our target to Rs.60 crores from earlier Rs. 80crores for the full year. Thecapex will be incurred pri-marily for automation at our

sorting center and will resultin improving turnaroundtime, overall efficiency, en-hanced profitability in thelong run. The Company con-tinues to strengthen its bal-ance sheet and has repaidits entire debt.

FY2020 started on amixed note with major eco-nomic indicators remainingmuted for the quarter. How-ever, with the return ofstable government at thecenter and specific policyinitiatives for the logisticsindustry, we anticipate theindustry to benefit from theeconomic revival post-elec-tion and budget. TCI Expresscontinues to benefit from itsdiversified client base ofSMEs and Corporates,strong partnership arrange-ment with Vendors and useof advanced business intel-ligence tools. We will con-tinue to leverage our posi-tion to utilize and grow onthe back of upcoming op-portunities with our assetlight model, customized so-lution offerings and supe-rior customer support ser-vices.

Ahmedabad, Page 4

City-State4 AHMEDABAD THURSDAY 1/8/2019

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP Na-tional Working President J P Nadda and other party MPs at the BJP Parliamen-tary Party meeting at Balayogi Aditorium in Parliament house, in New DElhi

Water level in Sardar Sarovar touches121.98m

Bharuch,The water level in Sardar Sarovar Dam over

Narmada river at Kevadia Colony in Narmada districtreached 121.98 metre mark by 8pm on Friday. This isfirst time in this monsoon that the water level hastouched this mark, which happens to be old heightof the dam before additional gates were installed afew years ago.M U Dalvani, dy engineer, SSNNL saidthis is due to heavy rainfall in catchment area ofNarmada river. Of five turbines of its two power plants,three have generated 2,367 mw electricity, sourcessaid.

Man on police van : Probe orderedRajkot,

A Tik Tok video showing a man sitting on the bon-net of a police control room (PCR) van being drivenin circles has baffled the Rajkot police.

“We have called up the PCR van driver for ques-tioning to ascertain the identity of the person sittingon the bonnet,” said N K Jadeja, inspector with RajkotA division police station.“”Once we question thedriver, we will also be able to find out the person whohad allegedly shot and uploaded the video on thesocial media,” added Jdeja.

Rajkot commissioner of police Manoj Agrawaltold : “The person seen in the video was formallyworking in traffic brigade. However, now he is notwith the department, but the vehicle belongs to usand the driver is our staffer. We will not tolerate thiskind of indiscipline. The government vehicle can’tbe used like this.I’ve asked the DCP to investigate, andwe will take a strict action against all the three people-- the driver, the person who is sitting on the bonnet,and the person who shot this ideo.”

Talati booked for wife’s suicideAhmedabad,

Chandkheda police on Sunday booked HiteshRaval, 27, a talati in Sanand, for abetting his wife’ssuicide. Raval is a resident of Shrifal Residency inChandkheda.The victim has been identified asBhavna Raval, a native of Surat. Bhavna had on Satur-day afternoon hanged herself to death at her in-laws’home in Chandkheda.

Police had first registered a case of accidentaldeath. After an inquiry, Raval was booked forabetment.Bhavna’s father, Kishor Bavaji, a retiredbank employee, stated in his FIR filed withChandkheda police that Bhavna had married Rawalon March 8. The FIR said that soon after marriage,Raval and his family members started torturing herfor money.The FIR said that Raval used to harassBhavna, demanding Rs 6 lakh from her to buy a newhouse. Recently, Bhavna had told her family membersthat she had been beaten by Raval.On Saturday af-ternoon, Bavaji came to know that Bhavna had com-mitted suicide. As police did not book her husband,the family protested. Police have sent Bhavna’s bodyfor postmortem.

WRO: 3 teams from city to representIndia

Three teams -- Dynamic Transporters, SmartTransporters and Hi-Tech Transporters consisting ofKrish Shah, Arnav Gandhi, Yuvraj Patel, Ishaan Parikh,Aashman Patel, Aman Palkhiwala, Shanjay Munshi,Aarush Patwari and Agatsya Patel from Schools in-cluding AIS, Udgam School and Eklavya School -- willrepresent India at World Robot Olympiad (WRO) tobe held in Denmark on August 1 to 4. The teamswould compete against children from across theglobe for the top laurels for applying robotics for is-sue of public transport. The teams were selected onthe basis of their performance on the preliminaryrounds.

GMB cancels Nargol port contract ofCargo Motors

Gandhinagar,Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) has cancelled the

contact of Cargo Motors Ltd for development ofgreenfield port of Nargol in Valsad district, as thecompany failed to develop the port in the stipulatedseven-year period. GMB intends to invite fresh bidsshortly.After the bidding in 2012, a consortium ofCargo Motors Ltd and Amarillis Limited was grantedthe letter of intent (LoI) by the Gujarat Governmentto construct the port at an estimated project cost ofRs 4,100 crore. The deadline for providing detailedproject report (DPR), environmental clearance andfinancial closure was extended until December 2017.In the meantime, Amarillis Ltd, the technical partnerin the project, withdrew itself from the greenfieldport development project, official said.

An official of the Government said, “According tothe LoI, Cargo Motors was required to submit a DPRwithin 12 months from the LoI. As per the last exten-sion accorded by the state Government, the com-pany had to submit DPR, obtain environment clear-ance and achieve financial closure on or before 31December 2017.”

BJP councillor thrashed for trying tostop savage b’day bash

Rajkot,A BJP lawmaker in Junagadh Municipal Corpora-

tion (JMC) fell victim to the utter lawlessness prevail-ing in the city Rajesh Dhuleshiya, who was electedfrom ward 5 in the recently held civic polls, wasthrashed by a group of seven youngsters who werecreating nuisance on a road while celebrating a birth-day party.

The seven were reportedly drunk and all of themhad removed their shirts on the road near AkkarBuilding on Jhanjharda Road. They were screamingat the top of their voices and using abusive languageat each other, disturbing the people in the vicinity. Alocal resident called up Dhuleshiya and sought hishelp. The councillor reached here and asked themto stop the nuisance. However, this enraged the ac-cused who started beating him with bats. They alsokicked him savagely.

DGP bans ‘indecorous’ videos ofcops

Ahmedabad,Police personnel in the state have been warned

against uploading indecorous videos of themselveswhether on duty or off -- particularly on TikTok andsimilar apps -- by means of a circular issued on Mon-day by Gujarat DGP Shivanand Jha.The circular statesthat the rules mandate complete honesty and dedi-cation from police personnel and government per-sonnel should not “behave in a manner unbecom-ing of a government servant”. The circular states thatvideos of police personnel swaying to Bollywoodtunes and acting out Bollywood dialogues, whichwent viral on social media, had attracted criticism forthe department and besmirched the image of a dis-ciplined force.The circular states, “It is mandatory forofficers and personnel to maintain proper disciplinein the force according to Gujarat Police Act, evenwhen not on duty. I have directed all police commis-sioners and district police chiefs to convey to theirsubordinates to stay away from any sort of behaviour,whether on duty or off duty, which could harm theimage of the police department.”

Diamond City witnessed oneblaze daily in last five years

Surat,In the past five years,

between 2014 and 2019, theworld’s fastest growing cityhas been reporting at leastone fire almost everyday.However, an apathetic ad-ministration took no inter-est in finding out whatsparked these sporadicblazes ill it all snowballedinto the massive tragedy onMay 24 that shook not onlythe city, but an entire nation.Twenty-two young liveswere snuffed out in min-utes, thanks to abject hu-man callousness at theTakshashila Arcade inferno.

Prior to this, anothershort circuit had led to a firein Aagam Arcade in Vesu inwhich two lives were lost inNovember 2018, but Suratwas yet to wake up to theenormity of a possiblehavoc then. Incidentally, inboth incidents the powerwas supplied by DakshinGujarat Vij Company Lim-ited (DGVCL).

Following the repetitivefire incidents from short cir-cuits, police sought detailsof fire incidents in the cityfrom Surat Fire and Emer-gency Services (SFES) onSurat Municipal Corporation

(SMC). As per the data com-piled by SFES, total 2,625cases of fire were reporteddue to short circuit in thecity since 2014. Of thesecases, 1,582 cases have beenreported in areas whereDGVCL supplies powerwhile 1,033 cases have beenreported in areas where Tor-rent power supplies electric-ity.

DGVCL supplies powerto over 10 lakh customersacross the city. As perDGVCL records only 54 inci-dents of fire have been re-ported due to short-circuit,of which, 17 are due to faultin supplier’s network. While37 incidents were reportedto be short-circuit its at thecustomer’s end.

Of the 54 fire incidentscaused by short-circuits, 5cases have been reported ofoverloading, while in 49short-circuits happeneddue to other reasons.

“The instances of fireregistered by SFES are toohigh compared to our dataand we are trying to collectdetails from the depart-ment,” said a DGVCL official.

“In majority of the casesthe short circuit taskedplace in the premises of the

customers. We create aware-ness and carry out regularmaintenance of our net-work to prevent such cases,”said a senior DGVCL officer.

“Fire department con-tacts electricity companyconcerned as soon as wereceive call of fire. Then af-ter examining we inform thesuppler about the exactcause,

hence we are maintain-ing accurate data based onfindings of our team,” saidVasant Pareek, chief fire of-ficer, SFES.

Torrent Power supplieselectricity to 6.14 lakh cus-tomers and as per theirrecord 521 cases of fire havetaken place in their areasdue to short circuits.

“There is no casualtydue to fire caused by shortcircuit reported in pastmany years in areas wherewe supply power.

Due to regularupgradation we haveachieved 99.99 per cent re-liability in power supply. Toprevent short-circuit we arecarrying are continuouslypursuing our customers toupgrade their infrastructureas well,” said a senior officerfrom Torrent Power.

Two women counsellorsattacked by robbers

Vadodara,Despite frequent claims

of heightened night patrol-ling by the city police, rob-bers and goons seem to beoperating fearlessly in sev-eral areas.

Two women had trau-matic experience when theywere attacked and robbedof their mobile phones andwallets near Shastri Bridgelate on Saturday night.

The victims, who are af-filiated with Hindu JagranManch, have been identifiedas Megha Purohit and

Sushma Solanki. The duosuffered injuries on theirfaces, legs and arms and areundergoing treatment atthe SSG hospital.

According to police, thewomen were returninghome from Fathegunj po-lice station after counsellinga 17-year-old girl who wasalso allegedly abducted bya youth on the pretext ofmarrying her.

When they reached theShastri Bridge, two bike-borne robbers kicked theirscooter. When the woman

fell down, the two mensnatched their wallet con-taining Rs 1,500 in cash anddebit cards and their twoc e l l p h o n e s r a i n .

Tainted junior engineerof SMC held in DA case

Surat,Anti-corruption bureau

(ACB) sleuths arrested a jun-ior engineer of Surat Munici-pal Corporation (SMC) for al-legedly amassing 47 percent more wealth than hislegally declared source ofincome on Sunday. ACB of-ficials found property worthRs 31 crore in possession ofH D Singh and his family,much higher than his in-come of Rs 89 lakh.

Singh waschargesheeted by munici-pal commissioner on May27 for negligence in dutyand later suspended. He didnot take necessary action inan on-line complaint filedwith SMC about encroach-ment by Takshashila Arcadeshop owners. He did not for-ward the complaint to thedepartment concerned. Un-like other SMC officers,Singh did not face legal ac-tion in the criminal case offire being investigated bycrime branch. Policeclaimed no evidence ofcriminal negligence on hispart was found.

Taking suo motu actionafter the fire tragedy at

Takshashila Arcade, ACB ini-tiated an inquiry of dispro-portionate assets (DA)against SMC officers whowere identified for negli-gence by the civic body withregard to the fire tragedy.ACB earlier had carried outan inquiry against deputyengineer V K Parmar andbooked him in DA case.

N D Chauhan, assistantdirector of ACB, was investi-gating the case againstSingh. The accused wasbooked and arrested whenthe agency gathered strongevidence against him. ACBfound during investigationthat he had two plots inPalsana, three residentialapartments and one shop inthe city. He also owns anSUV. “The investigation willcontinue against Singh andACB will search for his otherproperties,” an ACB officersaid.Singh was arrested byACB in 2012 for accepting Rs2,000 bribe from a roadsidekiosk owner when heworked with encroachmentremoval department. He isfacing trial in court and cur-rently is out on bail in thebribe case.

Cop faults Simmba style in viral videoRajkot,

A ye another cop’s videothat went viral on the socialmedia, forcing Rajkot policecommissioner ManojAgrawal to order an inquiryon Sunday.

D K Zala, a constablewith Bhaktinagar police sta-tion, is seen sitting on thebonnet of an SUV in aBollywood blockbustermovie ‘Simmba’ style in thevideo.

After a while, Zala is seengetting out of the movingSUV and walking in themanner similar to the oneenacted by Bollywood actorRanveer Singh.

“Our investigation hasfound out that the videowas shot when Zala was offduty. Zala has not uploadedthe video on the social me-dia, but one of his friends

seems to have circulated iton WhatsApp apparently toembarrass him,” said V KGadhvi, inspector withBhaktinagar police station.

“Zala has a hobby of act-ing, which inspired him toact in this video,” addedGadhvi.

Meanwhile, the city po-lice has suspended two con-stables with A division po-lice station for the allegedTik Tok video in whichformer traffic warden is seensitting on the bonnet of po-lice control room (PCR) vanwhich was being driven incircles.

The police suspendedNilesh Kungasia, the driverof the PCR van, and AmitKorat, in-charge of the PCRvan for violating discipline.

“Two constables of A-di-vision police station were

suspended after they werefound to be involved in re-cording a video using a PCRvan while on duty. They up-loaded the video on TikTok,”A-division police inspectorN K Jadeja said.

An inquiry ordered bypolice commissioner re-vealed that constable AmitPragji was driving the vanand Kugasiya was recordingthe video from a distance, hesaid.

“The video was shotaround a month and a halfago in Ramnath Para policeline locality,” Jadeja said.

Zala’s video is the latestone in a series of video up-loaded by the cops thatflooded the social media. Inthese videos, the cops areseen mouthing dialogues offilms like ‘Singham’ and‘Simmba’ to the T -- even

walking in slow motion andshooting from their fingers.They acted on romanticsongs and also wore patrio-tism on their sleeve.

The video surfaced onThursday after news cameof suspension of a constablein Mehsana district. Thewoman cop was seen sing-ing a romantic song from aBollywood film insideLaghnaj police station inMehsana.

Three videos, believedto have been shot inAhmedabad, showed an as-sistant sub-inspector (ASI)Sangeeta Parmar fromwoman police station (East),a constable and another ASIfrom unknown location.

Parmar is seen lip-synching to phrases like‘Sher Gujarat Mein Hi PaidaHota Hai.”

Lawyer tried to rescuenephew, knifed

Ahmedabad,An advocate with the

Gujarat high court was at-tacked with knife when hetired to rescue his nephewfrom being beaten up bythree persons. According tothe complainant AshokYadav (36), a resident ofChandlodia, he came toknow on Saturday eveningthat his nephew Aniket, 16,was being beaten up bythree persons near hishouse. When he rushed tothe spot and asked Aniket

about the matter, the teentold him that the trio -- NatuDevipujak, Kirit Devipujakand Ajay Devipujak -- fromthe same area had been as-saulting him for wearingshorts.When Yadav tried torescue Aniket, the threemen began assaulting himalso. Natu and Ajay heldYadav and Kirit slashed hisface and forehead with aknife due to which he beganbleeding profusely. Laterthe trio allegedly thrashedYadav.

Absconder’s familyattacks police team

Ahmedabad,A police team was at-

tacked by an absconder’sfamily on Sunday noon inGomtipur preventing themfrom arresting the accused.

According to the FIRlodged by police constableRamesh Vasant, Gomtipurpolice received a controlmessage on Sunday that anabsconder, Jayesh UmakantVaghela, constable PareshPunambhai and assistanthead constable Bharat

Ramabhai went to arrestVaghela, who has a non-bailable warrant pendingagainst him.

“On seeing the cops,Vaghela tried to flee butVasant caught him. At thatmoment,, his wife and threeother women rushed in andattacked the cops. Thewomen scratched faces ofthe cops and amid theruckus Vaghela escaped,”said a senior official ofGomtipur police station.

SVPI told to study anti-bird strategiesAhmedabad,

Authorities of SardarVallabhbhai Patel Interna-tional (SVPI) Airport inAhmedabad have beenasked to study the bird-hitmitigation measures under-taken by other national andinternational airports.

Mitigating incidents ofbird strikes was one of thekey issues discussed dur-ing the Airport Environ-ment Management Com-mittee (AEMC) meetingheld at Sardar VallabhbhaiPatel International (SVPI)airport in Ahmedabad onMonday. Representativesof Airports Authority of In-dia (AAI), Ahmedabad Mu-nicipal Corporation (AMC)and city police departmentwere present in the meet-ing along with additionalchief secretary (ACS), envi-ronment and forests, of

the government of Gujarat,Rajiv Gupta.

“The ACS asked the air-port authorities to study themeasures taken by othernational and internationalairports and the technologythey have adopted to suc-cessfully keep bird strikesincidents under-check andaccordingly, prepare a re-port on its implementationat the SVPI airport,” said asenior official on conditionof anonymity.

“It was discussed thatbird strikes took place be-cause waterbodies in and

around the airport gotdried up, which exposedthe worms and in turn at-tracted birds in theairport’s vicinity, Aircraftoperations at SVPI airportare totally safe and we aretaking all possible mea-sures to prevent any unto-ward incident,” said ManojGangal, director, SVPI air-port.

Earlier this year, AAI hadoutsourced a study on birdsightings on the SVPI airportcampus to Salim Ali Centrefor Ornithology and NaturalHistory (SACON) in Chennai.

Four of girl’s family heldfor killing her teen ‘friend’

Surat/Bharuch,Jhagadia police arrested

a tribal girl’s father, brotherand two cousins who hadbrutally beaten to death a17-year-old boy for keepingfriendship with her.

Victim Faiz Qureshi, aresident of Dharoli, wasthrashed with iron rods andsticks on July 24. Faiz died onJuly 25 during treatmentand postmortem revealedthat he had suffered severeinternal injuries too.

Police arrested the girl’sfather Dinesh Vasava, 43, hisson Ajit alias Ajay, 24, Vinitalias Vinay Vasava, 21 andAkshay Vasava, 21, bothcousins of Ajit, all residentsof Boridra.

They had attacked Faiznear a primary school inBoridra when he was return-ing home with his friendfrom Ankleshwar., Dharoli isaround 45 km from Boridraand both villages are inJhagadia taluka of Bharuchdistrict.

Police investigation sofar revealed that Faiz andgone to get his KTM motor-cycle from Ankleswar withhis friend. He then went toBoridra where he was at-tacked. Victim’s elderbrother Saif alleged in hiscomplaint that his brotherwas killed for keepingfriendship with the girl fromhis school.

“When my wife calledFaiz on Wednesday lateevening, he asked us to pickhim up at Boridra. I don’tknow if my son had an-swered the phone or some-one else. But when I reached

at Boridra, I found him withmultiple injuries in his un-dergarment and bleedingallover the body,” said Sul-tan, father of Faiz.

Faiz had discontinuedstudies since a year and washelping his father at theshop.

Sultan said, “If the attack-ers were upset with his sonover friendship with the girl,they should have informedus. We would have stoppedour son. Friendship in schoolis common but they have noright to kill someone.”

Boridra is around 73 kmfrom Ankleshwar andDharoli is 24 km away.Boridra is in the opposite di-rection to Dharoli and policeare investigating that whyFaiz went far from his village

on a different route. Faizand the girl used to study insame school, in Jhagadia,family members informed.

“We have recovered theweapons used in the attack.Initially a complaint of riot-ing and attempt to murderwas lodged, but we havenow added sections of mur-der,” said L A Zala, deputysuperintendent of police,Ankleshwar.

Police said that Faiz havevisited the girl’s village inpast two and used to honknear her home. It seems thathe was caught by familymembers when he wentthere on Wednesday, saidpolice.The accused wereproduced in court on Satur-day and were sent to judicialcustody.

Cricket bookies’ appmaker nabbed from Delhi

Ahmedabad,City police on Saturday

evening arrested a softwareengineer from New Delhi formaking mobile phone ap-plications that helpedcricket bookies. Cops saidthe apps helped bookiestweak betting offers as theydisplaying live telecast ofthe matches almost in realtime and without advertise-ments. Police said they firstcame upon the applicationmade by the software engi-neer, Chandan Verma, on thetablet of a bookie,Shahsikant Gupta, who hadbeen arrested from Narodain February in an ongoing

cricket betting probe.“We have seized a tablet

from Gupta and had foundthe app on it. Through re-verse engineering and sanalysis, we managed to dis-cover the app-maker’s emailid and his cellphone num-ber. We tracked him to NewDelhi and arrested him onSaturday evening,” said acyber cell official.Police saidVerma made computergames, and as a side busi-ness he had started makingapps to show live telecast ofcricket matches. ACP, cybercell, Jeetendra Yadav saidthe app is used by at least1,000 persons in the state.

Ahmedabad,Increasing their foot-

print across the country,Lakmé Salon added anotherfeather to its cap inAhmedabad, launching itsnewest Lakmé Salon atKeshavbaug, Ahmedabad.The 1000sq.ft salon isequipped with five hair sta-tions andthreeskin rooms toprovide a world-classbeauty experience to thecity. Calling in internationalservice standards and cut-ting-edge looks and prod-ucts, this new beauty desti-nation brings runway excel-lence to the patrons ofAhmedabad at every visit.

Pushkaraj Shenai, CEO,Lakmé Lever, shares, “It is in-deed a pleasure to launchthe latest Lakmé Salon inAhmedabad with Ms. BijalVyas. We aspire to take theLakmé Salon promise of“Runway Excellence Every-day” across India by adding2 salons every week to ourcurrent footprint of over 400

Lakmé Salon opens itsnewest salon in Ahmedabad!

Lakmé Salons across 154+cities and it is working withpartners like her that willhelp us achieve thisambition.Being the trustedbeauty partner of womenfor nearly 40 years,ourLakmé Salon Show Stop-ping Bride Collectionlaunched at Lakmé FashionWeek& newly introducedcolour collection – The Art ofLatte- will be available to allthe womenofAhmedabad.”

Ms. Bijal Vyas, FranchiseePartner, Lakmé Salon,added,“Lakmé Salon is themost trusted beauty ser-vices brand in the India,andIam happy to launch withthem inAhmedabad. Wewant to extend servicesavailable in metro cities tothe womenofAhmedabadand thementorship and support thebrand provides to the fran-chise partners at every stepis invaluable. I am delightedto be part of the Lakmé Sa-lon family.”

Green stretches,cycle tracks on threeroads

Ahmedabad,The administrative wing

of the AMC has decided tohave a green stretch and acycle track on Keshavbaugto Pawkan Crossroads andJudges Bungalow to NFDCircle, and from SanjivaniHospital to Gurudwararoads.According to a pro-posal forwarded to thestanding committee forconsideration, it has beendecided that the AMC willalso develop pedestrianlanes along these roads. Theproject will be taken up un-der the AMRUT Yojana of thestate government.The ad-ministrative wing also de-cided to give contract toonly one contractor at theproject cost of Rs 20.86 lakh.

Ahmedabad, Page 5

International 5AHMEDABAD THURSDAY 1/8/2019

Distraught pet owners have said a professional dog walker let their beloved companions die rather thanrun off as she had previously claimed. Becky Parsons (left) has hit out Louise Lawford (centre) after being toldby police that her missing dogs Pablo (top centre) and Maggie (bottom right) are dead. The 39-year-old tookto social media where she claimed her 'heart had been shattered' after dog walker Ms Lawford claimed shehad been out walking five dogs when they were spooked by gunshots in Staffordshire. Owners of Charlie andRaplh the pugs (top right), Jack the French Bulldog (second top right) and have claimed their 'lives will neverbe the same again', after hearing from West Midlands Police that their dogs had died. Suspicions grew overthe welfare over the animals when Ms Lawford failed to take calls from three dog owners and also was vacantfrom her property. In a Facebook post Becky who lives in Birmingham said: 'You let us have false hope. You lethundreds of people join us in a desperate search.'

Britain could remain in the customs union andsingle market for another two years after Brexit,Boris Johnson said yesterday, as he suggested anegotiated deal with Brussels was still possible.The PM had earlier clashed with Irish TaoiseachLeo Varadkar over his demand to 'abolish' thecontroversial backstop. But later, on a visit toWales, he indicated that other elements ofTheresa May's withdrawal deal could be revived- including a transition period designed to softenthe impact on business of leaving the EU.

NEW Tripling down on his scathing indictment of Baltimore, President Trumpblasted the Maryland city as being 'worse than Honduras' in term of violentcrime and renewed his criticism of district of House Oversight Committee Chair-man Elijah E. Cummings on Tuesday evening. The remarks came in an explosiveinterview with the Washington Post just hours after he dismissed accusationsthat his attacks on Cummings were racially motivated, insisting 'Everybody iscalled a racist now.' In his latest onslaught, Trump called Baltimore 'about theworst case' of inner-city violence across the country and beyond.

Jamie 'Nicole' Redmon Baker (pictured with her husband, left, before his deathin 2017), a 37-year-old widow from Louisville, Kentucky, was on a 'healing trip' inHawaii over the loss of her husband, Lonnie, when she fell off a 75-foot cliff (topright) to her death. Rescuers were unable to resuscitate Baker after she was foundunresponsive and pronounced her dead at the scene, authorities said. Her pass-ing leaves the couple's young daughter (bottom right, with mom) orphaned.

Russian Instagram influencer foundmurdered in Moscow flat

London, A prominent Russian Instagram influencer’s body

was found stuffed in a suitcase in her rented accom-modation in Moscow by her parents, media reports said.

Ekaterina Karaglanova, who had over 85,000 follow-ers on the social media app - most who likened her toactress Audrey Hepburn, had her throat slit, reportedthe BBC.

The body was found on Friday after the parents ofthe 24-year old, who had just graduated from medicalschool and specialised in dermatology, grew anxiousat not hearing from her and came to her apartment tocheck. The body was found in a suitcase placed in thehall area.According to Russian media, police said therewas no evidence of any struggle nor was any weaponfound on the spot.

CCTV footage had captured a former boyfriend ofKaraglanova, who had recently begin a new relation-ship, briefly visiting her flat in the days around her dis-appearance, but did not say if this was being investi-gated further.

South Africa resumes beef exports toChina

Pretoria, South Africa has resumed beef exports to China

after the latter lifted a ban that was imposed after anoutbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in January.

The Chinese Ambassador to South Africa LinSongtian said on Tuesday in a press briefing that theChinese government lifted the ban on July 23, makingit possible for South Africa to resume beef export toChina, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Early this year, there was an outbreak of FMD in thecountry and it lost the World Organisation for AnimalHealth (OIE) status as the FMD free zone.Lin said theChinese government had sent experts to South Africato check on the FMD situations. He also called on theOIE to speed up their assessment of the country so thatother countries could also resume importing beef fromSouth Africa.According to an update from Chinese cus-toms and agriculture authorities issued on July 23, onlyselective regions in South Africa are allowed to exportbeef to China, and they exclude Limpopo province, theEhlanzeni district of Mpumalanga province andUmkhanyakude district of KwaZulu-Natal province.

Tiger population growth ‘good sign’ formeeting UN goals

United Nations, The doubling of India’s tiger population between

2006 and 2019 is being welcomed as a “good sign” bySecretary-General Antonio Guterres, according to hisDeputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq.

“We have a Sustainable Development Goal whichencourages the preservation of biodiversity and of allspecies including, in particular, those that are endan-gered. So, it’s always a good sign if endangered speciesare, in fact, being protected,” Haq told reporters on Tues-day.

On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi an-nounced that the nation’s tiger population had reached2,967. He asserted that India had reached the goal ofdoubling the endangered animal’s population fouryears ahead of the target year of 2022 set in 2010 at ameeting of countries that are home to the animal.

He said: “I feel it is possible to strike a healthy bal-ance between development and environment. In ourpolicies, in our economics, we have to change the con-versation about conservation.”(Arul Louis can bereached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter@arulouis)—IANS

Trump to visit Warsaw onWorld War-II commemoration

Warsaw, US President Donald

Trump will come to Warsawon September 1 for the 80thcommemoration of the startof the World War-II, a spokes-person for the Polish Presi-dent told media on Tuesday,after receiving confirmationfrom the White House.

Trump is scheduled toarrive in Poland on theevening of August 31 andstay until September 2. He isexpected to hold a series ofmeetings with the Polishside and other high-levelguests invited by Warsaw tothe commemoration.

Trump’s visit was alreadyrumoured for months in Po-land. Polish media had re-ported that it was likely thatthe US President wouldpublicly announce astrengthening of US militarypresence on Polish soil,which has been much an-ticipated by the Polish lead-ership.

Back in April, Polish dailyRzeczpospolita had re-ported that Trump wouldonly come to Warsaw if adeal between the US andPoland on the troop in-crease would be finalised by

then.According to the US of-ficial sources quoted byRzeczpospolita, the WhiteHouse had been pushingthe Pentagon to finalise adeal with Poland on the UStroop increase as soon aspossible, as it preferred tocomplete the negotiationswith the current Polish gov-ernment. General electionsin Poland are scheduled thisfall.

Polish President AndrzejDuda met with Trump inWashington in June to dis-cuss some final aspects ofthe deal. At the time, Trumpsaid in a press conferencethat the US would send anadditional 1,000 troops toPoland, which would betaken from the Americancontingent in Germany. Thiswould add to the 4,500troops already stationed inPoland on a rotational basis.

It seems highly unlikely,however, that the US willbuild a permanent militarybase on Polish soil. The Pol-ish government had beenlobbying for this for over ayear, dubbing the project“Fort Trump” and commit-ting to paying $2 billion onbuilding it.—IANS

Terrorists in Kashmir, Maoistsrecruiting child warriors: Guterres

By Arul Louis

United Nations, Terrorist groups operat-

ing in Kashmir and Maoistsgroups elsewhere have re-cruited children as fighters,according to a report bySecretary-General AntonioGuterres.

The annual report onchildren and armed conflictfor 2018 released on Tues-day also said that childrencontinued to be killed or in-jured in operations by thesecurity forces in Kashmirand in areas of Maoist activ-ity. It noted that there werereports of sexual violenceagainst girls by securityforces in Kashmir citing theKathua rape case.

Guterres, however, alsowelcomed “thegovernment’s measures toprovide protection to chil-dren, notably through theNational Commission forProtection of Child Rights.”

“I encourage the gov-ernment to put in place pre-vention and accountabilitymeasures to hold perpetra-tors of grave violations to

account in view of endingand preventing grave viola-tions against children,” headded.

In Kashmir, the reportsaid, “Five children, some asyoung as 14, were report-edly recruited by militantgroups, including by HizbulMujahideen (two) and AnsarGhazwat-ul-Hind (one). Thetwo other children joinedLashkar-e-Tayyiba and werereportedly killed in an en-counter with the govern-ment forces on December9.”

There were reports of“systematic recruitment” ofchildren by Maoists, the re-port said.

It said that there werechild casualties from secu-rity forces actions againstMaoists in the states of Bihar,Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand,Maharashtra and Odisha.

Giving examples, the re-port said that on April 22 lastyear eight children were re-portedly killed during ananti-Maoist operation bydistrict-level special forcesin the district of Garhchiroli,of Maharashtra, in which at

least 40 Maoists were killed.In Kashmir “31 children

between the ages of 7 and17 were allegedly killed, in-cluding during governmentarmed forces operations”and “at least 150 children,some as young as one, werereportedly injured, mostlyby pellet bullets used by thesecurity forces,” it said.

It said that “allegationsof the perpetration of sexualviolence against girls by thesecurity forces in Kashmirwere reported”.

“For instance”, the reportsaid, “an 8-year-old girl wasreportedly abducted,drugged, raped for threedays and murdered inKathua district by specialpolice officers”.

Four police personnelwere among six people con-victed last month by a spe-cial court that tired theKathua case.

Guterres’s report saidthat globally “more than24,000 grave violationsagainst children were veri-fied by the UN in 20 countrysituations”.

“While the number of

violations attributed to non-State actors remainedsteady, there was an alarm-ing increase in the numberof violations attributed tostate actors and to interna-tional forces compared with2017,” it added.

According to the report,Afghanistan was the worstplace children. Last year,there were 3,062 child casu-alties there and children ac-counted for 28 per cent of allcivilian casualties, it said.

Seoul confirms N. Korea’slaunch of 2 ballistic missiles

Seoul, North Korea launched

two short-range ballisticmissiles from the east coastof the country on Wednes-day morning, South Koreanauthorities confirmed.

The first missile waslaunched at 5.06 a.m. (20.06

GMT Tuesday) and the sec-ond 21 minutes later fromKalma area near Wonsanport, according to SouthKorea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The projectiles reacheda height of 30 kilometersand traveled about 250 kilo-meters before falling intothe sea, according to officialfigures released by YonhapNews Agency.

The militaries of the USand South Korea are analyz-ing more details, it added.

This is the second ballis-tic missile test in less than aweek, after last Thursdaywhen Pyongyang alsolaunched two from the eastcoast, with a trajectory ofabout 600 kilometers, re-ported Efe news.Accordingto South Korean DefenseMinister Jeong Kyeong-doo,Wednesday’s missiles are ofa different type from thosepreviously launched, al-though no further detailswere given.

US Senate fails to preventarms sales to Arab partners

Washington, The US Senate has failed

to override PresidentDonald Trump’s veto ofthree resolutions blockingarms sales to Saudi Arabiaand the United Arab Emir-ates (UAE).Trump had earlierused his presidential veto tooverride resolutions passedby both chambers of Con-gress preventing thesaleCiting the humanitariancrisis caused by the Saudi-

led military campaignagainst Iran-allied Houthirebels in Yemen and themurder of Saudi journalistJamal Khashoggi, the USCongress had put on holdthe pending arms sales toSaudi Arabia and the UAE.

But according to Trump,blocking the sale of weap-ons would “weakenAmerica’s global competi-tiveness” and damage rela-tions with allies.

Computer can now revealyour fake facial expressions

London, Real and fake smiles can

be tricky to distinguish, butresearchers have now devel-oped a computer softwarethat can spot false facial ex-pressions.

By analysing the move-ment of the smile across aperson’s face, the softwarecan determine whether ornot the expression is genu-ine, said the study publishedin journal Advanced Engi-neering Informatics.

The most significantmovements detected by thesoftware were around theeyes, supporting populartheories that a spontaneous,genuine smile is one thatcan be seen in a person’seyes.

“Techniques foranalysing human facial ex-pressions have advanceddramatically in recent years,

but distinguishing betweengenuine and posed smilesremains a challenge be-cause humans are not goodat picking up the relevantcues,” said study lead authorHassan Ugail, Professor atUniversity of Bradford in theUK.

The software works byfirst mapping a person’s facefrom within a video record-ing, and identifying themouth, cheeks and eyes ofthe subject.

It then measures howthese facial features movethrough the progress of thesmile and calculates the dif-ferences in movement be-tween the video clips show-ing real and fake smiles.

Researchers tested theprogramme using two dif-ferent datasets, one contain-ing images of people ex-pressing genuine smiles,

and another in which theimages portrayed posedsmiles.

They found significantdifferences in the way thesubjects’ mouths andcheeks moved when com-paring the real and the fakeexpressions. The move-ments around the subjects’eyes, however, showed themost striking variation, withgenuine smiles generatingat least 10 per cent moremovement in these muscles.“We use two main sets ofmuscles when we smile —the zygomaticus major,which is responsible for thecurling upwards of themouth, and the orbicularisoculi, which causes crinklingaround our eyes,” Ugail said.

According to the re-searchers, in fake smiles it isoften only the mouthmuscles which move but, ashumans, we often don’t spotthe lack of movementaround the eyes. The com-puter software can spot thismuch more reliably.

“An objective way ofanalysing whether or not asmile is genuine could helpus develop improved inter-actions between computersand humans — for examplein biometric identification,”he added.—IANS

Bullying bosses bad forworkplace safety: Study

New York, Bullying bosses are not

just bad for the morale andwell-being of employees —they can also be bad forworkplace safety, reveals astudy.

According to the studypublished in the Journal ofApplied Psychology, the re-searchers surveyed 589 air-line pilots and 468 manufac-turing technicians andfound that employees’safety behaviour can getworse when they aretreated in ways that detractfrom their bonds to a workgroup.

“Bosses’ behaviour canstrengthen or weaken em-ployees’ sense of belongingto the work group by sup-porting or underminingtheir status within thegroup. Poor treatment froma boss can make employeesfeel that they are not valuedby the group,” said Liu-QinYang, Associate Professor atPortland State University.

This makes them moreself-centered, leading themto occasionally forget tocomply with safety rules oroverlook opportunities topromote a safer work envi-ronment.

According to the re-

searchers, this was espe-cially true among employ-ees who were more uncer-tain about their social stand-ing within the group.

“When people are lesssure about their strengths,weaknesses and their statuswithin the group, they be-come more sensitive. Theyare more likely to respondnegatively to their boss’ bul-lying behaviours,” she said.

Workplace safety is acritical issue — and more soin an environment whereone employee’s failure tobehave safely can create cir-cumstances where otherpeople are likely to be in-jured, said the researchers.

The study recommendsimplementing trainingprogrammes that can im-prove leadership skills whileinteracting with their em-ployees so as to providefeedback in a way that areneither offensive nor threat-ening.

The study also sug-gested promoting a morecivil and engaged work en-vironment that strengthenssocial bonds between em-ployees and creates a bufferagainst the negative conse-quences of their boss’ badbehaviours.

AI tool predicts cell behavioursduring diseases, treatment

Berlin, Researchers have devel-

oped — scGen — an Artifi-cial Intelligence (AI)-pow-ered tool which promises toreshape the way we studydiseases and their treat-ment at cellular level.

The study, published inthe journal Nature Methods,shows scGen will help map-ping and studying cellularresponse to diseases andtheir treatment beyond ex-perimentally available data.

According to the re-searchers, scGen is a genera-tive deep learning modelthat leverages ideas fromimage, sequence and lan-guage processing and ap-plies them to model thebehaviour of a cell per-formed on computer or viacomputer simulation.

The next step for theteam will be to improvescGen, make it a fully data-driven formulation, increas-ing its predictive power toenable the study of combi-nations of perturbations.

“We can now startoptimising scGen to answermore and more complexquestions about diseases,”said the researcher AlexWolf from the Technical Uni-versity of Munich in Ger-many.

Large-scale atlases of or-gans in a healthy state aresoon going to be available,

in particular, within the Hu-man Cell Atlas. This is a sig-nificant step in understand-ing cells, tissues and organsin healthy state in a betterway and providing a refer-ence while diagnosing,monitoring and treating dis-eases.

Accurately modellingcellular response to pertur-bations e.g. disease, com-pounds and genetic inter-ventions, is a central goal ofcomputational biology.

In addition, scGen is thefirst tool that predicts cellu-

lar response out-of-sample.This means that scGen, iftrained on data that cap-tures the effect of perturba-tions for a given system, isable to make reliable predic-tions for a different system.

“For the first time, wehave the opportunity to usedata generated in onemodel system such asmouse and use the data topredict disease or therapyresponse in human pa-tients,” said MohammadLotfollahi from TechnicalUniversity of Munich.

—

New technology to improverestaurant services

New York, We’ve all been

there...you’re out to eat andin need of a refill or thecheck and the wait staff isnowhere to be found. Now,a recent study shows thatadding a tabletop devicecan improve restaurant ser-vices and increase revenues.

Published in the journalManagement Science, thefindings reveal that restau-rants should introducetabletop technology in ademonstrated way to im-prove service and satisfac-tion.

Tabletop technology al-lows customers to viewmenu items, re-order bever-

ages, pay for the meal, playgames and browse newscontent. The technology ismeant to assist waiters, notreplace them.

“We estimate one percent sales lift per checkwhich translates into $2 mil-lion extra sales or $1 millionprofit per month in theshort-run, and that’s a con-servative estimate,” saidTom Fangyun Tan, AssociateProfessor at Southern Meth-odist University in the US.

The research revealstabletop technology is likelyto improve sales by 1 percent per check and reducemeal duration by 10 percent.

Ahmedabad Page 6

National6 AHMEDABAD THURSDAY 1/8/2019

Weak quarterly results intensifyFPI’s selling momentum

Mumbai, Poor earnings on top of

the increased tax-surchargeon the super-rich, adverselyimpacting Foreign PortfolioInvestors (FPIs), has resultedin an exodus of foreignfunds in the July month.

Whole host of compa-nies from automobile mak-ers, cement manufacturers,fast moving consumergoods makers are feelingthe pinch of a slowdown inconsumption which isshowing up on India Inc’sbalance sheet.

FPIs, a key driver of thestocks markets have been ina sell mode since the UnionBudget was proposed onJuly 5.

The outflow intensifiedafter Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman denieda roll-back of the controver-sial tax on surper-rich.

“FII has been largelynegative post unfriendly

budget and weak quarterlynumbers are intensifyingthis selling momentum,”said Mustafa Nadeem, CEO,Epic Research

Sensex has lost over2,000 points since the Bud-get was tabled on July 5. OnTuesday, the market’s closedat 37,397.24 after it had sur-passed 40,000 just ahead ofthe Budget day.

Indian shares fell thesteepest during the monthafter Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman made itclear that the super-rich taxis here to stay, dashinghopes of any roll-back in theproposed tax, which con-tinue to dampen investorsentiments.

Indian markets werepoised to hit fresh highs af-ter the Budget, taking fur-ther the positive momen-tum from the general elec-tions but the lack of growthmeasures and the contro-

versial tax on the super-richerased even the gains madepost the polls.

“The risk reward ratiodoes not justify for the FPI,”Rusmik Oza, Head of Re-search, Kotak Securities toldIANS.

Till July 30, FPIs havesold over Rs 15,000 croreworth of stocks, making themonth of July as the worstin terms of FPIs exit in 2019.

The impact of the Bud-get on the flows is evidentas the FPI flows during theJanuary-March 2019 quar-ter were the highest in aquarter in two years withequity inflows of $4.9 billionin March 2019 alone.

Further, FPI investmentsin hybrid instruments expe-rienced a sharp increaseduring February-March2019 with a total inflow of$523 million during this pe-riod, RBI had said in its Fi-nancial Stability Report.

Super-rich surcharge to stay; FPIsadvised to register as companies

New Delhi, The central government

seems to be adamant onimplementing the latesttaxation surcharge on thesuper-rich category whichhas driven-out foreign fundworth over Rs 15,000 crorein the last one month.

Proposed in the UnionBudget on July 5, the highertax surcharge on the super-rich will affect over 40 to 50per cent of the Foreign Insti-tutional Investors (FPIs).

The Budget had pro-posed a levy of an additionalsurcharge on individualsand trusts earning morethan Rs 2 crore and Rs 5crore, respectively.

However, Finance Minis-ter Nirmala Sitharaman inthe Parliament made it clearthat the super-rich tax ishere to stay, she also gave asolution to the FPIs by advis-ing them to register as com-panies to be out of the

ambit of the surcharge.Notwithstanding, the

FPIs continue to be on a sell-ing spree ever since thebudget was announced.

Stock markets partici-pants fear that once imple-mented, this move may ad-versely impact FPIs whichare set up as non-corporatevehicles. Typically, FPIs areset up as trusts or limitedpartnerships in their homejurisdictions.

The definition of a part-nership firm under Indiantax law refers to the IndianPartnership Act, which doesnot recognise foreign part-nerships or limitedpartnerships.While the ra-tionale behind such an in-crease in surcharge is to levya higher surcharge only onhigh net worth individuals(HNIs) to garner more rev-enues in tax falling scenario,it has sent jitters amongFPIs, and partially triggered

the subsequent crash in thestock market.

Taking this into account,recently, the Central Boardof Direct Taxes (CBDT) chair-man P.K. Modi had offered asolution to such FPIs thatrestructure themselves ascorporate entities.

Nonetheless, as of July30, an outflow of over Rs15,300 crore has taken placein the month of July, whichis the highest this year.

Consequently, the S&PBSE Sensex has shed over2,000 points since the an-nouncement on July 5.

“Some FPIs are regis-tered as trusts. Therefore asan individual entity hecomes under the taxation.Such FPIs who have regis-tered themselves as trustsmay consider the option ofwanting to move to registeras company,” she said in re-ply to Finance Bill, 2019 inthe Parliament.

India’s July FPI outflow highest inemerging markets, among worst sell-offs

Mumbai, There has been only

four occasions since 2002,when the FPI outflow hadsurpassed the Rs 11,743-crore-mark witnessed inJuly so far, all at a time oftight financial circum-stances.

According to the NSDLdata, the highest ever out-flow came in the month ofOctober, last year when for-eign investors pulled out Rs28,921 crore from India’sequity markets.

India’s July outflow isalso the highest in theemerging markets followedby Brazil. This indicates thatthe investors have started toshift to other economieswhich could yield higher re-turns.

On the contrary, KotakInstitutional Equitiesshowed that, South Korea,Thailand, Indonesia receivedhealthy inflow of foreignfunds in July. The year whenthe 2008 global financial cri-ses hit global financial mar-kets, FPIs in the month ofJanuary had pulled out Rs13,035.6 crore from the eq-uity segments of themarkets.A toxic mix of fac-tors like weak macro situa-tion of our country, US Fed’srate hike, high oil prices,weak dollar rupee equation

and ongoing US-Chinatrade tension caused theheavy outflow in October,2018.The foreign fund exo-dus in July, this monthcomes at a time of a markedslowdown in economic ac-tivity and a controversial taxsurcharge on super-rich, ad-versely impacting FPIs.

“Domestic economy hita soft patch in the last quar-ter of 2018-19 as privateconsumption, the key driverof GDP, turned weak. Thisalong with subdued new in-vestment pipeline and awidening current accountdeficit have exerted pres-sure on the fiscal front. Thishas implications for thegovernment’s market bor-rowing programme andmarket interest rates,” RBI’sSystemic Risk report said.

“Reviving private invest-ment demand remains a keychallenge going forwardwhile being vigilant aboutthe spillover from global fi-nancial markets,” it added.

During 2018-19, FPI in-vestments in India wit-nessed a significant declineas compared to the previousyear. FPIs net sold Rs 38,930crore worth of Indian equityand debt securities during2018-19, as compared to netinvestment of Rs 1,47,117crore in 2017-18.

President Ram Nath Kovind inspecting the guard of honour at Banjul Airport inthe Republic of The Gambia on Wednesday UNI.

A Kashmiri potter separating a ceramic earthen pot with a thread from the tradi-tional potter’s wheel at his workshop in the outskirts of Srinagar UNI.

Riders perform horsemanship during a horse racing festival in Litang County, south-west China's Sichuan Province, July 30, 2019 UNI.

By Madhav SharmaJaipur,

Till last year, Sunita Sain,40, a housewife, had neverventured out of her villageUdaipuria in Rajasthan. Inthe male-dominated societythat she comes from, onlymen have a voice in mostmatters.

Then last year, Sunitaparticipated in the MahilaGram Sabha at her villagepanchayat. It was for the firsttime that she was attendinga public meeting and shar-ing her problems and sug-gestions related to her vil-lage with other women likeher.

“I had never even visitedthe village panchayat beforethat. But then I wondered,for how long can I just sitand do domestic work?”Sunita said.

In the meeting, shebrought up two issues — toset up a sanitary napkinmachine and open a gov-ernment library in the vil-lage for girls.

Sunita said the sanitarynapkin machine was a ne-cessity as there was no sys-tem in the village to getthem, without which girlshad to miss school duringtheir periods.

Subsequently, theUdaipuria Gram Panchayat,under Govindgarh

Women in rural Rajasthan findtheir voice in panchayat meets

Panchayat Samiti in Jaipurdistrict, got proposal ap-proved for a budget of Rs30,000 from the state gov-ernment.

There are many suchstories of change in the 45gram panchayats underGovindgarh PanchayatSamiti. Women are not justcoming out of confines oftheir homes but are also at-tending panchayat meet-ings, raising their issuesthere and demanding solu-tions to them.

The ground work for thischange was done by theSociety for Participatory Re-search in Asia (PRIA), whichgot together with 37 of the45 gram panchayats underGovindgarh PanchayatSamiti, to organise MahilaGram Sabhas and then wentfrom village to village con-ducting awarenessprogrammes on women’srights and their role in thepanchayat.

Attending panchayatmeetings is a big step forwomen in a feudal societylike Rajasthan. “We did notknow what the powers ofthe panchayat were. If all thewomen of Rajasthan want,they can solve all the prob-lems of their villagesthrough the panchayats,”said Sunita.

Gradually, women

started coming for thegram sabha meetings. Tosolve problems related tothe health of women andchildren, 37 grampanchayats have been al-located Rs 10.7 lakhthrough Mahila Sabhas.

Issues related towomen and children suchas separate toilets forwomen, sanitary napkinvending machines withnapkin disposal system,vaccination, libraries andstreet lights in villageshave been included in theGram Panchayat Develop-ment Plan (GPDP).

“Earlier, women werenot allowed to go out ofthe house and their rolewas limited to managingthe household. But now,women raise all their issuesin panchayat meetings,”said Mohan Lal Bunkar,Sarpanch of Nangal Kalangram panchayat.

“As a result, women inrural areas are becomingmore aware of their prob-lems and rights such asimmunisation, education,sterilisation and preg-nancy. In my grampanchayat, about Rs 2 lakhhas been allocated forhealth problems ofwomen. Soon this amountwill be given to thepanchayat.

By Mohammed ShafeeqHyderabad,

Women will be the ulti-mate sufferers of the tripletalaq legislation as they willbe damaging their homesand causing harm to theirhusbands, Asma Zehra, theChief Organiser of thewomen’s wing of the All In-dia Muslim Personal LawBoard (AIMPLB) said onWednesday.

In an interview here withIANS, Zehra described as“anti-women” The MuslimWomen (Protection ofRights on Marriage) Bill2019, which was passed bythe Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

“It is instigation ofwomen and end suffererswill be women only. It is to-tally an anti-women bill,”she said.

“The lady who lands insuch a problem will getnothing. In fact she will bedamaging herself in manyways. She will be damagingher home and causing lot ofharm to her husband,” saidZehra.

The Bill makes the prac-tice of pronouncement ofinstant triple talaq by a hus-band punishable with up tothree years in jail.

She pointed out that forvictims of domestic abuse,the country has the Protec-tion of Women from Domes-

Women will be ultimate sufferersof triple talaq law: AIMPLB

tic Violence Act which hasmany doors open for recon-ciliation and repair of dam-ages in marriages while thisBill has nothing.

“The minute a womangoes for an appeal underthis Act, she herself willdamage her home,” shesaid.

She believes that eventhe lawmakers and judgeswill find it very difficult tohandle these cases becausethe burden of proof lies withwomen. She feels that thiswill impose lot of burden onthe judiciary and the legalfraternity.

“This bill has nothing todo with Muslim womenempowerment or their pro-tection. It is just vote bankpolitics of the ruling party,”she added.

Zehra slammed the re-gional opposition partiesfor what she called deceiv-ing the Muslim communityby not opposing the defec-tive bill. She said the weak-ening of opposition andopposition leaders led tothis “calamity”.

She pointed out thattwo crore women had comeout on the streets to protestagainst the bill.

“In a democratic countrywhere numbers have value,the government turned ablind eye to the voice of the

women and posed itself asmessiah of Muslim women.Muslim women very wellknow who are their enemiesand who are their friends.

“There is nobody to raisevoice over lynching of ourbrothers and husbands andhere several hours of Parlia-ment were wasted on thisissue of husband and wife,”Zehra said.

AIMPLB had collectedfive crore signatures duringa nation-wide campaignagainst the bill last year.

“They included 2.85crore women who opposedany kind of interference inPersonal Law. Still the LawCommission, Women Com-mission and Human RightsCommission did not payheed to the voice of themajority,” she said.

Zehra also said everyparty and parliamentarianwho had a role in passingthis Bill should be held ac-countable and Muslim lead-ers should not support orgarner votes for them.

“Muslims should learnlessons from what has hap-pened. Everything in futuredepends on how you under-stand the whole issue now.Unless and until the com-munity understands whathas gone wrong, unless anduntil it diagnoses the dis-ease.

New Delhi, Hailing the Delhi

government’s HappinessCurriculum, Supreme CourtChief Justice Ranjan Gogoion Wednesday said therewill be no litigation if people

Judicial academies can alsohave Happiness Classes: Gogoi

are happy and added thatthere can be HappinessClasses in the judicial acad-emies also.

Speaking at the ‘Happi-ness Education Conference’organised by the Delhi gov-

ernment to celebrate thefirst anniversary of the Hap-piness Curriculum, Gogoisaid youths were unhappyand feel dejected, so havingsuch an initiative was impor-tant.

“Happiness is some-thing each one of us wants...I don’t know why we can’tbe permanently happy,” hesaid.

“I was thinking yester-day if we have a happy lotof people in this country, myproblem of litigation will beover. There will be no cases,as everybody is happy. Per-haps we should have some-thing like Happiness Classesin the judicial academiesalso,” he said.

The Chief Justice saidthat without happiness,education can never becomplete.

“Education is a broadword. We go to school tolearn. But at the end of theday, with all our knowledge,if we are negative and nothappy we cannot contrib-ute,” Gogoi said adding thatthis made HappinessClasses important.

He added that the Cur-riculum should be intro-duced in schools all over thecountry.

“There is a serious prob-lem with the younger gen-eration. They are a dejectedlot who are unhappy by see-ing what is happening .

Max Fashion Launches onAmazon Fashion India

New Delhi,Max Fashion, India’s most loved value fashion

brand for men, women and kids, is now available atAmazon Fashion India,starting1st August 2019. Forthe first time in India, customerscan find and shopMax Fashion apparel and merchandise onAmazon.Amazon Fashion continues to delight cus-tomers across the country by bringing the widestandmost loved fashion selections from emerging la-bels, as well as popular brands.

Mr. Mayank Shivam, Director – Category Manage-ment, Amazon Fashion India said “We are thrilled toassociate with Max Fashion and launch them onAmazon Fashion. Max Fashion is one of the mostloved value fashion brandsthat offers fashion choicesfor the entire family.

Mr. Shital Mehta, CEO, Max Fashion India, said,“Max Fashion isIndia's most loved fashion brand formillennial and young families–because of its core fo-cus on providing "Fast Fashion at amazingly lowprices". To pursue our brand vision of democratizingfashion, we always strive to make fashion accessibleto maximum customers across India.

Experience the benefits of cool andhealthy air with India’s first “HealthConditioner”- Forbes

Mumbai,Eureka Forbes Limited, market leaders and mak-

ers of Aquaguard, today announced the launch ofIndia’s first, ‘Health Conditioner” – Forbes. First of itskind, Forbes Health Conditioner is a plus on every-thing that regular ACs offer to consumers and pro-vide them the benefits of cool and healthy air, in onego.

Sharing his thoughts on this launch, Mr. MarzinR. Shroff, MD & CEO, Eureka Forbes Limited said, “Airconditioners have now become a year-long neces-sity in India. Today, consumers are looking for newinnovations and advanced technologies when itcomes to buying products which enable good healthand wellbeing. Keeping this in mind, the Forbeshealth conditioner has been developed andlaunched to fulfil the growing consciousness of in-dividuals towards a healthy living. We plan to intro-duce a range of such products on a continuous ba-sis that can enhance and improve the quality of lifein the near future.”

Today, air conditioners have become an integralpart of our daily lives. As the heat and humidity inthe air starts to increase, we turn ACs for cool andfresh air, however we fail to understand that continu-ous exposure to air conditioning could be harmfuland can have serious impact on our health and well-being. Most split air-conditioners that are availablein the market today recirculate the air which resultsin flow of microbial contaminants and also lack puri-fication system.

Lenovo launches AI-enabled YogaS940, its smartest Ultraslim Laptop

CHANDIGARH:Lenovo announced the launch of its smartest

ultraslim PC- Yoga S940 with Artificial intelligence (AI)coupled with advanced audio and display technolo-gies. Lenovo Yoga S940 is the newest addition to therange Ultraslim PCs. The Ultraslim segment in Indiais seeing a healthy growth, which can be attributedto the always-on consumers who spend a significantamount of time using their laptops on the go. Today,consumers are willing to spend more on laptops thatmatch up to their lifestyle, have better form factorand enhanced aesthetics. With continued innovation,the company aims to strengthen its leadership posi-tion in the ultraslim category and grow the marketwith a wider range of accessible and affordable prod-ucts catering to a larger audience at price pointsstarting at INR 23,990.

Speaking at the launch, Rahul Agarwal, CEO & MD,Lenovo India, said, “The pace of disruption in thesmartphone market is raising the bar for innovationin the PC segment and consumers are demandingsimilar features in all their devices, including laptops.Artificial intelligence (AI) coupled with smart featureslike facial unlock, voice assistant, makes Lenovo’sYoga S940 the smartest ultraslim laptop yet. Lenovo’sYoga S940 is designed for the power users who valuesecurity and privacy, alongside a more convenient,personalised and immersive experience.”

Provided info to relevantauthorities: Indigo’s Gangwal

Mumbai, IndiGo’s co-founder and Director Rakesh

Gangwal on Tuesday said that he has provided “in-formation to the relevant authorities” regarding gov-ernance issues at the airline. In a statement, Gangwalrebutted a report that cited sources as claiming thatthe regulator has sought information regarding hisallegations over the governance issues.

The development comes after a media reportquoting sources said that there is not a shred of evi-dence to substantiate allegations on related-partytransactions between the airline and Rahul Bhatia-controlled IGE because there are no whistleblowersas claimed by Gangwal. The report added that regu-lators had been seeking similar information for thepast 10 days and none has been forthcoming. Lately,Gangwal has raised grievances regarding corporategovernance at the airline with government agencies.Accordingly, the Corporate Affairs Ministry sought“information or explanation” from the budget car-rier pertaining to a complaint filed by Gangwal.

‘Mobil Super MotoSynthetic Technology15W-50’ launched for motorcycles

Ahmedabad,After the successful launch of Mobil Super Moto

engine oil portfolio last year, ExxonMobil LubricantsPvt Ltd, a wholly-owned affiliate of ExxonMobil Cor-poration, launched Mobil Super Moto Synthetic Tech-nology 15W-50 engine oil,designed specifically to ca-ter to the needs of four-stroke motorcycle engines.

This advanced engine oil offers 57% better pro-tection against wear (based on Industry StandardEngine test sequence IVA in API SL)fora prolongedengine life. The additives present in the oil help inkeeping the engine protected from any deposit for-mation in the hot spots, thereby ensuring cleanerrunning engine for a longer time. The oil is formu-lated to further optimise the performance of theengine by offering better low- and high-temperatureviscosity performance at different temperature ex-tremes. These features are especially relevant toIndia’s climate, with different parts of the countryexperiencing widely diverse weather conditions.

Commenting on the launch of the product in theIndian market, Rajou Kalyanasundaram, GeneralManager, Automotive Lubricants, ExxonMobil Lubri-cants Pvt Ltd said, “Owing to strong growth of CruiserMotorcycles in India, the demand for Viscosity Grade15W-50 has almost doubled in last one year.With thisnew product, we are catering to the changing de-mands of the customers and expanding our exist-ing portfolio.

Ahmedabad, Page 7

Business 7AHMEDABAD THURSDAY 1/8/2019

UNIT Manager, DWSU (WASMO)-Patan, 1st Floor, JalBhavan, Opp. Pareva Hills, B/h. Honda Showroom Nr. T B Circle,Patan -384265, District: Patan (E-mail: patan.cmsu@gmail.com)is invites tender From Bidder Having Experience work of Wasmotype Design & Drawing U/G sump, Pump Room, waterdistribution pipeline and Sump Pumping Machinery Its TotalEstimate Amount Rs.25,77,642/- at Patan District, santalpurtaluka below mentioned villages by On-Line 'E-Tendering'system on behalf of Pani samiti under Patan district boarderarea development Programme (B.A.D.P.).(1)Village Jakhotra Estimated cost Rs 9,98,985/- ID No:-370948(2)Village Bakutra Estimated cost Rs 5,21,592/- ID No:-370908(3)Village Bavarada Estimated cost Rs 2,74,219/- ID No:370944(4)Village Unrot Estimated cost Rs 2,16,551/- ID No:-370954(5)Village Kilana Estimated cost Rs 2,01,743/- ID No:-370951(6)Village Dabhi Estimated cost Rs 1,46,198/- ID No:-370945(7)Village Fangali Estimated cost Rs 1,13,664/- ID No:-370946(8)Village Patanka Estimated cost Rs 1,04,690/- ID No:-370952(9)Eligibility of contractor:-Bidders having Registration in R.&B.and other Depart of GOG. 'E-2' and above class Works. TheBidder having Minimum experience of constructing mention inthe tender similar works completion in the last five years.(10) Bid down loading start date 02/08/2019 and Last date ofreceipt of Tender Date: 13/08/2019 up to 18.00 hrs. Submissionof supporting documents by RPAD last date is 23/08/2019.Details regarding tender are available on notice board of thisoffice & webs site www.nprocure.com Tender fees & necessarydocuments are as prescribed in detailed tender notice. Panisamiti Jakhotra, Bakutra, Baravada,Unrot, Kilana,Dabhi,FangaliAnd Patanka reserves rite to accept/reject any tenders is bindingto bidder. Any amendment shall be viewable on website.

District Water and Sanitation Unit PatanTender Notice No.-9 of 2019-20

Drinking water supply Complain toll Free Helpline No.-1916

No.DDI/PATAN/208/2019-20

PADRA MUNICIPALITYE-TENDERING / TWO BID SYSTEM

Padraa Municipality, Padra, Dist : vadodara,invites on line tender of different development workin different area of Padra from 15% Vivekadhinscheme, SJMMSVY-Janbhagidari yojna &SJMMSVY of Year 2018-2019 which estimated costis Package-1 Rs. 24,49,200/- Packaage -2 Rs.30,99,000/- Package - 3 Rs. 71,27,700/- from website of (https.naagarpalika.nprocure.com The tendersubmission : 20/08/2019, Last daate of submittingthe tender fee/EMD & relevant document of thetender send by RPAD post only : 23/08/19 at PadraMunicipalaity, Padra, Tender opening date :26/08/19 at 11:00 pm. The rights are reserved toapprove/reject the on lien tenders without assigningany reasons. Price bids of only those contractor shallbe opened who satisfy the bid evaluation criteriamentioned in the tender document relating to annulaturn over, largest value of job jone and workexperience, PF registration & GST no.

By order of Padra MunicipalityINF-BRD 529-2019-2020

GUJARAT INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATIONTENDER NOTICE No. 02/2019-20

The work having minimum cost Rs. 0.57 Lacs to maximum cost Rs.2729.22 Lacs are invited by office of the Superintending Enginer, GIDC,Ahmedbad through Online and offine. Tender for work at Sr. No.1 to 11.The Tender for online work is to be uploaded on web sitewww.nprocure.com/gidc. The last date for online submission of tenderis 19-08-2019Blank tenders copy for the work at Sr. No. 5 to 7 will be issued fromthe office of the Executive Engineer (M&E), GIDC, Ahmedabad andBlank tenders copy for the work at Sr. No. 10 to 12 will be issued fromthe office of the Executive Engineer, GIDC, Mehsana from 03-08-2019 to 09-08-2019 after submission of required documents and tenderfees and Last date of Submission of Sealed tender is 20-08-2019through (R.P.A.D. or Speed psot only)The Detailed tender notice for the Online /offline works can be seenfrom the office Notice Board as well as web site www.gidc.gov.in,www.statenders.com/gidc and www.nprocure.com Any amendments,updates regarding these bids will be published in the web site only.

Superintending EngineerGIDC AhdmedabadNo.INF/ABD/651.2019-20

NOTIFIED AREA JHAGADIAOFFICE OF THE CHIEF OFFICER

PHONE No. (02645)226154E-TENDERE NOTICE No. 01 0f 2019-20

Notified Area office Plot No. 40 Near PepsiCO. GIDC JhagadiaEstate - 39310 are invited tender from Govt. registeredcontractors.Sr Online online tender form 01/08/2019 to 15/08/2019No. Tender up to 18:00 hrs www.nprocure.com and1 to 6 www.statetenders.com web site only• Other document EMD Tender Fee, Registration copy will

be send this office from 16/08/2019 to 19/08/2019 up to18:00 hrs by speed post/currier/hand delivery. Tender openedon Dt. 21/08/2019 at 12.00 Hrs.

• Tender notice will be seen on this office notice board andweb site www.nprocure.com and www.statetenders.com if anyinquiry please contact this officePhone (02645)226154

Sd/-Chief officerNotified Area.

GIDC, Jhagadia.No. /INF/BCh 241/2019-20

BHAVNAGAR MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONDRAINAGE DEPARTMENT

E-TENDER ADVERTISEMENTE-Tanders are invited by two bid system from interestedreputed companies for comprehensive O.&M. contractfor newTata Ace vehicle classis mounted hydraulicallyoperated de-silting grab bucket machines-13 nos. forthe period of 600 shifts/each machine (appro.02 years)for cleaning of underground sewer/storm line manholesas per tender technical specifications and tenderdocuments are available online on www.nprocure.comwebsite from date:06/08/2019 to 27/08/2019 up to 18:00hrs. for downloadingand online Submission and it alsoavailable on Bhavnagar Municipal Corporation’s websitewww.bmcgujarat.com and BMC notice board forreference.

Executive Engineer (Drainage)Bhavnagar Municipal CorporationDDI-BVN-337/19

GUJARAT STATE ROADTRANSPORT CORPORATIONONLINE E-TENDER NOTICE

GSRTC invites online tender on Government e-Marketplace (https://gem.gov.in) for purchase of UNIFORM CLOTH KHAKI & DARK BLUE(Due on 13-08-2019) from Manufacturer/Bidder as per Tenderspecification and pre qualification criteria For details regardingsubmission of tender documents through on line e-tender, Please visitthe following web site https://gem.gov.in toll free no 1800-419-34361800-102-3436 and invites online tender for Purchase of H.T.BOLT &NUT FASTNERS (Due on 04-09-2019) from Manufacture as per Tenderspecification and pre qualification criteria For details regardingsubmission of tender documents through online e-tender, please visitthe following website www.nprocure.comhttps://gsrtc..nprocure.com,www.statetenders.com for further details please contact on Phone No.079-22801334, Email-copgsrtc@yahoo.co.in.

Controller of Purchase,G.S.R.T.C., AhmedabadNo.INF/ABD/646/2019-20

CHANGE OF NAMEI have changed my old namefrom ALKESH PRABHUDASSATIKUVAR to New Name

ALKESH PRABHUDAS SONIAdd. : 1080, Devji SaraiyasPole, Sankadi Sheri Raipur,

Ahmedabad1295

CHANGE OF NAMEI have changed my old namefrom MAMTA PAVANKUMAR

AGRAWAL to New NameMAMTA PAWANKUMAR

BANSAL Add. : 94,Apple Wood Villa, Shela,

Ahmedabad1296

DisclaimerA d v e r s t i s e m e n tappeared in this NewsPaper have not beenverified factually and“WESTERNTIMES” doesnot stand responsible forthe sales proposition.

Apple logs $53.8bnrevenue in its biggest

June quarter everCupertino (California),

Riding on an all-time high Services business, Applehas posted $53.8 billion in revenue — an increase of 1per cent from a year ago - setting record results for itsfiscal 2019 third quarter that ended June 29.

The net cash totalled $102 billion at the end of thequarter while international sales accounted for 59 percent of the revenue, the company said in a statementlate Tuesday.

“This was our biggest June quarter ever, driven byall-time record revenue from the Services, acceleratinggrowth from the Wearables, strong performance fromiPad and Mac and significant improvement in iPhonetrends,” said CEO Tim Cook.

The iPhone sales were $26 billion while the Servicesvertical clocked $11.5 billion in revenue.

UEFA has opened the voting for the annual Goal of the Season competition, and the usual suspectshave been joined by some bright young stars. The likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are on thelist, but they've also been joined by Rennes starlet Ismaila Sarr, Monaco's Enzo Millot, and Apollon Limassol'sDavid Faupala. Sarr's goal came against Jablonec in the Europa League group stage, where he played aone-two on the edge of the box and fired a powerful volley into the top corner.

Ahmedabad Page 8 CMYK

CMYK

Sport8 AHMEDABAD THURSDAY 1/8/2019

Argentina confirm long-term deal withcoach Scaloni

Buenos Aires, The Argentine Football Association (AFA) has con-

firmed that national men’s head coach Lionel Scaloniwill remain in the position until at least till the 2022World Cup.

Albiceleste team director Cesar Menotti told report-ers earlier this month that a verbal agreement had beenreached with Scaloni to extend the terms of his con-tract, which had been due to expire in December.

But the former Deportivo La Coruna full-back’s newthree and a half-year deal was only confirmed in a state-ment on the AFA’s official website on Tuesday, reportsXinhua news agency.

“The AFA’s executive committee decided to con-tinue with (Scaloni) for the upcoming qualifiers for the2022 World Cup in Qatar that will begin next year,” theentity said.

Scaloni, 41, replaced Jorge Sampaoli after the 2018World Cup in Russia, where the Albiceleste were elimi-nated in the last 16 by eventual champions France.Heguided Argentina to third place at this year’s CopaAmerica in Brazil. The two-time World Cup winners aredue to face Chile in their next match in Los Angeles onSeptember 5 followed by another friendly with Mexicoin San Antonio five days later.

Pagal hai kya, bowling kaun karega:Afridi to Riaz at GT20

Brampton, Former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi is having

a great time in the ongoing Global T20 competition inCanada.

On Sunday, he scored 81 runs off just 40 balls as hisside — Brampton Wolves — defeated Edmonton Roy-als by 27 runs. There were many moments during thecourse of his innings which reminded the fans of thevintage Afridi, playing fearlessly and smacking thebowlers out of the park.Then, there was one moment— caught on stump mic — that left fans in splits. Onthe last ball of Wolves’ inning, Afridi managed a single.However, Wahab Riaz, who was at the non-striker’s end,asked him for another run, to which the 39-year-old re-plied: “Pagal hai...bowling kaun karega? (Are you mad?ho will bowl then?)”.

Despite scoring most of his runs in boundaries —11 fours and 5 sixes — the former Pakistan skipper wasin no mood to make the extra effort of stealing anotherrun, even on the last ball of their innings.

Venugopal Rao quits cricketNew Delhi,

Former India batsman Venugopal Rao has an-nounced his retirement from all forms of cricket.

Rao represented India in 16 ODIs, the last of whichcame in May 2006 against West Indies at Basseterre.

The 37-year-old Andhra batsman could amass only218 runs with a lone fifty to his name in the 11 inningshe played for the Men in Blue after making his debutagainst Sri Lanka at Dambulla in July 2005.

He played 121 first-class matches scoring 7,081 runs,which included 17 hundreds and 30 fifties. He alsoplayed 65 IPL matches for Deccan Chargers, Delhi Dare-devils and Sunrisers Hyderabad between 2008 and2014. —IANS

News in a Nutshell Sindhu stays at 5,Yamaguchi takes top spot

New Delhi, Ace Indian shutter P.V.

Sindhu has maintained herfifth spot in the women’ssingles ranking released byBadminton World Federa-tion (BWF), while her com-patriot Saina Nehwal re-mained at eight.

Nehwal will be compet-ing at the Thailand Open af-ter an injury lay-off hadforced her to miss the Indo-nesia Open and JapanOpen.

Sindhu, the Rio Olympicsilver medallist, has had aroller coaster fortnight inwhich she finished runner-up at the Indonesia Openand lost in the quarter-finalof the Japan Open, losing toJapanese shuttler AkaneYamaguchi on bothoccasions.The Hyderabadshuttler has withdrawn from

the ongoing Thailand Openwith her eyes set on the BWFWorld Championships thatwill be held from August 19and 25.

Meanwhile, Yamaguchihas overtaken Tai Tzu Ying ofChinese Taipei to becomethe new world number onefollowing consecutive victo-ries in Indonesia and homesoil.

Tai is followed byYamaguchi’s teammateNozomi OKuhara at numberthree and China’s Chen Yufeiat number four.

In men’s singles, KentoMomota consolidated hisworld number one positionin men’s singles after the vic-tory in Japan. KidambiSrikanth is at the 10th spot,followed by Sameer Vermawho is at the 13th posi-tion.—IANS

Moise Kean is one of the exciting young players in the world; an Italian in-ternational, Serie A champion and important figure in the fight against racism,while still in his teens. Sportsmail takes a look at the dynamic forward who is onthe verge of a big-money move to Everton, having rejected a switch to Arsenal.

Cricket Australia revamps domestic50-over competition structure

Melbourne, Cricket Australia has re-

vamped the domestic one-day tournament structurefor the upcoming 2019-20season.

On Tuesday, it an-nounced the fixtures of the50-over domestic competi-tion which will now beplayed in three parts, thefirst part — Marsh One-DayCup — will commence onSeptember 21. It will be fol-lowed by the SheffieldShield beginning October10. The remaining part ofthe competition, whichcomprises of 11 games, willtake place in two moreblocks - late-October andmid-November. The final ofthe competition will be heldon November 26.The othermajor change is the expan-sion of the Women’s Na-tional Cricket League(WNCL), with teams eachplaying eight matches, com-pared to just six in previousseasons. Cricket Australia’sHead of Cricket OperationsPeter Roach said: “We’ve lis-tened to the states, territo-ries, the ACA and players onwhat is going to make ourcricket system stronger.”“For the men’s One-Day Cup,the key priorities were toplay matches in more thanone block, have themplayed on bigger grounds,ideally at our major venues,and play some morematches overall. We believe

we have been able to meetthese priorities. “From a tim-ing point of view, we needto ensure that we playmatches at times of the sea-son to best present and pre-pare our players for interna-tional cricket. At the sametime, we need to ensurethere are appropriate restperiods between matchesand the right opportunitiesfor players to participate inpremier cricket,” he added.In the Marsh One-Day Cup,each team will play sevenmatches whereas inSheffield Shield, each teamwill play six matches prior toChristmas to allow for a bet-ter crossover with home Test

matches.The cricket boardfurther announced that theEngland Lions men’s teamwill tour Australia duringFebruary and early March,playing five one-daymatches and three four-dayfixtures. The India A women’steam will also tour Australiain December. The India Awomen’s team will also tourAustralia in December. Theywill play the Australia Awomen’s side in three one-day and three T20 matchesin Brisbane and the GoldCoast respectively duringDecember. The Pakistanmen’s team will also play tourmatches in addition to twoTest matches and three T20Is.

nament with Japan’sNozomi Okuhara andAkane Yamaguchi and Tai-wanese world no.1 Tai TzuYing all pulling out. Whilethe reason for her with-drawal has not been offi-cially revealed, media re-ports indicate that she hasher eyes set on the BWFWorld Championships thatwill be held from August19 and 25. she finishedrunner-up at the IndonesiaOpen and lost in the quar-ter-final of the Japan Open,losing to Yamaguchi onboth occasions.

Sindhu withdraws fromThailand Open, Saina in

New Delhi, The Badminton Asso-

ciation of India on Tuesdayconfirmed that aceshuttler P.V. Sindhu haswithdrawn from the Thai-land Open while fellowOlympic medallist SainaNehwal will take part inthe Super 500 event.

This will be the firstevent for Saina after an in-jury lay-off which forcedher to miss the IndonesiaOpen and Japan Open.Sindhu is one of severalhigh profile athletes towithdraw from the tour-

Gough andWilson: Two new

umpires in ICCelite panel

Dubai, The International Cricket

Council (ICC) on Tuesdaynamed Michael Gough ofEngland and Joel Wilson ofthe West Indies in the ICCElite Panel of Umpires for the2019-20 season followingthe annual review and selec-tion process.Gough and Wil-son were elevated from theICC International Panel ofUmpires by the selectionpanel consisting of ICC Gen-eral Manager — Cricket,Geoff Allardice (Chairman),former player and commen-tator Sanjay Manjrekar, andmatch referees RanjanMadugalle and David Boon.

Both these umpiresgained significant experi-ence at the internationallevel with Gough having of-ficiated in nine Tests, 59 ODIsand 14 T20Is and Wilson hav-ing stood in 13 Tests, 63 ODIsand 26 T20Is. The other mem-bers of the ICC Elite Panel ofUmpires are Aleem Dar,Kumar Dharmasena, MaraisErasmus, Chris Gaffaney, Ri-chard Illingworth, RichardKettleborough, Nigel Llong,Bruce Oxenford, Paul Reiffeland Rod Tucker.