Delhi - The Pioneer

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he controversial pellet guns
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used widely by security
forces in Kashmir Valley may
soon give way to PAVA shells,
a chilli-filled ammunition,
which is non-lethal but
only immobilises the target
temporarily.
While Home Minister
Rajnath Singh promised in
Srinagar on Thursday to introduce an alternative to the pellet guns, Home Ministry officials in New Delhi said that
PAVA shells could be the new
weapon to tackle stone pelters.
Conceding that pellet guns
did not prove to be “nonlethal”, the Home Minister said
an expert committee will submit its report within three to
four days on the use of pellet
guns. “We will propose a substitute to pellet guns,”
he assured.
Reports from Delhi said
that an expert panel held a presentation of the newly-developed shells at a test field here
earlier this week and gave the
thumbs up for use by security
forces for crowd control and
during protests like those being
witnessed in the Valley, in
place of the pellet guns
which have caused grievous
injuries and large-scale
blinding.
The PAVA shells, as per the
blueprint prepared in this
regard, were under trial for over
a year at the Indian Institute of
Toxicology Research, a Council
of Scientific and Industrial
Research (CSIR) laboratory
in Lucknow.
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It is understood that the
committee has recommended
that the Tear Smoke Unit
(TSU) of the Border Security
Force in Gwalior should be
tasked with bulk production of
the shells “immediately”, with
the first lot containing not less
than 50,000 rounds.
The name PAVA comes
from Pelargonic Acid
Vanillylamide, also called
Nonivamide, and is an organic compound found characteristically in natural
chilli pepper.
On the Scoville scale (a
measurement of the pungency
of chilli peppers), PAVA is categorised as “above peak” meaning it will severely irritate and
paralyse humans temporarily.
It is also used as a food additive to add pungency, flavouring and spice to food.
The committee said PAVA
can be categorised in the lesslethal munition category. Once
fired, the shells burst and temporarily stun, immobilise and
paralyse the target (protesters)
in a more effective way than a
tear gas shell or pepper sprays.
The panel noted that PAVA
is “bio-safe, better than chilli
grenade or tear smoke shell and
can also be used in combination with stun and tear shells”
by security forces while tackling
unruly protesters.
Apart from promising to
replace the pellet guns, the
Home Minister reiterated his
call for dialogue under the
ambit of Kashmiriyat, Insaniyat
and Jamhooriyat, and asked the
State Government to prepare to
receive an all-party delegation
from Delhi.
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day after the reported leak
of sensitive documents
related to combat capabilities of
the Scorpene submarine came
to the fore, the Indian
Government on Thursday took
up the matter with its French
counterpart and urged them to
probe the issue with urgency.
The Indian Navy contacted the Director-General of
Armament of the French
Government and asked them
to share the findings of the
probe. It is suspected that the
‘leak’ could have taken place
in France.
The Mazagon Docks
Limited (MDL), which, in collaboration with Direction des
Constructions Navales Services
(DCNS) of France, is building
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six Scorpene submarines in
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?C8 Mumbai, has also ruled out
leak of documents at its end.
Addressing a joint Press
Maintaining that the initial
conference with Chief Minister
analysis of some of the 22,400
Mehbooba Mufti at her official
leaked pages indicated that
residence on the concluding
security of the project was not
day of his two-day visit to the
compromised, sources said
State, Singh said the Central
there was no reason to get
Government was concerned
alarmed.
about the future of Kashmiri :7DAB7443F0=8Q BA8=060A 2010 unrest when nearly 120
On Wednesday, Defence
children.
civilians were killed.
Minister Manohar Parrikar
“India will have no future
ammu & Kashmir Chief
She said people came out asked Navy chief Admiral Sunil
if Kashmir does not have a
Minister Mehbooba Mufti on the roads after the July 8 Lanba to conduct a probe to
future,” he said, adding, “The on Thursday said that 5 per killing of Hizbul Mujahideen check the authenticity of the
youth in Kashmir should have cent people resorted to street terrorist Burhan Wani even leaked documents and claimed
pens, books and computers in violence in Kashmir Valley in though the Government had it was a case of hacking. A team
their hands, not stones.”
the last few weeks, but the rest imposed a strict curfew. “Had headed by deputy chief of Naval
He said that his second visit of the 95 per cent people want a kid gone to buy a toffee from Staff was going through the
in a month’s time is indicative a resolution to the issue an Army camp? A 15-year-old 22,400 leaked documents and it
of the concern the Government through peaceful means. She boy who attacked a police sta- will take some time to reach any
has for Kashmir. He said he said the people resorting to vio- tion in Damhal Hanjipora conclusion, officials said.
met around 20 delegations lence would be dealt with (south Kashmir) had not gone
An internal audit of procecomprising around 300 people sternly according to law.
to fetch milk. Don’t compare
and
discussed
the
Mehbooba became agitated the two,” she thundered.
prevailing situation.
when a journalist asked her
She said the 2010 killings
The Home Minister said about the alleged dispropor- were in response to agitations
his Ministry would soon set-up tionate use of force against civil- against a fake encounter in
a nodal agency that would ian protesters and if she had Machil sector while the 2009
look into complaints of the swapped her role and views with unrest followed the Shopian
Kashmiri youth.
her predecessor Omar Abdullah, rape and murder.
Continued on Page 4 who ruled the State during the
Continued on Page 4
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dures to rule out security compromise was also going on, officials said, adding the Defence
Ministry was in touch with foreign Governments through
diplomatic channels to verify
the authenticity of the reports.
The Government is also
examining if the information
contained in the documents
claimed to be available with
Australian sources has been
compromised. A high-level
committee constituted by the
Defence Ministry and the
Indian Navy is taking all necessary steps to mitigate any
probable security compromise,
they said. It is also carrying out
a detailed assessment of the
potential impact of the leak on
the Scorpene project.
Sources said a Defence
Ministry team may also travel
to France and visit the DCNS
headquarters.
The French shipbuilder
that had inked the $3.5 billion
deal in 2006 for building
Scorpene submarines at the
MDL, on Wednesday said that
French authorities were probing the “serious” matter.
Continued on Page 4
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?=BQ =4F34;78
day after Congress vicepresident Rahul Gandhi
told the Supreme Court that he
never blamed the Rashtriya
Swyamsevak Sangh (RSS) as an
institution for the murder of
Mahatma Gandhi, Rahul said
on Thursday he will never
stop fighting the RSS.
“I will never stop fighting
the hateful & divisive agenda of
the RSS. I stand by every single word I said,”
tweeted Rahul. His
tweet came after
media reports said
that he took a Uturn
on
Wednesday when he told the
Supreme Court that he did not
ever blame the RSS for the
assassination of Mahatma
Gandhi but had only said that
a “few individuals in the organisation” were responsible for it.
Congress leader Digvijay
Singh dismissed suggestions
that Rahul has made a U-turn
in the Supreme Court on the
RSS and said the party vicepresident stands by his assertion that the person who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi was
from the organisation.
Continued on Page 4
BC055A4?>AC4AQ =4F34;78
inay Sharma, one of the
convicts sentenced to
death for the rape and murder
of Nirbhaya on a moving bus
in Delhi in December 2012,
tried to hang himself in Tihar
Jail after consuming a heavy
dose of anti-depressants on
Wednesday night.
However, Sharma’s lawyer
claimed that he was being tortured in the jail and it was not
a suicide attempt but attempt to
murder. Meanwhile, the parents of the 23-year-old victim
reacted by saying that they
wanted
to see “all
of the
convicts
dead so
that they
could
take a
sigh of
relief ”.
“It is
good for
such people to die
as they
are dangerous for society and
country,” said Nirbhaya’s father.
Sharma was suffering from
depression and was on medication, sources in jail said.
“Tamil Nadu Police security personnel prevented Vinay
from committing suicide after
they saw him trying to hang
himself in his cell around 9.30
pm with a towel in the jail. He
was immediately taken to DDU
hospital for treatment. He is
now reportedly out of danger,”
Tihar Jail Superintendent
Bijendra Kumar said.
The officer said that
Sharma has been lodged in Jail
No.8 of the high security ward
in Tihar. He, however, said the
reason for the attempt was not
known.
Continued on Page 4
Related report on P2
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?=BQ 170F0=8?0C=0>38B70
day after a tribal man had
A
to walk 10 km carrying his
wife’s body on his shoulder in
Odisha’s Kalahandi after failing
to get a vehicle from a
Government hospital, a probe
was ordered on Thursday to
ascertain the circumstances
which led to the incident.
“The District Collector of
Kalahandi has ordered an
enquiry into the incident. SubCollector of Bhawanipatna has
been directed to conduct the
probe and submit a report at
the earliest,” State Urban
Development
Minister
Pushpendra Singhdeo, who
hails from Kalahandi district,
said in Bhubaneswar.
“Sub-Collector Sukanta
Tripathy has been asked to
ascertain whether the tribal
man, Dana Majhi, had been
denied a vehicle to take his wife’s
body from the hospital here yesterday,” said a senior officer.
The incident took place on
Wednesday when locals found
Majhi carrying his wife Amang
Dei’s body, with his 12-year-old
daughter trailing behind.
The 42-year-old woman
had died of TB at the district
headquarters hospital at
Bhawanipatna. Majhi said
despite all efforts, he failed to
get any help from hospital
authorities and had no other
alternative than to wrap the
body in a cloth and start walking to his village Melghara in
Rampur block, about 60 km
from Bhawanipatna.
“I told the hospital authorities that I am a poor man and
can’t afford a vehicle. Despite
repeated requests, they said
they can’t offer any help,” Majhi
told a local television channel.
Singhdeo, however, claimed
an ambulance was sent for
transportation of the body of
Majhi’s wife to their village as
soon as the authorities concerned came to know about it.
Unfortunately, the man
had by then covered a distance
of around 10 km, the Minister
said, adding “appropriate action
would be taken after the
inquiry report is submitted”.
Continued on Page 4
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C=A067D=0C70Q <D<108
t least 128 people were
A
injured in “Dahi-handi”related incidents in Mumbai
and neighbouring Thane city,
even as the Krishna
Janmashtami revellers defied
the Supreme Court order
restricting height of the human
pyramid to 20 feet and banning
participation of those below 18
years and at one place at Thane
a “Govinda” team formed a
“human pyramid” as tall as 40
feet.
While 126 “Govindas” suffered injuries in various parts
of Mumbai, two others sus-
tained injuries at Thane. Of the
injured, 92 revellers were treated and discharged, while the
remaining 34 injured are
undergoing treatment at various hospitals in Mumbai.
The defiance was relatively rampant at Thane where
police registered offences
against Maharastra Navnirman
Sena (MNS) “Dahi-handi”
organiser Avinash Jadhav and
16 “Govindas’ under Sections
224/16 308, 336, 188, 34 of
Indian Penal Code read with
140 of the Maharashtra Police
Act for allegedly violating the
apex court’s order.
In utter disregard to the
Supreme Court directive, the
MNS-sponsored “Jai Jawan”
Mandal had erected a nine-tier
“human pyramid”, which was
of 40 feet height. Jadhav, who
had earlier been served a notice
against defying the apex court
order, was unfazed by the
police action against him.
Such as the nature of defiance shown by the revellers
belonging to the “Jai Jawan” was
that they wore T-shirts that read
“hoye, mi kayda modnar’ (I will
break the law). These revellers
were attempting to break the
40-foot “Dahi-handi” that carried a cash prize of C11 lakh.
Continued on Page 4
n RSS functionary at
A
Muzhakkunnu in Kerala’s
politically volatile Kannur district on Thursday suffered serious hack injuries in a brutal
attack carried out allegedly by
a CPI(M) gang. Three other
RSS workers too suffered
injuries in the attack.
Sugesh (33), the Mandalam
Karyavahak of the RSS in
Kadukkapalam, was admitted
to Indira Gandhi Cooperative
Hospital in Thalassery, Kannur,
with hack injuries in legs, neck
and abdomen. Doctors said his
condition was serious and
might have to be shifted to the
Government Medical College
Hospital in Kozhikode.
Three other RSS workers
— Santhosh, Arun and
Deepesh — too suffered
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injuries in the attack that took
place at an under-construction
house at Kadukkappalam near
Muzhakkunnu on Thursday
at 1.30 pm. They said a 30member gang of armed
Marxists barged into the house
and hacked Sugesh after creating a terror situation by exploding country-made bombs and
attacked them with iron rods.
Officials from the Iritti
and Pervavoor police stations
inspected the spot and
launched a search for the perpetrators of the violence.
Tension had been prevailing in
the Muzhakkunnu area for the
past several days, reports said.
The house of the Mattannur
Mandalam Karyavahak of the
RSS had come under attack on
Thursday morning.
Several parts of Kannur
district had witnessed tension
during the Sri Krishna Jayanti
celebrations on Wednesday for
which the RSS-BJP and the
CPI(M) had taken out
processions.
Thursday’s attack on
Sugesh and others was the first
major incident of political violence in Kannur since the
killing of local BMS leader CK
Ramachandran (48) and
CPI(M) activist CV Dhanaraj
(38) in Payyannur last month.
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festive mood took over
A
the national Capital on
Thursday as people decked up
to celebrate Janmashtami, the
birth of lord Krishna, in temples across the city. Amid high
security and heavy police
deployment in major temples,
devotees thronged in large
numbers at various temples,
chanting Hare Krishna Hare
Rama as the celebrations began
with an aarti early in the morning. The Lakshmi Narayan
temple, also known as Birla
Mandir, and the Gouri Shankar
temple in Old Delhi were specially decorated for the occasion. Children dressed up like
Krishna and Radha added to
the festive fervour.
Birla Mandir was decorated into a majestic monument
with garlands and colourful
lights all around. For the devotees, the temple compound
was not less than a wonderland.
A group foreigners who
were able to make the visit to
the temple for the first time,
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were amazed to see rich Indian
religious tradition. Jiang from
China, who visited the temple
to see lord Krishna’s birthday
for the first time, said, “It’s a
great feeling to see such a rich
Indian tradition. I feel connected with India.”
Movement of vehicles was
banned around 50 metre radius
of the oldest Birla Mandir.
“Pilgrims are allowed entry
from the main gate while exit
will be permitted through back
gate only,” said Vinod Kuimar
Mishra, administrator, Laxmi
BURU\11@=<1]_fUcRbUQSX
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New Delhi: Rebel AAP MLA
Pankaj Pushkar has moved a
breach of privilege notice
against Deputy Chief Minister
Manish Sisodia, accusing him of
resorting to “falsehoods” while
defending
the
Delhi
Government on the liquor issue.
Pushkar, who represents the
Timarpur constituency, moved
the notice on Wednesday, claim-
ing Sisodia’s replies to two starred
questions in the Assembly were
factually incorrect and were
intended to “hide” the Delhi
Government’s “misdeeds”.
In reply to Pushkar’s question on whether there was any
public consultation before
granting licences to new vends
in the last one year, Sisodia had
said as per current rules there
is no such requirement.
This, Pushkar claimed, was
“false” as relavant sections of the
Delhi Excise Rules, 2010 make
the Deputy Commissioner
liable to take all reasonable
steps to “ascertain the opinion
of persons, who reside or have
property in the neighbourhood
and are likely to be affected by
the proposal”.
PTI
Narayan temple. Lost-andfound centre and medical camp
were also set up at entry and
exit gates. As many as 16 parking areas were made available
for pilgrims to park their vehicles, said traffic police official.
“To attract the devotees
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this year, authorities have
showcased Kalpvraksh (a holy
tree also known as wish tree) at
the temple compound. This
tree has lot of significant in the
Hindu mythology,” the temple
administrator said.
Every year temple sees
about 1.5 lakh devotes, however, this year the temple is likely to witness even bigger number of devotees, he added.
Not just the Hindus, a
large number of devotees from
non-Hindu devotees too visited the temple to celebrate
Janmashtami.
Tina Dolma, a Christian
young woman from the NorthEast, was happily swinging Bal
Gopal, the child form of lord
Krishna after waiting for her
turn for almost an hour.
The authorities of ISKCON
temple informed that whole
campus was decorated with
flowers and lights. A special
arrangement of flowers was
also done by the artists, especially called from Vrindavan
(Uttar Pradesh) for the festival.
According to Sunita
Sikarwar, a resident closer to
the temple in East of Kailash,
“Since ISKCON is primarily
devoted to lord Krishna, the
temple has been adorned beautifully and was under preparation for the past one month.”
Another devotee, Isha
Mukherjee, who has been visiting the temple for years, said
the festivities at ISKCON bring
back the good memories from
so many years.
As many as four companies
of police were deployed in and
around ISKCON temple to
keep at bay any untoward incident during the celebrations.
Around 350 additional personnel were also deployed for
securing the area.
The roads towards ISKCON
temple were barricaded and the
visitors walked a long stretch to
reach the temple.
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New Delhi: Hours after the suicide attempt by one of the convicts in the December 16, 2012
gangrape case, the parents of the
23-year-old victim on Thursday
said they wanted to see “all of
the convicts dead so that they
could take a sigh of relief.”
“It is good. It is a big thing
that he is still alive, he should
die very soon. He has to die in
future, if he dies today, it would
be a tribute to our daughter,”
said the distraught father of the
paramedical student, who died
of grave intestinal injuries on
December 29, 2012, at
Singapore’s Mount Elizabeth
Hospital where she was airlift-
ed for specialised treatment.
In a telephonic conversation with IANS, the victim’s
father, in his late 50s, said, “It
is good for such people to die
as they are dangerous for soci-
ety and country.”
One of the four convicts in
the case, Vinay Sharma tried to
commit suicide by hanging himself inside his cell in a high security ward in Jail No. 8 in Tihar on
Wednesday around 9.30 p.m.
Sharma was admitted to
Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU)
Hospital after he consumed
pills and tried to hang himself
from the ventilator of his cell by
using a towel. Hospital authorities later said that Sharma’s
condition was stable after preliminary treatment.
Asked about his reaction to
Sharma’s suicide attempt, the
victim’s father further said, “If
he was committing suicide, he
should do it. Not only he, I want
see all the convicts dead so that
we can take a sigh of relief.”
Similar sentiments were
expressed by the victim’s moth-
er, who said, “The sin of these
people (all the convicts) will
not allow them to live. My
daughter survived without
water for 13 days. She faced
extreme pain and brutality.”
Sharma, Mukesh, Pawan,
Akshay Thakur and Ram Singh,
along with a juvenile, were
accused of gangraping and brutally assaulting the victim inside
a moving bus in the city. The victim and her friend were thrown
out of the bus after the crime.
In 2013, Ram Singh, the
prime accused in the case and
the driver of the bus in which the
gangrape occurred, was found
dead in Tihar Jail.
IANS
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New Delhi: A 3.5-foot-long snake was spotted on
the premises of Rohini jail, and was later released
in its natural habitat.
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The non-venomous
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snake caught by the rescuers of NGO ‘Wildlife µTYVT\VcVU\VV]SRT\¶
SOS’ was identified as
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‘checkered keelback’.
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It was noticed by
some inmates while working at an open space
inside the jail last week. They immediately alerted the guards. The security officials of the jail then
informed the NGO which rescued the snake.
“Checkered keelbacks can be quite aggressive
when threatened and often inflate their fore-body
as an act of self-defence. Although non-venomous,
its bite can be injurious," said Geeta Seshamani,
co-founder of Wildlife SOS.
The keelbacks are non-venomous and is
found predominantly near water-bodies as well as
drains and agricultural lands, she said.
PTI
elhi Assembly Secretar y
Prasanna Kumar Suryadevara
D
has been given a two-year extension
of his deputation by Speaker Ram
Niwas Goel, rejecting public broadcaster Prasar Bharti’s request to
Delhi Government officials said
the Speaker has the power to extend
deputation of any officer working in
the Assembly Secretariat. “We have
given him (Suryadevara) extension
of two years. Prasanna is going
nowhere. He will work with us till
2018,” Goel said.
In a letter to Delhi Government’s
Services Department last month,
Prasar Bharti had stated that
Suryadevara should be repatriated
with immediate effect as it is facing
acute shortage of staff.
Suryadevara, an official belonging to Newsreader-cum- Translator
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he
Uttar
Pradesh
Government on Thursday
shunted out CEO of Noida
Authority Rama Raman in a
minor bureaucratic reshuffle
involving two more IAS officers. IAS officer from 1987batch Raman was removed
from his post and put on the
wait list while 1989-bach IAS
officer Principal Secretary
Technical Education Monika
Garg has been given additional charge of the Noida
Authority as Officer on Special
Duty at Noida Authority.
The Allahabad High Court
had seized CEO Raman's powers on July 1 in response to a
petition filed by Noida resident
Jitendra Kumar Goyal, who
had alleged that Raman had
been holding three posts —
CEO of Noida authority and
chairman of all the three
authorities-NOIDA-GREATER
NOIDA
and
Yamuna
Expressway authorities —
simultaneously for three years.
The court had pointed out
that the State Government had
“failed to follow its own policy” that an officer should not
continue on the same post for
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(Telugu) cadre, was appointed to the
post of Delhi Assembly Secretary in
July last year, initially for a period
of one year. When his one-year deputation period ended this July, the
Assembly Speaker had requested the
Prasar Bharti to extend his stay in
the current position.
However, Prasar Bharti
expressed inability to extend
Suryadevara’s deputation and asked
the Delhi Government to repatriate
him, saying it was in dire need of
experienced
professionals.
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Suryadevara had served the Lok
Sabha for five years and the Rajya
Sabha for over six years through the
offices of Lok Sabha Speaker and
Rajya Sabha Chairman respectively.
In a letter to Services
Department, Prasar Bharti’s Deputy
Director (Administration) V Sripathi
had said, “As this Directorate is in
dire need for expressed professionals, like Prasana Kumar Suryadevara,
NRT (Telugu), the Directorate
expresses its inability to concur
with the desire of Speaker, Delhi
Assembly for the absorption of
Prasana Kumar Suryadevara.”
On June 21, the Assembly
Speaker had requested the Delhi
Government that Suryadevara be
posted on a permanent basis as the
Vidhan Sabha Secretary. Deputy
Secretary (Services) Anupama
Chakravorty had conveyed the
Speaker’s request to the AIR DG.
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22-year-old girl committed
suicide by hanging herself 4cZeZTZdVd7`cVde5VaRce^V_e
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from the ceiling fan in her pay-
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a long period of time.
After the High Court orders,
the Uttar Pradesh Government,
on July 19, appointed Pravir
Kumar as chairman of the three
authorities. Raman, however,
continued as Noida authority’s
CEO. IAS Pravir Kumar was also
removed by the State
Government the next month.
Then, Principal Secretary (energy, infrastructure and industrial development) Sanjay Agarwal
was given additional charge of
the posts held by Kumar.
On August 16, the State
Government had told the High
Court that it had decided to
retain Raman as CEO of Noida
Authority as his services were
required for the running of
next phase of Metro from
March 2017.
ing guest apartment in Noida’s
Sector-15 area on Wednesday.
She attempted twice to end her
life after she fell as the rope
broke the first time, police said.
The deceased has been
identified as Priyadarshini M,
daughter of Nagaraj, a resident
of Tamil Nadu. Pridarshni had
done Master of Technology
and was doing internship at a
private company in Sector-16.
Police have recovered a suicide
note from her room.
The incident came to light
around 7 pm when her room
mate Sangeeta found her hanging from ceiling fan. “The door
was closed from inside but
when I saw through the window,
she was hanging,” she told police.
Station House Officer,
Sector-20, Amarnath Yadav
said that she has written in her
suicide note that she was tired
of her career struggle.
“We have recovered a suicide note. She wrote that she is
badly frustrated from her life
and struggling career. She felt
sorrow for her father for this
drastic step,” the SHO said.
BC055A4?>AC4AQ =4F34;78
he CIC has taken exception
to rampant encroachment in
T
the green lung of the national
Capital — the ridge area — due
to delay in its demarcation and
sought a report from Forest and
Revenue departments in this
regard. Information
Commissioner
Sridhar Acharyulu
directed these
departments to submit the
report on the action taken
against encroachers.
Irked by the laxity of both
departments in finalising
boundary of the ridge area, he
said there may not be malice,
but inaction for such a long time
is worse than malice. The case
relates to an RTI application
filed by Anil Sood who wanted
number of details including
maps and measurements of
encroachments in the ridge
area in the national Capital.
Sood had pleaded before
the Commission that everyday
at least 50 encroachments are
coming up on the Ridge land
in Delhi and delaying taking up
this complaint might lead to
over-encroachments. He had
claimed that there is an urgent
need for information which can
stop encroachments forthwith.
During the hearing, forest
department officials
did not have answers
to questions posed
by the Information
Commissio-ner. He
said it was highly
objectionable attitude of the
Forest department “to consume
months and months to give just
one copy of affidavit which they
have already had with them”.
The Forest Department
claimed that the demarcation of
the ridge has not been authentically done and that issue is
before the NGT and High Court.
“Their (Forest Department)
approach is hyper-technical and
red tape based. If a genuine information seeker has to suffer so
much of procrastination, how
could a common man challenge the encroachments causing
deterioration of ridge forest.”
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=4F34;78
he Jawaharlal Nehru University
student Anmol Ratan has been
sent to judicial custody for 14 days
on Thursday. He has been accused
of raping a 28-year-old fellow PhD
student in the university hostel on
August 20.
A magisterial court at Patiala
House courts complex sent Ratan
to jail after the Delhi Police decided not to seek his custody. Also, the
court directed jail authorities to
provide him proper medical facilities after he submitted that he was
suffering from heart ailment.
Ratan had surrendered before
police on Thursday night hours
after the victim recorded her statement before a magistrate at Vasant
Kunj (North) police station. The
victim had said she had posted on
her Facebook that she wanted to
watch a movie and had asked if anyone had its CD.
Ratan apparently messaged her
saying he had a copy. Later, he
picked her up on August 20 on the
pretext of giving her the CD and
took her to Brahamputra Hostel,
where he stayed. There he allegedly offered her a spiked drink and
raped her.
Ratan, an AISA activist, was 9=D?W3bcdST]c0]\^[APcP]PRRdbTS^UaP_TQhPUT[[^fbcdST]c
expelled from the association after QTX]V_a^SdRTSPc?PcXP[P7^dbT2^dac^]CWdabSPh
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being the incident surfaced. In a
statement, AISA said, “The accused in the complaint of sexual violence in JNU has surrendered to police. But that is not enough. The Delhi Police is playing shameful role in leaking information to the media regarding identity of the complainant as well as details of the
incident stated in her deposition.”
T
he Jawaharlal Nehru
University Students’ Union
T
(JNUSU) is again at loggerheads
with the media and the Delhi
Police over the information
“leaked” about the complainant
of the rape incident that took
place at the Brahumputra Hostel
on August 20 evening.
In this regard, the JNUSU
has
written
to
the
Commissioner of the Delhi
Police demanding action
against police officials involved
in leaking the complainant’s
information in the media. The
JNUSU has expressed dismay
with “several media houses”
calling their reportage “highly
insensitive and dangerous”.
“We are extremely pained
and shocked to note the highly insensitive and dangerous
reporting by several media
houses about the rape that
took place at JNU on August
20. One particular newspaper
carried a report on August 24
revealing political affiliation
of the complainant. We have
come to know that the courtroom was vacated during the
proceeding of the hearing day
before this report was published and no journalist was
allowed to be present there. The
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fact that details of the hearing
came out on the newspapers
indicates towards leakage of
information including details of
the identity of the complainant
by the police,” stated the memorandum signed by various
Left-leaning JNUSU leaders
including vice-president,
Shehla Rashid Shora.
The memorandum mentioned that on the next day of
the incident, police sent information to the media about the
FIR that was filed against the
accused. “The Press brief
included indication of the identity of the complainant. In
another incident message is
being circulated among journalists about FIR which included graphic details about the
rape incident described by the
complainant in the FIR. Such
indications which reveal the
identity of the complainant
are a serious offence and distressing in the way information
is getting leaked though the
media,” it further mentioned.
The JNUSU has sought
answers from the Delhi Police
about its role in leaking the
information about the complainant. They have demanded
“strict action” against the
involved policemen.
“We seek the answer on the
above mentioned role of the
Delhi Police in leaking information that harms the interest
of the complainant. We also
demand that strict action should
be taken against police officers
responsible for such acts.”
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day after JNU student Anmol
Rattan surrendered before police
A
after a fellow PhD scholar accused him
of raping her, the JNU students and
teachers on Thursday demanded that
he be suspended from the university.
The students and teachers
demanded that the university should
be declared out of bounds for the
scholar to ensure safety of the complainant. Also,
scores of students
of the varsity staged
a protest outside
Delhi Police headquarters demanding that the force
refrains
from
revealing information which could
reveal identity of the victim.
“We are extremely dismayed to
know that three days after the complaint has been lodged, the accused is
yet to be suspended or declared out of
bounds from the university, so that safe
conditions of complaint and testimony for the complainant may be maintained... We demand that this be done
forthwith. This failure to act has tarnished the image of the JNU administration quite severely,” the JNU
teachers said in a joint statement.
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male professor’s fight at Delhi
University is likely to bear fruit
A
for thousands of female ad hoc teachers as the university is finally “under
process” in considering child and
maternity leave for them.
The ad hoc teachers working in
various colleges so far were not given
this facility.
Professor Anupam Kumar had
written to Ministry of Human
Resource and Development (MHRD)
and Prime Minister’s Office (PMO)
who have reverted to him by sending
the directions to the university.
Kumar has received a letter from the
varsity acknowledging that the issue
was “under process” for seeking “specific clarification”.
“I had written to the MHRD who
had written to the university but no
action was taken... In October last
year, I wrote to the PMO who asked
the varsity to look into the grievance.
The university has finally written to
me and said the matter is under
process and for special clarification,
it was referred to the UGC,” Kumar
told The Pioneer.
He said, these lecturers are deprived
of the benefits despite being in contin-
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uous service for five to ten years
Kumar had filed a public grievance on October 13, 2015 seeking the
“attention of the PMO on the issue
Child and Maternity leave of 2,500
female adhoc lectures”.
“I would like to seek your attention on the issue of 2,500 female
adhoc lectures of Delhi University and
its affiliated colleges on the maternity and child care leave...I am attaching the letter from MHRD directing
the DU Vice Chancellor Yogesh Tyagi
to take action but he has not taken
action for the last nine months,”
Kumar’s appeal reads.
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Class XI student died after falling from 11th floor of a
building in Ghaziabad’s Indirapuram on Wednesday night.
AThe
reason behind his death still remains a mystery.
During initial investigation, police suspected suicide but
said they would investigate the incident from other angles too.
The family, however, suspects that the boy has been murdered, and they have demanded an enquiry.
Police said the boy had come to meet 4]RddI:defUV_e
one of his acquaintances at a society but UZVdRWeVcWR]]Z_X
was found lying in a pool of blood
beneath a society’s tower. He was taken Wc`^""eYW]``c`W
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to a hospital where he was declared
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brought dead, said official.
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According to reports, a 16-year-old
boy Varun Rajput was a resident of dfZTZUVSfeWR^Z]j
Noida’s Sector 22. On Wednesday
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evening, he had gone to meet a relative
living in a flat in Indirapuram but was found dead at Aditya
Mega City, another society located in the same area. Police
said instead of going to relative’s home, he went to meet one
of his female friends living on 11th floor of Aditya Mega
Society and was found dead under mysterious circumstances.
“The boy reached his friend’s flat at around 7 pm. But about
two hours later, a guard of the society found him lying on
ground with multiple fractures in his body. He made a PCR
call and the boy was taken to a private hospital where doctors declared him dead. The boy was identified with the help
of mobile number and his family was informed thereafter. His
body has also been sent for postmortem, the report of which
is awaited,” said a senior police official investigating the case.
“The boy has been murdered for reason which should
be investigated properly. There was no sign that he was
upset/depressed that would have forced him to commit suicide. On the day of incident, he had happily gone to
Ghaziabad hence we suspect he was killed. The matter should
be probed properly,” said a family member.
Police, however, said prima facie, it appears a case of suicide but they (police) will reach on any conclusion once initial postmortem report will come. “We have been scanning
his call details and are talking with his friends and relatives.
We have also been scanning CCTV footage of the society so
we could get more information,” said the police official.
Also, Kumar mentioned about
BBC Hindi’s survey describing the
“mental and physical exploitation” of
the adhoc teachers to the PMO.
The university has replied to
Kumar who was teaching as the
guest faculty of PGDAV Evening and
Satyawati evening stating that the
matter is under process.
“The Rajya Sabha has recently
passed the Maternity Bill and Prime
Minister has made reference of the Bill
on his Independence Day speech.
Quick implementation by DU will certainly help thousands of female adhoc
teachers of DU,” asserted Kumar.
outh Delhi pet lovers, who earlier
were reluctant to visit the South
Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC)
Veterinary Hospital for registering
their pets for fear of being made to wait
for hours, can now upload their pets’
details online at a fee of C500.
“We had planned to roll out the
online facility for pet registration by August 22. But,
now it would be available
either by this week end or
beginning of the next
week,” Director of
Veterinary Services of
South Delhi Municipal
Corporation, RBS Tyagi,
told The Pioneer.
Shantanu, who lives in
Greter Kaliash-I has a
Beagle puppy. “Even, I have
not registered my pet’s
details to the SDMC. Early, in the
morning tomorrow, I will upload my
pets profile to the municipal website.”
South Delhi is home to many pets,
mainly dogs, though residents also
keep cats, parrots, guinea pigs and
other domesticated animals.
Tyagi said applicants can submit all
details online, including self-attested
papers, proof of residence and vaccination certificates. “The registration fee
would be C500 which can also be sub-
mitted online,” he said. The SDMC had
a few months ago revised the registration fee to C500 from its earlier nominal fee of C50.
After registration, which would be
valid for one financial year, a ‘dog
token’ would be issued to the owners.
Harman, who stays at Defence
Colony and has two pet dogs, said,
“Surely, this a good approach of the
corporation. Since the facility was offline, it was really time consuming. Now,
I will also register my pet’s details on
the SDMC’s Veterinary Services website soon.”
Another dog lover Rinki said,
“Even I have also not listed my pet’s
information to the SDMC, as earlier it
was a tall order.” Since, the facility is
online, tomorrow morning my first
work would be upload my pet’s details,
she added.
BC055A4?>AC4AQ =4F34;78
female journalist working
A
with a national news channel was allegedly harassed by
four people while she was
returning from an assignment
in Andrewsganj area of South
Delhi. The incident happened
on Wednesday evening when
the reporter was returning
from Dhaula Kuan after the
assignment and heading to her
office in Noida.
Police said they have arrested one of the accused.
The four people, who were
in a vehicle, kept pace with her
office cab and passed lewd
comments and harassed her
throughout her journey from
Dhaula Kuan to Andrewsganj,
a senior police official said.
He said the accused started following her in their vehicle from near Hyatt Hotel at
around 7.30 pm. Initially, she
tried to avoid them but they
sang vulgar songs and made
obscene gesture towards her,
police said.
At the Andrewsganj bus
stand, she took out her camera
and mike which scared the
accused and three of them
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fled while driver of the vehicle,
Puneesh, was caught on camera and arrested by police on
her call to PCR.
A case under IPC Sections
354-D (stalking) and 509 (word,
gesture or act intended to insult
the modesty of a woman) has
been registered at the Defence
Colony police station and
efforts are being made to nab
the other accused, they said.
Later, the journalist tweeted the photographs of the
accused in their vehicle and
captioned it as “Meet these
brave hearts of the national
capital, fearlessly passes lewd
comments & gestures @ prime
locations.Heroes! (sic)”. She
termed commuting on Delhi
roads as a “nightmare”.
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New Delhi: Reaffirming its support for India's NSG membership bid, Canada on Thursday
said the scope of the deal
between the two countries for
supply of uranium can be further
“expanded”. Speaking on a range
of issues, Canadian High
Commissioner to India Nadir
Patel said Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau is likely to visit the
country in the “not so distant
future” and that dates are being
worked out.
“The date has not yet been
set. The challenge is simply
scheduling and nothing else. I
am working with both the
Prime Ministers' offices to try
to secure a window. But we are
certainly highly anticipating
that visit happens in the not so
distant future,” he said.
Patel said the movement of
uranium consignments from
Canada to India which began
last year is progressing
“extremely well”.
Asked about its possible
expansion, he said, “There are
provisions for that to happen.”
Patel was interacting with a
select gathering at the Foreign
Correspondents Club here.
Patel emphasised that
Canada's “strong support” on
India's bid to enter the 48member Nuclear suppliers
Group, resisted by China, was
“clear and vocal”.
“We have come out vocally. We have made that very
clear. We have advocated for
India to join as we feel there's
a lot to gain from India joining
in terms of global collaboration
as well,” he said. Gujarat born
Patel said, “There is something different right now” in
Indo-Canada ties that had not
been experienced in the past.
“There's a transformation
happening both in India and
Canada. We can coexist with
common and shared values
and have very significant differences of opinion,” he said.
Replying to a query on free
trade
agreement
and
Intellectual Property Rights,
he said problems on the front
of IPR are “workable” and not
a stumbling block.
He stressed on the need for
speeding up economic reforms
by opening up more sectors of
Indian economy.
“There are other areas that
are creating quite a challenge for
us to navigate. We subscribe to
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi's vision of economic
reforms but frankly I don't
think there has been much
progress in a real policy matter.
Although some sectors have
opened up. Much more needs to
be done,” he said.
PTI
/R3WRDSSURDFK&%,WRSUREH
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eader of Opposition in
Delhi Assembly Vijender
Gupta on Thursday said he will
approach CBI and Lokayukta
seeking a probe into the AAP
Government's alleged expenditure of over C110 crore on
advertisements as compared to
C27.43 crore spent on it in the
last fiscal.
Gupta claimed that the
Comptroller and Auditor
General (CAG) has pointed out
“glaring irregularities” in advertisement spending and said he
will file a case with CBI and
Delhi Lokayukta.
Claiming that the Delhi
Government had “failed” to
provide committed liability in
respect of print and outdoor
L
media, the BJP leader alleged,
“In spite of this, the actual cost
of advertisements released during 2015-16 will go beyond
C114.21 crore. This is far above
the total expenditure of C27.43
crore during 2014-15.”
Quoting the purported
CAG report, he claimed the
Delhi government spent
C86.78 crore more during
2015-16 which is a record in
itself. The actual figure may be
much more as the entire record
was not made available for
audit.
“Over 85 per cent of
expenditure of C33.40 crore
incurred on one specific publicity campaign pertained to
advertisements released outside of Delhi which was
beyond the responsibility of
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40-year-old man has been
booked for allegedly raping
A
his minor daughter at their residence in Porsa area for last two
months, police said on
Thursday.
The incident occurred last
night after Giriraj Tomar, a
habitual drinker, came home
sloshed and allegedly raped his
10-year-old daughter.
“As the girl raised an alarm,
her mother, grandfather, and
grandmother came to her rescue and reported the matter to
the police,” said Porsa Police
station Inspector Sunil
Kushwaha.
He said an FIR was registered against Tomar under relevant sections of IPC, follow-
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ing the medical examination of
the girl at hospital.
“The girl's mother has told
us that Tomar has been raping
his daughter for last two
months, but the family kept
mum fearing social stigma.
However, they approached
police last night as they were
moved by the plight of the girl,”
Kushwaha said.
Tomar, meanwhile, is
absconding, he added.
the city Government.
“Out of the total expenditure of C33.40 crore incurred
on publicity campaigns, only
C4.69 crore pertain to Delhi's
publication and C28.71 crore to
other states/cities,” he said
while quoting from the CAG
report which is yet to be made
public.
Gupta said he will file a
case with Delhi Lokayukta and
CBI against the AAP
Government for “illegally
spending” crores of rupees on
“misleading” ads and demand
strict legal action. “Deputy
Chief Minister Manish Sisodia
has committed contempt of the
House by making wrong statement and, in view of this, the
Assembly Speaker should punish him,” he said.
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Mumbai: Chief Minister
Devendra Fadnavis on
Thursday said the State
Government plans to transform 1,000 villages with the
help of corporate sector, and
the civil society over the next
few years.
He said corporate sector is
already working with the
Government in various sectors
through the CSR and “we
thought of using their
resources, knowledge, technology and planning and
implementation skills”.
He said the corporate sectors' expertise would be used to
set up an institutional mechanism to amalgamate work done
by different companies in different areas to transform 1000
villages in collaboration with
the State Government. PTI
5DJDIOLSIORSV
From Page 1
“No U-turn by Rahul
Gandhi on the RSS. He stands
by what he said. Person who
killed was from the RSS. It is
the Ideology of hate and violence which killed Mahatma
Gandhi”, said the Congress
general secretary in a series of
tweets.
Before Rahul’s tweet,
Information and Broadcasting
Minister M Venkaiah Naidu
said in the morning that wisdom had prevailed upon the
Congress vice-president.
After Rahul came out with
the latest tweet to blame the
RSS, the BJP accused him of
speaking lies to target the
Sangh and asked him why the
UPA Government did not take
any action against the Hindutva
organiation during its 10 years
in power. “Those living in
2<) 0ccPRZTa
From Page 1
“Don’t mix or compare the
two situations. You are making
a bad analysis of what you are
saying. In 2010, there was a fake
encounter. Three civilians were
killed. That means there was a
reason for the people to be
angry.
“Today, there was an
encounter in which three militants were killed. How is the
Government to be blamed for
that,” she shot back.
Mehbooba said she
favoured resolution of the
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he verdict in British teenager Scarlett Keeling death
T
case will be pronounced on
elhi State Cancer Institute
(DSCI) is all set to get a
D
PET scan machine, a hi-tech
September 23, eight years after
her semi-nude and bruised
body was found at Anjuna
beach in Goa.
A local barman Samson
D'Souza, working in a shack,
and one Placido Carvalho, also
a local, were tried on charges of
drugging, sexually abusing and
leaving the teenager to die on
the beach, where her body
was found on February 18,
2008.
Goa Children's Court president Vandana Tendulkar said
the verdict would be pronounced on September 23 with
the final arguments in the case
concluding on Thursday after
two days.
The prosecution has examined 31 witnesses, including the
gadget used for cancer diagnosis, which is available in the
city only at AIIMS, Army's
Research and Referral Hospital
and few other private hospitals.
“DSCI now has a PET
scan machine, which uses full
body scan-technique for diagnosis. It will be inaugurated
tomorrow. This scan currently costs Rs 20,000-25,000 and
with this facility people could
get the test done for C5,000,” a
spokesperson of DSCI said on
Thursday.
Deputy Chief Minister
Manish Sisodia and Health
Minister Satyendar Jain are
scheduled to inaugurate the
new facility on Friday at the
hospital premises in Dilshad
Garden area.
8_c`YdQ\µc
Q`QdXi
glass houses should not throw
stones at others. Will Rahul
Gandhi be liked with the rape
and murder of the Dalit
woman Bhanwari Devi or
killing of Naina Sahni because
those accused of these crimes
were from the Congress?
“The truth is that RSS has
only grown in strength
despite attempts by likes of
Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira
Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and
Sonia Gandhi to target it. It
just shows Rahul Gandhi’s
ideological bankruptcy and
we do not take him seriously,” said BJP national secretary
Shrikant Sharma.
Party spokesperson GVL
Narasimha Rao said, “Gandhi’s
face saving verbal gymnastics
after surrender in court on RSS
won’t help. False bravado and
bluster no substitutes to truth.”
From Page 1
When Majhi and his
daughter were walking, some
local reporters spotted the duo.
They called up the District
Collector and arranged for an
ambulance for the remaining
50 km. “As we got to know of
the incident, we spoke to the
Chief District Medical Officer
and arranged for an ambulance,” said Kalahandi District
Collector Brundha D.
“I have instructed the
Tehsildar to provide assistance
under Harishchandra Yojana
(assistance to the poor and destitute to perform last rites). I
have also asked the BDO to
provide assistance from Red
Cross and CMRF,” she said.
Kashmir issue through dialogue and peaceful means. “By
resorting to stone-pelting and
attacking Army camps, no
issue will be resolved. We are
not sidelining the issue. We
want a resolution,” she said.
Mehbooba parried a comment on the people’s demand
for ‘freedom’ and suddenly got
up to conclude the presser even
as Rajnath Singh appeared to be
comfortable to face more questions. Before leaving the venue,
she retorted in an angry tone,
“Thank you. Please have tea.”
During the volley of questions, Rajnath Singh tried to calm
the situation and reminded the
journalists that Mehbooba Mufti
was one of them. “Mehbooba ji
aapki hai. (Mehbooba is one of
you)”, he said.
However, Mehbooba pointed towards the journalists and
said, “What will they tell me. I
have saved them from the wrath
of the security forces. I have rescued the people from the knife
on their necks. I have saved the
youth of south Kashmir from
Task Force (Special Operations
Group of Police). I have saved
them from the knives when they
were taken for bonded labour,”
she said.
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mother of the deceased, Fiona
Mackeown during the trial.
Carvalho and Samson have
been charged with culpable
homicide not amounting to
murder, sexual abuse and drugging.
Mackeown has flown to
Goa from Davon (UK) to be
bands protest against the SC’s
restrictions.
One of the revellers at
Thane was seen carrying measuring tape while climbing up
to the top of the “human pyramid” that he did not violate 20
feet height restriction, while
MNS activists used a ladder at
Chinchpokli in north-central
Mumbai to reach up to the top
and break handi.
Though some safety precautions had been taken by the
organisers, there has not been
much of a difference in terms
of injuries suffered by the
Govindas this year, as compared with last two years’.
However, there has not been
any casualty this year. Last
year, one person had been
killed, while 66 others were
present in the court. She has
already deposed before the
court.
The case, initially investigated by Goa Police, was later
handed over to CBI after
Scarlett's family accused the
local police of hushing up the
matter.
1LUEKD\DJDQJUDSH
From Page 1
“I cannot say why he tried
to commit suicide as we immediately sent him to hospital for
treatment,” said Kumar.
Asked if Sharma was being
harassed inside the jail which
led him to take such step,
Kumar said, “We did not get
any such complaint from his
side.”
Sharma’s lawyer AP Singh
claimed that it was not a suicide
attempt but attempt to murder.
“Few days ago, I met him in jail
where he complained about
torture inside the jail premises,” said Singh.
In 2013, Sharma had
demanded extra security in
jail, claiming that he was being
beaten up by other inmates and
police officials.
A 23-year-old paramedic
was brutally assaulted and gangraped by six people in a moving bus in South Delhi on
December 16, 2012. She later
died in a Singapore hospital.
Four convicts -- Akshay
Thakur, Vinay Sharma,
Mukesh Singh and Pawan
Gupta -- were sentenced to
death in the case. Prime
accused Ram Singh was found
dead in his cell in Tihar Jail in
March 2013 and proceedings
against him were subsequently aborted.
The juvenile accused in the
case was convicted and sentenced to a maximum of three
years in a reformation home.
He was released from the
observation home in December
last year.
Bcd]V8]SXP
From Page 1
This investigation will
determine the exact nature of
the leaked documents, the
potential damage to DCNS
customers as well as those
responsible for the leak.
Incidentally, the DCNS
inked a $38 billion dollar
(Aus$50 billion) deal two
months ago for building 12 submarines for the Australian Navy.
Sources said this `leak’ could be
part of a corporate war. They also
speculated that a former French
employee of the DCNS might
have been the source of the leak.
French Ambassador to
India Alexandre Ziegler said on
Wednesday
that
his
Government was taking the
issue very seriously and that
they will work in close co-operation with India on the issue.
=^\^aT_T[[TcVd]bb^RWX[[X
From Page 1
“I want to inform you that
the Ministry of Home Affairs
will appoint a nodal officer for
Kashmiri youth across the
country. They can call the officer on the number which will
be announced soon,” he said,
recalling his recent speech in
Lucknow where he appealed to
the youth in the rest of the
country to treat Kashmiri students as their own brothers and
sisters in educational institutions and workplaces.
Singh refused to discuss
'HILDQFHRI6& KLWVQHZ
From Page 1
Talking to mediapersons
after the Naupada police registered a case against him, a
nonchalant Jadhav said, “I have
not committed any crime. Let
the police do what they want to.
I enjoy the support of MNS
chief Raj Thackeray. Given
that as many as 92 cases have
been registered against my
party president, what difference
it makes if one case is registered
against me.”
At many places, the
“Govinda” teams also flouted
the age-restriction of 18 years,
by asking children aged around
or below 12 years to climb the
penultimate and upper ties of
“human pyramid”.
The revellers at Jogeshwari
in north Mumbai in wore black
New Delhi: The mobile phones
of the accused — an AISA
activist — and the victim in the
JNU rape case have been seized
by police for forensic test.
The victim, PhD scholar, and
the accused had first started
interacting on Facebook and
were also in touch over phone,
a senior police officer said on
Thursday.
Accused Anmol Ratan, who
on Wednesday night surrendered at the Vasant Kunj
(North) Police station, was
questioned for several hours,
during which he maintained
that the victim is his friend, but
denied the allegations against
him, the officer said.
The accused was on
Thursday remanded in 14 days
judicial custody by a Delhi court.
The victim's statement was
recorded by a magistrate on
Wednesday. The incident has
been condemned by teachers
and students.
SR
injured. In 2014, a 46-year-old
man had died of a heart attack
and at least 210 revellers had
been injured in various
mishaps that marred the “Dahhandi” celebrations in different
parts of Mumbai and neighbouring Thane.
Slogans like “Govinda Ala
re... and” “Govinda re Gopala,
Bol Bhajrang Bali ki jai, Go Go
Govinda...” rent the air, as boisterous revellers-- better known
as Govindas - climbed human
pyramids to break the traditional “dahi-handis’.
These “dahi-handis” contain a mixture of milk, curd,
dry fruits and prize money for
Govindas breaking them. The
ritual involving “dahi-handi”
symbolises the manner in
which young Krishna stole
the deployment of the Border
Security Force as an admission
of the fact that the CRPF has
committed atrocities. He said it
was not proper to discuss the
issue. “The security forces have
been deployed in the past.
Same has happened this time
also,” he said.
On
whether
the
Government intended to hold
talks with the separatist
Hurriyat Conference, Singh
said, “We want to hold talks
with everyone within the ambit
of humanity.”
Earlier, Singh met Pahari
community leaders, a six-member delegation of the Sikh community and a three-member
delegation of Panthers Party.
In his meeting with
Mehbooba Mufti, the two leaders held detailed discussions on
security situation and reviewed
development projects. The
Union Home Minister also
held a meeting with the
Governor NN Vohra and State
Cabinet Ministers led by
Deputy Chief Minister Dr
Nirmal Kumar Singh.
butter from an earthen pot
suspended
f rom
the
ceiling.
Meanwhile, Bollywood
actor Ranbir Kapoor and Yuv
Sena leader Aditya Thackeray
were present at the Dahi handi
held at the Mumbai Football
Club. Like it has been a practice with them for years on
end, several other celebrities
too visited dahi handi mandals.
In a related development,
the Mumbai and Thane police
were keeping a close watch on
the Dahi-handi celebrations
across the two cities. “We are
both taking photographs and
video-graphing the events
across the city.” Those found
flouting the Supreme Court
norms shall be prosecuted
depending on the nature of violations,” said Mumbai police
spokesperson and DCP Ashok
Dudhe.
On his part, MNS chief Raj
Thackeray had on Thursday
last debunked the SC order and
said that the courts should not
interfere in the conduct of festivals.
A day after the apex court
upheld the Bombay High
Court’s August 2014 order
regarding restrictions on the
Dahi-handi revellers, a miffed
Raj had said: “Who has given
powers to the courts to interfere in festivals that we have
been celebrating for years? Just
because you (courts) feel a
threat of mishap, you choose to
impose restrictions on Dahi
handi. Will the courts impose
restrictions on Olympic and
games like crickets on similar
grounds?”
“If the courts interfere in
each and every thing, then
where is the need for holding
elections to Assemblies and
Lok Sabha? The courts themselves can run the country in a
manner they want,” he had said.
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n a fresh exchange of letters between India and
Pakistan, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar has
Ireiterated
his earlier position and willingness to
go for talks to Islamabad but the conditions
remain the same. He will talk only on cross border terrorism and Pak interference in J&K, nothing else at the moment. The letter sent by
Diplomatic Bag on Tuesday was delivered to
Pakistani FS Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry on
Wednesday by Indian High Commissioner
Gautam Bambawale.
This letter was in response to Chaudhry’s
second letter sent on August 19, where he
ignored India’s proposal to first discuss terrorism, and issues that hamper peace talks between
the two countries and talk only about Kashmir.
Blaming Indian security forces for human
rights violations in Kashmir, Chaudhry’s August
19 letter, second in the last ten days, invited
Jaishankar to visit “Islamabad by the end of this
month to discuss the Jammu & Kashmir dispute,
with a view to finding a fair and just solution,
as per the United Nations Security Council resolutions and aspirations” of the people of the
State.
Jaishankar had last week in response to Aziz’s
first letter on August 15, specified five points on
which he would like to have candid discussions
besides getting an update on investigations on
Pathankot airbase and 26/11 Mumbai terror
attacks. In the same letter, the FS mentioned the
fact that India would like Pak to vacate the parts
of Kashmir that are under its occupation currently.
In this second letter too, Jaishankar has reiterated that Pak-sponsored cross border terrorism is the core issue for India to discuss and it
?=BQ =4F34;78
he Congress on Thursday
welcomed Home Minister
Rajnath Singh’s statements on
Kashmir, saying the “hawkish
stance” of the Government
seems to have mellowed down
and hoped that Prime Minister
Narendra Modi would himself
take the lead in reaching out to
all stakeholders through dialogue. The main Opposition
party pitched for dialogue with
an open mind to end the 48day-long unrest in Jammu &
Kashmir.
Welcoming statements of
Rajnath Singh assuaging the
concerns of people of Kashmir,
Congress’ chief spokesman
Randeep Surjewala favoured
involvement of all political
parties in reaching out to the
people of the troubled valley.
“If the Home Minister is
willing to implement his words
into action and reach out and
heal wounds, we’re certain each
Indian will welcome it. Hawkish
stance of the Government
seems to have mellowed
down..,” Surjewala said.
Hoping that the Prime
Minister himself takes the lead
T
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will not deviate
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from it despite
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Islamabad’s efforts
to dilute the main
?0ACB>5
issue and distract
the world from its
:0B7<8AC70C
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ing activities.
Jaishankar dur>22D?0C8>=
ing a meeting with
2DAA4=C;H³
journalists last week
had said that terrorism has become so central to the relationship
with Pakistan that it has made difficult for the
relationship to progress. He blamed lack of
progress in Pathankot airbase attack, cross border attacks, infiltration of Hizbul Mujahiddin
and Lashkar e Tayyeba terrorist like Bahadur Ali
as the new challenges in the relationship. “The
rest of the region is with us on the issues of connectivity and other things. But we have one stand
out country which has attitude to use terrorism
as state policy,” the FS said.
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in reaching out to the people,
he said the Congress would
welcome any effort to bring
about peace and normalcy in
the valley, which is within the
framework of the Constitution.
“We need to realise that
while development in J&K is an
important paradigm, we need
?C8
to work towards a larger set of
solutions”, he said.
Advocating the need to
approach each and every individual in the State, including
the “misguided” one, Surjewala
narrated Hindi saying to
underline that if someone had
gone astray momentarily, he
should not be shunned.
He wanted the Centre as
also the PDP-BJP Government
in the State to have a coordinated approach in dealing with
the issue. “It’s also time BJPPDP speak in one language.
They have sent conflicting
messages, which has aggravated the problem”.
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New Delhi: Noted lawyer
Prashant Bhushan on Thursday
urged the Supreme Courtappointed Justice Lodha
Committee to bring transparency in Medical Council of
India’s (MCI) functioning and
rules. In a memorandum,
Bhushan said there needs a to
be a complete restructuring in
the working of the MCI, against
which there is a series of corruption charges.
“Conflicts of interest in
many cases with members of the
MCI being board members of
the very medical colleges they are
supposed to be regulating, and
whose applications they have to
decide. This has meant that the
MCI cannot effectively and fairly regulate these medical colleges,
and the quality of healthcare professionals suffers and consequently the citizens’ right to
health suffers,” said Bhushan
“If the selection process of
the members of the MCI is
flawed, then the MCI thus
formed cannot be expected to
fulfill its duties. Currently, one
of the main problems with the
election process is that there are
no external regulators or conductors to oversee the said
process of elections, and to
ensure that the same are being
carried out in a free and fair
manner,” he added.
PNS
66%EXVWVJOREDOGUXJFDUWHO 2d[[X]VbcaPhS^Vb\Ph[P]S:TaP[PX][TVP[b^d_
?=BQ =4F34;78
he Sashastra Seema Bal
(SSB) has busted an interT
national syndicate of drug trade
after arresting a Manipuri
woman from Sunauli Gate in
Uttar Pradesh and recovering
contraband items worth C60
crore from her possession.
The SSB seized the drugs
from Rose Kanshug while she
was coming from Kathmandu.
She was in possession of cocaine
weighing 3.25 kg. Her associate
and the syndicate leader,
Taobovich Gongales Paula, a
Bolivian citizen, were arrested
from Kathmandu, by the Nepal
Police on a tip-off from SSB.
Another associate, identified with her first name Moi,
was arrested from Safdarjang
Enclave area here following a
tip-off from Kanshug.
However, a Nigerian youth
Ogbonnaya Nahan, identified
as another associate Kanshug,
is still at large.
The SSB has seized drugs
worth C75 crore during the last
one week even as it has so far this
year seized contraband items
valued at C103 crore from IndoNepal and Indo-Bhutan border.
During interrogation,
Kanshug has revealed that the
seized drugs were supposed to
be delivered to Moi, who in turn
had to deliver it to the Nigerian
citizen for onward transfer to
Panama.
Earlier on August 20, the
SSB had seized rare synthetic
drugs worth C15 crore and
arrested two persons from
Siliguri in West Bengal.
SSB Director General
Archana Ramasundaram has
directed all its units to check
drugs and human trafficking
along the Indo-Nepal and Indo-
BPRWX]X]cTaPRcbfXcWBfPRWRWW
1WPaPc2WP\_X^]2^[[TRc^ab
?=BQ =4F34;78
wachcha Bharat ambassador
STendulkar
and cricket legend Sachin
on Thursday interacted with Swachchh Bharat
Champion Collectors across
22 States, who have done exemplary work in the field of rural
sanitation and led their districts
to achieve an Open Defecation
Free (ODF) status.
The Ministry of Drinking
Water and Sanitation, in association with UNICEF, had
organised the interactive session, where the champions
spoke about empowering
women and children through
sanitation, and the role of all
sections of society in truly
making Swachcha Bharat a
people’s movement.
Tendulkar, while congratulating them on their achievements and determination for
making India Swachh and
ODF, emphasized that “You
either love your country or you
don’t. Even as a common citizen, you can do your bit to keep
your country clean by not littering, if you truly love it.”
He further added, “If every
person in our country gives
even 1 hour of their time every
year, we can have a billion-plus
cleaning hours every year!”
The master blaster also
shared some of his fond memories of winning the 2011 World
Cup and said that determination,
hard work and wishes of people
helped him achieve the goal.
“When that moment came
in 2011, when we walked inside
the stadium, I knew that we
were steps away from achieving our goal. At that moment,
we felt the good wishes of a billion people with us. The same
good wishes of the people of
our country are with you today,
on your path to creating a
Swachh Bharat.”
Secretary, Ministry of
Drinking Water and Sanitation,
Parameswaran Iyer thanked
Sachin Tendulkar for his active
role as an ambassador of Prime
Minister Modi’s Swachcha
Bharat mission.
Bhutan borders.
Till July this year, the paramilitary has seized drugs worth
about C28.5 crore in 151 incidents involving seizure of about
12,000 kg of contraband items
and arrested 179 smugglers.
The SSB guards the IndoNepal and Indo-Bhutan border
and is the Lead Intelligence
Agency on both these frontiers.
Through its civic action programmes, the paramilitary has
earned a significant deal of
respect amongst bordering population leading to generation of
actionable intelligence from the
bordering population.
Apart from providing free
cleft surgeries and other medical assistance, including eye
care and routine medical checkups, the paramilitary specialists
also provide free treatment to
the cattle in the area, officials
added.
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awyer Prashant Bhushan
has threatened to file conL
tempt petition against the
Kerala Government over the
State Government’s proposed
move to cull stray dogs.
In a letter written by
Bhushan to Chief Minister
Pinarayi Vijayan, the activist
lawyer said that any such move
will be in violation of the
Supreme Court order, which
has banned culling and asked
State authorities to implement
birth control measures to curb
the stray dog menace.
The letter comes in the
wake of announcements made
by two State Ministers — Local
Self Government Minister KT
Jaleel and Animal Husbandry
Ministry K Raju — who indicated that the State will shortly undertake culling of stray
dogs following increased
instances of dog bite cases
across the State.
Opposing such move by
the Kerala Government,
Bhushan cited the November
18, 2015 order passed by a
bench headed by Justice Dipak
Misra where the justifiability of
dog culling is yet to be decided. Till such time, the court has
stayed any such action by State
Governments, while seeking
information on steps taken by
the municipal authorities under
0A270=09H>C8Q =4F34;78
idely recommended as an
W
appetite booster for
weight gain in children and
babies in the country for the
last two decades despite no
clinical trials, popular drug
Buclizine is likely to be no
longer marketed for the same.
The Drugs Technical
Advisory Board (DTAB), highest decision making body of the
Health Ministry on technical
issues pertaining to drugs, in its
meeting recently, has recommended prohibition on the
Buclizine drug for manufacture
or sale or for distribution as
appetite stimulant “in public
interest”.
However, Buclizine will be
continued to be allowed for
marketing for the indications
“symptomatic treatment of various allergic conditions (rhinitis, conjunctivitis and urticaria)
and for prevention and treatment of motion sickness.”
The move to ban the drug
follows observations by the
Parliamentary
Standing
Committee in its last year
report, in which it raised concerns that various drugs, including the Buclizine as appetite
stimulant were approved without ensuring and safety and efficacy and any clinical trial.
Raising concern on safety
and efficacy of Buclizine as an
appetite stimulant, the panel
also noted that the drug is used
in children, for which no scientific data are available, said a
senior official from the Drug
Controller General of
India(DCGI), which had given
approval to the drug in 2006.
Though the drug manufacturer presented the summarised data, it could not provide any clinical trial study
report on adult or children to
justify the use of the drug as an
appetite enhancement.
The panel also noted that
the drug is banned due to
CWT805P]S
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?=BQ =4F34;78
he Indian Air Force (IAF)
has claimed that it does not
T
have records related to the
had also sought information
related to meetings of the Price
Negotiation Committee on the
deal, cancellation of the deal,
first estimate of the helicopters
provided by AgustaWestland,
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adverse drug reactions in countries with well-developed and
efficient regulatory system,
including USA, UK, EU,
Australia, Japan and Canada.
“In this context, it recommended that its manufacture,
import and marketing of
should be immediately put
under suspension till the safety of the drug is examined and
established in the country,” the
official added.
A sub-committee comprising of Dr B Suresh, Dr Shiv
Kumar Sarin and Dr S K
Acharya has also been constituted to examine continued
marketing of the drug for other
indications and submit its report.
Buclizine was originally
developed by the Belgiumbased UCB Pharma as an antihistamine and has been
approved in several countries as
treatment to prevent motion
sickness and allergies but not to
boost appetite or growth in
children.
+DYHQRUHFRUGVRQ$JXVWD:HVWODQGGHDO,$)
controversial VVIP chopper
deal with AgustaWestland
which was later scrapped following allegations of bribery.
The IAF and Defence
Ministry are primary holders of
the information sought
through an RTI query. The
Ministry had referred the matter to CBI for a probe after
alleged corruption surfaced in
the C3,600 crore deal. Under
the Right to Information Act,
an application was filed with
the Defence Ministry, seeking
complete records related to
the deal, including price negotiations and file notings.
In addition, the applicant
the Animal Birth Control Rules
and Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals Act.
Bhushan in his letter
warned the Chief Minister, “if
any such action like culling is
taken by your Government
then we will be forced to take
out a contempt petition in the
Supreme Court with urgent
mentioning.” It said that any
such move amounted to contempt of the apex court’s order
and went against the letter of
law contained in the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals Act.
Further, the letter accused
the State Government of
“whipping up hysteria” against
stray dogs as every day there is
a news item involving stray dog
bites. In one such instance
where an aged woman was
reportedly bitten multiple times
by a stray dog in Kerala,
Bhushan said that on verification with the concerned
reporter, it turned out to be a
story based on hearsay.
The Supreme Court in its
November 2015 order had said,
“There can be no trace of
doubt that there has to be
compassion for dogs and they
should not be killed in an
indiscriminate manner, but
indubitably the lives of the
human beings are also to be
saved and one should not suffer due to dog bite because of
administrative lapse.”
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specific additions sought in the
helicopters, which increased
the cost and deliberations
which allowed lowering of
flight ceiling and cabin height.
The application was trans-
ferred by the Defence Ministry
on June 16 to Indian Air Force
to furnish the information in
accordance with the transparency law.
An application is trans-
ferred under Section 6(3) of the
RTI Act, when the public
authority does not have any or
a part of information sought by
the RTI applicant.
The Indian Air Force headquarters in a reply said, “The
information sought vide your
RTI application is not available
at this HQ.”
Surprisingly, several
details of the deal were
referred to by Defence
Minister Manohar Parrikar
during a debate on the issue in
the Lok Sabha on May 6.
The CBI, which is probing
the case, had collected many
records during investigation,
but as per norms, copies of necessary documents were left
with the concerned ministry or
the department from where
they had been collected.
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?=BQ =4F34;78
he much-hyped La Nina
phenomenon, which was
T
expected to give a boost to
Southwest Monsoon especially in September, has been
delayed.
According to the India
Meteorological Department
(IMD), it was to set in by
August-September. But the
cooling of ocean surface temperature is taking longer for the
phenomenon to commence.
As per the initial forecast,
September was to receive
excess rains due to this trend.
However, in the present situation, sources in IMD maintained that rainfall is likely to
remain in the normal range.
The weather models are being
assessed on the basis of which
a revised forecast would soon
be released. As per IMD standards, average or normal rainfall ranges from 96 per cent to
104 per cent of a 50-year average of 89 cm for the entire fourmonth season.
According to weather
experts, La Nina is unlikely to
develop during monsoon season and even if it develops in
October, it will be weak. It is
associated with cooler than
average sea surface temperatures and is the counter of El
Nino which is the unusual
warming of sea-surface Pacific
waters off the South American
coast. As per weather experts,
rain deterrent El Nino has
however already neutralised.
To add to the above, even
the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD)
has not influenced the
Monsoon this year, so far. As
per the scientists, it has been
negative since the beginning of
the season. A positive IOD is
associated with cooler than
normal sea-surface tempera-
tures in the eastern equatorial
Indian Ocean and warmer than
normal sea-surface temperatures in the western tropical
Indian Ocean. The opposite
phenomenon is called a ‘negative IOD’, and is characterised
by warmer than normal sea
surface temperatures.
To compound the woes
further, the Madden Julian
Oscillation, which was earlier
travelling in the favourable
zone, is no longer supporting
for Monsoon rains either. This
is a moving system of wind,
cloud and pressure that brings
rain in the region, as it circles
around the equator.
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ccusing the Centre of neglecting and ignoring the issues of
A
Bodo people, three leading groups
involved in the Bodoland statehood movement here on
Thursday announced that they
would relaunch their agitation
from next week.
Also, while welcoming the ‘zero
tolerance’ policy of the Assam
Government regarding insurgency,
the All Bodo Students’ Union
(ABSU) appealed to the State and
Central Government to look into
the real issues behind insurgency
and frame an effective policy that
will stop the youth from joining the
insurgent outfits.
ABSU president Pramod Boro
said this while interacting with
newsmen on Thursday and added
that although the State and Central
Government had adopted a ‘zero
tolerance’ policy against the insurgents, they had failed to prevent
the youth in Bodoland Territorial
Areas Districts (BTAD) from joining the militants.
Meanwhile, the ABSU,
National Democratic Front of
Boroland (Progressive) and
People's Joint Action Committee
for Bodoland Movement said on
Thursday they will block the
national highways across Assam
for five hours next week demanding solution to the problems of
Bodo people.
"We had met Rajnath Singh
before 2014 Lok Sabha election.
He had assured that if BJP came
to power, it would look into our
demand for a separate State and so
we supported the party and suspended our agitation since
January, 2014.
"But after coming to power,
the BJP is just neglecting and
ignoring us," Boro said.
Only a single round of talks
were held in June last year "despite
meeting Rajnath Singh seven
times and Kiren Rijiju ten times",
he claimed.
"We are continuously contacting the Central Government.
We spoke to Kiren Rijiju earlier
this month and he assured us that
talks would start after August 15,
but nothing has started yet. We are
mainstream people. How can they
neglect us so much?" the ABSU
leader asked.
As the three groups are left
with "no option", they would
relaunch their "democratic nonviolent movement", he said and
invited all Bodo groups across
Assam to join it.
Boro said four rounds of talks
had taken place under the erstwhile UPA Government at the
Centre although there were no policy guidelines during the discussions on the statehood demand.
"Now we feel that the last few
months of Congress were better
than the BJP rule. They (Congress)
held four rounds of tripartite talks
in four months. In 2014 Lok Sabha
polls we should have supported the
Congress," he said.
Boro also said, “The real
issues are lack of education, poverty and unemployment. The youths
in Bodoland (four districts of
BTAD) have no option but to join
insurgent outfits due to poverty.
They have no good education and
there is no employment. So they
are bound to join these militant
outfits after attaining certain age
for easy money,” Boro said appealing the Government to look into
the matter in a pragmatic way so
that the problem can be solved
once and for all.
“There has been continued
operation in BTAD against the
insurgents. Lots of money had
been spent every year for militarisation to tackle insurgency.
However, mere militarisation and
use of force would not help solve
the problem,” he said adding that
the Government should rather
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focus on furthering the peace
talks with the militant outfits like
pro-talk faction National
Democratic front of Bodoland
(NDFB), which came over ground
in 2005 to take part in peace talks.
“The success of peace talks
with the pro-talk faction of the
NDFB would encourage other
anti-talk faction of the outfits to
shun the path of violence and there
will be lasting solution to insurgency in Bodoland,” he said while
appealing to the Government to
keep open the door for talks with
all the militant outfits.
“We do not support violence.
ABSU is the first organisation to
raise voice against the anti-talk
faction of NDFB when they killed
innocent Adivasis in 2014. We
welcome the ‘zero tolerance’ attitude of the State Government, but
this zero tolerance attitude should
not be a mere political statement,”
he added.
Boro further mentioned that a
faction of the NDFB came over
ground in 2005 and since then they
have been holding peace talks.
“Although ten years have passed, the
Centre and the State Government
are yet to talk on the main agenda
of the outfit. The Government has
been delaying the talks but this is
not going to help,” he said.
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Patna: With reports of eight
fresh deaths on Thursday, the
total toll in Bihar flood
increased to 135, with Bhojpur
district accounting for 12 deaths
in the second round of floods
due to the swollen Ganga.
The flood, caused by a
spate in the Ganga, Sone,
Punpun, Burhi Gandak,
Ghaghra, Kosi and other rivers,
has affected 31.33 lakh people
in 1,934 villages in 12 districts,
a Disaster Management
Department statement said.
After Bhojpur district, the
maximum number of deaths in
the second round of floods in the
State were reported from Vaishali
(7), Samastipur (6), Saran (5),
Bhagalpur and Khagaria two
each and Buxar, Lakhisarai and
Munger one each.
The Ganga was flowing
above the danger mark at seven
places in various parts of four
districts — Digha ghat, Gandhi
ghat, Hathidah in Patna,
Bhagalpur and Kahalgaon in
Bhagalpur district, Munger district and Buxar district.
The 12 flood-affected districts are Buxar, Bhojpur, Patna,
Vaishali, Saran, Begusarai,
Samastipur, Lakhisarai,
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Khagaria, Munger, Bhagalpur
and Katihar, the statement said,
adding 28 cattle also perished
in the deluge.
A total of 3.44 lakh people
were evacuated, the release
said, adding 433 relief camps
were being run in the flood-hit
areas, giving shelter to 1.74 lakh
people. A total of 227 medical
teams were providing services
to the affected.
Besides, 108 camps have
been opened for animals, it said.
Chief Minister Nitish
Kumar visited various relief
camps in Patna to interact
with those residing in camps.
Kumar visited various relief
camps at Maner, Digha, Patna
and ohers accompanied by
Water Resources Minister Rajiv
Ranjan Singh, Chief Secretary
Anjani Kumar Singh, DGP PK
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Barabanki/New
Delhi:
Rejecting the judicial commission's report on Rohith
Vemula's suicide as "fake and
fictitious", the National
Commission for Scheduled
Castes Chairman PL Punia on
Thursday said the deceased
Hyderabad Univeristy research
scholar was a Dalit.
Punia's remarks came in
response to the reports that the
one-man judicial commission
of former judge of Allahabad
High Court AK Roopanwal,
has observed that Vemula did
not belong to the Scheduled
Caste (SC) community.
"The commission was
formed to find out why Rohit
Vemula committed suicide and
who were responsible for his
death. Instead of working as per
the mandate, the commission
was trying to find out the caste
of Vemula which is unfortunate,"
Punia, Chairman, National
Commission for Scheduled
Castes (NCSC) told PTI.
"Its findings are fake and
fictitious. The final authority on
caste is District Collector, and
the Collector with conclusive
evidences has given us report
that he is a Scheduled Caste
(person) and does not belong
backward class," Punia added.
Amid a nation-wide outrage on educational campuses
over Vemula's suicide, the
Roopanwal commission was
constituted to probe the reasons for it. Vemula had been
suspended by the university a
few days before he committed
suicide.
The Roopanwal panel had
recently submitted its report to
the UGC.
Though its contents are yet
to be made public officially,
some reports said the commission has held Vemula was
not a Dalit.Punia said the suicide by the Dalit scholar was
"painful and unfortunate".
Vemula had committed suicide
by hanging himself from the
ceiling of a hostel room in the
university.
PTI
Thakur, Patna DM Sanjay
Kumar Agarwal and other
senior officials.
Altogether 2,333 boats are
being plied by the government
to evacuate the affected people
to safer places. National and
State Disaster Response Forces
have already been deployed in
various parts of the floodaffected districts, the statement added.
PTI
Lucknow: Several rivers continued to flow above the danger mark in Uttar Pradesh,
where 28 districts remained
affected by floods, officials
said on Thursday.
According to a Central
Water Commission report, a
relatively lesser amount of rainfall had caused decrease in
water levels of Ganga and
Yamuna at some places.
Ganga's water level is
decreasing in Fatehgarh,
Ankinghat, Fafamau and
Chhatnag in Allahabad,
Varanasi and Ballia, Yamuna's
water level is decreasing in
Kalpi, Hamirpur, Chillaghat
(Banda) and Naini (Allahabad),
the report said.
However, other rivers are
still flowing above the danger
mark in these places.
River Sharda is rising in
Palliakalan (Kheri), where it is
one metre above the danger
mark.
"28 districts are still flood
affected and relief and rescue
operations are on," Relief
Commissioner's office said.
"A total of 8.7 lakh people
in 987 villages in Varanasi,
Allahabad, Ghazipur and Ballia
are affected due to flood," it
said.
Cabinet Minister Shivpal
Yadav visited Ballia to take
stock of the ground reality
and directed officers to ensure
relief works on war footing.
"No laxity will be tolerated
in these works. There would be
no shortage of funds for the
purpose," he said, adding that
"over two lakh people were
affected due to floods in the
district".
Officers have been directed by the Chief Secretary not
to sanction leaves of employees
involved in relief works unless
it is urgent.
PTI
278;3BF4?C
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Patna: RJD chief Lalu Prasad
has come in for sharp criticism
from Opposition leaders for his
'Ganga at our doorsteps' remark
while taking stock of the flood
situation on the outskirts of the
State capital two days ago.
While talking to flood victims, Lalu had on August 23
said they were lucky to have the
Ganga coming to their
doorstep as not everybody gets
'Gangajal' in his home.
He had also said that the
floods in Bihar was caused by
the sudden release of water by
BJP-ruled States.
Taking strong exception to
Lalu's statement, senior BJP
leader Sushil Kumar Modi on
Thursday said he has made fun
of the flood victims by making
the statement.
"On one hand the State
Government has failed in carrying out relief and rescue
operations for flood affected
people and on the other hand,
Lalu Prasad is making fun of
the flood victims by his insensitive statement," Sushil said.
This is being done to deflect
people's attention from poor
relief and rescue operations, he
said.
Replying to Lalu's remark
on water released by BJP-ruled
States, he said the flood was
caused by the release of 11 lakh
cusecs of water from Indrapuri
barrage and Lalu should know
that the barrage was in Bihar
and not in any BJP-ruled State.
Union Minister and Lok
Janshakti Party (LJP) chief
Ram Vilas Paswan expressed
surprise over Lalu's statement
saying it rubbed salt on the
wounds of flood victims.
"I am surprised to hear
such statement. If you cannot
provide relief to the flood victims, then at least refrain from
mocking them," Paswan said
after visiting flood-hit areas.
He said the Centre would
make foodgrains available to
Bihar in adequate quantity if
the State Government makes a
demand in this regard. PTI
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tar-turned-Congress politician Ramya alias Divya
Spandana who is in the news
for saying “Pakistan is not
hell” had to face a protest at the
coastal town of Mangaluru for
her remark on Thursday. Eggs
were thrown at her car just after
she was escorted out of
Mangaluru airport.
The BJP Yuva Morcha
activists and some Right wing
orgnisations were protesting her
‘Pakistan is not hell’ and
‘Mangaluru is Hell’ (she had
allegedly in an interview to a
local TV channel has said
Mangaluru was hell) comment.
The protestors were caught on
camera waving black flags and
throwing eggs at her cavalcade,
despite several police men guard-
ing the area. The police were seen
chasing the protestors in the
video footage shown in the local
channels. According to police
they have detained many protesters who obstructed former
MP from Mandya at the airport.
Ramya found herself in the
midst of controversy, when she
made comments sympathising
with Pakistan and a sedition
case was slapped against her by
an advocate from Kodagu.
"Pakistan is not hell. People
there are just like us. They treated us very well," she had reportedly said after a recent visit to
Islamabad as part of a SAARC
delegation of young lawmakers.
Her remarks had come as
a counter to Defence Minister
Manohar Parrikar, who had
said "going to Pakistan is same
as going to hell."
Kochi/Idukki (Ker): In a gruesome incident, a 9-year-old
boy has been subjected to torture by his alleged 'drug addict'
parents at Adimali in Idduki
district.
The boy, suspected to have
suffered more than a week-long
torture at the hands of his
father and mother, was rescued
by some locals two days ago. He
is now undergoing treatment at
the Kalamassery Medical
College Hospital near Kochi.
Doctors at the hospital on
Thursday said the condition of
the boy, admitted to the burns
intensive care unit on Tuesday,
was stable.
"He has suffered bruises all
over his body. But he is stable
now," a doctor treating the
boy said.
Police said they have
booked the parents under relevant sections of Juvenile
Justice Act and 326(b) of IPC,
which lays down the punishment for attempted act of
afflicting burn injuries.
While the father of the boy
was already in judicial custody
in connection with another
case, the mother would be
arrested soon, police said,
adding they suspect both parents to be drug addicts.
Police said the boy had
given statements against his
father and mother.
According to the boy, he
was subjected to brutal torture.
His father had hit him with an
iron rod while his mother
attacked him with coconut.
She had also poured hot
water on him, police said.
Initially, the boy had told
the police that he was attacked
by a monkey, but later narrated his ordeal.
Police said the boy's two
other siblings, who are also
minors, have been shifted to safety in Painavu in Idukki district.
Child Welfare Committee
of Ernakulam district said it
would provide shelter to the
boy once he was discharged
from the hospital.
PTI
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EA90H0A09Q :>278
ormer Kerala Minister KM
Mani, chairman of the
F
Kerala Congress (M) which
had severed its 30-year-long
alliance with the Congress-led
Opposition UDF recently, on
Thursday made it clear that his
party would not join the
CPI(M)-headed ruling LDF.
Mani’s party had left the
Congress-led front on August
7 saying that it would keep an
equidistance policy with regard
to the UDF, LDF and the BJPled NDA.
The assertion by Mani,
who had resigned as Finance
Minister in the erstwhile
Government following the
accusations of accepting bribe
from bar owners, about not
joining any coalition came in
response to the position taken
by the CPI, second biggest
LDF constituent, that the
KC(M) could not be allowed to
cooperate with the Left even in
agitations against the Centre.
“I can’t understand why the
CPI is feeling worried when it
hears the name of the Kerala
Congress (M). This has been
happening for a long time. We
have already stated that we are
not going (to join any of the
three coalitions). Then why is
the CPI worried about us this
much?” Mani asked while
responding to the position
taken by the State executive of
the CPI.
The CPI has taken a firm
stand against letting Mani’s
party enter the LDF rejecting
totally the line adopted by
front leader CPI(M) that the
NDA should not be allowed to
cash in on the infirmities of the
UDF by absorbing the parties
leaving that front, which effectively means that the Left
should at least be ready to
cooperate with the KC(M).
State CPI(M) secretary
Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had
written an article in party
organ Deshabhimani daily
about the Left’s need to adopt
such a strategy and the paper
had also published an editorial reflecting the same view. But
State CPI secretary Kanam
Rajendran
vehemently
opposed the Marxist move .
Indicating that the CPI was
feeling that its position in the
LDF would get weakened if the
KC(M) joined it, Mani said,
“The CPI, which is known for
selling its seats for money, need
not give us lessons in political
morality.” There were allegations that money was involved
in the candidature of a person
from outside the CPI in the
Thiruvananthapuram seat in
the last Lok Sabha election.
A report presented by
Kanam Rajendran in a meeting
of the State CPI executive the
other day said that the Left
could not consider having an
alliance or any kind of cooperation with the KC(M). The
party also decided to air its
strong opposition if any such
proposal came up during the
LDF meeting on August 30.
According to observers, it
will not be easy for Mani to find
a berth for his party in the Left
as far as the CPI sticks to its
stand. Also, nonagenarian
Marxist and former chief minister VS Achuthanandan, perhaps the most popular politician in the State still, is also
against the idea of inducting
the KC(M) into the Left, they
point out.
“Mani’s options are now
limited. Heavyweights in the
Congress have already spoken
against bringing Mani back to
the UDF. Also, it is not easy for
him to take the KC(M) to the
NDA camp as a large section in
the party is against that idea.
Rumour is that some of Mani’s
friends in the UDF are lobbying for bringing his back into
the front in this context,” said
a senior journalist.
Johny Nelloor, chairman of
the Kerala Congress (J), a
minor UDF partner, wanted
the Congress high command’s
intervention for bringing the
KC(M) back to the coalition.
“The KC(M)’s problems are
with the Congress. If Kerala’s
Congress leadership is unable
to deal with the issue, the high
command should intervene,”
said Nelloor in Kozhikode on
Thursday.
U^aC=):Pa]PcPZP2<
:4BCDAE0BD:8Q 14=60;DAD
iver Cauvery flows quietly
dividing further both the
R
warring neighbours, Karnataka
and Tamil Nadu over sharing of
Cauvery water. This time after
Tamil Nadu has threatened to
move the Supreme Court to get
its share of water, Karnataka
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah
on Thursday expressed his
inability to a delegation of
farmers from Tamil Nadu, to
release water to the State due to
deficit rainfall in the Cauvery
basin this monsoon.
He said, “There has been
deficit rainfall in the Cauvery
basin area, so in the present
situation it will be difficult to
release water for irrigation
purpose”. But according to
TN farmer’s delegation representatives the Chief Minister
has assured them that if there
are good rains in the days to
come and if situation
improves, water will be
released to TN.
Tamil Nadu farmer leaders
who met Chief Minister at his
residence, requested him release
water for samba crop in 9 lakh
acres, stating that farmers may
have to face difficulty due to
crop damage. Pointing out that
water level at dams in the
Cauvery basin area has not
reached expected levels,
Siddaramaiah said the situation is such that there will be difficulty in providing drinking
water. "In this circumstance we
will be unable to release water
even under distress formula,
please understand our situation,"
he told Tamil Nadu farmers.
In this situation the TN
farmer’s delegation felt it was
better to link the rivers to share
and to proper utilisation of
water by all the stake holders.
Meanwhile, Siddaramaiah
has called the meeting of floor
leader of Karnataka Legislative
Assembly and Council on 27
August to discuss Tamil Nadu's
repeated demand for release of
water and situation in Cauvery
basin area due to deficit rain
fall.
Union Ministers from the
State and district in charge
Ministers from Cauvery basin
area have also been invited for
the meeting, officials said.
With
Tamil
Nadu
Government deciding to move
the Supreme Court to get its
share of Cauver y water,
Karnataka Chief Minister
Siddaramaiah had recently said
his Government is also ready
for the legal battle.
=PbWXZUPa\Ta
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Nashik: A farmer from
Karanjgaon village in Nashik
district has claimed to have got
the rate of 5 paise per kg for
onions, prompting him to
dump his produce of 13 quintals in his field in protest, even
as a trader blamed "poor quality" of bulb for the low price.
Sudhakar Darade, who
hails from Niphad taluka, said
his onions got valued at C5 per
quintal (100 kg) at Saikheda
Sub-Agriculture Produce
Market Committee (APMC)
on Tuesday.
He said his entire produce
of 13 quintals was offered a rate
of C65 in total.
The distressed farmer said
he incurred an expense of
more than C700 per acre for
cultivating onions and paid
C780 towards transportation
charges for bringing the produce to the APMC.
Nashik district is known
for production of red onions.
The onion market in Lasalgaon
in district is Asia's largest
wholesale APMC for onions.
"I had cultivated onions on
my 10-acre land in NovemberDecember last year. I stored
around 1,000 quintals of onions
at home, hoping that I will get
good price in April. However,
auctioning of onions got
severely affected due to the 35day strike at APMCs in district
during June-July, as a result of
which my onions perished,"
he said.
Sources at APMC said that
condition of onions brought by
Darade was bad that is why
they offerred him the low price
for the produce.
PTI
<;0APbWTTS\TTcb7<bPhb²_[TQXbRXcT^][hb^[dcX^]
Kashmir and Ladakh should
be given right to self-determination and issue needs to be
seen in totality and not on
regional, religious or ethnic
basis," he said.
The spokesman said
Rasheed reminded Singh that
it was in the same Nehru
Guest House, where the Home
Minister was meeting various
deputations, that the Centre
held talks with five militant
commanders.
"So, Union of India has no
logic to justify not talking to
real representatives including
militants for the resolution of
the dispute," Rasheed said.
PTI
most of the shops, private
offices, educational institutions
and petrol pumps remained
closed while public transport
continued to be off the roads.
The attendance in government
offices and banks was completely affected, the official
said. Mobile Internet also continued to remain suspended in
the entire Valley, where the outgoing facility on prepaid
mobiles remained barred. The
separatist camp, which is spearheading the agitation in the
Valley over the civilian killings
during the protests against
Wani’s killing, has extended the
strike call in the Valley till
September 1.
tion bid in Tangdar sector of
north Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Thursday morning.
A Defence spokesman
said that after the Army intercepted the suspicious movement along the Line of
Control (LoC) in the area in
the wee hours, the Army
launched an attack and
repulsed the infiltration bid
leading to injuries to a soldier.
Three unidentified militants had been killed in an
encounter in Tangdar area on
August 21. Defence sources
said the slain militants were
involved in an attack on
Border Security force picket.
PNS
0a\hU^X[b
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52J%)+G2==6J4@?E:?F6D YPfP]Wdac
soldier sustained injuries
E@C66=F?56C4FC76H
A
when a column of the
and separatist sponsored strike, Army tried to foil an infiltra?8>=44A=4FBB4AE824Q
BA8=060A
?^[XRTQPaaXRPSTbPc;P[
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Srinagar : Controversial
Independent MLA Sheikh
Abdul Rasheed, who has proseparatist leanings, on
Thursday met Union Home
Minister Rajnath Singh and
said the only way to resolve the
Kashmir issue was to hold
"plebiscite" on both sides of the
Line of Control (LoC).
Rasheed, who led a fivemember delegation of his
Awami Ittihad Party to meet
ashmir Valley continued to
K
reel under curfew and
restrictions on the 48th conthe Home Minister, said the
Government of India needs to
understand that passing the
buck and avoiding the resolution is the only reason why
Jammu & Kashmir is "bleeding" since 1947, a spokesman
of the party said in a statement.
The MLA claimed that
seeking "right to self-determination" does not violate
Constitution of India and also
does not amount to separatism, the spokesman said.
The delegation narrated
how
the
successive
Governments broke their
promises from time to time
and played blamegame, the
spokesman said.
"When we talk of resolving
Jammu & Kashmir dispute, we
never say so on communal
lines but believe that people of
both parts of Jammu &
4`_X^V_[`Z_5ZUZRdE>4
X`Vd`_@aaa`RTYZ_XdacVV
B0D60AB4=6D?C0Q :>;:0C0
ore and more Opposition
citadels fell to an advancM
ing Trinamool Congress even
as the Bengal ruling outfit
proceeded to literally delimitate the Left and the Congress.
The Congress on Thursday
suffered a huge blow when its
West Midnapore district president Vikash Bhunia joined
the Trinamool along with his
supporters, that included the
whole Sabang Panchayat
Samiti.
The development assumes
significance as the defecting
leader is the brother of Manas
Bhunia a former PCC president and a senior party MLA
who is also the Public
Accounts
Committee
Chairman, the post he allegedly accepted at the behest of
Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee after defying PCC
diktats.
Bhunia is currently at loggerheads with PCC president
Adhir Chowdhur y and
Opposition Leader Abdul
Mannan. The reason, the
Congress, which holds the
place of the principal
Opposition party had left the
PAC for the CPI(M) but
Bhunia queered the pitch and
accepted the post offered to
him by the Speaker.
Manas Bhunia expressed
ignorance of floor-crossing
and made a loaded statement
saying “the current situation in
the Congress is not very inspiring. I considered this party as
my mother and even now I do
so. But who knows what lies in
the future.”
The PCC president reacted to the Thursday’s development saying “this was a foregone conclusion and we are
prepared for more Bhunias
(read Manas Bhunia) joining
the Trinamool.”
When asked to comment
TMC MP and Chief Minister’s
nephew Abhishek Banerjee
said “Development under
Mamata Banerjee is drawing
opposition workers to us.”
When asked to comment on
the rising incidents of criminal
charges slapped on the opposition forcing them to join the
Trinamool he said “I will not
comment on that as I am not
a man of administration or
legal system.”
The TMC drew more
blood up in North Bengal
causing 15 Left members and
two of the Congress, from the
Jalpaiguri Sadar panchayat
samiti to join it. “We have
joined the party to strengthen
Mamata Banerjee’s hands” one
of the members said.
Uphill in neighbouring
Darjeeling a senior Gorkha
Janmukti Morcha member and
the Gorkhaland Territorial
Administration vice president
Bhupendra Pradhan joined
the Trinamool Congress on
Wednesday.
In Siliguri a strong Left
citadel until now a Left councilor crossed over to the
Trinamool Congress while
down south at Diamond
Harbour a panchayat samiti fell
to the Trinamool hands when
majority of its members joined
the ruling outfit.
Back home in Kolkata a
For ward Bloc councilor
Rehana Khan also joined the
Trinamool Congress in the
name of development.
In the wake of Thursday’s
development at least 10 municipal boards including two district boards fell to the
Trinamool in the past one
month or so causing the
Opposition outfits to cry
“poaching with the help of
money, muscle and police
power.” CPI(M)’s Suryakanto
Mishra said “this forced conversion will lead to serious
repercussions as by devouring
Opposition leaders the ruling
party is leaving no forum for
protest”.
secutive day in the wake of violence following killing of
Hizbul Mujahideen militant
Burhan Wani on July 8.
Curfew continued to be in
force in five police station
areas of downtown city and
Batamaloo and Maisuma areas
in uptown, a police official said.
In south Kashmir, curfew was
imposed in Pulwama district,
while it continued in Anantnag
town as well on Thursday to
maintain law and order.
Due to curfew, restrictions
19?B44:B58A0608=BC0:78;4B72>?B5>A;0C78270A64
Lucknow: A day after a violent
protest outside the Vidhan
Bhavan, the BJP on Thursday
filed a police complaint,
demanding an FIR against
Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav
and police officers for "brutal
lathicharge" on party workers.
BJP's State unit chief
Keshav Prasad Maurya told
reporters here that party MPs,
MLAs, office-bearers and workers were 'brutally cane-charged'
by police while they were
protesting the poor law and
order situation in Uttar
Pradesh. He said, following
the incident, a complaint has
been registered by State BJP
vice-president Ramnaresh
Rawat at Hazratganj police station. "Scores of workers are
now undergoing treatment in
hospitals as they suffered serious injuries," Maurya said.
He warned if FIR is not
lodged, BJP workers would
launch an agitation and move
to court. The State unit chief
claimed that despite their
absence from the protest site,
some of the leaders—general
secretar y Vijay Bahadur
Pathak, organisational general
secretary Sunil Bansal and an
MLA—were named in the FIR
lodged by the police yesterday.
"Pathak was in Mumbai,
Bansal was in Karnataka and
the MLA was sitting inside
Vidhan Sabha," he said.
Maurya claimed he was
even stopped by the police in
Vidhan Sabha when he tried to
meet Akhilesh.
PTI
5>DAH>DC7B64C;854C4A<5>A
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Tiruchirappalli (TN): Four youths, all aged 21, have been sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering their former school
mate by a court here.
Principal District and Sessions Judge Kumara Guru found
the youths guilty of hacking to death Ajay Reuban, an engineering
student, here on December 31, 2012.
The victim was initially rescued by a friend but the four, who
were allegedly drunk, chased and brutally hacked him with knives.
He succumbed to injuries on January 5.
According to prosecution, there was enmity between Ajay
and the assailants over a ragging incident when they all were students of a school.
The four, who bore vengeance, saw Ajay at a bus stand while
returning from a new year revelry and stabbed him.
PTI
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major challenge that
the world faces is in
respect of decoupling economic
growth from greater
use of energy, particularly fossil
fuels. Such a move has already
taken place in several parts of
the world, but given the economic growth taking place in
the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India,
China, South Africa) nations,
the total demand for fossil fuels
is likely to go up, if decoupling
does not occur.
The Chinese economic situation is going through a period of transition. In retrospect, it
is now apparent that China pursued the same path as that of the
developed world wherein the
environmental consequences of
growth were initially ignored,
and whatever cleanup is needed
takes place at a much later stage
when high levels of GDP
are attained.
The Chinese economic scene
provides several lessons for India,
similar to the record of the developed countries, but which, unfortunately, most countries in the
developing world, including
India, have ignored. The Chinese
authorities and people in that
country are now intensively
focused on improving the environment and setting an example
on the global stage, particularly
in dealing with climate change.
In this, of course, they also anticipate the growth of business
opportunities, because global
markets for environmentally
friendly products and low carbon
processes are bound to grow
with increased efforts worldwide for tackling climate change.
The Paris agreement on climate change is based essentially
on Intended Nationally
Determined Contributions
(INDCs) put forward by national Governments, but if these are
to be aggregated then they would
be seen to represent actions
which fall far short of assuring
adherence to the 20C limit for
temperature increase set in Paris
for the year 2100 relative to levels that existed during the preindustrial period.
There is today an extensive
effort in China to bring about an
improvement in environmental
conditions. Efforts are being
made to strengthen laws by
which false reporting of emissions data by companies, for
instance, can be discovered and
penalized effectively. False
reporting for private gain and in
violation of laws and regula-
A
tions is a common problem
across the globe, as it certainly is
in India, where polluting units
show compliance with environmental standards but routinely
violate them without being
penalized. In China such violations are dealt with severely.
While local environmental
problems in China are overwhelming in complexity and
magnitude, there is today a major
national effort to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by
which China is seen to be moving away rapidly from past trends
in an effort to deal with the challenge of climate change.
China is by far the largest
consumer of coal in the world,
and accounts for over half of total
global demand. In the year 2000
China consumed 1.36 billion
tonnes of coal which grew at an
average annual rate of 12 per cent
to reach 4.24 billion tonnes by
2013. This has led not only to a
high level of emissions of carbon
dioxide but also local air pollution in most parts of the country where industry and power
generation facilities are located.
There are now, however, seri-
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ous efforts to reduce carbon
dioxide emissions, with a package of policies to decouple economic growth from growth in the
use of coal. In the last couple of
years it appears that coal use has
flattened out, exhibiting a clear
change in trend. No doubt, this
change has been affected by the
economic slowdown over the
last 2-3 years, but it is also the
result of China’spursuit of energy policy that clearly targets
cleaner options.
In order to bring about cleaner energ y solutions, large
economies like those of China
and India need to create the conditions for technological innovation which suit natural resource
endowments in these respective
societies as well as meet the
objectives of responsible management of the global environment.
In this regard China has made
major strides in creating centres
of excellence to promote innovation in several directions that
would bring about natural
resource efficiency.
Indicators of this trend are
China’s efforts to embrace technology for solar cell production
B>D=318C4
which produces zero pollution
in manufacture and converts
light into electricity at very low
intensity levels.
A Chinese company has
recently purchased the technology the dye-sensitised solar cells,
the performance of which is
claimed to surpass the achievements of competitors worldwide.
This technology has been developed within China at an institute
which is part of the Chinese
Academy of Sciences. While
developing the cells over a period of 10 years, researchers have
registered more than 50 patents,
which are now being transferred
to the company which is purchasing this technology.
The benefit of this third generation technology would be
that it can be utilised for household electrical appliances, traffic
lights, outdoor big screens and
other devices. While the first two
generations of photovoltaic cells
required intensive and direct
sunlight, the third generation is
able to work indoors or on
cloudy days. Hence, it can be
applied to a variety of situations
including areas which are shaded by trees. Overall, this innovation promises to result in a quantum jump in conversion efficiency of solar cells.
Energy for the future will
have to come from technologies
which are efficient and economically viable. Secondly, innovation of the type that is represented by this third generation
photovoltaic cell would not only
find widespread applications in
China, but provide the country
with a growing market globally
where Chinese produced solar
cells will be found far more cost
effective than conventional
photovoltaic technology.
In India we have not yet
developed a vision of the future
whereby new technologies would
serve the purpose of sustainable
development effectively. This, of
course, would require institutions
that innovate to be given relative
freedom, devoid of bureaucratic
controls, so that ideas blossom
into specific technologies.
Inability or delays in bringing
about a restructuring of institutions which can achieve technological innovation would leave us
dependent on other countries
and deny us the ability to capture
new markets which will emerge
and grow in the field of sustainable energy technologies.
(The writer is former chairman, Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (2002-2015))
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Sir — This refers to the editorial, “Modi’s call for dialogue”
(August 24). There is no doubt
that Prime Minister Narendra
Modi’s call for an immediate
dialogue to restore peace in
Jammu & Kashmir within “the
ambit of the Constitution”, made
at his meeting with Kashmir’s
opposition leaders led by Omar
Abdullah, is a positive step. Union
Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s
second visit to the valley within
a month, as a follow-up exercise
in pursuit of the Prime Minister’s
concern on the current crisis, is
equally welcome.
But, unfortunately, the
aggressive and uncompromising
stance of the separatists and their
radical Islamist associates,
demanding “azadi” from India,
leaves no room for resolving the
problem, that too in the framework of the Indian Constitution.
These elements are still mouthing
over 60 year old slogan on “selfdetermination” which the UN
body dealing with the problem,
had itself discarded.
When the proposal was originally made, it had to be executed after Pakistan withdrew all its
forces from the occupied areas of
J&K; it had to be conducted with
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reduced Indian forces in place in
the State to maintain law and
order. The Pakistan government
never implemented this crucial
precondition for “self-determination” in J&K. Hence, it is duplicitous and hypocritical to raise this
demand today.
M Ratan
Via email
3bYdYSQ\Ze^SdebU
Sir — This refers to the editorial, “RBI under Urjit Patel”
(August 23). Urjit Patel will be
taking over India’s central bank at
a critical juncture. His predecessor, the incumbent RBI chief
Raghuram Rajan, has already
institutionalised many reforms
and stiff measures for which he
had to take a lot of heat from different circles. Patel must carry forward his work on controling
inflation and rooting out bad
loans from ailing banks.
Patel’s appointment is being
considered to be free of political
considerations. For effective
working of the RBI, the government must not indulge in politicking and fist-fighting, and provide a renewed environment free
from any undue interference.
Gaurav Singhal
Rewari
BQZQ^µc\UWQSi
Sir — This refers to the editorial, “RBI under Urjit Patel”
(August 23). RBI chief Raghuram
Rajan has succeeded to a large
extent in defending his legacy. By
ushering significant economic
reforms at a time when the country found itself struggling with
double digit inflation, a volatile
rupee, falling forex reserves and
an impending banking crisis,
Rajan walked alone and faced the
growth-inflation dynamic.
From adopting the consumer
price index to view inflation and
bringing India out of the infamous category of the Fragile
Five, to offering discounted currency swaps to banks in order to
spur forex inflows and allowing
licensing of “differentiated banking entities” to increase financial
inclusion, Rajan showed impeccable financial acumen. He also
initiated the process of bad debt
clean-up. Now, it is imperative for
the next RBI Governor Urjit
Patel to carry his legacy forward
and transform India’s ossified
financial system.
Shreyans Jain
Delhi
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n a strange melange of violent
and hot-headed adrenaline
rush, the only immutable strategy in Kashmir presently is the
coming together of the rival factions of the separatist hawks —
Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz
Farooq and Yasin Malik. For they
believe that the pellet gun is the
strongest visual reference of ‘damning violence’ against Kashmiris.
Kashmir’s recent history will tell
you that the germ is passed onto a
new carrier every time a new
wave of violence has been
unleashed, be it 2008, 2010 or 2016.
This confluence of minds is dangerous for the simple reason that
Indian intelligence agencies had
managed to break and divide the
Hurriyat to keep them apart.
With the soft separatism of
Mehbooba Mufti being marginalised, violent separatism is once
again the flavour of the season.
Kashmir sadly has become an
echo chamber of the clarion call for
self determination/azadi till this day
and at the vanguard now are these
same Sunni separatists. After over
a month and half of a shut down
in the Valley, it is good to see the
Prime Minister coming forward
and taking stock of what is now a
frightening situation.
As one uncoils history, what is
thrown into stark relief is that once
the people demanded a
Constitution, created not by a
Maharaja (as was done through the
J&K Constitution Act, 1939), but
by the people, of the people and for
the people, and since Clause 7 of
the Instrument of Accession of
1947 did not commit J&K to
adhere to the Indian Constitution
then being debated in Delhi, a J&K
Constituent Assembly was set up
through democratic elections that
were witnessed by international
observers and were conducted on
the basis of universal adult franchise
— never mind that Sheikh
Abdullah’s National Conference
party was the only in the fray with
its insignificant rival, the Praja
Parishad, deciding to stay away.
This was taken to the next level
when the Kashmir Assembly on
February 15, 1954 under Bakshi’s
leadership voted Kashmir’s accession to India, Nehru concluded that
no plebiscite was needed as the
people’s representatives had spoken.
I
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But Kashmir being Kashmir is
like an onion which when peeled
layer by layer only provides more
tears and increased pungence. It has
always remained open ended for
the simple reason that Pakistan
cannot treat it as a closed chapter,
calling it the unfinished business of
Partition. So, Kashmir re-emerged
on the Security Council’s front
burner in February 21, 1957 when
the Soviet Union vetoed in the
Security Council the four-Power
resolution on Kashmir proposing
that Gunnar Jarring of Sweden be
sent to India and Pakistan to discuss the question of demilitarisation of Kashmir and suggesting that
the Pakistani proposal of sending
a temporary UN force to Kashmir
be examined.
Britain, the US, Australia and
Cuba, which had proposed the mission, made another bid in a new
resolution introduced immediately after the resolution was defeated. Arkady Sobolev, the Russian
delegate, declared that the new resolution was only a repetition of the
previous one which was unacceptable to India and he would be
obliged to vote against it.
These dramatic developments
followed two marathon interventions in the debate by VK Krishna
Menon, India’s representative, who
had come to the Council from his
sick bed. He told the Council that
India would regard an attack on
Kashmir as an attack on India and
would take action accordingly.
Reiterating that Kashmir was an
integral part of India against which
aggression had taken place, he said,
“It is our duty, under the Charter,
to resist the invasion if our territory is invaded, and I am directed to
repeat that any invasion of any part
of India is an invasion of the
whole country.” It was a stunning
reversal of events.
What was this Resolution?
After taking note of Pakistan’s
proposal for a UN supervisory
force for the demilitarisation programme, the Resolution asked for
its president, the representative
from Sweden, to proceed to the
sub-continent and talk to the two
Governments to examine proposals for progress towards the settlement. With Russia vetoing, the
colour and text of the Resolution
changed and all references to the
UN supervisory force was jettisoned. India had won the round.
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ill Nepal find stability
under its new Prime
Minister, Pushpa Kamal
Dahal? Will the Maoist leader, popularly known as Prachanda, steer
Nepal better than he did as Prime
Minister eight years ago? Will IndiaNepal relations get back on track? It
all depends on a lot of things including how he handles the two big
neighbours, and how the two neighbours look at his regime.
Prachanda, chairman of CPN
(Maoist Centre), became Nepal’s
39th Prime Minister on August 3
heading a coalition Government
with the Nepali Congress. His
first innings as Prime Minister
in 2008 were short lived. He is
also known for his anti-India
stance but begins his current
term with the blessings of
New Delhi. India’s NCP leader
DP Tripathi played a vital role
in the back-channel negotiations with Nepal leaders. The
result was that Prachanda
replaced KP Sharma Oli.
Experts feel that DelhiKathmandu ties that had
touched rock bottom during
the Oli regime, might be back
on track with Prachanda.
Prachanda has many challenges including completing
the peace process and implementing the new Constitution. He
also has to pay attention to governance and improve the economy.
Above all, he has to recalibrate
Nepal’s foreign policy while remaining sensitive to the concerns of both
India and China.
Prachanda has repeatedly stated
that he has become “politically
mature” and understands the “compulsions of competitive politics”. He
told this writer last year that he had
committed some mistakes like not
making GP Koirala the President,
sacking the Army chief, and not
adjusting to competitive politics. He
says he will not commit these mis-
W
takes again. He is also not as virulantly anti-Indian as he used to be,
which is why New Delhi supports
him now. His first foreign visit this
time will be to Delhi. In 2008, he went
to Beijing first.
Since he has taken over,
Prachanda has made a marked
departure from his predecessor. He
has promised to amend the new
Constitution to include Madhesi
demands and take all sections of society along with him.
He has begun well by appointing his Deputy Prime Minister
Bimalendra Nidhi of the Nepali
Congress, as his special envoy to New
Delhi; while another Deputy Prime
Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara of
Prachanda’s own party visited Beijing
to deal with Chinese anxieties over
the fate of projects connecting China
and Nepal that were signed by Oli.
This is in tune with his declaration that he will build on the traditionally close ties between India and
Nepal, and keep Nepal equidistant
from India and China. Nidhi’s fourday visit was to assure New Delhi of
Prachanda’s cooperation. He met all
the top leaders including President
Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, External Affairs
Around the same time, a letter purportedly written by Sheikh
Abdullah from Kud jail was smuggled to Pakistan via Gulmarg and
handed over to Meraj-ul-Hassan,
SP heading Kashmir intelligence
and passed onto Security Council
members and its President. The letter saw the usual Sheikh, voluble
and angry — In March 1956, the
Indian Prime Minister made a public declaration ruling plebiscite
in Kashmir.
It shocked the world conscience and stunned the people of
Kashmir to whom innumerable
assurances had been held out that
they will shape their own destiny
through a fair and impartial
plebiscite. Reasons advanced for
this volte face are that Pakistan has
joined SEATO, received arms from
the US and signed the Baghdad
Pact. The absurdity of this argument is patent. Kashmir is at present ruled by monstrous laws
which have crippled all political and
social life and paralysed all progress.
The Sheikh who stood for
nationalism and shared Nehru’s
vision of secularism, the Sheikh
who engaged UN Mediator and US
Senator Dr Frank Graham in a
wordy duel and battled the
Maharaja Hari Singh for years for
freedom and fundamental rights,
why did he begin thinking of a
middle path of autonomy and distancing himself from the
Indian Union?
Abdullah’s biggest concern had
been the growing chasm between
Hindu Jammu and Muslim
Kashmir, and he could never get his
head to wrap around the problem.
Equally his psyche was undergoing
a change as he began to distrust
Nehru and Delhi. His demand for
an autonomous Kashmir, even if it
was truncated always stopped short
highlighting practical difficulties
with regard to its landlocked geographical location.
Encouragement from AngloAmerican interests, however,
seemed to convince him that he
should examine the option of
independence. In May 1949,
Abdullah said: “Accession to either
side cannot bring peace. We want
to live in friendship with both the
Dominions. Perhaps a middle path
between them and economic cooperation with each will be the only
way to do it. However, an independent Kashmir must be guaranteed not only by India and
Pakistan, but also by Great Britain,
the US and the UN.”
Were these mere trial balloons, which when Sheikh
Abdullah discovered did not find
any takers evolved into a fully
autonomous Kashmir carved out
from the State on religious lines
including the Azad Kashmir area?
Speaking to the Constituent
Assembly on March 25, 1952 and
referring to independence as an
alternative solution, Abdullah said,
“Suppose for the sake of argument
that the people don’t ratify this
accession, the position that will follow would not be that as a matter
of course, Kashmir becomes part
of Pakistan. No, that would not
happen. That cannot happen legally or constitutionally. What would
happen in such an eventuality
would be that the State would
regain the status that it enjoyed
immediately preceding the accession, let us be clear about it.”
Validation did come from the
Constituent Assembly as we know,
one can rest the case now M/s
Geelani, Mirwaiz and Malik!
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Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home
Minister Rajnath Singh among others. His prepared the ground for
Prachanda’s visit next month and
invited President Mukherjee
to Nepal.
Modi has also responded graciously to Prachanda’s moves, and
offered what could be a balm to souring relations between India and
Nepal — India’s help in reconstructing the earthquake-battered
country. Modi assured Nidhi that,
“India is fully committed to support
the government and the people of
Nepal in the post-earthquake reconstruction efforts.” India is the
largest donor to Nepal’s
post-earthquake
reconstruction efforts.
Prachanda had sent a
message to Modi, admitting
errors in the past, reaffirming his commitment to
friendship with India,
promising efforts to forge an
inclusive constitutional settlement, and seeking closer
development cooperation.
He also sent a long list of
agreements he wants to sign
during his visit in September.
He has conveyed his
desire to speed up development works in Nepal with
Indian assistance rather than
focusing on political and diplomatic matters. He has suggested that
works on the long-delayed
Pancheshwor Project on Nepal-India
border be moved forward. Modi has
responded by striking a personal rapport, according to Nidhi.
Nidhi has also explained to
Indian leaders the Prachanda’s
roadmap and has highlighted that
since Constitutional amendments
cannot be done without Oli’s support, there are only two options —
either to bring Oli come on board or
mobilise the support of all other
smaller parties to vote in favour of
the amendments.
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urgeoning urban population and unplanned
urbanization have significant implications on the
efficiency of urban services
such as affordable housing.
The Government has considered affordable housing intrinsic to urban poverty alleviation.
But the lack of an institutional mechanism for inclusive
planning under such schemes
reduces their efficiency.
Affordable housing is often
narrowly looked at as constructing a certain number of
housing blocks to accommodate a specific number of eligible households. What is commonly missed out in understanding the provision of
affordable housing is the need
to create habitable spaces
beyond the mere construction of housing blocks. These
habitable spaces provide for
holistic development, as they
comprise not just living units
but a scope for better livelihood
and society.
The proportion of population living in urban areas has
increased from 27 per cent to
31 per cent between 2001 and
2011. Such an increased pace
of urbanisation poses new
housing challenges like growing gap between housing
demand and supply, affordability and the need for effective poverty alleviation plans.
Housing shortage in urban
areas is estimated to be as high
as 20 million units by 2022. The
Technical Group on Urban
Housing Shortage for the 12th
Plan had estimated urban
housing shortage in 2012 at
18.78 million units. Thus, the
projected housing shortage in
2022 can be much higher than
the Government’s plans for
provision of 20 million units.
B
The housing sector is considered an ‘engine of growth’,
which has immense potential
of giving a push to the economy because of its link with the
construction sector, thereby
impacting employment and
livelihood. Therefore, housing
assistance can make a significant difference in the economic well-being of lowincome group households,
both in rural and urban areas.
In order to meet the urban
housing demand, the Ministry
of Housing and Poverty
Alleviation has launched the
Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana
(Urban) to provide “Pucca”
house for every family by 2022.
PMAYU is a Centrally-sponsored scheme (except the credit link subsidy component),
which encourages States to
decide their own policies, as
land is a State subject.
The scheme covers 500
Class I cities across three phases. Under this scheme, the
Ministry has so far sanctioned
central grant of C7,545.65 crore
for 746 projects with 5,08,902
houses for the economically
weaker sections in 544 cities
across 13 States. However,
urban housing in India has a
long way to go in terms of flexible and sensitive design strategies that can be achieved
through active participation
of all entities involved especially
the beneficiaries.
Inspite of heavy current
and past investments, the irony
of urban housing shortage is
that more than 20 per cent of
the housing blocks constructed under various government
schemes remain vacant. This is
largely attributed to unsuitable
design as illustrated by higher
occupancy in projects designed
based on the beneficiaries’
E8B70:70970
inputs. The Central and State
Government affordable housing schemes focus on providing pucca houses but are insensitive to habitant’s design needs
and requirements. Such blocks
are insufficient for larger households, lack common spaces and
have a higher cost of living.
A big proportion of the
allocation for urban housing
schemes also focuses on certain
social segments like BPL
households, leading to inadequate focus on low income
households just above the
poverty line, which comprise a
big proportion of the population with housing needs.
There are also large portions of Government land
alongwith Railways and
Defence land that is underutilised. For example, cantonments, some of which are
located in the central areas of
populous cities, possess surplus
land. The Government should
look at releasing such underutilised land.
To meet the total housing
demand by 2022 requires a
combination of technological
subsidies and greater engagement with the people especially
low income groups, along with
innovative financing mechanisms and optimal utilisation
of resources.
A meaningful policy
framework for affordable housing requires housing to be
addressed in totality and not
merely as an issue of attaining
‘secured housing units’. This can
help in making the urban
growth process more inclusive
wherein urban poor would be
empowered partners in the
development process.
(The writer is a research
associate with Swaniti
Initiative, New Delhi)
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<D<108) Reserve Bank on
Thursday announced a slew
of changes in fixed income
and currency markets such as
allowing lenders to issue
‘masala bonds’ and to accept
corporate bonds under the
liquidity adjustment facility
(LAF).
“ These measures are
intended to further deepen
market
de velopment,
enhance participation, facilitate greater market liquidity and improve communication,” an RBI release said.
To encourage overseas
rupee bonds market, banks
are being permitted to issue
rupee-denominated bonds
overseas (masala bonds) for
their capital requirements
and for financing infrastructure and affordable housing.
Currently, masala bonds
can be issued only by corpor ate s and n on - b an k i ng
lenders like, HFCs and large
NBFCs. Masala bonds are
instruments through which
Indian entities can raise
funds by accessing overseas
capital markets, while the
bond Investors hold the currency risk.
These will constitute for
additional tier-I and tier-II
capital for the lenders, it
said, adding such overseas
bonds can also be issued to
finance infrastructure and
affordable housing under a
current dispensation which
applies for foreign currency
bond raising.
It can be noted that so far
two Indian corporates -HDFC and NTPC -- have
made use of this facility to
raise over C5,000 crore, but
the segment was not open to
banks.
The RBI will be seeking
amendments to enable the
central bank to accept corporate bonds under the LAF
which is used to bridge temporary liquidity issues by
lenders, it said.
O ut goi ng G ove r nor
Raghuram Rajan had earlier
said RBI would be announcing a series of measures
aimed at bonds and currency markets by end of the
month. Rajan, whose tenure
ends on September 4, is likely to handover charge to
Governor designate Urjit
Patel on September 6.
Stating the absence of an
overarching ceiling on total
6KDNWLNDQWD'DVDWWHQGLQJ
6DDUF)0VPHHWLQVWHDGRI-DLWOH\
80=BQ 8B;0<0103=4F34;78
ith Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley opting out of the
W
Saarc Finance Ministers’ meet, it
is Economic Affairs Secretary
Shaktikanta Das who has taken
his place at the two-day conference, a top Government official
said on Thursday.
“Yes, that is correct. Instead
of Mr Jaitley, Mr Shaktikanta
Das is attending the two-day
Saarc (South Asian Association
for Regional Cooperation) meet
of Finance Ministers at
Islamabad,” a senior Finance
Ministry official told IANS.
The two-day FMs meet is
being held at Islamabad from
Thursday.
The possibility of Jaitley
attending the meet was clouded
with India-Pakistan relations
touching a new low after Home
Minister Rajnath Singh was
given a cold shoulder by
Pakistan authorities when he visited Pakistan earlier this month
to
attend
the
Saarc
Home/Interior Ministers’ conference.
“Ultimately, it is the
Government’s decision whether
the Finance Minister goes to
Islamabad or not. I think this is
one way to snub Pakistan,”
Bharatiya Janata Party National
Secretary Sidharth Nath Singh
had told IANS earlier.
Apart from Jaitley,
Bangladesh Finance Minister
Abdul Maal Abdul Muhith is
also missing from the Saarc
meet, Pakistan’s Daily Times
reported.
While Das is leading the
Indian delegation, MA Mannan,
State Minister for Finance is representing Bangladesh, it reported.
India-Pakistan ties touched
a low after a raging controversy
emerged after Rajnath Singh’s
two-day visit to Pakistan earlier this month.
India had strongly objected
to Pakistan”s “restrictive
approach” in denying visas to
Indian journalists to cover the
Saarc Home/Interior Ministers’
conference.
Mediapersons who accompanied the Home Minister were
not allowed in the (meeting)
room and a number of those
who had applied for visas (to
cover the event) did not get
them, India’s External Affairs
Ministry had said.
“Naturally this restrictive
approach by Pakistan even for a
multilateral event is not helpful
in promoting close ties between
Saarc countries,” External Affairs
Ministry spokesperson Vikas
Swarup had said.
SURSRVHVWRUHGXFHEDQN¶VH[SRVXUHLQFRUSRUDWHKRXVHV
<D<108)With an aim to reduce
risk in banking sector, RBI has
proposed to limit exposure of a
bank to a business group to up
to 25 per cent of its capital, down
from the existing 55 per cent.
“The Large Exposure (LE)
limit in respect of each counterparty and group of connected counterparties, under normal
circumstances, will be capped at
20 per cent and 25 per cent,
respectively of the eligible capital base,” RBI said in a Draft
Large Exposures (LE)
Framework.
The eligible capital base
will be defined as the tier 1 capital of the bank as against capital funds at present, it said.
A group of connected large
borrowing by a corporate
entity from the banking system has resulted in banks
collectively having very high
exposures to some of the
large corporates, the RBI will
be coming out with draft
guidelines on the ‘large exposure framework’, it said.
To give an impetus to the
maintain its edge over Cyprus
as preferred source of FDI for
India as inflows from the Indian
Ocean island nation will get
concessional tax treatment till
March 2019, say tax experts.
While the Cabinet on last
Wednesday approved the signing of revised pact with Cyprus,
which will enable India to tax
capital gains for investments
originating there, the
Government has already revised
the tax treaty with Mauritius.
The new treaty with Cyprus
will remove it from India’s list of
“notified jurisdictions”, which
currently puts restrictions on
inflows from that country.
Similar tax treaties with
Singapore and the Netherlands
are under negotiations for revision.
“Unlike India-Mauritius
Tax Treaty, there is no concessional transition tax of 7.5 per
cent for Cypriot residents,
owing to which, foreign
investors would still prefer
Mauritius over Cyprus for the
transition period of April 2017
till March 2019,” said Rakesh
Nangia, Managing Partner,
Nangia & Co.
PwC India Partner (Direct
Tax) Abhishek Goenka said
this withholding tax rate is likely to be retained at 10 per cent
in the Cyprus treaty.
“It seems that Mauritius is
a better treaty on two counts - 50 per cent concessional capital gains tax rate and 7.5 per
cent withholding tax on debt,”
Goenka said.
Ashok Maheshwary &
Associates partner Amit
Maheshwari said the
Mauritius route will become
more popular for structured
debt investments rather than
the capital gains exemption
which was the case earlier as
the tax rate on interest has
been reduced to 7.5 per cent.
“From the Government
press release its not clear
whether Cyprus has renegotiated for a reduced tax on
interest just like Mauritius,” he
said.
assets are on the rise. Gross
NPAs of PSU banks are C4.7
lakh crore as on March, 2015, up
from C71,080 crore in 2011.
“Since the LE Framework is
constructed to serve as a backstop to and complement the
risk-based capital standards, it
must apply at the same level as
the risk-based capital requirements are to be applied, that is,
a bank shall comply with the LE
norms at two levels: (a) consolidated (Group1) level and (b)
Solo2 level,” it said.
The application of the LE
framework at the consolidated level implies that a bank
must consider exposures of all
the banking group entities
(including overseas opera-
tions through branches and
subsidiaries) under regulatory scope of consolidation, to
counterparties and compare
the aggregate of those exposures with the banking group’s
eligible consolidated capital
base for the purpose of complying with the norms, it
said.
“Banks must gradually
adjust their exposures to abide
by the LE limit with respect to
the eligible capital base (effective amount of Tier 1 capital)...
Banks should avoid taking
any additional exposure in
cases where their exposure is
at or above the exposure limit
prescribed under this
Framework,” it said.
?C8
corporate bonds market, RBI
has also decided to expand
l i m it of p ar t i a l c re d it
enhancement (PCE) provided by banks.
“The aggregate PCE that
may be provided by the
financial system for a given
bond issue will be increased
from the present 20 per cent
to 50 per cent of the bond
issue size subject to the PCE
provided by any single bank
not exceeding 20 per cent of
the bond issue size and the
extant exposure limits,” the
RBI said.
RBI has constituted a
working group to review the
guidelines for hedging of
commodity price risks by
resident investors in the
overseas markets To promote retail participation in
Government securities(Gsecs), Reserve Bank will
re move t he re maining
restrictions on seamless
transfer of these debt instruments between the deposito-
7]ZVcd^Rjd``_XVe
`_S`RcU:_eVc_VeZ_:_UZR
=4F 34;78) Air passengers
may be able to use Internet onboard and even make phone
calls, beginning as early as next
month, with security issues
being sorted out for allowing
use of Wi-Fi facility in the
Indian airspace.
The facility will be available for domestic as well as
foreign carriers flying in
Indian skies, for which the
technical and operational
modalities are in the advanced
stage of finalisation, officials
said.
Globally, many airlines are
already offering Wi-Fi for passengers, but they currently
have to switch off the facility
when they enter the Indian
airspace.
Carriers will have the
option to charge for the service
though some of them can
offer free usage up to a certain
limit or in some specific flying
classes.
Availability of Wi-Fi is
also expected to provide local
airlines with an additional
source of revenues amid stiff
competition in the Indian aviation market, which has been
witnessing one of the highest
passenger traffic growth rates
in the world.
0DXULWLXVWRUHPDLQPDMRU)',
VRXUFHWLOO0DUFK([SHUWV
=4F34;78)Mauritius is likely to
borrowing companies will be
identified on the basis of control as well as economic dependence criteria, it said.
While inviting comment
from public, it said, the proposed ‘Large Exposure’ (LE)
framework will be fully applicable from March 31, 2019.
The Basel Committee on
Banking Supervision (BCBS)
too recognised the need for
banks to measure and limit the
size of large exposures in relation to their capital.
The RBI’s proposal is in line
with BCBS standards (BASEL
norms on capital adequacy).
The exposure framework
has been released at a time when
bad loans or non-performing
Under the amended treaty
with Mauritius, for two years
beginning April 1, 2017, capital gains tax will be imposed
at 50 per cent of the prevailing domestic rate. Full rate
will apply from April 1, 2019.
But this concessional rate
would apply to a Mauritius
resident company which can
prove that it has total expenditure of at least C27 lakh in
the African island nation and
is not a ‘shell’ company with
just a post office address.
Further, interest arising in
India to Mauritian resident
banks will be subject to withholding tax in India at the rate
of 7.5 per cent in respect of
debt claims or loans made
after March 31, 2017.
Foreign
Direct
Investment (FDI) of as much
as $8.3 billion came from
Mauritius last fiscal, while
only $508 million came from
Cyprus. Besides, $13.69 billion came from Singapore,
and $2.64 billion came in
from Netherlands.
?C8
While the Civil Aviation
Ministry has been pursuing
the proposal of permitting
use of Wi-Fi in flights onboard for “quite some time”,
various security issues were
holding up a final decision on
the matter.
Indicating that “good
news” is likely in coming days,
Civil Aviation Secretary RN
Choubey last night said the
ministries of Civil Aviation,
Telecommunications and
Home Affairs have been working on allowing Wi-Fi use in
flights.
“There is fairly a good
chance that in 10 days, permission will be given to operate Wi-Fi in the Indian airspace,” Choubey said, adding
that Cabinet nod might not be
required for allowing Wi-Fi
facility on-board.
On whether passengers
will also be permitted to make
phone calls, he indicated that
it should be there.
“...If data is going to be
allowed, it should be possible
to make calls as well. We expect
that to happen as well,” he said.
Currently, Wi-Fi services
and phone calls are not allowed
on flights flying over the Indian
airspace.
About the security issues
being discussed, he said the
important thing is about monitoring “data and voice transmission” by the security agencies.
“Obviously, there are security-related issues. The three
ministries of Civil Aviation,
Telecommunications and
Home Affairs are working on
3ODQWRKDYHIRXU689VLQ
,QGLDLQIRXU\HDUV+\XQGDL
274==08) Hyundai Motor India
aims to have four SUV models in
its product portfolio in the next
four years as it looks to further
consolidate its position in the fastgrowing segment.
The company currently retails
two products -- Creta and SantaFe
in the segment.
“We have just launched
Elantra and by October or
November, we will launch
Tucson,” Hyundai Motor India
MD and CEO YK Koo told
reporters here.
The company also plans to
launch a sub 4-metre compact
SUV in order to fill the gap that
lies below Creta. It had showcased
concept compact SUV Carlino at
the Auto Expo this year in
February. The model is under
development right now.
Asked about the timeframe
for having a four-product portfolio
in the SUV segment, Koo said: “It
will at least take four years.”
The company thus will
have four products ranging
from a compact SUV with
price starting at C5-6 lakh to
over C30 lakh SantaFe in the
fast-growing segment.
On the Tucson launch, Koo
said the vehicle will be launched
with 2,000 cc petrol and diesel
engine options, priced at C25-30
lakh.
Elaborating, Hyundai Motor
India Senior Vice-President
Marketing and Sales, Rakesh
Srivastava said the company will
follow a three-pronged strategy,
going ahead.
“We will follow proper timeframe on full model changes.
Besides, we will enter segments
where we don’t have presence.
Thirdly, we will get into sub-segments which have the potential to
grow into full segment, going
ahead,” Srivastava said.
The company will launch 12 products each year and will
have a sizeable portfolio, he
added.
The idea is to become leading premium and loved brand in
the country, Srivastava said.
Asked if the company would
like to bring in more diesel platforms in the wake of enhanced
scrutiny of the fuel, Koo said: “We
already have a powerful engine
and if we require any more, we can
get it imported from Korea.” ?C8
this and in 10 days, it should be
possible for us to announce...,”
Choubey said.
If necessary, agencies
should have access to the
details and if need be, it can be
tracked, he noted.
“I must compliment the
present DoT (Department of
Te l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s )
Secretary... I have been chasing
it for quite some time. I am
obviously saying so on the
basis of what Deepak (DoT
Secretar y) has told me,”
Choubey said.
Once the government permission is in place, it will be up
to the airlines to providing WiFi facility in their flights.
Generally, Wi-Fi facility
for fliers can be provided either
through air-to-ground technology or satellite connectivity and the latter will be expensive.
Globally, some airlines are
also providing on-board Wi-Fi
services free of cost for a stipulated time and then the passengers are billed depending on
their use.
Meanwhile, Choubey also
expressed hope that time will
come when providing Wi-Fi
services could act as a differentiator among the airlines. ?C8
ries and itself.
“This should promote
retail participation in the
market by facilitating participation by small investors in
primary as well as secondary
markets,” the central bank
said.
It can be noted RBI had
allowed, for the first time, the
retail investors to trade in
Government securities from
August 16.
To ease participation and
align regulations, RBI will
allow entities exposed to
exchange rate risks, whether
residents or non-residents, to
hedge their transactions with
simplified procedures up to a
limit of $30 million at any
given time, the central bank
said.
Over and above this, the
bank added authorised
lenders can also permit its
customers take an open position limit of up to $5 million.
To encourage more activity in corporate bond market,
brokers will be allowed to
participate in the corporate
bond repo market as marketmakers, beyond the current
system of restricting the play
to banks, primary dealers
(PDs), mutual funds and
insurance companies, it said.
Foreign portfolio investors
will be allowed to trade directly in corporate bonds without
involving brokers, in the OTC
(over the counter) segment on
an electronic platform of a
recognised stock exchange, it
said.
To augment liquidity in
G-secs market, a market-making scheme by PDs has been
devised in consultation with
the Government, it said.
RBI also proposes to
remove tenor limits or
counter-party restrictions on
listed companies, which are
currently allowed to lend
through repos in G-sec for a
minimum seven days to banks
and primary dealers.
The apex bank will be
issuing necessary guidelines in
consultation with all stakeholders on introducing electronic dealing platform for
repo of corporate bonds by the
end of October.
To improve communication, it has been decided that
auction results of Government
bond auctions will be published by RBI at a stipulated
time, the release added. ?C8
%DGWLPHFRQWLQXHVIRUEDQNV
.)$EUDQGVIDLOWRILQGEX\HUV
<D<108) In a big disappointment for the lenders for the
second time, auction of the
long-grounded Kingfisher
Airlines’ (KFA) trademarks
and logo turned out to be
damp squib once again despite
having a lower reserve price.
Banks also had put on the
block some of the moveable
assets of the company worth
C13.70 lakh lying at the
Kingfisher House, for which,
too, no bidders came forward.
In their second attempt,
the 17-lender consortium led
by State Bank of India had put
the airline’s trademarks including Kingfisher logo and the
once-famous tag-line ‘Fly the
Good Times’ on the block, to
recover a part of their over
C9,000-crore loans from beleaguered businessman Vijay
Mallya and his grounded carrier.
Banks had also put the
Flying Models, Funliner, Fly
Kingfisher and Flying Bird
Device on the sale.
“I think the reserve price
for the trademark was still
found to be high by the bidders,” a source said.
Legal experts said the
entire brand value of the
Kingfisher brand has taken a
beating and so bidders
remained elusive.
“Value of trademark of the
entire group has gone down to
almost nothing and nobody
will like to buy it,” said an
expert dealing in intellectual
property rights.
In April, the banks had
made a failed attempt to sell
brands and trademarks of the
airlines, owned by Mallya. The
auction was unsuccessful as
none of the bidders came forward due to the higher reserve
price of C366.70 crore.
In today’s auction the
reserve price was reduced by
10 per cent to C330.03 crore,
but still no bidders came forward.
The Kingfisher brand itself
was valued at over C4,000
crore by consultancy Grant
Thornton when the airline
was at its peak. In its annual
report for 2012-13, KFA said,
at its peak, it was the largest
airline in the country with a
five-star rating from Skytrax.
The airline’s brand had
been registered separately from
the Kingfisher beer trademarks.
Lenders had also put on
sale movable assets worth
C13.70 lakh lying at the
Kingfisher House. The items on
sale included eight cars-Toyota
Innova & Corolla, and Honda
City & Civic among others.
The reserve price of each
car was set differently in the
range of C90,000-2.50 lakh.
Earlier this month, the
auction of Kingfisher House
proved a damp squib again as
no bidder turned up for the
erstwhile headquarters of the
Mallya-led airline at a reduced
reserve price of C135 crore. ?C8
&DLUQWD[GLVSXWH,QGLDKDV
WRUHVSRQGE\1RYVD\V&(2
=4F34;78) India has time till
November to respond to Cairn
Energy’s demand for $5.6 billion compensation in the retrospective tax case, said CEO
of the British oil firm, Simon
Thomson.
Cairn has initiated an
international arbitration seeking $5.6 billion in compensation from the Indian
Government in case the retrospective tax demand of C29,047
crore is not quashed.
“It is important for the
arbitration to continue quickly,” he said, after meeting
Revenue Secretary Hashmukh
Adhia here.
While Cairn has filed its
Statement of Claims before a
three-member international
arbitration panel, the
Government of India has time
till November to respond, he
said.
“The important thing is to
keep this arbitration moving,”
he said, adding that globally,
investors are watching how
India settles the legacy retro-
spective tax issue.
A tax demand of C10,247
crore was imposed on Cairn
over an intra-group restructuring undertaken in 2006
prior to the IPO of its India
unit. Together with back-dated
interest, the total demand is
over C29,000 crore.
“We are confident of our
position. We have complied
with all regulations and paid all
taxes that were due,” he said.
Cairn Energy sold majority stake in the India unit,
Cairn India, to Vedanta
Resources, but retains a 9.8 per
cent stake which has been
attached by the income tax
department.
Thomson said the attach-
ment of shares is “unfair” and
it is in the interest of all that the
issue is resolved quickly.
Earlier this month, Cairn
in its half-yearly earnings statement said it has commenced
the proceedings under the UKIndia Bilateral Investment
Treaty as India’s actions have
breached the Treaty by “expropriating the company’s property without adequate and just
compensation, denying fair
and equitable treatment... And
restricting its right to freely
transfer funds in connection
with its investment”.
The seat of arbitration has
been agreed as the Hague in the
Netherlands.
“Cairn has asked the arbitration panel either to order
India to withdraw its unlawful tax demand and compensate Cairn for the harm suffered by the seizure of the
Cairn India shares, being not
less than $1 billion (plus costs)
or, if the tax demand remains
in place, compensate Cairn...,”
the statement said.
?C8
\^]Th
=4F34;78k5A830H k0D6DBC !%! %
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?C8Q =4F34;78
hrinking loan portfolio
and deposit base squeezed
total business of state-owned
Bank of Baroda (BoB) by
nearly C90,000 crore in 201516 despite a robust GDP
growth of 7.6 per cent during
the fiscal.
While the banking industry saw a loan growth of 9.3
per cent, and 8.6 per cent for
deposits during the fiscal,
Bank of Baroda’s credit
growth rate slowed 10.3 per
cent and that of deposits
decelerated 7 per cent. As far
as nationalised banks sans
SBI and associates are concerned, their credit grew 1.4
per cent and deposits 3.1 per
cent in 2015-16.
The total business, mix of
deposits and advances, came
down by staggering C87,817
crore in the period under
review as against the previous
fiscal, as per BoB’s latest
annual report.
Total business of the bank
declined to C9,57,808 crore at
the end of March 2016 compared with C10,45,625 crore a
year ago. Total deposits
S
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declined to C5,74,038 crore in
2015-16, from C6,17,560 crore
in the previous fiscal while
advances slipped to C3,83,770
crore (C4,28,065 crore). Profit
before tax also declined to
C8,815.57 crore in the said
period as against C9,915.10
crore a year ago.
There was a loss of
C5,395.55 crore during the
year as compared to C3,398.43
crore net profit in the yearago period. In order to
improve functioning of public sector banks, the
Government roped in professionals from the private sector last year.
Even during the June quarter of 2016-17, Bank of Baroda
posted a 60 per cent plunge in
net profit at C424 crore on
account of a surge in bad
loans. Net profit stood at
C1,052 crore in the year-ago
quarter. In January-March, it
had reported net loss of C3,230
crore as asset quality worsened.
Total income declined to
C11,877.91 crore in the quart e r e n d e d Ju n e , f rom
C12,243.720 crore a year ago.
The spike in bad loans meant
the gross NPA ratio rose to
11.15 per cent from 4.13 per
cent a year ago and 9.99 per
cent in the March quarter.
Net NPAs more than doubled to 5.73 per cent at the
end of June from 2.07 per
cent a year earlier.
6T\bYTfT[[TahTg_^acbd_
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&2$,DLUVFRQFHUQRYHUWHFKVSHFV
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?C8Q =4F34;78
ellular operators associaC
tion has approached
Telecom Department to
?C8Q =4F34;78
xports of gems and jewellery grew 11.7 per cent to
$11.4 billion during the first
four months of the current fiscal, driven largely by demand
in India's major markets like
the US. In April-July period of
the last fiscal, exports from the
sector were at $10.21 billion,
according to the data from
Gems and Jewellery Export
Promotion Council (GJEPC).
Gems and jewellery contribute
about 14 per cent to the country's overall exports.
The rise in April-July was
mainly supported by cut and
polished diamond exports. It
rose to $7.25 billion during the
period from $6.89 billion a year
ago. Exports of silver jewellery
grew by 51 per cent to $1.30 billion during the four months
period of this fiscal. “Demand is
gradually picking up in markets
like the US, which is helping in
E
recording growth in exports in
the sector,” an official said.
Shipments of gold jewellery
however contracted by 25.13 per
cent to $1 billion during the
period under review, from $1.36
billion a year ago. Exports of
gold medallion and coins too
dipped by 9.51 per cent to $1.48
billion. The Government is hoping that incentives such as 3 per
cent interest subsidy and
enhanced rate for duty drawback
would further help contain the
decline in exports.
According to GJEPC data,
imports of rough diamonds rose
by 13.27 per cent to $6 billion in
April-July 2016. Imports of gold
bars too grew by about 40 per cent
to $1.72 billion. After rising for the
first time in 18 months in June,
exports shrank again in July,
contracting 6.84 per cent due to
decline in shipments of engineering goods and petroleum
products. Gold imports more
than halved to $1.08 billion.
express concern over network
infrastructure specification
outlined in tender document
for USO fund support for provision of mobile services in the
North Eastern region.
“The industry believes that
the intended objective of the
USO (Universal Ser vice
Obligation) tender vis-a-vis
the technical specifications are
significantly distinct from each
other. Further, the present
specification of the tender
would only provide inadequate capacity and will not
provide the required coverage
in the rural areas,” the cellular
body COAI has said in a recent
letter to Telecom Secretary JS
Deepak.
COAI said building up the
network along with proposed
tender specifications (on provision of mobile services in
identified uncovered villages
and mobile coverage along
national highways in the NE
region) would be a ‘sheer
wastage of USO subsidy’.
The association said BTS
specification mention minimum power of 2 Watts instead
of 20 Watts as being kept by
CWTX]SdbcahQT[XTeTbcWPccWTX]cT]STS
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DoT for 2G/3G/4G networks.
“The difference in coverage
will be less than 400 metres versus over 2.5 km with 2 Watts
and 20 Watts, respectively, on
900 band, the same difference
ratio will be applicable on 1800
bands also. It means that
Telecom services providers will
be required to install more
BTS with lower coverage or
there will be compromise on
the coverage in villages,” COAI
said.
It termed the condition on
power back up as ‘unreasonable
and unrealistic’, and said the
same should be lowered from
5 days to 8-12 hours, which is
the norm for rest of the networks in the country. Another
area outlined by the COAI
pertained to the preferential
market access/domestic manufacturing clause.
“We believe that TSPs
should be allowed to decide
9?3d_Y^fUcdC&% SbY^DbY`ebQd_SXUS[ 6^[S\P]BPRWb)?PcT[c^\PX]cPX]
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?C8Q 6DF070C8
ndian Oil Corporation will
invest around C650 crore in
expanding its storage and bottling capacity in Tripura over the
next three years as it looks to
prevent fuel crisis in the state.
IndianOil-AOD, the company's
North East division, will also
start moving a convoy of 20
tankers by the end of this month
to the North Eastern state for the
first time via Bangladesh to
avoid the dilapidated NH-44 in
Assam.
“Apart from exploring new
routes to supply fuel for ending
the crisis in Tripura, we are looking to increase the storage capacity in the state. We are working
on both the possibilities so that
common people do not suffer
there,” Indian Oil Corporation
Executive Director (IndianOilAOD) Dipankar Ray told PTI.
For this purpose, the company will set up one Petroleum,
Oil and Lubricant (POL) depot
and a new bottling plant in
I
Agartala, he added. “The POL
depot will incur an investment
of around C500 crore, while
C143 crore have been estimated
for setting up the bottling plant
over the next 2-3 years. The
investment includes land cost as
well and the land parcels have
already been identified for both
the units,” Ray said. In Tripura,
the company has a POL depot
at Dharmanagar with a capacity of around 6,000 kilo litre (kl)
and an LPG bottling plant at
Bishalgarh with a capacity of
30,000 million tonnes per
annum in double shifts.
“The existing two facilities are not enough to cater
to the growing demand of
fuel in Tripura. So we have
decided to expand our capacities by setting up new units.
The new POL depot will
have an installed capacity of
32,000 kl, while that for the
bottling plant will be 60,000
m i l l i on ton n e s a ye ar,
expandable up to 1,20,000
million tonnes,” he added.
)RRGFRPSDQ\LQWURGXFHV
GLVKHVDVWULEXWHWR5DMDQ
BENGALURU: A Bengalurubased food company has introduced two offbeat dishes in its
menu to celebrate the legacy of
outgoing RBI Governor
Raghuram Rajan, who has left his
own distinct mark on the Central
Bank. Zzungry said it had introduced limited edition of ‘Ulundu
kozhukattai’ and ‘Kova kozhukattai’ that are inspired from the
cuisines of two states in the country that hold great relevance in
the life of Rajan.
The dishes priced at C100
and C150 will be available in the
menu from August 26 to
September 2 just before Rajan's
sign off from his tenure as the
chief of the central bank, it said.
His current three-year term
ends on September 4. “This is a
unique gesture from Zzungry to
appreciate the commendable
work done by Dr Rajan. He has
touched the lives of commoners
and entrepreneurs like us in a
positive way,” said Ashish Kalya,
Co- Founder, Zzungry.
Ulundu kozhukattai is a
delectable savoury rice flour
dumpling stuffed with medium
spicy mixture of urad dal, tempered with curry leaves and
spices, steamed and served with
chutney.
The dish is inspired from
the cuisine of Madhya Pradesh
where Rajan was born, a statement said here. The other dish
‘Kova kozhukattai’ is a sweet rice
flour dumpling stuffed with
cardamom flavoured mixture of
khoya with dry fruits, simmered in rose flavoured milk,
that is served as a dessert. PTI
8>2\d[[bXbbdX]VQ^]db
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?C8Q =4F34;78
ith Urjit Patel set to take
over as next Governor,
RBI may continue its antiinflationary stance and keep
key policy rates on hold for the
rest of the year, Goldman
Sachs said on Thursday.
According to the global
financial services major, Patel’s
appointment as the next RBI
Governor will lead to policy
continuity. He will replace
Raghuram Rajan and take the
helm of the central bank starting September 4, 2016.
“In our view, Patel is likely to maintain similar views as
Governor Rajan in the inflation targeting, banking sector
reforms, overall liquidity, and
exchange rate policy area,”
Goldman Sachs said in a
research note.
The recently announced
inflation targeting framework
sets a headline CPI inflation
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their vendors as already being
done by them under the licence
agreement. The requirement of
tender document should compliment the existing telecom
infrastructure of the telecom
service providers so that it
attracts maximum participation with less subsidy during
bidding,” it said.
COAI suggested that given
the current security environment in the remote areas, the
Telecom Department can”‘consider dealing with such issues
of damage of equipment and
disturbance under the
Essential Services Act etc.”
It had also suggested the
upfront payment of subsidy on
commissioning of tower and
provision of mobile services
from an infrastructure site,
should be about 50 per cent
and not 25 per cent, given the
project roll out involves
upfront capex spends.
µ,QGLD¶V*'3WRH[SDQG
E\WKLVILVFDO¶
NEW DELHI: Indian economy is
expected to clock 7.9 per cent
growth in the current fiscal driven
by better monsoon, Government
pay hike, key reforms and FDI
inflows, Goldman Sachs said on
Thursday. The global financial services major said the GDP is
expected to improve gradually and
for the April-June quarter it may
slow a tad to 7.8 per cent, in part
due to unfavorable base. It had
grown at 7.9 per cent in the previous quarter.
“We forecast real GDP to
grow by 7.9 per cent for 2016-17,
year-on-year, higher than consensus expectations of 7.5 per
cent and up from 7.6 per cent in
FY16,” Goldman Sachs said in a
research note. It further noted
that a better monsoon, civil service wage hike following 7th Pay
Commission, a favorable fiscal
monetary policy mix, the recent
passage of key reforms and continued FDI inflows should all
support growth. It said key risks
to India's growth trajectory
include a faster pace of US Fed
rate hikes than is currently priced
in, concerns about Chinese
growth and capital flows. PTI
NEW DELHI: Indian Oil Corp
(IOC), nation’s largest oil firm, will
next week consider issuing bonus
shares to its shareholders to capitalise part of the reserves. The
board of IOC will meet on August
29, ‘to consider issue of Bonus
Shares’, the company said in a regulatory filing.
IOC will be the second stateowned oil company after
Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd
(HPCL) to consider issuing bonus
shares following a Government
directive. HPCL board had last
month approved issuing two
bonus shares of C10 each for every
existing one. This helped capitalise
reserves to the extent of C677.25
crore. The Government had written to all profit-making public sector units to consider buying back
shares or issuing bonus shares to
put their surplus cash to use and
giving their owner, the
Government, more value.
IOC is India’s largest commercial enterprise, with a sales
turnover of C3,99,601 crore ($61
billion) and profits of C10,399 crore
($1.58 billion) for the year 201516. It is ranked 161st among the
world’s largest corporates (and
first among Indian companies) in
the prestigious Fortune ‘Global 500’
listing for the year 2016.
The Govt owns 58.28 per
cent stake in IOC, which controls nearly half of India’s fuel
market, 35 per cent national oil
refining capacity and 71 per cent
of downstream sector pipelines.
IOC owns and operates 11 of
India’s 23 refineries with a combined refining capacity of 80.7
mn tonnes per annum as well as
a pipeline network spanning
about 11,750-km.
PTI
9^cebUbcd_VY\U
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RWP]VTbX]SXaTRccPg[Pfb FU^debU+UiUC[SbRecY^UccRi" "
NEW DELHI: Regulator has
asked insurance companies to
file periodical report on compliance to investment guidelines from quarter ending
March 2017. This follows notification
of
Insurance
Regulatory and Development
Authority of India (Investment)
Regulations, 2016.
“As the Regulations mandate certain systems and
process to be put in place, the
I R DA I
( Inve s t m e nt )
Regulations, 2016 shall be
effective from March 31,
2017. Thus, Insurers shall
report compliance to IRDAI
(Investment) Regulations,
2016 in the regulatory periodical submissions from
quarter ended March 31,
2017,” the regulator said. PTI
NEW DELHI: In a bid to keep
nation’s tax laws in conformity with changing times, the
Income Tax Department has
created a permanent mechanism for seeking inputs from its
officers for changes required in
the direct tax regulations.
To begin with, the I-T
Department has asked officials to provide suggestions
for legislative changes in the
direct tax laws. For receiving
suggestions, it has created an
exclusive email ID and
instructed officials of the
department to provide inputs
through the year without waiting for beginning of the annual budget exercise.
Traditionally, changes in
the laws pertaining to direct
tax, which covers income tax
for individuals and corporates,
are done in the Union Budget
presented by the finance minister in end February every
year. Now to keep pace with the
changing economic scenario
that has brought to fore a host
of complex tax issues like transfer pricing cases, the Income
Tax Department wants to keep
the law updated.
And so it has asked its officers to bring to the notice of
the department the changes
needed in the legislation to
address particular issues. The
officers have to give justification for their suggestions for
legislative changes in direct tax
laws along with the details of
relevant judicial rulings. PTI
target of 4 per cent +/- 2 per
cent until first quarter of 2021.
In addition, the RBI outlined
in its monetary policy statements that it aims to bring
headline CPI inflation down
to 5 per cent by March 2017.
“Given that the formalised
inflation target is in line with
the Urjit Patel Committee
report, we think the RBI’s
view on inflation targeting
under the new Governor will
be unchanged,” the report
said.
Regarding cleaning of
bank balance sheets, the report
said that Goldman Sachs
expects Patel to continue the
process and adhere to the
March 2017 deadline set by
Rajan. He (Patel) is also likely to continue to infuse sufficient liquidity into the system
as required and bring the
overall banking system liquidity close to neutrality.
Regarding monetary policy stance, the report said
that it expects the RBI to
keep rates on hold for the rest
of 2016 as upside risks to the
interim glide path of 5 per
cent by March 2017 remain.
?C8 Q <D<108
yeing opportunity in the
contract logistics space
E
post-GST, Allcargo Logistics
today said it has demerged its
supply chain management and
freight forwarding businesses
to forma joint venture with
chemical warehousing company CCI. The JV called
Avashya CCI Logistics, is targeting a revenue of C1,000
crore by 2020 from the present
C 450 crore, Allcargo Chairman
Shashikiran Shetty said.
In 2015-16, the contract
logistics and freight forwarding
verticals contributed around
C300 crore to the company's
total revenue of C5,800 crore,
Shetty said. He said policy
moves, especially the progress
0[[RPaV^2WPXa\P]BWPbWXZXaP]BWTcch
on the Goods and Services Tax,
increase the opportunity for
offering integrated end-to-end
logistics solutions to companies
across sectors for which the JV
has been formed.
The publicly traded
Allcargo will be owning 62 per
cent in the joint venture, with
the rest will be held by the privately-owned CCI's promoters,
he said. The JV is targeting customers in the auto, engineering,
retail, e-commerce, chemicals
and pharma players, and will
strive be the third biggest company in the contract logistics
space by 2020, he said.
Stressing that it will be an
asset-light business, wherein
the JV will be renting out
space, Shetty said the newlyformed company is targeting to
have 5 million sqft of warehousing space to be made
available to clients.
Shetty said business of the
bigger partner Allcargo will not
be affected due to this and
added there is a complimentary role which it can play. He
said even before the progress
on the GST, the contract logistics opportunity is estimated to
be around $5 billion which is
expected to grow at a faster clip
once the GST is in place.
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NEW DELHI: The downturn
in aluminium sector due to
overproduction and declining
prices is ebbing with prices of
the metal stabilising, indicating a revival in global commodities market, a senior
Government official said.
However, the official said
India has to exhibit caution as
there has been a significant rise
in cheap imports lately that
needs to be analysed before
devising a strategy for the
revival of the industry in the
country. This comes in the
wake of aluminium prices
appreciating at the London
Metal Exchange (LME).
“International prices are
looking up. Although they are
still in the process of stabilising,
but it gives a positive direction
about revival of the commodities market in general and nonferrous in particular,” Mines
<X]Tb<X]Xbcahb4R^]^\XR0SeXb^a
BdSWPZTaBWdZ[P
Ministry's Economic Advisor
Sudhaker Shukla told PTI.
Shukla added that with stabilisation of prices and changing
demand scenario, the capacity
utilisation in aluminium sector
is bound to increase in the coming months.
“The downturn in aluminium has ebbed. Now prices
are rising. If the demand in
China also picks up further then
this (price) will further strengthen,” Shukla said. Aluminium
prices have appreciated by 9 per
cent to $1,629.83 per tonne on
an average in July at the LME as
against $1,494.29 a tonne in
December 2015. In April, May
and June this year, average
prices of the metal stood at
$1,524 a tonne, $1,556.33 and
$1,592.2, respectively.
On the supply-demand
side, data from Mines Ministry
showed that in April-June, global consumption of aluminium
was 15.43 million tonnes (MT)
against a production of 14.47
MT, leaving the market with a
deficit of almost 1 MT.
The Mines Ministry attributes the price rise to increasing
demand, whereas the production of the metal remained at
the same level. Shukla, however cautioned over the rising
aluminium imports in the
last few months, which can
impact the sales and profits of
domestic producers.
PTI
he worth of unused items
in Indian homes have
reached a whopping C78,300
crore, according to a recent survey. The third edition of OLX
Crust (Consumer Research on
Used-Goods and Selling
Trends) survey, conducted
jointly with Indian Market
Research Bureau (IMRB)
across 16 cities, reveals that
stocking of goods continues to
rise in the country.
“India has a 90 per cent
stocking incidence rate, up 3
per cent from the last year,” the
survey said. Putting things into
perspective, the survey claims
that the worth of the unused
items can fund the
Government's Swachh Bharat’
scheme eight times over.
On the flip side, selling of
goods has 49 per cent incidence
rate in India, up 4 per cent from
last year, the survey revealed.
The report estimates the size of
the used goods market in India
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and examines key attitudes
towards used goods across different cities of the country.
“One of the more interesting findings of this year is about
the value of used goods that are
sold online vs sold offline vs
exchanged. Value of used goods
being sold online was found to
be on an average 25 per cent
higher than similar types of
goods sold offline,” Sushmita
Balasubramaniam,
Vice
President, IMRB, Shopper and
Retail, said in the statement.
“This difference becomes
even starker when one compares it with the value of used
goods being exchanged. The
value of goods sold online is 47
per cent higher than those
which are exchanged for purchasing new products,” she said.
The report claims 27 per cent
respondents who engaged in
selling of goods cited 'boredom'
as a factor, especially for mobile
phones, which have emerged as
a cluttered category in 2016. The
report also says that on an average, every Indian household is
stocking 12 clothing items, 14
kitchen utensils, 11 books, 7
kitchen appliances, 2 mobile
phones and 3 watches.
^]DBaPcTWXZTR^]RTa]b
MUMBAI: Domestic equities
failed to sustain the positive
momentum on F&O expiry
day as fag-end selling pulled
down the benchmark Sensex
by over 224 points, the worst
single-day fall in more than
two weeks, amid growing US
rate hike concerns ahead of
Fed Chair Janet Yellen's speech.
The initial range-bound
momentum driven by shortcovering in view of August
derivative expiry led to key
indices ruling in the positive
terrain till afternoon. Midafternoon trade saw the market wobbled as jittery investors
bridled by caution ahead of US
Federal Reserve Chair Yellen's
speech on Friday, while lower
European opening and lack of
direction led the index succumb to selling pressure.
The Sensex resumed higher at 28,103.60 and advanced
to 28,154.21 as participants
indulged in short-covering of
their outstanding positions.
However, the 30-scrip bundle
slipped into the negative zone
and touched a low of 27,803.24
before ending at over twoweek low of 27,835.91, showing a fall of 224.03 points, or
0.80 per cent. This was the
biggest single-day fall for
the benchmark index since
August 10 when it had fallen by 310 points. PTI
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fter a barrage of attacks
from Republican rival
A
Donald Trump and several
media outlets, alleging a “payfor-play” scandal involving the
Clinton Foundation during her
tenure as Secretary of State,
Hillary Clinton has finally sought
to dismiss the accusations as “a
lot of smoke” but “no fire”.
Breaking her silence after
two days of relentless salvoes
from Trump, who has demanded a special prosecutor to go
into the “special favours” for
donors to her family foundation, Clinton told CNN on
Wednesday that she had never
used public office for personal gain. Neither she nor her
husband had ever drawn a
salary from the charitable foundation, she said.
Clinton’s assertion came
on a day when The Associated
Press reported that at least 85
of 154 people from private
interests who had had met
with her or had phone conversations scheduled with her
when she headed the State
Department had cumulatively
contributed as much as $156
million to the Clinton
Foundation.
Disclosures involving the
foundation, springing from
emails obtained and released by
the conservative Judicial Watch,
also prompted several media
outlets, including The
Washington Post, USA Today
and The Boston Globe, to
demand that the foundation be
shut down, with its assets and
work hived off to a reputed
charity with no ties to the
Clinton family. “Mothball the
Clinton Foundation,” USA
Today said in an editorial.
In her telephone interview
to CNN, Clinton asserted that
the foundation functioned as a
global charity with far more
transparency than Trump’s
business empire, his wealth or
his tax returns. “What Trump
has said is ridiculous. My work
as Secretary of State was not
influenced by any outside
forces. I made policies based on
what I thought was right.”
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he death toll from a powT
erful earthquake that shook
central Italy rose to 247 on
Thursday, officials said, as rescuers desperately searched for
survivors in the rubble of devastated mountain villages.
Hundreds of others were
injured, some critically, and an
unknown number were
trapped under the ruins of
collapsed buildings after
Wednesday’s pre-dawn quake.
Amid scenes of carnage,
dozens of emergency services
staff and volunteers were determined to attempt to pluck
more survivors from the ruins.
Rescuers had pledged to
work through the night in the
hope of finding people alive in
the mangled wreckage of
homes.
Prime Minister Matteo
Renzi had earlier warned that
the toll would likely rise after
visiting the badly hit village of
Amatrice.
Hundreds of people spent
a chilly night in hastily assembled tents with the risk of
aftershocks making it too risky
for them to return home.
Scores of buildings were
reduced to dusty piles of
masonry in communities close
to the epicentre of the quake,
which had a magnitude of
between 6.0 and 6.2.
It hit a remote area straddling Umbria, Marche and
Lazio at a time of year when
second-home owners and other
visitors swell the numbers staying there. Many of the victims
were from Rome.
The devastated area is just
north of L’Aquila, the city where
some 300 people died in another quake in 2009.
Most of the deaths
occurred in and around the villages of Amatrice, Accumoli
and Arquata del Tronto.
Guido Bordo, 69, lost his
sister and her husband after
they were trapped inside their
holiday house in the hamlet of
Illica, near Accumoli.
“There’s no sound from
them, we only heard their cats,”
he told AFP before the deaths
were confirmed.
“I wasn’t here. As soon as
the quake happened, I rushed
here. They managed to pull my
sister’s children out, they’re in
hospital now,” he added, wringing his hands in anguish.
Among the victims was a
nine-month-old baby girl
whose parents survived, an
18-month-old toddler and two
other young children who died
with their parents in Accumoli.
Two boys aged four and
seven were saved by their
quick-thinking grandmother,
who ushered them under a bed
as soon as the shaking began,
according to reports. She also
survived but lost her husband.
Renzi said it was too early
to consider what might have
been done to prevent the disaster.
“Today is the time for tears
and emotion,” he said, vowing
that his government would
start reconstruction work first
thing today.
CdaZTh>__RWXTU $VVDQJHZDUQVRIIRUWKFRPLQJ
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s h i n g to n : Wi k i L e a k s quite unexpected angles, that
R^]e^hUXaTS^] Wa
founder Julian Assange has are quite interesting, some even
05? Q 0=:0A0
urkey’s main Opposition
leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu
T
said on Thursday his convoy
came under attack from gunfire in the northeastern region
of Artvin but he was
unharmed.
Kilicdaroglu, leader of the
Republican People’s Party
(CHP), said he was safe and
well after the incident whose
origin was not immediately
clear.
“There is no problem, we
are fine, don’t worr y,”
Kilicdaroglu told CNN-Turk
television by telephone.
Kilicdaroglu had been in
the province to attend a rally
where he planned to make a
speech, private-run Dogan
news agency reported.
It was not yet known if
Kilicdaroglu was the target or
if he was caught up in a separate incident.
Ozgur Ozel, head of CHP’s
parliamentary group, told
CNN-Turk that a soldier driving a military vehicle had
been injured. President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan and Prime
Minister Binali Yildirim were
briefed by the provincial governor shortly after the incident,
said a Turkish official, who did
not wish to be named.
warned that his anti-secrecy
campaign will release new documents concerning Democratic
presidential candidate Hillary
Clinton, which could be “significant” for the election.
Speaking to Fox News on
Wednesday, Assange, who has
been sheltering in the
Ecuadorian embassy in
London since 2012 while fighting extradition, said WikiLeaks
was combing through thousands of pages of material.
A variety of documents
from various institutions that
are associated with the election
campaign had yielded “some
entertaining,” he said.
Assange reported the documents would “absolutely” be
released before the November
8 election.
Asked whether the leaks
would be a game changer for
the vote, Assange said: “I think
it’s significant. It depends on
how it catches fire in the public and in the media.”
Ahead of the Democratic
National Convention last
month, WikiLeaks released
nearly 20,000 emails gleaned by
hackers who apparently raided
the accounts of seven DNC
leaders.
AFP
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Islamabad: Pakistan has conveyed its disappointment to
America that despite its “concerted and forceful” campaign
against all terrorist groups,
including the dreaded Haqqani
network, the US did not “certify” its actions and blocked the
$ 300 million military aid to the
country.
In a meeting with US
President Barack Obama’s
envoy Peter Lavoy, Pakistan
Foreign Secretar y Aizaz
Ahmad Chaudhary expressed
concerns over the halt to the
military aid.
US Defence Secretary
Ashton Carter did not give
Congressional certification to
Pakistan for satisfactory action
against the Haqqani network
this year.
In the absence of the certification, the Pentagon blocked
the release of $300 million
military aid to Pakistan under
Coalition Support Fund.
At his rallies, Trump had
branded
the
Clinton
Foundation as “the most corrupt enterprise in political history”. Alleging a nexus between
foundation’s donors and
Clinton in terms of special
access and favours, he had
commented, “It is impossible to
figure out where the Clinton
Foundation ends and the State
Department begins.”
Questioned specifically on
the AP report, Clinton said, “It
draws a conclusion and makes
a suggestion that my meetings
with people like the late, great
Elie Wiesel or Melinda Gates or
the Nobel Prize winner
Muhammad Yunus were somehow due to connections with
the foundation instead of their
status as highly respected global leaders. That is absurd.”
In what could be a cause
for worry for Clinton, some of
the latest polls indicate that the
presidential race may be tightening. Her lead over Trump in
the RealClearPolitics average of
six national polls is now down
to 5 per cent, compared to 8 per
cent a week ago.
Trump, meanwhile, flaunted a new supporter at his rally
in Jackson, Mississippi on
Wednesday evening in the
form of Nigel Farage, leader of
UK’s successful Brexit movement that resulted in a yes-vote
for Britain’s exit from the
European Community and the
resignation of Prime Minister
David Cameron.
Saying Americans face an
option similar to that of UK
voters about taking the country back from “the political
class” and “big banks”, Farage
remarked: “If I were an
American citizen, I wouldn’t
vote for Hillary Clinton if you
paid me.” He, however, said he
can’t endorse any candidate in
the US race since he had criticized President Obama for
telling UK voters to vote against
leaving the EU.
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Baghdad: Iraq’s Minister of
Defense has received a no-confidence vote from parliament just
as Iraqi forces retook a key
northern town near the Islamic
State-held city of Mosul.
Khaled al-Obeidi is the first
sitting defense minister to receive
a no confidence vote from parliament since the overthrow of
former Iraqi leader Saddam
Hussein in 2003. The vote
against him comes after weeks of
political wrangling over corruption allegations.
The Minister received 142
votes of no confidence in parliament on Thursday, slightly
more than the simple majority
needed for the vote to pass,
according to lawmakers Sadiq alRikabi and Mohammed
Saadoun from the powerful State
of Law block.
“I have tried my best to fight
against corruption with the
means that I have,” al-Obeidi
wrote in a statement posted to his
Facebook shortly after the vote,
“but it seems the voices of the
masters of corruption are much
higher and much stronger.”AFP
Qayyarah (Iraq): Iraqi forces
on Thursday pushed the Islamic
State group from Qayyarah, a
northern town considered
strategic for any future offensive
against the jihadists’ last stronghold of Mosul. Prime Minister
Haider al-Abadi hailed the victory as a key step in the fight
against ISIS but hours later
suffered yet another political
setback when lawmakers
impeached his Defence
Minister.
Special forces, backed by
US-led coalition air strikes,
wrapped up a three-day operation to retake Qayyarah, a
town which lies on the banks of
the Tigris river.
“We control all parts of the
town and managed, in very limited time, to root out Daesh,”
Lieutenant General Riyadh Jalal
Tawfik, who commands Iraq’s
ground forces, told an AFP
reporter in Qayyarah, using an
acronym for ISIS.
AFP
1PaaT[Q^\QPccPRZZX[[b ZXSbX]BhaXP
Beirut: Eleven children were killed on Thursday in a barrel bomb
attack carried out by government forces on a rebel-held neighbourhood of Syria’s Aleppo city, a monitor said.
“Fifteen civilians, among them 11 children, were killed in a barrel bomb attack on the Bab al-Nayrab neighbourhood” in the
south of Aleppo city, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights monitor said.
The group also reported eight civilians, including two children,
were killed on Thursday in rebel fire on the government-held
west of the city. An AFP journalist in Bab al-Nayrab saw rescue
workers and civilians digging through the rubble of collapsed
buildings.
AFP
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Cairo: Six militants were killed
on Thursday in Egypt after
security forces foiled a terrorist
attack that targeted a security
checkpoint in the restive North
Sinai region, officials said.
The terrorists opened fire
on the checkpoint and clashed
with the forces in el-Masoura
checkpoint in Rafah, the officials said. Four security personnel were injured in the
clashes. The injured were transferred to hospital for treatment.
Egypt’s North Sinai witnessed many violent attacks by
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militants since the January
2011 revolution that toppled
the ex-president Hosni
Mubarak.
The attacks targeting police
and military increased after the
ouster of Islamist ex-president
Mohamed Morsi in 2013 following massive protests against
his rule.
Over 700 security personnel have been reported killed
since then.
The military has launched
security campaigns in the area,
arrested suspects and demolished houses that belong to terrorists, including those facilitating tunnels leading to the
Gaza Strip.
PTI
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BA0906>?0;0=Q
F0B78=6C>=
S Secretary of State John
Kerry and Commerce
U
Secretary Penny Pritzker will be
visiting New Delhi next week
for what would be the Obama
presidency’s last round of
India-US Strategic and
Commercial Dialogue.
What started as US-India
Strategic Dialogue in 2010 was
expanded last year to Strategic
and Commercial Dialogue
(S&CD) to reflect the “shared
priorities of generating economic growth, creating jobs,
improving the investment climate and strengthening the
middle class in both countries”.
The elevation to reflect the
growing significance of the
US-India economic relationship came about in January
2015 in the course of consultations that President Barack
Obama and Prime Minister
Narendra Modi had in New
Delhi.
Announcing the visit of
Kerry and Pritzker, State
Department spokesperson
Elizabeth Trudeau said they
will be co-chairing the second
US-India Strategic and
Commercial Dialogue on
August 30.
They will be joined by the
respective Indian co-hosts,
External Affairs Minister
Sushma Swaraj and Minister of
State for Commerce and
Industry Nirmala Sitharaman,
along with members of the US
delegation and their Indian
counterparts.
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Trudeau described the
S&CD as “the signature mechanism for advancing the United
States and India’s shared priorities of generating sustainable
economic growth, creating
jobs, improving the business
and investment climate,
enhancing livelihoods, and sustaining the rule-based global
order”.
“Secretary Kerry will meet
with government officials to
discuss our growing cooperation on global issues. He will
also focus on strengthening our
long-standing bilateral partnership on democracy, development, security and human
rights,” Trudeau said.
Secretary Pritzker will
additionally co-chair the second US-India CEO Forum,
along with Jeff Zients, Director
of the National Economic
Council and Assistant to the
President for Economic Policy.
Pritzker will also be meeting
Indian entrepreneurs and participating in an event to celebrate bilateral cooperation on
travel and tourism.
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0? Q :01D;
brazen, hours-long militant attack on the
A
American University of
Afghanistan ended today after
at least 13 people were killed
and dozens were wounded in
the assault on the sprawling
campus on Kabul’s outskirts, a
government spokesman said.
The attack underscored
how despite efforts by the
Afghan authorities to improve
security, militants in this country are still able to stage largescale and complex attacks,
including in the country’s capital, Kabul.
The dead included seven
students and one teacher,
according to Afghan authorities.
Three police officers and two
security guards were also killed,
the interior ministry said.
No group has yet claimed
responsibility for the assault but
suspicions are pointing to the
Taliban.
The
group’s
spokesman,
Zabihullah
Mujahid, would only tell the
media that the Taliban are
“investigating.”
President Ashraf Ghani
laid the blame on neighboring
Pakistan, accusing it of supporting the Taliban in sanctuaries across the border, and saying the attack had been “organized” in Pakistan.
Ghani spoke by telephone
with Pakistan’s army chief,
Raheel Sharif, and demanded
“serious action,” his office said.
Pakistan’s foreign Ministry
“strongly condemned” the
attack. Ghani’s statement also
raised the death toll to 13, saying that a teacher, identified on
social media by the as Naqib
Khpolwak, a graduate of
Stanford Law School and a doctoral candidate at Oxford
University, was also among
those killed.
“Most of the dead were
killed by gunshots near the
windows of their classrooms,”
said Sediq Sediqqi, the
spokesman for the Ministry of
Interior. The ministry said 36
people were wounded, including nine police officers.
The assault began just
before 7 pm last night, a time
when hundreds of students
typically attend evening classes at the prestigious university, with a suicide car bombing
at the university’s entrance.
The blast breached the
security walls and allowed two
other “terrorists,” beside the
driver of the vehicle, to enter
the campus, Sediqqi said.
They were armed with
grenades. The siege of the university lasted almost nine
hours, before police killed the
two assailants around 3.30 am,
he added.
7XUNH\VHQGVPRUHWDQNVWR ²B^]³^U1^Z^7PaP\³b
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Karkamis (Turkey): Turkey sent
more tanks into Syria and sternly
warned a Kurdish militia to withdraw from frontline positions, a day
after pro-Ankara Syrian opposition
fighters captured a key border town
from jihadists.
The tanks joined those which
crossed the frontier yesterday in the
so-called Operation Euphrates
Shield, which Turkey says aims at
ridding the northern Syrian border
area of both ISIS extremists and
Kurdish militia. Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on
Wednesday that the offensive had
expelled IS from the Syrian town of
Jarabulus, and pro-Ankara rebels
reported the jihadists had retreated
south to the town of Al-Bab.
But Defence Minister Fikri Isik
warned the Kurdish People’s
Protection Units militia — who
also had designs on Jarabulus — to
move back east across the Euphrates
or also face intervention from
Turkey.
The new contingent of tanks
roared across a dirt road west of the
Turkish border town of Karkamis,
throwing up a cloud of dust in their
wake before crossing the border, an
AFP photographer said.
They were then followed by
around 10 armoured vehicles.
The operation, the most ambitious launched by Turkey during the
five-and-a-half-year Syria conflict,
has seen Turkish special forces
deployed on the ground and jet
fighters striking IS targets.
They are supporting a ground
offensive by hundreds of Syrian rebels
who on Wednesday marched into
Jarabulus and a neighbouring village
after meeting little resistance. AFP
Kano (Nigeria): When the Islamic State group
appointed Abu Musab al-Barnawi as the head of Boko
Haram early in August, few people even recognised
his name.
But to close observers of Nigerian jihadi affairs,
Barnawi’s promotion from relatively unknown
spokesman to leader came as no surprise.
After all, many experts say that Barnawi, born
Habib Yusuf, is the 22-year-old son of Boko Haram’s
founder Mohammed Yusuf. Barnawi’s appointment by
ISIS has deepened a rift with longtime chief Abubakar
Shekau, who later released a video insisting he was in
charge and vowing to fight on.
Nigeria’s military claimed on Tuesday that Shekau
had been wounded in an air strike on Boko Haram’s
forest stronghold but this has yet to be confirmed.
Yusuf senior died in police custody following a
2009 military crackdown on the sect in the northeastern city of Maiduguri that spurred the group to
take up arms against the Nigerian Government.
“Abu Musab al-Barnawi is the son of late
Mohammed Yusuf,” tweeted Ahmad Salkida, a
Nigerian journalist who specialises in covering the
insurgency.
AFP
³8]RaTPbTS0]cPaRcXRb]^fUP[[\PhaTSdRTbTP[TeT[aXbT´
New York: Rising temperatures could increase the
amount of snowfall over
Antarctica which may help
reduce the rise in global sea
level, a new study has found.
When Antarctica’s air temperature rises, moisture in the
atmosphere increases. That
should mean more snowfall on
the frozen continent,
researchers said.
However, as climate models predict, that trend has not
become evident in Antarctica’s
surface mass balance. Scientists
from Columbia University in
the US used historical records
and climate simulations to
examine that trend.
They found that the effect
of rising temperatures on
snowfall has so far been overshadowed by Antarctica’s large
natural climate variability,
which comes from random,
chaotic variations in the polar
weather.
By mid-century, however,
as temperatures continue to
rise, the study shows how the
effect of human-induced
warming on Antarctica’s net
snow accumulation should
emerge above the noise.
The expectation of more
snowfall is something of a silver lining as temperatures rise.
Global warming is already
increasing sea level through
melting ice and thermal expansion, researchers said.
The increase in snowfall
over Antarctica could help
reduce the amount of global sea
level rise by 51 to 79 millimetres by the year 2100, according to the study.
“Increased snowfall over
Antarctica is the sole process
connected to global warming
that is thought to have a significant mitigating effect on
global sea level rise,” said
Michael Previdi from Columbia
University in the US.
PTI
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reparing fresh juices is a bit of
a mission. We have to select the
right fruits or vegetables. Then
set up the juicer, put ingredients
through its whirring blades and
again clean them laboriously. All
this effort for a glass of nutrients.
It’s no wonder that many of us,
instead of doing all this, go for a
much simpler route of drinking
bottled “fresh” juice. But are the
bottled juices we have been drinking all this while really healthy? Are
they as good as we are made to
believe?
“Bottled juices are not a healthier option at all”, says clinical nutritionist Loveneet Batra. “The amount
of sugar in those juices makes them
sweet candies”, she adds.
For all their reliance on phases
such as “100 per cent pure” and “pure
squeezed”, many commercial juice
manufacturers make a processed
product. One of the easiest ways for
extracting juice is by using the centrifugal juice extractors. Now these
use metal blades to break down the
fruit or vegetable to extract juice.
However, the heat generated by the
metal blades destroys the delicate
enzymes and brings down the nutrition value of the juice. “Whole fruits
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are always a better option. We get
three grams of fibre if we consume
100 grams of orange. We get negligible traces of fibre if we consume 100
ml of bottled juice. Even the cold
pressed juices have chances of contamination”, says Dr Sunita Roy
Chowdhury, chief dietician at BLK
Super Specialty Hospital.
Another industrial method of
extracting juice is through the masticator. This uses a slow rotating gear
to break the fruit or vegetable and
then extract the juice. Though this
method is able to retain more nutrients compared to the centrifugal
process due to less heat, it leads to
oxidisation of the juices limiting their
nutrients. Also, producers of pasteurised juices store them in vast
tanks. In order to maintain its “freshness”, the juice is stripped of oxygen.
Once this process is over, the product can be stored without any harm
for more than a year.
“People should give more importance to squeezing juices at home. Or
for want of time, one can always go
for lemonade, buttermilk and lassis,
which are anytime better than bottled juices,” says Megha Jaina,
Delhi-based nutritionist and diet
consultant.
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adhekrishna, fondly called
Radhe, is a young, handsome
R
boy who firmly believes that he
belongs to the opposite sex since his
mother, keen on a daughter, dressed
him up like one. But in a cruel stroke
of fate, she dies and Radhe is taken
in by his uncle and aunt. “They try
to change his attitude and take him
to psychiatrists to cure him, but all
in vain. Then enters Satish Kumar,
a psychiatrist returned from a foreign counrty. After two sessions with
the doctor, Radhe falls in love with
him and wishes to marry him.
Radhe’s uncle, on the other hand,
searches for a bride for him so that
he can pay off his debt from the
money Radhe’s father left for his son.
But Radhe marries Satish. The play,
Radhe Radhe Hum Sab Aadhe, is
about this crazy marriage”, says
Hriday Manch festival director Ajit
Chowdhury.
Organised by Sparsh Natya
Rang at Sri Ram Centre, the family
play kicked off a series that will take
a look at social issues and
hypocrisies. “The play tries to convey that it is not just the differently
abled, but us who are incomplete.
The play also focusses on gay marriages and how, sometimes, parents
create problems in their children’s
lives with a wrong guidance”, he
adds.
Doosra Admi Doosri Aurat,
directed by Ravi Mohan, is all
about drifting families. Says the
director, “In today’s world,
families are breaking up due to
the lack of time. When frustrated,
the husband and wife start searching for a new relationship. Bholaram
Ka Jeev by Rajeev Ayachi, on the
other hand, is all about corruption
that is rampant in society — be it
reservation of a train ticket, admission to colleges or pension.
The festival concludes with the
play Canada De Nazare directed by
Anita Devgan from Amritsar. Says
Chowdhury, “It is written by Palli
Bhupinder Singh. In this play there
are only four characters on the
stage, husband, wife, an agent and
an NRI. The plot is on the ambitious
youth who want to settle down in
foreign countries without realising
the pitfalls in a comic and humorous manner.”
Hriday Manch aims to give an
opportunity to those artists, who
otherwise don’t have access to a
venue in the capital. “Many theatre
groups are unable to perform in
Delhi due to paucity of funds. So we
started organising this four-day theatre festival,” says Chowdhury.
The director, who loves folk
tales, happy endings and sometimes mystery, has selected stories
with different messages and ideas.
He concluded, “In all these years that
I have been directing different plays,
I have not adhered to any particular writer. I have done plays written
by different people. They all have
their own distinct way of looking at
the world. It gives me immense pleasure in reading such varied views
and putting it in the form of plays.
I like stories which leave an impact
on the audience and let them think
on a positive note. I am personally
fond of comedy and stories which
make you rethink and stress on good
values and positivity.”
he first time I drove the
next-generation Audi A4,
it was on a drive between
Munich Airport and the alpine
lake of Tegernsee on the
German-Austrian border.
Driving the 2.0 diesel with a sixspeed manual transmission and
the 3.0 diesel with a seven-speed
dual-clutch (DSG) automatic,
the cars we drove were not cars
that would be launched in India
anytime soon. Because there are
no manuals in Audi India’s line
just now, and it is highly unlikely that Audi will launch the bigger diesel engine option A4
here.
However, spending a few
hours on both German country
roads and the autobahns on
what was a dreary day in May
with the next-generation (B9
platform) of the A4 made one
thing quite clear. First, the new
A4 feels a lot larger inside than
the outgoing A4 and second, the
vehicle is a tech-geek’s paradise
but more on that later. But, yes,
large, quite large indeed. This
feels almost as big as an A6 from
a couple of generations ago and
surprisingly comfortable at the
back too.
While we knew Audi India
was likely to launch the nextgeneration A4 before the festive
season this year, the carmaker
did surprise us. Not by changing the date, but by giving the A4
a surprising engine choice, a 1.4litre petrol engine. It would not
be wrong to say that Audi, like
all carmakers, were caught out
by the Supreme Court’s decision
to bar the sale of cars with diesel
engines larger than 2000cc.
Although the ban only
impacted the Audi A8 and Q7;
the controversial EA189 engine
that was the root cause of the
Volkswagen Group fiasco globally actually was under 2000 cc
in capacity and thus managed to
continue to be sold on the A3,
A4, A6, Q3 and Q5. The ban
impacted the Indian consumer
to the extent that the consumer
started to rediscover the virtues
of petrol engines, particularly for
cars that really don’t get driven
that much.
Diesel engine sales, even of
smaller capacity diesel engined
cars, began to slow as consumers also began to question
the obscene premium that manufacturers charged on diesel
cars. So all sorts of minor things
changed. Toyota launched a
petrol variant of the Innova
and began a major marketing
campaign around it. Hyundai
launched a automatic variant of
the petrol-engined Creta and
Mercedes, deeply impacted by
the ban, launched multiple new
petrol variants.
But Audi has one step further. They are launching the new
A4 with just a petrol-engine
option. Not a big plonker of an
engine or even a snorting midsize petrol engine like the Jaguar
XE in India. No, Audi India in
their wisdom have decided to
T
launch the ninth-generation of
their mid-sized saloon with a
150-horsepower 1.4 litre turbocharged petrol engine,
dubbed the 30 TFSI.
Do not ask me to explain
Audi’s new model nomenclature;
but rest assured that they have
beaten BMW and Mercedes
here for utter confusingness.
Basically put, Audi has fit a very
large hairdryer under the bonnet of this engine and while the
new A4 is (spec-for-spec) a
whole fat person lighter than the
outgoing model, the engine
leaves a bit to be desired. It
sounds like it is trying damn
hard to get the car moving at
speed. This is not a car for
wannabe racers. Dynamic mode
gearshifts are not the way for this
car. This, as I discovered on the
manic rural roads of Odisha driving back from Konark to
Bhubaneswar, is a car that is very
comfortable at speeds between
60-90 km an hour — the speed
limits on various highways. And
if you decide to get up to speed
nice and easy, the engine delivers very good fuel economy as
well, returning around 12 km
per litre on a combined highway/urban driving cycle.
And it is a very comfortable
ride, the suspension just dulls all
but the worst potholes and
while roads of all colours are
excellent in this part of Odisha,
the “Marine Drive” between
Puri and Konark seems to have
its own speedbreaker factory.
Handling is not compromised
by the comfortable ride and the
little bit of roll is not disconcerting in any way. That said, if you
had to buy a petrol car and wanted to have a bit more fun with
it, there’s the BMW 320i,
Mercedes C200 and even the
XE, all of which are likely to be
more expensive than this car.
Audi India will likely launch a
fun petrol version of the A4, but
they will likely go the whole hog
and get the S4 variant whenever that is launched on the new
platform sometime in 2017 with
a 400-horsepower option. This
30TFSI option on the A4 also
means that the petrol-engine
option on the A3 might get a doover, the 1.8-litre engine option
likely to be retired. But Audi
India is on the verge of launching the refreshed A3 soon, and
if the A4 is any indication, this
means the amazing 1.0-litre
pocket rocket engined A3 could
just make it to India.
But the hero of the A4 is the
virtual cockpit. Let us get one
thing quite clear now, Audi’s
Multimedia Interface (MMI)
System is now clearly, by far and
away, the best car interface
system out there. BMW’s iDrive
is still excellent though, but
Mercedes’ COMAND system
feels a bit outdated as does the
interface on most JLR vehicles
(which have another issue).
First the idea of replacing physical dials with a 12-inch LCD
screen might seem a bit ridiculous, but the amount of information you can pull up just by
easily navigating through the
steering controls is amazing.
Ever since this system came on
the new TT, the new Q7 and
now the new A4, I have utterly enjoyed playing around with
it. Even the central LCD display
is angled towards the driver.
The A4 30TFSI may not go like
beans on the highway, but in the
city, stuck in traffic, it will
keep you entertained as I’m sure
Audi will continue to add features to the MMI.
And the inside is very comfortable as well, this car being
equipped with all the toys you
think necessary in a luxury
German car. Along with nice
seats, a bit too much plastic
though whereas you expected a
bit more fabric and leather. But
the 30TFSI A4 is likely to be
some kind of price warrior,
undercutting the BMW and
Mercedes. And there is one
more unfortunate thing about
the A4, the amount of technology aimed directly at the driver
will mean that this is a car best
self-driven. Which is a pity,
because it is rather comfortable
at the back.
The new A4 will possibly
convert some BMW and
Mercedes customers and give a
nice pathway to upgrade for A3
owners. The way I see it, there
is only one problem for the new
A4, that is called the Skoda
Superb. However, that is where
the power of Audi’s brand will
come into play, and in that they
have been very successful. And
Audi will launch a diesel engine
model of the A4 in India soon
enough, maybe early 2017,
likely one that shares the
190 horsepower engine of the
A6 as the A6 itself readies
for an upgrade shortly.
The A4 30TFSI is expected to
go on sale in mid-September
2016.
< > C 7 4 A ´ B 3 0 H
oday, the 106th birth anniversary of Mother Teresa, will be
T
marked with celebration and
thanks-giving in many parts of the
world. Mintageworld.com, an
online museum for vintage coins,
stamps and currency notes, has
come up with a docudrama on the
history of various stamps and
coins released to honour her life,
struggle and contribution to humanity.
A 45 rupee
stamp
was
released in 1997.
The other stamps
released in honour of Mother
Teresa include the
one by India Post in
1980, on winning the Noble
Peace Prize, a 30 paisa
stamp, and a 20 rupee
definitive stamp. The
docudrama also tells
about the stamps
released by countries
like Albania, US,
Australia, Germany,
Bangladesh,
Bhutan,
Ireland, Argentina and Austria.
It was France that first issued
a coin to honour her, releasing
three gold coins of 500, 200, 50
Euros and a 10 Euro silver coin on
Mother Teresa’s birth centenary in
2010. In the same year, the
Reserve Bank of India issued
two special coins of rupees five
and 100.
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he eight-week anniversary
celebration has begun for
T
Hyatt Regency Delhi. Next
he former princely state
was as famous for its
royalty as for its food.
The cuisine, which delighted
the royal patrons, was reintroduced to us at Varq, Taj Mahal
Hotel. We started with a glass
of thandai, sweet as it should
be with a hint of Rajasthani
masala. Next came a duet of
Paasley angeera and Murgh
Hawa Mahal. The former was
a classic Rajasthan lamb chop
cooked on charcoal while the
latter was a chicken dish in a
crust pastry.
The dish was nicely plated, the meat was absolutely
divine; rightly marinated,
flavourful and succulent. Next
on our table was Murgh pudina ark, a chicken broth
flavoured with mint. We
T
appreciated the consistency of
great flavours. We next found
ourselves lost in kacche aam
ka sorbet with the molecular
concept. It took us down the
memory lane and reminded
us of our childhood favourite,
aam papad.
For the mains, we were
served Khad murg, which was
a game chicken cooked with
Mathania chilli and yogurt
under sand as told by Chef
Rajesh SIngh. It was accompanied by Rajasthani khoba roti,
thotri and makkai ki roti. We
were then served Mangodi ka
pulao and Dal Banjari. The
pulao had a myriad flavours
coming through, not an easy
task, whereas banjari was a
mixture of different dals and
was delicious. For the vegetar-
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ians, the menu has a gamut of
options, Palak makai, Ker
Sangri Wadi, Dhungar Makkai
ka raab and Gatte ka saag to
name a few.
Dry fruits and milk dominate the desserts in Mewar.
For the last course, we had a
trio of aloo ka halwa, khajur
ka meetha and ghewar. We
really liked khajur ka meetha
with just the right amount of
sweet. Aloo ka halwa was brilliantly thought and prepared
and the ghewar was not too
heavy.
Fascinated by the royal
cuisine of our erstwhile
Maharajas, Chef Rajesh Singh
from the royal kitchen shared
his thoughts on the history of
his platter and the research
that went into recreating it. He
said, “Continuing our quest to
revive the rich culinary heritage of the royals, we are
happy to bring to our patrons
yet another authentic experience from the kitchens of
Mewar. The House of Mewar
is acknowledged as one of the
world’s oldest-serving dynasties and its extremely flavoursome and aromatic cuisine
bears the heritage of warrior
traditions and ceremonial
repasts prepared with fresh
vegetables, meats and rich
ingredients of the season.”
Thanks to such brave culinary endeavours, royal cuisine
is becoming accessible to us
mere mortals. And a king’s
feast is now being prepared
regularly in kitchens across
the country. The sumptuous
cuisine can be enjoyed at Varq
till September 5.
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hef Subrata Debnath, who
is currently leading Vivanta
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hotel’s culinary operations and
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ow-lit bulbs on an open terrace
adorned with a canopy of ferns and
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potted plants and tables overlooking the
Deer Park....The Hungry Monkey will sure
excite you with its New York style décor.
Going with its tagline — Eat, Drink, Play
— the restaurant is spread across three levels. The first level (Eat) is a corporateinspired space with its bare brick walls,
light bulbs and a stone bench with the
quote, “The universe is made up of stories, not atoms,” etched on it. The second
level (Drink) is an elegant bar serving classic and signature cocktails. The top level
(Play) is possibly the best feature of the
restaurant.
We started with tofu infused with
Tequila and mirin which couldn’t change
our perception about tofu. Haters won’t
change their stance on it. The Mojito
spiced fish cake sliders were average but
not worth the price. Rice wine sambal
chicken skewer was one dish we liked.
Maybe it was the sambal after all. The
chicken was nicely prepared and was
among one of the good chicken skewers
we had. The prawn saganaki tasted average. The sauce in which prawns were prepared was palatable, just. Overall, the new
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boozy menu didn’t excite us at all.
While THM has a good selection of
wines and liquor, both from overseas and
domestic, the wise choice here is to go for
their ingenious cocktails. Sample the
robust drink, from their summer special
menu, Anjum Beach. It tastes really well.
Some more good comings from their
Martini Bar section of the menu are
Gondharaj Lemon and Honey and
Muddled Arugula and Pineapple (bartender rocks it). Low cal Watermelon
Sangria is also a must try. THM is not really a place for good food but it rocks for
its drinks.
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team of chefs, is a much-travelled man. Having worked in
more than 10 diverse destinations across the world in a
career spanning almost 25
years, he is now helming the Taj
Group’s 100th hotel, located in
one of the fastest developing
cities in the country. “We have
four stellar food and beverage
outlets and expansive events
facilities at the Vivanta
Gurgaon and I am truly excited about my journey here.”
“Over the past 25 years that
I have spent in this industry, I
have had the opportunity to
work in more than 10 diverse
destinations across the world
— from Bahrain and Dubai to
Kathmandu, Bangkok and
Singapore. And I feel privileged
to have learnt and experienced
something new and different
wherever I have been, especially with regard to local cuisines,
cultures and traditions,” he
told us. Does he think that his
diverse experiences across the
globe and his passion and love
for food will prove to be a lethal
combination for Vivanta? “I
hope to bring in a taste of all
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few days of the commemoration will focus exclusively on
food and beverage. Some of
the main highlights include
Latte art-making session to
complementary coffee on the
house. Aseem Kapoor,
General Manager, said, “Hyatt
Regency Delhi has played host
to numerous dignitaries, corporate and industry leaders,
film thespians, sports stars
and art doyens. We are really
proud of our legacy and look
forward to the future.”
The celebration will comprise different elements like
rooms and entertainment to
name a few. Executive chef
Ivan Chieregatti said, “We are
delighted to commence our 34
years of Hyatt Regency Delhi
celebration. We distributed
1,000 cupcakes and our
patrons seem to be extremely delighted with these
activities.”
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that I have experienced over the
past 25 years. And as always, I
will surely inject my love and
passion for food here as well, in
all that we do,” he adds.
So what are his plans with
Vivanta? “We will be rolling out
some truly innovative food
and beverage experiences for
our guests over the coming
months including some unique
food festivals to thoughtfullycurated events. From a brand
new Sunday brunch at Latitude,
to a revamped Deli4, we have
a lot in store. Do we get to see
any brand new development in
food trends and fads? “You’ll
be seeing a lot of accent on
fresh flavours and local produce. There will also be a focus
on the artistic element of gastronomy,” he summed up.
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ason Roy overcame a dizzy spell to
lead England's charge to a 44-run
win under the Duckworth/Lewis
method in a rain-marred first one-day
international against Pakistan in
Southampton.
Surrey opener Roy's quickfire 65
fired England towards an initial victory target of 261 on Wednesday.
But after a third and final rain
interruption of this day/night fixture
at 9:37 pm local time (2037 GMT), the
umpires eventually called the game off
with England 194 for three.
Eoin Morgan, the England captain, was 33 not out and Ben Stokes
15 not out.
Earlier, Pakistan were held to a
modest 260 for six, captain Azhar Ali
top-scoring with 82 after he won the
toss. Sarfraz Ahmed made 55 and
Babar Azam 40 before he was unluckily out lbw.
Pakistan were going well at 173 for
three after 35 overs but then lost Azhar
before a rain stoppage put a further
break on their run-scoring.
Roy and Joe Root (61) took
England to the brink of victory with a
second-wicket stand of 89 in 14 overs.
Roy sparked England's chase with
three fours in four balls off Umar Gul
in the third over of the hosts' innings.
His boundary-rush started with a
superb vertical bat shot through the
legside. Two balls later, Roy worked
paceman Gul through long-on and the
next delivery saw him force through
the covers.
But there was a worrying moment
when Roy, on 20, needed several minutes' on-field treatment for what a
team spokesman later confirmed was
a dizzy spell.
Meanwhile opening partner Alex
Hales, who managed just 145 runs at
during the preceding 2-2 drawn Test
series against Pakistan, again fell
cheaply. Hales was out for seven
when he guided Gul straight to
Mohammad Hafeez at slip.
Mohammad Amir had had five
catches dropped off his bowling during the Test series and the Pakistan
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whitewash of the West
Indies in the forthcoming
A
two-match T20 International
paceman's bad luck continued
Wednesday. Roy, on 24, skied left-arm
quick Amir high on the legside.
The ball appeared to be heading
straight to Gul at square leg.
However, wicket-keeper Ahmed
called for the catch, only to make
insufficient ground and drop the
chance despite getting both gloves to
the ball.
Pakistan may have recently
climbed to the top of the Test rankings, but this was the kind of fielding
error which had helped leave them
singles
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languishing in ninth place in the
equivalent ODI standings.
Roy swept left-arm spinner Imad
Wasim for the first six of the match
before completing a 43-ball fifty also
featuring five fours.
But Roy's innings ended when a
lofted drive off spinner Mohammad
Nawaz was brilliantly caught just
inside the boundary by Babar, running
round from long-off.
Root, England's star batsman in all
three formats, was untroubled while
hitting six fours in 72 balls.
series in Florida on August 2728 will still not help secondplaced India climb to the top of
the ICC T20 rankings.
India currently trail topplaced New Zealand (132
points) by four points, while
third-ranked West Indies are
on 122 points.
A 2-0 win for India, will
help them join number one
ranked New Zealand on 132
points but the Asian side will
be ranked second when the
ratings are calculated beyond
the decimal point.
In this scenario, the West
Indies will slip to fourth position with 118 points, one
point behind South Africa.
A 1-1 series draw will
keep India ahead on 128
points with West Indies on
123 points.
Windies T20 captain
Carlos Brathwaite, who had
smashed four consecutive
sixes to wrap up this year's
World Twenty20 final against
England in Kolkata, will aim
to help his side win the series
2-0 and move to second place
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Lanka's opening batsman
SOneriTillakaratne
Dilshan will retire from
Day International cricket after the
third ODI against Australia in Dambulla,
the island's governing body for the sport
said on Thursday.
Sri Lanka Cricket said it would dedicate the match on August 28 against
Australia to the 39-year old Dilshan for
his "invaluable contribution to his mother land".
SLC in a statement extended its
appreciation to the batsman wishing him
all the best. There was no immediate
comment from Dilshan.
The aggressive right-hander retired
from Test cricket in October 2013 after
playing 87 matches and scoring 5,492
runs. He has also taken 39 Test wickets.
Sunday's ODI will be his 330th.
So far, he has scored 10,248 runs in
the 50-overs format of the game and
taken 106 wickets.
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Australia's Steve Smith has been
rested to focus on next month's tour of
South Africa leaving David Warner to
lead the side for the remainder of the
Sri Lanka series.
Smith captained Australia to an 82run loss in the second one-day international Wednesday which tied the series
1-1.
"I hate missing cricket, but in the
long run it will do me a world of good,"
said Smith who returns home with three
one-day internationals and two
Twenty20s still to be played.
"The schedule is very busy. I still
want to take on the role in all three formats and do it to the best of my ability," he added.
Cricket Australia's chairman of
selectors Rod Marsh said Smith needed time off.
"Steve has a large amount of cricket coming up in the next 12 months and
we wanted to find a time for him to
freshen up and these last five matches
provide a good opportunity to do so,"
Marsh said in a statement.
"Regardless of the results of the first
two matches our plan was always for
Steve to take a break and refresh ahead
of the ODI Series against South Africa
next month.
"This is a great leadership opportunity for David, he has really embraced
his role as vice-captain and we are confident he will do a great job in Steve's
place."
Australia will also have to do without injured quick bowler Nathan
Coulter-Nile for the rest of the tour.
"Nathan had been experiencing a
gradual increase in lower back pain
which is now preventing him from bowling at match intensity," said team physiotherapist David Beakley.
He will not be replaced in the oneday squad, with cover provided by
Victorian pace-bowlers John Hastings
and Scott Boland.
Australia's tour of South Africa
begins September 27 with a one-day
match against Ireland in Benoni after
which they play five ODIs against the
Proteas.
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ndia's Saina Nehwal on Thursday
dropped four points to be ninth,
Iwhile
compatriot PV Sindhu remained
in the 10th spot in the Badminton
World Federation (BWF) rankings
despite getting a silver in the women's
singles competition at the recentlyconcluded Olympics.
In another bad news for Indian
badminton, the women's doubles pair
of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa
dropped four places to the 26th spot
following their failure to reach the
knock-out stage in the Rio Games.
However, men's singles shuttler
Kidambi Srikanth, who reached the
Olympics quarter-finals, jumped a
place to be 10th, while Ajay Jayaram
improved his 22nd rank by a position.
Saina, the 2012 London Games
bronze medallist, failed to come out
of the group stage competition at the
Rio Games.
And her poor performance led
her to move down four places to be
ninth as the Rio bronze medallist
Nozomi Okuhara of Japan and Shixian
Wang of China moved up three places
each to be third and sixth respectively.
Rio semi-finalist Li Xuerui moved
up a place to be second, while her
compatriot Yihan Wang, who lost to
Sindhu in the quarter-finals, dropped
two places to be fourth.
Former world champion
Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand
moved down a place to be fifth and
Tai Tzy Ying of Chinese Taipei gained
a place to be seventh. Sung ji Hyun of
South Korea lost her seventh spot by
a position.
In the men's singles, Srikanth,
who took legendary Lin Dan to the
task in the quarter-finals, moved into
the 10th spot following his impressive
show at Rio.
Malaysian Lee Chong Wei, who
finished runner-up at Rio to Chen
Long, kept his place at the top-ranked
shuttler, while Dan was also stagnant
at No.3.
In the men's doubles, the pair of
Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy
were stagnant in the 21st spot.
on 127 points and push India
to third place on 124 points.
On the other hand, India's
Test captain Virat Kohli heads
T20I batsmen rankings with
837 points. With Australia's
Aaron Finch only 34 points
behind, Kohli will be looking
to consolidate his position at
the top.
Rohit Sharma is the next
highest ranked India batsman in 23rd position, while
Dhoni, who had led India to
victory in the inaugural ICC
World Twenty20 title in 2007,
is in 50th position but the
likelihood of getting more
batting opportunities could
see him rise in the ranks.
For the West Indies, bighitting opener Chris Gayle
(eighth) and experienced
batsman Marlon Samuels
(17th) will be looking to move
up the ranks with Lendl
Simmons (31st), Dwayne
Bravo (37th) and Andre
Fletcher (48th) also trying to
climb the ladder.
For India, fast bowler
Jasprit Bumrah is in second
position in the T20I bowlers
rankings after a creditable
show in Zimbabwe a few
months ago when India won
the T20I series 2-1.
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nder pressure to implement Lodha
Committee Reforms as per Supreme
U
Court Directives, the BCCI is relying that
the revised National Sports Bill is tabled
by the Budget Session of the Parliament
in 2017 which will save them from undergoing structural changes.
A very senior BCCI official said that
some changes are being made in the original Bill.
"The age cap of 70 years and the nineyear tenure are likely to be changed. There
is likely to be some changes in the cooling off period also. But since BCCI doesn't take government grants and till now
isn't under RTI ambit, it will also need
amendment," a senior BCCI official said.
The BCCI officials know that there is
every possibility that Review as well as
Curative Review Petition will be rejected
by Apex Court and the only hope is
amended Sports Bill.
"The National Sports Bill is the only
hope. But it seems difficult that it would
be placed before the Parliament during its
Winter Session as it ends on December 23.
So realistically the chances of Sports Bill
being tabled is budget session," the official said.
The procedure would be Ministry of
Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) will send
the bill to Cabinet, which will then send
it to Parliamentary Standing Committee
that can seek amendments before it is
finally tabled in Parliament.
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0DBCA0;80) Rain played spoil-
head of the two-match T20 series
against West Indies, Indian crickA
eters, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shikhar
Dhawan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar
today visited the home of American
basketball team Miami Heats here.
On what was supposed to be a day
off for the Indian cricket team, the
Indian trio were hosted by Tyler
Johnson and Briante Weber, the latest recruit of the Miami Heats, at their
home ground — The American
Airlines Arena.
The Indian contingent was taken
around the locker room, gymnasium
and the recuperation center before
indulging in a brief bout of play
between the five of them.
Shikhar and Bhuvneshwar were
chatting up with the hosts, while
Ashwin seemed to have gone back to
his school days of playing basketball.
"I've played a bit of Basketball during my school days so that got me really excited while I tried my hand again
after so many years. I am thankful to
both Weber and Johnson for taking
time out and showing us around their
home turf," Ashwin said.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar said: "It was
great to see these guys and learn about
their game. I was impressed with the
facilities here and it was a learning experience for me to see the amount of technology being used in sports science."
Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan
said: "It was great fun. I am very happy
we could make it here. Exchanging
thoughts about how the sports have
transformed with the latest technology is always good. While I tried to
explain these guys how Cricket is
played, they in return taught me the
finer details of Basketball."
The other Indian players had a field
day in the new country as some of them
went around shopping, while a few others chose to relax at the hotel. The Social
Media handles of players and the
BCCI were active with posts and pictures ever since they landed in the USA.
The southern coast of the USA
was buzzing after the Indian cricket
team arrived in the city of Fort
Lauderdale to play the two twenty20
internationals against West Indies at
the Central Broward Regional Park on
August 27 and 28.
The Indian team reached the city
on Tuesday. MS Dhoni, the skipper of
the Indian ODI and T20 team reached
Florida on Wednesday with Bumrah.
sport as the One-Day match
between India A and South
Africa A was today abandoned after 35 overs in the
first innings, taking the
Manish Pandey-led side to
the top of points table in the
quadrangular contest.
The Indians were struggling for most part of the 35.2
overs bowled today after
being put in to bat at the
Harrup Park.
Openers Mandeep Singh
(29 of 51 balls) and Karun
Nair (15 of 25 balls) put on
31 in eight overs before the
latter was dismissed by
Dwaine Pretorius.
One-down Shreyas Iyer
(4) did not last long, edging
to first slip off Andile
Phehlukwayo,
while
Mandeep was bowled by
medium-pacer Malusi Siboto.
India were in trouble at 69 for
3 in the 20th over.
Brief Scores
India A: 140/4 (Manish
Pandey 47, Kedar Jadhav 41
not out; Phehlukwayo 2/23).
b_^ac %
=4F34;78k5A830H k0D6DBC !%! %
*XDUGLRODUHXQLWHGZLWK%DUFD
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0?Q <>B2>F
anchester City's new coach Pep
Guardiola will be heading back
to Barcelona after the Premier
League club was pitted against his former team in the Champions League draw
on Thursday.
Guardiola, who also spent most of
his playing career at the Catalan club,
steered Barcelona to two Champions
League titles as well as a number of other
trophies during his time as coach from
2008-12.
Borussia Moenchengladbach and
Celtic complete Group C.
Cristiano Ronaldo also returns to his
M
<^aTbW^RZbX]
;TPVdT2d_
0?Q ;>=3>=
remier League clubs Burnley and
Middlesbrough were eliminated
by lower-division sides in the second
round of the League Cup on
Wednesday, while Leicester and
Chelsea were paired in the standout
match of the third round.
Fourth-tier Accrington pulled off
the biggest shock of the night, beating Burnley 1-0 thanks to a goal late
in extra time by Matty Pearson.
Second-tier Fulham came from
a goal down to beat Middlesbrough
2-1, with Lasse Vigen Christensen
getting the west London team's winner in extra time. Sunderland needed a late goal from on-loan
Manchester United midfielder
Adnan Januzaj to beat third-tier
Shrewsbury 1-0, while Bournemouth
settled for a 2-1 win at Morecambe.
Januzaj fired a rising shot into top
corner in the 83rd minute to avoid
any potential upset for a Sunderland
side that has lost both its opening
Premier League games under new
manager David Moyes.
Premier League champion
Leicester was drawn at home to
Chelsea, pitting its manager Claudio
Ranieri against his former club.
Manchester United will play away to
third-tier Northampton.
P
first club as holder Real Madrid has been
drawn against Sporting Lisbon. Borussia
Dortmund and Legia Warsaw are also in
Group F. Surprise Premier League champion Leicester faces Porto, Brugge and
FC Copenhagen in its first time in
Europe's premier competition.
The eight four-team groups begin
play on Sept. 13-14.
thrashed Ajax 4-1 to reach the group
stage for the first time.
City will play a sixth straight season
in Europe's elite competition after beating Steaua Bucharest 1-0 thanks to
Fabian Delph's 56th-minute goal and
completing a 6-0 win on aggregate.
Goalkeeper Joe Hart made what could
be his last start for City after losing his
regular place under new coach Pep
<0=28CH<>4=274=6;031027 Guardiola.
"We have a top manager that the club
2AD8B48=C>270<?8>=B;406D4
Manchester City and Borussia has wanted a long, long time, and he's
Moenchengladbach built on command- going to have his opinion on things," said
ing first-leg advantages to cruise through Hart, who was given a rousing reception
the Champions League playoffs on by Cityfans and appeared emotional durWednesday, while Russian side Rostov ing and at the end of the match.
"It's a place I love to be," he added,
"but situations occur in football. We're
men, we get on with it."
Raffael and Thorgan Hazard scored
hat tricks as Moenchengladbach routed
Young Boys 6-1 for a 9-2 win on aggregate, sealing an immediate return to the
group stage for the German side.
Both Germany and England will
have a full quota of four teams in
Thursday's draw.City, a semifinalist last
season, will be one of the second seeds.
Rostov advanced 5-2 on aggregate
over Ajax - a four-time European champion - in its first season trying to qualify for the Champions League. FC
Copenhagen is back in the group stage
CA0=B54A A>D=3D?
F8;;0224?C20BE4A382C)1;0CC4A
0?Q ;0DB0==4
ormer FIFA president Sepp Blatter
arrived for his appeal hearing
F
against a six-year ban from football on
Thursday, pledging to accept the verdict of the Court of Arbitration for
Sport.
"I do hope it will be positive for
me," Blatter, sporting a light gray
beard, told reporters at around 8 am
(0600 GMT) ahead of a closed-door
hearing expected to last several hours.
The court's verdict is expected within several weeks, and could be challenged in a further appeal to
Switzerland's supreme court.
The 80-year-old Blatter denies
wrongdoing in authorizing a $2 million payment to former FIFA vice
president Michel Platini in 2011.
They claimed it was for backdated and
uncontracted salary for work Platini
did in advising Blatter from 1999 to
2002.
The so-called "disloyal payment"
led Blatter to be put under investigation for criminal mismanagement by
Swiss federal prosecutors last
September. That investigation is ongoing.
FIFA's ethics committee judged
the $2 million deal was a conflict of
interest and initially banned Blatter
and Platini for eight years last
December. FIFA's appeal committee
cut both bans to six years.
Platini's appeal to CAS was
already judged in May, when Blatter
appeared in person as a witness.
Platini promised a further appeal to
the Swiss Federal Tribunal after his
ban was only cut from six to four
years.
Platini arrived at the hearing
around midday local time to be a witness. Both men have denied any
wrongdoing. "I came here to repeat
and say again the truth," said Platini.
The judging panel in his case noted
"the absence of any repentance" from
the former France great.
The three-member panel for
Blatter's case is expected to respect the
verdict of a separate panel which
judged Platini.
for the second time in four years, after
scoring an 86th-minute equalizer to draw
1-1 with APOEL and progress 2-1 on
aggregate.
Dinamo Zagreb was the last team to
go through, beating Salzburg 2-1 after
extra time to advance 3-2 on aggregate.
The Croatian team equalized in the 87th
minute through Junior Fernandes to take
the match to extra time before El Arabi
Hilal Soudani grabbed the winner in the
95th minute.
City did the damage with a 5-0 win
in Romania last week, allowing
Guardiola to rest most of his first-choice
players including Sergio Aguero — the
scorer of a first-leg hat trick.
10A20B86=28;;4BB4=;4C1A0E>6>
Blatter's comments Thursday
suggest he would not pursue a federal case. Federal judges can intervene
only if legal process is abused.
"We are football players, we
learned to win but also we learned to
lose and it will not be the end of the
world," Blatter said outside CAS.
A failure to overturn the ban for
Blatter would likely end his hope to
one day be named FIFA honorary
president by its 211 member federations.
On Sept 14, UEFA members will
elect a successor to replace Platini who
had a mandate through March 2019.
By imposing a four-year ban, the CAS
panel ensured UEFA had to replace
Platini, rather than wait for him to
return. The "disloyal payment"
emerged last year when Platini was
strongly favored to win the election to
replace Blatter, who had announced
his departure plans after 17 years as
president amid pressure from
American and Swiss federal investigations of corruption implicating
senior FIFA officials.
Arriving at the hearing with his
Zurich-based lawyer Lorenz Erni,
Blatter said he hoped the CAS panel
"will understand that the payment
made to Platini was really a debt that
we had against him."
"This is a principle, if you have
debts you pay them," Blatter said.
10A24;>=0) 1PaRT[^]PbPhbXcWPbbXV]TS=TcWTa[P]Sb
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ristiano Ronaldo has won UEFA's award as the
C
best player in Europe last season after helping
Portugal to win the European Championship and
having another stellar campaign for Real Madrid.
Ronaldo, a favorite for a fourth world player of
the year award, beat club teammate Gareth Bale of
Wales and Atletico Madrid's France star Antoine
Griezmann.
The vote, by journalists from UEFA's 55 member countries, was announced at the Champions
League draw Thursday.
Ronaldo
also received the
A^]P[S^PUPe^aXcT
award in 2014.
Lionel Messi
U^aPU^dacWf^a[S
(twice), Andres
Iniesta
and
_[PhTa^UcWThTPa
Franck Ribery
PfPaSQTPcR[dQ
previously won
the
award,
cTP\\PcT6PaTcW
which was first
presented in
1P[T^UFP[TbP]S
2011.
0c[TcXR^<PSaXSb
UEFA created the prize
5aP]RTbcPa
after the original
European
0]c^X]T6aXTi\P]]
Footballer of the
Year honor,
known as the
Ballon d'Or,
merged with
FIFA's world player award. Lyon forward Ada
Hegerberg won the women's award.
Meanwhile, The goal of Barcelona striker
Lionel Messi in the first round of the 2015-16 UEFA
Champions League against Roma was chosen by the
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA)
as the best of last season.
Messi scored the goal as a result of collective
play with Neymar and Luis Suarez. That encounter,
played at Barcelona's Camp Nou stadium last
November, ended in a 6-1 victory for the hosts,
reports Efe.
The Argentina striker's goal received 34 per cent
of the vote and exceeded Brazilian Ricardinho's goal
in Futsal, which gained 13 per cent votes, while the
goal of Swiss Xherdan Shaqiri in the second round
of the Euro 2016 against Poland came in third with
11 per cent.
Messi is not among the three nominees for
UEFA best player in Europe, which are Cristiano
Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Antoine Griezmann. The
winner will be announced on Thursday night during the draw for the first phase of the UEFA
Champions League.
²9PXbWPbPXS]^c^_Tab^]P[XbTSaTUaTbW\T]c³
94dVV\d?252dcVda`_dV
`_h`^R_ReY]VeVda]VR
he controversy stoked by
marathon runner OP Jaisha
T
took an interesting turn with her
?C8Q =4F34;78
?C8Q =4F34;78
personal coach Nikolai Snesarev on
Thursday asserting that she herself
had said no when asked by him if
she would need personalised
refreshment during the race in the
Rio Olympics.
Belarusian Nikolai said he had
told the Indian athletics officials
after "clarifying" from her that she
will not need personalised refreshment during the race.
National record holder Jaisha
had alleged that Athletics Federation
of India officials did not arrange for
water and energy drinks during the
race under scorching heat and due 2^PRW=XZ^[PXB]TbPaTeX]PUX[T_W^c^
to which she nearly died while runcoach) asked me whether she
ning, a claim denied by the AFI.
Nikolai said that Jaisha had (Jaisha) would need individual
never used personalised drinks refreshment or drinks for the race.
during marathon competitions and I asked Jaisha whether she will use
she said a clear no when asked by personalised drinks or normal water
him whether she would need them provided by organisers. She said she
in Rio. "A day before the race, will use normal water only. Then I
Radhakrishnan Nair (deputy chief told Nair that she will not need per-
sonalised refreshment and she
would prefer pure water. That is it,"
Nikolai told PTI from the SAI
Centre in Bangalore where he is currently based.
"Jaisha had never used individual drinks during competitions
from the beginning of her Olympics
preparations and she had run with
only normal water. She used only
normal water provided by organisers
during
the
World
Championships in Beijing in August
last year. The whole of 2016, Jaisha
did not use personalised drinks during competitions," he added.
"But for clarity, as I wanted to
clarify from Jaisha, I asked her
whether she will need individual
drinks or run with normal water in
Rio. She said she will run only with
normal water provided by the
organisers," said the coach.
Latest reports said that the 33year-old Kerala athlete, who won a
silver medal in 1500m race in the
2014 Asian Games, has put the
blame on Nikolai, saying that he
must have told the AFI officials that
she will need personalised refresh-
ment.
Asked if there was sufficient
water arranged by the Rio race
organisers, Nikolai hinted that it was
not so.
"I did not run the race and have
not followed Jaisha throughout the
entire 42km. How can I? So, I would
not know the exact situation. It
would seem from a distance that the
water arranged by the organisers
was sufficient. My situation was as
good as yours watching on a television.
"But I had spoken to some runners who took part in the race, who
finished around 70th and below out
of the 157 runners and who ran
behind the leading pack, and their
coaches. They said water was there
but after the 25 to 30km mark, it was
not sufficient. That is what these
runners and coaches said. I have no
means to verify what they said," he
added.
"When I spoke to Jaisha after
the race, she also said the same, that
the water available was not adequate
in the second part of the course after
around 25-30km," he added.
episode, a national level
2Y^TbQd_XUQT>B19 A
woman weight lifter has challenged in Delhi High Court a
bUfYUgS_]]YddUU
four-year ban on her for allegedfter the Narsingh Yadav
=4F34;78) India's first and only individual
Olympic gold-medallist Abhinav Bindra was
on Thursday named Chairman of a five-member review committee to probe the shooters'
Rio Games debacle.
The National Rifle Association of India
(NRAI) said the mandate of the committee
is to "examine and identify in a cold and ruthless manner" the causes behind shooting not
securing any medals at the Rio Olympics. The
committee is also mandated to recommend
concrete steps that NRAI must immediately
undertake to ensure that this is not repeated
in future Olympics. Bindra has told NRAI that
though he would not question any of his teammates, he would remain open to any assessment by the review committee. Other members of the committee include former tennis
player Manisha Malhotra, who has also been
appointed Convenor of the committee, NRAI
Secretary Rajiv Bhatia and two journalists.
ly taking prohibited substance,
alleging that she was given laced
protein drink by one of her colleagues. The High Court has
directed the National Anti
Doping Agency (NADA) to
respond to her plea.
Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva
also issued notices to the Centre
and CRPF Director General on
the petition filed by Sumati
Devi, a CRPF inspector who was
part of the women weight lifting team in 75-plus kg category, and directed them to file their
responses by November 21, the
next date of hearing.
The petitioner, a permanent
resident of Manipur, has sought
quashing of the July 8 order
passed by the appellate author-
ity on her appeal against the
findings of Anti Doping
Disciplinary Panel (ADDP).
Terming the penalty of four
years as "very harsh", she has
contended in her plea that she
had not taken the drink intentionally.
Devi has alleged that one of
her colleagues, with whom she
shared a room in the sports hostel attached to Jawaharlal Nehru
stadium here while participating
in 63rd All India Police Games
Championship in March 2015,
had given her a protein drink
which was laced with "anabolic
steroid".
She said she was in the hostel room with two other women
athletes of CRPF from March 1,
2015 to March 5, 2015, who
used to go together for routine
practices and have their respective protein drinks and food
supplements. Devi said she consumed the drink in the presence
of another roommate.