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nable to come to the resU
cue of people sandwiched
between Maoists and security
personnel in different LWE-hit
areas, the NHRC on
Wednesday sought amendment to The Protection of
Human Rights Act, 1993.
Speaking at the end of the
commission’s three-day camp
and open session here, NHRC
Chairperson Justice HL Dattu
said, “There should be amendment in the Protection of
Human Rights Act, 1993 so
that the commission can take
action against officials who
ignore its recommendations.”
“The commission should
have the power to start proceedings against officials ignoring its recommendations,” he
20?BD;4
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later told reporters, admitting
that the NHRC has ended up
only as a recommending body.
Since its inception in 1993,
the NHRC has provided justice,
liberty and equality to many
victims of human rights violation, he said.
Also Read: Poverty ‘forces’
mother to sell child in Odisha,
NHRC slaps notice
On the plight of people
sandwiched between the
Maoists and the police, Justice
Dattu said, “The situation is
gradually changing. The Chief
Secretar y of Odisha has
informed me that incidents of
Leftwing extremism are reported from certain pockets of
only two districts. Gradually,
things will improve.”
About how the NHRC
could come to the rescue of
innocent people caught
between Maoists and police,
Justice Dattu said, “The
Government has been working
to improve the situation in the
Maoist-hit areas. Things may
not change overnight.”
On imprisonment of cer-
341030B?A0370=Q
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hough there is a decline in
T
robbery and cognizable
offences, the twin city of
Bhubaneswar and Cuttack witnessed an increase in crimes
like rioting, cases under the
Narcotic
Drugs
and
Psychotropic Substances
(NDPS) Act, Immoral Traffic
Act and excise Act in 2016 in
comparison to 2015.
Commissioner of Police
YB Khurania while sharing
the annual crime record statistics of 2016 with the media on
Wednesday said that during
2015 a total of 138 rioting cases
were reported which shot up to
161 during 2016.
He, however, claimed that
the numbers of swindling,
theft, burglary, motor vehicle
accident cases have declined in
2016 as compared to 2015. He
said while 10,906 cognizable
cases were filed in 2015 it
came down to 10,774 in 2016.
Khurania said during 2016,
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he Supreme Court on
T
Wednesday refused to do
away with the exemption grant-
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he BJP seems to have
T
changed its attitude, at least
for the time being, towards its
senior party leaders Bijay
Mohapatra and Rourkela MLA
Dilip Ray as its list of star campaigners for the ensuing panchayat elections included their
names on Wednesday.
BJP State president Basant
Panda, Assembly party leader
KV Singh Deo, Union Ministers
Jual Oram and Dharmendra
Pradhan, MLAs Pradeep
Purohit, Rabi Nayak and
Radharani Panda, cine starts
Sritam Das and Pinky Pradhan
are also among the party’s star
campaigners. Both Mohapatra
and Ray are known for their
opposition to the projection of
Dharmendra Pradhan as the
party Chief Ministerial candidate.On the other hand, the ruling BJD has included many veterans in its list of star campaigners, including Chief
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Bhubaneswar: Filling of nominations by candidates for the
ensuing three-tier panchayt
elections in the State began on
Wednesday. Nomination
papers filing would be done
betweenJanuary 11 and 17
except Government holidays.
Scrutiny of the candidatures would be held on
January 18. The last date for
withdrawal of the nominations is January 21, and the
final list of candidates would
be published the same day.
The elections to the three-
tier panchayati raj institutions would be held in five different phases to begin from
February 13. The polling
would take place on February
13, 15, 17, 19 and 21. Casting
of votes would take place
from 7 am to 12 noon and
counting of votes would be
done from 1 pmonwards on
these days. Elections would be
held for the posts of 853 Zilla
Parishad Members, 6,802
Sarpanchs, 6,801 Panchayat
Samiti Members and 92,052
Ward Members.
PNS
Minister and party supremo
Naveen Patnaik himself,
Ministers Damodar Rout,
Bijayshree Routray and Debi
Prasad Mishra among many
others as an attempt to give a
message that the speculation of
seniors being ignored in the
party is not true at all.
Rajya Sabha members
Prasanna Acharya and AU
Singh Deo and Surjya Narayan
Patro are also included in the list
of the star campaigners. MPs
Siddhant Mohapatra, Dilip
Tirkey and Anubhav Mohanty
and MLA Akash DasNayak are
also among the other BJD leaders included in the list.
Cine celebrities including
Mihir Das, Trupti Das, Kuna
Tripathy and Arindam are
also included in the list of BJD
star campaigners. Both the
BJP and BJD have submitted
their lists of 40 star campaigners each with the State
Election Commission (SEC).
344?0::D<0A970Q
=4F34;78
ack home after a weekB
long sojourn in Europe,
Congress vice-president Rahul
Gandhi on Wednesday
resumed his offensive against
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, mocking at the PM’s
promise of ‘acche din’ and
accusing the ruling dispensation at the Centre of creating
an atmosphere of fear across
the country.
In a tongue-and- cheek
speech delivered before thousands of party workers and officials at the Talkatora stadium,
Rahul asserted that Congress
will defeat BJP’s ideology and
dislodge it from power in 2019.
In an obvious reference to
social media banters postdemonetisation, Rahul said it
was for the first time that
India’s Prime Minister is being
“ridiculed world over” for
taking such an “ill-conceived”
decision. Taking a dig at Modi’s
2014 Lok Sabha election campaign line that “achchhe din”
will come when BJP comes to
power, he said only Congress’
return to power in 2019 will
herald good days.
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tain tribal people on the basis
of alleged false cases, Justice
Dattu said, “The commission
will act if it gets complaints in
this regard. Publish these in
newspapers and bring them to
our notice.”
The commission observed
that its recommendation to
include human rights in the
school curriculum has been
accepted by the CBSE.
Odisha Chief Secretary AP
Padhi said he has informed the
commission that the State
would include human rights as
a subject in the schools from
the 2018-19 academic year.
Justice Dattu also said the
commission last year took at
least 350 cases suo motu and
issued notices to authorities,
some of which have been
responded.
He said the commission has
made certain recommendations
to the State Government on the
issues relating to food security,
rehabilitation of bonded labourers, issuance of case certificates, atrocities in police stations
and others.
2Xch E^[ "8bbdT
0XaBdaRWPaVT4gcaPXU0__[XRPQ[T
?=BQ =4F34;78
ed to political parties from paying tax on donations received
into their party account.
A PIL filed by advocate ML
Sharma had challenged this
exemption under the Income
Tax Act. Dismissing the petition, a Bench of Chief Justice
JS Khehar and Justice DY
Chandrachud said that the
exemption was an “executive”
action and cannot be faulted
on the ground that only political parties enjoy this privilege.
Moreover, the SC found no
material to suggest that the
above exemption given to
political parties went contrary
to other provisions in the
Income Tax Act or the
Representation of People Act
that allows parties to receive
donations.
The exemption was contained in Section 13A of
Income Tax Act that was challenged in the petition. The plea
also sought a direction to the
Central Bureau of Investigation
to register an FIR and probe
political parties and their funding in the wake of demonetization.
Sharma argued that political party as a term is not
defined in the Constitution.
But the SC replied that such
terms are defined under statute
as the Constitution even does
not define Hindu Undivided
Family (HUF), which too is
entitled under law to receive
money.
the police had succeeded in
arresting veteran criminals like
Dhal Samanta brothers from
the city.
However, Khurania said
the number of murder cases
remained the same in 2015 and
2016. “Though 64 murder
cases were reported during
2016 against 61 in the 2015 but
the number of murder cases
remained steady as three murder cases reported in 2015
were registered in 2016, said
the CP.
Robbery increased in
Bhubaneswar but recorded a
decrease in Cuttack Urban
Police District. As many as 294
criminals were arrested for
committing robbery in 2016
against 231 in 2015. The incidence of burglary was also
decreased from 378 in 2015 to
354 in 2016.
Khurania said the theft
cases recorded a substantial
decline in last year. He said
2,328 theft cases were reported in 2015 that reduced to
1,902 in 2016. There was also
substantial decline in theft of
motor vehicles, mobile phones,
laptops. However, the number
of rape cases went up from 127
to 144 in 2016.
“In Bhubaneswar the number of rape cases decreased
from 87 in 2015 to 77 in 2016.
But in Cuttack it increased
from 40 in 2015 to 67 in 2016,”
said the commissioner.
caP]b_^acPcX^]^]ca^[[Th
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he Odisha Human Rights Commission
T
(OHRC) on Wednesday sought reports
from the Inspector General of Police (Railways)
and the Puri district Collector on the incidence
of a woman tourist transporting her husband’s
body on a trolley rickshaw for cremation in the
holy town. OHRC Acting Chairperson BK
Mishra took suo motu cognisance of the matter and sought reports from the two authorities
within four weeks.
Reports said a group of 60 tourists, including Durni Bandewada (55) from Sindhuwada
district of Madhya Pradesh, were on a visit to
Puri where he suddenly developed pain in his
stomach and died at the District Headquarters
Hospital at Puri on Monday.
Though his family members inquired from
the attending doctor if there was any facility
available for carrying the body to the
Swargadwar cremation ground, they could not
get it. Finally, they hired a trolley rickshaw to
take the body for cremation on Tuesday.
However, the Puri district administration suddenly intervened and arranged an ambulance to
transport the body. The victim’s wife alleged that
the family’s request to government railway police
for help was also turned down, the reports said.
D4SfcZVdDRYRcR3Zc]RaRj`WWUZRcZVdW`cVgVc
01A070<C7><0BQ
=4F34;78
he Supreme Court (SC) on
T
Tuesday dismissed the
“Sahara-Birla diaries” as loose
sheets of paper that cannot
form “admissible evidence” to
prosecute high constitutional
and political functionaries
named as alleged recipients of
corporate payoffs.
Leaders across the political
spectrum heaved a sigh of
relief after the much-awaited
SC decision removed the cloud
of corruption charge hanging
over top political leaders,
including Prime Minister
Narendra Modi (when he was
Gujarat Chief Minister) and
several other former and present Chief Ministers cutting
across party lines.
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bdaeXeTX]RPbTX]eTbcXVPcX^]XbaTPSX[hbTcX]\^cX^]
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Banking on the contents of
the diary, a PIL by NGO
Common Cause alleged that
the details of payoffs had created a public perception that
corporate in the country can
achieve anything by paying
bribes to the political leadership and get away without
being punished. Reading out
the names of the who’s who in
politics, be it Modi, Mulayam
Singh, Mayawati, Lalu Yadav,
Union Law Minister Ravi
Shankar Prasad, or Congress
leader Salman Khurshid, advocate Prashant Bhushan
demanded registration of a
first information report (FIR)
and setting up of a special
investigation team to probe the
allegations. The Bench of
Justices Arun Mishra and
Amitava Roy was not amused
by his contention. Dismissing
the petition, the SC said, “If we
allow such a prayer, the process
of law can be abused to achieve
ulterior goals, No democracy
can survive in case investigation
is readily set in motion against
high constitutional functionaries unless cogent evidence is
brought on record.”
Dealing with the diaries,
computer entries and emails
disclosing the payoff details, the
SC said, “These are random
computer entries MS Excel
sheets, diaries, emails that are
not maintained in regular
course of business forming
official records of company.
Such materials do not classify
as evidence as required under
Sections 65 and 65A of
Evidence Act.”
The court referred to the
Jain Hawala diary case where
the SC had struck down the
investigation based on a diary
showing similar payoffs to
political leaders. In that judgment, it was held that statements made in accounts of the
company alone can be treated
as evidence to charge a person.
“Accounts” of a company was
defined to mean spiral notebook but not loose sheets.
In the present case, the
court held that at best the evidence could be treated as “corroborative evidence” but cannot
be “cogent” evidence and hence
was irrelevant and inadmissible
for purposes of launching a
criminal prosecution.
-XVWFKLOO)LQDOO\ZLQWHUVHWVLQ 3^]cUP[[X]AP\6^_P[b
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?=BQ =4F34;78
inter has finally turned
W
chilly in the northern
parts of the country, including
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the national Capital which
recorded a low of 3 degrees
Celsius on Wednesday.
According
to
India
Meteorological Department
(IMD), the minimum temperature may dip further and the
impact of cold wave is likely to
persist at least till January 13.
Delhi-NCR, Punjab, Haryana,
Rajasthan and many parts of
Uttar Pradesh are affected.
The hills of Jammu &
Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh
and their adjoining areas are
expected to receive more rain
and snow due to the impact of
a western disturbance. Within
the next 48 hours, this will
move eastwards leading to
reversal of winds from southeasterly to northwesterly or
northerly, said the IMD sources.
This will result in clear skies,
dry and cold winds from north
which will significantly reduce
the minimum temperatures.
Gulmarg, in north
Kashmir, recorded minimum
temperature of minus 12.4
degrees Celsius on Wednesday,
which is five degrees below normal. According to IMD records,
this was the lowest night temperature since January 2012,
when the mercury had plummeted to minus 16.5 degrees
Celsius. Pahalgam in south
Kashmir, another tourist hot
spot, too experienced the season’s lowest night temperature
at minus 9.2 degrees Celsius; six
degrees less than the normal
temperature.
In Himachal Pradesh,
Keylong, Kalpa in Spiti and
Kinnaur districts recorded a
low of minus 9.7 degrees
and minus 7 degrees Celsius
respectively.
Cold conditions prevail in
major parts of Rajasthan too,
with mercury dipping below
freezing point at three places.
The hill station of Mount Abu
chilled at minus 2.4 degrees
Celsius. In the plains, Churu
was the coldest in the State
recording a minimum of minus
0.3 degrees Celsius. Jaipur, on
the other hand, recorded a
minimum of 3.8 degrees
Celsius, which is at least 4-5
degrees below normal.
Punjab and Haryana too
are reeling under cold wave.
Bright sunshine did not deter
icy cold winds from sweeping
the terrains. As per IMD data,
Narnaul in Haryana recorded
minus 0.5 degrees Celsius,
five degrees below normal.
Ambala was at 4.4 degrees
Celsius, two degrees below
normal; while Hisar faced cold
at 2.4 degrees Celsius.
?=BQ ;D2:=>F
amajwadi Party patriarch
SWednesday
Mulayam Singh Yadav on
accused his cousin
and Rajya Sabha member Ram
Gopal Yadav of conspiring to
split the party in connivance
with the BJP, and asked his son
Akhilesh Yadav to keep
away from the influence of the
conspirator.
Hinting at Ram Gopal,
Mulayam said, “I know who
met the president of another
party thrice. He wants to save
his son (Akshay Yadav, party
MP from Ferozabad) and
daughter-in-law. He should
have approached me. I would
have saved them… I asked
them (rival camp) not to dispute. I want unity in the party.
I am neither making new party
not changing our symbol…I
know who is forming Akhil
Bhartiya Samajwadi Party
(ABSP) and desiring motorcycle symbol.”.
Amid the ongoing tussle in
the party, Mulayam asserted that
he would not allow the SP to be
split. In his address to party
workers at the SP headquarters
in Lucknow before leaving for
New Delhi, Mulayam turned
emotional, saying he has given
whatever he had to the party
and Akhilesh Yadav. “I have
given whatever I had. What is
left with me? I only have you
(workers) all,” he said.
“Akhilesh Yadav is Chief
Minister and he will be the next
CM also. Why are you
(Akhilesh) going to these persons...Don’t drag yourself in
dispute.”
RP_XcP[!
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hen the year 2016 witnessed the most big-bang
efforts by the Odisha
Government to reap windfall of
private investments inflow to
the State with hosts of conclaves across the big industrial centres in the country, the
excel sheet of the year, however, failed to show any big-bang
result as with an investment
inflow of a mere C21,000 crore,
it trails far behind the inflow of
C28,000 crore and C24,000
crore in 2014 and 2015, respectively.
According to data with the
State Industries Department
and the Investor Entrepreneur
Memorandums (IEMs) filed in
MSME categories, the year
2016 saw the IEMs filed worth
C21,000 crore. The comparative
figures for 2014 and 2015 are
C28,219 and C24,542 crore,
respectively, though the State
this year has seen almost an
equal number of IEMs filed in
2014.
What needs to be remind-
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W
ed here is that via the mega
conclaves in Mumbai,
Benguluru and the mother of
all, ‘Make in Odisha’, in
Bhubaneswar, the State
Government has declared a
commitment of a humongous
over C3 lakh crore private
investment inflow into the
State. But in actuality, a mere 6
per cent of the total commitments made could only materialise in 2016. Though, only
one IEM filed has commenced
production so far during the
year.
Top Industries Department
officials don’t seem perturbed
because they attribute the lower
rate of materialisation to the
apparent economic slowdown
gripping the country following
adverse fallout of the lingering
global slowdown. “We see light
in the tunnel given the IEMs
filed in Odisha coming from an
array of sectors which hitherto have never seen any investment commitment and these
sectors have good growth
potential in coming years,”
explained a top official in the
department.
A look at the IEMs filed in
2016, in fact, shows that the
State has received investments
from outside in the diary sector, food processing, readymade garments, rubber tyres,
jewellery and hotels in addition
to its strongholds of power sector, cement and sponge iron.
But the important revelation is
of the over 27 IEMs filed; half
of them only were to see bringing up of new undertakings.
This shows last year’s hectic
business show by the State
Government was successful in
bringing a mere 12 new undertakings to the State.
Significantly, when rapid
industrialisation is seen as an
antidote to treat the rising
unemployment in Odisha,
which is at a high of 5 per cent,
the IEMs filed in 2016 showed
creation of only over 500 jobs.
While most of the IEMs filed
didn’t specify the proposed
employment to be created,
only half a dozen indicated to
create a total of 512 jobs when
the projects get going on the
ground. However, given the
size of investments committed
in the IEMs filed, the job
potential looks bright. For
instance, the Adani Wilmar’s
84,000-metric tonne vegetable
oil manufacturing unit alone
could generate employment
potential for at least one thousand jobseekers, sources
informed.
&LW\¶VGHIXQFWWUDIILFVLJQDOV
PRFNDWURDGVDIHW\ZHHN
ven as the Road Safety
Week is underway and
E
Bhubaneswar has been ranked
first in the Smart City list, most
of the electronic traffic signal
posts in the city lie defunct for
years.
School and college students are working as volunteers
to create public awareness
about road safety and traffic
rules, but the traffic signals are
not functioning in the city’s key
locations.
At least 125 traffic posts are
needed to control the vehicular movements in the places
under the BMC. But there are
only 57 traffic posts across the
city, out of which 21 have electronic traffic signals. And most
of the traffic signals are not
functioning except at AG
Square and two to three other
locations.
The traffic lights are not
functioning properly at Kalinga
Hospital Square, Shailashree
Vihar-Damana Chhak, Patia,
120 Battalion, Power House
Square, PMG Square, Kalpana,
Rupali, Ram Mandir and
Masjid Square.
Surprisingly, there are no
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handan Mishra and
Charchit Mishra, the two
C
sons of arrested industrialist
and Odisha Stevedores Ltd
(OSL) MD Mahimananda
Mishra, appeared before the
Paradip police on Wednesday
in connection with the October
26 Seaways Shipping general
manager Mahendra Swain
murder case.
On Monday, the Paradip
police had issued notice to the
duo asking them to depose
before them by January 11. The
OSL MD is now in judicial custody for his alleged complicity
in the murder case.
Both Charchit and
Chandan appeared before the
investigating officer (IO) of
the case at the police station for
questioning. They were questioned over the financial transactions of the OSL, sources
said.
According to police, one
Rakesh Choubey had received
C12 lakh cash in advance from
the OSL in September 2016 to
eliminate Swain.
hief Secretary AP Padhi on
Wednesday began a yearwise review of the departments,
and on the first day took stock
of performance of the Works
Department.
The Chief Secretary
reviewed the progress of
Gurupriya bridge in the cutoff
Chitrakonda area in Malkangiri
district, construction of Trisulia
bridge on river Mahanadi in
Cuttack and five medical colleges in the State.
“Construction of the
Gurupriya bridge in the cut-off
areas of Chitrakonda has been
Chandan, the elder son of
the industrialist, is a director of
the OSL Group of Companies
while Charchit looks after the
group’s exclusive dealership of
Hyundai, BMW, Volkswagen,
Mahindra and Tata Motors.
On Tuesday, OSL accountant Rajendra Dalei had also
deposed before the police.
Police would crosscheck
Mahima’s version, which he
has told the police during
interrogation, with that of his
t wo s ons and an O SL
employee to get a clear idea
about the events leading to
the brutal murder of the
Hyderabad-based company’s
general manager.
completed 67 per cent till now
and work on the bridge is targeted to be completed by June
this year,” Padhi told reporters
after the meeting.
Providing an update on the
construction of five medical colleges in Baleswar, Baripada,
Balangir and Koraput, the Chief
Secretary said the Works
Department is targeting to complete these four colleges by the
end of this year.
The Chief Secretary
informed that the department
has satisfactorily completed all
the required works as compared
to 2015. Padhi also reviewed the
Biju Expressway project along
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with the land acquisition pertaining to various road projects.
“As compared to last year,
the expenditure of the department is quite high this year. We
hope to achieve all the targets of
the department by March. We
also reviewed the construction
of Gurupriya and Mahanadi
Trisulia bridges. There are five
medical colleges under construction across the state.
Almost all the projects are on
schedule. We also discussed on
ways to address the slippages,”
said Padhi. Works Secretary
Nalini Kanta Pradhan among
many other senior Government
officials were present.
traffic signals at crowded Vani
Vihar, Acharya Vihar, Jaydev
Vihar, CRP and Fire Station
Squares and traffic personnel
and Home Guard staffs struggle to control the chaos caused
by reckless two-wheeler riders,
auto-rickshaws or private
busses.
These personnel also hard
pressed to control the vehicular movements at Khandagiri
Square, where accidents occur
regularly in the absence of
digitised traffic signals.
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Baleswar: A meeting of the
Utakal Sammilani’s Baleswar
wing was held on Wednesday.
Sammilani functionaries
claimed that the body would be
activated with inclusion of
more and more members.
Further, the Sammilani
would be working for strengthening Odia language and literature besides spreading the
Odia culture and tradition.
Secretary of the newlyformed body Abhay Das said,
“The organisation would be
working mainly on five fronts,
including protecting and
developing the Odia language, propagation of Odia literature, art and culture. We
have a target of enrolling
10,000 members to further
rejuvenate the orgainsation,”
said Das.
PNS
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anic spread among the resP
idents on Wednesday when
a wild boar strayed into the
Ruchika Market at Baramunda
Housing Board Colony here.
The animal reportedly got
trapped inside the garden of a
house at the Census Colony
near the market. Getting information, a special team from the
Nandankanan Zoological Park
rushed to the spot and had a
tough time in capturing the
animal. However, they captured and caged the boar after
an eight hour-long effort from
a shop at the Ruchika Market.
Forest Department personnel said a herd of 12 wild
boars from Bharatpur strayed
into the OUAT premises on
Tuesday. One of the animals
got left behind from the herd
in the city as dogs chased it.
It is needless to point out
that the absence of the system
is easily felt at Ravi Talkies,
Sishu Bhawan, Capital
Hospital, Red Cross, Shashtri
Nagar, Nicco Park and Shriya
Talkies Squares.
The traffic posts at several places are manned by Home
Guards or traffic volunteers
roped
in
by
the
Commissionerate police.
The situation has turned so
bad that college students and
volunteers are being deployed
to manage the vehicular traffic.
If the electronic signals
are provided at all the traffic
posts in Bhubaneswar like cities
such as Delhi, Mumbai,
Kolkata, Bengaluru and
Hyderabad, the pressure could
have been lessened on the traffic constables, and many accidents could have been averted,
it is observed.
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o popularise the Rangani
caste and its dignity, establish unity and strengthen relationship and, above all, to
chalk out a strategy for welfare
of the people of the caste, a
Mahasabha (big convention)
would be organised by the
Nikhila Utkal Shakahari Samaj
here on January 15, said the
organisation’s president Kishore
Chandra Sahoo at a Press meet
here on Wednesday.
About 8,000 people from
across the State would attend
the Mahasabha, he said.
The most significant thing
about the Rangani caste is that
its people are purely vegetarians, simple and sober in behaviour. Rangani is a weaver caste
like the Mehers of western
Odisha and Saraka, Hansi and
Dera in southern Odisha. They
constitute 20 per cent of the
weaver population in the State
and are found in Ganjam ,
Khordha, Nayagarh, Puri,
Cuttack, Jajpur and Sambalpur
districts, said Sahoo.
Nikhila Utkal Shakahari
Samaj general secretar y
Harihara Behera said there is
no concrete historical proof of
origin of the caste, but the
social activities of the Ranganis
in Athagarh and Banki subdivisions indicate that they
T
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were part of Buddhism or
Jainism. The presence of one
Rangani Matha in Puri, the service of Ranganis at the
Sakhigopal temple and
Sankirtan groups in the
Rangani indicate that they are
the followers of Srichaitanya
and Lord Jagannath, said
Behera.
If the Government does
not think seriously for protection and preservation of this
age-old weaving tradition of the
State, the Rangani weavers
would lose their identity in near
future, said acting president
Jambeswar Prusty.
Among others, advisor
Kunja Bihari Prusty and president of Bhubaneswar zone
Shyamsundar Sahoo were present.
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18BF0A09?0C=08:
urprisingly, not many
among the so-called intelSlectual
community do not
seem to know the fundamental principles that drive the
Panchayati Raj system in
India. Some of the leading
journalists and eminent commentators talk of ‘victorydefeat’ with respect to mainstream political parties in the
local self-government elections. Mahatma Gandhi had a
great vision of Gram Swaraj
meaning village self-governance, drawing the spirit from
the age-old, highly-tested panchayat system of predominantly rural India. The prac-
tice since the Vedic times was
that five truly popular persons
from within the community
with knowledge and integrity
would be chosen by consensus
to constitute the executive
with absolute judicial authority. No crook could ever enter
the sacred outfit, no matter
how rich he was. Gandhi’s
dream died with his assassination. The independent India
set up a committee to recommend best practices in 1957
headed by Balwant Rai Mehta
when Nehru had great influence over all affairs of political India. Much later in 1985,
during Rajiv Gandhi s tenure
as boss, another committee,
headed by GVK Rao, was constituted to improve upon the
first set of ideas. Not fully satisfied, Rajiv organised a third
committee under LM Singhvi
in 1986 to do a magnificent
job to make sure power devolution would occur and the
rural self-governance would be
thoroughly managed by real
good benefactor-volunteers
from within the neighbourhood. Singhvi delivered the
best design, the highlight of
which was complete noninvolvement of mainstream
political parties in the election
process. Contestants would
remain non-partisan, no party
symbols, no links with any
party leaders (photo or name
in the posters or leaflets), violation of which could result in
disqualification. All the same,
the Panchayati Raj system did
not gain Constitutional recognition until 1992 when the
73rd Amendment only made
it possible. Incidentally, in the
mid-1980s, whenever the
demand was put up, due to the
Sarkaria Commission’s denial,
it had not happened despite
Rajiv Gandhi’s best efforts
and a huge mass agitation in
his favour.
So, it reminded that as per
law, no contestant except the
Zilla Prishad President could
be fielded by a mainstream
political party who could fight
on a party symbol and the post
would enjoy the same status as
that of a Minister of State. But
in reality, the leading political
parties with heaps of money
and enormously huge muscle
power are more than deeply
involved in panchayat elections violating all norms, rules
and codes. More hurting is
they also get away scot-free as
the
State
Election
Commissions only mumble
discontent mentioned or, at
the most, report the matter to
some other lower enforcement agency to take some
possible action. The State
commissions do not use their
inherent Constitutional power
to enforce penalty in an exemplary manner. For instance,
during a general election
process, the Puri BJD MLA’s
official vehicle was intercept-
ed during a night journey, and
party publicity materials were
recovered. The incumbent
election
commissioner
ordered police to file only a
routine FIR and forgot the
matter thereafter. He finished
his watchdog role and felt
great; he never saw it further
to ensure the MLA was aptly
punished. The matter began
with a timid roar but ended up
in a most despicable whimper.
Some lawyers argue that the
commission did a commendable job because the MLA
was the Speaker of the
backed up to influence public
opinion. It is open truth even
today that despite best rules of
conduct laid down by the
Election Commission of India,
worthless elements from nearly all political parties keep
spending money and enticing
gullible electors to cast votes in
their favour. The public consequently never gets the neighbourhood ‘good guy or girl’
who is one among them and
not a bully with stolen money
and hired muscle power.
The SEC circular is clear:
Elections for Ward Members,
89DD9>7D852E<<µC5I5
Legislative Assembly and,
hence, the commissioner displayed utmost courage. The
Speaker-MLA is expected to
be impartial and above board
in the legislature as a nonpartisan member. But outside the
House, he is essentially a
member of a particular party
and should behave like one. It
may be noted that only Ajit
Kumar Tripathy during his
tenure as election commissioner played superbly tough.
He ensured that no party symbol for contestants below the
ZP President should be seen.
Further, even indirect
involvement by any party
workers in any activity of the
electoral process would result
in disqualification of candidature being unlawfully
Sarpanches and Panchayat
Samiti Members cannot be
fought on party symbols. The
contestants shall never associate their names with any
party in any form nor should
any party make any public
claims or display their support
to them in any form. Any such
action would be deemed as a
violation of Code of Conduct,
only to prevent the fragmentation of wards and villages on
political lines and stop wasteful expenditure. Similarly,
appointment of Odisha
Administrative Service officers
as election observers would be
ethically wrong as the neutrality of these officials cannot
be guaranteed. Lastly, the
political commentators, analysts, pollsters, sephologists,
statesmen, critics and journalists must refrain themselves from making forecasts
outcome figures on party lines,
which is plain sin and disservice to the society.
Gandhi’s vision of Gram
Swaraj is completely forgotten
today. That the Sarpanch
should be the most critical
functionary in the Panchayati
Raj system does not seem to
happen in near future. The
panchayat has ceased to be the
base of the rural self-governance structure. After the
countr y’s independence,
Gandhiji focused on that keystone principle of Gram Swaraj
at the tail end of his life, but no
one cared to listen to him.
Incidentally on this day in
1948, he had begun his last fast
to persuade decision makers to
reject the caste-or-religion line
policymaking process in any
domain. Further, his last utterances over the last few weeks
of his life were in effect his last
testament to the people of
India and Pakistan. He had
said ‘both India and Pakistan
are my countries. I am not
going to take a passport for
going to Pakistan’. He could
not go to Pakistan which he
had greatly desired. He died at
a moment when he was very
lonely, and he was a citizen of
both countries or of neither
country, and there was a lot of
ambivalence and ambiguity
regarding his life as per experts
and historians chronicling his
life and times.
ZAfter the historic Supreme
Court ruling, Odisha authorities are worrying about loss of
revenue from liquor business
on the highways. “It is impossible to move liquor shops 500
metre away from the highways. There are usually villages, temples, mutts located
500 m away from the highways. People will object to
liquor shops there. How can
one open liquor shops? These
kinds of issues will come up in
large numbers,” said Excise
Minister Damodar Rout. He
may be correct on the figures,
but what most authorities do
not want to make public is the
fact that the State spends more
in healthcare due to liquor-triggered accidents and diseases.
Z Today is also the World
Youth Day, which began in
India on Swami Vivekananda’s
birthday. The great spiritual
leader and monk, born
Narendranath Datta in
Calcutta on January 12, 1863,
was attracted to spirituality
and monks from an early age.
In his biography of Swami
Vivekananda,
Swami
Nikhilananda writes, “The
youngster developed a special
fancy for wandering monks,
whose very sight would greatly excite him. One day when
such a monk appeared at the
door and asked for alms,
Narendra gave him his only
possession, the tiny piece of
new cloth that was wrapped
round his waist. Thereafter,
whenever a monk was seen in
the neighbourhood, Narendra
would be locked in a room.
But even then, he would throw
out of the window whatever he
found near at hand as an
offering to the holy man.”
Because the great spiritual
leader died virtually young
after giving the world practicable sermons, his birthday is
observed as a world day to
inspire youths of all times.
India incidentally has the
most youths. It has 356 million
10-24-year-olds despite having
a smaller population than
China as per a 2014 UNFPA
report. China has 269 million
followed by Indonesia 67, the
US 65, Pakistan 59, Nigeria 57,
Brazil 51, and Bangladesh
with 48 million. The world is
home to 1.8 billion young
people between the ages of 10
and 24 year, 9 in 10 of the
world’s young population live
in less developed countries.
“Never before have there been
so many young people. Never
again is there likely to be such
potential for economic and
social progress. How we meet
the needs and aspirations of
young people will define our
common future.”
(The writer is a core member
of
Transparency
International, Odisha)
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100-volume memoir on
A
Father of the Nation
Mohandas Karamchand
Gandhi will be republished
ahead of his 150th birth
anniversary in 2019.
Sources said that the decision has been taken on a proposal offered by Utkal Gandhi
Smarak Nidhi (UGSN) to
Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Centre is republishing
original book containing 100
volumes of Collected Works of
Gandhi and it will be available
in the market very soon, said
Publication Division Director
Dharini Mishra in a letter to
UGSN. The Centre on the suggestion by the Gandhians had
decided to compile all the
write-ups of Gandhiji ahead of
his birth centenary. The compilation process took around 38
years. The 100 volumes of the
compilation ‘Collected Works
of Gandhi’ were published in
English language by 1994.
The Union Government
had provided special rebate to
make it reach the public. The
100-volume book was also pub-
D04F>SXbWPR^\\d]Xch
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fter the hugely successful
‘Nuakhai Bhetghat’ organised
at Dubai on October 7 last, in
which Rangabati singer Jitendra
Haripal performed the iconic
song live for the first time outside
India, the western Odisha community of UAE will celebrate
‘Puspani’ on January 13.
‘Puspuni’ is an annual festival observed by the people of
western Odisha on the Puni (full
moon day) in Odia calendar
month of Pus (Pausha in
³?db_d]X´XbP]P]]dP[
Sanskrit). It derives its origin UTbcXeP[^QbTaeTSQhcWT
from the age-old agrarian cul_T^_[T^UfTbcTa]
ture of the land. Basically, it is an
annual occasion wherein the >SXbWP^]cWT?d]XUd[[
farmer families celebrate their
\^^]SPhX]>SXP
annual harvest of paddy. It has RP[T]SPa\^]cW^U?db
given rise to a great tradition of
?PdbWPX]BP]bZaXc
celebration by other communities too. People of western
Odisha, irrespective of their acquired special significance
occupation, feast, sing and because the community has
dance, and rejoice in giving invited Padmashree Haladhar
Nag to join them at Dubai. A
away on this day.
Odias of UAE and their day- long picnic in Al Barsha
children will be attending the Pond Park in Dubai with tradicelebration and will be treated to tional food and lots games and
a special lunch which will have other activities for the families
traditional flavour. There will be of western Odisha people will be
games for children and adults held. In the evening live poetry
and it will be an occasion to recitation will be done by
Padhmashree Nag in event
bond with each other.
This year’s celebrations have called ‘Aroma of Literature.’
A
;PfhTa\P]WP]S[TS
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Nabarangpur: A lawyer was
on Wednesday manhandled
by locals for allegedly misbehaving with a minor girl at
Jharigaon in Nabarangpur district. According to reports,
Sanjay Kumar Nayak, a notary,
had on Friday allegedly misbehaved with the girl of the locality at her house taking advantage of absence of the victim’s
parents. The girl told the incident to her mother on Tuesday,
following which her parents and
some irate villagers manhandled Nayak on the middle of the
road on Wednesday.
PNS
lished in Hindi apart from
English.
The book was re-published
in 1999 following its shortage.
However, several vital points
were edited and deleted in the
second edition of the book
against which several organizations including UGSN had
opposed.
Even,
the
Government faced sharp criticism in the Parliament about
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bilingual book Shatabdira
A
Duradrashta on legendary
Biju Patnaik, which was
released by Vice-President
Mohammad Hamid Ansari
recently, is now available in
market.
The book is published by
the OdishaLIVE, the first web
channel network of Odisha.
“The book is a tribute to
the visionary leader Biju
Patnaik as this year is being celebrated as his birth centenary
year. When there is a dearth of
a complete book analysing his
life and time, Shatabdira
Duradrashta will definitely fill
in the breaches of information
available on him,” said Odisha
LIVE editor Nilambar Rath.
The 255-page book compiles writings from noted personalities across the country on
Bijubabu’s incomparable personality and his lifetime with
politicians, bureaucrats, journalists, researchers and political analysts.
Besides, the book features
a series of rare pictures of Biju
Patnaik and covers his visit to
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did his master of surgery
course in PGI, Chandigarh.
After completion of master of
surgery in PGI Chandigarh, he
joined there as Assistant
Professor and when Kidney
transplant department started,
he went on to become its head.
He worked there till his retirement in July 2016.
After his superannuation,
Dr Minz joined in Fortis
Hospital, Mohali, Chandigarh
as Director, Kidney and
Pancreas Transplant Surgery.
Dr Minz has over 36 years
of experience in transplant
surgery and has performed
over 3,400 successful kidney
transplants. He has also done
six kidney plus pancreas trans-
plants in his career. Under the
mentorship of Dr Mukut Minz,
Kidney Transplant Unit was
established in the SCB Medical
College, Cuttack in March 2012
. After setting up this unit, 113
kidney transplants were performed by doctors in the SCB
till December last.
Due to his expertise in kidney transplant and high success
rate in the country, when
Union External Affairs
Minister Sushma Swaraj’s kidney transplant was required to
be done, Dr Minz’s name was
suggested first. Swaraj’s kidney
transplant surgery was performed by a team of 50 personnel led by Dr Minz in
AIIMS in December last.
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There was a brawl between
the victim’s brother and
Sanatan following the incident. The accused had threatened the woman’s family of dire
consequences if they reported
the matter to the police.
The Rengali police took
Sanatan into custody after getting a complaint regarding the
incident.
While both sides were in a
discussion at the police station,
Sanatan managed to give police
a slip by fleeing the spot on the
pretext of going for urination.
Peshawar by cycle and his life
as a pilot, an entrepreneur, an
industrialist, a Chief Minister
and a Central Minister.
Photographs on his influence
in national politics and international arena and his last
rites performed at Swargdwar
have also been featured in the
book.
The book, which costs Rs
399, has attracted many buyers
in the ongoing Rajadhani Book
Fair. Willing readers and publishers may directly contact
OdishaLIVE through 0674
6004411
or
[email protected]
for orders.
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he filing of nominations for
T
the three-tier panchayat
elections began in Ganjam district, as elsewhere in the State,
on Wednesday. With the starting of the nomination process
from January 11 to 17, the different panchayat and block
offices have become active.
A hide-and-seek game has
begun between the different
political parties for the
sarpanch and samiti member
posts. As there are three to four
aspirants from every political
party in almost all the panchayats, it has created a chaotic situation.
For the Zilla Parishad
members as there is require-
ment for party tickets there is
a struggle between the BJD, BJP
and the Congress. In the first
phase of the panchayat elections, elections are scheduled to
be held in Rangailunda,
Digapahandi, Kukudakhandi,
Jagannath Prasad and
Bhanjanagar.
Due to the filing of nominations, the political activities
have intensified. Though the
nomination process has started on the day, no political party
has announced candidates formally. Due to the beginning of
the nomination process, there
is a shortage of stamp papers in
different tehsils and courts.
As different stamp vendors
have not renewed their licence
this situation has been created.
This has triggered apprehension that this could create
problems in the nomination
process.
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ngul district has five
Assembly constituencies.
A
The Pallahara Assembly con-
Nabin Pradan came in a rally
holding placards and shouting
slogans.
Later, ADM Biswajit Biswal
invited leaders to his office and,
during discussion, told them
that he can’t take any decision
as the election code of conduct
for panchayat polls is in force
till February 22. Then, the agitating farmers withdrew the
agitation.
However, the leaders
threatened to intensify agitation if their demands are not
met soon after model code of
conduct.
8=1A845
on Tuesday.
According to police, the
accused identified as Sanatan
alias Sana Nahak allegedly
raped a woman teacher after
finding her alone at a school
under the Rengali police limits in the district on Monday.
doctor
Mukut Minz hogged limeSlightundargarh-born
by conducting kidney
transplant surgery of Union
External Affairs Minister
Sushma Swaraj recently.
He came from a modest
family but due to sheer hard
work and dedication in his profession, he is now one of the
renowned doctors in the country. Union Minister Swaraj
recently tweeted after her
surgery and thanked Dr Minz.
Minz (64) is born to Mika
Minz and Premika Minz in
Goibhanga village in Kalunga
area. Minz’s father Mika was
working as a Peskar in
Uditnagar SDJM court at
Rourkela. Mukut is his second
son. There are four brothers
and a sister of Mukut.
He did his schooling in
Kalunga and thereafter in
Rourkela and studied in
Sundargarh College. He did his
MBBS from VSS Medical
College in Burla. Thereafter, he
Pradhan was elected from
Jharsuguda-1 and Janata Dal
nominee Minati Patra elected
from Jharsuguda-2 seat.
Likewise, in 2002, Congress
nominee Romancha Rohidas
won from Jharsuguda-1 and
BJD candidate Bikram Nayak
elected from Jharsuguda-2 seat.
In 2007, Congress candidate
Gouri Pradhan elected from
Jharsuguda-1 and BJD nomini
Sujata Patel from Jharsuguda2. During 2012 election,
Congress candidate Tapaswini
Pradhan got elected from
Jharsuguda-1 and BJD nominee Jagannath Bhoi elected
from Jharsuguda-2.
Now, the situation has now
changed as many leaders have
changed parties ahead of the
GP polls. Hence, frontal district
leaders of both the parties are
trying hard to secure their
respective seats.
While keen contests are
expected between the two parties, it seems that the BJP
would play a vital role in the
changed scenario.
rape accused fled from
police custody while being
A
interrogated in Angul district
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of the ADM office here
demanding jobs in the Oil
Refinery.
The forum members,
including women, led by antiPosco leaders Abhay Sahoo,
Prakash Tripathy and Sarada
Prasanna Jena and president
the political parties are now
busy selecting worthy candidates and making strategy to
grab the two Zilla Parishad
seats, Jharsuguda-1 and
Jharsuguda-II.
Both the seats have always
been a prestige issue for the
BJD and the Congress in view
of keen contests held between
them and candidates belonging
to the two parties winning the
Jharsuguda II and Jharsugdua
I seats, respectively, since 2002.
While there are 17 gram
panchayats in Jharsuguda
block, 56, 458 voters, of which
27,565 are women, would cast
their votes in 204 booths across
the block. While Hansamura
Katapali GP has the highest 5,
819 voters, the Patrapali GP has
the lowest of 1,640 voters.
During 1997 elections,
Congress candidate Tapaswini
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he Paradip Oil Refinery
T
Land Loser Farmers United
Forum staged a dharna in front
ith the filing of nomination papers for panchayW
at elections underway now, all
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the issue.
Raising concern over the
unavailability of the ‘Collected
Works of Gandhi’ in the market in the past 15 years, UGSN
president Prahallad Singh wrote
a letter to PM Narendra Modi
and proposed him for re-publication of the book ahead of
celebrating Gandhi’s 150thbirth
anniversary. Besides, he also
proposed the PM for making
the book available on the internet. Meanwhile, the Ministry of
Information and Broadcasting
has made the book available on
internet in PDF format.
The CD of the book is also
available in the market. Already
52 volumes of the book have
been published so far and the
remaining 48 volumes will be
published on the scheduled period, sources said. The UGSN has
urged the Centre for making the
book available in all the universities, colleges, well-known
libraries and research centres.
2^]V193cahc^aTcPX]
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stituency consists of all gram
pachayats (GP) of Pallahara
Block and the Balipasi,
Kuluma, Rengali, Susuba,
Arkil, Gandamula, Bajrakote,
Hanumanpur,
Dalaka,
Karnapal, Parabil, Burukuna,
Kulei, Deranga, Kakudia,
Talapada, Biru, Hariharapur
and Samal GPs of Kaniha
Block.
BJD won from the seat in
2009 and 2014. BJD replaced
Rabi Pani by Mahesh Sahoo in
2014
Assembly
poll.
Interestingly, there was only
fall of 3.4 per cent votes of the
BJD. While BJD vote share was
37 .9 per cent in 2009, it went
down to 34.59 per cent only.
Thereafter, Mahesh Sahu has
consolidated his base. Though
Petroleum
Minister
Dhamendra Pradhan, who
was defeated by BJD’s Rabi
Pani in 2009 Assembly poll in
Pallahara, got 32.9 per cent
votes, his successor in BJP
against BJD’s Sahu also got
30.46 per cent votes in 2014,
indicating BJP’s organizational strength as second competitor here. INC had 19.6 per
cent votes in 2009 Assembly
poll, which dropped to 14.45
per cent in 2014 after changing its candidate. Thus INC
has become baseless here.
Though all the three parties changed their candidates
in 2014, there was no change
in their position, with BJD in
number one, followed by BJP
in number two and Congress
in third position. All the three
MLA contestants are also conducting the ZP polls in 2017.
The fight therefore shall be
between BJD and BJP. In 2012
PRI polls, BJD had bagged all
three ZPs of Pallahara Block
and two ZPs of Kanhia Block.
In 2017 PRI poll, all four BJD
seats are likely to go to BJD.
But BJP can take two seats, if
it uses Rabi Pani factor and
Pradhan takes interest.
Talcher Assembly constituency consists of all GPs of
Talcher Block and Kaniha,
Kamarei,
Badatribida,
Santribida,
Bijigol,
Badagunduri and Jarada GPs
of Kanhia Block. In 2009,
Independent ( Braja Pradhan)
won from the seat with 36.2
per cent votes which increased
to 46.95 per cent in 2014
when he joined BJD. His position has been further consolidated after becoming MLA.
Though BJP had got 17 per
cent votes in 2009 Assembly
poll, its performance increased
to 35 per cent votes in 2014
Assembly poll with the same
candidate, Kalandi Samal.
Congress voting was around
10 per cent in both 2009 and
2014 Assembly polls. In 2012
PRI polls, out of four ZP
zones of Talcher Block, BJD,
INC, Independent and BJP
had won one zone each. The
Independent had own one
zone from Kanhia Block. This
time BJD’s share will increase
from one to maximum five or
minimum three provided BJP
gets focused and take two
zones from Talcher.
Angul Assembly constituency consists of Khalari,
Kangulabentapur, Angar
Bandha, Badakera, Rantalei,
Chheliapada, Baluakata,
Kumurisingha, Inkarbandha,
Sankhapur,
Pokatunga,
Talagarh, Baragounia, Basala,
B edasasan,
Khinda,
Gadatarasa, Badakantakul,
Dhokuta, Balasingha, Bantala,
Nandapur and Balanga GPs of
Angul Block and Bauligad,
Bhogabereni,
B onda,
Budhapank,
Fulpada,
Garhasantri, Gotamara,
Balaramprasad,
Kulad,
Mahidharpur, Nuahata,
Talmul and Tulasipal GPs of
Banarpal Block. This is a
strong BJD Assembly constituency with repeated win of
BJD candidates, leaving
behind INC at approximately
15 per cent and BJP at 35 per
cent vote difference. Like 2012,
all ZP seats are likely to go to
BJD in 2017 PRI poll. INC can
show some results former
MLA candidate Sangram
Mishra and Pratap Pradhan
together work for the party.
Chhendipada
(SC)
Assembly constituency consists of all GPs of Chhendipada
Block
and
Kandasar,
Badakerajang,Jarasingha,
Kanjara,
Karadagadia,
Kukudang, Kumand, Kurudol,
Sakosingha, Sanakerajang,
Tubey and Santrapur GPs of
Banarpal Block. BJD has won
repeatedly from here in
Assembly polls, leaving behind
INC at 7 per cent gap and BJP
at 33 per cent behind. INC has
continued its MLA candidate
in 2009 and 2014. BJD could
take only two ZP seats from
Chhendiapada and one from
Banarpal, giving INC two
seats. This time BJD is likely
to take all seats or repeat the
past performance by giving
two seats to INC.
Athamalik Assembly constituency consists of all GPs of
Athalamailk Block, all GPs of
Kishorenagar Block and
Antulia,
Saradhapur,
Matiasahi, Manikajodi,
J a g a n n a t h p u r ,
Tainsi,Kothabhuin, Tikarpada
and Purunakote GPs of Angul
Block. BJD occupied it in 2009
and 2014 Assembly polls, leaving behind INC with more
than 10 per cent gap and BJP
with 30 per cent gap. There
was one BJP zone in
Kishorenagar Block last time,
though the rest zones were
taken away by BJD.
In the Angul district, out
of eight Blocks, Angul ,
Chendipada, Talcher, Banarpal
have four ZP zones each while
Athamalik,
Kanhia,
Kishorenagar and Pallahara
have three ZP zones each.
Last time out of total 28 ZP
zones, BJD had won 21, INC
won three, BJP two and
Independents two. This time
BJD and BJP are likely to gain
at the cost of INC and
Independents but BJD shall be
in favorable position to form
ZP body. Dissident activity is
the only threat for BJD.
The ZP poll dates have
been fixed for February 13 for
Kishorenagar and Pallahara
Blocks, Februar y 15 for
Athamalik and Kanhia Blocks,
February 17 for Angul and
Talcher Blocks and February
19 for Chhendipada and
Banarpal Blocks
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s many as 1,682 estuarine
crocodiles, including repA
tiles measuring more than 20
feet, were sighted in and outside the water bodies of the
Bhitarakanika National Park.
According to the census
report, as many as 11 estuarine
crocodiles increased. In 2016
census, the forest officials
counted 1,671 crocodiles
whereas this time the number
of crocodile population is
1,682, said crocodile researcher
Dr Sudhakar Kar.
“Out of 1,682 salt water
crocodiles, the number of
hatchlings is 608, yearlings
334, juveniles (between 3 -6 feet)
266, sub-adults 172 (between 68 feet) and adults (between 8-20
feet) is 302,” informed crocodile
expert Dr Kar.
Among the 1,682 crocodiles, the enumerators also
spotted 11 salt water crocodiles
that were between 16 - 18 feet
long, whereas seven crocodiles
were between 18-20 feet and
three were more than 20 feet,
stated Kar.
The enumerators also
sighted 10 albino crocodiles
during the head count drive of
crocodiles this year.
The drive was organized
from January 2 to 8 by the forest personnel after forming 27
enumerator teams, consisting
of wildlife personnel, crocodile
experts and researchers, divided into 53 segments comprising of creeks, creek lets, rivers
and nallahs inside and outside
Bhitarkanika.
The method of census
adopted to count the crocodiles
was individual total count by
direct day and night time sighting/counting. Each unit was
provided with a census kit
(map showing the area including river and creeks, route to
follow, binocular, spot
light/powerful torch light with
cells, notebook, pen/pencil,
day and night census forms,
VHF etc). Small boats were
used for day and night counting of crocodiles in the narrow
creeks and creeklets.
he
Biju
Patnaik
International Airport here
would handle international
cargo from the International
Customs Day on January 27,
said Customs Commissioner,
Bhubaneswar Deepak Arora
on Tuesday.
For this purpose, public
notice is already in place and
the airport authorities have
already earmarked a hall adjacent to the domestic air cargo
terminal for the purpose of
international air cargo terminal, Arora said after a joint
meeting at the airport chaired
by MSME Principal Secretary
LN Gupta.
Arora said the Airport
Authority of India (AAI) has
accorded concurrence to the
city office of the AAI to
become custodian of the
international air cargo terminal.
The representatives of
various export associations
like seafood, agro, food processing industries, handloom
and handicrafts exporters,
and spice exporters indicated
that it will be highly beneficial for the industry and trade
to get the facility of dispatching cargo from the airport
here, instead of the current
practice of sending cargo by
road via Hyderbad or Kolkata.
Notably, AAI Chairman
GP Mahapatra during his
recent visit in December had
also agreed for the commencement of the cargo operations.
Chief Secretary Aditya
Prasad Padhi had drawn the
attention of Civil Aviation
Ministr y Secretar y Rajiv
Nayan Choubey towards lack
of the facility though the city
airport was the only designated airport in State. It was
pointed out to him that
Odisha is a leading producer
and contributor to the
seafood export basket of the
country.
With the arrangements
of air cargo handling facilities
at the city airport, processors
and exporters will be able to
reach and tap markets in west
Asia and south- east Asia
where demands for such
items exist, said Fisheries and
ARD Secretary Bishnupada
Sethi.
Among others, airport
Director R Mahalingam, Joint
General Manager (Cargo)
AAI (Eastern region) Girish
Sharma
and
Expor t
Promotion and Marketing
Director BK Das were present.
?=BQ 17D10=4BF0A
Maestro Pandit
Tarun Bhattacharya will be
Stheantoor
attraction at the first
monthly “Music in Park” programme of the Bhubaneswar
Development Authority (BDA)
to be organised inside Indira
Gandhi Park on January 14, as
a musical evening of high aesthetics and standard. The programme will start at 6 pm.
Pt Bhattacharya, a pioneering and revolutionary
musician, has changed the face
of Indian classical music as an
unparalleled music ambassador.
He will be accompanied by
tabla exponent Abhijit Banerjee,
who is an extraordinary talent
in his own sphere.
Pt Bhattacharya had
received tutelage from his father
Pandit Rabi Bhattacharya,
Pandit Dulal Roy and finally
from Sitar Maestro Bharat
Ratna Pandit Ravi Shankar. He
had virtually traversed the globe
performing in some of most
awe inspiring venues as Royal
Albert Hall, Palace-de-Beaux
(Brussels), Theater- De-LaViile (France), Apollo Theatre
(Spain), Jubilee Auditorium
(Canada) and Kremlin (Russia).
He has fans like Prince Charles,
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George Harrison, Paolo Solaris
and more.
In 1980 Pt Bhattacharya
displayed for the first time ever
that one could glide notes at the
lower octave in a hammered
instrument like Santoor. He is
also the inventor of “mankas” or
fine tuners that help in the tuning of this 100 stringed instrument fast, with a long lasting
effect and a very high degree of
accuracy. His innovative techniques of playing the Santoor
also facilitates in the playing of
`Krintans’, `Ekharatans’,
`Boltans’ broadening the utility of the Santoor in various traditional form of art.
On the other hand, with
nearly 20 years of professional
experience, “Tabla” exponent
Abhijit Banerjee has crafted a
unique style and creative
approach, which has brought
him accolades and awards from
all over the world for his sensitivity, skill and deep sense of
musicality. Apart from his contributions to Indian music he
has left his mark in a diverse
field of crossover music both as
a performer and composer.
Abhijit has accompanied
nearly all the top ranking luminaries of Indian classical music
including Pandit Ravi Shankar,
late Pandit Nikhil Banerjee,
Begum Parweena Sultana,
Pandit Jasraj, Pandit Shiv
Kumar Sharma and Dr.
Balamurali Krishnan to name a
few. As a tabla soloist he has also
made his mark in numerous
performances and recordings in
India and abroad.
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ormer Deputy Speaker in
the State Assembly and vetF
eran tribal leader Prahallad
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disha Bhumihina Praja
Samiti State president
O
Debashisha Hota discussed
with NHRC Chairperson
Justice HL Dattu, Member
Justice S Murgeson and Sarat
Chandra on illegal lathicharge
on landless people by police in
Dhenkanal on December 27.
The incident occurred at
Khatuahata in Tumusinga
Police Station area in which 437
people were injured and one
was killed.
Hota requested the
Commission to intervene and
investigate the serious human
rights violation through the
Special Rapporteur and order
the State Government to give
C1 lakh compensation to each
injured and C20 lakh to Jini
Khatua, wife of the deceased
Parikh. Besides he urged for
termination of Kamakhyanagar
Sub-Collector and former
Tehsildar Kalpataru Behera,
SDPO Seikh Abdul Karim and
IIC Pravat Kumar Tripathy for
misuse of power.
Notably, on December 27
police had lathcharged on 2,000
people at Khatuahata allegedly at the instance of local MLA
and Mines Minister Prafulla
Mallick.
Dora has joined the BJP ahead
of the panchayat elections.
“I have a complete faith on
the Central schemes launched by
Prime Minister Narendra Modi”,
Dora, a former Chitrokonda
MLA, said while being welcomed into the party by its State
president Basant Panda.
Besides, Congress-supported former Samiti member
Naba Behera of Basuaghai
gram panchayat on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar along
with hundreds of her supporters also joined the BJP during
the programme held here on
Tuesday.
Similarly, hundreds of BJD
members from Jatni and
Bolgarh-Begunia Assembly
constituencies joined the saffron party.
BJD leaders like Janla
Panchayat Samiti Member
Sunita Nayak, tribal leader
Shankarshan Nayak, Begunia
block 22 zone Zilla Parishad
member Rudra Pratap
Panigrahi, 23 zone ZP member
Pradip Nayak, Bolgarh
Panchayat Ward Member
Bhabagrahi Nayak and veteran
social activist Ramakrushna
Sahoo came to the BJP fold.
Party vice-president Samir
Mohanty, general secretary
(organization)
Sharada
Satapathy, general secretary
Prithviraj Harichandan, secretary Kalandi Samal, secretary
Jatin Mohanty and spokesperson Sudipta Ray were present.
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he BJP has lodged a complaint before the State
T
Election Commission (SEC)
that the ruling BJD flouted
model code of conduct as the
State Transport Commission
has announced to provide
permits to 124 new buses.
“Announcing to provide
permit to 124 new buses is
the gross violation of model
code of conduct imposed by
the SEC for the upcoming
panchayat polls,” the BJP said
in a complaint.
The St ate Transp or t
Commission had written the
letter about providing permit
to the buses on December 30,
which is after announcement
of elections by the SEC,
remarked the party.
The party delegation led
by sp okesp ers on Sajjan
Sharma urged the SEC to
take strong action against
the officer involved in the
matter. The delegation too
apprised the commission that
the voter lists were yet to be
available in many places of
Baleswar, R ayagada and
Keonjhar districts.
In the meantime the
Election Observers appointed
by the State Election
Commission (SEC) have been
directed to keep a strong vigil
on the polling process during
the panchayat elections apart
from making field visits.
In the meantime, SEC RN
Senapati has asked Election
Observers appointed by the
commission to submit reports
to the SEC about model code
of conduct violation, nomination verification, voting,
vote counting and the entire
election process.
The SEC directed them to
keep strong watch on the law
and order situation during
counting of votes.
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he All India Sovaniya Yuva
Samavesh was organised
T
at the National Sovaniya
Sikshashram premises at the
Udayagiri Buddhism Pith here
recently.
Attending as chief guest at
the samavesh held in sidelines
with International Sovaniya
Utsav, Election Commission
of Ind i a Adv i s or D r
Bhagaban Prakash said the
Sovaniya Andolan acts as a
guide to prevent rising unsavory in the society.
Supreme Court judge
Justice Anang Kumar Patnaik
had inaugurated the utsav.
“The human society is distancing from humanism now.
If you all become selfless
and adopt sacrificing attitude, then Kumar Bhai’s
much-hoped Sovaniya Samaj
can be realised,” he said.
Sarbaseva Sangh and
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another such incident, a
and his associIatesnmoneylender
of Sambalpur district's
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Mohanty were present, among
others.
joint eviction team consisting of BDA, BMC and
Commissionerate police personnel on Wednesday demolished a cowshed, four small
hotels, three houses and a
wooden cabin near Vani Vihar
railway station and made
Government land encroachment-free.
Besides, these a old bus was
also removed from the area
under Ward No 30 of the city.
While one excavator was
engaged, the eviction drive
was completed peacefully.
BDA Enforcement OfficerII Pramod Kumar Patra and
Liaison Officer
Subhransu
Sekhar
5F93D9?>4B9F59>39DI
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Similarly, an eviction drive
undertaken by a special squad
cleared the foot path from the
New Air Port Square to Patia
Square and KIIT Square to
CIPET Square.
Five cabins, two extended
sheds of fruit shops, 20 street
vendors, four hoardings, one
bamboo shed, three extended
sheds of hotels, four thatched
sheds were demolished.
This apart, a portion of
about 5 feet extended part of
the Laxmi Narayan Temple
near the BDA Colony, in front
of Rail Sadan, was demolished
to clear the cycle path.
Gandhi Peach Foundation
president Himalaya Lass
Radha Bhatt, Padmashree
Debi Prasanna Patnaik, Prof
Manoranjan Mohanty from
Delhi, MLA Amar Prasad
Satpathy, former Minister
Panchanan Kanungo, Dr
D eb a d att a D q as f rom
Nor w ay, Prof Su k a d e b
Nanda, Justice Manoranjan
Mohanty, Prof Anant Kumar
Giri from Chennai and many
other noted persons spoke on
humanism in different sessions.
Apart from a peace rally
and ph i l ant h ropi c pro grammes, two souvenirs,
‘Yuv asu r y a’ and ‘ T he
Un ive rs a l Tr ut h’ we re
released on the occasion.
While Prof Manoranjan
Mohanty was honoured with
the ‘Antaryatika Kumar Bhai
Sovaniya Sikshabit Puraskar,
Pa d m a s h re e
Pat n ai k
felicitated with “Antaryatika
Ku mar Bhai S ov an iy a
Shrest ha Bhast att wabit
Puraskar and Dellip Mohanty
w it h
“Ant ar y at i k a
Kumar Bhai Yuva Samman2017.
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igilance sleut hs on
We dnes day caug ht
V
Headmaster of Danadar
Sevashram School under
Saraskana
blo ck
in
Mayurbhanj district, Pratap
Chandra Sethi for demanding and accepting bribe of
C6,000.
The accused Sethi had
demanded the illegal gratification for issuing a cheque
of C23,000 for payment of
arrear towards mid- daymeal from a resident of
Danadar village under the
Jhadaphoria PS in the district, Soubhagya Nayak.
However, Nayak had
informed the Vigilance cops,
and Sethi was caught redhanded in front of the Bank
of India Saraskana branch
w hile demanding and
accepting the bribe money
of C6,000 from the complainant.
Sethi will be forwarded
to court. His house at village
Dhiajodi is being searched.
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Hirakud area allegedly killed a
farmer as he could not repay
loan of C10,000, which escalated to Rs 1 lakh with interest
in moneylender's ledger in a
very short period.
Sharecropper Nandu
Rohidas had taken C10, 000
from Birupakshya Panda a few
years back, but it became C1,
00, 000 now. Poor Nandu was
unable to pay the interest
amount and the mighty
moneylender killed him with
his musclemen, as Nandu's
family members alleged.
Now, the widow of Nandu
not having a single inch of
land of his own and her three
children are in distress as the
only bread earner of the family is no more.
As per information,
Birupakhsya was putting pressure on him to pay the entire
money. When he didn't get
back it, he and two of his musclemen Chitrabhanu and
Rinku beat him brutally to
death. It is also alleged that the
two aides help Birupakhya in
loan collection and get 10 per
cent commission in return.
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After the incident, family
members and villagers met the
local police and Sambalpur
district Collector Samarth
Verma and urged them to take
stringent action against the
culprits and provide shelter
and all other supports to
Nandu's widow Tapaswini and
children.
The Collector released an
instant financial aid from the
Red Cross and assured to
provide all support to the
family.
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a major relief to Indian
industries, Russia
Ihasndefence
agreed to allow its weapon
manufacturers to directly supply critical spare parts thereby
ensuring timely maintenance
and serviceability of Russian
weapons in the Indian inventory. India has more than 70
per cent weapons of Russian
origin and some of them like
frontline fighter jets SU-30
and MI-17 helicopters besides
tanks and warships suffer due
to lack of spares.
Moreover, recently inducted aircraft carrier INS
Vikramaditya is also due for
some repairs and the recent
decision by Russia will help the
Indian Navy and related industries to carry out refurbishment
within in the stipulated time
frame. The aircraft carrier was
manufactured by Russia and
timely supply of critical spares
by the original equipment
manufacturer(OEM) will help
the Navy in maintaining its
operational readiness.
Giving details of the decision, sources said here on
Wednesday, it will have long
term impact adding Russia
recently sent a letter in this
regard to the Indian Defence
Ministry. It was now going
through the specific points
mentioned in the letter, they
said adding Russia took this
step after amending its law.
Elaborating upon this
aspect, they said earlier India
had to route the procurement
of spares through Russian
Government agencies thereby
causing delays ranging from
one to six months. It hits the
maintenance routine of the
weapon systems like SU-30s,
MI-17 helicopters, tanks, missiles and warships.
The new system, likely to
be implemented after the
Defence Ministry analyses the
Russian communiqué, will
enable India to procure the
spares directly from the OEM,
said officials, adding India
planned to sign long term
agreements to ensure uninterrupted logistical chain of spare
parts.
Narrating problems faced
by the Indian armed forces
and industry due to the lack of
spares, they gave the example of
SU-30. IAF has 200 SU-30s and
they have to undergo maintenance in a planned cycle. This
jet is a collaboration of at least
four Russian OEMs which
manufacture engine, airframe
and optics. In this scenario, getting hold of spares in real time
becomes a problem at present
and Russia’s decision will mitigate the situation, they said.
After going through the
fine-print, the Defence
Ministry plans to approach
this issue in three stages. The
first stage involves approval for
procuring spares from the
OEM followed by inking a
memorandum of understanding(MOU). The OEM will then
furnish the price list and the
user will then negotiate the
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mutually accepted price tag
before inking the contract. It
will be binding for five years.
In the second proposed
stage after supply chain is put
in place, India plans to ink
technology transfer pact for
manufacturing these spares
here if the volume of spares is
large “as this arrangement will
prove to be convenient for us,”
sources said. The Indian manufacturer can be in the private
or public sector and the ultimate price of spares will also
come down over a period of
time, they added.
In fact, the Government is
making concerted efforts to
rope in Indian private manufacturers in the defence sector
as a parallel route to ensure
quality product and competition to public sector undertakings apart from ordnance
factories, they said.
Giving an example, they
said Tata recently bagged a
huge order for more than 1,800
six by six trucks to the armed
forces though ordnance factories were also manufacturing
these vehicles. These factories
were now working overtime to
bring down their manufacturing cost and at the same time
produce products meeting the
exacting standards of the
armed forces.
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ormer Prime Minister
F
Manmohan Singh on
Wednesday termed demonetisation as a “disaster” and said he
was apprehensive that the worse
was yet to come when the country would see a decline in GDP.
Singh said even 1 per cent
decline in GDP will lead to a
loss of C1.5 lakh crore to the
country. He said every challenge thrown by Modi
Government should be
matched by the Congress with
utmost courage and utmost
wisdom. “Only Congress can
stand up to this challenge,”
Singh said at the Congress’s Jan
Vedna Sammelan in the Capital.
In his address to a large
gathering, Singh termed
demonetisation as a “disaster”
and said things were going
from bad to worse and that the
worse was yet to come. He dismissed as “hollow claim” Prime
Minister Narendra “Modi’s propaganda” that things have started looking up.
Singh called upon the
Congressmen saying it was the
“solemn duty” of all Congress
men to tell the people the wrongs
that have been done by Modi and
that a “clarion call” should be
given to the countrymen to
“awake and rise” up in protest.
Singh further said, the
blame of pushing the Indian
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Minister Narendra Modi over
demonetisation, BJP on
Wednesday accused him of
being a spokesperson for those
with black money.
“Rahul Gandhi was
expressing his and not the
poor’s pain. The whole country is today backing Modi in
this war against black money.
“He is frustrated and
depressed. He repeats the same
lines against the Prime Minister
but the country is not ready to
hear his worn-out dialogues.
He has become a spokesperson
for those with black money,”
BJP spokesperson Shahmawaz
Hussain told reporters.
Addressing Congress’ ‘Jan
Vedna’ (People’s Pain) conclave earlier in the day, Rahul
had said it was for the first time
that India’s Prime Minister was
being “ridiculed the world
over” for his “ill-conceived”
decision on demonetisation.
economy into the abyss lies
squarely with the Prime
Minister and the BJP
Government and that the party
condemns the Government for
“inflicting immense suffering
and hardships” on the people.
Former Finance Minister P
Chidambaram too echoed similar views. He said that the reputation of RBI is at risk today and
claimed there was no record of
the Cabinet meeting of
November 8 when the
Government had said to have
taken the decision to withdraw
C500 and C1,000 notes. He said
that never before in India’s his-
tory such a farce has been enacted. “The Government and the
central bank generally have differences but never before a
Government has treated RBI like
a department of the Government
of India,” Chidambaram said.
“The Congress expresses its
serious concern that investment sentiments remain
depressed, the investment rate
is negative and the gross capital formation has fallen in real
terms. The ground realities
contradict the hype and claims
of high GDP growth,” echoed
both the economist in their
respective speeches.
ashing out at Congress vicepresident Rahul Gandhi
L
after he attacked Prime
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New Delhi: Taking strong
exception to Amazon Canada
selling doormats depicting
Indian flag, External Affairs
Minister Sushma Swaraj on
Wednesday asked the e-retailer to withdraw the products
and tender an unconditional
apology, failing which no official of Amazon will be granted Indian visa and the ones
issued earlier will also be
rescinded.
The Minister also asked the
Indian Embassy to take up the
matter with Amazon Canada.
“Indian High Commission
in Canada: This is unacceptable. Please take this up with
Amazon at the highest level.
“Amazon must tender
unconditional apology. They
must withdraw all products
insulting our national flag
immediately.
“If this is not done forthwith, we will not grant Indian
Visa to any Amazon official. We
will also rescind the Visas
issued earlier,” Swaraj said in a
series of tweets after she
received a complaint on Twitter.
“@SushmaSwaraj Madam.
Amazon Canada must be censured and warned not to sell
India flag doormats. Please take
action,” tweeted Atul Bhobe,
who also posted a screenshot of
the products.
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JP is looking anxiously at
the Congress-SP alliance
B
talks in Uttar Pradesh as it
hopes that three-cornered division of votes among the rivals
SP, Congress and the BSP could
increase its overall tally in
Assembly polls.
The party which has
already approved over 250
Assembly candidates at the
State level is all set to announce
its list for all 403 seats by
January 20.
The party has been visibly
ahead of others in stepping up
the scale of its campaign at all
the tiers of its organisation
since last year having clocked
17,000 Km track, touching
each constituency, during
‘Parivartan Yatra’. Out of its
11.5-crore members, 3.5 crore
members are in UP alone.
It has put special focus on
the booth committees, meetings which have been attended
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by Party president Amit Shah
“and even Prime Minister
Narendra Modi who interacted with the committee members and had lunch with them”.
Modi who has, so far,
attended six rallies during the
campaign in the State is expected to address over a dozen more
rallies in the coming February
11 to March 8 UP polls in seven
phases, sources said.
The manifesto of the party
may represent each region of
the Uttar Pradesh, specifically
detailing the issues and problems faced by it.
According to sources, the
alliance talks between the SP
and Congress is being keenly
watched by the BJP which
trusts that the pact between the
two parties could consolidate
Muslim votes against it. BJP
leaders feel that incumbencyridden SP is still its main rival
and not the BSP.
The party, however, is wary
that hot-heads in the BJP may
not unnecessarily queer the
pitch of its “development-good
governance” campaign by their
“fiery speeches” in the run up
to the poll date.
BJP’s co-in-charge UP
Rameshwar Prasad Chaurasia
when contacted said demonetisation move by Modi has
received “approval” of people
across the State. He said though
people stood in the queues for
some time but felt that the
Congress regimes had for over
40 years made them stand in
queues for almost every other
thing. “Poor of all sections
have accepted note-bandi for
the long term gain”, he said.
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eeting the President for
the third time since
demonetisation, TMC MPs on
Wednesday accused the Modi
Government of having imposed
a “super emergency” by launching the exercise and engaging in
“vendetta politics” by arresting
two party lawmakers after it
opposed the “draconian” move.
Speaking to reporters after
marching from the South
Avenue to Rashtrapati Bhawan
to protest against the note ban,
the MPs also held Prime
Minister Narendra Modi respon-
M
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day after getting a show
cause notice from the
A
Election Commission (EC),
BJP MP from Unnao, Sakshi
Maharaj on Wednesday
appeared before the poll panel
and refused to apologise stating that he made the comments
on an apolitical platform and
did not say anything wrong.
Defending his controversial remarks blaming Muslims
for population rise in the country, Maharaj cited Lord Krishna
and Lalu Prasad saying Lord
Krishna had 16,000 consorts
while Lalu Prasad has nine
children so his statement
should not be seen against any
community and it was not a
political speech.
The BJP MP also said that
he was unable to comprehend
the notice issued to him as it
was written in English. “They
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have sent a notice in English
and I am unable to understand
it. I have told my office in Delhi
to request the Election
Commission to send a Hindi
translation of its notice. I got
the notice today. I will prepare
my
reply
tomorrow
(Thursday). It’s my birthday
day after tomorrow (Friday).
So, I will seek time for two or
three days to file my reply. It's
nothing so big. I thank and
respect
the
Election
Commission for issuing the
notice,” he added.
“My statement in Meerut
was not aimed at hurting the
sentiments of any community.
The video of my statement can
be seen, I did not take the name
of any community. What I
said was in reference to everybody and so I feel there is no
basis for the EC notice. The EC
has sent a notice according to
its duty. My duty was to speak
and their duty was to send a
notice. Now it's my obligation
to give them a correct reply,”
Maharaj said.
In his two pages reply written in Hindi, Maharaj claimed
that he did not violate any poll
conduct and said that he was
speaking at programme ‘saint
sammelan’ (congregation of
saints) organised for 'saints'
only and it was not a political
rally.
He further said, “I didn't
name any community”.
…Population must be controlled; women are not
machines to deliver babies”.
“I have not said anything
wrong. The population of the
country is increasing. Do you
think 40 children should be
born into every family? This
should be controlled. I stand by
my comment. I haven't named
any community,” said Maharaj
who also referred Lord Krishna
having 16,000 companion
while Lalu Prasad Yadav has
nine children.
A094B7:D<0AQ =4F34;78
the wake of heightened
threats on the occaIsionnsecurity
of the Republic Day cele-
sible for the death of 120 people,
caused allegedly by the move,
and sought President Pranab
Mukherjee’s intervention as the
situation had turned “grim”.
“After outlining the grim situation, we first had called this
(demonetisation) a financial
emergency. Today, we believe, as
we share concern with the
President, this is now a super
emergency,” TMC’s Rajya Sabha
member Derek O’Brien said,
adding that the arrest of two
TMC
MPs
Sudip
Bandyopadhyay and Tapas Pal in
the Rose Valley chit fund scam
case was nothing but vendetta.
brations, Intelligence Agencies
have directed all the airports
across the country to ban entry
of visitors for 10 days from
January 20.
IB has issued an alert
directing banning entry of visitors from January 20 to 31 at
all airports across the country.
It has warned security agencies,
airport authority and Delhi
police that terror outfits may
implant explosives through
surgical means in human and
animals ahead of Republic Day.
The agencies have also been
told to maintain strict on ground
monitoring of regulatory guidelines for operations of nonconventional aerial platforms
like mirolite aircraft, para-gliders, aero models, unmanned aerial vehicles and systems, drones
and hot air baloons.
At a recent high-level
meeting to take stock of the
security measures for the RD
celebrations, the Delhi Police
has decided to take strict action
against those cyber cafes allowing customers to use internet
without furnishing their identity proof.
The police has also directed hotels, bars, restaurants,
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he BSF on Wednesday submitted a second report to
T
the Home Ministry on the allegations of a jawan that poor
quality food was being served to
soldiers on the LoC, stating that
the ‘daal’ shown in his video was
uncanned from tinned food
ration and the ‘parantha’ was
cooked in the unit mess as per
procedures followed at highaltitude locations.
BSF Director General KK
Sharma himself submitted the
interim report to the Union
Home Ministry even as he
informed Home Secretary
Rajiv Mehrishi that the western
front commander (Additional
DG) of the force along with a
dietician have been rushed to
the border post in Jammu &
Kashmir where the jawan Tej
Bahadur Yadav was posted for
a detailed inquiry.
Sharma, however, did not
meet waiting mediapersons and
left the ministry hurriedly.
Officials said the report has
found certain deficiencies that
need to be corrected vis-a-vis
cooking and supply of food in
a hygienic and stipulated quantity as per established rules.
It has mentioned that the
‘daal’ (lentils) shown in the
video by Yadav was uncanned
straight from the tinned food
ration supply sent to the border post in Rajouri and hence
was bland and devoid of spices
and ‘jeera’, as alleged by Yadav.
It is understood that it
mentions that apart from the
regular lunch/dinner comprising ‘daal’ and ‘roti’, the unit
mess also prepared fish curry
on some occasions, something
that is also visible in the videos
posted by Yadav.
A final report in this regard
is expected to be submitted by
the BSF tomorrow after the
team of senior officers sent to
the spot also find out the actual “cooking norms, style and
distribution” of food to the
troops in these areas.
,QGLDWRDSSHDOJOREDOO\DJDLQVW =6>bX]eXcTSc^X\_a^eTcaP]b_^acX]UaPbcadRcdaT
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0A270=09H>C8Q =4F34;78
ays after Prime Minister
Narendra Modi called for
eradicating leprosy from the
country by 2019, which is the
150th birth anniversary of
Mahatma Gandhi, India for the
first time, on January 30 will
make a global appeal to end the
stigma and discrimination
against people suffering with
the crippling disease which is
on the increase in the country.
The appeal is an annual
feature by nations. Modi is likely to make the appeal this
time. Last year, Japanese Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe attended
the “Think Leprosy Now!”
Campaign Global Appeal 2016
held in Tokyo.
D
“We have urged the Prime
Minister to make the appeal as
it will send a strong message to
the society and encourage leprosy-affected people to come
out to get treatment. We are
hopeful that he will take out
time from his busy schedule to
make the global appeal,” said a
senior official from the Union
Health Ministry said.
The move follows a recent
letter by WHO Goodwill
Ambassador for Leprosy
Elimination and Chairman of
Japan
based
Nippon
Foundation, Yohei Sasakawa
who while recalling Modi's
visit to Japan to take a lead in
making the global appeal 2017
to be made on January 30 in
memory of Mahatama Gandhi.
The latest figures reveal
that India bears the brunt with
60 per cent of the global case
load (127,326 cases), followed
by Brazil, 13 per cent (26,395
cases) and Indonesia per cent
(17,202 cases). Including these
three countries, 14 countries
were responsible for 95 per cent
of all new cases in 2015.
c^fPaSbT]eXa^]\T]c_a^cTRcX^]
?=BQ =4F34;78
he Centre on Wednesday
T
invited NGOs and other
stakeholders to improve upon
the rail, road and transport
infrastructure for the welfare of
the citizens across the country.
While Railway Minister Suresh
Prabhu invited various nonrailway stakeholders to endorse
its commitment towards environment protection, Road and
Transport Minister Nitin
Gadkari said that citizen participation is most essential for
making roads safe.
Prabhu said that as a modern responsive organisation
we cannot afford to work in
isolation and we must tune
ourselves to emerging trends in
our economy and society.
“Roundtable discussions with
external stakeholders will help
in gaining perspectives,
exchange knowledge and
improving our workings.
Managing operations with sustaining environment is a challenge. Railways is working on
mainstreaming sustainability
in our strategy,” Prabhu said at
a Roundtable discussion on the
issue.
Prabhu said that following
the set up of a separate
Directorate for Environment, it
is no more a peripheral activity, and now integrated with
and complements the core
activity. He also expressed pleasure in interacting with representatives of various organisations: Government organisations, NGOs, think tanks, etc
“Land use optimization,
afforestation, water bodies
restoration, cleanliness are just
some of the activities that the
Railways are working on to
ensure sustainability. Ministry
of Railways is giving a big
push to use renewable energy,
electrification for ensuring sustainability and cost efficiency,”
Prabhu said.
At a separate discussion on
road safety involving NGOs,
Gadkari announced that Road
Ministry would give a grant of
upto Rs two lakh to NGOs to
take up road safety activities.
Addressing the national meet
of NGOs working on road
safety issues, Gadkari said
that citizen participation is
most essential for making roads
safe and exhorted NGOs to create awareness about traffic
rules and other road safety
issues among the general
public.
He also called upon them
to help the local MPs in identifying accident black spots in
their constituencies and take
steps to rectify them. About 170
NGOs from all over the country met in the capital today to
deliberate upon various aspects
and issues relating to road
safety. The role of NGOs in
spreading public awareness
about road safety issues and
their participation in other
road safety activities was also
discussed in detail.
guest houses and motels to
keep track on all the suspicious
persons and report the same to
their nearest police station. All
the guest houses, hotels and
motels have been told to make
arrangements for CCTV
recording storage facility as
per the terms and conditions of
the Government license.
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emonetisation and the
implementation of Goods
D
and Service Tax (GST) would
work as booster for the growth
rate of India, said Union
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
during a seminar at Vibrant
Gujarat Summit on Wednesday.
Speaking at the seminar on
‘GST: The Game Changer for
Indian Economy’ the Finance
Minister claimed that speeding
digitisation of Indian economy
post demonetisation would help
improve the country’s economy.
Jaitley was optimistic on both the
moves — GST as well as demonetisation — of Modi
Government would have positive
impact during the current year.
“The critical issues of dual
control and cross-empowerment in the GST will get
resolved over the next few
weeks. GST Council is deliberative democracy in action.
Most of the issues have been
sorted. Some critical issues
remain and hopefully they will
be sorted out,” he said, adding
that the Union Government
aimed at implementing GST
from the new fiscal as the constitutional amendment has
been passed.
According to him GST
would be beneficial to assessee
as all taxes would merge into it
coupled with there wouldn’t be
any cascading effect on tax. He
also claimed that GST would
make India into one entity
and increase revenues of States.
In context of demonetisation he was of the opinion that
India required bold decision
and such decisions initially
pass through difficult phases
but it is ultimately help the
country for betterment.
Meanwhile, Reserve Bank
of India (RBI) Governor Urjit
Patel, who also was at the
Vibrant Summit 2017, said
that India’s cumulative fiscal
deficit of the State and the
Centre was among the highest
in G20 countries and it was targeted at 6.4 per cent of the GDP
for the fiscal 2016-17.
Stressing on the need for a
single
regulator
for
International Financial Service
Centre (IFSC) at Gujarat
International Finance Tec-City
(GIFT City) Patel called for a
unified financial regulatory
framework for GIFT City.
“There was a need to
review the existing laws governing financial contracts in
India and make world-class
legal framework for the financial contracts in GIFT. Based
on such review, a world class
legal framework for financial
contracts in GIFT could be
enabled, either by appropriately
amending the existing laws
governing financial contracts
or enacting a fresh law,” he
added.
D]X^]5X]P]RT<X]XbcTa0ad]
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^UUTaX]VWdVT^__^acd]XcXTb
ven as the Government of
E
India is preparing blueprint
for all round development of
cities,
Union
Urban
Development
Minister
Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday
asked global institutions to
invest in the urban infrastructure and allied sectors offering
huge opportunities.
Addressing a seminar on
‘Smart and Livable Cities:
Opportunities and Challenges’
on the second day of the eighth
biennial Vibrant Gujarat
Summit 2017 he said India was
changing under the visionary
leadership of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and there has
been great change in the people’s
attitude towards development.
The cities are undergoing facelift
with footpath, cycle tracks, flyovers, BRTS, Metro s and other
infrastructure, said Naidu while
releasing a coffee table book on
Flower Power prepared by
Ahmedabad
Municipal
Corporation.
The Union Minister said the
change in the Government’s
attitude has resulted in shift from
‘populism’ to ‘peopleism’ to cater
to the needs of the people. The
decision to create 100 ‘smart
cities’ has come as a divine
blessing on the earth, creating a
healthy competition among the
cities and States, he said, adding,
“Ahmedabad ranked AA+
among the top cities. Gujarat is
on way to become an ‘Economic
Expressway’. Gujarat Model is
now considered to be ‘Flavour of
Country’. The work on 36-km
long Ahmedabad Metro will be
completed by 2018.”
The Union Minister
described demonetisation as a
grand oblation, likely to open
doors of economic development in near future. He said the
Central Government’s transparent and accountable government has helped construct
4.17-lakh toilets for girl students
in educational institutions in
the country. Nearly 1.30-crore
people surrendered cooking
gas subsidy following the appeal
of the Prime Minister.
Memorandums
of
Understanding (MOUs) on
affordable housing and other
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projects for Ahmedbad, Surat,
Bhavnagar and other cities
worth C11,600-crore were signed
during the seminar. Gujarat’s
Minister of State for Urban
Development Vallabhbhai
Vaghasia said the percentage of
people living in urban areas in
India will increase from 31.8 per
cent to 40 per cent by 2030.
Gujarat is bracing up six Smart
Cities to Centre’s choice, creating civic basic amenities, adopting PPP model.
Canada’s Infrastructure and
Communities Minister Amarjeet
Sohi said companies from his
country would invest USD15 billion to help build roads, railways,
airways, urban transport, sani-
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tation waste management and
environment. Denmark’s Energy
Minister Lars Christian Lilleholt
said that smart city concept was
there in his country also which
would be applied to maximum
purpose in Indian cities too.
Meanwhile the 60-member
French delegation, led by French
Embassy Minister Counsellor
Jean-Marc Fennet, looked forward to investing in energy,
transportation, regional airways,
energy from wastes and other
sectors, to strengthen the IndoFrench Agreement of 1998.
Speaking at the French
Country Seminar Fennet said
that truly vibrant and dynamic Gujarat offers great scope for
investment as per the outlook
of the representatives of industrial and business houses from
France. They are keen to partner Gujarat in the latter’s economic development.
FICCI Gujarat State
Council Chairperson Rajiv
Vastupal said that FICCI has
very strong relations. He exuded confidence that Gujarat’s
business and industry friendly
policies would facilitate investment and economic growth.
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508I0=07<03Q ?0C=0
fter the public praise of
Nitish Kumar’s total prohiA
bition campaign by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi on
January 5, the Bihar BJP has
decided to join the human
chain in support of liquor ban
on January 21. The human
chain supposed to be world’s
largest spread over 11,000 km
across Bihar is being organised
by the JD(U).
But the NDA ally
Hindustani Awam Morcha
(Secular) has decided to keep
itself away from the human
chain. Party president and former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi on
Wednesday said that he did not
support this move since he had
opposed the stringent provisions of the Bihar Prohibition
and Excise Act, 2016. “If we join
the human chain in support of
prohibition it would mean supporting the legislation,” said
Manjhi and urged BJP to reconsider its decision.
The stand of the NDA’s
other allies LJP and RLSP was
still not known as the State lead-
ers of these parties were awaiting the nod from their central
leadership whether to follow the
BJP or keep away from human
chain. But one thing is very clear
that Modi’s applaud of the prohibition has put the Bihar leaders of the NDA partners in a fix.
The call for the human
chain has been given by the
JD(U),
the
Maha
Gathbandhan’s major ally RJD
has also decided to join it.
Taking a dig at the BJP, RJD
supremo Lalu Prasad said, “BJP
is taking part in human chain
programme for fear of being isolated. The party has already
failed in demonetisation.” The
RJD boss also had a dig at PM
Modi by throwing a challenge to
him to implement prohibition
on national level.
BJP’s stand was made clear
by newly appointed State president Nityanand Rai who tweeted on Tuesday to join human
chain. Earlier CM Nitish Kumar
had invited all the parties and
their workers to join this mission but Rai’s predecessor
Mangal Pandey and former
Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi
Gujarat’s capital. In fact knowing the fact that large number
of media personnel were waitMahatma Mandir on ing outside the seminar hall, he
choose ran out
We d n e s d a y
of the hall from
but for wrong
backdoor.
reason as after
In fact on
a seminar, he
the front side
was literally
there was a lift
seen running
for VIP guests,
to avoid media
but instead of
persons who
using it, he
were waiting
exhibited athfor him for
leticism and
i nte r a c t i on .
hurriedly
Obviously the A186^eTa]^aDaYXc?PcT[
stepped down
RBI Governor
wanted to avoid uncomfort- the stairs and quickly reached
able questions from media ground floor and ran into his
car. Though some of the media
personnel.
Patel attended a seminar persons saw him running and
on ‘Macro and Micro Drivers tried to chase him, but Patel
of Business Potentials of IFSCs was quick enough to beat
in India’ at Vibrant Summit in them.
BI Governor Urjit Patel
displayed athleticism at
R
the venue of Vibrant Summit-
1X]UTQRQTbQ^[UT11Q]_^Wd_`SYdYUc*>QYTe
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had almost rejected the appeal
saying BJP had not received any
invitation.
Nitish has also made it
clear that during the human
chain formation the flags, banners and symbols of any party
would be not allowed. All the
DMs have been directed to
ensure that workers of various
political parties should not display any sign of their parties.
The preparations of the
January 21 half an hour long
event are going on at highest
level with Chief Secretary monitoring everything on daily
basis. With the involvement of
over 2 crore people who will
form the human chain for
11,292 km across the State, the
event has been billed as a social
campaign to make people aware
about the prohibition, dangerous consequences of the liquor
and good effects of ban on it.
The Government is also
reportedly hiring 40 drones to
film the human chain and has
written to Indian Space
Research Organisation (Isro)
to film the11,292 km long
human chain through different
satellites. Guinness Book of
World Record and Limca Book
or Records have also been invited to cover the event, a
Government official said.
0]0a\hYPfP]fXcWWXbfXUTSdaX]VfTP_^]bTgWXQXcX^]X]1XZP]Ta^]FTS]TbSPh
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<0H017DB70=Q ?0=098
n a day packed with official, social and cultural
O
engagements, Portuguese
Prime Minister Antonio
Costa met top officials, scientists in the State and also
attended a gala reception held
in his honour, where he emotionally recalled his father’s
love for Goa.
Costa, 55, who is on the
final leg of his seven-day official visit to India, is the first
person of Goan origin to
head a Government in a foreign country.
Earlier on Wednesday,
Costa met Chief Minister
Laxmikant Parsekar and Goa
Governor, where he discussed
ways and means to increase
engagement between Goa, a
former Portuguese colony and
Portugal.
“We discussed in detail
about co-operation in sectors
like heritage, tourism, science,
oceanography, promotion of
Portuguese language, etc which
could help Goa and Portugal,”
Parsekar told The Pioneer, after
the meeting with Costa.
“I feel we, Goans, should
feel proud that people who
ruled us for 450 years, long
back, today, a person of Goan
origin is heading entire
Portugal. It should be a matter
of pride for all of us,” Parsekar
also said, dismissing calls from
regional political parties to
seek an apology from Costa for
atrocities on Goans during the
451 year colonial regime.
At the meeting with the
Goa Governor Mridula Sinha,
where Costa shared his childhood memories of Goa, the
Portuguese Prime Minister was
given a tour of Raj Bhavan,
which has a variety of
Portuguese-era antiques.
“He underscored the significance of the ties between
India and Portugal. He commented on the Portuguese integration into Indian culture
among other things,” a statement issued by Raj Bhavan
said.
Costa also met top scientists at the National Institute of
Oceanography in Dona Paula
near the state capital, where the
law yer-turned-p olitician
expressed his desire to extend
co-operation vis a vis exploration of the Oceans and
marine science.
“He also agreed to extend
the collaborative research programs, and also expressed their
willingness to initiate new programs in the field of marine
robotics, global navigation systems and microbial biotechnology,” an NIO official said.
“The Prime Minister of
Portugal, Antonio Costa highlighted the cultural and scientific exchange with India and
expressed keen interest in
extending the joint research
programs between NIO and
Portuguese research institutions and the Prime Minister
assured his support in order to
improve our understanding of
the oceanographic processes
and utilisation of its resources,”
the NIO said in a statement following Costa's visit.
Later in the day, Costa
attended a civic reception in his
honour in Panaji, where an
English translation of his father
Orlando Costa's Portuguese
play ‘Sem Caras Nem Coros’
was released.
Costa recalled his father
and his fond memories for
Goa, while also describing his
visit to India as special. “Goa
was always present in his
works. When I speak of my
father, I am reminded of one
character in one of his works
that says ‘Wherever I go or am
taken, I will always be in my
homeland," he said.
0]^cWTa\XbbX^]c^<PabET]db9d_XcTa^]W^aXi^])8BA>
:4BCDAE0BD:8Q 14=60;DAD
fter great success of Indian
Moon mission Indian
A
Space Research Organisation
(ISRO) is looking beyond
Moon in its space odyssey.
Talking to media in
Bengaluru on Wednesday
ISRO Chairman Kiran Kumar
said on the sidelines of the programme that ISRO was looking beyond moon in its space
odyssey. After the success of
the Mars mission, ISRO, which
is currently conducting experiments for its second moon
mission said another mission
to Mars, Venus and Jupiter are
on the horizon and studies are
underway.
Kiran Kumar said, “As we
are progressing, we need to
look at long-term. So what we
are
looking
beyond
Chandrayan-2, for which we
are already working on an
approved programme.”
“Beyond that, Mars second
mission and Venus mission are
all on the horizon, we have to go
through the various studies and
then formulate, get the approval
and move. Right now, they are
all in the study phase,” he added.
He also said ISRO aims to
maximise capability with each
launch and not set a record. “We
are not looking at it as a record
or anything. We are just trying
to maximise our capability with
each launch and trying ato
utilise that launch for the ability it has got and get the maximum in return.”
Of the 103 satellites that
ISRO’s workhorse PSLV-C37 is
expected to carry, 100 are foreign. “They are all actually a
constellation, they are getting
into a constellation of satellites
providing observation of earth,”
Kumar said in response to a
query on the sidelines of
Karnataka ICT Summit 2017.
The three Indian satellites are
Cartosat-2 series, weighing 730
kg as primary payload, INS-IA
and INS-1B, weighing 30 kg.
It was earlier planned to
launch 83 satellites in the last
week of January, of which 80
were foreign, but with the
addition of 20 more foreign
satellites the launch was
delayed by a week and would
now take place in the first week
of February. Kumar also said
ISRO was working on having
more frequent launches and
make use of each launch or
maximise the capability of the
launch vehicle itself.
“The next one is going to
carry a number of satellites
from various companies along
with our own Cartosat-2 series
satellite and immediately following that we have GSLV Mark
III and Mark II…. In the first
three months that’s what we are
targeting, but beyond that we are
trying to work for almost one
launch a month,” he said.
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nion Minister of State for
Home Kiren Rijiju on
U
Wednesday said that the
Government of India has
decided to send a team of
expert dietitians to all the border posts to ascertain the quality of food served to the Army
of paramilitary force jawans
guarding the borders.
The Minister said this in
Guwahati on Wednesday
while reacting to queries on a
video that went viral in the
social media reportedly
uploaded by a BSF jawan,
who had alleged that jawans
posted in border areas are
served poor quality of foods.
“We have taken the matter
ver y
seriously.
The
Government had already
entrusted a Brigadier and an
Inspector General (IG) level
officer to probe into the alle-
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aharashtra headed for
mini general elections on
Wednesday, as the State
Election Commission (SEC)
scheduled the elections to the
Brihanmumbai Municipal
Corporation (BMC) and nine
other municipal Corporations
across Maharashtra for
February 21 and slated the
polls to 25 Zilla Parishads and
283 Panchayat Samitis in the
State in two phases for February
16 and 21.
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The counting of votes,
polled in corporation, ZP and
Panchayat Samiti elections, will
be held on February 23.
Being held as it is nearly in
the middle of its five-year
tenure in office in the State, the
forthcoming elections will be
another test of popularity for
the BJP-led saffron alliance
Government in Maharashtra.
Given that it performed
impressively in all the four
phases of the recently held
municipal council elections in
the State, the ruling BJP goes to
the polls as favourites.
Though the ruling saffron
alliance partners –albeit belatedly-initiated seat-sharing talks
for the crucial BMC polls within hours after the SEC declared
the election schedule, it remains
to be seen if the Shiv Sena and
BJP will firm up an electoral tieup for the February 21 polls.
This is considering that both
the parties have limited time at
their disposal to foramlise the
seat adjustments.
gations. We have also got the
initial report. I cannot share it
until we get the final report,”
he said while replying to
media queries. The Union
Minister said that the jawans
of security forces, particularly those serving in forward
border areas are the top priority of the Government.
“However, I would also like
to appeal to the media not to
make an issue out of the video,
which is yet to be verified. The
video is yet to be verified and
its authenticity is yet to be
ascertained. We have also sent
a team of expert dietitians to all
the border posts to ascertain the
quality of foods served to the
jawans,” he added.
Manipur situation
The Union Minister also
expressed concern over the
ongoing blockade of highways in
Manipur and said that it is the
constitutional obligation of the
State Government to maintain
law and order. “I have visited
Manipur two weeks back and
held a positive meeting with CM
Okram Ibobi Singh over the
issue. However, it is unfortunate
that the blockade is still on in
Manipur, which is making the
people suffer,” he said. “We (the
Centre) are ready to help but
maintenance of law and order is
constitutional obligation of the
State Government. I feel that the
State, Centre and the United
Naga Council (UNC) should
move together to resolve the
issues,” he said.
“I appeal the UNC to lift the
blockade for the sake of holding
free and fair polls in Manipur. At
the same time I also appeal the
State Government not to take
any step that will aggravate the
situation. Let us not try to take
political mileage out of a humanitarian crisis,” he said adding that
it is the primary duty of the
Manipur Government to act
and hammer out a solution by
sitting with UNC.
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wo heavily armed terrorists were reportedly
gunned down by the alert
troops of the Indian Army
along the Line of Control in
Poonch sector in the two-day
long operation.
The alert troops had first
detected the suspicious
movement of the terrorists
along the Betar Nallah in the
wee hours of Tuesday. The
area was kept under surveillance over two long days to
ensure the terrorists were not
able to retreat back in to the
PoK.
As the cordon was tightened in the forward area the
troops managed to engage
one of the terrorists.
While one terrorist was
eliminated on Tuesday afternoon the second one was
eliminated on Wednesday.
Jammu based Defence
PRO, Lt Col Munish Mehta
said, “The bodies of the slain
terrorists along with their
weapons continue to lie on the
Line of Control.”
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llegedly petrified and
equally enraged by senior
TMC
MP
Sudip
Bandopadhyay’s prolonging
stay in CBI custody, Mamata
Banerjee on Wednesday intensified her anti-Narendra Modi
tirade comparing the Prime
Minister with ‘Ravan’ and
accused his Government of
trying to assassinate her.
Speaking from a dharna
platform at the RBI regional
headquarters in Kolkata,
Banerjee once again linked the
Trinamool leaders’ arrest in
Rose Valley scam to the antidemonetisation campaign led by
her and said “they are dangerous people who can do anything
and everything. They even tried
to kill me in a plane crash.”
She was referring to an
alleged ATC goof-up last year
A
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when her flight from Patna was
made to hover over NSI
Airport for half-an-hour
despite reports that it was short
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on fuel.
Claiming that the country
was on the verge of economic
disaster with more than 30 percent people already having lost
their jobs, she said, in another
10 months time inflation rate
would hit the ceiling.
Ridiculing the BJP leaders
for calling Modi a superhuman
with broad shoulder and chest
she said “so what if one has a
broad shoulder. Even Ravan
had broad shoulder and ten
heads but was he a good person?” Wondering why her close
confidants were being targeted
she said, “what have my leaders
Firhad Hakim, Sovan Chatterjee,
Mukul Roy, Sudip done so that
the CBI is targeting them,” even
as the Opposition leaders in
Kolkata laughed in their sleeves
saying, “Didi is herself divulging
the names of those involved in
scams.”
He said the infiltration
bid was foiled close on the
heels of terrorist strike on
GREF camp in Battal village of
Akhnoor where three civilian
labourers were killed and one
of them was injured.
Defence PRO maintained
the army is keeping a strict
vigil and is prepared to thwart
the nefarious designs of the
Pakistan sponsored terrorists.
According to Lt C ol
Mehta, Director General
Border Roads Organisation
Lt-Gen Suresh Sharma also
visited Project Sampark and
interacted with Chief
Engineer Project Sampark to
review the overall security of
GREF detachments.
He visited Battal Camp
site and met the injured
labourer. The General officer
also visited the Kalai Bridge in
Poonch which is under completion and drove on
Surankote-BafliazThanamandi-Rajouri road to
get first hand information as
this road is gateway to Mughal
road and is under upgradation
to double lane.
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rinamool Congress MP
Kalyan Banerjee on
T
Wednesday kicked up a row by
saying Prime Minister
Narendra Modi will have to
return to Gujarat as a “rat” following the countr ywide
protests against the note ban,
remarks that drew a sharp
response from BJP.
“In 2019 (Lok Sabha poll)
you will be reduced to a rat.
You will no longer be a lion.
(Narendra Modi ke Chuhar
bachcha hoye Gujarat phire jete
hobe) Modi will have to return
to Gujarat as a rat,” he said
while addressing a meeting in
front of the Reserve Bank of
India office here.
Hours later, West Bengal
Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee, who has taken on
Modi over demonetisation and
is riled by the arrest of her two
party MPs in the alleged Rose
Valley chit fund scam, also used
the rat analogy to target the
Prime Minister and CBI.
Hitting back at TMC leaders for their remarks on PM,
Union Minister M Venkaiah
Naidu said it is “lowest that
politicians can stoop to” and
said it reflects their frustation
over growing popularity of the
Prime Minister and BJP.
“I am shocked and
depressed over the abusive language used against PM Modi
by TMC leaders. This is the
lowest that politicians can stoop
to. I hope their leadership
realises their folly,” he said.
“This only reflects their
frustration over the growing
popularity of PM and BJP,”
Naidu said in a statement in
New Delhi.
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ver since J&K Chief
Minister Mehbooba Mufti
E
had announced a compensa-
tion package of C5 lakh for the
next of kin of protesters killed
during the five month long
period of Kashmir unrest
between July 8 to November 30,
2016, the State BJP
Chief received brick bats for
failing to earn justice for the
family of Chamel Singh, a
farmer who was mercilessly
beaten to death inside Kot
Lakpat Central jail in Pakistan
on January 15, 2013.
Soon after the murderous
assault on Chamel Singh came
to light, Sat Sharma had played
a key role in highlighting the
sufferings of the poor family
and had even carried mortal
remains of Chamel Singh on his
shoulders when the same were
brought back from Pakistan
after a long wait of 2 months.
Since then Sharma was
regularly raising the issue of
delay in awarding compensation during the term of Omar
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Abdullah as the Chief Minister
in the State but his efforts
failed to yield fruitful results.
He even failed to move
wheels of justice in favour of
the widow of Chamel Singh
after BJP-PDP formed an
alliance Government in the
State in 2015.
But on Wednesday the State
unit chief once again raised the
issue of providing compensation to the next of kin of
Chamel Singh in recognition of
his supreme sacrifice inside
Pakistan jail. Without mincing
any words Sat Sharma acknowledged the plight of poor family of Chamel Singh during the
zero hour in the lower house of
the State Assembly and urged
upon the State Government to
announce C10 lakh compensation besides martyr status for
the deceased. Despite raising
the issue forcefully he failed to
extract any concrete reply from
the treasury benches.
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he self-financing engineering education sector in
T
Kerala has plunged into chaos
with violent protests by students’ outfits continuing for the
past three days over the alleged
suicide of an engineering student in a college hostel in
Thrissur under mysterious circumstances and self-financing
college managements deciding
to keep their institutions closed
for a day and threatening to
turn the shutdown into an
indefinite affair if situation
does not improve.
The CPI(M)-led LDF
Cabinet on Wednesday decided to constitute a high-level
committee to closely monitor
the “physical and academic”
affairs at the self-financing
colleges
while
the
Technological University will
appoint an ombudsman for
examining students’ complaints in the context of the
student’s death and a flood of
complaints about the conduct
of such colleges.
A meeting of the Cabinet
also decided to allot financial
assistance of C10 lakh to the
family of Jishnu Pranoy (18), a
first year BTech (Computer
Science) student of the Nehru
College of Engineering and
Research Centre, Pampady,
Thrissur who allegedly committed suicide in a hostel bathroom of the college on January
6 following alleged torture by
the college management.
TENDER NOTICE
CENTRAL ORDNANCE DEPOT
JABALPUR
PLEASE VISIT GOVT WEB SITE
WWW.eprocure.gov.in
FOR TENDERES OF COD JABALPUR
davp 10202/11/0243/1617
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ore than 2,500 years
ago, Lord Buddha
spoke of ‘impermanence’ or anitya in
Sanskrit. For the
sage, conditioned existence is without exception “transient, evanescent,
inconstant”; all temporal things,
whether material or mental, are
objects in a continuous change of
condition, subject to decline and
destruction, taught the Buddha.
This is true for politics too,
though in this sphere, things seem
to move faster than in other realms.
Take for example, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi. For several years,
he was the devil personified; he was
a ‘criminal’; no name was bad
enough to define the Gujarat Chief
Minister; it went so far that foreign
embassies in India forbade their
diplomats to undertake projects in
Gujarat or even visit the State.
Calculated in political eons, this
was long ago. Today, foreign heads
of state or Government are rushing
to Indian to do business with
Vibrant Gujarat. According to the
Ministry of External Affairs, the
Global Summit saw the participation of President of Kenya Uhuru
Kenyatta, President of Rwanda
Paul Kagame, Prime Minister of
Portugal António Costa, Prime
Minister of Serbia Aleksandar
Vucic, Deputy Prime Minister of
Russia Dmitry Rogozin, Deputy
Prime Minister of Poland Piotr
Glinski, France Foreign Minister
Jean-Marc Ayrault, Japan’s
Economy Minister Hiroshige Seko
and delegations from other nations.
Not so long ago, I remember
speaking to the Ambassador of one
of the countries mentioned above
(not France), who swore that his
country would never set foot in
Modi’s state. But past is past.
It must, however, have been
pleasing, not to say a sweet revenge,
for the Indian Prime Minister to
‘receive’ so many dignitaries. Take
the example of France; Ayrault, the
French Minister of Foreign Affairs
and International Development
came with a 147-member French
delegation to attend the summit.
A French communiqué said,
“Reflecting its prominent position
among leading foreign investors in
India, France, a partner country of
the summit, is committed to partnering with the Indian Government
and the Government of Gujarat.”
Even a Nobel Laureate, Serge
Haroche, expert in atomic physics,
quantum optics, and laser spectroscopy, participated in the Nobel
Laureates Conclave. How this will
make Gujarat vibrate is not clear, but
it is more symbolic of the new
world’s state of mind vis-à-vis India
M
and Modi in particular.
The central focus of the summit being ‘Sustainable Economic
and Social Development’, the
French delegation was said to have
expertise in energy, power, urban
development, water and waste
management, aviation and logistics,
agrifood industry, multimodal
transport, IT, you name them.
I, however, wonder: Do the delegates really understand Modi’s
‘Make in India’ vision? It is a billion
rupee question. And the foreign delegates should remember that
Gujaratis are among the best businesspersons in the world, can they
be a match? Do the delegates to the
summit realise that ‘Make in India’
means a new type of partnership
and that will have to ‘share’ the best
technologies they have?
Launched in 2003, the Vibrant
Gujarat Global Summit aims at
attracting investment in the State,
but foreign delegates should not forget that Modi’s India is not the same
country as in the 1980s or 1990s.
The Indian Space Research
Organisation will soon launch
PSLV C 37, (Polar Satellite Launch
Vehicle) which should lift three big
and 100 small satellites in a single
mission off from Sriharikota. A
world record. Could you have
imagined this 20 years ago?
The summit was not ‘business’
only, it was also the occasion for
high politics. With the world scene
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in global flux, particularly after the
arrival of a new US President,
Modi made sure to use the forum
to discuss politics, especially when
he met Rogozin, the Russian
Deputy Prime Minister (himself
accompanied by a large
business delegation).
Talks between the two were
crucial as it was the first high-level
encounter between India and Russia
after Russian President Vladimir
Putin’s visit to India last October. It
was also an occasion for Delhi to get
clarifications from Moscow whose
position on the China Pakistan
Economic Corridor (cutting across
the Indian territory in Pakistanoccupied Kashmir) has been
ambiguous, with Beijing and
Islamabad trying to lure the
Russians into the mega scheme.
In a first stage, Russia said that
it was interested in participating in
activities of the port of Gwadar, but
later the information was denied.
Indrani Bagchi wrote in The Times
of India, “If Russia enhances its relations with Pakistan, particularly in
the defence sector, India would take
a very different set of measures,
which could even include reducing
its buy of Russian weaponry. Indian
officials say they understand Russia
is looking for new markets for its
weapons but selling to Pakistan
must not be among them...”
The other issue is the uncertainty about Donald Trump’s stand
B>D=318C4
on US-Russia relations. The
President-elect is bound to have
more ‘normal’ relations with Putin
than his predecessor who was
obsessed about real or imaginary
interference from Moscow on
American soil, forgetting that in the
past, the Chinese have harmed the
US interests many times more
than the Russians (in hacking for
example). What will Trump tweet
next on Russia?
It would certainly be a good
thing for India (and for America)
to balance Moscow’s dependence
on Beijing, in the Middle East crisis and elsewhere. Though French
Foreign Minister met Modi during
the Global Summit, the attentiongrabbing news concerning the
French diplomacy in the changed
times, came from another side of
the globe. Three French MPs, one
of them associated with François
Fillon, who in a few months has
good chances to be the next French
President, met Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad.
Though Fillon’s campaign
manager denied sending Thierry
Mariani, one of the MPs, it is clear
that this heralds radical changes in
the months to come. Mariani said
that al-Assad told him that he was
willing to negotiate with rebel
groups fighting against his
Government, with the exception of
the jihadi organisations.
According to Mariani, al-Assad
was “optimistic and ready for reconciliation with them on the condition that they lay down their
arms”. Furter, he was ready to
negotiate ‘on everything’ during the
forthcoming talks in Astana,
Kazakhstan, brokered by Russia and
Turkey.
Apart from the MPs, a group
of French journalists from France
Info, La Chaîne parlementaire and
RTL television interviewed the
Syrian President: “We don’t consider it [re-taking Aleppo from the
rebels] as a victory. The victory will
be when you get rid of all the terrorists,” said al-Assad.
Asked about heavy bombing
raids that ravaged the city and
claimed large numbers of civilian
lives, Assad told the French journalists: “But you have to liberate, and
this is the price sometimes.”
In 2017, the international scene
will indeed witness, if not global
‘impermanence’, at least a sea of
changes, and not just in the field of
business. World leaders, whether
they are Chinese, Russian, French
or American will have to learn to
live with anitya.
(The writer is an expert on
India-China relations and author of
several books)
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4YcdbYRedUS_cdc
Sir — This refers to the editorial,
“Affordable card payment” (January
11). It is welcome that the
Government has managed to persuade fuel retailers to continue
accepting credit and debit cards,
without placing a burden on the
consumers. But then, all services
come at a premium and those
expecting freebies to continue are
living in a fool’s paradise.
The bill will have to be picked
up equitably by customers, merchants and banks. Issuing, managing, renewing, transporting and
guarding currency costs a lot, and
this cost is borne by the Reserve
Bank of India and the banks. These
are not passed on to citizens and
merchants are happy with cash.
The petrol pumps claim that
the levy of transaction fees on card
payments eat into their margins.
This is an issue that fuel retailers
must negotiate with the various oil
marketing companies.
J Akshobhya
Mysore
4UTYSQdUT\UQTUb
Sir — This refers to the article,
“Swami and nationalists. Stories
of inspiration” (January 11) by
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Anirban Ganguly. Though
Vivekananda was a proud Hindu
as well as an Indian, that did not
deter him from pointing out the
vices that had plagued the religion and the country.
Neither did he try to impose
his religious belief upon other
communities nor project
Hinduism and India as superior to others. Rather, his true love
for his own religion and country got translated into love and
respect for all religions and
humanity as a whole.
Kajal Chaterjee
Kolkata
GU\S_]UTUSYcY_^
Sir — This refers to the article,
“Sparing the caste root, and
striking at the tree” (January 10)
by Sandhya Jain. The Supreme
Court’s ruling that politicians
cannot seek votes in the name of
religion, race, caste, community, is welcome. Surely, this will
strengthen the democratic and
secular structure of our country.
However, the apex court should
have also confirmed the
criterion of appeals to religion
and caste etc, to give more teeth
to its order.
Muhammad Waseem
Kanpur
4i^Qcdi`_\YdYSc
Sir — This refers to the editorial,
“Tamil Nadu’s sonrise” (January 9).
M Karunanidhi, the Dravida
Munnetra Kazhagam patriarch,
has taken the right decision by
anointed his son MK Stalin as the
working president of the party.
Stalin, though younger to MK
Alagiri, has been fully trained by his
father and is also experienced. He
has held several political and
administrative posts to command
grassroots support. As for the All
India Anna Dravida Munnetra
Kazhagam, it is unfortunate that J
Jayalalithaa failed to prepare a
capable and skillful successor.
The situation remains the same
in other parties. While some have
capable successors, as among
Samajwadi Party, the Shiromani
Akali Dal and the Biju Janata Dal,
the same cannot be said for the
country’s oldest party, the Congress.
Former Prime Minister Indira
Gandhi was groomed by her father,
Jawaharlal Nehru. Rajiv Gandhi too
was trained by her mother. But the
same cannot be said for the
Congress scion, Rahul Gandhi.
PN Saxena
Via email
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fter a successful courtship
with the Indian diaspora in
New York City’s Madison
Square to Sydney’s Olympic
Park, where thousands of
people roared to hear the Prime Minister
speak, Narendra Modi has done it again
— this time in his homeland. The 14th
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, held in
Karnataka early this week, was an event
high on jamboree — about 350 artistes
presented various art forms, including
folk dance and music. But besides that,
it brought more than 5,000 delegates and
about 1,800 offshore Indians from over
100 countries together. The Prime
Minister sought to use the event as an
opportunity to highlight the contributions of the Indian diaspora towards its
country and also to mitigate “brain drain”
and make it “brain gain”.
Significantly, Modi’s domestic postures and also foreign policies have been
framed by sustained engagements with the
Indian diaspora — both non-resident
Indians (NRIs) as well as those Indians
who have acquired citizenship of another country, also referred to as Persons of
Indian origin (PIOs). The Prime Minister’s
approach to the brain drain has been very
down-to-earth. Instead of creating hurdles for them, Modi has constantly highlighted the contributions of the Indian
diaspora, which was a long-forgotten
wealth of this country. The Prime Minister
wooed these people of Indian-origin to
grab opportunities from abroad, in contributions to various Government programmes like Skill India, Digital India,
Make in India. The Pravasi Kaushal Vikas
Yojana is one important programme of
this Government.
And why not. The oversees community had until now remained an
untapped force whose contributions to
A
its own country had been almost negligent, though not by choice. It’s not that
these people were unwilling to contribute. The status and treatment received
by the pravasis in the colonial era are in
stark contrast to the way they are today.
The Nehruvian mode of engagement
with oversees Indians was dual. Indians,
especially those whose acquired citizenship of other country, were looked upon
with disdain, as outcasts who deserted
their own country — some even their
families — to settle abroad in lieu of better opportunities over there. They were
looked upon as a distant entity who were
in no way related to Indian interests.
Those were the days when people would
be starry-eyed about going abroad or settling there, leaving India behind.
The Jawaharlal Nehru Government’s
approach to the diaspora community was
a low-key affair. It was such that the NRIs
received shame for having abandoned
their motherland. Those were also the
days when, just after independence, India
was thriving to establish good connections internationally. India’s foreign policy was, thus, structured according to the
model of non-intervention of the NRIs,
so much that they could not even reach
out to the Government in times of crisis or emergency. The interface was limited, legally and on humanitarian aspects.
However, post-1990s, the Rajiv
Gandhi Government changed the diaspora policy by inviting offshore Indians
to participate in nation-building activities. A major break came by way of efforts
on the part of Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Government, which put the engagement
between the country and the diaspora on
a sound footing by introducing the PIO
card scheme. The UPA Government
went ahead to form a separate Ministry
— the Ministry of Overseas Indian
Affairs — for oversees Indians. This
NDA Government went ahead to merge
it with the Ministry of External Affairs
and also withdrew the PIO card scheme,
amalgamating it with the Overseas
Citizen of India card scheme. Successive
Governments have tried to woo the diaspora by giving concessions as an
acknowledgement to their contributions by way of intellectual abilities,
remittances and investments.
However, none has been able to do
what Prime Minister Modi has done —
he went oversees to strike an emotional chord with the labourers, the middle
class and the elite in the same way as they
would have received in their own country. He held them as the flag-bearers of
Indian culture, values and traditions.
Of all, the contribution of the
External Affairs Ministry, headed by
Sushma Swaraj, cannot be downplayed.
The security and safety of the diaspora
has been a top priority for this Ministry.
In fact, one of the striking features of the
Ministry, which has been pro-actively
using the social media, especially Twitter,
is addressing people’s concerns. Be it the
crises in Ukraine, Yemen or Syria, the
External Affairs Ministry has made its
presence felt by rescuing Indians and
bringing them home.
Noteworthy among Swaraj’s efforts
is the humanitarian approach during the
Saudi crisis, where over 10,000 Indian
labourers were rendered jobless, with no
food, due to falling oil prices. The
Ministry’s management of this event can
be best described as being handled
with utmost care and compassion.
Minister of State for External Affairs VK
Singh travelled to Saudi Arabia to have
talks with the Government over there;
thereafter a few Indians returned home
while others who wanted to stay back,
7UDQVLWLRQLQJIURPGLVHVHOWRVXQ
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ousing societies across
India have immense
potential to trap solar
energy that can be harnessed
for domestic power consumption, thereby avoiding the
dependence on diesel power
generating sets. A recent study
by the Centre for Science and
Environment (CSE) has not
only confirmed the same but
also established that the clean
energy option is financially
more attractive as well.
The study states that the
cost of power generation from
a diesel generator (DG) set,
including the capital cost, is
C27 to C33 per unit as compared to rooftop solar tariff
which is less than C10 per
unit. The findings of the study
confirm the long-held belief
that solar power is not only
viable but also a sustainable
alternative to DG power sets.
The mounting population
pressures and constricted
H
space is resulting in mushrooming of apartments and
housing societies in cities.
Housing societies are ideal as
they optimise the use of available resources. Of late, ecofriendly compressed natural
gas has become a common
feature in societies; however,
solar panels on society
rooftops are yet to become a
common sight. According to
the CSE report, this scenario
can change as up to three
gigawatt of solar rooftop can
be installed in new residential
societies over the next fiveseven years.
The study points out that
the diesel generator sets have
become more redundant due
to reducing power outage in
cities and moreover as power
outage from the grid reduces,
the cost of power generation
from the DG sets increases.
Even though solar panels
have become cheaper and
more efficient in recent years,
they are far from being a
universal solution, even in
sunny regions. One reason is
that a typical solar photovoltaic (PV) installation is still
beyond the budget of many
people. Add to this, a second
obstacle for solar power is that
not everybody lives in a single-family dwelling with
access to a private roof on
which the solar panels can be
installed. Those who reside in
apartment buildings have little chance of harvesting solar
power with a conventional
roof-mounted system, as
apartment building roofs tend
to get crowded too quickly
and catering to the electricity needs for all residents
becomes a challenge.
Additionally, roof-mounted solar panels usually have a
fixed angle in relation to the
sun and as the elevation of the
sun varies throughout the
year, a fixed angle is always a
compromise. Panels that lay
horizontal on a flat roof are
relatively well positioned for
energy production in summer,
but much less so for use in
winter. These problems get
compounded as the apartment buildings become larger with more floors.
Given these challenges,
there is a need to adopt
unconventional and innovative practices to generate solar
power that is not only affordable and sustainable but also
scalable in correlation with
demand. In order to ensure
this, solar power technology
must be suitably modified to
harvest energy from the windowsills and the balcony of
the apartments.
This will reduce the need
to depend on roof-top solar
panels, besides making the
solar systems mobile that can
be taken off and installed at
any other place as per the
requirement of the resident.
There’s another advantage to
having the solar panels so
close at hand as they can be
cleaned regularly. Losses due
to dust and dirt are assumed
to be one per cent of generated energy, but in dry and
dusty regions, as well as in
traffic-heavy areas, they can
be as high as four per cent to
six per cent if washing is not
undertaken on a regular basis
The product development
teams and research and development divisions of the companies that develop solar energy solutions, must also focus
on Do It Yourself (DIY) solar
kits that can be assembled and
installed by the resident himself, without depending on
professional help. This will
not only bring down the entry
cost but also increase the
scale of use of solar energy
solutions in community
were allotted different jobs.
From a meagre 12,000 in 1960, the
number of Indian immigrants, according to the United Nations International
Migration Report, has gone up to nearly 16 million people by 2015 — a
majority of them have their presence in
the Gulf, the US and the UK.
The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, which
is celebrated on January 9 every year, is
indeed a day of great importance. It has
its roots in the arrival of India’s greatest
pravasi, Mahatma Gandhi, who, on this
day in 1915, returned home along with
his supporters from Africa, after fighting for the rights of Indians through his
peaceful satyagraha movement against
the racist regime over there. The first
convention was held in 2003, and
January 9 was thereafter adopted as the
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.
The Indian diaspora is truly India’s
valued assets — many of the members
are leading companies and helm public
organisations in various sectors. Some
have become ambassadors, others have
headed Governments, many have
become an important part of the political systems abroad. The pravasi day is
important in the sense that it is a platform to strike personal contacts with the
pravasis and infuse trust in them.
The diaspora community’s members
have been loyal to their country despite
having been ignored for decades, and have
genuinely contributed by way of vital assistance to India’s foreign exchange reserves.
The challenge before the Modi
Government now is to harness upon this
intellectual and economical capital by
encouraging the pravasi community
members to contribute more for their
country, as they will always belong here.
(The writer is Assistant Editor, The
Pioneer)
WKLQN
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residential buildings.
The Government must
change the urban power scenario by aggressively promoting solar power for housing
societies and commercial
buildings. New construction
plans must be cleared only if
they include clean energy initiatives such as piped gas and
hybrid solar power systems.
The Government must
also rope in the resident welfare associations (RWAs) of
the housing societies to sensitise them on the adverse
environmental impacts of DG
sets not to mention their
expensive costs. Similarly, the
RWAs must also have regular
awareness and training sessions on solar energy projects
that can capture the imagination of the residents and help
in transitioning from diesel
power to solar power.
(The writer is an environmental journalist)
C
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head of the Union Budget,
Reserve Bank Governor
A
Urjit Patel on Wednesday urged
the Government to take steps
to cut high central and state
borrowings, saying India needs
to ensure “good policy housekeeping” for stable macroeconomic conditions.
Speaking at the Vibrant
Gujarat Global Summit here,
he underlined the need for also
ensuring that the mediumterm consumer-price based
inflation target of 4 per cent
was “secured on a durable
basis”.
At the same time, he said
RBI would continue to press
ahead with a “fluid transmission” of monetary policy and
wanted the Government to
infuse adequate capital in the
banking system.
The environment of
macroeconomic stability built
over the last few years must not
be frittered away, Patel said.
The Government debt-to-
GDP ratio was taking its toll on
the country’s sovereign ratings, he said, adding that the
combined fiscal deficit of the
Centre and State Governments
was among the highest in the
G20 group of nations.
“We have to take cognisance of these comparisons
and facts as we go forward to
make progress. Specifically,
this will help us to better manage risks for ourselves and
thereby mitigate financial
volatility,” he said.
The RBI Governor’s comments come three weeks ahead
of Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley presenting the Budget on
February 1, wherein he is likely to outline the fiscal deficit
target for 2017-18 along with
other policy and tax
announcements.
For the current fiscal, a 6.4
per cent combined central and
state fiscal deficit is being targeted.
Patel said the Government
needs to be mindful of subsidising credit or providing cred-
it guarantees, saying such
schemes can add to
Government debt.
“While some Government
guarantees and limited subventions can help, steep interest rate subventions and large
credit guarantees also impede
optimal allocation of financial
resources and increases moral
hazard,” he said.
Patel stressed that keeping
inflation low on durable basis
is “essential prerequisite” for
meaningful interest rate structure to increase investments for
better growth.
“For us, in India, good
policy housekeeping should
be the cornerstone.
It is easy and quick to fritter away gains regarding
macroeconomic stability. But
hard and slow to regain them,”
he said.
Under the new monetary
policy framework, RBI is now
tasked with a notified target for
retail inflation of 4 per cent
(plus or minus 2 per cent).
“Low and stable inflation is
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an essential prerequisite for
having a meaningful interest
rate structure or regime whereby decisions by savers and
investors help to achieve maximal allocative efficiency in an
economy whose investment
rate has to increase for better
growth outcomes,” he said.
Alongside with keeping a
tab on inflation, RBI continues
to press for smoother trans-
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erming disruption
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caused by demonetisation as transient, Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley on
Wednesday said the move
together with GST rollout
will boost the Indian economy and make the “substantially” non tax-compliant society more compliant.
Speaking at the Vibrant
Gujarat Global Summit, he
said the scrapping of highvalue notes was a move to
end the shadow economy.
To that end, he said, the
Government also renegotiated tax treaties with
Mauritius, Cyprus and
Singapore to end tax evasion and round tripping of
funds.
“O b v i o u s l y d i f f i c u l t
d e c i s i ons i n it i a l l y p a s s
through difficult phases.
Historic decisions which
can have long term advantages for the country also
have transient pains
attached to them. But then
in the medium and long
term, they are going to
change the roadmap on
which the country is destined to move,” he said.
Prime
Minister
Narendra Mo di had on
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November 8 announced
the junking of old C500
and C1000 notes in the
biggest step to fight black
money, terror funding, corruption and counterfeit
currency.
Jaitley said that while
India aspires to e volve
from a developing country
to a developed nation and
an economy that is making
an impact globally with
fastest growth rate, “we
are substantially, in terms
of taxation, a non-complaint society”.
The steps t a ken are
goi ng to b e s i g n i f i c ant
“because we are going to
change the pattern in
which India and Indians
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nlike other sector demonetisation doesn’t seem to
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affect airline sector in the country as domestic air passenger
traffic grew by 22.3 per cent in
November 2016, topping the
growth chart worldwide for
the 20th straight month
According to IATA, the
global grouping of airlines on
Wednesday said India continued to witness over 20 per cent
growth in domestic air passenger traffic for the 13th consecutive month in November 2016
-- when global passenger traffic too saw the strongest
demand in nine months.
Globally, total revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs)
increased 7.6 per cent compared to November 2015 while
capacity -- available seat kilometres or ASKs -- went up by
6.5 per cent.
ASK for India stood at 20.2
per cent in November
2016.The International Air
Transport Association (IATA)
said domestic India topped the
growth chart for the 20th consecutive month.
Apart from India, only
two other countries -- Russia
(15.5 per cent) and China
(14.9 per cent) clocked double
digit growth in November last
year, as per IATA data.
“While there was little sign
in the latest passenger data of
any immediate negative impact
following the demonetisation
of bank notes enacted on
November 8, the seasonallyadjusted traffic trend has
paused in recent months.
“Nonetheless, the annual
growth rate remained above 20
per cent for the 13th month in
a row,” it said. As part of larger efforts to curb black money
menace and corruption, the
Government had cancelled
C500 and C1,000 currency
notes as legal tenders in
November.
Coming out with the air
traffic numbers for November
2016, IATA also said robust
growth in India and China is
being supported in both cases
on multiple fronts, including
sizeable increases in real consumer spending and growing
options for passengers.
“Both Indian and Chinese
airlines have increased the
number of airport-pairs served
in 2016 (although average
flight frequencies in China
have fallen compared to last
year). “
are going to live and spend
in future. It is going to
have an imp ac t on t he
course of our present and
future lives”.
Stating that the impact
of demonetisation cannot
be delinked from this, he
said excessive paper currency has its own vices
and temptation including
corruption.
“When we release data,
we then realise the narrowness of tax base. And once
this entire bearer currency,
which has anonymity and
no history, moves back into
b an k i ng s y s te m and i s
accompanied by digitised
economy -- it is going to be
a major step towards an inte-
gration of informal economy
which at times also was a
shadow economy, with a
more formal economy,” he
said.
This together with the
impeding rollout of the
Goods and Ser vices Tax
(GST) “is going to increase
transaction which was covered in the taxation system,
transactions which can lead
to higher revenues in future,
greater compliance and give
us a cleaner and better economy”, he added. The larger,
cleaner and better tax compliant economy will happen
“after the transient impact of
this is over (and) once it is
coupled with the historic
implementation of the GST”,
Jaitley said.
Currently, the indirect
taxation regime provides for
central Government taxing
manufacturing and services
while states levy tax on sale
of commodities.
“And you are assessed by
different authorities,” he said,
adding that GST will make
India one big entity with a
single tax that will allow
seamless transfer of goods
and services across the country.
“It is advantageous to the
assessee as there is no cascading of tax,” he said.
mission of monetary policy, he
said. Without directly commenting on the recent scheme
unveiled by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi to provide
cheaper credit to the poor,
farmers, women and small
businesses, Patel cautioned
against policies of interest subvention and credit guarantees.
Credit guarantees, he said,
increase the Government’s con-
DVSZa]R_ddeVade`
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_`c^d,S``de
^f_ZTZaR]S`_Ud
=4F34;78)In slew of reform
measures, Sebi plans to tighten its settlement norms by
making the suspected defaulters pay more for any delay on
their part, while fresh steps
would be taken to popularise
new investment vehicles like
municipal bonds, REITs and
InvITs.
Also among the proposed measures, which are to
be considered by Sebi board
during its meeting on January
14, is allowing mutual funds
to invest in a new class of
‘Alternative Securities’, which
would initially comprise of
Real Estate and Infrastructure
Investment Trusts.
Defaulters, whose application for settlement of cases
are delayed, would soon be
required to pay a non-refundable amount of C2,000 seeking condonation of the delay.
Further, such entities would
have to pay additional money
in case there is more than 60
days delay in applying for settlement, a senior official said.
Currently, settlement
applications at pre-show
cause notice stage and on
suo-moto basis are treated
equally. Pre- show cause
notice in instances such as
during investigation or on
issue of settlement notice
after completion of probe
and before initiation of
enforcement action.
?C8
tingent liabilities and add to
risk premia for its own borrowing. “Guarantees at the end
of the day have limited utility
in solving important sector
issues.”
Noting that prudent fiscal
management is the key to
macroeconomic stability, he
said that despite improvement
in the fiscal position since
2013, India’s general deficit
remains among the highest.
“Since 2013, the central
government has successfully
embarked on a fiscal consolidation path. Even then, our
general government deficit
(that is borrowing by the centre and states combined) is,
according to IMF data,
amongst the highest in the
group of G-20 countries.
In conjunction, the level of
our general Government debt
as a ratio to GDP is cited by
some as coming in the way of
a credit rating upgrade,” he
said.
He said a sharp increase in
Government borrowing can-
not be a short cut to long-lasting higher growth and a better
alternative would be to institute structural reforms and
reorient government expenditure towards public infrastructure.
Lower fiscal deficit will also
help in better management of
risk and curb financial volatility which becomes more important in view of adverse external
environment, he said.
The RBI Governor also
made a case for continuous support towards recapitalisation of
public sector banks arguing that
“a well capitalised domestic
banking system enhances the
comfort of the various stakeholders to conduct business in
the offshore IFSC (International
Financial Services Centre) as
well”.
He called for setting up a unified regulator for the IFSC. This,
he said, would help in better regulation and supervision of the
financial entities in the GIFT
City. IFSC at GIFT City in Gujarat
is probably the first such centre to
be launched after the 2008 global financial crisis.
RBI has been working closely with all IFSC stakeholders on
diverse subjects in the recent
years to help GIFT develop.
“Today we see intense competition among the major IFSCs
trying to position themselves for
various business lines, and
increase their business potential,”
Patel said.
On fiscal deficit, Patel said,
borrowing even more and preempting resources from future
generations by Governments cannot be a short cut to long-lasting
higher growth.
Instead, structural reforms
and reorienting Government
expenditure towards public infrastructure are key for durable
gains on the Indian growth front,
he said.
“Investment in public transport, specifically railways and
Urban MRTS can lead to reduced
costs and productivity gains as also
help us to lower our oil import bill,
and, as collateral benefit, improve
air quality in our cities,” he said.
&\UXV0LVWU\PRYHVFRQWHPSW
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wo investment f irms
owned by the family of
T
Cyrus Mistry on Wednesday
filed a contempt application
at NCLT against Tata Sons
and its directors including
Ratan Tata, alleging violation of the tribunal’s order in
initiating steps to remove
him from the board.
In the application filed at
the National Company Law
Tribunal, Cyrus Investments
Ltd and Sterling Investment
sought an injunction against
Tata Sons from “convening
or holding of the EGM
scheduled on February 6,
2017 or any other date or
from transacting any business thereat”.
It also sought punishment for Tata, other direct or s of Tat a S on s a n d
trustees of Sir Ratan Tata
Trust and Sir Dorabjee Trust
- - NA S o on aw a l a , R K
K r i s h n a ku m a r a n d R
Venkatramana -- with “simple imprisonment for a term
which may extend to six
months” or fine of C2,000 or
both.
The application alleged
that the respondents have
“committed a breach” of the
N C LT ord e r p a s s e d on
December 22 by issuing a
special notice on January 3,
2017 for the removal of
Mistry as a director from the
board of Tata Sons, “in clear
violation of the order”.
It claimed that the move
t o re m ov e M i s t r y w a s
against the order of NCLT
w h i c h s t at e d t h at t h e
respondents will not “initiate any action or proceedings over this subject matter
pending disposal of this
company petition”.
“It is submitted that if
the EGM is allowed to be
held the same would also
constitute a deliberate and
contumacious breach of the
aforesaid dated December
22, 26 and all those participating in and voting at such
meting would also be guilty
of contempt,” it said.
The application further
s a i d : “It i s , t h e re f ore ,
absolutely just, necessary
a n d c onv e n i e nt t h at
Resp ondent No 1 (Tat a
Sons) be restrained by an
order and injunction of this
tribunal from convening or
holding such a meeting or
from transacting any business thereat”.
Last week, Tata Sons had
called a shareholders’ meeting on February 6 to remove
Mistry as director of the
holding company of the
$103-billion Tata Group.
Tata Sons had abruptly
re m ove d M i s t r y a s it s
Chairman on October 24
and sought his ouster from
operating companies like
Tata Motors and TCS. He
had subsequently resigned
from the board of six companies, but dragged Tata
Sons and his interim successor Ratan Tata to the
NCLT.
Reacting to the contempt
application filed by Mistry
c a mp, a Tat a G roup
spokesperson said, “There is
no contempt. We will make
our submissions to t he
NCLT.”
?^bcST\^]TcXbPcX^]F1Rdcb8]SXP³bVa^fcWaPcTc^& 2QURDGHPLVVLRQWHVWVWREH
?C8Q F0B78=6C>=
he World Bank on Wednesday
cut India’s GDP growth for
2016-17 fiscal to 7 per cent from
its previous estimate of 7.6 per cent
citing the impact of demonetisation, but forecast that the country
would regain momentum in the
following years with a growth of
7.6 per cent and 7.8 per cent due
to a reform initiatives.
“The immediate withdrawal
of a large volume of currency in
circulation and subsequent
replacement with new notes
announced by the government in
November contributed to slowing
growth in 2016,” the World Bank
said in its report, the first after the
government junked high-value
curriencies on November 8.
In its first report after
November’s demonetisation, the
World Bank said, “Indian growth
is estimated to have decelerated to
a still robust 7 per cent (in fiscal
2017 ending on March 31, 2017),
with continued tailwinds from low
oil prices and solid agricultural
output partly offset by challenges
associated with the withdrawal of
a large volume of currency in circulation and subsequent replacement with new notes.”
Notably, India maintains the
distinction of being the fastest
growing emerging market
T
economies of the world, bypassing
China.
“India is expected to regain its
momentum, with growth rising to
7.6 per cent in Fiscal Year (FY)
2018 and strengthening to 7.8 per
cent in FY 2019-20,” the Bank said,
adding that various reform initiatives are expected to unlock
domestic supply bottlenecks and
raise productivity.
Infrastructure spending
should improve the business climate and attract investment in the
near-term, it added.
“The ‘Make in India’ campaign may support India’s manufacturing sector, backed by domestic demand and further regulatory reforms. Moderate inflation and
a civil service pay hike should support real incomes and consumption, assisted by bumper harvests
after favourable monsoon rains,”
the Bank said in its latest report
Global Economic Prospects.
“A benefit of ‘demonetisation’ in the medium-term may be
liquidity expansion in the banking
system, helping to lower lending
rates and lift economic activity,” it
said.
Noting that in India, cash
accounts for more than 80 per cent
of the number of transactions, the
World Bank observed that in the
short-term, ‘demonetisation’ could
continue to disrupt business and
household economic activities,
weighing on growth.
“Further, the challenges
encountered in phasing out large
currency notes and replacing
them with new ones may pose
risks to the pace of other economic
reforms (e.G. Goods and Services
Tax, labour, and land reforms),” it
said.
“Spillovers from India to
Nepal and Bhutan, through trade
and remittances channels, could
also negatively impact growth to
these neighbouring smaller
economies,” the Bank noted.
According to the Bank,
India’s growth in the first half of
FY 2017 was underpinned by
robust private and public consumption, which offset slowing
fixed investment, subdued industrial activity and lethargic exports.
Consumption was supported by
lower energy costs, publicsector
salary and pension increases,
and favourable monsoon rains,
which boosted urban and rural
incomes, it said adding that economic activity also benefited
from a pickup in foreign direct
investment (FDI) and an increase
in public infrastructure spending.
“Unexpected “demonetisation’—the phasing out of largedenomination currency notes
which were subsequently
replaced with new ones—
weighed on growth in the third
quarter of FY2017,” the World
Bank said.
Weak industrial production
and manufacturing and services
purchasing managers’ indexes
(PMI), further suggest a set back
to activity in the fourth quarter
of FY 2017, it added.
“For the whole of FY 2017,
growth is expected to decelerate
to a still robust 7.0 per cent.”
In its report, the Bank said
there has been slowdown in
investment in South Asia.
“In India, gross fixed capital
formation has been on a downward trend since 2011, with a
shift in the composition from
private to public,” it said.
While public investment
rose by 21 per cent in FY2016,
private investment (which
accounts for two-thirds of the
total) contracted by 1.4 per
cent, reducing overall investment growth to four per cent.
PDQGDWRU\LQ,QGLDIURP
=4F 34;78) On-road emis-
sion tests for vehicles plying
on Indian roads will be
mandatory once the Bharat
Stage VI norm kicks in from
2020, for which testing agency
ARAI is developing a unified
test cycle.
The Automotive Research
Association of India (ARAI) is
currently working on devising
ways to determine the onroad emission benchmarks at
different stages of vehicle lifetime in the aftermath of the
Volkswagen emission cheating
scandal which broke out in
2015.
In December 2015, Heavy
Industries Ministry had said
the agency would conduct
checks on emission levels of
diesel passenger vehicles in
India over a period of six
months.
“It was explained to the
ministry that we can take up
that testing but as we migrate
towards Bharat Stage VI
norms, in any case, real driving emissions will be a part
of that regulation,” ARAI
Director Rashmi Urdhwareshe
told the news agency.
Therefore, she added:
“Our current focus is rather
than doing individual vehicle
measurements but to develop
a test cycle based on which
emission tests would be done
along with Bharat Stage VI. By
that time we will be ready with
the test cycles, so that data collection has started.”
Elaborating further,
Urdhwareshe said: “We will be
looking at the development of
a unified test cycle which the
manufacturers are expected to
use in mapping their vehicles
so that a user is assured that
when tested in laboratory as
well as when actually the
vehicle runs (its on-road performance is in line with the
test results).”
Asked if that meant that
from 2017 to 2020 there will
not be on-road emission tests,
she said: “We are looking at
the on-road testing but only
for the purpose of developing
the test cycle.
“We are carrying out the
tests with the limited purpose
of establishing the test cycle
because it is independent of
whether the vehicle is originally compliant with whatever regulations.”
She said the on-road tests
will kick in by 2020 as “it will
be combined along with the
Bharat Stage VI norms”. ?C8
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he New Year (2017) will be
a defining year for Flipkart
T
as the company is looking to
take ‘decisive lead’ in the Indian
market, its co-founder Sachin
Bansal has said. The company,
which recently announced toplevel changes, said the restructuring is aimed at ‘improving
operational efficiencies’.
Earlier this week, in a
major restructuring, Flipkart
brought all its units under an
umbrella firm and elevated
Binny Bansal as the Group
Chief Executive Officer. Kalyan
Krishnamurthy, previously
head of Category Design
Organisation, has been
appointed as the CEO of
Flipkart. Sachin Bansal will
continue as executive chairman.
“Its (restructuring) is about
improving operational efficiencies so that we can execute
on our plan...Business is getting
bigger. Binny moves to a bigger
,QFHQWLYHSDFNDJH
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he Government is expected to
T
announce an incentive package for labour intensive leather
sector in the forthcoming Budget
with a view to give a boost to the
segment and generate jobs. The
commerce and industry ministry
has asked its finance counterpart
to give financial assistance for the
Indian Leather Development
Programme (ILDP) and for setting
up of mega leather clusters in the
country, an official said.
As the ILDP, which is a central sector scheme, has provided
huge support to the sector, the
finance ministry may consider
extending it for three more fiscals.
It will end by this fiscal. The commerce ministry has asked for
about C7,000 crore for this programme for three years.
“The incentives are asked
broadly on the lines of the package announced for the textiles sector. Presentations have already
been given to Prime Minister's
Office and the Finance Ministry,”
the official said. The industry has
also demanded cut in excise duty
to 6 per cent from 12 per cent for
non-leather products like
footwears till the Goods and
Service Tax comes into force.
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role to ensure there is more
focus,” Sachin Bansal said on
the sidelines of Vibrant Gujarat
Global Summit.
The India's largest e-commerce firm is locked in an
intense battle with one of the
world's largest e-tailers,
Amazon, in the Indian e-commerce market. The company
has raised over $3 billion so far
from investors like Tiger
Global, Naspers and Accel
Partners among others.
Asked if Flipkart is looking
at another round of funding at
a time when rival Amazon has
been pumping in billions of
dollars to strengthen its position in the Indian market, he
said there are ‘no such plans
right now’. Bansal said that sales
season has been defining for
the company.
“It has turned around
things for us...Given a positive
momentum,” he said. He said
the company will ensure that
customers continue to get differentiated and great experience on the Flipkart platform.
Bansal said that demonetisation (scrapping of old C500
and C1,000 notes) that lead to
a spurt in digital transactions,
has been ‘good’ for the company. “We are seeing a lot of
growth in digital transactions.
Cash transactions have come
down and digital transactions
have gone up,” he said.
2_^TcSQ\\bQdUcbUR_e^T
MUMBAI: Government bonds (GSecs) rebounded following renewed
demand from corporates and banks
and the overnight call money rates
also turned higher due to fresh
demand from borrowing banks
amid tight liquidity in the banking
system. The 7.59 per cent 10-year
benchmark bond maturing in 2026
rose to C107.08 from C107.04, while
its yield held stable at 6.54 per cent.
The 7.61 per cent Government
security maturing in 2030 gained to
C107.6250 from C107.61, while its
yield too held stable at 6.73 per cent.
The 6.97 per cent Government
security maturing in 2026 climbed
to C104.11 from C104.06, while its
yield eased to 6.39 per cent from 6.40
per cent. The 7.68 per cent
Government security maturing in
2023 rose to C106.1750 from
C106.1350, while its yield inched
down to 6.55 per cent from 6.56 per
cent. The 7.59 per cent Government
security maturing in 2029 and the 8.07
per cent government security maturing in 2017 were also quoted lower
to C106.5375 and C100.0450 respectively. The overnight call money rates
finished higher at 6.30 per cent from
yesterday's level of 6.15 per cent.
It opened at 6.15 per cent and
moved in a range of 6.30 per cent and
5.75 per cent. Meanwhile, RBi,
under the Liquidity Adjustment
Facility, purchased securities worth
C28.92 billion in 7-bids at the
overnight repo auction at a fixed rate
of 6.25 per cent today morning, while
it sold securities worth C35.42 billion
in 26-bids at the overnight reverse
repo auction at a fixed rate of 5.75
per cent as on January 10. PTI
lobal financial services major
HSBC has set an optimistic
benchmark BSE Sensex target at
30,500 for December-end, 2017
saying that structural reforms like
demonetisation and GST will
boost growth in the long run.
Besides, the growth would be
helped by higher public investment, bankruptcy code and direct
transfer of subsidies.
“It could be possible that
India will soon adopt the challenging yet beneficial path to
reform and reaps the harvest of
good governance, buoyancy in tax
revenue and an environment conducive for business activity, far
from fear of red tape and complex
and opaque norms,” HSBC Global
Asset Management Company
CIO Tushar Pradhan told
reporters here.
Exuding optimism about
India's growth trajectory, Pradhan
said that ‘HSBC has set a Sensex
target at 30,500 for December-end
2017’. Sensex is currently trailing
at 26,000-27,000 levels. The benchmark closed on Wednesday at
27,140.41 -up 240.85 points from
the previous close. While noting
that demonetisation would have
negative impact on the economy
in the short-term, Pradhan said the
move coupled with implementation of GST will propel growth in
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the long run. “I think over the long
term demonetisation coupled with
GST (which are running parallel
to each other) that is going to be
very efficient way of boosting
growth in India,” Pradhan said. “So
if we move towards transparency
and know where the money is
coming from and also have GST
we would have much less incentive to stay out of the banking system and not contribute to development,” he added.
However, he noted various
negative outcomes from demonetisation including near-term halt
of economic growth as physical
cash had disappeared; loss of
income for service sector which
accounts for 61 per cent of GDP.
Besides, he observed that the
move could impact 60 per cent of
Indian households assets.
“Propensity to consume -both in black and the formal
economy -- will fall,” Pradhan
noted. Further, Pradhan said
that successful implementation of
GST would support fiscal stability; bring down cost of doing
business including cost on logistics; help companies deliver better margins as well as pass along
gains to consumers.
Meanwhile, Pradhan noted
that fall in crude oil prices to
helped the Government save
about $61 billion and the same
may continue even as the oil
price increase. He also noted
that the Government’s fiscal
deficit target is on track, while
food inflation has remained in
control through supply side
measures and good monsoons, among others.
MUMBAI: Extending Tuesday’s
rally, benchmark Sensex on
Wednesday surged nearly 241
points to close at a two-month
high of 27,140 and Nifty reclaimed
the 8,300-level on widespread
buying triggered by a positive start
of the earnings season and firm
Asian cues. Investors cheered
better-than expected Q3 numbers
in IndusInd Bank along with bullish Asian stocks ahead of US
President-elect Donald Trump’s
news conference later in the day
that will give his policy insight.
Besides, investors widened
their bets on optimism that
upcoming general budget - to be
unveiled next month- would contain incentives for corporates,
which will help boost the economy. Anand James, Chief Market
Strategist, Geojit BNP Paribas
Financial Services Ltd, said, “Indian
stocks opened on a firm note as
banking stocks were propped up
by IndusInd Bank as well as
South Indian Bank’s results which
lent positivity at the start of Q3 season. Metal sector got a shot in the
arm following reports of reduction
in Chinese production.”
IT stocks remained on the
back foot ahead of US President
elect Donald Trump’s first press
conference scheduled in the day,
in the backdrop of reintroduction
of bill on visa restrictions, James
added.
The 30-share Sensex
resumed higher at 26,978.44 and
quickly breached the 27,000mark to hit a high of 27,174.87
before winding up at 27,140.41,
scoring a notable rise of 240.85, or
0.90percent.TheSensexhadclosed
at 27,517.68 on November 10 last
year. The NSE Nifty also climbed
92.05 points, or 1.11 per cent, to end
at 8,380.65 after trading between
8,389 and 8,322.25. (the key index
had closed at 8,525.75 on
November 10, 2016).
PTI
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eeking to link Air India’s failure to ensure timely
operations of its flights to ‘legacy issues’, Air India
SChairman
and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani
on Wednesday said the low on-time performance
(OTP) is the symptom of a disease ‘which we have
identified’. Lohani, interacting with a group of
mediapersons here, said OTP can't be the sole
criterion to judge performance of an airline like
Air India considering the complexity of its operations. His comments come in the backdrop of
a survey ranking Air India as the third worst performing airlines in the world.
The Government-owned airline has already
challenged the findings of the survey. “(Low) Ontime performance is the symptom and not the disease. And we have identified the diseases which
everybody knows,” Lohani said, in an apparent reference to the merger of erstwhile Air India and
Indian Airlines into one entity -- Air India Ltd.
“Once those (issues) are resolved, the OTP will also
improve further,” he said. He said Air India operates nine types of aircraft and flies to over 100 destinations, including airports abroad, unlike other
carriers who have sort of ‘shuttle service’ operations.
“In such a complex operation, an airline can't be
judged simply on one parameter, OTP alone. There
are other parameters like catering, occupancy and
yield as well, (these) should also be taken into
consideration.”
Significantly, Lohani had in the past
blamed ‘merger’ for the slide of the national carrier. “A merger that really never happened and in
the process resulted in a chaotic situation is at the back
of all ills that we are currently witness to,” Lohani had
said in a hard-hitting blogpost last year. The Air India
Chief also said that he was ‘happy’ with the prevailing mechanism for measuring airlines OTP at the four
airports Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru
-which is under review of the aviation regulator DGCA
after the budget carrier IndiGo found fault with the
system, particularly at the Mumbai airport, in the wake
of its sharply declining on-time performance.
MUMBAI: The Government
has already garnered C23,500
crore by divesting its stakes
in PSUs so far in the current
fiscal and is hopeful of
achieving the FY17 disinvestment target of C56,500
crore, a Finance Ministry
official said on Wednesday.
“We have already completed disinvestment valued at
C23,500 crore so far in the current fiscal. Thus we are confident of completing the projected disinvestment target of
C56,500 crore for the entire fiscal during the two-and-a- half
months left before us,” Manish
Singh, Joint Secretar y,
Department of Investment
and Public Asset Management
(DIPAM) under Ministry of
Finance, said. He was speaking to reporters on the side-
lines of an event here.
According to Singh, buyback
of shares undertaken for the
first time by central public sector enterprises has fetched
C15,000 crore so far in the current fiscal. “At a time when the
market was not supportive
and no new foreign investor
was there to buy, buyback was
one of the best available
options
before
the
Government for disinvestment,” he said.
“We have done minority
stake sale and buyback this
time. We have a strong pipeline
of 40-odd listed companies.
Still, it will all depend on how
does the market behave. I mean
if the market supports us and
gives windows to divest, we will
go ahead with disinvestment
task assigned to us.”
PTI
6HUYLFHFKDUJHRQIRRGGULQNVXQIDLUWUDGHSUDFWLFH3DVZDQ
NEW DELHI: Imposing service charge
on food and drinks at hotels is an unfair
trade practice and consumers need not
pay it, Consumer Affairs Minister Ram
Vilas Paswan said on Wednesday.
Although there is no provision under the
existing law to take action against
hotels/restaurants, consumers have the
freedom not to pay the service charge
and can decide not to eat there if they
are informed in advance about it
through the menu card itself.
Paswan also mentioned that in
future such cases would be addressed
effectively as a provision has been
made in the new Consumer
Protection Bill to set up a regulator CCPA. The bill is likely to see
the passage in the forthcoming
budget session of Parliament.
Addressing the media on this
issue, Paswan said: “Our
Department's view is that imposing service charge is an unfair trade practice and
jca^l
consumers need not pay.”
There is no definition of ‘service
charge’ in law but taking service
charge without discretion of consumers is an "unfair trade practice”, he said. Paswan also said that
consumers should be informed
about service charge in the menu
card itself and not in the bill. “The
price list in the menu card should
reflect all inclusive costs including service
charge,” he said. He also argued that there
is no need to take service charge from
consumers as price of each food item quoted in the menu card is arrived at after factoring in all expenses.
“In fact, hotels and restaurants should
not charge even room service charge additionally,” Paswan said. Paswan there is no
transparency on whether service chargecollected from consumers is transfered to
waiters. “Ideally, the service charge should
be given to poor waiters. There is no transparency at present,” he added.
PTI
DR^df_XYVZcSVT`^VddfdaVTeZ_D<`cVRa`]ZeZTR]dTR_UR]
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;43bcaTTc[XVWcbX]cWTB^dcW3T[WX<d]XRX_P[2^a_^aPcX^]d]STacWTBcaTTc;XVWcX]V=PcX^]P[?a^VaP\\TQTX]VX\_[T\T]cTSQhcWT
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BWPa\PcWT;TPSTa^U7^dbTBdQWPbW0ahPcWT2WPXa\P]^UBcP]SX]V2^\\XccTTBWPX[T]STaBX]VW<^]cXcWT0SS[2^\\XbbX^]Tab
P]ScWTBT]X^a>UUXRTabUa^\cWTD]X^]?^fTa<X]Xbcah44B;B428P]SB3<2P]ScWT2WPXa\P]B^dcWI^]TFPaS2^\\XccTT
BPcT]STa?aPZPbWcWT2WPXa\P]34<B?PfP]APcWXP]SU^a\Ta<;0P]S3h<Ph^a0]X[BWPa\PfTaT_aTbT]c^]cWXb^RRPbX^]
SEOUL: Samsung heir Lee JaeYong has become a criminal suspect in a widening probe into the
corruption and influence-peddlingscandal engulfing impeached
South Korean President Park
Geun-Hye, prosecutors
said on Wednesday.
Lee, vice chairman of
Samsung Electronics and
the son of the Samsung
Group chairman Lee KunHee, would be quizzed as a
‘suspect’ in connection to
bribery, prosecutors said. “We
have decided to question Lee
tomorrow morning. As a suspect,”
Lee Kyu-Chul, spokesman for the
team of special prosecutors investigating the scandal, told reporters.
The affair centres on Park's secret
confidante Choi Soon- Sil, who is
accused of using her ties to Park
to coerce top firms into ‘donating’
tens of millions of dollars to two
non-profit foundations which
Choi then used as her personal
ATMs. Samsung was the
biggest contributor to the
foundations.
It is also accused of separately giving millions of
euros to Choi to bankroll her
daughter's equestrian training in Germany in a bid to
curry favour. Prosecutors have for
months questioned Lee and other
senior Samsung officials. The officials reportedly argued that
although they were coerced to offer
money, they sought no favours in
return and thus the payments were
not a bribe. Spokesman Lee said
prosecutors ‘left open the possibility’ of formally arresting the
Samsung scion later. Prosecutors
are investigating whether Samsung
bribed Choi in order to win state
approval for a controversial merger which it sought in 2015.
The merger of two Samsung
group units -- Cheil Industries
and Samsung C&T -- was seen
as a crucial step towards ensuring a smooth third-generation
power transfer to Lee Jae-Yong.
It was criticised by many, who
said it wilfully undervalued
Samsung C&T’s stocks. But the
National Pension Service a
major Samsung shareholder
voted in favour of the deal and
it eventually went through. AFP
MILITARY ENGINEER SERVICES
NOTICE INVITING e-PROCUREMENT TENDERS FOR GARRISON ENGINEER (I) AIR FORCE. GURGAON-122001
Garrison Engineer (I) Air Force, Military Engineer Services, Sohna Alwar Road, Gurgaon-122001 on behalf of the President of India invites applications from eligible enlisted Contractors of MES and
Contractors working with other Govt Departments meeting eligibility criteria for inviting electronic bids through NIC e-procurement solution of under mentioned works. The NIT details, eligibility criteria, tender and
other related documents can be down loaded from the CPP Portal website: www.eprocuremes.gov.in. The prospective/likely Contractors are requested to look up the website. These are e-tenders and therefore
manual applications/bids for these tenders will not be accepted under any circumstances. Only electronic applications/bids shall be accepted.
5a^\[TUcc^
aXVWcCPQ[P
<PTbca^IPZXa
7dbbPX]0SPa
?^^]PfP[[P
24>BTad\
8]bcXcdcT^U
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SdaX]VP
\dbXRP[TeT]c
X]<d\QPX^]
FTS]TbSPh
(a)
1
(b)
N.l.T SER NO 83/2016-17
MAINTENANCE AND OPERATION OF E/M
INSTALLATION SERVICE CENTRE AND CERTAIN
REPAIR WORK AT AF STN.NARAINA UNDER
AGE E/M (AF) GURGAON OF GE(I) AF GURGAON
(c)
49.50
(d)
11 (Eight) Months
(e)
99000/-
(f)
500/-
(g)
17 Jan 2017 at
1200 Hrs
Closing date &
time of online bid
submission
Publishing date
and time of tender documents
Cost of Tender in
the shape of call
Deposit Receipt
from any
Scheduled Bank,
Amount of Earnest
Money for
Constractors not
Enlisted with MEs
(Rs)
Completion
Period
"aSBPeTTcWPCaP]bSXbRX_[X]Pah0]]dP[ATbTPaRWBd\\Xc^UBPeTTcWP3T]cP[2^[[TVTBPeTTcWPD]XeTabXchfPbWT[SQTcfTT]"aSc^
'cW9P]dPahATbTPaRWUPRTS\d[cXUPRTcTSSX\T]bX^]X]cWXbBd\\X0Q^dc $$aTbTPaRWf^aZfTaTSXb_[PhTSP]SeXTfTSQh
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9P]dPah3a7dVWTb0bb^RXPcT3TP]BRW^^[^U<TSXRX]T3aC^aS;d]SVaT]?a^UTbb^aP]S2WPXa^U?TaX^S^]cXRb3a0ad]XFX[b^]
ATbTPaRW?a^UTbb^a3XeXbX^]^U<XRa^QX^[^Vh<^[TRd[Pa6T]TcXRbUa^\;^\P;X]SPD]XeTabXchDB0P__aTRXPcTScWTbcdST]cP]S
SXbcaXQdcTS $aTbTPaRWPfaSbCWXbVaP]SPRPST\XRUX]P[TT[TePcTScWTaTbTPaRWf^aZX]8]SXPX]c^cWT8]cTa]PcX^]P[eXbX^]
Name of Work
Estimated Cost of
Work in Lakhs
(Rs)
Ser
No.
(h)
06 Feb 2017
at 1800 Hrs
Notes:1.
The Contractors enlisted in one class below the 'Eligibility Criteria" given above may also apply & quote online bid. Accepting Officer may consider such applications & online bids in the event of inadequate response
from eligible class of Contractors.
2. Application- not accompanied by requisite value of DD/Bankers Cheque towards Cost of Tender shall not be considered for opening of tender/bid.
3. Contractors not enlisted with MES will be required to enclose necessary documents to prove their eligibility as given above including Affidavit for no recovery outstanding. '
4. In case of rejection of application for opening of tender/bid, the applicant shall be refunded the cost of tender. Contractor may appeal to next Higher Engineer Authority i.e. HQ CE (AF) WAC Palam, Delhi Cantt
for rejection of his application for issue of tender, whose decision shall be final and binding. However Contractor shall not be entitled to any compensation what so ever for non issue of tender.
5. The above details are also available on our NIC website www.eprocuremes.gov.in at CPP portal. Full Notice of Tender IAFW-2162 & Enlistment Criteria is available in all Offices of MES and also on MES website i.e, www.mes.gov.in as well as on our NIC website www.eprocuremes.gov.in at CPP portal. For full details please refer Indian Trade Journal dated 11 Jan 2017.
(Goutam Chattopadhyay)
AE(QS&C)
AGE (Contracts)
davp 10102/11/3685/1617
For Garrison Engineer
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Washington: Opposing the
idea of banning Muslims from
entering the US, presidentelect Donald Trump’s nominee for Attorney General has
asserted that the focus should
be on individuals coming
from countries that have a history of terrorism.
“I have no belief and do
not support the idea that
Muslims, as a religious group,
should be denied admission to
the United States,” Senator Jeff
Sessions told lawmakers during his confirmation hearing
on Tuesday.
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?C8Q =4FH>A:
Washington: Russian hackers did not break into the computers of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign or active
accounts of the Republican National Committee, FBI chief James
Comey said. Comey told a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Russian interference in the US election that the Russians,
in addition to hacking the Democratic National Committee,
did break into some state and local Republican campaign systems during last year’s campaign. In addition, they accessed and
took information from old, inactive systems of the Republican
National Committee.
S President-elect Donald
Trump on Wednesday disU
missed as “nonsense” the media
claims that Russia has compromising information on him,
saying the allegations may have
been leaked by US Intelligence
agencies and it would be a
“tremendous blot” on their
record if they did that.
“I think it’s a disgrace that
information would be let out.
I saw the information, I read
the information outside of that
meeting,” Trump told reporters
in his first formal Press conference in six months.
Referring to a dossier with
allegations that Russia has
compromising material on
him, the President-elect said,
“It’s all fake news. It’s phony
stuff. It didn’t happen.”
He, however, acknowledged that Russia and some
other countries were behind
the hacking of Democratic
Party computers. “As far as
hacking, I think it was Russia,
but I also think we’ve been
hacked by other countries,
other people,” he said addressing the crowded Press confer-
ence nine days from his inauguration as the 45th president
of the US.
“The DNC was totally open
to be hacked. They did a very
poor job,” he said, adding that
attempts to hack the Republican
National Committee were
unsuccessful and “they were
unable to break through.”
Earlier, in a series of tweets,
Trump said, “Russia has never
tried to use leverage over me.
I HAVE NOTHING TO DO
WITH RUSSIA - NO DEALS,
NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!
“Intelligence agencies
should never have allowed this
fake news to “leak” into the
public. One last shot at me. Are
we living in Nazi Germany?
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hina’s only aircraft carrier
has entered the Taiwan
C
Strait, the island’s defence ministry said on Wednesday, seen
as a show of strength by Beijing
as tensions rise between the
two sides.
The Liaoning has not
entered Taiwanese waters but
has gone into an area covered
by its air defence zone, according to the ministry. Taiwanese
media said the island’s military
had dispatched F-16 fighter jets
and other aircraft last night to
monitor the Chinese carrier
group. The defence ministry
would not confirm those
TENDER NOTICE
1. Commandant, 222 Advance Base Ordnance Depot invites
applications for issuing of tender documents for Civil Hired
Trucks (CHT) 5 MT, 7 MT & 9 MT for transportation of
military stores from Narangi Cantt to various destinations
for the period 01 Apr 2017 to 31 Mar 2018 from the date
of approval of contract.
2. Tender Forms and Terms and Conditions will be issued
at 222 Advance Base Ordnance Depot, Narangi Cantt,
Guwahati from the Executive Branch on all working days
from l000h to 1600h up to 15 Feb 2016 to CHT fleet owners who are RTO registered, financially sound and have
experience in dealing with transportation of defence goods.
3. Sealed envelopes containing tenders will be dropped in
the CHT Tender Box at 222 Advance Base Ordnance
Depot Main Gate before 1030h on 28 Feb 2017. The tenders will be opened at 1200h on 28 Feb 2017 in the
Conference Hall, 222 Advance Base Ordnance Depot,
Narangi Cantt, Guwahati. All bidders desirous of attending tender opening should be present at the above date
and time.
reports.
“The military is monitoring the whole situation and will
act as necessary. We urge
Taiwan’s people to be at ease,”
the defence ministry said in the
statement.
It comes just after Taiwan’s
President Tsai Ing-wen visited
the United States at the weekend on a transit to Central
America, despite protests from
Beijing. China, which considers Taiwan a breakaway
province to be brought back
within its fold, was incensed by
an unprecedented call between
Tsai and Donald Trump last
month and has since stepped
up military drills near the
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222 ADVANCE BASE ORDNANCE DEPQT
NARANGI CANTT. GUWAHATI
davp 10202/11/0240/1617
Cad\_RP\_PXV]]^cWPRZTSQhAdbbXP]b)518
island.
Although they do
not have official relations, the
United States is Taiwan’s most
powerful ally and main arms
supplier.
The Liaoning has been
carrying out its first exercise in
the Pacific and already passed
south of Taiwan last month. It
entered the southwest of
Taiwan’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ) at 07:00
today local time (0430 IST), the
defence ministry said, along
with escort vessels.
“(It) is sailing west of the
midline of the Taiwan Strait,
moving north,” the ministry
said in a statement.
Beijing: China’s newly formed
Rocket Force launched 100
ballistic missiles last year while
army conducted scores of live
drills, official media reported
on Wednesday, as the 2.3 million strong PLA, the world’s
largest army, adopts a more
aggressive posture with massive
structural revamp.
Each combatant branch of
the PLA — the Army, Navy, Air
Force and Rocket Force — has
confirmed that realistic training
drills and exercises were intensified last year under military
reforms initiated by Chinese
President Xi Jinping, state-run
China Daily said in a lengthy
feature on how the Chinese military is transforming itself.
“The Army sent 15
brigades to participate in more
than 100 drills; the Air Force
conducted at least six large,
long-range training drills in the
Western Pacific Ocean and the
South China Sea; the Rocket
Force carried out more than 20
exercises and launched nearly
100 ballistic missiles,” the
report said.
PTI
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[PSh<XRWT[[T>QP\PSPdVWcTa<P[XPEXRT?aTbXST]c
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0?
?C8Q 278206>
resident Barack Obama on
Wednesday bade goodbye
P
to Americans in an emotional
speech, warning them of
threats to democracy from
growing racism, inequality and
discrimination amidst a “corrosive” political environment in
the country following the election of Donald Trump.
Refashioning his winning
2008 campaign mantra for 2017,
Obama while addressing nearly
20,000 supporters in his hometown here asked them to hold
fast to their optimism and to look
within for leadership. “I am asking you to believe not in my ability to bring about change, but in
yours,” 55-year-old Obama said.
“I am asking you to hold
fast to that faith written into
our founding documents:...
Yes, we can,” he said in the
address that lasted for 55 minutes. “Yes, we did. Yes, we can”.
He cautioned Americans
about threats to democracy,
saying “Democracy can buckle when we give in to fear. So
just as we, as citizens, must
remain vigilant against external
aggression, we must guard
against a weakening of the values that make us who we are.”
Raucous chants of “four
more years” from the crowd were
brushed aside by the President.
“I can’t do that,” he said with a
smile. US presidents are limited
to two terms by the constitution.
The outgoing President
lamented that despite his historic
election as the nation’s first
black President in 2008, “race
remains a potent and often divisive force in our society.” “After
my election, there was talk of a
post-racial America. Such a
vision, however well-intended,
was never realistic,” he acknowledged. Obama’s presidency will
come to an end on January 20
when Republican Trump would
be sworn in as the 45th President
of the US. Obama promised a
peaceful transfer of power to
Trump in the coming weeks.
Without mentioning Trump, he
used his speech to offer an
implicit rebuttal to many of the
contentious themes like temporary ban on
Muslim immigration that
characterised the 2016 presidential campaign. Obama said
he rejects discrimination
against Muslim Americans, and
drew cheers for saying they are
“just as patriotic as we are”.
“That’s why we cannot
withdraw from global fights —
to expand democracy, and
human rights, women’s rights,
and LGBT rights — no matter
how imperfect our efforts, no
matter how expedient ignoring
such values may seem,” he said.
“Rivals like Russia or China
cannot match our influence
around the world — unless we
give up what we stand for, and
turn ourselves into just another big country that bullies
smaller neighbors,” he stressed.
After successful eight years
of his presidency, Obama said
he is leave this stage even more
optimistic about this country
than he was when started.
“This generation coming
up — unselfish, altruistic, creative, patriotic – I’ve seen you
in every corner of the country.
You believe in a fair, just, inclusive America; you know that
constant change has been
America’s hallmark, something
not to fear but to embrace, and
you are willing to carry this
hard work of democracy forward. You’ll soon outnumber
any of us, and I believe as a
result that the future is in good
hands,” Obama said.
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Chicago: While Barack
Obama was delivering his
final speech to the nation,
Twitteratis were nagged by
the unexplained absence of
Sasha, the President’s
youngest daughter. Twitteratis
soon began searching for
absent Sasha, using the hashtag #whereissasha after the
15-year-old was not found
seated along with Michelle
Obama and Malia Obama in
the audience at McCormick
Place in Chicago.
$D04^UUXRXP[bP\^]V$&ZX[[TSX]0UQ^\QX]Vb
05?Q :0=3070A
ive UAE officials were
among 57 people killed in a
F
string of bombings across
Afghan cities, authorities said
on Wednesday, as Taliban militants step up a deadly winter
campaign of violence.
The Emiratis were among
12 people killed when explosives hidden in a sofa detonated inside the Governor’s compound in southern Kandahar
yesterday, while the UAE’s
ambassador to Afghanistan
escaped the attack with injuries.
Just hours before, twin
Taliban blasts in Kabul tore
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Islamabad: Pakistan will soon
be recognised as a “minoritiesfriendly country”, Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif on
Wednesday said as he ordered
renovation of Katas Raj complex,
one the most sacred places of
Hindus in the Muslim-majority country. Pakistan is pursuing
policies to establish the country’s
identity as a minority-friendly
country and followers of all
religions have equal rights in the
country, Sharif said speaking at
the Katas Raj Temples Complex
in Chakwal.
“The day is not far when
Pakistan will be recognised as a
minorities-friendly country due
to steps being undertaken to better the lives of minority groups,”
he was quoted as saying by the
state-run APP news agency. The
Prime Minister said he has
advised Government officials
to spare no efforts in hosting pilgrims and the protection and
expansion of minorities’ places of
worship.
PTI
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through a Parliament annexe,
which houses the offices of lawmakers, killing at least 38 people
and wounding around 86 others.
And earlier on Tuesday, a
Taliban suicide bomber killed
seven people in Lashkar Gah,
the capital of volatile Helmand
province, as the militants ramp
up nationwide attacks in frigid
winter months, when fighting
usually wanes. The carnage
underscores growing insecurity in Afghanistan, where USbacked forces are struggling to
combat a resilient Taliban
insurgency as well as al-Qaeda
and Islamic State militants.
Kandahar’s governor
Humayun Azizi and UAE
envoy Juma Mohammed
Abdullah Al Kaabi were
wounded by flames from the
explosion, but many others
were burned beyond recognition, said provincial police
chief Abdul Raziq, who was
present when the blast
occurred.
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Ramallah: The Israeli Army on
Wednesday said troops shot
dead a Palestinian who tried to
stab soldiers during a West
Bank arrest raid. In a statement,
it said forces were operating in
the Fara Refugee Camp when
the Palestinian charged toward
them with a knife. The troops
shot him outside his home after
he ignored warnings to halt.
But Palestinian witnesses
said 32-year-old Mohammed
al-Salhi was shot dead in the
doorway of his home. They
asked not to be named for fear
of retribution. The incident
followed one of the deadliest
attacks in more than a year of
Israeli-Palestinian violence, in
which a Palestinian truck driver rammed his vehicle into a
crowd of Israeli soldiers in
Jerusalem, killing four. Since
September 2015, Palestinian
attackers have killed 40 Israelis
and two visiting Americans in
attacks, mainly stabbings. AP
Moscow: The Russian Health
Ministry has unveiled plans to
ban the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after 2015, the media
reported.
The Health Ministry proposal, which has the backing of
President Vladimir Putin,
would make Russia the first
country in the world to completely phase out tobacco.
The ban proposal, obtained
by Russian newspaper Izvestia,
would go into effect in 2033,
when the affected Russian citizens (now babies) turn 18
years old.
“This goal is absolutely
ideologically correct,” Nikolai
Gerasimenko, a member of
the Russian Parliament’s Health
Committee told the Times on
Tuesday.
However, Gerasimenko
also admitted that he was
uncertain whether such a ban
would be enforceable.
IANS
riticising a “frozen” UN
Security Council that repC
resents a small minority of the
world’s population, India said
only an “updated” and not
“outdated” global institution
can be effective in addressing
the current challenges of conflict prevention and sustaining
peace.
“While the world is changing, the institutional architecture
primarily responsible for areas
of peace and security remains
frozen. The Security Council
which takes decisions on behalf
of ‘we the people’ represents an
increasingly small minority of
the world’s population,” India’s
Permanent Representative to
the UN Ambassador Syed
Akbaruddin said at a Council
debate here yesterday on
‘Conflict Prevention and
Sustaining Peace’.
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aving two films with near-identical premises
open only a few months apart from each other
certainly isn’t a new phenomenon in
Bollywood. Question is whether it is good for business. Soon after the release of Befikre, which seemed
like a spin on Friends with Benefits, Ok Jaanu will see
the indelible Aashiqui 2 pair of Aditya Roy Kapur and
Shraddha Kapoor have some fun, share cuddles and
a bit more, live in while waiting for a visa to their career
land and strictly stay away from commitment. Till the
co-habitation becomes too close for comfort and creates the dramatic conflict.
The surface similarities are pretty obvious. Both
are romantic comedies about two people who
decide to start a sexual relationship
without becoming emotionally
attached. The “casual” relationship
concept is raining in Bollywood
where every second or third
movie is based on the same.
While it’s not a bad thing per
se, where has the good old
school romance gone considering Hollywood’s resurrection with La La Land? Is
romance really dead or is
marriage passé? And if liveins are legal now, why not
stay true to its spirit and
not cry buckets over convention?
Our leads kept it safe
at a promotional press
meet at The Claridge’s.
Aditya Kapur said, “I have
never been in a live-in
relationship before. Only
after being in one can you
talk about the pros and cons.
But it should be with the right
person and at the right time.
Also, I won’t do anything that my
parents are not happy with. If ever
I decide to be in a relationship like
that, I will be in one respectfully. I
don’t think marriage is passé. I think
it’s a mandatory institution and the
reason why most people get married
is because it means something and it
has some relevance. I think live-ins
and marriages don’t have to be exclusive. Most people who are in a live-in
relationship end up getting married or
break up. But marriage as an institution is not under any threat.”
Elaborating on the idea of live-in,
Shraddha told us, “I have an open
mind about a live-in but I think it will
be a bit difficult for me because I have
stayed with my parents since I was born
and feel too wrapped up in comfort.
But it depends on the kind of partner
I get. If there’s a future and finality with
him, I might consider it.”
Does Aditya not get tired playing
the sensitive and brooding lover boy
in film after film? “It’s a coincidence
that the scripts I have liked so far
have been romantic. It has not been
a conscious decision to stick to a
genre. In fact, I grew up watching
action films and would love to do
one. I am definitely looking forward
to working in different genres now.
Sometimes when a filmmaker sees
you in a particular genre and they
like you in that, they tend to offer
you roles in that space. But nowadays there’s an unending variety of
themes and concepts to play around
and experiment with. Even I have
been offered a few action movies and
comedies but they didn’t connect
with me. Besides it is too early in my
career to get slotted. Once you have
failed in a couple of genres, then you
can assess and say okay you are only
good with one,” he said, laughing.
Asked about challenges of keeping this film different from their earlier project, Shraddha said, “We
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QWhy revisit the iconic world of The
Wizard of Oz? And why now?
I think it’s a good moment. The original stories were actually written at the turn
of the last century but they’re still very timely and relevant today. You can actually
interpret them now in a deeper way than
you ever could before.
QSo Emerald City draws more close-
ly from L. Frank Baum’s books than
the 1939 MGM musical?
Yes. And the books are a lot
darker than the musical.
QAnd that’s where the show
takes its cue?
We have the same characters
that were in The Wizard of Oz. We
just explore them in a different,
deeper way. You get to know these
characters for who they truly are.
It’s a ten-hour movie, really, directed by Tarsem Singh (Mirror
Mirror). He’s created this crazy,
magical, fantastic world that he
throws my character into. You get to
know and fall in love with all these
characters again, but you get to
know them for their “ugly,” not necessarily for their “perfect.”
QHow did you become involved in
the project? Were you up against a
lot of competition?
I think so. But I didn’t ask many
questions regarding that. I never do…
But I remember going in for the audition and thinking that I was going to
be the ugly duckling in the room;
the Hispanic in the room. “I’m
obviously not going to get this.”
But I went in there and thought,
actually had quite a few script-reading sessions with
our director and he would tell us the tone and manner in which he saw the scene. We would jam our
ideas. One of the few things that Shaad (director
Shaad Ali) told me was not to speak in a sing-song
voice, my natural tenor. He told me Tara is more
mature than the guy. Second, he asked me not to
smile too much, something that he thought I do
a lot.”
All this while Aditya was gazing at
Shraddha but when she fell short of
words, he intervened and said, “For me
this role was actually interesting and
exciting because in my last couple of
films, my characters were very
defined and set in a context. There
was an accent, territoriality or a particular look. In the capacity of a
leading man, I have never done a
light-hearted romance. I think I
could bring more of my personality into the role and that’s what
Shaad wanted. I didn’t want to
over prepare. I just had to try
and capture the mindscape
of a 24-year-old who has
big dreams and is kind
of easy-going but is
not taking relationships seriously. It
kind of reminded me
of myself a few years
ago. The whole vibe
was spontaneous,
light-hearted and conversational.”
On the contrar y,
Shraddha admitted to
being different from her
character. “Tara is a lot
more fearless. She is
unapologetic about who
she is. If she wants something, she will not bat an
eyelid and will go for it. She
will initiate a live-in relationship if she wants that,
she won’t shy away from it.”
How does box office
failure affect them? “A lot
on that crucial weekend.
You give so much of your
time and hours to a film
and one Friday or a weekend decides its fate. Of
course, if that Friday isn’t
favourable, you begin questioning yourself. I was pretty
upset about Rock On not doing
well. I guess demonetisation also
played its part. However, OK
Jaanu promotions started immediately after and took my mind off
completely. I think you should
focus on the next project to keep
going,” said Shraddha.
Aditya felt it was important to be
honest and self-confident regardless of
the commercial outcome. “You put so
much hard work in a film, there are so
many expectations. It is important to
introspect and feel bad, it’s part of the business. I started my career with three films
that didn’t do well and then a couple that
did. Then there was a trough again.
That was a good lesson on how fickle
this business is. As long as your perception and confidence in yourself isn’t
shaken and you don’t treat yourself the way
other people treat you, you will hold good.
It is a job that can make you feel insecure.
It’s a cliché but you should not take success
too seriously and not think about failure as
the end of the world. I hope our film has a takeaway. Hopefully, it will be an eye-opener for both
parents and youngsters.”
And though somebody did try to talk about
rumours of their relationship status, our leads just
upturned their lips with boredom and laid the matter to rest. Time to move on.
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oroccan-Canadian actress Nora Fatehi,
who has been prancing around in some
M
film songs like Bahubali and Rocky Handsome,
has made it to the coveted cover of the
Kingfisher calendar 2017. Ace photographer
Atul Kasbekar has taken the pictures of five gorgeous models, including Nora for this year’s corporate edition. “This year we shot in the Greek
island of Mykonos. You can expect a lot of beautiful locations, amazing photography, strong and
powerful styling,” Nora said. But then the Pirelli
calendar 2017, which has been a template for
the Kingfisher offering, has become cause-oriented, continuing with its no-makeup movement by featuring bare-faced, topline
Hollywood actresses. Should calendar shoots
come up with one such revolutionary idea and
break the sameness of formula? “I think it’s a
wonderful idea and were it to be implemented
in the Indian context, I would be the first in line.
I love the nude look and I frankly look better
that way. Whoever comes up with this idea must
use me without fail. This is the perfect way to
connect with real women who can finally relate
to us at a subliminal level. It would be an organic process and would go a long way in demolishing stereotypes, particularly among men.”
But isn’t working for a corporate product,
the branding of which has been hit courtesy
financial inquiry, rather mistimed? Nora skirts
the issue with, “It’s an honour to get a chance
to work with one of the most talented and greatest photographers in the country, Atul Kasbekar.
Atul is a brand himself and if he has been chosen to represent something, that must be special too.”
Clearing speculation about her dance number in Bahubali 2, she talked about her film projects. “I am an actor before a model. So I’m looking forward to the release of my film My
Birthday Song where I play the female lead
opposite Sanjay Suri. It is directed by Samir
Soni. The film revolves around a happily-married man and a commemmorative song on his
40th birthday, but the movie navigates the space
between reality and surrealism. I also have two
other projects in the pipeline which would be
a huge stepping stone in my career.”
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QWhat was your first break?
A teacher in Miami told me to leave
and go to New York. That was the biggest
gift I’ve received in my career. He told me
to go to New York and work in the theatre.
And because of that I’ve been able to do
everything that I’ve done. It led to my first
job, which was Unforgettable (Sony Pictures
Television; 2014).
QComing back to Emerald City, how does
Dorothy relate to some of the iconic characters that we know from Oz? And how
are some of these relationships
reimagined? The trailer suggests a
romance with The Scarecrow (Oliver
Jackson-Cohen)? Is that right?
I’m a lucky girl. That’s one sexy
scarecrow (laughs)… In our story, the
Scarecrow is looking for his memory,
instead of looking for a brain. Dorothy
falls in love with him as a result, rather
than a man pretending to be something
he isn’t, or being macho… He’s genuinely just someone who has no idea who
he is. But his essence is there and she
falls in love with the huge heart that he
has.
I have to prove myself. I have to prove that
I can do it. That any girl can do it, no matter what their ethnicity. So I went there and
did my best and they called me back. I then
met with Shaun Cassidy and David
Schulner (executive producers). And then
I got the call. I was in a restaurant eating
chocolate soufflé and it was hands down
the most embarrassing moment of my life
(laughs)...
QWhat happened to the chocolate soufflé?
I shoved it down my throat while I was
crying and screaming, “I’m Dorothy!” I just
looked like a psychopath. It was not cute
at all!
QBeing cast as a Latina Dorothy seems
like a very contemporary choice.
I think it’s a realistic choice. Nor do I
think it should really matter. You walk
is a musician and I grew up all over Central
and South America on tour with him. So
I was always in the arts. When I eventually moved to Miami, I didn’t feel like I fit
in. I wanted to be back in the arts. My dad
suggested I take a theatre class. I did and
I fell in love with it.
down the street here in Los Angeles and
you’ll hear 500 different accents — so many
different colours and ethnicities. And I
think that’s what’s missing on screen. We’re
just a huge melting pot and that should be
reflected in our TV shows. And that’s
another thing I love about our show…. Our
cast comes from everywhere. And that’s
how it should be.
QHow did you start out?
I grew up on the road. My father
(Ricardo Arjona; one of the most successful Latin American artists working today)
QWhat about her relationships with
some of the other characters that we
know from the movie — The Lion and
The Tinman?
Oh, you’re going to have to wait and
watch it. Those are big spoilers!
eXePRXchjdb_l #
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he state of Tamil Nadu has become the
21st state to join the Ujwal DISCOM
Assurance Yojana (UDAY). Union
Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, New
and Renewable Energy and Mines, Piyush
Goyal presided over the signing of the
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
under the UDAY with the Government of
Tamil Nadu and its Discom TANGEDCO,
for operational and financial turnaround of
the DISCOM in New Delhi. Tamil Nadu
would derive an overall net benefit of
approximately C11,000 crores through
UDAY, by way of savings in interest cost,
reduction in AT&C and transmission losses, interventions in energy efficiency, coal
reforms etc.
The signing ceremony was held in the
august presence of the P. Thangamani,
Minister for Electricity, Prohibition and
Excise, Government of Tamil Nadu. P.K.
Pujari, Secretary (Power), Dr. P.V. Ramesh,
CMD, REC and senior officials from the
Ministry of Power, Government of Tamil
Nadu, TANGEDCO and REC were also present at the occasion.
UDAY was launched by the
Government of India on 20th November,
2015 to provide a permanent and sustainable solution to the debt-ridden distribution
utilities for achieving financial stability and
growth, and now has 21 states in the club
after Tamil Nadu coming on board. REC is
the implementing agency for the scheme.
T
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ibliophiles have thronged New
Delhi World Book Fair, breaking
B
all footfall records. Over one lakh
*RLQJFDVKOHVV
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ith the right use of infrastructure and
technology, IndianOil is ensuring
W
that customers visiting its facilities can
order to discuss certain important issue
to Delhi especially concerning
Ithenpertaining
SDMC, the SDMC Mayor Shyam Sharma
effortlessly reduce the use of cash. Presently,
more than 60 per cent of IndianOil's 25,000
petrol stations are offering digital payment
gateways to customers. Similarly, IndianOil
has ensured digital payment for LPG cylinders in more than 50 cities through more
than 5,700 e-wallets and 689 POS/mPOS.
IndianOil's Director Marketing, BS
Canth said, "The massive infusion of digital payment gateways at its facilities is growing on a day-on-day basis and as on date 25
per cent of our business volume is through
cashless payment gateways. Digital payments are expected to add a new dimension
to our massive operations with cashless efficiency and convenience for our customers."
They have also partnered with leading
banks such as SBI, AXIS, ICICI, and IDFC
to enable the cashless and faster movement
of Tank Trucks at the toll plaza. The trucks
are fitted with a Radio Frequency Indicator
(RFID) linked to the banks server that
allows the trucks to pass through without
paying toll charges in cash. The bank takes
record of transactions at toll plaza of the
met LG Anil Baijal. The Mayor held detailed
interaction with the LG on a number of pending issues including implementation of the
recommendation of the forth Delhi Finance
Commission and release of pending amount
in respect of the recommendation of the third
Delhi Finance Commission and issue of notification of the Bye-laws of the MSW rules
2016 pending with the city government.
Sharma requested the LG to help in allotment of land for a waste to energy plant in
the SDMC area he stated that the need of at
least three such plants in the city and one of
this three should be set up south Delhi.
Sharma suggested that the land of the NTPC
plant at Badarpur could be consider for this
purpose as the coal based plant may be closed
keeping in view the rising level of pollution.
He also proposed that a land measuring over
14 acre belonging to the cement corporation
of India may be considered for allotment to
the SDMC for extension of its only sanitary
landfill side Okhla which is enable to suffice
the management of quantum of garbage being
generated daily in the SDMC area. The land
trucks fixed with RFID Tags and settle
amount to NHAI and submit a daily transaction statement to IndianOil. IndianOil in
turn reimburses the same to the banks. As
on date about 18,000 tank trucks out of its
fleet of 24,000 TTs are fitted with RFID.
Corporation has introduced cashless movement of Tank Trucks across India within a
very short time.
CQY\d_gQbTcQ
fYRbQ^d7eZQbQd
t the 8th edition of the
Global Summit organised
by Government of Gujarat,
Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of
State, Shipping, Road Transport
and Highways, inaugurated the
state-of-the-art exhibition display
of Sagarmala. The focus of the
summit was “Sustainable
Economic
and
Social
Development”.
The state of Gujarat has been
at the forefront of the maritime
development in India. Under
the Sagarmala programme, more
than 40 projects with estimated
cost of approximately C85,000
crore have been identified across
the four pillars of Port
Modernisation and New Port
Development, Port Connectivity
Enhancement,
Port-ledIndustrial Development and
Coastal
Community
Development.
Sagarmala, an initiative
taken by the Ministry of Shipping
is one of the strategic plans to
promote port led development in
India. It aims to leverage India’s
7,500 km long coastline, 14,500
km of potentially navigable
waterways and strategic location
on key international maritime
trade routes. Sagarmala will also
boost development of coastal
economy, save logistic costs, balance modal mix for cargo movement, leading to growth in manufacturing sector and facilitating
ease of doing business.
in question will prove to be more suitable for
processing waste and utilisation for remediation and dumping inert. Sharma also raised
the issue of constructing of SDMC head quarter building. Presently the SDMC is functioning from its head quarter from Civic
Centre building at J.L Nehru Marg. He
requested the LG to consider allotment of a
piece of land measuring 8-10 acres for constructing head quarter building.
The Mayor stressed upon the
need of release of pending amount of third
Delhi Finance Commission and
Implementation of the recommendations of
the fourth DFC as non release of the above
stated funds is creating hurdle in implementation of the welfare projects. It may be
recalled an amount of C2,381 crore is yet to
release by Delhi Government in respect of
amount due for the year 2012-13, 2013-14,
2014-15, and 2015-2016. Further as per the
recommendation of the fourth commission
enhanced 12.5 per cent amount from the
global share, 100 per cent reimbursement for
the establishment of the education expenses, full proceed of the Delhi Motor Vehicle
Act and Delhi Entertainment and Betting tax
will become due to the SDMC.
people have visited the ongoing
nine day-long literary extravaganza.
The theme for this year’s event is
Manushi, which is focussing on
writings on and by women. The
theme Pavilion at the fair is attracting a lot of booklovers. The pavilion
is displaying writings on and by
women in different genres like
poems, novels, children’s literature,
etc. The posters give a glimpse of
women writers of different Indian
languages who have made major
contributions in the field of literature
including Dr Pratibha Ray,
Mahasweta Devi, Lily Ray, Mridula
Garg, Kanakalata Barua, Ashapoorna
Devi.
In the morning, Meet the Author
and Reading Session was organised
by Punjabi Akademi (Delhi) in which
Chandan Negi, well-known Punjabi
author shared her journey as a
writer with book lovers; and
Sukhwinder Kaur recited her poems
in Punjabi. Later, a poets’ meet was
also organised. In this meet, litterateurs Nirupama Sinha, Anita
Maheshwari, Saroj Singh, Dr
Nirmala Singh, Dr Anita Singh,
Sandhya Singh, Manoj Shukla among
others participated. A performance
based on saint poet Meerabai by
Meenu Thakur and troupe from
Delhi was also organised. In the
evening a discussion on women
writings was organised in which Dr
Avanijesh Awasthi, Dr Shashi
Prabha Tiwari and Dr Krishna
Sharma.
Besides, a number of discussions,
book release and meet the author
programmes were organised during
the day across the Fair.
Children’s Pavilion is again a different world of magic and mysteries
to mesmerise the children and adults
alike. Syeda Hameed and Kamla
Bhasin, both are writers, unveiled the
Bharat Mata Ka Paanch Roop originally written by Khwaja Ahmed
Abbas to the children. The programme was organised by Pratham
Books.
An illustrator of children’s books,
Atanu Roy engaged the children in
an illustration workshop under the
banner A Brush with Creativity.
Children were asked to draw a monster and they came with really frightening drawings of monsters.
Children of all age group in large
number participated and enjoyed the
workshop.
A quiz competition was organised by National Monuments
Authority under Ministry of Culture,
Government of India. Children were
asked questions like: The biggest discovery of early man, ancient name of
Delhi, Who wrote Panchatantra etc.
The students of Nidhi Public
School, Faridabad, enacted a play
Let’s Know our Solar System. The
children weaved the story around
facts and introduced each planet
with their special characteristics.
The main focus was to save the earth
and its overall environment for our
own existence.
An interactive storytelling session World of Stories was conducted
by Payal Chaudhary a freelance storyteller. She narrated the story of
how the Ganga came on earth and
the important role it plays in our
everyday life. The children were
deeply involved with the style and
presentation of the story.
$ZDUHQHVVFDPSDLJQIRUFDVKOHVVWUDQVDFWLRQV
A
fter implementing demonetisation, central government has
A
now introduced E-wallet apps to
promote Digidhan for smooth transaction of money.
To propagate this message
among tribal people, backward communities and minorities, a volunteers
organisation, TJAPS Krishi Bikash
0Xa2WXTU<PabWP[T]R^daPVTb
RPSTcbPc=22
ir Chief Marshal BS awareness themes. He was given
Dhanoa on his visit to the a crisp brief by the cadets on
A
NCC Republic Day Camp con- their respective models.
gratulated the cadets for their
captivating cultural programme
and soldierly alertness on
parade. The Chief of Air Staff
also reviewed a Guard of
Honour presented by the smartly turned out cadets from all the
three wings of the NCC i.e.
Army, Navy and Air Force.
This was followed by a brilliant
band display by the cadets. On
arrival, the Air Chief was
received by the DGNCC, Lt.
Gen. Vinod Vashisht.
The CAS inspected the well
laid out flag area prepared by the
cadets from all 17 NCC directorates depicting various social
The CAS thereafter, visited
Hall of Fame, a proud possession of NCC with display of rich
archival collection of alumni
photographs, models, motivational and other achievements
of NCC. The Air Chief along
with other distinguished guests
later witnessed cultural programme by the cadets in the
NCC auditorium.
Dhanoa also lauded the
stellar role played by NCC in
shaping the youth of our nation
through its motto of ‘Unity
and Discipline’, enabling them
to shoulder the responsibilities
of building a strong nation.
Shilp Kendra has started a massive
awareness campaign. The campaign
is focused at educating the tribal and
backward areas in India with the help
of 6500 volunteers.
Secretary of TJAPS Krishi Bikash
Shilpa Kendra, Soumen Koley said,
“Our organisation completely supports the cashless transaction move
implemented by our government in
order to eradicate corruption and
black money from the country.”
He further added, “We have
appointed volunteers for a month to
campaign in Delhi, Kolkata and
North-eastern states and spread the
message of E-wallet apps and educate
people about the same.”
8VY]`egZdZedDZ]gVc;fSZ]VV6ia` :d[bWaTbcWPcPZTb
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M
inister Social Justice and
Empowerment,
Thaawarchand Gehlot, visited
the Silver Jubilee Expo being
organised by National Backward
Classes Finance and Development
Cooperation (NBCFDC), a CPSE
under the Ministry at Handloom
Haat. The Minister spent time
interacting with the beneficiary
artisans from various states
including Jammu and Kashmir,
Himachal Pradesh, Haryana,
Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh,
Madhya Pradesh, Assam and
Manipur, who are selling their
products in the two week expo.
Expressing his satisfaction over
the progress of the beneficiaries, he specifically motivated
the youths who have undertaken skill training under
NBCFDC schemes to avail
loans which are provided at
interest rates of 4 per cent to 6
ucceeding Rajiv Misra, who briefly held additional
charge as General Manager, Northern Railway, R.K.
SKulshrestha,
Chief
per cent per annum.
Later, Gehlot also shopped
for various dress material, he
made the payments through
digital means using cashless
facilities which have been provided for at the Handloom
Haat. Appreciating gesture of
the Minister, officials of Apex
S ocieties of Handlooms
(ACASH), Ministry of Textile
assured that they too will
spread the message of digital
transaction amongst the vendors and customers visiting
the Handloom Haat.
Electrical Engineer,
Southern Railway has
been appointed as
General Manager,
NRW.
An
eminent
Electrical Engineer,
Kulshrestha is an IIT,
Roorkee graduate.
Belonging to the
Indian
Railway
Service of Electrical
Engineers of 1980
batch, Kulshrestha
had an extensive
work experience in several zones on the railways viz.
Eastern Railway, South Eastern Railway, Southern
Railway, South Central Railway, West-Central Railway
besides RDSO/Lucknow.
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n his maiden visit to Kohima, as the
Director General of the Elite Force,
O
Lieutenant General Shokin Chauhan paid
homage to the martyrs at the Kohima War
Cemetery. He visited Headquarters IGAR
(North) at Kohima and the Assam Rifles garrison at Chiswema where he reviewed the security situation. During his visit to the Kohima
Garrison, he complimented the troops of the
Force for their dedication and devotion to duty
and felicitated six outstanding personnel with
the Director General Assam Rifles
Commendation Card. The DGAR also called on
P B Acharya, Governor and T R Zeliang, Chief
Minister of Nagaland. The dignitaries had a discussion on wide ranging issue during the interaction. His Excellency the Governor and the
Chief Minister of Nagaland complimented the
Lieutenant General, on assuming the coveted
appointment of Director General Assam Rifles
and conveyed their appreciation for the outstanding contribution of the Assam Rifles
towards maintaining peace and tranquillity
in Nagaland.
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arupalli Kashyap and the mixed
doubles pair of Chris Adcock and
Gabrielle Adcock helped Chennai
Smashers get past Awadhe Warriors 4-3 in
a Premier Badminton League here on
Wednesday.
Both Awadhe and Chennai have
already qualified for the semifinals.
However, Awadhe finished as table-toppers
with 21 points and Chennai remained in
third position with 17 points, behind
Mumbai Rockets with 19 points.
It was the Adcock couple, who brought
Chennai back by levelling the tie with a 114, 11-9 win in the second match against
Bodlin Isara and Prajakta Sawant.
Taking advantage of the mixed doubles pair's victory, Parupalli Kashyap won
the trump match 11-7, 5-11, 11-7, which
put Chennai ahead of Awadhe 3-1.
Kashyap took 6-5 lead into the first
break after Aditya Joshi gave a tough fight,
but the Chennai player hogged the limelight by clinching the first game, rather
convincingly.
Joshi roared back by impressing one
and all with a 6-1 lead in the second break.
Kashyap fought back, making it 4-6, but
could not build the tempo and lost to Joshi,
who smashed down the line to hog the
game point of the third match.
In the decider, there was some awesome badminton from Joshi and Kashyap,
but the Awadhe shuttler went into the
break leading 6-5.
Kashyap's vicious smashes helped
Chennai shuttler make it 8-6 and eventually the Hyderabad lad pulled off a
thrilling win over Joshi.
Down 0-1 in the tie, Chennai mixed
doubles pair brought the team on par with
their rival 1-1, after two matches.
The couple defeated Awadhe's counterparts - Isara and Sawant, who made her
PBL debut. The pair won the first game as
it was a cake walk, but had to fight back
in the second game with Awadhe pair giving them a nagging time.
In the super match, PV Sindhu
straightaway dominated the proceedings,
treating her opponent with powerful
jump smash to make it 4-2. She then executed two tantalising drop shots to go into
the break leading 6-2 against Rituparna
Das.
Sindhu won the opening game 11-4
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ormer No 1 Caroline
Wozniacki's streak of not
F
advancing past the quarterfi-
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easily.
Sindhu started off the proceedings by
winning four points on a trot in the second game.
Sindhu then made it 9-4 against
Ritupurna by her deceptive drop shot and
pocketed the match, giving Chennai an
unassailable 4-1 lead in the tie.
In the first match of the tie, Wong
Wing Ki Vincent began the campaign for
Awadhe on a high note by clinching the
first match 6-11, 11-9, 12-10 against
Chennai's Tanongsak Saesomboonsak.
After conceding the first game,
Vincent bounced back by going into the
0?
break leading 6-5 in a close encounter.
He was leading 3-0, but Tanongsak
brought it to 9-9, but his double fault gave
a chance to Vincent to clinch the game,
thus pushing the match into the decider.
Keeping his cool in the decider,
Vincent pulled off a blinder after
Tanongsak had raced past him to 6-5 lead
in the third break, restraining Chennai to
get to a rollicking start in their quest to end
second on the points-table.
In the inconsequential trump match,
Kido Markis and V Shem Goh of Awadhe
Warrior defeated Mads Pieler and B
Sumeeth Reddy of Chennai 12-10, 11-8.
3TeX[b^]TU^^cX]5X]P[
nals in her past seven Sydney
Internationals was extended
in stifling heat on Wednesday.
In temperatures reaching
40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees
Fahrenheit) for much of the
match, Wozniacki lost 7-5, 67 (6), 6-4 to Barbora Strycova
in a duel that stretched to 3
hours, 19 minutes.
Both players were treated
for foot injuries during a grueling second set at Ken
Rosewall Arena. Wozniacki
came back from 5-2 down in
that set, and then 5-0 in the
tiebreaker, to win it and force
a third set.
"It was brutal out there ...
but you just try and think like
you're on a beach drinking pina
coladas," Wozniacki said.
"That's basically your train of
thought. You know that it's the
same for both players, so I was
just trying to mentally just try
and keep cool."
In the semifinals, Strycova
will play Agnieszka Radwanska.
The second-seeded Pole beat
Chinese qualifier Duan
Yingying 6-3, 6-2.
Former Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard continued her strong start to the year
with a 6-2, 6-3 quarterfinal win
over
Anastasia
Pavlyuchenkova.
Bouchard had a breakout
season in 2014, reaching the
semifinals at the Australian
Open and French Open before
making the final at
Wimbledon. But she has only
gone past the fourth round at
a major once since then and
slipped to No. 46 at the end of
last year.
"I feel more and more confident every day," Bouchard
said. "I feel like I'm getting back
into the rhythm of things a little bit, but it's a long road."
The Canadian's semifinal
opponent will be Sydney-born
Johanna Konta of Britain, who
beat Daria Kasatkina 6-3, 7-5.
Konta broke Kasatkina's service
in the 11th game of the second
set, helped by a double-fault to
set up break point in that
game.
Last year at the Australian
Open, Konta became the first
British women to make a
Grand Slam semifinal since
1983 before losing to eventual
champion Angelique Kerber.
In men's play in Sydney,
two-time defending champion
Viktor Troicki beat Paolo
Lorenzi 6-3, 6-4, and secondseeded Pablo Cuevas of
Uruguay defeated Nicolas
Mahut of France 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.
In Auckland, New Zealand,
John Isner narrowly avoided
the fate of two former champions when he beat Malek Jaziri
6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (6) to make the
quarterfinals of the ASB
Classic.
Isner won his last three
points with volleys at the net.
"The way I need to finish
points is that if I can I have to
try and finish them at the net,"
Isner said. "I did that three
times in a row and I'm very
proud of that."
Four former champions
were scheduled to play secondround matches Wednesday but
by the time the second-seeded
Isner took the court, two had
bowed out.
Defending champion and
No. 1-seeded Roberto Bautista
Agut was forced to withdraw
before play began because of a
stomach virus, handing Ruben
Statham a place in the second
round as a lucky loser from the
qualifying rounds.
Jiri Vesely, the 2015 champion, was due to play Bautista
Agut and thought he had
caught a break when the
Spaniard withdrew and the
434th-ranked Statham took his
place. But Vesely had a tussle on
his hands before winning 6-7
(6), 7-5, 6-3.
Four-time champion David
Ferrer was first up on center
court and lost 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (4)
to Robin Haase of the
Netherlands. In a night match,
fourth-seeded Jack Sock beat
fellow American Ryan Harrison
7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-1.
At the WTA's Hobart
International, former French
Open finalist Lucie Safarova
was beaten 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 by
Japanese qualifier Risa Ozaki.
Ozaki will next meet Monica
Niculescu.
Top-seeded Kiki Bertens
advanced with a 6-1, 6-4 win
over Galina Voskoboeva of
Kazakhstan and Shelby Rogers
defeated Lara Arruabarrena of
Spain 6-2, 6-2.
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0?Q <0=274BC4A
anchester United closed in on the
final of the English League Cup by
M
beating injury-hit Hull 2-0 in the first leg
of their semifinal thanks to second-half
goals by Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini
on Tuesday.
Mata put United on course for a ninth
straight win in all competitions by tapping
home from close range in the 56th
minute and substitute Fellaini headed in
a second in the 87th, before bounding to
the Old Trafford touchline and into the
arms of manager Jose Mourinho.
"The second goal is maybe the important goal," said Mourinho, who won the
League Cup three times with Chelsea and
is seeking to reach his first final as
United manager.
The second leg is at Hull on Jan 26
and United is a huge favorite to reach the
final for a ninth time. Liverpool play
Southampton in the other semifinal,
with the first leg on Wednesday.
United dominated throughout, unsurprisingly given the problems faced by an
opponent which had an injury crisis so
severe that it could only name six substitutes from a possible seven. Things got
worse for Hull at Old Trafford, with two
players — Markus Henriksen and Josh
Tymon — helped off with apparent
shoulder injuries.
With Zlatan Ibrahimovic absent
because of illness, Wayne Rooney was
given a start by United manager Jose
Mourinho — handing the England captain another chance to break United's
goal-scoring record he currently shares
with Bobby Charlton (249).
Rooney had two chances to get sole
ownership of the record, the first being
blocked early on before he shot wide from
a narrow angle in the 51st after being
released by Paul Pogba's brilliant long
0?
pass. He was substituted in the 59th
minute, with his next chance coming
against Liverpool in a Premier League
match at Old Trafford on Sunday.
By the time Rooney had left the field,
Mata had given United the lead — potentially from an offside position — and he
couldn't really miss after meeting a header across the face of goal from Henrikh
Mkhitaryan, following a right-wing cross
from Antonio Valencia.
Hull's makeshift defense was marshalled impressively by Tom Huddlestone
— a central midfielder playing at center
back — and United was mostly restricted to long-range attempts. One came from
Pogba, who curled a free kick against the
post in the 73rd.
Fellaini's goal, a far-post header from
Matteo Darmian's left-wing cross, put
United in firm control ahead of the second leg as the Belgium midfielder repaid
the faith shown in him by Mourinho.
Fellaini has been jeered by sections of the
home fans in recent weeks but has been
continually backed by Mourinho. The
Stretford End was chanting his name by
the end of the game.
B27=4834A;8=B4C5>A4E4AC>=
Manchester United manager Jose
Mourinho says the club is close to selling
midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin to
English Premier League rival Everton.
The 27-year-old Schneiderlin has
been told he can leave United after failing to establish himself in the team following his move from Southampton in
July 2015.
Speaking after United's 2-0 win over
Hull in the English League Cup semifinals
on Tuesday, Mourinho said "Morgan is
more than probably going to Everton."
The France international will reportedly move for 24 million pounds ($29
million).
0?Q 9>70==4B1DA6
ith an air of unease hanging over the
tournament, the African Cup of
W
Nations returns to Gabon for the second
time in five years.
Opposition parties in the oil-rich country central African nation have stated their
intention to use African football's biggest
show as an opportunity to express their
grievances against Gabon President Ali
Bongo Ondimba, who retained power in a
tense election last August that led to about
100 deaths on the streets, according to opposition claims. That gives African football
organisers, who chose to go back to former
co-host Gabon as a replacement for Libya,
even more to contend with alongside shaky
infrastructure and two largely untested new
stadiums.
Libreville, the capital city of palm treelined Atlantic Ocean beaches and French
colonial villas, and Franceville, deep inland
in the jungle and the last stop on the railway line that cuts across the country,
staged games when Gabon co-hosted with
Equatorial Guinea in 2012. Now, Gabon gets
the 16-team, 23-day tournament all to itself,
bringing in two new venues that have barely seen any kind of football before, let alone
a top international championship involving
European league superstars.
Oyem, a town in the far north surrounded by rubber plantations, will be home
to defending champion Ivory Coast for the
group stage. Hopefully for Manchester
United defender Eric Bailly and teammates,
they'll be in one of only a few hotels listed
with the luxury of hot water.
Port-Gentil, the southern center of
Gabon's oil industry, is the second new city.
Both have stadiums that were being built
right up to deadline and not many have set
eyes on the finished, or possibly unfinished,
products. The African Cup always has
vibrant color, fans painted head to toe and
in an array of wacky outfits, and competing countries you're unlikely to ever see at
the World Cup, even when it's expanded:
Guinea-Bissau qualified this year, its first
appearance at a major tournament and the
first time it's really come anywhere close to
the big time.
But the African championship is also an
event that flirts with calamity. Two years ago
at the tournament in nearby Equatorial
Guinea, there were brawls between players
on the field and riots in the stands when
security forces waded in among supporters
wielding batons and an army helicopter hov-
ered so dangerously low in the stadium that
its rotors whipped up debris and scattered
the spectators.
This year, observers wonder how the
Gabonese security forces will react if there
are angry protests against Bongo, who succeeded his father as president and whose
family has ruled Gabon since the 1960s.
In Africa, there are other problems to
contend with, too: In 2012, Ghana captain
Asamoah Gyan contracted malaria, luckily a mild strain, in Franceville. He recovered
and played a couple of days later.
This is a football event like no other, and
comes around more often than the others,
with the Confederation of African Football
still bucking the trend of other major tournaments and staging its showpiece every two
years, not every four. Among the title contenders over the next three weeks - kickoff
is on Saturday and the final is on Feb 5 Ivory Coast is striving for the rare achievement of back-to-back African titles after the
team finally ended a long drought two years
ago. There are two significant absences for
the Ivorians this time, though, with powerful midfielder Yaya Toure, its driving force
last time, retired from international football
and victorious coach Herve Renard now in
charge of group opponent Morocco.
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he mountain of runs that
he has plundered so far in
first-class cricket has
ensured that the focus is trained
on young Rishabh Pant as India
A get ready to take on visiting
England in the second and final
warm-up match here on
Thursday.
This will be the last practice
game before the six-match limited overs series - three ODIs
and as many T20Is - begins with
the first ODI in Pune on Sunday.
Pant, who was part of the
India U-19 squad that finished
runner-up to the West Indies in
the last junior World Cup, has
impressed one and all with his
exploits in recent times.
His
308
against
Maharashtra at almost run-aball, an innings that contained
as many as 9 sixes and 42 fours,
at the beginning of this Ranji
Trophy season was followed by
another blistering three-figure
knock against Jharkhand, which
helped him earn a call-up to the
India T20 squad for T20
Internationals against England.
The pint-sized wicketkeeper, who is seen by many as
Mahendra Singh Dhoni's successor, should relish the
Brabourne Stadium track that
afforded good bounce and on
which the ball came on nicely in
last night's day/night practice
game, which England won. But
not all attention will be on Pant
as there's a rival to him for the
wicketkeeper batsman's spot in
Jharkhand's Ishan Kishan, his
teammate in the World Cup U19 side and also an attacking
batsman like the Delhi player.
The selectors have named
Kishan as wicketkeeper for the
game.
Skipper Ajinkya Rahane,
coming off a long injury-lay off,
will play his first game after his
rehabilitation and would be
eager to hit the straps before the
ODI series.
Suresh Raina, who has lost
his spot in the ODI team but is
a member of the T20 squad,
would also be keen to hit the
high note.
There are other all-round
aspirants like Vijay Shankar,
Parvez Rasool and Deepak
Hooda, besides experienced
batsman Sheldon Jackson in
the India A ranks.
The frontline bowling
would be handled by senior pacers Vinay Kumar, Ashok Dinda
and Pradeep Sangwan, along
with left- arm spinner Shahbaz
Nadeem.
England too would like a
game to be given to their main
all-rounder Ben Stokes, wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow and
speedster Liam Plunkett who
were in the reserves yesterday.
Key batsman Joe Root is,
however, unlikely to play the
game as he is set to join the team
only tomorrow and then travel
with the others to Pune for the
first ODI.
Unlike the opening warmup tie, the second one is a day
match.
B@D03B
8=3800)Rishabh Pant, Ajinkya
Rahane (captain), Suresh
Raina, Deepak Hooda, Ishan
Kishan (wk), Sheldon Jackson,
Vijay Shankar, Shahbaz
AXbWPQW?P]c;TUcP]S0YX]ZhPAPWP]TPQ^eTX]UX[T_W^c^b
Nadeem, Parvez Rasool,
Vinay Kumar, Pradeep
Sangwan, Ashok Dinda
4=6;0=3) Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, Jonny
Bairstow, Jake Ball, Sam
Billings, Jos Buttler, Liam
Dawson, Alex Hales, Liam
Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Jason
assurance that he would continue to play the aggressive
brand of cricket that made him
what he is on Wednesday.
Having relinquished limited overs captaincy after leading
India to two World Cup triumphs during an eventful
tenure that spanned nearly a
decade, Dhoni captained the
Men in Blue for one last time in
a warm-up game against
England Tuesday night.
The perfect finish may have
eluded him, as his team lost by
three wickets, but Dhoni, in a
video chat with Yuvraj Singh,
assured that he would continue to hit those trademark sixes
if they are to be hit.
"If they bowl in my areas,
Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey the right areas and the situation
permits I would look to hit
and Chris Woakes.
sixes," Dhoni told long-time
F8;;2>=C8=D4C>78CB8G4B teammate Yuvraj.
Dhoni's stint at the helm
Mahendra Singh Dhoni has
offered words of comfort to his had more ups than downs, and
die-hard fans, still coming to he called it amazing.
"The journey has been
terms with his decision to sign
off as India captain, with an good, fantastic... It's good to
have players like you (looking
at Yuvraj), the job becomes
much more easier. And enjoyed
my 10 years, hopefully I will
enjoy more whatever I have."
Referring to Yuvraj's six
consecutive sixes in the inaugural World T20, Dhoni said,
"Thanks to you I witnessed the
six sixes from the best seat."
Dhoni was at the nonstriker's end while Yuvraj bludgeoned Stuart Broad.
Yuvraj posted the video on
social media after the match got
over in which he asked a couple of very interesting questions
to Dhoni, who answered each
question in his typical manner.
Paying a tribute to his former skipper, Yuvraj said, "You
have been one of the best captains ever. It's been amazing
playing under you, winning
three big championships, the
World Cup and being the number one Test team in the world
under you. Thanks for giving
me the opportunity to go and
slog as always."
3Q`dQY^Y^WY^Q\\#V_b]QdccebbUQ\*;_X\Y
?C8Q ?D=4
ndia skipper Virat Kohli on Wednesday said
captaining in all three formats of cricket is quite
I"surreal"
and he never thought that this day would
come in his life.
"It is quite surreal. I never thought this day
is going to come to my life. When I came to the
team, I was always looking to perform, get more
opportunities and build solid consistent career
and contribute to the team in winning games,"
said the prolific right-handed batsman.
Kohli, who was leading the Test side, was
appointed as the ODI and T20 skipper last week,
after country's most successful captain Mahendra
Singh Dhoni stepped down from the position.
The Delhi batsman spoke to Mandira Bedi
during a talk show after inaugurating Nitesh Hub
Mall here.
The star player, while answering a question
on how does it feel to be the skipper in all the
three formats, said he never thought the path is
going to lead this way.
"I feel everything is God sent. Anything happens to you, happens for a reason and happens
at a right time in your life," he added.
It was under Kohli's leadership that the India
U-19 team had clinched the colts World Cup in
2008.
The Delhi player said he has always been the
captain to the team that played in junior levels.
"But being captain of India is whole differ-
<B3W^]XP]SEXaPc:^W[XSdaX]VP_aPRcXRTbTbbX^]X]?d]T^]FTS]TbSPh
ent ball game all together. As they mention it, it
is the hot seat in all different ways such as the
attention, the praise, criticisms, all these things
come along with it.
"But one thing comes along with this is the
responsibility and that makes me a better cricketer and a better person as I learn about life
through this experiences, so I take it as an opportunity," he explained.
?C8
Asked did captaincy come as a surprise, Kohli
opined that he will not call it as a surprise and
said as a player, he always wanted to give his inputs
on the field and was constantly thinking about
the game. Kohli said it is a privilege that he was
found worthy of taking the legacy forward and
having the responsibility to lead the team in all
three formats.
He also said captaining in all three formats
is not a situation of too much pressure and this
is an opportunity to make the difference to the
team's fortune.
Asked him about the pressure of captaining India, Kohli said, "I won't say it is not a stressful job, however, it is fun".
Kohli also said captaincy is all about understanding the strengths and weaknesses of people around you.
"The way I came up in my career is similar.
I knew my strengths and weaknesses but people did not like me as such. They were not too
pleased with the way I presented myself, the way
I was.
"My mistakes were not acceptable. That
always gave me a mindset of doing things my
way and finding a way to make it work, as there
is no one way to do anything. You can have different ways, you can have different style till your
intent is good," said Kohli, who has played 176
ODIs so far.
When asked is it hard for him to captain a
side having senior players, Kohli said it is a privilege and there is a lot of mutual respect in the
change (dressing) room.
Asked him about is he excited to lead in the
World Cup, he said it is too far ahead.
Kohli also said he gets goose bumps thinking of captaining India in World Cup.
"Because, it is an honour to be a captain in
the World Cup if I still (remain) captain of the
team that time," he quipped.
BP\1X[[X]VbQPcbPVPX]bc8]SXP0SdaX]VcWTXafPa\d_\PcRW^]CdTbSPh
0?
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scene to pave the way for Test
skipper Virat Kohli to take
ngland batsman Sam over in all three formats.
A big crowed turned up to
Billings says working with
Rahul Dravid during his six- watch Dhoni lead a team for
week IPL stint for Delhi the last time and Billings, who
Daredevils last year helped played some audacious reverse
him improve his footwork sweeps during his knock, was
appreciative of it as he said it
against spin bowling.
Billings smashed a match- mirrored the type of situation
winning 93 to guide England his team will encounter during
to a three-wicket victory in a the six-match limited over
warm-up match against India series featuring three ODIs
A ahead of the limited overs and as many T20Is, comseries against the hosts. The mencing at Pune on Sunday.
"What a great crowd here
match also saw Mahendra
Singh Dhoni leading an India for a warm-up game and so
realistic to the first game of the
side for one last time.
"It's (IPL stint) definitely series in a couple of days! It's
going to help (in the upcom- great. All the best to him
ing series). My footwork (Dhoni).
"It was great to
against
spin
have such a great
improved just in the
crowd for a warm up
six weeks here
working with Rahul 1X[[X]VbXb game. It makes it far
more realistic and
Dravid, one of the
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competitive. If it was
best players ever to
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a completely empty
play the game. It's
_XRZfXcW
stadium, playing
an amazing experience and one I 9^TA^^c against Mahendra
would like to have
P]S1T] Singh Dhoni, we
should have been
again," Billings said.
Bc^ZTb
playing
on
a
"Spin is to play a
bTcc^
Maidan! At the end
massive
part,
Ashwin and Jadeja aTcda]U^a of the day you would
a crowd
are the best in the
UXabc>38 have
whether it's IPL or
world as well; We
Big
Bash
(in
have got quite a few
Australia)." said
guys with lots of
Billlings.
experience over here now."
Billings also praised chiBillings described Dhoni
as a hero not only in India but naman bowler Kuldeep Yadav
who bowled superbly against
across the world.
"He's a hero around India his side and kept India A in
and around the world. What a the hunt for a win with a fivegreat career he has had just as wicket haul.
"He's a good bowler, isn't
a captain! Showed today that
plenty of cricket is left in him, he? He's there for a reason
didn't he," said Billings who playing in a very good side. He
made 93 and also stitched howled brilliantly. The other
two important partnerships to (Yuzvendra Chahal who took
help England get past India A's one wicket with orthodox leg
stiff total of 304 for five in the spin) played in IPL, didn't he?
tourists' first of two warm-up They are two very good spingames at the Brabourne ners, but it's going to be tough
for them to get in the (India)
Stadium Tuesday night.
Dhoni had announced side behind (Ravichandran)
that he was stepping down as Ashwin and (Ravindra) Jadeja,
captain from the limited over but promising signs as well."
E
@QdU\:e^UZQWYfU7eZQbQd\UQT ³3W^]XbcX[[ZThX]cTa\b^UR^\\d]XRPcX^]´
?C8Q 8=3>A4
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arthiv Patel led from the front and got a good support from Manprit Juneja to help Gujarat take a handy
P
63-run lead over defending champions Mumbai at stumps
ndia's premier spinner R Ashwin says
Mahendra Singh Dhoni still holds the key for
IIndian
cricket team in terms of communication
on day two of the Ranji Trophy final here on Wednesday.
Patel played the sheet anchor role with a solid 90 off
146 balls before missing out on a deserving hundred, as
Gujarat reached 291 for six at the end of the day's play
in response to Mumbai's 228. Gujarat would now look
to maximise their advantage going into day three.
Chirag Gandhi and Rush Kalaria were batting on 17
and 16 respectively when the stumps were drawn.
Having put on a solid 69-run stand with Bhargav
Merai (45), Patel added 120 runs for the fourth wicket
with Juneja, whose 77 off 95 balls took the game away
from the opposition.
Mumbai, however, had something to cheer about in
the final session where they managed to pick up three
wickets including the important ones of Patel and Juneja.
Gujarat, having made the final in 66 years, suffered
a severe blow early in the innings by losing in-form openers Priyank Kirit Panchal and Samit Gohel cheaply, their
leading run getters in the tournament.
Gohel, who was dropped by teenage sensation Prithvi
Shaw on the first ball of the innings yesterday, could only
score four runs off 34 balls before being caught at first
slip off pace spearhead Shardul Thakur.
Panchal, the season's leading run-getter with close
to 1300 runs, had a rare lean outing as he was caught
behind off Abhishek Nayar after crawling to six runs off
51 balls.
Gujarat were under pressure after the fall of their prolific openers but Patel's plucky knock put the pressure
back on Mumbai.
What made Patel's job easier was the way Juneja
approached his innings. The right-hand batsmen joined
his captain after the fall of Merai and with his aggressive intent put his team back in control.
Both Patel and Juneja scored at 4.58 runs per over,
frustrating the Mumbai bowlers.
Sloppy catching made matters worse for Mumbai with
and he is looking forward to adjust to Virat
Kohli's aggressive style of leadership.
Ashwin commented when asked how different the communication could be with Kohli
now leading the side in shorter formats too after
Dhoni relinquished captaincy.
"The difference is in communication. Virat
likes attacking, picking wickets at the cost of some
runs in the middle. In terms of leadership and
communication, Mahi still holds the key because
he's the keeper and brings invaluable experience
with him so it's important that we take valuable
tips from him and take the team forward,"
Ashwin said as the players assembled ahead of
the first ODI against England on Sunday.
"It (communication) will be different because
of the kind of interactions we will have before
and after. When I used to play alongside Mahi,
the dangerous looking Juneja dropped by Shreyas Iyer
off Nayar at short mid-wicket. Juneja was batting on 15
when was given a life.
He made Mumbai pay for their slip-up and smashed
11 fours in his attacking innings.
Later in the day, Gandhi was dropped by wicketkeeper
and Mumbai captain Aditya Tare.
Both Patel and Juneja departed in quick session to
leave Gujarat at 254 for five.
1A845B2>A4B
MUMBAI: 228 vs GUJARAT: 291/6 (Parthiv Patel 90,
Manprit Juneja 77; Abhishek Nayar 3/91, Shardul
Thakur 2/67).
which will not happen from this game onwards,
it's almost about communicating through from
top of the mark to wicket-keeper. Of course Virat
will be around in short cover. We will try to get
used to those communications.
"Virat on occasions can be aggressive, that's
one thing I need to try and get adjust to. Also
giving those extra runs for wicket is not a bad
thing to do."
Ashwin said after consistently playing the
Test series against many teams, adjusting to the
short format is a bit of challenge.
"It's more of a mental switch. We played a
few T20s in America and I switched pretty well.
I am sure it's going to be a challenge, next three
days will be important I tried to tick as many
boxes as possible when I practiced in Chennai."
Ashwin said coming into the new season
after a splendid 2016 was not "excess baggage"
for him.
"It was a good year but it is done and dusted. You can't rest back on your laurels a lot. The
game does not give you much time. 2017 is a new
year, I am going to start afresh and try and get
a good start.
"I would carry forward the confidence into
the series but it's a different game as the white
ball does not do enough off the wicket or in the
air. So the bowlers need to adjust," he said.
0<;0B44:B5>A<8= C7C4BC
05?Q 9>70==4B1DA6
ashim Amla will become the
H
eighth South African to
appear in 100 Test matches in the
third and final Test against Sri
Lanka starting at the Wanderers
Stadium on Thursday.
Although South Africa are
overwhelming favourites after
comfortable wins in the first two
Tests, the match has significance for
the hosts and for Amla in partic-
ular.
It will be a test of the team
culture achieved under the captaincy of Faf du Plessis and an
opportunity for Amla to bat his
way out of a rare slump in form.
Fast bowler Kyle Abbott
shocked Du Plessis, his fellow
players and team management
during the second Test in Cape
Town when he revealed that five
months previously he had signed
a Kolpak contract to play coun-
ty cricket in England.
Abbott's contract with
Cricket South Africa was immediately cancelled, breaking up a
match-winning fast bowling
combination and creating doubt
about the levels of trust within the
camp. Abbott is just one of six
current or recent international
players to have chosen to go the
Kolpak route, raising what Du
Plessis described as a "red flag" for
South African cricket.