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W ith the possibility of a fractured mandate loom- ing large, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi has started call- ing up Opposition leaders requesting their “availability” and “accessibility” in Delhi post the last phase of Lok Sabha polls on May 19. AICC sources confirmed the former Congress chief who had taken the lead in the for- mation of UPA in 2004 has been active from the confines of her 10 Janpath to bring all UPA allies, even regional heavyweights and neutral play- ers like BJD, TRS, on board with a clear motive to block the Modi juggernaut from return- ing to power at the Centre. Congress leaders recalled as how Sonia had reached out to Left and rushed to Chennai to meet DMK chief M Karunanidhi once the results suggested that Atal Bihari Vajpayee could not form the Government in 2004. “While she reached to Harkishen Singh Surjit in a hospital, she rushed to DMK even after having long differ- ences with them,” said a senior leader. The entire exercise is being done to get the first invite from President Ram Nath Kovind to form the Government. Sources said the Congress has taken the initia- tive in calling for this meeting as it does not want to lose any time in case the BJP does not get a majority. “All have a common agen- da, be it BJD, TRS or any other as they would never like to part of the arrogant BJP-led Modi Government. Some of them already in NDA and feeling suffocated for long may switch over sides post the May 23 afternoon,” said a top Congress leader. Sonia due to ill health had not been quite active in this Lok Sabha polls leaving the entire campaign on her chil- dren — party chief Rahul Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi. Soon after the third phase of polls, select group of Congress leaders picked by Sonia had been making efforts to reach out to regional par- ties. T he India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday said the southwest monsoon will be “slightly delayed” and arrive in Kerala on June 6. The normal onset date is June 1. Expected to be sluggish in its progression this season, it will be third such instance since 2014 when monsoon is set to miss the usual date of arrival. In 2014, it arrived on June 5, followed by June 6 in 2015, and June 8 in 2016. However, monsoon arrived in Kerala on May 29 last year, three days ahead of the nor- mal onset date. The prediction of delay by IMD and private weather fore- caster Skymet has worried investors. Shares of several agriculture sector and con- sumer goods companies col- lapsed in the stock market on Wednesday. The IMD forecast is in line with that of Skymet, which on Tuesday said the monsoon would hit Kerala on June 4. T he long pending plan of a two-lane flyover and an underpass on Mehrauli- Badarpur Road scheduled to start by March has once again got stuck as the project of Public Works Department (PWD) clashes with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) Phase IV Metro alignment which is coming on the same corridor. The Mehrauli-Badarpur project comprises three more projects, such as two-tier fly- over between IGNOU Road intersection and Ravidas Marg intersection, six-lane flyover between Maa Anandmayi Marg and Badarpur Road. “Phase-IV Metro align- ment is also coming in this cor- ridor. The proposal is under consideration of both PWD/DMRC. Final drawing will be submitted after align- ment is finalised with the DMRC. PWD and DMRC are conducting regular meetings to solve the issue,” an official said. A DMRC official said the Phase-IV metro projects work and updates on it will start only after the elections are over. According to the Delhi Traffic Police, a heavy jam on this stretch, especially at the T- point and signal near the Qutub Minar, is a daily affair. More than 7,000 vehicles pass through this route per hour during the morning peak hours and 4,000 vehicles during the evening peak hours, it said. “It is one of the busiest routes of the national Capital and due to improper road designs of the stretch, com- muters and traffic police face hardship,” said a senior traffic police official. The work on the proposed four-lane flyover near Qutub Minar traffic signal and Anuvrat T Point on Aurobindo Marg, where the Mehrauli Badarpur Road meets, was expected to begin in January 2019. However, it is hanging in the balance. The project, which was part of the Mehrauli decongestion plan, was pro- posed to ease traffic near Qutub Minar traffic signal for commuters who travel from Aurobindo Marg to Gurugram. Sources said after some portions of the proposed roads/flyovers adjoining Tughklakabad fort was hit by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), a 2+2 lane under- pass at Tughlakabad fort was proposed to be built in the range of 100m from ASI site i.e Tughlakabad Fort and Ghiyasuddin Tughlak Tomb. The ASI rules ban construction within the 100m radius of pro- tected monuments. A report said, “The Aerocity-Tughlakabad metro corridor under Phase-IV pro- ject of DMRC is “clashing with the viaduct of PWD’s flyover project”. This upcoming metro route is to connect Tughlakabad and the airport corridor will have 15 stations: Aerocity, Mahipalpur, Vasant Kunj Sector-D, Masoodpur, Kishangarh, Mehrauli, Lado Sarai, Saket, Saket G Block, Ambedkar Nagar, Khanpur, Tigri, Anandmayee Marg Junction, Tughlakabad Railway Colony and Tughlakabad. T he Election Commission on Wednesday took an unprecedented decision to end campaigning in nine parlia- mentary constituencies in West Bengal on Thursday night (10 pm) a day before its scheduled deadline for the last phase of the election on May 19, in the wake of violence between the BJP and Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers in Kolkata. Workers of the BJP and the TMC on Tuesday fought pitched battles on the streets of Kolkata during a massive road- show by BJP chief Amit Shah. In a separate order, the EC also shunted out top bureau- crats ADG (CID) Rajeev Kumar and State Principal Secretary (Home) Atteya Bhattacharya with immediate effect. Kumar has been direct- ed to report to the Ministry of Home Affairs. Both the TMC and the BJP approached the EC accusing each other of causing disrup- tion and violence during polit- ical campaigns in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls. A TMC delegation com- prising Derek O’Brien, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, Manish Gupta, Nadimul Haque met the EC accusing the BJP of dese- cration of statute of social reformer Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar during the violence in Kolkata. TMC leaders also released videos to claim “BJP goons” damaged the statue and submitted “proof ” in support of their claim to the poll body. Earlier, a BJP delegation urged the EC to bar West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from campaigning in the State and alleged “consti- tutional machinery” has col- lapsed there. In its order, the EC said it has been brought to the notice of the EC that there have been growing incidents of disrup- tion and violence during polit- ical campaigns/processions in the State of West Bengal dur- ing the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. As per the EC order, the prohibition will come into effect from 10 pm on May 16 and will continue till the con- clusion of voting. The nine affected constituencies include Dumdum, Barasat, Basirghat, Jaynagar, Mathurapur, Diamond Harbour, Jadavpur, Kolkata Dakshin and Kolkata Uttar. “During last 24 hours, representatives of various polit- ical parties have met the Commission and expressed their concerns on the prevail- ing conditions of law and orders. These campaign relat- ed incidents are creating an atmosphere of fear and hatred in the polling areas which is affecting the overall electoral environment,” the EC said in the order. “Therefore the EC in exer- cise of its powers under Article 324 of the Constitution to ensure free, fair and peaceful elections in the larger interest, hereby directs that no person shall convene, hold, attend, join or address any public meeting or propagate any elec- tion matter,” the order read. Earlier, intensifying its attack on the BJP over the des- ecration of Vidyasagar’s bust, O’Brien said, “The video not only clearly establishes what the BJP did, but proves that its chief Amit Shah is a liar and dhokebaaz (betrayer)”. “The streets of Kolkata are tinged with shock and anger. What happened yesterday (Tuesday) hurt Bengali pride,” the TMC leader said The reaction from the TMC came close on the heels of Shah accusing TMC of indulging in violence in the State and alleged that the poll panel has been a “mute spectator”. A day after BJP workers tak- ing part in Amit Shah’s roadshow allegedly stoned Calcutta University and ran- sacked the Vidyasagar College vandalising his statue, West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee held a mega roadshow and launched a vitriolic attack on the “saffron gang”. Mamata accused the BJP of planning the Tuesday’s skir- mish that apart from “destroy- ing the State’s rich politico-cul- tural heritage” left many peo- ple injured. In a smart political move, Mamata on Wednesday raised the issue of “Bengali pride” and attacked the BJP leaders for insulting the State’s pioneer renaissance personalities like Vidyasagar. Addressing a huge election rally at Agarpara under Dum Dum parliamentary con- stituency, the TMC chief said, “Yesterday’s attack was a well- planned criminal conspiracy hatched by the BJP,” reminding the people would see a “saffron holocaust” if they brought the BJP to power again. Referring to a video footage of a local BJP leader — in which he is shown directing his people to attack the TMC and police — going viral, she said, “I am sure that the entire BJP leadership, including its president and those below him, was involved in the criminal conspiracy to malign and ter- rorise Bengal. But I am also sure that the people of the State will never tolerate this.” It was an “irony that a tall icon like Vidyasagar, who was responsible for the women’s emancipation in India should have been insulted like this on his 200th anniversary,” she said, reminding how the pio- neer of the Bengal renaissance had fought for women’s edu- cation, widow remarriage, get- ting the British to enact laws on the subjects. Soon after the Agarapara rally, the Chief Minister walked a 6-km mega roadshow with several thousand supporters chanting anti-Modi slogans and sporting masks of Bengali cultural icons like Vidyasagar, Rabindranath Tagore, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Kazi Najrul Islam and others. On the BJP’s chances of coming back to power, Mamata said, “They are spending cash like anything to win the elec- tions but one is sure they will not return to power because they will get zero seats in Tamil Nadu, Kerala Andhra Pradesh, some parts of Maharashtra. They will fare poorly in Gujarat, MP, Telangana, Odisha and Bihar. In UP which used to be their mainstay, they will not get more than 17 seats. So their chances of returning to power are almost nil.” Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of peddling lies, Mamata said, “I have seen many Prime Ministers but I have never seen a liar PM like this man who talks big but reneges on his promises.” On the NRC, she said, “He is talking about invoking NRC in Bengal but I dare him do so. Touch the Bengalis and then see what happens. You have already thrown 20 lakh Hindu Bengalis and 22 lakh Muslim Bengalis apart from many Biharis and UP wallas out of the citizenship list. I am told that this is one reason that your party will not do well even in Assam.” C ongress party that had failed to gain any seat in Malwa-Nimar region in the year 2014 in Lok Sabha polls, is making all out efforts to get maximum seats from the BJP. With Malwa-Nimar region going to voting in the last phase, the BJP and Congress not only pushed its state lead- ership to canvass for the party but also roped in bigwigs to woo voters. The BJP had won all the eight seats in 2014. For the BJP, star cam- paigner --Prime Minister Narendra Modi held election rallies at Indore, Khandwa and Ratlam while the Congress also banked on its high profile campaigners— party president Rahul Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi with roadshows and election rallies. As PM Narendra Modi had drawn a huge crowd in his public meeting in Indore on Saturday, the Congress also managed to draw massive crowd in the roadshow held by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra there on Monday. Indore, being a high pro- file seat, seems a challenge for the BJP which tossed up a sur- prise denying ticket to lok sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan and fielding a rook- ie –Shankar Lalwani. Congress has its nose ahead while field- ing Pankaj Sanghvi, a rich businessman who had lost to Mahajan narrowly in 1998. It is believed that Lalwani, who never contested an assembly or lok sabha poll, might find it difficult to fill in the big boots of Mahajan, in Indore where Marathi voters are a decisive factor. At neighbouring Dewas, Congress has foxed BJP by fielding Kabir Bhajan singer Prahlad Tipanya who is an international artists and has a clean image. The BJP has fielded former district judge Mahendra Singh Solanki from the seat. Rahul Gandhi’s close aide Meenakshi Natrajan is taking on Suhdir Gupta in Mandsaur and anti-incumbency could help Natrajaj slightly. However, Gupta is bolstered from the unexpected results of assembly polls in Mandsaur and Neemuch where BJP won most of the seats despite the strong sentiments of police shoot out on farmers killing six in 2017. Two heavyweights –Nandkumar Singh Chuahan and Arun Yadav, ex state heads of the BJP and Congress have locked horns in Khandwa. Chauhan has a visible anti-incumbency in the region while Yadav is banking on a meticulous planning and internal fight in BJP. The two parties however appear on the same page in Dhar and Khargone. The BJP had denied tick- ets to sitting MPs – Savitri Thakur and Subhash Patel in Dhar and Khargone respec- tively ---picking exMP Chhatar Singh Darbar in Dhar and Gajendra Patel in Khargone. Both the candi- dates are facing heat from within the party. Congress while fielding little known Dinesh Girwal from Dhar and Govind Mujalde also found it tough to contain internal discord. Internal harmony is also missing in BJP in both parties in Ujjain. The BJP has picked up Anil Firodia who lost in assembly polls while many leaders aren’t happy with the Congress handpicking Babulal Malviya. Congress veteran tribal leader Kantilal Bhuria who won in a by-poll in Jhabua- Ratlam seems comfortable against BJP’s candidate and the Jhabua MLA GS Damore who only entered politics ahead of assembly polls after retiring from Government job. RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008
16

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Page 1: GZ`]V_TV c`Sd 3V_XR] R URj¶d TR^aRZX_ - Daily Pioneer

���������������� ��������

With the possibility of afractured mandate loom-

ing large, UPA chairpersonSonia Gandhi has started call-ing up Opposition leadersrequesting their “availability”and “accessibility” in Delhipost the last phase of LokSabha polls on May 19.

AICC sources confirmedthe former Congress chief whohad taken the lead in the for-mation of UPA in 2004 hasbeen active from the confinesof her 10 Janpath to bring allUPA allies, even regionalheavyweights and neutral play-ers like BJD, TRS, on boardwith a clear motive to block theModi juggernaut from return-

ing to power at the Centre. Congress leaders recalled

as how Sonia had reached outto Left and rushed to Chennai

to meet DMK chief MKarunanidhi once the resultssuggested that Atal BihariVajpayee could not form theGovernment in 2004.

“While she reached toHarkishen Singh Surjit in ahospital, she rushed to DMKeven after having long differ-ences with them,” said a seniorleader.

The entire exercise is beingdone to get the first invitefrom President Ram NathKovind to form theGovernment. Sources said theCongress has taken the initia-tive in calling for this meetingas it does not want to lose anytime in case the BJP does notget a majority.

“All have a common agen-

da, be it BJD, TRS or any otheras they would never like topart of the arrogant BJP-ledModi Government. Some ofthem already in NDA andfeeling suffocated for longmay switch over sides post theMay 23 afternoon,” said a topCongress leader.

Sonia due to ill health hadnot been quite active in thisLok Sabha polls leaving theentire campaign on her chil-dren — party chief RahulGandhi and general secretaryPriyanka Gandhi.

Soon after the third phaseof polls, select group ofCongress leaders picked bySonia had been making effortsto reach out to regional par-ties.

��� ������� ��������

The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) on

Wednesday said the southwestmonsoon will be “slightlydelayed” and arrive in Keralaon June 6. The normal onsetdate is June 1.

Expected to be sluggish inits progression this season, itwill be third such instancesince 2014 when monsoon isset to miss the usual date ofarrival. In 2014, it arrived onJune 5, followed by June 6 in2015, and June 8 in 2016.However, monsoon arrivedin Kerala on May 29 last year,three days ahead of the nor-mal onset date.

The prediction of delay byIMD and private weather fore-caster Skymet has worriedinvestors. Shares of severalagriculture sector and con-sumer goods companies col-lapsed in the stock market onWednesday.

The IMD forecast is inline with that of Skymet,which on Tuesday said themonsoon would hit Kerala onJune 4.

������������� ��������

The long pending plan of atwo-lane flyover and an

underpass on Mehrauli-Badarpur Road scheduled tostart by March has once againgot stuck as the project ofPublic Works Department(PWD) clashes with DelhiMetro Rail Corporation(DMRC) Phase IV Metroalignment which is coming onthe same corridor.

The Mehrauli-Badarpurproject comprises three moreprojects, such as two-tier fly-over between IGNOU Roadintersection and Ravidas Margintersection, six-lane flyoverbetween Maa AnandmayiMarg and Badarpur Road.

“Phase-IV Metro align-ment is also coming in this cor-ridor. The proposal is under

consideration of bothPWD/DMRC. Final drawingwill be submitted after align-ment is finalised with theDMRC. PWD and DMRC areconducting regular meetings tosolve the issue,” an official said.A DMRC official said thePhase-IV metro projects workand updates on it will start onlyafter the elections are over.

According to the DelhiTraffic Police, a heavy jam onthis stretch, especially at the T-point and signal near theQutub Minar, is a daily affair.More than 7,000 vehicles passthrough this route per hourduring the morning peak hoursand 4,000 vehicles during theevening peak hours, it said.

“It is one of the busiestroutes of the national Capitaland due to improper roaddesigns of the stretch, com-

muters and traffic police facehardship,” said a senior trafficpolice official.

The work on the proposedfour-lane flyover near QutubMinar traffic signal and

Anuvrat T Point on AurobindoMarg, where the MehrauliBadarpur Road meets, wasexpected to begin in January2019. However, it is hanging inthe balance. The project, which

was part of the Mehraulidecongestion plan, was pro-posed to ease traffic nearQutub Minar traffic signal forcommuters who travel fromAurobindo Marg to Gurugram.

Sources said after someportions of the proposedroads/flyovers adjoiningTughklakabad fort was hit bythe Archaeological Survey ofIndia (ASI), a 2+2 lane under-

pass at Tughlakabad fort wasproposed to be built in therange of 100m from ASI site i.eTughlakabad Fort andGhiyasuddin Tughlak Tomb.The ASI rules ban constructionwithin the 100m radius of pro-tected monuments.

A report said, “TheAerocity-Tughlakabad metrocorridor under Phase-IV pro-ject of DMRC is “clashing withthe viaduct of PWD’s flyoverproject”. This upcoming metroroute is to connectTughlakabad and the airportcorridor will have 15 stations:Aerocity, Mahipalpur, VasantKunj Sector-D, Masoodpur,Kishangarh, Mehrauli, LadoSarai, Saket, Saket G Block,Ambedkar Nagar, Khanpur,Tigri, Anandmayee MargJunction, Tughlakabad RailwayColony and Tughlakabad.

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The Election Commissionon Wednesday took an

unprecedented decision to endcampaigning in nine parlia-mentary constituencies in WestBengal on Thursday night (10pm) a day before its scheduleddeadline for the last phase ofthe election on May 19, in thewake of violence between theBJP and Trinamool Congress(TMC) workers in Kolkata.

Workers of the BJP and theTMC on Tuesday foughtpitched battles on the streets ofKolkata during a massive road-show by BJP chief Amit Shah.

In a separate order, the ECalso shunted out top bureau-crats ADG (CID) RajeevKumar and State PrincipalSecretary (Home) AtteyaBhattacharya with immediateeffect. Kumar has been direct-ed to report to the Ministry ofHome Affairs.

Both the TMC and the BJPapproached the EC accusing

each other of causing disrup-tion and violence during polit-ical campaigns in the ongoingLok Sabha polls.

A TMC delegation com-prising Derek O’Brien,Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, ManishGupta, Nadimul Haque met theEC accusing the BJP of dese-cration of statute of socialreformer Ishwar ChandraVidyasagar during the violencein Kolkata. TMC leaders alsoreleased videos to claim “BJPgoons” damaged the statue andsubmitted “proof” in support oftheir claim to the poll body.

Earlier, a BJP delegationurged the EC to bar WestBengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee from campaigning inthe State and alleged “consti-tutional machinery” has col-lapsed there.

In its order, the EC said ithas been brought to the noticeof the EC that there have beengrowing incidents of disrup-tion and violence during polit-ical campaigns/processions in

the State of West Bengal dur-ing the ongoing Lok Sabhaelections.

As per the EC order, theprohibition will come intoeffect from 10 pm on May 16and will continue till the con-clusion of voting. The nineaffected constituencies includeDumdum, Barasat, Basirghat,Jaynagar, Mathurapur,Diamond Harbour, Jadavpur,Kolkata Dakshin and KolkataUttar. “During last 24 hours,representatives of various polit-ical parties have met theCommission and expressedtheir concerns on the prevail-ing conditions of law andorders. These campaign relat-ed incidents are creating anatmosphere of fear and hatredin the polling areas which isaffecting the overall electoralenvironment,” the EC said inthe order.

“Therefore the EC in exer-cise of its powers under Article324 of the Constitution toensure free, fair and peaceful

elections in the larger interest,hereby directs that no personshall convene, hold, attend,join or address any publicmeeting or propagate any elec-tion matter,” the order read.

Earlier, intensifying itsattack on the BJP over the des-ecration of Vidyasagar’s bust,O’Brien said, “The video notonly clearly establishes whatthe BJP did, but proves that itschief Amit Shah is a liar anddhokebaaz (betrayer)”.

“The streets of Kolkata aretinged with shock and anger.What happened yesterday(Tuesday) hurt Bengali pride,”the TMC leader said

The reaction from theTMC came close on the heelsof Shah accusing TMC ofindulging in violence in theState and alleged that the pollpanel has been a “mute spectator”.

����� ��������) �������( � ������ �����"���"��* ��������������������������������� ����� �������� 4*4,24,4

Aday after BJP workers tak-ing part in Amit Shah’s

roadshow allegedly stonedCalcutta University and ran-sacked the Vidyasagar Collegevandalising his statue, WestBengal Chief Minister andTMC chief Mamata Banerjeeheld a mega roadshow andlaunched a vitriolic attack onthe “saffron gang”.

Mamata accused the BJP ofplanning the Tuesday’s skir-mish that apart from “destroy-ing the State’s rich politico-cul-tural heritage” left many peo-ple injured.

In a smart political move,Mamata on Wednesday raisedthe issue of “Bengali pride” andattacked the BJP leaders forinsulting the State’s pioneerrenaissance personalities likeVidyasagar.

Addressing a huge electionrally at Agarpara under DumDum parliamentary con-stituency, the TMC chief said,“Yesterday’s attack was a well-planned criminal conspiracyhatched by the BJP,” remindingthe people would see a “saffronholocaust” if they brought theBJP to power again.

Referring to a videofootage of a local BJP leader —in which he is shown directinghis people to attack the TMCand police — going viral, shesaid, “I am sure that the entireBJP leadership, including itspresident and those below him,was involved in the criminalconspiracy to malign and ter-rorise Bengal. But I am alsosure that the people of the Statewill never tolerate this.”

It was an “irony that a tallicon like Vidyasagar, who wasresponsible for the women’s

emancipation in India shouldhave been insulted like this onhis 200th anniversary,” shesaid, reminding how the pio-

neer of the Bengal renaissancehad fought for women’s edu-cation, widow remarriage, get-ting the British to enact laws onthe subjects.

Soon after the Agarapararally, the Chief Minister walkeda 6-km mega roadshow withseveral thousand supporterschanting anti-Modi slogansand sporting masks of Bengalicultural icons like Vidyasagar,Rabindranath Tagore, NetajiSubhas Chandra Bose, KaziNajrul Islam and others.

On the BJP’s chances ofcoming back to power, Mamatasaid, “They are spending cashlike anything to win the elec-tions but one is sure they willnot return to power becausethey will get zero seats inTamil Nadu, Kerala AndhraPradesh, some parts ofMaharashtra. They will farepoorly in Gujarat, MP,

Telangana, Odisha and Bihar.In UP which used to be theirmainstay, they will not getmore than 17 seats. So theirchances of returning to powerare almost nil.”

Accusing Prime MinisterNarendra Modi of peddlinglies, Mamata said, “I have seenmany Prime Ministers but Ihave never seen a liar PM likethis man who talks big butreneges on his promises.”

On the NRC, she said,“He is talking about invokingNRC in Bengal but I dare himdo so. Touch the Bengalis andthen see what happens. Youhave already thrown 20 lakhHindu Bengalis and 22 lakhMuslim Bengalis apart frommany Biharis and UP wallasout of the citizenship list. I amtold that this is one reason thatyour party will not do well evenin Assam.”

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Congress party that hadfailed to gain any seat in

Malwa-Nimar region in theyear 2014 in Lok Sabha polls,is making all out efforts to getmaximum seats from the BJP.

With Malwa-Nimar regiongoing to voting in the lastphase, the BJP and Congressnot only pushed its state lead-ership to canvass for the partybut also roped in bigwigs towoo voters. The BJP had wonall the eight seats in 2014.

For the BJP, star cam-paigner --Prime MinisterNarendra Modi held electionrallies at Indore, Khandwaand Ratlam while theCongress also banked on itshigh profile campaigners—party president Rahul Gandhiand general secretary PriyankaGandhi with roadshows andelection rallies.

As PM Narendra Modihad drawn a huge crowd in hispublic meeting in Indore onSaturday, the Congress alsomanaged to draw massivecrowd in the roadshow held byPriyanka Gandhi Vadra thereon Monday.

Indore, being a high pro-file seat, seems a challenge forthe BJP which tossed up a sur-prise denying ticket to loksabha speaker SumitraMahajan and fielding a rook-ie –Shankar Lalwani. Congresshas its nose ahead while field-ing Pankaj Sanghvi, a richbusinessman who had lost toMahajan narrowly in 1998.

It is believed that Lalwani,who never contested an

assembly or lok sabha poll,might find it difficult to fill inthe big boots of Mahajan, inIndore where Marathi votersare a decisive factor.

At neighbouring Dewas,Congress has foxed BJP byfielding Kabir Bhajan singerPrahlad Tipanya who is aninternational artists and has aclean image. The BJP hasfielded former district judgeMahendra Singh Solanki fromthe seat.

Rahul Gandhi’s close aideMeenakshi Natrajan is takingon Suhdir Gupta in Mandsaurand anti-incumbency couldhelp Natrajaj s l ight ly.However, Gupta is bolsteredfrom the unexpected resultsof assembly polls in Mandsaurand Neemuch where BJP wonmost of the seats despite thestrong sentiments of policeshoot out on farmers killingsix in 2017.

Two heavyweights–Nandkumar Singh Chuahanand Arun Yadav, ex stateheads of the BJP andCongress have locked horns

in Khandwa. Chauhan has avisible anti-incumbency inthe region while Yadav isbanking on a meticulousplanning and internal fight inBJP.

The two parties howeverappear on the same page inDhar and Khargone.

The BJP had denied tick-ets to sitting MPs – SavitriThakur and Subhash Patel inDhar and Khargone respec-tively ---picking exMPChhatar Singh Darbar inDhar and Gajendra Patel inKhargone. Both the candi-dates are facing heat fromwithin the party.

Congress while fieldinglittle known Dinesh Girwalfrom Dhar and GovindMujalde also found it tough tocontain internal discord.

Internal harmony is alsomissing in BJP in both partiesin Ujjain. The BJP has pickedup Anil Firodia who lost inassembly polls while manyleaders aren’t happy with theCongress handpickingBabulal Malviya.

Congress veteran triballeader Kantilal Bhuria whowon in a by-poll in Jhabua-Ratlam seems comfortableagainst BJP’s candidate andthe Jhabua MLA GS Damorewho only entered politicsahead of assembly polls afterretiring from Governmentjob.

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Unable to bear pressure ofBoard examination results

scheduled to be declared onWednesday, a class 10 studentcommitted suicide at RajeevNagar under Ashoka Gardenpolice station area in the earlymorning hours.

Police said that thedeceased has been identified asSonu alias Bhanupratap Shakyawho hailed from Sehore andwas currently living in RajeevNagar.

The deceased committedsuicide in the early morninghours on Wednesday. He usedto live with his parents and twoyounger siblings.

The family members wereasleep at the time of the inci-dent.

It was not clear that thedeceased cleared the exam ornot as the result was not checkedby the family members whotook the deceased to hospital.

The reason remainedunknown and would be inves-tigated during the further inves-tigation said police.

Police have registered acase under section 174 of theCrPC and started further inves-tigation.

Meanwhile, a 21-year-oldyouth was found dead nearReliance Petrol pump underGandhi Nagar police stationarea in the wee hours onTuesday.

Police said that an injuredman was rushed to a nearbyhospital where he was declareddead.

The deceased was identifiedas Rohit Verma of Rajgarh.

In the initial investigation,it was found that the motorbikemet the accident but it was notascertained that the bike skid orhit by a speeding vehicle.

The body was sent for thepost-mortem after the prelim-inary investigation. The policehave registered a case under sec-tion 174 of the CrPC and have started further investigation.

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Nishatpura police hasbooked a miscreant for

sexually assaulting an 18-year-old girl. The dead fetusof around seven months wasremoved at the hospital onTuesday.

According to the police,hospital staff informed theNishatpura police regardingthe dead fetus and atrocitywith the victim.

Shockingly, the victimwas minor when she got preg-nant. The family membersand victim were not aware ofthe sexual assault.

The police have regis-tered a case of sexual assault.

Police said that the victimwas a minor at the time of therape and at the time of oper-ation, she had just crossed 18years of age.

During the investigation,

police found the involvementof family member in the sex-ual assault due to which fam-ily members were trying tohide the atrocity and wantedto abort the baby.

The police have regis-tered a case under section 376of the IPC and have startedfurther investigation into thematter.

Family members have notreported the incident andhospital management report-ed the incident to police. Thematter surfaced after consentof father was required foroperating victim.

The circumstantial evi-dences suggest that the fam-ily members wanted abor-tion without informing any-one fear spread of social stig-ma.

Interestingly, the victimfailed to remember the atroc-ity she faced.

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Amedidation programme'Dhyanotsav' will be held in

city. The three day event will beorganised from May 17 to 19.

Heartfulness Institute, aninitiative of the Sri RamaChandra Mission, has launched‘Dhyanotsav’, a unique way ofconnecting with every house-hold in the country.

The initiative is a series ofthree-days free sessions thatwill demonstrate the impor-tance of meditation in enhanc-ing one’s experiences in life.Aimed at reaching the benefitsof the heartfulness meditationto many across the countrythese sessions are conductedfree of cost at hundreds of dis-tricts in the country. In a oneof a kind massive outreach pro-gram, these sessions will pro-vide a life altering experienceto those attending.

Notably, the three-day pro-gramme is an amalgamation ofYoga, Music, brighter MindsProgram, guided cleaning andguided prayer and some inter-esting brain training exercises

for the audience. The event willbe graced by Shri Patanjali(IRS), Principal Director ofIncome Tax (Investigation),M.P. & Chhattisgarh, ShriJaideep Prasad (IPS), IG,Bhopal and Shri Pawan Jain,ADG of Police.

Sharing about the initiative,Neel Kelkar, ZonalCoordinator, Madhya PradeshHeartfulness said, “After wit-nessing the success ofDhyanotsav in cities like Surat,Mumbai and Hyderabad, weare very happy to host welldesigned initiative for the par-ticipant in our own city Bhopal.Confident of seeing highdegree of participation fromthe citizens of Bhopal to expe-rience this life-changing activ-ity. Very honoured to have thepresence of Shri Patanjali (IRS),Shri Jaideep Prasad (IPS), ShriPawan Jain dignitaries duringthe event.”

C Vamsi Krishna, JointSecretary, HeartfulnessInstitute said, “Heartfulnessvolunteers have personallyreached out to every house-hold, school, local businessestablishments in the town toextend a personal invitation for

Dhyanotsav. The initiative is alife-changing experience forthe participants, who will learnthe importance and nuances ofmeditation in everyday life.Committed to the well-being ofpeople and to enhance theirwellness quotient, HeartfulnessInstitute has rolled out 2019flagship public events‘Dhyanotsav—Design ourDestiny’ to reach the benefits ofits relaxation, rejuvenation,and meditation techniquesquickly to masses.”

Dhyanotsav to ‘Design youDestiny’—is on ground threeday free Masterclasses to learnthe unique techniques ofRelaxation to relax your body,Rejuvenation to unwind yourmind and heart-basedMeditation to deeply connectwithin to enjoy the ocean ofcalmness & serenity inside.Transmission-aided heart-based meditation techniquemakes Heartfulness a uniqueone with effective results ofincreasing productivity, happi-ness, decision making withclarity of mind, better rela-tionship and other benefits forone and all who practice itdaily.

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Asatarical comedy play‘Bhram Rakshas Ka Naai’

was staged at Jawahar BalBhavan.

The play was performedhere on Wednesday leavingthe audience totally enthralled.

The play ‘Bhram Rakshaska Naai’ showcased that greedcan lead one to deep troubles.The play was written by RajeshJoshi. It was a fantastic playwherein there was a messagefor the society.

The play began with theintroduction of a characterwho is a barber by profession.But, the barber is lethargic anddoes not have any will towork.

His mother was upsetwith him and so, she askedhim to go into the forests.Agreeing on his mother'swish, the barber left for theforest. While he was walkingdeep into the forest, he metBhram Rakshas.

The Bhram Rakshas askedhis wish and the barber wassurprised. To check barber, hegave him the first task whichwas quite easy. When it wasdone, barber could not holdhis happiness.

Contented with BhramRakshas, the barber took him

home. At home, he used tomisuse the powers of Bhram

Rakshas. He tied him in aroom so that he cannot goanywhere. But, later BhramRakshas left and the barberwas back to his old life.

The play was performedbrilliantly by the little artistsof Jawahar Bal Bhavan.

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The use of ElectronicNicotines Delivery Systems

(ENDS) could reduce harm by90-95 percent as compared toTobacco-based smoking whichis remarkable and Governmentpolicies could encourage toshift towards ENDS which is ina very nascent stage in thecountry said RN Sharan,Professor, BiochemistryDepartment-North-EasternHill University (NEHU) whiletalking to the ‘The Pioneer’ inthe State Capital onWednesday.

Prof. Sharan said that theconclusions drawn and from

around 299 pieces of literatureacross the global over ENDS.

Answering the prevalencein the country of ENDS, hesaid, that the rate of acceptanceis still very slow and wouldgradually grow after peoplewould understand and replaceit with the existing Tobaccobased smoking products.

He said In UK they haveaccepted that ENDS is lessharmful to the extent of 95 per-cent. In the context of Indiaaccording to GATS-2 data inthe country around 2.67 lakhENDS users are present.

When asked regarding therate of retention of ENDS Prof.Saran provided that once anindividual opts ENDS leavingTobacco the chances of trend ofgoing back to the earlier one arevery less and which has beenproved on factual basis, it isaround 7.53 is the reversaltrend. On asking regarding theavailability, pricing of ENDS ascompared to Tobacco productsProf. Saran said that govern-ment has to come up with poli-cies which could figure this outas it would help the country ingetting rid of Tobacco smok-ing which is one the most crit-ical public health challengesand India homes to approxi-mately 106 million cigarettesmokers which accounts foralmost 11.2% of the world’ssmokers.

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Girls outshined this year inMadhya Pradesh Board

results of class XII with 76.31percent.

The Madhya PradeshBoard of Secondary Education(MPBSE) announced theresults of the Class XII here onWednesday. The passing per-centage of girls is higher thanthe boys this year of class XII.

Arya Jain, a student of thePCM (Physics, Chemistry,Maths) from Sagar emerged asthe topper, with 97.2%.Commerce student VivekGupta also ranked first with97.2% marks.

In the PCB (PhysicsChemistry Biology) stream thetopper is Srijan Srivastava, with96.2%. In the agriculturestream, Priya Chaurasia baggedthe first position with 96.2%marks.

Drishti Sanodia has toppedthe MP Board Class XII inHumanities stream with 95.8%and in the fine arts and homescience group, PratikshaSharma ranked the first with95.2% .

This year, 72.37 percentwere regular candidates and30.98 percent of the candidatesgetting admission were select-ed. In this, 68.84 percent stu-dents and 76,31 regular stu-dents have been successful inthe examination.

In this year's examination,42 percent more regular stu-dents have passed compared tolast year. At the same time,about half-a-quarter more stu-dents have succeeded by theself-sufficient candidate.

In the High SchoolCertificate Examination, thisyear 8, 66,725 candidates and2, 32, 76 candidates were reg-ular candidates. In the HigherSecondary School CertificateExamination, 5, 85, 759 candi-dates as regular candidates and1, 24, 457 candidates partici-pated in the examination asprivate candidate.

However, the meritoriousstudents will not be felicitatedat the time of results declara-tion due to model code of con-duct related to ongoing LokSabha polls. The students cancollect thier mark sheets afterfew days from the school.

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Indira Gandhi National TribalUniversity hosted a daylong

national workshop on ‘TribalHealth-Identifying the Gaps’ incollaboration with NationalInstitute of Research in TribalHealth (NIRTH), Jabalpur onWednesday.

Experts say that tradition-al healers in tribal dominatedareas are key to address tribalhealth issues. Efforts to keepthem in loop while formulatingany policy will ensure betterhealth conditions for them.IGNTU also signs MoU withNIRTH for health relatedresearch and with IndiraGandhi Rashtriya ManavSangrahalaya, Bhopal, to offerPG Diploma in Museologyduring the Workshop.

While inaugurating theworkshop Aparup Das,Director, ICMR-NIRTH elab-orated initiatives taken by theInstitute to improve the healthcondition of tribal communi-ty in India. Das said that trib-al community generally nevercomplain about their healthrelated problems, rather theywill approach traditional heal-er in their area to cure the dis-ease. ‘We need to bring all tra-ditional healers and theirexpert knowledge in loop to

prepare a comprehensive healthpolicy for tribal community.We need to identify the gaps intribal health programmes andshould try to bridge these gapswith the help of traditionalhealers’ he added. Das extend-ed cooperation with IGNTUand IGRMS for more researchon tribal health.

Prof Sarit K Chaudhuri,Director, IGRMS, Bhopal thatIndian tribes are diverse innature. ‘Any tribal develop-ment policy can be successfulonly when it addresses theirspecific cultural needs.Regional variation in tribesmust be kept in mind while for-mulating any plan’, he said.

Prof TV Kattimani, Vice-Chancellor, IGNTU said thatthe University is trying to everychallenges faced by the tribalcommunity including health,sanitation, primary and high-er education. ‘A working groupwith these two premier insti-tutes can be formed to formu-late more programmes’ he sug-gested.

IGNTU has signed MoUwith NIRTH to address tribalhealth issues. Another MoUwas signed with IGRMS tooffer PG Diploma inMuseology. ‘New diplomacourse will be distinctive as itwill comprise more compre-

hensive syllabus and will con-nect domain experts for teach-ing’, Prof. Sarit said.

One day workshop wit-nessed expert lectures on TribalHealth: Historical, Conceptualand Philosophical Issues, Tribalspecific diseases and theirManagement: The interven-ing role of Universities andResearch Institutes, Importanceof Traditional medicinalKnowledge, StrengtheningCommunity Health Carethrough Community levelactivities, Vital Demographicstatistics about Tribes, TribalWomen & their Health Statusand Health and NutritionManagement. The Workshopwas attended by faculty mem-bers, health community andresearch scholars of variousinstitutions.

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This International Day ofFamilies (May 15), SOS

Children’s Villages of India, avoluntary child care organisa-tion, launched #NoChildAlonecampaign.

The campaign is a call toacknowledge the difficulties of2 crore children without ade-quate parental care in India andevoke responses to ensure sup-port for children under the careof SOS India.

These 2 crore children donot receive adequate carebecause they have lost both oreither of their parents aban-doned or their families areunable to take care of them. Ifnot taken seriously with mea-sures like strengthening thefamilies, or providing aban-doned children with a family-like environment in an alter-nate care home, this figure isestimated to rise to 2.4 croresby the year 2021.

The United NationsConvention on the Rights ofthe Child, in its preamble,recognises many of the princi-ples in the declaration on therights of the child, such as fam-ily as the best environment fora child to grow, the importanceof child protection, best inter-est of the child, recognisingchild participation, etc. It statesthat it is convinced that thefamily, as the fundamental

group of society and the naturalenvironment for the growthand well-being of all its mem-bers and particularly children,should be afforded the neces-sary protection and assistanceso that it can fully assume itsresponsibilities within the com-munity. In India, concertedefforts are required to give afamily-like environment to theabandoned or orphaned chil-dren.

“Responding to the need ofthe hour, SOS India takes pridein launching the campaign -#NoChildAlone, on theInternational Day of Families,with which also coincides theSOS Family Day. The need isurgent and requires responsiblepartnership from individuals

and corporate besides continu-ous support from the govern-ment”, said Anuja Bansal,Secretary General, SOSChildren’s Villages of India.Elaborating on SOS Children’sVillages’ work towards reachingout to children without parentalor family care or at risk of los-ing it, Bansal added, “SOS Indiapresently has over 440 familiesunder its umbrella and we aretaking care of 26,000 childrenthrough our two flagship pro-grammes—family based careprogramme(FBC) and familys t r e n g t h e n i n gprogramme(FSP). The aim ofSOS India is to build families forchildren so that they grow upwith love, respect, dignity andsecurity.

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The son of a tea vendor hassecured third place in the

merit list of high school examsresults of which wereannounced with those of high-er secondary exam onWednesday.

Rajkumar, son of DurgaPrasad Soni, a tea vendor byprofession, has finished onthird place in the merit list ofhigh school exam. A native ofSusner in Madhya Pradesh,Rajkumar has secured 496 outof 500 marks in the exam.

Crediting his success tohard work and parents,Rajkumar accepted his fatherhad tough time running the

family with his meagre incomegenerated out of his tea stall.

In a message to his fellowstudents, Rajkumar urged themnot to be bogged down by has-sles of life and study with a ten-sion-free mind set to succeed.

Same is the story of ChetnaRajput, who secured fourthplace in the merit list of high-er secondary exam of MadhyaPradesh Board of SecondaryExamination (MPBSE). Nativeof a remote village Godgaon inHarda, Chetna drew inspira-tion from her mother–Subhadra, who could studydue to family issues but stoodbehind her daughter as a rockto fulfil her dreams throughher.

The road however wasn’tsmooth for Chetna who wasborn in a small village wherethere was no higher secondaryschool. Her mother came to herrescue and helped her reside ina rented room in Harda townand ultimately secure fourthrank in state merit list inBiology stream.

The high school topperGagan Dixit too is an inspira-tion for many. Gagan son of afarmer studied at home andremained away from mobilephone and ultimately securedthe top spot in high schoolexam with 499 marks out of500.

Ayushman Tamrakar, alsoa co-topper with Gagan and

also native of Sagar district asGagan, also attributed his suc-cess to focused studies.

In high school, 63.69 girlswhile 59.11% boys cleared theexams. The pass percentage for

boys in higher secondary examwas 76.31 and for girls, it was68.94%.

The MPBSE had declaredboard exam results onWednesday.

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A16-year-old youthdrowned at Khatlapura

when he had gone to take abath on Wednesday. The youthhad gone along with threefriends. The two went insidewater in which one died afterhe slipped. Jehangirbad policehave started investigation.

The deceased, identifiedas Sonu Pandey aka Navraj ofJogipura, had gone to take abath along with three otherfriends. Two entered in waterwhile two opted to remainoutside. Sonu slipped anddrowned, the friends informedlocals and police and laterbody was fished out.

The father of the deceasedworks at a shop in the samearea while the deceased was aclass 12 student and studying atSaraswati Vidya Mandir atGalla Mandi.

After the preliminaryinvestigation the body was sentfor the post mortem. The policehave registered a case undersection 174 of the CrPC andhave started further investiga-tion

Meanwhile, a 16-year-oldmentally unsound youthdrowned at Lower Lake onTuesday and his body wasfound near Kali Mandir underTalaiya police station area onWednesday.

Police said that thedeceased, identified as Gauravalias Gullu Singh, came to theKali Mandir along with friendsand later went missing. Hisbody was later found onWednesday near Kali Mandir.

Locals informed police andon the receipt of the informa-tion, BMC divers and policereached the spot and startedinvestigation.

The deceased was a resi-dent of Ashoka Garden andwas not mentally sound, saidpolice. Then, the body was sentfor the post-mortem. Thepolice have registered a caseunder section 174 of the CrPC.

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On the occasion of BuddhaPurnima, a three-day pro-

gramme ‘Yashodhara’ is beingorganised on the Jatak storiesof Lord Buddha. The event willbe held at Madhya PradeshState Tribal Museum fromSaturday.

The event will be inaugu-rated on Saturday at 7.00 pm. Inthe evening, on Saturday, adance drama Swarnamarg willbe staged. The dance drama isdirected by Chandra MadhavBarik. On next day i.e. Sundayplay Satyabodh will be per-formed. It is directed byRaverendra Kushwaha,(Gondan). On the last day i.e.on Monday, Vritti Nashik dancedrama will be presented. It isdirected by Vaishali Gupta.

It is to be noted that theJataka tales are a voluminousbody of literature native toIndia concerning the previousbirths of Gautama Buddha inboth human and animal form.The future Buddha may appearas a king, an outcast, a god, anelephant but, in whatever form,he exhibits some virtue that thetale thereby inculcates.

Often, Jataka tales includean extensive cast of characterswho interact and get into var-ious kinds of trouble where-upon the Buddha characterintervenes to resolve all theproblems and bring about ahappy ending.

These Jataka tales havealso been displayed in theworld through statues andpaintings. Jataka tales havebeen mentioned in the Stupasof World Heritage in MadhyaPradesh. Through these stories,efforts have been made toexplain policy and humanbeings through entertainment.These Jataka tales are artistic inwhole meaning even whilebeing preachy.

The form of these stories isalso of folk literature, in whichthere are stories of animals andbirds and also of humans.Through the theatrical stage,the moral values contained inMahatma Buddha's Jataka taleshave been attempted to beexpressed in a better way beforethe public through a ceremo-ny.

Presentations will be inthe museum auditorium from7:00 p.m. every day.

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Habibganj police hasbooked a 35-year-old man

for sexually assaulting a 25-year-old divorcee woman nearJP hospital a month ago. A casewas registered on Wednesday.

Police said that the victimlodged a complaint of sexualassault against a tenthouseowner. Police have registered acase against the accused iden-tified as Raju Pal.

The victim, separated fromher husband, used to live with

her children in Bheem Nagarand after the assault, sheapproached Shyamla Hillspolice station where a zero FIRwas registered and later, the casewas transferred to Habibganjpolice.

The victim works with acatering agency and in con-nection with work, she had metthe accused a month ago wholives near JP hospital and runscatering services. The accusedlured her of job and sexuallyassaulted her and escaped.

Police have registered a

case under sections 376 and 506of the IPC.

Meanwhile, a 26-year-oldmarried woman was raped byher relative at B –sector underPiplani police station area in theafternoon on Tuesday.

Police said that the accused,Naval Banerjee, sexuallyassaulted the victim who wasalone at her house on Tuesday.

The police have registereda case under section 376 and506 of the IPC. The accusedwas absconding at the time offiling the report.

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Temperature soared acrossthe State on Wednesday

after thundery activities andlight rainfall for the past 2-3days. The abrupt changes arefrequent during the pre-mon-soon period said Weatherman.

Most of the places acrossthe state witnessed day tem-peratures above 41 degreeCelsius and along with the daytemperatures night tempera-

tures witnessed increasingtrend.

State capital witnessedincreased night temperaturemaking the weather condi-tions discomforting.

The weather conditionsare less likely to provide reliefin the next 2-3 days.

The night temperaturessoared and highest night tem-perature of the state wasrecorded at 27.6 degree Celsiusin Rajgarh while Chindwara

and Seoni recorded night tem-peratures at 26.8 and 26.4degree Celsius respectively.

The thundery activities andlight rainfall have faded andweather conditions have start-ed normalizing.

State capital recorded daytemperature at 42 degree Celsiuswhile night temperature wasrecorded at 25.8 degree Celsius.

The day and night temper-atures have started rising.Khargone continued to the

hottest place of the state andrecorded 43 degree Celsiuswhich was highest in the statewhile several places recordedday temperature above 41degree Celsius.

According to the forecaststate capital is likely to recordday temperature of 41 degreeCelsius while night temperatureis likely to record 26 degreeCelsius which was 2 degreeCelsius above normal temper-ature.

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In a last-minute push to keepthe sacrilege issue alive before

the Punjab votes on Sunday, theCongress national presidentRahul Gandhi and PunjabChief Minister Capt AmarinderSingh on Wednesday launchedtheir most scathing attack onthe SAD-BJP combine atFaridkot’s Bargari village — theepicentre of the 2015 sacrilegeand related firing incidents.

As Rahul made it clearthat the perpetrators of these“crimes” and subsequent inci-dents of police firing would notbe spared, Capt Amarinderannounced a memorial in oraround “Bargari sahib” — asmost of the Congress leadersreferred to it during today’s

rally. Capt Amarinder

announced that the memorialwould be set up for those wholost their lives or were injuredin the “unprovoked police fir-ing on peaceful protestors” inBehbal Kalan and Kotkapuraduring the term of SAD-BJPgovernment in 2015.

Strategically choosingBargari as venue for party’smega rally in the run up to May19 elections, all the Congressleaders blamed the SAD, espe-cially the Badals, for the seriesof sacrilege incidents and thesubsequent firing incidentwhich claimed two lives, whichshook the state in 2015.

Rahul, addressing the rally,made sure to take on the SAD-BJP combine over the sacrilege

issue, which he gave a miss dur-ing his previous rallies in thestate.

He warned of a strong actionagainst the culprits behind theBargari and other cases of dese-cration of the holy scripturesdeclaring that the perpetrators ofthese crimes and the subse-quent incidents of police firingwould not be spared.

“Those who insulted reli-gious scriptures do not deserveany mercy,” said Rahul whilerecalling his earlier visit to theregion, which was rocked by aspate of sacrilege incidents andthe Behbal Kalan andKotkapura firing incidents.

Capt Amarinder, in hisaddress, announced to set up amemorial in or around Bargari“for those who lost their lives

or were injured in the unpro-voked police firing on peacefulprotestors in Behbal Kalan andKotkapura”.

For setting up the memo-rial, a committee of local resi-dents will soon be constitutedto decide what kind of memo-rial they wanted to be con-structed, and “our governmentwill have it built in remem-brance of those who becameinnocent victims of the Akalicrimes”.

Ridiculing the then ChiefMinister Prakash Singh Badal’sclaim of Bargari and other sac-rilege cases being bygones, CaptAmarinder said: “The peoplenever have, and never will for-get the desecration of theirholy scriptures, and the Akalisupremo should be ashamed of

even suggesting the same.” “The Sikhs have not for-

gotten, in 500 years, the sacri-fice of any member of theircommunity...It is shameful thatBadal, at the age of 93, has notyet realised this starktruth...How can anyone forgetwhat happened during the ruleof the Badals? Not one or two,but 58 Sri Guru Grant Sahibswere desecrated, not to countthe Gutka Sahibs, BhagwadGeeta, the Bible and the Quranwhich were burnt or torn,” helashed out.

“What happened in thosemonths, including at Bargari,and the incidents of police fir-ing on those protesting peace-ful against sacrilege, rightunder the nose of Badal is notsomething that Punjab can

ever forget,” said CaptAmarinder, adding that thefiring could not have takenplace without Badal’s knowl-edge and he was clearly toblame.

The Chief Minister recalledhow he had been told by theaffected people that the SPcame suddenly and ordered fir-ing, with the cops gunningdown people who were fleeing.“This is not the way such inci-dents are handled...If firing isat all needed, it is done by asmall police unit, accompaniedby a magistrate who assessesthe situation and finds appre-hension of trouble and asks fora single shot to be fired at oneindividual,” he said.

Capt Amarinder addedthat the Badal, and the rest of

the Akalis, know what hadhappened was wrong and thatthe people had neither forgot-ten nor forgiven them for thesame, and “this is the reasonwhy they are now runningaround desperately for votes”.

Notably, the Congress hasall along been targeting the pre-vious SAD-led regime overthe issue of sacrilege, evenahead the 2017 assembly elec-tions that led to Akalis’resounding defeat, cashing inon the public anger againstthem. Even as the people’s out-rage against the Akalis havesubsided, at least to someextent, the Congress is makingall out efforts to keep it alive tillMay 19 elections.

The party leaders are, timeand again, evoking the sacrilege

issue, while asking the elec-torates to “punish” the Badalsby voting against them. In fact,cricketer-turned-politicianNavjot Singh Sidhu, in his firstelection rally in the state onTuesday, vowed to punish theguilty of “desecration of myGuru”.

Even during Bargari rally,Congress leaders politicisedthe sacrilege issue to the hilt byrepeatedly referring to the placeas “Bargari Sahib”. Congressleaders, including the statePower Minister Gurpreet SinghKangar and Faridkot MLAKushaldeep Singh ‘Kiki’Dhillon, referred to Akalis,especially the BAdals, as“paapi” (sinners) for their fail-ure to probe the incident andpunish the guilty.

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Reiterating employment gen-eration and farmers’ welfare

as the Congress’ key prioritieswhile giving a slogan of ‘Madein Ludhiana’, the party’s nation-al president Rahul Gandhi onWednesday reached out to thepeople in Ludhiana with thepromise to put all the party’sstrength into reviving small andmedium businesses.

“India cannot challengeChina without ‘Made inLudhiana’, which has to be anintegral part of ‘Make in India’.

Without reviving small andmedium businesses, evenemployment generation couldnot be successful,” said Rahul,while addressing a party rallyin Ludhiana in the support ofparty’s candidate and sittinglocal MP Ravneet Singh Bittu.

He said that demonetisa-tion was aimed not at elimi-nating black money but atdestroying the small and medi-um industries in Ludhiana andother such places.

Listing out NYAY, separatefarmers’ budget, and promise ofemployment for youth as major

planks of the Congress mani-festo, Rahul said that the ModiGovernment had not onlyfailed the people on all countsbut had stolen money from thepeople to fill the pockets of ahandful of rich industrialists,helping many of them to fleethe country instead of throw-ing them in prison for default-ing on loans worth crores ofrupees.

Questioning what had hap-pened to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s promise of‘achche din’, the Congress pres-ident said that after five years,Modi was not talking of anysubject on which he had cometo power, including jobs, Rs 15lakh in individual bankaccounts, doubling of farmincome and corruption.

“From making fun of DrManmohan Singh and his pro-gressive economic policies,Modi had ended up becomingthe butt of India’s joke in fiveyears, having cheated thenation with his brazen lies andopen deception. Modi hadruined the nation’s economy,which NYAY would revive,”

said Rahul, adding that likediesel in a tractor, the schemewill work as fuel to jumpstarteconomy.

Countering Modi’s claimthat there was no money tofund NYAY, Rahul said that theCongress would get the moneyback from thieves like AnilAmbani, Nirav Modi, LalitModi, Vijay Mallya, Chowksietc.

Addressing another rallyalong with Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh in the sup-port of Congress candidatefrom Faridkot Mohd Sadique,Rahul lambasted the Modi forinsulting Punjab, and the restof India, by claiming that nodevelopment was done in 70

years and the nation was sleep-ing till he came to power.

“Where were you whenthe Punjab farmers were dri-ving the Green Revolution?” heasked Modi, lashing out at theprime minister for believingthat he alone could run thecountry. It is the people of Indiawho are running the countrywith their blood and sweat, hedeclared, asserting that theCongress believed in takingevery Indian, irrespective ofcast, region, community, alongfor the development of thenation.

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Taking on Modi in the

Rafale deal and his failure toaccept the challenge for adebate on this and other issuessuch as the financial madnesscalled demonetisation, Rahulsaid that the Prime Ministerwas scared to do that as hewould not be able to show hisface to the people of India afterjust 15 minutes of debating.

“Modi’s fear is showing inhis pre-written media inter-views with prepared answersto planned questions,” saidRahul, ridiculing the primeminister over his `personal’interview, in which he spokeonly of irrelevant things likehow he eats mangoes and howhe fits his clothes into the suit-case.

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While in Punjab, do asPunjabis do! Acting on

the same, the Congressnational president RahulGandhi took a break from hishectic campaigning schedulein Punjab on Wednesday todrive a tractor in Ludhiana.

Congress, on Twitter,posted a video of RahulGandhi riding a tractor inLudhiana as Punjab ChiefMinister Capt AmarinderSingh, state party affairs’ in-charge Asha Kumari, andparty’s Ludhiana MP Ravneet

Singh Bittu, sitting besidehim.

Rahul Gandhi is in Punjabwhere all the 13 Lok Sabhaseats, including Ludhiana, willgo to polls in the last phase of2019 General elections onMay 19.

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SAD on Wednesday stated that the Congress national pres-ident Rahul Gandhi’s Bargari visit is the saddest day in

the history of Sikh religion as the perpetrator of genocideand demolishing of Akal Takht has come wearing a maskof “falsehood” portraying sympathy.

SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia and Manjinder SinghSirsa said that Rahul Gandhi is the grandson of Indira Gandhiwho attacked Darbar Sahib and demolished the Akal Takhtwhile killing thousands of Sikhs in operation blue star in1984.

“The cruelty of her decision can be gauged that sheordered the army to attack the Golden Temple on the mar-tyrdom day when thousands of pilgrims had come to paytheir respects,” they said adding that the tragedy for the Sikh religion had a script written by her son RajivGandhi also.

“Rajiv Gandhi lashed out his goons to commit theheinous genocide against the Sikhs. Today, Rahul Gandhi hasthe audacity to come calling on the state sponsored jathe-bandi at Bargari to show his solidarity,” they rued.

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After failing to respond toa quer y regarding a

Facebook page, by the nameof ‘Fans of Sunny Deol’, beingrun in his support, the elec-tion panel on Wednesdayissued directions for addingRs 1.74 lakh to the poll expen-diture of Bollywood actorand SAD-BJP combine can-didate from Gurdaspur LokSabha seat Sunny Deol.

The order came on acomplaint filed by PunjabCongress on May 6, claimingthat the said Facebook pagewas being run without anyprior permission of theElection Commission “in anunethical manner”.

Punjab’s Chief ElectoralOfficer S Karuna Raju saidthat an enquiry was conduct-ed by the nodal officer ofGurdaspur MediaCertification and MonitoringCommittee, and a notice wasalso served to the admin of‘Fans of Sunny Deol’ page andthe BJP candidate to seektheir explanation. But bothfailed to reply within stipu-lated time frame, he added.

He said that relying on theveracity of the complaint, theCommittee decided to add Rs1,74,644 to Sunny Deol’sexpenditure.

Punjab Congress vice-president Himanshu Pathakhad alleged that Deol had notgiven information about thesaid social media page to theEC, which is mandatory. Thepage titled ‘Fans of SunnyDeol’ was created onFacebook on Apri l 30,through which, he alleged,lakhs of rupees are beingspent on Sunny’s social media

campaign. Pathak had claimed that

Facebook had even discon-tinued two ads about Deol’scampaign as they were “notcarrying details of the personspaying for these ads”.

The Congress, in its com-plaint, had stated that a can-didate can spend only Rs 70lakh on his or her campaignbut due to this Facebookpage, Sunny had crossed thislimit and hence, his candida-ture must be cancelled underSect ion 10A of theRepresentation of the PeopleAct, 1951.

Sunny, in his first elec-toral hustings, is pitted againstsitt ing MP and PunjabCongress president SunilJakhar from Gurdaspur.

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On the lines of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi

who time and again stated thatthe opposition was abusinghim endlessly, former MadhyaPradesh Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan too onWednesday claimed thatCongress president RahulGandhi and Chief MinisterKamal Nath abuse him daily.

Addressing election ralliesin the state for the last phase ofpolling, Chouhan accusedCongress president RahulGandhi of boasting continu-ously that his party has waivedoff Rs two lakh each of farmloans in MP and CM KamalNath too was boasting thefarm loans were waived off.

He further said that Natharranged a paper to claim thatfarm loans of Shivraj’s familyhave been written off, Chouhanclaimed the Congress leaderswere lying. Congress presidentRahul Gandhi who addressedelection rallies in MadhyaPradesh on Tuesday had flashedpapers saying the Congressgovernment has not onlywaived off loans of farmers butalso that of Chouhan’s familyand BJP workers.

Gandhi had accusedChouhan of making false accu-

sations that loans weren’t writ-ten off.

Chouhan in election rallieshad asked the Congress presi-dent to furnish details whichfarmer’s loan was waived off.

The former CM accusedGandhi and Nath of abusinghim daily. “They roam aroundsaying that farm loans are writ-ten off but I claim they arelying," he said, adding that ifthey don’t fulfil their promisesand don’t waive off loans, peo-ple won’t let them inside theirvillages.

They have to waive offloans at any cost, saidChouhan. Maybe they arefarmers, youths or the public,it’s the BJP which can guaran-tee their safety, claimed the for-mer CM.It’s PM NarendraModi who could take on theterrorism, he added further.

Training his guns on ChiefMinister Kamal Nath,Chouhan said the BJP hasbrought the MP on the path ofdevelopment in 15 years but theCongress looted it in fourmonth’s rule.

“All the welfare schemeshave ceased and only a trans-fer industry was running in fullspeed,” affirmed Chouhan. Headdressed election rallies inKhandwa, Khargone andDewas.

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The BJP on Wednesday tookout a silent march protest-

ing against the alleged attack onBJP national president AmitShah’s road show in Kolkata onTuesday evening. A scufflebroke out between TrinamoolCongress and BJP workers onTuesday at Shah’s road show asBJP president convoy passed byCalcutta University campus onCollege Street.

The clash occurredbetween ABVP (students wingof BJP) supporters and studentwing of the TrinamoolC o n g r e s s — Tr i n a m o o lCongress Chhatra Parishad.As the news spread after theincident, BJP ruled ChiefMinisters on Tuesday eveningheld a press briefing lambast-ing the TMC for incident. InRanchi, Chief MinisterRaghubar Das held a pressmeeting at his residence andattacked TMC and West BengalChief Minister MamataBanerjee for indulging in van-dalism in election.

Das said, “West BengalChief Minister MamataBanerjee, who is sure to sufferdefeat in the hands of BJP inBengal is taking the help ofcriminal elements. Attack onBJP national president AmitShah road show is attack ondemocracy as the BJP hadtaken permission from electioncommission for holding theroad show.”

The Chief Minister alsoattacked JMM for following the

footsteps of TMC. Das said,“The JMM too has resorted tovandalism in state and facinginevitable defeat in state isgoing for vandalism in state.”

Meanwhile, on Wednesday,BJP leaders took out a silentprotest march at Shahid Chowkin State Capital. BJP leader andState urban development min-ister CP Singh, Hatia MLANaveen Jaiswal participated inthe silent march.

Later, Singh said, “TheMamata Government is tryingto silence the voice of people ofBengal through forces, but thepeople of Bengal will give abefitting reply to her appease-ment policy.”

Meanwhile, State BJPspokesperson Pratul Shahdeoattacking the MamataBanerjee and JMM executivepresident Hemant Soren said,

“Mamata Banerjee after theincident had said that somecriminal elements from Biharand Jharkhand were behindthe incident which is indirectattack on peace loving peopleof State. But the JMM leaderSoren is silent on the issue.”The JMM leader should givean explanation on Bengal chiefminister’s remark with whomhe share stages on severaloccasion.

Shahdeo said, “The silenceof Hemant Soren after theincident indicates that he iswith Mamata stand.”

However, the StateCongress has blamed BJP forcreating mess in Bengal. StateCongress spokesperson,Mohammed M Tausif said,“The BJP Government lead byRaghubar Das governmenthas no right to talk about

gunda brigade as entire coun-try has seen show some peo-ple who are allegedly BJP sup-porters have killed innocentpeople in State.” Tausif said,“Some people in Ramgarh,Latehar, Jamshedpur andGodda who are allegedly sup-porters of saffron party havelynched innocents’ people inthese places.”

The Congress leader saidsuch a Chief Minister who hadfailed to protect people andduring who tenure women,children are facing unsafe hasno right to talk aboutgundaism in other state.

Meanwhile today, a BJPdelegation urged the ElectionCommission to bar MamataBanerjee from campaigning inthe state after violence andarson during a roadshow byparty chief Amit Shah.

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With Bharucha Mansion(also known as Regal

Building) Jamshedpur finallygot a building which lookedlike what the owners wished togift the citizens, a landmark. Itis also remembered as used ‘I’beams of steel rather than therelatively newer method ofusing reinforced concrete(RCC) for the columns andbeams.

Bharucha Mansion todaystands like a colossus welcom-ing those entering Bistupurfrom Northern Town.Bharucha Mansion is named

after Khorshed ManeckjiBharucha, the first Indian ChiefCashier at Tata Steel, who hada vision to provide accommo-dation for young Parsees whocame for jobs in the company.

Tata Steel (then TISCO)provided the steel to erectHowrah Bridge. The remain-ing was used for BaruchaMansion. This building ismostly now known as RegalMansion since it also housedthe famous Regal Talkies.

In the early 1930sKhorshed Maneckji Bharuchagot permission to build an 11storey structure. It was of aunique polygonal architec-ture and design. TISCO had

left over girders and beamsfrom the Howrah Bridgewhich were offered to theemployees. Under the leader-ship of architects A. Dinshaw,a Parsi, and C.C. Bayigle, aBritish, the building was con-structed. It took three years tocomplete.The mansion wasbuilt in 1935.

The structure was made ofsteel and clad with bricks andthe partition walls were cre-ated with “Surki” – limestoneand brick mix, quite similar tothe design of the GeneralOffice.

It was needed courage tobuild such a huge structure in1930s which was then a lone-

ly area where only the Bank ofIndia, Burmah Shell petrolpump and Tiwary Becharstood. The general manager ofTISCO inquired whether hewould like to change his mindand build instead in the ‘occu-pied’ part which was probablywhat the Circuit House area(old) is now. The determinedKhorshed stuck to his decisionand left behind an inspiringlandmark for the city.

Today, Bharucha Mansionstands like a colossus wel-coming those enteringBistupur from NorthernTown. This brave, adventur-ous man took a gamble, andwon.

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LPG consumers in the cityare in dilemma at the visit

of gas agency personnel, toinspect their kitchen for themandatory safety checks. Theconsumers are also in a tightspot as the agency personnelask them to pay �177 for the safety checks.

Consumers are in fray aftercooking gas agencies refused todeliver LPG cylinders whenthey are not paid the amount(�177) towards the mandatorysafety checks.

“Few days earlier I havebooked my LPG cylinderthrough IVR and yesterday thedelivery man brought the cylin-der but when I refused to pay�177, he took away the cylin-der,” said Mamta Singh a resi-dent of Sector 4, City Center.

“My neighbors also refusedto pay and asked me not to paythe amount,” she added

Shankar Prasad anotherresident of BSL LH area said,this is forgery by the company.“It’s like a hoodwink scheme, soI refused to pay him and thedelivery boy went away withthe cylinder,” he said.

In order to prevent acci-dents, the oil companies areconducting mandatory door-to-door checks, said IOC rep-resentative Vishal Kumar.

“We are also facing dif-fculties in convincing the con-sumers about this safety checks.Most of the LPG consumers areunaware of the safety checksthough this has been men-tioned in the instructions pro-vided to consumers that ‘thesafety checks are mandatory,”he added.

During the visits, the safe-ty inspectors or representa-tives get the details of con-sumers including name,address and consumer ID andask questions relating to thecylinder, regulator and tubeamong other things, saidVikash another company per-sonal.

He explained that, similarchecks are conducted beforeinstalling the LPG connectionsat homes.

The hose is checked forleaks, the stove is also checkedif it is in proper working con-dition, and consumers areinstructed to not have curtainsnear the stove.

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Page 5: GZ`]V_TV c`Sd 3V_XR] R URj¶d TR^aRZX_ - Daily Pioneer

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The Supreme Court onWednesday termed as

“prima facie arbitrary” thearrest of BJP’s youth wingleader for allegedly postingmorphed image of ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee onsocial media and pulled up theWest Bengal Government forthe delay in releasing her.

A vacation Bench com-prising justices Indira Banerjeeand Sanjiv Khanna wasinformed by the counsel ofactivist Priyanka Sharma’sbrother that she was notreleased from jail on Tuesdaydespite the apex court’s ordergranting her bail and orderingher immediate release.

However, the counsel forWest Bengal Governmentinformed the bench that shehas been released from jail at9:40 am today.

“Why 9:40 am today? Theorder was passed in your pres-ence,” the Bench told the statecounsel.

When the State’s counselreferred to the jail manual, thebench shot back, “Jail manualcan’t have precedence over anorder of the Supreme Court.”

“No. This is not done. Firstof all the arrest was prima faciearbitrary,” the bench said.

Senior advocate NeerajKishan Kaul, appearing forPriyanka’s brother RajibSharma who filed the plea inthe apex court, told the benchthat despite the apex court’sTuesday order granting herbail she had to spend anothernight behind the bars.

Kaul told the bench that jailauthorities Tuesday told themthat they have to either bringcertified copies of the apexcourt’s order or approach thecourt of the chief judicial mag-istrate concerned for herrelease.

“If she is not released, theconsequences will follow,” thebench said and warned it willissue contempt to officials con-cerned if Sharma was notreleased from jail immediately.

“She should be releasedfrom jail within half an hour,”the bench said.

The bench asked Kaul toget instructions whether she

has been released from jail ornot.

After a few minutes Kaulinformed the bench thatSharma has been released fromjail today.

Kaul told the court thatthey have moved a separateapplication, in which they havesaid that though the closurereport in the case was filed inthe trial court on May 13, theapex court was not informedduring yesterday’s hearing.

“If the Supreme Court wasinformed yesterday that theclosure report has been filed inthe trial court, then the apexcourt might not have asked herto apologise,” Kaul said.

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After Wing CommanderAbhinandan Varthaman,

flying a MIG-21 Bison, shotdown an F-16 of the PakistanAir Force (PAF) on February27 when the intruding jetstried to target Indian militaryinstallations in Rajouri, thepilot’s unit 51 Squadron hastaken on the sobriquet ‘FalconSlayers’ and ‘AMRAAMDodgers’ and have got specialuniform patches made to com-memorate the dogfight.

Besides, the MiG-21squadron having special uni-form patches made for their fly-ing overalls, the Sukhoi-30squadron, whose aircraft alsothwarted the Pakistani airattack and successfully evadedthe AMRAAM missiles of thePAF F-16s, have also namedthemselves the ‘AMRAAMDodger’ in new patches.

Patches are cloth badgesthat depict the squadron’s roleand often identify itself with animportant engagement inwhich the squadron took part.It also reflects the type of air-craft the squadron flies and isworn on flying overalls.

The 51 Squadron patchdepicts a MIG-21 Bison in theforeground and a red-colouredF-16 in the background undercrosshairs. The othersquadron’s patch shows a SU-30MKI with an AMRAAMmissile going past after nar-rowly missing it.

Varthaman chased and shot

down the intruding F-16 but hisaircraft was hit by Pakistan airdefence and he had to eject. Thepilot landed in PakistanOccupied Kashmir (POK) afterhis parachute strayed across theLine of Control (LoC) and wascaptured by the Pakistan Army.He returned to India two dayslater.

Pakistani jets had carriedout the attack as retaliation to

the IAF air strikes against ter-ror camps in Balakot inPakistan on February 26. Thestrikes were carried out as apunitive measure after 40Central Reserve Police Force(CRPF)personnel were killed ina suicide attack in Pulwama,Kashmir on February 13.Pakistan based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) had claimedresponsibility for the act.

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The newly-created ArmedForces Special Operations

Division, responsible for tar-geting enemy’s strategic instal-lations and high-value terror-ists besides crippling adver-sary’s war fighting capabili-ties, will have its first chiefMajor General AK Dhingra.

The tri-service unit willhave elite drawn commandosdrawn from the Special Forcesof the Army, MarineCommandos (MARCOS) ofthe Navy and the Garuda com-mando force of the IAF. It willbe on the lines of the USSpecial Operations Command,which was responsible for tak-ing out Osama Bin Laden.

The proposal for setting upof the tri-service division wasfirst mooted by the NareshChandra committee in 2012.The panel was asked to suggestways to fine tune the higherdefence management to fight

modern and fast evolving warscenario in the backdrop of ter-rorism, cyber warfare and use

of space to enhance militarymight.

Besides the Special

Operations unit, the panel hadalso proposed formation ofDefence Cyber Agency and

Space Agency to be headed bythe Navy and the IAF respec-tively. While Dhingra’s namewas cleared by the DefenceMinistry on Tuesday, RearAdmiral Mohit Gupta wasappointed earlier this month asthe first chief of Cyber Agency.All the three agencies willoperate under the IntegratedDefence Staff (IDS) and head-ed by Major General equivalent

officers.As first reported by The

Pioneer on January 18 thisyear, the Armed Forces SpecialOperations Division (AFSOD)will formally start functioningfrom November one this yearinitially with a small team ofcommandos selected from theSpecial Forces of the Army,MARCOS and Garud force.The division will finally have

3,000 commandos.Besides having comman-

dos from the three Serviceswith the Army playing an emi-nent role as it has the mostexperienced professionals forsuch missions, the unit willhave its own dedicated heli-copters, transport planes andspecialised weaponry besidessurveillance equipment for car-rying out strategic missions.

Elaborating upon thenature of the Division, officialssaid here on Wednesday thespecialised teams will beresponsible for conducting mis-sions within and outside thecountry. The missions includetargeting strategic installations,high value targets in terms ofterrorists and cripple the warfighting capabilities of theenemy. The missions no doubtwill be high risk given thestrategic importance.

Once the Division becomesfunctional in November, plansare already in place to bring

together the commandos fromthe three Services to a centralplace or station for joint train-ing to conduct special missionsduring peacetime and war,they said.

Explaining the objectiveof the Division, officials saidthe stress is on synergisingspecial operations amongst thethree forces. At present, theSpecial Forces of the Army,MARCOS and Garuds func-tion separately. Once theDivision comes into being, thespecial talents and assets of thethree Services will be pooled.

Similarly, experts from theArmy, Navy and IAF will worktogether in the Cyber Agencyand the Space Agency. Themain aim is to exploit theresources of all the threeServices for the three special-ized agencies in a joint mannerto achieve the objective besidesreducing expenditure onadministration and training,they said.

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In a major breakthroughwhich would go a long way

in cutting down medical costsof the patients with severeHemophilia A and vonWillebrand Disease (vWD,)the ICMR- National Institute ofImmunohaematology (NIIH),Mumbai has developed a cost-effective point-of-care (POC)rapid diagnostic test for theblood disorders.

This would cost a patientless than �50 in comparison toexisting conventional test forthe diseases that cost around�4,000 to �10,000. India hasbecome the world’s first coun-try to develop POC test for spe-cific diagnosis of any commonbleeding disorder, the ICMRhas claimed

Haemophilia A and vWDare the commonest amongbleeding disorders. As per theWestern data, the incidence of

Haemophilia A is 1 per 10,000male births and that of vWD isaround 1 per cent of the gen-eral population.

“In India, there is no epi-demiological data and withtranslation of this data withrespect to the population, thecountry may have roughly80,000-1,00,000 severehaemophilia cases, but the totalnumber registered withHaemophilia Federation India(HFI) is only around 19,000,” asenior official from the ICMRsaid.

At present, lack of aware-ness, lack of diagnostic facili-ties, high cost of tests are someof the factors for the under-diagnosis of bleeding disordersin the country.

“Both Haemophilia A andvWD are underdiagnosed dis-orders in our country andthere are only a handful ofcomprehensive diagnostic cen-tres for bleeding disorders,”

the official said.“The newly developed

rapid test kit could be used forthe diagnosis of undiagnosed patients/menor-rhagia cases/ post-partumhaemorrhage (PPH), gynaeco-

logical complications withbleeding history, recovery offactors in the transfusedHaemophilia A patients andalso for differential diagnosis ofboth the diseases,” the official said.

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Computerised draw of lotsfor selecting pilgrims for

the Kailash Mansarovar Yatrawas held here on Wednesday,in which for the first time, pref-erence for fresh applicants orroute choice of senior citizenswas incorporated into the soft-ware, MEA officials said.

Foreign Secretary VijayGokhale presided over thedraw of lots held at theJawaharlal Nehru Bhawan, andalso urged pilgrims to help“protect and preserve” the frag-ile environment in theHimalayas.

The Ministry’s consistenteffort has been to get as manyapplications, because it thinksthis Yatra is important notonly for those going for spiri-tual or religious purposes, butalso to build relations betweenIndia and China, he said.

Ministry of ExternalAffairs organises the Yatra dur-ing June to September eachyear through two differentroutes — Lipulekh Pass(Uttarakhand),and Nathu LaPass (Sikkim). Known for itsreligious value and culturalsignificance, it is undertaken byhundreds of people every year.

For Kailash MansarovarYatra 2019, the ministryreceived 2,996 applications,out of which 2,256 are maleapplicants, and 740 females. Asmany as 624 senior citizens hadapplied for the yatra.

For Lipulekh route, there

are 18 batches with 60 pilgrimsper batch and for Nathu La, 10batches with 50 yatris perbatch. Two liaison officers willassist each batch of yatris.

“It is our hope and endeav-our that we provide the firstchance to those who didnt adthe chance to go to the Yatra,the first-time applicants and wegive priority to them. And, ofcourse, to senior citizens aswell,” Gokhale said.

He said, consistent effortshave been made to make theYatra website as pilgrim-friend-ly as possible.

“We also have a helplinenow for applicant yatris. And,emails received from them areregularly monitored and appli-cants are suitably advised in atime-bound way,” he added.

A senior official said, theNathu La route is less arduouscompared to Lipulekh and sopreferred by senior citizens.

“Earlier they would tell ustheir route choice while apply-ing for the Yatra, and we wouldtry to accommodate theirrequest in the overall process.This year, we have incorporatethe preferences of first-timeyatris and the senior citizens inthe algorithm of the softwareused for the draw of lots, whichis for the first time,” he said.

The selection is a fair com-puter-generated, random gen-der-balanced selection process,the MEA said in a statement,adding, the selected yatris areinformed through mobile textmessages and email.

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Kolkata: BJP youth wingactivist Priyanka Sharma, whowalked out of jail onWednesday after being arrest-ed for posting a morphed pic-ture of West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee onFacebook, said jail authoritiespressured her and extracted anapology for the post. Sharma,however, asserted she had noregrets for sharing the post forwhich she had to spend fivedays behind bars. She claimedshe was “mentally tortured” injail and was not even givenenough water to drink.Sharma was released from jailat 9:40 am after the SupremeCourt on Wednesday calledher arrest “prima facie arbi-

trary” and pulled up the WestBengal Government for thedelay in releasing her. PTI

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New Delhi: The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) on Wednesdayquestioned former ICICI BankCEO Chanda Kochhar and herhusband Deepak for the thirdconsecutive day in connectionwith a money laundering caserelating to the ICICI-Videoconloan fraud case.

The agency is grilling the

duo for their alleged role inirregular sanction and disbur-sal of �1,875 crore loan toVideocon Group in 2009 and2011 by the ICICI Bank thenheaded by Chanda Kochar.

On Tuesday, Kochars werequestioned for over eight hoursby the ED.

In March, the agency had

conducted searches at loca-tions linked to the Kochhars.They were earlier questionedby the ED in Mumbai.

Deepak’s brother RajivKochhar and Videocon Grouppromoter Venugopal Dhoothave also been quizzed by theagency in connection with thecase. PNS

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As many as 56.6 lakh indi-vidual household toilets

have been constructed tillFebruary this year and anoth-er 6.33 lakh toilets were underconstruction under theSwachchh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U).

In an RTI reply, theMinistry of Housing and Urban

Affairs (HUA) said that SBM-U aims at making urban Indiafree from open defecation andachieving 100 per cent scien-tific management of municipalsolid waste in all the 4,041statutory towns of the country.

The Ministry said in UttarPradesh, as many as 7.53 lakhindividual household toiletshave been constructed while inMaharashtra, 682,812 units

have been built under theMission till February this year.

According to the reply,only 480 such units have beenconstructed in Delhi and 336 inAndman and Nicobar Islands.

The ministry said 3,57,767individual household toiletshave been constructed inRajasthan and added that293,614 units have been con-structed in Bihar.

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Congress president RahulGandhi on Wednesday

took a fresh swipe at PrimeMinister Narendra Modi sayingthere’s a new word in theEnglish dictionary — “Modilie”.

Rahul has been accusingModi of speaking “lies” onvarious issues, including on theRafale jet deal. “There’s a new

word in the English Dictionary.Attached is a snapshot of theentry,” he tweeted, ending hissentence with a smiley.

He also put up a picture ofa screenshot of a photo-shopped page of an English dic-tionary explaining the meaningof “Modilie”.

In the fabricated page,“Modilie” is described as a“mass noun”.

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Page 6: GZ`]V_TV c`Sd 3V_XR] R URj¶d TR^aRZX_ - Daily Pioneer

The Congress, in its manifesto forthe 2019 general elections, pro-posed the setting up of aNational Court of Appeals(NCA), which would act as an

intermediary body between the SupremeCourt and the various High Courts in thecountry to hear routine appeals in civil andcriminal matters from the latter. TheNCA, as proposed by the Congress, willsit in multiple Benches of three judges eachin six locations. Further, the party also pro-posed to move a Constitutional amend-ment to restrict the jurisdiction of theSupreme Court to only those cases thatinvolve interpretation of the Constitutionand adjudication of cases of nationalimportance. This article aims to interpretthe legal matrix surrounding the Congress’proposal of the NCA.

The setting up of a National Court ofAppeal will require an amendment toArticle 130 of the Constitution of India,which would, in fact, be tantamount totampering with the basic Constitutionalframework of the Supreme Court. Such anamendment would also divest the apexcourt of its extraordinary powers withregard to hearing appeals. The same wasalso stated by the Ministry of Law andJustice while rejecting the aforementionedrequest way back in 2014. As such, theissue of whether or not such a court shouldbe established shall remain outside thepurview of this article. Nevertheless, theCongress’ manifesto has opened up thelarger issue of whether or not decentral-ising the Supreme Court isConstitutionally feasible and practicallydesirable.

In 1950, when the Supreme Courtcame into being, it consisted of the ChiefJustice and seven judges. It worked for fourhours a day, 28 days a year. Today, withtremendous growth in population andincrease in demand, the top court has asanctioned strength of 31 judges but pen-dency of cases has increased from 690 in1950 to a staggering 61,300 cases as ofMarch 2015. This has made it one of themost overburdened Constitutional courtsin the world.

This situation may be attributed in nosmall part to the Supreme Court itself asit deviated from its primary function ofadjudicating cases of Constitutional signif-icance and, thus, converted itself into a reg-ular court of appeals. The apex court wasnever intended to be a regular court ofappeal and the extraordinary jurisdictionfor granting special leave was conferredupon it so that it could interfere whenev-er it felt that the law had not been enun-ciated properly by the High Courts orlower judiciary and where it was necessaryto correct the position of the law.

This conversion had a cataclysmicimpact on the justice delivery system,owing to excessive backlog of cases.

Frequent adjournments dueto the geographical concentra-tion of the Supreme Court inthe capital city has only addedto the pre-existing backlog ofcases.

Pendency apart, the LawCommission, in its 229threport, also pointed out thelogistical difficulties poor lit-igants have to face while trav-elling all the way to Delhi toappear for their respectivecases. Further, litigants regular-ly request their advocates inthe High Courts to appear inthe Supreme Court, resultingin multiplication of costs interms of hotel and travelexpenses. To quote the LawCommission’s report, “...hugeamount is spent on travel;bringing one’s own lawyer,who has handled the matter inthe High Court, adds to thecost; adjournment becomesprohibitive, costs get multi-plied...”

Article 130 of theConstitution of India states,“The Supreme Court shall sitin Delhi or in such other placeor places as the Chief Justice ofIndia may, with the approval ofthe President, from time totime, appoint.”

A bare reading of theaforementioned article willmake it clear that the Supreme

Court can sit not only in Delhibut also in any other place.Moreover, this view was alsoendorsed by Justice PNBhagwati in a 1986 judge-ment. The Law Commissionitself had stated, “If Article 130is liberally interpreted, noConstitutional amendmentmay be required for setting upCassation Benches in fourregions and a ConstitutionBench at Delhi. Action by theChief Justice of India with thePresident’s approval may beenough. It may also be notedthat under Article 130, theChief Justice of India acts as apersona designata and is notrequired to consult any otherauthority/person. Only presi-dential approval is necessary.However, in case this liberalinterpretation of Article 130 isnot feasible, suitable legisla-tion/Constitutional amend-ment may be enacted to do theneedful.”

Thus, the Constitutionalscheme of things provides forthe setting up of Benches onboth a geographical and func-tional basis. Moreover, a liter-al interpretation of Article 130makes it clear that noConstitutional amendmentwould be required in order toset up such Benches. As such,setting up regional benches of

the Supreme Court, whichmay deal with appeals with aConstitutional Bench in Delhi,is the best way forward.

Many legal experts feelthat the setting up of regionalBenches will dilute the apexcourt’s Constitutional superi-ority. However, decentralisa-tion — being both functionaland structural in nature —with only one Bench in Delhidealing with Constitutionalmatters must put to rest allsuch concerns.

Thus, the setting up ofregional benches will in no waydilute the finality or superior-ity of the apex court’s decisions.The Supreme Court of Indiahas been a robust institution,which remains unparalleledin the service that it has ren-dered to the nation. Thefounding fathers of theConstitution never envisagedthe Supreme Court to be geo-graphically concentrated inDelhi. With the rising numberof cases and practical difficul-ties being faced by poor liti-gants, it is about time that theidea of setting up both region-al and functional Benches beexplored in right earnest.

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Sir — This refers to the article,“The intolerance of Time” bySandhya Jain (May 14). As longas one can remember, theWestern media, particularlyBritish and American, has alwaysbeen biased towards India.Earlier, they had the Kashmirissue to present our country inpoor light. However, with chang-ing times, it was hoped that theWestern media would havelooked at Modi’s performanceobjectively but some leadingmagazines like The Economist ofLondon and the Time of NewYork have not lagged behind inpicking holes.

M Ratan Via email

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Sir — This refers to the report,“Mumbai pulls IPL off incliffhanger” (May 13). Franklyspeaking, the annual summertamasha got a thrilling end as the12th edition of the IndianPremier League concluded witha last-ball finish. Mumbai Indians(MI) defeated Chennai Super

Kings (CSK) by just one run inthe final. Twenty20 cricket defiesanalysis, but one thing is clear —it’s the bowlers who seem to playa decisive role in a team’s success.The brevity of a Twenty20 gameenables even the semi-retired,injury-struck, ageing players tocompete with players at the peakof their game. Due to the fickle-ness of Twenty20 cricket, lossesdon’t wound the players’ hearts.

That’s why players from winningand losing teams are able tolaugh and chat happily with eachother after a game.

Much more serious cricketwill be upon us soon — the 50-over World Cup begins on May30. National teams will be inaction and passion, hurt andanger will be more authentic.

J AkshayBengaluru

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Sir — With the news of passingaway of actor and singer DorisDay, Hollywood has lost a talent-ed, generous and kind soul,whose films made her one of thebiggest stars of all time. Day wasa multi-faceted personality. Shewas famous as a honey-voicedsinger and an actor, whose film

dramas, musicals and comediesmade her a top star in the 1950sand 60s. Day will be best remem-bered as one of the world’s mostloved and honoured women, whowas a true voice of the voiceless.She championed of the cause ofanimal welfare vigorously.

Ramesh G JethwnaiBangalore

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Sir — The trade war between theUS and China has been escalat-ing and will only bring theworld economy down. The endresult will be that neither of theplayers will stand to gain and theworld will be staring at anotherrecession. US’ new-found lovefor protectionism is a directblow to others. Redefining traderelations, bilateral and multilat-eral, among nations should takeplace with an effective oversee-ing body. Streaks of unilateral-ism and protectionism must bediscouraged in the larger inter-est of the world economy.

ShivanshVia email

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Every summer, which coincides with the‘Durbar’ move, it almost becomes a routineaffair for elements inimical to the return of

normalcy and peace in Kashmir to set the Valleyon fire. Continued conflicts and the disturbedlaw and order situation suit vested interests forwhom militancy has become a necessity so thatthey can enjoy power as well as extract financialbenefits, status and perks from emerging situa-tions. Excuse or “trigger”, as referred in the par-lance of security forces, is what allows them toset the Valley in turmoil and, thus, gives them agreen signal for the commencement ofhartal/bandh politics, intifada-style agitations,anti-India sloganeering and separatist politics.

The media, too, gets attracted and Kashmirhogs the limelight as prime-time debates are heldover this issue. Not sensitive to the adverse effectsuch portrayal of Kashmir can have on the liveli-hood of the locals — who eagerly wait for theonset of this season to make good as this is afavourable tourist season — the fourth estate, too,willy-nilly contributes to the deepening ofresentment in the Valley. The entire ecosystemgets affected with a few benefitting out of this sit-uation even as a vast majority of the people suf-fer silently.

The summer of 2019 has been no different.Fortunately, parliamentary elections were con-ducted peacefully except for the targetted killingof one senior political leader and a sarpanch, whobelonged to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), acouple of days before the polling for final phaseof the Anantnag parliamentary constituency. Thesuccessful conduct of the elections has rattled thedivisive forces to such an extent that theyappeared disheartened and demoralised. Therelentless pressure put by the security forces, par-ticularly post-Pulwama, has broken the backboneof a Pakistan-sponsored proxy war with the topleadership of both the Jaish-e-Mohammad(JeM) and Lakshar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) virtuallymade extinct. More than 50 terrorists have beenkilled since February this year.

Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), though having thelargest cadre, suffers from lack of leadership, armsand ammunition supply, training and motivation.The strict action taken by the Governmentagainst terror funding has stopped the free flowof foreign funds, thus leading to a cash crunch.Hence, the outfit has been on the back foot sincelong and has mainly involved itself in providinglogistics and local knowledge support to foreignor foreign-affiliated groups.

Under such circumstances, the story of thehorrific rape of a three-year-old girl in Bandiporaarea went viral and proved to be a boon for anti-national forces active in Kashmir. While every-body condemned the heinous act and demand-ed quick justice, the police acted promptly byarresting the culprit. Inimical elements saw in ita ray of hope for the trigger they were lookingfor this summer. Initially, the principal of theschool, where the culprit studied, gave him an agecertificate, declaring him a juvenile for reasonsbest known to him. A medical exam by the police,however, proved that he was an adult. Then theentire episode was given a sectarian touch by leak-ing out information that the victim child was aShia. Protest marches were taken out, which raised

tempers and brought the Valley on anedge of sectarian clashes.

Surprisingly, mainstream leaders inKashmir and several civil society groupshave remained ambivalent to the situ-ation. Nobody visited the victim’s house.There were no candle marches as werewitnessed during the infamous Rasanacase of January 2018, which was usedby the same elements to defame theDogras of Jammu and create a commu-nal rift between the local Dogras andGujjars, who enjoyed centuries of bon-homie and co-existence.

As all this was happening, anoth-er rape case was reported in the Valley.It happened on the evening of May 12in Ganderbal. This incident triggeredfurther outrage. Something familiarhappened then and it bore resemblanceto the spontaneous violence that erupt-ed after the killing of Burhan Wani,though not to that extent or scale butthe modus operandi appeared familiar.The students assumed control of theprotests and they appeared in largenumbers on the streets, pelting stonesand targetting security forces as well asthe local police.

Interestingly, neither the securitypersonnel nor the policemen were inany way involved in the horrendouscrimes. Such organised stone-peltinghad diminished to quite an extent afterthe imposition of Governor’s rule in theState. This week saw violent clashes.Over 50 people, including 47 securitypersonnel, were injured in the clashesthat broke out on the Srinagar-Baramulla highway. A large number ofvehicles were also damaged and thehighway was kept blocked for hourstogether. Every effort was made by the

protesters to provoke the securityforces to retaliate with force. Some hid-den hand was guiding them to do that.

Having failed in their design toachieve the desired result, the protest-ers shifted their focus to the capitaltown of Srinagar, the seat of power, withhopes that the security forces willbrook no nonsense here. Protestersclashed with the security forces outsideall major schools and colleges, includ-ing the University of Kashmir. Thefocus was lost from providing justice tothe rape victim to somehow provokingthe security forces to open fire in retal-iation. The security forces so far havenot obliged them.

The attempt of the inimical forcesto turn the table by using the rape casesas an excuse to create a trigger seemsto be failing this time but the securi-ty forces have to remain alive to theirdesign. Credit also goes to the localpolice, which successfully apprehend-ed both the culprits without losingmuch time and forming SpecialInvestigation Teams to enquire into theepisodes.

Former Chief Minister MehboobaMufti tried to add fuel to fire by sug-gesting that the accused should bestoned to death. She wanted to createa controversy that might also providean opportunity to set the Valley on fire.But fortunately for Kashmir, she failedin her attempt as nobody took her seri-ously and treated her tweet as yet anoth-er desperate attempt to remain politi-cally relevant in the vast canvas ofKashmiri politics.

The attempt of the inimical forcesmay have ebbed temporarily but theywill not give up so easily. Pakistan will

try all the tricks to ensure that not onlyKashmir remains on the boil but the arcof insurgency spreads south of PirPanjal. Some events in the recent pastdo not augur well for the emerging secu-rity scenario in Kashmir. Pakistan hassucceeded in getting loans from theInternational Monetary Fund (IMF) thatwill help it to bolster its failing econo-my. But the strict conditions imposed byIMF and the Financial Action Task Forcewill force Pakistan to not be seen as anexecutor of cross-border terrorism.

Nevertheless, it will also not let theinvestments made by it to keep Kashmiras a dispute with India go waste so eas-ily. Pakistan will try to keep the militan-cy alive in Kashmir to project it as ahome-grown resistance movement.

The recent meeting organised bythe Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)between the Islamic State and HM indi-cates the change in the modus operan-di. IS supremo Al-Baghdadi has alsoshown renewed interest in India andGhajwa-i-Hind. IS has also claimed thatit has set up new branch ‘Wilayah ofHind’ (India Province) after the mul-tiple attacks in Sri Lanka with the helpof a local affiliate. The presence of ISJKin Kashmir, which police claims to havetotally wiped out, is a worrying devel-opment and will have to be carefullymonitored.

Thus, the search for trigger by anti-national elements will continue. Itremains to be seen when and who pro-vides the trigger. The security forcescannot afford to lower their guard. Oron scenting out the unusual.

(The writer is a Jammu-based polit-ical commentator, columnist and strate-gic analyst)

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The issue of air pollution hasalways been visualised in theclassical sense with an obvi-

ous reference made to industrialand vehicular pollution. But oflate, the subject of aerosol pollutionhas been garnering quite a lot ofattention. While most air qualitybulletins revolve around usual sus-pects such as particulate matter andother air-borne pollutants, the sub-ject of aerosol build-up has man-aged to stay out of attention ofweather as well as environmentalexperts.

In fact, recently, air pollutionmonitoring stations were able tostudy and observe the dust stormthat hit Delhi, which resulted in a

severe dip in air quality levels. Butaerosol build-up is neither beingstudiously documented nor is thesubject being viewed as a significantthreat.

Mankind has made a significantleap in atmospheric monitoringand modelling and thankfully thesame has been able to detect thegrowing problem of aerosol build-up in the atmosphere. Recentimages put out by the CopernicusAtmospheric Monitoring Service(CAMS) paint a very intriguingstory, which introduces us to theemerging threat posed by aerosolpollution. CAMS, which is operat-ed by the European Commission,puts out daily forecasts of aerosolbuild-up across the globe. It isimportant to understand that thisdata is not directly observed satel-lite data, but re-analysis data — orin other words simulated or mod-elled data.

The data provided by satellitesis spatially continuous but not tem-porally continuous. Moreover, failedinstruments or clouds obstructingthe view of the satellite affect the

accuracy of satellite observations. Aerosol re-analysis helps elim-

inate these inconsistencies by gen-erating a consistent, spatially andtemporally continuous dataset. Re-analysis takes into account past andpresent satellite observations, mete-orology and global emissions. Thisservice also puts out forecasts ofaerosol speciated products, includ-ing dust aerosol, sulfate aerosol, bio-mass-burning aerosol and sea-saltaerosol. Again, these forecasts arebased on re-analysis data.

India still lags behind in devel-oping this expertise to track andanalyse the aerosol data in itsatmosphere. Currently, there areonly 167 continuous monitoringstations in our country and most ofthem are located in the northernpart. This is one of the primary rea-sons for the lack of information onthis type of air pollution in otherparts of the country.

In the absence of ground-basedobservations of particulate matter(PM) concentrations, scientists haveoften resorted to near-real timesatellite data to arrive at ground-

level particulate concentration fromsatellite observed aerosol opticaldepth (AOD).

Aerosol optical depth is a mea-sure of aerosols like urban haze,smoke particles, desert dust and seasalt distributed within a column of air from the earth’s sur-face to the top of the atmosphere.Post application of empirical correc-tion factors, a scaling factor is usedto convert the AOD to PM concen-tration.

Aerosol buildup over India isnow reaching concerning levels.According to images retrieved fromCAMS, the aerosol database indi-cates significant build-up of aerosolsacross the country, more so over thenational capital. While along thenorthwestern part of the countrythe depth of dust aerosol seems tobe significantly high, in the south-eastern coast, the aerosol concen-tration seems to be primarily dri-ven by sulfates.

While the correlation betweenAOD and PM2.5 levels dependsupon background particulate con-centration, meteorology-depth of

the boundary layer being mostimportant and local emissionstrength, in most cases, high aerosoloptical depths correlate with highparticulate levels.

If one goes by the number ofreal-time stations in the country,continuous monitoring of pollutionis still in the nascent stage. In theabsence of real time data, takingresponsive pollution control mea-sures becomes almost impossible.Under such circumstances, har-nessing satellite-derived air pollu-tion data can be a game-changer.Satellite derived air pollution datahas already found an application innational-level health studies andcan potentially be used in localassessments.

Sulfate aerosol levels in partic-ular have been increasing rapidly.For instance, images taken by theCAMS showed sulfate aerosol maps.A careful study of the same willmake it apparent that the States ofOdisha and Andhra Pradesh areexposed to a cloud of sulfateaerosol. Sulfate aerosols are a resultof chemical transformation of

Sulfur dioxide (SO2) — exceedinglevels of which are rarely reported.

Given that SO2 is toxic forhumans, exposure to sulfateaerosols can also have harmfulhuman health implications. Giventhis, it is crucial for India to startdeveloping state-of-the-art weath-er monitoring stations that are specially equipped to deal withaerosol pollution.

India must focus on using lat-est technology to control theincreasing problem of aerosol pol-lution. It is essential for policy plan-ners and climate scientists to takeimmediate action so that one is ableto control the problem while it isstill manageable.

The very first is to cover thegeographic extent of the countryand ensure that enough monitoringstations are relaying sufficient andcredible data pertaining to thepresence of aerosol so that properplanning and action are visualisedto effectively neutralise the growingproblem.

(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)

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In what could give the BengalBJP leadership some sleepless

nights ahead of the final phaseof polling, a video footage of alocal BJP leader Rakesh Singh— in which he is shown direct-ing his people to attack theTMC and police — went viralon Wednesday.

Singh, who subsequentlymade conflicting statements— first telling that it was a doc-tored video and then “it is notthe full video” — is seen in thefootage directing the “membersof the Fata Fati (breakers)gang” to “come prepared withrods and sticks and other

things necessary for what youhave been asked to do duringthe rally.”

He was telling the “FataFati gang” to take on theTrinamool men that “those

who do not come prepared willbe thrown out of the unit.” Thegang has been raised as a com-bative unit of the BJP. He alsoreminded them repeatedly thatthe rally was meant for AmitShah and we would like tomake it a successful one at anycost. So, you have to take on theTMC goons and the police.Come prepared.

The message that wasWhattsapped to the “gang”members subsequently wentviral.

Incidentally, Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee onWednesday showed the footagein a rally at Agarpara telling todecide as to “who is the culprit.”

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Kolkata: BJP national presidentAmit Shah has rebutted ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee'scharge that he is an "outsider"in West Bengal and said he hascome to the state to campaignfor his party.

Shah wondered if he iscalled an outsider for comingto West Bengal, "which is verymuch a part of India", then whynot Chief Minister MamataBanerjee be labelled as an "out-sider" when she visits NewDelhi?

The BJP leader wasaddressing a meet of intellec-tuals in the city on Tuesday.

"I am president of a nation-al party and I am here to cam-paign for my party.

"I am being called an out-sider for coming to WestBengal. What kind of statementis this? If a person from West

Bengal goes to Mumbai orBengaluru, will he be called anoutsider? When Mamata didigoes to Delhi will she be calledan outsider?" Shah asked.

Shah's remarks came fol-

lowing Banerjee's repeated alle-gations about Shah being an"outsider" who comes to thestate to "create division" amongthe people.

"If the BJP wins the assem-

bly polls in West Bengal, aBengali will be the chief min-ister. Neither I nor KailashVijayvargia will be the CM,"Shah said.

Vijayvargiya, who hails

from Madhya Pradesh, is theBJP's national general secretary,who is in charge of the saffronparty in West Bengal.

Shah also criticized a sec-tion of the media for blamingBJP workers for Tuesday's vio-lence during his roadshow innorth Kolkata.

"A section of media is pre-senting it in such a way as if westarted the clash. The newsshould be that TMC goonsattacked the convoy. But a sec-tion of news organisations aretrying to paint it in a differentway," Shah said.

BJP and TMC supportersTuesday fought pitched battleson the streets of Kolkata dur-ing a massive roadshow byShah, who escaped unhurt butwas forced to cut short the jam-boree and had to be escorted tosafety by police. PTI

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Kolkata: Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath onWednesday accused TMC ofbreaking the bust of socialreformer Ishwar ChandraVidyasagar and said his WestBengal counterpart MamataBanerjee is trying to divertattention by spreading canardsagainst BJP.

"We condemn the incidentthat happened yesterday.Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagarwas one of greatest sons ofIndia and a social reformer. Itwas the TMC which broke hisbust and it now blaming BJP todivert the attention,"Adityanath said at a press con-ference here.

The TMC and MamataBanerjee Government are try-ing to divert attention from herwrong doings by using thisincident, he said.

Asked whether President'sRule should be imposed inBengal, Adityanath said the sit-uation in the state is moving inthe direction where there has tobe central intervention.

He also urged the EC totake stern action against vio-lence in the ongoing poll andsaid it should not remain amute spectator. PTI

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Kolkata: West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee and several top TMCleaders have changed their Facebook andTwitter display picture (DP) with photo ofIshwar Chandra Vidyasagar on Wednesdayto protest the desecration of the bust of thenoted reformer and key figure of theBengal Renaissance.

Trinamool Congress's official profile onTwitter and Facebook was also changedwith a picture of Vidyasagar.

Banerjee is scheduled to take out aprotest rally on Wednesday to protest thesmashing of the bust of the social reformerby alleged BJP activists in north Kolkata onTuesday.

Launching a scathing attack on BJPpresident Amit Shah on Tuesday, Banerjeehad said, "What does Amit Shah think ofhimself? Is he above everything? Is he Godthat no one can protest against him?"

Banerjee said this after supporters of theBJP and the TMC fought pitched battles onthe streets of Kolkata during a roadshow byShah.

A college named after IswarchandraVidyasagar, a key figure in the BengalRenaissance, was ransacked and a bust ofthe 19th century social reformer shatteredallegedly by BJP workers during the clash-es.

The CPI(M) has also called for protestrallies against the incident.

The intellectuals of the city will take outa protest march from College street onWednesday evening. PTI

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Rae Bareli/Lucknow (UP): A day after analleged attack on Rae Bareli MLA AditiSingh, Congress leader Priyanka GandhiVadra called it an assault on democracywhile a party delegation met Governor RamNaik, demanding a judicial probe.

The Congress has alleged that the MLAwas on her way to oversee the voting for ano-confidence motion against zila pan-chayat chairman Avadhesh Pratap Singh,who is the brother of BJP's Lok Sabha can-didate Dinesh Singh.

"This is an attack on democracy.Nothing of this sort has ever happened inRae Bareli. Country-made weapons, bricksand lathis were used in the attack. Zila pan-chayat members were dragged from theirvehicles," Priyanka Gandhi alleged.

In Lucknow, a delegation led by UPCongress chief Raj Babbar sought a judi-cial probe into the alleged attack.

Priyanka Gandhi claimed that one ofthe zila panchayat members was run overby a vehicle. "What kind of democracy isthis? It is the BJP government in the statewhen such incidents are taking place whilethe entire administration is sitting idle," shesaid after a meeting with party workers here.

Priyanka Gandhi maintained that theparty would raise the issue at every level.

"Our leaders are meeting the Governorin Lucknow. In Delhi, we are meeting theElection Commission. We will take legalrecourse and file a complaint against thelocal administration if required," she said.

Priyanka Gandhi, who was scheduledto take part in a roadshow in Varanasi laterin the day, said they had told the adminis-tration that something of this kind couldtake place but precautionary measures werenot taken. "We have demanded to cancelproceedings of the no-confidence motionand fix a new date for it," the Congress stat-ed in an official release here. The MLA wasallegedly attacked by Avadhesh Singh'shenchmen, armed with iron rods and bricksin Harchandpur area.

According to Congress sources, theMLA's vehicle had overturned as its driverlost control over it due the attack.

An FIR was registered againstAvadhesh and his brother Dinesh Singhlater in the night on the complaint of zilapanchyat member Rakesh Awasthi.

Awasthi had alleged that he too wasattacked along with two other members, inan effort to prevent them from participat-ing in the no-confidence motion againstAvadhesh Singh. PTI

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Madurai (TN): Makkal NeedhiMaiam president and actorKamal Haasan on Wednesdayfiled an anticipatory bail petitionbefore the Madras High Courthere, saying his speech wasabout Nathuram Godse onlyand not about Hindus as awhole.

Haasan moved the pleaafter the court earlier refused toquash an FIR against him, say-ing such pleas cannot be takenup as emergent petitions duringthe vacation and that if ananticipatory bail applicationwas filed it could be taken up forhearing.

The FIR registered wasagainst him over his "free India'sfirst extremist was a Hindu"remark made during an electionmeeting in the AravkurichiAssembly constituency onSunday last.

In his plea, he said theoffence quoted in the first infor-mation report (FIR) underSections 153(A) and 295(A) ofthe Indian Penal Code requiredprocedural safety under CrPCand the same had been over-looked.

Haasan said the com-plainant had not personally

witnessed his election cam-paign meeting and it had beenclearly stated in the FIR.

Earlier, the High CourtBench here refused to entertainthe MNM chief 's petition seek-ing to quash the FIR registeredagainst him.

Justice B Pugalendhi of theMadurai Bench said such pleascannot be taken up as emergentpetitions during the vacation.

"It is only based on hearsayand the source of information ofthe content of the FIR was notdisclosed and the apprehen-sions expressed in the FIR wereill-founded. The FIR instead ofestablishing communal harmo-ny had only created a life threatto the petitioner personally," theMNM chief submitted in hisanticipatory bail application.

Haasan also submitted thata state minister had made a pub-lic statement about his speechand made a political issue out ofit.

The actor-turned-politiciancontended that attempts werebeing made to malign his goodname among the public. Thepetitioner submitted his state-ment about Nathuram Godsewas not a distorted one. PTI

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Mumbai: NCP chief SharadPawar has predicted a 13-dayVajpayee regime-like fate forthe BJP if it tries to form thenext Government after the LokSabha poll results areannounced on May 23.

Pawar also said he does notthink the BJP will be able toprove majority in Lok Sabhaeven if invited to form the newGovernment.

Speaking to a Marathi TVchannel, he said oppositionleaders will come together inDelhi a day or two before thecounting of votes and discussgiving a stable government atthe Centre.

The BJP had emerged asthe single largest party in 1996general polls. On May 16, 1996Atal Bihari Vajpayee took oathas the prime minister, only toresign 13 days later after hefailed to get the majority on thefloor of the House. PTI

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Bengaluru: A meeting betweenrebel Congress legislatorRamesh Jarkiholi and his closeconfidant and law makerMahesh Kumathalli onWednesday created flutterswithin the grand old partywith speculation about themquitting the party once againcoming to the fore.

Ramesh Jarkiholi, who hasbeen hobnobbing with the BJPfor some time now, has threat-ened that he along with otherMLAs would soon resign enmasse from the Congress,which had caused fear amongthe ruling coalition leaders asit would trigger thenumbersgame in the assembly.

However, there werereports about Ramesh beingde-serted in his attempt to mobiliseCongress MLAs to resign,asseveral legislators considered

close to him like Shrimant Patilof Kagawad and MaheshKumathalli and B NagendraofBellary have pledged theirloyalty to the party.

But the Wednesday meet-ing between Jarkiholi andKumathalli has rekindled thespeculation that the MLAs arestill together and working outa strategy post the Lok Sabhaelection results on May 23.

It is still not clear how manyMLAs are in touch with Jarkiholi.

However, speaking toreporters after the meeting,Kumathalli said he had metJarkiholi to discuss about waterscarcity in the region andwould remain in the party.

"There is no other meaningto this meeting...You pleaseask him (about him quittingCongress). As far as I'm con-cerned, neither me nor him

(Jarkiholi) will quit. All our-decisions are one and will bethe same even after the May 23Lok Sabhapoll results," he said.

Jarkiholi had on Tuesdayheld discussions with BJP leaderand former MLA C P Yogeshwar.

Meanwhile, CongressLegislature PartyleaderSiddaramaiah opinedthat Ramesh Jarkiholi wouldnot quit the Congress.

"According to me RameshJarkiholi will notquitCongress..." he said. Jarkiholiand Kumathalli are among theMLAs againstwhom Congresshas moved a petition, seekingdisqualificationunder the anti-defection law to the Speaker fornot attending crucial CLP meet-ings amid BJP's alleged attemptsto topple the government andnot attending the budget sessionof the assembly initially. PTI

Bengaluru: Amid the'Siddaramaiah for CM' clamourin Karnataka, Chief MinisterHD Kumaraswamy has saidCongress veteran MMallikarjun Kharge shouldhave been given the position along time ago and "injustice"was done to the leader.

His remarks come amid abitter spat between the leadersof the ruling coalition partnersCongress and JD(S) to makeSiddaramaiah the State ChiefMinister once again.

But the comments gavefresh ammunition to the BJP totarget the alliance government.BJP state unit chief B SYeddyurappa askedKumaraswamy of the JD(S) toimmediately vacate the post forKharge, the leader of theCongress in Lok Sabha.

Kharge, a nine-time MLAand two-term Lok Sabha mem-ber who has never tasted elec-toral defeat, termedKumaraswamy's remarks as"election-time statement."

Addressing a meeting inChincholi assembly segmentfor a by-election attended byKharge on Tuesday,

Kumaraswamy said theCongress leader should havebecome chief minister longago.

"Mallikarjun Khargeshould have become the chiefminister long ago. I feel injus-tice has been done to him. Iwould like to clearly say Khargehas not been given recognitionfor the work he has done (forhis party)," Kumaraswamy said,adding there has been a "faultsomewhere".

Kharge could have becomethe CM in the current coalitiongovernment but he said hewill abide by the Congressleadership's decision,Kumaraswamy revealed.

Latching onto the remarks,

Yeddyurappa askedKumaraswamy to resign andmake Kharge CM.

"He (Kumaraswamy) hassaid he (Kharge) should havebecome CM long ago. To makehis dream come true, let himresign tomorrow itself andmake Kharge the chief minis-ter," the BJP leader toldreporters in KalaburagiWednesday.

Senior BJP legislatorBasanagouda Patil Yatnaltermed Kumaraswamy'sremarks a conspiracy aimed atcreating a rift betweenSiddaramaiah and Kharge tocontinue in power.

"If he wants to makeKharge (CM), he can give up

the seat for him. It is kind of adrama (by Kumaraswamy),"he said, adding no one, even inCongress, was interested inmaking Kharge CM.

Yeddyurappa, however,claimed the Congress-JD(S)government would fall due toa rift between both parties.

"I have never said we willtopple the government. Weare not making attempts. JD(S)and Congress are fighting eachother and because of their dif-ferences, the government willcollapse," he said.

Siddaramaiah, the coalitioncoordination committee chair-man, has termed the growingclamour within Congress tomake him the chief minister asan expression of supporters'affection, but said he still standsby his word to not contest thenext assembly election.

Chincholi assembly seatwill go to bypolls on May 19.

Subhash Rathod is theCongress candidate there.

Kharge has been electedtwice from Gulbarga Lok Sabhaconstituency and has been acentral cabinet minister duringCongress rule in the past. PTI

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Mumbai: Shiv Sena leaderSanjay Raut on Wednesdayslammed the West BengalGovernment over the attack onBJP president Amit Shah's road-show in Kolkata, describing theincident as "unfortunate" forthe country's democracy.

Talking to reporters here,Raut, who is the Rajya SabhaMP, said there can be no restric-tions on anyone to campaignanywhere the country.

"West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee did not wantNarendra Modi and Amit Shahin Bengal. Did anyone stopMamata from campaigning inGujarat?" Raut asked.

It is unfortunate that thestatue of Ishwar ChandraVidyasagar, a noted philosopherand a key figure of BengalRenaissance, was desecrated,he said. PTI

Mumbai: The arrest of BJPyouth wing activist PriyankaSharma for posting a morphedpicture of West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee onFacebook, is the latest in aseries of such arrests in India.

Sharma was arrested forhaving shared a meme whichhad a morphed image ofBanerjee's face on PriyankaChopra's look at the recent MetGala.

In 2012, a professor fromKolkata learnt the hard waythat sharing TMC or MamataBanerjee cartoons on socialmedia can land one in jail.

Prof Ambikesh Mahapatrawas arrested for forwarding acartoon of Banerjee to hisfriends. A professor of chem-istry, he was jailed for one nightand assaulted by alleged TMCworkers later while he was onhis way back from work.

In Maharashtra, cartoonistAseem Trivedi Trivedi wasarrested in 2012 for depicting thenational emblem and Parliamentin "bad light" in his cartoons,triggering a public outcry.

Cartoons by Trivediincluded one of the national

emblem with lions replaced byblood-thirsty wolves, andanother depicting theParliament building in NewDelhi as a huge toilet bowl.

He was charged with sedi-tion and spent four days in jail.This triggered outrage fromfreedom of expression cam-paigners. His arrest sparkedprotests against the government,which was accused of usingBritish colonial-era sedition lawsto crack down on dissent.

Also in 2012, two girls

were arrested in Maharashtraover their Facebook post ques-tioning the shutdown inMumbai for Shiv Sena chief BalThackeray's funeral with thecomment also leading to anattack on the clinic of an uncleof one of them by Sena activists.

The girls--Shaheen Dhadaand Renu--were sent to 14-dayjudicial custody but grantedbail within hours after they fur-nished personal bonds.

Dhada was arrested aftershe posted comments on the

social networking site opposingthe shutdown in Mumbai, say-ing one should not observebandh for Thackeray's funeral.Renu, Dhada's friend, wasarrested for 'liking' the post.

In Tamil Nadu, folk singerand anti-alcohol campaignerShiva Raj aka Comrade Kovanwas arrested in 2015 andcharged with sedition forallegedly criticising then chiefminister J Jayalalithaa on theissue of prohibition in one ofhis songs. PTI

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The BJP in Tamil Naduseems to have played into

the hands of the DMK byentering into a wordy duel withthe DMK chief MK Stalin. Astatement by TamilissaiSounderarajan, the State unitchief of the BJP, has put theHindutwa party in Tamil Naduin an unenviable position vis-a- vis the DMK.

Sounderarajan, while

speaking to media atThoothukudi on Tuesday, saidthat the DMK was in talks withthe BJP leadership for a possi-ble post-poll alliance . Shewas referring to a statementmade by Tamil Nadu MinisterD Jayakumar about Stalin’sMonday meeting withTelangana Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao atChennai. Jayakumar hadalleged that the DMK andStalin were ‘well known fortheir political opportunism’.

The Tamil Nadu BJP chieftook over from whereJayakumar left and made the‘startling disclosure’ whichoffended the DMK chief. “I

will quit politics ifSounderarajan proves that Iheld discussions with the BJP.Is she ready to quit politics ifshe fails to prove her claim?”challenged the DMK presi-dent.

Stalin made it known onWednesday too that he wascommitted to form a ‘secularGovernment at the Centre’under the able leadership ofRahul Gandhi and there is nochange in the stance of theDMK. A senior BJP leader inTamil Nadu feigned ignorancewhen asked about the state-ment made by Sounderarajan.Stalin has been vitriolic in hisattacks on the Prime Minister

and the BJP since he took overas party president in August2018 after the demise of hisfather M Krunanidhi.

Tamil Nadu is witnessinga crucial round of by electionto four assembly constituencieson May 19. The DMK is hop-ing that it may be able to pulldown the EdappadiPalaniswamy-led AIADMKgovernment of it manages towin at least 20 of the assemblyseats out of the 22 where bypolls are being held.

The BJP leaders and theHindu activists in Tamil Naduearned the wrath of the filmfraternity in the State for theirreported charges against film

actor Kamal Haasan whoalleged the other day thatNathuram Godse was the firstHindu terrorist in the country.The actor who heads the out-fit Makkal Neethi Mayam asbeen provided with addition-al police security by the Stategovernment to prevent anykind of attack on him byHindu elements.

“The statement, whichwould have gone unnoticed bythe general public , was giventhe pride of place by theHindutwa forces because oftheir over zealous reaction,”said MankombuGopalakrishnan, film lyricistand script writer.

Jaipur: The ruling Congress andthe BJP on Wednesday sparredon Twitter over the changes inschool textbooks, including theremoval of a picture suggestingself-immolation under the prac-tices of Sati and Jauhar.

The Congress Governmentled by Ashok Gehlot has taskeda committee to make changes inthe textbooks introduced bythe previous BJP Government.

The prefix "Veer" has nowbeen removed from VinayakDamodar Savarkar's name inClass 10 social science books.

He has now beendescribed as someone who"plotted" the assassination ofMahatma Gandhi and fur-nished an apology for clemen-cy from the British.

Similarly, a picture suggest-ing self-immolation under Satior Jauhar was replaced with thatof a hill fort in a Class 8 Englishtextbook.

"The practice of Sati isbanned and Jauhar has no con-nection with chapters of English.It wasn't clarified if the picturewas related to Sati or Jauhar,”School Education MinisterGovind Singh Dotasara toldPTI.

On Tuesday, BJP leader andmember of the erstwhile Jaipurroyal family, Diya Kumari, hadentered into a war of words on

Twitter on the issue.“As far as the matter of

'Rani Sati' is concerned, wecannot tell our girls to doJauhar. The custom is bannedin the country,” Dotasara wroteon Twitter.

“The history of Rajasthanwas golden and will remain thesame. The only difference is thatwe are correcting the changesmade by the previous BJP gov-ernment, which treated theEducation Department anexperimental laboratory,”Dotasara added.

Reacting sharply to it, DiyaKumari tweeted Wednesday,“You are saying that we cannotteach girls about Jauhar. I wishyou could understand the dif-ference between Sati and Jauhar.”

She accused the govern-ment of covering up the Alwar

gang rape while expressing con-cern about women by "changingthe history of heroic personali-ties".

The former BJP MLA alsoaccused the minister of disre-specting Maharana Pratap andSavarkar.

“Maharana Pratap was greatand will remain so. We havedescribed his valour in a betterway. As far as the question withregard to Sarvarkarji pertains,the change has been made basedon evidences by the committeeof educationists,” Dotasaratweeted.

On speculation about theremoval of a reference todemonetisation from a Class 12textbook, he said it is up to thecommittee of educationists todecide.

“We had wanted its removalbut it is for the panel to decide.It is my personal view, why tomention a scheme that hasfailed,” Dotasara said.

The previous BJP govern-ment had introduced the refer-ence to demonetisation in thepolitical science book of Class12, terming it a historic stepagainst black money.

Meanwhile, the Sri RajputKarni Sena and the Sri RashtriyaRajput Karni Sena have threat-ened to protest if any changes areto “historical facts”. PTI

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Varanasi (UP): In a big showof strength in Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's constituency,Congress general secretaryPriyanka Gandhi Vadra start-ed her roadshow here onWednesday evening.

Accompanied by Congresscandidate for the Varanasi LokSabha seat against Modi,Priyanka Gandhi began by gar-landing the statue of MadanMohan Malviya at the gates of

the Banaras Hindu University.Priyanka Gandhi and other

leaders, including ChhattisgarhChief Minister BhupeshBaghel, waved at the largecrowd as the procession woundits way through Varanasi'sroads.

Congress workers raisedanti-Modi slogans along theroute.

The Congress show ofstrength in the temple town

comes nearly three weeks afterModi held his own roadshowhere, a day before filing hisnomination papers.

The local unit of theCongress had made elaboratearrangements to pull in thecrowds for the roadshow, aparty leader said.

Like Modi's roadshow,Priyanka Gandhi's event willalso end at theDashashwamedh ghat. PTI

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Ballia (UP): Congress leaderNaseemuddin Siddiqui, whowas with the BSP until lastyear, claimed on Wednesdaythat Mayawati will be under somuch pressure after the elec-tion results that she will joinhands with the BJP.

Once the Bahujan SamajParty chief goes with theBharatiya Janata Party,Siddiqui said the SamajwadiParty would be left with noother option but to comealong with the Congress in theinterest of country and UttarPradesh.

"The BSP supremo hadjoined hands with the BJP inthe past. And after May 23,there will be such pressure onher that she will become a partof the BJP," Siddiqui, who hadrevolted against Mayawati andjoined the Congress last year,

told reporters here."There is nothing impos-

sible in politics, I have knownher for 33 years. I know hermore than she knows herself,"the Congress leader said.

The former minister in theMayawati government said hestill respects her a lot, but therewas no possibility of returningto the BSP.

On the chances ofMayawati becoming the primeminister, Siddiqui said no suchannouncement had been madeby anyone.

"Even alliance partnerSamajwadi Party and the RLDhave not said anything on this.Akhilesh Yadav has only saidthat the next prime ministerwill be from Uttar Pradesh.Then where is the question ofher becoming the PrimeMinister?" he asked. PTI

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some incidents of Dalit wed-ding processions being stoppedby some groups in parts ofGujarat recently, the BJP gov-ernment in the stateWednesday assured to takestern action against such ele-ments.

The Congress, however,said that such "hollow promis-es" by the government fails toprovide "justice" to the Dalits.

Talking to reporters inGandhinagar, Minister of Statefor Home, Pradeepsinh Jadeja,accused the Congress of creat-ing a rift between Dalits andother communities.

He was referring to an inci-dent in Lhor village in Mehsana,where some local leaders,including the sarpanch, gave acall of social boycott after a Dalitgroom took out his processionriding on a horse two weeks ago.

"The Gujarat government isalways with the Dalits. They

also have the right to take outwedding processions like oth-ers. Our government is alsoconcerned about some recentincidents. I want to assure youthat stern action will be takenagainst those who were behindthese incidents," Jadeja said.

"Some people are trying tocreate a rift between commu-nities for their political gains. InLhor village, we have alreadyarrested five persons, includingthe sarpanch, for announcingsocial boycott of Dalits. Notably,the sarpanch is a Congresssupporter. Another accused isa local Congress delegate," theminister added.

Jadeja also urged peoplefrom all walks of life to workwith the government to estab-lish and preserve social har-mony in the society.

Slamming the BJP govern-ment over this issue, GujaratCongress in-charge, RajeevSatav, claimed that the govern-

ment only gives hollow promis-es instead of taking action.

"Atrocities on Dalits inGujarat have increased in recentyears. After every incident, thestate government gives hollowpromises of stern action.However, Dalits never get jus-tice," Satav told reporters.

"This government hasfailed to maintan law and order.The administration is beingrun through remote controlfrom Delhi. This is the reasonwhy such atrocities are on therise," he said.

Meanwhile, BJP's DalitMLA and film actor, HituKanodia, appealed to the peo-ple to treat everyone equally.

"Though this is the 21st cen-tury, we are still stuck in suchissues. This is matter of shameand pain. We all need to changeour mindset to establish har-mony and a sense of brother-hood. I request all to treat every-one equally," Kanodia said. PTI

Mirzapur (UP): Hitting out atthe Congress for promising toabolish sedition law in itspoll manifesto, UnionMinister Rajnath Singh hassaid the BJP will make itmore stringent.

"Congress talks aboutabolishing sedition law but oncoming back to power, the BJPwill make it so stringent thatno one would dare to actagainst it," the Home Ministersaid addressing an electionrally at BLJ ground here infavour of alliance partnerApna Dal's Anupriya Patelon Tuesday.

"Our forces finished offterrorists in air strikes afterthe Pulwama attack but theCongress people are asking forthe number of those killed.Braves do not count bodies,vultures do," he said. PTI

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Kanpur: Qazi Nayyer Jamalrides his motorcycle to Jajmau,an industrial suburb of Kanpuralong the Ganges, from hishome in the city area, passingthrough several old tanneries,to reach the leather factory hisfather started about 50 yearsago. It's closed for threemonths, still he goes thereoften.

Jamal's MakhdoomEnterprises is among severaltanneries in Jajmau whichwere shut for the Kumbh Mela,and he fears they are likely toremain so.

"We were ordered to shutour tanneries for three months— from December to March— for Kumbh. We did it out ofrespect for the Hindu festival.But we never thought wewould be left in the lurch afterthe Mela, since no order hascome to reopen the units," the60-year-old said.

Tanneries pump out high-ly polluted water into theGanga river and this was amajor reason they wereordered to close ahead of theMela. But many families aredependent on the local indus-try that earned Kanpur themoniker of "Leather City".

"We have followed allnorms for discharge of effluentinto the river but authoritiesmade a scapegoat out of us,portraying us as the main rea-son behind the pollution of theriver," Jamal said.

The leather industry inKanpur began about 150 yearsago under the British Raj.Later, Indians entered the trade

and it flourished, drawing buy-ers from far away places,including Europe and theUnited States.

Mohammed Arshi, 38 andvice-president of city-basedLeather Industries WelfareAssociation (LIWA) of about125 small and big tanneries,said Kanpur is a famed leathercity and India exports leatherproducts — like belts, shoesand horse saddles — to Europeand the US, besides domesticconsumption by the armedforces and civilians.

All that is likely to stopsoon, he said.

Arshi said the industryhas been "targeted" as tannery-owners are not really seen as avote bank by the ruling orother parties, adding theuncertainty has led toimporters moving to othermarkets in Pakistan,Bangladesh and Vietnam.

Jamal agreed with Arshi.He said the tanneries are dyinga slow death.

"I may be attached to thelegacy of my father but my twosons have moved away. Seeingthe trouble I face, they havealso asked me to quit it," Jamallamented.

"Many second or third-generation families have quitthe trade," he said.

One of his sons is a fash-ion designer, who graduatedfrom NIFT and now works inJordan, and the other is amarine engineer, he said.

Jamal hopes the new gov-ernment will do something torescue the industry.

Uttar Pradesh MSMEMinister and BJP candidatefrom Kanpur SatyadevPachauri, however, said thetanneries were polluting theGanga river by dischargingeffluent, including chromium,and the owners will have toeither upgrade technology tocurb pollution or move toother sources of livelihood.

"We will not compromisewith the cleanliness of Gangaas envisioned in the NationalMission for Clean Ganga of thecentral government," Pachaurisaid.

Arshi, the LIWA vice pres-ident, said the industry has lostRs 7,000 crore in three monthsdue to closure.

The effluent from a tan-nery first goes through one ofthe four pumping stations andthen, eventually, through acentral treatment plant as perthe norms. “So, we want to askthe state government and thepollution control authorities,how are we polluting theriver?” he said.

"In the name of pollutionand because it's a Muslim-dominated industry, we havebeen made a villain," healleged.

Under previous govern-ments, Arshi said, tannery-owners used to voluntarilystop work for three days beforeeach 'nahaan' (holy dip) of theKumbh.

There are about 400 regis-tered tanneries in Kanpur, ofwhich 262 were operating.After the Kumbh Mela, only 26are operating, he said. PTI

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Aizawl: The recent pest attack has affect-ed 68 per cent of maize cultivation inMizoram, an official said on Wednesday.

The pest, fall armyworm (Sodopterafrugiperda), has affected 2,424 hectare outof 3,539 hectare of maize fields in the state,the Joint Director of the AgricultureDepartment, James Lalsiamliana, told PTI.

As a result a total of 5,525 families havebeen affected, Lalsiamliana said.

The pest attack was first detected in thestate on April 8 and it spread across all theeight districts of the state very fast, headded.

State level Rapid Response Teams(RRTs) and district level RRTs are workingtogether to combat the menace by usingpesticides, Lalsiamliana said.

The fall armyworm, Spodopterafrugiperda, is a pest that feeds in large num-bers on the leaves and stems of more than80 plant species, causing major damage toeconomically important cultivated grassessuch as maize, rice, sorghum and sugarcanebut also other vegetable crops and cotton,officials said.

A group of scientists from Delhi arrivedin Aizawl on Wednesday and visited theaffected fields.

The scientists also held a workshop forthe agriculture scientists of the state, an offi-cial statement said. PTI

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Lucknow: Hitting out at Prime Minister NarendraModi, BSP president Mayawati on Wednesday saidhis legacy as the chief minister of Gujarat is a "blackspot" and "burden" on the BJP as well as the com-munal history of the country.

The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister also saidthat Modi was "unfit" as chief minister and primeminister and his tenure has seen "anarchy and hatred".

"My tenure as chief minister of UP for four timeshas been clean and works done on law and order,development, peoples welfare front are rememberedeven today. PM Modi has been CM of Gujarat for alonger time but his legacy is such it is a black spotnot only on himself but also on the BJP and a bur-den on communal history of the country," she saidhere. "It is clear how fit the BSP president is on issuesof peoples welfare and national interest and how unfitthe prime minister is," she said.

"During our government, UP remained free ofanarchy and riots but Narendra Modi's tenure notonly as the Gujarat CM but also as the prime min-ister has been full of anarchy, violence, tension andhatred and so it can be said that he has failed in hold-ing public office and is unfit," Mayawati said.

"As the Chief Minister of Gujarat, he had beenunfit in adhering

to the 'raj dharma' in accordance with the Indianculture, Constitution and the law and has also beenunfit as the prime minister," she said. PTI

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Independent directors of var-ious IL&FS companies are

under the scanner of the cor-porate affairs ministry foralleged lapses in carrying outtheir duties as financial prob-lems continued to brew at thediversified group, accordingto sources.

The crisis at IL&FS, whichis estimated to have a debt bur-den of over Rs 94,000 crore,came to light last year aftersome group companies default-

ed on debt repayments.The sources said indepen-

dent directors of various groupcompanies have under theministry’s lens, including indi-viduals who are on the boardsof blue chip firms.

The role of auditors, cred-it rating agencies and someformer officials entities arealready being looked into bythe ministry, which had super-seded the IL&FS board inOctober 2018. The SeriousFraud Investigation Office(SFIO) is probing the matter.

The ministry is alreadyworking on ways to furtherstrengthen the framework for

independent directors, whohave an important role inensuring good corporate gov-ernance practices at companies.

Earlier this month,Corporate Affairs SecretaryInjeti Srinivas said IL&FSgroup’s auditors have “manyquestions to answer” primafacie as they are supposed to actas “gatekeepers” and detectwidespread irregularities, but itwould be premature to pass anyjudgement at this stage.

“We are not expecting anauditor to detect a needle in ahaystack, but if an elephant isin a room they ought to find it.That is the issue,” he had said.

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Chinese carmaker ShanghaiAutomotive Industrial

Corporation (SAIC) took thecovers off its much anticipatedSUV, the MG Hector heretoday. The Chinese carmakerwhich has joint-ventures withGeneral Motors andVolkswagen Group in theChinese market and is thelargest automobile manufac-turer in China has been plan-ning its India foray for years. Itis entering India with the oldBritish brand MG that itacquired via another purchasewhen MG-Rover closed oper-ations in the United Kingdom.However, the carmaker hasgone out of its way to highlightthe ‘British’ nature of their newproduct, even hiring Sherlockstar Benedict Cumberbatch tobe the brand ambassador forthe brand in India.

The MG Hector whoseprice is yet to be disclosed willgo on sale from next monthand the carmaker which tookover General Motors old plantin Halol, Gujarat and is staffedby several former GeneralMotors India hands, includingRajeev Chaba, MG MotorsIndia President and ManagingDirector. Chaba said that MGIndia will start operations with120 touchpoints across thecountry and expects to haveover 190 touchpoints by theend of 2019. The Hector, whichis named after the Trojanprince in Classical Greek epic

the Iliad, will have both petroland diesel engine options with150Ps and 170PS respectivelyand will come with a six-speeddual-clutch automatic trans-mission. It will also feature a 48volt electrical system and anonboard lithium-ion battery topower start-stop technologyand engine boosting.

However, MG Indiaexpects the internet connec-tivity of the car to be theunique selling proposition ofthe Hector. Advertising‘Internet Inside’ on its boot lid,the Hector comes with SAIC’s

‘i-Smart’ technology thatincludes several voice-activat-ed features, live traffic andweather updates, streamingservices and others and accord-ing to Chaba, the Hector willcontinually get ‘over the air’updates throughout its life. Healso reiterated that the vehicleis powered by Microsoft’sAzure cloud system and all thevehicular data collected willreside in India, allaying fearsexpressed by some whetherthe data will be transmittedback to China, although thosedoubts were not completely

eliminated. The Hector, which has

been extensively road tested inIndia, and Chaba also high-lighted the fact that the Hectorhas also undergone months of‘voice recognition’ training tounderstand INdian accents. Itwill be competing against thelikes of the Hyundai Tucsonand Volkswagen Tiguan. Chabawas also fairly confident thatthe Indian automotive industrywhich has been sales declinesharply over the past fewmonths will recover in thepost-election environment.

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The National company LawAppellate Tribunal

(NCLAT) on Wednesdayadmitted the intervention pleafiled by State-owned HUDCOclaiming dues of �195 crorefrom Vikram Bakshi, theestranged India partner of US-based McDonald’s.

A two-member benchheaded by Chairman Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya accepted theintervention plea filed by theHouse Urban DevelopmentCorporation (HUDCO) andsuggested the parties to settlethe issue.

“HUDCO intervention isaccepted,” said the NCLAT.

The bench has listed thematter on May 27 for nexthearing.

Fast food chainMcDonald’s has reached anout-of-court settlement withBakshi, buying out ConnaughtPlaza Restaurants Ltd, whichruns the restaurants chain ofUS-based fast food major innorth and east India, fromtheir joint venture.

HUDCO has filed an inter-vention application before theNCLAT, seeking its dues fromBakshi, before the deal withMcDonald’s is over.

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The Commerce Ministryhas extended the timeline

till May 31 for state tradingenterprises (STEs) to submitapplications for the import offeed-grade maize or corn.

The Directorate General ofForeign Trade (DGFT), underthe ministry, in a notice saidthat applications were invitedfrom STEs for importing feed-grade maize under the TRQ(tariff rate quota) scheme at 15per cent customs duty during2019-20 fiscal year.

The imports were allowedonly for poultry firms on anactual user basis. As STEswere not able to submit appli-cations till April, they havesought an extension of thetimeline.

“The last date for filingapplications for import of feed-grade maize by the STEs isextended till May 31 this year,”it said.

In April, the directoratepermitted the import of feedgrade maize at a concessionalimport duty of 15 per centwith a view to meeting short-age of poultry feed in thecountry.

Import of up to 1 lakhtonne feed grade maize isallowed on actual user condi-tion.

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Mahindra Group ChairmanAnand Mahindra

Wednesday said a wave ofChinese investment in Indiamay be imminent in the wakeof intensifying trade warbetween the US and China.

Commenting on reportsthat US President DonaldTrump will meet his Chinesecounterpart Xi Jinping nextmonth, in a tweet Mahindrasaid, “Even if they settle, aChinese firm with large exportsto the US would be wise tohedge & invest in a subsidiaryin India & transfer its scale-

manufacturing skills.”He further said, “Direct

exports would simply becomeindirect. A wave of Chineseinvestment in India may beimminent...”

His comments come at atime when the US-China tradedispute escalated on Mondaywhen Beijing announced leviesduty on US products of $60 bil-lion.

The Chinese move was inretaliation to higher tariff byWashington, which had lastweek said it planned to impose25 per cent levies on nearlyChinese products of $200 bil-lion.

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Shares of Jet Airways con-tinued to fall for the third

straight session Wednesday,dropping over 5 per cent,after four senior executives,including chief executiveVinay Dube and his deputyAmit Agarwal, quit the ailingairline.

The scrip declined 4.18per cent to close at �123.70 onthe BSE. During the day, ittumbled 6.85 per cent to Rs120.25 — its 52-week low.

On the NSE, sharestanked 5.31 per cent to closeat �122.05.

In terms of traded vol-ume, 18.18 lakh shares weretraded on the BSE and overone crore shares changedhands on the NSE during theday.

Shares of Jet Airways hadon Tuesday plunged over 7per cent and over 8 per centMonday.

In top level exodus atgrounded Jet Airways, foursenior executives have quitthe ailing airline.

Jet Airways stopped flyingfrom April 17 after it ran outof cash.

“We wish to inform thatVinay Dube, Chief ExecutiveOfficer (CEO), has resignedfrom services of the compa-ny with immediate effect dueto personal reasons,” JetAirways said in a filingTuesday.

Agarwal quit with effectfrom May 13 due to personalreasons, as per another filing.

“. . .Kuldeep Sharma,Company Secretar y andCompliance Officer, hasresigned from the services ofthe company with immediateeffect,” Jet Airways said in aseparate filing on Tuesday.

Chief People Off icerRahul Taneja told PTI that itwas a tough decision to leavethe airline.

Meanwhile, officials ofDarwin Platform Group ofCompanies and SBI CapsWednesday held discussionson the group’s unsolicited bidfor Jet Airways.

Darwin Platform Group,which has investments acrossvarious sectors including oiland gas, hospitality and real-ty, among others, has offeredRs 14,000 crore to acquire thegrounded airline, its CEORahul Ganpule said.

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Officials of Darwin PlatformGroup of Companies and

SBI Caps on Wednesday helddiscussions on the Group’sunsolicited bid for crisis-hit JetAirways.

Darwin Platform Group,which has investments acrossvarious sectors including oiland gas, hospitality and realty,among others has offered�14,000 crore to acquire thegrounded airline, its CEORahul Ganpule said.

The Group had partici-pated in expression of interest(EoI) and also submitted itsfinancial bid on May 8, he said.

“They (SBI Caps) hadcalled us. We wanted to under-stand the liability and assets ofJet Airways,” Ganpule toldreporters after the meeting.

He said the Group haddone due diligence before sub-mitting the financial bids butwanted some more detailswhich were not publicly avail-able.

Ganpule said there is lim-ited information availableabout the airline in Registrar ofCompanies and other publicsources, and has requested SBICaps to provide more detailsabout the actual liability of theairline.

“The solicited bidders havebeen given access to the actu-al information but unsolicitedbidders do not have,” Ganpulesaid adding that access to datawill only be given after a deci-sion from consortium oflenders.

He said the �14,000-croreoffer made by the Group is totake over the entire liabilities ofthe grounded airline.Last week, the State Bank ofIndia-led consortium of lendersto Jet Airways said it hasreceived bids from EtihadAirways and from a few unso-licited parties to acquire stakein the troubled airline.

The bids were examined bythe lenders on Monday andthey reportedly found Etihad’sbid conditional.

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The National StockExchange (NSE)

Wednesday said it haspenalised 250 companies,including two IL&FS groupfirms and Jet Airways, fornon-compliance with vari-ous listing regulations for thequarter ended March 31,2019.

The total penalty imposedon the non-compliant com-panies is little over �8.84crore, according to NSE data.

The move is in accor-dance with markets regulatorSebi’s circular that had put in

place a standard operatingprocedure to check non-com-pliance with provisions of(List ing obligationsDisclosure Requirement)Regulations, NSE said.

Fines have been levied inthe range of �1,000 to �4.5lakh.

Penalty of �4.5 lakh hasbeen levied on 31 companiesthat include Adani Ports andSpecial Economic Zone,Power Finance Corporation,Bharat Electronics Ltd,Hindustan Copper Ltd,Bharat Heavy Electrical Ltd,Oil India Ltd and Indian OilCorporation among others.

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Aiming at a ‘cash-lite’ soci-ety, the Reserve Bank of

India Wednesday released avision document for ensuringa safe, secure, convenient, quickand affordable e-payment sys-tem as it expects the number ofdigital transactions to increasemore than four times to 8,707crore in December 2021.

The ‘Payment andSettlement Systems in India:Vision 2019 - 2021’, with itscore theme of ‘EmpoweringExceptional (E)paymentExperience’, envisages to

achieve “a highly digital andcash-lite society” through thegoal posts of competition, costeffectiveness, convenience andconfidence (4Cs).

The RBI said the paymentsystems landscape will contin-ue to change with further inno-vation and entry of more play-ers which is expected to ensureoptimal cost to the customersand freer access to multiplepayment system options.

“The Reserve Bank ofIndia will implement theapproach outlined in thisVision during the period 2019- 2021,” it said.

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Iran’s Supreme Leader issueda veiled threat in the same

speech in which he stated that“no one is seeking war,” sayingit wouldn’t be difficult for theIslamic Republic to enrich ura-nium to weapons-grade levelsamid rising tensions with theUS, state media reportedWednesday.

Ayatollah Sayyid AliHusseini Khamenei’s commentslate Tuesday came after Yemen’sHouthi rebels launched a coor-dinated drone attack on a crit-ical oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia.A satellite image obtained byThe Associated Press shows oneof the two pumping stationsattacked by the drones appar-ently intact.

The drone assault is just thelatest incident in the Mideast toshake global energy markets, asauthorities allege oil tankersanchored off the coast of theUnited Arab Emirates weretargeted by sabotage.Benchmark Brent crude pricesremained around $71 a barrelin early trading Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the US isdeploying an aircraft carrierstrike group and B-52 bombersinto the region in response toa still-unspecified threat fromIran, further ramping up ten-sions a year after PresidentDonald Trump withdrewAmerica from Tehran’s nucleardeal with world powers.

Speaking Tuesday night inTehran at an iftar, the tradi-tional dinner Muslims havewhen breaking their daylongfast during the holy month ofRamadan, Khamenei’s report-ed comments first focused onhim downplaying the chancesof a wider conflict in theMideast with America.

He reportedly told seniorofficials that his country won’tnegotiate with the UnitedStates, calling such talks “poi-son.” But he also said, “Neitherwe, nor them is seeking war.They know that it is not to their

benefit.” In Wednesday’s edi-tion, the state-run IRAN news-paper carried his comments onthe nuclear program, his firstsince Iran announced it wouldbegin backing away from theaccord itself.

Tehran is threatening toresume higher enrichment in60 days if no new nuclear dealis in place, beyond the 3.67 percent permitted by the currentdeal between Tehran and worldpowers.

Iranian officials have saidthat they could reach 20%enrichment within four days.Though Iran maintains itsnuclear program is for peace-ful purposes, scientists say thetime needed to reach the 90 percent threshold for weapons-grade uranium is halved onceuranium is enriched to around20 per cent.

“Achieving 20 per centenrichment is the most difficultpart,” Khamenei said, accord-ing to the newspaper. “The nextsteps are easier than this step.”It was a telling remark from thesupreme leader. Iran is notknown to have enrichedbeyond 20 per cent previouslyand it’s unclear how far Tehranis willing to go in this process.

Khamene spoke just after

Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who areat war with Saudi Arabia andare believed by the West toreceive weapons from

Iran, said earlier Tuesdaythat they launched sevendrones targeting vital Saudiinstallations. That includedtwo pumping stations along itscritical East-West Pipeline,which can carry nearly 5 mil-lion barrels of crude a day tothe Red Sea.

Saudi Aramco, the gov-ernment-controlled oil com-pany, said that as a precaution,it temporarily shut down thepipeline and contained a fire,which caused minor damage toone pumping station. It addedthat Saudi Aramco’s oil and gassupplies were not affected.

An image from SanFrancisco-based Planet LabsInc. That the AP examined onWednesday shows SaudiAramco’s Pumping Station No.8 outside of the town of al-Duadmi, 330 kilometers west ofthe kingdom’s capital, Riyadh.

The photo, taken Tuesdayafter the attack, shows twoblack marks near where theEast-West Pipeline passes bythe facility. Those marksweren’t there in images takenMonday. The facility other-

wise appeared intact, corrobo-rating in part Saudi Arabia’searlier comments.

Details around alleged actsof sabotage to four oil tankers,including two belonging toSaudi Arabia, off the coast ofthe UAE’s port of Fujairah

remain unclear. Satellite imagesobtained Tuesday by the APfrom Colorado-based MaxarTechnologies showed no visi-ble damage to the vessels, andGulf officials have refused tosay who they suspected wasresponsible.

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Moscow: The Kremlin on Wednesday expressed concern thattensions over Iran keep escalating despite assurances from USSecretary of State Mike Pompeo during a visit to Russia thatWashington was not seeking war.

“So far we notice the continued escalation of tensions aroundthis subject,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, a day afterPompeo met with President Vladimir Putin.

“We are saddened to see the decisions taken by the Iranianside,” Peskov said, while arguing that Washington has been pro-voking Iran.

Speaking in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi on Tuesday,Pompeo assured Russia that his country did not want war withIran, despite a spike in tensions that has seen the Pentagon dis-patch nuclear-capable bombers to the region. But Peskovsought to play down those statements.

“There were no assurances from Pompeo,” Putin’s spokesmantold reporters. “And one can hardly talk about some sort of assur-ances. There is an obvious situation which unfortunately tendsto escalate further.”

Washington last year pulled out of a nuclear deal backed byEurope, Russia and China, which curbed Iran’s nuclear ambitionsin return for sanctions relief. AFP

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The US on Wednesdayordered all non-emergency

staff to leave its embassy inBaghdad and consulate inArbil, ramping up alarm overan alleged Iran threat even asallies appeared less than con-vinced.

A senior Democratic sen-ator demanded PresidentDonald Trump’s administrationbrief Congress on the Iranthreat, warning that the US leg-islature has not approved mil-itary action against Tehran.

And Moscow expressedconcerns that both Washingtonand Tehran were dangerouslystoking tensions, as thePentagon ramped up its forcesin the Gulf with B-52 bombers,Patriot missiles and an aircraftcarrier task force.

The embassy evacuationcame 10 days after Trump’snational security advisor JohnBolton announced the militarydeployment in response tointelligence on an unspecified“imminent” plot by Iran toattack US forces or allies.

The State Departmentwarned Wednesday of numer-ous “terrorist and insurgentgroups” active in the country,including “anti-US sectarianmilitias” who could “threatenUS citizens and Western com-panies throughout Iraq.”

The warning did not men-tion Iran specifically, but “anti-US sectarian militias” points toIran-backed groups.

A State Departmentspokesman told AFP the depar-ture of non-emergency per-sonnel came in response to “theincreased threat stream we areseeing in Iraq.”

Washington says it hasreceived intelligence on possi-ble attacks by Iranian orIranian-backed forces, possiblytargeting US bases in Iraq orSyria.

Some observers speculatethat Tehran is seeking to retal-iate to Washington’s decision inApril to designate the IslamicRevolutionary Guard Corps ofIran as a terrorist organizationin an effort to stymie theiractivities across the MiddleEast.

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Sri Lanka’s police reimposednight curfews in vulnerable

areas on Wednesday andarrested over 100 people inconnection with the communalriots which targeted Muslim-owned businesses in the after-math of the deadly EasterSunday bombings.

The police announcementcame hours after authoritieslifted the nationwide restric-tions on people’s movementsand assembly.

The curfew will beimposed in the North Westernprovince and the GampahaPolice division from 7 PMtonight till 4 AM Thursday,News First quoted policespokesperson SP RuwanGunasekara as saying.

The Air Force woulddeploy helicopters at day andnight to assist with controllingillegal assemblies and acts ofviolence, Sri Lanka Air Forcespokesman Group CaptainGihan Seneviratne said.

“We have already takenmeasures to obtain aerial pho-tographic evidence of thoseinvolved in such activities andto direct such evidence forlegal action against lawbreak-ers,” he said.

Police spokesman RuwanGunasekera said at least 78

people were arrested from theworst-affected North-WesternProvince (NWP) for the anti-Muslim violence.

Rest of the suspects werearrested from other parts of thecountry, he said. “In addi-tion to the 78 arrested andremanded after they were pro-duced in court, video footagefrom the incidents are beingreviewed to make more arrests,”Gunasekera said.

The majority Sinhala com-munity mobs vandalisedMuslim-owned properties inNWP and adjoining Gampahadistrict in the Western Province,a senior police officer said,adding that the mobs evendefied the curfew to attackMuslim properties which result-ed in the death of one person.

Gunasekera said amongthe arrested were state andprivate sector employees. Theyhave been remanded till 29May.

The island-wide curfewwas imposed on Monday afterviolence against the Muslimcommunity which accountsfor 10 per cent of the country’spopulation.

The curfew was briefly lift-ed on Tuesday before beingreimposed for a second straightnight following reports of freshviolence in some parts of thecountry.

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Ravi Bhalla, the first everSikh mayor of a city in New

Jersey, has been allegedly racial-ly targeted after his photo-shopped image as an Arabdictator was published on alocal website.

The New Jersey-basedwebsite, “Hudson Mile SquareView”, ran an image ofHoboken Mayor Bhalla thatresembled the lead characterplayed by British actor SachaBaron Cohen in the comedyfilm “The Dictator”.

The photo was part of astory titled, “Ravi Bhalla goesto the mattresses... For his taxincrease”.

It accused Bhalla of “sum-moning all the powers” of hisoffice to “reinstitute a taxincrease” that was not approvedby the city council.

According to the website,Bhalla had proposed a 3 per centtax increase but the councilslashed it to 1 per cent. The storysaid now “the pushback from theMayor’s office to take back thetax reduction is underway”.

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Police chiefs and Muslimgroups in the UK have

clashed over a proposed officialdefinition of Islamophobia aspart of efforts to tackle anti-Muslim crimes in Britain.

The definition, proposedby the All Party ParliamentaryGroup (APPG) on BritishMuslims based on wide con-sultation over the issue, reads:“Islamophobia is rooted inracism and is a type of racismthat targets expressions ofMuslimness or perceivedMuslimness.”

But the UK’s NationalPolice Chiefs Council (NPCC)warned in a statement onWednesday that the definitionmay be too broad and causeconfusion.

“We take all reports of hatecrime very seriously and willinvestigate them thoroughly.However, we have some con-cerns about the proposed defi-nition of Islamophobia made bythe All Party ParliamentaryGroup on British Muslims,” saidNPCC Chair Martin Hewitt.

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President Xi Jinping onWednesday proposed a

tourism plan to promote Asiancultures and offered China’ssupport in implementing it,saying millions of Chinesetourists visiting abroad andvice versa are an “importantforce” to promote culturalexchange.

Xi made the comments atthe opening session of theConference on Dialogue ofAsian Civilizations being heldhere.

The event is attended byChargé D’Affaires of the IndianEmbassy Acquino Vimal, SriLankan President MaithripalaSirisena, Greek PresidentProkopis Pavlopoulos,Cambodian King NorodomSihamoni, SingaporeanPresident Halimah Yacob andArmenian Prime MinisterNikol Pashinyan. .

In his address, Xi saidChina is willing to implementan Asia tourism promotionplan with other countries topromote Asian cultures.

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Washington: A bipartisan group of lawmakers has introducedidentical resolutions in both the US House of Representativesand the Senate that would require the US government to devel-op a list of scientific and engineering institutions affiliated withthe Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

The bill seeks to prohibit individuals employed or sponsoredby these Chinese military institutions from receiving student orresearch visas to the United States.

Senators Tom Cotton, Chuck Grassley, Ted Cruz, MarshaBlackburn, Josh Hawley and Marco Rubio have introduced thelegislation in the Senate. Congressmen Mike Gallagher and VickyHartzler have introduced the bill in the House.

The lawmakers alleged that Chinese military scientists con-tinue to research advanced dual-use technology in the US andother western countries.

According to some estimates, over the past decade, the PLAhas sent over 2,500 military engineers and scientists to studyabroad. At times, these scientists have not disclosed their con-nection to the Chinese military, they alleged. PTI

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Croatian World Cupper Igor Stimacwas on Wednesday appointed head

coach of the Indian football team fora two-year term.

The national team has been with-out a coach since the departure ofStephen Constantine in January, follow-ing the creditable show at the AFCAsian Cup.

The appointment was made by theAIFF's executive committee.

The 51-year-old Stimac, who waspart of Croatia's 1998 World Cupsquad that finished third in France,comes with an experience of over 18years in coaching, structuring, anddeveloping football and players backhome, and internationally.

As a coach, Stimac's major achieve-ment was guiding Croatia to qualify forthe 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.During his tenure as the nationalcoach of Croatia, he handed debuts tothe likes of Mateo Kovacic, Ante Rebic,Alen Halilovic, and Ivan Perisic,amongst others.

He also played a pivotal role indeveloping the likes of Dario Srna,Daniel Subasic, Ivan Strinic, Kovacic,Perisic, and other players. The centre-back has made 53 appearances for thenational team.

His last assignment was with Al-Shahania Club in Qatar.

As a player, he was part the of theCroatia team that finished third in the1998 World Cup.

Welcoming Stimac to Indian foot-ball, AIFF president Praful Patel said,"Igor is the right candidate to coach the

Blue Tigers. I welcome him on board.Indian football is going through a tran-sition, and I am confident his vast expe-rience will guide us to higher echelons."

General secretary Kushal Dasadded, "Indian football would benefitimmensely under Igor Stimac.

"His credentials as a coach andexperience as a player are sure to addimmense value to the players, and theIndian football ecosystem. Themomentum gained needs to be sus-tained."

Technical committee head ShyamThapa, a former India international,said, "Mr Stimac's recommendation

was unanimous.""All the members of the technical

committee including the AIFF techni-cal director Isac Doru were immense-ly impressed, and convinced about himbeing best suited for the job. He is aWorld Cupper, and has guided Croatiato World Cup as a coach. Who elsecould have been a better candidate?" hequipped.

"He also impressed us with hisextensive research on Indian football."

Stimac's first assignment will be theKings Cup in Buriram, Thailand wherethe Blue Tigers play Curacao in theirfirst match on June 5.

����■ ��������

India picked veteran DineshKarthik over rising talentRishabh Pant for the World

Cup because of his composureunder pressure, captain ViratKohli said in an interview releasedon Wednesday.

The selection of the 33-year-old Karthik in the 15-membersquad was sharply criticised bysome former cricketers who feltthe 21-year-old Pant should havebeen given a chance.

Since making his debut in2018, Pant has impressed with hisbatting, including a maiden Testcentury in England.

He scored 488 runs from 16matches in the just-finishedIndian Premier League, whileKarthik made 253 runs from 14games.

Both players are vying for thereserve wicketkeeper slot behindformer skipper Mahendra SinghDhoni.

"In pressure situations, he(Karthik) has shown composure.It was something that everybodyon board was convinced about.He has the experience," Kohli toldthe Times of India newspaper.

"If, god forbid, somethinghappens to MS (Dhoni), Karthikcan be immensely valuablebehind the wickets. As a finisher,he's done well.

"So, it was the overall expo-sure to a tournament of thismagnitude that was taken intoprimary consideration," saidKohli.

After making his debut in2004, Karthik has played 91 one-day internationals while Pant hasfive to his name.

Kohli, who will be leadingIndia for the first time at theWorld Cup, said he was not both-

ered about the constant attentionhe gets as a batsman and captain.

"I don't want to be the centre

of everything. Nobody wantsthat. But when your intent is tomake the team win, eventuallyyou end up doing things whichare always going to be seen," saidKohli, the world's number oneTest and one-day player.

"I would always put my bodyon the line for the team."

With the World Cup roundthe corner, India captain ViratKohli has revealed that the pres-ence of former skipper MS Dhoniin the team, especially behind thestumps, is "priceless". Kohli saidthe selflessness with which Dhoniconducts himself makes him adelight to play alongside.

"The fact is Dhoni is amongthe smartest guys in the game.Behind the stumps, as I said, he'spriceless. It gives me the freedomto do my thing. Someone like MSis a wealth of experience," Kohli

said. "What can I say about him.

My career started under him andfew have seen him from so closeover the last few years as I have.There's one thing about MS that'sfar more important than anythingelse — and there's a lot to him.

"For him, the team is alwaysabove everything else. It's alwaysabout the team, no matter what.To top it, look at the experiencehe brings to the squad and we'rericher with it.

"Some of his dismissalsbehind the stumps, even asrecently (as in the IPL), werematch-changing," the skipperadded.

He also said that there will beexpectations from both Dhoniand Rohit Sharma from a leader-ship perspective at the World Cupthat starts on May 30.

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French striker Antoine Griezmann has toldAtletico Madrid he will leave them in the close

season, the Spanish club said on Twitter onTuesday.

The 28-year-old Griezmann has a contractuntil 2023 with Atletico, but has a buy out clauseof 120million euros ($134million) and has beenthe target of several approaches from La Liga rivalsBarcelona.

"Antoine Griezmann has told the club he willnot continue as a Rojiblanco (red and white, the

club's colours) next season," the club said onTwitter.

Within a few moments the player then post-ed a video explaining himself.

"After speaking with Cholo (club coach DiegoSimeone), then with Miguel Angel and the peo-ple in the hierarchy of the club I wanted to speakwith you, the fans, who have always given me alot of love," said Griezmann, wearing a plain blackt-shirt in front of a simple white backgroundbehind him.

"I wanted to tell you I have taken the deci-sion to leave," said the French 2018 World Cupwinner.

"I have had five wonderful seasons here andyou will always be in my heart," said the affableforward known for doing dances from the videogame Fortnite, when celebrating his goals.

"The truth is it has been difficult to take thisroute but it is what I feel I need and I would liketo thank all of you for the love you have shownme during these five years."

With 133 goals in 252 games at Atletico theattacker has been ever-present and has rarely beenunfit or injured.

He was a Champions League runner up in2016, losing to arch-rivals Real Madrid. In 2018however Atletico beat Marseille in the EuropaLeague final.

Griezmann finished third for the Ballon d'Orin 2016, after France lost in the final to Portugalat the European Championships and was a hugepresence as Les Bleus romped to a memorableWorld Cup win at Russia 2018 after which he alsofinished third for the Ballon d'Or.

����■ ���������

Talismanic Indian football captainSunil Chhetri on Wednesday gave

a big thumbs up to the appointment ofIgor Stimac as head coach, saying thatthe team will benefit from the experi-ence of the Croatian World Cupper.

"I would like to extend a warm wel-come to the new boss, @stimac_igor onhis appointment as coach of the nation-al team. He brings with him tremendousexperience of having coached on someof the biggest stages in football. We willdo well to benefit from it," Chhetri saidon his Twitter handle.

The 34-year-old Indian, who hasplayed for more than 100 matches forIndia and is currently the second high-est international goal scorer, said whilethere was a change of guard at the helmof affairs, the players will continue togive their best.

"This will be a process, one towardswhich we will be giving nothing lessthan 100%. I have already spoken withthe boys from the National team, andwe have begun working on our fitnessas we will need to switch modes soon,"he said.

"While there is a change in guard atthe helm, what does not change is ourdesire to keep improving. What I amalso assuming won't change is the wayall you fans have backed us. Let's all turnto this new chapter together," headded.

����■ 34,46�

Pakistan's young leg-spin all-rounder Shadab Khan has been

declared fit to play in the ICCWorld Cup, the Pakistan CricketBoard has announced.

"The latest blood tests carriedout show zero viral load in hisblood," the PCB said in a pressrelease late on Tuesday night.

Shadab was named inPakistan's 15-member World Cupsquad but couldn't fly with the teamto England after tests revealedtraces of hepatitis C in his bloodstream.

The PCB sent him toManchester to consult with DrPatrick Kennedy, who had given theleg-spinner two week's medica-tion and rehab course, whichShadab went through at theNational Cricket Academy.

The PCB said Shadab would

leave for England on May 16 andwill consult Dr Kennedy the nextday.

The board said Shadab'sappearances in the World Cupwarm-up matches againstAfghanistan and Bangladesh onMay 24 and 26 were subject to hisfitness and team management'sdecision.

Shadab said he is delighted tohave cleared the medical tests andbe declared fit for the World Cup.

"It has been difficult to stayaway from international cricketand watch Pakistan play. As a pro-fessional cricketer, you want to bepart of the team's success. Havingplayed in the 2017 ChampionsTrophy I understand the glamour,flavour and importance of globalevents," Shadab said.

"I am looking forward to com-peting in the World Cup and helpPakistan achieve success," he added.

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Former India openerVirender Sehwag isknown to call a spade a

spade and he believes thatthere is no all-rounder in theIndian team who is as good asHardik Pandya.

"There is no one even closeto Hardik Pandya's talent withboth bat and ball. If there wassomeone even closer to him —the three-dimensional playerspicked by BCCI — Pandyawould not have made it backinto the team," Sehwag toldCricbuzz.

Pandya will be expected toplay a crucial role if India areto stay true to the favourite tagand win the 2019 World Cup inEngland and Wales.

The Mumbai Indians play-er was in full flow in the recent-ly concluded 12th edition of theIndian Premier League, scoring402 runs in 15 innings in thetournament at an astonishing

strike rate of 191.42."I played well this season,

but now time to move on. Iwant to lift that World Cup tro-phy as well," Hardik had saidafter Mumbai Indians beatCSK by 1 run to lift theirfourth trophy.

A testimony to his all-round ability was the fact thatPandya had won a man of thematch for his bowling perfor-mance in MI's final groupgame of the season against theKolkata Knight Riders.

Pandya's 2/20 in threeovers helped secure a convinc-ing nine-wicket win for MI andknocked out KKR from the topfour contention. "For sure, get-ting a 'Man of the Match' for mybowling is really pleasing. To behonest as a batsman, there isnothing better than hitting aball. People don't expect a lotfrom my bowling, neither do I,but it feels nice," he said in thepost-match presentation cere-mony.

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Cricketer-turned-politician GautamGambhir feels the Indian World

Cup squad is "one quality fast bowler"short.

Two-time winners India begintheir campaign with a big-ticket matchagainst South Africa on June 5 inSouthampton.

"I feel Indian team lacks one morequality fast bowler. (Jasprit) Bumrah,(Mohammed) Shami and Bhuvi(Bhuvneshwar Kumar) need moresupport. You may argue that India hastwo fast bowling all-rounders inHardik (Pandya) and Vijay Shankarbut I am not convinced. In the end itboils down to getting the team com-bination right and sticking to it,"Gambhir said.

On the ICC showpiece, the left-handed batsman said, "This will be awell contested tournament as all theteams play each other. This format willgive us the real world champion and

I think ICC should stick to this formatfor all future World Cups."

Talking about the teams to watchout for in the tournament, Gambhirpicked Australia, England and NewZealand along with India.

"Besides India I will be keenlywatching Australia as they are a sideto beat. They have most well round-ed bowling attack in the competition.I will also be watching New Zealandand hosts England."

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South Africa's premier paceduo of Dale Steyn and

Kagiso Rabada could be fit toplay in their high-voltageWorld Cup opener againsthosts England, according tocoach Ottis Gibson.

Perennial underachieversSouth Africa lock horns withtournament favouritesEngland on May 30, and theProteas are expecting theirtwo best pacers to return tofull fitness before the openinggame.

Both Steyn and Rabada'sIPL campaigns were cut shortby injuries, but the latter hadpicked 25 wickets by then forDelhi Capitals.

"There was an issue withKG (Rabada) and there was anissue with Dale, but we feelthat those guys are on track,"

Gibson told reporters onTuesday.

"There's nothing that peo-ple should be alarmed about.They're going to both makefull recoveries and be able totake their place at the WorldCup."

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For many people, addiction is a tempo-rary failure to cope. Sooner or later, theyhave a "wake up call" and manage to quiton their own, and can even go back tomoderation.

The other side of this is some people can't dothis, and no one knows why. It's likely genetic,since we see addictions run in families. For thesepeople they cannot become "unaddicted", but theycan receive treatment to get their addiction go intoremission, but they might not ever be complete-ly free of it.

In the process of dealing with an addictionto alcohol, tobacco, sex, drugs, lying or gambling,admitting that you have a problem is always thefirst step to overcoming it, and it is not easy. Nowit's time to make a plan for quitting, seek help,and prepare yourself for obstacles you'll surelyencounter. If you want to learn how to kick thathabit and start living life to the fullest again, keepreading.

It is true that you might not feel good toacknowledge all the ways in which your addic-tion is harming you, but seeing the list on paperwill help you resolve to stop as soon as possible.Take out a pen and a piece of paper and brain-storm a list that includes all the negative effectsyou've experienced since your addiction started.

Think about how your addiction has affect-ed your physical health. Are you at greater riskfor getting cancer, heart disease, or another ill-ness as a result of your addiction? Maybe the

addiction has already taken a noticeable physi-cal toll. List the ways in which it has hurt you men-tally.

You may be embarrassed about your addic-tion. In many cases, addictions lead to shame andembarrassment, as well as depression, anxiety, andother mental and emotional issues. How has youraddiction affected your relationships with otherpeople? Does it prevent you from spending timewith people you love, or having enough time topursue new relationships?

Some addictions take a big financial toll. Listthe amount of money you have to spend feedingyour addiction every day, week and month.Determine whether your addiction has affectedyour job. What daily annoyances are caused byyour addiction? For example, if you're a smoker,maybe you're tired of having to leave your officeevery time you need to light up.

Make a list of positive changes you want inyour life. Now that you've detailed all the nega-tive effects of your addiction, think about howmuch your life will improve once you've kickedthe habit. Create a picture of your life post-addic-tion.

Maybe you will feel a sense of freedom youhaven't had in years. You will have more time tospend on people, hobbies, and other pleasures.You will be able to save money again. You knowyou're doing everything you can to stay healthy.You will feel immediate physical improvements.You will feel proud and confident again.

You should have a list of solid reasons to quit.It will help you stick to your plan in the long run.Your reasons for quitting must be more impor-tant to you than continuing your addictivebehaviour. This mental hurdle is tough, but it'sa necessary first step to quitting any addiction.No one can make you quit but yourself. Writedown the true, solid reasons you're stopping thishabit. Only you know what they are.

Decide you're quitting because you want tohave energy to live life to the fullest again. Decideyou're quitting because you're running out ofmoney to support your habit. Decide you're quit-ting because you want to be a better partner toyour spouse. Decide you're quitting because you'redetermined to meet your grandchildren one day.

Do not set it for tomorrow, unless you're pret-ty sure quitting cold turkey will work for you.Don't set it for more than a month from now,because you might lose your resolve by then. Aimfor a date in the next couple of weeks. This willgive you enough time to become mentally andphysically prepared.

Mark the day on your calendar and announceit to those close to you. Build it up so that youwon't be likely to back down when the day arrives.Make a firm commitment to yourself that you'regoing to quit by that date.

It might not seem like it now, but you're goingto need all the support you can get during yourjourney to overcome addiction. Because somany people battle addictions, there are many

wonderful institutions in place that serve as sup-port systems, helping you stay motivated, provid-ing tips for success, and encouraging you to tryagain if you have a false start.

Everyone has a certain set of triggers thatmake them automatically want to indulge theirhabits. For example, if you're struggling with analcohol addiction, you might find it difficult toattend a certain restaurant without feeling a strongurge to drink. If you're addicted to gambling, pass-ing a casino on the way home from work mightmake you feel compelled to stop. Knowing yourtriggers will help you face them down when thetime comes to quit and would affect silently uponyour behaviours and do away with negative oneswhich might have unknowingly driven youtowards addiction.

If you need distractions, try exercising, tak-ing up a new hobby, cooking, or hanging out withfriends. Joining a new club, sports team, or otherkind of community group will help you make newfriends and start a new chapter of your life inwhich addiction is not a part. Positive social inter-actions can stimulate the release of neurochem-icals which elicit feelings of happiness and satis-faction without the need for drugs.

Have it instilled in your brain that theaddiction is all in your head. It isn't quite as goodas you have built it up to be. Tell yourself this untilyou believe it. As soon as you can mentally dis-sociate it with the pleasure it gives you, the morephysical restraint you have in indulging yourself.

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Are you still in love with Simi,the deliciously wicked char-

acter of Andhadhun? But thenTabu has a way of taking up char-acters and making them her own.Whether it is Nimmi in Maqboolor Simi in Sriram Raghavan’sthriller.

The actress will be seen nextin De De Pyaar De, where sheplays Ajay’s ex-wife. Tabu said thefilm explores interpersonal rela-tionships in a mature manner.

“When I heard the story, Ithought it was extremely enjoy-able. It’s definitely not abouttwo women vying for a man. It’snot making fun or humouringeverything. There is seriousnessand maturity also and that’s thebeauty of the film,” Tabu said.

The film was written withAjay and her in mind, sherevealed. Having her long-timefriend and Golmaal Returns co-star Ajay on board and the factthat it is not a film with “mind-less laughter” made her take upthe project.

She said, “Every character inthe film is dealing with realissues. Their struggles or conflictsaren’t trivialised. If he is in lovewith a girl in his mid-40s, it’s gen-uine. He is going through hisown conflicts. My character’sjourney after getting separatedhas also been shown. Every rela-tionship is highlighted and givendue space.”

Tabu said the film tries tounderstand how two coupleswith an age gap tend to view loveand relationships. She added,“The way a mid-40s couple dealswith their relationship, their def-inition of love and relationshipwill be different than a 27-year-old woman. Her insecurities aredifferent and issues are varied. It’sabout people who evolve anddevelop a unique relationship.”

In her over three-decade-long career in movies, Tabu hasnot only built a stellar filmogra-phy but also found “uncondition-al” friendships with not justAjay but also with Salman Khan.

The 47-year-old critically-acclaimed actor says from justbeing co-stars Salman and Ajayhave become family, who shebelieves will never let her “fall.”

“These are the uncondition-al relationships I have in my life.

These are a part of my life as themajority of life has beenentwined and intertwined withmy work. These are the peopleI’ve met through my work. Theseare the people I know will neverlet me fall in any which way. Theyare like family,” she said.

Tabu says her equation withthe two stars is not about con-stantly being in touch or extract-ing favours but is based on trustand love.

“You meet people likeSalman and Ajay who transcendyour work relationships and justby being the people they are, theybecome that for you. It’s not like‘banking’ on them, but you knowthese are the bonds whereinyou don’t have to meet, expressor profess friendship for eachother. They are unconditional.”

The actor, who first tastedsuccess as a Bollywood heroinein 1994 with Vijaypath co-star-ring Ajay, went on to appearalongside him in films likeHaqeeqat, Thakshak, Drishyam,Fitoor, Golmaal Again before thelatest De De Pyaar De.

With Salman Khan, 53, shehas worked in Biwi No 1, Hum

Saath-Saath Hain, Jai Ho and theforthcoming Bharat. She, howev-er, did not share any detailsabout her part in Salman’s latestfilm in which she has a cameo.

“With Salman, it is one of thenon-negotiable relationships Ihave. It’s amazing to have thatkind of trust and belief in a rela-tionship without giving it anyname,” she said.

But coming back toAndhadhun, she said, “The filmwas in its own world and space.Even to this day, people aretalking about the ending andpossible theories are doing therounds. You can’t reference acharacter like that. The fact thatpeople have loved and appreci-ated Simi so much is a thing ofjoy for me. I’ve enjoyed thefilm’s success thoroughly and Ifeel everyone involved has beenable to own it completely. I wantto thank the whole team for mak-ing Andhadhun what it became.”

Tabu is doing a film withAllu Arjun as well. She said, “Iwill start shooting for my por-tions in July. It is another inter-esting character, but I can’t talkabout it yet; the film hasn’t evengone on the floors. But I amexcited about it. I just felt like itwas time for me to reconnectwith that audience. I have workedwith Allu Arvind (producer)and at the end of the day, it’sHyderabad. It’s home ground forme. I will get to visit my house,meet my friends... I am close toChiranjeevi’s family.” Her lastTelugu film was K RaghavendraRao’s Pandurangadu (2008).

Finally, she gave an insightinto how she picks her characters.“Primarily, I look at the position-ing my character is getting in afilm and the contribution shemakes to the story. It’s not aboutworking with names. But it isabout finding out what the direc-tor has envisioned for me, whathe expects from me in a charac-ter and how important it is. I alsolook at the value that I can addto the film and vice versa, as anexperience. And of course, theoverall project and the peopleinvolved in it. Then, it alsodepends on what I am gravitat-ing towards at the time,” she said.

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The Cannes Film Festivalopened on Tuesday with the

premiere of Jim Jarmusch’s zom-bie movie The Dead Don’t Die,passionate words from jury pres-ident Alejandro Iñárritu on USPresident Donald Trump’s plansfor a Mexican border wall, and adirector’s chair left empty in trib-ute to the late Agnes Varda.

It’s the first time a zombie flickhas opened the festival on theFrench Riviera. The film, starringBill Murray, Adam Driver andTilda Swinton, opened the 72ndedition of the festival with abloody and droll apocalyptic taleinspired by George Romero.

The opening ceremony beganwith a chair marked “Agnes V.” tocommemorate the French NewWave pioneer, who died in Marchat age 90, and a performance ofWithout You, from Varda’s land-mark 1962 film Cleo From 5 to 7,by the Belgian singer Angele.

Iñárritu, the Mexican-bornfilmmaker of Birdman and TheRevenant, is the first LatinAmerican to preside over thejury that decides Cannes’ tophonour, the Palme d’Or.Addressing reporters earlier in theday alongside fellow jury mem-bers, Iñárritu drew a parallelbetween the rhetoric of Trump tothat of the 1930s.

“We know how this storyends if we keep with that rhetoric,”said Iñárritu. “We think we areevolving with the technology andsocial media. It seems every tweetis a brick of isolation attached toideological things and is creatinga lot of isolation and paranoia.”

This year’s Cannes arriveswith the usual swirl of celebrityand controversy. Among the star-rier films debuting at the festivalon the French Riviera will beQuentin Tarantino’s 1969 LosAngeles tale Once Upon a Time in

Hollywood and the Elton Johnbiopic Rocketman.

Also on tap are the latest fromrenowned auteurs PedroAlmodóvar, Terrence Malick andthe Dardennes brothers. Also ofinterest will be the debut fromMati Diop, Atlantique, whichmarks the first black female film-maker in competition in Cannes.

Last year’s Cannes saw 82women, which represented thenumber of women directors toever appear in competition inCannes, protest for genderinequality on the festival’s famedred carpet steps. Cannes artisticdirector Thierry Frémaux signeda pledge promising to make thefestival’s selection process moretransparent and to push executiveboards toward gender parity.

This year, there are fourwomen in Cannes’ 21-film mainslate, tying the festival’s previoushigh in 2011. For the first time,Cannes has revealed gender-basedstatistics on its submissions andselections, a measure of trans-parency that had been requestedby 50/50x2020, the French sistergroup of ‘Time’s Up.’ Frémauxdefended the festival’s record,bristling at critics who have saidCannes isn’t progressing quicklyenough.

“I’m looking forward to timewhen we come and we don’t haveto say ‘the women directors’ and‘as a woman,’” said juror memberKelly Riechart, the Wendy andLucy filmmaker and a jury mem-ber.

“People keep asking us what’sit like being a woman director,”said Italian filmmaker and Cannesregular Alice Rohrwacher, also ajury member. “It’s a bit like askingsomeone who’s survived a ship-wreck why they’re still alive. Well,ask the person who built theboat.”

Also on the jury are TheFavourite director YorgosLanthimos, Poland’s PawelPawlikowski (Cold War), Frenchdirector Enki Bilal, Senegaleseactress-director MaimounaN’Diaye, French filmmaker RobinCampillo and actress Elle Fanning.

At 21, Fanning is the youngestjuror ever in Cannes.

“I definitely am young but Istarted acting very young, aswell,” said Fanning, whose firstmovie role came at age four.

As was the case last year, thereare no Netflix releases in compe-tition at Cannes. Following an out-cry from French theater owners,the festival has required films inits main slate to have theatricaldistribution in France. Netflix,unwilling to adhere to an exclu-sive theatrical window of threeyears in France, last year pulled itsfilms, including Alfonso Cuaron’sRoma.

Iñárritu, a close friend ofCuaron’s, said “Cinema was bornto be experienced in a communalexperience.” But he spoke strong-ly in support of Netflix for back-ing the kinds of movies — includ-ing those in a country’s native lan-guage — that rarely make it intoUS and global cinemas.

“They have been capitalisingon the lack of these films,” saidIñárritu. “Why not give the choiceto people to experience cinema?”

Some previous Cannes jurypresidents have had a forcefulinfluence on the movies chosenfor awards. But Iñárritu, whosaid he didn’t want to “judge”movies but preferred “to beimpregnated by them,” promisedhe would be a very passive juryleader.

“I have never controlled any-thing,” said the director. “Not mysets, not my family, nothing.”

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'0� 3$2�1-�&��24 20�Just the way he made his entry in the

Hindi film industry with his trademarkleg split stunt in the 1991 classic, Phool

Aur Kaante, actor Ajay Devgn straddles thegenre of comedy and serious films withequal ease. And reminiscing the same

pose from his debut, his latest film, DeDe Pyar De, resurrects the famous split

in the poster, except for the fact thatthe bikes have been replaced by carsand co-stars Tabu and Rakul PreetSingh are sitting on them.

The promos of De De PyarDe were mired in controversybecause of their sexist tone andtenor. But Ajay is ready fordefence. He says, “When youwatch the film, you wouldn’task this question. The filmrevolves around a characterwho is 50 and dates a girl halfhis age. The highs and lows thatthey go through when theymeet his ex-wife form the cruxof the film. My defence is thatyou won’t ask the questionafter watching the film as youwould realise that the questionwas incorrect. It is actually aprogressive film as the womencharacters are very strong.”Talking a little more about his

latest outing, he says, “It is a slice oflife. It has drama and emotions.Sometimes when the most importantand relevant things are presented ina light-hearted way, they hit hard.This film has a sense of maturity. It’spresented in an entertaining andhumorous manner. I would put it inthe category of Badhaai Ho.”

The actor believes that thebasic and the most crucial functionof cinema is to entertain the audi-ence. “Have you ever thought whypeople even watch films?” hequestions and goes on to answerit as well, “The primary reasonis that they want to feel relaxed.”

If they want to be informed,he feels, people would watchdocumentaries, read books orattend lectures. Then he ques-

tions, “Why do you watchfilms? Because you want to

relax. Is there any otherreason? Films are made

for entertainment so that

the audience can have a good time. Evena film on Mahatma Gandhi’s life wouldhave twists and turns. If you go to a restau-rant, you go there to eat rather than toobserve or watch a lecture. If you want toapproach a topic, you have to do it in afunny manner, otherwise people aren’tinterested. It helps to put your messageacross humourously because then the audi-ence agrees with it. You are entertained andthe message also comes across easily.”

Yet he is not so structured in hischoice of roles. “I don’t know. I hear scriptsand follow my heart. It’s not intentional.But I would like to switch all the timebecause otherwise aisa lagega ki mai vahicheez baar baar kar raha hoon. Everytimeyou go back to a genre, you are exploringsomething new, because you are comingfrom a different mind space. So that iswhat keeps me going,” he says. What hasreally worked for him is that his choicesin all the genres seem to hit the bull’s eyemost of the time. “I guess I’m very luckythat different kinds of films have workedfor me. There are so many actors who arestruggling to change their genre but theaudience does not accept them. It’s likethey want to see them play only one kindof characters. So I have been very lucky.But then, I would say I started doing itbefore anyone else did, like in Zakhm.Mainstream actors did not even touchsuch films with a bargepole at that time,”he says.

Ajay believes that there is no genre foran actor. “You just become the character.You do what the script demands,” says theactor who is playing his age this timearound.

While approaching a character, he

says, “I have been working for many yearsnow. We see and observe people andimbibe their personalities and thoughtprocesses.”

The film clearly signals a change incontent as this subject hasn’t been touchedupon often in mainstream cinema. Ajayattributes it to the audience. “Content hasevolved with them. What they preferredearlier was what we did. Because of theexposure to international platforms theyhave evolved. Today, even seven or eight-year-olds are well aware of good content.You cannot fool them. We have to changethe same way as the audience. Actors, ofcourse, benefit from it as we get the scopeto do something different. I was abusedfor the kind of films that I did earlier. Butnow the audience watches these. So whatcan I do?” he says with a shrug.

His co-star in the film, Tabu, recent-ly said that he was the most bankableactor. So how does it feel when someoneputs so much of faith in you? “Luckily, allthe films that we have done together haveworked. It’s not about faith. It’s about trust-ing each other. We’ve known each otherfor 30 years. I would not like to coerce herinto accepting a role and she knows that.When I hear a script, realise that it is astrong character, then I discuss with theproducer and the director that Tabu canpull it off well. Then I talk to her and tellher to listen to the script and do it if shelikes it.”

That they have known each other forlong also means that often people wanthim to convince her to be a part of a film.“Often people approach me and say Tabuwould look good in this role and I replythat the role is not worthy of her. She isa great actress. You need to justify herpresence. It has to be something extraor-dinary. She’s a performer and not just aheroine,” says he.

He points out that the nuance anddepth in his work came over the years. “It’sa slow progression. I haven’t changedovernight. You grow with experience. Youlearn from it. You learn from your mis-takes as well as those that other peoplemake. You don’t even realise that there isevolution. It’s one step everyday so youtake 10 in equal number of days. But youcan’t reach the 10th step in one day,” hesays as he stands up to leave. One morestep in his evolution as an actor.

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The rhizosphere in the soilzone is directly influenced

by the plant roots. Plant rootscan also effect rhizosphere solu-tion composition through theireffect on rhizosphere microor-ganisms. The chemical compo-sition of rhizosphere can be verydifferent from those of bulk soildue to root exudation andmicrobial activity, which hasbeen observed significantly.

A higher microbial popula-tion can increase decompositionof organic matter and thereforeincrease nutrient transforma-tion in the rhizosphere. Root-induced changes in the rhizos-phere may affect mineral nutri-tion of plants in various ways.Soil nutrients are taken up byplant roots via the rhizosphere,which is the key zone of inter-action between plants and soil.Therefore, root growth and rhi-zosphere processes have a greatinfluence on soil nutrient trans-formation, mobilisation, andefficient use by plants.

Plant roots cannot onlyhighly regulate morphologicaltraits to adapt to soil environ-mental conditions, but also sig-nificantly modify rhizosphereprocesses through their physi-ological activities, particularlythe exudation of organic acids,phosphatases and some sig-nalling substances, protonrelease and redox changes.Rhizospheric processes are thelinkages between plant process-es and soil processes to someextent determining the bio-availability of soil nutrient andthus affect the crop production.

The rhizosphere manage-ment strategies lay emphasis onmaximising the efficiency ofroot rhizosphere in nutrientacquisition towards high yieldof fruit crops by optimisingnutrient input in rooting zone,regulating root growth andmanipulating rhizosphericinteractions.

Soil microbial diversity isconsidered as one of the mostsensitive tools of soil fertilityevaluation.The rhizosphere is anarea enriched by many microbesas plants release different typesof exudates in this region thus

boosting the soil microbialdiversity. Microorganisms playan important role in soil fertil-ity because they oxidise organ-ic matter and promote bio-mediated cycling of nitrogen(N), phosphorus (P) and sul-phur (S).

The root exudates play akey role in the selective stimu-lation of microorganisms. Plantshave an important effect on soilmicrobiological properties dueto release of different nutrientsand organic compounds intothe soil. The microbial diversi-ty has been found to be more inrhizosphere than in the non rhi-zosphere soil. Soil microorgan-isms help in maintaining soilquality and have a great influ-ence on soil hydrolytic reactionswhich are reflected in the nat-ural cycles of N,P and S, 80-90per cent of the processes in thesoil are reactions mediated bymicrobes.

The plants alter rhizos-phere populations through rootexudation and the sloughing ofroot cells. Most plants alsointeract with specific fungi toform associations known asmycorrhizae and these haveconsiderable effects on popula-tions of rhizospheric microor-ganisms.Many bacteria are inti-mately associated with plantroots, the microbial populationin the rhizosphere differs fromthose in the surrounding soilboth in total number and inspecies distribution.

Microorganisms in the soilmaintain bio-geochemicalcycles in the soil by virtuallydegrading organic compoundssooner or later. Total microbialcounts were commonly foundto be increased 10-50 folds inthe rhizosphere. The populationof bacteria around the roots ofplants in the rhizosphere isgenerally much greater than thebacterial density in the bulk soil.Microbes produce extracellularenzymes to acquire energy, car-bon (C) and nutrients forgrowth and metabolisms.

It is generally accepted thatmicrobial extracellular enzyme-production abides by a cost-effective rule of economy, i.e.,

microbes will maximise theenergy, C and nutrient returnsby minimising resource utilisa-tion.The rhizosphere harboursa large and diverse communityof prokaryotic and eukaryoticmicrobes that interact and com-pete with each other and withthe plant root. There are varioustechniques that can be used toquantify the microbial diversi-ty in the soil such as plate counttechnique and the most proba-ble number technique. Bacteriawere the most dominant fol-lowed by fungi and actino-mycetes.

Many microbial interac-tions which are regulated byspecific molecules/signals areresponsible for key environmen-tal processes such as bio-medi-ated cycling of nutrients,improvement of soil qualityand maintenance of soil health.The influence of NPK fertiliserson the population of bacteriaand fungi in the rhizospherebrings an increase in the micro-bial population with the appli-cation of fertiliser to the soil.

The organic amendmentsstimulate the microbial popula-tion and enhances the soilmicrobiological activity in therhizosphere. Microbial popula-tion enhanced with the additionof organic and inorganic fertilis-ers and are reported to havehigh bacterial population andfungal population.

Microbial activity in the rhi-zosphere affects rooting patternsand supply of available nutrientsto the plants thereby modifyingthe quality and quantity of rootexudates. Rhizosphericmicroorganisms can bothmobilise and immobilise plantnutrients and can producegrowth promoting substancessuch as phytohormones as wellas phytotoxins. The presence ofcertain antimicrobial com-pounds in the roots of plant tis-sues may have antagonisticeffect on the soil microbialdiversity in the rhizosphere.

(The writer is Dr RehanaAkhtar Bijili, a doctorate in SoilScience and is presently servingas J&K Administrative Service(KAS) Officer.)

To promote and keepup the adventure

tourism quotient in Jammu,the Directorate of Tourism,Jammu conducted a three-day trekking expeditionfrom Sanasar to Shankpalfor adventure enthusiasts.The group, comprising thir-ty participants from thestate and other cities likeDelhi and Hyderabad,made their 14 kilometre-long journey to Shankpal and back.The Shankpal Temple is located at thehighest point on the Shankpal ridgeat an altitude of 2897 metres.

Om Prakash Bhagat, the directortourism, Jammu, said that the partic-ipation of trekkers from other statesis a welcome step as they wouldspread the word about the place. Hesaid, “These events promote lesser-known beauty spots, historical andreligious places of Jammu.”

Activities like rock climbing/rap-pling and ground running withparaglides were also conducted for thetrekkers. On the second day, thetrekkers were flagged off by NagendraSingh Jamwal (KAS), chief executiveofficer, Mansar Surinsar DevelopmentAuthority, and the trekking was con-ducted under the supervision ofAnsuya Jamwal (KAS), deputy direc-tor tourism, Publicity and AdventureTourism, Jammu. The HimalayanBagpipers group accompanied the

trekkers adding to the liveliness andvibrancy of the surroundings.

They also experienced culturalprograms during a bonfire eveningdepicting local folk culture of Sanasarand Ramban. The varied dance formslike Kud, Thali dance, Flute danceamong others were performed. It wasa reflection of enthusiasm and gaietyassociated with the social events andsense of celebration together.

The program culminated with acertificate distribution ceremony.Other officers who were present at theoccasion were Ambika Bali (KAS),assistant director tourism, NHWBatote, Sheena Sahni (KAS), assistantdirector tourism, Jammu, amongothers.

The initiative by the JammuTourism Department is being regard-ed as a big step towards promotion ofadventure tourism in the region andin bringing these places on the touristmap of Jammu and Kashmir.

Nearly a decade before the NationalInstitution for Transforming India

(NITI) Aayog envisaged private part-nership in rural healthcare, a PPP-runhospital in Gujarat’s Kutch district hastransformed hundreds of lives. TheAdani Foundation-run Gujarat AdaniInstitute of Medical Sciences (GAIMS)in Bhuj was ostensibly India’s maidensuccessfully operating PPP model inthe healthcare sector.

Over the years, it has contributedin creating confidence which led to roll-out plans of six brownfield self-financed medical colleges in Tapi,Dahod, Panchmahals, Banaskantha,Bharuch and Amreli districts byupgrading the government hospitalsthrough PPP. Its healthy ripple effectscan now be felt at the national level.

BeginningThe government approached manycorporates such as Narayana Hrudalayaand Manipal Education to adopt thehospital on PPP basis. However, manychallenges such as feasibility and dis-approval of grants up to �12 crorebecame bottlenecks.

Adani enters fray to give back to theKarmabhoomiAfter most corporates did not invest inthe well-being of people survivingwithout proper healthcare, the propos-al came to the Adani Group. Dr MalayMahadevia, wholetime director, APSEZand head of group, Adani Group, said,“Kutch is our Karmabhoomi and wehave to make life-defining contribu-tions towards giving back to its people.”

Since 2009, when the partnershipformally came into effect, the groupinvested a Capex of around �100 crorein ramping up infrastructure and top-

line human resources among otherthings. A decade since then the cumu-lative operating deficit stands at �25crore.

Sea change in hospital infrastructureFrom outdoor patient wards, operationtheatres and labour rooms to intensivecare units, every critical aspect of thehospital infrastructure grew mani-folds. Likewise, every specialised treat-ment such as dermatology, psychiatry,pediatric, surgery, orthopedic, ophthal-mology and ENT, among othersrecorded rapid augmentation fromtime to time.

Establishment of GAIMS medical col-legeWhile the pillars of the hospital facil-ities became stronger, GAIMS medicalwas established college in 2009. Thecollege offers 150 seats for under-grad-uate courses and 51 seats for post-grad-uate courses and various specialisa-tions.

Improving health indicatorsThe number of OPDs have nearlytripled from 1, 39,199 in 2014-15 to3,17,361 in 2017-18. Likewise, there hasbeen a steady rise in child births. Fromcatering to just over 2,000 deliveries in2014-15, the number rose by nearly 35per cent in 2017-18.

Vision for a healthier futureThe G K General Hospital is in theprocess of filing for NationalAccreditation Board for Hospitals andHealthcare Providers. The GAIMSmedical college will be acquiring sim-ulation models for medical students tosharpen their skills and thus imparteducation at par with global standards.

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The Bureau of IndianStandards (BIS) signed

two separate Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoUs) withHarcourt Butler TechnicalUniversity (HBTU), Kanpurand Indian Institute ofTechnology, Kanpur onMonday.

The MoU with HBTUinvolves cooperation anddevelopment of internationallevel standards in the field ofpaint, soap, detergent, oil,plastic, fragrance and foodtechnology. The MoU wassigned by Surina Rajan, direc-tor general, BIS, and N BSingh, vice chancellor, HBTU.

Rajan stated that creatingsynergy among premier edu-cational institutions with theinvolvement of young mindsin the area of standardisationprocess would highly benefitthe country. Registrar ManojShukla, dean and variousother faculty members alongwith Dr R K Bajaj, deputydirector general, BIS werealso present during the pro-gramme.

The partnership with IITKanpur will help in concur-rently establishing standardson important subjects likeblock chain applications of e-governance developed by IIT.It will also provide support oftheir technical expertise forthe formulation of standardsin the field of cyber security,IoT, artificial intelligence (AI)and flexible electronics. As perthe MoU, a joint initiative isunderway for standardisationto find a place in educationcurriculum and offeringshort-term courses to busi-nesses as well.

Both organisations,

HBTU and IIT-K agreed fortaking up R&D projects wher-ever required along with theexchange of information onresearch and educational pro-grammes. BIS will provideinputs on topic such as‘Standardisation andConformity Assessment’ thatwill be incorporated in theacademics.

The MoU with IIT,Kanpur was signed by direc-tor Abhay Karandikar andRajan. S Ganesh, dean,Research and Developmentand other senior faculty mem-bers of IIT Kanpur attendedthe progamme.

As the Odisha coast was hit bycyclone Fani, Power Grid

Corporation of India (POWER-GRID) played a major role in quickrestoration of power supply in the state.

Reportedly, the strongest tropi-cal cyclone to hit an Indian coast inlast 20 years devastated the coastalareas of Odisha, causing massivedamage to the power supply infra-structure uprooting lakhs of electricpoles, transformers and collapse oftowers. Hot and humid weatheradded to the problems of the cyclone-affected people in the state, with thegovernment facing a gigantic task ofrestoring power to houses.

Restoring towards normalcyPOWERGRID has helped to restorepower through the use of state-of-the-art techniques like ERS

(Emergency Restoration System),swift operation management and bypooling about 1,000 of its specialisedmanpower from neighbouring stateslike Bengal and Andhra Pradesh.

Timely ActionAs part of mitigation managementand measures, POWERGRIDarranged three high capacity DG sets,large number of electric line poles,conductors and insulators forBhubaneswar, Puri, Kendrapada andJagatsinghpur stores of CESU.Transformer oil and filtration unitswere arranged at its Pandiabilli andAngul sub-stations.

Continuous development The organisation is also helpingOPTCL in restoration of 132 kV lineto Puri over ERS which is expectedto be charged in a day or two.

PRSI, Delhi Chapter, in thepresence of Sir William MarkTully, launched the Samvad

Series for the fraternity of fellowprofessionals on Friday at theSCOPE Convention Centre. Thelaunch ceremony included a lectureabout ‘creative listening’ and a‘question and answer’ session byTully, ho received a standing ova-tion. There were huge rounds ofapplauds in the hall for him.

Taking references from theIndian mythology and scriptures,Tully began with emphasising onhow India and its people are knownfor skillful communication and isthe foundation of good public rela-tions. He emphasised on how lis-tening is crucial to understand aperson’s intent as it could make orbreak a relationship. He addedthat it is also associated with thedevelopment of self as it connectsone with one’s intellect and soul.Emphasising on how creative and

effective listening has been adopt-ed by Mahatma Gandhi, MotherTeresa and other great leaders of theworld in bringing together themasses and build nations, he said,“Listening gives one an opportuni-ty to draw inferences from whatgreat speakers talk about and drawown imagination about certain sit-

uations and individuals. It inspiresan individual to follow his creativepursuits.”

Giving the reference of radio,he said it is one of the media thatinculcates habit of listening. Hehighlighted the development ofradio in the post independence era.He gave the analogy of fad for trav-

el by air and how people choose totravel through flights even to des-tinations which could be covered bytrain or road. This case, he said issimilar to the fad for television,which is working against radio.

Touching upon the Samvad intoday’s society both in general andpolitical contexts, Tully highlight-

ed how over a period of time it hasbeen dominated by acquisitions andcross-acquisitions rather than con-structive, convincing and crossarguments. He once again drew theattention of PR professionalstowards understanding deeply theprofessional intent of developingand communicating their messageto the masses in a more efficient andeffective manner.

The lecture was followed by theunveiling of the Samvad logo byTully, which was earlier done bychairman, PRSI, Delhi Chapter,Naresh Kumar. Pallab Bhattacharya,executive director (CC), ONGC,introduced Tully to the audience.GS Bawa introduced the SamvadSeries and gave the punch line as‘Productivity through EffectiveSamvad.’ The program wassummed up with the felicitation ofthe dignitaries on the dais and avote of thanks by SS Rao, secretary,PRSI.

The Indira Gandhi National Centrefor the Arts (IGNCA), under its

Sanskriti Samvaad Shrinkhala seriescelebrated the birth centenary of theBharatnatyam legend ThanjavurBalasaraswati, whose dance was arendering of a classical dance stylefrom her home state, Tamil Nadu. Shehas been instrumental in popularisingthis style of dancing not only in Indiabut also abroad.

The two-day celebrations, endedon Tuesday, included a panel discus-sion, film screening, lecture demon-stration, dance homage and providedan opportunity to the audience tointeract with the gurus and exponentsfrom the field of dance.

The panel saw a discussion aboutthe legendary dancer and her art,

which was chaired by Ram BahadurRai, president, IGNCA and moderat-ed by Dr Sachchidanad Joshi, membersecretary. Among others, eminentartists like Dr Sonal Mansingh, DrPadma Subramanium, Dr SarojaVaidyanathan and Pt Birju Maharajwere a part of the panel. The sessionwas followed by a performance byNandini Ramani, who paid a dancehomage Padmanjari to her guruBalasarasvati with SushamaRanganathan, Roja V, Lavanya Ananthand Divyasena Haribabu.

The second day of the celebrationsaw the screening of Satyajit Ray’s film,Bala. The day concluded with a talkBala: The consummate musician, onBala’s contributions in music by musi-cian Charumati Ramachandran.

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A%�������������������������������������������Through dedication, hard work and

perseverance, one can achieve theirgoals not only in sports but also in theirlife pursuits,” said Dr Sekar Viswanathan,Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) vicepresident, on Monday, as he addressedschool students who took part in theannual summer camp conducted by VIT.

He said that youngsters need to prac-tice their sports daily and follow theinstructions given by their coach to excel.He added, “It is because of the hard workthat several youngsters had put inthrough the years that they were able to

get sponsorships.”Viswanathan made youngsters vow

to not follow any bad habits rather incul-cate meaningful lessons and lead a cleanlife. He said, “At this summer camp, Irequest you all to wake up early, exerciseregularly and study everyday.”

Dr S Narayanan, pro vice chancel-lor, VIT, flagged off a mini marathonfrom Chitoor bus stand to college.

Director of Physical Educationdepartment Dr Thyaga Chandan anddeputy director Dr Mangaiyarkarasiwere also present.

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When Niko Kovac sends histeam onto the pitch against

Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday,there will be more than just theBundesliga title at stake. As a rockyfirst season enters its final act, thebeleaguered Bayern Munich coachis fighting for his job.

Kovac, who took over fromJupp Heynckes after leadingFrankfurt to cup glory last season,has overseen a generational transi-tion while keeping Bayern in thehunt for both domestic titles.

Yet he continues to face criticismfrom inside and outside the club,amid questions over his safety-firststyle and rumours that Bayern areeyeing Ajax coach Erik ten Hag andformer Real Madrid boss JulenLopetegui.

"Everything less than success isfailure, I always knew that," saidKovac last week as he looked backon his first season in Munich.

Bayern can secure a seventhstraight league title if they avoiddefeat against Frankfurt, and couldmake it two trophies in a week in theGerman Cup final against RB Leipziga week later.

Yet even a domestic double maynot be enough to save Kovac, whoappears to be the subject of a tug ofwar in the Bayern boardroom.

President Uli Hoeness hasrepeatedly backed his coach, statingearly in the season that he would"defend him to the hilt", but CEOKarl-Heinz Rummenigge has alwaysbeen cooler on Kovac.

"I am not a fan of job guaranteesand I don't want to just praise thecoach and the players," said

Rummenigge after Saturday's 0-0draw at RB Leipzig.

Later that evening, speculationover Kovac's future hit fever pitchwhen sporting director HasanSalihamidzic refused to confirmwhether the Croatian would still bein charge next season.

"Niko Kovac has my full support,but I can only speak for myself," hetold public broadcaster ZDF.

Asked directly whether Kovacwould hold on to his job, he replied:"we will see".

Kovac has faced the sack oncebefore this season, after a draw athome to Fortuna Duesseldorf sawBayern slip nine points behindBorussia Dortmund in November.

At that time, there were reportsof dressing room disharmony overhis training methods and rotationpolicy.

Kovac responded by rotatingless, and led Bayern back into thetitle race with 13 wins in 14 gamesafter the Duesseldorf debacle.

He also succeeded in integrat-ing young players such as SergeGnabry and Leon Goretzka into thefirst team.

Yet senior players have contin-ued to criticise his style, which pri-

oritises defensive stability."We played too defensively in

both games and I don't know why,"striker Robert Lewandowski toldNorwegian television after Bayernwere knocked out of the ChampionsLeague second round by Liverpool.

For all the promise of domesticsuccess, the second round defeat toLiverpool continues to hang overKovac.

On ZDF last Saturday,Salihamidzic singled the tie out asa low point of the season, saying thatBayern had "lacked courage" in thesecond leg.

Rummenigge, too, said in Aprilthat the Liverpool defeat had "ran-kled hugely".

"It did damage to us financial-ly but also to our image, and to theimage of the Bundesliga," he toldBild newspaper.

The defeat has certainly piledthe pressure on Kovac to deliver theleague and cup double, and the nexttwo weeks may decide the fate of theBayern coach.

"If we win the title, then Iwould rate this season a B+," saidSalihamidzic on Saturday."Otherwise, it was a turd of a sea-son."

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Jonny Bairstow's commanding hun-dred was the centrepiece of WorldCup hosts England's six-wicket win

over Pakistan in the third one-day inter-national at Bristol on Tuesday.

England generally prefer battingfirst but captain Eoin Morgan decidedto give them experience of chasing justweeks away from the World Cup byopting to field first after winning thetoss.

Bairstow's 128 in a score of 359 forfour — England's second highest win-ning total batting second in an ODI —helped put the home side 2-0 up withtwo to play in a five-match series.

Test captain Joe Root made 43 asPakistan became increasingly ragged inthe field, England winning with 31 balls— or more than five overs — to spare.Moeen Ali was 46 not out, withMorgan unbeaten on 17.

Earlier, Imam-ul-Haq's excellentcareer-best 151 saw Pakistan to 358 fornine.

That left England with a seeming-ly challenging target, particularly as theyhad rested Jos Buttler following hismatch-winning 110 not out in the sec-ond ODI at Southampton on Saturday.

����� �������But Bairstow and opening partner

Jason Roy, who made 76 after ShaheenShah Afridi dropped an easy chance tocatch him at mid-off on 21, shared ablistering stand of 159 inside 18 overs.

The pair took advantage of a goodpitch, short boundaries, fast outfieldand an inexperienced Pakistan attack— Mohammad Amir was again ruledout with chicken pox — to repeatedlysend the ball soaring over the ropes.

Roy set the tone for England's replywith a huge straight six off Afridi andflat-batted medium-pacer FaheemAshraf 's first ball straight back over thebowler's head for another.

He eventually sliced Faheem to AsifAli at cover-point, having hit eight fours

and four sixes.Bairstow, dropped on 86 when

Faheem could not hold a tough caughtand bowled chance off a fierce drive,was severe on anything short and wentto his seventh ODI hundred off 74balls, including 12 fours and three sixes.

He eventually fell when he bottom-edged a pull off Junaid Khan into his

stumps, with England well on their wayat 234 for two in the 29th over.

Earlier, Chris Woakes bolstered hischances of being included in England'sfinal 15-man World Cup squad withfour wickets for 67 runs in a maximum10 overs.

The Warwickshire pacemanreduced Pakistan to 27 for two, a full-

length ball having Fakhar Zaman —fresh from a hundred at Southampton— edging to Root at second slipbefore a sharp off-cutter bowled BabarAzam.

But left-handed opener Imamwent to his sixth hundred in 27 ODIs— and first against England — off 97balls.

Imam surpassed his previous ODIbest of 128 against Zimbabwe atBulawayo last year before he wasbowled, giving himself room, byCurran. The 23-year-old's inningswas the highest individual score by aPakistan batsman against England inan ODI, surpassing the 138 made byFakhar at Southampton.

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Jonny Bairstow said playingalongside the likes of

Australia's David Warner in theIndian Premier League hadhelped take his game to newheights after his match-winninghundred in Bristol.

The 29-year-oldYorkshireman carried on hisrecent form from the lucrativeTwenty20 IPL where he scored445 runs in 10 games at an aver-age of 55.62 for the SunrisersHyderabad.

"You're able to learn differ-ent things from different coach-es and different players," saidBairstow, who opened the bat-ting for the Sunrisers withWarner — set to be an oppo-nent during the World Cup andsubsequent Ashes series inEngland.

"It's just little things likegame plans," Bairstow added.

"He (Warner) hits in com-pletely different areas to poten-tially myself. I guess it's methodmore than anything else. Butlearning from them, as well asthe guys here, that can only bea good thing playing underpressure with expectation."

Bairstow was furious afterhis seventh ODI hundred endedwhen he played on to JunaidKhan, with the batsman hittingout at his stumps.

"I was cross because youwant to see that through,"Bairstow explained.

"You want to be going onand getting 160 or 170, and

potentially 200 and seeing yourteam through.

"That's where we're at as agroup of players at the moment,having competition to go andget the 150s and 160s andbeyond.

"We are backing ourselvesand competition is healthy allthe way through. That's a goodplace to be and I was crossabout it."

Pakistan's defeat showedhow once impregnable ODItotals can now be overhauled inmodern limited-overs cricket.

It was especially tough onImam-ul-Haq, whose career-best 151 was Pakistan's highestindividual score againstEngland at this level.

Imam felt Pakistan had atotal they could defendalthough their cause was nothelped by some naive bowlingfrom an inexperienced attackand slipshod fielding.

"The score was enough,360 was a really good total,"Imam said.

"We just lost a couple ofcatches that cost us and ourbowlers did not stick to theplan," the 23-year-old left-hand-ed opener added.

����■ �����

Manchester City boss PepGuardiola edged out Jurgen

Klopp to a trophy for the secondtime in three days as the Catalanclaimed the League Managers'Association manager of the year.

Guardiola's City retained thePremier League title on Sunday,beating Klopp's Liverpool by a sin-gle point at the end of a thrilling titlerace.

Having also won the League Cupearlier in the campaign,Guardiola's side couldcomplete a first everdomestic treble in Englishfootball when they faceWatford in the FA Cupfinal at Wembley onSaturday.

Guardiola topped thevote ahead of Jurgen Klopp,Tottenham managerMauricio Pochettino, whohas led Spurs to their firstever Champions Leaguefinal, and Nuno EspiritoSanto of Wolves, who fin-ished seventh in their firstseason back in the topflight.

����■ ����

Aston Villa progressed towithin one game of a

return to the Premier Leagueafter edging West Midlandsrivals West Bromwich Albion4-3 on penalties in theChampionship playoff semi-finals on Tuesday.

West Brom won 1-0 onthe night at the Hawthorns tolevel the tie at 2-2 on aggre-gate thanks to Craig Dawson'sfirst-half header.

However, the Baggies'hopes of an immediate returnto the top-flight were dentedwhen captain Chris Bruntwas sent off 10 minutes fromthe end of normal time.

The hosts held out man-fully during extra-time, butVilla goalkeeper Jed Steersaved West Brom's first twopenalties of the shootout fromMason Holgate and AhmedHegazi.

"There's obviously a lot ofluck involved but wow," Steertold Sky Sports. "We practisepenalties, so I think I must've

faced a 100 a day the last fewdays."

Conor Hourihane, MileJedinak, Jack Grealish andTammy Abraham kept theircool from the spot as Villa setup a May 27 Wembley meet-ing with Leeds or Derby fora lucrative place in thePremier League.

Marcelo Bielsa's Leedshold a 1-0 first-leg lead overFrank Lampard's Rams aheadof the second leg at EllandRoad on Wednesday.

Villa missed out in theplayoff final last year, losing 1-0 to Fulham and Grealish,who has been linked with asummer move to Tottenham,is keen to make amends inwhat could be his final gamefor the club.

"The crowd made ittough with the atmospherebut in the end I felt we ran outworthy winners," said themidfielder. "It's no good get-ting to Wembley and falling atthe final hurdle again, so fin-gers crossed. All of us are veryhungry."

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The Indian men's hockeyteam were blanked 0-4 by

world No 2 Australia in thefour match of the tour DownUnder with Blake Govers andJeremy Hayward scoring abrace each for the hosts, hereon Wednesday.

After remaining unbeatenin their first three matches ofthe tour, world No 5 Indiawere handed a lesson in hock-ey by the Kookaburras withGovers (15th, 60th minutes)and Hayward (20th, 59th)finding the net twice each.

India started the matchwell as they pressed Australiahigher up the field, but weredealt two successive blows infive minutes.

The visitors had earlierearned themselves an earlypenalty corner in the fifthminute, but HarmanpreetSingh's shot was successfullyblocked by the first rusher.

In the 12th minute,Harmanpreet was in actionagain as he played one-twowith Nilakanta Sharma on theright flank, who played in awell-calculated through-ballback to the defender, but hefailed to reach the ball quick-ly enough.

Seconds from the firstquarter Australia secured theirfirst penalty corner, whichresulted in a penalty stroke forthe hosts and Govers made nomistake from the set-piece.

Five minutes into the sec-ond quarter, Australia earnedback-to-back penalty corners

and from the second chanceHayward beautifully flickedthe ball low into the right sideof goal past India goalkeeperKrishan Bahadur Pathak todouble their lead.

Aaron Kleinschmidt thenmissed a great chance forAustralia in the 25th minute ashe found himself unmarkedinside the box, but shot justwide of the post.

The third quarter, howev-er, witnessed a close battlebetween both the teams butAustralia defended stoutly tokeep Indian strikers at bay.

India started the last quar-ter well and it was captainManpreet Singh who createdthe first chance as he ran intothe striking circle and shot atgoal, but Australia's Durstmade a diving stop on his leftside to deny the visitors.

India secured anotherpenalty corner in the 51stminute but Harmanpreet'seffort was once again saved bythe Australian custodian.

Desperately in search ofgoals, India withdrew theirgoalkeeper for an extra out-field player but the movebackfired as Australia scoredtwo goals in the last two min-utes.

Australia's third goal cameoff a penalty corner conver-sion by Hayward beforeGovers scored through a fiercereverse shot to round off a dis-appointing day for the Indians.

India will again playAustralia on Friday in theirfifth and last match of thetour.

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England will have to find a newcaptain for the fourth one-day

international against Pakistan onFriday after skipper Eoin Morganwas banned from the match by ICCfor a slow over-rate offence.

Morgan was sanctioned afterWorld Cup hosts and favouritesEngland took around four hours tobowl their 50 overs in a six-wicketwin over Pakistan in the third ODIon Tuesday.

He was also fined 40 percent ofhis match fee and his players 20 per-cent of theirs after match referee

Richie Richardson ruled Englandwere two overs short after timeallowances were taken into consid-eration.

As Morgan had previously beenfound guilty of a minor over-rateoffence during the Barbados ODIagainst the West Indies on February22, this latest incident constitutedhis second minor over-rate offencewithin a 12-month period and soled to a one-game ban.

"The suspension meansMorgan will miss the fourth ODIagainst Pakistan in Nottinghamon Friday," said an ICC statementissued on Wednesday.

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