?TPRTQhSPh Pab^]Qh]XVWcX]3T[WX - Daily Pioneer

��

�� !"#�� !��"��#��$��$�� #��%��&�� #��

��$�� %�� &��%��'��(�� %��)�� *��+,�-�

��

�� ,./�*.0')12)$ (' " 3, 4

The Andhra Pradesh policearrested seven Navy per-

sonnel on Friday for passingon sensitive informationthrough social media plat-form to a Pakistani handlerafter they fell into ‘honey-trap’in September 2018.

The non-officer rank per-sonnel were posted at navalbases at Mumbai, Karwar(Karnataka) andVisakhapatnam. A hawala oper-ator was also arrested in thisconnection. All the sailors werearrested in a joint operationcode-named “Dolphin’s Nose”launched by the Naval intelli-

gence wing, Andhra PradeshPolice and Central intelligenceagencies. “An FIR has beenlodged and seven Navy person-nel and a hawala operator havebeen arrested from differentparts of the country. Some moresuspects are being questioned,”the Andhra Pradesh Police saidin a Press release.

Further investigation is on,said police and Navy officials,adding the seven sailors weregiving out “unauthorisedinformation” through Facebookand other social media tools.Mumbai has the Western Navalcommand headquarters andmost VIPs land at the helicopterbase there.

Detailed report on P7

�� - ,�')

The BJP is unlikely to retainpower in Jharkhand with

various exit polls on Fridayplacing the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance ahead of the rul-ing party. However, some exitpolls have predicted either ahung House or clear majorityfor the Opposition.

According to exit polls byIndia Today-Axis My India, theJMM — the Congress-RJDGrand Alliance is likely to win38-50 seats, where as the BJPcould be reduced to winning22-32 seats. The AJSUcould win 3-5 seatsand the JVM 2-4 seats.India Today-Axis exitpolls predict 34 per cent

vote share for the BJP against37 per cent to the Congress-JMM alliance.

Times Now Exit poll pre-dicts 28 seats for BJP and 41seats for the Congress + JMMalliance. As per IANS-ABC C-voter exit poll the GrandAlliance is predicted to bag 35seats in the 81 member House.The ruling BJP is expected towin 32 seats.

The regional partyJharkhand Vikas Morcha(Prajantantrik) JVM(P) led byformer Chief Minister Babulal

Marandi may win 1 to 4seats, while BJP’s

estranged ally AJSU couldget three to seven seats.

Regional television News11 Bharat has predicted a

hung Assembly. As per its fore-cast, the BJP is going to win 30-35 seats, followed by the JMM17-22, the Congress 09-12, theRJD-00-02. The channel haspredicted that the regional par-ties (JVM and AJSU) will playthe role of kingmakers in nextAssembly election as JVM willget 05-06 seats, while SudeshMahto’s AJSU party will get 8-12 seats.

Reacting to the exit pollsprediction, State BJP generalsecretary, Deepak Prakash said,“The BJP has much more trustand confidence in people man-date than exit polls. We arehopeful that the BJP will form

the Government.”However, State Congress

spokesperson Lal Kishore NathShahdeo said, “The variousagencies which have done exitpolls might have their ownclaims. But it is clear that theBJP is losing election andMahagathbandhan is going toform Government.”

Shahdeo said, “The party(BJP) which set a mission of 65plus is not even going to winhalf of the seats of its target.”

Polling in Jharkhand washeld in five phases, starting onNovember 30 and endingtoday. Votes will be counted onMonday, December 23.

�� ,./�*.0')

Expelled BJP MLA KuldeepSingh Sengar will remain in

jail till his last breath for rap-ing a minor girl in Unnao in2017, a Delhi court said onFriday while terming hisoffence as a “depraved act” ofa “democratic functionary”leading to erosion of citizens’faith in him.

Sending out a stern mes-sage, the court decided toaward the maximum punish-ment of life term with a riderthat the convict will remain injail for “remainder of his nat-ural biological life” and alsoimposed an exemplary fine of�25 lakh on him to be paidwithin a month.

District Judge DharmeshSharma also made clear that incase of non-payment of fine bySengar, the Uttar PradeshGovernment will have to payfrom the State coffer as pro-vided in the Code of CriminalProcedure (CrPC).

“Convict Kuldeep SinghSengar was a ‘public servant’

when he committed thedepraved act of ‘aggravatedpenetrative sexual assault’ uponthe minor girl..., every coercivemeasure was adopted by theconvict himself and through hishenchmen to intimidate, harmand silence the victim girl andher family members from rais-ing any voice against him.

“The convict was a keydemocratic functionary beingrepresentative of the people andthe offence committed by theconvict has eroded the faith ofthe people to which he owedallegiance and a duty to exhib-it upright moral behaviour andprobity in personal and publiclife,” the court said in its orderon quantum of sentence.

Continued on Page 6

Jaipur: A special anti-terrorcourt here on Friday awardeddeath penalty to four convictsin the 2008 Jaipur serial terrorbombing case that had left 71dead and 185 injured.

Additional District andSessions Judge Ajay KumarSharma, heading the specialanti-terror court set up underthe provisions of UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Act,pronounced the sentence amidtight security arrangements incourt premises.

“The court awarded deathpenalty to four convicts underIPC section 302 and section16(1)(A) of the UAPA forplanting bombs at differentplaces,” Public Prosecutor SriChand told reporters.

Continued on Page 6

��

�� !"��#��

��

$��%�� &�� ''(� �)��*� ��

��

�� &��'$��$(��$��3�#��,��5��67��8��9)��3��+ :��4��)��87+��66+86��6+5��8+��8�) ,$+�2��+ ;"��8��86��+5��8+��

�� !��"��#$%� ��&��

��)�� ,./�*.0')

After a peaceful day of protestagainst the Citizen

Amendment Act (CAA) at sev-eral places in the nationalCapital, the protesters turnedviolent on Friday evening at theDelhi Gate near Jama Masjid.

They set a private carablaze forcing police to usewater cannons to disperse alarge group of protesters whowere trying to march from theold Delhi to Jantar Mantar. Theprotesters were stopped atDelhi Gate by police.

Earlier in the day, thenational Capital remainedheavily barricaded with pro-hibitory orders in several placesand closure of several metrostations. However, this couldnot stop thousands from rally-ing near Jama Masjid area,soon after Friday prayers. Asthe day drew to a close, the pro-testers gathered at India Gateand Central Park, while carry-ing Tricolour and “SaveConstitution” banners and alsoraising slogans against whatthey called attempts to divide the country on reli-gious lines.

Historic Jama Masjid

became the centre point ofprotest on Friday with policedetaining Bhim Army chiefChandrashekhar during amarch. But, he escaped fromthe clutches of police andjoined the protest again nearDaryaganj.

Chandrashekhar, holdingup a copy of the Constitution,was leading the protesters in amarch from Jama Masjid areato Jantar Mantar but they werestopped at the Delhi Gate local-ity where large numbers of bar-ricades were erected.

Violence broke out in theDelhi Gate area on Fridayevening when a group of agi-tating demonstrators resortedto stone-pelting after policetried to forcefully evict them.In the melee, one car was set onfire and several others weredamaged.

The road leading to JamaMasjid was littered withfootwear and stones as policechased away the protestersfrom the area. Hours before theviolence broke out, anannouncement was made froma nearby mosque in Delhi Gateurging people to maintain

peace and go back home asthey have already expressedtheir anguish over the new law.

A group of youths held ashirt-less protest in Daryaganjshouting slogans demandingscrapping of the new law. Scoresof protesters also raised slogansagainst the proposed NationalRegister of Citizens (NRC).

“Police made severalappeals to demonstrators tomaintain law and order but thecrowd on Friday evening, whennot allowed to march towardsJantar Mantar from Delhi Gate,turned violent and they set a

private car standing in front ofDariyaganj police station on fireresorting police to use watercannons to disperse them,” saida senior police official.

“We used mild force andwater cannon and police did-n’t lathicharge or lob tear-gasshells at protesters. Twelvepolice personnel have beeninjured. There are outsidersinvolved in the violence andpolice have detained 40 people,”said Mandeep SinghRandhawa, the DCP, Centraldistrict.

Continued on Page 6

�� 0!�(,�/

Six people were killed in fir-ing in Uttar Pradesh as

protests against CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA)spread across the State onFriday. Several other parts ofthe country also saw massiveprotest. The protestersindulged in stone pelting andarson and went on the ram-page in Ferozabad, Bijnor,Muzaffarnagar, Hapur,Bhadohi, Meerut.

Additional ChiefSecretary (Home), AwanishAwasthi, confirmed to a newsagency that five people diedon Friday in the violence dur-ing protest against CAA.Director General of PoliceOP Singh told PTI that twopeople lost their lives in Bijnorand one each in Meerut,Sambhal and Firozabad. Butofficials reported a death inKanpur as well. He said over50 policemen were seriously

injured.Large demonstrations

were organised in Gorakhpur— the bastion of ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath onFriday. Protesters hurledstones at police in two places.The police retaliated by firingteargas shells in Khoonipurarea to disperse them.

Tension prevai led inGhantaghar, Shahmaroof,Nakhas, Khoonipur andIsmailpur areas of Gorakhpuras people came out ofmosques in large numbersand demonstrated. In Aligarh,where a red alert was sound-ed by the administration inview of continued protests, theFriday prayers passed offpeacefully. Peace calls weregiven from mosques inMuslim-dominated areas thismorning. Shahar Mufti KhalidHamed urged people not toattach importance to rumours.

Similar protests were alsoreported from Bijnor,

Bahraich, Farrukhabad andsome other parts of the State.Internet services remainedsuspended in about a dozendistricts including Aligarh,Mau, Azamgarh, Lucknow,Kanpur, Barei l ly,Shahjahanpur, Ghaziabad,Bulandshahr, Sambhal andAllahabad. Lucknow whichwitnessed violent clashes overthe CAA on Thursdayremained calm on Friday.Security was beefed up in thestate capital after Thursday’sviolence and heavy deploy-ment of police forces wasmade to avert any exigency.

Meanwhile mobile inter-net and text messaging ser-vices of all telecom operatorsremained suspended inLucknow and some parts ofthe State on Friday. InSambhal, Samajwadi PartyMP Shafiqur Rehman Burqand several others protestorswere booked.

Continued on Page 6

+�� ,,�� %��#�� !��"��#$#�� #� ��

�� ,./�*.0')

In more trouble for theNarendra Modi

Government, its two allies fromBihar have indicated theywould oppose the NationalRegister for Citizens (NRC),leaving the BJP completely iso-lated on this issue.

First it was Janata Dal (U)president and Bihar ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar whoasserted that the NRC will notbe implemented in the State.

Kumar made this clear in aterse reply to queries from jour-

nalists who had sought hisresponse on the proposed coun-try-wide implementation of theNRC, including Bihar, as statedby Union Home Minister AmitShah on the floor of Parliament.

“Kaahe ka NRC? Bilkullaagu nahin hoga (NRC whatfor? Will not at all be imple-mented),” Kumar quipped.

Another NDA ally, LokJanshakti Party (LJP), also indi-cated its opposition to the NRCand sought to distance itselffrom the Government over thecitizenship law, asserting thatnationwide protests show that

the Centre has “failed” to dispelconfusion among a significantsection of society.

LJP chief Chirag Paswan,whose party had backed theCitizenship Amendment Bill inParliament, noted that theprotests are happening in var-ious parts of the country withpeople linking the NRC withthe amended citizenship law.

“This has made it clear thatthe Government has failed todispel confusion in a significantsection of people of the coun-try,” he tweeted.

Continued on Page 6

�� %��-�$'�&��

.��*��/��/��& �0�.��&� ��! ��!�� &�'#�

�� %�� (�� !! � � �� )*

<3��*��"�� =��%��#1��1��)��0

��

�23�"��44

'. 3.*�4�4.,3$� $�*.4��- 3$�0 $'�),�"-.$)*.,3) 0�*.; 3.

�� #��#1��1

0�� (#�*��++�� 855> ��$�� .:�� =��

"�=��#��*.0')��0!�(,�/ ;'�" 0��;'!; ,.$/ -

- ,�')�- )"!- �' ,*)? -'�*.'- *!, '@*.- ; *�2)A @/ *

�+,-.��+��/�0123��

��)��4�� '��50��5�067��02��8

�3�5.53.�(

,�),�0!.,3) 0*) $"�-

��3�6�4+ ,*'- �;. 3�*.0')�

;@��/)�(.3$�),�- ,A)

��

��%)�� %��%�)��/��0�7��#��8�� 00 ' ; *

Amid recurrent incidents ofviolence in various courts

premises in Uttar Pradesh, theAllahabad High Court onFriday ordered the state gov-ernment to ensure a foolproofsecurity in all district courts,complete with the deploymentof special security force andinstallation of CCTV camerathere.

A bench of justices SudhirAgarwal and Sunit Kumar gavethe direction to the govern-ment with the state’s homesecretary and inspector gener-al of police (law and order)attending the hearing inresponse to summons to thestate police chief and additionalhome secretary.

The bench asked the gov-ernment to make security

arrangements in all districtcourts by December 31.

It also directed govern-ment to get boundary wallsbuilt around all district courtpremises, besides installingCCTV cameras and deployingspecial police force there byJanuary 15 next year.

After issuing directions,the bench fixed January 2 as thenext date to hear the matterfurther.

The bench issued direc-tions while adjudicating anincident of violence in a Bijnorcourtroom that the high courthad taken suo motu cognisanceof on Wednesday. One murderaccused was killed and threeothers were injured in theDecember 17 attack.

Expressing its concern overthe recurrent incidents of vio-lence in various court premis-

es across the state, the bench onWednesday had also issuedsummons to the state policechief and additional home sec-retary for Friday.

“It seems there is completefailure of law and order insidecourt premises in the state. Themost incompetent police pro-fessionals are deployed forsecurity of court premises inthe state. Is the governmentserious about court security?Are top officials even awareabout these incidents whichhappened in recent past indifferent courts of UttarPradesh?” the bench had askedon Wednesday.

The bench had told theadditional advocate generalthat strengthening court secu-rity in the state was an issuepending with it since 2008 butnothing much seems to have

been done. If the state government

cannot provide adequate secu-rity in court premises, we willask central government todeploy central forces for it, thebench had said.

“Three recent incident ofattacks on undertrial inMuzaffarnagar, on a ladylawyer in Agra and now inBijnor show that criminals areso fearless now in the state thatthey are entering court roomsand killing people,” they said.

Shahnawaz, killed in theBijnor attack, was accused inthe murders of a property deal-er and BSP leader Haji Ehsaanand his nephew Shadab onMay 28 in Najibabad.

The police had arrestedDanish, Shahnawaz and shoot-er Abdul Jabbar in connectionwith the murders. On

December 17 afternoon,Shahnawaz was brought fromTihar jail to the CJM’s court fora hearing.

Sahil Khan, son of HajiEhsaan, had allegedly bargedinto the courtroom along withhis two aides and pumpedthree bullets into Shahnawaz,while also injuring two police-men.

Both were brought to theCJM court for hearing fromTihar jail in Delhi on Tuesdayafternoon when the assailantsallegedly fired at them, leavingShahnawaz dead. Co-accusedJabbar suffered serious injuries.

Two policemen, whorushed to save the victims,were also injured in the firing.

There was panic in thecourtroom and along with theothers, even the judge had torun away to save his life.

�� !�� !��"#$�"%#&

Lucknow (PNS): BharatiyaJanata Party’s Uttar Pradeshunit president Swatantra DevSingh met clerics to apprisethem of the intricacies ofNational Register of Citizens andCitizen (Amendment) Act andasked them to urge Muslims tomaintain peace. “The NRC andthe CAA are not against any par-ticular community. They donot talk about taking away citi-zenship of any individual,including Muslims,” Singh toldthe clerics in Lucknow on Friday.

The BJP leader said that dis-sent was the core of democracybut it should be peaceful.

“Some innocent youth havebeen swayed by canards of peo-ple with vested interests. This hasled to violence across the state,”he said. “If some people havereservation on this issue, theyshould discuss it peacefully. The

�� 0!�(,�/

Aday after the violentclashes between thepolice and the anti-

Citizenship (Amendment) Actprotesters that led to the deathof a pedestrian in Thakurganjarea Lucknow, an eerie silenceprevailed on the streets onFriday with people choosing tostay indoors.

The sole exception wasMaulviganj area where a largenumber of people took to thestreets after the Friday namaz.The police, however, succeed-ed in mollifying the mob whichagreed to return to their homes.

Taking a lesson fromThursday incidents, addition-al police forces were deployedat different places in the OldCity and police personnel weregiven clear direction to notallow protesters to reachParivartan Chowk, which wasthe flash point of the protest onThursday.

Also, heavy police andRapid Action Force (RAF) per-sonnel were deployed aroundTile Wali Masjid where a largenumber of devotees went tooffer juma namaz (Fridayprayers).

The police had inputs thatprotests could begin after thenamaz and hence all roadstowards Imambara, Shia PGCollege and KGMUConvention Centre were barri-caded.

However, the devoteesreturned to their homes afteroffering prayers at the grandmosque.

But as a precautionarymeasure, the point was not leftunguarded even after the devo-tees left and a large number ofpolice personnel were stillcamping in the area.

In Maulviganj, a hugenumber of people came on the

road from different lanes, send-ing the cops into a tizzy. Onbeing intimated, senior officialsreached there with heavy policeforce and held talks after whichthe mob dispersed.

On the other hand, thepolice continued its search indifferent localities in Old Cityand arrested over 100 peopleon Friday.

A total of 11 cases — threein Hasanganj, two inHazratganj, four in Thakurganj(including one in which ayouth Mohammed Wakil waskilled by a bullet) and two inKaiserbagh, were registeredagainst 4,000 persons, some ofwhom were identified later.

The police force on thestreets was beefed up by addi-

tional cops on Friday to meetany situation.

In connection with thedeath of Mohammed Wakil,the father of the deceasedlodged a report against uniden-tified assailants. He said that hisson had gone to purchase foodin apprehension of curfewbeing clamped and was return-ing home on foot when thetragedy struck. “He wastrapped in a lane where some-one fired a bullet at him,” hesaid.

Family members of Wakillaid him to rest in Misribagiagraveyard in Thakurganj inthe presence of police force.

At the mortuary, theWakil’s autopsy was video-graphed.

The police said blackeningwas found around the gunshotwound on the body of the vic-tim, suggesting that he was shotfrom point-blank range.

Police spokesman AKDwivedi said the bore of thebullet was found to be of .32bore. He discounted reportsthat Wakil was hit by a policebullet.

Sources said that a bullet

got stuck in the spinal cord ofthe deceased and he died ofexcessive bleeding.

There were reports thatanother man had sufferedinjuries during the protest anddied during treatment atBalrampur Hospital.

While a sub-inspectorposted at Balrampur policeoutpost confirmed it, the policespokesman denied the report.

�� ! ��""��!�#��$��%&''()*(��+��+��,��&--./��0�� .��1��%�2��3��$��2��3��$101��')*(456��%+� �"��32�.783 )-(())!93'- 55:'�. ��;��3<)5-'=' '):*:�' '*)*:�-'>) ()��"��;��3<)5*'='-) ))(�'-) *(��;��3<)5 '=' * '> �' * '>5�?� ��;��31��(�7��@� �7�%��7��A��1�%?� ��&**)))'��3)**& )**) 55��//��;��3!&-*��(�1;0?.�@��/7��1��&')*-)*�B��3)*')& :6>:))C :6>>))

�� !�� "�� #��$��%�� &�� !��

9��%��")%��%&�� ' �� 0!�(,�/

Director General of PoliceOP Singh suspects the

hands of Bangladeshis in theviolence that rocked Lucknowand other parts of the state onThursday.

The top cop directedsleuths of Anti-TerroristsSquad (ATS) to probe andfind out whether someBangladeshi militant group orsleeper cell of some subversiveforces were behind the nefari-ous design.

Singh said that during pre-liminary probe into Thursday’sviolence in Lucknow, it surfacedthat a “pink” pamphlet was dis-tributed among rioters and sus-pected that outsiders, probablyBangladeshis, were instrumen-tal in triggering the arson.

“Some rioters involved inthe violence were speakingBengali, indicating that out-siders were involved in the vio-lence,” he said.

Sources said that the pinkpamphlet distributed byRashtravadi Janwadi Morchasaid that Aadhaar card carriedthe finger print and eye retinaproof and that would lead to thearrest of minorities by the gov-

ernment. The DGP further said that

over 100 persons were arrestedfor their involvement in arson inLucknow and more were to betaken into custody after verifi-cation of CCTV footages andvideos.

Of these, 70 arrests weremade late Thursday night.

Auto driver MohammadWakil allegedly died of firearminjury during violence inHussainabad area of Thakurganjin Old City on Thursday night.The police, however, deniedany firing by policemen on pro-testers.

Meanwhile, approximately3,305 arsonists were detainedacross the state for violating pro-hibitory orders and holdingprotests or for other illegalactions. Five people were arrest-ed and 13 FIRs were registeredfor posting objectionable postson social media.

Besides, 1,786 tweets, 3,037Facebook posts and 38 YouTubevideos were deleted after theywere found to be inflammable.

The government hasextended prohibitory ordersunder Section 144 of theCriminal Procedure Code acrossthe state till January 31, 2020.

+�� %��

'(�� issues can be resolved throughdialogue. Violence has no placein democracy,” Singh said.

The BJP state chief saidthat in the last 60 years, politi-cal parties had used Muslimsonly as a vote bank. “TheNarendra Modi and YogiAdityanath governments havenever used Muslims as politicalpawns and have always worked

for their uplift. The BJP govern-ments at the Centre and in UPare working on the principle of‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ whichhas helped in bringing even thedeprived sections of the minor-ity community into the main-stream of society,” he said andappealed to clerics to dispelmisinformation among thecommunity.

#�� )�88��)�&��&��)��%��Lucknow (PTI): The quest forjustice for the Unnao rape sur-vivor has been arduous. Frompolice refusing to name theaccused when the complaintwas first filed to seeing herfather tortured and killed, fromher uncle being ensnared in anunrelated case to suffering anaccident, which had clear marksof a conspiracy, the going wastough for her. Over two yearsafter she accused BJP MLAKuldeep Singh Sengar of rapingher in his home in Unnao, thelocal strongman was handeddown the life imprisonment tillthe remainder of his life. Sengarwas found guilty of abductingand raping the woman in 2017,then a minor.

Sengar, who representsBangarmau assembly seat inUnnao district, was jailed after hewas arrested on April 13, 2018,and the BJP subsequentlyexpelled him from the party.

Five days before the arrest,the victim had tried to set her-self ablaze near Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath’s residence inLucknow to protest alleged policeinaction against the MLA. Shealso alleged her family had beenthreatened. Sengar, however,denied all allegations.

Police said the woman’s fam-ily had alleged that two youthsfrom their village kidnappedher on June 11, 2017, and that acase was registered on June 20that year. Based on her statement,three men were arrested forgangrape and offences under theProtection of Children fromSexual Offences Act as the vic-tim was 17 years old at that time.Police alleged her father anduncle were criminals — thefather had 28 cases, includingthose of murder and robbery,against him, and the uncle had15 cases, some filed as early as1991.

Subsequently, the womansaid the MLA was a familyfriend and she and her siblingsaddressed him as “bhaiyya”.

On April 9, 2018, the dayafter the woman attempted to killherself in Lucknow, her fatherdied in judicial custody in Unnaojail, allegedly of injuries sufferedin a brutal assault by supportersof the MLA six days before that.

Four of Sengar’s supporterswere named in the FIR filed bythe woman’s family. The accusedtoo filed an FIR against herfather, who was booked undersections of the Arms Act andIPC. The woman’s family allegedthat the MLA and his support-ers had tried to frame her father.

It subsequently emerged thewoman’s father had been arrest-ed on the same day the incidenttook place, while the four aidesof the MLA were arrested onlyafter he died in jail.

The post-mortem of thewoman’s father found 14 injurieson the body. It identified septi-caemia or blood poisoning as thecause of death. In the meantime,a video surfaced, showing thefather alleging that the MLA’sbrother had beaten him in thepresence of police. Six policemenwere suspended and the follow-ing day (April 10, 2018) theMLA’s brother, Atul Singh, wasarrested.

A Special Investigation Teamwas formed on April 11, 2018, toprobe the alleged rape. Thesame day, Sengar’s wife Sangeetamet the UP DGP to plead for jus-tice for her husband. On April12, 2018, police registered an FIRagainst Sengar under various sec-tions of IPC and POCSO Act.

On Allahabad High Courtdirections, the probe was hand-ed over to CBI, which arrestedSengar. On April 14, the probeagency arrested Shashi Singh, thewoman who had allegedly luredthe victim to Sengar’s home onJune 4, 2017, when she allegedshe was raped. In May 2018, CBIbooked Sengar and others forconspiracy to implicate the vic-tim’s father in a false case andarrested two policemen. Sengar

and Shashi were moved toSitapur jail from Unnao. On July7, 2018, the CBI filed its firstcharge sheet against Atul Singhand four others in connectionwith the death of the woman’sfather. On July 11, the CBI filedanother charge sheet in thecourt of the Special JudicialMagistrate (CBI), Lucknow,accusing Sengar of committingrape and Shashi Singh of aidinghim in the crime. They werecharged under various IPC sec-tions including conspiracy, kid-

napping and rape and under thePOCSO Act. On July 14, a thirdcharge sheet was filed againstSengar and nine others forallegedly hatching a conspiracyand implicating the woman’sfather in an Arms Act case.

On July 28 this year, the vic-tim and her lawyer were critical-ly injured, and her two auntswere killed after their car collid-ed with a truck in Rae Bareli.Police registered a murder caseagainst Sengar complaint of vic-tim’s uncle.

�� "�� !��"#$�"%#&

��4��(�� 0!�(,�/

The content of the FIRs,lodged on Friday in con-

nection with the CAA protestswhich turned violent, hasbrought to the fore the quan-tum of damage to public prop-erty. The worst-hit wasHasanganj police station areawhere the protesters dam-aged a fire brigade vehicleapart from the Madehganjpolice outpost.

As per the FIR lodged bythe driver of the fire brigadevehicle, Raj Kishor Singh, heand FSO Jitendra KumarSingh were going towards theMadehganj police outpostwhich was on the fire around2:45 pm. “Over 100 personsstopped us near Shia PGCollege, attacked us with anintention to kill us and dam-aged the vehicle. They alsostopped us from movingahead for dousing the fire,” hestated in the FIR.

The case was lodged forarsoning, rioting while armedwith weapons, murderous

assault, damage to publicproperty, hindering themfrom discharging their dutiesand also for stealing parts ofthe vehicle.

In Thakurganj, sub-inspec-tor KN Dwivedi lodged a casealleging that protesters target-

ed him and his team around3:38 pm at Ramganj trisectionin Husainabad, snatched thehelmet and attempted to killhim and some of his col-leagues. The police registereda case for arsoning, rioting,hindering police from doing

their work besides murderattempt and dacoity. The pro-testers were also booked under7 Criminal Law AmendmentAct. “The FIRs in other caseshave similar content. This hasexposed the police claim thatthey had done their homework

to handle the protesters,”sources said.

They said in the Hasanganjcase, no stone was seen flyingin the video footages on Friday.“During the protest, someoneshouted that stones were beingpelted and after that the police

cane-charged the protesters.This enraged the protesters anda huge number of them gath-ered on the road and later setfire to the Madehganj policeoutpost and lobbed stones onthe police, leaving several ofthem injured,” the sources said.

��4��(�� 0!�(,�/

The surge of protesters, whohad turned up in more

numbers than expected onThursday, left the police guess-ing throughout the day onFriday. The protester had runriot for over six hours inHusainabad, Parivartan Chowk in Hazratganj andHasanganj areas.

Sources said the policewere expecting protests byworkers and leaders of politi-cal parties apart from someorganisations which have beenon their radar for the past fewdays. “On Wednesday night,the police had started keepinga close watch on social mediaposts by engaging a huge num-ber of personnel at differentwork stations. They also keptappealing through WhatsAppgroups to people not to takepart in protests. However, theymisjudged the situation as thesegroups have little reach amongthe masses, and their attemptsto dissuade the common manfrom joining protests provedfutile,” the sources said.

They said the police forceschecked the offices of differentsocial organisations and alsothose of Left parties to knowtheir agenda on the protestsscheduled for Thursday.

“It is suspected that leadersof the faceless mob had metic-ulously planned their protestand they outsmarted thepolice,” the sources said. Theyadded that the police were try-ing to find out if the protesterswere called from other citiesand checked into hotels & innsin the city. They claimed thatthe police were expecting lowturnout of protesters on thebasis of the inputs they gotthrough ground work. “Thepolice mainly depended onthe inputs given by specialpolice officers (SPOs) and theyhad even briefed their bossesabout the same,” the sources

��4��(�� 0!�(,�/

Following the violentprotests and arsoning in

the state capital, the Lucknowpolice have roped in expertofficers with a good rapportamong public in the Old City.

Sources said the policeofficers who had earlier heldvarious posts in Old City or indifferent parts of the city andpresently posted in differentwings, were called for givingtips to help restore normalcy.

An officer posted in awing of UP Police said, “Theviolent protests were unfor-tunate and dented theLucknow’s image. It was alsoexposed that the local policedid not have a rapport withresidents of their localities asthey fai led to counsel them to go back when theystarted marching towardsParivartan Chowk as per theirplan,” he said.

However, he also had aword of praise for the policefor acting with restraint andopting for cane-charge onlyafter the protesters wentberserk and took law intotheir hands.

Sources disclosed that a

meeting was held in the campoffice of the SSP on Thursdaynight and senior officers,including the DGP and Homedepartment officials, took partin it. “The DGP took chargeafter the situation went out ofcontrol and he, along with histeam, kept doing rounds of thetroubled areas late in thenight. Later, the DGP reachedthe SSP Lucknow camp office,”they said.

The sources said thepolice suspected that the pro-testers might take to streetsagain in the city as differentparts of UP are witnessinganti-CAA protests. “In view ofthis, police teams along withCRPF, RAF, PAC and com-mandoes are patrolling inMaulviganj, Husainabad,Khadra and other Old Citylocalities. Nearly all the entrypoints have been barricadedand are being guarded by thecops. The police have also putbarriers on the road nearTeele Wali Masjid and otherlocalities to lessen the move-ment of commuters at a time.The cops have been asked topromptly act in case of assem-bly of more than four per-sons,” they said.\\

��4��(�� 0!�(,�/

Authorities announced onFriday that Lucknow

University would remain closedon Saturday and all the exam-inations scheduled for the dayhad been postponed. Mediaspokesperson said fresh datesfor the exams would beannounced shortly.

AKTU media spokesper-son Ashish Mishra also said theexaminations scheduled forSaturday had been postponed.He said the exams cancelled onDecember 19 would be held onJanuary 5 next year, thosescheduled for December 20 onJanuary 6, and the exams whichwere to be held on December21 would be held on January 7.

.:��#��

7 � �� &�� ,,��

"#��,:6# � /��

said. Employees working atthe mortuary said they sawstones scattered on the roadnear Husainabad Inter Collegeand the same were later used bythe protesters during the

protest. At Parivartan Chowk,the mob had uprooted stoneslabs and also damaged railingsaround the parks and publicproperty which they laterlobbed on the cops.

Lucknow (PNS): FormerIPS officer and leader of a socialorganisation SR Darapuri wasapprehended from Hazratganjon Friday night for breachingpeace and prohibitory orders.A spokesman said the policehad inputs that Darapuri wasplanning to mobilise activists ofthe association to take part ina protest. “He was taken toReserve Police Lines,” thespokesman said. Sources saidDarapuri’s name had surfacedduring the probe intoThursday’s violent protests.

% � � ��

)��* ��"��

+��!!�� %�� ,��

�-� "� +�� %��%��!�� "��

�� !��"#$�"%#& ��

��

!�"#�!�!��$%��& �� '��(� )�*+� �� ,�� %�� )��-��)�� )�� !!�� .��,-��*��/0��12�� &��/��'�� )� �3��4� �� 3�*�� )��5��'��36�7�� 8��www.etender.up.nic.in ��/ �� '��4�7� �� !9:�":!�!�� '��4�7�;�� *��0��) ��<�'��36�� )4�� & ��/0��'��4�=7�� '��0�� >�� & �� & �� *?�� ?�� &� �(�� 8��www.etender.up.nic.in �� '��7)�?��)�+��.�� @*��$�>��>��0��A� BC�'�'�� A� ��4��'�5�� !"B!� �� "#:"!:"#��$��3��8'��8D��7

�:��:� �� .�� 0�� /��-D��

�� #BA#1 �"�#�� !�"#�!��'��- ��?��.3��)��3��>�� 3��>��)8��2�:"!:!�"#��"1E��8'��)��'��4��& ��2":"!:!�"#��F��E� "!:2�A� "2:2�� "2:�� 8'�� '��4�7� ��.��4� �� ).�� - � ��3�4�7�)?��G�>�)�+��.�� @*��$�>��>��0��G��"""��""9�+�-��$�>��+� �� +�-��>��II ��5��)� ��4��4�� H� �5�� !2#�� !�:"!:"#��$��3��8'��8D�&�

OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDING ENGINEERLUCKNOW CIRCLE, P.W.D., LUCKNOW

(Short Term Notice)No. 7823/523 (2) C-LKO.CIR/2019-20 Dated : 13-12-2019

The S.E. Lucknow Circle, U.P.P.W.D. on behalf of Governor of Uttar Pradesh invites the percentagerate bids online from the eligible and approved contractors registered with UP PWD, in class ‘A’, ‘B’ and‘C’ as per norms. Bidders are advised to note the minimum qualification criteria specified in Clause4 of the Instructions to Bidders to qualify for the award of the contract.SL District Name of Estimated Bid Tender Cost Address of Address of Address ofNo. Work cost Security +Stationary Executive Superinten Chief

(Rs. in (Rs. in Charges Engineer ding EngineerLakhs) Lakhs) Engineer

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

I��44��4�'1 Lucknow ��J�*�� 71.00 5.60 2000.00+ CD-2, Lucknow Central

��.��3�� 300.00+ PWD Circle, Zone,�K��<�� 60= Total Lucknow PWD PWD��>��7 = 2360.00 Lucknow Lucknow

2 Lucknow ��.��3��6�� 46.00 4.30 2000.00+ CD-2, Lucknow Central��L�4��M�� 300.00+ PWD Circle, Zone,��K��<�� 60= Total Lucknow PWD PWD��>�� = 2360.00 Lucknow Lucknow

3 Lucknow �N ��<�� 74.00 5.70 2000.00+ CD-2, Lucknow CentralM��+�� /0�� 300.00+ PWD Circle, Zone,�*��M�� 60= Total Lucknow PWD PWD�K��<��;�� = 2360.00 Lucknow Lucknow��4�=��>��7

4 Lucknow �N ��<��)�� 47.00 4.40 2000.00+ CD-2, Lucknow Central�*��M�� 300.00+ PWD Circle, Zone,8�43��4��+�� 60= Total Lucknow PWD PWD��K�� = 2360.00 Lucknow Lucknow��<��>��7

The rates adopted in BOQ are exclusive of GST.Bids can be downloaded online from dated 22.12.2019 at 12:00 AM to 27.12.2019 at 12:00 Noon and

bid can be submitted online on or before 27.12.2019 at 12:00 Noon. The technical bids will be openedonline on dated 28.12.2019 at 12:30 PM. According to the provisions of Government Order no. 1/2018/3070/78-2-2018/42 IT/2017 (22) Dated 03-01-2018, ater opening of the technical and financial bids, the bidder hasto submit original documents personally in department/office. In the event of non submission of originaldocuments by the bidder, the appropriate action will be taken in accordance with the provisiouns of G.O.

All terms & conditions can be seen on website http://etender.up.nic.co.in(Pradeep Rostogi)

Execuvite Engineer,Construction Division-2 PWD,

Lucknow

(J.K.Banga)Superintending Engineer,

Lucknow CirclePWD, Lucknow

For on behalf of Governor of UPUP-146661 Dt 17.12.19 � O�� 8��www.upgov.nic.in ��I?��3367

��4��(�� 0!�(,�/

District inspector ofschools (DIOS) Mukesh

Singh said on Friday thatpreparations for the UPBoard examinations, to beheld in February, had beencompleted. The exams willkick off on February 18 andconclude on March 3. Thereare over 1,02,000 candidatesexpected to appear in HighSchool and Intermediateexaminations. Practicalexams have already startedfrom December 15.

The DIOS said that forthe first time, all the centreswould be monitored througha control room which would

be set up at the EducationDirectorate. Singh said therewere 112 centres in the dis-trict, including one insidejail. “CCTVs with voicerecorders have already beeninstalled at all the exam cen-tres,” he said. Regarding theidentification of sensitive andultrasensitive centres in thedistrict, he said it was an issuewhich they would take uplater. He said with Lucknowhaving done well in HighSchool and Intermediateexaminations last year, theywere hoping for better results this year. The stategovernment has been makingefforts to ensure copying-free exams.

��0�Abdul Kalam Technical

University (AKTU) will be hold-ing Uttar Pradesh StateEngineering EntranceExamination (UPSEE) on May10 next year. The exams are heldfor admission to various engi-neering institutes across thestate. AKTU media spokesper-son Ashish Mishra said theCentral Entrance Committee

��4��(�� 0!�(,�/

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath said the

Bundelkhand Expresswaywould play an important role inthe development of the regionand it would become the life-line of Bundelkhand.

He asked the builders tomeet the deadline and maintainquality while providing jobs tothe youth of Bundelkhand inthe construction work.

“After three years, nobodywill call Bundelkhand a back-ward region. In fact,Bundelkhand will become thenew model of development inthe country,” he said.

The chief ministeraddressed farmers at LokBhawan here on Friday whilehonouring them for providingsupport for the implementationof the BundelkhandExpressway project.

He said that the defencemanufacturing industrial cor-ridor announced for UttarPradesh by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi was also goingto be established on both thesides of BundelkhandExpressway. The chief ministersaid there was no alternative todevelopment. “If we want tobrighten the future of our com-ing generation, we will have toembrace development,” he said.

He said that 95 per cent of

the land required forBundelkhand Expressway hadbeen acquired. “This express-way, to be built at a cost of Rs15,000 crore, will change thefate of Bundelkhand. After theconstruction of BundelkhandExpressway and defence man-ufacturing industrial corridor,the youth of Bundelkhand willget jobs. Along with this, youthfrom outside will also comehere for employment. Afterthe construction of thisexpressway, the people ofBundelkhand will reach Delhionly in five hours,” he said.

The chief minister saidthat Chitrakoot was beingdeveloped as a spiritual andtourism destination. “The gov-

ernment has made available Rs9,000 crore to supply puredrinking water in the next twoyears to every house in theseven districts of Bundelkhandnamely, Jhansi, Lalitpur,Mahoba, Jalaun, Chitrakoot,Hamirpur and Banda,” he said.

The chief minister saidthat during the tenure of a gov-ernment with positive thinking,development takes place rapid-ly; but during the rule of a gov-ernment of negative thinking,the citizens are deprived oftheir rights.

“Earlier, this used to hap-pen in Bundelkhand. Peoplewere exploited. Someone elseearned money, while the resi-dents of Bundelkhand were

cheated. When they did nothave employment, they wereforced to migrate,” he said.

The chief minister saidthat his government had alsoworked for the ‘anna pratha’ inBundelkhand. “The govern-ment has given sufficient fundsto each district for shelterhomes for stray cattle. Apartfrom this, geo-tagging of straycows will be done. This willhelp in locating the cattle.After the geo-tagging, if afarmer takes care of the straycattle, the government will givehim Rs 900 per month. Thestate government is also work-ing for improving the breed. InBundelkhand, a big work isgoing to start in this directionfor healthy cattle breeding,” hesaid. The chief minister alsohonoured farmers of sevendistricts during the pro-gramme.

Earlier, the chief ministerreleased a book, ‘Defence andAerospace Unit andEmployment PromotionPolicy’ and also released theUPEIDA mobile app.

During the event, manysenior officials were presentincluding IndustrialDevelopment Minister SatishMahana, Principal Secretary(Industrial Development) AlokKumar and Principal Secretary(Home) Awanish KumarAwasthi.

��4��(�� 0!�(,�/

Managing director of UPTourism Development

Corporation Shiv Pal Singhsaid on Friday that Lucknowwas an interesting destinationwith its culture, heritage andcuisine. He said Uttar Pradeshwas second in the country asfar as domestic tourism wasconcerned while third in termsof international tourists.

The senior official inaugu-rated travel, tourism exhibitionand conclave, ‘India TravelMart’ (ITM), on Friday. Thethree-day exhibition is sup-ported by Uttar PradeshTourism and Uttar PradeshState Tourism DevelopmentCorporation.

Singh said such kinds ofexhibitions helped travel agents

��4��(�� 0!�(,�/

Samajwadi Party presidentAkhilesh Yadav said that the

Bharatiya Janata Party wastrying to divide people bysowing seeds of hatred onreligious lines by introducingthe unwarranted NationalRegister of Citizens (NRC)and Citizenship (Amendment)Act (CAA).

“Winning maximum seatsdoes not mean that the BJP hasgot the mandate to rule theminds of the people. People arestill supreme in democracy.Those who voted the BJP topower are now on the streets,agitating against the draconianlaw of the government,”Akhilesh Yadav said in a state-

ment issued on Friday. The SPchief said that the BJP hadsigned its death warrant by try-ing to muzzle people’s voice.

“This is the time thatSamajwadi Party workersshould go to the masses andeducate them about the divi-sive policies of the BJP,” he said.

Later, addressing partyworkers at SP headquarters inLucknow, Akhilesh Yadav saidthat both Gandhi and Lohia

advocated the right to protestbut this government hadthrown those ideals into thelumber room.

“It is only the SamajwadiParty which is working on thepath shown by Gandhi andLohia. We cared for the poorwhile the BJP governments atthe Centre and in UP ignoredthe youth and the poor,” hesaid. Samajwadi Party workerscomplained that no develop-ment had taken place duringYogi Adityanath regime.Akhilesh told them to tell thepeople about developmentworks done by the SP regimeand how the BJP had onlyinaugurated projects that wereinaugurated during his tenureas chief minister of UP.

��4��(�� 0!�(,�/

Bahujan Samaj Party chiefMayawati said that there was

no place for violence in any kindof protest or ‘dharna’.

In a statement released inLucknow on Friday, Mayawatisaid that vandalism witnessedduring protests in Lucknow andSambhal was not acceptable in acivilised society. She stressedthat nobody had the right todamage public property.

The BSP chief added that herparty had always opposedCitizenship (Amendment) Act

�� 4�� '��

Swarit Shukla, a class IV student of CityMontessori School, Aliganj Campus I, broughtlaurels to the institutionby winning the goldmedal in Inter-schoolRegional AbacusCompetition, whichwas organised underthe aegis of education-al institute Brainobrain.Students of severalnoted schools participated in the contest toshowcase their analytical skills. Swarit optedfor various abacus tricks to solve mathemat-ical problems and emerged winner amidst atough competition. She was awarded the goldmedal and a certificate.

��0�9�� *�%�/��)��& ��

��733"��,.

but unlike others, they did notbelieve in destroying publicproperty or indulging in vio-lence. Mayawati said, “I appealto people in my party that inthe present emergency-likesituation, they should not hitthe streets, rather find otherways to oppose.” She exhortedparty workers to express theiropposition to the CAAthrough posts and mails andby handing over memoran-dum to officials concernedinstead of taking to the streetsand protesting. A BSP delega-tion also met President Ram

Nath Kovind over the CAAand the violence that ensuedover the issue. The BSP dele-gation led by party general sec-retary Satish Chandra Mishrasought a judicial inquiry into

Sunday’s violence at JamiaMillia Islamia and withdraw-al of the contentious law.

Meanwhile, UP Congresspresident Ajay Kumar Lallualso condemned the violencethat erupted during protestagainst the CAA and the NRC(National Register of Citizens)and urged for peaceful demon-strations. “The state govern-ment has failed to check vio-lence in the state. TheCongress has always believedin peace and harmony and isagainst any kind of violence insociety, Lallu asserted.

+�� ,�$

%��B�;A"�� ,-��

meeting was held on Friday.It was discussed in the meet-ing that though there hasbeen no government notifi-cation regarding the exam-inations, preparations arebeing carried out. Mishrasaid the tentative date hadbeen decided as May 10.“Applications for the exam-inations will be receivedfrom the students fromJanuary 27 onwards and thelast date for receipt of appli-cation is March 3. Theresults will be declared inJune and the counsellingwill begin in July,” he added.

4��)��Indian Institute of

Toxicology Research (IITR)held a 3-day workshop on‘Flow Cytometry’. Expertsfrom industry and academiawere the faculty for thecourse, which also includeda hands-on training module.The inaugural session

began with the openingremarks by coordinator ofthe workshop Amit Kumar.Participants from differentinstitutes of Lucknow suchas KGMU, SGPGIMS,BBAU etc took part in theworkshop, which includedtheoretical and practical ses-sions.

Hands-on trainingincluded sample prepara-tion from various biologicalmaterials such as plant,mouse, and mammaliancells for analysing DNA inplant cells, exosome analy-sis , multi-colourimmunophenotyping, andT-cell identification inmouse spleenocytes. Theworkshop concluded withan address and certificatedistribution by IITR direc-tor Alok Dhawan.

��9��

The ERS HERMES

examination in adult respira-tory medicine is a well-knownand recognised assessmentwithin the professionthroughout Europe andworldwide. Every year, it isconducted in Europe but thisyear, the ERS HERMESEuropean Diploma examina-tion in adult respiratory med-icine was conducted jointly byIndian Chest Society andEuropean Respiratory Societyin India. Dr Surya Kant, thenational ex-president ofIndian Chest Society, threefaculty members and two res-idents of the department ofRespirator y Medicine(KGMU) passed the examconducted in Kolkata onDecember 8. KGMU Vice-Chancellor Dr MLB Bhatthonoured all the five success-ful candidates on Friday. Theyincluded Ajay K Verma,Anand Srivastava, DarshanKumar Bajaj, AvishekKar andTariq Abbas.

�56;��591�

�� -� '� ��. ��, %/0#

put forth their tourism prod-ucts in front of the public.“People can visit these exhibi-tions to know details of the des-tinations which they want tovisit. They can also learn aboutthe packages available,” he said.

He admitted that the focuswas more on domestic pack-ages than international pack-ages. Asked as to how theypromote UP, he said people ofthis state get a chance to visit

other places after they learn ofthe various tour and travelpackages and when the travelmart is held in other cities, peo-ple learn about the state.

“The purpose of ITM is topromote tourism by undertak-ing promotional and publicityactivities, facilitate the exchangeof market information, andencourage partnershipsbetween public & private sec-tors,” Singh said.

�1 ��

Lucknow (PNS): A 30-year-old labour-er, identified as Sunil Gupta of Saraura villagein Madiaon, ended his life after he failed towithstand the alleged hounding by moneylenders whom he owed a huge sum. Sunil wasfound hanging from the ceiling with a dupat-ta tied around his neck. The family said Sunilfell into the trap of loan sharks who were con-stantly harassing him.

1 "� ��

��!�(��.�� ! �� '��%��

�� !��"#$�"%#& #$��%#� &

2�� /�� %�� ,./�*.0')

Bone-chilling cold condi-tions prevailed in north

India on Friday with freshsnowfall in J&K and HimachalPradesh, while the nationalcapital also witnessed a densefoggy day which led to cancel-lation of flights and delay intrain services.

Officials at the Delhi air-port said 19 flights were can-celled and five diverted as thedense fog reduced visibility tozero at some places early in themorning. Railway officials saidover 100 trains were delayed by

up to two hours. Visibility was zero at Palam

and 300 metres at Safdarjung at5.30 am which improved later.

The city also braved a coldday with minimum tempera-ture settling at 6.4 degreesCelsius. The maximum tem-perature on Friday was record-ed at 17.5 degrees Celsius, fivenotches below the season'saverage.

Due to low temperatureand high humidity, the airquality was in the "severe" cat-egory in the morning.According to Central PollutionControl Board (CPCB) data,

Delhi's AQI at 8 am was at 430.The Met department has

forecast "severe cold condi-tions" accompanied by lightrain drizzle in the city forSaturday.

Some higher reaches ofHimachal Pradesh receivedfresh snowfall on Friday withforecast of heavy rain andsnowfall till December 21.However, the minimum andmaximum temperatures in thestate increased by a few notch-es since Thursday.

Lahaul-Spiti's administra-tive centre Keylong experi-enced 5 cm snowfall followed

by Gandhola witnessing 3 cmand Kinnaur's Kalpa getting 1cm.

The coldest place in thestate was Keylong where theminimum settled at minus 6degrees Celsius. The mini-mum temperature in Kalpawas 0.7 degrees Celsius.

Famous tourist destina-tion Manali recorded a low of2 degrees Celsius followed byKufri registering 4 degreesCelsius, Dalhousie at 4.3degrees Celsius and Shimla at6.3 degrees Celsius.

Up north, moderate snow-fall began in most parts of

Kashmir Friday afternoon andis expected to continue tillSaturday.

Severe cold wave condi-tions gripped J&K and Ladakhafter the snowfall with themeteorological department alsoforecasting fairly widespreadrains and snowfall in J&K andat isolated places in Ladakhover the next two days.

The night temperature inmost parts of the two UnionTerritories saw a dip, withDrass belt of Ladakh recordingthe lowest temperature ofminus 16.1 degrees Celsius,while Banihal belt in Jammu

region was the coldest area inthe region at minus 1.5 degreesCelsius. Kashmir's Gulmargbelt registered minus 6.5degrees Celsius.

Jammu city registered a lowof 8.2 degrees Celsius - 2.4notches below normal, a mete-orological department officialsaid.

Katra, the base camp forpilgrims visiting Vaishno Devishrine in Reasi district, regis-tered a night temperature of 5degrees Celsius, up from theprevious night's 4.6 degreesCelsius.

Srinagar recorded a low of

minus 2.6 degrees Celsiusagainst the previous night'sminus 2.3 degrees Celsius,while the famous ski resort ofGulmarg in north Kashmirwas the coldest place in the val-ley with a minimum of 6.5degrees Celsius.

Pahalgam hill resort insouth Kashmir was freezing atminus 4.1 degrees Celsius, theofficial said.

In Haryana and Punjabalso, cold weather conditionspersisted on Friday also asHisar (Haryana) recorded thelowest temperature across thetwo states at 4.5 degrees

Celsius.Karnal, too, braved the

chill at a low of 6 degreesCelsius while Narnaul regis-tered a minimum of 5.5 degreesCelsius, a meteorologicaldepartment official said here.

Ambala recorded a low of8.6 degrees Celsius whileRohtak, Bhiwani and Sirsa expe-rienced a cold night recordinglows of 6.8, 6.3 and 6.1 degreesCelsius, respectively.

In Punjab, Bathindarecorded a low of 6.5 degreesCelsius while Patiala, too, shiv-ered at a low of 7.6 degreesCelsius.

�� !��"#$�"%#& #$��%#� '

�� "��%��#��#��

Madhyanchal VidyutVitran NigamLimited (U.P. Govt.Undertaking) Head

Office : 4-A, Gokhale Marg,Lucknow SHORT TERM E-TENDER NOTICE Tendersthrough e-tendering system areinvited from reputed manufac-turers with adequate experi-ence for Competitive Bidding forsupply of 11KV HT TVM 3P-5ACat-C Energy Meters. Biddersmay quote for full quantity only:-TENDER SPECIFICATION NO.MEDCO/2461/ 2019:- Sl.No. 1Item Description Supply of 11 KVHT TVM 3 P-/5A Cat-C EnergyMeters Quantity (Nos.) 2,000Earnest Money(Rs.) Rs. 60,000-00 (Rupees Sixty ThousandOnly) Last Date & Time ofuploading the Tender :07.01.2020 upto 13:00 hrs Duedate and time for opening BidPart-I : 08.01.2020 after 15:00hrs. For this tender a tender Feeamounting to Rs. 5900.00(Rupees Five Thousand NineHundred) only shall be deposit-ed in the form of NEFT/RTGSonly and Earnest Money, asmentioned above, shall bedeposited in the form of BankGuarantee of RTGS/NEFT. Thescanned copy of Tender Fee andEarnest Money details alongiwthtender bid documents shall beuploaded on e-tender web-site:etender.up.nic.in. Detailedinformation of the tender andtender documents can be seenand downloaded from-etender-website: e-tender.up.nic.in Incase of amendment and dateextension, the information shallbe made available on e-tenderwebsite: etender.up.nic.inSuperintending Engineer(Comm) MVVNL 4-A GokhaleMarg, Lucknow No. 247 Dt20.12.19 MVVNL Helping No.18001800440/1912 ‘SaveElectricity in National Interest,Use LED in Place of Bulb’

9�� 0 <�. 8��& � � �� ,./*.0')C2)$ (' " 3, 4

Seven Navy personnel werearrested on Friday for alleged

espionage by the AndhraPradesh police. The non-officerrank personnel were posted atthree different naval basesincluding Mumbai,Karwar(Karnataka) andVisakhapatnam. They report-edly leaked sensitive informa-tion through social media afterreportedly getting honey-trapped. A hawala operatorwas also arrested in this con-nection.

All the sailors were arrest-ed in a joint operation code-named "Dolphin's Nose"launched by the Naval intelli-gence wing, Andhra Pradeshpolice and central intelligenceagencies. The Andhra Pradeshpolice said in a press release "anFIR has been lodged and sevenNavy personnel and a hawalaoperator have been arrestedfrom different parts of thecountry. Some more suspectsare being questioned."

Further investigation is on,police and navy officials saidadding the seven sailors weregiving out "unauthorised infor-

mation" through Facebook andother social media tools.

It is one of the biggestcases in recent past as theseven sailors were arrested fromthree sensitive naval bases.While Mumbai has the WesternNaval command headquartersand most VIPs land at thehelicopter base there, subma-rine construction base ofnuclear powered Arihant sub-marines besides the EasternNaval command headquartersare in Visakhapatnam.Country's lone aircraft carrierINS Vikramaditya's base is inKarwar.

Given the sensitive natureof these three locations, theNavy along with other agenciesis carrying out further investi-gations about the kind of infor-mation leaked by the arrestedsailors, sources said in NewDelhi.

As regards the name givento the operation, they saidDolphin's Nose is a hill adjacentto Eastern Naval Command inVisakhapatnam, housing theresidential complexes andoffices of Indian Navy. The hillresembles to Dolphin's nose

The police arrested threesailors from Visakhapatnam,

two from Karwar naval base,and two from Mumbai navalbase. According to sources, allthese seven sailors wererecruited in 2017 and they fellinto a honey trap in September2018. Some women befriend-ed the sailors on Facebook andestablished a relationship. Asper the plan, the women intro-duced them online to aPakistani handler, who mas-queraded as a businessmanand was taking informationfrom the sailors.

The sailors, whose chatswith the women were sexual innature, were also blackmailedlater to reveal the positions andmovement of Indian warshipsand submarines. The sailorswere also paid money everymonth through a hawala oper-ator, according to sources.

"These seven sailors wouldreturn from ships and sub-marines and reveal the loca-tions and work they did fromabout September-October lastyear. They passed on a lot ofsensitive information," asource said.

Incidentally, a similar caseinvolving at least two soldiersleaking information throughsocial media came to light two

months back in Rajasthandespite the armed forces regu-larly cautioning its personnel tobe careful while using socialmedia applications.

In fact, the Army recentlywarned its jawans and officersagainst 150 fake social mediaprofiles, including of phoneyspiritual gurus and babas, beingused by Pakistan's Intelligenceofficers to honeytrap officialsfor extracting sensitive militaryinformation.

Officials said these peoplethrough the social media try totrap gullible and vulnerablesoldiers facing personal prob-lems. After gaining their con-fidence over a period of time,these self-proclaimed gurusworking for the enemy then tryto seek information aboutmovement of troops and othersensitive military information,said sources.

In an advisory issued inmid-October to its personnel,the Army asked them to avoidinteracting with unknownsocial media profiles.

Incidentally, Pakistan hasbeen found using fake sites toeven target railway personnelespecially posted on sensitiverailway stations in an effort to

gain intelligence about trainmovement carrying troops andweapons for exercises anddeployment, said sources.

People using fake profilesare on different social mediaplatforms who target Armypersonnel, their families andeven retired Army personnel,the sources added.

The threat is more promi-nent in civil areas with theArmy coming in contact withthe public and the men in uni-form may give out sensitiveinformation. Some of the fakeidentities pose as nurses orclaim to be from the ArmyHeadquarters seeking detailsabout the whereabouts of thepersonnel from their families.

The fake profiles are gen-erally 2-3 years old, so, they donot raise suspicion. It is thenthat they started targeting Armypersonnel, officials added.

As regards counter-mea-sures, the Army is regularly sen-sitising the troops in all the sen-sitive units about the socialmedia threat and cautioningthem to refrain from acceptingfriend request from unknownpersons. They have been told tonot post their photographs inuniform.

�� ,./�*.0')

The DRDO has conductedtwo successful test firings of

Pinaka missile systems withobjectives such as checking its

low range and functioning oflive warhead, according to anofficial statement. "The firsttrial was conducted onDecember 19 wherein one mis-sile was fired at 75 kilometre

range. The second trial wassuccessfully conducted todayat 1100 hrs from IntegratedTest Range, Chandipur, offthe Odisha coast," the Ministryof Defence said.

��'�� ***Protests against the CAA

were also witnessed in severalother areas in the nationalCapital, including in JamiaMillia Islamia, Seemapuri,Jantar Mantar, India Gate andnortheast Delhi’s Seelampur,the site of large scale violenceby protesters on Tuesday.

At Seemapuri, the protes-tors pelted stones at policepersonnel and the AdditionalDeputy Commissioner ofPolice (DCP), Rohit RajbirSingh, sustained minor injuries.Police said the incidentoccurred when police was dis-persing crowd and the situationin Shahdara’s Seemapuri wasbrought to control within ashort span of time. Protestswere also witnessed in severalother areas in the nationalCapital, including in northeastDelhi’s Seelampur, the site oflarge scale violence by protes-tors on Tuesday. “Some of thepeople came from Loni area atSeelampur to disrupt the peace-ful protest but they werestopped by police and were sentback towards Loni,” said apolice official at Seelampur.

The Delhi Metro RailCorporation (DMRC) onFriday also closed about 20metro stations, including JamaMasjid and the busiestKashemre Gate and RajivChowk station to prevent theprotesters from joining theongoing protest against theCAA and also following thesecurity instructions.

Police deployed drones tokeep a vigil on the gathering.Earlier on Friday, securityforces carried out a flag marchin Seelampur and several areas

across the city. “Prohibitoryorders were imposed in 12police station areas ofNortheast Delhi,” a seniorpolice official said. DelhiMahila Congress chief and for-mer president PranabMukherjee’s daughterSharmistha and some othermembers of the outfit weredetained near Home MinisterAmit Shah’s residence during aprotest against the new legis-lation. A protest in support ofCAA was held in the centralpark of Connaught Place wherepeople raised slogans in sup-port of the Modi Governmentand Delhi Police.

2�)�� ***In Meerut, after being

chased away by the police, theprotesters gathered on rooftopsand hurled stones in Titangacrossing area of Nauchandi onFriday evening. Some of themiscreants fired gunshots inwhich two protestors on anoth-er roof sustained grievousinjuries and later succumbed ina hospital.

In Ferozabad, CAA pro-testers emerged from JamaMasjid after Friday prayers,torched several vehicles andNalband police outpost. andlater pelted stones at police per-sonnel in the city area. Themob burnt furniture ofNalband police outpost andtorched police vehicles. In thepolice firing, one of the pro-testers died while one consta-ble was also critically injured.

In Bijnore, clashes tookplace in several places, includ-ing Meenakshi Chowk, whereone person was killed in firing.In Muzaffarnagar also, violentclash took place in which oneprotester died of bullet injury.In Khatauli area ofMuzaffarnagar, the policecharged protesters nearBalakram when they violatedsection 144 and raised slogansagainst the CAA. In Bhadohitoo, protesters hurled stonesand torched vehicles in someareas when they were stoppedfrom taking out a rally.

In Saharanpur too, thou-sands of protesters took to thestreets after Friday prayers andraised slogans against theGovernment. In Deoband, pro-testers demonstrated peace-fully after the namaz. Similarlyin Kanpur, protests were wit-nessed in Nadesar area wherethe people in large numberstook to the streets to raise theirvoice against CAA. In Hapur,the police cane charged a mobwhen they were trying to bringout a march after namaz.

In Varanasi, two protesterswere injured when a wall fell onthem during a protest while inJaunpur, protesters raised slo-gans against the Government.Sporadic violence was alsoreported from other parts ,Maharashtra and Karnataka-Kerala border areas as well,while authorities resorted tocurbs on mobile internet andSMS services in variousregions. Additional securityforces were deployed in allsensitive areas, including thosewhere large-scale protests tookplace on Thursday that also sawat least three deaths includingof two persons in police firingin Mangaluru. One person haddied in Lucknow.

Holding a protest march inMaharashtra, the All IndiaMajlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen(AIMIM) alleged the NarendraModi Government wants toensure only Hindus remain inIndia with its twin move of thenew CAA and the proposedcountrywide National Register

of Citizens (NRC). Congresschief Sonia Gandhi said theModi Government has shownutter disregard for people’svoices and used brute force tosuppress dissent. She said theCAA was discriminatory andthe proposed NRC will partic-ularly hurt poor and vulnera-ble. A top official, however,said the government is ready toaccept suggestions, if any, fromthe people who are stagingprotests and asserted that var-ious efforts were being made toclear doubts of the peopleabout the new law.

In Gujarat, a mob peltedstones at the police outside amosque in communally sensi-tive Hathikhana area ofVadodara city, objecting tovideo-shooting of namaz con-gregation, which the officialssaid was being done as a pre-ventive measure in the wake ofanti-CAA protests. Three per-sons were arrested while asenior official was injured instone-pelting, the police said.

In Maharashtra, mobspelted stones at state transportbuses in Beed, Nanded andParbhani districts. In Kerala,police kept high vigil in north-ern districts in the wake of thekilling of two persons inMangaluru in neighbouringKarnataka. A series of protestmarches and blocking of trainsand buses took place in variousparts of Kerala past midnightafter the news emerged aboutthe deaths. Anti-CAA protest-ers also blocked Karnatakastate transport buses inKozhikode and raised slogansagainst the Mangaluru policeaction. The Kerala RoadTransport Corporation has sus-pended bus services toMangaluru. A largenumber of Congress workersblocked roads and burnt tyresin Kozhikode, while a group ofactivists also burnt an effigy ofHome Minister Amit Shah.

Karnataka police, on theother hand, restricted entry toMangaluru for those comingfrom Kerala. At least 50 menand women who had arrived bya train from Kerala were takeninto custody for trying to enterthe city without identity cards.

Some mediapersons weredetained for entering theGovernment Wenlock hospitalwhere the post-mortem ofthose killed in the police firingwas underway. The journalists,who were from Kerala, werereleased later in the day.

Police sources said pro-testers defying prohibitoryorders attempted to lay siege toa police station in Mangaluruand tried to attack police per-sonnel, following which forcewas used to disperse them.

Assam Chief MinisterSarbananda Sonowal said hewill talk to leaders of anti- cit-izenship law agitation and hisgovernment was committed tosafeguard the rights and hon-our of the state’s indigenouspopulation.

��4��:��'�***“Disaffection against the

law continues in the countrydespite the Bill’s passage by LokSabha and Rajya Sabha. TheLJP had urged the Governmentfor deliberations among alliesprecisely to ensure that such asituation does not arise,” hesaid. In his tweets, Paswanassured Muslims and Dalitsbesides other “deprived” sec-tions of society that his partywill pay full attention to theirconcerns over the NRC.”The

LJP will not support any Billthat is not in the interest of thecommon man,” he said.

With this the opposition tothe NRC by non-BJP rulesStates is growing. AlreadyGovernments of West Bengal,Odisha, Andhra Pradesh andKerela have said they would notimplement the NRC in theirStates. All Congress ruled Stateshave also announced theiropposition to its implementa-tion in their States.

��$��***The court convicted 54-

year-old Sengar under variousprovisions including Section376 (2) of IPC which deals withthe offence of rape committedby a public servant who “takesadvantage of his official posi-tion and commits rape on awoman in his custody as suchpublic servant or in the custodyof a public servant subordinateto him”.

“The offence of rape upona minor child indelibly leavesa scar on the most cherishedpossession viz. Her dignity,chastity, honour and reputa-tion. Therefore, mercy in suchheinous crime committed bypowerful persons would be atravesty of justice and the pleaof the leniency cannot be sus-tained. “The convict KuldeepSingh Sengar is hereby sen-tenced to undergo imprison-ment for life, which shall meanimprisonment for the remain-der of his natural biological lifein terms of Section 376 (2)Indian Penal Code,” the courtsaid. It also directed that addi-tional Rs 10 lakh be paid ascompensation to the mother ofthe rape survivor.

“Although no amount ofcompensation shall be enoughto bring back their lost life andcompensate for the anguish,humiliation and indignity suf-fered by the victim and herfamily, a reasonable and faircompensation shall at leastbring some solace to theirplight,” the court said.

Besides, the court directedthe CBI to continue assessingthreat perception to the life andsecurity of the survivor and herfamily members every threemonths. It said they will con-tinue to reside in rentedaccommodation made avail-able by Delhi Commission forWomen for one more year anddirected the UP Government topay Rs 15,000 per month forthe rent. “The CBI shall con-tinue to assess threat percep-tion to the life and security ofthe victim girl and her familymembers every three monthsfrom now and after expiry ofthe lease (of rented house), itshall ensure that the lease is fur-ther extended for a reasonableperiod of time and in any caseadequate steps shall be taken bythe CBI to ensure that the lifeand liberty of the victim girland her family membersremains secured including pro-viding a safe house and/orchange of identities, if sodesired by the family.

“It is further provided thatin case of any assistance, theCBI or the victim girl or herfamily members can approachthe member secretary, DelhiLegal Services Authority orthe District Witness protectionCommittee, Delhi for appro-priate proceedings,” the courtsaid. The court imposed thefine after noting the assetsowned by Sengar, which, as perthe nomination papers filed byhim in the last State legislative

election, was Rs 1.44 crore. During the hearing, CBI’s

Public Prosecutor AshokBhartendu had sought maxi-mum punishment of life for theMLA, which was supported bythe counsel for the rape sur-vivor and her family,Dharmendra Mishra.

Advocate Tanveer AhmedMir, appearing for Sengar, hadsought minimum punishmentsaying the convict has had anillustrious career as an electedrepresentative of the peoplewho devoted himself to thecause of welfare of people.

Advocates Dhruv Guptaand Tushan Rawal, also appear-ing for Sengar, said that theMLA had no previous criminalrecord. The court had onMonday convicted Sengar forrape under the Indian PenalCode and the POCSO Act foroffence by a public servantcommitting penetrative sexualassault against a child afterholding the victim to be aminor in 2017. The court hadsaid the victim’s testimony was“truthful and unblemished”against a “powerful person”.

The recent amendmentsmade in August this year in thePOCSO Act, which carries aprovision of death penalty, didnot come into effect as the inci-dent took place in 2017 beforethe law was amended.

The woman co-accused inthe case Shashi Singh wasacquitted of all charges. It hadsaid that after the victim wroteletter to UP Chief Minister YogiAdityanath, several criminalcases were filed against herfamily and “imprints of Sengar”were visible in them.

3�� ***The court also imposed a

fine of Rs 50,000 on the fourconvicts, he said. The fourwere also sentenced with lifeimprisonment following theirconvictions in offences of wag-ing war against the governmentand committing seditionrespectively under sections121-A and 124-A and undervarious offences of theExplosive Substances Act,invoked in eight cases regis-tered in the wake of the 2008serial blasts. Jaipur had beenrocked by a series of nine syn-chronized bomb blasts withina span of fifteen minutes at var-ious locations in its walled cityarea, also an attractive touristdestination on May 13, 2008evening. A tenth bomb wasfound and defused.

The four who were award-ed sentences ranging fromdeath penalty to life term areMohammad Saif, MohammadSarwar Azmi, MohammadSalman and Saifurrehman,convicted on Wednesday.

Another accused, ShahbazHussain, had been acquittedwith the court giving him thebenefit of the doubt.

Hussain, a Lucknow resi-dent, had been was accused ofsending emails to the policeclaiming responsibility onbehalf of the IndianMujahideen for the blasts. Butthe allegation could not beproved and he was acquitted.

Apart from the five, twoaccused were killed in the BatlaHouse encounter in Delhi inseptember 2008, while fiveothers are still absconding.

Reacting to the deathpenalty awarded to the four,defence counsel Paikar Farooqsaid the his clients were con-victed merely on the basis ofcircumstantial evidence and he would go in appeal tothe high court against the judgment. PTI

�� 0

�� !��"#$�"%#& ��%�� #$��%#� (

�� ?!/ ' 3)�

Amid continuing protestsin Assam over the

Citizenship Amendment Act,Chief Minister SarbanandaSonowal on Friday sought toallay fears saying he would notallow anyone to harm the rightsand honour of the State'sindigenous population.

Sonowal also invited lead-ers of anti-citizenship law agi-tation for talks.

Meanwhile, mobileInternet service resumed inAssam even as the GauhatiHigh Court dismissed a reviewpetition filed by the StateGovernment against its orderto resume mobile internet.

Elsewhere in the Northeast,curfew was on Friday relaxedfor 16 hours in Shillong, capi-tal of Meghalaya.

Addressing a Press confer-ence in Guwahati, Sonowal

clarified that no one would beable to move to Assam fromBangladesh by means of theamended Citizenship Act.

"Assam will always remainfor the Assamese. No personfrom Bangladesh will be able tocome to Assam through theCitizenship (Amendment) Act.Only those staying among us fordecades (having fledBangladesh) due to religiouspersecution can apply for Indiancitizenship," the CM stated.

Sonowal insisted that thenumber of applicants seekingcitizenship would be "negligi-ble".

"When the process of filingapplication for citizenship willbe over, a list will be published...People will then find out if myassertion that the number willbe negligible is correct orwrong," he said.

"Assamese language willbe protected as state language

forever. People's rights will besecure. Nobody can take awaytheir land, honour and politi-cal rights. I was made the chiefminister to ensure their devel-opment. I assure you no onecan steal the rights of the sonsof the soil," he claimed.

Asserting that a SpecialInvestigation Team wouldprobe every case related to theviolent protests over the citi-zenship law, Sonowal furthersaid, adding he has invitedleaders spearheading the agi-tation for talks.

"It is certain that grantingof citizenship cannot have anyimpact on our social construct.Clause 6 of the Assam Accordgrants constitutional, legislativeand administrative safeguardsto protect, preserve and pro-mote the cultural, social, lin-guistic identity and heritage ofthe Assamese people," headded.

Meanwhile, the Assampolice on Friday urged peopleto be cautious while posting orsharing information on thesocial media after Internet dataservice was restored in theState after nine days followinga Gauhati High Court directive.

"We request citizens to becautious while posting or shar-ing unverified/provocativeinformation on social media.We are looking forward to yourcontinued support in ensuringpeace & harmony in the State",Assam Police tweeted.

Assam Police AdditionalDirector General (Law andOrder) G P Singh also tweeted:"Friends, the mobile internetservices are being restored toenable people to go about lifein a normal manner. Please bewise in writing, forwardingposts on various social mediaplatforms. …"

In Shillong, curfew was

on Friday relaxed for 16 hoursas normalcy returned to thecity after week-long protestsand stray incidents of vandal-isation of public property dur-ing protests over the amendedcitizenship law.

Curfew imposed on Sadarand Lumdiengjri police stationareas in Shillong was easedfrom 5 AM to 9 PM in view ofthe improved law-and-ordersituation, East Khasi Hills dis-trict magistrate M W Nongbrisaid.

However, night curfewwould remain in force, he said.

Chief Minister Conrad KSangma had announced onThursday that the Governmentwould relax prohibitory ordersto allow people to celebrateChristmas. He also said that acall would be taken on resump-tion of mobile Internet servicesfollowing a meeting ofGovernment officials.

,�� /�� / ��,�� /��0��

�� !�(��+ � � �� +�� /,0��1#�� 2�� 1�� + � �/,0�1#�� +� ��, � ��3�� (��$�� %�� / �� 0�!�� !�� )*

�� (�0( 3

Aday after Mamata Banerjeegave a call to hold a United

Nations-monitored referen-dum on the controversialCitizenship Amendment Actand National Register forCitizens, the Bengal ChiefMinister on Friday clarified herstand saying she had not meantwhat was being meted out byher opponents in a tarnishedand twisted manner.

Banerjee said she had notmeant that there should be aUN-supervised referendum onthe CAA-NRC rather “I saidthe Human RightsCommission and the UN areimpartial institutions. Theyshould watch an opinion pollon the issue.”

Her statement came almostin tandem with BengalGovernor Jagdeep Dhankharasking her to take back herremarks because it did not suita person occupying constitu-tional post.

The Trinamool Congresssupremo also appealed toPrime Minister Narendra Modito listen to the voice of the peo-ple and revoke the amendedCitizenship Act and drop theplans for implementing theNRC across the nation in theinterests of the country.

Banerjee who led yetanother procession for thefourth day on Friday beforeaddressing a massive rally atminority-dominated area ofPark Circus said “let expertsplan the whole process. Let

them organise an opinion poll.Let Human RightsCommission take care of theprocedure and let the UNwatch the proceedings. Letthem see whether the peopleare accepting this (CAA) ornot.”

On Thursday, Banerjeewhile addressing a mass rallyhad reportedly said that thereshould be a UN-monitoredreferendum on the CAA andNRC prompting immediatereactions from the BJP whichattacked the Chief Ministercalling her an “irresponsiblepaper unworthy of the consti-tutional she had been occupy-ing.” The BJP immediatelydemanded an “apology or res-ignation” of the Chief Minister.

While Union MinisterBabul Supriyo said Banerjee

had gone out of her senses“wondering whether her elec-tion manager Prashant Kishorehas been advising her correct-ly,” BJP leader Amit Malavyatweeted: “She is the most irre-sponsible Chief Minister whodoesn’t deserve to hold a pub-lic office. This is the kind oflanguage Pakistan would speak!Just shows how she is aware ofthe slipping public support inBengal…”

The State Governor on theother hand appealed to theChief Minister to withdrawher statement saying it wouldsend bad signals nationwide.He said “an authority shouldnot seek such an interven-tion...this does not do anyhonour to our country,” adding“this does not suit her statureeither for the position she

holds or the experience shehas.”

Dhankhar also said “whenhonourable Chief Ministermade that observation yester-day, I found it was in publicdomain. I was in deep pain andanguish. Several people calledme. I, therefore, went publicand appealed to her very firm-ly and politely that this shouldbe withdrawn,” reminding howthe Constitution of the coun-try provides a “very effectivemechanism” for dispute reso-lution of individuals, of thestates or between the Unionand states.

The Governor and theChief Minister had been at log-gerheads with a host of otherissues with Banerjee regularlyaccusing him of running aparallel Government in theState by trying to hold admin-istrative meetings by-passingthe State Government.

Cut to Friday. The ChiefMinister continued to attackthe BJP asking the Centre totake back its “mischievous Act”aimed at dividing India forpolitical gains and saying “ifyou do not roll back the blackCAA and NRC then you willhave to go from power… Donot ignore the people’s voice.”

She said that the “BJPthinks that only they areIndians and the rest are out-siders. They are talking aboutnationalism. I want to askthem where were they whenthe Indian leaders were fight-ing for Independence andwhere were they when we got

our Independence,” and asked“how dare they ask a proof ofmy citizenship 72 years afterthe Independence?”

Today, the whole countrywas in fire she said wondering“who is responsible for this?The whole country is burning:from UP to Bihar to Assam, toKarnataka, to Delhi… no placeis in peace. A goodGovernment should firstensure peace. Here they are cre-ating division so that the peo-ple fight among themselvesand they remain securedbehind their security cordonsand high boundary walls.”

In response to her vitriolicattack, State BJP president DilipGhosh who took out a counterrally at Asansol said the “ChiefMinister is worried about CAAbecause after this, her pocketvoters will be de-franchised.

"They will have no rationcard, no job card, not tradelicense, no voter card, nolicense to work and will beforced to live India. In that cir-cumstances she will lose herpriced voters… Remember thatthe BJP got only 17 lakh lessvotes that the TMC in the LokSabha elections. If her voterarmy of infiltrators — whichamount to about a crore inBengal — are thrown out thenshe will lose the elections. Soshe is making such big noise.”

Meanwhile, Bengalremained largely incident freeafter five days of continued vio-lence with no major incident ofcommotion reported from anypart of the State.

�� 45�6��$��!�� %

7��1�� !�(�� )�� ( � � �1 �� ,�� 3��% � �� )*

�� ,./�*.0')

The BJP on Friday termedWest Bengal Chief Minister

Mamata Banerjee's UN refer-endum demand for CAA andNRC as shocking and an insultto Parliament and demandedan apology from her.

"It is shocking that MamataBanerjee is talking about ref-erendum. Who is the UN bodyto monitor the referendum?This is an insult to the 130 crorepeople of the country and theirmandate. Mamata should apol-ogise," senior BJP leader andUnion Minister PrakashJavadekar told reporters.

Addressing a rally inKolkata on Thursday, Banerjeehad dared the ruling BJP to gofor a UN-monitored referen-dum on the matter. "If BJP hasguts, it should go for a UN-monitored referendum on theamended Citizenship Act andNRC. If the BJP loses this

mass vote, then it should stepdown from the Government,"she had said.

Javadekar said some peoplewere trying to create a confu-sion over the Citizenship(Amendment) Act (CAA).

"CAA is about inclusionand not exclusion. They aretalking the language ofPakistan. There are some ele-ments who are causing confu-sion. We are trying to reach outto people with the rightapproach," he said.

For her part, UnionMinister Smriti Irani criticisedBanerjee saying her remarkwas an insult to the Parliament.The Union Textile Minister,who was in the city to attend anevent at a city hotel, said, "Thecomment (made by Banerjee)is an insult to IndianParliament. The legislation hasbeen passed by the Parliament."

"The statement from thechief minister is an attack on

the democratic structure ofthe country and no one in thecountry will agree to herviews," she said.

Another senior BJP leaderand Union Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman said: "Wenever wanted a 3rd party orinternational fora's interfer-ence in our affairs. On a com-pletely domestic matter shehas chosen to ask for UN.Does she have no faith in insti-tutions of India?"

Banerjee, who has been atthe forefront of protests againstthe National Register ofCitizens (NRC) across thecountry and the new citizen-ship law, has led marches criss-crossing the city since Monday.

On Thursday, union min-ister Babul Supriyo had said,"Does she realise what she issaying? She should stop mak-ing herself a laughing stock. Ithink her advisers have stoppedgiving her good advice."

'(��$ � � ��

�� ,./�*.0')

Amidst raging protests acrossthe country against the

Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA), Congress presidentSonia Gandhi on Fridayaccused the BJP-led NDAGovernment of showing "utterdisregard" for people's voicesand using brute force to sup-press dissent that was "unac-ceptable" in a democracy.

Condemning theGovernment's action, sheexpressed Congress' solidaritywith students and citizens intheir just struggle. In a televisedmessage, Sonia said people havethe right to raise their voiceagainst wrong decisions andpolicies of the government, andregister their concerns.

"The Congress partyassures the people of India thatit is fully committed to stand upand defend their fundamentalrights and uphold the founda-tional values of ourConstitution," she said. Shealso termed the act as "dis-criminatory" and said the pro-posed nation-wide NRC willparticularly hurt the poor andvulnerable.

Holding the governmentresponsible for widespreadprotests in the country, theparty demanded that the con-tentious citizenship law berepealed, and pitched for dia-logue with protesters.

Congress senior spokesper-son Anand Sharma said peo-ple's rights must be respectedand those protesting against theact need reassurance, and thusmust be heard by the govern-ment.

"People's rights must berespected, people need reas-surance and need a dialogue.They (the government) should

hold back any further action onthis act. We have asked thePresident also to intervene andthe Supreme Court is seized ofthe matter. It would be advis-able if the government itselfrepeals it," he said.

On the current spree ofprotests across the countryagainst the CitizenshipAmendement Act, Sharmaalleged the situation is entirelycreated by the government.

"We had forewarned themthat you will create an envi-ronment of insecurity anduncertainty in the country. Andyou cannot even estimate thefallout because people areapprehensive and rightly so.They have seen what has hap-pened in the NRC. Assam hasa history but after the AssamAccord things were settlingdown," he said.

Sharma also asserted thatthis unwarranted amendmentcould have been avoided as thecitizenship act and the consti-tution of India have enoughprovisions to grant citizenshipand this has been done in thepast.

The grand old party alsoaccused Prime MinisterNarendra Modi of makingboastful claims that were farfrom the reality and being in thedenial mode as it challengedhim for a debate. Sharma saidthe country's economy was inshambles and warned of a gravecrisis next year if urgent stepswere not taken to nurse it.

He also said the ongoingagitation in the country was thecreation of the government asit was pushing ahead its divisiveagenda and called for repealingthe amended Citizenship Act,which was not acceptable topeople who were protesting allover the country.

1��!�� &�+��

�� ,./�*.0')

BJP's NDA ally Lok JanshaktiParty on Friday indicated

its Opposition to the NRC andsought to distance itself fromthe Union Government overthe Citizenship Law, assertingthat nationwide protests showthat the Centre has "failed" todispel confusion among a sig-nificant section of society.

LJP chief Chirag Paswan,whose party had backed theCitizenship Amendment Bill inParliament, also released a let-ter he had written to BJP pres-ident Amit Shah, urging him tocall a meeting of the ruling

National DemocraticAlliance to hold deliberationsover the contentious proposal.

"Disaffection against the

law continues in the countrydespite the bill's passage by LokSabha and Rajya Sabha. TheLJP had urged the Governmentfor deliberations among alliesprecisely to ensure that such asituation does not arise," hesaid.

In his tweets, Paswanassured Muslims and Dalitsbesides other "deprived" sec-tions of society that his partywill pay full attention to theirconcerns over the NRC.

"The LJP will not supportany bill that is not in the inter-est of the common man," hesaid.

In his December 6 letter toShah, Paswan had told theUnion home minister that thebill would impact the entirecountry and different voices

were being heard on its provi-sions.

He said the proposed leg-islation will have far-reachingimplications and underscoredthe issue's seriousness to urgehim a call a meeting of NDAconstituents.

All NDA partners shouldbe heard so that the alliancecame across united on thisserious issue, he said.

In another tweet, Paswannoted that the protests arehappening in various parts ofthe country with people link-ing the National Register ofCitizens (NRC) with theamended law."This has made itclear that the Government hasfailed to dispel confusion in asignificant section of people ofthe country," he tweeted.

"�� %��/�,,�� %)��

�� ,./�*.0')

The Government on Fridayissued an advisory asking

news channels to refrain frombroadcasting content which is"likely to instigate violence orwhich promotes anti-nationalattitudes."

This is the second suchcommunication issued by theMinistry of Information in lessthan 10 days.

The last advisory by theInformation and BroadcastingMinistry was issued onDecember 11 when the

Citizenship Amendment Billwas passed in the Rajya Sabha,after which protests had bro-ken out in several parts of thecountry.

"It is observed thatnotwithstanding the aboveadvisory, some TV channelsare telecasting content whichdoes not appear to be in thespirit of the Programme Codesspecified therein. It is accord-ingly reiterated that all TVchannels may abstain fromshowing any content which islikely to instigate violence orcontains anything against

maintenance of law and orderor which promotes anti-national attitudes," the min-istry said in its advisory issuedon Friday.

The advisory also askednews channels "not to showcontent that contains anythingwhich may affect the integrityof the nation, maligns or slan-ders any individual in personor certain groups, segments ofsocial public and moral life ofthe country".

The Ministry also askedfor "strict compliance" of theadvisory.

��;��'�� 4��(��<'��

�� -�� )*

New Delhi: State Governmentshave no powers to reject theimplementation of theCitizenship (Amendment) Actas the legislation was enactedunder the Union List of the 7thSchedule of the Constitution,and the National PopulationRegister which is to be carriedout next year, a top official saidon Friday.

The statement came afterchief ministers of West Bengal,Punjab, Kerala, MadhyaPradesh and Chhattisgarhannounced that the CAA was"unconstitutional" and has noplace in their respective states.

"The states have no powersto deny implementation of acentral law which is in theUnion List," the Home Ministry

official said.There are 97 items under

the Union List of the 7thSchedule and they includeDefence, External Affairs,Railways, Citizenship andNaturalisation.

Referring to NPR, whichwill be carried out along withthe census exercise next year,the official said no state canrefuse to carry out the processas it will be done as per theCitizenship Act. The NPR is aregister of usual residents of thecountry. It is being prepared atthe local (village/sub-town),sub-district, district, state andnational level under provisionsof the Citizenship Act, 1955 andthe Citizenship (Registration ofCitizens and issue of National

Identity Cards) Rules, 2003.It is mandatory for every

usual resident of India to reg-ister in the NPR.

A usual resident is definedfor the purposes of NPR as aperson who has resided in alocal area for the past 6 monthsor more or a person whointends to reside in that area forthe next 6 months or more.

Last week, Kerala ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan said"an anti-constitutional law(CAA) will have no place" in hisState. Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee said, "In your(BJP) manifesto, instead ofdevelopment issues, you haveput in promise to divide thecountry. Why will citizenship beon the basis of religion? I will

not accept this. We dare you"."You can pass laws in Lok

Sabha and Rajya Sabha force-fully because you have thenumber. But we will not let youdivide the country," she said.

Banerjee also announcedthat her government will notallow NPR exercise in Bengal.

Describing CAA as a"direct assault" on India's sec-ular character, Punjab ChiefMinister Amarinder Singh saidhis government will not let thelegislation be implemented inhis State. "We have a majorityin the assembly and we willblock the bill," Singh said.

According to the amendedCitizenship Act, members ofHindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain,Parsi and Christian communi-

ties who have come fromPakistan, Bangladesh andAfghanistan till December 31,2014 and faced religious per-secution there will not be treat-ed as illegal immigrants andgiven Indian citizenship.

The CAA says the refugeesof the six communities will begiven Indian citizenship afterresiding in India for five years,instead of 11 years earlier.

Chhattisgarh ChiefMinister Bhupesh Baghel saidthe act was clearly unconstitu-tional. "Whatever decision ismade at the Congress partyforum on the bill, will beapplied in Chhattisgarh," hesaid.

The act also proposes togive immunity to such refugees

facing legal cases after beingfound as illegal migrants.

Madhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Kamal Nath said,"Whatever stand the Congressparty has taken on CitizenshipAmendment Act, we will followthat. Do we want to be a part ofa process that sows seeds ofdivisiveness?".

Senior Congress leader PChidambaram also said thebill was a "brazen assault" on thefundamental ideas enshrined inthe Constitution and the fate ofthe law will be decided in theSupreme Court.

The Citizenship(Amendment) Bill was passedby both houses of Parliamentlast week and has received thepresidential assent. PTI

+� �� !�� !��,&�"!!��

Recently, the UK elected 650 mem-bers to the House of Commonson December 12 for the third timesince 2015 even thoughGovernments over there are elect-

ed for a five-year tenure. The history of theBritish Raj (1858-1947) and the subsequentimprint, relationship and presence of sub-continental diaspora in the UK have madethese elections relevant for the diaspora com-munity and the Indian subcontinent as well.Accounting for nearly five per cent of theapproximately 68 million population, sub-continental ethnicities have a significant stakeand impact in the impending Governmentformation in the UK. Indian diaspora is thelargest foreign ethnicity in Britain, compris-ing 2.3 per cent of the total population. Thisis followed closely by Pakistan with 1.9 percent and Bangladesh at 0.7 per cent.Subcontinental ethnicities contribute about25-30 seats to the Parliament.

Till recently, subcontinental ethnicitieshave had an overarching bias towards theLabour Party, which accounted for nearlytwo-third of the subcontinental parliamen-tarians. However, there has been a clear fis-sure in the traditional Labour preferenceamong all subcontinental ethnicities withIndians warming up to the Conservatives insizeable droves. After the post of the PrimeMinister, the number two and three positionsof the Chancellor of Exchequer and theHome Secretary respectively were held bysubcontinental ethnicities in the previousConservative Government. Much earlier,four members of the Indian ethnicity werein the Conservative Theresa May’s Cabinet.Subsequently, there were three (out of the 32member Cabinet) in the previousConservative Boris Johnson Government.

This is symptomatic of a shift in ethnic-ity, acceptance and wooing of the Indian sen-sibilities within the Conservative ranks. Theall-important post of Home Secretary wasentrusted to Preeti Patel, who held crucialresponsibilities such as national security, ter-rorism and immigration issues. WhereasAlok Sharma was the InternationalDevelopment Secretary and Rishi Sunak(son-in-law of Infosys co-founder, NRNarayana Murthy) became the ChiefSecretary to the Treasury. In the latest“People’s Cabinet” of Boris Johnson, all threehave retained their important positions.

A drift from the earlier Labour fixationhad resulted in the Conservatives bankingon one million ethnic votes for the first timein the 2015 national elections. However, bythe 2017 national elections, post-election sur-veys showed that the Conservatives hadprobably raced ahead of the Labour inattracting Indian ethnicities. Data from anethno-religious perspective confirmed a 49per cent preference for Conservatives by theHindu and Sikh communities as opposed tojust 41 per cent for the Labour.

A change in global geopolitics, too, hasevolved India’s narrative and perceptions

have made it more amiabletowards “traditionalist” Westernparties. Take for example, theConservatives in the UK or theRepublicans in the US asopposed to “internationalist”parties like the Labour or theDemocrats. The hard Left moor-ings of the Labour leadershipunder Jeremy Corbyn had thesort of “revolutionary” vocabu-lary that was anachronistic withagenda, including renationalisa-tion, debating class wars andscrapping nuclear deterrentsamong others. This undid thesort of progressive direction setby the “New Labour” liberalityof Tony Blair and GordonBrown, who had sought a bal-ance between capitalism andsocialism. This Labour extrem-ism led to serious accusations ofharbouring anti-Semitic senti-ments and concerns prevailedover Corbyn’s “softness” onsecurity concerns, including hisdescription of the operation totake out Osama bin Laden as“yet another tragedy.”

From an Indian perspective,Corbyn’s positions, activism andactions have been a matter ofconcern with him signing mul-tiple motions, expressing con-cerns on the happenings inIndia. The Labour Party hadinterfered in the Indian affairsand passed a party resolutionthat read, “Crucially, it calls onthe Labour Party, theGovernment in waiting, to clear-ly and vocally support theKashmiri people’s right to self

determination and for interna-tional observers to be sent to theregion immediately. The resolu-tion also calls for an interventionof the party at the UnitedNations Human Rights Council(UNHRC).” The implied intentand reference to the so-called“self determination” was clear-ly political overreach and loaded.

Expectedly, the IndianGovernment expressed its deepdispleasure. The Indian HighCommission withdrew its annu-al courtesy of inviting the UK’sOpposition leadership forIndependence Day celebrations.The Chair of the Labour Party,Ian Lavery, was left to do thedamage control and renege fromthe earlier stand adopted byCorbyn but the damage wasdone and was in the coming forsome time.

Meanwhile, Boris Johnsondialled up his charm offensivetowards the Indian diaspora. Hemade sure that he alluded to thereassuring future of the Indiandoctors in the much-discussed,National Health Scheme (NHS).The gaffe-prone Johnson hadhalf heartedly and convenient-ly referred to himself as the“son-in-law” of India, as themother of his second wife wasof Sikh faith. Johnson’s patentbluster had a decidedly ethnoreligious context and target thatmilitated more in the face ofethnic Pakistanis in the UK. Theongoing public and very person-al slugfest with his successor, theMayor of London, Sadiq Khan,

(of Pakistani ethnicity) had notendeared him to the BritishPakistanis either. In a deeplyhyphenated framework ofIndia-Pakistan divide, thispushed the Indian ethnicityeven more towards theConservatives and the Pakistaniethnicity towards the LabourParty.

Given that theConservatives romped homewith a thumping 80 membermajority over Labour, thisaugurs well for the Indian dias-pora. Many Indian communitygroups had willingly oustedeven Indian-origin Labour par-liamentarians as none of themstood up in favour of India in theHouse of Commons todenounce the violent protests infront of India House.

The Indian ethnicity hassuccessfully swung votes inapproximately 50 constituenciesand oddly enough, it seems tobe the pro-monarchy “Tories”who have caught the fancy andpreference of the Indian diaspo-ra in the latest elections. Whilethe Conservative Party andJohnson in particular have a lotto account for in the past and inthe future with Brexit uncertain-ty looming large, Labour hasshot itself in the foot. Until theoption of some sort of a progres-sive “New Labour” surfaces,the Indian ethnicity will contin-ue to support the Conservatives.

(The writer, a military veter-an, is a former Lt Governor ofAndaman & Nicobar Islands)

'��(��"��

��!��)**+��,�� (�� #�� -� .�� #��/��#��0��1��2 �1��2��!�� 0��

��3��#��%��.��!�� %�(��!��4��$��#�� 4��%��,��5++6��#��!�� #��7��#��8�� 7��"�� (��!��

9�� #��%��:�� 3��9��#��,�� 93��(��9��3 �� %��8�� "�� )�6�� )�;��"��!��%��"�� !�� "�� "��!��"��(��<��%��"�� #��!�� =��

�� >�� 7� �3�� 93#��8��"��

�� "��!��'� ��.�� 5+)?��!�� 1��!��%�� !�� !��'�� 23��,��

@��3��"��!��!�� %��>�� A��!��>�� >��0�� !��!��,��$��%�� %�� >�� ,�� !��3�� A�� %�� %��!�� "�� 3��3�� "/�� B��7��(�� .��!��"��"/��%��"��1�� 2"/��!��#��(��0��0��0��#��!��!��!��:�� 7��0 ��!��!��'��B��3��B�� 7�� !��,��C��3��0��B�� (�� %�� 0��3��<��.��!��

=��$��=�� !�� #7��!��"��<��0�� #�� =��(��<��D=�(E��0��7�� $�� 5++5��>��$��$��0��!�� >��7��7�� B��>��0��0�� !��(��

��

Sir — The prestigious SahityaAkademi award is considered bymany as the Indian equivalent ofthe Nobel Prize. A cursory glanceof the list of the past winnerswould convey the fact that mostof the authors spent five to sixyears in researching and writingtheir masterpieces.

Hence, the monetary awardof �1,00,000 comes across as a pit-tance. Though the winners getname and fame, the materialbenefit also matters. AGovernment that spends mil-lions of rupees to promote Hindiand Sanskrit should be in a goodposition to reward such highachievement in literature moreappropriately. The prize moneyshould be increased to �5,00,000,which can encourage new writers.

Anna Mary YvonneChennai

��

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Civil disobedience”(December 20). The nationwideagitation against the CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA) and the

National Register of Citizens(NRC) proves that citizens of thiscountry cannot be divided in thename of religion.

Though the CAA is alleged tobe anti-Muslim, the solidarityshown by Indians of differenthues, seeking the cancellation ofthe Act is really amazing. We havewitnessed the avowed principle of

our nation, “unity in diversity”, inthe spontaneous agitations againstthe Act. It is time the Governmentunderstood the sentiments andmood of the people and rescind-ed the Act, which appears to beagainst the country’s secular anddemocratic spirit.

Tharcius S FernandoChennai

��

Sir — Donald Trump will be thefirst impeached US Presidentwho will be seeking re-election inmore than 150 years. Though hemay brush aside theConstitutional confrontation as a“hoax” based on unfounded

charges, he knows that deepinside, this will be a huge blot onhis presidential tenure.

While Democrats maybelieve that they will succeed intheir efforts to oust him butTrump, who has the support ofthe Republicans, will use hisimpeachment as the main themefor his re-election. Opinion pollratings haven’t been hurt much bythe recent accusations. There’s nodenying the fact that Trump mayend up being re-elected evenafter impeachment.

Bal Govind Noida

��

Sir — Violence has no place in acivilised society guided by liber-al and democratic ethos and itneeds to be condemned in thestrongest terms. The Modi-leddispensation must reach out tothe restive voices over theCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA) and addresses legitimateconcerns.

RahulVia email

� , � 9 � � 2 5 6 7 � � , � � 5 3 .

�� !��=��%��#1��D <3��*��"��D �� #��#1��1

%)��#�%#�� !��"#$�"%#&

�

3��

"#$��%�� *

3��=��0�=��#�� =��)��#�� E��=��

3��)��A�#��)��F��)��#�� =� ��#�� =� ��

� ,#=G3��"��

)��#��%� ��#��F��#�� (��#��

�-!�+,-";+��#=��>"��"�+,�=G$��4��#��H��

� � � � + � � �

� � � � � � � � � � ��

��

3��#��#��!$�"��*��3��#��=��#�� 3��*�#��+

#�I��'��-�� #��#�� =�� =�� 3��#��%�"��I��=��#��"��#�#+=��!$F��

)��J�� #��K ��!$��+��=�� #��$�� ?�"��#��#��#��:��"��'��=��%��$��#�/��3��#��+�� !$��L�� #��M��3��#��J��+=�� #��K �� #��#��%��%��=�� =��

*�� #��#�� 3��#�� %�� #��#��-��=��+#�I��+��$��%��#� ��3��%��3��#��#��

��#��#��#��=��#��#��#��+��#�� )��#��+��%��3��#��#��=�� J)��+��)��K ��=��

� -?�/��,#"��

;�-)$�A�',$�,*) 00.*�!"�')$

�' -4��.,$)2.3�/ -*$�3'.

),*) ,�*) $"�- �'.�4 *.�$!-.

3' 3�'.� 00!*.*�3��3'.

-. $$!-),?�!3!-.��3'.

),*) ,�*��3�-$),�3'.�4!�'+*)$�!$$.*�

, 3)�, 0�'. 03'$�'.4.�L,'$M�A�',$�,�' *

0$��' 0�'. -3.*0@� ,*��,2.,).,30@-.�.--.*�3�

')4$.0�� $�3'.$�,+),+0 /�

��),*)

+��!!�� %��&��,,�=+,#@�#"��=A>B-��* #B�

�)�� 3��;A"+��?��#�� N�� =��+��+��=��#��

�#">=�++� ��CG$��?��

3�� "��

4��5 ��

��

3��;A"��#�� #��+��)��+�� #��

4�+,�'�">-��G4�#��;��I��

��/��

��'$�� '��*��:��4��*

D4��'��'��$��

��:��)�� *��)��4�� )��(�� (��4��*D��'�'��

$�� $��

The amount of change in the world economyin the last 20 years and the rate at which ithas occurred is staggering. It is inevitable that

everyone will have to deal with a significant degreeof professional change. This shift could be seismic,to the degree that the very nature of a trade or pro-fession is transformed forever.

The great economist and Nobel laureate WALewis argues that an economy consists of two sec-tors: Capitalist (urban and industrial) and a sub-sistence sector (rural and agricultural). Wages in thecapitalist sector are higher than in the subsistencesector, hence there is a tendency for labour to movefrom the latter to the former. However, in India, thegrowing population has led to an endless supply ofcheap labour and this has also brought down wagesin the capitalist sector. Moreover, the capitalist sec-tor is not growing fast enough to provide jobs forthis large population. With a small fraction of itsworkforce having formal vocational training,skilling in India has become increasingly difficult.

The imperative for skilling young people is well-recognised and has been flagged as a national pri-ority for almost a decade, with significant initiativesbeing launched by the Government. The sad partis that only 10 per cent of the total workforce in thecountry receives some kind of skill training. Thefeedback from corporate India and research insti-tutes alike is that 65-75per cent of the 15 millionIndian youth who enter the workforce each year arenot job-ready or suitably employable.

Technology is advancing faster than we canadapt, upending the job market and deliveringunimaginable shocks to both our values and our pat-terns of thinking. Repetition-based jobs are declin-ing the world over and will soon disappear. Mostchildren entering school today will do jobs that don’texist yet. Many of the children now being educat-ed in the old system will find the norms, institu-tions and patterns of working and civic life they weretrained for scrambled when they enter the adultworld. The tools of most jobs are in a state of extremeflux. For example, spreadsheets, PowerPoint presen-tations and other boardroom documents have allbeen changed by the cloud and sharing and groupediting are the new norm.

We are increasingly moving towards a worldwhere evergreen skills like communication, empa-thy and the ability to “play well” with others are morevaluable in the job market. They are essential to pre-pare our youth for the future. Empathy is founda-tional to social and relational intelligence. Empathyis the invisible giant. It is naturally hardwired intoour brain and when harnessed, plays a crucial rolein innovation, changemaking and solving systemicproblems. Communication skills are essential to sup-port both effective teamwork and creative linkagesacross disciplines and specialisations

Emotional and social “soft skills” such as pos-sessing insights into other points of view, being sup-portive of one’s colleagues, problem-solving and crit-ical thinking should be nurtured and developed asthe key to future success for students and societyin general. These soft skills need to be combinedwith other competencies such as English, digital lit-eracy, arithmetic, financial literacy and basic lifeskills — together defined as “core employabilityskills” or “future skills.” We need to challenge theperception that these skills should only be taughtto those going into business. Instead they shouldbe seen as a set of transferable skills for all and are

universally applicable, domain-agnosticand transferable. They hold the key to cre-ating an impact at scale and with speed.

There is a huge gap between what isbeing taught to students and what theyneed to pursue as a successful career. Toclose this gap, we need to create a curricu-lum that would teach the skills that aremost relevant for students entering a 21stcentury workforce. Thus we will need togive teaching and curriculum design agreater priority.

Technology empowers but will ren-der millions of jobs obsolete, as smartmachines take over repetitive tasks thatemployed previous generations. Many ofthe world’s schools and universities aremodeled on the old, hierarchical elitismof the colonial times. Students are con-sidered as empty vessels that simply needto be filled up with knowledge and skillsreadying them for their niche in a staticlabour market. The result is that educa-tional institutions are disempowering stu-dents through their teaching methods andalso failing to prepare them to capture thebenefits of empowerment. A better waywould be to treat students as creative,entrepreneurial problem-solvers and givethem the skills, resources and power togenerate and drive change both whilelearning and after they graduate.

The new emphasis on skill trainingshould focus one “life cycle” approachwhich looks at all aspects of skilling, fromthe aspirations of people before trainingto counselling and following up with ben-eficiaries during their employment.Adopting this approach will ensure thatthe kind of skills imparted to trainees aremarketable and linked to jobs.

It is also important to ensure that spe-cific skills are not scaled across multipleareas in the same region as this saturatesthe market with limited opportunities for

those who are trained. If everyone istrained in becoming a blacksmith, therewill be too many blacksmiths and notenough jobs. Imparting locally-relevantskill sets like repairing bicycles, two-wheelers, solar lamps or mobiles, runninga poultry unit, and the like, make fami-lies self-sustaining. To this end, govern-ments should boost investment in lifelonglearning to retrain, retool and reskill. Forexample, governments could providetraining grants throughout people’s work-ing lives, conditional on stronger privatesector involvement in training and skillsdevelopment. Governments should alsoreinforce the supply of skills by strength-ening incentives for educational institu-tions to harness the power of digital tech-nology and new business models.

While we continue our efforts to pro-vide training in more advanced skills, itis also necessary to strengthen the ecosys-tems for basic subsistence skills in small-er communities. We can design new-gen-eration skills for para-veterinarians,health workers, solar engineers, waterdrillers and testers, hand pump mechan-ics, artisans, designers, masons, accoun-tants, technicians and computer program-mers who support their fellow-villagersin building and sustaining collectivelivelihood projects and increasing theireconomic and social resilience. There isan important role for organisations sup-porting small producers to hone theirskills, understand the marketplacedynamic, and to adapt their products forurban markets. They can encourage andpromote environment-friendly productsand processes, help in branding, packag-ing solution and also support primaryproducers in transitioning their subsis-tence livelihoods to reach sustainable lev-els. Education will have to be made avail-able in more flexible and innovative forms

to enable lifelong learning and deepen-ing of skills and re-skilling as old occu-pations disappear and new ones evolve.It should also not be restricted to jobs thatmight be on offer, but encourage innova-tion and creation of jobs.

Graduates will need cultural compe-tencies to effectively practice their skillsin a multicultural world. Since the worldis going to be dominated by digitalforms of communication, everyone willneed to have some proficiency inanalysing and interpreting a world flood-ed with data. Higher levels of numeracywill be needed across many more occu-pations. Boundaries between education-al institutions and the outside worldwould also need to be far more porous.Students will need opportunities to expe-rience work environments as part of theirlearning system.

We require a more coordinated andcollective impact approach from the var-ious stakeholders if we want to enlarge thenetwork of training programmes andensure that training is closely aligned withspecific demands of the industry. Itwould require developing a clear commonagenda around the entire ecosystem ofworkforce training. It requires interven-tion at four levels: Quality trainers, mar-ket-aligned curriculum, assessment oflearning outcomes, and effective match-making between youth and jobs

Individuals will have to cultivate aproper mindset to embrace changes andtake a proactive approach to navigatingthe shock waves that may follow suchpowerful changes. Adaptability can quick-ly and confidently assimilate this type ofupheaval and use it as a competitiveadvantage.

(The writer is Member, NITI Aayog’sNational Committee on Financial Literacyand Inclusion for Women.)

4��" �� /�� 6��7�� *�"�� "�� "��

$#$,�-�- .� � � � � � � � � �

&�'(�)*�+��*�'�(�!��,�((��

#��-��

3��+;�� #�� #��

�� #�� #��

.�� /�0�

/.�-.H!)-. �4�-.

��-*), 3.* ,*��00.�3)2.

)4" �3 ""-� �'��-�4�3'.2 -)�!$

$3 (.'�0*.-$�)��/.�/ ,3�3�.,0 -?.�3'.,.3/�-(��

3- ),),?"-�?- 44.$ ,*�.,$!-.

3' 3�3- ),),?�)$�0�$.0@� 0)?,.*

/)3'�$".�)�)�*.4 ,*$��3'.

),*!$3-@��)3/�!0*�-.H!)-.*.2.0�"),?�

�0. -��44�, ?.,* � -�!,*

3'.�.,3)-..��$@$3.4��/�-(��-�.3- ),),?��)3-.H!)-.$

),3.-2.,3)�,� 3��!-�0.2.0$B

H! 0)3@3- ),.-$�

4 -(.3+ 0)?,.*�!--)�!0!4�

$$.$$4.,3��0. -,),?

�!3��4.$�� ,*.��.�3)2.

4 3�'4 (),?;.3/..,�@�!3'

,*�A�;$

"��(��<��D(��E��F��F��

��F�� :��?)!��=��%��=�� (��<��D(��E��!�� >�� 0��8��!=��(��D=(�E��

"�$��!��(��!��,��(�� !�� =�� #��8��9��#��D9#E�0��"�� %��,�� )++��'��0�� ?;��>�� !��.��=�� !��'��0��$��B��3��$��"�� (��3�� "��'��0��(��7��7��0�� (��=��(��<�D=�(E��3��<�� 7�� 3��!�� 0.#��0.8��@��(��7��=��#��(��=�(��

"�(��$��0��3��$��3��"��D$3"E��"�3��:��7��=��3�� $3"��:�� >��(�� !��0��$3"��=��5+)*!5+��(��$3"��!��,��!�� "��0,��!��,��$��3��8�� 3��5�G!5�?��$��3��8��#��D$38#E�� 8�� (��3��

7�� %�,��3��8��)G�� %��,�� 7�� %��H�6��I�*��5+)*!5+�� 0��!�� C,�� #��!#�� ,��=�(��(��(��7��,��=��D7:,=E�7��=�� "��!��"�,��7�� :��D,7:E��!��$��$�� ,��"��!0��!��8��"�(��!��

D��E

Reed-thin arms, the swelling ofoedema distorting their body,some with distended tummies,

others wheezing with pneumonia, andmost of them with disinterest in theireyes and lethargy in their limbs… thisis the state of India’s children.

India ranked 102 out of 117 in theGlobal Hunger Index 2019, whichreported that around 90 per cent of thechildren aged between six and 23months in the country, don’t even getthe minimum food required by theirgrowing bodies. To understand theground realities surrounding malnu-trition, I travelled to many States —Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand,Maharashtra and Odisha. Not surpris-ingly, during my visits, I found that the

incidences of stunting, wasting andmalnourishment were high in thesepopulations, with an inordinatelylarge number of children falling in theSevere Acute Malnutrition (SAM) cat-egory, which is the most extreme andvisible form of undernutrition.

Strangely, though Assam is rich intea, silk and oil, many parts of the Stateare still grossly underdeveloped. Ahigh number of people are margin-alised and subsist below the povertyline, solely dependent on food entitle-ments. The vulnerable groups com-prise tea garden labourers, Bodo andRabha tribes living in areas like theBodoland Territorial Area Districts,migrant populations of theBrahmaputra floodplains, as well aspredominantly Muslim communitiesin Darrang’s Kharupetia region.Assam continues to be one of the bot-tom-five States of the country whenit comes to health and hygiene. Thereis a high prevalence of undernutritionamong children, adolescent girls andmothers. The Infant Mortality Rate ishigh at 48 and 38 per cent of childrenunder five, are stunted, primarily dueto poor infant and child feeding

practices. And 14 per cent of the chil-dren suffer from acute malnutrition,with four per cent falling in the SAMcategory.

It’s a similar story in Chhattisgarh,one of the richest States in terms ofminerals. But, its population is one ofthe country’s poorest, and a large num-ber of the inhabitants are indigenoustribal groups that often have nutrition-poor food habits, low literacy and sub-sistence-level economies. According toNHFS-4, the population ofChhattisgarh has high levels of wast-ing (15 per cent), whereas a report bythe NITI Aayog shows that an alarm-ing 37.6 per cent of children below fiveyears in Chhattisgarh are sufferingfrom malnutrition and 41.5 per centof women in the State are anaemic.

There’s a unique issue withJharkhand, that has been registeringa higher rate of economic growth,when compared with the rest of thecountry, as reports show that morethan 40 per cent of the populationthere lives below the poverty line,about 45 per cent of children underthe age of five are stunted, and almost48 per cent are underweight.

Maharashtra, considered as India’swealthiest and most industrialisedState with the largest contribution tothe country’s GDP (15 per cent),should not even be on this list. Yet, lessthan a 100 km from Mumbai, Palghardistrict has become the epicentre of aSAM crisis over the last two decades.In 2015-2016, there were 555 SAM-related deaths, while the following yearsaw 475 similar deaths of children. Indistricts such as Nandurbar andAmravati too, the situation is dire.While the NFHS-4 reported that theprevalence of SAM in Maharashtrawas 9.4 per cent, independent assess-ments by NGOs suggest that the actu-al number could be much higher.

In Odisha, as per UNICEF data,about 57 per cent of tribal children inthe under-five year segment arechronically undernourished. As manyas 26,184 children suffered from mal-nutrition and fell in the severelyunderweight category in 2018. StateWomen and Child Development(SWCD) department data shows thatthe number of children sufferingfrom malnutrition is the highest in thedistricts of Kalahandi (3,114), followed

by Kandhamal (2,887) in 2018. Nearly3,500 children have died of malnutri-tion here during the last five years. Italked to the families of these children;I visited the district nutrition rehabil-itation centres; I watched the womenwho have made it their life’s work tobring about change as they went abouttheir daily duties… just to understandwhere it is all going wrong.

I found that, apart from poverty,which is the most obvious problem,many other factors contribute to dis-mal conditions in the homes of trib-al communities and other margin-alised sections of society. Unavailabilityof education, hygiene and access tomedical treatment, early marriage,multiple pregnancies, the lack ofnutrition from earlier generations,superstitious beliefs and faith in dubi-ous medicine men instead of doctors,and many other reasons compound-ed the problem.

The sheer lack of awarenessamongst parents about what consti-tutes a nutritious meal was one of themost startling findings. In manycases, the failure of the system to pro-vide aid to the beneficiaries as well as

to people who are working in the field,also added an extra pall of gloom toalready dire realities.

Many organisations are workingto address this huge problem besettingour next generation and its direrepercussions on productivity. But, ishelp reaching the right people? Whatexactly lies at the end of the chain?How do the Integrated ChildDevelopment Services’ (ICDS) out-reach programmes via AnganwadiCentres work? Are there any successstories that throw light on how thingscan be done, right?

It is only by investigating condi-tions at the grassroots level that onecan get answers that present the trueand whole picture. While there areNutrition Rehabilitation Centres(NRCs) to address SAM children withlife-threatening complications, evi-dence suggests that 80-90 per cent ofSAM children are without any suchcomplications and can actually betreated at the community level withthe help of community workers.

Moreover, families are often hes-itant to go to the NRCs because theycan’t afford it or because the centres

are overburdened and too far fromtheir homes. The challenge here is tofind a solution that integrates a modelfor community mobilisation, wherecivic-level convergence through com-munity workers can treat the major-ity of the children. Strategies like com-munity-based management of acutemalnutrition (CMAM) in States likeMaharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, andso on, have been successful in bring-ing down the number of acutely mal-nourished children. Why can’t we scaleCMAM at the national level, across allStates?

Children are not just our future,but our present as well. I would liketo advocate for these children whocannot speak for themselves and urgethe policymakers to ensure that webring help to them. Therefore, I sup-port Jan Andolan, and I support acommunity-based model for address-ing acute malnutrition among Indianchildren.

(The writer is a Padma Shriawardee and a world-renowned socialworker and photographer known forhighlighting the woes of marginalisedsocieties in India.)

2�� " �� !��"!��# !� ��$��"%�� " ��$�&�$ !�'� ��(�)��*!�$�'#++�!�$,�+!�-��.�!��/)# ��0"�$# !� ��$�!��" �*��+�� !�" �$�$,�)�-(��)" ��$'��.�*�$)�

'#,,�' '� �" �1� �(�!�)�$ ��+� ��-�"!��2� ��# �"$3�'#)��)�-(�"�$ '�"$*�)"$�%�� !�" �*�" � ��)�--#$� 3��.��2� �� (��+�'�)�"��2�!4�!'

/%#��0 ��1�

�� !��"#$�"%#&

�� !

2%#3�� !��"#$�"%#&

�� ,./�*.0')

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Fridayasked India Inc to come

out of “self doubt” mood andunleash the animal spirit as shestressed that steps taken postBudget had started showingsome results on the ground.

The government hasshown conviction to changeIndia’s system, take some toughdecisions and make sure it isresponsive to industry, she saidat industry body Assocham’sevent here.

According to the minister,major steps taken in the pastfew years make India stand outin the world and industry ispart of the change.

“I would appeal to youthat please get out of the moodof self doubt. Can we do it? CanIndia do it?... why is this neg-ative mood? Get out of this selfdoubt,” she said and empha-sised that most of the macroeconomic indicators are strong.

Inflation has been undercontrol, macro economic fun-damentals absolutely strong,FDI inflow has been strong,foreign exchange reserve is atrecord high, PSU banks havebeen professionalised,Sitharaman said.

Her comments assume sig-nificance in view of mutedprivate investment and eco-nomic slowdown.

Urging India Inc to partic-ipate in the growth story,Sitharaman said they shouldparticipate in the disinvest-ment programme by becomingthe first bidders.

“This government does notwant businesses to close. Wewant to help them to be revivedby legislative and other admin-istrative changes... we are withyou. I want this mood of selfdoubt to be completelyremoved from your minds.

“Believe in India. You havedone that for last 100 years.There is a need for all of you doit even more now. You have to

be the change agent and don’task animal spirits to bebrought to you. You haveinside, get it out,” she noted.

Emphasising that devel-opment and growth are the twopriorities, she said this gov-ernment remains committed toreform.

“Several steps (have been)taken post Budget which wereessentially responding to theindustry and some of them areprobably showing some impact

on the ground now,” she said.Highlighting some of the

steps taken by the governmentpost Budget, she said, liquidi-ty crunch was addressed, cap-ital was infused in public sec-tor banks as well as NBFC sec-tor and professionalisation ofPSU boards was done.

Besides, the governmentannounced �100 lakh crorefor infrastructure sector andprovided relief to real estatesector, she added.

Further, the minister saidthe government has slashedcorporate tax in Septemberwhich has made a differenceand a lot of new investmentsare expected to flow into India.

The Finance Minister alsoemphasised that the govern-ment has brought in trans-parency and technology in taxcollection and eliminate harass-ment.

With introduction facelessassessment, tax harassment isgoing to be a thing of past, sheadded.

�� ,./�*.0')

Fitch Ratings on Friday cutits growth forecast for India

to 4.6% for the 2019-20 fiscalfrom the previous estimation of5.6% after factoring in signifi-cant deceleration in past fewquarters due to credit squeezeand deterioration in businessand consumer confidence.

It reaffirmed India’s ratingat ‘BBB-’ with a Stable Outlooksaying the rating balances a stillstrong medium-term growthoutlook compared with similarcategory peers and relativeexternal resilience stemmingfrom solid foreign-reservebuffers against high public debt,a weak financial sector andsome lagging structural factors,including governance indicatorsand GDP per capita.

The Fitch’s FY2019-20growth forecast is lower than4.9% projection by Moody’sand 5.1% by AsianDevelopment Bank. TheReserve Bank of India (RBI)has also revised GDP growthforecast to 5% for 2019-20from 6.1 per cent projected inOctober.

“Our outlook on India’sGDP growth is still solid

against that of peers, eventhough growth has deceleratedsignificantly over the past fewquarters, mainly due to domes-tic factors, in particular, asqueeze in credit availabilityfrom non-banking financialcompanies (NBFC) and dete-rioration in business and con-sumer confidence,” Fitch said ina statement on Friday.

“We expect growth togradually recover to 5.6% inFY2020-21 and 6.5% inFY2021-22 with support fromeasing monetary and fiscalpolicy and structural measuresthat may also support growthover the medium term.”

It said its rating for Indiaincorporates the expectation ofmoderate slippage in the fiscaldeficit target of 3.3% of GDP inFY2019-20.

“The government is againfacing a trade-off betweenstimulating the economy andreducing the deficit in themedium term. Some fiscal slip-page has occurred in recentyears against government tar-gets, even during periods ofsustained stronger growth.

“The FY20 deficit targethad already been exceeded byend-October due to a weak rev-enue intake, and deceleration of

nominal quarterly growth sug-gests further revenue pressurefor the rest of the financialyear,” it said.

The government has indi-cated that its corporate taxrate cut could lower revenue by0.7% of GDP in FY2019-20 andhopes to finance spending bymore aggressive asset divest-ments, including Air India andBharat Petroleum Corporation.

“We believe there is a risk ofmore significant fiscal loosen-ing in the event of continuedweak GDP growth, for example,in the context of lingering prob-lems in the NBFC sector,” it said.

Fitch expects a generalgovernment debt level of 70.4%of GDP in FY2019-20 and ageneral government deficit of7.5% of GDP.

“We consider it highlyunlikely that the governmentwill comply with the generalgovernment debt ceiling of60% of GDP by March 2025, asstipulated in the FiscalResponsibility and BudgetManagement (FRBM) Act.”

The rating agency expect-ed the RBI to cut the policy rateby another 65 basis points in2020, after a cumulative 135bpeasing since February 2019.

The uptick in inflation to

5.5% in November appears toreflect a temporary spike infood inflation, while pressureon core inflation, whichremained stable at 3.5%, seemslimited in the current envi-ronment, it said.

“The government is likelyto remain focused on reformsduring the second term ofPrime Minister NarendraModi. It has announced somestructural measures over recentmonths to counter the growthslowdown, including efforts toreduce red tape and boost for-eign direct investment. It alsoplans to consolidate the state-owned banks. The positiveimpact of these reforms ongrowth is likely to materialisein the medium term, ratherthan the near term, and willdepend on the details andimplementation,” Fitch said.

Fitch said the measuresannounced to support NBFCs“have not fully arrested liquid-ity pressure”.

Also, banks generally havethin buffers to deal with con-tinued systemic stress in theNBFC sector, to which theirexposure reached 7.4% in FY19.

“We estimate that banksare already USD 7 billion shortof the capital required to meet

a 10% weighted-average com-mon equity Tier 1 ratio byFY21 - the level that we believewould give the banks an ade-quate buffer above regulatoryminimums.”

India, it said, has been lessaffected so far by global tradetensions than many of its peers,given the comparatively closednature of its economy, which isnot part of the Asian supplychain, and comparatively lowerexport commodity dependence.

Also, the government hasraised trade tariffs on a numberof products to curb imports.

“The Indian economy isless developed on a number ofstructural metrics than many ofits peers. Governance remainsweak, as illustrated by a lowscore for the World Bank gov-ernance indicator (49th per-centile versus the ‘BBB’ medi-an of 59th percentile). India’sranking on the United NationsHuman Development Index(32nd percentile versus the‘BBB’ median of 67th per-centile) also indicates relative-ly low basic human develop-ment. Average per capita GDPalso remains low, at USD 2,102,compared with the ‘BBB’ rangemedian of USD 12,152,” itadded.

�� ,./�*.0')

Union minister PiyushGoyal on Friday asked

the industry to flag the coun-tries that are placing non-tar-iff barriers on Indian exportsand promised to take retalia-tory actions against thosecountries.

Speaking at the 92ndAnnual Convention of Ficci,the commerce and industryminister also said India needsto get more competitive, andstressed on addressing theproblems of the entire valuechain, be it inverted duties,dumping, or unfair subsidies.

“Our government does notbelieve in solving issues indi-vidually for a company. Webelieve in doing a root causeanalysis, we believe in under-standing where the problemsare and we believe in finding asustainable solution that canoutlive an individual’s prob-lem,” Goyal said.

The minister said “aresponsible government, a lis-tening government” can impactbusiness, can make a changeand assured the corporate lead-ers present at the event that hisoffice and he himself was avail-able 24x7 to address the indus-tries’ concerns.

He further said the stake-holders need to tell the gov-ernment, which country isusing any trade remedial mea-sures or non-tariff barrierswhich impact their exports tothat country.

“Our government is willingto stand by you and look atretaliatory actions and imposesimilar trade remedial mea-sures,” Goyal said.

India’s exports contractedfor the fourth month in a rowin November, dipping 0.34 percent to USD 25.98 billion, main-ly on account of poor shipmentsof petroleum, gems & jewelleryand leather products.

He also pointed out thatthe industry and the govern-ment need to work together torejuvenate that entrepreneurialspirit and find solutions tocertain problems which are

real. “As much as we engagewith each other, we will be ableto come to solutions and deviseinnovative solutions,” he said.

Goyal also asked the indus-try to bring all issues concern-ing them before the govern-ment and tell if the system isworking well.

“My officers will convinceme with a beautiful presenta-tion...’all is well’. That’s themessage we get from our offi-cers every time we take pre-sentation.

“But all is certainly not wellwhen I look at your faces. So,I really believe we need to talkto each other more,” Goyal said.

The minister also saidIndia was the best place toinvest in. “It’s the place, whereyou get both, a competitiveedge and get a huge domesticmarket aspiring for a betterquality of life,” he said.

On the NIRVIK (NiryatRin Vikas Yojna) scheme,Goyal said it has been designedin such a way that everyexporter will get dollar financ-ing or foreign exchange financ-ing, and those who want to takemoney in rupee terms willpositively get financing in thedomestic currency.

Referring a remark hemade at the board of trademeeting in September, Goyalsaid he had a “slip of tongue”while he was trying to inspirethe audience to think beyondmathematics of 4.5 per centand 8 per cent economicgrowth rate.

“But that slip of tongue hascost me so much that ever sincethen till today every time theyhave to attack me, my oppo-nents, they have nothing elseexcept to give me scientificterminology on which I goofedup,” Goyal said.

The minister was trolledfor his remarks that “maths didnot help Albert Einstein to dis-cover gravity”.

“But the fact is, it is all ofus who have to decide whetherwe are willing to look at 10 percent or 9 per cent or 8 per centgrowth rate or we are going tokeep cribbing,” Goyal said.

�� ,./�*.0')

Union Minister NitinGadakri on Friday said

that plans are afoot to takekhadi and village industriesturnover to �2 lakh crore in thenext five years from 75,000crore at present.

Urging the industry toexpand its share in global tradeto about 10 per cent, MSMEMinister Gadkari also urgedplayers to grab the opportuni-ty to expand in the wake ofChina — that accounts for 17per cent of the global tradebusiness — battling increasedcost and difficulties.

“The turnover of khadiand village industries is �75,000crore at present. Steps are on totake it to �2 lakh crore in fiveyears,” Gadkari said whileaddressing industry body Ficci’s92nd annual convention here.

He said infrastructure sec-tors along with MSME haspotential to help India becom-ing USD 5 trillion economy.

“China has a good recordin trade business and accountsfor 17 per cent of the globalexports. Our share is barely 2.6per cent. We have an opportu-nity to take it to 8 to 10 percent.. especially when China isfacing difficulties at presentbesides increase in costs. Weshould eye at increasing ourshare,” the minister said, adding“it is a blessing in disguise”.

He said he was “saddened”to see India importing com-modities like coal, newsprint andother things despite having hugedry-fuel reserves and scope ofindigenous production. “I amsaddened to see huge imports...It is a matter of concern that wehave capacity to export huge coalbut we are importing it.”

He added newsprint wasbeing imported while domes-tic paper mills remained shutdespite India has potential forhuge bamboo plantation,which can not only revivepapers mills but can be exportoriented too. “There are 38,000industries under MSME whichare export oriented. TheMSME sector has created 11 crore jobs so far and weintend to create another 5crore jobs in five years,” theminister said.

�� ,./�*.0')

Investments in the Indiancapital market through par-

ticipatory notes (P-notes) hit a13-month low of �69,670 croretill November after registeringa rise in such fund infusion inthe preceding month.

P-notes are issued by reg-istered foreign portfolioinvestors (FPIs) to overseasinvestors who wish to be partof the Indian stock marketwithout registering themselvesdirectly after going through adue diligence process.

According to latest dataavailable with markets regula-tor Sebi, the total value ofinvestments via P-notes in theIndian markets (including equi-ty, debt, and derivatives)declined to �69,670 crore by theend of November from �76,773crore at October-end, whichwas the first rise in such fundinfusion in four months.

The fund inflow throughP-notes in November was thelowest since October 2018,when the cumulative value ofsuch investments stood at�66,587 crore

Of the total investmentsmade till the end of November,�52,749 crore was invested in

equities, �16,238 crore in debtand �683 crore in derivativessegment.

At the end of June this year,the Indian capital market sawa total outflow of �81,913 crorethrough P-notes, a drop from�82,619 crore till May-end. Atthe end of July, it furtherdeclined to �81,082 crore andtill August-end the investmentstood at �79,088 crore.

The investment atSeptember-end stood at�76,611 crore and then mar-ginally rose to �76,773 crore atOctober-end.

In July, Sebi’s boardapproved a proposal to ratio-nalise the framework forissuance of P-notes.

The use of P-notes hasbeen on a decline since 2017and slumped to a nine-and-a-half year low of �66,587 croreat the end of October last year.

In July 2017, Sebi notifiedstricter P-notes norms stipu-lating a fee of USD 1,000 thatwill be levied on each instru-ment to check any misuse forchannelising black money.

It had also prohibited FPIsfrom issuing such notes wherethe underlying asset is a deriv-ative, except those which areused for hedging purposes.

New Delhi (PTI): Tata Chemicals has acquired the remaining 25%stake in Tata Chemicals (Soda Ash) Partners Holdings for USD 195million (approximately �1,387.2 crore). With this acquisition, TataChemicals has increased its ownership in Tata Chemicals (Soda Ash)Partners to 100%, the company said in statement. “Tata Chemicals,through its wholly-owned subsidiary Valley Holdings Inc, hasacquired the remaining 25% partnership interest in Tata Chemicals(Soda Ash) Partners Holdings from The Andover Group, a subsidiaryof Owens-Illinois Inc. for USD 195 million,” the company said.

�� 4!4; )

Equity benchmarks rosemarginally to close at

record highs for the fourthstraight session on Friday,buoyed by bank, finance and ITshares.

Gains were muted asinvestors turned jittery at thefag end of the session onmacroeconomic concerns afterFitch Ratings cut India’s GDPgrowth forecast for 2019-20,traders said.

After opening on a firmfooting, the 30-share BSESensex closed 7.62 points, or0.02 per cent, higher at41,681.54. It hit a lifetime intra-day high of 41,809.96 duringthe session.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty rose 12.10 points, or 0.09per cent, to its new record of12,271.80. It hit an intra-dayhigh of 12,293.90.

During the week, theSensex rose 671.83 points or1.63 per cent, while Niftyadvanced 185.10 points or 1.53per cent.

Tata Steel was the top gain-er in the Sensex pack on Friday,rallying 3.23 per cent, followedby SBI, Yes Bank, HeroMotoCorp, ICICI Bank andBharti Airtel.

On the other hand,Vedanta was the biggest loser,shedding 3.45 per cent. KotakBank, Tata Motors, ITC, M&Mand Sun Pharma too ended inthe red.

According to traders, par-ticipants offloaded equities atthe fag end of the session afterFitch Ratings cut India’s GDPgrowth forecast for 2019-20 fis-cal year to 4.6 per cent on dete-rioration in business and con-sumer confidence.

Stocks traded with a posi-tive bias during the day onhopes of Budget stimulus to

spur economic growth, analystssaid.

“Market maintained a pos-itive bias amid a narrow range.RBI’s open market operation tobridge liquidity gap providedimpetus to investors. Bondyield slid to 6.57 per cent whilePSU banks gained in expecta-tion of higher treasury gains.

“A short term consolida-tion cannot be ruled out asinvestors may slide to a holidaymood, last two weeks we hada solid Santa clause rally,” saidVinod Nair, head of research atGeojit Financial Services.

BSE consumer durables,telecom, realty, utilities, metal,power and finance indices roseup to 1.20 per cent.

However, healthcare, auto,energy and capital goods lostup to 0.42 per cent.

Broader BSE midcap index

rose 0.15 per cent, while small-cap gauge slipped 0.03 percent.

On a net basis, foreigninstitutional investors boughtequities worth Rs 739.43 crore,while domestic institutionalinvestors sold shares worth Rs493.95 crore on Thursday, dataavailable with stock exchangeshowed.

World equities climbed tofresh highs as investorsremained in a bullish moodahead of the holiday season.

In Asia, Hong Kong andSeoul settled on a positivenote, while bourses in Shanghaiand Tokyo ended in the red.

Benchmark indices inEurope were trading higher intheir respective early sessions.

On the currency front, therupee fell by 9 paise to settle at71.12 against the US dollar onFriday amid a steady rise incrude oil prices and strength-ening of the greenback over-seas.

Forex traders said therupee was weighed downagainst the US dollar after theRBI said it would conduct aspecial OMO in a move seen bymarket participants as anattempt to bring long-termyields lower.

At the interbank foreignexchange market, the domesticcurrency opened weak at 71.15,then went on to hit a low of71.23 against the US dollar dur-ing the day.

It, however, gained somelost ground and finally settledat 71.12, showing a fall of 9paise over its previous close.

On Thursday, the localunit had settled at 71.03 againstthe greenback.

On a weekly basis, therupee depreciated by 29 paise.

Brent futures, the global oilbenchmark, fell 0.14 per cent toUSD 66.45 per barrel.

�� ,./�*.0')

Mahindra & Mahindra(M&M) on Friday

announced a rejig of its topmanagement with AnandMahindra, 64, transitioning tothe role of non-executive chair-man from executive chairman,effective April 1, 2020.

In a statement, the firmsaid Pawan Kumar Goenkahas been re-appointed as themanaging director with addi-tional responsibilities of chiefexecutive officer (CEO) for ayear, effective April 1, 2020.

The company has createdthe CEO position as it aims toimplement its plans aroundelectric mobility and capitaliseon the synergies with Ford’sIndia operations in the nearfuture.

Anand Mahindra hadtaken over as the chairman ofthe USD 20.7 billion group,which has presence in sectorsranging from farm equipmentto software and aerospace, inAugust 2012 following theretirement of his uncle KeshubMahindra after leading theconglomerate for 45 years.

During his tenure, the groupwent for expansion in bothdomestic and international mar-kets in various sectors, includ-ing automobiles and agricultureto IT and aerospace.

He also led the M&Mgroup in major acquisitionsboth on home front and glob-ally, including those ofSsangyong Motors, RevaElectric Car Company, SatyamComputer Services, PeugeotMotorcycles, GippslandAeronautics, AerostaffAustralia, Holiday ClubResorts, and Pininfarina S.p.A.

Commenting on thechanges, Mahindra said, “Thisplan reflects M&M’s depth ofmanagement talent and willensure continuity in terms ofculture, values, governance andoperational effectiveness.”

He further said, “In my

new role, I see myself as theconscience keeper of theMahindra Group, as the cus-todian of its values and thewatchdog of the interests of itsshareholders. Internal auditwill continue to report to me.I will continue to exercise over-sight through the Board.”

Goenka, has joined M&Mas general manager (R&D)after his stint in GeneralMotors’ R&D Centre in Detroitin 1993. He led the develop-ment of the Scorpio, the com-pany’s highly successful SUV.

He rose through the ranksto become managing directorof M&M in November 2016.Prior to that he held severalpositions in the group’s auto-motive sector. He was appoint-ed COO (Automotive Sector)in April 2003, President(Automotive Sector) inSeptember 2005, President(Automotive & FarmEquipment Sectors) in April2010, Executive Director andGroup President (AFS) in April2015.

In other top managementchanges, M&M said AnishShah will transition to becomemanaging director and CEO onApril 2, 2021, replacingGoenka, who will retire afterhis term ends.

Shah will join M&M boardas deputy managing directorand Group CFO, replacing VSParthasarathy, the currentCFO.

Shah, currently the grouppresident (strategy) for theMahindra Group and a mem-ber of the group executiveboard, is responsible for strat-egy development and imple-mentation besides buildingcapabilities such as digitisation,IoT and analytics.

He is also responsible forenabling synergies across groupcompanies and driving inter-national growth. Before joiningM&M, he was earlier Presidentand CEO of GE Capital India.

M&M said its current

group CFO Parthasarathy willhead the mobility services sec-tor, which is a new sectorbeing created by combining theafter-market sector, MahindraLogistics and Auto MobilityServices.

The company also saidRajesh Jejurikar, currently pres-ident (farm equipment sector)will join the M&M board asexecutive director (auto andfarm sectors), with direct oper-ational responsibility andaccountability for the sectors,reporting to Goenka for thetransition year and then reportto Shah from April 2, 2021onwards.

Tech Mahindra ManagingDirector and CEO CP Gurnaniwill join M&M Board as a non-executive Director on April 1,2020, it added.

Group President (HR &Corporate Services) & CEO(After-Market Sector) RajeevDubey will retire on April 1,2020 on reaching the age ofsuperannuation. He will con-tinue to be associated with theGroup in a non-executive andadvisory capacity, M&M said.

Ruzbeh Irani will headGroup HR and communica-tions, which includes CSR,Ethics and CIS, it added.

M&M Governance,Nomination & RemunerationCommittee (GNRC) of theBoard of Directors MMMurugappan (GNRCChairman) said the committeeinterviewed internal candi-dates and also considered theprospect of external candi-dates.

“We are confident that thenew leadership team is wellequipped to perpetuate theMahindra Rise culture andvalues while ensuring rapid andprofitable growth,” he added.

The company said therewill be further changes, both atthe group corporate office andauto and farm sectors, whichwill be announced onDecember 23, 2019.

��*�� -��!�� 89:;��.<=

�=�� )�%��*� ��)%%�� 4��=��+�:��#��

5��)��%�/��)��>��)*��/��0�1�

� ��%&�)��%��&�&�-��

*�� 6��>?6�� 6��

*�! �� !�� New Delhi: Infrastructure sectoron Friday urged the govern-ment to bring captive renewablepolicy and exempt from crosssubsidy and transmission chargesto make renewable energy moreviable for those willing to set upclean energy plants beyond fac-tory boundaries. The infrastruc-ture companies raised theseissues during a pre-budget con-sultation with Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman and topofficials from finance, new &renewable, road transport andenvironment ministries. Theyalso asked to make finance avail-able for real estate and affordablehousing to boost consumption ofcement and other inputs like steel.Besides, they were of the viewthat government should releasestuck up funds meant for infra-structure sectors as soon as pos-sible for bringing in buoyancy inthe economy. Infrastructure sec-tor players, particularly cement,claimed that they can also set up12GW to 15GW of renewableenergy projects and there is positive mood on this in thecountry. PTI

-�� %��!� �� 6� �!!� ��

-�� %�� <'��@��&�- �% �

6 � ��&�/% �� %?)��/ �� !��%��6 � ��&�/�@�� ,�&A��/�,��8��B��)�

�$453�2$�#�$�#36�$

)%-��73�8�$-$2�6�$�#$44%94$#:3;��+�<-�%)3#2$453��%)34$��%#�%�84�6:3�,�=>�6��:$)�)4%7�636�2)3�>-��%�#73-�%4-;�

9%4,6�� !��"#$�"%#&

�� 4�,3-. 0

Canadian Prime Minister JustinTrudeau called Thursday on the

United States not to sign a trade deal withChina unless Beijing agrees to release twoCanadians detained since last year.

Former diplomat Michael Kovrig andbusinessman Michael Spavor have beenheld in China’s opaque legal system sincethey were apprehended on December 10,2018, accused of espionage.

Their case is widely viewed byCanadians as retribution for the arrest ofHuawei chief financial officer MengWanzhou in Vancouver just nine daysprior. She is wanted in the United Stateson charges related to Iran sanctions vio-lations. Obtaining the two men’s release hasbeen a top priority of Trudeau’s govern-ment.

When asked if he thought a US-Chinatrade deal could help resolve the situationduring an interview with French-lan-

guage channel TVA, Trudeau responded:“We hope so.”

“We told them that the United Statesmust not sign a final and complete dealwith China that does not solve the prob-lem of Meng Wanzhou and the twoCanadians,” he added.

Trudeau, who has been criticised bythe opposition for his handling of the case,also said his administration has worked“practically every day to try and makeChina understand that they must free thesetwo Canadians.”

Meng was released on bail a few daysafter her arrest. She is living in herVancouver mansion while waiting for anextradition hearing scheduled to beginJanuary 20.

“Whatever pressure they put on us,arresting two Canadians... won’t change theCourt of British Columbia’s decision onextradition,” Trudeau warned, noting thatthe Canadian judicial system is “inde-pendent.”

�� 0�,*�,

Britain’s freshly-elected parliament pre-pared on Friday to move past years of

partisan wrangling and initially approvePrime Minister Boris Johnson’s divorcedeal with the EU.

The all-but-certain outcome in thelower House of Commons will helpJohnson on his way towards meeting hiswinning campaign promise to “get Brexitdone” on January 31.

But it will also push London andBrussels closer to another cliff edge at theend of 2020 that might disrupt decades ofunfettered trade.

A snap election last week put Johnson’sConservatives in control of parliament anddispelled doubts over whether Britainwould become the first nation to leave theEuropean Union.

A final vote on Johnson’s separationterms will come when lawmakers returnfrom their Christmas break early nextmonth.

But Britain will enter the holiday sea-son closer to legal and economic inde-pendence from Brussels than it has beenat any point since the 2016 Brexit refer-endum on Britain’s near half-century EUmembership.

Johnson has the freedom and powerto shape Britain’s future that his prede-cessor Theresa May never had during hertroubled three-year term.

“Today we will deliver on the promisewe made to the people and get the Brexitvote wrapped up for Christmas,” Johnsonsaid.

“Now MPs will start the process ofpassing the bill. Then, at the beginning ofthe new decade, at the beginning of a newdawn for our country, our parliamentar-ians will return to Westminster to imme-

diately finish the job, take us out of the EUon January 31 and move this country for-ward.

“After years of delay and rancour inparliament, we will deliver certainty andhard-working businesses and people acrossthis country will have a firm foundationon which to plan for the future.”

Britain’s nervous financial marketrejoiced when Johnson’s governingConservatives secured an comprehensivemajority in the 650-member House ofCommons.

The healthy margin appeared toremove the possibility of more months ofpolitical uncertainty and chaos — and of

Britain crashing out of the bloc without anyarrangements for what comes next.

But the pound fell back to its pre-elec-tion levels when Johnson introduced aseries of small but potentially consequen-tial changes into the official WithdrawalAgreement Bill.

Britain’s formal departure on January31 had been due to be followed by an 11-month transition period during whichthings would stay pretty much as they arenow.

The sides are supposed to use the timeto negotiate a comprehensive new agree-ment covering everything from trade tosecurity and data protection.

EU officials warn that such deals usu-ally take years to hammer out.

But Johnson ruled out the possibilityof asking for a deadline extension in theversion of the bill before parliament onFriday.

“A Minister of the Crown may notagree... to an extension of the implemen-tation period,” the bill now says.

Analysts note that little preventsJohnson from pushing a new law throughparliament removing that firm deadlineshould negotiations veer dangerously offtrack.

It also puts psychological pressure onEuropean officials to back off some of theirstiffer demands on London and seek a lim-ited deal that leaves some big issues unre-solved.

“The UK could get a (free tradeagreement) done with the EU by end of2020,” May’s former Brexit adviser RaoulRuparel said.

“But it would be a narrow and shallowone.” The EU’s chief Brexit negotiatorMichel Barnier said on Tuesday that thebloc “will do the maximum” to meet theend-of-2020 deadline.

�� / $'),?3�,

External Affairs Minister SJaishankar refused to meet

I n d i a n - A m e r i c a nCongresswoman PramilaJayapal who introduced theCongressional resolution onKashmir urging India to lift allthe restrictions in Jammu andKashmir imposed after revok-ing Article 370.

Addressing a group ofIndian reporters here onThursday as he concluded histrip to Washington DC, whichwas primarily to attend theIndia-US 2+2 dialogue,Jaishankar said the resolutionintroduced this month in theHouse of Representatives wasnot a fair characterisation of thesituation in Jammu andKashmir.

“I am aware of that(Congressional) resolution. Idon’t think it’s a fair under-standing of the situation inJammu and Kashmir, or a faircharacterisation of what thegovernment of India is doing.And I have no interest in meet-ing (Jayapal),” he said inresponse to a question.

India has defended therestrictions in Kashmir on thegrounds that they wereimposed to prevent Pakistanfrom creating more mischiefthrough proxies and terroristsfollowing the abrogation ofArticle 370 which ended thespecial status of Jammu andKashmir.

Do you treat the resolutioncurrently in the (House ForeignAffairs) committee seriously:the resolution that criticises thesituation in India? the ministerwas asked.

“I have an interest in meet-ing people who are objectiveand open to discussion but notthe people who already madeup their minds,” Jaishankarsaid in response.

Earlier, The WashingtonPost reported that Jaishankar“abruptly cancelled a meetingwith senior members ofCongress this week after USlawmakers refused demands toexclude” Jayapal from the meet-ing.

Jaishankar was to meetchairman of the House ForeignAffairs Committee,

Congressman Eliot L Engel;committee’s top RepublicanMichael McCaul and others,including CongresswomanJayapal, the report said.

“This only furthers theidea that the Indian govern-ment isn’t willing to listen toany dissent at all. The serious-ness of this moment should’vebeen a reason for a conversa-tion, not dictating who’s in themeeting, which seems verypetty,” Jayapal was quoted assaying by the leading Americandaily.

Jayapal said she hadplanned to advance her reso-lution on Kashmir this weekbut was urged to wait until aftermeeting with Jaishankar. Nowshe plans to renew her push forthe resolution in January, thereport said.

“My constituents careabout the human rights situa-tion, thousands of peopledetained without charges, anda communication crackdownthat makes daily life more dif-ficult,” she was quoted as say-ing in the report.

However, the

Congressional sources familiarwith the deliberations said thatthe meeting was cancelled asHouse Foreign AffairsCommittee kept on changingthe ground rules of the meet-ing and kept on adding newmembers to the list.

A day before the meetingthey added Jayapal and sever-al other lawmakers who wereknown India-bashers andsponsors of the Congressionalresolutions on Kashmir, theysaid.

The Indian Embassy didnot respond to questions.However, earlier in the day,Jaishankar explained, inresponse to a different ques-tion, reasons for not meetinglawmakers he said were notobjective and are biased.

Jaishankar said that theIndian government had noproblem with the Democratsand it has a very strong rela-tionship with them.

“No, I don’t think so.Honestly, I don’t think so. Myown sense is that support forthe relationship is extremelystrong in a very, very wide cross

section members of Congressand political leaders outside theCongress,” he said.

“So, I wouldn’t take a fewvoices and necessarily reach asweeping conclusion, whichyour question seems to sug-gest,” the minister said whenasked if India has a problemwith the Democrats.

“I’m not personalising this.I don’t want to get into names.All I’m saying is we have alwaysoperated in this countrybecause we are always engagedwith everybody (who) was rea-sonable and open minded,”Jaishankar said.

In addition to his 2+2 min-isterial, bilateral and theWhite House meetings,Jaishankar also met leadershipof the Senate ForeignRelations Affairs Committeeincluding its Chairman SenatorJames E Risch and RankingMember Senator BobMenendez.

On the eve of the ministe-rial, he also met some of the keymembers of the House ForeignAffairs Committee includingCongressmen Ami Bera andBrad Sherman from theDemocratic party and TedYoho and Francis Rooney fromthe Republican Party.

The second 2+2 minister-ial dialogue was hosted bySecretary of State Pompeo andSecretary of Defense Esper fortheir Indian counterpartsJaishankar and Minister ofDefense Rajnath Singh.

Jayapal, the Chennai-bornfirst-ever Indian-Americanwomen elected to the House ofRepresentatives, ignored thevoices of the diaspora fromacross the country as she wentahead with her pre-announcedplans to introduce the resolu-tion on Kashmir in the Houseearly this month.

The pending resolution,introduced after severalweeks of efforts by the 54-year-old Jayapal, urges India to liftas swiftly as possible all restric-tions on communications inJammu and Kashmir whichwere imposed followingthe abrogation of Article 370on August 5. It also urges topreserve religious freedomfor all the resi-dents of the erstwhile state ofJammu and Kashmir.

�� 0�$� ,?.0.$

Democratic White Housecandidates have attacked

President Donald Trump butalso clashed sharply with oneanother during Democraticdebate, where a smaller fieldallowed lesser-known candi-dates to shine against the fron-trunners.

One day after Trump’signominious impeachment,seven candidates united todeclare the president must bedefeated at the 2020 ballotbox.

“We need to restore theintegrity of the presidency,”said frontrunner Joe Biden onThursday, who accused Trumpof “dumbing down” the office“beyond what I even thought

he would do.”Senator Bernie Sanders,

second in the standings, blast-ed Trump as “running themost corrupt administration inthe modern history of thiscountry,” while fellow SenatorElizabeth Warren said the pres-ident ignores the poor to do“everything he can for thewealthy and the well-connect-ed.”

But after calls for greatermoral leadership from theWhite House and crisp back-and-forth about trade policy,health care and how to lift moreAmericans out of poverty, thedebate took a more aggressivetone with a series of heatedclashes between candidates.

Warren launched hersharpest attacks yet on rival

Pete Buttigieg, saying the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend,Indiana, has been holdingclosed-door fundraisers for thewealthy, including at a billion-aire-owned “wine cave” inCalifornia.

“Your net worth is 100times mine,” Buttigieg, whosestar has risen substantially inthe past two months of cam-paigning, said.

“I don’t sell access to mytime,” Warren shot back.

While Warren hit Buttigiegon money in politics, SenatorAmy Klobuchar also sought tokneecap the mayor.

“I did not come here to lis-ten to this argument. I camehere to make a case for progress— and I have never even beento a wine cave,” she quipped.

Klobuchar was quick toremind viewers of herMidwestern roots as she calledfor “returning to sanity” in2020. She also appeared tochallenge the accomplishmentsof Buttigieg, a fellowMidwesterner, labeling him a“local official.”

When Buttigieg suggestedthere were “bigger fish to fry,”Klobuchar clapped back with acutting retort: “I don’t think wehave bigger fish to fry thanpicking a president of theUnited States.” The final prime-time debate of 2019 featuredjust seven of the 15 Democratsstill in the contest six weeksbefore the first nominationballots are cast in Iowa inFebruary.

The showdown marks a

significant drop from the 10candidates in November’sdebate, and the dozen whocrowded the stage in October.

Cozier quarters allowedfor more extended exchangesabout policy between partici-pants hoping for their party’snomination to challengeTrump.

There was extra oxygen forlower-polling candidatesincluding Klobuchar, billionaireactivist Tom Steyer, and entre-preneur Andrew Yang, whosought to ease the exasperationmany voters have expressedabout American politics.

“We have to take everyopportunity to present a new,positive vision for the country,a new way forward to help beathim in 2020,” he said of Trump.

“Because make no mis-take, he’ll be there at the ballotbox.”

Biden, popular with blue-collar workers and AfricanAmericans, has promised toraise America’s standing backto the way it was under BarackObama, rescuing it from theextreme polarization ofTrump’s tenure.

The Democratic elderstatesman has faced doubtsabout his health and age — heis 77 — and notably declined topledge that he would run for asecond term if he wins theWhite House.

“No, I’m not willing tocommit one way or another,” hesaid.

He appeared more feistyand less halting than in previ-

ous debates, interrupting mod-erators to slam Sanders for auniversal health care plan thatcould cost upwards of USD 30trillion over 10 years.

But near the end of the 2.5hour event, Biden committedan unforced error by imitatinga stammering youth seekingadvice on how to overcome astutter, a problem Biden him-self struggled with as a child.

The incident quickly res-onated beyond the debate stage,with former White Housespokeswoman Sarah Sandersmocking Biden on Twitter.

Biden quickly tweeted outdamage control, saying “I’veworked my whole life to over-come a stutter. And it’s my greathonor to mentor kids whohave experienced the same.”

Sarah Sanders apologized forher jibe.

The centrist Biden is lead-ing polls, trailed by BernieSanders, age 78, and 70-year-old Warren.

The leftist platforms ofSanders and Warren — uni-versal health care, a wealth tax,dramatic action on climatechange — energize young andwomen voters, but makesmoderates uneasy.

Buttigieg is in fourth placenationally but has surged to thetop in key state Iowa, whichvotes first in the Democraticnominating process onFebruary 3.

Klobuchar has had a seriesof strong debate performances,while Yang’s staying powercontinues to surprise.

�� (! 0 �0!4"!-

Former Malaysian PrimeMinister Najib Razak made

a religious oath in a mosqueFriday denying a new accusa-tion that he ordered the killingof a Mongolian woman 13years ago.

Altantuya Shaariibuu was28 and pregnant when she wasfatally shot and blown up withmilitary-grade plastic explo-sives in a jungle outside KualaLumpur in October 2006.

One of Najib’s formerbodyguards, who is on deathrow for the murder, has soughta retrial and made a swornstatement earlier this weekalleging that Najib gave him anorder to “shoot to kill” theMongolian because she was aforeign spy. The bodyguard,Azilah Hadri, said in the state-ment, reported by local media,that Najib also told him to useexplosives to dispose of herbody.

His allegation was the firstto directly link Najib to themurder.

Najib, already beset by

multiple corruption chargesafter his election ouster lastyear, has slammed Azilah’saccusation as another plot bythe new government to dis-credit and silence him.

“I have never directed any-one to kill a Mongolian citizennamed Altantuya Shaariibuu.In fact, I have never met nor doI know the deceased,” Najibsaid in his oath in a KualaLumpur mosque after Fridayprayers.

“If I lied, may Allah’s cursebe upon me. If I am truthful,then may those who slanderme be cursed by Allah.” Dozensof supporters cheered as Najibsmiled with his wife RosmahMansor at his side. Najib is cur-rently on trial on dozens of cor-ruption charges linked to themultimillion-dollar looting ofstate investment fund 1MDBand has denied any wrongdo-ing.

Azilah and Sirul AzharUmar, who were members ofan elite police unit guardingNajib, were convicted ofAltantuya’s murder but Sirulfled to Australia while awaiting

his appeal. The Mongolian’slover, Abdul Razak Baginda, aclose aide to Najib, was triedbut acquitted of abetting thecrime. The mastermind andmotive of the murder werenever determined.

There was speculationthat Altantuya, who was alsoworking as a translator forAbdul Razak, was killed tokeep her from exposing allegedcorruption involving the pur-chase of submarines fromFrance under Najib, who wasthen deputy premier anddefense minister.

Najib later became primeminister until his party lostpower in a shocking defeat inMay last year.

The new government lastyear reopened investigationsinto her death followingappeals from Altantuya’s fam-ily. The other policeman, Sirul,has offered to return toMalaysia to provide evidence inthe case if he is promised a par-don.

Australia has said it won’textradite him because ofMalaysia’s death penalty.

�� ;.)A),?

Beijing on Friday accused theEuropean Parliament of

hypocrisy, after a resolutioncalled for targeted sanctionsagainst Chinese officials overthe treatment of the Uighurminority.

China has faced interna-tional condemnation forrounding up an estimated onemillion Uighurs and othermostly Muslim ethnic minori-ties in internment camps in thenorthwestern region ofXinjiang.

Members of the EuropeanParliament said on Thursdaythat China’s human rightsrecord had worsened in thepast year, and called for theChinese government to“immediately end the practiceof arbitrary detentions withoutany charge, trial or conviction”.

In response to the resolu-tion, Beijing called for theEuropean Parliament to “aban-don their double standards oncounter-terrorism” and stop“interfering in China’s internalaffairs”.

“The people of Xinjiangand the Chinese people have agreater right to speak (aboutthe situation in Xinjiang) thanthose who are far away in

Europe, who have never beento Xinjiang,” foreign ministryspokesman Geng Shuang saidat a regular press briefing.

MEPs had called for “tar-geted sanctions and freezeassets, if deemed appropriateand effective, against theChinese officials responsible forsevere repression of basic rightsin Xinjiang”.

The European Parliamenthad presented a human rightsaward to the daughter of jailedUighur intellectual Ilham Tohtion Wednesday.

Jewher Ilham collected theSakharov Prize on behalf of herfather, an economics professorhailed by the parliament as a“voice of moderation and rec-onciliation” but condemnedby Beijing as “terrorist”.

Beijing initially denied theexistence of the Xinjiangcamps, but now says they are“vocational training centres”necessary to combat terrorism.

Last month, the New YorkTimes obtained 403 documentson Beijing’s crackdown onmostly Muslim ethnic minori-ties in the region, includingunpublished speeches byChinese President Xi Jinping,who urged officials to show“absolutely no mercy” toextremists.

�� ;.)A),?

Chinese tech giants Tencentand Xiaomi have been

reprimandsed by Beijing fordesigning apps that infringe onusers’ privacy, even as theCommunist regime amasses itsown collection of personaldata.

China, which exercisesclose surveillance of onlineactivity, has recently tight-ened its scrutiny of companiesthat gather data from con-sumers.

Xiaomi Finance andTencent’s instant messagingservice QQ were amongdozens of problematic appsnamed and shamed by theMinistry of Industry andInformation Technology onThursday.

QQ forces users to allowthe app to track their usagehabits so it can show targetedads, the ministry said in astatement.

If users do not give up

their phone permissions, theycannot access the app at all, itadded — warning of “punish-ment” if the privacy issues arenot fixed by December 31.

Smartphone makerXiaomi’s finance app created“difficulty” for users looking tocancel their account, the state-ment said.

The ministry’s full listincluded software from aBeijing public library as well asgrocery delivery and train-booking services, reflectinghow widely apps have perme-ated everyday life in China —often with little regulatoryoversight.

It said more than 8,000apps had already been “recti-fied” as part of a nationalpush to protect users’ rights,but the 41 listed in itsannouncement Thursday hadyet to fully address privacyissues.

Tencent is China’s leadingonline video game company aswell as a giant in messaging

and myriad other apps.In September, a face-

swapping app named Zaoquickly became one of China’smost downloaded apps butalso triggered a backlash overprivacy fears.

The app allowed users toinsert themselves into scenesfrom well-known movies using“deepfake” technology.

Following fierce criticism,the company behind the apppromised changes to its pri-vacy policy, which gave it“free, irrevocable, permanent,transferable, and relicenseable”rights to all user-generatedcontent.

Meanwhile in earlyNovember, a Chinese profes-sor filed a claim against a safaripark in the eastern city ofHangzhou for requiring facescans for entry, according tothe local court.

But government surveil-lance has continued to groweven as consumers turn againstdata-hungry companies.

�� & �� )��/��/ �� #�

?��$2�$9$43�%@��A$��%#:43--�%#$,�43-%,>��%#;��6%#<��A�#5��<-�$�@$�4>#634-�$#6�#:�%@��A3�-��>$��%#��#$22>�$#6��$-A2�4��%4�$�@$�4�A$4$��34�-$��%#�%@�9A$��A3:%734#23#��%@��#6�$��-�6%�#:;��#6��A$73�#%��#�343-��#�233��#:��$�$)$,�B

2��

��#��.!��#��!� ��

8� �� %�� " ��

4� �� -#,�%��2��

;��F��#��A��F��;��:��

� � �� 5�� /%� �&��/)��%� /

9%4,6��!�� !��"#$�"%#&

�� ; ?'* *

With wisps of smoke still rising fromthe remnants of another night of

violence, the workers came in themorning to salvage what merchandisethey could from the torched warehousesin Baghdad’s central commercial dis-trict.

Boxes upon boxes of clothes, cos-metics and household goods stored bytraders in the country’s most thrivingmarket were hurled onto pick-up trucksto be taken away from Rasheed Street,a historic avenue that for weeks has beenscene of ongoing violence betweenanti-government protesters and securityforces.

Stores were shuttered across theonce bustling thoroughfare, where thechatter of bargain-hunters has beenreplaced by an occasional volley of bul-lets.

“We are loading and leaving,” saidone merchant, Salah Redha. “My mer-chandise is worth over USD 1.5 million.Half of it is gone and the other halfdestroyed ... who will compensate me?”

With Iraq’s leaderless uprising nowin its third month, the protracted streethostilities, internet outages, blockedroads and a general atmosphere ofunease are posing risks to Iraq’s econ-omy.

In particular, the unrest has set backthe most fragile segment of the coun-try’s economy, the private sector, wherebusiness owners have faced losses fromdamage to merchandise and disruptionsof markets and from consumers reelingin their spending out of fear for thefuture.

So far, the unrest has not signifi-cantly affected Iraq’s main economiclifeline, oil, which brings in USD 6-7 bil-lion a month, up to 90 per cent of thestate’s revenue. Oil exports have notfaced disruptions, according to twosenior oil ministry officials.

Production has not been hurt byregular sit-ins blocking roads to majoroil fields in the south, home to the vastmajority of Iraq’s oil resources.

But future investment is now inquestion, said Zaab Sethna, co-founderof Northern Gulf Partners, a frontierinvestment firm with experience in Iraq.Foreign investors have pulled out ofdeals in energy and other sectors,alarmed by the extent of Iranian influ-ence in Iraq, highlighted by the heavy-

handed security crackdown on demon-strations.

“We had an American backer readyto commit, to put money into Iraq, andthey turned around and said, ‘Lookeverything I am reading says this is aplace the Iranians are taking over andI am not going to put my money there,’”he said.

Other investors have been worriedby the slowness of talks on forming anew government after Prime MinisterAdel Abdul-Mahdi resigned in theface of the protests. Political blocs areexpected to name a new consensus-based candidate for the premiership thisweek.

Reform measures taken to retire keydirector-generals over the age of 60 hasalso caused anxieties for companies whohave vested business relationships withbureaucrats.

Ironically, the very issues raised byprotesters on the street, including cor-ruption, bureaucracy and lack of ade-quate public services, have long been afactor deterring investment, Sethnasaid.

Two industry officials who were inthe middle of negotiating lucrativeenergy contracts said they have takena step back — “until the dust settles”, onesaid. Both spoke on condition of

anonymity to not derail future talks withthe government.

Periodic road closures by protest-ers leading to Iraq’s two main com-modities ports in Umm Qasr and Khoral-Zubair have halted trade activity sev-eral times. To compensate, higher vol-umes of goods were imported throughthe border cross with Turkey in thenorth in late November.

Hussein Ali, a potato trader, saiddelays at Umm Qasr cost him up toUSD 6,000 per container, so he optedfor the northern land route. Customsfrom the ports are an important sourceof state revenue.

There are no figures to know exacteconomic losses suffered due to protests,because disruptions, when they occur,are often temporary or reliable data ishard to come by.

A military spokesperson for theprime minister, Maj Gen Abdul KarimKhalaf, said the protests had cost Iraq$6 billion within the span of a month.This figure is unlikely, since it wouldrequire major setbacks in oil earnings,according to calculations by theAssociated Press.

The impact has been indelible onIraq’s hobbled private sector.

The World Bank has said develop-ing this sector was key to diversifying

the oil-dependent economy and creat-ing much needed jobs. With poor reg-ulations and high start-up costs, how-ever, Iraqis have had little incentive totake the risks associated with entre-preneurship.

As a result, much of the sectorremains informal and limited largely tocash-based retailers — who are highlysensitive to any disruptions.

“We have a huge informal sectorthat has no chance of joining the for-mal sector — they have no deeds, own-ership, just conventions and under-standings. If something goes wrong, youare dropped,” said Ahmed Tabaqchali,chief investment officer of AFC IraqFund.

At Shorja market, Baghdad’s mainwholesale market, merchants said theyhave seen daily earnings drop sinceprotests started in October in partbecause customers are buying less andin part because of the turmoil atRasheed Street, where most store theirmerchandise.

In southern Iraq, a rising numberof medium to small businesses ownersare defaulting on monthly payments onbank loans, said an official in Iraq’sLeague of Private Banks, who request-ed anonymity because he was notauthorized to speak to media.

�� )$0 4 ; *

The apex body of Pakistanilawyers has slammed the

Army for criticising the judge-ment of the special courtagainst Gen (retd) PervezMusharraf in the treasoncase, terming it a clear cut vio-lation of the legal and consti-tutional provisions whichamounts to contempt of thecourt.

The three-member specialcourt bench sentenced 76-year-old Musharraf to death inabsentia on Tuesday for hightreason following a six-yearlegal case.

In its 167-page detailedjudgement authored byPeshawar High Court ChiefJustice Waqar Ahmad Seth,who headed the bench, the spe-cial court on Thursday said the“convict be hanged by his necktill he dies on each count as percharge.”

Justice Seth wrote thatMusharraf should be hangedeven if he dies before his exe-cution.

“We direct the law enforce-ment agencies to strive theirlevel best to apprehend thefugitive/convict and to ensurethat the punishment is inflict-ed as per law and if found dead,

his corpse be dragged to the D-Chowk, Islamabad, Pakistanand be hanged for 03 days,” hewrote.

The detailed judgementangered the Army, which saidthe verdict was against allhuman, religious and civiliza-tional values.

“The apprehensions aboutthe short verdict given on Dec17 have been proved right bythe detailed judgment of today.The decision of today andespecially the words used in itare against the humanity, reli-gion, civilization and any othervalue,” Military spokesmanMajor General Asif Ghafoor

said.He said Army chief

General Qamar Javed Bajwaand Prime Minister ImranKhan had a detailedmeeting on the conviction ofGen (retd) Musharraf and tooksome important decisionswhich would be announcedsoon.

The Pakistan Bar Council(PBC) on Thursday stronglycondemned the judgement.

“We disapprove the state-ment of Director General ISPR,who has criticised the judg-ment of the special courtwhereunder the ex-Chief of theArmy Staff and former

President General (retd)Pervez Musharraf had beenconvicted of violating Article 6of the Constitution and com-mitting high treason,” the PBCsaid in a statement onThursday.

“We are of the firm opin-ion that the statement of DG,ISPR is clear cut violation of thelegal and constitutional provi-sions and thus amounts tocontempt of the court,” thestatement said.

The PBC said if there weresome flaws in the verdict, thenthe law has provided a propercourse for challenging it in thehigher judicial forum.

It said the way the judge-ment has been criticised clear-ly gives an impression that allthe institutions in Pakistan are“subservient to the ArmedForces, to follow its dictationand there is no respect for anyother forum including the judi-ciary.”

“The legal community inPakistan is of the view that theattitude adopted by the feder-al government, its ministers,law officers, and the Attorney-General confirms that the partyin power has been installed bythe Army and that its institu-tion is on the ‘driving seat’,” thestatement said.

�� )$0 4 ; *

Ailing former Pakistanprime minister Nawaz

Sharif, under treatment inLondon, has been diagnosedwith a complicated heart dis-ease and will undergo furtherscans to finalise a treatmentplan, his personal physician hassaid.

The 69-year-old PML-Nsupremo had left for Londonon November 19 in an airambulance to seek medicaltreatment, a month after he wasreleased on bail from a seven-year prison sentence for cor-ruption.

In a tweet on Thursday, thethree-time premier’s personalphysician Adnan Malik saidSharif underwent comprehen-sive cardiovascular evaluationat the Royal Brompton &Harefield Hospital in London,the Dawn News reported.

Sharif is “diagnosed ofcomplicated coronaryartery/Ischemic Heart Diseasewith significant disease burden”and will undergo further scansbefore treatment begins, hesaid. Coronary artery disease(CAD) is the narrowing orblockage of the coronary arter-ies due to which the heart does-n’t receive the blood it needs,leading to acute chest painand, in some cases, a fatalheart attack.

Last week, PML-Nspokesperson MarriyumAurangzeb said doctors hadadvised that Sharif be shifted tothe US for treatment.

According to mediareports, Sharif ’s family hascontacted the MassachusettsGeneral Hospital (MGH) in theUS for treatment of Sharif ’s

blocked carotid artery.Earlier this month, his

family sources said Sharif willlikely f ly to the US onDecember 16 for medicaltreatment of his ailment.However, his son, HussainNawaz, told reporters inLondon on Monday that itwill be difficult to take hisfather to the US until hisplatelet count get stabilised.

Hussain said Sharif con-tracted various diseases duringhis jail term in Pakistan.

Sharif was shifted fromjail to the Services hospital inLahore in October after hishealth condition deteriorated.Doctors then recommendedhim to get treatment abroad.

The Pakistan governmentallowed Sharif ’s travel for med-ical reasons but put the condi-tion that he submit an indem-nity bond as a guarantee that hewould return to the countryafter getting treatment. He,however, rejected the conditionand challenged it in courts.

Sharif was granted bail bythe Islamabad High Court onhumanitarian grounds in theAl Azizia case and by theLahore High Court in theongoing Chaudhry Sugar Millscase, in which he is a suspect.

In November, he wasallowed by the Lahore HighCourt to travel abroad fortreatment without any bond.

�� 3�(@�

Iranian President HassanRouhani on Friday slammed

the “irrational” withdrawal ofthe United States from themultinational nuclear deal onTehran’s nuclear programme, ashe met Japanese PrimeMinister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo.

Rouhani’s trip to Japancomes after deadly protestslast month over petroleumprice hikes in Iran, where theeconomy has been hit byWashington-imposed sanc-tions.

“I strongly condemn theUS for unilaterally and irra-tionally withdrawing” from thedeal, said Rouhani, whobecame the first Iranian headof state to visit Japan for twodecades.

“I hope Japan and othercountries will make efforts tomaintain this deal.” Rouhaniand Abe’s summit talks and adinner were scheduled to lastinto Friday evening. The twoleaders are not scheduled tobrief reporters after the talks.

The US re-imposed crip-pling sanctions on Iran in 2018after withdrawing from theinternational deal aimed attackling the Islamic Republic’snuclear programme.

Iranian governmentspokesman Ali Rabiei hasplayed down the mediationaspect of the trip, saying thevisit to Tokyo had “nothing todo with issues such as negoti-ations with America”.

However, he acknowledgedthat “our Japanese friends usu-ally convey messages or initia-tives, which we welcome... andseriously examine”.

As a key US ally that alsomaintains close diplomatic andeconomic ties with Iran, Abehas tried to build bridgesbetween the two rival powers.

Last week, Abe said hewould strive “as much as pos-sible to ease tensions” in theMiddle East, noting Japan’salliance with Washington and

“favourable relations” withTehran.

Abe travelled to Tehran inJune to try to ease tensionsbetween the United States andIran in the Gulf.

Japan was formerly a majorbuyer of Iranian crude butstopped purchases to complywith the US sanctions.

Abe is expected to explainto Rouhani Tokyo’s plans tosend two Japanese warships tothe Gulf of Oman to protectshipping there.

“This kind of policy isaimed at securing Japanesevessels’ safety,” said governmentspokesman Yoshihide Suga,adding that 90 per cent ofJapan’s crude oil imports comefrom the region.

Rouhani flew to Japanfrom Malaysia where he calledon Muslim countries at asummit to band together tofight US “economic terrorism”.

Osamu Miyata, head ofCenter for ContemporaryIslamic Studies in Japan(CCISJ), told AFP that Abewould find it difficult to steera path between US PresidentDonald Trump and Rouhani.

The American sanctions“are having a serious impact onevery aspect of Iran — people’sdaily life, the country’s finances,and inflation in importedgoods”, Hitoshi Suzuki, aMiddle East scholar at theInstitute of DevelopingEconomies (IDE-JETRO), toldAFP.

“It would be difficult tohave tangible achievementsfrom the Rouhani-Abe meetingthis time, but in the long-term, Japan can warn the USthat the current sanctions arehaving a serious negativeimpact,” added Suzuki.

“This could promptIranian domestic politics tomove in the opposite directionhoped for by the US — forexample, hawks leading Iran toresume nuclear development,or the emergence of an anti-democratic Iran.”

�� 0 '�-.

The much-awaited trial ofMumbai terror attack mas-

termind Hafiz Saeed beganhere on Friday with a witnesstestifying against him in theanti-terrorism court which alsoindicted the JuD chief in anoth-er case of terror financing,amidst intense internationalpressure on Pakistan to bringhim to justice.

The anti-terrorism court(ATC) Lahore indicted Saeedand three of his top aides HafizAbdul Salam bin Muhammad,Muhammad Ashraf and ZafarIqbal on terror financingcharges on December 11.

“The Counter TerrorismDepartment of Punjab Policeproduced a witness in the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Lahorewho testified against Saeedand his three aides in terrorfinancing,” a court official toldPTI after the hearing.

Saeed and his aides werebrought to the ATC undertight security and journalistswere not allowed to enter thecourt to cover the proceedings.

The court official also saidthat Seed was also indicted inanother case of terror financ-ing. ATC Judge ArshadHussain Bhutta framed thecharges on Saeed and orderedthe prosecution to producewitnesses in this case. Thecourt adjourned the hearing tillSaturday.

Since his indictment, theday to day hearing of the casewas halted because of the coun-try-wide strike of lawyers.

The lawyers were protest-ing on the arrest of their col-

leagues in the case of hooli-ganism at a hospital in Lahore.

Deputy Prosecutor GeneralPunjab Abdur Rauf had toldthe court that founder ofLashkar-e-Tabia (LeT) and oth-ers were involved in terrorfinancing and the CounterTerrorism Department ofPunjab police had “solid evi-dence”.

The CTD had registered 23FIRs against Saeed and hisaccomplices on the charges ofterror financing in differentcities of Punjab province andarrested him on July 17. He isheld at the Kot Lakhpat jail inLahore.

Saeed-led JuD is believedto be the front organisation forthe LeT which is responsiblefor carrying out the 2008Mumbai attack that killed 166people, including sixAmericans. The USDepartment of the Treasuryhas designated Saeed as aSpecially Designated GlobalTerrorist, and the US, since2012, has offered a USD 10 mil-lion reward for informationthat brings Saeed to justice.

The United States has alsowelcomed Saeed’s indictmentby a Pakistani court, urgingIslamabad to ensure a fullprosecution and expeditioustrial of the charges againsthim.

“We welcome the indict-ment of Hafiz Saeed and hisassociates,” said US actingAssistant Secretary of State forSouth and Central Asia Alice GWells in a tweet released a dayafter the indictment.

India and the US onThursday asked Pakistan totake “immediate and irre-versible action” to ensure thatno territory under its control isused for terrorism against othercountries and to prosecute theperpetrators of cross-borderterror attacks, including the2008 Mumbai attack by the LeTterrorists.

Saeed’s indictment followsafter growing internationalpressure on Pakistan to stopmilitant groups from collectingfunds in the country and totake immediate action againstthose still involved in militantactivities.

��& ��+'�� %� �&�� ;.)-!3

Clashes between Syrianregime forces and armed

groups in the country’s lastmajor opposition bastion havekilled more than 60 on bothsides in the past 24 hoursdespite UN calls for de-escala-tion, a war monitoring groupsaid Friday.

The Britain-basedSyrian Observatory forHuman Rights said 38 jihadistsand allied rebels had beenkilled in battles with regimeforces in the northwesternprovince of Idlib sinceThursday night.

The fighting near thejihadist-held town of Maaret al-Numan also killed 23 Syrianregime loyalists, theObservatory said.

Russian warplanes, mean-while, pounded areas aroundMaaret al-Numan and thenearby town of Saraqib with aseries of air strikes, accordingto the war monitor.

The flare-up triggered awave of displacement fromnearby areas, said an AFP cor-respondent there.

Yasser Ibrahim al-Dandalsaid he was fleeing with hisfamily to olive groves in north-ern Idlib, where they wouldsleep out in the open.

“Hundreds of rockets hitMaarat al-Numan,” he toldAFP. “The situation is verybad.”

The Idlib region, which ishome to some three millionpeople including many dis-placed by Syria’s civil war, iscontrolled by the country’s for-mer Al-Qaeda affiliate.

The Damascus regime hasrepeatedly vowed to take backcontrol of it.

Pro-government forceslaunched a blistering offensiveagainst the region in April,killing around 1,000 civiliansand displacing more than400,000 people from theirhomes.

�� ;.)A),?

The two-day India-Chinaborder talks between their

special representatives in NewDelhi will focus on delimitationof the border, boundary man-agement and a host of bilater-al and international issues, theChinese Foreign Ministry saidhere on Friday.

The Chinese delegationwill be led by its ForeignMinister Wang Yi, whileNational Security Advisor AjitDoval will head the Indianteam at the boundary talksbeginning on Saturday.

Wang, who is the desig-nated Special Representative ofChina, would hold the 22ndround of border talks withDoval on December 20-21,Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Geng Shuang toldthe media here.

“The SpecialRepresentative (SR) talks isthe main channel and animportant platform for ournegotiations and strategic com-munications,” Geng said.

The two countries, accord-ing to the practice, will hold themeetings in rotation, he said.

Last year the talks wereheld in China.

“The two SRs will followthe consensus of the two lead-ers, (Prime Minister NarendraModi, President Xi Jinping)and exchange views on delim-itation of the border, boundarymanagement and practicalcooperation to seek a resolu-tion,” he said.

“The two sides will alsoexchange views on bilateral

and international issues ofmutual interest,” Geng said.

The two officials held the21st round of talks at Chengduin China last year during whichboth sides resolved to “inten-sify their efforts to achieve afair, reasonable and mutuallyacceptable solution to theIndia-China boundary ques-tion at an early date,” a Ministryof External Affairs statementhad said.

“They underlined theimportance of approaching theboundary question from thestrategic perspective of India-China relations and agreedthat an early settlement of theboundary question serves thefundamental interests of bothcountries,” it had said.

The annual SR talks areregarded highly by both sidesas it is the highest official levelforum with a mandate to dis-cuss not only the solution to theboundary issue but also allother issues concerning thetwo countries.

The India-China border

dispute covers 3,488-km-longLine of Actual Control (LAC).China claims ArunachalPradesh as part of southernTibet while India contests it.

The border dispute, besidesa host of other issues, were dis-cussed between Modi and Xiduring their 2nd informal sum-mit at Mamallapuram inOctober this year.

After his summit meetingwith Modi at Mamallapuram,Xi said “we will seek a fair andreasonable solution to the bor-der issue that is acceptable toboth sides in accordance withthe agreement on politicalguiding principles”.

“We should carefully han-dle issues concerning eachother’s core interests. Weshould properly manage andcontrol problems that cannotbe solved for the time being,”he had said in a statement afterthe talks.

Xi also suggested that boththe countries should improvethe level of military and secu-rity exchanges and cooperation.

7 �C�� %��% ��*�� 9�� "� ��

"�� ,�2��

),*) +�'), �;�-*.-�3 0($�,��E�$�� #��

� ��' ��2� �� 3�� $ ��

��1��(�)()�(�2��(�� !�

��6��%�!��!��!�� ) ��A� ��1 ��

7 �� )& �� /��#��)%�� &��

* �� ,�� # ��(��+�� %�� !�� B��!!��)�%��

7�7$��'()�*+ ,-��"�� !��"#$�"%#&

��3��

��'��)�8��

�How would you describe The LongSong?

The Long Song is compelling, impor-tant and the way it’s told in this versionhas got some swagger and attitude that Ithink people wouldn’t otherwise expect.It is a three-part drama based on a bookadaptation about a very important peri-od of time in Jamaica — the end of theslave trade. It focusses on July and even-tually, becomes this bizarre love trianglebetween July, Robert (my character) andCaroline.

�Tell us about your character.Robert Goodwin arrives in Jamaica

after abolition of the slave trade and eman-cipation. In the story, he brings the newsof abolition. He is brought in as the newoverseer of the plantation during this peri-od, where the plantation owners werecompensated for the abolition of slaverywith money. He is there to bring this newsas a big change and as a promoter of equal-ity. But he learns very quickly that he isalso there to run a business. His values andbeliefs run up and hit hard into the factthat he is essentially a business owner andthe business needs to survive amid this bigchange. It’s this struggle that Robert isinvolved in as he falls in love too. Hence,it also gets very messed up.

He is somebody that has been underthe thumb of a very strict father for quitesome time — a god-fearing father. He sud-denly finds himself on an island, as ayoung man — a virgin, and meets awoman, whom he knows he shouldn’t fallin love with. His self-doubt is quite evi-dent throughout the series. But whenthings start going wrong for him on theplantation, you see the man crum-bling and falling apart. Theheavy weight of expec-tations and responsi-bility crushes him.

�How do you thinkthe audience willrespond to it?

I think it willbe a roller coasterfor the viewers. Ithink there will besurprises for peo-ple which unfoldwith certain thingsthat are portrayed.That’s the best thingabout it. It’s told in afresh way. Peopleband that phrase abouta lot when they’re talk-

ing about films and TV that it’s fresh. Andthis one is genuinely that. It’s a subject mat-ter that most people know about but has-n’t been told extensively.

�What did you do to prepare for therole?

Mahalia (Belo, director) gave me abook that is a verbatim diary of a plan-tation owner of that time. It’s about hisjourney from the moment he leavesEngland to when he arrives in Jamaica. It’squite remarkable what he wrote in thatdiary, including the view that he had ofhimself as a saviour of these people. Theignorance of these people is breathtakingbut the fact that still they seem to havegenuine love for each other is powerful.Even for him eventually. There are quitea few entries in the diary which show, inhis words, “they love him so much.”

�What have you learnt about thattime?

I never knew that after the abolitionof slavery and the emancipation, the com-pensation — actual money — was paidto the plantation owners by the Britishcrown. But not a penny was given to theworkers. They had nowhere else to go butthese slave villages where they had beenput. As Robert reveals in the piece, theycan’t stay in their homes unless they payhim rent — and they cannot pay rentunless they work on the plantation and

they pay them. But nothingreally changed for the slaves.There was only immensefrustration and helpless-ness later. They were work-

ing for wages that they hadto instantly hand back to the

same person. I never knewabout that. This is also some-thing that period dramas

teach you.It’s also very easy to

forget that these peoplewere not born there.They were broughtthere completelyagainst their will likebarrels of rum in shipsto an island. Theywere pulled out oftheir homes,brought there andforced onto anisland.

(The series airsevery Monday at 10pm on AXN.)

The first film Greta Gerwigsaw in a theater was Muppets

Take Manhattan. When it wasover, her parents momentarilycouldn’t find her. She had run tothe front of the theatre to put herhands on the screen. “I thoughtI could get into it,” Gerwig says.

As a filmmaker, Gerwig hasoften been in the frame or justoutside it. In 2012’s Frances Ha,which she co-wrote, she starredas a 27-year-old dancer fromSacramento gaining a foothold inNew York — an origin story notso unlike Gerwig’s own. Hersemi-autobiographical 2017 solo-directing debut, Lady Bird, waslike a Frances Ha prequel, set inhigh school in Sacramento abouta young woman with artisticambitions.

In her latest, Little Women,Gerwig has adapted Louisa MayAlcott’s 1868 novel about theMarch sisters, but Gerwig hasalso added meta dimensions out-side of the book. Jo March(Saoirse Ronan in the film), thebook’s aspiring writer was herselfa kind of stand-in for Alcott, whotweaked the character to suitaudience demands. Alcott mar-ried her off by the end but laterwished Jo had turned out “a lit-erary spinster.”

In Gerwig’s version, the sev-enth big-screen Little Women, Jobecomes a synthesis of the char-acter, of Alcott and of Gerwig,herself, stretching the struggle ofwhat it is to be a female writerfrom 19th century New Englandto present day. On a blusteryautumn day, Gerwig discusses themany layers of her Little Women.

� Every frame is so full of lifein Little Women. How did yougive it such vitality?

I didn’t want it to be beauti-ful at the expense of being real.But I did want it to feel like youwish you can jump inside and livein there or eat it. I remember try-ing to explain that to the gafferwho was like, “You want what?”I was like, “I want them to wantto eat it.” A lot of that was in prep.We spent a lot of time buildingshot diagrams and, with the pro-duction designer, the costumedesigner and my (director of pho-tography), plotting out exactly

how we were going to see every-thing and make it bursting withlife. And then, with the actors, Ihad two weeks of rehearsal, so Iwas able to spend a lot of timegetting their overlapped dialogueto be specifically correct. I want-ed it to sound cacophonous butI very much wanted it to be con-trolled. When I was rehearsingwith the girls, sometimes it wasfour people talking all at once, butsometimes it was eight people atonce. It was almost like an a cap-pella group. I could kind of startthem all at once. It was this com-bination of wanting it to feel richlike a painting but not nailed tothe floor the way a lot of periodpieces can feel heavy, almost likeyou can tell how expensive thelighting package was. I wanted itto feel like it was flying throughat the speed of life.

� Instead of following thebook’s narrative straight, youcrosscut between the Marchsisters’ adulthood and child-hood, lending the film the glowof memory.

When I was reading thebook, there was a kind of dou-bling of Louisa May Alcott, whowrote the book, and Jo March,who is the writer in the book. ButLouisa’s life was different than Jo’slife. And there’s this quality of: Isthat what happened or is thathow you wrote it? I think thattension is best expressed throughchildhood being something that’sin a snow globe, that you can’tquite get back to. That it’s height-ened in memory and maybe alsoslightly distorted. I like playingwith time in that way. Maybe thisis an odd reference, but inHemingway’s A Movable Feasthe’s writing it from the perspec-tive that it’s all gone, that marriagedidn’t work. What happens latercolours everything about that. I

wanted to give some ache to thisstory.

� There’s also a nice connectionbetween Frances Ha, whichmemorably had a scene of yourunning through New York.Little Women opens with Josprinting through the city.

I had come across in myresearch on Louisa May Alcottthis stuff that talked about her asa runner. She would run everyday through the woods ofConcord. I actually shot a bunchof footage of Saoirse runningthrough the woods but it didn’tend up fitting in the film, whichI’m so sad about. Kill your dar-lings, as they say. But I thought:how perfect. Louisa May Alcottloved running and I can do thisand it’s completely footnote-ableand it’s also exactly what I’vealways been interested in. It feltlike the most modern thing tocapture a woman faster than wethink they’re allowed to move.

� How would explain the rela-tionship you felt between your-self and Jo?

I was interested in makingsomething cubist and that hon-oured this kaleidoscope of

authorship. Part of what I want-ed to do with the constructionwas to find the author every-where — to find the author as Jo,to find the author as me, to findthe author as Saoirse. There’s allthis doubling of selves. It’s Louisawriting Jo. It’s me writing Louisawriting Jo. It’s Saoirse playing Joplaying Louisa playing my lines.There’s some communicationbetween the four of us. Thetranscendentalists — and not todraw too many connections thatare only, really, for me — werethinking that way. Walt Whitmansaid, “I contain multitudes.”

� If there was a distancebetween Alcott and Jo, yourcharacters seem closer to you.You’re living the life that theyaspire to.

Yes, maybe that’s true! Eventhough I’m getting to make films,which is all I’ve ever wanted todo, the deepest connection tomyself will always be with theperson who wanted to do that,not the person who’s doing it.And showpeople in general, youhave to build the castle againevery time. There’s that feelingthat there’s no guarantee that any-one will come. You’re a dream

machine, a smoke machine, sothere’s a feeling of: I don’t knowif any of this is real. I guess that’sjust to say I identify more withthe striver, still. And I still can’tbelieve that I get to do this at all.I feel like I’m getting to steal thesefilms, that somebody’s going totap me on the shoulder and say,“Excuse me, ma’am, can youplease come with us? You’re nota director.” I love it more than anyother thing I’ve gotten to do,every step of the way. I still feellike a young filmmaker eventhough I’m 36, even though I’vebeen making films in some wayor another for 15 years. It stillfeels like I’m at the beginning ofwhatever, hopefully, body ofwork I get to do.

� It’s hard to think of a film-making couple like you andNoah Baumbach, whoseMarriage Story is also one of theyear’s most celebrated films.You guys are like Agnes Vardaand Jacques Demy.

That’s the most lovely thinganyone’s said to me. Isn’t his filmbeautiful? He showed me a cut ofhis film when I was home forThanksgiving from shootingLittle Women. I just sobbed fortwo and a half hours. He was like,“What did you think?” and I saidit’s a masterpiece. He was like, “Iwas thinking of cutting...” And Isaid, “Shut up. We’re not gettinginto the details. It’s amazing.” It’sjust a wonderful time. It just sohappened that they all wenttogether.

� When you were making LadyBird, you said one male execu-tive asked if mothers anddaughters really talked thatway. That executive sounds a lotlike...

Dashwood (the gruff pub-lisher Jo visits, played by Tracy

Letts). She says, “I took care tohave a few of my sinners repent.”He says, “People want to beamused, not preached at. Moralsdon’t sell nowadays.” I couldhave been having that discussionwith an executive today. I wentthrough my own version of amale executive saying “Do moth-ers and daughters really talk likethis?” And Lady Bird not endingup with one guy, that was anoth-er thing. They were like, “I don’tunderstand. There are twoboyfriends and she doesn’t endup with either of them.” I was like,“Right. Because did you marrythe person you dated in highschool?” I will say with myscreenplay for Little Women, andhow I wanted to deal with theending that Louisa gave Jo, it wasnot a given that this would be anOK way to tell this story. Then Isaid, and luckily everyone agreedwith me: If I can’t do an endingshe would have liked 150 yearslater, then we’ve made noprogress. We’re having the samediscussion. If I can’t make it bethat the thing you need to see atthe end is that woman holdingher book, then I don’t want tomake the film. We’re in a betterplace. But we’re not in “the”place.

� In Little Women, you seem toplaying with those expecta-tions, not getting rid of thementirely.

I understand you want thekiss in the rain. I get it. I do too.But why do I need it? Why doesthat make me feel better? Andwhat’s that about? I’m not outsidethe thing that I’m pointing out.I’m very much in it. Even in LadyBird, I was like: I have to havethem go to the prom. I’ve seenhigh school films. You go to theprom. That’s not really what I’mdoing, but you have to have it.The nice thing about films isthere are tropes and there aregenres and with Little Womenthere’s so much shared iconogra-phy of this material, it allows youto play with it. To explode it andthen put it back together some-how.

(The film releases onDecember 25.)

C��

Can you recall Govinda’sSandwich where he juggleshis time between two

wives? Not only this but he alsoensures that the secret doesn’tspill out. Playwright RamanKumar’s Tera Kya Hoga Walia,presented by Felicity TheatreDelhi, is drawn on the same line.The phrase Tera Kya Hoga Kaliais the favourite of a thousandBollywood lovers as it is reminis-cent of one of the most lovedHindi blockbusters. Only thistime, it’s not Kalia but Walia. Bythe two above instances, youwould have got the drift that weare looking at something laugh-ter inducing.

Director Raman Kumar tellsus that this is a comedy of errorsabout a man trapped betweentwo wives. The plot unfolds acrazy roller coaster ride and theaudience will exclaim Tera KyaHoga Walia! “Even though theidea of the play resemblesSandwich, the storyline and thetreatment is very different. TikuTalsania’s presence is crucialenough to make a difference,”says he, who is well-known forSarhad Paar (2006), Saath Saath(1982) and Raahee (1987).

The narrative revolvesaround Aditya Walia (played byTiku Talsania) who has twowives and keeps them in seper-ate homes in the same city. Hejuggles his time between both —Pushpa (played by Delnaaz Irani)and Anjulika (played by HarleenKaur Rekhi) and tries to keepthem both equally happy and sat-isfied. Things turn topsy-turvywhen Walia meets with an acci-dent and has to spend a night inhospital. As luck would have it,both wives register a complaintabout their missing husband. Inthe process, two separate

addresses are registered at thepolice station for the missingAditya Walia. Thanks to the webof lies spun by Walia, things getcomplicated when cops fromtwo police stations start investi-gating the case.

The plot gets funnier andmore complicated when a topsmuggler from Hong Kongenters the city and the policedepartment is on high alert.They fear that the missing Waliawith two addresses is the samesmuggler and that’s when theheat is turned on. All hell breaksloose when both the wives cometo know about the existence ofeach other. “What follows is anunbelievable comic journey fullof unpredictable twists and turnsthat is sure to leave the audiencegasping for breath,” says thedirector.

He feels that theatre has seena complete transformation over somany years. The production,

marketing, presentation, sets andthe audience, of course, havechanged a lot. He says, “In fact,today we have come to terms withwhat is happening all around.Theatre and films are nothing buta reflection of society. Earlier, itused to be more about classics and

problems of the society. We stilltry to present that in our storiesbut it has also gone beyond that.More genres have come in. It’s notjust about social issues anymore.It’s more about the common mantoday — the problems in his life.”

Raman is somebody who

always tries to find a way to enter-tain his audience be it throughany genre. He has done manyserious narratives too but come-dy is something that he feelsdescribes him best.

“Comedy has taken the cen-tre stage. Theatre industry isalmost competing with cinematoday. People are dropping theirplans of going to the cinema. Ithas become convenient for themto watch films on their phones asthese usually appear either on TVor on OTT platforms within aweek. Theatre has become an out-ing for people. They do not mindtravelling long distances to watchthese live shows as they get toexperience something live andnothing can beat that. Theatre isno longer for the niche audience,”believes Raman.

(The play will be staged todayat 3 pm and 7 pm, and on Sundayat 11.30 am at KamaniAuditorium.)

�� +��

�� 53$3��:-$35

� ��

� �� " ��

�� "��"��;

'�4)3$ +/+3

��A �(�0�/*., ��=��% �� #�%��#��=�� =��A�#��;� 3. 4 2)2

%�3��

�3��)��?-.3 �?.-/)? ��0��4�� F��797��=��4��#��#��=��%�

� � � � � � � � � � � � �

/�� #�O�4��#�%��#��#��#��=��3��+��F�� $��#�� =��:��#�� #��-��#�:+#��%��

3��,��)�� L��M��$��)��)��)��)��=��#��)�F��%�=��)��#�� )��N�� #��

,.,.;, �,.�9; �,.59�7��,#")��#��:��#��=��%�� 3��=��+��)��I��#��+��=�� +�� =��+��#�� =�� )��#��:��

�3.,��,7,�,6�,)��%��=��#��+�� +��#=��#��=��%��#��=��)��N��%��)��#+��#��=��)��N��

7�7$��'()�*+ ,- ��

�� 3��

��(�� 3��

�� #��)N#��#�� =��#��+��#�� #�%��)�� #��#�I��+��#��

�,.5��#:9��5 9�5"5,��",�:9

�� !��"#$�"%#&

� What is the core idea of the showSeven Worlds, One Planet?

Looking and studying about animalhabitats and their conditions in sevencontinents looks like a very simple idea.But what surprises me is that we haven’tseen this approach before. But it’samazing. About 200 million years ago,all the continents were joined up,which broke apart and each of themwent through a separate journey. Eachone has its unique existing wildlife andit is great that we could tell the story ofeach of those continents to the people.

� Share some of your key takeawaysfrom the show?

One of the key things for me aboutthe series is the fact that we were find-ing new stories, new species, new loca-tions. One of the key things of any seriesis providing the audience with a con-tent that they haven’t seen before.People keep on watching the same kindof stuff and they get bored. The fact thatwe got so many new stories and success-ful shots is great. We are happy aboutthis as we even discovered a few newspecies. We have different stories fromdifferent continents that we will be shar-ing with the audience.

� What are your views on the diversewildlife and landscapes across theseven continents?

It is incredible. And what’s remark-able about the show is that it is able toshowcase this wonderful diversity of life

that exists across the continents. We areat the time now where many species areon the verge of extinction, which can bedue the climate change, poaching or lossof habitat. We have covered all these sto-ries in the series. What one can learnfrom it is about the amazing wildlife,which one should look after. We live inthe environment and we use naturalresources so we should make sure thatthey are also preserved carefully.

� How challenging has it been toshoot across contrasting weathers

and animal behaviour? Any anec-dote you wish to share...

It was incredibly challengingbecause animals don’t follow yourscript. You cannot plan because you willnot get the kind of behaviour you want.The animals wouldn’t know what youwant them to do but sometimes someshots will be that great that it would bebetter than what you were expecting. Soyou never know what shot you will getand how it will turn out to be. The entireshooting is very time consuming. Forexample, a five minutes sequence cantake five weeks to be shot but the moretime you spend filming in the wildlife,the better the sequence is.

We were filming in Antarctica,which is the most hostile continent andcertainly the coldest. It’s dry, windy andone of the most remote continents.Getting to Antarctica is very challeng-ing in itself. It took us six days of sail-ing across the roughest paths. The chal-lenges while shooting are numerous butthe reward is great. You get to see themost amazing locations and the mostamazing landscapes.

� Which continent according to youis doing its best to preserve ecosystemand what all can the rest learn?

What we are trying to do is to deliv-er a message through each show. We aretrying to talk about climate change andmany other environmental issues likethe increasing storms that have a detri-mental effect on the wildlife as the

chicks get blown off from their nestsand can’t get back. They can’t reunitewith their parents. In Africa, we havecovered a story where poaching isseverely affecting wildlife. In Australia,due to human intervention in someareas, there is increasing detrimentaleffect on the wildlife and as the result,many Australian species are becomingextinct. So we try and point out thesekind of issues but we don’t want all ofit to be negative. There are good sto-ries out there too — ones that couldencourage people to work towardssaving the environment and tell themthat it’s not too late to do something.We want them to realise that if we alldo our own bit, then we can make a dif-ference.

� The show premieres in India inJanuary. What’s your message to theaudience on the importance of natureconservation?

I want people to notice the mostincredible diversity of wildlife andalso at the fact that these shows are shotby the world’s best cameramen. Thebest director and top Hollywood musi-cal composers have created the musicfor the show, by which we can make outthe good quality of the show. I wantpeople to enjoy it as they will be look-ing at some new stories and I also wantthem to connect with the diversity andsave planet.

(The series will premiere on January13 on Sony BBC Earth.)

Iwish I could leave you my loveBut my heart, is a messMy days they begin with your name

And nights end with your breath.”~ Cold/ Mess

If, “it’s complicated” is a status, thensinger, song writer Prateek Kuhad certain-ly has the perfect lyrics to express it. Andit is not surprising then, that since his firstalbum, In Tokens and Charms (2015), hehas been gradually tapping into the chordsof one millennial after another.

The rise and rise of Prateek in the indiescene, besides the lyrics, can partially beattributed to the way we consume musicnow. He offers an insight. “People are get-ting a lot of exposure through internetwhich makes them open up to new kindsof music. Earlier choices were dominatedby Indian film industry, like Bollywood.But now tastes have changed drastically.Moreover, this has also been influenced bythe fact that people have more money andtravel more making them more experi-mental. There are a lot of factors for thechanging music tastes,” says he.

Even though his music is certainly notmainstream, he has not sung for the Hindifilm industry but also written for it.Prateek, whose Kho Gaye Hum Kahanfrom the film Baar Baar Dekho (2016) wasa huge hit, says, “I think it is completelydifferent industry. Indie is a lot of liveshows and performances. Writing forBollywood is different because you aredoing it for certain characters or for a par-ticular scene or movie but when I am writ-ing for myself, I can write whatever I wishto.”

That has certainly reflected in hissongs which are not just about stringingtogether words that rhyme but seem toconvey a lived emotion. “Sometimes the

ones that I do write for my own recordscome from my own experiences in life butit is not black and white. There is a littlebit of reality in the songs but then thereare some sections that I add to those songs.At the end of the day, it should be a goodsong,” he says.

Prateek, who is from Rajasthan, waspursuing Maths and Economics at NewYork University when he decided to takea break and pursue music. “I was alwaysinto music which I pursued alongside mystudies during school and college. It hadbeen playing on my mind that I shouldmaybe try to give it a serious shot and seehow it goes. Initially, I decided to pursue

music for one year and then it went well,”says the 29-year-old singer whose familydidn’t have any apprehensions about himswitching careers.

But Prateek was not remotely connect-ed with the music industry and given thefact that he wanted to be a part of the indiescene, the going could not have been easy.“I think everything was a bit of a challenge.I wasn’t a very good musician. I didn’tknow anyone or where to start. I had tofind people to work with as well as gigs topay the bills and find ways to make moneyand records. Everything was a learningprocess,”

But he caught the attention of the lis-teners with his music which is primarilyinfluenced by Americana or what is calledAmerican folk music. “My core songwriting is still very folksy and Americanacontinues to influence me whether it issubject matter, the use of acoustic guitar,the kind of melodies and how I write mychords. I’ve also been been influenced byartists like Bob Dylan as well as a lot ofclassic rock like Pink Floyd and LedZeppelin. From India, I particularly likeLucky Ali, Euphoria as well as Strings fromPakistan. So, you can see my songs haveinfluences from all over the world,” he says.

The influences show in the choice oflanguage as well, for he writes and singsin both Hindi and English, which is some-thing of a rarity. But Prateek shrugs it offby saying, “I would say that for me bothlanguages were a part of my growing upyears. I communicated in both equally. Sowriting in them came to me naturally. Itwas not an effort. I have listened to somuch Hindi and English music whilegrowing up and both songs have affect-ed me in the same way. So, I just decid-ed to do both. And why not?”

The reason why his songs pulsate

among millennials is because Prateek hastapped into their emotions. He carefullyconsiders the idea, pauses and says, “Allof us are very emotional people. When Iwrite, I end up filtering in a lot of my lifeexperiences which come through and theyend up being emotional. It is not neces-sarily intentional to write a song like that.”

Prateek is currently on his WinterTour which is his most ambitious one tilldate and includes 30 shows across eightcountries, including USA, Canada, UK,France, Germany, Belgium, TheNetherlands, Spain and India which heInstagrammed to his 1,88,000 followers.The video of the one at Pune, where a fullmoon paid a perfect compliment to hisRaat Raazi , elicited goosebumps.However, for him, it is not the awards thatmatter or the number of Instagram follow-ers. “A lot award ceremonies are bogus andInstagram is also very superficial and I donot care about fame either but what I wantto do is spread my music. If there are morepeople listening to it and if they discov-er, like and love it, I would be very happy.I would want to spread it,” he says.

When you ask him about his journey,one can hear Prateek hum for a while andthen pause before saying, “I was verymediocre as a singer, song writer, per-former and producer. Sometimes when Ilisten to songs from In Tokens andCharms, my first English album, I thinkthe vocal delivery really sucked. I am a lotbetter as a singer, song writer and produc-er. I still have along way to go and I amhappy that I am progressing.”

Looking at the future, he says, “I willfinish this tour and focus on doing it inthe best way. So I am ready to close thisyear and head into the next.”

Yes, we are waiting to hear more than100 Words from him.

Sushant Singh recentlymade headlines on being

dropped as anchor of thepopular crime show SavdhaanIndia, soon after he joined ananti Citizenship AmendmentAct (CAA) rally at the AugustKranti Maidan in Mumbai.The actor said that he doesn’texpect too many celebrities ofthe film industry to join thenationwide protests but headded that it is the youth of acountry that brings revolutionand not celebrities.

“I went to August KrantiMaidan to show solidaritywith people who are afraidbecause of this new Act. Thereis a lot of confusion and thereare a lot of questions in peo-ple’s minds regarding it,including me. We are trying toraise our voices so that thegovernment does somethingabout it. It was a peaceful andwonderful protest. All of themwere raising their voice for thecountry. I felt so proud of myfellow Mumbaikars. MumbaiPolice also handled the situa-tion really well,” said Sushant.

Thousands of protestershad taken taken to the streetsof Mumbai against the CAA

on Thursday, and convergedat August Kranti Maidan,where Mahatma Gandhi in1942 had asked the British toquit India.

About many A-ListBollywood stars refrainingfrom commenting on theissue, he said, “When you arein a certain position, there isan absolute pressure of takinga stand on certain matters.People give you a lot of loveand you are what you arebecause of their love. So theylook at you with a certainhope and feel that you will saysomething about the issue.”

Sushant added, “I want totell people that everyone hastheir viewpoint and we allneed to respect each other’sviews. Celebrities who aretalking against it (CAA), theyare with you (people), soappreciate that. We shouldn’thave any problem withcelebrities who are notexpressing their opinions.Whenever a revolution hashappened — not just in India— it hasn’t been brought bycelebrities. It has been broughtby the youth of the country,whether it was our fight for

freedom or anything else.Now, too, the youth is oppos-ing the government throughpeaceful protests.”

Asked about the termina-tion of his contract with theStar Bharat show, SavdhaanIndia, Sushant said, “I don’tknow what the exact reason isbut people are speculating. Iwent to the protest onDecember 16 in the evening,and in the midnight I got themessage that I am no longera part of the show. They did-n’t give me a proper explana-tion. Before that, I didn’treceive any mail or even havea word with them. I havetweeted today that the state-ment issued by Star Bharat isabsolutely untrue and I haveproof. I will file a complaintabout this in CINTTA (Cine& TV Artistes’ Association).”

Sushant Singh was asso-ciated with show as a hostsince 2012. He will soon beseen in the web seriesRangbaaz Phirse, which alsostars Jimmy Sheirgill, SharadKelkar, among others. Theshow airs on Zee5 fromDecember 20.

C*��+

/�� 534)):�:-83%�� #3/$/ #34435

0��56/��

5�� "�� "� ��"�,�# ��

��$��33� 0.P ,*.-��%��=��:�� #� ��

��=�=��

�� ;��3. 4 2)2

5��&��

�� *�'

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopphas responded to suggestionsthe Club World Cup doesn’t

matter by insisting today’s finalagainst Flamengo represents a “mas-sive opportunity” for the Anfieldclub.

Klopp’s team have taken timeout from their Premier League titlepush to come to Qatar for a compe-tition that is viewed differently inEurope to the rest of the world.

While Flamengo fans have trav-elled to Doha in large numbers toback their team’s bid to become thefirst South American winners since2012, few Liverpool supporterswould rather see their side lift theClub World Cup than win a firstEnglish title in 30 years, or retain theChampions League.

“It is not an advantage or a dis-advantage, but the situation is differ-ent. Flamengo got sent here with aclear order to win it and to comeback as heroes, and we got told tostay at home and play the CarabaoCup,” Klopp said at Friday’s pre-finalpress conference at the KhalifaInternational Stadium.

His comments came afterLiverpool sent out a team of acade-my players for their League Cupquarter-final against Aston Villa onTuesday, losing 5-0, while theirsenior squad travelled to Doha forWednesday’s 2-1 semi-final winover Monterrey of Mexico.

“The view in Europe is com-pletely different to the view in therest of the world, but that view haschanged for me since I was here.

“For us it is really special now.We are here so we want to give it aproper try. Yes we feel the tension inthis situation but we feel it’s a mas-sive opportunity.”

While for Flamengo the gamecomes at the end of a successful sea-son in which they won the Braziliantitle and the Copa Libertadores,Liverpool are not even halfwaythrough their Premier League cam-paign.

After today’s final they willreturn home to prepare for the tra-ditionally busy festive period inEngland, with next Thursday’s tripto second-placed Leicester City thefirst of three league games in eightdays and a Merseyside derby FA Cuptie against Everton following on

January 5.“If Flamengo goes back and they

win they will have a proper party,and we play Leicester City. For us it’sdifferent but who cares, that’s howit is. It’s the most important in themoment because we arehere,” Klopp added.

��Liverpool may have

won the European Cupfor the sixth time in June,but they have never wonthis competition, losingthe final to Sao Paulo in 2005.

They also lost to Zico’s Flamengoin the old Intercontinental Cup in1981, Bob Paisley’s team featuringthe likes of Kenny Dalglish andGraeme Souness being beaten 3-0 inTokyo.

“We are making this big for our-selves because this is important, a

chance to put our names in the his-tory of the club,” said Liverpool’sBrazilian goalkeeper Alisson, whowatched as a 14-year-old fan whenhis team, Internacional, beatBarcelona to win the trophy in2006.

“I think there were more than10,000 Flamengo supporters here fortheir last game but it’s not just big forthem, it is big for us also.”

Klopp is hopeful Virgil vanDijk will be able to play after illnesskept the Dutchman out of theMonterrey game, meaning JordanHenderson partnered Joe Gomez incentral defence.

He was also full of praise fortheir Portuguese coach, Jorge Jesus,who has had a remarkable impact inhis six months in charge.

“He has obviously done anincredible job since he has beenthere. I think if there were an elec-tion at the moment he could becomepresident of Brazil, even if he’s fromPortugal,” the German joked.

“The work he’s doing in Brazil,and that he did before in Europe,gives him the opportunity to go toa European club again if he wants,

but maybe Rio is such a nicecity that he wants to stay.”

Under Jesus, Flamengo —Brazil’s best supported club —have won a first Brazilian titlein a decade and the CopaLibertadores was their firstsince 1981.

“We are coming off agreat season and we are two similarteams in terms of how we haverecovered our prestige internation-ally,” said the 65-year-old, althoughhe indicated that the comparisonsbetween the clubs should stop there.

“When a European team gets tothe final of the Club World Cup, theyhave the best players in the world.”

�� !��"#$�"%#& -)%4��&

�� Manchester United manager OleGunnar Solskjaer on Friday said that French WorldCup-winning midfielder Paul Pogba will not leavethe club in the January transfer window.

The 26-year-old — persistently linked with RealMadrid — has only played two matches for Unitedsince the end of August due to an ankle injury andspeculation has been growing that he would not playfor the club again.

Pogba, whose return was delayed by a mysteryillness despite him being seen dancing at his broth-er Florentin’s wedding last weekend, admitted in thesummer he was looking for a new challenge, but thatwill not be in January according to Solskjaer.

“Paul is not getting sold in January, no,” he toldreporters at a press conference ahead of tomorrow’sPremier League match at Watford.

“I understand the interest. Paul is a fantastic play-er and a charismatic personality and we’re happy thathe is here.”

Pogba has missed 26 of a possible 28 matchesfor club and country this autumn and United havemissed his midfield dynamism.

Solskjaer also denied suggestions that Norwaystriker Erling Braut Haaland was on his way to Unitedfor talks over a possible January move to Old Trafford.

There were reports in his homeland that the RedBull Salzburg player had boarded a flight from theNorwegian city of Stavanger to Manchester on Fridaymorning.

The Norwegian, son of former Leeds andManchester City player Alf-Inge Haaland, himselfa former international team-mate of Solskjaer, hasscored 28 goals in 22 matches, with five hat-tricks,including eight in six in the Champions League.

He met with Solskjaer in Salzburg last week, butthe United manager was adamant Haaland’s travelplans did not involve a return meeting in Manchester.

“I don’t think he’s en route here, to be fair,” hesaid. “Not through me anyway! “He is not comingto Manchester. I know the boy and I know his friendsand he’s on a Christmas holiday.

“You can’t fly anywhere from Stavanger withoutgoing via somewhere else.” AFP

�� 0�,*�,

Belgian international TobyAlderweireld signed a new

contract with Premier League sideTottenham Hotspur which willkeep him at the club until 2023.

The 30-year-old centraldefender, capped 98 times and apivotal figure in Belgium’s run tothe 2018 World Cup semi-finals,has been at Spurs sincesigning from AtleticoMadrid in 2015.

“We are delightedto announce that TobyAlderweireld hassigned a new con-tract with theClub until 2023,”read a statementform the club.

“A mainstay ofour back line, Tobyplayed in 50 of our58 matches last sea-son, starting 12 of13 in our run to theChampions Leaguefinal. So far thisterm, he’s started16 of our 17 gamesin the Premier

League.”Alderweireld agreeing to a

new contract is a boost for Spursmanager Jose Mourinho, who waskeen to sign him last year when hewas in charge of ManchesterUnited.

“I’m very, very happy,”Alderweireld told Spurs TV.

“I’m honoured to play for thisclub and I’m a small piece of get-

ting to the next level in acouple of seasons.

“I think this is just thebeginning of somethingbig and something very

exciting“There is no place

I can be happier.“I couldn’t see

myself playing foranother team.

“It’s like I’m living some sortof dream.”

His agreeing a new deal mayspur on his compatriot and fellowdefender Jan Vertonghen to alsoagree a new contract.

The 32-year-old, who willbe out of contract in the closeseason, is free to talk termswith European clubs in thenew year.

��4!,)�'

Robert Lewandowskimay be facing off

against the Bundesliga’sstingiest defence, butthe Bayern Munichstriker has everyreason to think hewill find the netwhen Wolfsburgvisit today.

Lewandowskihas been in vintageform this season in the2019-20 Bundesliga, scoring 19 goals.

In 16 matches this season, Wolfsburg have conced-ed just 16 goals — three lower than Lewandowski’s cur-rent total as the winter break approaches.

If history is any guide, however, the tally is set torise higher given the Pole’s knack for finding the netagainst the Wolves, who are officially Lewandowski’sfavourite Bundesliga opponent.

In 18 games against the green and whites,Lewandowski has found the back of the net 21 times,including his remarkable five goals in nine minutesagainst them in September 2015.

That feat was all the more impressive because hehad come off the bench with Bayern behind 1-0.

When he scored Bayern’s opener against Freiburgin midweek, Lewandowski overtook club legend andformer coach Jupp Heynckes to move to third on theall-time Bundesliga goal-scoring list with 221.

Lewandowski told the Bayern Munich website hewas flattered, if not a little embarrassed, to be in suchillustrious company.

“It’s a great honour to overtake a legend like that.I’m really happy about it,” Lewandowski said.

“I’m almost a bit sorry as he was my coach and weworked very well together.”

With more than a goal per game this season,Lewandowski is not far off the all-time record of 40 goalsMueller set playing for Bayern in 1971-72.

Now third on the list, Lewandowski is still wellbehind Klaus Fischer in 268 and Mueller’s remarkabletotal of 365, although considering the Pole’s reputationas the ‘fittest man in football’, it would take a brave pun-dit to rule him out.

Wolfsburg started the season with a bang and werethe final undefeated team in the Bundesliga before hit-ting a rough patch and losing four out of five games fromNovember until mid-December.

They have bounced back recently, beating then lead-ers Borussia Moenchengladbach and drawing with anin-form Schalke over the past week.

�� 0�,*�,

Mikel Arteta has been given thejob of reviving the fortunes

of Arsenal after he was appointedhead coach of the English PremierLeague side on Friday.

The 37-year-oldSpaniard, who playedmore than 100 gamesfor the Gunners between 2011-16,signed a three-and-a-half yearcontract and ends a three-year stayas Pep Guardiola’s assistant atManchester City.

Arteta, who will be officiallypresented to the press later at17:00 GMT, replaces compatriotUnai Emery, who was sacked lastmonth.

The former midfielder, whowill sit in the stands for today’smatch against another of his for-mer clubs Everton, faces a massivechallenge, with Arsenal havingwon just once in 12 matches —

beating West Hamunder interim manag-er Freddie Ljungberg.

“This is a hugehonour. Arsenal is one of thebiggest clubs in the world,” Artetasaid in a statement.

“We need to be competing forthe top trophies in the game andthat’s been made very clear to mein my discussions with Stan andJosh Kroenke (owner and clubdirector, respectively) and thesenior people from the club.

“We all know there is a lot ofwork to be done to achieve that butI am confident we’ll do it.

“I’m realistic enough to knowit won’t happen overnight but thecurrent squad has plenty of talentand there is a great pipeline ofyoung players coming throughfrom the academy.”

Head of football Raul Sanllehisaid the club had interviewedother candidates before opting topursue Arteta — his appointmenttook longer to announce due tofinalising compensation to Cityreported to be £2 million.

“We met several top-class can-didates and Mikel stood out toevery single one of us as the per-fect person for us,” he said in a club

statement.“Mikel understands Arsenal

Football Club and what it meansto our fans around the world. Welook forward to him getting downto work and bringing the best outof our squad as we work to get ourseason back on track.”

Emery believes Arteta will beup to the task.

“He (Arteta) really is pre-pared to make that next jump,”Emery told the BBC.

“He has been at Arsenalbefore, he’s been in the PremierLeague and he has been workingwith Pep Guardiola.

“I do believe this is a gooddecision and I would also like it tobe a good decision.”

�� 4)0 ,

Inter Milan will have torely on Romelu Lukaku

for their goal threat todayas the Serie A title chal-lengers aim to move levelwith Juventus withoutstriking revelationLautaro Martinez.

The pair have struck18 of Inter’s 32 leaguegoals this season asAntonio Conte has ledthem into their first seri-ous title in nearly a

decade, but BelgianLukaku could bepartnered by teenagerookie SebastianoEsposito, who is setfor his first Serie Astart following aseries of promisingappearances from thebench in recent weeks.

Two draws in a rowhave put the breaks onInter, with DusanVlahovic’s last gaspequaliser for Fiorentinalast weekend allowing

Juve to stay level on pointsbefore moving threeahead on Wednesday.

A late booking in thatdraw for ArgentineMartinez, who is report-edly a target for bothBarcelona andManchester City, looks tohave given Esposito hisbig chance for an Interside missing key playerslike midfielders Stefano

Sensi and NicoloBarella.

An incredibleRonaldo leap gaveMaurio Sarri’s side a2-1 win at

Sampdoria earlier in theweek as they prepare fortomorrow Italian SuperCup clash with Lazio,who made it a three-waytitle race on Monday withtwo added-time goals tobeat Cagliari by the samescore.

�� 4 *-)*

The first Clasico stalematein 17 years means

Barcelona will likely finish2019 top of La Liga if theybeat Alaves today, despite adistinctly underwhelmingopening half of the season.

Barca have lacked pur-pose and clarity in recentmonths and three defeats inthe league is already morethan they endured in theentirety of their title-win-ning run last term.

“Grey, but surviving —Barcelona are still theleader,” read the headline inMadrid daily AS onThursday.

None of their rivals havebeen able to take advantage,not even Real Madrid, whowere the better team forlong spells of a scrappy con-test on Wednesday but failed

to make it count.Madrid have failed

to take their chances inthe title race too andare still level on pointswith Barcelona and twobehind on goal differenceafter missing opportunitiesto jump above their rivalslast weekend and again in

midweek.It might be harsh

to judge draws away atMestalla againstValencia and then

Camp Nou as slip-ups, yeta Barcelona team whichhas been in second gear andwas without an injuredLionel Messi for several

weeks is still sitting top ofthe pile.

If Barcelona have beendisappointing, they mightalso have greater potentialfor improvement.

Messi is fit and firingagain, Antoine Griezmannhas shown signs he is find-ing his feet and Frenkie deJong seems to get betterevery week.

If a stumbling Barcacan set the pace at the top,perhaps they could pullaway if they hit their stride.

Sevilla are ahead ofAtletico, although defeat athome to Villarrreal and adraw away at Osasunachecked an otherwise excel-lent start under JulenLopetegui. They faceMallorca on today.

"��') 4��5),+�3��'��5��!�6 77�!��6,��3�6��.9623�:

"�� ') ��'�)��'��5��!�6 87�!��

1,�9�33:

��(��') &��'��5��!��7 87�!��3.;�69.� �.9623�:

�� ;!�*' ;)

Maria Sharapova insisted on Thursdaythat she still has the “internal fire and

motivation” to compete professionally,despite the lingering shoulder problem thatkept her out of action for long stretches thisseason.

The former world number one was onlyable to play in eight events in 2019, contest-ing just 15 matches in total.

The Russian five-time major championmade her first on-court appearance since herUS Open first round exit in August in anexhibition in Abu Dhabi on Thursday,where she fought back from a break downin each set to defeat Australia’s AjlaTomljanovic 6-4, 7-5.

“Any chance that I get to come out andplay competitively is a really good daybecause I just haven’t played a lot,” Sharapovatold reporters at the Mubadala WorldTennis Championship.

“Definitely I’m coming out of thismatch happy that I was out there again andit can only get better from here.”

While she wouldn’t reveal too manydetails about the state of her shoulder injury,she did say she “felt fine” after her clash with

Tomljanovic, while keeping her expectationsin check having been sidelined for nearlyfour months.

Sharapova plans on travelling DownUnder for next month’s Australian Open butconfirmed she will not be playing theOlympic Games in Tokyo.

Now down at 131 in the world rankings,Sharapova insists she hasn’t consideredretirement from the sport just yet, and realis-es injuries are part of every athlete’s life.

�#�� <��2 ��)�� #��(��0��#��

�� B�� #��#�� B��- ��1 ��

Q2)-?)0�/ $�" -3��3- ),),?�3�* @�L�,�-)* @M�$��/.�/)00$..�'�/�)3�0��($� 33'.�.,*��/.�' 2.�,�,./�),A!-@��,�.-,$��/.�"0 @.*�,�/.*,.$* @� ,*,�/�)3N$��-)* @�$�/.� -.�!$),?�. �''�!-��-�-.��2.-@ ,*�3'.,�/.�/)00�$../'��/.�� ,�0),.�!"),��), 0�K

G $��)��

��(�(��)��)��,�))

�'��(��') ��)��'��5��!�9 77�!��6,��3�6��.9623�:

�39$#6%9-5��-3��%@3$-��%#�1%,@-8>4:

$�3,��)�)(��3�(�/(� ��)2:��

4�"� ��#� �� 5��)��/ �%&��)8�

"�� 5� ��'�)��3��& � ��8 ��& ��>�� /��8 ��

�� !��"#$�"%#& -)%4��'

�� '��

Hosts Karnataka took the first innings lead againstUttar Pradesh, as their Elite Group B game ended

in a draw.After bundling out Uttar Pradesh for 281 in the

first innings, courtesy a valiant half-century by all-rounder Shreyas Gopal (58), Karnatka posted 321 onthe board to take a slender 40-run lead.

In their second essay, Uttar Pradesh resumed thefourth and the final day at 29/1.

Uttar Pradesh had to bat the entire day to salvagea draw and opener Almas Shaukat (103 not out) scoredan unbeaten ton to ensure that the visitors don’t endup losing the game.

One-down Madhav Kaushik (45 off 83 balls) andtwo-down Aksh Deep Nath (38 off 75 balls) gave per-fect support to Shaukat, who was cynosure of eyes atthe KSCA Hubli cricket ground.

Meanwhile, in a cliffhanger at Indore, Baroda wonagainst Madhya Pradesh by one wicket, whileSaurashtra thrashed Railways by an innings and 90runs.

Their skipper Jaydev Unadkat, who was bagged byIPL franchise Rajasthan Royals for �3 crore, celebrat-ed the moment by taking six wickets and played a keypart in the team’s win at Visakhapatnam.

�� '�� Ongole: Medium pace duo of KV Sasikanth andCheepurapalli Stephen returned with five wickets eachas Andhra Pradesh notched up a comprehensive nine-wicket win over Delhi in their Group A match onFriday.

Sasikanth claimed three wickets on Friday to go

with his two on day 3, while Stephen, who broke Delhi’sback with four wickets on Thursday, picked upanother one as the visitors folded for 169.

Resuming Delhi’s second innings at 89 for 6, LalitYadav went on to complete his fifty but once he wasout in the 61st over, the visitors were all out in 72.2overs, leaving Andhra just 17 runs to win on the finalday.

Andhra then overhauled the target, scoring 20 forone in 2.3 overs with Manish Golamaru hitting 15 notnot, which was laced with three fours.

In another Group A match at Nagpur, Vidarbhainflicted an innings and 60 runs defeat on Rajasthanafter dismissing the visitors for 190.

Aditya Sarwate claimed four wickets for 35, whileAkshay Warkhare took three and Akshay Karnewar

accounted for two as Rajasthan’s second inningsfolded in 77.5 overs after resuming at 12 for 3.

$<)�'��Debutant Digvijay Deshmukh’s gritty 83

while batting at number 8 went in vain as Jammuand Kashmir beat Maharashtra by 54 runs on the

final day of their Group C match.In his debut first class match, the 21-year-old

Deshmukh was the lone Maharashtra batsman whomade a semblance of a fight as his 83 came from just71 deliveries from which he hit seven boundaries andfive sixes but his effort came too late in the day andhe did not get support from the other end.

Set a big target of 364 for a win, Maharashtraresumed at their overnight score of 192 for 5, requir-ing 172 more runs, but they were bowled out for 309in 86.1 overs in their second innings.

In other matches of the group, Chhattisgarhthrashed Uttarakhand by an innings and 65 runs whileOdisha also outplayed Services by an innings and 31runs.

�� 4.0;�!-,.

Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell onFriday smashed a scintillating 83 off 39

balls for Melbourne Stars in the Big BashLeague, a day after being picked by Kings XIPunjab for a whopping �10.75 crore at the IPLauction.

Returning to action after taking a break tofocus on his mental health, Maxwell once againshowed just why he is considered one of themost devastating batsmen in T20 cricket as hesmashed seven boundaries and five sixes dur-ing his stay at the crease. The 31-year-oldalso equalled his fastestever fifty (23 balls) onway to the blisteringknock at the MetriconStadium to help histeam post 167 for 7against Brisbane Heat.

Kings XI Punjabtook to Twitter to hail thesuperb innings of Maxwell,who will be returning to thefranchise after three years.

“A BIG SHOW from the‘BIG SHOW’. @Gmaxi_32 wasat his lethal best as he led fromthe front for his side in @BBLscoring a breathtaking 83 offjust 39 balls,” Kings XI Punjabwrote on his Twitter handle.

�� Doha: ��#�� #�� $��%��#�4��=��#��N�5�% �� ?��#��)��N��9��H��)��F��3��6�+��+�� ?�� 5% � �� #�� &�� $�� #� �� #�� %�� 66� ��#�� 3�&��3�%�� #��#��:#��L��,��6�7�� 66M��:��?��$��

� � � �� London:/��,��-��,��=�� 3"N��$��.�=�� $��#�� #�� 4�� #�=��%� "�� @�� +3�� F�� =��3��H��N��=�� .�� -� �� N�� +�:�� #��=��;�=��4�%��;��5��#��

� �� Johannesburg: $�� #��+��=��#��3�#=��;��#��=��;�:�� *��3�� .� ��#��J"��=��#��3�#=��;��#��#��3��#�� .� �� ?�� :�� #�� =��3��K��$ ��#��'��#��#�� =� �� =�� #� �� #N��#�� %�� =��

�� Mumbai: 3�� "��#�?�� +�� )�� #� ��#�� !+��/��=�� $�� A��:��J?��%� �� !�� =�� $�� !��/��#��A��K��;��)��#��3��#��+�� #�� "�� !+�� =��H�� $�� $�� !+��)��!+��R�#=�=��!+��,��R��!+��=��=� ��

� �� New Delhi: ��#�� )�� =�� -��*��N��$�#��%��=�� !��+�5� ��+�� #�� %��$�#��5��6��2��+"��N�P)� � �� *�� R�� !��+�5� ��+E��#��'��6�9+=�� 66� �� 3�� #�� $�#�� =�� =�� 5� �� '�� %��%��

�� Lausanne: ��R��#%��(��I��;��E��#��&��66��#�� S� �� =�� 3�� $�� F�� -2��*2+

�5.B"9�

��4!4; )

Mumbai Indians headcoach MahelaJayawardene on Friday

said Jasprit Bumrah’s recoveryfrom a back injury is well ontrack and he expects the Indianpace spearhead to feature in theupcoming limited-overs homeassignments against Sri Lanka orAustralia, early next year.

Bumrah, who recentlybowled at the Indian team’s nets,is nearly back to his full fitnesshaving recovered from a stressfracture and the former SriLanka great feels the pacer canstart playing by January (whenSri Lanka and Australia will behere) or latest by February.

Asked about Bumrah’sprogress, Jayawardene toldreporters, “It’s good. He(Bumrah) has started training.He was in Vizag(Visakhapatnam) bowling to theguys (Indian players). MI staff isclosely monitoring his progress.”

As long as Bumrah andHardik Pandya (recovering fromback surgery) start playing byJanuary and February.

“Hardik (Pandya) is (also)making good progress…(I’m)quite happy, hopefully they willplay the Sri Lankan series (earlyJanuary), or may be theAustralian series (although) I amnot sure how quickly they will becoming through,” Jayawardenesaid.

“It (all) depends on themedical staff, but as long as theyare playing in January- February,it’s fine,” he added.

While injuries are part andparcel, Jayawardene reiteratedthat Bumrah is “more valuable”for the national team thanMumbai Indians.

“Injuries happen and it isabout how best they recover andthese two (Hardik and Bumrah),I guess more than for MumbaiIndians, they are more valuablefor Indian national team.

“It is important we manageall that.. (I’m) quite happy andeverything is going right for us,”the former Sri Lankan skipperadded. Bumrah is recoveringfrom a back injury. WhilePandya, who successfully under-

went a back surgery in London,is training at the MCA facility insuburban Bandra-Kurla com-plex.

Jayawardene was also effu-sive in his praise for the Indianpace spearhead, who is also theleading bowler for MI. Bumrahhas picked 82 wickets from 77matches for the four-time IPLchampions.

However Jayawardene does-n’t want to put too much pres-sure on Bumrah alone.

“I mean, that is always goingto happen, but we don’t put lotof pressure on Jasprit, saying thathe has to be (always there). Wehave created a very good bowl-ing unit around him (but) hedelivers.”

The batting star of yester-years feels that Bumrah has a lotmore to offer. “You have to real-ize he is still young — Jasprit —so there is lot more to come fromhim. He is brilliant, he is learn-ing — every day he is evolving(which) is great.”

�� 0�,*�,

Dominic Bess andCraig Overton will

join the England squad inSouth Africa due to the ill-ness that has affected threekey bowlers, the Englandand Wales Cricket Board(ECB) announced on

Friday.The Somerset duo will

act as cover with pace duoStuart Broad and JofraArcher laid low and spin-ner Jack Leach also unableto take part in their tourmatch on Friday withSouth Africa A.

“Dominic Bess and

Craig Overton have beencalled up to the Englandmen’s Test squad as coverahead of the first Teststarting on Boxing Dayagainst South Africa atSuperSport Park,Centurion due to illness inthe camp,” read the ECBstatement.

“Bess and Overton aredue to arrive at the team’sbase in Johannesburg onSaturday morning.”

Overton, 25, whoplayed the last of his fourTests against Australia inthe summer, will providepace back-up for Archerand Broad, while Bess willoffer another spin option ifcounty colleague Leachdoes not recover.

The trio and two back-room staff are sufferingform flu-like symptoms.

��4� ��Former India open-er Gautam Gambhir believeshis former IPL franchiseKolkata Knight Riders doesn’thave enough back-up optionsand the team managementcould have gone for all-rounders in the players’ auctionto provide the squad moredepth.

The Kolkata franchise paida whopping �15.50 crore forCummins. Besides, they alsospent big on England’s WorldCup-winning captain EoinMorgan (�5.25 crore) andIndian spinner VarunChakaravarthy (�4 crore).

“If you look at the squad asa whole, there is no backup forAndre Russell, Eoin Morgan,Sunil Narine who is a one of akind player. If Eoin Morgan suf-fers an injury, the team has nomiddle order overseas bats-man,” Gambhir said whilespeaking at Star Sports CricketLive show.

“The management could

have gone for a Mitchell Marshor Marcus Stoinis who wouldhave given more depth to thesquad, so you have to hope allthese players are there for theentire series.

Gambhir said KKR don’thave the bench strength todeal with any injury crisis in thetop order.

“If Pat Cummins suffers aninjury, there is a replacementwith Lockie Fergusan but withthe top order there is noreplacement for Kolkata KnightRiders,” said the stylish left-han-der, who led KKR to two titles

in 2012 and 2014.Gambhir hoped that

Cummins will justify his heftypay check by single-handedlywinning KKR a few matches.

“The positive part aboutPat Cummins is that you can

expect him to take wicketswith the new ball.

“I hope he plays all thematches and makes the teamwin 3-4 matches single handed-ly because he has been boughtfor such a high amount.” PTI

�� ( - �')

Lanky paceman ShaheenShah Afridi took a maid-en five-wicket haul to lead

Pakistan’s fightback after SriLanka gained a crucial lead inthe second Test in Karachi onFriday.

The 19-year-old pacemantook 5-77 and was ably support-ed by new-ball partnerMohammad Abbas (4-55) tokeep Sri Lanka down to 271 ona tricky National stadium pitch.

That gave the visitors a leadof 80 runs over Pakistan’s firstinnings total of 191. By the closeof second day’s play Pakistanhad wiped off 57 of the deficitfor no loss but still trail by 23runs with all 10 wickets in handand three days to play.

Opener Abid Ali — whobecame the first batsman everto hit a debut hundred in bothTest and one-day internation-al in the first match inRawalpindi — was unbeaten on32 and Shan Masood on 21 notout.

The first Test in Rawalpindiended in a draw due to badweather, leaving both teams tofight it out for the series win inKarachi.

Sri Lanka fought throughDinesh Chandimal who made74 and Dilruwan Perera whomade a fighting 48 batting atnumber nine. With his teamwobbling at 80-5 in the morn-ing, Chandimal built partner-ships of 67 with Dhananjaya deSilva (32) for the sixth wicket,37 for the seventh wicket withNiroshan Dickwella (21) andthen another 51 with Perera forthe eighth. Chandimal wasfinally dismissed by part-timespinner Haris Sohail, caught atbackward point after he mist-imed a cut. He hit ten bound-aries in his 143-ball knock.

The extended two-and-a-half hour first session belongedto Pakistan who took three earlywickets after Sri Lanka resumedat 64-3.

It were Abbas and Shaheenwho rattled the Sri Lankan bat-ting.

Abbas had nightwatchmanLasith Embuldeniya caught in

the slip for 13 before left-armer Afridi dismissed AngeloMathews, also for 13.

De Silva, who scored acentury in the first Test, battedwith grit to frustrate Pakistanand take Sri Lanka to 170-6 atlunch.

Shaheen broke the stand byluring De Silva into hookingstraight into the hands of deepsquare-leg fielder Abbas, whoheld a running catch. Pereraalso added an invaluable 36 forthe ninth wicket with VishwaFernando to increase SriLanka’s lead before Shaheentook the last two wickets inthree balls.

Shahen’s previous best of 4-64 came in the Centurion Testagainst South Africa earlierthis year.

Perera hit six boundariesand a six in his 84-ball stay.

The Test series — part ofthe ongoing World Test cham-pionship — is the first inPakistan since a militant attackon the Sri Lankan team bus in2009 suspended internationalcricket in the country.

�)/� &��%��

*�� # ��1�� !�� +� ��)� %�� $��D�� )*

�'�� 2�(��*�)(��3��(*��+3*�� &��3+�� (�0( 3 �

BCCI President SouravGanguly on Friday assert-

ed that Jasprit Bumrah’s fit-ness evaluation will be doneat the National CricketAcademy after it was specu-lated that the Rahul Dravid-led body is not keen to con-duct the test in Bengaluru.

“I am not aware of theissue. But Indian players willhave to go back to NCA andwe will make sure it’s comfort-able and logistically easier,”Ganguly told reporters.

He was responding to areport that Dravid haddeclined Bumrah’s request fora fitness test at the NCA.

It was said that the formerIndia captain is miffed withBumrah’s decision to under-go rehabilitation under privatetrainers instead of the ones

from NCA.“NCA has to be the first

and final point forInternational cricketers. It’s aplace for Indian cricketers.Everyone has to go throughNCA,” asserted Ganguly.

“They play cricket all overthe places year long. We willalso try and see whether NCAphysios can come and helpJasprit in Mumbai. We willkeep the monitoring underNCA. We want to make surethere’s best people with NCA,”he added.

Ganguly recently visitedNCA and held discussionswith Dravid, who wasappointed the head of crick-et there in July this year.

“There’s huge hope fromRahul. He’s been a tremen-dous player. You will get per-fection and commitment. Wewill sort it out,” he said.

� �� #1��

�� !��!�!�� <� +'�E)��

T� ��=��#��%��F)��)�� ;��)� "��$�� ?�� %�� ##��L� �M��=��#�� :�� +��?�� =�� #�� #�� #��F�� =��J3�� =��)��=�� #�� =�� %��K� ?�� 3�� 4$("�� #�#=�� =�� %��=��

)�� '��0��

2�� "�� !��

$ .�� "��

:D� � �� E��/� �� #�

33,�� %�� %6��&�- ��:A�632$#6�43->,�36��#�>22�#-�8$::�#:�C$�5)%�)��)�� BCCI PresidentSourav Ganguly has justifiedthe whopping price for whichPat Cummins was bought bythe Kolkata Knight Riders(KKR), saying it was becauseof the “high demand” for theleading Australian pacer thatsaw him bag a jackpot at the2020 IPL auction.

“No, I don’t think(Cummins’ price being toohigh). It has a lot to do with thedemand. Especially these smallauctions bringing players in goafter go. Ben Stokes became apart of this small auction and

that’s why his value went off theroof of 14crore,” Ganguly said.

Cummins had previouslyplayed for KKR in the 2014season. He played just onematch that year.

“KKR on this hard, greenpitch at Eden where there’space and bounce for the fastbowlers. I think there was acompetition between DelhiCapitals and KKR till the last,and Delhi Capitals gave upafter a certain point (�15crore). So, I think it’s aboutsupply and demand all thetime,” he added. IANS

5� � �� +� �% �� !�� )*

$�2�') � ;<��)(��%��8=��'��5��!��7 77�!��3.;�9��.�.9623�:

?TPRTQhSPh Pab^]Qh]XVWcX]3T[WX - Daily Pioneer

Documents