ˇ-˘ 0 1˛2 + - -+ . *+ ,˘$# &, / ˙ 8+. 57 5!*85/6+4 ... · agency early this week. ......

16
T he Centre and States are headed for a major con- frontation on the implementa- tion of the National Population Register (NPR). After Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal and Left-led Kerala Governments refused to implement the NPR approved by the Union Cabinet last week, the Congress- ruled States too are set to reject it in its existing format. Launching a fresh offensive against the Modi Government, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi likened the NPR and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) to demoneti- sation, and said these exercis- es are a “tax” on the poor, who will suffer the same way they did after the note ban in November 2016. A senior Congress leader told The Pioneer that the party- led State Governments would not implement the NPR since it seeks to extract details sim- ilar to the NRC. The Congress leadership has questioned the very motive of the Government to seek details like declaration of “date and place of birth of both parents” for the first time in the NPR forms. Sources said party has asked its Chief Ministers to reject the NPR. The Congress Governments in States have already criticised the contro- versial CAA and NRC that led to mass mobilisation and protests across the country during the last fortnight. A formal announcement is likely to be made when the party conducts flag marches across the country for its “Save India, Save Constitution” on Saturday coinciding with the grand old party’s foundation day. Then Minister of State for Home in the UPA Government Ajay Maken on Friday charged the Centre with working on the NRC across the country in the garb of the NPR. Home Minister Amit Shah has clarified that there is no link between the NPR and the NRC. “NPR is register of pop- ulation, NRC is register of cit- izens. There is no link between the two and the two have dif- ferent processes,” Shah said in an interview with a news agency early this week. Maken sought to buttress the point by citing that the NPR forms are seeking information like mobile numbers of all family members and driving licence details which had not been sought when the NPR was last conducted in the 2010-11 by the UPA Government. Maken also rejected the Government’s contention that these details were to be shared voluntarily and not mandato- rily. “The NPR forms have an ambiguous ‘if available’ clause. Anybody who does not share these details would run the risk of his citizenship being deemed doubtful,” Maken explained to The Pioneer. Asserting that the NRC has always been on the BJP’s agenda, Maken pointed out that way back in 2003 when the NDA was in power it had brought out an amendment in the Citizenship Act seeking to make registration of every cit- izen compulsory. “When the Congress came to power in 2004, there was a pilot project carried out in a union territory with a small population of 3.1 million. We junked it, though the BJP had sought to implement it across the country, as it was found that less than half of the residents could produce valid docu- ments. Most of them were poor who had no means to be in possession of documentary proof of citizenship,” the Congress leader pointed out. In the last NPR, data was collected on 15 criteria. This time data on 21 points will be collected. Continued on Page 4 S evere cold wave conditions continued unabated in sev- eral parts of north and central India on Friday with Delhi breaking a 22-year-old record. The minimum temperature was recorded at 4.2 degrees Celsius, three notches below normal in Delhi. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicts some relief in the region from December 31 onwards. Severe cold wave conditions have been recorded for 14 con- tinuous days so far, surpassing 13 continuous days in 1997. According to the IMD, from December 29-30, the wind direction will change from northwesterly to easterly, which is likely to reduce cold wave. In its daily weather report, the IMD said due to the per- sistence of cold northwesterly winds in the lower levels over northwest India and other favourable meteorological con- ditions, “cold day to severe cold day conditions” are very likely over many pockets of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, north Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh for the next two days. North-East and central India has been reeling under a spell of severe cold wave con- ditions over the last week. The IMD also predicted snowfall in middle and high hills from December 31 to January 2. The IMD said a fresh west- ern disturbance is very likely to affect the western Himalayan region from December 30 night onwards and this will bring rain and thunderstorm in isolated pockets of north, northwest and central India. “Dense fog at isolated pockets is also very likely over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, north Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh during next three days and over north Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim and Odisha during next two days and over northeastern India during next 4-5 days and abate thereafter,” it said. Under the western distur- bance, major parts of northwest and central India are likely to experience fairly widespread rainfall accompanied with hail- storm at isolated places during December 31-January 1, it said. Continued on Page 4 T he country’s commercial capi- tal on Friday witnessed two massive rallies at two historic venues — August Kranti Maidan and Azad Maidan — in favour of and against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) respec- tively. With the BJP putting up an impressive show of strength in sup- port of the CAA and the Joint Action Committee (JAC) for Social Justice staging a numerically effec- tive protest against the law. With no let-up in the protests against the CAA and the National Register for Citizens (NRC), the BJP — operating under the banner of “Samvidhan Sanman Manch” — held a large rally in support of the CAA at the August Kranti Maidan on a day when the JAC for Social Justice — a body of activists, stu- dents and social groups — flexed its muscles against the CAA and the NRC in Azad Maidan. Friday’s was the third protest organised by various bodies against the CAA and the NRC in the metropolis in the last fortnight, while the BJP-affiliated organisa- tions have organised so far two ral- lies — including the one held on Friday — in support of the CAA. Though the protest organised by JAC for Social Justice was not of the mammoth scale as the one held at the August Kranti Maidan on August 19 when several Bollywood celebrities had turned up, Friday’s rally at Azad Maiden drew a large number of people from various sections of society. Continued on Page 4 J ust after Friday namaz, the national Capital witnessed multiple peaceful protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Scores of people gathered at Jor Bagh, Jama Masjid, Uttar Pradesh Bhawan and Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) to mark their protest. Meanwhile, to maintain law and order situation in the city, the Delhi Police on Friday morning imposed Section 144 at Seelampur, sub-divisions of Connaught Place in New Delhi district and at several locations in south-east, north and south districts. Police also carried out flag march at north-east Delhi’s Seelampur, Jafrabad, Welcome and Mustafabad areas which had witnessed violence on December 17. Adequate police force from adjoining districts and 15 com- panies of paramilitary forces were deployed in the north-east district. The Delhi Police also used drones to keep a vigil on the situation. “We have been conducting flag march in the northeast dis- trict along with the members of ‘Aman Committee’ to ensure that law and order remains in control. We have also been appealing to the people to help police maintain peace,” said Ved Prakash Surya, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), north-east. Continued on Page 4 T he Mig-27 fighter jets, which played a crucial role during the 1999 Kargil War, bid adieu to the Indian Air Force on Friday after 35 years of active service. These jets “Bahadur” flew their last sor- tie at Jodhpur airbase before getting decommissioned. Air Marshal SK Ghotia, Chief of South Western Command, who was present at the event, said, the plane has been at the frontline and proved its worth in the Kargil War. Jodhpur airbase had the squadron of seven MiG-27s and they participated in the final fly-past there. The IAF also tweeted a poem on the emotional event and said it salutes the mighty MiG-27 for its yeoman service to the nation. #AdieuMiG27 Her targets met. Her promises kept. And all her duties done, On she goes. All haloed and pretty. Into the setting sun. IAF spokesperson Anupam Banerjee, who flew missions in MIG-27 during the Kargil War, described the moment as very emotional. The last fleet of the MiG- 27 was escort-landed by the Sukhoi Su-30, followed by the traditional water cannon salute, officials said. To mark this his- toric occasion, a team of Surya Kiran aircraft put on an air show with an acrobatic display in various formations. These swing wing Mig-27 jets played an important role strafing high-altitude targets on mountain sides during the Kargil War. These helped the Army to climb these heights as the Pakistanis till then were dominating. In fact, the IAF lost one MIG-27 during those mis- sions when Flight Lieutenant K Nachiketa, who was flying one jet, had to eject after his engine failed after a hit by ground fire. He was captured by the Pakistanis and returned to India some days later. After being inducted, as many as 165 MiG-27s were assembled at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) with a small number signifi- cantly upgraded jets entering service from 2006 onwards. It is these jets which were decom- missioned. Older variants of the MiG-27, including the MiG-23 have already stopped operating. The MIG-27 weighing about 20 tonnes performed exceptionally well at low alti- tudes and carried out gun, bomb and missile attacks. The GsH-6-30 gun of the jet remains the most powerful cannon ever installed on an IAF fighter, capable of spewing out a whopping 4,000-6,000 rounds per minute. Continued on Page 4 T he ceasefire violations from Pakistan have more than doubled as compared to last year’s figure, mirroring the tension between the two neigh- bours. Pakistan has regularly violated ceasefire on the 750- km long Line of Control (LoC), especially after August 5 when Article 370 was abrogated. Till date this year, more than 3,200 violations have taken place along the LoC with Pakistan trying to domi- nate and push in terrorists during the firing. The viola- tions figure for the last year is 1,610. Moreover, since August 5 more than 900 violations took place, officials said here on Friday. On the current situation on the LoC, they said the Pakistan Army is keeping the border “hot’ by relentless firing in sectors, including Aknoor and Poonch in Jammu region, and Uri, Keran, Gurez and Tangdhar in Kashmir region. They also admitted the fir- ing is unlikely to come down in the coming days as Pakistan after having failed to foment trouble in the Kashmir Valley following the abrogation of Article 370 is resorting to vio- lations in an effort to dominate. Given the topography of the LoC, Pakistan is in advan- tageous position militarily in Poonch and Rajouri sectors. Continued on Page 4 A mid tight security arrangements, with drones keeping an eye from the sky, the Friday prayers passed off peacefully in Uttar Pradesh with no untoward incident reported from anywhere after last week’s anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests that left 19 dead. “The entire State was peaceful,” Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police OP Singh told reporters in Lucknow. The State was placed under a thick security cover with deployment of central paramilitary forces in sensitive areas. As a precautionary measure, Internet services which were resumed after nearly a week, were suspended again in over 20 of the 75 UP districts, including Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli and Agra to check rumour-mon- gering, officials said. Drones were also used to keep a vigil, particularly in areas where violence had broken out last week after Friday prayers. Protesters had hurled stones at policemen and set vehicles on fire. Reports from Moradabad, Amroha and Hathras districts said the juma namaz was offered at vari- ous mosques and the congregations dis- persed peacefully. In Lucknow, a heavy deployment of paramilitary force personnel was seen out- side the historic Tiley Wali Masjid in the Old City area. In Ajmer, a large number of Muslims, including khadims of the Ajmer dargah, took out a protest march and burnt an effigy of Deewan Zainul Abedin Ali Khan, the spiritual head of the dargah, accusing him of misleading Muslims on the issue of the amended Citizenship Act.

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Page 1: ˇ-˘ 0 1˛2 + - -+ . *+ ,˘$# &, / ˙ 8+. 57 5!*85/6+4 ... · agency early this week. ... Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, north Rajasthan and Uttar ... 27 was escort-landed by the Sukhoi

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The Centre and States areheaded for a major con-

frontation on the implementa-tion of the National PopulationRegister (NPR). After MamataBanerjee-led West Bengal andLeft-led Kerala Governmentsrefused to implement the NPRapproved by the Union Cabinetlast week, the Congress- ruledStates too are set to reject it inits existing format.

Launching a fresh offensiveagainst the Modi Government,former Congress chief RahulGandhi likened the NPR andthe National Register ofCitizens (NRC) to demoneti-sation, and said these exercis-es are a “tax” on the poor, whowill suffer the same way theydid after the note ban inNovember 2016.

A senior Congress leadertold The Pioneer that the party-led State Governments wouldnot implement the NPR sinceit seeks to extract details sim-ilar to the NRC. The Congressleadership has questioned thevery motive of the Governmentto seek details like declarationof “date and place of birth ofboth parents” for the first timein the NPR forms. Sourcessaid party has asked its ChiefMinisters to reject the NPR.

The CongressGovernments in States havealready criticised the contro-versial CAA and NRC that ledto mass mobilisation andprotests across the countryduring the last fortnight.

A formal announcement islikely to be made when theparty conducts flag marchesacross the country for its “SaveIndia, Save Constitution” onSaturday coinciding with the

grand old party’s foundationday. Then Minister of State forHome in the UPA GovernmentAjay Maken on Friday chargedthe Centre with working on theNRC across the country in thegarb of the NPR.

Home Minister Amit Shahhas clarified that there is nolink between the NPR and theNRC. “NPR is register of pop-ulation, NRC is register of cit-izens. There is no link between

the two and the two have dif-ferent processes,” Shah said inan interview with a newsagency early this week.

Maken sought to buttressthe point by citing that the NPRforms are seeking informationlike mobile numbers of allfamily members and drivinglicence details which had notbeen sought when the NPR waslast conducted in the 2010-11by the UPA Government.

Maken also rejected theGovernment’s contention thatthese details were to be sharedvoluntarily and not mandato-rily. “The NPR forms have anambiguous ‘if available’ clause.Anybody who does not sharethese details would run the riskof his citizenship being deemeddoubtful,” Maken explained toThe Pioneer.

Asserting that the NRChas always been on the BJP’sagenda, Maken pointed outthat way back in 2003 when theNDA was in power it hadbrought out an amendment inthe Citizenship Act seeking tomake registration of every cit-izen compulsory.

“When the Congress cameto power in 2004, there was apilot project carried out in aunion territory with a smallpopulation of 3.1 million. Wejunked it, though the BJP hadsought to implement it acrossthe country, as it was found thatless than half of the residentscould produce valid docu-ments. Most of them werepoor who had no means to bein possession of documentaryproof of citizenship,” theCongress leader pointed out.

In the last NPR, data wascollected on 15 criteria. Thistime data on 21 points will becollected.

Continued on Page 4

�+����'� ��� 456�75.8�

Severe cold wave conditionscontinued unabated in sev-

eral parts of north and centralIndia on Friday with Delhibreaking a 22-year-old record.The minimum temperature wasrecorded at 4.2 degrees Celsius,three notches below normal inDelhi. The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) predictssome relief in the region fromDecember 31 onwards.

Severe cold wave conditionshave been recorded for 14 con-tinuous days so far, surpassing13 continuous days in 1997.According to the IMD, fromDecember 29-30, the winddirection will change fromnorthwesterly to easterly, whichis likely to reduce cold wave.

In its daily weather report,the IMD said due to the per-sistence of cold northwesterlywinds in the lower levels overnorthwest India and otherfavourable meteorological con-ditions, “cold day to severe coldday conditions” are very likelyover many pockets of Punjab,Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi,north Rajasthan and UttarPradesh for the next two days.

North-East and centralIndia has been reeling under aspell of severe cold wave con-ditions over the last week. The

IMD also predicted snowfall inmiddle and high hills fromDecember 31 to January 2.

The IMD said a fresh west-ern disturbance is very likely toaffect the western Himalayanregion from December 30night onwards and this willbring rain and thunderstorm inisolated pockets of north,northwest and central India.

“Dense fog at isolatedpockets is also very likely overPunjab, Haryana, Chandigarh,Delhi, north Rajasthan andUttar Pradesh during next

three days and over northMadhya Pradesh, Bihar,Jharkhand, sub-HimalayanWest Bengal, Sikkim andOdisha during next two daysand over northeastern Indiaduring next 4-5 days and abatethereafter,” it said.

Under the western distur-bance, major parts of northwestand central India are likely toexperience fairly widespreadrainfall accompanied with hail-storm at isolated places duringDecember 31-January 1, it said.

Continued on Page 4

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The country’s commercial capi-tal on Friday witnessed two

massive rallies at two historicvenues — August Kranti Maidanand Azad Maidan — in favour ofand against the CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA) respec-tively. With the BJP putting up animpressive show of strength in sup-port of the CAA and the JointAction Committee (JAC) for SocialJustice staging a numerically effec-tive protest against the law.

With no let-up in the protestsagainst the CAA and the NationalRegister for Citizens (NRC), theBJP — operating under the bannerof “Samvidhan Sanman Manch” —held a large rally in support of theCAA at the August Kranti Maidanon a day when the JAC for SocialJustice — a body of activists, stu-dents and social groups — flexedits muscles against the CAA andthe NRC in Azad Maidan.

Friday’s was the third protestorganised by various bodies againstthe CAA and the NRC in the

metropolis in the last fortnight,while the BJP-affiliated organisa-tions have organised so far two ral-lies — including the one held onFriday — in support of the CAA.

Though the protest organisedby JAC for Social Justice was notof the mammoth scale as the oneheld at the August Kranti Maidanon August 19 when severalBollywood celebrities had turnedup, Friday’s rally at Azad Maidendrew a large number of peoplefrom various sections of society.

Continued on Page 4

������������� 456�75.8�

Just after Friday namaz, thenational Capital witnessed

multiple peaceful protestsagainst the CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA).Scores of people gathered at JorBagh, Jama Masjid, UttarPradesh Bhawan and JamiaMillia Islamia (JMI) to marktheir protest.

Meanwhile, to maintainlaw and order situation in thecity, the Delhi Police on Fridaymorning imposed Section 144at Seelampur, sub-divisions ofConnaught Place in New Delhi district and at severallocations in south-east, northand south districts.

Police also carried out flagmarch at north-east Delhi’s

Seelampur, Jafrabad, Welcomeand Mustafabad areas whichhad witnessed violence onDecember 17.

Adequate police force fromadjoining districts and 15 com-panies of paramilitary forceswere deployed in the north-eastdistrict. The Delhi Police alsoused drones to keep a vigil onthe situation.

“We have been conductingflag march in the northeast dis-trict along with the members of‘Aman Committee’ to ensurethat law and order remains incontrol. We have also beenappealing to the people to helppolice maintain peace,” saidVed Prakash Surya, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), north-east.

Continued on Page 4

����� 456�75.8�

The Mig-27 fighter jets,which played a crucial role

during the 1999 Kargil War, bidadieu to the Indian Air Forceon Friday after 35 years ofactive service. These jets“Bahadur” flew their last sor-tie at Jodhpur airbase beforegetting decommissioned.

Air Marshal SK Ghotia,Chief of South WesternCommand, who was present atthe event, said, the plane hasbeen at the frontline andproved its worth in the KargilWar. Jodhpur airbase had thesquadron of seven MiG-27sand they participated in thefinal fly-past there.

The IAF also tweeted apoem on the emotional eventand said it salutes the mightyMiG-27 for its yeoman serviceto the nation.

#AdieuMiG27 Her targets

met. Her promises kept. And all her duties done, On she goes. All haloed and pretty. Into the setting sun. IAF spokesperson Anupam

Banerjee, who flew missions inMIG-27 during the Kargil War,described the moment as veryemotional.

The last fleet of the MiG-27 was escort-landed by theSukhoi Su-30, followed by thetraditional water cannon salute,officials said. To mark this his-toric occasion, a team of SuryaKiran aircraft put on an airshow with an acrobatic displayin various formations.

These swing wing Mig-27jets played an important role

strafing high-altitude targetson mountain sides during theKargil War. These helped theArmy to climb these heights asthe Pakistanis till then weredominating. In fact, the IAF lostone MIG-27 during those mis-sions when Flight Lieutenant KNachiketa, who was flying onejet, had to eject after his enginefailed after a hit by ground fire.

He was captured by thePakistanis and returned to Indiasome days later.

After being inducted, asmany as 165 MiG-27s wereassembled at HindustanAeronautics Limited (HAL)with a small number signifi-cantly upgraded jets enteringservice from 2006 onwards. Itis these jets which were decom-missioned. Older variants ofthe MiG-27, including theMiG-23 have already stoppedoperating.

The MIG-27 weighingabout 20 tonnes performedexceptionally well at low alti-tudes and carried out gun,bomb and missile attacks. TheGsH-6-30 gun of the jetremains the most powerfulcannon ever installed on anIAF fighter, capable of spewingout a whopping 4,000-6,000rounds per minute.

Continued on Page 4

����� 456�75.8�

The ceasefire violations fromPakistan have more than

doubled as compared to lastyear’s figure, mirroring thetension between the two neigh-bours. Pakistan has regularlyviolated ceasefire on the 750-km long Line of Control (LoC),especially after August 5 whenArticle 370 was abrogated.

Till date this year, morethan 3,200 violations havetaken place along the LoCwith Pakistan trying to domi-nate and push in terroristsduring the firing. The viola-tions figure for the last year is1,610. Moreover, since August5 more than 900 violations tookplace, officials said here on

Friday.On the current situation on

the LoC, they said the PakistanArmy is keeping the border“hot’ by relentless firing insectors, including Aknoor andPoonch in Jammu region, andUri, Keran, Gurez andTangdhar in Kashmir region.

They also admitted the fir-ing is unlikely to come down inthe coming days as Pakistanafter having failed to fomenttrouble in the Kashmir Valleyfollowing the abrogation ofArticle 370 is resorting to vio-lations in an effort to dominate.

Given the topography ofthe LoC, Pakistan is in advan-tageous position militarily inPoonch and Rajouri sectors.

Continued on Page 4

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Amid tight security arrangements, withdrones keeping an eye from the sky,

the Friday prayers passed off peacefully inUttar Pradesh with no untoward incidentreported from anywhere after last week’santi-Citizenship (Amendment) Actprotests that left 19 dead.

“The entire State was peaceful,” UttarPradesh Director General of Police OPSingh told reporters in Lucknow.

The State was placed under a thicksecurity cover with deployment of centralparamilitary forces in sensitive areas.

As a precautionary measure, Internetservices which were resumed after nearlya week, were suspended again in over 20of the 75 UP districts, including Ghaziabad,

Bulandshahr, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar,Shamli and Agra to check rumour-mon-gering, officials said.

Drones were also used to keep a vigil,particularly in areas where violence hadbroken out last week after Friday prayers.Protesters had hurled stones at policemenand set vehicles on fire. Reports fromMoradabad, Amroha and Hathras districtssaid the juma namaz was offered at vari-ous mosques and the congregations dis-persed peacefully.

In Lucknow, a heavy deployment ofparamilitary force personnel was seen out-side the historic Tiley Wali Masjid in theOld City area.

In Ajmer, a large number of Muslims,including khadims of the Ajmer dargah,took out a protest march and burnt aneffigy of Deewan Zainul Abedin Ali Khan,the spiritual head of the dargah, accusinghim of misleading Muslims on the issue ofthe amended Citizenship Act.

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Delhi braved another severecold day on Friday with

minimum temperature record-ed 4.2 degree Celsius, lowest ofthe season, the RegionalWeather Forecast Unit for(RWFU) Delhi stated on Friday.

Dr Rajender Jenamani,MeT Scientist, PalamObservatory, said that Delhiwill witness cold day to severecold day in next two days.

“Dense fog in isolatedpockets very likely in night andmorning hours.,” he added.Notably the mercury may dipfurther on the weekend, RWFUfor Delhi said.

According to MeT, themaximum temperature willfluctuate between 14-15 degreeCelsius and minimum tem-perature will oscillate between4 and 5 degree Celsius. MeThas also predicted heavy rainand thunderstorm activitieson the New Year eve.

Meanwhile, Delhi whichhas been witnessing the longestDecember cold spell since1997, recorded a high of 13.4degrees Celsius, which was

seven notches below normal.The air quality was record-

ed in the very poor category(373) at 4 pm, primarily due tolow wind speed, high humidi-ty and cold weather.

The MeteorologicalDepartment on Thursday saidthe Delhi-NCR region isexpected to record its second-coldest December since 1901.

“The mean maximumtemperature for December wasless than 20 degrees Celsiusonly in 1919, 1929, 1961 and1997,” an IMD official said.

In December this year, themean maximum temperature(MMT) till Thursday was 19.85degrees Celsius. It is expectedto dip to 19.15 degrees Celsiusby December 31, he said. “If ithappens, it will be the second-coldest December since 1901.December 1997 recorded thelowest MMT of 17.3 degreesCelsius,” the official said.

Since December 14, mostparts of the city have witnessed14 consecutive “cold days” or a14-day “cold spell”. December1997 saw a 13-day cold spell.

After 1992, Delhi has hadcold spells only in four years -- 1997, 1998, 2003 and 2014.

“Severe cold day and cold day” conditions are pre-dicted till December 29. Arelief is expected next week dueto a change in the wind direc-tion.

According to the IMD, acold day is when the maximumtemperature is at least 4.5 notch-es below normal. A severe coldday is when the maximum tem-perature is at least 6.5 degreesCelsius below normal.

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Delhi Metro RailCorporation (DMRC)

celebrated the 11th anniver-sary of its Metro Museumwith awareness campaign #Nevergiveup to prevent sui-cide. Further, an exhibitionon suicide prevention’ wasalso organized on Friday.This #Nevergiveup campaignis an initiative launched by

Delhi Metro Rail Corporationto spread awareness on suicideprevention.

The museum was set up inthe year 2008 and after whichit received a special attractionfor visitors and commuters ofDelhi Metro over the pastdecade. The event was inau-gurated by the chief guest of theceremony, Veerbala.

“With the passing time, theMuseum has also been thevenue for various events and

initiatives taken up for childrenby the CorporateCommunication Departmentof DMRC,” said the spokesper-son of DMRC.

On the occasion of its 11thanniversary, the Delhi Metro

Museum conducted a series ofactivities at the Metro Museumlocated at Patel Chowk MetroStation. More than 30 girl chil-dren from a NonGovernmental Organization(NGO) - Sarthak Prayas were

invited to visit Metro Museumand take part in the 11thanniversary celebrations.

“The children visited theMetro Museum and wereinformed of the history ofDelhi Metro. A Nukkad Natak

by professional artists wasalso organised for the chil-dren. Following this, thechildren performed culturalactivities.

The chief guest alsoadministered a pledge to thechildren to stay positive andhelp those in distress. Tospread the message, takeawaycards with positive messageswere kept at the exhibition,which can be collected by thevisitors of Metro Museum.

Marking the 11thanniversary, DMRC alsolaunched the new souveniritems of Metro Museum.Following this, the new edi-tion of ‘Metro MuseumDigest’ was presented to thechief guest and other guestsby Anuj Dayal, MetroMuseum Administrator andExecutive Director,Corporate Communications,DMRC.

������������� 456�75.8�

The Police Control Room(PCR) unit of the Delhi

Police had reunited four missingchildren with their parents inWest Delhi area.

According to Sharat KumarSinha, the DeputyCommissioner of Police (DCP),PCR, on Thursday night thepolice team posted on MobilePatrol Vehicle (MPV) receiveda call that four children ageabout three-four year old weresitting at a Gurudwara inVikaspuri area.

“Acting on the call thepolice team rushed to the spotand enquired their namesand whereabouts but theycould not tell anything excepttheir names. After which thepolice team started a searchfor their parents in nearbyarea, announced about thechildren through publicaddress (PA) system andenquired from locals,” said theDCP.

“In the meantime one of

the children was identified theirfather. The other children alsoimmediately identified him. Thechildren along with their fatherwere handed over to local policeof Vikaspuri police station forfurther legal procedure,” theDCP added.

�������������456�75.8��

The Indian Institute ofTechnology (IIT) Delhi

has filed 150 IPs (patents,designs) beating the last year2018’s record this year with a20 per cent increase. Bothnational and internationalpatents have been filed byFoundation for Innovationand Technology Transfer(FITT), an industry-interfaceorganisation at IIT Delhi.

“IIT Delhi has filed 150IPs in 2019 - a 20% increaseover 2018 figures. Also, com-

pared to last year, we haveseen a four-fold increase in rev-enue from our IP licensingactivities. We hope to maintainthe momentum and set bench-

marks in the country. At theInstitute, we have also initiatedprogrammes to foster increasedstudent and faculty participa-tion in deep technology start-

ups that are backed by strongIP,” said Professor and Directorof IIT-D Ramgopal Rao whileapplauding the FITT team onthis achievement.

Among the 150 IPS(patents and design’s) filed thisyear 2019- A novel wearabledevice to measure pulse pres-sure, bullet-proof clothing thatenables transmission and recep-tion of electronic signals, waterbased method to produce war-farin an anti-coagulant agent,Process to produce fuel from e-waste, redesigned elbowimplant that reduces bone lossduring implantation, produc-

tion of liquid hydrocarbonsfrom plastic waste, method toimprove shelf-life of raw milk,method to improve (up-linktime synchronization and datarate) 5G wireless communica-tion and a device to mitigateindoor air-pollution are someinventions to name a few.

“FITT’s mission is to be aneffective outreach and interface platform to, inter alia,enable innovations, promote commercialization ofscience and technology andencourage research spin-offs,”said Dr Anil Wali, ManagingDirector, FITT.

������������� 456�75.8�

The Delhi Police on Fridaynabbed two juveniles who

were involved in more thaneight cases of theft and snatch-ing registered at various policestations of South Delhi. Policesaid that they have also recov-ered eight robbed mobilephones and a scooty from theduo.

According to Atul KumarThakur, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), South district, onDecember 26, specific inputswere received that two delin-

quents would come near BusStop Peepal Chowk, MB Roadto sell stolen and snatchedmobile phones.

“Acting on the inputs a trapwas laid and duo was appre-hended by police team. On cur-sory check, police also recov-ered eight mobiles phones fromthe possession of the duo,”said the DCP.

“Police have also solvednine cases of theft and snatching registered across theSouth district police stations.Further investigation of thecase is under process,” theDCP added.

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In its effort to make Gurugramdrug-free, the district police

has launched a sustained cam-paign against drug peddlersand criminals to curb the illegalconsumption and supply ofdrugs across the district.

Under this programme,which has been christened‘Operation Prahar’, theGurugram police have confis-cated more than 12 kilograms(kgs) of drugs and 14,530 bot-tles of illicit liquor ‘betweenNovember 20 and December 4across the district.

Director General of Police(DGP), Manoj Yadava, Haryanahad recently kicked-off‘Operation Prahar’ to fight orga-nized crime and growing drugmenace in the state.

The Police have arrestedseveral persons across the dis-trict and have recovered morethan Rs 3.70 lakh from their pos-session.

The Deputy Commissionerof Police (crime) Rajiv Deshwalsaid: “DGP, Haryana ManojYadava had instructed the PoliceDepartment to eliminate theorganised criminals, drug ped-

dlers and other offenders fromthe state.”

In the two-week operation,the police had nabbed 179 peo-ple who have been accused ofdrug peddling and 124 caseshave been registered againstthem. The DGP Haryana alsowarned the organized gangsand those involved in peddlingdrugs either join the main-stream or else leave the state.

“A good job was done by allcrime branch units and theintelligence wing in Gurugramduring this special operation.Due to which, with the seizureof illegal liquor and drugs, thegamblers were also cracked,”Deshwal said.

He further said that thedepartment is making an effortto connect all backward andforward links to unearth theentire chain of supply and modeof trafficking, end-users andsource of origin of drugs.

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In his first interaction withTown Vending Committees

(TVC) and street vendors atDelhi secretariat, ChiefMinister Arvind KejriwalFriday has urged members andMCD officials to start survey assoon as possible to resolve theissue of displacement of streetvendors by the authoritiesacross the city.

“Delhi Government willbear the cost of survey, whichis to be conducted byMunicipal Corporation ofDelhi,” “Powerful businessesare against the poor, I will notlet any injustice against thepoor prevail,” said Kejriwal.

Echoing the rights of streetvendors, Kejriwal said, "I amhappy as survey has been ini-tiated. We often hear aboutincidents where street vendorsare removed from their placesby the authorities.” “In coun-tries other than India, streetvendors are encouragedbecause it is a source ofemployment for the peopleliving there. Governmentsshould work towards providingemployment rather than

detracting it. Vendors, here inIndia are considered encroach-ers and a major cause of traf-fic jams whereas in other coun-tries they are backed by legalsupport by the respective ofGovernment," Kejriwal added.

Assuring the allotment ofpermanent space after surveywork gets completed, Kejriwalsaid, "The survey will alsoobserve places other than thestreet markets across the city,which will help generateemployment on a large scale.The whole administrative sys-tem covering street vendors isrotten which is causing majordifficulties for the vendors."

"No authority will removevendors then, adding, "I wantto request the MCD officialspresent amongst us to call ameeting for the TVCs byTuesday. The TVC meetingswill decide and finalise theagencies which will carry outthe survey.

I was notified by the MCDofficials that they do not havethe required funds to carry outthe TVC surveys. I told themthat the Delhi Governmentwill provide funds for the sur-vey," Kejiwal said.

Delhi PWD MinisterSatyendra Jain said, "Vendorsare often troubled by authori-

ties for setting up shops on thestreets, and corrupt officialsoften extort money from them.To eradicate all these issues, alegal survey will be conductedinitially."

" A certificate will be issuedto the street vendors based onthe survey with vendors’details. Details of their familieswill also be included in thesame. The survey will be com-pleted within the next three tofour months and the vendingspaces will be fixed thereafter,"Jain added.

" This will help in fixing thevending spaces as well as thevending zones across the city.

Our motive is to promotevending on a large scale. Delhihas around 3-4 lakh vendors,and the actual numbers will berevealed after the survey. Byfixing the vending spaces, wewill be supporting 15-20 lakhpeople," the AAP Minister said.

According to DelhiGovernment a committee willbe formed to decide the vend-ing spaces and zones. "Afterclearance from the DelhiDevelopment Authority(DDA), the government willgive licenses to the street ven-dors. The certificate will alsocontain information about thegoods in which they deal.

At the same time, there willbe details about the zone andlocation. It will also contain fullinformation including thename, address, name of thefamily members of the opera-tor," a Delhi Government offi-cial said.

"Through survey we willobtain information aboutwhich area in Delhi has themaximum number of streetvendors, detailed informationof all street vendors, the kindof shops operated by street ven-dors, number of customerswho visit the shop, number ofshops required in differentareas and locations across Delhiand Locations where streetvending zones are required,"the officials said further.

������������� 456�75.8��

Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal and Aam Aadmi

Party (AAP) national conven-er has said that decongestingroads from heavy traffic jamswill be one of the main agen-das among others in the nextfive years, if it will manage toregain the power for the nextterm. The Chief Minister wasaddressing the second townhall meeting on Friday.

Replying to a questionasked by a resident ofPitampura on traffic congestionin the national Capital, he said,"We have designated a consul-tant to create a list of the loca-tions in Delhi where there aredaily traffic jams. The desig-nated consultant will provide uswith a roadmap or a reportwithin 9-10 months on how tosolve the problem of trafficcongestion in these locations.We will start working onresolving congestion issues oneach road mentioned in the list,

and we will be able to do it atthe earliest. Just as we haveworked on addressing issues inthe fields of education, health,power, water, sewer, anddrainage, etc in the last fiveyears, we will work on resolv-ing traffic congestion issues inthe next five years."

Kejriwal during his addressin Pitampura area said that hisparty will release the AAPmanifesto in mid Januarywhich will carry all the issuesand problems which will besolved in the next term.

AAP Chief further said,"after the election the key focusof the Government will be atmaking Delhi traffic-free andproviding 24*7 drinking waterfrom the tap."

The Town Hall Meeting ispart of AAP election cam-paign for the upcoming VidhanSabha polls. During the inter-action, the CM informed thepeople that the AAP will makethe Manifesto for the 2020election after the consultationswith the people through thesemeetings. The meeting aimedto discuss 'AAP ka ReportCard' which was launched byKejriwal on 24th December.

During the event, the CMinteracted with the public

answered questions and pre-sented the Report Card featur-ing the top 10 achievements ofthe Delhi Government in thepast 5 years.

When the public discussedthe issue of water in the areawith the CM, he drank a glassof water from a nearby locatedtap in front of the people todescribe how the AAPGovernment has worked todevelop the water infrastruc-ture of Delhi.

"When our Governmentwas formed five years back,around 2,300 areas in Delhireceived contaminated water.We created a list of all suchlocations as well as causes of thecontamination and deployedvarious resources for the reso-lution of the issue in each ofthose areas. Now, only 150areas in Delhi receive contam-inated water, and we are work-ing on providing clean water tothese areas as well. When ourGovernment was formed, only58% of colonies in Delhireceived tap water, and the restof the colonies received waterfrom water tankers. Now, 93%of Delhi receives tap water. Ournext step is to provide a 24-hour water supply to the peo-ple of Delhi," said Kejriwal.

������������� 456�75.8�

With Election Commissionof Indian all set to

announce the poll dates forDelhi Assembly elections, AamAadmi Party (AAP) on Fridayannounced to release its man-ifesto for the upcoming DelhiAssembly poll in mid-January.

Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal who is also theNational Convenor of AAPannounced it on Friday.

Addressing a town hallmeeting in North West Delhi’sPitampura, he said the docu-ment will be prepared in con-sultation with people and ideason making the city clean andtackling the problem of trafficcongestion would find promi-nent place in the manifesto.

"It will be released betweenJanuary 15 and 20, and wouldinclude issues raised by thepeople during their interactionswith the party," he said. Delhi

assembly polls are likely to beheld early next year.

"The issues that we willhave in our next manifesto willbe discussed and deliberatedupon with the people. We arecreating a list in consultationwith the people. For instance,we discussed the issue of clean-liness and sanitation in Delhi ata public meeting on Thursday,and we believe it is a veryimportant issue for the people,"he said.

������������� 456�75.8��

While ruling Aam AadmiParty (AAP) in Delhi

has claimed delivery of quali-ty education with world classinfrastructure in DelhiGovernment schools, top lead-ers of the Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) on Friday releaseda report that claimed CentralGovernment schools per-formed better than DelhiGovernment schools.

However, refuting BJP’sclaim, Delhi Government saidthat it is unfair to compareDelhi Government schoolswith Centre-run KendriyaVidyalayas that admit studentsthrough entrance tests.

Public Policy ResearchCentre (PPRC), BJP think tankhas prepared the report on thestate of education in Delhibased on around 1,000 RTIreplies received from the AAPGovernment in last threemonths.

It claimed Class 10 pass

percentage in DelhiGovernment schools camedown from 95.81 per cent in2015 to 71.58 per cent in 2019,while that of KendriyaVidyalayas (KVs) improvedfrom 99.59 per cent to 99.79per cent in the same period.

This year, 28.42 per centstudents failed in Class 10 inDelhi Government schools.Only 0.21 per cent failed inClass 10 in KendriyaVidyalayas, it said.

"Less than 1 per cent ofClass 12 students in DelhiGovernment schools are eligi-ble to apply for admission inDelhi University. More than 50per cent of the posts for per-manent teachers in DelhiGovernment schools remainvacant. This has a direct bear-ing on the quality of educationand also the effectiveness ofteaching quality," the reportclaimed.

PPRC director andMember of Parliament (MP)Vinay Sahasrabuddhe said the

Delhi Government indulged inpropaganda and published full-page advertisements but didnothing on the ground.

"Though the AAPGovernment claimed theexpenditure on educationincreased in the last five years,no improvement could be seenin infrastructure. They only

appointed their workers asconsultants and advisors,"Sahasrabuddhe, a BJP memberof Rajya Sabha, claimed.

He also said the RTI repliesshow that almost all DelhiGovernment schools do nothave any smart classes.

Meanwhile Delhi BJP chiefManoj Tiwari alleged corrup-

tion in construction of newclassrooms in DelhiGovernment schools and saidit will be exposed soon.

BJP national vice-presi-dent Shyam Jaju and MPsGautam Gambhir, ParveshVerma and Meenakshi Lekhiwere present at the event dur-ing which the report wasreleased.

Verma added the AAPGovernment did not build asingle new school butannounced the formation oftwo universities in the lastthree months.

������������� 456�75.8�

With Delhi Vidhan Sabhaelections round the

croner, the Delhi Congress onFriday termed the 10-pointreport card released by theDelhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal as a 'bundle of lies' andsubsequently released a 'post-mortem report' on the Kejriwal'sreport card.

Delhi Congress president,Subhash Chopra also released afactual report card of theCongress. Senior Congress lead-ers Jai Prakash Agarwal, KrishnaTirath, Sandeep Dikshit,Ramesh Kumar, MahabalMishra, Mukesh Sharma, KirtiAzad, Devender Yadav andRajesh Lilothai were also pre-sent.

Chopra said that theKejriwal Government has beensurviving on the strength of liesand falsehood, and misleadingadvertisements. He said that tobail out his government,Kejriwal has been spreadingutter lies.

Chopra said that the AamAadmi Party (AAP) govern-ment, which was in a deepslumber in the past four and ahalf years, is now telling manylies to cover up one lie to saveits skin, as it has woken up to thereality of the welfare of the peo-ple only in the last three monthsof his Government's tenure.

Chopra said that AAP,which came to power on theissue of Lok Pal and Swaraj, wasnow running away from both

these issues. He said that theLokayukt, established by theCongress Government, hasbeen made ineffective by theAAP Government.

He said that the KejriwalGovernment was only provid-ing dirty water and polluted airto the people of Delhi. He saidthat the entire Delhi was suf-fering from acute cough andrespiratory ailments exceptKejriwal, who seems to havenow become immune to

coughs.Chopra said that it was the

responsibility of Delhi Congressto make people aware of the realissues and facts.

He said that was the reasonfor the Delhi Congress releasinga 'real report card' on the stateof affairs in Delhi. He said thatpeople have to bribe even fordaily wage earnings as all thedepartments of the DelhiGovernment have become densof corruption.

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Meanwhile, Aam AadmiParty (AAP)

Government responded to theBJP leaders' report card .Shailendra Sharma, the

'adviser' to the DelhiGovernment's educationdepartment, said students are admitted to KVs through entrance tests, unlike Delhi Governmentschools.

"As a result, while in Delhi Government schoolsmore than 1.6 lakh students appeared in Class 10board exam in 2019, the num-ber in KVs of Delhi was just

7,800," he said. A fairer comparison of

KVs could be made with Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya of the Delhi Government, which also admit students through entrance exams andhad a pass percentage of 99.06in 2019, he said.

"Anyone who clears the Class 12 exam canapply for a graduate course inDU. "However, due to highcut-offs in regular under-graduate courses, mere pass-ing is not enough.," Sharmaadded .

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Retail onion prices on Fridayremained higher at up to

�150 per kg even as the import-ed supplies have started arriv-ing to boost the domestic avail-ability and check prices.

According to theDepartment of ConsumerAffairs, in metros, retail price ofonion was ruling at �120 a kgKolkata, at �102 a kg in Delhiand Mumbai and at �80 a kg inChennai.

In most cities, onion priceswere ruling at �100 a kg. InItanagar, the onion was at �150a kg. The prices will remainhigh till January end next year.Only a substantial increase indomestic arrivals of the cropcan help significantly easeonion prices in the local mar-kets where average wholesaleprices are still ruling at �60-70a kg, traders said.

Sources in the departmentsaid that imported onions havestarted arriving. "About 1,160tonne has reached India.Additional 10,560 tonne ofshipments are expected toarrive in the next 3-4 days. Theimported onion is being sold at

�65-80 a kg across the country.Both red and yellow onionshave been imported fromTurkey, Egypt and Afghanistan.While Turkey has bannedonion exports due to risingprices.

State-owned MMTC,which is importing the keykitchen staple on behalf of theGovernment, has contracted49,500 tonne of onion so far.Some shipments will arrivenext month.

Onion prices have shot upsharply due to estimated 25 percent fall in kharif production of2019-20 crop year (July-June)compared to the previous yearbecause of late monsoon and

eventual excess rains in themajor producing States.

The prices have failed tocool down despite severalGovernment measures in thelast few weeks. TheGovernment has alreadybanned export of onion,imposed stock limits on tradersand is also supplying bufferstock at a cheaper rate. Tradersand experts are of the view thatonion prices will continue toremain firm till January whenlate kharif crop will start hittingthe market.

The country had lastimported 1,987 tonne of onionin 2015-16 when prices hadshot up significantly.

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The ceremony to hand over thebaton of the Chairman of the

Chiefs of Staff Committee (CoSC) wascancelled at the last minute on Friday.

In the pre-scheduled ceremonyChairman CoSC Army Chief GenBipin Rawat was to hand over thebaton to Navy Chief Admiral KarambirSingh, the second senior.

The CoSC comprises chiefs of theArmy, the Navy and the Air Force andthe senior-most member is appointedits chairperson.

There was indication that the cer-emony has been cancelled as theGovernment is going to appoint thecountry's first Chief of Defence Staff(CDS) in the next couple of days. TheCDS will also act as the permanentchairman of the CoSC.

The ceremony to hand over the baton of chairman of COSC was scheduled as Gen Rawat is due for retirement from service onDecember 31. It is widely expected thatGen Rawat will be appointed as India'sfirst CDS once he demits office of theArmy Chief.

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Seeking to counter theOpposition's campaign on citi-

zenship issues, the BJP is likely toorganise a national-level conferencein January to reach out to Muslims.

Senior BJP leader andMinority Affairs Minister MukhtarAbbas Naqvi on Friday held ameeting, which was attended byNational Commission forMinorities chairman GhayorulHasan Rizvi and some key MuslimBJP leaders, to chalk out a strate-gy in this regard.

Sources said BJP leaderGhayorul Hasan Rizvi and theparty's minority morcha presidentAbdul Rasheed Ansari also attend-ed the meeting. The idea is to"demolish misinformation cam-paign" being carried out by somepolitical parties on the new citi-zenship law, NRC and NPR, theysaid adding the party has launcheda nationwide campaign to createawareness over these issues.

A national-level conferencewill be organised in the first weekof January to inform Muslimsabout the key aspects of theseissues and "how the opposition isspreading confusion", they said.

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The BJP on Friday dubbed Congressleader Rahul Gandhi as the "liar of the

year" after he claimed that the NationalPopulation Register is a "tax" on the poor.His comments have "embarrassed" peopleand his Congress party, senior BJP leaderand Union Minister Prakash Javadekarsaid.

Javadekar also accused the Congressof trying to fan instability in the countrybut asserted that people are with the gov-ernment on the new citizenship law andNPR. The NPR does not involve any mon-

etary transaction and its data is used toidentify the poor so that government wel-fare schemes could reach the targeted peo-ple, he said.

A similar exercise was undertaken in2010 as well, he said.

"When Rahul Gandhi was Congresspresident, he would say anything and speaklie all the time. Now he is no longer pres-ident but continues to speak lies. If therewere a category of the liar of the year, hewould be its recipient. His comments usedto embarrass his family. His lies nowembarrass his party and entire country,"Javadekar told reporters.

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Come 2020, there will be nopublic holiday on the occa-

sion of birth anniversary ofSheikh Mohd Abdullah in theUnion Territory of Jammu &Kashmir.

According to the list of hol-idays, issued by the GeneralAdministration department ofJammu & Kashmir late Fridayevening, “two public holidays-Martyrs' day observed on July13 and birth anniversaryof Sheikh Mohd Abdullah- observed onDecember 5 have been deletedfrom the list of holidaysobserved so far in the erstwhileState of Jammu &

Kashmir”.Meanwhile, conceding

long pending demand of peo-ple of Jammu region, theGeneral Administrationdepartment has insertedOctober 26 in the list of public holidays for the year2020.

Every year October 26 iscelebrated as Accession Day,the day Maharaja Hari Singhhad signed instrument of acces-sion before acceding with thedominion of India.

In total, a list of 27 holidayshas been released by theGeneral Administrationdepartment to be observedthroughout the Union Territoryof Jammu & Kashmir.

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In a development that came12 days after its student lead-

ers went on an indefinite agi-tation, the Pune-based Filmand Television Institute of India(FTII) on Friday decided "inprinciple" to reduce the JointEntrance Test (JET) fee for2020.

At the special meeting of itsGoverning Council, the FTIIdecided to finalise the quantumof reduction in JET fees byJanuary 6, 2020.

The FTII's GoverningCouncil also decided to reviewthe tuition fee for 2020 for itsregular courses by March 6,2020.

The FTII's GoverningCouncil set up a 5-memberCommittee headed by its

Chairman BP Singh to discussboth the issues and arrive at adecision.

FTII Students AssociationPresident Aadhith V Sathwinand Gen Secretary RajarshiMujumdar represented the stu-dents at the meeting held inDelhi.

Meanwhile, Students havethanked BP Singh, FTII'schairman, FTII and the I&BMinistry Officials - Mr Parmar(Joint Sec, Films) and Mr Rizvi(Additional Sec and FinancialAdvisor) - for standing with thestudents and fighting for anaffordable education for all atthe country's premier filmschool. It may be recalled thatfour student leaders from thePune-based Film andTelevision Institute of IndiaStudents’ Association (FTI-

ISA) had gone on an indefinitefast on December 16, in protestagainst the 10 per cent yearlyfee hike and the "exorbitant"JETa application fees.

The FTII student leadersAadhith V Sathwin (President,FTIISA), Rajarshi Mujumdar(Gen Secretary), PRManikandan (CulturalSecretary) and Vivek Allakahad resorted to the hungerstrike. They broke their fast fivedays later. However, their agi-tation was continuing sincethen.

The FTIISA's two demandswere: revocation of the con-tinuous 10 per cent hike inoverall fee every academic yearand reduce it and deferment ofJET 2020 until there is reduc-tion in the entrance exam fees.

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From Page 1As per the IMD, several

parts of Rajasthan reeled underfreezing cold with Fatehpurtown in Sikar district recordinga low of minus 3 degreesCelsius. Minimum tempera-ture in Sikar was minus 0.8degrees Celsius, followed byChuru (minus 0.6) and Pilani(minus 0.4).

The cold wave continued itsrecord breaking spree inKashmir as Srinagar recordedthe coldest night of the seasonwith the city freezing at minus5.6 degrees Celsius. The mini-mum temperature acrossKashmir and Ladakh remainedseveral degrees below the freez-ing point owing to clear sky.According to the IMD, Srinagarrecorded the coldest night of theseason so far as the minimumtemperature in the city settledat minus 5.6 degrees Celsius lastnight - 0.6 degrees down fromminus 5.0 degree Celsius theprevious night, leading to freez-ing of water supply lines at sev-eral places.

The ski-resort of Gulmargin north Kashmir recorded thelow of minus 9.5 degrees

Celsius last night - up from theprevious night’s minus 11.2degrees Celsius. The night tem-perature at Pahalgam resort,which also serves as one of thebase camps for the annualAmarnath yatra in southKashmir, settled at a low ofminus 12.0 degrees Celsius asagainst minus 12.7 degreesCelsius on Thursday.

Pahalgam, in southKashmir’s Anantnag district,was the coldest recorded placein the Valley.

According to the IMD,Qazigund - the gateway town tothe Valley - in south Kashmirrecorded a low of minus 10.5degrees Celsius - a decrease ofnearly two degrees from minus9.8 degrees Celsius onThursday.

Kokernag town, also insouth, recorded a low of minus7.0 degrees Celsius, whileKupwara, in north, registeredthe minimum of minus 6.3degrees Celsius, IMD officialssaid. Leh town in the LadakhUnion territory recorded a lowof minus 20.7 degrees Celsius,down from minus 18 degreesCelsius on Thursday.

Kufri, Manali, Solan,Bhuntar, Sundernagar andKalpa shivered below sub-zerotemperatures in HimachalPradesh with the lowest tem-perature in the State wasrecorded in Keylong at minus15 degrees Celsius, the IMDsaid. Low visibility due to mod-erate fog was observed in partsof Una and Mandi districts, itsaid.

Hisar in Haryana experi-enced the season’s coldest nightas the minimum temperaturedropped by six notches to 0.3degree Celsius.

The minimum tempera-ture dropped a few notchesbelow normal in Sirsa (2degrees Celsius), Narnaul (3degrees Celsius), Rohtak (3.2degrees Celsius) and Bhiwani (4degrees Celsius).

While Ambala (5.5 degreesCelsius) and Karnal (7 degreesCelsius) in Haryana also expe-rienced a cold night, in Punjab,Bathinda was recorded as thecoldest place with a low of 2.8degrees Celsius. Chandigarh,the common capital of the twoStates, recorded a low of 6.6degrees Celsius.

From Page 1The JAC for Social Justice had orig-

inally planned a rally from Byculla toAzad Maidan. However, it was deniedpolice permission.

Bollywood actress Swara Bhaskar,student activist Umar Khalid,Mashkoor Usmani, former president ofAligarh Muslim University Students’Union, Hammad-ur-Rahman fromJamia Milia Islamia and Fahad Ahmadfrom Tata institute of Social Sciences

(TISS) spoke at the Azad Maidanrally.

Former Bombay High Court judgeJustice BG Kolse-Patil and actressRicha Chaddha were prominent amongthose present at the rally.

Speaking at the Azad Maidan rally,Richa slammed the Narendra ModiGovernment for indulging in an extra-ordinarily expensive “disruptive” exer-cise at a time when the economy wasin such a bad shape, unemploymentwas at its highest and farmers werecommitting suicide.

“The Government’s priorities aremisplaced. The Government is saying

so many things (on CAA, NRC andNational Population Register) andcontradicting itself. First it says theselaws have no connection then it sayssome connection…The Governmentshould initiate a dialogue with repre-sentatives of the people indulging inprotests against unconstitutional law,”she said.

Several BJP leaders from Mumbai,including Mangal Prabhat Lodha,Captain Tamil Selvan and PraveenChheda, Kirit Somaiya and party’s MPManoj Kotak were present at theAugust Kranti Maidan. Former ChiefMinister and current leader of the

Opposition in the MaharashtraAssembly Devendra Fadnavis was thekey speaker at this rally.

Ad guru Bharat Dabholkar, whowas among those present at the pro-CAA rally, said: “Ninety nine per centof those opposing the CAA do notknow what this law is all about. Thisis a law enacted by a democraticallyelected Government. Going against thislaw is a crime. If they really want tooppose, the people concerned shouldstudy the law first. I have spoken tomany people who are opposing the law.They do not know anything about thislaw”.

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From Page 1These include last place of

residence, passport number,Aadhaar ID, Voter ID cardnumber, driving licence num-ber and mobile phone number.

“In this NPR, a personlike me might have a problem.If a person like me is askedwhere your father and motherwere born; my parents wereborn in Pakistan. Where will Iget their details,” Maken said ata press conference at AICC.

“Then there is anotherprovision that infringes uponour right to privacy. They ask,‘if available’, provide Aadhaarnumber, mobile number, voterid number, driving licencenumber. What is the need forlicence number, Aadhaar num-ber and my phone number in(proving) usual residence,” headded.

“Many BJP leaders are say-ing that people would be askedto provide these details ‘vol-untarily’. I would like to drawyour attention, it is written ‘ifavailable’. So if you say no, itmeans you don’t have yourAadhaar number. Can I say Idon’t have my mobile number?Nowhere, it is written that it isvoluntary. So those who don’t

give these details will bemarked, and they would beomitted from the NRC whichwill be prepared on NPR’sbasis.

Questioning theGovernment motive, Rahulsaid, “Whether NPR or NRC,it is a tax on poor people of thecountry. You understanddemonetisation. It was a tax onpoor people. Go to banks andgive your money but do notwithdraw money from youraccount. Entire money went tothe pocket of 15-20 rich peo-ple. This (NPR or NRC) is thesame thing.”

Rahul’s remark that theNPR and the NRC are a tax onthe poor drew a sharp retortfrom the BJP with UnionMinister Prakash Javadekarsaying they have “embarrassed”people and his Congress party.

Javadekar said the NPRdoes not involve any monetarytransaction and its data is usedto identify the poor so thatGovernment welfare schemescould reach the targeted peo-ple. A similar exercise wasundertaken in 2010 by UPAGovernment, he added.

From Page 1Heavy police deployment is also in

place in Jamia Nagar, Jama Masjid andChanakyapuri. The Delhi Police had alsoput up a banner asking people to refrainfrom staging demonstrations outside theUttar Pradesh Bhawan as prohibitoryorders are in place.

On Friday noon, hundreds of peoplewith their hands tied marching towardsPrime Minister Narendra Modi’s residenceto demand the release of Bhim Army chiefChandra Shekhar and to protest theamended Citizenship Act were stopped onthe way by police.

Amid heavy security arrangementand drone surveillance, the protestersincluding Bhim Army members startedfrom Dargah Shah-e-Mardan in Jor Baghin the national Capital and were stoppedby police at a barricade en route the PM’sresidence at Lok Kalyan Marg.

They participated in the march withtheir hands tied, saying they did it so thatthey could not be blamed for violence andarson during the protest.

They raised slogans of ‘tanashahi nahichalegi’ and carried posters of BabashebAmbedkar and Chandra Shekhar. “Wehave tied our hands and are protesting sotomorrow they do not attack us and lie thatwe were not protesting peacefully,” saidMajid Jamal, one of the participants in theprotest.

Drones kept hovering over the pro-

testers keeping a close watch on them.When the protesters were stopped frommarching towards their destination, theyappealed to the police personnel to allowthem to continue their march.

Chandra Shekhar was arrested forallegedly instigating protesters to indulgein violence in old Delhi’s Daryaganj in aninflammatory speech last Friday.

Entry and exit gates at Lok KalyanMarg Metro station were closed on Fridayin view of protest marches being taken outnear it in the city.

“Entry & exit gates of Lok Kalyan Margare closed. Trains will not be halting at thisstation,” the DMRC tweeted. However, thegates were reopened in the evening.

Police on Friday also detained a groupof protesters who tried to stage a demon-stration outside the Uttar Pradesh (UP)Bhawan against alleged police atrocities inthe State following the agitation over theCAA.

The Jamia Coordination Committee,which comprises students from variouspolitical groups active on the campus, hadcalled for a ‘gherao’ of the UP Bhawan.There was heavy security deployment out-side the venue.

Police said that a total of 357 protest-ers, including 282 men and 75 women,were detained and taken to Mandir Margand Connaught Place police stations andthey were subsequently released. “Leaderof the protesters, Badre Alam was onThursday informed by police to takeproper permission and hold protest at adesignated place such as Jantar Mantar. But

he didn’t pay any heed to the advice ofpolice,” said a police official.

Personnel from adjoining police dis-tricts were also deployed to ensure that nountoward incident occurs. Senior policeofficers, including Anand Mohan, the JointCommissioner of Police (New Delhi), EishSinghal, the Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (DCP), New Delhi, Deepak Yadav,the Additional DCP (New Delhi), andDevendra Arya, the DCP (Southwest) werealso present at the spot.

At historic Jama Masjid in Old Delhi,several people gathered to protest againstthe amended citizenship law. Congressleader Alka Lamba and former Delhi MLAShoaib Iqbal were among those whojoined the demonstrations.

Lamba hit out at the CentralGovernment, saying “unemployment is thereal issue in the county, but you (PM) aretrying to put people in a queue for NRC,as it was done during demonetisation.

The protesters, many of whom gath-ered after offering Friday prayers at themosque, raised slogans against the new leg-islation and the proposed NRC.

“Is desh ko NRC, NPR nahi chaiye. Isdesh ko rozgaar chahiye. Is desh ko amanaur shanti chahiye (This country does notneed NRC, NPR, it needs jobs. The coun-try needs peace and amity),” protesterswere seen chanting these slogans.

The protesters, who were carryingplacards that read “Save theConstitution, don’t divide India”,appealed to the people to remain non-violent.

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From Page 1“Swing wing” was the crucial feature

of the Mig-27 as its wings which wouldbe swept depending on the speed of thejet and the profile of the mission. The IAFno longer has any swing-wing fightersafter the MIG-27 retired.

The MiG-27s could swing their wingsfrom 16 degrees to 72 degrees dependingon the mission -- flying at 45-degreesweep, making a getaway after deliveringpayloads at 72 degrees and taking off andlanding at 16 degrees. A swing wing isimportant for aircraft with supersonic

capabilities because such aircraft also haveto sometimes fly at subsonic speeds.Moreover, a swept wing reduces drag andoffers a streamlined shape during super-sonic flights. At subsonic cruising speeds,it could be unswept.

The upgraded variant of this lastswing-wing fleet was the pride of IAFsince 2006. All the other variants such asMiG-23 BN and MiG-23 MF and the pureMiG-27 have already retired from the IAF.The phasing out of the Mig-27 will forman important chapter of the Indian mil-itary aviation history. The Kazakhstan AirForce is now the service in the world touse this kind of aircraft.

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Jodhpur: A ward boy was arrested onFriday for allegedly molesting a 13-year-old girl at a private hospital inRajasthan's Jodhpur, police said.

According to a complaint lodgedby the girl's father, the minor wasadmitted to the hospital on December22 and remained there till December24.

On Tuesday morning when thegirl met her father, she told him that

the accused, Shyam Singh, came toher room in the night, forciblyremoved her clothes and molestedher, the complaint said.

A case was registered underSection 354 (assault or criminal forceto woman with intent to outrage hermodesty) of the IPC and provisionsof the POCSO Act, SHO of NagoriGate police station Jabbar Singhsaid. PTI

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I, hitherto known as KalpeshKumar Maganlal Patel S/o Sh.Magan Bhai R/o BK-1/95-B,Shalimar Bagh, Delhi-110088,have changed my name andshall hereafter be known asKalpesh Patel for all futurepurpose.

PD(8730)AI, Seema Rani Agarwal D/oShri Ishwar Chandra Agarwal &W/o Shri Bharat Govil R/o B-10/97A, Udaygiri-2, Sector-34,Noida (U.P.) have changed myname to Seema Govil for allpurposes.

PD(8731)AI Mohammad Ahtisham NayabS/o Nayabuddin R/o F-1/8Block-F, Joga Bai Extn. JamiaNagar, South Delhi-110025have changed my name toMohd. Ahtesham for all futurepurposes.

PD(8732)A

◆ ◆CHANGE OF NAME

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Army Chief General BipinRawat said here on Friday

the Indian armed forces haveutmost respect for humanrights laws and are extremelysecular and their driving ethosare "Insaniyat"( Humanity) and"Sharafat"( Decency).

Making these observationswhile addressing the officers ofthe National Human RightsCommission(NHRC) on thetopic "Preserving HumanRights in times of War andPrisioners of War," he also saidthe armed forces are disci-plined and not only ensure pro-tection of human rights of ourown people but also of adver-saries and deal with the pris-oners of war as per the GenevaConventions.

Rawat had on Thursdayfound himself in the thick of acontroversy after his remark onthe arson and violence againstthe Citizenship AmendmentAct (CAA) invited criticismfrom political parties.

While stressing that thearmed forces follow"Insaniyat"( Humanity) and"Sharafat"( Decency), he, how-ever said the challenge is thechanging war fare tactics withthe advent of technology.Unlike the attack by any armed

forces, the terror attacks remainunaccountable in internation-al law. Hence, the counter ter-rorism and anti insurgencyoperations have to be dealt ina manner of winning the heartsof the people by identifying andalienating the insurgentsamong them without collater-al damage, which becomesvery challenging and difficult.

General Rawat said that theArmy Head Quarters had cre-ated a human rights cell in1993, which now is beingupgraded to the level of aDirectorate to be headed by anAdditional Director General.This will also have police per-sonnel to address the com-plaints of human rights viola-tions against the armed forcesand facilitate related enquiries.

Moreover, a new initiativehas been taken in October thisyear by recruiting womenJawans in Military Police Force.He said that the Army takesalong with it several police per-sonnel in search operations,but keeping in view the con-cerns of women during suchoperations, the army has nowdecided to deploy its ladyJawans of its Military PoliceForce also.

Rawat said keeping in viewthe provisions of human rightslaw and importance of the

protection of human rights,now a court of enquiry is beingheld after every anti- insur-gency operation and all recordsare maintained related to suchoperations.

Referring to the ArmedForce Special Powers Act(AFSPA), the Army Chief saidthat the Act gives almost thesame powers to the Army,which are also exercised byPolice and CRPF in connectionwith search and enquiry oper-ations.

However, over the years thearmy itself has diluted its appli-cation in its own way under theten commandments issued bythe Chief of Army Staff, whichare to be strictly adhered byevery soldier, and particularlythose deployed for operationsin anti- insurgency areas.

The Supreme Court guide-lines on this are also beingstrictly followed by soldiers,who are all given special train-ing before their deployment incounter insurgency andcounter terrorism operations.

Earlier, NHRC MemberJustice PC Pant gave an insightinto various laws protectinghuman rights. He also men-tioned about some of the fun-damental rights, which are notgiven to the armed forces inline of their duty.

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Ahead of the DelhiAssembly polls, the mantra

for the Centre is slum-specificwelfare measures for thenational Capital. After its ini-tiative to regularise 1,731 unau-thorised colonies, the HUAMinistry has lined up a plan tobuild 2 lakh houses under thePradhan Mantri Awas Yojana(PMAY-Urban) in the slums ofDelhi in Kalkakji Extension,Dilshad Garden, Ashok Vihar,Kathputli Colony among oth-ers.

The move is targeted at 10lakh beneficiaries from theslums, which are a major vote-bank for the AAP. The BJP-ruled Centre's focus is thus onsuch clusters both to makeinroads into the ruling dis-pensation's stronghold as alsoto negate the impact of its var-ious freebie schemes. The min-istry also announced that thetotal number of houses beingfunded under the scheme to 1.3crore under the housing for allscheme.

Addressing a press confer-ence, Union Minister Hardeep

Singh Puri on Friday accusedthe AAP government of tryingto create hurdles in imple-mentation of the PMAY-Urbanin Delhi and said its politicalapproach is based on a "pack oflies". Puri's allegations camethree days after Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwallaunched the MukhyamantriAwas Yojana (MMAY) forJhugi Jhopri (JJ) Clusters anddistributed ownership certifi-cates to 65,000 families livingin the city's slum areas. "Ifdevelopment is going to bebased on the nomenclature ofa scheme, you deprive yourown people..." Puri said.

The Delhi Governmenthas created hurdles in everyproject, be it the constructionof Metro Phase-IV or theRegional Rapid Transit System(RRTS), he alleged. Wheneverthere was talk on the con-struction of Metro Phase-IV,the AAP Government tried tocreate hurdles, he said.

"In-situ rehabilitation ofthree JJ clusters at KalkajiExtension, Kathputli Colony(Opposite Shadipur Depot)and Jailorwala Bagh (Ashok

Vihar) will be completed byJune 2020. As many as 7,500two room houses has beencompleted or at advance stage.The construction of 3,024 flatsat Kalkaji Extension is likely tobe completed by May-June,2020 and the eligible benefi-ciaries will be handed over pos-session of these flats.

"Out of 2,800 EWS housesunder construction for JJdwellers of Kathputli Colony,construction of about 500 hous-es is expected to be completedby March, 2020, which wouldbe handed over to the eligiblebeneficiaries of KathputliColony. Another 1,675 hous-es in Jailorwala Bagh (AshokVihar) are also likelyto be com-pleted by December, 2020 forallotment to the beneficiaries ofJJ Dwellers of Jailorwala Bagh,"the Ministry said.

As per the data, there are685 JJ clusters surveyed by theDelhi Urban ShelterImprovement Board (DUSIB)and 85 inlisted clusters in Delhi.Puri alleged that since thePMAY (Urban) was launchedin June 2015, not a single pro-posal has been received from

the AAP Government. TheDelhi Development Authorityis the nodal agency for imple-menting in-situ slum rehabili-tation of JJ Clusters residents onland owned by the DDA andthe Centre, according to theMinistry.

With the approval of of 6.5

lakh houses under PMAY(Urban), taking the total num-ber of houses being fundedunder the scheme to over 1.3crore. Puri said in the nextthree-four months, theMinistry will sanction all the1.12 crore houses, a target setby the Government.

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Days after the poll strategist’spolitical consultancy firm

I-PAC was roped in by the AamAadmi Party (AAP) ahead ofthe Delhi Assembly election,Union Housing and UrbanAffairs Minister Hardeep SinghPuri on Friday said, “Who isPrashant Kishor?” Replying toa question at a Press confer-ence, Puri who is also the co-incharge of the BJP for theDelhi polls, said he did notknow Kishor personally.

“Who is Prashant Kishor?,”he asked, when a question wasput to him about I-PAC being

roped in by the ArvindKejriwal-led AAP ahead of theDelhi polls, slated to be heldearly next year.

When reporters told theMinister that Kishor was apart of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's campaign inthe 2014 Lok Sabha polls, hesaid, "I was not there duringthat time." "May be I shouldknow, but I do not know him(Kishor)," Puri said on beingtold by reporters that he wasalso part of the BJP-ledNational Democratic Alliance(NDA) — the national vice-president of the Janata Dal(United).

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The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) on Friday

chargesheeted 11 personsincluding six abscondingaccused and four companies inthe case relating to seizure of532 kg of banned drug heroinat Integrated Check Post atAttari in Punjab.

The accused persons andentities have been chargedunder IPC Section relating tocriminal conspiracy besidesrelevant provisions of theNarcotics, Drugs andPsychotropic Substances(NDPS) Act and Unlawful

Activities (Prevention) Act. The NIA filed the

chargesheet before the NIASpecial Court, Mohali, Punjab.

The chargehseeted accusedinclude Tariq Ahmad Lone,Jasbir Singh, Nirbhail Singh,Sandeep Kaur, Ajay Gupta,Ranjit Singh, Iqbal Singh,Farookh Lone, Sahil, ShoaibNoor and Amir Noor underSections 120-B IPC, NDPS Actand UA(P) Act.

The charge-sheeted com-panies include KanishkEnterprises Pvt. Ltd., GuptaFast Forwarders Pvt. Ltd.,Global Vision Impex andAimex General Trading

Company. The case relates to seizure

of 532 Kg. of Heroin and 52 Kg.of mixed narcotics on June 29this year at Attari ICP underprovisions of Custom Act, 1962and attendant sections ofNDPS Act besides interceptionof two persons — GurpinderSingh, an Amritsar based trad-er and Tariq Ahmed Lonefrom Handwara, Jammu &Kashmir.

"The involvement of aninternational drug racket basedin Pakistan as well as inAfghanistan has come to light.This is a case of narco-terror-ism, having national and inter-

national implications with evi-dence of generation of fundsthrough the proceeds of sale ofnarcotics smuggled fromacross the international bor-der," the NIA said in a state-ment.

Investigation has estab-lished that the above accusedformed a terrorist gang to bring many consignments of narcotics to India, the agencysaid.

During the investigationsearches were conducted atvarious places in Punjab andvarious incriminating docu-ments including bank accountdetails, electronic and digital

devices, ammunitions anddetails of Hawala transactionswere seized.

The investigation has beenable to establish an interna-tional conspiracy in whichnationals of Afghanistan,Pakistan and Indian nationalsbelonging to Punjab, Jammuand Kashmir and Delhi hascome to light so far. A vastnetwork of Hawala and otherinformal channels has beenused to smuggle narcoticsinto India through the legiti-mate trade route betweenIndia and Pakistan in the garbof import of rock salt, theagency added.

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Mobile Internet facility wasresumed in Ladakh's

Kargil district on Friday butthere is no word on wheninternet services will berestored in Kashmir, wherethe blackout has completed

145 days after the Centre abro-gated provisions of Article 370of the Constitution, officialssaid.

In Kargil, mobile internetservices were restored in viewof complete normalcy return-ing to the district, with nountoward incident taking placeover the past four months, theofficials said.

They said local religiousleaders have appealed to peo-ple not to misuse the facility.Broadband services werealready functional in Kargil.

Internet services were sus-pended on August 5, the daythe Centre announced nullifi-cation of Article 370 and bifur-cation of Jammu & Kashmirinto two Union Territories —Jammu & Kashmir, andLadakh.

The digital blackout inKashmir completed 145 dayson Friday with no sign ofrestoration of the services innear future.

There is no word on wheninternet services will berestored in the Valley, the offi-cials said.

BJP general secretary RamMadhav on Thursday had saidbroadband internet facilitieswere being restoredin Kashmir in a phased man-

ner."The broadband internet

services are being restored in aphased manner. The facilitieshave been restored to thehotels," he had told reportershere.

He had said the localadministration will restore thebroadband services in moresectors after a security review.

In the Valley, the businesscommunity and students arethe worst sufferers due to theinternet shutdown.

"Almost every paperworkrelated to business is now to bedone online. Although the gov-ernment has set up facilitationcentres at various places, theseare not enough. For example, Ihave to shut my shop for a dayto be able to give GST returns.It is not only cumbersome buthumiliating as well, said FarooqAhmad Khan, a businessman.

Hundreds of students, whoaspire to appear in variouscompetitive examinations, haveto make frequent visits to theinternet kiosks set up in officesof deputy commissioners of various dis-tricts and some educationalinstitutions.

Jammu: BJP leader RamMadhav termed the country-wide protests over the amend-ed Citizenship Act and theensuing violence a "political,communal conspiracy" onFriday and blamed theCongress for it.

He lashed out at the oppo-sition party for raking up theNational Population Register(NPR) issue and said it was the"baby of the UPA".

"It (violence over CAA-NPR) is a political, communalconspiracy. We condemn theopposition and communalforces for it," the national gen-eral secretary of the ruling

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)told reporters here.

He alleged that the currentsituation in the country wasdue to a "misinformation cam-paign" by Opposition partiesand certain communal forces.

"The Congress party isinvolved in the promotion ofviolence in the country,"Madhav said.

Criticising opposition par-ties, particularly the Congress,for targeting police, he said thegrand old party should fight theBJP politically, instead of tar-geting the wings of the gov-ernment, especially thepolice. PTI

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Mobile Internet serviceswere restored in Kargil

district of Ladakh on Fridayafter remaining suspended for145 days in the wake of theCentre abrogating provisions ofArticle 370 of the Constitution,officials said.

The services were restoredin view of complete normalcyreturning to Kargil, with nountoward incident taking placeover the past four months, theofficials said.

They said local religiousleaders have appealed to peo-ple not to misuse the facility.

Broadband services werealready functional in Kargil.

Internet services were sus-pended on August 5, theCentre announced abrogationof Article 370 and bifurcationof the State into the union ter-ritories of Jammu and Kashmir,and Ladakh.

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Former Deputy Mayor of Srinagar Municipal Corporation(SMC) Sheikh Imran was arrested on Friday by the Anti-

Corruption Bureau (ACB) in a case pertaining to alleged mis-appropriation of crores of rupees from the Jammu & KashmirBank.

Imran, who was removed as Deputy Mayor of the SrinagarMunicipal Corporation (SMC) after a no-confidence motionagainst him was carried in the corporation on Thursday, wastaken into custody by the ACB for questioning in connectionwith illegal appropriation of subsidy given to his company forsetting up of a Controlled Atmosphere (CA) store, officialsources said.

According to spokesman of the Anti-Corruption Bureau,"Case FIR 3/2019 was registered by ACB against Shiekh ImranDirector M/S Kehwa Square Pvt. Ltd. Bohri Kadal Srinagar, offi-cers of J&K Bank and other Govt officials, for illegal appro-priation of subsidy with inflated project cost for establishmentof CA storage at Lassipora, Pulwama".

ACB Spokesman said, Kehwa Group got their loan of ��138crores with J&K Bank, restructured for merely an amount of� 78 crores under a well knit conspiracy by Sheikh Imran andpartners of M/S Kehwa Square Pvt. Ltd along-with JK BankOfficials.

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Continuing her relentlessattack on the BJP

Government and taking themovement against CitizenshipAmendment Act to the regionsChief Minister MamataBanerjee on Friday assuredthe people of Bengal that therewould be no CAA or NationalRegister for Citizens till she wasalive.

“There will be no CAA orNRC in Bengal as long as I amalive,” Banerjee told a largeaudience at Naihati in North 24Parganas. Iterating that herGovernment would not construct any detention centre,neither will allow any suchplace to come up in Bengal theChief Minister said “there willbe no detention centre inBengal and no one will have toleave this State till I am there,”and added no one had any rightto take away people’s right tocitizenship.

“Right of citizenship is ourbirth right and no one can takethat away,” the Chief Ministerwho had earlier said that shewas not in the know of her par-ent’s birth places or for thatmatter she was not in the possession of their birth cer-tificates said and asked “whoare they (BJP Government) totake away our citizenship. Weare born Indians. We are thechildren of the soil.”

Attacking the BJP leadersfor trying to divide the Indiansociety in the name of “suchdiscriminatory laws” Banerjeesaid “this is one leadershipthat is systematically planningto divide India for their narrowpolitical purpose. But they willnot succeed in their gameplans as India is united as one.Indian culture unites them.”

On the right of the studentsto protest against alleged anti-people approach of the gov-ernment she asked, “Why can'tstudents protest against a dra-conian law? The Centre is tak-ing action against protestingstudents and is rusticatingthem from universities,” andreminded that she wouldalways take the students’ sides. Banerjee who had beenleading large rallies in Kolkataon Friday took the movementoutside the mega city. TheChief Minister is likely to holdsimilar rallies in Purulia districtand Siliguri in January herparty sources said.

Meanwhile, in first suchmove the Left Front and theCongress on Friday hit the

streets with a massive rallyagainst the CAA and NRCpromising to took out evenlarger processions in days tocome.

In what is being seen as thetwo party’s muscle flexing exer-cise the “impressively big” rallywalked about 3 kilometresshouting slogans against theCAA-NRC and in support ofan all-India general strike onJanuary 8.

“This is the first time wehave come out jointly inKolkata on a big issues andhave been able to unite all theanti-BJP, anti-TMC parties thathave secular credentials,” StatePCC president Somen Mitrasaid adding “in future biggerrallies will be taken out.

The procession comprising20 Left parties and Congresswas jointly led by top CPI(M)leaders like Biman Bose,Suryakanto Mishra andCongress leaders like Mitra,Pradip Bhattacharya and oth-ers.

The BJP too took out amassive rally at Tamluk in EastMidnapore in support of theCAA with State BJP presidentDilip Ghosh attacking theTMC and the Left for “confus-ing the people about the realimport of the law which nevertalks about taking one’s citi-zenship but talks about pro-viding the people with citizen-ship right.”

Kolkata: The Bengal Oppositionparties have questioned the “hiddenagenda” behind the MamataBanerjee Government’s decision toreward senior IPS officer and formerKolkata Police Commissioner RajeevKumar — with alleged role in tam-pering of evidence in Saradha chitfund case — with a posting meantfor the IAS officers.

Kumar a highly qualified IITian(in computer technology) vides a lateevening Government notification onThursday was transferred from thepost of Additional Director Generalof Police to Principal Secretary,Information Technology.

“It is unprecedented that a taint-ed officer who is facing CBI inves-tigation gets a reward posting andelevation from IPS to IAS cadre. Thisis only possible in the regime ofMamata Banerjee,” said seniorCPI(M) leader Sujan Chakrabartywondering why the BJP was silentabout that posting.

Kumar’s case is pending in theSupreme Court where the CBI hasappealed for a permission to arresthim after getting an adverse order inCalcutta High Court which restrict-ed the top cop’s movements betweenhis office and residence.

Kumar was allegedly under-ground for about a month inOctober with the CBI hot in his trail— a development that the opposi-tion dismissed as a hand-in-glovetactic of the BJP and TMCGovernments.

The senior officer who is cur-rently on leave and is reportedly outof country apparently pursuing hispost doctoral degree in mathemat-ics is wanted by the CBI for hisalleged complacency in the multi-crore chit fund case in which a num-ber of vital evidences — like pen dri-ves, dairies of the main accusedSudipto Sen, lap tops etc — werereportedly seized but not exhibited. PNS

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After suffering huge lossesin strong retaliatory firing

late Thursday night in whichat least four Pakistani Armysoldiers lost their lives, twoeach across Kupwara andPoonch sectors, The PakistanArmy on Friday targeted sev-eral forward villages inSunderbani and Nowsherasectors of Rajouri district.

According to groundreports, alert Indian troopsafter noticing suspectedmovement of heavily armed infiltratorsprevented intrusion bid oppositeKupwara sector. In retaliatory firing, atleast two Pakistani soldiers were killedwhile some of their posts, aiding intru-sion bid suffered damages.

The Pakistan Army, also sufferedheavy damages opposite Krishna Ghatisector of Poonch after they resorted touse of heavy calibre weapons to target

Indian positions. At least two Pakistanisoldiers lost their lives in retaliatory fir-ing as their forward posts were direct-ly hit by the Indian Army.

Situation remained tense alongthe line of control in Rajouri district onFriday as the Pakistan Army targetedseveral civilian areas in Sunderbani,Kalal and Nowshera sectors. Accordingto official sources, several structures

were hit during intenseexchange of mortarshelling.

More than one dozenforward villages in the areawere worst hit by randomshelling of mortars, officialsources said.

Defence PRO inJammu, Lt-Col DevenderAnand said, "Pakistan ini-tiated 'unprovoked' cease-fire violation by firing ofsmall arms and shellingwith mortars along LoC inSunderbani around 1.15

p.m". Hours later, Kalal and Nowsherasectors were also targeted by thePakistan army around 6.30 p.m.Defence PRO said, the Indian Armyretaliated befittingly. Large number ofborder residents, braving severe coldwave conditions, remained closetedinside their homes for long hours dueto continuous exchange of firing in thearea.

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The Congress on Fridaycharged the Narendra

Modi Government at theCentre with working on theNational Register for Citizensacross the country in the garbof National Population Register,which received the Cabinetnod earlier this week.

AICC spokesman AjayMaken, who was speaking tonewsmen, sought to buttressthe point by citing that the NPRforms are seeking informa-tions like mobile numbers of allfamily members and drivinglicense details which had notbeen sought when the NPR was

last conducted in the 2010-11by the UPA Government inwhich he was the minister ofstate for home.

Maken also rejected theGovernments contention thatthese details were to be sharedvoluntarily and not mandato-rily. The NPR forms have anambiguous 'if available' clause.Anybody who does not sharethese details would run the riskof his citizenship being deemeddoubtful," he told a press con-ference here.

Asserting that the NRChas always been on the BJPsagenda, Maken pointed outthat way back in 2003 when theNDA was in power it had

brought out an amendment inthe Citizenship Act seeking tomake registration of every cit-izen compulsory.

When we (Congress) cameto power in 2004, there was apilot project being carried outin a union territory with a smallpopulation of 3.1 million. Wejunked it though the BJP hadsought to implement it acrossthe country, as it was found thatless than half of the residentscould produce valid docu-ments. Most of them werepoor who had no means to bein possession of documentaryproof of citizenship, theCongress leader pointed out. PTI

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Aligarh: The AMU Teachers'Association on Friday called fora judicial probe into the clash-es between police and studentsduring a protest against theamended citizenship law lastweek.

The association alsodemanded that "false cases"against Aligarh MuslimUniversity (AMU) students beimmediately withdrawn andguilty police personnel be pun-ished as per the law. Withoutthese it will become difficult torestore normalcy on the insti-tute's campus, the teachers' bodysaid. Hundreds of AligarhMuslim University (AMU) stu-dents protesting against theamended Citizenship Actclashed with police onDecember 15 at a campus gateafter which the universityadminstration announced clo-sure of the institution till January5. After the clash the police hadsaid students broke the policecordon and fought pitched bat-tles with them. But students hadquestioned this version.

"Nothing less than a judicialinquiry" will help in ensuringjustice to the victims of the vio-lent incidents of December 15,the association said in a resolu-tion passed in a meeting of itsexecutive committee onFriday. PTI

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Former Chief Minister andsenior BJP leader Devendra

Fadnavis on Friday slammedthe Shiv Sena-led MaharashtraGovernment for denying per-mission to take out a morchafrom the August Kranti Maidanto Lokmanya Tilak statue atGirgaum Chowpatty in southMumbai in support of theCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA).

Addressing a pro-CAA

rally at the August KrantiMaidan, Fadnavis said: “Wehad sought permission for tak-ing out a peaceful morchafrom the August Kranti Maidanto Lokmanya Tilak statue atGirgaum Chowpatty. But, theState Government denied uspermission. The StateGovernment appears to havelost its senses. The Governmentmay prevent us from taking outa rally, but it cannot prevent usfrom supporting CAA”.

Charging that the

Opposition parties were delib-erately trying to create unrestin the country, Fadnavis said:“The opposition is deliberate-ly trying to create misunder-standing among Indian

Muslims about the Act. Forvote bank politics, oppositionis trying to create unrest”.

Maintaining that the theCAA would not take away thecitizenship of any Indiannational, Fadnavis said:“Pakistan has failed to fulfill theassurance during Partition thatminorities will be protected inboth the countries. Hence, it isour responsibility has to lookafter the persecuted Hindus inPakistan because they are ourpeople".

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The Gujarat High Court on Fridayupheld capital punishment for a

22-year-old man convicted for rapeand murder of a three-year-old girlin Surat in October 2018.

A division bench of Justices BelaTrivedi and A C Rao rejected theappeal filed by Anil Yadav againstthe death penalty awarded by a spe-cial Protection of Children fromSexual Offences (POCSO) Act courtin Surat in July. The StateGovernment had sought confirma-tion of the sentence.

The victim went missing fromher house in Godadara area of Suraton October 14, 2018. Police foundher body a day later from a lockedroom on the ground floor of the

building where she lived.Yadav, who occupied that room,

was missing. A migrant labourerfrom Bihar, he knew the victim andher family. He was arrested from hisvillage in Buxar district of Bihar fivedays after the body was discovered,and charged with raping and mur-dering the girl.

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Following wide anger andresentment all over Tamil

Nadu against conferringhonorary doctorate to thetainted film lyricistVairamuthu by a privateuniversity in Chennai,Rajnath Singh, UnionDefense Minister, who wasto be the chief guest for thefunction cancelled his tripitself to the city scheduledfor Saturday.

Hindu Front, anumbrella organisation fea-turing Sangh Parivar con-stituents had threatened onFriday morning that it wouldstage a black flag demon-stration against the Ministeras well as the university onSaturday.

Later, following assur-ances from the State BJPhead quarters that theMinister had cancelled histrip to Chennai, the Hindu

Front leaders called offthe proposed black flagdemonstration.

Vairamuthu was inthe news last year asmany female film artistescame out in the open aspart of the “Me Too”campaign against himfor his overtures andattempts to sexuallyabuse them offering themchances in films. ThoughVairamuthu had denied anysuch happenings, the num-ber of allegations by artistesincreased which put thenational award winningsong writer in an embar-rassing situation. The nationhad honoured the writerwith Padma Bhushan in2014 for his distinguishedservices in “Literature andEducation”.

Scathing attack camefrom leading playback singerChinmoyi Sripada of Tamilfilm industry who was thefirst victim to come out in

the open as part of theMeToo campaign againstthe lyricist. “The DefenceMinister of India is confer-ring an honorary degree toKavignar Vairamuthunamed by 9 women so farfor having molested

them.Just reiterating — outing

KNOWN molesters doesNO damage to them. InsteadI got banned from working.

Yes, I know this doctor-ate is for his prowess in thelanguage which is well estab-lished.

The way he went on,they might as well add a doc-

torate for being a ser-ial molester. Also welldone, SRM. Youcouldn’t have chosen abetter example foryour students on ‘RoleModel’”, wrote thesinger in her socialmedia.

Besides Chinmoyi,many prominent per-

sons including Prof RVaidyanathan of the IndianInstitute of Managementfrom across the countryasked the union minister tokeep off from the convoca-tion ceremony.

TR Parivendhar, MPwho is the chancellor of theUniversity himself was in theeye of a storm followingdisclosure by nearly hun-dred students that they werecheated of � 90 crore by hisuniversity offering seats forMBBS course. He was inChennai Central Prison forthree months and the case isyet to be resolved.

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Panaji: Goa Shiv Sena chiefJitesh Kamat on Fridayexpressed gratitude toGovernor Satya Pal Malik forbeing sensitive towards Goanson the Mahadayi water diver-sion issue.

This is after Malik toldlocal cable channel 'PrudentMedia' that he was with thepeople of Goa in their fight forMahadayi, and attacked theCentre on the river dispute.

Goa and Karnataka arelocked in a battle on Mahadayiriver water sharing and the for-mer has opposed the Centre's

letter on December 24 to theneighbouring state informingthat environment clearancewas not needed for the KalsaBhanduri project on the riverthere.

The governor has beenhere only for two months butis sensitive to the sentiments ofGoans unlike others who claimto represent people of the state,Kamat said in a statement.

He also attacked ChiefMinister Pramod Sawant onthe issue and said the latter wascriticising Goan agitators ratherthan standing with them. PTI

Chennai: The first phase ofpolls to elect councillors, pan-chayat union presidents andward members for the localbodies concluded in TamilNadu on Friday with reports ofstray incidents taking place ina few polling booths. The datesfor the much-awaited pollswere announced by the StateElection Commission early thismonth.

The polls are being heldexcluding the nine districtswhere the delimitation exercisehas to be completed.

The newly formed ninedistricts are Kancheepuram,Chengalput, Vellore,Tirupattur, Ranipet,Villupuram, Kallakurichi,Tirunelveli and Tenkasi.

The second phase wouldbe held on December 30.

According to sources, thereare nearly 1.30 crore voters tocast their vote in first phasewhile another 1.28 crore in thesecond phase. The pollingwhich began at 7 am ended at5 pm.

The counting of voteswould take place on January 2.According to the Tamil NaduState Election Commission,the total number of pollingbooths set up was 49,688 ofwhich 24,680 were covered in phase-I. total number of candidates contest-ing the polls was 2,31,890, theSEC said in a press release. PTI

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Thousands of devoteesthronged the Lord Ayyappa

temple here on Friday for themandala puja which markedthe culmination of the 41-day annual pilgrim season that was peaceful unlikeprotests over women's entrylast year.

Chanting “swamiyesaranam” Ayyappa devoteesthronged the hill-top templeand waited patiently to witnessthe special pujas and ritualsincluding “kalabhaabhishekam” and “kalasaabhishekam”.

The 'mandala puja' washeld under the aegis of the headpriest Kandaru MaheshMohanararu and Melshanti(Chief Priest) A SudheerNamboothiri as pilgrims chant-ed hymns of the Lord in uni-son.

The idol of the LordAyyappa was adorned with'thanka angi,” the sacred gold-en attire, which was broughthere on Thursday evening in aceremonial procession fromthe Sree Parthasarthy temple atAranmula.

Last year, the shrine hadwitnessed frenzied protests bydevotees over the entry ofyoung women after the LDFGovernment decided to imple-ment the September 28 verdictof the Supreme Court allowingwomen of all age groups tooffer prayers.

However, with petitionsagainst the September 28 ver-dict being referred to a largerbench by the apex court, theState Government decided toexercise caution and held thatwomen in the 10-50 age groupwho wish to visit the hill tem-ple should get a “court order”and it would not encourageactivism.

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Union Minister RamdasAthawale said here on

Friday that he disagreed withRSS chief Mohan Bhagwat'sassertion that all 130 crorepeople living in India areHindus.

Speaking in Hyderabad onThursday, Bhagwat had saidthat the RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh considersthe entire population of Indiaas Hindu society, irrespective ofpeople's individual religionsand culture.

Athawale, a Dalit leaderwho heads the RepublicanParty of India, a constituent ofthe NDA, told PTI

that he did not agree withBhagwat.

“If it is said that RSS con-siders everyone Indian (insteadof Hindu) and we are all unit-ed, I can understand. Hindusare the majority community,but there are also Buddhists, Muslims,Christians, Jains, Dalits,Backward Classes. All of us areone and united as Indians,” hesaid.

At one time Buddhism wasa dominant religion in manycountries including India, hesaid, adding, “Should we (then)say all of us are Buddhists?”

Coimbatore: A 34-year oldman was on Friday sentencedto death by a special court herefor rape and murder of a seven-year old girl nine months agoon the city outskirts.

The victim's mother hailedthe verdict, saying it should bea deterrent in future to “suchbeasts”.

Judge R Radhika of thespecial court for Protection ofChildren from Sexual OffencesAct (POCSO) cases heldSanthoshkumar guilty undervarious sections of the IndianPenal Code and the POCSOand awarded the capital pun-ishment.

According to prosecution,Santhoshkumar had allegedlyraped and murdered the girl,

daughter of a neighbour of hisgrandmother, at Pannimadaiand dumped the body in agarbage bin on March 25.

Santhoshkumar was arrest-ed on March 31 days after thegirl was found dead with herlimbs tied and the body bear-ing injuries with the incidenttriggering protests by locals.He was thrashed by an angrygroup of public when he wasbrought to the government

hospital here for medical checkup after his arrest.

The trial in the case wasproceeding in the MahilaCourt, which has now beendesignated the POCSO court,and 32 witnesses were exam-ined.

Judge Radhika awardeddeath sentence for murder, lifeimprisonment for rape andseven year imprisonment fordestroying evidence under IPCand POCSO sections.

Passing orders on a petitionby the girl's mother seekingarrest of another person whosealleged involvement in thecrime came to light recentlyafter DNA tests, the judgeordered the police to furtherinvestigate the case. PTI

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Jaipur: Rajasthan ChiefMinister Ashok Gehlot onFriday said the Constitutionguarantees freedom of speechand disagreement should notbe seen as something anti-national.

He said the youth of thecounty was being misleadthrough social media whichwas not good for a healthydemocracy.

“The Constitution hasgiven the freedom of speechand disagreement should notbe seen as something anti-national,” Gehlot said at a pro-gramme here.

“The country today needsto follow the path shown byMahatma Gandhi. It shouldrun as per the spirit of theConstitution so that everyonecan get social and economicjustice,” Gehlot said at a pro-gramme here.

He said youths were beingmisled through social mediawhich was a matter of concern.

Speaking at the meeting ofthe National Federation ofIndian Women at RavindraManch here, Gehlot said hisgovernment has taken severalinitiatives to prevent crimesagainst the women. PTI

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The outcome of the UnitedNations’ Climate ChangeConference, also known as COP25 (25th United Nations ClimateChange Conference), held in

Madrid from December 2 to 13, has dis-appointed many. It produced a bland, plat-itudinous statement re-emphasising with“serious concern the urgent need toaddress the significant gap between theaggregate effect of Parties’ mitigationefforts in terms of global annual emissionsof greenhouse gases by 2020.” It simulta-neously added that it “stresses the urgencyof enhanced ambition in order to ensurethe highest possible mitigation and adap-tation efforts by all Parties.”

COP 25’s failures were primarily in twoareas. One was its inability to frame rulesgoverning the operations of carbon trad-ing, which owes its origin to the KyotoProtocol of 1997. Deferred to this year bythe last year’s conference, COP 24, it hasbeen shelved for the next climate confer-ence, COP 26, to be held in Glasgow inDecember next year. The second was itsfailure to make any progress towardsachieving meaningful emission cuts.

One must first look at the carbon trad-ing since deliberations over it were sup-posed to be a principal feature of the con-ference even before the latter began. It owesits origin to the Kyoto Protocol, which cameinto force in 2005. Dividing countries intodeveloped and developing ones, and recog-nising that the former were responsible forthe current level of greenhouse gas (GHG)emissions through more than 150 years ofindustrial activity, it mandated that the 37industrialised nations plus the EuropeanUnion cut their emission levels to targetsfor GHG emissions for the first complianceperiod from 2008 to 2012. Developingcountries, numbering 100, and includingIndia and China, were asked to con-tribute by investing in projects designed tolower emissions in their countries.

Developed, industrialised countriesundertook to reduce their annual hydro-carbon emissions by an average of 5.2 percent, representing 29 per cent of theworld’s GHG emissions, by 2012. Allcountries were required to draw up nation-al emission reduction targets, calledNationally Determined Contributions(NDCs), which they had to submit regu-larly to the United Nations FrameworkConvention on Climate Change (UNFC-CC). The protocol laid down that insteadof reducing its own emissions, a pollutingcompany or country could buy carboncredits from another that had reduced itscarbon footprint. Industrialised countriescould do so through the EmissionReduction Purchase Agreement, while aClean Development Mechanism gavedeveloping countries carbon credits in theform of Certified Emission ReductionUnits, which were bought and sold in a sep-

arate market. Equally, insteadof reducing emissions domes-tically, an industrialised country or a company couldoffset its high levels of GHGemissions by investing in greenventures through what theProtocol identified as JointImplementation (JI) projectsand, thereby, earn EmissionReduction Units from the latter.

The question arises: Whatis a carbon credit? It is a per-mit or a certificate, issued by aGovernment or a regulatorybody, allowing a country or anorganisation to burn a certainspecified amount of hydrocar-bon fuel over a specified peri-od. Each carbon credit is val-ued against one tonne of hydro-carbon fuel.

As the commitment peri-od of the Kyoto Protocol endedin December 2012, parties to itmet in Doha, Qatar, andamended it, fixing new emis-sion reduction targets for theperiod 2013 to 2020. The DohaAmendment, as it was called,was, however, never ratifiedand was superseded by theParis Climate Agreement of2015. Article 6 of the ParisClimate Agreement providesfor international cooperationand carbon trading.

Unfortunately, the issue ofcarbon trading has been cloud-

ed by allegations of corruptionand the fundamental claimthat it does not really help inreducing emission levels.Particularly under focus havebeen Joint ImplementationProjects. The rules providethat an industrialised countrymust invest in a project, whichwould not otherwise have comeabout and not in ones that wereto happen anyway. The allega-tion is that the latter has beenthe case in an alarming num-ber of instances.

As early as August 24,2015, a report in The Guardianby Arthur Neslen referred tothe findings of the StockholmEnvironment Institute that theJoint Implementation schemewas so open to abuse thatthree quarters of the allowancesunder it lacked environmentalintegrity. As a result, around600m tonnes of carbon werewrongly emitted under theUNFCCC-administered JointImplementation (JI) scheme.The institute’s paper, whichwas corroborated by UnitedNations officials, and parts ofwhich were published in NatureClimate Change, states that anestimated 80 per cent of JI pro-jects were of low environmen-tal quality. The Guardian dis-patch quotes one of the authorsof the report, VladyslavZhezherin, as saying, “Many of

them didn’t observe therequirements of JI on ‘addition-ality’ as they would probablyhave happened anyway, and Iwould even doubt the physicalexistence of some of these pro-jects.” He was further quoted tohave added, “I would say thatmany of them were fake.”

According to The Guardianreport, Russia and Ukrainewere the two biggest beneficia-ries of the JI system. Not sur-prisingly, JI markets in thetwo countries have receivedparticular attention. TheGuardian report quotes asource with regulatory experi-ence in Ukraine’s JI market assaying that as the 2000sdragged on, JIs increasinglycame to be seen by market par-ticipants as “a corruptionmechanism.”

Clearly, the rules and reg-ulations for carbon tradingneed to be reformed substan-tially to rule out corruption andensure transparency in transac-tions. Matters have been furthercomplicated by the issue ofwhether carbon credits earnedbefore the Paris ClimateConference can be used in theperiod after it came into force.Not surprisingly, the rules con-tinue to be subjects of discus-sion and, judging by theprogress thus far and the inter-ests involved, are unlikely to be

finalised in COP 26. Even ifthese are, the wider question ofwhether the carbon tradingsystem actually helps in reduc-ing emission levels remains,with the critics pointing out thatit primarily helps the develop-ing countries to maintain theirhigh emission levels withoutmaking any significant contri-bution to reducing — or evencontaining — emission levels inthe developing countries.

This once again under-lines the fact that globalwarming can only be mitigat-ed by implementing the ParisClimate Agreement’s goal ofkeeping the global tempera-ture rise this century to wellbelow 2OC above pre-indus-trial levels and to pursueefforts to limit the tempera-ture increase even further to1.5OC. It is also important toachieve the Agreement’s goalof enhancing the ability ofcountries to deal with impactsof climate change.Unfortunately, no progresswas made in these directionsin Madrid and given the atti-tudes of the Trump adminis-tration and leaders like JairBolsonaro, the President ofBrazil, no significant progressis likely in the near future.

(The writer is ConsultantEditor, The Pioneer, and an author)

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Row over NPR” (December27). The faux pas on the AssamNational Register of Citizens(NRC) had the Government errin haste over its subsequent andcontradictory narrative on theNational Population Register(NPR)-NRC. It must be said thatthe Government counted on thismiasma to look for electoralleverage in the upcomingAssembly elections.

Assam, however, has longbeen vehement over the prima-cy of the Assamese ethos in anypolitical prescription. The netresult is a nationwide reaction,with each section interpretingthe same page to its own under-standing. The feverish attemptsat translation by every stake-holder can be toned down, if notbe subdued, only when theSupreme Court gives its rulingon the Citizenship AmendmentAct (CAA). We have seen howa simple referendum over Brexithas tied up a nation with fourcenturies of vintage democracyin knots for three long years.

R Narayanan Navi Mumbai

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Sir — It is really disquieting thatthe Indian Government has shutdown the internet in variousparts of the country in order to

quell the protests against theCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA), with Uttar Pradesh top-ping the list.

This situation is eerily remi-niscent of the blackouts carriedout by the Chinese Government

during the pro-democracyprotests in Hong Kong earlier thisyear. That the current scenario isbeing equated with an authoritar-ian regime is not a healthy sign.

Adrian David Chennai

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Sir — It is heart-warming toknow that former Indian crick-et team skipper Mahendra SinghDhoni has accomplished hisglorious 15 years in internation-al cricket. With an unconven-tional batting technique, new-fangled wicket-keeping expertiseand fearless captaincy, Dhonichanged the face of Indian crick-et and took the team to newheights in the internationalarena. He also became a rolemodel for countless youngstersacross the nation.

Dhoni has always been astrong pillar of the Indian crick-et team. Despite being a smalltown boy, he made it evidentthat nothing can restrain anindividual from achieving great-ness in life if one has a genuinepassion and a strong will to doso. Since he has not played forteam India for the past sixmonths, one hopes that hemakes a sturdy comeback soonin international cricket.

Tushar AnandPatna

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Having missed the first and secondindustrial revolution of the 19th andearly 20th century (courtesy the sub-jugation of India to colonial rulers ofthose times) and even the third tech-

nology-driven revolution (this one was primarilydue to the “protectionist” and “inward-looking”Government policies, which were not conducive toembracing technology), India is at the forefront ofleading the fourth industrial revolution — a digi-tally driven one —with speed and scale.

The digital revolution calls for a shift frommechanical and analogue electronic technology todigital electronics, which began in the late 50s andthe late 1970s with the adoption and proliferationof digital computers and digital record-keeping,which continues till the present day. The last fiveyears have seen massive proliferation of affordablemobile phones, increase in the penetration of theinternet and the explosion of data use from a mere0.2 GB a month to 11 GB. This was possible dueto the mammoth investment in telecom infrastruc-ture, exponential growth of mobile factories with-in the country, expansion of telecom services (withprime focus on data services) and the adoption ofnew technologies, which are many times more effi-cient and cost effective. This was in turn spurredby an enabling policy environment that included“change horses in midstream.” For instance, underthe New Telecom Policy (NTP), 1999, serviceproviders were allowed to switch over to the pay-ment of license fee as a percentage of their annu-al revenue.

Digital infrastructure now forms the bedrockof unprecedented growth of start-ups in sunriseindustries viz, online retail commerce, retail bro-kering, food delivery, ride-hailing, digital aggrega-tion of service providers such as plumbers, clean-ers and painters among others. Consequently, Indiahas now emerged as the third largest start-up ecosys-tems in the world, right behind China and the US.It offers huge scope for generating employment andincome. The success of the Modi Government’s“financial inclusion” programme is predicated onthe use of the Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-mobile phone(JAM) trinity. This platform is used for direct trans-fer of subsidy and other benefits to the beneficia-ry’s account. This scheme has helped save thousandsof crores of rupees by plugging leakages. This, how-ever, would not have been possible in the absenceof a robust digital architecture.

The Government has made effective use of tech-nology to empower the farmers by distributing dig-itally-enabled 140 million soil health cards, whichhave all the information about the nutrient statusof the soil and provides information on what fer-tilisers and other inputs are needed to improve soilhealth and its fertility. The Government alsolaunched the National Agriculture Market (NAM),a pan-India electronic trading portal, for farm pro-duce for the creation of a unified national marketfor agricultural commodities. Payments of wagesunder MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi RuralEmployment Guarantee Scheme) are also beingdone through the Aadhaar Payments Bridge (APB)using the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) model.

The digital architecture has also helped mil-lions of consumers and traders in facilitating easeof payments and business. The Government hasalso given a boost to indigenous digital paymentmechanism. The Bharat Interface for Money-

Unified Payment Interface (BHIMUPI),with over 600 million transactions amonth (January 2019), is the interoper-able backbone that connects all bankswith the consumers.

True, India has seized the opportu-nity and taken the lead in the digital rev-olution. However, given the huge size ofthe nation, vastness in terms of bothdemography and geography, there are mil-lions of people, who still remain uncon-nected and those connected are faced withquality issues. This makes it clear that thereare massive challenges when it comes toenacting the kind of changes that are nec-essary in order to make a digital leap tothe fourth industrial revolution. All stake-holders, including the Government andservice providers, must be prepared toaddress the loopholes.

First, economic growth, whichslowed down to five per cent and 4.5 percent during the first and second quar-ter of the year, needs to be revived andaccelerated to eight per cent in order tofulfil the dream of a $5 trillion econo-my by 2025. A “robust” and “healthy”digital infrastructure will be very crucialto achieve this target. It is equallyimportant to realise the vital goal of dou-bling farmers income.

Second, substantial augmentation ofthe existing infrastructure will be nec-essary for the Modi Government toachieve its ambitious financial inclusionprogramme and at the same time ensur-ing effective implementation of welfareschemes. For instance, under thePradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi(PM-KISAN), which promises to enroll140 million marginal farmers within itsfold, only 70 million have been enrolledso far. The Government has not evenreached the half-way mark yet.

The proposal to pay fertiliser sub-sidy through the DBT system requiresmonumental efforts in terms of collect-

ing farmers’ data viz, land size, cropgrown, soil status and fertiliser use. Allof these need to be put on digital record.There is also a need to create a technol-ogy-driven financial architecture for has-sle-free transfer of money into the ben-eficiary’s account. Unfortunately, theexercise has not even begun.

Third, India needs at least three tofour telecom service providers so as tomaintain delivery of “quality” services at“affordable” price (considering the grow-ing needs, we should be aiming at six).Unfortunately, today, the telecom indus-try is at the brink. One major player,Vodafone-Idea, has already hinted atclosing the shop if the Government doesnot provide relief. There is an urgentneed to pull it back.

The service providers themselvesneed to do a lot. They began well bypledging to avoid predatory tariff cuts.This should be sustained (the regulatorwill have to play a role expected from it;it has not done so far). The Governmentmay provide some relief by way of a cutin Spectrum Usage Charge (SUC) fromexisting eight per cent to say five per centand a reduction in Goods and ServicesTax (GST) as well. However, it must notgo for a complete bailout as that coulddestabilise its budget.

Fourth, while implementing revivalplans for BSNL and MTNL, efforts mustbe made to ensure that they remain self-financed and the impact on the budgetmust remain minimal. This can be doneonly if the sale plan of their land and otherassets is vigorously carried forward.Apart from reaching out to remoteareas, where private firms may not go,their continuation is necessary from“security” and “strategic” perspective.

Fifth, the Government must come outwith a comprehensive policy on “subsi-dising” digital services under its welfareschemes to empower farmers, self-help

groups (SHGs) and village panchayatsamong others. Money should come fromthe State or Central budget and, thus,ensure that the service providers, includ-ing BSNL, are not made to foot the bill.

Sixth, in the process of conductingbusinesses, digital companies generatedata on millions of customers. This hasraised three major concerns viz, protec-tion of data; rights of citizens to priva-cy; and national security. Consideringthat the e-commerce landscape is dom-inated by multinationals such as Amazonand Walmart, concerns are heighteneddue to cross-border movement andsharing of “sensitive” data with third par-ties, including foreign Governments.

The Government has adopted amulti-pronged way to address these con-cerns, which includes the issuance of exec-utive orders (for example, last year, theReserve Bank of India ordered all paymentcompanies to transfer data to India with-in six months); enactment of a law on dataprotection; the roll out of a policy on FDIin e-commerce market place and regula-tions for the conduct of MNCs on theseplatforms. However, care must be takento ensure that our digital initiatives andinnovation, especially, the start-up ecosys-tem, are not haemorrhaged. We also needto remember that if India goes too far ininsisting on “data localisation”, “setting uplocal office” and the “handing over thedata key to regulators”, then this can trig-ger retaliation from the US, the EU coun-tries and others, thus affecting billions ofdollar exports from Indian IT and IT-enabled service companies.

Finally, India needs to carefully devel-op its approach to taxation of digital trans-actions (and how the Government canmake OECD agree to our ideas on thesubject) as in the years to come, this willbe a major source of revenue.

(The writer is a New Delhi-based policy analyst.)

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In 1910, the then US President, WilliamHoward Taft, had claimed that “within fiveyears, cancer will have been removed from

the list of fatal maladies.” More than a cen-tury later, we are yet to understand the intri-cacies of the disease. Cancer refers to a classof disease where previously healthy cells mul-tiply abnormally and spread or “metastasise”to other parts of the body. When thisgrowth impairs the normal functions oforgans or systems, it can lead to death. Canceris not a single disease but a grouping of hun-dreds of diseases, which share common fea-tures. This means that any cure must be spe-cific to the particular sub-class to be effec-tive. This, along with the fact that curing can-cer ultimately means removal of unwantedgrowths of parts of our own body, make itincredibly hard to treat.

Cancer is of particular concern forIndia. There has been a tectonic shift in the

disease burden faced by the country. Vector-borne diseases, such as that of Malaria, havesteadily decreased over the last three decadesbut the incidence of lifestyle diseases, cate-gorised as non-communicable diseases orNCDs, such as diabetes and hypertension, hasincreased manifold in the same period.Increasingly, cancer’s share in NCDs hasincreased in the past few years. The age-stan-dardised rate of cancer is estimated to be 97per 100,000 people. Treatments are prohib-itively expensive and out-of-pocket expen-diture is highest among any ailment, withabout 40 per cent of cancer cases beingfinanced through borrowings, sale of assetsand contributions from family.

In 2014, the ratio of the number of oncol-ogists to the number of cancer patients stoodat 1:2000, a far cry from the 1:100 ratio of highincome nations such as the US. With 11.5lakh new cancer patients being registeredevery year in the country, the healthcare sys-tem is reeling under overburdened workforceand inadequate infrastructure. In 2018 alone,7.8 lakh people succumbed to the disease.Cancer takes time to present itself, whichmeans it is usually diagnosed at an advancedstage. This inevitably means that the diseaseis tougher and more expensive to treat. Earlydiagnosis, coupled with prompt treatment,especially in the case of common cancers suchas breast, cervical and colorectal cancers, per-

haps is the only way forward in ensuring sur-vivability. But diagnostic services for cancerare scant, the procedures tend to be expen-sive and invasive. The problem India faces istwo-fold: We need to diagnose cancer earli-er and do it at a fraction of the cost. ArtificialIntelligence (AI) may just be the answer.

Field image recognition, a sub-part of AI,has the ability to read and point anomalies.Many companies have come forward anddeveloped AI-enabled radiology tools thatpredict cancer at an early stage. Existence ofa high number of digitised images in radi-ology makes it a ripe field for AI exploration.Emergence of algorithms with the capabili-ty of analysing digital images to individualpixel level has opened the possibility of detect-ing features imperceptible to the human eyes.

MIT’s AI lab and Massachusetts GeneralHospital (MGH) have created a new deep-learning model that can predict from a mam-mogram if a patient is likely to develop breastcancer as much as five years in the future.Identifying subtle markers in breast tissuesthat can act as precursors to malignanttumors, years in advance, is a breakthroughthat supports physician’s clinical decision.Niramai Health Analytix, a startup headquar-tered in Bengaluru, has developed an AI-leddiagnostic platform that uses thermal imageprocessing and ML algorithms for reliable andaccurate breast cancer screening.

The tech community has recognised theimpact that AI can have in healthcare withopen source community and medical estab-lishments actively building data-sets to spurinnovation. Detection of lung nodules andtheir classification into benign and malignantgrowths using CT scans formed the problemstatement of 2017 Kaggle Data ScienceBowl, an international competition in the fieldof machine learning. Responses to thisresulted in models with promising accura-cy ranging from 85-90 per cent. AI can alsosuccessfully segment the lung tumors basedon volumes and offer an insight into triag-ing cases for doctors and radiotherapy treat-ment planning. Whether these algorithms canbe deployed on field, after refinement, is aquestion the medical community and theGovernment needs to answer.

AI may, perhaps, already be better thanhuman doctors in a few, very specific tasks.Taking the conversation outside oncology,NTT Data, a Japanese technology firm, part-nered with Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospitaland Research Center in Pune to test the effi-cacy of its AI diagnosis support solution. Themodel was able to detect 56 emphysema cases,a lung condition that causes difficulty breath-ing, while normal diagnosis without AIdetected 17 cases. These AI detected casesshowed signs of mild or moderate levels ofemphysema, which gave early findings to

kickstart early treatment, thereafter enablingtracking of disease progression. In oncolo-gy as well, AI may be able to diagnose patientsearlier and more accurately than doctors can,with the tools they currently have.Applications of AI in oncology go beyondimage recognition as well.

With the healthcare industry increasing-ly adopting the practice of maintaining dig-itized health records, referred to as ElectronicHealth Records (EHR), AI is increasingly har-nessing these digital records using natural lan-guage processing techniques to analyse dataand predict the development of diseases.Marriage of EHR and AI find applications notonly in disease prediction but also in diseasemonitoring, decision-making and drug rec-ommendation. The use of EHR-enabled AI,to provide better services to the patients, isalready underway in India.

As it stands, there is ample evidence toprove that AI will make diagnosis and treat-ment of cancer cheaper, more accurate andaccessible to all. A few start-ups and health-care institutions are well underway at mak-ing this promise a reality. With advances intechnological infrastructure and burgeoningresearch in AI, we can begin to expect pathbreaking changes in oncological care. But lackof clear regulations, quality data and a dis-parate public health system are impedimentsto large-scale deployment of these solutions.

Perhaps the biggest barrier to the injec-tion of these solutions in public health sys-tems lies in proving generalisability and onground efficacy of these applications. SomeAI algorithms make it impossible to re-tracethe steps involved in the algorithm reachinga decision, a problem which is referred to as“black box problem.” This problem might pre-vent us from weeding out biases and canresult in unwitting and malicious problems.Biases may creep in through other mecha-nisms, such as training the AI model on non-representative datasets. Regulations, whichmandate and set parameters for datasets thatAI algorithms are trained on, are required toprevent any such biases. An ecosystem thatsupports infusion of AI into regular practicesneeds to be developed as well. As it stands,public healthcare systems are fragmented andare not interoperable. While a few standardsdo exist, the healthcare industry is yet to adoptthem in a holistic manner. Adoption of indus-try wide standards along with clear mecha-nisms and guidelines for use and certifica-tion of AI and AI-enabled medical deviceswill be necessary in order to make sure AIsolutions for cancer become ubiquitous.

(Eluri has led digital transformation pro-jects in the pharmaceutical industry. Sharmais a software professional. Both are with theInternational Innovation Corps, ChicagoUniversity)

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Mumbai: As the GDP growthhas plunged to an over six-yearlow of 4.5 per cent in the secondquarter of the ongoing fiscal,credit expansion may plummetto a six-decade low of 6.5-7 percent in FY20, says a report.

Credit growth was a high13.3 per cent in the previous fis-cal, says rating agency Icra in a report. If the forecastturns out to be true, this will belowest credit growth in as manyas 58 years — credit growthstood at a low 5.4 per cent in FY1962, according to the annualcredit growth data on the RBIwebsite.

It can be noted that GDPgrowth plunged to a 25-quar-ter low of 4.5 per cent in thesecond quarter and to 5 percent in the first quarter andnobody is forecasting betternumbers going ahead.

Even the RBI has massive-ly slashed its growth forecast toa low 5 per cent for the year —down by a massive 240 bpsfrom its February projection of7.4 per cent. PTI

New Delhi: Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman onSaturday will hold a meetingwith heads of public sectorbanks to discuss various issuesincluding the recentlyannounced Government mea-sures to prop up the economy,sources said.

The Finance Minister’smeeting with chief executivesand managing directors ofbanks ahead of the UnionBudget assumes significance in

view of the critical role thebanking sector plays in boost-ing consumer demand acrosssectors. Sitharaman is expect-ed to present her secondBudget on February 1, 2020.

According to sources, shewill also review Budgetannouncement on absorptionof Merchant Discount Ratecharges by banks, overdraftfacility to PM Jan Dhan Yojanaaccount holders through RuPaydebit Card. IANS

Mumbai: The country’s foreign exchange reserves increased byUSD 456 million to a fresh lifetime high of USD 454.948 billionin the week to December 20, according to RBI data. In the pre-vious week, the reserves had swelled by USD 1.070 billion to USD454.492 billion.

In the reporting week, the rise in reserves was mainly onaccount of an increase in foreign currency assets, a major com-ponent of the overall reserves, which surged by USD 311 mil-lion to USD 422.732 billion, weekly data released by the ReserveBank on Friday showed.

Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets includethe effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units likethe euro, pound and the yen held in the forex reserves. Duringthe reporting week, gold reserves increased by USD 164 millionto USD 27.132 billion. PTI

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Three loss making PSUBanks — Allahabad Bank,

Indian Overseas Bank andUCO Bank — have got �8,655crore fresh capital infusionfrom the Government.

The Finance Ministry hasapproved infusing fresh capitalamounting to �2,153 crore inthe Allahabad Bank, �2,142crore in the UCO Bank and�4,360 crore in the IndianOverseas Bank via preferentialallotment of shares.

UCO Bank posted a loss of�892 crore in Q2, AllahabadBank a loss of �2,103 crore andIndian Overseas Bank posted�2,254 crore loss in July-

September quarter.All these banks, except the

Allahabad Bank, are currentlyunder the Reserve Bank ofIndia’s prompt corrective action(PCA) framework and theyneed to have net NPA below sixper cent to get out of PCAwhich is a key criterion.

These banks filed separateregulatory filings on their capi-tal infusion. “We wish to informthat the Bank has received vialetter on December 26 a sanctionfrom Government of India forrelease of �4,360 crore towardscontribution of the CentralGovernment in the preferentialallotment of equity shares(Special Securities/Bonds) ofthe Bank during the financial

year 2019-20 as Government’sinvestment,” the IOB said.

“Government of India, videletter on December 26, con-veyed their sanction for releaseof capital of �2,142 croretowards contribution of theCentral Government in thepreferential allotment of equi-ty shares of UCO Bank,” theUCO Bank said.

These infusions are part ofthe �70,000 crore recapitalisa-tion announced in the Budget.

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman had first proposeda capital infusion of �70,000crore in public sector banks intwo phases. The Governmenthad so infused �60,314 croreout of this.

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New Delhi: Shares of Allahabad Bank onFriday jumped 8.5 per cent after the lender saidit will get fresh capital infusion from theGovernment in the current financial year.

The scrip climbed 8.17 per cent to close at�19.20 on the BSE. During the day, it zoomed10.98 per cent to �19.70. On the NSE, itadvanced 8.45 per cent to close at �19.25.

In terms of traded volume, 6.47 lakh sharesof the state-owned bank were traded on BSEand over one crore units exchanged hands onthe NSE. The Department of Financial Servicesin a letter on Thursday conveyed the sanctionfor release of the fresh capital infusion fund of�2,153 crore, Allahabad Bank said in a regu-latory filing. PTI

New Delhi: Shares of Indian Overseas Bank(IOB) on Friday advanced 6.5 per cent after thecompany said it will get a capital infusion of�4,360 crore from the government in the currentfinancial year for meeting regulatory requirement.

The scrip zoomed 6.48 per cent to close at�11.99 on the BSE. During the trade, it spurted 14.12per cent to �12.85. On the NSE, it climbed 5.75 prcent to close at �11.95. In August, the FinanceMinistry had announced a capital infusion of �3,800crore in the state-owned lender. This has now beenincreased by �560 crore. “The bank has received videletter dated December 25, 2019 for release of �4,360crore towards contribution of the central govern-ment in the preferential allotment of equity sharesof the bank during 2019-20 as Government’s invest-ment,” IOB said in a BSE filing. PTI

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The rupee depreciated by 4paise to close at a fresh

three-week low of 71.35 againstthe US dollar on Friday, con-tinuing its losing streak for thesixth day in a row amid crudeoil prices hitting three-monthhigh levels.

Forex traders said theUSD/INR spot has been trad-ing in a tight range amid lackof cues. The rupee openedhigher at 71.26 and touched ahigh of 71.19 in morning trade.Later, it lost ground and fell toa low of 71.40 before closing at71.35, the lowest level sinceDecember 4.

On a weekly basis, therupee depreciated by 19 paise.Crude oil prices rose to three-month high levels on positiveUS and Chinese economicdata. Brent futures gained 0.22per cent to trade at USD 68.07per barrel while the West TexasIntermediate was up 24 cents,or 0.4%, at USD 61.92 a barrel.

“The USD/INR spot hasbeen trading in a tight range of71-71.40 amid holiday season,and we expect thin and lack-luster movement to continueeven next week,” said RahulGupta, Head of Research-Currency, Emkay GlobalFinancial Services.

Gupta added “the positivesentiments regarding US-China Phase-One trade dealwill go on until there is anycontradictory news from theUS. 71 will continue to act asa strong support, while 71.40will be a strong resistance.”

Meanwhile, the dollarindex, which gauges the green-back’s strength against a basketof six currencies, fell by 0.36 percent to 97.18. On the domesticmarket front, the 30-share BSESensex ended 411.38 points, or1 per cent, higher at 41,575.14.It hit an intra-day high of41,611.27. Similarly, the broad-er NSE Nifty closed 119.25points, or 0.98 per cent, up at12,245.80.

New Delhi: Intensifying theprotest against deep discountsand disruptive offers by e-commerce majors Amazon andFlipkart, traders on Fridaystaged a day long hunger strikein several parts of the countryunder the aegis of theConfederation of All IndiaTraders (CAIT).

During the protests inabout 500 cities across thecountry, traders also demand-ed government action againstthe e-commerce companiesworking in transport, logistics,travel, home buying, consumerdurables and other segments, astatement from CAIT said.

“We want Indian e-com-merce market free from allglitches, unhealthy and unfairbusiness practices, and till gov-ernment take any action ournational agitation will contin-ue” said Praveen Khandelwal,Secretary General of CAIT.

The traders’ body said theonline platforms are indulgingin preferential seller systemand more than 80 per cent oftheir sales are made by justtheir 10-15 preferred sellers.

IANS

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As the country aims tobecome a USD 5 trillion

economy, the policy makersneed to focus more on the min-ing sector with concertedefforts to regain its 3 per cent share in the GDP by 2024-25,says a study.

According to the studyconducted by industry bodyCII, the mining industry’s sharein India’s GDP (in real terms)in 2018-19 was a low of 2.6 percent, down from 3 per cent in2011-12.

The study ‘Towards aGlobally Competitive Mineralsand Mining Industry’ wasreleased at the Mining Summit2019 here.

“The minerals and miningindustry is core to India’sgrowth ambition of a USD 5trillion economy. Exploration,extraction and managementof minerals have to be guidedby national goals and perspec-tives, to be integrated into theoverall strategy of India’s eco-nomic development. And at thesame time, there should beefforts to promote domesticindustry and reduce importdependency,” Mines JointSecretary Upendra Joshi saidwhile releasing the report.

The sector has a pivotalrole to play in the ‘Make inIndia’ vision of the prime min-ister and exploration canimprove India’s mineral secu-rity and competitive edge.

“There is a significantscope for new mining capaci-ties in iron ore, bauxite and coaland considerable opportunitiesfor future discoveries of sub-surface deposits. TheGeological Survey of India hasalmost doubled its explorationactivity by implementing about400 mineral exploration pro-jects on various mineral com-modities,” he said.

Attractive provisions havebeen made for inviting privateinvestment in mineral explo-ration through revenue sharingmodel. It shall also be ensuredthat the regulatory environ-ment is conducive to ease ofdoing business with simpler,transparent and time-boundprocedures for doing business,Joshi added.

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Markets snapped theirthree-day downwardspiral to finish with

smart gains on Friday as bank-ing, finance and energy stockssaw robust buying amid sup-portive global cues.

The 30-share BSE Sensexended 411.38 points, or 1 percent, higher at 41,575.14. It hitan intra-day high of 41,611.27.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty closed 119.25 points, or0.98 per cent, up at 12,245.80.

During the holiday-short-ened week, Sensex declined106.4 points or 0.25 per cent,while Nifty slipped 26 points or0.21 per cent.

According to traders,banking stocks rallied ahead ofFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman’s meeting withheads of public sector banks onSaturday to review financialperformance of the lendersand their business growth.

The meeting is expected totake up issues like non-per-forming asset recovery throughboth NCLT and non-NCLTmeans, take stock of the bank-ing sector and push loangrowth, sources said.

Axis Bank was the topgainer in the Sensex pack,climbing 3.33 per cent, fol-lowed by PowerGrid, SBI,Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank,

Reliance Industries and Maruti.On the other hand, Kotak

Bank, UltraTech Cement, Titanand TCS fell up to 0.42 percent.

“State-run banks helpedmarket to trade higher afterconsecutive days of weakness.Another announcement ofbond sale next week from thecentral bank lifted the financialstocks higher while positivesentiments in global marketson easing trade concernsfuelled a broad-based rally.

“Investors to stay focusedon continuity of governmentpolicies and given liquidity issolid, momentum is expectedto shift from premium stocksto value stocks,” said VinodNair, head of research at GeojitFinancial Services.

BSE energy, realty, oil andgas, bankex, finance, auto andpower indices rallied up to 1.74per cent, while consumer

durables ended in the red.Broader BSE midcap and

smallcap indices advanced upto 0.87 per cent.

Global equities soared onexpectations that the “phaseone” trade deal between the USand China will be finalised nextmonth.

Bourses in Hong Kong andSeoul ended higher, whileShanghai and Tokyo slipped inthe red.

Stock exchanges in Europestarted on a positive note.

On the currency front, therupee depreciated by 4 paise toclose at a fresh three-week lowof 71.35 against the US dollaron Friday, continuing its losingstreak for the sixth day in a rowamid steady rise in crude oilprices.

Forex traders said theUSD/INR spot has been trad-ing in a tight range amid lackof cues.

At the interbank foreignexchange market, the domesticcurrency opened at 71.26 andlater fluctuated between a highof 71.19 and a low of 71.40.

The domestic unit finallysettled at 71.35, showing a fallof 4 paise over its previous closeof 71.31 on Thursday.

On a weekly basis rupeehas depreciated by 19 paise.

Brent futures, the global oilbenchmark, advanced 0.29 percent to USD 68.12 per barrel.

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Vistara has partnered withTata group company Nelco

for inflight data services, whichare expected to be rolled by thefull service carrier shortly,according to a senior govern-ment official.

Nearly five years after start-ing operations, Vistara — ajoint venture between Tatas andSingapore Airlines — is alsolikely to be the first domesticcarrier to provide inflight con-nectivity within India. TelecomSecretary Anshu Prakash saidrequired spectrum had beenallocated for the purpose.

“Vistara has tied up withNelco and they have takentransponder space from ISRO(Indian Space ResearchOrganisation)... they had cometo us for spectrum allocationwhich we have done. And theywill be launching these servicesvery shortly,” he said.

When contacted, a Vistaraspokesperson said, “We havenot finalised this yet,” referringto launch of the services.

An email sent to Nelcoseeking comments did not elic-it any immediate response andthe company’s spokespersons

were also unavailable.While airlines can offer

both voice and data connec-tivity under the ‘Flight andMaritime Connectivity Rules-2018’ notified by the govern-ment in December 2018, dataconnectivity is expected to beoffered first, Prakash said.

“There can also be voicebut voice is not happeningright now. Still data is as goodas voice, because once youhave data you can use Over-The-Top (OTT) and makeWhatsApp calls,” he noted.

Regarding inflight wi-fiservices, Prakash said the tar-iffs were not regulated by thegovernment.

“It is for them to decidewhat tariff they will charge. Isuppose it will be an add-on ser-vice that the airlines will offer inrelation to their competitors butwhether they will charge or notcharge, is their decision,” theTelecom Secretary said. Telecompricing is currently under for-bearance, and “tariff is not anissue in this”, he added.

Vistara, in which Tata Sonshas 51 per cent stake and therest is with Singapore Airlines,began commercial services onJanuary 9, 2015. With a fleet of39 planes, the carrier operatesmore than 200 flights a day andis working on expanding itsoverseas presence.

Last month, Nelco said itexpected to roll out in-flight

data connectivity services byJanuary but did not divulge theairlines it would be partneringwith for the offering.

In March, the companyobtained a licence from theDepartment of Telecommuni-cations for providing In-Flightand Maritime Connectivity(IFMC) services.

“We are hoping to startinflight connectivity servicesaround January timeframe. Wewill start with data services,”Nelco Managing Director andCEO PJ Nath had said recently.

As per the terms and con-dition of the IFMC licence, theservices would be activatedonce the aircraft attains a min-imum height of 3,000 metres inIndian airspace to avoid inter-ference with terrestrial mobilenetworks.

The IFMC licence is grant-ed against an annual fee of �1for a period of 10 years and thepermit holder has to paylicence fees and spectrumcharges based on revenueearned from services.

In September, Nelcolaunched its maritime com-munications services in thecountry, and said the offeringwould enable high-end supportto those in sea by providingaccess to voice, data and videoservices while travelling onsailing vessels, cruise liners,ships in India, using satellitetechnology.

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Script Open High Low LTPBAJFINANCE 4190.80 4259.90 4190.80 4252.70IBULHSGFIN 297.85 307.00 294.20 300.65RELIANCE 1525.00 1545.80 1521.45 1542.15MARUTI 7251.30 7370.00 7251.30 7349.85ICICIBANK 540.00 550.50 538.30 549.40YESBANK 49.40 49.80 47.70 48.00SBIN 333.60 338.30 333.05 337.25HINDALCO 215.95 217.15 214.40 215.40TATASTEEL 468.75 471.65 463.20 469.75AXISBANK 738.15 762.20 736.10 760.70BANKBARODA 99.95 104.60 99.75 104.20RNAM 352.00 369.30 348.50 362.40SUDARSCHEM 405.60 410.00 394.00 397.10ISEC 365.00 436.70 365.00 427.90JINDALSTEL 164.15 164.75 158.45 161.25KOTAKBANK 1697.20 1700.60 1680.55 1685.05TCS 2210.00 2214.60 2178.35 2198.15INDIGO 1323.05 1345.00 1314.30 1339.35ZEEL 296.55 304.70 295.85 298.90BPCL 479.50 492.10 477.40 490.90HDFC 2426.00 2450.00 2420.00 2444.50ADANIGREEN 161.80 164.00 149.20 151.05ZYDUSWELL 1441.40 1476.95 1440.00 1471.85LT 1283.35 1301.75 1280.45 1299.65JSWSTEEL 270.50 271.05 265.10 268.80SPICEJET 96.75 104.85 96.60 103.70INDUSINDBK 1522.00 1540.00 1511.50 1523.85IDEA 6.07 6.14 5.77 5.83HDFCBANK 1278.00 1279.00 1270.00 1274.90HDFCAMC 3232.00 3279.80 3205.85 3230.55PNB 63.30 66.45 63.30 65.35TATAGLOBAL 313.00 319.50 313.00 318.50TATAMOTORS 175.50 176.95 174.95 176.10VEDL 151.50 152.85 150.10 151.85RBLBANK 334.40 339.80 333.65 336.40CANBK 223.90 228.35 222.35 224.20HDFCLIFE 638.50 639.20 629.05 631.20BHARTIARTL 448.90 457.00 448.75 455.30INFY 729.25 737.65 728.75 736.80DLF 226.00 233.45 225.95 232.90MCX 1158.05 1192.95 1153.00 1187.90L&TFH 117.50 118.95 114.75 118.40BEML 977.15 984.20 970.00 973.00JUBLFOOD 1604.75 1630.40 1591.45 1627.75GRASIM 738.60 744.00 736.05 739.50COLPAL 1460.00 1462.60 1449.00 1454.65MRF 63405.00 66460.00 63285.65 65536.25PVR 1827.00 1891.90 1822.00 1884.75PAGEIND 22388.00 23758.30 22200.00 23450.35LICHSGFIN 428.00 444.25 426.90 441.55SUNPHARMA 422.80 426.95 421.85 425.75HINDUNILVR 1945.10 1954.25 1933.75 1949.95HEROMOTOCO 2443.05 2456.95 2423.10 2443.15ITC 237.00 238.40 236.65 236.95SAIL 42.40 42.75 41.65 42.15M&M 532.00 532.20 525.20 530.05DCAL 80.70 84.70 74.30 82.15DMART 1922.20 1930.00 1908.55 1924.15APOLLOHOSP 1381.90 1424.85 1381.90 1418.45BHEL 42.80 43.30 42.60 43.10EICHERMOT 22050.00 22290.00 21907.55 22238.80GODREJPROP 931.00 959.90 931.00 956.70CEATLTD 986.85 1016.55 985.30 1003.10DABUR 457.70 461.30 456.35 459.90ULTRACEMCO 4062.00 4093.00 4044.30 4056.75PEL 1642.00 1652.00 1616.90 1631.15AUROPHARMA 459.70 467.65 459.70 462.85SRF 3414.00 3448.00 3391.10 3423.65DIXON 3958.00 4049.50 3874.15 3903.25PCJEWELLER 24.30 24.30 23.20 23.50BANDHANBNK 504.85 513.45 500.55 507.00BAJAJFINSV 9345.00 9469.30 9345.00 9446.30TATAELXSI 817.00 828.85 814.60 826.20ASIANPAINT 1810.00 1825.75 1801.00 1812.95IDFCFIRSTB 44.00 45.30 43.90 44.75ADANIPORTS 367.40 367.65 362.75 363.65INFIBEAM 55.40 56.85 53.10 53.70FORCEMOT 1123.90 1129.75 1075.50 1113.15UNIONBANK 55.25 56.30 54.90 55.50ESCORTS 619.75 629.40 616.50 623.25ONGC 129.15 129.80 127.20 128.40TATACHEM 670.00 676.50 661.00 667.50TITAN 1193.00 1199.05 1185.25 1191.15HCLTECH 561.00 569.20 556.80 568.00PIIND 1468.95 1482.60 1456.30 1458.80CGCL 199.00 202.45 198.40 200.65COALINDIA 198.40 205.35 198.00 203.30SUNTV 446.00 451.50 445.40 447.85BRITANNIA 3095.00 3095.00 3021.00 3042.00TVSMOTOR 460.55 466.50 458.60 464.85HINDPETRO 258.95 267.20 258.75 266.75CIPLA 472.35 483.35 472.35 481.40FEDERALBNK 86.15 88.65 85.65 88.20JUSTDIAL 576.40 577.15 567.75 572.80RELINFRA 27.95 28.00 25.65 26.70RECLTD 138.85 142.75 138.80 141.55ADANIENT 210.35 211.10 207.10 209.00NMDC 126.25 126.45 123.80 125.95EXIDEIND 178.50 185.70 178.05 184.55BALRAMCHIN 178.00 185.15 175.10 184.55DEEPAKNI 375.00 386.70 373.70 379.65IOC 125.90 127.60 125.05 127.35UPL 572.00 581.20 569.00 580.35MUTHOOTFIN 751.25 761.95 749.60 758.40RAJESHEXPO 686.00 686.00 675.50 676.90AVANTI 574.10 584.10 565.05 578.75DISHTV 13.21 13.56 13.21 13.48

GRAPHITE 306.25 309.90 302.50 304.40MANAPPURAM 172.50 177.80 172.00 176.25POWERGRID 187.00 189.45 185.70 189.10MOTHERSUMI 147.90 149.00 146.30 147.80TECHM 771.60 781.35 769.30 780.55JUBILANT 513.15 532.00 513.15 518.10LTI 1763.30 1775.00 1753.90 1760.60WHIRLPOOL 2423.45 2445.50 2346.45 2387.80ASHOKLEY 79.75 80.50 79.15 79.70DRREDDY 2882.60 2905.45 2863.70 2894.65ABCAPITAL 98.95 101.10 98.30 99.55UJJIVAN 338.10 347.60 338.10 345.20NIITTECH 1639.00 1639.00 1579.10 1581.60PFC 111.85 116.00 111.80 115.00MFSL 531.20 538.70 525.05 529.35IDFC 35.65 38.25 35.65 37.90CONCOR 569.30 575.00 569.30 572.90MARICO 343.00 343.00 339.15 340.65BATAINDIA 1716.95 1724.35 1698.30 1712.65BEL 99.80 101.65 99.15 99.70LUPIN 760.00 772.95 759.05 770.85BALKRISIND 962.00 991.00 962.00 986.50VOLTAS 651.60 655.25 646.60 649.00HAVELLS 641.75 650.00 641.25 646.65ICICIPRULI 493.10 495.00 487.00 488.75LUXIND 1280.80 1294.00 1265.00 1278.00GAIL 118.10 119.25 117.70 118.50BIOCON 290.00 292.95 288.00 292.30INFRATEL 255.10 258.90 253.50 255.65BANKINDIA 71.25 72.70 71.10 71.80TRENT 527.85 547.00 522.40 545.70TATAMTRDVR 72.90 73.55 72.20 72.65NCC 53.35 53.60 52.55 53.00STAR 364.60 368.75 364.60 367.85ICICIGI 1422.05 1423.45 1399.00 1410.30STRTECH 112.50 116.20 112.50 113.95HEG 1117.75 1127.35 1090.40 1096.40OMAXE 158.10 160.80 156.05 158.40FRETAIL 350.00 355.75 336.55 341.25PIDILITIND 1392.15 1405.40 1391.00 1398.05BAJAJ-AUTO 3222.00 3255.00 3221.00 3243.30JAICORPLTD 90.95 91.85 89.40 89.95NTPC 116.50 117.20 115.70 116.80GUJGAS 226.00 232.00 225.00 225.65BERGEPAINT 516.50 516.75 510.30 514.40MINDACORP 94.15 110.00 94.15 103.85WIPRO 251.95 251.95 246.45 247.60SBILIFE 989.90 990.85 977.75 988.55ADANIGAS 156.95 158.50 154.00 155.65INDIANB 105.00 107.65 104.50 104.85SUZLON 2.01 2.01 1.96 1.98RELCAPITAL 14.65 14.80 13.40 13.40M&MFIN 322.00 327.50 322.00 323.95EQUITAS 102.60 106.00 102.30 105.25GODREJIND 428.00 428.00 419.05 424.70

ACC 1456.00 1470.00 1449.20 1451.25VENKYS 1791.75 1808.65 1772.30 1776.00GODREJAGRO 505.00 510.00 502.70 508.30DEEPAKFERT 94.65 100.80 94.65 98.85HEXAWARE 324.00 332.95 323.70 331.00IBREALEST 59.50 60.50 59.00 59.55TORNTPOWER 281.50 284.80 279.60 280.55BHARATFORG 494.00 494.95 485.90 488.70ALBK 18.60 19.70 18.60 19.20RAYMOND 638.35 643.45 630.10 636.35UBL 1299.85 1299.85 1266.85 1276.40MINDTREE 792.60 795.10 784.25 787.05CORPBANK 25.05 27.10 24.90 26.35INDHOTEL 143.75 149.70 143.50 148.80TATAPOWER 55.20 56.25 55.20 56.15FORTIS 131.45 132.90 130.15 131.25SUNTECK 425.00 426.40 416.85 421.70DELTACORP 205.55 207.75 203.00 203.80MEGH 50.45 54.90 50.45 54.30HINDZINC 213.15 214.70 206.15 210.25QUESS 480.95 483.60 468.30 469.75WOCKPHARMA 251.80 253.70 246.00 247.60PHOENIXLTD 793.10 871.00 793.10 842.95GODREJCP 687.50 691.30 678.60 689.25IGL 428.00 430.00 423.90 425.55NBCC 33.95 34.10 33.65 34.00PETRONET 270.40 272.70 268.80 271.60CARERATING 511.05 534.00 505.10 522.30NAVINFLUOR 1030.00 1044.00 1004.60 1017.75CASTROLIND 129.55 130.50 127.35 128.00CADILAHC 258.00 260.50 255.20 256.00COROMANDEL 521.05 528.00 510.40 523.70

ADANIPOWER 60.20 60.75 60.00 60.25BOMDYEING 73.00 74.85 73.00 74.05AUBANK 819.00 822.20 797.15 803.15RPOWER 3.47 3.47 3.31 3.43RITES 292.10 294.25 284.00 285.55AMBUJACEM 195.15 195.70 194.10 194.85BOSCHLTD 15400.00 15600.00 15362.20 15484.30NAUKRI 2532.50 2583.45 2532.50 2567.20APOLLOTYRE 160.30 164.40 160.30 163.70NATIONALUM 43.35 43.70 43.05 43.60SIEMENS 1524.90 1534.00 1521.60 1527.50SPARC 156.80 158.30 154.30 155.90NESTLEIND 14599.45 14680.00 14583.40 14651.75GNFC 175.00 175.00 168.50 169.35INDIACEM 70.45 71.10 69.70 69.90SRTRANSFIN 1162.10 1169.05 1152.00 1164.70SWANENERGY 106.05 107.50 104.90 105.80MOTILALOFS 727.15 768.00 725.00 755.30IRB 67.15 70.00 66.65 69.35DHFL 16.40 16.55 16.00 16.55GDL 99.95 110.60 99.95 109.75JKTYRE 71.25 75.50 71.25 74.65DCMSHRIRAM 362.00 381.00 362.00 372.45PNBHOUSING 433.90 434.90 426.00 428.70UCOBANK 17.00 17.90 16.80 17.20KRBL 281.15 291.55 275.05 286.40KEI 472.80 484.75 471.00 477.95SUVEN 304.40 307.40 302.70 303.70POLYCAB 959.00 970.00 958.00 964.90DIVISLAB 1818.00 1837.00 1818.00 1828.60IOB 11.70 12.85 11.00 11.99AMARAJABAT 714.35 718.15 708.00 715.90SYNDIBANK 26.70 28.25 26.70 27.95JMFINANCIL 87.65 91.95 86.60 91.50ORIENTBANK 52.20 53.85 52.20 52.95ABFRL 232.00 233.50 225.10 232.90CESC 734.40 749.15 734.40 748.30GLENMARK 347.20 350.15 346.35 348.00ALKEM 2040.00 2040.00 1957.30 2018.45DBL 401.00 406.60 396.10 400.00GALAXYSURF 1460.95 1566.55 1449.20 1520.70FINEORG 1896.00 2005.55 1896.00 1948.25ADANITRANS 334.65 336.50 328.65 330.05BAJAJHLDNG 3447.70 3525.00 3427.35 3435.50NOCIL 100.10 100.80 99.00 99.45RESPONIND 91.50 94.55 91.50 93.20SUNDRMFAST 474.00 483.00 461.00 478.35LEMONTREE 65.00 65.80 64.40 64.70RCF 46.50 46.50 45.75 46.10CANFINHOME 395.30 397.85 390.70 391.30PHILIPCARB 112.85 114.80 112.85 113.25LAXMIMACH 3350.00 3468.00 3295.00 3360.65MAHABANK 13.90 13.93 12.72 13.18SCI 61.85 63.00 61.85 62.20DCBBANK 167.80 171.75 167.50 170.80ATUL 4064.95 4074.75 3950.05 4051.55PRESTIGE 335.35 339.40 331.00 336.40IDBI 37.55 37.60 37.10 37.35AMBER 1088.75 1112.95 1083.65 1093.40ABBOTINDIA 13073.40 13220.00 13073.40 13186.35EDELWEISS 115.00 115.50 112.05 114.25ITI 93.15 93.45 91.80 92.30MGL 1049.00 1053.70 1042.00 1045.80ENGINERSIN 101.55 101.55 99.35 99.85EIDPARRY 201.65 204.70 198.90 200.80CHOLAFIN 302.50 305.85 301.15 304.45JISLJALEQS 8.78 8.78 7.98 7.98GMRINFRA 21.90 21.90 21.00 21.10TORNTPHARM 1850.00 1878.05 1850.00 1860.95OIL 150.20 151.60 149.20 150.90PGHL 4181.00 4324.00 4181.00 4259.35PTC 53.80 56.15 53.80 55.75NESCO 668.70 682.60 652.00 674.70NIACL 139.00 142.00 137.55 138.90TATACOFFEE 92.10 92.25 91.15 91.90WELCORP 132.00 134.65 132.00 132.95CUMMINSIND 557.00 563.40 553.60 560.20RVNL 23.00 23.15 22.75 22.85CRISIL 1849.30 1875.00 1812.95 1825.00MPHASIS 876.00 904.55 871.55 893.00APLAPOLLO 1726.00 1790.00 1726.00 1781.60GODFRYPHLP 1297.05 1309.05 1290.10 1295.80TIMKEN 896.25 910.00 888.30 900.10CHAMBLFERT 147.15 150.40 146.60 147.60RAIN 99.00 101.35 98.30 98.55ESSELPRO 171.65 174.85 165.95 171.40ITDC 317.20 317.60 307.55 308.60MIDHANI 157.40 159.50 155.35 157.50OFSS 2835.00 2854.30 2730.00 2748.50BDL 307.50 312.00 298.85 300.60RADICO 318.00 319.00 311.00 312.50RELAXO 618.05 621.60 611.35 612.85KANSAINER 518.05 520.75 510.00 515.45TV18BRDCST 21.10 21.70 21.00 21.20BALMLAWRIE 128.25 128.45 127.50 128.00HONAUT 26634.90 27108.80 26406.10 27022.60GICRE 226.30 232.00 226.15 228.30KTKBANK 72.25 72.50 72.10 72.25JINDALSAW 70.95 73.25 70.95 71.70RATNAMANI 1035.00 1067.95 1032.00 1062.45HFCL 17.45 17.85 17.30 17.55BLISSGVS 149.90 150.50 148.95 149.45LALPATHLAB 1490.00 1510.30 1488.20 1496.95METROPOLIS 1384.75 1435.90 1379.45 1419.70SCHNEIDER 64.45 69.00 63.50 67.30KEC 295.75 301.75 293.50 300.35TRIDENT 6.95 7.00 6.60 6.65GLAXO 1636.60 1637.30 1612.95 1619.00

INTELLECT 142.60 143.30 137.50 138.60JAMNAAUTO 46.90 47.00 45.75 46.00MAXINDIA 77.55 78.90 76.70 78.50CENTRALBK 18.00 18.50 17.80 17.95BBTC 1000.00 1009.00 990.65 993.15ERIS 462.00 462.00 447.00 451.15HINDCOPPER 39.35 39.45 38.85 39.05TATAMETALI 624.55 624.55 602.00 610.85FCONSUMER 23.60 24.20 23.00 23.30ASHOKA 99.00 99.00 97.85 98.10SHREECEM 20429.40 20647.35 20296.35 20492.65JBCHEPHARM 434.90 434.90 426.60 428.75PARAGMILK 139.00 140.55 136.85 137.95FSL 39.55 41.25 39.55 40.40HSCL 57.00 57.65 56.45 56.70VGUARD 213.90 214.00 211.40 211.90SOUTHBANK 10.32 10.40 10.31 10.33GILLETTE 6627.60 6629.65 6583.70 6601.60CREDITACC 779.75 795.90 772.00 774.30CYIENT 410.00 421.65 401.40 415.45

MAHINDCIE 171.35 171.50 165.15 165.85BASF 997.20 1031.50 997.20 1010.20GRANULES 123.90 125.10 123.30 123.65IFCI 6.69 6.75 6.55 6.65MAHSCOOTER 4408.35 4460.00 4408.35 4440.85ASTRAL 1162.00 1169.95 1138.50 1159.80CHENNPETRO 110.80 116.90 110.45 115.00NHPC 24.05 24.15 24.00 24.05PFIZER 4163.20 4212.90 4155.00 4170.10CUB 229.35 233.75 229.35 232.50JKLAKSHMI 275.00 278.40 274.00 275.65PGHH 11689.95 11689.95 11389.50 11478.40GREAVESCOT 130.70 132.80 129.70 131.05SONATSOFTW 308.00 308.55 301.85 304.90KAJARIACER 517.00 522.00 513.00 515.70SIS 951.25 970.80 943.90 968.25THERMAX 1054.25 1059.40 1040.85 1058.40MRPL 40.85 42.75 40.85 42.55CROMPTON 243.60 244.50 240.65 243.05NLCINDIA 53.70 55.25 53.70 54.80GSPL 215.80 218.10 213.10 217.10EMAMILTD 304.10 308.20 304.05 306.50GSFC 70.10 70.45 68.55 69.35ASTRAZEN 2684.30 2704.00 2674.60 2687.30GSKCONS 8350.00 8425.00 8321.25 8409.65LTTS 1487.75 1489.15 1470.85 1478.65J&KBANK 30.90 32.00 30.00 30.25SANOFI 6933.80 7098.95 6925.35 6978.40SUPREMEIND 1126.55 1141.50 1125.30 1136.75ANDHRABANK 17.05 17.70 17.05 17.25ECLERX 547.00 559.85 545.00 550.00INOXLEISUR 376.30 378.60 374.00 376.55WABAG 170.85 171.80 168.50 168.75HUDCO 35.75 36.20 35.70 35.95VBL 693.95 703.40 692.70 697.75WELSPUNIND 47.85 48.35 47.50 47.70HEIDELBERG 176.50 177.15 173.75 174.90IIFL 142.00 145.00 139.65 140.70IPCALAB 1154.00 1154.00 1135.75 1142.45BIRLACORPN 594.80 594.80 573.45 582.85LINDEINDIA 661.20 667.80 652.95 656.55AJANTPHARM 960.95 960.95 953.35 955.75IRCON 407.00 407.00 401.00 403.25GUJALKALI 400.00 416.50 394.50 414.70ITDCEM 49.00 50.85 48.10 50.20STARCEMENT 90.50 90.50 88.70 89.35RAMCOCEM 753.40 754.00 748.00 750.45JSWENERGY 69.75 70.05 69.15 69.70MMTC 18.85 19.40 18.80 19.10AEGISLOG 173.90 177.45 173.90 175.45MINDAIND 351.10 356.65 346.95 354.55SYNGENE 309.50 311.35 307.75 310.00APLLTD 547.05 569.95 547.00 565.00PRSMJOHNSN 60.25 62.50 60.00 60.85BAJAJELEC 339.35 349.00 339.10 340.75RALLIS 169.75 171.45 168.00 168.80GICHSGFIN 162.40 162.75 156.50 157.85GMDCLTD 61.50 62.40 60.80 62.15NATCOPHARM 578.05 580.00 570.00 575.25COCHINSHIP 397.90 400.00 392.45 398.30MHRIL 228.00 228.20 221.00 222.45AAVAS 1879.95 1910.00 1845.10 1855.20MASFIN 879.80 885.05 861.50 872.10NETWORK18 25.05 25.45 23.80 23.90MAHLOG 384.15 400.00 384.15 396.95SJVN 25.05 25.10 24.95 25.00KPITTECH 89.15 95.15 88.50 93.40SHK 109.60 116.00 109.40 110.55VIPIND 420.25 427.20 417.20 425.70NH 305.10 307.40 300.10 301.05JKCEMENT 1158.35 1162.10 1150.00 1160.10

REPCOHOME 317.70 323.20 314.40 316.50MOIL 141.55 142.80 141.30 141.50EIHOTEL 137.90 141.30 136.45 140.45TNPL 165.60 166.70 165.25 166.10KALPATPOWR 399.40 404.20 397.60 402.70OBEROIRLTY 524.70 525.60 521.10 523.90GESHIP 299.10 300.20 297.90 298.35CENTURYPLY 160.85 162.95 159.55 162.70PERSISTENT 670.05 680.00 669.30 677.50BLUESTARCO 791.00 805.00 791.00 801.60BAYERCROP 3678.75 3678.80 3622.00 3625.80DALBHARAT 796.00 797.65 788.05 791.80HIMATSEIDE 124.10 126.10 122.15 122.65REDINGTON 117.50 118.90 115.50 117.05IBULISL 81.25 81.90 79.50 80.40ARVINDFASN 385.00 387.00 372.00 381.00GEPIL 697.20 722.00 692.35 719.90FINCABLES 360.65 365.00 354.10 359.70TEJASNET 83.35 83.85 79.90 80.15VINATIORGA 1911.60 1925.80 1908.00 1914.70GHCL 181.10 183.40 181.10 181.95AIAENG 1650.00 1694.35 1640.90 1686.55IFBIND 710.80 712.00 676.50 691.55KNRCON 233.20 235.35 232.10 233.30NILKAMAL 1251.00 1254.10 1244.55 1248.80JYOTHYLAB 149.30 149.30 147.65 148.00ALLCARGO 97.45 97.85 96.05 96.30HAL 712.20 727.30 712.10 716.65TIINDIA 485.75 488.50 480.95 486.75DHANUKA 395.25 404.25 395.25 403.25SHANKARA 306.30 314.00 305.75 311.80PNCINFRA 193.15 193.15 190.20 191.50TATAINVEST 800.85 810.20 797.85 805.45JSL 37.30 38.00 37.05 37.85LAURUSLABS 365.20 370.20 352.80 357.65CHOLAHLDNG 497.10 501.00 497.10 500.00SHOPERSTOP 346.45 366.10 340.00 359.30TCIEXP 748.00 755.55 744.30 749.10BAJAJCON 232.50 235.50 231.00 231.80SOBHA 399.20 400.00 396.00 397.30TIMETECHNO 50.75 52.15 50.00 51.15JAGRAN* 64.30 65.10 64.25 64.75CARBORUNIV 322.15 324.50 320.00 323.153MINDIA 21477.70 21568.60 21447.85 21468.70SOLARINDS 1086.00 1086.00 1050.00 1056.40FINOLEXIND 542.80 546.00 539.50 544.45SYMPHONY 1149.80 1166.00 1143.30 1157.80TTKPRESTIG 5702.00 5702.00 5614.80 5661.65CAPPL 305.65 305.95 301.80 302.50ORIENTCEM 70.80 70.80 69.00 69.30ADVENZYMES 164.75 164.75 162.55 162.95GET&D 149.75 153.20 147.40 148.75MAHLIFE 395.10 398.00 387.25 390.10TCNSBRANDS 590.00 604.30 585.00 596.45UNITEDBNK 8.87 9.03 8.87 8.95LAKSHVILAS 18.00 18.00 17.50 17.60SFL 1285.00 1286.50 1281.80 1286.50SHILPAMED 279.00 294.75 276.35 288.05AKZOINDIA 1933.00 1959.05 1925.65 1943.50ASTERDM 155.30 155.95 154.00 155.05INOXWIND 34.25 34.50 33.80 33.85TEAMLEASE 2498.05 2535.00 2498.05 2529.00UFLEX 195.95 195.95 192.00 192.30MAHSEAMLES 374.90 377.00 372.35 376.15SCHAEFFLER 4520.50 4610.00 4422.00 4579.70SADBHAV 112.65 113.00 112.00 112.10WESTLIFE 344.75 344.75 340.00 341.85CCL 193.00 193.00 191.40 192.00ENDURANCE 1055.00 1057.75 1041.00 1053.35VARROC 418.10 419.70 413.25 415.10IEX 142.05 142.75 141.45 142.10TAKE 98.00 100.00 97.95 99.00ORIENTELEC 196.20 199.90 193.90 195.75INDOSTAR 175.00 176.85 172.65 174.80SUPRAJIT 183.65 184.95 177.90 180.55WABCOINDIA 6361.00 6387.50 6360.00 6364.25VRLLOG 266.30 271.60 263.00 270.65FDC 206.75 210.00 206.70 208.60SOMANYCERA 214.30 218.40 213.50 214.90GULFOILLUB 826.65 831.20 820.15 829.25CERA 2650.00 2651.05 2567.15 2610.10VMART 1648.25 1648.30 1622.15 1640.65HERITGFOOD 343.60 344.25 339.00 340.20GPPL 84.60 85.95 84.30 85.45VSTIND 4186.90 4208.05 4158.00 4201.20VAIBHAVGBL 800.00 814.00 800.00 810.70THYROCARE 541.00 545.00 539.85 541.60ZENSARTECH 173.00 174.50 172.65 173.95BLUEDART 2180.90 2249.95 2180.90 2237.50LAOPALA 146.15 147.80 144.50 146.50JSLHISAR 68.60 68.60 67.50 67.85SKFINDIA 2135.00 2141.90 2127.95 2131.00NBVENTURES 68.00 68.00 66.65 66.95FLFL 394.30 404.30 394.05 396.95HATHWAY 19.15 20.00 19.15 19.55MAGMA 51.90 52.20 50.05 52.00CHALET 338.75 353.50 337.10 350.15GRINDWELL 585.90 586.85 575.00 585.90CENTRUM 19.65 19.90 19.45 19.90TVSSRICHAK 1672.00 1690.00 1650.00 1654.15GARFIBRES 1173.10 1184.05 1168.95 1175.00VTL 960.00 974.05 960.00 969.70TVTODAY 242.40 242.40 240.65 241.40KPRMILL 659.05 661.55 657.10 658.35SHRIRAMCIT 1366.30 1376.90 1360.60 1376.35GAYAPROJ 78.20 78.20 77.50 77.50JCHAC 1895.75 1916.00 1895.75 1916.00DBCORP 133.20 134.45 132.10 133.70

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 12172.90 12258.45 12157.90 12245.80 119.25COALINDIA 198.50 205.50 197.65 204.20 6.90AXISBANK 739.00 762.00 736.30 760.90 24.40BPCL 479.50 492.10 477.00 489.95 12.75SBIN 333.40 338.35 333.00 337.20 7.35POWERGRID 185.50 189.50 185.50 188.95 4.10ICICIBANK 541.00 550.50 538.35 549.50 10.75UPL 572.35 581.85 568.65 580.50 11.05BHARTIARTL 449.00 457.05 449.00 456.20 8.65IOC 125.90 127.60 125.05 127.50 2.40RELIANCE 1527.00 1546.20 1521.30 1542.00 26.60CIPLA 474.55 483.50 472.80 482.30 8.15LT 1281.55 1301.85 1280.15 1299.80 20.50BAJFINANCE 4198.00 4260.00 4192.00 4253.10 66.00MARUTI 7268.00 7368.50 7251.40 7354.20 113.30TECHM 771.00 781.40 769.10 781.20 10.80HDFC 2427.00 2449.55 2418.55 2443.00 28.90HCLTECH 562.95 569.00 557.00 566.50 6.00INFY 729.75 737.50 728.85 736.55 7.60EICHERMOT 22183.45 22320.20 21902.00 22270.00 224.30TATAMOTORS 176.00 176.95 174.85 176.30 1.70BAJAJFINSV 9360.00 9465.00 9348.05 9440.00 89.90SUNPHARMA 422.00 427.15 421.40 426.00 3.85VEDL 151.45 152.90 150.05 152.00 1.30DRREDDY 2875.00 2905.00 2861.60 2886.50 20.90M&M 529.90 532.75 525.05 531.15 2.80INDUSINDBK 1524.70 1540.00 1512.10 1522.85 7.45TATASTEEL 469.25 471.80 463.20 470.05 2.15HDFCBANK 1272.00 1279.00 1270.00 1275.75 5.30BAJAJ-AUTO 3221.25 3258.00 3220.50 3243.05 13.00TCS 2208.00 2226.40 2176.00 2209.90 7.95GRASIM 737.50 744.00 735.60 739.30 2.55GAIL 118.30 119.20 118.00 118.50 0.40NTPC 116.30 117.20 115.75 116.80 0.40ASIANPAINT 1811.00 1826.00 1800.60 1815.00 5.40HEROMOTOCO2450.00 2458.00 2421.50 2446.00 7.35NESTLEIND 14648.80 14689.65 14574.50 14636.90 37.65ZEEL 297.30 304.90 296.15 297.95 0.65ITC 237.50 238.45 236.45 237.30 0.50HINDUNILVR 1946.90 1954.45 1934.00 1948.20 3.25ONGC 129.50 129.90 127.20 128.20 0.20ADANIPORTS 366.75 367.90 362.80 363.85 0.20HINDALCO 216.10 217.15 214.40 215.10 0.10JSWSTEEL 270.10 271.30 265.10 269.00 -0.15ULTRACEMCO 4087.00 4092.00 4045.00 4057.00 -5.75TITAN 1196.45 1199.20 1184.85 1190.40 -2.10KOTAKBANK 1705.00 1705.00 1681.35 1687.90 -6.35BRITANNIA 3079.00 3082.00 3021.00 3043.00 -19.30INFRATEL 254.90 258.95 252.70 254.10 -2.10WIPRO 250.00 250.75 246.35 247.75 -2.55YESBANK 49.50 49.75 47.65 47.95 -0.70

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The European Union (EU)and Britain will struggle to

seal an agreement on trade andother aspects of their future tiesafter Brexit next year andshould consider extending thenegotiations beyond 2020, a topEU official said in an interviewpublished on Friday.

The UK is scheduled toleave the EU on January 31. Ifit does, it will be the first timea country leaves the world’sbiggest trading bloc.Negotiations between theremaining members and theBritish Government on futuretrade, fisheries, education andtransport relations can onlybegin after that date and must

conclude by the end of 2020.“I am very concerned

about how little time we have,”European CommissionPresident Ursula von der Leyentold the French business news-paper Les Echos. “It seems tome that, on both sides, weshould seriously considerwhether the negotiations arefeasible in such a short time.”

“I think it would be rea-sonable to take stock in themiddle of the year and if nec-essary, agree on an extension tothe transition period,” von derLeyen said. As the leader of theexecutive commission, von derLeyen heads the EU institutionresponsible for Brexit talks andnegotiating trade deals onbehalf of member countries.

Such trade pacts routinelytake years to complete, andbusinesses fear that the UKcould face a new “no-deal”Brexit scenario at the start of2021 if questions aboutwhether tariff-free trade withthe country’s biggest tradingpartner remain unanswered.

But British Prime MinisterBoris Johnson has insisted hewould not agree to any delays.Johnson who won a solid par-liamentary majority in an elec-tion earlier this month, whichhelped him push a Brexit with-drawal deal through the lowerhouse of Parliament, The Brexitbill contained amendmentsthat bar the British governmentfrom extending the transitionperiod beyond 2020.

Istanbul: A Turkish court onFriday issued jail terms to sixjournalists from an opposi-tion newspaper accused oflinks to the group blamed bythe Government for the 2016failed coup, a lawyer told AFP.

The court in Istanbul sen-tenced journalists from theSozcu daily including colum-nist Emin Colasan and editor-in-chief Metin Yilmaz to prisonterms ranging from two yearsand one month to three yearsand six months on terrorismcharges, their lawyer CelalUlgen said.

The nationalist Sozcu is onoccasion vehemently anti-gov-ernment and its angry frontpages are regarded with suspi-cion even by some liberal Turkscritical of President RecepTayyip Erdogan. It is the secondopposition daily to be targetedafter Cumhuriyet newspaper.

“This is an empty case,”Colasan was quoted by thepaper as telling the court.“There is no evidence or wit-ness against us.” Sozcu con-demned the verdict as a “blackstain”, saying those convictedwere only carrying out theirwork as journalists.

The court also sentencedthe newspaper’s accountant totwo years and one month inprison. It said the case againstits owner Burak Akbay, who isthe subject of a 2017 arrest war-rant but remains abroad, wouldbe treated separately.

Lawyer Ulgen said a high-er court was due to decidewhether to uphold the sen-tences, adding that the jour-nalists were currently free.“There is neither a judicialcontrol or any measure thatrestricts their freedom rightnow,” he said. AFP

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Pakistan’s former militarydictator Gen (retd) Pervez

Musharraf on Friday filed apetition in a court against thespecial court’s verdict convict-ing him of high treason andsentencing him to death,according to media reports.

Last week, the special courtin Islamabad sentenced 76-year-old Musharraf to death inabsentia for high treason fol-lowing a six-year legal case.

The 86 page-long petition,filed by Advocate AzharSiddique in the Lahore HighCourt (LHC) on Friday onMusharraf ’s behalf, named thefederal government and othersas respondents, Dawn Newsreported.

The petition highlightedthat the “judgement containeda mix of anomalies and con-tradictory statements”.

It added that the specialcourt “rapidly and hurriedlywrapped up the trial which wasfar from conclusion”, the report said.

The petition stated thatthe special court “has not takeninto consideration that noactions detrimental to nation-al interest were taken by theapplicant” as “no offence ofhigh treason is made out fromthe evidence presented againsthim (Musharraf) before thespecial court”.

The full bench, chaired byJustice Mazahir Ali AkbarNaqvi, will hear the petition onJanuary 9, 2020.

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More than 235,000 peoplehave fled the Idlib region

over the past two weeks, theUN said on Friday, amidheightened regime and Russianattacks on Syria’s last majoropposition bastion.

The mass displacementbetween 12 and 25 Decemberhas left the violence-plaguedMaaret al-Numan region insouthern Idlib “almost empty”,according to the UN humani-tarian agency OCHA.

AFP correspondents in thearea have seen people fleeing indroves in recent days.

The main highway con-necting southern Idlib to theprovince’s north has beenbustling with pick-up trucksferrying civilians out of theflashpoint region. Since mid-December, Russian-backedregime forces have pressed

with an assault on jihadists insouthern Idlib, despite anAugust ceasefire deal and callsfor a de-escalation from Turkey,France and the United Nations.

The increased air strikescame as Damascus loyalistsadvance on the ground.

They have since December19 seized dozens of towns andvillages from jehadis amidclashes that have killed hun-dreds on both sides. Theadvances have brought themless than four kilometres (twomiles) away from Maaret al-Numan, one of Idlib’s largesturban centres.

According to OCHA,ongoing battles have amplifieddisplacement from the areaand the nearby town ofSaraqeb. “People from Saraqaband its eastern countryside arenow fleeing in anticipation offighting directly affecting theircommunities next,” it said.

Kano: Jehadis aligned to theISIS group have released avideo claiming to show the exe-cution of 11 Christians inrestive northeast Nigeria.

The footage posted onlinelate on Thursday by ISIS-linkedpropaganda arm Amaq showed11 blindfolded men being shotand stabbed by jihadists fromthe Islamic State West AfricanProvince (ISWAP) at an undis-closed location.

“This is a message toChristians all over the world,”said a masked man in the one-minute video.

He claimed the killingswere in reprisal for the death ofISIS chief Abu Bakr al-

Baghdadi and his spokesman.ISIS leader Baghdadi com-

mitted suicide in October toavoid capture during a US spe-cial forces raid on his hideoutin the province of Idlib innorthwest Syria.

In recent months, ISWAPhas intensified its attacks onChristians, security personneland aid staff, setting up road-blocks on highways and con-ducting searches.

The United Nations onTuesday condemned the“increasing practice by armedgroups to set up checkpointstargeting civilians” in thenortheast of Nigeria.

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Russia’s Defence Minister told PresidentVladimir Putin on Friday the first Avangard

hypersonic missiles had been put into service,in a move hailed as a major coup for Moscow.

Analysts say Russia is the first country to putinto combat service intercontinental ballisticmissiles armed with hypersonic weapons thatPutin said can travel 20 times faster than thespeed of sound. “The first missile regimentequipped with latest strategic missiles with theAvangard hypersonic glide vehicle entered ser-vice at 10 am Moscow time on December 27”,Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told a meetingin televised remarks.

He congratulated the military on what hesaid was a “landmark event for the country andthe armed forces.” Shoigu reported to Putin whenthe missiles entered service, a defence ministryofficial told AFP.

Defence officials have earlier said that thefirst Avangard regiment was placed in theOrenburg region in the Urals. “This is the firstintercontinental ballistic missile with the hyper-sonic glide vehicle in the world,” Vasily Kashin,a senior research fellow at Moscow’s HigherSchool of Economics, told AFP.

“It’s a major scientific achievement.” Moscowsaid that it showed the Avangard missiles to USarms inspectors in late November in accordancewith the New START treaty, which is due toexpire in 2021.

The missile does not violate the treaty. Putinunveiled the new weapon during his state of thenation address in 2018, saying it would defeatall existing missile defence systems.

He said at the time the missile was highlymanoeuvrable and flew at 20 times the speed of sound.

Senior officials later said the intercontinentalprojectile was considerably faster. Officials saidthe missile during tests reached the speed ofMach 27, or roughly 33,000 kilometres (20,500miles) per hour.

Mach 1 is a unit of measurement equivalentto the speed of sound. In December last year,Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov claimed itwas impossible to predict the missile’s move-ments, which meant “missile defence is practi-cally rendered obsolete.”

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Embattled Israeli Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu told supporters on Friday he

would win a March general election after scor-ing a landslide victory in the leadership primaryof his right-wing Likud party.

Israel’s longest-serving premier, who facesa corruption indictment as well as a third gen-eral election in 12 months, was expected to beatrival Gideon Saar in the leadership primary.

But the convincing margin of victory — by72.5 to 27.5 percent — strengthens his positionin the party he has dominated for 20 years.Netanyahu, 70, called it a “huge win” andpledged to emerge victorious in the March 2 gen-eral election. “Now is the time to unite and bringa tremendous victory for the Likud and the rightin the election,” Netanyahu told a press confer-ence. “Most of the people support the right andsupport me to lead the Government.”

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The setting was surreal and straightout of a Renaissance painting.The actors were influencers on the

art scene, from the capital, each one aprominent member of the Indian artfraternity. We had all gathered ona chilly December evening to playa part in an elaborate projectconceptualised by the acclaimedyoung art practitioner, VibhaGalhotra, for her forthcomingexhibition in February 2020 at theprestigious Jack ShainmanGallery in New York.

If the present year wasexceptional for Indian artand artists, 2020 promis-es even bigger things.Art collections willtend to acquireworks from inter-national auctions.Diverse media,mostly foundobjects (a natur-al or man-madeobject, or fragmentof an object, that isfound by an artist andkept because of someintrinsic interest theartist sees in it) will takeup more space at exhi-bitions and galleries.Various art festivalsand biennales willbe offering moreopportunities toartists from dif-ferent worlds. Iam especial lyexcited to see BapiDas showcasingalongside interna-tional artists at theKo c h i - Mu z i r i sBiennale, curatedby Anita Dube.

However, hav-ing said that, onemust not overlook themajor art events of2019 that broughtIndian artists back

firmly on the centrestage, international-ly. The highlight at the Venice Biennalewas, I would like to believe, the Indian

Pavilion presented by RoobinaKarode and the Kiran Nadar

Museum of Art (KNMA).At the biennale, the cav-ernous space allotted toIndia was brought aliveby the brilliant works ofM F Husain andNandalal Bose, amidthe other participants.

Each of them con-tributed with an out-standing artworkthat had viewersqueuing up forhours yet patient-ly awaiting theirturn. In my owncase, I remember,it had been ane x c e p t i o n a l l ystormy day whenI had visited thespace at theBiennale, but tomy pleasant sur-prise, it wascrowded withart enthusiasts,both young andold, clearlyenjoying thee x h i b i t i o ndespite the terri-ble weather.

It has been asignificant yearfor Indian art inmore ways thanone. Earlier, theDAG had openedits beautiful ly

appointed space inNew York, showcas-ing the works of vet-eran artists MadhviParekh and AnupamSud, among others. Atthe new Museum ofModern Art(MOMA), India was

represented by the brilliant works ofMrinalini Mukherjee (who had justexhibited at the prestigious MET), ZarinaHashmi, Dayanita Singh and SheilaGawda. Jayshree Chakravorty hadopened to great acclaim at MuseumD’Orsay and Ganesh Haloi had receivedsimilar glowing reviews in the showsacross Europe with Akar Prakar.

The year ended on a great note withthe Serendipity Arts Festival in Goa. I feltthis year was especially exciting, giventhe participation of curators likeJyotindra Jain, Ravi Agarwal, NancyAdajania, Rahab Allana, Pramod HG andSudarshan Shetty, who were able to usethe spaces given to them most effective-ly.

As we step into the new year, we hearthat DAG’s Drishyakala is gearing upwith new shows scheduled to openalongside the India Art Fair. Plans areafoot to open another museum space inKolkata, in the heritage CurrencyBuilding. Against this background, thereis a reason to be optimistic about the artscene in the coming year. While AmarKanwar, K G Subramanyan, NilimaSheikh and Nalini Malani have alreadyshown at dOCUMENTA 13 and 14, wenow have younger artists ready to par-ticipate. Among the shows lined up isone at the Nehru Centre curated byBhavna Kakar, which will bring strongfemale voices from the chapters of his-tory. Finally, of course, the most excit-ing art event of next year will be the newedition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale,curated by Shubigi Rao, opening inDecember. So, all things considered,there is much to look forward to in thecoming year. Not only will Indian artistsand curators be collaborating with pres-tigious galleries internationally but with-in the country too there will be a hostof interesting art events. While the cur-rent favourites are MF Husain, FNSouza, SH Raza, VS Gaitonde and ManjitBawa but 2020 is expected to make morefavourites. And while RAQS Media hasbeen making an impact internationally,it will continue to do so in the comingyear. Also, there is hope that art will gothe egalitarian way at last.

� How would you describe TheLong Song?

It is an adaptation of an AndreaLevy book, which centres on thepre-abolition Jamaica, which wasquite a rebellious island, having twoor three rebellion movements everyyear during slavery. It was a verypugnacious island. Andre’s bookcentres on a plantation called Amity,which is probably fictional, wherethe slaves are just catching on to thefact that there’s freedom but in real-ity, there’s just the whiff of it. Someof them are sceptical.

My character, Godfrey, is thehead of slaves. He is scepticalbecause they’ve had trouble beforeand nothing has come of it. But thistime, it might come to fruition. AndCaroline Mortimer (played byHayley Atwell), the lady of thehouse, is slightly incognisant of thefact that change is coming. She hasadopted a girl called July, whom sheclings on to as she is the only onewho can help her communicate withthe slaves.

Godfrey is very proud being thehead of the slaves but then he seesthat freedom is coming and he’s onpossibly the wrong side and he musttake action.

� What does this story mean toyou?

My family is from Jamaica.Hence, I don’t do ‘who do you thinkyou are’ because all the two to threegenerations have been full of slav-ery. So it’s in my family.

I did a documentary calledCaribbean Kid recently, and wewent back to my grandmother’shouse, which was at a plantationisland. We went inside her house atthe back and there were all theseslave graves — small ones for babies,big ones for adults. That’s howslaves were buried — on the prop-erty. So when I read The Long Song,I felt that it’s an alternate slave nar-rative in which Andrea is saying thatat some point, slaves would haveutilised humour to just get throughthe day. And I really believe that. Itwouldn’t have been weeps every day.There would have been somemoments where there was laughter.

So Andrea has drawn a razor-thin line between the drama of itand where we are allowed to knowthat slaves had a sense of humour.In this drama, you’ll see other sidesof what slavery was like too. It’sinteresting, very much like the sta-tus quo. The given circumstanceswere that slavery existed, people hadand were slaves, but they still had tobehave as human beings through-out. There’s no moustache twirlingin it, which is what I like about it.Yes, some people were heavy-hand-ed but there were people who werejust human beings and were toxical-ly affected by what they were doingto make their money.

� You know about this world fromyour ancestry but do you think it’sbeen represented on TV this waybefore?

I think it’s the time to see it. Wehave seen a great change recently interms of represented on screen andtelling stories. So with the kind ofgood content coming up, people alsowant to watch and know about suchchapters and people of history. Wehave heard a lot of stories about slav-ery like Belle, 12 Years a Slave,Django, but this is importantbecause it presents an alternateperspective on it. There’s a zeitgeistin the air to tell stories about slav-ery but I think gatekeepers who arein charge of what we watch get a bitfrightened, thinking ‘is this fine?’But we say, show it, it’s important forpeople to know.

I wasn’t taught this stuff at myschool. So I think it’s important foryoung people to know what hadhappened. If you don’t know yourhistory, you can’t predict yourfuture. People mustn’t be allowed to

sweep these things under the carpet.These are the stories that must betold. After you’ve watched some-thing like this, you won’t be able tosay you didn’t know, anymore.

� Can you tell us who you play andwhat your way into him was?

It’s interesting being an actornow. I used to be a comedian and I

was only concerned if things werefunny or not. Now being an actor,you’re more concerned with ifthings were true or not. Dependingon who’s directing you, sometimes,it’s heightened or more naturalistic,but generally, you’re trying to rep-resent something truthful.

My character, Godfrey, who isthe head slave at the Amity planta-

tion in Jamaica, is described in thebook as a man who’s past the age ofbeing strong, or maybe, ‘a man’ ora lion. But he’s still a proud being.He runs things. It took me sometime to get to where he’s comingfrom. And I kept thinking about myfather actually, who came to Britainin the 1950s and worked really hard.He wore his pyjamas under hisclothes because it was too cold. Veryaustere person, he had a sense ofhumour but quite a lot of schaden-freude with it. He would laugh ifsomething went wrong. Forinstance, someone slipping over inthe snow might make him laugh buthe wouldn’t laugh at Frank Spenceron TV. He had this quite severe turnto his mouth. He would tease butyou would barely know you werebeing teased until you saw a flick-er of something in his eyes. So there’sa lot of that in Godfrey. He’s got asense of humour but he keeps it veryfirmly entrenched. He challengesCaroline Mortimer and teases herbut she doesn’t know she’s beingteased. There’s a fantastic turningpoint, which I won’t reveal, becauseonce he realises there’s a possibili-ty of freedom, he does realise thathe’s been slaving all these years andtreating it as a career.

He has to make some decisionsabout what kind of a person hewants to be and I think that’s a fan-tastic story arc. A character who isentrenched in slavery, has beenstrangely mind-warped into believ-

ing that this is a good thing to bedoing — bossing the other slavesaround, throwing his weight, think-ing he’s the boss — but not beingpaid for it properly (because he’s gota wife and family to take care of),he is also a slave. Then suddenly, herealises there’s only this whiff of free-dom. ‘What would I do if I got free-dom? Would I stay at Amity? WouldI leave? Would I continue this job?Is this a career or is this slavery? It’sslavery!’ It all unfolds for him later.He teaches July about surviving.Very subtly, but he’s keeping an eyeout for her as there’s a fatherly aspectto his character. He has a very sly,deadpan wit.

� Has there been a particularscene or a moment when filmingthat meant something to you ortransported you back?

I think the scene when Carolineis making huge plans for aChristmas party and Godfrey ispatiently trying to explain her thatshe doesn’t have the money toafford all these grand plans and it allexplodes. But there are a fewmoments when he is teasing her andall his colleagues can see that but shecan’t. Suddenly, it becomes veryapparent and she explodes.

In that scene, you get a verystrong sense of the line — Godfreyis behind the line — but there aremoments when he creeps up to theline, having to hold in the laughter.And when he crosses it, there’s an

explosion. I think in all areas —whether you’re in jail, a concentra-tion camp, in slavery — any of thoserestrictive and constraining places,there are those people who push itahead. Godfrey does that too. Hetries really hard. Well, it takes a lotof bravery and guts to be that per-son.

�Did you meet Andrea?I was very lucky to be allowed

to be into Andrea’s preparationwhen she was writing something asa part of another project that wewere discussing together. It meantwe got to speak a lot and we got tobe friends. At the time, she told meto read The Long Song and I nowsee why she did because Godfreywas in there.

�What is the appeal of The LongSong?

I’d say it’s Andrea Levy. Sheshould be like the British kitemark(a UK product and service quali-ty trade mark) for standard.Fantastic writer of a fantastic story.And an alternate perspective to theslave experience that you perhapshaven’t seen before. This is an icon-ic and fascinating story that utilis-es humour to say tough things.And I don’t think that we have seenthat before. I think we have onlyseen the very serious, dramatic andshocking experiences of those wholived the life of a slave. But we havenever seen all that undercut by asly sense of humour, with an unre-liable narrator. We’ve never hadthat.

And I think Tamara does sucha good job of playing July with adeftness of touch. There is nosledgehammer stuff going on here.It’s rather very delicate and light.There’s humour when there needsto be humour. There’s silliness. Butit doesn’t flinch from the truth ofwhat was going on. And I thinkthat’s why you should watch itbecause here, you will not only findsomething that you can watchand enjoy but you also say, ‘Oh mygod, that happened.’

(The Long Song airs everyMonday at 10 pm on AXN.)

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New age Indian travellers aremoving away from the typ-ical traditional holiday

plans and are constantly on thelookout for distinctive and off-beatexperiences such as cruise, adven-ture, solo, knowledge-driven, cul-tural, rural and religious tourism.Every year, different trends emergein the travel and tourism industry,which cater to the desires of wan-derers. Here are some trends thatare set to revolutionise the tourismindustry in 2020.

Technology in travelThrough smartphones and

social media, a number of tools andtechnologies are influencing theway people travel and industryplayers operate worldwide. Thetravel sector has grown tremen-dously due to digital advance-ments like AI (Artif icialIntelligence), voice-based applica-tions, big data analytics, VR(Virtual Reality) and AR(Augmented Reality). This willintroduce a new segment oftourism in India — virtual tourism.If through smartphone technolo-gy, a traveller can have all the per-tinent information s/he needs tohave about the trip, through AR, atraveller will be able to teleport her-self/himself to the farthest cornerof the world. Indian travellers arelargely looking for conveniencewhile also increasingly becomingbolder in their pursuit for explo-ration. Hence, travellers, especial-ly those belonging to the Gen Yand the Gen Z, will adapt to itenthusiastically.

Micro tripsIndians are increasingly show-

ing an intensified appetite for miniescapes of three tofive days toa fairlyn e a r b ydes t ina-tion, com-monly known as

short hauls. With the increasingconnectivity of flights, on-arrivalvisa facilities, on-demand carrentals, budget accommodation,increasing levels of disposableincome, an irresistible appetite forexploring the world as well as cur-rent fast-paced lifestyles, theseshort hauls will be gaining moretraction. They will become the‘most preferred type of holiday’among a large number of travellers.In 2020, more international desti-nations will become the favouritesin the sphere of bite-sized travel.

Personalisation and customisa-tion

Indian travellers are activelymoving away from the

traditional and rigid travel itiner-ary structures and with the risinginternet penetration, they areexposed to and are fervently seek-ing unique and novel experiencesthat they wish to explore. Touriststoday don’t just want to visit a newdestination, they want to immersethemselves in the local culture,soaking in the atmos-phere, cuisine andother ele-

ments that are unique to thatregion. Customising travel plans asper their own desires helps suchtourists make instant and on-the-go decisionsabout theholi-

day, which include a variety ofactivities too. Personalisation andcustomisation of travel plans is thusa trend that is going to rule 2020.

Bleisure travelCommonly known as bizca-

tion, bleisure travel combines bothtravel for work or business andleisure, which is going to take thelead in 2020. Today, Indian trav-ellers place greater emphasis onviewing the world and they don’twant to let go of any opportunityfor the same. With the newer gen-eration of travellers stepping intothe workplace and jet-setting off onwork-related trips, they will beenterprising in their approach to

make the most of their journeyand tick off another

destination ontheir bucket

list. Professionals will be increas-ingly adding weekends or evenweeks to work trips, whether solo,with a partner or family.

Mini moonWith most of the newly-mar-

ried populace leading busy lives, it’sdifficult for them to take off for alarge chunk of time for their hon-eymoon. Thus ‘mini-moon’ travelwill be a new and growing optionfor them as it offers a relaxed expe-rience in a minimal amount oftime. Through this, the couples canstill have the best experience dur-ing a honeymoon right after theirbig day, followed by planning along haul vacation later, in thefuture.

Adventure tourismIt has been observed that

Indians have become bolder intheir vacation choices with a largenumber of travellers actively opt-ing for travel that ensures an

adrenaline rush. Thus adven-ture tourism, which has

been pick-

ing up steam during the last year,will reach new heights in 2020.With the spike in demand for thistype of tourism, many destinations,both domestic and international,are making appropriate arrange-ments for thrill-seekers and areintroducing newer adventuresports.

Spiritual travelOne of the biggest travel trends,

which is expected to grow manifoldin 2020, is spiritual travel. Leisurecombined with spiritual journeys iswitnessing an increased demandnot just from the older generationsbut also from the younger travellerswho are interested in seeking spir-itual harmony. Travellers will wantto incorporate spiritual places orhealing retreats, both nationally orinternationally in their trips in thecoming year. India being an impor-tant centre of religious history hasa number of destinations that willsee a surge in interest from Indianand international tourists. MoreIndians will opt to travel to pilgrim-ages and popular religious cities.

Cruise travelThe sector has witnessed dou-

ble-digit growth in the recent times.This is not limited to just familiesor new couples as even youngertravellers are opting for cruise hol-idays over other traditional vacationspots. Given that cruises are becom-ing extremely stylised and offeringmulti-destination routes along witha range of amenities includingadventure activities, entertainmentshows, and authentic cuisines,they are sure to be included in

more travel itineraries. More cruisecompanies will be offering afford-

able packages as therewill be a surge in inter-

est from varied seg-ment of trav-

ellers whowish to expe-rience thistype of travel.

Aconversation with Mo Rocca is akin tohis Mobituaries podcasts and his new

book of Rocca-style obituaries: A swoopingexploration of people and things past, withthe author playing connect-the-dots inentertaining and enlightening fashion.

For instance, he starts discussing paral-lels between US presidential brother BillyCarter and British royal sister PrincessMargaret and the second-fiddle roles theyplayed. Carter is in Rocca’s book; assessingMargaret’s similarities appeared to be a sud-den fancy.

“My fantasy PSAT has a question,(Queen) Elizabeth is to Margaret as JimmyCarter is to ...,” said Rocca, a “CBS SundayMorning” correspondent known for his drollhumor.

Mobituaries: Great Lives Worth Reliving(Simon & Schuster) takes on obituaries ofpeople, as is customary, but includes thosewhose exploits were ignored or who Roccathinks deserve reappraisals. He also digs upbackground for products (there’s a tribute tothe “behemoth known as the station wagon,”for one), fictional characters and historicalmilestones.

In an interview, he discussed how heapproached the book (written with JonathanGreenberg) and its browsing-friendly formatthat makes it a standout for bathroom read-ing (a compliment, which Rocca said he tookas such) and the rare example that has foot-notes. Quotes have been edited for clarity andlength.

�Given your access to TV and podcastaudiences, why write a book?

There are certain things that are easierto write about than to do an audio programabout, things like the station wagon. And myhead has long been stuffed with a lot of fac-toids and arcana, and that’s kind of fun ona page. The book has what I call ‘graveyards.’After each essay, I wanted there to be a grave-yard that would surprise you in its relation-ship to the essay that came before it. so, forinstance, Sammy Davis Jr is followed by otherfamous one-eyed people, Thomas Paine isfollowed by other famous disembodiedbody parts. And I think that that looks niceon the page.”

�The book ranges so far afield with infor-mation on so many topics. Have you beengathering string for years?

I have gathered string for a long time,ideas that have been circulating. My col-league, the film critic David Edelstein,helped me with this one: I’m a big Streisandfan, as you can probably tell from the book,and drawn to the idea that the movie FunnyGirl, when you watch it, you forget that it’sthe story of this person, Fanny Brice. Youthink you’re watching the story of BarbraStreisand. At least I think that, and it’s becausethe performance is so eclipsing and volcanicthat it kind of displaces the person it’s about.And this is the kind of book that had a place

for that, and then the ‘graveyard’ has otherpeople, historic figures, who were eclipsedby the people who played them.

�As the footnotes demonstrate, the bookwas thoroughly researched. Is it importantto you that readers understand it is fact-based history?

It is important to me. Look, I like to sur-prise the reader and there are two differentways that are opposites. I like a topic thatseems like it’s going to be fun and fizzy andit’s going to be a trip, like Billy Carter is going

to be about Billy Beer and when you go intoit, it’s ‘Why am I choking up?’

Conversely, I like to take somethingthat seems like it’s going to be heavy.I like the challenge of (post-Civil War)reconstruction, a word that’s going tomake people go, ‘We’re really doingthis this year?’ and then make it godown easy. And in this case, I choseto humanise it by making it about the

black Congressmen of reconstruction.

�What surprised you in your research?I think a lot of people confuse ‘past’

with ‘backward’ and, I’ll be transparent here,I’ve chosen to be generous with the past. Ido think we need to cut the past some slack

because the tendency is to disqualifypeople for their imperfections. I

think that people aremessy, and I really

sought in thisto embrace

not onlyt h em e s s i -ness ofpeople,b u teras.G��

The kind of talent Indian dancershave, I can say proudly we are

one of best countries when it comesto dance. In the next 10 years, Indiais going to take over the dance scene.Dancers in our country struggle a lotbecause dance never used to be con-sidered as a profession,” said Varun,at the launch of the song Garmi fromStreet Dancer 3D in Mumbai. He wasaccompanied by co-actor NoraFatehi, the film's director RemoD'Souza and producer LizelleD'Souza.

He added: “I have spent somuch time with dancers — andRemo sir is one of them — becausehe started as a background dancer.It gets really tough when parents ofdancers or society don't look atdance as a career. They (Parents) feelthat their kids are damaging theirfamily's reputation by dancingbecause it is not work. I feel that it'swork. They (dancers) travel to trainin the morning and then reach theirdancing venues. Sometimes theypractice on the road, so this film isdedicated to all the dancers becauseif you can feel the music then any-body can dance.”

Street Dancer 3D will clash withthe Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari-directedPanga, starring Kangana Ranaut, onJanuary 24, about which Varunsaid: “Ashwiny and (her husbandand filmmaker) Nitesh sir are peo-

ple I have met on a few occasions.Kangana (Ranaut) is someone I haveknown for a lot of years and I admireher work. I feel both films are verydifferent and we are in 2020, so Ithink we shouldn't think aboutbox-office clash. I feel people shouldwatch both the films. This film(Street Dancer 3D) genuinely marksmy return to doing films for kids.For the longest time, I did not madea film for kids and when I say kids,there is a kid inside all of us so. So,this film is for all of you. I hope kidsand parents will have a good timewatching the film.”

Street Dancer 3D highlightsIndia-Pakistan issues through thescope of dance and music.

Talking about the film's mes-sage, Varun said: “Our characters inthe film are dancing for India, and(they are) Pakistani immigrants. Ithink your motive behind being adancer matters, and it drove me todo the film. Dance is not only forenjoyment but through the mediumyou can express a lot and you canchange lives. In our country, whena kid is born or at birthday partiesand at weddings, we dance a lot. Ifeel we are a very expressive danc-ing nation.”

Street Dancer 3D stars Varunwith Shraddha Kapoor, Nora Fatehi,and Prabhu Deva.

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Jurgen Klopp insisted it is not yet partytime for Liverpool despite tighteningtheir grip on the Premier League title

race with a dominant 4-0 thrashing of sec-ond-placed Leicester to open up a 13-pointlead at the top of the table.

Roberto Firmino scored twice fromTrent Alexander-Arnold crosses either sideof James Milner’s penalty before the bril-liant Alexander-Arnold rounded off thescoring himself.

Liverpool also have a game in handover Leicester and seem destined to final-ly end a 30-year wait to win the title.

“With all the things around us, thebiggest quality of my boys is that we arenot listening really, we are completelyfocused on what we have to do,” Klopp toldAmazon Prime.

“I’m really good at partying my friendswill tell you, but I never wanted to have aparty without a reason.

“If there is something to celebrate I willtell you, until then we will work.”

Fresh from winning the Club WorldCup for the first time in Qatar on Saturday,Klopp’s men showed no sign of fatiguefrom a congested December schedule asthey outclassed the Foxes from start to fin-ish.

Alexander-Arnold was a constantthreat rampaging forward from right-backand stung Kasper Schmeichel’s palmsinside the first minute before Klopp soonhad his head in his hands when SadioMane somehow spooned Mohamed Salah’sdangerous cross wide.

An opener for the runaway leagueleaders was only a matter of time and dulyarrived just after the half hour mark whenAlexander-Arnold’s cross was headedpowerfully down past Schmeichel.

The Danish goalkeeper had ensuredLeicester’s 3-1 defeat at Manchester Cityon Saturday was not far more comprehen-

sive and needed to be at his best again tokeep the Foxes in the game as he savedone-on-one from Mane moments later.

Two heavy defeats in five days haveproved to be a reality check for Leicester’stitle ambitions with their focus now onmaking sure they hold off a chasing packincluding Chelsea, Tottenham andManchester United to secure a return tothe Champions League.

“It’s important there is a little bit of per-spective,” said Schmeichel. “If you told uswe would be in the position we are at thestart of the season we would have taken it.

“We take this as inspiration, that’s thelevel. Those are probably the two bestteams in the world at the minute and that’sthe level we have to aspire to be.”

Liverpool, by contrast, demonstratedwhy they are Champions League winnersand Premier League champions in waiting.

Klopp’s men finally had the breathing

space they desired via the arm of CaglarSoyuncu as he handled Alexander-Arnold’scorner 20 minutes from time.

Milner had only been on the field amatter of seconds and stroked home thepenalty with his first touch.

Three minutes later, Firmino doubledhis tally of goals and Alexander-Arnoldadded a third assist with a driven low crossthat the Brazilian expertly cush-ioned before slotting into the top cor-ner.

Alexander-Arnold then capped amagnificent performance by blastinglow and hard beyond Schmeichel intothe bottom corner.

The Boxing Day card marks thehalfway point of the Premier League sea-son, but even with half the season to play,Liverpool’s march towards the title looksunstoppable.

“It is theirs to lose,” added Schmeichel.

UTD ROUT MAGPIES ���������Ole Gunnar Solskjaer urgedManchester United to show some consisten-cy after Anthony Martial’s double and aMason Greenwood rocket sealed a 4-1 winagainst Newcastle.

Solskjaer’s side slumped to an embar-rassing 2-0 defeat at lowly Watford last week-end to raise fresh questions about the United

manager’s ability to inspire his players.When Matty Longstaff put

Newcastle ahead in the first half onThursday, Solskjaer’s critics weresharpening their knives again.

But Martial rode to Solskjaer’s res-cue with the equaliser andGreenwood’s thunderbolt put United

ahead before Marcus Rashford rounded offa first half blitz.

Martial netted again after the intervalas United ended a two-match winless runin the Premier League and moved into sev-

enth place, just four points behind fourthplaced Chelsea in the race to qualify for theChampions League.

“The players bounced back really well.So let’s see how they cope with probablysome praise now and then there’s a game in48 hours against Burnley away,” Solskjaersaid.

“It was a good day for us, we made itcomfortable. Of course you make mistakesbut we had 10 to 15 minutes of everythinggoing right.

“That’s one of the big things from today,the pressing. We need to be pressing highwith a lot of intensity and then the opposi-tion will make mistakes.”

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Six-time world champion M CMary Kom and Nikhat

Zareen will clash in the 51kg cat-egory finals of the women’sboxing trials for next year’sOlympic Qualifiers after claim-ing unanimous victories in theirrespective first-round bouts hereon Friday.

Former junior world cham-pion Zareen defeated reigningnational champion Jyoti Gulia,while multiple-time Asianchampion Mary Kom got thebetter of Ritu Grewal. The two-day competition will end todayafter the finals.

Despite registering a unan-imous win, the PerformanceDirector of Indian women’s box-ing, Raffaele Bergamasco wasnot satisfied with Mary Kom’sperformance.

“She (Mary Kom) won butshe was nowhere near to her besttoday. I didn’t like her bout. Shehas to improve a lot,” he saidwithout elaborating further.

Zareen, Mary Kom’s nextopponent, said she just can’t waitto take the ring today.

“I am just waiting for tomor-row’s (Saturday) bout. I ameagerly looking forward to thatbout. I will give my 100 per cent.There is no pressure on me righton because I wanted the fight tohappen for a long time and I amexcited,” Zareen said about themuch-awaited contest.

“I just want to give my best.At last I got an opportunity toface her (Mary Kom)and I willmake sure that it turns out to bea memorable bout.

“I was always looking for-ward to this bout. I am well pre-pared for tomorrow (Saturday).I will make sure that it’s a cleanbout tomorrow (Saturday) with-out any clinching and wrestling.I will play fairly and clean andbeautiful boxing,” she added.

In other trial bouts onFriday, world youth Gold-medallist Sakshi Chaudharydefeated Asian Silver-winnerManisha Maun in a split 7-3 ver-dict in the 57kg category, whileformer national championSimranjit Kaur got the betterPavitra by an unanimous verdictin the 60kg opener.

Former world championveteran L Sarita Devi will beKaur’s opponent in the final.Sarita got the better of formeryouth world champion ShashiChopra 9-1 in her preliminarybout.

Former world Silver-medal-list Sonia Lather will face Sakshiin the 57kg final after defeatingSonia Chahal 7-3.

In the 75kg category, formerAsian Games Bronze-medallistPooja Rani defeated Indraja 10-0 to make the finals.

In 69kg, world champi-onship Bonze medallist LovlinaBorgohain beat Anjali by anunanimous 10-0 verdict to set upa clash against Lalita, whodefeated Meena Rani 9-1.

In the last bout of the day,Nupur defeated Saweeta 9-1 inthe 75kg category. She will facePooja Rani in the final roundtoday for a place in the OlympicQualifiers bound squad.

The Olympic qualifiers arescheduled to be held in Chinanext year from February 3 to 14.

All five categories inwomen’s boxing are being decid-ed by trials as none in the 51kg,57kg, 60kg, 69kg, and 75kgdivisions managed to make thefinals of the world champi-onships.

The two-day trials for menwill be held in Bellary, Karnatakastarting tomorrow.

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Doubles specialist coachFlandy Limpele believes

that the men’s pairing ofSatwiksairaj Rankireddy andChirag Shetty can deliverIndia’s first doubles medal atTokyo Olympics providedthey strengthen their defenceand work on overall consis-tency.

Satwik and Chirag had abreakthrough season as theyclaimed their maiden Super500 title at Thailand Openand finished runners-up atthe French Open Super 750to grab a career-best rankingof world number 7.

Their stellar show alsoearned them a nominationfor the Most Improved Playerof the Year (singles and dou-bles combined) award by theBadminton World

Federation.“They have made good

progress this year but thereare few things which theyneed to change. They havethe capability to win a medalat Olympics but they need tobe more consistent in termsof shot selection, on-courtstrategy and have to improveoverall,” Limpele, who wasroped in by the BadmintonAssociation of India (BAI) inMarch said.

“They have good offencebut their defence is not good.Their performance has beenup and down and Olympicsis not very far now, so theyneed to work on theirdefence. Also, once they havemore experience, they will dowell against the top interna-tional pairs,” said theIndonesian.

Limpele also stated that

bad attitude of the playersand lack of team work isaffecting the growth of dou-bles in India.

“It has to do somethingwith the attitude of the play-ers. It becomes a problem indoubles because it is a teameffort. It is not individualsport, so you need a caringpartner, you need to train andspur together, push eachother,” he said.

“They need to have thesame target, need to be on thesame page, if they are not, itis not possible to win tourna-ments.

“Sometimes they are notreceptive to my ideas, notputting enough effort, theyare thinking individually, notas a team.”

Limpele feels a change inthe mindset of the players canhelp India rise fast in doubles.

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“All countries have differentcultures but as a coach I havemy own ideas which I want tochange. The thing is, it is notvery difficult to do that, if theycan do that, doubles will fastdevelop in India.

“As a coach, my job is tochange all that, make a goodteam work, and I will try to do

that, that’s how Satwik andChirag came up. They are mostreceptive to my ideas and so theresults are showing. I’m there tohelp.”

Limpele said things areslowly changing and hope hecan guide India to its first everOlympic medal in doubles atTokyo next year.

Page 16: ˇ-˘ 0 1˛2 + - -+ . *+ ,˘$# &, / ˙ 8+. 57 5!*85/6+4 ... · agency early this week. ... Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, north Rajasthan and Uttar ... 27 was escort-landed by the Sukhoi

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Australia snatched two earlywickets to leave New

Zealand facing an uphill battleto stay in the second Test onFriday as they chase the hometeam’s 467, built on the back ofa gritty 114 from Travis Head.

At the close on day two, theBlack Caps were 44 for two withTom Latham not out nine andRoss Taylor on two as a seriesdefeat looms.

Captain Kane Williamsonlasted only 14 balls, skying aJames Pattinson delivery towicketkeeper Tim Paine onnine while TomBlundell, calledup for the out-of-form Jeet Raval,was out to Pat Cummins for 15.

The visitors need to win tosquare the three-match seriesafter crashing by 296 runs in theopening day-night clash inPerth.

Australia looked in com-plete control at tea on 431 forfive, but they then collapsed tobe all out for 467 within nineovers of the restart.

Skipper Paine departed for79 seven balls after tea, withMitchell Starc gone soon afterfor one. Head, Cummins andNathan Lyon rapidly followedwith Neil Wagner (4-83) andTim Southee (3-103) doing thedamage.

Australia started the day at257 for four with Steve Smith on77 and Head not out 25.

Head came into the matchunder pressure after a leanspell, but silenced his critics withonly his second Test century,reaching three figures off 222balls.

“It’s very nice to contribute.It’s pretty cool to score a BoxingDay hundred, nice to get myopportunity,” said Head, addingthat Paine counter-attackingwhen he came in helped.

“It helped that Tim cameout and struck the ball as wellas he did, it definitely took a lotof pressure off me. But credit toNew Zealand, at times it wasdifficult and they stemmed the

scoreboard.”It was a patient innings

from the 25-year-old, whoscored his only other century(161) against Sri Lanka inCanberra. After reaching his tonhe began hitting out and final-ly fell to a Wagner full toss, slic-ing it to Mitchell Santner.

He was ably supported bythe impressive Paine, whoplayed an array of shots tonotch his seventh Test half-cen-tury off just 72 balls. The 35-year-old had a golden opportu-nity to score a maiden ton, buthe blew it, out lbw to Wagnerafter a review.

That brought Starc to thecrease, but he lasted just threeballs before spooning a Southeedelivery to Williamson at mid-off.

Cummins and Lyon man-aged just one run betweenthem with Pattinson left not out14.

“I thought we kept fighting,kept trying and that is one of thegreat characteristics about thisteam, we keep giving every-thing,” said Wagner.

“A tough day, but full cred-it to the Australian batsmen. It’salmost like they’ve been a stepahead of us, they showed a lotof patience and clear plans.”

�� �� 456�75.8��

Ishant Sharma was a picture of com-mitment while leading the injury-rid-den Delhi attack with an eight-wick-

et match haul to all but ensure an outrightvictory against Hyderabad on the thirdday of the Ranji Trophy group Aencounter at Arun Jaitley stadium onFriday.

Having dismissed Hyderabad for 69in the first innings, Delhi were handi-capped by Pawan Suyal’s injury but thatdidn’t deter Ishant from sending down 19overs, grabbing 4 for 89 in the visitors’total score of 298.

Ishant finished with a match-haul of8 for 108 in 29 overs.

Needing 84 to win, Delhi were 24for no loss in the second innings andare just 60 runs away from fullpoints. If they win by 10 wickets,the team will also walk away witha bonus point.

At a time when the Indianpacers’ workload managementhas become a focal point and topstars only want to bowl a specific num-ber of overs in red-ball games to get intothe groove, the veteran of 96 Test match-es toiled hard, bowled those extra oversand also encouraged young SimarjeetSingh (3/80 in 19.4 overs).

Once Suyal was out of the attack witha groin strain, Ishant had no option butto bowl those extra overs and he startedin earnest, trapping right-hander HimalayAgarwal in-front and then breachingBavanaka Sandeep’s (0) defences.

To give him respite, even Nitish Ranahad to bowl the seam-up stuff. There weretimes, when Ishant pitched it short butwhenever he looked to pitch it up, he wasa handful.

It was opener Tanmay Agarwal (103off 154 balls), who was primarily respon-sible for thwarting Delhi's bid for aninnings victory along with some rear-guard action from Tanay Thyagrajan (34)and Mehedy Hasan (71).

Tanmay and Tanay shared a 93-runstand after Hyderabad were reduced to97 for 6.

Hasan then used the long-handle tohelp Hyderabad avoid follow-on.However, all they could manage in theend was 83-run lead which certainly won’tbe enough.

POREL BAGS THREE'��'����Bengal speedster Ishan Porelblew away the Andhra middle-order withhis triple strike as Andhra were reducedto 110 for 7 on the third day of group Aencounter.

Only 46 overs of play was possible onthe day due which has effectively robbedBengal a chance to get an outright winwith a day left.

Bengal were all-out for 289 in their

first innings and Andhra need to scoreanother 30 to avoid follow-on.

On a breezy winter morning, Andhrahad their backs to the wall with Porel dis-missing skipper Hanuma Vihari (23) andin-form Ricky Bhui (0) off successivedeliveries to finish the day with figuresof 3 for 35.

Porel's new ball partner pace partnerMukesh Kumar accounted for 2 for 36 butAndhra rode on Gnaneshwar’s dogged 45

not out off 145 balls to seethrough the day.

“The ball was movingboth ways and I was enjoy-ing my good form andrhythm. We all are young so

there was a lot of positivity and we bowledour hearts out,” Porel said.

“However I could have bowled wellin the last spell. I tried to bowl pace andwas off the mark.”

SERVICES WIN VS TRIPURA��3� ���� �Diwesh Pathania returnedwith a match haul of eight wickets, whilePoonam Poonia had a hat-trick in his five-for as Services routed Tripura by eightwickets in Elite Group C match.

Pathania claimed 3/27 to returnwith a match-haul of 8 for 63, whilePoonia hogged the limelight with his hat-trick as he ran through the lower-orderen route to his 5/26 to skittle out Tripurafor 84 in their second essay.

Resuming the day on 16 for one with31 runs in arrears, Tripura hardly showedany fight and failed to negotiate the three-seam attack being bundled out in 43.5overs with Poonia dismissing HarmeetSingh, Rana Dutta and Abhijit Sarkar offsuccessive deliveries.

Chasing a paltry 38, Services lost twowickets for six runs inside four overs butopener Abhijit Salvi (23 not out) andArun Bamal (nine) ensured that there wasno more hiccups taking the team homein 11.1 overs.

�� ��%!%'+�

Railways created the biggest upset in this season sofar, after they defeated domestic giants Mumbai by

10 wickets within three days in their Elite Group Bmatch at Wankhede stadium.

After bundling out Mumbai for paltry 114 on theopening day, Railways riding on skipper Karn Sharma’sunbeaten 112, grabbed a crucial 152-run first inningslead. Then Railways pacer Himanshu Sangwan (5-60)took five wickets, as Mumbai were bundled out for 198in their second essay, after Test specialist AjinkyaRahane failed miserably in the second innings as well.

For the 41-time domestic champions skipperSuryakumar Yadav (65 off 94 runs) and experiencedAditya Tare (14 off 47 balls) tried to rally the inningswith their 64-run stand before Shardul Thakur (21 off31 balls) along with Akash Parkar (35 not out), ensuredthat Mumbai avoided an innings defeat.

With Parkar’s knock, Mumbai could at least set a47- run target. For Railways, openers Devdhar (27 notout) and Pratham Singh (19 not out) overhauled thetarget in the 12th over, with all 10 wickets to spare.

The Railways’ win is more special, as 42 overs werelost on the first two days.

Mumbai will next play Karnataka at the BKCground from January 3.

Railways coach Harvinder Singh said his team hasdefeated Mumbai for the first time.

“We are very happy, for the first time in history,Railways have defeated Mumbai. The credit goes to theboys, who played very well,” said Harvinder.

Mumbai skipper Suryakumar Yadav said Railwaysoutclassed them in all the departments.

“We could have applied better in the first innings,getting 60-70 runs more would have helped us,” henoted. Former India batsman Vinod Kambli tweeted,“Mumbai team ni masta dabba ghatla (Mumbai playedbadly). Very poor from the team. Disappointed to see@ShreyasIyer15 &@ImShivamDube not being a partof the Mumbai set up for this game when the inter-national game is 5 days away. Would like to see the bestteam playing when possible. #Ranji Trophy.” Mumbaidid not play India players Shreyas Iyer and ShivamDube.

��3����� Former India captain and memberof the 1983 World Cup winning team KrishSrikkanth will be the recipient of this year’s pres-tigious CK Nayudu Lifetime Award given by theBCCI.

Former India women’s captain AnjumChopra is the co-recipient of the lifetimeachievement award for the year 2019.

The BCCI Annual Award function will beheld in Mumbai on January 12 ahead of the firstODI against Australia on January 14.

“Srikkanth and Anjum will be conferredwith the Lifetime Achievement award for theircontributions to Indian cricket. Everyone inBCCI feels that they are perfect choices for theaward,” a BCCI source said.

Srikkanth inarguably is one of the biggestnames to have come out of Tamil Nadu crick-et stable apart from another former India skip-per S Venkataraghavan and RavichandranAshwin. He represented India between 1981 to1992.

The 60-year-old Srikkanth played 43 Tests,scoring 2062 runs with two hundreds and 12half-centuries.

However, it was ODI cricket where he wasa trailblazer, way ahead of his time hitting thoseaudacious hook shots off fast bowlers withoutwearing a helmet.

His crowning glory certainly was the topscore of 38 in the Prudential World Cup finalin 1983 against a fearsome West Indies attackcomprising Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner,Andy Roberts and Michael Holding.

He also scored a half-century againstPakistan in the Benson and Hedges WorldChampionship of Cricket final in 1985.

Srikkanth retired in 1992 after the WorldCup in Australia and New Zealand and thenfrom 2009-12 served as the chairman of nation-al selection committee.

It was the Srikkanth-led committe thatselected the Indian squad for the 2011 WorldCup.

The 42-year-old Anjum is considered to beone of India’s finest batswomen before MithaliRaj. A left-hander, Anjum played 12 Tests scor-ing 548 runs.

Anjum also played 127 ODIs in which shescored a hundred and 18 fifties. She also played18 T20 Internationals.

She was a part of the Indian XI that playedin the Women’s World Cup final againstAustralia in 2005. PTI

�� �� 456�75.8��

Veteran Indian pacer IrfanPathan says the country’s rise

as a fast-bowling powerhouse is, forhim, the highlight of the year whileformer batsman VVS Laxmanpicked the away Test triumph overAustralia as his “favourite moment”of 2019.

The trio of Umesh Yadav (23),Ishant Sharma (25) andMohammed Shami (33)picked 81wickets in Tests this year, averagingless than 20.

The only other time whenthree pacers of the same teamaveraged less than 20 for over 20wickets in a calendar year was 1978with Ian Botham, Chris Old andBob Willis claiming the honours fortheir side.

“This year we saw India’s fastbowlers bowl beautifully for thecountry and it’s been one of the best

fast bowling line-ups that we haveseen. We saw the intent with whichthey bowled, they came in, bowledhard-swinging deliveries, new or

old ball it didn’t matter,” Pathan toldStar Sports. “I have really seen thegrowth of Indian cricket especial-ly in terms of fast bowling which

has been the highlight for me thisyear,” he added.

Their combined average of15.16 is the best for any team’s pacebowlers in a calendar year (withminimum 50 wickets).

Laxman, on the other hand, feltIndia beating Australia in their ownbackyard took the cake.

India beat Australia 2-1 in thefour-match series, which began inDecember 2018 but ended inJanuary 2019.

“It’s been a very good year forIndian cricket but being a Testcricketer, my dream always was tobeat Australia in Australia but I wasnot able to achieve that in mycareer” he said.

“I’m so glad that this Indianteam under Virat’s (Kohli) leader-ship has beaten Australia for thefirst time in their own backyardwhich is my favourite moment ofIndian cricket in 2019,” he added.

����� "�5 9��+

Vernon Philander led arelentless South

African bowling perfor-mance before Englandfought back on the secondday of the first Test atCenturion’s SuperSportPark on Friday.

Philander took fourfor 16 in 14.2 overs asSouth Africa appeared tohave taken control bybowling out England for181, a first innings lead of103.

But England struckhard at the start of the sec-ond innings. South Africawere 72 for four at theclose, an overall lead of175 on a pitch which hasproved difficult for bats-men throughout.

Philander, 34, whohas announced he willretire from internationalcricket at the end of thefour-Test series, produceda master class of control tocomplement the strikepower of fast bowlers

Kagiso Rabada (three for68) and Anrich Nortje(two for 47).

W i c k e t k e e p e rQuinton de Kockequalled the SouthAfrican Test record byholding six catches, a featwhich had been accom-plished six times before —on four occasions by newhead coach MarkBoucher.

England collapsedfrom a promising positionat 142 for three, Englandlost their last seven wick-ets for 39 runs.

But wickets contin-ued to fall when SouthAfrica batted again. JamesAnderson, who dismissedDean Elgar with the firstball of the match onThursday, again claimed awicket in his first overwhen Aiden Markramplayed around his padsand was leg before wick-

et.Zubayr Hamza was

caught by wicketkeeperJos Buttler down the legside before Elgar wascaught behind for 22 offJofra Archer's second ballto reduce South Africa to29 for three.

Van der Dussenhelped captain Faf du

Plessis add 33 for thefourth wicket before DuPlessis, who had hookeda fired-up Archer for six,was caught at long legwhen he played anotherhook shot.

Van der Dussen sur-vived to the close on 17not out, with nightwatch-man Anrich Nortje.

�� ��� %5.'9!�45

Cricket Australia chief executiveKevin Roberts has termed

BCCI President Sourav Ganguly’sidea for a four-nation ‘ODI SuperSeries’ as “innovative” but stoppedshort of giving any commitment.

Ganguly had said India willlock horns with England, Australiaand one other top cricketing sidein an annual ODI series starting2021.

After a recent meeting withGanguly in London, England andWales Cricket Board (ECB) hassaid it was open to discussions onthe matter.

“I think it’s an example of theinnovative thinking coming out ofthe BCCI with Sourav Ganguly aspresident,” Roberts said.

“In his very short time, only acouple of months, we have alreadyseen India commit to and host aday-night Test in Kolkata, so a bril-liant result there. And now a sug-gestion around the Super Series,another potential innovation,” headded.

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