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DHONI SET TO JOINARMY TROOPS INKASHMIR SOON

PRITI PATEL NEWBRITISH HOMESECRETARY

�NEED TO KEEP EYEON CHINA�S NAVALEXPANSION�

P7 P16

FRIDAY26 JULY2019

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AN UNNERVINGVICTORY

P8 P12

NK fires short range missiles: North Korea fired

two short-range missiles into the sea on Thurs-

day, complicating efforts to resume stalled

nuclear talks with Washington and signalling its

anger over planned US-South Korea joint mili-

tary exercises. It was Pyongyang's first missile

test since an impromptu meeting between US

President Donald Trump and North Korean

leader Kim Jong Un last month. P13

US to resume federal executions: The Trump

administration Thursday announced to resume

capital punishment after a gap of nearly two

decades and has set execution dates for five

death-row inmates convicted of murdering.

�Under Administrations of both parties, the

Department of Justice has sought the death

penalty against the worst criminals, including

these five murderers, each of whom was con-

victed by a jury of his peers after a full and fair

proceeding,� US Attorney General William Barr

stated.

THUMBNAILS

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and otherdignitaries pay tributes to the former LS Speaker,Somnath Chatterjee, on his birth anniversary, atParliament House on Thursday. SNS

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICEBENGALURU,25 JULY

Karnataka Assembly Speak-er Ramesh Kumar today dis-qualified three rebel MLAson the ground that their res-ignations were not volun-tary and genuine. The deci-sion on the other disgrun-tled law makers who hadresigned earlier this month,will be announced soon.

The two Congress andone Independent law mak-ers who have been dis-qualified include RameshJarkiholi , Mahesh Kumath-alli , and R Shankar.

The Speaker’s rulingcomes two days after theJDS-Congress coalitiongovernment lost the trustvote following the resig-nation of 15 MLAs fromtheir parties ,along with twoIndependents.

The three disgruntledlaw makers ,incidentally,would remain disqualifiedtill the end of the currentterm of the assembly whichwould mean May 2023.

The Speaker’s decision,significantly, puts the BJPin a fix as it awaits clearancefrom its central leadershipto form the government inthe state. The party hasbeen worried about thefate of the rebels as there

was a possibility that a fewof them would joint the newgovernment.

The opposition partyhas already been facingcharges of indulging inhorse trading, a clear ref-erence to the manner inwhich the 15 unhappy leg-islators were housed in aMumbai hotel and even fer-ried to the city on a charteredflight.

The resignations of theserebels who were later joinedby the Independents hadpushed the coalition gov-ernment into a minority,leading to the trust vote .The BJP,on its part, had alsobeen pushing the govern-ment to prove its majorityin the house . Initially therebels ,who had submittedtheir resignations to theSpeaker’s officer as he wasnot immediately available, had also approached theSupreme Court for inter-vention. They had arguedthat the Speaker was delay-ing the acceptance of theirsubmissions. According tothe Speaker, they had notinformed him in advanceor sought an appointmentbefore submitting theirresignations to his office. Hehad gone out on an urgentwork and ,therefore, couldnot be present.

LS passes triple talaq Bill amid Opp walkout

Speaker disqualifies 3rebel Karnataka MLAs

Bill will now face scrutiny of the Rajya Sabha again

RAJU GUSAINJAMMU, 25 JULY

The decision of the governmentto waive the hefty membershipfee of the Kashmir Golf Clubfor the local youths and stu-dents has triggered a sense ofdiscrimination in Jammu wheresuch club remains out ofbounds for the common peo-ple.

The decision to waive themembership fee for the youthin the Kashmir valley was takenon Thursday in a meeting ofthe executive committee ofthe club that was presided byChief Secretary B.V.R. Sub-rahmanyam.

The meeting was attendedby senior officers of the TourismDepartment, Secretary, Kash-mir Golf Club, representativesof J&K Bank and elected Exec-utive Member of the KashmirGolf Club.

Pertinent to mention thatthe Kashmir Golf Club had

been ravaged by the Septem-ber, 2014 floods with extensivedamage to it. However, with thehelp of J&K Bank, the GolfCourse has been revived andmade playable besides becom-ing aesthetically appealing.

Chief Secretary observedthat there was an emergentneed for earmarking one of thetwo Golf Courses available inSrinagar for local youth andschool children having propen-sity for golf playing. This will

also provide the youth to chan-nelize their energies and ensuretheir personal development.

It was accordingly decidedto earmark the Kashmir GolfClub to Golfers, Tourists andlocal youth of Srinagar, anofficial spokesman said.

Chief Secretary directedSecretary, Kashmir Golf Clubto invite applications for freshmembership between theperiod 1 August to 31 Octo-ber on a nominal fee of Rs.100

per month with no entrancefee after seeking residentialproof.

A simple application will bedevised by the Secretary, Kash-mir Golf Club for the purposeand given due publicity inprint and electronic media sothat more and more youthcan avail the facility of golf play-ing. Simultaneously, Secre-tary, Kashmir Golf Club willmove two separate cost effec-tive proposals one for build-

ing a training Golf Academy andthe other for maintenanceand renovation of the existingbuilding for improved ameni-ties to the users.

Secretary, Kashmir GolfClub was further directed to takeall necessary steps so that theClub is in order for resumingthe operations from mid-August 2019. Director TourismKashmir was directed to extendrequired assistance to Secre-tary, Kashmir Golf Club in thisregard. While appreciating theefforts of the J&K Bank inrestoration of the Golf Course,Chief Secretary observed thatit would now be appropriateif the Tourism Departmenttakes over the Golf Club for itsfurther maintenance. It wasaccordingly agreed that theTourism Department will takeover the Kashmir Golf Coursefrom the J&K Bank from31August after working outthe modalities as may berequired.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIANEW DELHI, 25 JULY

A day after he was shiftedfrom the high profile Min-istry of Finance to thePower Ministry, seniorbureaucrat Subhash Chan-dra Garg on Thursdayapplied for voluntary retire-ment from service, sourcessaid.

Garg was the senior-most bureaucrat in theFinance Ministry in chargeof the Department of Eco-nomic Affairs (DEA), andwas designated the FinanceSecretary. However, in a sur-prise move, he was namedPower Secretary in an orderissued late on Wednesday.

The Power Ministry isconsidered to be of a lowerprofile than the Ministry ofFinance. As DEA Secre-tary, he was in charge of fis-cal policy, RBI-related mat-ters, and was closelyinvolved in the preparationof union budget.

The shift came just a dayafter Parliamentary pro-cedure for approval ofModi 2.0 government'smaiden union budget for2019-20 was completed.

Garg was replaced byDepartment of Investmentand Public Asset Man-agement (DIPAM) Secre-tary Atanu Chakrabortyin a major bureaucraticreshuffle. Sources said Gargcame to his office in theNorth Block -- the seat ofFinance Ministry -- in themorning, but left afternoon. It was not immedi-ately clear when Garg sub-mitted his voluntary retire-ment scheme (VRS) appli-cation to the government.It was also not known if thegovernment would acceptthe application. If he had-

n't applied for VRS, he

would have retired fromgovernment service at theend of October 2020 onattaining of 60 years ofage.

Garg did not answerphone calls seeking hiscomments. 1983 batchIAS officer of Rajasthancadre, Garg came to thecentre in 2014 and wasappointed Executive Direc-tor in the World Bankwhere he stayed till 2017,when he was appointedDEA Secretary in June2017. In March 2019 (rpt)March 2019, he was ele-vated as the Finance Sec-retary following retire-ment of A N Jha (rpt) A NJha. As per convention, thesenior-most among the 5secretaries in the Min-istry of Finance is desig-nated as the Finance Sec-retary.

Finance secy Gargapplies for VRS following transfer

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICENEW DELHI, 25 JULY

The Right to Information Amend-ment Bill, 2019, was today passedby the Rajya Sabha after high dramaand a walkout by the Congress,Trinamul Congress, SamajwadiParty and others over what theytermed as irregularities by BJP lead-ers while the voting process ontheir motions to refer the Bill toa House Select Committee wasin progress.

Deputy Chairman Harivanshdeclared the motion defeatedby 117 votes to 75. The Bill, alreadyapproved by the Lok Sabha, wastaken up for consideration atabout 2.20 p.m. but could bediscussed only after several

adjournments and chaotic scenes,and passed later by voice vote atabout 7.20 pm. The Biju JanataDal, TRS and YSRCP wantedassurances on the Bill, but sup-ported it.

The Congress and other Oppo-sition parties objected to theconduct of the BJP memberswhile slips were being distributedfor voting on the motion. A UnionMinister had walked up to theleader of a southern regionalparty, while C M Ramesh, who hadrecently joined the BJP after quit-ting the Telugu Desam Party,walked down the aisle, with a slipin hand, and talked to his col-leagues. Agitated over what theysaw, nearly the entire CongressParty walked into the well of the

House, and Viplove Thakur (Con-gress) was seen arguing withRamesh, with several angry Con-gress members behind her.

The Deputy Chairmanappealed to the members to goback to their seats.

By that time, members hadreceived their slips and returnedwith their choice marked onthem. As the Opposition returnedto the seats, Leader of the Oppo-sition Ghulam Nabi Azad chargedagainst the BJP: “this is the wayyou had won 303 seats. Ministersintimidate leaders of politicalparties, get signatures of mem-bers. You are running Parliamentas a department. We walk out, wehave no faith” in the way thingswere conducted. (TURN TO P10)

Parl approves RTI amendment

MUMBAI, 25 JULY

Bombay High Court onThursday restrained the CBIfrom taking any coerciveaction against NGOLawyers Collective and itsfounding members, seniorlawyers Anand Grover andIndira Jaising. A bench ofjustices Ranjit More andBharati Dangre grantedthe interim protection tillAugust 19, the next date ofhearing. The CBI had reg-istered a case against Groverand the NGO over allegedviolation of the ForeignContribution (Regulation)Act (FCRA) in use of for-eign funds received byLawyers Collective.

The petitionersapproached the high courtThursday seeking that theFIR registered by the CBIagainst the NGO and Groverin June be quashed.

Senior Advocate AspiChinoy, their lawyer, deniedall charges of FCRA viola-tion. PTI

HC interimprotectionto Groverand Jaising


The Supreme Court on Thurs-day directed setting up of a cen-trally-funded designated courtin each district having morethan 100 FIRs under the Pro-tection of Children from Sex-ual Offences (POCSO) Act todeal exclusively with cases ofsexual offences against chil-dren.

“We would expect ourabove stated directions to beimplemented and exclusive-ly designated courts to tryoffences under the POCSO Act,in terms of the above direc-tions, to start functioning

within 60 days from the dateof the present order,” a benchheaded by Chief Justice Ran-jan Gogoi said, while askingthe Centre and states to imple-ment its direction.

In a slew of directions, theapex court also said that a shortclip, intended to spread aware-ness about prevention of childabuse and prosecution ofcrimes against children, bescreened in every movie halland transmitted by various tele-vision channels at regularintervals. The top court direct-ed that the special court befunded by the Centre andtake care of appointment ofpresiding officer.

POCSO cases: SC forspl courts in dists

Kashmir Golf Club now open to local youths

� Subhash Chan-dra Garg was thesenior-mostbureaucrat in thefinance ministry incharge of thedepartment of eco-nomic affairs(DEA), and wasdesignated thefinance secretary� However, in asurprise move, hewas named powersecretary in anorder issued lateon Wednesday� If he hadn’tapplied for VRS, hewould have retiredfrom governmentservice at the endof October 2020 onattaining of 60years of age.


The Lok Sabha onThursday passedthe contentiousMuslim Women

(Protection of Rights onMarriage) Bill, 2019, whichmakes instant triple talaqa cognizable offence. Whilemembers of the Congress,Trinamul Congress andJanata Dal (U) staged awalkout, 303 membersvoted in its favour where-as 78 members votedagainst it.

The Bill sought toreplace the Ordinancepassed by the Modi-I Gov-ernment in February 2019and has proposed impris-onment of up to threeyears for Muslim husbandsif convicted.

Opposition membersstrongly opposed certainclauses of the Bill whichcriminalises instant tripletalaq and demanded thatit be referred to a selectcommittee of Parliamentfor further scrutiny. SomeOpposition membersaccused the Modi Gov-ernment of targeting onecommunity and one par-ticular religion throughthis Bill.

Union Law MinisterRavi Shankar Prasad, how-ever, denied all the alle-

gations and said theBill is for "Mus-

lim women’s

justice”. He said manyIslamic countries havealready banned instanttriple talaq. . Replying tothe discussion on the Bill,Prasad said the legislationwas a must for genderequality and justice asdespite an August 2017Supreme Court verdictstriking down the prac-tice of instant triple talaq,women are being divorcedby 'talaq-e-biddat'.

He also questioned whyOpposition members wereagainst the three-year jailterm for a Muslim husbandwho gives instant tripletalaq. "When Hindus andMuslims are jailed underdowry law or Domestic

Violence Act, no oneobjects. What is the objec-tion in penalising the prac-tice," he asked while urg-ing members to support theBill.Earlier, moving the Billfor consideration,r Prasadsaid there were three dif-ferent judgments of the five-judge bench of the courtand in one of the judg-ments, the court said TripleTalaq is part of the 'Shari-ah' and a law should beenacted to end the prac-tice. "The core philoso-phy of our Constitution isgender justice, irrespectiveof religion. We want togive honour and justice tothe women," he said.

(TURN TO P10)

A move by theOpposition tostall the Bill atthe time of itsconsiderationwas rejected bya division voteof 303 for and82 against.

What does theBill say?It makes thepronouncement oftalaq-e-biddat “voidand illegal.”

What is theproposedpunitivemeasure?A man who pronouncestriple talaq on his wifewill be punished with ajail term and a fine. ThisBill also makes thepronouncement oftalaq-e-biddat a non-bailable offence.

How does thisprotect Muslimwomen’s rights?The woman upon whomtriple talaq ispronounced will have toreceive an allowancefrom her husband, andshe retains custody ofher children.

Muslim women look on as they walk on a street in the oldcity of Hyderabad on Thursday. AFP

Despite the Supreme Court strikingdown the instant triple talaq practice

as illegal and unconstitutional,several hundred cases have

been reported.

Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union law minister

If the husband is jailed, as the Billproposes, then how will he be ableto pay the maintenance to his wife

while sitting in the jail.

Asaduddin Owaisi AIMIM MP

303-82 VOTES

SHUNTED?

� 13 lawmakers ofthe Congress, 3from JDS resignedearlier this month� BJP won’t formgovernment untilSpeaker takes callon resignations� Untll resigna-tions accepted,lawmakers wouldremain Assemblymembers

� 3 rebel MLAsdisqualified� IndependentMLA R Shankar dis-qualified� No one can formstable govt in pre-sent circum-stances: HDK

30 days� parolefor Rajiv caseconvict VELLORE (TN), 25 JULY

Nalini Sriharan, one of theseven convicts in the RajivGandhi assassination case,was released from a prisonhere on Thursday on a 30-day parole amid tight secu-rity to make arrangementsfor her daughter's wedding.

Imprisoned since 1991,this is the first time Nalini willbe out on parole for 30 days.She had been out of onparole earlier as well, but notfor a period that extends toa month. “She has beenreleased on parole. The reliefto her comes with severalconditions,” a prison officialtold PTI. As soon as Nalini,clad in a golden yellow saree,walked out of the main gateof the Special Prison forWomen here, she was escort-ed to a police van and takento the residence of a pro-Tamil, Dravidian outfit leaderat Rangapuram here. PTI

Decison on otherlawmakers. who had

resigned, will beannounced soon

Ramesh KumarSpeaker of Karnataka

Assembly

WEATHER

Generally cloudy sky with possibility of lightrain/thundershowers. The maximum andminimum temperatures would be around31 and 24 degrees Celsius respectively.

RAINFALL: Nil

RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max.90% Min.75%TEMPERATUREMax: 30.5°C (-4) Min: 25.0°C (-2)SUN RISES SUN SETS05:40 hrs 19:16 hrsMOON RISES MOON SETS01:03 hrs 13:42 hrs

ON OTHERS

02I would like to highlight the fact that both OBCs and SEBCs in Odisha havebeen deprived from higher education. To ensure their representation, it isdesirable that the govt must provide reservation to both OBCs and SEBCs

DHARMENDRA PRADHANUNION PETROLEUM MINISTERNEW DELHI, FRIDAY 26 JULY 2019


The Aam Aadmi Partygovernment in Delhihas spent “the maxi-mum funds on the

development of unauthorizedcolonies in the national capi-tal”, according to the AAP'sDelhi convenor and ministerGopal Rai.

Addressing a press confer-ence today, Rai said the AAP gov-ernment has spent as much asRs 6000 crore for developmentof these colonies since the for-mation of the Arvind Kejriwalgovernment in 2015.

Launching a counter-attack

on the BJP, Rai said the BJP ~which organised a protestdemonstration on the unau-thorised colonies issue andaccused CM Kejriwal of

"telling lies" ~ should instead

focus on providing securityand cleanliness in the nation-al capital, which are majorproblems today. The BJP report-edly alleged that the AAP gov-ernment was “fooling” the peo-

ple on the unauthorised coloniesissue. Rai alleged that the BJP,the ruling party at the Centrewhich had its government inDelhi in the past, has done "verylittle" for the development ofthese colonies. Even the Munic-ipal Corporations of Delhi(MCDs) controlled by the BJPhave only been ignoring theseareas, he charged.

Alleging that the BJP has donenothing for the residents ofunauthorised colonies in thenational capital except insult-ing them, Rai also reportedlyasked the BJP what it had doneto regularise such colonieswhen it was in power from1993 to 1998 in Delhi.

The Congress too had beenindulging in “jumlebazi” withregard to the unauthorisedcolonies, the minister charged.

Rai said the Kejriwal gov-ernment had first sent a pro-posal to the Centre in Novem-ber 2015 for the regularisationof these colonies. Since then theDelhi government had beenwriting to the Centre repeatedlyto accomplish this task.

The Centre sent a propos-al to the AAP government forits comments in 15 days, butthe AAP government sent backthe proposal expressing itsacceptance and with somesuggestions in seven days only,Rai pointed out.

'AAP govt spent ̀ 6,000 crfor unauthorised colonies'BJP has not done anything for unauthorised colonies except insulting their residents: Rai


Attacking the Aam AadmiParty (AAP) led by the Kejri-wal government and the Con-gress, BJP leader Vijay Goelalong with MP Parvesh Vermaand Hansraj Hans todaystaged protest at Jantar Man-tar against the Delhi gov-ernment over the issue ofregularisation of unauthorisedcolonies.

Goel alleged that ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal is"misleading" the people ofDelhi on regularisation. "Theonus to demarcate the bound-aries of unauthorised colonieswas on the Delhi govern-ment, which failed to finishthis in the past four and a halfyears and is now seekingmore time up to 2021," allegedGoel.

Further, the BJP leader saidthat to expose "betrayal anddouble-standards" of the CM,padyatras would be held inthe unauthorised colonies.

Hitting the Congress, Goelalleged that Kejriwal is "fool-ing" the public in the sameway as the Congress govern-ment had done in the run-upto the 2008 assembly pollswhen it had provided false pro-visional regularisation cer-tificates to regularise 1200colonies. "Even after 10 years,the properties of these coloniesare still to witness any sale orpurchase," alleged Goel.

Parvesh Verma said thathad Kejriwal worked in coop-eration with the Centre in pastfour years, the colonies wouldhave got regularised by now.

Hansraj Hans said thatsince the Kejriwal governmenthad failed to finish the delin-

eation work, the Centre wouldnow take up the work of car-rying out the survey usingdrones and remote sensingtechnology.

"There are 1,797 unau-thorised colonies in Delhiand 7 lakh people are livingin them. The Congress was inpower for 15 years while theAAP has been in power for fiveyears. They have not done any-thing for regularisation ofunauthorised colonies," Goelsaid.

"The people of Delhi can-not be fooled. The regulari-sation of such colonies canonly happen when there is theBJP government in the nation-al capital. It will work in tan-dem with the BJP-led NDAgovernment at the Centre asKejriwal does not cooperatewith the Centre," Goelclaimed.

Goel slams AAP, Cong on unauthorisedcolonies' regularisation issue

STATE CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL

COMMISSION"A'' Block, 1st Floor, Vikas

Bhawan, I.P. Estate, New Delhi-110002.

No. C-72/18Dated : 16-05-2019In the matter of :

Manju MalikVersus

Premia Projects Ltd.To,

Premia Projects Ltd., Base-ment, J-4, Shop No. 4, Block-J,Kirti Nagar, West Delhi-110015.

Also at : Premia ProjectsLtd., Coporate Office : A-5, 6, 7,Sector-9, Noida-201301.

Whereas a complaintagainst you has been made tothis Commission for adjudi-cation. You are hereby sum-moned to appear in this Com-mission in person or by apleader or an authorised agentduly instructed and able toanswer all the material ques-tions in relation to the com-plaint on 02-09-2019 at 10-30a.m. sharp.

You are further directed tofile complete reply of yourdefence on the aforesaid dateand take note that in defaultof your appearance on thesaid date the matter will beheard and determined in yourabsence.

Given under my hand andthe Seal of this Commission onthis the 16th day of May, 2019.

RegistrarState Commission

A-Block, Vikas Bhawan,New Delhi-110002.

Seal of the CommissionFMG-xyz-5209

IN THE COURT OFSH. GAJENDER SINGH

NAGARAdministrative Civil Judge-

cum-Addl. Rent Controller

(Central)Room No. 323, 3rd Floor,Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi.

Case No. RC ARC/409/2019.Date of Order : 05-07-2019.

Om Prakash Gupta— Petitioner

VersusSubhash Chand Vineet Kumarand Ors.

— RespondentsTo,

Vineet Kumar @ Vineet Bab-bar, through its Owner/Part-ners/Proprietor of SubhashChand Vineet Kumar, 528,Katra Ishwar Bhawan, KhariBaoli, Delhi-110006.

Whereas the Petitioner hasfiled an application for youreviction from TenantedPremises One Shop on GroundFloor, part of property BearingMPL No. 6253, Gali Batashan,Kucha Shiv Mandir, Delhi-6,here insert the particulars ofthe premises on the groundspecified in clause (e) of theprovision to sub-section (1) of

section 14.You are hereby summoned

to appear before the Con-troller within fifteen days ofthe service thereof and toobtain the leave of the Con-troller to contest the appli-cation for eviction on theground aforesaid in defaultwhereof, the applicant willbe entitled at any time afterthe expiry of the said period offifteen days to obtain an orderfor your eviction from thesaid premises.

Leave to appear and contestthe application may beobtained on an applicationto the Controller supported byan affidavit as referred to insub-section (5) of section25(3).

Given under my hand andthe Seal of the Court on thisthe 23rd day of July, 2019.

Administrative CivilJudge-cum-

Addl. Rent Controller(Central)

Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi.Seal of the Court

FMG xyz-5249

IN THE COURT OFSANDEEP GARG

Additional District Judge-01,New Delhi District,

Room No. 22, Main Building,Patiala House Courts,

New DelhiPC-11/19

Arjun Bhandari— Petitioner

VersusThe State

— RespondentTo,

The General Public (State),Govt. of NCT of Delhi, throughits Chief Secretary, Secre-tariat, New Delhi-110001.

Whereas a petition underSection 276 of the Indian Suc-cession Act, 1925, for the grantof Probate to the petitioner inrespect to the properties ofthe deceased.

Notice is hereby given tothe general public that anyperson having objection forgrant of Probate regardingWill dated 21-11-2017 and Cod-icil dt. 02-04-2018 assets ofthe deceased of Late Sh.Rajendra Kumar Bhandari,s/o Sh. Late Sh. Lakhpat RaiBhandari, Address F-Block,House No. 9/4, Ground Floor,Vasant Vihar, New Delhi-110057, may file the same inthe court personally orthrough counsel on or beforethe next date of hearing on 10-10-2019.

Given under my hand andthe Seal of the Court, this 6thday of July, 2019.

Additional District Judge-01,

New Delhi District,Patiala House Courts,

New Delhi.Seal of the Court

xyz-5260

COURT NOTICE UNDERORDER 5 RULE 20 CPC(SUCCESSION CASE)

IN THE COURT OFSH. Pardeep Choudhry

CJM-cum-ACJ (SD)Gurugram

CNR No. HRGR02-002296-2018.

Next Date: 02-08-2019Gauri Sen Gupta

VersusGeneral Public

Petition U/S 372 of The Indi-an Succession Act for issuanceof Succession Certificate.

Notice to:General Public at largeIn the above titled case, the

defendant(s)/respondent(s)could not be served. It isordered that defendant(s)/respondent(s) should appearin person or through coun-sel on 02-08-2019 at 10-00 a.m.

For details logon tohttps://highcourtchd.gov.in/?trs=district_notice&dis-trict=Gurugram

Given under my hand andthe Seal of the Court on thisday of 25-07-2019.

CJM-cum-ACJ (SD)Gurugram

Seal of the Courtxyz-5261

COURT NOTICEIN THE COURT OF

SH. ASHISH THATHAISub-Divisional Judicial Mag-

istrate, Amloh (P)CNR No. : PBFGA1-002445-

2018.Next Date : 22-08-2019.

1. Ranjit Singh, aged about42 years, s/o Sh. Sohan Singh,Resident of Sant Nagar,Gaushalla Road, Street No. 2,Mandi Gobind Garh, Tehsil,Amloh, District Fateh GarhSahib.

— ComplainantVersus

1. Sood Fruits and Juice Cor-ner, Sabji Bandi, Gobind Garh,Now C/o Balaji Fruits and JuiceCorner, Booth No. 200, Sec-tor 35-D, Chandi Garh, 160035,through its Proprietor OvinderSood.

2. Ovinder Sood, Proprietorof Sood Fruits and Juice Cor-ner, Sabji Mandi, Mandi Gob-ind Garh, Now C/o Balaji Fruitsand Juice Corner, Booth No.200, Sector 35-D, Chandi Garh-160035.

—AccusedPublication issued to:Ovinder Sood, Proprietor

of Sood Fruits and Juice Cor-ner, Sabji Mandi, Mandi Gob-ind Garh, Now C/o Balaji Fruitsand Juice Corner, Booth No.200, Sector 35-D, Chandi Garh-160035.

In above titled case theaccused could not be served.It is ordered that the accusedshould appear in person orthrough counsel on 22-08-2019 at 10-00 a.m.

For details logon tohttps://highcourtchd.gov.in/?trs=district_notice&dis-trict=Fatehgarh Sahib

Given under my hand andthe Seal of the Court on thisthe 24th day of July, 2019.

Sub-Divisional JudicialMagistrate, Amloh (P)


COURT NOTICE UNDERORDER 5 RULE 20 CPC

IN THE COURT OFSH. Arvind Nashier

Addl. Distt. & SessionsJudge

Charkhi DadriDMC/124/2019

CNR No. HRBHA2-000809-2019.

Next Date: 24-10-2019Ajay Kumar

VersusSavita Devi

Publication issued to:Savita Devi, Spouse: Ajay

Kumar, Village Dhani Phogat,Teha and Distt. Charkhi Dadrinow residing at VillageNushehra, Teh. Malerkotla,Distt. Sangrur, Punjab.

In the above titled case, thedefendant(s)/respondent(s)could not be served. It isordered that defendant(s)/respondent(s) should appearin person or through coun-sel on 24-10-2019 at 10-00 a.m.

For details logon tohttps://highcourtchd.gov.in/?trs=district_notice&dis-trict=Bhiwani


Addl. Distt. & SessionsJudge

Charkhi DadriSeal of the Court

xyz-5263

IN THE COURT OFSH. NEERAJ GAUR

Addl. District Judge-01(North)

Room No. 312, 3rd Floor,District Courts, Rohini,

Delhi.Probate Case No. PC-

12/2019.Asha Raina & Another

—PetitionersVersus

State & Ors.— Respondents

PETITION UNDERSECTION 276 OF THE INDIAN

SUCCESSION ACT, 1925.Whereas an application

under the Indian SuccessionAct, 1925 for grant of Probateof the Will or for Letters ofAdministration to the estate ofShri Bhagat Ram Raina, whodied on 13-08-2018 at Delhi, hasbeen made by Smt. AshaRaina, w/o Late Shri BhagatRam Raina & Shri ShivamRaina, s/o Late Shri BhagatRam Raina both r/o C-561, 1stFloor Street No. 5, Majlis Park,Azadpur, Delhi-110033.

Whereas the 19-08-2019 hasbeen fixed for hearing of thecase, notice is hereby giventhat any person having anyinterest in the Administra-tion of the Estate of the saidconcerned may if he/shedesire appear in this Courton the said 19th day of August,2019, and see the proceed-ings before the grant of Pro-bate (or for Letters of Admin-istration).

Given under my hand andthe Seal of this Court on this16th day of July, 2019.

Addl. District Judge-01(North)

District Courts Rohini, Delhi.Seal of the Court

xyz-5264

PROCLAMATION REQUIRINGATTENDANCE OF

DEFENDANT(Order 5, Rule 20 of the Code

of Civil Procedure)In the Court ofSh. Ankur Jain

Addl. District Judge-10 (Cen-tral)

Room No. 24, Ground Floor,Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi.

Suit No. 33/2019.ICICI Bank Limited, having its

Registered Office at Land-mark, Race Course Circle,Vadodara-390007.

And having it Branch Officeat 2nd Floor, Videocon Tower,Block-E1, Jhandewalan Extn.,New Delhi.

— PlaintiffVersus

Shashank Jain, s/o Sh. LalitJain, 64/44, U-Block, DLF Phase-III, Gurgaon-122001.

Also at : C/o CBRC SouthAsia Pvt. Ltd., Canara HSBC,Second Floor, Unitech TradeCentre, Sector-43, SushantLok Phase-1, Gurgaon-122001.

New Address : ShashankJain, s/o Sh. Lalit Jain, H.No.628/23, Blue Kaeshal, Ajmer,Rajasthan-305001.

— DefendantTo,Shashank Jain, s/o Sh. Lalit

Jain, First Address : 64/44, U-Block, DLF Phase-III, Gurgaon-122001.

Second Address : C/o CBRCSouth Asia Pvt. Ltd., CanaraHSBC, Second Floor, UnitechTrade Centre, Sector-43,Sushant Lok Phase-1, Gur-gaon-122001.

Third Address : H.No. 628/23,Blue Kaeshal, Ajmer,Rajasthan-305001.

The Defendant Above-named.

Whereas you are defendantin the abovesaid suit andwhereas you are intention-ally evading service of sum-mons it is hereby notified thatif you shall not defend thecase on the 1st day of August,2019 the day fixed for the finaldisposal, it will be heard anddetermined ex-parte.

Given under my hand andthe Seal of the Court, on thisthe 7th day of June, 2019.

Addl. District Judge-10Central, Delhi.


DEBTS RECOVERY TRIBUNAL-I, DELHI

4th Floor, Jeevan Tara Building, Parliament Street,

New Delhi-110001.O.A. No. 71/2018.

ICICI Bank Ltd.— Applicant

VersusMr. Santosh Kumar Yadav &Ors.

— RespondentsTo,

1. Sh. Santosh Kumar Yadav(Defd. No. 01), s/o Sh. Kapil DevYadav, r/o H.No. B-93, Sector-47, Noida-201301.

Also at : Sh. Santosh KumarYadav, s/o Sh. Kapil Dev Yadav,C/o M/s Quqrxpress Publish-ing Software (India) Pvt. Ltd.,C-28-29, Tower-A, Sector-62,

Logix Cyber Park BusinessCentre-5, Noida-201301.

Also at : Sh. Santosh KumarYadav, s/o Sh. Kapil Dev Yadav,r/o Flat No. 927-C, 9th Foor,Krishna Tower-5, DwaarikaHeights, NH-58, Meerut-250022,Uttar Pradesh.

2. Ms. Jyoti Singh (Defd. No.02), w/o Sh. Santosh KumarYadav, r/o H.No. B-93, Sector-47, Noida-201301.

Also at : Ms. Jyoti Singh,w/o Sh. Santosh Kumar Yadav,r/o Flat No. 927-C, 9th Floor,Krishna Tower-5, DwaarikaHeights, NH-58, Meerut-250022,Uttar Pradesh.

Whereas the abovenamedapplicant has instituted acase for recovery of Rs.41,80,883 (Rupees Forty OneLacs Eighty Thousand EightHundred Eighty Three only)against you and whereas ithas been shown to the satis-faction of the Tribunal thatit is not possible to serve youin the ordinary way. There-fore, this notice is given byadvertisement directing youto make appearance beforeLd. Registrar on 2-08-2019 at10-30 a.m.

Take notice that in case ofyour failure to appear on theabovementioned day beforethis Tribunal, the case will beheard and decided in yourabsence.

Given under my hand andthe Seal of the Tribunal onthis the 20th day of May, 2019.

By order of this TribunalFor Registrar

Seal of the Tribunalxyz-5266


DEFENDANT(Order 5, Rules 20 of the

Code of Civil Procedures)In the Court of

Manish YaduvanshiAddl. Distt. & Sessions

Judge (Central)Room No. 318, 3rd Floor,

Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi-110054.

Suit No. CS/1943/17ICICI Bank Ltd.

VersusDhanu SethiTo,

Dhanu Sethi, r/o H.No. 322,Vkdeta Khapuram, LandmarkSai Mandir, Srikakulam,Andhra Pradesh-532312.

Employed at : HIM Market-ing Services Pvt. Ltd., C-33,Ground Floor, Lajpat Nagar-I,Narula's Flyover, New Delhi-110024.

Whereas you are inten-tionally evading service ofsummon it is hereby notifiedthat if you shall not defend thecase on the 05-08-2019, theday fixed for the final dis-posal, it will be heard anddetermined ex-parte.

Given under my hand andthe Seal of the Court, on this21st day of June, 2019.

Addl. Distt. & SessionsJudge (Central)

Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi-110054.




of Civil Procedure)In the Court of

Ms. Vineeta GoyalAddl. District Judge-03

South District,Room No. 607, Sixth Floor,

Saket Courts Complex,New Delhi.

Case Reg. No.CS(Comm)/33/19

P.S. : U/S : Civil CasesState Bank of India

— PlaintiffVersus

Deepak Singh— Defendant

To,Deepak Singh, s/o Sh. Ran-

jit Singh, U-1, 492, Prem Nagar,Block-U, Kirali Suleman, Delhi-110086.

Also at : Akangsha VeshnoHotel, U-1, 406, DharamEnclave, Prem Nagar-II, Delhi-110041.

Whereas you are inten-tionally evading service ofsummons it is hereby noti-fied that if you shall notdefend the case on the 8thday of August, 2019 the dayfixed for the final disposal,it will be heard and deter-mined ex-parte.

Given under my hand andthe Seal of the Court, on thisthe 18th day of July, 2019.

Addl. District Judge-03South District,











—PlaintiffVersus

Saurabh Chopra—Defendant

To,Saurabh Chopra, s/o Sh.

Dinesh Chopra, H.No. G-20/95FF, Block-G, Pocket-20, Sec-tor-7, Rohini, New Delhi-110085.














— PlaintiffVersus

Savitri Devi— Defendant

To,Smt. Savitri Devi, w/o Sh.

Ajay Kumar, H.No. 22D, Block-K, Phase-2, Budh Vihar, Vil-lage Pooth Kalan, New Delhi-110086.

Also at : C/o Savitri Bou-tique, K-55, Block-K, Phase-2,Near Teen Murti Mandir, BudhVihar, Village Pooth Kalan,New Delhi-110086.








of Civil Procedure)In the Court ofSanjeev Jain

Addl. District Judge-04Room No. 502, Fifth Floor,South East District,s Delhi

Saket Court Complex,New Delhi.CS-554/18

M/s Biotech India Ltd.— Plaintiff

VersusSahil Marketing, Safidon

—DefendantTo,

Sahil Marketing, Safidon,Opp. Munjhal Petrol Pump,Panipat Road, Safidon,Haryana.

Whereas you are inten-tionally evading service ofsummons it is hereby noti-fied that if you shall notdefend the case on the 22ndday of August, 2019 the dayfixed for the final disposal,it will be heard and deter-mined ex-parte.

Given under my hand andthe Seal of the Court, on this12th day of July, 2019.

Addl. District Judge-04Saket Court Complex,


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of Civil Procedure)In the Court ofSanjeev Jain

Addl. District Judge-04Room No. 502, Fifth Floor,South East District Delhi

Saket Court Complex, New Delhi.CS-555/18

M/s Biotech India Ltd.— Plaintiff

VersusGaurav Kalyan

— DefendantTo,

Gaurav Kalyan, Prop. KalyanPoultry Farm, Shop No. 9,Gurunanak Market, Link Road,Karnal.

Whereas you are inten-tionally evading service ofsummons it is hereby noti-fied that if you shall notdefend the case on the 22ndday of August, 2019 the dayfixed for the final disposal,it will be heard and deter-mined ex-parte.

Given under my hand andthe Seal of the Court, on this12th day of July, 2019.

Addl. District Judge-04Saket Court Complex,


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IN THE HIGH COURT OFDELHI AT NEW DELHI

(Testamentary IntestateJurisdiction)

CITATION U/S 283, INDIANSUCCESSION ACT, 1925

In the matter of Test CaseNo. 46/2019.

Harish Narain Mathur & Anr.— Petitioner

VersusState & Ors.

—RespondentsTo,

All Concerned.In the matter of estate of

Late Smt. Aruna Mathur, w/oLate B.N. Mathur, r/o Flat No.65, Anupam C.G.H.S. Apart-ment, Vasundhara, Delhi-1100969.

Whereas 1. Harish NarainMathur, s/o Late Sh. BehariNarain Mathur, 2. RashmiMathur, w/o Sh. Harish NarainMathur, both r/o 65, AnupamApartments, VasundharaEnclave, Delhi-110096, hasfiled a petition under Section276 of the Indian SuccessionAct, 1925 read with Section151 of Civil Procedure Code,1908 for grant of Probte ofTestator's last Will dated 01-08-2012 registered on 29-09-2012 executed by Smt. ArunaMathur, deceased.

And whereas the aforesaidcase is fixed for hearing on 24-09-2019 at 10.30 a.m. before theCourt. This citation is issued,in terms of Section 283 of thesaid Act, to all persons claim-ing to have any interest inthe properties of the saiddeceased to come to thisCourt, file objections, if any,and take part in the proceed-ings on the date specifiedabove for the grant of Pro-bate.

Given under my hand andthe Seal of this Court, in termsof order dated 31st day ofMay, 2019.

Assistant Registrar (O)For Registrar General


COURT NOTICE UNDERORDER 5 RULE 20 CPC(SUCCESSION CASE)

IN THE COURT OFSH. Amit Sahrawat

Civil Judge (Senior Division), Gurugram

CNR No. HRGR02-001378-2019.

Next Date: 06-08-2019Virender Kumar

VersusState of Haryana

Notice to:General Public: GurugramIn the above titled case, the

defendant(s)/respondent(s)could not be served. It isordered that defendant(s)/respondent(s) should appearin person or through coun-sel on 06-08-2019 at 10-00 a.m.

For details logon tohttps://highcourtchd.gov.in/?trs=district_notice&dis-trict=Gurugram


Civil Judge (Senior Divi-sion), Gurugram


SEALED Tender/Auction areinvited on "As is Where isBasis" for sale of old con-demned items by the Firstnational auctioneers(9818003790) on behalf ofICMR-National Institute ofCancer Prevention andResearch, Plot I- 7, Sector-39,Noida. Interested bidders mayvisit website: www.nicpr.res.infor details of items and otherterms and conditions. Lastdate is 29-07-2019 at 1 p.m.

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ST. JOSEPH'S ACADEMY,SAVITA VIHAR, DELHI-92

REQUIREMENT FOR SPECIALEDUCATION TEACHER

Age : Not exceeding 30 yearsQualifications : Graduate

with B.Ed (Special Education)or

B.Ed with 2 year's Diploma inSpecial Education or Post-Graduate Professional Diplo-ma in Special Education.

orAny other equivalent qual-

ification approved by theRehabilitation Council of India.

Last Date to Submit Appli-cations: 5th August, 2019

(Principal)xyz-5273

ANDAMAN AND NICOBARADMINISTRATION

Directorate of ShippingServicesPort Blair

05 July, 2019VACANCY NOTICE

The Andaman & NicobarAdministration propose toengage "Master Mariner" asFull Time Consultant tostrengthen the manpowerand to manage the statuto-ry functions of the ShippingDepartment and inviteapplications from the per-sons, who fulfils the eligibil-ity criteria indicated below,in the proforma annexed tothis notice.

SI. No.: 1.Nomenclature: Master

Mariner.No. of posts: 02.Eligibility Criteria: Master

(NCV).Fee Payable: Rs. 1,25,000

per month (total emolu-ments).

Area of Consultancy / JobDescriptions:

For the vessel placedunder their specific chargeand through the DeputyDirector Shipping Services,the ‘Master Mariner’ should:

a) C o n s u l t a n c ymonitor the operational sta-tus of the vessel and ensurethat survey and certificateis complete in all respectsat all times.

b) Ensure alldefects emerging are expe-ditiously rectified throughMarine Dockyard / out-sourcing.

c) Ensure timelysupply of stores and spares.

d) Ensure availabil-ity of all LSA / FFS equip-ment and implementationof all safety regulations.

e) Impart training of safeNavigation and Safety.

f) To maintain constantliaison with Deputy Director(Shipping Services) regard-ing operational deploymentof the vessel under them.

g) Any other taskassigned by DSS / DDSSfrom time to time.

In addition to the jobdescription explainedabove, the selected candi-dates are expected to ren-der all technical / profes-sional guidance and shall beresponsible for complianceof all statutory require-ments of the vessels ownedby the A&N Administration.

The fee explained above isinclusive of all and no otherfacilities in any shape orform are admissible to theselected incumbents.

The selected candidatesare, however, entitled forone day leave for everycompleted month duringthe period of their engage-ment as Full TimeConsultant which shall beavailed by them beforecompletion of their tenureof engagement.

The applicants should beof absolute integrity, hardworking, willing to acceptany challenge / task, capa-ble to complete theassigned task with preci-sion and in a time boundmanner and free from majorhealth problems / deficien-cies.

Their engagement as con-sultants shall be liable fortermination at any timewithout any notice orassigning reasons thereofand the decision of the A&NAdministration in thisregard shall be binding tothem.

The suitability of the can-didate will be assessed by aduly constituted Committee

keeping in view the recordsmade available by them,their performance in thepersonal talk and afterassessing their professionalknowledge and experiencein the field.

The candidates possessthe minimum qualificationwould be shortlisted as perthe following:

Additional Qualification:Master (FG) – 05 Marks.

Additional experience ofsailing as Master of MSVessels: 0.20 Marks forevery month above 05 yearsof experience – Max Marks:20.

Acted as designated per-son Ashore: 2 Marks forevery month – Max Marks:15.

Acted as TechnicalSuperintendent / Manager:2 Marks for every complet-ed 06 months – Max Marks:05.

Experience with the clas-sification society, if any: 2Marks for every completed06 months – Max Marks: 15.

Interview: 40 Marks.Total Marks / Merit:

................Interested person fulfill-

ing the eligibility criteriamay submit their resume inthe prescribed formannexed herewith togetherwith attested copies of allcertificates / testimonialsto the Director of ShippingServices, A&N Islands, PortBlair (Tel. No.: 03192-230480,232725, 231793) on or before31.07.2019. Applicationsreceived after the abovedate will not be entertainedunder any circumstances.The candidates are alsoadvised to visit theAndaman and NicobarAdministration's website:(www.and.nic.in) for moreinformation.

Sd/-Director

Shipping Service(B0225)

I, AMIT Ghosh, do herebydeclare that my sonBiswanath Ghosh, residingat Beledanga, P.O. & P.S.:Chanditala, Hooghly-712702,W.B. shall henceforth beknown as Biswajit Ghosh,vide affidavit sworn beforethe First Class ExecutiveMagistrate, Serampore,Hooghly dated 16.07.2019.Biswanath Ghosh andBiswajit Ghosh both aresame and one identical person.

(B0220)I, PIYALI Paik, W/o.

Biswajit Paik, R/o. BainaraPurba Khejuberia, P.S.:Hasnabad, Dist.: North 24Parganas solemnly declaresthat I changed my surnameas Piyali Paik from PiyaliMondal and my originalDate of Birth is 20.06.1995 asrecorded in the AadhaarCard and not 20.06.1990,vide affidavit sworn beforethe Ld. 1st Class JudicialMagistrate, Basirhat dated05.03.2019. I hereby affirmthat Piyali Paik and PiyaliMondal both are same andidentical.

(B0221)

I, ASHIS Debnath, S/o.Amrita Debnath, R/o. Vill.:Fakirtala, P.O.: Swarupganj,P.S.: Nabadwip, Dist.: Nadiahereby declare that myfather’s name has beenwrongly recorded as“Amritalal Debnath” in myMadhyamik Documents.Henceforth Amrita Debnath& Amritalal Debnath knownas same person, vide anaffidavit sworn before theLd. Executive Magistrate,Nadia, Krishnagar on18.07.2019.

(B0222)

I, BHAWNA Jadia, W/o. lateHarivadan Jadia, R/o. 20,Roy Street, 2nd Flr., Kol.-20declare that my name hasbeen wrongly recorded asJadia Harivadan Bhawna inmy Passport. Henceforth, Iwill be known as BhawnaJadia, vide affidavit sworn inbefore the Notary Public,Bankshall Court, Kolkatadtd. 22.07.19. Bhawna Jadia& Jadia Harivadan Bhawnais one & identical person inall documents.

(B0223)

KOLKATAStatesman House, 4, Chowringhee SquareKolkata-700 001 Tel: (033) 22127070-76, (033) 41071700Fax: (033) 2212-6181 / 7107-1780Email:[email protected]@[email protected]

DELHIStatesman House, 148, Barakhamba Road, New Delhi-110 001 Tel: (011) 2331 5911 3/10, INS Building (3rd floor) Rafi Marg, New Delhi-110 001, Tel: (011) 2371 8434

Ishan House (2nd floor) A-90, Sector II, NOIDA, UP 201 301 Tel: (0120) 3891800/810, Email: [email protected]@[email protected] Advertisement:[email protected]

BHUBANESWARPlot 3A, Zone B, Sector A,Mancheswar Industrial Estate,Bhubaneswar-751 010.Tel: (0674) 2588060/61/62/2586371, Telefax: 0674-2588061Email:[email protected]@gmail.com

SILIGURI13A, Dabgram IndustrialGrowth Centre, P.O. Satellite Township, Siliguri-734015Tel: 2568615, 2568063 and2568787. Fax: (0353) 2568296,Email: [email protected]@gmail.comCity Office: 3rd Floor, RinaBhawan, Opp. HDFC Bank,Panitanki More, Sevoke Rd.,Siliguri-734015.Ph.: 0353-2524077

SHIMLA

Cabin No. 305, P. C. ChambersNear Jodha NiwasThe Mall Shimla-171001, H.P.Tel: 0177-2815000Email:[email protected]

CHANDIGARH

SCO 56-57 (First Floor)Near G.P.O, Sectro-17DChandigarh-160017Tel: 0172-4184665/6Email:[email protected]

HYDERABAD

The Statesman Limited, 2ndFloor, UNI Building, A.C. Guards, Hyderabad-500004, Ph.: 040-2339 1739Email: [email protected]

BANGALORE

No. 68, First Floor, Gold Tower,

50 Residency Road, Bangalore-

560025.

Tel.; 080-22229129, 080-22234813

Email: [email protected]

MUMBAI

5, Kasturi Buildings, JamshedjiTata Road, Mumbai-400 020Tel: (022) 2202 1045,Email: [email protected]

CHENNAI

Fagun Mansion (4th floor), 26,Ethiraj Road, Chennai-600 008,Tel: (044) 28278037, 28224800Email:[email protected]

LUCKNOW

2/2, Butler Palace (Near JoplingRoad), Lucknow-226 001, Ph.: (0522) 2206705Email: [email protected]

RANCHI

11/C, Road#1, Ashoknagar,

Ranchi - 834 002

Fax: (0651) 2247054

Email: [email protected]

AIR-SURCHARGE; Kathmandu - Re. 2, Eastern Region - Re. 1All other stations in India - Re. 1

LEGAL NOTICES

EDUCATIONAL

SELES BYAUCTION

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NEW DELHI, FRIDAY 26 JULY 2019 03For Scorpenes, we are moving well. The first one is already in service, and the second one is expected tobe commissioned by September-October of this year

ADMIRAL KARAMBIR SINGHNAVY CHIEF

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 25 JULY

The AAP-led Delhi gov-ernment's water con-servation project inthe Yamuna flood-

plains has got all necessaryapprovals from the Centre aswell as the National Green Tri-bunal (NGT), according tochief minister Arvind Kejri-wal. The CM asserted todaythat the pilot project on it willnow start soon.

The project is envisagedto conserve water in theYamuna floodplains and builda mega reservoir betweenPalla and Wazirabad to dealwith water shortage in Delhi,

especially during the monthsof summer.

"I am so happy to informall Delhi'ites that finally allapprovals have been obtainedfrom NGT and Centre forour water conservation pro-ject in Yamuna Floodplains.Thank you Centre and NGT.Pilot project will start soon,"

Kejriwal tweeted.A Delhi government offi-

cial said this has cleared theway for Delhi to serve as a rolemodel for the rest of thecountry on water conserva-tion and recharge of groundwater.

The project would involvecreation of small ponds in the

floodplains, which woulddraw water from an over-flowing Yamuna during themonsoon season.

The official said CM Kejri-wal "personally met everyauthority to get the projectcleared stepwise at all levels".

The massive project, whichmay change the water situ-ation in the national capital,

got all the clearances in ashort span of 45 days. "It hasbeen possible only becauseof the constant monitoringand pursuance of the chiefminister," the official said.

The "ambitious pilot pro-ject” would be a “game-changer” for Delhi, a gov-ernment statement reportedly

said.The NGT gave its clearance

to the project today, thuspaving the way for the pilotproject to start.

The Upper Yamuna RiverBoard, NGT Monitoring Com-mittee, NGT Principal Com-mittee, Central Ground WaterBoard, and Delhi Cabinetwere among the authoritieswho gave their go-ahead tothe project, the statementsaid.

The Delhi governmentwill pay Rs 77,000 per acre tofarmers willing to lease theirland for the project, which,according to Kejriwal, hasthe “potential” for resolvingDelhi's water crisis.

Water conservation in Yamunafloodplains cleared by all: CMKejriwal says all approvals obtained from Centre, NGT; pilot project will start soon

KRITIKA SEHGALNEW DELHI, 25 JULY

The Delhi government schools launched a 15-day-long "Happiness Utsav" on 16 July

in order to mark the completion of one yearof "happiness curriculum" in these schools. Over1000 Delhi government schools are conductingtheir "happiness classes".

The initiative of "happiness class" and "hap-piness curriculum" undertaken by the AAP-ledDelhi government is first such move in the coun-try.

According to the Delhi government, thehappiness curriculum is aimed to instil self-aware-ness, stimulate good mental health, character,and resilience. It is also envisaged to help in reduc-ing anxiety, depression, and intolerance amongstudents.

The Happiness Utsav being celebrated in theDelhi government schools currently

has evoked mixed response among parentsand teachers. Many students of various class-es, however, seem to be happy over the happi-ness event.

This festival is being conducted from nurs-ery to Class 8 in all Delhi government schools.

It involves a happiness class of 50 minutes,which includes involving children in various activ-ities like painting, meditation, motivationaltalks with teachers, and other mindful activi-ties.

Nitisha Tyagi, a parent of a class 3 studentof School of Excellence, said, "Students are giventime to do activities which helps them to havea positive mind. These days the kids in the schoolare given time to do drawing and painting, whichare then put together as an exhibition each dayin the common room of the school. We can seetheir exhibition after school but we need a passto enter the school."

She also said, "I think it is good that the stu-dents are learning something extra and some-thing that is helping them ease their mind. I believethat it will eventually bring a change in the child'sbasic nature as well."

A group of girls of Class 6 and Class 7 fromSarvodaya Vidyalaya, Ashok Vihar, said that suchactivities helped to relieve stress and were alsoa good "starting point" for the day.

"Initially when this activity started, webelieved that it won't cause any good but nowthat we are doing it on a regular basis, it feelsgood to have some time to ourselves at the begin-ning of the day," said a student.

Sant Ram, a teacher in Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya,Subhash Nagar, said, "It is not bad to give suchthings a try, but right now we have 30-40 percent positive feedback from the parents. A 50-minute class every day is a great idea initiatedby the Delhi government but we cannot expecteach student to come out with a change in hisor her persona. Not every student is able to under-stand the basic concepts of mindfulness. Thehappiness class is conducted either by theclass teacher or the subject teacher. It involvesmeditation and positive talks among the teacherand the students."

Another section of parents believe that these50 minutes could be dedicated to some otherwork, as they have not noticed any change inthe behavior of their kids even after regularlydoing meditation and other mindful activities.

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 25 JULY

Eleven persons were injuredin a fire that broke out fol-lowing a gas cylinder leak-age in a house in OuterDelhi’s Nangloi area today.

Delhi Fire Service depart-ment received the fire callat around 12.46 pm fol-lowing which three fire ten-ders were rushed to thespot, chief fire officer AtulGarg said.

"The fire broke out in aroom of the house due toLPG leakage. Eleven people,including nine women andtwo men, were injured,"Garg said.

A four year-old boyamong the injured alsoreceived minor burninjuries. Most of the injuredpersons received burninjuries, but their conditionis stated to be stable, Gargsaid.

The injured persons havebeen admitted to the Bhag-wan Mahavir Hospital atPitam Pura.

The fire was broughtunder control by 2:30 pm,

Garg said.The fire service person-

nel found leakage of LPG gasinside the house where thefire broke out. Fire officialswould, however, ascertainthe actual cause of the fire.

Other residents in thearea also complained ofsuffocation after inhaling gasand fumes, but did notrequire medical attention,another fire official said.

On 13 July, three people,including two women, haddied and twelve peoplewere rescued in a majorfire that had broken outearly morning at a rubberfactory in Northeast Delhi'sJhilmil industrial area.

NEW DELHI, 25 JULY

A Delhi Police head consta-ble is on the run after alleged-ly raping his 14-year-olddomestic help in outer Delhi'sMundka area, officials said onThursday.

The incident took place onTuesday early morning whenthe accused and the minor girlwere the only ones in thehouse, while the policeman'sfamily was away, they said.

According to a seniorpolice officer, the victimapproached an NGO andtold them about the inci-dent. Members of the NGOtook her to the Mundka policestation and a case was regis-tered under the POCSO Actand IPC section 376 (pun-ishment for rape) based onher statement.The accused,in his late 40s, is at large andpolice have formed teams tonab him, officials said.

He had joined the force in1991 and was currently post-ed in the Tis Hazari court com-plex. His wife also works at theTis Hazari court, they said.Police are trying to ascertainif the accused had assaultedthe minor on previous occa-sions as well, they said. PTI

PTI NEW DELHI, 25 JULY

A group of faculty members working on contractbasis at AIIMS here has written to Health MinisterHarsh Vardhan, alleging they were being discrim-inated against in terms of salary and demanded thattheir pay be made equivalent to that of permanentfaculty members.

Fifty two contractual faculty members, workingas assistant professors at the premier medical insti-tute, said they share the workload similar to that ofpermanent faculty members but their salary is “muchlesser” than even the resident doctors who are trainedunder them.

They said “such discrimination would onlydeter” young and promising candidates from join-ing the institute in the future.

“The workload shared by a contractual mem-ber is by no means different from a regular facultymember employed at the institute. Moreover, mostof them work for their passion of academics and

research (an opportunity provided by the institutein abundance) on this rather meagre salary leav-ing aside the lucrative offers provided by the pri-vate sector. They said the minister “would agree thatequal work deserves equal pay”.

Because of the alleged discrimination, theyadded, young and promising candidates were not

joining AIIMS and many contractual faculty seatshave remained vacant over the past few years. Theystated that an individual has to take care of his/herfamily too, which becomes extremely difficult at thissalary in a metro city like New Delhi and that theyhave been writing to the ministry for the last oneyear but no action was taken on their grievances.

Delhi govt school students joyful over�Happiness Utsav�AAP govt�s unique initiativeevokes mixed reactionsamong parents & teachers

11 injured in firein Nangloi house

A four year-old boyamong the injuredalso received minorburn injuries. Most ofthe injured personsreceived burninjuries, but theircondition is stated tobe stable, chief fireofficer Atul Garg said

Delhi Police headconstableallegedly rapedminor home help

AIIMS contractual faculty members complain about salary discrimination

04 I have had a long political career, it is not possible for me to say any-thing bad. If there is a single unparliamentary word in what I said,then I declare my resignation from Parliament

AZAM KHANSAMAJWADI PARTY MPNEW DELHI, FRIDAY 26 JULY 2019

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICESHIMLA, 25 JULY

Himachal Congress party onThursday has demanded thestate government to imme-diately resolve the concern ofsealed and restricted roads thathas been raised by the agitatinglawyers of Shimla.

In a statement issued,Himachal Pradesh CongressCommittee president KuldeepSingh Rathore said that owingto the agitation that remainsunresolved for the last threedays is leading to inconve-nience to the people of the

Shimla.“The state government

must resolve the issue ami-cably. The professionals whowere earlier allowed relaxationfrom permit should be con-tinued to do so and it is unjus-tified to restrict entry of all onthese roads,” he said.

Due to shifting of Districtroad to Chakkar Advocateshave to move through Chau-ra Maidan via Bouiluganj toChakkar for their professionalworkers and it is unjustifiedon part of government andadministration to restrictmovement of professionals,

lawyers, advocates and evenmediapersons on such routeswhere they have to move fre-quently to do their duties, headded.

Rathore said that thereare number of roads in Shim-la city which are restricted orsealed, whereas, on theseroads the movement of peo-ple is in large number there-fore, relaxation in issuingpermit to people should begiven in larger public inter-est where necessary.

The matter should beresolved by listening to viewsof agitating advocates, lawyers,

business community, pro-fessionals and employeeshaving their offices on the saidroads and also the media-persons and residents of thatparticular locality, he said.

“After having a dialoguewith everyone concernedwith the issue, uniform con-sensus decision can be arrivedeasily. However, the presentBJP led state governmentseems to be insensitive to theconcerns of the public wel-fare and is taking autocraticstand which we strongly crit-icise,” said Rathore.

SANJEEV KUMARSHIMLA, 25 JULY

Amid concern overrapid melting ofglaciers inHimalayas, there is

good news for environ-mentalists as mountainpasses of Rohtang, Bar-alacha, Kunjum, Shikulahave recorded heavy depositsof snow till July.

The phenomena isrecorded for the very first inthe last two decades as ear-lier the snow used to meltby the end May or July monthon these passes.

Though the phenome-na can’t be attributed orassociated with rapid melt-ing of glaciers in HimachalPradesh and Himalayas,environment experts said itcould prove beneficial forglaciers in the Himalayanregion.

“The heavy accumula-tion of snow upto 4-5 feet onRohtang, Baralacha, Kunjum,Shikula passes is certainlya good for environment inHimalayas,” Senior Scientific

Officer at State Centre on Cli-mate Change, Dr SS Rand-hawa told The Statesman.

Randhawa said this is anannual phenomenon as thestate witnessed prolongedwinter season, resulting insnowfall in higher reachesof Himalayas till April-May.

The glaciers would alsobenefit with the heavy accu-mulation of snow till July, headded. In addition, record

snowfall was witnessed forthe first time in decades onwestern Himalayan regionand it was due to these fac-tors that snow hadn’t melt-ed on mountain passes tillJuly end.

However, the snow onRohtang Pass had started tomelt owing to emission ofsmoke from vehicles butBaralacha and Shikula Pass,located at an altitude of

16,800 feet are still coveredunder thick blanket of snow.

Environment experts areof the view that this phe-nomenon would help thedepleting environment con-ditions but it remains to beseen whether the area con-tinue to receive heavy snow-fall next year too or not.

Besides this, the snowdeposits are not only attract-ing tourists to the state but

it has also brought cheers onthe faces of farmers in colddesert of Himachal, LahaulSpiti district wherein localsare getting enough waterfor irrigation purposes dur-ing summers. (Lahaul Spitidistrict receives lowest rain-fall in the country and localsgenerally face shortage ofwater during summer sea-son.)

The heavy snow might

have causing problems intravelling in these areas asShikula Pass is yet to beopened for traffic but it isbeing considered as a goodomen from environmentpoint of view.

It is worthwhile to men-tion here that a recent studyby Environment depart-ment had revealed that glac-iers are melting at a rate of20 metres per year inHimachal Pradesh.

Experts had pointed thatclimate change was result-ing in Himalayan glaciersreceding fast as was thecase across the world andthey are at increased risk ofmelting owing to erraticweather patterns.


Himachal Pradesh IndustriesMinister Bikram Singh onThursday said the governmentis making all efforts to pro-vide employment and self-employment opportunities tothe youth as per their edu-cational qualifications in thegovernment and private sec-tors.

After review meeting of theLabour and Employmentdepartment, Singh said aprovision of Rs 100 crore hasbeen made under the SkillDevelopment AllowanceScheme for the current year.

“Rs 56.78 crore were dis-tributed during the finan-cial year 2018-19 by register-ing 48,520 youth under thisscheme. All those youth wouldbe registered under thisscheme whose monthlyincome is less than 15 thou-sands,” he added.

Industries minister said allthe district employment officesare being converted as model

career centres to provide freecareer counseling and psy-chometric test facility to theyouth.

This facility would help theyouth to self-evaluate thatwhich career option is suit-able and best for them.

So far, 4000 youth haveavailed the counselling facil-ity and employment has beenprovided to 300 youth in

Shimla district. Singh saidAsian Development Bank(ADB) has granted Rs 10.30crore for opening four modelcareer centres in the state.

“Seven employment fairswere organised in 2018-19 inwhich employment was givento 9600 youth in private andpublic sectors. The depart-ment has released the calendarfor organising employmentfairs during this year in all thedistricts,” he added.

He said 21,816 beneficia-ries of the unorganised sec-tor have been registered so farunder Pradhan Mantri ShramYogi Mandhan Yojana in thestate.


Himachal Pradesh Chief Min-ister Jai Ram Thakur said thatas sale and consumption of nar-cotics is not a state specific buta national problem, hencethere is need for the states toformulate a joint strategy andimplement it effectively tocheck the drug menace.

He was addressing the sec-ond regional conference ondrug menace organised onThursday at Chandigarh whichwas attended by the CMs ofHaryana, Punjab, HimachalPradesh, Uttarakhand andRajasthan besides senior offi-cers of the Jammu-Kashmir, UTChandigarh and Delhi gov-ernments.

The Chief Secretaries andDirector General's of Police ofthese states also participatedin this conference.

Thakur said that drug abuseis posing a major threat to thesociety and it is necessary tohave a joint strategy to deal withthis social evil.

He said that HimachalPradesh shares boundarieswith many other states, andtherefore it is essential that ajoint action plan is imple-mented effectively for dealingwith drug smuggling at inter-state level.

“Present state governmentimmediately after coming topower, took effective steps tocheck drug menace and thenheld meeting with the Chief

Ministers of the neighbouringstates and stressed to formu-late an effective strategy,” hesaid. The first regional con-ference was organised inChandigarh last year as a resultof which the Regional Com-mand Center was establishedin Panchkula, which needs tobe strengthened further, headded. Before 15 August, twoofficers from Himachal Pradeshwill be appointed in this Cen-ter, he added.

The CM said that strin-gent steps taken by the stategovernment have shown fruit-ful results as there has beenincrease in the arrest of the per-sons involved in drug smug-gling. He informed that asmany as 1622 cases were reg-istered in the state till June thisyear and 789 people werearrested including 27 womenand 2 foreign nationals.

Amongst the arrested peo-ple, 40 percent are from Pun-jab and 25 percent fromHaryana state which clearlyindicates that most of the peo-ple involved in the illicit drugbusiness are from other states.

He stressed that an effec-tive mechanism should beevolved for exchange of infor-mation related to drug traf-ficking in order to catch the cul-prits involved in drug smug-gling.

Thakur said that no cam-paign could prove successfulwithout ensuring the peopleparticipation and creatingmass awareness.

Heavy snow on mountainpasses in July brings cheer

Heavy deposits ofsnow on Rohtang,Baralacha, Kunjum,Shikula passes havebeen recorded tillJuly end for first timein the last twodecades

Joint strategy of statesneeded to check drugmenace: Thakur

Resolve concern of sealed and restricted road raised by agitating lawyers: Congress

HP to provide ample employmentopportunities to youths: Bikram Singh

Singh said the government is making allefforts to provide employment and self-employment opportunities to the youth asper their educational qualifications in thegovernment and private sectors

ENGLISH FILMThe Lion King PVR Vasantkunj, Delhi -10am, 11:20am, 3:20pm,6pm, 8:40pm, 10:10pm,11:20pm.Director's Cut, Delhi -9:30am, 2:50pm,5:30pm, 8:10pm,10:20pm.PVR Anupam, Saket -9:30am, 2:50pm,5:30pm, 8:10pm,10:50pm.PVR Select City Walk -10am, 12:40pm, 3:20pm,6pm, 8:40pm, 11:20pm.PVR Plaza -12:10pm,5:30pm.PVR Rivoli -9am, 8:20pm.PVR Chanakya -12:10pm,2:50pm, 8:10pm,10:50pm.PVR Naraina -9am, 3pm,5:50pm, 9pm, 11:40pm.PVR Pacific Mall -9am,11:40am, 7:40pm,9:10pm, 10:20pm.PVR Logix, Noida -9am,11:40am, 2:20pm, 5pm,7:40pm, 10:20pm.Wave Cinema, Noida -9.45am, 12.20pm,5.40pm, 8.15pm,10.50pm.Wave Cinema, Raja Gar-den -9.30am, 3pm,5.30pm, 10.55pm.

Spider-Man: FarFrom Home PVR Vasantkunj, Delhi -4:40pm.Director's Cut, Delhi -12:20pm.PVR Select City Walk -5:30pm.PVR Pacific Mall -2:20pm.PVR Logix, Noida -12:30pm, 3pm, 6:50pm.DT MOIN, Noida -10:45am, 4:15pm.PVR MGF, Gurgaon -10:20am, 6:10pm. Wave Cinema, Noida -8.35pm.

HINDI FILMJudgemental Hai Kya PVR Vasantkunj, Delhi -10:20am, 1pm, 3:40pm,6:20pm, 7:40pm, 9pm,11:40pm.Director's Cut, Delhi -9am, 11:40am, 2:20pm,5pm, 7:40pm, 10:50pm.PVR Anupam, Saket -9am, 12:40pm, 3:20pm,6pm, 8:40pm, 11:20pm.PVR Select City Walk -9:35am, 12:15pm,2:55pm,5:35pm,

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Arjun Patiala PVR Vasantkunj, Delhi -10:05am, 1:45pm,4:15pm, 6:45pm,9:15pm, 11:45pm.Director's Cut, Delhi -9:50am, 3:10pm,8:30pm, 11pm.PVR Anupam, Saket -9:10am, 3:10pm, 9pm,11:45pm.PVR Select City Walk -9am, 3:05pm, 8:25pm.PVR Chanakya -9:40am,1:50pm, 7:40pm,10:10pm.PVR Naraina -9:20am,3:20pm, 9pm, 11:30pm.PVR Pacific Mall -9am,1:10pm, 3:40pm,6:10pm, 8:40pm,11:10pm.PVR Shalimar Bagh -10am, 3:20pm, 9:10pm,11:40pm.PVR Vikaspuri -9:05am,2:55pm, 8:45pm,11:15pm.PVR Logix, Noida -9:30am, 12noon,2:30pm, 5pm, 7:30pm,10pm.DT MOIN, Noida -9am,12:30pm, 3pm, 8:20pm,10:50pm.PVR EDM -9:30am,12:35pm, 5:45pm,10:55pm.

PVRAmbience,Gur-

gaon -9am,2pm,

7:20pm, 11:25pm.Wave Cinema, Noida -10.30am, 12.15pm,3.30pm, 6pm, 8.30pm,10.55pm.Wave Cinema, Raja Gar-den -10.30am, 1pm,3.30pm, 6pm, 8.30pm,10.50pm.

Super 30 PVR Vasantkunj, Delhi -10:05am, 12:35pm,3:55pm, 7:15pm,10:35pm.Director's Cut, Delhi -9am, 3:50pm, 7:10pm,10:30pm.PVR Anupam, Saket -9:20am, 2:50pm,11:30pm.PVR Select City Walk -9am, 2:10pm, 11:40pm.PVR Plaza -10:50pm.PVR Rivoli -2:20pm.PVR Chanakya -10:30am,4:20pm.PVR Pacific Mall -9:15am, 12:35pm,10:45pm.DT MOIN, Noida -11:30am, 2:50pm,6:10pm, 9:30pm.Wave Cinema, Noida -9.15am, 2.35pm,5.35pm, 11.10pm.

Kabir SinghPVR Vasantkunj, Delhi -10:15am, 4:15pm.Director's Cut, Delhi -12:20pm.PVR Anupam, Saket -11:40am.PVR Select City Walk -10:55pm.PVR Naraina -11:50am.PVR Pacific Mall -3:55pm.PVR Shalimar Bagh -1:25pm.PVR Logix, Noida -9am,3:20pm, 9:40pm.Wave Cinema, Noida -10.15am, 6.45pm.

PUNJABI FILMChal Mera Putt PVR Vasantkunj, Delhi -10:45pm.PVR Anupam, Saket -9pm. PVR Select CityWalk -12:20pm.PVR Naraina -8:30pm.PVR Pacific Mall -5:10pm, 10:55pm.PVR Shalimar Bagh -7:55pm.PVR Logix, Noida -11am,4:50pm, 9:55pm.PVR MGF, Gurgaon -10:55pm.Wave Cinema, Raja Gar-

den -9am,8.45pm.

AROUND TOWN

TODAY IN DELHIENGAGEMENTS

India International Centrepresents a lecture on"Restorative Justice inPrisons" by Dr. Upneet Lalli,Deputy Director, Institute ofCorrectional Administration,Chandigarh, at theConference Room-I, 40, MaxMueller Marg, 6.30 p.m.

MUSIC

Habitat World presents "7Chakra Harmonizing" musicproject by Nimisha Shankarfeaturing visual artist SilentSage. Nimisha Shankar takesinspiration from blues, jazz,funk and electronic music,at Amaltas, India HabitatCentre, Lodhi Road, 7 p.m.

DANCE

Habitat World presents"Shringaram" - aBharatanatyam Margam byRadhika Ramanujan, at theStein Auditorium, IndiaHabitat Centre, Lodhi Road,7 p.m.

EXHIBITIONS

Open Palm Court Gallerypresents "Khwabeeda: adreamer" - a solo painting

exhibition by Nandita Richie.Impasto - wet on wet paintingtechnique using a spatulaknife to create an interestingtextured surface with theinterplay of l ight andshadows, at India HabitatCentre, Lodhi Road, 11 a.m.to 7 p.m. (till 27 July)

India International Centrepresents "Rowzaneh: IranThrough my Lens", anexhibition of photographs onIran - architecture, peopleand landscapes by Dr. AzizMahdi from Delhi, at the ArtGallery, 40, Max MuellerMarg, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. (till30 July)

Habitat World presents"Spirituality, Serenity andBeauty" - a solo paintingexhibition by Gouri Seth, atthe Convention Centre Foyer,India Habitat Centre, LodhiRoad, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. (till26 July)

Jor Bagh Metro Station &Habitat World present"Habitat Photosphere" - Thesecond edition of HabitatPhotosphere, year-longphotography festival isconceptualised and curated

by Dr Alka Pande, at SriAurobindo Marg, SafdarjungAirport Area, 5.20 a.m. to 12(midnight) (till 31 July)Habitat World presents"Delhi Evolution ThroughFlora and Time", a solo showby Vidur Sodhani, at DelhiO Delhi Foyer, India HabitatCentre (IHC), Lodhi Road, 10a.m. to 8 p.m. (till 31 July)National Gallery of ModernArt (NGMA) presents artexhibition "Astitva : TheEssence of Prabhakar Barwe",at NGMA, Jaipur House, IndiaGate, 11 a.m. to 6.30 p.m.(till 28 July)Mandi House Metro Stationpresents "IIHS City Scripts",an annual festival organisedby the Indian Institute forHuman Settlements, tocelebrate writings in andabout the city, as seenthrough myriad lenses, atMandi House Area, 5.40a.m. to 11.30 p.m. (till 31 July)

National Gallery of ModernArt (NGMA) presents "Astitva: The Essence of PrabhakarBarwe", at NGMA, JaipurHouse, India Gate, 11 a.m.(onwards) (till 28 July)

A scene from Judgemental HaiKya

BEETLE BAILEY/Mort Walker

RED EYE/Bill Yates & Mel Casson

DADDY DAZE/John Kovaleski

NEED TO KNOW

Srabble and Scrabble Tiles are registered trademarks.All rights in the game are owned in the U.S.A by HasbroInc., in Canada by Hasbro Canada Inc., and elsewhere byJ.W. Spear & Sons Limited, a subsidiary of Mattel, Inc.

Directions Make a 2 to7 letter word from theletters in each row.Add points of eachword, using scoringdirections at right, 7-letter words get 50-point bonus. "Blanks"used as any letterhave no point value.All Judd's words arein The OfficialScrabble PlayersDictionary(Merriam-Webster) and OSWOfficial ScrabbleWords(Chambers). Judd's solutiontomorrow.10-25-12

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LEISURE

Sudoku is a number-placingpuzzle based on a 9x9 grid with

several given numbers. Theobject is to place the numbers 1

to 9 in the empty squares sothat no row, no column and no

3x3 box contains the samenumber. The difficulty level

increases through the week.

SUDOKU

answer toprevious

puzzleBy arrangement with The Independent

Figures in parentheses denote the number of letters in the words required

10 MINUTE CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1 Male pig (4)4 Oaf (4)8 Large cooking pot (8)9 Deceive (4)10 Resistant to control

(12)12 Side road (5)13 Tooth (5)17 However (12)19 Citrus fruit (4)20 Sleeveless pullover (8)22 Burden (4)23 Difficult (4)

DOWN

2 Nocturnal bird (3)3 Seldom (6)4 Edible seed (6)5 Not cooked enough (9)6 Moderately (6)7 Bridge (4)11 Lizard (9)14 Response (6)15 State of inactivity (6)16 Highest point (6)18 Discharge (4)21 Rowing blade (3)

SOLUTIONS TO YESTERDAY’S CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1 Brighten, 5 Peer

(BrightonPier),

9 Prairie, 10 Upper, 11 Dyed-in-

the-wool,12 Lawful, 14 Access, 17 Practical

joke, 19 Utter, 20 Adorned,21 Oryx, 22 Menswear.

DOWN

1 Bipedal, 2 Irate, 3 Horticulture,4 Events, 6 Explode, 7 Rural, 8 Supercilious,

13 Wealthy, 15 Slender, 16 Octave, 17 Pluto, 18 Ounce.

PTIMUZAFFARNAGAR, 25 JULY

The post-mortem report of twocows found dead at a shelterrun by a village panchayat herehas confirmed the cattle werekilled by a pack of dogs, an offi-cial said on Thursday.

The death of the cowsprompted the district admin-istration to book the villagehead and a panchayat secre-tary for alleged negligence.

According to veterinaryofficer Hemant Kumar, thepost-mortem of the cow car-casses was conducted by athree-member panel whichfound dog attack as the causeof deaths.

A video of the incidentwhich took place in Bhopa vil-lage had gone viral on socialmedia. Sources said the cowshelter did not have proper

fencing. The village head, andpanchayat secretary RavinderNagar have been bookedunder the Prevention of Cru-elty to Animals Act, DistrictMagistrate Selva Kumari J hadtold reporters here.

The official said the pan-chayat secretary had alsobeen suspended for negli-

gence. A notice has beenissued to the village headseeking a response as to whythe process to remove himshould not be initiated, the dis-trict magistrate added.

05NEW DELHI, FRIDAY 26 JULY 2019

Shame on Azam Khan. Such lecherous comment against MP sitting onSpeaker Chair. A man with such notorious reputation of vile speechagainst women has no right to be in Parliament.

REKHA SHARMANATIONAL COMMISSION FOR WOMEN CHIEF

MEERUT, 25 JULY

A criminal who has beenidentified as a member ofSansi gang was killed in anencounter with the policenear Rataul village of Bagpatdistrict on Thursday morning.

The deceased criminal,who had a reward of Rs 25,000on his head, has been iden-tified as Sandeep, a residentof Kanjawala in Delhi.

SP Baghpat's office saidSandeep had been a memberof the Sansi gang who was killedin retaliatory firing of thepolice on Thursday morning.A country made pistol and car-tridges have been recoveredby the police from his pos-session. Sansi is a Nomadictribe which originated fromRajasthan but was expelled inthe thirteenth century fromthere after which they tookrefuge in the nearby states ofnorthern India. They oftenindulge in crime and mem-bers of the tribe operate theirgangs. Sandeep was also fromsuch a gang. According to SPBaghpat office, on Wednesdaynight three members of thegang were arrested after anencounter in which thesecriminals had sustained bul-let injuries during cross firing.The arrested criminals wereidentified as Hasmuddin,Arvind Kumar of Ahmadgarhin Bulandshahar district andSanjay Kumar of Aman Viharin Delhi. However, two oftheir aides had eloped takingadvantage of the darkness. OnThursday morning at around5.30 p.m. Ajay Sharma, SHOof Khekra Police Station andhis team spotted two suspi-cious persons on Rataul-Mubarakpur road . The teamwas returning from the rou-tine patrolling when findingthe suspicious persons theSHO asked them to stop butinstead they fired at the cops.In the retaliatory firing one ofthe criminals sustained bul-let injuries while his aideescaped. SNS

Criminalkilled inencounter

IANSBHOPAL, 25 JULY

After deflating the BJPs Kar-nataka euphoria the Con-gress leadership in Mad-hya Pradesh has got downto the job of insulating itselfagainst imminent retaliationfrom a wounded opposi-tion.

Chief Minister KamalNath held a meeting of hisCabinet and asked them toguard the party flock. Eachminister has been tasked totake responsibility for tenMLAs.

The Two BJP legislatorsSharad Kol of Beohari andNarayan Tripathi of Mai-har who cross-voted infavour of Congress to helppass a Bill on preventionagainst mob lynching inMadhya Pradesh Assemblywere put in the care ofBhopal MLA Arif Masoodand another leader PraveenPathak.

They were escorted toKamal Nath's residence fordinner late on Wednesday.

The BJP legislature party,on the other hand, got intoa huddle under former chiefminister Shivraj Singh

Chouhan first in the cham-ber of Gopal Bhargava, theleader of the oppositionand then at Chouhan's res-idence before the seniorleaders met at the partyoffice late in the night.

BJP president Amit Shahhad sought a report from theleaders and rushed the stateunit president Rakesh Singhto Bhopal leaving the LokSabha session midway. Latein the night Chouhan alsovisited the Sangh head-quarters to brief senior func-tionary Dipak Vispute. Shahis keen not to let go of thedefiant MLAs.

They will be persuadedto change their mind. Singhsaid the MLAs still belongto BJP.

The BJP would consoleitself suggesting that Tripathiand Kol may have voted forthe Congress but they are still

with the BJP. Theoreticallytrue, but the duo has gonetoo far with their Ghar Wapsistatements to remain in theBJP stable.

Tripathi said the BJPhumiliates and exploits theMLAs joining from the otherparties. Kol, a tribal leader,said he was disillusionedwith the BJP's attitudetowards the tribals.

Tripathi also pointed toanother flaw in the BJP'sfunctioning. He said thetop leaders make tall promis-es to people without takingMLAs into confidence. TheMLAs have been reduced todefending the leaders with-out the merit of the issues.The same is the view of sev-eral other BJP MLAs whohave been imported fromother parties.

They may not need to sur-render their membership of

the House immediately asthey are technically withthe Opposition. The BJPcan expel them at its ownperil especially when theCongress is in a position tolure away some more mem-bers.

On arrival late in theevening Singh said GopalBhargava's utterances didnot reflect the party line. TheBJP is not in favour of pullingdown any government. Bhar-gava could have avoideddivision of votes by gettingthe party to stage a walkoutfrom the House. Butthroughout the past sevenmonths the BJP has beensending contradictory sig-nals through its leaders.

Kailash Vijayvargiya, ahatchet man of Amit Shah,who is opposed to Chouhanhas consistently suggestedthe government was BJP'smercy. After the House wasadjourned a sullen Bhargavacried foul and said the gamewas still on. Another seniorMLA and former parlia-mentary affairs NarottamMishra also said the gamewas started by the Congressbut BJP will take it to the log-ical conclusion.

What next in Madhya Pradesh?

IANSBAREILLY, 25 JULY

Munne Khan, also known as'Mullah', purportedly thearea commander of IndianMujahideen (IM) has sent aletter to Bareilly railway sta-tion superintendent SatyaveerSingh, threatening to 'blowup the station if kanwarias passthrough Muslim-dominat-ed areas in the city'.

Vigil in and around the rail-way station has been inten-sified and policemen in plainclothes are being deployedthere.

In the letter, the area com-mander has said: "I, areacommander of IM, want toinform station superintendentthat if Kanwarias pass throughthe Muslim dominated areas,we will explode the railwaystation. You better informthe police and administra-tion."

Station house officer of thegovernment railway police,Bareilly, Krishna Avtar said,

"We are keeping a close eyeon each and every person vis-iting station."Notably, in thepast few years, the district had

hit national headlines due toscuffle between two com-munities over the kanwarroute.

IM threatens to blow up Bareillystation over Kanwar route

MUZAFFARNAGAR, 25 JULY

In a bid to ensure smooth con-duct of the Kanwar Yatrahere, 200 CCTV cameras and90 surveillance drones havebeen installed along the pil-grimage route besides puttingin place other security mea-sures, police said on Thurs-day.

According to SSP AbhishekYadav, teams of para-militaryforce and Uttar PradeshProvincial Armed Constab-ulary (UP-PAC) have beendeployed along the pilgrim-age route to secure kan-wariyas.

A team of divers has alsobeen roped in to rescue the

pilgrims from drowning, theSSP said.

The Kanwar Yatra is anannual pilgrimage of LordShiva's devotees, known askanwariyas, who visit Harid-war, Gaumukh and Gangotriin Uttarakhand and Sultan-ganj in Bihar to fetch holywaters of the Ganga duringthe auspicious Hindu monthof Shravan. This year, the yatrabegan on July 17. PTI

CCTV, drone cameras to secureKanwar Yatra in Muzaffarnagar

PTILUCKNOW, 25 JULY

The state assemblypassed the UttarPradesh Private Uni-versities Bil l on

Thursday amid oppositionprotests over a clause thatcompels the institutes toprovide an undertaking thatthey will not allow any anti-national activity on the cam-pus.

The Bill aims to bring 27private universities in thestate under an umbrella law,and also enforce trans-parency on fees and theadmission process.

The Bill was passed byvoice vote even as the Sama-jwadi Party objected to someof its sections and demand-ed that it should be referredto a select committee.

SP legislator UjjawalRaman Singh said the sec-tion on anti-national activ-ities had created suspicionthat the Bill is aimed againsta particular university.

There were some heatedexchanges when Singhreferred to the JawaharlalNehru University row in

2016 over slogan-shouting bysome student protesters.

The SP leader allegedattempts to defame the uni-versity over the issue.

The Bill, tabled in theHouse on Tuesday, demandsan undertaking from thesponsors of private univer-sities that their institutionswill not be involved in or per-mit anyone to promote anti-national activities.

Singh said this and someother sections of the Billneeded to be looked into andargued that there was nourgency to pass it on Thurs-

day itself.In his reply, Parliamentary

Affairs Minister Suresh Khan-na said the aim of the Bill isto provide quality educa-tion while upholding theautonomy of the institu-tions.

He assured the oppositionthat the government had nowrong intention in bringingthe Bill.

The minister also referredto its section that said theright of religious and linguisticminorities, enshrined inArticle 30 of the Constitution,to set up their own educa-

tional institutions remainsintact.

Once the legislation is inplace, private universitieswill award honorary degreesto people in public life onlywith the state government'sapproval.

A statement on the objec-tives of the Bill said 27 pri-vate universities were estab-lished and incorporatedunder different state Acts inUttar Pradesh.

This meant there was nouniform law to monitor suchprivate universities, it added.

Under the new law, atleast 75 per cent of teachersin each department will haveto be the university's regu-lar employees.

The private universitieswill also conform to thestandards specified by cen-tral regulatory bodies like theUniversity Grants Commis-sion.

The private universitieswill comply with the normsset up by the state govern-ment on a common acade-mic calendar, anti-copyingmeasures, examinations andthe award of degrees and cer-tificates.

UP House passes Billon pvt universitiesOpposition questions clause on �anti-national� activities

Report confirms dogs killed cows in UP shelter

PTILUCKNOW, 25 JULY

The Uttar Pradesh police hasregistered nearly 1,500 FIRsthrough its UPCOP mobileapp that allows citizens toreport some complaintsonline, without requiring tovisit police stations, a seniorofficial said on Thursday.

The police departmentlaunched the app in Januaryin a bid to fulfil the objective

of the Centre's Digital Indiaprogramme to provide ser-vices electronically by reduc-ing paperwork.

Asked to explain the ben-efits of the app to the gener-al public, ADG (TechnicalServices) Ashutosh Pandeysaid the app, available onGoogle Play and Apple'siStore, allows people to filee-FIRs and offers 26 other ser-vices. He said people can fileFIRs irrespective of their

location.It alerts people about acci-

dents in their area. Senior cit-izens and Divyaang peoplecan report an incident orabusive behaviour in theform of text, audio or sign lan-guage.

It has features that allowpeople to view and downloadtheir character certificate;they can also have the veri-fication of tenants, domes-tic helps and employees done

via the app.A very close relative of a

deceased can view the detailsof the post-mortem reportonline.

There are provisions toseek police permission fororganising procession andother events, including shoot-ing of movies.

“Gradually its popularityis growing,” Pandey told PTI.“It has witnessed registrationof nearly 1,500 FIRs so far.”

UP police online app gaining popularity

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL WELFARE, GOVT. OF NCT OF DELHI GLNS COMPLEX, DELHI GATE, NEW DELHI-110002

Recreation Centers for Senior Citizens of Delhi

The Department of Social Welfare, Govt. of NCT of Delhi invites fresh applica-tions for running Recreation Centers for Senior citizens in different parts of Delhiunder the Scheme of Residential Recreation Centre for Senior Citizens. The SeniorCitizens Associations/NG0s/RWAs registered for at least three years under theSocieties Registration Act 1860 or with Registrar of Cooperative Societies and whoare working exclusively on issues related to the welfare of senior citizens as perthe Memorandum of Association are eligible to apply.

The Department of Social Welfare, GNCT of Delhi will provide one-time Non-recurring grant of Rs. 75,000/- and Monthly grant of Rs. 20,000/- for runningRecreation Centre in rented / own building with minimum constructed space toaccommodate at least 50 senior citizens. Those Recreation centre for Senior citi-zens running in open area space will be provided recurring grant of Rs 10,000/- permonth as per scheme.

The last date of submission of application form along with requisite docu-ments is 28-08-2019. For any query/clarification you may contact on 011-23713603. The application form and other documents can be downloaded from thewebsite www.socialwelfare.delhigovt.nic.in

The hard copies of application form alongwith requisite documents shouldreach on or before 28-082019 to Dy. Director (Social Security), Room No. 10, PortaCabin, Deptt. of Social Welfare, GNCTD of Delhi, Delhi Gate, New Delhi-110002.No other mode of submitting application form will be accepted.

Note: Incomplete application will be summarily rejected.

DirectorDIP/Shabdarth/0425/19-20 Department of Social Welfare

The Two BJP legislators Sharad Kol of Beo-hari and Narayan Tripathi of Maihar whocross-voted in favour of Congress to helppass a Bill on prevention against mob lynch-ing in Madhya Pradesh Assembly were put inthe care of Bhopal MLA Arif Masood andanother leader Praveen Pathak

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICECHANDIGARH, 25 JULY

Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar onThursday announced thatHaryana Control of Orga-nized Crime Act (HRCO-CA) will soon be enacted bythe state on the pattern ofMaharashtra Control ofOrganized Crime Act(MCOCA) 1999 to tightennoose around those involvedin the organized crime,gangsterism and drugssmuggling.

Khattar was speaking atthe 2nd Regional Conferenceon DrugMenace Challengesand Strategies hosted byPunjab today.

He said drug is a socialproblem and not confinedto a particular state and allthe northern states shouldwork together by risingabove the consideration ofborder and boundaries forthe eradication of this men-ace from the society.

The CM said that multi-

level arrangement should bemade to resolve the prob-lem of youth whether it ispersonal problem, family orany other problem thatplunge them into habit ofdrugs. Besides keeping acheck on the supply ofintoxicants, efforts shouldbe made to crackdown thesupply chain. For this, thereshould be a common data-base of smugglers or tradersas lot of money is involvedin this business which worksas a regulator for the ter-rorists group of countries likeAfghanistan and Pakistan.

In some cases, the statepolice has also arrested fewNigerians in Gurugram whowere found involved in drugsmuggling, he added.

While emphasising theneed of data sharingbetween the northern states,Khattar said that live dataof criminals should be pre-pared and made availableto the states so as to takeeffective action againstthem.

Haryana to enact HRCOCA: Khattar

NEW DELHI, FRIDAY 26 JULY 2019

Elderly couple killed in UP's

Bareilly: Unidentified

assailants killed an elderly

couple at their house in

Gulmohar Park area, police

said on Thursday. Neeraj

Satsangi (65) and his wife

Rupa Satsangi (60), a bank

employee, were attacked

with a blunt weapon, lead-

ing to their death on

Wednesday night. PTI

J&K Guv orders removal of

munsiff: Jammu and Kash-

mir Governor Satya Pal

Malik has ordered the

removal of a munsiff,

accused of causing loss to

the state exchequer by

charging insufficient

stamp duty, from service

on the recommendation

of the state high court. PTI

Kidnapped boy reunited

with parents in AP: The 4-

year old boy, who was kid-

napped by unknown per-

sons on Monday evening

in East Godavari district of

Andhra Pradesh, was reu-

nited with his parents on

Thursday. Emotional sce-

nes were witnessed as the

sobbing mother took her

son into her arms aft-er an

agonising four days. PTI

THUMBNAILS

Activists protest againstRTI Amendment Bill in theLS, at the Jantar Mantar inDelhi on Thursday. SNS

Four BJP MLAs are in contact with me. I will present them beforeyou (media) when Kamal Nath asks me to do so

SELF-STYLED GODMAN NAMDEV TYAGI ALIAS COMPUTER BABASAYS AFTER TWO BJP MLAs BACKED CONGRESS-LED GOVT IN MADHYA PRADESH ASSEMBLY06

IIT researchers find changes in country�s summer rainfall patternPRESS TRUST OF INDIACHENNAI, 25 JULY

River basins having surpluswater have experienceddecreased rainfall while thosewith deficit water have seen anincrease in precipitation, astudy by IIT researchers on Indi-an summer rain pattern hasrevealed.

The study conducted by ateam of researchers from IIT-Madras and IIT-Bombay alsofound that regions with excessmoisture in the air do not alw-ays experience more rainfallfrom convection process, con-trary to common belief.

The team was studying therainfall pattern during Indiansummer monsoon period dur-ing the last 100 years, a state-ment from IIT Madras said. Thestudy has been published inthe reputed peer-reviewedjournal PLOS.

“River basins having surpluswater have experienceddecreased rainfall, whereasthose with deficit water have

seen an increase in amount ofrainfall,” IIT-M said about thestudy.This observation is impor-tant, it said, because it con-tradicts the traditional notionof dry areas becoming drier andwet areas becoming wetter inresponse to climate change.

On the rainfall from con-vection process, the studyfound regions with excessmoisture in the air did notalways experience more rain-fall, contrary to a commonbelief.“It is common knowledgethat geographic variation ofextremes in rainfall occursdue to convection. And thatwould mean that regions wherethere is excess moisture in theair should experience morerainfall,” it said.

Three more deaths in J'k-hand: Three more deaths dueto lightning strikes have beenreported in Jharkhand, takingthe toll in the state to 15, a seniorpolice said on Thursday.

On Wednesday, 12 peoplewere killed by lightning in fourdistricts of the state.

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICEPATNA, 25 JULY

A sudden spurt in incidentsof lightning strikes in Biharclaiming scores of lives hasalarmed the disaster man-agement authorities who haveadvised the masses to takeextra precaution during themonsoon rains. Lightningstrikes have claimed around600 lives in the past four yearswith 155 deaths reported onlythis year, explaining the inten-sity of the situation.

This monsoon season is noexception either. As many as51 people have been killed inlightning strikes in the past 24hours in the twin states of Biharand Jharkhand, meteorolog-ical department authoritiessaid. While 39 people werekilled in Bihar, another 12persons died in Jharkhand.

An official report said theincidents of lightning strikes

have registered an alarmingrise in recent years. This year,a total of 155 deaths due tolightning strikes have beenreported so far. Last year, 139deaths had been reporteddue to thunderbolts where-as 180 deaths were reportedin 2017. In 2016, 107 deathshad taken place as a result oflightning.

Meteorological depart-ment scientists have described

it as the outcome of freaky-going weather conditions inrecent years possibly linkedto global warming though nospecific study is available sofar. Keeping in view the seri-ousness of the situation, thestate disaster management hasasked the masses to take max-imum precaution during rainsand issued dos and don’ts tosave themselves from lightningstrikes.

This happensyear afteryear. But thisis not thetime to play

the blame-game. It's time

for remedy, relief andcompensation~

Shatrughan Sinha

The plan nowhas toincorporatethe factthat climatechange isreal. There willbe moreunpredictable showers andrains in a limited period oftime. We need to find outhow it can be channelisedas you cannot control ariver in its entirety~

Adil Hussain

Villagers travel on a boat in flood waters at the flood affectedarea of Sarukhetri village in Assam, on Thursday. AFP

Rain in J&K blockshighways, hitselectricity andwater supplyJAMMU, 25 JULY

The strategic Srinagar--Lehhighway and several otherroads in Jammu and Kash-mir were on Thursdayblocked due to landslidesand flash-floods caused dueto the overnight rain.

Electric and water sup-ply in Jammu was badly hitand many areas were with-out power since last nightalthough the Central gov-ernment's project worth sev-eral hundred crores of rupeesto streamline power trans-mission has been executedhere.

CPI(M) leader Moham-mad Yousuf Tarigami saidthat a few hours of down-pour once again exposed thehollow claims of flood pre-paredness in Kashmir. SNS


India on Thursday soughtto put a lid on the contro-versy over US PresidentDonald Trump’s remarks

during his meeting with Pak-istan Prime Minister ImranKhan that Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi had asked him tomediate on Kashmir when theymet last month in Osaka on themargins of the G-20 Summit.

“It’s time to move on...we havedone our explanation, the StateDepartment has given its ownclarification,’’ External AffairsMinistry spokesperson RaveeshKumar said at a media briefinghere. He noted that he had inhis capacity as the spokesper-son already denied that thePM had made any such requestto President Trump in Osaka.Subsequently, External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar had madea statement in both House ofParliament, making it clearthat there was no room forthird party mediation on Kash-mir. After Trump’s meeting with

Khan, the US State Depart-ment had also stated that Kash-mir was a bilateral issue for Indiaand Pakistan to discuss and theTrump administration wasready to assist the two countries,the spokesperson noted.

He said India’s relationship

with the US stood on its own.‘’It’s an important multi-facetedrelationship…we have broadand deep convergences.’’

The spokesperson also drewattention to the statementmade by the State Departmentafter the Pakistani leader met

US Secretary of State MikePompeo. ‘’In each and everystatement (by the US), there isa reference to counter-terror-ism. Even in press briefings byUS officials, this issue has comeseveral times (in the context ofPakistan),’’ he added.

It�s time to move on...we have done our explanation, the State Dept has given its clarification: MEA

India seeks to end row overTrump�s Kashmir remark PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

PATNA, JUL 25

Senior RJD leader Rabri Devion Thursday criticised the rul-ing JD(U) in Bihar for shar-ing power with the BJP thoughit is opposed to the saffronparty on issues like the tripletalaq Bill.

The former Bihar chiefminister also mocked theJanata Dal (United), headedby chief minister Nitish Kumar,by saying the party has beenknown for looking towardsone direction and movingtowards another.

“If the JD(U) is opposedto the BJP on issues like thetriple talaq Bill, Nitish Kumarshould snap ties with it. I don'tknow why the JD(U) is stillsharing power with the BJP,”Rabri Devi told reportersoutside the Legislative Coun-cil where she is the Leader ofthe Opposition.

The Bill seeks to makethe practice of instant tripletalaq illegal with up to threeyears in jail for the husband.

“We are firmly opposed tothe triple talaq Bill and ourstand on the issue has beenunequivocal, without anycontradictions like the JD(U),”Rabri Devi, the national vicepresident of the RJD.

The JD(U) staged a walk-out earlier in the day at theLok Sabha when debate beganon the triple talaq bill broughtby the Narendra Modi gov-ernment at the Centre. “Donot talk about the JD(U).The party has been known forlooking in one direction andmoving in another... sayingsomething and doing some-thing altogether different,” shetold reporters.

The JD(U)'s leader in theLok Sabha Rajiv Ranjan Singhalias Lalan had said the Billcould lead to a “lack of trust”in the society as it struck at“customs” followed by theminority community andadvocated spreading aware-ness in place of such a leg-islative measure.

The RJD has no memberin the current Lok Sabha asit drew a blank in the gener-al elections.

The party, an old ally of the

Congress, however, has fivemembers in the Rajya Sabhaincluding Rabri Devi's eldestdaughter Misa Bharti.

Rabri Devi also attackedDeputy Chief Minister andsenior BJP leader SushilKumar Modi for raking up thefodder scam issue while par-ticipating in a debate on thegovernment's appropriationbill on Wednesday.

“A CBI inquiry should alsobe conducted into the assetsof Modi, both across thecountry and abroad, as hiswealth has grown exponen-tially since he became thedeputy CM,” the RJD leader,who succeeded her husbandas chief minister in 1997 andwent on to hold the post foreight years thereafter, alleged.

PDP not to support Cen-tre on triple talaq: PDP pres-ident Mehbooba Mufti onThursday said her party willnot support the BJP-led gov-ernment at the Centre on thetriple talaq bill and the RTI(Amendment) bill in theRajya Sabha.

“Jammu and Kashmir hasits own RTI Act 2009. Noquestion of supporting the RTIbill in Rajya Sabha,” Muftitweeted. She was respondingto media reports that thePeoples Democratic Party(PDP) will support the RTI(Amendment) bill in RajyaSabha. Mufti aso reiteratedher party's stand against thetriple talaq bill.

“Just to set the recordstraight. PDP MPs (RajyaSabha) to oppose Triple Talaqbill,” she said. The Lok Sabhaon Thursday took up for con-sideration the contentious billto make the practice of instanttriple talaq illegal with up tothree years in jail for the hus-band.

Rabri Devi slams JD(U)for staying with BJP

MUMBAI, 25 JULY

In a setback to the NCPahead of the MaharashtraAssembly polls, its Mumbaiunit chief and former min-ister Sachin Ahir joined theShiv Sena on Thursday.

Ahir, who was a ministerin the previous Congress-NCP coalition governmentin the state, joined the ShivSena here in the presence ofits party president UddhavThackeray and Yuva Senachief Aaditya Thackeray.

Welcoming Ahir into theparty-fold, Uddhav Thack-eray, in an apparent jibe atsenior ally BJP, said splittingother political parties was notthe Sena's tendency.

“I want Sena to grow butnot at the cost of morals andethics,” he told reporters,without naming any party.

The Shiv Sena wants todo politics by”winning thehearts of people”, he said.

“SachinAhir has joined uswillingly and happily. I assurehim that he will not regrethis decision,” he said.

He said the yatra recent-ly undertaken by his sonAaditya Thackeray and themass outreach programmeto be soon taken up by chiefminister Devendra Fadnaviswere for ensuring the Sena-BJP alliance's win in theAssembly polls, due in Sep-tember-October.

Ahir, who was associat-ed with the NCP since its for-mation in 1999, represent-ed Shivdi Assembly seat inMumbai from 1999 to 2009and was later elected fromWorli, after delimitation ofconstituencies.

In 2014, he lost the Assem-bly election to Shiv Sena'sSunil Shinde.

Ahir said he will work forthe expansion of Shiv Sena'sbase, but will not try tobreak the NCP.

“Sharad Pawar will bein my heart. But I will haveAaditya and Uddhavji'sstrength in my body to workfor the Shiv Sena,” he said.The former minister SachinAhir said he has no grudgeagainst the NCP. PTI

Mumbai NCPchief SachinAhir joinsShiv Sena

NEW DELHI, 25 JULY

Samajwadi Party(SP) leaderAzam Khan on Thursdaycourted a fresh controversywhen he made a sexist remarkagainst BJP MP Rama Deviwho was in the Chair in theLok Sabha sparking an uproarand demands for his apolo-gy. The National CommissionFor Women(NCW) and theDelhi Commission ForWomen (DCW) condemnedKhan's comment, dubbing it“lecherous and disgraceful”.

Participating in the debateon the triple talaq bill, Khanreferred to the interventionof Union Minister MukhtarAbbas Naqvi and read out acouplet “... tu idhar-udhar kibaat na kar ...” (do not divertfrom the topic).

At this, Rama Devi, whowas presiding over the pro-ceedings, asked Khan not to“look here and there” andaddress the Chair.

To this, the SP membermade a sexist remark at theChair, triggering acrimo-nious scenes.

Rama Devi later directedthat Khan's remark beremoved from the records. She,however, said she is like his(Azam Khan's) younger sis-ter. Khan's remark infuriat-ed union ministers RaviShankar Prasad and ArjunRam Meghwal as they urgedthe Chair to ask him to apol-ogise. When Khan was askedto do so by Rama Devi, he saidhe meant no disrespect to heras she was like his “dear sis-ter”.

During the Lok Sabhapoll campaign, Khan, who isknown to making contro-versial statements, had madeobjectionable remarks againstactor-turned-politician JayaPrada who contested on a BJPticket. The police lodged anFIR against Khan for insult-ing the modesty of a woman.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadavrose to defend Khan. Mean-while, Speaker Om Birla tookover the proceedings.

Yadav said there was nointention to malign the Chair,sparking protests by the BJPmembers. PTI

Azam�s sexistremark againstBJP MP sparksuproar in LS BHOPAL 25 JULY

A day after two BJP MLAsbacked the Congress-led gov-ernment during the voting ona Bill in the Madhya PradeshAssembly, state BJP chiefRakesh Singh said the partyis “united” and there is nogroupism.

Singh, the Lok Sabha MPfrom Jabalpur, rushed herefrom Delhi on Wednesdayafter the BJP's central lead-ership took a dim view of twoparty MLAs - Narayan Tripathiand Sharad Kol - voting infavour of the bill moved by theCongress in the state Assem-bly. “Everything is under con-trol,” Singh told reportershere on Thursday. Earlierafter reaching Bhopal, Singhmet Leader of the OppositionGopal Bhargava and formerCM Shivraj Singh Chouhanto find out reasons behind thetwo MLAs backing the Con-gress-led government duringthe voting on the Bill. PTI

BJP is �united�:MP party chief

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, JULY 25

Anil Kumar Sharma, CMD ofAmrapali Group of Compa-nies, paid Rs 36 lakh to ICCchairman Shashank Manoharand this falls under the cat-egory of misuse of funds paidby home buyers, said theSupreme Court in its judgmenton Amrapali Group.

Manohar's name featureson the list of third parties whoreceived money from thecorpus of Rs 8.71 crore whichSharma had at its disposal. Thetop court has ordered theEnforcement Directorate toinvestigate the issue of moneylaundering in the real estategroup.

The court has termed thiswrongful diversion of fundsas "misuse of funds" by Direc-tors involved in the scam.

The court observed: "Thedirectors and executives col-luded with each other and

diverted home buyers funds."Manohar got paid from thiscontentious corpus.

Speaking to IANS,Manohar, a lawyer by pro-fession, said: "I have appearedfor Amrapali Group in a casein the Patna High Court fouryears ago." He denied anyother association with thegroup.

The transfer of funds toManohar was done underthe supervision of Sharma.

Manohar's name featurestwice in the judgement - firston the list of receivers ofdiverted funds and second ona table containing details ofparticulars of payments madeby Sharma, prepared by foren-sic auditors.

The other names on the listinclude Chandan Homes PvtLtd, Sapphire Digital Printers,Manas Nursing Home, Surb-haee Advertising Pvt Ltd andQuality Synthetic IndustriesLtd.

The directors spent thehome buyers' funds on wed-ding, foreign travels, expen-sive watches, jewellery and lux-ury cars.

The money was also usedfor investment in mutualfunds, creating personal prop-erties, payment of housingloans as well as investmentin shares and securities.

The top court has cancelledthe real estate company'sRERA registration andappointed the state-runNational Buildings Con-struction Corp Ltd (NBCC) tocomplete all pending projects.

The court has directedthe Directorate of Enforce-ment to register a moneylaundering case against thecompany, its CEO and Man-aging Director Anil Sharmaand directors Shiv Priya andAjay Kumar for violation of For-eign Exchange ManagementAct (FEMA) and Foreign DirectInvestment (FDI) norms.

BJP MPs and workers stage a protest against Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on unauthorisedcolonies, at the Jantar Mantar, in the Capital on Thursday. SNS

FIGHT FOR SLUMS

PRESS TRUST OF INDIAPATNA, 25 JULY

Irregular expenditures inexcess of Rs 650 crore between1987 and 1997 ~ the periodduring which the fodder scamhappened ~ are being scru-tinized by courts probing themulti-crore-rupee scandal,Bihar deputy chief ministerSushil Kumar Modi has saidin the Assembly.

Modi, who also holds thefinance portfolio, was oneof those who had filed a PILin the case at Patna HighCourt following which theprobe was handed over to theCBI.

Rashtriya Janata Dal supre-mo (RJD) Lalu Prasad, whowas the chief minister ofundivided Bihar till 1997, isserving prison sentences ina number of cases related tothe scam, while his prede-cessor Jagannath Mishra is outon bail and undergoing treat-

ment for cancer.Citing examples of the

massive financial irregular-ities during the 80s and the90s, Modi told the House,“Fodder worth Rs 10.5 crorewas required for cattle andpoultry in Chaibasa, Gumla,Dumka, Jamshedpur andRanchi (now in Jharkhand)besides Patna. But an expen-diture of Rs 253.33 crore wasshown by the animal hus-bandry department.”

For these six districts, pur-chase of yellow corn andalmond straw - used in verysmall proportions for fod-

der - had been shown mul-tiple times the actual require-ment, the senior BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) leader saidon Wednesday.

“The extent of the finan-cial indiscipline can be gaugedfrom a single example - thethen general manager of adairy farm at Hotwar - nearRanchi - showed an expen-diture of Rs 15.50 lakh towardspurchase of mustard oil forapplying on the horns of buf-faloes,” Modi said evokingpeals of laughter.

The RJD supremo's son,Tejashwi Yadav, also drewsharp criticism from thedeputy CM over his failure toattend the House during theongoing session which begana month ago.

Notably, RJD MLAs hadstaged a walkout when Modiwas making his submission.The government's appropri-ation bill was also passed bya voice vote at that time.

Sushil Modi rakes up fodder scamin House, leaves RJD fuming

SC: ICC chief Shashank Manohar gotconstant payment from Amrapali

600 deaths in 4 years, lightning causes panic in Bihar

PRESS TRUST OF INDIAWASHINGTON, 25 JULY

US President Donald Trumpis undoing the achievementsof his predecessors on Indiaby “blundering” to volunteerto mediate over the Kashmirissue and has committed“diplomatic malpractice ofa high order” that could fur-ther alienate an importantcountry, according to a topAmerican daily.

The US President on Mon-day stunned the world by say-ing that Prime Minister

Narendra Modi, during theG20 summit in Osaka, Japan,sought his help in resolvingthe Kashmir issue.

India quickly denied itand said Modi made no suchrequest and Kashmir is abilateral issue between Indiaand Pakistan.

“Trump just committeddiplomatic malpractice ofa high order,” said a reportin The Washington Post.

“After his trade war withIndia, his blundering into theKashmir conflict furtheralienates an important coun-

try whose friendship theUnited States needs tocounter the rise of China,” itsaid.

External affairs ministerS Jaishankar has refuted thatPrime Minister Modi evermade the request to Trump.

“I would like to categor-ically assure the House thatno such request has beenmade by the Prime Ministerto the US President. I repeat,no such request was madeby the Prime Minister to theUS President,” he said in astatement to Parliament.

�Trump committed diplomatic malpractice of ahigh order by volunteering to mediate on J&K�

JAMMU, 25 JULY

National Conference (NC)leader Javed Ahmed Rana onThursday endorsed third partymediation in resolving the lin-gering Kashmir issue.

Reacting to criticism acrossthe country over the remarksof UN President Donald Trumpon Prime Minister Modi, Rana,who is Central Secretary ofNC and former Deputy Chair-man Legislative Council, saidthat “there is nothing wrong ifModi has asked Trump to facil-itate peace in one of the world’smost protracted and danger-ous conflict between Indiaand Pakistan on Kashmir issue”.In a statement, Rana applaud-ed Trump for showing “will-ingness in mitigating the vio-lent conflagration betweenthese two countries”. SNS

NC leader backsTrump�s mediation

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA, 25 JULY

CPI-M general secretarySitaram Yechury toldthe party’s commit-tee in Bengal that the

Prime Minister Narendra Modi-II government has become farmore aggressive than theModi-I government and hasstarted taking steps right fromthe beginning to destroy thecountry’s democratic institu-tions and passing Bills one afteranother that will rob the peo-ple of their fundamental rights.

In the letter, filmmakers,authors and actors said thelynching of Muslims, Dalits andother minorities must bestopped immediately andadded that there is “no democ-racy without dissent”.

Yechury said that Com-munists need to destroy theconspiracy of both theBharatiya Janata Party andthe Trinamul Congress (TMC)for playing the communalcard and religious polarisationin Bengal to strengthen theirvote bank. “Communal dan-ger has aggravated in the stateafter the Lok Sabha elections.Hindutva ideology promotescommunalism and as a con-

sequence helps minority fun-damentalism. It is very impor-tant to unite all peace loving,secular, democratic forces tocombat the dangers of major-ity and minority fundamen-talism,” he said.

Party general secretary alsosaid the party has to raisevoice of alternative politicsagainst this anarchy.

“In West Bengal, Left orga-nizations are the real succes-sor of the historic Bengalrenaissance. We have to estab-lish this historic ideology in pol-itics. And we have to maintaina sincere relation with peoplewith the help of social media.Even we have to set up aforum to fight against com-munalism and attack on

democracy,” he said. CPI(M) West Bengal state

secretary Surjyakanta Misra toldthe party’s state committee thatthere can be no political bat-tle against communal forcesand the BJP with the help ofTMC or the vice versa.

Misra said, TMC and BJP,through their divisive politi-cal line have accentuated theatmosphere of violence andprovocation in different partsof the state.

“The state administrationhas miserably failed to protectpeace, harmony and securi-ty of citizens.

Instead of strictly com-bating communal hatred andhaving a political fight againstdangerous communal forces,

the ruling party in the state hasembarked upon unhealthycommunal polarisation withthe ruling party at the centre,”he said.

State secretary also saidthat to weaken this fight, dan-gerous trends of ideas likefighting theTMC with the helpof BJP or fighting BJP with thehelp of TMC are being spread.

“This has very serious ram-ifications on the secular basisof our political system and itis a serious danger for theLeft and democratic move-ment. To battle out this trend,the Left has to make deter-mined efforts to build broad-est unity against the increas-ing communal danger,” hesaid.


A Bill to help adjudicate dis-putes relating to waters of inter-State rivers and river valleysat a faster pace was introducedin Lok Sabha on Thursdayamid protests by Oppositionparties which said states werenot consulted.

Union Jal Shakti ministerGajendra Singh Shekhawatsaid in 2013 the states wereconsulted and a similar Billwas brought to Lok Sabha in2017. The Bill was then referredto the standing committee, butthe draft law lapsed as the termof the 16th Lok Sabha hadended. “There are nine (sep-arate) tribunals (to adjudicatewater disputes). Four of thetribunals took 10 to 28 yearsto deliver their award. Thereis no timeframe to adjudicatedisputes and tribunals wereextended indefinitely,” theminister said supporting theamendment Bill. NishikantDubey of the BJP said such lawswere necessary to settle dis-putes at a faster pace.

Leader of Congress in LokSabha Adhir Ranjan Chowd-hury, B Mahtab (BJD) and TR Baalu objected to the intro-duction, saying the Bill doesnot explain whether stateswere consulted as water is astate subject.

Mahtab said while theintent of the Bill is not underdoubt, the states should havebeen consulted. Baalu said theBill was brought “overnight”and the government is “bull-dozing” legislations even asthe state governments remainignorant about such pro-posals. The Bill was laterintroduced by a voice vote.

The Inter-State River WaterDisputes (Amendment) Bill,2019 seeks to amend the InterState River Water Disputes Act,1956 to streamline the adju-dication of inter-state riverwater disputes.

A key feature of the Bill isthe constitution of a single tri-bunal with different bench-es, and the setting of strict time-lines for ad-judication. Bench-es will be set up under the sin-gle tribunal.

A retired Supreme Courtjudge will head the tribunal.There will be benches formedas and when required. Thebenches though will be woundup once a dispute is resolve,sources said.

The 2017 Bill could not getparliamentary nod. The tri-bunal will be mandated todeliver final award in twoyears and it is proposed thatwhenever it gives order, theverdict gets notified auto-matically, the sources said.

ARCHANA PHULLSHIMLA, 25 JULY

Much to the credit of stateElection department, the dis-abled voters in the hill state ofHimachal Pradesh have set anew record in 2019 Lok Sabhaelections. As against theirvoter turnout of 19 per centin Assembly polls in Novem-ber, the disabled voters cameout in huge numbers (74 percent) to exercise their franchise,registering a massive increaseof 289 per cent.

The voter turnout of dis-abled voters was higher thaneven the general voters, 72 percent in the state and 67 per centin the country in 2019 LokSabha polls. The biggest Kan-gra district, which has 15Assembly segments, toucheda new height where 91 per centdisabled voters exercised theirfranchise.

This was followed by aremote district Sirmaur (88.73per cent) and Bilaspur (83.30per). The details were sharedin the State Steering Commit-

tee for Accessible Elections ofthe state Election department,which was chaired by Chief Elec-toral Officer, Devesh Kumar.

The meeting was attend-ed by the Committee members,including Ajai Srivastava dis-ability rights activist and Chair-man of Umang Foundation,Muskan, a visually impairedstate Youth Icon under the Sys-tematic Voters Education andVoters Participation (SVEEP)

Programme and a singer andMukesh Kumar, convener ofDisabled Students and YouthAssociation (DSYA). Five otherdisabled students from the stateUniversity, Shimla were pre-sent in the meeting.

As per records, out of total37, 852 voters, as many as28,060 persons with disabili-ties cast their vote in the state.This included 5,775 visuallyimpaired, 4,366 hearing

impaired, 19,173 physicallydisabled, 6,771 with multipledisabilities and 1,767 voters withintellectual disabilities.

“The massive increase indisabled voters’ turnout is theresult of great vision, mammothefforts put by Election depart-ment in coordination withthe state government. Thearrangements for the disabledvoters include supply of wheel-chairs and transport facili-ties. A long exercise was doneto enroll disabled voters and91 percent of them wereenrolled,”said Ajai Srivastava.

Srivastava said this wouldhelp in mainstreaming of thepersons with disabilities. Hesaid apart from other factorsinvolved in the outcome,SVEEP played a crucial role.

State Nodal Officer forSVEEP, Neeraj Sharma toldThe Statesman that the turnoutof disabled voters was not sur-prising. “The efforts for acces-sible elections had started in2017. In the run up to 2017Assembly polls, we had triedto facilitate the persons with dis-

abilities to cast their vote. Afterthat we realised that unless wecreated awareness amongthem and do their main-streaming through campaignmode, they wouldn’t turn outto exercise their franchise evenif we facilitated them. Thestrategy paid off,” said Shar-ma. He said total 7,525 pollingbooths had disabled voters.

The facilities of wheel-chairs and transportationhelped voters reach the pollingbooths. As many as 8,972 per-sons were transported through848 wheel chairs and 10,347disabled persons were providedwith motor transport. Most ofthe booths were made acces-sible.

Sharma said the reviewmeeting asked the districtsteering committee membersto share the problems theyfaced in the accessible electionsin Lok Sabha polls and thesolutions which were formu-lated. “This was done to seewhether their solutions can haveuniversal application for larg-er benefit,” he said.

Differently-abled voters set new record in Himachal LS polls

Bill for single tribunalto settle inter-statewater disputes in LS

As against theirvoter turnout of19 per cent inAssembly pollsin November,the disabledvoters cameout in hugenumbers (74per cent) toexercise theirfranchise,registering amassiveincrease of 289per cent

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE CHANDIGARH, 25 JULY

With a luxury hotel in thecity charging actor RahulBose Rs 442.5 for twobananas, the ChandigarhAdministration has ordereda high-level probe into thematter.

Bose had raised the issueon Sunday by sharing avideo on Twitter expressinghis outrage at a bill of Rs442.50 for two bananas.

“You have to see this tobelieve it,” he tweeted.“Who said fruit wasn’t harm-ful to your existence? Askthe wonderful folks at JWMarriott Chandigarh”.

The Chandigarh DeputyCommissioner and Exciseand Taxation CommissionerMandip Singh Brar has ini-tiated investigation intoan illegal and exorbitantcharge of Goods and Ser-vices Tax (GST) by the hotel,JW Marriott, on two fresh

bananas. The luxury hotelis located in Sector 35 of thecity. “I have directed Assis-tant Excise and TaxationCommissioner RajeevChaudhary to conduct athorough probe. Strictaction will be taken if foundguilty,” Brar said. Bosetweeted he was staying ata suite at JW Marriott “wherethey give you all these ele-gant freebies like thesechocolate cookies”.

“God knows how muchthese beautiful flowers musthave cost, but get this, I wasin the gym and I asked fortwo bananas and check thebill out," the actor said in38-second video.

JW Marriott bills Rahul Bose`442for two bananas; probe ordered

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA 25 JULY

Chief minister Mamata Baner-jee today wrote to Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi to arrangean all-party meeting to discusspublic funding for electionsin India to root out corruption.

In her letter to Prime Min-ister Modi, Miss Banerjee hasraised concerns over massivepoll expenditure during the2019 Lok Sabha electionsand asked him to “call an all-party meeting with the sin-gle agenda of public fundingof elections in India with theobjective of rooting out whathas been called the ‘motherof all corruption’”.

“For a free, fair and trans-parent election in India, weurgently need electoralreforms which include gov-ernment funding of elec-tions,” she wrote.

Citing the recently pub-lished report ~ ‘Poll Expen-diture, The 2019 Election’ ofthe Centre for Media Studies,she said that the 2019 LokSabha elections was “themost expensive electionsever, anywhere and twice asexpensive as the 2014 Par-liamentary elections”.

“According to the report,the poll expenditure of the2019 Parliamentary electionhas crossed all limits reach-ing a minimum of Rs 60,000crore and maximum expen-diture remains unknown andcould be much higher,” the let-ter read.

Miss Banerjee apprehendedthat as per the current spend-ing figures, in the next 2024General elections, the pollexpenditure could cross Rs onelakh crore. She rued that the

Election Commission of Indiahad imposed strict limits onexpenditure incurred by can-didates on their election cam-paign but not on the politicalparties.

The chief minister furthercited a study conducted by theInternational Institute forDemocracy and ElectoralAssistance on ‘Funding ofPolitical Parties and ElectionCampaigns’ wherein it statedthat 65 countries receivedDirect Public Funding and79 countries received IndirectPublic Funding.

Miss Banerjee has repeat-edly claimed that severalcrores of rupees were spent dur-ing the recently held LokSabha elections.Earlier, whileaddressing the 21 July Martyr's

Day rally on Sunday, MissBanerjee had stressed on elec-toral reforms and demandeda return to ballot papersinstead of Electronic VotingMachines (EVM) to savedemocracy and stop the useof black money during polls.“Do not forget that the EVMswere earlier used in England,France, Germany and Amer-ica. But they have now stoppedusing them. So why cannot webring the ballot papers back?”she had questioned.

“Since 1995, I have beendemanding electoral reforms.If we want to stop use of blackmoney in elections, savedemocracy and let political par-ties maintain transparency, youmust go for electoral reforms,”she said.

Mamata urges PM to call all-partymeet on public-funding for polls

�� The Inter-State RiverWater Disputes (Am-endment) Bill, 2019seeks to amend theInter State River WaterDisputes Act, 1956 tostreamline theadjudication of inter-state river waterdisputes

�� A key feature of theBill is the constitutionof a single tribunalwith different benches,and the setting of stricttimelines foradjudication. Bencheswill be set up under thesingle tribunal.

WATER ACT

CPM: Modi-II destroyingdemocratic institutionsYechury asks party to destroy TMC-BJP conspiracy for playing communal card

The Dalai Lama�snext reincarnationin Buddhist nation

�� According to Poll Expenditure~The 2019 Election’of the Centre for Media Studies report, the pollexpenditure of the 2019 Parliamentary election hascrossed all limits reaching a minimum of Rs 60,000crore and maximum expenditure remains unknownand could be much higher, cites the chief minister

�� Mamata Banerjee apprehends that as per thecurrent spending figures, in the next 2024 Generalelections, the poll expenditure could cross Rs onelakh crore

‘THE MOST EXPENSIVE ELECTIONS EVER’


Tibetan spiritual leader theDalai Lama on Thursdayreiterated that Chineseauthority has nothing to dowith the reincarnation andthat he will be reincarnatedin a Buddhist country.

He expressed the viewsduring a meeting with threemember delegation fromTaiwan at Mcleodganj inDharamshala in Kangra dis-trict of Himachal Pradesh.

Luo Wen Jia, Secretary-general of Taiwan’s Democ-ratic Progressive Party said hediscussed the issue of rein-carnation with Dalai Lama.

“Dalai Lama said he willbe living more than 100 yearsso there’s still time for the rein-carnation.He further assert-ed that Chinese authority

has nothing to do with thereincarnation and that he willbe reincarnated in a Buddhistcountry,” Jia added.

He further stated that heasked Dalai Lama aboutwhether he can be born in Tai-wan, to which he repliedthat since Taiwan being a Bud-dhist country it is not impos-sible.

Jia along with other mem-bers had came to Dharamsha-la to particularly wish andgreet him for his birthday.

The delegation had dis-cussion and conversationon the progress of Democ-racy of Taiwan, 3 commit-ments of Dalai Lama, religiousharmony and Ancient Indi-an Knowledge.

They shared opinions onthe different means of free-dom struggle of Tibet and Tai-wan.

The need of the hour is to make laws to stop moblynching and honour killing and not criminalisingtriple talaq

DMK LEADER KANIMOZHIPARTICIPATING IN THE DISCUSSION ON THE MUSLIM WOMEN BILL, 2019 IN PARLIAMENT

Communal danger has aggravated in the stateafter the Lok Sabha elections. Hindutva ideologypromotes communalism and as a consequencehelps minority fundamentalism. It is veryimportant to unite all peace loving, secular,democratic forces to combat thedangers of majority and minorityfundamentalism. In West Bengal,Left organizations are the realsuccessor of the historic Bengalrenaissance. We have to establishthis historic ideology in politics

YECHURY CENSURE


STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI, 25 JULY

A day after China released a‘White Paper' on its overalldefence strategy, Navy ChiefAdmiral Karambir Singh onThursday said Beijing’s focuson increasing the budget ofits naval force was “nothingnew” but the Indian Navywould have to see how itcould match the neighbouringcountry’s “intent”.

Speaking on the sidelinesof a seminar on 'Nation Build-ing Through Ship Building',he noted that China has beenshifting a lot of resourcesfrom other arms to the Navyin line with its objective ofbecoming a global power.“We have to watch that care-fully and see how we canrespond within our budgetand constraints,’’ he added.

The navy chief also spokeof the upcoming submarineand helicopter building pro-ject, calling it "vital" forcapacity building.

At present, an expertcommittee was looking intosubmarine building 'Project75 I' and an expression ofinterest has been floated forthe Naval Utility Helicopterproject.

Singh said he expected thecontract for the 24 multi-role helicopters to fructify bythe end of the year. TheNavy was in discussion withUS-based company Lock-heed Martin for the same.

On the proposed secondindigenous aircraft carrier, theNavy chief said it wouldweigh about 65,000 tonnes,

would be run on electricpropulsion and use the Cat-apult Launched Take-off ButArrested Recovery (CATO-BAR).

CATOBAR will be used tolaunch fighter jets from thedeck of the carrier and alsoallow them to land back onthe same deck.

India currently uses ShortTake-off But Arrested Recov-ery (STOBAR), that too onlyon its Russian-origin carrier~ the INS Vikramaditya ~and also on the under-con-struction carrier, the INSVikrant.

India's second Kalvari-class Scorpene submarineis expected to be commis-sioned into service by Sep-tember-October this year,Navy chief Admiral Karam-bir Singh said.

INS Khanderi, the sec-ond Kalvari-class Scorpenesubmarine that has superi-or stealth and the ability tolaunch a crippling attackwith torpedoes as well astube-launched anti-ship mis-siles whilst underwater or onsurface, was launched at theMazgaon Dock ShipbuildersLtd (MDL) in Mumbai inJanuary 2017.

Navy Chief: Need tokeep eye on China�snaval expansion PALGHAR, 25 JULY

A man was killed in a housecollapse as four tremorsshook parts of Palghar dis-trict in Maharashtra in theearly hours of Thursday, offi-cials said.

At least half a dozentremors of magnitude 3 ormore have been recorded inthe district, which is close toMumbai, so far in July.

On Thursday, a tremor ofmagnitude 3.8 was felt at 1.03am across Dahanu and Tal-sari tehsils, followed byanother of magnitude 3.6 at1.15 am, said district disas-ter management cell chiefVivekanand Kadam.

Two more tremors of 2.9and 2.8 magnitude wererecorded in Dahanu, Talsariand Boisar areas between 1.03am and 1.15 am.

The series of tremorscaused panic in the area, headded. Rishya Meghwale(55) was killed when a cementpillar of his cattle shed col-lapsed in Dahanu, tehsil-dar (tehsil revenue official)Rahul Sarang said. Megha-wale's wife was injured in theincident.

District guardian minis-ter Ravindra Chavan visitedthe village, accompanied bydistrict collector Kailas Shindeand Talasari MLA PascalDhanare, and met familymembers of Meghwale.

The family was providedaid of Rs 4 lakh immediate-ly, Shinde said. On Wednes-day, a tremor of 2.8 magni-tude had been recorded inPalghar, Kadam said.In all,seven mild quakes have beenrecorded in the district sinceWednesday, he said. PTI

Neutralise terrorcamps: India to PakSTATESMAN NEWS SERVICENEW DELHI, 25 JULY

India on Thursday wel-comed the ‘glaring admis-sion’ by Pakistan Prime Min-ister Imran Khan in Wash-ington that some 30000-40000 trained militants withexperience of fighting inKashmir and Afghanistan arebased on the Pakistani soil,saying it was time for theneighbouring country totake ‘credible and irre-versible’ action against ter-rorist camps on its territo-ry.

“This is not the first timethey (Pakistan) have ownedup to the presence of terroristtraining camps and terror-ists on their soil who arebeing sent to India for ter-rorist activities,’’ ExternalAffairs Ministry spokesper-son Raveesh Kumar said ata media briefing. The inter-national community alsowas aware of the situationprevailing in Pakistan, headded.

The spokesperson saidsince the Pakistan PM him-self has acknowledged thatterrorist groups operate inPakistan, Islamabad shouldmake sure that terroristcamps and safe havens wereneutralised.

“Half-hearted attemptsfor the consumption of theinternational communitywon’t do,’’ he added in anobvious reference to thearrest of JuD chief and Mum-bai attack mastermind HafizSaeed by the Pakistaniauthorities on the eve ofImran Khan’s visit to Wash-ington.

The spokesperson hopedPakistan would fulfill thepromises Khan has made toAmerican leaders and invarious interviews he hasgiven during his visit to theUS on dealing with the men-ace of terrorism.

“We hope they (Pakistan)stand up to what they havesaid,’’ he added.

India in touch with Pak on

consular access to Jadhav

: India on Thursday con-

firmed that it was in

touch with Pakistan to

give �full� consular access

to former Indian Navy offi-

cer Kulbhushan Jadhav at

the earliest in compliance

and conformity with the

recent ruling of the Inter-

national Court of Justice

(ICJ) and the Vienna Con-

vention on Consular Rela-

tions (VCCR). SNS

Tremors inPalghar dist ofMaha, 1 killed

DEHRADUN, 25 JULY

After declaring a fight againstcorruption, Uttarakhand ChiefMinister Trivendra SinghRawat has given "prize post-ings" to two IAS officers, whoare facing alleged corruptioncharges in the Rs 300 croreNational Highway -74 scam.

The two officers, PankajPandey and Chandresh Yadav,were suspended last year inthe highway corruption case.

As per a government noti-fication, Pankaj Pandey hasbeen given the post of Secre-tary, Medical Health and Fam-ily Welfare Department whileChandresh Yadav has becomeAdditional Secretary, UrbanDevelopment in the latestbureaucratic reshuffle doneon Wednesday. "These two offi-cials have now suddenlybecome the favourites of theChief Minister," commenteda top government official.IANS

�Tainted� IASofficers get prizepostings inU�khand

For a free, fair andtransparent election inIndia, we urgently needelectoral reforms which

include government-funding of

elections

Mamata Banerjee

SIR, The latest decision ofthe West Bengal Higher Sec-ondary Council to introducequestion papers with multi-ple answers against eachquestion and which theexaminees will have to tickis simply incredible, to saythe least. As it is, the majo-rity of students even at theHigher Secondary level findit extremely difficult toexpress themselves in alucid, grammatically correctsentence.

I shudder to think of theconsequence of this inaneand foolish policy. In thedays to come, a doctor willneed an assistant to writethe case-history of a patientor a prescription in simple,comprehensible language.The Chief Finance Officer orthe Chief Executive Officerof a corporate enterprise willface the same problem. Butwhere will their assistants

come from? They too wouldhave passed the Higher Sec-ondary exam by ticking thecorrect answer.

We are all concernedover unemployment. But the

mere possession of a pieceof paper stating t hat one is agraduate or a post-graduatedoes not make one employ-able.

A large number of col-

lege pass-outs cannot evenspeak fluently, let alonewrite meaningfully. Who willgive them jobs?

Our education systemneeds complete overhaul

from the primary level, pro-moting the habit of readingbooks on a variety of sub-jects, not necessarily relatedto the school curriculum.Children should be encour-aged to think for themselvesand not be spoon-fed atevery turn.

Those in senior classesmust be allowed to makedecisions and be responsi-ble for the same. Let themanswer questions on theirown and not memorise thenotes dictated by teachers.They should know the textthoroughly but not memo-rise it ~ some memoriseeven the punctuation marks~ and write in one’s ownwords. A strong commandover a language boosts self-confidence and yields sever-al advantages.

Yours, etc., Enakshi Ghosh,Kolkata, 15 July.

SIDHU ON STICKY WICKET

SIR, Apropos the report,‘Can do nothing if Sidhu

won’t work’ (16 July), thePunjab minister, NavjotSingh Sidhu, was divested ofthe charge of local govern-ment and cultural affairs byChief Minister CaptainAmarinder Singh.

He was accused of try-ing to sabotage the party’scampaign in the state dur-ing the Lok Sabha election.Akalis retained the Bhatindaseat because Sidhu had dur-ing the campaign referred toit as a ‘friendly match’between the Congress andthe Akalis.

The Congress won 8 ofthe 13 Lok Sabha seats in thestate. Sidhu had hoped thathis proximity to the Gandhifamily would stand him ingood stead once the Con-gress assumed power at theCentre.

That hope was dashedin the polling stations. Sidhuis now really on a stickywicket.

Yours, etc., SS Paul,Nadia, 16 July.

To be present at His Majesty Sul-tan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’iz-zaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-

Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifud-dien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultanand Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darus-salam’s 73rd birthday celebration is the“best way for Bruneians to show loveand loyalty towards the monarch”. Thiswas stated by Chugot anak Kelai, arepresentative from the Iban commu-nity in Tutong, while speaking to theBulletin during the annual get-togeth-er ceremony in conjunction with HisMajesty’s 73rd birthday celebration inTutong yesterday.

He said, “The strong patriotismamong Bruneians starts from home ata young age, during which parents areresponsible to encourage their chil-dren to be present or participate in themonarch’s birthday celebration.” “Join-ing the celebration at an early age willinstil love and affection towards theleader and country,” added Chugot,dressed in full Iban garb. “Members ofthe public joining the celebrationdemonstrated strong solidarity andunderstanding among residents andthe monarch.”

Former government servant HajiAbang bin Haji Abdul Rani shared thesame sentiment, saying, “Such cele-brations can educate the youth aboutthe importance of being part of a com-munity and is a sign of obedience tothe monarch. His Majesty’s birthday isa Bruneian tradition, a symbolicmeaning that should be passed onfrom this generation to the next.”

Tanjong Maya Secondary Schoolteacher Marjuana Johan described theroyal celebration as “an inspiration forfuture generations”. “People from all

walks of life can get close and personalwith the monarch. It is the mostunique event of the birthday celebra-tion or any stately celebration in thecountry,” she said. “The vision of ourcountry lies in the hands of our youth.As teachers, we should always remindour students to love our king and ourcountry to bring about a bright futurefor the development of Brunei.”

Besides showcasing traditionaland cultural performances, the get-together session with His Majesty alsorepresented an opportunity for theTutong community to personally con-vey their birthday greetings to HisMajesty and present the monarch witha birthday present or pesambah. TeoSeng Kiat, a representative from theChinese community in Tutong, man-aged to grab hold of a photo from the1950s showing the opening of ChungHwa School, an event that was offici-ated by His Majesty’s late father, Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifud-dien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Muhammad JamalulAlam. “Today, not only are we repre-senting the Tiong Hwa community inTutong, but we are have the opportu-nity to present His Majesty with a spe-cial birthday gift to express our thanksand gratitude for all the privileges wereceive as Brunei citizens and resi-dents,” he said.

After the disastrous con-sequences of SanjayGandhi’s populationcontrol experiments of

the Emergency era, all Govern-ments have fought shy of takingany measures for controlling ourburgeoning population. Anoverview of global demographicpatterns provided by the WorldPopulation Prospects 2019: High-lights (published by the Popula-tion Division of the UnitedNation’s Department of Eco-nomic and Social Affairs) pre-dicts that with a population ofabout 147 crore, India would bethe most populous country inthe world in 2027. Sadly, this pre-diction has not sent alarm bellsringing in our country.

Though the Economic Sur-vey 2019 has devoted an entirechapter to population issues(Chapter 7: India’s Demographyat 2040: Planning Public GoodProvision for the 21st Century),the focus is entirely on the 2040s.Beginning on a highly optimisticnote the Survey states: “India isset to witness a sharp slowdownin population growth in the nexttwo decades…the national TotalFertility Rate (TFR) is expectedto be below replacement level by2021.” This assumption is beliedin the latter part of the chapterwherein the authors admit thatpopulation would grow at about1 per cent during 2021-31 andabout 0.5 per cent during 2031-41. The growth in populationdespite the TFR being below thereplacement level is explained asbeing due to population mome-ntum (read: illegal immigrationfrom neighbouring countries)and the continued rise in lifeexpectancy.

Surprisingly, the EconomicSurvey 2019 does not discuss theshortage of houses, hospitals,schools, roads etc in the nextdecade, which would beset usbecause of our rising population.

Rather, the Survey looks farahead dreaming of a rosy futurewhile ignoring the dismal pre-sent. For example, the Surveyposits that the number ofschool-going children woulddecline by 18.4 per cent by 2041and recommends the formula-tion of a policy to consolidate/close down elementary schools.It would appear that the Surveychose to ignore the immediateproblem of shortage of schoolrooms where several classes are

taught in the same room by thesame teacher. Also, enrolment inprimary schools is 96 per centbut only 40 per cent childrenattend grades 9 to 12. A fall indropout rates would require anincrease in the number ofschools or conversion of primaryschools to secondary schools,not a consolidation/closingdown of schools.

The adverse -effects ofunbridled population growth aremanifest everywhere ~ be it ourhugely overpopulated cities orfalling agricultural land holdings.Problems of poverty, unemploy-ment, sanitation, rising crime allare due to the absence of popu-lation control. Long-term pros-pects are also not encouraging:India is set to increase its popu-lation by more than 27 crore (i.e.20 per cent) by 2050. We can,perhaps, take a cue from Chinawhich is predicted to reduce itspopulation by 34 crore (i.e. 24per cent) by 2050. One definitelyfeels that we desperately need asystematic study ofpopulation growthand formulation ofa policy to controlpopulation.

According tothe Annual Reportof the Departmentof Health and Fami-ly Welfare 2016-17,12.9 per cent of ourpopulation has noaccess to familyplanning services,26.8 per cent of girlsget married belowthe age of 18 yearsand in 48.1 per centof births spacing between twochildbirths is less than the rec-ommended period of 3 years.These statistics show that thefuture may not be as bright asimagined. A friend who runs anNGO that provides milk to poorpregnant and lactating womenat Aanganwadis was surprised tofind girls as young as 20 on theirsecond or third pregnancies.Most of these women were mal-nourished. It appears that theNational Population Policy 2000which brought about a holisticand a target free approach hastaken the urgency out of theGovernment’s efforts for popula-tion control.

At present, the role of theGovernment in family planningis limited to making contracep-tive facilities available at Primary

Health Centres (PHCs) and Sub-Centres (SCs) in rural areas aswell as the Urban Family WelfareCentres and Postpartum Centresin urban areas. Volunteers calledAccredited Social Health Activists(ASHA) distribute contraceptivesand pregnancy testing kits tobeneficiaries at their doorsteps.On paper, this may appear suffi-cient but looking at the wayPHCs are run one can well imag-ine the services that would reallybe available there. As regardsASHA workers, they are not vol-unteers but unqualified andminimally trained health wor-kers who are paid a pittance asan incentive for certain tasksthey perform.

The Muzaffarpur tragedythat took a toll of 160 young livesepitomises all that is wrong withhealthcare for the common manin India. The condition of thePrimary Health Centres inMuzaffarpur was so poor thatnone of the 103 PHCs in Muzaf-farpur was considered fit even

for evaluation andas against a require-ment of 43 Commu-nity Health Centres(one CHC for every1.2 lakh population)Muzaffarpur hadonly one CHC,which also was notfit for evaluation.National FamilyHealth Survey(NFHS)-4, conduct-ed in 2015-16, fou-nd that Muzaffarpurdistrict had an abys-mal record of childnutrition with about

half the children under the ageof 5 being stunted, 17.5 per centbeing too thin for their heightand more than 40 per cent chil-dren being underweight. TheSurvey also found that about 60per cent of Muzaffarpur’s childr-en were anaemic. Mothers faredlittle better with a similar propor-tion of women being anaemic.Medical textbooks flag a weakimmune system (which may bebrought about by malnutrition)as a significant risk factor forencephalitis but initially, the out-break of encephalitis in Muzaf-farpur was blamed on litchi.

Encephalitis regularly strikesMuzaffarpur since 1995. Despiteregular annual outbreaks, noneof Muzaffarpur’s two public hos-pitals had a super-speciality wardfor encephalitis or a children’s

ICU. After the last major out-break of encephalitis in 2014, asuper-speciality ward for ence-phalitis and a children’s ICU hadbeen promised to Muzaffarpurbut the promises are yet to berealised. Thus, the tragic out-break of encephalitis in Muzaf-farpur has exposed the real stateof child and maternal nutritionand health. Sadly, the same con-ditions obtain in most of thepoorer regions of our country.

Some significant learningoutcomes emerge from the ence-phalitis outbreak in nearbyGorakhpur in 2017. The BRDMedical College at Gorakhpur,which has a tertiary care centrefor Encephalitis with 100 dedica-ted beds, recorded 1,300 casual-ties in 2017 because patients didnot reach the hospital in time.But next year, when the Govern-ment launched a massive vacci-nation drive and a sanitationcampaign, encephalitis casesdropped by two-thirds. There-fore, the way forward is to ensurethat primary healthcare reachesall corners of the country.

The short point is that thedeprived sections of society,which are being targeted for fam-ily planning by the Government,will hardly follow the two-childnorm if they are not assured ofhaving two healthy children whohave a fair chance of reachingadulthood. To provide healthcarefor everyone, the Governmenthas to ensure that every districthas an adequate number ofPHCs and CHCs which are prop-erly manned and which have anadequate stock of medicines.

This can only be achieved ifwe increase expenditure onhealthcare (which currentlystands at 1 per cent of our GDP)to upgrade our primary healthinfrastructure and provide nutri-tional supplementation to poorchildren. Once a proper healthand nutrition infrastructure is inplace, a Family Planning Missioncan be launched on the lines ofSwachh Bharat Mission. Addi-tionally, couples could be incen-tivised to follow the two-childnorm. By providing incentivesand better public healthcare, theGovernment would be able topersuade the targeted popula-tion to have only two children,which would ensure that we arespared the calamity waiting forus in coming times ~ should wecontinue on our wayward trajec-tory.

Incorporating and directly descendedfrom THE FRIEND OF INDIA - Founded 1818

Inanity of the Higher Secondary Council

08 NEW DELHI, FRIDAY 26 JULY 2019

A MEMBEROF THE

DEVENDRASAKSENA

The writer is a retiredPrincipal Chief

Commissioner ofIncome-Tax

ASIAN VOICES

�Silent fiscal crisis�

Notwithstanding the braggadocio over the $5trillion economy that the government is pur-suing, economists from the non-BJP camp

have been insisting in unambiguous terms, thatthings are far from happy vis-à-vis finances of theGovernment of India. However, when the govern-ment-appointed member of the Economic AdvisoryCouncil (EAC) to the Prime Minister, Rathin Roy,publicly talks of the “silent fiscal crisis” facing India,even the government must take note. One way isto relieve the EAC member of his responsibilities, asthe government has with several outstanding indi-viduals who exposed some of the finance ministry’smath to be incorrect. The other is to acknowledgethe problem ~ the revenue deficit ~ which is some-what intractable in nature and demands innovativesolutions. The Controller General of Accounts’(CGA) numbers suggest a deficit of Rs 1.7 trillionand it did not need the EAC member to point outthat “at the heart of the crisis is a shortfall in provi-sional tax revenues for 2018-19. It is mainly due to ashortfall in GST revenues (but also personal incometax revenues), compared to the numbers presentedin the revised estimates”. What then obtains is apossible fudge around India’s claims of sticking tothe straight and narrow path of fiscal prudence,institutionalised by the Fiscal Responsibility andBudget Management Act. The overarching objec-tive of the Act was injecting fiscal discipline, notprompting chicanery to show deficit at 3.4 per centand pat oneself on the back though the actualdeficit may well be 4.3 per cent of the GDP.

Several areas of under-budgeting are obviousas are GDP overestimations but revenues are whatdemand close attention. Gross tax revenue as a pro-portion of GDP declined to 10.9 per cent in 2018-19,lower by 0.3 percentage points from the 2017-18numbers. The Economic Survey confirms that indi-rect tax revenues fell short of budget estimates byabout 16 per cent because of the GST slip-ups andthings do not seem to be stabilizing given that theJune tax mop-up dropped under Rs 1 trillion, to Rs99,936 crore, for the first time in FY2019-20. Thetwo years that the government had asked for duringthe GST launch on 30 June 30-1 July 2017 are up. Onthe one hand, glitches are yet to be sorted out and,on the other, payers are crying for moderation andjustifiably so.

The Economic Survey also talked of a plannedRs 11.5-lakh crore mop-up from direct taxes and Rs7.43-lakh crore from GST in 2018-19; numbers thatstand belied. Worse, nothing in the budget suggestsa sound strategy to meet the deficit, save for a poor-ly conceived one of overseas borrowing. There couldbe little that is more fraught with risk than this stepand economists, Roy included, should persist withputting information about these risks in the publicdomain, shrugging off the government’s dismissal ofthem as “professional pessimists”. Economics,decried as purveyors of a ‘dismal science’ even inthe past, should continue to focus on honestyaround numbers to achieve inclusive, balanced andsustained growth.

An Unnerving Victory

Boris Johnson has won the vote of the Tories,but not of the people of Britain. Hence thecynical barb in the immediate aftermath of

his victory over Jeremy Hunt ~ “If the new PrimeMinister thinks he can sup with populists like NigelFarage and Donald Trump over Brexit, he risks end-ing up as dessert”. As Mr Johnson gears up to stepinto the hallowed portals of No. 10, he, in the his-torical perspective, faces the gravest challenge sinceWinston Churchill in 1940. While the latter was astatesman in his own right, Mr Johnson is almost aPrime Minister by default after Theresa May stum-bled in her essay towards Brexit, and thus facilitateda midterm change of guard. His challenge is of howthe UK can leave the European Union. Initial signalsare less than promising.

His pledge to leave the EU ~ deal or no deal ~has not unnerved Brussels. Far from it. On the con-trary, EU has shot down his Brexit plan withinmoments of his appointment as the Conservativeparty leader. Indeed, EU has let it be known that ithas no plans to make concessions. Markedly, theintervention coincides with Brussels making itsposition clear, specifically that the EU will not re-negotiate the withdrawal ageement reached by MrsMay, and one that was rejected thrice by the MPs.Leaving the EU without a deal threatens to wreckBritain’s economy, stoke violence in Ireland, andarguably lead to fissures within the United King-dom.

The lesson for Mr Johnson is that when centre-right politicians adopt the language and policies ofpopulist nationalism, it is the hardliners who standto gain. Mr Farage now leads the Brexit party. Sup-ping with the devil has its inherent risks. And this isparticularly obvious in Mr Johnson’s equation withMr Trump, whose friendship comes at a steep cost.Specifically, the price will be to accept Brexit onterms that Mr Johnson wants to avoid. Without that,Mr Trump cannot secure the much sought after US-UK trade deal.

Confusion gets worse confounded with thespate of resignations from the government in paral-lel to Mr Johnson’s election. Before he goes aheadwith his Brexit plan of action, the new Prime Minis-ter will have to put together an agreeable team ~no easy task not the least because the EU has lost notime in shooting down his proposal. There can beno readymade fix after Mrs May’s tortuous trail.Small wonder, Mr Johnson’s election has beengreeted by a section of the British media with a reac-tion that is as uncharitable as it is distressing ~ “MrJohnson plays the clown. But the circus will moveon, only to leave a broken country in its wake.”Britain is disoriented.

The Population Bomb

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Vol. CXXXXX 176

Bruneians,foreignersimpressed

The short point is that the deprived sections of society, which are being targeted for

family planning by the Government, will hardly follow the two-child norm if they are

not assured of having two healthy children who have a fair chance of reaching adulthood.

To provide healthcare for everyone, the Government has to ensure that every district

has an adequate number of PHCs and CHCs which are properly manned and which have

an adequate stock of medicines

[email protected]

AN INDIAN SAGE, AN ENGLISHMAN, A BENGALI MOTHER

SIR, The news item titled ‘ER pays tribute to Vidyasagar, redevelops Karmatar Station’(Kolkata Plus, 16 July) was a very interesting read. It could well have been slotted on thefront page of the main section, instead of the murky goings-on in Karnataka. It has quot-ed from a memorable obituary on Vidyasagar, penned by Rabindranath Tagore. I wouldlike to, if I may, quote another genius and a friend of Vidyasagar, Michael MadhusudanDutt, who said, “He has the genius and wisdom of an Indian sage, energy of an English-man and the heart of a Bengali mother”.

Yours, etc., SN Guha, Kolkata, 22 July.

CHATTERJEE RENU — Wife of lateMakhan Chatterjee, mother ofSikha, Tapati, Leena and grand-mother of Chayan, Mayukh,Sayantani, Abhimanyu. You haveleft us this day in 2013 but youlive on in our hearts forever.

(BPL7025)

IN MEMORIAM

ATANU BISWAS

This week Britain welcomes itsnew prime minister – the flam-boyant Boris Johnson, a formerLondon mayor and British for-

eign secretary, and, of course, a blus-tering Brexit campaigner. And, inter-estingly, Donald Trump himself claimedthat Boris Johnson is popular in the UKbecause he's seen as ‘Britain's Trump’.

Brexit, however, is still in the soup,with a new deadline of 31 October.Johnson is here because ‘Therexit’happened in between – ‘Therexit’being the portmanteau of ‘Theresa’and ‘Exit’. This is how Theresa May’s

exit was described by a section of themedia.

May made her job as Britishprime minister more and more diffi-cult by calling an absolutely unneces-sary snap election which curtailed herstrength in the Parliament; by trigger-ing Article 50, the legal mechanism forleaving the EU which set a two-yearclock ticking before making a concretepathway, and making a consensuswith the opposition Labour Party oreven within her own party, and byimposing a hard Brexit even thoughthere was a slender margin in favourof ‘Leave’ in the Brexit vote.

Johnson has become the prime

minister by defeating Jeremy Hunt bygetting two-thirds of the votes ofabout 160,000 party members acrossthe UK. But Britons are more dividednow, and more Britons are nowfavouring ‘Remain’ than ‘Leave’, asindicated by several recent polls. Cer-tainly Johnson has an uphill taskahead, which is clear from one of hisfirst tweets after being elected as theConservative leader and prime minis-ter designate: “It’s time to get to workto deliver Brexit by 31st October, unitethe party, defeat Jeremy Corbyn – andenergise our country!” Ironically, eachof these is a difficult task, and Johnsonhimself knows that better than any-

body else. Johnson insists that he canget the EU to renegotiate the Brexitdeal, which the EU insists it won’t do.It’s never easy although MichelBarnier, EU’s chief Brexit negotiatorwanted to work “constructively” withthe new Conservative leader “to facil-itate the ratification of the WithdrawalAgreement.”

Convincing the British parlia-ment, even his Conservative MPs, willnot be easy for Johnson. Don’t forgetthat it was this January when Britain’sHouse of Commons saw the largestdefeat of a government motion in 100years when May’s Brexit deal couldmanage the support of only 196 Con-

servative MPs, while the other 118Conservative MPs voted against. AndJeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, ispossibly playing a waiting game to seethe Conservative Party get more vul-nerable. Corbyn is up to grab theopportunity to become the Britishprime minister at an opportune time.So, it’s a trapeze act for Johnson – bothat home and outside. And rememberthat Theresa May couldn’t handle it.

When May took office in July2016, standing on the steps of Down-ing Street she announced her desireto “fight against burning injustices”.But unfortunately, she could not getout of the divorce process called Brex-it. Effectively she remained just as anofficer-in-charge for Brexit. For thetime being, this is bound to happen toJohnson as well – Brexit is such adefining event in the history of thecountry.

At the moment, Nigel Farage’sBrexit Party is gaining momentum bypeeling off much of the Conservativevote, as is seen in the recent Europeanelections. The Liberal Democrats andthe Labour Party are also gainingteeth. As Farage is ready to ally withthe Conservatives, unless a Brexit dealhappens by the end of October, John-son would possibly have no otheroption than to choose to leave the EUwithout any deal. And, as has beenseen before, Parliament and even theTory MPs are intractably divided; thus,a No-Deal exit looks far from impossi-ble. And No-Deal may not be betterthan a bad deal! Although the exactconsequences of such a No-Deal Brex-it cannot be foreseen, several topeconomists have already warned thatthis would disrupt trade and plungethe UK into recession.

During the Brexit referendum,Scotland voted to stay within EU. So,once Brexit happens, Scottish FirstMinister Nicola Sturgeon will possiblymake an all-out effort to leave the UK.That again will not be an easy chal-lenge to tackle.

In an opinion piece in ‘TheGuardian', Owen Jones describedTheresa May as the worst prime min-ister in modern times. However, itseems that Brexit was the main reasonbehind that. Unless Johnson doessomething extraordinary, such criticsof May might get an opportunity torevisit their statement.

For the time being, Brexit is apolitical black hole – political careersof two prime ministers have beenswallowed by this. Now, it will be inter-esting to watch and see whether ‘Bori-sExit’ happens or not before Brexit isstaged, or if Britain leaves EU at all.

The writer is Professor of Statistics, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata.

OCCASIONAL NOTEThe Librarian of the Imperial Library con-tributes to the Calcutta Reviews justreceived an interesting article on the resultsthus far achieved by the inquiry into thecauses of the deterioration, and often thedestruction, of paper in India. Mainly theconclusions formed up to the present areof a somewhat negative character. It seemsclear already that books in which the paperis composed largely of the machine madewood-pulp in use since 1860 are not sopeculiarly subject to perishing as was oncesupposed. A period from which many per-ished books and newspapers date is thatbetween 1800 and 1820. The old theorythat coal gas fumes in the atmosphere aredeleterious to the life of a book has alsobeen abandoned. Nor is acid always pre-sent in decomposing paper. On the otherhand, there seems to be good reason tobelieve that the use of china-clay forbleaching purposes makes for the verytemporary life of the ultimate product. Thequestion is an extraordinarily fascinatingone - hardly less so than the still vexedproblem of how best to correct the propen-sities of the atmosphere for destruction.Some advocate open shelves and fans, oth-ers the use of closed cases. Mr. Chapmanwill welcome any useful contributions tothe solution of the many problems whichclosely concern all book lovers and users.

A FLOATINGSCHOOL FOR DOCTORSA proposal which is interesting workers intropical medicine throughout GreatBritain and America has just been madeby Dr. Sambon. This, says the Medicalcorrespondent of the Times, is the estab-lishment of a floating school of tropicalmedicine. The idea is that the studentsshall embark in a shop fitted up with allthe necessary apparatus and laboratories,and shall be taken from one tropical areato another. They will thus be enabled tovisit the many fields in which diseaseflourishes, and, as the passengers willconsist of men of every nationality, a newlink of world friendship will be forged.Moreover, those workers who are strug-gling against the various plagues of hotclimates will be cheered and stimulatedby the visits of the “school.” The schemeis a good one and so far it has beenenthusiastically received. It may behoped that it will not be allowed to lapsefor want of proper support.

SENTENCE INBHOWANIPORE KIDNAPPING CASEThe case in which Mariam Bibi wascharged with having kidnapped twominor boys and a girl, all under eightyears of age, at Bhowanipore, and robbedthem of their ornaments under circum-stances already reported, was yesterdayconcluded at the Alipore Criminal Ses-sions, presided over by Mr. P.N. RoyChowdhry, Additional Sessions Judge.The accused pleaded not guilty to all thecharges and alleged that the police hadbrought a false case against her becauseshe was acquitted in a previous case. Thejury returned a verdict of guilty on all thecharges and the judge sentenced accusedto seven years’ rigorous imprisonmentand to pay a fine of Rs 50, in default sixmonths’ further rigorous imprisonment.When the judge pronounced sentencethe prisoner shouted wildly that shewould take revenge upon the police onher release from jail.

A BADLY ADJUSTEDSAFETY VALVEBOMBAY, JULY 25At a coroner’s enquiry today into thedeath of an engine-driver named Hub-dar as the result of injuries sustainedwhen the boiler of a Great Indian Penin-sular Railway engine suddenly blew upnear Kurla Station on the 17th, Mr. Bon-ner, Loco Superintendent, said the burst-ing of the boiler was due to over-pres-sure, consequent on the safety valve notbeing properly adjusted. The adjustmentwas done by a fitter in a running shed.Mr. Bonner considered the fitter respon-sible for the accident and not his superi-or officer.

IMPROVEMENTSCHEMES IN MULTANMULTAN, JULY 25Of four big schemes under contempla-tion by the Multan Municipality thecivil hospital scheme has matured. Thehospital is to be built in the old Fortand is estimated to cost about threelakhs and a half of rupees. The actualwork may commence early next year.The electric works scheme has gone upto the Government for sanction afterbeing passed by the Municipality. Thedrainage scheme has been prepared bythe Public Works Department, andafter consultation with the SanitaryEngineer will come up for approval.The water works scheme, the first andoldest of these, is still in embryo, butthe Municipality is quite alive to itsnecessity.


ACROSS1 Shepherdess and

worker keeping

operation quiet (2-

4)

4 Dance with Ger-

man in grass is

shaken up (8)

10 Erupting geyser

not producing vol-

canic material (9)

11 Hack putting time

into source (5)

12 Champagne socia-

list possibly having

short drink with

king (4)

13 Fight encountered

by a liberal recycl-

ing material (5,5)

15 Fat from sheep

placed across tips

of noisettes of

lamb (7)

16 Doctor one pages

with second of

symptoms is

pathetic (6)

19 Young bird sounds

like small seal (6)

21 Heartless trainer

on field finds part

of ear (7)

23 Echo in song regis-

ters for high flying

performers (10)

25 Competent leader

removed from

board (4)

27 Is traitor returning

bones? (5)

28 Abhor aid distribu-

ted to contain un-

known source of

disease potentially

(9)

29 Special place to

bury Chip (8)

30 Woman in tree is

angler (6)

DOWN1 Very important

programme led

initially by Euro-

pean in US city

(3,5)

2 Before start of

gala French city

displays state of

expectation (9)

3 Stops endlessly

providing comfort

(4)

5 Beryl starts to en-

joy my entertain-

ing repartee at

Lady�s Day (7)

6 I stupefied manic

sons � they can�t

fall asleep (10)

7 Jar reported to be

large (5)

8 Religious scholar

taking part in

benefit picnic (6)

9 Bird to start to

undo container (6)

14 Sketch skin art

popular around old

estate (10)

17 Appropriate to live

by a church some-

where in Florida

(4,5)18 Plant the French

sell to queen (8)

20 Article covering

broken limb that

provides protec-

tion from pins and

needles (7)

21 Material in bed not

turned over (6)

22 Part of magic act

uses plant (6)

24 Artist breaking law

taking drug in

countryside (5)

26 Dress old lady by

one (4)

NOTE: Figures in parentheses denote the number of letters in the words required.(By arrangement with The Independent, London)

NO 27661

YESTERDAY�S SOLUTION

100 YEARS AGO

CROSSWORD

MARIA MATIN

Mritul Begum, 30, lives in Kend-ua, Madaripur. Her husbandRuhul Molla, 42, works as a day-labourer and earns a meagre Taka

5,000 a month. It is difficult to make ends meetso Mritul has invested in some cattle and poul-try for extra earnings.

Four years ago, her long-time neigh-bour Nitin Bepari, 62, persuaded her, aftermany requests, to loan him Tk 75,000,which he said he would repay in kind with30 maunds (around 1 tonne) of grain on ayearly basis. But he failed to make any suchrepayment in cash or in kind and keptdelaying, up until he finally refused to payher.

A distressed Mritul filed a case with thevillage court at Kendua and a judiciarypanel was formed. In less than a month ofsitting with panel members, both partiesreached a compromise and Mritul success-fully recovered Tk 60,000. Given that Nitinwas very sick at that time, it was decided towrite off the remaining Tk 15,000.

Thanks to the village court (gramadalat), Mritul managed to get out of a diffi-cult situation with very little hassle in ashort period of time. Like her, many othersare availing the benefits of seeking justicethrough village courts. The village courtbecomes accessible to people living inremote areas for minor issues rangingbetween quarrels, theft, riots, money lend-ing, minor land disputes, etc. People canfile a case for Tk 10 to 20 and can receivecompensation of up to Tk 75,000.

A recent study by BRAC Institute ofGovernance and Development (BIGD)found that for every Tk 1 invested in a vil-lage court, it generates nearly double thatamount (around Tk 1.78) in return. Thereturns multiply 18 times when cases aretransferred from district courts.

Established through the Village CourtOrdinance in 1976, the village court is seenas a unique mechanism of justice delivery,aimed at bringing the vast majority of therural population in Bangladesh under theshelter of law. In the 2000s, the village courtsystem was reformed through the VillageCourt Act 2006, making it a modern-dayrural dispute resolution panel headed usu-ally by the Union Parishad chairman andcomprised of four other members, all nom-inated by the people. Its affordable andaccessible nature makes it preferable tohigher courts, and its legal binding to theordinance and act sets it apart from thecommunity-based traditional dispute reso-lution mechanism conducted by the villageelders where irregularities, such as bribery,elite capture, gender bias, patriarchalnorms, etc., are prevalent.

Recognising the potential of village

courts in promoting justice for all, the gov-ernment initiated a commendable effort torevamp this innovative court system, withtechnical and financial assistance fromUNDP and European Commission. Cur-rently in the second phase of the project(2016-2019), village courts in the projectareas have received 1,12,428 cases as of May2019, out of which 88,346 cases have beenresolved.

To help the village court operate andimplement its own rules and powers in theproject areas, it is supported by a villagecourt assistant (VCA), recruited throughNGOs. Their role in raising awareness iscrucial to the sustainability of the villagecourt system as a whole. Lolita Dutta, 40,who works as a village court assistant at theKendua UP, sees this as a calling for her toguide people in need.

“I was in the market one day when awoman approached me and thanked mefor helping her. I did not recognise her butshe said I had guided her to file a case withvillage court and since then she has beenvery happy. I don’t think I would get thisfeeling of fulfilment in any other job. I mightbe paid more in some other place, butnobody would remember me or think ofme with such affection.”

Once the project ends, there is a planto replace the VCAs with assistant-accoun-tant-cum-computer-operators (AACOs),recruited by the government, who will haveseveral duties at the UP in addition toattending to village court. This will be dras-tically different from the role of VCAs whohelp with building awareness and dissemi-nating advice and information to make fairjustice more accessible. Hence sustainabil-ity of the VC system will depend on how anAACOs will prioritise their village courtduties.

The government would do better toimprove on the role of the VCAs to providepsychosocial training to beneficiaries sothey can retain their knowledge of legalrights longer and actively apply it to theirdaily lives. This is important because thestudy by BIGD found that beneficiaries,who go to the UP complex seeking legaladvice, are unaware of the powers of thevillage court. Training on self-assertiveness

combined with legal knowledge might helpusers to deliberately seek out the services ofvillage court.

The BIGD study identified some morechallenges. Performance depends heavilyon the local administration: if the UP chair-man is proactive in their village court duty,the performance of that court is exemplary.Sadly, most chairmen and UP secretariesfeel overworked and the absence of mone-tary payment for village court duties actsas a major disincentive. But it must be saidthat the chairperson has a social status andpolitical capital in terms of linkages withthe police which is useful in reaching agree-ment and enforcement in dispute resolu-tion.

Introducing soft-skills training or per-formance pays may improve the perfor-mance of UP chairman and also villagecourts; interventions on police in India hasyielded promising results.

The Tk 75,000 monetary cap places amajor limitation as well. Many disputes inthe rural community have to do with landand these cannot always be resolved in vil-lage courts because land property is usuallyworth more than Tk 75,000. A clause shouldbe included in the village court rules to raisethe monetary cap at regular intervals in parwith the rising value of property.

Some of the users complained thatenforcement is weak in village courtsbecause there is no jail time for perpetratorsand UP chairmen fear for their security. Per-petrators often resort to various means(stalling, migration, etc.) to evade payingcompensation, and the chairpersons some-times try to avoid involvement in casesdealing with local politics because votesmatter. So far, this partnership by the gov-ernment with an international develop-ment agency (i.e. UNDP) and nationalNGOs has benefitted in strengthening thevillage court system. Once the project ends,the government, namely the local govern-ment division (LGD), will take full chargeof running the village courts. Question is,whether the achievement of this partner-ship will be sustainable under the sole lead-ership of the government.

The Daily Star/ANN.

Johnson now facesBrexit black hole

NEWS ITEM

B�desh village courts show way

Consignments seized:

Around 13 tonnes of

restricted/prohibited

items worth Rs 52.24 lakh

have been seized from the

cargo complex of the

international airport in

Hyderabad , the Direc-

torate of Revenue Intelli-

gence said on Thursday.

Seven passengers were

being questioned in conn-

ection with the seizure. PTI

Rainfall in T�gana: Telan-

gana has witnessed a 38

per cent deficiency in rain-

fall this season but the

state agriculture depart-

ment is hopeful that the

farm sector may not face

a major problem in view

of the forecast of normal

rainfall in August and Sep-

tember. PTI

THUMBNAILS

A commuter on a bicycleduring heavy rainfall inAmritsar on Thursday.�AFP

Those who are leaving the party are the ones wholack spunk and strength to fight polls on their own

NCP CHIEF SPOKESPERSON NAWAB MALIKAFTER AHIR SWITCHED OVER TO SHIV SENA AHEAD OF THE ASSEMBLY POLLS IN MAHARASHTRA

PTIMUMBAI, 25 JULY

The Bombay High Court onThursday directed its registrydepartment to make arrange-ments on July 30 to film hear-ing of the bail pleas of threesenior doctors, arrested forallegedly abetting the suicideof their junior colleague at acivic-run hospital here.

Justice D S Naidu was hear-ing bail pleas filed by theHema Ahuja, Bhakti Meher andAnkita Khandelwal, arrestedon 29 May for allegedly mak-ing casteist slurs and abettingthe suicide of their colleagueDr Payal Tadvi. Tadvi (26), a sec-ond-year postgraduate med-ical student attached to B Y LNair Hospital, allegedly com-mitted suicide in her hostelroom on 22 May. Justice Naiduon Thursday noted that Sec-tion 15 (a) (10) of the Sched-uled Castes and the ScheduledTribes (Prevention of Atroci-ties) mandates that all pro-ceedings under the act haveto be video recorded by thecourt concerned. The provi-sion was pointed out to thecourt by advocate GunaratanSadavarte, who appeared forthe victim's mother.

While special public pros-ecutor Raja Thakare said it wasa policy matter, advocateAabad Ponda, appearing forthe accused, said the provisionis only for trial proceedings andnot bail hearings. Justice Naidu,however, said the proceedingswould mean all judicial pro-ceedings. “I cannot ignore thestatutory provisions. While Iam sympathetic towards thefact that this would mean adelay in hearing of the bail pleas,but it is also imperative that

the provisions of the act are fol-lowed,” the judge said.

The court then directedthe high court's registry depart-ment to make necessaryarrangements for video-record-ing and posted the bail pleasfor further hearing on 30 July.

Justice Naidu said as ajudge, he was for recording ofcourt proceedings and that heuses his mobile phone torecord audios of arguments oflawyers in important cases.

Ponda, while seeking bail,argued that the accused areeducated persons and notcriminals. “We are not crimi-nals. We know that somethingunfortunate has happenedand a woman has lost her life.But life has to go on. We willface the trial,” Ponda said.

The accused have beensuspended from the Nair hos-pital, he said, adding they justwant to complete their edu-cation and propose to stay outof Mumbai.

Ponda further pointed outthat the chargesheet filed bythe prosecution places relianceon the purported suicide note,the photos of which wererecovered from Tadvi's mobile.

“The suicide note speaksabout harassment meted outwith regard to work. There isno whisper about caste orthat the accused persons maderemarks about the victim'scaste,” Ponda argued.

The three doctors havebeen booked under IPC sec-tions for abetment of suicideand destruction of evidence,and provisions of the Maha-rashtra Prohibition of Rag-ging Act and the ScheduledCastes and the ScheduledTribes (Prevention of Atroci-ties).

Tadvi case: Bombay HC to videorecord accused's bail plea hearing


India's Chandrayaan-2mission, which is on its wayto the Moon, may be upfor a pleasant surprise

when it lands a rover on theunchartered lunar south poleas latest studies suggest thatthere may be way more icewater in the region than pre-viously thought.

The Moon's south poleregion is home to some of themost extreme environmentsin the solar system: it's unimag-inably cold, massively cratered,and has areas that are eitherconstantly bathed in sunlightor in darkness.

This is precisely why NASAsays it wants to send astronautsthere in 2024 as part of itsArtemis programme.

On 22 July, the ISROlaunched Chandrayaan-2 on-board its powerful rocketGSLV-MkIII-M1 from thespaceport of Sriharikota inAndhra Pradesh.

With this, Chandrayaan-2began its historic 48-day jour-ney to the south pole of theMoon, where it will begin itsquest for water. “Moon's southpole region has more shadowthan the north pole region, andthere are possibly some per-

manent shadowed region, forexample, in the craters, calledcold trap,” said Sudip Bhat-tacharyya, associate professorat Mumbai's Tata Institute ofFundamental Research (TIFR).“So it is more likely that water,in the form of ice, and someother volatile elements arepreserved and will be foundin the south pole region, Bhat-tacharyya, who was notinvolved in the studies, Bhat-tacharyya said.

Researchers at the Uni-versity of California, Los Ange-les in the US, describe theirstudy of similarities betweencraters on Mercury and thoseon the Moon. In their paperpublished in the journal NatureGeoscience, they report evi-dence for thick ice depositsinside permanently shad-owed simple craters on Moon.

“We measured thedepth/diameter ratio ofapproximately 2,000 simplecraters near the north pole ofMercury using Mercury LaserAltimeter data. We find thatthese craters become dis-tinctly shallower at higher lat-itudes, where ice is known tohave accumulated on theirfloors, researchers wrote in thepaper. A parallel investiga-tion of about 12,000 lunarcraters using NASA's Lunar

Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)data reveals a similar mor-phological trend near thesouth pole of the Moon, whichthe scientists conclude is alsodue to the presence of thickice deposits.

“We find that previouslydetected surface ice depositsin the south polar region of theMoon are spatially correlatedwith shallow craters, indicat-ing that the surface ice maybe exhumed or linked to thesubsurface via diffusion,”researchers said.

“The family of lunar cratersthat we identify are promis-ing targets for future mis-sions, and may also helpresolve the apparent dis-crepancy between the abun-dance of frozen volatiles onMercury and the Moon, theysaid.

“This is important notonly for water, but also tostudy a fossil record of the earlysolar system, and to understandthe linked history of the Earth-Moon system. Chandrayaan2 lander is supposed to be thefirst to have a soft landing inthis region,” Bhattacharyaadded.

Researchers at NASA's God-dard Space Flight Center in theUS noted that in the most entic-ing feature of this southern-

most region is the craters,some of which never see thelight of day reach their floors.

As a result of the permanentdarkness, LRO has measuredthe coldest temperatures in thesolar system inside thesecraters, which have becomeknown as perfect environ-ments for preserving mater-ial like water for eons, they said.

In a paper published in thejournal Geophysical ResearchLetters, NASA scientists saidthat it turns out that despitetemperature that dips to minus233 degrees Celsius and canpresumably keep frost lockedin soil virtually forever, wateris slowly escaping the topmost,super thin layer of the Moon'ssurface.

“People think of some areasin these polar craters as trap-ping water and that's it,” saidWilliam M Farrell from NASA'sGoddard Space Flight Center.

According to ISRO, a sam-ple of “primeval water” couldpave the way for major find-ings on the origin of water onthe Moon.

Bhattacharya noted that thelander and rover together willhave five types of instrumentsto measure the surface andatmospheric compositions,surface physical propertiesand seismic activities.

UDF seeks probe into PSC row,seizure of univ answer sheetsSTATESMAN NEWS SERVICETHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,26 JULY

Hundreds of Congress-led UDFworkers laid siege to the gov-ernment Secretariat here onThursday, demanding a judi-cial probe into the stabbing inci-dent, seizure of answer sheetsat the University College anda CBI probe into the alleged irreg-ularities in the PSC ranklists.Inaugurating thesiege,Opposition leader RameshChennithala said that thePinarayi Vijayan governmenthas failed in all fronts and thepeople of Kerala are now wit-nessing one of its worst gov-ernments,

“The Pirayi Vijayan gov-ernment is a total failure in allfronts. Chief minister Vijayanhas sabotaged all the inquiriesin the University College vio-lence and in the alleged PSC

irregularities . Is it appropriatefor a popular CM to do that?,"Chennithala said. He said thatas many as 32 people died inpolice atrocities in the state inthe last three years. “The policehave beaten up Youth Congressmembers, now they have evenbeaten up the leaders of CPI,which is a constituent in theruling left front .If the CPI hasany integrity and self-pride, theyshould open up against this,”he said KPCC president Mul-lapallyRamachandran, whoaddressed the workers said thatthe present LDF governmentis the weakest the state has everwitnessed.

“The state government hasbeen destroying constitution-al institutions in the same waythat the NarendraModi gov-ernment is doing at the Cen-tre,”Mullapally said.Formerchief minister Oomen Chandysaid the government instead

of correcting its wrong doings,going on repeating the wrongsand the CM is justifyingthem."The government isrepeating it's wrong doingsand the CM is justifying them,"he said.

In a clash between twogroups of SFI students at Uni-versity College here, AkhilChan-dran, a third-year BA studentwas stabbed two weeksback.The Kerala police haverecovered bundles of plainanswer sheets of universityand the seal of director, Phys-ical Education, when theysearched the house of Shiv-aranjith, the main accused inthe stabbing case. It was foundthat in the police rank list pub-lished by Kerala PSC recently,Sivaranjith, stood in the firstrank, Naseem another accused,bagged the 28th rank. P PPranav, another SFI leader isplaced second in the list.

AHMEDABAD, 25 JULY

Dismissed IPS officer SanjivBhatt, who was last monthconvicted by a Jamnagarcourt for a custodial death in1990, has challenged his con-viction in the Gujarat HighCourt.

Bhatt had shot to overnightlimelight by his sensationaldisclosure that Gujarat’s topleaders had asked the localpolice to “allow Hindus to venttheir anger” after the 2002Godhra train inferno killed58 people.

Following his testimoniesbefore various commissionsregarding complicity of thetop leadership in the post-Godhra riots, the controver-sial IPS officer was finallysacked in 2015 after under-going a series of transfers andsuspensions.

Bhatt was sentenced to lifeimprisonment last monthby a Sessions Court in Jam-nagar in a three-decade-oldcustodial death of a persondetained following a riot inJam Jodhpur town of thedistrict. As the newly postedAssistant SP in Jamnagar,Bhatt had detained nearly 150people following a commu-nal riot in Jam Jodhpur townin 1990 soon after the Som-nath to Ayodhya Rath Yatraled by BJP stalwart L K Advanihas passed by.

Though all the detainedpeople were released later on,one of them Prabhudas Vaish-nani died in a hospital afterfew days. The deceased’sbrother had lodged a FIRagainst Sanjiv Bhatt allegingtorture in detention. Six otherpolicemen were also beennamed in the FIR.

Though the Gujarat Gov-ernment of different huesrefused to sanction Bhatt’sprosecution for the deathfor more than two decades,the sanction was grantedquickly just after the uprightIPS officer testified beforeprobe panels about the topleaders’ complicity in the2002 riots.

The Jamnagar SessionsCourt last month convictedBhatt for the custodial tortureand sentenced him to lifeimprisonment. Bhatt is cur-rently behind the bars fol-lowing his arrest last year ina 23-year-old case of allegeddrug planting during histenure as SP of Banaskanthain north Gujarat. SNS

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE HYDERABAD, 25 JULY

The Andhra Pradesh Leg-islative Assembly passed theAndhra Pradesh Crop Culti-vator Rights Bill, 2019 whichwill allow tenant farmers toavail facilities like crop insur-ance, bank loans withoutaffecting the rights of theland owners.

The government decidedto bring the legislation on thebasis of the grievances voicedby tenant farmers and theirfamilies during the padaya-tra of chief minister YS JaganMohan Reddy. Most of thesops and incentives provid-ed by the state governmentcannot be availed by tenantfarmers because they do nothave ownership of land andthe legislation is aimed at fill-ing that lacunae. Accordingto revenue minister Pilli Sub-ash Chandra Bose this willbenefit the tenant farmerswithout affecting absenteelandlords. It will also evokeconfidence among land own-ers about the title of their plotsbut will not stop tenant farm-ers from getting bank loans,input and other subsidies. TheCrop Cultivator's Rights Cardwill not affect the title of theland owner.

Whenever, the state gov-ernment announces anymove for the farmers thetenant farmers usually are leftout from availing the sops.Even when farm land is

acquired from owners, the ten-ant farmers often fail to getcompensation or jobs eventhough their livelihood isdependent on the said land.

Meanwhile, chief minis-ter YS Jagan Mohan Reddy saidthat the government's moveto renegotiate Power Pur-chase Agreements (PPAs)with renewable energy pro-ducers is aimed at ensuringcompetitive prices and thestate government intends topass on the benefit to con-sumers. Former CM N Chan-drababu Naidu had describedit as a disastrous move andthe Centre has also advisedthe state government againstrenegotiations. The new gov-ernment has alleged there hasbeen huge scams in PPAsduring the TDP regime.

Sacked IPSchallenges hisconvictionin 1990 case

Assembly passes AP CropCultivator Rights Bill 2019

Moon's south pole region is home to some of the most extreme environments in the solar system

Four TDP MLAs suspended

from Assembly for a day:

Four members of the

opposition TDP were sus-

pended from the Andhra

Pradesh Assembly for a

day as they tried to dis-

rupt proceedings of the

House. Velagapudi Ramakr-

ishna Babu, Vasupalli

Ganesh Kumar, Bendalam

Ashok and D Bala Veeran-

janeyulu were suspended

from the House and Mar-

shals evicted them after

legislative affairs minister

Buggana Rajendranath

moved a motion for their

suspension for the day. PTI

Kanwariyaas on journey to seek blessings from Lord Shiva, in Delhi on Thursday. SNS

PATH TO FAITH


Water bounty may awaitChandrayaan-2 mission

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Prasad asked the Oppo-sition not to see the proposedlegislation through the prismof politics or religion, andallayed fears that it could bemisused. He said three newprovisions have been incor-porated in the bill, which are:only a close relative of the vic-tim can file a case, there isan option of compromise anda magistrate can give bail tothe accused after hearingthe victim.

Earlier, intervening in thedebate, Minority Affairs Min-ister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvisaid the country was suffer-ing because of the "sin"committed by the Congressin 1986. "On May 5, 1986 therewas a very important verdictof Supreme Court on therights of Muslim women. Inthis house......(in) 1986 inorder to make this verdictineffective the governmentat that time came out witha law," the minister said,referring to the Shahbanocase. NDA ally JD-U strong-ly opposed the Bill and saidthe proposed Bill will "cre-ate a lack of trust in themind of society". JD-U mem-ber Rajiv Ranjan Singh saidgovernment should do all thatis necessary to create "aware-ness among the people of thiscommunity (minority)".

AIMIM MP AsaduddinOwaisi also hit out at the gov-ernment and said the bill wasnot in favour of Muslimwomen. “If the husband isjailed how will a husband paymaintenance from jail. Andwhy should a woman stay insuch a marriage for threeyears while the husband isin jail,” he asked.

DMK leader K Kanimozhisaid, “Though women arelesser in number in theHouse, bills are being broughtin for women. When will theWomen's Reservation Billcome? When will the bill bebrought against honourkillings, mob lynchings?”

BJP leader Poonam Maha-jan hit out at the Oppositionand said they should listento the plight of Muslim peo-ple. "We should also listento those ten million womenwho have signed the petitionin support of this (TripleTalaq) bill. Society changesover time and the ritualsshould also be changed. Weare sitting here to bringabout change in society,"she said.

A ruckus ensued in the LokSabha after Samajwadi PartyMP Azam Khan made a con-troversial comment on RamaDevi, a BJP MP who wasofficiating in the Speaker'sChair, following which themembers of the House

demanded an apology fromthe MP. Speaker Om Birlarebuked Khan and askedhim to immediately apolo-gise.

Opposing the bill, RSPmember N K Premachandrasaid the bill has been broughtwith an "ulterior politicalmotive to target the Muslimcommunity" and "specificpolitical agenda of theBJP"."You are bringing the billon the basis of the minori-ty judgement of the court. Ifyou have so much of concern,why don't you bring a leg-islation to end the incidentsof mob lynching. What isyour stand on Sarbarimalatemple?" he asked.

Premachandran said theordinance on the subjectwas a "fraud on the Consti-tution" as a civil matter isbeing converted into a crim-inal matter. "How can a jailedhusband give compensa-tion to the wife," he said. Healso said there is no provi-sion of imprisonment fordivorce in Hindu and Chris-tian communities.

"This is not a move to pro-tect Muslim women but toharass Muslim husbands," hesaid. Three ordinances haveso been promulgated as asimilar bill moved by theprevious government couldnot get parliamentary nod,he added.

LS passes triple talaq Bill...

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

The secretariat staff of theRajya Sabha had by then col-lected the members’ slips andthe Deputy Chairmanannounced the result althoughthe major Opposition parties hadalready vacated the chamber.The House had to adopt the slipsystem because members havenot been allotted their seats afterthe change in the House com-position following the entry ofnew members. With seat allot-ments, voting can take place elec-tronically. The Bill moved for con-sideration of the House by Per-sonnel Minister Jitendra Singh

was discussed after severaladjournments as the Opposi-tion leaders including DerekO’Brien (Trinamul Congress),M V Rajeev Gowda (Congress)and others insisted on dispos-al of their motions for sendingthe Bill to a Select Committee’sscrutiny. The Opposition, promi-nently Abhishek Singhvi (Con-gress), Javed Ali Khan (Sama-jwadi Party), Jairam Ramesh(Congress), O’Brien, K K Ragesh(CPI-M), R S Bharathi (DMK)insisted the Bill was meant todilute the institution of right toinformation as the governmentfound it increasingly inconve-nient. RJD member Manoj

Kumar Jha, AAP’s Sanjay Singhand MDMK’s Vaiko, who tookoath as member only this morn-ing, were in the well of theHouse along with the otherOpposition parties shoutingslogans. The Deputy Chair-man ruled there were precedentswhen the Bill and the motionto refer it to a Select Commit-tee were discussed together,although the Select Committeemotion could be voted first.Members alleged the RTI Act wasforcing the Government to partwith information which it want-ed to hide, and therefore anamendment was brought to cur-tail the stature of the ChiefInformation Commissionerand Information Commis-sioners.

Parl approves RTI amendment

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICECHANDIGARH, 25 JULY

Terming drugs a nationalproblem, the second jointconference of Chief Minis-ters of the northern states onThursday decided to set up ajoint working group, involvingofficials of the health andsocial justice departments ofall states, to share experiencesand best practices in theirrespective campaigns againstdrugs.

The states expressed con-cern over the inflow of drugsfrom Pakistan, Afghanistan,Nigeria and other countries,and called for closer collabo-ration to battle the menace andmake the region ‘Nasha Mukt’(free of drugs).

In a joint statement issuedat the end of the conference,the CM’s of Punjab, Rajasthan,Haryana, Himachal Pradeshand Uttarakhand, joined by topofficials from Delhi, Jammu andKashmir and Chandigarh,agreed on a series of measuresto eradicate the drugs scourgefrom the region.

These included joint oper-ations at the inter-state bor-ders, information sharing andimplementation of the bestpractices of the participatingstates. There was consensusamong the states on the impor-

tance of strengthening theinformation sharing mecha-nism on drugs and drug deal-ers and smugglers, for a moreeffective crackdown againstthem. It was also agreed thatall the states would launchmajor awareness programsand strive to make eradicationof drugs a peoples’ move-ment.

The conference recogniseddrugs as a national problem,requiring collective efforts ofall the states for its successfuleradication. It proposed, there-fore, to jointly press for aNational Drugs Policy in orderto effectively tackle the men-ace. It agreed to consideropening of a regional trainingcentre for training of investi-gators for proper investigationof NDPS cases at Chandigarh.The states also agreed to takeup with the Union governmenta proposal to establish aRegional Drug DependenceTreatment Centre in Chandi-garh region, on the lines ofNational Drug DependenceTreatment Centre (NDDTC)AIIMS, New Delhi.

“We believe that theseefforts will go a long way in erad-icating this scourge from theregion, thus protecting ouryouth and our future genera-tions, and ensuring a safe,secure and healthy society,” said

the joint statement. The statesfurther said they were com-mitted to “continuing andstrengthening the process ofconsultation and coopera-tion, to collaborate even moreclosely and actively for mak-ing the region ‘Nasha Mukt’.”

At the conference, PunjabCM Amarinder Singh under-scored the growing threatfrom ISI’s narco terrorismgame-plan. Haryana CMManohar Lal Khattar called fora comprehensive joint pro-gramme to tackle the problemof drugs, which he describedas a social rather than a polit-ical issue. Rajasthan CM AshokGehlot supported Amarinder’sdemand for a National DrugsPolicy, he called for strongsteps to destroy the paralleleconomy being run by drugsmugglers.

Himachal Pradesh CMJairam Thakur also called fora policy/plan to furtherstrengthen the efforts of thenorthern states, with a pub-lic movement to create aware-ness and reverse the trend.Uttarakhand Chief MinisterTrivendra Singh Rawat was ofthe opinion that the awarenesscampaign against drugs shouldbe made a part of school edu-cation, especially in view of thegrowing use of women and chil-dren as couriers.

Northern states to set upjoint group for info sharing


Moody's Investors Servicetoday said the proposedamendments to the Insol-vency and Bankruptcy Codewill improve its effectivenessand are credit-positive forIndian banks.

The government last weekcleared seven amendmentsto the Insolvency and Bank-ruptcy Code (IBC) seeking toput in place a 330-day dead-line for corporate resolutionprocess, including litigationand other judicial processes,as well as make resolution planbinding on all stakeholders.

“The amendment pro-poses that cases referred tothe IBC should be resolvedwithin 330 days, includingappeals, a credit positive forIndian banks because it willreduce resolution timelines,”Moody's said.

The rating agency saidcases in the IBC have takenmuch longer to resolve thanthe originally envisaged 270days, in large part because con-cerned parties have repeat-edly appealed to higher courts.

The proposed amend-ments aim to improve thecode's effectiveness, andthree of the proposals havecredit-positive implicationsfor Indian banks, Moody's said.

The amendments also givethe committee of creditorsexplicit authority over thedistribution of proceeds in theresolution process, therebymaintaining the acceptedhierarchy of creditors.

Moody's said in a recentjudgment in the case of EssarSteel, the insolvency courtoverruled the decision of thecommittee of creditors andstated that the resolution's pro-ceeds should be equally dis-

tributed among all claimants,putting secured creditors onthe same level as unsecuredand operational creditors.

Essar Steel is the largestnon-performing asset accountcurrently in the IBC process,and the ruling could havehad material implicationsfor the recoveries of the banksinvolved, it added.

“The case could also haveset a precedent for upendingthe accepted creditor hierarchybecause Indian banks pre-dominantly engage in securedlending. The amendment willbe applied with retroactiveeffect and will strengthen thecase of secured creditors in

the Essar Steel resolution,”Moody's said.

It further said the thirdamendment states that incases where the creditorsinclude homebuyers, thecommittee of creditors canapprove the resolution processas long as more than 50 percent of the homebuyers on thecommittee give their approval.

“This amendment is cred-it positive for Indian banksbecause it will facilitate theresolution of real estate pro-jects. Under the IBC, home-buyers in a real estate projectare treated on a par withsecured creditors, whichmeans that their approval isrequired before the commit-tee can approve the resolu-tion plan,” Moody's said.

Because homebuyers in alarge project are likely to berelatively numerous, obtain-ing the approval of all theaffected homebuyers hasproved a logistical challenge.

“With the proposedchange, only the approval ofa majority of those present willbe required for the resolutionto be approved,” Moody'sadded.


Homegrown auto major TataMotors today reported a con-solidated net loss of Rs3,679.66 crore for the firstquarter ended 30 June 2019,hit by lower sales in China andIndia.

The company, which hadposted a net loss of Rs 1,862.57crore in the year-ago quar-ter, said its profitability wasalso impacted by higher mar-keting expenses and dis-counts in the wake of the slow-down in automotive market.

Consolidated total rev-enue during the period underreview stood at Rs 61,466.99crore as against Rs 66,701.05crore in the correspondingperiod of the last fiscal.

British arm Jaguar LandRover (JLR) reported a pre-tax loss of £395 million ascompared to £264 million lossin the same period a year ago.During the quarter, JLR report-ed 11.6 per cent decline in itsglobal retail sales at 1,28,615units.

On a standalone basis,

Tata Motors said its net lossfor the quarter was at Rs97.10 crore as against a netprofit of Rs 1,187.65 crore inthe year-ago period. Its whole-sales (including exports)decreased by 22.7 per cent to1,36,705 units during thequarter.

Commenting on the per-formance for the quarter,Tata Motors Group chieffinancial officer P B Balaji saidthe loss of volumes resultedin a significant negative oper-ating leverage in the business.

“Two places where thevolume drops have hap-pened significantly are inChina and India...It is fair tosay that the market drop hasbeen very significant andthat is one of the primary rea-sons for that (the loss),” hesaid in a conference callwhen asked about the causefor loss in the quarter.

He further said, the sec-ond impact on the bottom-line was “the higher level ofcompetitive intensity andhigher level of VMEs (variablemarketing expenses) bothin JLR and in India”.

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICEMUMBAI, 25 JULY

Expiry of futures and optionsor F&O derivatives series forJuly was accompanied byvolatile trade in equities inDalal Street today, the lastThursday of the month.

In morning deals, the 30-share Sensitive Index of theBombay Stock Exchange andthe 50-scrip Nifty of the Nation-al Stock Exchange surged onstrong short-covering bytraders, but the rally could notbe sustained as the two bench-marks lost steam by the after-noon.

The Sensex and the Niftythat were up at 38,169.87(+322.22) points and 11,361.40(+90.19) points, respectively,gave away their intra-day

gains to slip into red terrainin mid-session. The bench-marks, however, again regainedupside momentum in linewith key Asian markets. Afterups and downs, the bench-marks finally closed flat.

The volatile trading sessionended with the Sensex clos-ing at 37,830.98 points, down16.67 points or 0.04 per cent.In the Sensex pack, 16 stocksadvanced while 14 sharesdeclined. The Nifty finishedat 11,252.15 points, register-ing a decline of 19.15 pointsor 0.17 per cent. In the Niftypack, 22 shares moved up, 27were down and one shareremained unchanged. TheNifty Bank settled at 29,043.05points, showing an increaseof 90.80 points or 0.31 per cent.

Gainers in the BSE bench-

mark today included SunPharma at Rs 436.45, up 2.53per cent; IndusInd Bank at Rs1,394.00, up 2.39 per centand Axis Bank at Rs 724.75, up1.92 per cent. Bajaj Financeended 4.23 per cent down at

Rs 3,038.00.Another reason for initial

positive rally in stock indiceswas a Reuters opinion poll thatindicated that the ReserveBank of India is "all set" to lowerits short-term lending rate

or repo rate by 25 basis pointsor 0.25 per cent. RBI's mon-etary policy committee orMPC will announced next bi-monthly credit policy on 7August. The Governor hasalso hinted that MPC's

"accommodative" stancewould continue as the centralbank is committed to supportthe government's steps tofacilitate economic growth.

Apart from rate cut, mar-ket participants are also inter-ested to know the details ofDr Bimal Jalan panel's rec-ommendations on the quan-tum of cash that could be trans-ferred to the government cof-fers. Dalal Street buzz suggeststhe panel appears to be infavour of such transfer.

Dr Jalan, a former RBIGovernor, has also spoken infavour of the government'smove to raise $10 billion viaissuance of external sovereignbonds of long duration. Hesaid: "At the moment, we arein a fortunate position...ourdebt to GDP ratio is not very

high so foreign borrowing, ifit is in long term, which it wouldbe, is not a problem; besidesIndia's foreign exchangereserves are also high."

Markets expect a bigannouncement by the MPCat its 7 August media briefing.Analysts say it would easethe pressure of higher fiscaldeficit in FY 2019-20 as the gov-ernment is exploring alloptions to raise revenue sincethe economy for the last fouryears is purely driven by gov-ernment's capex or capitalexpenditure in the absence ofa supportive private capex bycorporate India and others.

Analysts say this is onemajor reason that drove thegovernment to sell 30-yeartenure bonds to raise $10 bil-lion this fiscal.

Tata Motorsreports loss of`3,679 cr in Q1

Equity indices fail to sustain early momentum

The government last week cleared seven amendments to the Code

IBC amendment plancredit positive: Moody�s

KOLKATA, 25 JULY

The flood-like situation inNorth Bengal which accountsfor an annual production of200 million kg of tea hasaffected crop volumes to theextent of 15 per cent in July,according to a senior ITA offi-cial.

Secretary general of Indi-an Tea Association (ITA), theapex body of tea planters ofnorth India, Mr Arijit Raha said:“15 per cent of the crop hasalready been lost in NorthBengal due to flood like situ-ation”.

He said that the annual pro-duction volumes in NorthBengal was to the tune of 200 million kg, adding that 15 per cent of that was beingproduced in normal weath-er conditions in the month ofJuly itself. PTI

15% tea productionin N Bengal lostduring July: ITA

PRESS TRUST OF INDIAMUMBAI, 25 JULY

The government measures toprovide partial credit guar-antee to public sector bankson their asset purchases fromNBFCs can ease fundingpressure only for the short-term, says a report.

In the Budget, the gov-ernment had said for purchaseof high-rated pooled assetsof financially-sound NBFCs,amounting to Rs 1 trillion dur-ing the current financial year,it will provide a one-time sixmonths' partial credit guar-antee to public sector banksfor their first loss of up to 10per cent.

The step, however, does notaddress investors' long-term

concerns about the expo-sure of NBFCs to stressed realestate, rating agency Fitch saidin a report today. “The guar-antee is more than enoughto cover typical losses. The gov-ernment will cover up to Rs1 trillion of issuance. We esti-mate that this will cover theirliquidity needs for about sixmonths,” the agency said.

The provision refers onlyto financially-sound NBFCs,which suggests that weakerentities in need of funds maystill have to fend for them-selves, it noted. The fundingstress has been most severefor wholesale financiers,smaller NBFCs and fintechs,which have struggled to geteven bank funds, while largeNBFCs still have good access

to funding, albeit at a risingcost, the report said.

The government hasreferred to a six-month peri-od but it is not clear whetherthis relates just to how longthe scheme is open for or alsoto the duration of coveragefor each transaction, it said.

“A guarantee for only thefirst six months following atransaction would do little toencourage buyers and wetherefore assume that theguarantee will apply for thefull life of the assets pur-chased,” the agency said.

The report however saidNBFCs will benefit morefrom the Rs 70,000 crorerecapitalisation of state-owned banks, which willincrease their capacity to

lend more. Investor confi-dence in the NBFC sectorcould also be boosted by apotential asset-quality reviewof wholesale non-bankinglenders, leading to greatertransparency and more robustcapital requirements.

“However, if an asset-quality review uncovers largeunder-reporting of NPAs, likein the case of banks, it mightend up bringing things to ahead by making clear toinvestors which entities havethe biggest issues,” it said.

No review has been con-firmed, but market specula-tion about the possibility ofone has increased with hous-ing finance companies mov-ing under the regulatoryambit of the RBI, it noted.

Liquidity steps for NBFCs toolittle, too short-term: Fitch


The government has decid-ed to launch within a montha portal on the lines of Aliba-ba in China and Amazon inthe US for selling productsmanufactured by small indus-tries, MSME minister NitinGadkari said in the Lok Sabhatoday.

He expressed confidencethat it will generate a turnoverof Rs 10 lakh crore in the nexttwo years of its launch.

It will provide a goodopportunity to the MSMEsector which contributes sig-nificantly in job generationand promoting growth of thecountry, Mr Gadkari said inthe Lok Sabha during Ques-tion Hour.

Like what Alibaba hasdone to China's growth andAmazon in the US, India hasalso decided to have a por-

tal dedicated to the MSME sec-tor, he said.

“We have also decided tolaunch a portal for promotionof MSME... we have alsotalked to GeM (Governmente-Market place) and I have alsodiscussed with Mr PiyushGoyal (commerce and indus-try minister). We are launch-ing a new portal for MSME.It will be launched in a month,”he said. The minister fur-ther said that banks havesanctioned 36,000 loans underthe 'psbloansin59minutes'portal.

Initially it was taking time,he said, adding “it is ourendeavour to reduce the timetaken for disbursement”.

With regard to loans givento micro, small & medium

enterprises (MSME), Mr Gad-kari said bank credit to the sec-tor has increased from Rs10.70 lakh crore at the end ofMarch 2017 to Rs 14.97 lakhcrore in March 2019.

He said the governmenthas taken several steps topromote MSME sector includ-ing 2 per cent interest sub-vention provided they haveUdyog Aadhaar Number(UAN) and GST registration.

Besides, he said, publicprocurement policy man-dates the Central ministriesand PSUs to take at least 25per cent of annual procure-ment from MSEs in place of20 per cent stipulated earli-er.

He also said that the gov-ernment has adopted Clus-ter Development Approachas a key strategy for enhanc-ing productivity, competi-tiveness and capacity build-ing of MSEs.

MSME portal likely in amonth: Gadkari


WhatsApp, which has over 400million users of its messag-ing service in India, plans toroll out its much-awaitedpayments service in the coun-try later this year, more thana year after it began testingthe offering here.

The Facebook-ownedcompany has been testing its payments service in thecountry since last year withabout a million users, butcould not launch full-fledgedservices as it has been awaiting regulatory appro-vals.

Speaking at an event heretoday, WhatsApp global headWill Cathcart said the com-pany's vision is to make send-ing money as easy as send-ing messages on the plat-form.

“We built payments based

on the UPI standard, partneredwith banks here in India... Webelieve that if we did thisright, it will accelerate finan-cial inclusion and bring morepeople in India's fast-grow-ing digital economy. We can't wait to provide the ser-vice to more of our users allacross India later this year,”he said.

Mr Cathcart, however, didnot clarify whether the com-pany has received a go-aheadfrom the regulator and pol-icymakers on the plannedlaunch.

WhatsApp's service, whichwould compete against thelikes of Paytm, PhonePe andGoogle Pay, is yet to be rolledout nationally in India. Thecompany, which has over 1.5billion users globally, is look-ing at rolling out paymentsservice in other markets aswell.

WhatsApp's ambitious

payment services' blueprintin India has been caught ina bind over concerns aroundauthentication and its datastorage practices. In the past,its home-grown rivals havealleged that WhatsApp's pay-ment platform has securityrisks for consumers and is notin compliance with the guide-lines.

In October last year, What-sApp said it had developed asystem to store payments-related data in India as partof compliance with the reg-ulator Reserve Bank of India'spolicy on storing such datalocally.

In May this year, WhatsApptold the Supreme Court thatits trial run was likely to becompleted by July, and thatit would not launch pay-ments services in India without fully complying withthe central bank regula-tions.

WhatsApp to roll outpayments service soon


German luxury car makerBMW is evaluating optionsof launching new products,including electric vehicles,in India in next few years, atop official said today.

The company, whichtoday introduced two mod-els ~ all new sports activityvehicle X7 and new versionof 7 Series sedan ~ in thecountry, however, addedthat the new product launch-es would depend on marketconditions.

“We have around fiveproducts planned for thecoming years. Which one ofthose is better for India or atwhat time the launch willhappen, I don't know,” BMW

Group India president Hans-Christian Baertels said.

BMW plans newmodels for India

THUMBNAILS

Assocham plea: Industry

body Assocham on Thurs-

day sought inclusion of

petroleum products in GST

and subsuming of some

local and state taxes like

stamp duty. �The two-year

period for keeping petro-

leum products outside GST

is almost over. Also, these

products being outside

GST lead to increase in

cost for businesses. There-

fore, these products

should be brought under

GST,� stated a memoran-

dum by the chamber to

the GST Council. PTI

Cipla buy: Drug firm Cipla

has said its arm Cipla USA

Inc has acquired prescrip-

tion drug Zemdri, used for

the treatment of compli-

cated urinary tract infec-

tions, from Achaogen Inc.

Cipla USA has acquired

worldwide rights of Zem-

dri, excluding Greater

China, with its allied assets

and limited liabilities, Cipla

said. PTI

JSW Steel on Bhushan:

JSW Steel chairman Sajjan

Jindal on Thursday said

the company will not with-

draw from or reduce the

bid amount for Bhushan

Power & Steel (BPSL), but

reiterated the call for

immunity from future liti-

gations against the scam-

tainted firm. JSW Steel,

which has submitted a

successful Rs 19,300-crore

bid to take over Bhushan

Power & Steel, has

approached the NCLT for

relief following two fraud

cases filed by PNB and

Allahabad Bank against

the company. PTI

Video conference: Avaya,

a global leader in solutions

to enhance and simplify

communications and col-

laboration, has unveiled

cloud-based video confer-

encing and collaboration

service. Avaya IX Collabo-

ration Unit CU360 and

Avaya Equinox Meetings

Online (AEMO) promises to

turn any workplace into a

video collaboration room,

says a Press release. SNS

Strategic pact: In a major

strategic decision to mon-

etise their public perfor-

mance and radio rights

across India, SVF Entertain-

ment has signed an exclu-

sive agreement with PPL

(Phonographic Perfor-

mance Ltd). Mr Rajat

Kakar, CEO & MD of PPL

India said in a statement:

"The agreement takes us

to No.1 position in the

East Indian market." SNS

Rallis India: Rallis India Ltd,

a Tata Enterprise and a

leading agro sciences com-

pany, on Thursday

announced the launch of

two new products for rice

crops in West Bengal ~

Zygant 0.7% Gr and Ayaan

48% WG. Farmers will ben-

efit from better crop

health and yield with

these new products from

the company, said a Press

release. SNS

Ambuja profit: Ambuja

Cement has reported a

21.51 per cent increase in

its consolidated net profit

at Rs 831.75 crore for the

quarter ended 30 June,

helped by higher realisa-

tions and cost saving. PTI

NEW DELHI, 25 JULY

State-owned MTNL todaysaid its director Sunil Kumarhas been given additionalcharge of chairman and man-aging director of the compa-ny.

Mr Kumar is currentlydirector (human resources andenterprise business) at MTNLand takes over from Mr P KPurwar who was recentlyappointed chairman andmanaging director of BSNL.

“Government has entrust-ed the additional charge of thepost of CMD, MTNL, to MrSunil Kumar, director(HR&EB)... with effect from24 July 2019 for a period upto 14 October 2019 or until fur-ther orders or till the appoint-ment of regular incumbentwhichever is the earliest andaccordingly... Mr Kumar hastaken over the charge ofCMD,” MTNL said in a regu-latory filing. PTI

Kumar givenadditionalcharge as MTNLchairman

MUMBAI, 25 JULY

The rupee depreciated by 6paise to close at 69.04 againstthe US dollar today amid sus-tained foreign fund outflowsand firm crude oil prices.

Prolonged weakness in thedomestic equity markets anda strengthening greenbackfurther weighed on the localunit, forex traders said.

At the interbank foreignexchange market, the rupeeopened at 68.99 and went onto touch the day's high of68.92 against the US dollar. Thelocal currency, however, failedto sustain the gains and slippedto a low of 69.07, before final-ly finishing at 69.04, down by6 paise against its previousclose. PTI

Rupee skidsfor 4th day;down 6 paise

�The Nifty finished at 11,252.15 points, registeringa decline of 19.15 points or 0.17 per cent

VOLATILE TRADE

�The Sensex and the Nifty that were up at 38,169.87 (+322.22)points and 11,361.40 (+90.19) points, respectively, gave awaytheir intra-day gains to slip into red terrain in mid-session

�The volatile trading session ended with the Sensexclosing at 37,830.98 points, down 16.67 points or 0.04per cent

We are happy to announce that HPCL is nowa strategic investor in our company as well

MAXSON LEWISMAGENTA POWER MANAGING DIRECTOR

A portal on the linesof Alibaba in Chinaand Amazon in the US

AMENDMENT HIGHLIGHTS�The amendment propos-es that cases referred to theIBC should be resolved with-in 330 days, includingappeals, a creditpositive for Indi-an banks becauseit will reduce res-olution timelines,Moody's said

� With the proposedchange, only the approvalof a majority of those pre-

sent will be requiredfor the resolution

to be approved

NEW DELHI, 25 JULY

Bank of Baroda today report-ed a consolidated net profitof Rs 826.13 crore for theJune quarter of 2019-20 finan-cial year. This is the lender'sfirst earnings announcementafter it merged Dena Bank andVijaya Bank with itself.

In the year-ago same peri-od, Bank of Baroda's consol-idated net profit was at Rs645.71 crore.

Total income during thequarter under review stoodat Rs 22,056.95 crore. It wasRs 13,729.50 crore in the year-ago period, the bank said ina regulatory filing.

On standalone basis, thebank's net profit was Rs 709.87crore in the June quarter offiscal 2019-20. In the samequarter of the last fiscal, theprofit was Rs 528.26 crore.

Income in April-June 2019-20 stood at Rs 20,860.90 crore.In the year-ago period, thestandalone income was atRs 12,787.71 crore.

The June quarter results arenot comparable with the year-ago period because of theamalgamation of the lenders.Bank of Baroda's gross non-performing assets (NPAs) onstandalone basis were at 10.28per cent of gross advances ason 30 June 2019. PTI

BoB firstquarter profitat `826 crore

NEW DELHI, FRIDAY 26 JULY 2019 11

BMW group India presidentHans-Christian Baertels duringthe launch of new BMW 7 seriesin Gurugram on Thursday SNS

NEW DELHI, FRIDAY 26 JULY 2019

Tunisia president dies:

Tunisian President Beji

Caid Essebsi, the North

African country's first

democratically elected

leader, died Thursday at

the age of 92, his office

said. The veteran politi-

cian, the oldest head of

state after Britain's Queen

Elizabeth II, came to

power in 2014. AFP

Pakistan to send its 1st

person into space in

2022: Pakistan will send

its first person to space

in 2022, the country's

Minister for Science and

Technology Fawad

Chaudhry announced on

Thursday. Chaudhry took

to Twitter saying the

selection process to send

the first Pakistani into

space will begin from

February 2020. "Fifty

people will be shortlisted

- list will then come down

to 25 and in 2022, we will

send our first person to

space," he said. IANS

A dog runs through waterin Camber Sands, Englandon Friday, during a heat-wave in Britain. AFP

CITY MAX(°C) MIN(°C)

SINGAPORE 32 28 HHONG KONG 33 28 HTOKYO 31 25 HLONDON 37 20 SDUBAI 37 32 HSAN FRANCISCO 18 14 CLNEW YORK 31 21 HMOSCOW 20 15 R

S= sunny, CL= clear,H=hazy, R= rainy...

WEATHER

THUMBNAILS

12I think Robert Mueller did a horrible job, both todayand with respect to the investigation.

US PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMPAFTER ROBERT MUELLER CONCLUDED TESTIMONIES BEFORE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES

LONDON, 25 JULY

Iran’s seizure and continueddetention of a UK-flaggedtanker deals Boris Johnson animmediate loyalty test: Britain'snew prime minister may haveto choose between Gulf escortsled by Europe or the UnitedStates.

Which way Johnson leanscould set the tone for a com-plex agenda that includeswithdrawing from the EU,striking a trade deal with theUS, and maintaining or break-ing European efforts to keepalive the deal curbing Iran'snuclear ambitions.

Some US commentatorssee this is a make-or-breakmoment for Europe's policyon Iran as a whole.

“Johnson could simplyannounce that the UK is join-ing America's maximum-pressure campaign and callsfor a new (Iran nuclear) deal,”the editorial board of TheWall Street Journal wrote.

The idea of a European-ledmission in the Gulf is carriedover from a meeting chairedby Johnson's predecessorTheresa May this week.

Britain has proposed thatFrance, Germany and otherEuropean partners join togeth-er in a “naval protection mis-sion” to ensure commercialships can safely navigate in theGulf.

But such an operationwould expose Britain's con-tinued reliance on EU alliesat the very same time that John-son is determined to yank hiscountry out of the bloc on 31October, “no ifs or buts”.

Alternatively, Johnson couldinstead sign Britain up to a US-led alliance outlined by Don-ald Trump's administration atNATO last month. AFP

Johnson urges EU rethink on Brexit dealNew British PM , who has less than 100 days to make good on his promise to deliver Brexit by 31 October, pledges to adopt a new approach

Iran posesloyalty test for�British Trump�Johnson

ASSOCIATED PRESSLONDON, 25 JULY

British Prime MinisterBoris Johnson hascalled on the Euro-pean Union to

“rethink” its refusal to rene-gotiate the Brexit deal, as he pledged tothrow all his energy into making sure Britain leaves the bloc on time on 31October.

Addressing a rowdy sessionof Parliament for the first timesince becoming prime min-ister, Johnson pledged Thurs-day to take a new approach.Rejecting the withdrawalagreement negotiated by hispredecessor, Theresa May, heinsisted that while he want-ed a deal, the country was bet-ter prepared than widelybelieved to leave without one.

“I hope that the EU will beequally ready and that they willrethink their current refusal tomake any changes to the With-drawal Agreement,” he said.“If they do not, we will, ofcourse, have to leave, the UK,without an agreement.”

Johnson has less than 100days to make good on hispromise to deliver Brexit by 31October after what he called“three years of unfoundedself-doubt” under May’s gov-ernment.

Yet Britain will struggle toget the bloc’s full attention dur-ing August, a sleepy holidayperiod in much of Europe.

The EU is adamant it willnot renegotiate the agree-ment struck with May on theterms of Britain’s departure andthe framework of future rela-tions. Without it, Britain facesa chaotic Brexit that economistswarn would disrupt trade byimposing tariffs and customschecks between Britain and thebloc, send the value of thepound plummeting and plungethe UK into recession.

Nonetheless, Johnson isbulldozing his way forward toleave the EU at the end of Octo-ber, “come what may.”

To accomplish it, he culledmany members of May’s Cab-inet within hours of takingoffice, replacing them with agroup of loyal Brexit support-ers. The new line-up includes

Foreign Secretary DominicRaab, Treasury chief SajidJavid, Home Secretary PritiPatel and House of Commonsleader Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Many of the new ministers

worked with Johnson in the2016 referendum campaign toleave the EU, as did much ofJohnson’s new backroom staff.

Three years after the “leave”campaign won that referendum

by 52%-48%, UK remains oneof the 28 members of the EU.Brexiteers blame May, whoresigned in defeat after failing,three times, to secure Parlia-ment’s backing for her divorce

deal with the bloc.Her alliespoint out that it was hard-coreBrexit supporters who sank thedeal because they felt it keptthe UK too closely bound tothe EU’s rules.

�� Priti Patel appoint-ed as Home Secre-tary�� As Britain's firstIndian-origin homesecretary, she will

now be in charge ofthe UK's security, immi-

gration and visa policies��The 47-year-old has vowed

to fight the scourge of crime and will be inthe hot seat to fulfil some of her past promis-es of a fairer post-Brexit visa regime for every-one around the world, free of the freedomof movement norms imposed by the Euro-pean Union (EU).�� A long-standing Eurosceptic, Patel hadsteered the "Vote Leave" campaign in thelead-up to the June 2016 ref-erendum in favour of Britain'sexit from the European Union(EU). �� Patel is known to be anavid supporter of Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi, andhad praised him for demon-etisation, calling it a "right stepto tackle the root causes ofcorruption"

��RishiSunak

made theChief Secretary

�� The 39-year-old Conserv-ative Party MP is an MBAgraduate and investmentexpert who takes charge of oneof the most important jobs inthe UK Treasury, serving underthe new Chancellor, Sajid Javid��He co-founded a GBP 1-bil-lion global investment firm andspecialised in investing in

small Britishbusinessesbefore hisentry to theBritish Par-liament inthe 2015generalelection.

��Alok Sharma appoint-ed as the International

Development Secretary�� The 51-year-old Conserv-

ative Party MP who was serving as employmentminister, will be in charge of the UK's aid bud-get and partnerships.�� India-born Sharma backed Johnson in theConservative Party leadership contest as the leaderbest placed to launch a coherent unambiguousplan to deliver Brexit and take us out of the European Union.

3 Indian-originministers makeup Britain�sdiverse Cabinet

APWASHINGTON, 25 JULY

A federal judge on Wednes-day ordered the Trumpadministration to stop deny-ing asylum to anyone whotransits through anothercountry to reach the US bor-der, marking the latest legaldefeat for a president wag-ing an all-out battle to stemthe flow of migrants enter-ing from Mexico.

The ruling by US DistrictJudge Jon Tigar in San Fran-cisco came hours after anoth-er federal judge in Washing-ton, D.C., let the 9-day-old pol-icy stand. The Californiajudge's preliminary injunc-tion halts the policy while thelawsuit plays out in court.

The new policy deniesasylum to anyone who pass-es through another countryon the way to the U.S. with-out seeking protection there.Most crossing the Mexicanborder are from CentralAmerica, but it would applyto all nationalities exceptcountries that border theU.S.

The dramatic change wentinto effect last week, thoughthere were conflicting reportson whether U.S. immigrationagencies were enforcing it.

Top U.S. officials said thepolicy would discouragemigrants from leaving their

countries, which they say isnecessary to reduce the num-bers of people that U.S.authorities are detaining.

Tigar, who was appoint-ed by former President BarackObama, halted anotherTrump policy last year todeny asylum to people whocrossed the border illegally.

The judge said the poli-cy could expose migrants toviolence and abuse, denytheir rights under interna-tional law and return themto countries they were flee-ing. He cited the adminis-tration's own court filings toargue that Mexico was unsafe.

Tigar acknowledged thatthe U.S. immigration sys-tem is overwhelmed by thesurge in migrants from Cen-tral America over the lastyear. "But shortcutting the law,or weakening the boundarybetween Congress and theExecutive, are not the solu-tions to these problems," hewrote.

The Justice and HomelandSecurity Departments didnot immediately respond torequests for comment.

President Donald Trumptold reporters before hisdeparture for a fundraiser inWest Virginia that the deci-sion earlier Wednesday by U.S.District Judge Timothy Kelly,a Trump appointee, was a"tremendous ruling."

AFPMOSCOW, 25 JULY

Russian police raided thehomes of several oppositionpoliticians on Wednesday,soon after top Kremlin criticAlexei Navalny was sentencedto 30 days in jail, in an appar-ent bid by authorities to crusha new wave of protest.

The latest crackdown onRussia's opposition politi-cians comes as they fight toget on the ballot for theMoscow parliament electionsin September amid fallingapproval ratings for Presi-dent Vladimir Putin. Morethan 22,000 people crowdeda Moscow square on Saturday,the largest such demonstra-tion in years, as anger growsover authorities' refusal toput popular independentcandidates on the ballot.Navalny has called for aneven bigger rally, near theMoscow mayor's office, on July27 if the authorities do not reg-ister the opposition candidates.

The opposition said theauthorities launched a newcrackdown to thwart thoseplans.

On Wednesday night, policeraided the homes of DmitryGudkov and Ivan Zhdanov,Navalny's allies and inde-pendent would-be candi-dates who were banned fromrunning in the Septemberelection, on what they say arespurious grounds.

Gudkov's father and for-mer lawmaker, Gennady

Gudkov, said about 10 peo-ple searched his son's apart-ment and wanted to takehim in for questioning.

"Bastards," he said in a bar-rage of emotional messageson Twitter, adding that aninvestigator also wanted toquestion him in the morn-ing.

"After Gudkov, investiga-tors came to search IvanZhdanov's place. At night,which directly violates thelaw," Ilya Yashin, a prominentopposition politician andfellow would-be candidate,said on Twitter.

The nighttime raids werelinked to a new criminal caseinto obstructing the work ofelection officials after Naval-ny's allies and ordinary Mus-covites staged a series ofpickets and rallies outside theoffices of the Moscow elec-tion commission and else-where in recent days.

For that offence, organiserscould face up to five years inprison. Investigators said

earlier Wednesday they would"question the organisers andparticipants of unauthorisedrallies and pickets".

The protests involved"threats to use violenceagainst members of the elec-toral commissions", the Inves-tigative Committee said.

Earlier Wednesday, a courtsentenced Navalny to 30days in jail for calls to stagean unauthorised rally. A coor-dinator from Navalny'sMoscow headquarters, OlegStepanov, was also detainedand sentenced to eight daysin jail.

Navalny was detainedWednesday as he was leav-ing his Moscow home to gojogging and buy flowers forhis wife's birthday. "Peopleare right when they say thatsport is not always good foryour health," the 43-year-oldquipped.

This month Navalny hasalready served a 10-day jailsentence for violating a protestlaw.

AFPSYDNEY, 25 JULY

Australia faces a lawsuit aimedat forcing the government torepatriate Islamic State fight-ers' wives and children froma Syrian refugee camp, lawyersfor their families told AFPThursday.The threat of a lawsuit comesthe same day as parliamentpassed legislation to preventAustralian citizens who havefought for the Islamic Statefrom returning home for upto two years under so-called"temporary exclusion orders".

Lawyers for the Australia-based families of nearly 30women and children cur-rently held in Syria's Al-Hawlcamp said the firm waspreparing to refer their caseto the Federal Court in com-ing days.

Sarah Condon, of the Mel-bourne law firm Stary Nor-ton Halphen, said the gov-ernment had a legal obliga-tion to protect Australiancivilians abroad and called fora timeframe for the extractionof the families living in con-ditions she described as"increasingly volatile anddangerous".

"The urgency thereforearises from the hellish con-ditions of the camp, and thepsychological damage that iscaused to children when theyare being indefinitelydetained," Condon told AFP.

Eight orphans of two Aus-

tralian IS fighters wereremoved from the camp inJune into the care of Australianofficials.

"We understand that it isnot an easy logistical task, andthat it may take time," Con-don said of repatriating theremaining families.

"We know that it is a pos-sible task however, as theyhave already successfullyreturned two families to Aus-tralia -- we commend thoseefforts, and urge the effortsto be extended to all womenand children."

Home Affairs MinisterPeter Dutton said he had "alot of sympathy" for chil-dren born to foreign fightersabroad, but the governmenthad to be "cognisant of thethreat" that some of thewomen and older childrencould pose if they were toreturn.

"Some women have beendragged by their husbandsinto the Middle East in hor-

rific circumstances and thereare others who are willing par-ticipants and are an equalthreat to Australians," he toldreporters in Canberra onWednesday.

The fate of foreign fight-ers and their families hasbecome a significant prob-lem for governments as theconflict against IS draws toa close.

Similar legal action hasbeen launched against theFrench and German gov-ernments, and several Euro-pean countries have repa-triated children from Syria inrecent months.

Dutton has said the gov-ernment was aware of 80Australians who remainedin active conflict zones aftertravelling to Iraq and Syria.

Condon's firm said it hasidentified at least 40 Aus-tralian children in al-Hawlcamp alone, an unknownnumber of whom were bornabroad.

Judge blocks Trumpasylum restrictions atUS-Mexico border

Russian oppn leader Navalnysentenced to 30 days in jail

Families of Islamic State fightersto sue Australia over repatriation

APWASHINGTON, 25 JULY

President Donald Trump has vetoeda trio of congressional resolutionsaimed at blocking his administra-tion from bypassing Congress andselling billions of dollars in weaponsand maintenance support to SaudiArabia and the United Arab Emi-rates.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeolast month cited threats from Iranas a reason to approve the USDS 8.1billion arms sale to the two USallies in the Persian Gulf, which areenemies of Tehran.

But Trump's decision in May to

sell the weapons in a way intend-ed to bypass congressional reviewinfuriated lawmakers. Democratsand Republicans in the Senatebanded together to introduce res-olutions to block the weapons salein what was viewed as a bipartisanpushback to Trump's foreign pol-icy. The White House had argued thatstopping the sale would send a sig-nal that the United States doesn'tstand by its partners and allies,particularly at a time when threatsagainst them are increasing. The armspackage included thousands ofprecision-guided munitions, otherbombs and ammunition and air-craft maintenance support. Sen. Bob

Menendez of New Jersey, the topDemocrat on the Senate Foreign Rela-tions Committee, led the effort,but he had support from two ofTrump's GOP allies in Congress: Lind-sey Graham of South Carolina andRand Paul of Kentucky.

Anger has been mounting in Con-gress over the Trump administra-tion's close ties to the Saudis, fueledby the high civilian casualties in theSaudi-led war in Yemen amilitary campaign the US is assist-ing and the killing of US-basedcolumnist Jamal Khashoggi bySaudi agents. Trump's decision inMay to sell the weapons furtherinflamed the tensions.

Last month, members of theHouse Foreign Affairs Committeegrilled State Department officialsabout the sale. Chairman EliotEngel, D-N.Y., said it was a "slap inthe face" to Congress and accusedthe Trump administration of usingthreats from Iran as a "convenientexcuse" to push through the sale.In a statement released Wednesdaynight, Engel said, "The President'sveto sends a grim message that Amer-ica's foreign policy is no longerrooted in our core values namely arespect for human rights and thathe views Congress not as a coequalbranch of government, but an irri-tant to be avoided or ignored."

US Prez vetoes congressional effort to block Saudi arms salesPTIWASHINGTON, 25 JULY

As former Special Counsel RobertMueller concluded hours ofmarathon testimonies before Con-gressional committees, US Presi-dent Donald Trump claimed thathe stood vindicated that the entireRussian investigation was nothingbut a witch hunt and a hoax.

Former FBI director Muellerappeared before two Congres-sional committees on Wednes-day to respond to questions fromCongressmen on the recently-concluded investigations about hisallegations of Russian interfer-

ence in the 2016 US presidentialelection. The Democrats allegethat the Russian interferencehelped Trump in his election.Trump dismisses it and says it isa hoax and witch hunt.

"I think Robert Mueller did a hor-rible job, both today and withrespect to the investigation. But inall fairness to Robert Mueller, hehad nothing to work with. You know,you can be a builder, but if they donot give you the right materials, youare not going to build a very goodbuilding," Trump told reporters atthe White House.

"Robert Mueller had no mate-rial. He had nothing to work with.

So, obviously, he did very poorlytoday. I do not think there is any-body -- even among the fakers, Ido not think there is anybody whowould say he did well.

I looked at your people, they aresaying it was devastating for theDemocrats," he said.

"And even, I will tell you, thetwo most nauseous and nauseat-ing networks -- whose ratingshave both gone down, way down-- even they said this was a reallybad day for the Democrats. So,Robert Mueller did a poor job. Butin all fairness to him, he had noth-ing to work with," Trump saidresponding to a question.

Mueller did a poor job, says Trump

IANS WASHINGTON, 25 JULY

US Treasury Secretary StevenMnuchin and US Trade Rep-resentative Robert Lighthiz-er will travel to China next weekfor talks with Chinese officials,the White House said.

Mnuchin and Lighthizer"will travel to Shanghai, China,to continue negotiationsaimed at improving the traderelationship between the USand China", Efe news report-ed, citing the White House'sstatement.

China's delegation will be

led at the negotiations, whichstart on July 30, by Vice Pre-mier Liu He.

"The discussions will covera range of issues, includingintellectual property, forcedtechnology transfer, non-tar-iff barriers, agriculture, ser-vices, the trade deficit and enforcement," the White

House said. The trade tensionsbetween Washington and Bei-jing are rooted in the largedeficits posted by the US withChina. In 2018, the US post-ed a trade deficit of $419 bil-lion with China due, largely,to the fact that US exports toAsia's largest economy totalledjust $120 billion, while Amer-ican imports from Chinareached $540 billion.

During the first five monthsof 2019, the US trade deficitwith China totalled $137 bil-lion. The world's two largesteconomic powers have beenengaged in a trade war formonths, levelling allegationsat each other and slapping tar-iffs on imports.

In May, Trump imposed a25 percent tariff on Chineseimports worth $200 billion inresponse to the lack of progressin reaching a trade deal withBeijing.

China, for its part, retali-ated by slapping tariffs on USimports worth $60 billion.

Trump later threatened toimpose tariffs ranging from10 percent to 25 percent onanother $325 billion of Chi-nese imports, causing concernin financial markets and the

business community due tothe possible effect on con-sumer spending, whichaccounts for about two-thirdsof US economic activity.

In late June, Trump and hisChinese counterpart, Xi Jin-ping, met on the sidelines ofthe G20 Summit in Japan andagreed to a truce in the tradewar, with Washington hold-ing off on imposing new tar-iffs on China and allowing UScompanies to sell products totech giant Huawei.

The two leaders agreedduring their meeting in Osakato resume trade negotiationsamid Washington's decisionto not slap tariffs on all Chi-nese imports.

While additional tariffsare off the table for now, theUnited States will maintain thetariffs imposed on a total of$250 billion in Chinese goods,while Beijing will continue toslap tariffs on US importstotalling $110 billion.

On Monday, Trump toldreporters that the UnitedStates and China were still talk-ing about trade.

"We're working on tradedeals right now. We'll seewhat happens," Trump said.

Sri Lankan Navy arrests 4

Indian fishermen: Four

Indian fishermen were

arrested by the Sri Lankan

Navy on charges of poach-

ing, the media reported

on Thursday. Sri Lankan

naval personnel attached

to the Northern Naval

Command in a Fast Attack

Craft arrested the four

fishermen along with a

fishing trawler "engaged

in illegal fishing practices

in territorial waters off

the Kovilam Lighthouse"

on Wednesday, Colombo

Page reported. The fisher-

men, who hail from Tamil

Nadu, were taken to the

naval base at Elara in Sri

Lanka and later handed

over to the Assistant

Director of Fisheries in

Jaffna for further action,

the report said. IANS

THUMBNAILS

Yemeni students play vio-lin during a music class atthe Cultural Center inSanaa, Yemen, on Wednesday IANS

13I will do everything in my power to keep our countrysafe, our people secure, and also to fight the scourge ofcrime that we see on our streets

PRITI PATELUK'S FIRST INDIAN-ORIGIN HOME SECRETARY NEW DELHI, FRIDAY 26 JULY 2019

AFPSEOUL, 25 JULY

North Korea fired twoshort-range mis-siles into the seaon Thursday, com-

plicating efforts to resumestalled nuclear talks withWashington and signallingits anger over planned US-South Korea joint militaryexercises.

It was the North's firstmissile test since an impromp-tu meeting between US Pres-ident Donald Trump andNorth Korean leader KimJong Un last month that pro-duced an agreement to resumea working-level denucleari-sation dialogue.

But those talks have yet tobegin, and Pyongyang warnedrecently they could be derailedby Washington and Seoul'srefusal to scrap military exer-cises scheduled for nextmonth.

South Korea's Joint Chiefsof Staff said the two missileswere launched just after dawnfrom Wonsan on the eastcoast and flew more than 430kilometres (270 miles) beforefalling into the sea.

"Our military is closelymonitoring the situation incase of additional launches and

maintaining a readiness pos-ture," it said.

"We urge the North to stopactions that do not help easemilitary tensions," said ChoiHyun-soo, a defence min-istry spokeswoman for SouthKorea.

Japan's defence ministercalled the launches "extreme-ly regrettable" but stressed thatthe missiles had fallen shortof his country's exclusive eco-

nomic zone.Pyongyang carried out

similar short-range launch-es in May, which Trump dis-missed at the time as "verystandard stuff" that would haveno impact on his relationshipwith Kim.

The two leaders went onto hold an unscheduled meet-ing June 30 in the Demilita-rized Zone that divides the twoKoreas, where they agreed to

pick up a nuclear dialogue thatstalled after the collapse of aformal summit in Hanoi inFebruary.

US Secretary of State MikePompeo said the working-leveldisarmament talks wouldprobably start in mid-July,but last week Pyongyang saidthey had been jeopardised bythe scheduled joint militarydrills.

Condemning the planned

exercises as "blatant pres-sure" and a "violation of thespirit" of the joint statementTrump and Kim signed attheir first summit in Singaporelast year, Pyongyang evenhinted it could reconsider itsmoratorium on nuclear andlong-range missile testing.

Thursday's launches camea day after Trump's nationalsecurity adviser, John Bolton,held talks with senior SouthKorean officials in Seoul.

Bolton's hawkish stance ondealing with Pyongyang hasseen him regularly vilified bythe North's state media.

The latest missile testswere a "strong message" thatshould be seen as "part ofPyongyang's protest" againstthe joint drills, said CheongSeong-chang, an analyst at theSejong Institute.

There are close to 30,000US troops stationed in theSouth, and their annualmanoeuvres with tens ofthousands of South Korean sol-diers have always infuriatedthe North which views themas provocative rehearsals forinvasion.

Other analysts said oppo-sition to the drills was mere-ly a pretext for Pyongyang topursue its weapons ambi-tions.

IANS KABUL, 25 JULY

Three back-to-back bomb-ings in Kabul on Thursdaykilled at least 11 people,including five women and achild, officials said, amidvisits to the Afghan capitalby two senior US officials.

The first bombing in Kabultook place around 8.10 a.m.when a suicide attacker rid-ing a motorcycle targeted abus carrying employees of theMines and Petroleum Min-istry who were on the way totheir office, said Kabul policespokesperson Firdaws Fara-marz.

The second explosionwas a magnetic bomb thattargeted the first respon-ders arriving on the scene,said Interior Ministryspokesman Nasrat Rahimi,amid fears that the death tollmay increase further.

The third attack tookplace when one more sui-cide bomber blew up hisexplosives-laden vehicle ina different Kabul neigh-bourhood, a mostly-resi-dential area that also has sev-eral factories. At least 45people were injured in the

bombings, Efe news report-ed.

The Taliban claimedresponsibility for the thirdblast and said it had target-ed a convoy of foreign forces,but denied involvement inthe first two bombings. Rahi-mi, however, said the mili-tant group was believed tobe behind all three blasts.

Condemning the "bar-baric attacks", Afghan Pres-ident Ashraf Ghani said theTaliban was on one sideholding peace talks and onthe other continuing "crimesagainst humanity".

The spike in attacks, thePresident said, won't give theTaliban greater leverage inpeace talks with the US.

Taliban spokesman Zabi-hullah Mujahid in a state-ment said "nine high-rank-ing foreign officers" werekilled in the third bombing,a common exaggeration forthe militant group aboutcasualties inflicted on secu-rity forces.

The NATO mission inAfghanistan has, however,denied that its troops weretargeted in Kabul, accordingto an international missionspokesperson.

IANS ISLAMABAD, 25 JULY

Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan received a warmwelcome from his party work-ers as he returned from hisfirst official tour to the US andsaid it seems as if he cameback after winning the WorldCup.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief had embarkedon a three-day visit to Wash-ington to reset the tense bilat-eral relations. He held talkswith US President DonaldTrump at the White House onMonday and also met USSecretary of State Mike Pom-peo. Upon Khan's return toPakistan on Wednesday night,many senior PTI leaders werepresent to welcome him atIslamabad International Air-port.

Speaking to media, thejubilant Prime Minister saidthat it seemed to him as if hewas returning to the countryafter winning the World Cupand not from an official visit.

Addressing his supporters,

Khan said: "We have to makea 'New Pakistan'. We are con-fident that Pakistan willbecome a great country asthought by great poet andphilosopher, Allama Iqbalbut this won't happen bybegging. Neither have I bowedbefore anyone nor will I letPakistanis bow before anyone.Countries who have becomegreat have never begged foranything."

While returning from theUS, Imran Khan made a briefhalt in Qatar and met hiscounterpart Abdullah binNasser bin Khalifa Al Thani.Both the leaders discussedstrengthening of relationsbetween the two countries.

AFPTAIPEI, 25 JULY

A US warship sailed throughthe Taiwan Strait on Thurs-day, the island's defence min-istry said, a move likely to angerBeijing.

The move came a day afterChina, which views Taiwan as

a renegade province, pub-lished a defence white paperstressing its willingness touse force to thwart any movetowards the self-ruled island'sindependence, and accus-ing the US of underminingglobal stability.

It also followed an unprece-dented joint Chinese-Rus-sia air force exercise this weekthat triggered furious protestsof airspace violations by keyUS regional allies South Koreaand Japan.

US warships periodical-ly conduct "freedom of nav-igation" exercises in thewaterway, triggering angryresponses from China everytime. Beijing lodged a protestwith Washington in May aftera US destroyer and a supplyship sailed through the strait.

China views any shipspassing through the strait as

essentially a breach of itssovereignty -- while the USand many other nations viewthe route as internationalwaters open to all.

Taiwan and China havebeen ruled separately sincethe end of a civil war in 1949,but Beijing views the demo-cratic island as part of its ter-ritory.

Last month, a Canadianfrigate and a support vesselpassed through Taiwan Strait

as they came from a visit toVietnam's Cam Ranh Bayheading to Northeast Asia tojoin "a multinational effortto counter North Korea'sevasion of UN Security Coun-cil sanctions by maritimesmuggling".

In April, Beijing said itsnavy had warned off a Frenchwarship that had enteredthe Taiwan Strait earlier thatmonth and lodged an officialcomplaint with Paris.

IANS COLOMBO, 25 JULY

Sri Lanka's Easter bombingswhich killed over 250 peopleand injured hundreds werecarried out by local Islamistswho drew inspiration from,but were not directly linkedto, the Islamic State (IS)group, a Sri Lankan investi-gator has said.

Ravi Seneviratne, Direc-tor of the Sri Lankan policeCriminal Investigation

Department (CID), madethe comments while testify-ing before the country's Par-liament Select Committee(PSC) probing the April 21attacks on three churches,three luxury hotels and twoother locations.

Seneviratne said theattackers were influencedby the ideology of the IS andit can be concluded that agroup that was inspired bythe it carried out the bomb-ings, Colombo Page report-

ed. He told the panel that rem-nants of the NationalThowheeth Jamaath (NTJ), thegroup that was held respon-sible by the government forthe attacks, had persuaded theIS to claim the bombings.

Seneviratne also said thathe was not satisfied with theaction taken on the priorwarnings received before thebombings -- one of the mostbrutal attacks in the islandnation since the civil warended in 2009.

In provocative move, N Kfires short-range missiles

11 killed as triplebombings rockAfghanistan

Mnuchin, Lighthizer to visit China for trade talks Seems as if I returnedafter winning WorldCup: Imran Khan

US warship sails through Taiwan Strait

No Islamic State link to Easterbombings: Lanka investigator

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GOVERNMENT OF SIKKIMCENTRAL HEALTH STORES ORGANISATION

HEALTH CARE, HUMAN SERVICES & FAMILY WELFARE DEPARTMENT GANGTOK

TENDER NOTICETender No. 117/CHSO Date: 24-07-19Online tenders are invited from eligible manufacturers / authorized dealers for the supply of Generic Drugs, Medicines & Consumables to theCentral Health Stores Organisations, Government of Sikkim for the financialyear 2019-20.The bid should be submitted online in the website: https://www.sikkimtender.gov.in for which, the bidder should have the neces-sary portal enrolment with his/her own Digital Signature Certificate (DSC).

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N.B.S.T.C., CoochbeharDate:

Worthy initiative

An English news portal The CitizenTimes was recently launched in collabo-ration with NGO Best Friendz Society.Eminent personalities from differentwalks of life graced the event. Being thechief guest, actress Papiya Adhikaryunveiled the collaboration logo.

The Citizen Times is an initiativethat involves the use of news in the digi-tal platform. It will be offering sectionswhere celebrities can contribute some-thing as columnists. At the event, thecolumnists discussed their respectiveroles. Actress Moubani Sorcar would bepenning down stories about the worldof cinema. Folk singer Sahaj Maa wouldwrite on the importance of folk and cul-ture, and Mrs India Gulshan Banu wouldprovide updates on fashion and groom-ing. Apart from them, there would beother influential personalities. Speakingat the event, Payel Paul, CEO, The Citi-zen Times said, “Our main motto is tospread the importance of readingthrough social and digital world.”

Prabir Biswas

Jury nomination

Amity School of Communication in col-laboration with Centre for Media Studies(CMS) organised the nomination juryprocess for CMS Vatavaran film festivaland forum 2019 at Amity University,Noida recently.

The theme of this year’s festival is“Celebrating Himalayas”. The three-dayevent witnessed the list of short filmsand selected videos that would be fea-tured in the festival to be held in Novem-ber.

Balvinder Shukla, vice-chancellor,Amity University said that the themechosen for the festival is of great signifi-cance because not only India but thewhole world is suffering the repercus-sions of climate change. She stated thatconservation and rejuvenation ofresources is extremely importantbecause through this we can only pre-sent a healthy and safe planet to ourfuture generations.

Luxury education

To build and train future leaders of luxu-ry industry, Luxury Connect BusinessSchool (LCBS) Gurgaon organised aseminar on “How to build a stellar careerin the luxury segment.”

Attended by many dignitaries andstudents of LCBS, the seminar high-lighted that there is a considerable needof trained professionals in the luxuryretail and service sector in the wake ofmyriad number of international brandsentering or expanding in India. AbhayGupta, founder and CEO, Luxury Con-nect and LCBS said, “Luxury industryhas opened a huge window of opportu-nity but there is a dearth of skilled pro-fessionals. LCBS aims to secure the lux-ury segment by offering specialised edu-cation.”

Effective seminar

FORE School of Management (FSM),New Delhi organised Roundtable 2.0 on“Frugal Approach to Innovation: So Farand Way Forward” recently. Frugal inno-vation refers to the development ofinnovations that are cost-effective andcan be scaled in an economically afford-able manner. The second edition of theroundtable was organised by FSM’s Cen-tre for Research and Innovation in Fru-gal Technology Management (CRIFT).Many eminent industry and academicexperts graced the occasion. The risingpopulation and resultant resource con-straints were considered by all speakers,the driving force behind the need forfrugal innovations in India. Only a frugalapproach can thus result in solutionsthat are simple, resourceful, creative,and accessible for the mass.

PLUS POINTS

VIVEK SINGH

Law as a profession has alwaysbeen in demand and with thegrowing awareness among thegeneral public the require-

ment is expected to grow exponentially.It has gained more importance in theincreasing regulatory role being under-taken by the government.

The feeling of wearing the ‘blackcoat’ brings a sense of pride alongwith being a financially lucrativecareer. Held in high esteem, Lawyersenjoy a trust factor with the peoplewho rely completely on them whenall doors to getting justice seem tofail. They come to the rescue of peo-ple who look for legal advice byanalysing and interpreting the lawproperly.

Apart from advising the clientson legal rights, lawyers plan a courseof action for the clients that can helpthem get justice as fast as possible.People sought their help in pre legaldocuments such as contracts, wills,

and negotiations. The best part aboutthe profession is that one’s academicexcellence does not mean anythingbut the competency gained throughexperience is the mainstay towards asuccessful career.

The field is vast as there are myri-ad of legal matters and one can spe-cialise in any particular or multiplefields. Some of the fields are civil law,corporate law, taxation law, labour law,criminal law, international law, consti-tutional law, patent law, family law, etc.

�� How to get there: For mak-ing a career in law one can opt for a

three-year law course after gradua-tion or a five-year course after classXII. However, more and more peo-ple now prefer the five-year courseover the three-years’ one. The three-year course is now chosen by pro-fessionals who want to get an addi-tional degree. On the other hand,the five year course is chosen by stu-dents who want to take up law as acareer.

The LLB course is regulated bythe Bar Council of India. Specialisa-tion are done at masters, MPhil orPhD stage and are pursued by thosewho are interested in academics.

�� Law entrance exams: Com-mon Law Admission Test (CLAT),institutes like Symbiosis Society LawCollege and Amity Law School amongothers conduct their individualentrance exams.

�� Law Schools / Institutes inIndia: There are several law schoolslike NLSIU (Bangalore), NALSAR(Hyderabad), NLIU (Bhopal), NUJS(Kolkata), NLU ( Jodhpur), HNLU(Raipur), GNLU (Gandhinagar), Fac-ulty of Law (Delhi University), Sym-biosis Society’s Law College (Pune),ILS Law College (Pune), GovernmentLaw College (Mumbai) and Faculty ofLaw (Aligarh Muslim University, Ali-garh).

�� Pros and cons: Positive sideof the profession is that it gives anopportunity to work on various legalissues. It brings with it the job securi-ty especially when you are workingfor an institution or as a corporatelawyer. It is a rewarding job as it give-

good perks and also helps one to earnrespect of the clients/society. Onething is sure that you will never getbored as one has to work on differentcases every time and this brings dif-ferent challenges to keep the bore-dom at bay.

The other side is that a lawyermight end up making many enemiesespecially in the cases related tocrime. Over time it becomes demand-ing as one has to work on multiplecases; with fame comes long workinghours and tight deadlines.

�� Different roles: A criminallawyer specialises in criminal lawsCrPC, Evidence Act, IPC, and otherpenal laws. A Civil Litigation Lawyerspecializes in civil laws e.g. exciselaws, taxation laws. A Legal Analystworking for corporate firms deals inlaws pertaining to the sphere of thecompany. A Document DraftingLawyer specialises in drafting variousdocuments containing agreements,terms and conditions, case material,etc. A Legal Advisor offers consultan-cy to corporate firms. A GovernmentLawyer works for the governmentwhile a Judge offers judgment afterconducting the court proceedings.

�� Perks: If the degree is from aprestigious college then the campusplacement can help you to earn asalary of Rs 35,000 to Rs 40,000 permonth. In general, remunerationsdepend on work experience and withgood knowledge there is no limit tothe earnings.

�� W here can you work:Opportunities are limitless for a lawgraduate. One can assist a seniorlawyer to gain experience beforestarting his/her own practice. Thenthere is the option of working withcorporate firms. If one clears theexaminations conducted by PublicService Commissions, the doors tobecoming a judge opens up. Experi-enced professionals can becomeSolicitor General, a Public Prosecu-tor, offer services to governmentdepartments and ministries, orbecome a legal adviser to variousorganisations. LPOs recruit law grad-uates for their processes dealing inUS laws or UK laws. Other attractiveoptions are teaching, working withNGOs, a reporter for newspapers andtelevision channels.

The writer is an advocate at the SupremeCourt of India


A profession ingreat demand

PRAMATH SINHA

Today, according to the latestCRISIL report, over 18 millionpeople are joining the workforceeach year and yet employers find

it challenging to hire the right person.Despite the abundant supply of talent,there are 76,000 vacancies in jobsrequiring Data Analytics skills and1,40,000 vacancies in Artificial Intelli-gence and Big Data jobs.

The pace of changes in technolo-gy, the deep specialisations requiredand the need for solving problems atscale, are only some factors contribut-ing to this acute difficulty. Exacerbat-ing the issue is the cognitive, socialand emotional skills required in themodern workplace which is in huge

deficit.We start with the premise that

today, more than ever, employeesneed to unlearn and relearn at a muchgreater pace than ever before in thehistory of work. Learning needs toshift from a "one-shot" activity to acontinuous, life-long process. The"Company man" culture, where peo-ple would spend their entire livesdoing the same thing in the sameorganisation, is dying out, no role, noskill is going to stay the same or rele-vant for the duration of one person'sentire career.

Education institutions are not in aposition to respond to these fast-changing needs. Companies will needto step in to train people to skill, up-skill and re-skill themselves every fewyears, if not months, to make them-

selves competitive and future-ready.They will need to combine

dynamic, relevant and contemporarycurriculum, world class faculty withlearning flexibility and holistic devel-opment of employees while alsoensuring tangible outcomes. This is abig task, but it can be achieved if com-panies focus on an outcome driven,collaborative and futuristic approachto learning. Let us expand on thesefurther.

Companies should adopt an out-come driven approach to upskill theiremployees with learning and develop-ment programmes that not only showimmediate results at the workplace,but also drive tangible outcomes inthe lives of their employees and helpthem progress in their professionalfield.

The need of the hour is also tobring industry leaders, academicexperts and experienced practitionerstogether on one platform to collabo-ratively create offerings that directlyaddress the needs of the company andthe industry. In order to provide a

holistic learning to the employees,companies need to bring multipleperspectives to the classroom. Onesource is not enough.

In addition, it is crucial for com-panies to keep track of the evolvingneeds of their industry. In this rapid-ly changing economy, it is importantto prepare professionals for future.Flexibility in the customisation ofcourses and programmes, the peda-gogy followed, and the mode oflearning, becomes important. Thereshould be room for a dynamic cur-riculum, a blend of online and offlinemediums, an apprenticeship-basedmodel, and whatever is to cometomorrow.

The writer is MD, 9.9 Education &Board of Governor Palava Institute

Need forupskilling

Armed in the art of�circumvention of the law�through in-depth knowledge andexperience, a lawyer has theability to earn respect

Companiesneed tocombinedynamic,relevantcontemporarycurriculum,world classfaculty withlearningflexibility forholisticdevelopmentof employees

THUMBNAILS


PTITOKYO, 25 JULY

Olympic silver medal-list P V Sindhu (inphoto)and B Sai Pra-neeth moved into the

quarterfinals of Japan Open bad-minton tournament after reg-istering contrasting wins but itwas curtains for H S Prannoyhere on Thursday.

While fifth seed Sindhu hadto toil hard in an hour-long bat-tle to get the better of unseed-ed Japanese Aya Ohori 11-21,21-10, 21-13 in a second roundwomen's singles match, Pra-neeth sailed past another localshuttler, Kanta Tsuneyama,21-13, 21-16 in a men's singlesencounter that lasted 45 min-utes.

Prannoy, who knocked outcompatriot Kidambi Srikanthin the opening round, thoughcrashed out of the men's sin-gles event after going down toRasmus Gemke of Denmark 9-21 15-21 in the second round.

Her latest result at the BWFWorld Tour Super 750 tourna-ment extended Sindhu's head-to-head record to 8-0 overOhori. Sindhu will next face thewinner of the match betweenChina's Chen Xiao Xin andfourth seeded Japanese AkaneYamaguchi, to whom she lostin the final of the Indonesia Openlast week.

Sai Praneeth will face Indone-sia's Tommy Sugiarto in themen's singles last-eight round.

It was good news for India

in the men's doubles event asthe pair of Satwiksairaj Rankired-dy and Chirag Shetty made itto the quarterfinals after emerg-ing victorious in a tough three-game second round affair in 53minutes.

The Indian pair came froma game down to quell the chal-lenge of China's Kai XiangHuang and Cheng Liu 15-21,21-11, 21-19 and set up a quar-terfinal clash with second seed-ed local combination of TakeshiKamura and Keigo Sonoda.

It was curtains for India inthe mixed doubles event as thepair of Satwiksairaj Rankired-dy and Ashwini Ponnappa lost16-21, 17-21 to fourth seedsDechapol Puavaranukkroh and

Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thai-land in the second round.

In the match between Sind-hu and Ohori, the Rio Olympicssilver medallist Indian shuttlerwas slow to get off the blocksas the local girl came out on topin the early exchanges to raceto a 5-1 and then 11-5 lead atthe break.

Sindhu took it easy in the firstgame and it worked in Ohori'sfavour as the Indian commit-ted a lot of unforced errors.

An error-prone Sindhu neverlooked in the contest initiallyas she kept hitting the net or theshuttle landed outside thecourt, enabling Ohori to pock-et the first game comfortably.

In the second game too,

Sindhu struggled initially beforefinding her bearings. Trailing0-2, the Indian made a greatcomeback to draw level and thentook the lead for the first timein the contest.

Once she managed to takea 3-2 lead, there was no look-ing back for Sindhu as she kepton extending her dominationto grab the second game, roar-ing back into the contest in style.

Sindhu continued in thesame vein in the decider andsurged ahead 3-1 and then 8-4 before Ohori clinched fourstraight points to level thescores at 8 apiece. But Sindhulifted her game and won six con-secutive points to take a 14-8lead.

Sindhu, Praneethenter quarters

NAKSHATRA PAINNEW DELHI, 25 JULY

RP-SG Mavericks Kolkatahave gone for a very offensiveline-up for Ultimate TableTennis (UTT) season 3 thatincludes two players, Mani-ka Batra (Season 2) and SanilShetty (Season 1), who havebeen part of the Champi-onship-winning squads.

Also part of the squadwould be the 25-year-oldBenedikt Duda (in photo), whohails from Düsseldorf in Ger-many. This will be his first stintwith UTT, and he is alreadyrelishing the opportunity toply his trade for his team.

"I have already familiarisedmyself with Kolkata," he said."It's a very nice place and theteam is also very organised.The management is also verygood and I am really excitedfor the new season."

He would, of course, haveto get used to some of the ruleswhich make up the league, butDuda insisted that he is onlyfocusing on his own game.

"I don't show too muchimportance to new rules,"

he said. "They are clearly dif-ferent, but I like it as well. Ijust plan to focus on mygame, do my best and hope

the team will win," he added.Regarding the Mavericks'

chances of winning the cham-pionship, the German said,

"I think we have a very goodchance of winning the title.We are a very strong team witha good balance. If you see ourworld rankings, you will findthat we are all close to eachother." He added that if theplayers also work like a teamin every situation, they haveevery possibility of winningthe championship this sea-son. He also shrugged off thepossibility of the hot Indianweather getting the better ofhim.

"I have already spent quitea few months playing tabletennis in Asia," Duda said. "Iam used to it now."

"However, the weather isvery different compared toGermany, because it's not sohot back there. But I feel thatI have got used to it," Dudaadded. The RP-SG Maver-icks, who are also one of onlytwo teams that have stayedon for all the seasons of UTT(the other being Dabang DelhiT.T.C) start their campaign on27 July when they go upagainst the Goa Challengersat the Thyagaraj Sports Com-plex in Delhi.

Benedikt Duda adds more firepowerto an offensive Kolkata team

Ramkumar suffers shockdefeat at Binghamton Chal-lenger: Ramkumar

Ramanathan squandered a

one-set advantage to lose to

lower-ranked American wild

card, Alexander Ritschard, for

an early exit from the Bing-

hamton Challenger event in

Binghamton (USA). The second

seeded Indian, who got a first-

round bye, lost 6-2 6-7(3) 2-6 to the 443rd ranked American

in the second round of the USD 54160 hard court tourna-

ment. Enjoying a career-best singles rank of 167 and coming

into the event in good form, it was a surprise defeat for the

Indian. He had ended runner-up at the Surbiton Trophy Chal-

lenger and won the Guzzini Challenger in Italy recently.

Divij to clash against legendary Bryan brothers: Partnering

Jonathan Erlich, India's Divij Sharan will test his skills against

the legendary Bryan brothers, Mike and Bob, in the ATP

Atlanta Open quarterfinal clash here. Sharan and Erlich came

from behind to beat Miomir Kecmanovic and Robert Lindst-

edt 2-6 6-3 13-11 in the first round of the ATP 250 event.

The Bryans, who have won more than 100 ATP doubles titles

together, ousted fellow American wild card pair of Christo-

pher Eubanks and Donald Young 6-4 6-2 in their opener. In

the bottom half of the draw, veteran Leander Paes and his

partner Marius Copil made a first-round exit following a close

6-7(2) 4-6 defeat to British-American combination of Taylor

Fritz and Cameron Norrie. Prajnesh Gunneswaran, the only

Indian featuring in the singles draw, had lost his first round

on Wednesday.

India drop two places to 103 in FIFA rankings: The Indian

football team slipped two places to 103rd in the FIFA rank-

ings released on Thursday. India lost two matches and drew

one in the Intercontinental Cup earlier this month in Ahmed-

abad. It lost 2-4 to Tajikistan and 2-5 against eventual win-

ners DPR Korea before playing out a 1-1 draw against Syria.

India has 1214 ranking points to its kitty, down by five

points from the previous chart issued last month. The Indian

team now lies at 18th among Asian countries. Iran (23rd) is

at the top among Asian countries, followed by Japan (33),

Korea (37), Australia (46) and Qatar (62). Overall, Belgium

leads the chart, followed by Brazil, France, England and

Uruguay.

Phelps hails 'incredible' Milakafter losing world record:Michael Phelps paid tribute to

Hungarian teenager Kristof

Milak's �beautiful technique�

after he took down the Ameri-

can legend's long-standing 200

metres butterfly record at

the world championships in

South Korea. Phelps described

Milak's time of one minute, 50.73 seconds in Gwangju as

�incredible�, although he admitted his astonishment was

tinged with sadness at losing a world record which had stood

since 2009. �As frustrated as I am to see that record go

down, I couldn't be happier to see how he did it,� Phelps told

the New York Times. �That kid's last 100 was incredible. He

put together a great 200 fly from start to finish.� The 19-

year-old Milak sliced a whopping 0.78 seconds off Phelps's

previous world best, which was achieved during the bodysuit

era, after flirting with the record for much of the past sea-

son.

Puneri Paltan named Desai as skipper: Harmeet Desai, who

recently won the 21st Commonwealth Table Tennis Champi-

onships in Cuttack was announced as the captain of Puneri

Paltan Table Tennis team for season 3 of Ultimate Table Ten-

nis league. The announcement was made by the franchise

through a media release on Thursday. �Puneri Paltan Table

Tennis is a new team in UTT and leading a team which is mak-

ing its debut is a huge responsibility,� Desai was quoted as

saying in the release. �I am grateful to the management and

the coaches to believe that I will be able to shoulder this

responsibility well. We will give our best this season and

make a mark of Pune team in the Table Tennis fraternity,�

he said.

Sadhguru lands in controversy with tweet on Hima Das:Spiritual guru Sadhguru courted controvery with his tweet

congratulating ace sprinter Hima Das as she collected five

gold medals in Europe over the course of this month. "Hima

Das, a Golden shower for India. Congratulations and Bless-

ings. -Sg (sic.)," tweeted Sadhguru. But the use of "golden

shower" did not go down well with Twitter users as they

trolled him heavily. The term 'golden shower' is often used

as a slang for an act of urinating on someone during a sexual

encounter. Hima's latest gold came last Saturday in Prague

where she clocked a season-best time of 52.09 seconds to

win the gold in 400m at the Nove Mesto nad Metuji Grand

Prix. Her personal best is 50.79 seconds, which she recorded

at the 2018 Asian Games. The Assam sprinter, however,

failed to qualify for the World Athletics Championships as

the 400m qualification mark for the world event has been

kept as 51.80 seconds. Earlier, Hima had won the gold in

200m at the Tabor Athletics Meet.

IANSNEW DELHI, 25 JULY

The third edition of UltimateTable Tennis got off to anexplosive start here on Thurs-day, with debutants Puneri Pal-tan TT overcoming DabangDelhi TTC 8 points to 7 in aclose and exciting encounter.

Going into the last matchof the day with the overallscores tied 6-6, Germany'sSabine Winter showed nosigns of nerves as she overcameRomania's Bernadette Szocs2-1 to clinch that crucial extrapoint.

India's top-ranked playerSathiyan Gnanasekaran (inphoto) produced a stellar per-formance, beating HarmeetDesai in the Men's Singles andthen pairing up withBernadette Szocs to win twomatches and clinch 5 points.

But that was not enoughas Paltan won both theWomen's Singles and the sec-ond Men's Singles.

Ayhika Mukherjee beganPaltan's campaign on a pos-itive note, comfortably beat-ing Krittwika Sinha Roy, pick-ing up the 3 points on offer inthe first Women's Singles con-test.

She seemed to be in a bitof bother as she fell behind 4-6 and 9-10. She, however,saved the golden point andwon one more to take thegame. She was on a roll in thesecond game, jumping to a 6-2 lead to win it rather easily.

The third game was, how-ever, tight, with Krittwika tak-ing her all the way to anoth-

er golden point tussle. Ayhi-ka, flush with her victory in theCommonwealth Table TennisChampionship in Orissa, heldher nerve to win all the pointsfor her team.

Puneri Pultan's gambit ofunleashing Harmeet againstSathiyan didn't come off, withthe latter exacting revengefor his defeat in the Com-

monwealth TT last week.The clash, however, lived

up to expectations with bothengaging in long, exciting ral-lies. World No. 24 Sathiyan justdidn't give Harmeet any timeto settle down, winning the firstgame 11-3; he, however, could-n't maintain the pressure andended up losing 9-11.

The decider proved to bea thriller, with the scoreslocked at 8-all.

Sathiyan captured the nexttwo points before wrappingit 11-9. The Indian star play-er then combined with Roma-nia's Bernadette Szocs topocket the Mixed Doubles 3points too. They beat ChuangChih Yuan-Ayhika Mukherjeeduo 3-0.

The second Men's Singlestoo was equally riveting, withSweden's Jon Persson andTaiwan's Chuang Chih-Yuanputting up a great exhibitionof attacking TT, marked by bigshots, intense rallies and spec-tacular points.

Chih-Yuan did justice to hisWorld Ranking of No. 28,showing his class to quellPersson's spirited challenge2-1. He, however, yielded thethird game to give Paltan a valu-able point.

AGENCIESNEW DELHI, 25 JULY

Captain Manpreet Singh (inphoto) and goalkeeper P RSreejesh were among a fewsenior players rested from theIndian hockey team for nextmonth's Olympic Test event inTokyo. Besides Manpreet andSreejesh, also rested from the18-member men's squad forthe August 17 to 21 event isdefender Surender Kumar.Dragflciker Harmanpreet Singhwill don the captain's armbandin Manpreet's absence, whilestriker Mandeep Singh will behis deputy.Rookies Ashis Topnoand Shamsher Singh will maketheir debut in the nationalteam in the upcoming event.

Experienced striker S VSunil also made a comebackafter recovering from a kneeinjury. He was sidelined fromthe national team for ninemonths. Experienced dragflick-er Rupinder Pal Singh, whoreturned to the side after lastyear's Asian Games for thetour of Australia in May, isanother notable absentee fromthe squad alongside BirendraLakra and Akashdeep Singh.

In Sreejesh's absence, Kris-han Bahadur Pathak and youngSuraj Karkera will don the goal-keeping duties.

India's chief coach Gra-

ham Reid said the decision torest some senior players weretaken keeping in mind theOlympic Qualifiers in Novem-ber. “We are resting some seniorplayers including ManpreetSingh, some of whom haveplayed a very rigorous last 12months of hockey. We will givethem a chance to shake off anyniggling injuries and get freshfor the next three months ofpreparation for the Novemberqualifying matches,” the Aus-tralian said. He said the OlympicTest Event provides them witha chance to test some newplayers. “With no world rank-ing points at risk, the Tokyo testevent gives us an ideal oppor-

tunity to not only get a first handlook at how Tokyo is shapingup for next year's Olympics butalso see some new players. Wewant to give them chance andsee how they fare at the inter-national stage,” Reid said.

Indian squad: KrishanBahadur Pathak, Suraj Karkera,Gurinder Singh, HarmanpreetSingh (Captain), Kothajit SinghKhadangbam, Hardik Singh,Nilakanta Sharma, Vivek SagarPrasad, Jaskaran Singh, Man-deep Singh (Vice Captain),Gursahibjit Singh, Nilam San-jeep Xess, Jarmanpreet Singh,Varun Kumar, Ashis Topno,SV Sunil, Gurjant Singh,Shamsher Singh.

India rest skipper Manpreet, Sreejeshfor Tokyo Olympics hockey test event

UTT: Sathiyan stars but Dabang Delhi lose to Puneri Paltan

PTIKOLKATA, 25 JULY

World football governingbody FIFA Thursday soughtan update from the AIFF onthe current scenario in Indiato which the national feder-ation reiterated its stancethat it would resolve theimpasse surrounding an uni-fied league in a two-three yearwindow.

Reacting to a represen-tation made by six I-Leagueclubs -- Mohun Bagan, EastBengal, Minerva Punjab,Churchill Brothers, Aizawl FCand Gokulam Kerala -- thechief member associationofficer of FIFA Joyce Cookwanted an update on the pre-sent scenario from the AIFF.

“We would like to obtainan update on the currentposition of the AIFF as wellas any additional informa-tion you may be able to pro-vide on the present situation,”Cook wrote in a mailaddressed to AIFF general sec-retary Kushal Das.

FIFA also pointed out thatits joint report with AFC fol-lowing an extensive consul-tation process last year isbeing discussed now regard-ing the merger of Indian

Super League and the I-League.

“The report's objectivesare among others, to providethe AIFF with external exper-tise and to support your fed-eration and its stakeholdersin establishing and imple-menting a widely-support-ed, robust medium to long-term strategy,” Cook said.

“As you know, the reportis therefore a comprehensivereview and professional pro-posal which also contains aseries of clear and concreterecommendations for yourfurther consideration,” headded.

Later in the day, the AIFFissued a statement withoutmentioning the FIFA letter.

“In the recent days, theAIFF President Mr. PrafulPatel in his meeting withthe Hero I-League clubs aswell as in several recent inter-views has broadly taken thesame line as was suggestedin the above-mentionedreport.

“Needless to mention thatthis is precisely the reason thata two-three-year window isrequired to resolve all con-tentious issues amicablywith all stakeholders,” theAIFF statement read.

FIFA asks for update onIndian football, AIFF sayswill find solution in 2-3 yrs

PTINEW DELHI, 25 JULY

India's former world championboxer L Sarita Devi (in photo)has been finalised as a candi-date for the International Box-ing Association's (AIBA) ath-letes commission, to be createdfor the first time after votingduring the world champi-onships for men and womenin September-October.

The 37-year-old is an eight-time Asian Championshipsmedallist -- five of them gold-- and is currently an athletesrepresentative in the executivecommittee of the Boxing Fed-eration of India, which nom-inated her for the position inthe world body as well.

“Obviously I am very proudof being nominated but I alsounderstand that if I am elect-ed, it would be a huge respon-sibility,” the Manipuri veteranin the lightweight (60kg) cat-egory told PTI.

Sarita, a former nationalchampion and 2014 Com-monwealth Games silver-medallist, is the sole contenderfrom the Asian bloc as of now.

She is set to be pickedunopposed as the commissionis supposed to feature onemale and a female boxer fromeach of the five regional con-federations (Asia, Oceania,Europe, Americas and Europe).

The last date of filing nom-inations was June 5 while thelist of candidates in fray wasfinalised earlier this month.

The athletes commissionis part of the reforms that theInternational Olympic Com-mittee has recommended forAIBA, which has been strippedof the right to conduct the sport

in the 2020 Olympic Games dueto alleged financial and admin-istrative mismanagement.

“I am still an active athleteand have no plans of giving upanytime soon. I understand thatit would be a challenge tomanage my time for the mul-tiple roles but I will try to domy best if I make it,” Sarita said.

“Having served in the BFIexecutive body, I have someexperience of raising athletes'issues,” she added.

The voting by boxers will bedone during the men' worldchampionship in Yekaterinburg,Russia from September 7 to 9and the women's world cham-pionship in Ulan-Ude, also inRussia, from September 29 toOctober 2. Sarita said if shemakes the final panel, herfocus will be on issues relatedto women's boxing. “The wellbeing of women boxers is a pri-mary concern for me and I willtry and be their active voice inAIBA,” she said. The AIBA ath-letes commission memberswould be mandated to be abridge between the worldbody and the boxers for greatertransparency and coordinationin formulation of rules and pro-jects for the sport.

Sarita in running for place inAIBA athletes' commission

Athletes are always entitled to freedom of speech and when wedetect that something is wrong and there’s cheating, then whyshouldn’t we have a voice?

ADAM PEATY OLYMPIC BREASTSTROKE CHAMPION ON NEW RULE

AGENCIESWASHINGTON, 25 JULY

Liverpool wrapped up theirUS tour with a 2-2 drawagainst Sporting CP as theEnglish Premier side failedto win a game in their firsttrip abroad since beingcrowned European champs.

Liverpool finished with novictories to show from theirthree-match stateside tourbut did manage to salvage atie against the reigning Por-tuguese champions at Yan-kee Stadium in New York.

Marcus Wendel tied thegame at 2-2 in the 53rdminute on Wednesday witha right footed shot from thecentre of the box to the bot-tom right corner after beingset up by midfield star BrunoFernandes.

Fernandes and Wendelalso combined on the first goalof the game in the fourthminute for the 18-time Por-tuguese champs. Fernan-des right footed a seeming-ly harmless long shot that Liv-erpool goalkeeper SimonMignolet mishandled beforeit went into the net.

Divock Origi andGeorginio Wijnaldum scoredgoals for the Reds who playedall three exhibition contestsin iconic American sportsvenues.

Liverpool heldby Lisbon


Postal Reg. No. DL (ND)-II/6088/2018/-19-20www.thestatesman.comFor more updates

Printed and published by SHIVAJI SAMADDAR for THE STATESMAN LTD, Statesman House, 148 Barakhamba Road, New Delhi ��Editor: RAVINDRA KUMAR ��Executive Editor: USHA MAHADEVAN ��Printed at Vibha Publication Pvt Ltd, D-160 B, Sector 7, NOIDA 201301 (UP). ��The Statesman Ltd. RNB REG. No. M-8905,RNI No. 507/72

THUMBNAILS

Five-team finals revamp for shortened Big Bash season: Aus-

tralia's Twenty20 Big Bash League unveiled a new-look finals

series and a shorter season Thursday following fan feedback.

The ninth year of the domestic competition, starting on Decem-

ber 17, will again see the eight franchises playing 56 regular sea-

son games, but they will be condensed into 42 days with more

double-headers. Five teams will now be involved in the finals

with a new system that gives a double-chance for the regular

season's top two teams. The fourth and fifth-placed teams will

play in the newly titled �The Eliminator� with the winner facing

the third-placed team in �The Knock-Out�. Teams finishing first

and second play �The Qualifier�, with the loser taking on the win-

ner of �The Knock Out� in �The Challenger�.

Garg leads India to 35-run win over Bangladesh in U-19: Skip-

per Priyam Garg slammed a 97-ball century before the bowlers

took centre stage to guide India U-19 to a 35-run win over

Bangladesh U-19, their second consecutive in the Under-19

Youth ODI Tri-Series. Garg remained unbeaten on exactly 100, a

knock that was studded with seven boundaries and four hits

over the fence, taking India U-19 to 265 for five after opting to

bat on Wednesday night. Besides Garg, left-handed opener

Yashasvi Jaiswal made 63 off 90 balls up the order. Jaiswal

struck six fours and one six during his knock.

New sponsor for Indian team jersey: The Indian cricketers

will soon be wearing a new brand name on their official jer-

seys with Chinese mobile manufacturer Oppo handing over

the sponsorship rights to Byju's, a Bengaluru-based educa-

tional technology and online tutorial firm. The deal between

the BCCI and Oppo, which was inked in 2017 for a five-year

period, was reportedly worth Rs 1079 crore. Virat Kohli and

his men will be wearing the jersey with the new brand name

from the upcoming home season, beginning with the assign-

ments against South Africa from September 15. A Source

said that the transfer is a �tripartite agreement� between

Oppo, Byju's and the BCCI and will be signed on Thursday.

�The Oppo and Byju's are negotiating among themselves on

the possible handover of shirt sponsorship deal. The CoA has

been intimated that they are discussing among themselves

on the transfer of sponsorship� a senior BCCI official told PTI

on condition of anonymity.

Gill, Panchal throw it away as

India A reach 134/3: Opener

Priyank Panchal and number

three Shubman Gill squan-

dered their promising starts

to leave India A at 134 for

three at lunch on day two of

the first unofficial Test against West Indies A in North Sound

(Antigua) on Thursday. India A, resuming the day at 70 for

one, struggled to score 64 runs in 26.4 overs in the morning

session and trail West Indies A by 94 runs. Both Panchal (49

off 115) and Gill (40 off 87) played loose shots to be dis-

missed. While Panchal was trapped in front off left-arm spin-

ner Jomel Warrican, Gill went for a big shot off spinner Rah-

keem Cornwall only to top-edge it at the stroke of lunch.

Ahead of the game, the surpemely talented Gill had

expressed his disappointment at not being picked in the

India squad for the West Indies tour despite scoring three

consecutive half-centuries in the preceding one-day series

against West Indies A. On day one, India were comfortably

placed after bowling out West Indies A for 228. Left-arm

spinner Shahbaz Nadeem was the pick of the bowlers for

India A, returning impressive figures of 5 for 62 in 22 overs.

Bowling first after the hosts decided to bat, India A were

well served by their seamers and spinners, who they did not

give West Indies A any leeway to reduce them to 97 for five.


The Committee of Adminis-trators (COA) will discussways to ensure timely state unitpolls besides deliberating onformer India opener VikramRathour's application for theNCA batting consultant'sposition in its meeting hereon Friday.

The extended deadline ofappointing electoral officersfor the state elections hasalready ended. The originaldeadline for the appoint-ments was July 1 but the COAextended it to July 25.

The COA had also instruct-

ed the state units to correctinaccuracies in their consti-tution and make them com-pliant with Lodha reformsfailing which they might losevoting rights for the BCCIelections scheduled for Octo-ber 22.

According to the timelineannounced by the COA inMay, the state elections mustbe held before September 14.

“About 20 of the 36 stateunits are in the process ofappointing electoral officers.This includes prominent asso-ciations like the MumbaiCricket Association. Whichev-er unit doesn't fall in line willlose its voting rights. As sim-

ple as that,” a BCCI official toldPTI.

Once appointed, the elec-toral officers will have thetask of preparing the list ofmembers, election protocoland electoral roll of the stateunits by August 14.

Another matter to be dis-cussed in the meeting will beformer India opener Rathour'sconflict of interest vis-a-vis hisapplication for the role ofbatting consultant at theNational Cricket Academy inBengaluru.

Earlier, his appointment asIndia under-19 batting coachwas scuttled due to conflictof interest as his brother-in-

law Ashish Kapoor is a juniornational selector. The 50-year-old played six Tests andseven ODIs for India.

Kapoor still holds the posi-tion and it remains to be seenif the COA goes ahead withRathour's appointment aftertaking opinion from the BCCIlegal team.

“Rathour's case shows thatdue diligence was not doneagain. When he has comeunder conflict of interest in thepast, his NCA applicationshould not have been con-sidered,” the official added.

The issue of who will pickthe next India head coach isalso likely to be discussed

though the COA is still await-ing Supreme Court directionson the conflict of interestcase involving Sourav Gangulyand VVS Laxman, the twoCricket Advisory Committeemembers who have beenasked to choose one out of themultiple cricketing roles theyare performing at the moment.

Only CAC is empowered topick the head coach but withno clarity over the future ofits high-profile membersGanguly, Laxman and SachinTendulkar the Kapil Dev-ledad-hoc panel, which pickedthe women's coach in Decem-ber, could select the men'scoach as well.

CoA issues fresh directionson appointment of electoralofficers

The Committee of Adminis-trators (CoA) on Thursdayissued clarifications on the eli-gibility criteria for appointingelectoral officers for polls inthe BCCI state units.

The original deadline forthe appointments of elec-toral officers was July 1 but theCoA extended it to July 25. Thestate elections must be heldbefore September 14.

“It is clarified that formerJoint or Additional Chief Elec-tion Commissioner and Jointor Additional Chief ElectoralOfficers of States are not eli-

gible for being appointed asthe Electoral Officer of theMember Association,” theCoA said in a statement.

As of now, around 20 stateunits are in the process ofappointing electoral officerswhile those who have notwill be barred from voting inthe BCCI AGM scheduled onOctober 22, said a board offi-cial. “The Committee ofAdministrators have notedthat certain State Associa-tions have faced difficulties inappointing an Electoral Offi-cer in terms of the aforesaid,specifically, as all States havenot set up a State ElectionCommissions,” it said.

“With a view to ensurethat the Member Associa-tions do not face difficultiesin the appointment of elec-toral officers for the conductof the elections and are in aposition to comply with theSupreme Court orders, theCOA considers it is neces-sary to issue the directions.”

The state association shallappoint an electoral officerfrom any of the following cat-egories of persons only: Aformer Chief Election Com-missioner of India or formermember of the Election Com-mission of India or a formerElection Commissioner ofthe state.

State elections' compliance, Rathour's appointment in focus at COA meet


Former Indian cricket captainMahendra Singh Dhoni, anhonorary Lieutenant Colonel,will join the army troops inKashmir valley by month endand will carry out patrolling,guard duties and similarresponsibilities just like othersoldiers.

Dhoni, the world cup win-ning captain, will be stayingwith his 106 Territorial Armybattalion (Para) from July 31to August 15 and undertakeduties with the troops, Armyofficials said.

The unit is in KashmirValley as part of Victor Force.

Dhoni will be taking onpatrolling, guard and postduties while staying with thetroops, officials said.

They said the 38-year-oldcricketer will carry out theresponsibilities during hisstay in the battalion just like

any other soldier.“As requested by the offi-

cer and approved by theArmy headquarters, he willbe taking on the duties ofpatrolling, guard and post dutyand would be staying withtroops,” said a senior Armyofficial.

Dhoni was accorded thehonorary rank of LieutenantColonel in 2011.

Amid mounting specula-

tion around his internation-al retirement after India'ssemi-final exit from the recentWorld Cup, Dhoni had toldthe BCCI that he will take atwo-month sabbatical fromthe game to serve his para-chute regiment.

Dhoni had made himself“unavailable” for India's tourof West Indies but ruled outimmediate retirement a daybefore the selectors met inMumbai to pick the squadsfor the upcoming West indiestour, starting August 3.

The selection committeechaired by MSK Prasad hasalready discussed it withDhoni that it's time to investin future.

The Territorial Army is apart of the Army. Its presentrole is to relieve the regularArmy from static duties andassist civil administration indealing with natural calami-ties and maintenance ofessential services.

Dhoni to join Army troops in Kashmir on 31July, will carry out normal duties of soldier

BETTER SHOW EXPECTED India will send a good contingent for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Unionminister Kiren Rijiju said on Thursday, expressing confidence that the coun-try's performance at the games will be better. During Question Hour inLok Sabha, he also said Indian athletes have been performing competi-

tively at the international level in many disciplines. "A good number" ofcontingent would be sent for the Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, in 2020, theMinister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports said. He was responding to

a supplementary question on the road map for the Olympics. "We willdefinitely perform better at Olympics," the minister said, adding that

a task force set up after the previous Olympics has come out withvery effective suggestions. In the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics,India had won only two medals, he added.

PTICOLOMBO, 25 JULY

Veteran Sri Lankan star LasithMalinga said on Thursday hewas “very happy” to make wayfor younger players as he callstime on his illustrious 15-yearcareer in the 50-over format.

Malinga will play his finalone-day international in Colom-bo Friday in the first of threeODIs against Bangladesh, buthopes to continue playing inthe shorter T20 format.

“I am very happy to leaveat this time. This is an oppor-tunity for new players to provethemselves and prepare forthe next World Cup,” Malinga,35, told reporters Thursday atthe team's final training session.

“We may have had some set-backs, but we have the capa-bility to win another WorldCup,” he added, pointing to SriLanka's success at the 1996World Cup and 2014 T20 WorldCup.

Malinga -- known for histrademark blond-highlighted

mop and piercings -- called oncricket administrators to bepatient with up-and-comingstars and let them developahead of the next ODI WorldCup. “The young players needto believe that they can deliv-er. They need to be dedicatedand develop to a level thatthey can decide for themselveswhen they go to the middle,”Malinga said.

Two days ago, Malinga post-ed a video message on hiswife's Facebook page saying hefelt no ill will towards officialsand players who may havetried to push him out of the ODIteam.

He said he was sidelined byselectors two years ago butwas able to prove his value atthe recent World Cup, where hetook four for 43 in Sri Lanka'sgroup-stage win over eventu-al champions England.

Malinga has his sights on nextyear's T20 World Cup in Aus-tralia, and Sri Lanka's cricketboard confirmed he would beavailable for selection for theT20 squad.

Malinga is leaving as SriLanka's third-highest wicket-taker in ODI cricket with 335wickets in 219 innings so far sincehis first ODI against the Unit-ed Arab Emirates in 2014.

Only Muttiah Muralitha-ran (523) and Chaminda Vaas(399) have taken more wicketsthan Malinga in ODIs for SriLanka. He was Sri Lanka'shighest wicket-taker at theWorld Cup, claiming 13 scalpsin seven innings.

Malinga retired from Testcricket in 2011 but continuedto remain available in other for-mats.

Malinga 'happy' to make way for young players

AGENCIESLONDON, 25 JULY

Ireland rocked Englandafter nightwatchman JackLeach fell just short ofwhat would have been a

remarkable Test hundred asthe visitors pressed for ashock victory at Lord's onThursday.

England were 209 for fivein their second innings attea on the second day, a leadof just 87 runs.

Leach made 92, his high-est first-class score, afterbeing sent in as a night-watchman on Wednesday.

That was more than the 85all out England, with Leachat number 11, managedbetween them in their firstinnings as veteran Irelandseamer Tim Murtaghtook 5-13 on his Middlesexhome ground on Wednes-day. Leach and Test debutantJason Roy, who made 72, puton 145 for the second wick-et.

But from 171-1, England

lost four wickets for 23 runsas they slumped to194-5 inwhat is Ireland's first Testagainst them and just theirthird in total.

England resumed on theirovernight 0-0 after Ireland hadmade 207, featuring AndrewBalbirnie's 55.

The one-off fixture wasscheduled to last four days,rather than the standard fivefor a Test.

Wednesday had seen Eng-land bowled out in a single ses-sion for the fourth time since2016 -- a worrying sign aheadof an Ashes series that startsnext week.

Unexpected opener Leach,who survived a Murtagh maid-en on Wednesday, playedwatchfully straight.

And when fast bowler BoydRankin, the first cricketersince the Nawab of Pataudiin 1946 to both play for andagainst England in a Testmatch, dropped short, Leachcut him for four.

Left-hander Rory Burnsfell for six when he pushed

hard at Rankin away from hisbody and edged a simplecatch behind to wicketkeep-er Gary Wilson.

Roy, looking to make Eng-land's problem position of Testopener his own after starringin their World Cup triumph,off-drove a four off pacemanMark Adair and hoisted off-spinner Andy McBrine forsix.

Leach went to 47 with astraight-driven four off Stu-art Thompson before hisedged boundary throughthird man off the medium-pacer saw the Somerset left-arm spinner to his fifty.

It was a fine effort byLeach, playing his fifth Testbut first on home soil. Andwhen Roy cut Thompson tothe point fence, he complet-ed a 47-ball fifty includingseven fours and a six.

The bespectacled Leachshould have been out for 72when he edged Rankin, onlyfor Wilson to drop the chancedespite getting both hands tothe ball.

Roy, however, was bowledfor that score by a Thompsonin-ducker. Leach had anoth-er reprieve on 92 when heedged Murtagh only for Adair,standing exceptionally closeat second slip, to drop thechance.

But two balls later a soft-er, defensive, edge wentstraight to Adair and thistime he made no mistake.

Leach, who had been insight of an achievement thateluded batting greats BrianLara, Ricky Ponting and SachinTendulkar -- a Test hundredat Lord's -- walked slowly offto a standing ovation after bat-ting for 220 minutes and fac-ing 162 balls, hitting 16 fours.

At 182-3, England wereonly 60 ahead and they thensuffered a self-inflicted woundwhen Joe Denly was run outafter being sent back by Rootwhen the skipper was alreadytwo-thirds of the way downthe pitch.

And when Adair had JonnyBairstow lbw for a duck, Ire-land were back on top.


Former England captainMichael Vaughan brandedEngland’s astonishing battlingcollapse against minnows Ire-land at Lord’s as “embarrass-ing” after the hosts were skit-tled for 85 on the first day ofthe four-day test on Wednes-day.

In their first test match ina summer dominated by theone-day World Cup, Englandcould not even muster threefigures against a nation play-ing its third test match ever.

A week before Joe Root’s sidetake on Australia in the firstAshes test at Edgbaston, Ire-land’s London-born seamer TimMurtagh exposed the fragili-ty of England’s batting, takingfive for 13 in nine superb overson a pitch that, while offeringsome movement, should nothave held terrors for a topnation.

England lasted 23.4 oversas they were bowled out beforelunch on the first morning ofa Lord’s test for the first time.

To make matters worseIreland were playing just theirthird match since being giventest status in 2017 — the pre-vious two against Pakistanand Afghanistan ending indefeats.

While Murtagh bowled asuperb line and length, Eng-land’s batsmen were guilty ofloose strokes as they ended theday 122 runs behind as Irelandmade 207.

“When the ball does any-thing you shut your eyes andhope England get through it,”Vaughan told the BBC’s Test

Match Special.“There were some good

balls but there was also sometimid play and poor strokes.

“Let’s be honest, it’s anembarrassment — you’re at thehome of cricket, in a testagainst Ireland and you’re allout for 85, there is no other wordto describe it.”

England’s batting coachGraham Thorpe said the eupho-ria of winning the World Cupin a dramatic conclusionagainst New Zealand 10 daysago had played a role, althoughonly four players who playedin the final — Root, opener JasonRoy, Jonny Bairstow and ChrisWoakes — were on duty onWednesday.

“I would say the players haveto show an enormous amountof character and mental strengthas well to be able to come backdown from last weekend andto be playing this week,” Thor-pe told reporters after an extra-ordinary day.

“We can’t run away fromtoday’s performance, can’tmake excuses — it’s been a badday.” It was England’s lowesttest innings score at homesince they were dismissed for77 by Australia in 1997 and Thor-pe said it could work as awake-up call before the Ashes.

“Hopefully the bump inthe road puts some of theplayers back in a better placeand we will be ready for Aus-tralia next week,” he said. “Butthe first task is to try and standup over the next two to threedays and put Ireland on the backfoot. “They had a great day todayand it is up to us to counterattack tomorrow and get our-selves back into the test match.”

Ireland hit back afterLeach falls short of ton

England collapse vs Irelandembarrassing, says Vaughan


David Warner made a timelyfifty as Australia's bowlerscontinued to hold sway in anintra-squad Ashes warm-upmatch at Southampton.

A fixture scheduled for fourdays will barely make it intothe third, with this match Aus-tralia's only red-ball warm-upgame ahead of a five-Testseries with England starting atEdgbaston on August 1.

And with England col-lapsing to a stunning 85 all outon the opening day of their four-day Test against Ireland atLord's on Wednesday, theindications are that batsmenon both sides could struggleagainst the heavily stitchedDukes ball during the Ashes.Left-handed opener Warner,playing his first four-day gamein 16 months after complet-ing a year-long ban for ball-tampering and starring in

then title-holders Australia'srun to the semi-finals of aWorld Cup, hit eight fours ina 94-ball 58.

It was the first fifty of thematch between the BradHaddin XII and the GraemeHick XII. Fast bowler Pat Cum-mins had earlier taken 5-24 torun through the tail of the Hickside, who led by 15 runs on firstinnings after being dismissedfor 120.

James Pattinson (3-19)made early in-roads into theHaddin XII's batting the sec-ond time around before all-rounder Mitchell Marsh's 5-34 saw them bowled out for170 to leave the Hick XII need-ing 156 for victory.

By stumps on day two,during which 15 wickets fellfor 229 runs, the Hick XII were35 for two with former skip-per Steve Smith -- like Warn-er banned for a year for his rolein the ball-tampering scandalin South Africa -- out for eight.

Warner hits fifty as bowlersstar in Australia squad match