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Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015
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On Tuesday Vohra held
separate consultations with
Mehbooba and BJP leaders,
including former Deputy Chief
Minister Nirmal Singh, who
said the BJP will take any step
only after the PDP elects its
Legislature Party leader and
notifies the Governor about it.
The BJP asked the
Governor for ten days’ time to
“resolve whatever is outstand-
ing” with the PDP.
Earlier, emerging out of the
meeting with Vohra here in
Jammu, Mehbooba told
reporters outside the Raj
Bhavan: “The State of Jammu
& Kashmir is different from
other States. It needs a good
atmosphere, space and a fillip
if a new Government is to be
formed.”
She said: “I don’t have the
neither do I have the experience
right now. Before formation of
a new J&K Government, I want
the Central Government to
take some confidence building
measures for the region.”
Striking an emotional
chord Mehbooba said: “Mufti
Sahib used to say he didn’t join
hands with Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, he joined
hands with the people of the
country who elected him.”
She said her late father,
without bothering about his
“political career”, had aligned
with Modi in the hope that the
Centre would bring out the
State from the difficult situation
it is in.
“So now, before the formation of the new alliance
Government, all I want is for
the Centre to announce a few
CBM’s to win the confidence of
the people of the State. J&K
faces numerous challenges and
we need full support from the
Government of India to tackle the situation,” she added.
Continued on Page 4
2]]c`RUd]VRUe`XcZU]`T\
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here was total chaos on the
T
roads of the national
Capital on Tuesday as traffic in
the city was brought to a standstill due to numerous protests
being held in different areas.
While on one hand, students from different universities in Delhi blocked traffic at
ITO as they raised slogans
against alleged police brutality outside Delhi Police headquarters; on the other hand the
ongoing strike by municipal
employees completely choked
the city’s roads as they held a
protest march from the Civic
Centre to Rajghat, in the
process blocking traffic at
Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg,
Asaf Ali Road, Jawaharlal
Nehru Marg, Outer Ring Road,
ITO and adjoining roads.
To add to the woes of
Delhiites, protesting sanitation
workers in East Delhi and
North Delhi also created chaos
by dumping mounds of
garbage on the roads, thereby
obstructing traffic flow.
According to the Traffic
Police, there were traffic snarls
right from UP Link Road to
Ghazipur Flyover due to
demonstrations by municipal
workers near Khichri Pur.
Heavy traffic jams were also
witnessed at Rajpur Road,
Boulevard Road and MCD
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vision that the late Mufti had, Y`^`dVifR]Zej
aRce_VcSVWRZeYWf]
he suspense over Jammu &
Kashmir’s fate continued on
Tuesday as Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba
Mufti asked the Centre to
announce some confidence
building measures (CBMs) to
create an atmosphere conducive for Government formation in the State and fill the
void created by the departure
of Mufti Muhammad Sayeed
from the political landscape.
Without spelling out the
nature of the CBMs, Mehbooba
urged the Central Government
to stand “rock solid” behind the
people of the State to tackle the
numerous challenges ahead.
However, she remained noncommittal over the time frame
for the formation of the coalition Government in the State.
Mehbooba’s statement
came soon after her meeting
with J&K Governor NN Vohra,
who had stepped in to break
the month-long impasse
between the two alliance partners after the Mufti’s death.
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Chowk due to demonstrations
by civic workers in front of Old
Police Lines behind the
Lieutenant-Governor’s house.
So bad was the traffic situation that it took more than
an hour for commuters to
cover just a few kilometers.
Commuters also complained of
long waits at traffic signals at
ITO intersection as police tried
their best to regulate traffic.
“I was stuck at ITO red
light for more than an hour,”
complained Shivani Gupta,
who just had to go till Bahadur
Shah Zafar Marg.
“I could have walked to my
office and it would have taken
only five minutes. Instead, I was
stuck in my car for over an
hour waiting for the signal to
turn green.
Continued on Page 4
01A070<C7><0BQ =4F34;78
eviving the debate on
whether homosexual acts
should be penalized as unnatural sex under the Indian Penal
Code Section 377, the Supreme
Court on Tuesday decided to
form a Constitution Bench of
five judges to examine the issue.
Without issuing a notice,
the court placed the bunch of
eight petitions challenging
Section 377 of Indian Penal
Code before a five-judge Bench.
The Bench of Chief Justice TS
Thakur, Justices AR Dave and
JS Khehar said, “The issue is
important as counsels appearing for the parties have pointed out several important issues
of constitutional importance.”
It is unprecedented for a
curative petition to be referred
to a Constitution Bench.
Considering the fact that a
curative petition is the last
recourse available for a litigant
to seek justice from the court,
the decision of the SC has given
a ray of hope to the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community to fight the
R
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?=B064=284BQ =4F34;78
<D<108:0A0278
ctor Anupam Kher on
Tuesday claimed he was
denied visa by Pakistan to attend
a literary festival in Karachi. The
Pakistan High Commission
(PHC) in Delhi, however, said
Kher never submitted any visa
application in New Delhi.
Kher was one of the 18
Indians invited to the four-day
event. The other 17 Indians participants, including Congress
leader Salman Khurshid and
actor Nandita Das have been
given visa.
“I am not
angry, I am
hurt, upset
and somewhere wanting to know
the reason.
Out of 18 why only I was singled out. It could be either
because I am a Kashmiri
Pandit, I am not playing a card
of Kashmiri Pandit and trying
to divide people, or because I’ve
spoken about the issue of intolerance, taken a stand and have
applauded my Prime Minister.
Otherwise, there is no logical
reason why the visa was denied
to me. This has happened for
the third time,” Kher said.
“It may be clarified that
PHC never received Kher’s
visa application. So the question of issuing or denying him
visa does not arise,” said
Pakistan Embassy spokesperson Manzoor Ali Memon.
Continued on Page 4
A
issue legally.
Inside the jam-packed
courtroom, when the three
judges began hearing the case,
they encountered a battery of
senior lawyers led by the likes of
KK Venugopal, Ashok Desai,
Kapil Sibal, Shyam Divan,
Anand Grover, Colin Gonsalves,
who represented the petitioners
comprising NGOs and individuals supporting gay sex.
Sibal, who appeared for a
parent who is supporting the
cause of her gay son, said, “The
most precious of rights is the
right to sexuality. The SC in a
National Legal Services
Authority of India decision recognized the human aspect of
sexuality by recognizing transgenders as the third sex. But by
the decision on Section 377
(Suresh Kumar Kaushal case),
this court has bound the present
and future generation to indignity and stigma. It is an issue for
the posterity and must be decided by a five-judge Bench.”
Continued on Page 4
:D<0A274;;0??0=Q
274==08
n a no-holds-barred attack
IMinister
on the Congress, Prime
Narendra Modi on
Tuesday blasted the principal
Opposition party for obstructing the passage of crucial legislations that can change the
lives of the poor.
“The Opposition is making
use of the fact that the
Government does not have
the numbers in the Rajya
Sabha. They are derailing the
pro-poor reforms initiated by
the Government. The
Opposition is also instigating
the Dalits against the
Government though our
Government is working for
the upliftment of the Dalits and
the down-trodden,” said the
Prime Minister while addressing a mammoth rally organised
by the Tamil Nadu BJP in
Coimbatore.
The Prime Minister said
that nobody could do injustice to
the Dalits as long as Babasaheb
Ambedkar’s name is in the heart
of Indians. He also made it clear
that the reservations for Dalits
and other backward communities would continue.
Though there was high
expectation among the people
of the State that the Prime
Minister would make some
political statements about the
BJP’s plans for the upcoming
election to Tamil Nadu
Assembly, he made use of the
occasion to highlight the
achievements made by his
Government during the last 18
months. The Prime Minister
declared that plans were afoot
to compensate farmers in case
of natural disasters.
The Prime Minister
blamed the Opposition for
blocking the Ordinances
favouring the farmers. “You all
know in what condition the
country was two years ago.
People were fed up with corruption scandals during the
UPA regime. But now there is
a sense of confidence and trust
among the people as we have
initiated many pro-poor
actions,” said Modi.
“Some people could not
digest the fact that a tea seller
has become the Prime Minister
of the country.
Continued on Page 4
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sserting that MNREGA is
A
here to stay in its “tranformed” form, Union Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley on
Tuesday said the NDA
Government has increased
spending under the rural jobs
scheme to a record high and
will for the first time release
more funds than budgeted.
As MGNREGA completed
ten years, the NDA Government
claimed the rural job guarantee
scheme was in a “pitiable” state
under UPA due to frequent
curtailing of funds. The scheme
provides 100 days of work to the
poor in rural areas.
Asserting that schemes are
“not cast in stone” and their
modification is required with
the passage of time, Jaitley
said MGNREGA underwent
change under the NDA rule
and new initiatives were taken
besides increasing the fund
allocation to the scheme so that
its benefits could reach the people in a better way.
The Minister also hinted at
the Government’s plans to put in
more money in rural areas,
including road construction,
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electrification, healthcare and
education in the forthcoming
Union Budget with an aim to fuel
both rural and urban demand
and help the country continue to
grow at 7 to 7.5 per cent despite
a global economic slowdown.
He was addressing a
MGNREGA
Sammelan
organised to mark the completion of ten years of the
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nderworld don Dawood
U
Ibrahim is the only “Indian
national” on a newly updated
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scheme here by the Union
Rural Development Ministry.
While rejecting views in
some quarters that the BJP
Government is neglecting the
jobs scheme, Jaitley claimed
that during the UPA’s rule,
final spending used to be lower
than what was budgeted under
the scheme.
Continued on Page 4
list of financial sanctions by the
UK that also includes Sikh
terror groups.
Dawood, India’s
most wanted terrorist
against whom an international arrest warrant
has been issued,
appears on the UK
Treasur y
department’s
‘Consolidated List of Financial
Sanctions Targets in the UK’
updated on January 27 with
four recorded addresses in
Pakistan — all in Karachi.
“Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar”
is recorded to have lived at:
House No 37, 30th StreetDefence, Housing Authority,
Karachi, Pakistan; House no. 29,
Margalla Road, F 6/2 Street no.
22, Karachi, Pakistan; Noorabad,
Karachi, Pakistan (Palatial bungalow in the hilly area);
and White House, Near
Saudi Mosque, Clifton,
Karachi, Pakistan.
The Mumbai-born
gangster’s nationality is
listed as “Indian”, with a
recorded Indian passport which
was subsequently revoked by
the Government of India and
then goes on to list a string of
Indian and Pakistani passports
acquired by him and misused.
Continued on Page 4
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BC055A4?>AC4AQ
<070B0<D=3
nion Water Resources
U
Minister Uma Bharti on
Tuesday inaugurated a newlydeveloped garden near Shaheed
Narayan Water Reservoir
(Kodar Dam) in village Kodar
of Mahasamund district.
Developed over an area of
three acres near National
Highway (NH-53), this beautiful garden has been named
after Shaheed Veer Narayan
Singh. This garden will become
centre of attraction for tourists
visiting the archeological citySirpur situated nearby, officials
stated.
Presiding over the inaugural programme, State
Agriculture and Water
Resources Minister Brijmohan
Agrawal gave detailed information about Kodar Water
Reservoir.
Water
Resources
Department officials informed
that Shaheed Veer Narayan
Singh Garden has been developed on the land of Kodar
Water Reservoir, keeping in
mind the comfort and conve-
nience of tourists.
The garden has comfortable chairs, rides for children,
and also a canteen. It has been
developed at the cost of C50
lakh, sanctioned from BRGF,
on initiative of District
Administration Mahasamund.
In days to come, boating facility will also be arranged in
Kodar Reservoir, so that the
garden could be developed as
an ideal picnic spot.
In this programme, MP of
Mahasamund Lok Sabha constituency Chandulal Sahu,
Women
and
Child
Development Department
Parliamentar y Secretar y
Roopkumari Choudhary, MLA
Mahasamund Dr Vimal
Chopra, State Rural and Other
Backward
Classes
Development Authority
Deputy Chairman and Khallari
MLA Chunnilal Sahu, CREDA
Chairman Pawan Patel, Janpad
Mahasamund President
Dharamdas Mahilang, Ex-State
Minister Poonam Chandrakar,
Secretary Water Resource
Department Dr BL Tiwari,
Mahasamund Collector Umesh
Kumar Agrawal, SP Neha
Champawat, and other public
representatives, senior officials
and other prominent citizens
were also present.
BC055A4?>AC4AQ A08?DA
hhattisgarh was on
C
Tuesday once again conferred with the prestigious
national award for successful
implementation of Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act
(MGNREGA).
The State was awarded
during an exhibition of works
done by various States under
MGNREGA at Vigyan Bhawan
in New Delhi.
Union panchayat and
rural development Minister
Chaudhary Birender Singh
gave away the award to
Chhattisgarh panchayat and
rural development department, Secretary, PC Mishra
and nodal officer Subhash
Mishra. Sushma Minj,
Sarpanch of Padhi gram panchayat in Balrampur district
was also felicitated for exemplary work in implementation
of MNREGA.
She also addressed the
gathering and shared her experiences related to MNREGA.
KP Verma, assistant post
master of Rajnandgaon,
Sitaram Dewangan, deputy
post master of Banchabazar
and Gajadhar Prasad Sinha,
branch post master of
‘Bhatgaonrudri’ in Dhamtari
district were also awarded at
the function for exemplary
performance in opening of
accounts and instant payment
to labourers.
BcPcTfPb
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f^aZbS^]TQh
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1WPfP]
Minister of State for
Drinking Water and Sanitation
Ram Kripal Singh Yadav,
Minister of State for Panchayati
Raj Nihalchand and Minister of
State Sudarshan Bhagat were
also present at the event.
Additional Chief Secretary
Panchayat
and
Rural
Development department,
Chhattisgarh, M K Raut said
that these awards were testimony to exemplary work been
done in Chhattisgarh under the
leadership of Chhattisgarh
Chief Minister Raman Singh
and Chhattisgarh Panchayat
and Rural Development
Minister Ajay Chandrakar.
Development work carried
out in the state and various programmes under MNREGA
along with efforts made by the
State to improve the livelihood of MNREGA beneficiaries were displayed effectively
at the exhibition.
Union Finance Minister
Arun Jaitley and Union
Panchayat
and
Rural
Development
Minister
Chaudhary Birender Singh
appreciated the exhibition.
Models on Pisciculture in
remote and Naxal affected
areas, construction of fences for
promoting organic farming,
livelihood through kosa production, dairy business and
rural tourism were displayed at
the exhibition.
The exhibition also showed
that how women holding job
cards have formed self-help
group ‘Saikripa’ and were manufacturing CFL for livelihood.
Panchayat and Rural
Development Secretary J K
Mahapatra, Additional
Secretary Amarjeet Singh and
Joint Secretary MNREGA
Aprajita Sarangi were also
present.
=QXQ^QTYSXQ^^U\)d_RUcdbU^WdXU^UT FPcTabd__[hPaaP]VT\T]cbU^a
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BC055A4?>AC4AQ A08?DA
he distributory channel
number nine of Mahanadi
T
main canal in Dhamtari district
will be strengthened with concrete lining at a cost of about
C2.93 crore, the officials stated.
The move would help in
extension of irrigation facilities
in 2041.58 hectares of agricul-
tural land. Chhattisgarh is
among nine States which will
benefit more from Centre’s
‘Neeranchal project’ due to
implementation of large number
of watershed schemes already in
these States, officials mentioned.
The nine states which
would benefit from the project
are—Andhra
Pradesh,
Chhattisgarh,
Gujarat,
Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra,
Odisha,
Rajasthan and Telangana.
Notably, the Central
Government has signed a loan
agreement with World Bank for
the Neeranchal National
Watershed Project. The project
to be implemented by the
Ministry of Rural Development
over a six-year period (2016-
21) will support the Pradhan
Mantri Krishi Sinchayi Yojana
in hydrology and water management, agricultural production systems, capacity building
and monitoring and evaluation.
The Neeranchal project
was approved by the Union
Cabinet in October last year
with a total budget outlay of
C2142 crore with the
Government share of C1071
crore and the rest 50% by the
World Bank. The Chhattisgarh
Government has ensured usage
of nearly 73 per cent of the
extended irrigation capacity
which is far better than many
other states of the country, officials stated.
The actual irrigation capacity for Kharif season has doubled whereas the irrigation
capacity for Rabi season has
increased 10 times, they stated.
Notably, the Chhattisgarh
Government had also made all
preparations to strengthen
Central Government’s Water
Conser vation
and
Management policy of ‘Jal
Kranti Abhiyaan’ (water revolution mission).
A total of 54 severe water
scarce villages have been selected for the Mission. Two villages
from each of the 27 districts
have been selected for the purpose. Water Resources
Department Secretary Dr BL
Tewari held a meeting of the
State-level Committee on
recently at the Data Centre.
He reviewed recently the
steps taken to implement the
‘Jal Kranti Abhiyaan’ in the
State. Top engineers of the
Department participated in
the meeting in Raipur. Tewari
said that the ‘Jal Kranti
Abhiyaan’ is the top priority of
the State Government.
Two severe water scarce
villages from each of the 27 districts have been selected for the
Mission. Various departments
should closely co-ordinate to
make water available for drink-
ing water, irrigation and other
basic necessities of the villagers, Tewari said.
He had instructed the concerned officials to address the
problems of the villages as
early as possible. The officers of
the
Water
Resources
Department have been
appointed as Nodal Officers of
the ‘Jal Kranti Abhiyaan’.
The Nodal officers will
tour the problem villages every
15 days and redress the grievances. The District Collectors
are being given responsibility to
make the Mission a success.
Janpad Panchayats and Gram
Panchayats will also be kept in
the loop in implementing the
Mission, Tewari said.
He said that every drop of
water is precious and the chosen
villages will be asked to conserve
water. Governmental organisations, non-Governmental organisations and citizens will join
hands to make the Mission a
great success.
BcPcT?dQ[XR7TP[cW4]VX]TTaX]V3T_Pac\T]cP]SBRWTSd[TS2PbcTFT[UPaT3T_Pac\T]c0SSXcX^]P[2WXTUBTRaTcPah=:0bfP[
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60A8010=3
head of the summer season, the State Public Health
A
Engineering department and
Scheduled Caste Welfare
department Additional Chief
Secretar y NK Aswal has
instructed the officials to
ensure water supply facilities in
the drought-affected areas and
those facing ground water
depletion problems.
In a meeting held on
Tuesday, apart from hand
pump installation, he asked
officers to think about
installing riser pumps wherever required. Senior officers of
the energy department were
directed for the proper coordination of the ‘Nal Jal’ Scheme
and Spot Source Scheme at
Devbhog region.
Reviewing the Special
Backward Class scheme and
‘Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana’,
officials were told to focus on
making proper drinking water
supply arrangements.
Further, he reviewed the
works
under
Tribal
Development Department and
stressed on ensuring proper
management of tribal hostels
and ashrams along with regular stipend availability to the
reserved class youths.
Under an 11 point programme, officers were given
the responsibility of monitoring the tribal hostels and
ashrams regularly.
He ordered to produce the
Caste Certificate of the presently enrolled students in schools
by March 31.
'!(!%`dX]cP[bX^SXiTSbP[cd_U^aSXbcaXQdcX^]
BC055A4?>AC4AQ A08?DA
bout 82,926 quintals of iodized salt had been
allocated to the families of Antyodaya and
A
Priority card holders under the Public
Distribution System (PDS).
The idolised salt, which will be distributed
free of cost tio specific people is meant for the
month of February, the officials stated. The Food,
Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection department in a circular mentioned that the iodized
salt is meant for all the 27 districts.
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BC055A4?>AC4AQ A08?DA
hief Minister Raman Singh
on Tuesday held a detailed
C
discussion with the representatives of the Industry regarding the ensuing ‘Chhattisgarh
Budget 2016-17’ at his official
residence here.
Singh sought suggestions
from the captains of commercial and Industrial giants. The
Chief Minister said that the
industries had played a vital
role in the rapid development
of the State.
Singh said that the Budget
will focus on all sections of the
society including the industry.
Industr y Minister Amar
Agrawal, Chief Secretary Vivek
Dhand, Energy Department
and Chief Minister’s Principal
Secretary Aman Kumar Singh,
Finance Department Secretary
Amit Agrawal, Industry and
Mining Secretary Subodh
Kumar Singh, Director of
Industr y
Department
Kartikeya Goyal, Managing
Director of CSIDC Sunil Misra
and senior officers of the various departments were present at the meeting.
Dr Ashok Jain of
Confederation of Indian
Industry (CII), Veenu Jain of
PHD Chamber of Commerce
and Industry, Mahesh Kakkad
of Chhattisgarh Udyog
Mahasangh, Ashok Agrawal
of Chhattisgarh Steel ReRollers Association, Ashok
Surana of Chhattisgarh MiniSteel Association, Ravi Tiwari
of Chhattisgarh C ement
Association, Amar Paarvani of
Chhattisgarh Chamber of
Commerce and industries
President Yogesh Agrawal of
Chhattisgarh Rice Millers’
Association, Vinod Kejriwal of
Urla Industries Association
and a number of top industrialists were present at the
meeting.
Notably, in April last year,
the Central Government had
released C1157.94 crore for the
financial year 2015-16 for
Chhattisgarh
as
first
Installment of ‘Devolution’ as
per 14th Finance Commission
recommendations. The Central
Government has released more
than C37,420 crore to all the
States for financial year 201516 as the first installment of
devolution.
It may be recalled that
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister
Raman Singh on March 13 last
year had presented a bold and
impressive C65,013 crore budget for the fiscal 2015-16 and
kept youth, industry and infrastructure ar centre stage in the
Chhattisgarh Assembly. Singh
had announced a series of
trade and business-friendly tax
incentives in VAT, Central Sales
Tax and Entry Tax, to make
domestic trade and industry
more competitive.
He had also reaffirmed his
commitment to the poor,
farmers and the deprived sec-
tions of society by introducing
many pro-poor schemes. A
major highlight of the budget
was the introduction of a separate ‘Youth Budget’, which
brings into sharp focus the
public investment in schemes
that directly relate to the
youths which make up about
90 lakh out of State’s 2.55
crore population.
As many as C6,151 crore
have been allocated for youth
with a basic intent to skill
development under the
Chhattisgarh Right of Youth to
Skill Development Act, 2013.
The focus on infrastructure was another highlight of
the budget, with an outlay of
over C11,000 crore, making an
increase of over 39 percent
over last year. The allocation
for the road sector alone is
C5,183 crore, an increase of 43
percent over last year. In other
bold decisions which are targetted to build up infrastructure, Chhattisgarh plans to
upgrade all State highways
and roads connecting district
and block headquarters to
double-lane roads.
In addition, 2,000 km of
existing roads will be upgraded in the PPP mode, with an
estimated investment of
C10,000 crore. Besides, C 700
crore have been allocated for
rural connectivity, for roads not
covered under Prime Minister’s
Rural Roads Scheme.
The State will also develop
a 300-kilometre Rail Corridor
through a joint-venture with
SECL and IRCON, with an
estimated investment of C5,000
crore. The budget also provides
for developing the Swami
Vivekananda Airport at Raipur
in line with international
norms.
Bold tax reforms were proposed to further enhance the
“ease of doing business” in
Chhattisgarh. Traders having
an annual turnover of up to C1
crore were exempted outright
from filing quarterly returns.
E-payment of taxes was
made compulsory for all tax-payers. VAT on re-rolled products
was reduced to 4 percent. All
industrial inputs, including lubricants, light diesel oil, and electrical panels, have been brought
in the 5 percent VAT slab.
In a major relief to the
micro, small and medium
enterprises sector, Entry Tax
exemption had been extended
to investments in plant and
machinery up to C5 crores as
against the existing exemption
limit of just C1 crore.
To give a fillip to the Clean
India initiative of the Prime
Minister, Chief Minister
Raman Singh announced
exemption of VAT and Entry
Tax on bio-toilets. In order to
incentivise fast-track construction of affordable housing,
precast and monolithic concrete products have been made
tax-free. VAT on aviation turbine fuel has been reduced to
4 percent.
As the acclaimed pioneer
of food security, Singh has
made a massive allocation of
about Rs. 5,000 crore for the
State’s food security initiatives,
which cover about 85 percent
of the population.
In the health sector, a special nutrition supplement
scheme for TB patients, the first
of its kind in the country, and
distribution of free insulin for
diabetic children were some of
the
fresh
initiatives.
Reaffirming his commitment
to the poor, Singh had
announced 20 percent hike in
the Social Security Pension for
about 16 lakh pensioners.
In spite of huge allocation
towards pro-poor initiatives,
there was a substantial increase
of 39 percent in capital expenditure.
Plan expenditure accounts
for 61 percent of the total budget out of which 36 percent was
allocated for Tribal Sub-Plan.
Fiscal deficit was contained
within prescribed ceiling of 3
percent of GSDP. Thus the
budget combined bold and
creative prioritisation with fiscal prudence.
1D\D5DLSXU%576FRPSOHWLRQE\HQGOLNHO\ 7_fdcdQbdcbUdU^TUbY^W
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BC055A4?>AC4AQ =0H0
A08?DA
he Bus Rapid Transport
System (BRTS) project
T
being implemented in the new
capital city is expected to be
completed by end of 2016,
officials informed.
An interim bus service is
already running between
Raipur and Naya Raipur .
Notably, the Naya Raipur
Mass Transport Ltd (NRMTL)
is in the process of developing
a total of three BRTS corridors
covering a total of 40 kms with
exclusive ‘Right of Way’ with
the possibility of mixed route
extension.
NRMTL established to
act as a Special Purpose
Vehicle to carry out the objectives of building, constructing
and developing public transport system has proposed to
develop the BRTS with private
sector participation, officials
stated.
The Corridor-I would be of
25 kms from Raipur Railway
Station till Capitol Complex in
Naya Raipur. The Corridor-III
would be of 17.8 kms within
Naya Raipur.
To facilitate BRTS operations, the NRMTL would provide depots and workshops to
park and service the vehicles
when not in use.
The operator would maintain 30 air conditioned buses at
routes designated by NRMTL.
If the fleet requirement is more
, 10 more buses would be provided by the operator of similar specifications.
An ‘Intelligent Tracking
System’ (ITS) would be established under the proposed Bus
Rapid Transit System (BRTS) in
the new administrative capital.
Notably, Naya Raipur is
among five other cities in the
countr y
chosen
as
‘Demonstration Cities’ for the
Centre’s ambitious Sustainable
Urban Transport Project
(SUTP).
The final five cities participating as ‘Demonstration
Cities’ under Sustainable Urban
Transport Project (SUTP) are
- Indore (Madhya Pradesh),
Mysore (Karnataka), Naya
BC055A4?>AC4AQ A08?DA
he Chhattisgarh Directorate
T
of Aviation has gone for a
re-tendering process to hire a
Raipur (Chhattisgarh), Pune
and Pimpri Chinchwad
(Maharashtra).
Detailed project profiles
were prepared by all cities with
the assistance of the SUTP
Consultants and then endorsed
by the SUTP Steering
Committee to be included to
SUTP as ‘City Demonstration
Projects’, officials stated.
NRDA to cite an example
is also going for an ‘Intelligent
Rain Water Drainage System’
fixed with indicators to send
alert before water logging or
%2´VPaWaXRT\X[[Tab
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BC055A4?>AC4AQ A08?DA
he owners of 1,600 rice
mills in Chhattisgarh have
T
given up the cooking gas subsidy on an appeal made by
Chief Minister Raman Singh, it
was informed in the annual
State-level conference of rice
millers here.
Chief Minister Raman Singh
on Tuesday said that the Public
Distribution System (PDS) had
brought glory to Chhattisgarh.
The Chief Minister was addressing the annual State-level conference of rice millers.
The Supreme Court asked
all the other States to emulate
this PDS system. The rice millers
had contributed a lot in the success of the PDS. The millers
should provide quality rice at all
times and share the social
responsibility. Substandard quality of food material will never
be accepted, he said. The Food
and Civil Supplies and
Consumer Protection Minister
Punnulal Mohle presided over
the function.
Chief Minister Raman
Singh who was the chief guest
said that rice mill industry is of
crucial importance for providing employment to youth in
comparison to other industries.
There are more employment
opportunities in the industry
with less investment.
About 400 youth are
employed in a rice mill. There
is a rapid expansion of rice
mills industry after the formation of Chhattisgarh. There is
high quality after the growth of
rice mills. There were 700 rice
mills at the time of formation
of Chhattisgarh and now 1, 600
rice mills are in operation.
The scenario of agriculture
progress can be witnessed in
rice mills. Agriculture is the
backbone of the State’s economy. The prosperity of the State
is dependent on the prosperity of farmer. The State bagged
‘Krishi Karman’ award due to
the hard working farmers who
produce record rice. The State
had bagged ‘krishi Karman’
award this year for record pulses’ production, he said. The
Chief Minister assured the rice
millers that their grievances
will be dealt with sympathetically. Mohle said to avoid broken rice problem top quality
rice mills should be established in the State.
He said 59 lakh metric
tonnes of paddy had been produced this year in the State.
Chhattisgarh Rice Millers’
Association President Yogesh
Agrawal while welcoming the
gathering gave a list of grievances
and demands to the CM.
flood situation with option for
automatic valve opening system, officials stated. It plans of
developing a project comprising IT-enabled systems to manage a host of utilities using
state-of-art technology.
The design would comprise IT enabled land management system, city surveillance
besides a host of other systems
till now popular and being
used only in the developed
countries. The other city management systems include intelligent lighting systems, pay
and use parking systems, city
guide map available through
web browser, intelligent transport system, city level wi-fi
touch screens across the city,
display boards across the city
for providing real-time information, emergency alert and
crisis response systems, traffic
re-routing applications based
on real time traffic data.
The city would also have an
Central Control Center for
monitoring all the services
including central traffic control
and management system.
twin engine helicopter for use
by the State Police and VIPs on
a long-term charter basis.
The Government is looking for a twin engine helicopter
capable of carrying a minimum
of six passengers. The helicopter will be based in Bastar
district’s
headquarters
Jagdalpur but would be
required to operate in the
entire State, officials stated.
The helicopter would have
to provide 25 hours of committed flying in a month.
Notably, the Chhattisgarh
Government will develop a
helipad with night landing facility in insurgency infested Sukma
district of Bastar at a cost of
C19.90 lakh, officials stated.
Notably in November last
year, the State government also
decided to provide a night
landing facility in insurgency
infested Bijapur district of
Bastar. The officials of Airports
Authority of India (AAI) and
Chhattisgarh government’s
Bastar district officials had
also jointly visited the Jagdalpur
Airport recently to discuss
plans for developing the crucial
airport in the insurgency infested Bastar district.
The AAI team had inspected the airport and expressed
the possibility of developing
the Terminal building, Air
Traffic Control Tower and
hangar, officials stated.
Officials stated that the
infrastructural set up would
also pave way for the functioning of two-seater air-taxi
service soon.
Moreover, the technical
guidance for building the necessary infrastructure was felt by
the officers. Notably, the AAI
is also mulling over plans to
begin three-seater air taxi services from Jagdalpur in the
near future.
The inspection visit covered issues like security, land
availability and other technicalities. On behalf of AAI,
Raipur Airport Director
Santosh Dhoke, Civil Aviation
Security Bureau’s Security
Assistant Commissioner BP
Sharma,
Air
Traffic
Management Deputy General
Manager (DGM) SK Singh,
Air Traffic Control DGM
Sudhir Sharma and others visited the airport.
([HQJLQHHUVSURIVWRHYDOXDWHUXUDOURDGV
BC055A4?>AC4AQ A08?DA
he
Chhattisgarh
Government would soon
T
seek services of retired engineers and professors to monitor the quality of rural roads
construction work in the State.
The Government would
soon constitute a panel of
retired engineers and professors under Pradhan Mantri
Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY)
in Chhattisgarh. In this panel,
retired engineers and professors will be appointed as ‘State
Quality Observers’.
According to information
received, the Government has
invited application from retired
engineers and professors who
desire to become the part of
panel and last date of submitting the application is February
8 of this year.
For empanelment of quality obser vers in panel,
Chhattisgarh State Rural Road
Development Agency under
Panchayat
and
Rural
Development Department has
invited applications from
retired teachers and professors
of Chhattisgarh and its neighbouring states, said official
sources.
Retired engineers with
rank not lower than Executive
Engineer (Civil) and Professor
of Engineering as well as
Polytechnic colleges having the
experience of road construction and its maintenance are
eligible being part of the panel,
informed officials.
Chief Minister Raman
Singh had announced last week
that construction of roads
worth C2,000 crore have
already been completed in tribal pockets of Chhattisgarh.
Besides, construction of
70 roads in Dantewada and
Sukma district of Bastar region
is in progress, he had stated
while addressing the Statelevel Convention of leaders of
Scheduled Tribe communities
titled ‘Mahabaithaka’ organized
at Gondwana Bhavan in
Tikrapara area of Raipur.
The Chhattisgarh government will soon commence
work for construction of as
many as 92 roads falling in Left
Wing Extremism (LWE) hit
districts of the State.
Of the total 153 roads to be
constructed in seven LWE districts of Chhattisgarh under
‘Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak
Yojana’ (PMGSY), tenders have
been invited for 92 roads, said
an official, adding that the
estimated expenditure for construction of these roads would
be around C163.17 crores. The
tenders had already been
awarded for 90 roads, officials
stated.
As per information
received, Chief Minister
Raman Singh had recently
reviewed the progress of ongoing preparations to complete
the road construction works in
a meeting held with Panchayat
and Rural Development
Minister Ajay Chandrakar and
his Department officials.
The meeting was also
attended by Additional Chief
Secretary (Panchayat and Rural
Development) M K Raut.
Notably, following the
problems being encountered
during road construction
works in LWE districts, the
Chief Minister has sent a proposal to the Centre for re-inviting tenders for construction of
92 PMGSY roads.
It needs to be mentioned
that these roads were sanctioned for seven districts of
Bastar division between 200102 and 2008-09, of which 35
roads were sanctioned for
Bastar, Kondagaon (18),
Kanker (12), Sukma (8),
Nayaranpur (8), Bijapur (7) and
Dantewada (4), said officials ,
adding that administrative
approval of C149.66 crore was
given for construction the
roads. As of now, C62.25 crore
has been spent on construction
of 92 roads and remaining
works will be carried out with
pending amount, the officials
informed.
Information received from
District Collectors of respective
districts highlighted that as
many as 267 road construction
works were sanctioned under
PMGSY between 2001-02 and
2008-09, of which 114 road
works are in progress while 153
works were hindered due to
Naxal problem.
Based on information that
92 pending works could be
started again, Chief Minister
directed officials of Panchayat
and Rural Development to
table a proposal for re-inviting
the tenders of road works to the
Central government. After necessary approvals from the
Centre, the Department has
floated tenders for road construction works.
Notably, Chhattisgarh is
among the seven worst Left
Wing Extremism (LWE) states
which been allocated C228.56
crore as Additional Central
Assistance (ACA) by Union
Ministry of Home Affairs, officials stated. Union Home
Minister Rajnath Singh had
approved the State-wise allocation of Additional Central
Assistance of Rs 1000 crores to
35 worst LWE affected districts
in seven States.
Out of these 35 districts,
there are 16 LWE affected districts in Jharkhand, 8 in
Chhattisgarh, 6 in Bihar, 2 in
Odisha and one each in
Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh
and Telangana.
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BC055A4?>AC4AQ BDA09?DA
he State Public Health
Engineering Department
had installed around 1800 hand
pumps during the past three
years in Surajpur district.
Officials on Tuesday
informed that around 755 hand
pumps were installed in 201314 financial year, 797 in 201415 and 250 hand pumps during the last eight months of
2015, officials stated.
The number of recent
installations cover 57 hand
pumps in Odagi block, 56 in
Surajpur block, 46 in Pratappur,
43 in Bhaiya Than, 29 in Prem
Nagar and 19 hand pumps in
Ramanuj Nagar.
Meanwhile, out of the 797
hand pumps of 2014-15, 203
hand pumps were installed at
Pratappur, 164 in Surajpur,
120 in Ramanuj Nagar, 115 in
Bhaiya Than, 113 in Prem
Nagar and 82 in Odagi.
On the other side, the 755
hand pumps set up in 2013-14
include 181 in Surajpur, 135 in
Pratappur, 124 in Ramanuj
Nagar, 120 in Odagi, 109 in
Prem Nagar and 86 hand
pumps in Bhaiya Than.
According to the Public
Health
Engineering
Department officials as many
T
as 30 power pumps were also
installed in 2014-15 financial
year. Overall, the State Public
Health
Engineering
Department (PHED) has
installed 33,327 hand pumps
during the past more than two
years in the State.
During the period, a total
of 1000 power operated pumps
were also installed, officials
stated. The Department carried
out digging of a total of 40,016
bore wells in the State out of
which 34,978 were successful.
PHED is providing safe
and clean drinking water to the
residents of 1,145 habitats in
the State, officials stated.
Earlier, the people in various
districts had been getting
drinking water with excess
iron, hard water and fluoride
content, they stated.
Water purification plants
have been installed to limit iron
>9?C;FCcYW^=_E
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:EB?a^U21BWPa\P2WPXa\P]=8>BBP]c^bW:d\Pa<P[[80B2^\\XbbX^]TaP]S23WPad\P]BTRaTcPah=8>B
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BC055A4?>AC4AQ A08?DA
Memorandum
of
Understanding (MoU) has
A
been signed between National
Institute of Open Schooling
(NIOS) and Kendriya
Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS)
whereby all single shift KVs
will work as NIOS Study
Centre, for conducting Public
Examination and On Demand
Examination (ODE) of NIOS
Courses, officials stated.
Both the institutions will
work together towards the
national goal of providing
quality education for all. It
would also help in improvement of quality of school education – formal system (being
imparted in Kendriya
5aTTS^\UXVWcTa:P]V[d
:d\WPaaT\T\QTaTS
Vidyalayas) as well as Open &
Distance Education (being
imparted by NIOS).
The facility of On
Demand Examination was
earlier provided to learners
only at the Regional Centres
of NIOS. Through this agreement, the facility will now be
extended to the learners
across the country.
ecurity personnel on Tuesday
gunned down a Maoist in an
Sencounter
which took place in
he death anniversary of
freedom fighter Kanglu
T
Kumhar was observed here in
Bhanupratappur tehsil of
Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district
on Tuesday.
On the occasion, sacrifices
and remarkable contribution of
Kumhar in freedom struggle
were recalled by people.
Chief of Chhattisgarh State
Scheduled Tribe Commission
Devlal Dugga who attended the
programme organized to mark
the death anniversary of
Kumhar as chief guest, said
government buildings should
be dedicated on the name of
freedom fighters so that their
legacy could be remembered by
future generation.
Meanwhile, Dugga also
assured of tabling a proposal in
this connection before Chief
Minister Raman Singh.
insurgency-hit Kanker district
of Chhattisgarh and recovered
a SLR, police said.
The encounter took place
in forest falling under limits of
Koyelibeda police station, said
a senior police officer.
According to the officer, a
joint squad of Border Security
Force (BSF), Special Task Force
(STF) and District Force (DF)
undertaking Anti-naxal exercise was targetted by a group of
ultras when they reached
Kesekodi forest following
which security forces retaliated. Unable to withstand the
retaliatory action launched by
security personnel, the insurgents fled from the spot.
While undertaking search
after an encounter which lasted for an hour, troopers recovered a blood stained body of a
cadre along with one SLR and
magazine from the spot, the
officer said.
From Page 1
The Embassy officials
added that Kher should show
proof that he has submitted
visa application form before
making such claims.
However, the organisers
of the Karachi Literature
Festival (KLF) said they were
advised by the Pakistan High
Commission in New Delhi to
tell Kher not to submit a visa
application as he would not be
issued one.
Rejecting PHC claims,
Kher said that Pakistan’s
Interior Ministry did not send
a clearance for his visa even
though the Lit fest organisers
pursued the matter vigorously with it.
He added that he will
have gone to PHC to complete
the visa formalities once the
approval was given from
Islamabad.
Kher produced a series of
e-mail communications with
the KLF organisers about the
visa issue, alleging that the
PHC was trying to mislead on
the issue.
was on the PDP’s differences
with the BJP over certain contentious issues.
She said the alliance partners have the ‘Agenda of
Alliance’, and the same was
drafted at the highest level by
the two parties and would be
implemented. “During my
meeting with the Governor I
clarified the position of my
party for forming a new
alliance Government,” she said.
After her departure, State
BJP chief Sat Paul Sharma
along with former Deputy
Chief Minister Nirmal Singh
and MP from Jammu-Poonch
Jugal Kishore Sharma met
Governor NN Vohra to explain
their position over the issue of
2^]V´b
]d\QTab
From Page 1
But there is an atmosphere
of trust and a new ray of hope all
over the country,” said the Prime
Minister. He pointed out that the
Mudra Yojana launched by his
Government has benefited more
than two crore families in the
country as Rs 95,000 crore has
been disbursed under this
scheme. The Mudra scheme
(Micro Units Development and
Refinance Agency) has been
launched by the Prime Minister
to facilitate the micro units in the
country and provide them sufficient funds to develop. Modi
said there has been a 39 per cent
increase in the Foreign Direct
Investment to the country in
2015. He also said that the country’s economy is growing. Earlier,
the Prime Minister dedicated to
the nation a new building complex built for the ESI Medical
College and Hospital in the city.
³4]R^daPVT_a^RTbbd]Xcb
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BC055A4?>AC4AQ A08?DA
rincipal
Chief
C onser vator
Forest
P
(PCCF) AA Boaz has directed the officials of the department to the ensure active
participation of people in
using minor forest produce in
processing units.
Reviewing the department’s works, Boaz issued
specific directives, while suggesting field officers to begin
efforts for holding forest-
based livelihood training programmes, which include plate
making, bamboo processing,
manufacturing of incense
sticks, tamarind, candy and
other products.
Expressing unhappiness
over pendency of compensation to the tune of aroundC 42
lakh to be distributed among
the people in Raigarh district
against the damage caused by
tuskers, the PCCF directed
officials concerned to ensure
that the distribution of com-
pensation happens from the
CAMPA (C ompensator y
Af forestation
Fund
Management and Planning
Authority) fund. Moreover, he
also directed CAMPA Incharge to initiate requisite
moves in this regard.
It was informed during
the meeting that an amount of
C5 crore has been sanctioned
for development of ‘Climate
Change Knowledge Centre’
under climate change initiatives.
RICFUGLVWULEXWHG
BC055A4?>AC4AQ A08?DA
or cultivation of Rabi crops,
the
Chhattisgarh
F
Government has distributed
around C168 crore among farmers as short-term loan through
Primary Agriculture Cooperative
Societies, officials stated.
As per the policy, the
Government is providing interest free loan to farmers for
Kharif and Rabi season. For
this Rabi season, the
Government has set the target
of distributing short-term loan
to the tune of around C650
crore. In five districts of Raipur
division which include Raipur,
Gariaband, Balodabazar,
Mahasamund and Dhamtari,
District Cooperative Central
Bank, Raipur has distributed
loan worth C4.79 crore to farmers, informed Chairman of the
State Cooperative Bank (Apex)
Ashok Bajaj.
Similarly, loan to the tune
of around C29.28 crore has
been given to farmers in Durg
district followed by Balod
(C37.59 crore) and Bemetara
(C46.54 crore), he said. Besides,
loan of around C13.38 crore has
been distributed among farmers in Rajnandgaon district
and over Rs 4 crore in
Kabirdham distirct, Bajaj said.
Meanwhile, Bajaj informed
that Rs 3.49 crore has been distributed among farmers as
short-term loan in districts
under Bilaspur division which
include Bilaspur (C 2.77 crore),
Mungeli (C11 lakh), JanjgirChampa (C60 lakh).
In seven districts of Bastar
division, C18.32 crore has been
distributed as short-term loan
and large numbers of farmers
have been benefitted with
short-term loan in districts
under Surguja division, he said.
Notably, the government
has decided to sow cereal,
oilseeds, pulses and vegetables in
around 17 lakh hectares in the
ongoing sowing of Rabi Crops
out of which sowing in 12 lakh
hectares has been covered by
January 5, stated officials. By
December 23 last year, sowing
for Rabi season crops was completed in 60 per cent of the cultivation area in Chhattisgarh.
Moreover, during the current season, vegetables would
be grown in 1.70 lakh hectares
and the farmers have already
carried out sowing in one lakh
hectares of land. The farmers
have also carried out sowing for
sugarcane crops in an estimated 10,000 hectares of land.
Agriculture Department has
started encouraging the farmers
to sow more of pulses crop in
Rabi season 2015-16. As per the
given target, 3.60 lakh hectares
have been marked for sowing
gram, 30,000 hectares for lentils,
30,000 hectares for moong,
15,000 hectares for urad, 40,000
hectares for kulthi and 3.50
lakh hectares have been marked
for sowing Tivra crop.
AR\UV_ZVUgZdR
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0bWaX]TX]APX_daWPbQTT]X[[d\X]PcTS^]cWT^RRPbX^]^U³Dab´^U³1P]YPaXFP[T1PQP´X]cWTRXch
D=CcVT`gVcVU =UXR__RQTU]Q^Tc
Government formation.
From Page 1
Wc`^Xf__VU
After the meeting Nirmal
Mehbooba refused to specify what kind of CBMs she was Singh told reporters: “We are in
U`h_>R`Zde looking for and what her stand favour of continuing this
BC055A4?>AC4AQ :0=:4A
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and fluoride contents and R.O.
(Reverse Osmosis ).State
PHED Minister Ramsevak
Paikra had initiated the works
on nine ‘Nal-Jal’ Yojanas (tap
water projects) at a cost of
C276.67 crore.
The PHED has installed as
many as 251 new solar powered
pumps in various districts in
rural pockets of Chhattisgarh,
officials
stated.
The
Department also installed a
total of 8,950 new hand pumps
during 2014-15 under the
National Rural Drinking Water
Mission in the rural pockets of
the State.
There were a total of 10,373
tube wells dug up by the
Department in the entire State
out of which 8,950 wells were
declared successful. During
the last financial year, 1,034
new hand pumps were established in rural schools and
1,881 in Anganwadis.
As many as 141 new tube
wells were dug in the urban
pockets of the State out of
which 126 were declared successful during the last financial
year.
Notably,
Chhattisgarh ranks first in
the country in terms of providing drinking water through
solar powered pumps, officials
stated. Out of the total number of solar pumps installed in
the entire country in financial
year 2013-14, nearly 90 per
cent of the solar pumps were
installed in Chhattisgarh itself,
they claimed.
An amount of C65.28
crore has been spent on 6503
pure and safe drinking water
schemes by the Public Health
and Engineering Department
(PHED) during the past six
years in Bastar district.
alliance with the PDP. We have
asked the Governor to give us
time so that we can resolve
whatever is outstanding (with
PDP). We have sought ten
days’ time from the Governor.”
The BJP leader said the
process of opening channels of
communication with the PDP
will start soon.
Contending that the BJP
wants the alliance to continue,
he said: “Modi sahib and Mufti
sahib had a vision regarding
J&K. We complete that vision.”
Singh, however, reminded
the PDP chief that she would
have to initiate the process of
Government formation after
electing the leader of the
Legislature Party.
6PhbTg 1\\b_QTc\UQTd_
From Page 1
Seeing the sea of people
standing in support of the curative petitions, the Bench was
curious to know, “Is anybody
opposing it?” Surprisingly,
Solicitor-General Ranjit Kumar
maintained a studied silence on
behalf of the Centre. The lone
voice of dissent came from the
Apostolic Churches Alliance
represented by advocate Manoj
V George. He pointed Muslim
Personal Law Board too is a
party in the case and is opposed
to any amendment to Section
377. The Bench observed, “Such
important issues arise in these
petitions. Let it go to a five-judge
Bench.” LGBT community
members were in a celebratory
mood after hearing. A pro-gay
activists said, “We have got a
chance to argue our case again.”
3U^dbUXQcdbQ^cV_b]UT
From Page 1
While in previous years
there has always been lower
spending as compared to the
Budgeted amount, this fiscal
the Government has not cut Plan
Expenditure as it wanted to
boost growth, said Jaitley.
“This (NDA) Government
has not followed the practice of
just making higher provisions
and later cutting them. Perhaps
this would be the first year
when the Rs 34,000 to Rs 35,000
crore which was allocated has
not only been spent fully, but also
some more resources could be
given to MGNREGA,” he said.
The Finance Minister said
the actual spending under the
scheme in the fiscal year ending
March 31 “would be the highest”.
While detailing virtues of the
scheme as a major engine in contributing to India’s continuing
economic growth when much of
the rest of the world was experiencing economic slowdown, he
said, there are obvious political
and social reasons to strengthen
?X^]TTa?W^c^
MNREGA since a large population of India lives in rural areas.
“However, there is an economic rationale as well given the
worldwide economic slowdown,”
Jaitley said. He said economies of
Brazil, South Africa, Russia and
even China, which were till
sometime ago compared to
India, are experiencing slow or
even negative growth. But India
is continuing to grow at 7 to 7.5
per cent. “Currently, the private
sector is not contributing significantly. Monsoon has been so
poor in the last two years that is
affected farm production and
rural purchasing power. In such
a situation, the Government
spending on infrastructure
development has increased.
Foreign investments have
increased and urban demand has
increased,” he said.
The Finance Minister said
the economic slowdown in the
major economies of the world or
the price of oil is beyond India’s
control, but what it can do is to
spur growth in rural areas.
From Page 1
If only I could have abandoned my car and just
walked, I won’t have been so
late to work,” she rued.
Another protest by the
joint front of municipal
unions along with thousands
of civic employees under the
leadership of former MLA Jai
Kishan was also held at
Najafgarh Zone office where
the protesters burned effigies of Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal and Prime Minister
Narendra Modi causing
obstruction to the flow of
traffic. The protest led to
traffic snarls in nearby areas
of Outer Delhi as well.
The whole Sansad Marg
was blocked due to the
demonstration by JNU students at around 2 pm in the
afternoon. “Obstruction in
traffic at IP Chowk due to
demonstration by JNU students… Sansad Marg has
been closed due to demonstration. Kindly avoid the
stretch,” Delhi Traffic Police
advised on its of f icial
Facebook page.
Meanwhile, Delhi Gate
Chowk was completely
blocked by MCD workers
who took out a protest march
from Civic Centre to Rajghat
carrying begging bowls in
their hands.
Due to the protests, the
traffic was thrown out of gear
in nearby areas as well. In
some places, bumper to
bumper traffic stretched for
more than a kilometer. It was
only a matter of time that long
tailbacks were witnessed on
all roads passing through ITO
intersection and IP Chowk.
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From Page 1
“International arrest warrant issued by the Indian
Government. Also referred
to as Hizrat,” the listing, first
made on November 7, 2003,
concludes.
Dawood has time and
again been reported to be
based in Pakistan but
Islamabad has denied his
presence.
Financial sanctions in
force in the UK could apply to
individuals, entities and
Governments who may be
resident in the UK or abroad.
The measures include
prohibiting the transfer of
funds to a sanctioned country
and freezing the assets of a
Government, the corporate
entities and residents of the
target country to targeted
asset freezes on individuals/entities.
Certain financial sanctions may also prohibit providing or performing other
financial services, such as
insurance, to designated individuals or Governments.
It is a criminal offence to
breach a financial sanction,
without an appropriate
licence or authorisation from
the
UK
Treasur y.
Organisations under the entities section on the updated
January 2016 list include the
likes of the Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam (LT TE),
Khalistan Zindabad Force,
International Sikh Youth
Federation (ISYF), and Hizbul
Mujahideen.
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344?0::D?A4C8Q =4F34;78
n an attempt to jack up BJP’s
pro-farmer image, Prime
IMinister
Narendra Modi will
address a number of ‘kisan rallies’ across the country. The
first phase of the rallies will
start this month covering Uttar
Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh,
Odisha and Karnataka, where
he would pinpoint the policies
undertaken
by
his
Government, including the
improvised crop insurance
scheme and neem coating of
urea for soil health, for the
well-being of the agriculturists.
The “kisan mahasamme-
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lan” in different States
will counter the Congress’
propaganda against the
Prime Minister, who is
“branded” as “pro-industrialist” and “anti-farmer”.
The Prime Minister’s initiative has come after he
sounded his Cabinet colleagues as also party leaders to “effectively communicate” policies and
programmes of his
Government to the beneficiaries in the rural areas.
Asked
why
Maharashtra, particularly
Vidarbha, which has witnessed an extremely high
number of suicides, has
not been included for such
rallies, BJP general secretary
Arun Singh said the farmers’
rallies would be held in many
other regions in the country
with the PM initially reaching
out to farmers of four States.
Pradhan Mantri Fasal
Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri
Sichai Yojana, Neem coating of
urea, and other “pro-farmer”
initiatives would be the talking
points of Modi’s rallies.
Modi would be inaugurating an oil refinery at Paradeep
on February 7 and thereafter, visit religious city of
Puri in Odhisa. The
Prime Minister would
visit Odisha again on
February 21 to address a
“massive farmers’ rally” at
Bargarh in western
Odisha, according to the
BJP general secretary.
(Congress vice-president
Rahul Gandhi had led a
‘save farmers’ march in
Bargarh district in
September, and the BJD
too did the same in
November, last year).
The other farmers’
rallies planned, include
one on February 18 in
Madhya Pradesh, on
February 27 in Karnataka and
on February 28 in Uttar
Pradesh — the venue for these
are yet to be decided.
“More farmers’ rallies to be
addressed by the Prime Minister
across the country would be
added to the list,” he said.
The Government has made
it mandatory for domestic fertiliser firms to “neem coat” at
least 75 per cent of their urea
production, a move likely to
save C6,500 crore subsidy outgo,
retain health of soil, increase
output and stop diversion of
urea for industrial purposes.
The move is aimed at
checking the excessive use of
urea, which is deteriorating the
soil health and adversely
impacting overall yield.
This apart, the new farmer
crop insurance scheme
(Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima
Yojana) announced recently
has been described by the BJP
as the biggest incentive for the
farmers of the country since the
Independence. The party said,
itwould secure their crop at
“very low premium”, target at
least 50 per cent farmers and
include even the damaged farm
produce in the storage.
*RYWLVVXHVWUDYHODGYLVRU\RQ=LND
?=BQ =4F34;78
ith the WHO declaring
Zika virus disease a public health emergency, the Union
Health Ministry on Tuesday
issued detailed guidelines to
deal with the mosquito-borne
virus including an advisory to
travellers (both male and
female) to consider postponing
their travel to affected countries.
Also, all the international
airports and ports have been
asked to display billboards and
signage providing information
to travelers on Zika virus disease and to report to custom
authorities if they are returning
from affected countries and
suffering from febrile illness,
symptom of the disease.
The guideline advises nonessential travel to the affected
countries to be deferred or cancelled while pregnant women
or women who are trying to
become pregnant should defer/
cancel their travel to the affected areas.
W
Pregnant
women who have
travelled to areas
with Zika virus
transmission
should mention
about their travel
during antenatal
visits in order to
be assessed and
monitored
appropriately, as
per the guidelines.
The Ministry
said the overall
situation would
be monitored by a
‘joint monitoring
group’ under
Director General
of Health Services
(DGHS) while
the Indian Council of Medical
Research (ICMR) would identify the research priorities and
take appropriate action.
Rapid Response Teams
(RRTs) shall be activated at
Central and State surveillance
units with each team comprising an epidemiologist or public health specialist, a microbiologist and a medical specialist, the ministry added.
The National Centre for
Disease Control in Delhi would
be the nodal agency for
investigation of any outbreaks in India, it said.
“I have instructed all
concerned to take steps
for preventing entry and
transmission of the virus
in India. Sufficient diagnostic capacity and risk
communication are also
key elements of strategy
on Zika virus. My
Ministry is fully geared to
deal with Zika virus. No
case reported in India.
No need to panic,” Health
Minister JP Nadda said
in a series of tweets.
WHO South-East
Asia Regional Director
Dr Poonam Khetrapal
Singh urged countries in
the region to strengthen
surveillance and take preventive measures against the Zika
virus disease which is strongly suspected to have a causal
relation with clusters of microcephaly and other neurological
abnormalities.
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New Delhi: There is no formal
proposal for prenatal sex determination and the idea is at the
discussion stage, Women and
Child Development Minister
Maneka Gandhi on Tuesday
clarified amidst a raging debate
over her remark that such a test
be made compulsory to check
female foeticide.
“The WCD Minister clarifies that there is no Cabinet proposal for tracking the sex of a foetus and that compulsory determination of foetal sex is an idea
given by some stakeholders,”
WCD Ministry said on Twitter.
Speaking on Monday at an
event in Jaipur, Gandhi had
said, “In my personal view, the
woman should be compulsorily told whether it is a boy or girl
child whom she is going to give
birth to. I am just putting out this
idea. It is being discussed though
there is no conclusion yet.”
The Minister’s suggestion
evoked sharp reaction from
activists and netizens as it
would result in lifting of the
ban on prenatal sex determination under PCPNDT Act.
“At least the present law has
maintained a certain level of
fear with respect to sex determination even among the rural
and illiterate populace,” read
one tweet while other said,”
#India sex-ratio-918. Need of
the hour is investing in changing d social cultural environment rather than scrapping
ban on #sexdetermination.”
In view of the raging
debate, the Ministry also issued
a statement on Tuesday asserting that while such an idea had
been mooted, there was no
Cabinet proposal in this regard.
The ministry said the matter needs to be debated further
and invited views and suggestion in this regard.
“She (Gandhi) had specifically stated that this needs further debate and had requested
the media persons to give their
suggestions,” the statement said.
The idea behind mandatory registration of the gender of
unborn child is to enable proper monitoring of his or her
birth, it said.
“It is an alternative point of
view that if each pregnancy
could be registered and the sex
of the foetus could be made
known to the parents and if the
same happens to be a female,
the deliver y should be
tracked and recorded,” the
statement said.
PTI
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=4F34;78
nion Home Minister
U
Rajnath Singh on Tuesday
held a meeting with top Muslim
clerics and sought their cooperation to check the attempts of
radicalisation of the youth by
terror modules — including
ISIS propagandists. The hourlong meeting was attended by
NSA Ajit Doval and the IB and
MHA top brass. The clerics
were apprised of the activities
of the West-Asia terrorist group
and its efforts to attract Indian
youth, especially from Muslimdominated areas.
The Home Minister sought
the cooperation of the clerics,
who offered all help to the
Government in this regard, official sources said. The issues that
were discussed included misuse
of social media, sources of impetus that attract persons, specially youth, to ISIS, the growth of
ISIS influence in India’s neigh-
bourhood and the best possible
law enforcement response.
Those who attended the
meeting, include Jamiat
Ulema-e-Hind’s Maulana
Arshad Madani, Maulana
Abdul Wahid Hussain Chisti of
Ajmer Sharif, Asghar Ali Imam
Mehdi of Jamiat Ahle Hadees,
Tauqeer Raza Khan, Rafiq
Warshiq, Shia leader Maulana
Syed Kalbe Jawad Qalbe Jawaid,
Kamal Farooqi, Mushafa
Faruqi, besides others.
In his remarks, the Home
Minister said India’s traditions
and family values will overcome
such nefarious designs of terrorist groups and that while the
traction that ISIS has got in India
is extremely limited, and almost
insignificant in comparison to
other countries, there is a need
to keep up vigil on all fronts, and
not let down the guard in any
manner. This was for the first
time that the Home Minister had
a meeting with Muslim clerics on
the issue of ISIS.
According to MHA officials, the Home Minister is
expected to reach out to prominent Muslim leaders from
South India also. Politicians like
AIMIM chief and Hyderabad
?C8
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MP Asaduddin Owaisi may be
roped in to appeal to youth
against radical propaganda,
especially those coming
through social media and other
internet platforms.
As per the Home Ministry
statistics, a majority of the incidents of youth getting attracted
to ISIS came from South Indian
states. According to Indian
intelligence agencies, a total of
23 Indians have so far joined the
ISIS of whom six were reportedly killed in different incidents
in Iraq-Syria. Around 150
Indians are under surveillance
for their alleged online links
with ISIS. As many as 30 other
Indians, who were radicalised by
ISIS elements, were prevented
from travelling to the conflict
zone in the West-Asia.
D4aR_V]
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?C8
New Delhi: Weeks before it finalise schedule for Assembly
elections in five States, the Election Commission will visit
Puducherry and Tamil Nadu for three days beginning
February 9 to review poll preparedness.
The three Election Commissioners, along with other
senior officers of the poll panel, will be in Puducherry on
February nine and in Tamil Nadu on February 10 and 11,
sources said.
0bbT\Q[h_^[[b
Assembly elections are likely
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be held in West Bengal, Assam,
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Kerala, Tamil Nadu and
Puducherry in April-May. The EC
1T]VP[
has already visited West Bengal and 0bbP\:TaP[P
Assam to take stock of poll preCP\X[=PSd
paredness in the two States.
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While the term of assemblies
in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal is ?dSdRWTaahX]
coming to an end in May, the
0_aX[<Ph
tenure of those in Kerala,
Puducherry and Assam is coming to an end in June.
The ‘full’ Commission comprising Chief Election
Commissioner Nasim Zaidi and fellow Commissioners AK
Joti and OP Rawat would reach Chennai on February nine
from where it will proceed for Puducherry.
The Commission will return to Chennai the next day
and hold interaction with top civil and police officials along
with political leaders of Tamil Nadu for two days.
The EC team will be in Kerala on Wednesday, February
3 and return to Delhi on February 5. In Kerala, it will visit
Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram.
The Commission is likely to announce the poll schedule for the five States in March.
Since the elections are in five states at the same time,
the EC will take into consideration the availability of central forces while deciding the schedule.
The Commission will also factor in festivals, weather
conditions and school examinations while working out the
schedule.
PTI
?=BQ =4F34;78
he Supreme Court on Tuesday
T
formed a committee headed by
former Chief Justice of India RM
Lodha to oversee refund of deposits
of more than five crore people who
invested over C49,000 crore in a
ponzi scheme run by Pearls Group.
With the group officials already
in CBI custody for defrauding
depositors on the false promise of
giving them land with high
promised returns, the bench of
Justices AR Dave and Adarsh Goel
directed CBI and Securities and
Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to
cooperate with the Justice Lodha
Committee and provide title deeds
of all lands available with the company to be put on sale for generating refund.
The deposits were collected by
two flagship companies under the
group — Pearls Agrotech
Corporation Limited (PACL) and
Pearls Golden Forest Limited
PGFL). The court posted the matter for hearing next on August 2.
The (SEBI) has initiated recovery proceedings against PACL Ltd
and its promoters and directors,
including Nirmal Singh Bhangoo,
for its failure to refund C49,100
crore to investors. PACL Investors
and Employees Association had
appealed to the Court for getting
their money reimbursed.
4g_[^aTP[cTa]PcXeTbc^caPSXcX^]P[RaT\PcX^])=6Cc^6^ec =^QP]^]BXZWcdaQP]bX]_dQ[XR
?=BQ =4F34;78
he National Green Tribunal
(NGT) has directed both
the Environment Ministry and
the Delhi Government to initiate programmes, providing
alternative modes of cremation
of human corpses. The traditional method of burning wood
emits hazardous pollutants in
the environment.
The bench headed by
Justice U. D. Salvi said that the
need of the hour is to come out
with more environment friendly methods as electric crematoriums and use of CNG,
which is also in conformity
with the mindset of common
man. Apart from causing air
pollution , dispersal of ash
into the river also leads to water
pollution.
The bench however accepted that “the issue involves
question of faith and circum-
T
stances in which the people
live, ..”. According to the panel,
it is the responsibility of the
men who lead, particularly
religious leaders, to steer the
faith in a direction to influence
the thoughts of people practicing their faith and make
them adopt practices which are
environment-friendly.
“Religions of the world ….
conceived of different methods
for disposal of the dead on the
basis of their theology and the
circumstances in which the
believers lived. Where there
was plenty of wood, the individuals thought of disposal of
their dead by burning with
wood, but where there was
scarcity of wood the individuals buried their dead,” it said.
The bench further added
that the government is also
responsible for the same
besides initiating feasible environment friendly options for
cremation to the public. It has
also directed the authorities
and civic bodies to raise awareness and educate common man
in this regard.
The observations of NGT
came in the wake of hearing a
plea by advocate D .M. Bhalla
who had said that cremation of
humans by conventional methods is creating air pollution,
and thus alternative methods
need to be considered seriously. To add to this forest cover is
also affected, he added.
b_PRTbX]5aP]RT)5aT]RW\XbbX^]
New Delhi: The French
embassy here on Tuesday said
there was no ban on wearing
turbans in public space while
reacting to a charge by a Sikh
organisation that the community has been fighting for their
rights in France.
“Outside the premises of
public schools, wearing the Sikh
turban is very much allowed in
public space, contrary to the
allegations of certain radical
organisations. Only the burkha
is banned in public places, for
obvious security reasons.
“Furthermore, neither
Sikhs wearing turbans in the
streets nor Sikh shrines were
ever subject to any hostility in
France,” embassy said in a
statement here.
It also noted that the
embassy issued this clarifica-
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tion following recent allegations regarding the so-called
restrictions imposed on the
Sikh turban in France.
“France upholds the freedom of religion, as well as the
right not to have one, and
opposes discriminations on
this ground. There is no ban on
the wearing of turbans. French
law in this matter is very precise: the restriction applies to
the wearing of all visible religious signs, without any dis-
crimination, and it applies only
to public schools.
“It leaves it to the heads of
public schools to take the most
appropriate measures, so that it
is implemented in a sensitive
manner,” the statement added.
This measure has been
explained to the Indian authorities and representatives of the
Sikh community in France,
with whom a regular dialogue
has been established, the
embassy said.
The Sikhs of France understand and have assimilated the
laws on laïcité (French principle of separation between the
State and religious institutions)
and practical solutions have
been found to reconcile their
religious practice with the principles of the French Republic,
it added.
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t the core of the two
peace processes in
South Asia are troubleshooters, Pakistan
Army and the InterServices Intelligence — the deep
state. India was struck by one of
their many strategic assets, the
Jaish-e-Mohammed, serially at
Pathankot and the Mazar-e-Sharif,
Afghanistan, rendering on hold the
twice cancelled India-Pakistan talks.
In the second reconciliation
dialogue with Afghanistan, the
deep state plays an even more pivotal role: It nourishes, shapes and
selects the Afghan Taliban whom
Kabul calls the armed opposition
which is to engage in direct talks
with Kabul. The ISI is also involved
in settling the factional fights within the Taliban to legitimise its chosen Emir of Taliban to replace the
late Mullah Omar.
The group, owing allegiance to
Pakistan is led by Mullah Akhtar
Mansour who is challenged by a
more moderate group headed by
Mullah Rasool which has distanced
itself from Islamabad and wants the
talks to be among Afghans without
any facilitation. It is believed that the
Mansour faction opened its account
of violence in the new year by a
series of high-profile attacks in
Kabul which it believes betters it
bargaining at the negotiating table.
Not only will the deep state
prop up the Mansour group for
eventual face-to-face talks with
Kabul, but will also facilitate the
entry of the Haqqanis — their
leader Sirajuddin Haqqani is virtually deputy leader of the Taliban —
a US/UN banned terrorist group —
to the talks table. This charade of
nominating a group chosen by
Pakistan is blessed by the US and
China, both Islamabad’s well-wishers, who have placed the destiny of
Afghanistan in the hands of the
deep state.
Great scepticism abounds in
Kabul about the peace process as the
National Unity Government is at
the mercy of the US and Western
donors. Instead of Pakistan reining
in the Taliban and the Haqqanis, it
has let them run riot, even as it pretends it has only influence, no control, over them.
Under Pakistan’s tutelage, the
four-party talks — Afghanistan,
Pakistan, China and the US — have
held two meetings in Islamabad and
Kabul and are due to hold the third
at Islamabad on February 6, and
probably one more before direct
engagement between the Afghan
Government and the Taliban chosen by Pakistan.
How China, which has so far
invested no more than $300 million
A
and recently committed another
$237 million over three years, has
come to be a part of the four-party
talks is mystifying. Beijing is a free
rider in Afghanistan. These preliminary meetings are designed to
chalk out the broad agenda for
inter-Afghan talks including any
preconditions — like acceptance of
Afghan Constitution, renunciation of violence and severing links
with terrorism.
The three-stage dialogue is
about evolving a roadmap for
talks followed by inviting the
Taliban and culminating with
implementation of the peace plan.
The US has convinced President
Ashraf Ghani that the road to
peace passes is through General
Headquarters Rawalpindi.
Both Mr Ghani and Chief
Executive of Afghanistan, Abdullah
Abdullah are on the same page
scripted by the Americans that
Kabul’s salvation lies in the accommodation of the armed opposition.
Besides, the challenge of the reconciliation process, two other issues
have to be confronted: First, the ratification of the arbitrary post of
CEO which is an artificial arrangement crafted by the US to legitimise
through compromise a fraudulent
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presidential election. Both
Parliament and the Loya Jirga will
need to regularise the CEO in the
Constitution by September. Second,
is holding the postponed parliamentary election in October.
That 18 months after the formation of the NUG Defence
Minister Masoom Stanekzai is still
acting, reflects the squabbling for
posts between North and South.
The Afghan National Security
Forces has had a busy year battling
the combined might of the Taliban
and the Haqqanis estimated to be
40-60,00 fighters. ANSF has suffered nearly 30 per cent more
casualties in 2015 than in the previous year when they fought independently (without the US and the
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation)
for the first time. Suffering 16,000
casualties including 7,000 killed is
intense attrition given the Taliban
occupy more territory in 2016
than at any time since 2001.
According to one estimate,
roughly five per cent to 10 per cent
of the 360 districts keep changing
hands. The lesson of 2015 which the
Afghans call the year of setbacks is
that ANSF requires better leadership, greater motivation, enhanced
weaponry and swifter mobility if
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they are to provide the political leadership greater flexibility at the
negotiating table.
The Taliban is expected to be
fighting while negotiating, a strategic posture enabling moral ascendency. A ceasefire which Kabul
wants will come with costs. ANSF
should exploit the divisions within
the Taliban as rival groups battle for
space and fight with the Islamic
State. Similarly, Pakistan Taliban
relocated in Afghanistan be used as
a bargaining chip in road map for
two-way talks.
Till last month, the usual
things were being said about
India in Afghanistan: On its own
it does not shape outcomes: It is
a peripheral player (not part of
four-party talks); enjoys goodwill
with highest popularity ratings
but no political influence; is
guided by the US and conscious
of Pakistan’s sensitivities; it is in
wait and watch mode — sitting
on the fence; the two billion dollar committed to Afghanistan
could have yielded better political gains elsewhere, and so on.
All this appears to be changing.
In a first by any Government official, External Affairs Minister
Sushma Swaraj in response to
repeated requests from Kabul for
operationalising the strategic partnership agreement announced in
December last year at the most
unlikely capital, Islamabad, the
equally unlikely declaration: India
is ready to work with Afghanistan
to strengthen its defence capability. The Mazar-e-Sharif attack was
apparently messaging from the ISI
to lay off weaponising ANSF.
Already the first of four Mi25
helicopters has been delivered while
tanks, guns and howitzers could be
in the pipeline. New Delhi can no
longer sit on the fence. Military
equipment, trainers and a field hospital should be deployed to bolster
the defence capability of ANSF. This
will enable Kabul to negotiate with
the Taliban from a position of relative strength.
When the stalled IndiaPakistan dialogue is resumed,
Afghanistan should figure prominently for the threats emanating
from there, especially from the IS.
This requires to be tackled jointly. Prime Minister Narendra Modi
recently told the Afghan
Parliament: “India is here, not to
light the flame of conflict or compete in Afghanistan. We support
Kabul without timelines and want
Pakistan to be a bridge between
South Asia and Afghanistan.”
Strengthening the ANSF diminishes Pakistan’s leverage over the
reconciliation process.
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Sir — This refers to the article,
“The minority-majority unending
debate” (February 2) by A Surya
Prakash. The ideal solution to
avoid all confusions related to
majority-minority is to abolish
special privileges based on religion and caste.
In 1947, India became a
democracy, which meant that
every Indian should be treated
equally. Why should anyone get
more privilege than others? It is
this special privilege, enjoyed by
certain sections in this so-called
secular/caste-less democracy that
is creating problems. All special
privileges, including reservations in
jobs and educational institutions
should be abolished. There should
be a common code for all religions.
S Raguraman
Via web
2__cdY^WUS_^_]i
Sir — This refers to the editorial,
“Incentive and subsidy” (February
1). Prime Minister Narendra Modi
has rightly signalled to the captains
of industry to enhance investment
in the backdrop of various tax
incentives enjoyed by them.
Government initiatives like
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Make in India and Start-up India
and subsidy rationalisation are
steps in the right direction. It is
now incumbent upon the private
sector to seize the occasion and
generate economic activity and
employment to maintain a high
level of growth in a bleak global
economic scenario. This will give
the much-awaited boost to the
Indian economy.
Dhruv Bhardwaj
Noida
4UfU\_`]U^dQWU^TQ
Sir — This refers to the editorial, “Incentive and subsidy”
(February 1). Indeed, it was simply plain-talking that Prime
Minister Narendra Modi did during his address at the global
business summit. Mr Modi gave
a good review of the Indian
economy as it stood in the past
and as it stands today.
While
the
Modi
Government is determined
towards fulfilling its developmental agenda, the need of the
hour is that Government initiatives like Make in India, Start-up
India, Stand Up India etc, be followed up by increased participation from the private sector.
We need to enhance home
production and technological
know-how. The private sector is
the engine of economic growth
that can drive the nation towards
the path of development.
Akshat
Delhi
BU]Qb[QR\UbUcY\YU^SU
Sir — After having lost the one-day
international series comprehensively, the Indian cricket team has
shown remarkable resilience by
bouncing back strongly, to win the
three-match T-20 international
series against Australia.
Inspite of good batting tracks
available in Australia, the Indian
team had earlier struggled invariably to win against Australia.
Indian top order batsmen alongside Suresh Raina and Yuvraj
Singh were the players who performed well enough to bring India
to victory at Sydney where the
third and final T-20 international
was played. And, although Indian
bowlers barring Ravindra Jadeja
lacked consistency, the combined
effort of the Indian players was
enough to win the series in
Australia. Well done, India!
Devendra Khurana
Bhopal
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n a bid to create a Muslim votebank in Malda and other Muslimmajority areas in West Bengal
before the upcoming Assembly
election in the State, Trinamool
Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee has
refused to arrest the perpetrators of communal violence in Malda’s Kaliachak town
on January 3. Her decision has endangered not only communal harmony but
also the law and order situation in this
sensitive district bordering Bangladesh.
For almost 10 hours, Kaliachak was
witness to unprecedented terror, violence
and lawlessness which West Bengal had
never seen before. The mood of over a
lakh-strong mob, armed with guns,
swords, machetes and canisters of
kerosene, was so violent that it burnt
down the main kotwali thana with its
records, torched 15 vehicles (four of
which were laden with food), attacked
and looted Hindu households whose
members were shot at, and vandalised
and desecrated temples. The movement
of vehicular traffic on the arterial
National Highway 34, which runs
through Kaliachak and links Kolkata
with north Bengal and the North-East,
came to a complete halt for almost half
a day. The officer in charge of Kaliachak
thana and his force were so thoroughly terror-struck that they fled the town
in panic.
The district administration, which
had prior knowledge of this pre-planned
and well coordinated attack, did nothing to stop the ring leaders in their
tracks. Reason: Edara-e Sharia, a fundamentalist outfit, which had called the
‘Muslim Rally’ to protest against the
objectionable remark made against the
Prophet by a little-known Hindu fringe
activist, is patronised by a politically
I
powerful lobby, controlled by a TMC
Rajya Sabha MP, and also by a JD(U)
Rajya Sabha MP from Bihar.
Political observers in Malda see no
reason why Ms Banerjee should allow
a rabidly communal organisation like the
Edara-e-Sharia to stage a protest rally of
all places in Kaliachak, if not to consolidate a particular community’s vote bank
for her party in Malda. Interestingly, she
allowed the rally to be staged 34 days
after the highly objectionable comment on Prophet Mohammed was
made in far-off Lucknow by a Hindu
activist who has no personal or political link with West Bengal whatsoever.
His remark had not been reported by
Kolkata’s mainstream media either.
Muslims of Malda have always
voted overwhelmingly for the Congress
and always served as its vote-bank. So,
the best way to wean away Muslim voters from the Congress to the Trinamool
Congress was to play upon their religious
sentiment by projecting the TMC as the
upholder of their religious cause. This
would sway the Muslim voters in favour
of the TMC which has been traditionally weak in Malda. Kaliachak is part of
the Malda Lok Sabha constituency from
where the Khan Choudhury brothers
have so far been elected 11 times. The
area was also chosen for its proximity to
Jamaat-infested Rajshahi and Pabna
districts of adjoining Bangladesh and also
the neighbouring districts of Bihar
where Maulana Gulam Rasool Balyavi,
the JD(U) Rajya Sabha MP, is the undisputed leaders of Muslim fundamentalists. Kaliachak was also selected as the
protest rally venue because Hindus
form only 30 per cent of its population
and the local thana is inadequately
equipped to quell large-scale violence.
The fear of getting adverse media
coverage forced Ms Banerjee to immediately launch a damage-control exercise.
She refused to acknowledge the incident
as communal violence and emphatically maintained that it was a mere law and
order problem. The locals, she said, were
unhappy with the BSF, and both had
clashed, a story which no Kaliachak resident is willing to buy. According to local
Block officials, the incident had a heavy
communal overtone and the Muslim
fundamentalists, who converged on
the town, were incited to run amuck. Ms
Banerjee sought to cover up the tell-tale
evidence of communal violence by
repairing and repainting damaged
temples, giving a fresh coat of paint to
the burnt Kaliachak kotwali thana and
removing the burnt remains of vehicles
out of public view. She forcibly prevented a BJP fact-finding team and a
CPI(M) MP from a neighbouring constituency from visiting Kaliachak. But
the scars left behind by the communal
riot on the minds of Kaliachak Hindu
residents are indelible and cannot be
erased easily. These residents complain
that the January 3 incident continues to
haunt them because the miscreants
responsible for the riot move around
freely in Kaliachak and are threatening
them with dire consequences.
A deep sense of insecurity and trust
deficit continues to haunt Kaliachak’s
Hindu residents, who, even after a
month of the riot, are so panic-stricken that they want to sell off their property and resettle elsewhere in the State.
They say that Kaliachak has now become
a hotbed of jihadi politics, a centre of
Pakistani spies, narco-terrorists, smugglers dealing in small arms and ammunition and Pakistan-printed fake Indian
:KHQOLWHUDWXUHEHFRPHVSROLWLFV
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he world’s largest free literature festival, the Zee
Jaipur Literature Festival,
came to a close recently, without
running into any major scandal.
Although some controversy crept
in, it made little impact. Filmmaker Karan Johar sarcastically
said that the freedom of expression in this country was a joke
and democracy, an even bigger
joke. He also tried to fuel the
‘intolerance’ debate by saying that
it was difficult to say one’s mann
ki baat in this country. By criticising India’s freedom of expression, Mr Johar has made a mockery of himself.
It was only due to the freedom of expression which the
Constitution guarantees to every
citizen of this country, that Mr
Johar had the courage to say that
democracy was a “joke”. Some
say that artistes are emotional
creatures, but Mr Johar appeared
to be childish. Perhaps, some
people who came to this planet
T
with a silver spoon in their
mouth will never appreciate the
essence of democracy.
Also, Mr Johar’s jibe adds
substance to the perception that
celebrities willingly rake up
controversy when they have a
film or a book to release. They
know that public memory is
short and, therefore, they make
controversial comments without
worrying about the consequences. It’s only when Mr
Johar’s biography was to be
released, that he realised that
there has been a rise in intolerance and that our democracy is
a joke. Actor Shah Rukh Khan
too expressed his views on
intolerance just before the
release of his film Dilwale.
However, when a section of
people gave a call to boycott his
film, Mr Khan said that Dilwale
was not just his baby but a collaborative effort. The fact is
that film stars think that controversy ensures instant success for
their films or books.
Some actors have also talked
about leave this country, due to
rising intolerance, but they forget that it is this country and its
people who gave them immense
love and affection. Their films
incurred huge profit in this
very country because people
watch them irrespective of
which religion they belong to.
But, if stars create controversy for their own benefit, what
about those who support the
stars? By supporting the controversial statements of film stars
about intolerance, these people
damage the image of the country. Thankfully, the social fabric
of this country is strong enough
not be ruined by stray
controversial statements.
A look at the history of
Sahitya Akademi award will
expose the true face of the socalled champions of secularism
in India. For the past six
decades, the Sahitya Akademi
award has not been given to a
single Muslim or Dalit writing
in Hindi — until last year
when writer Ram Darash
Mishra was felicitated.
The Sahitya Akademi needs
major changes with regard to its
awards-selection process.
Changes are also required in the
Sahitya Akademi rules for selecting the general council. What we
are analysing is the credibility of
Marxist writers who entered
the Sahitya Akademi in the
early 1970s and got prominence
after supporting the Emergency
imposed by Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi.
The Sahitya Akademi started honouring writers in 1955,
and the first award for Hindi literature was given to Makhanlal
Chaturvedi. For the last 60 years,
however, the Akademi did not
find any Muslim or Dalit writer,
who writes in Hindi, for this prestigious award. This shows the
communal face of the institution.
Literature does not differentiate on the basis of caste, creed
and community, but when for a
period of six decades, one community is kept at the fence,
question arises about the motive
of such institutions. There is a
long and distinguished list of
Muslim writers who wrote and
are still writing in Hindi. Their
work is par excellence.
That they still haven’t been
felicitated is by the design of the
Marxist writers who are at the
helm of affairs at the Sahitya
Akademi. Those were the days
of ‘tolerance’ and in those tolerant days, no Muslim writers
were rewarded by the Sahitya
Akademi. In fact, Marxist writers always present themselves as
champions of secularism and
pretended to fight for the
Muslim cause, but when the
time comes to recognise the
minority community, they are
nowhere to be seen.
If we see the list of coordina-
currency notes. Many of these residents
are those who settled in Kaliachak after
the liberation of Bangladesh. Some
were uprooted later from their hearths
and homes in Bangladesh as a result of
Begum Khaleda Zia’s Hindu-cleansing
policy pursued from 2001 to 2008.
None of the seven previous Chief
Ministers or for that matter any Muslim
leader of West Bengal has played the
communal card, or to be more precise
the ‘Muslim card’, so unabashedly in the
State’s electoral politics as is being
exemplified by the present Chief
Minister. Just as the CPI(M)-led Left
Front Government had thought that, by
implementing land reforms, it would
eternally stay in power with the support
of the State’s legions of landless and marginal farmers and sharecroppers, Ms
Banerjee benleives that she will hold on
to power as long as the bulk of the State’s
29 per cent Muslims supports her
Government’s pronounced pro-Muslim
stance — which in popular perception
has come to be viewed as a policy of
Muslim appeasement.
Armed with the Justice Rajinder
Sachar committee’s report on the plight
of Muslims in West Bengal, Ms Banerjee
is showering her Government’s largesse
even on those sections of the Muslim society, which ethically are not entitled to get
it. For instance, her Government has been
giving monthly allowances, ranging from
C1,500 to C2,000, to about 51,000 imams
and muezzsins. Unfortunately, this single
controversial decision of hers has been
sharply polarising the State’s homogenous
population on religious lines.
(The second and final part of this article will appear on Wednesday, February 10)
(The writer is a veteran journalist and
political commentator based in Kolkata)
WKLQN
QRZ
0=0=CE890H
tors of the Hindi language at the
Sahitya Akademi, most of them
are from one school of thought:
Marxism. Hence, it was mostly
other Marxist writers who were
rewarded and others sidelined.
In the late 1980s, casteism
also entered the Akademi and
took control of the Hindi language segment. Today, the
Sahitya Akademi is a place
where saudebaazi is common.
Once a member of the Akademi
was fighting for the Hindi convenor’s post. Another senior
writer too wanted to contest.
The latter was persuaded to
withdraw his candidature and
promised an Akademi award
instead — though eventually
that too was never given to him!
When awards are given on the
basis of ideology, caste and religion, how can one expect
deserving candidates to make
the cut?
(The writer is a television
journalist with IBN7)
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S Nair, main accused in
Kerala’s infamous solar scam
Swhoaritha
had last week charged Chief
Minister Oommen Chandy with
taking bribe from her, on
Tuesday leveled more allegations
against him saying he and his
office were behind the growth
and decline of her fraudulent
solar power company, Team
Solar Energy Solutions.
Saritha, who deposed before
the Justice (Retired) G Sivarajan
Judicial Commission for the
fifth day on Tuesday, said
Chandy had advised Team Solar
to focus its attention on mega
solar power projects. Saritha
had produced three CDs and
several documents before the
commission the other day in
support of the charges she had
made earlier.
The Chief Minister had
promised Team Solar to make
available 113 acres at the Kinfra
Park in Palakkad for installing a
solar plant, she claimed.
However, she said she did not
know the truth of the claim
made by Biju Radhakrishnan,
her former live-in partner and
co-accused, that C5.5 crore was
paid to Chandy for this.
Saritha, described as a con
woman who had made the
CM’s office her operational
base for the solar power business with her connections with
his former aides, had pushed
the Congress-led UDF
Government into a deep crisis
last week with her charge that
she had paid C1.90 crore and
C40 lakh respectively to
Chandy and his Power Minister
Aryadan Muhammad as bribe.
On Tuesday, Saritha disclosed the names of more
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Congress leaders who had
allegedly taken money from her
fraudulent company. According
to her, Congress MLA Benny
Behennan, known as Chandy’s
personal trouble-shooter, had
accepted C5 lakh as party fund
in November, 2011 without giving any receipt.
Likewise, PC Vishnunath
MLA, another confidant of
the Chief Minister, had taken
C2 lakh as donation from Team
Solar in two installments when
he was leading an all-Kerala
Youth Congress march,
Manavikatha Yatra, as its State
president in 2012. No proper
receipt was provided for this
also, she said.
Saritha told the commission
that her company had given
money as donation to party
fund to several other Congress
leaders also but she did not have
evidence for this as she was not
directly involved in these transactions. She said she would furnish the evidences as and when
these were available to her.
On Tuesday, Saritha agreed
to submit the details of the
“secret notes” she had prepared
while in detention in the jail after
her arrest in the cases of cheating related to the solar scam to
the commission in sealed
envelopes. The notes were said
to have contained the names of
the political leaders who had
used her physically and financially. “The letter as such will not
be handed over to the commission. But there have been a lot of
allegations regarding the letter,”
Saritha told newsmen outside the
commission’s office in Kochi. Her
deposition before the judicial
commission came to a conclusion on Tuesday morning and
cross examination started in the
afternoon.
rime Minister Narendra
Modi on Tuesday said that
his Government was fully committed to the promotion of
Ayurveda and other traditional systems of medicine.
Inaugurating the Vision
Conclave organized as part of
the five-day Global Ayurveda
Festival at Kozhikode, Modi
said that the real potential of
Ayurveda was still untapped.
“We are committed to promoting the use of traditional
medicines in our public health
system through regulation of
research and appropriate integration of quality products,
practices and practitioners into
the health system. Our efforts
are to tap the real potential of
Ayurveda and other AYUSH
systems in imparting preventive and holistic healthcare to
people,” he said.
Stating that India should
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learn from the experiences of
other countries like China
which had put in place policies and regulations for promoting their traditional systems of medicine, the Prime
Minister said the country had
the potential to become a
leader in making affordable
and holistic healthcare available to the world.
“Ayurveda today is globally relevant because of its holistic and comprehensive
approach towards health. The
Ayurvedic Dinacharya (daily
schedule) helps in bringing
about peace and harmony in
one’s life. These Dinacharyas are
meant to enhance the health of
a human being, both mental
and physical,” Modi said.
India had had a long tradition of saints and hermits
who evolved the indigenous
systems of healthcare like
Ayurveda, the Prime Minister
pointed out. However, the real
potential of Ayur veda
remained untapped because
of inadequate scientific scrutiny and concerns regarding
standards and quality, he said.
“If these issues are
addressed properly, I am sure
Ayurveda can provide solutions
to many health problems,”
Modi said, adding that steps
were being taken to bring regulatory amendments for effective enforcement of regulatory
framework for AYUSH
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ndia has tied up with Japan to
train Indian bureaucrats for
I‘Gender
Mainstreaming’. This is
part of the Knowledge Co-creation programme to enhance the
capability of the national
machinery to disseminate the
perspective of gender mainstreaming and gender equality in
design, implementation, monitoring and
evalu-
ation of policies and plans in various fields.
Gender mainstreaming is a
public policy concept of assessing the different implications for
women and men of any planned
policy action, including legislation and programmes, in all areas
and levels. Mainstreaming essentially offers a pluralistic approach
that values the diversity among
both men and women.
Scheduled in Japan in MayJuly this year, the programme has
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been designed for Indian officers
engaged in planning, implementation and/or evaluation of
the gender equality or gender
mainstreaming.
The
Department of Personnel and
Training (DoPT) has asked the
departments to nominate the
officers working related to gender issues and it has also particularly encouraged officials working in the North Eastern States
and Jammu and Kashmir.
“Gender mainstreaming is
for government officers working
for Central policy coordinating
units for the advancement of
gender quality inside and within the Government. Unlike conventional policies and plans that
focus only on women, gender
mainstreaming is about
analysing and implementing
policies and initiatives in all
areas from a gender point of
view. It has been concluded that
empowerment of women is an
essential part of gender mainstreaming and strategic goals
have been set accordingly,” said
a circular by JICA (Japan
International Cooperation
Agency) to DoPT.
Highlighting the need for
such a program, JICA has pointed the world is still in the process
of exploring, by trial and error,
how these policies has to be
translated into specific measures, programs and activities. In
addition, the significance of this
new shift in policy of gender
mainstreaming has yet to be
widely recognised.
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ven as the debate whether
people with mental illness are
E
capable of doing jobs and need
reservation and pension benefits
has heated up, a C50 crore
national project of National
Institute of Mental Health
Rehabilitation (NIMHR) is slowly taking shape in Bhopal in
Madhya Pradesh aiming to
ensure rehabilitation services
and facilities for the sector.
The CPWD has been asked
to submit the Detailed Project
Report (DPR) of the institute to
be proposed to come up at five
acres allotted by the MP
Government at a meeting to be
held soon at Bhopal. “Senior officials from the Ministry of Social
Justice and Empowerment and
CPWD besides State Government will attend the meeting,”
said a official from the Ministry.
The project which is being
executed on behalf of the
Union Social Justice and
Empowerment Ministry is in
keeping with the observation of
the Working Group constituted by Planning Commission
for the XII Five Year Plan. It
had observed that there is lack
of opportunity for mentally ill
people to ensure full recovery,
inability of the family to provide adequate level of care, lack
of preparedness to address different need of such class of disability and also inadequate
rehabilitation service .
The official said, though
there are dedicated specialised
national institutes for each disability such as visually handicapped, hearing, physically
handicapped, mentally handicapped, multiple disabilities there
is none for the rehabilitation of
the people suffering from mental illness such as schizophrenia
and bipolar disorder.
Once they are treated, they
need to be rehabilitated to
ensure their integration in
mainstream. The NIHR will
give them vocational training
depending on their capabilities,
the official added.
Recently, Union Minister
Maneka Gandhi drew flak for
doubting the ability of schizophrenia patients and other mentally ill patients. Activists argue
that people with mental illness
can be integrated in mainstream
if backed with adequate opportunities and facilities.
(Ayur veda,
Yoga
and
Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha
and Homoeopathy) drugs at
Central and state levels.
In this regard, initiatives
were being undertaken to
create a vertical structure for
AYUSH drugs in the Central
Drug Standards Control
Organization, he said. These
steps also included control
over misleading advertisements and extension of financial support to states under
National AYUSH Mission to
quality control activities,
Modi informed.
The Prime Minister said
entrepreneurs planning startups would find a lot of opportunities in holistic healthcare.
“We will maximize utilization
of Ayurveda and Yoga and
other traditions of healing in
accordance with their genius
and acumen and help in the
promotion of integrative medical facilities,” he said.
Mumbai: In what could spell more trouble for
BJP MP Hema Malini who is caught in a land
allotment controversy, a fresh RTI query revealed
that the actress allegedly violated the Coastal
Regulation Zone (CRZ) Act by destroying mangroves on a plot previously given to her at Versova,
for which a notice was served to her in 1998.
The actress, however, contended that an
unnecessary row was being kicked up over the
matter as she had already said that she would
return the land at Versova once she takes possession of the land recently alloted to her.
The actress-turned-politician is already facing heat from the opposition for securing a prime
piece of land admeasuring 2000 sq metres for her
dance academy in Oshiwara at Andheri for a
throwaway price of C70,000. As per the information furnished by Mumbai Suburban Collector
in response to the query filed by RTI activist Anil
Galgali, Malini was allotted a plot in Versova village (of Andheri taluka), bearing survey no 161,
admeasuring 1741.89 sq. M, whose possession
was handed over to her on April 4, 1997. PTI
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he biggest battle of votes in
Telangana since the general
T
elections 20 months back voters
indifference was palpable. Less
than half of the 7.2 million voters turned up to exercise their
franchise in Greater Hyderabad
Municipal Corporation elections on Tuesday. While all the
major policy parties including
the ruling Telangana Rsshtra
Samiti went out of their way to
woo the electorate the middle
class urban voters remained
unmoved as most of the 8000
polling stations were deserted
specially in the new city area.
State election commissioner Nagi Reddy said the polling
passed off without any major
untoward incident. DGP Anurag
Sharma said that the situation
was peaceful and polling was
held smoothly.
In the MIM dominated old
city the voter turn out was better as long queues were seen on
the polling stations.
Tension prevailed in Mir
Chowk area after heated argument between local MIM
MLA Syed Ahmad Pasha
Quadri and Congress candidate from Puranapul Md
Ghouse. Both the leaders were
arrested. State Congress president Uttam Kumar Reddy
rushed to Mir Chowk police
station to protest the arrest of
his party candidate.
Among the film stars N
Balakrishna, NTR Junior
Nagarjuna Allu Arjun also cast
their votes.
Elaborate security arrangements were made by deploying
26000 police personnel. Votes
?C8 will be counted on Friday.
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onitoring of man tiger conflict in the five reserves of
the country may soon become a
reality through unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or drones,
subject to approval of the
Ministry of Defence.
The National Tiger
M
However clearances are awaited from the Directorate
General of Civil Aviation and
the Home Ministry. However,
the approval is expected during
the next few months and operations are expected to begin in
the six months that follow.
Permission has been
sought to fly only within the
boundary of the core area of the
forest reserves.
The surveillance would be
outside of the human habitat
area. Before deployment, a
team will map out the risk
zones for poaching and conflict, informed Dr. Ramesh. A
drone will need a team of six,
comprising of three biologists
and engineers each.
Elaborating fur=C20 PfPXcbP__a^eP[
ther, Dr. Ramesh
Ua^\3TUT]RT<X]Xbcah
said that a drone can
Conservation
Authority
(NTCA) has recently signed a
MoU with Wildlife Institute of
India (WII) to start monitoring
by drones in five tiger reserves.
These include Panna (MP)
Kaziranga (Assam), Sundarbans
(West- Bengal), Corbett Reserve
(Uttarakhand) and Sathyamangalam forest (Tamil Nadu).
According to Dr K
Ramesh, wildlife scientist
from WII, in charge of
drone project, drones have
been acquired which would
be used for combating
wildlife poaching and man
animal conflict. A budget
of C3.5 crore has been earmarked for the project.
be put on autopilot mode and
sent as far as 40-50 km deep into
the forest where it can record
images and videos and transmit
them on a real-time basis. Its
movement can also be controlled through a GPS-based
system. Travelling at a speed of
40 km per hour, the drones can
be used for around 40-50 minutes. The batteries are easily
recharged, he said.
However, the forest department has to be trained to make
the best use of the technology.
Further, the drones that will have
to be customised to suit the geographic and the specific requirements of the tiger reserves, said
the scientists working on the project. A successful trial run of
drone had earlier been successfully completed in Panna Tiger
Reserve.
RUVbfReVdVTfcZej
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0=D?B70A<0Q 6DF070C8
he Assam Government has
thrown an elaborate securiT
ty net in and around the capital
city Guwahati for smooth conduction of the 12th South Asian
Games, which will be jointly
hosted by Assam and Meghalaya
from February 5 even as Army
will be kept as stand by.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun
Gogoi said that finishing touches are being given as far as the
infrastructural preparedness is
concerned and that if there is any
deficiencies, last minute steps are
being taken to pluck them.
Over 4,000 athletes from
eight countries are expected to
arrive in Assam and Meghalaya
to take part in the events of the
Games.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun
Gogoi has on Sunday reviewed
the security with the army,
police, para-military forces, intelligence agencies and sports
administrators at Assam
Administrative Staff College to
discuss the progress of the last
minute preparations including
security on Monday and asked
the concerned section to draw up
a fool-proof security for the
sportspersons as well as the
spectators and for the smooth
conduct of the games.
Commissioner of the
Guwahati Police, Mukesh
Agarwala said that while some
players and teams from different
countries have already arrived in
Guwahati, some are expected in
a day or two. Over 65 companies
of security forces will be
deployed in the venues where the
games events will be held and the
place where the players and
teams will be accommodated.
“The Central government
has assured us 50 companies of
additional forces and 45 of them
have arrived so far. The remaining 15 companies will arrive
soon. Apart from this we have
pulled out 15 companies of
Assam police forces from different districts to assist the existing forces in smooth conduction
of the Games,” Agarwala said
while addressing the media.
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marting under the success of
SAssembly
Maha Gathbandhan in Bihar
polls, the JD(U) is
chalking out plan for the party’s
expansion in other States as
well as to stitch alliance with different parties particularly in the
poll-bound States.
The neighbouring Uttar
Pradesh being first on its target,
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on
Tuesday addressed a well
attended meeting at Zamania, in
Gazipur district of UP, bordering Bihar, which was organised
by Ashok Samrat Club. JD(U)
general secretary K C Tyagi said
that about one lakh people
mostly belonging to Koeri,
Kushwaha, Maurya, Shakya and
Saini backward castes attended
the public meeting.
The JD(U) is already in
talks with small parties like
Rashtriya Lok Dal of Ajit Singh,
to which the JD(U) has extended support in the Assembly
bypoll, Apna Dal of Krishna
Patel and Peace Party of Dr
Ayub. The party is also trying
for a bigger alliance by seeking
support of Bahujan Samaj Party
and Congress. The party is not
in a mood to have any truck
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with ruling Samajwadi Party of
Mulayam Singh Yadav which
ditched the Maha Gathbandhan in Bihar election.
JD(U) president Sharad
Yadav on Monday announced
in Lucknow on Monday that in
the by-election to three
Assembly seats in UP, the JD(U)
will back RLD candidates. He
said his party was open for the
formation of a grand alliance in
UP on the lines of Bihar.
Bihar JD(U) president
Bashistha Narain Singh on
Tuesday said that post Bihar
results, there was a big scope for
the expansion of the JD(U) as
well as formation of alliances in
different States. He said Nitish is
receiving invitations from UP,
West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand
and Kerala. “We are hopeful of
the reorganisation of the Janata
Parivar in other States too which
may become a strong alternative
of the BJP-led NDA,” Singh
claimed at the party office here
after welcoming former MLA
Maheshwar Singh, who was in
LJP and later on BJP, and his
large number of supporters who
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came from his constituency
Harsidhi in East Champaran.
However, State JD(U) president said t he alliance in other
States may not be necessarily
on the likes of Bihar where
JD(U) formed alliance with
RJD and Congress. “Our effort
is to create a Manch (front)
under Nitish Kumar and comprising of erstwhile Janata
Parivar constituents to emerge
as a political force,” he added.
Incidentally, RJD supremo
Lalu Prasad too is keen to
expand his base in UP, where
Assembly election is due tin
2017, by stitching an alliance
with small regional and local parties. Lalu has already announced
to start his campaign from
Varanasi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi. But still there is
no sign that the two Bihar allies,
JD(U) and RJD, are going to join
hands in UP. One reason for this
disagreement could be that Lalu
is interested to include SP in his
plans while Nitish is totally against joining hands with Mulayam, who during and after Bihar
Assembly election was openly
critical of him. The JD(U) also
suspects that Mulayam has tacit
understanding with the BJP.
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?=BQ =4F34;78
ongress MP Adhir Ranjan
Chowdhary on Tuesday
C
faced some embarrassing
moments as officials from the
Urban Development Ministry
disconnected water and power
supply as well as removed furniture and his other belongings
from his Type-8 Government
bungalow alleging that he did
not qualify for the said accommodation.
Chowdhary is the third
Congress leader after Ambika
Soni and Kumari Selja who has
been asked to vacate the government accommodation for
which they were not entitled.
Soni and Selja last year had to
vacate the Type-8 bungalow
following a High Court order.
On his part, Chowdhary
alleged that he has been victimised for speaking against
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi. His contention was that
many leaders have been allotted type-8 bungalows without
83YcceUc^_dYSUd_!" 7ROOPRXQWVWR+& VHHNVGHWDLOV
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he Patna High Court’s notice
T
to a dozen odd MLCs asking
them why their nomination to
the Legislative Council not be
cancelled for violation of norms
in their nomination by the
Governor, has caused concern
not only to these legislators but
also the Government. At least
one the 12 MLCs, Rajiv Ranjan
Singh Lalan, is a Minister.
The division bench headed
by acting Chief Justice Iqbal
Ahmad Ansari issued notice to
all these MLCs seeking their
replies and fixed March 8 for
next hearing. The seats against
which they had been nominated in 2014 were supposed to be
filled by eminent personalities
from the field of art, literature,
science, social service, cooperative movement etc. The nominations, under Section 169 of the
Constitution, are made by the
Governor at the recommendation of the State Government.
Their strength is fixed at one
sixth of the total strength of the
Upper House.
A PIL had been filed by
Nagrik Adhikar Manch convener and RTI activist Shiv
Prakash Rai on June 22, 2015.
Challenging their nominations,
Rai said the seats were to be filled
from the eminent persons from
different categories like art, literature and social service but all
the nominated persons came
from politics. “Only the politicians were nominated in violation of the constitutional norms,”
argued Rai’s counsel Deenu
Kumar while additional advocate
general Lalit Kishore asserted
that nominations were made as
per the rules. He also said that
after the notification for the
nomination it could not be challenged in the court. Bihar Legislative Council’s lawyer Kaushal
Kumar Jha pleaded that the
Governor nominated them after
the decision of the Cabinet. Quoting a previous court order, he
said the writ should be rejected.
The MLCs whose membership is under scanner are
Samrat Chaudhary, Javed Iqbal
ansari, Rajiv Ranjan Singh
Lalan, Shiv Prasan Sahu, Sanjay
Kumar Singh, Lalan Kumar
Saraf and Ramchandra Bharti
(all from social service field),
Ram Lakhan Ram Raman and
Ram Bachan Rai (literature),
Vijay Kumar Mishra and Rana
Gangeshwar Singh (cooperative) and Ranbir Nandan (science). They had been picked up
Nitish Kumar and notification
was issued on May 2014. Of
them the membership of
Samrat Chaudhary has already
been terminated for anti-party
activities and a decision to terminate the membership of Shiv
Prasan Sahu is pending with
the Council chairman.
The petitioner had alleged
that all the 12 nominations were
made on a single day. On May
22, 2014 the Cabinet authorised
the CM to select persons for
their nomination as MLCs and
the next day the names were forwarded to the Governor who on
May 24 notification was issued
making them MLCs for six year
tenure up to 2020. It is alleged
that there was no transparency
of executive business of the legislature was also ignored.
C=A067D=0C70Q <D<108
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ith the recovery of the
W
body of one more student,
the toll in the Murud beach
tragedy rose to 14 on Tuesday,
even as the Bombay High Court
took cognisance of the incident
and sought to know from the
Maharashtra Government what
steps it had taken to make beaches secure against mishaps like
the one witnessed on Tuesday.
On a day the Navy and the
Coast Guard traced the body of
Madaki Saif Ahmed after a prolonged search, hundreds of relatives and friends bade an emo-
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New Delhi: The denim dyeing
industries in Faridabad in
Haryana have come under the
scanner of NGT. The bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice
Swatanter Kumar sought a closure of all illegally functioning
dyeing industries in Faridabad.
It has issued notices to both the
Haryana Pollution Control
Board and the state government in this regard. It sought a
response from the State on
Tuesday. The issue has been listed for next hearing on March 14.
The directions came while
hearing a plea by Faridabad residents Varun Sheokand and
Navneet Gumber who alleged
that more than 150 jeans dyeing
industries were running without
the consent of the Haryana Pollution Control Board (HPCB).
The petitioners have claimed
that the dyeing industries, which
have been categorised as “seriously” polluting by HPCB, are
discharging effluents into drains
without any treatment and have
also not installed any effluent
treatment plant in their premises. The petition, further pointed
out that during the dyeing
process, large quantity of water
is mixed with acids and chemicals which were finally released
into open without any treatment.
This, according to the plea was
not only polluting the water but
also has serious implications on
health of public depending on
such water bodies.
PNS
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tional adieu to 13 drowned students – whose bodies had been
recovered on Monday – at various burial grounds and crematoria in Pune.
As many as 13 students, all
studying computer science at the
Abeda Inamdar College in Pune,
drowned in the Arabian Sea off
Murud beach in Raigad district
in Maharashtra’s coastal Konkan
region on Monday, while they
were on a picnic there.
While the bodies of 13 students were found, the Navy and
Coast Guard had launched a
search operation for one more
missing student. Those drowned
comprised 10 girls and three
boys. The drowned students
were among a group of 130 students that had gone to the popular tourist destination of
Murud-Jangira for a picnic.
Confirming the recovery of
Madaki Ahmed’s body, PA
ter.
Inamdar, president of Maharashtra Cosmopolitan Education
Society said: “The body of
Madaki Saif Ahmed has been
found. His parents have rushed
to the spot and after postmortem, the body will be brought
back to Pune”.
Dwelling upon the events
leading to the drowning of 14
students from his college,
Inamdar said: “Going by the preliminary information we have
received from the spot, three to
four students started drowning
first. Seeing the fellow students
drown, ten students formed a
human chain and they too ventured into the sea and drowned
along with their campus mates”.
Inamdar said an enquiry will
be conducted to ascertain any
negligence on the part of the ten
faculty members who had
accompanied the students on
their picnic to Murud beach.
being qualified for the same.
The MP had requested a
10-day time period to vacate the
bungalow. He has been assigned
a Type-7 bungalow and the
accommodation is getting ready
for his residence, he said.
However, authorities from
the Directorate of Estate under
the Ministry disconnected
water and power supply to the
ministerial bungalow at 14,
New Moti Bagh and started
eviction proceedings against
the former UPA Minister.
The Lok Sabha MP from
Murshidabad attempted to get
the eviction stayed by the Delhi
High Court which did not
interfere with the disconnection of utilities and ordered status quo till Wednesday morning when it will hear the mat-
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Mumbai: Sharad Pawar-led
NCP on Tuesday dubbed the
arrest of party leader Sameer
Bhujbal by the Enforcement
Directorate as an act of “political vendetta” by the ruling BJP.
“This is nothing but political
vendetta by BJP,” a senior NCP
leader said.
Meanwhile, BJP MP Kirit
Somaiya welcomed the arrest.
“We have done it. Sameer
Bhujbal has been arrested by ED.
Pankaj Bhujbal to follow,”
Somaiya said.
ED arrested Samir, former
MP and nephew of senior NCP
leader Chhagan Bhujbal, in a
money laundering case after the
central agency conducted multiple searches in connection with
its probe against Bhujbals and
others. “We are being harassed
without any reason,” Chhagan
Bhujbal said. The arrest has
been made without any evidence,
the former Maharashtra Deputy
Chief Minister said.
PTI
According
to
the
Directorate of Estates, the MP
has been allotted another house
on Humayun Road and given
sufficient time to vacate the
ministerial bungalow which it
said he was not entitled to. But
Chowdhury did not vacate
despite several reminders in the
past, they said.
Asked why he has not
moved to the new house allotted to him, the MP said it has
to be made livable with light
and electricity connection and
other facilities.
“I am asking them to make
a joint inspection of the house
so that whatever is required can
be done,” he said.
Chowdhury, who was
Minister of State for Railways in
UPA government, has been
allotted the house at Humayun
Road more than one year ago,
after he became the Lok Sabha
MP from Murshidabad in 2014.
In the High Court, Chief
Justice G Rohini and Justice
Jayant Nath refused to interfere
in the proceedings.
“If water and electricity
have been disconnected, let it
be. We will keep it as it is. We
are not passing any interim
order (on staying eviction).
We will maintain status quo till
tomorrow morning,” they said.
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he Kerala High Court has
initiated proceedings for
T
criminal contempt of court
against Congress’s Cultural
Affairs Minister KC Joseph,
close confidant of Chief
Minister Oommen Chandy,
over his allegedly disrespectful
comments against a judge who
had made some critical observations against Chandy and the
office of the State Advocate
General in July last year.
A division bench of the
High C our t comprising
Justices Thottathil B
Radhakrishnan and Sunil
Thomas ordered issuance of
notice to Joseph to appear
before it on February 16.
Joseph said he would appear
before the court to convince
it of his “position”. The court
initiated the proceedings
against him on the basis of a
petition filed by Marxist legislator V Sivankutty.
Joseph, who faces the
charge of turning against courts
and judges often in the context
of adverse verdicts, had on July
24 last severely criticized Justice
Alexander Thomas of the High
Court for his criticisms against
the alleged lack of interest of
the Advocate General’s office in
cases of public interest.
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he Trinamool Congress has
T
vehemently objected to the
“false claims”allegedly made by
Rahul Gandhi about Mamata
Banerjee advising himagainst
allying with the Left Front.
Senior Trinamool leaders
like Derek O’Brian said such false
claims were unwarranted and
that if the Congress did not
refrain from making such claims
his party would be forced to
protest this in abefitting manner.
Trinamool leaders like
Partho Chatterjee and Jyotipriya
Mullick said the Congress had
been rendered into a billboard in
Bengal and so “by selling white
lies they are once again trying
become relevant before the
Assembly elections.”
“The Trinamool was not at
all bothered about any “immoral
alliance between ideologically
opposite parties. If they do so
people of Bengal will give them
a befitting reply. They will never
tolerate such lies against their
beloved Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee who has done so much
for Bengal in the past 55
months,” said Mullick a senior
Minister in Banerjee Cabinet.
“If the two parties come together the Congress will split
and many of their voters will vote
for the Trinamool and eventually
our number of seats will go
beyond 250-mark,” he said.
Gandhi, who on Monday
had discussed electoral alliance
with a host of Bengal leaders,
had reportedly told them that
Banerjee had recently advised
him against allying with the
Left. She said so when the two
leaders were in Patna at the
swearing-in ceremony of
Nitish Kumar.
Meanwhile, former Bengal
Congress president Manas
Bhunia on Wednesday met the
high command and reportedly
conveyed his desire of going it
alone in the elections.
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s widely expected, RBI
Governor Raghuram Rajan
A
on Tuesday kept the key interest rate unchanged amid inflation and growth concerns, saying that further easing will
depend on “structural reforms”
in the forthcoming Budget as
well as macroeconomic factors.
He said the Government
has suggested a number of steps
to make the economy more flexible, create growth opportunities
as well as incentivise investments, and these are the reforms
that the Reserve Bank will be
look at in the forthcoming
Budget to be announced on
February 29.
“Structural reforms in the
forthcoming Budget that boost
growth while controlling spending will create more space for
monetary policy to support
growth, while also ensuring
that inflation remains on the
projected path of 5 per cent by
the end of FY17,” Rajan said in
the sixth bi-monthly monetary
policy review.
Although he left the repo
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rate unchanged at 6.75 per cent,
Rajan said RBI continues to be
accommodative, while it awaits
further data on the development
of inflation. It had cut the lending rate last year by 125 bps in
4 installments.
“One of the biggest sources
of concerns in the economy
today is the services sector
inflation because there is limited capacity for example in education, healthcare,” Rajan told
reporters at the customary postpolicy press conference.
There could be steps to
encourage more training and
skilling, he said.
“So,
whether
the
Government takes some steps in
that direction...All those are
structural reforms that could
help in a particular area we are
interested in which is lowering
the pace of inflation overtime,”
he added.
The decision to keep repo
rate on hold is based on the
inflation trajectory which is
moving along the set path, he
said, adding that if the data supports it, RBI will be accommodative.
“Broadly, I don’t think it is
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fair to read that we have become
more hawkish over time. I think
broadly speaking the positives
are balanced by the negatives.
There has been some movement
downwards in oil prices...There
are some risks which can also
pull inflation downside such as
a good monsoon next year,” he
said.
On the inflation trajectory,
he said, “with unfavourable
base-effects on the ebb and
benign prices of fruits and vegetables and crude oil, the
January 2016 inflation target of
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6 per cent should be met.
“Going forward, under the
assumption of a normal monsoon and the current level of
international crude oil prices
and exchange rates, inflation is
expected to be inertial and be
around 5 per cent by the end of
FY17”.
Following the policy review,
the BSE Sensex was trading
more than 300 points down
shortly before the close of trade.
The RBI Governor cited the
implementation of the 7th
PayCommission report as a
possible downside risk to inflation, saying that its impact has
not been factored in yet.
“The Reserve Bank will
adjust the forecast path as and
when more clarity emerges on
the timing of implementation,”
he said, adding “there are some
aspects of the Pay Commission
that we can look through and
some we cannot and overtime
as the award is actually put in
place, we will see and will be
able to give you more information on that.
RBI kept the growth the
2015-16 growth estimate
unchanged at 7.4 per cent but
with a downside bias. However,
it sounded positive on the 201617 GDP growth at 7.6 per cent,
saying “growth in FY17 is
expected to strengthen gradually, notwithstanding significant headwinds”.
“Expectations of a normal
monsoon after two consecutive
years of rainfall deficiency, the
large positive terms of trade
gain, improving real incomes of
households and lower input
costs of firms should contribute
to strengthening the growth
momentum,” Rajan said.
Yet, he added, a still weak
domestic private investment
demand in a phase of balance
sheet adjustments, re-emergence of concerns relating to
stalled projects, excess capacity
in industry, sluggish external
demand conditions dampening
export growth could act as
headwinds.
“Based on an assessment of
the balance of risks, GVA
growth for 2016-17 is projected at 7.6 per cent,” Rajan said.
Talking about the bad loan
issues which the banks are
grappling with, he said the RBI
has expanded the tools as the
banks have to deal with stressed
loans.
“We are now working with
Government and banks to
ensure that stressed assets are
recognised on a proactive basis
and banks’ balance sheets represent a true and fair picture and
are adequately provisioned,” he
said.
RBI also announced that in
line with the government’s Startup India initiative, it will take
steps to ease doing business and
contribute to an ecosystem that
is conducive for growth of startups.
“We want to simplify the
process. If a start-up wants
money, it can take in different
forms, (including) complicated
contracts. Many times such
contracts are not allowed under
Fema. Can we make it possible
for those contracts to actually be
undertaken?
“We are supporting the startup process by making it easier to
raise money, often from abroad
but also simplify the compliance
with regulations including
putting lot of forms online so that
they don’t have to go from pillar to post,” he said.
Meanwhile, India Inc said a
rate cut is imperative to lower
cost of funds for the industry and
spur investments, crucial for
sustaining high economic
growth.
“The demand situation
remains weak and the cost of
funds for the industry has not
really come down. Bringing
down interest rates is imperative
to propel investments,” Ficci
President Harshavardhan Neotia
said.
RBI, which had cut interest
rate by 125 basis points or 1.25
per cent in 2015, retained the
benchmark repo (lending) rate
at 6.75 per cent for the second
straight bi-monthly policy of the
current fiscal.
“Amid the recent economic
developments in the world economy and impact on our financial
markets, RBI should have
reduced repo rate by at least 25
basis points to build not only the
investors’ confidence, but also to
support consumers who are
impacted by the burden of
EMIs,” PHD Chamber President
Mahesh Gupta said.
6HQVH[VLQNVSRLQWV °FTfX[[STeT[^_^da^f]cTRW]^[^Vh±
?=BQ <D<108
eserve Bank’s holding polR
icy rates steady on Tuesday
failed to soothe jittery investor
nerves, which were hit by a
fresh slide in crude oil prices,
as the market benchmark
Sensex plummeted by 286
points to close at 24,539.
Putting the ball in
Government’s court, RBI
Governor Raghuram Rajan
kept the key interest rate
unchanged saying that further easing will depend on
“structural reforms” in the
forthcoming Budget as well as
macroeconomic factors.
The apex bank, which had
cut interest rate by 125 basis
points in 2015, retained the
repo rate at 6.75 per cent.
Besides, rupee weakening
by 14 paise to 67.98 against the
dollar also weighed on the
domestic equities.
“The market was largely
digesting the announcement,
which was in-line with expectations. But a slip in Europe
due to fall in crude prices has
impacted Indian equities,” said
Vinod
Nair,
HeadFundamental Research of
Geojit BNP Paribas.
Globally investors are
shunning risky assets like oil,
equities and commodities, he
added.
Back home, the BSE
Sensex opened higher at
24,868.21 and moved up to
24,928.75 on initial buying. But
on profit-booking it declined
afterwards to 24,460.53 before
finishing at 24,539, showing a
loss of 285.83 points or 1.15
per cent.
The NSE Nifty also broke
below the 7,500-mark by falling
100.40 points or 1.33 per cent
to 7,455.55. Intra-day, it shuttled between 7,576.30 and
7,428.05.
Sector-wise, the BSE metal
index suffered the most by
plunging 4.33 per cent followed by oil&gas (2.59 pc),
infra (2.50 pc), healthcare (2.46
pc), PSU (2.45 pc), power (2.42
pc), realty (1.71 pc), banking
(1.68 pc) and auto (1.39 pc).
Bucking the trend, shares
of Bajaj Auto gained 1.48 per
cent to C2,362.55 after the
company reported 1.78 per
cent growth in total sales in
January.
In overseas markets, Asian
equities ended lower on fresh
weakness in oil prices. But,
Chinese stocks ended up by
2.26 per cent after the country’s
central bank injected more liquidity into the financial system.
Other indexes like Hong Kong,
Japan, Singapore, South Korea
and Taiwan declined by 0.32
per cent to 0.89 per cent.
C^bWXWXa^BdidZX2>>BdidZX<^c^a2^\_P]h_PaT]c^U8]SXP³b[PaVTbcRPa\PZTa
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oshihiro Suzuki, t he
T
Chief Operating Officer
of Suzuki Motor Company,
the parent firm of MarutiSuzuki India Limited, India’s
largest carmaker today outright ruled out any potential
alliance with any other carmaker. Speaking through a
translator at a media roundtable, he said that it was
important for Suzuki to
develop its own technology
lest any competitor feel that
they have the upper hand.
These comments came in
reference to stories in the
international media talking
of a potential tie-up between
Suzuki and the world’s largest
carmaker Toyota.
However, Suzuki quickly
clarified that this did not
mean that the company was
not open to partnerships in
the future. He also pointed
out that Suzuki was open to
joint-development with large
component makers and with
raw materials developers.
The company is developing
several new technologies in
alternate fuel systems includ-
%3VOXPSVLQWREQ
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05?Q ;>=3>=
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ORVVIRURQRLOFROODSVH
ritish energy giant BP said on Tuesday that it slumped into a vast
loss in 2015, ravaged by the dramatic collapse in oil prices.
BP suffered a loss after taxation of $6.48 billion (5.97 billion euros)
last year, compared with a net profit of $3.78 billion in 2014, it said
in a results statement.
Annual earnings
were hit by a $2.6-billion charge in the
fourth quarter that was
mostly linked to
impairments in the
upstream division, or
exploration and production, as well as
restructuring costs.
Underlying replacement-cost profit -- which excludes fluctuations in the value of crude oil inventories -- more than halved to $5.9
billion.
The earnings measure tumbled to just $196 million in the fourth
quarter, from $2.2 billion a year earlier.
“The lower underlying result was predominantly driven by the
impact of steeply lower oil and gas prices on BP’s upstream segment,”
the company said.
Oil prices have crashed about 75 per cent since mid-2014, hit
by the slowing global economy, the strong US dollar -- and a chronic supply glut that has been exacerbated by OPEC’s refusal to curb
output.
The energy sector has meanwhile slashed jobs and investment
in response to the oil price collapse.
BP plans to axe 4,000 jobs this year in its upstream division, and
up to 3,000 positions in its downstream business by the end of 2017.
“We are continuing to move rapidly to adapt and rebalance BP
for the changing environment,” said chief executive Bob Dudley.
“We’re making good progress in managing and lowering our costs
and capital spending, while maintaining safe and reliable operations
and continuing disciplined investment into the future of our portfolio.”
B
ty firm DLF Ltd on Tuesday
reported 24 per cent increase
in its consolidated net profit at
C163.95 crore for the quarter
ended December on higher
sales.
Its net profit stood at
C131.79 crore in the year-ago
period, DLF said in a regulatory filing.
Income from operations
rose by 44 per cent to
C2,827.66 crore during the
third quarter of this fiscal
from C1,956.72 crore in the
corresponding period of the
previous year.
Other income increased to
C153 crore during OctoberDecember quarter of 2015-16
fiscal from C123 crore in the
year-ago period.
Ahead of the announcement of financial results,
shares of the company fell by
3.51 per cent to close at C93.35
apiece on the BSE.
DLF has a land bank of
nearly 300 million sq ft of
which about 50 million sq ft is
under construction.
Recently, DLF received
C1,992 crore from Singapore’s
sovereign wealth fund GIC,
thereby completing the deal to
sell 50 per cent stake each in
two upcoming projects in the
national capital.
?C8
ing fuel-cells, electric cars
and plug-in hybrids.
Sp e a king ab out t he
Indian market, Suzuki highlighted the fact that their
plans to launch 15 new products by 2020 are still on
track, this started with the
launch of the Baleno last
year and will continue with
the launch of the compact
Sports-Utility Vehicle, the
Brezza at the first press conference of the Auto Expo
which starts tomorrow. The
Brezza is also a showcase for
Indian development as the
car has been developed by a
team from Maruti-Suzuki led
by CV Raman, Executive
Direc tor, Engineer ing,
Maruti.
“We have to make suitable
products for the Indian market and exceed the expectation of our customers not
only when it comes to the
products but also with regards
to sales and service. We will
continue to make investments
in both these areas”, Suzuki
pointed out. He has set the
company an aggressive target
of achieving a production of
two million cars very soon
and said that ‘Make In India’
was a cornerstone of Suzuki’s
global strateg y with the
Baleno being globally exported from Maruti’s Manesar
factory. He also said that
Suzuki and Maruti engineers
were continually working
towards improving the fuel
efficiency of both their petrol
and diesel vehicles.
Toshihiro Suzuki, who is
expected to take over the
re i n s of Su z u k i Mot or
C omp a ny f ro m O s a mu
Suzuki soon admitted that
the carmaker is still a small
player in Europe and the rest
of Asia and needs to do
much more to improve their
sales performance in other
countries.
9RONVZDJHQ,QGLDSODQVWR
ODXQFKSURGXFWVLQPRQWKV
A0:4B71870A8970Q
=4F34;78
day ahead of Auto Expo,
Volkswagen on Tuesday
A
unveiled ‘Ameo’, its volume car
in the sub-compact sedan segment against the likes of Maruti
Suzuki’s Dzire, Honda’s Amaze
and Hyundai’s Xcent, to name
a few. The company has
planned four launches in the
next 15 months including
launch of ‘Ameo’ in the next six
month.
“We will launch Ameo in
the second half of this year. It
is a car specially designed for
the Indian market. It will mark
our entry into the growing volume segment in India,” said
Volkswagen Passenger Cars
India Director Michael Mayer.
“ The compac t s edan
segment continues to garner much interest among
Indian consumers and the
company is happy to mark
its presence in this com-
petitive segment, he added.
“Besides Ameo, the company also plans to launch three
new models, premier SUV
Tiguan, Passat hybrid and Polo
GTI during the next financial
year,” he said.
The company also plans to
update the engines of over 3
lakh vehicles that it recalled in
India after a Governmentordered probe found cheat
device in German auto major’s
diesel engines.
“In the 1.2 litre (petrol), it
will be a mere update on the
engine management software
and in the 1.5 litre we will have
to change one small part that is
air straightener,” said Mayer .
When asked if the company aims to complete the exercise in 2016 itself, Mayer said:
“We aim to but given the large
numbers, we will have to see
how the response of people is.
But definitely we would like to
do the majority of the cars in
2016.”
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Pakistani parliamentary
panel has asked the
Government to avoid “encouraging” support to militant
groups in Kashmir and take
action against outfits involved
in attacks there to dispel international concerns.
The National Assembly
Standing Committee on
Foreign Affairs on Monday
issued a four-page policy paper
linked to Kashmir, the Express
Tribune reported.
“Pakistan should not
encourage calls for active support to armed, banned, militant
groups in Kashmir,” the paper,
that has a series of policy
recommendations on IndoPak ties, said.
India has been demanding
that Pakistan act against militant groups operating from
its soil.
The committee, headed by
ruling Pakistan Muslim
League- Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker Awais Ahmad Leghari,
proposed the Government to
take action against “violent
armed outfits” to dispel
international concerns that
Pakistan was not doing enough
against groups involved in
attacks in Kashmir.
The panel suggested that
A
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Karachi: Three pistol-waving
bearded men stormed a 60year-old temple in Pakistan’s
largest city and desecrated the
idol of a Hindu deity, leading
to fear among the minority
community here, a media
report said on Tuesday.
The incident happened
on January 21 when the three
men clad in shalwar and
kameez stormed the temple
waving pistols and ordered
everyone inside the premises to
step out. The panic and scuffle that followed resulted in
desecration of one of the three
beautifully-decorated idols at
the temple near the Karachi
Zoological Gardens, Dawn
reported.
“The people are afraid of
coming here for puja now
after the attack,” said Maharaj
Hira Lal. Other than the
Maharaj and his family, the
caretakers of this temple,
nobody else was present when
the scuffle broke.
“We don’t know who those
men were. We have never seen
them before,” Maharaj said.
“We are very saddened by the
incident. It has really terrorised the neighbourhood,” he
said.
The temple has three idols
of deities Shitala Mata,
Santoshi Mata and Bhavani
Mata. Maharaj said the temple
was built as a place for worship
by his grandfather soon after
he moved to Pakistan from
India some 60 years ago. PTI
Pakistan’s policy towards India
should be based on four key
principles — reciprocity, reduction, resumption and result.
“Pakistan should continue
seeking comprehensive engagement with India on all outstanding issues,” it said.
In the absence of this scenario, however, the committee
recommended that the
Government engage with India
on four key issues — Kashmir,
water, trade, and culture and
communication.
On Kashmir, the panel recommended that Pakistan continue calling for resolution of
the dispute as the core issue
between the two countries.
3aPUcaT_aTbT]cb³aTP[_a^VaTbb´
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LONDON: British Prime
Minister David Cameron says
proposals to change Britain’s
relationship with the European
Union reflect “real progress,” but
that more work must be done.
He spoke after European
Council President Donald Tusk
on Tuesday unveiled proposals
aimed at keeping Britain in the
28-nation European Union. The
proposals would make it possible for British lawmakers to
work with European counterparts to block unwanted EU
laws and also recognize that
Britain now faces an “exceptional situation” regarding the
influx of immigrants taxing
Britain’s social services, the
commission said.
“So, real progress, more
work to be done, more detail to
be nailed down, but we said we
needed to deliver in four key
areas; this document shows real
progress on that front,”
Cameron said about the proposals.
Cameron, who needs to
convince skeptical members of
his own Conservative Party
that staying in the EU serves
Britain’s needs, is seeking concessions ahead of a planned referendum on whether Britain
should remain part of the EU.
That vote may be held as early
as June.
He said the document
delivers the “substantial change”
he had sought.
AP
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Moscow: Some 94 per cent of
Moscow city employees
ordered to undergo lie-detector tests as part of the fight
against corruption passed
them, the city Government
said on Tuesday as it
announced that the tests would
be used again this year.
It did not disclose what
happened to the other 6 percent of employees.
Nataliya Sergunina, a
deputy mayor in charge of
economics, said in a statement
on Tuesday that 1,600 officials
will face polygraph tests this
year, and some people will
also undergo a voice analysis
test. Polygraph tests measure
heart rate, blood pressure, respiration and skin conductivity
to determine if a person is
telling the truth.
AP
irebrand conservative Ted
Cruz shocked front-runner
Donald Trump to win the Iowa
Republican caucuses handily,
even as Hillary Clinton claimed
narrow victory in a Democratic
cliff-hanger with Senator Bernie
Sanders the outcome of which
was still to be officially declared.
A close race had been predicted in the Iowa caucuses on
Monday night, but none foresaw
a virtual tie that the Democratic
encounter produced. With 99
per cent of the results in, Clinton
bagged 49.9 per cent of votes
and Sanders 49.6 per cent.
“Hillary Clinton has won
the Iowa Caucus,” a top official
of the Clinton campaign said in
a statement early Tuesday.
Clinton herself spoke of breathing “a big sigh of relief”, stopping
short of an outright claim of victory. Sanders, in turn, called it
a “virtually tied” contest.
For Trump, the bombastic
billionaire, Iowa turned out to
be a humbling experience, not
only because Cruz defeated
him, but the candidate finishing
third, Senator Marco Rubio,
came close to overhauling him.
Cruz polled 27.65 per cent of the
votes, Trump 24.31 per cent and
Rubio 23.09 per cent.
In terms of delegates that
will count in the final analysis,
Cruz was awarded eight delegates, while Trump and Rubio
secured seven delegates each. It,
however, is a long road, with a
candidate needing 1,237 delegates to clinch the Republican
presidential nomination.
On the Democratic side,
Clinton secured 22 delegates
and Sanders 21 delegates, with
one still to be decided. To win
the Democratic presidential
nomination, one will need 2,382
delegates. The spotlight now
shifts to the New Hampshire
primary on February 9. If an
assortment of opinion polls is to
be believed, it should be smooth
sailing for Trump and Sanders
in New Hampshire. But these
polls were all conducted before
the Iowa vote which, some analysts believe, could prove to be
a game-changer.
“Tonight is a victory for
courageous conservatives
across Iowa and all across this
great nation,” said Cruz, the 45year-old Senator from Texas
and a Tea Party favourite, in a
prolonged victory speech. His
campaign was buoyed by Iowa’s
large concentration of evangelical voters.
“We’ve built our campaign
7X[[PahR[PX\beXRc^ahPUcTa
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as a movement for Americans
to organise, rallying and banding together against the disaster
of the Washington cartel,” Cruz
told a wire service later as he
made his way to New
Hampshire.
Trump had to swallow his
pride as he made an uncharacteristic concession speech. “We
finished second, and I want to
tell you something: I’m just
honoured. I’m really honoured.
And I want to congratulate
Ted,” he said and for a change
complimented the other
Republican candidates as well.
And Rubio, who is rising
fast among mainstream
Republicans and outperforming
the likes of Jeb Bush, told his
supporters: “We have taken the
first step, but an important
step, to winning the nomination.”
Clinton, who had lost the
Iowa encounter in 2008 to
Barack Obama, had reasons to
be relieved over the outcome,
even if it was not a decisive victory over Sanders. Remarking
that it was now time to have a
real contest of ideas, Clinton
asserted: “I am a progressive to
get things done for the people.
Status quo is not good enough.”
Sanders, the self-proclaimed “Democratic Socialist”,
fondly recalled how his campaign started nine months ago
with no money, political organization or name recognition to
take on “the most powerful
political organisation in the
United States of America”.
The Iowa results prompted
one Republican (Mike
Huckabee)
and
one
Democrat (Martin O’Malley) to
quit the race.
1d\UQcd)]YWbQ^dcTb_g^ %¶GHVK3DNEULHIO\
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Ankara: The Turkish coastguard on Tuesday recovered
the bodies of nine migrants
including two children after
their boat sank off western
Turkey while trying to reach
Europe, local media reported.
The boat set off from a
town in Izmir province in an
apparent bid to reach Greece,
the private Dogan news agency
reported.
The Turkish coastguard
started the search after being
alerted by two survivors who
swam to shore, according to
the report.
These deaths come after 37
migrants drowned off another
part of the Turkish coast on
Saturday — in harrowing
scenes reminiscent of the death
of Aylan Kurdi, the Syrian tod-
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dler whose tiny body was
found lying face down on a
Turkish beach.
Turkey reached an agreement with the European Union
in November to stem the flow
of migrants bound for Europe
in return for 3 billion euros
($3.2 billion) in financial assis-
tance, but the agreement has
failed to check the tide of
arrivals.
Turkey, which is hosting at
least 2.5 million refugees from
Syria’s civil war, has become the
main launchpad for migrants
fleeing war, persecution and
poverty to Europe.
Neither the deal with the
EU nor the harsh winter conditions have appeared to deter
migrants trying to reach
Europe, many of whom pay
people smugglers thousands of
dollars for the risky crossing.
The Government said
yesterday it was working on
new legal measures to
strengthen penalties for
human smuggling by making
it an “act of terror and
organised crime.”
AFP
²DbTX]U[dT]RT³c^aTX]
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cknowledging
that
Afghanistan remains a
“dangerous place”, the US has
said Taliban’s continued terror
attacks underscore the importance of the peace talks to get
to a “productive conclusion”.
“We continue to encourage
that process to move forward,”
State Department spokesman
John Kirby told reporters
on Monday.
“It is absolutely true that
A
Afghanistan remains a dangerous place; there’s no question about that. Today’s attack
underscores that,” he said referring to the latest suicide attack
in Kabul that killed at least 20
people.
“It actually underscores all
the more the importance of getting reconciliation talks
(between
the
Afghan
Government and the Taliban)
going and getting to a useful
conclusion there, a productive
conclusion to that,” he said.
BPdSXVTcb habU^aCfXccTa³cTaa^aXb\´bd__^ac
Riyadh: A Saudi national who used Twitter to call for the release
of prisoners convicted of “terrorism” and security offences has been
jailed for 10 years, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.
The Okaz daily said the accused, who was not named, opened
several Twitter accounts. A special court for terrorism cases found
him guilty of using the accounts to “call for protests and spread
chaos to release detainees that are held for security and terrorism
charges”.He also joined a protest calling for the release of one detainee
outside the prisoner’s home, it said. Twitter is widely used in the
conservative kingdom, which has repeatedly denounced bombings
and shootings carried out in various countries by the Islamic State
group and other extremists.
AFP
<TaZT[c^?dcX]
Berlin: Chancellor Angela
Merkel on Tuesday urged
Russian President Vladimir
Putin to use his influence to
rein in pro-Kremlin rebels in
eastern Ukraine, a day after the
German leader warned that a
peace deal was not being fully
implemented. During a
phonecall, Merkel “made it
clear to President Putin that in
order to obtain further progress
towards a comprehensive political solution”, a ceasefire had to
be respected and unfettered
access given to observers monitoring the truce.
“Here, Russia must use its
influence on the separatists,”
she said, according to a statement issued by her spokesman.
The conversation came a
day after Merkel hosted
Ukraine’s President Petro
Poroshenko for talks, with the
Ukrainian leader accusing
Russia of continuing to send
troops and weapons into his
country in violation of a ceasefire deal.
AFP
#hRcTcZ^Z_R]dXVeUVReYZ_3¶UVdY
Dhaka: Two members of the
notorious Razakar Bahini, an
auxiliary force of the Pakistani
Army, were on Tuesday
sentenced to death by a
Bangladeshi tribunal for crimes
committed, mainly against
Hindus, during the 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.
Obaidul Haq Taher, 66,
and Ataur Rahman Noni, 62,
are members of the Razakar
force, an auxiliary force of the
Pakistan Army. They face six
charges, including murder and
genocide. They had pleaded
not guilty, Dhaka Tribune
reported.
They were given death
penalties on two charges and
imprisonment till death in two
other charges by the country’s
International Crimes Tribunal.
The court acquitted them in
two other charges.
The court said the
Government can execute them
either by handing them by the
neck or by shooting them.
Taher and Noni were
involved in the abductions and
killings of at least 30 people and
looting of 400-450 shops and
setting fire to those on fire in
1971. The tribunal on March 2
last year framed six charges
against the two. Twenty-three
prosecution witnesses testified
against them.
PTI
?C8Q 370:0
a tit-for-tat, Bangladesh
Pakistan have reportedIly nand
detained each other’s diplomatic staff amid a spat between
them over the 1971 war crimes
trial.
Bangladesh
Foreign
Ministry officials said the personal officer of a Bangladeshi
diplomat in Islamabad went
missing on Monday and
returned home “unhurt” early
this morning.
“Our High Commissioner
in Islamabad briefly talked to
Jahangir Hossain (who went
missing) as he returned. We are
trying to know the details
what actually happened to
him,” a Foreign Ministry
spokesman told PTI.
He said Hossain had left
the office on Monday to pick
his daughter before going home
but went missing as he went out
of the High Commission and
his cell phone too remained
switched off.
“Our High Commission
immediately informed the
matter to the Pakistan Foreign
1LJHULDQ
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Abuja: Nigerian separatists
have hijacked a merchant ship
and threatened to blow it up
with its foreign crew if authorities do not release a detained
leader agitating for a breakaway
state of Biafra, military officers
said today.
Major General Rabe
Abubakar, the Defense
Ministry spokesman, confirmed the hijacking occurred
on Friday and called it “an act
of sabotage.”
He did not tell reporters
the name of the ship. Abubakar
spoke yesterday. Other officers
told The Associated Press on
Tuesday that the navy is in pursuit of the captured vessel. The
officers, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the
issue is sensitive, said the
hijackers have given the
Government 31 days to free
Kanu or say they will blow up
the ship along with its crew.
The ultimatum was given at the
weekend by a militant identified by the nom de guerre of
General Ben.
AP
Ministry and law enforcement
agencies there and conveyed
the incident to the foreign
office in Dhaka,” the
spokesman said.
The incident came
hours after police in Dhaka
detained Abrar Ahmed Khan,
an official of Pakistan High
Commission here for his “suspicious movement”.
A spokesman of Dhaka
Metropolitan Police earlier
said the detectives detained
Abrar Khan for questioning
following his suspicious
movement and was handed
over to officials of the Pakistan
High Commission after taking
undertaking from him.
But the Pakistan High
Commission in Dhaka in a
statement said it noticed “a
disturbing pattern of harassment of its officers and officials, followed by a
mud-slinging campaign and
media trial”.
It said Bangladesh Police
and security agencies
were accusing the Pakistani
mission staffers of having ties
to militants.
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Tokyo: Less than a month after
its purported H-bomb test, attention is now focused on whether
North Korea is readying a rocket launch. With underground
railways, giant tarps and a movable launch pad structure in
place, experts say, the North is
getting a lot better at concealing
its preparations.
American and Japanese officials say they are seeing heightened activity at North Korea’s
main rocket facility, though they
stress it’s still unclear if a launch
really is in the works or how soon
it might come. Intelligence officials in Seoul, stung by their failure to predict the North’s January
6 nuclear test, are also warning
another provocation could happen abruptly. What North Korea
might launch is a big question
mark. There are indications —
including the construction of a
taller gantry, visible in commercial satellite imagery — that it
could be a bigger and better version of the Unha 3 space launch
vehicle that lifted off from the
Sohae facility in 2012, on the
west coast of North Korea. AFP
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aced with a do-or-die situation in
his own words, two-time Olympian
Sanjeev Rajput battled the odds to
secure India's 12 quota from shooting for
the upcoming Rio Games by finishing
fourth in men's 50m rifle event at the
Asian Olympic Qualifying Competition
here on Tuesday.
Owing to the 35-year-old marksman's
effort, India could be sending 12 shooters, their highest-ever, to the quadrennial extravaganza in the Brazilian city of Rio
de Janeiro come August. At the London
Olympics four years ago, India had 11 representatives in shooting. It also brought
to end a three-day barren run that set in
on day four of the competition.
Overcoming a broken barrel barely
three days ago and a struggling 2015,
Sanjeev shot 429.5 after an impressive
comeback in pone in the eight-man
finals at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting
Range to earn the country another
Games berth.
Sanjeev qualified for the finals in
fourth position shooting a score of 1163.
There were three quota places available in
the finals and the other two went to
Kazakhstan's Vitaliy Dovgun and
Thailand's Napis Tortungpanich.
India, however, missed out on a
quota in men's skeet as Angad Vir Singh
Bajwa narrowly failed to make the cut
after finishing eighth with a score of 118
in the qualification rounds. Six top
shooters play in the finals of skeet.
"I have had a tough 2015 where I had
to change my shooting jacket and gun
three times which affected my performances. Also, the fact that after I left the
Navy in 2014 it took me a while to adjust
to the change in lifestyle," Sanjeev said
after his event. "For this competition I
had trained hard but the barrel extension
of my gun started giving me problems
in the last three days and I could not
change it at this stage. This is why I was
being inconsistent in the finals as I was
finding it difficult to adjust otherwise I
could have shot even better. I am hoping that my form starts improving more
after this performance."
Expressing his delight, President of
F
the National Rifle Association of India
(NRAI), Raninder Singh said, "I am very
happy to have won more Olympic quotas than last time but at the same time
we also have to give a long hard look at
the reasons why we missed so many of
them after coming so close. In at least
four events we missed quotas by a
whisker. We will have a look at the players' preparations and training, review the
work done by the coaches and officials
as well as the federation's working and
ensure that responsibility is fixed so that
we continue to improve. There are no
holy cows."
Referring to trap exponents Ronjan
Sodhi, Mohd. Asab and Ankur Mittal,
Raninder said, "Both the shooters in double trap are under government's TOP
scheme and we have often questioned.
We may have to ensure checks and balances. We will take corrective action.
Nobody is indispensable."
Among the eight finalists in the men's
50m rifle 3 positions, three athletes —
Korea's Jonghyon Kim, Japan's Toshikazu
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Yamashita and Kazakhstan's Yuriy Yurkov
were ineligible to claim quotas as they had
secured quotas earlier.
Also, of the three Korean shooters
who qualified for the finals, only one
could claim an Olympic berth as Korea
already had one quota in the event and
a country can claim a maximum of two
quotas per event.
Sanjeev was placed seventh after the
first 15 kneeling position shots. It was
good enough to secure a quota but he
shot much better in the 15 prone shots
series to register a score of 157.4 at the
end of it with none of his shots going
below 10. He moved up to fifth position
with the quota firmly in his grasp and
though inconsistency returned in the
standing position, Sanjeev maintained
his fourth position, and was even in
medal contention for a while.
The gold in the event was won by
Korea's Olympic silver medallist Kim
Jonghyun, who claimed his second yellow metal of the competition, having
won the men's 50m rifle prone event earlier. He shot 461.4 in the finals.
Kazakhstan's Yuriy Yurkov won the silver shooting 451.7 while Japan's
Toshikazu Yamashita bagged the bronze
registering a score of 439.9.
Sanjeev was eliminated in fourth
position with a score of 429.5 but won
the first available quota in the event.
In the other event of the day, UAE's
Saif Bin Futtais won the gold beating
Kuwait's Saud Habib, participating as an
International Shooting Participant, 13-12
in the gold medal match. Saaed
Almaktoum, also of UAE won the bronze
beating countryman Mohamed Ahmad
15-14. The four quotas in the event went
to UAE, Qatar and Kuwait (2).
India's young talent Bajwa finished
just outside the top six with a score of 118.
A score of 119 would have taken him to
the finals and would have got him a quota
by default.
India, thus, along with Japan, Korea
and Iran finished as one of the most successful teams in the competition. Japan
won five quotas while India bagged four
and Korea and Iran three each. This is
India's best ever performance in the Asia
Olympic qualifying event.
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ormer champions Delhi
Waveriders' homecoming
F
turned out to be a disappointing
affair as they lost 2-5 to Jaypee
Punjab Warriors to slump to their
second consecutive loss in the
fourth season of Hockey India
League at the floodlit Shivaji
Stadium, here on Tuesday.
For Punjab Warriors Mark
Gleghorne (10th minute), Mark
Knowles (11th), Christopher
Ciriello (22nd) and Jake Whetton
(37th) were the scorers, while
Rupinder Pal Singh (35th, 55th)
converted two out of the six short
corners that the home team earned.
The Waveriders had earlier
lost 4-6 to Uttar Pradesh Wizards
at the same venue on Monday.
It was not a happy outing for
the Waveriders for the second successive day as they failed to produce the spark of earlier seasons
and showed glimpses of brilliance.
Punjab Warriors earned their
first penalty corner in the 10th
minute which was beautifully executed by Gleghorne.
A minute later Punjab
Warriors extended their lead when
Australian Knowles scored from a
rebound after Jasjit Singh Kular's
intial try from their second setpiece struck the top upright.
In the 22nd minute, Punjab
Warriors made the scoreline 3-0 in
their favour when Christopher
Ciriello converted their third
penalty corner.
Putting behind their lacklustre performance in the first two
quarters, the hosts came out with
more purpose after the change of
ends and dominated the proceedings in the third quarter during
which they created some good
chances.
After their aweful performance last night wherein
Waveriders wasted as many as 11
penalty corners, Rupinder was
bang on target with his team's
second set piece with a powerful
high flick to reduce the scoreline
to 3-1.
But much to the disappointment of home fans, Punjab
Warriors made the scoreline 5-1
two minutes later when Whetton
scored a field goal from a tight
angle.
The Waveriders earned two
more penalty corners in the final
stages of the third quarter but
wasted both.
In between Delhi skipper
Simon Child's field strike was disallowed by the video umpire
after Punjab Warriors went for
referral.
After wasting the fifth penalty corner, Rupinder found the target once again from the next set
piece in the 55th minute to give
home fans a ray of hope.
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engal Warriors, strengthened in attack by the incluB
sion of army man Nitin Tomar,
gave an impressive display
with a 25-17 win over Telugu
Titans in the concluding tie of
the first leg of the Pro Kabaddi
here on Tuesday.
The duo — Nitin and
Mahesh Goud — turned the
tide after the break when the
two teams were tied 9-9.
For the home team nothing went right in all the departments. Rahul got only two
points for a tally of four with
two tackles in the match.
Sukesh Hegde was also
nowhere near his usual self,
scoring just a solitary point in
a do-or -die raid.
Girish who had 5 tackle
points, teamed up so well with
Nilesh (4 tackles) that within a
space of two minutes the fate
of the match was decided.
From a slender 15-14 advantage in the 31st minute they
went up 20-15.
The Titans still top the
table with 11 points, while
Warriors are third with five.
ionel Messi will skip the Rio de
Janeiro Olympics in
L
six months because his
coach Gerardo Martino
says he needs some rest.
Martino spoke
Monday on Argentina
radio station La Red and
said Messi will play in
the Centennial Copa
America tournament in
the United States, but
not the Olympics in Brazil.
"Messi will not go to the Olympic
Games," said Martino, who said it was
"too much" for Argentine to play.
The Centennial Copa America
begins June 3, and the Olympics open
two months later on Aug. 5.
"We have the Copa
America, the Olympic Games,
and World Cup qualifiers in
September, October and
November," Martino said.
He also mentioned
Barcelona's heavy schedule in
various tournaments.
Messi is 28 and could have
been picked to the Olympic
team as one of three over-23 age players. He led Argentina to the gold
medal in 2008 at the Beijing Olympics.
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