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Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyhas defended the Rafale
deal and said a controversy issought to be created on thebasis of a statement made byformer French PresidentFrancois Hollande, that theReliance Defence ‘partnership’with Dassault Aviation wasentered at the suggestion of theIndian Government.
In Facebook blog titled, “AQuestionable statement Whichcircumstances & facts demol-ish,”Jaitley claimed that in asubsequent statement the for-mer president has sought tosuggest that Reliance Defenceemerged on the scene after theagreement with the IndianGovernment was entered into.
“He has, in a subsequentstatement, said he is ‘not aware’if Government ever lobbied forReliance Defence and that ‘thepartners chose themselves’.Truth cannot have two ver-sions,” he said.
In an interview to newsagency ANI, Jaitley also saidthere is a “perfect coincidence”between Rahul’s tweet ofAugust 30 and Hollande’s state-ments.
Rahul, on August 30,tweeted, “Globalised corrup-tion. This #Rafale aircraft real-ly does fly far and fast! It’s alsogoing to drop some big bunkerbuster bombs in the next cou-ple of weeks. Modiji please tellAnil, there is a big problem inFrance.”
“And then what happens[Hollande’s claim] is in perfect
rhythm with what he predict-ed,” Jaitley said.
Adding further, Rahul is insome kind of a revenge mode.We were called corrupt and youbrought in evidence.”
Back to his Facebook blog,Jaitley said the FrenchGovernment and M/s DassaultAviation have categoricallydenied the correctness of theformer president’s first state-ment. The French Governmenthas stated that the decision withregard to the offset contracts ofDassault Aviation is taken bythe company and not theGovernment, he said.
He went on to add that the
Dassault Aviation itself hassuggested that they haveentered into multiple contractswith several public sector andprivate sector companies withregard to the offset contractsand the decision is entirelytheirs.
“Without commenting onthe correctness or otherwise ofa controversy in the Frenchmedia, it may be mentionedthat the former French presi-dent, Hollande, is counteringstatement made against himwith regard to a conflict ofinterest in his dealing with theReliance Defence,” Jaitley said..
Jaitley said the accuracy of
the statements made by theindividuals may be questionedbut circumstances never lie.This is evident from the fol-lowing facts:
There is no ‘partnership’, assuggested by the formerPresident, with regard to the 36Rafael aircrafts to be suppliedby Dassault Aviation to theGovernment of India.
It was a Government toGovernment agreement underwhich the completeweaponised aircrafts are tocome to the Indian Air Force.No manufacturing is to bedone in India. It is, therefore,erroneous for anybody to sug-
gest that there is a ‘partnership’in the supply of the 36 Rafaelaircrafts.
M/s. Reliance IndustriesLtd., in February, 2012, hadentered into an MoU withDassault Aviation. This wasreported by the PTI on12.2.2012. This was at a stagewhen the contract relating to126 Rafael aircrafts, of which 18were to be manufactured inFrance and 108 in India, was atan advance stage of consider-ation by the UPA Government.Rahul’s misplaced criticismcould equally apply to the 2012MoU.
Continued on Page 4
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Not far away from the nextgeneral elections, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi hailedthe schemes launched by theincumbent NDA dispensationat the Centre for their roleplayed in empowering the poorwithout any prejudice. Henamed some like Ujjawala,PMAY, Saubhagya, SwachcchBharat Mission while addingthe latest Ayushman Bharat helaunched on Sunday fromJharkhand.
The Prime Minister open-ing his address in local dialectNagpuri and remembering theland of great sons of the soilremained critical of the previ-ous regimes, particularly ofthe Congress while allegingthose of discriminatory inimplementing welfare mea-sures.
“All the schemes we havelaunched have been empower-ing to the poor. For the firsttime any Government is treat-ing the poor not as vote bankbased on their caste, religionand regional identity. For thelast 40-50 years, theGovernments have been usingpublic funds to garner votebank. We have shunned the
path and I don’t want thecountry to return to that again,”said the Prime Minister afterinaugurating the universalhealth insurance scheme hailedcritically as ‘Modicare’.
With the rollout of theCentre’s flagship scheme which
has been renamed as PM JanArogya Yojana (PMJAY), theNarendra Modi-led NDAGovernment aims to providehealthcare facilities to over 10crore families covering urbanand rural poor.
Continued on Page 4
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With four more deaths ofchildren on Sunday due
to deadly diphtheria disease atNorth Delhi MunicipalCorporation (NMC)-runMaharishi Valmiki InfectiousDiseases Hospital in KingswayCamp, the toll has reached 18.
A total of 147 childrenwere admitted to the hospitaltill Sunday with complaints ofinfectious diphtheria disease.Of them 18 have died due tonon-availability of diphtheriaantitoxin (serum).
A red-faced senior NMCofficial rued lack 200 units ofserum from the CentralResearch Institute, Kasauli, wassupplied to them only onSunday.
According to data releasedby the NMC, of the admittedchildren 122 are from UttarPradesh, 14 from Delhi and 11from Haryana. Out of 18 whodied, 17 belonged to UP whileone was from Delhi, he said.
Officials said the patientswere up to 9 years of age andadmitted in very advance stagesand did not respond to thetreatment. Most of them werenot vaccinated for diphtheria.
The NMC has formed a
high-level enquiry committeeunder the chairmanship of theAdditional Commissioner(Health) to ascertain the causeof deaths.
“Medical Superintendentsof Hindu Rao Hospital andKasturba Hospital are membersof the committee. This com-mittee has been asked to lookinto all the possible aspects thatled to the deaths of the inno-cent lives,” the official said.
The official said the NMC’sAdesh Gupta has directed thecommittee to submit its reporton Monday. If anyone is foundguilty of medical negligence,they will be punished, headded. Diphtheria is an infec-tious disease caused bycorynebacterium diphtheria,which primarily infects the
throat and upper airways, andproduces a toxin affecting otherorgans. The illness has an acuteonset and the main character-istics are a sore throat, low feverand swollen glands in the neck.
The diphtheria toxin caus-es a membrane of dead tissueto build up over the throat andtonsils, making breathing andswallowing difficult. The dis-ease is spread through directphysical contact or frombreathing in the aerosolisedsecretions from coughs orsneezes of infected individuals.
North Delhi Mayor AdeshGupta and the MedicalSuperintendent of the hospital,Sunil Kumar Gupta, did notrespond to the repeated callsand messages from ThePioneer.
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Maoists gunned down aruling Teugu Desam
MLA and his associate onSunday afternoon when theywere visiting interior village intribal area of Araku inVisakhapatnam district inTelengana, police officials said.
More than 50 armedMaoists targeted MLA KadiriSarveshwar Rao and formerMLA Siveru Soma at around 1pm at Nimitiputtu villageunder Dumbriguda mandal ofVisakhapatnam district.
The place was just 15 kmsfrom Odisha border and theassailants escaped across theborder. Kadiri was elected tothe State Assembly in 2014from Araku constituency onthe Opposition YSR Congressparty ticket but later switchedto the ruling TDP and becamethe Government whip in theAssembly. He was survived bywife and two sons.
“The Maoists opened firefrom point blank range first atformer MLA Soma and then atthe MLA, killing both of themon the spot,” DIGVisakhapatnam range ChSrikant told the reporters.Earlier, the Maoists overpow-ered the two gunmen, snatched
their weapons and tied them toa tree. Initially, there was dis-cussion between the Maoistsand the MLA over his miningactivities in the area. TheMaoists said the mining activ-ity was damaging the forestsand the environment anddemanded that it should bestopped forthwith.
According to the witness-es, the MLA told them that ifthere is any problem it could besorted out through talks but hewill not bow to any threats.Soon after, the Maoists openedfire killing both the leaders onthe spot. Later both the bodieswere shifted to King GeorgeHospital Visakhapatnam forpost-mortem. Police havesounded a red alert in AndhraPradesh and neighbouring
Telangana. Authorities haveasked Ministers and electedrepresentatives not to travel inthe rural areas without inform-ing police.
“We have launched acombing operation to nab theculprits. A probe is underwayinto the circumstances inwhich the attack took place”,Srikant said.
Police officials suspect thatthe attack was led byRamakrishna, secretary,Andhra Odisha Border com-mittee of CPI Maoist.Ramakrishn who earlier head-ed Andhra State Committeehad narrowly escaped policedragnet in 2005 and was large-ly based in Chhattisgarh andOdisha since then.
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In a move to end politicaluncertainly in Goa, BJP pres-
ident Amit Shah on Sundayannounced that the ailing StateChief Minister ManoharParrikar would continue in hisoffice and that reshuffle of theState’s Ministers would soontake place in Goa.
“It has been decided duringa discussion with the Goa BJPcore team that Parrikar willcontinue to lead the GoaGovernment. There will soonbe a reshuffle of Ministers andtheir portfolios,” Shah tweetedso following a discussion withthe BJP’s core group team fromGoa.
Parrikar’s poor health hadsparked speculation over hiscontinuation as the Chief
Minister of the State. Shahhad recently sent Central partyleaders to speak to allies andtake stock of political situation.
The Opposition Congress,which is the single largest party
in the State, has also stakedclaim to form the Government.The BJP has asserted that itsGovernment continues to havethe support of majority ofMLAs. Currently, Parrikar isadmitted at the AIIMS andundergoing treatment for apancreas ailment.
Shah’s announcement isseen as an attempt to preventthe Congress from fishing introubled waters and destabilisethe BJP Government which isderiving support from region-al outfits.
In the last Assembly polls,Congress had emerged as thesingle largest party but BJPformed an alliance and man-aged the required support toform its Government in theState.
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Haryana Police’s SpecialInvestigating Team (SIT)
on Sunday arrested the twomain accused in the Rewarigang-rape case. The accused,Pankaj and Manish, were onthe run for almost two weeks.They were arrested fromSatnali in Mahendragarh dis-trict. Haryana DGP B S Sandhusaid with the arrest of Manishand the Armyman, Pankaj, allthe key accused allegedlyinvolved in the CBSE toppergangrape case incident, havenow been arrested.
The victim, a 19-year-oldcollege girl was abducted andgang-raped after being druggedon September 12 while she wason the way to a coaching insti-tute. Earlier, the SIT hadannounced the arrest of thirdaccused, Nishu and two othermen — Deendayal, the ownerof a tubewell room where thecrime took place inMahendragarh, and SanjeevKumar, a medical practitionerwho had treated the victim.
Both Deendayal andSanjeev were booked as theydid not inform police despiteknowing about the crime.
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Congress president RahulGandhi on Sunday accused
Prime Minsiter Narendra Modiand Finance Minister ArunJaitley of “lying” on the Rafaleissue and persisted the demandfor a Joint ParliamentaryCommittee (JPC) probe for an“uncorrupted truth” to comeout.
“Mr Jetlie’s speciality is hisability to spin ‘2 truths’, or lies,with fake self righteousnessand indignation to defend theindefensible. It’s high time he,the RM and our PM stop lyingand call a JPC to establish thefull, uncorrupted truth about
the Rafale Scam ),” Rahultweeted.
Also, he pointed towardsmedia report highlighting howformer French presidentFrancois Hollande’s chargeshave hit the Modi Governmenton the Rafale issue.
The Congress alsodemanded a clarification fromthe Prime Minister on the dis-closure made by Hollandeabout the choice of Indian offset partner in Rafael dealand accused the PM of violat-ing the oath of confidentialityby leaking information toReliance Defence chief AnilAmbani.
Continued on Page 4
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Chhattisgarh Chief MinisterRaman Singh and Union
Minister for Railways and Coal,Piyush Goyal will lay founda-tion stone for various projectsof East Corridor and East-West Railway Corridor. Theywill also ink Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) forthese projects at a function inHardi Bazaar, Korba districtthrough Video Conferencing.
The leader duo will also layfoundation for 17 Kms longChirmiri-Nagpur Road Haltand will inaugurate the work oflaying of track between Kharsia and Dharamjaigarh aswell as will ink MoU forKatghora-Mungeli-Kawardha-Dongargarh.
The Chirmiri-NagpurRoad Halt is a 17 kms long newrailway line worth 241 crore
and 50-50 per cent cost of itwould be borne by the Centreas well as State Government.
Under first phase of EastRail Corridor, Kharsia-Gharg ho da-Kor ichapar-Dharamjaigarh and fromGhargoda to Donga Mahua,
Gare Pelma 132 kms railwaytrack would be laid. Under thisnew railway project nine railwaystations namely Gurda, Chal,Dharghoda, Korichapar,Kurumkela, Dharamjaigarh,Bhalumada and Garepelmawould be constructed. The esti-
mated cost of the entire projectis worth �3,055 Crore and SouthEastern Coalfields Limited(SECL)-64 per cent, Ircon 26 percent and the ChhattisgarhGovernment would bear the 10per cent cost of the project.
Similarly, under second
phase of the East CorridorProject 63 kms long railwaytrack between Dharamjaigarh-Korba-Urga would be laid. Theestimated cost of the project is�1,686 crore. Six railway stationsnamely Khadgaon, HATI,Dhinara, Dongama and Bhaismawould be constructed under it.
Under East-West RailCorridor 135 kms railway linewould be laid between GevraRoad to Pendra Road. Ninerailway stations namelySurakachchar, Katghora Road,Binjhra, Putuwa, Matin,Sendurgarh, Putipakhna, Bhadi and Dhangaon would beconstructed.
Apart from it theChhattisgarh Rail Corporationis also going to lay foundationfor laying of 277 kms long railline Katghora-Kartala-Dongargarh via Mungeli,Kawardha and Khairagarh.
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Waking up to the faultyimplant case that left a
many patients dead and dis-abled, the Centre is mulling tomake the medical device man-ufacturers liable to compensatefor injuries caused to con-sumers by their faulty medicalgadgets. Presently companiespay compensation only in caseof adverse events during aclinical trial.
“The Government can’tclose its eyes given that med-ical devices are now necessityfor the longer life of thepatients. It’s time to plug gapsin the existing rules. Theabsence of such a law hasmade it tough for regulators toseek compensation fromJohnson & Johnson for patientswho had undergone faulty hipimplant surgeries,” said sourcesin the Central Drug StandardsControl Organisation(CDSCO), a national pharma-ceutical regulatory body.
They said that the regula-tor has proposed changes in the
existing law to introduce acompensation provision forapproved drugs and medicaldevices that have an adverseimpact on a patient.
An expert panel set up bythe Union Health Ministry toprobe into the complaints hasfound that there is no provisionas such for compensation topatients for faulty medicaldevices in the Drug andControl Act, only fines andprosecution which can be ini-tiated by the drug inspector orconsumer associations, not
patients.The key findings of the
committee, constitute the firstofficial indictment in Indiaagainst J&J, which importedand sold ASR XL AcetabularHip System and ASR HipResurfacing System in thecountry — these devices wereglobally recalled in 2010. Thepanel found that over 3,600patients with the faultyimplants remain untraceable,and that at least four patientswith the implants have died.
In its report, the panel also
observed that DePuyOrthopaedics Inc (J&J’s sub-sidiary that manufactured hipimplant devices) “appeared tohave suppressed certain factsabout the implants” fromIndian regulators. It recom-mended that eligible patientsshould receive a “base amount”
of �20 lakh as compensation,and proposed mechanisms toidentify eligible patients.
Victims are already makingrounds of the court, seekingcompensation and punishmentagainst the giant pharma. Threepatients — Vijay Vojhala, VinayAgarwal and Shailesh Bachate— has in their letter datedAugust 27 have urged UnionHealth Minister JP Nadda tokeep them in loop in the mat-ter. They said, “We believethat the investigation ofJohnson & Johnson’s faulty hipimplants and the resulting gov-ernmental action should bedone in a transparent mannerso as to ensure that vestedinterests do not unduly influ-ence the process.”
The letter has also beensigned by Jennifer Baruchaand Praful Sardesai, the chil-dren of deceased patients whoused these implants. “We alsoseek participation in any fur-ther deliberations by theGovernment on the action tobe taken on the report,” the let-ter stated.
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Under pressure to clamp downon sinister messages,
Whatsapp has appointed a“Grievance Officer” for India anddetailed out the process for usersto flag concerns and complaints,including those around fake news.
Meeting one of the keydemands that India had put onWhatsapp to curb fake messagesthat triggered mob killings, theFacebook-owned company hasupdated its website to reflect theappointment of a “GrievanceOfficer” for India.
The update mentions thatusers can seek help through themobile app, send an email or writein to ‘Komal Lahiri’, who is basedout of the US. According toLahiri’s LinkedIn profile, she issenior director, global customeroperations and localisation,WhatsApp.
When contacted, a WhatsAppspokesperson declined to com-ment on the matter but pointed to
the public FAQ on the company’swebsite that contains these details.
According to sources, theappointment of the GrievanceOfficer was made at the end ofAugust. They added that theGrievance Officer for India beingbased in the US is in tune withsimilar practices by otherAmerican tech giants.
According to the WhatsAppwebsite, users can reach out to thecompany’s support team directlyfrom the app under ‘Settings’ taband in case they wish to escalatethe complaint, they can contactthe Grievance Officer directly.
A section within FAQs read:“You (users) can contact theGrievance Officer with complaintsor concerns, including the fol-lowing: WhatsApp’s Terms ofService; and Questions about youraccount”.
The updated FAQs alsodetailed out the mechanism forlaw enforcement officials to reachout to WhatsApp. The govern-ment has been pressing WhatsApp
to develop tools to combat fake orfalse messages. One of thedemands was to name a grievanceofficer to deal with issues in India.
India is WhatsApp’s biggestmarket with more than 200 mil-lion users. It, in July, limited mes-sage forwards to five chats at atime and had also removed thequick forward button placed nextto media messages to discouragemass forwarding. It has also intro-duced a ‘forward’ label to helpusers identify such messages.
The latest appointment is alsosignificant as the Supreme Court,last month, had agreed to exam-ine a petition alleging thatWhatsApp does not comply withIndian laws, including the provi-sion for appointing a grievanceofficer. The apex court had soughta reply on the matter within fourweeks.
With general elections slatedfor next year in India, the gov-ernment is taking a tough stanceon use of social media platformslike Facebook, Twitter, and
WhatsApp for spread of misin-formation.
The Government had warnedWhatsApp that it will treat themessaging platform as abettor ofrumour propagation and legalconsequences will follow, if ade-quate checks are not put in place.In a meeting held with WhatsAppHead Chris Daniels last month, ITMinister Ravi Shankar Prasadhad asserted that the company willhave to find a solution to track ori-gin of messages on its platform, setup a local corporate entity that issubject to Indian laws within adefined time-frame as well asappoint a grievance officer.
WhatsApp, which has beenslapped with two notices with athird one under consideration, hassaid it is in the process of estab-lishing a local corporate entity.
It has, however, not acceptedGovernment’s demand for trace-ability of messages saying creatingsuch a software will go against theidea of user privacy and end-to-end encryption.
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Backing Government’s deci-sion to call off the meeting
with Pakistan, Army ChiefGen. Bipin Rawat on Sundayasserted that talks and terrorcannot go together.
The Army Chief said theinfiltration from across theborder persists despite the callfor a ceasefire by Pakistan andstressed that this cannot beallowed to continue and appro-priate action has to be taken todeter terrorists from disrupt-ing the peace in the Valley.
He was talking at a com-memoration ceremony ofHaifa Day Centernary at theTeen Murti Haifa Memorialhere.
Gen. Rawat backed thegovernment’s decision to calloff the talks between ExternalAffairs Minister SushmaSwaraj and her Pakistani coun-terpart on sidelines of theUnited Nations GeneralAssembly in New York.
The Government had on
Friday called off a meetingbetween the Foreign Ministersof India and Pakistan in NewYork, citing the brutal killingsof three policemen in Jammu& Kashmir and Islamabadreleasing postage stamps “glo-rifying” Kashmiri militantBurhan Wani.
“The Government’s policyis very clear cut.. . You(Pakistan) show us some ini-tiatives so that we feel that youare not encouraging terrorism.But we see that terror activitiesare continuing and terroristscome from the other side of theborder.
“In such an atmosphere,whether talks can be initiatedthat the Government can onlydecide. I agree to theGovernment’s decision thatpeace talks and terrorism can-not go together,” he said.
A BSF patrolling party wasfired upon by forces fromacross the Pakistan border onSeptember 20, in which ajawan was killed. The headconstable rank jawan was sus-
pected to have been hit by afatal sniper shot from acrossthe border. His body wasrecovered in a mutilated con-dition later.
Rawat further said theywill provide security alongwith other agencies for thePanchayat polls in Jammu andKashmir to be held inNovember.
“Today we are also lookingat Panchayat elections, we wantthese elections to go throughbecause with this the powerwill devolve to people.
“Our job is to ensure thatthe civil administration thereand the election commission isable to carry out their tasks sothat people can come out andcast their vote in a free andforthright manner without anyfear of any kind of disruption,”he said.
The dialogue processbetween the two countries hadbroken last after Pakistan-based terrorist struck at theIndian Airforce base atPathankot in 2016.
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India and Egypt have decid-ed to ramp up their defence
and security ties which willinclude boosting counter-ter-ror cooperation and carryingout joint exercises by their mil-itaries, officials said.
The decisions were takenduring talks between DefenceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanand her Egyptian counterpartGeneral Mohamed AhmedZaki Mohamed in Cairo.
She was on a two-day visitto Egypt from September 20-22. Officials said Sitharamanand Mohamed also deliberat-ed on expanding naval coop-eration between the two coun-tries and explored possibilitiesof joint production of defenceequipment.
They said both the sidesare working towards holding
joint exercises between theirmilitaries. “They reviewedongoing bilateral cooperationactivities and discussed poten-tial opportunities to furtherdeepen ties and exchanges inthe defence sphere,” theDefence Ministry said.
It said the Ministers decid-ed to explore deeper cooper-ation in the fields of defenceindustry including joint pro-duction of military equip-ment.
“Both sides reaffirmedtheir intent to enhance coop-eration in counter-terrorism.Naval cooperation, includingcooperation in maritimedomain awareness, was iden-tified as an area of potential,”it said.
The Ministry said Indiaand Egypt would also intensi-fy training interactionsbetween their militaries.
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In a move to bring trans-parency in the electoral rolls
after demands of Oppositionparties, the ElectionCommission (EC) will conductan audit of poll-related activi-ties and its preparedness in fivepoll-bound States — MadhyaPradesh, Chhattisgarh,Rajasthan, Mizoram andTelangana.
The audit will also revealwhether EC’s instructions anddirections are being followed inthese States. The Oppositionparties in all these States havealleged that lakhs of bogusvoters have been included inthe voters list ahead of theassembly polls due this year.
Top sources in EC said thatthe audit will include voterslists, polling stations, storage ofelectronic voting machines(EVMs) and functioning ofVVPAT, the systematic voters’education and electoral partic-ipation (SVEEP)traning activ-ities, training of booth levelofficers (BLOs), voters’ aware-ness programmes, accuracy ofvotes list, voters guide, riskmanagement, polling boothsand arrangement for disabledfriendly voters.
In a letter to Chief ElectoralOfficers of these States, the EChas directed officials concernedto provide any clarification orinformation, which the teamsmay require as part of theaudit immediately on the sameday. According to EC sources,audit teams will soon visit tothese States.
“The commission will,through these audit teams, bemonitoring compliance of ECinstructions/statutory provi-sions for roll management andvarious other activities andalso steps taken for improve-ment of quality of the rolls. Themandate of these audit teams isto detect specific instances ofnon-adherence of ECI guide-
lines or legal provisions and fol-low it up by remedial actions byfield machinery. The auditteams during their visit willdeeply look into all aspects ofroll management, includingbut not restricted to carryingout test, checks of records andphysical verification,” the ECsaid.
According to agenciesreport, the Chief ElectoralOfficer of Madhya Pradeshhas asked the EC to postponethe visit, saying the finalisationof electoral rolls in the State isdue to end later this month andthat they should visit afterthat.
It is noted that MadhyaPradesh Congress has filed apetition before the EC, allegingthat a large number of fake vot-ers were included in the voters’list in connivance with booth-level officers (BLOs) across thestate. Earlier, MP Congressunit president Kamal Nathand State Congress electioncampaign committee headJyotiraditya Scindia had lodgeda complaint with the ElectionCommission in Delhi claimingthat there were about 60 lakhfake voters in Madhya Pradesh.The election commission,however, had said it found nomerit in the Congress’s allega-tions. Last month, theCongress in Rajasthan allegedthat there were over 42 lakhduplicate entries in the voterlist in the State. InChhattisgarh, the Congressalleged of inclusion of eightlakh fake voters in the electoralrolls. The Congress inTelangana also alleged for 70lakh bogus voters in the State.
Besides, the Commissionalso decided to use latest modelof M3-type EVMs which is“non-tamperable” and credible.The Commission also directedReturning Officers of Statesand Union Territories to dis-tribute photo voter slips to thepolitical parties.
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RSS chief Mohan Bhagwatmay have emphasised that
the organisation does not con-trol the BJP, but the ruling partyhas directed its booth managersto be in “regular touch” withthe Sangh Parivar, partysources revealed on Sunday.
In the 24-point action plandrafted for its booth man-agers, the Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) has underlinedthat the booth workers shouldbe in “regular touch” with theRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) cadre and its affiliates intheir respective regions, theysaid.
Get in touch with the headsand priests of mutts, templesand ashrams in the region, theparty said in its directive to thebooth managers, the sourcessaid.
The action plan was sharedat the BJP’s national executiveorganised earlier this month,they added.
This assumes importanceas last week in his three-day
lecture series here, Bhagwathad said that the Sangh neverasks it volunteers to work forany political party.
The Sangh does not giveadvice but offers suggestion ifit is sought, he said, withoutnaming the BJP or any of itsleaders.
Speaking at length aboutthe organisation’s stand on pol-itics, the RSS head said theSangh does not dictate theBJP’s politics or policies of itsGovernment, but asserted thatit pushes for what it believes tobe in the interest of the coun-try.
The impression is“absolutely wrong” that callsfrom Nagpur (where RSS isheadquartered), are made andtalks (between it and govern-ment functionaries) are heldbecause the likes of PresidentRam Nath Kovind and PrimeMinister Narendra Modi havelinks with it, he noted.
Senior leaders in the BJP,clearly stated that booth man-agement has been the focalpoint of the party’s poll strate-gies in various states and it isimportant for booth workers tomaintain coordination withthe entire Sangh Parivar.
The party leaders said fromtime to time top leadership ofthe BJP and its ideologicalmentor the RSS meets anddiscusses the pertaining issuesof national importance.
The party takes feedbackfrom the Sangh to get a betteridea about the ground realities,a leader said.
The BJP borrows its organ-isational secretary from Sanghboth at the state and the cen-tral level.
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Union Home Ministry in a pilotproject will supply a special kit
to police stations across the countryto collect blood and semen samples,besides other evidence, to carry outimmediate investigation into sexualassault cases. The Sexual AssaultEvidence Collection Kits (SAECK) or‘rape investigation kits’ are designedto carry out immediate medico-legal investigation and aid in fur-nishing evidence in sexual assault andrape cases.
The Home Ministry, as part of apilot project, will initially procure3,960 SAECK and to begin with, and100 such kits will be given to eachState and union territory, a Ministryofficial said. The likely cost budget-ed for the procurement of the 3,960kits is �79.20 lakh, while another�4.91 crore will be spent in provid-ing training to police personnel andmedical staff of local hospitals.
Police and medical officers willbe given training on how to use thekits in the event of any sexual assaultand rape case happening in their areaof jurisdiction. Each of these kitscomprises essential items that will aidin furnishing evidence such as bloodand semen samples in sexual assaultand rape cases, the official said. Thekit has a set of test tubes and bottles,which mention about contents andspecifications.
These kits also contain instruc-tions on collection of evidence fromthe crime scene. The SAECKs wouldbe sent to the closest laboratory andwithin two months the results wouldbe out. “We are planning to keep atleast three ‘rape kits’ in each of thepolice stations in the country, andwhen the full project is implement-ed the number will go up gradually,”another official said.
The cost of the project would beshared between the central govern-ment (from the Nirbhaya Fund) andrespective states in the ratio of 60:40.The kits are expected to help the lawenforcement agencies to ensure effec-tive investigation in a timely mannerfor better prosecution and convic-tions in sexual assault cases. The firstlot of such kits was procured by theBureau of Police Research andDevelopment (BPR&D) and it hasalready started imparting forensictraining to some police officers, theofficial said.
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Senior Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushanon Sunday said the Rafale deal was the “largest
defence scam in India” and urged the Centre to ini-tiate a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe intothe matter.
Addressing reporters here, he questioned how AnilAmbani’s Reliance Defence, the Indian offset partnerof French firm Dassault Aviation, could be involvedin the project as “most of his companies are in debt.”
“This is not only the largest defence scam in India,but is one where national security has been severelycompromised. While the IAF wanted 126 flights, it wasreduced to 36,” Bhushan said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announcedthe procurement of a batch of 36 Rafale jets after hold-ing talks with then French president FrancoisHollande on April 10, 2015 in Paris.
Opposition Congress has accused the governmentof choosing Reliance Defence over state-runHindustan Aeronautics Ltd to benefit the private firmthough it did not have any experience in the aerospacesector. Lashing out at Modi and Defence MinisterNirmala Sitharaman, Bhushan charged the Centre withmaking IAF officials “lie” about the deal.
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ACentral Reserve Police Force(CRPF) jawan allegedly
committed suicide on Sunday atthe Jaimati Pathar camp inSonitpur district, police said.
According to police, theCentral Reserve Police Force(CRPF) jawan allegedly firedfrom his INSAS rifle inside thecamp under Tezpur police sta-tion Sunday morning and diedon the spot.
The jawan has been identi-fied as Digambar Madhab (40),who hailed from Mumbai.
Police said the reason behindhis suicide was not immediate-ly known and an investigation ison.
Madhab’s body has beensent to his home after conduct-ing post-mortem at the TezpurKanaklata Civil Hospital.
��1�4������������ �������(���� Jaipur: A serving Indian Police Service
officer’s wife will contest the upcomingRajasthan Assembly election as anIndependent candidate fromJhalrapatan constituency, currently rep-resented by Chief Minister VasundharaRaje.
Mukul Choudhary, wife of 2009-batch Rajasthan-cadre IPS officerPankaj Choudhary, said her decision tocontest against Raje was the democra-tic way to fight the “injustice” beingfaced by the people under the BJP dis-pensation.
“I will contest the election fromJhalrapatan, which is my birth place, onthe issue of corruption and misrule asan Independent candidate. The entirestate is suffering under the rule of thechief minister. Corruption is rampantand crime rate is increasing. I have beenworking on the ground against theseissues,” she told PTI on Sunday.
Chaudhary alleged that her hus-band was exploited and servedchargesheets and faced frequent trans-fers for doing honest work. PTI
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Chhattisgarh Chief MinisterRaman Singh would tour
eight districts as part of ‘AtalVikas Yatra’ from September 24to 26, 2018. On the occasion, healong with Minister of RailwaysPiyush Goyal would lay thefoundation stone underChhattisgarh Rail CorridorProject’s four railway lines of345.5 kilometres at cost of Rs9,952 crore at village HardiBazaar, Korba district onSeptember 24.
As per the programmeschedule, Chief Minister wouldleave for Kotmi village ofMarwahi block under Bilaspurdistrict from Raipur at 10.50am and reach at around 11.30am. He would address a pub-lic meeting. He would thenproceed for village Hardi Bazarunder Kathghora block ofKorba district where he alongwith Minister of RailwaysPiyush Goyal would lay thefoundation stone underChhattisgarh Rail CorridorProject’s three railway lines
They are, underChhattisgarh East-West RailCorridor project the GevraRoad-Pendra Road 135.3 kilo-metres railway track at cost ofRs 4970 crore, underChhattisgarh East RailCorridor Phase-2 project cost-ing Rs 1686 crore Urga toDharamjaigarh 62 kilometreslong railway line, underChhattisgarh East RailCorridor Phase-1 project atcost of Rs 3055 crore, 131kilometres railway line fromKharsia to Dharamjaigarh andRs 241 crore cost 17 kilometreslong Chirmiri-Nagpur HaltNew railway line is included.The foundation laying andsigning of Memorandum ofUnderstanding would be donethrough video-conferencing.
Chief Minister would dis-burse materials and assistanceunder different welfareschemes to 2933 beneficiaries.He would then proceed to vil-lage Tarkela of Kharsia blockunder Raigarh district. Hewould address the welcomemeeting. He will commencetravel by road in ‘Vikas Rath’
from village Tarapur and reachvillage Nandeli by 4.50 pmand participate in local func-tions. He would then proceedto reach village Bayang, villageChaple and reach Kharsiawhere he would address a pub-lic meeting. He would halthere for night.
On September 25, ChiefMinister would proceed forBeltara of Bilaspur district byhelicopter at 11.30 am. He wouldaddress public meeting andthen leave for block headquar-ters of Bharatpur in Koriya dis-trict. He would then after pub-lic address proceed forLakhanpur block headquarter ofSurguja district. He would thenreach village Chando of Lundrablock and travel by ‘Vikas Rath’.He will participate in localevents at village Kusu,Nanandmali and village Darimanear Ambikapur. He would haltat Ambikapur for night.
On September 26, hewould address the media andwill participate in cleaningstaff programme. He wouldreach Sakti block of Janjgir-Champa district by helicopterand address a public meeting.He will then reach villageKuikudar of Pandariya block,Kabirdham district and addressthe public meeting at 1.30 pm.He would then proceed for Sajaunder Bemetara district,address a public meeting andreturn to Raipur at 5.10 pm.
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Terming the selling of babies‘a high profile issue’ and
involvement of an organisedracket, Congress has allegednexus between main accusedDr Shanu Masih and BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP), RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh leaders.
Addressing a Press confer-ence here at State CongressOffice, former Mayor,Kiranmayee Nayak andChairman Medical Wing, DrRakesh Gupta charged thatthey have substantial proof thatDr Masih has been regularlyvisiting Visharad hospital runby RSS leader Dr PurnenduSaxena. She also manages thefinancial records there.
“Why Dr Saxena didn’ttook any action when theaccused was using his registra-tion number till now and whyhe didn’t lodge complaint in thisregard with Indian Medical
Council”, they questioned.It was not possible that Dr
Saxena does not have any infor-mation about alleged misuse ofhis registration number, theCongress leaders furtherblamed. “Now too, he had onlylodged a written complaintand an FIR has not been reg-istered,” they alleged.
They demanded seizure ofthe Close Circuit Tele Vision(CCTV) footage of Dr Saxena’sVisharad Hospital of past oneyear and also the call details ofsome of the high profile sus-pects associated with this caseshould be brought under thepurview of enquiry.
The persons who adopted
the children should also fallunder needle of suspicion andthey should also be broughtunder purview of probe, theCongress leaders demanded.
“As it is clear now that anorganized racket was involvedin baby selling, a CBI probe ishence forth demanded”, theleaders added.
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Even after being differentlyable, all are putting extra
efforts for making otherdivyangs self-reliant, is notonly appreciable but also moti-vating for one and all, saidRajnandgaon Member ofParliament Abhishek Singh.
He was addressing the con-
cluding session of two-dayworkshop as chief guest organ-ised at local MaheshwariBhawan, Rajnandgaon. Thework was attended by differentlyable (blind) officers from dif-ferent parts of country. The dif-ferently able were given tips oncareer and other success in life.
Singh said that will powerin self is a thinking which canmake the impossible thing pos-
sible. The CRC which has beenestablished at Rajnandgaon isworking in direction of devel-oping self-reliance among thedifferently able. Abhishekappreciated the work of SocialWelfare Board chairmanShobha Soni and SanskarShradhanjali’s Satish Bhatter.
All India Blind Federationvice president Inderjeet Singh,Rakesh Kumar working with
Ministry of Home,Government of India, PunjabNational Bank, New DelhiBranch manager HarshmanderNegi among others addressedthe gathering. The officialsshared their life experience thateven after being blind howthey have crossed the entirebarrier to achieve success in life.Around 140 differently able ofstate participated in the event.
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Acrucial joint meeting ofBahujan Samaj Party (BSP)
and Janata CongressChhattisgarh (JCC) (J) is goingto be held at Bilaspur onMonday to decide about theseat sharing after both the par-ties tied in alliance.
To participate in the meet-ing, the Chhattisgarh In chargesof BSP, Ashok Siddharth andLalji Verma are going to arrivein the state on Monday. On theother hand, JCC (J) SupremoAjit Jogi himself will be present
in the meeting. It would now bea tough time for Jogi as he hadalready declared 41 contendersfor the upcoming assembly polls.For sharing seat with BSP in any
of these seats from alreadydeclared party candidates wouldbe a tough task for Ajit Jogi.
Though, Jogi is claimingthat discontentment was only
for a couple of seats. But now ithas to be seen that will there beanother round of revolt withinthe party mainly, whosoever isthe declared candidate, afterthey are being refrained fromcontesting the polls, just tokeep the alliance work.
Leaders of both parties willhave discussions over holdingmassive joint public meet inwhich supremo of both parties,Ajit Jogi and Mayawati wouldaddress the masses. A possibledate for the public meetingwould also be finalised in themeeting, sources informed.
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The biggest healthscheme of the world
‘Pradhan Mantri JanAryogya Yojana (PMJAY)– Ayushman Bharat’ ded-ication to the country isone of the historical rev-olutionary step, termedBharatiya Janata PartyState president DharamlalKaushik.
Extending greetingsto Prime MinsterNarendra Modi for thescheme he said that now
poor would also getbetter health facilities.
The scheme hasnow been implement-ed in 445 districts ofcountry launchedfrom Ranchi,Jharkhand, state pres-ident said that it showsthe thought and con-cern for the poor that party is consider-ing all the aspects oftheir life.
Congress govern-ments have beenindulging in politics inname of poor. Kaushik
further said that underAyushman Bharat 10 crorefamilies that is around 50 croreindividuals would benefit fromthe scheme.
The Indian scripturesalready have the concept of‘Sarve Bhavantu Sukhina, SarveSantu Niramaya’ on which theBJP party has been workingand the governments are push-ing ahead schemes successful-ly. Kaushik further points out,“We should be proud that thescheme first phase waslaunched on April 14 fromJangla, Bastar. Now it is beingexpanded across the country.”
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Chhattisgarh PradeshCongress Committee
(CGPCC) would resume‘Jungle Satyagrah’ with com-mencement of its second leg insouthern Chhattisgarh Bastarregion. Chhattisgarh PradeshCongress Committee PresidentBhupesh Baghel would com-mence it in district headquar-ters Jagdalpur on Monday.
Notable, the first phase ofthe Satyagrah was held in theNorthern Chhattisgarh Surgujaregion previous month.
However, the programmeunder the Satyagrah includesmotorcycle rally and conductionof village level ‘Chaupals’.
During the second phase, VicePresident of Tribal Wing of AllIndia Congress Committee,Manoj Mandavi, State WorkingPresident of CGPCC RamdayalUike, senior leader ArvindNetam, Deputy leader ofOpposition in State AssemblyKawasi Lakhma, State TribalCongress President AmarjeetBhagat along with all the MLAs,state office bearers, MP, formerMP candidates, district andblock committee office bearerswould participate in the event.
���""��� ������� *�'�9*
One of the unique andbiggest health insurance
schemes of the world, PradhanMantri Jan Aryogya Yojana(PMJAY) covering around 50crore beneficiaries in the coun-try, is being launched by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, saidChief Minister Raman Singh.
Handing over e-goldencard to beneficiariesJeevrakhan Maheshwari ofArang, Rajendra Kumar Yadavof Semariya, Bhojbati Sahu ofArang, Kumari Bai Dhruv andBasanti Bai, Chief Ministerlaunched the PMJAY inChhattisgarh at new circuithouse in capital city Raipur onSunday. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi had did thenation-wide launched ofscheme from Ranchi,Jharkhand, the live event waswatched by entire audience,including Chief Minister.
Addressing the launch cer-emony, Chief Minister saidthat it would free the poor peo-ple from health related uncer-
tainties to meet the expenses ofdiseases like heart, bypass surg-eries, cancer, and organ trans-plantation among others as itwould meet out expenses boththe pre and post treatment. Itwould cover around 40 lakhbeneficiaries in State.
In Chhattisgarh, already thescheme was being implementedin Dhamtari district as pilot pro-ject, the state gave enhancedinformation to national levelregarding the software whichhad some hitches and its betterutilisation, said Chief Minister.More than 1000, both the privateand government hospitals ofstate have been registered underthe scheme.
He said State has alreadyprepared itself for its launch aseven he had been in 7-8 meet-ings to discuss the intricacies ofscheme and removing the bot-tle-necks.
Health Minister AjayChandrakar said thatChhattisgarh is the state whichspends the most on health sec-tor. He said that health budgetfrom Rs 350 crore increased to
around Rs 4300 crore. He alsoexplained the preparationsmade for the Ayushman BharatScheme in State.
Giving welcome addresshealth secretary Niharika Bariksaid that scheme would coverboth medical and surgicalexpenses both before and after
treatment. In state 428 privatehospitals and 608 public sectorhospitals have been registeredunder the scheme. It is a hybridmodel where upto Rs 50,000medical expenses it would beunder Insurance Model whilefrom Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh itwould be under Trust Model.
The scheme was being imple-mented in 16 districts as pilotmodel and now it has beenextended to 27 districts of State.
She said that response ofscheme can be seen from factthat around 3000 beneficiarieshave already taken the servicewhile the software issue have
been resolved. She said that atemporary call centre is oper-ational which provides allinformation to the customer.She said Chhattisgarh hasbecome the first in country todo live portal transaction. StateChief Secretary Ajay Singhalso addressed the gathering.
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Government of Chhattisgarhin Kharif season 2018
would commence its paddyand maize procurement atminimum support pricethrough Primary AgricultureCredit CooperativeCommittees from FoundationDay of State, November 1.
Food and Civil Suppliesofficers intimated that in stateunder 1,333 primary commit-tees 1998 procurement centreshave been made and target of75 lakh MT paddy is expectedin current year. With increasein production of Maize the tar-get has been kept as 40,000tonnes is likely to be procuredfrom farmers.
The circular of procure-ment policy has been issued toall the divisional commission-ers and district collectors ofstate. The paddy would beprocured through cash andlinking mode for three monthsthat is till January 31, 2019. TheMaize procurement would con-tinue for next seven monthsthat is till May 2019.
As per the announcementmade by Chief Minister andincrease of MSP by the centre,generally paddy would be Rs2050 per quintal and A-gradepaddy would get Rs 2070including the bonus. The Maizeprocurement MSP is Rs 1700
per quintal. The farmers wouldbe paid digitally.
For procurement, addition-al arrangement has been alsomade mainly in 49 Krishi Mandiand 75 sub mandi. The limit ofprocurement has been fixed as15 quintal per acre for paddywhile for maize the maximumlimit is 10 quintal per acre.
The procurement would befrom Monday to Friday exceptfor the government holidays.Chhattisgarh State Seed andAgriculture DevelopmentCorporation would purchase
the seeds from seed producingfarmers and certify it. A mon-itoring committee would beformed in each cooperativecommittee at local level. This isto ensure quality paddy is pur-chased and any irregularitiesare reported.
The circular states that allthe procurement centres wouldhave humidity checkingequipment. Paddy with morethan 17 percent of humiditywould not be procured. Thehumidity related data would berecorded by NIC.
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In yet another incident of hitand run, a 23-year-old man
succumbed to his injuries aftera speeding cab (Swift Dzire)dragged him for around twokilometers in the nationalCapital’s Pandav Nagar onSaturday night. Two other peo-ple riding the scooty were alsohit by the cab.
The deceased has beenidentified as Rahul, a residentof S block in Pandav Nagar.According to eyewitness, thecab had first hit two people rid-ing on the scooty. “The cabafter hitting the duo on scootytried to flee when Rahul triedto stop the cab but got stuck inthe moving cab and wasdragged,” said an eyewitness.
“We had received a PoliceControl Room (PCR) callaround 9:45 pm on Saturday
regarding the incident follow-ing which a team rushed to thespot. Rahul was taken to near-by hospital where he wasdeclared brought dead.
During our initial investi-gation it was revealed thatafter hitting the two people rid-ing on scooty, Rahul tried tostop the cab but the driver did-n’t stop and pressed the accel-erator. Rahul was caught
unaware and was stuck underthe wheels and was dragged totwo kilometers, eyewitnessessaid. The two other injured per-sons in the incident were dis-charged after treatment,” saidPankaj Kumar Singh, DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), East District.
“We have registered a caseand a team is scanning theCCTV footage to identify the
accused cab driver. We are yetto ascertain whether it was aprivate or app-based cab.Further investigation is on,”said the DCP.
This is not an isolated inci-dent as in one such incident inAugust this year, a 50-year-oldhomeless woman was moweddown by a speeding SUVallegedly being driven by ayoung woman on the wrongside of the road in the poshConnaught Place area ofLutyens’ Delhi. The homelesswoman was dragged for near-ly 300 metres by the vehicle —a Jeep Compass — on ShaheedSingh Marg.
In another incident, a 26-year-old man had lost his lifeafter a speeding Royal Enfliedbullet rider lost control and hithim on Saturday night.
According to police, theincident was reported at
around 11: 45 pm near GandhiColony flyover in Delhi.
“The injured identified asVijay Yadav was rushed to thehospital where he was declaredbrought dead,” said a seniorpolice official.
“During our initial inves-tigation it was revealed thatVijay and one of his friendRavinder were returning homewith their hand cart when aspeeding bike hit their handcart on Gandhi colony flyover.Due to impact Vijay got hishead hit on the roadsidedivider,” said a senior policeofficial.
“After the incident, thebiker managed to flee from thespot with his bike. Vijay is sur-vived by 12 days old son and awife. We have registered a caseand we are looking for CCTVfootage to identify the accused,”the senior police official added.
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From Page 1“My direct charge is that
the Prime Minister violatedthe oath of confidentiality.Only he could have told AnilAmbani that HAL will be outand he will strike a deal to buy36 jets and ‘you (Ambani) goand talk to Dassault Aviation(the makers of Rafale jet),”Deputy leader of Oppositionin Rajya Sabha Anand Sharmatold reporters.
The Congress has raisedthe pitch of its offensiveagainst the Modi Governmenton the Rafale deal after
Hollande claimed that theIndian government proposedReliance Defence’s name asthe offset partner for DassaultAviation.
Armed with the sensationdisclosure, Rahul has accusedthe PM of corruption andsaid: “Desh ka chowidar chorhai.”
The French Governmentsaid it was in no mannerinvolved in the choice ofIndian industrial partners forthe Rafale deal and assertedthat the French firms have thefull freedom to select Indian
companies for the contract.Sao far the Prime Minister hasnot spoken on this issue. “Wedon’t want to hear from theDefence Minister, FinanceMinister. The one who is sup-posed to speak is quiet (maunvratt). The Prime Minister hasto respond to these ques-tions,” Sharma said.
The Reliance group hasrejected charges against itmade by the Congress andsaid the government was inno way involved in securingits of fset contract withDassault Aviation.
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From Page 1The offset contract ensures
investment by the originalequipment supplier i.e.Dassault Aviation, in India, inas much as they make pur-chases from Indian compa-nies to the extent of fifty per-cent (in this case). The choiceof the offset partner under the2005 offset policy is of M/sDassault Aviation and theyhave selected several publicand private sector companies tomake the supplies.
The offset partner is select-ed entirely by the DassaultAviation, the original equip-ment manufacturer, and neitherthe French Government and northe Indian Government has anysay in the matter. It is no coin-cidence that on 30.8.2018 Rahulhad tweeted that “Globalisedcorruption. This #Rafael aircraftreally does fly far and fast! It’salso going to drop some bigbunker buster bombs in the nextcouple of weeks.”
The former French presi-dent’s first statement rhymeswith Rahul’s prediction. TheCongress Party’s official handleon 31.8.2018 had carried thetweet of one of its leader “It isevident that Anil Ambanibribed President Hollande
through his actor-partner to getthe Dassault partnership.”Forthe Congress Party to allegethat a former president hadbeen bribed by an Indian busi-ness group and then use him asa primary witness, particular-ly when he is facing criticismfor an alleged conflict of inter-est within his own country.
The former French presi-dent’s first statement that theIndian business group’s namewas proposed by Governmentof India has now been substi-tuted by him to the effect thatthe suggestion he is ‘not aware’of the Government of Indiaever lobbied for RelianceDefence. He further said the‘partners’ chose themselves(AFP Report dated 22.9.2018).
Rahul has made an absurdsuggestion that the interest ofIndian soldiers has been com-promised with. By whom?The UPA which delayed theacquisition which would haveadded to the military’s combatability or the NDA which expe-dited the same at a lower cost.
Jaitley said one RelianceGroup was a part of this dealsince 2012 and it then droppedout of defence production. Theother Reliance Group wasalready in defence. They are notpartners in the Rafale deal.They have no contract witheither Government of India orGovernment of France. Theywere not selected as one of themany offset partners by anyGovernment, he said.
From Page 1The BJP alliance partners have said they are committed to
Parrikar and not the BJP, giving a clear message that a changeof guard would not guarantee their backing to the BJPGovernment.
Parrikar, 62, was flown to the national Capital owing to hisdeclining health. He had returned from the US in the first weekof September, days after which he was admitted to a hospital atCandolim in north Goa. Earlier this year, he had undergone athree-month-long treatment in the US.
Earlier, the BJP had sent its national general secretaries BLSanthosh and Ram Lal and Goa in-charge Vijay Puranik to Panajito review the situation in the State. Shah’s comment on Sundayended speculations that the BJP might be looking at any otherleader to head the coalition Government.
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From Page 1The victim and her parents
had earlier accused police ofnot taking action and dealingwith the matter casually.
The accused live in thesame village in Rewari and theyknew the woman and her fam-ily. The victim’s family membersand a ‘Mahapanchayat’ or con-glomeration of several villages inRewari district, which was con-vened on Friday, had demand-ed early arrest of the accused.Last week, traders in Kosli town
had also observed a bandh toprotest against the gang-rape.
The victim’s mother, whiledemanding capital punishmentfor the prime accused, had ear-lier told the mediapersons thather daughter was in “acutetrauma” after the incident.
Doctors who attended onthe victim too had said she wasin “severe trauma”, though hervital health parameters weresaid to be stable. The Haryanapolice had drawn flak forallegedly not initiating promptaction after the complaint wasregistered.
After the shunting out ofRewari Superintendent ofPolice (SP) Rajesh Duggal, awoman assistant sub-inspectorhad later been suspended overalleged delay in taking action inthe gangrape case.
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From Page 1Andhra Pradesh Chief
Minister N ChandrababuNaidu, who is in the UnitedState on an official visit, con-demned the attack. In a state-ment issued through his officeNaidu said, “All democratic
forces should strongly con-demn the dastardly act.” Herecalled the servicesSarveshwara Rao and S Somahad rendered for the tribalpeople.
Leader of Opposition andYSR Congress president YSJaganmohan Reddy also con-demned the Maoist attack.
It is after a lull of severalyears that the armed Maoistshave carried out such a majorattack in Andhra Pradesh andkilled a lawmaker.
The CPI Maoists were onthe run from the erstwhile unit-
ed Andhra Pradesh since late2004 when the much- toutedpeace talks between the armedultras and the then Congressparty Government in the Statebroke down and policelaunched a massive crackdownkilling dozens of their top lead-ers and armed members in var-ious operations.
The latest incident is rem-iniscent of killing of Congressparty lawmaker Narsi Reddyand 8 others in a major attackin Narayanpet town ofMehbubnagar district onAugust 15, 2005.
Since the State was bifur-cated and Telangana wasformed the Maoists were tryingto regroup and return to theregion and resumed their activ-ities in the tribal and forestareas adjoining Odisha andChhattisgarh.
Police suspect that theMaoist attacked the MLA astheir demand to stop the baux-ite mining in the tribal areas ofVisakhapatnam were ignoredby the State Government. Thelocal tribal and the Maoistswere agitating for a long timeto stop the mining as it was
destroying the environment. Maoists had put posters in
the tribal area warning theMLA against supporting themining companies and declaredthat he was on their hit list. “Itwas a pre planned attack andsomebody had tipped off theMaoists in advance about thevisit of the MLA to the area”, apolice official said.
Rumours were rife in thetribal area for last two monthsthat the movement of Maoistshad increased and they wereplanning to carry a majorattack.
�������������:::From Page 1
All NDA Chief Ministerslaunched the scheme fromtheir respective States.
The scheme will becomeoperational from September25 on the birth anniversary ofPandit Deendayal Upadhyay,Niti Aayog member VK Paulsaid.
The ambitious schemeoffers an insurance cover of Rs5 lakh, which will cover 10crore poor families or almost50 crore persons. In hisIndependence Day speech,Modi had announced thatwhile the scheme would ini-tially cover 10 crore poor fam-ilies as per the socio-econom-ic census of 2011, it will in thecoming days also benefit thelower middleclass, middle-classand upper-middle class by wayof jobs in the medical sector asnew hospitals will open inTier-II and Tier-III cities. Thescheme can be a big game-changer for Modi as it comesabout half a year before thenext Lok Sabha elections.
The scheme is targeted atpoor, deprived rural familiesand identified occupationalcategories of urban workers’families.
So, if we were to go by theSocio-Economic Caste Census(SECC) 2011 data, 8.03 crorefamilies in rural and 2.33 crorein urban areas will be entitledto be covered under these
scheme, i.e., it will coveraround 50 crore people. Toensure that nobody is left out(especially women, childrenand the elderly), there will beno cap on the family size andage. The scheme will be cash-less and paperless at public hos-pitals and empanelled privatehospitals.
Ayushman Bharat may costthe exchequer around Rs 5,000crore this year because of thetime taken to rollout thescheme. The scheme will costRs 10,000 crore when it isrolled out across India nextyear. While this year there arelikely to be 8 crore beneficia-ries, the target is to cover 10crore by FY 20.
According to internation-al rating agency Moody’s,Ayushman Bharat is creditpositive for insurance compa-nies as it will aide in higher pre-mium growth. “The launch ofuniversal health coverage iscredit positive for the country’sinsurers because it will helpgrow health premiums andprovide insurers with cross-selling and servicing opportu-nities,” Moody’s said in a reportlast month.
The PM also laid founda-tion stone for two medical col-leges at Koderma andChaibasa, and opened 10health and wellness centres inRanchi, Bokaro andJamshedpur in the presence ofabout 1 lakh people comingfrom different parts of the
State, including large numberof ANMs and para-medicos.
Reiterating the mantra ofhis Government ‘Sabka Sath-Sabka Vikas’, the PM countedsome of the features of the pub-lic medical insurance schemewhich does not need registration of any kind to gettreatment and insurance coverand is almost universal innature.
“Ayushman Bharat is notfor people from any particularcaste, region or religion. 50crore people, more than entirepopulation of the EuropeanUnion or adding of the US,Canada and Mexico would getthis. Over 1,300 diseases havebeen covered. Not onlyGovernment but private hos-pitals have also been broughtin. Persons already affectedfrom any disease can also getfree treatment. No discrimina-tion can be done with the res-idents of other States. It showsour commitment to ‘SabkaSath-Sabka Vikas’,” said thePM predicting that the modelwould be a subject of study forthe rest of the world and econ-omists.
He further added theGovernment is working inholistic manner to improvehealthcare scenario in thecountry which was aboutimproved sanitation, qualityof drinking water, housing forall and by bringing in moremedical facilities in differentparts of the country.
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President Donald Trump ispoised to redouble
his commitment to “AmericaFirst” on the most global ofstages this week.
In the sequel to his stormyUN debut, Trump will stress hisdedication to the primacy ofUS interests while competingwith Western allies for anadvantage on trade and shininga spotlight on the threat that hesays Iran poses to the MiddleEast and beyond.
One year after Trumpstood at the rostrum of the UNGeneral Assembly and deridedNorth Korea’s Kim Jong Un as“Rocket Man,” the push todenuclearise the KoreanPeninsula is a work in progress,although fears of war havegiven way to hopes for rap-
prochement.Scores of world leaders,
even those representingAmerica’s closest friends,remain wary of Trump. In the12 months since his last visit tothe UN, the president has jolt-ed the global status quo bypulling out of the Iran nucleardeal, starting trade conflictswith China and the West andembracing Russia’s VladimirPutin even as the investigationinto the US President’s ties toMoscow moves closer to theOval Office.
Long critical of the UnitedNations, Trump delivered awarning shot ahead of hisarrival by declaring that theworld body had “not lived upto” its potential.
“It’s always been surprisingto me that more things aren’tresolved,” Trump said in a
weekend video message,“because you have all of thesecountries getting together in
one location but it doesn’t seemto get there. I think it will.”
If there is a throughline to
the still-evolving Trump doc-trine on foreign policy, it is thatthe president will not subordi-nate American interests on the world stage, whether foreconomic, military or political gain.
Nikki Haley, the USambassador to the UnitedNations, told reporters in a pre-view of Trump’s visit, that thepresident’s focus “will be verymuch on the United States,” itsrole and the relations it wantsto build.
“He is looking forward totalking about foreign policysuccesses the United States hashad over the past year andwhere we’re going to go fromhere,” she said. “He wants totalk about protecting U.S. sov-ereignty,” while building rela-tionships with nations that“share those values.”
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Gray muck is flowing intothe Cape Fear River from
the site of a dam breach at aWilmington power plant wherean old coal ash dump hadbeen covered over by Florence’sfloodwaters.
Forecasters predicted thewater will continue to risethrough the weekend at the LVSutton Power Station. DukeEnergy spokeswoman PaigeSheehan said the utility doesn’tbelieve the breach poses a sig-nificant threat of increasedflooding to nearby communities.
Sheehan said the companycan’t rule out that ash might beescaping the flooded dumpand flowing through the lakeinto the river.
Inspectors with the stateDepartment of Environmental
Quality travelled to the plant byboat on Sunday to collect waterquality samples. EnvironmentalSecretary Mike Regan said aer-ial video of the site show“potential coal ash” flowinginto the river.
“When the environment isconducive, we will put peopleon the ground to verify theamount of potential coal ashthat could have left and entered those flood waters,”Regan said.
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The Trump administrationmay deny green cards to
immigrants who have availedor may avail Government ben-efits, including food and cashassistance under new ruleswhich could negatively affecthundreds of thousands ofIndians living in the US.
The proposed rule signedby the Homeland SecuritySecretary on September 21 andposted on the website of theDepartment of HomelandSecurity (DHS) was slammedby the Silicon Valley-based techindustry and political leaders.
According to the rule, for-eign immigrants who “seekadjustment of status or a visa,or who are applicants foradmission, must establish thatthey are not likely at any timeto become a public charge”unless determined byCongress. Public charge meansreceiving Government benefits.
The latest move to crackdown on immigration comesdays after the Trump adminis-tration told a federal court thatits decision to revoke workpermits to H-4 visa users, a sig-nificant majority of whom areIndian-Americans, is expectedwithin the next three months,a move which will have a majorimpact on Indian women asthey are the major beneficiaryof the Obama-era rule.
The DHS proposes torequire all immigrants seekingan extension of stay or change
of status to demonstrate thatthey have not received, are notcurrently receiving, nor arelikely to receive publicbenefits as defined in the pro-posed rule.
“Under long-standing fed-eral law, those seeking to immi-grate to the United States mustshow they can support them-selves financially,” saidHomeland Security SecretaryKirstjen Nielsen.
“The department takesseriously its responsibility to betransparent in its rulemakingand is welcoming public com-ment on the proposed rule.“This proposed rule will imple-ment a law passed by Congressintended to promote immi-grant self-sufficiency and pro-tect finite resources by ensur-ing that they are not likely tobecome burdens on Americantaxpayers,” she said.
Expressing its oppositionto the proposed rule, FWD.US,which represents companieslike Facebook, Microsoft,Dropbox, Yahoo and Google,said it “is a backdoor” admin-istrative end-run to substan-
tially reduce legal immigrationthat, if implemented, will hurtthe entire country.
“This policy will cost theUnited States in the long run bylimiting the contributions ofhardworking immigrants whocould become legal residents,and no one is better off becauseof it,” FWD.Us president ToddSchulte said.
It would create a subjectivecriteria and overly-bureaucraticprocess when making a publiccharge determination. It is“another underhanded attemptto force cuts to legal immigra-tion, ultimately hurting ourcommunities and country,”Schulte said.
As of April, there were632,219 Indian immigrantsand their spouses and minorchildren waiting for greencards. According to USCitizenship and ImmigrationServices, in all 306,400 primaryIndian applicants are waitingfor their green cards. Clubbedwith their spouses and childrennumbering 325,819; as many as632,219 Indians in all are wait-ing for their green cards.
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Combining multiple poorquality CCTV images into
a single, computer-enhancedcomposite could improve theaccuracy of facial recognitionsystems used to identify crim-inal suspects, a study has found.
Researchers from theUniversity of New South Walesin Australia and University ofYork in the UK created a seriesof pictures using a ‘face aver-aging’ technique — a methodwhich digitally combines mul-tiple images into a singleenhanced image, removingvariants such as head angles orlighting so that only featuresthat indicate the identity of the
person remain.They compared how effec-
tively humans and computerfacial recognition systemscould identify people fromhigh quality images, pixelatedimages, and face averages.
The results showed thatboth people and computer sys-tems were better at identifyinga face when viewing an averageimage that combined multiplepixelated images, compared tothe original poor-quality images.
Computer systems bene-fited from averaging togethermultiple images that werealready high in quality, and insome cases reached 100 percent accurate face recognition.
The results have implications
for law enforcement and securi-ty agencies, where low quality,pixelated images are often theonly pictures of suspects availableto use in investigations.
The image averagingmethod offers a standardisedway of using images capturedfrom multiple CCTV camerasto create a digital snapshotwhich can be better recog-nised by both people and com-puter software systems.
“We know that not allCCTV systems have the luxu-ry of high quality cameras,meaning that face identifica-tions are often being madefrom poor quality images,” saidKay Ritchie, from the Universityof Lincoln in the UK.
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Researchers have developedan advanced sweet pepper
harvesting robot that isdesigned to operate in a singlestem row cropping system,with non-clustered fruits andlittle leaf occlusion.
The findings showed that
by using a commercially avail-able crop modified to mimicthe required conditions, therobot harvests ripe fruits in 24seconds with a success rate of62 per cent.
The robot, named“Sweeper”, picks methodicallyand accurately, said co-authorPolina Kurtser from the Ben-
Gurion University of the Negevin Beersheba, Israel.
“When it is fully developed,it will enable harvesting 24/7,drastically reduce spoilage, cutlabour costs and shield farmersfrom market fluctuations,”Kurtser added.
Based upon these latestresults, the “Sweeper” consor-tium expects that a commercialsweet pepper harvesting robotwill be available within four tofive years, and that the tech-nology could be adapted forharvesting other crops, theresearchers said.
The robot was introducedlast week at the ResearchStation for Vegetable
Production at St. KatelijneWaver in Belgium.
Robotic harvesting willrevolutionise the economicsof the agriculture industry anddramatically reduce food waste,the researchers said.
The team spearheadedefforts to improve the robot’sability to detect ripe produceusing computer vision, andhas played a role in defining thespecifications of the robot’shardware and software inter-faces, focusing on supervisorycontrol activities. The teamsays that additional research isneeded to increase the robot’swork speed to reach a higherharvest success rate.
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Iran’s President on Sundayaccused an unnamed US-
allied country in the Persian Gulfof being behind a terror attackon a military parade that killed25 people and wounded 60, fur-ther raising regional tensions.
Hassan Rouhani’s com-ments came as Iran’s ForeignMinistry also summonedWestern diplomats over themallegedly providing havens forthe Arab separatists whoclaimed Saturday’s attacks inthe southwestern city of Ahvaz.
The Iranian moves, as wellas promises of revenge by Iran’selite Revolutionary Guard,come as the country alreadyfaces turmoil in the wake of the
American withdraw fromTehran’s nuclear deal withworld powers. The attack inAhvaz, which saw women andchildren flee with uniformedsoldiers bloodied, has furthershaken the country.
Rouhani’s remarks couldrefer to Saudi Arabia, theUnited Arab Emirates orBahrain — close U.S. militaryallies that view Iran as a region-al menace over its support formilitant groups across theMiddle East.
“All of those small merce-nary countries that we see inthis region are backed byAmerica. It is Americans whoinstigate them and providethem with necessary means tocommit these crimes,” Rouhani
said before leaving for the UNGeneral Assembly in New York.
Iran meanwhile sum-moned diplomats from Britain,Denmark and the Netherlandsearly Sunday for allegedly har-boring “members of the ter-rorist group” that launched theattack. Danish Foreign MinisterAnders Samuelsen condemnedthe attack and stressed that
there would be “consequences”if it turns out that those respon-
sible have connections toDenmark.
The ministry later sum-moned the UAE’s envoy aswell over what it called the“irresponsible and insultingstatements” of an Emirati advis-er, according to the semi-offi-cial ISNA news agency. TheUAE did not immediatelyacknowledge the summons.
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Plans to hold a high-stakeshearing next week with tes-
timony from Supreme Courtnominee Brett Kavanaugh’saccuser, Christine Blasey Ford,teetered with uncertainty onSunday as a Senate panelscrambled to resolve potentiallymake-or-break details, such aspotential witnesses who couldcorroborate her decades-oldsexual assault claim.
Sen Lindsey Graham, aRepublican on the SenateJudiciary Committee, saidlawyers for Ford are contestingtwo GOP conditions of the pro-posed 10 am on Thursdayhearing — that Ford and
Kavanaugh will be the only wit-nesses and that an independentcounsel will ask the questions.
“If they continue to contestthose two things, there won’t bea hearing,” Graham said.
“We’re not going to let herdetermine how many peoplewe call” and on outside coun-sel. “I hope she comes.”
A final accord could bringa close days of brinkmanshipthat have roiled Washingtonahead of midterm electionsand threatened to jeopardiseKavanaugh’s confirmation to the court, even as someRepublicans say the additional hearings may dolittle to change their support for him.
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Voting was extended in theMaldives presidential elec-
tion on Sunday amid technicalglitches, after police raided theOpposition’s campaign head-quarters, fuelling fears of rig-ging in favour of China-friend-ly incumbent PresidentAbdulla Yameen.
The Elections Commissionsaid balloting was extended bythree hours until 7pm (localtime) because of technicalglitches with tablet computerscontaining electoral rolls, andofficials had to use manual sys-tems to verify voters.
Many voters said theystood in line for over fivehours to vote in many parts ofthe Indian Ocean archipelago,as well as in neighbouring SriLanka and India where expa-
triate Maldivians voted.“Eight hours & counting.
Waiting to exercise my demo-cratic right! Let’s do this, InshaAllah!,” former foreign minis-ter Dunya Maumoon said onTwitter. Maumoon, who is alsothe estranged neice of Yameenand daughter of formerPresident Maumoon Abdul
Gayoom, voted at a pollingbooth in the Maldivianembassy in Colombo.
Yameen, who is expectedto retain power, has imprisonedor forced into exile almost allhis main rivals in a crackdown.Critics say he is returning thehoneymoon island nation toauthoritarian rule.
Moscow: The Russian DefenceMinistry on Sunday againblamed Israel for the downingof a Russian plane by SyrianGovernment forces and saidIsrael appeared “ungrateful”for Moscow’s efforts to rein inIran-backed fighters in Syria.
Syrian Government forcesmistook the Russian Il-20reconnaissance plane for anIsraeli jet and shot it down onMonday, killing all 15 peopleaboard. While the Russianmilitary initially blamed theplane’s loss on Israel, PresidentVladimir Putin later attrib-uted it to “a chain of tragic, fatalcircumstances.” The RussianDefense Ministry on Sundaypresented its latest findings onthe Il-20’s downing, laying theblame squarely on Israel.
“We believe that the Israeli
Air Force and those who weremaking decisions about theseactions are fully to blame forthe tragedy that happened tothe Russian Il-20 plane,” MajGen Igor Konashenkov said ina statement.
For several years, Israeland Russia have maintained aspecial hotline to prevent theirair forces from clashing in theskies over Syria. Russia has pro-vided key air support toPresident Bashar Assad’s forcessince 2015, while Israel has car-ried out dozens of strikesagainst Iran-linked forces.Israeli military officials havepreviously praised the hotline’seffectiveness.
But Konashenkov onSunday accused Israel of usingthe hotline to mislead Russiaabout its plans. AP
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Dubai: On the same day Arabseparatists killed at least 25people in an attack targeting amilitary parade in southwest-ern Iran, President DonaldTrump’s lawyer mounted astage in New York to declarethat the Government would betoppled.
“I don’t know when we’regoing to overthrow them. Itcould be in a few days, monthsor a couple of years, but it’sgoing to happen,” former NewYork Mayor Rudy Giuliani saidSaturday. “They are going to beoverthrown. The people of Iranobviously have had enough.”
For Iran’s Shiite theocracy,comments like these only fuelfears that America and its GulfArab allies are plotting to tearthe Islamic Republic apart.
Those threats so far haven’t
led to a military confrontationor violence, but the risk is rising.
“Undoubtedly the IslamicRepublic of Iran will not ignorethis crime. It is absolutely clearfor us who did that, whatgroup they are and with whomthey are affiliated,” IranianPresident Hassan Rouhaniwarned before leaving for NewYork for the United NationsGeneral Assembly.
“All of those small merce-nary countries that we see inthis region are backed byAmerica. It is Americans whoinstigate them and providethem with necessary means tocommit these crimes.”
Rouhani is a relative mod-erate who was elected twice onpromises to improve relationswith West, and who signed the2015 nuclear agreement.” AP
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New York: The United Stateson Sunday condemned thedeadly attack on a militaryparade in Iran but said thecountry’s clerical rulers need-ed to look at reasons for unrest.
“The United States con-demns any terrorist attackanywhere, period. We’vealways stood by that,” NikkiHaley, the US ambassador to
the United Nations, told CNN.But she said of Iranian
President Hassan Rouhani:“He has oppressed his peoplefor a long time.” “He needs tolook at his own base to figureout where that’s coming from.I think the Iranian peoplehave had enough and that’swhere all of this is comingfrom.”
At least 29 people werekilled when suspected Arabseparatists in southwesternIran opened fire Saturday ona parade commemorating thestart of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.
Iran pinned the blame onan unnamed US-backed Gulfstate for allegedly supportingthe militants.
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Geneva: A second Swiss cantonwill introduce a regional “burqaban”, after voters in St Gallen onSunday emphatically backedprohibiting all face-coveringgarments in public spaces.
At the same time, votersacross Switzerland resound-ingly rejected initiatives aimedat boosting local farming andpromoting more ethical andenvironmental standards infood production, amid fears ofcost hikes and reduced con-sumer choice.
In the northeastern cantonof St Gallen, nearly 67 per centof voters came out in favour ofintroducing the implicit “burqaban”, according to officialresults, which showed turnoutwas 36 per cent.
That paves the way for thecanton to follow the example ofthe southern region of Ticino,
where a law was introducedtwo years ago that appeared to beaimed at burqas and otherMuslim veils. Three other can-tons — Zurich, Solothurn andGlarus — have rejected intro-ducing such bans in recent years.
A text stipulating that “anyperson who renders them-selves unrecognisable by cov-ering their face in a publicspace, and thus endangers pub-lic security or social and reli-gious peace will be fined” wasadopted by lawmakers in StGallen late last year.
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n, a
Repu
blica
n, an
d Alce
e Has
tings
,a D
emoc
rat, m
akes
it ill
egal
to kn
owin
gly sl
augh
-te
r, tra
nspo
rt, p
osse
ss, b
uy, s
ell or
don
ate d
ogs o
rca
ts or
their
par
ts fo
r hum
an co
nsum
ptio
n.Co
ngre
ss wo
man
Clau
dia T
enne
y said
, “D
ogs
and c
ats a
re m
eant
for c
ompa
nion
ship
and r
ecre
-at
ion.
Tra
gica
lly, m
ore t
han
10 m
illio
n do
gs a
reki
lled
for
hum
an c
onsu
mpt
ion
ever
y ye
ar i
nCh
ina.”
Mea
nwhi
le, T
aiwan
last
year
bec
ame t
hefir
st As
ian co
untry
to p
ass s
uch
a law
.Sr
i Lan
ka is
the f
irst c
ount
ry in
Sout
h Asia
that
bann
ed th
e sale
of ca
ttle f
or m
eat, f
ollo
wing
a leg
-isl
ative
mea
sure
. Thi
s ban
unite
d the
two m
ain et
h-ni
c gro
ups o
n th
e isla
nd, T
amils
and S
inha
lese.
InIn
dia,
ther
e is l
egisl
atio
n ag
ainst
cow
slaug
hter
inalm
ost a
ll St
ates e
xcep
t Ker
ala, W
est B
enga
l and
certa
in p
arts
of th
e Nor
th-E
ast.
Thes
e dev
elopm
ents
are o
bvio
usly
resu
lt of
alo
ng ev
olutio
nary
proc
ess e
xper
ience
d by h
uman
-ity
ove
r tho
usan
ds o
f yea
rs. B
y mid
-firs
t mill
en-
nium
, al
l th
ree
maj
or I
ndia
n re
ligio
ns —
Budd
hism
, Hin
duism
and
Jain
ism —
pro
paga
t-ed
non
-vio
lence
as an
ethi
cal v
alue,
and s
ometh
ing
that
impa
cted
one
’s reb
irth.
By ab
out 1
000 C
E, ve
geta
riani
sm, a
long
with
a ta
boo
agai
nst b
eef,
beca
me
a we
ll ac
cept
edm
ains
tream
Hin
du tr
aditi
on. G
od K
rishn
a and
his Y
adav
kin
smen
and
Hin
dus i
n ge
nera
l, ar
eas
socia
ted
with
cows
, add
ing t
o its
ende
arm
ent.
Ani
mal
sac
rifice
s ha
ve b
een
rare
am
ong
the
Hin
dus
outsi
de a
few
eas
tern
Sta
tes.
To t
hem
ajorit
y of m
oder
n In
dian
s, re
spec
t for
cattl
e and
disr
espe
ct fo
r slau
ghte
r is a
par
t of t
heir
etho
san
d th
ere i
s no
ahim
sa w
ithou
t ren
uncia
tion
ofm
eat c
onsu
mpt
ion.
Abh
orre
nce f
or th
e mea
t of
the b
ount
eous
cow
as fo
od w
as re
gard
ed as
the
first
step
to to
tal v
eget
aria
nism
.Th
e re
vere
nce
for c
ow w
as o
ne o
f the
rea-
sons
for t
he fi
rst I
ndia
n wa
r of i
ndep
ende
nce o
f18
57 a
gain
st th
e Br
itish
Eas
t Ind
ia C
ompa
ny.
Hin
du a
nd M
uslim
sepo
ys in
the
arm
y of
the
Com
pany
beli
eved
that
thei
r pap
er c
artri
dges
,w
hich
held
a m
easu
red
amou
nt o
f gun
powd
er,
were
gre
ased
with
cow
and
pig
fat.
Load
ing
the g
un b
y so
ldier
s req
uire
d bi
ting
off t
he en
d of
the p
aper
cartr
idge
. Mus
lims a
ndH
indu
s stro
ngly
felt t
hat t
hrou
gh th
e use
of th
ese
cont
rove
rsial
cartr
idge
s, th
e Brit
ish w
ere c
onsp
ir-in
g to
oblit
erate
their
relig
ious
iden
tity.
A vi
olen
tre
volt
by se
poys
follo
wed,
term
ed as
the f
irst w
arof
inde
pend
ence
by I
ndian
s aga
inst
the B
ritish
.W
hen
did
the p
ract
ice of
slau
ghte
ring c
ows
for
food
sta
rt in
Indi
a? T
ill th
e ar
rival
of t
heEu
rope
ans,
first
as tr
ader
s and
late
r as c
olon
ial
powe
r, co
w w
as se
ldom
kille
d fo
r foo
d in
Indi
a,in
spite
of M
uslim
s rul
ing l
arge
par
ts of
the c
oun-
try.
Reas
ons a
re n
ot fa
r to
seek
.Isl
am w
as b
orn
in th
e des
erts
of A
rabi
a and
it ha
d no
cows
. Obv
ious
ly, th
e Ara
bs, w
ho fo
ught
relen
tless
war
s aga
inst
‘non
-beli
ever
s’ ac
ross
the
world
(inc
ludi
ng In
dia)
had
no
tradi
tion
of ea
t-in
g co
w. S
o th
e ha
rbin
gers
of I
slam
from
the
dese
rt to
Indi
a thr
ough
repe
ated
inva
sions
, larg
e-ly
left
the v
ener
able
cow
alon
e.
Afte
r the
Islam
ic ru
le wa
s sta
bilis
ed in
Indi
a,th
e rul
ers r
ealis
ed th
e im
porta
nce o
f cow
in th
eso
cial a
nd re
ligio
us lif
e of t
he lo
cal p
opul
ace.
Cow
slaug
hter
was
an av
oida
ble i
rrita
nt to
their
rule.
So m
any
of th
em (w
ith fe
w ex
cept
ions
such
as
bigo
ts lik
e Au
rang
zeb)
mad
e co
w s
laugh
ter
apu
nish
able
offe
nce
in th
eir r
egim
e. A
fter
the
over
thro
w of
the C
ompa
ny ru
le in
Delh
i in 18
57,
an ag
ed B
ahad
ur Sh
ah Z
afar
was
rein
stalle
d as
the
King
Em
pero
r of
Ind
ia. A
rev
olut
iona
ryco
unci
l was
cons
titut
ed to
assis
t and
advi
se th
eoc
toge
naria
n bl
ind
Empe
ror.
The v
ery f
irst ‘f
ir-m
an‘ s
igne
d by
Zaf
ar a
t th
e in
stanc
e of
the
Coun
cil, w
as to
dec
lare h
urtin
g or
kill
ing,
cow
or it
s pro
geny
, a ca
pita
l offe
nce.
With
in fe
w m
onth
s, the
Brit
ish re
gain
ed D
elhi.
Thou
gh th
e 185
7 rev
olut
ion
faile
d, it
had
left
the
Briti
sh b
adly
shak
en. B
ut th
ey w
ere q
uick
lear
n-er
s. To
cons
olid
ate th
eir ru
le, th
e col
onial
mas
ters
starte
d wo
rkin
g on
the f
ault
lines
of I
ndian
soci-
ety u
nder
their
pol
icy o
f ‘div
ide a
nd ru
le’.Fo
r Eur
opea
ns, i
nclu
ding
the
Briti
sh, b
eef
was
a de
licac
y and
a pr
efer
red
choi
ce fo
r ta
ble.
Whi
le it
was n
ot ea
sy to
get a
Hin
du su
pplie
r for
beef
, a M
uslim
had
no
com
punc
tion
in d
oing
so. T
he co
loni
al po
wer e
ncou
rage
d M
uslim
s to
slaug
hter
cows
with
the t
win
objec
tive o
f get
ting
their
pre
ferr
ed f
ood
and
furth
erin
g a
divi
debe
twee
n H
indu
s and
Mus
lims w
ho h
ad sh
ared
large
ly a h
ostil
e rela
tions
hip
betw
een
them
selve
s,sp
anni
ng o
ver s
ix ce
ntur
ies.
It is
agai
nst
this
back
grou
nd t
hat
the
Dire
ctiv
e Prin
cipal
s of t
he In
dian
Con
stitu
tion
call
upon
the s
tate
to ta
ke a
ll m
easu
res t
o pr
o-m
ote a
nd pr
otec
t cow
and
its pr
ogen
y. Es
sent
ially,
thro
ugh,
thi
s di
rect
ive,
the
Cons
titut
ion
isse
ekin
g to
reco
gnise
and
resp
ect t
he u
niqu
e sta
-tu
s cow
enj
oys i
n th
e In
dian
psy
che,
tradi
tion
and
cultu
re. T
he U
S ha
s gon
e ahe
ad an
d ta
ken
mea
sure
s to
resp
ect i
ts cu
lture
, not
onl
y with
inits
ow
n co
nfin
es, b
ut b
eyon
d as
well
. The
re ar
eno
rep
orts
of ‘v
otar
ies o
f fre
edom
’ tak
ing
tostr
eets
agai
nst t
his m
ove t
o as
sert
their
‘rig
ht o
fch
oice
of f
ood‘
from
anyw
here
.N
one h
as so
far k
illed
a ca
t or d
og p
ublic
lyan
ywhe
re in
the
world
to p
rote
st ag
ains
t thi
s“il
liber
al“ m
ove o
n th
e par
t of t
he U
S, th
e way
som
e Con
gres
smen
in In
dia h
ad d
one o
n M
ay27
, 201
7. Th
ey h
ad sl
augh
tered
a ca
lf on
the r
oad-
side i
n Ke
rala,
cook
ed an
d se
rved
it ag
ains
t the
Mod
i Gov
ernm
ent’s
dec
ision
to ba
n sa
le an
d pu
r-ch
ase o
f cat
tle fr
om an
imal
mar
kets
for s
laugh
-te
r, w
hich
was
late
r ro
lled
back
. Why
non
e is
com
ing
forw
ard
in I
ndia
or
the
US
to a
sser
thi
s/he
r ‘ch
oice
of f
ood’
a la
Ker
ala
in th
e wak
eof
the A
mer
ican
mov
e to b
an D
og an
d ca
t mea
t?Th
e rea
son
is sim
ple.
Thos
e who
oppo
se b
an on
cow
slaug
hter
, do
so n
ot to
uph
old
som
ethi
ngof
gre
at v
alue,
but t
o sh
ow th
eir c
onte
mpt
for
Indi
an et
hos,
spite
its t
radi
tions
, and
to h
umil-
iate
Hin
dus a
nd p
erpe
tuat
e th
e di
visiv
e m
ind-
set o
f the
Brit
ish.
(The
writ
er is
a p
olitic
al co
mm
enta
tor a
nd a
form
er B
JP R
ajya
Sabh
a M
P)
����
���
��
���
��
���
�Si
r —
Thi
s re
fers
to
the
edito
rial,
“Rig
ht
note
” (S
epte
mbe
r 21
).A
lthou
gh th
e Ras
htriy
a Sw
ayam
seva
kSa
ngh
(RSS
) has
bee
n in
exist
ence
for
93 y
ears
, it h
as b
een
wor
king
sile
nt-
ly to
pur
sue i
ts o
rigin
al m
issio
n to
get
the m
ajor
itaria
n H
indu
soci
ety
rid o
fm
ajor e
vils
of u
ntou
chab
ility,
caste
ism,
disu
nity
, ind
iscip
line,
lack
of
mor
alva
lues
and
pat
riot
ism.
How
ever
, it
s ps
eudo
-sec
ular
oppo
nent
s and
com
mun
ists,
pain
ted
it in
wor
st c
olou
rs o
f com
mun
alism
,bi
gotr
y an
d an
ti-M
uslim
tend
enci
es.
The e
dito
rial h
as ri
ghtly
appl
aud-
ed B
hagw
at’s
“mes
sage
of m
oder
atio
n”an
d “s
ucce
ssfu
l out
reac
h” th
at in
clud-
ed co
ndem
natio
n of
cow
vig
ilant
ism,
supp
ort
for
inte
r-ca
ste
mar
riag
es,
acce
ptan
ce o
f SC
/ST
quot
as i
n th
eC
onst
itut
ion
and
Mus
lims
and
Chr
istia
ns a
s an
esse
ntia
l par
t of t
heIn
dian
soci
ety.
“The
day
it is
sai
d th
at M
uslim
sar
e un
wan
ted
here
, th
e co
ncep
t of
Hin
dutv
a will
ceas
e to
exist
”, th
e RSS
chie
f ass
erte
d in
his
mai
den
spee
ch at
New
Del
hi’s
Vigy
an B
haw
an. H
e pro
-je
cted
a co
ntem
pora
ry a
nd ‘a
dapt
ive’
imag
e of
Hin
duis
m,
a Sa
nata
n
Dha
rma,
not
a r
elig
ious
faith
, goi
ngba
ck th
ousa
nds o
f yea
rs —
the e
ra o
fep
ics a
nd U
pani
shad
s.M
Rat
anVi
a m
ail
���
� ��
���
���
����
�Si
r — T
his r
efer
s to
the r
epor
t, “I
ndia
call
s of
f ta
lks
wit
h Pa
kist
an”
(Sep
tem
ber
22).
T
he
Indi
anG
over
nmen
t has
no
cons
isten
cy in
its
Paki
stan
polic
y. Ti
me a
nd ag
ain
it re
it-er
ates
that
terr
or a
nd ta
lk c
anno
t go
toge
ther
but
eve
ry ti
me i
t bac
ktra
cks
from
its s
tand
by
talk
ing
to P
akist
ani
offic
ials
on fo
reig
n la
nds.
New
Del
hi h
as c
alle
d of
f th
ebi
late
ral
mee
ting
, sc
hedu
led
onPa
kist
an’s
requ
est,
betw
een
Indi
anFo
reig
n M
inist
er S
ushm
a Sw
araj
and
Paki
stan
For
eign
Min
iste
r Sh
ahM
ahm
ood
Qur
eshi
in N
ew Y
ork
onth
e sid
eline
s of U
N G
ener
al A
ssem
bly,
follo
win
g th
e la
test
bru
tal k
illin
gs o
fIn
dian
sec
urity
per
sonn
el in
Jam
mu
& K
ashm
ir a
nd t
he r
elea
se o
f a
post
age s
tam
p gl
orify
ing
slain
terr
or-
ist B
urha
n W
ani.
But
why
did
the
Gov
ernm
ent
agre
e fo
r a
mee
ting
at a
ll? W
hat
chan
ged
in t
he g
roun
d sit
uatio
n in
Jam
mu
& K
ashm
ir? T
he fa
ct is
that
Imra
n K
han
beca
me
the
Prim
eM
inist
er o
f Pak
istan
due
to th
e m
ili-
tary
’s ba
ckin
g.
The A
rmy-
terr
orist
nex
us, w
hich
is th
e vi
llain
of I
ndia
-Pak
istan
pea
cepr
oces
s, no
w r
ules
the
roo
st.
All
vota
ries
of ta
lks
with
Pak
istan
mus
tac
cept
tha
t pe
ace
with
Pak
ista
nre
mai
ns a
wish
ful t
hink
ing
till t
here
is a r
uler
whi
ch w
ould
rein
the A
rmy
and
wip
e ou
t ter
roris
ts.
MC
Josh
iLu
ckno
w
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������������ ��������
Mod
i neg
otiate
d the
Rafa
le de
al. Th
anks
toHo
lland
e, we
now
know
how
the bi
llion d
ollar
deal
was d
elive
red t
o a ba
nkru
pt co
mpan
y. —
Cong
ress
pres
ident
RAHU
L GAN
DHI
After
the c
atego
ric st
ateme
nts of
Das
sault
and
Fren
ch G
over
nmen
t, the
lies o
f Rah
ul Ga
ndhi
and C
ongr
ess l
eade
rs ha
ve be
en na
iled.
—Un
ion M
iniste
rPR
AKAS
H JA
VADE
KAR
������ #�4����
Lily R
ay i
s ar
guab
ly t
hem
ost s
ucce
ssfu
l and
cel
-eb
rate
d co
ntem
pora
ryw
riter
of
Mai
thili
lan
-gu
age.
Lik
e th
e ve
tera
nH
indi
aut
hor,
Phan
ishw
ar N
ath
‘Ren
u’, s
he i
s an
exc
eptio
nally
gifte
d sh
ort-s
tory
writ
er an
d no
v-eli
st pa
r exc
ellen
ce. R
enu’s
mas
ter-
piec
e, M
aila
Aan
chal
, a
Hin
dino
vel n
arra
ting
the
early
yea
rs o
fpo
st-in
depe
nden
t Ind
ia to
ok th
een
tire H
indi
wor
ld b
y sto
rm in
the
imm
edia
te af
term
ath
of it
s pub
li-ca
tion
in 1
954.
Si
mila
rly, R
ay’s
mag
num
opus
,M
arich
ika,
a M
aith
ili n
ovel
abou
tth
e gro
win
g di
sapp
oint
men
t with
and
grad
ual d
isint
egra
tion
of th
eon
ce re
inin
g fe
udal
min
dset
, gen
-er
ated
a gr
eat d
eal o
f eup
horia
and
jubi
latio
n in
the
Mai
thili
lite
rary
univ
erse
whe
n it
was
pub
lishe
d by
Mai
thili
Aca
dem
y in
198
1. I
tm
oved
edu
cate
d M
aith
ils e
nor-
mou
sly a
nd w
ent o
n to
fetc
h th
eSa
hity
a A
cade
my
Awar
d th
e ve
ryne
xt ye
ar in
198
2. It
was
one
of t
hem
ost
mov
ing
mom
ents
for
Mai
thili
lite
ratu
re si
nce a
wom
anw
riter
was
cho
sen
for t
his p
rest
i-gi
ous a
war
d fo
r the
firs
t tim
e.In
itial
ly w
ritin
g w
ith a
pse
u-do
nym
Kal
pana
Sar
an, s
he ro
se to
inst
ant
fam
e w
ith h
er f
amou
ssh
ort s
tory
calle
d Ra
ngee
n Pa
rda.
It is
rem
arka
bly r
adic
al in
term
s of
its e
ngag
emen
t with
the
hith
erto
unta
lked
abo
ut e
mot
iona
lly in
ti-m
ate r
elatio
nshi
ps b
etwe
en p
eopl
ew
ho w
ere
attr
acte
d to
war
ds e
ach
othe
r but
regr
essiv
e soc
ial c
ircum
-st
ance
s pla
ced
them
und
er ce
rtai
nco
nditi
ons w
here
phy
sical
intim
a-cy
was
abs
olut
ely
forb
idde
n.
It ex
plic
itly h
ighl
ight
s the
sor-
row
and
suffe
ring
of w
omen
whi
leex
posi
ng t
he i
nsen
sitiv
e, i
rre-
spon
sible
and
friv
olou
s nat
ure
ofth
e mal
e fig
ure.
It tu
rned
out
to b
equ
ite p
rovo
cativ
e and
rath
er co
n-tr
over
sial.
Man
y pe
ople
of
the
regi
on w
ere
extr
emel
y of
fend
ed.
But l
itera
ry co
nnoi
sseu
rs ap
prec
i-at
ed t
he a
utho
r fo
r he
r co
urag
ean
d co
nvic
tion
to d
epic
t the
seem
-in
gly
exist
ing
real
ities
in a
hig
hly
pers
uasiv
e m
anne
r.Li
ly R
ay i
s a
prol
ific
writ
er.
Apar
t fro
m n
umer
ous
shor
t-st
o-rie
s spr
ead
over
two
diffe
rent
col-
lect
ions
, she
has
writ
ten
four
nov
-el
s —
Pat
aksh
ep,
Mar
ichi
ka,
Ups
anha
r an
d Jij
ivik
ha. H
er fi
rst
nove
l cen
tred
aro
und
the
idea
of
a bl
oody
rev
olut
ion
alon
g th
elin
es o
f Nax
alba
ri m
ovem
ent i
n a
spec
ific
villa
ge c
alle
d Tu
lsipu
r of
Purn
iya d
istric
t. Ev
en af
ter a
ttain
-in
g in
depe
nden
ce, e
quita
ble l
and
dist
ribut
ion
rem
aine
d a
dist
ant
real
ity a
nd e
xplo
itatio
n of
the
land
less
vill
ager
s a
norm
rat
her
than
an
exce
ptio
n.
Such
soci
etal
disp
ariti
es w
ere
ofte
n sa
id to
be r
espo
nsib
le fo
r the
emer
genc
e of
nax
alite
lea
ders
,lik
e Sh
ivna
raya
n, w
ho h
elpe
dsp
read
aw
aren
ess
amon
g th
e vi
l-la
gers
abo
ut th
e co
ncep
t of c
lass
strug
gle,
neve
r fai
led
to em
phas
iseth
e ne
ed f
or v
iole
nt r
evol
utio
nw
hich
supp
osed
ly le
ad to
the v
ic-
tory
of t
he p
eopl
e fro
m th
e per
iph-
ery a
nd su
bseq
uent
esta
blish
men
tof
the
rule
of t
he sa
rvah
ara.
Yo
ung
enth
usia
stic
inte
llect
u-al
s lik
e A
nil,
Dili
p an
d Su
jeet
go
and
help
Shi
vnar
ayan
and
met
ic-
ulou
sly p
lan
for
a re
volu
tion.
How
ever
, cer
tain
irre
para
ble g
aps
and
fissu
res i
n th
e or
gani
satio
nal
struc
ture
s and
ideo
logi
cal i
mpr
ints
led
to th
e sud
den
extin
ctio
n of
the
plan
ned
revo
lutio
n. T
he n
ovel
istis
artis
ticall
y exq
uisit
e but
in a
sub-
tle a
nd s
urre
ptiti
ous
way
sug
-ge
sts t
he in
here
nt c
ontr
adic
tions
in th
e ver
y id
ea o
f vio
lent
revo
lu-
tion
and
its ef
ficac
y in
pav
ing
the
way
for
an e
galit
aria
n so
cial
sys-
tem
in ru
ral I
ndia
.Fr
om l
itera
ry p
oint
of
view
,th
is no
vel m
anife
sts
trem
endo
uspo
tent
ial o
f a p
rom
ising
nov
elist
who
goe
s on
to
show
case
her
extr
aord
inar
ily o
utst
andi
ng a
bil-
ity t
o co
nstr
uct
a cl
assic
cal
led
Mar
ichik
a. S
trik
ing
a fin
e bal
ance
betw
een
craf
t and
con
tent
of t
heno
vel,
we
are
ente
rtai
ning
ly to
ldab
out t
he g
radu
al d
ecad
ence
of a
nap
pare
ntly
str
ong
and
pow
erfu
lso
cio-
polit
ical
ord
er w
hich
is
ofte
n ca
lled
feud
al sy
stem
. Th
roug
h m
ulti-
laye
red
narr
a-tiv
es g
ivin
g di
stin
ctly
diff
eren
tvo
ices
to th
ree
succ
essiv
e ge
ner-
atio
ns o
f peo
ple
and
thei
r cha
ng-
ing
pers
pect
ives
on
life a
nd ti
mes
they
live
in, t
he n
ovel
ist n
ot o
nly
succ
essf
ully
expo
ses t
he fu
tility
of
seve
ral w
orld
ly m
achi
natio
ns an
dsh
rew
d m
aneu
veri
ng,
but
also
effe
ctiv
ely
enga
ges w
ith c
ompl
exre
latio
nshi
ps b
etw
een
resi
dual
feud
al p
ract
ices
and
em
erge
nt
mod
ern
tend
enci
es in
an
artis
ti-ca
lly s
atisf
ying
man
ner
so a
s to
fore
grou
nd th
e ine
vita
ble s
ense
of
disa
ppoi
ntm
ent a
nd d
ispon
denc
y. H
er s
kilfu
ll an
d en
tert
aini
ngen
gage
men
t ac
tual
ly d
efin
es t
hew
ays i
n w
hich
the n
uanc
ed so
cio-
polit
ical
and
cultu
ral h
istor
y of t
here
gion
cal
led
Mith
ila h
as b
een
won
derf
ully
writ
ten
with
a p
ro-
foun
d po
stco
loni
al p
ersp
ectiv
e.A
n em
inen
t, bi
lingu
al l
itera
rycr
itic,
Har
ish T
rived
i, ha
s so
suc-
cinc
tly e
xpla
ined
the
rat
iona
lebe
hind
his
cla
im t
o re
ad a
ndin
terp
ret P
hani
shw
ar N
ath
Renu
as a
true
pos
tcol
onia
l nov
elist
for
his
telli
ng d
epic
tion
of th
eme
ofdi
sillu
sionm
ent i
n M
aila
Aan
chal
. It
is im
port
ant t
o m
entio
n th
atM
aith
ili n
ovel
Mar
ichik
a is
alm
ost
equa
lly te
lling
and
effe
ctiv
e in
its
repr
esen
tatio
n of
the
dom
inan
tm
ood
of
dise
ncha
ntm
ent.
Inte
rest
ingl
y, th
e w
riter
s of
bot
hth
ese
nove
ls co
me
from
sim
ilar
cultu
ral
and
lingu
isti
c ba
ck-
grou
nds.
Such
com
mon
cul
tura
l-ly
ri
ch
back
drop
s pe
rhap
s
equi
pped
and
enab
led th
em in
sig-
nific
ant w
ays w
ith a
pred
omin
ant
post
colo
nial
voi
ce t
o co
ntrib
ute
mea
ning
fully
to
Hin
di a
ndM
aith
ili li
tera
ture
s res
pect
ivel
y. M
aith
il po
etry
has
bee
n qu
iteno
tew
orth
y rig
ht fr
om th
e day
s of
Vidy
apat
i, w
ho w
rote
exhi
lara
ting
love
song
s of R
adha
and
Kris
hna
durin
g the
late
14t
h an
d ea
rly 1
5th
cent
urie
s. Bu
t no
vel
writ
ing
inM
aith
ili b
egan
rat
her
late
. Bot
hBa
ngla
and
Hin
di w
riter
s ha
dal
read
y pr
oduc
ed t
errib
ly g
ood
nove
ls be
fore
Mai
thil
nove
ls be
gan
to d
omin
ate
the
liter
ary
horiz
on.
Kany
adan
by
Har
imoh
an Jh
aw
as t
he f
irst
maj
or n
ovel
whi
chca
ught
the a
ttent
ion
of al
mos
t the
entir
e Mai
thil
com
mun
ity. P
eopl
efro
m d
iver
se w
alks
of l
ife b
egan
tore
ad n
ovel
s. H
e ch
ampi
oned
the
caus
e of
fem
ale
educ
atio
n in
this
path
bre
akin
g no
vel a
nd r
eade
rsse
emed
to a
ppro
ve th
e id
ea.
The k
ind
of tr
ajec
torie
s whi
chth
e ge
nre
of n
ovel
in M
aith
ili h
asch
arte
d, f
or i
nsta
nce,
from
the
days
of
the
first
maj
or n
ovel
ist,
Har
imoh
an Jh
a th
roug
h th
ose
ofB
aidy
a N
ath
Mis
hra
Yatr
i,Ra
jkam
al C
haud
hary
, Je
evka
nt,
Lalit
to L
ily R
ay m
arks
its m
odes
tbe
ginn
ing b
ut p
heno
men
al gr
owth
grad
ually
. Its
spec
tacu
lar ev
olut
ion
exhi
bits
the
res
pect
ive
nove
lists’
prim
ary p
reoc
cupa
tions
with
mis-
ery a
nd m
isfor
tune
of w
omen
, and
the p
light
of p
easa
nts f
ollo
wed
by
natio
nalis
t up
surg
e of
cer
tain
idea
ls an
d as
pira
tions
whi
ch w
ere,
how
ever
, acc
ompa
nied
by
a de
epse
nse o
f disi
llusio
nmen
t with
thes
eid
eals
and
aspi
ratio
ns.
Lily
Ray
has
alw
ays
stay
eden
tirel
y aw
ay fr
om p
etty
pol
itick
-in
g an
d no
t so
petty
net
wor
king
whi
ch i
s so
ent
renc
hed
in a
llki
nds o
f lite
rary
sphe
res.
And
she
has
done
won
ders
ove
r th
ede
cade
s. H
er li
tera
ry g
ems c
ast a
mag
ical
spe
ll ov
er t
he r
eade
rsw
ho g
et s
o ch
arm
ed a
nd in
deed
over
whe
lmed
with
her
enc
hant
i-ng
shor
t-sh
ort s
torie
s and
nov
els.
She h
as al
read
y re
ceiv
ed b
oth
the
Sahi
tya
Aca
dem
y Aw
ard
and
Prab
obh
Sahi
tya
Sam
man
for h
ertr
emen
dous
con
trib
utio
n to
the
grow
th o
f M
aith
ili n
ovel
s an
dsh
ort-
stor
ies.
And
ther
e is a
lmos
tco
mpl
ete
cons
ensu
s ab
out
her
inva
luab
le o
utpu
t an
d lit
erar
yw
orth
amon
g th
e Mai
thili
lite
rary
prac
titio
ners
who
are
oth
erw
isede
eply
div
ided
alo
ng c
aste
and
gend
er li
nes.
Alm
ost a
ll ar
e una
n-im
ous t
hat t
his w
onde
rful
writ
er,
who
reac
hed
the p
inna
cle o
f lite
r-ar
y su
cces
s with
out m
uch
of fo
r-m
al e
duca
tion,
sho
uld
be c
on-
ferr
ed J
nanp
ith a
war
d fo
r he
ren
durin
g con
trib
utio
n to
the m
ak-
ing
of I
ndia
n lit
erat
ure
thro
ugh
her c
uttin
g ed
ge li
tera
ry cr
aft a
ndpo
wer
fully
mov
ing
cont
ent d
eal-
ing
as i
t do
es w
ith t
he c
entr
alth
eme o
f disi
llusio
nmen
t of h
ero-
ic ch
arac
ters
like
Hira
who
des
pite
thei
r st
rugg
les
and
cons
eque
ntm
ater
ial
acco
mpl
ishm
ents
get
thor
ough
ly d
isapp
oint
ed an
d di
s-en
chan
ted
with
the
pai
nful
cir-
cum
stan
ces p
reva
iling
in M
aith
ilre
gion
of t
he n
atio
n.
Such
capt
ivat
ing n
arra
tion
of a
repr
esen
tativ
e reg
ion
of th
e nat
ion
with
ade
quat
e fo
cus o
n th
e str
ug-
gles
but
inev
itabl
y fol
low
ed b
y dis-
appo
intm
ent a
nd h
opele
ssne
ss of
its
inha
bita
nts
mak
es R
ay a
qui
ntes
-se
ntia
lly p
ostc
olon
ial w
riter
entir
e-ly
wor
thy
of t
he h
ighe
st lit
erar
yaw
ard
we h
ave i
n ou
r cou
ntry
.(T
he w
riter
is A
ssista
nt p
rofes
-so
r of E
nglis
h at
Raj
dhan
i Col
lege,
Delh
i Uni
vers
ity)
��)3'1��/�/1
5�(
�3'B��'
%(�9
(�
4�24'*
1:�5
India
is
unde
rgoi
ng e
pide
mio
logi
cal
tran
sitio
n an
d is
face
d w
ith a
daun
ting
dual
chal
leng
e of
bot
h co
mm
unic
able
and
non-
com
mun
icab
le d
iseas
es.
Not
ably,
whi
le c
omm
unic
able
dis-
ease
s con
tinue
to p
ose
inte
rmitt
ent c
hal-
leng
es to
the
coun
try’s
hea
lth c
are
infr
a-str
uctu
re w
ith se
ason
able
epid
emic
s, ca
ses
of n
on-c
omm
unic
able
dise
ases
are m
ount
-in
g an
d co
nstit
ute
a m
uch
high
er d
iseas
ebu
rden
than
com
mun
icab
le d
iseas
es.
This
is la
rgel
y ex
plai
nabl
e in
term
s of
incr
easi
ng l
ife-e
xpec
tanc
y, c
hang
ing
dem
ogra
phy,
rapi
d ur
bani
satio
n, th
e per
-ni
ciou
s im
pact
of g
loba
lisat
ion,
chan
ging
lifes
tyle
lead
ing
to se
dent
ary w
ork-
natu
re,
nucl
eari
sed
fam
ilies
, ri
sing
stre
ss a
ndw
ork-
life
imba
lanc
e.A
n in
trig
uing
find
ing
emer
ging
from
stro
ke in
cide
nce s
tudi
es in
our
coun
try
isth
at In
dian
s are
mor
e sus
cept
ible
to st
roke
than
the
ir W
este
rn c
ount
erpa
rts.
The
estim
ated
inc
iden
ce r
ate
of s
trok
e in
Indi
a ha
s re
cord
ed, i
n di
ffere
nt s
tudi
es,
age-
stand
ardi
sed
inci
denc
e rat
e of 1
45 an
d15
4 pe
r 1,0
0,00
0 pe
r yea
r; w
here
as in
the
US,
it is
107
per
1,0
0,00
0; in
Eur
ope 6
1 to
111
per
1,00
,000
per
yea
r; an
d Au
stra
lia99
per
1,0
0,00
0 pe
r ye
ar. A
hig
her
inci
-de
nce o
f stro
ke in
Indi
a, th
eref
ore,
calls
for
an in
-dep
th st
udy o
f gen
etic
and
epid
emi-
olog
ical
fact
ors,
whi
ch a
re y
et to
be
fath
-om
ed o
ut a
nd e
luci
date
d.It
is w
orth
whi
le to
not
e an
d en
cour
-ag
ing
that
for t
reat
men
t of s
trok
e, si
gnif-
ican
t adv
ance
s hav
e ta
ken
plac
e in
term
sof
tech
nolo
gy as
wel
l as d
rugs
. Sin
ce 2
015,
a num
ber o
f res
earc
h st
udie
s hav
e con
sis-
tent
ly d
emon
stra
ted
that
blo
ckag
e of
maj
or ar
tery
supp
lyin
g bl
ood
to th
e bra
inca
n be
rem
oved
with
the
use
of d
evic
esw
hich
can
eith
er su
ck o
ut o
r ens
nare
and
pull
out t
he b
lood
clo
t. Th
is tr
eatm
ent c
an s
alva
ge th
e br
ain
tissu
e at
risk
, w
hich
can
be
iden
tifie
dth
roug
h ne
uro-
imag
ing t
echn
olog
y. Th
ese
tech
nolo
gica
l adv
ance
s hav
e bro
ught
sig-
nific
ant s
ucce
ss in
impr
ovin
g th
e pat
ient
’s
cond
ition
afte
r the
stro
ke.
Ther
e ar
e al
so c
lot
diss
olvi
ng d
rugs
whi
ch ca
n he
lp o
pen
the b
lock
age a
nd th
eaf
fect
ed ar
tery
, if u
sed
with
in th
ree t
o fo
ur-
and-
half
hour
s afte
r the
ons
et o
f the
stro
ke.
Let t
here
be
no d
oubt
that
sinc
ere
effo
rts
are
bein
g m
ade
to m
ake
thes
e te
chno
lo-
gies
and
trea
tmen
ts a
vaila
ble
for p
atie
nts
with
stro
ke.
But i
t rem
ains
a m
atte
r of
dee
p co
n-ce
rn a
nd w
orry
that
eve
n un
der b
est c
ir-cu
mst
ance
s, no
t mor
e tha
n 10
per
cent
of
the
patie
nts
with
str
oke
are
fort
unat
een
ough
to g
et t
hese
hig
h-te
ch a
nd h
igh
cost
trea
tmen
ts.
Mor
eove
r, co
uple
d w
ith a
n ac
ute
shor
tage
of
acco
mpl
ished
neu
rolo
gist
san
d ne
uros
urge
ons,
the
prob
lem
get
sco
nfou
nded
for w
orse
. Obv
ious
ly, so
ciet
alim
pact
of t
hese
stat
e-of
-the
-art
tech
nolo
-gi
es a
nd tr
eatm
ents
is q
uite
sm
all,
give
nth
e eno
rmity
of t
he p
robl
em o
f stro
kes a
ndco
nstr
aint
s of a
cces
sibili
ty an
d af
ford
abil-
ity o
f tre
atm
ents
ava
ilabl
e.
This
calls
for f
urth
er re
sear
ch so
as to
deve
lop
wid
ely ap
plic
able
and
high
impa
cttr
eatm
ent m
odal
ities
, bes
ides
crea
ting
anad
equa
te p
ool o
f hig
hly
spec
ialis
ed a
ndex
pert
doc
tors
.
Rem
arka
bly,
as p
oint
ed o
ut b
y an
Aust
ralia
n st
udy,
simpl
e in
terv
entio
nslik
e con
trol o
f fev
er, b
lood
suga
r and
swal
-lo
win
g ca
n m
ake
mor
e di
ffere
nce
inpa
tient
out
com
e tha
n clo
t-diss
olvi
ng d
rugs
in st
roke
, if u
sed
by w
ell-t
rain
ed m
edic
alan
d nu
rsin
g pe
rson
nel u
nder
wel
l-def
ined
prot
ocol
s. Th
is re
quire
s effe
ctiv
e org
anisa
tion
ofst
roke
car
e in
mul
ti-di
scip
linar
y st
roke
care
uni
ts (S
CU
) whe
re p
atie
nts a
re tr
eat-
ed b
y co
ordi
nate
d ef
fort
s of
doc
tors
,nu
rses
, phy
sioth
erap
ists a
nd o
ther
hea
lth-
care
wor
kers
as r
equi
red.
Th
is h
as t
rem
endo
us p
oten
tial
toim
prov
e th
e qu
ality
of
care
and
pat
ient
outc
ome
even
in r
emot
e ho
spita
ls at
the
dist
rict l
evel
, not
onl
y in
med
ical
col
lege
hosp
itals.
Thi
s ne
eds
spee
dy in
tegr
atio
nw
ith th
e In
dian
med
ical
pro
toco
l so
that
the
reac
h of
the
res
earc
h fi
ndin
gs
perc
olat
e do
wn
to a
ll ho
spita
ls, d
own
toth
e di
stric
t le
vel
in k
eepi
ng w
ith t
he
philo
soph
y of
the
cou
ntry
’s N
atio
nal
Hea
lth P
olic
y 20
17, w
hich
aim
s to
mak
ehe
alth
car
e ac
cess
ible
, af
ford
able
and
effe
ctiv
e fo
r all.
(T
he w
riter
is U
nion
Min
ister
of S
tate
for H
ealth
and
Fam
ily W
elfar
e)
Indi
a’s
stro
ke e
pide
mio
logy
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MK Alagiri, the estrangedson of former Chief
Minister and DMK presidentthe late M Karunanidhi,declared on Sunday his decisionto contest the by-poll fromThiruvarur Assembly con-stituency.
Thiruvarur has been rep-resented by the lateKarunanidhi since 2011 and isknown as a stronghold of theKarunanidhi family.
Alagiri was expelled fromthe party in early 2014 for anti-party activities and has beenkeeping a low profile sincethen. Early this month, he hadheld a rally at Chennai to offerfloral tributes to his late fatherand had drawn thousands offollowers.
He has been demandingthe DMK leadership to rein-state him and his followers inthe party. But M K Stalin, hisyounger brother who is the newpresident of the party has beenstonewalling his efforts to getback into the party.
Addressing his followers atThiruvarur on Sunday, Alagirisaid he would like to contest thebypoll on the Rising Sun sym-bol of the DMK. “I’ll ask theDMK leadership to field me asa party candidate. If they refuse,
I’ll contest the by-poll as theson of Karunanidhi,” declaredAlagiri.
The announcement is sureto rattle the DMK leadershipbecause Alagiri is certain toeat into the DMK votes.“What is interesting is thatAlagiri is a specialist in win-ning elections. Whenever hehad stayed away from theDMK, the party had lost theelections,” said RaveedranThuraiswamy political com-mentator with specialisationin DMK politics.
He said Thiruvarur is apersonal fiefdom of the
Karunanidhi clan and Alagirihas an upper hand in theregion. “The DMK had lost the2011 and 2016 assembly elec-tions and the 2014 Lok Sabhaelection because of the absenceof Alagiri. Stalin will find it dif-ficult to lead the DMK to anelectoral victory withoutAlagiri’s cooperation,” saidThuraiswamy. TN will soonhave two by-pol ls- inThiruparankundram andThiruvarur assembly con-st ituencies . TheThiruparankundram seat washeld by the AIADMK. Boththe AIADMK and the DMKface the possibilities of rebelcandidates in these con-st ituencies as T T VDhinakaran of the AmmaMakkal Munnetra Kazhakamtoo would field his loyalists totake on the ruling AIADMK.
���� 5�/13'/�5�*
In the second phase of theinternational roadshows for
the promotion of VibrantGujarat 2019, the Gujarat del-egation led by MK Das (IAS),Principal Secretary to ChiefMinister and PrincipalSecretary of Industries visitedLondon.
Das, accompanied byindustry leaders and mem-bers of trade associations,held meetings with the busi-ness community in Londonand garnered strong supportfor the Gujarat Growth Story.In a bid to showcase thesocio-economic growth, busi-ness-friendly environment,increasing opportunities andpossibilities of collaborationwith Gujarat, the delegationmade a presentation in frontof a packed house inLondon.
Presenting an overview, hementioned about the rapideconomic growth in Gujarat,higher than that of the country.Presenting a promising pictureof Gujarat’s potential growth infuture, he invited the Indian-origin business leaders fromU.K. for collaboration.
“Gujarat is growing a veryfast pace, and we do not wishto stop here. We want your
inputs and grow it further,”said Das adding that Indian-origin business leaders in U.K.can help in achieving PrimeMinister’s vision of a NewIndia and Gujarat. The dele-gation leader also explainedthe value proposition thatVibrant Gujarat offers with theupcoming summit looking attrade and commerce as a lead-ing theme. Das invited thebusiness community to pre-sent their business case atVibrant Gujarat Summit 2019to be held in January nextyear.
During the visit Das alsocalled upon leading U.K.industrialist LN Mittal,Chairman and CEO of ArcelorMittal Group. He had a one-to-one discussion where heappraised Mittal of major pro-jects such as Dholera & DMICand about the growth poten-tial of Gujarat, and invited himto be a part of Vibrant Gujarat2019.
Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) wasalso signed by the delegationwith Pontaq UK–IndiaInnovation Fund to promotetechnology transfer for creat-ing job opportunities in sec-tors like financial technology,Smart Cities and emergingtechnologies.
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In a welcome departure fromthe past, the decibel levels
came down markedly on thestreets of Mumbai on the lastday of the Ganesh festivities onSunday, as more than 250 lead-ing Ganpati mandals took outprocessions to various water-fronts across the metropolis toimmerse the idols of the ele-phant-head God without DJsand Dolby Music systemswhich would have in the nor-mal course contributed to mas-sive noise pollution.
In a direct fallout of a totalBombay High Court’s orderbanning the on the use of DJsand Dolby sound systems dur-ing the Ganesh and Navratrifestivals, the revellers had tomake do traditional and lessnoisy dhols and tashas, as theyadded colour to the Ganeshimmersion proceedings in thecity and suburbs.
The Ganpati immersionproceedings proved to be a rel-atively quiet affair, with 250-odd major Ganesh Mandalsdeciding to obey the orderpassed on Friday by theBombay High Court whichhad put a total ban on the useof DJs and Dolby sound sys-tems for Ganeshutsav andNavratri festivals.
While rejecting a plea forinterim relief filed byProfessional Audio andLighting Association (PALA), a
HC bench of Justices ShantanuKemkar and Sarang Kotwalhad said: “The police authori-ties have banned the use of DJand Dolby sound systems. Allthese systems have to be oper-ated strictly in adherence withNoise Pollution Rules 2000.”
“We are not willing toaccept the argument that ambi-ent noise levels in many citieshave exceeded permissible lim-its and, therefore, DJ systemsshould be permitted, whichcause only a marginal increasein the decibel level over the pre-scribed norms. When laws arein place, they must be strictlyfollowed,” the judges had said intheir interim order. However,the high court had allowed theuse of traditional musical instru-ments like the dhol and tasha.
Amid rhythmic dhol beatsand chants of “Ganpati bappamorya, pudhchya varshi lavkarya” (Hail Lord Ganesh, docome back early next year), sev-eral major Sarvajanik Ganeshidols – including Mumbai’sprestigious Lalbaugcha RajaGanapati idoli and “MumbaiCha Raja” –made their waythrough their from Lalbaug insouth central Mumbai quiet-ly wended their way throughthe designated to the GirgaumChowpatty where the immer-sion proceedings were expect-ed to go on well past midnight.
Like every year, there wasa massive turnout of people atvarious immersion sites acrossthe city, including GirgaumChowpatty, Dadar Chowpatty,Juhu Chowpatty, Marve beach,
Madh Island, Powai lake, MadhIsland, Manori Beach, Goraibeach, Mahim beach, Aareylake, the Mithi River, itsbranches and various artificiallakes. In all, there were morethan 110-odd immersion spotsacross the city and its suburbs.
Like every year, as many as12,000 huge idols installed bySarvajanik Mandals, while atleast 2,20,000 domestic idolswere immersed at 69 naturaland 41 artificial immersionspots on various significantdays like the second day, fifthday, seventh and the last daysduring this year.
Under the watchful eyes ofthe 45,000-odd policemen, 12companies of SRPF, one com-pany of Rapid Action Force(RAF) and also personnel from
the “Force One”, QuickResponse Team (QRT) andanti-bomb squads of theMumbai police, the Ganeshimmersion proceedings werecontinuing till in the night.
Through drones andCCTV cameras deployed atvarious places along theGanesh immersion processionroutes in the city, the policemonitored the situation fromvarious control rooms. Severalmajor roads in the city hadbeen fully closed for traffic tofacilitate the passage of Ganeshproceedings.
In an effort to ensureagainst any untoward incidentsduring the Ganesh immersionproceedings, The Indian CoastGuard (ICG) had deployedshallow water response team onboard a hovercraft, an Air-Cushion Vehicle, off theMumbai coast.
On their part, the Mumbaipolice had set up as many 58control rooms set up at majorwaterfronts, including Girgaumand Dadar chowpatties to keepa close watch of the proceed-ings. The BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation (BMC)had kept in readiness at least600 life guards and 81 motorboats to ensure against anymishap during the immersionproceedings. The BMC hadalso installed 1,999 flood lightsand 1,301 search lights at var-ious immersion venues.
The Railway Protection
Force (RPF) and GovernmentRailway Police (GRP) had alsomade elaborate arrangementsalong various suburban stationson the Central Railway (CR)and Western Railway (WR). Asmany as 8,000 BMC employeeswere present at various natur-al and artificial immersionvenues.
Maharashtra chief ministerDevendra Fadnavis Fadnaviscarried en eco-friendly Ganpatiidol installed at his officialresidence “Varsha” at MalbarHills and immersed it in anartificial lake.
Like every year, the Kapoorfamily members, includingRishi Kapoor, son RanbirKapoor and uncles Randhirand Rajiv, joined the immer-sion proceedings of Ganeshidol installed at the iconic RKStudios, where they broke acoconut each before the pro-cession began.
This year’s proceedingsmay perhaps the last of such akind of Ganesh festivities wit-nessed at the R K Studio, espe-cially in the light of anannouncement made on behalfof the famous family by RishiKapoor that his family mem-bers had collectively decided tosell to the sprawling studio,built by his late legendaryfather Raj Kapoor, as they feltit was economically not viableto rebuild the place after a mas-sive fire that broke there onSeptember 16 last year.
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BJP leader Babu SinghRaghuvanshi on Sunday
said the Scheduled Castes andScheduled Tribes (Preventionof Atrocities) Act was amend-ed to "protect the country andHindu society".
"Our Government at theCentre was not under any pres-sure to amend the Act. Webrought amendments to protectthe country and Hindu society,"said Raghuvanshi, chairman ofMadhya Pradesh Small ScaleIndustry Corporation.
"Had the amendments notbeen brought, foreign forceswould have fomented violencein the country," he toldreporters.Asked about the claimthat the Act is sometimes mis-used, he said, "Tell me whichlaw is not misused. Should alllaws be nullified then?"
"We respect the feelings ofupper caste Hindus. That iswhy Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan has said theamended Act will not beallowed to be misused,"Raghuvanshi said.The BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh has wit-nessed protests by upper casteorganisations against recentamendments in the SC-ST Act.
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Uttar Pradesh Deputy ChiefMinister Keshav Prasad
Maurya on Sunday said thereis no alternative to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.
He was speaking at a meet-ing of the Bharatiya JanataParty's (BJP) OBC Morchahere."In the Opposition parties,everyone is claiming to be thenext Prime Minister. But thealternative to Modi is Modionly," he said.
Maurya also hit out atSamajwadi Party presidentAkhilesh Yadav and Congresschief Rahul Gandhi for usingtemples to win votes.
"Kanwar Yatra was notallowed during the regime ofAkhilesh Yadav, the devotees ofLord Ram were sprayed withbullets and seers baton-charged.
Today Akhilesh Yadav istalking about constructing atemple for Lord Vishnu," thedeputy Chief Minister said.
Attacking the Congresschief, he said, "Rahul Gandhi ismoving from one temple toanother for photo sessions. If heis asked to recite the 'HanumanChalisa', he will not be able todo it. Congress is a drain of cor-ruption and a machine of lies".
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The Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister has said BJP ide-
ologue Deendayal Upadhyaya'sdream to uplift the poor wasrealised on Sunday with thelaunch of a CentralGovernment scheme that aimsto provide health insurancecover to nearly 50 crore poorIndians.
He was praising the rollingout of the ambitious PradhanMantri Jan Arogya Yojana(PMJAY)-Ayushman Bharatprogramme by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi from Ranchi inJharkhand.
The scheme aims to providea coverage of � 5 lakh per fam-ily annually and is likely to ben-efit more than 50 crore people forsecondary and tertiary care hos-pitalisation through a network ofempanelled healthcare providers.
Speaking at Baba RaghavDas Medical College inGorakhpur, Adityanath said,"Today the dream of DeendayalUpadhyaya Ji has come true asthe man at the bottom of thesocial order will be able to getmedical treatment underAyushman Bharat schemewithout any discrimination.Poor people won't die...Due tolack of money." The med-ical college was in news inAugust last year after morethan 60 children, mostly
infants, died there within aweek. There were allegationsthat the deaths happened dueto disruption in oxygen supplyover unpaid bills to the vendor.The state government hasdenied that shortage of oxygenled to the deaths.
On Sunday, Adityanathgave golden e-cards to five ben-eficiaries of the health scheme,including a 12-year-old boy.
"When a poor personbecomes ill, the entire familygoes through a lot of pain. I haveseen the pain of the poor. Theyhave to sell their farm, houseand jewellery for medical treat-ment. But after this scheme, itwill not happen and they will beable to get better treatment.
"Today, Rohan, son of RamMilan, got Rs 1.10 lakh for histreatment and for a poor per-son Rs 1 lakh is a big amount,"he said. Recalling the poorcondition of the encephalitisward at the medical college in1998, when Adityanath becamea member of Parliament fromGorakhpur for the first time, hesaid toilets were choked, no fanwas functional and four-fivechildren were given one bed.
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Indian Naval officer AbhilashTomy, badly injured while
participating in the GoldenGlobe Race, "rolling exces-sively," in the Indian Ocean,has been located and expect-ed to be rescued by a Frenchvessel Monday, DefenceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanand the Navy said Sunday.
Commander Tomy, whosevessel was located by an IndianNavy aircraft earlier, shall bepicked up in the next 16 hoursby French vessel Osiris,Sitharaman said in a tweet at 7pm.
The Minister also said shehad spoken to vice-chief ofNaval Staff Vice Admiral AjitKumar P regarding the condi-tion of the injured navy officer.
"...The Rescue Mission isbeing coordinated with theAustralian Navy. The injuredofficer shall be picked up in thenext 16 hrs by a French vesselOsiris," Sitharaman said.
A defence spokesman saidTomy would to be brought onboard Australian Naval shipHMAS Ballarat, which hasalready left Perth to rescue him.
Indian Naval Defence Attache'in Australia has been campingin the regional MaritimeRescue Coordination Centre(MRCC) monitoring the rescuemission, he said.
Earlier in the day, thespokesman said all effortswere being made to rescueCommander Tomy who hadsuffered a back injury Fridayafter his yacht was hit by avicious storm with 14-metre-high waves mid-way acrosssouth Indian Ocean. "INSSatpura and INS Jyoti are head-ing at top speed to reachTomy", the spokesman said.
However, INS Satpura wasexpected to reach the locationonly by Friday. He said the sit-uation was being monitored atNaval Headquarters in NewDelhi, as well as by the JointRescue Coordination Centre atMelbourne, Australia. TheIndian Navy's P8I aircraft,which flew from Mauritius inthe early hours Sunday, haslocated the "mast broken boatrolling excessively", he said."Commander Tomy respondedby ping on EPIRB as the air-craft was flying over him," thespokesman said here.
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AJacobite priest has beenwarned of disciplinary
action and a Catholic nunrestrained from church dutiesin a fallout of their participa-tion in protests in Kochidemanding the arrest of rapeaccused Bishop FrancoMulakkal.
Sister Lucy Kalapura, whoreturned to her parish inWayand Sunday morning fromKochi, claimed she wasinformed orally by the MotherSuperior that she should keepaway from holding catechismclasses, conducting prayersand other activities related tothe Syro Malabar Catholicchurch.
"No written orders weregiven to me. I was onlyinformed orally by the MotherSuperior not to participate inany church-related activities,"the sister told PTI.
However, in a statementFather Stephen Kottakkal, vicarof the St Mary's churchKarakkamala in Wayanad, saidSister Lucy had been asked tokeep away from duties in viewof certain concerns expressedby the parishioners.
He denied the churchhad initiated any retaliatorymeasure against Sister Lucy forparticipating in the nunsprotest in Kochi.
"The believers hadinformed us that they had
some difficulties in sister Lucyparticipating in the churchactivities relating to Holy massand taking classes for their chil-dren," he said.
The vicar said he had only'conveyed' the general feeling ofthe parishioners with regard tocertain posts of sister Lucy inthe social media which they feltwere not in consonance withthe church beliefs. Many ofthem had informed him thesame, he said.
The Franciscean ClaristCongregation St Mary'sprovince Mananthavady, towhich sister Lucy belongs, saidshe faced disciplinary action forvarious other reasons.
However, no explanationhad been sought or actiontaken so far against her in con-nection with the nun's issue.Sister Lucy, however, main-tained the restraint orderagainst her was only for par-ticipating in the protests atKochi.
The priest, Bar YuhanonRamban, belonging to a dayarain Ernakulam district, saidSunday he had received a'warning' letter from his churchheadquarters in Damascus inSyria for supporting thenuns'protest. The letter also said hehad campaigned for the imple-mentation of Church Act, hetold PTI.
According to the letter, hisinvolvement and publicspeeches supporting the
Catholic nuns were seeminglymore than the envisaged livingstyle of church priests.
It further said his activi-ties had caused 'disgrace' to thestatus of Monasticism andwarned that disciplinary mea-sures would be taken if he con-tinued with such deeds.
The priest alleged thatsome local bishops had con-spired against him and sentwrong information to thechurch higher-ups in Syria andbased on which they had issuedthe warning letter. He has writ-ten a letter to the Patriarch ofAntioch, Mor Ignatius AphremII, the head of the UniversalSyrian Orthodox Church,explaining his stand.
Indulekha Joseph, one of theleaders of the Kerala CatholicChurch Reformation move-ment, alleged the action againstsister Lucy was an attempt tosilence the voices of protestagainst any form of unjust activ-ities within the church.
Social activist SwamiAgnivesh condemned theaction against sister Lucy andthe Jacobite priest for sup-porting the five nuns. Thenuns had protested for 13days, demanding the arrest ofthe bishop who was accused ofrepeatedly raping a fellow nun.
The bishop, arrested onFriday after three days ofintense grilling by Keralapolice, is now in police cus-tody.
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BJP Member of ParliamentSubramanian Swamy
Sunday claimed that the valueof the rupee was falling in com-parison to the United Statesdollar because black moneywas "leaving" India.
Swamy was delivering alecture titled "Indian CulturalHeritage and Its Importance,"in Margao Sunday morning.
Stating that the fall in thevalue of the rupee had nothingto do with the US, Swamy said,"It has got to do with the factthat a large amount of blackmoney is now leaving thecountry."
"When there is an over-supply of the rupee to the dol-lar, value is bound to go down,"Swamy explained.
The rupee is the worstperforming emerging marketcurrency having lost almost 14per cent since January thisyear. Between April andSeptember the rupee has plum-meted more than 7 to the dol-lar and has breached the psy-chological 73 mark last week.
The BJP leader, himself aneconomist, further claimedthat the US dollar would con-
tinue to rule the global econo-my as long as that countryremained the most developednation in the world.
"The day it (USA) ceases tobe most developed (nation),some other currency will takeits place. But at the moment,there is no challenge to the dol-lar," he commented.
Speaking on the topic ofthe lecture, Swamy said thatmythological king Ravana wasborn near Delhi and not Inancient Lanka as is widelybelieved.
"He was born in a villagecalled Bisrakh near Delhi,"Swamy claimed.
The MP told the gatheringthat Ravana, armed with aboon from Lord Shiva for apenance at Mansarovar, pro-ceeded to defeat Kuber tobecome "Lanka Naresh" there.
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Filmmaker and screenwriterKalpana Lajmi, niece of the
legendary Guru Dutt andacclaimed for making women-oriented films like ‘Rudaali’,‘Ek Pal’, ‘Daman’ and‘Chingaari’, died here onSunday following a multipleorgan failure, said herspokesperson. She was 64.
"Extremely sorry to informyou that Kalpana Lajmi passedaway this morning at 4.30 am,"the filmmaker's spokespersonParul Chawla told IANS.
Lajmi breathed her last atthe Kokilaben DhirubhaiAmbani hospital here, whereshe was admitted in the inten-sive care unit since Tuesdaydue to kidney-related issues,the spokesperson added.
The cremation will takeplace at 12.30 p.m. at theOshiwara crematorium.
Lajmi had been undergo-ing dialysis for a couple ofyears, and true to herindomitable spirit, had said inan interview last year: "Mykidneys have failed, but Ihaven't."
She had forayed into film-dom as an assistant directorunder renowned filmmakerShyam Benegal, followingwhich she made her director-
ial debut with a documentaryfilm in 1978.
Her feature film debutcame with "Ek Pal". Her lastdirectorial was "Chingaari",based on the novel "TheProstitute and the Postman"by the late Bhupen Hazarika,her long-time companion.
Lajmi had also penned abook, "Bhupen Hazarika: As IKnew Him", on Hazarika. Itwas launched on September 8by Benegal and Lajmi's moth-er, painter Lalita Lajmi.
The filmmaker, who washospitalised at that time too,could not attend the event asher doctors had refused toal low her a long commute.
Known for fearless film-making with women in strongroles, Lajmi's 1993 DimpleKapadia-starrer "Rudaali" waseven chosen as India's officialentry to the 66th AcademyAwards.
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Asuspected foreign militantof Jaish-e-Muhammad
outfit was killed in a fierce gun-battle with security forces inTral sub-district of southKashmir on Sunday. A civilianwas also injured in the areawhen a tear smoke canisterexploded during clashesbetween protesters and riotpolice.
Police said the gunfighterupted in Dar Ganaigund vil-lage of Tral on Sunday morningwhen security forces cordonedoff the area following input onpresence of militants. The villageis native place of NoorMuhammad Trali, a dwarf mil-itant commander whose killinglast year was described as one ofthe greatest achievements of thesecurity forces in recent years.Tantray, who had served morethan a decade in Delhi’s TiharJail in connection with trans-porting arms to New Delhi, hadsingle-handedly revived Jaish-e-Muhammad outfit in KashmirValley.
Sources said the securityforces reached the suspectedspot as the hiding militantsopened fire that triggered a gun-fight.
Security sources said thatone militant was killed in theencounter. He was identified asAdnan Bhai, a resident ofPakistan. Sources said otheraides of slain militant mighthave fled from the foothillarea situated near Lam forestswhere militant hideouts havebeen reported earlier also.
Reports of intense stonepelting and clashes betweencivilian protesters and the secu-rity forces poured in from thearea near gunfight site andother areas while as tensiongripped the Tral belt after thekilling of Jaish commander.
Meanwhile, the mobileinternet services continued toremain snapped in severalsouth Kashmir areas includingShopian, Tral and Pulwama.The internet blockade is seenas an attempt to curb an onlinespree of militants exposingpolicemen and officers onsocial media and threateningthem to tender resignations
through social media.Sources said that over a
hundred Special Police Officers(SPOs) have tendered resigna-tions through social network-ing sites after three police per-sonnel were killed by militantsin Shopian district on Friday.
Another resignation by awoman SPO from southKashmir’s Kulgam districtthrough social media net-working sites has gone viral. Inher video, message the womanSPO Rafiqa Akhtar, a residentof Kulgam said that she wasworking with police for 15years but was resigning “out ofmy own will”.
The police authoritiesdenied receipt of any formalresignations.
Meanwhile, a civilianabducted by unidentified gun-men in north Kashmir’s Soporearea of Baramulla district lateSaturday evening was untracedtill last reports came in.
The family members ofthe abducted person haveexpressed grave concern overhis well-being. Security sourcessaid that 45-year MushtaqAhmad Mir, a labourer and res-ident of Harwan Sopore waspicked up by unknown gun-men from his house.
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Hindu leaders are upsetover the Dravidian and
Tamil chauvinist outfits whichattack the community and itsGods. The decision of the fed-eration of employees of theHindu Religious and CharitableEndowment (HR&CE)Department of theGovernment of Tamil Nadu tofile criminal cases against BJPleader H Raja has been cited bythe community leaders as anattempt to stifle opposition tothe high-handedness of theDravidians.
The Federation of HR&CE Department Employeescontrolled by Left parties hasfiled a series of complaintsagainst Raja in differentpolice stations across theState for his “derogatory”comments against them. Raja,in a recent public speech,questioned the proprietybehind the attitude of theHR&CE Department staff inavoiding the directives by theMadras High Court to sub-mit details of the land ownedby the temples administeredby the Tamil NaduGovernment and also thedetails of the ancient idolswhich were stolen/disap-peared from the temples.
The Idol Wing of TamilNadu Police led by PonManickavel had arrested acouple of officials of the
HE&CE department includinga top rung commissioner.Many senior officials of theHR&CE department areunder the scanner of thepolice following allegationsof their complicity in thecrimes.
T R Ramesh, president,Temple Worshippers Society,a body involved in preparingthe inventory of temple prop-erties said that the HR&CEDepartment has become acesspool of corruption.“Kapaleeswarar Temple man-agement has purchased twobrand new and fully loadedToyota Innova cars. What isthe purpose for squanderingthe wealth of temples on highend cars? This is not an iso-lated incident. Another near-by temple has purchasedtwo similar cars for the use ofthe minister and his secre-tary,” said Ramesh.
Raja, who is known forstirring controversies whichembarrass the Dravidian par-ties as well as the followers ofE V Ramasamy Naicker, areformer who fought for therights of the Backward Castesin the State, leaves no stonesunturned while criticising theDMK, DK and other castebased organisations.
On Saturday, theCoimbatore Police registeredanother case against the BJPleader under sections 500 (pun-ishment for defamation) and501 (Printing and Engraving
matter known to be defamato-ry) of the Indian Penal Code.The case has to do with a socialmedia message posted by Rajaon April 18 in which he isreported to have described aRajya Sabha member fromTamil Nadu as the illegitimatedaughter of a former chiefminister.
What has shocked thereligious leaders in the Stateis the step-motherly treat-ment the Hindus are gettingfrom the Dravidians. “S VSekhar, the theatre personal-ity was hounded by Dravidianleaders and civi l r ightsactivists when he forwarded asocial media post received byhim to his friends. He is freeonly because of the bail grant-ed to him. But Kovan, theMaoist activist who sangobscene songs aboutJayalalithaa and Lord Ramais walking freely and doingwhatever he wants. Humanrights and civil rights activistsand the Dravidians are sup-porting him,” said ArjunSampath, president, HinduPeoples Front. All these lead-ers are of the view that Hindusare being targeted by theDravidians and Tamil chau-vinistic outfits under the garbof attacking the BJP and PrimeMinister Narendra Modi. “Letthem attack the BJP and thePrime Minister. But theyshould leave the Hindus to livepeacefully,” said Ramesh andArjun Sampath.
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Days after JD(U) presidentNitish Kumar enrolled poll
strategist Prashant Kishor in hisparty, his once close confidantShashwat Gautam has beenhired by Congress presidentRahul Gandhi. The two sons ofBihar are all set to help Nitishand Rahul in the upcoming cru-cial 2019 Lok Sabha election askey strategists. Interestingly,Kishor had also worked forCongress while Gautam hadworked for JD(U). Both areyoung, dynamic and foreigneducated.
Gautam, who hails fromChaita village in WestChamparan, has been appoint-ed as national coordinator inthe Data Analytics Departmentof the AICC and is likely to playa key role in the party’s mission2019. This department ofCongress gathers data fromacross the country and chartout electoral policies. He hasbeen assigned the task ofdesigning communicative nar-rative and booth level organi-sation. Gautam was quotedsaying, “My sole objectivewould be to ensure Congresshas strong booth presence in250 Lok Sabha constituencies.
The focus would be tostrengthen the party at thebooth level across the country.”
The role of Kishor in JD(U)is not publicly defined but it isstrongly expected that hewould work in close contactwith Nitish and accomplish themission assigned to him by theparty chief. He already hasstarted working and two daysback when Nitish went to Delhito have dialogue with BJP pres-ident Amit Shah on seat shar-ing, Kishor accompanied himand after Nitish returned hewent ahead meeting Shah sep-arately. Kishor worked as pollstrategist of Nitish in 2015Assembly election which sawNitish returning to power inalliance with Lalu Prasad andthe Congress by defeating theBJP-led NDA.
Gautam started workingfor Nitish in 2016-17 when hewas heading the mahagath-bandhan government andplayed his role in drawing upJD(U)’s strategy in Bihar andon the national level. But in thebeginning of 2017 when someleaders of JD(U) started criti-cizing the RJD, Lalu and hissons, Gautam became uncom-fortable and expressed his dis-pleasure knowing little that
they were speaking at the insti-gation of Nitish who was mak-ing strategy to go back to theNDA. In this situation, he pre-ferred to leave Nitish’s compa-ny. Currently Gautam wasworking as director at theCentre for Economic Policyand Public Finance at the AsianDevelopment ResearchInstitute (ADRI).
The induction of Kishor inthe JD(U) has alarmed many inthe party amid speculationsthat he would emerge as theperson as main adviser and theconscience keeper of Nitishwhile the stature and positionof some other close confidantsof party chief might be slight-ed. A similar apprehensionwas being expressed in theCongress circles too. Gautam,who would also be specialinvitee to the advisory com-mittee of Bihar PradeshCongress Committee in hiscapacity as an important officebearer of the AICC, mightovershadow some main leadersincluding newly-appointedpresident Madan Mohan Jhaand campaign committee chiefAkhilesh Singh. The appoint-ment of new Bihar PCC pres-ident has already ruffled manyfeathers.
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Engaged in a frontal battlewith the BJP, which has fast
come up as the mainOpposition party in Bengal, theruling Trinamool Congress hasvowed to foil the general strikecalled by the saffron outfit-protesting against the death oftwo students in firing atDarbhit village of Islampurblock in North Dinajpur dis-trict.
The BJP has called a 12-hour shutdown in the State onSeptember 26 to protest againstthe students’ death.
The BJP has alleged thatthe two students died of policefiring last week when the stu-dents of a local school wereprotesting against the appoint-ment of Urdu and Sanskritteachers keeping the moreimportant departments likescience, maths and historyvacant.
“The deaths have beencaused by the RSS-BJP whosent in their goons,” ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee saidadding the saffron groups weretrying to politicise and com-munalise the issue.
“The RSS-BJP are respon-sible for the deaths as theirmasked goons and not thepolice fired at the students,”Banerjee who was presently inItaly to attend a business meet-ing said, adding “there will beno bandh in Bengal. We willnot allow any shutdown inour State. All the offices, edu-cational and other institutions
will remain open onWednesday. No one will beallowed to hold the State to ran-som.”
Sources said the ChiefMinister had instructed thepolice administration to takepro-active steps to stop BJPfrom forcing the bandh.
“I have told the policebrass to take necessary actionagainst who will try to createnuisance. There will be nobandh in Bengal,” she saidwhile State Education MinisterPartho Chatterjee saidTrinamool Congress cadreswill also descend on the streetsto assist the administration inensuring peace.
“TMC workers will take
part in peaceful rallies in allparts of the State and help theadministration to keep all insti-tutions open,” Chatterjee said.
Warning the saffron organ-isations "not to play with fire bydoing politics on the issue", sheappealed to the people of thestate not to pay heed to the pol-itics of the BJP and the RSS andfoil the shutdown.
Comparing the BJP andRSS with vultures waiting for adeath in order to gain politicalmileage Banerjee said “theyhave started playing holi withthe blood of the people ofBengal, but we will allow that-culture to come to this State.“Saffron communalism is notacceptable in our State.”
She said that the wholematter was pre-planned to giveit a communal angle.
“When we appoint Sanskritteacher there is no problem butwhen we appoint Urdu teacherthey are creating problem byinciting the poor villagers.”
North Dinajpur SP SumitKumar said the deaths werecaused not on account of policefiring. Meanwhile, the villagersrefused to burn the corpse.Instead they buried the twobodies demanding repeatedpost-mortem and a CBI inves-tigation into the killings.
The Left Front that hadearlier called bandhs in localschools demanded judicialinquiry into the incident.
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The State prohibition author-ity, functioning under the
Department of Home, is learntto have initiated the process togive permission to 40 newliquor shops in dry Gujarat.
At present 58 permit shopsare functioning across differentcities of Gujarat which are sell-ing alcohol to permit holdersand those visiting Gujarat fromoutside the state. With new per-missions to be granted to openmore liquor shops, the totalnumber of permit shops wouldalmost touch 100 in the nearfuture.
Sources in the state prohi-bition authority informed that
in the past five years as many as68 applications were received.“We are in the process to issuenotification regarding the newpermit shops. Of these 40 newshops, 19 will be given permis-sion soon,” said a senior official.
It is worth mentioning thattill 2014, there were only 26official liquor shops in thestate, but within the span of justthree years the numberincreased to more than doubleand now it would be almostfour fold by the end of 2018.
In the case of Gujarat’scommercial capitalAhmedabad there were onlyfive such shops till 2014, butnow the liquor shops haveincreased to eleven.
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Enraged by the killing ofTDP MLA Sarveshwara
Rao and his associate Soma bythe CPI Maoist ultras, theirsupporters attacked two policestations and set them on fire.
Police officials said that theangry supporters of the twovictims targeted the police sta-tion in Araku andDumbriguda and set fire to thepolice station buildings, itsfurniture and record. Twowheelers parked outside werealso burnt.
The angry mob was shout-ing against the policemen andheld them responsible for theincident. They alleged thatnegligence by the Dumbrigudasub-inspector was responsiblefor the killings. Angry protes-tors also beat up two policemenwhile others escaped to savethemselves.
It was after a gap of oneand a half decades that theMaoists have targeted a bigtribal leader in this belt. OnMarch 18, 2004 they had killedVenkatraju, husband of StateTribal Welfare Minister MManikumari.
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Thousands of idols ofVinayaka or Ganesh were
immersed in Hussain Sagar andother lakes in and aroundHyderabad as the ten-day fes-tival came to an end on Sunday.
With more than 20,000policemen deployed all aroundthe city, specially on the routeof the main procession fromBalapur to the Hussain Sagarlake, the event passed offsmoothly without any unto-ward incident. Hundreds ofpeople, including women andchildren thronged the routeand the banks of the pic-turesque lakes as the colourfulidols of various sizes and shapeswere immersed in the waterwith the help of more than adozen cranes.
In a bit departure from thepast, the gigantic 57-foot tallGanesha of Khairatabad man-dap was first to start its jrouneytowards the lake. The biggestidol in the entire state wastaken in procession at 7 am andby noon it was immersed in thelake. Its laddu weighing 508 kgwas distributed among thedevotees.
As the massive idol used totake a lot of time in transportand create traffic jam on theroads if taken out late,Hyderabad city police com-missioner Anjani Kumar hadrequested the Pandal commit-tee to start the procession early
in the morning.Before the main procession
started its 20 kms long journeyfrom Balapur in the vicinity ofHyderabad, its laddu was auc-tioned for Rs 16.16 lakhs at thepandal. The Laddu was fetchedby Arya Vysya Sangham of thearea. The money which was Rsone lakh more than last year,will be spent on the develop-mental works in Balapur.Starting from 1994 the auctionprice of the auspicious Laddukept increasing every year.
As the procession movedthrough the sensitive areas ofold city including Charminar-Mecca Masjid complex andPatthagatti, policemen and thepersonnel of CRPF and RapidAction Force kept a close
watch on the proceedings.With more than 450
CCTV camercas installed tocover the entire route, theCommissioner and other offi-cials watched its moment fromthe command and controlroom and issued directions tothe force on the ground.
A large number of idolshad gathered at the MoazzamJahi Market junction beforethey moved towards the lake.The area around Hussain Sagarlake turned into a sea ofhumanity with massive crowdsgathering to bid adieu to theGanesha till next year.
Telangana DGP KMahinder Reddy said that elab-orate security arrangementswere also made in other dis-
tricts and towns acrossTelangana by deploying 65000personnel.
Three persons had a nar-row escape in Karimnagarwhen the crane carrying themalong with an idol fell downduring the immersion.
Minor tension prevailedin Jagatiyal town when somemiscreants threw stones at thepolice after an argument.
An assistant sub inspectorNimma Naik who wasdeployed in Hyderabad on spe-cial duty died on heart attacklast night.
Naik who hails fromKazipet was posted at Siddipetaand had come to Hyderabadfor Ganesh procession arrange-ments.
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ACentral Governmentteam of wildlife experts
has flown in to the last abodeof endangered Asiatic Lions –Gir Forest - situated in west-ern Gujarat to probe thedeaths of 11 big cats in a spanof just eight days.
Though the state forestdepartment is claiming thedeath as natural, wildlifelovers and environmentalistsare expressing doubts overthe death of lions. Accordingto top forest officials in thestate, the lions died due toinfighting and territorial war.
“ The Central teambelonging to the UnionMinistr y of Forest and
Environment has already ini-tiated probe. They are exam-ining autopsy reports of thedead animals and also ques-tioning forest beat guards aswell as people residing nearDalkhania and Jashadharranges of Gir forest where thelions died,” said sources closeto the development.
According to sources inthe state forest department, infact the state governmenttook the incidences of lions’death extremely seriously anddecided to take assistance ofcentral government expertsto curb any such causality ofAsiatic lions in future. Thereport of central team woulddecide to further course ofinvestigation, said the sourcesadding that the report of
expert would make it clearthe cause of death was due topoison, some diseases orbecause of infighting asclaimed by the state forestofficials.
It is worth mentioning thatGujarat is steadfastly draggingits feet even after a SupremeCourt order to hand over a fewlions to neighbouring MadhyaPradesh for an alternativehome for this epidemic pronespecies.
Due to heavy inbreeding,the lions Gir forest and sur-rounding areas are very sus-
ceptible to infection at oneend and epidemic at the other.So many deaths in such ashort span of time rang alarmbells and needed to be thor-oughly probed, opined aretired IFS official fromGujarat forest department.The state forest departmentcarries out a lion census everyfive years. The 2005 surveycounted 359 lions while thenumber grew to 411 in2010.The latest census in 2015found 523 lions, 109 of whichwere male, 201 female, 140cubs and 73 sub-adults.
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Alexandre Lacazette fired Arsenal toa fourth successive Premier Leaguewin as the French forward's superb
strike inspired a hard-fought 2-0 successagainst Everton on Sunday.
Unai Emery's side rode their luck in thefirst half at the Emirates Stadium asEverton wasted a host of chances to pun-ish a sloppy opening from the Gunners.
But Lacazette ensured that lethargicspell wouldn't prove costly when hesmashed a sublime opener in the secondhalf.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang doubledArsenal's lead moments later when theGabon forward was allowed to slot homedespite being clearly offside.
That controversial effort shatteredEverton's resolve as Arsenal celebrated aflattering victory that lifted them to sixthplace in the Premier League.
The north Londoners have now wontheir last five games in all competitions, yet,not for the first time, this was a far fromconvincing display.
A first clean sheet of the Emery era was
a welcome sight for the Arsenal manager,but he will know there is still plenty ofroom for improvement in all areas.
Everton, without a win in their last 25visits to Arsenal, could consider themselvesunlucky, but their first half profligacyproved decisive.
Marco Silva's team have lost their lasttwo matches and have won only one oftheir six league games this season.
�������������������Chelsea dropped their first
points of the season on Sunday asWest Ham held Maurizio Sarri'steam to a 0-0 draw at the LondonStadium.
Chelsea had won all five of theirPremier League matches before theweekend, going toe to toe with Liverpool,who won again on Saturday to make it sixwins out of six.
The visitors dominated possession atthe home of their London rivals but failedto create many clear-cut chances and hadto deal with West Ham's constant threat onthe break.
Olivier Giroud won his battle with
Alvaro Morata for a starting spot up frontfor Chelsea, keeping his place for the sec-ond Premier League match in succession.
But Marko Arnautovic, West Ham'sleading goalscorer this season, missed outafter failing to recover from an injury hesustained against Everton last week.
Chelsea enjoyed more than 70 percentof possession in the first half but West Ham
were dangerous when they wereable to break out, Michail Antonioproving a real handful.
After a cagey opening spell,Chelsea established control but thehome side could have taken a leadagainst the run of play just before thehalf hour.
Felipe Anderson was quick toseize on a loose ball and played in
Antonio, who blasted over with his left foot.That chance breathed new life into the
home crowd and the players and Antoniodrew a smart save from Kepa Arrizabalagain the West Ham goal just two minutes laterafter a fine run from Andriy Yarmolenko.
As the sun came out at the LondonStadium, Chelsea again established controland nearly took the lead when N'Golo
Kante headed wide.The match fell into a similar pattern in
the second half, Chelsea searching foropenings around the West Ham box butFelipe Anderson and Yarmolenko lookeddangerous when the home side broke for-ward.
The home side dealt well with thethreat of Willian and Eden Hazard andGiroud -- picked for his more physicalthreat -- struggled to make a big impres-sion on the game.
The Frenchman was replaced 20 min-utes into the second half by Morata, whowent close to breaking the deadlockmoments after coming on only to seeLukasz Fabianski pull off a stunning stopfrom close range.
But with about 13 minutes to go WestHam had a wonderful chance to win thematch, when the unmarked Yarmolenkoheaded just wide at the far post after a crossby Robert Snodgrass.
Fabianski pulled off another fine saveas the clock ticked into injury time, div-ing to his left to deny substitute RossBarkley and Willian blazed wide as Chelseaapplied intense late pressure.
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Real Madrid moved top of La Ligaafter Marco Asensio's goal proved
the difference in a scrappy 1-0 win overEspanyol.
Their victory at the SantiagoBernabeu may only give Madrid 24hours above Barcelona, who playGirona with their perfect record stillintact.
More pressing for Julen Lopeteguiwill be the defensive slackness thatmade this arguably the least assured ofthe six competitive games he has over-seen so far, including last weekend'sdraw away to Athletic Bilbao.
There were changes, with GarethBale, Marcelo and Dani Carvajal allrested, the latter not even included onthe bench, following Real's win overRoma in the Champions League onWednesday.
But if they gift Atletico Madrid thesame chances in the city derby nextweekend, they may not find theiropponents so generous. Atletico hadearlier ground out a 2-0 win away toGetafe.
"The game was nervous and in thelast 15 minutes we lacked control,"Lopetegui said.
"These post-Champions Leaguegames are always really dangerous andwe know it."
Carvajal's absence meant adebut for Alvaro Odriozola, whojoined from Real Sociedad in thesummer, while Thibaut Courtoisreplaced Keylor Navas to con-tinue Lopetegui's rotation strat-egy in goal.
Espanyol twice could havescored on the counter-attack.The first sprung from a poor headerfrom Raphael Varane but Pablo Piattidragged his finish wide.
Soon after they were in again, asHernan Perez's shot had to be parriedby Courtois and Didac Vila's reboundblocked by Casemiro.
The hosts were more impressivegoing forward and in the 41st minute,they took the lead.
Luka Modric's scuffed shot landedkindly at the feet of Asensio and he didbrilliantly to harpoon the ball into thefar corner.
Referee Mateu Lahoz ruled the goalout for offside but Real were saved byVAR and then later the crossbar, asBorja Iglesias' scooped finish wasdenied late on.
"We are not going to win 5-0every game," Varane said.
������"����������Atletico's victory was more com-
fortable and they had Thomas Lemar
to thank after the Frenchman scored hisfirst goal for the club and instigated
another against Getafe.The result was all but
secure when Getafe's Ivan Alejowas sent off shortly after thehour for a dangerous tackle onSaul Niguez.
Atleti had not lost to Getafe,or even conceded a single goal,in 13 previous meetings but vic-
tory meant more to Diego Simeone'sside after just one win from their open-ing four league games.
This was also the first time Lemarlooked like the player Atletico musthave hoped they bought when theyspent 72 million euros ($84 million) onhim in the summer.
"It's something big, I will never for-get it," Lemar said.
"The coach trusts me and it's theleast I can do to repay his faith."
The first goal was almost a crack-er as Lemar collected the ball offAntoine Griezmann 30 yards out andlet rip with his left foot. Soria was beat-en but the crossbar was not, and it need-ed an unfortunate deflection of thegoalkeeper to find the net.
There was no doubt about the sec-ond after half-time. A sweeping movesaw Atletico move the ball from rightto left, with Koke applying the final passin behind. Lemar touched it aroundSoria and made no mistake.
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Lorenzo Insigne bagged a braceto inspire Napoli to a 3-1 win
over Torino and join Juventus atthe top of Serie A on Sunday, asRoma plunged further into crisiswith a 2-0 loss at Bologna.
Carlo Ancelotti's Napoli have12 points from five games, equalwith champions Juventus whocan pull ahead again when theytravel to promoted Frosinone.
But Roma coach Eusebio DiFrancesco is under increasingpressure after a fourth leaguegame without a win sees last year'sthird-placed team slump to 12thwith five points from as manygames.
Federico Mattiello andFederico Santander scored ineither half to give Bologna, whooccupy the first relegation spot of18th position, their first goals andwin of the season.
"I'm not the type to look forexcuses, I need solutions and I cannot find them," said Di Francesco.
"The facts condemn us, theycondemn me."
In Turin, Ancelotti switchedthings around following Napoli'suninspiring goalless draw at RedStar Belgrade in the ChampionsLeague midweek.
Insigne played a more centralrole along with Dries Mertens asdefender Sebastiano Luperto gothis first start for the Serie A run-ners-up.
"I'm satisfied, we dominated inBelgrade but we couldn't finishthings off like we did today," saidAncelotti.
"Insigne was decisive, buteveryone put in a strong perfor-mance."
The Italian international gotthe first after just four minuteswhen poor Torino defending sawEmiliano Moretti clear to NicolasN'Koulou with the reboundfavouring Insigne, who finished offunder the crossbar.
Simone Verdi added the sec-ond with a half-volley on 20 min-utes, with Torino pulling one back
after the break when AndreaBelotti slotted in a penalty.
But Insigne restored Napoli'stwo-goal lead after 59 minuteswhen a Jose Callejon shot bouncedoff the inside of the far post andinto the path of the Italian forward.
It gives Napoli a boost ahead
of next week's trip to reigningseven-time champions Juventus.
"We won there last season andstill finished second," said Insigne.
"If we don't win the midweekgame with Parma, then the resultwith Juve is irrelevant, so we haveto take it one at a time."
Torino are in 13th positionwith five points from as manygames.
F���������"���G�In Bologna, Roma plunged
further into crisis after a summerwhich saw Di Francesco's side lose
goalkeeper Alisson to Liverpoolwith midfielders Radja Nainggolanand Kevin Strootman also exitingthe Italian capital.
Mattiello curled in Bologna'sfirst goal of the season after 36minutes with ParaguayanSantander adding the second after59 minutes.
Roma — last year'sChampions League semi-finalists— also fell 3-0 at Real Madrid mid-week, and have not won a leaguegame since their first game againstTorino. "There's no inner fire,"lamented the Roma coach."Something is wrong."
Next weekend Roma face bit-ter city rivals Lazio, who saw offGenoa 4-1 on Sunday with CiroImmobile scoring a double, tomove up to fifth place.
Before the derby Roma will tryto boost morale against Frosinonemidweek with Lazio heading toUdinese, who won 2-0 at Chievo.
Inter Milan snatched a late 1-0 win against Sampdoria in Genoaon Saturday to move up to ninth.
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India football team head coachStephen Constantine is upbeat about
his side's international friendly againstChina next month, saying a matchagainst a strong side would help themprepare well for next year's Asian Cup.
India are scheduled to clash withChina in an international friendly onOctober 13 at the Suzhou OlympicSports Centre Stadium at Suzhou City,Jiangsu province.
"China are a strong team and thematch will be a tough test for us. Butwe need to play these sort of gamesright now. Getting to play under pres-sure is important and an away fixturein China is exactly the kind of game weneed," Constantine said
"Hopefully, everyone stays freefrom injury as it's going to be an impor-tant game for the build-up to the AFCAsian Cup in January," he added.
This is the first time ever that anIndian senior national team will be trav-elling to China. The two nations havetill now faced 17 times, all on Indiansoil — the last being 21 years ago forthe Nehru Cup in Kochi in 1997.
India are yet to win a matchagainst China. Out of the past 17matches, 12 have gone in favour ofChina while the remaining five weredrawn.
All India Football Federation(AIFF) General Secretary Kushal Dassaid that the fixture will give an idea oftheir preparations to the team.
"Playing against China in China isa perfect way to gear up for the AFCAsian Cup UAE 2019. China are asupremely talented side and it will pro-vide us an opportunity to furthergauge ourselves where we stand priorto the Continental Championships."
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From a deeper than usualplaymaker role Brazil's
Neymar pulled the strings asParis Saint-Germain camefrom behind to beat Rennes3-1 in Ligue 1 on Sundayhelping to dispel midweekmemories of a European flopat Liverpool.
Hosts Rennes took a sur-prise 11th minute lead whenPSG midfielder AdrienRabiot nodded past his own'keeper Gianluigii Buffonfrom a corner before goalsfrom Angel di Maria, ThomasMeunier and Eric MaximChupo-Moting gave them ahard-fought sixth straightLigue 1 win.
PSG critics had suggest-ed the French giants hadoverspent on strikers and for-gotten about the midfieldafter a tame 3-2 defeat in theChampions League at Anfieldthis week.
With superstar strikerKylian Mbappe banned afterhis red card there was roomfor both Di Maria and
German winger JulianDraxler in the starting line upwith Neymar pulled into theNo 10 position, where hispasses were a sight to behold,behind Edindson Cavani.
A young fan ran ontothe pitch as Neymar was leav-
ing as a late sub and theyoungster crumpled in tearsas his hero hugged him andgave him his shirt in touch-ing scenes bound to glorifythe former Barcelona strikerwhen they go viral on socialmedia.
���������������After Rabiot's earlier upset
Neymar seemed to be at the ori-gin of almost everything the vis-itors threw at Rennes includingwhen Cavani hit the post froma sumptuous set up.
On the stroke of half timeDraxler cut back from the by-line and Cavani dummied set-ting up di Maria to crack a pre-cise jab into the bottom right-hand corner from a good 25meres out.
The 26-year-old Neymarwas at the origin of bothMeunier's go ahead goal on 61and for Chupo-Moting's firstgoal for the Parisians sincejoining from Stoke.
Buffon had his work cut outin the second half as Rennesplaymaker Clement Grenierfed the speedy Senegalese strike-pair M'Baye Niang and the 20-year-old Ismaila Sarr.
Rennes coach SabriLamouchi threw on ex-PSGmidfielder Hatem Ben Arfa forone last roll of the dice but PSGwent home woth all three pointsand ideas about a new formatfor coach Thomas Tuchel.
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Pakistan produced animproved batting per-formance, led by India's
nemesis Shoaib Malik, scoring237 for 7 in a 'Super Four'encounter of the Asia Cuphere on Sunday.
Chasing the target of 238runs set by Pakistan to winsuper four game and seal finalspot of the Asia Cup tourna-ment, Indian openers startedwith a bang once again adding85 runs without loss in 17overs.
Skipper Rohiti Sharma isbatting 39 of 49 deliveries,while his opening partner anddeputy Shikhar Dhawan washammering Pakistani bowlersby scoring 45 of 53 balls.
Unlike the previous timethe two sides face each other,on this occasion Dhawan,who had a forgetful outing inEngland Test series dominat-ed the possession with hisbeautiful stroke play and did-n't allow Pakistan's bowlers totake early breakthroughs andgain command.
Dhawan smashed 6 foursduring his innings, while hisdestructive partner and skip-per Rohit after a slow startpicked up momentum andhas smashed four boundariesand a six to Shaheen Afridi inhis third over.
At the end of 17 overs,India look pretty comfortablein their run chase whilePakistan bowler seems tostruggle to get breakthroughs.
At the end of one third ofIndia's inning, India still need153 runs to win the match inremaining 33 overs and theway the side is cruising itlooks a no difficult task.
Earlier, Veteran Malikscored 78 off 90 balls andadded an invaluable 107 runsfor the fourth wicket withskipper Sarfraz Ahmed (44 off66 balls) to enable Pakistan
post a fighting total.The Pakistan innings
could be segregated into threedistinct parts. A slow startwhere India made inroadsfollowed by solid middle-overs batting before failing toutilise the launch pad fullywith Jasprit Bumrah (2/29 in10 overs) being brilliant at thedeath.
India once again startedwell with Mahendra SinghDhoni's penchant for gettingDRS reviews right afterYuzvendra Chahal (2/46 in 9overs) got his first wicket bytrapping Imam ul Haq (10) infront of the stumps.
Fakhar Zaman (31) wasset but lost his footing tryingto sweep Kuldeep Yadav (2/41in 10 overs) to get leg before.The replays showed that theball hit his gloves first butPakistan didn't take a review.
Babar Azam was run-outwhen his skipper got a call forsingle wrong as Pakistan werereduced to 58 for three.
However it was the Malik-Sarfraz combination that pro-vided the launch pad withtheir sensible approach duringthe middle overs.
The seasoned duo kept onrotating the strike, hitting theboundaries and sixes when-ever given an opportunity.
Malik, who is a masterplayer of spin bowling, hitYuzvendra Chahal for a slogsweep and also played KedarJadhav (0/20 in 3 overs) well.Jadhav was hit for a couple ofboundaries in a single over ashe dropped short.
Without trying to defend,Malik-Sarfraz got singles atwill against Jadhav, promptingRohit to take him off attackafter only three overs.
Ravinda Jadeja (0/50 in 9overs) after a good matchagainst Bangladesh was flatand Malik used his feet to per-fection lofting him straightinto the VIP stands for a six.
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Sarfraz, who played sec-ond fiddle to perfection wasfinally dismissed when hetried to hit Kuldeep over coveronly to be snapped by RohitSharma.
Malik was joined by Asif
Ali (30 off 21 balls), who teedoff by smashing BhuvneshwarKumar for two sixes and aboundary in the 42nd over,that fetched Pakistan 22 runs.
However, there wasanother twist left as Jasprit
Bumrah, coming back for hisfinal spell got an inside edgeoff Malik's bat to get himcaught behind. His inningshad four boundaries and twosixes.
Asif, who looked like cut-
ting loose, missed a googlyfrom Chahal to get bowled asPakistan lost the momentum.
Bumrah was phenomenalat the death, bowling block-hole deliveries at will. In all hebowled 39 dot balls in his 10
overs and Pakistan could scoreonly 38 runs in their lastseven overs.
!���"��������Pakistan: 237/7 in 50 overs(Shoaib Malik 78, Sarfraz
Ahmed 44; YuzvendraChahal 2/46, Kuldeep Yadav2/41, Jasprit Bumrah 2/29). India: 85 for no loss in 17overs (Shikhar Dhawan 45,Rohit Sharma 39) stillneeding 153 to win.