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Asking BJP leaders to“behave” and not to be car-

ried away by the arrogance ofpower, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Tuesdaytook a serious note of partyGeneral Secretary KailashVijayvargiya’s son’s attack onthe Indore civic official with acricket bat saying “such behav-iour will not be tolerated”.

Addressing newly-electedparty MPs in the firstParliamentary Party meet afterthe Lok Sabha poll, the PMsaid, “Beta kisi ka bhi ho,man-mani nahin Chalegi..” (whoso-ever’s son it may be, bad behav-iour will not be tolerated).

Vijayvargiya’s son Akash, afirst-time MLA, was arrestedon June 26 for attacking an offi-cial after an argument over ademolition drive. An unre-pentant Akash was given agrand welcome by his sup-porters after his release fromjail. He reportedly said, “In theBJP we have been taught , pehleaavedan, phir nivedan aur phirdanadan” (first furnish anapplication & then request last-ly resort to attack).

Modi said such incidentsbring the party a bad name andare unacceptable. “If some-body commits a mistake, thereshould be a sense of apology aswell,” he said.

According to sources, thePrime Minister without takingany names said those support-ing unruly behaviour shouldalso be sacked. KailashVijayvargiya was in the meet-

ing when Modi deplored theincident.

It is not known whether thestrong observation from thePrime Minster would triggerany disciplinary action fromthe party or it may die downwith the time. The BJP hadrecently expressed “displea-sure” over Pragya SinghThakur’s praise of NathuramGodse and Union Minister

Giriraj Singh’s comments on‘Iftar’ party organised by a for-mer Chief Minister in Bihar.

BJP general secretary andspokesperson Rajiv PratapRudy said, “The PrimeMinister has expressed hisviewpoint very clearly thatsuch behaviour cannot be tol-erated.

He has always been con-cerned about it. He has always

said there should be no pridein the leaders or they shouldnot behave in a way that harmsthe image of the party. It is not acceptable spe-cially when you are people’srepresentative. This is not forone but for everyone”, Rudysaid.

Rudy quoted the PrimeMinister as saying arrogantbehaviour will not be tolerated

and “action must be taken”. Close to the incident

involving BJP MLA, anotherMLA and his supportersbelonging to TRS had alsoattacked a woman forest officialin Adilabad district inTelangana when she was car-rying out State Governmentordered afforestation drive.The women officer was badlyinjured and hospitalised.

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The Centre on Tuesdaytermed as unconstitution-

al the Uttar PradeshGovernment’s move to include17 communities belonging toOther Backward Classes (OBC)in the Scheduled Caste (SC) listand said the State Governmentshould follow proper procedureand send the related proposalto the Centre. The Centre alsosaid it is Parliament’s preroga-tive to shift one category ofcaste to another.

Making this assertion inthe Rajya Sabha after BSPmember Satish ChandraMishra raised the issue, SocialJustice and EmpowermentMinister Thawar ChandGehlot, who is leader of theHouse also, said the UPGovernment’s directive is “notproper.” He also reiterated themove was not in accordancewith the Constitution as onlyParliament has the right to do so.

The Yogi AdityanathGovernment had on June 24directed district magistratesand commissioners to issuecaste certificates to 17 OBCs —Kashyap, Rajbhar, Dhivar, Bind,Kumhar, Kahar, Kewat, Nishad,

Bhar, Mallah, Prajapati,Dhimar, Batham, Turha,Godia, Manjhi and Machua.

As several Opposition par-ties associated themselves withMishra’s concern over the UPGovernment move, Gehlot saidif the State Government wantsto go ahead with its proposal itshould follow procedure andsend a proposal to the Centre.“We would then consider it,” he said.

He also said the order wasnot in accordance with theConstitution and asked theUP government not to issuecertificates based else the mat-ter may go to court. TheMinister clarified shifting ofone category to another castecategory is the right ofParliament.

In the past also three-foursimilar proposals were sent toParliament, but not agreedupon, he noted and said theState Government should havefollowed proper procedure.Chairman M Venkaiah Naiduasked Gehlot to advise the StateGovernment to follow due

process.Raising the issuethrough a Zero Hour mention,Mishra said under Article 341sub clause (2) of theConstitution, the power to makechanges in the SC list lies onlywith Parliament. “Even President(of India) does not have thepower to tinker, alter or makechanges (in the list),” he said,adding these 17 castes will nei-ther get benefits meant for OBCsnor SCs since a StateGovernment has no power tomake any alteration to the SC list.

He said the BSP was infavour of including 17 castes inSC but only after followingprescribed procedure andincreasing SC quota propor-tionately. “The power ofParliament cannot be usurpedby a State,” he said.

The BSP leader wanted theCentre to issue an advisory tothe UP Government to with-draw the “unconstitutionalorder” as it is harming castes.

The BJP Government in UPis not the first to move on the17 most backward castes in theOBC list.

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At least 40 people were killedand 75 others injured in

various parts of the metropo-lis and elsewhere inMaharashtra on Tuesday, asMumbai suburbs registered arecord rainfall of 375.2 mmduring 24 hours ending at 8.30am and normal life remainedcrippled for the fourth consec-utive day.

On a day when theMaharashtra Governmentdeclared a public holiday as aprecautionary measure and theschools and colleges remainedclosed in the metropolis andneighbouring Thane andPalghar district, Mumbaikarshad a brief respite from rains.But, their travails continued.

Owing to continued water-logging reported from variousparts of the island city and sub-urbs, there was major disrup-tion in the road, rail and airtransport services.

The only saving grace wasthat a majority of office-goerschose to remain confined totheir homes, because of thepublic holiday declared by theState Government.

In a major rain-relatedincident, at least 22 peoplewere killed and 78 othersinjured when a retaining wall

crashed on 60 to 70 hutmentsat Kurar at Malad in northMumbai. The injured wereadmitted to various hospitals,including Trauma Care CentreJogeshwarui, ShatabdiHospital, Kandivli, MV DesaiHospital and Cooper and KEMhospitals, in the city.

Two persons Irfan S. Khan(38) and Gulshad Sheikh(37),who had been trapped inside aSUV in the flooded Maladsubway since Monday night,were found dead in the morn-ing.

The Indian Navy’s team ofdivers from INS Tanaji

deployed rubber boats, life-jackets, lifebouys and rescuedover a 1,000 people stranded inrising waters at Krantinagarslums in Kurla, north-eastMumbai.

The slum is located on thebanks of Mithi river, levels ofwhich rose precariously.

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The US Senate has passed alegislative provision that

brings India at par withAmerica’s NATO allies andcountries like Israel and SouthKorea for increasing defencecooperation.

The National DefenceAuthorisation Act or NDAAfor the fiscal year 2020, thatcontained such a proposal waspassed by the US Senate lastweek.

Introduced by Senate IndiaCaucus Co-Chair Senator JohnCornyn with the support ofSenate India Caucus Co-ChairSenator Mark Warner, theamendment provides forincreased US-India defencecooperation in the IndianOcean in the areas of human-itarian assistance, counterter-rorism, counter-piracy andmaritime security.

Last week, House IndiaCaucus Co-Chair BradSherman, along withCongressmen Joe Wilson, AmiBera, Ted Yoho, GeorgeHolding, Ed Case and RajaKrishnamoorthi introduced asimilar legislative proposal tothe House FY2020 NDAA thatwould greatly enhance the US-India relationship.

The Bill would be signedinto law after both the cham-bers of the US Congress — theHouse of Representatives andthe Senate — passes it. TheHouse is expected to take up itsversion of the NDAA some-time in July before legislatorsadjourn for the month-longAugust recess on July 29.

In a statement, the HinduAmerican Foundation com-mended Senators Cornyn andWarner for their efforts inadvancing the US-India strate-gic partnership.

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In a pan-India operationagainst bank loan defaulters,

the CBI on Tuesday launcheda massive crackdown by car-rying out searches at over 61locations in 18 cities across 12States after registering 17 casesinvolving embezzlement fundsamounting to �1,139 crore.

Over 300 officers drawnfrom various units of theagency swooped down in asynchronised fashion at over 61locations on the basis of com-plaints received from variousnationalised banks and inputsdeveloped by the agency, offi-cials said.

The figure, which stood ataround �640 crore during theday, swelled to �1,139 crore asthe agency continued filing ofFIRs during the day andexpanding its search opera-tions.

Braving the waterloggedstreets of Mumbai due to inces-sant rains, the agency officialscarried out searches at pro-moters and directors ofWinsome Diamonds foundedby absconding diamantaireJatin Mehta who was booked ina fresh FIR registered underthis operation.

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Astudy done by the CentralRoad Research Institute

(CRRI) shows that the Centre’sf lagship project EasternPeripheral Expressways (EPE)— popularly known as Palwal-Kundli-Ghaziabad expressway— appears to be not utilisedmuch by the commuters due tolack of proper facilities such asproper signs, fuel stations, toi-lets, dhaba facility among others.

Study also shows that dri-vers due to lack of proper direc-tions rely upon online applica-tions like Google maps whichhas resulted in accidents.

According to the report,more than 15 per cent usersfaced confusion while enteringthe expressway and more than70 per cent faced directional

confusion in areas (at inter-change, National Highway(NH), State Highway (SH) )around expressway due to lackof proper display of signboardsat entry and exit points.

“Apart from proper sign-boards, retro reflective chevronsigns at all merging/divergingcurves is missing. Lateral rum-ble strips should be installedspecifically before traffic merg-ing area on EPE to break themonotony of drivers. Further,it is necessary to provide trucklay-by on EPE for safety ofparked vehicles and drivers oflong hail trips,” says the report.

Nearly 40,000 vehicles areusing the 135 kilometres longexpressway close to the esti-mated target of 50,000 vehiclesper day. But only 13 per cent ofheavy goods vehicles are usingthe expressway. The

Government aimed to divertabout 25,000 to 30,000 HMV’s(heavy motorised vehicles) perday to EPE to cut the air pol-lution in the city. Further onaverage, about 10,000 vehiclesare entering the EPE from dif-ferent locations every day.

Further, the study showsthere is no such large impact onDelhi traffic after the openingof EPE as only 11-13 per centreduction in the traffic has beenwitnessed, that too at somepoints such as at Tikri (13 percent) and KGT Singhu Border,Narela (11 per cent) but atmajor sections such asBadarpur border, the trafficvolume has increased to six percent.

“The Badarpur border hasrelatively low impact due toEPE as it’s from EPE enteringat Palwal,” says the report.

While the CRRI reportand expert say the expresswayshave the capacity of 10-15 percent more vehicles than theaimed target of 50,000 vehicles.

“The main aim behindthis project was to reduce airpollution in the Delhi by

diverting the HMV’s vehicles,trucks, lorry, especially dieselvehicles. But as per survey, 61per cent of the total vehiclespassing the EPE are LightMotor Vehicles — cars.Moreover, the drivers need tobe sensitised and encouragedto use this route,” saidRavindra Kumar, PrincipalScientist and Head of theDepartment (HOD),Transportation Planning andEnvironment Division TrafficBuilding.

However, a high rankingofficial of National HighwayAuthority of India (NHAI)claimed that the Expressway isused largely by the commercialand other vehicles and the traf-fic volume has also increasedfrom 40,000 to one lakh. Theset up of fuel station has alsobeen initiated.

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In view of the monsoon sea-son, the Municipal

Corporation of Dehradun(MCD) is likely to add rope inmore sanitation workers fromother places. Mayor SunilUniyal ‘Gama’ on Tuesday stat-ed that the issue is being dis-cussed among the officials of theMCD and if needed, the addi-tional workers will be appoint-ed.

Addressing the media onMonday mayor Sunil Uniyal‘Gama’ said, “The cleanliness ofthe city is one of our major con-cerns especially in the monsoonseason and necessary steps havebeen taken by us to clean thecity. The work of cleaning the

big drains of the city is stillunderway.” When asked aboutthe lesser number of sanitationstaff in MCD, he said, “The issueof limited sanitation staff is inour notice and we have talkedto the mayor of Muzaffarnagar(Uttar Pradesh).

If needed, more staff will beappointed on a temporary basisfrom there.” It is important tomention that the present work-ers of the MCD have held aprotest against the formation ofthe sanitation committees inevery ward. Even after spendingmany years in service many arenot appointed as permanentworkers.

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Jankranti Vikas Morcha(JVM) held a protest on

Monday at the MunicipalCorporation of Dehradun(MCD).

The group accused offi-cials of not doing their dutyproperly and stated that MCDshould start taking necessarysteps for improving their ser-vices in the city which canactually bring changes.

Chairperson of JVM AmitJain said, “We want that at leastthe basic developments shouldbe facilitated in the city by theMCD. The hollow promiseswill not work anymore.”

The memorandum sub-mitted by the group compris-es 10 points demanding stepslike regularisation of all slumsettlements under MCD,

identifying and collectingthe data of the Governmentland from all the wards, mea-sures for preventing dengueand such diseases, strong man-agement for waterloggingproblem and the formation of

a committee for checking thedevelopment work of theMCD. Adding further in this

Jain said, “The development ofthe city is directly connectedwith the development of the

citizen. We urge the officials todraw their attention towardthese issues.”

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With the temperatures inthe plains rising high

and monsoon anomalies exac-erbating the resulting incon-venience, the flow of tourists tohill stations in Uttarakhand hasseen a marked increase thisyear.

As people from the plainsand neighbouring states andNCR visiting hill stations andChar Dham shrines inUttarakhand, people in placeslike parts of Dehradun andMussoorie are bearing thebrunt of problems resultingfrom the flood of visitors.

The roads are packed withfour- wheelers especially on theweekends as seen on the roadfrom Dehradun to Mussoorieas visitors seek higher groundfor relief and relaxation.

As a result, various locali-ties in Dehradun andMussoorie face a string ofproblems due to the trafficjams, inadequate transport ser-vices and other aspects.

“Tourism is the primarysource of income for many inthe hill station of Mussoorie.

Here, the majority of the busi-nesses rely on the tourismwhich reaches its peak in thesummers. But, the locals have

to suffer too. The chaos due to traffic

jams, overcrowded roads andwater shortages are some of the

major problems we suffer” saysMussoorie resident RajBijalwan. Talking about theinconvenience caused to peo-

ple at bus stations RaghavBijalwan, a resident of Landour,Mussoorie says, “ We can seethe long queues of people

standing in the Mussoorie busstation that causes problemsnot only to the tourists but alsoto the common people ofMussoorie. We have to standin queues for hours. The traf-fic is also increasing daily,which is causing a lot of incon-venience to the people.”

Most of the buses andother vehicles are alreadybooked for the Char DhamYatra which leaves the localswith few options to visit theirhomes in the mountains.

Asha Juyal, a passengergoing to her village, waiting forthe taxi at Rispana Taxi Standexplained the general problemsfaced by the passengers saying,“It has been more than an hoursince we have been waiting forthe taxi.

Two weeks ago while goingto Srinagar there were longqueues of cars and other vehi-cles and we were stuck in jamfor about three hours.”

While the commuters arestruggling to get seats, the dri-vers too are tired of frequenttraffic jams. “Traffic Jam is themain problem during Yatraseason,” said taxi driverRajendra Singh.

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The State Commission forProtection of Child Rights

(SCPCR) has written a letter tothe home secretary seeking anupdate on action taken in theVasu murder case.

SCPCR chairperson UshaNegi said that the parents ofthe two children who wereheld responsible for the deathof Vasu have come forwardand asked for help claimingthat their children are inno-cent.Also, nothing by the homesecretary has been done so farin pursuance of past commu-nications from the SCPCR.

Negi said, “As we said ear-lier the two children are spend-ing their life in jail are inno-cent. Both are 18 years old andwere framed by the police andschool administration with afake promise of early releasebut this never happened. The

parents of the children alongwith other parents of the stu-dents in school have comeforward and asked for help cit-ing the same thing that boththe children are innocent.”Adding about the sent lettershe said, “I wrote a letter onMarch 29 to the CM asking fora probe by Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) in the caseafter which directions weregiven to the home secretary onMay 20 by the CM.

However, no update in thecase was sent to us. We havenow sent a letter to the homesecretary seeking an answer.Necessary steps will be takenif the answer will not be satis-factory.”

It will be recalled that 12-year old Vasu Yadav wasallegedly murdered in theChildren Home Academy inHaridwar during March thisyear.

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As per the officials of theMunicipal Corporation ofDehradun (MCD) irrigationdepartment is responsible forcleaning Rispana and Bindalrivers. Chief medical healthofficer in MCD, Dr KailashJoshi said, “As per the directionsof the mayor, MCD deployed ateam to clean the big and smalldrains in the city in addition tothe Bindal and Rispana. The

workers were regularly appoint-ed in the areas. In my record thenumber of drains which havebeen cleaned this year beforemonsoon has never been donebefore.

Further, the main duty ofcleaning these Rispana andBindal rivers lies with the irri-gation department.” It is per-tinent to mention here that incities, the rivers come under thepurview of the irrigationdepartment. Regarding the

Bindal and Rispana rivers, theprevious mayor Vinod Chamolialso had to approach the irri-gation department repeatedlyjust to ascertain the actualbreadth of the Rispana andBindal rivers in order demar-cate encroachments on river-side areas.

It now remains to be seenwhether the irrigation depart-ment will take up the task ofcleaning these rivers inDehradun.

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In the case where four women hailing from a different State putbehind the bars recently for begging with children, the State

Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) has senta letter to the director general of police (DIG) law and order AshokKumar seeking DNA tests of the women and children.

The SCPCR chairperson Usha Negi said, “We have asked fora DNA test to ascertain whether the women are the parents ofthe children. It is possible that the children were kidnapped orbelong to someone else.”

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Plans are afoot to use theKanwad Patri marg for elec-

tricity production using solarpanels. With this plant 19mega watts electricity can begenerated to supply to thenational grid.

The plan has been pro-posed by irrigation depart-ment and sent to the stategovernment for approval.Aproject proposal worth � 76crore has been sent to the state

government for installation ofsolar panel plant along theGanga canal Patri Marg. Manyreputed companies have beencontacted for the same andgiven the offer.

The interested companieswould make their own invest-ment and after getting greensignal from the StateGovernment for this pilot pro-ject, 19 megawatts electricitywill be generated. The irriga-tion department has a stretchof land available along the 60

kilometre long GangnaharPatri Marg.

If the pilot project getsapproval then a bigger solarpower plant worth hundredmegawatts capacity shall bedesigned, say the officials.

Speaking to this corre-spondent, the executive engi-neer of irrigation department,Haridwar, RK Tiwari said,"Solar energy panels are pro-posed to be installed along theland available along the 60kilometre Gangnahar stretch.

In the first phase, a five kilo-metre stretch from JhotwaraBridge, Jwalapur toBahadrabad has been proposedfor the pilot project."

Notably a similar solarproject along Sabarmati riverfront at Ahmedabad in Gujarathas been made with which 10megawatts of electricity is beingproduced. A delegation ofengineers from IrrigationDepartment of Haridwar hadgone to Gujarat to to see theworking of the plant recently.

��.4�.��42

Taking up a public interest litigationchallenging the caste certificates of

Jhabreda MLA Deshraj Karnwal of theBharatiya Janata Party, the high court ofUttarakhand has issued a notice to him.The matter is listed to be taken up forhearing next after two weeks.

According to the case details,Haridwar resident Vipin Tomar had filedthe PIL in the high court demanding thatthe caste certificates of the Jhabreda MLAbe checked.

The petitioner has claimed thatKarnwal used invalid caste certificates tocontest the Vidhan Sabha elections fromthe reserved constituency of Jhabreda.

The validity of his caste certificatesshould be checked, the petitioner hasdemanded.

After hearing the petition, the divi-sion bench of chief justice RameshRanganathan and justice Alok Kumar

Verma issued a notice to Karnwal whilelisting the matter for hearing after a peri-od of two weeks. It will be recalled thatin the past, BJP MLA from Khanpur,

Pranav Singh ‘Champion’ had alsoaccused his Jhabreda counterpart ofusing invalid caste certificates to contestthe election.

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Short circuit in a transformerat Shankarpur in Sahaspur

ended up damaging multipleelectric equipment in nearbyhouses.

The short circuit furtherescalated and resulted in a fireaccident at a fire cracker fac-tory.

Police and personnel ofFire and Emergency servicestook control of the fire.According to the information

provided by the police, seniorofficials of the fire departmenthave been informed to find outthe reasons behind this fireaccident, further actions will betaken upon that their report.

According to the informa-tion provided by the police, at8:30 am on Tuesday a trans-former situated at Shankarpurhad a short circuit.

Due to which a nearby firecrackers factory has caughtfire, which is resulting in smallexplosion at the factory.

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Presiding over a Janata Milanprogramme to address pub-

lic grievances on Tuesday, chiefminister Trivendra SinghRawat directed officials con-cerned to ensure necessaryaction within one week on thecomplaints received frommembers of the public. TheCM addressed the grievancesof 170 persons on the spotincluding 49 applications forfinancial assistance.

Addressing the officials,Rawat directed that the lowhanging power lines should berepaired without delay. Officialsshould ensure removal of allsuch encroachments which arecausing water logging.

Instructing officials to takenecessary action on the publicgrievances within one week,Rawat said that the applicant andchief minister’s office should alsobe informed about the actiontaken within a week. Complaintsreceived from the public at anylevel should be taken seriouslyand attempts should be made toprovide relief.

The chief minister saidthat not only had the citizensregistered their complaints andissues, but many had also madesuggestions. All these sugges-tions will be considered seri-ously and the ones found to be

in the interest of the state willalso be implemented.

Majority of the complaintsreceived in the Janata Milanprogramme were regardingroad construction, drinkingwater, sewer, scholarship,waterlogging and encroach-ment among other issues. OnBadkot resident SanjayThapliyal’s application seek-ing repair of damaged road, thePublic Works Department wasdirected to take necessaryaction. The forest departmentwas directed to present a status

report regarding the construc-tion of roads stalled inYamkeshwar due to forest relat-ed objections. The potablewater department was direct-ed to act on the issue of potablewater supply communicatedby Sukhbir Butola, a resident ofChandrabani area inDehradun. The health depart-ment was directed to inquireand submit a report on a com-plaint about the primary healthcentre at Anu near Tyuni beingclosed. Rawat said that MadanMohan Negi’s complaint about

not receiving Atal AyushmanYojana card is a serious issueand directed the health depart-ment to probe and inform theCM office about it. Another cit-izen, Keval Chauhan com-plained about the problem ofroad at Bhutanu in Uttarkashi,in response to which the CMassured all necessary action. Alady, Vimal complained thatshe was landless but in gov-ernment documents it wasshown that she had received aplot. The CM directed officialsto probe into this matter. In

response to Bachan Singh Negicomplaining about someonetaking forceful possession of hisland, the CM directed the subdivisional magistrate to inves-tigate and take action withoutdelay in the matter.

Dehradun mayor SunilUniyal ‘Gama’, Mussoorie MLAGanesh Joshi, Dehradun dis-trict magistrate C Ravishankar,additional secretary to CM,Meharban Singh Bisht and var-ious departmental officialswere also present on the occasion.

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Al e o p a r dwhich had

entered theSrinagar medicalcollege in Pauridistrict onSunday was shotdead on Tuesday.The killing hasevoked strongcriticism fromanimal rightsactivists espe-cially after it wasrevealed that theleopard had ametal wire snarearound its neck.It is also beingalleged that noattempt wasmade to tran-quilise the leop-ard.

A leopardhad entered the

medical college in Srinagar onSunday and injured a total ofthree staff members there. Onthat day and the following day,the forest department wasunable to isolate the big cat andtranquilise it. Cages wereplaced in an attempt to trap theleopard which reportedlyremained elusive. According tosources, on Tuesday, a licensedhunter along with forestdepartment staff started check-ing the rooms of the college insearch of the leopard. The bigcat was spotted and purport-edly shot with a tranquiliserdart which reportedly made thebig cat attack the men. Thelicensed hunter shot the leop-ard. It was then discovered thatthe eight year old male leopard

also had a metal wire snarewrapped around its neck.

People For Animals (PFA)trustee Gauri Maulekhi lam-basted the forest department,stating that this incident is asign of the utter lack of lead-ership in the department.Talking to The Pioneer, shesaid, “How difficult can it be totrace a big cat in a confinedspace like the medical collegebuilding? I have learnt fromreliable sources that there wasactually no trained veterinari-an at the site and that noattempt was made to actuallytranquilise the leopard. It is adisgrace that a leopard alreadysuffering due to a metal wiresnare around its neck was shotdead instead of being profes-

sionally tranquilised, rescuedand treated. Will the depart-ment now also lodge a caseregarding the metal wiresnare?”

Questioning the function-ing of the forest department shesaid that veterinarians arelearning about treatment of rhi-noceros and exotic wild ani-mals not even found in the statebut when it comes to scenarioslike the leopard entering themedical college building, aqualified veterinarian adept athandling such a situation is notavailable.

This correspondentphoned the principal chiefconservator of forests Jai Raj forhis view but he was unavailablefor comments.

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After many days of extensiveresearch for the recovery of

eighth missing mountaineer onNanda Devi east peak, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP)may abandon the search.According to the official sources,the idea is to first identify thebodies recovered and find outwhich one is still missing. On theother hand, the team fromIndian MountaineeringFoundation (IMF) has safelyreturned to Bageshwar head-quarters on Tuesday.

Official ITBP spokesmanVivek Pandey said, “The teamof mountaineers has shifted allthe seven bodies to base campI at 15,250 feet, where a tem-porary helipad has been estab-lished. The bodies will be takento Munsyari first throughIndian Air Force helicopters andthen to Pithoragarh district. Atwhat time they will be liftedfrom base camp I will dependon the weather conditions.”

When asked about the lastbody that is yet to be recoveredhe said, “Our teams have carriedout search at the mishap site forhours, but we have not foundany clue so far. So, we plannedto at least carry the other bod-ies to Pithoragarh first.

About the IMF team expe-diting from Pindari glacier in

Bageshwar district, DistrictMagistrate (DM) RanjanaRajguru said, “All team mem-bers reached Bageshwar head-quarters on Monday night.The pharmacist of StateDisaster Response Force, whowent with them till the advancecamp, has also returned safely.Throughout their expedition

we were constantly incontact and were get-ting information everyday.””

Speaking on behalfof IMF, Colonel HSChauhan said, “Theystayed in the advancecamp for 7-8 days. It isnot safe to stay at highaltitude for longer peri-od of time. Due to theirextended time in themountain we had towithdraw them.”

It is pertinent tomention here eightmountaineers report-edly went missing fromMay 26, when they

failed to reach at Nanda DeviEast base camp. After which anexpedition was conducted byITBP and seven of them wererecovered. The recovered bod-ies include those of one womanclimber and one Indianclimber. Their official verifica-tion procedure will be done inPithoragarh district.

�� 1/�*41�.

For the smooth and secureconduct of Kanwad Mela

2019, the 15th Inter State andInter Agencies Co-ordinationmeeting was held in Dehradunon Tuesday. With representa-tives from Uttar Pradesh, Delhi,Haryana, railway securityforces, Indo-Tibetan BorderPolice (ITBP) and SashastraSeema Bal (SSB), key decisionswere taken regarding parkingfacilities, crowd management,inter-state coordination andtraffic management.

Director General of Police(DGP) Anil K Raturi said,“Taking lessons from the pastmistakes we have done our pro-fessional preparation for thisyear. About 36 per cent of thetotal Kanwadias hail fromHaryana and nearly 30 to 32per cent from Western UttarPradesh. We have asked theinspector generals of respectivestates to speak with the localrepresentatives from the homeareas of the Kanwadias andconduct awareness programmeregarding the route plan andother necessary do’s and don’tsto avoid inconvenience.”

When asked about themain purpose of the meet he

said, “The main reason waspreparation for Kanwad Mela.Other than that we have shareddata regarding the wantedcriminals and other informa-tion, so that if there is any suchcase of human trafficking, childbeggars found from outerstates, unknown dead bodies,we can have better coordina-tion with other states.”

He further added, “Unlikeany other religious fair, KanwadMela mainly consists of young-sters who are full of enthusiasm.They come in large numbers fora short period of time. Thistime is especially a challenge forUttarakhand police in order tomaintain law and order interms of traffic related issues,accidents, communal situations

and internal security.”Regarding the use of DJs

and customised vehicles hesaid, “Customised (Jugaad)vehicles are banned, their usewill not be permitted. For theuse of DJs, there are guidelinesissued by Supreme Court ofIndia and we will be enforcingit accordingly. Kanwad shallnot be of more than seven feetand the persons carrying themmust carry their identificationcards.”

In the meeting, it wasdecided that the states sharingborders with Uttarakhand willbe conducting joint checking atinter-state boundaries. Strictactions will be taken for theprevention on the usage ofcounterfeit currency.

�� 1/�*41�.

The State Meteorological Centre has issued a warning of heavyrainfall which is likely to occur at isolated places in Nainital,

Champawat and Pauri districts today. Light to moderate rain-fall and thunderstorm are also likely to occur at most placesin the state.

State meteorological centre director Bikram Singh said, “Asmonsoon has already arrived in many parts of the state,Haridwar and Dehradun remain the only districts that have notreceived monsoon properly yet. However, there is a possibili-ty of good rainfall in Dehradun from on July 3, 4, 5, and 6.

On Wednesday, Dehradun is likely to experience partly togenerally cloudy sky. Rain and thunderstorm are likely to occurin some places. The maximum and minimum temperatures ofthe city are likely to be 34 degree Celsius and 22 degree Celsiusrespectively.

Meanwhile, the maximum and minimum temperaturesrecorded at various places of the state on Tuesday were 35.9degree Celsius and 19.6 degree Celsius respectively inDehradun, 35 degree Celsius and 28 degree Celsius inPantnagar, 23 degree Celsius and 16.3 degree Celsius inMukteshwar, 26.4 degree Celsius and 16.2 degree Celsius respec-tively in New Tehri.

�� 1/�*41�.

The Vice President of state unit ofCongress party Surya Kant Dhasmana

met the director general (DG) state healthservices, Dr Ravindra Thapliyal on Tuesdayand expressed anguish at non availability ofanti rabies vaccine (ARV) in Uttarakhand.

In the meeting, Dhasmana expressedsurprise at the fact that the ARV is not avail-able in Dehradun and other parts of thestate from last three months but the statehealth department and the government arepaying no attention over this importantissue. He said that the number of victimsof dog and monkey bites in Dehradun andother areas of the state is quite large and inabsence of vaccine people are forced to buythe life saving vaccine from black marketor get is arranged from neighboring UttarPradesh at high prices. Dhasmana said chiefminister is heading the state health depart-ment and absence of ARV has exposed thestate of health service in Uttarakhand.

In his response, the DG accepted thatabsence of ARV is causing problems topeople. He said that the vaccine is import-ed and supply is affected from last fewmonths.

In the Government Doon MedicalCollege ( GDMC) Hospital alone more than125 patients visit every day for this vaccinefrom different parts of the state. In absenceof the vaccine they had to get the life sav-ing vaccine from the black market at exor-bitant prices.

The ARV is administered intra dermalor intra muscular four times in a fixedschedule on an animal bite victim. The vac-cine is injected on 0, 3 ,7 and 28 day of theanimal bite. The vaccine is injected free ofcost in the government hospitals wherethere is facility of cold storage.

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�� 1/�*41�.

In an important development, the med-ical health and family welfare, govern-

ment of India has included Rota virus vac-cine in the regular immunization pro-gramme in Uttarakhand. As of now, theRota virus vaccine is being administeredin the children of 11 states. On Tuesday,a two day training programme for thehealth officers of Garhwal region startedin Dehradun. For Kumoan, the workshopwould be held on July 3 .

In the workshop, experts informedthat diarrhea triggered by Rota virus isfatal and vaccination is the only solution.

Addressing the workshop, the direc-tor National Health Mission (NHM), DrAnjali Nautiyal said that the rota virus vac-cine would be administered along the pen-tavalent vaccine in the children below oneyear of age. She informed that diarrhea isone of the major causes of death in thechildren below five years of age and 40

percent of the diarrhea affected childrenare infected by the Rota virus.

Terming inclusion of Rota virus vac-cine in the regular immunization as appre-ciable, state immunization officer, Dr SarojNaithani said that the vaccine is adminis-tered orally like the polio vaccine. She said

that at present the vaccine is administeredin private clinics and hospitals and the par-ents have shell out Rs 1000 to Rs 1200 forit but now the health department wouldprovide this vaccine free of cost. DrNaithani claimed that child mortality canbe reduced by 74 percent by rota vaccine.

�� 1/�*41�.

The doctors at the department of oph-thalmology of Government Doon

Medical College (GDMC) hospital herehave claimed to perform a complex eyesurgery on a female patient.

The head of department of the oph-thalmology at GDMC hospital, Dr SushilOjha said that Sanjeeda , 47 Year femalepatient, a resident of Nagina in Bijnor dis-trict off Uttar Pradesh (UP) was broughtbefore him with at Eye OPD with severeSyblepheron, a condition where the corneagets attached with eye lids. In the patientsof this disease, the sight is affected due tolimitation of lid movements whichobscures the visual axis.

“Patient came for second opinion toGDMC as she was advised a four stepsurgery which included symblepharonrelease with forbid reconstruction andcataract surgery with penetratingKeratoplasty. In private hospitals the cost

of the operation is about Rs one lakh,’’ hesaid.

It is pertinent to mention here thatSanjeeda, the patient belonged to a poorfamily as her son works in welding shopas a labourer.

Dr Ojha said that a team of Eye spe-cialists of GDMC hospital decided to dosurgery in view of complexity of her prob-lem.

“ On Tuesday first part of the surgerywas accomplished successfully whichincluded release of Syblepharon andreconstruction of lower fornix.

The next surgical steps will be doneafter two months of satisfactory post oper-ative course,’’ he quipped.

Expressing happiness on successfuloperation, the medical superintendent(MS) of the GDMC hospital Dr K K Tamtasaid that the hospital is rising up to highexpectations of patients.

The Principal of the GDMC, DrAshutosh Sayana said that the basic pur-pose having Medical College in the pro-visional state capital is to provide highquality treatment and act as a tertiaryhealth care centre. He said that the hos-pital is catering to the required expecta-tion. Dr Sayana however added that a tiersystem of referral should be set in placeso that only difficult cases are referred inthe GDMC hospital. He congratulatedteam of eye specialists headed by Dr SushilOjha for the operation.

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Cases of cyber crimes,including cheating people

through phone calls, forgednet-banking transactions andillegal payment through paytm,are occurring thick and fast inHaryana.

Through illegal net-bank-ing transactions, large numbersof people of the state usingATMs or net-banking are los-ing their hard-earned moneyon almost daily basis. As perthe investigation reports, mostof the gangs involved in suchcrimes are being based in therural areas of Jharkhand.

Talking to The Pioneer,Haryana Director General ofPolice, Manoj Yadava said

to deal with such cases, twocyber crime police stationshave been set up in Gurugramand Panchkula.

The DGP said that to solvethe cyber crime cases involvingfraudsters from Jharkhandswiftly, the state police will seekcoordination from Jharkhandpolice.

He added that in additionto this, an awareness cam-paign regarding the same willbe initiated, especially in ruralparts so that all the victimscould register their complaintssoon after the incident occur.

Yadava also appealed to the

people who lost their hardearn money though illegal net-banking transactions to regis-ter such complaint at police sta-tion concerned and assuredthat action will be taken by theofficer concerned by conduct-ing thorough investigation ofthe registered complaints.

As per registered com-plaints, some people inHaryana receive phone callsfrom fraudsters who whilebeing based in states likeJharkhand and others, pose asbranch managers or employeesof banks.

They say that your ATM isblocked and to open it sharethem ATM’s password. In thisway, they dupe people whoshare them password of ATM.Moreover, one of the fastest-growing types of fraud is onlinepayment. Such complaints arealso reported on daily basis.

On the condition ofanonymity, an investigatingofficer said that most of cybercrime cases and illegal net-banking transactions occur-ring in Haryana are takingtime to solve because most ofsuch criminals are based inJharkhand.

Persons committing crimeslive in disturbed Maoist areasof Jharkhand. Fraudsters sittingin Jharkhand are committingsuch crimes as they are easily

getting SIM cards from theretail outlets without submit-ting valid photo and docu-ments and their signature.

Another police officer saidthat as fraudsters are using fakeidentity cards, the team mem-bers reach Jharkhand to findthat the person is illiterate andhas no knowledge of the com-plex banking system. The iden-tified person are illiterate anddo not know how to operatemobile phones.

Kamal Deep Goyal,Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (DCP), Panchkula saidon phone that cases of dupingelderly persons especiallywomen who come to ATMs towithdraw money are on the

rise. The accused used to helpelderly persons in operatingATM machine and then takenote of pin or change theirdebit card and later withdrawmoney.

The Cyber Crime andTechnical Investigation Cell islocated at his office, Panchkula.The Cell is headed by an offi-cer and works under his super-vision.

The Cyber Cell enquiresinto all cyber crime relatedcomplaints and submits itsreports to senior Police officersfor appropriate action.

The Cell receives com-plaints related to data theft,misuse of data,defamatory/abusive e-mail, e-

mail hacking, online lotteryfraud, misuse of credit cards,net banking fraud/fraudulenttransfer of money, e-ticketfrauds, on-line recruitmentfrauds, threatening e-mails,threatening sms/calls frommobile among others. TheCyber Cell provides active sup-port to all Investigating Officers( IOs) in mobile phone relatedinvestigation.

On June 22 in year 2018Cyber Cell of Panchkula Policereceived 48 complaints relatedto cyber crime and 9 caseswere registered under IT Act,2000.

Any person/firm/companycan file/submit cyber crimerelated complaint directly toany SHO, ACP, DCP or CP intheir respective office. Thecomplaint can also be sentonline. The complainantshould invariably write hiscontact number in his com-plaint, DCP added.

Moreover, sources in thepolice department said thatCyber Crime Police Station,Panchkula is not fully opera-tional. Around 11 police per-sonal have been deputed there.Work related to installation ofmachines, software and othernecessary equipment at CyberCrime Police Station,Panchkula are being donerapidly.

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Blaming the PakistanGovernment for delaying

the construction of passage toGurudwara Kartarpur Sahib inits territory, the ShiromaniAkali Dal (SAD) on Tuesdayurged the neighbouring coun-try to remove cap on the num-ber of devotees who pay obei-sance at the Kartarpur Sahiband also demanded permit feewaiver for them.

Notably, both India andPakistan Governments, in2018, had agreed to constructthe Kartarpur Corridor toenable devotees to pay obei-sance at the historic Gurdwarain Pakistan’s Kartarpur — thefinal resting place of founder ofSikhism Guru Nanak Dev.

The corridor will link theDera Baba Nanak shrine inPunjab’s Gurdaspur withGurdwara Darbar Sahib atKartarpur in Pakistan.

“Pakistan has put a cap onthe number of devotees to 700per day and that too forrestricted number of days peryear,” pointed the SAD presi-dent Sukhbir Badal whileadding that the entry fee andpermit costs proposed by

Pakistan for pilgrims are alsovery high at Rs 1,600 per per-son on normal days and Rs8,000 per person on specialdays.

Sharing the visuals of theproposed structure in theIndian side, Sukhbir said thatPakistan also proposed torestrict this facility for onlyIndian nationals and People ofIndian Origin (NRIs) cannotaccess it.

Describing the cap on thenumber of devotees and permitfee as “unreasonable”, Sukhbirurged the Pakistan Governmentto “have a large heart”.“ThePakistan Government shouldwaive the permit and entry feefor devotees and allow entry of5,000 devotees on normal daysand 15,000 on special days,” hedemanded. At the same time,

Sukhbir also thanked PrimeMinister Narendra Modi forspeedy construction of theKartarpur corridor.

“The Union Governmenthas expeditiously started workon a world class and state-of-the-art passenger terminalbuilding complex as well as anall-weather bridge on the Raviriver to facilitate unrestrictedand easy flow of pilgrims,” hesaid.

As much as 50 acres of landhad been acquired for projectworks worth Rs 290 crore.“The passenger terminal build-ing will be completed byOctober this year and nation-al highway connecting zeropoint will be completed bySeptember this year,” he said.

Expressing dismay overthe construction of a causewayby Pakistan instead of a bridgefor the Kartarpur Corridor, hesaid: “It is unfortunate that thePakistan Government isindulging in double speak.”

“Pakistan is mouthing plat-itudes about the work it is tak-ing up to make the Kartarpurcorridor a reality, but the factis that it is constructing a merecauseway on its side instead ofa 320-metre bridge,” he said.

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Aday after Bollywood actor-turned-politician Sunny

Deol appointed his “repre-sentative” to look after work inhis constituency, the BJP’sGurdaspur MP on Tuesdayexpressed his unhappiness forcreating a controversy “out ofnothing”.

Sunny Deol, in an officialletter, appointed a writerGurpreet Singh Palheri as hisrepresentative to “attend meet-ings and follow importantmatters” — a move whichfailed to go down well with hisrival and a section of people ofhis constituency ho criticisedhis decision terming it as“betrayal of the voters’ man-date”.

In an attempt to silence hiscritics, Sunny Deol tweeted hisresponse on Tuesday sayingthat the appointment wasmade to “ensure smooth flowof work” whenever he was “outof Gurdaspur”.

The first-time MP addedthat it was “extremely unfor-tunate to see a controversybeing created out of nothing atall”.

Deol contended, “I haveappointed my PA (PersonalAssistant) to represent my

office in Gurdaspur. Thisappointment has been made toensure smooth flow of workwhenever I am out ofGurdaspur to attendParliament or travelling forwork.”

He stated that the inten-tion behind such an appoint-ment was “to merely ensurethat no work is disrupted ordelayed due to any reasonwhatsoever and to keep myselfupdated on daily basis”.

“We have our entire partyleadership in the constituencyto look into matters and havemy full support and vice versa.I, as an elected Member ofParliament, am genuinelycommitted to the cause ofGurdaspur and will do my bestto ensure that I serve my peo-ple to the best of my capacity,”he wrote on his Twitter han-dle.

In a letter issued on theletterhead of the GurdaspurMP, Deol on Monday appoint-ed Palheri as his “representa-tive”.

“I hereby appointGurpreet Singh Palheri, son ofSupinder Singh, resident of vil-lage Palheri, district Mohali,Punjab, as my representative toattend meetings and followimportant matters pertaining

to my Parliamentary con-stituency, Gurdaspur (Punjab),with concerned authorities,”the letter signed by Deol read.

Punjab MinisterSukhjinder Singh Randhawalashed out at Deol for appoint-ing a representative anddubbed the move a “betrayal”of the voters of the border con-stituency.

Sources in the party main-tained that Palheri had alsobeen authorised to take up theissues related to Gurdaspurwith Deputy CommissionerVipul Ujjwal. “Palheri’sappointment is a clear-cutindication that he has beenauthorised to chair meetingsincluding review meetings ofthe Central Government-spon-sored schemes on behalf of theMP,” a senior BJP leader said.

Palheri has acted in Deol’smovies, including Yamla PaglaDeewana, Ghayal Once Again,Son of Sardar, Manje Bistre,among others.

The newly-elected MP hadfaced flak last month from thepeople of the constituencyafter he posted a video of hisvacation in Kaza on Instagram.

Deol defeated Congress’Sunil Jakhar with a margin of82,459 votes in the recent LokSabha polls.

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Chief Minister Kamal Nathmet Union Surface

Transport and NationalHighways Minister NitinGadkari at his New Delhi res-idence on Monday late nightand held a detailed discussionon issues related to nationalhighways.

Discussing the proposedBhopal-Indore six-lane GreenExpressway in the state theChief Minister said that theExpressway will be developedin the form of a flagship road.

Its construction can betaken up by either NHAI or thestate government.

He said the proposedExpressway will be developedas a model highway withLogistic Park, Logistic Hub,Smart City, IT Park to bedeveloped on both sides.

The construction of theExpressway will facilitate trans-portation between Bhopal-Indore-Bhopal and facilitatethe commercial activities.

Nath urged Union MinisterGadkari to sanction �1271crore for the upgradation of

232 km stretches of nationalhighways in the Annual ActionPlan for the year 2019-20 for

the state. Besides he also proposed

reimbursement of �363.78crore under CRF and approvalof new works amounting to Rs1131 crore for the year 2019-20.Apart from this he urged tosanction �25 crore for period-ic renewal of 116 km nationalhighways of the state for theyear 2019-20.

Nath urged to approve�205 crore under the one-timeinvestment scheme for upgra-dation of National Highwayspassing through the towns ofthe state.

Nath said that in principle,the cost of maintenance of theapproved National Highwaysshould be borne by theMinistry of National Highwaysonly. Besides he also urged forCentre’s approval for strength-ening of IRQP (Improvementof Riding Quality ProgrammeScheme) for the year 2019-20and �153 crore scheme for363 km of national highways.

Nath urged to sanction Rs

5.38 crore for services, for thepreparation of DPR of theBhopal-Indore 6-lane Greenfield Expressway soon andexpressed the need to reducethe ROW (lines) limit from 75units to 70 units.

Expressing concern overthe abnormally slow progress ofSidhi-Singrauli NH 75 on BOTmode he called for terminatingthe existing BOT and giving itto another company anddemanded �2.35 crore for itsmaintenance. Similarly, heexpressed concern on the slowprogress of Barela-MandlaNational Highway 12A on EPSmode.

Nath called for terminatingthis contract also and demand-ed �6.28 crore for completionand maintenance of the work.Apart from this, the ChiefMinister also urged ShriGadkari for publication of toll-free notification for 3 projectscompleted in EPC mode byMadhya Pradesh RoadTransport Corporation at theearliest.

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Hundreds of farmers ofNuapada district demon-

strated at the office theCollector, Nuapada, onTuesday, protesting the apathyof the district administration inprocurement of paddy in theRabi season.

When the farmers are wait-ing with their paddy in differ-ent Mandis of the district, themillers have declared that theprocurement target has alreadybeen achieved. The districthad fixed a procurement targetof total 3. 20 lakh quintals forthe current Rabi season. But

much before the last day of pro-curement i.e. June 30, themillers declared the targets tohave been met, where as the farmers still havethousands of quintals of unsoldpaddy with them, alleged theagitators. "The millers haveprocured paddy ofChhatishgarh at a cheaper priceto fill their respective targetsand by that way have madehuge profits. The Civil SupplyOfficer and the ARCS,Nuapada, and the districtCollector are hands in glovewith the millers,” said BJPleader Prasanna Padhi. It islearnt that a total of 3,000farmers had done online regis-tration for selling their surpluspaddy during Rabi season, butat least 1,000 of them are fake,who had not cultivated paddyin the Rabi season, but have

been shown as the sellers inprocurement registers. "It hap-pens every year and the millersmonitor it in a planned mannerto adjust the paddy which theyprocure from non-farmers/petty traders in an ille-

gal way," added Padhi. "The dis-trict administration is notaccepting the fact even after sev-eral rounds of discussion; whereshall the farmers go to sell theirpaddy; why the administrationis showing such favour to the

millers," asked Congress leaderRabi Mangaraj. Meanwhile, thefarmers have decided that theywould dump their paddy infront of the Collector's office ifnot procured in next two days,said sources.

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Amid spree of resig-nations of

Congressmen in dif-ferent parts of thecountry ostensibly togive free hand toCongress presidentRahul Gandhi torevamp the partyorganisation after thedebacle of Lok Sabhapolls, the Uttarakhandunit of Congress partyis shying away fromemulating their coun-terparts in other partsof the country.

Barring the secre-tary of the CongressDeep Vohra, who hastendered his resigna-tion, no other leader inthe state has shownthe guts to relinquish-ing their position.

Interestingly, thereconstitution of thePradesh CongressCommittee (PCC) islong overdue and thecurrent PCC presidentis working with the oldcommittee and situa-tion is ideal for theparty organisation tofollow the general sen-timent and resign asproof of their solidari-ty for the party.

It is learnt thatmany leaders holdingtop position in theparty organisation inthe state are adopting await and watch policy

in the current situationwhere Rahul Gandhi issteadfastly sticking tohis stand of resigningfrom the post of partypresident.

Meanwhile, thePCC president PritamSingh has embarkedon a tour of theKumaon region of thestate. In the tour, Singhis taking feedback fromthe party leaders on thesevere drubbing theparty candidatesreceived in the recentLok Sabha polls.

Apart from PritamSingh, former chiefminister and memberof the CongressWorking Committee(CWC) Harish Rawatis also active political-ly in the state.

Political observersare of the view that theCongress leaders ofUttarakhand tooshould take moralresponsibility of theLok Sabha defeat andtender their resigna-tions.

They point outtowards the huge mar-gin of defeats of itscandidates and the everincreasing vote share ofBJP in Uttarakhand insupport of their stand.

In the just con-cluded Lok Sabha elec-tions, BJP won all thefive seats by securing astaggering 61 percentof the popular vote.

The Congress candi-dates lagged far behindin all the five seats asthey were able tosecure only 31.40 per-cent of the vote polled.

In the three par-liamentary constituen-cies of Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar,Garhwal and TehriGarhwal, the victorymargins of BJP candi-dates Ajay Bhat,Teerath Singh Rawatand Mala Rajya LaxmiShah respectively wasmore than three Lakh.

When contacted,Deep Vohra, who hastendered his resigna-tion from the post ofgeneral secretary said,“ By tendering his res-ignation Rahul Gandhiwanted that everyoneshould come forwardfor revamping theparty. By resigning ,Ihave followed my innervoice.’’

However the vicepresident of the stateCongress Surya KantDhasmana said thatUttarakhand was thefirst state to pass aunanimous resolutionin which party presi-dent Rahul Gandhi wasrequested to take backhis resignation.

On resignations forthe party posts, he saidthat the decisiondepends on one’sunderstanding ofthings.

�� 4*�104*

With the first showers ofthe season, the arrange-

ments of MunicipalCorporation of Haridwar(MCH) have fallen flat. Thetraders and local businessmenof New Chandracharya ChowkVyapar Mandal expressed con-cern over the water logging atthe crossing near BHEL under-bridge. They issued an ultima-tum to the MCH for cleaningof drains so that water does notenter the shops of the tradersin next rainfall.

Come monsoon, and thewoes of local traders ofChandracharya Chowkincrease. President of theVyapar Mandal, Mridul

Kaushik told The Pioneer, “Inthe morning following rainfor three hours, there was waterlogging at the ChandracharyaChowk and all shopping com-plexes as well as commutersnear to the crossing suffereddue to it. People had to crosstwo feet deep water to reach theshops.” Kaushik also allegedthat when the tradersapproached executive engineerof the department concerned,Mohammad Meesam forinstallation of water evacuationpump, he expressed his inabil-ity to do the same at thatmoment.

When asked, Meesam saidthat by afternoon, water wasdrained through the pump andthe rains had stopped.

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Decks have beencleared for construc-tion of Five Star Hotelin State Capital. TheState Housing Boardhad invited proposalfrom hotel groups forconstruction of hotelat Sahjanand Chowk.In the initial phase,Taj Group and Hyattgroup have showninterest for construc-tion of a Five StarHotel.

These groupshave sought infor-mation from Housingboard about the landwhere the hotel willcome up. Apart fromTaj and Hyatt group,Ramada group,Lemon Tree premier,Ginger Hotel, BKgroup and BNR haveshown interest forsetting up the hotel atthe proposed land.As per HousingBoard proposal, thefive star hotels willcome up at an area of2 acres.

The HousingBoard will lease theproposed land (2acres) at an estimatedcost of Rs 33 lakh perdecimal. On Monday,the Housing Boardconducted a pre bidmeeting, which wasattended by repre-sentatives from vari-ous hotel groups.

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UPA chairperson SoniaGandhi on Tuesday

opposed the Railway Ministry'sproposal for modernising thecoach factory in her con-stituency Rae Bareli alleging itwas the "first step towards pri-vatisation". The Railways, sub-sequently, rejected her chargesaying the factory will remainunder Government control.

Speaking in the Lok Sabhaduring the Zero Hour, Soniasaid this is nothing but sellingcountry's assets to private com-panies, leaving many unem-ployed. Sonia said that latestproposal of railways on corpo-ratisation is to privatise therailways and handover the hugeassets at cheap prices to certainset of private players.

Slamming the move to cor-poratise railways' productionunits, Sonia accused theGovernment of selling the coun-try's assets to private players ata throwaway price. "Thosewho don't understand the realmeaning of corporatisation.... Itis actually the first step towardsprivatisation. They are sellingthe country's assets to a hand-ful of private players at a throw-

away price. This will leave thou-sands unemployed," she said.

But, the Railways main-tained that "corporatisation wasnot privatisation". "What rail-ways means by corporatisationis making a Government PSU— the Indian Railway RollingStock Company— under theMinistry of Railways and shift-ing the production units includ-ing MCF, Rae Bareli to it," anofficial said.

"This means they willremain under Government con-trol but will be better managed.This will help drive technologypartnership and modernisa-tion," the official said.

Sonia, the leader ofCongress Parliamentary Party,was the first one to speak dur-ing the Zero Hour. As she rosefrom her seat, the entireOpposition was seen thumpingthe desks. Taking a dig at the

Government, she said the unitwas started during the UPAregime to promote "Make inIndia", which has been taken upby the Modi Government.

She said that the MCF is themost modern factory of theIndian Railways and manufac-tures best coaches at cheapestrates. "The Government hasinvested heavily in it (MCF). Itis difficult to understand whythe Government wants to resortto corporatisation," she said.

She said the future of 2,000workers remains uncertain dueto the Government's move.Theprimary job of the PSU is wel-fare of the people and not tobenefit capitalists, she said.Sonia also criticised theGovernment for stopping thepractise of having a separate rail-way budget. "Can we not expectparliamentary scrutiny for suchtypes of decisions," she said.

She also highlighted thecondition of HindustanAeronautics Ltd, MahanagarTelephone Nigam Ltd andBharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd."Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru hadtermed PSUs as temples ofmodern India. Today, it is sad tosee that these temples are underthreat," she said.

A railway official pointedout that while the foundationstone of the MCF was laid by theCongress led UPA Governmentin February 2007, constructionstarted only in May 2010. "Thefactory was slated to produce1,000 coaches. However, it wasfar from achieving its full poten-tial.

"Between 2011 and 14, itonly did minor work on somecoaches brought fromKapurthala. Only 375 coacheswere 'refurbished' between 2011and 2014 whereas it should havebeen fully manufacturingcoaches. In July 2014, MCF wasdeclared a Production Unit ofIndian Railways and now itsproduction capacity has grownby leaps and bounds," said thesource.

Since 2014, the factory hasin fact doubled productionalmost every year: 140 coachesin 2014-15, 285 in 2015-16, 576in 2016-17, 711 in 2017-18. It isexpected to produce 1,425coaches in 2018-19. The

target for this year is 2,158coaches. Protests have rockedthe MCF, which sources saycould be the first of the railways'seven production units thatcould be corporatised.

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Union Home Minister AmitShah on Tuesday said

Bangladeshi Terror OutfitJamaat-Ul-Mujahideen is usingWest Bengal madrasas torecruit and radicalise the locals.

Shah said this in his replyin Parliament on whether thereare reports that madrasas inWest Bengal are preaching reli-gious extremism and helpingthe terrorist organisations. Hesaid there are some inputs onBangladeshi terror outfitJamaat-ul-Mujahideen usingsome madrasas in the state for"radicalisation and recruitmentactivities".

As per the Ministry's replyto questions put up by BJP MPs— Khagen Murmu and

Sukanta Majumdar of MaldahaUttar and BalurghatParliamentary constituenciesrespectively — severalmadrasas in Burdwan andMurshidabad are being usedfor terror-related activities. TheMHA further added that rele-vant inputs in this regard areshared with the state govern-ment.

Government has notifiedJ a m a a t - u l - M u j a h i d e e nBangladesh or Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen India or Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Hindustan andall its manifestations as aTerrorist Organization on23.05.2019 in terms of theUnlawful Activities(Prevention) Act, 1967," theMinistry said.

The Special Task Force of

the West Bengal Police arrest-ed a member of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen on Tuesday fromBurdwan district where MHAflagged the radicalisation inmadrasas by the banned outfit.According to reports, theaccused has been arrested inconnection with January 2018Bodh Gaya blast.

The Jamaat-ul-Mujahideenis a terrorist organisation thathas links with Pakistani terrorgroup Lashkar-e-Tayyaba(LeT). The organisation wasallegedly involved in 2016attack in a cafe in Bangladesh'scapital city Dhaka. Earlier therewere reports that the outfit wasplanning to set up within 10km along Bangladesh border inseveral districts of West Bengal,Assam and Tripura.

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Issues like framing laws tocheck the menace of fake

news leading to communalstrife in some parts of thecountry, regulation of onlinegames as they are harminggullible children and photo-graph of Mahatma Gandhi dis-played on whiskey bottle fig-ured in the Rajya Sabha onTuesday.

Raising the issue of fakenews on social media like twit-ter, Digvijaya Singh(Congress)demanded a law to regulate thesocial media as fake news istriggering communal riots andsocietal divide is being created.He also said fake news is moredangerous than terrorismadding "Many people (tweetingfake news) are followed by bigpeople," without naming any-one.

The Congress leadersought a comprehensive law sothat indecent language andspread of communal poison ischecked on social media.Terming the issue as important,Chairman M Venkaiah Naidusaid there is a need to evolve aconsensus else there will beallegations of trampling free-dom of expression.

Drawing the attention ofthe house to danger posed by

online gaming, VinaySahasrabuddhe(BJP) said chil-dren between the age group offive to eight years were fallingprey to it. He said some coun-tries like China and Australiahave already taken steps tocheck the misuse of onlinegaming.

Sanjay Singh(AAP)broughtup the matter of MahatmaGandhi's photograph onwhiskey bottles reportedlymanufactured in Israel andtermed it as objectionable. Hesaid Gandhiji throughout hislife propagated non-violenceand preached against ill-affectsof alcohol consumption. Heurged the external affairs min-istry to take note of the matterand demanded immediate stopof sale of such bottles in India.Several Opposition membersincluding leader of oppositionGhulam Nabi Azad associated

themselves with Singh. Naiduasked External Affairs MinisterS Jaishankar, who was presentin the House, to take note.

N Gokulakrishnan(AIADMK) demanded extend-ing of the 25 per cent reserva-tion to natives and locals of astate in all the 48 central uni-versities. He said 25 per centreservation for locals in allcourses in PondicherryUniversity has not been imple-mented despite the academicexecutive council acceptingsuch a move in 2013-14. RamNath Thakur (JD-U) wantedrules to check mushroomingcoaching centres.

T K Rangarajan (CPM)criticised the move to corpo-ratise production units ofIndian Railways.

Saroj Pandey (BJP) want-ed yoga to be included as partof compulsory education.

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The Government will sooncome up with a National

Medical Commission (NMC)Bill to usher in comprehensivereforms in the medical educa-tion sector, Union HealthMinister Harsh Vardhan onTuesday informed the LokSabha.

He was replying to a debateon Indian Medical Council(Amendment) Bill, 2019, whichwas later passed by the Houseby voice vote. This bill providesfor supersession of MedicalCouncil of India for a period oftwo years with effect fromSeptember 26, 2018. It willreplace an Ordinance promul-gated on February 21.

The Minister said theGovernment is working on theNMC bill and "will soon takeit to Union Cabinet and then inParliament". He said the NMCbill, which was introduced inDecember, 2017, lapsed withthe dissolution of the 16th LokSabha. On the Medical Council(Amendment) Bill, theMinister said that the Board ofGovernors (BoG) which hadreplaced the MCI has workedwell and taken a series of stepsto improve medical educationin the country.

The BoG has grantedaccreditation to more numberof medical colleges, increasednumber of seats and reducedprocedural hurdles, he said,adding it is manned by doctorsof great repute. "This is just abeginning of our work and youwill see radical reforms in themedical education of the coun-try," he said.

The Indian MedicalCouncil or the Medical Councilof India (MCI) was set upunder the Medical CouncilAct 1956, for setting standardsfor medical professionals, newmedical colleges and revision ofcurriculum, among others.

Introducing the Bill,Vardhan said in the last twodecades, a perception was builtthat MCI has been unsuccesfulin discharging its duties andthat corrupt practices areprevalent in the regulatory

body."Although the National

Medical Commission Bill couldbe introduced in the nearfuture but to have legal conti-nuity every Ordinance has tobe converted into a law," hestressed.

Participating in the debateon the bill, Congress leaderAdhir Ranjan Chowdhuryopposed the Ordinance routetaken by the Government tosupersede the Indian MedicalCouncil saying it was unhealthyfor democracy. Chowdhurysaid the Ordinance was pro-mulgated twice by the govern-ment despite elections beinground the corner. "MCI hadbecome a scam tainted author-ity," he said. The Bill also pro-poses to increase the number ofmembers in the board ofGovernors to 12 from the exist-ing 7.

Sanjay Jaiswal (BJP) saidthe government should look forgood and whole-time profes-sors for medical colleges.Opposing the Bill, GauthamSigamani Pon (DMK) said theintention of this governmentwas to undermine the powersof the State. Kakoli GhoshDastidar (AITMC) suggestedthe Government do away withthe entrance test for medical.

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Left parties staged a walkoutin the Rajya Sabha on

Tuesday protesting the intro-duction of the CentralEducational Institutions (reser-vation in teachers' cadre) Bill,saying they were not givenenough time for submittingamendments. The Bill, passed inthe Lok Sabha, on Monday,sought to replace an Ordinanceto provide reservation to sched-uled castes (SC), scheduledtribes (ST) and economicallyweaker section for teachers’posts in Central educationalinstitutions.

Both the CPI and CPI(M)members protested, saying theywere not given enough time tomove amendments to the bill, towhich the Chair said Congress

member T Subbarami Reddy hasalready submitted an amend-ment and they too could havedone so. CPI(M) memberElamaram Kareer raised a pointof order under the Rule 91 andsaid the government should givea copy of the Bill a day before toa member who is willing to movean amendment. "Here the billcomes in the afternoon, we aregetting the supplementary list ofbusiness in the afternoon. I havenot received the bill prior, so thatto give the amendment. So it isnot in order to present the bill inthe House," he said.

To this, Deputy ChairmanHarivansh Singh said, "Undersuch cases, this clause is relaxed.So he (the HRD Minister) canmove (the bill). The Chair haspower to do it and the Chair hastaken it." The Left party mem-

bers were standing in aisle of theHouse asking the Chair underwhat circumstances the rules arerelaxed. They said the Chairshould uphold the rules.

The Deputy Chairman said:"The copies of the bill weregiven to members in the morn-ing. If members wished, theycould have given amendmentsin the afternoon. ....SubbaramiReddy (Cong) has given anamendment."

Leader of the HouseThawarchand Gehlot said anamendment bill is required to begiven a day before and the cur-rent one is not and thereforethere is no point of order.Information and BroadcastingMinister Prakash Javadekar said,"Subbarami Reddy has alreadygiven an amendment. Theyshould take tuition from him."

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Amid reports of shortage ofwater in several States, the

Modi Government has startedvarious conservation measuresto plug the leakages at every levelby asking all the Ministries anddepartments to install aerators— a device that can control theflow of water from the watertaps, thereby avoiding wastage—in the taps used in theGovernment buildings beingone of them.

An order has been issued bythe Union Jal Shakti Ministryrecently in this regard statingthat "all the Ministries/depart-ments are requested to issuedirections to the concernedauthorities to fit aerators in tapsused in buildings ofMinistries/departments ofGovernment of India therebyconserving a large amount ofwater."

"It is brought to the noticeof this Ministry that a simpledevice called aerator could con-trol the flow of water from thetaps and thereby help in con-servation of water. Aerators aresmall attachments that are fittedat the end of the water taps orcan be inserted inside the spout.

"The aerators through theirfine pores break the incomingstream of water into the sub-streams. Therefore, while theout-flowing water is sufficientfor utilisation towards cleanli-ness, wastage is prevented byreducing excess flow. This devicesubstantially saves water with nosacrifice in water pressure andrinse ability of water," it added.

It also said there is anincreasing gap between wateravailability and demand, whichhighlights the need for conser-vation of water.

"With water levels fallingdrastically and several statesacross India facing a severewater shortage, every small steptaken in the direction of con-servation of water would go along way in tackling scarcity ofwater in the country," it added.

Prime Minister NarendraModi too in his Mann Ki Baatradio address last week stressed

on water conservation such ascreatin awareness on watershortage, sharing knowledge oftraditional methods of waterstorage and information aboutindividuals and NGOs workingon water conservation.

About half of India is facingdrinking water crisis withChennai and Bengaluru bearingthe brunt as monsoon gotdelayed and arrived without abrimming bucket. A Niti Aayogreport released last year predictsDay Zero for 21 Indian cities bynext year. Day Zero refers to theday when a place is likely to haveno drinking water of its own.

According to the CompositeWater Management Index(CWMI) prepared by the think-tank, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhiand Hyderabad are among themost susceptible. The situationis likely to worsen given thatIndia is set to overtake China asthe world's most populous coun-try in less than a decade — andby 2050 it will have added 416million urban residents, as perthe UN.

Demand for water will reachtwice the available supply by2030, the UN report said -- plac-ing hundreds of millions oflives in danger

�� &��!��5 &��New Delhi: The sanction toprosecute former FinanceMinister P Chidambaram andformer Niti Aayog CEOSindhushree Khullar for theiralleged involvement in cor-ruption is awaited from theCentre for more than fourmonths, a latest data by theCVC said.

The requests seeking sanc-tion to prosecuteChidambaram was sent to theMinistry of Home Affairs onJanuary 22 this year, accordingto data updated till May 2019.

The probity watchdog saidthe sanction to prosecute a fewbureaucrats is also pendingwith the Personnel Ministry,that acts as the nodal depart-ment for anti-corruption mat-ters, for over four months.

The permission is awaitedto prosecute Khullar and for-mer secretary of the Ministryof Micro, Small and MediumEnterprises, Anup K Pujari, fortheir alleged involvement in thecorruption case, the CentralVigilance Commission (CVC)said.

Besides them, the anti-corruption watchdog is waitingfor the government's approvalto prosecute Prabodh Saxena,

who is Principal Secretary inthe Himachal PradeshGovernment, Rabindra Prasad,former undersecretary in theDepartment of EconomicAffairs and Ajith Kumar Dung,former section officer and saidto be working with the UnionHealth Ministry now as under-secretary in the INX Mediacorruption case, they said.

The case is related to thealleged irregularities in grant-ing clearance by the ForeignInvestment Promotion Board(FIPB) to INX Media forreceiving overseas funds to thetune of �305 crore.

Khullar served as addi-

tional secretary in theDepartment of EconomicAffairs during 2004 and 2008.She was in 2015 appointed asthe Niti Aayog CEO.

Pujari was the joint secre-tary during 2006 and 2010;Saxena served as the director ofthe department between 2008and 2010, and Prasad alsoworked during the periodunder investigation.

The CVC, which is work-ing without its regular chief,said it is awaiting sanction toprosecute over 100Government officials, mostlyfrom banks, in 57 cases ofalleged corruption for more

than four months.As per norms, sanction

for prosecution has to be decid-ed within four-month time.

An FIR was filed by theCentral Bureau of Investigation(CBI) on May 15, 2017, alleg-ing irregularities in the FIPBclearance to INX Media forreceiving overseas funds in2007 when Chidambaram wasthe finance minister in theUPA government.

Senior Congress partyleader Chidambaram is a RajyaSabha member fromMaharashtra.

INX Media was onceowned by Peter and Indrani

Mukherjea, prime suspects inthis money laundering andcorruption case.

Chidambaram's son Kartiis also under probe by the CBIand the EnforcementDirectorate (ED) regardingvarious clearances given to thecompany.

According to the investi-gating agencies, INX Mediashowed a transaction of Rs 10lakh named against AdvantageStrategic Consulting Pvt Ltd, afirm which is allegedly indi-rectly owned by Karti, as man-agement consultancy chargestowards an FIPB notificationand clarification.

It has been alleged thatKarti Chidambaram tookmoney from INX Media andused his influence and powerto manipulate a tax probeagainst the company regardinga case of violation of the FIPBconditions to get investmentsfrom Mauritius.

The CBI had registered anFIR against Karti, his compa-ny Chess ManagementServices, Peter Mukerjea andIndrani Mukerjea, INX Media,Advantage Strategic ConsultingServices and its DirectorPadma Vishwanathan.

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Yahan sab China ki taraf ja rahehain. Aapko kuch karna padega(Here everyone is being drawnto China. You have to do some-thing).” This Nepalese politician

sounded the warning early last year afterthe new Nepal Communist Party, whichmerged with the Communist Party ofNepal (Maoist Centre), won landslideelectoral victories with a near two-thirdsmajority in the lower House, a majority inthe upper House, Governments in six of theseven provinces and victories in 80 per centof the local body elections. That theChinese played an unprecedented role inthis political transformation of Nepal is nosecret. All previous landmark changes wereIndia-driven.

In 1770, the founder of modern Nepal,King Prithvi Narayan Shah’s observationthat Nepal is a root vegetable between twoboulders has remained a variable constant.Variable because the country has swayedwith the wind and bent towards whichev-er power was stronger in periods of histo-ry — British India/India or China. Nepalwas a tributary to China and the latterclaimed suzerainty. Vis-a-vis India, itfound its sovereign space by playing theextra-regional China card.

China’s rise in Nepal is unstoppable atleast till 2021 when the next elections aredue. Kathmandu’s policy of equidistancebetween its two giant neighbours hasacquired a Beijing tilt, courtesy NewDelhi’s serial blunders since 2015, whichgave rise to marked anti-India sentiment— though New Delhi lived in denial — andsovereignty-based nationalism. China’sproclaimed policy of non-interference inthe internal affairs of any country wasditched once the Maoists came to powerin 2008. Soon, like India, it was implicat-ed in regime change. Kathmandu did nothave to play the Beijing card. Beijing dealtit itself. In the recent history, Nepal hasviewed India and not China as the threat.Which was why the bulk of Nepalese Armydeployment faced south, in Terai, Indiabeing the subject of vigil. With deeppockets, China’s inevitable rise began in2005 when King Gyanendra facilitatedBeijing’s entry into the South AsianAssociation for Regional Cooperation(Saarc) as an observer. At that time, Chinawas vociferously critical of the Maoists, whowere fighting the civil war, calling them“miscreants”, “anti-state rebels” and “hijack-ers of Mao’s fair name.” With remarkablealacrity, China changed tack once Maoiststook power, saying “we have rediscoveredideological similarities with our com-rades.” Beijing dropped the King whom ithad supported in the war and stated thatit will protect Nepal’s sovereignty and ter-ritorial integrity. Gyanendra committedhara-kiri with his palace coup, creating con-ditions for dismantling of monarchy anda new Constitution.

In Nepal, China has beenlooking beyond Tibet, its “OneChina” policy and the virtualcontrol of the 17 northernborder districts. Kathmanduwill never displease Beijingover managing the 30,000Tibetan refugees in Nepal. TheDalai Lama’s office was orderedclosed in 2005 and refugeecrossings into Tibet throughNepal reduced from 3,000 to300 annually. China has invest-ed heavily in Nepal’s domesticpolitics, economics, militaryand people-to-people relationsbesides the art of regimechange. Beijing facilitated theformation of the Left allianceand its merger and has reachedout to all political parties andcivil society groups. In 2004, ithad trained 40 bureaucrats inChina. That number hasjumped to 800 civil servants in2019. Since 2013, it is thelargest Foreign Direct invest-ment (FDI) investor andprovider of OfficialDevelopment Assistance(ODA), overtaking India. In2017, China committed $8.3billion at the KathmanduInvestment Conclave of which$1.3 billion has been utilised.

President Xi Jinping, who isyet to visit Nepal, wants to cre-ate a cross-border SpecialEconomic Zone and wishes

India to join hands in the devel-opment of Nepal, echoing thesentiments of Nepali leaders thatKathmandu should act as abridge between China andIndia. China has bagged mostinfrastructure projects — likeinternational airports inPokhara and Lumbini andrefurbishing the Kathmanduairport — which were initiallyawarded to India and for thefirst time, hydro-power projects.Nepal has joined the Belt andRoad Initiative (BRI), which likethe China-Pakistan EconomicCorridor (CPEC), envisagesambitious rail and road corri-dors from Tibet into Nepal,touching the Indian border,ultimately connecting theIndian Ocean. At present, thereis the North-South road, whichis in a state of disrepair since the2015 earthquake. The project isfacing tests of economic viabil-ity, funding and topographicalchallenges. It is unlikely tomaterialise anytime soon.

High-level political visits toChina are on the rise. PresidentBidhya Devi Bhandari, PrimeMinister KP Oli and PrimeM i n i s t e r - i n - w a i t i n g ,Prachanda, have been invited atleast twice, besides a slew ofother leaders. Many agree-ments have been signed,including Trade and Transit,

dry ports, supply of petroleumproducts and access to sevenChinese ports. A look at themap will show the cost profli-gacy of these alternatives in theevent of another economicblockade. China wants aComprehensive StrategicProgramme with the NepalArmy, which has received $32.3million in grant, 10 times high-er than earlier. It has alsoincreased its seats in China’sWar College and is the recipi-ent of specialised equipment forUN peace-keeping.

China’s soft power is man-ifest through Confucian insti-tutions. At least 45 Chinesestudy centres and Nepalischools offer free Mandarincourses. Buddhism is beingpromoted through a Chinese-dominated Buddhist circuitfocussed on Lumbini, empha-sising Buddha was born inNepal. People-to-people con-tacts have risen sharply withChinese tourists swarmingNepal. China has penetratedthe Terai, which was onceIndia’s red line.

A Chinese think-tank in2018 suggested that Indiashould be punished for givingthe Dalai Lama a long rope,including visiting Tawang in2015. One of the likely placesof retribution is Nepal, where

there is no Wuhan spirit.Beijing has taken advantage ofthe anti-India sentiment andthe Nepali media, while beingcritical of India, favours China.A historical mistake of prevent-ing Chinese occupation ofTibet has come to haunt Indiaas China eyes Indian marketsacross the strategic IndoGangetic Plains via the plannedChina Nepal EconomicCorridor (CNEC). A day maycome when China will object tothe use of Nepali troops in theIndian Army — along with ex-servicemen, the biggest pro-India constituency — con-fronting the People’s LiberationArmy (PLA). Even as Beijinghas made considerable politi-cal and economic gains, Chinacannot become an alternativefor dependence on India, giventhat geography, history, culture,religion and the open border,across which six to seven mil-lion Nepalis move for liveli-hood, bind India and Nepaltogether. Still, the ominousunfolding in Nepal is mainlythe result of the inept handlingby the Modi 1.0 Government.

(The writer is a retiredMajor General of the IndianArmy and founder member ofthe Defence Planning Staff, cur-rently the revamped IntegratedDefence Staff)

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Spare our officers” (June 2).Instances like the attack on for-est officials in Telangana on theinstigation of a local MLA andanother one on a municipalofficer in Madhya Pradesh by aBJP leader with a cricket bat areunacceptable. Both incidentsclearly expose the thriving VIPculture in our country wherepoliticians feel they can getaway with anything.

Both, the Telangana RashtraSamithi (TRS) and the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) should set anexample by taking strict action against them besidesallowing the law to take its owncourse. No one is above the law.Politicians need to be heldaccountable for their acts.

It was shocking that BJPnational general secretaryKailash Vijayvargiya tried todefend his son’s actions by claim-ing that both his son, AkashVijayvargiya and the assaultedmunicipal officer DhirendraSingh Bais were “kachche khila-di” (novice players).

N NagarajanVia email

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Preparing for Day Zero” (July 1).Acute shortage of water being wit-nessed in Bengaluru and Chennaias also other parts of the country

is reflective of the fact that ourcities are unable to cope with thedemands of a large population.Years of deficient rainfall, over-extraction of ground waterthrough borewells and upsurge inconstruction activities, whichconsume a lot of water, have led

to this precarious situation. It is because of poor urban

planning that one finds a largenumber of commercial and resi-dential buildings cramped up intoo little space. The demand forwater increases in direct propor-tion to the number of people, who

inhabit these spaces. Today, wehave come to a point where acutewater crisis is staring at us. On theone hand, there are several placeswhich receive deficient rainfall.On the other, several regionsrecord extremely high levels ofrainfall like Mumbai, which, bar-ring the 2005 deluge, received thehighest rainfall in the last twodays since 1974. Rainwater har-vesting during the monsoon sea-son is the best option to confrontthe water crisis.

Devendra KhuranaBhopal

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Donald, Kim bhai bhai” (July 2).US President Donald Trump tookthe world by surprise by announc-ing a sudden meet with NorthKorean leader Kim Jong-un. Thedecision taken by the two coun-tries to resume talks is a positivedevelopment. Both sides musttake substantial steps to bringpeace to the Korean peninsula.

Manisha PriyamVia email

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Most people in Jammu & Kashmir are rejoic-ing at the extension of President’s Rule foranother six months. It is not normal that

people want Central rule to continue. In fact, theyeagerly await the return of a popular Governmentfor obvious reasons. However, Jammu & Kashmiris an exception and special in this regard becauseunder the garb of Article 370, the State has beensubjected to the worst kind of governance. The bor-der State has been a victim of not only cross-bor-der terrorism, militancy and backwardness but alsopoor governance. The last is among the many prob-lems that plague Kashmir, which also suffers frompolitical and religious radicalisation.

A total disconnect exists between the threeregions of the State. For the lust of power, politi-cal parties have tried to divide the State in orderto garner votes rather than uniting them. Emphasishas been on creating more administrative unitsrather than ensuring a responsive administration.Confidence-Building Measures (CBMs) announcedfrom time to time, to address the turmoil inKashmir, have at best been cosmetic in nature —more for appeasement and less for effect. These fur-ther widened the gulf between the three regions.Rather than addressing public-related issues, theadministration was busy promoting dynastic rulein the State. The net result was severe disappoint-ment among the people and grave dejection dueto an unresponsive administration and the “could-n’t care less” attitude of the political bosses.“Exclusivity” rather than “inclusivity” was the normwith successive elected Governments since they hadso manipulated the power structure in the State thatthe Valley became the centre of power while Jammuand Ladakh became subservient to Kashmiri dom-inance. Leaders of these two regions virtuallyresigned to their fate and accepted Kashmiri patron-age as the norm. A majority of the population inKashmir was disenchanted with such leadershipbecause huge financial packages given by the Centrefor the development of the State were plunderedas leaders were more interested in filling their pock-ets as well as those of their cronies and favourites.

People started losing faith in electedGovernments. Moreover, the “anti-India” narrativecreated fissures among Kashmiris. Nationalist voic-es bravely faced the challenge posed by separatistand extremist forces. Kashmir-centric political par-ties depend to a large extent on the latent supportof the Hurriyat and Jamat-e-Islami Kashmir.Hence, rather than concentrating on fair, clean andresponsive administration, they were busy flirtingwith the separatists and extremists, putting theagenda of governance on the back burner.

The Modi Government at the Centre was keen-ly observing the happenings in the State. Packagesworth thousands of crores were announced by thePrime Minister for developmental purpose. Still,the three regions of the State were not making muchheadway due to inept bureaucratic handling andinadequate political control. Corruption, bureau-cratic inertia and absence of proper governancewere not only fuelling turmoil in the Valley but theother two regions were getting alienated, too. It wasthis hopelessness that led a majority of the peopleto welcome their first-ever career politician asGovernor. The Modi Government’s decision tobreak the well-established practice of appointingan Army-General or a bureaucrat as Governor ofthe State by a career politician evoked mixed

responses. Power brokers, who felt threatened, madea lot of hue and cry and termed the move as “polit-ical manipulation” as elections were approaching.They misinterpreted the intent of the ModiGovernment, which had decided to showcase tothe people of the State what good governance meantand let them have a first-hand experience of aresponsive administration. Peace and developmentwere the two cornerstones of the UnionGovernment’s policy for Jammu & Kashmir.Governor Satya Pal Malik was tasked to win heartsand minds of the people through good governanceunder the watchful eyes of the Prime Minister andthe Home Minister. The mandate to the Governorwas unambiguous with instructions to deliver.

Along with his team of advisors, Malik beganwork from day one. He introduced a number ofadministrative reforms, which were welcomed bythe people. It was evident from his initial actionsthat the thrust of the Government would be notonly on “delivery” but also rooting out rampant cor-ruption. The State Administrative Council (SAC),under the chairmanship of the Governor, beganwith rejuvenating the projects sanctioned under thePrime Minister’s development package of �80,000crore and took landmark development initiativesand decisions to put various projects on track byremoving administrative bottle necks.

The next major initiative was the creation ofthe Jammu & Kashmir Infrastructure DevelopmentCorporation (JKIDC), under which theGovernment raised a capital of �8,000 crore to givea major thrust to infrastructure and languishingprojects. Approved projects are to be completed in18 months, with time-bound monitoring. Talkshave also begun on fresh loans from the AsianDevelopment Bank for new developmental projects.The Shahpurkandi dam project and the Ujh Multi-purpose project, which were lying in limbo for 40years, have been revived. The twin projects will notonly make the State self-sufficient in electricity butwill prove to be a game-changer as far as the Kandi(dry and arid) belt of the Jammu region is con-

cerned. They will convert the region into a greenbelt with irrigation facilities. A number of hydro-electric projects in Jammu region have also beensanctioned.

Infrastructural development includes 100 percent household electrification; construction of near-ly 6,000 new houses under PMAY; 20,000 newhouses being sanctioned, one million toilets con-structed, 40 new degree colleges being opened thisyear — a key youth demand being addressed —sports projects under PMDP put on fast-track andfunds provided for the development of sports infra-structure in educational institutions.

As far as administrative reforms, empowermentof the people and strengthening of democratic insti-tutions (jamhooriyat) is concerned, Jammu &Kashmir is witnessing a new era under President’sRule. Grassroot-level democracy has been estab-lished for the first time as panchayat and local bod-ies’ elections are held successfully. These institutionswere financially empowered to address the issuesfaced by the common man. The Government’sassurance to hold elections to Block DevelopmentCouncils (BDC), too, is welcome. In order to meetthe aspirations of the people of Ladakh, who alwaysfelt neglected, the SAC has empowered the two HillCouncils, both administratively and financially. Thehallmark being non-lapsable annual budget, theunspent portion of which could be carried forwardto the next financial year.

Many structural and administrative reformshave also been launched to make the administra-tion responsive and accountable. Anti-corruptionmeasures include the first-ever Anti-CorruptionBureau (ACB), established to effectively tackle andeliminate corruption from public institutions. TheJammu & Kashmir Vigilance Commission Act,2011, was amended to make it more vibrant andeffective and the Prevention of Corruption Act, too,was amended to give it more teeth. The war on cor-ruption unleashed through the action taken by ACBagainst the top-level management of the J&K Bank,which had become a den of corruption, favouritism

and nepotism, has sent a wave of unprecedentedjoy among the public. The administration has suc-cessfully conveyed the message that the corrupt, however mighty he/she be, will not bespared.

The administration has also addressed thevital issue of unemployment. Many reforms havebeen introduced to make recruitments transpar-ent and speedy, cutting down red tape as well asinterviews. Around 42,211 posts have been gen-erated for employment. Employees’ welfare hasbeen taken care of by hiking remuneration ofanganwadi workers, substantial hike has beenannounced in honorarium of SPOs — a moralebooster for 32,000 of them. The ex-gratia for nextof kin of slain police personnel has been substan-tially hiked and the Government will bear theireducation costs up to class XII. Addressing theaspirations of the youth in the State still remainsa big challenge for the government.

In addition to reach the last man in line,many measures for social inclusion as well asrelief, rehabilitation and welfare measures wereinstituted by the Government. The largest everpublic outreach programme was launchedthrough the innovative idea of ‘Back to Village’.This ambitious programme has generated hopeamong the villagers that with the administrationcoming to their door step, their developmentneeds will be addressed. Hope the unprecedent-ed success of this programme will encourage theGovernment to launch a similar programme fortowns and urban areas. There is a sense of hopeand relief among the masses. The process of win-ning hearts and minds through good governancehas begun in the right earnest. People are hope-ful that peace will be achieved through devel-opment, provided the Government does notrelent in its ‘zero tolerance policy’ against theterrorists and those who form part of the ter-ror support network and terror funding.

(The writer is a Jammu-based political commen-tator, columnist, security and strategic analyst)

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An intense power struggle is onbetween the old guard and theyoung Turks in the Congress

even as the party is struggling with anunprecedented leadership crisis after ahumiliating defeat in the recent LokSabha polls. Congress president RahulGandhi has plunged the party into fur-ther crisis by resigning and sticking tohis decision so far.

The younger lot feels that RahulGandhi’s hands need consolidation forhim to purge several from the old guardto restructure the party. However,those in the old guard argue that theCongress scion had led the party’s cam-paign from the front and most of thedecisions were his. They are unwillingto own up responsibility for the deba-

cle despite media statements fromRahul like: “I cannot ask others toresign, too. It is up to them if they wantto take responsibility.” Interestingly, afterthe electoral drubbing, while RahulGandhi blamed the senior leaders fornot supporting his campaign, AICCgeneral secretary Priyanka GandhiVadra blamed the workers for the poorshow. So the blame-game goes on.

The young Turks have seized theopportunity to demand the removal ofan incompetent old guard. To forcetheir hands, over 140 leaders haveresigned en masse with more resigna-tions in the pipeline. The resignationswere ostensibly to give a free hand toRahul Gandhi to restructure the party.The spree began last week with youngleaders, including vice chairman ofAICC foreign affairs department PratapSingh Bajwa, senior Congress leaderand advocate Vivek Tankha, AICC sec-retary and Rajasthan co-inchargeTarun Kumar and Congress LegislatureParty leader in the Uttar PradeshLegislative Council Deepak Singh.Their main demand is that the presentCongress Working Committee (CWC)be disbanded and that the Pradesh

Congress Committee (PCC) presi-dents of the 17 States, where the partyfailed to win a single Lok Sabha seat,should step down. They also hope thatmass resignations will convince RahulGandhi to take back his resignation. Allthese at a time when the party chiefspokesman Randeep Surjewala hasbeen claiming, “Rahul Gandhi was, isand will remain the Congress presi-dent.”

In a counter move, the old guard,which is not willing to give up its holdon the party, has floated the names ofthree senior party loyalists as the new

party president if Rahul Gandhi isdetermined to quit. Leaders includeUnion minister Sushil Kumar Shinde,former Congress party leader in LokSabha Mallikarjun Kharge andRajasthan Chief Minister AshokGehlot. All three leaders will vacatetheir seat whenever the family wantsto take back the chair. Shinde seems tohave an edge over the others. It is clearthat the family will not give up its holdon the party easily with three Gandhisat the top level.

The Congress is certainly goingthrough a rough patch but the leader-

ship problem is something that shouldbe resolved soon. The morale of theworkers is low as the party has sufferedtwo successive electoral defeats.Technically, Rahul Gandhi is in-chargeas the CWC has rejected his resigna-tion. He has thoughtlessly plunged theparty into a chaos without providingfor an alternative leadership. Evenmany senior leaders have no cluewhether Rahul will remain or go.

The party is directionless, cluelessand leaderless. As a result, factionalfights have broken out in several Statesincluding Karnataka, Punjab,Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh andHaryana. At the national headquarters,the tussle between the old guard andthe young Turks has broken out. InTelangana and Maharashtra, the grandold party is facing erosion. TheCongress-ruled Karnataka, Rajasthanand Madhya Pradesh StateGovernments look precarious.

So, the first priority for the partymust be to decide on the leadershipissue. It’s been almost a month sinceRahul Gandhi offered to quit. If heinsists on the same, the party shouldwaste no time and look for someone

to replace him. There were even talksof a collegium to run the party whileRahul goes on a countrywide pad yatra.There is urgency because Assemblyelections are due in some States likeHaryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand.

Second, the organisation needs athorough overhaul at all levels and theCWC has already authorised RahulGandhi to address this. People withmass base should be made in-chargeof election-bound States.

Third, the communication strate-gy of the party needs to be improved.Fourth, the party should also improveits social engineering and alliancestrategy. Where the Congress is in aposition to give a direct fight to the BJP,local leadership should be encouraged.Above all, the party should introspectand take corrective steps soon.

In a democracy, there is need foran effective Opposition and theCongress, being the main nationalparty, should lead the Opposition inParliament and outside. Restoration ofthe party’s health is very important forthe grand old party’s survival.

(The writer is a senior political com-mentator and syndicated columnist)

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Equity benchmarks Sensexand Nifty on Tuesday

notched gains for a second ses-sion in a row, helped by oil andgas, IT and financial counters,as investors remained opti-mistic about reforms push inthe Union Budget due onFriday.

Both indices traded in thered for a better part of the ses-sion due to high volatility asparticipants kept weighing ahost of domestic and global fac-tors like weak manufacturingdata, fall in GST collections,slow progress of monsoon andconcerns over global econom-ic growth.

The 30-share Sensex settled129.98 points, or 0.33 per cent,higher at 39,816.48. The indexhit an intra-day high of39,838.49 and a low of39,499.19.

The broader NSE Niftytoo rose 44.70 points, or 0.38per cent, to finish at 11,910.30.During the day, the indextouched a high of 11,917.45and a low of 11,814.70.

Top gainers in the Sensexpack included ONGC, HDFC,Bharti Airtel, Infosys, Maruti,HCL Tech, Mahindra andMahindra, HUL, TechM andSBI — rising up to 2.89 percent.

Yes Bank, on the otherhand, was the biggest loser onthe index, falling 7.60 per cent,

after reports thata borrowerdefaulted onscheduled inter-est payments on a�1,200-crore loanto the privatelender.

Other losersincluded TataMotors, SunP h a r m a ,IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Auto,Axis Bank, Kotak Bank andHero MotoCorp — sheddingup to 2.47 per cent.

Sectorally, BSE oil and gas,energy, IT and utilities rose asmuch as 1.11 per cent. On theother hand, BSE realty, health-care, bankex and industrialsindices fell up to 1.82 per cent.

Broader BSE midcap indexgained 0.38 per cent, and BSEsmallcap index ended flat.

“Stocks globally eked outmeagre gains on Tuesday amidworries the global economywas faltering after data showedmanufacturing activity slowedlast month, weakening appetitefor risk. Investors were scepti-cal of further gains for equitiesafter discouraging manufactur-ing surveys in the past 24 hoursand a US threat of additionaltariffs on European goods,”according to HDFC Securities.

After a weak start marketregained in expectation ofimprovement in Government’sspending to support econom-ic growth with minimum dilu-

tion of fiscal target in theshort-term.

IT index out-performeddue to fall in rupee whilemomentum was seen in bondas premium valuation on equi-ty influenced risk averse to stayon bonds.

Analysts said that tradewar concern of US-China sub-sided but a fresh triggeremerged due to additional tar-iffs on European Union,impacting global market.

On the currency front, theIndian rupee was almost flat at68.95 against the US dollar.

Foreign investors boughtequities worth �426.53 crore ona net basis on Monday, accord-ing to exchange data.

Brent crude futures, theglobal oil benchmark, slipped0.22 per cent to $64.92 per barrel.

Globally, bourses inShanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyoand Seoul ended on a mixednote, while equity markets inEurope were rangebound intheir respective early sessions.

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With creditors rejectingNBCC’s bid to acquire

Jaypee Infratech, the NCLAT onTuesday directed representa-tives of banks, allottees andother stakeholders to appearbefore it on July 17 to considerhow the bid could be tweakedfor the benefit of home buyers.

The tribunal was informedthat in the voting that tookplace on NBCC’s bid, 34.75 percent of home buyers voted infavour, 1.44 per cent votedagainst, whereas 23.8 per centdid not vote.

However, all the 13 banks,which constitute 40.75 per centof Committee of Creditors(CoC) voted against the bid bythe state-run firm to acquireJaypee Infratech. The votingstarted on May 31 and con-cluded on June 10.

Home buyers have nearly60 per cent voting right in theCoC.

During the hearing on thematter, the three-memberbench headed by JusticeChairman S J Mukhopadhyayasaid it was not keen on consid-ering Adani Group’s bid at thisstage while pulling up the banksfor backdoor negotiations withthe business conglomerate.

Stressing that the appellatetribunal’s priority is to take careof the interest of the home buy-ers, the bench asked the repre-sentatives of various stake-holders involved to appear

before it in the next hearing tofind how NBCC’s plans couldbe altered for the benefit of all,specially the home buyers.

The bench said NBCC is agovernment company and onecan rely on it, adding that itknows “the pain of allottees” andwants to do justice for them.

It asked the banks to nom-inate a high ranking officerwho will negotiate, while ask-ing them to produce a gist ofthe resolution plan submittedby NBCC and objections theyhave with regard to the plan.

In its revised offer, NBCChas proposed infusion of Rs200 crore equity capital, trans-fer of 950 acres of land worthRs 5,000 crore to banks andcompleting construction offlats by July 2023 to settle anoutstanding claim of Rs 23,723crore of financial creditors.

When the bench wasinformed that Adani has comeoffering faster construction forhome buyers, the bench said itwas not keen on considering itat the current stage, while stat-ing that if the company was aninterested party it should“intervene” before the appellatetribunal.

Justice Mukhopadhyayareiterated that in the interest ofhome buyers, the resolution ofJaypee Infratech will not beallowed to fail and if it was notpossible to find a solutionthrough the NBCC bid, thenthe bench will consider Adanior any other bids.

�� ./0�1/2��

The Government mayimpose anti-dumping duty

on imports of certain types offilament yarn from China,Korea, Taiwan and Thailand asthe commerce ministry hasstarted investigation intoalleged dumping of the prod-uct following complaints fromdomestic players.

The Directorate Generalof Trade Remedies (DGTR),under the commerce ministry,has initiated the probe as it hasfound “sufficient evidence” ofdumping of nylon multi-fila-ment yarn from these countries.

“The authority hereby ini-tiates an investigation into thealleged dumping, and conse-quent injury to the domesticindustry... To determine theexistence, degree and effect ofalleged dumping,” the DGTRsaid in a notification.

If the DGTR will establishthat dumping is impactingdomestic players, it would rec-ommend imposition of a cer-tain amount of anti-dumpingduty, which if levied, would beadequate to remove the injuryto the domestic industry.

The finance ministry willtake final call on imposition ofthe duty after considering rec-ommendations of the direc-torate.

Two firms, includingCentury Enka Ltd, have filedapplication for imposition ofanti-dumping duty on theimports.

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The bank fraud incidenceinvolving over �1 lakh has

declined to 6,735 in 2018-19 ascompared to 9,866 in the pre-vious fiscal, Parliament wasinformed on Tuesday.

During 2018-19, as manyas 6,735 incidences of fraudoccurred with financial impli-cation �2,836 crore as com-pared to 9,866 such activitiesinvolving over �4,228 crore ayear ago, Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman said in awritten reply to the RajyaSabha.

Occurrence of frauds wasenabled by lack of discipline inthe financial system and a laxcredit culture, she said.

“Earlier, credit culture anddiscipline in the financial sys-tem was lax across variousstakeholders. Shell companiesfor layered operations to siphonoff funds, control of assets andcontinued access to fundsdespite default or being a fugi-

tive abroad, non-availabilityof passport details and powersto issue look-out circulars withbanks, and lack of assuredchecking for wilful default andfraud in high-value NPA cases,all led borrowers to believe thatthey could get away withdefault, wilful default or evenfraud,” she added.

The role of bankers too wasalso not as rigorously examinedearlier, and auditors were notindependently regulated, theminister noted.

Through extensivereforms, change in credit cul-ture has been instituted anddiscipline tightened for everystakeholder in the financialsystem, which has enabled adecline in the occurrence offrauds, Sitharaman said.

The minister also said theRBI has issued comprehensiveinstructions in respect of secu-rity and risk mitigation mea-sures related to electronic ordigital transactions, includingsteps for securing card trans-

actions like online alerts for alltransactions, certification ofmerchant terminals, and con-version of all existing magnet-ic strip cards to EMV chip andPIN cards.

Replying to an anotherquestion, the finance ministersaid the ratio of gross non-per-forming assets (GNPA) to grossadvances of banks as on March31 of 2017, 2018 and 2019 (pro-visional data), were 9.3 percent, 11.18 per cent and 9.08per cent, respectively.

Public sector banks havebeen recapitalised by �3,19,497crore during the last five finan-cial years from 2014-15 to2018-19, including recapitali-sation of �1,30,225 duringfinancial year 2018-19, shesaid.

Over the last four financialyears, the minister said, PSBswere recapitalised to the extentof �3.12 lakh crore, with infu-sion of �2.46 lakh crore by thegovernment and mobilisationof over �0.66 lakh crore by

themselves.Replying to a separate

question, Sitharaman said, theRBI has powers under otherlaws as well, which include, thepower under section 12 of theForeign ExchangeManagement Act, 1999 toinspect for compliance with theAct and rules etc made thereunder.

The RBI also maintainsthat the Central Repositoryof Information on LargeCredits (CRILC) on aggre-gate fund-based and non-fund-based exposures of �5crore and above of all banks,she said.

Further, she said, the RBImaintains the Central FraudRegistry and banks report allfrauds involving amount above�1 lakh to the apex bank.

In addition, the RBI’s mas-ter directions on frauds lay outguidelines on categorisation,reporting and review of frauds,along with norms for conse-quent provisioning, she said.

�� -2�4�4

Days ahead of the UnionBudget, agri-warehousing

companies have sought waiv-er of the 18 per cent GSTimposed on such services toboost the farming community.

“The Centre should relookat the GST on agri- ware-housing services. It is raisingthe cost of farmers. I think thegovernment should waive theGST on this sector,” said ParanDass, Transportation Directorof Japanese warehousing majorKawasaki Rikuso.

The waiver will encouragefarmers to store their produceand prevent distress sale, Dasstold PTI.

KRT has set up a solar

agri-warehouse in the state,which is used by the WestBengal AgricultureDepartment.

Sohan Lal CommodityManagement Group CEOSandeep Sabharwal said theGST waiver is a long-standingdemand of the agri-warehous-ing industry.

“The leases of these ware-houses are treated as com-mercial ones, and has an 18 percent GST implication. On thecontrary, output services aredevoid of any GST and even-tually, the customers’ costincreases,” he said.

This often leads to loss ofbusiness for the organised sec-tor, as consumers prefer unor-ganised players who often donot pay GST, he said.

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India has ratified the multi-lateral convention to imple-

ment OECD’s project on check-ing tax evasion, and the provi-sions enshrined in the frame-work will come into effectfrom fiscal 2020-21 for bilateraltax treaties, the finance min-istry said.

The MultilateralConvention to Implement TaxTreaty Related Measures toPrevent Base Erosion and ProfitShifting (BEPS) was signed bythen Finance Minister ArunJaitley in Paris on June 7, 2017.

The Cabinet last monthapproved ratification of theconvention, which will modi-fy India’s treaties in order tocurb revenue loss throughtreaty abuse and base erosion

and profit shifting strategies byensuring that profits are taxedwhere substantive economicactivities generating the prof-its are carried out and wherevalue is created.

The finance ministry in astatement said on June 25,2019, India has deposited theinstrument of ratification toOECD, Paris, along with itsfinal position in terms of cov-ered tax agreements (CTAs),under the multilateral conven-tion.

As a result of this, theMultilateral Convention toImplement Tax Treaty RelatedMeasures to Prevent BaseErosion and Profit Shifting(MLI) “will enter into force forIndia on October 1, 2019, andits provisions will have effect onIndia’s DTAAs from FY 2020-

21 onwards,” a finance ministrystatement said.

Out of 93 CTAs notified byIndia, 22 countries have alreadyratified the MLI as on date andthe Double Taxation AvoidanceAgreement (DTAA) with thesecountries will be modified byMLI.

For the remaining CTAs,effect of MLI will take place asand when these countries rat-ify the MLI, it added.

“The date of entry intoforce of the MLI for India isOctober 1, 2019. In respect ofthe 22 treaty partners of Indiawho have deposited theInstrument of Ratification onor before June 30, 2019, entryinto effect for India under MLIwith respect to the DTAA shallbe from financial year 2020-21onwards,” the Ministry said.

�� ./0�1/2��

The Government has comeout with a fresh prelimi-

nary information documentinviting expression of interest(EoI) from bidders for strate-gic sale of consultancy firmEngineering Projects (India) Ltd.

The Government intendsto disinvest 100 per cent of itsshareholding in EPIL alongwith transfer of managementcontrol through a competitivebidding process by way of saleof equity shares, said thePreliminary InformationMemorandum (PIM).

The last date for submis-sion of EoI by interested bid-ders for EPIL, which is under

the administrative control ofHeavy Industries Ministry, isAugust 13, 2019.

The Cabinet, had inFebruary, allowed private sec-tor entities, along with CentralPublic Sector Enterprises(CPSEs), to participate in thebidding for the strategic disin-vestment of EPIL.

This was in partial modi-fication to the October 2016decision of the Cabinet, whichhad approved strategic disin-vestment of EPIL throughmerger with a similarly placedCPSE.

Following the 2016 Cabinetdecision, the Government hadin October, 2017, invited bidsfor sale of EPIL stake to a sim-ilarly placed CPSE.

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China is “pouring money”into its economy to min-

imise the adverse impact of themassive American tariffs, USPresident Donald Trump hasclaimed, days after the world’stwo largest economies agreedto re-launch the stalled nego-tiations to end the bruisingtrade war.

President Trump and hisChinese counterpart XiJinping, during a bilateralmeeting at the G-20 Summitin Osaka, Japan, decided tohold off on imposing newtariffs on imports of eachother’s goods and move for-ward with a new round oftrade negotiations.

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Leading stock exchange BSEhas suspended trading in

shares of as many as ten com-panies following variousinvestor complaints againstthem. Companies with highest

number of complaints pendingas on June 30, 2019 areGeodesic, J K Pharmachem,Gujarat Perstorp Electronics,Maharashtra Krishna ValleyDevelopment Corporation,Global Securities, as per arelease by BSE.

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Mumbai: Opposition partieson Tuesday lashed out at theruling Shiv Sena and BJP forthe loss of lives due to wall col-lapse incidents in Mumbai andPune and attributed them to"corruption".

Maharashtra Congess chiefAshok Chavan alleged thatBandra's Kala Nagar, whereShiv Sena chief UddhavThackeray resides, faced water-logging and demanded the saf-fron party, which heads theBMC, apologise to citizens for"submerging" the city.

Taking a dig at Thackeray,Chavan said Mumbai wouldnot have flooded had the ShivSena chief overseen pre-mon-soon drainage cleaning worksinstead of "taking out partyMPs" to temples post LokSabha elections.

NCP leader DhananjayMunde criticised the rulingShiv Sena-BJP over water log-ging in Mumbai and demand-ed structural audits of roads,bridges and buildings inMumbai following the wallcollapse incidents.

"25 lives were lost in wallcollapse incidents in Malad,Kalyan, Pune. Roads gotwashed away in Mumbai. Isn'tcorruption equally responsiblefor this as is rain? TheGovernment might give 'cleanchit' to all responsible in thiscorruption. But will that bringback the lives lost? But is thereany assurance that such inci-dents will not repeat?" Chavantweeted.

He claimed local citizensand those from outsideMumbai are stranded at vari-ous places in the city andalleged they were not gettingany help and information onwhen the railways will resumeoperations.

The former Maharashtrachief minister demanded thegovernment take steps on awar-footing to ensure thosestranded are taken to saferplaces.

Targeting the Shiv Senaand BJP, Munde said the twoparties had previously claimedthat there would be no water-logging in Mumbai.

"But parts of the city arenow submerged," Munde said.

Referring to the latest wallcollapse incidents, the NCPleader pitched for audits of var-ious structures in the city.

"We have been demandingsuch audits in the House. Butit will be possible only if theruling parties find some timefrom elections," Mundequipped.

In a separate statement,Chavan alleged the BMC,under the Shiv Sena's watch,had failed miserably in givingservice to the people.

Attacking the BJP, Chavansaid, "It doesn't have guts toleash the Shiv Sena's corrup-tion. Hence, Mumbaikars arenow living 'Ram Bharose' (atthe mercy of God)," the state-ment quoted Chavan as saying.

Chavan also censuredMumbai Mayor VishwanathMahadeshwar's reportedremark that there was no water-logging in the city on Monday.

"His vision may havebecome weak. His remark is asign that the sensibility hasdied," Chavan said in the state-ment.

Mumbai Congress presi-dent Milind Deora said theMalad wall collapse incidentwas "very saddening".

Latching on to mediareports that 54,000 mangroveswill be destroyed for theMumbai-Ahmedabad bullet

train project, Deora said suchaction is being planned despitethis green cover protecting thefinancial capital from storm,waves and floods.

"Mangroves protectMumbai from storms, winds,waves & floods. Yet, 54,000 will

be razed for the bullet train.Will the train shift Mumbaikarsto Ahmedabad when our citydrowns? I urge@CMOMaharashtra to urgent-ly intervene. Planting treesacross Maharashtra won't saveMumbai," former Union min-ister Deora said on Twitter.

Maharashtra NCP presi-dent Jayant Patil also attackedthe civic body over the loss oflives.

Paying tribute to the vic-tim, Patil tweeted, "Such inci-dents really raise doubtswhether the administrationhad really inspected such dilap-idated structures before mon-soon."

Former Maharashtra ChiefMinister Prithviraj Chavantold reporters at VidhanBhavan premises here that dif-ferent governing agenciesworking in Mumbai shouldstop blaming each other forwater-logging and potholes inMumbai.

"It is the failure of the gov-ernment...People are least both-ered about on whose roads(whether of BMC or MMRDA)there are potholese? Issues ofco-ordination (among agen-cies) should be solved at thechief minister's level," Chavanadded. PTI

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Mumbai: In an embarrass-ment for the Shiv Sena whichcontrols the Mumbai civicbody, waterlogging was wit-nessed outside party chiefUddhav Thackeray's residenceon Tuesday as rain lashedMumbai overnight.

The road outside`Matoshree', Thackeray's bun-galow in Kalanagar colony insuburban Bandra, was underknee-deep water.

The Sena has been rulingin the BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation(BMC), the country's richestcivic body, for over twodecades.

But as rain threw the life in

the megapolis out of gear, crip-pling rail, road and air traffic,the civic body and the Senacame in for flak, especiallybecause the BMC officials hadassured that there would be nowaterlogging this monsoon.

NCP leader Nawab Maliktook a jibe at the Sena after hisown residence in nearby Kurlaarea go flooded.

Sharing images of theinside of his house on LBSRoad with he himself standingin knee-deep water, the NCPleader tweeted, "KarunDakhavla (We did it (what hasbeen promised))," taggingUddhav Thackeray, the office ofChief Minister DevendraFadnavis and the BMC.

"Karun Dakhavla" was theSena's campaign slogan beforea civic election a few years ago.

According to the IndiaMeteorological Department,the city witnessed the highestrainfall — 375.2 mm — in the24- hour period before 8.30 amTuesday since the July 26, 2005,deluge. PTI

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Jammu: The third batch of4,823 Amarnath pilgrims left abase camp here on Tuesday forthe 3,880-metre-high caveshrine in south Kashmir.

As many as 8,403 pilgrimshave paid obeisance at theshrine in the Himalayas tillMonday evening, officials said.

Over 1.5 lakh pilgrimsfrom across the country have sofar registered for the 46-daylong pilgrimage, which takesplace from the 36-kmPahalgam track in Jammu andKashmir's Anantnag districtand 14-km Baltal route inGanderbal district.

The third batch comprising4,823 pilgrims — including3,759 males, 936 females and128 sadhus and sadhvis — leftin a fleet of 223 vehicles fromBhagwati Nagar base camphere at around 3.30 am forPahalgam and Baltal.

For the Pahalgam route,2,584 pilgrims left the basecamp, while 2,239 pilgrims forBaltal left in 114 and 109 busesand cars, which were escortedby the Central Reserve PoliceForce (CRPF), officials said.

The yatra to the holy cavecommenced Monday fromboth Baltal and the Pahalgam

routes in Kashmir valley.As many as 6,884 devotees

left from Baltal and 3,065 fromPahalgam route on Monday,they said, adding that the firstbatch was flagged off fromhere on Sunday.

Multi-tier security arrange-ments have been made for thesmooth and successful conductof the yatra concluding onAugust 15, they said.

As many as 2.85 lakh pil-grims paid obeisance at thecave last year, while the num-ber of pilgrims was 3.52 lakh in2015, 3.20 lakh in 2016 and2.60 lakh in 2017. PTI

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On a day when UnionHome Minister for State

G Kishan Reddy expressedconcern in Parliament overcross-border infiltration anduse of religious-educationalinstitutions as groomingground for militants, theSpecial Task Force of KolkataPolice arrested a Jamat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh(JMB) terrorist with allegedconnection with the BodhGaya and Khagragarh blasts.

The STF off icials onTuesday said that they hadarrested Abdul Rahim a JMBoperative with Gaya blast linksfrom Katwa subdivision inBurdwan district. A resident ofMurshidabad district the ter-ror mole is believed to the partof JMB’s Dhulian Module.

Dhulian is a block offFarakka borderingMurshiadabad and Malda dis-tricts. Rahim’s arrest comesdays after the arrest of threeterrorists from Howrah andSealdah stations.

He was arrested followinga tip-off, officials said addinghe was an accomplice of AbdulWahab and Maulana Yousufwho were currently in jailcustody. The banned Banglaterror outfit is an electricalengineer and had elaborateknowledge of making explo-

sives, sources said adding hewas one of the accused linkedto the January 2018, BodhGaya blasts where at least fivepeople including two monkswere injured.

An active member ofDhulian Module Rahim wasentrusted with recruiting,motivating and even trainingthe youth from a particularcommunity sources said.Reddy had earlier said quotingintelligence reports that somemadarsas in Murshidabad andBurdwan districts were beingused to recruit, groom andindoctrinate terror moles.

Reacting to Tuesday’sdevelopment senior Bengalminister Partho Chatterjee saidthe Mamata BanerjeeGovernment was serious abouthandling trans-border terrorproblems. “Our Government isserious about the problemwhich is why the STF is work-ing and arresting terrorists soefficiently,” he said.

Meanwhile, in an apparentmove to check trans-borderinfiltration the CentralGovernment is known to havereleased �316 crore StateGovernment sources said.

Out of the whole amountRs 84.40 crore had beencleared in 2018-19, sourcessaid adding these funds wouldbe used for border area devel-opment with a view to checkcross-border infiltration.

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Much in line with theNarendra Modi

Government, the MamataBanerjee Government hasfinally decided to soothe feel-ings of economically weakgeneral castes even as theGovernment on Tuesdaydecided to reserve 10 per centjobs for the economicallypoorer section of the peoplethat came from the generalcaste category.

Speaking to reportersState Parliamentary affairsMinister Partho Chatterjeesaid the State Cabinet haddecided to reserve 10 percentjobs for the economicallyweaker sections. This will bein addition to the reservationgranted to the other cate-gories.

“Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has decidedto reserve 10 percent jobs for the economically backward section of the society and this was passed inthe State Cabinet,” Chatterjeesaid adding the reservationthus granted would be inaddition to the reservationsearmarked for the other cat-egories.

“This means that thosefrom the SC, ST or otherclasses will not come underthis category,” he said.

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Midnapore (WB): ATrinamool Congress (TMC)worker was found dead atNarayangarh in WestMedinipur district of WestBengal, police said onTuesday.

While the TMC allegedthat its activist was killed byBJP workers, the saffron partyput the blame of the death onTMC infighting.

The body of 42-year-oldGanesh Bhuniya was found ona road beside a field near hisresidence on Monday.

He had ventured out onSunday night after receiving aphone call from an unknownperson.

The body was sent forautopsy and the report isawaited.

District Superintendentof Police Dinesh Kumar saidan investigation into the inci-dent has been launched andthey hope for a breakthroughsoon.

The incident happened24 hours after a BJP workerwas killed in neighbouringJhargram district.

Accusing the BJP forBhuniya's death, district TMCpresident Ajit Maity said theruling party will counter theBJP's violence through demo-cratic means.

"People have understoodthat the CPM 'harmads'(armed goons) have switchedsides to the BJP. People are ris-ing against the BJP after hav-ing voted for them in the LokSabha elections," he said. PTI

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Kota (R'than): A 42-year-oldfarmer, apparently distressedover his poor financial condi-tion and illness of his two chil-dren, was found hanging froma tree on his field in Rajasthan'sBaran district, police said onTuesday.

Hajarilal Gujjar is suspect-ed to have committed suicide onMonday night at Bhoat villagein Mangrol area, an officer said,adding that he had left no sui-cide note.

The incident comes 10 daysafter another farmer had com-mitted suicide in the district. Thethree bighas of land owned byGujjar, a father of four children,had been yielding no good cropfor the past couple of years,Manglore police station inchargeAashish Bhargav, said. PTI

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In the mid-90s or the early 2000s,MBA was a specialist programmethat used to attract focused man-

agerial hopefuls, who had their eyesset on the C-suite. However, over thelast few years, the scale of the MBAworld has increased manifold. Thequality of programmes is increasingbut with it comes the challenge toenter the world that is full of MBAsand also to choose the right path as avariety of post-MBA options areavailable out there. With the increasein competition, it is vital to have a clearpost-MBA plan in mind.

Unlike other specialisations inMBA, Finance stands out as ‘the spe-cialisation’. The path to a better job isnot that easy. The course itself is atraining that is designed to prepare aperson for one of the most liable rolesin the world. The degree holders willbe handling the finances of the busi-ness or in short, will be handling anindispensable arm of the enterprise.�Plan of action

To move ahead without a plan canhave unpleasant consequences result-ing in dissatisfying professional andpersonal life. In the current scenario,one should not take seeking job forgranted. For the starters, finding apost-graduation job can take a lotlonger if one is not clear about his/heraspirations. A prior plan of action

would also mean that you are fit forthe business world that looks forproactivity. Remember, opportunitieselude those who do not seek themactively.

A lack of plan would also lead tofinancial dangers as the more you taketime to find a job the harder it willbecome to pay off MBA loans or toplan other things in life. The planningalso works in choosing the right elec-tives and the right career options.�Be flexible

Often it is found that peoplecoming out of the MBA become stiffin terms of choosing an industry, sec-tor, or even profile. However, thereshould be flexibility in the post-MBAcareer plan. Ask yourself what youwant to be after completing thecourse. For example, ‘working for anMNC with a path to reach C-suite’ willmake sense but to think of ‘workingas CFO for a famous company’ isbeing too ambitious. After coming outof MBA, you may also miss the tar-get and you should be prepared for it.However, the goals should not be toovague as well. �Maximising opportunities

A coveted degree, an MBA inFinance opens up a range of careeroptions as the course provides anopportunity to the student to spe-cialise in various sub-fields such as

investment management, interna-tional finance, tax planning, taxation,insurance management, financialstatement reporting and analysis.

The degree mixes up the twomagic words that are in vogue or indemand — finance and manage-ment. The culmination of the twowords open up a myriad of careeropportunities in sectors such as bank-ing and financial services, manage-ment consulting, investment banking,wealth management, insurance, hedgefund management, and asset finance.

Typically, the job of the personafter completing the course is toensure that funds are available for acompany’s business activities. Financeprofessionals, as they are called afterjoining a company, are required tostudy and forecast economic trends,analyse company reports, balancerisk and profitability, and suggestimprovements. They also take steps tomaximise stock value, manage fundsby choosing investment portfolios,and apply the principles of financialrisk management.

An MBA in Finance grad hasample of opportunities waitingaround-all he needs to do is grab it.All of this is because of the diverse skillset he possesses. There are thrillingcareers in financial consultancies,financial institutions and banks. To be

more specific, you can get into fieldslike merchant banking, investmentand consumer banking, internation-al finance, corporate finance andinstitutional finance.

Once you build up your workexperience then you can serve on gov-ernment committees and add yourinputs to the policy-making issues.You can also provide consultation ser-vices to government and corporateorganisations.�Job titles and remuneration

Profiles available to an MBA inFinance include financial manag-er/analyst, credit analyst, accountingmanager, risk and insurance manag-er, treasurer, finance manager, cashmanager, chief financial officer, VP(finance), and finance director.

Talking about the money, thepay scale depends on the businessschool that you attended. Greater thereputation of the b-school better thepay package.

Top MBA colleges in India pro-vide financial students with place-ments at an average of �10—�15 lakhp.a. Financial analysts earn about �4lakh a year at the start, credit analysts�5-6 lakh at the start to �20-30 lakhin senior-level posts, and managementconsultants �5-8 lakh and, in a fewyears, �10-15 lakh.

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Newcastle University ispleased to offer MBABusiness Excellence

Scholarships to reward MBAcandidates who are results ori-entated, customer focused, andcan demonstrate emergingleadership qualities.

Value of award: £7,000,payable towards the cost oftuition fees.

Eligibility: Can demon-strate (through application andat interview) substantive man-agerial experience and goodleadership potential for thefuture. Hold a conditional orunconditional offer of admis-sion to the Full-time MBA pro-gramme of 2019 entry. Havesubstantive managerial experi-ence (normally 4 years or more,minimum 3 years). Preferablyhold the equivalent of a UK 2:1honours degree (however,applicants who do not meetthis requirement but candemonstrate relevant workexperience above the minimumplus significant career progres-sion may also be considered).Perform well at interviewacross all competency areas.Hold an English language qual-ification of IELTS 6.5 or itsequivalent with no subskillbelow 6.0 (if your first languageis not English)

Application Start andDuration: September 2019 forone year of study

Application form: Noapplication required. All candi-dates will be assessed at the

point of interview for thisscholarship.

For for details: Email: [email protected]

The University of Glasgowinvites 100 InternationalUndergraduate ExcellenceScholarships at the Universityof Glasgow. These opportuni-ties are open to pursuing anUG degree programme.

The grant is awarded as arebate of £ 5,000 per year ineducation fee and is subject tosatisfactory progress for yearsof continuous study.

International applicants areeligible to apply.

Eligibility: To be eligible,applicants must be classed asInternational students for feepurposes and hold an offer of aplace for an undergraduateprogram for 2019. The appli-cants must demonstrate excel-lent academic achievementbefore starting University, stu-dents achieving (or predictedto achieve) the following ALevel/IB grades (or local equiv-alent) are guaranteed a scholar-ship offer.

How to apply: Applicantsholding offers will be automati-cally assessed for the opportu-nity based on academic merit.Applicants who are being con-sidered for the opportunity willbe notified within two weeks ofreceiving an offer. There is noseparate application formrequired. To apply for theseendowments, the applicantsneed to submit all the docu-ments given on the admissionform. Language: English

Application deadline: It isopen

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�The reason for the school?The reason was to create a hub

for people in Gurugram where theycould come together on one platformfor the activities like dance and art.The idea was to also create a spacefor the children living here. I sawmany small institutions mush-rooming but none provided a facil-ity where they could express theircreativity.�How does the programme help

It provides an opportunity forpursuing a career in Arts.Most of the people who comehere have keen interest in arts.It provides them regularity. Italso opens an option wheretheir ward can pursue acareer in the subject.

�How important is it for studentsto get involve in extra-curricularactivities?

While growing up, I was not apart of any extra-curricular activities.This in turn made me lose interestin studies as well. Children betweenthe ages of five to 18 are energetic.The energy needs to by channalisedif we want them to keep their inter-est in subjects like Mathemeticsand Hindi that appear to bore manychildren and slows them down.Children are looking for avenueswhich will entertain them. If they areinvolved in extra-curricular activi-ties they would be keen to learn sub-ject courses.�What are the things to pursue inVastu Shastra?

Those looking for a career inVastu should also know VedicAstrology. For example, if a person

has North favourable direction oneshould not recommend Vastu that isEast favourable.�You pursued music and then didvastu shastra, why?

Music was part and parcel of mylife since I was three. My mother wasa very good singer. I studied Vastubecause my grandfather was a verygood astrologer. I am good with myintuitions. That is how the two werecombined.�How does Vastu help?

Vastu is important as it helpspeople understand the importance ofdirections whether it is at workplaceor at home. Getting the directionright brings in positivity. Vastu isbound by nature and we should fol-low the rules set.

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The Triumphant Institute ofManagement Education

(T.I.M.E) Pvt Ltd is conductingfree All-India Mock CAT exam(scholarship test) on July 7,2019. This exam is available inthe invigilated mode. This testwill be conducted at numerouslocations across the countryand will be written by a verywide cross-section of students.

Based on the performancein the free online mock CAT,a student can get attractive dis-counts from TIME on their testseries (AIMCATs), and class-room programmes for CAT2019.

Ramnath Kankadandi,Course Director CAT ExamTIME. said: “The mock CATs

called AIMCATs are toolsdevised by us for the seriousCAT aspirants. Every one ofthese tests is specially designed,with question combinationsthat cover all the test areas andvarious question types thathave appeared in the CAT overthe years.

“Each AIMCAT is a com-plete test that gives the studenta true-to-CAT experience in allaspects, including difficultylevel and time-management,and thus provides the studentwith a realistic idea of theirlevel of preparedness.AIMCATs help you to buildconcepts, evaluate progress,identify strengths and weak-nesses and thereby enable youto prepare efficient strategies tocrack the CAT.”

The Ministry of CorporateAffairs (MCA) had intro-

duced e-form INC-22A(Active) for taking into accountthe active companies and theirregistered offices. The form hadmandated filling of the detailsof Company Secretary forcompanies mandated toappoint the same thereat. Indiais perhaps the only countrywhere a form like INC-22A(Active), to be filed by everycompany incorporated on orbefore the December 31, 2017,is introduced capturing suchdetails like the latitude and lon-gitude of the registered office,directors, KMPs and auditorsand others. It is evident that theMCA is hoping to achieve sig-nificantly high level of gover-nance norms.

However, the monitoringof appointment of CompanySecretary is an attempt to fur-ther strengthen the existinggovernance framework in theIndian corporate scenario. Thismandate of Government hasrecently raised various con-tentions regarding the shortfallin the number of CS profes-sionals as against the numberof companies eligible and man-dated under the Act to makeappointments and even furtherof Company Secretariesdemanding high salaries inthe wake of such shortage.

Being the parent organisa-tion of Company Secretaries,the Institute of CompanySecretaries of India intends toclarify that there is no shortageof Company Secretaries whoshall be willing to serve the cor-porates and support in theircompliances.

The institute has a dedi-cated placement cell in place for

the purpose of coordinatingbetween corporates intendingto appoint CompanySecretaries and the profession-als seeking employment. As faras the salary packages are con-cerned, it may be noted thatakin to any other professional,the salaries of CompanySecretaries, too, are driven bymarket factors such as numberof years of experience, size oforganisation, work profile,position and others.Considering the trend from thepast few months, there is noimmediate surge in pay pack-ages of Company Secretaries, ashas been claimed by variousquarters.

Emphasising upon improv-ing the level of corporate gov-ernance in the country, CSRanjeet Pandey, President, ICSIsaid: “ICSI being the parentorganisation of Governanceprofessionals in India believesin having strong credentials incorporate governance.Improving the level of trans-parency and accountabilityshall go a long way in strength-ening the Corporate gover-nance framework of thenation.”

“The India Inc is expectedto whole-heartedly support theMCA in its initiative of elimi-nating inactive companies,” hesaid.

The corporates are sug-gested to pursue employmentand appointment of CompanySecretaries in their entities notmerely as a tick-box initiativebut as an attempt to perfecttheir parts in attaining thegoals of good governancewhich shall go a long way inachieving the vision of newIndia,” he adds.

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The students of Narayana Academy has again excelled inJEE(Advance) examination with securing top four ranks in

the top 10. In top 100 ranks, the students were on 24 positions,thus establishing its position as India’s premier coaching insti-tute.

Dr K Gopal, Vice-chairman of Narayana Group said: “Thegroup has once again repeated its outstanding performance in the2019 exams. Our system of learning motivates the students to strivefor better results. Our weekly tests (common practice tests) makesour students perfect as weak subjects/topics are identified andimmediate solutions are suggested for their improvement.Similarly, part tests, cumulative tests, and grand tests are also con-ducted according to the timelines and students’ performance isevaluated. The suggestions once implemented make students per-fect and help them in the long run.”

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%�� The 70th Chartered Accountants Day of ICAI was celebrated

on July 1, 2019 all across the country with great enthusiasmand zeal. July 1 is a landmark day in the history of ICAI as onthis day ICAI was set up to regulate the Profession of CharteredAccountancy in India in the year 1949. This CA Day was morespecial as the institute has reached a significant milestone i.e.Platinum Jubilee of its glorious existence.

The 70th Chartered Accountants Day in Delhi was inaugu-rated by M Venkaiah Naidu, Vice-President of India. The eventwas also graced by Injeti Srinivas, IAS, Secretary, Ministry ofCorporate Affairs & Dr In-Ki Joo, President, InternationalFederation of Accountants (IFAC). Present were CA Prafulla PChhajed, President & CA Atul Kumar Gupta, Vice-President,ICAI and over 1200 CA Members and stakeholders.

ICAI has achieved significant milestones in the field ofaccountancy and is poised to play a greater role in changing theglobal landscape and strengthening the foundation of resurgentIndia by taking the profession to the newer zeniths.

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Nepotism has always been a hottopic in Bollywood and bound to

attract controversies. But then there areoutsiders like Esha Gupta whoprove that talent ought not tobe bothered by it. “Initially,it worried me but then Igradually understood thisindustry and started vali-dating my existence. Todayno one can turn aroundand say that I made EshaGupta. I fell, I got up,learnt from my ownmistakes and did itall on my own. Ihave no one to givethe credit,” says theJannat 2 actor. Shehas ever eyeballin the room inher monotonepolka dots pant-suit ensemblewith a stylishtwist in the cap-ital where she isbusy promoting,One Day: JusticeDelivered, anaction thriller.She has noqualms in admit-ting that she start-ed from a scratchin 2012 without agodfather in theindustry.

In her latest out-ing, she plays the role ofa fierce crime branchofficer who investigatesthe disappearance ofhigh profile individuals.Esha says, “Laxmi Rathidoes not believe that peo-ple are black or white.They can be grey as welland so is she. She acceptspeople the way they are.Instead of judging the char-acter, she tries to understandwhy s/he must have takenthat step.”

Talking about the filmfurther, she says that itemphasises the idea of karma,which is centered around thetheory that ek din aayega (aday will come when justiceis finally delivered).

S h efurther apprises us,“Films like these liftyou up and enrichyour journey. Iwould love to doroles like thesebecause there isnothing more satis-fying than acting ina film where you candeliver justice, evenif it is onlyonscreen.” However,every role bringsforth challenges andthis one was no dif-ferent. She says,“Learning a newaccent and main-taining it consistent-ly while staying inthe character wasdifficult.”

Adjusting herbeige colour neck-piece, she excitedlytells us that she is

very natural in this film. “After my firstfilm Jannat 2, this is the only one whereI am not wearing lenses or lashes. I did

not care about how I was looking onthe screen. I took naps in betweenshoots, got up and then shot inmessy hair. This film pins theissue deeply and that is the rea-son why I feel about it strong-ly,” she says.

She says that her journeyin the Hindi film industry

has been a rough one. “Itwas never smooth. Butthere’s this beautifulsaying, which my dadnever tires of quoting,‘If you are sailing instill water, it is notcalled sailing’. In questto achieve higher,there are ups anddowns and it took mea while to understandthis roller coaster ride.Initially, it was lovely asI was doing a lot offilms and advertise-

ments but then onemajor failure pushed meback. I blamed myself forthe wrong decision andstarted comparing my lifewith others. It took a lotof self analysis and med-itation to get out of thatphase. I realised that thisindustry can turn youinto gold or into dust.”Initially, her mentalhealth issues botheredher but the way forwardhas given her a lot to bethankful for.

For Esha, thescript and her role in afilm matter more thanthe director. On herchoice of films, shesays, “I am very clearthat either I want todo films like Oneday: JusticeD e l i v e r e d ,Chakravyuh or formoney where I amlooking amazing,dancing and act-ing dumb. Noteveryone takes therisk of doing such

films.” O f t e n

actors relate tocharacters or

imbue them withfeatures that are personal to give themmore depth. “The entire idea aboutacting is acting. I never relate to anyof my characters on a personal level.If I have to actually do it, then I am notacting. I am glad that I get to live somany characters in each film. You needto have a strong hold of your senses somuch so that when you go back home,you are still the same person else it canmess you up. However, in this charac-ter there is one thing that she wouldlove to incorporate and add to her per-sonality. She guffaws and says, “Givena chance, I would love to beat crimi-nals and rapists and kick them in theirballs.”

Cherishing her debut character,Jhanvi Tomar, which is her favouritetoo, the actress says that she is all setto try out her skills in a web series thatwould start streaming in September.

(The film releases on July 5.)

Reams are written aboutcricket, the nationalobsession, while other

sports seem to fall by the way-side especially with the WorldCup fever dominating the air-waves, mindspace and the web.And if you happen to namerugby, it might not even passmuster alongside hockey, bad-minton or tennis. And if youfurther prefix women, it is morethan likely to fall by the wayside.

But then stereotypes exist sothat they can be broken. In analmost Chak De! India moment,the 15-member Indian Women’sRugby team earned its spurs bydefeating a much higher-rankedSingapore team at the AsiaRugby Women’s ChampionshipDivision 1, held at Manila,Philippines. The team, formedbarely a year ago, finished thirdand won a historic bronze in the15-a-side four nation tourna-ment, which also involvedChina and Philippines.

Sumitra Nayak, from Jajpurin Odisha, who began playingRugby at 11 in 2009, had alwaysdreamt of flying abroad to rep-resent her country in the game.

She said, “I come from avery poor family. I always want-ed to travel in a flight and playinternational tournaments. Iwas inspired by my brother whoplayed rugby and representedIndia at the Men’s World Cup afew years ago. The first win forme was clearing the test that istaken before being selected fora particular tournament. In2014, I had gone to England forUnder-13 RugbyChampionship.”

The player says that it wasall because of the support andtraining that she received fromher family and her institute,KISS (Kalinga Institute of SocialSciences) that she could touchsuch heights. “Everything hap-

pened because of Samanta(Achyuta) sir and my mother.They are my inspiration and asource of encouragement. Theysupported me throughout,taught me to dream big andwork harder in order to achievethe desired goals. Sir has givenus facilities including education,sports at free of cost. Apart fromthat, international coaches fromdifferent countries were hired totrain us for international match-es.”

While women playingrugby is seen as a highly uncon-ventional choice in India, shetold us the reason for choosingthe sport, “I always wanted toplay but I was not sure of thesport that I wanted to focus on.When I joined KISS, I playedrugby for the first time and wasinstantly fascinated with it. Theway the players run while hold-ing the ball, the procedure of thegame, it’s fun to play.”

Talking about a few otherplayers in the team, who also

belong the same institute asSumitra’s, Achyuta Samanta,founder of KISS and KIIT, said,“Like Sumitra, every playerfrom our institute also has aninspiring story. We are tryingour best to bring manyunknown talents to the lime-light and give them internation-al exposure since the last 28years. Due to dedicated andcontinuous efforts, today manystudents have been bringing lau-rels to Odisha as well as Indiain sports. We are currentlytraining students for Olympics,Asian and CommonwealthGames as well.”

It was in 2006, when rugbywas introduced in the cur-riculum of the tribal studentsof the institute, “at a time whenit wasn’t even that prominent inthe country.”

Talking about how thereshould be a steady develop-ment in infrastructure in thecountry, Sumitra said, “I don’tsee it happening on a very large

scale but I feel that such match-es should continue and onlythen will it get the recognitionthat it deserves. It’s gainingpopularity in Odisha but itshould reach out to more peo-ple. More training centres andcoaches should be set up inother states. Even though thegame is not very popular inIndia as compared to othersports, but a victory like thismight give it the fillip that itneeds. If we keep representingour nation abroad, it mightinspire other people to take itup.”

Mahesh Mathai, secretarygeneral, Rugby India, said,“Women’s rugby XVs hasgrown leaps and bounds in thecountry, from not having anywomen’s Rugby XVs beingplayed in two years ago to hav-ing over 35 Rugby XVs teamplaying competitively today, ithas grown manifolds.”

More power to thesewomen achievers.

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President Donald Trump haswarned that Iran is "playing

with fire" after Tehranannounced that it has exceed-ed the limit on enriched ura-nium reserves under the 2015nuclear deal from which the USwalked out last year.

His statement came asSecretary of State MikePompeo, in a strongly-wordedstatement, asked Tehran tohalt enrichment of uranium.

Monday marked the firsttime Iran is known to havebreached the terms of the deal.

The International AtomicEnergy Agency confirmed Iranhad exceeded the limit that thedeal imposed on its stockpile oflow-enriched uranium.

Trump told reporters at theWhite House that Iran is "play-ing with fire" as Secretary ofState Mike Pompeo in a strong-ly worded statement askedTehran to halt enrichment ofuranium.

"The Iranian regime,armed with nuclear weapons,would pose an even greater

danger to the region and to theworld.

The United States is committed to negotiating anew and comprehensive dealwith the Iranian regime toresolve its threats to interna-tional peace and security,"Pompeo said.

As long as Iran continuesto reject diplomacy and expandits nuclear programme, theeconomic pressure and diplo-

matic isolation will intensify, hesaid.

Alleging that the Iranianregime has taken new steps toadvance its nuclear ambitions,Pompeo said that the world'sleading state sponsor of ter-rorism continues to use itsnuclear programme to extortthe international communityand threaten regional security.

"No nuclear deal shouldever allow the Iranian regime

to enrich uranium at any level.Starting in 2006, the UnitedNations Security Councilpassed six resolutions requiringthe regime to suspend allenrichment and reprocessingactivity. It was the right stan-dard then; it is the right stan-dard now.

"The Trump administra-tion calls on the internationalcommunity to restore the long-standing nonproliferation stan-dard of no enrichment forIran's nuclear programme. Iranhas the uncontested ability topursue peaceful nuclear ener-gy without domestic enrich-ment," Pompeo said.

Trump told reporters at theWhite House that he has nomessage for Iran, but theyshould know that they areplaying with fire.

"No message to Iran. Theyknow what they're doing. Theyknow what they're playingwith. And I think they're play-ing with fire. So, no message toIran whatsoever," said the USPresident in response to aquestion.

In a separate statement,

White House Press SecretaryStephanie Grisham said thatthe Iranian regime took actionto increase its uranium enrich-ment.

"It was a mistake under theIran nuclear deal to allow Iranto enrich uranium at any level.There is little doubt that evenbefore the deal's existence, Iranwas violating its terms. Wemust restore the longstandingnonproliferation standard of noenrichment for Iran.

The United States and itsallies will never allow Iran todevelop nuclear weapons," shesaid.

"Maximum pressure on theIranian regime will continueuntil its leaders alter theircourse of action. The regimemust end its nuclear ambitionsand its malign behaviour,"Grisham added.

Under the 2015 nucleardeal, Iran had agreed to cap itsstockpile of low-enriched ura-nium at 300 kilograms, one ofthe several restrictions on itsnuclear activities, in exchangefor the lifting of almost allinternational sanctions.

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Fourteen seamen have diedin a fire on a deep sub-

mersible, Russia's defence min-istry said Tuesday, the latest ina string of disasters and acci-dents to hit the country's navy.

The tragedy in the farnorth has echoes of the sinkingof the Kursk submarine in2000 that claimed the lives of118 personnel and shook thefirst year of Vladimir Putin'spresidency.

"On July 1, a fire broke outduring biometric measure-ments on a scientific researchdeep-sea submersible," thedefence ministry said.

Fourteen crew died as aresult of poisoning from the

fumes of the fire in Russia's ter-ritorial waters, a ministryspokeswoman confirmed toAFP.

The fire has been put out,the ministry said, adding aninvestigation was under way.

"The investigation is beingconducted by the commander-in-chief of the navy." Theresearch was conducted tostudy areas near the seabed andthe seabed itself of the ocean inthe interests of the Russiannaval fleet, according to theministry.

The vessel is now situatedat a military base in the closednorthern city of Severomorskwhich is located on the KolaPeninsula above the ArcticCircle.

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At least 45 people were killedand more than 100 injured

in central Nigeria when a petroltanker crashed off the road andexploded as people gatheredfuel, the emergency servicessaid on Tuesday.

The truck overturned close to shops as it was travellingthrough the village of Ahumbein Benue state on Monday.

Local residents rushed tocollect the leaking gasoline forover an hour before the fuelcaught fire, causing a blast thattore through the surroundingarea.

"We have recovered 45corpses of the dead while 101others sustained serious fireburns," Benue state FederalRoad Safety Commission SectorCommander Aliyu Baba toldAFP.

"From the look of things andconsidering their condition,many of them might not sur-vive."

Baba said a pregnant

woman and at least two children were among those whohad died and two firefightershad sustained serious burns.

He said the blaze beganwhen a bus laden with passen-gers tried to pass the scene andits exhaust pipe scraped alongthe ground causing sparks to fly.

"Sixteen of the passengers inthe vehicle, including the twochildren and the pregnantwoman, were instantly burnt todeath," Baba said.

Police and emergency ser-vices crews were working toclear the tanker's charred hulkfrom the road, an AFP reporterat the scene said.

At least one building wasgutted by the explosion. Localsspoke of their shock.

"I lost a brother and twoothers are seriously burnt and inthe hospital. They were trappedin the fire when the truckexploded for a second time," res-ident Ade Derfer told AFP.

Earlier a spokesman for thelocal council said that over 64people were killed in the inci-dent, but the police did not givea toll.

Petrol tanker and pipelineblasts are common in Nigeria,where despite the country'smulti-billion-dollar oil and gasindustry, most people live inpoverty.

Fires and explosions oftenoccur as people try to siphonfuel from pipelines and also fol-lowing accidents involving fueltankers on badly-maintainedroads.

In January, at least eight peo-ple were killed in Odukpani, inthe southeastern state of CrossRiver, in an accident of this kind.

In July 2012, at least 104people were killed and some 50others injured in the southernstate of Rivers.

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Oman on Tuesday denied ithas agreed to establish

diplomatic relations with Israel,a day after the Israeli intelligencechief said his country wasrenewing ties.

Reports on the "establish-ment of diplomatic relationsbetween the sultanate and Israelare baseless", the foreign min-istry said on Twitter.

"The sultanate is keen to cre-ate diplomatic conditions torestore communication betweenall international and regionalparties to work on achievingpeace between the PalestinianAuthority and Israel, resulting in

an independent Palestinianstate," it said.

On Monday, the head ofIsrael's Mossad intelligenceagency, Yossi Cohen, said hiscountry was establishing "formalrelations" with Oman.

"Just recently, renewal of for-mal relations with Oman wasdeclared and the establishmentof a representative office of the(Israeli) foreign ministry in thatcountry," he told a security con-

ference in Herzliya, near TelAviv. Oman's statement onTuesday made no mention of anIsraeli representative office.

Israel and Oman agreed toopen trade representative officesin the 1990s, but in 2000 theGulf sultanate closed them afterthe outbreak of the secondPalestinian intifada.

In October, Israeli PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahuheld surprise talks with Oman'sSultan Qaboos in Muscat.

The move raised Palestinianfears of a normalisation of ties.

Last week, Oman said itwould open an embassy in thePalestinian territories, in a firstfor a Gulf Arab state.

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Dozens of shipping con-tainers full of waste will be

returned to France and otherdeveloped countries, Indonesiasaid Tuesday, as SoutheastAsian nations increasinglyreject serving as dumpinggrounds for international trash.

The 49 containers wereloaded with a combination ofgarbage, plastic waste and haz-ardous materials in violation ofimport rules, according to cus-toms officials on Batam island.

"We are coordinating thewith the importer to immedi-ately process their return," cus-toms office spokesmanSumarna, who goes by onename, told AFP.

The waste came from theUnited States, Australia, France,Germany and Hong Kong, headded.

Last month, Jakartareturned five containers ofwaste to the United States,joining a chorus of SoutheastAsian nations that are increas-ingly unhappy about being used as dumpinggrounds for trash from Westerncountries.

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Sri Lanka's ex-defence secre-tary Hemasiri Fernando and

suspended police chief PujithJayasundera were arrested onTuesday, a day after theAttorney General instructedthe authorities to charge themfor their failure to prevent theEaster terror attacks thatclaimed 258 lives.

Jayasundera and Fernandowere suspended by PresidentMaithripala Sirisena for theiralleged inaction on the intelli-gence shared by India, whichwarned of an impending attackby Islamic militants, and there-by, failing to prevent the serialblasts on April 21.

Police SpokespersonRuwan Gunasekara said thatboth men were at differenthospitals undergoing treatmentwhen police arrested them.

Jayasundara was arrestedfrom the Police Hospital whileFernando was taken into cus-tody at the Colombi NationalHospital.

The duo were scheduled toappear before the CID.

In a letter to acting policechief ChandanaWickremaratne, AttorneyGeneral Dappula de Livera onMonday said the duo should betried for "grave crimes againsthumanity" for their failure toprevent the Easter Sundaybombings.

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An Indian national wasamong nine people injured

in an attack by Yemeni rebelson Abha international airportin southern Saudi Arabia onTuesday, a spokesperson of theSaudi-led military coalitionsaid.

"A terrorist attack at AbhaInternational Airport...Led tothe injury of 9 civilians - eightSaudis and one Indian nation-al," Coalition for the Support ofLegitimacy in Yemenspokesperson Colonel Turkial-Maliki said in a statement.

All injured are stable and

under treatment at hospitals, Colonel al-Malikiwas quoted as saying by thestate-owned Saudi PressAgency (SPA).

He blamed the Houthimilitia for the attack, whichtook place shortly after mid-night on Tuesday.

"In the face of these acts ofterrorism and the immoralviolations by the Houthi ter-rorist militia, the command ofthe coalition forces continues tocarry out strict measures todeter these terrorist militias inorder to protect the civilian andcivilian assets," Colonel al-Maliki said.

"The terrorist elementsresponsible for the planningand execution of this terrorist attack will be heldaccountable in accordance withinternational humanitarian lawand its customary rules," headded.

Air traffic at the airportwas not affected by the inci-dent, tweeted the airportauthorities.

Earlier, the Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV said the rebels"launched a wide operationtargeting warplanes at Abhainternational airport" withdrones. The UAE strongly con-demned the attack.

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Beijing: China said on Tuesdayit regrets Iran's decision toexceed a limit on enriched ura-nium reserves under a 2015nuclear deal, but said US "max-imum pressure is the root cause"of tensions.

Iran said Monday it hadmade good on its warning thatit would breach the limit,prompting US President DonaldTrump to warn that Tehranwas "playing with fire".

The United States withdrewfrom the nuclear deal last yearand hit Iran's crucial oil exports

and financial transactions as wellas other sectors with bitingsanctions. Tehran, which hassought to pressure the remain-ing parties to save the deal,announced on May 8 that itwould no longer respect thelimit set on its enriched urani-um and heavy water stockpiles.

It threatened to abandonfurther nuclear commitmentsunless the remaining partners —Britain, China, France, Germanyand Russia -- helped it circum-vent sanctions, especially to sellits oil. AFP

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Aruling ChineseCommunist Party news-

paper has taken a hard lineagainst pro-democracy pro-testers in Hong Kong, sayingdemonstrators who broke intothe local legislature showedtheir "arrogance" and had noregard for the rule of law.

Chinese state media ranfootage of police in Hong Kongclearing protesters from streetsearly Tuesday in a break with their silence over days ofpro-democracy demonstra-tions that have challengedBeijing's authority over the semi-autonomous Chineseterritory.

Beijing has largely soughtto downplay the demonstra-tions that have highlighteddoubts about the validity of its"one country, two systems"formula for governing the for-mer British colony.

Its coverage of the protestsand the publication of a harsheditorial in the officialCommunist Party newspaperGlobal Times may indicate it isprepared to take a tougherline against the demonstratorsfollowing days of forbearance.

"These violent assailantsin their arrogance pay no heed

to Hong Kong's law, no doubtarousing the anger and sadnessof all people of the city of HongKong," the editorial said.

Television imagesshowed police moving intoroads surrounding the leg-islative council, where pro-testers smashed through glassand metal barriers to occu-py the space for about threehours on Monday night untilpolice moved in shortly aftermidnight.

Veteran opposition fig-ure Joshua Wong acknowl-edged that the damage to thelegislative offices has drawncriticism from some sectorsin the Asian financial hub.

But he said mass partic-ipation in marches and ral-lies over previous weeksshowed there was agroundswell of support forthe demonstrators' goals ofdemanding more account-ability from the administra-tion of Hong Kong ChiefExecutive Carrie Lam.

"I understand people inHong Kong and around theworld might not 100% agreeor disagree on all of thebehavior of protesters ... Butall of the requests have beenignored. So, is there any wayout?" Wong said.

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Three men accused of havinglinks to the Islamic State ter-

ror group were arrested byAustralian police on Tuesday forallegedly plotting to carry outterrorist attacks on several tar-gets including police stations,embassies, courts and church-es in Sydney.

The three men have beenarrested following counter ter-rorism raids in six properties ofSydney's west.

The Australian FederalPolice Assistant CommissionerIan McCartney said the men,aged 20, 23 and 30, would becharged with a range of "serious

offences", from being a mem-ber of a terrorist organisation,Islamic State, acts in prepara-tion of a terrorist attack inAustralia, and preparations toenter a foreign country withthe intent of hostile activities.

Police said one of theaccused, Isaak el Matari, hadbeen monitored since return-ing from Lebanon last year.

Police believe the plans forlocal terror attacks were in"early stage preparations".

"We will say that they hada number of targets, includingpolice stations, defence estab-lishments, embassies andcouncils, courts and churches,"McCartney said.

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Rohit Sharma on surcharge with hisfourth hundred in the WorldCup, Virat Kohli walking to his

first much under 50 score, Dhoni fail-ing to accelerate in the last 10 overs asusual and Bangladesh bowlers clippingthe "massive" total to just a "sizeable" oneon a dazzling fifer by their bowler of theday Mustafizur Rahman who unfoldeda two-wicket maiden and ended withtwo wickets and just two runs in the lastover - these were some of the ping pongstories that shaped Act 1 of the India-Bangladesh clash at Edgbaston.

Peppering into the story was theyoung Rishabh Pant with 48 valuableruns as No 4 even as Hardik Pandya fiz-zled out in just two balls for a duck.Bangladesh now have a worn out andslowed down wicket to get to a difficult315 on such a surface despite downsiz-ing a 380 plus estimate to 314/9.

After a shocking and perhaps matchscore changing drop catch by TamimIqbal at square leg, Rohit Sharma, thenat 9, lit the fire for most part of hisinnings packing the ball off to theboundary both aerially and grounded,showing a full blown and colourful per-formance wheel in the middle.

Under pressure to perform or per-ish from the tournament, the woes start-ed early in the innings after Kohli wonthe toss and elected to bat. For a change,the first 10 overs saw an uprising by theIndian batsmen, perhaps because themanagement had shipped off the tail tothe dressing room by bringing inBhuvneshwar Kumar as the third seam-er in place of Kuldeep Yadav and DineshKartik replacing Kedar Jadhav.

Sharma and his stylish almost lazyaggression was the story of the firstinnings for India as he hammered all theBangladeshi bowlers, nonplussing themwith a flurry of sixes and fours in shotsthat spoke of his acumen, ability andchutzpah with the bat. He kicked off thescoreboard fest with a six in the first overitself posting Mashrafe Mortaza over thesquare leg boundary to open his accountwith his favourite pull shot. The secondcame in the sixth over, targetingSaifuddin and then onwards not spar-ing any from the Bangla arms brigade.His century, balanced, fascinating andthe fourth in this World Cup came in 92balls with seven boundaries and fivesixes.

As the cheering crowds startedchanting for the double, Sharma's runcame to a sudden halt with SoumyaSarkar's off-breaker catching his baterrantly to be hived off by Liton Das run-ning into extra cover. Sharma's post cen-tury patch showed up for the secondtime in a row. He had walked for 102 inthe last match against England when hewas equally sure-footed. Sharma hadthen talked of the need for him to batdeep into the innings to build up fear-lessness for the late middle order to takerisks, but that was not to be.

Sarkar who has been comparative-ly unsung in comparison to Shakib, hadtaken 3 wickets against Australia eventhough his ability with the bat is whatBangladesh would be looking at now.Sharma's fabulous knock also navigat-ed an 180-run partnership in exactly thesame number of balls and when hereturned for 104 runs, KL Rahul was inhis 70s looking for his maiden ton in theWorld Cup. Rahul's show was no lesssolid though it took a backseat to a typ-ical Sharma run race which has beenhabitually winning hearts in this tour-nament.

But soon after Rahul erred on thewrong side of caution to slice RubelHussein right into the gloves of the wick-et-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim when hewas at 77 which he stitched up in 92 balls,hitting six fours and a six. This broughtin jerseys 17 and 18 (Pant and Kohli) tohold fort with the young gun newbiecoming in at the highly debated No 4slot.

Pant brought in India's 200 in the33rd over with a classy and reassuringsix long over the long on boundary, liv-ing up to his destructive reputation. Butjust when a partnership was building up,Kohli got out uncharacteristically at 26in 27 balls with 3 fours bringing downthe third wicket at 237 in 38 overs.

This was the second time Kohlididn't get to his 50 in the tournament.Despite a full-throated shot it went toSoumya Sarkar off Mustafizur at mid-wicket. Rahman got the other prizedscalp of Hardik Pandya two ballslater. He came and went, edging theball to the first slip in his shortest stintat the crease. Bangladesh started see-ing hope of life as Dhoni walked in toyet another huge cheer from theexpectant crowd. This two-wicketmaiden started the applause forBangladesh.

From 182 for no loss to 237/4, thescript changed rapidly for both teamsbut to the delight of Mortaza's squad.India's 250 in 244 deliveries and justwhen Pant started pumping in the fod-der on the board for India with three

fours back to back, giving MohammedSaifuddin an unpleasant headache.

From a double wicket maiden tothree fours in the very next over bySaifuddin, the ping pong story had allguessing about the final score. But inex-perience showed up and Pant, in a rushto get to his first 50 of the tournament,got himself caught by MosaddekHossain off Shakib after he almost

dropped it long on. At 48, and despitea midwicket talk by Dhoni in the pre-vious over, Pant walked away smashinghis bat in anger and bringing India to227 for five with just 5 overs left to some-how get to a 300 plus total.

Dinesh Karthik, in his first inningsof the tournament, went without animpact trying to pulling a short onefrom Mustafizur to be caught by a wait-

ing Hossain at mid-on when India werejust two runs short of a 300. This wasMustafizur's third wicket and all eyeswere now on Dhoni to break the shack-les with just three overs remaining.

The wicket had perceptively sloweddown but the expectations aroundDhoni's vintage finishing abilities hadnot with the crowd waiting for him toaccelerate. He hit two fours in the 48thover taking it to 10 runs to scamper fora single to take charge of the last over.

First ball dot because Dhoni was notinterested in a single. Second dot ballstopped at mid-on. Third ball, he hitshigh into oblivion only to be caught byShakib-Al-Hassan, giving Mustafizur hisfourth wicket in this match and 14thoverall. Three balls of the crucial lastover went without runs as he walkedwith 35 runs in 33 balls, failing to fin-ish with a flourish. Bhuvneshwar wasrun out and the last over went for just

two runs. Not even 100 runs were addedin the last 12 overs by India even asMustafizur got his fifth scalp of thematch in his last ball, clean bowlingMohammed Shami all cross bat and des-perate to get something on the board.

At the backend Bangladesh seizedthe story from India's waylaid scriptwhich steered them away from impos-sible to difficult job at hand, the jobbeing a vertical climb on the scoreboardto snatch a survival.

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Sri Lanka needed someinspiration from this ICCMen’s Cricket World Cup

2019 to build from and take usforward into the next fouryears. Avishka Fernando justprovided it.

His 104 against the WestIndies was an incredibleinnings and he showed to theworld that we have somethingto rally around leading into thenext tournament.

It has been a tough coupleof years for Sri Lanka but wehave learned our lessons. It isimportant that we plan around

a group of players who will bethere for the next four yearsand I think Avishka has shownhe has to be a big part of that.

I was very impressed fromthe first game that he playedagainst England a couple ofweeks ago, he came in changedthe tempo right from the startin what proved to be a vitalinnings.

His knock here won’tcome as a surprise to manypeople in Sri Lanka. It hasbeen obvious from the begin-ning that he has a lot of talent.

He showed character. He

was aggressive and playedwith intent, refusing to shyaway from the West Indiespacey attack. It was gutsy.

He will take a lot of con-fidence from this and he hasnow proven to himself that hecan go on and do it on theinternational stage.

I first spotted him at U19sbut then all of a sudden he waschucked in against Australiaand the might of MitchellStarc and Pat Cummins beforeeven playing a first-classmatch.

He was just 18 at the time,

perhaps it was a bit early forhim, but he went away for ayear and has come backstronger. Admittedly, he hasstruggled with consistency butthe selectors have always hadfaith.

I thought he might startthe tournament but the selec-tors understandably went withexperience. But at this tourna-ment has progressed, it’s beenclear we have needed a spark.And there is it.

Saturday marks Sri Lanka’sfinal game in this tournamentbut it certainly won’t be the last

for opponents India.They have been consistent

throughout and will challengestrongly for the trophy. Theirspinners, despite being beatenup a bit by England, havebeen excellent and I thinktheir batting line-up is asstrong as anything else outthere.

Rohit Sharma and ViratKohli are in excellent form.Sharma has three centuriesand, although Kohli is yet toreach three figures, he won’ betoo frustrated. He knows he isplaying well, with five straight

fifties to his name.Early-tournament form

only gets you so far and Indiawill know it will all start forthem again in the semi-finalsshould they, as expected, bethere.

Everything you have doneup to there must be left aside.You need to execute two biggames to win but the signs aregood for both India andAustralia.

It’s going to be a brilliantlast week of cricket.

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West Indies captain JasonHolder vowed to "look

after" Nicholas Pooran after hismaiden one-day internationalcentury so nearly led to astunning World Cup win overSri Lanka.

Sri Lanka posted animposing 338 for six, a totalbuilt on Avishka Fernando'sfirst hundred at this level, in amatch between two sideswhose hopes of qualifying forthe semi-finals had alreadyevaporated before a ball wasbowled at Chester-le-Street onMonday.

But Pooran, well support-ed by Fabian Allen (51), got theWest Indies close to a target of339 -- which would have beena new World Cup record for a

winning side batting second -- before they lost by 23 runs.

Defeat meant the WestIndies have now lost sevenmatches in a row after startingthe tournament with animpressive win over Pakistan.

But Holder took somecomfort from 23-year-old left-hander Pooran's century.

"Nicholas played an out-standing innings, he knockedit around as easily as he possi-bly could," said Holder as hereflected on Pooran's 118 off103 balls, including 11 foursand four sixes.

"What he has produced iswhat we expect him to pro-duce, we want him to get bet-ter and improve," the all-rounder added.

"We selected him for areason and gave him full back-

ing to go and play the game hewants to play.

"Yes he will make mistakesas a young player but it isimportant for development totake place.

"We will look afterNicholas the best we possiblycan, I expect big things.

"He has got the talent,ability to change gears, he canimprovise, has every shot in thelocker and it is just a matter ofhim putting it together moreoften."

For the West Indies, thewinners of the first two WorldCups back in 1975 and 1979,it was yet another case of whatmight have been after theysquandered chances to beatreigning champions Australiaand then saw CarlosBrathwaite fall just short ofwhat would have been amatch-winning six againstNew Zealand.

"It is disappointing tocome so close on a number ofstages and not get that win,"said Holder.

The West Indies end theirinvolvement at this World Cupagainst Afghanistan, stillsearching for their first win ofthe tournament, on Thursday.

"We have shown somefight this entire campaign,"said Holder.

"I'm proud of certain indi-viduals who definitely put theirhands up and put their heartson the line."

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Spinner Dhananjaya de Silvais eyeing an upset against

India in Sri Lanka’s finalmatch to lift his side into fifthplace in the ICC Men’s CricketWorld Cup 2019 group table.

Sri Lanka’s topsy-turvytournament continued inDurham with a 23-run victo-ry over West Indies, just fourdays after their were beaten bynine wickets on the sameground by South Africa.

This was their third victo-ry in the tournament andwhile they can no longer qual-ify for the semi-finals, theyhave already upset hostsEngland and de Silva believesthey can claim another scalpagainst Virat Kohli’s side atHeadingley.

Sri Lanka have won onlyone of their last eight ODIsagainst India but they didbeat them by seven wickets inthe ICC Champions Trophy2017 at The Oval.

And the game is a repeat

of the 2011 ICC Men’s CricketWorld Cup final in Mumbaiwhich India won.

The 27-year-old off-spin-ner admitted that his sidehave nothing to lose againstone of the favourites to lift the

trophy at Lord’s on July 14th.He said: “We’ve done well

against India in other ICCtournaments and we’ve justbeaten West Indies so if wecan take that confidence andmomentum into the nextgame then we can beat Indiaagain.

“We’re trying hard to winevery game and if we beatIndia then we can finish fifth.”

He admitted that the deci-sion to bring Angelo Mathewson to bowl was a surprisingone given that the formercaptain had not bowled in anODI for 18 months.

However, Mathews hadWindies centur y-makerNicholas Pooran caughtbehind with his first ball andtilted the enthralling gameback in Sri Lanka’s favour.

De Silva said: “Angelo puthis hand up and he did thejob.”

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West Indies flattered to deceive inthis World Cup after a roaring

start and their young batsmanNicholas Pooran says the team is tar-geting the home series against Indianext month to restore pride.

West Indies, who had thumpedPakistan by seven wickets in theirWorld Cup opener, have now lostseven games in a row. They are leftwith only one game againstAfghanistan and will aim to end theirotherwise disappointing campaign ona high.

Pooran, who struck his maidenODI hundred against Sri Lanka in alosing cause, wants to use his side'sforgettable run as a learning experi-

ence. "This hasn't been a successfultournament for us but as sportsmenyou fail more than you win and thishas been a learning experience," hesaid after his 118-run contributionhere on Monday.

"We have a young team and ayoung batting line-up. Hopefully a lotof guys like me, Shimron Hetmyer,Shai Hope and Fabian Allen havelearned from this tournament.Hopefully when we play our nextseries against India we can start head-ing in the right direction and restorepride in West Indies cricket."

It's the third time West Indiescome close to a big scalp in recentweeks, after also losing out narrowlyto Australia and New Zealand.

Pooran and Allen looked to have

put the Windies on top before Allenwas run out for which Pooran said he'felt a bit responsible'. The batsmanwas then the victim of AngeloMathews' first ball in ODI cricket for18 months.

"Myself and Fabian were in con-trol. The bowlers didn't know whereto bowl and we were scoring easily.This is cricket, it's unfortunate. I hadto capitalise in that over. I could havehit the ball for four and six and it's adifferent game. I'm just disappointed.We are just finding ways to lose ourgames."

Pooran has been marked out as aspecial player from a young age andthis was his coming of age on the bigstage, despite being on the wrong sideof the result.

He acknowledges the compar-isons with Brian Lara and admits thathe watched a lot of film of the greatman but does not intend to fuel thehype.

"I know people say a lot of thingsabout me but if I don't perform on thefield it makes no sense. I just want toget better and better each day. I havehad a lot of starts in this tournamentbut not converted.

"I don't know what the futureholds - I'm just thankful that I got theopportunity to play and I could showthe selectors that I could play. I don'twant to be like anyone else, I just wantto be Nicholas Pooran."

India's tour of West Indies beginsAugust 3 and comprises three T20s, asmany ODIs and two Tests.

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Fast bowler Pat Cummins says the T20series win in India just four months ago

instilled self belief in the strugglingAustralian team that it could defend its WorldCup title in the United Kingdom.

Australia have turned out to be the teamto beat in this World Cup as they have alreadyqualified for the semifinals with 14 pointsfrom eight games. The defending champions'only loss in the tournament so far cameagainst India.

Struggling for a major part in ODI crick-et for the last two years, having lost 17 outof 21 matches between September 2017 andFebruary 2019, Australia had slipped to sixthin the ICC ODI rankings.

Cummins said the away series winsover India earlier this year, especially the T20rubber, gave them confidence that they candefend their ODI World Cup crown.

"I think that Indian series win, probablythe T20 series win, to be honest," Cumminssaid about the successful tour to India, whichaccording to him started Australia's revival.

"At Bangalore, Maxi (Glenn Maxwell) hita hundred and we won seemingly out ofnowhere. It gave us real confidence, the best

side in the world, in their own conditions."Maxwell hit a century in the second T20I

in Bangalore to power Australia to a 2-0series win, after Cummins had hit the win-ning runs in a thrilling last-ball finish inVishakhapatnam in the first game.

In the ODIs that followed, Australia cameback from 0-2 down to win the next threematches and pocket the five-match series 3-2."It's pretty infectious when you have thatfeeling around the group. Luckily, we haveheld on to it," Cummins said.

Cummins, who was the leading wicket-taker in the ODI series against India with 14scalps, said Australia have managed to carryon their form since then.

"It really felt like a special group, a cou-ple of really special wins where we felt likewe could win from anywhere."

Talking about Australia's impressiveWorld Cup campaign so far, Cummins said:"Everything has clicked, the batting, thebowling, our game plan. We have come sofar and we are playing the way we have talkedabout for a while that we wanted to play."

Having already bagged a semifinal berth,Australia will round off the league campaignwith a match against already-eliminatedSouth Africa on Saturday here.

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�Are we looking at anunchanged team?

I haven’t seen the wicket yet, so ourselection decision and the balance of the sidewill be down to the wicket and what wethink is the most effective against the NewZealand batting line-up.�How is Jason Roy after his ailment? Thatis a great boost as he’s in terrific form.

He's good. He’s going to be fit. He has,yeah, fantastic form. Him and Jonny at thetop of the order in the Indian game did real-ly set the tone for our innings on a wicketthat we didn't feel was that good to bat on,so they took us up past a par score whichis great. Jonny scoring runs is a huge bonus,you know, and when he’s in good form he'sextremely hard to bowl at at the top of theorder.�Does it give you a boost that NZ has losttwo games?

We haven’t necessarily looked at it likethat. The most satisfying thing from the lastgame from our side is that we went out andplayed our brand of cricket. We wereallowed to do that at the beginning, the waythe two guys played. It felt more like the waythat we play and the fact that we won doingthat is extremely encouraging.�Has it sharpen England the fact theyknow there is no room for error now?

Two defeats does that (smiling). It wasclear that after the Australia game, there wasa huge amount of disappointment in thechanging room and the fact that we havebeen able to turn that around, identify wherewe are at and identify what we need to doin order to progress to the semis, madethings clear about how we want to contin-ue to play, which haven't changed, isimportant and it's been effective.�How would you describe KaneWilliamson’s leadership?

Kane is an extremely good leader. I haveplayed with him at Hyderabad. In the chang-ing room, he wasn't a captain at the time Iwas there, but he is an impressive leader. Theway he goes about his business is extreme-ly admirable. He is a quality, quality crick-eter who is extremely humble and open tolearning all the time and offers his time toanybody as well.�Everybody is saying ‘'it is coming home’.What are you tellingyour boys?

It’s a matter of staying in the moment,identifying what we can do in order to con-tribute to the next game, which is tomor-row. Today, is getting enough to put your-self in good form for tomorrow, or goodhead space to try and effectively win a gameof cricket.�Is it to fair to say the New Zealand gamein the last World Cup was probably rockbottom? Can you reflect on that.

Yeah. It was as close to rock bottom asI’ve been, certainly as a captain, as a play-er, being beaten off the park like that ishumiliating. The influence, I think the influ-ence throughout that whole World Cup onall the other teams around the world wasquite extreme. New Zealand proved a pointthat you can be really good humans andgrow the game and play cricket in your ownway and win at the same time, which isincredibly eye-opening for a lot of countriesaround the world. I thought that rubbed offon everybody in the World Cup.�Do you see Guptill as a massive threatand the fact that he is out of form, is it amatter of time before he explodes?

It’s difficult to tell. We don’t identify oneparticular player in any side. They are a verystrong line-up, probably built around Kaneat 3 and Ross at 4, obviously two huge play-ers for them. But very destructive playerseither side of that.

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England and New Zealand head intotheir final World Cup group matchtoday, each knowing that a win

would see them into the semi-finals.Even a defeat would not spell the end

of either team’s chances of emerging as oneof the top four from the 10-team round-robin phase.

Were England to lose in Chester-le-Street, Pakistan could leapfrog them intothe top four with victory over Bangladesh.

Given that they play each other intheir final pool match, only one ofBangladesh — who also still have to face

India — or Pakistan can draw level withNew Zealand in the event the Black Capslose today.

And, with both Asian teams wellbehind on net run-rate, it would take a bigNew Zealand loss allied to a command-ing Pakistan victory or two Bangladeshwins by big margins, to deny the 2015 los-ing finalists a place in the last four.

But right now, England and NewZealand’s World Cup destiny is in theirown hands.

England travel to the northeast buoyedby a 31-run win over an India side thatwere previously unbeaten.

Sunday’s success against India, theteam that recently replaced England at thetop of the one-day international rankings,came after back-to-back defeats by SriLanka and reigning champions Australiahad led many pundits to question theirtournament nerve and nous.

But the pleasing aspect for England,other than the result, was that the defeatof India was built on many of the factorsthat have been key to their ODI revivalsince a first-round exit at the 2015 WorldCup. Jonny Bairstow (111) and Jason Roy,who made 66 following his return froma hamstring injury, put on 160 for the first

wicket before the in-form Ben Stokes hit79, his third successive fifty, to boost thetotal to 337-7.

England, bidding to win their firstWorld Cup, then kept things tight in thefield, with Chris Woakes impressive andrecalled paceman Liam Plunkett (3-55)once again taking wickets through themiddle overs.

“Winning a game like this, under thepressure we were under, can only stand usin good stead, potentially for the NewZealand game and hopefully after that,”said Woakes.

“You don’t actually play much knock-out cricket, so to put ourselves in the heatof the battle — obviously we’d rather havequalified by now — could potentially helpus.”

By contrast, New Zealand head intothe match following successive losses toPakistan and Australia that have put ataken the gloss off a promising campaign.

An attack led by left-arm quick TrentBoult, who took a hat-trick hero againstAustralia, and featuring the express paceof Lockie Ferguson is a testing propositionfor any side.

New Zealand could now recall anoth-er paceman in Matt Henry at the expenseof spinner Ish Sodhi, given the Riversideis not renowned for turning pitches.

But while several England batsmenhave made hundreds at the World Cup,New Zealand appear dangerously over-reliant on captain Kane Williamson andfellow senior batsman Ross Taylor for runs.

Colin Munro was dropped for theAustralia game, while fellow openerMartin Guptill has managed just 85 runsfrom six innings since his 73 not outagainst Sri Lanka.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Tom Lathamis averaging just 8.2 at this tournament.

“We’re still in charge of our destina-tion and where we’re heading, and that’salways a nice thing to have,” said CraigMcMillan, New Zealand’s batting coach.

“Obviously (Guptill and Latham) areshort on runs but we’re excited by the factthat we haven’t quite clicked as a battinggroup yet.”

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In-form Liam Plunkett returnsto his native North-east laugh-

ing off the idea of beingEngland’s tournament talisman.The absence of the popularpace bowler has been a commonfactor in all three losses for theICC Men’s Cricket World Cuphosts, while he has featured infour of their five successes.

He claimed three wickets inthe crucial 31-run win againstIndia on Sunday, responding tohis latest recall with the wicketsof Virat Kohli, century-makerRohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant.

And with victory over NewZealand at The Riverside todayset to guarantee England a semi-final spot, Plunkett will expectto retain his place for what isanother critical encounter.

Is it simply a case of he playsand England win? “It is nice tohave that,” Plunkett joked.“Actually, I think it’s just the waythings have worked out, but it isnice to play and to play a part ina winning team.

“The India game was like afinal for us so the pressure wason. Nobody was there in ourdressing room celebrating after-wards because we know weneed to win again and get themomentum going. New Zealand

will be like another final.“I don’t think we were more

nervous than usual. The bestthing about us is the way weapproach our cricket. We don’tgo into our shells. If we did, wewould go off into the distance.

“We are told to play posi-tively, express ourselves and if weperform anywhere near ourbest, we will win games. NewZealand are a good team, rightup there, but I think we are readyfor it and we can be positive hav-ing just beaten one of the bestteams in the competition.”

Captain Eoin Morganrecognised Plunkett’s ability totake wickets after the new ballbursts with pace and variations,when he plotted England’s wayback from the disappointmentof 2015. “I am disappointedwhen I’m not playing, but it isn’tabout personal figures,” Plunkettsaid. “It is all about team resultsand asking whether I can keepimproving even at 34.

“I don’t think anyone sulkswhen they are not playing.People will know a player left outis frustrated, but you can’t showit. It will be great now to get backup to the north. I love that partof the country and I know theground.”

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After a fast start, New Zealand’s WorldCup campaign has taken a dent in the

last week with back-to-back defeats toPakistan and Australia.

But Ross Taylor is confident that theBlack Caps’ best cricket is just around thecorner — and victory over England onWednesday in Durham would be the per-fect time to prove it.

The Black Caps were sitting pretty inthe standings after going unbeaten throughtheir first six games of the ICC Men’sCricket World Cup 2019.

A top-four finish appeared guaranteedand it would still take a monumental shiftin net run rate and defeat to England forthem to miss out now.

And while Taylor admits New Zealandhave stalled of late, he is desperate to comeout firing on Wednesday in Durham tosecure their semi-final spot and put thehosts’ own ambitions in real doubt.

“There's still a long way to go in thistournament and hopefully we are not toofar away to playing the brand of cricket weknow we can play because we definitelyhaven't played up to our potential so far andhopefully that is not too far away,” he said.

“We definitely haven't got the momen-tum that we would have liked in the lastcouple of games, but tomorrow is a differ-ent story against different opposition.

“We know we have played England alot over the last little while and looking for-ward to hopefully different conditionsthan the last two matches that we have hadto play on.”

The Black Caps bowling attack, spear-headed by Trent Boult and Lockie Ferguson,have been impressive all tournament.

But the batsmen have yet to fully fire— with the exception of skipper KaneWilliamson.

Taylor — who knows Durham well

after a spell here as a county overseas — hastwo half centuries this tournament but nobig score while opener Martin Guptill hasnot passed 50 since their tournamentopener.

“I’d love as a team to take a little bit ofpressure off Kane and score some runs andnot let him do everything,” added Taylor.

“Guppy was leading run scorer in thelast World Cup and he had gone into thatlast World Cup not scoring any runs.

“His confidence is down. Sometimesyou need a bit of luck and he certainly needsthat. But he's been training very hard andthe team are fully backing him.

"I have felt good throughout the wholetournament, a couple of strangles down theleg-side and a couple of good balls, that isthe nature of the beast and cricket.

“You know you are not too far awayfrom hopefully getting a few out the mid-dle and getting that confidence up andspending a bit of time in the middle."

And Taylor is hoping that home com-forts in the north east bring the best out ofhim.

“It feels like a long time ago. Durhamwas about nine years ago,” he added. “I havefond memories, lovely people up here.

“Every time we played England in thelast little while it's been a great series, I thinkit came down to the wire in that series backhome and the last time we were here wasa must-win, I think it was 2-all, and JonnyBairstow came in fresh and batted out well.Obviously, another big game coming uptomorrow and hopefully we're up for it.”

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Chile midfielder Arturo Vidalsays the reigning Copa America

champions are focused on makinghistory ahead of their semi-finalagainst Peru.

The 2015 and 2016 championsare aiming for a third continental titlein a row, a feat only achieved oncebefore by Argentina in successiveyears from 1945-47.

“We want to leave our legacy astriple champions, that’s our dream,”said the Barcelona midfielder, anintegral part of Chile’s only two pre-vious Copa successes.

“That’s why we want to play ourbest match of the Copa againstPeru. It would be something historicfor us to get to the final and that's our

aim.”Chile faced Peru in the 2015

semi-finals on home soil when theywon 2-1 before beating Argentina onpenalties in the final for their firstever continental success.

“We need to play the perfectmatch, to win it with authority,”added Vidal. “Peru have great team-work, they play well, very similar toColombia” who Chile beat on penal-ties in the quarter-final.

“That’s why it will be a very dif-ficult match and fantastic to play init.”

Vidal pointed to Peru captainand striker Paolo Guerrero as the

biggest threat Chile will face onWednesday.

Guerrero and Chile’s EduardoVargas, with 12 goals each, are thetop two still active scorers in Copahistory.

“He’s a player who knows howto play against four defenders and italways takes a lot out of us to markhim,” said Vidal.

Vargas, who scored twice inChile’s opening 4-0 thrashing ofJapan, may never have had thechance to add to his Copa ledger, butfor a change of heart by Chile’sColombian coach Reinaldo Rueda.

He spent almost 18 months

overlooked by the Colombian beforebeing recalled for the Copa Americafollowing 17 goals in 49 matches forhis Mexican club side Tigres last sea-son.

It was a good move as Vargas hasbeen electric in the tournamentalongside a rejuvenated AlexisSanchez — who’s looked his old selfafter 18 months of misery atManchester United — and JoseFuenzalida in a three-pronged attack.

This is the third time in the lastfour editions Peru have reached thesemi-finals but they haven’t gone onto the final since 1975 when winningtheir second Copa title.

In fact, the only two timesthey’ve reached the final — the otherwas on home soil in 1939 — theywon the tournament.

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Brazil coach Tite admitted he’s beenhaving sleepless nights ahead of the

Copa America semi-final againstArgentina.

Tite took over from the sackedDunga following Brazil’s poor perfor-mance at the 2016 Centenario CopaAmerica and said that he is just as ner-vous now as he was during his earlymatches in charge of the national team.

“I couldn’t sleep properly, I’m notSuperman, I’m the way I am and I candeal with that,” he said ahead ofTuesday’s late night match in BeloHorizonte’s Mineirao stadium, thescene of Brazil’s 7-1 semi-final humil-iation against Germany at the 2014World Cup.

“Yesterday I woke up at 3.15 am,I was thinking about what I’m goingto do.

“As a coach I always have anotepad next to me to write somethingdown. That’s the reality of being acoach, not just me, (Argentina coachLionel) Scaloni too, all of us.”

This match has been billed as aclash between the individual brillianceof Argentina’s star players such asLionel Messi and Sergio Agueroagainst the collective ability of Brazil.

But Tite said the Argentina teamis more than just a collection of indi-viduals and that it would be impossi-ble to try to just stop those singular tal-ents.

“Argentina make the most ofthose individual talents linking theminto a coherent unit,” he said.

“You can’t eliminate Messi, youmight be able to reduce what he cando but you can’t neutralize a player ofthat level, just as you can’t neutralize(Philippe) Coutinho, (Roberto)Firmino, Willian, David (Neres) — atsome point, they will produce some-thing.”

In goalkeeper Alisson, Brazil haveone player who is used to knockingMessi out of important competitions.

He was in goal in 2017/18 whenRoma came back from a 4-1Champions League first leg deficitagainst Messi’s Barcelona to win 3-0 atRome’s Stadio Olimpico and reach thesemi-finals on away goals.

And in May, having since made athen-world record $ 71 million trans-fer to Liverpool at the start of the sea-son, he was part of the side that pro-duced a remarkable 4-0 victory atAnfield in the Champions Leaguesemi-final second leg after losing thefirst leg 3-0 at the Camp Nou.

“In football there’s no logic, thereare matches where one player makesa difference: I saw that when we playedagainst Messi and he made the differ-ence,” Alisson said about theChampions League first leg betweenBarcelona and Liverpool in whichMessi scored a brace.

“But in the second match our teamprevailed and we qualified.”

He added: “Every match has itsstory; the match with Roma had itsstory, the match with Liverpool hadanother story. Fortunately they weretwo stories that went my way.”

Scaloni was giving little awayabout his team selection, although he'sexpected to stick with much the sameline-up as beat Venezuela 2-0 in thequarter-finals.

That means Messi and Aguerowould line up alongside LautaroMartinez in attack.

“Aguero will play, I’m saying thatbecause I’ve read there's a doubt, so tobe clear,” said Scaloni.

That’s as far as he would go,though.

“No-one’s confirmed for the team,not even Messi. Only Aguero,” headded.

Little was expected of Argentinabefore the tournament but they havebeen improving and this clash betweenthe continent’s two heavyweights iseagerly anticipated.

The pressure, though, is on Brazil“because they’re the hosts and havesomething to prove in front of theirfans,” said Scaloni.

Although he said they were at anadvantage as “they’ve been together along time with the same coach andplayers who’ve played together for along time.”

Argentina, on the other hand, arein a period of transition since their dis-mal 2018 World Cup exit, with sever-al new and inexperienced players inthe squad, as well as a new coach.

Although the West Indies willbid farewell to the WorldCup against Afghanistan on

Thursday, I will be glued to the TVto see what happens in the next twoweeks. We seem set for a thrillingfinale.

Australia are already assured ofa place in the semi-finals and Indiaare likely to join them.

They have been the two stand-out teams for me at this World Cup.They have understood the condi-tions better than any of the othersand have strolled through. That isthe key here.

The wickets in this tournamenthave been excellent. They haveprovided an even contest betweenbat and ball and not become thebatsmen-friendly surfaces somesuggested they could be. Australiaand India are at home on them andthat will be so important when itcomes to the knock-out games.

Australia have a lot of the oldguard still going strong and thatincludes Mitchell Starc. He is oneof the best around right now, knowsthese conditions and is swinging theball perfectly. It will be tough forany side to face him, while AlexCarey — the wicket-keeper —

could well turn out to be the star ofthis World Cup.

Carey was a relative unknownbeforehand but he bats with suchmaturity. He has freedom to attackbut also the technical skills need-ed to find the boundary. He is abolter and I have loved watchinghim play.

India have a selection dilemma.England played the right kind ofgame against them by attacking thespinners and they need to strength-en their batting lower down theorder.

England and New Zealand arelikely to join those sides, while wecan never rule out the excitingPakistan and Bangladesh.

The Tigers have, for me, thebest player in this tournament inShakib Al Hasan. His bowling hasbeen decent but his batting has beenfrom a different planet — just askthe West Indies.

It’s been a tournament of ‘whatifs’ for my team and their defeat toSri Lanka was another example.Nicholas Pooran was outstanding inthe run-chase but lost his wicket atjust the wrong time.

He has done very well in thistournament and is someone we can

really build around going forward.He has a lot of things to learn butthe raw ingredients are there forhim to go on and become a fineplayer for the West Indies over thenext few years.

I think what he has shown he’slearned is that you have to mixaggression with caution. It is nogood making 70 and then holingout at deep mid-off. You have gotto play smart cricket. When you hitit in the air, you have to find a spacewhere there isn’t anyone there. Hitin the ground and you are stillthere.

When you look at it, we havethe talent with the bat. It’s far fromdoom and gloom. Sure, we have tolearn from the mistakes and recti-fy them but I am very optimistic.We have had two centurions at thetournament and it really could, andshould, have been four or five.

Hopefully a couple can produceagainst Afghanistan but it will notbe easy. They have given a verygood account of themselves instages and if they put a whole per-formance together, it will be agood game.

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Eight-time Wimbledon champi-on Roger Federer overcame a

first set scare to reach the secondround on Tuesday beatingSouth African debutantLloyd Harris 3-6, 6-1, 6-2,6-2.

Federer, whose greatrival Rafael Nadal wasalso in action againstJapanese qualifier YuichiSugita, took time to getgoing and was helped by hisopponent suffering a calf problemmidway through the match.

“I struggled early on, my legswere frozen and the ball was notgoing where I wanted it to,” saidFederer.

“He was hitting big and thingswere going quickly. I was nervous

for a set and a half.“So it took a good effort from

me. Lloyd played a good match.”If Nadal comes through, he will

renew his bitter rivalry with NickKyrgios after the combustible

Australian claimed a 7-6(7/4), 3-6, 7-6 (12/10), 0-6, 6-1 win over country-man Jordan Thompson.

Kyrgios, whostunned Nadal as a 144-

ranked wildcard on histournament debut in 2014,

put in a typically raucous andcharismatic display on Court 3where he fired 23 aces and 63 win-ners.

However, while he progressedanother of the top 10 seeds fell bythe wayside — two-time FrenchOpen champion Dominic Thiem’slack of ease on grass being exposed

by veteran American serve andvolleyer Sam Querrey.

Querrey, a Wimbledon semi-finalist in 2017, prevailed 6-7 (4/7),7-6 (7/1), 6-3, 6-0.

“There’s still things which arenot easy,” said Thiem.

“I mean, last year and this yeartogether I played four grass courtmatches, which is not a lot at all.

“All the clay court season ittakes a lot out of me,” added the 25-year-old Austrian.

Women’s world number oneAshleigh Barty and defendingchampion Angelique Kerber avoid-ed the fate of second seed NaomiOsaka and came through theirfirst round clashes safely.

Barty beat China’s Zheng Saisai6-4, 6-2 while Kerber, the fourthseed, beat fellow German TatjanaMaria 6-4, 6-3.

Whilst Barty did not have it allher own way in the first set beingpegged back to 4-4 after leading 3-0 she had little trouble after winningthe first set.

“The first round is always verytough and it took a little time to getused to the court,” said Barty.

“It definitely took some time toadjust.”

Barty, who is bidding tobecome the first woman sinceSerena Williams in 2015 to winboth the French Open andWimbledon in the same season,drew on the film The Lion King todescribe how she felt leading intothe match.

“Kind of came into it thinkingkind of like hakuna matata (Swahilifor no trouble and a title of a songin the film), just relax and go for it,”said the 23-year-old.

Barty plays tricky BelgianAlison Van Uytvanck, who knockedout then defending championGarbine Muguruza last year in thesecond round, for a place in the last32.

“It will be an exceptional chal-lenge and it will be important forme to be strong on my serve,” shesaid.

Barty may have not been ner-vous but Kerber, who came into thetournament on the back of beingthe beaten finalist at Eastbourne lastSaturday, confessed to being sobefore she walked out onto CentreCourt.

Her game appeared to reflectthat as she lost her serve on sever-al occasions but in the end woncomfortably enough.

“This is the tournament of theyear where you really would like toplay your best tennis,” said Kerber.

“I think it was a little bit differ-ent, but the nerves and everythingare the same.

“Doesn’t matter which CentreCourt you are coming back as thedefending champion.”

Meanwhile, Kate, the Duchessof Cambridge, left the plush con-fines of the Royal Box atWimbledon to watch a Britishwildcard competing on the lowlyoutside courts.

In a rare move for a member ofthe royal family visiting the AllEngland Club, Kate took her placein among the 318 regular seats onCourt 14 to watch Harriet Dart takeon Christina McHale.

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