english news paper | breaking news | latest today news in … · 2019-11-02 · haryana and punjab...

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O n a day when wind brought down pollution levels marginally with Delhi’s overall air quality index (AQI) stood at 410 remaining “severe” on the third consecutive day, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday sought Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar’s interven- tion into pollution-related problems and work on a con- crete plan to deal with the issue of stubble burning. The Delhi CM noted that the high level of pollution was not only a health hazard for the citizens, but it also shows India in a poor light in the eyes of vis- iting dignitaries. Urging the Centre for col- lective action to tackle air pol- lution, Kejriwal wrote to Javadekar that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is in Delhi for official visit and he wonders what impression would she carry of India with such high levels of pollution. “Images of international cricketers playing T-20 match in Delhi on Sunday wearing mask does not create a good image of India,” he said. Replying to Kejriwal, Javadekar on Saturday said the agencies of all the States will have to work to combat air pollution. “Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has sent a team of 45 members in National Capital Region (NCR) keeping eye on people and educating them approach to control pol- lution,” said Javadekar. Also, he alleged tht Kejriwal has politicised the issue by asking school stu- dents to write letters to his Punjab and Haryana counter- parts over pollution caused due to stubble burning and was trying to project other Chief Ministers as villains. In the letter to the Union Minister, Kejriwal attached an affidavit, submitted by the cen- tral government last month in the Supreme Court in which numbers of machine/equip- ments provided to farmers of Haryana and Punjab had mentioned. S ensing the fast-changing political equations in Maharashtra, NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday stepped up efforts to build a common strategy with the Congress leadership to explore the possibility of supporting the Shiv Sena in the Government formation in the State and in the process to checkmate the BJP in its own power game. On a day when the Shiv Sena said after the BJP failed in its Government formation bid, it would go ahead and form the Government in the “larger interest” of the State, the NCP camp confirmed that Pawar had already spoken to Congress president Sonia Gandhi on telephone and would meet her in the Capital on Monday in an apparent bid to hammer out a common strategy to deal with the emerging political situation in the State. “A lot of things will hinge on what transpires in the meet- ing between Sonia and Pawar,” former deputy Chief Minister and senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar said, indirectly admitting that there was change in the party’s earlier stand of sitting in the Opposition. Interestingly enough, senior BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar said the stale- mate prevailing between the BJP and Shiv Sena would end before November 6. “We will form the Government with our allies in the “Maha-Yuti” (saffron alliance) either on November 6 or 7. We would like to form the government in alliance with the Shiv Sena,” Mungantiwar said. C ongress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying instead of acknowledging slowdown and looking for solution, he is busy managing headlines and events and as if Government’s decisions have not damaged economy enough, it is now ready to deal body blow to it by signing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement. Modi is expected to sign the agreement during the RCEP Summit during his ongoing two-day visit to Thailand. The RCEP will result in untold hardship for farmers, shopkeepers, and small and medium enterprises, she claimed. Her remarks come as negotiations to finalise the long-overdue RCEP enter final stages. All eyes are on India whether it will finally take the plunge and agrees to the world’s largest trading deal spanning 16-Asia Pacific nations. “As a citizen and as a mem- ber of the responsible opposi- tion, it pains me to see the Indian economy under siege. What is even more worrying is that the Government is in complete denial,” Sonia said. Sonia also lashed out at the Government over the WhatsApp snooping contro- versy saying these activities are not only illegal and un-con- stitutional, they are also shameful. T ension prevailed in the national Capital’s Tis Hazari court complex on Saturday after a scuffle broke out between lawyers and the Delhi Police over parking. Around 17 vehicles, including Police Control Room (PCR) vans, prison vans and bikes, were vandalised and set on fire by lawyers. The lawyers alleged that police had opened fired on them in which two advocates sustained bullet injuries though police denied it, saying 10 of its members were hurt in the clash. Several police personnel including Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), North district also sus- tained injuries in the incident. The agitated lawyers also burned the prison locker room and generator room in the court complex. According to police, 10 police personnel sustained injuries in the incident. Jarnail Singh, Station House Officer (SHO), Civil Lines police station sustained serious injuries and is said to be critical. Rajeev Bharadwaj, SHO of Kotwali police station sustained head injury and is undergoing treatment. T here is a different kind of intruders coming from across the borders targeting lakhs of hectare of agricultural crops. Villages adjoining India and Pakistan border spread across Rajasthan, Punjab and Gujarat are witnessing an assault on the crops by locusts (tiddis). Despite all efforts by the locust control department, three to four lakh (estimated figure) hectare crops have been affected in the locust attack with farmers left high and dry. The authorities concerned have sprayed 1.50 lakh litre disinfectants (ultra low volume (ULV) formulation) in as many as 2.36 lakh hectare and kept the entire area under observation. According to the Agriculture Ministry’s Locust Warning Organisation (LWO) bulletin, locusts are flying in from Pakistan’s Sindh province and spreading in villages in Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Barmer, Bharewala, Lathi, Nachana, Suratgarh, Pokhran, Kutch, Lakhpat, Bikaner and Shahgarh. Sources said a high-level team has visited the affected areas adjoining the India and Pakistan border to assess an outbreak of desert locusts that have posed a threat to the crops and farmers. Minister of State for Agriculture Paroshottam Rupala has visited Bhuj and other districts in Gujarat to assess the damage. The Ministry had in May itself warned the State Governments of Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat to be vigilant as there has been incur- sion of swarms of locusts attack this year. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation had also warned of desert locusts attack in Rajasthan. A day after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asked school students to write letters to ‘Captain uncle’ and ‘Khattar uncle’ — his Punjab and Haryana counterparts — over pollution caused by stub- ble burning, Amarinder Singh and Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday reacted on the issue. The two, however, did not name Kejriwal. Singh admitted stubble burning in his State is a con- tributor to the Capital’s pollu- tion but at the same time blamed Delhi’s own large-scale industrial pollution, traffic overload and excessive con- struction activity to be equal- ly responsible. Singh also wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seek- ing the Centre’s urgent inter- vention into the matter by evolving a consensus as he said “what is at stake goes way beyond our petty political ambi- tions”. Both Chief Ministers called for a joint strategy to address the problem of severe pollution in Delhi and NCR. “How can a country be called developed when its Capital city has been reduced to a gas chamber, not by any natural disaster but a series of man-made ones,” he asked. Related reports on P3 P olitical slugfest intensified in Karnataka on Saturday as a video purportedly with the voice of Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa going public wherein he is heard saying that the rebel Congress-JD(S) MLAs, who were later dis- qualified, were kept in Mumbai during the final days of the coalition Government under the watch of BJP president Amit Shah. He is also heard lashing out at the party lead- ership for not recognising “sac- rifices” by the Congress-JD(S) MLAs for installing the BJP to power in the State. With the video going viral, the Opposition Congress reached out to President Ram Nath Kovind through State Governor Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala to whom they submitted a memorandum demanding the dismissal of the Yediyurappa Government. The memorandum by Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) said that Yediyurappa and Shah, engi- neered and forced resignations of 15 MLAs and brought down the Congress-JD(S) coalition Government in Karnataka. A pen drive of Yediyurappa’s video at a BJP core committee meeting on October 27 has also been enclosed. Former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, who lost his post to Yediyurappa in July this year, joined his erstwhile ally to say that the BJP as a party stood exposed by the video. “Now Yediyurappa himself has spelt the truth,” he said. Kumaraswamy said Yediyurappa admitted that his own national president (Amit Shah) took these 15 MLAs, forced them to resign from the Assembly, kept them in Mumbai for two months only to install the BJP Government here. Kumaraswamy, son of for- mer Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, said he has decided to file a petition in court based on the contents of the video. “We have already decided whatever content is there (in that shared video), that we are going to file before the court,” Kumaraswamy told reporters during the Meet-the-Press pro- gramme organised by the Press Club at Bengaluru.

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Page 1: English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today News in … · 2019-11-02 · Haryana and Punjab ... out between lawyers and the Delhi Police over parking. ... himself a wife is

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On a day when windbrought down pollution

levels marginally with Delhi’soverall air quality index (AQI)stood at 410 remaining “severe”on the third consecutive day,Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Saturday soughtUnion Environment MinisterPrakash Javadekar’s interven-tion into pollution-relatedproblems and work on a con-crete plan to deal with the issueof stubble burning.

The Delhi CM noted thatthe high level of pollution wasnot only a health hazard for thecitizens, but it also shows Indiain a poor light in the eyes of vis-iting dignitaries.

Urging the Centre for col-lective action to tackle air pol-lution, Kejriwal wrote toJavadekar that GermanChancellor Angela Merkel is inDelhi for official visit and hewonders what impressionwould she carry of

India with such high levelsof pollution.

“Images of internationalcricketers playing T-20 matchin Delhi on Sunday wearingmask does not create a goodimage of India,” he said.

Replying to Kejriwal,Javadekar on Saturday said theagencies of all the States willhave to work to combat

air pollution. “Central Pollution Control

Board (CPCB) has sent a teamof 45 members in NationalCapital Region (NCR) keepingeye on people and educatingthem approach to control pol-lution,” said Javadekar.

Also, he alleged thtKejriwal has politicised theissue by asking school stu-

dents to write letters to hisPunjab and Haryana counter-parts over pollution causeddue to stubble burning and wastrying to project other ChiefMinisters as villains.

In the letter to the UnionMinister, Kejriwal attached anaffidavit, submitted by the cen-tral government last month inthe Supreme Court in whichnumbers of machine/equip-ments provided to farmers ofHaryana and Punjab had mentioned.

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Sensing the fast-changingpolitical equations in

Maharashtra, NCP chiefSharad Pawar on Saturdaystepped up efforts to build acommon strategy with theCongress leadership to explorethe possibility of supporting theShiv Sena in the Governmentformation in the State and inthe process to checkmate theBJP in its own power game.

On a day when the ShivSena said after the BJP failed inits Government formation bid,it would go ahead and form theGovernment in the “largerinterest” of the State, the NCPcamp confirmed that Pawarhad already spoken to Congresspresident Sonia Gandhi ontelephone and would meet herin the Capital on Monday in anapparent bid to hammer out acommon strategy to deal withthe emerging political situationin the State.

“A lot of things will hingeon what transpires in the meet-ing between Sonia and Pawar,”former deputy Chief Ministerand senior NCP leader AjitPawar said, indirectly admittingthat there was change in theparty’s earlier stand of sitting inthe Opposition.

Interestingly enough,senior BJP leader SudhirMungantiwar said the stale-mate prevailing between theBJP and Shiv Sena would endbefore November 6. “We willform the Government withour allies in the “Maha-Yuti”(saffron alliance) either onNovember 6 or 7. We wouldlike to form the government inalliance with the Shiv Sena,”Mungantiwar said.

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Congress president SoniaGandhi on Saturday

attacked Prime MinisterNarendra Modi saying insteadof acknowledging slowdownand looking for solution, he isbusy managing headlines andevents and as if Government’sdecisions have not damagedeconomy enough, it is nowready to deal body blow to it bysigning the RegionalComprehensive EconomicPartnership (RCEP) agreement.Modi is expected to sign theagreement during the RCEPSummit during his ongoingtwo-day visit to Thailand.

The RCEP will result inuntold hardship for farmers,shopkeepers, and small andmedium enterprises, sheclaimed. Her remarks come asnegotiations to finalise thelong-overdue RCEP enter finalstages. All eyes are on India

whether it will finally take theplunge and agrees to the world’slargest trading deal spanning16-Asia Pacific nations.

“As a citizen and as a mem-ber of the responsible opposi-tion, it pains me to see theIndian economy under siege.What is even more worrying isthat the Government is incomplete denial,” Sonia said.

Sonia also lashed out atthe Government over theWhatsApp snooping contro-versy saying these activities arenot only illegal and un-con-stitutional, they are alsoshameful.

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Tension prevailed in thenational Capital’s Tis

Hazari court complex onSaturday after a scuffle brokeout between lawyers and theDelhi Police over parking.

Around 17 vehicles,including Police Control Room(PCR) vans, prison vans andbikes, were vandalised and seton fire by lawyers.

The lawyers alleged thatpolice had opened fired onthem in which two advocatessustained bullet injuries thoughpolice denied it, saying 10 of itsmembers were hurt in

the clash. Several police personnel

including Additional DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), North district also sus-

tained injuries in the incident.The agitated lawyers alsoburned the prison locker roomand generator room in thecourt complex.

According to police, 10police personnel sustainedinjuries in the incident.

Jarnail Singh, StationHouse Officer (SHO), CivilLines police station sustainedserious injuries and is said to becritical. Rajeev Bharadwaj,SHO of Kotwali police stationsustained head injury and isundergoing treatment.

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There is a different kind ofintruders coming from

across the borders targetinglakhs of hectare of agriculturalcrops. Villages adjoining Indiaand Pakistan border spreadacross Rajasthan, Punjab andGujarat are witnessing anassault on the crops by locusts(tiddis). Despite all efforts bythe locust control department,three to four lakh (estimated

figure) hectare crops have beenaffected in the locust attack withfarmers left high and dry.

The authorities concernedhave sprayed 1.50 lakh litredisinfectants (ultra low volume(ULV) formulation) in as manyas 2.36 lakh hectare and kept the entire area under observation.

According to theAgriculture Ministry’s LocustWarning Organisation (LWO)bulletin, locusts are flying in

from Pakistan’s Sindh provinceand spreading in villages inJaisalmer, Jodhpur, Barmer,Bharewala, Lathi, Nachana,Suratgarh, Pokhran, Kutch,Lakhpat, Bikaner andShahgarh.

Sources said a high-levelteam has visited the affectedareas adjoining the India andPakistan border to assess anoutbreak of desert locusts thathave posed a threat to thecrops and farmers.

Minister of State forAgriculture ParoshottamRupala has visited Bhuj andother districts in Gujarat toassess the damage.

The Ministry had in Mayitself warned the StateGovernments of Punjab,Rajasthan and Gujarat to bevigilant as there has been incur-sion of swarms of locusts attackthis year. The United NationsFood and AgricultureOrganisation had also warnedof desert locusts attack inRajasthan.

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Aday after Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal

asked school students to writeletters to ‘Captain uncle’ and‘Khattar uncle’ — his Punjaband Haryana counterparts —over pollution caused by stub-ble burning, Amarinder Singhand Manohar Lal Khattar onSaturday reacted on the issue.The two, however, did notname Kejriwal.

Singh admitted stubbleburning in his State is a con-tributor to the Capital’s pollu-tion but at the same timeblamed Delhi’s own large-scaleindustrial pollution, trafficoverload and excessive con-struction activity to be equal-ly responsible.

Singh also wrote to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi seek-ing the Centre’s urgent inter-vention into the matter byevolving a consensus as he said“what is at stake goes waybeyond our petty political ambi-tions”. Both Chief Ministerscalled for a joint strategy toaddress the problem of severepollution in Delhi and NCR.

“How can a country becalled developed when itsCapital city has been reducedto a gas chamber, not by anynatural disaster but a series ofman-made ones,” he asked.

Related reports on P3

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Political slugfest intensifiedin Karnataka on Saturday as

a video purportedly with thevoice of Chief Minister BSYediyurappa going publicwherein he is heard sayingthat the rebel Congress-JD(S)MLAs, who were later dis-qualified, were kept in Mumbaiduring the final days of thecoalition Government underthe watch of BJP presidentAmit Shah. He is also heardlashing out at the party lead-ership for not recognising “sac-rifices” by the Congress-JD(S)MLAs for installing the BJP topower in the State.

With the video going viral,the Opposition Congressreached out to President RamNath Kovind through StateGovernor Vajubhai RudabhaiVala to whom they submitteda memorandum demandingthe dismissal of theYediyurappa Government.

The memorandum byKarnataka Pradesh CongressCommittee (KPCC) said thatYediyurappa and Shah, engi-neered and forced resignationsof 15 MLAs and brought downthe Congress-JD(S) coalitionGovernment in Karnataka. Apen drive of Yediyurappa’svideo at a BJP core committeemeeting on October 27 has alsobeen enclosed.

Former Chief MinisterHD Kumaraswamy, who losthis post to Yediyurappa in Julythis year, joined his erstwhile ally to say that the BJPas a party stood exposed by the video.

“Now Yediyurappa himselfhas spelt the truth,” he said.

Kumaraswamy saidYediyurappa admitted that hisown national president (AmitShah) took these 15 MLAs,forced them to resign from theAssembly, kept them in Mumbaifor two months only to installthe BJP Government here.

Kumaraswamy, son of for-mer Prime Minister HD DeveGowda, said he has decided tofile a petition in court based onthe contents of the video.

“We have already decidedwhatever content is there (inthat shared video), that we aregoing to file before the court,”Kumaraswamy told reportersduring the Meet-the-Press pro-gramme organised by the PressClub at Bengaluru.

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This is the second movie that Bollywoodhas released this year that talks aboutbaldness. The first was Gone Kesh — the

story of a teenage girl who is an aspiringdancer but is diagnosed with alopecia — thatreleased in March. This is not the end when itcomes to hair stories. Next week, Bala starringAyushmann Khurrana releases.

This is a bit of a hair-raising experienceeven for those who are facing the brunt of theproblem. And here in lies the problem withUdja Chaman.

While the intentions of director AbhishekPathak may have been on track given theseriousness of the issue especially when itcomes to alopecia.

Singh who plays Chaman Kohli has beenpart of films like Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 and

Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety walks around withmorose expesssion throughout the movie. Thelacklustre manner in which he ambles along,his condescending attitude and rejection of agirl because she doesn’t fall into his defnitionof a conventional — sundar and susheel — withthe body like a model and desperation to snaghimself a wife is pathetic at best.

One, of course, can’t miss the way collegestudents make fun of their Hindi Professorwho has a receeding hairline and bald patch atthe back of the head. Does Pathak really thinkthat a student, has the audacity to name call tohis face? While we all have been guilty of thiscrime, it is always behind the back.

The makers must have thought that itwould get some laughs but all it manages to dois bore you to death from the word go.

Saurabh Shukla, Grusha Kapoor, AtulKumar and Gagan Arora try to evoke somelaughter but in the end it all falls flat and failsto impress.

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When the first movie in the series had released backin 1984, it had caused a stir. The idea of machines— led by Artificial Intelligence, Skynet — taking

over humans and destroying them and humans trying tofight back was an intriguing concept. From there on themachines that landed on Earth only became more advance.From the T-1000 to T-X to T-800 to T-3000 to T-800Model 101 in Terminator Genisys (2015), the terminatorshave only become more advanced, just keep coming at theprotagonist with the mission to destroy and refuses to dietill the very end.

Terminator: Dark Fate is the sixth installment of thefranchise and a direct sequel to Terminator 2: JudgmentDay directed by Tim Miller. This means that ArnoldSchwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton are back. Sadly, bothlook old even though they are ready to take on the world— present and the future. Here it is Rev-9.

Here in lies the problem with this film. While themachine is able to do so much more; it can separate itselffrom the host and go for dual attack, the fact that it refusesto die, means that the entire film is on a repeat. You slow itdown and run, it catches up and you do the whole thing allover again. This is tedious to watch.

When it is time to end things, everything falls in placeand the human race is saved once again.

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Celebrities have to barter their personal life inexchange for all the limelight they get. Butwhile celebrity stalking makes the news, far

more frequently it’s those living normal lives —women and men both — who are victims of beingcyber stalked or physically stalked. MX Player hasnow brought viewers a spine chilling take onstalking with its first psychological thriller, An MXOriginal Series — Hello Mini.

The series makes you experience exactly whathappens when a voiceless, nameless and facelessstranger intrudes in your life.

Supporting the cause, Swara Bhasker, actressand troll destroyer, right wing baiter, and liberalhysteric speaks up about her stalking incident andhow she dealt with it.

“I think the experience of being stalked is oneof the scariest things that can happen to a personin their lives. I had a stalker in college once and Iwas surprised to see how nervous, scared anduncomfortable he made me. He would just keepfollowing me and staring at me from a slightdistance. Everywhere I went, every time I lookedup — there he was. He would just ceaselessly belurking in my line of vision- non-stop. Andactually, I had no reason to fear because ouruniversity was super safe for women and my parentslived on campus — so at a rational level I knew Iwas safe. But that's the thing with stalking- it can

turn your safest spaces into sinister seeming, fearfulones. One day the stalker showed up at my houseat 6 am and confronted my parents and asked forme and said he was in love with me. My parentswere quite taken aback as well but sent him offpolitely. Finally,I decided to get over my fear andconfront him. I actually walked up to him and toldhim I need to talk to him. I said whatever he isdoing is freaking me out completely and that heneeds to stop! And that day. Somehow my fear ofhim fell away. From then whenever I saw him I’dmake it a point to say hello”,recalls Swara.

“I moved to Bombay soon after and hopefullythe boy got over his obsession. But it made merealise what an important issue stalking is and howit is never represented from the woman’s orstalked person’s point of view in our cinema andcontent. It’s always romanticised in our films andthat's actually so irresponsible. I'm so glad that HelloMini is telling the story from the woman'sperspective. It's important that we have content thatgenerates meaningful and honest conversationsamongst us, so that existing toxic mind-sets can bechallenged and changed. I’m eagerly lookingforward to watching the series adapted fromNovoneel Chakraborty’s Stranger Trilogy, directedby Faruk Kabir and written by Anand Sivakumaranon MX player”, adds the actress.

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���������������������Actress Shweta

Tiwari knownfor her versatileroles in TV soaps isall set to make hercomeback withSony EntertainmentTelevision’s showMere Dad kiDulhan. The latestoffering, Mere DadKi Dulhan, basedout of urbanlifestyle in Delhirevolves aroundfather-daughter duoplayed by VarunBadola and AnjaliTatrari . ShwetaTiwari who nailseach character tothe tee and leaves alasting impressionwill soon be seen inanother refreshingcharacter of anewage womannamed Gunnet.

While Shweta isbusy preparing forher role to surprisethe audience, thistime she will beseen in a differenthairdo. Thetelevision queen has

chopped her hair for hercharacter Guneet in MereDad Ki Dulhan.Confirming the same,Shweta mentions, “I loveto experiment with mylook with every newcharacter in the show. Itwas a big decision, but Ihad to cut short my hairfor Guneet’s look in MereDad ki Dulhan. Thecharacter is going to bevery real and full of lifegiving a connect to theviewers. However, I amlooking forward to putforth a totally differentlook for the audiences.”

Apart from Shweta,other actors in the showVarun Badola and AnjaliTatrari have also gearedup to surprise theaudience with their look.Anjali who herself is afashion blogger will beseen styling her in uniquelooks to f it in thecharacter of modern-daydaughter named Niya.Whereas Varun Badolawill be seen in his cooldaddy look who will goall out to fulfil Niya’sdreams and wishes.

$�� ����� �������The Europe Music Awards 2019 will be held on today in Seville,

Spain, Vh1 India will be exclusively airing the award ceremonyin the country.

Prateek Kuhad, Rajakumari, Emiway Komorebi andParikrama battle it out for the ‘Best Indian Act’ at the event. Othernominees in the category are Tears of the Wizard — Parikrama,Shook — Rajakumari, Daawat —Emiway, Little One —Komorebi.

Partake in the thrill and excitement from music industry’sbiggest award night live exclusively on Vh1 India, November 4,2019. Red carpet from 6 am onwards followed by the main eventat 7 am.

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Page 3: English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today News in … · 2019-11-02 · Haryana and Punjab ... out between lawyers and the Delhi Police over parking. ... himself a wife is

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Expressing anguish andanger at the unprecedented

situation triggered by the grow-ing air pollution in Delhi,Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on Saturdaywrote an emotional letter toPrime Minister NarendraModi, underlining the need forevolving a consensus on tack-ling the issue, rising abovepolitical affiliations and region-al considerations.

In his letter, the ChiefMinister said, “No Indian, anddefinitely no person in Punjab,is oblivious to the misery of ourbrethren in the nationalCapital, whatever many aroundthe country might have beenled to believe.” Pointing out thathis own children and grand-children living in Delhi, werecurrently sharing the plight ofthe lakhs of people in thenational Capital as a result ofthe toxic air enveloping the city,he said the prevailing situation“has exposed the hollowness ofour claims of being a progres-sive and developed nation.”

“How can a country becalled developed when itsCapital city has been reducedto a gas chamber, not by anynatural disaster but a series ofman-made ones?,” he asked.

Making it clear that hehad no intent of brushing his

hands off Punjab’s responsibil-ity in this tragic state-of-affairs,the Chief Minister said, how-ever, that the entire country,including Delhi itself as well asthe Government at the Centre,had allowed “this state-of-affairs to emerge and sustain,with our various acts of com-mission and omission.”

Admitting that stubblefires, supported by the windsblowing in the wrong direction,were contributing to the toxic

levels of air pollution that pre-vail today in Delhi, the ChiefMinister, at the same time,noted that data from severalindependent agencies hadpointed out that large-scaleindustrial pollution, the trafficoverload, the excessive con-struction activity taking placein Delhi were equally, if notmore, to blame.

But, said Amarinder, hetook no solace from this data,nor could this blame game help

any of them to “assuage ourown guilt in a matter of suchserious national consequence.”

“The harsh truth is thatwhile all of us are busy conve-niently passing the buck to oneanother, Delhi’s people are reel-ing under excruciating misery,and are facing one of the worseever health disasters in thenation’s, possibly the world’s,history,” he wrote.

Observing that “the situa-tion continues to aggravate while

we all play ball over the people’spain and grief,” the ChiefMinister said the crux of theproblem was that “we have per-sistently and foolishly refused torise above political considera-tions to launch a collectivesearch for a permanent solution.”

“The solutions each one ofus, the so-called stakeholders,have been proffering from timeto time are but knee-jerk inter-ventions that translate intonothing more than a case of‘too little, too late’ every time,”he wrote bluntly.

The CM further wrote thatPunjab had tried to enforce thelaw against stubble burning tothe maximum extent possible,and was even penalising thefarmers, “even though it goesagainst my conscience to punisha community that has suffered,and continues to suffer, at thehands of an ungrateful nation.”But that, he added, “does notreally deter the farmers fromresorting to burning of thepaddy straw to keep their pathet-ic margins from falling further.”

Delhi and Haryana, too,were doing what they could, intheir own ways, he pointed out,but added that the role of theCentre had remained dubiousin the whole affair, even thoughthe Central Government wasthe biggest stakeholder ofnational prosperity.

Amarinder further wrote

that he had expected theGovernment of India “to havetaken the matter in its ablehands long back, to find a holis-tic solution to this grave prob-lem.” That, unfortunately, hadnot happened till date, despiteeven the Supreme Courtexpressing its concern on therapidly deteriorating situation,he lamented.

The Chief Minister recalledthat he had personally sug-gested to the Prime Ministerand other union ministers, onseveral occasions, a separatebonus amount of �100 perquintal to facilitate stubblemanagement by the farmers.

“Perhaps yourGovernment does not feel thatis the right solution, whichwould explain its failure torespond positively to myrequest,” he added.

But then, asked the ChiefMinister, “What is that solutionthat can end this grave problemonce and for all?” “Is it not yourgovernment’s task, Mr PrimeMinister, to search for thatpermanent solution, in con-sultation with all the otherstakeholders, including Punjab,Delhi and Haryana?” he added.

Stressing the need for theCentre’s urgent intervention,the Chief Minister concluded,in his letter, “After all, what isat stake goes way beyond ourpetty political ambitions.”

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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar on

Saturday wrote to UnionEnvironment Minister PrakashJavadekar to convene a meetingof Chief Ministers of Delhiand neighbouring States at theearliest, preferably on Sundayon severe air pollution in theNational Capital Region (NCR).

Earlier, in a telephonicconversation with the UnionEnvironment Minister, Khattarrequested him to convene thismeeting so as to prepare a wellthought-out strategy thatwould synergise the efforts ofdifferent organisations and theGovernment in the region.

He said that the ongoingpublic health emergency inthe NCR is a matter of seriousconcern for all of us.

“To alleviate the sufferingof the people, there is a need forcoordinating the efforts of allstakeholders to tackle the issuein a more sensitive and respon-sible manner,” he said.

The Chief Minister said nosingle person, organisation orGovernment can improve the

quality of air in the NCR, play-ing politics on this serious sit-uation is unfortunate and, initself, a matter of concern.

Focus would be on pro-viding relief and succour to thepeople who are suffering due tothe prevalent severe pollutionin the NCR for the last coupleof days, he added.

Following up this conver-sation with a letter, Khattarsaid the meeting of all ChiefMinisters and EnvironmentMinisters of the concernedStates will help evolve an action-able plan and a joint strategy toaddress the serious situation andto mitigate the suffering andhardships of the people.

Chandigarh: The cases of cropresidue fire — a major air pol-lutant in Delhi-NCR — saw a30 per cent rise in Punjab afterthe harvest season this yearcompared to last year.

The substantial increasewas recorded despite ChiefMinister Amarinder Singh’sfervent appeals to the farmersnot to go for the quickeroption of getting rid of the cropresidue by setting those afire.

He even invoked the holycelebrations of 550th birthanniversary of Sikhismfounder Guru Nanak Dev,beginning November 9, sayinghe had advocated protectingnatural resources. As per offi-cial records, over 19,860 casesof stubble burning have beenreported in Punjab fromOctober 15 till October 31.

The figure is 30 per centhigher than those reportedduring the correspondingperiod last year, officials said.

Last year, Punjab saw50,495 cases throughout therice harvesting season thatlasts till November 15.

Burning of crop residue, acommon practice by Punjaband Haryana growers, leads toan estimated economic loss ofover $30 billion annually,besides being a leading risk fac-tor for acute respiratory infec-tion, especially among chil-dren, a study at the InternationalFood Policy Research Institute(IFPRI) and its partner institutessaid this year.

Punjab’s Tarn Taran dis-trict, bordering Pakistan,reported the highest numberof farm fire cases at 2,520, fol-lowed by Ferozepur (2,269)and Sangrur (2,157).

Pathankot district saw theminimum two cases.

As per the PunjabAgriculture Department,farmers have harvested 110lakh tonne of paddy and 70lakh tonne is remaining.

“This time we are expect-ing that there will overall fallin cases of residue burningthroughout the season,”Secretary Agriculture KSPannu told IANS.

In neighbouring Haryana,4,200 cases of stubble burninghave been reported against4,360 in 2018 till October 30.

The districts of Karnal,Kurukshetra, Ambala,Yamunanagar, Fatehabad, Sirsa,Hisar, Jind, Palwal and Panipat,which have 13 lakh hectaresunder paddy cultivation, seehigh cases of residue burning.

About 50 per cent of thecrop in the state has been har-vested, an official said.

Smoke from the burning ofagricultural crop residue byfarmers in Haryana and Punjabcontributes to Delhi’s poor air,increasing the risk of acute res-piratory infection by three-foldfor those living in districtswith intense crop burning.

“Poor air quality is a rec-ognized global public healthepidemic, with levels of air-borne particulate matter inDelhi spiking to 20 times theWorld Health Organization’ssafety threshold during certaindays,” IFPRI Research Fellowand the study co-authorSamuel Scott has said.

The study, “Risk of acuterespiratory infection from cropburning in India: Estimatingdisease burden and economicwelfare from satellite and

national health survey data for2,50,000 persons”, used NASAsatellite data on fire activity toestimate the health impact ofliving in areas with intensecrop burning by comparingthem with areas not affected bycrop residue burning.

The researchers observedthat as crop burning increasedin Haryana, respiratory healthworsened. Farmers try to max-imise their yields by plantingthe next crop as soon as pos-sible after the previous crophas been harvested (general-ly wheat after rice).

To quickly clear the fieldfor the next crop, they burnthe leftover stubble ratherthan using the traditionalmethod of clearing it by hand.

A new analysis of the airquality life index (AQLI) bythe Energy Policy Institute atthe University of Chicago(EPIC) on October 31 showedthe average citizen living in theIndo-Gangetic plain regioncan expect to lose about sevenyears of life expectancy.Particulate pollution is high inBihar, Chandigarh, Delhi,Haryana, Punjab, UttarPradesh and West Bengal.

It showed a 72 per centincrease in pollution from1998 to 2016 in the region thatis home to about 40 per cent ofIndia’s population. To ensurezero crop-residue burning, theConfederation of IndianIndustry (CII) has adopted1,00,000 acres of farmland innearly 100 villages in Ludhiana,Barnala and Patiala districts ofPunjab and Rohtak, Sirsa andFatehabad districts of Haryana.

It is proactively engagingwith over 15,000 farmers to

provide farm machinery,organise technical trainingprogrammes as well as massiveawareness drives in these vil-lages of Punjab and Haryana,a CII statement said.

Equipment has beeninstalled to monitor village-level air pollution data as wellas to measure the impact ofreduced stubble burning. ThePunjab Government hasalready warned many a timethe farmers against stubbleburning and said those culti-vating panchayat lands wouldbe barred from taking it onlease if found indulging incrop residue burning.

Nearly 1.37 lakh acres ofpanchayat land is under agri-culture. The State has alsoordered impounding of com-bine harvesters functioningwithout a super straw man-agement system.

Even the ShiromaniGurdwara ParbandhakCommittee (SGPC), consid-ered a mini Parliament ofSikh religious affairs, has askedthe farmers not to burn cropresidue in the fields.

It said the preservation ofclean and green environment isof foremost significance inview of Guru Nanak Dev cele-brations. The SGPC hasinstructed all the managers ofSikh shrines that they shouldensure strict compliance ofdirections against stubble burn-ing on the agriculture landsowned by the gurdwaras.

On its part, the PunjabGovernment last year sup-plied 28,609 agro-machines tothe farmers last year for zerostubble burning on subsidyranging from 50 to 80 per cent.

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As farmers in the region con-tinued to defy the ban on

stubble burning, a blanket ofhaze engulfed Punjab andHaryana as several districts in thetwo States reported air qualityindex in “severe” and “very poor” categories.

Because of the haze, visibili-ty reduced substantially in mostparts of the two agrarian states.

Hisar in Haryana reportedthe worst air quality in the States

as its AQI stood at 487, accord-ing to data provided by theCentral Pollution Control Board.

Haryana’s other districts Jind(AQI 456), Faridabad (AQI 486)and Kaithal (AQI 408) recordedair quality at “severe” level.

The air quality in other dis-tricts such as Ambala (AQI 374),Gurugram (AQI 364), Bhiwani(AQI 372), Karnal (AQI 362),Kurukshetra (AQI 376), Palwal(AQI 369), Panipat (AQI 390),Rohtak (AQI 365) andYamunanagar (AQI 346) was

“very poor”, according to the data.

In neighbouring Punjab, theair quality also dropped in severalparts of the state.

Air quality in most of the dis-tricts in the state fell in “poor” and“very poor” categories.

Bathinda recorded air quali-ty index at 318, followed byLudhiana at 302, Jalandhar 278,Amritsar at 274, Patiala at 263.

AQI in UT Chandigarh wasrecorded at 280 which is consid-ered as “poor”.

An AQI between 0-50 is con-sidered “good”, 51-100 “satisfac-tory”, 101-200 “moderate”, 201-300 “poor”, 301-400 “very poor”,and 401-500 “severe”.

Above 500 is “severe-plus oremergency” category.

“Haze is prevailing inChandigarh, Punjab andHaryana,” ChandigarhMeteorological DepartmentDirector Surinder Pal said onSaturday. Pal said rains wereexpected in the coming dayswhich would give relief to people

from smog. “Moderate rains are expected

on November 6 and 7 in thenorthern region because of west-ern disturbances,” he said.

Despite crop residue burningaccentuated the pollution prob-lem, farmers continued to defythe ban on stubble burning inPunjab and Haryana.

Over 22,000 cases of stubbleburning had been witnessed inPunjab and more than 4,200incidents in Haryana in the recentdays, officials said.

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Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on

Saturday forwarded NavjotSingh Sidhu’s letter, requestingpermission to visit Pakistan forthe Kartarpur Corridor inau-guration, to the Chief Secretaryfor necessary action.

An official spokespersonsaid the Chief Minister hadreceived Sidhu’s letter onSaturday morning and imme-diately sent it to the State Chief Secretary.

The Chief Minister himselflater told some mediapersonsin an informal chat that, alongwith all other MLAs, Sidhu hadalso been invited to join the all-party Jatha going from Punjabto Kartarpur Sahib via theCorridor on November 9. TheDCs had contacted the MLAsin their respective districts,and the Amritsar DC had beenpursuing the matter withSidhu’s office, but the latter hadfailed to respond, said Capt Amarinder.

Earlier, former Punjabminister Sidhu sought permis-sion from the Union External

Affairs Ministry to attend theinaugural ceremony of theKartarpur corridor in Pakistan.

The cricketer-turned-politician also wrote a letter toPunjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh in this regard.

In a letter to ExternalAffairs Minister S Jaishankar,Sidhu said he had been invit-ed by the Pakistan Governmentfor opening ceremony ofKartarpur Sahib corridor onNovember 9. “As a humbleSikh, it shall be a great honourto pay obeisance to our greatGuru Baba Nanak on this his-toric occasion and connect toour roots,” wrote Sidhu, who isa legislator from Amritsar East.

“Therefore, I may be per-mitted to visit Pakistan forthis auspicious occasion,” the former Minister said in the letter.

In August last year, Sidhuhad attended the oath-takingceremony of Pakistan PrimeMinister Imran Khan.

Kartarpur Sahib is locatedin Pakistan’’s Narowal districtacross the Ravi river, about fourkilometres from the Dera Baba

Nanak shrine.Prime Minister Narendra

Modi will inaugurate theKartarpur corridor onNovember 9 at Dera BabaNanak in Gurdaspur.

Meanwhile, Sidhu’s wifeNavjot Kaur said her husbandwould definitely go to Pakistanto attend the inaugural cere-mony of the Kartarpur corridorif he gets Centre’s permissionfor it. Talking to mediapersonshere, she said Sidhu was keento pay obeisance at theGurdwara Darbar Sahib inKartarpur in Pakistan.

“My husband has soughtpermission from the govern-ment of India to visit Pakistan,”she said. When asked about hervisit to Kartarpur, she said, “Iwill definitely go to Pakistanthrough the Kartarpur corridoralong with the people ofAmritsar East constituency.”

On being asked if she wasstill with the Congress, Kaursaid she did not have anyalliance with any political party,but had been working as asocial worker for the develop-ment of the Amritsar (East)constituency.

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APanchkula court onSaturday dropped sedition

charges against HoneypreetInsan, the adopted daughter ofjailed Dera Sacha Sauda chiefGurmeet Ram Rahim Singh,and 35 other accused in the2017 Panchkula violence case.

However, AdditionalDistrict and Sessions JudgeSanjay Sandhir framed chargesagainst Honeypreet and otherDera followers under relevantsections of the IPC in connec-tion with the violence follow-ing the conviction of the Derachief in rape cases that leftmore than 30 people dead andover 200 injured.

“The court has droppedcharges against accused undersection 121 (waging or attempt-ing to wage war) and 121A

(conspiracy to commit offencespunishable by section 121) ofthe IPC,” defence lawyer SureshRohilla said.

Rohilla said the chargeshad been framed against theaccused, including Honeypreet,under various sections relatedto unlawful assembly and crim-inal conspiracy of the IPC.

While Honeypreet andSukhwinder Kaur, who arelodged in Ambala jail, appeared

through video-conferencing,the other accused appeared inthe court in person.

The Panchkula police hadbooked Honeypreet and otherDera followers on the chargesof sedition and criminal con-spiracy in connection with thePanchkula violence case.Honeypreet, along with others,was named in the FIR forallegedly conspiring to inciteviolence in Panchkula thatbroke out following the con-viction of the Dera head inAugust 2017.

According to thechargesheet, the conspiracy tospread violence was hatched byHoneypreet and the 45-memberDera management committee atthe Dera headquarters in Sirsa.

Defence counsel said thatthe case would now be heard inthe court of Panchkula Chief

Judicial Magistrate andNovember 6 had been fixed asthe next date of hearing.

After the conviction ofDera head, the police had thentaken Gurmeet Ram Rahimalong with Honeypreet in achopper from Panchkula toSunaria jail in Rohtak.

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As expected, Congress pres-ident Sonia Gandhi on

Saturday appointed formerHaryana Chief MinisterBhupinder Singh Hooda asthe leader of the CongressLegislature Party (CLP) in the State.

By virtue of being appoint-ed the CLP leader, Hooda willbe the Leader of Opposition inthe newly-constituted Assembly.

A resolution was passed bythe MLAs unanimously onFriday authorising Gandhi toelect the CLP leader and after

being briefed by observerMadhusudan Mistri about thewishes of the MLAs, she hasappointed Hooda as the CLPleader, AICC General Secretaryin-charge of State Ghulam NabiAzad said.

Azad also hailed Hoodaand Haryana Congress chiefKumari Selja for their efforts inthe Assembly polls, saying theircombination had worked wellfor the party and despite theshort time they got, theyensured a good performance bythe Congress.

Ahead of the assemblyelection in Haryana, the

Congress high command hadreplaced Ashok Tanwar withSelja as the State party chief andChoudhary as CLP leader withHooda. Tanwar had later quitthe party.

In the 90-member assem-bly, Congress performedremarkably well winning 31seats even though ruling BJPwon 40 and formed govern-ment with its post poll allyJannayak Janta Party (JJP)which got ten seats.

Indian National Lok Dal(INLD) got one seat, HaryanaLokhit Party one and sevenindependents won in the State.

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Himachal Forest, Transport,Youth Services and Sports

Minister Govind Singh Thakuron Saturday said the GlobalInvestor’s Meet being organisedat Dharamshala will bring anew phase of economic devel-opment and social prosperity inthe State.

In a statement, he saidsuch a big event is being organ-ised for the first time in theState to attract investors.

Govind Singh Thakur saidfew Opposition leaders arequestioning the investor’s meet,but perhaps they have forgot-ten that previous StateCongress Government spentcrores of rupees in the name ofroad shows to attract invest-ment, but failed to attract evena single penny.

The Minister said investor’smeet is not being heldovernight but it is a result of the hard work of the State Government in the lastone year.

For this, while the ChiefMinister made personal effortsto create a suitable environ-ment in the country andabroad, more than 150 regula-tory reforms, easing of standardoperating procedures for morethan 50 departments andonline services of more than 40services will be made availablefor ease of doing business.

Apart from this, the StateGovernment has also workedhard to promoting development

oriented activities by simplify-ing the rules and regulationslike Single Window Act-2018and Himachal Pradesh MicroEnterprises Facilitation CouncilRules-2018.

Thakur said till now invest-ment proposals worth Rs 83thousand crores have beensigned with various industrialhouses which will strengthenthe economy. All these effortswill create new employmentopportunities and bring pros-perity in life of the people of theState, he added.

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Chandigarh: The ShiromaniAkali Dal (SAD) accused theCongress Government inPunjab of trying to “regulariseunconstitutional” appointmentsby deciding to amend a lawunder which advisers to the CMfor planning and political mat-ters will not be disqualified forholding offices of profit.

The Punjab Cabinet decid-ed on Friday to amend thePunjab State Legislature(Prevention of Disqualification)Act, 1952. After this amend-ment, members of the assem-bly appointed as advisers in therank of Ministers under thiscategory will not be disqualifiedfor holding offices of profit.

In a statement, former min-ister and SAD leader BikramSingh Majithia said thatCongress MLAs Amrinder

Singh Raja Warring, Kuljit SinghNagra, Sangat Singh Gilzian,Inderbir Singh Bolaria,Kushaldeep Dhillon and TarsemSingh DC had already inviteddisqualification by acceptingan office of profit in the form ofadvisers in the rank ofCabinet/Minister of State rank.

Appointments violate 91stAmendment of Constitutionwhich stated the total number ofministers shall not exceed 15 percent of total strength of theState Assembly, he said. Assertingthat these appointments couldnot be regularised retrospectively,Majithia said the CongressGovernment trying to “regu-larise” the appointments by mov-ing a Bill to amend Section 2 ofthe Punjab State Legislature Actproves that appointments werenot made as per law. PTI

Shimla: Thirteen people inHimachal Pradesh died of scrubtyphus, a bacterial infection, sofar this year as compared to 21deaths last year, a health officialsaid on Saturday. As many as1,456 people are suffering fromthe bacterial infection in thestate so far this year, whereas1,940 people were affected lastyear, Special Secretary (Health)Dr Nipun Jindal said.

During a two-day reviewmeeting of eight northernStates and Union territories onthe Integrated DiseaseSurveillance Programme(IDSP) in Shimla, the efforts ofHimachal Pradesh in effectiveprevention and control of com-municable diseases, especiallyin containing scrub typhus,were appreciated, Jindal said.

Himachal Pradesh, Punjab,Haryana, Uttar Pradesh,Chandigarh, Uttarakhand,Jammu & Kashmir, and Delhiparticipated in the review meet-ing held on Friday and Saturdaywith the main objective ofanalysing the programme’sachievements set against thecentral government’s targets.The participants agreed to sharedata for effective preventionand control of epidemic-pronediseases in the northern region,said Jindal, the mission directorof the National Health Mission,Himachal Pradesh. The IDSPwas launched in 2004 with themandate to create a system ofdisease surveillance for timelyand effective public health actionwith a focus on functional inte-gration of surveillance compo-nents of various vertical pro-grammes. PTI

Chandigarh: The JannayakJanta Party (JJP) on Saturdayexpelled its six members,including three who were giventicket in the recently heldHaryana Assembly poll, forallegedly indulging in anti-partyactivities and indiscipline.

Shashi Bala, Suresh Verma,Badruddin, Baldev, Tuhi RamBhardwaj and Gurpal Majrahave been expelled, accordingto a release issued by the JJP.

They have also been sus-pended from the party’s pri-mary membership for six years,it said. JJP State presidentNishan Singh said they hadworked against the interest ofthe party during the assemblyelections. Bala, Verma andMajra were party candidatesfrom Prithla, Ballabhgarh andAmbala Cantt seats respec-tively. PTI

Gurgaon: A woman studentand her associate were arrest-ed for allegedly killing afinancier here after he demand-ed his money back, a policeofficer said on Saturday.

The accused was identifiedas Sumit Phoghat (24), anMBA student, and Vikram(32). They were arrested fromHonda Chowk in the earlyhours of Saturday.

Both the accused are nativeof Haryana’s Charkhi Dadriand Jhajjar. The incident cameto light on Thursday whenGurgaon police found a bullet-wounded body of the victim,

Roshan Lal, at a flat in Sector-103 here. “When investigatorsinformed Lal’s son Rahul aboutthe murder, he told police thatLal had gone to his financeoffice in Jhajjar on October 31when Phogat took him some-where,” Gurgaon police PROSubhash Bokan said.

A police team on a tip-offnabbed Phoghat and her asso-ciate. During interrogation, theaccused told police that theyknew Lal through commonfriends. Lal helped them finan-cially and he had given somemoney to Phoghat which shewas unable to return. PTI

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The Centre on Saturday released themaps of newly created Union

Territories (UTs) of Jammu & Kashmir,and Ladakh and the map of Indiadepicting these UTs.

In a statement, the Ministry ofHome Affairs said the UT of Ladakhconsists of two districts of Kargil andLeh while the rest of the erstwhile stateof Jammu & Kashmir is in the UT ofJammu & Kashmir.

In 1947, the erstwhile state ofJammu & Kashmir had the following 14districts — Kathua, Jammu, Udhampur,Reasi, Anantnag, Baramulla, Poonch,Mirpur, Muzaffarabad, Leh and Ladakh,Gilgit, Gilgit Wazarat, Chilhas andTribal Territory.

By 2019, the Government of erst-

while State of Jammu & Kashmir hadreorganised the areas of these 14 dis-tricts into 28 districts.

The names of the new districts were— Kupwara, Bandipur, Ganderbal,Srinagar, Budgam, Pulwama, Shupian,Kulgam, Rajouri, Ramban, Doda,Kishtivar, Samba and Kargil.

Out of these, Kargil district wascarved out from the area of Leh andLadakh district.

The Leh district of the new UT ofLadakh has been defined in the Jammu& Kashmir Reorganisation (Removal ofDifficulties) Second Order, 2019, issuedby the President of India, to include theareas of the districts of Gilgit, GilgitWazarat, Chilhas and Tribal Territoryof 1947, in addition to the remainingareas of Leh and Ladakh districts of1947, after carving out the Kargil

District.The maps prepared by Survey

General of India depicting the new UTsof Jammu & Kashmir, and Ladakh, ascreated on October 31, 2019, along withthe map of India, are released, the state-ment said.

On the recommendation ofParliament, the President effectively dis-mantled Article 370 of the IndianConstitution and gave assent to the

Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Act,2019.

Under the leadership of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi and supervi-sion of Union Home Minister AmitShah, the erstwhile State of Jammu &Kashmir has been reorganised as thenew Union Territory of Jammu &Kashmir and the new Union Territoryof Ladakh on October 31, 2019, thestatement said.

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Congress president SoniaGandhi on Saturday

attacked Prime MinisterNarendra Modi saying insteadof acknowledging slowdownand looking for solution, he isbusy managing headlines andevents and as if Government'sdecisions have not damagedeconomy enough, it is nowready to deal body blow to itby signing RegionalComprehensive EconomicPartnership (RCEP) agree-ment. Modi is expected to signthe agreement during theRCEP Summit during hisongoing two-day visit toThailand.

Sonia also lashed out atthe Government over theWhatsApp snooping contro-versy saying these activitiesare not only illegal and uncon-stitutional, they are alsoshameful.

Sonia had convened ahigh level meeting of party'sGeneral Secretaries, State in-charges, heads of frontalorganisations and depart-ments to chalk out nationwideprotests between November 5and 15 against the ModiGovernment policies withspecial focus on economiccrisis, unemployment, farmdistress and the "adverse"impact of the proposed RCEPagreement. The RCEP com-prising the 10-memberASEAN bloc and six othercountries — India, China,Japan, South Korea, Australiaand New Zealand — isengaged in negotiations for afree-trade pact.

Addressing a meeting atthe AICC headquarters, shealleged that instead ofacknowledging the "severeslowdown" and looking for acomprehensive resolution,Prime Minister NarendraModi is too busy "managingheadlines and events".

"As a citizen and as amember of the responsibleopposition, it pains me to seethe Indian economy undersiege. What is even more wor-rying is that the governmentis in complete denial," Soniasaid.

"As economic decisionshave not damaged the econo-my enough, it is now ready todeal a body blow to it by sign-ing the RCEP — the regionalfree trade agreement of 16Asian countries," Sonia said.

This will result in untoldhardship for farmers, shop-keepers, and small and medi-um enterprises, she claimed.

Her remarks come as negoti-ations to finalise the long-overdue RCEP enter finalstages. All eyes are on Indiawhether it will finally take theplunge and agrees to theworld's largest trading dealspanning 16-Asia Pacificnations.

In the address to partygeneral secretaries, State in-charges and heads of frontalorganisations, Gandhi said,"The latest shocking revelationthat through the IsraeliPegasus software acquired bythe Modi Government,snooping and spying activitieson activists, journalists andpolitical persons have takenplace."

"These activities are notonly illegal and un-constitu-tional, they are shameful,"she said. "Far from creatingjobs, recent studies now sug-gest that demonetisation, amessed up GST and subse-quent economic decisions ofthe Modi Government have

resulted in an unprecedentedloss of 9 million jobs duringthe last 6 years," she said.

Earlier Congress generalsecretary Priyanka GandhiVadra claimed that if Indiasigns the RegionalComprehensive EconomicPartnership (RCEP) pact itwill prove to be "farmers'destruction agreement" as intimes of economic slowdown,Indian markets should pro-vide maximum help todomestic farmers. In a tweet,Priyanka Gandhi said, "Thereis an economic slowdown inthe country. Our policy rightnow should be such that ourmarkets provide maximumhelp to our farmers." In thisenvironment, the RCEP willprove to be "farmers' destruc-tion agreement", she said."This will gobble up all theinterests of the farmers ofIndia, and their space for sell-ing their produce will be lim-ited," the Congress generalsecretary claimed.

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With Congress chief SoniaGandhi criticising of

the Government over thealleged WhatsApp snoopingcontroversy, BJP workingpresident JP Nadda onSaturday hit back saying sheshould reveal who orderedsnooping on then UnionMinister Pranab Mukherjeeand then Army chief VKSingh during the UPAGovernment.

Nadda was responding toallegations made by Soniathat the Government used

Israeli software for snoopingon activists and journaliststhrough WhatsApp.

In a tweet, Nadda said theGovernment has already clar-ified its stand on this issue,and asked the Congress pres-ident to clarify who orderedsnooping during theCongress-led UPA regime.

"Mrs Gandhi couldenlighten the nation aboutwho at 10 Janpath authorisedsnooping on Shri PranabMukherjee when he was aMinister in UPA & Gen VKSingh when he was the ArmyChief," Nadda said.

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Former Haryana ChiefMinister Bhupinder Singh

Hooda will be the Leader ofOpposition in the HaryanaLegislative Assembly. Congresspresident Sonia Gandhi onSaturday appointed Hooda asleader of the CongressLegislature Party (CLP) in theState.

Congress MLAs hadauthorised party presidentSonia Gandhi to name thenew Congress Legislature Party(CLP) leader in the Haryanaassembly.

Announcing this, AICCHaryana in-charge Ghulam

Nabi Azad said that a resolu-tion was passed by the MLAsunanimously authorisingCongress president to elect theCLP leader and after beingbriefed by observerMadhusudan Mistri about thewishes of the MLAs, she hasappointed Hooda as the CLPleader.

"By virtue of being appoint-ed the CLP leader, Hooda willbe the Leader of Opposition inthe newly-constituted assem-bly," he said. Azad also hailedHooda and Haryana Congresschief Kumari Selja for theirefforts in the Assembly polls,saying their combination hadworked well for the party and

despite the short time they got,they ensured a good perfor-mance by the Congress.

Ahead of the Assemblyelection in Haryana, theCongress high command hadreplaced Ashok Tanwar withSelja as the state party chief andChoudhary as CLP leader withHooda. Tanwar had later quitthe party.

In the 90-member assem-bly, the strength of BJP is 40, itsally Jannayak Janta Party (JJP)10, Congress 31, IndianNational Lok Dal (INLD) one,Haryana Lokhit Party one andseven independents. The sevenindependents too had extend-ed support to the BJP.

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The 50th International FilmFestival of India (IFFI) will

honour southern superstarRajinikanth with a special Iconof Golden Jubilee award,Information and BroadcastingMinister Prakash Javadekarannounced on Saturday. TheMinister also announced cel-ebrated French actor IsabelleHuppert as the recipient of theLifetime Achievement Award.

The festival will be held inGoa from November 20 to 28with close to 250 films fromvarious countries to be

screenedat thepremiermovie extravaganza.

In its golden jubilee year,the festival will screen 50 filmsby 50 female filmmakers toacknowledge the contributionof women in cinema, Javadekarsaid.

Russia will be the partnercountry at the festival thisyear.

Dadasaheb Phalke Awardwinner Amitabh Bachchan'sselected seven or eight filmswill also be showcased at themovie fest.

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With an aim to rehearse dis-aster response mecha-

nisms and share knowledge,experience and technology, theNational Disaster ResponseForce (NDRF) is hosting thefour-day Shanghai CooperationOrganisation (SCO) joint exer-cise. It will be inaugurated byUnion Home Minister AmitShah.

This exercise will also pro-vide an opportunity to enhancecoordination and cooperation asit involves multi-agency opera-tions, the MHA said.

There will be participantsfrom all eight SCO membercountries — China, India,Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan andUzbekistan. The simulationexercise will be conducted as perthe methodology and guidelinesof the International Search andRescue Advisory Group.

The exercise will be followedby a meeting between SCOexperts and officials ofMinistries responsible for pre-vention and elimination ofemergency situations.

During the exercise, therole and responsibilities of var-ious organisations and teams,

including those involved inemergency medical services,and urban search and rescue atthe national and internationallevels, will be discussed, thestatement said. The main focusof Shanghai CooperationOrganisation Joint Exercise onUrban Earthquake Search andRescue (SCOJtEx) will be to testthe region's preparedness toactivate inter-Governmentalinteraction for immediateresponse, it said.

Discussions will be alsoheld on the role of the human-itarian system, UNDAC, emer-gency response and assessmentteam, on-site operations coor-dination centre local emergencymanagement authority andhumanitarian civil-militarycoordination, the statement said.

Representatives from theInternational Search & RescueAdvisory Group, AsianCoordination Centre forHumanitarian Assistance, Brazil,Mongolia and South Africa havebeen invited as observers.

The Ministry said repre-sentatives from embassies of allSCO member nations, heads ofstate disaster response forcesand representatives of otherstakeholders shall also be par-ticipating in this exercise.

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New Delhi: Ratul Puri, nephewof Madhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Kamal Nath, is allegedto have received kickbacks ofabout Rs 16 crore from firmslinked to purported middlemeninvolved the multi-crore VVIPchoppers scam, the ED said inits chargesheet on Saturday.

The central agency filed itssixth supplementary prosecu-tion complaint in the case andnamed Puri and his allegedassociate Jaspreet Ahuja.

"Investigation revealed thatkickbacks from AgustaWestlandamounting to Euro 70 millionwas routed through middlemen

Carlo Gerosa and GuidoHaschke, who have receivedabout Euro 28 million, andChristian Michel James (anoth-er middleman in the case), whohad received about Euro 42 mil-lion, to influence the contractfor the supply of 12 VVIP heli-copters," it said in a statement.

Puri received "proceeds ofcrime" amounting to Euro704,134.57 and $1,50,000 fromInterstellar TechnologiesLimited in his foreign entities,the Enforcement Directorate(ED) said.

"The same money was lay-ered through various companies

in foreign jurisdictions andthen brought into India andinvested in Hindustan PowerGroup, whose chairman is Puri,"the agency charged.

The ED has claimed thatPuri also received "proceeds ofcrime" amounting to $12,40,890from Michel's companies name-ly Global Services FZE andGlobe Oil FZE through thecompanies of Rajiv Saxenawhich were used for the bene-fit of Puri. The conversion of theforeign currencies alleged tohave been received by Puricomes to about �16 crore. BothMichel and Saxena have been

deported by Indian probe agen-cies from Dubai as part of theprobe into the case.

The charge sheet said Ahuja"assisted" Puri in laundering theproceeds of crime through var-ious jurisdictions by creating,maintaining and managing theforeign companies whichbelonged to Puri.

"Both have known eachother since long," the ED said.

It said a court has takencognisance of the charge sheetand issued summons forDecember 18 to Ahuja andalso sent Puri to judicial custodytill the same date. PTI

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Against the backdrop of thesevere Delhi pollution,

German Chancellor AngelaMerkel on Saturday said thatlooking at the severity of thesituation it would be a goodidea to replace diesel buses withelectric ones. She then went onto announce Germany's pledgeto invest 1 billion Euros overthe next five years on environ-mentally-friendly urban mobil-ity in India.

Merkel, whose visit to thecountry coincided with one ofthe worst spells of air pollutionin Delhi/NCR, said : "We haveagreed to co-operate on climateprotection and green urbanmobility and have earmarked 1billion Euros towards this.Germany would also put in 200million euros to reform the bussector in Tamil Nadu, she

added.Delhi recorded its worst air

quality of the season on Fridayas the pollution level touchedthe 'severe plus' category,prompting authorities to shutschools till November 5, ban allconstruction activities anddeclare a "public health emer-gency".

Merkel said that Germanywould also like to work withIndia on various segmentsincluding healthcare, agricul-ture and artificial intelligence.

On Friday, India andGermany agreed to deepenefforts to resume stalled nego-tiations for a free trade agree-ment between India and theEuropean Union (EU).

The negotiations for thepact have been held up sinceMay 2013 as both the sidesfailed to bridge substantialgaps on crucial issues.

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Jammu: As many as 164 recruits,hailing from different parts ofLadakh, were on Saturdayinducted into the Army aftercompleting a rigorous trainingprogramme, a defencespokesman said.

An attestation parade for theinduction of the young soldiersinto the Ladakh Scouts regimentwas held at Regimental Centre inLeh, he said.

The spokesman said theceremony conducted in conso-nance with the highest traditionsof the Indian Army was reviewedby General OfficerCommanding, Trishul Division,Major General Sanjiv Rai.

It was attended by a spec-trum of civil and military digni-taries, including war heroes ofthe regiment and parents of therecruits, he said.

He said the young soldierstook oath in unison to serve thenation. PTI

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New Delhi: The BJP on Saturdayannounced its candidates for theAssembly bypolls inUttarakhand and West Bengal.

The party's central electioncommittee finalised the namesfor the bypoll on one Assemblyseat in Uttarakhand and three inWest Bengal, the BJP said in astatement.

Chandra Pant will be theparty's candidate for Pithoragarhseat in Uttarakhand. KamalChandra Sarkar, Joyprakash

Majumder and Premchand Jhaare the BJP nominees forKaliaganj, Karimpur andKharagpur Sadar Assembly seatsrespectively in West Bengal.

Polling in these four assem-bly seats is scheduled forNovember 25. PTI

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US Treasury SecretarySteven Mnuchin, who is

on a tour to rally supportagainst Iran, met RBI GovernorShaktikanta Das and businessleaders in the financial capitalon Saturday.

While the exact topics ofdiscussion at the engagementswere not immediately known,a central bank statement saidthe visiting official discussed"global and domestic macro-economic scenario in bothcountries and regulatory devel-opments" with the RBI gover-nor.

In a tweet, Mnuchin saidhe discussed issues related tothe "monetary policy and thefinancial sector" with Das.

Mnuchin also had a lun-cheon meet with top officials ofNational Investment andInfrastructure Fund (NIIF),the Indian government-pro-moted vehicle to support infra-structure investments that hasreceived support from a slew ofsovereign wealth funds already.

From his Twitter handle,Mnuchin said he discussedboth US and India's "mutualinterests in promoting invest-ments" with NIIF brass.

He also paid homage to thevictims of the 26/11 terror

attacks in \the city inNovember 2008, by laying awreath at south Mumbai's TajHotel, one of the sites of theattacks that had claimed 166lives.

He was accompanied byUS Ambassador to IndiaKenneth Juster and ConsulGeneral in Mumbai David JRanz, in all the engagements, a\US government spokesper-son said.

He also had a roundtablemeet with business leaders3Anand Mahindra, HarshGoenka and Adi Godrej, whohead multibillion corporationseach, the spokesperson said.

Mnuchin left the city in theevening, the spokesperson said.He had come to the financialcapital from New Delhi, where

he had met Union FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman.

It can be noted that Indiahas had difficulties paying Iranfor oil imports during previousrounds of sanctions led by theUS, and the RBI had played animportant role for solutions inthe same.

The US has been peeved atIran for pursuing a nuclear pro-gramme which it fears is beingdictated by what it calls as a ter-ror outfit, due to which it hasimposed sanctions againstTehran.

It has been asking othernations to support it againstIran for the same. According toreports, India has stoppedcrude oil imports from Iran asa result of the sanctions earli-er this year.

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Warren Buffett's companyreported Saturday that it

saw an 11 per cent decline inthird-quarter profits because ofa smaller increase in the papervalue of its investments, even asit sits on a mountain of cash.

Berkshire Hathaway said itmade USD 16.52 billion, orUSD 10,119 per Class A share,in the quarter, down fromUSD 18.54 billion, or USD11,280 per Class A share, a yearago.

Buffett has long saidBerkshire's operating earningsoffer a better view of quarter-ly performance because theyexclude investments and deriv-atives, which can vary.

By that measure,Berkshire's operating earningsimproved to USD 7.86 billion,or USD 4,812 per Class Ashare, from USD 6.88 billion,or USD 4,186.05 per Class Ashare. Analysts surveyed byFactSet expected operatingearnings per share of USD4,299.20 on average.

Berkshire Hathawayrecorded an USD 8.67 billionpaper investment gain duringthe quarter. A year ago, it reg-istered an unrealised USD11.66 billion investment gain.

Berkshire's revenueimproved 2 per cent to USD64.97 billion.

Edward Jones analyst JimShanahan said the results lookgood overall despite the ongo-ing challenges of the US tradewar with China and weaknessin manufacturing, but it's dis-appointing that Berkshire did-n't find a way to use more of itscash.

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India and Germany onSaturday signed signed two

major agreements, referred toas the Joint Declaration ofIntent, for cooperation in thefield of skills development andvocational education.

The Ministry of SkillDevelopment andEntrepreneurship signed theJoint Declaration of Intent withthe Federal Ministry forEconomic Cooperation andDevelopment (BMZ),Germany. The association willprovide a systematic structurefor conducting mutual consul-tations, advisory work and pol-icy exchanges at ministerial andexpert levels and provide tech-nical assistance.

This collaboration will helpfurther develop the successfulcooperation in the variousfields covered by the Indo-German Joint Working Groupon Vocational Education andTraining.

One declaration of intent(DoI) is with the FederalMinistry of Education andResearch (referred to as BMBF)for Cooperation in SkillDevelopment and VocationalEducation and Training,whereas the second was forDual VET initiative markingSustainable Growth of Skillswith Siemens Limited, India.

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Indiabulls Real Estate onSaturday said it has sold its

property in London to a pro-moter group firm for 200 mil-lion pounds (about Rs 1,830crore) as part of its plan tofocus on the India business andcut debt.

At its annual general meet-ing (AGM) on September 28,the company's shareholdershad approved a proposal to sellits London property to pro-moters for 200 million pounds.

In a filing to BSE,Indiabulls Real Estate said the"company's wholly owned sub-sidiary has divested its entirestake in Century Ltd, whichindirectly owns HanoverSquare property, London toClivedale Overseas Ltd, anentity owned by the promoters

of the company". With this,Century Ltd ceases to be a sub-sidiary of the company. Earlier,the company had disclosed itsplans to focus on its India busi-ness and pare debt.

"In light of continuingBrexit related issues and uncer-tainty around it, the Londonproperty market remains slug-gish. The Great Britain poundhas also had a sustained depre-ciation from around the time ofBrexit referendum result," thecompany had said in the noticefor the AGM.

Indiabulls Real Estate hadsaid that a further loan ofabout 133 million pounds wasneeded to complete the ongo-ing construction at 22, HanoverSquare property in London.However, it would not like toincur this additional debt on itsown balance sheet.

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Within days of market reg-ulator asking the listed

PSU banks to report divergencein NPAs as estimated by themand RBI immediately to thebourses, three banks — IndianBank, Union Bank and UcoBank have done so and morecould follow suit.

SBI had on Thursdaydirected all listed lenders tomake disclosures on diver-gences and provisioning with-in a day of receipt of the RBI's

final risk assessment report(RAR). Indian Bank in a dis-closure to BSE said "in com-pliance to Regulation 30 ofSEBI (Listing Obligations andDisclosure Requirements)Regulations, 2015 and SEBI cir-cular of 31.10.2019, we enclosethe report of divergence inasset classification and provi-sioning for NPAs as per RiskAssessment Report (RAR) ofRBI for the year 2018-19."

The Gross NPAs as onMarch , 2019 as reported byIndian Bank was �13,353 crore

while RBI assessed it as �13,537crore leading to a divergence of�184 crore. There was diver-gence in Net NPA also but itwas higher reported by thebank at �6,793 crore whileRBI estimated it as �5,973crore resulting in a higher netNPA of �820 crore by the Bankon books.

There was provisioningdivergence naturally where RBIsaid provisioning is �7,135crore will bank put �6,131crore resulting in divergence of�1,004 crore.

Mumbai: Singapore-basedDBS Bank said on Saturdaythat reports claiming that it will acquire controllingstakes in Yes Bank were false.

"The rumours of DBSacquiring a stake in Yes Bankare unfounded and baseless," aDBS spokesperson said. IANS

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US President DonaldTrump has said that the

vote by the Democratic law-makers in the US House ofRepresentatives to approvethe process of impeachmentagainst him is an attack onAmerican democracy.

The 435-member lowerchamber of the US Congresson Thursday passed the mea-sure, the third time in the his-tory of the modern presiden-cy, establishing rules for openhearings and the questioningof witnesses by members andstaff by 232-196 votes.

Democrats enjoy majori-ty with 233 seats in the Houseof Representatives while theruling Republican, fromwhich Trump comes, has 197elected representatives.

“They've been plotting tooverthrow the election.

Yesterday's vote by the radi-cal Democrats is an attack ondemocracy itself. But I'll tellyou, the Republicans are real-ly strong, the strongest I'veever seen and the most uni-fied,” Trump said during hisaddress at the

“Keep America Great”rally in Tupelo, Mississippi onFriday.

So far only two USPresidents Andrew Johnsonand Bill Clinton have beenimpeached by the US Houseof Representatives but neitherof them were convicted by theSenate, as a result no USpresident has been removedfrom off ice using theimpeachment process.

In the 100-memberSenate, Trump's RepublicanParty enjoys majority with 53seats and the Democrats have47 seats. Given the currentcomposition of the US

Congress, the impeachmentprocess is likely to sailthrough the Democratic con-trol led House ofRepresentatives and unlikelyto be passed by the GOP-majority Senate.

Trump, in his first elec-tion rally, also alleged that themainstream American media

is too involved in this con-spiracy.

“The media and theDemocrats have beenengaged in a corrupt part-nership trying to impose theirwill and to thwart Americandemocracy. And shifty, AdamSchiff and the media are con-tinuing with the derangedimpeachment witch hunt, thisis one I never thought I'd beinvolved in, the wordimpeachment,” he said.

Trump said that the"Democrats voted to poten-tially nullify the votes of 63million Americans disgracingthemselves and bringingshame upon the House ofRepresentatives.”

The impeachmentprocess has started deepeningthe bitter political divide inthe US, which over the nextfew weeks and months islikely to develop into an

unprecedented mudslingingand war of words between theDemocrats and theRepublicans.

“Make no mistake. Theyare coming after theRepublican Party and mebecause I'm fighting for you,they don't like it. This is dif-ferent. They've never hadanything like this. And theyknow they can't win,” he said.

Trump scoffed atDemocrats' claim that he wasso fearful of Democratic fron-trunner and former vice pres-ident Joseph R. Biden that heasked Ukraine to investigatehim for corruption.

“Gee, I guess there's onlyone way — let's call upUkraine for help,” he saidmockingly.

“These people are sick.And here's the good news: thepeople get it,” he said.

The president alleged that

Hunter Biden, son of the for-mer vice president, received“a payoff ” for his position ona Ukrainian energy companyboard. “Experience with ener-gy, he knew less about it thanthis young —

How old are you? Six?This young beautiful personin front. And this young six-year-old is smarter. So I thinkI'd basically go with her,” hesaid.

Earlier in the day, Trumptold reporters at the WhiteHouse that he cannot believethat the Democrats canimpeach a president when

the economy is doing sogood.“I can't believe they'dimpeach. You have the great-est economy in the history ofour country.

You have the higheststock market in the history ofour country. You have the bestemployment numbers and

unemployment numbers inthe history of our country,” hesaid.

“You can't impeach apresident who did nothingwrong. You can't impeach apresident who's rebuilt ourmilitary, who's taken care ofour vets with choice andaccountability. Nobodythought those things could bepassed,” Trump said.

“The Democrats arecrazed. They're lunatics. Inthe meantime, we have thegreatest economy ever. Wehave a man on the other side,Adam Schiff, who is a corruptpolitician, as you know. He'sa corrupt politician.

He made up a speech andhe read what I said and it was-n't what I said. It was a terri-ble thing he said, and manypeople saw that. That's howthis whole thing--he started itas a con,” he said.

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Hong Kong police fired teargas and water cannon

Saturday as thousands of pro-testers hit the streets, defyingauthorities with anotherunsanctioned march as thedemocracy movement showsno signs of abating after near-ly five months.

Crowds of black-cladprotesters, many wearing facemasks despite a recent ban,filled Causeway Bay, a popularshopping district, and clashessoon erupted with riot policewho had flooded the area.

Volleys of tear gas scatteredactivists in Causeway Bay andVictoria Park -- a traditionalspot for protest rallies -- as wellas in neighbouring Wanchai, adistrict packed with pubswhere some of those caught upwere revellers who had gath-ered to watch the Rugby WorldCup final.

Police were seen makingmultiple arrests throughoutthe day.

The latest unrest came aday after China gave its latestwarning that it would not tol-erate any challenge to HongKong's governing system andplanned to boost patriotic edu-

cation in the city, which hasseen 22 consecutive weekendsof youth-led protests.

Hong Kong has beenupended by the huge, often vio-lent, pro-democracy protestswhich have battered the finan-cial hub's reputation for stabil-ity and helped plunge the cityinto recession.

Beijing has shown no will-ingness to meet protesterdemands for greater democra-tic freedoms and policeaccountability -- and activistsshow no sign of leaving thestreets."The Government andthe police have been ignoringand suppressing the people'sdemands so we need to con-tinue the movement to showthem we still want what we areasking for," 18-year-old pro-tester Gordon Tsoi, who wasnot wearing a mask, told AFPas he marched.

"The entire Government isbeing controlled by the centralgovernment now, so we have tocome out to protect the free-doms we deserve," addedanother 17-year-old protesterwho declined to give his name.

Police gave permission foran evening rally in the city'scommercial district but reject-ed an application to march

through the streets in the after-noon, citing safety fears giventhe months of clashes.

As has happened so oftenin the past, protesters simplydefied the ban and began mass-ing in large numbers despitethe risk of arrest and jail fortaking part in an illegal assem-bly.Among those calling forpeople to come out0 onSaturday was Joshua Wong, oneof the city's most prominentactivists who was barred earli-er this week from standing inupcoming local elections.

"Exercising freedom ofassembly has become increas-ingly difficult as police in HKholds tighter grip in recentmonths. Yet we're not giving upour constitutional rights," hewrote on Twitter.

Wong is loathed by Beijingwith state media often brand-ing him a "separatist" and a"traitor" because he campaignsfor greater autonomy for HongKong.

He denies seeking inde-pendence and says he simplycampaigns for the democraticfreedoms and autonomyBeijing promised Hong Kongfor 50 years after the 1997 han-dover by Britain.

Other people who advocate

greater autonomy have beenallowed to stand in the elec-tions later this month.Beijingruns Hong Kong under a "onecountry, two systems" modelthat grants the city freedomsunheard of on the authoritar-ian mainland.

But many activists fearthose freedoms are being erod-ed by a resurgent Beijing, par-ticularly since President XiJinping came to power.

This summer's protests inwhich millions marched weresparked by a now-abandonedattempt to allow extraditions tothe authoritarian mainland.

But as Beijing took a hard-line the movement snowballed.

Protesters are demandingan inquiry into the police, anamnesty for those arrested andfully free elections.

Over the months protestshave got increasingly violent,with smaller groups of hard-core activists throwing petrolbombs and bricks as well asvandalising pro-China busi-nesses.Police have respondedwith ever-increasing arrests,tear gas and rubber bullet vol-leys while crowd beatings ofpeople on both sides of the ide-ological divide have becomecommonplace.

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The Malian Governmentsays at least 54 people are

dead following a jehadis attackon the army in the north.Therevised death toll fromGovernment spokesman YayaSangare came a day after themilitary initially announced atleast 15 dead following Friday'sattack in the Menaka region.

The new violence is expect-ed to further raise tensions inthe capital, Bamako, wheremilitary families have alreadyprotested in the streets.Relativessay that soldiers are not beingadequately protected on theground as they face an array ofjihadist groups. Friday's vio-lence took place a month after41 soldiers were killed and 20others went missing during twoattacks on Malian soldiers tak-ing part in a regional countert-errorism force.

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Indian Ambassador to Nepal ManjeevSingh Puri inaugurated newly con-

structed infrastructure at the ShreeMahendra Model Higher SecondarySchool in Khalanga town of the country'sDarchula District on Saturday.DeputyPrime Minister and Health MinisterUpendra Yadav, Nepali CongressLawmaker Dilendra Prasad Badu andMayor of Mahakali Municipality Hansrajwere present during the inauguration cer-emony.

The new infrastructure, constructedwith the Government of India's grantassistance of NRs 30 million, is a two sto-ried building comprising

13 classrooms, a meeting hall, sepa-rate sanitation facilities for boys and girlson each floor.

Shree Mahendra Model HigherSecondary School, established in 1960,offers 10+2 programs in Science,Humanities, and Management streams.

The school, situated in Far-WestNepal, also provides scholarships todeserving and the marginalised stu-dents.The school has over 2,000 students,about 50 per cent of whom are girls.

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Anew wildfire in California grew tonearly 9,000 acres (3,700 hectares)

on Friday, sending thousands of peoplefleeing and further stretching resourcesin a state struggling with a spate of wild-fires this season.

The so-called Maria Fire eruptedThursday evening in Ventura County, 65miles (105 kilometers) northwest of LosAngeles, and burned out of controlthrough the night, driven by highwinds and threatening 2,300 struc-tures.

By Friday afternoon, the wind-fueled blaze that risked consuming cit-rus and avocado orchards as well asother crops was zero percent con-tained. Authorities said 8,000 peoplewere under evacuation orders and atleast two structures had been burned.

Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayubsaid fire crews had been thwarted bypeople flying drones in the area.

"Last night and early morning wehad individuals flying small drones inthe area of the flight operations for thefire suppression," he told a media brief-ing.

"This creates a very significant haz-ard for our airborne fire fighting assetsand causes them to land and stop fire-fighting efforts as long as that aircraft

is in the area." The Maria Fire erupted as crews

continue to battle multiple blazes thathave broken out across the state in thelast two weeks, prompting massiveevacuations and power cuts.

Another fire, the Easy Fire, whichbroke out Wednesday in VenturaCounty and came dangerously close tothe Ronald Reagan Presidential Library,was almost fully contained on Friday.

"We're in the middle of a big fight,and we're about a week into this and theend is not yet in sight," Ventura CountyFire Chief Mark Lorenzen told reportersFriday afternoon."It has been an uphillbattle ever since." Up in SonomaCounty, north of San Francisco, therewas some good news as authoritiesreported that the Kincade Fire, thelargest in the state this season, was 68per cent contained.

The devastating fires that haveexploded across the state this seasonwere addressed by teen climate activistGreta Thunberg on Friday as she spokeat a rally in Los Angeles to pressureCalifornia lawmakers to pass stricterenvironmental policies.

"Today, in California, we can see thewildfires happening just around thecorner, wildfires that are being intensi-fied by the climate crisis," the 16-year-old Swede said.

"But it's not just here. Everywherearound the world, we can see these hor-rible environmental impacts that count-less people are suffering and dyingfrom." The fires prompted CaliforniaGovernor Gavin Newsom to declare astatewide emergency this week.

The flames have been fed by bone-dry conditions, especially in the lowerpart of the state which has not had rain-fall for months. An extreme red flagwarning issued for the Los Angeles areathis week was lifted Thursday but theNational Weather Service warned thatso-called Santa Ana winds could stillwreak havoc through Saturday evening.

In a bid to reduce the risk of wild-fires, the state's largest utility company,Pacific Gas & Electric, has been shut-ting off power to millions of customersin northern and central California,prompting outrage.

The blazes come as California is stillreeling from the aftermath of the mostdestructive wildfire in state history -- theCamp Fire, which destroyed the townof Paradise and killed 86 people lastyear.

Similar blazes in northernCalifornia, including in the Napa andSonoma wine regions, killed 44 peoplein 2017 and destroyed thousands ofstructures.There have been no fatalitieslinked to this year's fires.

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Pakistan has "failed to sig-nificantly limit" militant

outfits like the Lashkar-e-Taiba(LeT) and the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) fromfundraising and recruitingwhile several terrorist groupsthat focus on attacks outsidethe country continued to oper-ate from its soil in 2018, adamning US report has said.

The US State Department,in its Congressional mandat-ed annual Country Reports onTerrorism for the year 2018, onFriday said even though thePakistani government voicedsupport for political reconcil-

iation between the Afghangovernment and the Taliban, itdid not restrict the terrorgroup and the HaqqaniNetwork (HQN) from operat-ing in Pakistan-based safehavens and threatening the USand Afghan forces inAfghanistan.

“The (Pakistan) govern-ment failed to significantlylimit Lashkar-e-Taiba andJaish-e-Mohammad from rais-ing money, recruiting andtraining in Pakistan – andallowed candidates overtlyaffiliated with LeT front organ-isations to contest the Julygeneral elections,” the US StateDepartment said in the report.

“Although Pakistan'sNational Action Plan calls toensure that no armed militiasare allowed to function in thecountry, several terroristgroups that focus on attacksoutside the country continuedto operate from Pakistani soilin 2018, including the HaqqaniNetwork, Lashkar-e-Taiba, andJaish-e-Mohammad,” it said.

The report observed thatthe government and militaryacted inconsistently withrespect to terrorist safe havensthroughout the country.

"Authorities did not takesufficient action to stop certainterrorist groups and individu-als from openly operating in

the country,” it said.Pakistan, it said, experi-

enced significant terroristthreats in 2018, although thenumber of attacks and casual-ties have continued to decreasefrom previous years.

The major terrorist groupsthat focused on conductingattacks in Pakistan includedTehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan(TTP), Jamaat-ulAhrar (JuA),Islamic State's KhorasanProvince (ISIS-K), and thesectarian group Lashkar-eJhangvi al-Alami (LJA).

ISIS-K claimed severalmajor attacks against Pakistanitargets, some of which mayhave been conducted in col-

laboration with other terroristgroups. Separatist militantgroups conducted terroristattacks against governmental,non-governmental, and diplo-matic targets in Balochistanand Sindh provinces, it said.

As a member of the Asia-Pacific Group on MoneyLaundering (APG), Pakistanagreed to implement interna-tional standards to combatmoney laundering, terrorismfinance and proliferationfinance.“Pakistan criminalisesterrorist financing throughthe Anti-terrorism Act, butimplementation remainsuneven,” the State Departmentsaid.

In June 2018, the interna-tional terror financing watch-dog FATF placed Pakistan onits “grey list” for deficienciesacross its Anti-MoneyLaundering and CounteringFinancing of Terrorism(AML/CFT) regimes, specifi-cally citing concerns overPakistan's failure to fullyimplement the UN SecurityCouncil ISIL and al-Qaidasanctions regime.

FATF noted that UN-list-ed entities, including LeT andits affiliates, were not effec-tively prohibited from raisingfunds in Pakistan or beingdenied financial services, itsaid.

“Although Pakistan's lawstechnically comply with inter-national AML/CFT standards,authorities failed to uniform-ly implement UN sanctionsrelated to designated entitiesand individuals such as LeTand its affiliates, which con-tinued to make use of eco-nomic resources and raisefunds. Pakistan committed toaddressing these concerns aspart of an agreed FATF ActionPlan,” the report said.

FATF had last monthretained Pakistan on the GreyList and warned the country ofaction for its failure in com-bating money laundering andterror financing.

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An air strike Saturday bykey Damascus ally Russia

killed six civilians including achild in the embattled oppo-sition bastion of Idlib innorthwestern Syria, a warmonitor. The strike hit the vil-lage of Jaballa in the south ofthe Idlib region, taking thelives of all six from the samefamily, the Syrian Observatoryfor Human Rights said.

The Britain-based mon-itor, which relies on sourcesinside Syria, says it deter-mines who carries out an airstrike according to flight pat-terns, as well as aircraft andammunition involved.

Observatory head RamiAbdel Rahman said it was thebloodiest such Russian airraid in two months sinceMoscow announced a trucefor the surrounding area onAugust 31.Since then, eightother civilians have been killedin Russian air strikes on dif-ferent dates in the region, hesaid.

The Idlib region, which ishome to some three millionpeople including many dis-

placed by the eight-year war,is controlled by Syria's formerAl-Qaeda affiliate.SyrianPresident Bashar al-Assad'sforces launched a devastatingmilitary campaign againstIdlib in April, killing around1,000 civilians and forcingmore than 400,000 people toflee their homes.But a cease-fire announced by the regime'smajor backer Moscow haslargely held since late August,though the Observatory saysskirmishes persist.On Friday,23 regime fighters, as well as11 jihadists and allied rebels,were killed in clashes on thewestern edges of the Idlibregion. Assad last week saidIdlib was the main frontremaining to end the civil war,as he made his first trip since2011 to visit troops in theregion.

He spoke as his forceswere deploying in Kurdish-majority areas to the east ofIdlib to help stave off a dead-ly Turkish offensive. Syria'swar has killed 370,000 peopleand displaced millions fromtheir homes since beginningin 2011 with the brutal repres-sion of anti-Assad protests.

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Alandmine explosion killed nine children in north-eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, an official said,

amid an increase in civilian casualties in the long-run-ning and brutal war.

The blast happened in volatile Darqad district ofTakhar province, when the children stepped on a minethat had been planted on a road in a Taliban-controlledvillage."At 8:30am (0400 GMT) this morning, tragi-cally, nine schoolchildren were martyred in a landmineblast planted by the Taliban," Jawad Hejri, a spokesmanfor the Takhar provincial governor, told AFP.He saidthe children -- all boys -- were aged from seven to11.No group claimed responsibility for the blast, andthe Taliban did not immediately respond to a requestfor comment.Last month, the United Nations releaseda report saying an "unprecedented" number of civil-ians were killed or wounded in Afghanistan from Julyto September this year. The figures -- 1,174 deaths and3,139 injured from July 1 until September 30 -- rep-resent a 42 percent increase compared to the same peri-od last year. The UN laid most of the blame at the feetof "anti-government elements" such as the Taliban, whohave been carrying out an insurgency in Afghanistanfor more than 18 years. In May, a landmine killed sevenchildren and wounded two more in the southernprovince of Ghazni.A month earlier, seven childrenwere killed and 10 more wounded in the easternprovince of Laghman when a mortar shell explodedwhile they were playing with it.

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Rafael Nadal pulled out of theParis Masters with an

abdominal injury just minutesbefore the scheduled start of hissemi-final against DenisShapovalov on Saturday, andadmitted his participation at theATP Tour Finals is in doubt.

Canadian youngsterShapovalov will face NovakDjokovic in today’s final in theFrench capital.

Second seed Nadal couldhave secured the year-end worldnumber one ranking ahead ofDjokovic by winning the Bercytitle this week.

“It’s a super sad moment forme,” he said. “I have been enjoy-ing a lot during the whole tour-nament, having fun on court...

“(I was) in a round that putme in a position that I was fight-

ing for big things here.”Djokovic had beaten Grigor

Dimitrov 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 in the firstsemi-final, but with an expectantcrowd waiting in their seats forthe second last-four match, it wasannounced that Nadal was out ofthe tournament.

The 19-time Grand Slamchampion will take over fromDjokovic at the top of the worldrankings next week, despite miss-

ing out on the chance to win amaiden title at Bercy.

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Already a proven successfulleader in Indian PremierLeague with Mumbai

Indians winning four titles underhis leadership, Indian limited-overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma isall set to captain young Men in Blueside which will be without regularskipper Virat Kohli (rested), in thefirst game of the three-matchTwenty 20 International seriesagainst Bangladesh here at ArunJaitley stadium (formerly FerozShah Kotla ground) today.

Already under much spotlightdue to poor weather conditions inthe National Capital Region, thematch will bring a fresh set of chal-lenge for both the sides, as the vis-itors will miss the services of worldnumber two all-rounder (No 1 inODIs) Shakib Al Hasan, who wasbanned by the ICC for two years(one year suspended) for notreporting corrupt approaches froman alleged Indian bookie during theIndian Premier League (IPL) justa day before the team was about toleave for the tour.

For India, it’s a chance to workout a strategy to do well when itbats first. The team managementhas identified this as an issue sinceif the top order fails, the middleorder does not inspire much con-fidence, and team’s batting coachVikram Rathour mentioned thisduring press meet after team’s firstpractice session on Friday.

“In the last series, we deliber-ately batted first in one gamewhich we lost. That’s one area weneed to work on. We need to batbetter when we bat first. We chasepretty well,” explained Rathour.

And this is something Rohitand his young lads would like thechange in the upcoming threegames against the Tigers, who arestill in search of a first win againstIndia in the shortest format of thegame.

The series is going to be thefirst time when these two Asiansides will face each other in thebilateral series, previously playingeight games (three each in T20World Cup and Nidahas trophy2018, while two games were playedin Dhaka during 2016 Asia Cup).

And to maintain the unbeatenstreak of eight games even after thisseries, the onus will be on the skip-per Rohit Sharma, who would liketo continue his ace form aftermaking memorable debut as Testopener against South Africa (529runs in four innings) in the recent-ly concluded three-match series.While his limited-overs openingpartner and local boy ShikharDhawan will also look to find his

form back after a below-par perfor-mance against South Africa and inVijay Hazare tournament.

In the absence of Virat Kohli,the middle order looks a bit inex-perienced but in form of ShreyasIyer, Manish Pandey, Sanju Samson,KL Rahul and local lad RishabhPant there is still a lot of firepow-ers present in the line-up.

Also, the inclusion of hard-hit-ting all-rounders like KrunalPandya, Washington Sundar androokie Shivam Dube adds varietyand strength to the long line up.

Even though the pace bowlingdepartment looks a bit thin withKhaleel Ahmed, Shardul Thakurand Deepak Chahar being thethree frontline seamers, who com-bined have the experience of just 22international T20 games altogeth-er. The series will give them achance to put their case forward fora place in T20 World Cup squadwhich is scheduled to take place ayear from now in Australia.

There are still around 20matches India will play beforenext year’s tourney but the team

management has said that it wouldprefer to identify the core of theteam without much tinkering.

Considering the same, it is timefor these youngsters, includingspin all-rounder WashingtonSundar, to make a case for them-selves.

The series will also provide anopportunity for leg-spinnerYuzvendra Chahal to earn back hisplace in the Indian side.

Getting limited opportunitiesthis year has put brakes on his career

which at one time soared in thecompany of Kuldeep Yadav.

With Chahal likely to be pre-ferred for usually low-slow Kotlasurface, an off-spinner inWashington Sundar will be a moreuseful option than fielding leg spin-ner Rahul Chahar.

The team may not field twowrist spinners and Sundar’s superi-or batting ability gives him an edge.

As for the visitors, they will bedesperate to find maiden win againstthe continental neighbours which

looks a bit tricky in the absence ofShakib and Tamim Iqbal but thepresence of seasoned campaignerslike Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar,Mushfiqur Rahim and newlyappointed T20 skipperMahmudullah Riyad in the battingline up and Mustafizur Rahman inthe bowling unit give them an out-side hope of producing a big setback.

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PCB INVITES CSA FOR T20 SERIES IN PAKKarachi: ���� ��������� �������� (���"� N��(O� �����#���"� �������� ������ � ����� N���O� ��� ���"� ������������ ����� ��� �� �/:� ������� ��� ��������� ��2������ ������"����������� ��2�����#��� ����������6���'�������������������"������,����� �6�������"����� ���$���"����������������#�������� �����������,������*���"���������!���"����"��� ���������������"���� ���$� �!�� ������ ��� 3�!�����"�� ��"� 6������� �������*��'� L���� ������ ��� �������������� ������������������������$������������������������"������������ "��*�� ����� ���� ������� ����� *$� ���� ���� ,����������������$������/:���"�5�������������������"�������� M�������"'�&�����"���������,������*���"�!���"��� ������������������!���Q������'�������(�� ��������"� ����� ������ !���� ������ ��� !���� �������� ������ �����������"������������ ������/:�������'�L���������� ������$�!������������������������������������!��������������*������������������ �����������"��/:����������������5���*�� M�������"'�

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KING’S STRIKE PUNISH MANCHESTER UNITEDLondon: ����������� ����"Q�� ����@��#�#��� ������� �� ��������� ����� ��� )���� 6���Q�� ������� ��� ����������� ���� @����������"�(�������������-@:�!����� ������������ !������� ���"������� ��� +�����"Q������������'�5��������������%���Q��������"����!��� �!�$� ���� ����� ������ ������ ������ -:� "�$���� � *��� ������ ���������#�� !���� ��� ���� ���"� �������H���(�����"� ����!������"������������*������������������,����������?������@ �����������"!��������"�������������������� ����������!�����'�������" ���� �������� ����� ��#�� ������������"� ������ ������!����*��������#�"���������������� ���������������"����������� � � ������"� ��"���� �� �����"� �� �������������,������"� �������--������'������!���%�������������"�#�����$� �������������#�������"���������������$���"���#���������2������������*��' �-�#�,��

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Opener Priya Punia’s well-compiled fifty went in

vain as the Indian women’steam suffered a narrow one-run defeat against the WestIndies in the f irst ICCWomen’s Championship ODIhere.

Chasing 226 to win, Puniasmashed six boundaries in her107-ball innings, whileJemimah Rodrigues (41)scored a 67-ball 41 at the topbut they didn’t get enough sup-port from lower-order to bedismissed for 224 in 50 oversby the hosts.

Earlier, Stefanie Tayloropted to bat first and produceda captain’s knock, scoring a 91-ball 94 studded with eight

boundaries and two sixes.Opener Natasha McLean

also put up a good show,smashing a 82-ball 51 as WestIndies posted a competitive225 for 7 at the Sir VivianRichards Stadium on Friday.

Defending the total, off-spinner Anisa Mohammedcame up with a superb bowl-ing performance, claiming fivewickets for 46 runs. She wasably supported by Taylor(2/30) and Shabika Gajnabi(2/25), who snapped two wick-ets each.

India coudn’t score therequired eight runs in the lastover with Mohammed remov-ing Ekta Bisht (0) and PoonamYadav (0) in the first and finaldeliveries respectively to handWest Indies a thrilling win.

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“Just three seconds” is allwhat it took Sourav

Ganguly to convince India cap-tain Viral Kohli into playing aDay/Night Test match againstBangladesh, the BCCI presidentrevealed on Saturday.

Less than a week after hetook reins of BCCI, Ganguly,who had introduced pink ball atdomestic level as the technicalcommittee chairman three yearsago, was successful in changingthe Indian Cricket Board’sstance.

India thus will finally playtheir first ever day/night Testversus Bangladesh at EdenGardens here from November22-26, about four years afterAustralia and New Zealand setit going in Adelaide.

“Honestly I don’t know why

and what was the reason theydid not want to play and acceptthe D/N Test (in Adelaide). I methim for an hour and the firstquestion was we need to haveday/night Tests and the answerin three seconds was let’s goahead and do that,” Ganguly saidabout meeting Kohli ahead ofthe selection committee meetingin Mumbai on October 24.

The Indian team had previ-ously put down Australia’srequest for a pink-ball Test at theAdelaide Oval last year, whilesuggestion to host West Indiesin day/night Tests too had gotshelved.

“I really don’t know whathappened in the past and whatwas the reason but I found himabsolutely acceptable to playD/N Tests. He realises andthinks that empty stands inTests is not the right way for-

ward.”Ganguly firmly believed

that this concept will help Testcricket regain its popularity inthe sub-continent at a timewhen lukewarm response dur-ing India’s 3-0 whitewash ofSouth Africa became a cause forconcern.

“I know T20 every stand isfull in every game. But propermanagement of Test cricket willbring back crowd. It’s a start forIndia. I think with this conceptTest cricket will be back on itsfeet.”

Urging the need for bettermarketing, he said: “It’s whenyou’re forced to come out ofyour comfort zone, you actual-ly find out it’s better than whatyou think. I think pink ball willbring back crowd and the Testcricket needs to be marketed alot more.”

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All-rounder Axar Patelsmashed a 61-ball 98

before leg-spinner MayankMarkande claimed four wick-ets as India C trounced India Bby 136 runs in the third andfinal one-dayer of the DeodharTrophy here on Saturday.

Batting first, India Cposted a challenging 280 for5, riding on Axar’s brillianceand and Virat Singh’s 96-ball76.

They then returned todismiss India B for 144 in43.4 overs to complete thedrubbing.

For India B, BabaAparajith emerged as thetop-scorer with a 90-ball53 but he didn’t get any sup-port from the other hand.

India B and India C havealready qualified for the finalsafter India A lost both their tiesand the two teams will face offin the summit clash heretomorrow.

Earlier, Virat Singh (76not out) and Axar Patel (98 not

out) joined hands after IndiaC lost five wickets, sharingan unbeaten 154 run standoff 112 balls.

The spin bowling all-rounder Axar was thedominant of the two ashe dealt in boundaries,smashing 13 foursand three sixes in his61-ball innings.

Singh played thesecond fiddle, scor-ing three boundaries

and as many sixes during his96-ball knock.

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Skipper Rani Rampal’s 48thminute strike sealed Tokyo

Olympics berth for the Indianwomen’s hockey team as theypipped USA 6-5 on aggregatedespite losing 1-4 in the secondleg of the FIH Qualifier here onSaturday.

After thrashing USA 5-1 onFriday, it was expected to be aformality for the Indian womenbut they were given a real scareby the USA women, who racedto a 4-0 lead at the halfway mark.

However the partisan fanswent into raptures when Ranipulled one back to maintain theslender lead till final hooter.

Indian women have nowqualified for back-to-backOlympics having sealed it in Riode Janeiro after a gap of 36 years.The women’s team first partici-pated in the Quadrennial extava-ganza in 1980 where the men’s

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Top-ranked Ashleigh Bartyadvanced on Saturday to

the final of the WTA Finalswhere she faces defendingchampion Elina Svitolina, aplayer she has never beaten infive previous attempts.

Barty, like Svitolina,dropped the opening set of hersemifinal before beating sec-ond-ranked Karolina Pliskovaof Czech Republic 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

"I felt like the whole matchwas an incredibly high level,"Barty said. "I'm just pleased toget another chance to play outhere.

"It's a match I can come outand try to enjoy. I have noth-ing to lose. It's an opportunity

against a really tough player."Belinda Bencic retired in

the third set as Svitolina outlast-ed the injured Swiss to win 5-7, 6-3, 4-1 and reach her sec-ond straight final at the WTAFinals.

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PERFORMANCE IN TWENTY-20I

SQUADSIndia: Rohit Sharma (c),Khaleel Ahmed, YuzvendraChahal, Deepak Chahar,Rahul Chahar, ShikharDhawan, Shivam Dube,Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey,Krunal Pandya, Rishabh Pant,K L Rahul, Sanju Samson,Washington Sundar andShardul Thakur.Bangladesh: MahmudullahRiyad (c), Taijul Islam,Mohammad Mithun, LitonKumer Das, Soumya Sarker,Naim Sheikh, MushfiqurRahhim, Afif Hossain,Mosaddek Hossain Saikat,Aminul Islam Biplob, ArafatSunny, Abu Hider, Al-AminHossain, Mustafizur Rahmanand Shafiul Islam.

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Rookie left-hand Mumbaiall-rounder Shivam Dube

could make his internationaldebut today in the first T20game of the three match series.

During his pre-match pressconference on Saturday, stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma indi-cated that one of the twobetween Dube and Kerala wick-et-keeper batsman SanjuSamson might feature in theseries opener.

The skipper was impressedwith the performance of boththe youngsters in domestic cir-cuit and said that depending onthe match day conditions one ofthe two will get the chance toplay.

“We will assess now (theconditions) and probably a bitbefore the game as well. Butboth (Sanju and Dube) are def-initely in the fray. One of themmight definitely play. You mightsee in playing XI. All doors areopen for everyone. Anyonemight come into the playing XIany moment,” Rohit toldreporters.

He also backed India’s firstchoice wicket keeper RishabhPant, which gives a fair indica-tion that Samson may not fig-ure in the XI.

“We have to back him(Rishabh). He has only played15-20 T20s. It’s too soon tojudge him. There’s still lot oftime left before passing a judge-ment on Rishabh,” he said.

The captain made it clearthat the team combination willdepend on the match day con-ditions.

“A lot has got to do withhow the pitch is going to play.If the pitch is slow, slow bowlerscome into the play a lot. If itmeans we have to play threespinners then we will play threespinners. And if there is grassand we feel there will be somebounce, then we might playwith three seamers as well. Soeverything depends on the con-ditions,” he said.

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3���Q���������������������$��������team last won their Gold medal.

On Saturday, Indian womenlooked a pale shadow of them-selves as USA took full advan-tage of their complacency dur-ing the first two quarters.

Amanda Magadan (5th,28th minutes), skipper KathleenSharkey (14th) and AlyssaParker (20th) scored for the vis-iting side.

After the change of ends,India showed signs of comingback into game, but USAdefended in numbers and tokeep the hosts at bay as the thirdquarter and locked at 5-5 onaggregate scoreline, it took aninspirational strike from Rani inthe 48th minute from a loose ballto reduce the margin and handIndia the vital lead.

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India’s top doubles playerRohan Bopanna, along with

his partner Denis Shapovalov ofCanada, suffered a narrow defeatagainst Russian duo of KarenKhachanov and Andrey Rublovin the quarter-finals to crash outof the Paris Masters. The Indo-Canadian duo fought hard forover 80 minutes before losing 5-7, 7-6, 8-10 against the Russianpair to bow out of the ATPMasters 1000 tournament.

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The heart is a powerful metaphor, evok-ing emotional and psychological well-being, showing caring and compassion.Repeated instances of altruistic behav-iour, of continuing charity, are evidence

that people still feel their heart as a representationof their self, of the emotional self, which cannotbe reduced to materialistic, biological terms.According to Hinduism, the heart is the connect-ing link between the heaven and the earth. It wasthe place of Brahman, the supreme cosmic spirit.While details of the brain were unknown in theearly Vedic period, thoughts and emotions, andconsciousness itself, came from the mind. Theultimate desire was to become one with Brahmanand that could come about through connectingyour heart to the heart of Brahman through duty,service, sacrifice, devotion, and charity.

Charity, generosity and specifically the givingof alms are regarded as virtuous in most Indianphilosophies and religions. Daana, a Sanskrit/Paliword denoting charity and giving, came from theheart. Daana traces its roots to Vedic traditionsand can take the form of helping individuals inneed, or in the wider form of helping manythrough public works and philanthropy.Traditionally, Daana implied the relinquishmentor giving up of something that was one’s own tohelp someone without expecting anything inreturn. Related but not as powerful were the con-cepts of Paropkara (benevolent deeds), Dakshina(gift or fee to Guru or someone else), and Bhiksha(alms). Daana was usually given to a person or asmall group, but the concept also encompassedwider charitable projects with public benefits.Popular projects included sarais (rest houses),schools and care home, provision of drinkingwater, and the planting of trees.

The Upanishads (500 BCE) contained someof the earliest discussions of Daana. In theBrihadaranyaka Upanishad, the three characteris-tics of a good, developed person are defined asself-restraint, compassion or love for all sentientlife, and charity (Daana). Centuries later, theBhagavad Gita gave a more practical definition ofDaana, charity, in action. There were right andwrong forms of Daana. The good, enlightenedcharity was given without expectation of return.But it was also to be given at the proper time andplace, and to a worthy person. Ego-centric charitywas one given with the expectation of somereturn or given grudgingly. The worst form ofcharity was that which was given to an unworthyperson or at a wrong place and time.

The Mahabharata finds repeated mention ofthe ‘worthy person factor’ in determining thevalue of charity. Vidur, a great scholar and thehalf-brother of the King Dhitarashtra, had lengthyconversations with the King about policies andgovernance. The Vidur Niti, the oral recordpassed through generations of the conversations,specifically mentions misused charity and poorutilisation of wealth. Money was misused if chari-ty were given to the unworthy or if it were deniedto the worthy. A stone tied to the neck and beingthrown in water was the reward offered for mis-used charity. Worth of the recipient and timing ofthe charity were as important as the mere giving.

In a more cynical and brutal world, newspa-per headlines no longer stun us. Our apathy is sostrong that stories of rape, murder or cheating nolonger move us. Ponzi schemes bankrupt families,farmers commit suicide. Millionaires are made,and some led to prison. ‘Karma,’ we mutter ‘catch-ing up’. Ingenuous ways to multiply and quadru-ple wealth and dodge tax are revealed daily. Allthe while, the same people are seen supportingthe latest causes, visiting houses of prayer, andwashing their sins through giving. Is this trulycharity? Is it altruism or merely selfish behaviour?

Compassion and emotion are passé. We livein the digital age surrounded by millennials whouse Emojis and Instagram to express themselves,and with them most of us are forgetting life as weonce knew it. We believe that Facebook andWhatsApp are free. What we are just beginning torealise is that in using them, we have begun togive up our freedom. In wanting to be connectedall the time, our loneliness gets amplified.

However, money does not seem to be the gluethat binds people together. In a series on the livesof the super-rich on the History Channel, it was

observed that they had the same insecurities asthose with very little. Beyond a point, the wealthwhich is meant to give happiness morphs intosomething else instead of protecting the individ-ual from the hardships of life, it often is the rea-son that the person needs protection. What doesremain, however, is the echo of our actions. Dogood without the sword of karma hanging overyou but because you have a heart that beats withcompassion. But not everyone believes that shar-ing what one has is good. The ability to give doesnot mean the same thing as the propensity togive; this is a basic human characteristic.

India is a poor country where the disparitybetween the rich and the poor is stark. We are adeveloping nation with third world problems, butgreed and apathy drive the so-called developednations as much as anywhere else. Researchershave found the dominant belief in India to bethat social development in society is either forlocal communities and families to handle, or elsea task for government to do. Altruistic giving forthe love of humanity is said to be one ofmankind’s noblest instincts. This instinct is notintrinsic to our molecular biology and is a social-ly acquired trait, which has resulted in humansbeing cognitive vastly different to other animalson the planet.

There is a difference, important for India,between charity, philanthropy and social invest-ment. Charity is the voluntary giving of money tothose in need, where the motive is compassionand the desire is to as immediately as possible,relieve distress. Philanthropy is for the transfor-mation of society, where there is long-term plan-ning by the altruist to identify, tackle and cure theills of society. Philanthropy has a wider societalpurpose than charity, which is more immediatelyameliorative. Indian philanthropy and charity,while lower than the proportionate GDP share ascompared with Western countries, is better thanmany of our neighbours. The mix of giving, how-ever, and the causes for which it is given do differ,as we also see in the vast differences between giv-ing in the United States and Britain.

Whatever be the means of giving and the typeof altruism a person might want, it seems impor-tant to be ‘intentional’ in one’s giving. Knowingwho would like to give to is important; otherwisewe run around doing good, but not doing right.Just because something sounds like it is a goodidea, does not make it so. Each person who wantsto help needs to identify the different spheres ofrelationships (and specific people who are inthose spheres) whom they wish to help.

Giving is made easier if you have information

about what and how the money will be used bythe organisation you give to. The importance ofinformed giving cannot be over-stressed. Thereare two reasons why a donor might give to a char-ity. Firstly, the charity might be fulfilling thedonor’s own desires and wishes. Secondly, thecharities themselves might have causes that theysupport and they active fundraise from donors forthese causes. In general, it is seen that donors whogive regularly are highly influenced by priorknowledge of or affiliation with a charity and areunlikely to respond to random advocacy or solici-tation. Prior knowledge and good communicationof its works and impact are highly desirable for acharitable organisation.

And finally, the most important question toanswer for altruists is what it means to have“impact” and why it matters. This is a difficultquestion to answer for different people will havedifferent definitions of impact. How to make adifference is a matter of your personal philosophy.

For some people, this may mean the number ofpeople whose lives you improve, and how muchyou improve them by. “Improving lives” could bethought of in terms of “increasing well-being”,treating everyone as equally valuable. Other altru-ists might want specific defined outcomes, andmeasures to ensure that those outcomes havebeen achieved.

Motivations, however, will differ. As we havelearned, altruistic behaviour is not inherently inour genes. It has to be learned. Fortunately, ourphysical frailties and the powers we gainedthrough language and the Cognitive Revolutionhave made us capable of societal structures and ofworking together. Altruism may not be in ourgenes, but it is very much part of what makes ushuman beings.

The writer is the co-author of the book, Why People Give: Interpreting Altruism,

along with her daughter Suhasini Vira

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Bashir Assad’s book comes at anappropriate time, as it providesan insider and subaltern viewof Kashmir. He has first handexperience of the developments

in Kashmir for the past 30 years. In hisown words, he has lived the ideology ofMaududi Islam for three years, after hepassed class X. He has been associatedwith PDP founder Mufti MohammadSyed. And he has been following theevents in Kashmir, as a journalist, colum-nist and social activist. He has addressedthe issue of rising extremism in Kashmirand the role of mullahs, Jamat-e-Islami,local bureaucracy and politicians in rid-ing the frenzy, for retaining their socialand political relevance and for reapingeconomic benefits. The ‘conflict entrepre-neurs’ in the media, political elite, selfstyled authors, specialists and commenta-tors seek fame by writing whatever suitsthem,without having any understandingof the local language, culture, social psy-chology, historical-cultural characteristicsof Kashmiris.

Bashir provides a local and eye-wit-ness account of the phenomenon of reli-gious extremism in Kashmir. He has aptlysub-titled the book “The Conspiracy ofSilence”. He prefaces his book saying that“strategy, fear or conviction has bound allthe stake holders — mainstream politi-cians, separatists, media, civilians, VIPs orcommoner” in Kashmir not to speak thetruth. The fact is that the discourse onKashmir has been manipulated throughthe past 30 years by NGOs-foreign andforeign funded Indian ones, many acade-micians and media persons with a crazefor foreign jaunts and easy money. Suchfalsehood, fake news, propaganda andmedia lust for TRPs and scoops has onlyadded fuel to the fire. There has beeninsensitivity to the intricacies of the com-plex issue. That explains whyDoordarshan continued to telecast theprotest movements in the former SovietRepublics in late 1989 and early 1990, at atime when Kashmir was simmering.

Bashir is right in describing the cur-rent phase of Kashmir conflict as beingabout three Ms — Mosque, Mullah andMilitant. The uneducated clerics havesucceeded in injecting jihadism and hateIndia/hate Hindu ideology in the mindsof the youth. What is worse is that themoderate, educated Kashmiris are thesilent spectators to such a steep drift inKashmiri society. The author is right insaying that the Mullahs are mainlyBukharis, Andrabis, Muftis, Geelanis,Naqshbandis, Hamdanis etc., who consti-

tute just 3% of the Valley Muslim popula-tion, but occupy 35% of the governmentand private sector jobs. Here I would liketo point out that these 3% are not indige-nous Kashmiris, but are the descendantsof the Central Asian Syeds who migratedto Kashmir in medieval times. They haveall through history been more ambitiousand power seekers using religion as apedestal for their rise. They have alwayspropagated political Islam. Anotheraspect of the situation is that manyKashmiri Muslim Imams (of Ahl-e-Itiqadbeliefs) have since been replaced by fire-brand Imams from Deoband, UP, Biharand other places in India.

Bashir explains how the Islamists havecompletely transformed Kashmir. Thateven the parents of dead militants showno sign of grief and instead celebrate theirdeath as martyrdom, is indeed alarmingsituation. At some places, they have evenput henna plate on the coffin, in the beliefthat the dead militant would apply hennain heaven while meeting the hurs. Bashiris right in saying that the current militantviolence is not about independence or lib-eration, but is about jihad propagated byWahabis, Jamat-e-Islami, Ahl-e-Hadis etc.The fence sitting Kashmiris provide ideo-logical, theoretical and intellectual support

to the jihadi violence, coupled with thesupport base among a section of Indianmedia, academia and politicians, is evenmore dangerous.

Traditional Sufi Islam and Sufishrines have been described as un-Islamic. Arabisation of personal names,institutions, local language and culturehas been going on for over four decadesnow. Wahabis, Tablighees and Jamaatisare competing in establishing mosquesand madrassas. Kashmiri customs andrituals have been replaced by Arabic cul-ture and mannerisms. Distortion ofKashmir history, culture and Islamisationof ancient place names has been done amassive scale. The concept of IslamicCaliphate and Nizam-e-Mustafa has takendeep roots. As Bashir has put it,“Radicalism in Kashmir has produced amindset that can best be described asfinding life in death”. After killing fewhundred and hounding out the entireKashmiri Pandit minority community ofover 4,00,000 people, thousands of politi-cal workers, panchayat members etc.belonging to National Conference,Congress and other parties have beenkilled. Thousands of activists have beenforced to give up their political activities.

It is ironical that the mullahs who

take the lead in ideological war and hatecampaign, do not send their children tojoin militancy. Bashir quotes from thefindings of a survey conducted acrossKashmir, that “not a single mullah or hischildren participated in protests, demon-stration or stone-pelting”. They use themedia to shout against the alleged Indianatrocities in Kashmir. Revenue, education,police and other departments of the Statehave been heavily penetrated by theJamat-e-Islami activists. That the teachersof the Jamat-e-Islami organisation Falah-e-Am Trust were absorbed in the Stateeducation department, only explains theconnivance and mindset of the localauthorities. Retired bureaucrats,whothrived on corruption while in service,seek social legitimacy by taking refuge inthe mosque and by spearheading the nar-rative of religious frenzy.

Bashir Assad has written about therole of Mufti Syed, with whom he wasassociated for some time. When MuftiSyed was PCC President, Jamat-e-Islamiwas given five seats in the March 1972elections. Mufti nurtured Jamat and itsMaududi Islam, as he wanted to erode thepopularity of Sheikh Abdullah’s NationalConference. Bashir has rightly stated thatwith Mufti’s tacit approval, some temples

and Pandit properties were set ablaze in1986 in Bijbehara, Anantnag, Shopianand Sopore. That Pran Nath, Advocate,also of Anantnag slapped Mufti on thisissue, is news to me. Bashir is right in say-ing that “Mufti is the only common linkbetween 1986 vandalisation and 1990exodus of Kashmiri Pandits”. However,this critical juncture of Kashmir history,has been left by Bashir as a matter of fur-ther investigation. He has stated thatJagmohan assumed office of Governor on19 January 1990 at Jammu. But then howcome, all mosques across the Valleyshouted slogans demanding Nizam-e-Mustafa and ouster of Kashmiri Panditssans their women folk on the night of 19January 1990. Again, who organised thehouse searches in Kashmir around thesame time. The blame for KPs exodus hasbeen often laid on Jagmohan, who isalleged to have provided amenities for theflight. But my personal experience andalso of my kith and kin, who are now liv-ing in Jammu, is that we tried to stay put.My family left our village at Galwanporaon 14 May 1990, after our neighboursadvised us to leave in the dead of night.Same is true of others,who could not eveninform their brothers, sisters and neigh-bours about their flight. They used earli-

est opportunity to flee as soon as theyfound some transport. All the fleeingKashmiri Pandits believed that theywould return to their homes, soon afternormalcy is restored. But it is now 30years, that Kashmiri Pandits are still liv-ing in exile. One older generation haspassed away in their endless and agonis-ing wait for return to their homes.Meanwhile their houses, landed proper-ties, business and educational institutionshave been burnt, looted, occupied andusurped through distress sale and fraudu-lent mutations, notwithstanding the exis-tence of the State law prohibiting the saleof migrant properties. Only time will tell,if and when this gruesome tragedy of thishapless minority will be redressed.

To conclude, the book by BashirAssad is a refreshing and local KashmiriMuslim account based on his personalexperiences. It is a welcome departurefrom the usual rhetoric parroted to legit-imise and bolster the separatists andextremists. All those interested inKashmir affairs will do well to read thisbook.

The reviewer is a Senior Fellow, NehruMemorial Museum and Library, New

Delhi and editor, Himalayan and CentralAsian Studies

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The first time menstrua-tion became a subject ofdiscussion was whenthe issue of women

worshipping at Sabarimalacropped up as part of the litiga-tion in the Supreme Court.Women of child bearing agewere not allowed to enter theholy shrine of Sabarimala, thepilgrimage centre situated in theforests of Western Ghats inKerala. The presiding deity isLord Ayyappa who has manymanifestations. There are otherAyyappa Temples in Keralawhere women could enter andworship. Since the temple inSabarimala has the presidingdeity in the form of aBrahmachari, it has been a for-bidden place of worship forwomen in the age group of 10 to60. It was the rationalists andatheists in the state of Keralawho came out challenging thislaw and approached the courtfor permission to visit the holyshrine. It is also interesting tonote that there were no believersamong the plaintiffs who hadthe tacit support of a majorpolitical party in the state.

Well, this much as a preludeto the book “The SabarimalaConfusion — MenstruationAcross Cultures: A HistoricalPerspective” authored by NithinSridhar, who has written on top-ics like spirituality, religion, cul-ture, politics, ecology and socialissues. This is the first attemptof its kind to explain the socialand cultural nuances associatedwith women cycle. Going backto my childhood, I remembermy mother temporarily shiftingher place of residence from ourancestral home to her sister’shouse for four days during theSabarimala season when mygrand father observes the 41-day customary rituals as a pre-lude to his trip to the holyshrine. There was an unwrittenrule that the Ayyappa devoteeshould not come face to facewith women while the latterwould be menstruating. I hadnever heard any rumblings orgrouse that women were dis-criminated against because of

menstruation. It was a practicewhich has been followed forcenturies.

Sridhar has brought outissues and concerns related tomenstruation from India’s cul-tural and historical perspectives.He has quoted from the Vedasand elaborated the menstrua-tion notions in Abrahamic reli-gions and ancient Western civil-isations. While quoting fromIndia’s rich cultural past, theauthor reiterates the stance thatthere would be prosperity andhappiness only in places wherewomen are accorded respect.

A girl child graduates intothe big league of womanhoodonce she starts getting her men-strual periods. The Brahminsare known by another name,

Dwijan which literally meansthat a he is a person who hasgot a second birth after comingout of mother’s womb. All areborn as mere human beings inthis world, but it is the karma(deeds) and dharma whichmakes a person a true Brahmin.Wearing the sacred thread alonedoes not entitle him to be aBrahmin. Same is the case witha teenaged girl who gets herperiods with which she becomesa woman. The rituals associatedwith the girl reaching puberty isthe Indian way of celebratingwomanhood. In South India,especially in Tamil Nadu andKerala, the event is celebratedwith gaiety. The seclusion or theso-called separation from otherfamily members during the four

days is an act of respectbestowed on the girl, says theVedic scriptures.

It is these references whichhave been distorted by the radi-cals, liberals and leftists whoorganised MenstruationFestivals all over Kerala in theaftermath of Sabarimala contro-versy. One of the topics whichwas discussed in the 2019Literary Festival at Kozhikodewas “Some thoughts onMenstruation Days”!

Sridhar has also referred toexplanations given in Ayurvedaabout the dos and don’ts duringmenstruation. The four days of“forced cooling off ” period andthe next five to seven days are amust for all menstruatingwomen to ensure their health

and well being.While Judaism has lot of

similarities with the Indian out-look on this topic, it cannot besaid that other Abrahamic reli-gions have the same perspective.The Jews observe the restric-tions during menstruation tomake sure that the women’shealth remains perfect so thatthey give birth to healthy andintelligent children.

An important observationmade by KanthapuramAbubacker Musliyaar, the GrandMufti of India, justifyingMuslim men’s rights to havefour wives at a time is worthrecalling. “It is to make sure thathe does not go to other womenduring the menstrual period ofhis wife that a Muslim is

allowed to have four wives at atime,” the Musliyaar said in atelevision interview. But he didnot have any answer to a ques-tion posed by B M Suhara, aMuslim writer, that what wouldhappen if all the four wives havetheir menstruation during thesame periods. The Sabarimalaissue even gave rise to a series ofMenstruation Festivals acrossKerala!

Though the topic of men-struation is something personalto the individuals, Sridhar hasdone a wonderful job by por-traying it with all its serious-ness. A good effort by him at atime when new wave movies arealso being made on menstrua-tion and its implications in thesociety!

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/���� ��'����������� ���� ������The death of Abu Bakr al-

Baghdadi, the chief of theIslamic State (ISIS), hasbrought a sigh of relief to theinternational community. Themonster who has been on a ter-ror campaign with his army ofzealots finally had to bowdown in front of the superiorUS forces.

On October 26, Baghdadiblew himself up after being cor-nered in a blind alley byAmerican elite commandos atBarisha, in the district ofHarem, Idlib, a northwesternprovince of Syria. As per theinformation released by the USPresident’s office, Baghdadidetonated an explosive vest,killing himself and two of hischildren when he faced a cer-tain death at the hands of theUS forces. The high-risk oper-ation was successful because ofthe close cooperation fromTurkey, Syria, Russia, Iraq andthe Syrian Kurds.

Let us track the long andarduous journey of Baghdadi informing the ISIS empire and itsdecline. Under Baghdadi’sstewardship, the ISIS evolvedfrom a ragtag group of insur-gents to an organised Islamicmilitia. He was referred to as“Caliph Ibrahim” by his fol-lowers in the Muslim world.

Baghdadi claimed himselfto be a descendant of theQuraysh tribe of IslamicProphet Muhammed. Andeventually, under Baghdadi’sleadership, the ISIS establisheda regime of its own, spreadingacross the West Asian & NorthAfrican region, and for the firsttime, it occupied territories toimpose its bizarre caliphate.The militants initially consist-ed of ultra-conservativejihadists, largely drawn fromBaathists, the members of lateIraqi President SaddamHussein’s military and intelli-gence apparatus. But later, thegroup included many youthswho had a traditional hatredtowards the West for its allegedatrocities against Muslimsacross the world.

Under the US forces’ nose,the disgruntled Baathists qui-etly provided the ISIS a largecache of weapons, explosivematerials, solid intelligenceand meticulous planning totake revenge on the occupyingWestern forces. Further, thehardcore jihadists, who joinedthe militant ranks for advanc-ing the cause of Islamiccaliphate across the world,brought along with them

fanaticism and the deadlyweapon of supreme sacrifice,i.e. an army of fidayeen.

In fact, this group emergedfrom the remnants of al-Qaedain Iraq (AQI), a local offshootof al-Qaeda founded by AbuMusab al Zarqawi in 2004. Butthe AQI faded into obscurityfor many years after the USinvasion of Iraq. It started re-emerging from 2011. And sincethen, over the next few years,it took full advantage of thegrowing instability in Iraq andSyria, it has got a golden oppor-tunity to bolster its rank andfile through deadly attacks andmassive recruitment of cadrefrom around the world. This allhave happened against thebackdrop of the Arab Springand fallout of the US attacks onIraq.

The jihadist group changedits name to the Islamic State ofIraq and Syria (ISIS) in 2013.Afterwards, it launched an

offensive on Mosul and Tikritin June 2014. And in June 29,ISIS leader Baghdadiannounced the formation ofthe Caliphate, stretching fromAleppo in Syria to Diyala inIraq. Henceforth, the self-styledCaliphate, renamed the groupas the Islamic State (ISIS).

In August 7, 2014, a US-ledoperation, named “OperationInherent Resolve” waslaunched against the Islamists.By the very next month, theoffensive was expanded toSyria. But then in 2015, the USconducted nearly 8,000 airstrikes both in Iraq and Syria,targeting the insurgents, whowere wreaking havoc on vari-ous parts of the world.

Surprisingly, in the sameyear, amid US-led combingoperations, the jihadists wereable to expand their network ofaffiliates to almost eight coun-tries, beyond Iraq and Syria.But by December, the Caliphate

had lost almost 95 per cent ofits territory, including its twomost prized territories —Mosul, Iraq’s second biggestcity, and Raqqa, so-called ISIScapital, in Northern Syria.

By 2018, the anti-ISISoperation was shifted to east-ern part of Syria. During thisoperation, the US-backedcoalition of Syrian Kurds andArabs, called the SyrianDemocratic Forces (SDF), wereable to wrest some of the keypositions from the ISIS.

Interestingly, though theISIS was still hale and hearty,on December 19, 2018,President Trump declared thatit was decimated. With this, healso indicated his intention towithdraw all the 2,000 UStroops, supporting the SDF,from Syria. However, the SDFkept fighting the ISIS andwrested its last territory inBaghouz on March 23, 2019.This finally brought down the

massive terror regime pro-pelled by Baghdadi’s Caliphate.

The death of Baghdadi isbeing celebrated across theworld. Saudi Crown PrinceMohammed bin Salman, whilecongratulating PresidentTrump for the feat, said theoperation led by the US SpecialForces was a historic one infight against extremism. SaudiArabia said Baghdadi had dis-torted the image of Islam.Egypt appreciated theAmerican action, urging for“unified action and a compre-hensive perspective that takesinto account the security, devel-opment and ideological dimen-sions” in the fight againstarmed groups.

Turkish President Erdogansaid Baghdadi’s killing “markeda turning point in our jointfight against terrorism”.Afghanistan, while welcom-ing the US action, stated that“the death of Baghdadi is the

biggest blow to this group andto terrorism”. However, theRussian Defence Ministryreacted with skepticism, sayingit had no reliable informationon the US operation.

The ISIS on October 31confirmed the death of itsfounder and leader Baghdadiand announced a successor,named Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Quraishi, who islargely unknown outside ofISIS circles. However, the ISISpraised Quraishi as “emir of thebelievers” and “caliph” of ISIS’caliphate.

To step into Baghdadi’sshoes successfully, Quraishiwill have to have unquestion-able loyalty to the ISIS, provencapability to plan strategicallyand impeccable religious cre-dentials. Despite these prereq-uisites, Quraishi seems to lackexperience in the war-fieldand doesn’t have a reputationof carrying out deadly attacks

on ISIS’ enemies.Though Baghdadi was

widely referred to as a caliph,many in the internationalmedia have reported about hisdark background quite often.

Once BBC reported,“Baghdadi was a serial rapist,forcing himself on, among oth-ers, the captured Americanaid worker Kayla Mueller andpresiding over the massenslavement of Yazidi womenand underage girls.”

However, the negativereport didn’t diminish his loy-alty among his ardent follow-ers. 2016 was a turning pointfor Baghdadi. He had finallytaken a call for splitting awayfrom the al-Qaeda. The groupsdisagreed on many issues, thecentral point on which theyhave major differences is theuse of extreme and sadistic wayof violence on the enemies.

All told, one question thatmight be intriguing for manyis that why Baghdadi was tak-ing shelter in the Idlib provincewhich is a known to be thestronghold of his rival. Thoughit has come out that he waspaying a security fee to hisrivals for his stay in their ter-ritory, it can’t be said with cer-tainty why did his chose therival area as his safe haven.

Probably, he was tryingfor rapprochement betweenthe two jihadist organisationsto carry out more lethal attacksor to strengthen the ISIS as itwas fast losing its grip both inSyria and in Iraq.

With his death, lone wolfattacks, suicide bombings andall other forms of jihadistaggression might witness aspike both in frustration and ina show of strength and to raisethe sagging morale of the cadreand sympathisers of the ISISaround the world.

His death may temporari-ly disrupt the activities of thegroup, but the jihadists are like-ly to regroup sooner as pre-dicted by terror experts.

They may attempt revengeagainst the US and its armyinstallations across the WestAsian region and all possibleallies of America.

Though the elite US DeltaForce commandos have put anend to the ISIS leader for now,the remnants of the ISIS, spreadfrom Africa to Australasia, willnot simply fade away. Worst isyet to come.

(The writer is an expert oninternational affairs)

By claiming a right to Syria’soil, US President Donald

Trump has added more com-plexity — as well as addition-al US forces and time — to anAmerican military mission hehas twice declared he was end-ing so the troops could comehome.

Extending the mission tosecure eastern Syria’s oilfieldshappens to fit neatly with thePentagon’s view — supportedby some Trump allies inCongress — that a full with-drawal now could hasten arevival of the Islamic Stategroup, even after the extremistslost their leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in a US raid.

The military acknowledgedon Thursday that an Army unitwith armored vehicles, includ-ing Bradley infantry carriers, isnow operating in the Deir el-Zour oil region. It did not sayhow many soldiers are beingadded there, but officials havesaid the eventual force therelikely will be about 500, includ-ing roughly 200 who had beenthere even before Trump waspersuaded to revise his plan fora near-total withdrawal, whichhe announced on October 14.

Trump has offered varyingdescriptions of the military’srole in eastern Syria. OnOctober 25, he said, “We’vesecured the oil, and, therefore,a small number of US troopswill remain in the area where

they have the oil.” Three dayslater, he went further, declaringthe oil to be America’s.

“We’re keeping the oil —remember that,” he said inChicago. “I’ve always said that:‘Keep the oil.’ We want to keepthe oil. Forty-five million dol-lars a month? Keep the oil.”

White House officials sincethen have declined to explainwhat Trump meant by “we’rekeeping the oil” or his estimateof its value. Pentagon officialshave said privately they’ve beengiven no order to take owner-ship of any element of Syria’s oilresources, including the wellsand stored crude.

Defense Secretary MarkEsper said on October 31 thathe interprets Trump’s remarksabout keeping Syria’s oil asmeaning that the extremistsmust be denied access to it.

Syria has been mired incivil war since 2011. Since thattime, its oil production hasshrunk from a peak of about400,000 barrels a day to an esti-mated 80,000 barrels, said JimKrane, an energy expert atRice University.

Russia has expressed out-rage at Trump’s claim to the oil,calling it “state banditry.”Foreign Ministry spokesmanMajor General IgorKonashenkov said grabbingthe oil belies US claims to befighting terrorism and “liesfar from the ideals that

Washington has proclaimed.”For years the US has said itsmilitary interventions abroadare meant to enhanced peaceand security, not to take anynation’s territory or resources.

Stephen Vladeck, a nation-al security law professor at theUniversity of Texas at Austin,

said there is no solid legal argu-ment the Trump administra-tion can make for claimingSyria’s oil.

Beyond the legal question,analysts say the mission isfraught with danger.

“This is a sensitive gun-powder barrel of a mission,”

said Loren DeJonge Schulman,deputy director of studies at theCenter for a New AmericanSecurity who was a seniorPentagon and White Houseofficial under then PresidentBarack Obama.

“US forces are being sentwith only the shakiest possible

legal authorisation, knowingtheir commander-in-chief maychange his mind as he has mul-tiple times in the past,” she said,adding that an oil grab is whatmany in the West Asia havelong suspected is the purposeof US wars.

Trump also has said hewants a US oil company toenter eastern Syria to invest inrestoring oil production.Private experts, however, saythat is problematic.

“The modest size of theresource, risk of conflict, andlegal obstacles to investmentfrom US sanctions make itunlikely that a US oil majorwould find it commerciallyattractive to invest in the Syrianoil sector,” said Jason Bordoff,director of an energy policycenter at Columbia University.

“Syria could be a biggerenergy supplier than today,but years of mismanagementhave left the fields in disarray,so it would require a lot ofpolitical stability and invest-ment to bring them back towhere they were,” said MichaelWebber, a professor of energyresources at the University ofTexas at Austin.

Esper has said that secur-ing the Deir el-Zour oilfields isa legitimate move to block amajor source of income for theISIS and to provide funds forthe Syrian Kurds who are stillfighting ISIS. A few years ago,

the extremists were exploitingthe oil to finance its so-calledcaliphate, carved out of largeswaths of Syria and Iraq withan army now all but extin-guished.

In 2015-16, the US militarycarried out an air campaign —dubbed Operation Tidal WaveII, after a World War II oper-ation against oil facilities inRomania — that destroyedtanker trucks used by theextremists to transport oil forblack market sales and dam-aged many oil facilities.

“We weren’t going afterthe militants at all, we weregoing after the money, and byblowing them up we actuallyweakened them significantly,”said Katherine Zimmerman, acounterterrorism expert at theAmerican Enterprise Institute.

“Denying them access toresources like the oil is a waythat we’re going to need to fightthem,” she added.

Since then, US-supportedSyrian Kurdish forces havecontrolled the oil, supported bya small contingent of UStroops. A quiet arrangementhas existed between the Kurdsand the Syrian Government,whereby Damascus buys thesurplus through middlemenin a smuggling operation thathas continued despite politicaldifferences. The Kurdish-ledadministration sells crude oil toprivate refiners, who use prim-

itive homemade refineries toprocess fuel and diesel and sellit back to the administration.

The oil was expected to bea bargaining chip for the Kurdsto negotiate a deal with theSyrian government, whichunsuccessfully tried to reachthe oil fields to retake themfrom ISIS.

The US Defense Secretarytold reporters the mission inDeir el-Zour includes blockingpotential Russian and Syrianarmy efforts to probe thatregion, east of the EuphratesRiver, and challenge theAmerican presence. A few daysearlier, American officials hadcontacted Russian authoritiesto question a massing of Syrianand Russian forces on theopposite side of the Euphrates— a buildup that suggested apotential confrontation.

In February 2018, a groupof several hundred Russianmercenaries fired artillery nearAmerican forces in the Syrianoil region, and the Americansresponded by killing many of them.

Trump himself hasacknowledged the potentialfor a fight over the oil.

“We’re leaving soldiers tosecure the oil,” he said Sunday.“And we may have to fight forthe oil. It’s okay. Maybe some-body else wants the oil, inwhich case they have a hell ofa fight.” AP

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Festive season is yet not over. It endsup today with the conclusion ofChhath festival, observed in Bihar

and the adjoining areas of Eastern UttarPradesh, which the migrating peoplehave carried along almost all across.This festival is dedicated to the Sun, theprime illuminator and life giver.Subjecting themselves to austere mea-sures, the devout make offerings in rev-erence, first to the setting Sun and thento the rising Sun.

Unlike other festivities that are cele-brated in deference to some mythologi-cal story, the devout try to directly har-ness nature’s Shaktis (creative energies)that hold the key to our dynamic exis-tence. It is interesting to note thatfemales of the household sing in praiseof what they term as Chhathi maiyaduring this festivity. Remember, inIndian mythological tradition, all formsof Shakti are symbolised by motherlyforms. For, mother with all resources inhand bears and nourishes a child self-lessly.

The occasion reminds us about thecontinuum existent in the life cycle. Asyou know, the Sun never sets, it justmoves towards the other part of the

globe, and so it goes out of sight. It con-tinues its patronage even during nightthrough its light reflected by Moon.Bear in mind; life doesn’t meet its finalend with death. It is just the gross bodythat disintegrates. The jeevatma (theessence of life) stays put, though inac-cessible for want of a gross body. After alapse of time, the jeevatma reincarnateswith a fresh form in all strength. It car-ries along all the Karmic imprints fromthe past, which sets the trends of theemerging life.

The setting Sun is worshiped,because it has selflessly provided uswith the energies necessary to dischargeour activities. Even Sun’s absence atnight is purposeful, as it makes youretire for the day, relax, get rejuvenated,and wake up in all strength with thedawn of the Sun. Remember, the seedsplanted in the dark realms of the earthmass gets nurtured there for a specifiedperiod before it could emerge as a fruitbearing tree. So, in Indian perception,darkness is not taken negatively, ratherit is accepted as a necessary phase ofcreativity.

Bear in mind; nature with its firepower, which is identified with the Sun,

makes provisions for food in all formsthat sustains life. The food is offered tothe fire within, which keeps its flamealive, in turn, providing us with vitalsnecessary for our existence. All fooditems are perishable but recyclable. Ifout of greed you hoard them for long,they will perish and become useless. So,with a sense of detachment, the devoutsymbolically offer food items first to thesetting Sun, and then to the rising Sun,carrying the hope that it will help pro-duce the food items again out of itsseed. After the puja concludes, fooditems are shared with those around asprasada. This makes me recall MahatmaGandhi’s words: Nature provides us withenough to sustains ourselves but can’tsatisfy even an individual’s greed.

The emerging message is to carryon the journey of life dutifully as theSun, engaged in need-based rightfulkarma. You may then be rememberedeven post death with a sense of rever-ence, as is Mahatma Gandhi. And inindividualised sense, you reap the bene-fits of carrying on seeds of good karmaduring the next life. Second, your greed-based actions may derail you as the foodstored for long perishes. And goodkarma provides you with enough toenjoy a fulfilling with ease.

Karma finds reflection in the ongo-ing life as well, as it recently happenedto a greed driven young man, who gottrapped in in his illusory dream percep-tions, as would the Moon placedadverse to mischievous Neptune mean.He wished to become quick rich by tak-ing recourse to off the track means, as isindicated by the Sun ill-disposed off toUranus.

Added to that was his swaggeringego, coming as it may with the Sunplaced adverse to Jupiter, which did notallow him to look beyond for a realitycheck. Pursuing his desire to amasshuge wealth applying short cut method,he fell into a debt trap. Finance indicat-ing Venus placed adverse to debilitatedMars, which, being tenanted in the 8thhouse identified with difficulties, madehim vulnerable to become a victim ofhis own making. Consequently, he gotimprisoned recently as would Rahu’sassociation to the 12th, 8th, and 3rdhouses imply. And the result is there tosee.

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