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OPINION

P4Kashmiriyat is dead, this much is certain. And everything associated with it – religious harmony, secularism, the distinct relationship between Kashmir and India –is gone as well. Kashmiriyat has been in the throes of death for some decades now, but the latest moves by the Indian government to abrogate Article 370 and 35A, and demote the state of Jammu and Kashmir to a Union Territory, have put the final nail in its coffin. Constitutionally and rhetorically, Kashmir is no longer special.

Kashmiriyat The Death Of An Idea

OPINION

P4Kashmiriyat is dead, this much is certain. And everything associated with it – religious harmony, secularism, the distinct relationship between Kashmir and India –is gone as well. Kashmiriyat has been in the throes of death for some decades now, but the latest moves by the Indian government to abrogate Article 370 and 35A, and demote the state of Jammu and Kashmir to a Union Territory, have put the final nail in its coffin. Constitutionally and rhetorically, Kashmir is no longer special.

Kashmiriyat The Death Of An Idea

OPINION

P4Kashmiriyat is dead, this much is certain. And everything associated with it – religious harmony, secularism, the distinct relationship between Kashmir and India –is gone as well. Kashmiriyat has been in the throes of death for some decades now, but the latest moves by the Indian government to abrogate Article 370 and 35A, and demote the state of Jammu and Kashmir to a Union Territory, have put the final nail in its coffin. Constitutionally and rhetorically, Kashmir is no longer special.

OPINION

P4WHO HOLDS MORE

POWER IN DELHI, Lawyers And Policemen Debate

Ten days after clashes broke out between lawyers and the police at the district court complex in Tis Hazari, lawyers in Delhi continue to strike work. They are asking for the policemen who fired upon them on November 2 to be arrested. Dramatic video footage of the clash, however, showed police officials, including deputy police commissioner Monika Bhardwaj, fleeing from a group of suspected lawyers.

15

LG Says Poll Process In J&K To Begin 'Soon'

Press Trust of India

JAMMU: Hinting at hold-ing Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir in the near fu-ture, Lieutenant Governor (LG) Girish Chandra Murmu on Thursday said the election process will begin soon.

"Election will come. It is a Union territory with a legisla-ture, it will not continue like

this (LG's rule)," he said, while addressing a function of the police department.

"The process for holding the election will come soon," Murmu said, speaking at the Attestation-cum-Passing out Parade of the 14th batch of Constables, held in the Talwara area of Reasi district.

Asking the police force to get ready for More On 02

Sharma, Khan Brought Back As AdvisorsNEW DELHI: Retired IPS officer Farooq Khan and former bureau-crat K K Sharma have been appointed as the advisors to the Lieu-tenant Governor of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.According to an order of the Union Home Ministry, the appoint-ments of Khan and Sharma will be effective from the day of their joining in their respective posts. The advisors More On 02

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Modi Meets Xi in BrazilBRASILIA: Prime Minister Nar-endra Modi held in-depth talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping here and the two leaders have agreed to maintain close contact on matters relating to trade and investment to further deepen and add new vigour to India-China relations.During the meeting held on the margins of the 11th BRICS Summit on Wednesday, prime minister Modi said there was a "new direc-tion and new energy" in bilateral ties after their second informal summit in Chennai last month. "Held talks with President Xi Jin-ping. Several subjects pertaining to deepening bilateral cooperation were discussed. More On 02

5 Civilians Injured In Loc FiringSRINAGAR: At least five persons were injured, one of them critically, when Pakistani troops violated ceasefire and resorted to indiscriminate shelling and firing at the Line of Control (LoC) in Tangdhar sector in the frontier district of Kupwara, of-ficial sources said on Thursday. They said Pak troops fired mortar shells and resorted to unprovoked firing from across the border at LoC in Tangdhar sector, targeting forward mili-tary posts and civilian areas.Indian troops retaliated and hit Pak troops bunkers, they said, adding the damage More On 02

IED Defused on Sgr-Jmu HighwaySRINAGAR: Security forces on Thursday averted a major tragedy when they defected and defused a powerful Improvise Explosive Device (IED) planted at Pampore on Srinagar-Jammu national highway, official sources said. They said a Road Opening Party (ROP) noticed a suspicious pressure cooker on the roadside at Pampore, about 12 km from here in south Kash-mir district of Pulwama. “The area was immediately cordoned off,” they said adding a Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) was summoned. More On 02

Property Worth Lakhs Damaged In Kargil FireLEH: Property worth lakhs of rupees was damaged due to a devastating fire in the border town of Kargil in the Union Ter-ritory (UT) of Ladakh on Thurs-day. Official sources told UNI that fire broke out in a building that housed a famous Hardware store in Kargil on Thursday.Fire tenders were rushed to douse off the leaping flames, clearly visible from a distance.However, before the fire was doused off, the shop was gutted, resulting in damage to property worth lakhs of rupees.“The cause of the More On 02

Pleas Challenging Abrogation Of Article 370

Supreme Court Refuses To Pass Any Interim DirectionPress Trust of India

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Thursday refused to pass any interim order on a batch of pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the Centre's decision to abro-gate the provisions of Article 370, which gave special status to erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

A 5-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice N V Ramana said that passing any interim order might lead to delay in the matter and the apex court would settle all the issues at one go after hearing all the parties.

The bench, also comprising Justices S K Kaul, R Subhash Red-dy, B R Gavai and Surya Kant, said that it would hear arguments in the matter on December 10.

The top court also asked the Centre to respond to two fresh

petitions which have raised is-sues related to abrogation of the provisions of Article 370.

The court, which had earlier put an embargo on filing of any fresh writ petition challenging the abrogation, said it would hear these two pleas as they have raised important issues.

It also asked the parties to pre-pare a common compilation of

all the documents so that hear-ing of the matter becomes easier.

Besides, the two fresh pleas, a batch of petitions are pending before the apex court.

Several political parties in-cluding the National Confer-ence (NC), the Sajjad Lone-led J&K Peoples Conference and CPI (M) leader Mohd Yousuf Tari-gami have filed pleas challeng-

ing Centre's August 5 decision to abrogate Article 370.

The petition on behalf of NC was filed by Lok Sabha MPs Mo-hammad Akbar Lone and Justice (retd) Hasnain Masoodi. In 2015, Justice (retd) Masoodi had ruled that Article 370 was a perma-nent feature of the Constitution.

A plea was also filed by a group of former defence offi-cers and bureaucrats -- profes-sor Radha Kumar, ex-member of Home Ministry's Group of Interlocutors for J&K (2010-11), former J&K cadre IAS officer Hindal Haidar Tyabji, Air Vice Marshal (retd) Kapil Kak, Major Gen. (retd) Ashok Kumar Meh-ta, ex-Punjab-cadre IAS officer Amitabha Pande and ex-Kerala-cadre IAS officer Gopal Pillai.

Besides, a plea has been filed by bureaucrat-turned-politi-cian Shah Faesal, along with his party colleague Shehla Rashid.

Markets Open For Longer Hours, Public Transport Reappears On Some RoadsPress Trust of India

SRINAGAR: Signs of normalcy were visible in Srinagar as most modes of public transport have started plying, while mar-kets at some places remained open for longer hours, officials said on Thursday.

The intra-district connectivi-ty in Srinagar has been restored as cabs have started plying in several areas of the city, the of-ficials said.

There are reports of move-ment of intra-district cabs and other modes of public transport in most other district headquar-

ters of the valley as well.With this, most modes of pub-

lic transport have started plying

in the valley, especially in the city here, as inter-district cabs, auto-rickshaws More On 02

MHA Yet To Convince States, UTs On Outsourcing SummonsAgenceis

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is trying to convince the states and union territories to outsource the service of issuing sum-mons as most of them were found to be reluctant to start this initiative, sources said on Thursday.

In India, the ''only'' job of over 1 lakh

police personnel is to serve summons - a document issued by the court to appear before a judge or magistrate, or the writ containing such an order - to defendant across the country.

In order to maximise police effi-ciency, the ministry had proposed before the states and union ter-ritories to outsource this non-core function like issuing More On 02

Despite Rain, Kashmir Highway Through; Leh, Mughal Roads Closed

1861 Lives Consumed in 70960 Incidents Of Violence in J&K: GoI

Agenceis

SRINAGAR: Despite wet weather and forecast for more rain and snow from Thurs-day, Srinagar-Jammu national highway, the only road link-ing the Kashmir valley with the rest of the country, was through for traffic.

Meanwhile, the 86-km-long historic Mughal road remained closed for the ninth day on Thursday due to snowfall. The road is seen as alternative to Srinagar-Jammu national high-way, which connects Shopian in south Kashmir with Rajouri and Poonch.

The national highway, link-ing Ladakh region with Kash-mir, was closed on Thursday

due to fresh snowfall since early this morning.

A traffic police official told

UNI that despite rain on this side of the Jawahar tunnel and cloudy weather More On 02

Highest Incidents Recorded In 1995, Lowest In 2013Faizan Wani

SRINAGAR: As many as 41861 lives were consumed by the three-de-cade-old armed conflict in Jammu & Kashmir, the Government of In-dia has claimed.

According to srinagar news agency, in an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Home Affairs has revealed that 41861 persons have lost their lives in 70960 incidents of militancy-related violence in the state which was recently bifurcated into the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.

Of them, 14035 were civilians, 5291 personnel of Central and State forces and 22535 militants,

the affidavit reveals. The armed conflict broke out in J&K nearly two years after holding of the State elections of 1987, which many believed were blatantly rigged to ensure defeat of candi-dates of the Muslim United Front

so as to facilitate win of NC- Con-gress candidates.

According to the affidavit, the highest number of incidents of violence were recorded in 1995 and the lowest in 2003.

As per KNO, it states that 4158

incidents of violence took place in 1990, 3,765 in 1991, 4817 in 1992, 5247 in 1993, 5829 in 1994, 5938 in 1995, 5014 in 1996, 3420 in 1997, 2932 in 1998, 3071 in 1999, 3074 in 2000, 4522 in 2001, 4038 in 2002, 3401 in 2003, 2565 in 2004, 1990 in 2005, 1667 in 2006, 1092 in 2007, 708 in 2008, 499 in 2009, 488 in 2010, 340 in 2011, 220 in 2012, 170 in 2013,222 in 2014, 208 in 2015, 322 in 2016, 342 in 2017 and 614 in 2018.

It states that 287 incidents of militancy-related violence were recorded from January 01 till Au-gust 4, the day before the Centre revoked J&K’ special status pro-vided to it under the Article 370 of the Constitution of India.

Post revocation of the special status, Kashmir Valley is observ-ing spontaneous shutdown over the past 100 days. According to the MHA’s affidavit, the More On 02

Youth Found Dead In A Parked CarSRINAGAR: A youth was found dead while another unconscious in a parked car outside SKIMS Maternity Hospital here in Soura area of Kashmir capital Srinagar on Thursday.

A police official told Kash-mir News Trust that prima facie it seems that asphyxia-tion is the cause of the death as they had used the heating system to avoid chill.

Divulging information about the incident, he said that Irfan Rehman Lone (27) and his relative Ishfaq Ahmed Malik (22), both residents of Gonivan, Kangan were ac-companying More On 02

Friday | 15.11.2019 02News

FROM FRONT PAGE

LG Says Poll Processshouldering their responsibility, the LG said

there will be an important role for the men in uni-form (in the forthcoming election).

It maybe recalled that Jammu and Kashmir Leg-islative Assembly Speaker Nirmal Kumar Singh met the LG at the Raj Bhavan here on Wednesday.

The statement of Murmu, who took over as the first LG of the Union territory on October 31, will come as a relief to political parties.

On August 5, the government revoked Jammu and Kashmir's special status and bifurcated the state into two Union territories -- Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

Sharma, Khan Broughtwill assist LG Girish Chandra Murmu in the ad-

ministrative work.Both Khan, a retired IPS officer, and Sharma, a

retired IAS officer, were advisors to former gover-nor of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, Satya Pal Malik. Khan, 65, started his career in the Jammu and Kashmir Police as a sub-inspector in 1984 and went on to become inspector general of police. He is seen as being instrumental in break-ing the backbone of militancy in the 1990s.

He is expected to focus on security and strategic affairs in keeping with the work he has done in the state in the past.

Khan enjoys the confidence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah and is likely to make changes in strategies to curb mili-tancy in the state.

Khan had also served as the administrator in the union territory of Lakshadweep.

Khan came into the limelight when he volun-teered to head a special task force (STF) of the po-lice in 1994 at a time when morale of the force was low and operations were being carried out by the Army and the BSF. He was allotted the IPS in 1994.

Khan, who hails from Poonch district, was dep-uty inspector general of the Jammu region and led crack teams to end a seige laid by militants at the famous Raghunath Temple in 2003. After his re-tirement in 2013, Khan joined the BJP in 2014.

A recipient of the President's police medal for the meritorious service and many commendations by the army and other security agencies, Khan's entry into the BJP was seen as a move to woo Mus-lim voters in Poonch and Rajouri areas.

His grandfather Colonel (retd) Peer Moham-mad Khan, who was in the Army of Maharaja Hari Singh, was the first state president of the Jammu and Kashmir Jana Sangh.

The other advisor, Sharma, a 1983-batch IAS of-ficer of the Arunachal Pradesh, Goa and Mizoram Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre, belongs to Bil-lawar town of Kathua.

During his service career spanning around 30 years, Sharma, 61, has held various positions, in-cluding the Chief Secretary of Delhi and Goa.

He also served as Secretary in the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) before his retirement.

Sharma has also served as advisor to the admin-istrator of Chandigarh.

He is known to have played a key role in imple-menting flagship projects in Delhi in the areas of education and health.

Youth Found Dead their relative female patient who had been ad-

mitted in the hospital after labour pain.

Both the youth, it seems decided to spend the night in their personal vehicle. Due to asphyxiation, Irfan died in the car while Ishfaq was shifted to hos-pital for treatment where is condition is stated to be critical.

“We have registered a case and has investigation in this regard,” the police official told KNT.

Markets Open Forand few mini-buses were already plying.Private transport was plying unhindered in the city

here and elsewhere in the valley with several areas witnessing traffic jams.

The officials said shops in some areas, including in the commercial hub of Lal Chowk, have started to remain open for longer hours during the day.

However, the shops open only for few hours in the morning in downtown (old city) areas, they added.

The markets across the valley had been follow-ing a new pattern of functioning, opening early morning till around noon and then closing to join the protest against abrogation of the special status of the state.

The officials said miscreants and militants were using fear mongering to put down any resistance to unannounced shutdown by threatening shop-keepers and businessmen.

The officials said two grenade attacks in the city's busy Goni Khan market and Kaka Sarai areas recently and killing of a shopkeeper in Tral area of south Kashmir's Pulwama distirct on Wednesday were an indication that there were concerted ef-forts to keep the shutdown going.

Efforts of the state government to open schools have not borne any fruit as parents continued to keep children at home due to apprehensions about their safety.

However, the board examinations for class 10th and Class 12th are going on as per schedule.

Internet services across all platforms continued to be suspended in Kashmir for the 102nd day on Thursday.

The authorities snapped all communication lines landline telephone and mobile phone servic-es and internet across all platforms -- on August 5, hours before the Centre announced its decision to abrogate Article 370 and to bifurcate the erstwhile state into two Union territories.

While landline telephones were gradually re-stored, post-paid mobile services resumed later. However, pre-paid mobile and Internet services are yet to be resumed.

Most of the top level and second rung separat-ist politicians have been taken into preventive custody while mainstream leaders including two former chief ministers -- Omar Abdullah and Meh-booba Mufti -- have been either detained or placed under house arrest.

The government has detained former chief minister and sitting Lok Sabha MP from Srinagar Farooq Abdullah under the controversial Public Safety act.

MHA Yet Tosummons to other government or private agen-

cies under SMART police programme and police reforms. But most of the states are reluctant to do that.

As per the latest status report reviewed by IANS, Bihar, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Goa, Gujarat and Ma-harashtra are still looking into the ministry''s pro-posal and have not yet taken a view on the issue.

Nagaland, Uttarakhand, Tripura, Sikkim, Ma-nipur, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab have agreed to the proposal but are reluctant to implement it. Whereas Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have implemented it, Tamil Nadu is partially im-plementing it through community policing initia-tives.

Interestingly, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and others have not yet arrived at a decision on the home ministry''s proposal.

For efficient policing, there is a need for the po-lice force to restrict themselves to core functions.

The fifth Report of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission prepared by Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances has suggested that functions like serving court''s summons, antecedents and addresses verification for passport applications or job verifications and others can be outsourced to private agents or gov-ernment departments. These measures will help reduce the workload of the police.

The ministry took this step to outsource the non-core functions after Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed upon police reforms when he came to power in 2014. Even after lapse of five years, the ministry has not been able to bring the state police on board on the issue.

Outsourcing of police functions can be done through public-private partnership. It is being practiced in many countries, including the US and the UK, and India needs to start the process.

A senior IPS officer said, "For many duties po-lice do not require specialised skills or trained manpower. For such tasks and duties, outsourc-ing could prove to be an effective solution which will help to ease stress and reduce corruption in the force."

Interestingly, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is engaged to serve summons to individu-als living outside India and it has engaged private players efficiently and effectively to streamline the issuance of passport.

Despite Rainin Ramban area, Kashmir highway was through.

“Light Motor Vehicles (LMVs) will ply from both sides,” he said.

Meanwhile, over 8000 Heavy Motor Vehicles (HMVs), including about 6000 trucks loaded with fruit, stranded on this side of the tunnel, will be allowed to move towards Jammu from 1200 hrs. However, no HMV will be allowed from opposite direction, he said.

The Traffic official said there was fresh snowfall on historic Mughal road since early this morning. The road is closed for the past eight days due to accumulation of several feet of snow. The district authorities have already started snow clearance operation.

Meanwhile, the Srinagar-Leh national highway was closed for traffic on Thursday due to fresh snowfall at Meenmarg and Zojila pass since early this morning. Traffic has been suspended as a pre-cautionary measure, he said. (UNI)

1861 Lives Consumedmaximum number of civilian deaths due to militan-

cy-related were recorded in 1996 when 1341 persons lost their lives.

The lowest number of civilian fatalities were re-

ported in 2012, 2013 and 2016- 15 deaths each year. The year 2016 also witnessed a five-month long un-rest in Kashmir when PDP-BJP was ruling the state. More than 90 civilians were killed by forces during the law & order disturbances following the killing of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen’s tech-savvy commander Burhan Wani. The forces suffered maximum fatali-ties in 2001 (536 deaths) and the minimum in 2012 (15 deaths). (KNO)

Modi MeetsToday's discussions will add new vigour to India-

China relations," Modi tweeted after the meeting."Fruitful meeting between PM Narendra Modi

and President Xi Jinping on the sidelines on the BRICS Summit in Brazil. Trade and investment were among the key issues both leaders talked about," the Prime Minister's Office said in a separate tweet.

The leaders had forward-looking discussions on various aspects of the multifaceted India-China re-lationship, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in a tweet.

Prime Minister Modi and President Xi agreed on the importance of maintaining close dialogue on matters relating to trade and investment. The two leaders agreed that the new high level mechanism on trade and economy should meet at an early date, according to a press release issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

"I am glad to meet you once again. When I look back, we had met for the first time in Brazil itself... and our journey began. This journey of unknown people has today turned into a close friendship.

"Since then, we have met at many forums, bi-laterals; you visited my home state, took me to your village, came to receive me outside Beijing in Wuhan.... It is such a significant thing that within the five years, there have been so much trust and friendly relations," Modi told Xi.

"As you said and I believe that our meeting in Chennai gave our journey a new direction and new energy. Without any agenda, we talked about each other's issues, global situations... these have been very successful," Modi said on the second infor-mal summit at Mamallapuram, a coastal town near Chennai, on October 11-12.

The leaders noted that the special representa-tives will have another meeting on matters relating to the boundary question and reiterated the impor-tance of maintaining peace and security in the bor-der areas, the MEA statement said.

President Xi thanked prime minister Modi for In-dia's substantial participation in the just-concluded China Import Export Expo in Shanghai.

Xi noted that he was told that India was the coun-try with the largest increase in transaction volume at the expo compared with last year.

"China welcomes more exports of India's high-quality products to China," and called on the two countries to expand two-way trade and investment and create new growth points for cooperation in productivity, medicine, information technology, infrastructure and other fields, the official Xinhua news agency quoted Xi as saying.

From India's point of view, the huge trade deficit of USD 57 billion with China has become a major issue. The issue was discussed during the 2nd in-formal summit and the two leaders have agreed to set up new mechanism led by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Chinese Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua to discuss trade, investment and services.

Xi conveyed his deep appreciation to Modi for hosting him at the second informal summit in

Chennai and said that he would not forget the wel-come given to him by the prime minister and the people of India.

Xi stressed that he is willing to maintain close communication with Modi to jointly steer the di-rection of China-India relations, increase political mutual trust, properly manage differences and ex-pand practical cooperation so as to guide a better and more stable development of bilateral ties, the Xinhua report said.

Xi hoped that China-India ties will achieve new and greater development in 2020, adding that he is looking forward to meeting with Modi again in China in the new year.

He invited Modi for the 3rd informal summit in China in 2020. The date and venue for which will be determined through diplomatic channels.

The two leaders reviewed preparations for cel-ebrating the 70th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations next year. They agreed that this will enhance people-to-people relations.

The leaders also exchanged views on multilateral issues including WTO, BRICS and Regional Compre-hensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) at the BRICS Summit held to focus on building mechanisms for counter-terrorism cooperation and strengthen In-dia's ties with the world's five major economies.

The meeting between Modi and Xi in the Brazil-ian capital comes days after India decided not to join China-backed RCEP over unresolved "core con-cerns", with India saying the proposed deal would have adverse impact on the lives and livelihoods of all Indians.

It also took place amidst renewed strain in ties between the two countries over the Kashmir issue. A joint statement issued after talks between Presi-dent Xi and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan last month said China was paying "close attention" to the situation in Kashmir and that it should be properly and peacefully resolved based on the UN Charter.

In its reaction, the MEA said India's consistent and clear position has been that Jammu and Kash-mir is an integral part of the country and China is well aware of New Delhi's position.

5 Civilians Injuredsuffered across the LoC was not immediately

clear. Five persons were injured in the Pak shelling and firing, they said, adding the injured were shifted to Tangdhar hospital. “One of the critically wounded was later referred to Srinagar,” they added.

Pak troops have been violating 2003 ceasefire more frequently in Baramulla and Kupwara districts after August 5, when centre scrapped Article 370 and 35 A, besides divided the state into two Union Territories.

Sources said Pak troops are violating ceasefire to provide cover to militants waiting in launch pads at LoC to infiltrate into this side from Pakistan Occu-pied Kashmir (POK). UNI

IED Defused onThey said the 3-kg IED was defused without

causing any damage. “Had it not been detected and defused it would have caused much damage to life and property,” they said. UNI

Property Worth Lakhsfire was not immediately clear,” they said, adding

no one was injured in the incident.A case has been registered and investigation has been

taken up to ascertain the cause of the fire, they added.

Rafale Deal: SC Gives Clean Chit To Modi Govt For 2nd TimeApex Court Dismisses Pleas Seeking Review Of Rafale JudgmentPress Trust of India

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Thursday gave clean chit to the Modi government on the purchase of 36 fully loaded Rafale fighter jets from French company Dassault Aviation, rejecting the plea for registration of an FIR by the CBI for alleged com-mission of cognisable offence in the deal.

The apex court dismissed the pleas seeking re-view of the December 14, 2018 verdict in which it had said that there was no occasion to doubt the decision-making process in the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets.

The top court was not satisfied with the submis-sion that it decided the disputed questions of facts in the Rs 58,000 crore deal “prematurely” without investigation.

The rejection of review petitions is tantamount to the apex court giving the clean chit to the Naren-dra Modi government for the second time.

“We do not consider this to be a fair submission for the reason that all counsels, including counsel representing the petitioners in this matter ad-dressed elaborate submissions on all the aforesaid three aspects.

“No doubt that there was a prayer made for reg-istration of FIR and further investigation but then once we had examined the three aspects on mer-its we did not consider it appropriate to issue any directions, as prayed for by the petitioners which automatically covered the direction for registration of FIR, prayed for,” said a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.

The review applications cannot be entertained unless there is an “error apparent on the face of the record”, the apex court said.

The bench said it cannot lose sight of the fact that it is dealing with a contract for aircrafts, which was pending before different govern-ments for quite some time and the necessity for those aircrafts has never been in dispute.

“We had concluded that other than the three as-pects — Decision Making Process, Pricing and Off-sets — that too to a limited extent, this Court did not consider it appropriate to em-bark on a roving and fishing enquiry.

“We were, however, cautious to note that this was in the context of the writ petition filed under Article 32 of the Constitution of India, the jurisdiction

invoked,” said the bench, also comprising Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph.

The petition seeking re-examination of the De-cember 14, 2018 verdict was filed by former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie and activ-ist lawyer Prashant Bhushan.

Other review petitions were filed by lawyer Vineet Dhandha and Aam Aadmi Party lawmaker Sanjay Singh.

The Rafale fighter is a twin-engine Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) manufactured by French aerospace company Dassault Aviation.

While dealing with the allegation of irregulari-ties on the pricing of the jets, the top court said that it satisfied itself with the material made available and it is not the function of this court to determine the prices and act on mere “suspicion” of certain persons.

“The internal mechanism of such pricing would take care of the situation. On the perusal of docu-ments we had found that one cannot compare ap-ples and oranges. Thus, the pricing of the basic air-craft had to be compared which was competitively marginally lower.

“As to what should be loaded on the aircraft or not and what further pricing should be added has to be left to the best judgment of the competent authorities,” the bench said.

With regard to the decision making process, the apex court said the petitioners contended there was contradictory material on the basis of certain documents obtained.

“We, however, found that there were undoubt-edly opinions expressed in the course of the deci-sion making process, which may be different from the decision taken, but then any decision making process envisages debates and expert opinion and the final call is with the competent authority, which so exercised it.

“In this context reference was made to (a) Ac-ceptance of Necessity granted by Defence Acquisition Coun-cil not being available

prior to con-t r a c t

which would have determined necessity and quan-tity of aircrafts; (b) absence of Sovereign Guaran-tee granted by France despite requirement of the Defence Procurement Procedure; (c) oversight of objections of three expert members of Indian Ne-gotiating Team regarding certain increase in bench-mark price; and (d) induction of Reliance Aero-structure Limited as an offset partner,” the apex court said.

The bench said it appears that the petitioners construed themselves as an appellate authority to determine each aspect of the contract and involve the court to do the same.

“We do not believe this to be the jurisdiction to be exercised. All aspects were considered by the competent authority and the different views ex-pressed considered and dealt with. It would well nigh become impossible for different opinions to be set out in the record if each opinion was to be construed as to be complied with before the con-tract was entered into. It would defeat the very pur-pose of debate in the decision making process,” the bench said.

On the contention that some aspects were not available to them and came to light subsequently by their ‘sourcing’ information after the December 14, 2018 decision, the apex court said, “We decline to, once again, embark on an elaborate exercise of analysing each clause, perusing what may be the different opinions, then taking a call whether a fi-nal decision should or should not have been taken in such technical matters”.

Chronology of events in Rafale fighter jets deal case

Following is the chronology of events in the Ra-fale fighter jets deal in which the Supreme Court on Thursday rejected review petitions against its verdict giving clean chit to the Narendra Modi gov-ernment:

-Dec 30, 2002: Defence Procure-ment Procedures (DPP) ad-

o p t - e d

to streamline process.-Aug 28, 2007: Ministry of Defence issues Re-

quest for Proposal for procurement of 126 MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) fighters.

-Sep 4, 2008: Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group incorporates Reliance Aerospace Technologies Ltd (RATL).

-May 2011: Air Force short-lists Rafale and Eu-rofighter jets.

-Jan 30, 2012: Dassault Aviation’s Rafale aircraft comes up with the lowest bid.

-Mar 13, 2014: Work Share agreement signed be-tween HAL and Dassault Aviation under which they were responsible for 70 per cent and 30 per cent of the work, respectively, for 108 aircraft.

-Aug 8, 2014: Then defence minister Arun Jaitley tells Parliament that 18 direct ‘fly-away’ aircraft ex-pected to be delivered in 3-4 years from signing of the contract; remaining 108 aircraft to be delivered in the next seven years.

-Apr 8, 2015: The then foreign secretary says detailed discussions underway between Dassault, MoD and HAL -Apr 10: New deal for acquisition of 36 direct ‘fly-away’ aircraft from France announced.

-Jan 26, 2016: India and France sign MoU for 36 Rafale aircraft.

-Sep 23: Inter-governmental agreement signed.-Nov 18: Government states in Parliament that

the cost of each Ra- fale aircraft to be approximately Rs 670 crore and that all aircraft will be delivered by April 2022.

-Dec 31, 2016: Dassault Aviation’s Annual Report r e v e a l s the actual price paid for the 36 aircraft at about Rs 60,000 crore,

more than double the government’s

stated price in Parlia-ment.

-Mar 13, 2018: PIL in SC seeks independent probe into Centre’s de-

cision to procure 36 Rafale fighter jets

from France and disclo-

sure of the cost involved in the deal before Parlia-ment.

-Sep 5: SC agrees to hear PIL seeking stay on Ra-fale fighter jet deal.

-Oct 8: SC agrees to hear on October 10 fresh PIL seeking direction to Centre to file in ‘sealed cover’ the details of the agreement for buying 36 Rafale fighter jets.

-Oct 10: SC asks Centre to provide details of deci-sion making process in the Rafale fighter jet deal in a sealed cover.

-Oct 24: Former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie and activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan moves SC, seeking registration of FIR into Rafale fighter jet deal.

-Oct 31: SC asks Centre to place it in sealed cover within 10 days the pricing details of 36 Rafale fight-er jets.

-Nov 12: Centre places price details of 36 Rafale fighter jets in a sealed cover before SC; it also gives details of steps that led to finalisation of the Rafale deal.

-Nov 14: SC reserves judgement on pleas seeking court-monitored probe in Rafale deal.

-Dec 14: SC says there is no occasion to doubt the decision-making process of the Modi government and dismisses all the petitions seeking direction to the CBI to register an FIR for alleged irregularities in the jet deal.

-Jan 2, 2019: Sinha, Shourie and Bhushan move SC seeking review of its December 14 judgement.

-Feb 26: SC agrees to hear review petitions in open court -Mar 13: Govt tells SC that documents filed by review petitioners are sensitive to national security.

-Apr 10: SC dismisses Centre’s objection claiming privilege over documents by petitioners to seek review.

-Apr 12: BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi moves SC against Rahul Gandhi for wrongly attributing his ‘chowkidar chor hai’ remarks on Rafale to the apex court.

-Apr 23: SC issues contempt notice to Rahul Gan-dhi for his remarks on Rafale verdict.

-May 8: Gandhi tenders unconditional apology in SC -May 10: SC reserves verdict on review pleas and contempt petition.

-Nov 14: SC dismisses review pleas against its verdict in the Rafale deal, rejects contention that there was need for registration of an FIR in connec-tion with the procurement of 36 fighter jets from

French firm Dassault Avi-ation

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This Day in History• 655 - Battle of the Winwaed: Penda of Mercia is

defeated by Oswiu of Bernicia. • 1315 - Battle of Morgarten: Swiss beat duke

Leopold I of Austria • 901 James J. Jeffries TKOs Gus Ruhlin in 6 for

heavyweight boxing title in San Francisco• 1932 - Walt Disney Art School created• 1934 - Nobel for chemistry awarded to

Harold C Urey (deuterium)• 1935 - Commonwealth of Philippines

inaugurated• 1936 - Nazi-Germany & Japan sign Anti-

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Draza Mihailovic premier• 1948 - Mackenzie King retires after 22 years as

Prime Minister of Canada• 1948 - Louis St. Laurent is sworn in as the 12th

Prime Minister of Canada• 1951 - Cricket 1st-class debut of Hanif

Mohammad, Pakistan XI v MCC, Lahore• 1954 - 1st regularly scheduled commercial

flights over North Pole begins • 1969 - An estimated 2 million people take part

in the Vietnam War Moratorium demonstration across the United States

• 1971 - Intel advertises 4004-processor • 1972 - Small Astronomy Satellite Explorer 48

launched to study gamma rays • 1973 - Egypt & Israel exchange prisoners of war • 1974 - International Energy Agency formed

in Paris within OECD framework in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis

• 1976 - Syrian army conquers Beirut • 1979 - ABC-TV announces it would broadcast

nightly specials on Iran hostage • 1980 - 30th NASCAR Sprint Cup: Dale

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Square for Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev • 1983 - Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

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Clear Air Act of 1990 • 1995 - Space shuttle Atlantis docks with

orbiting Russian space station Mir • 2000 - A chartered Antonov AN-24 crashes

after takeoff from Luanda, Angola killing more than 40 people

• 2000 - New state of Jharkhand comes into existence in India

• 2002 - Hu Jintao becomes the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

• 2003 - First day of the Istanbul Bombings takes place, followed by additional bombings on November 20th

• 2005 - Boeing formally launches the stretched Boeing 747-8 variant with orders from Cargolux and Nippon Cargo Airlines

• 2007 - A devastating Cyclone named Sidr hit Bangladesh, killing an estimated 5000 people and destroyed the world’s largest mangrove forest, Sundarbans.

• 2013 - Sony launches the Playstation Four, selling one million units on the first day

• 2014 - Vladimir Putin’s press secretary says media reports that the Russian president plans to leave the G20 Summit in Brisbane early are nonsense Vladimir Putin

• 2014 - World leaders gather in Brisbane for G20 Summit, which will focus on economic growth

• 2014 - The parents of 43 Mexican students who disappeared start a nationwide bus tour in protest at the government’s handling of the case

• 2014 - A 7.3 magnitude earthquake strikes under the Molucca Sea in eastern Indonesia, triggering a tsunami warning

• 2015 - France launches air strikes on Isis stronghold Raqqa in Syria in wake of terror attack on Paris

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N O T I C EWhereas joint application has been received by this office from Mr.GHULAM AHMAD WANI S/O ABDUL

REHMAN WANI R/O HUMHAMA BUDGAM {Party No.1st) as Transferor, (Seller) Owner of the Vehicle Bearing Regd. No.JK04 -8218 (Commercial/ Non-Commercial) covering under CHASIS No.1870792 Engine No. 2596277 Maruti 800 .and Mr ASHIK HUSSAIN SHAH S/O ABDUL AZIZ SHAH R/O YARI PORA KULGAM (Party No.2nd) as Transferee (Purchaser) requesting for transfer of R/C of the above noted Vehicle from party No 1st and 2nd. Before the case is disposed off on its merit, anybody have any objection regarding the proposed transfer Amy file his objection

within ( 7) days from the publication of this notice to the office of the undersigned. No any representation / objection shall be entertained after stipulated period.

Assistant Regional Transport Officer Budgam

From KO Archives Lone allowed to attend son’s wedding in Pak

OBSERVER NEWS SERVICE

SRINAGAR: Senior Hurriyat Conference leader Abdul Ghani Lone has been finally granted permission to travel to Pakistan for his son’s wedding, official sources said Monday. Lone has been allowed to go to Rawalpindi to attend the marriage of his son Sajjad Lone to Asma Khan on November 19. Khan is the daughter of the chairman of the Jammu and I Kashmir Liberation Front, Amanullah Khan, who lives in Pakistani-controlled-Kashmir. The permission has been granted and it now depends upon Abdul Ghani Lone if he wishes to attend the mar-riage, official sources said on condition of anonymity.

Nearly all the pro-independence, pro-Pakistan and pro-In¬dia leaders in Indian Kashmir, including the chief minister, Farooq Abdul-lah, have been invited to the wedding.

“There is a shift in New Delhi’s policy,” Prof Abdul Ghani, chairman of the All Party Hurriyat Conference said, welcom¬ing the move to allow Lone to attend his son’s wedding.

(Kashmir Observer, November 15 , 2000)

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Nov 14 (PTI): The Centre will hold a two-day conference beginning Friday on replication of good gov-ernance practices in Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, an official statement issued on Thursday said.

The main objective of the con-ference is to bring national and state-level organisations on the same platform to share expe-riences in digital governance, citizen-centric governance and capacity building and personnel administration etc., it said.

The Department of Admin-istrative Reforms and Public Grievances, government of In-dia, is organising a regional conference on the theme: "Rep-lication of Good Governance Practices in Union Territories of

J&K and Ladakh" on November 15-16, 2019 in Jammu.

Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, along with G C Murmu, Lieutenant Governor of Jammu & Kash-mir, will inaugurate the two-day event on Friday.

B V R Subrahmanyam, Ad-ministrator, J&K, and C Chan-dramouli, Secretary, Person-nel, will also address the inaugural session.

Arun Kumar Mehta, Financial Commissioner, Finance Depart-ment, J&K, will chair the pre-inaugural session on the topic "Public Policy and Governance".

In the post-lunch session, presentations will be made on 'digital governance', 'citizen-centric governance' and 'aspi-rational districts'.

The states of Tamil Nadu,

Meghalaya and J&K will share their experiences of griev-ance redressal.

On Day 2, presentations will be made on 'select initiatives' and 'capacity building & per-sonnel administration'. The 'su-shasansankalp: Jammu ghosha-na' resolution will be adopted in the valedictory session, the statement issued by the Person-nel Ministry said.

Delegates from 19 states and four Union territories will par-ticipate in the conference.

"This conference is an effort to create a common platform to share experiences in the formu-lation and implementation of best practices in citizen-centric governance, improved public service delivery through e-gov-ernance, transparent, account-able and citizen-friendly effec-tive administration," it said.

Centre to hold conference on replicating good governance practices in JK, Ladakh

Agencies

Islamabad, Nov 14 (IANS): Paki-stan on Thursday denied any deal with Indian government on Indian national Kulbhushan-Jadhav, who has been sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April 2017.

"The action on Kulbhushan will be taken as per the law. There will be no deal. Absolutely, no ques-tion about that," said Foreign Office spokesman Muhammad Faisal in a weekly press briefing.

Earlier, there were reports about an amendment in the Pak-istan Army Act to implement the International Court of Justice''s condition to allow Kulbhushan to file an appeal in a civilian court. However, the Pakistani military rejected such reports.

Kulbhushan''s case is being tried in military courts and the Army Act forbids such individu-als or groups from filing an ap-peal or seeking justice from a civilian court.

On July 17, the ICJ ordered Paki-stan to grant consular access to

Jadhav and also continued stay on his execution, as well as "effective" review of the death sentence.

During the press briefing, Faisal also talked about the Su-preme Court''s verdict in Babri Masjid-Ram janmbhoomi case.

"India''s top court verdict pos-es a threat to other mosques in the country. We will continue to raise Babri Masjid issue on inter-national platforms," he said.

Faisal said he has urged the Indian government to end Kash-mir "lockdown" and restore In-ternet services.--IANS

No deal to be made with India on Kulbhushan: PakistanPRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Jammu, Nov 14 (PTI): Over 200 officials from the newly-created union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh will be given training on good gover-nance at a two-day conference, beginning on Friday, officials said. The UTs came into exis-tence on October 31 after the bi-furcation of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Five IAS officers are among the 223 participants of the regional

conference on 'Replication of Good Governance Practices in Union Ter-ritories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh'. It will be inaugurated by Union Minister Jitendra Singh.

The conference will be held at the Convention Centre in Jammu from November 15 to November 16, additional secretary, general ad-ministrative department, Charan-deep Singh said in an order.

Besides JKAS officers, five IAS and two IFS officers will attend-ed the conference, the officials said. PTI

Over 200 officers from J-K, Ladakh to be given training on good governance

School children in J-K to get free health checkup twice a year

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Jammu, Nov 14 (PTI): The Jammu and Kashmir administration will conduct at least two free health checkups a year for the school chil-dren in the union territory, an offi-cial spokesperson said on Thursday. During a review meeting of the school education department here on Wednesday, the authorities were directed by Lieutenant Governor GirishChanderMurmu to conduct the health checkups and provide health cards to school children, he said. The meeting was attended by Commissioner/Secretary, School Education Department, SaritaChou-han and other senior officials, the spokesperson said.

Murmu suggested that the par-ents be present during the checkup so that they get to know about their child's health, he said. The Lt Gover-nor also issued directions to the of-ficials concerned to prepare health

checkup calenders in consultation with the health department, the spokesperson said.

During the review meeting, the school education department was directed to organise the first health checkup drive in December in the summer zone and in March in the schools under winter zone, he said.

The Lt Governor also suggested regular training for teachers to im-prove the quality of education, the spokesperson said.

Murmu directed the school edu-cation department to ensure 100 per cent availability of drinking water in all the schools by 31st De-cember and complete survey of sci-ence and computer laboratories in the schools within the next 15 days, he said. The Lt Governor asked the officials to fill up vacant positions in the department at the earliest and stressed on enhanced focus on schools having gross enrolment ra-tio less than 25 per cent.

Empty ration depots, K-oil shortage irk peopleSrinagar, Nov 14, KNT: Residents of many areas from Srinagar city are up in arms against Consum-er Affairs and Public Affairs De-partment (CAPD) for its alleged failure to provide ration and kerosene to the people on time.

A delegation of residents from uptown told Kashmir News Trust, “It’s unfortunate that we have to wait for days together for ration as the ration ghats remain empty. Tall claims of authorities that there is enough stock for consumers is a joke. They are unaware about the

ground realities and the prob-lems being faced by us.”

The delegation from city said, “We have been running from pillar to post to get a few liters of kerosene oil from the govern-ment authorized depot but the depot owners say they haven’t received their quota.”

The delegation claimed that ker-osene oil is available in the open market at very high rates. “We appeal authorities to ensure that empty ration ghats are filled and K-oil is made available before the snowfall,” they added. (KNT)

Agencies

Srinagar, Nov 14, KNT: It has been a week, when snowfall brought life to a grinding halt, Power Development Depart-ment (PDD) is yet to restore

power supply in scores of areas. The power supply in Kashmir has been erratic for 7 days now, with major parts of the Valley including Srinagar plunged into darkness. Locals from Mehjoor Nagar Srinagar told Kashmir News Trust that PDD restored electricity in the area after 5 days of snowfall but a day later,

electricity got snapped from past 24 hours the whole area is reeling under darkness.

The locals from various areas narrated the same story. The Valley received the season’s first snowfall on November 7, result-

ing in the total collapse of the power distribution system.

Residents of interior Laway-pora said that they have been repeatedly requesting PDD to re-store electric supply, but nobody gives heed. The areas in Srinagar outskirts including Wanabal By-pass, Railway Colony Kanihama and others haven’t seen power

supply since November 7. The rural areas in North, South and Central Kashmir have not wit-nessed electricity from the day when snowfall hit Kashmir. “How can you expect power sup-ply in rural areas when it is not

visible in city areas,” said Bashir Ahmed, a resident of Budgam.

Pertinently, Kashmir gets its power supply from the north-ern grid. The transmission line connecting Kashmir to the grid passes through the rugged and difficult terrain of the PirPanjal mountain range, which receives massive snowfall. (KNT)

7 days after snowfall: Scores of areas still reeling under darkness

Militant surrenders, says ArmySrinagar, Nov 14, KNT: Army Thursday claimed that it’s efforts bore fruits when a local youth who had recently joined militant ranks sur-rendered before them. Adil Ahmed Mir, a resident of Ari-hal area of South Kashmir had joined militant outfit Hizbul-Mujhadeen in the last week of July this year. An official told KNT that Mir surrendered before the Army on Thursday morning. The official said that Mir will be rehabilitated as per policy framed by the government. (KNT)

‘Why Darbar Move when J&K is no more a State: JDU Srinagar, Nov 14, KNT:Janata Dal (United) Thursday demanded that that tradition of Darbar Move should be ended as in the ab-sence of any political activity and bureaucracy during winters, people of Kashmir suffer badly. “When Jammu and Kashmir is no more a state, then why to follow the redundant traditional practice of Darbar Move,” GM Shaheen, the party state head told reporters in Srinagar.

He also asked Government of India to release all political leaders who from time to time helped India to get stronger in Kashmir. “It is beyond our understanding that why people from business fraternity, lawyers and trade union leaders are being kept under detention,” he said during a press conference.

Shaheen accused BJP of stifling democracy in Kashmir. “Why democracy is not allowed to bloom in Kashmir. Political lead-ers should be released and efforts should be made for returning normalcy in Valley,” he said and demanded immediate restora-tion of internet service in Kashmir. (KNT)

Srinagar, Nov 14 (KNO): In a sig-nificant development, the J&K Law Commission has recom-mended changes in the new re-cruitment policy rolled out by the PDP-BJP government in 2015.

Making fresh recommenda-tion, the panel headed by Justice ( retd.)M K Hanjura has called for reducing the probation peri-od of new recruits from existing five years to two years. The new job policy, also known as SRO-202, has come under criticism from different quarters since it was unveiled in 2015.

According to wire service—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), under the new recruitment pol-icy, a new recruit has to undergo five years’ probation period be-fore being entitled to pay appli-cable to the post against which he/she is appointed.

In its report, the panel has pointed out that probation pe-riod of five years appears to be “disproportionate, supernatural, plethoric and limitless.”

"An employee cannot be asked to wend a tortuous journey tot-tering, or rather, doddering his/her way to register his/her claim for the completion of the period of his probation after a great deal and lull of five years," reads the report ,which was submitted to J&K Chief Secretary, B.V.R Sub-rahmanyam on Thursday.

Mincing no words in casti-gating the previous regime for devising the policy, the Com-mission has said that they kept the sword of Damocles

hanging high on the heads of those recruited under the new policy."The ruling elite of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir lived a life which even 'the Vikramaditiyas'and 'the Mughals 'would not have dreamed of. They made room for keeping palatial govern-ment houses at their disposal with modern facilities till such time that they live and to the contrary they kept the sword of Damocles hanging high on the heads of this set of employees," reads the report.

"The taxable income of this ruling class all by itself had to be borne by the state exchequer in addition to a host of other ame-nities and facilities provided to them at the cost of the tax pay-ers money and these helpless employees who would hardly be making their both ends meet had the perks provided to them have been held in a leash," the report further states.

As per KNO, while conclud-ing the report, the panel has recommended that the em-ployees who have completed two years of probation on the date of the promulgation of Jammu and Kashmir Reorgani-zation Act, may be regularized subject to the conditions laid down in the SRO.

It has also suggested that the employees who will be com-pleting two years of probation on any future date may be taken up for such consideration on such dates. (KNO)

J&K Law Commission recommends changes in new recruitment policy rolled out in 2015Calls for reducing probation period to 2 years

"AN EMPLOYEE CANNOT BE ASKED to wend a tortuous journey tottering, or rather, doddering his/her way to register his/her claim

for the completion of the period of his probation after a great deal and lull of five years," reads the report ,which was submitted to J&K Chief Secretary, B.V.R Subrahmanyam on Thursday.

Friday|15-11-2019

Sunday Observer

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For Nehru, spirituality was rooted in Indian tradition and connected to ethics

A nuanced and essentially Indic understanding of the spiri-tual quest guided Nehru’s endeavours in this respect. This understanding, achieved through reflection spread over millennia, came almost intuitively to a sophisticated In-

dian like Nehru, as it did to several ordinary people in his country. That is why Nehru could win the faith of countless Indians despite a sustained campaign against him for not being “culturally rooted and sufficiently Hindu/Indian”. He never hid his aversion to “supersti-tious practices and dogmatic beliefs” and “uncritical credulousness” that often go with religion. But, he also knew that, “religion had sup-plied some deeply felt inner need of human nature, and the vast ma-jority of people all over the world could not do without some form of religious belief. It had produced many fine types of men and women, as well as bigoted, narrow-minded, cruel tyrants.”

Nehru felt “at home” in a “pantheistic atmosphere” and was at-tracted to “the advaita philosophy of Vedanta”. In his own words, “I can appreciate to some extent the conception of monism, and I have been at-tracted towards the advaita (non-dualist) philosophy. The diversity and fullness of nature stir me and produce a harmony of the spirit, and I can imagine myself feeling at home in the old Indian or Greek pagan and pan-theistic atmosphere, but minus the conception of God or gods that was attached to it.” He further notes, “Some kind of ethical approach to life has a strong appeal for me, though it would be difficult for me to justify it logically. I have been attracted by Gandhiji’s stress on right means.”

In the Hindu worldview, “ethics and conduct” are much more im-portant than the acceptance of a particular doctrine. That is why Ne-hru, who always emphasised scientific temper, could win the love and confidence of not just ordinary people but religious scholars as well.

As first-hand received knowledge of the freedom struggle fades, misconceptions like Nehru was “ignorant” of Indian culture and had “contempt’ for Hinduism have become widespread. In 2004, at a confer-ence of scholars of Indian religions and cultures at Esalen institute, Cali-fornia, I was amazed to hear from a very respected scholar of philosophy and history that “the rise of Hindutva politics in India is due to the fact that Nehru suppressed religion, particularly its public display”.

Any Indian brought up in “Nehru’s India” would find this state-ment bizarre. Nehru and his colleagues, in continuation of Gandhi’s idea that “every religion has some element of Truth”, tried to evolve a state which sought to neither privilege nor suppress any religion — it sought to provide space to atheists as well. Even after Nehru’s de-mise, when the word “secular” was inserted into the Preamble of the Constitution, through the 42nd amendment, care was taken to trans-late it in Hindi not as “dharma-nirpeksha’ but “panth-nirpeksha” — because in several Indian languages, the term “dharma” stands not for a religious doctrine, dogma or faith system, but for the “inherent nature” of things, or for law.

The need to address the “spiritual” was not merely personal for Nehru. Reflecting on the human condition, he noted in a conversa-tion with R K Karanjia in 1960, “the need to find some answer to the spiritual emptiness facing our technological civilisation”. He had realised quite early on, the deep interconnection between the poetic and the spiritual. In 1922, while in prison, he read a lot of “religious” works. In a letter to Gandhi, Nehru insightfully described the Ram-charitmanas as “a spiritual autobiography” of the poet Tulsidas.

After Independence, Nehru was as insistent on having autono-mous national institutions of letters, fine arts, music, drama and film as he was eager to have institutes of technology and nuclear reactors. The most important function of these initiatives in Nehru’s vision was to address the “spiritual emptiness facing our technological ci-vilisation”. What he could not tolerate was using religion for political gains — communalism and the politics of hurt sentiments.

The recent Ayodhya verdict reflects a situation characterised by the helplessness of law instead of its rule, the reason being that the judi-ciary was expected to resolve a matter which though apparently legal, was essentially political. It is for us to think whether Nehru’s insistence on running our polity “in accordance with political principles, not reli-gious sentiments” has become more important with time.

This article first appeared in the print edition on November 14, 2019 under the title ‘Nehru, rational spiritualist’. Agrawal is a writer and historian. His latest book is Who is Bharat Mata?, an edited col-lection on Nehru.

Purushottam Agrawal In The Indian Express

O T H E R O P I N I O N

THIS is a description with a clear focus on the Prophet’s wife that set me thinking. I

wanted to read more about her, know her better.

A little under two years ago when I first laid my hands on Lesley Hazleton’s “The First Muslim”, I could not put it down. I distinctly remem-ber sitting at the dining table with the book, narrating the story of Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh), occupying my mind space as also that on the table. The glass, the plate and all else could wait. I knew about the Prophet from the beginning of my life, had read about him in elementary books of theology, not to forget a few hagiogra-phies sought to be palmed off as biographies. Lesley’s book was different. She projected him not as a superhero with a halo around him but as a normal human being, something the Quran too emphasises more than once. She put him against the socio-economic backdrop of the day and sought to make sense of his actions accord-ingly. For instance, his call against female in-fanticide in a society where the male child was treasured, the females often buried alive.

Without any hues of divine enlightenment, Lesley, a Jew settled in Seattle, talked of the Prophet as a boy who had very unusual and trying circum-stances. A boy who had lost his father before he was born, he lost his mother when he was all of six. Brought up by his grandfather, his was a remark-able rise from the edges of the society to a reasonably well off and trusted business agent by the time he was getting into middle age. Except that all this paled when compared to what transpired on Mount Hira when he was 40, the mo-ment he got the first revelation. It is here that Lesley rose above various biographers and put Muhammad’s reaction –– he was shaken to the bone –– in a dispassionate manner, casting aside various accounts of mythi-cal peace and bliss. It is also the

point that the role of his first wife, Khadija (AS), comes into play. It is the reason too why I picked up Lesley’s book again. First time round, I read her to know the first Muslim –– the Quran instructs, “Muhammad say, “I am the first Muslim”.” This time I picked up the book to know more about Khadija, the lady who stood by him when he needed her, the wife who trusted him, lent him her shoul-der. Hers is an unusual story which comes through as Lesley seeks to complete the picture of the life and times of the prophet.

Not enough has been writ-ten about Khadija (AS), but whatever Lesley has written projects her to be a woman of unusual merit. It also puts in place the sundry maulanas of the subcontinent who are against the idea of a woman having her own identity, her own will. The reality is quite different. Khadija was a reasonably successful business-woman who had been married twice. She was a financially independent woman who hired Muhammad (Pbuh) as her busi-ness manager. It was, as Lesley writes, “an unusual marriage. She was older than he, and while accounts vary as to exact-ly how much older, most settle on age forty for her, twenty-five for him. Not that this was what made the marriage unusual.” It was not a marriage of conve-nience either, for 24 years the two were in a monogamous relationship until she passed away and “long after her death, he would hold her up as far superior to any of his later wives”. It was love pure and simple. As Lesley pens, “What made the marriage unusual, then, was not the age difference but its closeness, especially given the difference in social status between husband and wife. And the fact that it was she who proposed to him.” She is described as a “determined” and “intelligent” woman, traits not often used to describe women those days. The two of them had four daughters and a son, Qasim who did not survive until his second birthday. Here

too Khadija sought to mitigate the Prophet’s sorrow through Zayd, a slave boy she had given him as a marriage gift. The Prophet treated him more like a son though.

Lesley draws a graphic picture of the revelation of the first verses. Following the rev-elation, the Prophet came from the mountain, his robe torn, his arms and legs scratched. It was then that Khadija comfort-ed him. “She held him, cradled him as the night sky began to grow pale in the east with the reassuring prospect of the day. Slowly, haltingly, the words he had perhaps felt more than heard began to find physical shape in his mouth. Even as he still shook in Khadija’s arms, Muhammad found his voice…..they had been man and wife for fifteen years, but she had never heard him speak with such beauty before….”

This is a description with a clear focus on the Prophet’s wife that set me thinking. I wanted to read more about her, know her better. Almost in desperation, I called up my niece settled in Seattle to meet Lesley Hazleton. And tried to read whatever I could on this remarkable woman. Soon, I discovered, Khadija traded goods through the major com-mercial centres at that time, from Mecca to Syria and to Ye-men. Her business was larger than all of the Quraysh trades combined. Twice widowed herself, she gave her earnings to the poor and the orphans. And then of course, she was the first person to believe in the revelation sent to the Prophet. All along she retained her identity, her name even after her husband became the leader of the times. She was always Khadija bint Khuway-lid, never Khadija Muham-mad. Yet she has remained in the background, never really centre-stage as various biog-raphers have written about the last messenger. Not easy, but Lesley Hazleton’s book has made sure I want to know about Khadija, the woman, her man and her times. -

By The Side Of The ‘First Muslim’

Who Holds More Power In Delhi, Lawyers And Policemen Debate

Vijayta LaLwani/ ScroLL

TEN days after clashes broke out between lawyers and the police at the district court complex in Tis Haz-

ari, lawyers in Delhi continue to strike work. They are asking for the policemen who fired upon them on November 2 to be arrested.

Dramatic video footage of the clash, however, showed police of-ficials, including deputy police commissioner Monika Bhardwaj, fleeing from a group of suspected lawyers. In the backdrop of the clash, a fire raged in the premises of the court. Lawyers had allegedly set several police vehicles on fire.

In another video, along with four other police officials, Bharad-waj can be seen pleading with pro-testors with folded hands, only to be surrounded by a hostile crowd. The officer has alleged that a fire-arm belonging to a subordinate was snatched by the crowd. The firearm has been missing since then. Ten policemen were injured. Despite the videos, no FIR was filed on the basis of the attack on Bhardwaj.

On November 4, a video that surfaced online showed lawyers outside the district court in Saket hitting a policeman, who later fled the scene on his motorbike.

An older history of frictionThe clash is not the first such

instance of violence between the two groups.

In 1988, when Puducherry Lieu-tenant Governor Kiran Bedi was the deputy commissioner of police of North Delhi, a police officer ar-rested a lawyer that sparked out-rage among members of the legal

fraternity. The lawyers at the time demanded Bedi’s resignation.

“I recall when they [lawyers] barged into Bedi’s office and misbe-haved with her,” said Ved Marwah, who was then Delhi police commis-sioner. “She [Bedi] wouldn’t take it lying down.”

Friction between lawyers and the police is common, said Maxwell Pereira, who served at senior posi-tions in Delhi police from 1985 until he retired in 2004.

During his tenure as the deputy commissioner of police of South Delhi in the 1980s, Pereira said that a group of lawyers had allegedly pres-sured the magistrate of a court to sign the bail plea of a lawyer charged with murder. “We had found the body in a sewer and found the mur-derer to be a lawyer,” he said. “The magistrate signed the order.”

Legally, Pereira said, lawyers enjoy no impunity. “But the bias of the judiciary is there,” which he said reflected in the Delhi High Court’s order of November 3. In a special hearing held a day after the clash, the Delhi High Court ordered an inquiry and asked Delhi police

commissioner Amulya Patnaik to suspend the police officials who led the firing and lathicharge on the lawyers. Two senior police of-ficials were transferred on Novem-ber 7, just days after the Delhi High Court’s order on November 3.

“The court has no powers to suspend or transfer policemen,” said Pereira. “There is electronic evidence but the lawyers have not been pun-ished. What kind of justice is this?”

On November 5, police person-nel unprecedentedly held a massive protest against the violence out-side the Delhi Police Headquarters. They demanded that First Informa-tion Reports be filed against the lawyers allegedly involved. Police officials who protested also claimed that the court’s order reflected that lawyers in the National Capital en-joyed “special privileges”.

Several of them chanted slogans in praise of Bedi: “Police commis-sioner kaisa ho, Kiran Bedi jaisa ho.” What should the police com-missioner be like? They should be like Kiran Bedi.

“Lawyers feel they have more power because they have the judges

on their side,” said one protestor.

‘Lawyers have no power’But lawyers deny there was any

bias in the Delhi High Court order. “The order was given according to the law and not according to whom the judges’ favour,” said Ajay Ku-mar, an advocate at Patiala House Court who has been practicing for 11 years.

Kumar also dismissed claims of lawyers in Delhi enjoying impu-nity. “Even Chidambaram is a se-nior lawyer but he is in jail today,” he said. “If there was a convention, then would he be behind bars?”

Yogendra Singh Tomar, another lawyer at Patiala House, asked: “If po-lice were scared of lawyers then why would they open fire?” He claimed that lawyers had no power. “All the power is with the police. They are the one with the weapons and batons.”

Tomar, who has been practic-ing at Patiala House for 15 years, said that the vandalism of police vehicles allegedly by lawyers was a result of “action and reaction”.

“Initial fault is of the police,” he said, referring to the parking scuffle between a lawyer and policemen, which later led to the clashes at Tis Hazari. “Police could have issued a challan or towed the vehicle. Why did they have to beat up the lawyer?”

Many lawyers dismissed the videos shared on social media show-ing lawyers assaulting policemen as “propaganda”.

“Till now no media house has visited the lawyers that were in-jured,” claimed Kumar. “We are be-ing called goons but no one said that the police protest [on November 5] was illegal. They are not allowed to protest [under service rules].”

Zia US SaLam

Without any hues of divine

enlightenment, Lesley, a Jew settled in Seattle, talked of the Prophet as a boy who had very unusual and trying circumstances. A boy who had lost his father before he was born, he lost his mother when he was all of six. Brought up by his grandfather, his was a remarkable rise from the edges of the society to a reasonably well off and trusted business agent by the time he was getting into middle age

Friday|15-11-2019News

OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER SUB TRANSMISSION DIVISION BIJBEHARA

WWW.Jkpdd.gov.inTel No: - 09132-233002 Fax No:- 09132-234397xenstdbijbehara@yahtoo.com / xenstdbijbehara@gmail.com

NOTICE INVITING TENDERE-NITNO.STB/10 of 2019: Dated: 06-11-2019

For and on behalf of the Governor, Jammu and Kashmir, e-Tenders (In Two Cover System) are hereby invited from registered (A-class) Electrical Contractors registered with Inspection Agency of JKPDD/or any other relevant Government agency enlisted with CPWD,MES, Railway, DGBRO of appropriate class for Supply, installation, testing & commissioning of 11, KV Isolators with Earthing blades along with all accessories on existing gantries after dismantling of damaged/existing 11KV Link Sets of 11KV outgoing feeders under the Jurisdiction of S T S/Div Anantnag of STD Bijbehara.The details are as under:-

S.N 0 SCOPE OF WORK Head Estimated Cost (Rs.lnLacs)

Last date for Sub-mission of e-Bid

1 Supply, installation, testing & commissioning of 11 KV Isolators with Earthing blades along with all accessories on existing gantries after disman-tling of damaged/existing 11KV Link Sets of 11KV outgoing feeders under the Jurisdiction of S T S/Div Anantnag STD Bijbehara

Demanded 19.33 3rd December 2019;11:00 AM

1. The tender document is available at website http://jktenders.gov.in. download the e-Bid document, seek clarification and submit their e-time mentioned in the table below:.Interested bidders may view, Bid online up to the date and

A Date & Time of down loading of Standard Bidding Docu-ment

The Standard Bidding Document can be downloaded over http://jktenders.gov.in from 11th November 2019; 4:00 PM

B Sale of Bid Document (Start) 11th November 2019; 4:00 PMC Sale of Bid Document (End) 2nd December 2019; 4:00 PMD Clarifications start date 11th November 2019; 4:00 PME Clarifications end date 15th November 2019; 10:00 AMF e-Bid submission (start) date & time (Submission of e-

tender fee, EMD and other supporting documents in PDF/XLS format)

15th November 2019; 11:00 AM

G e-Bid submission (end) date & time (Submission of e-tender fee, EMD and other supporting documents in PDF/XLS format)

3rd December 2019; 11:00 AM

H Online Commercial, Technical & Financial e-Bid opening date & Time

5th December 2019; 2:00 PM

I Venue of opening of technical & financial e-Bids Office of the Executive Engineer STD BijbeharaJ Cost of e-Bid document Rs.1000.00 (Rupees One thousand only)

(Non-refundable)K Amount of Earnest Money Deposit Rs.39000.00 (Rupees Thirty Nine Thousand

only)2______There is no need of furnishing of hard copies of bids after submission of e-tenders . The same should be obtained only from the bidder who is declared as L1 after opening of financial bid as per the instructions of Finance Department issued vide O.M No. A/24(2017)-651; Dated: 07-06-20183. All the e-Bids must be accompanied by the scanned copy of cost of tender document. The cost of tender document should be paid through e- challan/treasury challan /receipt.4. All the e-Bids must be accompanied by the scanned copy of EMD in the form of CDR/FDR/Bank Guarantee only, pledged to the Executive Engineer Subtransmission Division Bijbehara. No Interest would be payable on Earnest Money deposited with the Depart-ment. However the bidder who is declared L1 after opening of financial bid has to submit the original EMD to the office of the Executive Engineer Subtransmission Division Bijbehara through speed post, Courier or by hand.5. The e-Bids will be electronically opened in the presence of bidder’s representatives, who choose to attend at the venue, date and time mentioned in the above table or any subsequent day to the convenience of the Tender Opening Committee. An authority letter of bidder’s/OEM representative will be required to be produced.6. The Department reserves the right to cancel any or all the e-Bids/ the e-Bid process without assigning any reason thereof. The decision of department will be final and binding.7. In the event of date specified for e-Bids opening being declared a holiday for department’s office then the due date for opening of e-Bids shall be the following working day at the appointed time and place.8. All the required documents excluding Price Schedule/BOQ should be uploaded by the e-Bidder electronically in the PDF format, whereas Price Schedule/BOQ should be uploaded electronically in the same BOQ sheet provided with the SBD.9. To participate in e-bidding process, bidders have to get ‘Digital Signature Certificate (DSC)’ class lll(b) as per Information Technol-ogy Act-2000, to participate in online bidding.

Executive Engineer, Sub transmission Division, Bijbehara

No: STB/1570-73; Dated: 06-11-2019 DIPK NO: 2792/M

DIRECTORATE OF FIRE & EMERGENCY SERVICES J&K GANDHI NAGAR JAMMU

Tef:- 0191-2457821 jFax:-0191-24S3013

Email: lnfo.fesjk@gmait.corn ;

Subject:- Re-examination (written test) of candidates who applied for posts of Fireman/Fireman Drivers vide Advertisement Notice No.01 of 2013 dated 12-03-2013.

Reference:- Advertisement Notification No.01 of 2013 dated 12-03-2013 read with Notification No.DF&ES/Rec-2018/5908-18 dated 14- 08-2018 & in compliance of Govt, Order No,880-Home of 2019 dated 01-08-2019.

NOTIFICATION FOR WRITTEN TEST It is hereby notified for information of all concerned,

1. In pursuance of Govt Order No.880-Home of 2019 dated 01-08-2019 the written examination for the post of Fire-man/ Fireman Drivers in the Fire & Emergency Service Department shall be conducted afresh,2. Only those candidates who have appeared In the previous i written examination shall be eligible to appear in re-ex-amination. Further, the candidates who have failed in driving test will not be eligible to appear in written re-examination.3. The candidates will collect their Admit Cards from nearest .J&K Fire Station at respective District head quarters lo-cated in UT of Jammu & Kashmir & District Kargil. 4. The re-written examination shall be held on 15th December 2019 (Sunday) from 1100 hrs to 1300 hrs. The venue of examination are provided in the Admit Card. The Admit Card can be, collected from 25 of November 2019 to 5th of December 2019.5. The name of the'centre, post for which applied, Roll No. of the candidate for the written test will be notified in the Admit Card,6. The candidate shall check their particulars in the Admit Card carefuliy and in case any discrepancy is found, the same be immediatelyreported to the Chairman, Departmental Recruitment Board of Fire & Emergency Services on Email.ID infofesjk@gmail.com, Fax No. 01912453013 & phone No. 01912457821.7. The Candidates must reach the specified Centre /venue weli in advance on the date of test and shall report in the examination centre at the stipulated time as provided in the Admit Card. Any candidate who reports after the stipulated reporting time will not be allowed inside the examination hall.8. The written test will be objective/OMR type having 100 questions (total 100 marks) as per the .syllabus already published9. The OMR sheet will be candidate specific and the candidates shall verify their personal details provided on the OMR sheet and in case of any discrepancy, the candidate shall immediately report to the examination Incharge, 10. The candidates shall use blue / black ball point pen in the written test. The guidelines for making of response / cor-rect answers on Answer /OMR sheets will be mentioned in the Admit Card. 11. The candidates appearing in the written test shall bring their Admit Cards along-with one of the Photo identity proofs such as Aadhar Cards/Passport/Driving License/voter Card etc, in original failing which they will be denied entry.12. The candidates shall strictly comply with the directions given to them by Examiners/Invigilators. Any candidate found disregarding the directions shall be liable to be debarred from the written test.13. Use of calculator, mobile phone, Bluetooth Device,’ paper, Notes, Book, Scanning Device, pager, Headphone, Ear-plugs, Laptop ipad Tablets, PC or any other computing/ communications/electronic device mobile/ smart phones. The candidates should not carry any mobile phone in side examination hall and any person found carrying same will be disqualified.14. Smart watches and any other electronic gadgets inside the examinations hall/room are not permitted. The Candi-dates are advised not to bring any such items with them to the examinations centre as the arrangement for their safe-keeping cannot be assured. Any loss of such items shall be the responsibility of the candidate.15. Use of unfair means in the examination is strictly prohibited. Any candidate using unfair means in the written test will be debarred from the written test and will also be prosecuted.16. No candidate should misbehave in any manner or create disorderly scene in the Examination Hall or harass the staff posted for conduct of the examination, The candidates found involved in any such misconduct will be penalised. 17. NO TA/DA will be paid to the candidates for appearing,’ in the written test.

NO: DGF&ES/Rec/2019/ 11392-424dated: 13-11-20198

V.K Singh IPS Chairman

DIPK NO: 2909/M Departmental Recruitment Board Fire & Emergency Services, J&K Jammu

Government of Jammu & Kashmir Directorate of Tourism, Kashmir

Tel:0194-2315378, Fax 0194-2479548. e-mail: ddtreg(Sjktourism.or

Subject: - Grant of registration for Guest House under the Name and style of "Royal samad" Guest House situated at M. A. Link Road Srinagar.

PUBLIC NOTICE

Whereas, Mr. Mohammad Rafiq Bhat and Others S/o Ab. Samad Bhat R/o MA Link Road Srinagar has ap-proached in this office for grant of registration of his residential house into Guest House under the name and style of "Royal Samad" situated at M.A.Link Road Srinagar, under the provision of Tourist Trade Act. 1978/82/2011/2012.Whereas, the applicant has submitted Building permission , State Subject Certificate PAN Cards, Adhar Card, Passport, Compound Challan/ Site Plan, Photograph of the applicant.Before the request of the applicant is considered for registration of above mentioned Guest House the mat-ter is hereby notified for information of General Public/Financial Institutions/Banks that incase of any objec-tion, the same should reach to this office within a period of 07 days from the publication of this notice in the local newspaper. No objection beyond period of 07 days will be entertained and the request of the applicant will be considered for registration OF THE above mentioned Guest House under rules after submission of all requisite documents.

Joint Direcotor Tourism, Registration.

No:-Reg/UP-DTK/ 34/1260 Dated:- 06/11/2019

DIPK NO; 2843

New Gaza Rockets Disrupt Israel, Islamic Jihad Cease-FirePress Trust Of India

Gaza City - Gaza militants fired a barrage of rockets into Israel on Thursday, hours after a cease-fire was declared to end two days of intense fighting between Israel and the Is-lamic Jihad group, the heaviest escalation in months that killed at least 34 Palestinians, including three women and eight children, and paralyzed parts of Israel.

No one immediately claimed responsibil-ity for the new wave of rockets and it wasn't clear how this would affect the fate of the cease-fire. Israel had hailed the Gaza opera-tion as a victory, defending its policy of tar-geting militants in their homes despite civil-ian deaths and vowed to continue the tactic.

Islamic Jihad said it had succeeded in getting Israel to agree to a cease-fire based on several demands, including a halt to Israeli targeted killings of the group's leaders.

Islamic Jihad spokesman Musab al-Ber-im said the Egyptian-brokered deal went into effect at 5:30 a.m. An Israeli military spokes-man tweeted that the Gaza operation is over. Some restrictions were lifted on residents of southern Israel and traffic returned to the streets of the Palestinian coastal territory.

But after hours of calm, a barrage of rockets blasted out of the territory, setting off air raid sirens in southern Israel and test-ing the fragile truce.

The fighting first erupted early on Tues-

day after Israel killed a senior commander of the Iranian-backed militant group who was said to be behind a string of rocket attacks and who Israel said was believed to be plan-ning a cross-border infiltration.

The rare targeted killing by Israel sparked the heaviest fighting with Gaza militants since May. Islamic Jihad fired some 450 rockets toward Israel, while Israel responded with scores of airstrikes.

Gaza's ruling Hamas militant group, much larger and more powerful than Islamic Jihad, stayed out of the latest escalation an indication it would be brief.

Israel typically does not publicly ac-knowledge deals with militant groups, and on Thursday officials said the only unwritten agreement was that Israel would hold fire so long as Islamic Jihad did. Military spokes-men listed a series of accomplishments after

the two-day spasm of violence, including the killing of some 25 militants in targeted strikes.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said the policy had proved itself and would continue. Everyone who was a top military official, who was set to carry out and was involved in terror or rocket firing against Israel was eliminated, he told Israeli Army Radio. And we intend to continue with this.

Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett warned Gaza militants they were not safe anywhere. A terrorist who tries to harm Is-raeli citizens will not be able to sleep sound-ly, not in his home and not in his bed and not in any hiding place, he said. Critics of Isra-el's contentious policy say it amounts to ex-trajudicial killings that endanger civilians.

But Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col.

Jonathan Conricus defended the attacks on militants' private homes, saying Islamic Jihad commanders used their residences to store weapons, making them legitimate targets.

Palestinian officials say 34 people were killed in the fighting, including at least 18 militants. They say eight children, including a pair of 7-year-olds, and three women were among the dead.

The rocket fire crippled life across south-ern Israel and on Tuesday, also in the coun-try's heartland in and around Tel Aviv, as nonstop air-raid sirens canceled schools and forced people indoors. At least three people were lightly wounded from shrapnel or shat-tered glass. Most rockets landed in open ar-eas or were shot down by Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system.

Six family members killed in Israeli airstrike on Gaza

Gaza City, Nov 14 (AFP) Six members of the same family were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the southern Gaza Strip, the health ministry of the coastal Palestin-ian enclave said on Thursday.

The deaths bring the toll from Israeli strikes targeting Islamic Jihad mili-tant sites to 32 since Tuesday, while 350 rockets have been fired at Israel, according to Israeli military data. (AFP)

Despite 'wonderful' meeting, Trump and Erdogan fail to resolve conflictsAgencies

WASHINGTON- US President Don-ald Trump on Wednesday pushed Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to walk away from the purchase of a Russian missile defense system, calling it a “very serious challenge” to bilateral ties, even though he de-scribed a meeting between the two leaders as “wonderful”.

After the much anticipated meeting at the White House to ad-dress a crisis in relations, Trump said he was “a great fan” of the Turkish leader and that they had a “productive” encounter.

But both leaders fell short of explaining in concrete terms how they would overcome the mounting differences they have on numerous issues, from Erdogan’s incursion in

Syria against America’s Kurdish al-lies to Turkey’s purchase of the Rus-sian S-400 missile defense system.

“Turkey’s acquisition of sophis-ticated Russian military equipment, such as the S-400, creates some very serious challenges for us and we are talking about it constantly,” Trump told a joint news conference.

“We talked about it today, we’re talking about it in the future, hope-fully we’ll be able to resolve that situation.”

Minutes after their news con-ference, the White House released a statement using firmer language than the two leaders, who boast of having a warm personal relation-ship while their governments are largely on icy terms.

“In order to achieve progress on other fronts, it is vital that we re-

solve the issues involving Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense system, strengthening our defense partnership,” it said.

Washington says Ankara’s pur-chase of the Russian system is not compatible with Nato defenses and also poses a threat to the F-35 ‘stealth’ fighter jet Lockheed Martin is devel-oping. It is concerned that Turkey, a bulwark against the Soviet Union during the Cold War, is deepening ties with Moscow at the expense of its partnership with the United States.

Turkey had shrugged off threats of US sanctions and began receiving its first S-400 deliveries in July. To punish Turkey, the United States has banned sales of F-35s to the country and removed it from a mul-tinational program to produce the warplane.

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BAZAR OBSERVER

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OFFICE OF THE REGIONAL TRANSPORT OFFICER GANDERBAL

Notice

Whereas, an joint application has been received from Shri Shabir Ahmad Rather S/O Gh-ulam Ahmad Rather R/o The-ru Ganderbal( Transferor) and Shri Kaisar Farooq S/O Farooq Ahmad Wagay R/o Sumbal Hi-

lal Abad (Transferee) for transfer of Mahindra & Mahindra Balero Pick Up carriage route Permit No -- Covering Ve-hicle No JK16-8857 . As well HPA Cancellation with J&K Bank Dudrhama Ganderbal Now, therefore, it is notified for general information that objections, if any to the proposed transfer of the said route permit / vehicle & Cancellation of hire purchase agreement shall be filled in writing in the office of the Re-gional Transport Officer, Kashmir. Within a period of 7 days from the date of publication of this notice in the daily News Paper Kashmir Observer.NO: JK/RTOK /5152 Sd/-Dated: 13/11/2019 Regional Transport

Office, KashmirFK

PUBLIC NOTICEI have lost my Driving License bearing DL No; JK0320120019610 Now I have applied for the duplicate of the same if anybody having any objection in this regard he/she may file his/her objection in the office of the ARTO ANANTNAG within a period of seven days from the date of publication of this notice. After that no objection shall be entertained.

Aijaz Ahmad WanI S/O Ghulam Hassan Wani

R/o Sallar Pehalgam Anantnag

MQ J

OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT REGIONAL TRANSPORT OFFICER ANANTNAG

NOTICEWhereas an application has been received by this office from Mehraj Ahmad Mehraj S/o Ghulam Ah-mad Bhat R/o Kadipora Anantnag Owner of the Vehicle Wagon R Bearing Regd. No. JK03E-0483 requesting for Cancellation of hire purchase agree-ment with J&K Bank TP Anantnag ...Before the case is disposed off on its merit, anybody have any objection regarding the proposed trans-fer Amy file his objection within (7) days from the publication of this notice to the office of the under-signed. No any representation / objection shall be entertained after stipulated period.

Assistant Regional Transport Officer Anantnag

MQ J

Government of Jammu & Kashmir Project Management Unit Jhelum &

Tawi Flood Recovery Project (JTFRP)

(World Bank Funded) JKERA Commercial Complex Rambagh Srinagar.

Email: dirpmujk@gmail.com

No:JTFRP/PMU/DT/Camp/2019/777/135

Date:09-11-2019

Sub: Corrigendum 01 to NIT No. REVISED/HMAP (SUPPLY, INSTAL-LATION & COMMISSIONING, operation and MAINTENANCE OF HYDRO METEREOLOGICAL SYSTEM FOR JAMMU & KASHMIR.)

This is for information of all the interested bidders that:The Last date for submission of bids is hereby extended upto 10- 12-2019 1500 hours and the bids shall be opened on 10-12-2019 1530 hours.

Sd/-Director (P&C)DIPK NO: 2810/M

Office of the Executive Engineer Mechanical Division BaramullaFax 01952234426 e-mail. Id. executiveengineerdb@gmail.com

Gist of Short term Notice Inviting TenderNo: MDB/Tech/3073-77 Dated: 09 -11-201 9.

Scaled tenders affixed with four Rupees Revenue stamps are invited on behalf of the Lieutenant Governor of J&k U-T from registered approved firms/suppliers / agencies having experience in similar nature of work supplies for below men-tioned supplies / Work.

NIT No/ Date Description of Material E s t i m a t e d Cost (Rs)

Earnest Mon-ey (Rs)

Cost of Tender Documents

Time of completion

MDB/ Tech / 96 of 2019-20

Providing / fitting testing & Commission-ing of Turbo charger to Snow Cutter Rolba 1500 (Bucher Guyer Model 2007)

1.50 lacs 3000/- 200/- 10 days

Complete details along with other terms & conditions arc given in the tender document which can be had Prom the office of the Executive Engineer Mechanical Division. Baramulla against payment (Cost of tender documents) as mentioned above (Non refundable / Non transferable) in the shape of demand Draft drawn in favour of Executive Engineer Mechani-cal Division Baramulla or in cash to be remitted in Divisional Chest against proper G.Rthe tender documents shall be issued to the intending tenders on producing of following Certificates / documents. Registration Certificate of Sales ! ax Department quoting GST No.. Sales tax clearance certificate. Authorization certificate/ letter from OEM in case of bidders who would like to quote as authorised dealers of OEMs.

Last date of sale of tender documents is 19 -11-2019 upto 03:30 P.M.

The Tenders shall be received in the office ol the Executive Engineer. Mechanical Division Baramuli by or before 21-11-2019 upto 02:00 PM Each tender shall be accompanied with earnest money in the shape of CDR /FDR pledged to Executive Engineer, Mechanical Division Baramulla, without which, tender cannot be entertained. the tenders can be opened on the same date or any other day as convenient to the tender opening authority in presence of the tenderers who may wish to be present. In case of the holiday otherwise, the tenders shall be received on the next working day upto scheduled time. All other terms and conditions shall remain same as laid down in PWD Form: 25.

Executive Engineer Mechanical Division BaramullaDIPK No: 2752/M

Office of the Executive Engineer Mechanical Division BaramullaFax 01952234426 e-mail. Id. executiveengineerdb@gmail.com

Short term Notice Inviting TenderNo: MDB/Tech/3082-87 Dated: 09 -11-201 9.

Scaled tenders affixed with four Rupees Revenue stamps are invited on behalf of the Lieutenant Governor of J&k U-T from registered approved firms/suppliers / agencies having experience in similar nature of work supplies for below men-tioned supplies / Work.

NIT No/ Date Description of Material E s t i m a t e d Cost (Rs)

Earnest Mon-ey (Rs)

Cost of Tender Documents

Time of completion

MDB/ Tech / 98 of 2019-20

Supply of welding electrodes SPARC make (4x450mm) to Divisional Stores MED Baramulla

19500 390/- 200/- 10 days

MDB/Tech/99 of 2019-20

Providing of Cutting Edges for fixed V-Type Snow plough of lenth 4000x20 mm having metallurgical composition EN8 for depart-mental Snow Clearance Machines of MED Baramulla

95000/- 1900/- 200/- 10 Days

MDB/Tech/100 of 2019-20

Providing and fitting left side door and rear window frame to Sonalika Tractor 60hp and modification of Front wind shield of Xgma Loader 953H of FSD Baramulla.

50000/- 1000/- 200/- 10 Days

Complete details along with other terms & conditions arc given in the tender document which can be had Prom the office of the Executive Engineer Mechanical Division. Baramulla against payment (Cost of tender documents) as mentioned above (Non refundable / Non transferable) in the shape of demand Draft drawn in favour of Executive Engineer Mechani-cal Division Baramulla or in cash to be remitted in Divisional Chest against proper G.Rthe tender documents shall be issued to the intending tenders on producing of following Certificates / documents. Registration Certificate of Sales ! ax Department quoting GST No.. Sales tax clearance certificateLast date of sale of tender documents is 19 -11-2019 upto 03:30 P.M.

The Tenders shall be received in the office ol the Executive Engineer. Mechanical Division Baramuli by or before 21-11-2019 upto 02:00 PM Each tender shall be accompanied with earnest money in the shape of CDR /FDR pledged to Executive Engineer, Mechanical Division Baramulla, without which, tender cannot be entertained. the tenders can be opened on the same date or any other day as convenient to the tender opening authority in presence of the tenderers who may wish to be present. In case of the holiday otherwise, the tenders shall be received on the next working day upto scheduled time. All other terms and conditions shall remain same as laid down in PWD Form: 25.

Executive Engineer Mechanical Division BaramullaDIPK No: 2751/M

Agenceis

LONDON: If you are a regu-lar smoker, quit now as researchers have found that tobacco smoking may

increase your risk of developing depression and schizophrenia.

"Individuals with mental illness are often overlooked in our efforts to reduce smoking prevalence, leading to health inequalities," said study lead author Robyn Wootton from the University of Bristol.

"Our work shows that we should be making every effort to prevent smoking initiation and encourage smoking cessation because of the consequences to mental health as well as physical health," Wootton added.

For the study, published in the journal Psychological Medicine, the research team used UK Bio-bank data from 462,690 individu-als of European ancestry, compris-ing 8 per cent current smokers and 22 per cent former smokers.

The team applied an analytic approach called Mendelian ran-domisation, which uses genetic variants associated with an ex-posure (e.g. smoking) to support stronger conclusions about cause-and-effect relationships.

"The increasing availability of genetic data in large studies, to-gether with the identification of genetic variants associated with a range of behaviours and health outcomes, is transforming our abil-

ity to use techniques such as Men-delian randomisation to under-stand causal pathways," said study senior author Marcus Munafò.

"What this shows is that ge-netic studies can tell us as much about environmental influences - in this case the effects of smoking on mental health - as about under-lying biology," Munafo added.

The research also suggests that smoking can have adverse effects on mental health.This new evidence adds further weight to support the imple-mentation of smoke-free policies.

Not only is there evidence that smoking can be detrimental to men-tal health, but much of the excess mortality associated with depression is due to smoking, the study added.

Here’s how an extra 15 minute daily walk could boost global economy

THE INCREASING AVAILABILITY OF

GENETIC DATA IN LARGE STUDIES, together with the identification of genetic variants associated with a range of behaviours and health outcomes, is transforming our ability to use techniques such as Mendelian randomisation to understand causal pathways.'

SMOKING

CIGARETTES May Increase Depression Risk: Study

Agencies

THE world economy could be boosted by as much as $100 billion a year if employers successfully encouraged their

staff to meet World Health Organiza-tion guidelines on exercise, accord-ing to an analysis of the economic impact of activity.

Adding an extra 15 minutes of daily walking, or jogging a steady one kilometre each day, would improve productivity and extend life expec-tancy - leading to more economic growth, the study by the health insur-ance group Vitality and the think tank RAND Europe found.

The economic boost would come from lower mortality rates - in other words keeping more people alive, working and contributing to the econ-omy for longer, the study’s authors said, and from employees taking fewer days off sick.

Hans Pung, RAND Europe’s presi-dent, said the study highlighted “a sig-nificant relationship between inactiv-ity and productivity loss” and should give policymakers and employers “new perspectives on how to enhance the productivity of their populations”.

The WHO recommends that all adults should take at least 150 min-utes of moderate exercise, or 75 min-utes of vigorous exercise, a week. In a

study last year it found that around 40 percent of adults in the United States, 36 percent in Britain and 14 percent in China did too little exercise to stay healthy.

The RAND/Vitality study was based in part on data from about 120,000 people across seven coun-tries. It then modelled and projected the potential economic benefits of in-creased physical activity globally and

for 23 individual countries.It found that if all adults aged

between 18 and 64 walked 15 more minutes a day, it could increase world economic output by some $100 billion (£77 billion) year on year.

It also found that physically inac-tive 40-year-olds could increase their life expectancy, on average, by 3.2 years, by introducing 20 minutes of jogging a day.

07Friday | 15-11-2019Business

N E W S M A K E R S

Wholesale inflation slows to 0.16 pc in Oct; lowest in three-and-a-half years

Moody's cuts India's GDP growth forecast to 5.6 pc for 2019

Press Trust Of India

New Delhi - Moody's Investors Service on Thursday cut India's economic growth forecast for current year to 5.6 per cent from

5.8 per cent estimated earlier, saying GDP slowdown is lasting longer than previously expected.

"We have revised down our growth forecast for India. We now forecast slower real GDP growth of 5.6 per cent in 2019, from 7.4 per cent in 2018," it said.

It expected economic activity to pick up in 2020 and 2021 to

6.6 per cent and 6.7 per cent, re-spectively, but the pace to remain lower than in the recent past.

"India's economic growth has decelerated since mid-2018, with real GDP growth slipping from

nearly 8 per cent to 5 per cent in the second quarter of 2019 and joblessness rising.

"Investment activity was muted well before that, but the economy was buoyed by strong consumption demand. What is troubling about the current slow-down is that consumption de-mand has cooled notably," it said.

India world's most open, investment friendly economy: PM Modi at BRICS

Press Trust Of India

Brasalia - India is the world's most "open and investment friendly" economy, Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi said here on Thursday as he wooed the BRICS business leaders, urging them to invest in the country and take advantage of its "limitless" possibilities and "countless" opportunities.

Addressing the closing cer-emony of the BRICS Business Fo-

rum, prime minister Modi said the grouping of five countries had led to economic development despite the global economic slowdown.

"India is the most open and in-vestment friendly economy in the world due to political stability, predictable policy and business friendly reforms. By 2024, we want to make India a five trillion dollar economy. The infrastruc-ture alone requires USD 1.5 tril-lion investment," he said.

Noting that India has "limit-less" possibilities and "countless" opportunities, the prime minister urged the BRICS business leaders to take advantage of them.

"I invite the business of BRICS countries to build and grow their presence in India," he said.

"BRICS countries account for 50 per cent of the world's eco-nomic growth. Despite the reces-sion in the world, BRICS countries accelerated economic growth, drove millions out of poverty and achieved new breakthroughs in technology and innovation. Now ten years after the founding of BRICS, this forum is a good plat-form to consider the direction of

our efforts in the future," Modi said. The prime minister said simplifying intra-BRICS business will increase mutual trade and investment.

"Tax and customs procedures between us five countries are get-ting easier. The business environ-ment is getting easier with the collaboration between intellec-tual property rights, and banks. I request the BRICS Business Forum to study the necessary business

initiatives to take full advantage of the opportunities thus gener-ated," he said.

"I would also like to request that priority areas in business be identified among us for the next ten years and based on them blue print of Intra-BRICS collaboration should be made," Modi said.

The prime minister said the market size, diversity and com-plementarities of the members of the BRICS countries were very beneficial to each other and urged the forum to map such comple-mentarities in the five countries.

"If one BRICS country has technology, the other is related to raw materials or markets. Such possibilities are especially in electric vehicles, digital tech-nology, fertilizer, agricultural products, food processing. I would urge the forum to map such complementarities in five countries. I would also like to suggest that at least five such areas should be identified by the next BRICS Summit in which joint ventures can be formed be-tween us on the basis of comple-mentarities," he said.

Press Trust Of India

New Delhi - Wholesale inflation slipped to about three-and-a-half-year low of 0.16 per cent in October on account of a decline in prices of manufactured goods though food products remained dearer, government data showed on Thursday. The previous low was in June 2016 when the Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation was a negative 0.1 per cent. In September this year, the WPI-based inflation was at 0.33 per cent, while it stood at 5.54 per cent in October 2018.

The rate of price rise for food articles was 9.80 per cent during the month, while for non-food articles it stood at 2.35 per cent, showed the latest data released by the commerce and industry ministry. The wholesale inflation in potato remained in the nega-tive zone at 19.60 per cent (from -22.50 per cent in September).

However, for vegetables, the inflation jumped to 38.91 per cent in October from 19.43 per cent a month ago, while that for pulses, it remained elevated at 16.57 per cent as compared with 17.94 per cent. For fruits, it eased to 2.72 per cent dur-ing the month as against 6.67 per cent in September. While wholesale inflation in manufac-tured products was (-)0.84 per cent in October 2019.

"The sequential dip in the WPI inflation in October 2019 was led by core items, fuel and pow-er, minerals, and crude petro-leum and natural gas, whereas inflation for primary food and non-food articles, and manufac-tured food products recorded an uptick," said Aditi Nayar, econo-mist at ICRA.

Among other articles, in the WPI basket, the inflation for the fuel and light category declined

further to -8.27 per centRahul Gupta, currency re-

search head, Emkay Global Fi-nancial Services, said, "The data in wholesale prices signals that there is still lack of demand in segments such as manufacturing, metals, and chemical products.

While only a surge in vegetable prices led to a rise in WPI from the market forecast. The contin-ued weakness in WPI along with slowing growth will induce the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) to cut

repo rate again in December."The retail inflation for the

month hit a 16-month high of 4.62 per cent due to soaring prices of food articles, including fruit and vegetables, according to data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Imple-

mentation on Wednesday.The RBI takes into account the

retail inflation data to decide on its bi-monthly monetary policy announcement, which is due early next month.

Clear revenue share dues as per SC order: DoT to telcosNew Delhi - The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has issued notice to telecom operators to pay their revenue share dues within three months as directed by the Supreme Court, according to an industry source. The DoT has given option to telecom operators to clear all the dues on self-assessment basis. The Supreme Court in its last month's ruling said, "We give three months' time to deposit the amount, which is due and compliance be reported."

"...you are therefore directed to make the payment in ac-cordance with the order of the Hon'ble Supreme Court dated October 24, 2019 and submit the requisite documents to ensure the compliance within the stipulated timeframe," said a notice which is received by the source. According to

an internal estimate prepared by the DoT, total dues on the telecom service providers arising out of SC order are around Rs 1.33 lakh crore.As per DoT's estimate, liability of Bharti Airtel Group is Rs 62,187.73 crore, Vodafone Idea Rs 54,183.9 crore and BSNL and MTNL Rs 10,675.18 crore. Companies under insolvency like Reliance Com-munications and Aircel have dues outstanding worth Rs 32,403.47 crore and companies under liquidation Rs 943 crore.

Press Trust Of India

Mumbai - Market benchmark Sensex rebounded over 170 points after a volatile session, helped by fag-end buying in mainly banking and IT stocks.

After swinging 322 points dur-ing the day, the 30-share Sensex ended 170.42 points, or 0.42 per cent, higher at 40,286.48. Simi-larly, the broader NSE Nifty rose 31.65 points, or 0.27 per cent, to end at 11,872.10. Top gainers in the Sensex pack included ICICI Bank, Infosys, Bajaj Finance and HDFC Bank, rising up to 2.67 per cent. While, IndusInd Bank, Ve-danta, Tata Motors, ONGC and HUL fell up to 2.79 per cent.

After trading on a choppy note through the day, value-buying in select index-heavyweights lifted key benchmarks, traders said. A broad-based weakness prevailed in the market as weak macro numbers and negative global cues kept investors on edge.

Wholesale prices based infla-

tion eased further to 0.16 per cent in October, as against 0.33 per cent in September due to subdued prices of non-food ar-ticles and fall in prices of manu-factured items, government data showed on Thursday. On the other hand, retail price based consumer inflation spiked to 16-month high of 4.62 per cent in October on costlier food items, reducing the headroom for a rate cut by the RBI in its monetary policy due next month. Further, Moody's Investors Service on Thursday slashed India's eco-nomic growth forecast to 5.6 per cent for 2019, saying govern-ment measures do not address the widespread weakness in consumption demand.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul on a mixed note, while those in Europe were also trading in the red in their re-spective early deals.

Meanwhile, the Indian ru-pee recovered 14 paise to 71.94 against the US dollar intra-day.

Sensex ends 170 pts higher; bank, IT stocks save the day

ClearTax aims for Rs 100 cr business from online GST courseNew Delhi: Financial Technology firm ClearTax has rolled out an online GST course with plans to generate Rs 100 crore business by March 2020. The company has set a target of training 75,000 tax professionals, and more than 2 lakh businesses through new e-learning course in partnership with online education platform Udemy."We expect to train 75,000 tax professionals, and more than 2 lakh businesses by our new e-learning course by the end of March 2020, before the launch of the new GST return filing

system. This course comes at a cost of Rs 4,800. However the company is currently giv-ing a discount of 25 per cent till December 31," ClearTax founder and CEO Archit Gupta told PTI.At discounted rate and full enrolment rate, back of the envelope calculation shows that the company will be able to generate business of Rs 100 crore."Businesses are expected to

be hit with cash-flow problems in the first phase of the new GST return filing system which is due to be launched soon. The new GST return filing system proposes that businesses can claim input credit only after their suppliers upload sales invoices. This course will provide them for a smooth transition to the new GST return filing system," Gupta said.

Gold prices up marginally by Rs 15New Delhi - Gold prices on Thursday witnessed a marginal rise of Rs 15 to Rs 38,995 per 10 gram in the national capital as rupee appreciation limited the upside, ac-cording to HDFC Securities. In the previous trade, the precious metal had closed at Rs 38,980 per 10 gram. "Spot gold prices for 24 Karat in Delhi were trading up by Rs 15 and the upside was limited on rupee appreciation. The spot rupee was trading

16 paise stronger against the dollar during the day," HDFC Securities Senior Analyst (Commodities) Tapan Patel said. Silver prices also gained Rs 50 to Rs 45,726 per kg from Rs 45,676 per kg. In the international market, both gold and silver were trading higher at USD 1,466.50 per ounce and USD 16.97 per ounce, respectively."Bullion prices traded firm on Thursday, maintaining positive trading for the third consecutive day on the US-China trade deal worries," he added.The worsening protests in Hong Kong and weak industrial production data from China also supported gold prices, he said.

Retail inflation jumps to 16-month high of 4.62 pc in OctNew Delhi - Retail price based consumer inflation spiked to 16-month high of 4.62 per cent in October on costlier food items, reducing the headroom for a rate cut by the RBI in its monetary policy due next month. The inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 3.99 per cent in September and 3.38 per cent in October 2018. The earlier high was reported in June 2018 when the retail infla-tion print was recorded at 4.92 per cent. The inflation in the food basket spiked to 7.89 per cent in October 2019 as against 5.11 per cent the preceding month, showed the data released by the Central Statistics Office under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) on Wednesday.

During the month, inflation in vegetables spiked to 26.10 per cent from 5.40 per cent in September, while for fruits it jumped to 4.08 per cent from 0.83 per cent. Likewise, the prices of cereals, meat and fish, eggs grew at faster pace of 2.16 per cent, 9.75 per cent and 6.26 per cent, respectively. For pulses and re-lated products, retail inflation rose to 11.72 per cent. However, the prices of fuel and light category continued to witness downward move at (-) 2.02 per cent as against (-) 2.18 per cent a month earlier, showed the data. The retail inflation during October remains above the RBI's comfort level of 4 per cent.

Aditi Nayar, economist at Icra said, looking ahead the pace of normalisation in vegetable prices will be the key driver of the trend in food inflation over the next few months. "Overall, the CPI inflation may continue to print higher than 4 per cent in the remainder of FY2020, complicating policy choices in light of the slowdown in economic growth momentum.

"The sharp uptick in the CPI inflation in October 2019 has contrasted with the industrial contraction recorded in September 2019. In our view, the extent to which the Q2 FY2020 GDP growth reading eases further from the 5 per cent recorded in the previous quarter, will influence the MPC's decision on whether to cut rates further, and by how much, in the December 2019 policy review," she said. Rahul Gupta, Head of Currency, Emkay Global Financial Services, said this sharp rise was especially due to uptick in food prices amid erratic monsoon.

"Despite rising inflation, we expect (the) RBI to continue its easing cycle on the back of sluggish growth and weak core inflation and cut repo rate at December meeting," Gupta said.

"THE DATA IN WHOLESALE PRICES SIGNALS that there is still lack of demand in segments such as manufacturing, metals, and chemical products. While only a surge in vegetable prices led to a rise in WPI from the

market forecast. The continued weakness in WPI along with slowing growth will induce the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) to cut repo rate again in December."

Press Trust Of India

New Delhi - The finance min-istry has kicked off the exercise to formulate the next budget by seeking suggestions on changes in direct and indirect taxes from in-dustry and trade associations.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sith-araman, who had to announce additional measures to stimu-late a slowing economy within a month of her maiden budget being approved by Parliament, is due to present the annual budget for the financial year 2020-21 on February 1. While the ministry holds pre-budget consultations with representatives of differ-ent sectors and stakeholders, the Department of Revenue in the finance ministry put out a letter seeking suggestions for changes in income tax rates for both in-dividuals and corporates as well as in indirect taxes such as excise and customs duty. The Novem-ber 11 letter asked industry and trade associations to give "sug-gestions for changes in the duty structure, rates and broadening of tax base on both direct and indirect taxes giving economic justification for the same."

"Your suggestions and views may be supplemented and justi-fied by relevant statistical infor-mation about the production, prices, revenue implication of the changes suggested and any other information to support your pro-posal," it said. After her maiden budget on July 5, Sitharaman on September 20 announced a cut in corporate income taxes for do-mestic companies to 22 per cent from 30 per cent previously. This would bring effective corporate tax rate, including all additional levies, to about 25.2 per cent, for companies which are not receiv-ing any incentives or exemptions.

New manufacturing compa-nies formed after October 1 will enjoy a 15 per cent (effective rate of 17 per cent) corporate income tax rate, against 25 per cent pre-viously. The move is estimated to result in Rs 1.45 lakh crore in revenue loss for the government during 2019-20.

Subsequent to this, there have been demands for a reduction in income tax rates for individuals as well so as to put more money in the hands of the common man for a consumption-led revival of the economy. India's economic growth had slipped to a six-year low of 5 per cent in the April-June quarter and the revival may take a few quarters despite an-nouncements to boost real estate and financial sectors.

"As regards direct taxes, while forwarding your proposals, please take into consideration the recent initiatives of the gov-ernment to reduce corporate tax rates applicable to domestic companies" provided they do not avail of any other tax rebate or concession, the letter said.

"The government policy with reference to direct taxes in the medium term is to phase out tax incentives, deductions, and ex-emptions while simultaneously rationalising the rates of tax. It would be also desirable that while forwarding the sugges-tions/ recommendations, posi-tive externalities arising out of the said recommendations and their quantification are also indi-cated," it said.

With the GST Council, an um-brella body comprising of cen-tral and state ministers, the final decision-making authority on the goods and services tax (GST), the order said that GST-related re-quests are not examined as part of the annual budget.

........Budget 2020 FinMin seeks suggestions for rationalising income tax, other duties

FRIDAYNOVEMBER 201915 08

“IT’S GREAT TO WIN THE $9 MILLION but I just don’t want to lose to him and give him the satisfaction because the bragging rights are what is going to be even worse than the money,” Mickelson

'VERY FEW WORLD CLASS

BOWLERS IN TEST CRICKET NOW'

A dearth of quality pace bowlers has all but put an end to the iconic duels which once added to the charm of Test cricket, said the iconic Sachin Tendulkar, who is worried about the traditional format's health. A Sunil Gavaskar vs Andy Roberts, Dennis Lillee or Imran Khan was worth the wait during the 1970s and '80s. Similarly a Tendulkar vs Glenn McGrath or Wasim Akram used to be a connois-

seur's delight.But not anymore, feels the man, who played 200 Test matches in his illustri-ous 24 years in international cricket. "Rivalries which people invariably looked forward to are no longer there because there are very few world-class fast bowlers right now. That element I am sure is missing. The quality of fast bowling can surely be better without any doubt," Tendulkar told PTI while analysing how cricket has evolved in the past 30 years (15th November, 1989) since he made his debut.Asked if the competitiveness, as far as Test cricket is concerned, is confined to only three countries (India, Australia and England), the maestro agreed. "The standard of cricket has gone down which is not great news for Test cricket. The standard needs to go up and for that, I would again say that the root cause is the playing surfaces," he said. "I think it has also got to do with the kind of pitches that are provided. If we provide fair pitches where fast bowlers as well as spinners get help, then balance between bat and ball will be restored. "If the balance is missing then the contest becomes weak and it fails to grab eyeballs. Test cricket must have good wickets," added the man, who has scored 15,921 runs with 51 hundreds.

I FEEL THIS YEAR'S ASHES had some of the best Test pitches in

recent times. Magnificent I would say. The only time they moved to

Old Trafford, you saw that Test wasn't as exciting as the ones

at the Headingley, or the Lord's Test or for that matter

even the one at the Oval. I thought those Test

matches were exciting,"

"THE SERIES WAS BUILT up as Tendulkar vs Warne battle. Somehow, I knew Warne would come round the

wicket in that series. My homework started by getting Mumbai teammates (leg-spinner) Sairaj Bahutule and (left-arm spinner) Nilesh Kulkarni at the nets," recalled Sachin.

Pres Trust Of India

Lahore - Test cricket will return to Pakistan after more than a decade with Sri Lanka on Thursday agree-ing to a two-match series in De-cember, which will be a part of the traditional format's ongoing World Championship. Sri Lanka played a bilateral ODI and T20 International series in Pakistan in September-October earlier this year despite 10 of its top players, including ODI captain Dimuth Karunaratne and

Twenty20 skipper Lasith Malinga, opting out due to security con-cerns. The upcoming series' first Test will be played in Rawalpindi from December 11-15, while the second Test will be held in Karachi from December 19-23.

"This is a fabulous news for Pakistan cricket and its reputation of being as safe and secure as any

other country in the world. We are thankful to Sri Lanka Cricket for agreeing to send their team for the longer version of the game," PCB Director (International Cricket) Za-kir Khan said in a statement.

Khan said the confirmation will contribute in the PCB's efforts to-wards ensuring a regular resump-tion of international cricket in the country. Incidentally, Sri Lanka was also the last team to play Test cricket in Pakistan, back in 2009. The island nation's team was at-

tacked by terrorists in Lahore dur-ing that tour, leading to a freeze in international cricket in Pakistan.

Sri Lanka were originally scheduled to play Tests in Octo-ber and then return in December for a limited-overs' series but the matches were swapped to "pro-vide them the opportunity to as-sess the situation before deciding

on the Test venues"."Now that the itinerary has

been confirmed, we will shift our focus on series preparations to ensure we deliver arrangements as per our very high standards," Khan said. Sri Lanka Cricket chief executive Ashley de Silva said based on an earlier visit, the SLC is comfortable and convinced that conditions are suitable and conducive for Test cricket.

"We also believe all cricket playing countries should host in-

ternational cricket at home and in this relation we are happy to play our part in complete resumption of international cricket in Paki-stan," he said.

Tour schedule:December 11-15 -- 1st Test, Pin-

di Cricket Stadium, RawalpindiDecember 19-23 -- 2nd Test, Na-

tional Stadium, Karachi.

Test cricket returns to Pakistan after a decade, Sri Lanka confirm series next month

"WE ALSO BELIEVE ALL CRICKET playing countries should host international cricket at home and in this relation we are happy to play our part in complete resumption of international

cricket in Pakistan," he said.

Agencies

Indore: Mohammed Shami led an inspired pace bowling attack as In-dia dismissed Bangladesh for 150 on the first day of the opening Test on Thursday. Shami claimed three wickets, while fellow pacemen Is-hant Sharma and Umesh Yadav took two apiece to pack off the tourists early in the final session in Indore.

Mushfiqur Rahim put up a brief resistance with his 43, but Shami struck on succes-sive deliveries to stop the Ban-gladesh tail from wagging. Shami bowled Mushfiqur and then trapped new man Mehidy Hasan lbw, prompting the um-pires to break for tea. Sharma struck on the first ball after the break to get Liton Das caught for 21. Taijul Islam then played out Shami's hat-trick ball, but was later run out for one. Ya-dav cleaned up Ebadat Hossain to wrap up the innings in 58.3

overs. Yadav, Sharma and Shami took wickets in the morning session before Mushfiqur and skipper Mominul Haque put on 68 for the fourth wicket.

Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin broke the stand after getting Mominul bowled for 37. It was his 250th wicket in home Tests, and he added to the tally by then bowling Mahmudullahfor 10. At the start, Bangladesh endured three maidens before getting their first run through Imrul Kayes, but he managed just five more before becoming the first wicket. Sharma struck in the next over to send Shadman Islam back to the pavilion, also for six.

Batting remained tough for Mominul and Mohammed Mit-hun, who was trapped lbw for 13 by Shami finding swing and seam movement. It could have been worse for Bangladesh had India not been sloppy in the field. Rahane, who spilled three

chances at first slip, dropped Mominul when he had made only three, and Mushfiqur sur-vived when put down by skip-per Virat Kohli at third slip.

Bangladesh, who lost the preceding Twenty20 series 2-1, had a troubled build-up when

star player and captain Shakib Al Hasan was banned for two years, with one year suspended, for failing to report approaches by bookmakers. The series is Bangladesh's first in the new world Test championship cur-rently led by India.

Indian pacers run through Bangladesh defence, get them all out for 150

Ashwin scalps 250 Test wickets, joins Kumble, Harbhajan in elite listIndore: India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin bagged his 250th Test wicket at home during the first match against Bangladesh here on Thursday. By doing so, Ashwin became the third India bowler to achieve the milestone after Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh. Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) took to Twitter and wrote: "250 Test wickets at home for @ashwinravi99. He becomes the third Indian bowler to do so after @anilkumble1074 & @harbhajan_singh."

Ashwin had 249 Test wickets under his belt when he stepped out on the field for the first Test against Bangladesh. He picked the wicket of captain Mominul Haque to register his 250th wicket.

Bangladesh opted to bat first after winning the toss and are currently on 106/4 after the completion of 41 overs.

AITA picks eight-member squad for Pakistan tie; Paes, top-players return

Press Trust Of India

New Delhi- ndia on Thursday picked an unprecedented eight-member Davis Cup squad for the tie against Pakistan, includ-ing most of the top stars who refused to travel to Islamabad along with those who made themselves available irrespective of the venue. Seasoned veteran Leander Paes returned to the In-dian team after more than a year along with top players Sumit Nagal, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Sasi Kumar Mukund and Rohan

Bopanna for the tie to be held at a yet-to-be-finalised neutral venue on November 29 and 30.

Nagal, Bopanna, Ramanathan and Mukund had reservations about travelling to Pakistan due to security concerns, the basis of the International Tennis Fed-eration's decision to change the venue. "It's a special case this time. We do not pick such a big travel party but we did not want the players who were ready to go Pakistan, to feel left out. So we had to create a balance," Zeeshan Ali, who is on the selection panel and is also the India coach, told PTI. In the squad announced by the All India Tennis Association (AITA) selection committee, Je-evan Nedunchezhiyan, Saketh Myneni and Siddharth Rawat also found a place in the team. All these players were willing travel to Islamabad when the others had refused.

AITA usually names five-mem-ber main squads along with one or two reserve players.

While the ITF is still consider-

ing the Pakistan Tennis Federa-tion's appeal against the decision to shift the tie out of Islamabad, AITA has gone ahead with the team selection.

"We wanted the players to be mentally ready. They can make their respective schedules now. We did not want them to wait more to know if they will be picked or not. Irrespective of the venue, only these players will be a part of the tie, wherever it is played," said non-playing cap-tain Rohit Rajpal.

"Not all of them would get to

play but at least the new play-ers will get a feel of what it is like being on the Indian Davis Cup squad. It will be a kind of experience for the new gen-eration players like Rawat. We have to prepare the next rung," added Rajpal. It has been learnt, that the ITF will stick with its decision to have the tie at a neutral venue. The world body is expected to announce its final decision by November 18. In the absence of top player Prajnesh Gunneswaran, India's singles challenge will be led by the in-form Nagal (ranked 127) and Ramanathan (190). Mukund (250) and Myneni (267) will be the back-up singles players. Perhaps for the first time, the squad has three doubles spe-cialists in Bopanna, Paes and Nedunchezhiyan.

"We did want proper backs-ups for our singles and doubles players. Jeevan has been doing well. He can play with both Le-ander and Rohan, so he was a natural choice," said Zeeshan.

Press Trust Of India

Hong Kong -- Kidambi Srikanth made the quarterfinals for the first time in seven months but it was curtains for fellow Indian HS Prannoy at the USD 400,000 Hong Kong Open here on Thursday.

Former world no.1 Srikanth, who slipped to the 13th spot in the latest BWF rankings this week, notched up a 21-11 15-21 21-19 win over compatriot Sour-abh Verma in the men's singles second round. Srikanth had last reached the quarterfinals at the

Singapore Open in April. The Guntur shuttler, who received a first-round bye from world no.1 Kento Momota of Japan, will face Olympic champion Chen Long of China next.

Earlier, H S Prannoy suffered a 12-21 19-21 loss to sixth seed In-donesian Jonatan Christie in the second round. World champion P V Sindhu will take on Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan, while Parupalli Kashyap will fight it out against second seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei later in the day.

Hong Kong Open: Srikanth enters quarters, Prannoy loses

Press Trust Of India

New Delhi - Shooting will not be added to the roster of the 2022 Birmingham Games despite Indi-an Olympic Association's boycott threat, a Commonwealth Games

Federation (CGF) official said on Thursday, ahead of a crucial meet-ing between the two sports bodies

CGF chief Louise Martin and CEO David Gevemberg will meet IOA chief Narinder Batra and Sec-retary General Rajeev Mehta on Friday. "Regarding shooting, at this stage following the General Assembly there is no real chance of adding shooting to the 2022 CWG but there will be discus-sion on shooting," CGF Media and Communications Director Tom

Degun told PTI. The IOA will try to convince the CGF to reconsider its decision on shooting, citing India's excellent medal count in the sport.

Degun, though, indicated that the meeting may discuss on how shooting can be brought to the CWG

core sports programme, making the sport a compulsory feature in the future Games. "The meeting could focus on hosting a Commonwealth Shooting Championships around the Birmingham 2022 Games and potentially adding shooting as a core Commonwealth Games sport but at a later date." In its General Assembly held in Rwanda earlier this year, the CGF had confirmed the dropping of shooting from the 2022 CWG roster while adding three other sports in-cluding women's T20 cricket.

‘No chance of bringing back shooting to 2022 Games’

NOW THAT THE ITINERARY has been confirmed, we will shift our focus on series preparations to ensure we deliver arrangements as per our very high standards," Khan said.