millenniumpost.in RNI NO.

: DELENG/2005/15351
REGD. NO.: DL(S)-01/3420/2018-20

PUBLISHED FROM DELHI & KOLKATA VOL. 13, ISSUE 310 | Friday, 9 November 2018 | New Delhi | Pages 16 | Rs 3.00 NO HALF TRUTHS

SC’S ORDER ON ‘RENAMING US VISA, MASTERCARD GADOT’S FUN ‘RALPH

BURSTING OF AHMEDABAD AS LOSING MARKET TO BREAKS THE
CRACKERS GOES KARNAVATI BEING INDIA’S OWN RUPAY INTERNET’
UP IN SMOKE PG4 CONSIDERED’ PG6 CARD, UPI: FM PG12 EXPERIENCE PG16

2ND ANNIVERSARY OF DEMONETISATION

Govt, Oppn spar over note ban
MPOST BUREAU
NEW DELHI: Finance Minister
Arun Jaitley Thursday said demon-
etisation resulted in the formalisa-
tion of the economy and increased
tax base, prompting the government
to earmark more resources for the
poor and infrastructure development.
In a Facebook post on the sec-
ond anniversary of Demonetisation,
Jaitley said in first four years of the
National Democratic Alliance (NDA)
government, the number of income
tax returns filers has gone up to 6.86
crore from 3.8 crore in May 2014.
By the time the first five years of
this government are over, we will be
close to doubling the assessee base,
he said in the post titled “Impact Of
Demonetisation”.
He further said with the imple-
mentation of the goods and ser-
vices tax (GST), it is now becoming
increasingly difficult to evade the tax
system, and the indirect tax to gross
domestic product (GDP) ratio has
gone up to 5.4 per cent post-GST,
from 4.4 per cent in 2014-15.
Terming the criticism, that
almost the entire cash money got
deposited in the banks post demon-
etisation, as ill-informed, Jaitley said
confiscation of currency was not an
objective of demonetisation.
In a scathing assessment of the
demonetisation exercise, former
prime minister Manmohan Singh on
Thursday said the “scars and wounds”
it caused are getting more visible with
time and the decision’s second anni-
versary is a day to remember how
“economic misadventures” can roil
the nation.
The senior Congress leader asked
the government to not resort to fur-
ther unorthodox, short-term eco-
nomic measures that can cause any
more uncertainty in the economy.
Describing demonetisation as an
“ill-fated” and “ill-thought” exercise,
Singh said in a statement that the
The number of
income tax returns
filers has gone up to
6.86 crore from 3.8
crore in May 2014
havoc it unleashed on the Indian
economy and society is now evident
to everyone.
“Notebandi impacted every sin-
gle person, regardless of age, gen-
der, religion, occupation or creed,”
Singh said.
Beyond the “steep drop” in head-
line GDP growth numbers after
demonetisation, the broader ramifi-
cations of ‘notebandi’ are still unrav-
elling, he said.
Small and medium businesses that
are the cornerstone of India’s economy
are yet to recover from the demoneti-
sation shock, Singh asserted.
Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on
Thursday alleged that demonetisation
was a planned “brutal conspiracy”
and a “shrewd scheme” to convert the
black money of Prime Minister Nar-
endra Modi’s “suit-booted friends”.
West Bengal Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee called it a ‘dark day’.
“From the moment it was
announced; I said so. Renowned
economists, ordinary people and all
experts now all agree.
“The government cheated our
nation with this big demonetisation
scam. It ruined the economy and the
lives of millions. People will punish
those who did this,” she said.
Aam Aadmi Party head and
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejri-
wal also called it a “deep wound on
the Indian economy”.
CPI(M) General Secretary Sita-
ram Yechury blamed Modi for
destroying “the economy, lives and
livelihoods”.
Day after Diwali,
Delhi gasps for air
Due to rampant bursting of crackers
Commuters drive through heavy smog a day after Diwali celebrations PTI
SAYANTAN GHOSH
NEW DELHI: Delhi recorded
its worst air quality of the year
the morning after Diwali as
the pollution level entered
“severe-plus emergency” cat-
egory due to the rampant
bursting of toxic firecrackers,
authorities said on Thursday.
In a gross violation of a
Supreme Court order, people
in several cities burst firecrack-
ers until at least midnight, two
hours after the 10 PM dead-
line. Loud bangs rent the air in
New Delhi.
led to the formation of a smoky
layer across the national capital
and drastically reduced visibil-
ity, the authorities said.
A ‘severe plus emergency’
air quality index (AQI) means
that even healthy people may
suffer from respiratory ill-
nesses on prolonged expo-
sure to such air. This air will
seriously affect those with ail-
ments, according to the advi-
sory issued by SAFAR.
The Supreme Court had
allowed people to burst fire-
crackers from 8 pm to 10 pm
only on Diwali and other fes-

Congress doesn’t Naidu meets Four civilians, one CISF jawan killed in IED blast in C’garh Partly as a result of smoke
from the firecrackers, the over-
tivals. The Supreme Court also
permitted the manufacture

need a chief ministerial Deve Gowda, MPOST BUREAU state, police said. dalpur district, about 100 km
all air quality index in Delhi
jumped to 574 which falls in
and sale of just “green crack-
ers” which have a low emission

face in Madhya Pradesh Kumaraswamy RAIPUR: Four civilians and a CISF

JYOTIRADITYA SCINDIA MPOST BUREAU
BENGALURU: TDP supremo
jawan were killed when suspected
Naxals detonated a bus with an
improvised explosive device (IED)
in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada dis-
Two personnel of the Central
Industrial Security Force (CISF)
were also injured in the explosion,
the third Naxal attack in 15 days in
the poll-bound state.
The attack comes before
from Dantewada, to campaign
for the BJP.
Those killed in the blast were
identified as CISF Head Consta-
ble D Mukhopadhyay, bus driver
Ramesh Patkar, helpers Roshan
the “severe-plus emergency”
category, according to data by
the Centre-run SAFAR (Sys-
tem of Air Quality and Weather
Forecasting And Research).
The sharp spike in pollution
of light, sound and harmful
chemicals.
Over 550 cases were regis-
tered and more than 300 peo-
ple arrested on Diwali night
for violating the Supreme

In today’s
and Andhra Pradesh Chief Min- trict on Thursday, four days ahead Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Kumar Sahu and Johan Nayak, and is caused by the uncontrolled Court’s order, officials said
ister N Chandrababu Naidu, of the first phase of elections in the scheduled visit on Friday to Jag- a truck driver, Sushil Banjare. See P6 burning of firecrackers that has on Thursday.  See P3
who is trying to unite opposi-
paper tion parties to take on the BJP
in the Lok Sabha elections next
... year, Thursday met his counter-
part H D Kumaraswamy and
CITY former Prime Minister H D
Deve Gowda.
NO ENTRY OF TRUCKS TILL NOV 113 Setting the stage for the
revival of a united front against
NATION the BJP, Naidu claimed the
J&K: DAY CURFEW LIFTED IN KISHTWAR6 mood of the nation was against
the BJP-led NDA, and soon an
EDIT alliance would be formed with
various regional parties.
BLUE-WATER POWERHOUSE 8 Speaking to reporters after
meeting Deve Gowda and
INTERNATIONAL Kumaraswamy, Naidu said the
DATING APPS USE AI 10 initial steps for the formation
of the alliance were yet to be
BUSINESS finalised.
Once the modalities were
H1 BOND VOLUMES CRIMP 26% 12 fixed, programmes would be
chalked out later, he said.
SPORT “I have spoken to May-
SENSATIONAL SAURABH CLAIMS GOLD14 awati, Akhilesh Yadav. I have
met everybody. Tomorrow I
am meeting Stalin (DMK pres-
ident). We will decide how to
FOR ADVERTISING take forward the alliance with
consensus.
kindly contact at 9810195709 It is an initial exercise. After
or that we will work together,” he
mpostdelhi@gmail.com said.
Naidu, who had been a
FOR SUBSCRIPTION staunch critic of Congress, was
kindly contact at 8800854665 not averse to taking it along for
the “grand alliance.”
or However, he ducked ques-
millenniumpost.circulation@gmail.com tions on their prime ministerial
candidate.  See P5

TO CLARIFY THEIR STAND

CBI top 2 meet CVC

MPOST BUREAU
NEW DELHI: CBI Director Alok
Verma Thursday met Central Vigilance
Commissioner K V Chowdary and is
understood to have refuted corruption
charges levelled against him by his dep-
uty and special director in the probe
agency Rakesh Asthana, officials said.
Verma came to the CVC office
around 1 pm and met Chowdary
and Vigilance Commissioner Sharad
Kumar, they said, without citing any
other details.
The Supreme Court had on October
26 asked the Central Vigilance Commis-
sion to complete within two weeks its
inquiry into allegations against Verma
levelled by Asthana.
Verma and Asthana have been sent
on leave by the government.
Officials said Asthana also met
Chowdary and Kumar, the officials said.
The Commission had recently exam-
ined some CBI officials probing impor-
tant cases which figured in Asthana’s
complaint of corruption against the
probe agency’s chief Verma, they said.
The officials said CBI personnel
from the rank of inspector up to the
superintendent of police were called
and their versions recorded before a
senior CVC official.
These officials, who had recorded
their statements included those who
had handled the Moin Qureshi bribery
case, the IRCTC scam, involving former
railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, the
cattle smuggling case in which a senior
BSF officer was caught with wads of
cash in Kerala.
The Supreme Court had directed
that the CVC’s inquiry into the allega-
tions against Verma, who has challenged
the government’s decision divesting him
of his duties and sending him on leave,
would be conducted under the supervi-
sion of retired apex court judge Justice
A K Patnaik and this was a “one-time
exception”.
2 mp around town
Winter outfits
to stir your wardrobe
M
ake your wardrobe win-
ter ready with some of
the smart choices that will
never go out of trend.
Stylists are sharing some tips on winter
outfits to stir your wardrobe.
4Tucked in a sweater: This win-
ter you can flaunt your fit and toned
tummy even through sweaters. Keep-
ing the fitness factor aside, this trend
is quite adorable. The tucked-in and
belted sweater style give a more mod-
ern and a clean look. You can tuck them
into jeans, skirts, trousers
or even under a skinny
People relate body shapes to
PERSONALITY TRAITS
NEW YORK: When we meet new people,
our first impressions of their personality may
depend, at least in part, on their body shape,
according to a new research.
The findings showed that people perceived
classically feminine (pear-shaped) and classi-
cally masculine (broad-shouldered) bodies as
being associated with “active” traits, such as
being quarrelsome, extraverted, and irritable.
In addition, male and female bodies that
were more rectangular, were associated with
relatively passive traits, such as being trust-
worthy, shy, dependable, and warm.
“Our research shows that people infer a
wide range of personality traits just by look-
ing at the physical features of a particular body.
Understanding these biases is important for
considering how we form first impressions,”
said lead researcher Ying Hu from the Uni-
versity of Texas.
“We wanted to know whether we could link
personality descriptor words to body shape in
predictable ways,” Hu added.
The study, published in the journal Psycho-
Although every possible care and caution has been taken to avoid errors or omissions, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that information given in this publication is merely for reference and must not be taken as having authority of or binding in any way on the writers, editors,
publishers, and printers and sellers who do not owe any responsibility for any damage or loss to any person, a purchaser of this publication or not for the result of any action taken on the basis of this work. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent court and forums in Delhi/New Delhi only
Printed and Published by Jaiyendra Kumar Sharma on behalf of Front Row Media Pvt. Ltd. and printed at The Indian Express Pvt. Ltd., A-8, Sector-7, Noida-201 301 (U.P.) and published from First Floor, Pratap Bhawan, 5 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New
Delhi 110 002. Editor: Durbar Ganguly, Executive Editor: Arya Rudra. Email: durbarganguly@gmail.com, Tel. No. 011-47777500
MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Friday, 9 November, 2018
Aamir Khan steals the show
MOVIE OF THE
WEEK
THUGS OF HINDOSTAN
Director: Vijay Krishna Acharya;
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif,
Fatima Sana Shaikh, Ronit Roy, Mohammad Zeeshan
Ayyub, Sharat Saxena and Lloyd Owen;
Rating:
A
Finding new ways to layer, stay warm and still look chic during straight-laced fiction mounted in
winters is not an easy task. Here is a fashion lover’s guide to a historical set-up, director Vijay
Krishna Acharya’s Thugs of Hind-
ostan is a sprawling, ambitious
surviving chilling weather while making a fashion statement 164-minute epic action adventure.
The story begins Circa 1795 when the
British East India Company tries to annex
belt. 4Shades of brown: Despite being You can simply layer a shirt or jacket the princely state of Ronakpur. When
4Pagoda shoulders: Everybody shunned by many for some years, over a fine black roll-neck and you’ve negotiations fail, they assassinate its ruler
knows that shoulder pads are mak- this Fall-Winter season, Brown has nailed. Mirza (Ronit Roy) and his son Aslam. Mir-
ing a huge comeback this year. But become the most dominant shade. 4New way of layering: There are za’s trusted Lieutenant Khudabaksh Azaad
another trend brewing within is that of From trench coat to jumpsuit to zip some pretty interesting layering ideas (Amitabh Bachchan) escapes from the Brit-
pagoda shoulders. This style had fallen coat, all styles have gone wild for brown going on in the fashion industry. Few ish’s bullets, taking along with him Mirza’s
out of fashion, but now they are mak- in all its hues. simple styles can be incorporated in our young daughter Zafira.
ing a resurgence. Pagoda Shoulder has daily life like a new way to fasten your Khudabaksh aka Azaad along with his
a convex line with an elevated outer old scarf and trench coat together. band of Thugs, give a tough time to the for-
edge. We have seen them on sweaters, For a more elegant yet a chic look eigners as they aspire to free the country.
dresses, jackets and dresses, basically, you can layer a wool coat on top Threatened by Azaad’s growing popular-
everywhere. of a denim jacket. ity, the British engage Firangi Mallah (Aamir
4Leather on leather: After the 4Scarf prints: The trend Khan), a small-time but ambitious con man,
success of denim on denim, now the of turning a classic silk fou- to locate and capture Azaad.
fashion trends are all about leather on lards into slinky dresses Everything about this film is in capital let-
leather. Let go of pairing a leather jacket and tops has picked up ters preceded by articles; the story befitting
with jeans or a leather skirt with a satin really fast. You no lon- the intertextual clash of the good against evil,
top. This fall-winter fashion, wearing ger need to tie down the mounting on the massive scale and cast-
head-to-toe leather outfits will be in a scarf to your neck, ing of the leads.
vogue. You can even mix colours, the trend is mak- While the two legendary icons of the
like pairing black with burgundy ing its way to Indian screen are pitted against each other,
or brown. shirts, skirts Aamir Khan steals the show with his flam-
4Animal print: This winter and dress. boyance. He is the pulsating heart of the nar-
there is no escaping from an ani-  IANS rative. He brings his character to life with
mal-inspired pattern. The leop- his energetic on-screen presence, priceless
ard print has always been the expressions on his visage, flawless dancing
hero and hailed by many. The and agility during the action scenes.
brown sporty patterns are While he is charming and convincing as
considered to be very versa- an actor, his lines are bogged down by the
tile. Those who want more superficiality of the character that makes
of ‘wear it whole day piece’, him seem forced and a bit hollow, especially
then invest in a leopard
print midi skirt and
you will not regret it. 
DAYINDAYOUT
What’s on Around Town
THREADS OF NIZAMUDDIN
A discussion on ‘Threads and Flavours
of Nizamuddin’ to share the history,
journey, challenges, aspirations and
stories of Insha-e-Noor and Zaika-e-
Nizamuddin of the Aga will be held at
IIC. The speaker will be Jyotsna Lall,
Director Programmes for the Aga Khan
Development Network’s Nizamuddin
Urban Renewal Initiative project.
WHEN: November 12
WHERE: Kamladevi complex, India
International Centre
TIMINGS: 6:30 pm onwards
THE FESTIVE DELIGHT
Embrace the spirit of the festival,
sampling some Indian delights with some
amazing and fun offers at PizzaExpress,
which will be hosting Diwali Special
Menu for the festive season. The outlet
will have special price offers of 50%
Refresh your hair with shikakai masks
H
erbal care is one of the fool proof methods healthy and nourished especially when blended
to protect hairs natural texture and sheen. together with few other Indian ayurvedic ingredients.
While a plethora of homegrown ingredi- Experts share insights on four hair masks that
ents and herbs are available to make your can be curated at home to protect and nourish
mane lustrous, one specific herb that has been passed your hair.
on from generation to generation is Shikakai. 4Shikakai and amla powder: Breakage and split
Shikakai is rich in antioxidants and numerous vita- ends are an everyday concern. Thanks to the stress
mins that helps keep hair and pollution that our hectic work schedule exposes
us to. These harsh damages make one’s hair lifeless
and dull. A go to solution to protect your hair from
root to end is a blend of ayurveda’s two best ingredi-
ents – shikakai and amla. While both the ingredients
are rich in anti-oxidants, amla helps keep hair healthy
by fighting off the damage.
Blend together half a cup
of shikakai and amla powder
with luke warm water to make
a paste. Let the paste sit on your
hair for 30 minutes and wash it
off with cold water. This when
repeated every alternate day
logical Science, highlighted that stereotypes helps improve overall health of
based on body shape can contribute to how we the hair and is an excellent rem-
judge and interact with new acquaintances and edy for dry hair.
strangers. For the study, the team created 140 4Shikakai and curd: Curd
realistic body models, among which 70 were is truly a miracle potion when it
female and 70 male. comes to hair care. Curd helps
The three-dimensional renderings were protect your hair and soothes your scalp against not
generated from random values along 10 dif- one but many problems – common one
ferent body dimensions, using data from laser being, dandruff and itchy scalp. But it
scans of actual human bodies. Using these simply cannot do the trick in isola-
models allowed the researchers to know the tion. Curd when blended together
precise physical measurements of each body. with a variety of powerful ingredi-
A total of 76 undergraduate participants ents like fenugreek, shikakai, amla
saw each body from two angles and indicated and olive/argan oil makes the per-
whether 30 trait words shown on a screen fect mask to fight against dandruff.
applied to that body. The results showed that Curd contains healthy bacteria
participants judged heavier bodies as being that helps fight dandruff causing
associated with more negative traits, such as yeast. Mix together 1 tablespoon
being lazy and careless and judged lighter bod- of fenugreek powder, 1 tablespoon
ies as having more positive traits, such as being of shikakai, 1 tablespoon of amla
self-confident and enthusiastic. The research- powder, 1 tablespoon of argan/olive
ers also found that they could reliably predict oil with a cup of curd. Let the mix-
personality trait judgments from specific com- ture rest for 2-3 hours and apply it
binations of different body shape features.IANS on your scalp working towards the
ends. After 30 minutes, rinse your
after his repeated
cycle of smarts and
tactics.
Amitabh Bach-
chan as Khuda-
baksh, a loyal guard-cum-protector of Zafira,
is a character we have seen in some of his ear-
lier films too. Luckily for him, his character
stands out due to his sheer personality.
Katrina Kaif as Suraiya the dancer, is fabu-
lous. She impresses us with her graceful and
elegant dance moves, especially in the song
“Suraiya jaan”.
Fatima Sana Shaikh as the warrior Zaf-
ira is impressive. So is Mohammad Zeeshan
Ayyub, who plays Firangi Mallah’s friend
Shanichar and Lloyd Owen as John Clive, the
head of the British East India Company. They
all leave an impact with their acting chops.
Visually, the film is magnificently
mounted with visual and special effects.
Manush Nandan’s cinematography captures
the era created by Sumit Basu’s production
design, costumes and locales to perfection.
Each frame is a masterpiece, be it the wide
angle shots or the close-ups.
The live action shots are seamlessly
meshed with the computer generated images
by editor Ritesh Soni. The action sequences
along with the stunts and dances are all
astutely choreographed. The songs ‘Vash-
malle’, ‘Suraiya jaan’ and ‘Manzoor-e-Khuda’,
blend into the narrative flawlessly.
While the first half is racy, the second
half especially the climax and denouement
drags a bit.
Overall, this film is worth a watch for
Aamir Khan’s performance. IANS
off on November 6 and 7 on dishes like
Classic La Reine, Doppio, New Calabrese
and many more.
WHEN: Until November 11
WHERE: PizzaExpress outlets (Delhi-
NCR) TIMINGS: 11:30 am – 11:30 pm
FLAVOURFUL MILLET MENU
To share the health benefits of millets
(the traditional cereal of India), Punjab
Grill is offering an array of innovative
and drool-worthy offerings with jowar,
quinoa and bajra with dishes like ‘quinoa
bean chaat’, multigrain sev puri with
avocado chutney’, ‘jwaar aur tamatar
cheela’ among others. To complete your
healthy meal, don’t miss out on delicious
desserts such as ‘bajra malpua naal
kesar rabdi’ and ‘ragi da halwa’.
WHEN: Until November 30
WHERE: Punjab Grill, Khan Market
TIMINGS: 11:00 am – 10:00 pm
hair with cold water. Continue this mask routine on
a weekly basis to restore your scalp health.
4Shikakai and coconut oil: Who wouldn’t love
a hot oil massage followed by refreshing hair wash?
While the sounds of it is soothing and relaxing, there
are plenty of health benefits that oil bath has. How-
ever, most of us tend to skip the routine owing to
paucity of time. A quick solution to this is a coconut
oil shikakai hair mask that can replenish your hair.
Mix together one tablespoon each of shikakai
powder and amla powder along with two table-
spoons of heated coconut oil and leave the mixture
for 3 hours. Post warming the mixture, strain the oil
and massage it directly
onto your scalp and leave
it for 30 minutes before
rinsing it with normal
water. The mask rou-
tine can be followed on
a weekly basis to main-
tain the health of scalp
and texture of your hair.
4Wholesome
shikakai mask: We all
love a little bit of sugar,
spice and everything
nice when it comes to
hair and skin care. Herbal hair care is all about blend-
ing a balance of ingredients that addresses specific
concerns while also protecting your hair from future
damage. One such culmination of ayurveda’s hand-
picked ingredients for an overall protection is the
wholesome shikakai mask infused with Tulsi, neem
powder, shikakai powder, rose petal powder, fenu-
greek powder, olive oil and curd. Tulsi, a vital and
central herb in Ayurveda helps stimulate scalp circu-
lation owing to its antioxidant properties.
On the other hand, neem is a great detoxifier that
speeds up the removal of toxins from scalp. To pre-
pare this mask, mix together a tablespoon of shikakai,
half a table spoon of each neem powder, tulsi powder,
rose petal powder, fenugreek powder with one cup of
curd and a spoon of olive oil. Allow the mixture to sit
for 30 minutes and apply mask onto your scalp. Post
a 30 minutes rest, wash your hair with normal water
and shikakai powder. IANS
MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Friday, 9 November, 2018
Entry of trucks into Capital
banned till November 11
Sources confirmed that Odd-Even is ready to be implemented if EPCA recommends
SAYANTAN GHOSH
NEW DELHI: The Delhi gov-
ernment on Thursday ordered
a ban on the entry of trucks in
the national Capital, as recom-
mended by the Supreme Court-
appointed pollution watchdog
EPCA. The ban started from
late night on November 8 and
will continue till 11 pm on
November 11.
Government sources also
confirmed that the Odd-Even
scheme to control movement
of private vehicles is also ready
and the government may
implement it whenever the
Environment Pollution Pre-
vention and Control Authority
(EPCA) recommends.
The Authority also directed
state governments of the
National Capital Region to
stop the entry of trucks into
the Capital.
“You are requested to direct
all authorities, particularly the
police, to coordinate action on
this so that trucks are turned
around before entry into
Delhi,” the EPCA letter read.
The ban started from late night on November 8 and will continue till 11 pm on November 11
The letter also calls for
users of private diesel cars to
refrain from using them. “You
are also requested to take out
notices requesting people not
to use diesel private cars in this
period.”
Diesel emissions are
extremely toxic and add to
the severity of air pollution in
Delhi-NCR. “The Delhi gov-
ernment has ordered a com-
plete ban on the entry of trucks
till November 11. We have
ordered all the authorities to
coordinate on the matter and
to impose the ban. This will
help the city to come out of
the pollution situation,” said
an official.
Reacting on the order
an official from South Delhi
Municipal Corporation
(SDMC) said, “As per instruc-
tions issued by the EPCA, entry
of trucks carrying essential
commodities in Delhi will not
be allowed with effect from 11
PIC/PTI
pm on November 8 to 11 pm
on November 11 keeping in
view the deteriorating level of
air pollution.”
“The EPCA communica-
tions addressed to Delhi Gov-
ernment has been forwarded
to the MCDs and Delhi Police
for strict compliance. Trucks
carrying essential commodi-
ties such as fruit, vegetables,
milk, medicines etc will not be
affected with the instructions of
the EPCA,” the official added.
Meanwhile, the System of
Air Quality and Weather Fore-
casting (SAFAR) had warned
that even if partially toxic fire-
crackers – compared to last
year’s – were burnt, the air
quality would fall to the ‘severe’
category.
An AQI between 0 and 50
is considered ‘good’, 51-100
‘satisfactory’, 101-200 ‘mod-
erate’, 201-300 ‘poor’, 301-400
‘very poor’, 401-500 ‘severe’ and
above 500 falls in ‘severe-plus’
category.
On Thursday night, the Air
Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi
was recorded at 574.
“The AQI entered the
‘severe’ category at 2 am and
will continue to remain in the
severe category until evening,”
a senior official said.
A ‘severe plus emergency’
AQI essentially means that
even healthy people may suffer
from respiratory illnesses on a
prolonged exposure to such air.
This air will seriously affect
those with ailments, accord-
ing to the advisory issued by
SAFAR.
mp city
Higher wind speed only hope
for improvement, say experts
SAYANTAN GHOSH
NEW DELHI: Any change in Delhi’s weather is
the only hope that citizens can now have to get
rid of the thick smog and the ‘severe-plus emer-
gency’ level of pollution, officials of the Central
Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and experts
have observed.
However, if the weather deteriorates, the
Capital’s air quality will also deteriorate.
“The pollution has increased, but the wind
speed is good. Hence there is a chance the city
will recover from the situation soon. However,
if wind speed decreases, then the situation will
worsen. Hence, the EPCA has already asked to
ban all the truck to enter Delhi,” said Anumita
Roychowdhury, executive director, research and
advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment.
Meanwhile, a statement by SAFAR said, “Sur-
face winds continue to play a major role. The
speed has increased overnight from three kmph
to five kmph and continued to disperse pollution
as predicted. However, wind speed is expected to
reduce by evening. If the smoke layer is formed
which may also bring down inversion layer to
trap pollutants.”
It added that a large number of stubble burn-
ing incidents have been reported, but it is a com-
bination of stubble burning and widespread
bursting of firecrackers in the region that has
caused the problem.
It is to be noted that the contribution of
PM2.5 and PM10 emissions to air quality dete-
rioration has not increased much compared to
last year. Earlier, forecasting adverse weather
conditions for Diwali, i.e. November 8, officials
of SAFAR had noted that calm winds and shal-
3
A woman walks past a digital board displaying the
Air Quality Index on the compound wall of a weather
observatory, at Lodhi Road on Thursday PIC/MPOST
low fog in the morning would impact AQI in
one of two ways.
Officials said if fireworks were high, “smoke
will suddenly get trapped, forcing overnight lev-
els of particles in the air to make significantly
higher than they would be natural to ‘severe’
level, and will stick that way until sunrise or
breeze mixes it.”
In case of negligible fireworks, AQI would be
in ‘very poor’ range, they had forecast.
Stubble burning induced impact is expected
to decline and if no additional emissions from
firecrackers are added, air quality will improve,
the officials had earlier said.
However, even if 50 per cent of the total load
of toxic firecrackers as compared to last year’s
Diwali is added, the prevailing weather condi-
tions will aggravate the high smoke level and
make air quality to persist in ‘severe’ range for
at least two days, they had added.

Post-Diwali
crackdown:
SDMC issues
248 challans
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: Intensifying its
anti-pollution measures post-
Diwali, South Delhi Munici-
pal Corporation (SDMC) on
Thursday issued 248 challans
across its fours zones.
In West Zone, 24 challans
have been issued under the
NGT Act for burning of leaves
and garbage, while 60 chal-
lans have been issued under
the DMC Act. Four mechan-
ical sweepers were deployed
to clean the roads, whereas
52 tankers were deployed for
sprinkling water with an aim to
settle down the dust. The total
number of challans is 84.
Six challans have been
issued in Central Zone under
the NGT Act for burning leaves
and garbage. Moreover, 14 gen-
Level of pollutants rose after Morning after Diwali disappoints
fireworks started: Delhi govt activists, residents of Delhi-NCR
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: Delhi Environ-
ment Minister Imran Hussain
on Thursday stated that the
level of air-borne pollutants
showed an increase on Diwali
day and data showed that the
major changes were observed
after 8.00 pm when the fire-
works started.
However, environmen-
tal bodies in the Capital have
noted that poor implementa-
tion of rules has caused the pol-
lution to rise.
A statement from the Delhi
government noted, “On Diwali
day, the average concentration
(for 24 hours) for PM 2.5 (par-
ticles in the air with diameter
smaller than 2.5 microme-
tre) ranged from 69 µg/m3 to
1,560 µg/m3. The minimum
value was observed at 3.00 pm,
and the maximum value was
observed at 1.00 am.”
“The location wise min-
imum concentration was
observed at Najafgarh (143 µg/
m3) and maximum concentra-
tion was observed at Ashok
Vihar (1,252 µg/m3),” it fur-
ther said.
It added that the level of
pollutants showed an increase
on Diwali day, with data show-
ing that the major changes
observed after 8.00 pm when
the fireworks started.
The data also observed that
the cumulative effect of exist-
ing pollution load and pollut-
ants released due to the use
of fireworks, as well as mete-
orological conditions like
calm condition with signifi-
cant humidity, attributed to the
present situation.
Meanwhile, environment
activist Sunil Dahiya said,
“Analysing Delhi’s smog post-
Diwali has become a trend.
It’s high time we understand
that issues such as firecrack-
ers bursting and stubble burn-
ing only contribute to episodic
peaks and it has little to do with
other sources contributing to
air pollution for the most part
of the year.”
He added that despite
being aware of the polluting
sources like coal power plants,
industries, transport systems
or episodic events like Diwali,
biomass burning, adherence to
policy implementation remains
a big challenge.
“The guardian of air around
us should behave responsibly
and start acting on pollution
sources in a more responsible
way by building confidence in
public as well for stronger com-
pliance and cooperation on the
sources under their control,”
Dahiya further said.
NEW DELHI: A day after Diwali, there
was anguish and some searching ques-
tions as a hazy morning dawned over
Delhi-NCR, with many residents voic-
ing their helplessness at the violation of
the Supreme Court’s 8-10 pm deadline of
bursting firecrackers.
The city recorded its worst air quality in
the year on Thursday morning, with the air
quality index jumping to 574, which falls
in the ‘severe-plus emergency’ category
– meaning that even healthy people may
suffer from respiratory illnesses on a pro-
longed exposure to such air.
“Delhi is a gas chamber for TB patients
like me. We are caught in a bind. If we
escape TB, then we will die of pollution,”
Hasmukh Rai, a elderly resident of Mayur
Vihar.
“In this season, when everybody is talk-
ing of bringing ordinances on variety of
issues, why can’t politicians join hands
and bring ordinance to ban stubble burn-
ing?” he asked.
South Delhi resident Sagarika Sharma
said she had lost her mother to lung cancer
A view of a market littered with burnt
crackers and other waste on Thursday PIC/PTI
last year due to this hazardous pollution.
“My mother was not a smoker or drinker,
but yes, she was guilty of living in Delhi.”
Sharma wonders how people cannot
understand the repercussions of burst-
ing crackers. “I understand they want to
celebrate, but at the cost of digging ones
own grave!”
Even as the police launched a crack-
down the violators and made multiple
arrests, several people said, for them,
Diwali meant bursting firecrackers.
“Since childhood, we have been burst-
ing crackers on Diwali. We do not under-
stand green or red crackers. What we know
is that it is a symbol of the festival for us
and we will continue doing it,” said Himan-
shu Bhalla, a Gurugram resident.
Environmental activists said the police
needed to be supported by governments to
strictly enforce the ban.
“The judiciary has given our execu-
tive the necessary tools. We request our
lawmakers to support our executive and
all three arms of our democracy to work
together to protect citizens health at this
time of national health emergency,” said
Jyoti Pande Lavakare, co-founder, Care
for Air NGO.
“We would like our leadership and our
prime minister to acknowledge this health
emergency and encourage implementation
of solutions,” she added.
Ravina Kohli, member of #MyRight-
ToBreathe campaign, said people were
in denial of the health impact of burning
firecrackers of their health. “The police
could have been helped by the politicians
and local authorities for strictly enforcing
the order.” MPOST

PM2.5 reaches hazardous levels in Ggn Smog brings AQI in Noida,

eral challans and four mobile
challans have been issued
under the DMC Act. Overall,
24 challans have been issued.
Two challans have been
issued in Najafgarh Zone under
the NGT Act for burning leaves
and garbage. Additionally, 18
general challans and 14 chal-
lans have been issued under the
DMC Act and SWM by laws.
In all, 34 challans have been
issued.
In South Zone, 19 challans
have been issued for construc-
tion activities, while 13 have
been issued for burning leaves
and garbage under NGT Act.
Furthermore, 74 general chal-
lans have been issued DMC
Act and SWM by laws. In all
106 challans have been issued
so far.
OUR CORRESPONDENT
GURUGRAM: Despite the
turnout being lower than what
it was last year, a sizeable num-
ber of Gurugram residents
came out to celebrate Diwali
by bursting firecrackers on
Wednesday.
This, invariably, dete-
riorated the air quality, with
the harmful PM2.5 pollutant
reaching levels as hazardous
as 434 microgram per cubic
metre (µg/m3) at 11.00 pm on
Diwali night.
The situation improved
subsequently in the afternoon
and evening, when PM2.5 was
recorded at 350 µg/m3.
Around 9.00 am on Thurs-
day, poor visibility levels of less
than 300 m were recorded in
the city.
Meanwhile, this Diwali saw
fewer crackers being burst than
in previous years. On Wednes-
day, 18 calls regarding fire inci-
dents were reported, unlike 42
that were reported last year.
Even as the unfavourable
weather made the air unhealthy
to breathe, matters were made
worse by dust and vehicular
pollution in the city. High con-
centration of poisonous gases
like nitrogen dioxide and sul-
phur dioxide, mostly emitted
by vehicles, were also reported.
To save costs, many vehicles
especially – three-wheelers –
use low quality diesel as fuel,
which further pollutes the air.
Large scale construction
activities and receding green
cover has resulted in dust being
the major contributor of pollu-
tion in the Millennium City.
Even as strict orders have
been issued by the National
Green Tribunal to not allow
burning of waste, many can be
seen brazenly burning garbage
in the open in crowded areas of
National Highway-8.
“There is a need for sus-
tained and committed effort
in dealing with such a major
challenge. Unfortunately, a few
days of favourable weather con-
ditions cannot help us escape
from the big challenge that
surrounds us,” said Shweta
Narang, a Gurugram resident.
“The citizens and the gov-
ernment must collaborate
together to fight this menace.
Unfortunately, even though
the awareness about pollution
has improved, the proactive-
ness about it has not changed
much,” she added.
Gzb to ‘very poor’ levels
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NOIDA/GHAZIABAD: Despite
several restrictions and two-
hour window to burst only
“green crackers” ordered by the
Supreme Court, a thick layer
of smog engulfed the Noida
and Ghaziabad of the National
Capital Region on Thursday
morning, with the Air Qual-
ity Index falling into the ‘very
poor’ category.
As per data provided by
the Central Pollution Con-
trol Board (CPCB) for Noida,
at 10.00 am on Thursday, the
concentration of PM2.5 pollut-
ant was 389 µg/m3, while that f
PM10 was 317 µg/m3.
Compared to Noida,
Greater Noida witnessed a
minor improvement in the AQI
at 356 on Thursday morning,
but it was also in the ‘very poor’
category.
“The air quality began
to deteriorate from 7 pm on
Diwali evening. The AQI rose
from 286 at 7 pm to 405 an
hour later and by 11 pm, it was
shockingly 793,” said a senior
officer of Uttar Pradesh Pollu-
tion Control Board.
Ghaziabad too witnessed
‘very poor’ air quality, with the
AQI recorded at 379 at 10 am
on Thursday.
For the rest of the day, air
quality remained constantly in
the ‘very poor’ category in both
Noida and Ghaziabad.
However, the AQI level
was slightly worsened in the
evening.

MCG pulls up socks,
ramps up crackdown
against pollution
OUR CORRESPONDENT
GURUGRAM: Two days of
reasonably breathable air was
squandered away in Gurugram
on Thursday, due to Diwali
being celebrated by bursting
firecrackers.
The abysmal situated
resulted in Yashpal Yadav, com-
missioner of Municipal Corpo-
ration of Gurugram (MCG), to
lash out on Twitter.
“AQI from 134 to 366
within few hours. Accusations
all around, compliance zero!
Need to respect Hon’ble SC
directions at least,” Yadav said
on his official Twitter handle.
On Thursday, teams from
MCG continued their crack-
down on construction firms
that are flouting pollution
norms and those who were
found burning garbage in the
open. Moreover, sprinkling of
water was seen on a large scale
on major city roads.
Inspite of specific measures
introduced to tackle air pollu-
AQI from 134
to 366 within few
hours. Accusations all
around, compliance
zero! Need to respect
Hon’ble SC directions
at least
Yashpal Yadav on Twitter
tion caused by dust, challenges
remain aplenty for the public
agencies like MCG.
Dearth of mechanised
sweeping has resulted in roads
being sweeped with brooms,
which has to be proved to be
counterproductive.
The challenges for the
Corporation increase due to
inadequate infrastructure,
which included lack of park-
ing spaces, pollution under
control (PUC) centres, public
transport and effective waste
segregation system.
For Gurugram expats, Diwali is a Pay Rs 10L to parents
time to take the long weekend of electrocuted minor:
OUR CORRESPONDENT
GURUGRAM: For thousands
of expatriates working in Guru-
gram’s MNCs, Diwali becomes
a reason to leave the city tem-
porarily and take a long Christ-
mas break or go for outdoor
assignments.
Needless to say, this is due
to the poor air quality in the
Millennium City.
To make sure that the pre-
vailing air quality does not
adversely affect the health of
their employees, most compa-
nies are also allowing expats to
work from home, if necessary.
The expat population of
Gurugram includes Japanese,
Koreans, Americans and Ger-
mans, most of whom work in
multinational companies.
There is also a spike in the
number of air purifiers being
bought by these offices as well
as guesthouses.
An estimated 8,000 Japa-
nese people presently live in
and around Gurugram. Japa-
nese professionals are not only
employed in automobile giants
For thousands of expatriates working in Gurugram’s MNCs, Diwali is a
reason to leave the city temporarily due to the poor air quality PIC/PTI
like Maruti Suzuki and Honda,
but also in various Japanese
construction and auto ancil-
lary firms that have set their
base in the city.
“The air quality is bad and
we are finding it difficult. Even
though certain services are
being provided to make sure
that the air around is breath-
able, it is not proving to be that
useful,” said Horiuchi Ryou,
whose husband is an engineer
and is employed in Japanese
construction firm in the city.
In addition to Gurugram,
areas like Manesar, Bawal and
Neemrana also house a signifi-
cant Japanese population.
However, the low number
of expatriate employees does
affect the functioning of many
companies. The high cost of liv-
ing of most Japanese expats is
borne by these company.
Moreover, the fewer expa-
triate employees turn up to
work, the lower are the pro-
ductivity levels of the particu-
lar company.
HC tells North MCD
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High
Court has directed the North
Delhi Municipal Corporation
(North MCD) to pay Rs 10 lakh
as compensation to the par-
ents of a 13-year-old boy, who
was electrocuted in a park after
receiving shock from a metallic
fencing erected around a high
mast pole in 2010.
Justice JR Midha directed
the municipal body to deposit
the amount along with interest
with the high court’s registrar
general within six weeks and
listed the matter for December
for disbursement of the money
to the child’s parents.
The incident took place on
July 12, 2010 when the minor
was playing in the park near
his residence in Anand Par-
bat area.
A case was lodged and
charge sheet was filed against
an municipal body official for
the alleged offences of causing
death by negligence and caus-
ing hurt by act endangering
life or personal safety of others
under the IPC.
The child’s parents
approached the high court
seeking compensation for their
son’s death.
They had claimed that
the civic body was responsi-
ble for maintaining the park
and was liable to pay them
compensation.
Allowing the plea of the
parents, the court said North
MCD was held primary liable
to pay the compensation in the
first instance to the family.
It said that after depositing
the compensation amount, the
North MCD would be at lib-
erty to initiate appropriate legal
proceedings against the Delhi
Urban Shelter Improvement
Board (DUSIB), BSES Yamuna
Power Ltd and or any other
agency, in accordance with law.
The civic body had said that
the accident might have taken
place due to the accumulation
of rain water in the park and
leakage in earthing of the main
lines. PTI
Kerala CM
thanks Delhi
MLAs for
flood relief
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: Kerala Chief
Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on
Thursday expressed his grat-
itude to the members of the
Delhi Legislative Assembly for
their contribution to Kerala’s
Disaster Relief Fund in the
wake of floods in August.
In a letter to Assembly
Speaker Ram Niwas Goel,
Vijayan thanked the MLAs for
showing empathy towards the
flood victims.
“I would like to express my
gratitude on behalf of the peo-
ple of Kerala for the contribu-
tion of Rs 32,28,000 made by
the Members of Delhi Assem-
bly towards the Chief Minis-
ter’s Disaster Relief Fund. The
extent of compassion and care
shown by the government and
the people of Delhi in the hour
of crisis and calamity is heart-
ening,” Vijayan wrote.
Aam Aadmi Party MLAs
had donated a month’s salary
to flood-hit Kerala.
4 mp city MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Friday, 9 November, 2018

SC’s direction on bursting of Hospitals report One dies,

several injured

firecrackers goes up in smoke cases of burn, eye in separate fire

incidents
310 people arrested while 562 cases were registered against violators
injuries on Diwali NOIDA/ GREATER NOIDA:
One person has died while
around seven persons suffered
serious burn injuries in over
OUR CORRESPONDENT half a dozen incidents of fire
ZAFAR ABBAS

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police made

it very clear from the beginning that
any violations of the Supreme court’s
order on firecrackers would have seri-
ous repercussions. On Diwali night,
the Delhi police of all district was out
on patrolling and making arrests who-
soever was found bursting firecrackers
post 10 pm. In all, 562 cases were reg-
istered under section 188 IPC against
violators in general and 310 people were
arrested, legal action was taken against
24 violating juveniles under the pro-
vision of the Juvenile Justice Act, for
not abiding by the Supreme Court’s
directions.
“Besides, 72 cases were also regis-
tered under provisions of Explosive Act
and 87 persons arrested for illegal sale
of firecrackers. As much as 1,705 kgs of
non-green, non-certified firecrackers
were recovered. The Supreme Court
had fixed 8 pm -10 pm as the time for
bursting crackers. Anyone found vio-
lating was seriously dealt with,” said
Madhur Verma, PRO Delhi Police. As
much as 10 thousand police personnel
were deployed on Diwali night to meet
any untoward incident. The Delhi Police
commissioner Amulya Patnaik was out
too supervising the security arrange-
ments and distributing sweets to police-
men deployed.
47 held in Noida
NOIDA: The Gautam Buddh Nagar dis-
trict administration has arrested 47 per-
sons from various police station areas of
Noida and registered FIR against them
for violating the Supreme Court’s guide-
lines of bursting firecrackers for a fixed
time. The drive was undertaken by city
magistrate of Noida Shailendra Mishra
along with other administrative officials.
“Despite the guidelines issued by
Supreme Court of India, fixing the time
limit of bursting firecrackers on Diwali
between 8 pm to 10 pm, people kept on
bursting firecrackers till late night. The
administration acted strict upon them
A man looks at fireworks on Diwali, in New Delhi on Wednesday night  PIC/NAVEEN SHARMA and arrested a total of 47 persons from
various parts of Noida” said Mishra.
Many residents and activists voiced Police, Delhi Fire service too had a busy The officer said that a total of 19 per-
their helplessness at the violation of night. The fire tenders responded to sons from sector 20 police station area,
the Supreme Court's 8 pm to 10 pm various calls on Diwali night across the 11 persons were arrested from sector
time limit of bursting firecrackers and city. “Received 271 calls on the night 24 police station area, 4 persons from
expressed anguish both by complain- of Diwali. Between 8 pm to 12 am we Expressway area, 6 persons were arrested
ing to concerned authorities and also received 125 calls. Between 6 pm to from sector 49 police station area while
venting out their anger on Twitter and 6 am we received 226 calls. It means 7 persons were arrested from phase-2
Facebook. crackers were burst till morning. Num- police station area of Noida.
The Supreme Court had allowed ber of calls this Diwali was more than “All these persons have been booked
people to burst firecrackers from 8 pm last year,” said a senior fire official. under IPC section 188 (disobedience
to 10 pm only on Diwali and other fes- A DFS official said that though the of order promulgated by a public ser-
tivals. The top court also allowed manu- number of fire-related calls was more as vant). Furthermore actions will be taken
facture and sale of just “green crackers” compared to previous years, there has and FIR will be registered if anyone is
which have low emission of light, sound been a decline in cases of fire triggered found violating the guidelines,” the offi-
and harmful chemicals. Just like Delhi by burning of firecrackers. cer added.  MPOST
NEW DELHI: Over 250 cases
of burn injuries were reported
by various hospitals in the
national Capital this Diwali.
The five government hospitals
- Safdarjung, Ram Manohar
Lohia (RML), Guru Teg Baha-
dur (GTB), Deen Dayal Upad-
hyay (DDU) and Lok Nayak
(LN), reported majority of the
burn injuries and firecracker-
related accidents.
The Centre-run Safdar-
jung hospital, which has larg-
est burns unit in the country,
received around 104 cases,
including 22 admissions related
to major burn injuries, from 9
am on Wednesday to 9 am on
Thursday.
"While 22 patients were
admitted, rest were treated as
out patients," said Dr Shalabh
Kumar, Professor and Consul-
tant, Plastic Surgery Depart-
ment, Safdarjung Hospital. Of
the total 104 patients, 26 were
children.
At the RML Hospital,
located in central Delhi, 25
people came to the casualty
wards with burn injuries, out
of whom, six patients had to
be admitted as they had more
Safdarjung hospital
received around
104 cases
than 20 percent burns, said Dr
VK Tiwari, Medical Superin-
tendent of the hospital.
The Dr RP Centre for Oph-
thalmic Sciences at the AIIMS
also received patients who had
sustained burns in eyes or other
ocular injuries during Diwali
festivities. Consultant Plastic
Surgeon at the Lok Nayak hos-
pital, Dr PS Bhandari, said, "21
persons with burn injuries were
attended to at our hospital, out
of which five were admitted."
"This year we had antici-
pated that the cases will go
down on Diwali as lot of efforts
have been made to sensitise the
public. But then people started
pouring in since last evening
and continued till Thursday
morning," Bhandari added.
Around 35 patients were
sent back home after first aid at
the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hos-
pital. The Guru Teg Bahadur
Hospital received 45 patients
for bodily injuries from fire-
related incidents and saw two
admissions this Diwali.
reported from various parts of
twin cities Noida and Greater
Noida.
In first incident which was
reported on Diwali morning,
from sector 22 area of Noida,
a 45-year-old man who runs
a grocery in the area allegedly
died while four other persons
suffered severe burn injuries
when the building they reside
caught fire. Police officials said
that they were refilling a cylin-
der when a blast occurred and
the building caught fire.
In other incidents of fire,
a house in sector Alpha-II
of Greater Noida caught fire
while bursting crackers on
Diwali evening. The residents
alleged that their neighbours
have tried to set them ablaze
and intentionally directed a
flying firecracker into their
house. However, no causality
was reported in the incident
but goods worth lakhs was
charred in the incident.
Another incident was
reported from Mahagun
Mywood society of Greater
Noida West where an apart-
ment caught fire. Police officials
said that the reason why the fire
broke out is still not clear. M POST

19-year-old Two children die as SPREADING SWEETNESS

stabbed to death
in Jahangir Puri
NEW DELHI: A 19-year-
old man was stabbed to death
allegedly by his neighbour on
Thursday after a scuffle broke
out between the two over a
petty issue in northwest Del-
hi's Jahangir Puri, police said.
The deceased, Dipak, alias
Balli, was a resident of the area
and the accused, Yogesh, has
been arrested, they said.
"When police reached the
spot, they learnt that Dipak
was stabbed with a knife by his
neighbour Yogesh (19). Dur-
ing investigation, police found
that a minor scuffle broke out
between Dipak and Yogesh last
night over a petty issue which
was later settled," Deputy Com-
missioner of Police (northwest)
Aslam Khan said. However, at
around 11.40 am on Thursday,
the accused allegedly attacked
the victim and stabbed him in
the chest with a knife and fled
from the spot, he said. Dipak
was rushed to the Babu Jagji-
van Ram Memorial Hospital,
where he succumbed to inju-
ries, the officer added.  AGENCIES
Woman
fire engulfs shanty
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: In the fatal inci-
dent in a slum near Filmistan
Cinema in the Sadar Bazar
area, two children Ganesh, 10
years, and Swati, 5 years, were
killed. Their mother Suman
(28) and brother Dhruv, 7
years, suffered 55 per cent
and 70 per cent burn injuries
respectively and were admitted
to a hospital. “The fire report-
edly started from an LPG cylin-
der and spread to their shanty
around 2.18 am,” said a fire
officer.
The police and the fire ser-
vice received a call from the
place of incident C-62/16, Tibia
College, Karol Bagh, Delhi. A
lady named as Suman and
her son named as Dhruv hav-
ing burn injuries were rushed
Delhi HC awards life term to two men for Video of burning car goes viral,
abducting, murdering youth for ransom
OUR CORRESPONDENT
to RML hospital by ERV, of
police station DBG Road. The
first floor of the resident was
engulfed in fire due to fire in
the cylinder. Firefighters and
electricity department were
quickly informed and they
arrived at the spot. The fire was
finally extinguished.
“Two dead burnt bodies
were found and shifted to RML
emergency. Upon enquiry, it
was revealed that Suman was
living on the address along
with her family members, her
husband - Kishan, her 2 sons-
Ganesh (10 yrs), Dhruv (7 yrs),
and one daughter Swati (5 yrs).
Ganesh and Swati got burnt
in fire and expired,” said DCP
Central, MS Randhawa. While
Suman and her son Dhruv are
undergoing treatment in RML
hospital.
driver escapes unhurt
A bench of justices S Muralidhar and
Two boys die in
Noida road accident
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NOIDA: Two boys, aged 18
and 19 years, died after the
scooter they were travelling
collided with a tree at Noida-
Greater Noida Expressway near
sector 15A on late Wednesday
night. According to police,
the deceased were identified
as Rahul (18) and Pratap (19),
both natives of Laxmi Nagar
area of New Delhi. Police said
that dense smog causing low
visibility seems to the reason
behind the accident.
“The incident took place
near gate number 5 of Dalit
Prerna Sthal on the Expressway.
Police teams reached the spot
and took the victims to hospi-
tal where they were declared
Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik distributes sweets to policemen on duty on Diwali night dead on arrival. Their bodies
have been handed over to fam-
Ghaziabad, it said.
OUR CORRESPONDENT
ily after getting the postmortem
done,” said Manoj Pant, SHO,
sector 20 police station.
Police officials said that they
received no complaint in the
matter while the reason behind
the accident appears to be low
visibility. “Both the victims
were traveling on a scooter and
were going to Noida from Delhi
when the vehicle collided with
a tree. Prima facie it appears
that low visibility in night was
the reason behind the accident
however we will investigate the
matter if a complaint is given to
us,” added Pant.
A dense layer of smog
engulfed the city on late
Wednesday night with the
rise in number of suspended
particulate materials in the
air shrinking the visibility on
roads to just few meters.

alleges rape by NEW DELHI: The Delhi High

property dealer
NEW DELHI: A woman has
alleged that she was raped by
a man in Anand Vihar. A rape
case has been registered on the
complaint of the woman.
According to the police, the
accused works as a property
dealer in Noida. He had called
her to Anand Vihar on the pre-
text of providing her with a job.
The woman came there and
alleged that the accused raped
her. The woman gave a com-
plaint alleging rape, soon police
teams were formed to arrest the
accused. The accused was later
arrested by Delhi Police. MPOST
Court has awarded life impris-
onment to two persons for
abducting a youth for ransom
and strangulating him to death
15 years ago.
A bench of justices S
Muralidhar and Vinod Goel
upheld the verdict of a trial
court sentencing Joginder and
Vikas Chaudhary to life term,
which would mean incarcera-
tion till their natural life, and
that they would not be enti-
tled to “any parole, remis-
sion or any furlough before 30
years of imprisonment” for the
offences.
The bench, however,
acquitted Vikas Sidhu, who
was also awarded life term by
the trial court, by giving him
Vinod Goel upheld the verdict of a trial
court sentencing Joginder and Vikas
Chaudhary to life term, which would
mean incarceration till their natural life
benefit of doubt.
“While the involvement of
accused no. 1 (Joginder) and
accused no. 2 (Chaudhary)
stands conclusively established
by the matching of their spec-
imen voices with the ques-
tioned voices in the recorded
ransom calls, there is no such
evidence as far as accused no.
3 (Sidhu) is concerned,” the
bench said
“Therefore, he cannot be
said to have been part of any
criminal conspiracy or even
shared a common intention of
first abducting the deceased for
ransom and then murdering
him,” the bench said.
It said it has been con-
clusively proved by the pros-
ecution that Joginder and
Chaudhary entered into a
criminal conspiracy and
abducted 20-year-old Parakh
Chadha for ransom. They mur-
dered him and concealed the
evidence of the crime by burn-
ing the body and threw it in a
ditch near the Hindon river in
The high court has also
upheld the trial court’s order
directing Joginder and Chaud-
hary to pay a compensation of
Rs four lakh each to the vic-
tim’s family.
The three men had chal-
lenged the trial court’s order
of November last year.
According to the prosecu-
tion, on January 18, 2003, the
accused persons had conspired
and abducted Chadha, a resi-
dent of Ashok Vihar in north
west Delhi, for a ransom of Rs
35 lakh.
They killed him the same
night by strangulating him
and threw the burnt body in
the ditch to screen themselves
from prosecution, it said, add-
ing that one of the accused was
known to the victim.
GURUGRAM: A video of a
burning car speeding away on a
flyover in Haryana's Gurugram
has gone viral. The video shows
a Honda City moving at a fast
speed despite bursting into the
flames. The incident recorded
in the viral video took place
at Gurugram's Rajiv Chowk
flyover on Wednesday, when
the car's driver Rakesh was
out to distribute Diwali gifts to
friends and family.
"I heard a weird sound in the
car as soon as I started ascend-
ing the flyover when I checked into a ball of fire, still speeding the rickshaw out of the way and
the source of the sound the car away on the busy road. tried to stop the burning car
burst out in flames," Rakesh As Rakesh tried and failed by putting bricks on its path,
said, adding that he jumped out to stop the vehicle, it hit an but they failed too. Ultimately,
of the car after he failed to apply autorickshaw on the road and the car stopped when it hit the
the breaks. Although Rakesh started dragging the three- divider. The fire brigade later
escaped unhurt, his 2015 wheeler along with it. The doused the flames, but the car
model Honda City soon turned bystanders somehow pushed had been fully burnt by then.

Two years on, workers in Ggn still
prefer cash payment over digital
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: Two years after
the demonetization, cash is still
the preferred form of transac-
tion among the city's menial
force. Most of the labourers
who congregate at the Bris-
tol Chowk mention that how
transactions in cash are still
being preferred by them due to
their lack of knowledge in dig-
ital transactions and the secu-
rity which they feel in having
cash in hand.
Most of the workers also
claim that even though they
have installed certain pay-
ment, Apps they rarely use
them as their service concerns
are not being addressed
What was believed to be
the process of reforming the
process has turned back to
square one with most of the
workers claiming that there
has not been much of change
in the working conditions.
The labourers further
added that even though
they realize that they may be
cheated by the contractors on
the pretext of paying them
less, they do not have enough
choices.
According to the labour-
ers, the adverse effects of lower
earnings is not only being
faced by them but also their
families back home who are
dependent upon their income.
Citing some more difficulties,
the labourers add that there
are also situations where they
are deliberately being given the
old notes by the contractors.
Presently working in a con-
dominium society in the posh
Golf Course road, Panna Lal
from Satna Madhya Pradesh
said, "I still prefer getting
paid by the cash as I do not
know what will I be cheated
in using digital transactions
or not. Even though there were
assurances that were given that
we will be trained by using
digital transaction it did not
happen.”
Lal further added," Nor-
mally I work for around four
months, accrue a certain
amount and go back to my
village. I have a large family
and income earned here in
Gurugram help us to sustain.
At present, I fear that there will
not be enough income that
will be saved for, my family."
High Court directs police to refrain from
filing status report in ‘casual’ manner
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High
Court has directed Delhi Police
officials to refrain from filing
status reports in a “casual” and
“cavalier” manner.
A division bench of justices
Siddharth Mridul and Sangita
Dhingra directed the officials
to exercise caution, care and
diligence while responding to
proceedings pending before
the court.
“The officers of the Delhi
Police are directed to eschew
from filing status reports in a
casual and cavalier manner,”
it said.
The bench’s observations
came while discharging a crim-
inal contempt notice issued to a
station house officer of Mayur
Vihar Police Station in East
Delhi by a single judge of the
high court for allegedly making
a wrong statement in a status
report filed in the court.
The bench observed that
officials of Delhi Police are
required to be held to the high
standards by which they pro-
fess their conduct to be judged.
“In view of the foregoing,
the notice of criminal contempt
issued to the concerned SHO
is hereby discharged, whilst
directing him to exercise due
caution, henceforth. The offi-
cers of the Delhi Police are
directed to eschew from filing
status reports in a casual and
cavalier manner,” the bench
said.
The single judge was hear-
ing a petition by a woman
seeking directions to remove
derogatory remarks made
against her and her commu-
nity by a post on a social net-
working site.
On court’s direction, a
status report was filed by the
SHO concerned in which it was
stated that “a letter has been
sent to .... (social networking
site) through Cyber Cell East
Delhi to remove the contents/
photographs uploaded on the
site in connection with the peti-
tioner (woman).”
However, the single judge
later came to know that at the
time of filing of status report,
no communication had been
addressed to the social net-
working site by the competent
authority for removing the
alleged objectionable material
posted on its website.
The single judge then made
a reference to the division
bench for initiating appropriate
action for criminal contempt
against the SHO concerned.
The SHO expressed uncon-
ditional regret and apology
for the language error that
occurred on his behalf.
The division bench in its
order said,”however, in our
considered view, although the
expression employed by the
concerned SHO in the subject
status report could be said to
misdirect the proceedings, the
same in our view does not con-
stitute a deliberate and wilful
attempt to mislead the court
or interfere in the administra-
tion of justice”.
MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Friday, 9 November, 2018
‘2019 will see repeat of 1996’:
Naidu meets Gowda, HDK
OUR CORRESPONDENT
BENGALURU/KOLKATA:
Stepping up his efforts for an
anti-BJP front in the 2019 Lok
Sabha polls, TDP supremo and
Andhra Pradesh Chief Min-
ister N Chandrababu Naidu
on Thursday met his Karna-
taka counterpart HD Kuma-
raswamy after which he said
a grand alliance of various
regional parties would be
forged soon in which the Con-
gress will be a “main anchor”.
Naidu’s meeting with the
top brass of the JD(S)--Kuma-
raswamy and his father and for-
mer prime minister H D Deve
Gowda--came two days after
the JD(S)-Congress coalition
candidates defeated the BJP
4-1 in three Lok Sabha and two
assembly seats in the bypolls.
Setting the stage for the
revival of an united front
against the BJP, Naidu claimed
the mood of the nation was
against the BJP-led NDA and
soon an alliance would be
formed with various regional
parties. Speaking to report-
ers after the meeting, Naidu
said the initial steps for the
formation of the alliance was
underway and that once the
modalities were fixed, pro-
grammes would be chalked out
later. “I have spoken to May-
awati, Akhilesh Yadav. I have
met everybody. Tomorrow I
am meeting Stalin (DMK presi-
dent). We will decide how to
take forward the alliance with
consensus. It is an initial exer-
cise. After that we will work
together,” he said.
Naidu also said the Con-
gress will be a main anchor in
any “grand alliance” of opposi-
tion parties.
“Congress is a major oppo-
sition party,” he said, pointing
out that Deve Gowda became
prime minister with support
of the Congress from outside
in 1996.
“... Congress is a main
anchor,” Naidu added.
However, he ducked ques-
tions on the alliance’s prime
ministerial candidate.
PM candidate we will be
decided later, first we will save
the nation, he said.
The comments by Naidu
came on a day when senior
Congress leader P Chidam-
baram said state-wise alliances
would benefit the party and
was the best way to defeat the
BJP.
“The kind of alliance that
was formed in Karnataka
yielded results. Similar alli-
ances should be formed in dif-
ferent states,” Chidambaram
told reporters in Kolkata.
The electoral sweep by the
ruling coalition in Karnataka
came as a boost to opposition
unity as the bypolls were seen
as a barometer of the public
mood ahead of the 2019 polls.
Gowda said the meeting
was called to work out further
strategy on forming the alliance
and urged like-minded parties
to join hands for the elections.
“It is the responsibility of
all secular parties including
Congress to come together to
replace NDA govt, he said.
Kumaraswamy expressed
confidence that the 2019 polls
will see a repeat of the 1996
result, when a united opposi-
tion had formed the govern-
ment and Gowda had become
the prime minister
I think 1996 will be repeated
in 2019 elections.,” he said, add-
ing Gowda and Naidu are old
friends and their arithmetic is
good.
BJP’s estranged ally Shiv
Sena, meanwhile, took a dig
at its senior coalition partner
over the Karnataka result, say-
ing it indicated that “acche din”
(good days) will return for the
Congress in 2019.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led
party also said the BJP’s defeat
in a string of Lok Sabha and
assembly bypolls in the coun-
try would infuse a “fresh lease
of life” in the Congress ahead of
the Lok Sabha elections.
mp nation
Why you find merit in protesting every
anti-corruption measure? BJP to Cong
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: The BJP on
Thursday fired off 10 ques-
tions to the Congress on
second anniversary of demon-
etisation, asking why its finds
merit in protesting every “anti-
corruption” measure of the
Narendra Modi government
and accusing it of “living in
denial” despite a surge in GDP
numbers.
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s
counter-attack came after for-
mer prime minister Manmo-
han Singh led the Congress’
charge against demonetisation,
as he dubbed it an economic
misadventure which roiled the
nation and whose “scars and
wounds” are getting more vis-
ible with time.
“Why does the Congress
find merit in protesting against
every anti-corruption measure
of the Government of India?
What do they fear? Why is it
that wherever black money is
there, the Congress is not far
behind?” the BJP posted on
twitter. What sort of politics
and “anti-development mind-
set” the Congress has that
opposes a bold move that has
widened the tax base, it asked.
The ruling party fur-
ther queried if the Congress
can name even one strin-
gent measure aimed at elimi-
nating corruption and black
money it took during the UPA
government.
“Is the Congress living in a
state of denial that it cannot see
the surge in GDP numbers, the
‘Ease of Doing Business Rank-
ings’ and Global Competi-
tiveness Index? Why are they
unhappy that India’s economic
prowess is being recognized
world over?” the BJP asked.
The saffron party also took
a dig at the former finance
minister P Chidambaram over
his criticism of the govern-
ment’s economic policy, say-
ing he is himself under radar
of investigating agencies for
“massive corruption” involv-
ing land, cash and foreign bank
accounts. In its chargesheet in
the Aircel-Maxis case of money
laundering, the Enforcement
Directorate has named Chi-
dambaram as an accused.
The former finance minister
has said he would contest the
charge in court.
The BJP said India in the
5
last two years has seen an
increase of more than two crore
tax returns. “Is this why you
were opposed to demonetisa-
tion?” it asked.
Countering the Congress’
charge that demonetisation
harmed informal economy, the
BJP said the move in fact led to
formalisation of the economy,
which has empowered the poor
and marginalised, who were
mostly involved in the informal
economy, many of whom came
from lower middle class.
“The Congress now remem-
bers small business but did the
UPA think of this sector even
once? Except tax terror, raid
raj and arbitrary policies, what
did Congress do for small busi-
nesses?” the BJP asked.
Why is it that whenever
India’s standing in the world
increases the Congress takes
to defaming India and creat-
ing an atmosphere of gloom
to “mislead” the people, it said.
At a press conference, Congress
spokesperson Anand Sharma
alleged that demonetisation
was a “big money laundering
project” while slamming the
government for its handling of
the economy.

MP elections: Snubbed Mizoram polls: Debutant 2ND ANNIVERSARY OF DEMONETISATION

senior BJP leader joins Apologise for loss of jobs: Cong to Modi NPP to contest in 8 seats
DHIRENDRA KUMAR ment if any faults appear in his

Congress, gets ticket NEW DELHI: As ruling party

MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his wife Sadhna Singh offer food to
cows during 'Govardhan Puja' at his residence, in Bhopal, Thursday  PTI
OUR CORRESPONDENT
BHOPAL: Senior BJP leader
and former Union minis-
ter Sartaj Singh on Thursday
switched over to the Congress
after his name did not figure
in the ruling party’s third list
for the November 28 Madhya
Pradesh Assembly polls.
Singh, two-time MLA from
Seoni-Malwa who wept openly
after the BJP snub, was imme-
diately named as the Congress’
nominee for the Hoshangabad
Assembly seat in the opposi-
tion party’s fifth list compris-
ing 16 candidates. Singh holds
sway in the Hoshangabad
region and had defeated late
Congress stalwart Arjun Singh
from there in 1998.
“I am grateful to the Con-
gress for nominating me from
Hoshangabad. I had been with
the saffron family for 58 long
years. The BJP denied me a
ticket. I want to be in the midst
of the people so I am contesting
elections,” Singh said.
“I don’t want to sit at home
and confine myself to counting
prayer beads,” he added.
With the fifth list, released
Thursday evening, the Con-
gress has now announced
names for 225 seats in the
230-member MP Assembly.
The Congress is yet to
announce its contestants from
Budhni (Sehore), Manpur
(Dhar), Indore-2, Indore-5 and
Jatara (Tikamgarh) seats.
Congress sources said the
party is looking for a strong
candidate for Budhni to “con-
fine” MP Chief Minister Shivraj
Singh Chouhan there. The BJP
Thursday released its third list
of 32 candidates, leaving only
six seats, in the 230-member
MP House, for which no names
have been declared so far.
These are Seoni-Malwa,
from which Singh was a sitting
MLA, Panna, Lakhnadoun,
Bhopal North, Mahidpur and
Garoth. Sitting among his sup-
porters earlier Thursday, the
Sikh leader tried to conceal his
tears by covering his face for a
few moments.
State BJP spokesperson
Anil Soumitra, who had earlier
in the day called Singh’s teary
reaction to his exclusion from
the party’s list as “unbecoming”,
later in the evening said the
veteran MLA’s exit would not
harm the BJP. “Will the Con-
gress workers accept him? Is
this trend of nursing personal
political ambitions right? If he
was such a big leader, why he
did not run as an Independent
candidate,” Soumitra said.
Earlier in the day, asked
for a comment, Soumitra
said,” The BJP has valued him
immensely. The party has made
him Union minister, twice MP
Minister, MP and MLA. What
more does he want? Instead of
Vanaprashta (retirement in for-
est), he wants to stay put in Gri-
hastha (household).”
were busy in celebrating the
second anniversary of demon-
etisation, the Congress orches-
trated a blistering attack against
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
and asked the PM to apologise
to the people of the country for
the loss of jobs and setback to
the economy due to the deci-
sion to demonetise high-value
notes in November 2016.
In a tweet, Congress presi-
dent Rahul Gandhi on Thurs-
day alleged that it was a ‘cruel
conspiracy’ under which black
money of Prime Minister Nar-
endra Modi’s ‘suit-boot bud-
dies’ was converted into white.
Gandhi also said that in this
‘scandal’ everything was
thoughtfully done and apart
from this some other meaning
of note ban was an insult to the
understanding of the country.
Condemning the note-ban
decision of the government,
the Congress president said,
“Demonetisation was a tragedy.
India has faced many tragedies
in its past as external enemies
TDP to finalise its candidates Cong leader Chaturvedi’s son
for Telangana polls soon
OUR CORRESPONDENT
AMARAVATI (AP): The
Telugu Desam Party will
finalise its candidates for the
coming assembly elections in
neighbouring Telangana in a
day or two, state unit president
L Ramana said Thursday.
As part of the ‘grand alli-
ance’ with Congress and other
parties, the TDP is expected
to be allotted 14 out of the
119 seats in the Telangana
Assembly.
Talking to reporters after a
meeting with party supremo
and Andhra Pradesh Chief
Minister N Chandrababu
Naidu here Thursday after-
noon, Ramana said a list of
proposed candidates had
been submitted to Naidu for
approval.
Our main objective is vic-
tory (in polls) rather than
In this undated photo, a PM Narendra Modi look alike campaigns for
Congress party in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh  PTI
tried to hurt us, but demoneti- sary of the PM’s ‘monumen-
sation is a unique one in the tal blunder’, the government’s
history of tragedies as it was spin-doctors, including our
a self-inflicted, suicidal attack ‘incompetent’ Finance Minis-
that destroyed millions of lives ter, have the unenviable task
and ruined thousands of India’s of defending and indefensible,
small businesses.” criminal policy.
“Modi’s demonetisation Recalling the November 14
cost India over one and a half speech of Prime Minister Nar-
million jobs and wiped out at endra Modi in which he had
least one per cent from our announced that he was ready
GDP,” Gandhi said, adding to appear in any corner of the
that on the second anniver- country to receive punish-
to contest on SP ticket
December 7 polls.
People lost faith in TRS
and (Chief Minister) K Chan-
drasekhar Rao. The grand alli-
ance has been formed to teach a
lesson to KCR, he added.
To a question on seat-shar-
ing among the alliance part-
ners, the TDP leader said
the number of seats. We will everything would be sorted out
touch double-digit in the sec- soon and a statement issued in
ond Telangana Assembly and a couple of days.
play a crucial role, Ramana said AICC in-charge of Telan-
replying to a question. gana affairs R C Khuntia has
Party sources indicated said the seat-sharing had
TDP was concentrating only been finalised and it would
on seats where it has a possi- announced after approval by
bility of victory. Congress President Rahul
Claiming that the ruling Gandhi.
Telangana Rashtra Samiti had Earlier, Ramana accom-
lost the confidence of the peo- panied by other Telangana
ple, Ramana expressed confi- TDP leaders, including Ravula
dence that the Maha Kutami Chandrasekhar Reddy, con-
(grand alliance of Congress, ferred with Naidu at his riv-
TDP, Telangana Jana Samiti erfront residence here and
and CPI) would win the discussed the poll strategies.
intentions, deputy leader of the
Congress in the Rajya Sabha
Anand Sharma asked, “Has he
accepted any chauraha (corner)
to receive the punishment?”
Sharma further alleged that
Modi was guilty of breaking the
confidence of people in savings,
in the banking system and in
the economic institutions of
the country. “This decision did
not only wreck the economy, it
took away millions of jobs from
the people,” he said.
The government data itself
reflected a loss of 1.5 million
jobs in the organised sector,
but the situation is worse in the
unorganised sector, he added.
The Congress leader fur-
ther said 92.8 per cent of the
allocated funds for various
departments have already been
used by August 31. “It is now
impossible to cross October-
November,” he claimed. Call-
ing the PM a “megalomaniac”,
the former Commerce Minister
asked: “What is the economic
wisdom behind this reckless
decision and how can this be
justified?”
OUR CORRESPONDENT
CHHATARPUR (MP): Nitin
Chaturvedi, son of senior Con-
gress leader and former MP
Satyavrat Chaturvedi, filed
nomination as a Samajwadi
Party (SP) candidate Thursday
from Rajnagar in Bundelkhand
region of Madhya Pradesh.
Assembly elections will be
held in the BJP-ruled state on
November 28.
Nitin Chaturvedi filed
his papers in the presence
of his father and a group of
supporters.
Satyavrata Chaturvedi,
a former Congress national
spokesperson, said he himself
was still with the Congress.
“I am still a Congress
member. Congress has been
repeating the same mistake (of
ignoring his son) for 15 years.
Doing injustice is sin, and tol-
erating injustice is equally sin-
OUR CORRESPONDENT
AIZAWL: The National Peo-
ple’s Party (NPP) will contest
eight seats in the Mizoram elec-
tions on November 28, party
national secretary Lalrina said
on Thursday.
The NPP was launched in
Mizoram by its president and
Meghalaya chief minister,
Conrad Sangma, on Septem-
ber 29.
Lalrina said that the NPP
candidates would be fil-
ing their nominations either
on Thursday or Friday,
which is the last date of filing
nominations.
“Former parliamentary
secretary Hmingdailova Khi-
angte, who recently resigned
from the state legislature after
being denied ticket by the rul-
ing Congress, would be NPP’s
candidate for Tuirial seat in
Kolasib district, located on the
border with Assam,” Lalrina
said.
NPP state unit convener
Lianzuala will contest from the
Dampa constituency, while a
ful. So my son took the decision
to go to the people’s court,” he
said. “It was Nitin’s own deci-
sion to contest on SP ticket.
He is adult and a father of two
children, so he can take deci-
sion on his own. I will help him
as much as I can,” Satyavrata
Chaturvedi added.
Nitin Chaturvedi alleged
that the Congress has ignored
its ground-level workers.
The party has fielded
Vikram Singh Natiraja, a three-
time MLA, from this seat.
Defending the decision to
give ticket to Natiraja, Con-
gress spokesperson Pankaj
Chaturvedi cited his record.
“Natiraja is a three-time
MLA from here. He won two
consecutive elections, in 2008
and 2013, on Congress ticket.
He was elected as MLA on
SP’s ticket in 2003. How can
Congress ignore ground
reports,” he said.
retired Indian Forest Service
(IFS) officer, B Suanzalang,
will try his electoral luck from
Champhai North seat.
Former president of the
erstwhile underground Hmar
People’s Convention (HPC),
Hmingchungnunga, would be
the NPP’s nominee in the Serlui
seat, while Kapliana Pachuau, a
journalist and a fresher, would
contest from the prestigious
Serchhip seat against giants like
chief minister Lal Thanhawla
and Zoram People’s Movement
(ZPM) chief ministerial nomi-
nee Lalduhoma.
First timers -- John Lal-
remruata, Lalhuliana and
D D Chakma -- will contest
from Kolasib, Thorang and
Tuichawng seats, respectively.
In Meghalaya, the NPP is
the major partner of the rul-
ing MDA alliance, while in
Nagaland and Manipur it is
also part of the ruling alli-
ance. It is part of the BJP-led
NDA government at the Centre
and a constituent of the North
East Democratic Alliance
(NEDA).
Cong announces
5th list for MP
elections
NEW DELHI: The Congress
Thursday released its fifth list of
16 candidates for the Madhya
Pradesh Assembly polls, taking
the total number of declared
candidatures to 229.
The announcement came a
day after the Congress released
its fourth list of 29 candidates
for elections to the 230-mem-
ber Assembly. The Congress
announced its first list of 155
candidates on November 3 in
which it renominated 46 MLAs.
A day after, it announced the
second list of 16 candidates.
On Monday night, the Con-
gress announced a third list of
13 candidates. With Thursday’s
announcement, the name of
just one Congress candidate for
the Manpur seat is awaited. In
the current assembly, the Con-
gress has 57 MLAs.
The Congress has been out
of power in MP since 2003. PTI

Case registered against Ker BJP State-wise alliances to benefit BJP’s defeat in bypolls signals
chief over Sabarimala remarks Congress, says Chidambaram ‘acche din’ for Cong, says Sena
NEW DELHI: A case under
non-bailable charges was reg-
istered on Thursday against
Kerala BJP chief PS Sreed-
haran Pillai after he was caught
on video telling party work-
ers that last month’s agitation
at the Sabarimala temple over
the entry of women of all ages
was “almost planned” by the
saffron party.
Pillai has been booked
under Section 505 1(b) of the
Indian Penal Code, which
refers to comments that can
cause fear or alarm in the pub-
lic and disturb peace, after a
complaint was filed by a jour-
nalist for his inflammatory
speech.
Pilllai made the remarks
during a meeting of the
Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha
in Kozhikode on November
4, but the audio clip emerged
on Monday, the day the shrine
opened for the ‘Chithira Aat-
taviseshom’ festival.
In the audio clip, Pillai is
heard saying: “Everyone fol-
lowed the agenda we had put
forward.
One after another, every-
one exited the scene after sur-
rendering before us… the
agitation in the Malayalam
month was almost planned by
the BJP.”
Pillai is also heard claiming
that he had advised the tem-
ple’s tantri (head priest), Kan-
daru Rajeevaru, that “locking”
the shrine’s nada, or doors to
sanctum sanctorum, would
“not amount to contempt of
court”.
However, Rajeevaru had
refuted Pillai’s claim, saying he
had only discussed the mat-
ter with senior members of the
‘tantri’ family and did not talk
to the BJP chief.
During the agitation last
month, the tantri had warned
that he would shut the temple
doors if women between the
ages of 10 and 50 entered the
premises despite a Supreme
Court order allowing them to
do so.
Defending his remarks,
Pillai said, “There is nothing
wrong in giving advice”. How-
ever, Kerala Chief Minister
Pinarayi Vijayan lashed out at
the saffron party, saying that
the “odious politics and perfidi-
ous ways of BJP stand exposed”.
CPM state secretary Kodi-
yeri Balakrishnan demanded
a “high-level probe” into the
remarks.  AGENCIES
KOLKATA: Senior Congress
leader P Chidambaram on
Thursday said state-wise alli-
ances would benefit the party
and was the best way to defeat
the BJP.
Apparently emboldened by
the victory of the ruling Con-
gress-Janata Dal (Secular) alli-
ance in the recent Karnataka
bypolls, Chidambaram said
similar alliances should be
formed in other states as well.
“The kind of alliance
formed in Karnataka, it yielded
results. Similar alliances should
be formed in different states,”
he told a press meet at the Con-
gress office here.
Asked about the party’s alli-
ance in West Bengal, the for-
mer finance minister avoided
a direct reply, saying, “The
AICC will take a decision in
this regard.”
Chidambaram also alleged
that the Narendra Modi gov-
ernment has completely failed
and the BJP has gone back to
its Hindutva agenda.  MPOST
MUMBAI: Taking a dig at its
ally BJP over the recent debacle
in Karnataka bypolls, the Shiv
Sena on Thursday said the poll
outcome indicates that “acche
din” (good days) will return
for the Congress in 2019, when
general elections are due.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led
party also said the BJP’s defeat
in a string of Lok Sabha and
assembly bypolls in the coun-
try would infuse a “fresh lease
of life” in the Congress ahead of
the Lok Sabha elections.
In an editorial laced with
sarcasm in the party mouth-
piece “Saamana”, the Sena also
said the Bhartiya Janata Party
(BJP) probably lost in Karna-
taka for ignoring poll promises
like construction of a Ram tem-
ple in Ayodhya and for “impos-
ing some other agenda”.
Mocking the BJP, the edit
said the party should think why
its “losing streak” is continuing
unabated even as some “revo-
lutionary changes” are taking
place in the country under the
BJP-led government by its own
admission. In a major setback
to the BJP, the JD(S)-Congress
coalition candidates Tuesday
won four of five constituen-
cies--three Lok Sabha and two
assembly seats--that went to
polls last week.
The defeat was more sting-
ing for the BJP as the party lost
its bastion Ballari Lok Sabha
seat to the Congress.
“The BJP would study and
introspect its losses in the
bypolls, starting from Uttar
Pradesh, in its own way. But,
when so much good is happen-
ing in the country and revo-
lutionary changes are taking
place according to the ruling
party, then why its losing streak
is not stopping?
“The defeat of the BJP (in
various bypolls) would give a
fresh lease of life to the Con-
gress,” the Sena said. The BJP
had suffered a stunning elec-
toral upset in the bypolls for
Kairana Lok Sabha and Noor-
pur assembly constituencies in
Uttar Pradesh earlier this year,
months after it lost bypolls for
Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok
sabha seats, also in UP. While
Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Tabassum
Hasan won the Kairana seat,
Naeemul Hasan of the Sama-
jwadi Party bagged the Noor-
pur Assembly seat.  MPOST
6 mp nation
4 civilians, 1 jawan killed as Sabarimala: HC terms protests
against SC order ‘unjustifiable’
Naxals blow up bus in C’garh
OUR CORRESPONDENT
RAIPUR: Four civilians and a
CISF jawan were killed when
suspected Naxals blew up a bus
with an improvised explosive
device (IED) in Chhattisgarh’s
Dantewada district on Thurs-
day, four days ahead of the first
phase of Assembly polls in the
state, police said.
Two personnel of the Cen-
tral Industrial Security Force
(CISF) were also injured in
the explosion, the third Naxal
attack in 15 days in the poll-
bound state.
The attack comes before
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi’s scheduled visit on Fri-
day to Jagdalpur district, about
100 km from Dantewada, to
campaign for the BJP.
The IED explosion took
place in a hilly area in Bach-
eli, about 450 km from here,
when the CISF personnel,
belonging to 502nd battalion,
were returning to their camp
in Akashnagar area after pur-
chasing groceries from a local
market, Dantewada Superin-
tendent of Police Abhishek Pal-
lava said.
The Naxals triggered a pow-
erful IED blast near curve no.6
LS Secretary J&K: Day curfew lifted in Kishtwar
General gets
one-year Advisor to Guv BB Vyas meets families of deceased
extension OUR CORRESPONDENT tial commodities and celebrate
Diwali.
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: The tenure of
Snehlata Shrivastava, the first
woman Secretary General
of the Lok Sabha, has been
extended by Speaker Sumitra
Mahajan for one year.  cautionary measure,” Deputy
The 1982-batch retired IAS
officer of the Madhya Pradesh
cadre who was appointed last
year in rank and status of a
Cabinet Secretary was sched-
uled to retire on November 30.
According to a Lok Sabha
secretariat notification, “The
speaker is pleased to extend
the tenure of Snehlata Shriv-
astava... in the rank and sta-
tus of Cabinet Secretary for a
period of one year with effect
from December 1, 2018 up to
November 30, 2019.” 
Shrivastava, with 35 years
of rich and varied administra-
tive experience, has held sev-
eral important positions in the
Madhya Pradesh government
as well as at the Centre.  were affected Thursday after
She has served as Secretary
in the Ministry of Law and Jus-
tice and as Special/Additional
Secretary in the Ministry of
Finance.
She has also held several
senior positions in the Madhya
Pradesh government, includ-
ing Principal Secretary in the
departments of Culture and
Parliamentary Affairs.
Mumbai records high noise level on Diwali, 7 26 held in Chandigarh for
held for flouting SC directive on firecrackers breaching SC time frame
OUR CORRESPONDENT
MUMBAI: Mumbai wit-
nessed a noisy Diwali this year
despite the Supreme Court put-
ting restrictions on bursting of
firecrackers.
Some residential areas in
the city recorded “high” noise
levels Wednesday night against
the permissible limits, said envi-
ronment activist Sumaira Abdu-
lali, the founder of NGO Awaaz
Foundation, which has been
campaigning for bringing down
noise levels.
Seven people were detained
for allegedly flouting the apex
court’s guidelines and bursting
crackers beyond the permissible
time limit, police said Thursday.
In gross violation of the apex
court’s order, people in some
parts of the megacity burst fire-
crackers even after the 10 pm
deadline. The Supreme Court
had last month permitted sale
and manufacture of low emis-
sion “green” firecrackers coun-
trywide and fixed a two-hour
time period from 8 pm to 10
The mangled remains of a CISF minibus after an IED blast, allegedly triggered by the Maoist rebels, in
Bacheli area of Dantewad, Chhattisgarh on Thursday
on the hills, he said.
Those killed in the blast
were identified as CISF Head
Constable D Mukhopadhyay,
bus driver Ramesh Patkar,
helpers Roshan Kumar Sahu
and Johan Nayak, and a truck
driver, Sushil Banjare, the SP
said.
The truck driver had taken
Later, the representatives
of the Sanatan Dharma Sabha
JAMMU: Day curfew has been
lifted in Jammu and Kash-
mir’s Kishtwar district follow-
ing improvement in situation,
though night curfew will remain
in force as a precautionary mea-
sure, authorities said Thursday.
Curfew was imposed in the
district last Thursday following
the killing of BJP state secretary
Anil Parihar, 52, and his brother
Ajeet Parihar, 55, by suspected
militants.
“We have lifted the day cur-
few in Kishtwar, but the night
curfew continues to remain
imposed in the town as a pre-
Commissioner Angrez Singh
Rana said.
He has the situation has
improved and there was no
report of any untoward inci-
dent in the district.
The authorities had on
Wednesday lifted the day curfew
to allow people to buy essen-
AHEAD OF CHHATH FESTIVAL
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi review the
preparations for ‘Chhath’ festival on the ghats of River Ganga 
on bursting fire crackers
pm for bursting them on Diwali
and other festivals.
Abdulali’s team conducted
noise level tests at several places
in the city, including Bandra,
Worli, Juhu and Santacruz, on
Wednesday night.
“At some places, noise up
to 114.1 decibels was recorded
against the permissible limit of
55 decibels in residential areas,”
she said.
“All I can say is that the
Supreme Court’s guidelines
were flouted, but the state gov-
ernment and its machinery tried
their best to check people and
adhere to the permissible time
limit. Since the last few years,
the noise level is coming down,”
she said.
Abdulali said the Awaaz
Foundation’s report indicates
that all firecrackers tested by
it are unsafe for human health
and that none of them could be
classified as ‘green’.
She reiterated her demand
for the state government’s inter-
vention to facilitate a proper
chemical analysis of firecrackers.
lift in the bus, another police
official said.
Two CISF constables -
Pathare Satish and Pishal
Suresh - were injured in the
attack, Pallava said.
Reinforcements were
rushed to the spot and the
injured personnel and bod-
ies of the deceased shifted to a
Advisor to Governor B B
Vyas Thursday visited the fam-
ilies of Anil Parihar and Ajeet
Parihar.
While interacting with
the bereaved families, Vyas
expressed deep sympathies and
condolences to them on behalf
BJP LEADER’S
KILLING
of Governor Satya Pal Malik and
on his own.  killers of the duo have been
He directed the district
administration to process the
case for employment and finan-
cial assistance to the kin of the
deceased for appropriate and
immediate consideration of the
government.
Vyas assured that the gov-
ernor’s administration will take
all necessary steps to address
the concerns of the bereaved
families.
PTI
The seven people were
detained by police at the
Marine Drive in south Mum-
bai Wednesday late night for
bursting firecrackers beyond the
permissible time limits, senior
police inspector Vilas Ganga-
wane said.
They were taken to the
police station concerned and
fined as per provisions of the
Bombay Police Act before being
let off, he said.
Besides, offences were reg-
istered against two unidentified
persons in suburban Mankhurd
for flouting the apex court’s
directive, another police offi-
cial said. The Mumbai Police’s
Twitter handle also saw a flurry
of complaints from across the
city of violation of the Supreme
Court’s directives on bursting of
firecrackers.
The complainants were
asked to approach their area
police station concerned, an
official said.
“We have asked all police
stations to follow the Supreme
Court’s guidelines on bursting
PTI
local hospital, he said.
Security forces have
launched a combing operation
in the area to trace the ultras,
the officer added.
According to another
police official, the CISF per-
sonnel were from the ‘B’ com-
pany of 502nd battalion, which
had arrived from Kolkata to
and the Majlis Shoura Commit-
tee, Kishtwar, also called on the
advisor and urged for speedy
probe into the matter.
Vyas lauded the people of
Kishtwar for maintaining peace
and communal harmony.
The government has con-
stituted a Special Investigation
Team (SIT) to probe the killing
and directed it to expedite the
investigation.
Malik had termed the attack
as a militancy act and said the
identified.  in Uttar Pradesh announced
On November 1, Anil Par-
ihar and Ajeet Parihar were
returning home after closing
their stationery shop when the
gunmen fired at them in the
Tappal Gali area.
Their killing triggered mas-
sive protests across the Jammu
region following which authori-
ties imposed curfew in Kishtwar
and Doda districts.  sultations we will take a concrete
37 flights delayed as AI ground handling
employees go on strike at Mum airport
MUMBAI: As many as 37
Air India flights, includ-
ing some international ones,
a section of employees of the
national carrier’s ground han-
dling subsidiary, AIATSL, went
on a flash strike against non-
payment of Diwali bonus and
other issues, an official said.
The employees of the Air
India Air Transport Services
Ltd (AIATSL) struck work at
the Mumbai airport from the
intervening night of Wednes-
firecrackers and to ensure action
against those violating it,” Mum-
bai Police spokesperson Man-
junath Singe said.
Mani Kumar Iyer, a resident
of suburban Ghatkopar, com-
plained that some people con-
tinued bursting crackers even
past midnight. “There were no
one to check them,” he said.
Another resident from the
area, who burst crackers till
around midnight, was pointed
out the SC guidelines. However,
he said, “I have been doing this
(bursting crackers) since I was
a child and would keep doing
this. Is this a crime?”  on bursting crackers.
Santosh Kumar Singh, a resi-
dent of the neighbouring Pune
district, said had there been an
advisory instead of a ban cou-
pled with the state government’s
positive campaigning, it would
have worked better.
The state government had
earlier issued directives to senior
officials to ensure compliance
with the Supreme Court’s order
putting restrictions on sale and
bursting of firecrackers.
Dantewada for election duty.
The company has been
deployed in the iron ore deposit
no.10 area on the Bailadila hills.
The CISF has been guard-
ing iron ore facilities of the
National Mining Development
Corporation in the Bailadila
hills of Dantewada.
On October 30, three police
personnel and a cameraman of
national broadcaster Doordar-
shan were killed in a Maoist
attack in Dantewada’s Aranpur
area. Before that, on October
27, four Central Reserve Police
Force (CRPF) personnel were
killed and two others injured
after Maoists blew up their bul-
letproof bunker vehicle in Bija-
pur district.
Naxalites have asked voters
to boycott the upcoming state
Assembly polls, being held in
two phases on November 12
and November 20.
The first phase is to be held
in 18 Naxal-affected constit-
uencies of Madhya Pradesh’s
Bastar region, that falls in the
southern part of the central
Indian state.
The remaining 72 constitu-
encies will go to the polls on
November 20 and the votes will
be counted on December 11.
Renaming Ahmedabad as Karnavati
being considered, says Vijay Rupani
Deputy CM Nitin Patel says name is ‘symbol of slavery’
OUR CORRESPONDENT
AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat
government said Thursday that
it was considering renaming
Ahmedabad as Karnavati.
Speaking to reporters in
state capital Gandhinagar, Chief
Minister Vijay Rupani said the
name change could be effected
before the Lok Sabha elections.
Rupani’s statement comes
days after the BJP government
renaming of Allahabad and
Faizabad as Prayagraj and Ayod-
hya, respectively.
“People have been demand-
ing for long that Ahmedabad
be renamed as Karnavati. The
government is considering this
demand. Consultation process
has been started (to find out) if
legally we can do it. After con-
day and Thursday, demand-
ing payment of Diwali bonus
and reinstatement of three of
their colleagues whose con-
tracts were not renewed by the
company, he said.
AIATSL, a wholly-owned
subsidiary of the national car-
rier, provides ground handling
services to Air India across
airports in the country. It has
about 5,000 employees, includ-
ing those on contract.
“Some AIATSL employ-
ees at the Mumbai airport are
OUR CORRESPONDENT
CHANDIGARH: Twenty-six
people were arrested in Chandi-
garh as revellers in cities across
Punjab and Haryana flouted
the Supreme Court order that
limited the bursting of crackers
only between 8 pm and 10 pm
on Diwali, police said Thursday.
In Ludhiana, one of the most
polluted city in the country, 14
cases were registered for flout-
ing the apex court’s time frame
In Chandigarh, altogether
28 cases were registered for vio-
lation of the apex court order.
The cases were registered
under section 188 of the Indian
Penal Code for disobedience of
an order promulgated by public
authorities.
The Air Quality Index (AQI)
at several places in the two states
was recorded as ‘poor’ and ‘very
poor’ on Thursday morning
after Diwali night.  Thursday morning.
MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Friday, 9 November, 2018
OUR CORRESPONDENT
KOCHI: The Kerala High Court
Thursday termed as “unjustifi-
able” agitations launched by var-
ious groups against the Supreme
Court verdict permitting entry
of women of all age groups into
the Lord Ayyappa temple in
Sabarimala.
Justice Sunil Thomas agreed
with the state government’s con-
tention that the protests and the
violence that occurred recently
at the hill shrine and its key
entry points were against the
apex court’s directives.
“Agitations are unjustifiable,”
the court said while dismiss-
ing a bail application filed by
Govind Madhusoodan of
Thrippunithura, who was
arrested in connection with
clashes with police at Nilackal,
near Pamba, when the temple
doors were opened for monthly
puja last month.
“Agitations caused serious
hardships to the devotees. If
bail is granted in such cases,
that may lead to repetition of
similar incidents,” the court said.
He was arrested for allegedly
blocking vehicles at Nilackal and
attempting to assault women
devotees.
Girls below 10 years and
women above 50 have fre-
quently prayed at the Lord
step,” the chief minister said.
Asked if it could happen
before Lok Sabha elections or
after, he said, “Before the elec-
tions.” Deputy Chief Minis-
ter Nitin Patel said the name
Ahmedabad is a “symbol of slav-
ery” and needs to be changed.
“We have started the pro-
cess of getting legal and other
approvals like the nod of the
Centre,” Patel said.
“The name (Ahmedabad) is
on strike since Wednesday-
Thursday (intervening) night
over non-payment of Diwali
Bonus and reinstatement of the
services of some of their for-
mer colleagues. This stand-off
has resulted in flight operations
getting hampered,” the official
said.
He said around 37 flights,
including international ones,
were delayed by 2.5 hours-3
hours till 1500 hours Thursday.
However, no flight has been
cancelled so far, he added.MPOST
The pollution-regulating
authorities, however, said the
air quality after this Diwali
remained better than what it
was last year.
We have registered 14 cases
so far against unknown per-
sons in connection with the
violation (of the Supreme Court
order), Ludhiana Deputy Com-
missioner of Police Ashwani
Kapoor said Thursday.
He said the police had
appealed to the people before
Diwali to adhere to the apex
court’s 8-to-10 pm time frame
for bursting crackers, adding as
soon as the violators are veri-
fied, their names will be added
in the FIR.
The order was flouted at
many places in the two states
as people started bursting crack-
ers well before 8 pm and con-
tinued beyond 10 pm.
The pollution level rose at
several places in two states on
Ayyappa temple in the past. to the agitation against the
However, the entry of women Supreme Court verdict.
of all age groups has become a Meanwhile, a division bench
sensitive issue after the Septem- refused to entertain a plea filed
ber 28 apex court verdict. by former Travancore Devas-
Several journalists were wom Board (TDB) president
attacked by devotees when the Prayar Gopalakrishnan against
temple was opened for six days board member K P Sankardas,
on October 17 for the first time who, the petitioner alleged, had
after the SC order. violated the hill temple’s custom.
Attempts by around a dozen The bench of justices P R
women, including activists and Ramachandra Menon and N
journalists in the 10-50 age Anil Kumar said the petitioner
group, to script history came could approach a proper forum
to nought as protests by devo- to seek relief. Gopalakrishnan
tees forced them to retreat. had moved the court Wednes-
On November 6, around day, seeking removal of Sankar-
200 devotees tried to prevent a das, alleging that he had violated
woman pilgrim from entering the customs of the Sabarimala
the hilltop shrine, suspecting temple recently.
her to be of menstrual age, and In his plea, Gopalakrishnan
allegedly attacked a cameraman had alleged that on November 5,
of a Malayalam television news Sankardas climbed the holy 18
channel. steps (sacred steps) without the
Both the Congress, the main “Irumudikettu” (offerings car-
opposition party in Kerala, and ried by devotees for the deity)
the BJP, which is desperately in violation of temple customs.
seeking to expand its footprint The TDB manages the
in the state, have lent support Sabarimala shrine.
will seek “guidance” from the
government before bringing a
resolution for renaming the city.
“Certainly the demand to
change the name of the city is
there. But we will take guidance
from the state as well as the Cen-
tral government of the BJP for
bringing any such resolution
in the Ahmedabad Municipal
Corporation (AMC),” Patel said.
As per the AMC website,
a symbol of our slavery, while King Karandev I, a Solanki clan
the name Karnavati represents ruler, established the city of Kar-
our pride, our self-respect, our navati on the banks of Sabar-
culture, our autonomy,” he said. mati river in 11th century after
On Tuesday, the day Uttar defeating Bhil King Ashapall.
Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Gujarat was conquered by
Adityanath announced renam- the Sultanate of Delhi at the
ing of Faizabad as Ayodhya, end of thirteenth century, and
Patel had said the BJP-ruled in 1411 Ahmed Shah, who had
Gujarat too can change the rebelled against his overlords
name of Ahmedabad to Karna- in Delhi, founded Ahmedabad
vati “if everything falls in place”. next to the old city of Ashval
Mayor Bijal Patel said she or Karnavati, says the website.
NATION BRIEFS
UP: MINOR FOUND RAPED, MURDERED
ETAH (UP): A four-year-old girl was found raped
and murdered in the Nidhauli Kalan area here,
police said Thursday. The girl was alone at her house
when the incident took place Wednesday night, they
said. The matter is being probed, police said, adding
no arrests have been made so far. The body has
been sent for postmortem, police said.
3 DRUG PEDDLERS ARRESTED IN J&K
JAMMU: Three drug peddlers were arrested and
drugs seized from their possession in Udhampur and
Rajouri districts of Jammu and Kashmir, police said
Thursday. Imran Khan and Mohammad Mukhtar were
apprehended at a checkpoint at Muradpur village in
Rajouri. Drugs and a vehicle were seized, they said.
In another incident, Akhilesh Sharma was nabbed
with six grams of heroin at Kali Mata Mandir in Ud-
hampur, SSP Rayees Mohammad Bhat said.
MAN STABBED TO DEATH IN JAMMU
JAMMU: A 59-year-old man has been allegedly
stabbed to death by unidentified youths in Jammu, a
day before the marriage of his daughter, police said
Thursday. Dilip Langar objected to a fight between
two groups of men in the parking space of KK Re-
sorts, where several other people were staying for
the marriage of Langar’s daughter the next day, the
police said. Some of them stabbed him and escaped
from the spot. Langar was rushed to a hospital,
where he was declared brought dead, a police of-
ficial said. Three persons have been identified and
one of them has been arrested, while a hunt to track
down two others has been launched, officials said.
MAN FOUND DEAD IN PHAGWARA
PHAGWARA: A 55-year-old man was found dead
Thursday in a field of Bhullarai village near here,
police said. Phagwara Superintendent of Police Man-
deep Singh Gill said the deceased was identified as
Nirmal Kumar, a resident of local Moti Bazaar and a
tailor by profession. The body was sent to Phagwara
Civil Hospital for autopsy, said Gill He said Kumar’s
brother Madan Lal told police that the victim was
in the habit of drinking and had been missing since
last night. He also told police that he suspected his
brother had been murdered, said Gill, adding that
the police have registered a case of murder and
investigating it.
MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Friday, 9 November, 2018
K9 Vajra, M777 howitzers to Indian & Chinese troops meet
at Arunachal border on Diwali
be inducted today in Nashik
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: Defence Min-
ister Nirmala Sitharaman will
attend a ceremony on Friday to
induct new artillery guns and
equipment, including K9 Vajra
and M777 howitzers, at Deo-
lali artillery centre in Nashik,
a ministry spokesperson said.
Induction of 100 K9 Vajra
at a cost of Rs 4,366 crore is to
complete by November 2020.
The first batch of 10 guns
will be delivered this month,
Defence Ministry spokesper-
son Colonel Aman Anand told
reporters on Thursday.
The next 40 guns will be
delivered in November 2019,
and another 50 in November
2020, he said.
The first regiment of K9
Vajra, first-ever artillery gun
manufactured by the Indian
private sector, is expected to
complete by July 2019.
The gun has a maximum
range of 28-38 km. It is capable
of burst firing three rounds in
30 seconds, intense firing of 15
No illegal mining in 115.34 hectares
land in Aravalli: Rajasthan tells SC
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELH: The Rajast-
han government has told the
Supreme Court that no illegal
mining was going on in 115.34
hectares of land in Aravalli area
of the state.
The chief secretary of Rajas-
than has filed an affidavit in the
apex court which had on Octo-
ber 23 expressed shock over 31
“vanished” hills or hillocks in
Aravalli area and had asked the
state government to stop illegal
mining in 115.34-hectare area
there within 48 hours.
“It is stated on affidavit filed
by D B Gupta who is chief sec-
retary of the government of
Rajasthan that there is no ille-
gal mining going on in respect
of 115.34 hectares of land, as
Man cheated of `9.4 lakh J&K crime branch presses perjury
by social media ‘friend’ charges against Kathua case witness
OUR CORRESPONDENT
MUMBAI: A 65-year-old man
was allegedly duped of Rs 9.4
lakh by an unidentified woman
who had befriended him on
social media and her accom-
plice, police said.
The man, resident of sub-
urban Kandivali here, filed a
complaint Wednesday, a police
official said. The complainant,
who runs coaching classes,
was befriended by a woman
on social media in August this
year. The woman said her name
was Leonie and she ran a salon
in Jordan, he told police.
The complainant received
a call some days later, and the
caller, who identified himself
as Amit, said he was speaking
on behalf of Leonie who was at
the Delhi International Airport.
She was carrying USD
70,000 and had been stopped
by immigration authorities,
DGCA asks Jet Airways, SpiceJet to take action on India to participate in Moscow talks
sensor-related issues with Boeing 737 MAX planes with Taliban at ‘non-official level’
NEW DELHI: Aviation regula-
tor DGCA has asked Jet Airways
and SpiceJet to take corrective
action to address possible issues
with their Boeing 737 MAX
planes that could lead to “signifi-
cant altitude loss” of the aircraft,
a senior official said Thursday.
The latest directive fol-
lows advisories issued by the
US watchdog Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) and Boe-
ing after the crash of a Boeing
737 MAX plane operated by
Indonesia’s Lion Air last month.
Currently, Jet Airways and
SpiceJet fly Boeing 737 MAX
planes in India. Together, there
are at least six such aircraft with
the two carriers.
“Both the documents
address erroneous high ‘angle of
attack’ (AOA) sensor input and
corrective action for the same
as it has potential for repeated
nose-down trim commands of
horizontal stabiliser,” a senior
Directorate General of Civil Avi-
ation (DGCA) official told PTI.
The official said if the con-
Defence Minister
Sitharaman to
attend event
rounds in three minutes and
sustained firing of 60 rounds
in 60 minutes, he said.
The Army is also going to
raise seven regiments of 145
M777 howitzers.
Five guns each will be deliv-
ered to the Army beginning
August 2019 and the entire pro-
cess will complete in following
24 months. The first regiment
will complete by October next
year, the spokesperson said.
mentioned in our order dated
October 23, 2018,” a bench
headed by Justice Madan B
Lokur noted in its October
29 order. In the affidavit, the
chief secretary has also said
that approximately 27 per cent
ground truthing of the area has
been done and serious efforts
would be made to complete the
entire exercise within a period
of three months as per direc-
tions of the top court.
Ground truthing is an exer-
cise conducted to ascertain the
empirical evidence at the actual
site. The apex court posted the
matter for further hearing after
three months.
On October 23, the top
court had observed that though
Rajasthan was earning a royalty
of around Rs 5,000 crore from
and urgently needed Rs 24,000
to get clearance, Amit told the
complainant.
If the complainant deposited
money in her account she will
return it in due course, Amit
said. The complainant deposited
the money. But he kept receiving
calls over the next three months
with request to deposit more
money on various pretexts,
police said.
The complainant ended up
paying Rs 9.4 lakh before he
realised that something was
wrong, he told police.
He tried to contact the
woman as well as Amit, but
their numbers were switched off,
police said. Finally he decided
to lodge a complaint.
Police have registered a case
under IPC section 420 (cheat-
ing) and under the Informa-
tion Technology Act against
unidentified persons and fur-
ther probe is on.
dition is not addressed, it could
cause the flight crew to have
difficulty in controlling the air-
plane. The condition can even
lead to “excessive nose-down
attitude, significant altitude loss,
and possible impact with ter-
rain,” the official noted.
Based on initial investiga-
tion of Lion Air aircraft acci-
dent, the FAA issued emergency
airworthiness directive (AD) on
November 7. Boeing released
a bulletin about the issue on
November 6.
The DGCA official said that
within three days after receipt
of FAA AD, changes to airplane
flight manual have to be done,
MoD enhances financial power
of vice chiefs of armed forces
NEW DELHI: The Defence
Ministry has enhanced the
financial powers of the three
vice chiefs of the armed forces
by five times, giving a fillip to
procurement of arms and
ammunition and upgrade of
defence preparedness.
In March, the vice chiefs
were granted additional pow-
ers to carry out specific pro-
curement to ensure operational
preparedness.
“The ministry has
enhanced the financial pow-
ers of the three vice chiefs
The gun, having a range
of 30 km, can be moved to a
desired location using helicop-
ters and service aircraft.
Compact gun tractor to tow
130 MM and 155 MM artillery
guns will also inducted during
the ceremony, the officer said.
mining activities in Aravalli, it
cannot endanger the lives of
lakhs of people in Delhi as dis-
appearance of hills there could
be one of reasons for rise in
pollution level in the national
capital region (NCR).
The court had also referred
to a report of the central
empowered committee (CEC)
which had said that out of 128
samples taken by the Forest
Survey of India (FSI), as many
as 31 hills or hillocks have
vanished.
The state’s counsel had then
told the apex court that all the
government departments con-
cerned in Rajasthan were “on
the job” to stop illegal mining.
The court is dealing with a
matter related to illegal mining
activities in the Aravalli range.
OUR CORRESPONDENT
JAMMU: The Jammu and
Kashmir crime branch has
initiated the process of press-
ing perjury charges against
a witness in the case of rape
and murder of an eight-year-
old girl after he had retracted
from a “confessional statement”
recorded in front of a magis-
trate, officials said Thursday.
A show-cause notice has
been served to Ajay Kumar
alias ‘Ajju’ by the sessions
judge of Pathankot, Tejwinder
Singh, asking him to explain
on Monday “why an action
under section 479-B of Jammu
and Kashmir Criminal Proce-
dure Code may not be initiated
against him”.
This section provides sum-
mary procedure for trial of wit-
nesses deposing contrary to
statements recorded under Sec-
for procedures which have to be
followed by flight crew.
“The DGCA has ensured
that all Indian operators are
aware of the FAA AD and have
taken appropriate corrective
action,” he added.
Jet Airways, which has at
least five MAX planes in its fleet,
said these planes continue to
fly in compliance with the AD
issued by the manufacturer and
the regulatory authorities.
“The airline is in contact
with them and committed to
implement all directives or
advisories that may be pub-
lished by either the manufac-
turer or DGCA as the safety of
from Rs 100 crore to Rs 500
crore, thus effecting a five-
time increase for augment-
ing procurement of arms and
ammunition and upgrade of
defence preparedness,” Defence
Ministry Spokesperson Col.
Aman Anand told reporters
on Thursday.
A number of initiatives
have been taken by the Defence
Ministry in the recent past to
simplify and streamline the
procedures and decentralise
the decision-making through
delegation of powers.  MPOST
It is fitted with a crane that can
handle ammunition weighing
two tons.
Maximum speed of the
vehicle without a tow is 80 km
per hour which comes down
to 50 km per hour with a gun
attached to it, he added.
PM GREETS ADVANI ON HIS 91ST B’DAY
Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets BJP senior leader L K Advani on his birthday at his residence 
tion 164-A (evidence of mate-
rial witnesses to be recorded
by Magistrate in certain cases).
Kumar had recorded his
statement before a judicial
magistrate in Jammu on Feb-
ruary 27 this year in which
he had claimed that Parvesh
Kumar alias ‘Mannu’ had given
a graphical description about
the rape and subsequent mur-
der of the girl belonging to a
nomadic minority community.
The notice served on
Kumar says “whereas an appli-
cation has been filed by pros-
ecution for initiating action
against you for voluntary and
knowingly retracting from
your statement under section
164-A CrPC during your depo-
sition as a prosecution witness
before court, a show-cause
notice is issued to you as to why
an action under section 479-B
of CrPC may not be initiated
guests and crew is of paramount
importance at Jet Airways,” an
airline spokesperson said.
Comments from Spice-
Jet was awaited. Together, the
two airlines have placed orders
for more than 400 Boeing 737
MAX aircraft. On November
6, Boeing said it had issued an
Operations Manual Bulletin
(OMB) directing operators to
existing flight crew procedures
to address circumstances where
there is erroneous input from an
AOA sensor.
On October 30, Civil Avia-
tion Minister Suresh Prabhu
said the DGCA had been asked
to look at engines and other
issues related to airlines follow-
ing the plane crash in Indonesia.
The DGCA had reviewed
the performance of Boeing
737 MAX 8 planes operated
by Jet Airways and SpiceJet. The
review came a day after a Boe-
ing 737 MAX 8 aircraft oper-
ated by Lion Air crashed into
the sea shortly after taking off
from Jakarta.  PTI
OUR CORRESPONDENT
ITANAGAR: Indian and Chi-
nese troops met and exchanged
greetings on the occasion of
Diwali at Wacha in Arunachal
Pradeshs Anjaw district and
at Bum-La in Tawang dis-
trict, a defence communique
informed here on Thursday.
The two sides met on
Wednesday and exchanged
gifts and sweets at Anjaw and
the Chinese side included
women and children, the com-
munique said.
The two sides interacted
and exchanged greetings in a
EC rejects BJP request for extending nomination dates
NEW DELHI: The Election
Commission (EC) has shot
down BJP’s request for extend-
ing the last date for filing nomi-
nation in Mizoram. BJP state
president JV Hluna, in a let-
ter submitted to the Commis-
sion on Wednesday, had sought
an extension on account of the
unrest in the state.
Civil society groups in
Mizoram have been demand-
against you.” 
“You may appear before
this court in person or be
represented by a counsel on
12.11.2018,” the notice from
the sessions court of Pathankot
said. The session judge is hold-
ing trial for the gruesome
Kathua rape-and-murder case
on directions of the Supreme
Court. The trial was assigned to
the district and sessions court
in Pathankot by the Supreme
Court earlier this year after the
victim’s family approached with
a plea to transfer the case from
Kathua.
The eight-year-old girl,
belonging to a nomadic tribe,
was allegedly kidnapped
on January 10 and her body
was found on January 17. It
is alleged that she was gang-
raped and later murdered. The
crime branch has arrested eight
people, including a juvenile in
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: India on Thurs-
day said it will participate in the
meeting being hosted by Russia
on Afghanistan at a “non-official
level” in Moscow where repre-
sentatives of the Taliban will
be present.
The Moscow-format meet-
ing on Afghanistan will be held
on November 9 and representa-
tives of the Afghan Taliban radi-
cal movement will take part in
it, the Russian Foreign Ministry
had said last week.
In response to queries
regarding India’s participa-
tion in the meeting, Ministry
of External Affairs Spokesper-
son Raveesh Kumar said, “We
are aware that the Russian Fed-
eration is hosting a meeting in
Moscow on 9 November on
Afghanistan.”
“Our participation at the
meeting will be at the non-offi-
cial level,” he said.
India supports all efforts
at peace and reconciliation in
Afghanistan that will preserve
mp nation
cordial atmosphere, a sign of
improving military-to-military
ties at ground level, it said.
The programme at Anjaw
was marked by its friendly and
cordial atmosphere and cul-
tural programmes were pre-
sented by the Indian Army
personnel and students of
Kibithu Government Middle
School, it said.
The event was aimed at
enhancing the mutual trust
and friendship between the two
border guarding forces.
The Indian Army and Chi-
nas Peoples Liberation Army
conducted a ceremonial bor-
ing the removal of the state’s
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO)
SB Shashank. The protests,
however, have been called off
temporarily after the CEO was
summoned to Delhi by the EC
for a meeting on Thursday.
Replying to his letter on
Thursday, the EC informed
Hluna that his request “has
not been acceded to on account
of peace and normalcy in the
PTI
the case.
The charge sheet has been
filed against Sanji Ram and his
juvenile nephew, his son Vishal,
special police officers Deepak
Khajuria and Surender Verma
and friend Parvesh Kumar alias
Mannu.
The charge sheet also names
head constable Tilak Raj and
sub-inspector Anand Dutta --
who allegedly took Rs 4 lakh
from Sanji Ram and destroyed
crucial evidence. The district
and sessions court in Pathankot
framed charges of rape and
murder against the seven
accused in the case on June 8.
Sanji Ram, considered the
main accused, is alleged to have
hatched the conspiracy with
the other accused for kidnap-
ping the girl as part of a strat-
egy to remove the minority
nomadic community from the
area.
unity and plurality, and bring
security, stability and prosperity
to the country, he said.
“India’s consistent policy has
been that such efforts should be
Afghan-led, Afghan-owned, and
Afghan-controlled and with
participation of the govern-
ment of Afghanistan,” Kumar
asserted.
According to Russian news
agency TASS, this is for the sec-
ond time, Russia is attempt-
ing to bring regional powers
together while discovering ways
for establishing peace in war-
torn Afghanistan.
The first such meeting, pro-
posed for September 4 of this
year, was called off at the last
moment after the Afghan gov-
ernment pulled out, describing
its involvement in the Moscow
meeting as “unnecessary” as the
Taliban had “disrespected inter-
nationally-sanctioned princi-
ples and rejected the message of
peace and direct negotiations.”
According to the Russian
Foreign Ministry, invitations to
take part in the event had been
der personnel meeting to com-
memorate joint celebrations of
Diwali organised by the Indian
Army at Bum-La in Tawang
district, the communique said.
At Tawang the Indian dele-
gation was led by Colonel Pra-
senjit Kar, while Colonel Yang
Zi Ming headed the PLA team.
Both sides highlighted the
importance of maintaining
peace along border areas.
The highlight of the bor-
der personnel meeting was
the colourful and impres-
sive performances by cultural
troupes showcasing Real India’,
it added.
state”. The last date for nom-
ination remains the same –
November 9.
Mizoram goes to poll
along with Chhattisgarh, Raj-
asthan, Telangana and Mad-
hya Pradesh.
The state will vote in a sin-
gle phase on November 28 and
its results will be announced
together with the four states on
December 11.  AGENCIES
Mizoram CM
files nomination
from two seats
OUR CORRESPONDENT
AIZAWL: Mizoram Chief
Minister Lal Thanhawla on
Thursday filed nominations to
contest the November 28 state
polls from Champhai South
and Serchhip assembly seats,
officials said.
The last day for filing of
nominations is Friday.
The Congress leader would
be contesting from his home
turf Serchhip as well as the
Champhai South constituency
located on Mizoram’s border
with Myanmar.
He could not file his nomi-
nation papers from Serchhip
on Tuesday due to a massive
protest for removal of the state’s
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO)
SB Shashank. The agitation was
held in front of the office of the
returning officer.
While Thanhawla person-
HP: Army shell lands on
a house, no one injured
SHIMLA: Panic gripped
Amarpur locality in Himachal
Pradesh’s Sirmaur district on
Diwali night when an Army
shell landed on the rooftop of
a house.
The shell landed on the
rooftop of the residence of one
Durgesh Sharma at around 7
pm, police said.
“We got information at
around 7.30 pm that an explo-
sive had fallen on the rooftop
of a house in Amarpur,” Sir-
maur Deputy Superintendent
of Police (headquarter) Babita
Rana said.
The shell first fell on the
rooftop and damaged the roof.
Then it fell near a man in the
sent to Afghanistan, India, Iran,
China, Pakistan, the US and
some other countries.
The meeting comes after
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
and Russian President Vladi-
mir Putin held talks a host of
global issues.
After the talks, in a joint
statement, the two sides
declared their support to the
Afghan government’s efforts
towards the realisation of an
Afghan-led, and Afghan-owned
national peace reconciliation
process.
Both sides had called
upon the international commu-
nity to join efforts to thwart any
external interference in Afghan-
istan, to restore its economy,
contribute to sustaining peace
and security, economic and
political development of a sta-
ble, secure, united, prosperous
and independent Afghanistan.
India and Russia had
resolved to direct their activities
towards launching joint devel-
opment and capacity building
projects in Afghanistan.
7
`250-cr heroin
seized from
truck in J&K
JAMMU: The Narcotics Con-
trol Bureau (NCB) has seized 50
kilograms of heroin, worth Rs
250 crore in the international
market, from a truck in Jammu
and Kashmir’s Ramban district,
an officer said Thursday.
Acting on a tip-off, a Delhi-
bound truck coming from north
Kashmir’s Kupwara district was
intercepted by the NCB sleuths
at a toll plaza near Jammu on
Monday, said NCB Zonal Direc-
tor Virender Yadav. Fifty drug
pouches stuffed under apple
crates were found. The truck
driver has been arrested, Yadav
said, adding that the seized her-
oin’s value was Rs 250 crore in
the international market. MPOST
ally appeared before the return-
ing officer in Champhai on
Thursday, his representative
filed the papers on his behalf
in Serchhip, the officials said.
The five-time chief minister
would be pitted against Zoram
People’s Movement’s (ZPM)
chief ministerial candidate
Lalduhoma, Mizo National
Front (MNF) nominee C Lal-
ramzauva, a senior advocate,
and People’s Representation for
Identity and Status of Mizoram
(PRISM) party chief Vanlalru-
ata, among others, in the Ser-
chhip seat.
Thanhawla would contest
gainst another lawyer T J Lal-
nuntluanga of the MNF, and C
Lalremliana of the ZPM, both
first-timers, in the Champhai
South seat.
Mizoram is the only State in
the north-east where the Con-
gress is in power.
street, she added.
“The shell is from 84 mm
rocket launcher bearing Gus-
taf mark and weighs about two
kilograms. It fell in a thickly
populated area. Luckily it did
not explode. Had it exploded,
it would have wreaked havoc
in area up to at least 5 kilome-
ters,” Rana said.
An Army firing range is
near the locality where the shell
was found.
“Prima facie, it seems that
the shell fell from an aerial dis-
tance of 1,600 meters due to
negligence of Army personnel,”
the DSP said. She said a let-
ter had been sent to the Army
authorities. MPOST
Goa mining: CM
holds meeting to
resolve issue
PANAJI: Goa Chief Minister
Manohar Parrikar Thursday
held a meeting with officials
and stakeholders to explore
ways to restart mining opera-
tions in the coastal state.
Mining in Goa came to a
standstill in March after the
Supreme Court quashed 88
leases and banned the extrac-
tion of fresh iron ore.
“Chief Minister @mano-
harparrikar holds immediate
meetings with senior gov-
ernment officials and other
stakeholders to explore all pos-
sible options to resume mining
operations in Goa at the earli-
est,” the Chief Ministers Office
(CMO) tweeted this evening.
Parrikar had earlier writ-
ten to the Centre in Septem-
ber seeking legislative means,
including amending existing
mining laws. to resolve the
issue. Parrikar, who is suffer-
ing from a pancreatic ailment,
returned to the state on Octo-
ber 14 after being admitted in
the All India Institute of Medi-
cal Sciences in New Delhi. MPOST
8 mp editorial MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Friday, 9 November, 2018

EDITORIAL

Experiment
Blue-water powerhouse
With China rising as a key player in the Indian Ocean Region, India’s
gone amiss growing Naval strength augurs its stronghold in home waters

O
n the second anniversary of the controversial note
ban, the ruling and opposition parties are once again
locked in an acrimonious debate if the decision to
suddenly ban high-denomination currency notes
in a televised address was right or wrong. Going by the hard-
ships that common people had to face because of the decision,
which was apparently made by the PM alone, the move was
unpopular and uncalled for. The stated objective of the exer-
cise – to eradicate the huge amount of black money stashed
in cash, an impression shared by almost everybody from the
common people to the economic pundits occupying high
positions in the country’s well-entrenched institutions that
regulate the economy and financial affairs, met with unbeliev-
able outcomes that there existed no such black money at all
in the country. The government was of the opinion that the
existence of black money is fuelling terror activities in Jammu
and Kashmir as well as in the Maoist-Naxal stronghold was
also found to be baseless. The idea that the disruption caused
by the sudden removal of high-value currency notes will lead
the country to a cashless economy was faulty in the very con-
ception as the informal sector that constitutes nearly 50 per
cent of the economy and provides employment to the majority
of the people is run on cash and there was no need to change
this overnight. In defence of the government’s move, Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said that the decision has
forced the people to put their cash in the banks and explain
why they did not pay tax even when they had taxable money.
The tax base has almost doubled after the decision of the note-
ban in 2016, he said.
Two years on, the country has chosen to move on and
oil shipments. Besides, India’s Exclusive
Economic Zone is 2.4 million square
kilometres and 90 per cent of India’s
BARUN DAS GUPTA trade by volume and almost the entire
oil imports come through the seas.
As China’s challenge in the Indian
Ocean grew and Beijing tried to encircle
India through its ‘String of Pearls’ policy,
India had to respond to the emerging
threat. The response came in the form
of an attempt to increase cooperation
and coordination between the littoral
states. The project was called SAGAR,
short for “Security And Growth for All
in the Region”.
China has already set up its first over-
seas naval base in Djibouti on the Horn
Chinese Navy is of Africa. It has also secured its presence
in the western flank of India by acquir-
definitely larger ing Pakistan’s Gwadar port. It is now
than India’s trying ting to set up another naval base
at Jiwani, next to Gwadar.
but its main There are nine important ‘choke
disadvantage is points’ in the Indian Ocean Region.
These are the Suez Canal, the Strait of
that to engage Hormuz, the Mozambique Channel,
the Indian Navy the Cape of Good Hope, the Straits of
Malacca and Singapore, the Sunda Strait,
in the IOR — it Indian Navy must dominate the Indian Ocean Region not just for its own security, but for smaller littoral nations as well the Lombok Strait and the Ombai and

there is little rancour or hard feeling left about the govern-
ment or its decision to put the people in an unchartered ter-
ritory where they had the money both in hand and in the
banks but they could not use it. Disruption is an important
management tool frequently used by new-age private business
firms to discover the real potential of an enterprise stuck in
a cycle of average performance and static growth. But so far,
only small companies and start-ups have been using this tech-
nique. In big companies, time-tested fundamental principles
of management are still considered the best bet. The question
is whether a government should resort to such disruption to
provide fresh impetus to the economy. An answer to this could
be that the government has the moral right and the duty to
explore all possible means in its bid to set the economy right
that has not lived up to the people’s aspirations and failed to
lift the poor from an unending cycle of poverty and misery.
In the last 70 years since the Independence, India has made
some noticeable progress in eradicating hunger and home-
lessness besides fighting illiteracy and school drop-out rates
with innovative schemes like mid-day meal and distribution
of books, uniforms, and bicycles to poor students enrolling in
government schools. But that is certainly not enough as the
divide between the poor and the rich has only grown. How-
ever, the present day economy is as much about the poor as
it is about globally-linked financial markets, the needs of big
and small businesses and the autonomy of regulatory bodies
that we have. Making a sense of this labyrinth is an exclusive
domain of top-rated economists and management graduates
who mostly come from high-profile elite universities and their
knowledge about the ground situation is only theoretical. Can
the economy be left entirely to them? Should the government
and its Finance Minister, who are accountable to the people,
be subservient to them?
One of the most vociferous critics of the demonetisation,
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee left nothing to
the imagination when it came to spelling out what she thought
of the government’s controversial move two years ago. Like
everybody else in the country, she was also crestfallen when
she saw people standing in the queue for hours for a paltry
sum of Rs 2,000. The elderly, the workers at tea gardens, the
daily wagers, the domestic help and the like suddenly ran out
of money that can buy them essential items. She termed the
government’s move a financial emergency. Or did she call it
super-emergency? From the day she began her political journey
as a student leader, the poor, the distressed, the marginalised,
the minority has been at the core of her politics — everybody
knows about it. It is in the government’s interest that her opin-
ions are taken seriously as she is among the few politicians in
the country who has first-hand experience of what the reali-
ties are at the grassroots.
I
has to travel Wetar Straits. Some of these, like the
n the first week of this month, the the Indian navy from the present 137 craft carrier, Vikramaditya, which is a Suez Canal, are very important routes of
about 3000 miles Prime Minister broke the news to ships to 200 by 2027. India plans to build renovated version of the Russian ship maritime trade and must be prevented
while Indian the nation that India’s first indig- five more N-subs. Along with Arihant, Admiral Goroshkov. India’s first indig- from being blocked.
enously built nuclear submarine these will increase Indian’s nuclear sub- enously built aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant All these developments pose a chal-
Navy will have Arihant had successfully completed its marine fleet to six. Once these subs are is expected to be commissioned by the lenge to the Indian Navy. It has to main-
the advantage first ‘deterrence patrol’. Though the PM commissioned, India can truly claim to end of next year. In this field, till now the tain its domination in the Indian Ocean
did not make such a claim, a section of have its nuclear triad put in place. Then Chinese are not ahead of us. The Chi- not only for its own security but for the
of operating in the media claimed that the submarine- there are the diesel-electric conventional nese navy did not have the technology to security of all other smaller littoral coun-
home waters. launched ballistic missiles or SLBMs submarines. build an aircraft carrier from a scratch. tries too. The growing cooperation in the
Arihant is equipped with have brought Last year it was reported that India’s So they did the next best thing. They defence field by India, Japan, Indonesia,
Replenishment of both Pakistan and China within their second indigenously built N-sub, Ari- acquired an abandoned aircraft carrier and Vietnam is an encouraging devel-
supplies will be striking range. daman, will join the navy by the end of from Russia and by reverse engineering opment. Avoiding involvement of West-
From the information available in 2017. However, nothing has been heard built their first indigenous aircraft car- ern powers like the US in any military
far quicker and public domain, Arihant is equipped with of since then. It was also learnt that the rier Liaoning. conflict with China in the Indian Ocean
prove decisive 12 K15 SLBMs, which have a range of fourth nuclear submarine will be a big- Strategic experts believe that should Region will be in the best interest of all.
750 kilometres. The K15 missile can be ger one with a stronger weapons con- there be an armed conflict between India The Chinese Navy is definitely larger
used for retaliatory strikes against Paki- figuration. The main advantage of the and China, the arena of the conflict is than India’s but its main disadvantage
stan but it cannot be used against China. nuclear subs is that they can remain more likely to be the Indian Ocean rather is that to engage the Indian navy in the
For Arihant to hit China, it must have underwater for a far longer time than than the high Himalayas. The reason is Indian Ocean, it has to come from a
the K4 SLBM with a range of 3,500 kilo- the conventional subs. obvious. The importance of the Indian distance of about three thousand miles.
metres and can carry a nuclear or con- Along with the N-subs, indigenously Ocean was succinctly summed up by Indian Navy will have the advantage of
ventional payload of 2,000 kg. India has built Kamorta class “stealth” Corvettes External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj operating in its home waters. Replen-
reportedly test-fired the K4 twice but for detecting and destroying enemy while addressing the second Indian ishment of supplies, from food to fuel
there is no official confirmation yet that submarines are a force multiplier for Ocean Conference at Colombo in August to ammunition, will be far quicker. The
it has been inducted by the Indian Navy. naval operations. Then there are the last year. She reminded the delegates that navy will have to play a far important role
India has undertaken an ambitious deadly guided missile destroyers like almost a hundred thousand ships pass in India’s defence in the coming years.
expansion plan for the Navy to coun- Mormugao, built by the Mazgaon Docks. through the Indian Ocean every year, The Indian Navy should become a true
ter the growing presence of the Chi- It is a huge boat that has a crew of 50 carrying about half of the world’s con- Blue Water Navy at the earliest.  IPA
nese Navy in the Indian Ocean. The officers and 250 sailors. tainer shipments, one-third of the world’s (The views expressed
plan seeks to raise the fleet strength of At present, India has only one air- bulk cargo traffic and two-thirds of the are strictly personal)
Dear
SPORTSMANSHIP? Editor millenniumpost.in
Quote martial
The bizarre reaction of Virat Kohli to cricket enthusiast was unbecoming and
The highest inappropriate. While he was reading out mean messages addressed to him by fans and
Log on to write letters to the
editor or send them to
result of responding to them, one of them said that Kohli is an overrated batsman and he prefers letter2editor.mp@gmail.com
education is to watch Australian and English batsmen to which he replied: "I don’t think you should You can also send your
tolerance live in India then". He has been the megastar of Indian cricket, but is glamour making comments to The Editor,
him less humble? Such comments don't suit his stardom. It is immaturity that every Millennium Post,
HELEN KELLER
Indian has to be a fan of the Indian cricket team. He should be tolerant enough and open Pratap Bhawan, 5 Bahadur Shah
enough to listen to other voices. QEYAMUDDIN Via email Zafar Marg, New Delhi 110 002

The unpresidential
Opportunities in a dynamic world
As e-commerce remains significant, what is the scope of retail market in India?
President
P A
s the retail indus- landscape.
resident Donald Trump was anything but presiden- try story unfolds The decades to come might
tial in his first news conference since the Mid Term in India, new strat- also herald the creation of retail
elections late last night (IST). The Republicans had egies come to the platform businesses that “cor-
lost the House to the Democrats but just managed to fore. Recent news of Amazon poratise” a portfolio of Indian
hold on to the Senate. He offered outward optimism, a cheeri- TAPONEEL MUKHERJEE acquiring a stake in Future brands. The likes of Kering,
ness that was later belied by surly, combative exchanges with Retail is an indication that the Richemont and LVMH are
reporters over the dark tone he adopted in the midterms’ clos- strategy will be differentiated examples of hugely successful
ing days. He shrugged off new threats from Democrats, who given the nature of the market global retail platforms that have
will assume control of the House with new investigative power. and consumption trends. delivered value. While Indian
But when the questions started coming, the President’s sunny Amazon’s acquisition of beauty products, jewellry and
outlook melted away. He lashed out at questions about his a stake in Future Retail is in fragrances have been marketed
fear-mongering and race-baiting rhetoric against immigrants addition to the stake it took in to some extent, now is the time
and demanded a reporter inquiring about voter suppression Shoppers Stop and the earlier to create large scalable plat-
take her seat. He went back and forth on his opinion of the Aditya Birla-backed “More” forms that can combine front-
newly powerful Democrats, alternately vowing to find areas The decades chain. These acquisitions are an to-back retail operations with
of cooperation and threatening them with investigations of indication that large retail play- global scalability for Indian
his own. He vowed a “warlike posture” should he find himself to come might ers think that, to gain a greater brands. The ability to match
barraged with subpoenas. Republicans held onto seats in the also herald market share, the online strat- Indian entrepreneurship with
Senate but saw their House majority slip away, setting up the egy will have to be comple- global capital and distribution
likelihood the White House will be dogged by investigations the creation of mented with an offline route will be the vital driver to cre-
as Trump prepares to fight for his own re-election. Even as he retail platform as well. ate sustainable retail platforms.
warned against the incoming Democratic House leadership Online retail sales as a The retail market in India is expected to cross $1 trillion in the next three years (Representational Image) There are many “markets”
from being too aggressive in their investigations of his admin-
businesses that percentage of total sales have that offer opportunities in the
istration, Trump said he was optimistic about the opportu- “corporatise” shown a tremendous rise, going The key for new players is not per cent of growth for the com- nesses such as “Seed Beauty” Indian retail space. Therefore,
nity for bipartisanship. “I’d like to see bipartisanship, I’d like a portfolio of from 0.8 per cent in 2014 to necessarily the disruption of the panies was driven by growth and “Hatch Beauty” are rede- while online mass retailers will
to see unity,” he said, repeatedly praising House Democratic 3.6 per cent of total retail sales unorganised sector but having in the industry segments and fining the retail landscape. look to create an offline pres-
Leader Nancy Pelosi, who he effectively endorsed as the next Indian brands. in 2017. While the growth has access to retail stores that pro- successful mergers and acqui- Given the creation of “digital ence, online “digital first” niche
House speaker. Trump had already cast the results as a victory, The ability to been enormous and will con- vide organised players with the sition strategies while only 20 first” brands driven especially brands, backed by specialised
tweeting earlier that candidates who followed his lead during a tinue to be fast, the fact that 95 same distribution networks and per cent was through gaining by social media influencers, manufacturing businesses, also
dark and divisive campaign “did very well.” But Trump’s verbal match Indian per cent of the market is still concomitant advantages. Quite market share. The key learn- businesses such as Seed and hold value. It is vital to realise
assaults on reporters revealed a stormier mood. He lambasted entrepreneurship with the offline sector drives often discussions focus on the ing for Indian retail players is Hatch have been able to speed that given the diverse customer
CNN’s Jim Acosta as “a rude, terrible person,” told American home a few important points. market share of online versus that while market share mat- up product research, develop- segments, different pockets of
Urban Radio Network correspondent April Ryan repeatedly with global Access to offline stores provides offline retail. While it is a rel- ters, being a direct beneficiary ment, and fulfilment. opportunities will require an
to “sit down,” and deemed a query about white nationalism,
posed by PBS Newshour reporter Yamiche Alcindor, a “such
capital and a vast distribution network and
brand accessibility, especially
evant topic, the more pertinent
discussion is the overall retail
of rising incomes in India is a
lot more advantageous.
The division between
manufacturing and brand-
agile approach.
In India, access to the online
a racist question.” Trump’s three most recent predecessors distribution beyond the Tier 1 cities. There- market growth rate. The retail Given the industry dynam- ing businesses is what Poorn- world has happened synony-
all lost House majorities in the course of their tenures. In will be vital fore, for a player interested in a market in India is expected ics in the last decade, retail ima Vardhan, CEO of 335th, mously with rising incomes
post-election news conferences, all three took some form of higher market share, an offline to cross $1 trillion in the next e-commerce has dominated a luxury-focused platform, while the developed countries
responsibility. Trump and his aides have projected a differ- in creating presence is non-negotiable. three years. The greatest value headlines. While e-commerce describes as the “delineation had significantly higher income
ent attitude, shrugging off the possibility the next two years sustainable retail Additionally, besides the generation for retail businesses will continue to be a significant of product development and levels when they got access to
could be pocked by subpoenas or oversight hearings. Trump offline versus online demar- is in capturing market growth sector, the question is: What manufacturing from the brand- the internet. Therefore, a busi-
refused to speculate on an upcoming cabinet shuffle, even as platforms cation, it is essential to under- as greater cash is generated by other exciting opportunities ing and marketing”. In com- ness strategy that deals with
it later transpired he had already fired Attorney General Jeff stand that 90 per cent of all retail retail consumption. exist in Indian retail? mon parlance, separation of local dynamics and trends will
Sessions. So he did claim he had the power to short-circuit in India is in the unorganised A 2007 analysis by McK- The creation of niche, sec- the R&D and product develop- determine the eventual win-
Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling, which is sector. The unorganised sec- insey titled “The Granularity tor-focused “digital first” busi- ment from branding creates the ners.  IANS
expected to ramp up now that the midterms have concluded. tor – primarily, physical stores of Growth” had some inter- nesses backed by consolidated potential for business opportu- (The author heads Develop-
“I could fire everybody right now,” Trump said. “It’s a disgrace, — thrives due to an extensive esting lessons. A study of 200 research-driven manufacturing nities through specialisation. ment Tracks, an infrastruc-
it should have never been started because there was no crime.” last-mile distribution network large companies around the and distribution platforms hold Such focused businesses hold ture advisory firm. The views
and long-term relationships. world showed that almost 80 potential. In the West, busi- promise in the Indian retail expressed are strictly personal)
MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Friday, 9 November, 2018
Creating rainbow behind bars
Incarcerated with long sentences, women are keen to bring change – in
themselves and the confines of prison space
K
amla Rekha Pan-
VARTIKA NANDA dey, lodged in Bilas-
pur Jail, Chattisgarh,
was instrumental in
getting 14 inmates released
from jail with her timely guid-
ance and intervention. She
herself is a convict under sec-
tion 302 IPC and has been in
prison with her sisters for over
12 years. Now, she is an active
member of the legal cell in jail.
54-year-old Femida Hanif
Saiyad, lodged in Nagpur jail,
Prisons are Maharashtra, has been helping
intended to inmates learn new skills and
has also been active in support-
be institutions ing the prison administration.
built to execute Imprisoned since 2012, she has
been awarded death sentence.
punishments She is currently pursuing B.A.
and reprisals. second year through IGNOU.
Both of them were amongst
Sadly, concerns the women who received Tinka
of custody and Tinka Bandini Award for the
year 2017 and 2018. These
control take women were chosen because
precedence of their undying spirit to help
other women who were in sit-
and matters uations similar as themselves.
of correctional All these inmates are serv-
ing long sentences and they
measures take are keen to bring a change – in
the backseat. themselves and also at the place
confined within the four walls.
If inmates are Month after month, Tinka
provided with Tinka Foundation has been
the opportunity travelling to different prisons
across India to understand
to explore the the realities of prison life. It
inner side of their is not less than a shock to see
that despite having different
personality, they agencies to look at the issues of
will emerge as human rights, we are far behind
because of lack of commitment,
better human honesty and also the desire to
beings work for the welfare of those
who are completely unheard of.
It is also noteworthy that pris-
ons attract media glare because
of all the wrong reasons. Add-
ing to it is the glamour quotient
that is sometimes attached to
it by Bollywood. Sadly, none
of them reveal the real picture.
Undoubtedly, prisons arouse
curiosity. Across the globe,
in all countries, prisons are
intended to be institutions built
to execute punishments and
reprisals. Apart from custody
and control, prison adminis-
Ozone: On the path of replenishment
One of the most successful multilateral agreements in history has
made the world safer than in 1980s
R
ead this: “The world
is falling apart. The
RAJENDRA SHENDE future of humanity
is hanging on a cliff,
on the edge of catastrophe. But
there still is hope and a window
of opportunity to take action.”
That sounds like a stereotyp-
ical UN moralising rhetoric
on climate change or loss of
biodiversity.
Now read this: “We have
successfully overcome the chal-
lenge on the long-term basis,
but we have to now build on
Actions under that success and stay put to gain
Montreal Protocol more benefits.” This sounds like
a private sector CEO’s state-
over the past 30 ment at a shareholder’s meet-
years have led ing. But that’s exactly what
happened at a UN meeting on
to sustainable
November 5. A rare declaration
decreases in coming from any UN meeting.
A press note on that day
the atmospheric said: “The findings of a new
abundance of UN-backed report released
today revealed the ongoing
ozone-depleting healing of the ozone layer are
substances being hailed as a demonstration
of what global environmental
like CFCs. At agreements can achieve, and an
projected rates, inspiration for more ambitious
climate action to halt a cata-
the Northern strophic rise in world tempera-
and Southern tures.” The report warned that a
Hemispheres full recovery of the ozone layer
demands continued efforts by
are scheduled to all countries to comply with the
completely heal Montreal Protocol.
The ozone layer, a thin
by 2030s and shield 15-45 km above the
2050s, and the earth, protects life on earth. It
was put on the path of recov-
Poles by 2060 ery due to the globally-agreed
actions that did not remain
on paper as in case of climate
change but were implemented
as per the agreed schedule
under the historic Multilateral
Environmental Agreement
called the Montreal Protocol.
The agreement was carved
out over 30 years ago in
response to the revelation that
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
and other ozone-depleting
substances — used in aerosols,
Policy overhaul is imperative to make better the living of female inmates and their innocent children who survive a difficult environment 
tration is trained to exercise
the habits of mental and phys-
ical discipline, honest living,
making inmates understand
the value of hard work and also
work towards reforming their
thought process. Sadly, con-
cerns of custody and control
take precedence while mat-
ters of correctional measures
take the backseat. What gen-
erally remains ignored is the
inescapable fact that after the
initial phase of loss and repen-
tance, they struggle against
time and look for moments
of some hope. In this search,
sometimes even a possibility
of creativity becomes the rea-
son for their life.
According to the latest
A successful recovery of the ozone layer demands continued efforts by all countries to comply with the Montreal
Protocol 
cooling and refrigeration sys-
tems, and many other items
— were piercing a hole in the
ozone layer and allowing life
threatening ultraviolet (UV)
radiation to flood through on
the earth. The consequences
of such high-energy UV rays
included higher incidences of
skin cancers, cataracts, loss of
immune systems and lower
production of food on land and
fish in the oceans.
Good news came from a
place nearer the stratosphere,
10,000 feet above sea-level in
Quito, the capital of Ecuador.
A quadrennial scientific assess-
ment jointly done by United
Nations Environment (UNE)
and the World Meteorological
Organisation (WMO) emphat-
ically reported the continued
healing of the ozone hole.
Satellite and ground-level
observations by NASA, the
NOAA, the European Space
Agency and scores of the
weather stations around the
data released by the National
Crime Records Bureau, there
are almost 1400 prisons in
India, out of which only 18 are
women-specific, the first hav-
ing been established in Maha-
rashtra at Yeravada. In other
jails, women’s jail is at most a
unit of the main jail. This fact
itself speaks in volumes on the
importance that is given to the
issues of women inmates.
In India, prisons are a State
subject, covered by Item No.
4 under the State List in the
Schedule VII of the Consti-
tution of India. The manage-
ment and administration of
prisons come under the exclu-
sive domain of the state gov-
ernments and is governed by
globe have clearly divulged
that the world is now safer
than what it was in 1980s — at
least from a deadly attack of the
UV rays. Recovery of the ozone
layer has been up to three per
cent per decade since the start
of the 21st century.
Indeed, this good news
amidst global turmoil in envi-
ronmental degradation is more
than simply encouraging. It is
the singularly successful out-
come of the unique interna-
tional agreement, that may
inspire to take action on cli-
mate change. The global com-
munity has worked collectively
to achieve this result. Actions
under the Montreal Proto-
col over last more than 30
years have led to sustainable
decreases in the atmospheric
abundance of ozone-depleting
substances (ODSs) like CFCs.
In the inspiring words of
Erik Solheim, head of UN
Environment: “The Montreal
Protocol is one of the most suc-
the Prisons Act 1894 and the
prison manuals of the respec-
tive state governments. In this
light, all the states have the pri-
mary role, responsibility, and
authority to change the cur-
rent prison laws, rules and reg-
ulations. Although the Union
government is not directly
responsible for several issues
pertaining to the functioning
of prisons, they do share the
responsibility to provide assis-
tance to the states on issues
like repair and renovation of
old prisons, vocational train-
ing, modernisation of prison
industries, training of prison
personnel, and for creation of
high-security enclosures and
improving security in prisons.
(Representational Image)
cessful multilateral agreements
in history for a reason i.e. the
careful mix of authoritative sci-
ence and collaborative action
that has defined the Protocol
for more than 30 years, was set
to heal our ozone layer.” That
said it all.
At projected rates, the
Northern Hemisphere and
mid-latitude ozone layer is
scheduled to completely heal
by the 2030s followed by the
Southern Hemisphere in the
2050s and polar regions by
2060.
The CFCs and other
phased-out ODS are now part
of the history book. The prin-
ciples deployed in implementa-
tion of the Montreal Protocol
are now part of the guidelines
for future sustainability.
On January 1, 2019, rid-
ing on the white horse of suc-
cess, the Montreal Protocol
will enter in the arena of cli-
mate change. Called the Kigali
Amendment of 2016 to the
mp in focus
Needless to say, art and creativ-
ity, certainly, is not a priority.
The recent intervention by
the Supreme Court of India
has brought out the concerns
related to the inhuman condi-
tions of inmates in 1384 prisons
of India. Despite the number of
notices being sent to all these
states and union territories,
not much change has emerged.
Unfortunately, the system that
runs the prison and the policy-
makers who decide upon the
framework are guided by their
own preconceived notions.
Generally, the state is more
concerned about the head-
count rather than the creative
side of the inmates. For a prison
administrator, the most impor-
Montreal Protocol, it would
now engage itself in the efforts
to phase-out of HFCs, power-
ful global warming/greenhouse
gases (GHGs), introduced to
implement the “successful”
Protocol.
In a way, the Montreal Pro-
tocol transformed itself from
being an ozone-specific treaty
to a climate treaty. Even there
too, it is slated to contribute
immensely to the Paris Climate
Agreement of 2016.
Full compliance to the
Kigali Amendment would
reduce future global warming
due to HFCs by about 50 per
cent between now and 2050
compared to a scenario with-
out any HFC controls.
This is critically impor-
tant when the world is strug-
gling from the shock with a
stark warning from the Inter-
governmental Panel on Cli-
mate Change (IPCC) which
found that just 12 years (which
coincides with 2030 — an end
point for SDGs) remain to
limit global warming to 1.5
degrees Celsius beyond which
the impact of a further rise in
global temperatures will begin
to have an increasingly extreme
impact on human society and
ecosystems.
The IPCC report offered
the clearest evidence to date of
the drastic difference between
the 1.5 degrees Celsius and 2
degrees Celsius scenarios. The
Montreal Protocol may as well
turn out to be master saviour of
the world from climate change.
The recovery of the ozone
layer heralds a message
that collective action to dis-
charge the common but differ-
entiated responsibilities could
successfully face the climate
challenge. IANS
(Rajendra Shende is
Chairman, TERRE Policy
Centre and a former UNEP
Director. The views expressed
are strictly personal)
9
In India, more than 370
women convicts with their
450 children and 1,149 women
undertrials with their 1,310
children were lodged in various
prisons by the end of 2015. In
the year 2013, over 1800 chil-
dren spent their childhood in
prisons in India. These children
are permitted to accompany
their mothers to the prisons till
six years of age. Since prisons
were never designed with the
perspective of accommodat-
ing the aspect of womanhood
and also childhood, needs of
women prisoners generally
go unnoticed. Children stay-
ing with their mothers live in a
shadow of fear and uncertainty.
They become undeclared crim-
inals who are forced to spend
the most important time of
their lives behind bars even
without committing any crime.
Policy makers rarely realise
that there is a vast vacuum and
major reforms are required for
these innocent souls.
Women like Kamla and
Femida can be a source of
inspiration for every female
inmate because of their desire
to contribute despite living in
difficult circumstances. There
is no dearth of women inmates
who have been contributing
to prison life. Prison author-
ities who have encouraged
(Representational Image) them and provided them the
atmosphere to rewrite the sto-
tant thing is to ensure that nei- ries of their lives also deserve
ther any of them escape nor die respect and appreciation. It is to
within those four walls. Rest be noted that it is not only the
is not that important. Prisons inmate who lives a restricted
are not assigned any specific life inside the prisons but on
funds for encouraging creative
skills and thus, art, literature or
many occasions, it is also the
prison staff that has an equally
music are not considered to be difficult time by being com-
of utmost importance. In most pletely cut-off from society and
of the prisons across India, the normal life. When both work
position of the teacher for fine together zealously and with
arts is not even advertised. complete honesty, they create
Authorities very conve- new music altogether.
niently forget that those who (Dr. Vartika Nanda is a
have been sent behind bars prison reformer and is the
will also come back someday, founder of TINKA TINKA,
and if they are provided with a unique initiative for prison
the opportunity to explore the reforms. She was given Stri
inner side of their personal- Shakti Award by the President
ity, they will emerge as better of India in 2014. The views
human beings. expressed are strictly personal)
tweet
RETWEET
NARENDRA MODI
@narendramodi
Best wishes to Shri LK Advani Ji on his
birthday. Advani Ji’s contribution towards
India’s development is monumental. His
ministerial tenures are applauded for
futuristic decision making and people-
friendly policies. His wisdom is admired
across the political spectrum.
MARKANDEY KATJU
@mkatju
There is no law fixing time limit on bursting
crackers on Diwali or permitting only green
crackers. Making law is job of legislature,
not judiciary (see SC judgment Div Mngr
Aravali Golf Course vs Chander Haas online).
In its judgment on crackers SC made law,
which was wrong
RAHUL RAJ
@bhak_sala
When Modi started wishing country heads
in their languages, many intelligent critics
and comedians made fun of Modi. Now
heads of different nations have started
wishing Diwali to Indians in Hindi. Modi
has the last laugh.
RAJYAVARDHAN RATHORE
@Ra_THORe
A detailed report on action
against corruption and black
money by the govt, of which
#Demonetisation was a vital part.
#CorruptCongressFearsDemo
10 mp world
Novel 'bionic mushrooms' that
Scientists make artificial sensor
may lend robots touch sense
can produce green power
WASHINGTON DC: Scien-
tists, including those of Indian
origin, have created a bionic
device that generates green
power by 3D-printing clusters
of cyanobacteria on an ordi-
nary white button mushroom.
The research, by Stevens
Institute of Technology in
the US are part of a broader
effort to better improve our
understanding of cells bio-
logical machinery and how to
use those intricate molecular
gears and levers to fabricate
new technologies and useful
systems for defense, healthcare
and the environment.
The researchers took an
ordinary white button mush-
room from a grocery store and
made it bionic, supercharging
it with clusters of cyanobacteria
that create electricity and swirls
of graphene nanoribbons that
can collect the current.
"In this case, our system --
this bionic mushroom -- pro-
duces electricity," said Manu
Mannoor, an assistant profes-
sor at Stevens.
"By integrating cyanobacte-
ria that can produce electricity,
with nanoscale materials capa-
ble of collecting the current,
Oil tanker and
frigate collide off
Norway, 7 injured
OSLO: A Norwegian navy frig-
ate and a Maltese oil tanker
collided in a fjord in west-
ern Norway on Thursday,
local authorities said, with
seven people receiving minor
injuries.
The KNM Helge Ingstad
frigate, which was returning
from NATO's Trident Juncture
exercises, was evacuated after
the collision with the Sola TS
tanker, Norway's army said.
"It took on a lot of water
and there is a real danger that
it sinks where it is," an official
for the Sola rescue centre said.
An image published by
Norwegian broadcaster NRK
showed that water had almost
reached the level of the frigate's
helicopter platform.
A total of 137 people were
on board the frigate while 23
were on the tanker, which was
flying the Maltese flag, the offi-
cial said.
The 62,000-tonne tanker
received only slight damage
and is waiting to be towed to a
nearby oil terminal, the rescue
centre official said.  AGENCIES
Police detain two students
outside Beijing Apple store
BEIJING: Police detained two
students in Beijing on Thurs-
day who were part of a group
protesting outside an Apple
store about alleged worker
exploitation, according to one
of the demonstrators.
The students were protest-
ing in response to allegations
made last month that one of
the US company's suppliers was
exploiting student workers in
southwest China.
The two students detained
were from Renmin University
and Peking University -- two
schools that have seen a surge
of student-led labour activ-
ism this year. One of the other
protesters, a 21-year-old from
Renmin University, said that a
group of police ordered the stu-
dents to show their IDs shortly
after they finished taking pho-
tos in front of the Apple store.
A total of 10 students par-
ticipated in the protest.
"They said we were disrupt-
ing the order, disrupting law
and order, and asked to check
our IDs," said the student, who
requested anonymity.
After the protesters initially
refused to show their identifi-
APPEAL FOR IDENTIFICATION
A girl namely Karina Kumar D/o Balko R/o North 24
Pargana, sex- female, aged- about 18 years, height-
5 feet, complexion- dark wheatish, face- round, built-
medium who worked as a domestic help at 5/24A, West
Patel Nagar (placed by Ajay from Guru Nanak Placement
Service) was reported dead due to illness at Dr BL Kapur
Hospital on 29/10/18 on mlc no. 539/18. information
is lodged at PS Patel Nagar vide dd no. 27A. The dead
body has been preserved at RML mortuary for 72 hours. The parents or
family of deceased could not be traced due to incomplete address. Search
be made and if any clue/information is found, SHO/Patel Nagar, Delhi
may please be informed accordingly on Telephone No. 011-25872637
and 011-25874034. 
we were able to better access
the unique properties of both,
augment them, and create an
entirely new functional bionic
system," he said.
Cyanobacteria's ability
to produce electricity is well
known. However, research-
ers have been limited in using
these microbes in bioengi-
neered systems because cya-
nobacteria do not survive long
on artificial bio-compatible
surfaces.
Mannoor and Sudeep
Joshi, a postdoctoral fellow in
his lab, wondered if white but-
ton mushrooms, which natu-
rally host a rich microbiota but
Britain seeks to soothe Brexit White House suspends CNN journalist’s
Press credentials after spat with Trump
tensions with France
PARIS: Britain's foreign min-
ister will seek to ease tensions
with France caused by Brexit
on Thursday with a speech that
will pay tribute to the "bonds
of friendship and commerce"
between the countries, his
office said.
France has taken a hard line
in the Brexit negotiations, with
President Emmanuel Macron
insistent that Britain should not
be allowed to negotiate advan-
tages for itself as it withdraws
from the European Union.
British Foreign Secretary
Jeremy Hunt also raised hack-
les in Paris last month when he
compared the EU to the Soviet
Union and suggested its mem-
bers were trying to punish Brit-
ain for leaving.
But in Thursday's speech
at the British embassy in Paris,
Hunt will tell the audience -- in
French -- that the neighbours
will "remain tied by bonds of
friendship and commerce for
decades to come."
Three days ahead of the
100th anniversary of World
War I, when Britain and France
allied against Germany, he is
cation cards, the police took
two students away, she said.
Beijing police did not
immediately respond to AFP's
request for comment.
According to photos shared
on Twitter by eyewitness Zhifan
Liu, a French freelance jour-
nalist based in Beijing, the stu-
dents were holding signs that
said "Protesting illegal student
employment at an Apple fac-
tory, supporting workers to cre-
ate their own unions", before
police dispersed the protest.
The students had planned
to take photos and shoot
a video to raise awareness
around the alleged exploitation
of student workers at an Apple
Watch factory in Chongqing
municipality.
According to a report pub-
lished last month by Hong
Kong-based labour rights
group Students and Scholars
Against Corporate Misbehav-
iour (SACOM), students from
a vocational school had to work
punishing hours at the factory,
assembling Apple Watches --
under the guise of "internships"
-- or else their graduate degrees
would be withheld.  AGENCIES
SHO
P.S. Patel Nagar Delhi-08
"We showed for the first
time that a hybrid system can
incorporate an artificial col-
laboration, or engineered sym-
biosis, between two different
microbiological kingdoms,"
he added. Researchers used a
robotic arm-based 3D printer
to first print an "electronic
ink" containing the graphene
nanoribbons.
This printed branched net-
work serves as an electricity-
collecting network atop the
mushroom's cap by acting like
a nano-probe -- to access bio-
not cyanobacteria specifically, electrons generated inside the
could provide the right envi- cyanobacterial cells.
ronment -- nutrients, moisture, Imagine needles stick-
pH and temperature -- for the ing into a single cell to access
cyanobacteria to produce elec- electrical signals inside it, said
tricity for a longer period. Mannoor.
They showed that the cya- Next, they printed a "bio-
nobacterial cells lasted sev- ink" containing cyanobacteria
eral days longer when placed onto the mushroom's cap in a
on the cap of a white button spiral pattern intersecting with
mushroom versus a silicone the electronic ink at multiple
and dead mushroom as suit- contact points.
able controls. At these locations, electrons
"The mushrooms essentially could transfer through the
serve as a suitable environmen- outer membranes of the cyano-
tal substrate with advanced bacteria to the conductive net-
functionality of nourishing the work of graphene nanoribbons.
energy producing cyanobacte- Shining a light on the
ria," said Joshi. mushrooms activated cyano-
set to emphasise the historic Hopes that a deal could
Franco-British partnership. finally be sealed at a Novem-
"It was a war in which our ber summit meeting have faded
destinies as nations were yoked in recent days.
together -- in which we fought The issue is set to be dis-
and bled side by side for over cussed between Macron and
four years -- and in which, in British Prime Minister Theresa
the end, we prevailed," accord- May on Friday when they meet
ing to a transcript. in northern France for a cere-
"It is a relationship of com- mony to mark the World War
petition and cooperation, sim- I Armistice.
ilarity and difference," he will Hunt's speech reflects Brit-
add. ain's desire -- reciprocated
Britain is due to leave the in Paris -- to maintain close
28-nation bloc on March 29 ties with France after Brexit
next year, but details of its despite the tricky negotiations
withdrawal treaty have yet to and sometimes over-heated
be agreed. rhetoric.  AGENCIES
Diwali a special opportunity to reflect
on India-America friendship: Trump
WASHINGTON DC: Greet- Indian-Americans in the devel-
ing people on the occasion of opment of the United States.
Diwali, US President Don- "Diwali is a special oppor-
ald Trump said the festival of tunity to reflect on the bond of
lights is a special opportunity to friendship between the United
reflect on the bond of friendship States and India," Trump said in
between India and America. a special Diwali message issued
Trump said First Lady Mela- on Wednesday.
nia joins him in sending their "We recognise the extraor-
best wishes for a very happy and dinary contributions of Indian-
memorable Diwali. Americans to the strength and
He also recognised the success of our nation. Their
"extraordinary" contributions of achievements in business and
Dating apps use artificial intelligence to help search for love
LISBON: Forget swiping Online dating pioneer
through endless profiles. Dat- eHarmony announced it is
ing apps are using artificial developing an AI-enabled fea-
intelligence to suggest where ture which nudges users to sug-
to go on a first date, recom- gest meeting in person after
mend what to say and even find they have been chatting in the
a partner who looks like your app for a while.
favourite celebrity. "There is a lot of activity on
Until recently smartphone dating apps but by and large
dating apps -- such as Tinder there is not a lot of dates," eHar-
which lets you see in real time mony CEO Grant Langston
who is available and "swipe" if told the annual tech gathering.
you wish to meet someone -- "Guys don't know how to
left it up to users to ask some- ask, it's astounding really how
one out and then make the date many people need help and we
go well. think we can do that in an auto-
But to fight growing fatigue mated way."
from searching through pro- British dating app Love-
files in vain, the online dating flutter plans to use AI to anal-
sector is turning to artificial yse chats between its users to
intelligence (AI) to help arrange determine their compatibility
meetings in real life and act as a and suggest when they should
dating coach. meet.
These new uses for AI -- the "We will ping a message
science of programming com- saying 'You are getting along
puters to reproduce human really well, why don't you go on
processes like thinking and your first date'," said Loveflutter
decision making -- by dating co-founder Daigo Smith.
apps were highlighted at the Loveflutter already suggests
four-day Web Summit which places to go on a first date that
wraps up Thursday in Lisbon. are equidistant from both peo-
bacterial photosynthesis, gen-
erating a photocurrent.
In addition to the cya-
nobacteria living longer in a
state of engineered symbio-
sis, researchers showed that
the amount of electricity these
bacteria produce can vary
depending on the density and
alignment with which they are
packed, such that the more
densely packed together they
are, the more electricity they
produce.
With 3D printing, it was
possible to assemble them so
as to boost their electricity-pro-
ducing activity eight-fold more
than the casted cyanobacteria
using a laboratory pipette.
"With this work, we can
imagine enormous oppor-
tunities for next-generation
bio-hybrid applications. For
example, some bacteria can
glow, while others sense tox-
ins or produce fuel," Mannoor
said. "By seamlessly integrat-
ing these microbes with nano-
materials, we could potentially
realise many other amazing
designer bio-hybrids for the
environment, defense, health-
care and many other fields," he
said.  AGENCIES
WASHINGTON DC: In an
unprecedented move, the White
House has suspended the cre-
dentials of a senior CNN jour-
nalist for his "disgusting and
outrageous" behaviour, hours
after he had a testy exchange
with President Donald Trump
during a marathon news
conference.
The move came just hours
after CNN's chief White House
correspondent Jim Acosta drew
the ire of Trump by persisting
with questions about his views
on a caravan of Central Ameri-
can migrants making its way to
the US border and refused to the
President's orders to sit down
and clung to the microphone.
The removal of Acosta's pass
is a sharp escalation of tensions
between the Trump administra-
tion and the media.
At the news conference,
which lasted 1 hour and 26
minutes, Trump snapped at
the press corps, called report-
ers "rude" for asking questions,
and made baseless claims about
political polling.
Acosta was one of the first
reporters Trump called on.
industry, public service, edu-
cation, scientific research, and
other fields continue to repre-
sent the very best of our Ameri-
can virtues and the spirit of the
Diwali season," he said.
Asserting that Diwali is
a joyous and spiritual time
marked by Hindus, Sikhs,
Jains, and Buddhists, Trump
said lighting of lamps on the
occasion symbolises the true
meaning of Diwali, which is
ple's homes using information
from Foursquare, an app that
helps smartphone users find
nearby restaurants, bars and
clubs.
"It kind of takes the pressure
off organising that first date,"
said Smith.
Tinder founder Sean Rad
said AI will "create better user
experiences" and predicted
iPhone's Siri Voice assistant
would in the future act as a
matchmaker.
MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Friday, 9 November, 2018
SEOUL: Scientists have devel-
oped a sensor that mimics the
ability of human skin to 'feel'
surfaces -- paving the way for
electronic devices and robots
to perceive sensations such as
roughness and smoothness.
"Mimicking the human
senses is one of the most pop-
ular areas of engineering, but
the sense of touch is notori-
ously difficult to replicate,"
said Kwonsik Shin, engineer
at Daegu Gyeongbuk Insti-
tute of Science and Technol-
ogy (DGIST) in South Korea.
Not only do humans simul-
taneously sense multiple fea-
tures of their environment,
such as pressure, temperature,
vibration, tension and shear
force, but we also detect psy-
chological parameters such as
roughness, smoothness, hard-
ness and pain.
Detecting precise surface
information is a crucial first
step towards replicating psy-
chological sensations of touch.
To tackle this challenge,
researchers developed a device
capable of measuring surface
textures with high accuracy.
The sensor is made from
piezoelectric materials --
highly sensitive materials that
can generate electrical power
as a response to applied stress.
These materials have similar
properties to skin.
"Thank you, Mr. President," he
said. "I want to challenge you
on one of the statements that
you made in the tail end of the
campaign." Trump leaned into
the microphone and said, "Here
we go" seemingly relishing the
confrontation.
"As you know, Mr. Presi-
dent, the caravan is not an inva-
sion," Acosta said. "It's a group
of migrants moving up from
Central America towards the
border with the US."
Trump, sarcastically, replied,
"Thank you for telling me that,
I appreciate it."
Acosta: "Why did you char-
triumph of light over darkness
and good over evil. Republican
National Committee (RNC)
chairperson Ronna McDaniel
also greeted people celebrating
Diwali. "We wish you and your
family and friends a meaningful
celebration of the victory of light
over darkness. We at the RNC
will continue to honour the tra-
ditions of diverse communities
that enrich and strengthen our
country," she said.  AGENCIES
An entirely voice operated
dating app called AIMM which
uses AI to mirror a human
matchmaking service is already
being tested in Denver where it
has about 1,000 users.
When you open the app, a
soothing voice asks questions
about what you like to do on
a date or where you would like
to travel.
It then suggests suitable
matches based on your person-
ality. Once you have picked one
The new sensor has several surface.
advantages over existing artifi- They also added soft mate-
cial sensors. First, it can detect rial to the sensor to see if it
signals through both touch could measure depth, thus
and sliding. This mimics the sensing in three dimensions.
two ways humans sense sur- The sensor produced differ-
face characteristics: by poking ent voltages depending on the
it or running our fingers over it. shape of the stamp. The results
Most artificial sensors use show that the sensor has high
a single method. Second, it spatial resolution and can rep-
consists of an array of multiple resent the surface characteris-
receptors, meaning that sliding tics of certain objects, such as
speed can be calculated using the width and pitch, with high
the time interval between two accuracy.
receptor signals and the dis- However, at present, the
tance between them. sensor cannot distinguish
Most robot fingers use a between shapes perfectly in 3D.
single receptor, requiring an In the future, the sen-
external speedometer. sor could be incorporated
The researchers tested their into electronic devices, such
sensor by pressing stamps as robots or smart phones, to
shaped like a square, triangle improve their ability to detect
or dome against the sensor surface textures.  AGENCIES
not an invasion."
"You know what? I think you
should," Trump started to say,
pointing at Acosta. "Honestly,
I think you should let me run
the country. You run CNN. And
if you did it well, your ratings
would be much better."
"Okay, that's enough," a
visibly angry Trump said as
Acosta tried to ask another
question. Then a White House
intern unsuccessfully tried to
take the microphone from the
CNN correspondent. Trump
acterise it as such?" "Because I backed away from the podium
consider it an invasion. You and for a moment, signalling he was
I have a difference of opinion." done, while Acosta asked the
"But do you think that you question again and then let go
demonised immigrants?" of the microphone.
"No, not at all. I want them Defending Acosta, the CNN
to come into the country. But said the Trump administra-
they have to come in legally," tion's decision was "a threat to
Trump said. democracy". Describing Acos-
That's what the migrants are ta's behaviour as "disgusting and
trying to do they say they intend outrageous", the White House
to seek asylum, he said. Press Secretary Sarah Sanders,
Acosta called out the mis- in a statement on Wednesday
leading ad released by the said, "As a result of today's inci-
Republican Party and said: dent, the White House is sus-
"They're hundreds of miles away, pending the hard pass of the
though. They're hundreds and reporter involved until further
hundreds of miles away. That's notice."  AGENCIES
Nasa’s Ralph probe set to visit
Jupiter's Trojan asteroids
WASHINGTON DC: NASA's Ralph -- a space instru-
ment that has travelled as far as Pluto -- is set to
explore Jupiter's Trojan asteroids, which are remnants
from the early days of the solar system. Ralph was
first launched aboard the New Horizons spacecraft in
2006m and obtained stunning flyby images of Jupi-
ter and its moons. This was followed by a visit to Pluto
where Ralph took the first high-definition pictures of
the iconic minor planet. In 2021, Ralph is set to jour-
ney with the Lucy mission to Jupiter's Trojan asteroids.
The instrumet will fly by another Kuiper Belt object
called 2014 MU69 -- nicknamed Ultima Thule -- in
January 2019.  AGENCIES
you would like to meet, the app looks like anyone at all, includ-
tells you about them. ing their ex or celebrity crush.
After several days the app Users can upload a picture
will help set up a time for a of someone and the app will
phone call between you and find lookalikes among Badoo's
your match -- and give advice more than 400 million users
for your first date based on worldwide.
what it knows about the other Reality TV star Kim Kar-
person. dashian, Oscar-winning
"It will say things like 'based actress Emma Stone and singer
on her personality inclination Beyonce are the most searched
she is a traditional person, I for celebrities globally since
would recommend dinner and Badoo introduced the feature --
a walk'," said Kevin Teman, the dubbed Lookalikes -- last year.
app's developer. However not everyone is
The app also reminds you to convinced that AI can aid the
ask questions "about the things search for love.
that are important to you" dur- Among the doubters at
ing the date, he added. the Web Summit was UN
After the date, the app Secretary-General Antonio
checks in with both people to Guterres, who said he was "a
see how it went and recom- little bit sceptical" it could help
mend whether they should "people chose their soul mates".
continue to see each other or "I'm very happy I have cho-
keep looking. Teman hopes sen my soulmate by traditional
to make it available across the methods," said the former Por-
United States early next year. tuguese prime minister, who
Badoo, a London-based is married to a Lisbon city
dating app, is now using AI and councillor, in his opening
facial recognition technology address to the gathering on
to let users find a match that Monday.  AGENCIES
MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Friday, 9 November, 2018
12 dead in California bar
shooting; gunman killed
WASHINGTON DC/LOS
ANGELES: A gunman dressed
in black sprayed bullets inside
a crowded dance bar popular
with college students Wednes-
day night, killing at least 12 peo-
ple, including a police officer,
in California's Thousand Oaks
city in one of the "horrific" mass
shooting incidents in the US.
The gunman, who also
injured nearly a dozen others,
was found dead inside the Bor-
derline Bar and Grill on the out-
skirts of Los Angeles although
it was not immediately clear if
he was killed by officers or shot
himself.
Ventura County Sheriff
Geoff Dean described the inci-
dent as "horrific."
"It's a horrific scene in there,
there is blood everywhere and
the suspect is part of that, and
I didn't want to get that close
and disturb the scene and pos-
sibly disturb the investigation,"
he said.
He said the motive of the
shooter - whose identify was
not known - is still unclear and
Colorado moves
Left... elects
USA’s first
gay governor
DENVER: Colorado Demo-
crats have flipped control of
the state Senate, giving the
party a trifecta of Statehouse
control with the historic vic-
tory of US Rep. Jared Polis as
the nation's first openly gay
governor and a sweep of top
statewide offices.
With key wins by five
women in toughly contested
state Senate races in Denver's
suburbs, Tuesday's election
will produce a renewed Dem-
ocratic push to strengthen for-
mer President Barack Obama's
healthcare law, adopt gun
control legislation, increase
funding for public educa-
tion and stress environmental
protections.
"It's straightforward where
I intend to start: Equal pay for
equal work. Paid family leave.
Closing the wage gap between
men and women. It's about
equality and an economy that
works for everyone," said Rep.
Jesse Danielson, who won one
of the key Senate races in sub-
urban Jefferson County.
Results were still trickling
in, but Democrats were poised
to take a two-seat majority in
the state Senate, erasing a one-
vote GOP edge. In the state
House, Democrats looked to
increase their comfortable
majority.
Democrats also captured
the GOP-held positions of sec-
retary of state, attorney general
and state treasurer.
National LGBTQ advo-
cates hailed Polis becom-
ing the first openly gay man
elected governor in the United
States.  AGENCIES
Nasa’s Parker probe healthy after
closest ever approach to Sun
WASHINGTON DC: NASA's
Parker Solar Probe -- man-
kind's mission to touch the Sun
-- is alive and well after its first
close encounter with our star's
surface.
The probe skimmed by the
Sun at just 15 million miles
from its surface, breaking the
previous record was set by
Helios B in 1976.
The manoeuvre exposed
the spacecraft to intense heat
and solar radiation in a com-
plex solar wind environment,
NASA said in a statement.
"Parker Solar Probe was
designed to take care of itself
and its precious payload dur-
ing this close approach, with no
control from us on Earth and
now we know it succeeded,"
said Thomas Zurbuchen, asso-
ciate administrator of NASA's
Science Mission Directorate
at the agency headquarters in
Washington.
"Parker is the culmina-
tion of six decades of scien-
tific progress. Now, we have
realised humanity's first close
visit to our star, which will have
implications not just here on
Earth, but for a deeper under-
investigators had not found any
type of assault rifle within the
bar.
"Right now as far as we know
there was only one handgun, but
that could certainly change as
we do a more thorough search
of the building," he said.
It was not immediately clear
how the suspect died and the
identities of the victims were
not immediately released.
President Donald Trump
said that he has been "fully
briefed on the terrible shoot-
Trump sacks US A-G Sessions, B’desh PM Hasina to seek re-election on December 23
takes control of Russia probe
WASHINGTON DC: Presi-
dent Donald Trump Wednes-
day sacked US Attorney
General Jeff Sessions, virtu-
ally taking operational control
of a sensitive probe into for-
eign interference in the 2016
election and the possibility of
collusion between the Trump
campaign and Russia.
For months, Trump pub-
licly attacked Sessions for
recusing himself from over-
seeing the probe in 2017, and
blamed his decision for allow-
ing Deputy Attorney General
Rod Rosenstein to appoint a
special counsel.
Trump said Sessions will
be temporarily replaced by
his chief of staff, Matthew
Whitaker, who is a Republi-
can loyalist.
Now, with Whitaker at the
helm, Trump has someone
leading the Justice Department
who has already suggested
Weapons enthusiast detained for threats to kill Spain PM
BARCELONA: A man who
owned an "arsenal of weap-
ons" was arrested in Septem-
ber for threatening online to
kill Spanish Prime Minister
Pedro Sanchez, officials said
Thursday.
The Publico daily, which
broke the story, said the man
was 63 and among his weap-
ons were sniper rifles and a
submachine gun.
It said he had apparently
made the threats against San-
chez because he was furious at
the prime minister's move to
exhume late dictator Francisco
Franco from his high-profile
resting place near Madrid.
standing of our universe," said
Zurbuchen.
Mission controllers at the
Johns Hopkins University
Applied Physics Lab received
the status beacon from the
spacecraft on November 7,
2018.
The beacon indicates sta-
tus "A" -- the best of all four
possible status signals, mean-
ing that Parker Solar Probe is
operating well with all instru-
ments running and collecting
science data and, if there were
any minor issues, they were
resolved autonomously by the
spacecraft.
At its closest approach on
ing in California."
"Law Enforcement and First
Responders, together with the
FBI, are on scene. 13 people, at
this time, have been reported
dead. Likewise, the shooter is
dead, along with the first police
officer to enter the bar....
"Great bravery shown by
police. California Highway
Patrol was on scene within 3
minutes, with first officer to
enter shot numerous times.
That Sheriff 's Sergeant died
in the hospital. God bless all
that Mueller's probe should be
reined in.
CBS News reported that
Deputy Attorney General
Rosenstein is no longer lead-
ing the Mueller inquiry, and
that Whitaker will now assume
control.
In a tweet on Wednesday
Trump said, "We are pleased
to announce that Matthew
G. Whitaker, Chief of Staff to
The man, who "wanted
to kill the President of the
Spanish Government", was
detained in the northeast-
ern city of Terrassa in Cata-
lonia, the region's Mossos
d'Esquadra police force said
on Twitter.
"The arrested, who had an
arsenal of weapons at home, is
in prison," it added.
Catalonia's high court said
he is suspected of "conspir-
ing to wage an attack against
authorities using weapons",
without identifying him.
The man is also accused
of making "serious threats,"
illegally owning a "cache of
November 5, called perihelion,
Parker Solar Probe reached a
top speed of 213,200 miles per
hour, setting a new record for
spacecraft speed.
Along with new records
for the closest approach to
the Sun, Parker Solar Probe
will repeatedly break its own
speed record as its orbit draws
closer to the star and the space-
craft travels faster and faster at
perihelion.
At this distance, the intense
sunlight heated the Sun-fac-
ing side of Parker Solar Probe's
heat shield, called the Thermal
Protection System, to about 437
degrees Celsius.  AGENCIES
of the victims and families of
the victims. Thank you to Law
Enforcement," Trump said in a
series of tweets.
The hooded gunman burst
into the bar around 11:20 p.m.
(local time) dressed entirely in
black.
Ventura County Sheriff 's
Department Sgt. Ron Helus and
a California Highway Patrol
officer entered the bar first and
were met with gunfire from the
suspect, the Los Angeles Times
reported, citing officials.
Helus was shot several times
and succumbed to his injuries
at a hospital.
He was planning to retire
next year after a 29-year stint
with the sheriff 's department,
Dean said.
Helus, who died "a hero", is
survived by a son and his wife,
whom he called before entering
the bar, Dean added.
It was the second mass
shooting in the US within two
weeks. "We have no idea if there
is a terrorism link to this or not.
As you know, these are ongoing
Attorney General Jeff Sessions
at the Department of Justice,
will become our new Acting
Attorney General of the United
States. He will serve our Coun-
try well (sic)."
"We thank Attorney Gen-
eral Jeff Sessions for his ser-
vice, and wish him well! A
permanent replacement will
be nominated at a later date,"
he tweeted.  AGENCIES
weapons, munitions and
explosives," and of a hate
crime.
A spokeswoman for the
court told AFP the man had
made threats online and was
detained in mid-September.
"When his home was
searched to check if the threats
were real... an arsenal was
found, which reinforces the
credibility of the threats," she
said, adding there were a lot
of weapons.
She said he did not have an
arms licence.
The Spanish govern-
ment said in a statement
that the prime minister's
Japanese passengers now tend to prefer bullet
train network over air travel for short routes
FUKUOKA (Japan): Japan's
bullet train network, which
seems to have won the battle
for passengers against the air-
lines operating on short routes,
will benefit countries like India
building high-speed corridors,
according to a top Japanese
official.
The high speed railways
have completely taken over
from airlines in the 553-km
route between Tokyo to Osaka,
the 366-km route between
Tokyo and Nagoya, where the
Tokaido Shinkansen has 85
per cent of the market share,
according to statistics of the
International High Speed Rail
Association (IHRA).
The Shinkansen, collo-
quially known in English as
the bullet train, is a network
of high-speed railway lines in
Japan.
In the Tokyo-Hiroshima
route comprising of 894 km,
67 per cent market share is with
Shinkansen.
In contrast, in longer routes
like the 1175-km Tokyo-
Fukoaka Shinkansen, the mar-
ket share for the high speed
investigations and that informa-
tion will come out as soon as we
are able to determine exactly
who the suspect was and what
motive he might have had for
this horrific event," Dean added.
Citing witnesses, the paper
said that people ran for cover
when shooting started. Some
people tried to break win-
dows using chairs to escape
the building while some hid in
bathrooms.
The FBI's Joint Terrorism
Task Force has been rushed
to the scene, according to an
agency spokeswoman. Repre-
sentatives from the US Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms &
Explosives were also dispatched.
According to bar's website,
Wednesday nights are college-
themed nights open to students
as young as 18. Quoting wit-
nesses, the paper said the event
is popular with Moorpark col-
lege students, and the Pepper-
dine student newspaper tweeted
that students from its campus
were also inside at the time of
the shooting.  AGENCIES
DHAKA: Bangladesh's Chief
Election Commissioner said on
Thursday that the South Asian
nation would hold a general
election on Dec. 23, and vowed
that the Election Commission
would ensure a free and fair
election.
K.M. Nurul Huda, the
head of the Election Commis-
sion, said he hoped all parties
will participate in the elec-
tion, in which Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina is seeking to get
re-elected.
"A favourable situation pre-
vails in the country to hold a
free and fair election," Huda
said during a nationwide
address aired by state-run
television and radio stations,
adding almost all preparations
for an election were already
complete.
While Hasina's government
has won widespread global
plaudits for letting in hundreds
of thousands of Rohingya ref-
ugees who fled persecution
in Myanmar, its critics have
decried Hasina's increasingly
security "had never been
compromised." Sanchez has
made exhuming Franco's
embalmed body from the
grandiose Valley of the Fallen
basilica where he currently
rests near Madrid one of his
priorities since he came to
power in June.
The issue has taken cen-
tre stage in Spain and the gov-
ernment is due to announce
Thursday its final arrange-
ments to move the body.
Sanchez wants to move the
former dictator's remains to
a more discreet spot where it
will be harder for Franco fol-
lowers to pay homage.  AGENCIES
railways is around 10 per cent
as against the airlines' 90 per
cent.
"No matter in which coun-
try, high-speed railways have
found a sweet spot in the 300
km-900 km route. Of course
the punctuality of the trains
and the comfort of the train
also matters," said Masafumi
Shukuri, Chairman IHRA.
"Countries like India
which are building such high
speed networks would find
this model extremely benefi-
cial. However, along with high
speed, countries also need to
Lanka: Massive pro-Ranil rally
paralyses streets of Colombo
COLOMBO: A rally of hun-
dreds of cars carrying sup-
porters of Sri Lanka's deposed
prime minister brought chaos
to Colombo streets on Thurs-
day as they demanded that par-
liament be reopened.
A noisy cavalcade of motor-
cycles, auto-rickshaws, cars and
vans took loyalists of ousted
prime minister Ranil Wick-
remesinghe to a rally to hear
speeches slamming the presi-
dent for sacking the head of
government last month.
President Maithripala Siris-
ena named former president
Mahinda Rajapakse as the
new prime minister in a shock
move on October 26, and sus-
pended parliament so neither
has won a vote of confidence.
The rival prime ministers have
now spent nearly two weeks
at loggerheads, and the move
-- which has been described
as illegal by opponents -- has
triggered a constitutional crisis.
Protestors had initially
planned to drive to the resi-
dence of parliament speaker
Karu Jayasuriya to urge him to
defy the president and lift the
assembly suspension.
But amid traffic chaos, the
route was shortened and the
authoritarian rule, the gov-
ernment's handling of student
protests this year and its crack-
down on free speech.
Huda said there would be
40,000 voting centres across the
nation, and more than 600,000
law enforcement personnel
would be deployed to ensure a
free and fair election.
Bangladesh's ruling Awami
League party on Wednesday
rejected an opposition party's
demand for a caretaker gov-
ernment ahead of the election.
The opposition Bangladesh
Nationalist Party (BNP) says
Pak delegation leaves for China to
discuss quantum of bailout package
ISLAMABAD: A high-level
Pakistani delegation left for
China on Thursday to final-
ise the quantum of a potential
financial aid package for the
cash-strapped country, even as a
team of officials from the IMF is
here for talks on a bailout plan.
The government of Prime
Minister Imran Khan is facing
grave economic challenges as it
struggles to avoid a financial cri-
sis and keep the economy afloat.
Last month, Saudi Arabia
said it would provide Pakistan
with a USD 6 billion rescue
develop wayside communities,
urban planning. High speed
rail networks can only be suc-
cessful if there is high reliabil-
ity," said Shukuri.
The success of these lines
would come as good news for
the Indian Railways which has
begun land acquisition for its
508-km high speed network
between Mumbai and Ahmed-
abad, a 50 km stretch of which
is scheduled to be opened by
2022.
The number of air passen-
gers has been growing in the
country in double digits in the
mp world 11
rally was staged at Indepen-
dence Square.
The motorists displayed
posters of Wickremesinghe
and carried banners which read
"People Power".
The US embassy in
Colombo issued a security alert
warning of traffic hold ups.
"The embassy reminds citi-
zens that even events intended
to be peaceful can turn con-
frontational and escalate into
violence," it said.
One man was killed and
two others wounded in a shoot-
ing linked to the constitutional
crisis last month.
The power struggle has par-
alysed much of the administra-
tion, according to legislators on
that a caretaker government is
essential for free and fair polls,
but the ruling party says the
demand is unconstitutional.
"I urge political parties
to participate in the election
to make it meaningful," said
Huda, adding that if parties
have any differences of opin-
ion they should resolve these
via talks, but not boycott the
elections.
It is still not immediately
clear whether the BNP plans
to contest the elections. BNP
boycotted the last election in
2014 that was marred by deadly
package, but officials have said
it is not enough, and the coun-
try still plans to seek a bailout
from the International Mon-
etary Fund (IMF).
On Saturday, China said it
will provide the "necessary sup-
port" to Pakistan to tide over the
present financial crisis after talks
between Prime Minister Khan
and his Chinese counterpart Li
Keqiang in Beijing.
China has not yet revealed
how much it would dole out to
its all-weather ally Pakistan to
address its financial woes.
last five years. During financial
2016, the number of air pas-
sengers grew by 15 per cent,
whereas the number of pas-
sengers in the four rail upper
classes actually declined.
"We have recognised the
fact that the high speed cor-
ridors would be specially ben-
eficial in shorter routes like
Delhi-Chandigarh. While
we are currently studying the
golden quadrilateral for a high
speed corridor, shorter routes
are definitely on the anvil,"
Rajesh Agarwal, Member, Roll-
ing Stock told PTI.
The Golden Quadrilateral
is a national highway network
connecting many of the major
industrial, agricultural and cul-
tural centres of India. It forms
a quadrilateral connecting
the four major metro cities of
India, viz., Delhi (north), Kol-
kata (east), Mumbai (west) and
Chennai (south).
In other countries too
shorter routes have given air-
line companies a run for their
money.
Within a year of the launch
of the high speed railway rote
both sides of the dispute.
Rajapakse is reportedly try-
ing to engineer defections to
ensure he has a majority in the
225 member assembly which
Sirisena has said can only
reopen on November 14.
Sirisena has filled only 22
of 30 cabinet positions -- pur-
posefully keeping some jobs
vacant to tempt legislators of
Wickremesinghe's party to
defect to Rajapakse's side.
According to latest counts,
Wickremesinghe has 103 MPs
after gaining a defector on
Tuesday, while Rajapakse and
Sirisena have 101.
Most of the remaining 21
MPs are set to oppose Raj-
apakse, observers say.  AGENCIES
violence and shunned by inter-
national observers as flawed.
Following Huda's
announcement, BNP secretary
general Mirza Fakhrul Islam
Alamgir told Reuters that his
party and its allies were still
deliberating whether to par-
ticipate. He said the BNP had
asked the commission to defer
the vote, but that its wishes
had not been met. "There is no
reflection of public wishes and
expectations in the schedule
and it is moving toward a uni-
lateral election," he said.
The BNP, which is in dis-
array following the jailing of
its chief, former prime minis-
ter Khaleda Zia, on corruption
charges, had also pressed for
a caretaker government at the
2014 election and boycotted it
after the demand was not met.
Hasina and Khaleda, who
between them have ruled Ban-
gladesh for decades, are bit-
ter rivals and the BNP says
its leader has been jailed on
trumped-up charges to keep
her out of politics.  AGENCIES
The Pakistani delegation that
left for Beijing includes secretar-
ies of finance, trade and plan-
ning, as well as the governor of
the State Bank of Pakistan, Geo
News reported. The delegation
will hold talks with Chinese offi-
cials to finalise a possible eco-
nomic package, in a follow-up to
Prime Minister Khan's maiden
visit to China, it said. Discus-
sions will also be held pertain-
ing to Pakistan-made products'
access to the Chinese markets,
the report quoted sources as
saying.  AGENCIES
of 618 km in 2008 between
Madrid and Barcelona, Spain's
most popular high-speed train
route, air travel was down 27
per cent compared with the
previous year, according to the
International Union of Rail-
ways (UIC).
Similarly, the journey of
around 477.95 km between
Milan and Rome served by the
320km/h Frecciarossa, Italy's
fastest trains, has become the
favourite among tourists as it
takes an hour less than flying
there.
Shukuri also points out
that high speed railways has
also gained in certain sectors
over airlines because travelling
by air is time consuming and
entails many hours of actual
travel than merely the flight
time. "Flying means travelling
from home to so airport, time
taken for check-in and security,
as well as additional time in
transport and baggage pickup.
So over all, despite flying time
being less, on shorter routes
passenger prefer the hassle-
free high speed train travel," he
said.  AGENCIES
12 mp business MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Friday, 9 November, 2018

US Visa, Mastercard losing market 10 out of 15 newly listed

to India’s own RuPay card, UPI: FM
UPI and RuPay card share has reached 65% of payments done through debit and credit cards
NEW DELHI: Finance Minis-
ter Arun Jaitley said Thursday
global payment gateways like
Mastercard and Visa are los-
ing market share to indigenous
RuPay card and UPI payment
system.
In a Facebook post mark-
ing the second anniversary of
demonetisation, the minister
said note ban has increased
digital transactions.
"Today, Visa and Master-
card are losing market share
in India to indigenously devel-
oped payment system of UPI
and RuPay card whose share
has reached 65 per cent of the
payments done through debit
and credit cards," Jaitley said.
Unified Payment Interface
(UPI) was launched in 2016
involving real time payments
between two sets of mobile
holders. Its transactions have
grown from Rs 50 crore in
October 2016 to Rs 59,800
crore in September 2018.
Besides, the Bharat Inter-
face for Money (BHIM) app
developed by National Pay-
ments Corporation of India
for quick payment transactions
using UPI, is currently being
used by 1.25 crore people.
The value of BHIM trans-
actions has gone up from Rs 2
crore in September 2016 to Rs
7,060 crore in September 2018.
The share of BHIM transac-
tions in overall UPI transac-
tions is at about 48 per cent in
June 2017.
RuPay card transactions
have increased from Rs 800
crore before demonetisation
to Rs 5,730 crore in September
2018 for transaction through
Point of Sale (PoS) . For e-com-
merce purchases, it has gone up
from Rs 300 crore to Rs 2,700
crore.
Meanwhile, a study by
market research firm Veloc-
ity MR shows that a majority
of transactions on e-wallets in
Pune — said approximately 9
out of every 10 e-wallet trans-
actions are used to do mobile
recharges, followed by paying
the utility bills (8 out of 10).
It added that apart from
e-wallets, consumers also pre-
fer using debit/credit cards,
internet banking, etc as a
mode of payment for digital
transactions.
“The usage of credit cards,
3 out of every 4 is observed
to be the highest among the
people who have monthly per-
sonal income between Rs 1.5
to 2 lakh, whereas people hav-
ing a monthly personal income
Meanwhile, a study shows that a around Rs 75,000 mostly pre-
fer to use debit cards...” said
majority of transactions on e-wallets the study, which coincides
in the country are used for mobile with the second anniversary of
demonetisation.
recharges and paying utility bills According to Velocity MR
Managing Director and CEO
the country are used for mobile based on a sample size of 2,455 Jasal Shah, smartphone growth
recharges and paying utility respondents from cities like wave and the favourable regu-
bills. The study — which was Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru and latory environment from RBI
has pushed up online payments
significantly, moving the econ-
omy into a “less-cash and trans-
parent state.
“Significant investments
in the form of cash back and
innovations, like one-click
payments, pay anytime any-
where have helped merchants
and customers to adopt mobile
wallets to save costs as com-
pared to other digital payment
methods. With the push from
government and innovations,
mobile wallets are expected to
grow further in near to mid-
term,” he said.
He pointed out that
mobile digital payments have
increased rapidly post demon-
etization and mobile wallets
have contributed immensely
in this direction.
The government had on
November 8, 2016, announced
a ban on old 500 and 1000
rupee notes, to curb black
money in the system.  AGENCIES
companies trade below
IPO price this fiscal
NEW DELHI: More than half
of 15 companies that made their
stock market debut this fiscal
are trading below their issue
price, plunging as much as 53
per cent.
A total of 15 companies
have been listed on the bourses
this fiscal after completing their
respective initial public offers.
Dinesh Engineers, a pas-
sive communication infra-
structure provider, withdrew Shares of these
its initial public offer early last
month due to sluggish inves- 10 firms have
tors' response. declined in range
Out of the 15 newly-listed
companies, shares of 10 firms
of 0.5-53%
are trading below their IPO till the latest
price, tumbling as much as 53 trading session
per cent, an analysis of the new
market entrants showed. (November 7)
Shares of these 10 firms
have declined in the range of tries has given a smart return
0.5-53 per cent till the latest of 42.91 per cent from its IPO
trading session (November 7). price of Rs 783.
Shares of ICICI Securities The broader market has seen
have been the worst hit, plung- severe volatility recently, with
ing 53.20 per cent from its issue the BSE benchmark Sensex fall-
price of Rs 520 per share. ing sharply by 3,407.39 points,
ICICI Securities, which got or 8.81 per cent, since August
listed in April, had to reduce this year.

Fortis Healthcare CEO Bhavdeep Singh quits
NEW DELHI: Fortis Healthcare said
Thursday its CEO Bhavdeep Singh has
resigned but will continue in his current
capacity till a successor is found.
Singh has resigned from his position by
communication dated November 8, 2018.
The Board of Directors of the company has
considered and accepted his resignation,
Fortis Healthcare said in a regulatory filing.
"At the request of the board, Singh has
agreed to continue in his current capacity
till such time his succession planning is
crystallised," the filing added.
The development comes nearly four
months after the crisis-hit healthcare chain
was acquired by Malaysia's IHH Health-
China's exports JSW Steel crude output grows
care, which agreed to invest Rs 4,000 crore
in it by way of preferential allotment of
shares. Singh has steered the organisation
over the past three and a half years.
The company said its board has
expressed ''deep appreciation'' for Singh's
leadership "in particular, during the past
two years of high turbulence, his tenacity
and perseverance have been instrumental
in keeping the organisation steady through
a very challenging period in the compa-
ny's history".
In July this year, IHH Healthcare won
the race to take control of cash-strapped
Fortis beating rivals TPG-Manipal consor-
tium in final round of bidding.
Other suitors, Munjals-Burmans com-
bines, which had earlier become the pre-
ferred bidder, and Radiant Life Care had
backed out of the final round.  PTI
Raw sugar exports from India
to China from early next year
the size of its initial public offer
after the sale elicited a sluggish
response, especially from high
net-worth individuals.
The scrip of IndoStar Capi-
NEW DELHI: India will start exporting raw sugar tal Finance has tumbled 45.39
to China from early next year, a move which will per cent against its IPO price of
help to bridge the widening trade deficit with Rs 572 a share.
Weak trading performance
China, the commerce ministry said Thursday. "A by these firms came amid vola-
contract for exporting 15,000 tonnes of raw sugar tile market conditions and slug-
has been entered to by the Indian Sugar Mills gish investor sentiment.
Association and COFCO, a Government of China Of the 15 companies, five
run public sector company," it said in a state- have, however, managed to stay
afloat, giving returns of up to
ment. It said India plans to export two million 46 per cent.
tonnes of raw sugar to China beginning next year. Shares of railways consul-
“Raw sugar is the second product after non- tancy firm RITES have surged
basmati rice that China will import from India. It 45.94 per cent over its issue
is a move to reduce the $60 billion trade deficit price of Rs 185.
Besides, chemical manu-
that China has with India,” the ministry added.  PTI facturer Fine Organic Indus-
The key index had in April
gained 1,905 points or 5.72 per
cent, while in May it was up
162.02 points or 0.46 per cent
and in June it rose by 101.1
points or 0.28 per cent.
Also, in July it was up
2,183.1 points or 6.16 per cent,
and the index surged 1,038.49
points or 2.76 per cent in
August.
The rally in stocks, how-
ever, came to a halt from Sep-
tember onwards. In September
the 30-share index tumbled
2,417.93 points or 6.25 per
cent and in October it fell by
1,785.09 points or 4.92 per cent.
In the fiscal gone by, a total
of 45 companies came out with
their IPOs raising a record of
over Rs 82,000 crore.  PTI

hold up despite
America tariffs
BEIJING: China's exports
to the United States and the
rest of the world grew more
than expected in October, offi-
cial data showed Thursday, as
its traders apparently rushed
shipments across the Pacific
ahead of higher tariffs.
Relations between the
world's top two economies
have soured sharply this
year as US President Donald
Trump slapped roughly half of
Chinese imports with higher
taxes.
Still, in October export-
ers continued to hurry goods
across the Pacific, with China's
exports to the US surging 13.2
per cent from the same period
last year, according to the data
released by China's customs
administration.  PTI
8% to 14.4 lt during October
NEW DELHI: JSW Steel
Thursday said its crude steel
output grew 7.7 per cent to
14.47 lakh tonne during Octo-
ber 2018.
The Sajjan Jindal-led com-
pany had produced 13.43 LT
crude steel in October 2017, it
said. During last month, there
was a rise of 3.4 per cent in pro-
duction of flat rolled products
at 10.11 LT as against 9.77 LT
in October 2017, it said.
The company also regis-
tered 34.1 per cent growth in
the output of its long rolled
products at 3.46 LT as com-
pared to the year-ago month,
it added. JSW Steel is a part of
the diversified $13 billion JSW
Group, which has a presence
in steel, energy, infrastructure,
cement, ventures and sports.
It is the leading inte-
grated steel company with an
installed steel-making capacity
of 18 million tonne per annum
(MTPA) in India. JSW Steel's
plant at Vijayanagar in Karna-
taka is the largest single loca-
tion steel producing facility in
the country with a capacity of
12 MTPA.  PTI
Flipkart, Amazon
not violating
competition
norms, says CCI
NEW DELHI: Fair trade
watchdog CCI has concluded
that the business practices of
Flipkart and Amazon are not
in violation of competition
norms and rejected allegations
of abuse of market dominance
made by a grouping of online
vendors.
Amid concerns expressed in
various quarters about alleged
unfair business ways in the fast-
growing online market place,
the Competition Commission
of India in its ruling also made
it clear that any intervention in
the evolving e-commerce mar-
ket place needs to be "carefully
crafted" to ensure that innova-
tions are not stifled.  PTI
India keen to locally manufacture
and export bullet train coaches
FUKUOKA (Japan): India has
proposed to Japan that it is keen
to manufacture and export the
bullet train coaches which could
bring down the cost of operat-
ing the Shinkansen trains in
the country, a senior official
of the Indian Railways said on
Thursday.
India is building the coun-
try's first high speed rail cor-
ridor between Mumbai to
Ahmedabad which is expected
to be operational by 2022. Ini-
tially, India is set to buy 18 such
Shinkansen trains from Japan
for Rs 7,000 crore.
"We have proposed to the
Japanese side that they help us
with the technology to make
the bullet train coaches locally. The Ambassador of Japan to using our manufacturing units.
Once we do that, we can build India Kenji Hiramatsu said that That will be a big takeaway," said
the coaches at a much lower the discussions over manufac- Agarwal. The 508-km long bul-

Modi govt trying to capture RBI: Chidambaram
KOLKATA: Senior Congress
leader P Chidambaram on
Thursday accused the Naren-
dra Modi government of trying
to capture the Reserve Bank of
India to tide over its fiscal cri-
sis, warning that any such move
would be catastrophic.
"The government stares at
a fiscal-deficit crisis. The gov-
ernment wants to step up the
expenditure in an election year.
Finding all avenues closed, in
desperation, the government
has demanded Rs 1 lakh crore
from the reserves of RBI," the
former Union finance minister
said at a press conference here.
If RBI Governor Urjit Patel
stands his ground, the Centre
is planning to issue a direction
under Section 7 of the RBI Act,
1934, directing the apex bank
to transfer Rs 1 lakh crore to
the government's account, he
claimed. Section 7 of the RBI
Act gives special powers to the
government to issue directions
to the RBI governor on issues of
public interest.
Chidambaram alleged that
the government had packed
the central bank's board with
handpicked nominees and was
making every attempt to push
through its proposals at the RBI
board meeting on November
19. "If the RBI either defies the
government or the RBI gover-
nor resigns, in either events,
the consequence will be cata-
strophic," he said.
In this situation, the senior
Congress leader said, there were
only two options for Patel: either
resign or transfer the amount to
the government. "In my view,
whichever option is taken by
the governor, it will damage the
credibility and image of the RBI.
It also means capture of RBI.
One more crucial institution
will fall from grace," he added.
The RBI and the govern-
ment have not been on the same
page on different issues for some
months now. The disagreements
came out in open when RBI
Deputy Governor Viral Acha-
rya, in a hard-hitting speech,
said failure to defend the cen-
tral bank's independence would
"incur the wrath of the financial
markets".
It later emerged that the gov-
ernment had invoked a never-
before-used provision of the law
— Section 7 of the RBI Act — to
ease NPA norms so that banks
can kickstart lending and sup-
port growth, and transfer more
dividend to boost liquidity --
issues which the central bank
thinks cannot be relented.
Without acknowledging that
the notices have been sent to the
RBI, the Union Finance Min-
istry had said the "autonomy
for the central bank, within the
framework of the RBI Act, is
an essential and accepted gov-
ernance requirement. Govern-
ments in India have nurtured
and respected this".  PTI
cost. In fact they would be the turing the Shinkansen coaches
cheapest in the world," Rajesh locally were going on.
Agarwal, Member, Rolling "The discussions on this is
let train corridor in India will
have 12 stations, with about 350-
km of it in Gujarat and 150-km
Stock, Railway Board said on going on. I believe it's best to in Maharashtra.
the sidelines of a conference manufacture locally and we The bullet trains with 10
here on high speed are seriously thinking coaches each, will have one
railways. MAKE IN about it," he told this business class coach and nine
"Then we can INDIA reporter. If the move standard coaches each.
take them across the works out, it will also The lowest fare is expected
world. Many countries would open a new business opportu- to be Rs 250 and the maximum
rather buy it from us rather than nity for the state owned organ- Rs 3,000. Land acquisition is
China. Be it countries in South- isation which is reeling under underway for the project.
East Asia, even Europe and the high operating costs. The government has already
USA," he said. The scope for high speed started getting funds from the
He said that the Modern railways across the globe has Japanese International Coop-
Coach Factory, Raebareli in huge potential. It is currently eration Agency, which is pro-
Uttar Pradesh is well equipped in different stages in the USA, viding a soft loan of Rs 88,000
to produce the coaches. Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, crore for the project over 50
"Add to this around 150,000 Thailand and Indonesia. years at an annual interest rate
skilled workers, 50 railway "The idea is to get Japan to of 0.1 per cent. Repayments
workshops and around six pro- produce not just the rolling will start after a moratorium of
duction units that railway has stock for railways in India but 15 years from the date the loan
at it's disposal," Agarwal said. also other sectors like defence was released.  PTI

H1 bond volumes crimp 26% to `2.5 trillion on rising interest rates

MUMBAI: Rising interest rate
has seen a 26 percent de-growth
in fresh corporate bond issu-
ances at Rs 2.5 trillion in the
first half of FY19 from a high
Rs 3.4 trillion in the year-ago
period, and may remain sub-
dued in the remaining part of
the year as well, says a report.
With such a de-growth, the
volume of bond outstanding
stood at low Rs 28.4 crore at the
end of September, recording a
growth of 9.7 percent as against
14 percent in March 2018, says
domestic rating agency Icra in
a report.
However, a shift in credit
demand to banks and a low base
effect resulted in a 12.6 per-
cent growth in bank credit as
of September.
Call money rates have been
on an upwsing for a while and
is trading at 9.5 percent and
above.
But as investors shifted to
short-term debt instruments,
outstanding volume of com-
mercial papers rose to Rs 5.5
trillion as of September 30, clip-
ping at 41.5 percent, says Icra.
Karthik Srinivasan, group
head for financial sector rat-
ing at the agency warned that
the increased risk aversion
towards non-banking finance
companies (NBFCs) and hous-
ing finance companies (HFCs),
bond and commercial paper
sale is likely to moderate in
the H2 as well, pushing these
shadow banking entities to scale
down their credit growth."
NBFCs and HFCs accounted
for 55-60 percent of bond issu-
ances during the last two-three
years and around 41 percent of
commercial papers outstanding
as of end September.
"We expect commercial
paper sales to decline by at least
Rs 1 trillion during the second
half, which will still translate
in a growth of 20-22 percent
in outstanding CP volume for
the year.
"Further, assuming bond
issuances of Rs 3-3.4 trillion
for H2 against Rs 2.5 trillion
in H1 and Rs 3.4 trillion in H2
of FY18, bond issuances are
estimated to decline to Rs 5.5-
5.9 trillion, (a decline of 15-20
percent) in FY19. With such a
decline in bond issues, annual
growth of bond outstanding
shall decline to 7-8 percent for
the year," says Srinivasan.
The report also noted that
after the crisis of confidence
in the NBFC sector following
the IL&FS crisis, the liquidity
have tightened in the system
which as of October 22 was
Rs 1.37 trillion, and improved
thereafter as the Reserve Bank
announced OMOs of Rs 36,000
crore in October and Rs 40,000
crore in November, taking the
overall OMO purchases to Rs
1.26 trillion so far this year.
However, given the expecta-
tions of more liquidity crunch,
the agency expects the overall
OMO purchases to be at least
Rs 1.6 trillion by the end of the
December, as against OMO
sales of Rs 90,000 crore during
the entire FY18.
The continuing liquidity
tightness will also have a nega-
tive impact on deposit growth
of banks at 7-8 percent for the
full year against 6.7 percent in
FY18. Banks are seen netting
only an incremental deposit
build-up of Rs 5-6 trillion dur-
ing H2, which was Rs 3.3 tril-
lion in H1 and Rs 5.1 trillion in
H2 of FY18.
The annual bank credit
growth remains strong at 12.9
percent as of September par-
tially supported by a low base
in H1 of FY18.
Assuming an incremental
credit of Rs 4.5-5.4 trillion in H2
against Rs 3.3 trillion in H1 and
Rs 6.7 trillion in H2 of FY18,
bank credit is expected to mod-
erate to 9-10 percent for FY19
as nearly half the public sector
banks which control 51 percent
of the system as a whole are pre-
vented from lending after being
placed under the prompt cor-
rective action framework. These
11 banks alone control around
20 percent of the system credit
and deposits.
"Capital constraints of pub-
lic sector banks and deposit
constraints of private sector
banks will continue to impact
the overall bank credit growth,"
he warns, and forecasts that
the overall credit growth from
all these three sources—CPs,
bonds and banks—is expected
to moderate to 9-10 percent for
the year. PTI
MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Friday, 9 November, 2018
GAIL fast-tracks North-East Expert panel seeks comments
on easing petrol pump norms
feeder gas pipeline project
NEW DELHI: State-owned gas
utility GAIL (India) Ltd Thurs-
day said it has purchased steel
pipes worth Rs 1,100 crore for
laying the Barauni-Guwahati
gas pipeline, putting on fast
track the implementation of
the project that will connect
the north-east with the national
gas grid.
Work on the 729-km pipe-
line, which will act as a branch
line from the prestigious Prad-
han Mantri Urja Ganga pipe-
line project, will commence
from December, the company
said in a statement here.
GAIL said it has awarded
"contract for the purchase of
616 km of line pipe worth Rs
1,100 crore for the Barauni-
Guwahati pipeline, putting on
fast-track project execution
of the crucial 729 km feeder
line linking North East India
with the Pradhan Mantri Urja
Ganga pipeline network."
Work across India's single
largest pipeline spanning 3,400
km under Jagadishpur-Haldia-
Bokaro-Dhamra project - also
known as Pradhan Mantri Urja
Ganga, is in full swing and pro-
India pips US to become 2nd largest
smartphone market in July-Sept
NEW DELHI: India has over-
taken the US to become the
second largest smartphone
market in the July-September
2018 quarter, according to a
report by research firm Canalys.
India -- which saw a ship-
ment of 40.4 million units
during the third quarter -- was
second to China where 100.6
million smartphones were
shipped, the data showed.
Smartphone shipment in
the US was at 40 million units
in the July-September 2018
period.
"India overtook the US this
quarter to be the second largest
market, though both countries
were hit by weaker seasonal
performance compared with
last year," it said.
Worldwide smartphone
shipments fell by 7.2 per cent
year-on-year to 348.9 million
units during July-September
2018, a fourth consecutive
quarter of decline, Canalys said.
"This was also the worst
third quarter performance
since 2015...Seven of the top
10 markets recorded year-on-
year declines, caused by length-
ening smartphone replacement
cycles, worsening international
trading conditions and compe-
tition from major Chinese ven-
dors," it added.
The three markets (among
More EU nations
favour faster
system to boost
India investments
NEW DELHI: Taking cues
from the success of fast track
system being set up by India
with the UK and Germany to
promote investments, more
European countries have
shown interest in entering sim-
ilar arrangements with New
Delhi, an official said.
This system enables to iden-
tify and solve problems faced
by companies and investors in
their operations in India.
Fast track system is already
in place separately with the UK
and Germany to resolve issues
of companies having invest-
ments in India.
India is also in the process
of establishing this system with
Italy and Holland.  PTI
Japan’s Toshiba sheds 7,000 jobs, lowers profit outlook
TOKYO: The boss of struggling
Toshiba said Thursday he would
cut 7,000 jobs over the next five
years as the Japanese engineer-
ing firm pulled out of foreign
investments and downgraded
its annual profit forecasts.
"Over the next five years,
we expect a reduction of 7,000
jobs," many coming from early
retirement, CEO Nobuaki Kuru-
matani told reporters in Tokyo.
In addition, efficiency gains
from improved IT and the
planned retirement of about
3,000 employees every year
will contribute to the job cuts,
he said.
gressing as per schedule, it said.
GAIL Chairman and Man-
aging Director B C Tripathi
said the award of the tenders
supports 'Make in India' efforts
of steel pipe manufacturers and
suppliers in the country and
marks the completion of main-
line ordering for the entire 729
km section.
The Barauni-Guwahati
pipeline will connect to the
'Indradhanush' gas grid net-
work, which is being developed
by GAIL along with joint ven-
ture partners Indian Oil Corp
(IOC), Oil India Ltd, Numa-
India, which saw aggregate shipments
of 40.4 million units during the quarter,
was way behind China where 100.6
million smartphones were shipped
the top 10) that registered
growth were Indonesia (13.2
per cent increase y-o-y to 8.9
million units), Russia (11.5 per
cent jump y-o-y to 8.8 million
units), and Germany (2.4 per
cent rise y-o-y to 5.5 million
units).
China's smartphone ship-
ment declined 15.2 per cent
y-o-y, India by 1.1 per cent and
the US by 0.4 per cent in the
September 2018 quarter. Sam-
sung led the vendor tally with
20.4 per cent share in the said
Telcos inform DoT on proof
of concept sites for
alternate digital KYC process
NEW DELHI: Telecom oper-
ators, including Bharti Airtel,
Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea
Ltd, have informed the telecom
department about their readi-
ness to conduct proof of concept
for the new 'alternate digital
KYC process' at two locations,
as stipulated.
DoT has also issued the
details of the procedure and
modalities to be followed by
telecom operators for issuing
new mobile connections using
the alternate digital KYC pro-
cess. According to a DoT cir-
cular dated November 6, Bharti
Airtel has ensured "readiness to
conduct PoC (proof of concept)"
in Delhi and Meerut, while
BSNL has identified two loca-
Toshiba also expects to scrap
or consolidate some factories
and reduce its subsidiaries by
25 per cent — announcing the
withdrawal from a US-based liq-
ligarh Refineries Ltd (NRL)
and Oil and Natural Gas Corp
(ONGC) to provide uninter-
rupted supply of natural gas
across all the North Eastern
states.
"The Pradhan Mantri Urja
Ganga project endeavours to
connect East and the North
East States of India with the
existing gas pipeline grid to
ensure access of clean energy
solutions for household, trans-
port, industrial and commer-
cial applications in the energy
deprived region," the statement
said.
quarter, followed by Huawei
(14.9 per cent), Apple (13.4 per
cent), Xiaomi (9.6 per cent),
and Oppo (8.9 per cent).
"The worldwide smartphone
market faces an unprecedented
challenge, while its dynamics
are changing rapidly at both the
vendor and country level. This
is providing growth opportuni-
ties for aggressive vendors with
the speed to respond quickly
to market changes," Canalys
Research Manager Rushabh
Doshi said. PTI
tions in Telangana for the same.
"The proof of concept of
the....alternate digital KYC pro-
cess is to be done at two loca-
tions (rural and urban) by each
licencee," DoT said.
Reliance Jio Infocomm has
ensured its readiness to conduct
PoC at two locations in Navi
Mumbai, while Vodafone Idea
Ltd has listed Delhi and Bara-
mati in Pune District, accord-
ing to the DoT.  PTI
uid natural gas business and the
liquidation of NuGen, a nuclear
subsidiary in Britain.
The former Japanese behe-
moth is going through a sweep-
Work on 729-km
pipeline, which
will act as a
branch line from
the prestigious
Pradhan Mantri
Urja Ganga
pipeline project,
will commence
from December
GAIL said work on the
pipeline originating from Jag-
adishpur in Uttar Pradesh to
Haldia in West Bengal and
branch lines to Bokaro in
Jharkhand and Dhamra in Odi-
sha is in full swing.
"Physical progress under
phase-1 of the flagship proj-
ect is 92 per cent complete
and it is expected to be com-
pleted within next two months,
whereas the balance phases
including the additional sec-
tion under Barauni-Guwa-
hati spur lines are lined up
for sequential completion by
BSNL has alternate digital KYC
process for new connections
NEW DELHI: State-owned Bharat Sanchar
Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has launched an alternate
digital KYC process for issuing new connections
across various circles, a top official has said.
The telecom PSU has informed the Department
of Telecom (DoT) about the new system which
has been rolled out, Chairman and Managing
Director Anupam Shrivastava said. 
Illicit products
hurting Indian
industry, says
Ficci arm report
NEW DELHI: Illicit prod-
ucts are adversely affecting the
Indian industry, risking millions
of legitimate jobs and result-
ing in an estimated loss of Rs
1,05,381 crore in just seven sec-
tors, according to industry body
FICCI CASCADE.
Citing latest figures, FICCI
CASCADE said illicit trade is
also affecting the government
revenue and loss to the exche-
quer in these industries is Rs
39,239 crore.
The trade in illicit goods is
highly pervasive across coun-
tries and sectors. It is estimated
that 8-15 per cent of global GDP
is impacted due to illicit trade
and criminal activities, FICCI
CASCADE said in a statement.
"Illicit products are adversely
affecting Indian industry, risk-
ing millions of legitimate jobs,"
it said. Citing a report prepared
by it, the industry body said
the estimated "total loss to the
industry in just seven sectors
auto components, alcoholic
beverages, computer hardware,
FMCG packaged goods, FMCG
personal goods, tobacco and
mobile phones is Rs 1,05,381
crore".  PTI
Robyn Denholm to succeed Musk as Tesla chairperson
PALO ALTO (California):
Tesla Inc said board member
Robyn Denholm will replace
Elon Musk as its chair, more
than a month after the billion-
aire had to step down as the
electric-car maker's chairman as
part of a settlement with US reg-
ulators. Tesla had until Novem-
ber 13 to name an independent
board chairman under its agree-
ment with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, which
said Musk's tweets about tak-
ing reform effort to revive itself
following its disastrous acquisi-
tion of US nuclear energy firm
Westinghouse, which racked
up billions of dollars in losses
before being placed under bank-
ruptcy protection.
For the year to March 2019,
the firm said it expected a net
profit of 920 billion yen ($8.1
billion), down from an earlier
projection of 1,070 billion yen.
Annual operating profit out-
look is now 60 billion yen, down
from a previous 70 billion yen
forecast, while the sales esti-
mates were kept at 3,600 billion
yen.  PTI
December 2021," it said.
Tripathi said, GAIL is con-
currently executing over 5,500
kilometers of gas transmission
network at an estimated outlay
of Rs 25,000 crore.
"In spite of recent impact
to on-going project work due
to calamitous floods, construc-
tion of natural gas pipelines in
Kerala and Karnataka are fast-
tracked for completion by the
end of current fiscal year as
more than 85 per cent physi-
cal progress has been achieved
under the Kochi to Mangalore
pipeline project," he said.
The pipelines will not just
supply CNG to automobiles
and cooking gas to house-
hold kitchens in cities along
the route, but also to industries
to meet their feedstock or fuel
requirement.
"City gas distribution at
Varanasi, Bhubaneshwar, and
Cuttack have commenced
operations. Given the steady
progress achieved so far, the
city gas projects could soon
be rolled-out at Patna, Ranchi,
Jamshedpur, and Kolkata," he
added.  MPOST
PTI
NBFC crisis poses more growth headwinds
MUMBAI: The ongoing crisis
of confidence in non-banking
financial companies (NBFCs)
may prove to be a drag on eco-
nomic growth, as balance sheet
constraints and higher funding
costs may prompt these shadow
banks to slowdown lending,
warns a report.
But this will come as a
growth booster for banks, which
for long have been ceding credit
market share to NBFCs, which
had accounted for 12-15 per
cent of the total credit generated
in the past two fiscals.
Warning that lower credit
availability from NBFCs will
hurt growth, Singaporean lender
DBS' economist Radhika Rao
said, "the likelihood of stricter
lending controls on NBFCs
and tougher operating envi-
ronment is likely to impinge
on their ability to expand their
books, prompting them to scale
back their aggressive growth
targets...as a result overall credit
availability is likely to moder-
ate, which in turn will be hurt-
ing growth."
However, the slower growth
can reduce the asset quality con-
cerns, if incremental funding is
deployed in quality loans rather
than high risk loans.
The difficulties faced by
NBFCs, which for long have
been credited for deepening
ing the company private were
fraudulent and that the billion-
aire should quit as chairman but
could retain his role as CEO.
Musk, who has been on Tes-
la's board since 2004, tweeted
in August he was consider-
ing taking the company pri-
vate for $420 per share and had
secured funding for a deal that
was later scuttled but attracted
scrutiny from several govern-
ment agencies.
The appointment of Den-
Canadian Bombardier to cut
5,000 jobs in ‘restructuring’
MONTREAL: Canadian aerospace and transpor-
tation manufacturer Bombardier on Thursday
announced 5,000 global job cuts over the next
year to 18 months in a bid to "streamline" the
struggling firm. In a press release, the Montreal-
based group also announced the sale of "non-
core assets" totaling around 900 million, includ-
ing the Q Series aircraft program and the de
Havilland trademark, sold for some 300 million
to a Canadian investment fund. 
mp business
NEW DELHI: An expert com-
mittee set up to recommend
relaxing norms for setting up
petrol pumps and retailing ATF
in India has sought public com-
ments on the issue before final-
ising its views.
The Oil Ministry had last
month set up a five-member
expert committee to recom-
mend easing of fuel retailing
licensing rules.
"The first meeting of the
committee was held on Novem-
ber 2, and the Committee
desired to have the views/sug-
gestions of all the stakeholders/
general public," a notice issued
by the ministry said.
It asked for comments on
the subject within two weeks.
At present, to obtain a
fuel retailing license in India,
a company needs to invest Rs
2,000 crore in either hydro-
carbon exploration and pro-
duction, refining, pipelines or
liquefied natural gas (LNG)
terminals.
The expert committee has
been asked to "look at various
issues related to the implemen-
tation of existing guidelines for
grant of marketing authorisa-
tion of market fuels - petrol,
diesel, and aviation turbine fuel
(ATF)," the separate ministry
order constituting the panel
said.
The panel
renowned economist Kirit
includes
Parikh, former oil secretary G
C Chaturvedi, former Indian
Oil Corp (IOC) chairman M
A Pathan, IIM Ahmedabad
Director Errot D'souza and
Ashutosh Jindal, joint secre-
tary in the ministry of petro-
leum and natural gas.
The panel has to fur-
nish its report within 60 days
after due consultations with
stakeholders.
The panel will "review the
credit flow to pockets where
banks have not been able to
operate, poses a "downside risk"
to DBS' FY19 GDP growth esti-
mates of 7.4 per cent and 7.8
per cent the fiscal later, she said.
The other headwinds for
growth include higher rates,
lower fiscal headroom and sub-
par private sector spending.
Share of NBFCs in financing
mciro, small and medium enter-
prises has risen to 11.3 percent
as of mid-2018 against 8.4 per-
cent two years prior. By compar-
ison, public sector banks' share
came down massively during
this time to 51 percent in June
2018 against 60 percent two
years ago.
Non-banking finance com-
panies have been hit badly fol-
lowing the defaults by IL&FS
since September, leading to a
deep funding squeeze by banks
on one hand and lack of investor
appetite for their debt instru-
holm caps months of turbulence
for the company and its stock
PTI
existing architecture and extent
of private sector participation
in retail marketing of major
transportation fuels in the
country," the order said.
It will "identify entry bar-
riers, if any, for expansion of
retail outlets for private mar-
keting companies."
State-owned oil marketing
companies - Indian Oil Corp
(IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp
Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan
Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL),
currently own most of 63,498
petrol pumps in the country.
Reliance Industries, Nayara
Energy - formerly Essar Oil and
Royal Dutch Shell are the pri-
vate players in the market but
with limited presence. Reliance,
which operates the world's larg-
est oil refining complex, has
less than 1,400 outlets.
Nayara has 4,833 while
Shell has just 114 pumps.
BP plc of UK had a cou-
ple of years back secured a
license to set up 3,500 pumps
but hasn't yet started doing so.
Last week, French energy giant
Total in a joint venture with
Adani Group announced plans
to set up 1,500 petrol pumps in
the next 10 years.
IOC is the market leader
ments on the other.
This has resulted in higher
credit disbursal by banks in
October to 14.4 percent from
12.5 percent in September.
This is because many NBFCs
have been shifting from capital/
money market borrowings to
bank borrowings, particularly
those with unutilised/undrawn
credit lines.
On the other hand, NBFCs
have also sought more credit
line from banks as cost of mar-
kets-based borrowings ticked
up, leading to a 44 percent spike
in such loans since August, she
said.
"We continue to look for
banks to increase their market
share as a primary source of
funding to commercial sector,
as balance sheet constraints and
higher funding costs prompt
NBFCs to slow lending activ-
ity," Rao said. As funding costs
rise, NBFCs' liabilities are likely
as investors called for stron-
ger oversight of Musk, whose
erratic public behavior raised
concerns about his ability to
steer the company through a
rocky phase of growth.
Denholm is currently chief
financial officer at Australian
telecoms operator Telstra Corp
Ltd and has been an indepen-
dent director on Tesla's nine-
member board since 2014.
Denholm takes over as Tes-
la's chair immediately and will
RITES ON VIGILANCE
RITES Ltd observed Vigilance Awareness Week (October 29 to
November 3, 2018) in pursuance of directives of Central Vigilance
Commission on the theme Eradicate Corruption: Build a New India.
A pledge prescribed by the Central Vigilance Commission was
administered to the employees by the CMD of RITES on October 29
13
with 27,325 petrol pumps in
the country, followed by HPCL
with 15,255 outlets and BPCL
at 14,565 fuel stations.
The expert committee will
"assess the need, if any, to fur-
ther liberalise the existing
guidelines for authorisation of
private sector marketing com-
panies," the order said.
A senior oil ministry official
said the government is keen on
getting more private players in
the arena and is willing to relax
investment norms as well as the
number of permissions needed
for setting up a petrol pump.
The expert group would
make specific recommenda-
tions on the nature of amend-
ments required to the existing
guidelines for grant of a license
to private retailers.
The official said more com-
petition would improve ser-
vices as well as give customer
choice. It may also lead to
retailers vying with each other
to offer the best price.
Currently, the three oil mar-
keting companies are follow-
ing the same methodology for
fixing retail prices, which on
almost all occasions are in sync
with one another and prices
vary by just a few paise.  PTI
to get repriced more than assets
particularly shorter-tenor bor-
rowings, posing refinancing
challenges.
Though larger NBFCs can
still manage their costs by tap-
ping public issues, smaller ones
will find it a challenge to seek
alternate sources of funding,
which will impact their mar-
gins, forcing them to restrain
balance sheet expansion.
At the same time, banks will
not be able to meet all the dis-
placed funding demand because
at least half of the public-sector
banks are ring-fenced under the
prompt corrective action frame-
work by the RBI, which restricts
them form fresh loans, crimping
overall credit availability.
Secondly, NBFCs, par-
ticularly those specialised in
microfinance, housing, auto
finance, rural etc, have thrived
in pockets where traditional
banks face limited geographi-
cal reach, lower appetite and
ability of mainstream banks to
reach such borrowers.
According to Sidbi, share
of NBFCs in MSME financ-
ing has risen to 11.3 percent
as of mid-2018 against 8.4 per-
cent two years prior, leading to
lower market share of public
sector banks to 51 percent in
June 2018 against 60 percent
two years ago.  PTI
leave her role as CFO and head
of strategy at Telstra once her
six-month notice period with
the company is complete, Tesla
said on Wednesday. She was
appointed as Telstra's CFO in
July.
Tesla said Denholm, one of
the two women on its board,
will serve as chair on a full-time
basis and will temporarily step
down as chair of the company's
audit committee until she leaves
Telstra.  AGENCIES
14 mp sport MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Friday, 9 November, 2018

ANDERSON HANDED DEMERIT POINT
FOR DISSENT IN GALLE TEST
GALLE: England paceman James Anderson has received an offi-
cial reprimand and one demerit point for breaching the code of
conduct during the ongoing Galle test against Sri Lanka, the ICC
said on Thursday. During the 39th over of the Sri Lanka innings,
Anderson first complained when the umpire warned him for run-
ning on the wicket, and then threw the ball in resentment.
FRENCH COURT APPROVES INVESTIGATION
OF KARIM BENZEMA BLACKMAIL CASE
PARIS: The Paris Court of Appeal rejected the annulment of an
investigation into Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema for his
alleged blackmailing of fellow France teammate Mathieu Val-
buena. Investigators accused the Real Madrid forward and three
others to release an alleged sexually explicit video of Valbuena
and his wife unless the player handed over money, reports Efe.
WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP: HARIKA ENTERS
PREQUARTERS, HUMPY OUT
KHANTY MANSIYSK: Grandmaster Dronavalli Harika ad-
vanced to the pre-quarterfinals, crushing Bela Khotenashvili of
Georgia in the second game of the rapid tiebreaker in round
two of the world women’s chess championship here. Earlier,
Humpy’s campaign came to an end after she lost to Jolanta Za-
wadzka of Poland in the second game of the second round here.

Australia drop
Starc, Marsh,
Lyon for T20Is
against India
MELBOURNE: Australia have
named a 13-member squad for
the upcoming T20 Internation-
als against South Africa and
India without the experienced
trio of Mitchell Starc, Mitchell
Marsh and Nathan Lyon.
Pacer Peter Siddle, who was
named as cover for Starc in the
recent overseas T20I series
against Pakistan, has also been
A TOAST TO REMEMBER
Let people judge whether
this is best travelling
team: CoA tells Shastri
NEW DELHI: “India’s best
travelling team in last 15
years,” said Ravi Shastri. “Let
people be the judge,” retorted
the Committee of Administra-
tors when the national cricket
coach spoke of the criticism
that his team faces, a top BCCI
official has said.
At a recent meeting between
the team management and the
CoA in Hyderabad, Shastri
reiterated his much-publicised
comments that drew sharp
reactions from former cricket-
ers such as Sunil Gavaskar and
McLaren driver Fernando Alonso of Spain (left) makes a toast with teammate Stoffel Vandoorne of Belgium, during a promotion event made by one of his sponsors, in Sao Sourav Ganguly.
Paulo, Brazil. Alonso and Vandoorne will compete on Sunday in the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix at Sao Paulo’s Interlagos circuit  AP/PTI “Ravi initially started off by
saying that the Indian media
always criticises its own play-
assertion, Kohli snapped back,
“That’s your opinion, thank
you.”
“When Ravi went on about
how great this current team
is, one of the CoA members
just cut him short,” the official
recollected.
“The CoA member told
him, ‘Let’s stick to the agenda
of the meeting and discuss Aus-
tralia tour policies. You don’t
decide if the team is the best
travelling side in the world. Let
people be the judge’,” the offi-
cial said.
Shastri and Kohli were
told that the Indian team is
being provided each and every
facility that it has sought and

Sensational Saurabh claims gold

dropped while the other front- ers and how this is one of the its performances on the field
line quicks — Josh Hazlewood best ever teams in the last 15 should match that input.
and Pat Cummins — continue years,” an official present in the “One of the senior mem-
to be left out too, despite being meeting said. bers attending the meeting told
fit, according to an International Shastri’s reference to crit- the Kohli-Shastri duo that there

at Asian Airgun Championships

Cricket Council (ICC) release. icism was related to a verbal is nothing wrong if BCCI wants
“While I know all four (Starc, altercation that Kohli had with them to perform well overseas.
Siddle, Lyon and Marsh) have a a journalist in England after the “The official told them, ‘You
desire to be playing cricket for team lost the Test series 1-3. have been given everything --
Australia in every format, with The skipper, when ques- from hefty central contracts
a really tough Test series against tioned about Shastri’s com- to practice facilities, support
India coming up, we believe KUWAIT CITY: India’s teen- 239.8 in the eight-man individ- Junior record by a mere point. ment in England, asked for the staff, whatever you guys have
their best preparation is to go age shooting sensation Sau- ual final to finish with two gold Earlier, the Indians domi- journalist’s view on it. When wanted, so it’s only fair that
back and get some really good rabh Chaudhary continued his medals. Saurabh won the gold nated the qualifying stages the scribe said he wasn’t quite your performances are put in
cricket under their belts in the incredible run by claiming his medal at the Asian Games in with Arjun topping the stand- convinced about the coach’s perspective’.”  AGENCIES
Sheffield Shield,” Australia head fourth individual gold medal in August, besides bagging golds ings with a score of 578 after 60
coach Justin Langer said. as many months with a top fin- at the World Shooting Cham- shots. Anmol was second with
Meanwhile, left-arm quick ish in the 10m air pistol junior pionships in September and 577 while Saurabh was placed
Jason Behrendorff and all- men’s event of the Asian Air- the Youth Olympic Games in third with a score of 576 and all
rounder Marcus Stoinis have gun Championship here on Argentina last month. Arjun three made it to the eight-man
been added to the squad. Thursday. (237.7) secured the silver medal final. This takes India’s tally in
The Aaron Finch-led squad The 16-year-old, son of a after finishing second, while the ongoing event to 10 medals,
will look to put an end to Aus- farmer based in Meerut, first Chinese Taipei’s Huang Wei-Te including three gold, five silver
tralia’s T20I woes, especially combined with compatri- clinched the bronze with a score and two bronze medals.
after being drubbed 0-3 in ots Arjun Singh Cheema and of 218.0 to deny India a clean Manu Bhaker and Abhidnya
the recent three-match rubber Anmol Jain to log a total of sweep. Anmol finished fourth Patil are also slated to feature in
against Pakistan in the United 1731 to win the team gold and with a score of 195.1. The Indian the junior women’s 10m air pis-
Arab Emirates.  AGENCIES fetched the individual gold with trio missed the World and Asian tol final later in the day.  AGENCIES

India bank on Kaur’s form in opening clash Cricket

GUYANA: India will open their ICC
Women’s World Cup T20I campaign
against New Zealand on Friday at Guy-
ana in the West Indies. The Indian eves,
who will be led by skipper Harmanpreet
Kaur, will be dependent on their solid
batting line-up comprising of the cap-
tain herself, along with Mithali Raj and
Smriti Mandhana, to give them a solid
start in the tournament.
Kaur has been in brilliant form,
which she displayed in the warm-up
match against England on Wednesday.
The right-handed batswoman ham-
mered 62 runs in 32 balls, with 6 fours
and 3 sixes in her innings to take India
to a competitive total. The fans will
hope Kaur, who will be in charge of her
first World T20 tournament, can con-
tinue her form to take India to a win.
India will also look to bank on their
spinning bowlers, who appear to be
thriving under the newly-appointed
head coach Ramesh Powar. Against
England, right-arm spinner Poonam
Yadav took three wickets, while Radha
Yadav and Deepti Sharma took two
wickets each to restrict England at 133
for 8 in 20 overs.
Powar expressed his happiness on
the bowling performance after the
warm-up game: “Where we were three-
four months back and where we are
now, we are happy what we are doing.
It takes time, I hope they understand
this. We try and dominate every situa-
tion, that is what we are looking for,” he
was quoted as saying by ICC website.
England coach Mark Robinson
added: “Their spinners outbowled us.
They bowled into the wicket and pro-
tected the short boundary. We bowled
all the length and got hit, gave the batter
a chance to hit over somebody’s head,
which you can’t do in these conditions.”
A win against the Kiwis in the open-
ing match, who reached the semifi-
nal stage in the previous edition of
the Women’s T20 World Cup in 2016,
will boost the confidence of the young
Indian side. New Zealand still have a
few members from the same team –
including Suzie Bates, Sophie Devine
and Leigh Kasperek. Though this time,
they will be under the leadership of
Amy Satterthwaite, with Bates giving up
her captaincy duties two months before
the start of the tournament.
For India, it will be Bates who will
pose the biggest threat, with the right-
hand batswoman displaying glori-
ous form in recent times. She scored
multiple centuries for Hampshire in
the domestic season and was also the
Player-of-the-match in the IPL exhibi-
tion match. Kaur will hope India can
restrict Bates to a low-total if they want
to push for a win.  AGENCIES
Australia chaos
distracting
players: Finch
ADELAIDE: Disarray within
Cricket Australia has distracted
the Australian team, one-day
skipper Aaron Finch said on
Thursday as he urged his players
to keep their focus on the field.
The embattled governing
body has been under intense
pressure after a scathing review
said its “arrogant” culture con-
tributed to players cheating in
the pursuit of victory.
It has led to an overhaul of
the organisation.
Chairman David Peever last
week followed chief executive

Kohli reacts after backlash James Sutherland out the door,

NEW DELHI: Having faced
the wrath of social media users
for a couple of days after pub-
licly lashing out at a fan, India
skipper Virat Kohli tried to tone
down the issue somewhat on
Thursday, saying he is “all for
freedom of choice”.
“I guess trolling isn’t for me
guys, I’ll stick to getting trolled!
I spoke about how “these Indi-
ans” was mentioned in the
comment and that’s all. I’m all
for freedom of choice. Keep it
light guys and enjoy the festive
season. Love and peace to all,”
Kohli said in a message on his
official Twitter handle.
Earlier, the India skipper
was trolled on social media
after he asked a fan to leave
the country if he did not like
to watch Indian cricketers in
action.
Kohli, who launched the
‘Virat Kohli Official App’ on his
30th birthday on Monday, faced
the backlash after his reaction
to a fan, who confessed his pref-
erence for English and Aus-
tralian cricketers over Kohli’s
blue brigade.
“He (Virat) is an overrated
batsman. Nothing seems spe-
cial in his batting. I enjoy
watching English and Austra-
lian batsmen more than these
Indians,” the fan wrote.
Kohli admitted that he was
not personally affected by the
criticism but pointed out that
if someone does not like Indian
players while living in India
then they should not be living
in the country.
“I don’t think you should
live in India. Go and live some-
where else. Why are you living
in our country and loving other
countries? I don’t mind you not
liking me. I don’t think you
should live in our country and
like other things. Get your pri-
orities right,” he replied. AGENCIES
director Mark Taylor quit this
week and team performance
boss Pat Howard is also leaving.
“When there are changes,
and there are things being said
and written, I think it’s hard not
to read it sometimes when it’s
everywhere,” Finch said in Ade-
laide ahead of the second ODI
against South Africa.
“You might spend a little bit
of time reading it, and putting
some kind of doubts in your
mind.” Cricketers Steve Smith,
David Warner and Cameron
Bancroft were banned for trying
to alter the ball with sandpaper
in South Africa in March. Since
then Australia’s form has been
dire, particularly with the bat.
They go into Friday’s clash
against the Proteas with 17

Undeterred by cancer, Malaysian defeats in their last 19 one-

dayers, including a six wicket
thrashing in the tour opener

badminton legend vows comeback

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian
badminton legend Lee Chong
Wei pledged on Thursday to try
his best to continue his career
for “the love of the sport”.
Speaking at his first press
conference since seeking treat-
ment for nose cancer abroad,
Lee said he loves the sport too
much to quit but would not
compromise on his health,
reports Xinhua news agency.
“I love this sport and I want
to be back soon and prepare for
upcoming tournaments, but
how quickly I will return will
depend on my condition,” he
said. “My doctors have advised
me to take things slowly and
I will listen to their advice to
take things slowly.... I have
started some light training at
home,” he said. The 36-year-
old explained he was cur-
rently training three times a
week instead of the previous
six times.
The three-time Olympic sil-
ver medallist said he still aims
at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics,
but he wanted to make sure he
remains competitive.
“Of course the Olympic
gold is still my dream and
my target. All Malaysians
want this,” he said. Lee also
expressed hope that he would
be able to make his comeback
next year for the All England
Open which is scheduled for
March and to participate in the
qualifying for the Olympics to
begin in May.
Lee seemed to be back in
top form this year, when he
ended Japanese shuttler Kento
Momota’s winning streak and
clinched his 12th Malaysia
Open title and rose to second
place in the world rankings.
But then he withdrew from
the World Championships
and the Asian Games citing
“respiratory-related disorder”
before Badminton Associa-
tion of Malaysia confirmed in
September that he “has been
diagnosed with early stage nose
cancer” and was recovering
well after treatment.  AGENCIES
in Perth. Finch said confidence
was low and it was important
that the players focused on the
basics. “It’s about getting back
to the basics of partnerships and
making sure you connect with
your partner when you first get
out there,” he said.
“When we talk about con-
fidence in the batting group it’s
about not letting outside dis-
tractions affect your game.
“If you can... really make
sure that you’re committed to
watching the ball and being
100 percent committed to your
partnership, I think that’ll go
a long way towards turning
things around quickly.” Finch
knows he needs to lead from
the front and has turned to mas-
ter technician Greg Chappell,
an exceptional all-rounder, for
guidance.  AGENCIES
MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Friday, 9 November, 2018
Hockey India
announce World
Cup squad
NEW DELHI: Hockey India
on Thursday named the
18-member Indian squad
for the Odisha Hockey Men’s
World Cup 2018 which is
scheduled to begin on Novem-
ber 28 at the Kalinga Stadium
in Bhuvaneshwar.
The team will be led by
Manpreet Singh while the vice-
captain is Chinglensana Singh
Kangujam.
The Indian squad, who are
scheduled to begin their cam-
paign against South Africa on
the opening day, features P.R.
Sreejesh and Krishan Bahadur
Pathak as goalkeepers.
Experienced defender
Birendra Lakra, who makes a
comeback into the team after
missing out the Asian Cham-
pions Trophy in Muscat last
month due to rehabilitation,
will be joined by Amit Rohi-
das, Surender Kumar, Kothajit
Singh and 2016 Junior World
Cup winners Harmanpreet
Singh, Varun Kumar.
The midfield will see the
dynamic Manpreet Singh who
played a pivotal role in India’s
campaign as defending cham-
pions at the Asian Champions
Trophy. Chinglensana Singh
Kangujam will add to the expe-
rience in the centre along with
young guns Sumit, Nilakanta
Sharma also of the Junior
World Cup team and Hardik
Singh, who made his Interna-
tional debut last month.
The forward line will see the
experienced Akashdeep Singh,
Dilpreet Singh, Lalit Upadhyay
and Junior World Cup winners
Mandeep Singh and Simran-
jeet Singh.
India are grouped in Pool
C along with World No. 3
Belgium, Canada and South
Africa. They will need to fin-
ish on top of the pool to secure
a place in the quarter-finals.
“We have chosen the best
available combinations for the
Odisha Hockey Men’s World
Cup Bhubaneswar 2018. We
had to make some tough deci-
sions to select 18 out of a very
strong pool of 34 players,” chief
coach Harendra Singh said in a
statement.
“The final 18 are a mix
of experienced and youth
and they have been selected
on the basis of their current
form and fitness. These players
have consistently shown their
potential in the lead up to the
showpiece event and I am con-
fident India will put up a fight-
ing performance,” he added.
The core group of 34 will con-
tinue to train in Bhubaneswar
till 23 November 2018 after
which the team will finalise
their preparations.  AGENCIES
Benzema brace helps
Solari’s Real thump Plzen
PLZEN: Karim Benzema’s
first-half brace propelled Real
Madrid to a 5-0 thrashing of
Viktoria Plzen in the Champi-
ons League, putting the holders
one win from the last 16 after
a third straight victory under
Santiago Solari.
Former Real midfielder
Solari took over from the
sacked Julen Lopetegui as
interim coach on October 29,
and has now seen his side score
11 times without reply follow-
ing wins over Melilla and Real
Valladolid. “I think we played
a very nice game today, we
scored wonderful goals,” Solari
told reporters.
“A 5-0 win in the Cham-
pions League — I can only be
happy with that.” The 42-year-
old Argentinian dismissed
questions about his possible
future as Real’s head coach.
“I only think about the next
game. Football is about the
present and it’s the next game
Shuttlers Sindhu, Srikanth advance
FUZHOU (CHINA): Star Indian
shuttlers P V Sindhu and Kidambi
Srikanth entered the quarter-finals,
defeating their opponents in the
China Open tournament here on
Thursday.
It was a cake walk for World
No. 2 Sindhu as she won her wom-
en’s singles tie against Thailand’s
Busanan Ongbamrungphan 21-12,
21-15 in straight games.
Srikanth beat Indonesia’s
Tommy Sugiarto 10-21, 21-9, 21-9
in a match which lasted 45 min-
utes. the Indian pair bounced back in
Sindhu had no problems in out-
playing her opponent. Her swift
court movements and smashes
saw her overpowering Ongbam-
rungphan in just 37 minutes of
play while Srikanth had to strug-
mp sport 15
United fight back to snatch unlikely late win TURIN: Manchester United ball appearing to go into the net to have two finals to play. Now two European greats, which was
snatched an extraordinary and off Alex Sandro after a knock- we have one final. A win against also reflected in their respective
barely-deserved 2-1 win at Juven- down from Fellaini. Young Boys could do it. Let’s domestic results: Juve are riding
tus in the Champions League on Competition organis- hope we can qualify,” Mourinho high, six points clear at the top of
Wednesday with a late free kick ers UEFA later credited Juve told reporters. Serie A, while United are seventh
from Juan Mata and a scrappy defender Leonardo Bonucci with Despite the fact Juventus had in the Premier League.
own goal reviving their hopes of the goal, which meant United squandered so many chances to Juve began strongly and
reaching the last 16. became the first English team to score, the coach also insisted his almost went ahead when Sami
Cristiano Ronaldo looked beat Juventus away from home in side had played well. Khedira side-footed a cross from
to have haunted the club which 15 years, when a previous United “I’m really proud of my boys Ronaldo against the far post.
turned him into a global super- team, inspired by Ryan Giggs, because their performance was The Italian champions again
star when he volleyed in the won 3-0 at the old Stadio dello really good. Juventus had one struck the woodwork in the sec-
opening goal in the 65th min- Alpi in 2003. opportunity in the first half, ond half when Paulo Dybala
ute after Juventus had domi- The stunning finale prevented but everything was under con- clipped the crossbar from out-
nated proceedings and struck Juventus from sealing their place trol,” he said. “Even if we had side the area, and there was
the woodwork twice. in the last 16. They still lead not been handed victory in the more than an air of inevitabil-
Jose Mourinho’s side had Group H with nine points but end I would have been pleased, ity about Ronaldo’s deadly vol-
looked toothless in attack but United are second on seven, two because we played very well.” ley, created by a classy chipped
after the Portuguese threw on ahead of Valencia in third place, Juve manager Massimiliano pass from Bonucci, which broke
Mata, Marouane Fellaini and while Young Boys are bottom of Allegri cursed his side’s inability the deadlock.
Marcus Rashford late in the game the group and can no longer fin- to see out the game. This time there was to be
they staged the most unlikely of ish in the top two. “It’s a disappointing defeat, no muted celebration from the
comebacks to revive memories Defeat would have likely because the team played well. We Portuguese who lifted his shirt
of their epic 3-2 win from two obliged United to beat Young need to improve our finishing, to flex his chest muscles before
goals down in Turin in the 1999 Boys at home and Valencia away because we never manage to fin- high-fiving team mates. He could
semi-finals. to qualify. Now they can seal ish games off when we’re in con- hardly have envisaged the stir-
Spaniard Mata equalised with qualification for the last-16 with trol,” he said. ring comeback his old side would
a perfectly-executed free kick a victory against the Swiss side if Juve’s dominant performance later conjure, which ended with
in the 86th minute and United Valencia fail to beat Juventus in at Old Trafford two weeks ago Mourinho being booed off the
caused bedlam in the Juve area their next fixture. appeared to underline the cur- pitch after appearing to taunt the
with another set-piece, with the “We thought we were going rent gulf in class between the home fans.  AGENCIES
NorthEast aim to boost playoff chances Brandon, Edu on Rest fast bowlers in IPL: Franchises
target as FC Goa unlikely to support Kohli’s proposal
GUWAHATI: NorthEast
United FC have put up more
than just a decent performance
of this as Jorge Costa looks to
make a statement of intent.
“They (NorthEast United)
edge out Delhi Virat
NEW DELHI: Indian skipper present in the meeting, told PTI
Kohli wants World Cup- on Thursday.
so far and they will be keen to
boost their playoff probabili-
had a good start to the sea-
son. For the last two-to-three
Dynamos 3-2 bound fast bowlers to be rested In fact, limited-overs vice-
from next year’s IPL but the idea captain Rohit Sharma, who was
ties when they host Mumbai days I was watching NorthEast MARGAO: FC Goa struck mooted at a meeting with the present in the meeting, also had
City FC at the Indira Gan- United and they are very good. twice late in the game to eke out Committee of Administrators a different take.
dhi Athletic Stadium here on In terms of organisation a 3-2 victory over Delhi Dyna- (CoA) is unlikely to find favour “When Kohli mooted the
Friday. during the 90 minutes, they are mos in an Indian Super League with the franchises. idea, CoA chief Vinod Rai
Only one point separates really good. This means that encounter here on Thursday. During a recent meeting of asked Rohit about his take. Rohit
third-placed NorthEast United we have a very difficult job, but Bikramjit Singh’s long-range the CoA in Hyderabad, Kohli apparently said, ‘If Mumbai Indi-
and fifth-placed Mumbai City, tomorrow it’s 11 against 11 on strike put the visitors in the lead suggested resting pacers, espe- ans reach Play Offs or finals and
though the hosts have a game the field. We can also do very as early as the sixth minute. It cially Jasprit Bumrah and Bhu- if Bumrah happens to be fit, then
in hand. The Highlanders are Ogbeche and Fernando Gal- assist chart with four assists good things. Our wish is to took almost 50 minutes and a vneshwar Kumar, from the entire I cannot afford to rest him’,” the
heading into the fixture with lego in NorthEast’s attack will from five games. go back home with the three change of ends for Goa to find IPL to keep them fresh for the official said.
11 points from five matches pose a serious challenge for While Schattorie’s men points,” expressed Costa. the equalizer through Edu Bedia World Cup. Another official, who was
while the visitors have notched opposition’s defenders. have a perfect away record After a 5-0 hammering at at 54th minute. However, the India captain present in the meeting, said
10 points from six games. Ogbeche leads the goal- with three wins out of three, the hands of FC Goa, Mumbai However, Delhi breached didn’t find too many backers for it was “weird” that the Indian
NorthEast United have scoring chart alongside FC they are yet to pick up a win have fought back into conten- the host defence to go 2-1 up his proposal as Board officials skipper was asking for all the
had a good start to the season Goa’s Ferran Corominas, hav- at home. tion with back-to-back wins with a Lallianzuala Chhangte said franchises are unlikely to key pacers to be rested from the
under Eelco Schattorie. The ing scored six goals from five An inconsistent Mumbai against Delhi Dynamos and goal in 70th minute. However agree. IPL.
combination of Bartholomew matches. Gallego is top of the side will look to make full use Chennaiyin FC.  AGENCIES Brandon Fernandes and Edu “The IPL is starting on March “It has been a convention for
found the back of the net in the 29 and will finish on May 19. In the past few years that IPL train-
Anand takes on Wesley So in Tata Steel Chess India 82nd and 89th minute respec-
tively to log full points for Gaurs.
Dynamos drew first blood when
any case, there will be a 15-day
gap before India play their first
World Cup game against South
ers and physios work with the
Indian team’s support staff on
workload management. That will
KOLKATA: Five-time world champion ceremony. The top board will see India Bikramjit received Adria Car- Africa on June 5. So there is no be followed next year as well and
Viswanathan Anand will begin his cam- number two and former world junior mona’s pass on the edge of the chance that pacers can be rested in any case, fast bowlers don’t
paign against Filipino-American Wesley champion Pentala Harikrishna against box and curled in a magnificent for the entire duration of the play all the games” the official
So in the star-studded Tata Steel Chess local challenger Surya Sekhar Ganguly. shot into the top left corner, IPL,” a senior official, who was said.  AGENCIES
India 2018 beginning here on Friday. A former second of Anand during leaving custodian Mohammad
The 48-year-old Indian chess wizard three World Championship matches, Nawaz helpless. Ferran Coromi-
last played in the country at his hometown Ganguly is looking forward to face Anand nas looked hungry to score as
in 2013 when he lost the World Champi- for the first time in his life. “I remember he forced Francisco Dorron-
onship title to Magnus Carlsen of Norway. making the demo board during Anand’s soro to a good low save to his
Anand termed it an emotional match here in 1992. It’s strange but for the right. Jackichand Singh
moment returning to Kolkata where he first time I’ll take him on a real board. I’m Viswanathan Anand speaks during the draw crossed the ball into the box
lost his final GM norm by a whisker in absolutely honoured,” an excited Ganguly of Chess India 2018 tournament, in Kolkata, from the left and Goa’s leading
1986. “It’s a very nice feeling to be back said. Anand started 2018 on a rousing goalscorer skipped past defend-
on Thursday  PTI
in Kolkata. I’ve got a lot of memories note, winning the Tal Memorial Rapid ers inside the box before pulling
here. I’m really excited,” Anand, who last title in Moscow. However, he has been the most number of rapid titles among the trigger.  AGENCIES
played here at the 3rd Goodricke Open off colour in his last three rapid events in current players, the Indian will be a strong
in 1992, said on the sidelines of the draw Leuven, Paris and St Louis. Having won challenger.  AGENCIES
millenniumpost
millenniumpost.in
Barca train for La Liga game vs
NO H ALF TR U THS
Real Betis without Dembele CHANGE OF NAME
BARCELONA: Barcelona forward Ousmane Dem-
bele of France did not attend Thursday’s training
I, Ramparvesh Kushwaha
S/o Sh. Swaminath R/o
H.No-56 Kh. No-265/173
Gali No.2 Samta Vihar,
that matters,” he said, with a The 18-year-old Brazil- session held in preparation for La Liga clash Mukundpur, Delhi-110042
trip to Celta Vigo on Sunday ian, signed from Flamengo for
45 million euros in the close against Real Betis. He missed the session, led by
next up for Real.
have changed my name to
Benzema struck first in season, made his Champions head coach Ernesto Valverde, as he suffered from Ramparvesh for all future
the 21st minute on Wednes- League debut after scoring his gastroenteritis, reports Efe.  AGENCIES purposes.
day, weaving his way through maiden La Liga goal against
the Plzen defence and beating
goalkeeper Ales Hruska with
Valladolid at the weekend.
Real are now level with Ronaldo left out
a low shot.
Casemiro made it two
shortly afterwards by nodding
Roma at the top of Group G
on nine points, after the Ital-
ians’ 2-1 win at CSKA Moscow
again by Portugal
in a Toni Kroos corner, and earlier on Wednesday. CSKA LISBON: Portugal again left out Cris-
Benzema headed home himself are third with four points, while tiano Ronaldo, their all-time record scorer
in the 37th minute after Gareth Plzen sit at the bottom and are and most capped player, as coach Fernando
Bale had found him unmarked out of contention to progress. Santos named the squad for this month’s
just yards out. Real were without the Nations League matches against Italy and
Bale scored five min- injured Marcelo and fellow Poland on Thursday.
utes before half-time, beating defenders Raphael Varane and Santos previously omitted Ronaldo from
Hruska with a low left-footed Dani Carvajal, who did not the squad in September and October, saying
shot at his far post following travel to Plzen, a western Czech the decision was taken by mutual consent as
Benzema’s flick-on header. city famous for its lager beer. the 33-year-old was still adapting following his
Kroos rounded off the scor- Real overcame an early move from Real Madrid to Juventus.
ing in the 68th minute, curl- scare when Nacho cleared “The only thing I will say about Ronaldo is
ing a sumptuous lob over the a low cross against his own that I hope he wins the Ballon d’Or award,” said
stranded Hruska following a crossbar, while Plzen mid- Santos, referring to France Football magazine’s
pass from rising star Vinicius fielder Roman Prochazka annual player of the year award.
Junior, who came on as a sec- curled a shot just past Thibaut “He deserves it and it would be an injustice
ond-half substitute. Courtois’ goal.  AGENCIES if he didn’t win.”  AGENCIES
gle to register a come-from-behind
victory.
Third seed Sindhu will face
eighth seed He Bingjiao of China
while fifth seed Srikanth will face
fourth seed Chou Tien Chen of
Chinese Taipei in the next round.
In the men’s doubles category,
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chi-
rag Shetty defeated Wahyu Nayaka
Arya Pangkaryanira and Ade Yusuf
Santoso of Indonesia 16-21, 21-14,
21-15 in an hour-long match.
After losing the first game,
style and wrapped up the issue to
advance.
The Indian pair will now face
Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra
Setaiwan of Indonesia in the next
round.  AGENCIES
16 mp Entertainment MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Friday, 9 November, 2018

GADOT’S FUN
‘Ralph Breaks the Internet’ experience
It’s a wrap for Ranveer,
Sara’s Simmba

A
ctor Gal Gadot says she loved working on Disney’s upcoming ani-
mated film Ralph Breaks the Internet, which is a sequel to Wreck-
It Ralph. “Shank is amazing at driving cars and has this bad-girl
Gadot has lent vibe to her,” Gadot said in a statement.
“But as the movie goes on you realise how fun, wise and warm she
her voice to really is on the inside, which is what I like most about her,” she added.
In the Walt Disney Animation Studios’ project, Gadot has lent her
the character voice to the character of Shank, a tough and talented driver in an
intense and gritty online racing game called Slaughter Race. It will
of Shank, a release in India on November 23.
Directed by Rich Moore and Phil Johnston, Ralph Breaks the
tough and Internet brings back Ralph and his fellow misfit Vanellope
von Schweetz. This time the digital duo go on a journey to MUMBAI: Director Rohit Shetty has completed the
talented driver explore the world of internet, where they hope to find
a replacement steering wheel for Vanellope’s own
shooting of his upcoming film Simmba – a remake of
the Telugu hit Temper. On the last day of the sched-
in an intense racing game, the arcade classic Sugar Rush.
“Ralph and Vanellope are imperfect
ule, the cast and crew including Rohit and actor Sara
Ali Khan became emotional and penned the heartfelt
and gritty characters,” said Academy Award-win-
ning director Moore, who directed
posts on Instagram.
Thanking her “advisor” Rohit and co-actor Ranveer
online racing the original film as well. “But we
love them because of their
Singh, Sara wrote: “And that’s a picture wrap. Thank you
so much Rohit Shetty sir for all your warmth, patience,
game called flaws. Their friendship is
so genuine,” Moore
advice, direction, concern, compassion and lots more.
Working with you has been a total blast. And Ranveer
Slaughter Race added. IANS Singh you truly a star. Your energy is contagious, your
passion is palpable and your positivity is incompara-
ble. Seeing you two work with laser sharp focus
and undying dedication made me realise
why and how you both are where you
you both are..” While sharing a
picture with Ranveer, Rohit
praised him and said that
no one else could have
performed the role
of Simmba better
As the movie goes on, you realise than him. Movie
will release on
how fun, wise and warm she (Shank) December
28. IANS
really is on the inside, which is what I
like most about her

it
NEW DELHI: Actor Saqib Saleem had to grow a
Petition against Shah Rukh for
nd s
moustache for his maiden digital project. He says

Saqib fi t
since he had never sported one before, it was inter-

‘hurting’ religious sentiments in

or
esting to have the facial hair. The Race 3 actor

g ’ to s p will play a “dark but honest” character in ZEE5’s

‘interestin tache ‘Zero’ trailer

show ‘Rangbaaz’.
“To be honest, I
have never had a mous- The Race 3
mous
tache in my life. So just actor will be
to have that, was
very interesting. seen playing a
I couldn’t recog- dark but honest
nise myself for
a few days. I
think as an
actor, it did
character
in ZEE5’s Robin Wright initially
put me
in a dif-
ferent
‘Rangbaaz’
refused ‘House of Cards’
space,” said. Talking more about his SINGAPORE: Actor Robin
character, he shared: “Although Wright recently revealed that
the process was very interesting, she was initially sceptical to
I made sure that I stopped work- star as Claire Underwood,
ing out because my charac- a Lady Macbeth-like char-
ter wasn’t supposed to look acter, in Netflix’s hit series
very muscular. I did a lot of ‘House of Cards’.
cardio because there are The actor recalled being
different phases in the approached by filmmaker
show.”  IANS David Fincher, who directed
the first two episodes of the
political drama for the pilot
of the project.
“I remember when David
Fincher proposed the idea to
me and said, ‘Do you wanna
MUMBAI: A petition has
been filed in the Bombay High
Court seeking action against The actor recalled
actor Shah Rukh Khan and being approached
makers of the film Zero for
allegedly hurting sentiments by filmmaker David
of the Sikh community. Fincher for the
Petitioner Amritpal trailer in which Shah Rukh is In his petition, Khalsa said
Singh Khalsa, an advocate, seen wearing a vest and shorts, a kirpan is worn after taking Netflix drama
has sought action against the with a garland of Rs 500 notes ‘rehat maryada’ (conversion
actor and the film’s produc- around his neck and a ‘kirpan’ to Sikhism). The petition do a television show?’ and I
ers Gauri Khan and Karuna in gatra tied diagonally across has sought a direction to the said no. I had been on day-
Badwal, director Aanand L his body. Khalsa took excep- police to initiate action against time soap opera for so many
Rai, Red Chillies Entertain- tion to this scene and referred Shah Rukh and years when I was younger
ment Pvt Ltd and the Central to the historical and cultural others. PTI and I thought ‘I wanna be in
Board for Film Certification’s importance of kirpan (a films’. They were two sepa-
(CBFC) chairperson and CEO. sword or small dagger rate entries in 2013.
The petition refers to the film’s carried by Sikhs). “You never really flip to
the right side of your brain
and say, ‘Oh! We can have
the same content. Same in-

‘THUGS...’ JOURNEY
depth content on TV’. He
w
We have no idea ho basically educated me to
say ‘yes we can’ and this is
, but
successful it will be te of the going to be a basically new
fa
irrespective of the you all for
movement.”  IANS

has been special, memorable: Aamir Khan k

film, I want to than ars
a very fulfilling tw
o ye

B
ollywood star Aamir
Khan says whatever
may be the fate of
Thugs Of Hindostan,
he is satisfied with the feeling
that the team has given the film
its best and that it has been a
joyride to work on it. Reach-
ing out to the audience, he said:
“We have made the film with a
lot of love and effort, and we
hope that you enjoy it.” ble for me. Each one of you has given it our best,” the actor
The message was a part of a done such a mind blowing job, added. Thugs Of Hindostan,
lengthy post sent out via social and I am so happy to be a part directed by Vijay Krishna
media wherein Aamir person- of this team,” Aamir wrote. Acharya, marks the first time
ally expressed gratitude to all “We have no idea how suc- that Aamir has worked with
key team members – actors, cessful it will be, but irrespec- megastar Amitabh Bachchan.
producer, director and techni- tive of the fate of the film, I Besides them, Katrina Kaif and
cians – for “a wonderful jour- want to thank you all for a very Fatima Sana Shaikh complete
ney”. “A journey which has fulfilling two years. I think we the primary cast of the period
been so special and memora- can all be satisfied that we have drama.  IANS