ˇ˝˛ ˚ ˜ - The Pioneer...2018/11/11  · for four years — 2012 to 2016 faster pace before it...

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T aking note of arrest of six prominent human rights defenders and lawyers — branded “Urban Naxals” — the Special Rapporteurs of Human Rights Council (HRC) has written to Permanent Mission of India (PMI) in Geneva seeking information about Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson, Shoma Sen, Sudha Bhardwaj, Mahesh Raut and Sudhir Dhawale. In the letter sent to the Indian Government recently, the Special Rapporteurs said all six human rights defenders have been particularly active in defending the rights of mar- ginalised communities, includ- ing in Naxal-hit areas. The communication has also sought details about their arrest in different places of India on charges of conspiracy to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Terming them human rights defenders, Special Rapporteurs David Kaye, Clement Nyaletsossi Voule and Michel Forst have asked Indian Mission in Geneva to provide additional information about the factual and legal grounds for the arrest and explain how they are in conformity with international human right law, especially with regards to Articles 9 and 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). “In particular, provide information about the evi- dence used to substantiate the charges of incitement to vio- lence and the charge of attempting to assassinate the Prime Minister. Please explain the reasoning behind the sub- jection of Mahesh Raut, Sudhir Dhawale, Roma Wilson to soli- tary confinement and how this is compatible with interna- tional human rights norms and standards. We would like to have information concern- ing the arrest and detention of Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson, Shoma Sen, Sudhir Dhawale, and Mahesh Raut and allegations concerning a smear campaign targeting Sudha Bhardwaj,” Special Rapporteur said in a letter. Special Rapporteur is a title given to individuals work- ing on behalf of the United Nations (UN) within the scope of “special procedure” mecha- nisms who have a specific country or thematic mandate from the United Nations Human Rights Council. After intelligence inputs, a team of the Maharashtra Police had carried out synchronised raids in five States at the homes of Naxal sympathisers. All arrested activists have alleged Maoists links and are currently in jail. Turn to Page 4 A 21-year-old Rifleman, hail- ing from Samba district of Jammu region, attained mar- tyrdom in a fresh sniper attack along the Line of Control (LoC) in Sunderbani sector of Rajouri on Saturday. Over half a dozen incidents of sniper attacks have been reported from across the LoC this year in which equal num- ber of jawans have lost their lives. An Army porter was also killed in a similar sniper strike in Akhnoor sector on Friday evening. Amid fresh escalation of tension, the foot soldiers of the Indian Army have been kept in a state of high alert to prevent any strike by the Border Action Team (BAT) of the Pakistan Army and terrorists. Meanwhile, fresh ceasefire vio- lation was also reported in Sunderbani area late on Saturday in which two BSF jawans received minor injuries. Defence spokesman in Jammu, Lt-Col Devendra Anand said, “About 9.45 am on Nov 10, Pakistan Army resort- ed to an unprovoked ceasefire violation in Sunderbani Sector on the LoC. In the incident, Rifleman Varun Katal was crit- ically injured and later suc- cumbed to gunshot injuries." Lt-Col Anand said, "Indian Army retaliated strongly and effectively on Pakistan Army posts". "The martyrdom of the Indian Army soldier will not go in vain," he added. Rifleman Varun Katal, hailed from Mawa village, Tehsil Rajpura in Samba dis- trict. He is survived by his par- ents, Anchal Singh and moth- er Pinki Rani. Earlier, on November 6, a soldier was injured when he was hit by a sniper from across the border at Kalal in the Nowshera Sector of Rajouri, while a BSF man was injured in a separate incident of firing by Pakistan along the LoC in Manjakote area of the Rajouri- Poonch Sector on Friday. E cologists have raised alarm over e-portals like Amazon and eBay selling invasive plant species such as Lantana Camara — which are taking toll on the native flora and fauna — to urban dwellers in India for their gardens and bal- cony gardens. As there is no check on the internet trading, the ecologists have warned that though peo- ple unknowingly buy this ‘greedy’ plants to decorate gar- den, it has much larger reper- cussion on the native floral bio- diversity of the country. Wildlife biologist with Global Tiger Forum-India Ridhima Solanki said, “When I saw Lantana Camara seed on sale at Amazon, I was not sur- prised. Its flowers in clusters of pink, yellow and white blooms draws every body. Lantana Camara is a native of America where it grows in somewhat similar way as Jasmine grows in India. It is, however, spreading so stubbornly that now it is affecting sectors like agri- culture, forests, livestock and aesthetics.” Urging people not to fall for its bright colours, she said that many are not aware that the Government is spending huge money in containing this weed. Lantana is a greedy plant in India and hence many patch- es of land which were earlier having native floral diversity are seen filled with Lantana. A pregnant woman was allegedly strangled to death on a train for objecting to a co- passenger smoking, a senior GRP official said. On Friday night, Chinat Devi (45) was travelling with her family in the general bogey of Punjab-Bihar Jallianwala Express when she objected to a co-passenger, identified as Sonu Yadav, smoking, GRP police station incharge, Shahjahanpur, AK Pandey said. After a heated argument, Yadav attacked the woman and strangled her, Pandey said, adding that the train was stopped at Shahjahanpur and the woman was rushed to a hospital where the doctors declared her brought dead. The deceased and her fam- ily were on their way to Bihar for taking part in Chhath puja festivities, Pandey said. The accused was arrested and the body was sent for post- mortem, said the GRP police station incharge. D emonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) are the two major head- winds that held back India’s economic growth last year, for- mer RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has said, asserting that the current seven per cent growth rate is not enough to meet the country’s needs. Addressing an audience at the University of California in Berkley on Friday, Rajan said for four years — 2012 to 2016 — India was growing at a faster pace before it was hit by two major headwinds. “The two successive shocks of demonetisation and the GST had a serious impact on growth in India. Growth has fallen off interestingly at a time when growth in the global economy has been peaking up,” he said delivering the second Bhattacharya Lectureship on the Future of India. “If we go below seven per cent, then we must be doing something wrong," he said. R eleasing its election mani- festo, the Congress on Saturday adopted Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) line promis- ing ‘Gaushalas,’ ‘Ram Path’ and Naramada Parikrama Path and a spiritual centre, if it comes to power. In an attempt to be better than the BJP, the Congress manifesto termed as ‘Vachan Patra’, focuses on BJP’s agenda, besides announcing loan waiv- er to the farmers. It has been mentioned in the menifesto that the Congress would construct a special ‘Parikrama path’ around river Narmada and construct ‘Ram path’. A special Spiritual Department will also be set up if the Congress is voted to power in the state. The Congress has promised special provisions for the development of Narmada, which includes the construction of a special path around the river for the devo- tees and a rest house at a dis- tance of every 50-km. While promising a cor- ruption-free Government, the Congress has promised a Public Accountability Bill for transparency in governance, while there is a lot for farmers in the manifesto including loan waiver up to 2 lakh, reducing electricity bill for agriculture use by 50 per cent, special bonus on production of cere- als like wheat, paddy, jowar, maize, soyabean, mustard, and pulses like arhar, moong, chan- na, masoor; vegetables like onion, garlic, tomato, and crops like sugarcane and cotton. The manifesto also promises 5 per litre bonus on milk besides giving rebate on diesel and petrol to farmers for agricul- tural use. The ‘Right to Shelter’ law will entitle homeless people to 2.5 lakh and 450 sq ft plot for the construction of houses, while the youth and women have been given the lure of ‘Made in Madhya Pradesh,’ which will focus on increasing employment generation for one lakh youth in the infor- mation and technology sector. ‘A Vivekanand Yuva Shakti Mission’ will be started under which 4,000 per month will be given to youth for participation. To encourage employment and investment 10,000 will be given as salary and grant. Vyapam will be shut down and job recruitment will be made transparent..." states the manifesto. To promote sports and encourage sportspersons, the Congress has promised jobs to all international players. The players will be provided 50,000 as honorarium in case they are not given jobs. Those players who win gold medals in Olympics will be given 51,000 per month. Under the ‘One man, one pension’ scheme, pension amount will be increased to 1,000 from 300, while under the ‘Naya Savera’ scheme, a rebate of 100 on cooking gas will be provided to poor and labour class people. For women, the Congress manifesto promises several special schemes which includes free education to girls from school till they complete PhD, smart phones, smartcards and health cards and 51,000 to every young woman who gets married. Women in rural areas will be provided with sewing machines and will be trained to be self-reliant. RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008 C M Y K C M Y K

Transcript of ˇ˝˛ ˚ ˜ - The Pioneer...2018/11/11  · for four years — 2012 to 2016 faster pace before it...

Page 1: ˇ˝˛ ˚ ˜ - The Pioneer...2018/11/11  · for four years — 2012 to 2016 faster pace before it was hit by two major headwinds. “The two successive shocks of demonetisation and

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Taking note of arrest of sixprominent human rights

defenders and lawyers —branded “Urban Naxals” —the Special Rapporteurs ofHuman Rights Council (HRC)has written to PermanentMission of India (PMI) inGeneva seeking informationabout Surendra Gadling, RonaWilson, Shoma Sen, SudhaBhardwaj, Mahesh Raut andSudhir Dhawale.

In the letter sent to theIndian Government recently,the Special Rapporteurs said allsix human rights defendershave been particularly active indefending the rights of mar-ginalised communities, includ-ing in Naxal-hit areas.

The communication hasalso sought details about theirarrest in different places ofIndia on charges of conspiracyto assassinate Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

Terming them humanrights defenders, SpecialRapporteurs David Kaye,Clement Nyaletsossi Voule andMichel Forst have asked IndianMission in Geneva to provideadditional information aboutthe factual and legal groundsfor the arrest and explain howthey are in conformity with

international human right law,especially with regards toArticles 9 and 14 of theInternational Covenant onCivil and Political Rights(ICCPR).

“In particular, provideinformation about the evi-dence used to substantiate thecharges of incitement to vio-lence and the charge ofattempting to assassinate thePrime Minister. Please explainthe reasoning behind the sub-jection of Mahesh Raut, SudhirDhawale, Roma Wilson to soli-tary confinement and how thisis compatible with interna-tional human rights normsand standards. We would liketo have information concern-ing the arrest and detention ofSurendra Gadling, RonaWilson, Shoma Sen, SudhirDhawale, and Mahesh Rautand allegations concerning asmear campaign targetingSudha Bhardwaj,” SpecialRapporteur said in a letter.

Special Rapporteur is atitle given to individuals work-ing on behalf of the UnitedNations (UN) within the scopeof “special procedure” mecha-nisms who have a specificcountry or thematic mandatefrom the United NationsHuman Rights Council.

After intelligence inputs, ateam of the Maharashtra Policehad carried out synchronisedraids in five States at the homesof Naxal sympathisers.

All arrested activists havealleged Maoists links and arecurrently in jail.

Turn to Page 4

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A21-year-old Rifleman, hail-ing from Samba district of

Jammu region, attained mar-tyrdom in a fresh sniper attackalong the Line of Control (LoC)in Sunderbani sector of Rajourion Saturday.

Over half a dozen incidentsof sniper attacks have beenreported from across the LoCthis year in which equal num-ber of jawans have lost theirlives. An Army porter was alsokilled in a similar sniper strikein Akhnoor sector on Fridayevening. Amid fresh escalationof tension, the foot soldiers ofthe Indian Army have beenkept in a state of high alert toprevent any strike by the BorderAction Team (BAT) of thePakistan Army and terrorists.Meanwhile, fresh ceasefire vio-lation was also reported inSunderbani area late onSaturday in which two BSFjawans received minor injuries.

Defence spokesman inJammu, Lt-Col DevendraAnand said, “About 9.45 am onNov 10, Pakistan Army resort-ed to an unprovoked ceasefire

violation in Sunderbani Sectoron the LoC. In the incident,Rifleman Varun Katal was crit-ically injured and later suc-cumbed to gunshot injuries."

Lt-Col Anand said, "IndianArmy retaliated strongly andeffectively on Pakistan Armyposts". "The martyrdom of theIndian Army soldier will not goin vain," he added.

Rifleman Varun Katal,hailed from Mawa village,Tehsil Rajpura in Samba dis-trict. He is survived by his par-ents, Anchal Singh and moth-er Pinki Rani.

Earlier, on November 6, asoldier was injured when hewas hit by a sniper from acrossthe border at Kalal in theNowshera Sector of Rajouri,while a BSF man was injured ina separate incident of firing by

Pakistan along the LoC inManjakote area of the Rajouri-Poonch Sector on Friday.

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Ecologists have raised alarmover e-portals like Amazon

and eBay selling invasive plantspecies such as LantanaCamara — which are takingtoll on the native flora andfauna — to urban dwellers inIndia for their gardens and bal-cony gardens.

As there is no check on theinternet trading, the ecologistshave warned that though peo-ple unknowingly buy this‘greedy’ plants to decorate gar-den, it has much larger reper-cussion on the native floral bio-diversity of the country.

Wildlife biologist withGlobal Tiger Forum-IndiaRidhima Solanki said, “WhenI saw Lantana Camara seed onsale at Amazon, I was not sur-prised. Its flowers in clusters ofpink, yellow and white bloomsdraws every body. LantanaCamara is a native of America

where it grows in somewhatsimilar way as Jasmine growsin India.

It is, however, spreadingso stubbornly that now it isaffecting sectors like agri-culture, forests, livestock andaesthetics.”

Urging people not to fallfor its bright colours, she said

that many are not aware thatthe Government is spendinghuge money in containing thisweed.

Lantana is a greedy plant inIndia and hence many patch-es of land which were earlierhaving native floral diversityare seen filled with Lantana.

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Apregnant woman wasallegedly strangled to death

on a train for objecting to a co-passenger smoking, a seniorGRP official said.

On Friday night, ChinatDevi (45) was travelling withher family in the general bogeyof Punjab-Bihar JallianwalaExpress when she objected toa co-passenger, identified asSonu Yadav, smoking, GRPpolice station incharge,Shahjahanpur, AK Pandey said.

After a heated argument,Yadav attacked the woman andstrangled her, Pandey said,adding that the train wasstopped at Shahjahanpur andthe woman was rushed to ahospital where the doctorsdeclared her brought dead.

The deceased and her fam-ily were on their way to Biharfor taking part in Chhath pujafestivities, Pandey said. Theaccused was arrested and thebody was sent for post-mortem, said the GRP policestation incharge.

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Demonetisation and theGoods and Services Tax

(GST) are the two major head-winds that held back India’seconomic growth last year, for-mer RBI Governor RaghuramRajan has said, asserting thatthe current seven per centgrowth rate is not enough tomeet the country’s needs.

Addressing an audience atthe University of California inBerkley on Friday, Rajan saidfor four years — 2012 to 2016

— India was growing at afaster pace before it was hit bytwo major headwinds.

“The two successive shocksof demonetisation and the GSThad a serious impact on growthin India. Growth has fallen offinterestingly at a time whengrowth in the global economyhas been peaking up,” he saiddelivering the secondBhattacharya Lectureship onthe Future of India. “If we gobelow seven per cent, then wemust be doing somethingwrong," he said.

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Releasing its election mani-festo, the Congress on

Saturday adopted BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) line promis-ing ‘Gaushalas,’ ‘Ram Path’ andNaramada Parikrama Path anda spiritual centre, if it comes topower.

In an attempt to be betterthan the BJP, the Congressmanifesto termed as ‘VachanPatra’, focuses on BJP’s agenda,besides announcing loan waiv-er to the farmers.

It has been mentioned inthe menifesto that the Congresswould construct a special‘Parikrama path’ around riverNarmada and construct ‘Rampath’.

A special SpiritualDepartment will also be set upif the Congress is voted topower in the state.

The Congress haspromised special provisionsfor the development ofNarmada, which includes theconstruction of a special patharound the river for the devo-tees and a rest house at a dis-tance of every 50-km.

While promising a cor-ruption-free Government, theCongress has promised aPublic Accountability Bill fortransparency in governance,while there is a lot for farmersin the manifesto including loanwaiver up to �2 lakh, reducingelectricity bill for agricultureuse by 50 per cent, specialbonus on production of cere-als like wheat, paddy, jowar,maize, soyabean, mustard, andpulses like arhar, moong, chan-

na, masoor; vegetables likeonion, garlic, tomato, and cropslike sugarcane and cotton. Themanifesto also promises �5per litre bonus on milk besidesgiving rebate on diesel andpetrol to farmers for agricul-tural use.

The ‘Right to Shelter’ lawwill entitle homeless people to�2.5 lakh and 450 sq ft plot forthe construction of houses,while the youth and womenhave been given the lure of‘Made in Madhya Pradesh,’which will focus on increasingemployment generation forone lakh youth in the infor-mation and technology sector.

‘A Vivekanand Yuva Shakti

Mission’ will be started underwhich �4,000 per month will begiven to youth for participation.To encourage employment andinvestment �10,000 will begiven as salary and grant.Vyapam will be shut downand job recruitment will bemade transparent..." states themanifesto.

To promote sports andencourage sportspersons, theCongress has promised jobs toall international players. Theplayers will be provided�50,000 as honorarium in casethey are not given jobs. Thoseplayers who win gold medals inOlympics will be given �51,000per month.

Under the ‘One man, onepension’ scheme, pensionamount will be increased to�1,000 from �300, while underthe ‘Naya Savera’ scheme, arebate of �100 on cooking gaswill be provided to poor andlabour class people.

For women, the Congressmanifesto promises severalspecial schemes which includesfree education to girls fromschool till they complete PhD,smart phones, smartcards andhealth cards and �51,000 toevery young woman who getsmarried. Women in rural areaswill be provided with sewingmachines and will be trained tobe self-reliant.

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The number of realityshows on Indian TV isgrowing. For a few years

now, genres have mushroomedand the audience increased.From the singular SaReGaMaPato the newest ones, the changehas been not just in concept butalso presentation.

The newest trend is livesinging and voting, Love MeIndia being the latest one in thatformat. The show is the first everkids-based live singing show andthe makers talk of how thisformat with children will breakthe monotony and familiarityaround singing shows, as alsoprovide a sound platform foryoung talent to kick-start theircareer in the music industry byshowcasing their inherent talent.

���'� ��Abhijeet Sawant who is

judging the show, tells you howreality shows have evolved.“There is a huge change inreality shows from when Istarted. At that time, peopleneeded to spend money to votefor their favourite contestantsbut now on most platforms it'sfree. Also, everything is verypolished now. When we startedoff, everything was raw, weused to look forward tointernational sources to see howthey were doing it but now wehave our own reality show ideas.Even the talent that is coming iswell rounded. No matter fromwhere they come, they know allthe details about the show andthe shooting process," he tellsyou.

Another big name in theindustry who has seen theevolution in the reality showsand is a part of SaReGaMaPa isShekhar Ravjiani who says:“From being a judge and amentor in more than 12 musicreality shows, I have had theopportunity to closely witnessthe journey and growth of thisphenomenon. Originallyconceived as niche, small-sizedshows, singing realityprogrammes have grown overthe years into massive platformsfor people from every walk of lifeto showcase their talent and geta chance to shine. We now seenewer formats emerging withevery new show, but whatremains the same is the basicfoundation of what it takes to bea good singer and performerand that pure talent mustultimately win above all else.”.

��������/�����Reality shows are a boon for

a person’s career. These showsgive contestants all the name,

fame and the required exposure,but maintaining that spark afterthe show goes off-air depends onthe hard work of a participant.“The most wonderful thingabout singing reality shows isthat they can make nationalsensations out of simpleeveryday people who find theirvoice on the platform. However,with that fame comes greatresponsibility. There areultimately no shortcuts in lifeand even a winner of a show hasto work just as hard as anyoneelse in the industry. The chanceto be heard and known bystalwarts is the most valuableprize that these shows offer. Butafter that, it all depends on eachindividual’s ability to convert theopportunity into somethingmore,” Ravjiani says.

“These reality shows are agreat platform for every singerto come out, sing for people andgather an audience. But afterthat, it all depends on the peopleand the plus point is that nowthe struggle has also reduced toan extent. Earlier, the playbacksingers used to struggle for 10-11 years to get a break. We now

skip this struggle and are able todirectly step into somebody’sstudio, thanks to these shows,”Sawant says.

“Most singers in theindustry today are from realityshows. Be it Neeti Mohan orNeha Kakkar, they all have doneone or the other reality show andthey have become successfulafter that,” he added.

' ��������This latest trend will only

add to the weight of singingshows. As everything continuesto become more transparent andaudience friendly on TV, livesinging is seen as more engagingby the audience. “Live singinghas raised the bar in realityshows for sure. Like any otherformat, this one too has to keepreinventing itself and thechallenge of performing live isa great way to make the trulysuperior singers stand apartfrom the huge number oftalented individuals that ourcountry boasts of,” Ravjiani said.

Bhoomi Trivedi, the otherjudge on Love Me India, feelsthat live singing shows areinteresting but difficult. “Thebest and the hardest part of liveshows is that there are no retakesand it is absolutely unfiltered.The show is only for an hour butthere is so much hard work andrehearsals that go into it. Wehave to practice for hours to beable to perform live. For people,it is just one hour ofentertainment but for us it ishours of hard work. The othergood thing about this trend isthat contestants get votes on thespot and everyone can see howmany votes and support acontestant is receiving,” she says.

�23���'/�2�+�'��0+4��� �0�� ����5���������0�����6�����6� ����6����/� �����������������)�7��'������������8�������077����!�� �!7���� 7���96���������!� �� �.:;<

First of all, these are no pirates — of Caribbeanor otherwise. They are pre-Independencepatriots who happen to take the sea route to

mount operations against the East India Company,and the British intent to gobble up territory and prideof local maharajas and Baigs who live perilously inforts that have long turned pregnable.

Aamir Khan is doing no Jack Sparrow,thankfully! Had he been doing so, he would havebeen an unmitigated disaster in the role of FirangiMallah. There is no fantasy either, of the creepycrawly POC kinds. The only element which comesclose to fantasy is Khan sporting a nose pin, with elanif you please! Does that work to make the film inany way differently enabled? Far from it, and thatdespite the two titans of the industry — AmitabhBachchan and Aamir Khan — coming together onscreen for the first time ever.

Yes that was ambitious, as is the film itself,mounting Hollywoodish action in an 18th centuryperiod drama. The film is beautiful, artisticallyorchestrated and full of fantastic action. It engagesbut not emotion or sentiment.

Both Aamir and Amitabh are woefully wasted,both with acumen to set the screen blazing, both withlarger than life screen presence — both wasted bybeing put into roles that were wishy-washy despitegrandstanding names like Khudabaksh Jahaazi and

Firangi Mallah.Aamir, a thug living a life pegged on unmitigated

deceit, and Amitabh abuzz with patriotism andwarrior-ship. But when the twain meet, it all fizzlesout, more starkly because the two coming togetherfor the first time were expected to show some spark,any spark, not no spark at all as the case is. This isthe biggest fizzler, the other being a here and therestoryline which plays into the hands of excellentproduction quality, localing, recreating the 1757period and all else that could get the art director hisFilmfare.

From a production house like Yash Raj Filmssuch perfection in quality of filmmaking is expected.What is unexpected is a weak plot and storyline, thattoo when it was so full of potential. Marryingyesterday with tomorrow in a groovy kind of way iswhat Thugs of Hindostan promised to be all about.But despite the lean mean Robert Clive, despite thehistory of freedom struggle, despite the presence ofthe Big 2 of Bollywood, the film kind of raisesquestions.

The music, except for the Suraiya song and over-exploited Dhoom-like gyrations of Katrina Kaif,writes no stunning notes, which is surprising for anAditya Chopra Production. The heroine SanaShaikh as Zafira does a good job but fails to makea mark for no fault of hers.

For action, this one is good to go but bothBachchan and Aamir fans will leave the hall highlyunderfed. Some might even say they have beenthugged! The film, at best, is like a slice of blueberrycheese cake from Big Chill which tastes likesomething from Kallu’s dhaba. Those who know notBig Chill will enjoy it as a good bite from Kallu’s.

/%��������� ������� ��� ������������� ���0%����������&�'�(�)����*+$%,*��*'*,*���������� �)�&-*�.*&.)$����"������������ �������������� ��� ������#������������� ����"� �� ��"����������!� ����"� �� ��"���How has your experience been withSaReGaMaPa?

It has been a wonderful experience tohost SaReGaMaPa for over a decade now.The show has given me work and I havegiven my all to this. It feels exactly the sameas my first day when I started doing theshow in 2007. I still feel nervous when Iwalk up to the stage and I feel equallyexcited. Every season, before the start ofthe shoots, I feel like I don’t know anythingabout this job. �What do you have to say about thejudges?

I’m looking forward to working withthe judges — Shekhar, Wajid Khan, andSona Mohapatra. It is the first time we arehaving a female judge on the show whichis going to be really exciting.�What is the new season all about?

Talent has always been ourbenchmark. We always manage tobring out the best singing talent fromthe county. This season’s tagline isMusic Se Bane Hum and itsummarises the entire season. Itaims to put an end on all thesocial barriers put up by thesociety, be it age, gender orsomeone’s life preferences, all wecare is to find the musicianinside you. There is one visuallyimpaired contestant and onecontestant who is representing theLGBT community for the first timein the show.�When did you first realise your passionfor singing?

It naturally happened to me. Myparents —Udit Narayan and DeepaNarayan Jha— are musicians themselvesso I grow up listening to them. When I wasa kid, I used to accompany my father tothe recording studio. I was so quiet as a kidthat I never sat in the monitor room, I usedto sit with my father in the recording roomwith his mic during the recording. Andafter returning from the studio, I used tosing the whole song to my parents. So I ampassionate about music since mychildhood days. It has been 23 years nowand I am into singing and I still feel likea newcomer (laughs).�How hard is it to be a starkid?

As hard as it is to be a human being inthis age. These are all tags and I mentallygraduated from all this. I keep myself awayfrom such tags, my father was an outsider,he came and made his place. I think these

tags just categorises the people and I don’tlike being categorised. Everyone has certainproblems in life and even if there werecertain hardships that come with being astarkid, fortunately, I never faced that.�What does success means to you?

I will break it into two — personallyand professionally. For me personally,success is becoming a better version ofmyself. And professionally, being good atyour job so that you keep getting newopportunities. As long as I am doing wellin my craft and people are offering mework, I think that is success in life.�Any singer that you would love to workwith in future?

Everyone in the industry is so talentedbut yes among the female singers, I wouldsay Neeti Mohan, Sunidhi Chauhan andShreya Ghoshal. And among the males, Iwould like to sing with Armaan and AmaalMalik. When it comes to foreigncollaborations, I would love to collaboratewith Coldplay.�Which song came close to your heart?

Every song is close to my heart butTattad Tattad from Goliyon Ki RasleelaRam-Leela has a special place in my lifebecause I was very fortunate to be theassistant director in the film. Being a partof that project was a great learningexperience and it was the turning point ofmy life.�One change that you would like to seein the industry for singers.

I would say everything. In our country,even independent music also needs biglabels. Even in 2018, musicians stillstruggle to earn their bread and butterunless they are very successful. Only asmall section of talent is being utilised andthere is a lot to do in the industry to tapthe potential. We can open more avenuesand opportunities. I believe we can havetwo separate industries — a film musicindustry and non-film music industrywhich is slowly happening now and I hopeit continues.�What are your upcoming projects?

SaReGaMaPa is keeping me busythese days for about three-four months andimmediately after this, we are planning tohave SaReGaMaPa Lil' Champs. I just gotback from Argentina from the shooting ofKhatron Ke Khiladi, it was a greatexperience and will be telecast fromJanuary onward. I am working on my nexttwo singles and will go to Kashmir nextmonth to shoot the video.

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Nishatpura police havenabbed four miscreants

and Hanumanganj police havenabbed two miscreants whowere engaged in illegal businessof weapons and recoveredcountry made pistol, 12 boregun and live cartridges fromtheir possession on Friday saidDIG Bhopal DharmendraChoudhary while speakingwith the media persons onSaturday.

The action by Nishatpurapolice was taken after receivinginformation of miscreants inTRUBA college road and act-ing swiftly two miscreants werenabbed who were identified asAjju alias Azeem (27) andMunna alias Nadeem(22). Onepistol and one country madepistol with one live cartridge

was found from them.During the investigation

two confessed that they boughtthree guns from Dhar worth�14000 and sold them in thestate capital to two persons at�22000.

The two persons weresearched and nabbed, fromSohail Ahmed one gun and two

live cartridges and from SultanKhan one 12 bore gun and twolive cartridges were recovered.

Hanumanganj policenabbed two miscreants fromQazi Camp area after receivinginformation of carryingweapons illegally. The two werenabbed and two pistols and twolive cartridges were recoveredfrom their possession.

The two were identified asArshad alias Babba(32) andArshad Ali (26).

Arshad is a watch list crim-inal of Hanumanganj and hasbeen booked for more than twodozen criminals.

All the six accused havebeen booked under sections 25and 27 of the Arms Act. Morecrimes would be confessed inthe further investigation anddetails of the source and cus-tomers would be revealed.

���������������� 4.3��-

Gautam Nagar police havenabbed a miscreant

involved in sexually assaultingof a 24-year-old girl; accusedsexually assaulted the victim forpast one and a half year on thepretext of marrying her.

Police said that accusedidentified as MohammadMuzzamil was nabbed after acomplaint was lodged by thevictim who was sexuallyassaulted and forced her tounnatural sex.

The victim in her com-plaint stated that she was sex-ually assaulted and exploitedfor the past one and half year.The accused concealed the factthat he was married.

She came into contact withthe accused who runs a pho-tocopier shop in the area.

He developed relationshipwith her and later sexually

exploited her in the name ofmarrying her and during thesexual exploitation accusedsodomised her.

Accused would escape withexcuses when the victim askedfor marriage and recently

refused to marry her.She later approached

police on Friday and lodgedcomplaint with Gautam Nagarpolice.

After the preliminaryinvestigation the police regis-tered a case under sections 376,376(2) N and 377 of the IPCand nabbed the accused.

Meanwhile MP Nagarpolice have booked three per-sons including one woman fordemanding money and harass-ing a 28-year-old woman fordowry on Friday.

The victim Sonam Mehtalodged complaint against herhusband Ishaan Maheswariand in-laws for harassing herdemanding money andremoved her from house fewdays ago.

On Friday she lodged acomplaint with the MP Nagarpolice. The police have startedinvestigation.

���������������� 4.3��-

Massive short circuit bornefire broke out at the store

room of the tourism depart-ment at Boat Club in theevening on Saturday; over thestore restaurant is operatedwhich was also damaged in thefire.

The loss in the fire could beestimated as no one claimedthe amount of loss and morethan half a dozen fire tendervehicles took more than anhour to control and pacify thefire which broke at around 5 inthe evening.

In the incident no one wasinjured and no casualty wasreported. The employees ofthe hotel escaped after the firebroke out. The visitors and cus-tomers had a narrow escape inthe incident at the fire spreadrapidly and soon engulfed largepart of the hotel.

The incident could haveturned nasty as there was fuel

storage near the store but firewas controlled before it couldspread to other areas of the

premises. The store which caught

fire had good amount of goods

and the loss could be not ascer-tained but the loss would be oflakhs of rupees.

Panic prevailed in the areaafter the fire broke out. The firetenders were witnessed makingtheir way to the spot and dueto massive crowd and heavytraffic the fire tenders faced dif-ficulty.

The employees and visitorstried to control the fire butfailed and later fire brigade tookcontrol of the situation andpacified the fire.

The furniture and elec-tronic goods at the hotel weredamaged in the fire.

���������������� 4.3��-

A19-year-old youth died after his car turnedupside down near Bhadbhada crematorium

under Kamla Nagar police station area late inthe evening on Friday.

Police said that the injured youth was rushedto a nearby hospital where he died during treat-ment. The youth got injured after his vehicleturned turtle. Police were informed and on thereceipt of the information a team reached thespot and started investigation.

In the initial investigation, the deceased wasidentified as Deepak Batham of Nehru Nagar.The deceased was alone at the time of the inci-dent.

The accident took place at around 10.30 pm.The body was sent for the post mortem.

The police have registered a case under sec-tion 174 of the CrPC and have started further

investigation. The details of the deceased are yetto be found as the statements of the family mem-ber are not recorded.

Meanwhile, a 48-year-old woman commit-ted suicide by hanging with the ceiling at Semraunder Bajaria police station area on Saturday.The deceased Nanhi Bai Solanki was foundhanging and was declared dead when taken toa nearby hospital.

In the initial investigation police found thatthe deceased was suffering from Asthma andfrustrated over prolong illness.

She was discharged three days ago from hos-pital. Her husband works as security guard inMP Nagar and when he left the house for workdeceased committed suicide.

After the preliminary investigation thebody was sent for the post mortem. The policehave registered a case under section 174 of theCrPC.

���������������� 4.3��-

AMilitary film 'They Keepthem Flying' based on

Indian Air Force was screenedhere on Saturday at ShauryaSmarak. The film was screenedunder the regular film screen-ings of Shaurya Smarak.

The film was produced byRamesh Gupta under FilmsDivision of India. It was direct-ed by Amar Verma. The entirefilm is based on the recruit-ment and advanced technolo-gies of Indian Air Force.

The Indian Air Force (IAF)is the air arm of the Indianarmed forces. Its complement

of personnel and aircraft assetsranks fourth amongst the air-forces of the world.

Its primary mission is tosecure Indian airspace and toconduct aerial warfare duringarmed conflict. It was official-ly established on 8 October1932 as an auxiliary air force ofthe British Empire which hon-ored India's aviation serviceduring World War II with theprefix Royal.

After India gained inde-pendence from the UnitedKingdom in 1947, the nameRoyal Indian Air Force waskept and served in the name ofDominion of India.

With the government'stransition to a Republic in

1950, the prefix Royal wasremoved after only three years.

The Indian Air Force hasbeen undergoing a modern-ization program to replace andupgrade its aging and outdat-ed equipment since the late 90’sto advanced standards.

For that reason it has start-ed procuring and developingaircraft, weapons, associatedtechnologies, and infrastruc-tures.

Some of these programsdate back to the late 80’s.

The primary focus of cur-rent modernization andupgrades is to replace aircraftpurchased from the SovietUnion that currently form thebackbone of the Air Force.

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���������������� 4.3��-

In this series of Uttaradhikar,semi-classical singing' and

'Odissi dance' will be held at theMadhya Pradesh StateMuseum Auditorium from6:30 pm on Sunday.Uttaradhikar series is a regularseries organized every Sundayfor the dance and music lovers.

It is to be noted thatUttaradhikar is held whereinthe semi classical, classicalmusic maestros and danceexponents perform beautiful-ly. Besides, it is one of the pop-ular series of the city.

The programme will bestarted by Hema Shardhonkarwith her fellow artist, withsubtropical singing. Aftersinging, Paushali Mukherjee

will present 'Odissi dance' withher fellow artists.

Hema Shardonkar hasbeen active in the field ofsinging for a long time. He hasgiven many singing perfor-mances on various art forumsof the country.

Hema is one of the finestsingers among the young gen-erations. Hema has reached theheights receiving appreciationacross the country.

Paushali Mukherjee has

been honored with severalprestigious awards and awards.She has given many captivatingperformances of Odissi danceon various art forums of thecountry.

Paushali is the eminentOdissi dancer always mesmer-ize the audiences with her per-formance. Since her early child-hood she has trained under herGuru. She was considered byhim as one of his talented dis-ciples and an established, ded-icated and devoted Odissidancer with a sense of neatartistry and discipline. She hasa dance school in Kolkata(Calcutta), India and is cur-rently the Odissi dance teacher.She has bagged many prizesfrom various dance competi-tions.

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���������������� 4.3��-

A 30-year-old Rajasthanbased shepherd died after

villagers of Bheelkhedaattacked group of shepherdover the area of pasture for cat-tle in the morning on Saturday.

Deadly clash between vil-lagers and group of shepherdsfrom Rajasthan proved costlyfor Manna Ram of Rajasthanwho was attacked with wood-en sticks.

The injured was rushed tohospital where he died duringtreatment.

In charge of Ratibad policeSub Inspector Sunil Bhadoriyasaid that the dispute was overpasture land.

The shepherds fromRajasthan were living in tem-porary shelter and their cattleused to graze at the nearby landwhich led to the dispute as thevillagers were against the graz-ing of cattle on their land andwanted to graze their cattle onthe land.

The deceased was identi-fied as Manna Ram of

Rajasthan.He was part of group of

around a dozen shepherdswhich visits Madhya Pradeshwith cattle for grazing andvisit green pasture lands in thejourney and later return to theirstate.

Police said that case againstboth the groups would be reg-istered in the further investi-gation.

In the investigation policefound that around half a dozen

men attacked the deceasedinjuring him severely and laterhe died of the injuries in hishead and other body parts.

The body was sent for thepost mortem after the prelim-inary investigation.

The police have registereda case under section 302 of theIPC.

Till the filing of the reportno arrest was made by theRatibad police and search iscontinued for the accused.

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Page 4: ˇ˝˛ ˚ ˜ - The Pioneer...2018/11/11  · for four years — 2012 to 2016 faster pace before it was hit by two major headwinds. “The two successive shocks of demonetisation and

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The State Government hastaken a serious note on

finding zika virus cases inMadhya Pradesh. ChiefSecretary Basant Pratap Singh has given instructions to all the Senior Officers of the Health Department to hold a daily review meeting in this connection and to destroy larvae from the affectedareas. A micro plan has beenprepared by a team of theGovernment of India led by DrRavindran for the assistance ofthe State Government to pre-vent zika virus by visiting theaffected areas.

Under the plan, sampleshave been taken by 170 teamsin Bhopal, 40 in Vidisha(Sironj) and 15 in Sehore for

testing zika virus by conduct-ing house to house larva survey,larva annihilation, identification of patients suf-fering from fever and pregnantwomen.

The surveillance has beenconducted with the main goalto reduce reproduction ofAedes mosquitoes and infec-tion. Action is being takenunder the Intensive zika sur-veillance in the zika virusaffected areas like Gopalpur,Chinnota, and hamidkhedi vil-lage of Ashta block of Sehoredistrict, Kalyanpur and Veerpurvillage of Sironj block ofVidisha district and 18 wards ofBhopal city. ‘ Activities arebeing already started by 58teams on finding one positivecase of zika virus in Sagar dis-trict also by preparing a micro

plan.Temefos, cyphnothrin and

pyrethrum to control grown up mosquitoes are avail-able with the Health depart-ment in the state in sufficientquantity to destroy larva of zikavirus.

Eighty five samples out of204 samples sent for the test ofzika virus till date has beenfound positive in the state.

Twenty nine samples out of60 samples sent from Bhopalhave been found positive andthat include samples of 5 preg-nant women.

A special monitoring andcare is being taken on these 5women affected from zikavirus. As per the informationtill now, no new area has beenfound affected by the virus inBhopal.

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Punjab Chief MinisterCaptain Amarinder Singh

will launch his Government’syear-long celebrations to com-memorate the 550th ParkashPurab of Guru Nanak Dev onNovember 23.

The Chief Minister willlay the foundation stone of sev-eral development projects inthe holy city of Sultanpur Lodhion the occasion of the GurPurab of the first Sikh Guru,thus marking the inaugurationof the series of events planned.

Prior to the launch of thesecelebrations from SultanpurLodhi, the Chief Minister will

chair a meeting of the Statecoordination committee onNovember 19, and will alsomeet the representatives of

Sant Samaaj to finalise themodalities for the celebrations,said an official spokesperson.

He said the Chief Minister

is personally monitoring theprogress of the commemorativecelebrations. The Chief Ministerhas directed his Chief PrincipalSecretary Suresh Kumar to keeptabs on the progress.

Accompanied by localMLA Navtej Singh Cheemaand other leaders, SureshKumar had reviewed thearrangements for the formallaunch of the year-long cele-brations at Sultanpur Lodhi onOctober 23.

Subsequently, district andstate level committees wereconstituted, with the ChiefMinister’s approval, for coor-dinating various activities, thespokesperson added.

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Senior Congress leader andCore Committee member of

Indian National Congress,Randeep Singh Surjewala onSaturday said that the people ofHaryana would elect CongressGovernment in next Assemblyelections with three-fourthmajority and teach a lesson tothe BJP for duping and insult-ing the people.

Addressing ‘Badlaav Rally’at Sohna Anaj Mandi,Surjewala said the people havemake up their minds to electCongress party candidatesfrom all ten Lok Sabha seats inthe State. Launching a scathingattack on BJP-led Central andHaryana Governments,Surjewala said bothGovernments duped the peo-ple of south Haryana by dis-criminating the area in fields ofeducation, jobs, irrigation,development and respect.

The south Haryana hadvoted for them by electing 11BJP MLAs in last Vidhan Sabhaelections as the people fell forBJP’s false promise of ‘AchchheDin’. The people have now seenthe reality and made up theirmind to take settle the score bydefeating BJP with huge mar-gins, he added.

Surjewala also raised theissue of farm loan waiver andsaid if the Union Governmentcould write-off 2.83 lakh croreloans taken by a few selected bigindustrialists, why it was notbothered about the crores of dis-tressed farmers who are not get-ting the promised rates for theirfarm produces.

The Congress leader alsocriticised the HaryanaGovernment for making petroland diesel costlier by increasingthe VAT rates on petrol from 21to 26.25 per cent and increasingVAT on diesel from 9.24 to 17.22

per cent and collecting 18,000crore VAT on petrol-diesel fromthe people of the State.

Touching the local issues,the CWC member Surjewalacriticised BJP for cancelingJaipur Express Corridor andNorth-South corridor projectsand putting the prestigious pro-jects like Defence University,Delhi — Mumbai IndustrialCorridor (DMICDC) andAIIMS on backburner. He alsohighlighted various local prob-lems like water scarcity, lack ofdevelopment, educational facil-ities and basic amenities in thesouth Haryana.

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All India CongressCommittee (AICC)

President Rahul Gandhi onSaturday said that the Congressparty, if voted to power inChhattisgarh, would end out-sourcing of personnel forGovernment jobs.

It’s been 15 years and 40lakh youth are still unem-ployed in Chhattisgarh. PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hadpromised two crore jobs in thecountry but in Chhattisgarh,the youth did not get jobs andinstead the State Governmentstarted hiring manpowerthrough outsourcing, he saidwhile addressing a publicmeeting at Charama in Kankerdistrict.

The people of Bastar hadvoted whole-heartedly forCongress party in the lastAssembly polls but we could

not win the polls. However,this time round, we will ensurevictory, he said.

The people ofChhattisgarh lost �5000 crorein chit fund frauds and the chitfund companies disappeared.A total of 60 people lost theirlives and 310 FIRs were lodgedbut no action was taken,Gandhi said.

In PDS scam, �36,000crore was lost, he said.

Every member of the trib-al family will get land. We willcome out with a Tribal Bill andLand Acquisition Bill.

We also intend to opentribal hostels and providescholarships to tribal children,Gandhi said.

He promised that if votedto power, the Congress partywill set up food processingplants in every district.

Gandhi said, "TodayPunjab and Haryana are

known for their farming. Iwant both Chhattisgarh andMadhya Pradesh also tobecome farming leaders infive years. Let people fromacross the country know thattheir food comes fromChhattisgarh and MadhyaPradesh."

He further said: "We havetaken a firm decision to set upa food processing unit in everydistrict of Chhattisgarh wherefarmers will get a good pricefor produce and not just that,your children will f indemployment in these factories",he told a large number offarmers present.

Leader of Opposition T SSinghdeo said that in theCongress party's poll mani-festo, it has been promised toprovide �2500 per month asunemployment allowance to10 lakh unemployed underRajiv Gandhi Mitra Yojana.

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Polling teams left Raipur onSaturday in an Indian Air

Force (IAF) Chopper for dutyin 16 sensitive polling centresof insurgency-infestedNarayanpur district of Bastar.

The first phase of polling inChhattisgarh is scheduled onNovember 12.

As per directive of ElectionCommission of India, in insur-gency infested regions forsmooth conduct of polling,heavy security cover has beenprovided to polling teams.

The transportation of thepolling teams in the sensitivepolling centres would be doneusing helicopters.

The security cover hasbeen provided through Stateand Central para-militaryforces in adequate number,officials informed.

Incidentally, ahead of

Assembly polls inChhattisgarh, as many as 62Maoists had surrendered with51 country made weaponsbefore Bastar IG VivekanandSinha and NarayanpurSuperintendent of Police (SP)Jitendra Shukla on November6.

Out of 51 Maoists, 11 hadsurrendered without anyweapons.

At least five of the Maoistswho surrendered had standing

warrants against them, policesaid. The surrendered Maoistshad been active members ofthe Tumeradi Jantana Sarkarunder the Kutul area commit-tee of Maoists for the past eightto nine years.

Eight districts ofChhattisgarh are among 30 inseven States which are mostaffected by Left WingExtremist (LWE) violence, theUnion Home Ministryinformed had informed

earlier.These 30 districts con-

tributed 88% of violent inci-dents and 94% of deaths in2017, it informed.

The eight most affecteddistricts in Chhattisagrh are-Bastar, Bijapur, Dantewada,Kanker, Kondagaon,Narayanpur, Rajnandgaonand Sukma, the Ministryinformed.

The Central Governmenthas a holist ic approachtowards combating LWEwherein it supplements theef forts of the StateGovernments over a widerange of measures, itinformed.

A National Policy andAction Plan has been put inplace that envisages a multi-pronged strategy involvingsecurity related measures,developmental interventionsand ensuring rights and enti-

tlements of local communi-ties etc. Security related mea-sures include assistance toLWE affected States by pro-viding CAPF Battallions, heli-copters, UAVs, constructionof fortified police stations,funds for modernisation ofState Police forces, arms andequipment, training assis-tance, sharing of intelligenceetc.

Resolute implementationof the National Policy andAction Plan by the Centraland State Governments hasresulted in considerableimprovement of the situationboth in terms of reduction ofviolence and the geographi-cal spread. The number ofviolent incidents has comedown to 908 in 2017 from ahigh of 2258 in 2009. Thegeographical spread of vio-lence has also shrunk con-siderably, it informed.

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Uttar PradeshChief Minister

Yogi Adityanath onSaturday said thatboth the Centreand State Government willwork like a ‘double engine’ topace up development ofChhattisgarh.

Addressing a public meet-ing here, Adityanath said thatChhattisgarh had been makingprogress for the last 15 years.

The BJP Government in

Chhattisgarh hasworked for the wel-fare of Satnami com-munity, he said.

Adityanath saidthat former UnionMinister andCongress leader

Kapil Sibal is a lawyer and hadfiled a writ petition in theSupreme Court to stop RamTemple construction inAyodhya till 2019.

‘Will Kapil Sibal decide orthe Congress party will decidewhere Ram Temple should beconstructed’, he asked.

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BJP’s Star campaigner andUnion Minister for External

Affairs Sushma Swaraj reachedRaipur on Saturday.

Addressing a PartyWorkers’ Convention of Raipur(North) constituency here afterher arrival in the city, Swarajsaid that even the UnitedNations talks aboutChhattisgarh’s Food Securityscheme.

‘I am asked in foreign coun-tries, which is this State inIndia where nobody goes to bedhungry and my answer isChhattisgarh’, she said.

I am happy that BJP MLAsin Chhattisgarh are asking forvotes on the basis of develop-ment work done by them andnot on sentiments”, Swaraj said.

“This is the Government forthe welfare of the poor, she said.

There was a time when thepoor was scared of entering aBank. With the launch of ‘JanDhan Yojana’ two thirds of thepoor are now connected tobanking, Swaraj said.

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After a short respite frompollution during the day

on Saturday, the Average AIRQuality Index (AAQI) markedsevere with pollutants measur-ing 402 microgram per cubicmetre on the National AmbientAir Quality Index (NAAQI) inthe evening.

Meanwhile, EnvironmentPollution Control Authority(EPCA) on Saturday extendedthe ban on construction activ-ities and entry of heavy vehiclesin the national Capital tillMonday. Also, more than 450heavy and medium goods vehi-cles were sent back from Delhiborders due to the ban, author-ities said.

The AQI during the daytime was 394 that falls underthe category of “very poor”. Thevalue of Particulate Matter (10)was 339 and PM 2.5 was 226.

According to System ofAir Quality and WeatherForecasting And Research(SAFAR), Ministry of EarthSciences, the contribution fromstubble burning remained mar-ginal due to wind speed,authorities said.

SAFAR in its pollutiongraph also mentioned that theair quality will start deterio-rating from November 12.

“The level may notimprove further as weatherconditions are stillunfavourable, as predicted. Thestubble intrusion was not

expected due to slow upperwinds but the unfavorableweather made dispersion veryslow,” SAFAR said.

According to MoES, 2,100stubble burning counts wereobserved on Thursday overnorth-western region of India.“It was the largest-ever record-ed for this year. It was aroundfour times higher thanWednesday. The PM2.5 con-centration is likely to increaseagain from Friday afternoonand may remain ‘severe’ or‘severe-plus’ in Delhi-NCR tillSunday,” it said. Meanwhile,ban on construction activitieswere extended by the SupremeCourt-appointed agency onthe recommendations of aCentral Pollution ControlBoard-led task force, whichreviews the national Capital’sair quality. “It was observed thatPM2.5 concentrations havebeen exceeding 300 μg/m3. Assuch the ‘severe +’ situation hascontinued for 37 hours.Therefore, the task force rec-ommends that ban on con-

struction activities, industriesusing coal and biomass andentry of trucks, which are inforce, should continue tillNovember 12, 2018,” the taskforce has recommended to theEPCA.

Special emphasis has alsobeen given to extend the clo-sure of the Mundka industrialarea where during inspectionmassive amounts of industrialwaste was found.

Joint Commissioner ofPolice (Traffic) Alok Kumarsaid 1,559 vehicles werechecked and 1,078 vehicleswere allowed entry from 11 pmon Friday till 6 am on Saturdayas they were carrying essentialgoods. Vehicles carrying veg-etables, fruits, grains, milk,eggs, ice and other essentials,and tankers carrying petroleumproducts are exempted fromthe ban.

The Delhi Government’sTransport Department hasappealed to private diesel carowners to avoid using theirvehicles till Monday.

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From page 1Taking note of this, the

Ministry of Home Affairs hasasked Governments ofMaharashtra and Delhi to pro-vide all details in the arrest ofthem. ‘All such communica-tions are required to be appro-priately replied , on the basis ofinputs received from the con-cerned state governments with-in stipulated timeframe’, theMHA said in its communiquesto Governments of Delhi andMaharashtra.

The Special Rapporteurs’letter further read ‘kindly indi-cate what measures have beentaken to ensure that humanrights defenders in India areable to carry out their legitimatework in an enabling environ-ment without fear of judicial

harassment of any kind’.‘Sudha Bhardwaj is a

human right lawyer specialisingon the rights of Adivasi peoplein the state of Chattisgarh andhas been involved in severalcases of alleged faked encoun-ters while Mahesh Raut is a landrights defender who is alsoinvolved in the people move-ment against displacement .Suhir Dhawale is a dalit rightsdefender and is editor of theMarathi magazine’Vidrohi’.Soma Sen is a women rightdefender while Rona Wilson isthe Public Relation Secretary ofthe Committee for the Releaseof Political Prisoners whichhas actively opposed restrictivelaws. Surendra Gadling is alsoa human rights lawyer’, read theletter.

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Page 5: ˇ˝˛ ˚ ˜ - The Pioneer...2018/11/11  · for four years — 2012 to 2016 faster pace before it was hit by two major headwinds. “The two successive shocks of demonetisation and

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Amid reports of Mizoram'schief electoral officer

(CEO) SB Shashank's removal,the Election Commission (EC)has started the process of find-ing an alternative to Mizoramchief electoral officer, who isfacing a massive agitation forhis ouster by a conglomerate ofcivil society and student organ-isations.

The EC has sought a panelof names from State chief sec-retary for the post of CEO. Thisis a clear indication that theCommission is likely to replaceShashank. Mizoram ChiefMinister Lal Thanhawla hadwritten to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, demandingShashank's removal followingthe sacking of PrincipalSecretary (Home)Lalnunmawia Chuaungo.

Responding to a query, ECspokesperson said that in ameeting held on Saturday, thepoll panel has "only decided tocall for a panel of names for thepost of State CEO from chiefsecretary of Mizoram."

The spokesperson said"next steps" will "only be takenafter receiving the report of the

team led by Deputy ElectionCommissioner Sudip Jain". OnFriday, the EC had rubbishedthe reports of Shashank'sremoval. When asked,Mizoram CEO Shashankrefused to comment on thedevelopment.

Earlier, the EC had consti-tuted a high-level team led byDeputy ElectionCommissioner (DEC) SudeepJain to discuss various issuesrelated to upcoming Assemblypolls in the State. State chiefelectoral officer S B Shashankhad reportedly sought deploy-ment of additional centralarmed police forces (CAPF) inthe state and complained to theEC that the state's former prin-cipal secretary LalnunmawiaChuaungo was interfering withthe poll process.

Chuaungo had beenremoved following Shashank'scomplaint to the ECI about theinterference of the state in theensuing Assembly elections.Shashank also brought to thenotice of the commission ofChuaungo's alleged involve-ment in the revision of the elec-toral rolls and using the CentralArmed Police Forces (CAPF).The people of Mizoram have

been protesting againstShashank, alleging that he isbiased in conducting the elec-tions due on November 28.Results of the elections will bedeclared on December 11.

The civil society groupshad launched a gherao of theCEO's office and describedhim as 'a Bru sympathiser.' Italso said that principal secre-tary for home LalnunmawiaChuaungo, who was trans-ferred following a complaintfrom Shashank that he wasinterfering with the poll processwas a Mizo hero, who had beenwronged by the EC .

Over 30,000 Brus were dis-placed from Mizoram 21 yearsago following ethnic clashes,with many of them living in sixcamps in the Kanchanpur andPanisagar sub-divisions ofNorth Tripura. The Brus wantpolling booths set up on thecamps, saying that they feareda law-and-order problem ifthey went to Mizoram to vote.But civil society groups inMizoram say no electoralprocess of the state should beconducted outside. Mizoram isthe only State in north eastwhere the Congress is in thepower.

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As the temple politics warmsup in Uttar Pradesh(UP)

with the Yogi Adityanath -ledBJP Government renamingFaizabad district as Ayodhya,the Rashtriya SawayamsevakSangh (RSS) is set to organise‘Janagrah rally’ in three cities,including Ayodhya, onNovember 25 to drum-up sup-port for the construction ofRam temple at the disputed site.

The rallies would be simul-taneously organised at Nagpur,Bengaluru and Ayodhya onNovember 25 to build tempofor the construction of Ramtemple in Ayodhya, accordingto RSS leaders.

The move is seen as a pre-cursor to the launching of anation-wide campaign for theconstruction of the Ram tem-ple at Ayodhya with the LokSabha polls only months away,next year. UP returns 80 LokSabha MP to the lower houseof Parliament. BJP has givenenough indication that it wouldgive a big push to the debateon the Ayodhya issue duringthe coming winter session ofthe Parliament. BJP's RajyaSabha member Rakesh Sinha isto bring a private member billin the upper house for the con-

struction of the temple atAyodhya.

According to RSS func-tionaries a large scale galvani-sation is on and lakhs of ofpeople, including RSS volun-teers and saints, would par-ticipate in the rally to appealto the people to support startof the temple construction.They are hoping that overfive lakh people may partici-pate in the main rally inAyodhya.

Supreme Court is expect-ed to fix the date of hearing inthe case of the title suit in theRam temple-Babri Masjid case, early next year.

RSS functionary of Kashiregion Ambarish Kumar hasbeen quoted as saying , "A largenumber of people will partici-pate in the rally at Ayodhya onNovember 25. Ram temple is acentre of faith for millions of

Hindus and they can't wait toolong for Ram temple."

RSS head Mohan Bhagwathad last month at an RSS lec-ture series here called for theresolution of the Ram templeissue saying it could lead toremoving of a main stumblingblock in the way of Hindu-Muslim relations.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad(VHP), an RSS outfit, is in theforefront of mobilising publicsupport for the temple agita-tion.

"The VHP has beendemanding that the govern-ment bring a law at the earli-est to build a grand Ram tem-ple at Ayodhya. We will beholding countrywide ralliesfrom November 25 followed byother rallies in December,"VHP spokesperson VinodBansal said.

He said that the organisa-tion will be holding three ral-lies in Ayodhya, Nagpur andBengaluru on November 25. Itwill be followed by a grand rallyin the national capital onDecember 9.

"Lakhs of Ram bhakts willparticipate in these rallies. Andultimately, we will wage anation-wide movement fromDecember 18," he said.

VHP had announced

holding of public meetings ineach and every parliamentaryconstituency and said thatthe delegations of sants willmeet their MPs and urgethem to make a law inParliament.

The RSS and the VHPhave been demanding that thecentral government enact alaw in Parliament's WinterSession for constructing a Ramtemple.

Meanwhile, amid growingdemands for a Ram temple,Savitribai Phule, the BJP MPfrom Bahraich, has called forinstalling a statue of LordBuddha at the disputed site inAyodhya.

"Excavations carried outat the disputed site in Ayodhyaon the directions of the highcourt had found certain thingsassociated with Lord Buddha,"Phule claimed.

"Therefore, a statue of LordBuddha should be installed atthe same place," she toldnewspersons on Friday night.

"I want to make it clearthat Bharat belonged toBuddha, and Ayodhya is theplace of Buddha. Therefore, astatue of Buddha should beinstalled there," the Phule whois known to be a disgruntledparty MP.

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.������������ ������� $�� ���!�56Jaipur: The BJP's Rajasthanunit has claimed that the party-led Government in the Stategenerated employment for 44lakh people and the numberwas much more than what waspromised.

The party's State unit tweet-ed on Friday,"The BJP hadpromised to generate employ-ment for 15 lakh people, thoughmore than 44 lakh people weregiven jobs.” The Congress' Stateunit chief Sachin Pilot saidthat the BJP's claim was "base-less and irresponsible".

“The Chief Minister shouldfirst make public the list ofthose 15 lakh 'fortunate unem-ployed' who got jobs in the last59 months and then tell thatwho are the remaining 29 lakhwho were given jobs,” Pilotsaid in a statement issued hereon Saturday. He said the BJP'sclaim has hurt the sentimentsof youths. Citing an analysisconducted by an institute, Pilotclaimed that the unemploy-ment rate in the State increasedfrom 3.2 per cent to 7.7 per centin five years. Pilot also askedthe Chief Minister to study theCAG report "which has high-lighted the failure of the skilldevelopment programme ofthe State Government". PTI

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India continues to have thehighest burden of pneumo-

nia and diarrhoea child deathsin the world, with 158,176pneumonia and 102,813 diar-rhea deaths in 2016, accordingto 'Pneumonia and DiarrheaProgress Report' by theInternational Vaccine AccessCenter (IVAC).

The report found healthsystems falling "woefully short"in ensuring that the most vul-nerable children have access toprevention and treatment ser-vices in the 15 countries,including India, that accountfor 70 per cent of global pneu-monia and diarrhoea deaths inchildren under five.

Despite significant reduc-tions in disease in recent yearsbecause of improvements inaccess and use of health inter-ventions, nearly half a millionpneumonia and diarrhoeadeaths still occurred in two

countries — India and Nigeria,it said.

The number of deaths ofchildren under five years due topneumonia in 2016 was1,58,176, while diarrhoeadeaths was 1,02,813, the reportsaid.

Released ahead of the 10thannual World Pneumonia Dayon November 12, at the JohnsHopkins Bloomberg School ofPublic Health, describesprogress in fighting these twodiseases in 15 countries.

According to the report,the 15 nations in order with thehighest number of pneumonia

and diarrhoea child deaths areIndia, Nigeria, Pakistan, theDemocratic Republic of Congo,Ethiopia, Chad, Angola,Somalia, Indonesia, Tanzania,China, Niger, Bangladesh,Uganda, and Cote d'Ivoire.

Elaborating about RotaCcoverage, it said as of 2017,rotavirus vaccine had not beenintroduced in eight of the 15focus countries — Nigeria,DRC, Chad, Somalia,Indonesia, China, Bangladesh,and Uganda.

Of the seven countrieswhere rotavirus vaccine hasbeen introduced, the mediancoverage of complete rotavirusvaccine is 58 per cent. "Amongcountries that had introducedthe vaccine as of 2017, the low-est coverage levels were inPakistan (12 per cent) andIndia (13 per cent), both ofwhich had recently startedphased national rollouts thathad not yet reached all states orprovinces," the report said.

Elaborating about theprogress in India, home tomore under-five pneumoniaand diarrhoea deaths than anyother country in 2016, hasbeen "mixed", it said. Increasingcoverage of Haemophilusinfluenzae type b (Hib) vac-cines, as well as continuedscale-up of rotavirus vaccinesfirst introduced in mid-2016,led to a bump in scoring forthese interventions since lastyear's report.

"Introduced in 2017, thepneumococcal conjugate vac-cine (PCV) has been includedin only six states to-date.Further scale-up of the vaccineto all states should be consid-ered," the report, whichanalysed government data,said.

It also pointed out thatIndia's scores for exclusivebreast feeding declined as didcoverage of ORS. "The pro-portion of children receivingimportant treatments remains

dismally low, with barely 20 percent receiving ORS for diar-rhoeal disease," it said.

"Progress to stop childdeaths is being hampered bypersistent inequities in coun-tries around the world," saidKate O'Brien, MD, MPH, aprofessor in the BloombergSchool's Department ofInternational Health andIVAC's executive director."Addressing these inequitieswill demand greater levels offunding, strong political com-mitment, accountability sup-ported by better data, and acoordinated global effort thatprioritizes the most vulnera-ble," he added.

The report found thatalthough countries are makingprogress toward improved vac-cine coverage, they seriously lagin efforts to treat childhood ill-nesses-especially among pop-ulations that are remote,impoverished, or otherwise leftbehind.

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Kolkata: In an apparent dig atthe BJP, West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee saidon Saturday, some people wereonly capable of criticising theGovernment's action, but lackedthe ability to accomplish a sin-gle thing on their own.

Speaking at the inaugura-tion of the 24th KolkataInternational Film Festival,Banerjee said the KIFF was set-ting new standards with the peo-ple's participation and urged thepeople to rise above barriers, stayunited and to believe in unity"which is our core strength".

"Some people only keepcriticising our deeds. I tell them

either do things if you can orleave the field. Some people onlytalk negatively about festivals.My question to them is whyshouldn't there be festivals in ourlives?" the chief minister said,without naming the BharatiyaJanata Party.

Opposition parties, espe-cially the BJP, have been criti-cising Banerjee for herGovernment's support to festi-vals, including the Durga Pujacarnival and donations to pujacommittees, at a time therewere "no investments andemployment opportunities" inthe state. "Do you want to seepeople cry only? Do you have an

issue if people smile?" she asked,asserting that despite the criti-cism by some people, herGovernment would keep back-ing festivals — from DurgaPuja to Christmas, and now thefilm festival.

"We will support organisingevery festival with equal enthu-siasm. Durga Puja, Kali Puja andDiwali had just been celebratedacross Bengal with enthusiasm.Chhath Puja, Jagadhatri Pujaand Christmas are coming, andwill be celebrated with equalenthusiasm by the people of theState," Banerjee told the 20,000-strong audience at Netaji IndoorStadium here. PTI

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Kolkata: The Congress onSaturday staged a protest rallyagainst the failure of demoneti-sation and termed it as one of the"biggest scams" in the country.

The West Bengal Congressunit on Saturday staged a protestoutside the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) in the city againstdemonetisation that wasannounced two ago onNovember 8, 2016.

"This year we are observingthe second anniversary of thedraconian decision of demon-etisation. This was one of thebiggest scams India has everseen. This was nothing but anofficial money launderingscheme of the BJPGovernment," WBPCC presi-dent Somen Mitra said at theprotest programme.

Congress workers also tookout a candle light march carry-ing placards and posters againstthe State Government. PTI

New Delhi: As the nation gearsup for the Assembly polls inChattisgarh, Mizoram, MadhyaPradesh, Rajasthan andTelangana, conversations anddebates on Twitter in the pastweek alone recorded 1.2 mil-lion tweets related to#AssemblyElections2018, themicroblogging site said.

Among the initiatives thatTwitter launched for the stateelections include special emoji,#ElectionOnTwitter events, aswell as live Q&As on the plat-form. From now untilDecember 23, citizens can acti-vate a special Twitter#AssemblyElections2018,Twitter said on Saturday.

To activate the emoji, userscan use hashtags such as

#AssemblyElections2018,# I n d i a E l e c t i o n s 2 0 1 8 ,#IndiaDecides, among others.

These initiatives are aimedat supporting citizens in havingtheir say in the public conver-sation leading up to voting dayand engaging with politicalcandidates and political leadersdirectly, Twitter said.

Voting in the five statewill take place betweenNovember 12 and December 7,while counting of votes for allthe five states will be held onDecember 11. IANS

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New Delhi: Days after a largenumber of Arunachal Scoutspersonnel vandalised a policestation in the State, the centralIAS officers' association haswritten to the Defence Ministrydemanding action against thealleged perpetrators.

In a letter addressed toDefence Secretary SanjayMitra, IAS association presi-dent Rakesh Srivastava allegedthat a battalion of the SecondArunachal Pradesh Scouts —led by Col Firdosh P Dubashand Adjutant Major KaushikRoy — "vandalisedGovernment properties andphysically assaulted the districtmagistrate of the area, thesuperintendent of the policeand other officials of theBomdila police station in theWest Kameng district of theState on November 2".

He alleged that when awoman IAS officer, Sonal

Swarup, who is the district mag-istrate-cum-deputy commis-sioner, ordered the Army per-sonnel to disperse, she was "ver-bally abused and stone pelted".

Srivastava, who is the sec-retary at the Ministry ofWomen and ChildDevelopment, has now called

on authorities to ensure that thealleged perpetrators are broughtto justice, "so that such inci-dents remain an aberration inthe otherwise illustrious legacyof the armed forces".

The Arunachal Scouts per-sonnel allegedly damaged fivevehicles and snatched awayarms and ammunition after twoof its personnel were takenthere in connection with an inci-dent of alleged misbehaviour.

A defence communiquehad said the two personnel ofthe Second Arunachal Scoutswere picked up by police whenthey had gone to attendBuddha Mahotsav in Bomdilaand were severely beaten up incustody.

The incident was an out-come of highhandedness dis-played by Arunachal Policecoupled with the lax attitude ofthe civil administration, itadded. PTI

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Mumbai: The Shiv Sena said onSaturday the renaming of citiesin Uttar Pradesh by ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath was a"lollipop" to lure voters ahead ofthe Lok Sabha polls next year.

The party, in an editorial inits mouthpiece 'Saamana', alsoslammed the Chief Ministerover his announcement aboutthe construction of a statue ofLord Ram, saying theGovernment was playing theAyodhya card to mislead peo-ple as it has failed on all fronts.

"Yogi Adityanath hasannounced that a statue of LordRam will be made in Ayodhya.He has also renamed Faizabad(district) as Ayodhya and hadearlier rechristened Allahabadas Prayagraj. However, thedemand of hundreds of mar-

tyred kar sevaks was for a Ramtemple, not his statue," the partysaid.

"However, the Governmentonly gave a new name toFaizabad and a statue. This is alollipop given by the BJP in viewof the upcoming general elec-tions," it added.

The Sena demanded thatthe Government formulate anew law in Parliament to pavethe way for the construction ofRam temple.

"There are already manystatues of Lord Ram in theworld. Indonesia, Mauritius,Nepal have huge statues of LordRam. However, the demand isthat the Government free LordRam from the jail of Ayodhyaand place him in a temple," theeditorial claimed. PTI

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The Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) in Rajasthan

launched 'Mera Parivar-BJPParivar' campaign on Saturdayto reach out to masses ahead ofthe Assembly polls in the State.

Jaipur MP RamcharanBohra said during the cam-paign, party workers will meetresidents of each constituencyand put BJP flags and stickerson their houses.

The party has also releaseda special poster for this masscontact programme.

Bohra said since November2, the BJP has been conductingbooth-level programmes,under which the party's publicrepresentatives inform peopleabout policies of both centraland State Governments.

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Muzaffarnagar: An accused inthe 2013 Muzaffarnagar riotswas found dead in his home inKutba village here, police said onSaturday.

The body of Ram Das aliasKala (30), bearing a bullet injury,was sent for a post-mortemexamination, they said, addingthat the matter was beingprobed. Police are yet to ascer-tain whether Das committedsuicide or was murdered.

Meanwhile, security wasbeefed up in and around thecommunally sensitive villagewhere 8 people had reportedlydied and several left injured dur-ing the 2013 riots. Extra policepersonnel were deployed as aprecautionary measure to pre-vent any untoward incident,officials said. The communalclashes in Muzaffarnagar andadjoining areas in Aug and Sep2013 had claimed more than 60lives while over 40,000 peoplewere displaced. PTI

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Page 6: ˇ˝˛ ˚ ˜ - The Pioneer...2018/11/11  · for four years — 2012 to 2016 faster pace before it was hit by two major headwinds. “The two successive shocks of demonetisation and

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Washington: Demonetisationand the Goods and ServicesTax (GST) are the two majorheadwinds that held backIndia's economic growth lastyear, former RBI GovernorRaghuram Rajan has said,asserting that the current sevenper cent growth rate is notenough to meet the country'sneeds.

Addressing an audience atthe University of California inBerkley on Friday, Rajan saidfor four years — 2012 to 2016— India was growing at afaster pace before it was hit bytwo major headwinds.

"The two successive shocksof demonetisation and the GSThad a serious impact on growthin India. Growth has fallen offinterestingly at a time whengrowth in the global economyhas been peaking up," he saiddelivering the secondBhattacharya Lectureship onthe Future of India.

On the second anniversaryof demonetisation onNovember 8, Finance MinisterArun Jaitley staunchly defend-ed the demonetisation drive,saying 'prophets of doom' havebeen proven wrong as harddata of two years shows anincrease in tax base, greater for-malisation of the economy andIndia retaining the fastest grow-ing economy tag for the fifthyear in a row.

"By the time the first fiveyears of this Government areover, we will be close to dou-bling the assessee base," he said

in a Facebook blog 'Impact ofDemonetisation'.

Jaitley said India clockingthe fastest growth rate hasproved "prophets of doom",who had predicted that demon-etisation will shave off 2 percent of growth rate, conclu-sively wrong.

Rajan, in his address, saida growth rate of seven per centper year for 25 years is "veryvery strong" growth, but insome sense this has become thenew Hindu rate of growth,which earlier used to be three-and-a-half per cent, Rajan said.

"The reality is that seven isnot enough for the kind of peo-ple coming into the labour mar-ket and we need jobs for them,So, we need more and cannot besatisfied at this level," he said.

Observing that India issensitive to global growth, hesaid India has become a muchmore open economy, and if theworld grows, it also growsmore.

"What happened in 2017 isthat even as the world pickedup, India went down. Thatreflects the fact that these

blows (demonetisation andGST) have really really beenhard blows...Because of theseheadwinds we have been heldback,” he said.

While India's growth ispicking up again, there is theissue of oil prices, the econo-mist noted referring to thehuge reliance of India onimport of oil for its energyneeds.

With the oil prices goingup, Rajan said things are goingto be little tougher for theIndian economy, even thoughthe country is recovering fromthe headwinds of demonetisa-tion and initial hurdles in theimplementation of the GST.

Commenting on the risingNon-Performing Assets (NPA),he said the best thing to do insuch a situation is to "clean up".

It is essential to "deal upwith the bad stuff ", so that withclean balance sheets, banks

can be put back on the track."It has taken India far long toclean up the banks, partlybecause the system did not hadinstruments to deal with baddebts," Rajan said.

The bankruptcy code, heasserted, cannot be the onlyway to clean up the banks. It isthe only one element of thelarger cleanup plan, he said andcalled for a multi-prongapproach to address the chal-lenge of NPAs in India.

India, he asserted, is capa-ble of a strong growth. Assuch the seven per cent growthis now being taken granted.

"If we go below seven percent, then we must be doingsomething wrong," he saidadding that that is the base onwhich India has to grow at leastfor next 10-15 years.

India, he said, needs to cre-ate one million jobs a monthfor the people joining thelabour force.

The country today is facingthree major bottlenecks. One isthe torn infrastructure, he said,observing that construction isthe one industry that drives theeconomy in early stages.“Infrastructure creates growth,”he said.

Second, short term targetshould be to clean up thepower sector and to make surethat the electricity producedactually goes to the peoplewho want the power, he said.

Cleaning up the banks isthe third major bottleneck inIndia's growth, he said. PTI

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Mumbai: India's key equityindices oscillated in a thinrange during the holiday-short-ened week (November 5-9),ending with slight gains, asinvestors keep an eye out on astring of assembly polls linedup this month and the next.

The Sensex gained 0.40per cent, while the the Niftyadvanced 0.30 per cent. Thesegains follow the previous week'ssharp rally which had sent thebarometer indices 5 per centhigher.

The markets stalled duringthe week gone by, despite lowercrude oil prices and a strongerrupee vis-a-vis the dollar, asinvestors turned cautious aheadof Assembly polls, according toanalysts.

Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh,Telangana and Mizoram go topolls this month and the nextto reconstitute their respectiveassemblies. The BJP rulesMadhya Pradesh, Rajasthan,and Chhattisgarh, and a returnto power in these States willbolster Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's chances ofwinning next year's generalelection.

For the week under review,the S&P BSE Sensex gained146.9 points, or 0.41 per cent,to close at 35,158.55.

The 50-share Nifty of theNational Stock Exchange

advanced 32 points, or 0.30 percent, to settle at 10,585.20.

The markets were shut onThursday on the occasion of'Laxmi Pujan'. On Diwali theprevious day, the BSE and theNSE counducted a special'Muhurat' trading between 5.30p.m. and 6.30 p.m. The Sensexsettled 245.77 points higher,while the Nifty gained 68.40points after the 'Muhurat' trad-ing.

"Global cues were negativeas the US Federal Reserve keptinterest rates unchanged in anunanimous decision, but sig-nalled that it would continue totighten monetary policy at agradual pace," said RahulSharma, Senior ResearchAnalyst with Equity99.

"Meanwhile, theDemocrats took control of theUS House of Representatives inTuesday's midterm electionsand will pose a major challengeto President Donald Trump'sdomestic and foreign policiesgoing forward."

The rupee on Friday closedat 72.49 per dollar after logginga single-day gain of 51 paise. Ithad closed at 72.44 the previ-ous week.

The provisional investmentfigures from the stockexchanges showed that for-eign institutional investorsbought scrips worth �157.79crore in the week ended

November 9.The domestic institutional

investors sold �813.42-crorestocks in the past week.

Sectoral gainers for theweek were realty, IT, infra-structure, finance, banking,auto, energy and pharmaindices while the sectoral loserwas the metal index, saidDeepak Jasani, Head — RetailResearch at HDFC Securities.

Figures from the BSE indi-cated that the energy sector wasthe worst-performing sectorand the biggest contributor tolosses during October.

A rebound in the sectorcould be attributed to a signif-icant decline in Brent crudeprices, which fell below the$70-a-barrel mark on Friday.

The top weekly Sensexgainers were Yes Bank (up11.83 per cent at �227.85);Tata Motors (up 9.31 per centat �195.40); Maruti Suzuki (up8.29 per cent at �7,265.50); TataMotors (DVR) (up 7.44 percent at �104.75); and AsianPaints (up 6.65 per cent at�1,298.20 per share).

The major losers wereVedanta (down 1.90 per cent at�208.85); NTPC (down 1.66per cent at �154.25); Wipro(down 1.53 per cent at�324.90); TCS (down 1.28 percent at �1,909.80); and SBI(down 0.95 per cent at �283 pershare). IANS

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New Delhi: State-run oil-mar-keting companies continued tocut the prices of key transportfuels — petrol and diesel —well into the fourth week onSaturday on lower global crudeoil prices.

According to the IndianOil Corp data, petrol waspriced at ��77.89 per litre in thenational Capital on Saturday, 17paise lower from Friday.

Petrol prices fell by 17 to 18paise to �83.40 per litre inMumbai, �79.81 in Kolkataand �80.90 in Chennai onSaturday.

As per the daily dynamicpricing regime, domestic fuelprices depend on internation-al fuel prices on a 15-day aver-age, besides the value of therupee.

Prices vary from region toregion due to local taxes, as theproducts are excluded from theGST regime. Delhi has thelowest tax rate among the fourmetros.

In tandem with petrol, thecost of diesel declined by 16 to17 paise on Saturday across thefour metros.

The price of diesel inMumbai was down at �76.05per litre. Similarly, prices ofdiesel in Delhi, Kolkata andChennai declined to �72.58,�74.44 and �76.72 a litrerespectively. PTI

New Delhi: Breaking its six-straight weeks of gains, goldslipped from near six-yearhighs with prices falling by�580 to end at �32,070 per 10grams at the bullion marketduring the week owing to fallin demand from jewellers andretailers amid a weak trendoverseas.

Marketmen said apartfrom absence of festive seasondemand from domestic jew-ellers and retailers, a weaktrend in gold markets as thedollar firmed after the USFederal Reserve kept interestrates steady with a fourth hikefor this year expected nextmonth, diminishing the appealof gold as safe haven, mainlydampened the sentiment.

Market was shut onThursday on account of'Goverdhan Pooja'.

Globally, gold slipped to$1,210.40, lowest in a week andsilver at $14.25 an ounce asagainst previous week's closingof $1,233.20 and $14.82 an

ounce.In the national Capital gold

of 99.9 and 99.5 per cent puru-ty commenced the week on ahigher note at �32,690 and�32,540 per 10 grams, respec-tively on increased buying byjewellers and retailers on theauspicious occasion of'Dhanteras' and 'Diwali' festival.

Later, gold of 99.9 and 99.5per cent purity slipped gradu-ally to end the week lower by�580 each to �32,070 and�31,920 per 10 grams, respec-tively.

In line with gold, sovereigntoo fell by �200 to �24,700piece of 8 grams.

Tracking gold, silver readyand weekly-based deliveryremained under pressure forthe better part of the week andended lower by �1,530 and�1,940 to �38,000 and �36,880per kg respectively.

Silver coins too plunged by�1,000 to �75,000 for buyingand �76,000 for selling of 100pieces. PTI

:���������������;- ������� ���,����)��������� ��������!����� � Islamabad: Pakistan's trade

deficit marginally contracted to$11.8 billion in the first fourmonths of the current fiscalyear on the back of almost flatgrowth in imports for thefourth consecutive monthwhile the pace of increase inexports remained modestdespite numerous rounds ofcurrency depreciation.

The Pakistan Bureau ofStatistics (PBS) said the $11.8billion deficit, recorded in July-October FY19, was nearly 2 percent or $237 million lesserthan in the same period last fis-cal, The Express Tribunereported on Friday.

Exports in the July-October period increased 3.52per cent to $7.3 billion. Inabsolute terms, the export

receipts rose $248 million, butthe pace of increase was slow-er than the preceding year.

The value of importedgoods stood at $19.1 billion,which was only 0.6 per cent or$11 million higher than theimport bill in the correspond-ing period of previous fiscalyear.

Exports were 261 per centless than the value of imports.

Imports of the countryhave started to ease due to theState Bank of Pakistan's (SBP)numerous policy and admin-istrative measures.Additionally, the federalGovernment has imposedheavy regulatory duties onimported goods.

Over the past 10 months,the SBP has let the rupee

depreciate by 26.6 per cent to133.7 against the US dollar ina bid to curtail the currentaccount deficit which ispresently Pakistan's biggestchallenge.

Owing to the slowdown inimports, the current accountdeficit narrowed to $3.7 billionin first quarter (July-September) of the current fis-cal year.

However, despite a steepfall in the value of the curren-cy, Pakistani exporters areunable to take full advantage ofthe situation because of theirfailure to diversify shipments.The Government voices hopethat exports will bounce backand register average growth of18 per cent compared to lastyear's level. PTI

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Beijing: China's first interna-tional import expo which con-cluded in Shanghai on Saturdayresulted in deals worth $57.83billion, official data said, withIndia among the 172 countrieswhich participated in the megaevent in the Chinese businesshub.

The five-day expo was heldamid criticism that China, theworld's biggest exporter ofgoods, imports far less from therest of the world.

Deals for intended one-yearpurchases of goods and ser-vices worth a total of $57.83 bil-lion were reached at the firstChina International ImportExpo (CIIE), which concluded inShanghai, state-run Xinhua newsagency said quoting official data.

It also came in the midst ofa trade war with the US, whichhas clamped tariffs on $250 bil-lion of Chinese imports.Washington is demandingChina cut down the tradedeficit of $375 billion.

India too took part in theevent by setting up a countrypavilion highlighting its foodand agro products, pharma-ceuticals, IT and IT-enabledservices, (ITES) tourism andservices sectors, to gain marketaccess to China.

Commerce Secretary AnupWadhawan inaugurated thepavilion and held talks withChinese officials to increaseIndian exports to China tobridge the over $51 billiontrade deficit.

Indian firm Jay Shree Tea &Industries Ltd signed a USD 1million export contract withChinese company COFCO(China Tea) for export of Indianblack tea to China. A total of 172countries, and more than 3,600enterprises participated in theevent, which attracted morethan 400,000 domestic andoverseas purchasers, SunChenghai, deputy director of theCIIE Bureau, told a news con-ference in Shanghai. PTI

�� ��6��� ��� ������������"��� �789:;1�� �� �������� Vijayawada: Capital markets

regulator Sebi on Saturdayopened a local office here aspart of its objective to enhanceits physical proximity toinvestors and intermediaries.

The new office inVijayawada will have jurisdic-tion over the entire State ofAndhra Pradesh. The regulatoralready has a local office inneighbouring State Telangana'scapital Hyderabad, which wasearlier Capital of the undivid-ed Andhra Pradesh.

Announcing the inaugu-ration of the new office, theSecurities and Exchange Boardof India (Sebi) said in a state-ment the functions ofVijayawada office wouldinclude facilitating the redres-sal of investor grievancesagainst listed companies andsecurities market intermedi-aries, as also to spread investoreducation and financial litera-cy in the State.

Besides its headquartersin Mumbai, Sebi has regionaloffices at New Delhi, Chennai,Kolkata and Ahmedabad. PTI

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New Delhi: Bharti Airtel onSaturday said it will pre-pay $1.5billion debt with its subsidiaryBharti Airtel International(Netherlands), using the pro-ceeds it got from six global enti-ties investing in its Africa unit.

Bharti Airtel International(Netherlands) B V commencedcash purchase of $1.5 billion,5.125 per cent GuaranteedSenior Notes which were due in2023, Bharti Airtel said in a reg-ulatory filing.

This offer, it said, has been

made with a view to "proactivelymanage its capital structure,reduce gross debt and leverageby acquiring the Notes fundedout of equity proceeds and alsoprovide liquidity to Noteholdersat a premium to the market."

Bharti Airtel group contin-ues to deleverage and pursue itsstrategies towards that end, itadded.

"In line with this, it has beenactively exploring various equi-ty driven initiatives, includingthose previously announcedregarding its Africa business, soas to proactively manage its bal-ance sheet and capital structure

to align them to the group's coreconservative philosophy," itsaid. Bharti Airtel International's(Netherlands) parent AirtelAfrica Ltd, a UK incorporatedsubsidiary of Bharti AirtelLimited, recently made a suc-cessful primary equity issuanceof $1.25 billion to six leadingglobal investors, includingWarburg Pincus, Temasek,Singtel, SoftBank Group andothers. "The proceeds of thisequity issuance are intended tobe used to reduce Airtel Africa'sexisting debt of approximately$5 billion on the date of theannouncement," it said. PTI

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Maputo: Mozambique'sPresident Filipe Nyusi openeda Chinese-built bridge in thecapital Maputo on Saturdaythat cost $785 million, sayingit would help link northern andsouthern Africa.

The twin-tower suspen-sion bridge stands 141 metres(463 feet) above Maputo Bay, is680 metres-long and joins thecity centre to the outlying dis-trict of Katembe.

"Today is a unique day ofour history, the achievement ofthe dream of (former presi-dent) Samora Machel," Nyusisaid at a rally following theinauguration.

"With the completion ofthis bridge... The connection ofsouthern Africa to the northover land and across our coun-try is guaranteed."

The bridge, which con-nects the north and southbanks of Maputo that were pre-viously linked only by boat,would help promote tourism,Nyusi said.

It will also directly link thecapital to the border of neigh-bouring South Africa by roadfor the first time.

He described China, whoseRoad and Bridge Corporationbegan construction in June2014, as a "brother and friend"of Mozambique.

China's ambassador toMaputo Su Jian attended theopening and describedMozambique as a foreign pol-icy priority for Beijing.

Ninety-five per cent of thebridge's cost was financedthrough loans provided byChinese lenders. PTI

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New Delhi: Debt-ladenReliance Communications hassettled a case with markets reg-ulator Sebi over non-compli-ance with listing norms, includ-ing alleged failure to promptlyinform about interest paymentdefault on debentures, accord-ing to an order.

The company, part of theAnil Ambani group, also settledthe issue of non-cooperationwith the credit rating agenciesand debenture trustee that werein violation of listing norms.

In an order on Friday, Sebisaid the case has been settledafter payment of �62.40 lakhtowards settlement charges.“The proceedings that couldhave been initiated for thedefaults... are settled qua theapplicant,” the order said. It also

noted that Sebi shall not initi-ate any enforcement actionagainst the applicant.

The order comes afterRCom filed a suo motu appli-cation with Sebi to settle thecase. Under the mechanism, anentity is allowed to settle chargesby paying a penalty withoutadmission or denial of guilt.

One of the issues was aboutnot informing the default inpayment of interest/ principalto the debenture trusteepromptly.

Another issue pertained tonon-submission of informa-tion with respect to change incredit rating and not sendingnotices relating to the meetingsof nonconvertible debentures(NCDs) holders to the deben-ture trustee. Agencies

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Page 7: ˇ˝˛ ˚ ˜ - The Pioneer...2018/11/11  · for four years — 2012 to 2016 faster pace before it was hit by two major headwinds. “The two successive shocks of demonetisation and

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Turkey has shared record-ings linked to the murder

last month of journalist JamalKhashoggi with Riyadh,Washington and other capitals,President Tayyip Erdogan saidon Saturday.

“We gave the recordings,we gave them to Saudi Arabia,we gave them to Washington,to the Germans, to the French,to the English,” he said in a tele-vised speech.

“They listened to the con-versations which took placehere, they know”, he said.Officials added that no writtendocuments had been shared.

Khashoggi was last seenentering the consulate onOctober 2 to obtain docu-ments for his forthcomingmarriage. After repeateddenials, Saudi Arabia finallyadmitted the 59-year-old hadbeen murdered at the missionin a “rogue” operation.

However, Erdogan hasaccused the “highest levels” ofthe Saudi government withordering the hit, while someofficials have pointed the fingerat the all-powerful CrownPrince Mohammed bin Salman.

Some Turkish media andofficials have said Ankara pos-sessed an audio recording ofthe murder and it had sharedit with the head of the CIAGina Haspel when she visitedTurkey in late October.

But the existence of such arecording has not been offi-cially confirmed. Khashoggi’sbody has never been found,more than a month after he waskilled.

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US President Donald Trumpon Saturday said the sug-

gestion of his French counter-part Emanuel Macron thatEurope should build its ownarmy was “very insulting”,asserting that Europe shouldfirst pay its “fair share” toNATO. Trump slammedMacron in a tweet, momentsafter he landed in Paris for aweekend trip to commemorateArmistice Day and attend the100th anniversary of the end ofWorld War I, which is beingattended by several world lead-ers, including India’s VicePresident Venkaiah Naidu.

“President Macron ofFrance has just suggested thatEurope build its own militaryin order to protect itself fromthe US, China and Russia.Very insulting, but perhapsEurope should first pay its fairshare of NATO, which the U.S.subsidizes greatly!” he said ina tweet.

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Pakistan’s anti-graft body onSaturday arrested

Opposition leader and PML-Nchief Shahbaz Sharif in anoth-er corruption case and had hisphysical remand extended tillNovember 24.

The NationalAccountability Bureau (NAB)had taken Shahbaz Sharif,Opposition Leader in theNational Assembly andyounger brother of oustedprime minister Nawaz Sharif,into custody on October 5 inthe Rs 14 billion Ashiana-i-Iqbal housing project scam.

Shahbaz was producedbefore an accountability courtin Lahore for a hearing in theAshiana scam and the NABrequested extension to hisremand for another 15 days. It informed the courtthat it had also arrestedShahbaz in the Ramzan SugarMills case.

His counsel AhmadPervaiz opposed further exten-sion in the physical remandsaying his client had been inNAB custody for more than amonth and could not proveanything against him.

NAB prosecutor Waris AliJanjua said the body could notinterrogate Shahbaz properly ashe attended the NationalAssembly session during theremand period.

After hearing the argu-ments, the court extended 14-day remand of Shahbaz inNAB custody till November 24.

Several PML-N workersgathered outside the court andchanted slogans against theImran Khan government andNAB.

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Ousted Sri Lankan PrimeMinister Ranil

Wickremesinghe’s UnitedNational Party will challenge incourt what it termed as the ille-gal dissolution of Parliament byPresident Maithripala Sirisenaa day after he announced asnap election in January.

“The party will be pursu-ing the intervention of thecourts to ensure the rule of lawand the Constitution is pro-tected against autocraticmoves,” a UNP statement said.

Former Finance Ministerand UNP leader MangalaSamaraweera said, “the emerg-ing tyranny of MaithripalaSirisena will be fought incourts, in Parliament and at theelection”.

Sirisena sackedWickremesinghe on October26 and on Friday he set theelection for January 5.

Sri Lanka’s political crisisdeepened as Sirisena dissolvedParliament and announcedsnap polls after it became evi-dent that he did not haveenough support in the Housefor Prime Minister MahindaRajapaksa, who was appointedby him under controversialcircumstances.

Dinesh Gunawardena, agovernment minister fromSirisena’s party alleged thatparliament was dissolvedbecause of the conduct ofSpeaker Karu Jayasuriya.

“He gave illegal orders indefiance of the president,”

Gunawardena said referringto Jayasuriya’s assertion thatParliament must hold a floortest to prove the legality of theappointment of Rajapaksa asPrime Minister replacingWickremesinghe.

Sirisena had suspended theHouse until November 16which was later advanced bytwo days following interna-tional pressure. Westernnations had urged Sirisena touphold the law and abide byparliamentary procedure.

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The US has welcomed SaudiArabia’s “decision” to cease

taking American support andinstead use its own militarycapabilities for refuelling air-craft from the Riyadh-led coali-tion engaged in the Yemen war.

The US has provided refu-elling to about 20 per cent ofthe Saudi-led coalition planesflying sorties over Yemen.

“We support the decisionby the Kingdom of SaudiArabia, after consultations withthe US Government, to use theCoalition’s own military capa-bilities to conduct inflight refu-eling in support of its opera-tions in Yemen,” US DefenceSecretary James Mattis said ina statement late Friday.

The US’ statement cameafter the Saudi Arabia saidthat “in consultation with theUS” it has asked for “cessationof inflight refueling support”from America.

A statement, released bythe Saudi Press agency, saidSaudi Arabia and its allies wereable to “increase their capaci-ty” of refuelling their aircrafts,and will do so independently.

The Saudi’s move followeda report in the Washington Postthat the US was to stop refu-elling aircraft from the Saudi-led coalition, amidst ongoinginternational outcry overRiyadh’s actions in Yemen, par-ticularly after a series of coali-tion strikes in which scores ofcivilians, including several chil-dren, were killed.

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The United States Saturdaysaid it was tracking the sit-

uation “very closely” after SriLanka President MaithripalaSirisena dissolved Parliament,with the White House voicingconcern over the island nation’sexternal debt situation.

Sirisena on Friday dis-solved Parliament andannounced snap polls onJanuary 5 after it became evident that he did nothave enough support in theHouse for Prime MinisterMahinda Rajapaksa, who wasappointed by him under controversial circum-stances.

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The killers of Saudi journal-ist Jamal Khashoggi poured

his remains down the drainafter dissolving him in acid, aTurkish newspaper reported onSaturday.

Samples taken from thedrains at the Saudi consulate inIstanbul showed traces of acid,pro-government daily Sabahsaid, without quoting sources.

This led investigators tobelieve the dead body of theinsider-turned-critic of theRiyadh regime was disposed ofthrough the drains as liquid,the paper said.

Khashoggi was last seenentering the consulate onOctober 2 to obtain docu-ments for his forthcomingmarriage. His body has never

been found.After repeated denials,

Saudi Arabia finally admittedthe 59-year-old had been mur-dered at the mission in a“rogue” operation.

However, TurkishPresident Recep TayyipErdogan has accused the “high-est levels” of the Saudi govern-ment of ordering the hit, whilesome officials have pointedthe finger at the all-powerfulCrown Prince Mohammed binSalman.

Yasin Aktay, an advisor toErdogan, suggested last weekthe body may have been dis-solved in acid.

And on Monday, a Turkishofficial said Saudi Arabia senttwo experts to Istanbul with thespecific aim of covering up evi-dence after the murder.

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France on Saturday attempt-ed to defuse a row sparked

by President EmmanuelMacron’s comments about aEuropean army which angeredUS President Donald Trump,suggesting his remarks hadbeen misinterpreted.

Macron’s office on Saturdayacknowledged that his remarks“could create confusion” butstressed: “He never said weneed a European army againstthe United States.”

Many news organisations,including AFP, quoted fromthe following remarks fromMacron during his interviewwith Europe 1 radio onTuesday.

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Atriple monument as a markof respect to the former

South African president NelsonMandela, Zulu king GoodwillZwelithini and spiritual leaderSwami Sivananda was unveiledin a public park in Durban onThursday.

Besides the first bustserected together of Mandelaand Zwelithini, there is also thelatest Sivananda Peace Pillar, aproject initiated by SouthAfrican Indian-origin philan-thropist and businessmanIshwar Ramlutchman.

Ramlutchman has alsobeen anointed as an adoptedson of the Zulu King, acquir-ing the title Mabheka Zulu.

“I have been associatedwith the Zulu monarch and theZulu nation since I was 20 yearsold. I was touched by the sim-plicity and the contribution of

His Majesty and Dr NelsonMandela to society and decid-ed to honour them by com-missioning this monument ofpeace in honour of them,”Ramlutchman said. Zwelithinicommended Ramlutchman forhaving installed 14 SivanandaPeace Pillars across theprovince of KwaZulu-Natalalready.

“The Sivananda PeacePillars are a beacon of unity indiversity. They are a source ofinspiration and a reminderthat peace and love shouldtranscend our human limita-tions,” Ramlutchman said,adding that he was humbledwhen the Dalai Lama gave hisunconditional support for theproject. Ramlutchman said thelatest monument would alsoinclude a plaque commemo-rating the first Indian inden-tured labourers who arrived inDurban in 1860.

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Turkey’s President said onSaturday that at least seven

soldiers were killed and 25others wounded in an explo-sion at an ammunition depot ata base in the southeast.

The Defense Ministry pre-viously said on Friday that 25soldiers were wounded andseven others were missing fol-lowing an unexplained accidentduring the firing of heavyweapons ammunition. Theblast occurred at a base inHakkari province, borderingIraq and Iran. The base ismainly used for operationstargeting outlawed Kurdishrebels.

President Recep TayyipErdogan — speaking at amemorial marking the 80thanniversary of the death of theTurkish republic’s founder,Mustafa Kemal Ataturk — saidthe incident involved anammunition depot explosionand resulted in four deaths. Helater told reporters beforedeparting for Paris that sevensoldiers were killed and 25others were wounded in theexplosion.

Four of the wounded werein serious condition and werebeing evacuated by helicopterto a hospital in Ankara,Erdogan said. The others werehospitalised in Hakkariprovince.

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Nine people were declareddead and tens of thou-

sands evacuated on Friday asfierce wildfires raged across thewestern US state of California,

with one rapidly spreadingblaze threatening the famedresort of Malibu.

All of the fatalities werereported in a massive late-sea-son inferno in the town ofParadise, in Butte County north

of the state capital Sacramento,where the entire population of26,000 was ordered to leave,officials said.

The fast moving blaze,known as the “Camp Fire,”began Thursday morning.

Fanned by strong winds, ithas scorched 70,000 acres(28,300 hectares) and has notbeen contained, the CaliforniaFire Department (Cal Fire)said. Two other fires brokeout in southern California,

one in Ventura County nearThousand Oaks, where aMarine Corps veteran shotdead 12 people in a countrymusic bar on Wednesday night.

“The magnitude ofdestruction we have seen isreally unbelievable and heart-breaking and our hearts go toeverybody who has been affect-ed by this,” said MarkGhilarducci, the director ofthe California Governor’sOffice of Emergency Services.

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Page 8: ˇ˝˛ ˚ ˜ - The Pioneer...2018/11/11  · for four years — 2012 to 2016 faster pace before it was hit by two major headwinds. “The two successive shocks of demonetisation and

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Roger Federer is aiming to complete acentury of titles at the ATP Finals but

will likely have to find a way past the irre-pressible Novak Djokovic, who is lookingto round off his astonishing season in style.

The two men, with 34 Grand Slamsbetween them, are the twin titans at the sea-son-ending event at London's O2 arena.

But the tournament, which starts onSunday, lacks an element of star powerwithout the injured Rafael Nadal andJuan Martin del Potro, both of whom wereforced to pull out of the season finale.

Former champion Andy Murray, stillmaking his way back from injury, anddefending champion Grigor Dimitrov areother star names missing.

The title is contested by the eight play-ers who have accumulated the most rank-ing points over the season and is in around-robin format, with the best fourplayers reaching the knockout semi-finalsstage.

Federer is expected to emerge fromGroup Lleyton Hewitt, also featuringKevin Anderson, Dominic Thiem and KeiNishikori, while Djokovic is highly fanciedto top Group Guga Kuerten, which alsoincludes Alexander Zverev, Marin Cilic andJohn Isner.

After a stunning 2017 season which

saw the Swiss capture seven titles, includ-ing Grand Slam crowns at the AustralianOpen and Wimbledon, Federer was clearthat his 2018 season has been a successdespite a mixed run of results in recentmonths.

The 37-year-old has won a record sixtitles at the ATP Finals — including two inLondon — but has not lifted the trophysince 2011.

"I don't think it matters really where Iwin my 100th as long as it's going to hap-pen at one point," said Federer,who has 99titles in his illustrious career.

"I love playing this event. I always have,ever since I qualified for the very first timeback in 2002." Federer will have beenbuoyed by his battling performance againstDjokovic in the semi-final of the ParisMasters last week but he still lost the match— his fourth consecutive defeat againstDjokovic, with the Serb now leading theirhead-to-head 25-22.

����� ������&���Djokovic has made an incredible

comeback following elbow surgery earlyin the year, overcoming indifferent formto win Wimbledon and the US Open andhaul himself back to the number one spot.

The 31-year-old, who slipped to22nd in the world in May, admitted thatafter his surgery it looked improbablethat he would finish the year as numberone.

"But there was always part of me thatbelieved I could make it back and I neverthought it was impossible," he said. "I justthought at the time it might take moretime than I wished it to be."

"It turned to out to be a perfect fivemonths of the year, with two Grand Slamtitles," he added.

Nadal this week pulled out of thetournament in London — guaranteeingDjokovic will end the season as the worldnumber one.

Zverev, 21, has been touted about asone of the leaders of the new generationand has won three Masters titles in hisshort career but he has flattered todeceive at the Grand Slams.

Cilic, Anderson, Nishikori andThiem are all Grand Slam finalists. Butit is difficult to see anybody other thanFederer or Djokovic prevailing.

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Lucas Torreira has been at Arsenal just amatter of months but the tough-tackling

midfielder already looks like the kind of play-er the club has been missing for years.

The Uruguay international will makeonly his seventh Premier League start whenWolves visit the Emirates Stadium on Sunday,yet his importance to Unai Emery's rapidlyimproving team is clear.

Operating in central midfield, Torreirahas offered a combative presence, providinghis back four with protection while his useof the ball has been similarly impressive.Other players in Emery's line-up may haveprovided more spectacular moments duringthe Gunners' 15-game unbeaten run.

However, it is the contribution ofTorreira and Granit Xhaka, transformedfrom the inconsistent player of recent sea-sons, that have given reason to believe thisArsenal side has the steel to sustain theirearly charge.

The pair have instilled a balance in theteam that was lacking for long periods dur-ing the final years of Arsene Wenger's reign.

Having built his early success in northLondon around a midfield led by PatrickVieira, Wenger's failure to resolve the appar-ent frailties of his later sides was at times baf-fling.

Gilberto Silva provided admirable servicebut since the Brazil international left forPanathinaikos 10 years ago, few players haveshown themselves capable of filling whatoften appeared to be an obvious gap.

The arrival of Torreira in a 35 milliondollars deal from Sampdoria this summer,however, appears to have ended the wait.

, ������� ��Emery eased the 22-year-old into his new

life in English football, introducing the playerfrom the bench for the first five league games,before deciding Torreira was up to speed.

And his gritty performance in last weekend's1-1 draw with Liverpool confirmed he has set-tled into his new surroundings.

"You have to give credit to him because he'ssomeone who works hard, who wants to workhard and who shows that on the pitch as well,"said Arsenal defender Shkodran Mustafi.

"Against Liverpool he recovered a lot ofballs, and that makes it not only easier for thedefenders, but for the whole team. "I've changeda lot of leagues, a lot of countries myself and Iknow it's not easy to settle in. I think he's doneit brilliantly well." The performance of Emery'steam against Liverpool strengthened the beliefthat they have a chance of emerging as genuinecontenders in the Premier League title race.

Arsenal's main priority is to return to theChampions League after missing out last sea-son and challenging at the top of the table wouldbe an added bonus.

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Star Indian wrest lerBajrang Punia onSaturday touched a new

high in his career by achiev-ing the number one rank inthe world in the 65kg catego-ry.

The 24-year-old Bajrang,who has won five medals thisseason, including CWG andAsian Games Gold and aSi lver at the WorldChampionship, was placedatop the ranking table with 96points in the UWW list.

It has turned out to be aremarkable season forBajrang, who was also the only

Indian grappler to be given aseeding at the Budapest WorldChampionship.

"Every athlete nurturesthe dream to be world num-ber one in his career. But If Ihad become number one witha World Championship Gold,it would have been better,"

Bajrang told PTI."But I am working hard

and will try to retain thisworld number rank with aWorld Championship Goldnext year," he added.

Bajrang is comfortablyleading the table and CubanAlejandro Enrique VladesTobier is a distant secondwith 66 points. Bajrang hadwon a close semifinal againstTobier in the BudapestWorlds.

Russia's Akhmed Chakaev(62) is in third place and thenew world champion TakutoOtoguro (56) is at number four,followed by Turkey's SelahattinKilicsallayan (50).

Interestingly, Bajrang is thelone male Indian to figure intop-10 but the country has fivefemale wrestlers who are in top-10 bracket in their respectivecategories.

Pooja Dhanda, who becameonly the fourth Indian womanto win a World Championshipmedal, is now ranked sixth inthe women's 57kg with 52points. She had taken a bronze.

Ritu Phogat completes thetop-10 in the women's 50kg,with 33 points.

Sarita Mor is ranked sev-enth in 59kg with 29 pointswhile Navjot Kaur (32) andKiran (37) are ninth in 68kg and76kg category respectively.

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Ernesto Valverde has indicatedLionel Messi and Samuel Umtiti

are both ready to return forBarcelona against Real Betis onSunday but Ousmane Dembele hasbeen dropped.

Messi has been out since break-ing his arm against Sevilla onOctober 20 while Umtiti has beennursing a knee problem and has notplayed since September 26.

Both are included in the squadto face Betis in La Liga this weekendbut there was a surprise omission forDembele.

Valverde said the 21-year-oldhad been left out after a "sportingassessment".

Messi's return would come as amajor boost to Barca. Their captainwas included in the travelling squadto face Inter Milan on Wednesdaybut was not deemed fit enougheven for the bench.

Asked if he could play 90 min-utes against Betis, Valverde said: "Wewill see, but he's lost his fear of fallingor struggling against an opponent.

"You have to get that out of yourhead, you cannot be thinking if youare about to make a bad movement.I have seen him training well andwith confidence."

Messi's absence should havebeen a golden opportunity forDembele but the winger's form hasbeen mixed in recent weeks, whileLuis Suarez, Philippe Coutinho,Rafinha and Malcom have allimpressed.

"Everyone can interpret it how

they want but this is a team,"Valverde said.

"I'm looking for the best for theteam and that's it."

Barcelona paid around 105 mil-lion euros to sign Dembele fromBorussia Dortmund last year butinjury and inconsistency haveplagued his career in Spain so far.

"Let's hope he can make the mostof all his talent so the team benefitsand also the club, which has made agreat investment in him," Valverdeadded.

Umtiti has been a key player forBarca but the defender's place in thestarting line-up this weekend is notguaranteed, given Clement Lenglethas done well alongside GerardPique during the team's strong run.

"It is great news that Lenglet hasshown his level," Valverde said.

"Far from being a problem, it isperfect to have more possibilities, wewill see tomorrow who plays."

Barcelona sit three points clearat the top of La Liga and will hopefor another victory against 14th-placed Betis, before the start of theinternational break.

Valverde also praised his full-back Jordi Alba, who earned a recallto the Spain squad for the first timeunder new coach Luis Enrique.

"We have seen Jordi improveevery day," Valverde said.

"Every coach asks for somethingand his start to the season is spec-tacular. A call-up to the nationalteam is well-deserved."

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Defending champions MinervaPunjab FC registered their first

win of the 12th Hero I-Leaguecampaign, overcoming Aizawl FC2-1 on the artificial turf of the RajivGandhi stadium here on Saturday.

Two headers off two cornersby centre-back Lancine Toureensured that despite a late penal-ty conversion by Leonce Dodoz forthe home side, the 'Warriors' fromPunjab logged a full three pointsfrom the encounter.

The champions were clearlybolstered by the induction of twoNigerians, Donatus Edafe andBala Alihassan Dahir, the formerin particular having a huge impacton Minerva's performance com-pared to their last two games.

Home team coach GiftRaikhan started Ivorian Dodoz and

David Lalrinmuana on the day inplace of Albert and Lalrinfelawhile Minerva brought in BalaDahir and Edafe, replacing themwith Akash Sangwan and MakanChothe as well as Moinuddin inplace of Ivorian Alexandre whoplayed the last game.

Dodoz cut in beautifully insidethe box from the left and his effort

brought about a save from BhaskarRoy in the Minerva goal, whopadded it away for a corner. In thesixth minute, Toure fouled Davidin a dangerous position outside theMinerva box. His free-kick on tar-get was well collected by Bhaskar.

In the 12th minute,Moinuddin was found free insidethe box by Opoku, who in spite

of having time and space to con-trol, chose to go for a first timerbut the ball lobbed over theAizawl bar. Moinuddin then gotone into the net of a cleverly-taken corner, but was called foroffside.

Both sides missed a couple ofmore chances, but Minerva tooktheir one-goal lead into the lemonbreak.

The home team got a penal-ty to pull one back. A long rangerfound the outstretched hand ofAkashdeep Singh inside the boxand referee Raktim Saha had nohesitation in pointing to the spot.Dodoz converted despite BhaskarRoy diving the right way.

Aizawl did try to press for theequaliser but Minerva, who hadin between bolstered their defenceby bringing in Deepak Devranifor Dahir, held out for a first win.

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Hockey India on Saturdaynamed a 33-member core

group for the women's nationalcamp beginning in Bengaluru onMonday.

The camp, to be conductedunder the watchful eyes of chiefcoach Sjoerd Marijne, will con-clude on November 30.

"The core group continues toremain the same while we havebrought in a few younger playerswho have shown good perfor-mances in the domestic events.We also have women who havedone well at the Youth OlympicGames," said Marijne.

"It is encouraging to have astrong pool of players who arepushing each other for a place inthe team. During this camp, wewill focus more on strength and

conditioning, agility and empha-sis on keeping up the fitness lev-els," he added.

�����,���Goalkeepers: Savita, Rajani

Etimarpu, Sonal MinjDefenders: Deep Grace

Ekka, Sunita Lakra, SushilaChanu Phukhrambam, GurjitKaur, Rashmita Minz, SumanDevi Thoudam, MahimaChoudhary, Nisha, Salima Tete.

Midfielders: Nikki Pradhan,Monika, Lilima Minz, NamitaToppo, Neha Goyal, Udita, Jyoti,Anuja Singh, Shyama Tidgam,Sonika, Karishma Yadav.

Forwards: Rani,Lalremsiami, Navneet Kaur,Navjot Kaur, Rajwinder Kaur,Vandana Katariya, Anupa Barla,Priyanka Wankhede, ReenaKhokhar, Leelavathy Mallamada.

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Page 9: ˇ˝˛ ˚ ˜ - The Pioneer...2018/11/11  · for four years — 2012 to 2016 faster pace before it was hit by two major headwinds. “The two successive shocks of demonetisation and

In her mid 30s, Rashima Suri begins herday with the oil pulling ritual tocleanse her mouth. No brushing herteeth, that’s for later. She religiouslyfollows it up with a glass of lukewarm

water infused with lime and a pinch of cin-namon. Gives it a bit of rest and proceedswith pranayama, a few yoga postures, and 10minutes of meditation, before she throwsherself into the day. Rashima is a corporateconsultant. A few years ago, her friendswould not have even imagined her doingsomething like this. A gym-body, she kepterratic hours and would forever be in a rush.

“That was till anxiety caught up and Ibegan getting panic attacks. Medical checksshowed only severe vitamin deficiencies, butI knew there was more to it. And then, oneday I just disconnected. Packed my bags andheaded for a detox retreat at a centre in SouthIndia. That was when I discovered the joys ofhealthy living and yoga,” she shares.

For months, her friends joked about it asbeing a fad, till they noticed the changes andthe calm about her. Today, many haveturned converts and have brought aboutsimilar changes in their lifestyles.

��,�������.������' ��Rashima is only one of many modern Indianyoungsters who are turning to ancientIndian wisdom that is stored in our Vedasand realising the benefits it has to offer.Coming up of a large number of yoga andwellness centres all over the country (espe-cially metropolitan cities) is only an indica-tion of how fast the awareness regardingholistic health is growing in the IndiaModern. Corrective lifestyle measures areincreasingly being suggested to those suffer-ing from lifestyle related ailments, includingobesity and fatigue, so the problem can bearrested well and at an early stage.

“Yoga and ayurveda together are perhapsthe most effective tools to living healthy,” saysyogini Mini Shastri, who runs a yoga schoolcalled Om Yogshala in Vasant Vihar, Delhi. Ayoga practitioner for the past 20 years, sheencourages her students to approach it withmeditation practices and lifestyle changes.

“The way we are headed, in the comingfive years, we would need the ayurveda toolsand age-old practices to help us work on oursystem that is going haywire, is reactive, andhighly suppressed. These would become the

most sought-after practices, especially whenone would realise that allopathic medicinesare just not helping,” she says.

It begins with how you breathe.“Breathing,” she says, “is the most importantcorrection that sometimes has to be broughtabout. And it is not about the act of breathing.It is about conscious breathing. A lot many ofus do not even inhale and exhale properly.Pranayama is that most important tool thatfixes this problem and also sends the rightmessage to the mind for proper functioning.”

�,�4�'������� ���������'�Not only yogic practices, Mini has slowlytried to make people aware of the prescrip-tions that have been laid down in Ayurveda.Most of these practices are not very difficultto incorporate and can easily be adapted intoone’s life. “Like the practice of using a tonguescraper. It is a very old practice of removingtoxins from the tongue. These toxins form athick carpet that prevents enzymes fromtasting the food, which in turn does not passany message to the brain about the flavoursand results in bloating and several otherdigestive issues that a lot of people thesedays are suffering from,” she says.

Similarly, the practice of nasyam helpscombat issues related to the respiratory sys-tem that cause sinus to act up. Oiling is anold practice to nourish our nerves. The won-derful combination of Shatkarma purificationpractices of Jal Neti along with Kapalbhati arehugely beneficial for the system and keep res-piratory disorders at bay. “It begins with thecommitment to start with at least one prac-tice every day and make it our habit. MakePranayama your friend. It will help you staycalm and fresh through the day. We need toboost up our immune system, which isalready so weak,” she points out.

�������. �����������“Did you know that most flower stringers ofjasmine do not suffer from depression?” saysAnita Lal, founder and creative director,Good Earth, India’s premium design andlifestyle chain of stores. “Because the fra-grance of jasmine is so therapeutic that theyare forever in a state of bliss,” she shares.

“It’s not Ayurveda, it is the wisdombeyond. The Vedas are only a part ofAyurveda. It’s a science and so is yoga. But itis just not that. It is much more. It’s being in

harmony with the seasons. It’s being aware ofthe cosmos around you. It’s understandingthe deepest philosophy,” she stresses.

On Sharad Purnima, she along with herdaughter Simran Lal, launched a specialexperience brand called Paro at TheChanakya in New Delhi. “As the only livingcivilisation, which continues unbroken andhas evolved over 5,000 years, we havesomething very precious that we mustvalue and celebrate. The immense wisdomof the Vedas that teaches the importance ofliving in harmony with prakriti (nature)and has given us the science of well-beingthrough Ayurveda and yoga — based onthe union of the body, mind, and soul —continues to exist and is practised in tradi-tional homes across the country,” she says.

�����������������A brand, that delves on the ancient wisdomthat seeks alignments with Rta (the cos-mos) and Ruta (the seasons), offers solu-tions and experiences that are meant tobring about harmony at a much deeperlevel. Elaborates Simran: “One of the maintenets of Vedic wisdom is the deep connectwith and reverence for nature. I realisedthat something as basic as being connectedto nature — expressed through the rhythmsof seasons and the lunar cycle — is some-thing that we urban Indians are quiteremoved from. Seasons affect everything:The food we eat, our energies, the cycle ofthe blooming of flowers and fruits, oursenses and our bio-rhythms. Simple actionsand rituals like lighting a diya in prayer,applying sandalwood paste on our nodalpoints to keep them cool, walking barefooton the cool morning dew, fasting duringthe change of seasons — all this is whatkeeps us connected with the rhythms ofthe Earth as it moves around the Sun andthe changing phases of the Moon.”

It’s not religious, she insists, but spiritu-al. “As the Vedas say: ‘What is within isreflected without’. The peace and joy that wefeel within reflects on our skin, our health,

our body, our mind, and inevitably, ourspirit. It all depends on how we per-

ceive the world and interactwith it — that is always a

choice open to us. So here’sthat space where every-thing nudges you to

explore what is part of our ancestral wisdomor ancestral consciousness. Be it through rit-uals or dinacharya (developed along withShastri), essential oils (prepared by Anitaand the botanists at Paro’s in-house lab), orplain discussions on ancient wisdom, effectof lunar cycle or how it affects our moodcycles, everything is about personal experi-ence,” she adds. And personal experience iswhat defines the new luxury.

� ��'������,�������'��Ancient wisdom is all about discipline. Be it food discipline, exercise discipline,lifestyle discipline, or even beauty disci-pline. A lot of brands have emerged to offersolutions based on the ancient knowledge.Many have taken pains to ensure that theoils and compositions created are true tothe original recipes and pure in nature. Forinstance, the Bhringraj oil made widelypopular by Kama Ayurveda. The beauty ofthe wisdom is that it is accessible to all.

“When the five elements are balancedwithin you, perfect health and beauty canbe attained,” says Rajni Ohri, founder ofAyurvedic beauty product brand, Ohria.Someone who began studying ayurvediccompositions when she was still in school,Rajni talks of the science behind traditionalbeauty rituals. “The skin absorbs every-thing that is applied to it. Therefore, allingredients that we use on ourselves mustbe pure, natural and safe by Ayurvedicstandards. I learnt of the goodness of herbsand butters much earlier in life from myteacher, a vaid acharya at an ashram inRishikesh, that we used to visit every vaca-tion,” she shares. But it was only two yearsago that she began working on turningthose formulations into products to beretailed to the modern world.

“Ayurveda is a great science that talksabout prevention while also addressing thedisease. Every ritual, even beauty, is based ona deeper understanding of the needs of thebody. The ritual of applying weekly ubtan,oiling of hair, or even applying oil to one’sbody was to shower love on one’s physicalbeing, eventually leading to good health,” she says. Ohria offers all these solutions.

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�����'����'�������� ,��In October this year, The Live LoveLaugh Foundation (TLLLF), foundedby Indian actress, Deepika Padukone,launched a unique nationwide aware-ness campaign inviting survivors ofmental illness to come out and sharetheir stories. They soon ran a cam-paign that featured real-life survivorsof mental illness, with an aim toencourage those suffering fromdepression or any other mental illnessto feel comfortable in sharing theirstories and seek help.

In Delhi, Imagine, a conclave onadolescent mental health was held,where the panelists discussed ways andmeasures to handle the rapidly risingcases of mental illness among Indianyouth. “Mental illness has become anepidemic in India today. One in fourpeople in India is depressed, and dueto social stigma, lack of awareness andlimited access to professional help,only 10-12 per cent of people sufferingfrom mental health problems in Indiaare seeking help,” pointed out DrShelja Sen, co-founder Children First,and child and adolescent psychologistand family therapist.

And this is quite telling of the cur-rent emotional and mental growth inthe country. “The way we werebrought up, the parenting practices atthat time were very basic. There wasvery clear understanding of what par-ents don’t want or what they had to do.However, now the role has becomeamorphous and huge in so manyways,” she says. Pointing that it did notnecessarily reflect bad as now the par-

ents are more open to listening to theirchildren, and children more openabout sharing their problems.

The problem, she says, is whenparents are not clear about their role.Often in their attempt to make friendswith their children, the lines blur andyou see teenagers making the deci-sions. “Now that can be damaging forthe family as there are no boundariesand children take over the role ofdecision-makers. This often results inisolation and causes major harm,” sheadds. The solution, she points out, is tocreate emotionally safe spaces that wehad in earlier times. Much needs to becovered on this account.

������������,��Last month, the World CulturalCulinary Heritage Committee, underthe aegis of World Association of ChefsSocieties (WorldChefs), put together itsvery first edition of the World HeritageCuisine Summit & Food Festival at QilaGobindgarh, Amritsar in Punjab. “Theidea was to inculcate appreciation forfood culture and traditions, as much asgood food habits and sustainable prac-tices that have been handed down gen-erations,” says Manjit Gill, renownedchef and chair of the committee. Thesummit, supported both by theMinistry of Tourism and PunjabTourism, also showcased the culinarylegacy of the rich agrarian State.

“Nutrition as science is not very old.It came up only in the past 50 to 60years,” says chef Gill. But there exists anage-old science behind eating local foodthat must not be ignored. “The five ele-ments that make you also exist in yourfood, pretty much like the five seasons.Local food connects you to your core, theEarth, and benefits immensely,” he says.What is alien to the land is, therefore,alien to the body and less likely to benefit.

“We must talk of our food with posi-tivity. We are the only country thatshowed the world that nutritional foodcan be tasty,” he says. “Even the prasadthat is served at various religious spacesis based on some science. Ancient foodbooks talk of the science of six tastes andthere exist six seasons. Like the change inseasons, the balance of six tastes goes upand down with every new season. Oneflavour becomes more prominent thanthe other based on the season or time ofthe year. And herein lies the sciencebehind local seasonal produce, and therecipes that came with it,” he elaborates.Is it little wonder then that the world isshifting to traditional recipes and curesthat these recipes stored?

����'����.���“Talking of ancient wisdom and age-old practices, I also feel that the tribalphilosophy is a way of life,” says film-maker, artist, and healer, AnuMalhotra. “We have become a totallypurposeless, self-serving society,which has hitched on to the bandwag-on of mindless consumerism andwaste. We have lost our reverence fornature and basic human values. Theway forward may well be back to thefuture,” she says. As she showcases hermultimedia exhibition called SoulSurvivors, comprising photographs,documentaries, and artefacts of threeunique cultures — the Apatani ofArunachal Pradesh, the Konyak ofNagaland, and the nomads of Tibet —at Bikaner House in Delhi, she speaksof her learnings from her travels.

“The tribal people I met in mytravels had a deep respect for nature,which was reflected in their eco-cen-tric lifestyle. These were self-sus-tained societies, which enjoyed cleanair, pure water, sunshine, physicalwork, with Earth and its resources,connecting to the natural rhythms ofthe seasons, eating a wholesome diet,and inculcating moderate consump-tion. Even the members of the oldergeneration were usually productivelyemployed and living robustly untilripe old ages. As most of these villagecommunities lived like a cohesivewhole, orphans, widows, the aged,and the infirm were well cared for.And that is when I realised that thesepeople provide a living expression ofsustainable living, and can provide apossible alternative to our con-sumerist lifestyles,” she says.

Who says modern is always best?It really is time to reshift our focus tolearning from our ancestors andreturn to the roots.

The man from Navsari, an ordi-nary small town in Gujarat, wasin no way an ordinary man him-self. After establishing a new tex-tile mill in Nagpur in 1877, he

was just at the threshold of making histo-ry for himself and for his nation as well.Inspired by a speech of famous Scottish his-torian Thomas Carlyle in England, thismiddle-aged Parsi man thought of an ideathat no one in Asia had ever thought ofbefore. The line was, “A country that pro-duces steel has gold.” It stayed in his mindand opened the doors to a dream that oneday became a reality and made his namesignificant to the history of India’s moderntimes. India’s history of industry and com-merce will never be complete without ded-icating a chapter this man.

Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata took a voy-age to America to understand how the steelindustry works there. On his way toAmerica, in the same ship he met and inter-acted with a young Bengali monk namedSwami Vivekananda who left a profoundimpact on his heart, such that the motiveof profit and the desire of ensuring gener-al welfare found a well-negotiated yetpeaceful coexistence in his mind forever.

Back home, he found things to be verytough in India where its colonial rulers hadno sympathy for any Indian business enter-prise. So, his effort to set up a steel plantin India ran through many rough weath-ers including doubt and abuse. Everyonehad simply accepted that steel cannot bemade in India by an Indian businessman.But, this man refused to give up. He con-sulted PN Bose, the first Indian gradedofficer in the Geological Survey of India,to scout a place which will be ideal for asteel factory and a township under its shad-ow. Though initially a place nearMayurbhanj in Orissa was considered butafter lot of research a place at the conflu-ence of Subarnarekha and Kharkal in Biharwas selected. The location was finalised byCM Weld and Srinivasa Rao in the ChotaNagpur Plateau of Bihar. It was deeply

forested in tribal areas with wild animalsfrequenting every then and now. The placewas found with few hamlets and nomotorable roads and electricity whenTatas landed there from Bombay. It was sit-uated near a rail head named Kalimati.Known as Sakchi, it made history.

It was a master stroke as a location. Itwas rich in coal in north and iron in south.In the west, a big city and port likeCalcutta gave it a huge logistical advantage.From the beginning, the place was grownas a multi-cultural cosmopolitan one withthe principle of pluralism. Engineers fromAmerica, Germany and Great Britainarrived here to construct blast furnaces, steelwork of the factory and rolling mills witha sizeable number of Australians, Italians,Swiss and Chinese who arrived here forother jobs. Tata had a clear idea that alongwith a steel factory, a great planned town-ship will also come up with all modern facil-ities including social clubs to places of wor-ship. An American named Julian Kennedygot the job of town planning and what heexecuted in early 20th century can only bedescribed as a masterpiece.

Soon, a city around Tata steel factorygradually developed with all modernamenities. However, the journey was notan easy one. Jamsetji did not live longenough to see some of this. His son DorabjiTata finally started the factory in 1907 butproduction started only on February 16,1912. From the beginning, it faced a gravechallenge. Even the Government of Indiaand Indian Railways insisted on BritishStandard Specification Steel (BSSS) whichwas much higher in quality and muchmore expensive than Non-British StandardSpecific Steel. To remain in competition,Tata took the challenge of producingBSSS by cutting down its margin and los-ing a huge market outside the BritishKingdom where other suppliers weresupplying NBSSS at a cheaper rate.

However, from that 1,700 acre of fac-tory with only 15,000 tonnes of steel pro-duction capacity, the Tata factory started

its golden run without knowing how oneday it will be an inspirational story.

The factory gave such a good supply tothe British Government during WorldWar I, that after the war, Viceroy LordChelmsford visited the town of Sakchi inJanuary 1919 and renamed it as Jamshedpurafter Jamsetji Tata. Before this, no Indiantown had ever been named after an Indianindustrialist. This is the background storyof Jamshedpur which is now India’s only cityof 10 million plus population without anymunicipality. It is the city which is modernin planning and decorated with a rich lega-cy of heritage. It is Indian in character butcolonial often colonial in appeal.

Jamshedpur is still an example of howthe industrial growth of a region can enablethe healthy growth of a city. It is also a per-fect blend of the economic growth of anorganisation with its people. In 1940, OttoKoenigsberger, an architect engineer, wasappointed by the Tatas to do the garden-ing and landscaping. What he rendered isnow known as Jubilee Park, one of the bestplanned parks at the heart of the city witha huge lake and various kind of balancedentertainment. The green patch and talltrees around the lake is so nature friend-ly that today it is a natural home of manykinds of birds including pond heron,

Indian stone curlew, kingfisher, copper-smith barbet, etc. The park at a glance canbe mistaken with any European townshipwith leafy and shadowed boulevard. Theblooming flowers, fountains and greencarpet of grass all around this park is agem of any planned city.

The most famous iconic building of thecity is Regal Mansion, built in 1936 byKhurshid Maneckji Bharucha, the firstIndian chief cashier of Tata Steel. Thisbuilding, made of colonial style typical toin Calcutta or Bombay was once the firsthome of anybody who came to Jamshedpurfor work. Almost at the same time, in 1940,the first organised hotel of Jamshedpurnamed Boulevard Hotel came up. It was setup by John Dcosta with exceptional design.It was home to several American andBritish soldiers during World War II. TataMain Hospital, the oldest hospital of thecity, came in 1908, five years before of itsfirst production of steel. It means beforeearning a single rupee from this town, Tatagifted its first hospital to its people.

With the commencement of produc-tion of steel in 1912, the city promptlyattracted people from all across India andthe world. Thus a pure cosmopolitan cul-ture developed here with social club, hotel,café, sports ground, church, golf course,

library and needless to say several marketand buildings. Impossible it seems but thefact remains that with solid support fromTata group multiple social clubs came uphere offering various facilities to bothIndians and foreigners. Some of the icon-ic clubs like United Club, Beldih Club,Golmuri Club etc are still active with theircolonial club houses aptly decorated withvintage furniture and grandfather clockson the wall. Clubs which were earliermeant for Tata employees only are nowopen to the public. Established in 1913,United Club was earlier known as TataInstitute. The impressive, Gothic-stylebuilding has seen titans of Indian politicsand industry as its honoured guests.

In 1936, Rotary Club of Jamshedpurwas established by Herbert Bryant. Out ofthe three almost century old churches theoldest one is St George Church which wasbuilt in 1916. However, in architecturalbeauty, Beldih Church of 1923 and St Maryof 1926 are more notable. However, with-out any direct support of Tata, these werebuilt to tap the ever-growing Christian pop-ulation of the town. The city never got stuckin the past and with the pace of time, icon-ic structures came up in new form. Onesuch structure is the Centre For Excellence,a compact centre housing a world class

museum and art gallery. Set up in 1992, thiswas designed as India’s first well organisedarchive of any business house.

It is an amalgamation of several socialand cultural organisations of Jamshedpurunder one roof where they can worktogether and deliver together. The archi-tecture of the centre is such that it coversa large area with different level of gardens,pillars and pyramids. The art gallery sec-tion contains rare paintings of MF Husainand cartoons by RK Laxman. It also has arich collection of contemporary greats likeJatin Das and Anjolie Ela Menon.

The founder’s gallery is a sectiondedicated to the life of Jamsetji and the his-tory of this city. Loaded with rare pho-tographs, original letters, documents,deeds and artifacts this is a museum of dis-tinction by every merit. A separate sectionis an archive of Tata Steel itself thatincludes maps and reports. It is a livingdemonstration of India’s industrial devel-opment in 20th century.

Another museum that one should notmiss here is the Tribal Cultural Centre. Itcovers rich yet unknown tribal cultures ofthe region with models and display exhibits.In 1940s, an Austrian artist named WalterLanghammer took shelter in India toescape the tyranny of Naziism. Within histhree months stay in Jamshedpur, he estab-lished Jamshedpur School of Art in 1946.This was one of the oldest cultural institutesof the city and still running.

No Jamshedpur story is complete if itsemotional attachment with football is notmentioned. It is to note that in a letter writ-ten to his son Dorabji Tata in 1902 whenhe was still dreaming to set up a new cityaround a steel plan Jamsetji wrote “Be sureto lay wide streets with shady trees. Be surethat there is plenty of space for lawns andgardens. Reserve large areas for football,hockey and parks. Earmark areas fortemples, mosques, and churches.”

This vision of this businessman evenbefore having any profit from his businesswas in no way ordinary. Tata’s commitmentto sports can only be best described inestablishing Tata Football Academy in 1987was the first well planned football groom-ing school of India. In the past 30 years,TFA has given super quality footballers toIndia. The city’s love for football wasproved again recently when JamshedpurFC, a full-fledged football club, was fund-ed and supported by Tata with world classfacility in training and grooming. Today,Jamshedpur is a roaring industrial hub co-habited by giants like Tata Steel, TataPower, TCS, Tinplate Co, Lafarge cement,and Tata Motors. From the same 1,700acres of land, now Tata Steel produces 10million tonnes of steel.

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Page 11: ˇ˝˛ ˚ ˜ - The Pioneer...2018/11/11  · for four years — 2012 to 2016 faster pace before it was hit by two major headwinds. “The two successive shocks of demonetisation and

The book, The British inIndia: Three Centuriesof Ambition andExperience, by DavidGilmour looks at the

Indo-British relationship from avery different angle. It is writtenfrom the point of individuals andis a very interesting read. TheBritish, in this book, lived in Indiafrom shortly after the death ofQueen Elizabeth I until well intothe reign of Queen Elizabeth II, a span of 350 years.

It is like looking at the cur-riculum vitae of an individualfrom a personal angle — the rela-tionships formed with people indifferent organisations, the per-sonal growth, the learning, thecultural influence of differentfirms, the motivations for joiningand leaving and the overall feel-ings. As David Gilmour mentionshimself in the introduction, thebook is primarily about individu-als. It deals with large groups ofpeople — with soldiers, withinsiders (district officers, judges,officers) and numerous others. Ittalks about different aspects oftheir experiences: With what aspi-rations and motivations they cameto India, how many of them came,how they came (voyages and jour-ney time and journey experiencesas it took 147 days to a minimumof three weeks to come to India),

their working lives, the relation-ships they formed in India, theirhomes in India, their hobbies inIndia, and even how some of themfelt after returning home toBritain later on. The total focus ison individuals and this is not abook about the politics of theBritish empire in India, still less adiscussion of whether that empirewas good or bad.

The book is organised in threeparts. Part one, “Aspirations”, talksabout the number of British peo-ple who came to India, the differ-ent motivations that brought themthem here, their origin and identi-ties and the voyages and otherjourneys they took. Part two,“Endeavours”, talks about theirworking lives, the military life, theworking life of judges other seniorofficials and other people whoworked. Part three, “Experiences”,talks about the various compo-nents of their overall experience inIndia: the intimacies and the rela-tionships they formed, their homelife, their hobbies and free timeoccupations, their deaths in Indiaand the experiences of those whoreturned home later on.

The book begins with adescription of how ScottishComedian Billy Connolly wassurprised to learn that he hadIndian ancestors, that his great-grandmother, Florence was from

Bangalore as her father DanielDoyle was enlisted in Britisharmy as a youth and was sent toIndia in 1856.

The book then explains howIndia’s association with riches hasa long history and how Indiadominated British imagination forlong. It is shown most brightly inBritish imagination after 1876when Disraeli, the then PrimeMinister, gratified QueenVictoria’s wish to be made theEmpress of India. It then detailshow British people used to cometo India in search of a good for-tune: How they embarked on anIndian journey with a feeling ofreluctance because it meant sepa-ration from family but calculatedthat rewards would be worth thesacrifice, the way so many peopletoday go to Gulf countries andother countries from India. ManyBritish people came to India forjobs that were simply not availableat home without funds or influ-ence. Restlessness at home and adesire to come to India for finan-cial or other reasons was quitecommon in the late eighteenthand early nineteenth centuries.Exiling family’s “black sheep” wasquite common. Financial disasterswere another reason: Peopleputting all their assets into a singleinvestment, a bank that failed,businesses that went under, stocks

in a railroad company thatcrashed, a plantation where cropswere destroyed by drought. HenryCunningham, a successful barris-ter and journalist in London putall his money in a tea business,went bankrupt and came to Indiaand for the next 21 years workedon problems of Indian law andadministration before becomingadvocate general in Madras andlater judge in High Court inCalcutta. After 1750, British popu-lation in India increased and allsorts of opportunities were there.In the second half of nineteenthcentury, railways offered all kindsof jobs. There were youngsterswho wanted to get away fromtheir family in Britain. For mostpeople, the chief allure was India’swealth and their chance of gettingtheir hands on some of it. Forfemales, India was the place tomake a new start after an unhappyrelationship in Europe.

Many British families in Indiawere like Dolphin families as theycontinued generation after genera-tion, usually in the same profes-sion. Four generations ofHancocks served in the Bombayarmy, Scots in India were spreadin a wider range of professions.

The book also explains howfor first 200 years of its existence,the East India company paid vir-tually no attention to training its

employees for the work theywould be doing in India. In everyfield, from military to medical,the principle seemed undeviating:Let the chaps learn as they goalong. In 1758, the butcher onboard a ship of the East Indiacompany was allegedly promotedto the job of the ship’s surgeon inthe middle of a voyage.

The book also talks about howhard it was to travel: In 1828 JohnGlasfurd took 147 days to sail toIndia via the Cape of Good Hope,20 years later his son took 39 dayspassing through the Mediterraneanand the Red Sea in different boatsand 80 years later his grandsononly 14 days to reach Mumbai in asingle ship. Journey from Calcuttato Delhi that took three days byboat then took three months ageneration earlier. Rickshaw(without a bicycle) or a palkeewas the most common mode oftransport for British peoplebefore the railways. In 1844, JohnStrachey was carried on men’sshoulders for almost a thousandmiles from Calcutta to his post-ing in the North WesternProvinces. The journey lastedthree weeks but it would havetaken much longer by boat.

The main unit of administra-tion was district. In 1902 therewere some 250 districts with anaverage population of a million.

The work was slow and bureau-cratic. Even during summerswhen most of the work used tobe done from Simla, numerousboxes of files were taken to thehills. Life in the military was bor-ing with repeated marches anddrills and in summers the daybeginning at 5 am and ending asearly as 8 am with nothing to dofor the rest of the day.

Until the last decade of theEast India company, most Britishmen in India spent at least a partof their adventure living with anIndian or Eurasian woman, oftenmore than one. Referred to as bibi,she was much more than a concu-bine. Richard Burton, who spentseven years as an officer in Indiain the 1840s, lauded his first mis-tress as a nurse, a housekeeperand a teacher of Hindi grammarand Indian culture. Many Britishpeople married Indian womenand these marriages lasted. Yet,such marriages were a lot lesscommon than the ‘bibi system’.

Bibis also received more con-crete proof of affection from theofficers. These included servantsand allowances and after theirlover’s death, legacies. WhenMajor Charles Hay Elliot drew uphis will in 1817, he left specificsums to three illegitimate daugh-ters and further �35,000 was setaside for the unborn baby whichhis bibi was carrying.

Homes used “Khas-tatties”for cooling and a manual fanoperated by a servant during thenight for cooling before electricfans became common after theend of World War I. Homes hadservants for almost everything. In1807 William Hickey on hisdeparture from Calcutta made alist of the servants to whom hewould need to pay three monthswages. The number came to 63. Itincluded eight men who waited attable and another eight wholooked after his horses.

The last chapter carries a fit-ting remark by Khushwant Singh,the distinguished writer and jour-nalist. Singh recalls that he hadknown three types of English per-sons in India: Those who dislikedthe country, the dirt, the climate,the smells and indeed the people;those who liked it for what it gavethem — the sport, the servantsand the standard of living butignored the Indians and thosewho had liked everything aboutIndia. Such is the understandingof the relationship that the Indianscame to share with the British. Ineach of its aspects, genuine orexploitative, it made history.

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In Search of Lost Life,authored by Dr SuraviSharma Kumar, is a collec-

tion of 10 short stories that aremostly character-driven withpsychological realism drawnfrom the character’s motives,fears, insecurities, sense of guilt,reaction to real-life dilemmasand their desire to love and tobe loved. The author uses liter-ary methods to focus on thepsychological processes and thecharacters’ mental narrativesinstead of simply telling a story.The voice in each story is dis-tinctive and gripping enough tokeep you hooked until the endof the story. The arc and spin ofthe stories is interesting andenjoyable and could make goodscreenplays or a motion picture.The stories are set mostly inurban India and London andone is set in rural India.

The author has masteredthe genre of writing short sto-ries and what is most interest-ing is the roundness of thecharacter of Anita. Seven of thestories of this book revolvearound the protagonist Anita.

In the consecutive stories,we see her as a young child, awoman, a married woman andlater as an older woman. Thestories when put together sideby side and back to back comeforth as a long form of fictionstretching over decades startingfrom Anita’s teenage. We seeher emotional struggle and herpoint of view in all the actionsshe has been responsible for. Wesee her through the eyes of oth-ers too. The intricacies of amind caught in the whirlpoolsof life, the thought processesand the psychological interplaysare portrayed really well.

All of the stories dwell onlove and loss — loss of life, lossof morals, loss of dignity, andmost importantly, loss of identity.The main focus of the stories ison relationships — old ones, newones, relationships with lovers,family — and most of all withoneself. The colours of naturefeature heavily in the short sto-ries bringing in the mood of sto-ries, and Suravi indeed spentmuch of her life in the beautifulnorth-eastern corner of the

country — in the state of Assam.We see a few experiments of

the writer in the stories. Like inone of them, the protagonist

remains unnamed and the read-er wonders if it is Anita orsomeone else but as the storywinds up, the character emerges

clear to the reader. By the endof the book, the reader knowsAnita almost inside out. Thestories may not be remarkable

in terms of plot but bring outthe virtues and vices of themain character. It brings forththe intense hues of a psycholog-ical kaleidoscope of a seemingregular mundane life of awoman touching a chord ofconcern for the protagonist inus as it soaks us in a sense offamiliarity. The author effort-lessly manages to flit from thepast to the present, while weav-ing real-life incidents into thenarratives without a ripple.

The author has used theplot, descriptions, dialogues andpowerful literary devices toform and shape the everydaylives into artistically appealingstories. Both the dramatic weav-ing of words in the narrativeand the building of a believablebackdrop for these narrativesare done with commendableskill by the author.

Literary devices like fore-shadowing and allusion areused at their best to makeevents unfurl and move

smoothly from one to another.The part called “This is Anita”portrays a budding teenagemind with myriad anticipationsof life and love. It showcases areadiness to experiment andexplore life in unusual ways.

“Unbecoming of MrsLeena” is a suave narrationaround a mysterious male pro-tagonist in his middle age. Hisapproach towards women ingeneral and a beautiful youngwoman in particular are high-lighted. The voice of this storyis that of an ‘unreliable narra-tor’ whose intent and motivesare dubious from the very startof the story. The arc of thisstory and the twists and turnsbring forth the protagonist’smind at work and the grey cor-ners of a woman’s mind leadingto a romantic entanglementthat relays accounts of myriadextra-marital affairs in contem-porary urban living. This unre-solvable entanglement of thestories of the two protagonistsand the consequence that fol-lows makes for a rather sus-penseful read.

The stories with protago-nists other than Anita arearound a teenage girl with an

inquisitive mind about theworld around her, about loveand about myriad hues ofromance, and a young man liv-ing in another part of the globe,yearning to see and feel hisroots in a tiny Indian village.The plot of the story “TheRoots Within (Redux): isunpredictable with good fore-shadowing of the events and is apleasure to read. It is set in thelap of nature in a rural corner ofIndia, in the thickets of bam-boos, in the lush green swells oftea gardens and over sprawlingfields with knolls and hillockson them. And the narration issimply delightful.

The voice, the diction andthe metaphors used in the nar-ration are unique to this writerand the style of storytellingreminds one of Zumpa Lahiri atsome instances. The voice issteady, believable and weaves allthe happenings at present andin the past in a lucid narrativethat is a must read.

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Many tempestuous debatesare happening about the

recent Supreme Court verdicton lifting the age restrictionsfor women entry to the famousSabarimala temple. Most ofthese discussions whirl vehe-mently around the egalitarianaxis of gender specific charac-teristics of the temple ritualsand customs.

However, on the flip sidewhich could be the moreimportant side, we are boundto address another major facetof the same issue: Don’t agroup of people have the free-dom to worship a particularGod who vowed to remain in“Naishtika Brahmacharya”(absolute celibate) form?

Don’t they have the rightsto value and preserve theirGod’s shrine as per their beliefsystems or should they modi-fy their concept of God as perthe popular concepts of “Oneand only True God”?

Going by the customarybeliefs prevailing for last severalhundred years, Sabarimalatemple is dedicated to a deitywho has taken a strict vow ofNaishtika Brahmacharya, anintense kind of celibacy requir-ing the abstinence from eighttypes of contact with the oppo-site gender. Such strict austerities are practiced byseveral Sanyasi traditions ofIndia from time immemorialtill this day.

Devotees believe that theyoung prince of the Pandalamkingdom, Manikandan, tookthis stern oath of remaining aNaishtika Brahmacharya, andleft his kingdom to find atranquil place in the deep for-est to continue his eternalpenance. He allowed his devo-tees to visit him only on certaindays, demanding them to fol-low 30 to 41 days of rigidascetic practices “Vritacharya”.

For all these believers,Sabarimala is not just a place of

worship, but the eternal abodeof their living deity Ayyappa.

Sabarimala temple standsat the top of a hill, in the deepdense jungles of the WesternGhats. Differing acutely fromthe other temple traditions ofthe country, Sabarimala templehas regular daily pujas andworship only on the first fivedays of every Malayalam cal-endar month, during the 41days of “Mandalakaala”Mandala pilgrimage time andsome other specific auspiciousoccasions.

Otherwise, throughout theyear on every single day, theLord remains completelyabsorbed in the tranquil silenceof the wilderness. On the wor-ship days, he wakes up from thetrance and blesses his devoteeswho seek him. It is no easy taskfor these devotees even to visitthis celibate God.

They have to be initiatedinto a 41-day period of strictausterities of Ayyappa wor-ship, by any experienced devo-tee “Guruswami” who has vis-ited the Lord’s shrine at least 18times. The practices to be fol-lowed include abstinence fromsensual pleasures of all kinds,maintaining celibacy, identify-ing oneself with the lord andrecognising everybody else asreflections of Lord Ayyappa.On completion of the 41-dayperiod, the devotee visits theabode of the Lord atSabarimala under the guidanceand companionship of his ini-tiator “Guruswami”. Every year,lakhs of devotees who practicesuch strict austerities flock tothis hill top sanctum.Respecting the celibate natureof the deity and the celibacymaintained by the devotees,young women do not normal-ly visit the holy shrine.

Though it is hard to deter-mine the exact time periodwith regard to the origin of tra-ditions and customs associat-

ed with this temple, there area few early British records thatshed light on this.

Two British Lieutenantsnamed Ward and Conner havedone a research survey in theTravancore and Kochiprovinces from 1810 to 1820.The survey report has refer-ences about Sabarimala templeand explicitly claims that theycould find more than thou-sands of devotees both menand women visiting the temple,but there were no youngwomen present among anydevotee groups.

The report also documentsthe belief among the devoteesthat the deity of the temple isa celibate and hence youngwomen didn’t visit this temple.

According to “Agamas”, asacred literature of Hindus, atemple is not just a place forworship, but it is, in fact, theholy abode of the presidingdeity. In Hinduism, the Godtranscends all worldly qualitiesbut unlike the God orParamatman, a deity has itsown characteristics, likes, anddislikes. Sri MataAmritanandamayi Devi dis-tinguishes between God andDeity with a beautiful example.

Even though ultimatelyeverything is the manifestationof one Supreme Consciousness,God and deity are different likea fish in the ocean and a fish inan aquarium,

She says, “We don’t have tooffer special care for a fish inthe ocean, but one has to pro-vide suitable environment fora fish in the aquarium as perthe temperaments of each fish.Similarly in a temple where thedeity lives, the priests as wellthe devotees have to follow spe-cific dos and don’ts.”

The daily rituals and wor-ship methodology of any tem-ple primarily depends on theform and nature of the deitywho presides there. Sparkling

fireworks and elephant pro-cessions are integral to most ofthe temple festivals in Kerala.

However elephants andfireworks are not allowed atAlamthuruthy temple locatedin Pathanamthitta district ofKerala since the Goddess isworshiped as an infant there.While the Hindu scripturesextol Goddess as the powerfulfeminine counterpart who cre-ate, nurture and destroy theuniverse with just a wink of hereye, at the same time we canwitness her being adored andworshipped as a small infantwho is scared of elephants, inthis particular temple.

The same ubiquitous,formless, attributeless Godmanifests through differentunique forms as temple deitiesto uplift the common man.Such “devatas” (deities) areattributed with human qualitiesof likes and dislikes, joys andsorrows.

While elephants are disal-lowed at the infant Goddesstemple of Alamthuruthy,Goddess of Kumaranalloortemple forbid the entry of onlymale tusker elephants andprefers herself (the idol) to betaken on procession overfemale elephants.

Another popular temple ofKerala at Chottanikkara has theGoddess who prefers to travelover giant tusker elephantsexhibiting her splendour. It isthe same Goddess, but as beingworshipped with differentattributes — the customs, preferences and practices alsodiffer. This is the degree ofdiversity demonstrated by ourtemples.

One has to keep aside allhis formal symbols of powerand wrap his upper shawlsaround his waist in order toseek the vision of the deity of“Thalipparambu” temple. Thetemple homes SriRajarajeswaran, the king of

kings, and the gesture thedevotee displays denotes hisimmense respect and love forthe God in that mighty kinglyform.

Subhramanya SwamiTemple of Payyannoor restrictsthe entry of sanyasis. Shiva, asthe lord of Vaikkom temple, isfamous as the giver of food andboons while same Shiva as thelord of Ettumanoor takes afierce form.

Lord Ganapathy ofPazhavangadi temple is sodelighted by coconut offer-ings, while Mutthappan ofParassinikadavu temple wouldrather prefer fermented palmtoddy and sun dried fishes ashis offering. So diverse are theGod concepts and as diverseare the worship practices of thismagnificent land!

The sensible subtle under-standing that every humanbeings are entirely different inmulti aspects of physical-men-tal-societal-levels, have pavedthe way to this extraordinaryconcept of worshipping differ-ent God forms depending onone’s inherent disposition. Yes,one can repudiate all these,stamping them as a meredoltish faith system, butnobody can dismiss the right ofthe believers to continue theirbelief systems.

Is it appropriate for a coun-try like India with her illustri-ous history of pluralism andcoexistence to enforce a groupof people to change their reli-gious beliefs?

Greek mythology speaks of“Procrustes”, a rogue banditwho hides in the dark forests ofthe countryside. He wouldbring any innocent travellerswho walk by the forest to hishouse by any means and wouldrob them of all their belong-ings. Next he would tie downthe unfortunate victim to hisinfamous bed and will merci-lessly begin his cruel sport. If

the guest proved tall,Procrustes would amputate theexcess length of body and fithim to the bed or if the visitoris short in height, the manwould work with his smith’shammer and beat stretch himto fit the bed.

Procrustes continued hisreign of terror until he was cap-tured and killed by the braveprince Theseus.

The numerous invasionsthat we faced resemble thescary “Procrustes’s episodes”.They rob the invaded lands ofall its wealth and tie down theindigenous culture of the landto the Procrustean bed andstretch, amputate it to fit theminto their iron beds. The colo-nial invasion and hundreds ofyears of foreign rule has giftedour nation with a thousandProcrustean beds!

It is no anomaly that acountry which stayed underany foreign rule would inher-it the ethic concepts of the “reg-nant” and foster a certain affin-ity towards that non-nativeculture. The centurial years ofsuch living has definitely re-moulded the social mind ofthis nation. We unknowinglyinstalled the alien scale of eth-ical and moral values as ourgauge of measure. In arts, lit-erature, law, relations, philos-ophy and in many otherspheres of existence, we tried toreplicate the European modelsusing an Indian mould. Evenafter seven decades of hard-earned freedom, we are stillchained down to the ethics sys-tem of protestant reformationperiod.

When in the middle age, asEurope was drowning in themurky high tides of religioussovereignty that portrayedwoman as a creation for themere benefit of man, it was thevery necessity of that hour tore-evaluate every religious tra-ditions based on a gender jus-

tice denomination. Well, thatshouldn’t be the same measur-ing meter to judge the widelydiverse, remarkably intricatelocal traditions of India.

In the case of Sabarimala,the restriction of women of cer-tain age are not because theyare considered inferior on anyreligious, spiritual or philo-sophical grounds but it’sbecause of the peculiar natureof the presiding deity.

It is the same traditionwhich makes a woman as thechief priest of a temple atMannarsala, which celebratesthe festival at Koovaka templethrough transgender devotees,which demands a man toimpersonate and dress aswomen in order to carry theauspicious lamp at theKottamkulangara temple.Lacking a holistic vision, one might mistake “diversity”as “discrimination”. These multifaceted pluralistic values,not the repressive commands of any religion,base the foundation of ournation.

The Communist ideologiesmight fail awfully to accom-modate for the diverse, plural-istic thought ideologies of theland. It is the same gene thatimpelled the colonial and otherinvaders to obliterate theindigenous culture of its nativeselsewhere that camouflagesunderneath the Communistpneuma. For the same reason,it is mere futility to look for-ward to the colloquially fash-ioned but inherently inconsid-erate Indian Communistorganisations or their govern-ments, for justice on thisregard.

Is the celibate concept of aGod Ayyappa, shaking thesupreme justice apparatus ofthis largest democratic nationwhich identifies herself as sec-ular state granting freedomfor all diverse communities to

practice their traditional wor-ship practices? In contrast withthe “single” God who sits on adecorated golden throne inthe seventh heaven, has thenative God concepts ofAyyappan, Mariyamman,Yellamma, Hanuman andBhairavan, etc, cherished bytens of thousands of locals, losttheir glamour?

Most of the present daymedia which blows its owntrumpet for the strong unwa-vering stand it has taken sev-eral times on the individual andreligious freedom sides hasnow dragged the Sabarimalaissue to the shades of genderdiscrimination. Such mediahouses promulgate the viewthat there is no right for anyindividual or community todecide upon whom they want-ed to worship and how! Stillevery second, they would wantto celebrate the secular natureof the country. What an irony?!They are, in fact, no differentfrom the Abrahamic monotheistic God systems whowould want to crumble downall other religious practicesand beliefs.

Disguised in suits andcoats of European attire, the“Ethics and Justice” system isinching into the sanctum sanc-torum and sacred groves of oursociety. The culture that sur-vived the iron boots of Englishare now facing a greater threatfrom the remnant shadows ofthe same. When the Procrustesare sharpening their bladesand hammers to sever andbeat down the customs and tra-ditions under the guise of pro-gressiveness measures, the timenecessarily demands for athousand Theseus.

(The writer is an indepen-dent researcher from Keralawith keen interest in science,philosophy and the study ofIndian civilisation)

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Tuesday’s midterm electionsmarked two years sinceDonald Trump’s shock

election victory — the first testof how his Republican party isfaring in the eyes of theAmerican public. The midtermsis the name given to the combi-nation of elections for the USCongress, governorships, andother State-wide races that takeplace every two years.

Before Tuesday, Republicanscontrolled the House ofRepresentatives and the Senate— the two chambers whichmake up the US Congress. But aso-called ‘blue wave’ sawDemocrats taking control of theHouse. A liberal base hoping toderail Trump’s agenda has ener-gised activists in key races, out-fundraising and out-polling ahost of Republican incumbents.

Although Trump is not onthe ballot, in many ways, theresult is being seen as a referen-dum on his accomplishmentsand how voters feel about theAmerican President.

��.����� �������.��IAll 435 seats in the House ofRepresentatives were voted on in these elections. TheRepresentatives serve two-yearterms, so the entire House willface re-election in 2020. Some 35out of the Senate’s 100 seats wereon the ballot and 36 State gover-nors were up for election.Senators hold six-year terms.There were also a number ofState-wide and local offices beingelected on the same day.

,&������� �'��'��� ���Governors hold powerful posi-

tions since they control hugebudgets and implement theirState’s laws. Before Tuesday,Republicans controlled 33 out of50 governorships and two-thirdsof 99 State legislature chambers.Some 36 governorships werebeing elected this November, andDemocrats were targeting the 23which have Republican incum-bents up for re-election.

Key races being watchedwere in Ohio, Michigan, Florida,and Pennsylvania — key swingStates in the PresidentialElections. Governors in thoseStates will be crucial to mobilis-ing party activists and raisingdonations for the 2020 race.

��.�. ''����������������8������ �����I�The elections will shape US poli-tics for at least the next two years.A Republican-controlledCongress would have made thefinal two years of Trump’s firstterm much smoother — givinghim the power to continue fund-ing his border wall with Mexico,pass further tax cuts, and makeanother attempt to repealObamacare. With Democratsregaining control in the House,they will fiercely oppose a num-ber of Trump’s key policies. ADemocratic majority will also see

the party gain seats onCongressional committees withthe power to investigate theTrump administration.

This year’s State-wide racesare incredibly important too,since they will give the party inoffice power over the next redis-tricting process — the system bywhich voting areas are decided.

Republicans were most likelyto lose control of the House ofRepresentatives as all 435 seatswere up for election. Dozens of

Republican representatives wereretiring and the Democrats onlyneeded 23 more seats to takecontrol of the lower chamber.

Trump’s party managed toretain its majority in the Senateas only 35 of the 100 seats wereup for election, 26 of whichwere already held by Democrats.Democrats would have neededto win all its Senate races andpick up two Republican seats in order to swing the majority— a tall order.

.����.������� ������� � �,����������IThe economy, immigration, andimpeachment were the issues get-ting most play on the campaigntrail. The US economy is boom-ing, with low unemploymentrates and rising wages. However,Trump’s tax cuts for corporationshave increased the country’sdeficit by 33 per cent in the lastyear to $895 billion.

Immigration is a divisiveissue, with Democrats keen to

highlight Trump’s hard-linerhetoric and his administration’sdecision to separate migrant chil-dren from their parents as part ofits “zero-tolerance” policy. Theyhoped it will entice younger vot-ers and minorities to vote againstthe President’s party.

Republicans warned thatDemocrats would like to seeimmigration and customsenforcement (ICE) officialsscrapped, which they say willlead to weak borders as theyappealed to voters. Ultimately,this election was seen as a tem-perature test for Trump ahead ofthe 2020 Presidential Election.

This has already played outin this summer’s primaries —where party members picktheir candidates — with pro-Trump, anti-establishment fig-ures winning against theRepublican’s old guard. On theDemocrat side, populist pro-gressives who are vocal in theiropposition to the President —even calling for his impeach-ment — have been gainingground on the party’s centrists.

� ���� ��'����������� �������'��� ���Disgruntled voters often usemidterm elections to punish theparty in power. The President’s

party has lost an average of 32seats in the House and two in theSenate in almost every midtermsince the American Civil War.

Democratic President BillClinton faced a six-year battle toget his policies through Congresswhen the Republicans took con-trol of both the House andSenate in 1994. The Democratsretook both chambers in 2006 —allowing President BarackObama to push through his poli-cy agenda for the first two yearsof his presidency. However, theRepublicans won back the Housein 2010, which placed a signifi-cant curb on his ability to passkey legislation for the rest of histime in office. In 2014, theRepublicans also regained con-trol of the Senate, boosting theirHouse majority to its largestsince 1929 along the way.

Currently, Democrats have aclear majority, and with a recordnumber of women, veterans, andethnic minorities running foroffice, the face of the USCongress will look very differentin January. The Democrats’ suc-cess was clearly based on theparty’s ability to mobilise its base. The midterm electorate was traditionally whiter, older,and more conservative.

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2010 was a big year forthe Gujarat Club inAhmedabad. It was 122years old and in desper-ate need of some repairs.

It boasted 1,100 members butnot many had bothered to getany spring cleaning done foryears. But now a budget of �75lakh had been sanctioned and,among other things, two bil-liards tables were being import-ed from England. This club, afterall, was where Geet Sethi, whowon the World BilliardsChampionship three times as anamateur and six times as a pro-fessional and had two worldrecords, had cut his teeth.

The last time the club gotsome repairs and spring clean-ing done was 25 years ago whenfilmmaker Ketan Mehta wantedto shoot some scenes on thepremises. Mehta wanted to por-tray the club as it would havebeen in June 1916, barely 28years after its creation. Thescene had barristers playingbridge under punkha whopulled giant fans to keep theplace cool, and one of them get-ting progressively more irritated

because of the disturbancecaused by a political activist.“One of the card players, a bar-rister, was in winning form andin high spirits when the boybrought in tea. At that moment,someone dashed into the roomto invite the players to meet aGandhi and hear the lecture hewas giving that evening. No onepaid any attention. The playerswent on drinking tea, eatingEnglish-made biscuits and dis-cussing their next rubber.”

The barrister was SardarVallabhbhai Patel. We find himreturned from England now, hav-ing finished his legal educationand learnt to “buy some well-cutclothes”. He was now determinedto be the star of a wealthy frater-nity, which he thought was“pompous, status conscious”, butwhere he swiftly made a mark“with his domineering personali-ty”. He now towered over themen who had intimidated himonce upon a time when he wasbut a pleader. He was not onlytheir equal as a barrister, often amore successful one at that, buthe was also a better bridge player!

While he was a pleader,

Patel’s family was in a financialcrisis, which is apparent from aletter he wrote in 1904 to hisbrother Narsibhai. “I have writtento return the money with interestand so you need not worry in thematter... you have written aboutthe mortgage of sister’s orna-ments that does not behove you.You have written that you are indebt. But I understand that yourdebt is my debt. So you write tome the names of creditors, so Iwill relieve you as quickly as pos-sible from the debt so that youheave a sigh of relief.”

By 1916, he was on far firmerground. One aspect of his per-sonality as a barrister seems tohave been “a firm and pensiveexpression, almost as if onelooked down upon the worldwith a sort of superiority com-plex”. But attitude alone couldnot have brought Patel the suc-cess he saw as a barrister inAhmedabad. He was also willingto take perilous chances, going sofar as to chastising a judge forbeing prejudiced against peoplefrom his home region of Kheda.The astounded judge granted hisclient the bail that Patel wanted.

Barrister Patel, then, with hissturdy pragmatism had no timefor soft-spoken, barely clad polit-ical activists, even if they werefellow barristers of considerablerenown in South Africa. “I havebeen told he comes from SouthAfrica,” Patel said when asked ifhe had met Gandhi. “Honestly, Ithink he’s a crank and, as youknow, I have no use for suchpeople.” On yet another day,when Gandhi’s arrival wasannounced at the club, Patel is said to have shouted out: “Go away! We don’t want to listen to your Gandhi!”

But the astute lawyer hadnoticed something: This frailman spoke more like a sadhuthan a politician. Why was a manwho wanted to talk about greaterfreedom for India speaking of“the power of truth, which is thesame as divine love”? What diddivine love have to do with fight-ing colonial injustice?

He had also realised some-thing else: Gandhi was gatheringsome clever people around him,people who had Patel’s admira-tion — DB Kalelkar, NarhariParikh, Mahadev Desai, (Swami)

Anand and KG Mashruwala. Ofthese men, Parikh and Desaiwere competent lawyers whosework Patel respected. What wasit, he wondered, that was drawingmen like these to this Gandhi?

Patel was 42 years old whenhe met Gandhi, who by then was48. The age difference betweenthe men was barely six years.Compared to this, Nehru was 20years younger than Gandhi — itis easy to see how the Gandhi-Nehru relationship would bepaternal. It is also easy to see howthe relationship between Pateland Nehru could have transi-tioned (or even veered) fromfamilial to rival, for aren’t siblingsever so often rivals?

Three key relationships hadan abiding impact on the found-ing of modern India, thosebetween Gandhi and Patel,Gandhi and Nehru, and Nehruand Patel. Of these, the most lay-ered and subtle was the relation-ship between Gandhi and Patel.Patel, like everybody else, calledGandhi Bapu, but the relation-ship was more intricate than asimple familial tie. Patel had beenbrought up to respect his elders,

especially his elder brothers. Eventhough when he had first savedup money with great difficultyand prepared his papers to goand study law in England, hiselder brother Vithalbhai hadcheated him out of the chance.The papers came in the name ofVJ Patel, which were the initialsof both brothers, and “exercisingan elder’s prerogative... Vithalbhaitook it to be his opportunityfirst—not the younger brother’s,no matter if the latter had sweat-ed to save money for this visit.Not only did he surrender histravel documents to Vithalbhai,but also willingly agreed to bearhis entire expenses”.

Patel refers to his relation-ship with Vithalbhai in a speechin March 1921: “He [Vithalbhai]told me: ‘I am your elder broth-er and I should go first. Youmay get an opportunity after Ireturn, but if you go first, Iwould never have any chance ofgoing abroad.’ I went to Englandafter the return of my brotherthree years later. After I hadreturned, we two brothersdecided that if we wantedIndependence, we would have toturn into ascetics and serve thecountry without any thought ofself. My brother then left hisroaring practice and engagedhimself in the service of thecountry. The looking after of thefamily fell on my shoulders. Thegood work was for him and theinferior enterprise was for me.”

This anecdote about Patel isnot one of the more popularones. In fact, it is not even thefirst thing that comes to mindwhen one thinks of Patel, theIron Man of India. But I believe itis indicative of a pattern in Patel’slife, of an occasionally misguidedsense of duty that haunts criticalpoints of his public life and jour-ney as a leader. As we shall see,this relationship with Vithalbhaiwould also guide one of hisbiggest battles within theCongress Party — with Netaji.

It certainly could be, as wewill see in this book, a metaphorfor a part of his intricate rela-tionship with Gandhi. What didPatel expect of Gandhi, andindeed what did Gandhi expectof Patel? As one of Gandhi’s ear-liest and most formidable lieu-tenants, Patel was, in a sense, thebad cop to the good cop playedfirst by Gandhi and then byNehru in the Indian freedommovement. Some writers havepainted Patel as the villain in thedispute between Netaji and theIndian National Congress, andfinally Bose’s breakaway from theCongress, claiming that: “So fondof Bose had Vithalbhai becomethat he willed a portion of hisfortune to him to be spent forthe ‘political uplift of India andfor publicity work on behalf ofIndia’s cause in other countries’.But the will was challenged byVithalbhai’s sibling, VallabhbhaiPatel as a consequence of whichBose didn’t receive a penny.”

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Page 14: ˇ˝˛ ˚ ˜ - The Pioneer...2018/11/11  · for four years — 2012 to 2016 faster pace before it was hit by two major headwinds. “The two successive shocks of demonetisation and

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AJapanese jump rope enthusiast brokea Guinness world record for most

skips over a rope in 24 hours when he hita total of 151,409 skips. HijikiIkuyama, 36, who has previouslybroken numerous rope-skippingworld records, alternated betweenusing a larger rope held byassistants and using his ownsmaller rope when he spent 24hours working to beat IsabelBush’s record of 151,036 skips.

“It was so tough Ihad to take 10-minutebreaks every 20minutes,” Ikuyamasaid. “The guidelinesallowed me to skip alarge rope spun byassistants so the plan wasto alternate between alarge rope and short rope.”

“But for the long rope,we didn’t practice togetherbeforehand, and we couldn’tsynchronise properly so Ikept on trapping the rope andlosing time,” he said. “Eight

hours before the end of the attempt, Iditched the large rope and skipped solo— I thought I have to go and push thelimit,” Ikuyama said. He finished with atotal 151,409 skips, enough to take therecord. Ikuyama said his interest in thesport began at a young age.

“I had a crush on my teacher, and Iwas thinking of ways to get some

attention from her. Because she waspretty good at rope skipping, Ithought mastering that wouldimpress her,” he said.

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Apack llama thatescaped from a guid-

ed hike in southernYellowstone National Parkin August was rescued bya Montana outfitter lastweekend, just days beforemost of the park’sentrances were to close forwinter preparations.

“I just had to help him,”Susi Huelsmeyer-Sinay with

Yellowstone Llamas in

Bozeman, Montana,said Friday. “He wasabandoned.”

Wilderness RidgeTrail Llamas owner KirstinBaty of Idaho Falls, Idaho,tells the Jackson Hole News & Guidethat Ike ran off after guides loosened hishalter because it irritated the spot of apreviously abscessed tooth.

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ATexas restaurant and dog park isseeking a “Puptern” puppy-petting

expert to make $100 an hour cuddlingwith canines. Mutts Canine Cantinaannounced it is opening its secondlocation in Fort Worth and it seeking a“MUTTS Puptern” with superior“puppy petting skills” to make $100 anhour. The company said in anInstagram post that interested appli-cants should tag @muttscantina in pho-tos and videos on social media with thehashtag “#MUTTSpuptern” showing offtheir puppy petting skills. “Creativity isencouraged — tell us why you’re thebest fit for the position in your cap-

tion!” the post said. Applications arebeing accepted through November 12,the company said.

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Customs agents inspecting cargoshipments at a Texas airport said

they found 66.3 pounds of meth hid-den inside canned foods. US Customsand Border Protection said officer andagriculture specialists were inspectinga shipment of canned foods fromMexico at Houston IntercontinentalAirport on Tuesday and discovered acan of tomato puree had irregularweight distribution.

The can was opened and a liquidsubstance that started crystallisinginside tested positive for methampheta-mine. More meth was found inside cansof tomato puree, hominy and mole, offi-cials said. The 66.3 pounds of meth hadan estimated street value of $225,000.“This particular seizure illustrates howwell trained, experienced and commit-ted to our mission that our CBP agricul-ture specialists are,” Houston Area PortDirector Raymond S Polley said. “His

attention to detail resulted inthe prevention of over 66pounds of methampheta-mines from ending up in thehands of our community.”

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Awild elephant was caughton camera sneaking into

a Chinese village to steal abag of rice from outside aresident’s home. The videobegins with footage of theAsian elephant making offwith a bad of rice beingstored outside YangXuechang’s home in avillage near Pu’er City,Yunnan Province.

The video alsoincludes footagerecorded the next day,when the elephant againappeared outside Yang’shome, but found the manhad hidden the rice out ofthe animal’s reach.

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Police in Tennessee say a half-naked woman

fell twice through a restau-rant’s ceiling and landed in its kitchen.

News outlets report 26-year-old Harley C

Morton was arrested Tuesdayon charges including trespass-ing and disorderly conduct. AKingsport police report says aCook Out employee called911 when the naked bottomhalf of a woman droppedthrough the ceiling tiles.

It says a responding officerfound her wallet with her IDon the restaurant’s roof. Policesay she may have got into theceiling through an air condi-tioning unit.

It says Morton fell throughthe ceiling again while the offi-cer was on the roof. It says shelanded on the floor and wasarrested by other officers. It’sunclear if she has a lawyer.

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Streaming TV is ushering in ahigh-rolling, gold rush era, withHollywood actors signing up to a

slew of big-budget shows. This month,two hotly anticipated shows willlaunch that encapsulate the genre’snewfound popularity. Julia Robertsstars in the Amazon seriesHomecoming, earning a reported£450,000 per half-hour episode, whileYouTube makes its biggest foray intoUK programming with the sci-fi seriesOrigin — directed by the Resident Eviland Event Horizon director, Paul WSAnderson, and featuring Natalia Tenaand Tom Felton, who both starred inthe Harry Potter film series.

Roberts is not the first film A-lis-ter drawn to the small screen of thestreamers; Drew Barrymore andWinona Ryder have appeared in hitshows such as the Netflix zombie com-edy Santa Clarita Diet and the super-natural series Stranger Things, whileReese Witherspoon and JenniferAniston are due to star in a new Appledrama based on a CNN journalist’sbook called Top of the Morning.

Nicole Kidman also starred withWitherspoon in HBO and Sky

Atlantic’s Big Little Lies, and otherwell-known actors are following intheir footsteps as bigger budgets and abroader choice of channels has openedup what the agent Sophie Laurimorecalls a “gold rush” for talent.

Netflix is forecast to spend about$12bn (£9.2bn) globally on its showsthis year, while Amazon is due tospend $5bn, HBO $2bn and Applemore than £1bn, so it is no surprise to see filmstars rushing to the newentertainment suppliers.

Some time during his bruisingcross-examination of Eryn JeanNorvill, Geoffrey Rush’s barrister

paused to ask the actor what shethought of the character Cordelia inShakespeare’s King Lear.

Norvill played Cordelia alongsidethe Oscar winner in the SydneyTheatre Company’s troubled 2015production. The play, and Norvill’srole in it, is at the centre of a high-profile defamation trial that couldhave profound implications both forthe reporting of alleged sexual mis-conduct in Australia in the age of#MeToo, and the limits of the move-ment in the face of the justice system.

“I was in two minds about it, ifI’m honest with you,” she told thecourt this week as she described herstage role. “I mean, her journey is tobe the moral turning point … her sac-rifice, her death, means that the manhas an awakening [but] she doesn’t geta lot to say or a lot to do.”

Like the character she played,Norvill has, until this week, beenmarked by her lack of power.

Rush is suing the Sydney tabloid

newspaper the Daily Telegraph —which is owned by Rupert Murdochand not linked to the British broad-sheet — over a series of articles pub-lished at the end of November andbeginning of December 2017 alleg-ing he behaved inappropriately dur-ing the production.

One front-page story was head-lined “King Leer”, and featured a por-trait of Rush in character from theplay’s promotional material.

Meryl Streep, JK Rowling, andZadie Smith have all addedtheir names to an open letter

calling on the United Nations to inves-tigate the death of the journalist JamalKhashoggi. More than 100 artists,writers and activists have shown sup-port on the international day to endimpunity for crimes against journal-ists, a month after the Washington Postjournalist was killed at the Saudi con-sulate in Turkey. “The violent murderof a prominent journalist and com-mentator on foreign soil is a grave vio-lation of human rights and a disturb-

ing escalation of the crackdown ondissent in Saudi Arabia, whoseGovernment in recent years has jailednumerous writers, journalists, humanrights advocates and lawyers in asweeping assault on free expressionand association,” the letter reads. It’saddressed to António Guterres, theUN secretary general, and calls onhim to initiate an independent inves-tigation into what really happened toKhashoggi. Since his disappearance,Turkish officials have said they haveevidence that he was dismemberedand his body was dissolved.

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Mastering the art ofthree-point turns, par-allel parking andreversing around a cor-ner is just the begin-

ning. The true test of driving abilitycomes only once you have ripped upthose L-plates. And while most peoplefind their first solo drive a nerve-wracking experience, for some thatfeeling of anxiety never goes away.The first time I drove alone was fiveyears after passing my test. The longgap wasn’t down to a lack of confi-dence, but because I lived and workedin London, which meant that it waseasier and cheaper to get around bypublic transport, so I didn’t botherwith a car. But then one day at work Iagreed, as a favour, to return a compa-ny vehicle to another office, a distanceof about 15 miles.

Getting into an unfamiliar carmade the nerves start to rise.Realising that I would be alone for thefirst time without my instructor (andher dual-controls) also made meworry. And when I asked about thequickest route, I was told to take theM25. It was at this point that Iremembered I had never driven infifth gear, let alone on Britain’s busiestmotorway. At 4.30pm, on a Friday.

With all this going through myhead, I made it out of the car park anddrove about 100 metres down the roadbefore I came to a set of traffic lightsand promptly stalled. This may notsound particularly traumatic, except

for the fact that I didn’t stall throughjust one change of the lights — Istalled every time I tried to pull awayfor at least eight changes. It must haveonly been about 15 minutes, but it wasthe longest 15 minutes of my life.

As drivers started tooting andswerving round me and a group ofteenagers began laughing and gestur-ing each time I stalled, I started topanic. I considered calling someone,but who? Call the office and facebeing remembered as “that person”who couldn’t drive? Call my boyfriendat the time, who was several milesaway, and ask him to come and rescueme? Call the police and explain tothem that I had forgotten how todrive? Eventually, an elderly manstopped behind me, tapped on thewindow and offered some words ofadvice. He gave me directions to avoidthe M25 and helped me pull myselftogether enough to keep going.

Since my experience, I have spo-ken to others who found themselvesin similar situations. Even after pass-ing their driving test, they did not feelconfident in their driving ability inthe real world. In fact, a fear of dri-ving is one of the top 10 most com-monly reported phobias, encompass-ing everything from people who avoidcertain tricky roundabouts to thosewho can’t bring themselves to getbehind the wheel of a car at all.

Knowing that I was not alone wasreassuring, but it didn’t help me cometo terms with the underlying fear.

Ever since my experience, I have triedto avoid driving. I walk to work (2.5miles each way), I use public trans-port or accept lifts from friends whenI can and, in one case, I made myhusband drive all the way fromLondon to northern Italy and back(about 1,000 miles) when we wentthere on holiday.

But recently I decided, as a way ofmaking it up to friends, and to ensurefuture marital harmony, that I’d seekhelp. A number of companies offertraining for qualified drivers who arenervous behind the wheel or just wantto receive feedback on any bad habitsthey’ve picked up, and I opted for thehalf-day Advanced Driver CoachingAssessment run by the Institute ofAdvanced Motorists (IAM).

I was paired with instructorDebbie Wiseman, and after a chatabout my past driving experience, wehit the road. Everything went welluntil we came to a narrow street withcars parked on both sides, leavinglimited space for vehicles to pass. Asa driver coming from the otherdirection gestured for me to makethe first move, nerves got the betterof me and I stalled.

At the same time, a lorry hadpulled up behind me and started toot-ing. If Wiseman had not been there, Imay have descended into a meltdownonce again, but shetalked me throughwhat to do, andwithin seconds I

was on my way again. Analysing thesituation afterwards with Wiseman, Irealised that stalling in itself was notthe problem, but rather how I react-ed. I needed to filter out the reactionof others and maintain a focus onwhat I was doing.

Later, we came to a road that wasblocked by builders working on ahouse, which meant I had to performa turn in the road, on a hill. Three orfour drivers behind me had followedthe same route and also had to turnaround. This time, Wiseman keptquiet to see how I would cope. Again Istalled, but I didn’t panic — andinstead completed the manoeuvre.

The assessment undoubtedlyhelped me to gain confidence in mydriving ability and appreciate thateven though it may seem like otherdrivers are very confident, there areplenty of others just like me out there.

Having an independent assessorwas vital, as Wiseman could point out where I was going wrong withoutme taking it too personally and with-out the “back seat driver” mentalitythat can often develop when drivingwith a friend or partner.

I have also realised that driving is something that requires practice,like learning a language or playingan instrument, and improves overtime. Yes, I will still stall, and no, Istill can’t park in a straight line, butnow I feel like I’m on the road tobecoming a better driver.

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Page 15: ˇ˝˛ ˚ ˜ - The Pioneer...2018/11/11  · for four years — 2012 to 2016 faster pace before it was hit by two major headwinds. “The two successive shocks of demonetisation and

Because God is unique and His posi-tion is not up for grabs. God cannotbe replaced nor can He be duplicat-

ed. In short, there is no place for anotherGod now or ever. Still, many, especially inIndia declare themselves to be gods, andsome sycophants looking for cheap gainsbecome their followers. How can any saneperson imagine that the reality of God isso frivolous? Do these people, ie those whoclaim to be gods and their supportersrealise what God actually is like. It isimpossible for a human brain to even con-ceive what God is like let alone becomeone. We can have some idea but to knowGod to the full extent is impossible. He isomnipotent. Do we realise what thismeans? That God can do anything, I meananything, and He is infallible; He cannotmake mistakes like we do all the time.Then, God is omnipresent at all the placeswe can imagine and also where we cannotimagine. Actually, whatever there is inGod. He has created countless universes,of which our earth is an infinitesimal part.Then He is omniscient; God knows every-thing. Can anyone imagine that God canattend to billions all at the same time ifthey want to connect with Him? He does.

The problem with fake gods beginswith the fact of God’s incarnations. Theypretend to be one such incarnation. AreGod’s incarnations such frequent occur-rences? Lord Krishna states in The Gita,

“For the welfare of good people, for thepunishment of the wicked and for there-establishment of religious principles.I incarnate in different yugas.” (4.8)What does this statement imply? Thatthere are different purposes of God’sincarnations, and it is certainly not togather a lot of followers. Such incarna-tions happen once in hundreds of thou-sands of years, not every day as some ofthese gods will make us believe.

Let us go further. Let me compareGod’s qualities with ours. We are smallsouls. Yes, we are parts of God (15.17), butinfinitesimal parts. Our bodies or destroyedupon death — the inevitable end of a mate-rial body. God is immortal and His bodywhenever He incarnates in super special. Itmay appear like ours, but it is not. It neithergets sick nor dies. God disappears when Hismission is over. We depend upon so manyjust to be able to exist; God is not so help-less. Rather, He makes available what we

need for our maintenance. When we linkwith God, we do very well, whereas Godneeds nothing from us. When we areable to create something, we feel very

special, whereas God has created unlim-ited number of universes.

Why does such an unintelligent feelingcome over some? The biggest enemy —

our egos are the main culprits. Thinkingoneself to be God is the worst manifesta-tion of a super-inflated ego.

This generally happens when one isable to collect a few gullible followers. Thesepeople claim to know religious principlesbut still choose to ignore them. The leaderfeels good by being called ‘Bhagavan’ andhis followers hope to get something specialfrom him like liberation, though withoutany basis. The word ‘Bhagavan’ is also usedfor very special respectable persons butboth the speaker and the person addressedknow what it implies, ie one is giving a lotof respect, not making someone God. Sucha mindset distances one from God, who isthe ultimate arbiter of our destinies. Thosewho are cognisant of the reality are pun-ished heavily for their deception. This isrebelling against our master — God, andthis does not endear one to God.

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Understanding man’s position in this universe isdifficult. He is miniscule in terms of his size, hisabilities, his strengths and his entity when com-

pared to the hugeness of the universe. But there is aview that he is also a microcosm of the universe. Oneof the earliest thinkers to propound and elaborateupon this idea was Patanjali. His idea was that man is asystem consisting of four basic components — themineral man, the vegetable man, the animal man andthe human man. Patanjali gives the different character-istics of each of those four components or subsystemsthat go into the making of an organic entity, the man.Patanjali explains that as the mineral man, man is aliveyet passive, lazy by nature performing acts through theforce of habit. Thus he is capable of doing only thatwhich he is trained to do. The vegetable man is at ahigher level, thus it feeds on the minerals and draws itssustenance from the energy it saps through the rootsthat is its connecting link. One advancement — fromthe mineral man to the vegetable man is its ability toreproduce, bear fruits and multiply. So it is the animatequalities that give it activity and enterprise. The animalman is yet another higher level of organization com-pared to mineral and the vegetable man. The distinc-tive feature of this component is its mobility. To move,to run, to walk, to connect and forge links with thesurrounding world. The animal man develops the abil-ity to think, to remember, to be conscious. The fourthor the highest subsystem is the human man which is asynthesis and harmony of the mineral man, the veg-etable man and the animal man. It is this level wherethe spiritual subsystem or the Purusa is introducedinto the individual material subsystem. It is owing tothis Purusa that the human activity rises to the higherlevels of spirituality and gets endowed with reason andsoul. It is the human man that, vested with Purusa,acquires the human qualities of manipulating the envi-ronment, changing it and making it suit his own inter-est. This human man is supposed to shake all theshackles of prakriti or the matter that is dominant inthe other three subsystems. Thus this approach ofPatanjali is cosmic rather than social. But this needs tobe understood that such cosmic character is yet notachieved and by and large it is the social approach thatis a better explanation of the present state. Patanjaliwas thus right in assuming that the ideal man needs tobe cosmic, but he could not visualise when that levelwill be achieved, if at all. Though this explanation ofthe model of man is more secular and less religious yet,does open vistas for understanding the true purposebehind human creation. Something that ShriAurobindo talked about in his model of future evolu-tion of man, the ascent of man to acquire supramind. Itis this man who will be untouched by worldly plea-sures, sufferings and attachments and will acquireGodliness or unity within the supreme soul. The Gitaexplains this state as the stithpragyan. One who is freeof ignorance, ego, attraction, aversion and bodily plea-sures, thus acquiring the yogic state. When that isgoing to happen, if at all, is almost impossible to visu-alise, yet the model of cosmic man is a grand explana-tion of the ultimate state of man.

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The beginning of our soul’sjourney is with the contactwith the light and sound ofGod. Light and sound arethe two primary manifesta-

tions of God. It is said that when Goddesired to bring about creation, a cur-rent emanated from Him. That cur-rent manifested as light and sound. Itwas a divine stream that brought allcreation into being. As it moved fur-ther from the source, the vibratoryrate changed. Thus, different regionsof different vibrations were broughtinto being. The light and sound prin-ciple ultimately brought the physicaluniverse into being.

Our physical universe is operatingat the densest vibratory rate. It is sodense that it manifests as matter. It isonly in the last few decades that sci-entists have begun to understand thatwhat we thought was solid matter isreally dancing packets of energy. Atthe core of matter is an energy that islight and sound. When we split anatom, there is a tremendous burst oflight and sound. This light and soundenergy within our physical universe isthe densest vibration of the current oflight and sound emanating from thecreator. It brought all creation intobeing and sustains all creation.

The light and sound current flowsout from God, but it also flows backto God. We can catch this current atthe point of the third or single eye.That is the connecting point betweenour soul in the body and the light andsound current emanating from thecreator. If we can concentrate ourattention at that point, we can contactthe light and sound current and soaron it back through the higher regionsof existence. The current will ulti-mately lead us to our primary source,back to the Lord.

One who has come in contactwith the light and sound can recog-nise the true meaning of referencesto it in the scriptures. Often, scrip-tures are couched in allegorical andmetaphorical language to avoid giv-ing away the full secret oral tradi-tion to the masses. Only those whowere privy to the oral traditionpassed on from master to discipleknew the hidden meaning in the

scriptural references. Once weunderstand the language, the mean-ing becomes clear and we are able toidentify the descriptions of theattributes of the creative force men-tioned in each scripture.

Meditation on the light and soundconsists of two practices: Meditationon the inner light and meditation onthe inner sound. Both practices haveas their ultimate goal a conscious con-tact with the current of light andsound, leading to the soul risingabove physical body-consciousnessand traveling in the inner realms.

Both of these forms of meditationhave been practiced by saints andmystics in different religions. Becausethe terminology used for the light andsound current differs in various lan-guages and cultures, we may thinkthey are different practices. But theunderlying practices used around theworld are basically the same.

The light and sound current issubtle. It cannot be perceived by ourphysical eyes and ears. It is somethingthat we see and hear with the eye ofthe soul. So when the Bible tells usthat “by hearing, ye shall hear” it issaying that the word is not heard withour physical hearing mechanism, butwith the attention of our soul. Whenwe see the inner light, it is neither reg-istered on our retina nor conveyedalong our optic nerve to the brain;rather, it is seen at the level of the soul.

The mind is in continuousmotion. The harder we try to keep themind still, the more thoughts it sendsto us. The mind is like mercury; it isalways restless and always moving. Itcan jump from images and thoughtsof New York, to Paris, to Delhi, andthen back again. Saints and mysticshave grappled with this problemthroughout the ages. Many scripturesspeak of occupying the mind with atask to keep it busy: Repetition of theLord’s name. Repetition keeps themind occupied so that our attentioncan focus its gaze on the field ofvision lying in front of us.

There are some who practice thisrepetition orally. Some say the namesof God while turning beads. Othersdo it by sitting still, but with theirtongue moving.

The most efficient way is torepeat the names of God mentally.The concept behind the mental repe-tition is to keep the body still. If thetongue is moving, the attention willbe on the brain moving the tongue.Using the tongue also means that thesound of the names will be audible,which will activate our attention tothe sense of hearing. Mental repeti-tion, however, does not involve anyorgans or senses. The mouth is still,and the sense of hearing is not acti-vated. In mental repetition, onlythought is occupied, which is pre-cisely the point — to keep it busy.One repeats the names of God, thusstilling the mind. While the mind isquiet, our attention can focus at thethird eye without disturbance so wecan see the inner light of God.

The words used in repetition aresometimes called a mantra. Mantrashave been used since ancient times,selected by saints or masters whowere adept in the power of soundbeyond the human ken. These sacredsyllables, when charged with the spir-itual attention of an enlightenedbeing, have the power to attract theattention to the point where it cancontact the light and sound. Thecharging helps the aspirant to focusthe attention at the third eye. It helpsus to withdraw our attention from theworld and the body and to focus atthe third eye. The repetition of thenames gives a spiritual boost to thesoul so that it can withdraw fromconsciousness of the body and con-nect with the light and sound withinus and ultimately enter a state of con-sciousness of the realms beyond.

Through meditation, a wholenew world opens up for us. By learn-ing, meditation, we can gain entrythrough a doorway that leads us toworlds of bliss, light, and love within.If we can meditate on the inner lightand sound, we will find that we canreach our goal. We begin our con-centration at the third eye because itis from there that the soul leaves thebody. Since the current of light andsound flows from God, we can catchits celestial music and like a streamfollow it back to its source.

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Why do people in Eastern Indiaoffer their prayers to MotherGoddess Kali, when rest of

the country would be worshipingLakshmi? Those not conversant withthe concept underlying Kali may becurious to know. For the answer, a lookinto the metaphysical concept underly-ing Kali becomes imperative.

Kali is believed to drive throughcreative potential inlaid with LordShiva (the eternal source of creation),which eventually manifests into a pluralworld with all its enormity and diversi-ty. So, if East pays attention to the rootof creation, the rest of the countryremains focused to the produce. It willbe therefore unfair to see either of themin isolation, as one without the other issimply inconceivable. The two in factrepresent twin faces of the creation.

The imagery of Kali as is perceived,has to be seen in the above light. So isShe presented in a running mode hav-ing one leg set on Lord Siva’s body lyinginert in corpse pose and other behind.It is as if She picks up the essence of lifefrom Lord Siva, out of which the mani-fest world of form and name has comeinto place. Lord Siva is believed to becarrying the seeds of creation, original-

ly in a state of rest. He, lying in corpsepose, implies being motionless byHimself. When His state of rest getsdisturbed following spontaneous stir-ring up, life-sparks came into play. Kalias Shiva’s consort — His Shakti (Kineticside) — carries forward the life sparksto create the living world, which whenwithdrawn, the Universe too revertsback to its root. Again, out of the seedsof creation left behind, a new Universetakes off. The symbol set in the crema-tion ground implies that even followingdeath, out of the seeds of life, wouldemerge new life-form. Life cycle, thus,keeps running in succession, both indi-vidually and collectively.

Lord Shiva and Kali are cotermi-nous, as one without the other is incon-ceivable. It is something like a staticfire-ball, and heat waves emanatingthere from. If the fire-ball is not there,there will be no heat wave. And if heatwave is not there, the possibility of fire-ball doesn’t exist. It may not be out ofplace to mention here that according to‘the theory of relativity’, whenever thereis entropy, it multiplies. Here, the heatwaves emanating from the so calledfire-ball is that entropy which multi-plied into diversified energies out of

which emerged the multipolar phenom-enal form-world. So is Lord Shiva per-ceived as the beholder of transcendent-consciousness — primal consciousnesselement lying at the root of all. Kali asHis consort symbolises immanent-con-sciousness — all-pervading radiatingconsciousness, which grants necessaryintelligence to all field players of theliving world.

It is believed that following sponta-neous pulsation at the eternal-source,the primal-sound “Om” got excited.Out of that emerged ‘Shakti-trinity —Sata, Rajasa, and Tamasa. Randommutation of the three variants of shaktithat followed, led to diversified soundnotes, out of which those audible tohuman ears are symbolised by the 50alphabets of Sanskrit, the seed-syllables(Beeja-mantras). So is Kali perceived assporting the garland made of 50 humanskulls, and which, holds the key to themanifest intelligent world. So, even thelanguage in use is very much rooted inthe creation process itself. Kali’s lowerpart is covered with as many humanhands stringed together to mean thatShe grants the power which lets organicworld being in active mode. Thus cameinto being the dynamic world with allits functionalities.

Kali is shown as black, because Sheis beyond the scope of human compre-hension. It also implies a formless liveforce that though can’t be seen butremains at the root of our existence. Tomake us understand this hard truth oflife, Kali is presented as such. She isshown as nude to mean that the wholeuniverse forms her apparel meaninginfinity. Remember, if an ephemeralworld has come into being, it has tomeet its end one day, when it collapsesinto its source, something like the starcollapsing to form an invisible black-hole. In the reverse cycle, once karma-cycle gets exhausted, signified bychopped hands, and ego gets dissolvedas symbolised by head skulls, one getsto realise Kali. The cycle of time beginswith Kali exciting creation chain, andends when the phenomenal worldmerges back into Her. So, is She namedKali, the beholder of time. This conceptis, therefore, nothing but scientificprinciple of creation deified.

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