From page 1. Government move. nature of the land with raiyats

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1 egendary vocalist M LBalamuralikrishna, who first exploded on the Carnatic music scene as a child prodigy and later strode classical and cinema worlds effortlessly across generations, passed away in Chennai on Tuesday. The 86-year-old veteran, who featured in the popular national integration song Miley Sur Mera Tumhara on DD channel in the 80s in which he sang Tamil lyrics, was not keeping well for some time and breathed his last at his residence, his family sources told PTI. Balamuralikrishna, who hailed from Sankaraguptam in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, made Chennai his home to traverse the world of music and cinema. He leaves behind his wife, four sons and two daughters. The musician. He started his musical journey as a sixyear-old boy and grew to be one of the best names in the profession, leaving his imprint in the field of Carnatic music. A multi-faceted personality, he enriched music not only with his voice but also by composing over 400 songs in various languages like Telugu, Sanskrit, Kannada and Tamil. This included devotional to varnams, krithis, javalis and thillanas, in all the fundamental 72 melakartha ragas. hief Minister Raghubar Das Cand Leader of Opposition in the Jharkhand Assembly Hemant Soren on Tuesday were locked in a war of words over the proposed changes in the CNT-SPT Acts at a function held to celebrate the Foundation Day of the State Assembly, thus setting the tone of the fiery battle on the floor of the House on Wednesday when the Government tables the bill for the tenancy reforms. Launching a scathing attack, Soren said that a law should not be changed out of arrogance of being in majority as it was important to get suggestions from the people also along with the legislature and the bureaucracy. If people are not taken into confidence over the issues of public interest, then it is for sure that we will put ourselves in trough along with the State, said Soren. The Government must take care that the feelings of the people do not get hurt, he added. If things get resolved though scuffle in this state, importance of the Assembly will be lost, he said. A balance between Government and Opposition and Assembly must be maintained so that the people do not get crushed, added Soren. The Chief Minister responded to Soren, saying there was no hidden agenda of the Government and no businessman in this world is born who could pay money for Jharkhand. Whatever we do, will be in the interest of the people. The opposition can discuss over the Indian Army s surgical strikes on September 29 in PoK he bloodshed along the he Indian Army is prepar- for a massive retaliation ist launch pads were destroyed in which at least seven terror- TLine of Control (LoC) in Ting Jammu & Kashmir continued after Pakistan-supported terrorists and terrorists were killed, killed three jawans and sources said. on Tuesday as three Indian Army soldiers were killed by mutilated the body of one of In fact, ceasefire violations terrorists backed by Pakistani them on the Line of Control in and infiltration bids had seen troops in Machil sector of Machli sector on Tuesday. As a quantum jump since north Kashmir s Kupwara district. The body of one of the killed in ceasefire violations Pakistan Army posts along the ceasefire violations took place many as 12 soldiers have been September 29. More than 286 soldiers was mutilated by the and encounters with terrorists LoC as it gives covering fire and in the last two places by attackers, evoking sharp resentment from the Indian Army. terrorist launch pads in sneaking into Kashmir. firing at inhabited areas near after the surgical strikes against provides arms to militants Pakistan Army which was even Three soldiers killed in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir in Sources said that the the LoC and International action on LoC in Machil. The September. attackers, suspected to be the Border (IB). Moreover, at least body of one soldier was mutilated. Army Vice-Chief members of Pakistan s Border 120 successful infiltration bids Retribution will be heavy for this cowardly act, said the Northern Command in a statement after the incident. Two terrorists were killed in Pura sector by killing one suspected militant guide who had Sources said that a patrolling party of 57 Lieutenant-General Bipin Rawat briefed Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar here on the killing of the three soldiers. This is the second such incident Action Team (BAT) were behind the attack. Incidentally, one Indian Army soldier was killed in the same sector a month back and took place this year as compared to less than half last year. Officials said infiltrations also went up in the last few weeks. Apprehending a violent Bandipora district of north intruded inside the Indian territory, Rashtriya Rifles was of mutilation of the body of an his body too was mutilated by winter, officials said the Kashmir in a gunfight and two 2,000 denomination notes, recently introduced by India after the demonetization drive, were recovered, compelling security forces to launch a probe. In another incident, the Border Security Force foiled an infiltration bid along the International Border in RS taking advantage of the fog and thick grass, in the wee hours of Tuesday. Swift action by a BSF jawan guarding one of the forward sentry posts prevented a possible strike by the heavilyarmed terrorists who immediately retreated into Pakistani territory following the incident. ambushed by terrorists backed by Pakistan Army. The attackers killed three soldiers and mutilated one body before fleeing. Sources said that the terrorists they had the full support of the Pakistan Army which carried out firing and shelling to provide them cover. Indian soldier on the LoC after a similar barbaric incident on October 29. Maintaining that retribution will be heavy for this cowardly act, the Army said the reprisal will be at a time and place of our choosing. Officials however said the punitive action will be against BAT. This team comprises Pakistan Army commandos of Special Services Group and terrorists and one such team also beheaded at least three soldiers in Poonch sector in 2012 in two separate incidents in January and June respectively. The Pakistan Army was determined to seek revenge for Pakistan Army and the Inter- Services Intelligence were working overtime to push in as many militants as possible into Kashmir before snow blocks ingress routes. Incidentally, Tuesday s incident took place at a height of more than 13,000 feet, they said adding the area was yet to experience snow. he Lok Sabha and TAssembly by-election results declared on Tuesday held no surprises as candidates of the ruling parties in all the six States and Puducherry managed to win easily most of the ten Assembly seats. The BJP retained one Lok Sabha seat each from Assam and Madhya Pradesh, while Trinamool Congress (TMC) kept its two LS seats in West Bengal. In the re-election held for CNT and SPT Acts as long as they want to do it in the House so that it becomes crystal clear, he said. It is, however, unfortunate that the House was being disrupted again and again on the issue, said Das. The CM said that elected representatives must talk only about people s interest. Stressing on hearing the opinion of the opposite party on any of the issues, Das said that there must be opposition over the issues but the House should not get disrupted as it is the duty of all of us to respect the mandate given by the people. If the amendment does not prove to be fruitful, it could ten Assembly seats on November 19, results of which be further amended. My Government is a voice of poor, tribal, suppressed, and destitute and we are determined to uplift them, Das said. The CM also took a pledge that he will not do anything else other than development and will never make compromises with the public interest. The united Opposition, however, made it clear that it was braced to thwart the government s move to amend the tenancy laws. Sources from Opposition camp said that the day would be unforeseen in the history of the State. The Chief Minister out of his sheer arrogance is not were declared on Tuesday, the BJP and AIADMK won three listening to anyone and we are forced to go to any level to stop this Government from bringing the anti-people amendments, said a senior legislator. The JMM also defended its assent given in the past to amend the CNT Act. The amendments made in the CNT Act in 1996 were brought on the recommendation of the Dhebar Commission which strengthened the land safety provisions even further. Also, it was proposed by the commission, notified by the President, said JMM legislator Deepak Birua, who has quit his TAC post Continued on Page 2 each, CPI(M) got two while Congress and TMC had one each. The BJP won the Lakhimpur Lok Sabha seat in Assam which had fallen vacant after Sarbananda Sonowal took over as Chief Minister. The BJP also retained Shahdol in Madhya Pradesh. However, the BJP s victory margin in Shahdol came down to 60,000 from 241,301 in the 2014 general elections. In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP bagged the Nepanagar Assembly seat, where it increased its winning margin to 42,198 votes as against 22,178. The TMC swept Tamluk and Cooch Behar Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal by a huge margin of over 4.9 allying around Prime RMinister Narendra Modi, the BJP s Parliamentary Party on Tuesday passed a unanimous resolution congratulating him for his great crusade against black money and corruption. Hitting out at the political opponents, the resolution asked them to decide whether they stand by the people of India and the Government or hoarders of black money. Speaking at the first meeting of the BJP s Parliamentary Party in the Winter Session, Modi said that his step to demonetise high value currency was not one-time step but a long, deep and constant battle against corruption, black money, counterfeit currency notes and terror funding that would ultimately benefit the poor and common man. The Prime Minister drew support from the party members who gave him threetime standing ovation in the meeting. The MPs were also addressed by senior Ministers Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar. An emotional Modi said the poor and the lower and middle classes have suffered the most due to black money, fake currency and corruption. The Government is working to rid the country of these evils and make the economy stronger, he said. We have come to power not for us or those close to us but for the poor. For 70 years, the poor and the lower and middle classes suffered and have been exploited by black money, corruption and terrorism. Our aim is a deep, long and constant struggle against lakh votes, almost doubling the gap from 2014 polls. The TMC also won the Monteswar Assembly seat with candidates of CPI(M), Congress and BJP losing their deposits. Interestingly, both the BJP and the TMC claimed their win was a vindication of their stand on demonetisation. According to Sonowal, the BJP s victory in the bypolls showed that people have endorsed the Government s decision against black money and corruption. The BJP s victory in bypolls is a clear indication that people are fully supporting the decision to demonetise Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes. It is the people s mandate for the Prime them, he said. The Prime Minster said the measures like setting up of Special Investigation Team into the black money, Income disclosure scheme (2016) and demonetisation are series of steps which would continue in future for the benefit of common men. Demonetisation is not the end but the beginning of a long, deep and constant battle against black money and corruption, said the Prime Minister amid loud clapping. The resolution said the demonetisation move had people s support, claiming it was the most profound statement to have ever come from the country. People are queuing up for a better India and all transformative decisions cause some pain, Naidu said after the meeting. The resolution said the demonetisation move had people s support, claiming it was the most profound statement to have ever come from the country Ċontinued on Page 2 Minister s decision of demonetisation, Sonowal said. However, West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee termed the results as a mandate against the Centre s decision of demonetisation. The by-election result is a befitting reply against the anti-people demonetisation by the Centre. It s a people s revolt, rather a mass revolt against the Centre. The BJP should take lessons from this mandate, she said. In Puducherry, senior Congress leader and Chief Minister V Narayanasamy won the bypoll to Nellithope Assembly seat defeating AIADMK s Om Sakthi Segar by a margin of 11,144 votes. In hile debate on demon- has been Wetisation derailed in Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday decided to have a first-hand interaction with people on the issue through Narendra Modi App. He asked public to participate in a survey where a number of questions have been posed with regard to scrapping of old 500 and 1000 currency notes. I want your first-hand view on the decision taken regarding currency notes. Take part in the survey on the NM App. he tweeted. The Prime Minister posed questions like: Do you have any suggestions/ideas or insights you would like to share with PM Narendra Modi? itting back at Tatas, ousted HChairman Cyrus Mistry on Tuesday rejected charges of not contributing anything to the group s cash-cows Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and alleged that patriarch Ratan Tata once tried to sell the IT firm to IBM and his ego led to bad business decisions like Corus acquisition at double the original cost. Mistry also said that Tata s contribution to the success of TCS and JLR is an illusion. It is important to set the record straight since insinuations and leaks are being made explicitly to create an illusion that Mistry was a hands off chairman and TCS/JLR were on auto-pilot during his leadership, Mistry s office said in a five-page letter on Tuesday. Meanwhile, industrialist Nusli Wadia sent another defamation notice to Tata Sons and its directors seeking withdrawal of allegations against him. Detailed report on P10 Tamil Nadu, AIADMK retained Thanjavur and Thiruparankundram Assembly seats and wrested Aravakurichi seat from DMK by margins ranging from 20,000 votes to 42,000. In the CPI(M) ruled Tripura, the Left party snatched Barjala (SC) seat from Congress and retained Khowai. North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) candidate Dasanglu Pul of BJP won Hayuliang Assembly by-poll in Arunachal Pradesh defeating her lone rival Yompi Kri, an Independent candidate, by 942 votes. Dasanglu is the youngest of the three wives of late Chief Minister Kalikho Pul. The bypoll was necessitated by his suicide. Continued on Page 2

2 av Bharat Jagriti Kendra NHazaribagh launched the much needed awareness campaign supported by Childline India foundation, Mumbai, in Chauparan and nearby areas of the district. NBJKs childline sub-center Chauparan initiated the campaign in the district through a week long program called Childline se Dosti which concluded on last Sunday. Childline team members have contacted people, collected their signatures in favor of Child Rights, distributed informative handbills and briefed them about the program. Also they clasped designer wristbands with message about this campaign. On 14th November i.e. childern s day this campaign was launched at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Eye Hospital, Bahera, Chauparan. Many eye patients and carers, doctors and hospital staffs took part in this program. Gandharv Gaurav Program Director, Eye Care graced the occasion and supported this initiative for a safe childhood. On 15th, Childline team contacted the Auto drivers at Chatra Auto Stand, Chouparan. They were facilitated towards the right of children and Childline1098. Handbills and wristbands were distributed among the auto drivers and passengers. Childline Se Dosti campaign was held at Barhi block and Sub-divisional hospital on 16th in which many government officers like BDO, CO, CDPO, doctors and police inspector as well as visitors have been contacted over the issue of Child Rights. On 17th, Childline team reached Orphanage School, Barhi, met the children and teachers and talked about this friendship campaign. Administrative offices and officers of Chouparan block were contacted on 18th November under the campaign while students of Government Primary School, Bedhnabara, Chouparan interacted with Childline team and heard the message carefully. They organized a cultural program to welcome the initiative on 19th. The campaign concluded on Sunday 20th November at Kendua More Auto Stand, Chouparan, where common people and transporters were sensitized upon Child Rights and about use of Childline1098. The team was led by Veerendra Sinha of NBJKs childline sub-ceenter Chauparan. Narayan Rajak, Maya Mishra, Poonam Devi and Navratan Pandey were the other members iming to provide an out- classroom opportu- Aside nity for the students to explore new challenges and learn life skills an adventure and sports camp Anubhuti organised at DPS Bokaro on Tuesday. Around 391 students of classes IV to VIII of the school were participated enthusiastically in the In- House programme. The instructors explained the students about the different events during the camp included Wall Climbing, Rappelling, Flying Fox, Rope Ladder, Net Crawling, Rope Climbing and Double Rope Balancing. There were team building activities as well which included Treasure Hunt, Tent Pitching, school authority informed. Besides above the students were made acquainted with Sky Watching (during night), Handling of Telescope and Infotainment activities like Quiz on Universe, Planets and their Moons during the camp. All the students were given participation certificate for this unique camp. Dr. Hemlata. S. Mohan, Director and Principal of the school said that this unique programme of the school continues to provide students with the stimulating combination of celestial science activities, adventure and a fun-filled day with fellow students. From page 1 Jaitley asserted that demonetisation will lead to a jump in private investment and more public spending on welfare measures. Taking a dig at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Jaitley said while the Congress leader says the demonetisation decision was selectively leaked to BJP top brass, he also claims that even the Finance Minister, that means I, was also not aware. Jaitley explained all aspects of the move and said, Demonetisation has direct relation with the poor, with poverty and with poverty alleviation and said once the replacement of currency reaches a reasonable level, the restrictions will be eased. Explaining the likely positive outcomes of this move, Jaitley said the country annually borrows Rs 4-5 lakh crore and after this move and these funds can be used for public spending for development of rural areas and uplift of the poor. Later at a function commemorating the memory of hundred forty-three Onewly recruited BSF jawans took oath of service after completing 44 week long strenuous training program. The newly recruits of 144 A company presented an eye catching Parrade cum March Past program in the Rani Lakshmibai Parrade ground, Meru, Hazaribagh. DG training PC Sharma gave them the oath of serving the nation. Addressing prominent BJP leader and former Governor of Sikkim and Goa Kedarnath Sahni, the Prime Minister expressed surprise that a small group of people was openly condoning corruption and black money. As the Opposition continued to criticise the demonetisation move and derailed the proceedings in Parliament, the Prime Minister launched Shradheya Kidarnath Sahni Granth at Balyogi Sabhagar in the Sansad Bhawan Library. We will have to stand up before this mindset of compromise, said the Prime Minister, adding those carrying the flag for evil things are a threat to society and must be countered with idealism and value-laden behaviour. Modi regretted fast depletion in values and open public support to corruption by certain groups. In this context, he praised simplicity and truthfulness of Sahni and asked BJP workers and leaders to draw inspiration from him. the new members of BSF family he said that it is an important day of your life. You have completed your training and now it will help you in serving the nation giving your best. Among the newly recruits youths of West Bengal, UP, Tamil Nadu, Chattisgarh, Assam, Haryana, Jharkhand, Kerela, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Punjab, Maharastra and Jammu&Kashmir are included. From page 1 are ready with it and will make protesting over the sure that the Bills are passed Government move. after proper debate and discussion. The party also questioned We have even pro- whether on any occasion posed extending the time allotted for that, said party s chief nature of the land with raiyats six-member team of the had been allowed to change or whip Radha Krishna Kishore. Aincome-tax (I-T) department not and defended the decision He, moreover, maintained from Ranchi on Tuesday conducted raid at offices and residence of city- based leading cinema hall owners and businessmen Rahul Sawa and his brother Vishal Sawa. The raids were carried out in residences and offices located at Mango, Sakchi and Sonari. Sawa owns Payal Talkies at Mango and is also into real estate business. Sources informed that the team seized several documents from their offices. The raids that started at 12 noon continued till late evening. The team is also probing into the business deals and disproportionate assets of the businessmen who have several flourishing business in the steel city The IT officials have sealed bank accounts and sources confirmed that huge amounts of disproportionate assets have been amassed by the traders. of its Government led by Hemant Soren in The step was taken after consent with the TAC and had given rights to the aboriginals to sell and purchase their lands to any aboriginals across the State. Presently, the BJP is acting on the personal agenda of the Chief Minister to appease its corporate friends, said party general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya. JVM supremo Babulal Marandi, reiterating his party s stated position termed the Bill anti-tribal that would pave way to snatch away their precious land. The party has also planned protests and gherao of the House on Wednesday. The BJP-led Government, on the other hand, is looking confident of not only moving the amendment proposals but get the Bills passed as well. We that the party would not issue any whip to its members to vote in the favour of the Bills. The matter has been discussed during the legislative body meeting held the Chief Minister s office and earlier in the TAC. There is no confusion whatsoever in the minds of our members. The party and Government would stick to the parliamentary ethics, he added. Meanwhile, the Assembly management has taken necessary steps to deal with any untoward situation inside and outside the House. All the marshals have been told to report for duty on Wednesday. We would ensure a peaceful situation in the campus and also inside the House, said an official after a meeting called in this regard by the Assembly Secretary. From page 1 In Bengal, TMC candidate Dibyendu Adhikari won Tamluk Lok Sabha seat by defeating his nearest CPI(M) rival Mandira Panda by 4.97 lakh votes. The party won the Cooch Behar Lok Sabha seat with its candidate Partha Pratim Roy drubbing his nearest rival BJP s Hemchandra Burman by a margin of 4.9 lakh votes and pushed Forward Bloc, LF partner to the third position. Roy increased the party s victory margin from 38,000 in 2014 to 4.9 lakh.in Monteswar Assembly seat, Saikat Panja of TMC won the seat by a margin of 1.27 lakh votes over his nearest CPI(M) rival Md Osman Gani Sarkar. TMC S winning margin in the May 2016 Assembly polls was a mere 786 votes when the Congress and CPI(M) fought unitedly.bjp candidate Pradan Barua won the Lakhimpur Lok Sabha seat in Assam by a margin of 1,90,219 votes defeating his nearest rival Congress s Hema Prasanga Pegu by a convincing 1,90,219 votes, the returning officer said.

3 he Cabinet on Tuesday Tgave its nod to constitute a fund meant for road safety and security in the State. The fund would be named as Jharkhand State Road Safety Fund. Informing about this, Additional Chief Secretary NN Pandey said that the Cabinet had approved the rules to govern the fund. Jharkhand State Road Safety Fund guideline-2016 has been approved by the Cabinet. All national, State and town roads would be covered under this. Safety and security of the vehicles plying on those, installation of machineries required for traffic rules, spreading awareness and controlling accidents etc would be taken care of through the fund, said the official. He also added that 10 per cent of the fund would be sourced from the compounding fee collected by the Transport Department from vehicles across the State. The Cabinet also okayed building engineering college in Koderma on the surplus land with the Koderma Mining Institute. The Cabinet has decided to take spare land lying with Mining Institute in Koderma for building the engineering college there. About acres of land would be taken for this purpose. The Government would bear crore estimated cost coming on the college, said he. M aheshpur Legislator Stephen Marandi, who has remained MLA for seven times, bagged Birsa Munda Award of Excellence for the year 2016 on 16th Foundation Day of Jharkhand Assembly on Tuesday. Three other employees of Jharkhand Assembly -- Anant Joy Lakra, Maya Tamang and Brahmdeo Mahto -- were also felicitated by Chief Minister Raghunar Das for their outstanding contribution and dedication in discharging their duties on the occasion. Speaking a gathering of MLAs, former MLAs, and senior leaders Marandi stressed on prioritising parliamentary affairs by a legislator over solving day to day problems of the people of one s constituency. One should focus more on parliamentary affairs rather than solving problems of the people of one s constituency as it takes time to be well versed in parliamentary affairs; he must be aware of every technicality of it, said Marandi. People do not see their legislator what exactly they are meant for, hence they should focus more on the parliamentary affairs, he added. Once they start focusing on parliamentary affairs, they will olving the land grievances of SHarinarayan Chaturvedi of Ramgarh district, Secretary to the CM Sunil Kumar Barnwal on Tuesday instructed the officials to intervene in the matter and sort out the land issues within 15 days. Barnwal was reviewing the Jan Samwad meeting organissed weekly to address public grievances. Notably, Chaturvedi s land was sold out by the Circle Officer (CO) of Ramgarh and other government officials few years back. Similarly, reviewing the case of Lalita Devi, who died five years back due to lightning was also resolved. Taking stern election notification for Tthe much awaited student union election was released on Tuesday by Ranchi University (RU) Vice-Chancellor Dr RK Pandey in the presence of university officials and college principals. The much awaited student union election will be conducted here at the university after a gap of nine years. However, giving rest to all anticipations, none of the minority institutions will participate in the upcoming student election even after university constant appeal time and again to actively involve themselves in the poll procedure. None of the minority institution heads have either attended the meeting of union poll conducted in past by university officials. Polling will be conducted through direct procedure at all the constituents and Under automatically become champions of it and will be able to come up to expectations of the legislator, said Marandi. Legislation could not be mugged up..it could be inculcated through regular practice, said Maheshpur MLA. Marandi said that if Jharkhand has to go further, an assessment must be done that that what have been the action on the official-incharges, Barnwal asked the officials to immediately release the compensation amount to the family of deceased. Officials achievements so far in the last 16 years. We need to work in team spirit, if we really want Jharkhand to excel, said Marandi. Family members of martyrs Francis Horo, Joseph Laguri, Shakti Singh, Nayan Kujur and Jawra Munda, who lost their lives in Jammu and Kashmir fighting with the terrorists, were also facilitated earlier were of the opinion that due to the lack of postmortem evidences, Devi family members were not given the compensation amount on time. during the Foundation Day. Their dependents were given a cheque of 21 thousand each along with a letter of appreciation. Padmashree Ashok Bhagat and Simon Oraon were also felicitated during the ceremony. A magazine Udaan was released and ex- MLAs of the D e v e l o p m e n t Commissioner-cum- Additional Chief Seceretary, Planning cum Finance Department Amit Khare on Tuesday said that as per the directives of Ministry of Finance, Government of India the State Government has issued instructions that farmers can use 500 old notes for byuing seeds from LAMPS and PACS. Holding a meeting on the issue Khare said that the farmers will have to produce an identification card such as Aadhar or any other card for buying seeds from LAMPS and PACS using 500 old notes. Only 500 old notes can be used by the farmers for the purpose. Agriculture Seceretary NM Kulkarni said on the occasion that LAMPS and PACS were seperately being directed across the State. Graduate (UG) colleges whereas at University level the voting will be conducted through indirect method scheduled on December 20. On financial side, all the constituent colleges under RU have been instructed to utilize its own student union funds collected over the years, however at Post Graduate (PG) level the university will fulfill the financial requirement of the student union election. Yet, Khare also said that old currency notes of 500 and 1000 can be used for paying pending and current electricty bills. This exemption is ony for indivudual and domestic connections and no advance payments can be done. He said that the old currency notes can also be used for paying dues of civic bodies. The Development Commissioner informed that Interestingly, Devi s postmortem was carried under the strict vigilance of Circle Officials of the respective district. A show-cause notice was issued to Deoghar SDO, Ramnaresh Mahato for delay in issuing the old age pension scheme to the beneficiary. For the last four months, Nageshwar Tiwari has not received pension amount under the old age scheme. Another show cause notice was issued to engineer involved in constructing Utaari road for delay in construction of 6 km long road. In the tussle between the government officials, public interest should not suffer. Hence, it is the responsibility of the concerned officials to complete the work in time, said, Sunil Kumar Barnwal. Acting strictly upon the Koderma issue where some anti-social elements have demolished the schools, Aganwadi centres, Kumar instructed the officials to submit the detailed report within two weeks. He further instructed the officials to take action against the culprits at earliest. In the another case, soon the captured land of Sandip Kumar Poddar, a resident of Lohardaga will be released as instruction have been issued to all the police staffs who have captured the land to release it within 15 days or else get ready to face music. Deputy Commissioners of various distrcits have begun distribution of cash through mobile vans in different distrcits lakh has been distrubuted among 416 person in Dhanbad, while 4.90 lakh has been distributed among 250 persons in Bokaro district. JBVNL MD Rahul Purwar informed in the meeting that between November 9 and November 22, electricity bills worth Crore have been paid out of which crore have been paid in Ranchi and 6 crore have been paid in Dhanbad distrcit. The government has also taken two decisions that the pensioners can submit their Life Certificate by January 15, Secondly, an approval has been given to sanction 10,000 as advance against the salary of November, 2016 for all employees of the State Government and government owned institutions. the fiscal details have yet not been furnished by any participating institutions by far as mentioned earlier. The maximum amount decided is Rs for all the colleges to spend on student election poll. Election will be conducted for five posts that include president, vice-president, secretary, joint secretary and deputy secretary. The electoral ballot this year will have none of the above (NOTA) provision as well, said Dean Student welfare (RU), Dr. SC Gupta. A separate student grievance Redressal cell will be constituted to address the student need during the election procedure under the chairmanship of RU VC. All the polling work will be carried out at University Department of Chemistry, Morabadi Campus. RU VC has formed a committee constituting nine members for university department students union election 2016, added Gupta. The Vice Chancellor has also announced the election schedule for electing the office bearers of RU student election through indirect election. After the direct election process, the publication of final electoral list at university level out of elected members through direct election is slated to be released on December 14 at DSW office. Different colourful ballet papers for all the five posts were also released including the guidelines for voters besides deciding the responsibilities of all the office bearers and university officials for the upcoming election on Tuesday. At every college, an observer will be deputed for keeping strict vigilance on polling process. Soon all colleges will send letter to district administration for ensuring safety on campus premises. University will also conduct a training session for all the officials involved in poling on November 28. period were also felicitated during the programme. Speaking at the occasion Speaker Dinesh Oroan said that every member should maintain the decorum of the house and the State could be made better through the house.

4 he Government of India Tplans to set up a new airport at Deoghar in Jharkhand in acre land. It has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Government of Jharkhand for the same, Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday in reply to a question from Parimal Nathwani. The minister said that Jharkhand State Government has already started actions for acquisition of acre land for setting up airport. He also said that there is a proposal of forming joint venture with the State Government. The government has received total 31 proposals from 15 states for development, expansion and upgradation of airports. The minister s statement also noted that the development of airport is subject to availability of land by the State Government free of cost and free of all encumbrances, traffic demand and budgetary support. Nathwani has asked for the information about the number of metropolitan and non-metropolitan airports in the country which are functional, proposal for modernization of all metropolitan and non-metropolitan airports under the Public Private Partnership mode, number of requests received from various States for modernizing/upgrading airports and helipads and steps being taken by Government to upgrade various airports. 45-year-old man was mur- in the wee hours of Adered Tuesday. His body was found lying in a pool of blood in front of his house on Station Road under Burmamines police station area. The body, identified as that of Kamal Kumar Mahundia, had marks of sharp-cut marks on the head and in the neck. The minister stated that Airports Authority of India (AAI) is owning and managing 125 Airports and Civil Enclaves in the country. Out of this 94 airports/civil enclaves are operational, he said and added that the government does not propose to modernize all metropolitan and non-metropolitan airports under the Public Private Partnership mode. The minister also stated that upgradation/expansion of Airports is continuous process which is undertaken by Airports Authority of India from time to time depending on the availability of land, commercial viability, traffic demand, technical feasibility etc. Police confirmed it to be a case of murder and sent the body to the MGM Medical College mortuary for post-mortem. Deputy superintendent of police (traffic) Vivekanand Thakur who is also acting as DSP (City) said that Kamal was a bachelor and used to run a business of mobile phone recharge. He went on to inform that as per the initial investigation it appears that the mur- ndustry partnership is key to Iskill development said Additional Chief Secretary, Labour Employment & Training, SKG Rahate, at CII Skill Jharkhand Conclave here on Tuesday. Rahate said that Industry should come forward and participate in ITI adoption and take advantage of the Apprentership Act of the government. He further mentioned that students who are not a part of the formal education system, and are involved in the vocational training system, should be adopted by industry. He further requested CII to create a Tracking Mechanism for number of youth been trained in Jharkhand from different VTA & Government and private ITIs. Rahate shared that 110 lac youth aged between 18 to 25 yrs of age are there in that state and both industry and government should proactively engage in gainful employment. Rahate also highlighted that Jharkhand Skill Mission has initiated a pilot project in all 24 districts with a target of covering 20 lac youth across different sections in the next 3 years. He requested CII and the industries to be an equal stakeholder in the order to develop the curriculum of vocational ata Power Skill TDevelopment Institute (TPSDI) has successfully placed 83 per cent of its trainees within six months of institutes inception. A total of 68 TPSDI trainees have bagged offers from Welspun Indian Limited (Textiles), in a recruitment drive conducted at Maithon. TPSDI has four Training Hubs in India to train, test, certify, and accredit over 2500 power sector workforce through modular skill development approach by FY The four training hubs set up are TPSDI Shahad and TPSDI Trombay (Maharashtra), TPSDI - Maithon (Jharkhand) and TPSDI- Mundra (Gujarat), which aims to bridge the skills gap that exists across the value chain, and to help build a capable workforce. The institute provides modular training courses that are purposefully designed to be market driven and employment oriented across a wide range of skills especially in the power and allied sectors, so as to address the skill gap challenge faced by Indian power sector. While the training centers provide a corporate friendly atmosphere trainings. Avijit Ghosh, Vice Chairman CII Jharkhand & CMD Heavy Engineering Corporation in his welcome address mentioned that The Eleventh Five Year Plan detailed a road-map for skill development in India, and favoured the formation of Skill Development Missions, both at the State and National levels. To create such an institutional base for skill development in India at the national level, a Coordinated Action on Skill Development with three-tier institutional structure consisting of the PM s National Council on Skill Development, the National Skill Development in the campus, they also proactively research and partner with organizations that can provide placement assistance to meritorious trainees wherever possible. Expressing his joy on this milestone achievement, Anil Sardana, CEO & managing director, Tata Power, said, TPSDI was set up with an endeavor to provide training for youths towards employability and we are delighted to see the progress that our trainees have made in this very short time. 135 trainees have been trained at Maithon out of which 112 have been placed. With a success rate of 83%, TPSDI has become one of the most sought after training center in the community. Coordination Board (NSDCB) and the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) was created in early He also mentioned CII PanIIT has trained and placed more than 5000 youth in Jharkhand. He further mentioned that CII would work closely with Government in the area of Skill Development. He further mentioned that Confederation of Indian Industry has been working in the sector of skill development in sync with the governments, both Central and State, to meet up the target of skilling 500 million candidates by CII has set up 12 Sector Skill Councils namely Beauty & inter nights are danger- for rail tracks. Most Wous of rail fractures occur at night especially between 2 am and 6 am said sources. Indian Railways step up its rail track patrolling from 10 pm to 6 am. The rail track patrolling is done on foot. Railway traffic inspector East Central Railway Dhanbad division A K Sinha said that fog, mist and dew are the worst enemy of the rail tracks as these cause massive fluctuation in the atmospheric temperature which leads to fractures of rail tracks. Asked if the railways ever try to find out the quality of rail track which gets so fractured Sinha said Every fractured rail is sent for test for its quality. The pieces of fractured rail are sent for test either in BHEL or SAIL. It is a must. Sources said Indian Railways are yet to come out with all weather and all season rail tracks. In summer the same rail track that gets fractured in winter swells and over jumps due to elongation of rail tracks because of intense heat between 12 noon to four o clock in the evening. Railways ormer Congress MLA K N FTripathi has accused the police here of hobnobbing with criminals as this leader said the murder of an MSc student Chandan Singh continues to be unsolved despite a lapse of ten days while Singh s body was retrieved in Sasaram. Tripathi said the police acted very slow and indifferently in this case as Singh was kidnapped on November 11 and then he was tortured to death on the intervening night November 11/12 and then on November 12 his body was recovered by GRP Sasaram in Bihar. He said had the police swung into action fast on the very night of November 11 Singh would not have faced this horrible end of his life. Asked if he demanded any inquiry into this murder case Tripathi said, "There is no point asking for it. as the police know for what and how Singh was so murdered but for reasons unknown it is not laying hands on the use thermometer to gauge the temperature of the rail tracks. Two fractures of rail track have been officially reported in the first 15 days of November. These fractures are in Garhwa Road Station area. Sources said as these fractures took place in the periphery of the Garhwa Road Station its repair was done in time since the station master of this railway station knew about the fractures immediately. Sinha confirmed these two killers. He said this complacency of the police is most worrisome." He said, "I was right following the family of Singh from November 11 night when he was kidnapped but I did not make it public then that I was in touch with DGP D K Pandey and SP Palamu Patel Mayur for the reason that his captors might harm him because of this pressure which I was building up as the DGP D K Pandey had assured me of pressing CID sleuths into this case but on November 12 Singh was found murdered in Bihar's Sasaram. Questioning the functioning of the police in Palamu he said the police wasted long hours without doing any thing serious to locate and recover him. He said ' I give another 24 hours time to police here to catch the killer or killers or I will hit the streets here for the bereaved family which must be told by police that killers of their son are caught and behind the bars under the law of the land'. Wellness; BFSI ; Furniture & Fitting ; Green Jobs ; Healthcare; Infrastructure Equipment; Logistics; Life Sciences; Painting & Coating; People With Disabilities; Strategic Manufacturing and Tourism & Hospitality. Sector Skill Councils are Industry led bodies that design national occupational standards and define job roles & qualification packs for respective sectors. CV Sastry, Convener Skill Development Panel CII Jharkhand & Managing Director Jamshedpur Continuous Annealing Co Ltd in his theme address highlighted that industry should be an equal stakeholder in the skill development process. He also mentioned Demographics as well as growth figures portray India s future as perfectly aligned, however its success is anything but guaranteed. Skill development is critical for economic growth and social development. The demographic transition of India makes it imperative to ensure employment opportunities for more than 12 million youths entering working age annually. Chandrakant Raipat, Chairman & Managing Director, Rameshwaram Group concluded that session and thanked all the dignitaries to be part of the programme. October 28. residents of East Champaran chased them and ultimately 15 incidents in Kadma, three in staying at a Jugsalai-based Those arrested were identified as Baldev Singh alias Billu East Singhbhum senior being interrogated, both the snatching in Sonari area. committing the burglary at district in Bihar. succeeded in nabbing them. On Bistupur and two incidents of lodge and had fled the city after (23) and Amandeep Singh (25), superintendent of police suspects confessed to be active Speaking about the other the mobile phone shop. both residents of Anoop T Mathew said a special in snatching incidents in breakthrough, the senior SP The senior SP, said the team headed by Kadma Kadma, Sonari and Bistupur said the gang which was inter-state burglars' gang which Gurunanaknagar in Golmuri, he police arrested four per- involved in separate glary at the Sakchi-based Gupta was formed. Acting on Talking to the newsmen, committed at a leading cell- gang had sold out the burgled and those arrested in the bur- officer-in-charge, Animesh localities. involved in 25 lakh burglary had seven members in the Tsons incidents of snatching in the city and also in the 25 lakh burglary at a mobile phone shop at Sakchi taken place on mobile phone shop were identified as Mantosh Chaudhury alias Santosh (35) and Gautam Kumar Chaudhury (23), both a tip of that two bike-borne criminals were moving in suspicious way on Kadma-Sonari Link Road, the special team the senior SP said that the snatchers gang admitted that they have committed as many as 20 incidents of snatching -- phone and laptop shops on Penar Road in Sakchi on October 28. He said the burglars were smart phones and laptops to two persons, Santosh Kumar and Rup Narayan in Motihari district in Bihar. der might be the outcome of property dispute between the brothers, including the cousins. Kamal was the second among three brothers. The elder brother Pramod resides separately at East Plant Bustee and the younger brother Vimal who is a teacher based in Ahmedabad. The murder victim would stay in the Mahundia Bhavan with his cousin brother Pawan Mahundia, who owns a hardwar shop, staying in a portion of the double-storeyed building. A senior police officer said Pramod Mahundia who resides at East Plant Bustee is bed-ridden as he is suffering from acute hernia problem. " We are investigating the murder. We are keeping a close watch on the murder case. We expect to detect the case only after grilling to the victim's brothers, Pramod, Vimal and Pawan Mahundia when the last rites gets through," said the police officer. Pawan's wife, Priya Mahundia found Kamal lying in a pool of blood. " I was shocked to see someone lying in front of the house. Soon came out and identified the man lying there in a pool of blood was Kamal. Then I informed my husband who in turn informed the Burmamines thana," said Priya. Priya, when queried, said there was no dispute between the family members over any issue." fractures on the Dn lines in Garhwa Road Station in the first half of November and said since it occurred in the circuited area the SM of the Garhwa Road station just knew about it and took appropriate measures for its repair or replacement. He said these fractures were just six inches in length and hence posed no danger but if the fractures are big then immediate corrective measures are to be taken. On being asked if these fractures caused detention of trains passengers/goods both Sinha said This particular railway station has 7 lines and hence there was no disruption of any rail traffic. Sources said the Kanpur tragedy has alarmed every one in winter as days of fog mist and heavy dews are just coming in and trains are to run late inevitably. A fracture rail is never put to use but is replaced said sources.

5 eople maybe having a tough Ptime due to scrapping of high value currency notes, but the cash-strapped municipal bodies across the country have had the last laugh with their property tax coffer swelling by 268 per cent to 13,192 crore till November 22, 2016 compared to 3,607 crore last month in People paid property tax in old denomination notes of 500 and 1,000 following demonetisation of the two legal tenders announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8. Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu termed it as a positive impact of the demonetisation and said that urban local bodies have been benefitted a lot due to the move. This is the reformative step undertaken by the Prime Minister that has financially strengthened the local bodies, he said at a Press conference here on Tuesday. The figure is likely to jack up further as residents are allowed to pay taxes in demonetised currencies till November 24. mid concern over spurt in Atiger deaths this year, Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave informed Lok Sabha on Tuesday that 29 tigers have been poached till November 16 this year, in comparison to 14 last year. On controversies over Genetically Modified (GM) mustard crops, Dave informed the Lok Sabha that the Ministry is examining health concerns looked into by country s top organisations. The Government has prepared a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for undertaking plantation and associated activities along Ganga and its major tributaries, informed the Minister to Lok Sabha in a reply to another question on Tuesday. Giving further details on tiger mortalities, Dave said According to the data provided by the UD Ministry, NDMC in Delhi netted over 30 crore in form of property tax and conversion charge paid by property owners in demonetised high value bank notes. Last year, the NDMC had garnered 21 crore. The three corporations of South Delhi, East Delhi and North Delhi which have been always struggling to collect outstanding taxes is witnessing long queue of tax payers. The municipal bodies are accepting property tax dues and conversion charges in defunct notes, as directed by the Central Government. North MCD collected 18.8 crore ( 1.7 crore in November 2015), East MCD 7 crore ( 2.6 crore) and South MCD garnered 16.5 crore against 2.2 crore last year in November. Amid demonetisation of high value currency, Mumbai Municipal Corporation saw multifold increase in its tax revenue to he Defence Ministry will Texamine cases of blacklisted firms as it prepares a new list of such entities following the new policy on blacklisting unveiled on Tuesday. The liberalised policy to help the armed forces maintain their tempo of modernisation is a mixture of heavy fines and graded banning. The Defence Acquisition Council(DAC) chaired by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had cleared the new policy a fortnight back. Parrikar said here the Director General (Acquisition) will draw up a list as required under the new policy and hence old cases will also be looked into. That does not mean they will be taken out. Don t interpret... They will be examined. What is the status, how many years they have been blacklisted for and why they were blacklisted, he said adding as per the new policy, there has to be a new list. The review will include about a dozen firms that were blacklisted during the UPA regime and the Services were of the opinion that such a ban will hamper rapid modernization. Under its new liberalised blacklisting policy for arms companies, India will now be open to doing business even with a banned firm if there is no alternative available to its weapon system or equipment in the market. This can be done on the grounds of national security, operational military readiness and export obligations, after the vice-chief of the Service concerned, the chief of the integrated defence staff or the additional secretary (defence production) signs a certificate to that effect and gets permission from the competent authority, who is the Defence Minister. Another key element of the new policy is that unlike the blanket ban of 10 years, the Government has said that ban on serious defaulters will be for minimum five years. The policy does not mention the maximum time period for ban. that 32 big cats have died due to natural causes while 37 other cases are under scrutiny to ascertain the cause of the death. Among the legal steps to conserve tigers, Dave said amendment of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 in 2006 was done. While the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is the nodal agency to look into such cases, a multidisciplinary Tiger and Other Endangered Species Crime Control Bureau is also at its job, to check poaching and wildlife trafficking. He said financial and technical help is provided to States under various centrally-sponsored schemes, including Project Tiger and Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats for enhancing the capacity and infrastructure for providing effective protection to wild animals. 11,913 crore from the people as property tax in a span of just 13 days. Last year during November the collection was 3,185 crore. The municipal bodies in the Southern parts of the country too fared well because of the demonetization. The property and professional tax collection for Chennai municipal body rose to 80 crore post demonetisation against Rs 24 crore during November last year. Almost all the municipal corporations in Gujarat reported hike in property tax revenue. The Nagpur Municipal Corporation, collected property tax of 25 crore till November 22, 2016 as against the Last year November collection of 4.9 crore. Rajkot Municipal Corporation reported crore while Vadodra has netted 19.2 crore (4.9 crore). Lucknow Municipal Corporation too reported huge surge in tax income at 27.5 crore till November 22, 2016 against 2.5 crore in November last month. he NIA and State security Tagencies have so far arrested 68 supporters of dreaded terror outfit ISIS in various parts of the country, Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday. The National Investigation Agency and State security agencies have so far arrested 68 ISIS supporters/sympathisers, Minister of State for Home Hansraj Ahir said replying to a written question. The Minister said a total of 50 people have been arrested by security agencies during current year of whom 11 belonged to Maharashtra, 11 belonged to Telangana, 7 belonged to Karnataka, 4 from Uttarakhand, 6 from Kerala, 1 from Delhi, 2 from West Bengal, 1 from Rajasthan, 2 On the issue of the use of GM Mustard, Dave said Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) and its sub-committees involve representatives of National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Bio-Medical Group of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Ministry of Health and Indian Council of Mayawati(BSP) who also said situation was bad while Naresh he Opposition stalled pro- in both the pensation of 50 lakh each. He Agrawal(SP) sought a com- Tceedings Houses of Parliament for the fourth consecutive day on Tuesday over demonetisation issue and demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi s presence. The Government, however, charged the Opposition with shying away from a debate, claiming it had run out of logical arguments and therefore disrupting Parliament. Stepping up the heat on also charged the Prime Minister with behaving like an autocrat not willing to listen to anyone. The Upper House saw six adjournments due to pandemonium as the Opposition members including Congress and TMC time and again stormed into the well raising slogans. The ruling BJP raised counter slogans from the aisles the Government, the forcing Kurien to admonish Opposition also demanded a compensation of 10 lakh each for 70 people who died while waiting in the queues in the last few days following the demonetization of 500 and 1,000 currency notes. Both the Houses witnessed din with them as they were not supposed to do as sitting on the treasury benches. In the Lok Sabha, the Opposition, which was joined by AIADMK in targeting the Government, continued to press for a debate under a rule which the Opposition members entails voting even as the ruling repeatedly running into the side vehemently resisted it. well and the BJP members raising slogans from the aisles. and Finance Minister Arun the Prime Minister to come to Abbas Naqvi said the Amid noisy Opposition protests, Parliamentary Affairs Seeking Modi s presence, Jaitley will reply at the end of the House, Leader of Opposition was coming up Minister Ananth Kumar maintained the agitated Opposition said the discussion. Opposition and senior with new excuses every day to that the government while the Prime Minister was talking about the demonetisation Unwilling to give any quarter to the Government, Sitaram Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said the Opposition was avoid the stalled discussion on the issue and appealed to the was willing to debate every aspect of the issue. issue in public rallies and Yechury(CPM) said in the ready for resumption of the dis- Chair to begin the debate. Congress leader functions, he was yet to address Rajya Sabha the decision to cussion on the condition that Calling for a compensation Mallikarjun Kharge and Parliament on it. The demonetise was announced by Modi come to the Rajya Sabha of 10 lakh each to those who Trinamool Congress leader Government maintained it was ready to answer to all queries the Prime Minister and therefore should be present in the to listen to hardships faced by people standing in lines all over died in the last few days reportedly due to hardships caused by Sudip Bandhopadhyay said they wanted a debate but posed by the Opposition. It House when members speak the country. demonetisation, Sharad demanded the Prime was also accused of running away from the ongoing debate about the plight of common people. Rejecting the Opposition demand for Modi s presence, Yadav(JD-U) said these deaths took place following the Minister s presence. Due to the uproar, the House was on the issue in the Rajya Sabha Even as Deputy Chairman Minister of State for Government s decision. Similar adjourned for the day, just which started on November 16 PJ Kurien said he cannot ask Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar demand was made by after noon. CAG report tabled on ATuesday in Parliament has found several cases in which big corporate houses were involved in misusing the provisions of Income Tax deduction in infrastructure projects, leading to a tax effect of 2, crore. The report also blamed Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) for not assessing properly when such wrong tax deduction claims were made by corporate houses. The audit report tiled as Performance Audit on Allowance of deduction to the assessees engaged in infrastructure development detailed the serious misuse and frauds in claiming tax deduction by industrialists, conducting a random checking 229 infrastructure projects across the country. Some major cases of misuse and malpractices were found in from Uttar Pradesh, 1 from Madhya Pradesh, 1 from Jammu and Kashmir, 1 from Bihar and 2 from Tamil Nadu.Ahir said ISIS is using various platforms to propagate its ideology and to attract recruits from across the world. The intelligence and security agencies maintain a close watch to identify those engaged in such anti-national activities and persons or preachers misguiding the youth and action is initiated against such persons under the relevant laws, he said Medical Research (ICMR). NIN an institute of ICMR was engaged in undertaking compositional analysis, allergenicity and toxicity assessment and animal studies of GE Mustard. In a written response to yet another question, the Environment Minister said that 6197 sites have been Reliance Ports and Terminals Limited and Idea Cellular Limited. The Income Tax Department irregularly allowed deduction to assessees in eight cases in two states in respect of the profits derived from Railway Sidings/Jetties constructed and operated by the assessees for their private purposes, which did not qualified to be treated as infrastructure facilities in terms of explanation to section 80 IA(4). Irregular allowance of deduction attracted tax effect of 2, crore, said the CAG report detailing the tax deduction allowed to Reliance Ports and Terminals Limited. The Income Tax Department irregularly allowed deduction to assessees in six cases in four States for the period beyond the permissible limit of 10 consecutive assessment years, starting from the declared initial assessment year. Incorrect allowance of deductions resulted in underassessment of income involving tax effect of crore, said the report detailing the tax deductions allowed to Idea Cellular and Reliance Infrastructure Limited. The report also detailed how corporate suppress profits by amalgamation and demerger of their firms in claiming tax deductions and underassessment of income tax. Finding fault with CBDT, the CAG said there CBDT did not have any ailway Ministry on RTuesday took action against seven officials, transferring the Divisional Railway Manager Jhansi region and placing six others under suspension, for the Indore-Patna Express derailment. An FIR has also been registered against unidentified railway employees under Section 304A (causing death by negligence), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 338 of IPC at the GRP police station at Bhimsen railway station. The railways also formed a 12-member team of GRP personnel to investigate the Indore-Patna train accident as the death toll identified in the five states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal for raising the plantations by the banks of Ganga. The DPR envisages plantations on sites located within five km on both sides of river Ganga and two km on both sides of its major tributaries, said Dave. establishment mechanism to curb such malpractices. There is no existing system to ascertain from the sponsoring ministries as to whether the tax holidays have had the desired impact on the growth of the economy. Therefore, the audit is unable to ascertain whether the very purpose of introducing the deductions in the Act has been achieved, said CAG outlining the failures of CBDT in curbing misuse and frauds in claiming IT deductions by corporate houses. In its recommendations, the apex auditor said the CBDT should address the systemic failures and finding faults and rectifying faults in assessing tax liability. It suggested that CBDT should cross check the deduction claims with concerned infrastructure ministries and departments including the computerisation of the information network. reached 150 on Tuesday. A senior railway official said that Jhansi DRM has been transferred to Ranchi and suspended divisional heads of coaches & tracks and their subordinates. A high-level probe was ordered on Monday by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, who promised strictest possible action against the guilty. Making a suo motu statement in the Lok Sabha, he said a separate investigation will be held aided by latest technical and forensic analysis. Railway officials maintained that prima facie the cause of the accident which led to death of 150 passengers could be due to track fracture. On Tuesday, the death toll climbed to 150 in the mishap, making it the deadliest train accident in the last 17 years. man who approached the ASupreme Court alleging sexual harassment against a woman during a court proceeding was made to withdraw his complaint after the Supreme Court dismissed his allegation as scandalous and restrained him from raising this grievance in any proceeding or court. The court expunged all remarks made by the man against the woman in question and imposed a blanket ban on media from publishing the name of the allegations against her. The man, a resident of Kerala, claimed that the incident occurred inside the courtroom on October 4, 2016 when he was arguing a petition seeking culling of stray dogs following the menace caused by he Supreme Court on TTuesday failed to give any relief to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who sought stay of criminal defamation proceedings initiated against him by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for leveling allegation of irregularities during Jaitley s tenure as president of Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA). Already, Jaitley had filed a 10 crore civil suit against Kejriwal in the Delhi High Court. In December 2015, a criminal defamation case was lodged by Jaitley against Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders in a local Delhi court. Appearing for the Delhi CM, senior advocate Ram Jethmalani submitted before a bench of Justices PC Ghose and UU Lalit that the Supreme Court is yet to decide on the question whether civil and criminal defamation trial can proceed simultaneously. He pointed to a catena of decisions by several High Courts where majority view prevailed in favour of stay of criminal proceedings. However, there was no fixed rule since the Supreme Court has not given an authorititative pronouncement on this question. Jethmalani requested the court to consider laying down this law in the present case. Dismissing Kejriwal s petition, the court repeatedly asked Jethmalani to show a single judgement to demonstrate that a trial court order will have no binding effect on the High Court in such a simultaneous proceeding. He said that an order by the HC will command more respect and confidence in the mind of the public than a verdict by a trial court. the canines in Kerala. He filed a petition challenging the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules of 2001 and sought hearing on the same along with a bunch of similar petitions being heard by the apex court. Though no mention of the incident was made inside the Court, the alleged victim went to the Registrar the same day to lodge his complaint. He said that he was advised to file an application and circulate it in the case in which he is appearing. Taking strong exception to the petitioner s attempt to circulate the application prior to its hearing, the bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Amitava Roy said, He (petitioner) should have been well advised that such kind of allegations are not made in an application which has nothing to do with the subject Jethmalani said that the real fight was between a Chief Minister of a small State and the Finance Minister of the country. This is a case where the court must protect a Chief Minister of a State. You know the situation that is going on nowadays does a person not have the freedom to comment on the misadministration of a cricket body, Jethmalani said. The bench replied, We will not enter the merits of the case. Even in your petition you have challenged the order of the Magistrate refusing to stay the criminal proceeding. You are not challenging the proceedings per se that no offence is made out. Jethmalani responded by saying that the stage for doing so had not arrived yet. But the bench quipped, We do not think it is a fit case for us to interfere in the facts and circumstances of this case. matter of the lis, but may have something to do with a particular individual. It is also discernible that the allegations made are scandalous, unwarranted, indecent and absolutely uncalled for. The bench restrained him from making slightest effort to file such application before this Court or any court relating to this incident. Ironically, earlier in the day, a bench headed by CJI TS Thakur took a different view on the allegation by the man when it heard his application along with the petition challenging the 2001 Rules. The CJI-headed bench said, We will require an enquiry into the matter. If he is right, it has to be dealt with and if he is wrong, he will face prosecution. It is not as though sexual harassment can go only against women.

6 espite the absence of their star Dcampaigner J Jayalalithaa from the battlefield, the AIADMK won comfortably all the three Assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu which went to the polls on November 19. In the results announced on Tuesday, the AIADMK candidates trounced their DMK rivals in Tiruparankundram, Aravakurichi and Thanjavur while the BJP and DMDK fared poorly. While the AIADMK candidates won Tiruparankundram and Thanjavur with a margin of 42,000 and 27,000 votes respectively, the party candidate wrested Aruvakurichi from the DMK by a margin of 23,000 votes. With Tuesday s victory, the strength of AIADMK in the 234 member Tamil Nadu legislative Assembly has gone up to 136. Elections to Aravakurichi and Thanjavur could not be held in May 2016 along with the rest of Tamil Nadu following seisure of large amount of cash and gift articles meant for bribing the voters. The Election Commission of India had deferred the elections in these two constituencies following the seisure of he ruling Trinamool TCongress once again did the erstwhile Left Front not merely by sweeping polls but by defeating the Marxists in theirown art crafting implausible records of electoral victory even as the Bengal ruling party won Coochbehar and Tamluk parliamentaryconstituencies and Monteshwar Assembly seat in the just concludedby-elections. TMC s invincibility reached an all-time high in Coochbehar where the party won by 4.13 lakh votes defeating nearest rival BJP. While the Trinamool got almost 8 lakh votes the BJP garnered 3.8 lakh leavingthe Left behind in third position. The BJP increased its vote share by 16 per cent in this North Bengal constituency. Down south in Tamluk seat once held by Mamata Banerjee s Nandigram spearhead Subhendu Adhikary who left his the Lok Sabha seat for his younger brother Divyendu cash and allegations that voters were being bribed by the major contestants. SM Seenivel, the AIADMK candidate who won from Tiruparankundram in the May election passed away even before he could take the oath of office which necessitated the by poll. While the AIADMK retained Tiruparankundram and Thanjavur, it wrested the Aruvakurichi constituency hitherto held by the DMK. The DMK had fielded a billionaire businessman KC Palanisamy, the sitting MLA from the constituency to take on Senthil Balaji of the AIADMK, a rank outsider. to become the State Transport Minister the Trinamool polled 7.89 lakh votes defeating the nearest rival of thecpi(m) by about 5 lakh votes. The highlight of Tamluk bypolls was a phenomenal rise in Trinamool s vote in the past six months. The party registered a five-foldincrease in its vote that it polled in the April- May Assembly elections. Curiously at Haldia seat where the Trinamool had lost to the Left by more than 1.4 lakh votes the party registered a lead of more than one lakh votes thus winning back 2. 4 lakh votes in a matter of six months. Despite finishing third the BJP registered a 10 per cent rise in its vote share in Tamluk and came second in Nandigram Assembly seat. At Manteshwar Assembly seat where the Left was defeated by 700 votes in May 2016 the Trinamool registered a fantastic victory forcing all the four parties: CPI(M), BJP and the Congress to forfeit theirdeposits. Here Saikat Hazra the Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, who has been hospitalised since September 22 could not campaign and this had initially dampened the spirit of the AIADMK cadre. But a signed statement issued by Jayalalithaa from her hospital bed days before the election made them active resulting in the party sweeping all the three seats. The results prove that Jayalalithaa is heads and shoulders above all other politicians in the State though she is not active. The DMK has to sit together and rework its strategy if it is serious of defeating the AIADMK, N TMC candidate alone polled 77 per cent votes winning this seat by 1.27 lakh votes. Resisting Trinamool wave in 2011 the Left had won Manteshwar in 2011 by five thousand votes. Reacting to the Monday s phenomenal result Chief Minister MamataBanerjee who left for Delhi to stage a pan-indian movement against Narendra Modi Government s demonetisation policy said: the result only signifies a mass revolt by the people against Modi s demonetisation. This is a symbolic show of protest against the Centre s anti-people policy that has left the people on the verge of bankruptcy and starvation. The BJP would get a befitting reply from the people who will throw the party out of power, Banerjee said. However, the BJP State president Dilip Ghosh said despite his party s defeat the result showed that the BJP had increased its vote share threefold. We have increased our vote three-fold. he Karnataka Assembly was Tinformed on Tuesday that 283 illegal Bangladeshi Immigrants are residing in Karnataka. Replying to a question of V Sunil Kumar, a BJP member at the ongoing winter session of the Assembly at Belagavi in north Karnataka, Government said only 283 illegal immigrants from Bangaladesh were staying in the State. Replying to BJP member Home Minister G Parameshwara told the Assembly that Bengaluru accounted for highest number of such illegal immigrants from Bangladesh followed by Mysuru City (25), Mandya (16), Bengaluru Urban district (14), Mysuru District (13) and Ramanagar (11). KGF (3), Shivamogga (2) and Dakshina Kannada and Chickmagaluru (one each). In all, there were 748 Bangladesh citizens residing in the State. However, only 283 of them were illegal immigrants, he said. Home Minister said they had managed to enter the country through illegal means, and said it was mainly the responsibility of the Centre to curb the ppalled over the indiffer- of the authorities over Aence the murders of social activists in the State hundreds of activists belonging to various Hindu organisations staged a one-day fast in all district headquarters in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday. Since 1989, Tamil Nadu has seen 138 people getting murdered by terrorist outfits. This includes two jailors and a police constable. The rest were all Hindu social activists, workers and Sangh Parivar leaders, said Ramagopalan, founder, Hindu Munnani. The octogenarian leader had recently submitted a memorandum to union home minister Rajnath Singh stating concern over the unabated murders of Hindu activists in Tamil Nadu. Speaking to The Pioneer, Anantharaman, RSS leader based at Tiruchirappalli said Ajit Doval, the National Security Advisor to the Government of India should take note of this development. The Tamil Nadu administration is looking the other way when Hindus are butchered in the State. The police in the State is indifferent to the murders of Hindu activists who are working in the upliftment of the downtrodden in the Hindu society, said Anantharaman. The fast was held under Hindu United Forum, an umbrella organisation formed to bring together all outfits which are being targeted by the extremists. Ramakrishnan Gautaman, director, Vedic Science Study Centre, a think tank based in Chennai, said that the police was fabricating stories to make the murders look like the fall out of business rivalries. Till date they could not establish any business rivalries to these murders. All those who got murdered were RSS and Hindu Munnani workers and leaders, said Gautaman. He said the police were not allowing the Hindu organisations to stage peaceful demonstrations to protest the murders. entry of such persons as it was an issue related to internal security of the country. He also informed that out of 283 illegal immigrants, 25 were involved in various incidents of crime and cases too had been booked against them. The Opposition BJP members expressed dissatisfaction with the Minister s reply and argued that the number of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh residing in the State was in thousands. They urged the Government to ensure that such persons do not get access to ration cards and electors photo identity cards. he Bharatiya Janata Party Thas started feeling heat over people s outcry over demonetisation of high value currency notes as it has postponed the much-publicised public rally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Lucknow on December 24. The rally held importance for BJP as the four Parivartan yatras that had started from November 5 onwards is expected to culminate on December 24 in Lucknow. This rally was deemed to the final Parviartan Rally. A senior leader said that initial assessment is that gathering would not be on expected lines. PM is addressing Parivartan Yatras in different locations and crowd is coming but we want something extra in Lucknow, he said. BJP s Chief Spokesman Hridaya Narain Dixit said that the rally has been postponed to bring workers from the booth level to Lucknow. Earlier directives were that leaders and workers from districts should attend the rally. he BJP on TTuesday Kalyanasundaram, veteran political commentator, told The Pioneer. CR Saraswathi, spokesperson of the AIADMK, said the results are a reiteration by the people of Tamil Nadu that Amma (as Jayalalithaa is addressed by the cadre) is the one and only leader of the people of Tamil Nadu. Her selfless services to the State has been recognised by the people. She has dedicated her life to the people of Tamil Nadu and the results are a reflection of this fact, said Saraswathi. But MK Stalin, the DMK s heir apparent, described the AIADMK win as the fall out of money and muscle power. The election Commission chose to look the other way despite the open violation by the AIADMK leaders of all laws governing the election process, charged Stalin while speaking to reporters at Chennai on Tuesday. The BJP, which got lost in the intensive fight between the AIADMK and the DMK blamed the high handed behaviour of the ruling party for its poor show. Tamilissai Sounderarajan, the state BJP chief, rushed to the chief electoral officer Rajesh Lakhoni and submitted a petition about the irregularities in the three constituencies. swooped the Congress in the bypolls to the Lakhimpur Lok Sabha constituency as well as the Baithalangso legislative Assembly constituency in Assam, polls to which were held on Saturday last. While the BJP s Pradan Baruah won the by election to Lakhimpur Lok Sabha constituency with a margin of close to 2 lakh votes, party s candidate for the Baithalangso legislative Assembly constituency also defeated his Congress rival with a margin of over 16,000 votes. Election department officials in Guwahati said that while Pradan Baruah polled 5,51,663 votes in Lakhimpur constituency, Congress Dr. Hem Hari Pegu could poll only 3,61,444 votes. Besides, CPI(M) s Amiya eteran Carnatic music Vexponent Balamuralikrishna, who enthralled music lovers for more than four decades, passed away here on Tuesday. The 86-year-old veteran was not keeping well for some time and breathed his last today at his residence here, his family sources told PTI. A highly respected figure in the field of music, Balamuralikrishna featured in the popular national integration song Miley Sur Mera Tumhara in which he rendered Tamil lyrics. A crowd-puller in Carnatic music concerts, musician was also popular among Tamil audiences for his hit number Oru Naal Pothuma in the 1965 Sivaji Ganesan starrer Thiruvilayadal, a mythological film. Kumar Handique polled42,667 votes followed by SUCI s Hem kanta Miri with 12,402 votes and Independent candidate Dilip Moran polled only votes. It may be mentioned here that the BJP is in power in eight of the nine Assembly segments under the Lakhimpur Lok Sabha constituency. While the saffron party polled good numbers of votes in all the Assembly segments, Congress candidate could manage to get some votes only in Naoboicha assembly segments under Lakhimpur Lok sabha constituency. olice in port city of PVisakhapatanam in Andhra Pradesh have solved the mystery of the death of a HIV affected man which was initially believed to be a case of suicide but the diligent work by the sleuths proved it to be a murder. A senior police official in Visakhapatanam said that they have arrested five persons including a couple related to the victim 22 year old Kadiri Venkatesh who was found dead on railway tracks in August last year. As the person was known to be a HIV positive case, there was a belief that he had committed suicide. But in the subsequent investigation the police started suspecting a foul play and kept victim s cousin K Madhuri and her husband K Nagendra under watch as they were the sole beneficiary of around 69 lakh He even starred in a number of films in Tamil and Telugu. Balamurali Krishna was a Padma Vibhushan recipient and was also honoured with a number of state awards. Leading lights of Carnatic music condoled his death. rupees insurance money. Deputy Commissioner of Police Naveen Gultati told the media that it was a well planned murder carried out by the couple along with their three friends to inherit the huge amount of money through the insurance policies purchased in the name of Venkatesh. As part of the plan first they purchased single premium insurance policies in Venkatesh s name knowing that he was suffering with HIV and he will die soon and they will get the benefit of insurance benefits, Gulati said. However as the days went by and the couple became desperate for money. They took help of the three people and murdered him and threw his body on the tracks near Samarlakota in the neighboring East Godavari district on August 12 last year, he said. anata Dal(United) the erstwhile Jally of the BJP, and the ruling party of Bihar has said there is no change in its position towards the BJP and they are against the saffron party. JD(U) said that no inferences should be drawn from the support extended to the withdrawal of high value currency notes as legal tender extended by the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. There are no bickering within the ruling grand alliance of Bihar and it s a canard that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is getting closer to the BJP after supporting the demonetisation move of the Centre, said the JD(U) general secretary and spokesperson KC Tyagi, here in a Press conference on Tuesday. Nitish Kumar was demanding ban on the 500 and 1,000 currencies since he took oath of office as the Chief Minister of Bihar in lert jawans of Border ASecurity Force (BSF) on Tuesday foiled an infiltration bid along the International border in RS Pura sector after killing one of the suspected militant guide as he had intruded inside the international boundary taking advantage of the foggy weather conditions and thick growth of grass in the wee hours. Swift action by the jawan guarding one of the forward sentry post prevented a possible strike by heavily armed militants who were able to retreat inside the Pak territory following high alert sounded in the region. Senior officers from Jammu frontier including Inspector General, BSF DK Upadhyay rushed to the spot to personally assess the situation. Meanwhile, the situation along the Line of Control in Jammu region remained peaceful in the first half of the day. No major report of exchange of cross border firing was reported November 2015 to eliminate the black money and corruption. As his demands were accepted by Narendra Modi, thus he supported the move and nothing more should be read in his statement said the JD(U) leader. We were against the BJP in the past and will continue to remain the same in future. Our electoral battle in UP is only against the BJP and will do our best to prevent it from coming to power. He however clarified that We are not against SP or BSP in UP. Tyagi reiterated that they were interested in forging alliance with Samajwadi Party, but Mulayam Singh Yadav ditched them even after holding talks while Congress were yet to show their inclination towards this front comprising of JD(U), RLD and BS-4. The Rajya Sabha member, who was present on Monday during the announcement of JD(U), RLD and BS-4 forcing an alliance in UP to contest the coming Assembly elections, said that five smaller political outfit-pragitisheel Manav Samaj Dal, Rashtriya Samanta Dal, Rashtriya Kranti Party, Janwadi Party (socialist) and Jaihind from any where in Naushera and Krishna Ghati sectors of Poonch. The sector was witnessing heavy exchange of fire for past seven days. Indian troopers have been retaliating the fire with full force and has successfully demolished several Pak posts. According to BSF spokesman, an Infiltration bid was successfully foiled in RS Pura Sector by alert troops of BSF around 4.20 a.m on Tuesday. The BSF spokesman said, one person from Pakistan side suspiciously crossed the International Boundary and further taking advantage of dead ground, thick growth, dark hours and fog etc at border moved ahead. On observing a suspicious Party have joined the alliance while Bharatiya Samajik Naya Morcha merged the party with JD(U). This smaller outfit under the banner of Ati Pichara Chetna Manch will organise a most backward rally in Lucknow on December 17 which will be addressed by Bihar CM and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar. The alliance would concentrate on the issues relating to the most backwards in the state and will go for empowering this section of the society by holding series of rallies in UP during December-January. These rallies would be addressed by leaders of JD(U), RLD and other smaller parties, he stated. He said in Bihar, the Nitish Kumar Government had a lot for the welfare of the most backwards by giving them 20 per cent reservation within the 27 per cent quota for the OBCs. He said the Bihar Government has also created a separate department for implementing the special welfare schemes like increasing the scholarships of the students by three times and construction hostels for MBC students in all the districts for the uplift of the MBCs. ujarat Chief Minister Vijay GRupani on Tuesday met leading industrialist of Maharashtra in Mumbai invited them to participate in the upcoming 8th edition of Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit While addressing to more than 450 businessmen representing top companies Rupani elaborated upon the inclusive growth and sustainable development that Gujarat has achieved. The Gujarat CM further said that the state would continue to lay emphasis on ease of doing business and proactive investor facilitation in line with the vision set forth by former Gujarat CM and now Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi. Thanking PM Modi for the Lucknow: Governor Ram Naik and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav have condoled the death of former Madhya Pradesh Governor and ex-up Chief Minister Ram Naresh Yadav, who passed after prolonged illness here at SGPGI hospital on Tuesday morning. Yadav was recently in the news after his name cropped up during probe in the Vyapam scam. Both Naik and Akhilesh claimed that the death of Ram Naresh Yadav is a big loss to the State and entire country. Naik also visited the official residence of the ex-cm at Mall Avenue here to pay floral tribute. The Chief Minister in his message said Ram Nareshjee worked with Raj Narain and Choudhury Charan Singh and always worked for the rural populace, poor and the farmers. We have lost a leader of sweet words and a person who was directly linked with the village, the CM said. betterment of the centre-state relations, he said that Modi s idea for creating co-operative federalism has ensured that states are partners in the growth of the country. States are a focal point for the implementation of many of the historic schemes launched by the Prime Minister especially Make in India initiative has propelled India as an emerging market for businesses to set up. He also highlighted the tremendous opportunity for he Samajwadi Party chief TMulayam Singh Yadav will kick off the election campaign of the party from Ghazipur on Wednesday. The stakes are high for the ruling party as it struggles to retain its stronghold from the onslaught of the BJP following the offensive of currency withdrawal. The ruling party is under tremendous pressure to out shadow the rally of the BJP in Ghazipur town on November 14 addressed by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PM had also laid the foundation of a key infrastructure projectthe road and rail bridge on river Ganga pending for the last over five decades. Samajwadi party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav will launch the poll campaign of his party from the Ghazipur rally, a day after celebrating his 78th movement at close to forward BSF sentry post ahead of fence, the alert BSF sentry challenged the intruder. Instead of surrendering, the intruder tried to rush towards one of the culverts under the fence. As the intruder had covered his face and body with a shawl, the sentry got suspicious and shot at him. During the same time, a suspicious movement of a two more persons was observed near Pak bundh where at least two persons were waiting for some signal from the intruder. Immediately after intruder being fired by BSF sentry, both of them were seen hiding themselves behind Pak side bundh. the industry to invest in Gujarat International Finance Tec- City (GIFT-City), Mandal Becharaji Special Investment Region (SIR), Dahej, PCPIR and Dholera SIR, which is one of the biggest investment zones on the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC). The GIFT City will be India s first multi-functional Special Economic Zone which will be a hub to the share market, capital markets and the banking sector. This will be a huge boost to the banking sector. The Bombay Stock Exchange will be setting up international operations at the GIFT City. Speaking about employment opportunities, the CM stressed on defense and aerospace as key sectors of growth, with the intention of setting up manufacturing facilities. birthday. Though the first family of the ruling party had presented a united look during the inauguration of the Luck now Agra expressway on Monday, the participation of the chief minister Akhilesh Yadav in the rally is still to be confirmed. Mulayam was scheduled to launch the poll campaign from a rally in Azamgarh on October 6. The rally was however cancelled due to the ongoing family feud. The Ghazipur rally is significant for the Samajwadi party as will send clear signals to its traditional social coalition of Yadav and muslims. This will be the first major political event after the merger of the Mukhtar Ansari s Quami ekta Dal (QED) with the Samajwadi party. The Ansaris are the natives of Mohammadi town in Ghazipur district. Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav is also likely to attend the rally in Ghazipur.

7 he Kerala Assembly on TTuesday passed a resolution against the Central policies that were allegedly intended at destroying the State s cooperative sector. All parties except the BJP joined hands to pass the resolution which asked the Centre to allow the cooperative banks to exchange demonetised currency notes and accept deposits like commercial banks and to withdraw the policies that they claimed would lead to creation of anarchy in the country. The Government hereby assures that those who have deposited money in cooperative banks will not lose even a penny of their deposits, Marxist Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in the Assembly which held a special sitting to discuss the crisis the cooperative sector was facing in the wake of the demonetization of large-denomination currency notes. He said an all-party delegation would visit Delhi on Thursday to discuss the issue iffed apparently by plain Mspeaking indulged in by Narendra Modi during his interactions with his party s MPs who met the former on the demonetisation issue, Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray said ironically here on Tuesday that while he was grateful to Modi for the respect he had shown to his late father Bal Thackeray, the late Sena chief would be happy if the Prime Minister took measures to reduce the inconvenience caused to common man. After news reports trickled into Mumbai from the Shiv Sena sources claiming that the Prime Minister told the party MPs curtly that as and when he would go to heaven, he would tell respond directly to late Thackeray and tell him that he had done an excellent job, the Sena interpreted the Prime Minister s remarks that he was not answerable to the NDA constituent on the after-effects of his demonetisation decision. Talking to media persons at with the Centre. There is every reason to suspect that the currency demonetisation was part of a secret move to lead the country into economic slavery This State cannot accept moves to disallow the operation of the cooperative banks in the name of black money. The efforts to destroy the cooperative sector, which had started much earlier, are part of implementing the so-called liberal economic policies, the Chief Minister alleged. his residence Matoshri later in the day, Uddhav took a pot shot at Modi, saying: From the tone and tenor of the Prime Minister s remarks, you can gauge as to how much of respect he has for my late father. One expects a satisfactory from the Prime Minister on the issues affecting the common people. If the common people get a proper response from the Prime Minister and if the hardships being faced by the common people are eased, then my late father will be really happy. Though it has announced that it would not join the Opposition s protests against demonetisation, the Sena is extremely upset with the treatment its MPs received at the hands of the Prime Minister earlier on Tuesday. The resolution was passed with the dissent note of O Rajagopal, the lone BJP member in the Assembly. Rajagopal wanted an amendment to the resolution but the Speaker disallowed this by agreeing with Minister Mathew T Thomas who pointed out that the notice for amendment had the nature of negative vote. The BJP member alleged that cooperative institutions in the State were being misused for converting black money into white. fter the reported deaths of Aseveral people in unending queues of banks and ATMs across the country since November 9, here is a report of dowry death due to demonetisation in Bihar. Husband, father-in-law and other relatives killed a woman Seema in a village in rural Patna on Monday. Reason: the newly wed woman had brought 8,000 in demonetised currency notes from her parents as demanded by her in-laws. Married a few years back with Dharmendra Kumar of Narayanpur village, Seema, a mother of two, was always coerced to bring more dowry every time she visited her parent s home at Chhitnawa village in Maner block of rural Patna. This time when she came n one of the major seizure of Ibanned currency post demonetisation, the security forces in Nagaland s commercial town Dimapur has recovered 3.5 crore in 1000 and 500 denominations on Tuesday. Police said that based on a tip off, the CISF guarding the Dimapur airport seized the amount from a chartered plane soon after it landed in the airport around am on Tuesday. One person, who identified to be a businessman from Hisar, in Haryana was apprehended by the forces for back with 8,000 in old notes she was ordered to bring the amount in new notes of 2,000. When she expressed her inability to fulfill their demand her husband and in-laws started thrashing her brutally and left her unconscious. Profusely bleeding she breathed her last. When the neighbours heard her cries they rushed to rescue her but by then it was too late and Seema s husband and inlaws fled. The neighbours informed her father Rqamavatar Rai and brother Sudhir Kumar who rushed to the village and reported the matter to the police. The police sent the body to Danapur for postmortem and registered an FIR. Since her marriage Seema was being tortured to bring more dowry. She was regularly beaten up by her husband he AAP in Goa has said that the Ttourism industry has been majorly affected by Prime Minister Narendra Modi s decision to demonetise high value currency notes earlier this month, claiming a 70 per cent drop in business, due to acute currency shortage. AAP has also demanded that the BJP in Goa should come clean on its political funding, accusing the BJP of hiding 80 per cent of the poll funding behind legal loopholes. The backbone of the Goan economy today is Tourism. The Goa government needs to take bold and proactive steps to ensure that the livelihoods of tourism dependent Goans are not trampled by the disastrous decision of demonetising 500 and 1000 notes, without even basic planning for its implementation, AAP spokesperson Oscar Rebello said in Panaji on Tuesday. Just as farmers in some agriculturedependent states have been allowed to take old currency to buy seeds and fertilisers, the Goa Govt should come out with a plan to ensure that the entire tourist season, which already started late due to the government s failure to allot bringing the currencies. The Dimapur based officials of the Income Tax department took over the case and they have been probing the origin of the money and whether it has got some legal authentication, police said adding that later a local businessman of Dimapur claimed the money to be his own. shacks on time, does not get washed out, which will increase the economic and social chaos, he also said. Goa s famed beaches and nightlife annually attract more than four million tourists, half a million of which are foreigners, every year and the revenues generated by the tourism industry accounts for more than 15 per cent of the coastal State s gross domestic product. The demonetisation drive has also affected beach shacks on Goa s beaches nearly 300 of which dot the State s coastline and are popular with tourists, both foreign and domestic. Speaking to The Pioneer, Cruz Cardoso, president of the All Goa Shack Owners Association, said that business has drop significantly, because tourists themselves are facing a cash crunch as local banks, do not have legal currency. We are suffering because there is just not enough cash available with locals or with tourists. We also cannot use card swiping machines because shacks are a seasonal business, Cardoso said. The AAP meanwhile also said that the BJP in Goa opens up on its political funding. and in-laws and many times she would go back to her home, said Sudhir. Sudhir said since the marriage they managed to give about three lakh rupees as dowry still they continued demanding more. On several occasions the villagers held panchayat for reconciliation and on Seema s parents promise to pay dowry they allowed her to live in her sasural. After the incident there had been controversy over the jurisdiction of the spot of crime and police wondered if it fell in the jurisdiction of Maner or Bihta police stations. Finally at the intervention of the local mukhiya the Maner police acted and filed the FIR at the complaint by Ramavatar against Dharmendra, his father Misri Rai and a few other relatives. ithin a fortnight of intro- of 2,000 denom- Wduction ination currency notes by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), a pan shop owner in Ahmedabad received a fake 2,000 note. The incident is being seen as alarming as one of the motives for demonetisation of 500 and 1000 denomination currency notes was to curb menace of fake currency notes paralysing the nation s economy. Vansh Barot, who runs a swanky pan shop in hile everybody else in the Wcountry appears to be adversely affected by the sudden ban on the 500 and 1,000 currency notes, the famous Sri Venkateshwara temple atop the Tirumala Hills in Andhra Pradesh, the richest Hindu temple in south India does not seem to be hit by the demonitisation at all as far as the cash flow in to its coffers. However the number of pilgrims visiting the famous temple has come down considerably. Against the norm of waiting for several hours, the pilgrims reaching the town were now able to complete their rituals in less than two hours. The pilgrims were able to get the Sarva Darshan in in two hours and special Darshan Ahmedabad s upmarket locality Judges Bungalow area, says that the note had perhaps been exchanged by an unknown customer at his shop over the weekend. Though he did go through entire video footage of last 3-4 days, he could not ascertain which of his customer had slipped in the fake note. I never thought that anyone would possibly pass on a fake currency of `2,000 so soon after introduction of a new currency. Moreover, the note had close resemblance to emonetisation has given sleepless Dnights to a legislator in Meghalaya. Congress legislator from Pynthorumkhrah constituency in Meghalaya, AL Hek has filed an FIR with the police against some unknown persons for spreading the rumours that he would distribute his black money among the people of the constituency. Hek s move came after large numbers of people from his constituency and others were seen queuing near his house in the last couple of days. People have been queuing up in front of my house in last couple of days. When I asked them they said that they heard that I am going to distribute my black money among the people of the constituency. Someone is spreading the rumour and innocent people of the constituency believed the rumours to be true, said Hek while talking to The Pioneer on Tuesday. It seems some people have told them that I am going to distribute 5,000 to each of them who come to my house and meet me, he said in one hour as the rush of the pilgrims has come down considerably, a senior official of Tirumala Tirupati Devsthanam said adding that the cash crunch has affected the numbers of pilgrims coming to the temple. However there was no affect on the offerings of cash and other valuables made at the temple. On Monday the Hundi of the temple received the offerings of 4.18 crore, considerably higher compared to the average offerings of 3 crore per day. Most of the offerings were in the old currency notes of 500 and 1,000, the official said on the condition of anonymity. The offerings received on Monday were the highest since the demonetization announced on November 8, he added. the original one, including watermark and thread. There was little for me to doubt its authenticity, Barot said. Barot realized the fake nature of the note when one of his suppliers pointed it out to him. PNS When I placed it against other similar notes, I could see the difference. Not only was it slightly smaller in size, the quality of paper used in fake currency appeared inferior. Even the seven raised angular bleed lines on both sides of the note were not consistent as in valid currency note, he said. adding that the people, however, could not point out to anyone specific who spread the rumour. It has been getting difficult to make the people understand. Besides, my daily work is getting affected by this rush of people, he said. It may be mentioned here that the house of Congress legislator have been frequented by large number of people in the past few days. Some of the people even come during the night and queue before his house. This is not good. I do not have any black money and someone is trying to malign my image in the constituency and among the people of the state. I have filed an FIR in this regard and I hope police would surely find out the culprit behind the rumours, he said. Hek, who is a senior Congress leader had also served as the health and family welfare minister of the hilly state earlier. At present, he is the vice president of the ruling Congress party in the State. n order notifying renaming Aof the temple of Lord Ayyappa at Sabarimala, Kerala s famous pilgrimage centre, has triggered a controversy with Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran of the CPI(M) questioning the legal validity of the order and claiming that he was kept in the dark about the decision. The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) administering the shrine stated in the order that the Sabarimala temple would henceforth be known as Sree Ayyappa Swami Temple instead of Sree Dharmasastha Temple, the name by which it was known so far. Though the order was dated October 6, it had come to public knowledge only the other day. Kadakampally said an explanation would be sought from the TDB over the matter. According to the TDB order, Sabarimala is the only place in entire world that has a temple dedicated to Sree Ayyappa Swamy and hence it would be known in that deity s name. The order said that the Sabarimala shrine had become Sree Ayyappa Swamy temple after Ayyappa Swamy became one with the then deity of the shrine, Sree Dharmasastha, following the fulfillment of his divine mission in the world centuries ago. Reports have appeared to the effect that the TDB has issued the order perhaps with the goal of effectively resisting the CPI(M)-led LDF Government s position in the case in the Supreme Court on the issue of women s entry at the hill shrine. As per the present system, women between 10 and 50 years of age are not allowed to enter the temple. Devaswom Minister Kadakampally complained through a Facebook post that he, the Minister in charge of the Government Department that handles the affairs related to bodies administering the temples in the State, had learned about the TDB decision on the renaming of the Sabarimala shrine through media reports. TDB president Prayar Gopalakrishnan and the LDF Government have not been in good relationship for the past several months.

8 Two historic events are in the making in Pakistan. First, next week, and second, next year. After 20 years, the orderly retirement of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) and an elected Government completing a fullterm a second time. These developments were confirmed last week at a chance meeting at Dubai with a group of Pakistanis, among them, two retired Generals. The interaction turned out to be illuminating given the continuing three-month long high-voltage pyrotechnics along the Line of Control (LoC). Incidentally, the surgical strikes were dismissed as a bad joke. That was not a good start to the conversation though they were quick to realise that living in denial in perpetuity was not a good idea. Not only does Dubai have the second-largest expatriate Pakistani community and workers after India, but it is also a haven for exiled and failed Pakistani leaders. Troubled by a bad back and no longer by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, former President, Gen Pervez Musharraf is re-envisioning his new role in Pakistan, still harbouring political ambitions. In a high-rise condominium he was enjoying an evening of the 1950s Indian film songs with three-and-a-half stiff ones. The next day, former President Asif Ali Zardari ex-london had called in Dubai, a conclave of his Pakistan People s Party (PPP) after his son Bilawal Bhutto had done his bit in pledging leke rahenge Kashmir in Mirpur, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Pakistan in the month of November is in the thrall of two domestic issues: The Panama Papers and the battle of succession for the new COAS whose name has to be announced before November 29. Gen Raheel Sharif s Dining Out is planned in the GHQ Mess in Rawalpindi for next Monday without an announced successor. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif s off-shore assets case is likely to be decided on November 30, a day after the good General s retirement. He is expected to squeak through thanks to a Qatari Prince and his late father, Miyan Mohammad Sharif. In Sharif s first term, Pakistan was said to be ruled by four A s: America, Allah, Army and Abbajan (Miyan Mohammad). The biggest event of the month, year and the decade was whether Gen Raheel Sharif was on his way out or if he would dig in. Not many COASs have ridden into the sunset at the appointed hour, at least not Sir This refers to the editorial, Learning from tragedy (November 22). The Union Government may be keen to introduce bullet trains in the country, but they are no substitute for modernisation of the existing tracks. That said, even though the costs of living and medical treatment have shot up manifold in the last two decades, the ex-gratia amount given to the kin of those killed in rail accidents, has not changed much. An ex-gratia of four lakh rupees was fixed way back in 1997, and it continues to be the same today. This is in sharp contrast to the previous practice of upward revision of the amount every 10 years. Padmini Raghavendra Secunderabad Sir This refers to the editorial, Learning from tragedy (November 22). The train accident near Kanpur has once again raised serious doubts on the safety of rail travel and the general health of the railway network. Prime Minister Narendra for the last two decades since Gen Jehangir Karamat was eased out prematurely by Nawaz Sharif in his second term in 1998 for advocating the formation of a National Security Council. The six names in the waiting list to become COAS are all from the same batch with the front-runners being Lt Gens Iqbal Ramday and Javed Bajwa. Within the powerful Corps Commander s club, unanimity has come about over the Chief exiting on time and diminished appetite for an Army takeover. Still civil-military relations are at their usual tense best especially under Sharif who has twice invited military intervention in 1993 and More information was made available on the Dawn story broken by Cyril Almeida over which Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid was forced to resign. It is believed that Foreign Secretary Aijaz Chaudhary told the Army to either rein in or act against the terrorist groups operating against India as this was giving Pakistan a bad name. Director General Inter- Services Intelligence (ISI) Rizwan Akhtar, in the presence of Gen Raheel Sharif is supposed to have told him: What is the difference between you and India? They re also saying the same thing. At this civilmilitary meeting, there was rare agreement that Pakistan (military and non-state actors) will not initiate a fresh attack on India. Curiously this story was not leaked, but the other was. If true, it would suggest that the retribution forecast after the surgical strikes may not, after all, come before November 29 as widely expected. The dip in India-Pakistan relations is at its worst since New Delhi s threat to re-write the Indus Water Treaty, withdraw Most Favoured Nation treatment and support the oppressed in Balochistan, PoK, including Gilgit- Baltistan and orchestrating the cancellation of Saarc, have rattled Pakistan. There is now bigger traction in Pakistan about allegations of India training Baloch insurgents in Dehradun and Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) linkages with TTP in Afghanistan. The apprehension of the Indian Naval officer on charges of espionage have added fuel to fire. Further, Pakistanis are convinced that New Delhi will sabotage the China-Pakistan Economic Modi had asked the railways to transform and focus on new speeds, progress and new capacity, alongwith gaining financial strength. But the question is: Is Indian Railways equipped for the Prime Minister s vision? Indian Railways requires massive resources. These resources are simply not there. The railways must radically re-think its approach to reducing accidents and beefing up its infrastructure. J Akshay Bangalore Sir This refers to the editorial, Learning from tragedy (November 22). Perhaps we are accustomed to getting wise only after the occurrence of an event in this case, the train accident near Kanpur. What follows next after the accident is a number of inquiries which is often consigned to oblivion. The need of hour is to revamp the railways outdated system by replacing it with state-of-the-art technology. And this is not an uphill task, given that the railways is a highly lucrative department of the Union Government. Azhar A Khan Rampur Corridor (CPEC). They see Pakistan s economic redemption from this great Chinese act of endowment as not palatable to India. Pakistanis are also concerned about the evolving US- India-Afghanistan partnership in Pakistan s backyard. But the big worry is the Trump factor: How it will affect South Asia and particularly all the nasty things Trump has said about Pakistan, Islamabad-sponsored terrorism and its nuclear arsenal. As before, New Delhi has to balance its engagement with the democratic forces and the elected civilian Government with below-the-radar contact with the military leadership and its powercentres which are not institutionalised. This leads to the ground reality of dual power centres an establishment Pakistan and a democratic Pakistan. For India, there is the perennial conflict between the choice to strengthen democratic forces versus dealing with the ruling military establishment. Any change in this will happen only when the people of Pakistan make it happen. The structured dialogue process severed in January 2013 after the beheading of an Indian soldier on the LoC has come close to resuming a few times but was aborted by spoilers and is unlikely to be resurrected till after state elections in India by mid Rawalpindi will soon have a new COAS but that won t change the dynamics of the bilateral relationship. While he will hold the key to a breakthrough, the Heart of Asia Istanbul meeting at Amritsar on December 3 and 4 could open a window of opportunity to at least lowering the temperature on the LoC after both sides have delivered to each other a befitting response. Pakistan s de facto Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz will not miss the opportunity to attend the Amritsar conference which will be inaugurated jointly by Prime Minister Modi and Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani. This is one opportunity for Pakistan to demonstrate that it has not been isolated and is in fact attending a multilateral meeting in India! Afghanistan is far too important for Pakistan to allow India to steal the lead. Even Gen Sharif s expected retaliation for the surgical strikes was given a go by. Yesterday s Machil killings of Indian soldiers are part of tit-for-tat LoC dynamics. (The writer is a retired Lt General of the Indian Army and strategic affairs analyst) Sir There can be no second opinion that bankers have played and continue to play a crucial role in the effective implementation of demonetisation. The banking staff is working beyond working hours, even on holidays, to mitigate the problems of the common man. However, it is sad to learn that some employees have indulged in money laundering with an ulterior motive. Two bank officers have been arrested for attempting to launder demonetised currencies to the tune of 25 lakh for pecuniary benefits. This is condemnable, as these officers, one from a public sector bank and another from a private bank, have betrayed the trust the Government and enforcement authorities had on them. Moreover, with their nefarious activities, they have tarnished the image of the banking sector. One hopes the arrest will serve as a warning to those bankers who might be tempted to make some quick buck during the transition period of demonetisation. Tharcius S Fernando Chennai

9 More than 15 billion pieces of 500 notes and six billion pieces of 1,000 (March 31, 2016 figures) got cancelled due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi s surprise demonetisation announcement on November 8. They constituted a quarter of the notes in circulation, according to the Reserve Bank of India, but worth 86.4 per cent of the currency basket. India is one of the cash heavy nations. Its cash-in-circulation to GDP ratio is 13 per cent, one of the highest in the world. Therefore, the economy is down to prosthetic limb of 14 per cent. While cashless economy remains a pipedream, the immediate challenge for the Government is to replenish the cash. Otherwise the liquidity crush might hurt the GDP. Now to print back 15 billion notes of 500 may take a whole year. There are four currency printing presses in India. The ones at Dewas (Madhya Pradesh) and Nashik (Maharashtra), which come under Security Printing & Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL) produced 8.3 billion pieces of currency notes in FY Those at Mysore (Karnataka) and Salboni (West Bengal), coming under Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Limited (BRBNMPL), have a production capacity of 16 billion pieces across all denominations if they work in two shifts. These, however, produced billion pieces last financial year. Thus, in FY around 23 billion pieces of currency (across denominations) were produced, slightly more than the total number of pieces cancelled by demonetisation. Therefore, to say the current shortfall in currency circulation will be made good in six to seven weeks, is statistically untenable. But speed is not the only problem with re-monetisation. The 2,000 note is a good economic decision but only for the REserve Bank of India. They wanted to economise on cost and time while doubling and quadrupling monetary worth of cancelled notes in print. But for the currency users, the 2,000 note comes with a set of complications. It s a pity if the Government had not foreseen it. In the short run, when the demand is muted, the 2,000 will perform worse. People would like to save money rather than spend. With connecting denominations like 1,000 is out, and the new 500 in short supply, the 2,000 note could be a liability rather than an asset. The new currency configurations and corresponding availability will severely reduce the velocity of money. Velocity is defined as the rate at which money changes hand for purchasing goods and services. A reduced velocity indicates poor vibrancy of the economy. A significant part of the cash economy might be severely hit. Does the Government have a credible cash doctrine? The Prime Minister, in his November 8 message, said, The magnitude of cash in circulation is directly linked to the level of corruption. Inflation becomes worse through the deployment of cash earned in corrupt ways. The poor have to bear the brunt of this. It has a direct effect on the purchasing power of the poor and the middle class. Is this merely his personal musing, or will it be adopted as a policy? If it were a new policy statement, one is interested in knowing details its thereof. What is the level of cash that the Government thinks optimal for the nation? In what ratios should the different denominations like 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 2,000 be printed? There seems to be a complete policy vacuum on cash. I see the demonetisation as a departure from the policy pursued until now. Here is why. Until now, the focus was on pushing the growth rate up, through easy availability of liquidity. The Government wanted the RBI to cut rates at the first available instance. The object had been to infuse more cash into the system to invigorate industry and business. The RBI did oblige several times, including with the repo rate cut by 50 bps in October to kick start economic activities. But savings got dis-incentived. The growth rate of saving deposit in public sector banks stood at 4.6 in March, 2016 down from 13.1 in March There is much talk on shifting to a cashless economy. But has the NDA Government been hostile to cash? Not really. The RBI in the last two years of the NDA indented significantly more number of currency notes in 500 and 1,000 denominations with the SPM- CIL and the BRBNMPL. Some 4,839 million pieces of 500 had been indented during FY It rose to 5,400 million pieces during FY , 5,600 million pieces during FY and 5,725 million during FY The now abolished 1,000 notes also followed a similar trend. It implies that until November 8, the NDA Government s cash policy was a linear extension of the UPA s. But suddenly it discovered the virtues of a having less cash in circulation. There is no problem with this view either. But it must be backed up by a policy document. Is cashless economy the solution? Only a fortnight before the demonetisation announcement, there was this news of massive ATM hacking as a result of which 32 lakh cards of SBI, HDFC, ICICI and Yes Bank were compromised. There are only about 2.6 million credits cards in India. But debit cards (or ATM cards) are surprising high in number at 712 million. However, there is a catch. My analysis of RBI figures reveals that while one debit card on an average was used at least once in a month to draw money from ATM, these cards were used at POS (point of sale) only one-sixth of the time. For 712 million debit cards, there were 756 million ATM transactions in August, 2016, whereas the numbers of POS transactions were only 130 million. Therefore debit cards are actually being more often used to reinforce cash rather than to promote cashless transactions. But has one ever wondered what the biggest casualty of the demonetisation drive is? It is the idea of ease of doing business. We have not heard that oftrepeated phrase in the last 10 days since the Prime Minister s address to the nation. The Government should share its roadmap on re-monetisation with the people. Show me the cash thus goes a phrase. Show me the cash doctrine, is the demand of the hour. (The writer is a freelance commentator) W hat was once a personal pain for Rohtak businessman Ashok B Verma, a hemophilia patient, his empathy transformed it into a community initiative that has changed the lives of many like him for the better. It was sometime during 1979, Ashok B Verma had severe bleeding in his leg, and it was untreatable in India. He had to fly to Italy where professor PM Mannucci, a prominent hematologist, treated him free of cost and suggested him to reach out to people with hemophilia (PwH), in need in India. Ashok remembered his saviour s words. On November 24, 1983, the Hemophilia Federation India (HFI) was set up in Delhi in the presence of Prof Mannucci and Rev Allen Tanner, then chairman of World Federation of Hemophilia, and other PWH and family members from India. Thanks to Ashok B Verma s vision, so much has changed for the younger generations of PwH. Still, the insurmountable struggles of living with the disease in a developing country such as India, having no adequate treatment, or expensive care, continue to affect us in many ways. For those who are not familiar with hemophilia, it is a hereditary bleeding disorder that prevents blood from clotting properly. Being a genetic disorder, it lasts a whole lifetime. People with hemophilia lack a protein in blood that controls bleeding. There are more than 18,000 registered PwH across the country, but this number is only the tip of the iceberg. Given the incidence rate of one in 10,000 male births, more than one lakh patients are estimated to be suffering from different types of hemophilia across the country, according to the World Federation of Hemophilia. This figure by itself means that more people are suffering because they have not been diagnosed properly and effectively. Even those of us who have been diagnosed, are still suffering because of inadequate treatment. Only effective access to treatment will ensure pain-free and productive lives to us, especially our younger generation. Hemophilia patients get treatment on demand from most States, but lately, there has been a scarcity of anti-hemophilic factor (AHF) concentrates across the country. This becomes very difficult for most patients, particularly coming from the poor strata, as they are dependent on Government support. One of the long-term solutions that has been proposed is for the Government to establish a hemophilia programme under the National Health Mission. There has to be a comprehensive programme to address the needs of hemophilia patients and the hemophilia community in general. The Union Government has to look at it with a more holistic approach and view its advantages in the longer term vis-à-vis a piecemeal approach. For example, the inclusion of hemophilia in the Disability Bill, which is yet to be tabled in Parliament, is of paramount importance to hemophilia patients. Its endorsement by Parliament can address many issues, such as discrimination at the workplace and lack of benefits for those suffering from disabilities. Other important programmes that we, in the HFI, are pursuing, include sensitisation with the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) to come up with a scheme to support hemophilia patients with clotting factor concentrates, following HIV infection of many patients who used blood products. Local manufacturers need to be engaged to ensure that they develop factor concentrates locally that strictly adhere to international safety standards and protocols, which is again a vision of Make in India. Alongside with ensuring ample supply and safety of factor concentrates, should be the establishment of Hemophilia Treatment Centres (HTCs) and Coagulation Laboratories in Government-run medical colleges in each district equipped to identify new children/persons with hemophilia. These diagnostic facilities will also help many other medical and surgical patients as well as reduce morbidity and mortality related to bleeding after child-birth in these hospitals. The HTCs must have the capability of carrier detection and pre-natal diagnosis of women who have a history of hemophilia in their families. Moreover, we would like to see the institutionalisation of prophylaxis treatment, especially among children 15 years old and below. Prophylaxis is the preventive infusion of factor concentrates to reduce the risk of bleeding and prevent joint damage. Many adult hemophilia patients experience permanent damage in joints because of lack of treatment. Giving prophylaxis treatment to children will prevent the new generation of hemophilia patients from having such permanent damage. But even those with permanent joint damage have hope. Under the Central Government Hospital Scheme, some hemophiliacs who have been bedridden from joint damage for years, received corrective surgeries and have now recovered completely. This scheme should be made available all over the country. (The writer is vice president, development, Hemophilia Federation-India)

10 Seeking to tighten its grip over the $103-billion group, Tata Sons asked Tata Power to call a meeting of shareholders to consider removing Cyrus Mistry as director of the company even as another group firm, Tata Chemicals, fixed the date for the same. Tata Sons, the holding company of the salt-to-software conglomerate, had last month ousted Mistry as its chairman and has since then sought to remove him from the group s listed companies, a few of which he heads and is on board of others. Tata Power in a regulatory filing said it has received a notice from its principal promoter Tata Sons seeking convening of an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders to oust Mistry as director on the company board. On the other hand, the board of Tata Chemicals, where such a request had previously been made by Tata Sons, fixed December 23 as the date for calling the EGM for removing Mistry as well as friend-turnedfoe independent director Nusli Wadia as directors of the company. Mistry is chairman of Tata Chemicals. The board of Tata Global Beverages, the Indian partner of Starbucks Coffee, last week voted him out as the chairman. But he continues to be on its board as well as other firms and can be removed only by a shareholder vote. Tata Sons used its commanding per cent stake in the group s most successful mid Tata-Mistry ongoing Abattle, ousted Chairman Cyrus Mistry on Tuesday hit back at the Tatas, rejecting the charges of not contributing anything to the group s cashrich firms - Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). He also alleged that Ratan Tata once tried to sell the IT giant to IBM and his ego led to bad business decisions like Corus acquisition at a double price than that of its original cost. Adding more allegations against the Tatas on the businesses of both the companies, Mistry also said that Tata s contribution to the success of TCS and JLR is an illusion. Meanwhile, Nusli Wadia, who was an independent director at Tata Steel for nearly 40 years, also hit back Tata Sons, threatening that he might initiate civil and criminal proceedings if Tata Sons did not withdraw its November-11 notice or failed to prove its charges. He demanded Tata Sons to prove its false and defamatory allegations in the notice, one of which claimed that he was acting with Cyrus Mistry against the Tata Group. In a series of statements issued by Cyrus Mistry s office on Tuesday, the letter said, Ratan Tata had pitched for selling TCS to IBM, a near death experience for group s crown jewel. Ratan Tata s ego led to Corus deal at a high price. Ratan Tata s decision to acquire steelmaker Corus for more than $12 billion, when a year earlier it was available at half the price, went against the reservations of some board members and senior executives, it added. Without giving the timelines, the letter also claimed the then chief FC Kohli s illness had prevented JRD Tata from going ahead with Ratan Tata s proposal. Ratan Tata was then heading Tata Industries joint venture with IBM and had approached JRD Tata with a proposal from IBM to buyout TCS. JRD refused to discuss the deal because Kohli was still recovering in the hospital, it said. However, Kohli, considered the doyen of the domestic software industry, flatly refused the proposal saying TCS has a bright future and the group should not sell the company. JRD turned down the offer, demonstrating true vision. But it was also a near-death experience for TCS at the hands of Ratan Tata, the letter claimed. Tatas and IBM had started the joint venture with equal holding in 1992, and dissolved it in 1999, while TCS was founded in 1968 and was taken public in JRD stepped down from chairmanship of the group in 1991, while Kohli stepped down from TCS in The letter, which is third in a series of clarifications issued by Mistry s office, also lamed Ratan Tata s ego for bad business decisions, including the buyout of British steelmaker Corus at a high cost and also sticking to the CDMA technology for its telecom business imperiling thousands of jobs. company, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), to remove Mistry as its chairman. An EGM has been called on December 13 to remove him as director. Indian Hotels Co Ltd, the firm that runs the Taj Group of hotels, has called a meet on December 20 to consider Tata Sons proposal to remove Mistry as director of the company. Tata Sons holds per cent of share capital of IHCL. In a sudden and dramatic turn of events last month, Mistry was unceremoniously removed as the chairman of Tata Sons and replaced by his predecessor Ratan Tata in the interim, triggering a confrontation between the single-largest shareholder and the Tatas. In the telecom business, Tata made a strategic decision to enter CDMA space as against the popular GSM, despite advised to the contrary, Mistry said calling it a case of one person s judgment adversely affecting jobs of thousands. In its earlier two clarifications, Mistry camp had focused on the allegations of the group drifting away from the Tata values during his tenure, independence of directors in group companies, explanations on a surge in expenses and the huge write-offs, which the group had to take under his leadership. In a nine-page letter on November 10, Tata Sons had accused Mistry of not really contributing to the success of JLR and TCS, saying these assets were inherited by him from Ratan Tata who had nurtured them and that the ousted chairman could not take credit for their stellar performance. In the statement issued on Tuesday, on the contrary the Mistry camp gave credit for these two companies success to their leadership under Kohli and N Chandrasekaran at TCS, and Ralph Speth and Ravi Kanth at JLR. Mistry, being the nonexecutive Chairman, gave them a strategic direction, ensured a future proofing of the businesses and also gave them time, the letter said. As the Chairman of Tata Sons and TCS, Mistry s access to senior stakeholders across the world was an enabling platform, the letter said, while claiming that he met at least 60 global chief executives to help TCS. To buttress the point, Mistry s letter enlisted training of 1.35 lakh people in digital area, the Japanese joint venture, industry leading growth in Europe and a surge in high revenue clientele during his tenure. As per the letter, Mistry s four-year tenure between December 2012 and October 2016 saw TCS cash and equivalents doubled to Rs 20,500 crore with a surge in cash conversion, which helped it declare a special dividend last year. The best is yet to come for TCS. JLR is at a critical juncture where decisions taken on Tuesday will decide its future resilience. JLR strategy under Mistry s chairmanship has been to achieve scale as well as minimise currency and supply chain risks by investing in new facilities, it said, while underlining that it is now a stronger company that will reward the shareholders more consistently in future. To woo customers post demonetisation, auto makers Renault, Nissan and Honda have tied up with banks and e-wallets firms to offer cashless facilities and fully financed car loans. Renault India has announced cashless transaction for customers making vehicle purchases and availing after-sales services. In order to facilitate bookings and cashless payments, the company, which sells models like Kwid and Duster, is offering customers an option of paying the booking amount through PayTM and HDFC PayZapp e-wallets. This is a strategic move by Renault to leverage the growing preference for cashless transactions in India. In addition to this, Renault India is offering 100 per cent on-road funding across Renault s product range to its prospective customers, the company said in a statement. Renault is also extending cashless options such as use of cheques and demand drafts, e-wallets, debit or credit cards and instant fund transfers for all after-sales services. All these facilities will be available without charging any additional transaction fee, it added. Similarly, Japanese car maker Nissan and its brand Datsun s dealers are accepting cashless transactions such as cheques, debit or credit cards, and e-wallets to purchase parts or services. In addition, the company provides free towing of Nissan and Datsun vehicles which are under warranty or extended warranty, ensuring customer comfort in case of emergencies. We want to ensure a delightful customer service experience for every Nissan and Datsun customer when they enter a dealership by providing the best possible support and convenience, Nissan Motor India Managing Director Arun Malhotra said. Honda Cars India too has announced a tie-up with HDFC, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank to provide up to 100 per cent loan to prospective customers. The Japanese car maker s arrangement with the three leading banks includes exshowroom and on-road financing for its various models.terming the demonetisation initiative of the government a bold and progressive decision, Hero MotoCorp Chairman, MD Paucity of new currency notes has forced80 per cent trucks to stop plying, Delhi Transporters Association said on Tuesday, urging the government to extend limit for toll collection and use of old notes at diesel pumps. Whereas we support demonetisation, it has been causing complete disarray to the goods transportation/trucking business across the country, the association said in a statement. Trucking business is largely cash-reliant for en-route expenses like purchase of fuel, toll payments, payment of Green Tax, driver s boarding lodging, repairs, payments to loaders/unloaders etc, it added. 80 per cent of trucks have already stopped plying due to crunch of new currency. Remaining 20 per cent are also on the verge of stopping plying if these limits are not extended till the currency position eases and is normalised, Delhi Transporters Association President Jaspal Singh Kumar said. Present suspension of toll collection and acceptance of old currency up to November 24, 2016 is required to be extended and the limit of withdrawal of 50,000 from current account per week is also insufficient, he added. In case these limits are not extended, the transportation business shall come to a halt as we cannot meet drivers salary, expenses on purchase of fuel, drivers boarding and lodging, payments to loaders/unloaders, and CEO Pawan Munjal said it will provide a significant boost to the economy and will create a transparent and inclusive financial system. The agility reflected with subsequent steps is also aiding the public both in urban and rural areas. I am personally very enthused by this decision. Terming the demonetisation initiative of the government a bold and progressive decision, Hero MotoCorp Chairman, MD and CEO Pawan Munjal said it will provide a significant boost to the economy and will create a transparent and inclusive financial system. The agility reflected with subsequent steps is also aiding the public both in urban and rural areas. I am personally very enthused by this decision. As many as 82,500 ATMs, which account for about 40 per cent of cash vending machines in the country, have been recalibrated to dispense new high security currency notes of 500 and 2,000 rupees. Out of 2.2 lakh ATMs, 82,500 were recalibrated till last Monday evening. These ATMs have been reset as per the direction of task force set up by the Government to expedite the process, Rituraj Sinha, President Cash Logistics Association of India, told PTI. These have been recalibrated in such a manner that regional balance is maintained while giving priority to rural areas, Sinha, also a member of the task force headed by RBI Deputy Governor S S Mundra, said. Hit by adverse currency movements, India s household wealth has fallen by $26 billion to $3 trillion in the current year, shows the latest report by global financial services major Credit Suisse. According to the Global Wealth Report compiled by Credit Suisse Research Institute, wealth in the country in dollar terms went down by 0.8 per cent ($26 billion) to $3.099 trillion in 2016 compared to last year. The report noted that while wealth has been rising in India, not everyone has shared in this growth. There is still considerable wealth poverty, reflected in the fact that 96 per cent of the adult population has wealth below Bakery and dairy products major Britannia Industries Ltd, which is aiming to double its turnover in next four to five years, would expand offshore presence as it aspires to become a global company. Britannia, which would primarily target the developing countries, is expecting that exports would contribute around per cent of its turnover in next 4-5 years. Besides this, the company would invest a capex of crore every year for the next 3-4 years to ramp up its capacity and roll out new categories which would be funded internally. In the next 5 years, I would see this going from eight per cent to per cent, said Britannia Industries Managing Director Varun Berry. Asked about the region which would lead growth, Berry said: It would all be developing countries. We are not going to developed countries as it does not make sense. Presently, export contributes eight per cent to the turnover of the $10,000, the report said. At the other extreme, a small fraction of the population (0.3 per cent of adults) has a net worth over $1,00,000, it added, noting that due to India s large population, this translates into 2.4 million people. As per the report, the country has 2,48,000 adults in the top 1 per cent of global wealth holders, a 0.5 per cent share. By our estimates, 2,260 adults have wealth over $50 million, and 1,040 have more than $100 million, it added. Overall, the Asia Pacific region in 2016 saw wealth increase by 4.5 per cent to nearly $80 trillion. China and India were hit by adverse currency movements and as a result, their household wealth fell by 2.8 per cent and 0.8 per cent to $23 trillion and $3 trillion, respectively, the report noted. Among other major economies in the region, wealth in Australia remained largely unchanged (decline of 0.2 per cent) and South Korea saw an increase of 1 per cent. Globally, the wealth stood at $256 trillion -- a rise of 1.4 per cent from a year ago. The report noted that rise in global wealth is in line with the increase in the world s adult population with average wealth per adult remaining constant at USD 52,800. According to Credit Suisse, while developing economies company. Part of the strategy would be expanding to countries which have similar business environment as India. It may also go for acquisitions if it gets the right candidate. Britannia, which is currently limited to bakery and dairy segment, would venture into new categories to be a complete food company. Our first step would be the countries, which has environment similar to ours. The strategy would be to seed in our products in these countries, establish a little bit of space and then start to think of a manufacturing facility there. In the meantime, if some good opportunities (acquisitions) comes up in some countries, then we would look at that as well, Berry said. He further added: Today, we are not a food company. We are broadly a bakery company only which also does dairy. We truly want to be a food company as we go forward. Its our vision to make Britannia not just an Indian food company but a global food company. We want our footprint across the globe and made some move in that direction and a lot more would be coming in future. Britannia clocked a revenue of 7, crore in FY and plans to double it in next 4-5 years with growth in current business and new categories in which it plans to enter. We would like to double the turnover in next 4-5 years... Bulk of the growth would are likely to outpace the developed world in terms of wealth growth, they will still only account for just under a third of growth over the next five years. They (developing nations) currently account for around 18 per cent of global household wealth, against just 12 per cent in 2000, it added China is expected to account for more than half ofthis growth, with over 7 per cent coming from India, it added. Credit Suisse noted that the United States is likely to remain the engine of global wealth growth in coming years, with the total tally reaching $112 trillion by $28 trillion more than in come from the current categories and all the new categories would add to the growth as well, said Berry. He further added: We are working on multiple categories. We are establishing our right to succeed and we are testing with consumers. The company has capex plans to ramp up production capacity. I would think of crore every year in capex for next BI on Tuesday relaxed one Rof several conditions for withdrawal of 2.5 lakh from their own accounts by making declaration for payments beyond 10,000 only. Earlier, the drawee had to declare all payments he had to make out of the 2.5 lakh withdrawal from the account. Also, RBI asked banks to ensure adequate funds are provided to rural cooperative banks for disbursal to farmers so that they can have enough valid notes for purchase of seeds, fertiliser and other inputs during the ongoing rabi season. Parallelly, RBI doubled the limit to 20,000 for semi-close prepaid instruments with a view to meeting the transactional needs of the public through digital means. A detailed list of persons to 3-4 years, said Berry adding, If there is a return then we have got the money to fund it. The critical thing would be that the project should be giving us right returns and should be paying off in certain period of time. If it fulfils that, then money is sitting in the bank and we have enough money to invest. As part of growth strategy, Britannia Industries would have a mix of in-house and contract manufacturing. Presently, it is 60:40 for inhouse and contract manufacturing, he said adding, It could be 70:30 in next two years. Britannia is currently present in 70 countries across the globe but its manufacturing facilities are only in India and the Middle East. The company is putting up a facility in the exports zone in Gujarat, which would be ready soon. Britannia today inaugurated its 200 crore R&D centre at Bengaluru, adjacent to its manufacturing facility in Bidadi. whom the cash withdrawn is proposed to be paid, together with a declaration from such persons that they do not have a bank account, where the amount proposed to be paid is 10,000 or more. The list should indicate the purpose for which the proposed payments are being made, RBI said in a notification. It is estimated that about 35,000 crore would be required by DCCBs (District Co-operative Banks) for sanction and disbursement of crop loans to farmers at the rate of 10,000 crore per week, an RBI notification said. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) will be utilising its own cash credit limits up to about 23,000 crore to enable the DCCBs to disburse the required crop loans to Primary Agricultural Credit Society (PACS) and farmers, it said.

11 lobal steel production rose by a Ghealthy 3.3 per cent to million tonnes (mt) last month against October 2015 aided by growth in major producers like India, China and Japan, data from World Steel Association showed. India s crude steel production was 8.3 mt in October 2016, up by 12.3 per cent on October 2015, the association (World Steel) said. China s crude steel production for October 2016 was 68.5 mt, a rise of 4 per cent year-onyear (y-o-y), while Japan produced 9 mt of the metal, up 0.6 per cent, it added. The crude steel capacity utilisation ratio of the 65 countries in October 2016 was 69.6 per cent. It was 68.2 per cent in October The October 2016 capacity utilisation ratio is 0.6 percentage points lower than the September 2016 ratio, World Steel said. In the EU, Germany produced 3.5 mt of steel in October 2016, a decrease of 3.7 per cent y-o-y, while Italy produced 2.1 mt of crude steel, up 11 per cent. PTI major portion of the installed Acapacity of 71 GW of private coal-based independent power plants is under operational stress mainly due to absence of fuel supply agreement and power purchase pact, industry body Ficci said on Wednesday. 46 GW out of installed capacity of 71 GW of coal-based IPP plants are in operational stress attributable largely to absent FSA and PPA, but also to financial and regulatory issues, the industry body said. Ficci said it conducted a unit-wise analysis to examine the business environment in which the commissioned plants are being operationalised and the new capacities in pipeline are to be mainstreamed. Constraints of power purchase agreements (PPA) as well as fuel supply agreements (FSA) are majorly restricting these plants from approaching the power market and finding buyers, the study showed. Taking together the commissioned and pipeline projects ith an aim to deepen cap- markets, regulator Sebi Wital may consider allowing Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) to invest in unlisted non-convertible debentures and securitised debt instruments in its board meeting on Wednesday. In a slew of proposed reform measures, the regulator also plans to tighten corporate governance rules on profit-sharing agreements between promoters and private equity funds as part of its efforts to safeguard minority shareholders in markets. Sebi also plans to reduce minimum angel fund investment for venture capital firms to 25 lakh from the current 50 lakh to boost the early-stage startup ecosystem. The regulator may allow the angel funds to make overseas investments up to 25 per cent of their investible corpus, in line with other Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs). The move will make such funds to spread their risk by investing across geographies. These proposals are likely to be discussed in the board meeting of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Wednesday, sources said. The regulator plans to allow Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) to invest in unlisted non-convertible debentures and securities debt instruments. RBI has also recently relaxed its rules for allowing such investments by FPIs. The move comes after Sebi s board, in September, allowed well-regulated FPIs to directly trade in corporate bonds, without going through any broker or other intermediary. Prior to that, FPIs could trade in Indian markets only through brokers (registered with exchanges as their members). The move is aimed at boosting foreign inflows in Indian markets and deepening and widening the corporate bond market. Sebi is planning to make it mandatory for promoters and top executives of firms entering into special profit-sharing deals with private equity funds to obtain prior approval from the company s board and shareholders. It plans to add a provision to listing agreement that of private developers as on August 2016, aggregate coal-based capacities without FSA and PPA are seen to be in the range of GW and GW respectively. Government has been proactively addressing the refinancing options of the stressed assets in the economy and new guidelines have been recently issued by RBI to recast the debt restructuring schemes and repayment schedules based on asset-liability management risk, Ficci Secretary General A Didar Singh said. For coal-based IPP generating plants, however, the eco-system of fuel tie-up and market access for selling power will have to concurrently improve if financial re-engineering is to have any effect, Singh said. While the demand for power will be muted till private investments and industrial activity pick-up momentum, an immediate measure is to liberalise the regime of open access by removing the tariff and non-tariff barriers so that large consumers, when faced with unreliable and high-cost power supply, can procure directly from generators, he added. PTI will require disclosures and prior approval of shareholders. In case of existing profit sharing agreements, such agreements would need to be informed to the stock exchanges for public dissemination. Also, Sebi plans to align its definition of startups with other regulations. As per Sebi guidelines, angel funds can invest in startups that have been incorporated during the preceding three years from the date of such investments. This may be changed to five years. Investment by an angel fund in a venture capital is locked in for three years. This is likely to be changed to one year. There are plans to amend the upper limit of number of angel investors in a scheme to 200 from the current 49. Angel funds, a sub-category of AIF, encourages entrepreneurship in country by financing startups at a stage where such firms find it difficult to get capital from banks and financial institutions. Currently, 266 AIFs are registered with Sebi. Of which, 85 are registered as angel funds. NEW DELHI: Government has issued show cause notices to 496 companies for not complying with CSR norms while about 4,195 companies have not spent a single penny on corporate social responsibility activities, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. The reasons for not spending included companies not finding suitable implementing agency, delay in formation of CSR committee and inability to formulate a well conceived CSR policy. Under the Companies Act, 2013, certain classes of profitable entities are required to shell out at least 2 per cent of threeyear annual average net profit towards CSR activities. They have to provide reasons for not spending on such projects. PTI NEW DELHI: Telecom operators will make short code messages used for banking services free till December 31, a move aimed at fuelling cashless transactions following the Government move to scrap high value notes of 1000/500. The development came soon after telecom regulator Trai cut the charges to 50 paise, down from At present, a charge is being levied by telecom operators for mobile banking, which is commonly known as USSD charge, Telecom MUMBAI: Fitch Ratings on Tuesday said the demonetisation of old 500, 1,000 notes will raise revenue for the Government but warned that the positive effects of the move are unlikely to be strong and long-lasting to support credit profiles. It said the demonetisation of notes has caused shortterm disruption in the economy but if it continues for longer period, there would be impact on the country s GDP growth. The move has the potential to raise Government revenue and encourage bank lending, but we believe the positive effects are unlikely to be strong and sufficiently enduring to support credit profiles, Fitch said in a report. The Centre on November 8 announced to demonetise old 500 and 1,000 notes in a fight against black money, fake currency and corruption. It said the withdrawal of bank notes, accounting for 86 per cent of the value of currency in circulation, has created a cash crunch, and seems to be holding back economic activity. Consumers have not had the cash needed to complete purchases, and there have been reports of supply chains being disrupted and farmers unable to buy seeds and fertilisers for the sowing season. Time spent queueing in banks is also likely to have affected general productivity, Fitch said. PTI NEW DELHI: Reliance Mutual Fund has filed draft offer documents with capital markets watchdog Sebi to garner over 3,000 crore for the Government through second tranche of CPSE Exchange Traded Fund. CPSE ETF, which functions like a mutual fund scheme, comprises scrips of 10 PSUs -- ONGC, Coal India, IOC, Gail India, Oil India, PFC, Bharat Electronics, REC, Engineers India and Container Corporation of India. The fund-raising will help the Government inch towards 56,500 crore disinvestment target for the current fiscal. As per draft documents filed with Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), Reliance MF has applied for second tranche of CPSE (Central Public Sector Enterprises) ETF (Exchange Traded Fund). According to sources, government is expected to raise more than 3,000 crore it had raked in from the first tranche of CPSE ETF. The Government had first launched a CPSE ETF in March 2014 under which retail investors have to invest a minimum of 5,000 to buy units. It had raised 3,000 crore through the ETF then. PTI Minister Manoj Sinha said in a tweet. To facilitate use of electronic banking facility and reducing difficulty for the common man, telecom operators have decided to waive the charges for mobile banking services till December 31, 2016, he added. This move will help people with feature phones to access electronic banking facility without incurring any NEW DELHI: As many as 73 cardholders of the country s largest bank State Bank of India (SBI) had reported fraudulent withdrawals aggregating lakh till November 4 following data breach that hit millions of debit/atms. SBI has informed that it has blocked about 6 lakh cards, Minister of State for Finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha. SBI has also informed that 73 cardholders have complained about claims aggregating to lakh up to November 4, 2016, he said. The SBI said however that its systems are robust and its debit cards are not at risk. additional cost till December 31, 2016, he said. The Government is aggressively pushing consumers to adopt digital payment methods to bring in transparency and tide over the ongoing liquid cash crunch following the demonetisation of high value currency as crack down. Short code messages are used by consumers to avail banking services like checking balance, withdrawals, deposits and peer-topeer-transfer. After the cut-off date, the short code text messages will be charged at a maximum of 50 paise, from the earlier 1.50, as per today s notification by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Industry players have been of the view that at 1.50, the cost was steep and this inhibited the widespread adoption of mobile-based transactions, especially in rural areas that see high usage of feature phones. PTI NEW DELHI: There are as many as 2,071 industrialists whose loan accounts with an exposure of 3.89 lakh crore have turned into NPAs, Parliament was informed today. All these industrialists had taken loan of 50 crore or more. As of June 30, 2016, NPA accounts above Rs 50 crore were 2,071 with outstanding amount of 3,88,919 crore, Minister of State for Finance, Santosh Kumar Gangwar said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. In terms of instructions of RBI, every bank has to have its own recovery policy, including the manner and procedure of write-offs, he said. Loans are written off after appropriate provisions have been made to take advantage of tax benefits and capital optimisation, he said. In respect of technical NEW YORK: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has sold another $95 million from his company s stock, keeping his pledge to give away 99 per cent of his shares to make the world a better place. The Chan Zuckerberg Foundation and CZI Holdings LLC, the two entities that Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan created for their philanthropy and public advocacy last year, sold the shares between November 17 and November 18, according to regulatory filings, quoted by Forbes. write-offs, RBI has permitted write-offs at the head office level while recovery efforts are still continued at the branch level, he added. In reply to another question, Gangwar said the government has not ordered any enquiry against any bank for allegedly depositing 1 in large number of Jan Dhan accounts purportedly to minimise zero balance account. As many has crore Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY) accounts have been opened till November 2. With a view to increasing banking penetration and promoting financial inclusion and with the main objective of covering all households with at least one bank account per household across the country, PMJDY was formally launched on August 28, PTI The RBI had earlier said it came to its notice on September 8 that details of certain cards issued by some banks had been possibly compromised at ATMs linked to the ATM Switch of one of the service providers. About cards of public and private sector banks was breached. Following the data breach, 19 banks had recalled the compromised cards. Replying to several related questions, Gangwar said that RBI has informed the matter was under investigation. Independent investigation by a forensic auditor approved under Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) framework is under process. PTI NEW DELHI: Maldivian Vice President Abdulla Jihad, who is on a visit to India, on Wednesday said the country will sign its first free trade agreement early next year to boost trade and cooperation with other countries. However, he did not name any country for the FTA. Maldives has embarked upon revising its key legislation and introduction of new laws to increase trade and ease of doing business to attract investment. The government is also working on signing bilateral investment treaties in respective countries. I would like to note here that our first free trade agreement will be signed early next year, Jihad told the third Maldives Investment Forum here. Maldives has grown from being one of the poorest island nations as well one of the least developed countries during 1970s. PTI The sale follows $190 million in Facebook stock sold by the same entities in October and another $190 million sold in September. Zuckerberg, 32, says he will not sell or give away more than $1 billion in Facebook stock per year through 2018, the filing reported. In December 2015, Zuckerburg and Chan had first announced to give away 99 per cent of their company s stake, which was then worth about $45 billion, in a letter to their baby to make the world a better place, for philanthropic, public advocacy and other activities for the public good over their lifetime. Some of the funds will go into for profit companies that fit with the couple s goals. Following these sales, Forbes estimates Zuckerberg s net worth at $52 billion. His net worth has increased over the past year despite the stock sales as a result of the rise in Facebook s stock price. Chan and Zuckerberg announced one big goal in September, when they pledged to spend $3 billion over the next decade to fight disease. PTI

12 he US State Department Thas issued a travel alert warning in the run-up to the end-of-the-year holiday season, warning Americans of a "heightened risk of terrorist attacks throughout Europe." US citizens "should exercise caution at holiday festivals, Ankara: Turkey on Tuesday dismissed over 15,000 more civil servants, police officers and military personnel within the state of emergency imposed after the July failed coup, in a purge that shows no sign of slowing. More than 100,000 people within the military, police, judiciary and education sector have been arrested, suspended or sacked so far in a crackdown on those alleged to have links to coup-plotters. In the latest Government decree published on Tuesday, 7,586 personnel working in the police, including police chiefs and commissioners, were dismissed. Meanwhile 1,956 soldiers and personnel in the air force and navy were sacked while another 403 were removed from the gendarmerie, which looks after domestic security. Thousands more were dismissed in government ministries and state institutions, including nearly 3,000 officials in the interior ministry and its linked institutions. In total, 15,726 people have been dismissed under the latest decrees. The dismissals are allowed under the state of emergency, which was extended by another three months in October, and was originally imposed in the wake of the coup. AFP t least 17 people were killed Aand 37 others injured after 56 vehicles were involved in a massive pile-up due to snow on a major expressway in north China's Shanxi Province. The accident took place on Beijing-Kunming expressway yesterday due to snow and rainy weather. The injured people are in stable condition after treatment, local officials said on Tuesday. Local police, firefighters, doctors and officials were involved in the rescue operation, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Most of the vehicles involved in the collision, that London: In sickening propaganda, ISIS school books have been found which reportedly instruct children to make sentences from words like bomb and explode while also featuring a vocabulary list of nations such as Pakistan and the UK that are a source of fighters for the terror group. ISIS school textbooks have given an insight into jihadists' efforts to brainwash young children dubbed "Cubs of the Caliphate", The Mirror reported. The daily posted pictures of pages from school textbooks which it obtained from Mosul, Iraq. One exercise in the "English for the Islamic State" textbook for 11 year-old children instructs pupils to tell the time, but the clocks are pictured attached to sticks of dynamite with wires protruding from them. events, and outdoor markets," it said late on Monday, in an alert that expires on February 20. Extremist groups "continue to plan terrorist attacks in Europe, with a focus on the upcoming holiday season and associated events," it added. "US citizens should also be alert to the possibility that extremist sympathisers or selfradicalised extremists may conduct attacks during this period with little or no warning." It gave no further details. The Islamic State group has claimed a string of terror attacks in France and Belgium since January 2015 that have left more than 250 dead and hundreds injured. Ankara: Turkey's State-run news agency says authorities have issued arrest warrants for 48 Kurdish militants, including the leader of a US-backed Syrian Kurdish group. Anadolu Agency says the warrants were issued today in connection with a suicide bomb attack in February in Ankara. The attack which killed 29 people was claimed by a Kurdish militant group linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. Anadolu said those wanted include two alleged PKK leaders currently in exile in Europe, three PKK commanders who are believed to be based in northern Iraq, and Saleh Muslim, the leader of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party, or PYD. AP ibyan authorities said LTuesday that they have arrested a wife of the one-eyed militant leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar, once considered the most dangerous man in the Sahara and a veteran al-qaidalinked figure. A Libyan anti-terrorism force said that one of Belmokhtar's wives, Asma Kadousi, was arrested Saturday along with a female companion. It said she had recently given birth in the militant stronghold of Darna, in eastern Libya. It said Belmokhtar is believed to be in southern Libya. A witness told The Associated Press earlier this month that he had seen Belmokhtar in the southern town of Sabha, where a drone killed 17 people and injured 37, were large trucks, the report said. Around 200,000 people die on Chinese roads each year, the World Health Organisation says. In a bid to improve road safety, the government recently cracked down on the overloading of trucks. An Arabic grammar book for children aged 7-8 instructs students to construct sentences out of groups of words such as bomb, vest, martyr and explode. The books were discovered in the eastern Mosul neighbourhood of Hay Al-Intasar during an ongoing military offensive to free hundreds of thousands of residents from ISIS' grip in its last stronghold in Iraq, the report said. In the textbook for grade five pupils, an exercise asks students to fill in missing words in sentences such as "I can shoot, I?" and "He can bomb, he?". Another exercise instructs pupils to choose the correct word to complete the following sentence: "Usaamah is a fighter. He is shooting in the ". The options listed are -- 'Battle, Park, Suq (market)'. PTI attack reportedly killed a militant leader linked to Belmokhtar, along with six others, last week. The witness asked not to be named for security concerns, and it was not possible to confirm the report. The Algerian militant, once the leader of al-qaida's North African affiliate, is one of the most-wanted militants in the region, with a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture. He escaped a U.S. Drone strike in eastern Libya last year. Belmokhtar led the January 2013 attack on Algeria's Ain Amenas gas complex, in which at least 35 hostages, including three Americans, were killed. Believed to be 43 years old, he was dubbed "the one-eyed sheikh" after losing an eye in combat. powerful 6.9-magnitude Aearthquake hit northeast Japan on Tuesday, sparking panic and triggering a tsunami including a one-metre wave that crashed ashore at the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant. National broadcaster NHK urged residents to "flee immediately" to higher ground, reminding viewers to heed the lessons of the "Great East Japan Earthquake". A massive undersea quake with a magnitude of 9.0 that struck in March 2011 unleashed a tsunami that left more than 18,500 people dead or missing. It sent three reactors into meltdown at the Washington/London: In an unprecedented move, President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday caused diplomatic ripples when he indicated that he would like to have far-right leader Nigel Farage, the figurehead of the Brexit movement, as the next British Ambassador to the US. "Many people would like to represent Great Britain as their Ambassador to the United States. He would do a great job!" Trump said in a tweet today. Trump and Farage, the leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), have very good relationship. Farage was often seen by Trump's side during the election campaign and was among the first to fly out to the US to meet the President-elect after mid rising Indo-Pak ten- Pakistan on Tuesday Asions, said "credible minimum deterrence" was needed for regional stability and warned that instability has consequences with "far more dangers". Fukushima Daiichi power plant in one of the world's worst nuclear disasters. An official from plant operator TEPCO told a news conference that a one-metre wave had hit the coast at the facility, but a company spokesman told AFP there were no reports of damage. About a dozen other waves were recorded elsewhere on the northeast coast, according to the Meterological Agency, but they were smaller than initial warnings of waves as high as 3.0 metres. The biggest, measuring 1.4 metres, hit the port at Sendai north of Fukushima, but officials said there were no reports of damage there. NHK aired rolling coverage of the earthquake, with the the election. It is one of the rarest occasion that a foreign leader has indicated his favourite picture of a diplomatic envoy from other country. While Farage said he was "very flattered", Downing Street in London issued a statement dismissing any such possibility. "There is no vacancy. We have an excellent ambassador to the US," the statement said in reference to Sir Kim Darroch. Darroch, formerly the UK s national security adviser and permanent representative to the European Union, took over the role in January. Farage said he had not been expecting Trump s tweet, but described it as a signal that Downing Street needed to change its thinking about him. PTI words "Tsunami! Flee!" in white lettering over a bright red band on the screen. The Meterological Agency lifted its final tsunami warning nearly seven hours after the earthquake struck. TEPCO earlier reported that a water cooling system at a reactor in the separate Fukushima Daini facility had briefly stopped, in an automatic response, but that it was back up and operating. "The biggest risk now is a case whereby contaminated water is carried away with the tsunami, which pollutes the environment," TEPCO's chief decommissioning officer Naohiro Masuda told reporters, of the situation at Fukushima Daiichi. Karachi: Pakistan discourages any arms race in the region, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Tuesday, underlining that the country is exploring the way forward for peace and stability in South Asia. Addressing at the inauguration of the ninth International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IEEAS), Sharif said Pakistan was committed to discouraging arms race and promoting "the motto of arms for peace, which has always been the tagline of IDEAS". He expressed Pakistan's commitment to peace, saying that, "we will explore the way forward for peace and stability in the world". Sharif said the environment for foreign investment was encouraging in the country in view of improved law and order situation, besides power projects being completed on time. PTI Pakistan Prime Minister's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said the imperative of strategic stability was an important dimension of Pakistan-India relations. "There is need for credible minimum deterrence as instability has consequences with far more dangers," he said while addressing an international conference on 'Strengthening Peace and Cooperation in South Asia: Incentives and Constraints' organised by Islamabad Policy Research Institute. The European Parliament's Brexit negotiator warned his British counterpart on Tuesday that there is an "intense" window of just 15 months to complete talks for the country's exit from the EU. Guy Verhofstadt said he had also told Brexit minister David Davis that European lawmakers would not accept Britain trying to keep access to the single market while limiting freedom of movement for EU citizens. Former Belgian prime minister and leading European federalist Verhofstadt had tweeted that it would be a "hell of a meeting" after Davis jokingly compared him to Satan earlier this year. "We agreed on some things, on the need for this process to start as early as Cairo: An Egyptian appeals court on Tuesday quashed one of two life sentences handed down against ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi since his 2013 overthrow, his lawyer and a judicial source said. It is the second appeals victory in a week for Morsi, whose Muslim Brotherhood movement has been blacklisted and subjected to a crackdown that has killed hundreds of his supporters and seen thousands jailed or sentenced to death. Last week, the same court overturned a death sentence handed down against him on charges of taking part in prison breaks and violence against policemen during a 2011 uprising that toppled longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak. The courts' handling of the cases against Morsi and his supporters, many of whom have been convicted after mass trials lasting just days, has drawn criticism from the United Nations, Western governments and human rights groups. Today's ruling by the Court of Cassation also quashed the sentences against several Brotherhood officials who stood trial alongside him on charges of spying for Iran and Palestinian militant group Hamas, lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud told AFP. The court ordered a retrial, Abdel Maqsoud said, adding: "The verdict was full of legal flaws." AFP Hanoi: Vietnam scrapped plans for $2billion nuclear power plants on Tuesday, citing environmental and financial reasons after the cost of the projects skyrocketed. The two plants in central Ninh Thuan province had a combined capacity of 4,000 megawatts and were to be developed with assistance from Russia's Rosatom and the Japanese consortium JINED. AFP possible and need to be finished in any case before the next European elections" in May 2019, Verhofstadt said after the talks in Strasbourg, France. "So the window for the negotiations is more or less 14, 15 months," he added. "It's going to be a period that is very intense."he said if Britain triggers the two-year divorce process in March 2017 as Prime Minister Theresa May has promised, then formal negotiations are unlikely to start until May MEPs must then formally give their consent for any deal and that would take several months from late 2018, he said. Verhofstadt added that it was "impossible to find solutions where we destroy the socalled four freedoms" including the freedom of movement.

13 Y ou should always take the best from the past, leave the worst back there and go forward into the future, says Rajeev Suri, CEO, Nokia, quoting Nobel laureate Bob Dylan. Addressing the 3000 students and their parents at his alma mater s 23rd convocation ceremony, Suri said: It is nostalgic to be back and a great honour to be awarded a doctorate. I got an opportunity to learn from some of the best professors in the world, like Dr TGS Murthy, Prof K Kamlaksha, Dr Harishchandra Hebbar, Dr SJ Bhat and Dr Niranjan UC. The lessons from Manipal went well beyond the classroom, he added. The chief guest on the first day of the convocation was Dr Anil Dattatraya Sahasrabudhe, chairman, All India Council for Technical Education, Delhi. Over a thousand students received their degrees by the dignitaries including president and chancellor of Manipal University, Dr Ramdas M Pai; Pro chancellor Dr HS Ballal; vice chancellor Dr H Vinod Bhat; pro vice chancellors Dr Abdul Razzak and Dr V Surendra Shetty and registrar Dr Narayana Sabhahit. Opened by TMA Pai in 1953 as India s first private medical campus, the Manipal University has now expanded to 19 colleges and eight departments and has given notable alumni like Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft; Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, Malaysian astronaut & Michellin starred celebrity chef Vikas Khanna, to name a few. Suri graduated from the Manipal Institute of Technology in Born in Delhi and brought up in Kuwait till 1985, Suri came to India for his graduation. In Class XI, I had decided to pursue my Engineering degree from the Manipal Institute of Technology. It is a place of diverse ideas, experiences, people and much more. Those days, I was an introvert and talked minimally. I was short and used to carry a briefcase to school. I was so nervous that my father decided to give me company at Manipal for two days but had to stay back for two weeks, he recalls. A hosteller, Suri made great friends who helped each other better themselves. Having lived with seven friends in D-16 in my third and fourth years, it was like my second family. A place of early lessons in leadership, being founder and secretary of our private canteen Sheetal and supporting friends in student elections, all this helped me to become who I am today. Great roommates make you a better person, he said. As a student, Suri kept a balance in studies and leisure and often visited his favourite hang-outs. It was ajeev Suri shares a few life-long lessons which Rhe learnt in Manipal University that have served him well to this day In time, your marks and grades lose relevance. In time, many things that you learned during your graduation days will fade into the recesses of your mind. As the years pass by, I find that the recesses of my mind have their own recesses. But, one thing I learned at Manipal is how to be a lifelong learner. I hope you commit to the same. Never stop. Stay curious. Stay engaged. Question. Learn. One of the many things I learnt is how all the wonderful differences of our world make us a richer and better person, how embracing diversity and being inclusive makes us stronger, how walls between us diminish us all. he World Robot Olympiad T(WRO), the biggest robotics competition for schools and colleges, is being held in India for the first time on November 26 and 27, 2016 from 10am to 5pm at India Expo Centre, Greater Noida. WRO is an event for science, technology, math and education that brings together the young people all over the world to develop their creativity and problem-solving skills through challenging and educational robotics competitions. WRO 2016 is being jointly organized by India STEM Foundation an extraordinary mix of hard work, all-day studies in the reference library during exam time, all-nighters in the 5th block, pushing to graduation with distinction on one hand and evenings at Big Daddy on the other. Then there were those lovely walks at Sunset Point, weekend movies at Diana s, filter coffee at Shanty s and having a midwork midnight bun masala at the carts at Tiger Circle, Suri recalled. After passing out of college, Suri was clueless about what to do next. Like many others, I too wondered what to do after graduation. I used to have a nagging feeling that no one would hire me. And if somebody did, why would he pay me because I just had a degree with no experience, he said. His dream to do something big started shaping up when his wife Nina pushed him to do better. I always wanted to do something big and everyone must too. I was always ambitious and a dreamer but I didn t dream of becoming a CEO of large multinational company. At the age of 25, I put some life goals in my plan and said this is what I should be able to do within that time, Suri said. Throughout his journey, Suri encountered tough leaders under whom he learnt managerial and leadership skills. In your career, you find leaders who are tough to work with. But you will always learn, be it from a good boss or bad boss. When I was in Nigeria, I had a difficult boss, but I learnt things from him that if you believe in something you should fight really hard for it and go up the hierarchy to get that done. I learnt from another boss how to develop values and cultures that are aligned to the broader mindset and goals of the company, he said. Suri switched to management and changed many job profiles. If you stay in a profile for a very long and National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) under the Ministry of Culture. The theme for WRO 2016 is Rap the Scrap and students would come up with innovative solutions using robotics technology to reduce, manage and recycle waste. Over 2000 participants from 55 countries would be presenting their innovative ideas on reducing, managing and recycling waste with robots in this international championship. Aspirants can register free of cost at In my world of big business, discipline matters. It makes a difference between average and good results. But, getting stellar requires more and that more is passion. People, who care and are committed, go the extra mile. People, who believe in what they do, always want to do better. Those are the people who make a difference. You should be one of them. As you proceed in life, you will see people who look like winners, but aren t. Do not ever mistake the trappings of success for the real thing. Doping athletes, business people who bribe and cheat, individuals who lie and abuse, fancy cars, Olympic Gold medals, strong business performance none of it means anything if acquired the wrong way. Never succumb to temptation. It never lasts. time, you will start getting bored and the excitement to innovate will fizzle out. So I switched from one profile to another. From electronics to management and then to sales, product designing and much more. It made me learn and understand how every department works. I became more decisive and inquisitive. Switching profiles was a big risk but I decided to go out of my comfort zone and learn, he recalled. As the UN s Broadband Commissioner, Suri knew that the telecom industry would grow by leaps and bounds. The UN has 17 sustainable development goals for the world and society. Some of them aim to eliminate poverty and give better education and health care. Technology is the centre of all that. Everytime a broadband connection grows in a country, you get higher GDP growth, better education and healthcare. How do we make sure that we continue to increase the benefits with broadband but also make technology more human? For me, it s all about using technology to better human potential and experiences, Suri said. Talking about the next generation revolution in mobile networks, he said: In the coming years, the world will become more connected. Connections will be counted in tens of billions and rise to 100 billion by Most of these new connections will come from devices, machines, sensors and robotics. What s important is how these connections will make lives better and help innovation. If you follow the mobile industry, we are moving from 4G to 5G technology in mobile phones which will drive our cars, remote connect in healthcare and boost industrial Internet. All this will help people to shrug mundane tasks and focus on more important matters, Suri said. A simple truth: Technology by itself is meaningless. Technology that serves people is what matters. The connectivity that we have today is extraordinary as it brings people together. But, it will get even better. In the coming years, technology will automate and simplify mundane tasks. By doing so, it will give you the most precious resource, i.e. the gift of time. Use that time wisely. Not for another hour in the office, or another scan of social media, but to talk to the person next to you, to share your experiences and help others. To be human and to be part of humanity is the true promise. Having a work-life balance is extremely important. One should be passionate about work but not to the exclusion of the fullness of a life well lived. Socialise, have quality time with friends and family and do things which make you happy. he National Basketball Association (NBA) recently announced plans to Tlaunch NBA Academy India, an elite basketball training center in Delhi National Capital Region (NCR) for the aspirant men and women basketball players throughout India. NBA Academy India, the first of its kind in the country and the NBA s fifth elite training center globally, will be fully funded by the NBA and will open in April The NBA will conduct a national scouting programme beginning later this month to identify the inaugural pool of 24 elite prospects who will receive scholarships and training at NBA Academy India. The 24 prospects will be selected by February Each elite training center will be staffed with NBA-trained coaches to foster the development of prospects on and off the court, both during and after their basketball careers. Each center will house under-16 and under-18 teams that will compete against top competition throughout the year. The top students at each center will have an opportunity to be selected for travel teams that will play in international tournaments and exhibition games. n today s uncertain times, what makes Ian employee and his organisation stronger is the work culture. Here are a few work ethics that Suri adopted as CEO: Encourage people to dream I used to work for a person called Simon who was Nokia s country manager for India in When the global CEO of Nokia came to India, he said one day Rajeev Suri will be in my place. This was 16 years ago. That was not my dream back then. But this man had a bigger dream for me. He dreamt something beyond my wildest expectations when I was just a middle management guy. He saw a spark in me and you should do the same. When you become a leader, the biggest joy is to develop other people to achieve their wildest dreams and potential. Encourage risk-taking Risk is ok, it makes you nervous but you also improve while devising ways to tackle the risks. It requires a lot of guts, conviction and analytics. Encourage innovation You need to encourage innovation from the top. Nokia is a 151-year-old company which started off with verticals like paper, rubber boots, TV and mobile phones. You will continue to see innovation. For this, you need your employees to embrace change. One of the things I take pride in is that people at Nokia have continuously adapted to change. We have changed so many times that people are not afraid of uncertainty anymore. Tolerate failures Your culture should have tolerance for failure. One should accept failures because you learn through your mistakes. If the company doesn t take risks and doesn t accept failures, then you can t innovate. There are parts of my company that do research and development and I want to develop a Fail Fast Culture. I want them to fail quickly on some projects and then achieve great success eventually. We talk about it every weekend and we should agree to celebrate failure every now and then. Encourage leadership One of the most important things that leaders require is strong emotional intelligence. Leadership is about being understanding, developing a connection with people and being able to guide and make the right decisions. All small experiences that we have in our daily life are the foundation of developing a leader in you. Ask the right questions Whenever we have review meetings, I emphasise on asking the right searching question. You don t learn by always giving your answers but by asking searching questions. For me, asking questions is the best way to learn and that s how I got my financial orientation. A company is all about creating shareholder value, especially a public company. For me, it was about learning from my colleague. As an entrepreneur, you need to understand the aspirations at the top-line and bottomline of the company. enew Power Ventures, India s Rleading Renewable energy company exchanged a Memorandum of Understanding with the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IITD) to set up a research facility on renewable energy. This exchange took place in the presence of the President of India Dr Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The MoU is aimed at encouraging and nurturing talent in the field of renewable energy at the IIT Delhi campus thereby encouraging opportunities for academic research to advance India s fast growing renewable energy sector. The University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada, invites application for all its undergraduate programmes for Summer and Winter session At UBC, students from India opt for Engineering, Business Studies and Liberal Arts in large numbers. Among the new age programmes, UBC s Faculty of Land and Food System, Faculty of Forestry and Faculty of Kinesiology are also seeing a lot of traction considering their potential and the scope they offer in today s time. As per the report, Indian students are increasingly choosing Canada as their preferred destination. UBC has seen applications from Indian students rise by over 80 per cent in the last five years. In the current Canadian government s plan that outlines public policy objectives until Under the MOU, ReNew Power and IITD will establish a Chair in the area of Renewable Energy and Storage with representatives from both the entities. The collaboration will jointly propose research and training programmes for representatives of both ReNew and IIT Delhi to lead or participate in. Several activities around research and policy advocacy are planned under the initiative wherein the centre will be providing advice papers and status 2022, India was identified as a specific target source of international students. The Indian ethnic group already forms the fourth largest from almost 12,000 international students at UBC. Deadline: The last date for submission of the application is January 15, Scholarship: Students can simultaneously apply for the scholarship worth 15 million CAD scholarship that UBC offers to the first time entrants. How to apply: Students can apply by visiting on the website reports for the Government of India and multilateral organisations on renewable energy policy matters as a part of its objective. Academic programmes for undergraduate, graduate and PHD students from a leading institute such as IITD through ReNew s research centre will not only provide numerous opportunities for prospective renewable energy scholars but also develop a thought process around India s position as a rising renewable energy nation worldwide.

14 F rom highly specialised home healthcare to remote disease management, healthcare startups today are meticulously using technology, innovation and imagination to revolutionise healthcare services. In fact, experts believe that intelligent entrepreneurship is the way forward to solve India s complex healthcare challenges. Factors like changing demography and rising awareness combined with the fact that this is the golden age for startups have prompted many budding entrepreneurs to dive into healthcare business. However, a good business idea and a favourable environment are not enough to guarantee success. Often, brilliant business ideas are undone by patchy execution and misguided planning. So if you are an entrepreneur looking to start your own health startup, here is a small checklist for you. Conduct effective market research: Never underestimate the importance of a thorough market research. Many business ideas that may look good on paper and might have been highly successful in some other markets might fall flat when executed in your environment. Lack of market readiness, market saturation and population preferences are just some of the factors that need to be studied effectively before venturing out with an idea. For instance, if your medical startup is offering low cost treatment for Hepatitis C, it stands to be most successful in a region where HCV infection is most prevalent. To take another example, before rolling out a digital startup it is not just Internet penetration that needs to be checked, other related factors such as the age and type of Internet users and their behavioural patterns also need to be studied. Take the help of professional market researchers to make sure you meet the requirements for your intended market. Look for partners: Healthcare is a porous field where a large number of organisations work alongside each other. A large number of hospitals, pharma companies, Government bodies and NGOs working in the field have established presence and market base. Therefore it makes sense to partner with such organisations that can help you more easily reach out to their user base. Learn to work in tandem with others and jump into collaborations wherever possible. A diagnostic facility can benefit from partnering with a hospital chain, an online platform for doctors will benefit from having reputed hospitals on board in return from giving greater visibility to their doctors. Be ready for a long haul: You may have heard and read stories about unicorn companies that entered the big league within a year or two of starting up. However, it is imperative to remember that returns do not come so quick in the healthcare sector. A number of factors like regulatory hurdles, behavioural patterns of the population which need time to change, and less amenability of investors towards healthcare make the sales cycle longer in this field. So, make sure you are in with a lot of patience and are ready for a long haul before your success chart scales up. Make sure investors are on the same page: When it comes to healthcare, profitability is not the only agenda on your table; an urge to bring about a positive change in the lives of people is a parallel driving force. A successful medical startup has the potential to impact millions of lives in a positive way. Therefore, it is essential to have investors who understand this aspect of your business ambition. It is essential to find someone who shares your vision, both for profitability as well as social responsibility. Bringing on board investors who possesses some knowledge of your medical field is an added bonus as it avoids unnecessary friction of values. Hire people who know healthcare: You do not need a doctor on board, but you definitely need some people who have knowledge about healthcare, regulation and rules as well as pertinent health issues. Bear in mind that hiring for a health startup is different from hiring for other businesses. Every aspect of a healthcare startup from completing regulatory formalities to conducting social media outreach requires specialised knowledge of the healthcare domain. Even marketing a healthcare service is dramatically different from marketing other products. Therefore, it is advantageous to hire people who have some knowledge of the field or a previous brush with it. What are the courses that SpeedJet Aviation Academy is offering? The academy at present, offers multiple flying and ground training courses in the aviation sector including Pre-Pilot Programme, Cabin Crew Programme, Ground Handling Programme and Type Rating Programme. We have recently announced our tie up with Gulf Aviation Academy (GAA), part of Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company, the investment arm for the Kingdom of Bahrain, to offer our students comprehensive range of structured training programs and a competitive advantage in the aviation industry that is at par with international norms. What are the modules like? The CPL course lasts almost a year where we provide three months of ground training in India and eight months of training with our partner training academy in Florida, US. The cadet obtains 252 hours of flying experience on single engine as well as multi-engine aircraft in US and is awarded a US Federal Aviation Authority CPL License on successfully clearing all exams. Our A320 Type Rating course is conducted at GAA facilities in Bahrain and is as per the DGCA requirements. We cover a total of 115 hours of ground school-plus 84 Hours of Flight School in this short-duration course of days. Our Cabin Crew course is recognised by the Civil Aviation Authority International (CAAi) of the UK and, on completion of this course, students obtain a certificate that is recognised by CAAi and other aviation regulators worldwide. We also take care of students stay, air tickets, visa and ground transportation for the full course duration in Bahrain (Stay includes a 3-5 star hotel accommodation with breakfast). We are the only company to offer this type of training in India. What are the eligibility and selection criteria for each of the course? The minimum eligibility criteria for each course is as follows: For CPL: Education-HSC with Physics & Mathematics, Age 18 (flying can be started earlier, licence is given at 18), Medically Fit Class 2 Medicals followed by Class 1 Medicals For Airbus A320: Type Rating: Valid CPL license, Valid Multi-engine Instrument Rating, Valid Class 1 Medical Certification, English Level 4, At least 18 years of age Cabin crew: Education (HSC) from any recognised Board or university, At least 18 years of age, Height- 155 cm (ladies) and 170 cm (men) Ground staff: Education (HSC) from any recognised Board or university, At least 18 years of age What is the fee structure? The fee structure for the course ranges from as low as 25,000 for an introductory course to 35 lakh for CPL training in the US. Tell us about the faculty? Our state-of-the-art course equipment and latest simulator technology enables us to offer a comprehensive and modern aviation training infrastructure and set new standards in aviation training. Students also get access to various training facilities around the world through our global affiliates and our training module caters to requirements across APAC, Middle-East and Africa. What is the scope? The industry is on a high-growth trajectory with India likely to become the third-largest aviation market by With over 700 aircraft ordered by scheduled carriers, India will need at least 7,000 pilots and 1,500 cabin crew over the next few years. As of now, Indian airlines are reporting increased profitability, low-cost carriers have placed heavy orders for new aircraft, there are multitude of new airports coming up and FDI flows into domestic airlines have surged. All these factors combined will lead to a sharp spike in demand for trained aviation personnel. What about pay packages? A pilot typically starts at 2 lakh in India and that figure goes well over lakh internationally. Cabin crew salaries start around 40,000-50,000 in India and scales past 1.5 lakh for international airlines. The starting salary for ground staff is around 12,000-15,000 in India and ranges from 60-80,000 if you are working for an international airline. The Azim Premji Foundation has announced its annual Fellowship Programme. Applications for this programme are invited from people having three to 10 years of work experience, with a postgraduate or a professional degree in any discipline and the desire to contribute to quality and equity in education. Eligibility: Proficiency in the local language is a must and candidates should be open to relocate to the districts where Azim Premji Foundation operates. The monthly stipend offered would be 28,800 (all inclusive). The selection is based on an online assessment followed by personal interviews. The programme aims to give a grounded experience of the educational and social space to a broad range of people across sectors. It is a two year full-time programme where the first year will involve teaching in Government schools and participating in the activities of the Field Institutes of the Foundation. The second year would be focused on capacity building of the Fellows, preparing them for roles they can play in the Field Institutes after completing the fellowship. After an induction of two weeks in Bengaluru, Fellows will be posted in the blocks of the districts of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, MP, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Telangana and Uttarakhand, where the foundation currently works through its field institutes. Application deadline: Last date for submitting the application is November 30, 2016 ( fellowship@azimpremjifoundation.org). For more details and to apply online please log onto You can also write to us at fellowship@azimpremjifoundation.org or call toll free helpline: (Monday to Friday. Applications are invited for Whiter International Fellows and Scholars Program available for US applicants to study abroad (except US or Canada). Fellows (pre-doctoral) go abroad for one academic year (nine-12 months) while scholars go abroad for one semester or up two academic years (24 months). How to apply: Applicants must submit all application materials online. Transcripts and letter(s) of support must be submitted in hard-copy only. Hard copy materials should be mailed. Application deadline: The application deadline is January 24, 2017 for the academic year. Eli India, part of Eli Global, a diversified information and financial services group, announces its association with NASSCOM to enhance and promote skill development within the country. This association will enable NASSCOM and Eli India to hone skills required in individuals and make them industry ready; thereby turning ordinary individuals into skilled professionals. We are immensely delighted AasaanJobs an online recruitment marketplace that connects entry-level job seekers with employers, announces the launch of its latest service in IT recruitment as part of its plan to expand its verticals in job search and employment. Through this offering, AasaanJobs will cater its services in IT staffing for both permanent and contractual job roles. It is providing job roles in IT sectors across multiple cities in and proud to join hands with NASSCOM which is partnering with various colleges to provide courses; candidates who enroll will receive an additional skill certificate with their college degree, providing them an edge over others. In other words, candidates will get a better chance of employment, Ajay Gupta, country head and president, Eli India said. It has signed the QP Adoption and Declaration Letters to adopt and deploy job roles/qualification India. The job profiles that are included under the new IT recruitment service are: Java developer, Dot net developers, network engineers, hardware engineers, etc. Commenting on the launch, Siddharth Gupta, Head of Marketing & PR, AasaanJobs.com said: IT is one of the fastest growing markets in india and we see a big opportunity in entry level IT, Software and hardware roles. Presently, we provide IT staffing packs designed and developed by the IT-ITeS Sector Skills Council NASSCOM which is an education initiative at NASSCOM and is the authorised body to set standards for capacity building of the IT-ITeS Industry by National Skill Development Corporation. The tie-up is calculated to make individuals more productive and proficient by imparting formal training, which will help in presenting India as a source of quality manpower. The Manipal University signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with STEERLife, creator of cutting edge, proprietary continuous processing technology to establish a Centre of Excellence located at the Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MCOPS) campus. The centre will combine industrial expertise, academic prowess coupled with collaborative in-depth research to develop solutions in highly diversified areas of life sciences that can effectively help the industry battle problems related to regulatory burden, reject rates, time and cost inefficiencies as well as limitations of working with sensitive and valuable materials. Dr H Vinod Bhat, vice-chancellor, Manipal University said: We have long been distinguished for excellence in education. We strive to provide our students with world-class facilities and real-time experiences that can help develop them into global leaders. This centre is one such initiative. The centre will also engage students pursuing their masters, doctoral and post-doctoral studies on research based projects and mentor them in specific areas. solutions to more than 10 clients and counting. With our latest IT recruitment vertical, we hope to maximise this company s reach across a wider spectrum, and gain more clients within a short span of time. The latest recruitment vertical will enable recruiters to fulfill all of their IT staffing requirements. Companies looking for top candidates in the field of IT can simply register with AasaanJobs.

15 H aving completely recovered from a back injury, seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar was on Tuesday recalled to the 16-member Indian team for the final three Test matches against England, while veteran opener Gautam Gambhir was shown the door. Bhuvneshwar, who produced a gamechanging five-wicket haul against New Zealand in Kolkata, has been out of action for more than six weeks due to a back injury. Post recovery, he played a Ranji Trophy match against Mumbai as per team protocol. He took wickets in the match and bowled a total of 36 overs (13 in 1st innings and 23 in the 2nd innings). While spinners have dominated India's bowling composition, Bhuvneshwar's variations and his recent match winning exploits in Test cricket gives skipper Virat Kohli another option with four specialist pacers in the squad. For the 35-year-old Gambhir, a veteran of 58 Tests, it could well be the end of the road as far as his international career is concerned. While KL Rahul did not set the stage on fire at Visakhapatnam, his recent form before injury prompted the team management to invest in his immense talent. Murali Vijay is an assured presence at the top of the order and a fit Shikhar Dhawan means the reserve opener's slot is for Rahul. Also Dhawan is still an important fixture in the limited overs format where he has an impressive record. All the permutations and combinations do indicate that Gambhir, who has played a key role in two World Cup finals (World T20 in 2007 and World Cup 2011) may well have ran his last lap as far as the national team is concerned. Squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Ajinkya Rahane (Vice- Captain), KL Rahul, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Karun Nair, Wriddhiman Saha (Wicket Keeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Amit Mishra, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Ya d av, Ishant Shar ma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya. India captain Virat Kohli reached a career-high fourth position in the ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen after producing a man of the match performance in the second Test against England which India won by 246 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. Kohli is currently top-ranked in Twenty20 Internationals and has also held the top position in One-Day Internationals, but has never moved above 10th place in Tests. However, his sublime knocks of 167 and 81 in Visakhapatnam have helped him jump 10 slots and cross the 800-point mark for the first time, becoming only the 11th India batsman to do so. For his efforts in Visakhapatnam, Kohli has earned 97 points. The 28-yearold from Delhi now trails secondranked Joe Root of England by 22 points. Another strong performance in the Mohali Test, which begins on Saturday will mean he will edge closer in his quest to top the batting table. Middle-order batsman Cheteshwar Pujara has gained one place to reach ninth rank after scoring 119 and one, while the England pair of wicketkeeperbatsman Jonny Bairstow and all-rounder Ben Stokes have also made significant gains. Bairstow has moved up four places to reach 12th position after scoring 53 and 34 not out, while Stokes has moved up five slots to 28th position after scoring 70 and six. In the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers, India fast bowler Mohammad Shami has gained five places to reach a career-high 21st rank and left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja has moved up one position to sixth place. For England, Stuart Broad (up one place) and Moeen Ali (up four places), have achieved fifth and 23rd positions, respectively. New Zealand's eight-wicket win over Pakistan in a low-scoring first Test in Christchurch did not result in much upward movement for batsmen. New Zealand's Bradley-John Watling has gained two places to take 36th place, Henry Nicholls has moved up three slots to reach 79th position and debutant opener Jeet Raval has entered the rankings in 60th position after knocks of 55 and 36 not out. singles NEW DELHI: NEW DELHI: MULAPADU: DEHRADUN: llegations of ball tampering Alevelled against Indian Test captain Virat Kohli by a British tabloid do not hold much ground as per the specific clauses in the ICC's Rules and Regulations about playing conditions. A British tabloid on Tuesday accused that some footages indicated that Kohli appeared to shine the ball using residue from a sweet during the first Test in Rajkot. The report claimed that TV cameras indicated Kohli putting his right hand towards his mouth and then appeared to shine one side of the ball. However, there has been no complaint filed by the visiting team and they declined to comment on the issue. As per ICC regulations on ball tampering, if a team wants to lodge a complaint about ball tampering by a rival team or its player, it has to be done within five days of the completion of the Test match. The match in question is the Rajkot Test which ended on November 13 and if England team had any complaints, they needed to make it official by November 18. All the ICC clauses, thus, put to rest media reports surrounding the incident. risis-torn Australia will attempt to Cprevent rampant South Africa from an unprecedented series clean sweep in Thursday's day-night third Test in Adelaide after a team shake-up of historic proportions. Stung by two humiliating defeats in Perth and Hobart, the Aussies have made six changes in a bid to stop the rot and fight off the Proteas' quest to become the first touring team to sweep a series in Australia. It is a seismic selection switch in the wake of last week's sudden resignation of chairman of selectors Rod Marsh and intensifying pressure on the game's top officials and coach Darren Lehmann. Not since only two players from the fifth Test against England in August 1977 made it into the team for the first Test against India three months later, after World Series Cricket rebelled against the establishment, has there been such a clean-out of the Australian side. The last time there were as many as five changes mid-season which is likely given either pacemen Jackson Bird or Chadd Sayers is likely to be 12th man in Adelaide was in the series against India after an innings defeat in Sydney. Selectors, with Trevor Hohns taking over from Marsh as interim chairman, ortheast United FC Nbreathed new life into their dying Hero Indian Super League campaign with a dramatic 1-0 victory over FC Pune City here on Tuesday. NorthEast United had gone six matches without a win, losing four of them. With just two points from their last six matches they were on the verge of exit until Ivory Coast midfielder Romaric scored from a stunning free-kick in the 81st minute. The victory helped NorthEast United accumulate 14 points from 11 matches and move to the sixth spot. With three matches still left to be played coach Nelo Vingada will feel more confident. Pune City on the otherhand have 15 points from 12 matches and will have to win their next two games to be assured of a place in the play-offs. The battle was a cagey affair particularly in the first session when neither team enjoyed clear cut chances. NorthEast United got the match winner out of nowhere. The hosts won a free-kick just outside the box and Romaric stepped up to take it. He used his left foot to devastating effect as his curling free-kick found the top corner of the net, past a diving Edel Bete. named three young batsmen Englishborn Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb and Nic Maddinson to make their debuts and recalled Sayers, Bird and wicketkeeper Matthew Wade. It was a decisive and drastic intervention by the under-fire selection panel in the wake of Australia's fifth straight heavy Test defeat, including the 3-0 series drubbing in Sri Lanka last August. "I'm not for one minute going to suggest an immediate turnaround," Hohns said. "Patience will be required but we are obviously hopeful that these players can gel together and ultimately stop the downward losing momentum we are currently experiencing. It's no secret that our Test team has not functioned or performed to the level we expect. The reinforcements will be aiming to bolster Australia's insipid batting, which was routed for 85 by South Africa in Hobart after suffering a humiliating 10 for 86 collapse in the first innings at Perth. Despite this, the South Africans, with their pace trio Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada and Kyle Abbott dominating the Australian batting, will fancy their chances bowling with the pink ball in swinging conditions under lights at Adelaide Oval. It will be only the second day-night Test in Australia after the home side thrillingly beat New Zealand by three wickets on only the third day in Adelaide last year. outh Africa skipper Faf du Plessis was found Sguilty of ball-tampering on Tuesday but cleared to play in this week's third Test against Australia, who are fighting to avoid their first ever home Test series whitewash. Du Plessis was fined his entire match fee after he was caught on camera sucking a sweet, or mint, and rubbing the ball with his saliva, in an attempt to alter its flight, during last week's second Test in Hobart. Match referee Andy Pycroft found du Plessis guilty at an International Cricket Council (ICC) hearing in Adelaide which viewed video footage of the incident in Hobart. "The decision was based on the evidence given from the umpires, who confirmed that had they seen the incident they would have taken action immediately," an ICC statement said. "And from (Marylebone Cricket Club head of cricket John) Stephenson, who confirmed the view of MCC that the television footage showed an artificial substance being transferred to the ball." The row, dubbed 'Mintgate', has proved divisive and an Australian TV reporter scuffled with South Africa's team security when he tried to question du Plessis on Monday. It is the second time du Plessis has been fined for ball-tampering, after he was docked 50 percent of his match fee in 2013 in the second Test against Pakistan. But Pycroft said it was treated as a first offence under the version of the ICC's Code of conduct that came into force in September. As well as the fine, du Plessis had three demerit points added to his disciplinary record. If he collects another point within 24 months, they will be converted to suspension points and he will be banned. Two suspension points equate to a ban from one Test or two ODIs or two T20Is, whatever comes first for the player. Ranji Trophy cricket match dream season continued as he here on Tuesday. snatched the limelight from t was another Ranji Trophy At stumps on the second India internationals Gautam Imatch at Bansi Lal Stadium day, Tamil Nadu were 218/4 in Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan that turned out to be farcical contest as Baroda beat Bengal by 21 runs with 40 wickets falling well inside two days. Baroda went home happy 75 overs, trailing by 66 runs at Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground. Resuming on 241/6, Punjab added 43 runs for the loss of four wickets. In reply, Tamil Nadu lost skipper with a breathtaking 75 off 59 balls that had nine boundaries and three sixes in a Ranji Trophy encounter against Rajasthan. In the second innings, defending a target of 155 as Abhinav Mukund and Rajasthan were 19 for 1 and Bengal were all out for 133 in their second innings. This was after Baroda also scored an identical 133 in their second essay. Ironically, the difference of 21 runs in the first innings turned out to be the turning point for Baroda. Young seamer Atit Seth bowlers. With six inch grass at three quarter length and damp patches made the life hell for chances of qualification for knock outs as they are placed fifth now with 16 points. Laxmesha Suryaprakash with 44 runs on the board. But an 85-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Kaushik Gandhi (75 not out) and the experienced Dinesh Karthik (54) steadied the TN innings. After Karthik's departure made it 156/4, Gandhi put on 62 runs for the fifth wicket with two days left, the Gautam Gambhir led side will be aiming for full points to stay in contention for the knock-out stage. In the morning, Gambhir (10) was cleaned by left-arm seamer Aniket Chaudhary. Dhawan started the day on 29 and hit two more boundaries as both openers fell at the (10/94) would remember this the batsmen. with Vijay Shankar, who was identical score of 52. The match for his performance but The highest score in the batting 32 at close of play. stocky Pant came in at the fall will certainly not be an indicator of his capabilities in con- the second innings. on Punjab's first-innings total and started carting the bowlers entire match was Tiwary's 39 in Tamil Nadu closed in of Nitish Rana's (24) wicket ditions loaded in favour of The defeat dented Bengal's of 284 all out in their Group A Rishabh Pant's with utter disdain.

16 F irst place in Group A is the prize when Arsenal hosts Paris Saint-Germain in a meeting between the top two. Both teams have 10 points and are guaranteed to advance to the knockout stage, but still to be determined is which club finishes at the top - most likely earning an easier game in the last 16. They drew 1-1 in Paris, so the winner in the return match in London will secure first place based on their head-tohead record. Ludogorets Razgrad is at home against FC Basel in the group's other game. Meanwhile, Lionel Messi is back, and that's the best news anchester United's Zlatan MIbrahimovic said today he was eyeing the possibility of a move to the the United States. "I can see myself conquering the US, just as I have (conquered) Europe," the 35-year-old Swede told daily newspaper Aftonbladet in an interview. "People stay in one place throughout their entire career, but I have travelled around like Napoleon in Europe and conquered every country I've arrived in," Ibrahimovic said. "So maybe I could cross the Atlantic and conquer the US as well," he said after winning the Swedish Golden Ball award for the 11th time on Monday. In honour of the country's most prolific goal-scorer, the Swedish football association announced that a statue of Ibrahimovic would be erected at the Friends arena in Stockholm within one year. Acknowledging that United is ewis Hamilton may face "impossi- odds" but has vowed to "give Lble everything" to stop Nico Rosberg winning the Formula One drivers' world championship at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday. Hamilton has won the last three races to move to within 12 points of his Mercedes teammate Rosberg. But Rosberg only needs a top three finish this weekend to clinch his maiden title and stop Hamilton from becoming the first British driver to be crowned a four-time Formula One world champion. Hamilton, who drove superbly in the wet to finish first at the Brazilian Grand Prix, was in no doubt of the scale of the task he faced, telling the formula1.com website: "It's not been a perfect season and I'm faced with pretty impossible odds no matter what I do this weekend. "I can't and won't give up. You never know what might happen however unlikely it may seem," added Hamilton, Barcelona could have ahead of its Champions League match at Celtic. Messi practiced with the team on Monday, after missing the match against Malaga in the Spanish league because of illness. With Luis Suarez also absent through suspension, Barcelona could not manage more than a 0-0 draw. Both forwards will be in squad to face Celtic on Wednesday. What Messi means for Barcelona is easy to see just by looking at numbers, even without considering the inspirational things he can do on the field. Messi had hat tricks against Celtic and Manchester City in earlier Group C matches and has a total of 90 Champions League goals, including seven not in as strong a position as his former team Paris Saint-Germain, Ibrahimovic said he's trying to deliver the same results. "I had it good at PSG; it's no secret. We had a strong and good team that got better and better every year," he said. "But that's passed now... This is a new chapter now and I'm trying to create the same feeling here," Ibrahimovic said, referring to United. Noting that United coach Jose Mourinho was one of the reasons he decided to join the Premier League team, Ibrahimovic said: "I checked the team (United) a little bit before I came and it wasn't like the team I came from." "This is something I was prepared for... The team is not the same as (PSG)," the superstar said. "But after speaking with Mourinho, it wasn't a difficult decision. If he calls then I have no problems showing up," Ibrahimovic added. After a dismal showing at Euro- 2016, Sweden's all-time high scorer in plagued by reliability issued earlier this season. "I'll be proud of myself and what I've achieved as long as I feel I've given my all and performed at my best. Whatever happens, I'm proud of everyone who's been a part of the success we've shared over the past few years, said the reigning champion. hat tricks. Perhaps surprisingly, Barcelona still has not sealed a spot in the last 16, but could do it with one match to spare. With nine points, Barcelona needs a win or a draw to advance, depending on other results. After winning 7-0 at home against Celtic, Barcelona may have the mental edge. But Celtic will have something to prove after its b i g g e s t European defeat. T h e group is still wide open and even last-place Dynamo Kiev can advance to the last 16, although it has only one point ahead of visiting Napoli. Napoli's campaign has stalled with one point from the last two matches. But the Italian side will advance with a win, provided Benfica also wins. Benfica leads the group with seven points and visits Besiktas, which has six. Benfica goes June put an end to his 116-cap international career, in which he scored 62 goals. Some people will do anything to watch Manchester United play at Old Trafford. through with a win. Besiktas advances if it wins and Napoli doesn't. Dynamo can only stay in contention with a win and n the cusp of their first-ever entry into Othe Indian Super League play-offs, Mumbai City FC would be keen to put it across defending champions Chennaiyin FC in their second leg clash at the Mumbai Football Arena here on Wednesday. Mumbai City can make the semi-finals if they beat Chennaiyin, with whom they played out a 1-1 draw in the first leg. The hosts would be going into the clash with their confidence boosted significantly after the 5-0 demolition of Kerala Blasters in their previous game, riding on marquee player Diego Forlan's magnificent hattrick of goals. Mumbai are sitting pretty at the top of the table with 19 points from 12 matches and three points should be good enough for them for a top-four finish. "We are on the way. We know that to achieve the first goal is to get to the playoffs. It's good to have these points with two games to be played but we have to get more. 19 points are not enough. We must have (more) good performances," said Mumbai City coach Alexandre Guimaraes today. Mumbai would conclude the league Besiktas fails to do so. Otherwise, Dynamo cannot finish higher than fourth. Yaya Toure inspired City to a 2-1 win over Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday, but the former Ivory Coast midfielder will be back out of the team against Borussia Moenchengladbach because he is not a member of City's Champions League squad for the group stage. Ilkay Gundogan is likely replace Toure in midfield after the Germany international was rested over the weekend, along with John Stones and David Silva. City only needs a draw to progress, provided Celtic doesn't beat Barcelona. Celtic stays Even sleep overnight in the stadium's bathroom. Two United supporters took an official tour of the English club's iconic ground on Friday, the day before United played Arsenal there in a highprofile Premier League game. Instead of leaving with the rest of the group phase with their final game at home against Delhi Dynamos on December 3, but would be eager to seal their semifinal spot before that. The home team would expect another sizzler from their star striker and skipper in contention with a win, as long as City fails to take three points. Moenchengladbach needs to win to retain a chance of reaching the knockout stage for the first time. Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich are through and Atletico will take first place in the group if it beats PSV Eindhoven at home and Bayern draws or loses in Rostov. Atletico has beaten Bayern and has 12 points, while Bayern has nine. Bayern slumped to its first Bundesliga defeat at Borussia Dortmund over the weekend and will be without goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who has a calf injury. at the end of the tour, the two fans hid in the bathroom and were found the following morning during a security sweep before the lunchtime kickoff. Police decided not to arrest the two fans. United said they, and their belongings, had been thoroughly searched before entering the stadium, so was "confident there was no risk to safety." "We realize people will go to any lengths to watch a game at Old Trafford," United said, "but these people went too far." United said it will look into the incident. United's Premier League match against Bournemouth at Old Trafford on the final weekend of last season was canceled after what police described as an "incredibly lifelike" device was found taped inside a toilet cubicle, leading to an evacuation of the stadium. It turned out the device was a fake bomb inadvertently left behind during a training exercise involving sniffer dogs that was undertaken by a private company days earlier. ormer Germany player and Fcoach Jurgen Klinsmann was fired Monday as coach of the United States after losing two 2018 World Cup qualifying matches. The 52-year-old, who won the World Cup as a player with Germany in 1990, had been in charge of the US since US Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati announced the "difficult decision" without naming a replacement. The United States does not face another World Cup qualifier until March. "While we remain confident that we have quality players to help us advance to Russia 2018, the form and growth of the team up to this point left us convinced that we need to go in a different direction," Gulati said. "With the next qualifying match in late March, we have several months to refocus the group and determine the best way forward to ensure a successful journey to qualify for our eighth consecutive World Cup." Klinsmann went with 16 drawn in a coaching tenure that began on July 29, 2011, when Gulati named him to replace sacked Bob Bradley on a team where Bradley's son Michael was a star midfielder. "We want to thank Jurgen for his hard work and commitment during these last five years," Gulati said. "He took pride in having the responsibility of steering the program and there were considerable achievements along the way." Klinsmann guided the Americans on a team record 12-match win streak in 2013 and his 16 triumphs and.761 win percentage that year set US calendar-year records. But the Americans were a disappointing fourth in the 2015 Gold Cup and also lost a playoff to Mexico for a berth in the 2017 Confederations Cup. Earlier this month, the US stumbled badly in opening the final round of North American (CONCACAF) qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, falling 2-1 at home to arch-rival Mexico and 4-0 at Costa Rica. In a New York Times story published Monday, Klinsmann dismissed much of the criticism as "a lot of talk from people who don't understand soccer or the team" while saying critics were "ignoring the facts" and "being disrespectful." Klinsmann has tinkered with lineups and formations but dismissed calls his moves hurt the squad, saying "we are coaching a team through a transitional phase." Gulati addressed the future of US Soccer, which many fans saw as bleak under Klinsmann's guidance, saying "we look forward to continued progress." Bruce Arena, a five-time Major League Soccer champion coach now with the Los Angeles Galaxy, is thought to Forlan who became the first marquee player to score a hat-trick in ISL and also continued with Mumbai's record of having a hat-trick scorer in each of the edition. But Guimaraes is aware about the battle ahead. "We will have to play better than be a prime candidate to replace Klinsmann. The 65-year-old American coached the US team to the 2002 World Cup quarter-finals and guided a 2006 US lineup that exited in the group stages. Sports Illustrated reported that Arena was set to take over and an announcement could come as early as Tuesday, when Gulati plans to speak with reporters. Under Klinsmann in 2014, the Americans matched their 2010 World Cup showing by reaching the last 16 at Brazil after Klinsmann left long-time US striker Landon Donovan off the roster. "Never want to see someone lose their job," Donovan tweeted Monday. "I have no doubt that this talented group of players will qualify for Russia '18." Gulati sang Klinsmann's praises even as he swung the axe, saying the German legend's legacy will have a longterm impact on the squad. "Many are aware of the historic victories, including leading us out of the Group of Death to the round of 16 in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, but there were also lesser publicized efforts behind the scenes," Gulati said. "He challenged everyone in the US Soccer community to think about things in new ways and thanks to his efforts we have grown as an organization and expect there will be benefits from his work for years to come." Eight US matches remain in the North American (CONCA- CAF) "hexagonal" round-robin qualifying, the next being at home to Honduras on March 24 and four days later at Panama. The three top teams in the sixnation field advance to the World Cup while the fourth faces a playoff against an Asian team for one of the last berths in Russia. the last game to try and win to be in a very good position. We saw the game Chennaiyin played against ATK and they are still on course. They are very tough. They are champions and champions always like to fight till the end," said the Costa Rican. Chennaiyin, looking far from champion material this season, are placed sixth with 14 points from 11 matches. They have shown only glimpses of the form that gave them the crown last season but head coach Marco Materazzi is confident that his team finds the magic touch to book a semifinal spot. "May be we need a little bit of luck. We are still confident of making the play-offs. Except against Delhi (Dynamos), in every other game we have shown good attitude and spirit," said Materazzi. Chennaiyin have won just a match away from home this season. Much will depend on the goal-scoring prowess of Italian striker Davide Succi, especially with Dudu Omagbemi out of form and Jeje Lalpekhlua injured. "Football is not science or mathematics. All we can do is collect as many points as possible. What matters is getting to the play-offs and once you are there, the whole thing starts all over again," said Materazzi.