of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord which provides for constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards to protect, preserve and promote

Transcription

1 fter 16 days of relentless Aprice hike, fuel prices were cut by just 1 paisa per litre on Wednesday. The marginal reduction in fuel prices had its share of excitement with Stateowned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) earlier announcing a cut of 60 paise the biggest since daily price revision was introduced in mid-june last year only to retract it within a couple of hours citing a technical error. The news triggered jokes on Twitter, where many vented their ire at the negligible reduction. ONE paisa!?? If this is your idea of a prank, it s childish and in poor taste, tweeted Congress president Rahul Gandhi. The Congress too posted a meme mocking BJP supporters on its official handle. Earlier correcting the technical error, the IOC in a statement said, There was a technical glitch in posting the selling prices of petrol and diesel. The selling prices of petrol and diesel with effect from May 30, 2018 have been rectified. Today, there is a minor reduction in fuel prices. The 1 paisa cut comes after 16 consecutive price increases since May 14 when fuel retailers ended a 19-day pre- Karnataka poll hiatus to pass on the spike in global crude rates. Petrol price was increased by 3.8 per litre and diesel by 3.38 in the last fortnight. There is softening in international oil prices and rupee has strengthened against the US dollar, making imports cheaper. All this will reflect in reduction in retail rates in coming days, the official added. o bids have been received Nso far for stake in Air India, the Government said on Wednesday even as it hoped of getting a good response on the last day of the formal bidding process on Thursday. We expect good response before bid closes tomorrow, Civil Aviation Secretary RN Choubey told PTI responding to a query. Earlier in the day, he said no bids have been received for the stake sale so far. The deadline for the expression of interest ends on Thursday and the request for proposal could be issued only after June 15. On May 23, Choubey had said the highest bidder for the airline would be known by August-end. But, the highest bidder might not be the successful bidder, he said, adding the Government intends to he Departments of School TEducation and Literacy, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Panchayati Raj in partnership with UNICEF announced the winners of the Swachh Bharat- Swachh Vidyalaya awards on Wednesday. A total of 40 Government schools that received 5 Star rating were given cash award of Rs 1 lakh each by Chief Minister Raghubar Das at a felicitation ceremony organized on the premises of the Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC). During the award ceremony, the CM emphasized on imparting quality education among the children studying in government cradles across the State while assuring that the State government will do its best in providing all basic amenities in the government schools. Our focus is on strengthening the education system. Through appointing quality teachers, ensuring benchesdesks, drinking water facility, However, Opposition leaders, including Congress president Rahul Gandhi, were quick to slam the minor reduction. Besides politicians, who took a dig at the negligible cut in fuel prices on the social media, Twitter was also flooded with hashtags and messages about the price cut, making fun of the situation. '#petrolled', '#fuelonfire', '#petrolprice' and '#fuel' were among the hashtags trending on Twitter besides various memes. One user posted a picture complete the disinvestment by year-end. Significantly, he had said the Government could decide against selling State-run Air India if it does not get adequate price for it. The Government has the right to sell or not to sell Air India if the bid price is found to be inadequate, Choubey had told reporters. Though the transaction adviser (EY) will assess the enterprise value, the right price for the airline will be decided by us, he said. Continued on Page 2 electricity and construction of toilets, attempts are being made to improve the status of government schools functioning. of long gone 5 paise coin, saying, My savings today after filling 5 litres of petrol. Another user said, I am going to invest it in mutual funds now. The Opposition parties have been demanding the Government to cut excise duty, which it had raised 9 times when oil prices had fallen between 2014 and early 2016, to give relief to consumers. The price effected from Wednesday is based on average international rate from May 15 to May 29. For Thursday s rate, the eeking to douse the fire in SAssam over proposed Citizenship Amendment Bill, the Centre on Wednesday agreed to set up a committee to look into the issue raised by the Assam Government and the protesters. Home Minister Rajnath Singh conveyed to Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal that all stakeholders and the people of Assam will be taken into confidence before a final call. Sonowal requested the Home Minister to set up a committee to make recommendations for the implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord which provides for constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards to protect, preserve and promote Focus is also on curbing the dropout rate, said the CM. Meanwhile, the CM said that appointment of teachers average from May 16 to May 30 will be taken. Rates had on Tuesday touched an all-time high of per litre for petrol and a litre for diesel in Delhi. Prices vary from State to State depending on VAT. Delhi has the cheapest price among all metros and most State capitals. Reacting to massive public comments on the social media last week, Oil Minister Dharemndra Pradhan had then said the Government is panning holistic strategy to culture, social, linguistic identity and heritage of Assamese people. The Home Minister said that there should be no apprehension in minds of the people of Assam about the Citizenship Amendment Bill. The Home Minister has assured that before taking any step, the people of Assam will be taken into confidence. All stakeholders will be consulted, Sonowal told reporters in Delhi after meeting Rajnath. Assam has been witnessing protests against the Central Government s move to enact the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 that seeks to grant citizenship to non-muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who came to India due to religious persecution in those countries. Organisations will be done by July Suggestions like grading schools on a scale of A-B-C were given by the experts to improve the overall condition of the government schools. For the first time, Rs. 12 crore from the State budget was allocated for awarding the 5 and 4 star schools. The Government is committed to set high standards in government schools at par with private schools functioning in the State, the CM further added. Also, the CM directed the District Superintendents of Education (DSEs) to conduct field visit at a regular interval while he advised officers to regularly meet school principals to keep a tab on school activities and other related issues. Principals and school teachers were advised to make financial contribution for keeping their respective school premises clean. Continued to page 2 reduce the oil prices in the country. However, Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg had on Monday also stated that fuel prices are expected to cool in the next two or three days. Last week, the Government had stated that it is working on a long-term solution to address the volatility in fuel prices. The BJP-led Government, in June last year, junked a 15-year old practice of revising rates every fortnight and moved to daily revisions. Meanwhile, the Kerala Government reduced the tax levies on fuel by Re 1. The move, effective from June 1, comes amid growing clamour for an excise duty cut to bring down skyrocketing fuel prices. spearheading the protests said that the Bill, if passed, would pave the way for giving citizenship to illegal immigrants from Bangladesh in Assam. Continued on Page 2 he board of India s largest Tprivate sector lender ICICI Bank has ordered an independent probe into allegations of conflict of interest and quid pro quo in bank s MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar s dealing with certain borrowers. There are allegations of involvement of Kochhar and her family members in a loan provided to Videocon group on a quid pro quo basis. It was alleged that Videocon Group pumped money into NuPower Renewables, a firm owned by Deepak Kochhar, husband of Chanda Kochhar. Last week, market regulator Sebi had served a notice on Kochhar on dealings of the bank with Videocon Group and Nupower. The enquiry was ordered by the board at its meeting on Tuesday on a complaint by an anonymous whistle-blower against Kochhar, the bank said ven as monsoon hit the EKerala coast three days ahead of its schedule, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday predicted that the Southern Peninsula Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry may get below normal rainfall. The North-East India too is expected to get below normal rainfall. On the other hand, northwest India Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Delhi, and western Uttar Pradesh will get the highest overall rainfall during the June- September period and July will be the wettest month. According to the IMD s prediction on distribution of rainfall, the central India too will get normal rainfall. On rainfall (month-wise and region-wise) distribution prediction depends planning for Kharif sowing and timing and choice of crops during the monsoon season. Releasing its second stage long-range forecast for the south-west monsoon, the IMD said, Region wise, the season rainfall is likely to be 100 per cent of long period average (LPA) over north-west India, 99 per cent of LPA over central India, 95 per cent of LPA over South Peninsula and 93 per cent of LPA over North-East India all with a model error of ± 8 per cent. Predicting July as the wettest month during the season, the IMD said, The in a regulatory filing on Wednesday....The enquiry to be headed by an independent and credible person (will) examine and enquire into an additional anonymous whistle-blower complaint..., it said. The scope of enquiry would be comprehensive and monthly rainfall over the country as whole is likely to be 101 per cent of its LPA during July and 94 per cent of LPA during August both with a model error of ± 9 per cent. Sticking to its April (first stage long range) forecast, the IMD said, The rainfall over the country as a whole for the 2018 south-west monsoon season (June to September) is likely to be normal (96 per cent to 104 per cent of LPA). Quantitatively, monsoon season (June to September) rainfall for the country as a whole is likely to be 97 per cent of the LPA with a model error of ±4 per cent. In its second stage forecast, the IMD has, however, predicted slightly higher probability of having normal rainfall than what it had predicted in April. Similarly, it marginally reduced the probability of having deficient rainfall (drought) this year. The second stage prediction may further give positive signal to the farm sector as good rainfall always helps growth in agricultural and horticultural production. Increased farm production is also good for overall India s economy as it drives rural demand and in turn helps the manufacturing sector as well. This is the third consecutive year when the country s national weather forecaster predicted normal monsoon rainfall. Continued on Page 2 include all relevant matters arising out of and in course of examination of the facts and wherever warranted, use of forensics/ reviews and recordal of statements of relevant personal, it said. The enquiry, the bank said, will be conducted by an independent and credible person.

2 acing a fresh agitation, FMadhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday claimed that his Government had spent a whopping Rs 20,000 crore on farmers' welfare in the last one year. Farmers' organisations have announced a ten-day-long stir in the state and elsewhere from June 1. "Rs 20,000 crore have been spent on farmers' welfare during last one year," Chouhan told a huge gathering here. The rally was an apparent attempt to placate farmers and to counter Congress president Rahul Gandhi's planned visit to Pipliya Mandi near here on the first anniversary of death of six farmers in police firing. Mandsaur in western Madhya Pradesh was the epicentre of last year's farmers' agitation. The Congress government did nothing for farmers, Chouhan said. "When I, as a Member of Parliament, used to go to (then) chief minister From Page 1 The monsoon is considered as normal if the average rainfall is between per cent of the LPA. The LPA of the seasonal rainfall over the country as a whole for the period is 89 cm and it s a kind of yardstick to arrive at calculating the rainfall level during monsoon. With the monsoon hitting Kerala three days ahead of its normal date of onset, the IMD this year released its second stage forecast almost a week in advance. The move will help the farmers to plan their sowing operation a bit early.the June- September monsoon season is critical not only for the farmers of Kharif crops, but also drives the Indian economy. Digvijay Singh to seek help for farmers whose crops were damaged, he used to laugh and do nothing for them," the chief minister alleged. The opposition party was bent on creating bloodshed in the state, the chief minister said, in apparent reference to Gandhi's planned visit. "Congress gave the Garibi Hataao (eradicate poverty) slogan, but did precious little for the poor," he said. "On the other hand, the BJP is genuinely working for their uplift. The poor get wheat at just Rs 1 per kg. What had the Congress done in so many years," he asked. The BJP government in the state will be providing 40 lakh houses to the poor in the next four years, Chouhan said, adding that there were an estimated 37 lakh homeless people in Madhya Pradesh. "But we have prepared a plan to give ten lakh houses each year to the poor," he said. Notably, more than 100 organisations have called for a nationwide protest to press their demands including remunerative prices for farm produce from June 1. From Page 1 Sonowal also said all efforts would be made to address the concerns of the people of Assam in this regard. The assurance regarding setting up of the committee to ensure implementation of clause 6 of the Assam Accord assumes significance as it provides for constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards to protect the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people. The meeting also discussed the Mission title or name and the implementation of the content were suggested by the Mission. Special Principal oing a step ahead of the farming community, according to an official spokesperson. PWD B&R, Secretary Sports, Secretary to CM, Secretary GCentral Government s Fit India movement, the Punjab Government on Wednesday announced the launch of a Tandarust Punjab mission to Chief Minister would be the Mission s chairman and the Environment Minister is vice chairman, with other members and Secretary Information and Public Relations will be other members, with Secretary Agriculture as Mission Director. make it the healthiest state in the included all concerned As per the notification country with healthy people. Ministers, Chief Secretary and issued by the Punjab In sharp contrast to Fit Principal Secretary Government s Department of India, which is limited to Yoga Environment, Principal Science, Technology and as a means to boost the people s Secretary to CM. Secretary Environment, the main goal of health, Tandarust Punjab is a Agriculture and Punjab the Mission will be to provide comprehensive mission, which has been envisaged by the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh as a holistic initiative to take care of the state s air quality, water quality, and safe food, thus ensuring a good living environment for the citizens of Punjab. The Mission has been evolved, as a focused and integrated approach towards creating a healthy Punjab, in consultation with all the stakeholders to work. Interestingly, Pollution Control Board (PPCB) chairman KS Pannu has been designated Mission Director. Spokesperson said that a mission task-force at the state level would be constituted to oversee the programme implementation and its review on a monthly basis. It shall have the Chief Secretary as chairperson, Principal Secretary Environment as vice-chairman, besides Principal Secretaries of various departments involved in clean drinking water, improve air quality, ensure growing and consuming unadulterated food and food products, and to improve the physical and mental health of the people of Punjab. The Mission envisages to build a healthy Punjab for achieving human excellence in a sustainable manner, as per the notification, which lays down a multi-pronged strategy to achieve this goal. the arrangements required to dispose of claims and objections after publication of draft National Register of Citizens (NRC). The Assam Chief Minister emphasised that adequate opportunity is given to people in this regard and necessary arrangements are made to avoid any inconvenience to public and all claims and objections are disposed of as per law and in a proper manner. He also emphasised that a strong IEC campaign may be launched to inform people about process of filing claims and objections after publication of final draft NRC. The NRC updation process is going on smoothly in the State under the guidance of the Supreme Court of India and it is on the verge of completion. Both the Central and State Governments are extending full support for seamless progress of the NRC updation and the second draft would be published on June 30, Sonowal said, while urging the people not to panic if any of their names are not included in the drafts as they would be given ample opportunity to register their claims and objections in the courts and each of them would get equal opportunity. Several organisations in Assam are opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, on the pretext that it will legitimise lakhs of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants who had been living in Assam. According to the Assam Accord, it was agreed that those who entered Assam till midnight of March 24, 1971 will be granted Indian citizenship but those came after the cut-off date will have to be detected and deported. It is believed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 will violate the clauses of Assam Accord and grant citizenship to those illegal immigrants particularly Hindu Bengalis, who came to Assam till From Page 1 Notably, on sanitation front, Jharkhand schools have performed much better in comparison to the last year. Minister, Department of School Education and Literacy, Dr. Neera Yadav, said, A total of 20,343 schools had registered for the award this year. Out of the 40 star rated schools, 5 schools have been nominated for the same award at the national level. Principal Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, AP Singh said, Provision of clean and safe water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in schools create a healthy environment and protect children from illnesses. Our aim is to have all schools with over 500 children in the 5 star category grade. The Swachh Bharat- Swachh Vidyalaya or the Clean India - Clean Schools is a national campaign which seeks to ensure that every school in India has a set of functioning and well maintained water, sanitation and hygiene facilities. The schools are graded and ranked on the basis of availability of hand-washing units, clean drinking water, Mid-day meal (MDM) shed, soak pit, rain water harvesting facility and dustbins in schools. A few behavioural indicators have also been included such as presence and action taken by trained teachers and members of the Child Cabinet (Bal-Sansad) and Child Reporters in schools. Based on the above indicators, the schools are graded and ranked 5, 4 and 3 star. Dr Madhulika Jonathan, Chief of UNICEF Jharkhand said. Hand-washing education and access to soap in schools can help improve attendance. According to research, hand- washing reduces the rate of mortality from diseases upto 25 and 50 per cent. The programme saw the participation of Chairman of the JAC, Arvind Prasad, Director MDM, Shailesh Chaursia, District Education Officers (DEOs), District Superintendents of Education (DSEs), Sanitation Ministers of the Child Cabinet (Bal-Sansad) including government school teachers and others. n an attempt to sensitize the Ipeople on various environmental issues and to create awareness about environment conservation programmes, government organizations and private bodies have put up stalls in a week long Environmental Conclave in the State Capital, started from May 29. Environmental Conclave has made a great initiative to create awareness among the people of Jharkhand and especially among youth about various environment conservation projects. An exhibition displaying several different kinds of marine species collected from Swarnrekha and Damodar River is put by Yugantar Bharti. The marine species have been collected since 2004 for research by the Zoological Survey of India. Damodar and Swarnrekha Mahotsav has been initiated by Yugantar Bharti Organization to create awareness about endangered marine life. said Umesh Das, Lab Incharge, Yugantar Bharti. The State Government has made a great initiative to promote the usage of Rooftop Solar PV system through Grid- Connected Rooftop Solar Programme under Jharkhand Renewable Energy Development Agency (JREDA). The officials informed the people about conservation of electricity through solar energy and solar energy From Page 1 Asked about AI employees union protests against the proposed sale, he said they were conscious of the fact that airlines would do well after privatisation. The Government had on projects of RIMS, Ranchi, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidhyalaya (KGBV) School, Potka and Nepal House, Ranchi. Awareness and information about the process of Rain Water Harvesting and its importance is given by the display of models in a stall put up by the State Government. Tata Steel Company has put a stall displaying its sustainability in steel manufacturing and various environment conservation and waste management projects. In broachers distributed by officials, Tata Steel mentions about its environment conservation projects of installation of 92 smart bins, 16 Bio-gas plants, 18,000 LED street lights for power conservation and reforestation by planting 5000 saplings in Noamundi. On Wednesday, a prize distribution ceremony was held in March 28 unveiled plans to sell up to a 76 per cent stake in the loss-making carrier, and transfer the management control to private players. The profitable Air India Express and the joint venture AISATS an equal joint Environmental Conclave to reward the students who excelled in the painting and essay competitions. Students from 24 districts of Jharkhand had participated. said, Anand Kumar, at the Environmental Conclave. The event was marked by the presence of Neera Yadav, HRD Minister and Saryu Roy. To create awareness about several environmental conservation programmes, which are running under Government organizations and Private Companies like Inland Waterway Authority of India, Zoological Survey of India, Central Pollution Control Board, Jharkhand Renewable Energy Development Agency (JREDA), Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Usha Martin Ltd, Tenughat Vidyut Nigam Ltd have put up stalls. venture between the national carrier and the Singaporebased SATS Ltd will also be a part of the disinvestment process. The ailing airline s total debt stood at Rs 48,781 crore at the end of March 2017.

3 espite repeated attempts to Dstreamline the service of city buses, the Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) is unable to rope in competent bidders for operation and maintenance of city buses. Even after easing the clauses and continuous re-tendering, no agency having experience in handling city buses operation has shown interest in Municipal Corporation s proposal as a result the operation of city buses has come almost to a standstill. After terminating the previous city bus operators for violating the clauses, the RMC at present is managing the operation of city buses through engaging drivers and conductors on a daily basis. However, even this temporary arrangement could not improve the status of city bus operation keeping its frequency immensely low at the defined U rban Development Minister CP Singh has said that the urban local bodies should focus more on picking up the garbage than collecting taxes from the people. Singh, while speaking during a workshop on the topic Capacity Building of Urban Local Bodies for Swachh Bharat Mission at Project Building here, also expressed concern over the building materials spread over roads all over the State and directed municipal bodies to form special teams to deal with it, besides creating awareness among people in this regard. Urban bodies do routes. This is the sixth time; the Municipal Corporation has not have the moral right to collect user charge till they start picking up the garbage on daily basis. Rather than collecting taxes, their priority should be on collecting garbage from the localities, said Singh. Building materials spread on the road side has become a major problem in all cities for which measures must be taken by the urban local bodies by creating special teams to remove them besides, creating awareness among the people in this regard, he added. Congratulating officials for Jharkhand declared number 1 in urban cleanliness, Singh said that much more need to be done in the field of cleanliness for which one has to change one s attitude and also appeal others to cooperate for the same. Initiatives taken during the last four years have definitely made people aware that now they have started thinking floated the tender. RMC City Manager (Transportation Cell), Saurabh Kumar said that soon about cleanliness in their surroundings.. we will continue the awareness programme so that no place is left for forcing people to keep their areas clean, said Singh. He was also of the view that the agencies collecting municipal taxes for providing various services to the households should be given commission only if their employees collect taxes by visiting the households door to door, he added. If people go and pay their taxes at banks and on the municipal counters, then the company should not be paid any commission, the minister said. Singh said that the Government had been making efforts to fill up the vacant posts in the department. Expressing his views during the workshop, Director of Clean India Mission Rajesh Sharma suggested the officials to get ready for star rating of cities and told them that the competition has become tougher as the State has reached at a better position in the field of cleanliness. To maintain the position, we will have to work harder. We must ensure cleanliness around us so that no dirt could be spotted anywhere in the city, said Kumar. Cities will be given 1-7 rating for which they will have to take care of certain things, he added. Sharma said that inter-personal relationship must be enhanced with the people to bring changes in their behaviour and the hawkers should also be made aware for not spreading dirt around them on roads. During the programme, open defecation free urban local bodies were also felicitated by Quality Council of India. n a fresh initiative taken by Ithe District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) of Ranchi, a team formed by Judicial Commissioner Navneet Kumar, Chairman of DLSA Ranchi, has been visiting the family members of those persons who died due to lightning in the last few days to initiate the process of providing them compensation from the State Government. A separate team of Para Legal Volunteers (PLV) has also been deputed at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Ranchi, which is assisting the victims of lightning to get admitted to the premier hospital. Taking cognisance of the media reports, that people are dying of lightning the Judicial Commissioner constituted a team to ensure that they should get their dues. The team visited the villages under Mandar and Chanho blocks on Wednesday and initiated the process to provide compensation to the family members of those who died recently due to lightning, said DLSA Secretary Fahim Quirmani. An awareness programme is also being conducted among the people to make them aware about the scheme under which they could get compensation from the State Government, he added. Pamphlets will all details of government scheme are also being distributed by the team in the villages to create awareness in this regard, said the DLSA Secretary. Besides that, the team is also making arrangements to admit lightning victims to the nearest health centre for treatment, he said. The Secretary further said that the team, during its visit on Wednesday, also met Anima Kumari, Jatri Kumari and Sonali Oraon of Badhaiya village under Chanho Block, who were undergoing treatment at Mandar Hospital after being hit by lightning recently. Meanwhile, the team also visited the family members of a lightning victim who died on May 23 and gave them information on how they could get compensation from the State Government. The team is also seeking applications from the victims family so that they could be given compensation. re-tender will be done for hiring an agency who will manage the operation of old city buses. counting procedure of Tthe recently conducted bypoll for Silli Assembly constituency will be carried out at Pandra Bazaar Samiti-Ranchi today under strict surveillance of district administrative. Senior officials of Ranchi district administration addressing a press meet on Wednesday said that all necessary arrangements have been made at the venue. The counting will begin from 8 AM. Following the instructions, strong rooms will be opened around 7 AM. Starting with service voters count, as many as 14 counting rounds will be carried out by the officials before the declaration of final results. Security has been beefed up to avert untoward incidents, said Ranchi DC cum District Election Officer, Rai Mahimapat Ray. As many as 25 counting officials along with 25 supervisors including 25 micro observers have been deputed in Ranchi. 215 service votes (voting done through postal ballot) will be counted by the officials in the first round followed by Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) vote counts, added Ray. According to Ranchi DC, Silli by-poll recorded an impressive polling percentage (75.91 per cent) with huge voters turnout. Appreciating the role of district administrative officials, Ray further added, The figures are quite encouraging. As per the district administration s record, 74, 632 male voters cast their votes in Silli by-poll while 72,844 female voters came out of their houses to vote. Here the role of government s ongoing programme Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) had played a major role in increasing the participation of public in electoral process especially in this by-poll. Meanwhile, SSP Kuldeep Dwivedi assured that deputation of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in sufficient number have been done at the counting centre- Pandra Bazaar after the vulnerability mapping of the spot. Furthermore, he appealed to the public to stay away from rumors. Around 278 polling centres were made in Silli block during by-poll conducted on May 28. According to the City Manager, at present, the focus is on managing the operation of 26 new city buses purchased recently. During the pre-bidding process, two bidders have shown their interest in operating and maintaining of new city buses. Some clauses will be amended as per the decision of Municipal Commissioner. Till June 5, interested agencies can fill the tender while for the old buses re-tender will be done soon, said Kumar. Meanwhile, the civic body is planning to reduce the security money rate from Rs. 1 lakh to 75,000 to lure the bus agency owners. Also, now those travel agencies or bus operators can apply for getting the charge of city buses operation who manages at least five buses. Earlier, the Municipal Corporation had invited application from those agencies, individual who owns and manages at least 10 buses. The laidback approach of RMC in defining the bus stoppages at the selected four routes, lack of facilities like garage or proper space for parking city buses including the stringent clauses over the issue of operating both old and new city buses simultaneously by the hired agency are some prime reasons that are creating hurdle and compelling the agencies to stay away from taking the charge of city buses operation and maintenance. Currently, city buses ply on four routes --ITI bus stand and Dhurwa and between Kanke and Tupudana covering Harmu road. The Municipal Corporation in December 2016 had purchased 26 more new city buses from TATA Motors to add on to the existing fleet of old buses. At present, the Municipal Corporation has around 91 city buses for ferrying daily commuters out which merely 20 buses ply on different routes. ublic sector banks in PJharkhand remained closed on Wednesday as their employees went on a two-day strike protesting against merely 2 per cent hike in wages as against 15 per cent last year. Unions of different banks claimed that the strike was successful as none of the branches of any of the public sector banks opened on Wednesday. This s really historical as it if for the first time that all banks remained closed in Jharkhand as around officers and employees went on strike against the offer made by Indian Banks' Association (IBA) to give a hike of only 2 per cent as against 15 per cent last time, said President of All India Oriental Bank Officers Association, Regional Committee RB Giri. Hike of 2 per cent in 5 years is not justified in any case and if the IBA did not agreed to their demand, they will take the battle till their demands are met, he added.

4 uspected CPI (Maoist) rebels Sburnt about a dozen vehicles of the road construction company and set afire four kendu leaf centres in Ramkunda and Bhandaria police station area under the district here on Tuesday. The Maoists are also said to have beaten up nearly a dozen people. According to information, on Tuesday night, at around 10 pm, around 50 Maoist guerrillas reached Ramkanda-Bhandariya Road in Rado village and burnt four vehicles including a loader, one water tanker and hywa of road Construction Company. Naxals also looted mobile phones from drivers he Coal India Limited (CIL) Tis on the move to erect a thermal power unit in Bokaro and is looking for a Joint Venture for this proposed unit. Talks are on with National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) and Power Finance Corporation Limited (PFC) to establish two thermal power units, one at Sunderghar in Odisha and another at Bokaro in Jharkhand, a senior official said. The NTPC and PFC are likely to be the JV partners for the project, he added. The PFC is a Government of India undertaking company, providing affordable and competitive products and services during the incident. In another incident Naxals also set afire four bidi leaf centres at Ramkunda-Bhandariya forest area. Along with this, about 200 sacks with efficient and internationally integrated sourcing and servicing, partnering the reforms in the Indian Power Sector and enhancing value to its stakeholders; by promoting efficient investments in the power and allied sectors in India and abroad, he said. The new thermal power unit in Jharkhand is likely to come up in Bokaro district, but its capacity is yet to be decided, a well placed official source said on anonymity. Recently CIL Chairman AK Jha said in a meeting that, a 1600 MW (2X800) is proposed to come up at Sundarghar in a joint venture (JV) with NTPC and CIL have a majority stake of 51 per cent in the proposed unit, informed the official. The proposed unit at Sunderghar is come up with an investment of Rs 11 thousand crores, he added. Lands for the projects have been already acquired, though we yet to get clearance from Forest Department, said the official. of beedi leaf on these four centers were burned to ashes. After two hours of rioting in the village Naxals escaped. In third incident zonal commander Mrityunjay alongwith 50 members of ndore-based artist Pradeep ISen (30), who is pedalling for a cause reached the steel city on Wednesday. Sen is on a bicycle mission to appeal to the government to take disabled friendly initiatives to make their lives better. Sen s life has been a roller coaster ride. He lost his left leg after a train accident in 2013 is now on a mission to educate the masses about their social responsibilities. But, the accident did not deter him from riding the bicycle. Sen, who aims to pedal 12,000 km to enter into Golden Book of World Record in bicycle riding has already completed travelling 11 states so far reached Jamshedpur last night and would leave for Ranchi tomorrow early morning. Sen started his journey on Nov 14 from Indore and have his squad reached Rodo village of Bhandariya police station area, and set afire Kendu leaves kept in dilapidated building in school. Later Naxals reached at Birajpur so far covered Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal and now Jharkhand. Out of his target of riding 10,000 km, he has already completed more than 8800 km. "After the accident my confidence level has improved. I want to motivate the people, who feel they cannot achieve their dreams due to physical disabilities," he said. During his interaction with people, he told them to follow traffic rules strictly. "Life is precious and we should not ignore traffic norms. The rules are made for people's safety. We should not put our life at risk by violating rules" Sen said. Similarly, he also explained the benefits of cleanliness and suggested the students maintain their surroundings clean to maintain good health and to make the nation healthy. The students said, Sen is a role model for them. "He sets an example for us. Sen shows nothing can deter us from achieving the goal if we have determination and confidence," they said. He carries an emergency kit with him that comprises of first aid, medicines, tools, stationery and energy drinks. Sen rides between 50 km to 150 km in a day. He prefers riding at night too. Pradeep now aims to finish his ride in Delhi after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and requesting him to open a ministry specially dedicated to the disabled. The commerce graduate Daltonganj police cracked a case of theft committed in a drinking water plant in Hamidganj on Wednesday. According to SP, Palamu, Indrajeet Mahatha a theft worth 7 lakh was committed in the JPS water plant in Hamidganj on May 14. One Abhishek Singh filed the FIR on May 15 and an SIT was set up to crack this case which on May 30 cracked the case. According to SP as the FIR had no name of any accused the police scanned JPS water plant employees and one Monu Dubey working in this plant was kept under watch and with tech cell of police finally rounded up who confessed his involvement in this multi lakh theft. Police recovered 1.77 lakh cash hidden in Dubey s pillow. Police got another Rs 14,000 from his pocket. Dubey revealed the names of other accomplices like Sikender Sharma, Pankaj Pandey, Shubham Chandravanshi and Sherualis Love. Police nabbed Sikender, Pankaj and Shubham and recovered 50,000, 80,000 and 20,000 respectively. Police recovered 80,000 from Pankaj Pandey s truck where this stolen money was kept. Love is at large. The SP said out of stolen Rs 7 of rupees police have so far recovered 3 lakh and 88 thousand. Except Love all the four have been remanded in judicial custody on Wednesday May 30. village where they also set on fire kendu leaves in a centre. The villagers too got gathered after listening to the voice. Naxals torched around 120 sacks of kendu leaves saying that they were not paid the levy at Birajpur village. On Wednesday morning, Garhwa SP Sivani Tiwari, ASP Sadan Kumar, Ranka police station in-charge Jitendra Kumar, Ramkanda police station in-charge reached the spot and questioned the drivers. They examined the torched bidi leaves centers. The SP said that the Naxalites had gone on the back foot and had done the incident for the purpose of establishing their domination. The SP has denied the incident of assault to people. She said that she himself had gone on the PO and nobody complained about the assault. with specialisation in foreign trade has a variety of interests, including dance and choreography, photography, art, paining, cooking. Sen participated in the Smart City Cycle Marathon in Indore in 2014 with the help of an artificial limb. He had also participated in the Dance Indore Dance programme. t Paul Modern School not Sonly registered a cent percent result but 10 students of the school scored between 85 % and 96.4 % while 10 students got 85 % and above marks. Pokhraj Harshal of St Paul modern school, Bokaro thermal topped the coal city with 96.4 per cent. Two students of the school Aayush Sisodiya and Sumi Bhattacharjee shared the second spot in the coal city scoring 94 %. Two others boys namely Sambhav Awasthi and tudents are taking life skills Slessons at the 37th Battalion of National Cadet Corps (NCC). The 37th Battalion is training students from across Gumla, Daltonganj, and Jamshedpur in its NNC Combined Annual Training Camp at the Jamshedpur Cooperative College ground. About 500 students from three districts are participating in this camp which includes sports, social services, adventure and, above all, hands-on experience with light machine guns and carbines. he police have arrested Teight persons involved in a clash between two groups at Tuiladungri under Golmuri police station on Tuesday late night. Considering the tensed situation, police and quick response team have been deployed at Tuiladungri on Wednesday. The incident started over an issue of bike overtaking which later snowballed into major dispute. Tuiladugri residents Ravi Singh and Sunny Singh were returning home from Golmuri bazaar. The former, who was riding the bike, overtook another and dashed with a bike coming from the opposite direction. Police said this led to dispute between youths of Tuiladungri and Golmuri Muslim Bustee. Earlier, there was also an altercation between Ravi Singh with some youths of Muslim Bustee in the evening and the situation took an ugly turn when the bikes hit against each other, police added. Following this the bustee youths assaulted Ravi and Sunny at about pm and also chased them till their Pintu Yadav also shared the third in school with 91 per cent. St Paul Bokaro Thermal s Sneha Jha and Rishi Kumar bagged third and fourth postion in the school with 90% and 89% marks.while other students Sachin Yadav, Mehul Kumar Gupta placed also in third position in the school with 89 percent and Eram Firoz having 85 %. Principal of St Paul Modern School Bokaro thermal Nitika Gaikward seemed content with the result saying out students have performed better than expected as the teachers have Vijay Piyush, an NCC officer cum camp adjutant said that the camp gives also an opportunity to get build personality for the Indian Army. Many NCC cadets make it to the defence service. The training begins in camps like these. The boys and girls have been divided into junior and senior divisions. The camp for seniors will continue till June homes. The youths from the bustee also pelted stones. Later, police team from Golmuri police station were also targeted. Golmuri police station OC Ramji Mahto, who was leading the police team, got injured in stone pelting. Mahto suffered minor injuries in his mouth and shoulder and was taken to Tata Main Hospital for treatment. Six policemen were also injured. "The police deployment has helped control the situation. The situation would have worsened had police not increased security of the area," a Tuiladungri resident said. SSP Anoop Birthray, City SP Prabhat Kumar, SDO Madhvi Mishra and ADM (Law and order) Subodh Kumar also reached the spot to control the situation. Later police entered Muslim bustee and resorted to lathicharge. Police also dragged some youths involved in stone pelting from their house and took them to Golmuri police station. City SP Prabhat Kumar said the situation was fully under control. The situation is better now. We have so far arrested eight persons. It was a fight between youths which led to stone pelting from one side. We will be making more arrest, he added. put in their hard work. ur school management are Oreally happy with performance of our students, added principal. School topper Pokhraj Harshal revealing his success said study on regular basis and concentration towards all subjects that ease the less pressure as the exams approach. While the school director Suresh Gaikward expressed satisfaction, citing the facts that all of its students had passed the class X and the results overall satisfactory. 10. The response to the camp is overwhelming. Besides weapons training, the camp will also offer counselling for career in defence organisations, added Piyush. Lessons on unity and discipline are important to succeed in life and we need to motivate the youths to imbibe it. These small experiences will enrich their lives, an another official. The cadets will participate in adventure activities like cycling, motor bike riding which will be helpful if the cadets carry out expedition as they do to fulfill social purposes. Firing, obstacle race, and drill are part of the training camp. The camp organised to train students will also help them to participate in the NCC's National Integration Camp, which is carried out on the national level. The camp is being organised in a college campus in order to inspire other students to join the NCC.

5 espite taking note of the Dtechnical glitches in the conduct of the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2018, the Supreme Court on Wednesday gave the go-ahead for announcement of the results scheduled for Thursday. Close to 250 students had approached various courts complaining against the technical glitches that delayed the conduct of the online test on May 13 at several examination centres. Of these, seven students had approached the apex court demanding appropriate relief. The Vacation Bench of Justices LN Rao and M Mohan Shantanagouder was alive to the concern of the affected students and accordingly directed the Grievance Redressal Committee, looking into their complaints, to submit a report by June 6 on the possible solutions to redress the genuinely affected students. However, the Bench declined to hold up the results as close to 54,000 students had taken the test for admission into 19 prestigious national law colleges across the country. The lawyers appearing for the affected students said that the CCTV footage showed how at some examination centres, the computers were malfunctioning or there was trouble with the software. Due to these issues, the students lost precious 15 to 20 minutes. The Grievance Redressal Committee formed to examine their complaints told the court that the technical glitch was taken care of by awarding extra time to the affected candidates. However, only few students availed of the same. Senior advocate V Giri who appeared for the Committee said that the pending complaints should not stall the announcement of results. According to him, once the result is announced the Committee would be in a position to know how many of the affected students are within striking distance of the minimum cut off marks required for getting admission into the National Law colleges. At the same time, those candidates who are way below the cut-off need not be considered as no ust as the Modi Government Jembarks upon its ambitious Ayushman Bharat scheme to ensure affordable health care to all, a WHO report has found that while half of Indians do not have access to essential health services, a big chunk of those availing the services ended up shelling out more than 10 per cent of their income. As per the World Health Statistics 2018 report, published in the WHO website, the number of people impoverished by out-of-pocket medical expenses in India is more than the combined population of the United Kingdom, France and Germany. amount of grace marks could qualify them for admission. The bench explained this position to the petitioners led by senior advocate Salman Khurshid among others. The judges said, The Committee will work out a normative scheme to award marks to those students who are within striking distance from the cutoff. But what is the point in delaying result? Khurshid said that announcement of results will create higher level of frustration among students who stand already handicapped due to the harassment they had to undergo for no fault of theirs. He urged the Court to wait for the Committee findings and then proceed with declaration of results. However, the Committee s suggestion weighed with the Court which directed the matter to be listed on June 6. tumped by former President SPranab Mukherjee s decision to address RSS members in Nagpur next week, the Congress continued to be in a fix over the way to react. While senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Wednesday said that now since Mukherjee is ready to go to the RSS headquarters he should preach them the wrongs in their ideology, Leader of Opposition in Kerala Ramesh Chennithala said it will be a blemish on the question of secularism. Now that he has accepted invitation there is no point debating why he accepted it. More important thing to say is, sir you have accepted invitation, please go there & tell them what is wrong with their ideology, said Chidambaram on Mukherjee s proposed visit to the RSS headquarters. Chidambaram and Mukherjee were Cabinet colleagues in the New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused interim bail to Rajiv Mishra, the former principal of BRD Medical College at Gorakhpur, who is accused of culpable homicide leading to death of 23 infants at the hospital due to lack of oxygen supply. Nine months on in jail, Mishra s lawyer and senior advocate, Mukul Rohatgi, pleaded before a Vacation Bench of Justices LN Rao and M Mohan Shantanagoudar to release his client on bail as he was ill and had sustained incarceration for a long time. Rohatgi further claimed that the cause of death of infants was reportedly due to Japanese encephalitis and not lack of oxygen. Moreover, the agent who supplied oxygen to the hospital had already been granted bail. But these facts did not weigh with the bench. The judges asked Rohatgi, What can we do if you do not pay him (agent) for gas. The Court referred to the charge sheet which suggested that the agent stopped supplying oxygen as his bills were not cleared. The prosecution story further stated that the accused former principal was guilty of culpable homicide as he demanded commission from the agent and refused to clear the bills on this account. But Rohatgi disputed claiming there was no proof for the same. PNS here is no early respite in Tsight for passengers from train delays. The Indian Railways on Wednesday said the passengers will have to bear with train delays for another few months even if the ongoing maintenance and repair works go as per schedule. The punctuality performance of the railways in has reported to be the worst in comparison to the two financial years before that, with almost 30 per cent of trains running late, according to official data. If we complete track maintenance work of about 5,000 km in this financial year, then in the next six to eight months passengers will be spared the inconvenience of delays, Mohd Jamshed, the Railway Board Member (Traffic), said. The punctuality of mail and express trains during April 2017-March 2018 was per cent as compared to per cent in the corresponding period of , which is a deterioration of 5.30 per cent. In , per cent trains ran on time The reports said that 17.3 per cent of India s population or nearly 230 million citizens had to spend more than 10 per cent of their income towards health expenditure during As compared to India, percentage of population spending over 10 per cent of their income towards medical services is Sri F ormer Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday shuttled between 2G trial court and High Court seeking anticipatory bail as he received summons in Aircel- Maxis and INX Media scams. CBI summoned Chidambaram to appear on Thursday in connection with INX Maxis probe and he has to appear before ED on June 5 in connection with Aircel-Maxis probe. On Wednesday, by 9:30am Chidambaram reached 2G Court with senior lawyers and colleagues Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Singhvi against the ED s summons. Judge OP Saini gave interim protection till June 5, instructing Chidambaram to appear as and when the agency demands. Chidambaram s relief did not stand for a long time as within hours he was asked to appear before CBI in INX Maxis probe on Thursday. By 1:30 pm, with colleagues Sibal and Singhvi, Chidamabram reached Delhi High Court seeking anticipatory bail. However, in this case he did not approach the trial court of Special Judge Sunil Rana handling the case. The development before the High Court witnessed some drama as Justice SP Garg Manmohan Singh Government. For his part, in a letter addressed to Mukherjee, Chennithala said that the decision to attend the function has come as a rude shock to the secular minds even as he requested the former President to refrain from going to Nagpur. Calling the RSS a communal outfit, Chennithala accused the Sangh of working towards creating a Hindu Rashtra comprising of only one section of the people which is against the Congress ideology of secularism and democracy. Chennithala further said the decision coming from one of the tallest leaders of the party has caused unparalleled disgruntlement among the rank and the file of the Congress Congress leaders Adhir Chowdhury and Hanumantha Rao also expressed surprise over Mukherjee s decision. I am really surprised to hear about the decision of Pranab Mukherjee to attend RSS s programme in Nagpur. Just like any other Congressman, I am really astonished to hear about it, Chowdhury said in Kolkata. My question is does he (Mukherjee) think his previous comments against RSS were wrong... We still remember how Pranab Mukherjee as a senior leader of the Congress had criticised RSS as a communal and a divisive organization. However, Mukherjee is no longer President, nor a Congress leader, and he is free to take any decision, he added. Rao said the former presi- dent should withdraw his decision in the interest of secularism. Former Union Minister CK Jaffer Shareif too had on Tuesday written to Mukherjee expressing surprise over the move and saying he like other secular people was stunned to hear about his attending the RSS function. I personally think that a person of your stature, being secular and in politics for decades, having served in various capacity including the highest position of Rashtrapati, visiting Sangh Parivar at this point in time before Parliament elections is not proper, he said. Former MP and Delhi Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit also said that as a Congress leader and minister, Mukherjee has spoken about the RSS and the BJP many times on various issues and dubbed it as bad and worst outfit, which is communal and anti-national. New Delhi: A day after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over acute shortage of coal in power plants in the national Capital, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said that Kejriwal is trying to hide his own failures in handling the power situation. Increased demand has already been met by coal and railway ministries, Goyal said at a Press conference on the sidelines of an Mission Raftar Workshop. Kejriwal on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to direct the Railways to provide rakes for recused from the matter and the file was placed before acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal, who allocated the case for hearing before Justice AK Pathak. Justice Pathak, in the forenoon session, said he was willing to hear the matter after 3:00pm but Sibal expressed his difficulty and both the sides consented to get the matter to be heard on Thursday morning at 10:30. he Narendra Modi TGovernment s achievements in the farm sector during the last 48 months are much higher when compared to the Congress 48-year rule since Independence, the BJPled NDA dispensation has claimed. Listing out the first four years achievements of the Modi Government in the agriculture sector, Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh on Wednesday said the Centre has rolled out several new schemes to boost production and cut input costs with an aim to achieve its target of doubling farmers income by Singh said programmes such as Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (crop insurance scheme), Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sichai Yojana (irrigation), Soil Health Card, neemcoated urea, linking of mandis to a electronic trading platform Lanka 2.9 per cent, UK 1.6 per cent, USA 4.8 per cent and China 17.7 per cent. Too many people are still dying of preventable diseases, too many people are being pushed into poverty to pay for health care out of their own pockets and too many people are unable to get the health services they need. This is unacceptable, WHO Director- General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a release. The WHO report further revealed that 3.9 per cent of the country s population or 51 million Indians spent more than a quarter of their household budget for health services. The global average is 11.7 per cent for people spending more than 10 per cent of their income towards medical expenses, 2.6 per cent for people spending more than 25 per cent of their income on health and 1.4 per cent who were pushed into extreme poverty due to health-related expenses, the report said. Going by the global average of 1.4 per cent, the number e-nam, among others, are making a difference in the lives of farmers. He also slammed the Opposition for failing to appreciate the changes these programmes are bringing at the ground level. For 48 years, one family was ruling the country and it did not do any major development work in the agri sector. Initiatives taken by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee were also stalled by the UPA. We have achieved much more in agriculture in just 48 months, Singh said. In the Union budget, the government announced it would fix minimum support price (MSP) 1.5 times higher than the cost of production and also frame a mechanism to ensure the support price reaches to farmers, he added. Stating that modern markets are being developed to ensure better price to farmers, Singh said 585 mandis (wholesale markets) in 14 states have of Indians who would be hardest hit due to medical treatment cost stands close to 20 million, as per the statement. Under the Ayushmaan Bharat programme, the Government has envisioned a two-pronged health strategy : 1.5 lakh Health and Wellness Centres providing comprehensive health care, including for non-communicable diseases and maternal and child health services and National Health Protection Scheme, aiming to cover over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries) providing coverage upto 5 lakh rupees per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation. t General Ranbir Singh, Lwho was Director General Military Operations (DGMO) when the Army carried out surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) in 2016, will be the new Northern Command chief. It was Singh who had announced about the operations having been conducted in the wake of a terrorist attack on an Army camp in Uri September that year killing 19 soldiers. Singh will replace incumbent Lt General Devraj Anbu, who will take charge as Vice Chief of Army, after present head Lt General Sarath Chand retires month end. Northern Command is a strategically important command as it takes care of the borders with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir besides Siachen and Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China in Ladakh. Moreover, this command handles anti-militancy operations in Jammu & Kashmir including preventing militants from sneaking into the state from across the LoC. Singh, commissioned into Dogra Regiment and currently serving as Deputy Chief of Army Information Systems and Training at Army Headquarters here, assumes new responsibility as Northern Command chief at a crucial juncture when the Centre announced unilateral ceasefire during the holy month of Ramzan starting May 17. Moreover, India and Pakistan on Tuesday mutually agreed to fully implement the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding to bring down hostilities and ceasefire violations on the LoC transporting coal to power plants in Delhi-NCR, which, he said, are facing alarming level of coal shortage. Demand for coal was very low from Dadri plant last year. Delhi was not consuming the amount of power it thought it would. Suddenly they increased demand for more coal, which has been met by Coal and Railways ministries, said Goyal who holds both the Cabinet portfolios of Coal and Railways besides the Finance Ministry. Goyal said as the year the power demand increased, the demand for rakes more than doubled and around 39 rakes of coal were sent to the plant. Each rake is made up of 58 wagons and has a capacity of carrying 3,750 tonnes of coal. Both for coal mining and railway, it s not a switch on, switch off that overnight you say we need more rakes and the system can gear up to supply rakes overnight, said Goyal. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal s claims of inadequate coal supply in Delhi are false and baseless. Indian Railways is committed to ensuring adequate coal supplies in power plants serving Delhi and its supply has even been stepped up during the summer, he said. PNS been linked so far to the online trading platform called e-nam and additional 415 mandis will be connected by There has been increase in government procurement of pulses, oilseeds and cotton through various schemes during the last four years of the government, he said. To ensure farmers get bank loans, Singh said the Modi government has encouraged to form over 25 lakh joint liability groups in the last four years to whom 27,930 crore has been released by the Government. Asked about the protest called by some farmers bodies from next month, Singh said the ministry has not received any representation from these organisations. The country s foodgrain production is estimated to have touched a record million tonnes in the crop year (July-June) but the farmers in some states are in distress because of sharp fall in prices. he income of seven nation- parties from unknown Tal sources during was crore, while total donations (above 20,000) declared by them stood at crore, with BJP receiving crore from 1,194 donations. Donations declared by BJP is more than nine times the amount put together by Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) and All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) for the same period. The Congress on the other hand said it got a sum of crore from 599 donations. According to a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), which focused on donations above 20,000 received by the national political parties, during the financial year , the total donations (above 20,000) declared by the national parties was crore, from 2,123 donations. A total of crore was declared by BJP from 1,194 donations while Congress declared receiving crore from 599 donations, it said. As it had been declaring for the past 11 years, BSP again declared that the party did not receive any donations above 20,000 during FY and International Border (IB) in Jammu. The agreement on ceasefire on the LoC, however, does not bind the Army from continuing with its anti-militancy operations within the State. In this backdrop, Singh will have to ensure that levels of violence do not go up given the apprehensions that the month long breather due to halting of antiterrorist operations will give time to terrorists to regroup and rearm. Similarly, as the Northern Command chief, he has to keep a close watch on Pakistan s intentions to honour the latest pact. This is important as the LoC has seen more than 900 ceasefire violations in the first four and half months of this year as compared to 850 for the entire last year. The report has also noted that the total income of the seven national parties from unknown sources for was crore, which makes for about per cent of the total income of the parties from all over India. Total donations of national parties during increased by crore from crore during the previous financial year , it said. The report says donations to BJP increased from crore during to crore in , while that of NCP increased from 71lakh in to 6.34 crore in Also, donations to AITC increased by 231 per cent, CPM and Congress have declared an increase of 190 per cent and 105 per cent, respectively, as per their donation reports for and , while that of CPI decreased by 9 per cent, it said. The total income of national parties for was 1, crore. Total income of national parties from known donors (details of donors as available from contribution report submitted by the parties to Election Commission) was crore, which is 37.8 per cent of the total income of the seven national parties in , the report said.

6 et another effort by the Yfamily of Congress strongman and former finance Minister P Chidambaram to prevent the filing of a case against them came to naught on Wednesday when Justice S Baskaran of the Madras High court refused to stay the prosecution launched by the Income Tax department against Nalini Chidambaram (the lawyer wife of Chidambaram, son Karti and daughter-in-law Srinidhi) under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act of Justice Baskaran rejected the plea for interim orders and adjourned the cases, filed by the family to quash the prosecution, to July 5, after ordering notice to I-T officials. It may be remembered that Justice T S Sivagnanam of the Madras High Court had last month dismissed a petition moved by Nalini, Karti and Dr Srinidhi questioning the prosecution initiated against them by Tax,Chennai under the under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Taxes Act The prosecution cases have been filed after it has been found by the Income Tax department that Karti, his mother and wife had purchased a property in London (5, Holben Close, Barton, Cambridge, UK). The IT Department found that the property was purchased for 5.37 crore but this was not disclosed in the IT returns filed by them. According to the petitioners, the Principal Director of Income Tax (Investigation) was not a competent officer to respondent the Principal Chief launch prosecution under Commissioner of Income Section 50 of the Act and, therefore, the complaint filed against them should be quashed. They also claimed that the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) court in Egmore, Chennai, was not the designated special court under the Act. The petitioners also contended that if any proceedings were initiated by the CMM based on the persecution complaint filed by the second (Principal Director), who is incompetent to file the complaint, it would cause prejudice to the respondents. The petitioner does not have any undisclosed foreign asset and hence does not come within the purview of the Black Money Act, the petitioners claimed in the identical affidavits. n a chilling reminder of Isecret murders of the Left era when the Maoists, Marxists and Trinamool Congress goons engaged in silent games of mutual elimination, a BJP worker not even out of one s teens was found murdered by alleged Trinamool goons in the boondocks of Balrampur, a block in Bengal-Jharkhand border in Purulia district. The body of the young man called Trilochan Mahto was found hanging from a tree at Supurdih village with bloodcurdling lines scrawled on the front and back of his whitish T- K erala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Politbureau member of the proletarian party, CPI(M), had grown up in an absolutely proletarian family background but he is now being charged with acting like a king, thanks to the allegedly excessive security arrangements provided by police for him during his visits to different parts of the State. Even when his loyalists in the party and Government are working overtime to establish him as the most people-friendly Chief Minister the State has ever had, critics point out that he is acting like a king who is afraid of his own subjects by putting himself within a police wall and by keeping a safe distance from audiences while attending public functions. The criticism has become all the more intense after over 400 policemen were allegedly deployed for ensuring security for him in Kottayam last Sunday which created a situation where the police reportedly had no time to look into a case of abduction of a Dalit Christian youth by a gang. The youth, Kevin P Joseph, was found dead on Monday morning in an incident of honour killing. However, asked about the special police security for him, Pinarayi told newsmen on Wednesday, I am not the person who decides such things. shirt that roughly read: This is your reward for doing BJP politics. Trying to kill you since the elections but failed. Today got you. You are dead. Sources in the victim s family said he had been accosted and strangulated to death by the TMC assailants following which senior party leader Rahul Sinha demanded CBI investigation into the case. The people who are afraid of the rise of BJP have done this ghastly act, he said. The BJP not only displaced the Left in Purulia but also shoved the Trinamool in number two position in the district in the rural elections. That is all done by the police. If a situation arises where some people block the Chief Minister on the road, you yourself may attack the police for not providing proper security. Critics point out that hundreds of police personnel are being deployed on security duty during Pinarayi s visits apart from the usual cover available to him under Z- Category security provided for Chief Minister. Additional security is being provided on the basis of the observations and recommendations of the police chief of the district being visited by the Chief Minister. During his visit to Kottayam on Sunday, four Deputy Superintendents of Police, many Circle Inspectors and Sub Inspectors and about 400 civil police officers had allegedly been deployed for his security which was supervised by the district police chief. However, officials justified this by saying that local security arrangements would depend on Intelligence reports. A second incident took place at Jhargram another Jangalmahal district earlier dreaded for Maoist presence. According to sources armed TMC goons attacked the district party office where a large number of saffron workers had gathered for a meeting in the presence of State general secretary Subroto Chattopadhyaya. According to sources a large number of armed TMC goons surrounded the party office and started firing at it. Bombs were charged, bikes smashed and bullets were fired when our workers were holed up inside, said a local BJP worker. ommending the three arms Cof the Indian Armed Forces for their unparalleled and unquestioning service to the nation, President Ram Nath Kovind said on Wednesday a soldier or an officer in uniform, irrespective of whether s/he is from the Army, the Navy or the Air Force, evoked admiration and trust everywhere in the country. Speaking after reviewing the passing out parade of 134th course of National Defence Academy (NDA) in Pune, the President said the parade spoke for our essential unity as much as for our pluralism as a society. As the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, this was a moment of immense satisfaction for him. Repeated phone calls to the police went unheard and none of them turned up till Wednesday noon almost 16 hours after the incident, sources party sources complained. It all reminds us of the CPI(M) days when the Opposition workers were attacked like this. But the Trinamool will have to pay the same price like the CPI(M), Sinha said. However TMC leader Arya Ghosh said the attack was initially launched by the BJP. After doing well in Jhargram they are now targeting our workers. They attacked our men with arrows and bombs, said Ghosh. he Central Bureau of TInvestigation on Wednesday registered first information report (FIR) in a Chennai court against unknown officials of Central Excise, Tamil Nadu Government, food safety department, public servants and private persons under sections 120-B (Criminal Conspiracy) and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption The Armed Forces are a symbol of excellence and dedication for the entire country. This parade comprises cadets from all parts of India and from a variety of communities. Its harmony speaks for our essential unity as much as for our pluralism as a society, the President said. Averring that the Armed Forces represented best Indian ethos, the President said: A soldier or an officer in uniform, irrespective of whether he or she is from the Army, the Navy or the Air Force, evokes admiration and trust everywhere in the country. If a fellow citizen sees a member of the Armed Forces at a railway station or a market or at any other place, there is an immediate emotion of pride and reassurance. Act in connection with the infamous Gutkha case. The case has been under orders issued by the Madras High Court vide its order dated April 26, 2018 while disposing a writ petition foiled by a DMK legislator J Anbazhagan who complained that gutkha,a banned tobacco material, was being manufactured, and sold in the state of Tamil Nadu despite the ban order. Suresh Kumar, deputy superintendent of police, CBI, AC-III New Delhi has been entrusted with the trial of the case, according to the R Gopalakrishna Rao, SP, CBI, AC-II New Delhi. The gutkha case created a furore in Tamil Nadu politics and the investigating officers had to examine the residential premises of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa from where they seized sensational and secret letters exchanged between the Income Tax Department and top bureaucrats of the State in November The names of a minister in the Edappadi Palaniswamy government, a top cop and a former senior police officer besides some officials and public men figured in the list of persons who were under the payroll of one he Kerala Government on TWednesday decided to reduce the retail prices of petrol and diesel by 1 per litre with effect from Friday, June 1, in a bid to provide some relief to the people hit by rising fuel prices. The slashing of the State s tax on petrol-diesel prices by 1 would lead to an annual loss to the tune or 509 crore, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told newsmen on Wednesday. Still we are doing this in a situation where the Centre is not showing the readiness to take any step to alleviate the hardships of the people, he said. It is indeed difficult for Kerala, which has its own financial problems, to forgo a part of the revenue coming in through taxes on fuel. But we are doing this also in order to send a message to the Centre. People are asking us what we are doing to help the people. We tell the Centre: We are doing this. You do this too, Pinarayi said. The Chief Minister also said that no time-limit had been set for the 1 cut in the prices of petrol and diesel. Even if diesel and petrol prices come down tomorrow, this cut will be there, he added. The Government decided to take the step following increasing demands for a cut in the State s tax portion in the context of skyrocketing fuel prices. Presently, the Kerala Government is levying percent tax (around per litre) on petrol price and percent (roughly per litre) on diesel. of the gutkha manufacturers. It all started with Madhava Rao, one of the gutkha manufacturers, in his sworn affidavit to the Income Tax department stating that he had paid nearly 40 crore to Vijaya Bhaskar, Health Minister of Tamil Nadu and senior IPS officers including DGP rank officers T K Rajendran and S George (since retired from service) among others for facilitating the manufacture and sale of gutkha which was banned in the State. Despite its official ban, gutkha was freely available across the counter all over Tamil Nadu as law enforcing agencies had turned a blind eye to the business. The case also led to several turbulences in Tamil Nadu legislative assembly when the Opposition DMK brought ghutka packets to the House leading to filing of breach of privilege motion against them. The 22 DMK MLA's approached the Madras High Court challenging the breach of privilege motion against them and the case is pending before the court. Though the Tamil Nadu Government had entrusted the case to the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption (DVAC) and the Vigilance Commisssion for probe, the frequent transfer of the investigating officials upset the probe process which resulted in the DMK leader approaching the High Court with a plea to transfer the case to the CBI.

7 pset with the interference Uof superstar turned politician Rajinikanth in the Cauvery water row, the Karnataka Film Chambers of Commerce (KFCC) has decided not to allow screening of his movie Kaala, due for release on June 7 as a mark of protest. According to Sa Ra Govindu President of KFCC the film industry is upset with Rajinikanth s reported statement that whichever Government comes to power Karnataka should implement the Supreme Court order on Cauvery water sharing. He said A decision has been taken that Rajinikanth s movie will neither be distributed nor screened anywhere in Karnataka. The KFCC president also pping the ante against UFlipkart for its questionable means of doing business, the Opposition Congress in Maharashtra on Wednesday demanded the online shopping portal be banned after it was found to be source of purchase of arms in Aurangabad. Alluding to news reports that the Aurangabad police on Tuesday discovered a large number of weapons were allegedly bought online through Flipkart, leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil of the Congress said the online trading of weapons was both illegal and dangerous. At a time when the situation in riot-hit Aurangabad is returning to normal, it is shocking to learn that weapons are now being openly traded online. The police have seized 28 weapons including swords, choppers, knives, kukris, guptis, etc, which were purchased from Flipkart s online website. The police have done a great service by discovering the weapons trade on line and averting a possible untoward incident, Vikhe-Patil said. If the weapons are being traded online openly, then it is a dangerous trend. The Government must ban Flipkart for indulging in such illegal and said the ban on distribution and screening of Rajinikanth movies will continue. The ban will remain because neither will he apologise for his statement nor are we going to pardon him, Govindu said. The superstar who hails from Karnataka has a great fan following in the State and the distributors for his film depend dangerous activities, the Congress leader said. Seeking to know as to why the weapons had ordered by a resident in Aurangabad, Vikhe- Patil demanded that the State Government order a comprehensive inquiry into the shocking discovery at Aurangabad and the guilty be brought to book. There has been marked surge in online shopping in recent years. Over and above, an illegal and dangerous transaction has now come to light.. Why were the weapons ordered online by a resident from Aurangabad? Are the ordered weapons have anything to do with the recent riots? We would like to know as to who are all behind the whole thing. We demand that the state government order an inquiry into the whole thing and bring all the guilty to book, the leader of the Opposition said. on Karnataka as a major revenue earning. Neta Rajnikanth has faced the wrath of pro Kannada outfits in the State and Chief Minister Kumaraswamy who is also a film producer has to deal with one more problem of resolving this crisis. The Government expects with the onset of early monsoon, the water from Cauvery can be released from the second week of June. Rajinikanth plays the role of a slumlord-turned-gangster in Kaala. Theatre owners in Karnataka, too, have said that they will not screen the film in any theatre. Release of the Pa Ranjith directed Kaala was earlier deferred and was supposed to release on June 7 across Karnataka. However, as it is headed for a worldwide release, Kaala may not see the ith a view to repeat pre- Lok Sabha polls Wvious performance in Prime Minister Narendra Modi s home-state Gujarat in the upcoming 2019 parliamentary polls, ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has formed an 11-member Election Management Committee on Wednesday. Apart from 11 members, Gujarat BJP president Jitu Vaghani, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and the State BJP s organising secretary Bhikhubhai Dalsania are part of the committee by the virtue of light of the day in Karnataka. Saurav Sharma, head of Goldie films that has acquired the distribution rights for Kaala in Karnataka says considering the sentiments of the people of the State decided not to release the film. Sa Ra Govindu said that the films of both Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth will not be released in the State. They have made statements related to Cauvery that are unacceptable to the people of Karnataka. We don t need their films. Kannadigas are upset with the actor s statements and so in the interest of the State we are not releasing Kaala, he said. The Karnataka film chamber called for a meeting on Tuesday after several Kannada groups called for boycott of the film. fter his controversial Aremark that he was on the mercy of the Congress but not the people, Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy has once again praised Rahul Gandhi for giving him power and opportunity. He said people did not give him the mandate. Addressing the meeting of the farmers leaders activists on Wednesday in Bengaluru to discuss to find out ways to clear farm sector loans to the tune of 50,000 crore, Kumaraswamy said I know about everyone. I will help you. You have got an opportunity. Today even though I don t have the blessings of the people but I have the blessed soul Rahul Gandhi s trust in me. He has given me power. This is an their respective posts. Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, Junior Ministers in Modi Government at centre Parasotam Rupala and Mansukh Mandvia, three senior Ministers in Vijay Rupani Government Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, Kaushik Patel and Ganapat Vasava, Gujarat BJP s general secretary Bharatsinh Parmar, Vice-Presidents of the State BJP Bhargav Bhatt and IK Jadeja, former Gujarat Minister Shanker Chaudhary and ex-parliamentary secretary in the State Government Hira Solanki are appointed in the committee by the party high command. Sources in the State BJP said that the committee will monitor all the arrangements including public meetings, door-to-door campaign, bringing top national leaders of the party to the State for election campaign, booth management and other election related works across the State. The committee will also have say in appointment of election in-charges for all 26 Lok Sabha constituencies in Gujarat. It will also give important suggestion for implementing strategies in view of 2019 Lok Sabha elections. opportunity. He will not oppose this (farm loan waiver). I will convince him. I will help you. While Chief Minister intervening in the heated debate at the farmers meeting he made this statement which surprised many in the political circle. This is the second time Kumaraswamy is making the statement by saying people did not give him the power but Rahul Gandhi gave him the power. He had called a meeting of the farmers to discuss the possibility of farm loan waiver a promise he made during his campaign and also in the JDs manifesto. He had said if he comes to power within 24 hours he would waive off farm loans of the distressed farmers in the State. The BJP has been protesting and demanding fter a lull of almost one year AChief Minister Nitish Kumar has revived his demand for special category status to Bihar. Nitish, after rejoining the NDA in July last, had not pressed for this demand even though this issue, believed to be closed to his heart, has been focal point at all platforms. Other leaders of his party JD(U) though spoke on this issue particularly after Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu broke ties with the NDA after being denied special status, but in restricted tone. The Opposition has made fun of Kumaraswamy to waive off the farm loan as promised. This has become a major issue and he is not getting support from the Congress the coalition partner. This is also one of the contentious issues which have struck in Ministry formation. However Kumaraswamy said as he promised to honour his commitment to waive farm loans within 15 days and insisted there was no going back on it. We will come to a decision in 15 days. In 15 days, it will get completely implemented...whatever may be the difficulty, our Government is committed to maintaining fiscal discipline, and also saving you (farmers), Kumaraswamy told the meeting after listening to farmers for about three hours. Nitish s stand. Suddenly Nitish raked up this demand amid the political speculations that he was feeling uneasy in the company of BJP leadership and ignorance of the Bihar demands like flood relief and compensation. The Centre approved a compensation of 1700 crore against the demand of over 6000 crore for the floods 2017 and after deducting 500 crore which was announced by the PM, it released only 1200 crore. The BJP is however, not vocal on this demand. However, the CM has not raised the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi but with the 15th Finance Commission. ine tourists from Pune Nwere arrested for first trying to photograph a minor girl playing on the beach and later assaulting her and her minor brother, after the victim, protested for being photographed by them. The incident occurred at the famous Baga beach located around 20 km north of the State capital, where the minor children along with their parents had gone for a swim, while the tourists were at a beach shack. We have arrested nine tourists from Pune for molesting the minor girl, assaulting her brother and later causing rioting. The minor girl had asked them not to take photographs with their mobile phones, which led to the eventual incident, where she was molested and her brother beaten up, Police Inspector Jivba Dalvi told The Pioneer. The tourists were holidaying in the State for the past few days, the official said, adding that the group was arrested while trying to escape the State. A first information report has been registered under sections 143, 147, 323, 354 r/w 149 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 8 of Goa Children s Act. The names of the accused tourists are Ramesh Kamble, Sanket Bhadale, Krishna Patil, Satyam Lambe, Aniket Gurav, Rishikesh Gurav, Akash Suvaskar, Sunny More and Ishwar Pangare and are residents of Pune town in Maharashtra. A first information report has been registered under sections 143, 147, 323, 354 r/w 149 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 8 of Goa Children s Act. Goa is one of the top beach tourism destinations in the country and attracts more than six million tourists every year, but over the last few days, crimes involving tourists including a gangrape of a local girl by tourists from MP have triggered a sentiment against domestic tourism.

8 Areflection: One-and-a-half years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the demonetisation of high-value 500 and 1,000 currency notes, needs attention. Politicians, economists and media, in the thick of the phenomenon, presented it either as a divine initiative or a satanic act, a bipolar discourse that inadequately represented the bold decision which is normally avoided by a party in power for the fear of becoming unpopular. A chain of events in demonetisation and remonetisation arose from one currency management decision to implement the macro-economic policy. Its impact was judged from the prism of Indian economic policy vis-à-vis global financial practices and at the interface of both. Its immediate impact on the people, especially the poor and the filthy rich, was criticised and celebrated. None of such works applied the simple-yetapproximate 80:20 rule to understand the phenomenon vis-à-vis the countrymen. 80:20 is a management rule. In any project or household, 80 per cent of the total material and man/material/man is of 20 per cent value while 20 per cent of the material and man/material/man is of 80 per cent value. In family purchases over a month, the rule comes as true as in the case of any project or action of longer duration or that of a country. Approximately 80 per cent of the population has 20 per cent of its wealth while 80 per cent of the wealth would be in the hands of 20 per cent of the countrymen. The attitude, access and exposure to the system of this 20 per cent transform any situation in their favour quickly after the initial tremor. Their information and knowledge-seeking, analytical and innovative approach made them early adapters during the initial phase of demonetisation. So was the first benefit: Their lethargy to switch over from habits of keeping more cash went away. During the switchover, transaction security issues, hidden costs and customer helplessness in digital banking made them campaign in the social media-driven democratic space. The Government amended rules of cyber transactions and invested more into security firewalling in response. Demonetisation was expected to bring down the volume of black money and fake currency. Its concomitant processes towards cyber economic activities would bring down cases of money theft, dacoity and snatching. However, the chance of cyber loot from within and across the border looms large. It s a war of every moment for financial institutions and the Government. Cashless, the latest evolutionary step in currency development, is able to solve the problem of passive money accumulation. Every cashless transaction leads to a change of account, enabling digital liquidity to invest money in some productive activity. It generates taxes for the Government and Sir This refers to the report, Sterlite shut, allotment of land for unit II nixed (May 30). The news of permanent closure of the Sterlite Copper Smelting plant Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, may be a great victory for the labour class and for the ecology of the adjoining area. But huge investment by the Vedanta Group, after worldwide survey to assess the demand for copper, will be lost. The best action will be to ensure that the plant is relocated 25 kms away from the Gulf of Mannar and not 14 kms away as it is at the present. The plant must not overproduce. Anil Agarwal is one of the richest man in Britain. His business instinct motivated him to indulge in overproduction to take advantage of the booming market in copper. In West Bengal, the destruction of the Singur plant, on grounds of fertile multi-crop agricultural land being destroyed, is a similar example. After the abortion of the plant at the ripe time, the political party which spearheaded the agitation should have taken care of the huge industrial structure in steel, which have all vanished into thin air. NK Das Gupta Kolkata Sir Abraham Lincoln had said, Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other. Lincoln s statement is important is supposed to create jobs for the people. It curbs black money and inflationary trend. However, this is not the cure for all ills in the economy. Further, its spread and impact on the lower 80 per cent, which owns wealth very thinly, is a matter of concern. With low level of wealth accumulation and cash, they are not hoarders of black money. Why did the common man bear the hardship of demonetisation? Pro-reformists took it as sign of policy support and antireformists considered it as sheer helplessness of common man who has to fend day in and day out for making both ends meet. These hypotheses have not been questioned by media though they could have tested such questions empirically. Common man welcomed the decision with two beliefs: It would bleed black money hoarders whom they saw growing by dint of proximity to power and becoming middleman, and they sensed well being of country they belong to. This was despite the systematic intrusion of cash through governmental schemes and displacement of stand-alone local markets by market networks putting inconvenience to their life styles. Yet they did not erupt with much provocation since they have already experienced long queues in ration and kerosene shops, post offices and where not for the last 70 years. Now they had a good cause added for their calm. Does market-driven economy framework or the rural economic reality explain the calm? In several pockets of rural India, currency is not the only exchange medium. Barter is still in vogue. And in many rural families, they don t enter into buying or selling for food or some other major items. This less dependence on market network is based on their approach to living. It cannot be considered as underdevelopment. Putting simply, how far our villagers could self-sustain without money supply so that they won t feel the move disturbing their simple living? Many may see a plan to eulogize poverty in raising this question. Yet, these votaries of poverty elimination must accept that plans of poverty alleviation over last seven decades failed to raise most of the poor to affluence, and could not prevent the affluent usurping funds for the poor. A study on this question would help government understand people's own inertia of being and becoming, and how this can help them in strategy making for development without much disruption in people s life. This may also help Government decide how far it should allow market-driven economy to impinge upon people s life. The Government also needs to chalk out plan a based on indigenous way of sustainable living beyond commercialism to see that market does not aggrandise the common man too far. In short, ways and means of common man to sustain through hard times without surrendering to market should be there as part of governmental strategy so that the country actually steers through cycle of inflation-deflation of world economy with ease. This remained an aspect of strength for us even without governmental effort. But increasing statism and acceptance of market as master won't keep it so for long. The more we introduce the global neo-liberal techno-financial system lock, stock and barrel, further we become helpless during periods of depression and cyber-coups. Demonetisation is seen as a logical step towards digitising economy; digitisation is viewed as the fifth generation antibiotic against all economic corruptions which corrode growth of the economy and national character, and aggravate inequality apace. However, India can t afford seeing control slip away from state to the financial cartel which makes common man helpless in front of juggernaut of financial institutions. Information-Communication technology, like money, is an instrument which should be used cautiously. Hoarded or counterfeited paper currency causes great harm to the economy; digital money, at the stroke of a finger tip, may wipe out an entire economy. How does the country get prepared to avert such crisis is a far bigger question. Demonetisation 2016 exposed two truths in common man s manifest response over the last one-and-half-years. First truth: Increasing inequality is making common man expectant of a great overhaul which is able to punish the economic offender. Whosoever takes the responsibility would get support of them. Only the good intention and follow up action should be visible enough to be trusted by them. Second truth: When a party is given comfortable majority, it is for them to utilise it towards greater equity in society. If it tries to do so, it would swell their support base invariably because common man would consider it as people-centric approach of the Government. The lowliest among them with zero-balance Jan Dhan accounts should be taken care of as they won t be able to transact cashless easily for two reasons: Cashless is costly, and the accounting is beyond their cognition. (The writer is Professor of Communication, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan and Country Director (India), Asian Congress for Media and Communication) because our resolution is our aspiration to become a better human being for a better tomorrow. This is the driving force of evolution that has taken us from slave society to feudal society and from police states to welfare states. Our resolutions are not just confined to a particular occasion. It is because of our aspiration to strive for the highest standards, we have been scaling new heights of swifter, higher, stronger to blossom over the years. Researchers have produced new DNA evidence that almost certainly confirms Out of Africa theory of human evolution that all of us stem from a single group of Homo Sapiens. After originating in Africa 1,50,000 years ago, our ancestors began spreading throughout Eurasia 60,000 years ago to seek food after experiencing a quantum leap in thinking. We dare say that 2,000 generations ago, our ancestors could not help but to move out of Africa to satisfy their aspirations that they felt so strongly about after having experienced a quantum leap in thinking. It opened, as it were, a new horizon in their minds which can be described in the words of Tagore, Fountain awakened from its dream. Sri Aurobindo said, The spiritual aspiration is innate in man; for he is, unlike the animal, aware of imperfection and limitation and feels that there is something to be attained beyond what he now is... Sujit De Kolkata

9 A s ironical as it may sound, Himalayas one of the most pristine source of water for mankind since ages are now unable to spare water, resulting in many of the mountainous urban spaces struggling to make their ends meet as far as drinking water is concerned. In fact, millions across Asia rely on the Himalayan water but this natural source is now being taken for granted as human activities are stressing Himalayan water system. Thanks to unplanned development, the population explosion and a heavy influx of tourists, the region is in the throes of a crisis. Like each year, this year too, serene hills of the Himalayas are witnessing a huge tourist load, putting unimaginable pressure on the delicate mountain ecology besides natural resources. The unfortunate part is the fact that authorities, especially the urban planning offices in these areas, are unable to adopt best practices that are being followed around the world in preserving the high altitude resources and ecology. The situation in mainstream hill stations such as Mussoorie and Shimla is particularly grim. For instance, the daily requirement for water in Shimla is 40 million litres, whereas, the supply is 20 million litres. This deficit gap tends to expand manifold during the summer tourist season. The resultant water crisis is forcing the Shimla Municipal Corporation to supply water once in four or five days and, that too, is not enough to cater to the city s population. The root cause is the fact that Shimla with a population of 1,70,000, is largely still trying to survive on the water network setup for a population of 30,000 people in the year The incessant tourist influx and the nearly 70,000 floating population is only The past six months have left multiple citizens of villages across Uttar Pradesh s Sitapur in shock, rage and fear with fatal attacks by animals on 15 people (as reported last), with 11 deaths reported in the past two months. The response to these tragic deaths has been just as tragic the rampant killing of street dogs. Official numbers tout it to be at least 30 street dogs with another 50 being relocated to forests, while unofficial numbers cross 100. Some of the dogs that were killed showed bullet marks, some showed signs of strangulation, while others still were badly beaten with sticks till they succumbed to injuries. The question that plagues the Government, animal protection community and the media is the exact nature of the animals responsible for the bites. Are they wolves, jackals, hyenas, foxes, feral dogs, wild dogs or street dogs? No one knows. So far, no post-mortem or forensic investigations have been undertaken for the dead animals and only seven post-mortems have been undertaken out of the 14 dead children. This absence of clear scientific understanding has contributed to a lack of clarity in respect of the solutions. There is no clear evidence one way or the other for the animals being wolves or dogs, and therefore, at this stage, it cannot be claimed by any Government authority with certainty to be one or the other. As a result of this misinformation, no significant steps have been taken by the Sitapur administration and man-animal conflict are on the rise. After rampant bloodshed in the area, there are hardly any dogs left in Sitapur. This just proves that in addition to being inhumane and illegal, killing of dogs is completely ineffective. When we reached out to Deputy Inspector General (Law and Order) Praveen Kumar on this issue, he assured us that he would issue a statewide anti-killing order to protect street dogs. However, for over 100 dog deaths, not a single FIR has been filed, including two dead dogs, where local activists tried to convince the Sitapur police to register the FIR. Although the bodies were sent for post-mortem, the report showed no signs of human hair, flesh or blood in the mouths or bodies of the dogs making it clear that these animals paid for a crime they didn t commit. This points to an utterly compromised investigation scene and it is the responsibility of the DM and the Sitapur police to uphold better systems of law enforcement. For safety of the people, the only step undertaken so far is a notification about safety around the village. Recently, we and our partners conducted an education workshop under the aegis of the DM, for the representatives of 80 villages in Khairabad, Sitapur district on conflict management, with specific emphasis on the prevention of bites and rabies. We are also awaiting the initiation of state-level training workshops for officials from the police, forest, veterinary, education and health departments to mitigate man-animal conflict, as promised to us by the Principal Secretary, State Urban Development Department. Additionally, we urge the Government to take the following steps urgently to mitigate future human and animal losses: i)the Sitapur DM and Superintendent of Police must look after that killing of street dogs is immediately put to a stop. They should also take strict action against the perpetrators of illegal displacement and killing of street dogs and the state police department must ensure that such actions are curtailed in the rest of the state. This includes the crucial filing of FIRs in local police stations, which has not happened so far. exacerbating the situation. Add to this, Shimla s parched status is accentuated because it s perched at a height of 7,000 feet above sea level and can t hold water, which trickles down at a rapid rate. This is pretty much the story of all of our Himalayan urban locations. The snowcapped tourist locations across the world face similar challenges but their methods of ii)the Sitapur divisional forest officer (DFO) and the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department must establish, through forensic proof, the nature of the animal involved in these incidents. It is only through such forensic investigation, which the DM was responsible for, that the dog vs wolf debate will be put to rest, once and for all. It is also the responsibility of the Sitapur DM and the State Government to use drones and camera traps in places where these animals have been sighted for the future prevention of such conflict. The nature of the solution is dependent on the identification of the animal involved and, hence, without this information, we are shooting in the dark. iii) The DM and the education department of the Uttar Pradesh Government must undertake education programmes on dog bite and rabies prevention in areas of high conflict to ensure that preventable attacks are stemmed in the future. Muddled in chaos, confusion and with a lack of clear data the situation in Sitapur stands to become worse for everyone involved. Swift, decisive steps, based on scientific information are needed urgently in the absence of which conflict will continue to sustain. (The writer is the Executive Director of Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations) responding to these challenges are inspiring and path changing. Lets take the case of Switzerland. Tourism is a serious business for the Swiss as it accounts for nearly 3.5 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and foreign tourists account for approximately six per cent of the income generated by exports in Switzerland. This places tourism in the third position of Swiss exports. Tourism in Switzerland is also an important employer with nearly in 4.5 per cent of jobs directly generated by this industry. The Alps are among the most visited regions. About million people visit the Alps each year as tourists. Tourism activities in the Alps generate close to EUR 50 billion in annual turnover. There are over 600 ski resorts and 10,000 ski installations in the Alps. These figures show the extent of tourist pressures faced by Switzerland and yet the country has been able to effortlessly handle the ever-growing tourist influx year after year and this has been possible due to scientific planning and efficient resource management by the Swiss authorities. Climate change is slowly entering into decision-making of a range of tourism stakeholders and studies are commissioned to examine the climate change risk on tourism and how to adapt for the same, while increasing the public awareness for maintaining natural resources of the region. India must rapidly adopt measures that can safeguard the fragile ecology of the mountainous urban regions. Vehicular traffic and population pressure must be regulated in order to preserve these locations. The authorities must ease the burden by prohibiting further construction activities in core municipal areas and not giving licenses for additional hotels. Moreover, tourist load must be distributed by getting idle capacity of hotels in the surrounding areas included in the tourism management strategy. This will not only improve economy but also relive the pressure on the main urban centers. Additionally, unauthorised tourist entertainment facilities that are neither ecologically friendly nor having required permissions must be closed immediately. The authorities must also focus on the rampant use of plastic and abysmal systems of waste disposal, which are all adding to the problem. These corrective actions may still redeem for us the lost purity of our Himalayan urban spaces. (The writer is an environmental journalist)

10 iting higher oil prices and Ctighter financial conditions, global rating agency's Moody's Investors Service on Wednesday cut India's 2018 growth forecast to 7.3 per cent from the previous estimate of 7.5 per cent. It, however, said that the economy is in cyclical recovery but sluggish financial conditions will weigh on the pace of acceleration. The Indian economy is in cyclical recovery led by both investment and consumption. However, higher oil prices and tighter financial conditions will weigh on the pace of acceleration. We expect GDP growth of about 7.3 per cent in 2018, down from our previous forecast of 7.5 per cent. Our growth expectation for 2019 remains unchanged at 7.5 per cent, it said in an update of its 'Global Macro Outlook: '. Moody's said growth should benefit from an acceleration in rural consumption, supported by higher minimum support prices and a normal monsoon. The private investment cycle will continue to make a gradual recovery, as twin balance-sheet issues - impaired assets at banks and corporates - slowly get addressed through deleveraging and the application of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, it said. Also, the ongoing transition to the new Goods and Service Tax (GST) regime could weigh on growth somewhat over the next few quarters, which poses some downside risk to the forecast, it said. However, we expect these issues to moderate over the course of the year. For the world economy, Moody's expected 2018 to be a year of robust global growth, similar to However, global growth will likely moderate by the end of 2018 and in 2019 as a result of a number of advanced economies reaching full employment, and because of rising borrowing costs and tighter credit conditions in both advanced and emerging market countries that will hamper further acceleration, it added. The G-20 countries, it said, will grow 3.3 per cent in 2018 and 3.2 per cent in The advanced economies will grow at a moderate 2.3 per cent in 2018 and 2.0 per cent in 2019, while G-20 emerging markets will remain the growth drivers, at 5.2 per cent in both 2018 and 2019, down from 5.3 per cent in Moody's said downside risks to growth stem from emerging markets turmoil, oil price increases and trade disputes. The ongoing financial market turbulence in emerging market countries poses risks of a broader negative spillover effect on growth for a range of countries beyond Argentina and Turkey, while there is a risk that high oil prices will be detrimental to consumption demand. A re-escalation of trade tensions between the US and China is another risk factor to growth. Political concerns add to downside risks in Brazil, Mexico and Italy, it said. Overall, we expect 2018 to be a year of robust global growth, similar to 2017, according to Moody's VP Senior Credit Officer Madhavi Bokil. The ongoing financial market turbulence in emerging market countries poses risks of a broader negative spillover effect on growth for a range of countries beyond Argentina and Turkey, while there is a risk that high oil prices will weigh on purchasing power and present an upside risk to inflation. A re-escalation of trade tensions between the US and China is another risk factor to growth. Rising interest rates and currency depreciation reinforces Moody's view central banks in emerging market countries will not be able to provide monetary policy accommodation for much longer, Bokil added. n back of higher oil prices, OState-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) on Wednesday posted its net profit of 5, crore, a jump of 37 per cent in three-months to March 31, The net profit in the fourth quarter of , the highest profit in last 17 quarters, was higher than 4, crore net in the same period of the previous fiscal, according to the company. Besides, the board of directors of ONGC recommended a final dividend of 1.35 per share (27 per cent). This is in addition to the interim dividend of 5.25 per share declared in two phases previously. The oil and gas major realised $66.71 for every barrel of crude oil it produced T he National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) today allowed Vedanta Ltd to make an upfront payment of 5,320 crore to lenders for acquiring Electrosteel Steels. A two-member bench also said this payment would be subject to the outcome of the petition filed by Renaissance Steel challenging Vedanta's bid. During the pendency, the parties may act as far the approved resolution plan and the resolution applicant may deposit the upfront amount to Committee of Creditors subject to the order of the appeal, said the NCLAT bench headed by Chairman Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya. The bench also clarified that if Renaissance Steel wins the case, then the Committee of Creditors (CoC) will have to return the money to Vedanta. The appellate tribunal also reserved its order over Renaissance Steel's petition. In a regulatory filing, Vedanta Ltd said NCLAT has allowed Vedanta Limited to acquire Electrosteel Steels Limited (ESL) by depositing the upfront payment to the Committee of Creditors. On May 17, NCLAT admitted the petition of Renaissance Steel challenging Vedanta's bid for debt-ridden Electrosteel. from nominated fields, up from $54.91 a barrel it got in January-March Gas price realisation was also up 15.6 per cent at $2.89 per million British thermal unit. ONGC's oil production declined 3 per cent at 6.2 million tonnes in the quarter. For the full fiscal, net profit was up 11.4 per cent at 19,945 crore. However, the turnover in the fourth quarter rose 5 per cent to 27, crore. The company made 12 oil and gas discoveries in the year, half of them were on land. Out of the six onland discoveries, two were monetised during the year itself, the statement said without giving details. In FY18, ONGC has registered an RRR in excess of one for the 12th consecutive year. This reflects ONGC's strong exploratory record over the years, it said. Renaissance Steel's resolution application was rejected by the CoC of Electrosteel Steels. On May 1, NCLAT had directed maintaining status quo in the case pertaining to the sale of the debt-laden firm to Vedanta Ltd. Renaissance had submitted before the NCLAT that Vedanta is not eligible to bid for Electrosteel under section 29 A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code as one of Vedanta's affiliates in Zambia a unit of its UK-based parent Vedanta Resources Plc had been found guilty of criminal misconduct. Electrosteel owes lenders more than 13,000 crore, of which about 5,000 crore is to State Bank of India alone. Last month, the Kolkata bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had cleared Vedanta's 5,320-crore resolution plan for Electrosteel, rejecting objections by Renaissance Steel. espite the promise of Make Din India' and the rhetoric of defence modernisation, the fortunes of India's ship building industry continue to sink, with more and more companies slipping into the red. The latest addition to the list is L&T Shipbuilding Ltd. The independent auditors of the L&T Shipbuilding Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro, have raised concerns about the company's continuance as a 'going concern' based on the financials of The report by Sharp & Tannan indicates that the company had accumulated losses carried forward from the previous year and has incurred significant cash losses during the current and previous financial year. anking operations in the Bcountry were hit today as 10 lakh employees, primarily from PSU banks, went on 2- day strike to protest against a meagre 2 per cent salary hike offered by Indian Banks Association (IBA) the management body. The strike, also supported by employees of some old generation private sector banks and foreign banks, will continue tomorrow. Operations in the newgeneration private banks like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank were however almost normal, barring few activities including cheque clearance. There were reports of disruption in banking operations in various states. The impact of strike in certain states like Kerala, West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand was more severe compared to other states. Nearly 10 lakh employees, working in various branches of 21 public sector banks, 13 old generation private sector banks, six foreign banks and 56 regional rural banks across the country went on the strike as IBA offered them a nominal wage revision, All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), affiliate of UFBU said in a statement. Since the strike coincides with the month-end, salary withdrawals from branches are likely to get affected. Some ATMs went dry by the evening. Operations like deposits, That has resulted in substantial erosion of net worth as on March 31, 2017 and the company's urrent liabilities exceeds its current assets as at the balance sheet date, according to the report. The auditors said that these conditions indicate the existence of material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt about the company's ability to continue as a going concern. An L&T spokesperson said: Notwithstanding the accumulated losses by L&T Shipbuilding Limited due to gross under-utilisation of assets, fact remains that L&T is 97 per cent shareholder of the company and continues to financially support LTSB Balance Sheet to remain viable. Consequently, L&T Shipbuilding Limited has never ppellate tribunal NCLAT on Wednesday Astayed bankruptcy proceedings against Reliance Communications after the debt-laden telecom operator agreed to pay 550 crore to Ericsson to settle a payment dispute. The order of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal clears the way for Anil Ambani led RCom to sell its telecom towers, spectrum and fiber assets to Reliance Jio. Run by richest Indian and Anil's elder brother, Mukesh, Jio is buying RCom for about 18,000 crore to clear some of the 45,733 crore debt it FD renewals, government treasury operations, money market operations were hit by the strike. A RBI official said some digital banking work was done through electronic systems like the RTGS but the functioning of banks' servers was hit. Digital banking comprises about 5 per cent of the total operations, the official said. Reserve Bank of India remained operational though the trade unions offered moral support for the ongoing strike, a RBI Trade Union leader said. As several rounds of talks between banks and the unions of their employees did not make any headway, the United Forum of Banking Unions (UFBU), an umbrella body of nine bank unions, has gone on strike against the proposed wage hike of 2 per cent as against 15 per cent given last time, All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), general secretary C H Venkatachalam said. In the last wage revision in 2012, the bank employees got a raise of 15 per cent. It is kind of an insult to the employees of public sector banks...to be offered this kind of meagre hike. We had no other option but to go on strike, forgoing two days' salary, All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC) joint general secretary Ravinder Gupta said. Success of all government schemes like Mudra, Jandhan and demonetisation were ensured by public sector bankers but the reward is just 2 per cent hike, he said, adding that it is gross injustice to bankers who have worked very hard for nation building. Employees are participating in the nation-wide strike as part of our democratic right by forgoing our salary, Venkatachalam said and hoped that good sense would prevail. defaulted on statutory payments arising out of meagre borrowings from financial institutions and banks, the spokesperson said. However, the auditors said financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis, based on the communication of the holding company stating its intention to continue to provide financial support towards project costs and other obligations of the company. The auditors said that the management has also carried out an assessment of the future operating cash flows of the company and is satisfied that there is no event or conditions that may cast a significant doubt on the ability of the company to continue as a going concern. The auditors listed various reasons for its concerns. The owes to banks. A two-member bench headed by NCLAT Chairman, Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya directed RCom and its subsidiares Reliance Infratel and Reliance Telecom, to pay 550 crore to Ericsson India in 120 days, failing which it will direct insolvency proceedings against the company. The countdown would start from June 1. Impugned order of May 15, 2018 and May 18, 2018 passed by NCLT Mumbai in... Are stayed, the tribunal said. NCLAT also directed the Chairman/Managing Director of RCom to file an undertaking regarding payment of the amount. company had a negative net worth of 829 crore in FY17 compared to 341 crore in FY16. It had also incurred a loss of 364 crore in FY17 compared to 719 crore loss in FY16. The auditors also pointed out that there is an excess of current liabilities over current assets to the tune of 638 crore in FY17 against 381 crore in FY16. The company even had a negative net cash flow from operating activities of 261 crore in FY17 compared to 165 crore in FY16. Out of total turnover of 621 crore for FY , 429 crore (69 per cent) was towards sale and service income from L&T. Borrowings of the company had also gone up from 3,306 crore in FY 17 compared to 2,882 crore in FY16, adding to the debt pile up.

11 B enchmark indices closed lower for the second straight day on Wednesday as political uncertainty in Italy and flaring up of trade tensions between the US and China triggered a global sell-off. Moody s cutting India s 2018 GDP growth forecast added to the sombre mood, with no let-up in selling by participants ahead of May derivatives expiry, brokers said. The BSE Sensex slipped over 43 points in volatile trade to end at 34,906.11, while the 50-share Nifty shed points to finish at 10, Asian markets nosedived after US President Donald Trump unexpectedly ratcheted up trade tensions with China. The US imposed a hefty 25 per cent tariff on USD 50 billion worth of Chinese goods and tightened its noose against China s alleged theft of US intellectual property rights. Investors also reacted with caution after the populist parties bid to take power in Italy collapsed, leading to speculations over the country s Euro membership. The 30-share Sensex opened on a bearish note at 34, and slipped further to hit a low of 34, largely on sustained foreign fund outflows amid a global sell-off. However, short-covering by speculators ahead of May derivatives expiry on Thursday and recovery in the rupee reversed the early losses, with the gauge scaling a high 35, It finally ended at 34,906.11, down points, or 0.12%. The barometer had lost points in the previous session. The 50-share NSE Nifty too settled points, or 0.18 %, lower at 10, During the session, it moved between 10, and 10, Market traded in a negative bias due to volatility in global market and it managed to trim some losses towards close owing to expiry led short covering. Q4FY18 GDP data will be unveiled tomorrow (Thursday) and the consensus is showing a growth of 7.4 per cent. Volatility in oil price and the impact on fiscal path are the major risk factors, said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services. Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net of crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities to the tune of crore on Tuesday, provisional data showed. In the Sensex kitty, Tata Motors emerged as the worst performer by plunging 1.92%, followed by ICICI Bank at 1.86%. Other laggards were Bajaj Auto (1.11%), Axis Bank (1.10%), L&T (1.08%), Dr Reddy s (1.05%), Adani Ports (1.01%), HDFC Ltd (0.95%), Maruti Suzuki (0.88%), ONGC (0.85%), Wipro Ltd (0.84%), Sun Pharma (0.75%), Asian Paints (0.70%), Bharti Airtel (0.62%), ITC Ltd (0.60%), NTPC (0.30%), Infosys (0.21%), Hero MotoCorp (0.15%) and TCS (0.14%). However, M&M was the top gainer, spurting 3.08% on the back of encouraging earnings, followed by Coal India at 2.34%. Yes Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HUL, Power Grid, SBI, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel and RIL too finished with gains. Sector-wise, the BSE healthcare index shed 0.77%, followed by infrastructure (0.71%), capital goods (0.68%), oil and gas (0.62%), consumer durables (0.45%), realty (0.16%), PSU (0.12%), teck (0.11%), FMCG (0.10%), auto (0.09%) and IT (0.06%). Power, metal and banking indices ended in the positive zone, rising up to 0.20%. In the broader markets, the small-cap index fell 0.19% while the mid-cap gauge inched up 0.03%. In Asia, Hong Kong s Hang Seng fell 1.49%, Japan s Nikkei shed 1.52% and China s Shanghai Composite Index declined 2.08%. Stock market in Taiwan fell 1.30% while Singapore shed 1.90%. European markets were mixed. Frankfurt was trading higher by 0.18%, while Paris CAC 40 fell 0.74% in their early deals. London s FTSE rose 0.09%. New Delhi (PTI): The country s second largest IT services firm Infosys on Wednesday said it had completed the acquisition of US-based WONGDOODY. In April, Infosys had said it would acquire WongDoody Holding Company, a US-based digital creative and consumer insights agency, for a total consideration of up to USD 75 million. Infosys has concluded the acquisition for a consideration up to USD 75,040,000 including conditional deferred consideration and employee retention amounts, Infosys said in a BSE filing on Wednesday. It added that the acquisition which is in accordance with the terms set out in the agreement announced by the company in April brings globally recognised creative talent and deep marketing and brand engagement expertise to Infosys. New Delhi (PTI): Public sector lender Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) witnessed widening of losses to 3, crore in the March quarter due to higher provisioning for mounting bad loans. The bank had registered a net loss of crore in the same quarter of previous fiscal. The loss was mainly due to provisioning requirements including higher provisions on account of RBI guidelines on revised framework on Resolution of Stressed Assets, IOB said in a statement. Its total income rose to 5, crore during the fourth quarter of from 5, crore in same period a year ago. Interest income increased to 4,828 crore as against 4,630 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2017 a growth of 4.28 per cent. The provisions for bad loans and contingencies increased nearly four-fold to 6, crore during the March quarter from 1, crore a year earlier. oody s Investors Service Mon Wednesday cut India s 2018 growth forecast to 7.3 per cent from the previous estimate of 7.5 per cent, saying the economy is in cyclical recovery but higher oil prices and tighter financial conditions will weigh on the pace of acceleration. Moody s, however, maintained its 2019 growth forecast at 7.5 per cent. The Indian economy is in cyclical recovery led by both investment and consumption. However, higher oil prices and tighter financial conditions will weigh on the pace of acceleration. We expect GDP growth of about 7.3 per cent in 2018, down from our previous forecast of 7.5 per cent. Our growth expectation for 2019 remains unchanged at 7.5 per cent, it said in an update of its Global Macro Outlook: Moody s said growth should benefit from an acceleration in rural consumption, supported by higher minimum support prices and a normal monsoon. The private investment cycle will continue to make a gradual recovery, as twin balance-sheet issues impaired assets at banks and corporates slowly get addressed through deleveraging and the application of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, it said. Also, the ongoing transition to the new Goods and Service Tax regime could weigh on growth somewhat over the next few quarters, which poses some downside risk to the forecast, it said. However, we expect these issues to moderate over the course of the year. For the world economy, Moody s expected 2018 to be a year of robust global growth, similar to However, global growth will likely moderate by the end of 2018 and in 2019 as a result of a number of advanced economies reaching full employment, and because of rising borrowing costs and tighter credit conditions in both advanced and emerging market countries that will hamper further acceleration, it said. The G-20 countries, it said, would grow 3.3 per cent in 2018 and 3.2 per cent in The advanced economies will grow at a moderate 2.3 per cent in 2018 and 2.0 per cent in 2019, while G-20 emerging markets will remain the growth drivers, at 5.2 per cent in both 2018 and 2019, down from 5.3 per cent in Moody s said downside risks to growth stemmed from emerging markets turmoil, oil price increases and trade disputes. The ongoing financial market turbulence in emerging market countries poses risks of a broader negative spillover effect on growth for a range of countries beyond Argentina and Turkey, while there is a risk that high oil prices will be detrimental to consumption demand. A re-escalation of trade tensions between the US and China is another risk factor to growth. Political concerns add to downside risks in Brazil, Mexico and Italy, it said. Overall, we expect 2018 to be a year of robust global growth, similar to 2017, according to Moody s VP Senior Credit Officer Madhavi Bokil. The ongoing financial market turbulence in emerging market countries poses risks of a broader negative spillover effect on growth for a range of countries beyond Argentina and Turkey, while there is a risk that high oil prices will weigh on purchasing power and present an upside risk to inflation. A re-escalation of trade tensions between the US and China is another risk factor to growth. The outlook for global monetary policy is broadly unchanged with the US Federal Reserve on a predictable and gradual tightening monetary policy path. Three additional increases in the US federal funds rate this year is expected to be followed by three more hikes in Rising interest rates and currency depreciation reinforces Moody s view central banks in emerging market countries will not be able to provide monetary policy accommodation for much longer, Bokil says.

12 rime Minister Narendra PModi on Wednesday began his Indonesia visit by paying homage to martyrs of Indonesian independence struggle as he laid a wreath at the iconic Kalibata National Heroes Cemetery here. Prime Minister Modi, who is here on his first-ever official visit to Indonesia, will meet President Joko Widodo today and discuss bilateral cooperation in a broad range of areas, including maritime, trade and investment. Kalibata Heroes Cemetery in South Jakarta is a military cemetery in Indonesia. It was built in 1953 and opened in November 1954 when the first burial took place. Modi said in a tweet: Paid tributes at the iconic Kalibata Heroes Cemetery in Jakarta. External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in a tweet: Lest we forget...paying homage to martyrs of Indonesian independence struggle! laying wreath at the Kalibata National Heroes Cemetery and signing the Visitor s Book. More than 7,000 people who are military casualties and veterans from Indonesian War of Independence are buried at the cemetery. Modi arrived in the Indonesian capital yesterday on the first leg of his three-nation tour to East Asia to cement the political, economic and strategic interest of the two friendly maritime neighbours. rime Minister Narendra PModi on Wednesday paid a visit to Indonesia s grand Istiqlal Mosque, the largest in Southeast Asia, during his first official visit to the country. Prime Minister Modi was accompanied by Indonesia President Joko Widodo during his visit to the mosque which was built to commemorate Indonesian independence and opened to the public in Glad to have visited the Istiqlal Mosque, one of the largest mosques in the world, Modi said in a tweet. Ramadan Karim! rime Minister Narendra PModi on Wednesday announced a 30-day free visa for Indonesian citizens and invited the diaspora to travel to their country of origin to experience the New India. Addressing a gathering of the Indian diaspora at the Jakarta Convention Centre in the Indonesian capital, Modi said, not only do the names of our nations rhyme but also there is a distinct rhythm in the India-Indonesia friendship. We will grant free of cost visa for Indonesian citizens for travel of up to 30 days, Modi said, amid applause. Many of you may never have been to India. I invite you all to come to India for the Kumbh in Prayag (Allahabad) next year, Modi told the gathering. Indonesian accompanied during a visit to Istiqlal Mosque, the national mosque of Indonesia and the rime Minister Narendra PModi and Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Wednesday flew kites as they inaugurated the first joint kite exhibition themed on India s largest epics Ramayana and Mahabharata at Jakarta s National Monument here. Prime Minister Modi and President Widodo participated in the Kite Exhibition which showcased the strong civilisational links between India and Indonesia. Cultural connect touching the skies! Ramayana themed joint kite exhibit unveiled...ahmedabad and Jakarta Kite Museums exchange MoU, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in a tweet. largest in southeast Asia, in the holy month of Ramadan, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted. and Indonesian together taking the relationship to new heights! he tweeted along with a picture of both the leaders flying their kites. The exhibition is themed on Hindu mythology epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata. The Ramayana theme is designed by Indonesian organisers while the Mahabharata theme has been designed by Indians. Aboard a US military aircraft: Defence Secretary James Mattis vowed today that the US would keep confronting China over its territorial claims in the South China Sea, where Beijing has established a significant military presence on contested islands. Mattis s remarks came after Beijing voiced strong dissatisfaction on Sunday after two US warships sailed by an island in the disputed Paracel Island chain. Washington: A senior figure in the North Korean regime was en route to the US on Wednesday, and Russia s top diplomat was preparing to visit Pyongyang as diplomatic preparations for a historic nuclear summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un gathered pace. General Kim Yong Chol, right-hand man to the North Korean leader, will meet US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in New York, officials said.afp

13 I t s 7.12 pm and the sirens are booming from Bhendi Bazaar s Jama Masjid, Jama Masjid of Bengaluru, Rehmani Masjid of Zakir Nagar in South Delhi, Kolkata s Masjid Nakhuda, and in all Muslim areas all over India. The time is sunset, time to break the roza a fast that is kept for Allah. The cherished moment at sunset is called iftar, a time of bliss when families reunite at home after a hard day. Iftar evenings are eagerly looked forward to by one and all for the camaraderie, shopping and satisfying the palate. Frankly speaking, the Ramzan ambience is the same in all the old cities Bhendi Bazaar of Mumbai, Sabzi Bagh of Patna, Mecca Masjid of Hyderabad, Kolutola of Kolkata, Mehdi Bagh of Pune, Dubhaiji ka Khura in Jaipur, Bhaga Talab at Surat and Channam Pilli Bazaar of Bangalore. According to Maulana Riazur Rehman Rashshadi, imam and eminent Islamic scholar of Jama Masjid, Bangalore, the holy month of Ramzan is auspicious to Muslims the world over. It is celebrated the day after the crescent for the 10th lunar month of the Islamic calendar is sighted. Muslims are ordained to observe fast for 30 days, starting with the sighting of the new moon and ending it after seeing the new moon the next month. Feasting and fasting during the month of Ramzan is a common practice throughout the globe, states Muneer Ahmed Adil, editor, Salar Urdu daily, Bangalore. It s no different in my native city, Delhi, a city with a 350-year old history of mixed tradition where all festivals are celebrated with equal gusto and enthusiasm. Renowned Muslim scholar and writer, Dr Aziz Burney, added that the temple bells in Delhi alternate with the devout muazzin s (caretaker) call from the mosques minarets. The tradition of tolerance towards each other s faith still runs high in the walled city of Delhi s Shahjahanabad and areas like Zakir Nagar, Noor Nagar, Welcome Colony in trans Yamuna area etc. During the month of Ramzan, as one walks past the mosques during the jama at (prayer) one can note the godly presence and the festive ambience in fully-packed mosques, which otherwise have sparse devotees. Perhaps, no one is as attentive during prayer as these devouts in Ramzan. A sort of calm steals over the otherwise traffic-congested areas with dense Muslim population. The best fair during Ramzan is the food! Temporary eating arrangements are set up, with tables laid with plastic sheets and wooden chairs by roadside, offering tantalizing food in the evening during this month. The lights that illuminate the mosques make the Ramzan ambience more graceful. Just enter the lane of any Muslim area during Ramzan before iftaar and you will be led by the aroma of mouth-watering dishes like Murgh Changezi, Nargisi Koftey, Qorma, Shami Kawab, Badshahi Badam Pasande, Murgh Jahangiri, Chicken Akbari, Karhai Gosht, Tikka Ajwaini, Aatish Pasande, Qeeme ki Golian, Qalmi Bade, Longcha Kawab ctor Ranbir Kapoor, glimpses Aof whose portrayal as Sanjay Dutt in the trailer of Sanju has left the audience asking for more, says he really wants the senior actor to like him and his work. Ranbir interacted with the media at the trailer launch of Sanju along with Paresh Rawal, Manisha Koirala, Rajkumar Hirani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Sonam Kapoor, Dia Mirza and Vicky Kaushal. Asked how he felt portraying various phases of Sanjay s life, Ranbir said: When I was a child, I had a poster of Sanju sir on the wall of my cupboard, and through this film, I am in his shoes. I think in my life, I really want Sanju sir to like me. I know I never can be the man he is, but in whichever way that I go about in my career as a person and even through this film, I really want Sanju sir to like me because I feel that he is man that I respect a lot and I really look up to him. I hope that he feels that I have represented his life in very honest and improved way. The film s trailer gives a rushed glance at the various phases and challenges Sanjay has faced in his personal life, in which he has waded through a battle with drugs, multiple relationships and legal troubles. etc. Thick meat broth, or yakhni, is prepared during Ramzan month for giving strength. To cook the dish, whole spices are not added directly but wrapped and tied in muslin cloth (potli) and dipped into the broth. After the aroma of the spices has been absorbed by the meat and rice, the potli is taken out and rice is cooked on a slow coal fire. Of course, one can t ignore the costermongers kicking up a frenzied cacophony while there are all-pervasive aromas of Ramzan dishes being prepared in restaurants, on vendors pushcarts and even roadside squatters selling seekh kebab, qeema samosa, desi ghee jalebis, imartis, balushahis etc. Shops with neatly stacked Ramzan sweets bustle with human activity. Grilled delicacies like chicken changezi, shaami kebab, naan, nargisi koftey etc. are all there to be gorged along with chana chhola, chane ki daal etc. Those having a sweet tooth during Ramzan will find sweets being prepared with aromatic flavours in Sheerin Bhawan at Matia Mahal, Standard Sweets at Hauz Qazi, Vishal Mawa Bhanda, Tewari Sweets, Ghantewala, Shiv Mishthan Bhandar, Jalebiwala and Haldi Ram at Chandni Chowk during the time of iftar in Old Delhi. In a city with no shopping destinations open through the night (Connaught Place closes by 9 pm, Khan Market by 8 pm, Karol Bagh by 10 pm. Pacific Mall turns off the lights at 11 pm), Ramzan s special bazaars are like oases on an otherwise smooth, dry highway. Those who live in South Delhi may not have to go all the way to Purani Dilli. Just cross New Friends Colony and you ll find yourself in Zakir Nagar and Jamia Nagar. Fussy ladies will find much to content themselves with at the garment stores at Batla House: cotton salwar suits, chikan work from Lucknow and kurtas with intricate gota work. A store called Fashion Gallery at Jogabai Extension in Okhla sells designer kurtas ranging from 100 to 1,000. The other popular garment shops for Eid shopping are Golden Garments, Sufia Cloth House, Cross India. Mohammed Faisal of Shaan Cap House in Basti Nizamuddin said that caps are in great demand. There are at least 1,000 varieties of caps like Alif, Farooque, Bukis and Damishq. After shopping, try the famous chawal ki kheer of Pehelwan Bhai on the main road of Zakir Nagar beside the area s Jama Masjid. Don t skip Mubashshir Mian s Unique Bakery, which has meethi double roti and bun, specially made for the Ramzan season. If it s almost sehri time (the last meal before daybreak, if you are keeping roza), take a detour to the nearby Javed s restaurant to end the day with their delectable nahari an early morning dish prepared with boneless meat, 16 spices and condiments. Zakir Nagar, Matia Mahal, Ballimaran, Chooriwalan and Jama Masjid are also about pajamas, jeans, jootis, bed sheets and even jewellery. Shops like Amaan Garments and Fashion Zone stock not only readymade cargo trousers, T-shirts, track pants, and kids-wear but also stitch these. Prices range from 100 to 500. Bargain is the watch word. Though these shops, too, remain open quite late into the night, I suggest that if you want to buy clothes, come when the night is still young. I m told that these are still early days of Ramzan, and night-long shopping would take place only after 15th roza. After all this euphoria, Muslims must take care that Ramzan, instead, has become a season for culinary competition, gluttony and wasteful consumption. It becomes a period when the faithful do not only show piety and compassion but also try to send across a strong message of communal harmony among the compatriots and their poor brothers. (The author is the Chancellor of Maulana Azad National Urdu University and the grandnephew of Maulana Azad) How does Ranbir summarise the trailer? We have worked on this film for two years. Through the trailer, we tried and represented the best version of the film as we can excite the audience. I always had belief in film, script and in Raju (Hirani) sir s vision, so it s way bigger than the trailer for me. The trailer is just short window of what s going to come in the film, added the actor, who has tried to walk, talk and look like Sanjay Dutt for the film. With the ups and downs in Sanjay s life, did playing the character take an emotional toll on Ranbir? He said: As an actor, I was very excited to play this part. So, it doesn t bother you that much but when I was acting I was really imagining what he must be going through because I am just acting in the film putting make-up and stuff, so I think just thinking about what he must be going through was such an inspiration for me that the film was fairly easy. And also to fter screening two episodes of Blue Planet II on Athe big screen in India, Sony BBC Earth will soon broadcast its show on the Indian television. Focussing on marine life and its mysteries, the show has been narrated by the Godfather of natural history, Sir David Attenborough. The seven-part series about the richness and variety of underwater life across our planet was shot over 1,406 days with 125 expeditions across 39 countries. Legendary composer Hans Zimmer has created the score for the series. Series Producer, Mark Brownlow, shared the unique and untold stories of the underwater world in a phone interview. From childhood, I used to love watching documentaries of ordinary life and it turned out to be my passion. So, after growing up, I joined BBC and now I want to present this series for the new generation said Brownlow. There were lots of challenges which he faced while making this series. He traveled to difficult locations and shot in life-threatening environs, Brownlow said. The adventures and risks he undertook were to bring awareness about marine life, the natural history expert professes. He wants people to connect with the series and know about different water animals since there is very little awareness about marine creatures. Our team worked really hard to get these stories featured for the series and to make sure there s an audience connect, he said. Unfortunately, there is no dearth of plastic in the ocean and the Blue Planet II team had a really difficult time working around it. Every year, hundreds of whales lose their life because of the plastic waste polluting the ocean-bed. The marine mammals get stuck to the plastic, which ends up poisoning them. Human activity is killing whales, said Brownlow. They lose their lives not just from the plastic waste but also industrial pollutants, which flow into the water. It makes a deadly cocktail for the marine life, he said. He added, pollution are the biggest problem in today s world. As a natural history expert, he also found it challenging to work on a series on marine life. Brownlow has produced many popular natural history documentaries like Planet Earth II, Hidden Kingdoms and Ocean Giants. Another challenge he faced was in working with a new team. Making this seven-part series was possible with great equipment, divers and scientists on the team. If they have been able to unlock the ocean s secrets it was made possible only because of new technology, which helped them to collect data about the depth the ocean. Technology has worked like magic for them to discover more about the water world. With scientists on the team, they were able to uncode the data about the water bed and the different kinds of small species that live inside it. As the producer of the show, he wanted to introduce those walking on two legs to the world under water. We are the first people in the history of mankind to dive to 200 m in the ocean, shift the icebergs that were blocking the passage of the ship. The challenge was in diving so deep and coping with the extreme cold in Alaska, he said. For future projects, he said that he wants to cover the frozen part of the planet and reveal its secrets to the world. have an incredible cast and Raju sir around me, everything was smooth sailing. In the trailer, the makers have revealed that Sanjay had 308 girlfriends at one point in his life. Asked whether he will reveal the number of girlfriends if he ever had a biopic made on his life, Ranbir said: No... I actually won t allow. I don t think I am a courageous man like Sanju sir to give my life out so openly. But my count has been less than ten, so people can t make a biopic on me. Ranbir s father and veteran actor Rishi Kapoor had praised the young actor s work when he had watched the trailer of Sanju for the first time. Did that make him emotional? He said, Besides being my father, he is also an actor whom I really admire and respect, so when Raju sir recorded his reaction and sent it to me, that time I was shooting for another project. My father never tells me on my face that I have done a good job. It really moved me and made me emotional because every father wants his son to do well but my father is very careful that he doesn t give compliments for free. Sanju is produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The film is releasing on June 29.

14 T elangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who was a farmer himself is a visionary. He successfully rolled out over 50 incentives and sops that have gone a long way in facilitating agriculture in the predominantly arid regions (without irrigation canals and agri motor run bore well farming) of Telangana. Within a short period of four years, Rao has transformed the agriculture in Telangana into a profitable vocation and farmers have found in him a savior from suicides, cheating by dalals for their market produce, crop insurance and crop subsidy. As a farmer myself, I know their pains, suffering and hurdles in farming and hence the government helps in holding the farmers hand in everything from backbone from sowing to final marketing of agriculture produce, says Rao. The farmer friendly measures like 24x7 free power, farm loan waiver and the latest Rythu bandhu, a farmer investment support scheme of 4,000 per acre for per crops a year amounting 8,000/- per acre directly into their accounts through cheques have catapulted Telangana as a top farmer friendly state in the country. Recently as per the NITI Aayog s Agriculture Marketing and Farmer Friendly Reforms Index, Telangana is ranked among the top 10 most farmer friendly states in the country. The state with 54.3 per cent weightage occupied the 9th position in the country in reforms for agricultural markets, land, forestry on private land, felling and transit of trees. The salient features of the agriculture policy of the government include waiving off crop loans, according input subsidy, providing free and uninterrupted power, construction of godowns. Reforms and strategies were introduced to prevent migrations, increase farm production and for enhancing per capita income with advanced agricultural techniques Telangana is first state in the country to allocate 26 per cent of its annual budget to agriculture and 3,728 crores in for free power for agriculture and 20, crores for agriculture and allied sectors, rural development, an increase of 7,179 crores increased. Annually 37, 968 crores is being allocated for agriculture which resulted in a record level lakh metric tons of agricultural produce as against 100 lakh tones in Minimum support price for the produce: To support MSP prescribed by central government the Telangana government allocated 3,390 crores in the first year and subsequently 3,397 crores and 8,083 crores for purchase of produce at MSP from farmers. State Government has further decided to accord minimum price for the produce from The state government gave a subsidy of 50 per cent on tractors while waiving off transport tax on them. Rythu Bazars: For the first time in the state a multi level Rythu Bazar with latest facilities has been established at a cost of 8.16 crores at Siddipet. Saddi Muta scheme: Hygienic food at 5 is being supplied to farmers in the name of Saddi Muta. Loan waiver: The Telangana government had waived the loans up to one lakh for each farmer. In the first phase 17,000 crore crops loans of 35.3 lakh farmers were waived off in four phases. Timely supply of seeds and fertilisers: Telangana government took up measures to supply seeds, fertilisers and pesticides to farmers. The state government has also been giving 6 lakh ex-gratia to the farmers who have committed suicides. Seed Village Scheme: In villages government has introduced rural seed production scheme. In each village 25 farmers are considered as a single unit and seeds are supplied to the units at subsidised prices. The government provided financial assistance of 8,000 per acre to farmers for purchasing fertiliser. Every year before the Kharif and Rabi season, the amount will be paid directly to the farmers accounts by May end. Farmer co ordination councils established: The government has set up farmer coordination councils in November to coordinate in respect of benefitting farmer to get a minimum support price for their produce. Eradicate corruption and fake documents: To eradicate corruption, fake documents in registration, sale and purchase of lands, maintaining of the land records, transparency certain new reforms are being introduced. Centres of Excellence: Two centres of excellence are being set up at Jeedimetla in Hyderabad and Mulugu (Medak dist) to help, educate and create awareness among the horticulture farmers about the new technologies and scientific methods. Oil Palm Cultivation: Keeping in view the oil palm cultivation extension in Khammam, Bhadradri, Kothagudem districts, the milling capacity of oil fed factory has been increased from 30 tonnes to 60 tonnes per hour with investment of 100 crore. Soil tests: The Telangana state government is conducting soil tests to give technical advice to the farmers on what kind of crop they should glow in on their lands. This will be completed on lakh units within two years. Sada Bainama: The State government has decided to clear land disputes and rectify the land records. As part of this, it has brought in several reforms in Registration and Mutations. Sada Bainama (below 5 acres in rural areas) were registered free of cost. Micro Irrigation:The Government has allocated crore in and 127 cr in for micro irrigation programmes. Drip Irrigation: The Government is giving subsidy for drip irrigation for up to five hectares (12.5 acres) land. For SCs/STs 100 per cent subsidy, for BCs, small land holders 90 per cent subsidy, others 80 per cent subsidy is accorded. Green House: For the construction of Poly Houses, Green Houses 95 per cent subsidy is being given to SC/ST farmers and 75 per cent to others. Subsidy on hybrid vegetable seeds: In order to promote horticulture with 50 per cent subsidy up to 2 hectares (for 5 acres `6,000) subsidy is being provided for hybrid vegetables. Farmers welfare is being promoted by the Telangana government with 60 different schemes which are unique in every aspect and covered the farmer in all respects agriculture operations, compensation for suicides, children's education, wedding, loan debts, insurance, women empowerment in villages, power to village homes and farming, digital solutions at door steps, health care and finally pensions after retirement. Telangana farmer has suffered a lot since centuries. The Telangana government is striving to fulfill the hopes of every Telangana farmer for liberation from bondage of debts, social inequalities and capacity building for pursuing agriculture operations, says the Chief Minister who is the brain child behind these agricultural reforms. Siblings should never be separated in alternate care environments, says Anuja Bansal Being a part of a family is one of the greatest blessings that most of us have. However, only those deprived of the love and support of a family understand what it means to be without loved ones. India is home to 20 million parentless and abandoned children, who have lost the care and support of their parents at a very young age, due to reasons beyond their control like abduction, trafficking, health issues of parents, domestic violence, parents coming in conflict with law, poverty, death of parents, abandonment and sometimes even stigma. Even though there is no specific data available, it is believed that finding prospective adoptive parents (PAPs) willing to adopt all siblings who have lost parental care is tough. But it is imperative to keep siblings together while placing them under adoption or any other alternative care. There are numerous studies that show that biological siblings positively influence each other. In one of the recent studies in the Columbia Dispatch, it was suggested that those who have siblings understand people better and are better adept at handling social situations. On losing parents, siblings become emotionally dependent on each other. Children who are old enough to understand their background and situation are in an emotionally difficult state when they lose their parents. Siblings are their only source of solace and basis of trust. When these children are adopted together the transition becomes smoother and quicker. Siblings display lesser instances of emotional and behavioural problems, improved socialising abilities and a stronger sense of identity and find themselves more stable placements. This, in turn, supports their emotional well-being. Losing a sibling during this transition phase makes it difficult and often traumatic for the separated child. It becomes difficult for the child to trust the new environment and can make the settlement harder, especially for the adopting parents. Siblings,when placed together during adoption, automatically, promote positive developmental outcomes. They are mentally and physically stronger due to their emotional strength, and do better in academics; they find it easier to adjust in the new family home, and eventually, become contributing citizens of the society. The current procedure mandates that when declaring these children as legally free to adopt, the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) must specify the status of the children as siblings. Similarly, when any adoption agency or a child care institution files an application in the court concerned, they too shall file a single application in the court, for siblings. This way, when Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), governed by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, receives the application, they make efforts to find suitable PAPs, willing to adopt the siblings together. This helps CARA in finding a loving home for these children, together In UK s statutory guidance states that siblings should be placed together, unless it is not in the best interests of one or more of the sibling group, or there is any other good reason not to do so. If they are being separated, the reasons should be clearly documented. The same applies to USA. Parents seeking adoption are usually looking to adopt a single child. It has also been observed that adoption of children who are older than five years and those with special needs is difficult. Data on child care institutions (CCIs), released by Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System (CARINGS) in May 2017 reported that about per cent of prospective adoptive parents want healthy normal children below the age of two years. However, CCIs only have 1,766 children in their care across the country, out of which 1,279 are children with special needs and only 59 children fall in the age group of two years and below. That means around 10,000 parents want to adopt only from out of the 59 children, across the country. The amended Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 recommends that all efforts must be made to keep siblings together, unless it is in the best interest of the child. Delhi s art aficionados are in for a treat as over 20 artists from across India and abroad, come together with art that connects directly to the soul. Soulmate: A group art exhibition showcases a collection of paintings by senior, eminent and contemporary artists, on various facets of Indian mythology, culture, life and nature. The exhibit will be on display at the Visual Arts Gallery at India Habitat Centre from June 1-4. Presented by Easel Stories Art Gallery Soulmate is an exhibition which brings together art beyond boundaries. Easel Stories is a gallery, an open studio and an art camp, all rolled into one spread over a three-floor open-plan space in Noida. Promoting Indian art and artists has been the top initiative and Soulmate is a small step towards it. From paintings revolving around religious topics to abstract ones, Indian artists have explored the many arenas and aspects of life and it is these varied expressions of art, that we try to bring to art connoisseurs through these exhibitions, says Pranav Chandra, director, Easel Stories Art Gallery. The exhibition has an impressive line up including artist Sujata Bajaj, a protégé of world-renowned artist HS Raza. Her fascination with the lord of beginnings, Ganesha, is abiding. Her art explores the Ganpati as the endless, as she feels a sense of complete freedom and liberty in abstracting his image. Another artist on the list is Bratin Khan who is a master at depicting traditional and folklore themes and brings alive the themes of Indian mythology. Fragile, emotive and rich in colour and details Bratin s works use the traditional method of tempera painting, which draws inspiration from the Indian miniatures. Simple but evocative, Arpan Bhowmik s art is a study in contrast. His largely monochromatic cityscapes have a splash of colour thrown in ever so often, which gives his art a surreal effect. Bhowmik s paintings showcase the vintage theme of the heritage city of Kolkata, bringing the city and its humdrum affairs to life with his brushstrokes. Painter and collagist, G. Subramanian uses the medium of collage and layers it along with acrylic paint and ink washes in brilliant hues to create mixed media works. The inspiration for Subramanian s works is the innocence and divine beauty in a child s face and the power of Indian mythology. Pune based Sandeep Chhatraband loves to portray the ghats of Varanasi using water colours and acrylics on canvas. His series is an ode to the city as he paints the unique, tranquil and vivid ghats with their ever-changing hues, the flow and crowd of people and their stories. Curated by Renu Khera, the show is an amalgamation of Indian talent world over. Soulmate has been a journey of bringing together over 20 artists from all over India under one roof which was truly a memorable experience, said Khera.

15 L ionel Messi warmed up for next month's FIFA World Cup with a hat-trick as he inspired Argentina to a morale-boosting 4-0 win over Haiti in a pre-tournament friendly here. Messi scored a quickfire second-half double (58th and 68th minutes) to add to a first-half (17th minute) penalty, before setting up substitute Sergio Aguero (69th) as Jorge Sampaoli's side hammered the Caribbean minnows in their final phase of preparations for the showpiece event. With this hat-trick, the FC Barcelona talisman took his international tally to 64 goals in 124 appearances. The Albiceleste, who are two-time world champions, had struggled throughout the qualifying campaign but the thoroughly dominating display here should boost their confidence even though the win came against a side that has not qualified for the World Cup. Haiti could not even register a shot at the goal in the whole match. It was a night of celebration for another Barcelona star as Javier Mascherano joined Javier Zanetti as Argentina's most capped player with 143 international appearances. "I have no doubt that we are going to grow, we have time, this team is going to take shape. We have been working hard on the physical, I think we have a nice opportunity to try again, we are going to be very excited, as always," Messi said after the match. Argentina play Iceland in Moscow in their first match of the World Cup on June 16. Sampaoli was upbeat about his superstar No 10, saying, "Messi is training very well, he finished the Spanish tournament and two days later he was here, he looks very enthusiastic". "Against Iceland we will have to take advantage of the domain, we need a high level of force in the World Cup." hiago Silva has vowed that Brazil will be Tphysically and mentally prepared when the FIFA World Cup starts in Russia on June 14. The Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) defender said a desire to atone for the team's humiliating 7-1 semi-final defeat at home to Germany in the 2014 World Cup serves as an extra incentive, reports Xinhua news agency. "I think (coach) Tite and his backroom staff have prepared the squad well," Silva told a press conference here, where the Brazil squad is currently training ahead of football's flagship tournament. "I think we are ready to perform well. If we look back at that (the 2014 loss to Germany), it only gives us more motivation to go to the World Cup and win it," he added. Silva, who will be playing in his third World Cup, is not guaranteed of a starting berth in Russia. The 33-year-old will be vying for a place in Tite's preferred line-up with his PSG teammate Marquinhos and Internazionale's Miranda. "Both are great players. Miranda has shown that throughout his career and Marquinhos has started very well. The competition for places is healthy and lifts the level of concentration," he said. Brazil's options in central defence also include Geromel, a key member of the Gremio side that won last year's Copa Libertadores, South America's top club competition. The five-time world champions will begin their campaign in Russia against Switzerland on June 17 before facing Costa Rica and Serbia in Group E. "We have a chance to play another World Cup and rewrite our story," Silva said. Rio de Janeiro, and the first two days of practice in London because they were helping "We cannot promise the title, but we can promise great matches. By the time the World Madrid win the Champions League. Cup comes around you will see us playing great With the late additions, Brazil coach Tite football." has his complete squad for the first time. Liverpool striker Roberto Firmino arrived Monday. Real Madrid teammates Marcelo and Brazil, who will face Croatia on Sunday at Casemiro have arrived at Tottenham's training center to complete Brazil's 23-men World June 8. Anfield, will stay in London for training until Cup squad. The team will then travel to Vienna to play The left back and midfielder missed the their last pre-world Cup friendly against first week of training in Teresopolis, outside Austria. ndian football team goal- Gurpreet Singh Ikeeper Sandhu on Wednesday said that his side have been placed in a tough group in next year's Asian Cup and the players will have to give their best to make an impact in the tournament. "We can't be complacent (and) we need to work hard. If we don't put in our hard work and if are best games don't come out. n a body blow for Egypt and their star Istriker Mohamed Salah, Liverpool's physio has said that the player faced three to four weeks out with the shoulder injury suffered in the UEFA Champions League final. "He (Salah) is sad about what happened but is totally focused on recovery, seeing when he can be ready," physio Ruben Pons told Marca. "In principle it will be between three and four weeks, but we will try to reduce those dates that's the big goal." Salah was hacked down by Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos in the first half of the Champions League final ndia striker Jeje Lalpekhlua Itoday said he and skipper Sunil Chhetri complement each other well upfront whenever they turn up for the national side. The Mizo striker, who is enjoying a dream run of form scoring goals on a regular basis at the domestic and the international level, made special mention of his partnership with Chhetri during India's preparatory camp here ahead of the Hero Intercontinental Cup. "Sunil bhai is most senior amongst us and he leads us by example. But, what I would Peru defeated Scotland 2-0 in an international friendly ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, stretching their undefeated streak to 13 games. In the Estadio Nacional here crammed with about 45,000 football fans on Tuesday night, Peru demonstrated rhythm and strength against a disciplined but inferior Scotland, with goals from Christian Cueva and Jefferson Farfan, reports EFE news agency. The team coached by Ricardo Gareca was formidable enough despite the absence of captain and striker, Paolo Guerrero, and was armed with good offensive strategy. The Peruvians had their first chance to score a goal at 5 minutes, with a free kick by Cueva that was sent to the corner by Scottish goalkeeper Jordan Archer. From that moment on, it was 20 minutes of absolute dominance by the home team who waited for the right moment to break through the rigid defensive scheme of the Scots. By the 25th minute, the Peruvians retreated a few meters and chose to make some long passes to Farfan, which, however, did not result in much except for a weak shot from the forward that reached the hands of Archer. When Scotland had loosened up a bit and made some timid offensive attempts, Peru responded in depth with Farfan anticipating Archer, but his goalshot was blocked with an arm by Scott McKenna leading to a penalty. Cueva finally scored a penalty shot at 37 minutes thereby opening the scoreboard in favour of the Peruvians and amid the excitement of fans. oach Jose Pekerman put the Colombian national foot- team through the paces here ahead of this week's Cball pre-world Cup friendly against Egypt in nearby Bergamo. The clash with Egypt on Friday will give Pekerman the chance to try out different combinations as he decides who among the 35 players he brought to Italy will make the final 23-man roster, reports EFE news agency. The preliminary squad includes 11 veterans of the Colombian side that reached the quarter-finals of the 2014 World Cup before falling to hosts Brazil. Some of the stars of that campaign, such as midfielder James Rodriguez and goalkeeper David Ospina, will certainly be making the trip to Russia. Though he missed the 2014 World Cup due to injury, Radamel Falcao, Colombia's all-time leading scorer with 29 goals in 71 appearances, is also sure to be in the line-up. For the 2018 tournament, Colombia will be part of Group H. along with Poland, Senegal, and Japan. The Colombians will begin their quest for a berth in the knockout stage with a match against Japan on June 19. like to say is that that we work cohesively as a complete unit. We complement each other on the field to get the job done," Lalpekhlua said. Lalpekhlua, who is three matches short of 50 International caps for India, added that everyone in the team is willing to share the burden and carry the responsibility. In the beginning of the second half, Farfan received two passes from Yoshimar Yotun and scored Peru's second goal at 47 minutes despite Archer's effort to block it. Peru will depart Wednesday for Europe where they will end their training and play the friendly against Saudi Arabia and Sweden, before arriving in Russia, marking its historic return to the World Cup after 36 years. Amid massive support from the public, mostly dressed in red, the Panamanian national football team played out a 0-0 stalemate against Northern Ireland in an international friendly here. In a festive atmosphere at the Rommel Fernandez Stadium here on Tuesday night, the home team played well, giving a glimpse of what can be expected from the Central Americans at the 2018 Russia World Cup, reports EFE news agency. Seventeen minutes into the game, as the Panamanians sought the elusive goal Edgar Joel Barcenas did a header which hit the crossbar and failed to translate into a score. A lost ball from the Panamanian midfielder put the team at risk when at 29 minutes came a header from Northern Ireland's Josh Magennis, but which landed in the hands of Panamanian goalkeeper Jose Calderon. Between the 34th and 40th minutes the game fell into a rut with strong legwork in the midfield. op discus thrower Vikas Gowda on TWednesday retired after competing at the highest level for more than 15 years, during which he became the first and only Indian male to win a Commonwealth Games medal in the discipline. The retirement of the four-time Olympian, who will turn 35 on July 5, has not come as a surprise as he has not taken part in any major international event since winning a Bronze in the Asian Championships last year in Bhubaneswar. His retirement was announced by the Athletics Federation of India on its Twitter page after Gowda sent the AFI a letter, declaring his intent to call it quits. "After a lot of thinking and consulting, I have decided to retire from athletics. I do not want to punish my body anymore and I want to focus on the next phase of my life," said Gowda, who is based in the United States. "It was an honour and privilege to represent kira Nishino made his debut as Japan coach Aon Wednesday in a 2-0 loss to Ghana. In steady rain at Nissan Stadium, Thomas Partey gave Ghana a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute with free kick from the top of the area. Emmanuel Boateng doubled the advantage from the penalty spot in the 51st. Nishino, who will name his World Cup squad on Thursday, brought in substitutes Shinji Kagawa and Shinji Ozaki in the second half when Japan created more chances but was unable to beat Ghana goalkeeper Richard Ofori. "We had chances but couldn't capitalize so it's a disappointing result," Nishino said. "I'm still considering many factors before tomorrow's announcement." After only two weeks working with his players, Nishino opted for experience with defenders Tomoaki Makino, Makoto Hasebe and Maya Yoshida in front of goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima. Also in the starting 11 was veteran Keisuke Honda, who played at right forward alongside Takashi Usami and Yuya Osako. Honda nearly scored midway through the first half but his angled shot from close range was denied by Ofori. Japan fired Vahid Halilhodzic last month, only two months before the World Cup opens, and replaced him with Nishino. in Kiev. He was seen leaving the ground in tears as Liverpool lost 1-3 with Gareth Bale netting twice and Karim Benzema scoring once for the Blancos and Sadio Mane providing Liverpool s only goal Speaking after the game, coach Jurgen Klopp described it as a "really serious injury," but the Egyptian Football Federation said it was optimistic that he will be ready for their World Cup opener against Uruguay on June 15. Egypt take on hosts Russia, on June 19, and Saudi Arabia, on June 25, in Group A. Salah has travelled to Spain to undergo treatment, the Egyptian federation said. India and I will forever miss it." The Mysore-born Gowda's family moved to Maryland, USA just before he turned six. His father Shive was a former athlete and a national coach at the 1988 Olympics. Gowda, who holds the national record of 66.28m (achieved in 2012), is one of the most decorated Indian athlete, having won a gold in the 2013 and 2015 Asian Championships. He also won silver in the 2010 Commonwealth Games and a gold in the 2014 Glasgow CWG. In the Asian Games, he won a bronze in 2010 and a silver in He took part in the 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympics. Out of the four, he was able to reach the final round only in the 2012 London Games. He was awarded the Padma Shri in Before emerging as a champion discus thrower, Gowda started his career as a shot putter. His best performance in shot put was 19.62m which he achieved in 2006 in Atlanta. His retirement came just a few months before the Asian Games in Indonesia but he has been on the wane for some time.

16 ormer champion Novak Djokovic Freached the French Open third round for the 13th consecutive year by beating Spanish qualifier Jaume Munar 7-6 (7/1), 6-4, 6-4 on Wednesday, Djokovic, the 2016 Roland Garros champion and former world number one, is seeded 20 this year after struggling to rediscover his best form after returning from a right elbow injury. He wasn't at his best on Court Suzanne Lenglen, but goes on to face Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut for a place in the last 16. The Serbian 12-time Grand Slam champion fired 39 winners but 33 unforced errors and was broken three times by Munar, the world 155. "I am very happy to be here on Suzanne Lenglen and see so many people and see the support," said Djokovic. "Jaume is a great player, he has lots of quality and good concentration. I congratulate him on a great match today." Second-seeded Alexander Zverev trailed by a set and a break and was down a broken racket, too before eventually collecting himself and coming back to beat 60th-ranked Dusan Lajovic of Serbia 2-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the French Open's second round. Zverev equaled his best showing at Roland Garros; he also reached the third round two years ago. If the 21-year-old German is going to get to the round of 16 he'll need to do something he never has at a Grand Slam tournament: defeat a player ranked in the top 50. Zverev's next match comes against 26thseeded Damir Dzumhur. Lajovic lost his eighth consecutive match that stretched to five sets. Kei Nishikori has rallied past local favorite Benoit Paire to reach the third round of the French Open for the fourth consecutive year. The 19th-seeded Japanese player needed nearly three hours on Court Philippe Chatrier to win 6-3, 2-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 against the Frenchman. "He was attacking every shot," Nishikori said. "He has one of the best touches on the Tour, it was fun to play him and also a difficult match today." Jeremy Chardy first wasted a two-set lead and then bounced back to beat 17thseeded Tomas Berdych to reach the second round of the French Open. Chardy led by two sets when their match was stopped by darkness on Tuesday, but Berdych mounted a comeback when they returned. Chardy played well in the decider and broke Berdych twice to advance with a 7-6 (5), 7-6 (8), 1-6, 5-7, 6-2 win. erena and Venus Williams have Swon their first Grand Slam doubles match in nearly two years. The sisters moved into the second round of the French Open by coming back for a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory over the 14th-seeded Japanese pairing of Shuko Aoyama and Miyu Kato in front of a Court 3 crowd that raucously supported the Americans. The Williams-Williams duo last competed at a major tournament together at Wimbledon in They won their 14th Grand Slam title in women's doubles at the All England Club. This return to doubles came a day after Serena Williams participated in Grand Slam singles for the first time in 16 months, winning her first-round match at Roland Garros. Venus Williams lost in the first round of singles on Sunday. orld number one Simona Halep Wbattled back after a disastrous opening set to beat Alison Riske 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 in their delayed French Open firstround match on Wednesday, while Petra Kvitova impressed in reaching round three. Halep, the runner-up in Paris in 2014 and 2017, slumped 0-5 down in the opening set to world number 83 Riske whose only win at the tournament came in The Romanian committed 16 unforced errors in the set but stepped up a gear from that point on to book a second-round match against Taylor Townsend of the United States. "It's always difficult in the first round of a Grand Slam, you are always nervous," said Halep. "But I started to run more, played better and kept more balls in play." The 26-year-old, who is still looking for a first Grand Slam title, will play for the second straight day on Thursday, after the match with Riske was pushed back from Tuesday due to rain. "I think I'll be ready tomorrow, I feel strong in my legs," said the top seed. "Anything can happen with the rain so all we can do is rest and try to be at our best when we step on the court." Halep needs to reach the semi-finals or better if she is to retain the world top spot. Eighth seed Kvitova eased into the third round with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over Spain's Lara Arruabarrena on Court One. The two-time Wimbledon champion has now won 13 consecutive matches on clay after claiming titles in Prague and Madrid, and will face Estonia's 25th seed Anett Kontaveit for a place in the last 16. Czech Kvitova has not reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros since a run to the last four in The 28-year-old raced through the opening set in only 24 minutes, and although she was pegged back after an early break in the second, a booming forehand sealed victory with a third straight game. Ukrainian fourth seed Elina Svitolina reached the last 32 for the fourth consecutive year by brushing aside Viktoria Kuzmova in straight sets. The 23-year-old, who arrived in Paris having won her second straight Italian Open title, saw off her Slovakian opponent 6-3, 6-4. Svitolina, a two-time quarter-finalist at Roland Garros, will take on Romanian 31st seed Mihaela Buzarnescu in the last 32. Elsewhere, charismatic Japanese 21st seed Naomi Osaka came through a tight match with Kazakhstan's Zarina Diyas 6-4, 7-5. The 20-year-old Osaka is seeded for the first time at a major tournament, having lifted the prestigious Indian Wells title earlier this year before beating Serena Williams in Miami the following week. orld Cup-winning skipper WArjuna Ranatunga on Wednesday said corruption "goes right to the top" in Sri Lanka and accused the International Cricket Council of undermining the game by failing to tackle match-fixing. Ranatunga, now a government minister, said cricket corruption in Sri Lanka went far beyond the claims made in an Al Jazeera documentary which aired on Sunday. Ranatunga said the allegations must be investigated, "but this must have been happening for a long time. "This is something that goes right to the top (in Sri Lanka). What they will catch is the small fish. As usual the bigger fish will get away," he said. The documentary alleged that a Sri Lankan player and groundsman were involved a pitch-tampering plot and that there was spotfixing during Tests between India and England, and India against Australia. "I am so disappointed with the ICC anti-corruption unit," Ranatunga said, referring to previous complaints against Sri Lanka Cricket, which is headed by politician and businessman Thilanga Sumathipala. The 54-year-old, who led Sri Lanka's 1996 World Cup-winning team, has in the past accused Sumathipala of involvement in gambling in violation of ICC rules. Sumathipala has denied the charge. "If they can't see what is happening in Sri Lanka... They should not sit on this anti-corruption unit," Ranatunga told reporters. He said the Sri Lankans implicated in the Al Jazeera documentary could not change the outcome of a Test match unless they had backing from superiors. "They are small fish," Ranatunga said referring to the groundsman of the Galle stadium, Tharanga Indika, and a district coach, Tharindu Mendis. "They can't do it unless they have agreement with those right at the top." Indika and Mendis have been suspended while the ICC investigates accusations made in Al- Jazeera's undercover report. Sri Lankan police have also started an inquiry. ngland captain Eoin Morgan has been Eincluded in the one-day international squad for matches against Scotland and Australia despite suffering a fractured finger. Morgan was ruled out of his scheduled appearance for the Rest of the World against the West Indies in a Twenty20 fixture at Lord's on Thursday after chipping the end of his right ring finger. Morgan's county Middlesex confirmed he suffered the injury when he was fielding during the Royal London One-Day Cup match against Somerset on Sunday. The batsman was set to captain the World XI in a game which is being held to raise funds for stadiums in Dominica and Anguilla damaged by hurricanes last year. But while he won't be able to play in that match, Morgan -- England's limited-overs skipper -- will take charge on June 10 against Scotland and then in five matches against Australia. ll-rounder Mitchell Marsh Awas on Wednesday named skipper of a star-studded Australia A squad for the four-day games during their tour of India later this year while Travis Head will lead the one-day side. The one-day side will compete in a tri-series against India A and South Africa A in Vijawada in August ahead of the four-day games in September. Marsh, whose Test vice captaincy prospects got a boost, leads a 14-man squad packed with international experience, a group featuring Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Peter Handscomb, Head, Jon Holland, Usman Khawaja, Joel Paris, Matthew Renshaw and Chris Tremain. Test legend Adam Gilchrist backed Marsh to be Tim Paine's Sam Billings will be included against Scotland to deputise for wicketkeeper Jos Buttler, and seamer Tom Curran will bolster the squad by one when he is added to the ranks to face Australia. England, currently number one in the ODI world rankings, defeated Australia 4-1 in a five-match series held in Australia in vice-captain and now the 26-yearold has a perfect opportunity to display his leadership qualities over two matches against India A in Vizag from September 2. "We're looking for leaders for future Australian teams, and Travis, Mitch and Alex are all very impressive young men," national selector Trevor Hohns said. "Travis and Mitch both have captaincy experience at state level, and this is an exciting opportunity for them to lead a new group of January. England's 13-man squad for the ODI against Scotland in Edinburgh on June 10: Eoin Morgan (Middlesex, capt), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jonathan Bairstow (Yorkshire), Sam Billings (Kent), Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire), Liam Plunkett (Yorkshire), Adil Rashid(Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Ben Stokes (Durham), David Willey (Yorkshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham) England's 14-man squad for the five-match ODI series against Australia commencing on June 13: Eoin Morgan (Middlesex, capt), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jonathan Bairstow (Yorkshire), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Tom Curran (Surrey), Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire), Liam Plunkett (Yorkshire), Adil Rashid(Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Ben Stokes (Durham), David Willey (Yorkshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham) players in different conditions. "Alex, as our Twenty20 vicecaptain in the UK and Zimbabwe, is also someone we rate very highly as a leader, and this is another opportunity for him to develop those skills." Joe Burns, Glenn Maxwell and Shaun Marsh, who were in Australia's Test squad for the final match of the infamous Tour of South Africa, were not included in the four-day squad. "We're really pleased with the squads we have assembled for this tour," Hohns said. "We've got a couple of really experienced international cricketers, a large group who have had a taste of playing for Australia already, and some emerging players who have performed strongly and we believe have the potential to one day play for their country.