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VOL. 50 * NO. 259 *AHMEDABAD*

WEDNESDAY, 8/3/2017 Printed & Published by Nikunj R. Patel on behalf of Western Times Publications Pvt. Ltd. Printed at Western Times Survey No. 1315P, Opp. Ramapir Temple, Shilaj-Thol Road, Shilaj, Ahmedabad and Published at Western Times Pub. Pvt. Ltd. 301, 3rd Floor, Gala Argos, B/h. Hari Krupa Tower, Nr. Ladies Hostel, Ellisbridge, Ahmedabad-380 006. (Gujarat). Editor : Nikunj R. Patel

News Brief

PM inaugurated cable-bridge in Bharuch Ahmedabad,

White now heads USAID India New Delhi, Mark A. White has joined the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in India as the new Mission Director, it was announced on Tuesday. He was sworn in on February 24 in Washington by USAID Acting Administrator Wade Warren. An US embassy statement said White, a former US Peace Corp volunteer, had worked in over 30 countries across four continents. He was earlier assigned to the US Army War College as a Professor -teaching a course in International Development - and worked on select peace-keeping and stability research topis. He also served as the Acting Mission Director of USAID/ Angola and Deputy Mission Director of USAID/Haiti in 201316.

Manipur militant killed Imphal, The general secretary of a Manipurbased militant group was killed after being abducted from his hideout, police said on Tuesday.The body of A. Singshit of the United Tribal Liberation Army was found on Monday by locals in the hills of Churachandpur district. No one has claimed responsibility for the killing although the police believe that the 62-year-old may have been a victim of factionalism within the militant outfit. Meanwhile, security forces reached the Khenjang mountain in Kangpokpi district on Tuesday to probe an exchange of fire between two Kuki armed groups on Monday night. The Kuki Revolutionary Army and the Kuki National Front were reportedly involved in the fighting.

Modi releases commemorative stamp on Yogoda Satsanga Society New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday released a commemorative stamp on the centenary celebrations of the Yogoda Satsanga Society (YSS) of India, and appreciated Swami Paramahansa Yogananda, the founder of YSS, for spreading the message of Indias spirituality in foreign shores. Addressing an event here, the Prime Minister lamented that some people link spirituality with religion and stressed that India's strength lies in its spirituality. "India's spirituality is India's strength. But unfortunately some people link spirituality with religion. The two are very different," he said.Describing yoga as the entry point to spirituality, Modi called upon the people to make it part of their life. "Once an individual develops an interest in yoga and starts diligently practising it, it will always remain a part of his or her life," he added.

After a long campaign for the Uttar Pradesh state assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has returned to Gujarat for a two-day trip. The Prime Minister, who was also the former CM of the Gujarat state inaugurated the 1.4 extra dose cable bridge on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai National Highway on Tuesday. PM Modi went on social networking site Twitter and said that he would dedicate the Four-Lane Extradosed bridge over the Narmada at Bharuch on the National Highway 8, and Petrochemicals Complex of OPAL at Dahej to the nation. The 1.4 km bridge is reported to be

the longest in the country. The bridge is 1344 metres long and 22.8 metres wide. It is built by Larsen and Turbo as a part of the Rs 379 crore project of the National Highway Authority of India. The project was completed in September 2017, a small delay than the expected time of August. Even then, it was concluded well ahead of its official schedule. It took 2 years to complete. The project was started in mid 2014, and was handed over to the Larsen and Turbo company after the initial failure of the HCC, which had been given the order to a higher cost of built, operation, owning and transfer basis.

Pakistan temporarily reopens border with Afghanistan Islamabad, Pakistan on Tuesday temporarily reopened two border crossings with Afghanistan which were closed in February after a spate of terror attacks in the country. The opening of the Torkham and Chaman border crossing points on March 7 and 8 is being seen as a move to ease tension between the two neighbours and relieve some of the backlog of people and vehicles at the border, Dawn online reported. According to the Pakistan Foreign Ministry, Afghans and Pakistanis with valid travel documents will be allowed to cross the border points for two days. The two crossing points are major arteries for trade and commerce between

Islamabad and Kabul. Other crossings, which are less in use, will remain closed. "We have only allowed patients to cross borders on the basis of valid documents," a Pakistani official told The News International. According to an Afghan official, no trade activity between Pakistan and Afghanistan has resumed so far. Another security official at Chaman said hundreds of Afghans were crossing the border and Pakistanis were returning amid tight security. Pakistan shut the crossings hours after a bombing at the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan town of Sindh on February 16. Nearly 90 persons died in the attack which Islamabad blamed on militants operating from Afghanistan.

The NH8 Bharuch sees extremely heavy traffic owing to the routine maintenance work on Sardar bridge. It is considered to be one of the busiest national highways in India. The bridge consists od 216 cables, each one of them being 25 to 40 metres long. The bridge has a 17.4 metre wide 4-lane road. The footpath on the bridge is of 3 metres. PM Narendra Modi inaugurated the bridge. He also inaugurated the Mega Petrochemical project of ONGC in Bharuch. The project is reportedly spread over 538 hectares and is estimated to cost around Rs 3,000 crores.

In an unfortunate incident, at least eight persons were injured after an explosion occurred in 59320 Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train in Madhya Pradesh's Shajapur area on Tuesday. According to police, a coach caught fire after the explosion near the Jabri railway station. Bhopal Division PRO, IA Siddiqui said injured passengers have been admitted to Kalapipal Government hospital.

'Mast-maula' Kashi keeps parties Turkey's 'war of words' with Germany escalates on edge, leaders guessing! Varanasi, For the past week, the sleepy, "mast-maula" Varanasi has pitchforked itself into envious limelight as the biggest and best in Indian politics camped here to woo voters as the city readied to go to the hustings in the last phase of the ongoing assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is the Lok Sabha MP from here, not only spent three days in the city but also ensured that each assembly segment, each section of society and each nerve of the voters was touched during his sojourn. There are 40 seats in the seven districts of Poorvanchal (eastern Uttar Pradesh) -- including eight in Varanasi district -- at stake

in the last of the sevenphase election on March 8. The high stakes in Varanasi can be gauged by the fact that even in the runup to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, where he was relatively new to the Kashi landscape, Modi just came to fill in his nomination papers, which was followed by a much-televised roadshow, after permission to hold a rally was denied by the district administration. Now that he is the Prime Minister, his spending so much time in the city has thrown up different interpretations and connotations. While Modi himself said this was being done as he wanted to "connect and spend time with the electorate as a simple BJP

US mentions India in South Asia travel warning Washington,

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi arrives at Gujarat on March 07, 2017.

The US has issued a travel warning to its citizens visiting Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and said extremist elements are also "active" in India. The warning came on a day President Donald Trump's administration issued a new executive order temporarily barring citizens of six Muslim-majority nations from entering the United States but exempted those with valid visas. "The US government assesses terrorist groups in South Asia may be planning attacks in the region, possibly against US facilities, citi-

zens, and interests. US citizens should avoid travel to Afghanistan, as no region in the country is immune from violence," the US State Department said in its worldwide caution on Monday. "A number of established terrorist organisations, indigenous sectarian groups, and other militants pose a danger to US citizens in Pakistan." "Extremist elements are also active in India, as outlined in a recent emergency message. Terrorists have hit a wide variety of targets and institutions in Bangladesh," the advisory stated.--IANS

karyakarta (worker), opposition outfits have claimed that it was sign of desperation as the party is aware it will face a rout in Varanasi. Modi held two road shows in Kashi and addressed a meeting of intellectuals where he invoked Sant Kabeerdas to slam the Rahul Gandhi-Akhilesh Yadav duo and addressed two public rallies. Over a dozen central ministers have camped in the city for the last one week and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah took personal charge of the "war room". All major fivestar hotels, boutique and budget hotels, guest houses and homestays in the city are choc-a-bloc with politicians, journalists and visitors from outside.

New Zealand does not condone racial abuse in any form, the country's Acting High Commissioner to India, Suzannah Jessep, said on Tuesday after an Indian in Auckland said he was assaulted, spat at and subjected to racist slurs during a road rage incident. "New Zealand does not condone race-based abuse in any form. The comments reported do not reflect the views of the vast majority of New Zealanders, who celebrate and embrace New Zealand's diversity and

multicultural character," said Jessep in a statement. She said her country has a strong track record in human rights matters, and was ranked first globally for tolerance for immigrants, community safety, and religious tolerance in the 2016 Social Progress Index (SPI). Nearly 90 per cent of migrants in New Zealand say they feel they belong to New Zealand and the vast majority of New Zealand citizens believe the country's culture, society and economy are improved by immigrants. On the Indian diaspora,

she said: "New Zealand is home to a thriving Indian diaspora (representing four per cent of New Zealand's population), whose members are represented in government, the police force, civil society groups, business, education and elsewhere. Auckland, New fourth most culturally diverse city in the world more diverse than even London and New York, according to the 2015 World Migration Report. Hindi is also the fourth most widely spoken language in New Zealand.

Brisbane,

A 22-year-old British backpacker was allegedly raped, assaulted and choked during a two-month hostage ordeal in Australia, a media report said on Tuesday. According to police, the woman was subjected to repeated attacks in locations across Queensland, the BBC said. The ordeal ended on Sunday when police made a routine stop of a vehicle being driven by the woman and noticed she had serious facial injuries. An Australian

Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu, told the Hurriyet daily. "I'm going to go. Nobody can stop me," he continued. City authorities in Hamburg, northern Germany, on Monday prohibited a meeting that was scheduled to be led by Cavusoglu. He confirmed that the meeting was cancelled but added that it had been relocated.The government clampdown on several Turkish referendum rallies being held on German soil combined with Ankara's detention of a Turkish-German journalist on terror charges has led to tension between the two nations. Erdogan recently criticized the German government's actions and likened them to the Nazi regime.

Tripura to set up English medium school in each block Agartala, The Tripura government has decided to set up at least one English medium school in every block by next year, Education Minister Tapan Chakraborty said on Tuesday."To educate the children properly and to prepare them at par with the national standard, state government would ensure at least one English medium school in all the 58 blocks in the state by next year," he said while addressing a meeting of school students. He said that the state government already started

New Zealand does not condone Briton suffers two-month rape ordeal in Australia racial abuse, says envoy New Delhi,

Ankara,

The Turkish Foreign Minister on Tuesday escalated an ongoing "war of words" with Germany when he said that nobody could stop him from taking his referendum campaign to Hamburg, despite an order from German officials to cancel the event. Germany is home to around 1.4 million eligible Turkish voters in the upcoming referendum that could see Turkey's parliamentary republic become a presidential one, enhancing the executive powers of current President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Efe news reported. "They are trying to cancel all our rallies with unprecedented pressure. It is a totally oppressive system that puts pressure on private hotel owners," Foreign

man "hiding" in the back of the vehicle was arrested. Authorities allege the pair met three months ago before agreeing to go on a road trip."During the course of their travels throughout the state, a number of very serious offences have occurred," Detective Inspector Paul Hart told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.A British High Commission spokesperson said: "We are supporting a British woman following an incident in Queensland and remain in contact with the local authorities.

works to set up an English medium science college here."To provide quality education both in urban and rural areas, adequate numbers of qualified teachers are being posted and infrastructure of the schools are also being developed both in urban, rural and remote areas," the Minister added.Chakraborty lambasted the central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for saffronisation of the education system in the country and stressed the need to give future generation les-

son about tolerance.The Minister said that in the proposed budget of the 201718 fiscal, top priority has been given to education by allocating 21.23 per cent of expenditure.Cur rently, Tripura has 335 English medium schools comprising government run and priv a t e management.Northeastern state of Tripura's literacy rate now stood at 96.82 per cent -- a feat that attracted visits of many officials and ministers from other states to study the efforts that brought the success.

'White supremacists step up recruiting US college students' New York, White supremacists are engaged in an unprecedented outreach effort to attract and recruit students on American college campuses, according to a report. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a Jewish nongovernmental organisation based in the US, said white supremacists are using various on-the-ground methods, including distributing racist fliers and organising on-campus speeches by racist activists, as outreach to recruit students, USAToday reported on Monday.It catalouged 107 in-

cidents of white supremacist fliering on college campuses since the school year began in September 2016, with surge of activity since January 2017.Racist fliers and posters have been reported on campuses in at least 25 states, spanning from Old Dominion University in Norfolk,Virginia, to the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California."While there have been recruitment efforts in the past, never have we seen anti-Semites and white supremacists so focused on outreach to students on campus.

Pakistan, Afghanistan urged to resume dialogue Islamabad, Pakistan and Afghanistan should resume their dialogue for resolution of disputes, speakers at an event here have said. The border crossingpoints between the two countries should never have been closed as it only affects the poor people and movement of terrorists cannot be stopped by such actions, Dawn online quoted the speakers as saying at the Islamabad Club on Monday. They were speaking at the 'Afghanistan-Pakistan

Bilateral ( Track II/I.5) Dialogue' held under the theme: "In Pursuit of an Elusive Peace -- A diversity of challenges, a bouquet of opportunities". "We push India for dialogue but don't want the same with Afghanistan," said Ayaz Wazir, Pakistan's former ambassador to Afghanistan.Wazir said incidents such as the killing of five Pakistani soldiers on Monday were unfortunate. He stressed the need for resuming dialogue between the two countries for

resolution of their issues. Awami National Party leader Bushra Gohar said the closure of the Torkham and Chaman border crossing-points after the February attack at the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan town of Sindh was wrong.Gohar said the closure of the border could not stop movement of terrorists. "We have self-destructive policies which should be changed," the ANP leader said, adding that Islamabad and Kabul should jointly find solution to their

problems.According to Gohar, Pakistani soil should not be used against any country and Islamabad should only develop relations with the government and people of Afghanistan, and not with Taliban or any other group.Afrasiab Khattak, former senator and member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said Pakistan and Afghanistan should jointly hold talks with militants and take action against those who do not agree for dialogue.

CPI-M members staging a protest to press their various demands in Patna

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Editorial

WESTERN TIMES AHMEDABAD WEDNESDAY, 8/3/2017

Come summer, it's time forMayabhushan Goa's Shigmo festival By practice compared to the parades, which are held in all

From Editor’s Desk.......

Nagvenkar

Panaji,

Farmers need better deal The Supreme Court’s advise to the Union Government to strike at the root cause of farmers’ suicides rather than just be content with giving compensation to the victims’ families, deserves attention. While the compensation is a humane gesture and cannot be faulted per se, it indeed does not tackle the core issue. Now that the apex court has asked the Centre to get back to it within a month with a roadmap to handle the problem, one should expect a meaningful response to the crisis. There cannot be any dispute with the fact that a long-term policy and action-oriented plan is needed. A three-judge Branch gently chided the Government for “going in the wrong direction”. The Modi regime ought to take this advice in the right spirit. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), more than 5,500 farmer suicides were recorded in 2014 alone across the country. In 2015, the figure, jumped by more than 40 per cent, with Maharashtra contributing the most. While it is true that not all of these cases may have been related to agricultural issues -- there are instances of farmers having taken the drastic step due to other personal issues -- it’s also a fact that many of them were due to the abject failure of the victims to clear loans taken for farming needs. This happened due to crop failures as a result of intense flooding of drought. The fact also s that most lending agencies have been less than sensitive to the plight of the small and marginal framers who have had genuine grievances. Besides, private moneylenders, to whom farmers turn to for quick loans, often behave in Shylock-like fashion. If more and more private lenders and unscrupulous a micro-lending firms have had a field day, it’s because of the failure of institutional lenders to reach out to the farming community in times of need. These are just some of the issues that the Centre needs to tackle. A holistic approach alone can serve the purpose. It’s not that the Modi Government hasn’t been concerned with the issue. It has taken a host of measures to tackle the crisis, with the enhanced crop insurance scheme being one of them . Now even if the crop damage is up to 30 per cent, farmer’s can avail of the insured amount; earlier the sum could be claimed only if the damage had been to the extent of 50 per cent or more. Besides, the scheme now also covers post-harvesting . In addition, the Government has sought to maximize returns for the farmers through a unified national agriculture market. Movers are also afoot to revamp the infrastructure and functioning of the procurement and storage systems. Minimum support prices have been raised for various crops. And yet, despite these well-intentioned measures, the small and marginal farmer continues to be in distress. The Union Government’s focus in the last two Budgets has rightly been on the agricultural and the rural sectors, but the schemes need to be implemented more effectively.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami presenting specially designed scooty to a physically challenged woman at a function, in Chennai.

If December in wintry Goa is synonymous with its electronic dance music festivals, underground trance gigs and bohemian revelry, the advent of early summer comes with its own promise of fun and splendour, albeit more of a religious kind. On the heels of the celebrated Carnival, a popular festival which roots itself in Christian tradition and is celebrated in February, comes Shigmo, a Goan adaptation of the Holi festival, which attracts equal attention among the Hindus of Goa. Although a much older

Booking a contribution to Indian letters: A publisher's story By Vikas Datta

Title: Pages from My Life; Author: Subhash Sethi; Publisher: Viva Books Private Ltd; Pages: 233; Price: Rs 495 He dreamed of becoming a chartered accountant but had to give up his ambition to begin working, given his family's straitened circumstances. But this proved to be a godsend to the Indian book trade and publishing industry, which he has ably served for half a century now. But that is not only his contribution to Indian culture. Subhash Chandra Sethi, as we learn, was also a friend of Jaspal Bhatti and among those who convinced this unparalleled humourist to emerge on the national level with his "Ulta Pulta". But true to the author's modesty, quite discernible in this account, this nugget doesn't come from him, but in a tribute from a close friend from Chandigarh. The work in itself is far from a traditional autobiography, appearing more as an account rendered conversationally (enlivened with anecdotes), and a wealth of homilies drawn from both extensive expe-

rience and learning for the readers -- but at their inclination. Sethi begins with an account of his family, who lived in a small town in Punjab's Sargodha, and how their world was irretrievably changed in a matter of nine months after his birth in November 1946. However, this part is far from another tragic Partition story -- though his family managed to move to India mostly unscathed, his father soon died and most relatives on the Indian side proved less than helpful -- but rather an example of how the forced migrants were determined not to sit and mope over what they had lost, but strive hard to renew their fortunes. The author goes to sketch an engaging passage about growing up in the 1950s and 1960s and the escapades he got up to in school, but then interjects a pensive note as he notes how he could not go for his desired career and had to start earning for the family. Here he has provided an interesting sketch of a unique Indian company where he began his career, soon got disenchanted

and decided to branch out on his own, before drifting into his eventual destiny -the Indian publishing industr y. He goes to give some succinct accounts of his long years here, first in the distribution sector for two companies he helped to give a pan-India presence, and then as a publisher, initially in partnership with a former employer and then on his own. He goes on to pay tribute to the women in his life -- his mother, his wife and three daughters -- describes a debilitating illness that led him bed-ridden for years but which he successfully overcame, with help from his family and employers -- and some divine help too -- and his future endeavours. He also provides accounts of his encounters with former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and some entertaining foreign adventures, before going on to dispense advice, generic and sector-specific. But while interesting, Sethi's reminiscences are a little too brief -- it would have been useful for him to give some more details about his work, especially about Mohan Meakins breweries and distilleries,

where he began his career, a company placed in the enviable position of enjoying a virtual monopoly in its sector (but over the years, becoming moribund and seeing its extensive range of products whittled down and soon becoming absent from shelves). He, however, provides a small but vivid account of its then Managing Director, Lt Col V.R. Mohan, whose personality shines out in his brief encounter, but was cut in its prime by his untimely death. Likewise, Sethi's time as a distributor is also tersely described, confined mostly to some adventures, culinary and otherwise, on his tours, as well as his time in industry associations, of which we get more of a glimpse in recollections penned by his friends and business associates and a collection of newspaper articles he has provided. But on the whole, it is an engaging account -possibly the first of this vital but largely obscure and less-understood trade that has been providing booklovers their fix -- and will continue to do so despite online retailers and ebooks. In that respect, Sethi has been a pioneer and must be given his due.

Iberian-inspired Carnival, the Shigmo shares some similarities with it, especially with the street-oriented celebrations, colourful float parades and, of course, music -- which, unlike the Carnival, focuses more on indigenous instruments and songs eulogizing Hindu culture. The state Tourism Department has, over the years, been pushing Shigmo and its abounding energy as a draw for inbound tourists and, according to its Director Sanjeev C. Gauns Dessai, the effort is paying off. "During Shigmo, the state attracts thousands of tourists from across the country. It is this time of the year when people from across the state also come together. Through this festivity, the state showcases its rich culture and traditions to the world, also depicting religious scenes and folklore," Dessai told IANS. The festival will be held from March 14 to 27 this year. Shigmo, the official said, is Goa's most unique and largest religious Hindu festival, depicting rich culture, folklore and traditions of the state as well as its people, heritage and mythology through song and dance in the parades. Men march with tall, colourfully-draped wooden poles to the beat of drums, others dance with decorated umbrellas. Men and women dress up in elaborate costumes representing various deities during the

the major towns in the state through the festive period. The procession culminates in a series of illuminated floats, on which larger-than-life mechanical figures represent important deities and some even reenact historic and mythological feats. "The parade is a vibrant display of multi-coloured flags, decorated umbrellas, large musical instruments and other colourful elements. This mesmerising, larger-than-life celebration brings together fantasy and folk to form a fusion in the floats that parade through the streets," Dessai added. Some of the common elements of the parade are traditional folk dances like ghode modni (a warrior dance using mock-horses) and fugdi to the tune of drums and cymbals. Shigmo, Dessai said, was being held in different centres across the state this year, as it would help tourists get better insight into the various places, which they would frequent in order to attend the festival. "Every year, the festival is getting bigger with better floats and attractive programmes and performances. It has been noted that foreign tourists are interested in viewing Shigmo as much as the Carnival as the former showcases Hindu mythology and as much colour and festivities as the Carnival does," Dessai said.

BOLLYWOOD ACTRESS SWARA BHASKAR PLAYING HOLI DURING A PROMOTIONAL EVENT OF THE MOVIE ANARKALI IN NEW DELHI.

World's oldest serving aircraft carrier INS Viraat sails into history Mumbai,

Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal at the meeting with the State Food Processing Ministers on World Food India - 2017, in New Delhi on Monday. The Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries Avinash Kumar is also seen.

The majestic INS Viraat, the world's oldest serving aircraft carrier, sailed into pages of history on Monday with the final lowering of the Naval Ensign and Commissioning Pendant in a solemn ceremony at sundown. The formal decommissioning function was presided over by Indian Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, First Sea Lord and Royal Navy Chief, Admiral Sir Philip Andrew Jones, and the carrier's Commissioning and Commanding Officer Vice Admiral Vinod Pasricha. Another over 1,300 guests, including past and present officers from the Indian Navy and Royal Navy, attended the event, marking the culmination of several

Deception, betrayal of people's faith hallmark of Modi: Congress New Delhi,

Slamming the Narendra Modi government, the Congress on Monday said that deception of voters and betrayal of people's faith has become hallmark of the present Prime Minister's brand of politics. Talking to the media, Congress spokesperson Ajoy Kumar also flayed Prime Minister Modi for allowing banks to slap penalty on the customers if a minimum balance is not maintained in their accounts. "The Modi government has become synonymous with hoodwinking, jumlabaazi, backstabbing,

deception, betrayal, treachery, duplicity and falsehoods," Kumar said. "Deception of voters and betrayal of people's faith is the hallmark of Modiji's brand of politics. After the improper decision of demonetisation, Modi government is now severely hurting the finances of the poor and the middle class by levying a charge on maintaining a minimum balance in bank accounts," he said. "The State Bank of India had done away with the minimum balance criteria for savings bank accounts. The UPA government in 2012 had put a halt of such

charge, but the Modi government has re-introduced it," he added. The party, quoting the SBI website, alleged that according to the information available on the bank's website, the monthly average balance that customers needed to maintain in their savings bank accounts in SBI branches in metropolitan areas was Rs 5,000. "In case the monthly average balance is below 50 per cent, then a charge of Rs 50 plus service tax will be levied. If the shortfall is between 50 and 75 per cent, then the account holder will have to pay Rs 75 plus service tax and if the shortfall

Australia's national broadcaster to cut 200 jobs Canberra, The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Tuesday announced that it will up to 200 jobs to create a Content Fund and new positions in regional areas. Managing director Michelle Guthrie said the ABC will cut management positions by an average of 20 per cent across the organisation. Other positions will go as part of an attempt to reduce duplication in support roles, the corporation said in a statement. Up to 200 staff will

Ahmedabad, Page 2

leave the ABC by June as a result of moves to reduce management, cut support roles and remove duplication, Guthrie said. Money from the 50 million Australian dollars ($37 million) Content Fund, will be used to pay for up to 80 new positions in regional areas, within 18 months, aimed at increasing the ABC's digital and video output from rural and regional Australia. "The Fund enables us to respond with flexibility and speed to shifting audience

trends and to extend our reach and engagement, especially with audiences who are infrequent ABC users," Guthrie said. "Transformational change over the next year is essential if the ABC is to realise its full potential. Change that strengthens the organisation, empowers our people and delivers long-term results for audiences. "We will work with unions and with affected staff. We will be open and move as quickly as possible to end the uncertainty in affected areas."

in the average balance is more than 75 per cent, then a charge of Rs 100 plus service tax will be levied," said Kumar. The Congress also said the Modi government claimed to have opened 27.77 crore Jan-Dhan Accounts (till February 22, 2017), of which almost 25 per cent (6.94 crore) were zero balance accounts. "Although the SBI circular at the moment excluded the Jan-Dhan Accounts, knowing this government's past record, under the pressure of mounting debts and NPAs, it will not be a surprise if they do a 'U' turn on this," he said. "With this decision, Modiji is usurping the hardearned money of the poor and benefitting the banks, so that they can show it as profit and also help them reduce their surging NPAs," Kumar alleged. The Congress party also attacked the Modi government for doing away with subsidy to sugar manufacturers. "Another move by the Modi government hits the households of poor families. With one stroke, the central government has taken away Rs 4,500-crore subsidy to sugar manufacturers, which poor families availed of when they bought sugar from PDS shops," Kumar added.

pre-decommissioning functions during the past few days. Speaking to mediapersons on board this evening, Admiral Lanba termed the decommissioning as "both a moment of pride and sorrow." On the former warship's future, he said he would be happy if any state government came forth with a feasible plan to convert it into a museum. Among other plans being considered it to sink the ship and convert it into a major tourist attraction for divers, he added. Monday's elaborate but solemn ceremonies included the release of a Special Cover by Army Postal Service and a book on the history of INS Viraat, which was known as HMS Hermes

during her tenure with the Royal Navy. The country's second Centaur-class vessel, it served 29 years under the Indian flag, preceded by 27 years with the Royal Navy, earning a Guinness World Record as the oldest serving warship on earth. In her heyday, the 226.5 metres long and 48.78 metres wide ship with a full load displacement of 28,700 tonnes, was manned by 150 officers and 1,500 sailors. The pride of the Indian Navy housed the Sea Harrier jump jets, a shot take off and vertical landing fighter aircraft, as well as helicopters like the anti-submarine Sea King MK42B, Sea King MK42C, SAR (search and rescue) Chetak, indigenously-

built Advanced Light Helicopters 'Dhruv' and Russian twin rotor Kamov-31 among others. The 12-degree ramp on the bows of Viraat was her most striking visual feature which helped improve the safety factor and radius of operation/payload carrying capacity of the Sea Harriers. At the height of operations, an average food complement prepared on board daily included 350 kg rice, 7,000 parathas, 200 kg mutton, 80 kg dal, 300 kg of vegetables and other items, all in her kitchen. It was like a mini-floating township with other logistics infrastructure comprising libraries, gymnasiums, on-board ATM and TV and video studios.

Media should play role informing women about their rights: Naidu New Delhi, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu on Monday urged media to play its role in informing women about their rights, saying women empowerment, emancipation and equality were critical factors in nations development. Inspirational stories of the famous women and interviews of achievers would motivate "unnoticed" women, he said, urging state broadcaster Prasar Bharati to play a vital role in spreading the message of the numerous schemes the government has for the girl child, adolescent girl and women. "Creating and developing programmes which carried the message, preferably in a subtle manner, of the latent talent and strength women possessed. This would strengthen the women movement in the country. "Media should play a greater role in informing women about their rights and Nari Shakti (women power) programmes should be encouraged across media platforms. Women empowerment, emancipation and equality are the three critical factors defining the role of women in nation's development," Naidu said on the occasion of of DD News celebrating its 100th episode of "Tejasvini". Naidu noted that while

"we have emerged from regressive attitudes and practices of the past, gender equality and sensitisation still remain a task to be fulfilled". "It was imperative to draw from the valuable contributions and examples set by great women leaders and intellectuals who have adorned the history of our nation. Our nation has come a long way in bringing up the social pedestal on which women stand." Naidu also felicitated 14 Tejasvinis from different

walks of life on the occasion and inaugurated the Tejaswini YouTube link. Those felicitated by the minister included Paralympic 2017 silver medalist Deepa Malik, Delhi's first auto rickshaw driver Sunita Chaudhary, social activist Geetanjali Babbar, first woman head of a paramilitary force Archana Ramasundaram, world's first woman professional Tabla player Pandita Anuradha Pal and Bharatnatyam artiste Sonal Mansigh.

The ship housed a fullfledged 16-bed hospital with two operation theatres, blood transfusion facility, Xray machines, ECG, fullfledged pathology lab, and dental centre to tackle medical emergencies with attendant medical staff, a laundry which washed over 800 pairs of uniforms daily, a tailor and a barber shop. In 1975, Prince Charles of Britain, then a newly qualified helicopter pilot, had joined the 845 Naval Air Squadron on flying duties from the then HMS Hermes in the Caribbean and off Eastern Canada. Even after she joined the Indian Navy, there was a room named after Prince Charles where he resided on the warship, and many photographs showing her glorious history were recently part of an exhibition named "Heritage Route". Unlike all other Indian Navy ships, Viraat housed a chapel and a graveyard on board, which was reminiscent of her British military era, and the new owners (India) retained these as they honoured a chapter of her history. Armed with a motto of 'Jalamev Yasya, Balamev Tasya' (Sanskrit for One Who Controls The Sea is All Powerful), the ship played major roles for the country in Operation Jupiter, Operation Parakram and Operation Vijay, and other operations and duties.

A furniture maker delivers beds and tables on a motorbike near Sragen, Central Java, Indonesia.

In the News

WESTERN TIMES AHMEDABAD WEDNESDAY, 8/3/2017

Cabinet gives ex-post facto approval for food cash credit to Punjab New Delhi,

Bollywood actors Shahrukh Khan and Anushka Sharma during the Mijwan Summer-2017 Fashion Show in Mumbai.

Andhra makes history with first legislature session in Amaravati Amaravati, History was made in this new Andhra Pradesh capital on Monday with the beginning of first session of the state assembly and state council. Governor E. S.L. Narasimhan addressed the joint session of the two houses at the new legislature building, which has come up at Velagapudi village near the interim state secretariat. The new building was abuzz with activity and festive atmosphere prevailed as members of both the houses arrived to attend the first day of the budget session. M embers of Telugu Desam Party ( TDP) and its alliance par tner, the Bharatiya Janata Par t y (BJP) and lone opposition YSR Congress Party witnessed the historic moment. The state government, which shifted the administration from Hyderabad to Amaravati last year, completed the legislature building in a record time. The Governor, in his address, said the golden moment would be etched for forever in the state's history.

Narasimhan said undaunted by the challenges post bifurcation, the government converted every crisis into an opportunity. He claimed that the state was marching ahead the path of all-round development despite the challenges including budgetary constraints, infrastructure deficiencies and unresolved issues arising from State Reorganization Act. Chief M inister N. Chandrababu Naidu said that holding the legislature session on "our soil" is a historic moment. He said though the state had 10 years to run the administration from Hyderabad, his government got it shifted in twoand-half years. He claimed that within a short period, it emerged as one of the front ranking states in the country. Meanwhile, the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of the legislature decided to conduct the session for 14 days. The general and agriculture budgets for 201718 will be presented on March 13.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Monday gave its ex-post facto approval to the proposal to settle "Legacy Food Cash Credit Accounts (up to crop season 2014-15)" of the Punjab government for food procurement, a cabinet communique said. It said that the proposal of Department of Expenditure was approved by the Prime Minister on January 2 this year under the relevant provision of Transaction of Business Rules, 1961, and is a "one-time measure to settle the outstanding amount in legacy accounts up to 2014-15". The communique said that early settlement of legacy issues will help banks in disbursing food credit and also help maintain continuity in food procurement operations. The outstanding amount in cash credit accounts of Punjab government up to kharif marketing

season 2014-15, amounting to about Rs 31,000 crore, will be converted into a term loan, repayable in half yearly instalments over a period of 20 years with the option for pre-payment, it said, adding that the loan's terms and conditions will be as prescribed by the RBI and the lending banks. The exact amount of the loan will be the outstanding amount as on March 31, 2015, which is not secured by stocks of food grains, it said, adding that the consortium of banks led by State Bank of India has to finalise the amount in consultation with all stakeholders including Punjab's Food and Public Distribution Department and the Reserve Bank of India. Noting that the 14th Finance Commission has prescribed fiscal road map for each state for its award period 2015-20 and anchored fiscal deficit of all states to an annual limit of three percent of their Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), it

said that this term loan will not be counted in the fiscal deficit limit of the state government. The release said that Punjab government may issue bonds to pay back the loan and will enter into a tripartite agreement authorising the central government deduct any defaulted amount from the state's share in central taxes and pay the same to SBI consortium in case the state fails to make payment towards principal or interest of the term loan on due dates.

New York,

This robot can ask for clarification New York, Researchers have developed an algorithm that lets robots ask for clarification when they are not sure what exactly a person wants them to fetch,especially when there are lots of very similar objects in close proximity to each other. "Fetching objects is an impor tant task that we want collaborative robots to be able to do," said lead researcher Stefanie Tellex, Professor at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, US. "But it is easy for the robot to make errors, either by misunderstanding what we want, or by being in situations where commands are ambiguous. So what we wanted to do here was come up with a way for the robot to ask a question when it's not sure," Tellex said. Tellex's lab had previously developed an algorithm that enables robots to receive speech com-

mands as well as information from human gestures. It is a form of interaction that people use all the time. When we ask someone for an object, we'll often point to it at the same time. Tellex and her team showed that when robots could combine the speech commands with gestures, they got better at correctly interpreting user commands. Still, the system is not perfect. It runs into problems when there are lots of very similar objects in close proximity to each other. Tak e the workshop table, for example. Simply asking for "a wrench" is not specific enough, and it might not be clear which one a person is pointing to if a number of wrenches are clustered close together. "What we want in these situations is for the robot to be able to signal that it is confused and ask

Afghanistan wants Pakistan to act against all terror groups New Delhi,

Afghanistan's National Security Advisor Hanif Atmar on Monday asked Pakistan to take action against all terror groups without any discrimination. "A sincere operation against all terrorits groups without distinction will certainly produce great benefits not just for Pakistan but also for the entire region," Atmar said while speaking to journalists after delivering a keynote address at the 19th Asian Security Confer-

ence held at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA). On the terror sancturies in Pakistan, he said: "Continuation of sancturies of groups against another will certainly be seen as a hostile act and we believe strongly that we have a common enemy in the region. "An enemy that kills innocent people in Afghanisatan and also in Pakistan and India. So, we have to work together as

Novel blood test may detect, locate cancer early Scientists have developed a new blood test to detect cancer and locate where in the body the tumour is growing, an advance way to eliminate the need for invasive sur-

a question rather than just fetching the wrong object," Tellex said. The new algorithm does that. It enables the robot to quantify how certain it is that it knows what a user wants, said the researchers who will present their findings at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation to be held in Singapore from May 29 June 3, 2017. When its certainty is high, the robot will simply hand over the object as requested. When it's not so certain, the robot makes its best guess about what the person wants, then asks for confirmation by hovering its gripper over the objec t and ask ing, "this one?" One of the important features of the system is that the robot does not ask questions with every interaction. It asks intelligently, the researchers said.

3

gical procedures like biopsies. Cancer blood tests work by screening for DNA released by dying tumour cells and detect traces of tumour DNA in the blood of cancer patients. However, these do not indicate where the tumour resides. "Knowing the tumour's location is critical for effective early detection," said Kun Zhang, professor at the University of CaliforniaSan Diego in the US. When a tumour starts to take over a part of the body, it competes with normal cells for nutrients and space, killing them off in the process. As normal cells die, they release their DNA into the bloodstream, and that DNA could be used to identify the affected tissue, the researchers said. The new method screens for a particular DNA signature called CpG methylation haplotypes. Each tissue in the body can be identified by its unique signature of methylation haplotypes. If we integrate both cancer cell and other cells signals we could actually determine the presence or absence of a tumour, and where it is growing, Zhang explained. For the study, published in the journal Nature Genetics, the team

put together a database of the complete CpG methylation patterns of 10 different normal tissues -liver, intestine, colon, lung, brain, kidney, pancreas, spleen, stomach and blood. They also analysed tumour samples and blood samples from cancer patients and looked for signals of the cancer markers and the tissue-specific methylation patterns. The test works like a dual authentication process -- the combination of both signals above a statistical cutoff -- is required to assign a positive match, the researchers noted.

responsible state and to make sure that this enemy doesnot take advantage of our territory and establish sancturies." Referring to Pakistanbased terror groups, Atmar said: "Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad are not friends of Afghanistan and also considered as enemies of Afghanistan... unfortunately they are not just responsible for dreadful violence in India but also in Afghanistan." "We have made it clear that in Afghanistan, we will not allow them to establish sancturies. That's why they are fighting our forces." To a question on the closing of the border crossings by Pakistan, he said: "The terrorists are not using legitimate crossings... It is not going to advance our counter terrorism agenda. It will only hurt the public on both sides." Pakistani authorities on Monday decided to open the Pakistan-Afghan border crossings for two days to facilitate nationals of both the countries to return home. The crossing points were sealed after a series of bomb blasts and suicide attacks rocked the country, killing over 100 people last month. Pakistan accused Afghanistan of harbouring the militants who carried out the attacks.

BOLLYWOOD ACTOR JUHI CHAWLA, WALKS ON RAMP WITH AN ACID ATTACK VICTIM DURING AN EVENT IN MUMBAI.

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Ahmedabad, Page 3

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City-State

WESTERN TIMES AHMEDABAD WEDNESDAY, 8/3/2017

990 kg beef seized in Borsad, five arrested Anand,

The Anand police on Sunday raided Khatkiwad area in Borsad town and seized 980 kg of beef, 20 cattle and one slaughtered cow while arresting five persons. A complaint of cow slaughter has been lodged against 12 persons. Police had received a complaint of cows being slaughtered and illegally smuggled in different parts of Anand district from an animal officer Jatin Vyas who volunteers with the Animal Welfare Board of India.,

Two vehicles used to transport the beef were also seized. The police seized 600 kg beef from residence of Samir Qureshi, another 180 kg from Sikandar Qureshi’s house, 50 kg from Abbas Qureshi’s house and another 1609 kg beef from one Gulamnabi Qureshi’s house in Khaktiwad. Of the 12 against whom the complaint has been registered, the cops have arrested five accused including Sattar Qureshi, Tamir Qureshi, Mohammed Javed Qureshi, Mohammed Taufik Qureshi and Imran

Pathan. Slaughter of cows, calf, bull and bullock and transport and sales of their meat is banned in Gujarat. It carries a punishment of Rs 50,000 fine and up to seven years’ jail. The 12 accused have been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Gujarat Animal Preservation (Amended) Act, 2011 through which anyone directly or indirectly involved in the storage, transportation and sell of cow-beef and its products has to undergo the sentence.

WOMEN OF BARSANA BEAT MEN OF NANDAGAON AS THEY CELEBRATE HOLI IN BARSANA.

Woman raped in ritual for rain of money Ahmedabad,

A senior Gynecologist surgically removed fibroids tumors from a patient admitted in private clinic here. Kapilaben Chauhan of Balisana village near Himmatngar had severe abdominal pain for quite long time as a result of which, she had consulted a gynecologist here. While talking to the correspondent, Dr Ashwinbhai Patel who conducted this surgery, said fibroids are abnormal growths that develop in or on a woman’s uterus. Sometimes these tumors become quite large as happened in this patients from whom total of 8 tumors were found. The growths of fibroids are typically benign-non cancerous, but fibroids may reduce fertility chances in woman. According to the National Institute of Health, about 70 to 80 per cent of women have fibroids by the age of 50. Causes of fibroids is unknown but hormones and family history are main factors. (Photo by : Bhavesh Barot)

In a peculiar case of rape, a 27-year-old woman of Daskroi taluka has alleged that a tantrik, Prakash alias Bapu Suthar, of Vatva had raped her on the pretext of performing a ritual that would cause a rain of currency notes. Vatva police have registered offence of rape

against the tantrik and his accomplice, named Ayyubsha Saiyed, who is also a resident of Vatva. According to the complaint, the woman, a mother of two small kids, is originally from Surat and was married about eight years ago to a man living in the same Surat locality. Vatva police said the woman came

down to Ahmedabad with her husband and kids some time ago in search of work. “They lived in rented premises in Daskroi,” a police officer said. “The woman used to do domestic work at the house of her employers and the husband used to work in a private factor.” Sources in the police sad that about two-and-a-half

128 cases of waterborne diseases in city Ahmedabad, Around 128 cases of waterborne diseases were reported in the city in the last week till Saturday, according to data provided by the health department of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC). According to the weekly health report of the AMC, 93 cases of vomiting and diarrhoea along with 13 cases of jaundice and 22 cases of typhoid were reported in the city in civic body-run hospitals. Further in the last week, around 65 cases of vector-borne diseases were also reported. These include, 45 cases of malaria, seven cases of chikungunya and five cases of dengue. In the wake of rising number of cases of waterborne diseases, health department officials have been collecting water samples from different areas. “Cases of jaundice are not from the same area but are rather scattered,” said a senior AMC official. The 43,300 for health-related violations this month till Saturday.

Camera invigilators for board exams Ahmedabad, Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB) will equip all 60,449 blocks and rooms in schools across the state with surveillance cameras and tablets during the boards exams from March 15. The board exams have been conducted under complete surveillance for the least few years, to avoid irregularities and curb cheating. The electronic surveillance has been effective, as nearly 7,800 cases of using unfair means were registered in the first year that CCTV cameras were installed. This number fell to just some 3,500 last year. This year, 17.59 lakh students will take the class X and XII examinations. There are 11 lakh students taking the class X exam, while 5.14 lakh will take the general stream class XII exam. Some 1.41 lakh students will take the class XII science stream exam. Some 178 jail inmates will also take the board exams, and arrangements for them have been made in prisons. A meeting of the board and education department officials was convened by education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama,to take a stock of the situation and to chalk out a plan to conduct the exams in a peaceful atmosphere. The minister will address all district collectors and superintendents of police through video-conferencing on March 9 to discuss this issue.

Controversy erupts over smart city centre contract Ahmedabad, A major controversy has erupted over award of a contact for construction of the command and control centre for smart city operations at Tagore Hall in Paldi. The Rs 8.5 crore centre will host a major section of the ITES services involved in the smart city operations. Congress has alleged that most conditions mentioned in the tender has been violated to favour a particular contractor. While the tenders for setting up the control and command centre were floated in December last year, only one contractor had turned up for pre-bid meeting on December 26, because of which the tender was rejected and tenders were floated again in January 18. This time a total of three firms applied, of which two did not meet technical criteria. “The third should have been automatically rejected as there were no competitors. But the AMC has chosen the third firm,” said opposition loader Dinesh Sharma. He also pointed out that the contractor had not submitted a detailed drawing of the centre including the elevation drawings. “The AMC will pay the contractor Rs 34,000 per square metre for construction of the building, while in most AMC construction with lift shaft, compound wall, the building, construction cost the AMC Rs 15,000 to Rs 16,000 per square metre.

Union Minister of State (I/C) for Development of North Eastern Region, MoS PMO, Dr. Jitendra Singh flanked by Chandigarh M.P kiron kher inaugurated the 3days festival ‘Destination North East-2017’ in Chandigarh.

FSL gives data from IS suspects’ laptop, cellphones to ATS Ahmedabad,

The Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) has handed over the complete details of the data collected from the laptop and cellphones of Waseem Ramodiya and his brother Naeem, who were arrested for the suspected links with the ISIS. “From the data, we have got details of ISIS handlers and some very active terror operatives in other states, including Bihar, who were in touch with the Ramodiya brothers. More arrests are likely soon,” said a senior ATS official. “Police teams have been dispatched to apprehend other suspects who were planning attacks in Gujarat,” the official said. The ATS on Sunday took Waseem and Naeem to Bhavnagar to identify the spot where they had attempted to torch vehicles as part of their plan to create terror. A joint team of Rajkot police and ATS had got some vital clues regarding the recovery of a timebomb from Khodiyarnagar of Rajkot. “The case is ex-

Wedding vows renewed after 50 happy years Ahmedabad, Shehnai and drums augmented the festive mood, women sang of nuptials, and a Gor Maharaj -- a Hindu priest who performs wedding rituals -- eagerly waited at the Rotary Club hall in Mehsana. It was a unique sight for guests when 19 couples aged between 70 and 80 stated marching toward the ceremony’s centre-stage. All of them were there to rekindle the bond of marriage as a part of the golden jubilee cerebrations of their married life. The event was held on Sunday. The programme ‘Dampatya Jivan ni Suvarna Jayanti ni Ujavanni’ (golden jubilee celebration of married life) was organized by a Mehsana-based senior citizens’ forum. The grooms were dressed in suits and wore safa, while their brides shone in bridal-wear, with mindhol (a pearl-studden accessory) on their forehead. As the couples entered, women started singing mangalashtak a typical Gujarati wedding song). The

couples, then went through wedding rituals which ended with the exchange of garlands. The feast included undhiyu, shrikhand and khaman-dhokla. The couples were given a felicitation certificate. Sharad Shah (77), a retired lawyer and former principal of a Mehsanabased law college, was present with his wife Ila Shah, who performs a culinary show on various TV channels. “We married in 1966 and we have been happy ever since,” Shah said. “Small sacrifices and commitment are key to a happy marriage. Hardships last for the initial two to threeyears.” Saroj Dave (74), a retired primary school teacher, and her groom Gunvantrai Dave (77) were part of the ceremony. “I completed the 50th year of married life in May last year,” Dave said. “Our life is happy because we respect and love each other.” Jaysukh Vakharia (76) who married Kalaben (71) on March 2, 1967, said: “Old is gold and golden jubilee is great!”

Vitamin D can cut asthma risk: Study Ahmedabad,

A daily dose of Vitamin D can literally cut down the risk of severe asthma attacks. A recent study involving 120 asthma and normal patients has revealed levels of Vitamin D - which is also called 25Hydroxycholecalciferol and magnesium ion were found to be low in asthma patients. Also, the severity of the asthma increased with the increased deficiency of these two important vital components. The study found that 63% of asthma a patients were drastically low vitamin D and magnesium levels. The study was carried out on patients ranging within the age of 17 to 80 years. The study was carried out by a team of researchers M N Shaikh and B R Malapati from PIMSR Waghodia, Ruchi Gokani from C U Shah Medical College, Surendranagar, Bhavita Patel from SBKS Piparia and Mitul Chatriwala from Pramukh Swamy Medical College in Karamsad. The researchers found that in the case of severe asthma cases, the vitamin D levels in the serum tested were 31 nanogram / milliliter and less, while the magnesium levels were 1.43 milligram / deciliters or less. In

the case of moderate asthma, the vitamin D levels were 47.7 nanogram / milliliters, while that of magnesium levels were 1.86 milligram / deciliters or less. However, researchers have said that though there is strong co-relation between the severity of asthma attacks and magnesium or vitamin D deficiencies, before going in for vitamin D supplements the patient should consult a general physician. While explaining the role of magnesium ions, the

study claims that serum magnesium levels affects the connection of circulating vitamin D in blood ad subsequently it affects the immunity and hence, magnesium plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of asthma. The study says that hypomagnesemia -- low magnesium and vitamin D deficiency -- is “very common in asthmatic individuals, which cause respiratory infections, severe exacerbations and poor immune response. Moreover, vitamin D is

found to play role in body’s defaces against various microbial agents. It increases the synthesis of cathelicidin and immunoglobulins in the body. “Probably this can be possible reason behind the curing effects of sunlight on tuberculosis and other infections,” claims the study. It further adds that vitamin D has proved to be an important regulator of immunity. Its deficiency along with asthma triggering stimuli can increase the risk of asthma and allergies, claims the research.

DEVOTEES DAUBED IN COLORS ASTHEY CELEBRATE HOLI IN BARSANA IN MATHURA.

Urban forests key to battling concrete jungle: Research Ahmedabad, Rising urban pressures are eating into the city’s lungs. Issues of air pollution, noise pollution, urban heat

S.K. Bank launch Micro ATM

Sabarkantha District Central Co-operative Bank Ltd, S.K. Bank operating with some 115 branches across Arvalli and Sabarkantha districts and helping farming community by providing financial need to them, has played pivotal role in sustaining agriculture economy in both districts. To react about to small time farming community and Milk Co-operative Union in rural area, Bank recently launched Micro ATM to help facilitate farmers in rural pocket. One such Micro ATM was recently dedicated by it’s Chairman Maheshbhai Patel at Vaktapur village. (Photo by : Bhavesh Barot)

Ahmedabad, Page 4

pected to be cracked very soon,” said a police official. Sources in the ATS said that the Ramodiya brothers had gone to Crescent Circle in Bhavnagar and attempted to torch vehicles, just to prove their courage to their ISIS handlers. “However, they became apprehensive after pouring petrol and left without setting the vehicles ablaze. They left the spot in a hurry,” said an ATS official. ATS sources further said that they also want to verify the place from where the Ramodiya brothers had got petrol to pout on the vehicles. “Detailed statements are being recorded of each and every person from whom Ramodiya brothers had purchased batteries, firecrackers, knife and other things, to carry out the terror attack,” said a police official. Waseem, and Naeem, sons of a cricket umpire Arif Ramodiya, were nabbed by the ATS on February 26. Waseem was arrested from his house in Nehrunagar area of Rajkot while Naeem was caught from Afreen Flats in Bhavnagar.

months back, the woman who had given them premises on rent, told the Surat woman that she knows a tantrik who can perform a ritual that can lead to a rain of currency notes but she (the Surat woman) will have to sit for the ritual without clothes. “The woman who was facing acute poverty agreed and was taken to Ayyubkhan Saiyed’s house near Vatva Canal. The tantrik, Suthar, who was present there, took the woman inside a room and asked her to remove her clothes for the ritual,” a police official said. According to the complaint, Suthar then lit a fire and sprinkled incense on her after which she become almost unconscious. “However, the Surat woman said that she could sense that she was being raped,” the police official said. Police said the raped woman then felt frightened and left for her maternal aunt’s place in Surat. “She came back on Saturday and informed her landlady about the incident after which she lodged a complaint with us,” the police official said.

islands and associated health risks and less access to green spaces for residents are rising by the square in Ahmedabad. A research by Faculty of Planning, Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT) has claimed that green spaces can promote overall well-being of citizens and also prove to be a sustainable option to building expensive urban projects for solving issues of urbanization. The study chose Manekbaug Lok Van of Ambawadi Ward which was designated as an“urban forest”. The area of the park is 8,548 sq m out of which 6,0433 sq m is covered with a good number trees. The activities carried out in the park are laughing club, project display, an active library, yoga and meditation sessions, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activities and students’ educational visits to the forest. The second was Sandipani Public Park located in Satellite which has been leased out to private firm. While the third was the Bodakdev park, developed

in 2007, and which is spread over 3.4 hectares with a lawn, lake, 500 m, walking track, sitting area and play area for children. The researcher, Nikita Malaviya claims that in the visitor’s survey study in terms of park use more women, 62% were seen in Manekbaug garden, while in Bodakdev and Sandipani parks there were more men, 50% and 60% respectively. Almost 52% of the visitors were on the group of 25 to 54 years, while a good chunk of close to 19% were be-

tween 15 to 24 years. In case of Manekbaug garden, the distance of the green space from the visitors home was not an issue. Nearly 58% visitors who came to the garden came from distance of up to 1 km. In terms on perception of health benefit 25.3% of the users across all the parks claimed that they felt physically and mentally refreshed. About 80% in Bodakdev and 96% in Sandipani parks perceived that the air quality inside the parks was better than outside.

Artists from across country to congregate at Vadnagar Ahmedabad, A unique congregation of amateur and professional artists from across Gujarat will meet at Vadnagar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birth place, for a unique fourday camp starting Wednesday. The camp, held by the Gujarat Kala Prathishthan (GKP), will see artists from important states like Maharashtra and Rajasthan. More than 95 landscape artists will spread across Vadnagar town to capture its heritage, including the archaeological sites. Sharmishtha talav, Kirti Toran, various city gates of Vadnagar town, havelis and city scape through their artwork. Ramnik Zapadiya, secretary of the GKP told,“In the last decade we have curated more 10,644 art works and promoted more than 1,000 artists from Gujarat. The artists have been fully compensated for their artworks.

DGP sell in action makes lax cops wary Ahmedabad, The raid by the state monitoring cell (SMC), working directly under the state DGP, earlier this week at a gambling den at Madhavpura has already costs a police inspector his job. More such raids are making the city cops wary as it may spell trouble for erring officials. They are now carrying out raids on gambling dens. On Sunday, a team raided a spot in Sardarnagar and seized two scooters used for ferrying Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL). Search at the spot fetched IMFL, bottles worth Rs 1.12 lakh. The team has registered a complaint with Sardarnagar police for the find and have named Shashi Parmar, a resident of Mahajaniyavas, Kubernagar, as the accused in the case. The SMC officials said that Shashi’s father and mother have been sent to prison under PASA provision multiple times for violation of prohibition laws. Shashi has also been caught eight times for the same offence in the past four years.

Soon after, the city police’s Prevention of Crime Branch (PCB_ raided gambling dens in Jehangir ni Chali near Shahibaug and Juna Medawali Chali in Rakhial, whereas the city crime branch raided a den in Sardarnagar and caught 20 persons for gambling. Danilimda police also conducted a raid on a gambling den on Saturday night. “With stringent prohibition laws in place and the SMC active to respond to information from across the state, it will surely compel the city police to up their act. The city police commissioner has also made it clear that he will not tolerate the illegal activities. Madhavpura police inspector M V Khileri was suspended after the SMC raid found a gambling den active in his area. It has triggered continuous raids and search operations by police stations and agencies like the PCB,” said a source. The source said it was now to be seen as to how these raids would improve the law and order situation.

International

WESTERN TIMES AHMEDABAD WEDNESDAY, 8/3/2017

N.Korea temporarily bans exit of Malaysians Pyongyang, North Korea on Tuesday issued a temporary ban on all Malaysians from leaving country in the wake of an increasingly heated diplomatic row over the murder of Pyongyang leader's half brother in Kuala Lumpur, a media report said. North Korea's Foreign Ministry has notified the Malaysian embassy in Pyongyang that it will not allow any Malaysians to leave North Korea if it cannot guarantee the safety of its citizens and diplomatic personnel in the Southeast Asian country, Efe news quoted the KCNA news report as saying. In response, the Malaysian Government

has banned North Korean embassy staff and officers from leaving the country, reports Malaysia's Star daily. "We don't mean to do this, but it needs to be done," Home Affairs minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said in a media briefing. "The Home Ministry has made a ruling, effective immediately, that not one staff member or officer of the (North Korean) embassy can leave the country...This will be made effective at all immigration exits nationwide," he added. Ahmad Zahid also confirmed that the travel ban only applies to the diplomatic staff, and that that regular North Korean citizens in Malaysia will

be allowed to leave the country. Immediately after his announcement, police surrounded and cordoned off the North Korean Embassy in Kuala Lumpur. A Malaysian Foreign Ministry source said 100 Malaysians, including 11 embassy staff, are currently in Pyongyang. On March 4, Malaysia declared the ambassador of North Korea, Kang Chol, as "persona non grata" and asked him to leave the country within 48 hours, amid a row over the investigation into the death of Kim Jong-nam. Kim was killed on February 13 at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport using the VX nerve agent.

Kurdish healer claims he can heal 'possessed' Trump Erbil (Iraq),

The Mercedes-Maybach G-Class 650 combines luxury and off-roading for the ultimate SUV. The vehicle boasts a V12 engine, retractable roof and thermal cup holders Mercedes unveiled the vehicle at Geneva auto show, which is deemed the most expensive SUV with a price tag of $500,000. The firm is set to release the Maybach G-Class 650 for purchase after September.

Top US officials explain aspects of Republicans present long-awaited Trump's new immigration order Obamacare replacement plan Washington,

US House Republicans on Monday presented their long-awaited plan to replace the Affordable Care Act pushed by former President Barack Obama, a much anticipated move after conservative lawmakers' repeated promises to do away with the current system, known as Obamacare. The GOP proposal is included in two bills, which basically aim to create a tax credit system to help people buy health insurance, and it will exempt companies from having to offer alternative coverage to their employees, EFE news reported. The tax credit will fluctuate between $2,000 and $4,000 per year, would provide less financial help to low-income citizens but would maintain some of the benefits incorporated into Obama's healthcare reform, such as prohibiting insurers from raising premiums for people with pre-existing conditions. The presentation of the two bills opens the door for a harsh and complicated debate in Congress, where legislators will discuss dismantling and replacing one of the most complex systems implemented in the

US in recent decades. Republicans hope to do away with basic parts of Obamacare, including the tax credits based on low income, which currently help millions of Americans pay for their health insurance. Under the Republican plan, tax credits based on salaries would be replaced by credits that would increase with age.In addition, people who do not acquire health insurance will be punished with a 30 per cent increase in costs for their medical care, a measure to avoid any disincentive to join the new system. GOP lawmakers have been trying to kill Obamacare since Obama pushed it through in 2010 with the support of both houses of Congress, which at the time had Democratic majorities.The conservatives argue that the current system doesn't let citizens choose their healthcare plan from among several options, but rather forces them to conform to the federal offers and companies to comply with the coverage their employees have, EFE news added.However, under the Obama administration, tens of millions of people who did not have

health insurance obtained it thanks to the current system.The Republican proposal still needs to be reviewed by the non-partisan congressional budget office to evaluate its impact, but on Monday four GOP senators came out against the plan, already knowing its content.Ohio's Rob Portman, West Virginia's Shelley Moore Capito, Colorado's Cory Gardner and Alaska's Lisa Murkowski on Monday signed a letter saying that the draft House bill they had examined would not sufficiently protect the citizens of their states. In the states that they represent, Obamacare has considerably expanded access to Medicaid, the system whereby low-income citizens obtain help in getting medical coverage. In addition, several ultraconservative senators, includin Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas, also expressed their reservations about the text presented by their colleagues in the House, and they could -- along with their more moderate Republican colleagues -- hinder the progress of the new bill in the Senate.

Washington,

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Monday that the new executive order on immigration signed earlier in the day by President Donald Trump is "vital" for the country's security and asked Washington's allies around the world to "understand" that it is a "temporary" effort to strengthen immigration control. The executive order Trump signed on Monday morning is "a vital measure for strengthening our national security" whereby the President is "exercising his rightful authority to keep our people safe," EFE news quoted Tillerson as saying in an appearance before reporters along with Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly. "While no system can be completely infallible, the American people can have high confidence we are investigating ways to improve the vetting process and thus keep terrorists from entering our country," said Tillerson, adding that the order will strengthen security for the US and its allies. Trump signed a new version of his earlier controversial order, and the new directive will enter into force on March 16 and prohibit US entry to refugees for 120

days, along with halting the issuing of visas to citizens of Iran, Somalia, Yemen, Libya, Syria and Sudan. Tillerson urged US allies and partners around the world to understand that the newly crafted order is part of the administration's attempt to eliminate security vulnerabilities "that radical Islamist terrorists can and will exploit for destructive ends". The top US diplomat said that Iraq was not included in the new order -although it had been included in the first one -- because it "is an important ally in the fight to defeat ISIS," adding that Baghdad "will be implementing (multiple security measures) to achieve our shared objective of preventing those with criminal or terroristic intent from reaching the United States." Sessions, upon addressing reporters, emphasised that "(M)ore than 300 people who came here as refugees (since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks) are under FBI investigation for potential terrorism-related activities." He said that three of the nations on the list are state sponsors of terrorism and the other three have provided refuge to terrorists

Migrant arrivals to Italy register record high in 2017 Rome,

GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL SSHARES A SMILE WITH THE TENMONTH-OLD BABY ROMY AT AN EVENT CELEBRATING THE 15TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FAMILY SUPPORT ORGANIZATION WELLCOME IN BERLIN.

French conservative party leadership 'unanimously' supports Fillon Paris, Senior members of French conservative party, The Republicans, unanimously supported Francois Fillon's presidential bid, despite a deepening legal investigation into the allegation about his wife's fake job, Senate President Gerard Larcher said on Monday. At an emergency meeting, "the political committee unanimously renewed its support and confidence to Francois Fillon," Xinhua news agency quoted Larcher as saying. "Fillon indicated that he would take initiatives to bring our values together. The Republicans are there-

fore gathered and determined around (him)," he added. The party's leadership decision came after ex-Foreign Minister Alain Juppe who lost to Fillon in November primary, refused to be "a Plan B" to re-launch the conservatives' bid to snatch power on May 7. Fillon, 63, has been under growing pressure to quit the presidential bid after being summoned by magistrates over the affair and could be placed under formal investigation. "No one has the power to force me to withdraw...It is not the party that will decide. It's not regional presi-

Seoul to push for tougher sanctions on N.Korea Seoul, The South Korean government and the ruling party on Tuesday agreed on the need to push for more "effective" sanctions on North Korea after it fired off four ballistic missiles into the the Sea of Japan. The government and the Liberty Korea Party also agreed to closely communicate with Washington through the two-plus-two consultative institution, a key dialogue channel involving top defence and diplomatic officials, Yonhap News Agency reported."( The two sides

agreed that) there is a need for additional, strong antiPyongyang sanctions," the party's policy chief Lee Hyun-jae told the media. Lee did not elaborate on additional measures, but he said this matter should be d the lethal VX nerve agent in an airport in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur on February 13. Seoul blamed Pyongyang for the killing, but it has denied the claims.On Monday, North Korea fired off four ballistic missiles in protest against the ongoing military drills between Seoul and Washington.

dents or former primary candidates who will make the decision for me," he told France 2 television on Sunday.Portraying himself as an honest and morally irreproachable politician, Fillon previously said he would step down if he were put under formal investigation.On January 25, French satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine reported that Fillon had paid his wife and two of his five children about one million euros ($1.06 million) for their jobs as parliamentary assistants. However, there was no evidence showed she had really worked, the report added.

US begins Thaad deployment process in S.Korea Seoul, The US has started the process to deploy an advanced missile defence system, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (Thaad) in South Korea to better counter growing threats by North Korea, Seoul's defence ministry announced on Tuesday.Parts of the antiMonday at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 70 km south of Seoul,Yonhap News Agency reported.Thaad is composed of six mobile launchers, 48 interceptors, X-band radar and the fire and control unit.

5

Over 15,000 migrants and refugees arrived to Italy since the beginning of 2017, marking a new record high in the migration inflows from Africa, Italian authorities said on Monday. More specifically, some 15,844 people were rescued in the Mediterranean Sea and brought to the country between January 1 and March 6, Xinhua news agency cited the Interior Ministry's Immigration Department. The figure marked a 74 per cent increase and a 73.79 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2016 and 2015, respectively. Some 2,315 migrants and refugees arrived in Italy

North Korea supreme leader supervised missile tests: KCNA Pyongyang, North Korea leader Kim Jong Un supervised the test launches of four missiles by an army unit tasked to strike US military bases in Japan, said the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Tuesday. North Korea fired four ballistic missiles into the sea off Japan's northwest on Monday, days after it promised retaliation over the joint military drills between South Korea and the US, which it sees as preparation for war. Involved in the drill were Hwasong artillery units of the KPA Strategic Forces "tasked to strike the bases of the US imperialist aggressor forces in Japan in contingency," Xinhua news agency quoted the report as saying.Kim learned in detail about the preparations for fire strike "while going round the ballistic rocket launching ground," the report added."He appreciated that Hwasong artillery units of the Strategic Force are very good at organising and commanding fire strikes and strictly ensuring rapid and simultaneous fire strikes," the report said.Kim described the rockets launch accuracy like "acrobatic flying corps in formation," said the report.

on Saturday and Sunday, after being rescued in various maritime operations coordinated by the national coast guard. Another peak had been registered between February 24 and 26, data showed. The number of unaccompanied minor migrants also remained very high: some 1,670 lone children were registered among the new arrivals up to February 27. Some 25,846 minors reached Italy without any parent or relative in 2016 overall, more than double against 12,360 registered in the previous year. Italy's whole reception system currently hosts 174, 606 migrants and refugees, the ministry said.--IANS

and have governments that have lost control of their territories due to groups like the Islamic State, Al Qaeda and their affiliates. Sessions also said that the Justice Department believes this order, like the first one that was blocked by the courts, is "a lawful and proper exercise of presidential authority", as per the constitutional powers accorded to the President to make national security judgments. Kelly, meanwhile, said that the Department of Homeland Security will enforce the measures "humanely, respectfully and with professionalism", albeit it forcefully. Trump earlier on Monday signed a revised version of his controversial January 27 executive order that had suspended US entry for all refugees as well as travellers from a group of seven Muslim-majority countries, EFE news added. In contrast to the earlier order, this one specifies that citizens of the six nations in question may enter the US if they had a valid visa before 5 p.m. on January 27, a matter that had not been clarified in the earlier order, thereby causing chaos in airports around the world when holders of valid visas were denied entry.

Melbourne to unveil female traffic light signals Melbourne, Australia's Melbourne city will unveil pedestrian traffic lights depicting female figures as a part of a lobby group's push for gender equality, the media reported.Ten female pedestrian figures will be installed on traffic lights at the intersection of Swanston and Flinders streets as part of a 12-month trial, the Australian Broadcasting Corporattee for Melbourne - a non-profit organisation comprising more than 120 Melbourne business and community groups - is behind the move.Chief executive Martine Letts said having only green or red silhouettes of men discriminated against women.

An Iraqi Kurdish healer claims US President Donald Trump is possessed and says he can cure him by beating him on the soles of his feet. And unless Trump is cured he will go mad or be assassinated during his first term, the healer was quoting as telling local broadcaster Rudaw on Monday. "Trump is possessed and I need to beat him on the soles of his feet to get the jinni (evil spirit) out of his body," Mala Ali Kalak told Rudaw in an interview. In his present state, Trump will not finish his first term as president and and "will either go insane or be killed," said Mala Ali, who claims to get his knowledge and powers from God. "He has lost his mind and oversteps his boundaries all the time. He needs help. Unless he is cured he will continue to act like he does now," said Mala Ali, who sports a long black beard and wears a white gown with an Arab-style headdress, and is based in a small town outside Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. He says he has cured many people with cancer and HIV, including government officials and has offered to treat Jalal Talabani, Iraq's former president, who has been in poor health since he had a stroke in 2012.Mala Ali said he believes that Iraq and Syria are occupied by evil spirits and that most Iraqi politicians and many Iraqi officials are possessed by them."Jinnis have occupied all of Iraq and Syria and the situation may only get worse," Mala Ali stated."Most Iraqi MPs and ministers are possessed and they have come to me and I have thrashed them," he said. "They are all possessed that is why they can't agree on anything.

India, Afghanistan joining hands to create unrest in Pakistan: Minister Islamabad, Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif alleged in the National Assembly on Monday that neighbouring countries India and Afghanistan have joined hands to create unrest in Pakistan. Responding to opposition lawmakers' point of objection to Pakistan shutting down border crossings with Afghanistan, Asif said that Pakistan was trying to implement better and more complete border management with Afghanistan. Until there was better border management with Afghanistan, he said, the scourge of terrorism will continue to exist, Dawn reported. The issue of border management is one of national security, Asif said, urging lawmakers not to play politics on the matter. "We have the right to shut the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan and protect our people," Asif claimed.He said that the border has 25 openings from where people travel between the two countries, but Pakistan cannot let terrorists cross into the country."If there will be terrorist attacks in the country and people will die by the hundreds, we will shut the border down," he asserted.

Trump, Netanyahu speak on phone, discuss Iran, rising anti-Semitism in US Jerusalem, The President of the United States called the Israeli Prime Minister on Monday to discuss matters related to Iran, as well as a recent wave of anti-Semitism in the US, according to the Prime Minister's office. A brief readout of the conversation, provided by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, said that he and Donald Trump spoke about Iran's nuclear ambitions and the need to work together, Xinhua news agency reported."The PM thanked POTUS again for his warm hospitality during his recent visit to Washington," read the statement. It added that Netanyahu "expressed appreciation or the President's strong statement against antiSemitism during his speech before Congress last week".Trump had said in his speech that threats targeting Jewish community centres and vandalism of Jewish cemeteries "remind us that while we may be a nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all its forms".The statement said that both leaders spoke at length about the "dangers" posed by the nuclear deal with Iran and by the latter's "malevolent behaviour" in the region.

Seoul PM calls Trump over Pyongyang's missile launch Seoul, South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn held a telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump over North Korea test-fired four ballistic missiles, government officials said on Tuesday. The phone call lasted for about 20 minutes on Monday night. It was the second phone converstion between the leaders after the first on January 30, Xinhua news agency reported. Hwang, who is also the acting President, and Trump coordinated each other's positions on situations on the Korean Peninsula, including North Korea's nuclear programme, a government source said.

Trump won't accept FBI's rejection of wiretapping claims Washington, US President Donald Trump does not accept FBI Director James Comey's denial of his charges that his predecessor Barack Obama wiretapped the billionaire's phones last year, a White House spokeswoman said. Comey unsuccessfully asked the Justice Department over the weekend to publicly refute Trump's accusations that Obama ordered his phones tapped during the 2016 electoral campaign, Efe news reported. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director said the gravity of the accusations of Trump's communications being tapped required a public statement by the Justice Department saying that did not happen, but the latter agency has not as yet issued any statement on the matter. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked on Monday in an ABC News interview on whether Trump accepted Comey's views on the matter. "You know, I don't think he does," the spokeswoman said, adding that the government of former President Obama "was wiretapping American citizens", a seeming reference to the massive wiretapping carried out by the National Security

Agency (NSA) revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden, so he "could have" done the same to Trump. "The President wants the truth to come out to the American people through the House Intelligence Committee and that is the process we go through," she said. Trump's accusation without substantiation that Obama ordered his telephone calls to be wiretapped was tweeted by Trump on which and was rejected hours later as "simply false" by the former president through a statement by his spokesman Kevin Lewis.Spicer noted that neither the White House nor President Trump will make any more statements about these controversial reports. White House spokesman Sean Spicer asked later that Congress investigate the alleged wiretapping as part of the case about Russia's supposed interference in last November's US presidential election, in order to determine whether there was a potential abuse of power by the Obama administration. Spicer noted that neither the White House nor President Trump will make any more statements about these controversial reports.

An Outback service station worker has detailed the harrowing moment a British backpacker who was 'repeatedly raped and bashed' in a months-long hostage ordeal walked into a nearby petrol station crying and 'shaking uncontrollably'. The 22-year-old woman was found by police with serious facial injuries and in extreme distress when police pulled over a white Mitsubishi Pajero (above) on the Warrego Highway at a traffic stop in Mitchell, Queensland, on Sunday afternoon. Daily Mail Australia can reveal the woman had walked nearby petrol station moments before. She had two black eyes and marks on her throat and was distressed as she could not pay for the tank of petrol she had just put in her white Mitsubishi Pajero. 'She had only just come in here and she couldn't pay for the fuel,' said the service station worker, who didn't want to be named.

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WESTERN TIMES AHMEDABAD WEDNESDAY, 8/3/2017

Kejriwal to kick-start Gujarat poll campaign on March 26

SC cancels bail of road rage killer Rocky Yadav New Delhi, The Supreme Court on Monday cancelled the bail granted to Rocky Yadav, accused of killing a young boy in a road rage case. A bench of Justice S.A. Bobde and Justice L. Nageswara Rao, quashing the order of Patna High Court granting him bail, also asked the trial court to complete the trial within six months. Rakesh Ranjan Yadav alias Rocky Yadav, the son of suspended Janata Dal-United legislative councillor Manorama Devi, was arrested on May 11, 2016 for allegedly shooting dead class 12 student Aditya Sachdeva for overtaking his SUV in Bihar's Gaya on May 7. He was granted bail on October 19, 2016, by the Patna High Court which noted that co-accused Rajesh Kumar has already been granted bail. The Bihar government had challenged the High Court's order and sought the cancellation of bail granted to Rocky Yadav contending that "he has shot dead a young boy on the highway because he could not tolerate a small Swift car overtaking his big and imported Land Rover".The apex court on October 28 had stayed the high court order of bail and sent Rocky Yadav back to jail.The petition had said that while granting bail to Rocky Yadav, the high court "conveniently" ignored the "vital fact" that the bail has been granted to the co-accused only on the ground that Rocky, and not him, is the main accused.Rocky Yadav is "intoxicated with an assumed sense of power and clout", it added.

Cabinet approves Abu Dhabi oil for Indian strategic reserve New Delhi, In a move to boost India's energy security, the Union cabinet on Monday gave post facto approval for signing of an agreement that will see crude oil for strategic storage flow in from a state-run company of Abu Dhabi for meeting unexpected future exigencies. "According to the agreement between Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Ltd (ISPRL) and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) of UAE, ADNOC will fill up 0.81 million tonnes, or 5,860,000 million barrels of crude oil, at ISPRL storage facility at Mangalore, Karnataka," a Petroleum Ministry statement here said. "Out of the crude stored, some part will be used for commercial purpose of ADNOC, while a major part will be purely for strategic purposes," it said."India and UAE are strategic partners. The investment by ADNOC is a major investment from UAE, and the first investment by UAE in India in the energy sector," it added.UAE contributes in a major way to India's energy security, being the sixth-largest supplier of crude oil. India is the second-largest destination for UAE's oil exports.

60-year-old arrested for raping mi New Delhi, A 60-year-old man was arrested and another detained for raping a 15-year-old girl here, Delhi Police said on Tuesday. The accused, Mijhawan, was arrested on Monday night after a police complaint was lodged by the minor's family, while his accomplice in the case has been detained. The incident occurred when the Class 9 student, a resident of Shakarpur in Netaji Subhash Place, left for home after her tuition classes on March 4, police said. "The accused persons, who were in plain clothes, stopped her on the way posing as policemen and told her they had an objectionable MMS relating to her," a senior police officer said."They then took her to a nearby under constructin building on the pretext of interrogating her, where they raped her."They also threatened her with dire consequences if she disclosed the crime to anyone, the officer added.The victim, a student of government school, said the accused persons again molested her on Monday while she was returning from her school, after which she narrated the ordeal to her family, police added.

Cabinet approves India-Portugal MoU on renewable energy New Delhi, The Indian cabinet on Monday gave post facto approval to the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on renewable energy between India and Portugal. "The MoU was signed on January 6, 2017," a New and Renewable Energy Ministry statement said here.The MoU aims to promote bilateral technical cooperation on new and renewable issues."The MoU envisages constitution of a Joint Working Group which can co-opt other members from Scientific Institutions, Research Centres, Universities, or any other entity, as and when considered essential," the statement said.

Mob burns down police station in Meghalaya Shillong, An irate mob attacked and burnt down a police station in Meghalaya's North Garo Hills district after three persons were injured in a police firing, an official said on Tuesday. The police official said violence erupted on Monday night after a police team stationed at a checkpoint in Kaldang area fired at a vehicle when its driver refused to stop at a barricade despite signalling. "For the last one week, following inputs about militant movements, we have increased checking of vehicles in the district," S.B. Singh, the Meghalaya police chief, told IANS.Following the firing, Singh said the mob burnt down the Resubelpara police station, its temporary barracks and police vehicles.

Selling pressure subdues Indian equity indices Mumbai, Indian equity markets traded on a flat-to-negative note during the early morning trade session on Tuesday, as heavy selling pressure was witnessed in metal, automobile and healthcare stocks.The wider 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) inched down by 8.00 points or 0.09 per cent, to 8,955.45 points.The barometer 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 29,092.16 points, traded at 29,043.01 points (9.35 a.m.) -- was a tad lower by 5.18 points or 0.02 per cent from the previous close at 29,048.19 points.The Sensex touched a high of 29,098.17 points and a low of 29,033.83 points during the intra-day trade so far.

Ahmedabad, The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will officially kick-start its campaign for the Gujarat assembly elections -- slated to be held in December -with an 'azadi' rally by party supremo Arvind Kejriwal in state capital Gandhinagar on March 26. AAP leader Gopal Rai, in charge of the party's poll organisatijon in Gujarat, said on Monday that the party will organise 'azadi' rallies in all 182 constituencies from March 16, which will culminate with the March 26 rally. The party has already announced it will contest all 182 assembly seats in Gujarat. The Delhi Chief Minister will formally launch the

A CONGRESS SUPPORTER WAVING FLAG DURING RAHUL GANDHIS RALLY AHEAD OF PHASE 7 OF THE UTTAR PRADESH ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS IN JAUNPUR.

India takes up fisherman killing at highest level, Sri Lanka promises probe New Delhi/Chennai, The Sri Lankan Navy has promised a thorough probe into the killing of an Indian fisherman in the Palk Straits after India took up the matter at the highest level, according to sources. India has voiced deep concern over the killing of the Indian fisherman on Monday night allegedly by the Sri Lankan navy. Indian High Commissioner Taranjit Singh Sandhu has taken up the matter with Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, sources said on Tuesday. The Sri Lankan Navy has promised a full and thorough investigation, the sources added. This comes as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami announced a compensation of Rs five lakh to the family of the killed fisherman, K. Britso, and a compensation of Rs one lakh for one injured fisherman. Six fishermen from Thangachimadam in Ramanathapuram district were fishing near Katchatheevu islet, when the attack took place.

The Lankan Navy attack on Indian fishermen comes a day after Chief Minister Palaniswami wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking the release of 85 fishermen and their 128 boats under Sri Lankan custody. Katchatheevu island is located in the narrow sea dividing the two countries. The sea near the islet is rich in marine life, leading to frequent clashes between Indian and Sri Lankan fishermen. Hundreds of fishermen are sitting in protest in Rameswaram against the Monday night attack. PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss on Tuesday condemned the Lankan navy's attack and demanded that the Indian government should not tolerate such attacks and stop terming Sri Lanka as a friendly nation. "They were first attacked by the Lankan Navy with grenades and then were shot at in which Britso was killed and one more fisherman was injured," Ramadoss said in Chennai. He said attacks on the

Indian fishermen by the Lankan Navy has been happening for the past 30 years killing more than 800 fishermen.

nubia to soon launch phone for photographers New Delhi, Chinese smartphone maker nubia is set to launch a new phone designed for photographers that will house a 23MP rear and a 13MP front camera. The device will pack "Light Painting", Sony IMX318 Exmor RS, phase detection auto-focus + contrast focus, sapphire protective lens, 6-piece motor drive lens, ?2.0 aperture and NeoVision 6.0 -- a DSLR-like photography system, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. Last year in December, the company launched a "bezel-less" flagship smartphone Z11 featuring "Frame interactive Technology 2.0 (FiT 2.0)" with "Handheld Electronic Aperture".

New Delhi,

Another soldier has taken to the social media to complain about the system of 'batman' in the army and what he said was poor quality food served to the men in uniform. Sindhav Jogidas of the Army Medical Corps said he was airing his grievances publicly because his complaints to the Prime Minister's Office and the Defence Ministry had gone unheeded. "I apologize to the people of the nation and the government (because) my video will hurt your sentiments. Every Jawan wants

the respect of the Army to be high," Jogidas said, speaking in Hindi. "How long can we tolerate? A lot of wrong things are happening." Referring to the "batman" system, called "Sahayak" duty, he said some officers treated soldiers attached to their residences as their servants. "Jawans have to follow orders because those who speak (against it) are victimized." He said he went to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office and the Defence Ministry to complain and again to the Prime Minister's

General Motors India to stop production at Gujarat plant Chennai, Carmaker General Motors India on Tuesday confirmed it will stop production at its plant in Halol in Gujarat next month and consolidate production at its Talegaon plant in Maharashtra. A company statement said production will cease at Halol plant from April 28. "We will support our employees at the Halol plant throughout this transition," President and Managing Director Kaher Kazem said in the statement. "We have in place the options of a significantly

enhanced separation package or continuity of employment at our Talegaon plant," he added. Transition support for employees will include financial counselling and tax advice, as well as information and transition support for employees transferring to the Talegaon facility. The company is working with government authorities and labour unions, as well as impacted employees and suppliers, to ensure an orderly transition.Kazem said General Motors India continues to work towards the assetonly sale at the Halol site.

Office."I did not want the issues related to the Army to come on the social media. "When the reply came, they slapped a case of disciplinary action against me and there were two courts of inquiry. I was harassed for a year but I kept quiet. "I took leave again and came to Delhi... I went to the Sena Bhavan (Army Headquarters) but no one allowed me to go inside. Then I wrote a letter to General Bipin Rawat but there was no reply. "At the end, I was given a chargesheet because I had written against my officers. I have already been punished twice. This time I had to give up 14 days of salary as fine."If we refuse any duty or break a rule, we are punished immediately. But when officers break rules, there are no rules or regulations for them," he said.The soldier said "because of some officers, the Army is maligned".

Mumbai, It's official -- 18 months after the October 2015 assembly elections, Bihar still awaits the bounty of Rs 1.25 lakh-crore announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the poll campaign, an RTI query has revealed. Mumbai RTI activist Anil Galgali filed the query with the Union Finance Ministry in December 2016 seeking details of Modi's assurances on massive financial aid or development packages to various states. He also sought details of the action taken on the financial packages. However, Deputy Director in Finance Ministry Anand Parmar, while declining to provide a direct reply to the Right To Information query, has made the position clear in a roundabout manner. "About the Rs 125,003crore special package for Bihar, announced by PM for August 18, 2015 Parmar's terse reply said that 'the projects/works will be completed in a phased manner' though not a paisa has been released till date," Galgali said. "It is a shame that assurances to Bihar given by none other than the

country's Prime Minister, has failed with no action in the matter since one-and-half years," Galgali commented. He added that recently the Bharatiya Janata Party has been making big announcements even for Uttar Pradesh, where the seventh and last phase of its assembly elections will be held on Wednesday. "So many 'jumlas' have been shown to the 125 crore Indian population by the ruling BJP. But, the government's own figures belie their tall claims, so how can they be taken seriously," Galgali wondered. A similar situation prevails on the Rs 80,068 crore aid package Modi announced on November 7, 2015 for Jammu and Kashmir, where the BJP is a junior partner in the ruling coalition. It was intended to be used for long term relief and development after the state was hit by devastating floods that year, the RTI reply indicates. That's not all. An aid package of Rs 43,589 to enhance tourism infrastructure sought by Sikkim on June 15, 2016, is yet to be disbursed even as the tourism season is around the corner.

JNU presented visitor's award for best university New Delhi, President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday presented the visitor's award for the best university to Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University while noting the research activities in the Central universities should align with the developmental challenges of the country. He also urged all the universities to continue the good work and use their "best minds" to convert new knowledge into innovative products to directly benefit the common population. "Innovative minds should create tools and implements that alleviate the drudgery of farmers, workers, artisans and weavers.The number one barometer for successful outcome of research and innovation should be its beneficial applicability to a wider section of the population. "The areas for research activity should align with the developmental challenges of our nation. The best minds in our universities should apply themselves to work out solutions in areas like sanitation, urban transportation, sewage disposal, clean river systems, healthcare and drought-resistant farming," Mukherjee said.

Veteran CPI(M) leader and former Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan addressing the two-day protest organised by SBT Employees Union in front of RBI against the decision to merge associate banks with SBI in Thiruvananthapuram.

Kerala mulls cloud seeding to tackle worst drought in century Thiruvananthapuram,

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday hinted that cloud seeding could be one possible measure to tackle the worst drought that Kerala has faced in a century. Noting that his govern-

Rich tributes paid to former Lok Sabha Speaker Rabi Ray Bhubaneswar, Several leaders and many dignitaries on Tuesday paid rich tributes to firebrand socialist and former Lok Sabha Speaker Rabi Ray in Odisha. Ray, 91, died at the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack on Monday. He was admitted to the hospi-

New Delhi,

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18 months on, Bihar awaits PM's Rs 125,000 cr bounty: RTI reply

make them a part of the AAP manifesto," Rai said. The AAP on Monday also announced the return of suspended former convener Sukhdev Patel to the party as a member of the manifesto draft committee. An education activist and AAP member since its formation at the national level, Patel was made party convener for Gujarat but was later suspended for three years in 2015. This led to departure of several prominent rights activists of Gujarat from the AAP. "The past is behind us. Sukhdev Bhai may not have been part of our organisation but has always been ideologically with us," Rai said.

Soldier denounces 'batman' system, poor food

Cabinet approves cadre review of Central Engineering Service The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Monday approved the cadre review of Central Engineering Service (Roads) of the Road Transport and Highways Ministry. "The proposal will be implemented immediately," said a cabinet communique.According to it, the service's cadre strength will be revised with increase in the number of posts at higher administrative grade (HAG) level to two, at the senior administrative grade (SAG)level to five and the junior time scale (JTS) level to 36; decrease in the number of posts at the senior time scale (STS) level at 28, recruitment against 86 posts as special reserve at entry level (JTS) for deputation purpose only outside the cadre strength in addition to the normal vacancies arising at the JTS level in the cadre.

party's campaign, Rai said. "We want the people to be free of the fear of (BJP President) Amit Shah's gang and that of the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Gujarat," he added. He said party volunteers will collect memorandums from all constituencies during their rallies and present them to Kejriwal in Gandhinagar. "Earlier, we were to submit these to Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, but looking at the ruling party's stance vis-a-vis farmers, women's safety and other issues, we have decided to boycott the Chief Minister. These memorandums will now be submitted to Kejriwal with a request to

A road side Barbar vendor clean the shave a customer under the Metro Rail shade in Jaipur,.

tal following age-related ailments. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Odisha Governor S.C. Jamir, Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi and other leaders paid floral tributes to Ray at te Lohia Academy here. "I am deeply saddened by Ray's demise. He was a Gandhian and a great socialist leader. He used to show us path and had a remarkable tenure as the Lok Sabha Speaker. His death is a great loss to Indian politics," said Nitish Kumar. Nitish Kumar will attend Ray's funeral at his village Bhanaragarh in the Puri district. Paying floral tributes to Ray, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said it was an end of an era in Indian politics. The Odisha government has declared one-day state mourning on Tuesday in honour of the eminent socialist leader. The national flag has been lowered to half-mast on all government buildings for the day.

ment has done everything humanely possible to handle the situation, Vijayan said: "Cloud seeding is one method to see that rains are artificially created... this phenomenon has been successfully tested at a few places." Vijayan said this while replying to a motion moved by Congress legislator Shafi Parambil who flayed the state government for declining a debate on the issue. Parambil pointed out that a debate could have helped the government get various suggestions on how to tackle the drought, in which not just humans but even animals in the state's forests were suffering. "It was State Revenue Minister E. Chandrasekharan who informed the house today (Tuesday) that the state is facing the worst-ever drought situation in the past 100 years," Parambil said, adding that he found it strange that the government was unwilling to discuss the issue. An angry Parambil said if a situation where people are desperately running around for drinking water did not merit the attention of the house, "which issue are you going to take up for discussion". Intervening at this point, Vijayan said the rains have failed and "there was no reason to blame our government for that". Chandrasekharan also informed the house that drinking water availability has taken a severe beating

and, according to a recent national report, the water table level in Kerala has fallen by four metres. "The rains that the state received have dropped dramatically... during June to September in 2016 we received 34 per cent less rains; likewise, during October to December, the shortfall was 62 per cent, and the ongoing summer showers have also failed," the Revenue Minister said. The state government started to work to mitigate the sufferings of the people right from October 2016 and even the Chief Minister was actively involved in review meetings to tackle the situation, the minister said. State Water Resources Minister Mathew T. Thomas told the assembly that the water level in dams owned by his department has come down by 45 per cent, while in dams owned by the State Electricity Board it is down to 20 per cent of its capacity; and in dams owned by the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) it is 46 per cent less, compared to past years. "The KWA has begun setting up of reverse osmosis plants and is busy getting close to 5,585 bore wells repaired as also tapping 585 other sources of water to resolve the grave issue," said Thomas.Dissatisfied by the replies given by the state government, Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala blamed the authorities for not rising to the occasion, and led the opposition out of the house.

Business

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S.Korea mulls filing complaint Business Brief over China's boycott Jet Airways enters into codeshare partnership with Fiji Airways Seoul,

ESIC General Hospital, Naroda, Ahmedabad celebrated 65th Anniversary of ESI Scheme as ESIC DAY- Special services Fortnight from 24/02/2017 to 10/03/ 2017.Inauguration started with lighting of “Panchdeep” by ESI beneficiaries. Different activities like Bio-medical Waste Management Training, “Awareness and Prevention of Cancer”- talk by Dr.Nishant Sanghavi (Oncosurgeon from GCS medical College Hospital),general health check-up with all Specialties, Yoga Camp and Special Cleanliness drive and illumination of hospital building etc.were conducted.

Plan to revive 50 un-served and under-served airports approved New Delhi, The central government on Monday approved a plan to revive 50 un-served and under-served airports in three financial years starting from 2017-18. According to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), the approved proposal envisages to revive 50 un-served and under-served airports or airstrips of the state governments, Airports Authority of India (AAI) and civil enclaves. The project is estimated to cost Rs 4,500 crore. "Fifteen airports, airstrips each would be revived during 2017-18 and 2018-19 each, while 20 airports, airstrips would be revived during 2019-20," the CCEA was quoted as saying in a statement. "As an outcome of the approval, small cities, towns shall be connected on commencement of operation of flights to under-served, unserved airports.""It will further boost the economic development in these areas as well as surrounding areas in terms of job creation and related infrastructure devel-

opment." The CCEA pointed out that revival of airstrips, airports will be 'demand driven', depending upon firm commitment from airline operators as well as from the state governments for providing various concessions as airports will be developed 'without insisting' on financial viability. Last year, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha had informed Parliament that the ministry had sought Rs 4,650 crore from the central coffers to revive 50 un-served and under-served airports. That time Sinha had said that the National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP), 2016, has provision for promotion of regional connectivity by way of revival of un-served and under-served airports. "In order to implement the scheme, a proposal has been submitted to Ministry of Finance for making a budgetary provision of Rs 4,650 crores (approx.) to revive a total of 50 such airports, airstrips," the minister informed Parliament on July 19, 2016.

South Korea is considering filing a complaint with eht Worl d Trade Organisation (WTO) against China for boycotting its products and companies over the decision to deploy an anti-missile defence system in Seoul. The installation of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (Thaad) began on Tuesday after Seoul had accepted Washington's proposal to deploy it on its territory last year to combat a growing security threat from North Korea, Efe news reported. "With regard to the issue of filing a complaint with the WTO, (the government and the party) agreed to actively weigh the option," Lee Hyun-jae, the policy chief of the ruling Liberty Korea Party, said Tuesday. "( We) also agreed to strengthen government efforts to minimize the damage on local industries," he added.Last week, several

New method could maintain donor lung outside body for a week New York, Lungs tend to quickly lose their function outside the body. But this may soon change as researchers have found a method that could help maintain a fully functional lung outside the body for up to a week or even longer. Lengthening the time to keep lungs functional outside the body could boost transplantation as a vast majority of donor lungs get rejected during transplantation due to delay in transport. It could also allow doctors to repair damaged donor lungs and make them suitable for transplant. The research team found that "cross circulation" -- an abandoned surgical procedure used in the 1960s to exchange blood flow between two patients -- could enable long-term support of living organs outside the body by providing critical systemic and metabolic factors that are missing from all current technologies. Taking a cue from this procedure, the researchers developed a new technology to support fully functional lung outside the body for several days, according to a study published online in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering. "Our cross-circulation platform will likely allow us to extend the duration of support to a week or longer if needed, potentially enabling the recovery of severely damaged organs," said one of the lead researchers John O'Neill from Columbia University Medical Centre in the US. "Beyond prolonging support time, we also demonstrated several therapeutic interventions that vastly improve and accelerate recovery," O'Neill noted. The researchers said that their new platform could be readily extended to recover other organs that are in high demand for transplant or in need of repair, including livers and kidneys, and they have already begun studies in these directions.

Tech Mahindra buys American healthcare IT firm Mumbai, Software major Tech Mahindra on Monday announced acquiring the USbased healthcare IT consulting firm CJS Solutions Group LLC to strengthen its place in the domain. "We will make an upfront payment of $89.5 million (Rs 597 crore) for 84.7 per cent equity stake and the balance 15.3 per cent of the stock will be acquired over three years," said the city-based company in a statement here. Based at Jacksonville in Florida, CJS has $110-million enterprise value and posted $114-million revenue for fiscal 2015-16, ending September 2016. The buy-out will also help Mahindra access CJS

marquee customers and healthcare consultants. CJS solutions enhance efficiency of physicians, hospitals, ancillary facilities, clinics, governmental health bodies and public health organisations.As part of HCI Group, CJS also offers Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) course with specialisation in healthcare management for professionals."As healthcare is driving adoption of digital technologies, the acquisition will position us as a key player in the domain and provide an opportunity to go deeper in the space via E M R implementation,"AsaidAChief Executive C.P. Gurnani in the statement.The Group works with tier-I healthcare service

providers in the US and Britain, focusing on implementation of Electronic Health Record and Electronic Medical Record software, training and support services.The Group has a large pool of Epic and Cerner (healthcare software) certified professionals and CJS is a leading implementation firm for global firms.With about 500 professionals, the company has presence in Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific. "The acquisition aligns well with our aDavid' strategy where aDigitalisation' is one of the five pillars of our future growth strategy. It also aligns with our new brand philosophy - Connected World. Connected Experiences." said Chief

Air Costa suspends all flights till March 15 Bengaluru, Cash-strapped regional airline Air Costa has suspended its operations till March 15 for operational reasons, said a company official on Monday. "We have suspended our services since February 28 and stopped bookings till March 15 for operational reasons. We will announce our revival plans on March 15," Air Costa's Marketing Vice-President Kavi Chaurasia told IANS from Andhra Pradesh's Vijayawada. The three-year-old feeder airline was operating daily service to eight cities, including six in the southern region Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Tirupathi, Vijayawada and Vizag and two in the western region Ahmedabad and Jaipur. "We have grounded our two Embraer aircraft. We are talking to investors for infusion of investments as

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we are facing fund crunch," admitted Chaurasia. Though the low-cost airline had four Embraer jets with a capacity to fly 112 passengers in each of them, two are stalled at the Hyderabad airport after they were impounded by GE Capital Aviation Services for defaulting on payments. The budget carrier has about 600 employees. According to the information with the Directorate

General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Vijayawadabased airline was founded by L.P. Bhaskara Rao, a realtor. The airline had reported Rs 130 crore loss on revenue of Rs 327 crore for fiscal 2015-16. DGCA data for December showed Air Costa had the highest number of cancellations at 13.65 per cent and its market share was 0.6 per cent.

Cabinet approval to MoU on energy efficiency between India, UAE New Delhi, The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Monday gave ex-post facto approval to the MoU between India's National Productivity Council and UAE's Al Etihad Energy Services for various services in the field of energy management and conservation. Under the MoU, the NPC, an autonomous body under the Commerce and Industry Ministry's Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, will provide energy assessment services, training and certification of energy auditors and demand side management, a cabinet

communique said. Meanwhile, Al Etihad will provide customer support with UAE government and privately-owned organisations, local support for field auditing professionals, local support for training and certification of energy auditors and support related to demand side management of industries to all the relevant projects. "The MoU will enable NPC avail high value opportunities such as energy building and develop institutional mechanism in area of energy efficiency in Dubai and other Gulf Cooperation Council, (GCC) member countries," it said.

Technology Officer Atul Kunwar on the occasion. The Group provides enterprise advisory services, focusing on IT system implementation and training and specialty service lines in integration, testing, go-live, clinical adoption, optimization and cyber security."I believe that Mahindra is the right partner for us to improve the healthcare industry through a combination of disruption, innovation and cost reduction," said HCI Group Chief Executive Officer Ricky Caplin in the statement.The transaction is will close by April, subject to the regulatory approvals.The $4.2-billion Tech Mahindra employs 117,000 techies in 90 countries worldwide to helps 837 global clients, including Fortune 500 firms.

Chinese travel agenciessuspended the sale of tourist packages to South Korea. Beijing also banned South Korean airline carriers from operating charter flights in the country. The Lotte Group, which approved a land swap deal with the South Korean government to facilitate the installation of the Thaad, has been one of the main targets of the boycott. The company's website was reportedly hacked, and several of its stores in China have been closed for alleged violation of local regulations.China also did not screen a single South Korean movie in 2016, while K-pop bands have disappeared from Chinese televi-

sion since summer of last year, and their concerts have been postponed. South Korea considers these measures reprisals by Beijing to oppose the deployment of the Thaad in the Korean peninsula. Seoul claims the missile system is a defence mechanism to protect itself from possible missile launches from North Korea but China fears the powerful Thaad radars could be used to obtain intelligence data from its military bases. Lee also said China "needs to make efforts to restrict Pyongyang's nuclear program", adding that if that is done, "there is no need for Thaad".He added South Korea will work to forge a "constructive future" with China.

Delhi assembly proceedings delayed by traffic jams New Delhi, The second day of the Delhi assembly Budget session was delayed by 10 minutes as Speaker Ram Niwas Goel was stuck in a traffic jam. "I had to call my OSD (Officer on Special Duty) twice to get the traffic cleared. I was stuck for around one and a half hours," Goel said while speaking on the issue raised by BJP lawmaker Jagdish Pradhan under Special Mention motion. Slamming the Delhi Traffic Police who come under the administrative control of the central government, Goel said that he saw no traffic personnel while commuting from Seelampur to the Delhi assembly

compelx.Pradhan, the Bharatiya Janata Party legislator from Mustafabad, said traffic jams were a regular affair in the national capital. He said it took him over two hours to reach the assembly and at one point he thought he would not be able to make it on time. Delhi's traffic congestion was raised by other legislators as well, including Tilak Nagar's Jarnail Singh and Wazirpur (north) legislator Rajesh Gupta. While Jarnail Singh urged the Speaker to direct the government to look into the redesigning of roads to solve people's traffic woes, Gupta said encroachments were responsible for obstruction of traffic.

Mercedes-Benz India upbeat about its new E-Class Chennai, Luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz India is upbeat aboout its newly launched E-Class long wheel base model as the number of bookings has touched 500 within a week of the launch of the new vehicle, said a senior official. Speaking to reporters here after launching the long wheel base right-hand drive E-Class, Michael Jopp, Vice-President, Sales and

Marketing, said: "The number of bookings for the new model has touched 500 units and 30 per cent of these is from five southern states."The company launched the India-specific designed and manufactured model around a week back.The company has launched two variants under the E-class long wheel base priced at Rs 57.71 lakh (E 200 model) and Rs 71.40 lakh (E 350 d).

UN chief visits Somalia amid famine, cholera Mogadishu, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres arrived here on Tuesday at a time of urgent need to address an outbreak of cholera and severe drought ravaging the Horn of Africa nation. Guterres, who flew in here from Nairobi, called for a global response to stop deaths in Somalia and noted that people were dying of hunger and cholera, Xinhua news agency reported. "Just arrived in Somalia on emergency visit to focus on famine and cholera. People are dying. The world must act now to stop this," he tweeted. He called for international support to provide humanitarian assistance to Somalia where more than 6.2 million people are facing acute

food shortage. Guterres, who was due to hold talks with newly-elected President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, said the current drought in Somalia required a "massive international response". The UN announced last month that Somalia was slipping into famine six years after a deadly one which claimed more than 250,000 lives. The UN chief is expected to meet the country's leadership and members of the international community to bolster efforts against the drought. Humanitarian agencies have called for international help warning that urgent steps must be taken to prevent the country from falling into famine even as the new administration takes over office.

In constructive discussions with German group, says Tata Steel Mumbai, Dismissing British media reports that Tata Steel UK may scrap merger talks with German group ThyssenKrupp, the steel maker on Monday said it is "in constructive discussions" with the German conglomerate. "Tata Steel would like to inform that it continues to be engaged and is in constructive discussions with CHANGE OF NAME I have changed my old name from SIMA MADHAVDAS SANGATANI to New Name CHANDANI NILESH NAGDEV Add. : A/2/18, Swamiharnamdas Society Kubernagar, Ahmedabad 5792

ThyssenKrupp regarding a potential merger of the steel businesses of the respective companies in Europe," the steel producer said in a regulatory filing to BSE. It however also said "until a definitive agreement" is reached, there can be "no assurances that these discussions will result in a transaction". The Sunday Times newspaper on Sunday said

that Tata Steel is considering a "daring plan to break off a planned merger" of its European business with those of the German conglomerate. Such a deal with the German steel giant, talks on which were announced by Tatas last year, could lead to the formation of a European steel behemoth with blast furnaces in Wales, the Netherlands and Germany.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

I have changed my old name from MANISH RAJENDRASINGH YADAV to New Name MANISHKUMAR RAJENDRASINGH YADAV Add. : 40, Dharnidhar Avenue Nava Naroda, Ahmedabad 5791

I have changed my old name from TILALA BHOVAN TARSHIBHAI to New Name BHAVESH TARSHIBHAI TILALA Add. : A-12 Siddhi Complex Chandkheda, Ahmedabad 5794

e-Tender Notice CHANGE OF NAME I have changed my old name from POOJA HIRALAL MENGHANI to New Name ISHA JATINKUMAR SAJANANI Add. : C/304, Hirabhai Tower, Uttamnagar, Maninagar, Ahmedabad 5793

Tender No. GMDC PP 2016-17-03 GMDC invites tender for Technical evaluation to improve plant performance for its 2x125 MW Akrimota Thermal Power Station at Village Nani Chher, Tal. Lakhpat, Dist. Kutch, Gujarat State. For e-Tender Notice and further details visit our web site www.gmdcltd.com. Tender will be downloaded from https://gmdc.nprocure.com and Submitted on line as per e-tender notice. General Manager (Power) No. INF/ABD/2026/2017

Mumbai, Jet Airways on Monday said that it has entered into a codeshare partnership with Fiji Airways to offer seamless connectivity between India and Fiji via Singapore and Hong Kong. According to the Indian airline major, codeshare agreement will address the growing demand for travel between India and Fiji."With the governments of both countries making focused efforts to further strengthen trade, tourism and cultural ties, we believe this codeshare partnership will play a pivotal role in these endeavours by enabling seamless connectivity between both countries," said Gaurang Shetty, Whole-time Director, Jet Airways.

SpiceJet to reserve seat for solo women passengers New Delhi, Budget passenger carrier SpiceJet on Monday announced that starting Wednesday, it will reserve single row seats only for solo women passengers on all its flights. According to the airline, the fourth row seats would be reserved for the airline's solo women passengers on all its flights, starting March 8 -- the International Women's day.The airline said the initiative will be observed on all its flights across the fleet, inclusive of both Boeings and Q400s.The airline said that solo women passengers traveling with the airline on March 8, 2017, can avail a free upgrade to SpiceMax seats."On the Dday -- 8th March 2017, female passengers travelling alone will have the special privilege to avail a free upgrade to SpiceMax seats if the latter is available," the budget airline said in a statement.

India-Portugal IT&E cooperation MoU approved New Delhi, The central government on Monday approved a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between India and Portugal for cooperation in the field of IT&E (information technology and electronics). The decision to approve the MoU was taken by the Union Cabinet. The MoU was signed on January 6, 2017, in New Delhi."The MoU will help in developing a long term and sustainable cooperation on the basis of equality and mutual interest in the areas of IT&E in line with each country's laws and regulations," the Union Cabinet was quoted as saying in a statement.

IGIA adjudged world's second best large airport New Delhi, Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport has been declared the world's second best airport in the highest passenger handling capacity category by the Airports Council International (ACI). The announcement was made by Delhi International Airport Ltd. (DIAL) on Monday. DIAL is a GMR Group-led consortium that manages and operates the IGI Airport. The airport shares the second spot with Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport of Mumbai and Singapore's Changi Airport. IGIA attained the second position globally, only after Incheon Airport, South Korea. As per Airports Council International (ACI), ASQ 2016 rankings, the IGIA has been named the world's second best airport in its highest category of airports which handle over 40 million passengers per annum (MPPA).According to DIAL, IGIA's ASQ score increased substantially from 4.96 in 2015 to 4.99 in 2016. "As we witness robust growth, we look forward to strong collaboration and support of airport stakeholders as well as our passengers. We are now geared to undertake the expansion works at Delhi Airport," said I. Prabhakara Rao, Chief Executive Officer, DIAL.

Global cues, selling pressure subdue Indian equities Mumbai, Broadly negative global cues and heavy selling pressure witnessed in metal, automobile and healthcare stocks subdued the Indian equity markets on Tuesday. The wider 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) slipped by 16.55 points or 0.18 per cent, to 8,946.90 points. The barometer 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 29,092.16 points, provisionally closed at 28,999.56 points (at 3.30 p.m.) -- down 48.63 points or 0.17 per cent from the previous close at 29,048.19 points. The Sensex touched a high of 29,098.17 points and a low of 28,957.68 points during the intra-day trade.The BSE market breadth was tilted in favour of the bears -with 1,649 declines and 1,188 advances.On Monday, the benchmark indices surged to their new closing-high levels in the last 24 months as investors' sentiments were buoyed after a major breakthrough was achieved on the modalities of implementing the Goods and Services Tax (GST).The NSE Nifty gained 65.90 points, or 0.74 per cent, to close at 8,963.45 points, and the BSE Sensex was up 215.74 points or 0.75 per cent at 29,048.19 points.

Finance Bill to be passed before March 31: Jaitley New Delhi, The Finance Bill will be passed by Parliament before March 31 to enable ministries to avail funds from April 1, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday. "This would help the ministries to remain in stage of readiness as funds would be available with effect from April 1," he said here.The Finance Bill is introduced in the Lok Sabha, after the presentation of the annual budget, to implement the financial proposals for the following financial year. Jaitley also released the revised General Financial Rules (GFR) 2017.

Microsoft doubles its bug bounty to $30,000 New York, Microsoft has doubled its bug bounty for a limited period to up to $30,000 for individuals across the globe who do serious vulnerability submissions for specific online services provided by the tech giant. The qualified submissions are eligible for a minimum payment of $500 up to a maximum of $15,000, Microsoft said in a post late on Monday. Now from March 1 to May 1, any eligible vulnerability submitted for Microsoft Office 365 Portal and Microsoft Exchange Online would be eligible for double rewards. "Hence, any qualified vulnerability found in the domains below will receive up to $30,000 if it's submitted between March 1 and May 1," the company said. Bounties will be paid out at Microsoft's discretion based on the impact of the vulnerability. The bounties would be paid for services like, Cross Site Scripting (XSS), Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF), Unauthorised cross-tenant data tampering or access (for multi-tenant services), among others. The specific domains include, portal.office.com, outlook.office365.com, outlook.office.com, *.outlook.com and outlook.com.'

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Sports

WESTERN TIMES AHMEDABAD WEDNESDAY, 8/3/2017

Pune Supergiants acquire pacer Shardul Thakur for IPL 2017

News in a Nutshell

The officials of the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) and Gujarat State Table Tennis Association (GSTTA) visited the Transstadia, Ahmedabad for hosting of Indian Junior and Cadet Open, ITTF 2017 World Junior Circuit, Premium Series at Transstadia, Ahmedabad from 3rd May to 7th May 2017. The officials of TTFI and GSTTA were impressed with the all facilities of Transstadia. In photo seen are Shri Vipul Mittra-IAS, President, GSTTA, Shri Udit Sheth, Director, Transstadia, Shri Hiren Pandit, CEO, Transstadia, Shri Anuj Mehta, Vicepresident, Transstadia, Shri Dhanraj Chaudhary, Advisor, TTFI, Shri Haresh Sangtani, Hon. Secretary, GSTTA and other T.T. officials .

Kenya steps up efforts to be struck off IAAF doping watch list Nairobi, Top International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) anti-doping officials have given Kenya their seal of approval as the country strives to be removed from the world athletics governing body's doping watch list before the World Championships in London in August. The eastern African distance running giant has set a target of June to be struck off the list it was included in by the IAAF alongside Morocco, Ethiopia, Belarus and Ukraine in 2016 with the status extended to this year, reports Xinhua news agency. IAAF officials Thomas Capdeville and Kyle Barber were in Nairobi on Monday where they held a closed door meeting with top officials from the country's Ministry of Sports, Culture and the Arts, Athletics Kenya (AK) and the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK). They later released a road map for ensuring full compliance with anti-doping protocols prescribed by the IAAF. The world body officials will pay another visit in to Kenya in April to check on the progress before a final assessment tour in June where the country hopes to have fulfilled all conditions to be formally expunged from the watch list."So, it was a very fruitful meeting, we had all the commitments we were expecting from all the various sectors around the table, the commitments and we worked on an action plan, very practical steps not very vague and general," Capdeville, who is the acting Director at the IAAF Anti-Doping Department, told the press."It was a practical meeting, we are operational people and it was good to see we have all the commitments that we wanted and we can coordinate towards protecting clean Kenyan athletes.

New Delhi,

WEST HAM UNITED 1-2 CHELSEA - MARTIN SAMUEL AT THE LONDON STADIUM: There was something horribly prophetic about this victory. Tottenham and Manchester City had scrapped and sweated over the weekend to reel in the league leaders – and then out went Chelsea and calmly restored the gap at the top to 10 points.

COA notes non-compliance by BCCI on almost all counts Kolkata,

In its first report made public, the Supreme Courtappointed BCCI's Committee of Administrators (COA) has clearly mentioned that there has been a case of "Non Compliance" in 10 out of 11 reforms in the first set of timelines. The only reform that the BCCI has given a green signal to is the 'Handbook for disabled cricketers' which the Board of Control for

Cricket in India (BCCI) has released on its website on Saturday. It is point No. 8 on the first timeline. Two sets of timelines were provided in the Supreme Court verdict but the COA has found that there has been complete non-compliance from the state associations. The COA report states that there was non-compliance by the BCCI on all 11 points in the first set of timelines given on August 9,

2016. It was supposed to be complied with by September 30, 2016. On 11 points, the COA has written "Steps Not Complied With". The COA report had three specific heads: Steps to be taken, CEO's report and Committee's Observations. The 10 points of noncompliance by the BCCI in first timelines are: 1. Formal adoption of new Memorandum of Rules

I-League: DSK Shivajians await in-form Aizawl on home turf Pune, their jubilant show until

DSK Shivajians will be playing their first home match after four back-toback away games in the 13th round game of the ILeague football championship, playing hosts to redhot Aizawl FC who are approaching the game straight from a home win over Mumbai FC at home. Shivajians coach Dave Rogers referred to it on a positive note. "It's nice to be back at home.We were away from home for not less than four weeks and, meanwhile, we just landed two hours ago, so for our boys, it's great to be back on home turf and again we welcome Khalid and his staff and players and everyone from Aizwal." He minced no words to laud the heroics of Khalid Jamil and his Aizawl side for

now. "I said I give them the credit to where they are in the league right now and rightfully so." "If you want to see quality football, you need to see these things in the picture and do it to the right way. Financially for a football club, player's safety and wealth should be the main focal points. I'm not complaining against anyone, but we might need to give a relook to the fixture to keep the players up." "We got some fantastic talent in the country, fantastic coaches, clubs and the gentleman sitting next to me is a vivid proof of that. Aizwal are a great club with great fans, good players. The synergy has been perfect this season and that's the reason behind their success this season.You know, a foot-

ball club is not it's on-field credibility but off the pitch as well," Rogers stated. DSK Shivajians come into this game on the back of a 1-1 draw against Chennai City FC, thanks to the last-gasp goal by Shane McFaul. Dave Rogers further said, "Every game is bound to be tough. We played in Aizwal back in February, it was a bit tough one. If you don't score goals, then you don't win the games. Aizwal are just doing the basic things, scoring goals and conceding very less." On the other hand, Aizwal FC coach Khalid Jamil opined to let his players enjoy the game to the fullest. "I am feeling really good and positive. We are playing against a good team, nonetheless, I want my boys to go and enjoy the game."

and Regulations. 2. Amendments in constitution by state units. (Some states had directly informed Lodha Panel that they will implement it) but overall non-compliance. 3. Amendments in IPL rules with regard to Code of Conduct of players, AntiCorruption Code for participants, Anti-Racism, Operational Rules. 4. To decide on order and rotation of states like Gujarat and Maharashtra with multiple teams, disbursement of funds among members, 15-day gap between national calender and IPL engagement. 5. Agents' registration norms. 6. Players Association with financial support from BCCI. 7. Adding Puducherry as Associate member.

Ludhiana, Bengaluru FC snapped a seven-game winless run to finally record a 1-0 win against Minerva Punjab FC in an I-League football tie at the Guru Nanak Stadium here on Sunday. Lenny Rodrigues scored the only goal of the game in the 17th minute. Courtesy the win, Bengaluru jumped to fourth position with 16 points from 11 matches. Minerva, who saw their six-game unbeaten run broken, stayed seventh having ATLETICO MADRID 3-0 VALENCIA: Atletico Madrid's French forwards Antoine Griezmann and Kevin Gameiro fired them to a first win in three league outings as they beat Valencia 3-0 on Sunday to maintain their hold on Spain's fourth Champions League qualifying place. Top scorer Griezmann latched onto a through ball from Koke to arrow a first-time finish into the bottom corner in the 10th minute, while Gameiro notched his 10th league goal this season three minutes after the break with the help of a deflection.

India will bounce back, says Pujara Bengaluru,

hander praised the Indian bowlers for their performance, picking out pacers Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma for special mention. Both Indian pacers had bowled well throughout the day, picking up a wicket each. Umesh in particular, was impressive during an eight-over spell during the morning session and was unlucky not to bag more wickets. The Australians had struggled to keep the scoreboard ticking throughout the day, specially in the morning session which yielded just 47 runs over 29 overs. "We bowled really well throughout the day. Specially our fast bowlers. It wasn't easy for the fast bowlers. The odd ball was staying low but at the same time they were putting in a lot of hard work," Pujara said. "We could see the scoreboard where they

were not being able to score too many runs. So in a way it was a victory and we bowled tight lines. Even the lengths were good from the fast bowlers. So overall we bowled really well but at the same time we got only six wickets. But they have not scored many runs." Pujara also dismissed suggestions that the Indian players are tired after a long season during which they faced New Zealand, England and Bangladesh before the current series. "We have had enough breaks in between. I don't think it was a long season. We have won so many matches apart from the last game. We will come back stronger in this Test match and in this series," the Saurashtra batsman asserted. "We will focus on bowling the correct line and length and wickets will come."

11 from 12 games. Minerva continued with their rotation policy, making as many as six changes to the side that held Mumbai FC to a goalless draw. Bengaluru on the other hand had three from the team that lost to league leaders East Bengal 1-3. Centre back John Johnson returned to the starting lineup after an injury layoff while Serbian striker Marjan Jugovic making his debut. It was not an eventful

Querrey shocks Nadal in final of Acapulco tennis meet Acapulco (Mexico),

Sam Querrey upset Spanish star Rafael Nadal 63, 7-6 (7-3) in the final of the Mexican Open here, becoming the first American to win the title in the tennis tournament's 24-year history. The 29-year-old Querrey ended Nadal's unbeaten streak in the Mexican Pacific resort city in Saturday night's final, reports Efe. "It's definitely a tournament that I'm going to remember for the rest of my life. It's just one of those weeks where I got in the zone and everything was working for me. I hope I can have more like this," Querrey said. "After the match against (Belgium's David) Goffin, I knew I could go far here if I continued to play at that level. My forehand and backhand were great and my serve bailed me out of trouble when I needed it. I felt like I had a lot of support throughout the week and everyone has been so kind. It's been a pleasure to play here," Querrey said.

Querrey entered the hard-court tournament ranked 40th in the world and will move into the top 30 when the new ATP rankings come out on Monday. "He played very well, almost reaching perfection. I played under a lot of pressure because of his serve and baseline game. He left me with very few options, and the few I had he also played good. I have to congratulate him. I'm also very happy with my week and my game," Nadal said. The 30-year-old Nadal, who reached his first Grand Slam final in nearly three years at January's Australian Open, was looking to win his first hard-court title since January 2014, when he took the trophy at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. Nadal won the title in Acapulco in 2005 and 2013, and entered the final with a 14-0 career record at the event. In the women's final, Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko defeated France's Kristina Mladenovic 6-1, 7-5.

8. Creation of websites with links for disabled cricketers, Hindi reports, links to stadia, facilities and tickets, transparency of member. 9. Reorganising of the Zones. 10. Appointment of electoral officers for the BCCI. The second set of timelines was given with a four-point reform list which again was a case of "noncompliance" by the BCCI. 1. Elections to State associations. 2. Election of Executive Committee of Players Associations. 3. Elections to Apex Council of BCCI, BCCI AGM and Appointment of Ethics Officer and Ombudsman. 4. Creation to BCCI Committees, IPL Governing Council and appointment of management under the new rules.

Thakur for Indian Premier League 2017," a statement from the team read. "The fast bowler was bought by KXIP in the 2014 IPL Player Auction.This is the second trade done by RPSG after having secured Delhi Darevdevils' batsman Mayank Agarwal," it added.

Chhattisgarh skipper Kaif tries to scrap Vijay Hazare tie after tiff with umpire Kolkata, Former India cricketer and Chhattisgarh captain Mohammad Kaif on Monday wanted to pull out of their Group D encounter against Karnataka at the Eden Gardens after embroiling in a tiff with the umpire regarding the dismissal of opener Mayank Agarwal. It was learnt from sources that the match referee had to intervene after eight minutes of play was wasted with Kaif finally deciding to change his stance and take to the ground again. It all started after Chhattisgarh -- out of reckoning for qualifying to the last-eight stage -- set a target of 200 for Karnataka led by India regular Manish Pandey. In the second innings, a Omkar Verma delivery was nicked by Agarwal batting on one, which wicketkeeper Manoj Singh and Kaif standing at first slip went for.While Kaif claimed he took the catch cleanly, the leg umpire adjudged Agarwal not out forcing Kaif to lose his cool and ask how the leg umpire could see a right hander edging a ball to first slip.

WOMEN WRESTLERS IN ACTION DURING A COMPETITION HELD BY NAVI MUMBAI MUNICIPAL CORPORATION (NMMC) IN NAVI MUMBAI.

Bengaluru beat Minerva 1-0 to break winless streak in I-League

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Australia may be in a dominant position in the second cricket Test, but experienced Indian batsman Cheteshwar Pujara is confident that the hosts will bounce back. Australia posted 237/6 in their first innings by the end of the second day's play at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Sunday. The visitors have opened up a 48-run lead over the hosts who were dismissed for 189 runs in their first innings on the opening day. "We are very much in the game. Once we get some runs on the board and we have already seen that the ball is keeping a bit low. We will first have to get four wickets. Once we get that we will have to bat well and put up a decent total on the board," Pujara told reporters. The 29-year-old right

Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Rising Pune Supergiants (RPSG) on Monday roped in Mumbai medium pacer Shardul Thakur for the forthcoming 10th edition of the cash-rich cricket league. Thakur, who used to ply his trade for the Kings XI Punjab in the previous editions of the IPL, emerged the second trade for the Pune franchise after securing Delhi Darevdevils' batsman Mayank Agarwal earlier. "Rising Pune Supergiants (RPSG) have acquired the services of Kings XI Punjab's pacer Shardul

first half despite the away side playing four forwards with Sunil Chhetri, Udanta Singh, C.K. Vineeth and new signing Jugovic all playing. The only real action of the half was the goal when Cameron Watson floated in a free kick which the tall and wiry Lenny headed in past home keeper Arnab Das Sharma who could only deflect the ball onto the horizontal and into the goal. Bengaluru attacked with more venom after taking the lead as Chhetri tried to weave his magic against lesser fancied opponents. The second half had little in it as Minerva failed to conjure up any move of note to level proceedings. For Bengaluru, Jugovic did not impress and was substituted by Harmanjyot Khabra in the 57th minute.

Over 800 women compete in Mumbai rally ahead of International Women's Day talent, commitment, guts, Mumbai,

Mumbai witnessed girl power at its brightest and strongest as over 800 ladies turned up to compete in an all-womens car rally here on Sunday. A picnic-like atmosphere reigned at Hotel Sahara where the flag-off took place at 8 a.m. as one after the other over 260 freshly painted and decorated cars set off on their 150kilometre quest for glory, according to a release. In a unique gesture, most of the participants used the occasion to send out their messages to the society, with women's empowerment as the most common theme. 'One girl with courage is a revolution' screamed one message; 'To hell with sugar n spice' said another, 'we are all about

toughness' it added. Interestingly, demonetisation was another popular theme with a number of colours painted in the colours of the new 2000-rupee note. Pink and green were the most common colours while a brave young girl turned her car into a chariot, with five stallions painted on her bonnet. The rally, organised by Western India Automobile Association (WIAA) for the third year in succession to mark International Women's Day, is primed to create road safety awareness for ladies and is blessed by the FMSCI, the parent body for motor sports in the country. The winners will be felicitated at a grand awards function on March 8, International Women's Day.

Feyenoord suffer second defeat, but Ajax fail to profit in Dutch league The Hague (Netherlands), One week after their 21 win over PSV Eindhoven, Dutch football league leaders Feyenoord suffered their second defeat of the Eredivisie season in the Rotterdam derby at Sparta. But AFC Ajax were held FC Groningen 1-1, failing to reduce the gap to Ajax. Mathias Pogba, the

brother of Manchester United star Paul Pogba, headed in a cross from Jerson Cabral to give Sparta the lead within the first minute on Sunday, reports Xinhua news agency. Feyenoord were not able to bounce back from that early blow and suffered more setbacks when Terence Kongolo and Eljero Elia fell out with injuries.Substitute

Bilal Basacikoglu finally produced the equaliser for Feyenoord in the second half, but his goal was disallowed by referee Danny Makkelie. The TV images showed the referee was wrong because the ball had suffered only their second defeat in 25 matches this season and a streak of 10 victories in a row came to an end.

Chennai City FC held to 1-1 draw by DSK Shivajians the last as he spoiled what in four. There were chances ner as he was left unmarked technique to volley a loose Chennai,

Irish midfielder Shane McFaul scored in the dying minutes to deny Chennai City FC a much needed win and restored a point for DSK Shivajians with a 1-1 result in the I-League football match at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium here on Sunday. Shivajians Haroon Amiri scored in the 42nd minute but McFaul saved his strike for

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would have been the hosts' third win. The result though had lifted them in the table as they went equal on points (9) with Mumbai FC, whom they beat 2-1 in their only meeting so far. Shivajians are seventh with 11 points in their kitty from 12 outings. The visitors made seven changes to the team that lost to Churchill Brothers 3-0. Chennai ringed

for both teams in the first half but none could muster anything. For the home team, Charles, Amiri and Marcos Tank wasted good opportunities in front of goal while Lallianzuala Chhangte failed to finish at the other end for the visitors. Right at the end of the first half, Amiri managed to disturb the scoresheet, heading in from a cor-

by the Shivajians defence. In the second half, Chennai tried to double their lead. Charles tried to get on the end of an Amiri cross but failed. The bane for the home side was Marcos Tank, who on one occasion linked up well with Charles to cut inside and shoot woefully wide of target. Shivajians had Juan Quero showing wonderful

ball inches wide of goal. The visitors looked desperate to get back in the game as Sairuat Kima also came close, heading wide from a flicked on ball by Shane McFaul after Quero swept in a delectable corner. For all their effort in front of goal,Shivajians equalised in second half added time. McFaul volleyed home. CMYK

MONACO 4-0 NANTES: Leonardo Joardim's men restored their three-point lead over Paris Saint-Germain at the league's summit with an easy 4-0 win against Nantes. Monaco made things easy for themselves with the 18-year-old Mbappe volleying home to put the hosts ahead in the fourth minute after some good work on the right by Bernardo Silva.

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