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ASSENG/2015/64205
PAGE 12
Vol. II
Issue 13
Dibrugarh, Friday, July 1, 2016
Golaghat, June 30: Today the Superintendent of Excise of Golaghat was caught red handed by the Vigilance and Anti Corruption Officials. The Excise Superintendent of Golaghat JC Phukan had allegedly taking bribe of twenty five thousand from a woman from Badulipara area in Golaghat . The Vigilance and Anti Corruption officials seized the bribe money from the desk of the senior Excise official. Meanwhile reports of raid at the residence of Excise Superintendent JC Phukan in Jorhat are also found. The investigation was on till the filing of this report. (Correspondent)
One Dead in Road Mishap Golaghat, June 30: One person died in a road mishap today in Golaghat. According to the report a young man named Aftab Hussain was on his way in a new motor cycle. Suddenly he collided with an e-rickshaw at Bengenakhowa. In the accident Aftab got serious injuries. Later he succumbed to his injuries. (Correspondent)
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87.5 PERCENT OF VILLAGES ELECTRIFIED: IBOBI
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CM Sonowal instructs PWD to fix After heavy downpour Dibrugarh its line of action and repair all roads reels under artificial flood of Barak Valley within 3 months A Staff Reporter Dibrugarh, June 30
A Staff Reporter Guwahati, June 30
In what can be termed as a respite to the long-standing ordeal of the people of Barak Valley, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal directed the Public Works Department to fix its line of action and repair all the roads of Barak Valley within three months. He also asked the department to furnish the estimate of raw materials required for the work which the Forest Department
S Viswanathan, IAS, Deputy Commissioner, Cachar felicitated Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam Sarbananda Sonowal during Senior Citizenship Meet at Bongo Bhawan in Silchar. Pic - UB Photos
will provide for the purpose. Sonowal who is on a day long visit to Barak Valley to discuss a gamut of issues with the DCs and SPs of Cachar, Karimganj, Hailakandi, Dima Hasao, Karbi Anglong and Hamren in Silchar today, directed PWD to complete the repair works before he visits Barak Valley after three months to carry out an inspection. He also asked the National Highway Authority of India to complete the work of mahasadak on a priority basis. Contd. on Page 4
The flash flood in Dibrugarh has created woes for the citizens for the past several years. Last night rain has created a flash flood in Dibrugarh and many areas of the town remained waterlogged and normal life was badly affected. Many areas including Thana Charali, Milannagar, Grahambazar, Khalihamari, KP Road, Padum Nagar, Amolapatty, Naliapool, police reserve are affected due to the flash flood. The poor drainage system was the reason for the woes of the people. The last night downpour submerged several stretches of the busy Thana Charali, the lifeline of the town throwing traffic into
disarray. Similar scenes were witnessed in all the prominent roads like RKB Road, KC Gogoi Road and PN Road. “In the last year flash flood rain water submerged all the 22 wards of the town. We have
had a harrowing experience in the last month’s flood with water entering our house and we had to shift to another place,’’ said Biswajit Phukan, a resident of Dibrugarh. Contd. on Page 4
Dree festival to get underway in the Capital Complex from July 1 One rhino killed, horn Changlang MLA Tesam Pongte, while the mail celebration will be held on July 5 next and shall be inaugurated by Nyishi Elite Society president Bengia Tolum.
bike and scooter collide Itanagar, June 30: A white Mahindra scooter bearing registration number AR-022081, and a black Yamaha motorbike collided at Niti Vihar road, Itanagar at around 8.15 pm today. Driver of the scooter, Dama Miji (19) informed that he, along with his friend Markio Tajum (19) in the back, were making a turn, when the motorbike came speeding and crashed into them. There were two riders in the motorbike, which did not have a registration number, and is suspected to be stolen. Miji and Tajum were rushed to Heema Hospital, while the motorbike riders were reportedly taken to R K Mission Hospital. More details are awaited on the incident. (Staff Reporter)
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Excise Superintendent Caught Red-handed Taking Bribe
5.00
ECSTATIC PARENTS DESCRIBE SONU'S RETURN AS EID GIFT
PLACES TO VISIT IN MANIPUR
ET CAPSULES
Price -
A Staff Reporter Naharlagun, June 30
Preparations for the mega celebration of Dree festival in the Capital Complex, scheduled to begin from July 1 next,
are on in full swing. This year, the Capital Complex Dree Festival Committee (CCDFC)-2016 under its chairman Narang Tani and secretary Nani Tath have given special attention to installing
exhibition stalls of government departments, food stalls, and a line-up of entertaining performances. The festival will be formally inaugurated on July 1 by
Secretary CCDFC Tath informed that sports competitions and cultural events will continue through the five-day celebration, while adding that the Arunachal Vivekandanda Yuva Shakti will organise a blood donation camp on the 5th, in collaboration with the CCDFC. He also appealed to everyone to come and enjoy the festivity at Dree Ground in Papu Nallah.
New Tocklai Director Kakopather police in from July 1st Tinsukia siezed brownsuger ET Correspondent Jorhat, June 30
ET Correspondent Digboi, June 30
Dr Anoop Kumar Barooah who will be the new Director of Tea Research Association (TRA), Tocklai Tea Research Institute, Jorhat, Assam, India w.e.f. 1st July 2016. Earlier he was the Chief Scientist and has been involved in tea research at Tocklai since 1994.
Team Kakopathar police led by Sub Inspector Chandan Raut seized around 5.6 grams of substance suspected to be brown sugar here this afternoon from a vehicle (Indica) bearing registration no AS23 B 4889 at Lajum village under Kakopathar police station in Tinsukia district of Upper Assam.
Post graduated from IARI, New Delhi with specialization in Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry, he was involved in co-ordination and conduction of research in the field of soil
Dr Anoop Kumar Barooah
chemistry, plant nutrition, pesticide residues and heavy metals. Contd. on Page 3
According to sources, the drug peddler identified as Jaikanta Mohanto (24) son of Rakhomoi Mohanto the resident of Dirak Hunjan
village under Bordumsa Police Station has been apprehended during the course of investigation. Following a conflict between the arrested drug peddler with some of his acquaintances in Lajum village, the residents of Lajum village informed the police who immediately rushed to the spot and successfully arrested the drug peddler. The accused has been booked following a case to this effect registered at Kakopather PS at 29/2016 under NDPS Act. Contd. on Page 4
chopped off in Orang
Surrendered poachers killed near ONP ET Correspondent Mangaldai, June 30
Photo Rhino Killed in Orang NP ET Correspondent Mangaldai, June 30
The bullet ridden carcass of an adult female rhino with its horn chopped off has been recovered today from the area under the Old Orang forest camp of the Orang National Park (ONP) . According to Divisional Forest Officer of Mangaldai Wildlife Division Sunnydeo Choudhary, the forest guards on duty on the evening of June 27 last heard a single gunshot of a silencer fitted fire arm and they immediately launched search operation which continued for the second and the third day. But this morning the carcass of the dead rhino with a single bullet injury on her body was recovered lying near the camp. However, the poachers succeeded in taking away the
horn. The local veterinary surgeon today carried out the post mortem examination while the forest guards are continuing the search operation for the ammunitions used in the poaching and to trace out the poachers. It is worth mentioning that the ONP-the only habitat of the one horned rhinos on the northern bank of river Brahmaputra in the period from 2008 till today has officially recorded the poaching of 22 rhinos while another 16 rhinos have reportedly died naturally. On the other hand much to the delight of the local nature lovers prior to this incident of Old Orang forest camp there was not a single case of rhino poaching has been reported in the Park since 2015.
One Meher Ali (50) , a resident Nalbari near the main entrance of the Orang national Park (ONP) a hardcore poacher who had surrendered before the public along with 24 other poachers in 2000 has been killed by three persons on Tuesday following a twenty yearlong revenge over the killing of two persons , said police. The incident took place near Silbori daily market on the evening of June 28. Deceased Meher Ali while was about to drove to his residence by his Maruti car, three persons all of a sudden attacked him with daggers and other sharp weapons causing serious injuries. Critically injured Meher Ali was immediately shifted to Guwahati Medical College Hospital on the same night but succumbed to his injuries in the late mid night. According to the source deceased Meher Ali twenty years back had allegedly killed two villagers namely Kasu alias Kasem Ali and Nur Islam and with the intention to take the revenge Lokman, Sofiqul and Kalam of No. 1 Kachari Bheti Top near the Park- all are family members of killed Kasem and Nur Islam on that day attacked Meher Ali. However all the three accused persons are absconding till filling of this report.
Forest Minister finally acted tough, SP Tinsukia arrested CM reviews activities of excise 'Laden' -the much chased international wildlife smuggler department to increase revenue
cmyk
Following the failure of the Assam forest department including the Digboi and Doomdoma Divisions in apprehending the much chased international wild life poacher cum smuggler of the said corruption infected belt in Tinsukia District, Pramila Rani Brahma the Assam forest Minister herself employing her source tracked the presence of the accused at Borpahjan in Tinsukia District and instructed Mugdha Jyoti Mahanta the SP Tinsukia to arrest the culprit immediately.
Accordingly, the SP concerned swung into action and arrested Mamtaz Siddique alias Laden from Borhapjan Purana Bazar area last evening in the presence of Gyanaranjan Das the ACF Digboi Division
role of the Digboi Forest Division of Assam Forest Department the local NGO which had been crying earlier for immediate interference of the District Administration and Forest Minister in saving the
IMPACT OF THE EASTERN TODAY in connection with Saraipung case no 03/2016 u/s 9/39/ 48(a), 49 (a), 49 (b), 51, 52 of Wildlife Protection Act,1972. Following the interrogation with the accused by the forest officials at Digboi Division the culprit was produced before the SDSJM Dibrugarh. Meanwhile, suspecting the
flora and fauna kingdom including several other illegalities and irregularities of the Division alleged that the apprehended Laden who has been trading on smuggling and poaching of wildlife of Digboi and Doomdoma Division for more than two decades and even after serious allegations
Laden
and evidences the forest department did not arrest the culprit. According to the NGOs and other nature based organization, Laden had been involved in poaching and smuggling elephants from Assam Digboi and Doomdooma Division in particular to other southern states of India and to Burma also through Jairampur and Nampong that shares common boundary with Arunachal and Burma. ‘Indo-Burma border areas have been one of the safest zones for the miscreants for carrying the elephants through the dense forest to promote their smuggled items in the
international markets that fetch them handsome’ added a source from Dispur. However, the SP Tinsukia also expressed astonishment towards the DFO Digboi who was earlier in Doomdooma too in holding the present designation at not informing and updating the district police officials in regard to the said Saraipung case centering round the poaching and smuggling by such a big illegal trader. He was told by the Minister concerned.
Contd. on Page 3
A Staff Reporter Guwahati, June 30
Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal reviewed the activities of the Department of Excise and steps being taken by the department to increase revenue collection. At a meeting with senior officials at his office chamber here yesterday evening, Sonowal directed the officials to plug the loopholes and stop leakages to mop up revenue mobilisation. The Chief Minister observed that there was huge scope to increase revenue from excise and directed the officials to frame rules for the New Assam Excise Act at the earliest. “Rules should be framed to
plug loopholes and prevent leakages to generate revenue in a big way,” he said, adding, “Streamlining of tax collection will result in better revenue generation.” Directing the officials ‘to leave no stone unturned in duty collection’ and to ‘check evasion of taxes on liquor sale’, Chief Minister Sonowal said, “Exercise must be carried out systematically to prevent tax evasion.” Sonowal directed the department to carry out vigorous enforcement drives to check any malpractices by the licensees. The Chief Minister fixed the target for excise revenue collection for Rs 1,800 crore for the year 2016-17 as against collection of Rs 800 crore in the last fiscal.
cmyk
Laxman Sharma Digboi, June 30
DIBRUGARH, FRIDAY, JULY 1
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ASTRO FOR YOU Aries The boredom of your monotonous life will now begin to tell on you. A change of trappings is what you probably have on mind. Money matters are not a big deal, and a little quick change may result in an evening get-together. You will like to flaunt your pretty and peaceful ambience. Taurus This is a day for going on a shopping spree. There are strong chances that you will be buying something durable and lasting, may be the latest fridge on the stalls. Later in the day, you are most likely to visit an exhibition and pick up some artistic and exotic objects. You will be strongly motivated to get as many things as possible to make your home look classier and brighter. Gemini You have a penchant for organising family functions and social programmes. Today, you are likely to organise one more. You plan to renovate your house in the afternoon. By evening, you will be back to your socializing self and may hang out at a popular local joint with a childhood friend. Cancer A new friend will join your circle or you establish friendship with someone. You will be spending the day in entertainment or party with friends. But tension will prevail in the office. Yet, a sense of joy will thrive on the domestic front. Leo There are rough patches that all families must deal with. There are chances that today; you may disagree with your siblings and other members of the family. Money and property will be your key areas of concern. At work too, you may find yourself besotted with a confrontational attitude towards peers. The best thing you can do today is to keep your emotions in check.
Chutia Jati Chatra Santha burns the effigies of Sarbanada Sonowal and Dharmendra Pradhan ET Correspondent Lakhimpur; June 30: Chutia Jati Chatra Santha has initiated protest programme against the Union Government's decision on privatization of 12 Oil Fields of Assam and the State Government's stand of support to the decision. Strongly protesting against it, the Lakhimpur District
Body of Chutia Jati Chatra Santha burnt the effigies of the Chief Minister of the State Sarbananda Sonowal and Union Govt's Petrolium Minister Dharmendra Pradhan just infront of Zila Parioshad Office at 1pm. The organisation expressed strong reaction alleging that the Union Governments took this anti-Assam deci-
Scorpio Though not like in an X-Files series, expect to find yourself open to the unknown and the supernatural today. Time spent at your work station will be troublesome. You may end up spending a small fortune on your health. You shall achieve your short-term targets. Sagittarius Your mood is high on expectations today. You shall plan meticulously before noon, and then in the afternoon, your plans shall fall in place, and deliver expected results. The opposite sex will find you intellectually stimulating and attractive. But be careful in matters of dollars and dimes in the evening. Capricorn The day will be spent juggling work and meeting personal demands. It may virtually be a tug-of-war, in which your friends and relatives will emerge victorious as you will end up spending more time with them. You will catch up with gossips that you missed while trying to impress your boss. This besides, you will be blessed with the valuable assistance of the more experienced that may help you acquire a right perspective to life. Aquarius Good news about a loved one will bring on a festive mood. You only need an itsy-bitsy excuse to party, and that's what you'll do today! You will make new friends, and they will prove helpful in times of need. A candlelit dinner to round up a perfect day. Pisces Today will find you resolute and unwavering in everything that you pursue, and it is a good thing to be, for you will find yourself making substantial progress come afternoon. New relationships could be in the offing today as well.
PRASAR BHARATI (India's Public Service Broadcaster) ALL INDIA RADIO : DIBRUGARH (M.W.529.1m/KHz567 F.M. 101.30 MHz) Phone No.-03732325456 E-mail -dibrugarh@air.org.in Facebook Page-All India Radio Dibrugarh Programme Highlights 1-7-16 (FRIDAY) 5-35 A.M-Bhaktigeeti(Devotional Songs) 6-10 A.M-Swasthya Charcha (Health Programme) 6-15 A.M-Hindi Language Lesson 6-30 A.M-Vidyarthir Anusthan 7-15 A.M-Aajir Dinto (Morning Information Service) 7-30 A.M-Geetanjali (Assamese Modern Song) 8-35 A.M-Surar Panchoi (Composite Programme of Assamese Film Songs) 9-05 A.M- Antara (Composite Programme of Assamese Film Songs) 12-05 P.M-Surar Satsori (Request Programme of Assamese Songs) 2-30 P.M-Western Music 3-45 P.M-Programme in Miju Mishmi 4-05 P.M-Programme in Khamti 4-25 P.M-Programme in Wancho 4-45 P.M-News for Arunachal Pradesh 5-00 P.M-Programme in Idu 5-20 P.M-Programme in Tangsa 5-40 P.M-Programme in Nocte 6-15 P.M-Ganya Raijor Anusthan 7-15 P.M-Karpumpuli 7-35 P.M-Ujjwal Bhabishyat 9-30 P.M- Kramasha (Serial Novel Reading)-"Theng Phakhri Tahsiladaror Taamor Tarowaal", Written by Mamoni Roysam Goswami,Read by Tribeni Das Gogoi, Music-Hiren Gohain, Direction-Lohit Deka, Production-Jayantajit Das (Part-1) Sd-/H.O.P
Mr. Arun Singh, chairman Tea Research Association (Tocklai) during inaugural session of the ‘User’s Meet; for pesticide detection in tea, (sitting from left to right)N. Muralidharan-director Tocklai, Dineswar Tasa-member Tea Board of India, Bidyanand Borkakoty-vice chairman of Tea Board of India.
ET Correspondent Jorhat, June 30: With the motto to detect ban pesticides in tea and to detect residue of other pesticides in tea an ‘User’s Meet’ on the topic ‘Bio Sensory Computing for Pesticide Detection in Tea’ was organized by Tocklai Tea Research Institute at Jorhat campus under the aegis of Tea Board of India (Ministry of Commerce, Govt. of India) which was jointly organized by Tea Research Association (Tocklai), Centre for Development of Advance Computing (C-DAC) Kolkata and BITS, Pillani held at the Tocklai Conference Hall here today. The ‘User’s Meet’ was inaugurated by Mr. Arun Singh, chairman of Tea Research Association (Tocklai) cum chief executive officer of Goodricke group of Tea Companies among Prabhat Bezbaruah, vice-chairman TRA cum MD of Bokahula Tea Group, Bidyanand Borkakoty, vice chairman Tea Board of India, Joydeep Phukan, secretary TRA, Dr. N. Muralidharan, director TRA, Dr.
Anup Kumar Baruah, senior scientist TRA among galaxy of planters, tea executives, tea scientists and research workers and associates were present during the day-long meet. A brief presentation and interactive discussion on Pest- Scan and Bio-Scan for detection of pesticide in tea which was briefly explained by Dr. N. Bhattacharyya from C-DAC, Professor S. Bhand from BITS, Pillani while Dr. Anup Kumat Baruah from Tocklai, Jorhat were the experts from the developers penal. Earlier inaugurating the ‘User Meet’ Arun Singh –chairman of TRA welcomed the move and congratulated Tocklai Scientists for their success in developing portable devices to detect the most burning problem of the industry, its good with graphical user interface, enzyme based calorimetric bio sensing system, with instant and rapid prediction of pesticide residue in tea matrix along with in build scanner based on advanced colour analysis software which all meant for pest
State observes 10th Statistics Day 2016 ET Bureau Guwahati, June 30: Assam also joins the rest of the country in observing the 10th Statistics Day coinciding with the birth anniversary of Late Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis. The day is commemorated with an aim of creating public awareness especially among the younger generation for drawing inspiration from late Professor P. C. Mahalanobis about the role of Statistics in socio-economic development, planning and policy formulation. The theme of this year’s Statistics Day was ‘Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare’.
of late Professor P. C. Mahalanobis and his role in socio-economic development, planning and policy formulation. Attending the programme, Joint Director of Agriculture Department, Govt. of Assam M.P. Rownier, spoke on the immense contribution of late P.C.Mahalanobis and gave a presentation on the theme highlighting different welfare schemes undertaken by the government for farmer’s welfare. Joint Director of Economics and Statistics, Ajit Baruah, also spoke at length on issues related to Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.
The Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Assam celebrated the day in its Headquarter, Guwahati. The programme was inaugurated by the Director of Economics and Statistics, Assam (i/c) P. K. Goswami. In his welcome address, P.K.Goswami explained briefly about the significance of Statistics Day. He also explained about the life history
A Technical session held on the occasion was followed by open interactive session in which officers and staff of the Directorate shared their views and experiences. Officers and Staff of the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Assam attended the programme along with a host of admirers of late Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis.
Rank holders feted warmly: Higher Secondary Course introduces at BVFC Model High School Angshuman Dutta Namrup, June 30: The school fraternity of BVFC Model High school here spruced up to accord warm felicitation to the five meritorious students of the school who became the proud recipients of the ranks among the 20 toppers of HSLC Examination this year, bringing glory not only to the school but also to Namrup as a whole. It is actually an epoch –making achievements of the BVFC Model High School to shine as one of the brightest luminaries in the educa-
tional periphery of the state with such a brilliant result. The five rank holders are --(1) Rajasree Das-6th ranks with state highest marks in AM,English,GM (II) Diksha Priyam Sonowal -8th rank with state highest marks in GM & MIL(Hindi) (III) Gitashree Saikia-15th rank with state highest marks in GM (IV) Jessica Baruah 16th rank with highest marks in AM & (V) Nilutpal Saikia -19th rank. All these 05 rank holders were accorded warm felici-
tation in the grand and glittering ceremony arranged by the school fraternity recently at the school complex. The meet held on the occasion was attended by host of notable dignitaries including Sr. Marry Thomas Superior , St Marry’s Naharkatia along with other sisters, M. Mishra – Chairman, School Managing Committee , all the members of SMC, Namrup Anchalik Chatra Santha’s, office bearers , parents, teaching & non-teaching stuff of the school & students. Earlier Sr. Leema
The organisation was disappointed by the behaviour of Chef Minister Sarbananda Sonowal for notwithstanding the national interest of Assam and Assamese. The organisation demanded to terminate the decision as soon as possible.
Tocklai finds its way for pesticides detection in black- tea
Virgo Be the crab who wants to get out of the basket, and make bold, brave moves at work, especially in the way you accomplish your tasks. Also, contribute with brilliant, refreshing ideas. You shall, however, in all probability, remain at sea in the afternoon. But, don't despair, take a break from work and recharge those sodden batteries. Libra It's not an easy ride for you today. Expect to undergo a range of emotions that might even make you feel distressed and emotional. However, your academic intelligence will bear some fruit over the course of the day. Also, your charisma will finally bedazzle that special someone in your life. Do not ignore a chance to give a facelift to your home.
sion keeping the people of the State in darkness.
Sebastian, Head Mistress, welcomed the guests, meritorious students & announced the name of the rank holders. She too expressed her profound joy for the grand & epoch making achievements of the school saying that “The 2016 HSLC batch has set a tremendous benchmark for the coming batches”. A glittering cultural programme was also organized to mark the occasion. Almost all the speakers blessed the meritorious students & highly praised the achievement
of the school. The rank holders were felicited with Phulam Gamusa, citation& etc. It is to be added that BVFC Model High School has fulfilled a long awaited proposal of the Management by upgrading it to a Higher Secondary School from the current academic session with Arts & Science stream. The people of the locality are of the opinion that the school would show tremendous achievements in Higher Secondary periphery.
–scan. All these features will be easy for tea growers auction centres, regulatory bodies and research institutes can be ready for applicable. It is not only particular organization or individuals effort which is strict initiative taken by the Tea Board of India and has been entrusted for a joint vision to monitor directly with field study and R&D works to TRA, C-DAC and BITS which is certified to be a affordable with commercial viability and has got cost flexibility for the changeable kit between Rs 5000 to Rs 6000, claimed all the three stakeholders. Bidyanand Borkakoty welcomed the new device that was jointly developed said it was good job done jointly and hope the device to detect pesticide is needed at this hour. Prabhat Bezbaruah, veteran tea planters spoke about the cost effectiveness of the system as the industry will prefer only when the cost effectiveness of such devices is more or less expected to be low, so we need to check about the expenditure in tea out. Scientists, Engineers from the developing bodies from Tea Board, TRA, C-DAC and BITS along with planters and experts further discussed on future course of action to its applicants for easy pesticide detection in tea industry and asked them to put in action which will help into reality when consumers to give the taste of free pesticides, said Dr. Anup Kumar Baruah, senior scientist and a panelists from the developers board.
AAGSU annual meet Pranjal Gogoi Duliajan 30 june: All Assam Gurkha Student Union of Duliajan regional committee will conduct their annual general meet on 2 July,2016.On 3rd July a felicitation program will be organised for all the students of the Gorkha community who have performed well in their HSLC and HS exams. All are hereby requested to attend the programe.
This is the view of Srimanta Nagar, Ward No. 5. Will you take up some measures ?
Phenomenal Growth of Small Savings Collection in Assam A Staff Reporter Guwahati, June 30: The gross small savings collection from Post Office Small Savings schemes in Assam recorded Rs. 6080.96 crore in the Financial Year 2015-16 against the target of Rs. 4250 crore which was set for the state by the Ministry of Finance, Government of India during the last financial year. It is a gross progressive achievement of 143.08 percent. At the same
time, the net small savings collection was Rs. 1270.52 crore against the target of Rs.780 crore during the same period. The net progressive achievement is 162.88 percent. It is worth mentioning that in comparision to small savings collection in the Financial year 2014-15, gross collection grew by 38.55 percent and net collection soared by 69.24 percent in 201516.
Miscreant loot 40, 000 rupees from hanicapped man in Margherita ET Correspondent Margherita, June 30: Tension Prevails at Margherita when a thief tried to loot Rs 40,000 from a handicapped man when he went to withdrew the money from State Bank of India Margherita Branch.The victim Shibu Barhoi who has a problem with his right and a resident of Thernal road Margherita said that today at 3:00 pm when I went to withdrew the money a tall black boy was following me and when I came out from the bank after withdrawing the money the youth sprayed some-
thing in my body which I felt like itching. Shibu Barhoi said after that he went with his scooter to fuel outlet to fill petrol at that time that youth broke the scooter lock but failed to take the money. "I fell on the road and shouted for help but nobody listened to my voice", said Shibu Barhoi. Conscious section of the people of Margherita had urged the Margherita Administration to take strict action against these petty thieves whenever they get arrested.
SBI , Mangaldai Celebrated its glorious foundation ET Correspondent Mangaldai, June 30: The Mangaldai Branch of State Bank of India (SBI) synchronizing with countrywide celebration of its glorious 210 years of banking service to its valued customers has organized a small yet auspicious function at the Youth Club Hall here on Wednesday. Mangaldai legislator Gurujyoti Das, Deputy Commissioner, Darrang Manoj Kumar, Chairman of Mangaldai Municipality Board Pratap Bordoloi lighted the traditional lamp to mark the 210th celebration of the SBI. In the function with eminent litterateur Idrish Ali on the chair, Assistant General Manager of Mangaldai Branch of SBI A Karim in his welcome speech highlighted the history and contribution of the SBI and also spoke on the functioning of the Bank. Deputy Commissioner Manoj Kumar in his speech appreciated the role of SBI towards the society and the nation. Speaking on the occasion Mangaldai legislator Guru Jyoti Das appealed the SBI authority to create awareness on the Pradhan Motrir
Mangaldai legislator Guru Jyoti das and Chairman of mangaldai Municipality Board Pratap Bordoloi in presence of Darrang Deputy Commissioner Manoj Kumar is lighting a lamp to mark the 210th years of SBI in a function at Mangaldai on Wednesday Jan Dhan Yojana, Jeevan Jyoti Bima Achani, Atal Pension Yojana etc so that maximum number of the countrymen could avail the benefit. District Development Manager of NABARD Biswajit Dev, officiating joint Director of Health services Dr. Ramesh Ch. Goswami, Prin-
cipal of Kharupetia College Dr. Budhin Chandra Hazarika and Manager of Personal Banking Department Deben Baishya also took part in the function. The students of Bishnu Jyoti Music College earlier enthralled the audience with a melodious chorus.
DIBRUGARH, FRIDAY, JULY 1
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GSS GTC receives best Arunachal Govt. raises doc- Awareness Meeting on superannuation age from school award of E-Siang tors' existing 58 years to 62 years Spread of Dengue Held A Staff Reporter Itanagar, June 30: The State Government has announced to raise the superannuation age of the doctors to 62 years from the existing 58 years. This has been done in keeping with the Prime Minister ’s special announcement for enhancing the age of superannuation of all doctors of the Central Health Service to 65 years with effect from May 31, 2016. Maksam Tayeng Pasighat, June 30: Amidst poor performance of some schools across the district and the state today which are not properly managed and maintained as it should have been according to the saying ‘school is a temple of learning’ , the Government Secondary School, GTC has performed its best and received best school award of East Siang District for the session 2015-16. The award of Rs. 1 lakh was handed over to the school recently by the Directorate of School Education as recognition of the performances in all form. Unlike other schools, some of which looks worst in terms of beautification, cleanliness besides weaknesses in disciplinary management of students and even teaching staffs, the GSS GTC looks a perfect place for leaning owing to its beautification and cleanliness which catches the eyes of every visitors. The school premises are so tidy that, no pieces of torn papers are seen around, not to talk of tiranga, gutka, bhang (cannabis) covers, biricigarette butts and caned beer wastes which are common sights in other school
premises these days. The students are taught properly, classes are well managed and teaching staffs are equally dutiful & responsible. This good performance record was marked by DC Pasighat, Isha Khola and former Adviser to CM cum former Education Minister, Bosiram Siram during their visit to the school on last part of the 2015. The impression of the school was so good that, Dy. Commissioner Khosla and Siram had termed the school as an example for other schools to follow. And finally, the school received its due recognition as best school of the district with cash award of rupees One Lakh. When contacted and asked how he is so successful in managing the school so beautifully, Head Master of the school, Lutni Perme shared his mantra which should be a lesson for other head of the institutions who really want to serve society by building human resources. Perme said, “I personally take up cleanliness activities, planting of trees, flowers etc. When I personally start doing all these works, my fellow staffs also follows including students to which I find endearing”. It is also heard from sources
that you don’t hesitate to carry weed sprayer machine on back to kill weeds in the school premises, how do you do that? Perme replied “Yes, I do take up such works by myself. This vacation too, just before starting of new session, I did spray weedicides to clean the ‘forget me not’ plants (locally called TANGGOM) and others. I chop the leaves of over grown flowers, does minor modification of loose bench-desks. We do kitchen gardening in the premises whose products are often mixed in the MDM cooking items”. The head master of the school is so hard working that, he often dares rainy days to collect tree saplings for planting in the school premises, and don’t misses out weeding out weeds during sunny days, informed Oni Panyang, former SMC Chairperson who feels teachers like Perme should be awarded by the state government. Despite fed by weak and poor students from far off Ayeng village Mobing area, Raneghat, GTC Tebo, JNC upper campus and others, GSS GTC is performing well and this award of best school will give an additional boost up to the already performing school.
Final NERP -2016 Drives
ET Bureau Borduria, June 30 : The last phase of NERP - 2016, National Electoral Roll Purification Meeting was successfully conducted at District Election Office, Tirap at DC ' s Conference Hall, Khonsa under the able Chairmanship of Shri T. Riba, EAC , Khonsa. The final meeting related to National Electoral Roll Puri-
fication was attended by BLO, s from different Constituencies of Tirap District. Shri T. Riba assisted by Staff of District Election Office, Tirap,beautifully and enthusiastically highlighted the pros and cons of the NERP 2016 Drives through power point presentation. The following objectives were discussed and explained : 1. Improvement
in health of Electoral Roll, Errors free. 2. Standardization of Sections, Polling stations boundaries and location. 3. Methodology Adopted. 4. EPIC Portability. etc. He also displayed a documentary from the different Constituencies of Arunachal Pradesh as a reference point and also interacted with the BLOs.
New Tocklai Director from July 1st Contd. from Page 1
He has pioneered the work on pesticide residues and detailed studies on heavy metals at Tocklai and generated data for a large number of compounds for fixation of MRLs (maximum residue limits). He is actively involved in regulatory research and a member of the Scientific Panel of Food Safety & Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) on Contaminants in Food Chain. Dr Barooah is also Joint co-ordinator of the FAOIntergovernmental Group (FAO-IGG) on Tea Working Groups on MRL and actively contributed in the group’s meetings held at Nairobi (2006), Sri Lanka (2007), New Delhi (2010), Washington DC (2012),
Rome (2012), Bandung (2014) and Milan (2015) and Naivasha (Kenya) in 2016.. He was also associated with European Tea Committee (ETC) International Working Group on Pesticide meeting in London (2009) as a member and is collaborating with UK Tea and Infusion Association and ETC and on studies on contaminants, an emerging challenge in the global market of tea. Dr Barooah has conceptualized the “brew factor” in risk assessment for fixation of realistic MRLs in tea, a concept that received dispensation in the 44th session of CCPR (Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues) held in Beijing in 2011. He has largely contributed for setting up the NABL accredited laboratory at Tocklai and a state of the
art pesticide residue laboratory at Kolkata with GC-MS/MS and LC-MS/MS facility for serving the tea industry. He has also successfully organized global ring test on pesticide residues in black tea in 2014 that involved 14 laboratories in the Germany, USA, China, Indian and Kenya and coauthored along with Prof Chen Zongmao of TRI, China, a policy document entitled “Guidance document on risk assessment using brew factor for fixation of MRLs of pesticides in tea” in 2015 for use by different regulators. Member of Indian Science of Soil Science and Society of Pesticide Science, India, he has guided a number of PhD students and has more than 100 publications to his credit.
It is widely understood fact that the learning curve of the doctors increases with age and their knowledge and experience keeps growing as they grow older. Also with the coming up of the medical college in the state, there would be a need for experienced doctors,
both to treat patients and teach. It may be noted that with the enhancement of age, it would have no impact on the intake of doctors and the question of blockage at entry grade does not arise. This is because there is huge shortfall of doctors all over the state and new posts have been created. Even doctors holding administrative posts would be of critical difference in the administration of upcoming medical college and other new teaching and training institutions. This enhancement of superannuation age of doctors would not in the least affect employment in the state or pose a problem on the question of unemployed doctors.
Two days training on Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition organised at Community Health Centre Hawai Anjaw, June 30:Two days training on Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition was organised at Community Health Centre Hawai on 27th and 28th June 2016 by the District Health Society Anjaw .The meeting witnessed active participa-
tion of the VHSN Comitee during the training besides distribution of kits.A Safai Abhiyan was conducted in the area under active supervision of Dr S Bardhan preceeding the VHSN training under guidance of Dr K Perme DMO Anjaw.
Awareness Meeting on Spread of Dengue Held ET Bureau Aalo June 30: An awareness meeting on growing Dengue diseases organized by the District Vector Borne Disease Control Society, Aalo was held under the chairmanship of Shri Liyi Bagra, Town Magistrate Aalo today. Shri Bagra laid stress on awareness generation among the people to check growing cases of dengue
diseases in the district and called for proactive role by medical officers, malaria department and paramedical staffs on field duties. The West Siang DMO, Dr. Marbom Basar said that this disease existed in the past but left undetected due to non availability of diagnostic equipments and it can be contained through preventive measures with support of the people only. Dr. Mrs. M.Riba Ete, DVBDCPO
dwelt at length on awareness campaign launched in various sectors, categories of dengue, detected dengue cases, distribution of medicated mosquito nets, cleanliness through social service etc through detail power point presentation. Shri Pegam Sora, AMO, Smti Karngam Nyokir DVBDC, officers and public also spoke in the interactive and Group discussion session.
DA carries out Massive Checking of Vehicles
Meeting-cum-training held at Roing ET Bureau Roing, June 30 : A meetingcum-training with the concerned ERO/AEROS/Supervisors/BLOs of Lower Dibang Valley District in connection with ongoing NERP activities was held here today. The training was imparted by Shri Olom Pangeng, CO, Koronu, DLMT through the power presentation. While welcoming the members present, Sri Ravi Dhawan, IAS, DC-cumDEO, Roing appraised the house regarding purpose of the meeting relating to National Electoral Rolls Purification, 2016 drive which already started from 1st march 2016 till 20th August, 2016 as directed by the Election Commission of India. He also requested all the members including newly appointed Supervisors/BLOs to
carry out the ongoing NERP activities properly as per ECI’s deadlines He also directed the members that E/ roll should be 100 % pure and error free. Rucika Katyal (IAS) EROcum-ADC, Roing (HQ) also requested all the members to co-ordinate for ongoing NERP activities and to cooperate with the Election Branch in successful conduct of NERP activities. Mary Nanom Taloh, CO (ELN) brief on the NERP activities and inform that today’s training basically aimed at apprising Supervisors/BLO’s to achieve 100 % pure Electoral Roll by eradicating errors viz duplicacy, poor photo image, ASD voters/multiple entry. All ERO/ AEROS/Supervisors/BLOs of Lower Dibang Valley District attended the meeting.
Fishery awareness meeting held ET Correspondent Kokrajhar, June 30: An awareness meeting on local fishery was organized at Kajalgaon bazaar and Sialmari on Thursday with Jibeswar Mushahary in the chair. It was organized by Chirang District Fishery Development Officer under Assam Fishery Act to bring awareness about rearing of locally found fishes in the region instead of Thailand magur
fish. Debrabroto Das, AFIO, Abdul Raffique,Chirang FEO,Madhav Kalita, Baksa FEO attended the meeting and delivered lectured about benefits of locally product fishes and its merits. They also said that government was extending supports towards rearing of fishes so that common publics could be sustained in their livelihood earning in the region.
ET Bureau Aalo, June 30: In order to contain plying of vehicles at township area without proper licenses, tax evasion without registration and renewal, driving by under aged boys and girls violating traffic rules under MV Act 1988, the District Administration under the supervision of Shri Liyi Bagra, Town Magistrate has seized more than 50 two wheelers and generated revenue of around one lakh within three days of rigorous checking recently. The defaulters have been given
seizure list containing summon and penalties and all the seized vehicles have been kept at police station Aalo while keys of the vehicles are with town magistrate. The defaulters have been directed to deposit the penalties in Treasury challan copies of which are to be produced before magistrate and police to release the vehicles. Such checking will be continued in different locations to control unauthorized driving and tax evasions, accidents etc. In the past also the town
magistrate made raids on illegal possession and transaction of LPGs in different locations and revenue to the tune of one lakh collected and deposited to the government revenue account. This kind of drive can not only contain bad elements but enhance government revenue without leakages. The town magistrate has also appealed all sensible public to cooperate in launching such surprise operations on unwanted practices in the town from time to time.
Malaria camp cum awareness meeting conducted ET Correspondent Kharsang, June 30: The Longtom village was in news recently for the outbreak of Malaria epidemic. So the state government has taken the crusade against Malaria epidemic very seriously and continuous health camp and awareness programs have been in place from time to time to ensure Malaria free villages. Dr R.C. Das, as program officer, National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) had led the team along with the medical staffs such as Dr.S.M. Singh, SMO SG.
M.O i.c PHC, Kharsang. Kotgam Singpho RFW DMOS, Changlang. Mrs. Bicho Sena SI. Bosanti Ngemu SFW. Mr. R.Rai
DHV, PHC, Kharsang today at Longtom village under Kharsang circle, district Changlang, Arunachal Pradesh.
Forest Minister finally acted tough, SP Tinsukia arrested 'Laden' -the much chased international wildlife smuggler Contd. from Page 1
‘Two elephants were mysteriously tied up by forest officials for around two months and on its discovery to local NGOs and our pressure and following immediate RTI to this effect at DC Tinsukia, the elephants were taken to Kaziranga National Park around 15 days back’ added Trinayan Gogoi an active naturalist and President of Green
Budds Society Digboi. ‘I have been transferred all these 35 years, and now I don’t bother if transferred now, let media write whatever they wish, I am not concerned’ stated the DFO Digboi when Debojit Moran the Secretery of the said NGO has gone to prove the DFO that the cries of the NGOs all those days were finally found genuine after the arrest of Laden. According to him,
suspension or transfer of any suspected officials is not enough, the nature is robbed off its possession, wildlife property amounting to several crores have been already looted, illegalities and irregularities in other aspects of the department have deprived the Assam Govt of its revenue. There must be a high level inquiry into it and all other apex body of the concerned and co-related financial and
investigation departments to work to this effect after the nexus is established during the interrogation of the arrested Laden. ‘Officials must be reshuffled only after the investigations, and the entire network of the smugglers and other departmental monsters if found must be cracked, dismantled and compensated respectively, various students organizations urged the
Assam Forest minister. It may be added here that The Eastern Today had been filling unabated stories to this effect earlier centering round the picturesque of the Digboi Division portraying the alleged illegal activities and mal practices on various fronts of the forest department anticipating the immediate interference of the Assam Forest Minister. It finally materialized.
DIBRUGARH, FRIDAY, JULY 1
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Timber logs seized ET Correspondent Kokrajhar, June 30: Forest department official seized 26 pieces of Sal timber logs along the Gongia River at Balanga bazaar, which were illegally brought by smugglers today morning under Dotma PS in Kokrajhar district. According to sources, the timbers were rescued following forest department official and local publics jointly initiated step against smuggling under the direction of Forest Minister Pramila Rani Brahma late last night and seized this morning. The market value of the seized timbers would be over 2 lakhs. The timbers were brought through Gongia River by smugglers from Kachugaon forest division, said a senior forest official.
Rangia AJYCP submits memo to PM ET Correspondent Rangia, June 30- Asom Jatiyabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) Rangia District committee today submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister of India flaying the decision of the Centre to auction the oilfields of the State and urging to review its decision. The memo signed by working president Dipak Kumar and secretary Wahedur Rahman of Rangiya dist AJYCP further stated that oilfields were set up for the indigenous people of Assam and after a long series of sacrifice for the benefit of the State. Privatization of these public sector oilfields is really against the people, and its necessary review is needed, the memo stated further. The signatories of district committee urged the Prime Minister to think and act for the people of Assam otherwise they will compelled to choose the path of agitation.
Governor observes illegal infiltration a threat to the whole nation ET Correspondent Mangaldai, June 30: The Governor of Nagaland and Assam P.B. Acharya has observed the matter of illegal infiltration from the neighbouring countries including Bangladesh as not only a threat to Assam but also a threat to the whole nation. He was addressing public in the inaugural function of the Sainik Bhawan here today. Appreciating the spirit of the people of Mangaldai for their promptness to sound
the red alert against the illegal migration way back in 1978, the visiting Governor appealed all the citizens to extend all cooperation in the preparation of a correct and foolproof NRC. While inaugurating the renovated 'Sainik Bhawan' constructed at an estimated cost of Rs. 50 lakhs near the Kachari Maidan , the Governor further said "The people living in the mainland of India have no idea and knowledge on the people of the eight sisters of the North eastern region of the country which
is very unfortunate for the country and it is the responsibility of the people of the North East to establish themselves in the mainland India with their work and activities. However at the same time India cannot move forward unless the North east is developed". He also expressed his deep concern over the growing menace of admitting the children of Assamese people in the English medium schools which is a sign of negli-
Good starting is the secret of success in life Shambhu Boro Tezpur, June 30 : “Good starting of a work is the secret of success in life of person, hard work, sincerity, concentration and continuity, courage and confidence are the key points for reaching goal in life.” It was observed by Vice president of All Bodo students’ union (ABSU) Romeo P Narzary while addressing a special felicitation programme organized by Bahbari Primary Boro Sahitya Sabha at the Khelmati High school premises some twenty two km. from here today. Felicitating altogether 31 brilliant students showing good performance in HSLC, HSSLC, Class 10 and 10+2 standard CBSE board Examination held in 2016, Romeo P Narzary further said that without facing challenge nobody can succeed in life. Romeo P Narzary, a JNU product who has been working in the field of career guidance and special motivational programmes over the years under the banner of ABSU sharing his experience of taking part in many national and international seminars on various issues including the problems faced by the students from marginalized section of the society, in his long discourse further said that for reaching goal in the life one particularly a student must try to be free from the modern day materialistic environment. Urging the student community to be committed to their society they live in he also said that
without commitment and committed outlook a student cannot prosper in his life. On the otherhand, saying teachers also have a major role in building a better society the ABSU leader further said that if commitment and teaching method of a teacher is good then standard of education must be good. “Besides being a friend, guide, philosopher a teacher must also be a good motivator.” He said adding standard of the nation depends upon the standard of the education system. Another speaker noted social activist and career analyst Ranjan K. Baruah giving a presentation on choice of career among the felicitated students said that without a distinct target in life no any student can achieve goal in the life. Saying about job opportunity in various sectors he also said that for brilliant students there is no any difficulty in getting placement. The other dignitaries including President of Tezpur district
Bodo Sahitya Sabha, Paduram Boro, Principal of Sonali Junior College, Sunit Sarma, Head Master of Omeo Das High school, Tarun Das among others present in the august occasion also spoke on the present day education system and urged the students to be committed and dedicated towards leading their life on the right track. The event presided over by the president of the Bahbari primary Boro Sahitya Sabha, Sidheswar Rabha was attended by a good number of students from different schools of the area. Prior to it Ex-General Secretary of Sonitpur District ABSU, Prassanna Rabha, gave welcome address while education Secretary of Bahbari Primary Boro Sahitya Sabha, Sunil Kochari delivered his key note address emphasizing the importance of the event. Nareswar Boro, adviser of the literary body, subsequently offered vote of thanks at the end of the programme.
ET Bureau Naharlagun, June 30: The officers and Staff of the department of Information and Public Relations today bid farewell to their outgoing Director, Shri CM Longphong, at a farewell function organized in his honour in the DIPR Office Conference Hall.
adding that “there is no limit to learning”. Former Director, Supriyo Deb, also joined on the occasion and in his farewell speech, said that that the outgoing Director has left behind a legacy.
valuable services as PRO to Chief Minister. Deputy Director IPR , Shri Obang Tayeng, in his speech, recalling his professional association with the outgoing Director, said he was one of the most resourceful, experienced and creative Officer of the department adding he was an invaluable human resource asset for the department. Tayeng said his cool mind with concen-
tration, discipline, punctuality and whole hearted dedication to his duty were admirable qualities. The Outgoing Director, C.M .Longphong, in his address, while thanking the regards and support of all on the occasion, said that he had discharged his duty with a deep sense of commitment and dedication. He advised his official team to keep on learning in life
Officials and staffs of the Department including Deputy Directors Dasher Teshi and Michi Kani, Assistant Director Radhe Tajung, A.O. Nani Kaye, FAO, Mame Garu also spoke on the occasion and shared their experiences while working with him and thanked him for his guidance and knowledgeable advises. Other highlights included presentation of Farewell Group Song by Smt Minya N Basar and her colleague and presentation of Bouquets and traditional gift items.
Interrogation was being carried out till the filling of this report so as to bust the entire network of drug peddler mushrooming at an alarming state in and around the Assam Arunachal border area covering the nearby Namsai, Mahadevpur and Bordumsa. It is pertinent to add here that Kakopather
road has become vulnerable for the miscreants to trade on various forms of drugs thus penetrating deep into the remote rural pockets of the areas. Meanwhile, the efforts of the Kakopather police to this effect has been lauded and the people expects more intensive drive to be undertaken in the infected belt and combat the menace with strong hands.
After heavy downpour Dibrugarh reels under artificial flood Contd. from Page 1
During the last year flood school, colleges, government offices remained closed and the city was affected for many days. The government had announced to take some measures to solve the perennial problem. “Due to poor drainage system every year we have to face the same problem. The Dibrugarh Municipality Board failed miserably to clean the drains of the town and this is main reason of water logging in the town,’’ alleged Siddhart Sur Roy, an owner of a medical shop in Dibrugarh. He added, “We have high hopes with the BJP government that they will solve the flash flood problem in Dibrugarh,’’. Despite the havoc caused by the water-logging, mitigation measures have not been initiated by the administration or the Municipal Board authorities. Every year police reserve had to face the wrath of the flood and they have to move to other place with their family.
“Police reserve is a low lying area and every year flood entered in our house and we have to shift to other places,’’ said a police official, who stayed in police reserve quarter for past many years. “However, before the election in Assam the BJP had used the flood problem has one of their main agenda and attacked on the congress leadership but after coming to power they were not seen seriously working to solve the problem,’’ alleged Ranjit Das, a teacher. Meanwhile, the District administration has started the process to clean the main Dibrugarh Town Protection drain but nothing has changed and the problem remained same. The Dibrugarh town protection drain maintained by the embankment and drainage (E&D) department has lost the capacity to flush out rainwater from the town. Built in 1954, the 22-km long drain, which starts from Dibrujan and ends in Jamira Bogibeel, empties rainwater from the sessa River.
CM Sonowal instructs PWD to fix its line of action and repair all roads of Barak Valley within 3 months Contd. from Page 1 The Chief Minister also asked the Principal Secretary of Dima Hasao and DCs of Cachar and Karbi Anglong to take personal initiatives and review the progress of the work on a day-to-day basis. Emphasising on a fool-proof and flawless NRC, Sonowal asked the DCs to complete the process expeditiously. Expressing concern over the reported environmental pollution being caused by illegal mining of coal from neighbouring Meghalaya and stacking the same in the districts of Barak Valley, Sonowal asked the Chief Secretary and DCs to take steps to address the problem. He also ordered action against illegal coal mining in Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao districts.
A new newspaper named "Sampratik Asom" was released today in Sivasagar. Pic - Neelam Kakoty Mazumdar
and the officials of the district for the safety and the security of our Motherland in different hour of crisis and paid tribute to the brave martyrs of the region. Director of State Sainik Welfare Board Commodore KC Choudhury, Deputy Commissioner Manoj Kumar, Mangaldai legislator Guru Jyoti Das, Superintendent of P{olice Sunil Kumar, leading industrialist Mukul Chandra Deka also attended the function besides a few hundreds of ex servicemen and Veer Naris of Darrang and Udalguri.
Kakopather police in Tinsukia siezed brownsuger Contd. from Page 1
Officials and Staff of IPR Dept bids adieu to outgoing Director, CM Longphong
Shri Longphong has rendered 35 years of valuable service to the state, joining the department as a DIPRO in the beginning of his career. He was born to Late Chow Hoing Longphong in the year 1958 in his native village Lathao under PO Namsai in Lohit District and graduated with BA Honours from Jawarharlal Nehru College(JNC),Pasighat. He was promoted to the post of Director IPR in 2013, after serving as Deputy Director since 1999. He also rendered
gence and insult to the Assamese language. In presence of the Deputy Commissioner and the additional Deputy Commissioner (Education) and other senior officials of the district administration, the Governor expressed his deep concern over the relatively poor performance in terms of quality shown by the provincialized and the government schools of the district in the last HSLC and HSSLC examination. He also recalled the supreme sacrifices of the army jawans
Sonowal also issued instruction to take steps against check gates which have failed
to realise revenue for the Government. According top priority in maintaining the sanctity of the international border, he asked DIG, Border to look after the fencing work. Sonowal also called upon the officers and employees fraternity to work as a team for the progress of the State. Stressing on the highest degree of coordination between the government and the citizens in general, Sonowal called upon everybody to work wholeheartedly towards implementation of government schemes and contribute to peace and progress of the State. PWD Minister Parimal Suklabaidya, MLAs, Chief Secretary VK Pipersenia, Director General of Police Mukesh Sahay, NRC State Coordinator Prateek Hajela, Commissioner and Secretary, Home L.S. Changsan and host of senior officers were present at the meeting.
Zonal orientation meet for bank linkage held at Nalbari ET Correspondent Nalbari,June 30 : A zonal level orientation meeting was organized by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) at Hotel Bordoichila in Nalbari district on June 27 in order to create awareness among the self help group and joint liability group (JLG) for Banker’s and NGOs. The representative from SHG, JLG and bank officials from four lower Assam districts Nalbari,Baksa,Darang and Udalguri took part in the orientation meeting. A total of 60 participants from the all four districts attended the programme.The meeting was inaugurated by Dr.Om Prakash, deputy commissioner,of Nalbari.The deputy commissioner in his speech congratulated NABARD for organizing such an event in Nalbari district. He appreciated the role of Nalbari NABARD in financing SHG and JLG through various banks especially, AGVB and IDBI during 2015-16. He requested all the bankers to come forward for financing SHGs, so that they don’t have to approach informal sources of credit. He further emphasized on financing of KCC loans to farmers on the basis of land holding and scale of finance. He requested the bankers to visit villages and identify good borrower so no middle man can play any
role in KCC financing.M.Ravindra Kumar Reddy, DGM, NABARD, Asha Chandra, A G M , NABARD,P.K.Buzarbaruah, Regional Manager, AGVB, Debajyoti Biswas, DDM, NABARD, Nalbari and Biswajit Deb, DDM, NABARD of Udalguri and Darrang respectively. Addressing the meeting M Rabindra Kumar Reddy, DGM NABARD requested the Bank Managers to bridge the gap between SHG’s saving linked and credit linked. He also requested Branch Managers to focus more on providing credit to SHGs, JLG and KCC loans to increase their business portfolio.Asha Chandra, AGM NABARD made a power point presentation on SHG and JLG.It was followed by an interactive session with the Branch Managers and NGOs, wherein various doubts regarding SHG and JLG B bank linkage programme were clarified. Along with this orientation meet, under the active initiative of Debajyoti Biswas, DDM NABARD, Assam Gramin Vikash Bank (AGVB) had conducted a credit camp at Hari Mandir, Nalbari, wherein 411 SHGs and 76 JLGs were credit linked and a total amount of Rs.4,35,15,000 was disbursed.
Exercise Jalrahat culminates but becomes the beacon of hope for the people of Assam--- Lt Gen D. Anbu Tapas Samaddar Rangia June 30: The three day long 'Exercise Jalrahat' a National Level exercise for Flood Relief in an urban setting conducted in our own Guwahati , came to an end today with the final part ie the Summing Up session , the highlight of which other than the discussions on the happenings of the past two days was, the closing address delivered by Lt Gen D Anbu AV S M , S M , V S M GeneralOfficer Commanding Gajraj Corps. The Corps Commander thanked and complimented all the participants,especially the Assam State Disaster Management Authority, all Service officers coming from out stations, functionaries of the State Government related to disaster management, officers of HQ Eastern Command, HQ Eastern Air Command, 101Area, 51 Sub Area, media fraternity and above all the citizen of Guwahati The General Officer said that he feels that the biggest take away from this exercise for all was '*A Triple 'R* concept ie Alert, rescue, Relief and Rehabilitation and he very succinctly brought out the salient point of the exercise bringing forth major issues under the domains of Understanding the Risk, Inter Agency Coordination, Investing in Disaster Risk Reduction and Capacity Building. The well meaning and informed discussions in the summing up session, which elicited contribution from all participants and stake holders based on their past experience and the activities of the past two days of the exercise, brought out extremely valuable lessons which will greatly assist the future planning for Disaster Risk Reduction, Capacity Building , Relief and Rehabilitation. The list of lessons learnt is
long, but the salient points are- Geo mapping of the catchment areas in Guwahati which cause inundation, Prevention of Deforestation and management of water bodies, Use of Modern technology and its easy availability within the contours of Guwahati City, Creation of a Disaster Mobile friendly Unified Portal reflecting all aspects of Disaster Management , Identification of Areas for helipads, Identification of Areas for Internally Displaced People Camps, Prioritization of Areas for Disaster Relief, Integrated response System for a synergized response, Dissemination of Early Warning, Enforcement of Law and Order, Looking upon the Media as an enabler for better response during a Disaster , Capacity Building of Communities and knowledge on preventive measures through awareness programmes, Incorporation of the vast Pool of NCC Cadets in the Disaster Management effort, Help Lines and Adhoc Robust Mobile Communications capable of withstanding the hazards inherent to such calamities, Capacity Building of Power and Health Department and 'BBB" ie Build Back Better an important Concept originating from the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi duly incorporated in National Disaster Management Plan(NDMP) 2016 released by him on June 1, 2016. No doubt the lessons drawn from the 'Exercise Jalrahat' will act as major building blocks for continuous refinement and fine tuning of the Flood Relief Plans, but most significantly the outstanding take away from the exercise was a reflection of confidence and respite in the eyes of the citizens of Guwahati who witnessed the events and a feeling that the State Apparatus is geared up to come to their assistance in a dynamic manner at their hour of need.
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87.5 percent of villages electrified: Ibobi Imphal, Jun 30: Under the Ministry of Power, GoI has committed 100 percent elec-trification of all villages by 2018 and accessibility (of electricity) to all households by 2019 and Manipur already has achieved 87.5 per cent village electrification out of 2582 villages, stated Chief Minister O Ibobi at a conference on Electricity and Related Issues Redressal in Manipur at Hotel Classic Grande, Imphal. The remaining villages would be electrified under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) whereas off-grid villages by MANIREDA. Under the Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme, 12 out of 13 villages have been declared Go-Live so far and distribution infrastructure strengthening work for eight towns out of 13 towns has been completed as on date with overall target completion by March 2017, stated Ibobi. To ensure round the
Suspense over Mehta's extension Shillong, Jun 30: Suspense prevails over the extension of service of Meghalaya DGP Rajiv Mehta for three months as there was no final word from the Centre on Wednesday to the request of the state government in this regard. Mehta (1981 batch IPS officer) is set to retire on Thursday and if there is no order from the Union Home Ministry, he has to give way for the next senior SK Jain, who is currently holding the post of Special DGP. Jain (1984 batch), however, will be retiring after few months and the Meghalaya Police Act says that the next DGP should have the tenure of at least one year. While the next senior IPS cadres of AssamMeghalaya cadre, YC Modi (1984 batch) and PS Purohit (1985 batch) are currently on deputation to central government, the next in line Raghvendra Awasthi (1985 batch) is currently the Director General, Meghalaya Civil Defence and Home Guards. SB Singh ( 1986 batch) , the additional DGP ( Law and Order), who has two years in service can emerge as the possible choice of the government for the post of next DGP if the stalemate persists. It was in May that Chief Minister Mukul Sangma had written to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in May to extend the DGP's services for three more months "in view of the continuity of anti-insurgency operations" in Garo Hills. However, the state government will be in a dilemma if the extension notification does not come from the Centre by Thursday. (Agencies)
clock power supply in Imphal and other district head quarters around 1350 MU of annual energy may be required. Whereas the present power allocation from Central Power sector Unit's is about 1000 MU. Ibobi stated that in order to address the grievances of the consumers, a Customer Care Centre has been opened within the jurisdiction of 13 towns including Imphal city at Lamphelpat. An online web-portal has been launched to facilitate online prepaid recharge , online bill generation, bill payment for postpaid consumers and nodue certificate automation for Govt. employees too. To reduce Aggregated Technical and Commercial losses, all unauthorized consumers have been regularized by installing prepaid meters with a minimal first time recharge of Rs 200. This helped to reduce the commercial losses due to unauthorized hooking. Notably, after installing prepaid meters, monthly average revenue collec-
Under the Ministry of Power, GoI has committed 100 percent elec-trification of all villages by 2018 tion has been increased from Rs 4 crore (201314) to Rs 11 crore (201516). Till today, approximately 2.2 lakh prepaid metres have been installed and the target of 3.5 lakh prepaid metres would be achieved by December 2016. The State has achieved commendable progress in Renewable Energy power sector. MANIREDA has successfully generated 4.2 MW off-grid renewable energy through solar, wind, hydro, biomass and hybrid projects. He continued that the State Govt. along with National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) have formed a
joint venture company a few years back to generate 66 MW from Loktak downstream hydroelectric project. During the last decade, tremendous transmission system infrastructure has been created at appropriate load centres thereby raising the transformation capacity at 132 KV and 33 KV from 21 MVA and 222 MVA in 2009 to 517 MVA and 524 MVA in March, 2016, respectively with funding among others from NLCPR, NEC, SPA, ACA and State Plan. To handle the anticipated quantum of load, higher transmission system voltage of 400 KV is being adopted with con-
struction of 315 MVA, 400/132 KV sub-station at Thoubal. The State has taken up initiatives for expansion of 132 KV transmission system infrastructure to the remote corners like Thanlon and Tipaimukh at high cost for delivering good quality and reliable power with good voltage regulation. For reliability of supply, on the insistence of State Govt, the 5th Standing Committee on Power System Planning of North Eastern Region has agreed to extend 400 KV line from Imphal to Misa via New Kohima and New Mariani forming a 400 KV ring loop of Imphal-New KohimaNew Mariani-MisaBalipura-BongaigoanAzara-Byrnihat-SilcharImphal benefiting all the NE States. Ibobi stated that, to reduce and remove the hurdles faced by consumers related to power supply in the State, deliberation on various issues will be helpful in solving the infrastructure constraints, poor transmission and sub-transmis-
sion system, inadequate distribution network and problems in generation projects. Chief Minister O Ibobi and Chairperson, Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission, (Manipur and Mizoram) RK Kishore Singh graced the inaugural session of the conference as chief guest and president respectively. The conference was jointly organized by Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) of Manipur and Mizoram, Manipur State Power Company Ltd. and Manipur State Power Distribution Company Ltd. JERC Chief Engineer L Pachuau, JERC Assistant Chief Engineer T h a n t i a n g a , MANIREDA Director L Manglem Singh and other officials took part in the discussion session which followed the inaugural session.(Agencies) "Approximately 2.2 lakh prepaid metres have been installed and the target of 3.5 lakh prepaid metres would be achieved by December 2016"
13,000 students trained under Bharatiyam prog Imphal, Jun 30: With the concept of integration of sports and education under the programme Bharatiyam, more than 13,000 students were trained in 2015-16. The objective of this programme, Bharatiyam is to create physical fitness awareness amongst the student community. This programme has been taken up at all levels i.e school, district and State with an aim to involve maximum numbers of students. The Department of Youth Affairs & Sports, Government of Manipur has been implementing compulsory physical education progra-mme in educational institu- tions by deputing physical education teachers. Besides imparting knowledge in health and physical education and sports, mass physical fitness programme, popularly known as Bharatiyam has also been taken up. School and district level Bharatiyam training and competition programmes were held regularly. The Department has so far
trained 13,000 students under the scheme. School level Bharatiyam training programme for the year 2015-16 was conducted at two centres in each district and subdivisional headquarters during the month of November/December 2015 and the State level Bharatiyam competition, 2015-16 was also held at Indoor Stadium, Khuman Lampak Sports Complex, Imphal in February 2016. Under Bharatiyam programme, in-service Physical Education Teachers (PETs) were also trained for one month in February 2016. Training the in-service PET(s) in various Bharatiyam elements will enable them to impart training to the students. It may be mentioned that the scheme of Bharatiyam was launched by the Sports Authority of India during 1980 with the objective of making the students physically and mentally fit. The Department has been implementing vari-
ous sche-mes/ programmes for promotion of games and sports in the State since its inception by organizing district and State levels school games meets in various age groups and disciplines under the guidelines of School Games Federation of India. The main objective for promotion of games and sports is to have sports consciousness from the grass root through participation in the National/International meets held at different parts of the country. Besides, teams are sent for participation in the Subroto Mukherjee football tournament and JN Hockey tournament. The Department organises State Inter School Games in different disciplines both for boys and girls in different categories. The Department is also planning to organize short term residential training courses in Kang/ Mukna and Yoga for students at Indoor Stadium and Kangshang respectively as a regular programme to promote indigenous games and
Yoga which are included in school curricula. The Department of YAS has been implementing a coaching programme named Regular Coaching Centre (RCC) for organizing a non-residential coaching to the players of different age group (ie from grassroots to International level) with the latest technique as well as systematic and scientific way of coaching under the supervision of experts/trained coaches of the department since 2002 in 25 disciplines (for six months each ie April to September and October to March) throughout the year. The YAS has been implementing a scheme for grant of financial assistance to Manipur Olympic Association, State and district level sports associations for participation in different National/ Zonal/International/Hosting of National championship at Imphal and for organization of district / State level championship and non-residential coaching prior to Na-
tional championship and improvement of Mapal Kangjeibung. Realising the importance of optimum utilization of youth energy in nation building activities, the Department of Youth Affairs and Sports has instituted the Youth Award scheme in order to recognize/honour outstanding young persons and voluntary organizations engaged in the field of youth work. State Award to outstanding youth workers, State award to outstanding voluntary organisations, district award to outstanding youth workers and district award to outstanding voluntary organisations are the awards confer to the youths and the awards accompany cash. It may be mentioned that Youth Affairs and Sports Department was bifurcated from the Education Department on April 16, 1980 and since then, the Department has been implementing various programmes for the promotion of games and sports and various youth welfare programmes in the State.(Agencies)
Rapist sentenced to 10 years RI Imphal, Jun 30: Mongjam Phulendro (60) of Mayang Imphal Thongkhong Awang Leikai, who has been convicted in the rape case of his own daughter-in-law, has been sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment on Wednesday. During the sentence hearing held today, the special public prosecutor and defence counsel made their submissions before the Sessions Court, Imphal West Judge Maibam Manojkumar. After perusing the arguments of both the sides, the Court sentenced Phulendro to 10 years
rigorous imprisonment along with imposition of a fine of Rs 50,000. The Court judgement said that the said amount would be handed over to the rape survivor as compensation. In case the convict fails to deposit the amount to the Court, he will undergo six months simple imprisonment. A copy of the judgment will be sent to Manipur State Legal Services Authority to enable the victim to receive the compensation under Section 357-A of Code of Criminal Procedure. The Court also recom-
mended to provide a compen- sation of Rs 2 lakh under Union Ministry of Women and Child Development's Financial Assistance and Support Service to Victim of Rape: A Scheme for Retrospective Justice. In this regard, a copy of the judgment will be sent to Imphal West DC, who is also the Chairman of Imphal West District Criminal Injuries Relief and Rehabilitation Board. It may be mentioned that Phulendro was convicted under Section 376 IPC (rape) yesterday. The incident of rape
happened on March 28, 2012. At around 3 pm on the day, Phulendro got inside the bedroom of his 33-year-old daughter-inlaw, who was sleeping there with her children, and raped her. The victim's husband was not present in the house when the incident happened. The mother of two lodged a complaint with Mayang Imphal police station at around 8.30 pm the same day. The police station took up an FIR bearing number 22 (3) 2012 under Section 376 and arrested Phulendro immediately.
The police later submitted charge sheets against Phu-lendro and his daughter Premi under Section 376 IPC and Section 201 IPC respectively to erstwhile Sessions Court Manipur East. The charges were framed in the Court against the duo on February 18, 2013. Later, the case was shifted to Sessions Court, Imphal West on January 2, 2016 . The prosecution produced 16 witnesses, exhibited 22 evidence materials and five MO before the Court during the trial of the case.(Agencies)
Six held for former insurgent leader's killing: Manipur Police
Manipur Police on Wednesday announced the arrest of six persons on charge of involvement in the killing of Ningombam Nabachandra Imphal, Jun 30: Manipur Police on Wednesday announced the arrest of six persons on charge of involvement in the killing of N i n g o m b a m Nabachandra, a former People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK) chairman and his driver. Nabachandra and his driver Leishangthem Sanjit were killed on April 21 night within the camp of 7 Manipur Rifles at Khabeishoi in Imphal East district.
Red army, the military wing of PREPAK, an outlawed underground organisation, had claimed responsibility for the crime. Manipur's Director General of Police L. M. Khoute said said: "A person staying within the complex was picked up and he spilled the beans on the crime, leading to the arrest of five more persons." Khoute said the accused belong to Kangleipak Communist Party (Malem Nganba group).
Over Rs 11 lakh stolen from SBI branch at Umiam
In a theft committed with utmost precision, unknown miscreants stole over Rs 11 lakh from a State Bank of India branch at Umiam Shillong, Jun 30: In a theft committed with utmost precision, unknown miscreants stole over Rs 11 lakh from a State Bank of India branch at Umiam on Tuesday night. The miscreants broke into the SBI's ICAR branch at Umiam by tearing the collapsible gate and the safe vault with gas-cutters and stole a cash of Rs 11,86,966. An amount of approximately Rs 87,667 was burnt while the miscreants were cutting the safe vault with the gas weld-
ing machine. The miscreants also disconnected the electricity to the CCTV and alarm system of the strong room before committing the crime. Ri Bhoi SP G Kharwanlang, however, informed that police are examining the CCTV footages before the power was cut. There were instances of bank thefts at Umiam in the past and police suspect that the same group is involved in the crime. Few suspects are also police radar. (Agencies)
KHNAM for unity among regional parties Shillong, Jun 30: KHNAM has appealed to all regional parties to unite to form a consolidated front to take on the national parties in the 2018 Assembly elections. Speaking to The Shillong Times here on Wednesday, the party president Adelbert Nongrum opined that it was high time for the regional parties in the state to come together forgetting all their differences to defeat the national parties namely Congress and BJP in 2018 polls. Stating that his party does not believe in living under the shadow of the national parties, he said, "Let us strengthen ourselves (regional parties) to fulfill the aspirations of our people". According to Nongrum, if KHNAM, HSPDP and UDP join hands they can easily defeat any national party to form the next government in the State in 2018. "Despite ruling the state
for several years, Congress has done nothing as far as development of the state is concerned," he added. Door is open: NPP Meanwhile, NPP has said that it is ready to accommodate any leader who wishes to join the party. Indicating this, the party's state president WR Kharlukhi, however, said that the party has some reservations as far as Congressmen are concerned. "If any Congress leader sends feeler, we will discuss the issue first before giving green signal," he said adding that so far no one from Congress has sent any feeler to join NPP. He also slammed Chief Minister Mukul Sangma for his statement that he would bury NPP in 2018 elections. Reacting to a query, he said that his party has a very strong support base in Garo Hills and NPP's landslide victory in the last Tura by-poll is an indication of that. (Agencies)
NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL
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Ecstatic parents describe Sonu's return as Eid gift New Delhi, Jun 30 : Overwhelmed with joy, the parents of six-year old Sonu on Thursday expressed their happiness and described his return from Dhaka as Eid gift. "I am very happy.I got back my child. I was very worried. Today, I am relieved. He returned after six years. The Government of India helped us a lot. We are thankful to them.they were with us from the beginning," Sonu's father Mehboob told the media here. "I am very happy that he returned. I got my gift for Eid," his mother said.
Meanwhile, Sonu along with his family met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today. "From Geeta to Gurpreet, and now to Sonu! EAM @SushmaSwaraj welcomes the young boy Sonu home from Bangladesh," tweeted Ministry of External Affairs official spokesperson Vikas Swarup while describing the boy's return as an emotional homecoming. Abducted from outside his East Delhi house in 2010, Sonu was handed over to the Indian High Commission in Dhaka by
Defence Minister Parrikar hands over torpedo "Varunastra" to Indian Navy
Defence Minister Parrikar hands over torpedo "Varunastra" to Indian Navy New Delhi, Jun 30: Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikarhanded over "Varunastra", a Ship Launched Heavy Weight Torpedo", to the Indian Navy here on Wednesday. Speaking on the occasion, Parrikar congratulated DRDO for the achievement and appreciated the efforts made in this regard. He asked the DRDO to ensure its participation in the production process and to keep adequate quality control of their products so that it can meet the international standards. The Defence Minister also stated that in these high technology areas, DRDO's contribution, with 95 per cent of indigenous content, is an apt example of Indigenously Designed Developed and Manufactured (IDDM) category. Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Sunil Lanba termed the occasion as momentous and described it as yet another feather in the DRDO's cap. He lauded DRDO and Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL) for rendering
yeomen service to the nation in achieving self-reliance in defence and underwater technologies. Varunastra has been developed by NSTL, a premier DRDO laboratory based at Visakhapatnam. M/s Bharat Dynamics Ltd has been associated as a production partner in concurrent engineering mode. Varunastra, a versatile naval weapon which can be fired from the Rajput class destroyers, Delhi class and all future AntiSubmarine Warfare (ASW) ships capable of firing heavy weight torpedoes and is capable of targeting quiet and stealthy submarines both in deep and littoral waters even in intense countermeasure atmosphere. The function was also attended by Defence Secretary G Mohan Kumar, Secretary, (Defence Production) AK Gupta, Scientific Advisor to Raksha Mantri Dr. G Sateesh Reddy and senior functionaries of Ministry of Defence, Indian Navy, DRDO, Production and Industry partners. (ANI)
Abducted Indian boy to return home after six years New Delhi, Jun 30: Abducted from outside his East Delhi house in 2010, Sonu has now been handed over to the Indian High Commission in Dhaka by a court in Bangladesh's Barguna district and will be reunited with his family after a gap of six years. Barguna Additional District Judge Abu Taher granted Sonu's custody to Indian High Commission officials on Monday without signing of a security bond of one lakh taka (Bangladesh currency) on humanitarian grounds. Sonu, who was tricked and brought to Bangladesh from Delhi by two women in 2010, was rescued by a Bangladeshi citizen Jamal Ibn Musa, who put in great efforts to reunite
him with his family. "I am very happy. Finally, Sonu is getting reunited with his parents," the Daily Star quoted Musa as saying. India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, in a series of tweets, thanked all who had looked after the young boy in Bangladesh. "Sonu - who was kidnapped from Delhi was found in a shelter home in Bangladesh. We matched the DNA with his mother. The test is positive," Swaraj tweeted. "Indian High Commission in Dhaka has obtained Sonu's custody. He will reach Delhi on 30th June. I thank all those who looked after our young citizen in Bangladesh," she said. (ANI)
Ecstatic parents describe Sonu's return as Eid gift
a court in Bangladesh's Barguna district. He was reunited with his family earlier today after
a gap of six years. The Indian High Commission in Dhaka obtained Sonu's custody and
his DNA was matched with his mother which came out positive. Barguna Additional District Judge Abu Taher granted Sonu's custody to the Indian High Commission officials on Monday without signing of a security bond of one lakh taka (Bangladesh currency) on humanitarian grounds. Sonu, who was tricked and brought to Bangladesh from Delhi by two women in 2010, was rescued by a Bangladeshi citizen Jamal Ibn Musa who put in great efforts to reunite him with his family.
Swaraj yesterday, in a series of tweets, thanked all who had looked after the young boy in Bangladesh. "Sonu - who was kidnapped from Delhi was found in a shelter home in Bangladesh. We matched the DNA with his mother. The test is positive," Swaraj tweeted. "Indian High Commission in Dhaka has obtained Sonu's custody. He will reach Delhi on 30th June. I thank all those who looked after our young citizen in Bangladesh," she said. (ANI)
MP CM Chouhan hails Indore-based man's appointment as London's deputy mayor Bhopal, Jun 30: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday exuded pride and congratulated Indore-based man after he got appointed as London's deputy mayor for business. London Mayor Sadiq Khan has appointed India-born Rajesh Agrawal for the coveted post. In a series of tweets Chouhan congratulated Agrawal. "Matter of great pleasure
that Indore-born Mr. @RajeshAgrawalUK has been appointed Deputy Mayor of London. My heartiest congratulations," tweeted Chouhan. "With grit, determination & exceptional qualities, @RajeshAgrawalUK has made a distinct place for himself in Britain.We feel immensely proud," he added. Chouhan further asserted and hailed Agrawal's appointment by saying that it was a
great achievement after the Brexit. "Best wishes to @RajeshAgrawalUK for challenging task to assist Mayor @SadiqKhan in protecting city's interests after Britain's exit from EU," said Chouhan. Khan yesterday tasked Agrawal with championing London's interests following the exit of Britain after the EU referendum, and protecting jobs and growth while the negotiation process for exit takes
place. Agrawal was Khan's business adviser during his mayoral campaign. Born and brought up in Indore, India, Agrawal arrived in London in 2001 and became a fintech entrepreneur and innovator. He is the founder and CEO of Xendpay, an international money transfer service, and RationalFX, an online foreign exchange service - both of which have grown into globally successful businesses. (ANI)
Rajnath Singh to visit J-K to review security arrangements for Amarnath Yatra
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh New Delhi, Jun 30: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is all set to visit Jammu and Kashmir tomorrow to take stock of the security arrangements for the upcoming Amarnath Yatra. As per reports, the Home Ministerchaired a highlevel meeting earlier in the day during which he discussed the security scenario in Jammu and Kashmir. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) had earlier this month conducted mock exercises at Baltal and Pahalgam base camps to assess the preparedness and response mechanism of all those involved in management of the Yatra. The first mock exercise,
which was conducted along the route from Baltal in Ganderbal district between June 23 to 25, dealt with simulated scenarios involving a cloudburst and a fire. The second mock exercise was conducted along the camp sites on the Chandanwari route from June 26-28 and covered both natural as well as man-made disasters. After the drills, post-exercise analysis was carried out by the NDMA experts in which they discussed the entire operation and underlined the areas that needed improvement. The annual Amarnath Yatra to the cave shrine in south Kashmir will begin from July 2. (ANI)
Britain in deep mess as Brexit unfolds Post Anantnag win, Mehbooba London, Jun 30: As the fallout of Britain's referendum on exit from the European Union unfolds, the country is getting into deeper mess by the day. A referendum where only 72 percent voted resulted in a result by a mere margin of four: 52 percent voting for exit and 48 percent to remain in the EU. Over three million British, many of whom had abstained from vote, have already signed a petition for another referendum. That perhaps is nowhere in sight, but it could be the only hope to restore the country back to health. "England has collpased politically, constitutionally and economically" are the words of Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte speaking in Brussels.It is clear that David Cameron was over confident of "Remain" outcome with the Opposition Labour Party supporting him in the campaign. Unfortunately, the whole thing went in the hands of hate mongers like UKIP whose leader Nigel Farrage played heavily on the immigration issue. He was shouted down in the European Parliament for the lies, fear and hatred which he spread. David Cameron, now in Brussels in what could be his last summit with the European Union leaders, blamed the EU for not taking enough steps to address the public concerns over the issue of flood of immigrants coming in from the Middle East. And then there is the issue of
free movement within Europe that has resulted in large numbers of East Europeans working here in the UK. That the East Europeans cannot be sent back even if the referendum takes Britain out of the European Union is a fact of life. And the kind of jobs that East Europeans are doing here are crucial for the British economy and the cities. There are three million EU nationals living and working in Britain and nearly a million of them from Poland. The unemployed Brits are happy with the doles they get from their government. They are choosy for the jobs. In fact, they do not want to work and most call them lazy. While the EU leaders are eager to move quickly on the negotiations to get Britain out, David Cameron has clearly declared that such negotiations must be carried out by his successor. And there is no clear successor in sight though eight of them have thrown their hats in the ring. Boris Johnson, who virtually led the Tory campaign for exit, seems to be shying away from the contest for leadership or may be beaten to it by Home Secretary Mrs. Theresa May. Britain's Labour Party is in a serious mess. Leader of Opposition, Labour's Jeremy Corbyn, refuses to stand down even though a vote of no confidence in his leadership has been passed by the Parliamentary Party. The scale of the vote was staggering 172:
40 against the leader of the Opposition. The fact is that this nation has been divided right in the middle with extremists and racists making most noise in the leave campaign. At another end of the spectrum are the sober hard working British, who feel threatened by this vote to leave the European Union. They are the young people for whom Europe is a big market. Many of these are rushing to Ireland to apply for Irish passport as the British passport would no longer give them free movement in Europe. The rush has been so great that Ireland's Foreign Minister Charlie Flanagan had to issue a public appeal to the UK residents to stop rushing to Ireland. There has been a big rise in the hate crime againt the immigrants following the referendum. It is said to have gone up by almost 50 percent. The law enforcement agencies are worried about this development and are hoping that it may die down in the days to come. But the signs are ominous. The economy is now taking its worst hits. The pound sterling has fallen to its 30-year low of 1.32 against the dollar. The hedge fund operators, who are trying to cash in on this fall, are betting that the pound could well fall to as low as 1.10 against the US dollar. This author remembers a time when pound was equal to a dollar. Though the Bank of England is putting up a strong front, it does not
have large reserves and cannot raise rates. Amidst all this doom, the Indian companies that had made Britain as the gateway to Europe having invested heavily here are now at a loss for their next move. India is the second largest foreign investor in the British economy. These companies came here despite better terms that were being offered by many East European countries seeking foreign investments. It was advatange English and the old empire connection that attracted Indians to Britain for business. It will be interesting to watch as to how these companies chart out their next course of action. For the moment it is wait and see! A large numbers of serious thinkers and economists firmly believe here the big setback that Europe is getting emanates from the huge bureaucracy the EU has created in Brussels. That bureaucracy makes centralised laws which many countries find difficult to implement. Thus this group believes that Britain once freed from the shackles of this unproductive bureaucracy may do much better in the long run. The EU bureaucracy is a fact of life because India has failed to sign a trade agreement with the EU. These negotiations have been going on for years now and India is not alone. Even Japan has failed so far apart from quite a few others (ANI)
Mufti takes oath as MLA
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti
Srinagar, June 30: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti took oath as an MLA here today, almost a week after winning the Anantnag by-poll. Mehbooba defeated her nearest Congress rival Hilal Shah by over 12,000 votes. The byelection in Anantnag took place following the death of the then chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed who represented the constituency in the 87-member legislative house. Recalling the values and vision of her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed for the state, Mehbooba said the former had set an agenda aimed at fostering peace and development in the state. "There is an agenda, an agenda of an alliance agreed upon by the PDP
and its ally. We should stick to that and follow it diligently," she said in her address to the J-K Assembly after taking oath. She also said that animosity and spending on defence has hampered the growth and development of both India and Pakistan. She also criticised those spreading violence in the name of Islam and said, "Jo log chaaku utha kar allah o akbar kehte hain unko main Islam se nahi jodungi (Those who shout allah o akbar with swords in their hands should not be linked to Islam)." Eight candidates, including Mehbooba Mufti, Hilal Ahmad Shah of the Congress and Iftikhar Hussain Misgar of the National Conference were in the fray for Anantnag seat. (ANI)
Pak always spoils atmosphere for talks: Defence Expert New Delhi, Jun 30: Defence expert P.K. Sehgal on Thursday criticised Pakistan's assertion that India does not want to come to the dialogue table and said it is the Asian neighbour, which spoils the environment every time both sides plan to talk. Sehgal told ANI that India has always been very keen to hold talks with
Pakistan, adding it is very strange on Islamabad's part to make such statements. "Every time there is an atmosphere for talks, Pakistan ensures and does something to make sure that the talks do not proceed. So, blaming India here is unacceptable," said Sehgal. "A very strange statement, he (Aziz) is fully
aware of the fact that India has always been very keen to talk on every issue, including Kashmir. And the issue we now want to talk on as far as Kashmir is concerned is the illegal occupation of Pakistan occupied Kashmir by Pakistan and the handing over of the certain area to China which is known as the Chinese occupied Kashmir. Also
Defence expert P.K. Sehgal
we want to talk about the northern areas, which Pakistan wants to integrate within," he added. Earlier on Wednesday, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said Islamabad is not shying away from dialogue with India, adding Prime Minister Narendra Modi's logic in this regard is beyond perception.
Retorting to a recent statement made by Prime Minister Modi in an interview to an English news channel, Aziz asserted India does not want to come to the dialogue table. "Actually, it is India which is shying away as it knows that it has to discuss the Kashmir issue and other issues on the dialogue table," he said. (ANI)
DIBRUGARH, FRIDAY, JULY 1
Istanbul terror attack: 41 killed, airport resumes flights
Hours after the deadly attack which left 41 people dead, Istanbul's Ataturk Airport resumed its service. Washington D.C., Jun 30: Hours after the deadly attack which left 41 people dead, Istanbul's Ataturk Airport resumed its service. Turkish Airlines says, it has resumed all flight operations, and Washington lifted a stoppage of flights between the US and Istanbul's Ataturk airport. Iran, however, suspended all flights to Istanbul today. Three terrorists attacked the arrivals hall and a nearby parking lot with gunfire and explosives, killing 41 people. Of the 239 people injured Tuesday night, 128 remained hospitalized Wednesday, officials said. Witness Laurence Cameron who saw and survived the carnage, said that despite the horrors of the day, every-
thing was quite calm at the present, which was a little surreal. "I was in the airport this morning looking for my lost luggage. They were sweeping up debris, and someone had hung up a big Turkish flag, pretty much right at the spot where (a) bomb had gone off -- sort of an act of defiance, which was quite moving," he said. At least 14 of the 41 killed were foreign nationals. The attack killed six Saudis and wounded 27 more, the Saudi Arabian foreign ministry said. The other victims killed included two Iraqis, one Tunisian, one Chinese, one Iranian, one Ukrainian, one Jordanian and one person from Uzbekistan, a Turkish official said. Three of the foreigners had dual Turkish citizenship. (ANI)
Nepal Government agrees to release Rs. 200,000 aid in two tranches Kathmandu, Jun 30: Prime Minister KP Sharma Olia ddressed the Parliament after a week of deadlock between the ruling and the opposition party over the release of aid for earthquake victims. The Nepali Congress had been obstructing proceedings in Parliament for the past one week, demanding the government to release the housing aid of Rs. 200,000 to earthquake survivors in one go, instead of three tranches. Taking the middle path, the Nepal Government agreed to release the housing aid in two tranches (Rs 150,000 and Rs 50,000), instead of in three. The parties have also reached an agreement to review the verification of earthquake victims, provide housing grants to those who have already built their homes in line with government guidelines and ease the process for quake victims to float a loan, reports the Kathmandu Post.
"The government is ready to provide the housing grant in two tranches instead of three," said Prime Minister Oli in Parliament on Wednesday. The Prime Minister added, "However, we need to change the existing directives and consult donor agencies before we start distributing the money." As per the existing directives, formulated on the basis of an agreement with the World Bank, beneficiaries are entitled to housing aid of Rs. 200,000 in three tranches-Rs. 50,000, Rs. 80,000 and Rs. 70,000. Though the Nepali Congress (NC) on Wednesday let the House resume its business and said it will "wait and see how the government translates its commitment into action". "We w o n ' t t o l e r a t e i f earthquake survivors do not get the housing aid in line with the agreement," said NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba. (ANI)
New Philippine president will seek to mend ties with China Manila , June 30: New Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has said that mending relations with China will be a top foreign policy priority of his government. He has said that China will be the first country that he will visit after taking office. Duterte's gestures are being viewed as encouraging, given that the previous presidency of Benigno Aquino III had repeatedly antagonized ties with Beijing by stoking tensions over the South China Sea. According to Xinhua, under the Aquino regime, Manila violated an agreement with Beijing to solve their South China Sea disputes via bilateral negotiations by unilaterally launching a compulsory
arbitration case against China, leaving the bilateral relationship in a complicated state. As of now though, Duterte is keeping his cards close to his chest, as he also does not want to antagonize the United States with regard to the South China Sea issue among others. In 2015, China was the Philippines' largest source of imports, the country's secondlargest trading partner, and third largest export market. Bilateral trade reached 45.65 billion US dollars, up 2.7 percent. Those figures suggest that the incoming Duterte government will seek to keep the door to Beijing open and bring ties back on the track. (ANI)
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NEIGHBOURS
Musharraf, Kayani too have Swiss Bank accounts, says London-based investigative journalist London, Jun 30: London-based investigative journalist and consultant James D. Crickton has made a startling revelation based on indepth research that both former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf and that country's former army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani have bank accounts in Switzerland with several million US dollars stashed in them. Writing in his blog on World Press Platform, Crickton said, "I tumbled upon this information accidentally as I was trying to find out how and why Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who hails from a rich business family, has allowed himself to be embroiled in the Panama Leaks controversy unearthed by intrepid international investigative journalists. The charge is that his family members had deposited money in shell companies located in Panama, and used that money to buy properties. It is also said that his daughter Maryam Nawaz owns properties in Peru and Singapore. Sharif critics have not
proved thus far that these assets have been acquired with ill-gotten wealth." During the course of his investigations into Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's illegal accounts, Crickton claimed that former president Musharraf and former army chief Kayani are holding separate accounts in the Swiss bank, Julius Baer. Musharraf's account, according to Crickton, is maintained by the Star Trust Company. It had several million dollars around the time he was briefly arrested in October 2013 for the operation he had ordered as the President in 2007 on Islamabad's famous Red Mosque that had left one cleric and more than 100 others dead. Presently, the balance in the account is USD two million, it is said. Well, it raises the question: why did he join the ranks of Third World leaders with secret bank accounts in Switzerland? asks Crickton. When he took over the reins in a bloodless coup in October 1999, Musharraf had promised a clean-up. Throughout his innings, the garrulous general kept on reiterating
Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf the promise. But analysts aver that the level of corruption did not diminish throughout his time. The numbered Swiss account lends credence to the assertion. Former army chief General Kayani, writes Crickton, has been maintaining a deafening silence ever since his retirement, but rumor mills in Islamabad, which churn out conspiracy theories by the dozen, were agog last November- December that he was put under house arrest and was slapped with a gag order. This phase coincided with incumbent Army Chief General Raheel Sharif's decision to cancel the allotment of
prime land that he had managed for himself shortly before he was set to retire. This piece of land originally belonged to Army Selection and Recruitment Center. Located close to the Fortress Stadium, it is the most expensive defence area in Lahore, the cultural capital of Pakistan. From January this year, General Kayani has been in the headlines because of his brother Kamaran Kayani, who is also a retired army officer. The army has ordered a probe into allegations that Kamaran became "a millionaire and then a billionaire during the extended tenure of his brother" at the helm of Army General Headquar-
ters (GHQ). Mr.Crickton refers to the Weekly Corporate Ambassador which said: "during Gen. Kayani's tenure as COAS, everyone in the army, politics and media knew about the fast-growing business of Kamaran Kayani as he was getting big contracts from the army, the government and the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) City. Kamaran is the main accused in the Pakistani Rupees 17 billion DHA scam. A few days ago, Pakistan's anti-corruption watch dog, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) cleared Gen. Kayani of allegations of corruption since there was no evidence in writing to show that he had asked for favours for his brother's enterprise. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has since issued orders for the arrest of Kamaran but he is abroad and thus remains beyond the long arm of Pakistani law enforcement agencies for the past couple of months. Kayani's Swiss bank account is maintained by Kamaran's UAE- based firm, J&B Construction Company. "The balance
Political infighting breaks out in Maldives over issue of leasing islands to foreigners Male, Jun 30: Serious infighting has broken out in the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) over the issue of the amendment of the controversial Tourism Act. Former president Maumoon Gayoom has been sending individual messages to PPM MPs on Viber so as to avoid phone tapping by sitting President Abdulla Yameen, who incidentally is also his brother. Gayoom's message is to revolt against the President on the amendment that would empower the government to lease or allocate islands for resort development to the foreigners, who could be fronting foreign governments. 80 percent of Maldives foreign exchange is earned through tourism. There are about 1,200 is-
lands in the Maldives, but only 250 are inhabited. Foreign ownership of the islands was prohibited till last year under Article 251 of the unamended Constitution. But now, following the 2015 amendment, the foreigners can buy land if they invest US $ one billion or more of the land used as reclaimed from the ocean. The amendment further states, "no part of the territory of the Maldives shall be used for foreign military purposes without the approval of the majority of the total membership of the People's Majlis." Gayoom has been sending messages to colleagues not to vote for the Tourism Bill which he says would undermine the sovereignty of the country and increase the scope for corruption and unfair practices as the clause of open bidding has
been done away with. During a debate last week, the opposition MPs accused Yameen's government of using loopholes in the Tourism Act to siphon of millions of dollars from the state coffers. They cited an audit report that US $ 65.01 million had been collected as acquisition costs by the state owned Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation but was embezzled under Yameen's watch. President Yameen is well aware that Gayoom's messages are having an impact as even the opposition seems to be echoing his sentiments. Gayoom had made similar appeals to the party MPs to vote against the party whip in July 2015 when the Bill had come up for voting. Gayoom's appeal to his party men for a con-
science vote did not prevent passage of the Bill in 2015. But things are different now. President Yameen's public appeal has taken a hit as he is being accused of misgovernance and corruption, many even saying that the time is ripe for an overthrow of President Yameen. Political analysts say the decisions earlier this week by the country's Supreme Court, which summarily upheld convictions of former president Nasheed and former defence minister Nazim despite evidence to the contrary, proved that Maldives' judicial system had been weakened by Yameen to such an extent that the country now appeared like a failed state. The opposition is also showing signs of uniting, including mounting in-
ternational pressure about the failing economy and increasing radicalisation of its polity. Ahmed Naseem, former Maldivian foreign minister and senior leader of the opposition MDP, recently said, "We believe that Yameen's policy of playing one country off against another is undesirable, untenable and unwarranted." The comment was made in apparent reference to China showing keen interest of buying some of the Maldivian islands which are now available for purchase. President Yameen, who came to power in 2013 by overthrowing his half brother, is now weakened to such an extent that his presidency now seems on its last leg. (ANI)
China pulls up chief negotiator for limited global support for anti-India position at NSG Hong Kong, Jun 30: The Chinese leadership has pulled up Wang Qun, its lead negotiator and Director General of the Arms Control Division at the Foreign Ministry, for failing to drum up significant global support for China's position in Seoul which blocked India's entry into the NSG. Highly placed Western and Chinese sources said that Wang Qun had told Beijing that at least one third of the NSG nations would endorse China's position. However, the position was totally in the reverse, with as many as 44 nations backing India and China only having the support of four nations. Beijing now fears that the fallout of the NSG outcome could have an impact on a crucial verdict expected soon from the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in a case brought by the Philippines concerning China's territorial reclamation activities in the South China Sea. As things stand, Beijing's
China pulls up chief negotiator for limited global support for anti-India position at NSG stance flies in the face of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) of which it is a signatory. China's big fear now is India could use the same ploy that Beijing used in Seoul at the NSG plenary and back The Hague Court's decision which is likely to go against China. Highly-placed sources said that the global support for India's position at the NSG could well be leveraged by
New Delhi to back the enforcement of The Hague Judgment - a scenario which could isolate China and could even trigger its exit from UNCLOS. Informed sources said the focus now shifts from the NSG to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague where a judgment is expected, which when enforced, could force China to give up land in favour of the Philippines.
China has launched a worldwide propaganda campaign enlisting academics, legal experts, diplomats and foreign governments stating that such legal proceedings are invalid. But this position of China's is contrary to the rules laid out by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) of which China is a signatory. China claims that it has the support of 60 nations who believe that arbitration at The Hague is illegal. China's worry now is that post its inability to generate global support for its anti-India position on NSG at Seoul, its position at the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague could meet the same fate, and this time, it could have to pay a very heavy price. High-level sources said on background that Seoul's outcome has "shocked China". The government thought that its emerging superpower status would guarantee the support of at least 15 nations against In-
dia. Western sources said China is "very sensitive"to possibilities of being isolated, and the developments and outcome at Seoul "came quite close to isolation". China is paranoid about might happen once the Permanent Court of Arbitration gives a verdict against Beijing and in favour of Philippines. To generate global support for its position at the NSG, sources said China is silently bracing itself for a Seoul fallout which would mean an overwhelming International demand on Beijing to accept The Hague court's Judgment and give land to The Philippines. All of this, said sources, illustrates that China is happy to enforce the letter of the law when it suits its purpose, but is prepared to reject Internationally accepted regulations when it feels its interests are under threat. Its stand at the NSG meet in Seoul fits into that pattern. (ANI)
in the account is US dollars several million dollars," Mr. Crickton claimed, quoting highlyplaced sources. These sources have identified the account numbers of the two generals. While Musharraf's is given as 3861337, Kayani's is said to be 583106 according to the London-based investigative journalist and consultant. Celebrated Pakistani geostrategist and commentator, Ayesha Siddiqa, has extensively written about the Pakistan military's economic activities. In her book "Military Inc" (published in 2007) she coined the term "Milbus" to refer to "military capital that is used for the personal benefit of the military fraternity, especially the officer cadre, but is neither recorded nor part of the defense budget." She has put the cost of this Milbus to about 20 billion dollars. But neither Ayesha Siddiqa nor any other commentator has even remotely hinted at generals having Swiss bank accounts. For them, this disclosure may come as a rude shock, writes Mr. Crickton in his blog. (ANI)
Pak actor Nadeem Jafri shot in Karachi, sustains injuries Lahore, Jun 30: Prominent Pakistani actor and musician Nadeem Jafri on Thursday sustained injuries after being attacked by suspected robbers in Karachi. The incident took place when the robbers opened fire at Jafri in Gulshan-e-Iqbal area of the city. Television actor and host Fakhr-e-Alam took to Twitter to report about the incident, saying the 'Wrong No' actor received multiple bullet wounds in an alleged robbery incident outside his house at sehri time. "My dear friend artist Nadeem Jafri was shot at multiple times at sehri time today in a robbery. He survived miraculously. Thank you Allah," Alam tweeted. "Though Jafri survived the attack, the incident left his family 'shaken up'," Alam added. Last week, Pakistani qawwali singer Amjad Sabri's unexpected death jolted the country's artist community. A wave of grief and shock gripped the country when armed motorcyclists sprayed Sabri with bullets in broad daylight in Liaquatabad area when the 45-year-old was heading to a private TV channel to perform in its Ramazan transmission. (ANI)
Suicide attack on Police convoy in Kabul, casualties feared Kabul, Jun 30: Twin explosions targeting a Police convoy on their way from Wardak province to Kabul, rocked the Afghan capital on Thursday. Officials said the incident took place in Qala-e-Haidar Khan village in Company area in Kabul city and that the convoy was transporting newly graduated police officers. A security official confirmed that a suicide bomber targeted a vehicle belonging to the security forces and added that the bus carrying police cadets were targeted as they were on their way. The officials however did not disclose any reports of causalities so far. Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack. (ANI)
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India Finally Joins Missile Technology Control Regime Healthcare Accessibility to public health care Healthcare is the right of every individual but lack of quality infrastructure, dearth of qualified medical functionaries, and non- access to basic medicines and medical facili(Photo: Consultadd) ties thwarts its reach to 60% of population in India. A majority of 700 million people lives in rural areas where the condition of medical facilities is deplorable. Considering the picture of grim facts there is a dire need of new practices and procedures to ensure that quality and timely healthcare reaches the deprived corners of the Indian villages. Though a lot of policies and programs are being run by the Government but the success and effectiveness of these programs is questionable due to gaps in the implementation. In rural India, where the number of Primary health care centers (PHCs) is limited, 8% of the centers do not have doctors or medical staff, 39% do not have lab technicians and 18% PHCs do not even have a pharmacist. Primary Health Care is a vital strategy which is a backbone of Health Service delivery for our country. However in the present scenario Indian rural health care faces a crisis unmatched to any other social sector. Nearly 86% of all the medical visit in India are made by ruralites with majority still travelling more than 100 km to avail health care facility of which 70-80% is born out of pocket landing them in poverty. Insufficiencies in public healthcare services have driven people across socio-economic strata to private healthcare facilities leading to issues of affordability challenges. In 2012, 61% of rural patients and 69% of urban patients chose private in-patient service providers, up from 40% reported in a 1986-87 government survey. India also accounts for the largest number of maternity deaths. A majority of these are in rural areas where maternal health care is poor. Even in private sector, health care is often confined to family planning and antenatal care and do not extend to more critical services like labor and delivery, where proper medical care can save life in the case of complications. Due to non accessibility to public health care and low quality of health care services, a majority of people in India turn to the local private health sector as their first choice of care. If we look at the health landscape of India 92 percent of health care visits are to private providers of which 70 percent is urban population. However, private health care is expensive, often unregulated and variable in quality. Besides being unreliable for the illiterate, it is also unaffordable by low income rural folks. To control the spread of diseases and reduce the growing rates of mortality due to lack of adequate health facilities, special attention needs to be given to the health care in rural areas. The key challenges in the healthcare sector are low quality of care, poor accountability, lack of awareness, and limited access to facilities.
Modern Slavery A rise of 4.1 million since 2014 As many as 18.3 million Indians live in conditions listed as 'modern slavery' in 2016, equivalent to the population of Netherlands, a rise of 4.1 million since 2014, according to a new global report. In other words, 5,616 Indians were enslaved every day over these two years. On an average, 51 out of every 100 people are vulnerable to modern slavery - bonded labour, forced begging, forced marriage, domestic services and commercial sex work - in India, according to the Global Slavery Index 2016 compiled by the Walk Free Foundation, an advocacy based in Australia. India has the fourth-highest proportion of people living under enslaved conditions, after North Korea, Uzbekistan and Cambodia. India was at fifth position in modern slavery in 2014, changing place with Qatar, the report said. "The term modern slavery refers to situations where one person has taken away another person's freedom - to control their body, their freedom to choose, to refuse certain work or to stop working - so that they can be exploited. Freedom is taken away by threats, violence, coercion, abuse of power and deception," as per the Global Slavery Index 2016 report. The Asia-Pacific region has the highest number of people living under conditions of modern slavery; almost 46% of human trafficking is reported from the region. While 83% victims are male, around 17% are female. Forced and child marriage are high in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Indonesia. A sex-ratio imbalance, resulting in absence of brides in India, has fuelled the trafficking of women and forced marriage. Sexual slavery has risen in concert with economic prosperity in India, IndiaSpend reported in April 2016. The informal nature of the Indian economy has an effect on vulnerability, and accounts, in large part, for modern slavery, which is related to economic, gender and caste inequalities, as this Economic Times report said. In states hit by Maoist violence, such as Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha, boys and girls between the ages of six and 12 were recruited in children's units The government has drafted a 'National Policy for Domestic Workers', which is currently awaiting Cabinet approval. If enacted, the policy would ensure a minimum salary of Rs 9,000 to skilled domestic help, paid- and maternity-leaves, social security, and the right to bargain collectively. It will also include provisions against sexual harassment and bonded labour for domestic workers.
After years of discussions, New Delhi finally becomes the grouping's 35th member. On Monday, as ex- grouping for years, with pected, India became the a consensus decision by 35th member of the Mis- all members for its adsile Technology Control mission finally issued Regime (MTCR), just this week. Notably days after its bid to join China, which has been the Nuclear Suppliers accused of blocking Group was put on hold. India's NSG bid, is not a The MCTR is an infor- member of the MCTR. mal and voluntary asso- "India would like to ciathank tion Prashanth Parameswaran each o f o f countries that works to- the thirty-four MTCR ward the non-prolifera- Partners for their support tion of unmanned deliv- for India's membership," ery systems capable of the Indian foreign minisdelivering weapons of try said in a press statemass destruction and ment on June 27. seeks to coordinate na- "India's entry into the retional export licensing gime as its thirty-fifth efforts. It was originally member would be mutuset up in 1987 by ally beneficial in the furCanada, France, Ger- therance of international many, Italy, Japan, Brit- non-proliferation objecain, and the United tives." States. The United States also India's membership in welcomed India's entry MCTR has been an issue into the MCTR. At a discussed within the press conference on
Monday, State Department press office director Elizabeth Trudeau said India was admitted because it "demonstrated to all MCTR partners a sustained commitment to nonproliferation and it has a legally-based, effective exports control system." Much of the commentary leading up to and following India's admission has focused on the implications of this for New Delhi moving forward. To the extent that New Delhi's accession sees it strengthening its own export controls and is viewed as an enhanced commitment to non-proliferation, it may make it easier for its fellow MTCR members to transfer technologies to India. Particular attention has
India's Agni-V missile (Photo: usatoday) been on the United States, given India's interest in items such as U.S. drones, though this is only one of a series of considerations that
Washington and New Delhi have with respect to such transfers. In the meantime, India's MTCR membership will see it participate in the
grouping's upcoming activities, including the annual plenary meeting to be held in South Korea in October. Courtesy: The diplomat
Indian Authorities Wrangle With Google Street View Google's revolutionary mapping plans don't seem to find government enthusiasm in India. Google Street View, a tain yet - the Home Min- proposal was met with popular feature of istry declared that a final favor earlier in April Google Maps, has been decision could only be 2015 when the company making waves globally made once other govern- pitched it as a useful tool by offering 360-degree ment bodies had their say for tourism and disaster views of streets, pan- and once the Geospatial management. Represenoramic images, and high Information Regulation tatives were approached definition content. How- Bill was passed. with the request to even ever, it has make the city of proven contro- Padmapriya Govindarajan Hyderabad the versial due to first one to fully privacy concerns raised This Bill, as other ana- implement it. by governments as well lysts have discussed, Google began with imas civilian users - and heavily polices map- portant Indian monuearlier this month, India based information avail- ments - the Taj Mahal joined that bandwagon. able about India, includ- (Agra), Red Fort The Indian Home Min- ing severe fines and sen- (Delhi), Gateway of Inistry voiced reservations tencing for agencies that dia (Mumbai), and the about going ahead with regulatory approval for Google Street View within India as it believed this would be a compromise on the country's security. Specifically, "sensitive defense installations" might get compromised. This concern has been particularly acute since the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, which were been possible because of photographic access to target zones. More recently, the January 2016 attacks on the Pathankot Air Force station were supposedly facilitated by the familiarity of the attackers with the topography and layout of the area, which they are thought to have gleaned via Google Maps. Com- wrongly depict the map of Mysore Palace - before plete rejection of the India. It cannot bode well piloting in the actual possibility of Street for Google's India ambi- streets of the city of View in India is not cer- tions, even though the Bangalore. This pilot
This concern has been particularly acute since the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, which were been possible because of photographic access to target zones. More recently, the January 2016 attacks on the Pathankot Air Force station were supposedly facilitated by the familiarity of the attackers with the topography and layout of the area, which they are thought to have gleaned via Google Maps.
went awry in 2011 when services were stopped right in the experimental phase after police objections regarding security. Google collects the relevant information through cars and bikes fitted with cameras, which go around cities taking panoramic 360 degree
tiple negotiations in 2010. In 2014, the government of Italy fined Google $1.4 million for not having clearly recognizable photography cars and thus not giving people the full information required to consent to being photographed. France fined the
Image for representational purpose (Photo: speedtest) photographs. They do however blur faces and license plates and other sensitive information collected - the company even accommodates user requests to do so. That has not in any way stemmed a flow of objections and lawsuits. In 2010, requests to blur faces were raised by Germany and, in 2014, Hamburg authorities fined Google. The Czech government has also banned Google Street View, despite mul-
company for inadvertently fetching data from WiFi networks. Google is fighting a Swiss lawsuit and potentially facing Dutch fines as well. The European Union has demanded that Google provide public advertisement of which cities they will be operating in before each operation commences and also to warn local residents before beginning any photo-collection efforts. While Google has tried to address these concerns in
Spare the Rod
Image for representational purpose (Photo: iditv)
several cases, the complaints do keep mounting, as in the case of India. Even their blurring policies don't immediately apply to user-contributed images, which are also downloadable. India's notion of privacy regarding images of individuals currently prima-
Sir, Pampering of their Children by almost all the parents have become a common phenomenon now-a-days. Effort to shape up the future of the Children by parents is the obsession of all of them. In their endeavour to do so, some parents spoil their Children. The English saying goes 'Spare the rod and spoil the Child'. We note with concern that a good number of drug addicts are found to have their origins from such parents who pamper their Children in ample measure. But at the same time, a section of teachers become very much strict on their students, so much so that recently a teacher in a High School near Dibrugarh (Kotoha) killed a student after he had been beaten up by the teacher black and blue, if news papers reports are anything to go by. This is not a isolated instance. There are myriad of such instances of beating up
by insane teachers, but there is no report of death. Some High/Higher school going children often complain that their parents are constantly after them mounting tremendous pressure for better result and sometimes it has its toll too.
rily caters only to images that offend sensibilities. The draft of the Personal Data Protection Bill 2013, when passed, might help better clarify what might count as private information and images. In the meantime, unless Google finds a way to overcome the safety concerns raised, India might be the next country to fully disallow the project. Courtesy: The diplomat
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How Students Like Ruby Rai Expose The Hollowness Of Indian Education System When the 'prodigious' examinations faded from Ruby Rai, the Arts (Hu- world's recounting, here manities) Topper of Bihar was a state board topper state board, was asked to astounding educators name the subjects she with her unfamiliarity of had studied for scoring an even the name of the subexemplary 444 marks out ject she scored the highof 500, Rai replied thus - est marks in, let alone its "Hindi, English, Geogra- content. phy, Music and Prodigal To save its shame, the Science." Bihar State The word Akshat Tyagi Education 'prodigal' Board ormeans wastefully ex- dered a re-test of all the travagant and sardoni- fourteen toppers of scically that is an honest syn- ence and arts. Only Rubi onym of the outlook failed to appear in the which a majority of the exam on the pretext of Indian population shares depression due to the towards Political Science public trial of her compeand Humanities stream. tence. Nevertheless, Rubi's reply wasn't a slip when she appeared she of tongue, she even elu- failed desolately. cidated that it is a subject "Tulsidas ji, Pranam," a pertaining to cooking. confident Rubi wrote in Even before the repre- one line responding to an hensible image of Bihar's essay question on the cheating scandal in which poet-saint in the re-test parents climbed walls of before being arrested. an institute (ironically Interestingly, while being named after the 'Nai arrested Rubi appeared Talim' advocate - confident and refused to Gandhi) to help their chil- cover her face. She only dren cheat in 10th Boards used her scarf after be-
ing insisted to do so. Rubi and Shreshtha (the science topper who also failed the re-test) have become a laughing stock for everybody over the past month. But the hard truth is, it is instead the education system which should be laughed at and hidden under a cover for the crimes it commits. The re-test did not fail these children, it failed the education system. Bihar may already have a notorious reputation for the poor education standards it has, and quite comfortably we have accepted it as the fortune of those who cannot afford elite private education. That surely does not mean private schools are closer to the real meaning of education, but they are at least committed in their business. What we must not forget is, even the largest education board-CBSE affiliated schools are not immune to cheating (mass-cheat-
ing within the examination rooms is not uncommon), it may happen more cordially and prudently but no student having appeared for the board exams would deny its prevalence. These students who are caught under the radar are only less lucky than their peers. And these frequent cases are often dealt with stringency as a display of no-tolerancefor-unfair-practices. But the radical (root) questions are never thought about. Why do children cheat? If children cannot be honest with themselves then what is the worth of their schooling? If schools which keep over-stressing discipline build students who are not sincere, then what values are we promoting? Why are exams becoming so imperative in life that it pushes students to risk a five-year long debarment from all government exams just to fetch
a few additional marks? We need not punish pupils for they are the representatives of a hollow design of education which we have built for our children. Children like Rubi occasionally expose what exactly is wrong with the way in which we educate our children. When a few digits on my report card, based on my performance caliber of only five days, very arbitrarily evaluated by examiners who check over 40 sheets in six hours, each for less than fifty rupees, is going to determine the future course of my education, then may be it is the system which indulgences in unfair practice not the other way round. This same evaluation process can also be easily and significantly altered at the will of the education board. Like when outrage over a difficult question paper triggers statements such as
Mass cheating in Bihar Class X exam (Photo: media2.intoday) "checking of answer sheets will be lenient". It is immoral to joke with students by setting question papers, forcing them to buy reference books, putting the burden on them to seek help from commercial 'educational' publishers and choachings. And also, if the board can 'adjust' the evaluation process to 'leniency,' then it becomes highly unclear what benchmark we are aiming for and what sort of a predicament a student is about to face during an
exam. The idea of examination is little more than bad humor when kids are allowed to see their answer scripts but not question the fairness of the evlauation. Beyond boards, let us ask ourselves, are these annual standardized examinations any less than a yearlong torture for our children? Are we selling the beautiful period of learning and teenage in exchange on a few inconsequential digits on a piece of paper we call the report card? And we decide that
this is all there is to the lovely and life-long journey of education? Or are we making this journey irrelevant keeping in sight some other glittering dream which has no space and time to worry about the sanity and happiness of children? This is certainly not what our children deserve. I may not have all the answers, it may take me a lifetime to figure out, but is it not our collective responsibility to ensure a better system to the future of our world? Courtesy:Youthkiawaaz
How 'Udta Punjab' Shows That It's Not What's With Men In Kitchens As Easy As Blaming The 'Hooked' Youth Being Celebrated Like Kings? So it is the morning af- in the Indian scenario ter 'Udta Punjab' and has been working in the needless to say the best possible ways drivrang-de-basanti mind is ing drugs into the hands speeding furiously. I am of the vulnerable youth. hoping the movie is an The big size of families exaggeration of the probably makes it all the more diffistate of Shraddha Nyati cult to pay affairs in Punjab. Because if it attention to any strange isn't then it's a very sen- activities by kids. And the sitive issue to be stress faced by the youth handled (and not dis- at every level makes cussed or made a politi- them weaker and drives cal issue) as soon as pos- them towards this heaven of ecstasy. sible.
you get a job?) Even after you have settled down in your job, there is the consistent stress of achieving targets and appraisals. Even at a personal level, we seem to have grown dissatisfied with our achievements and always aim for our passions, our calling. This wait of a call from our calling has driven the youth into restlessness. They are not content
when they were trading for nights to be spent "on" the petite girl from Bihar (Alia Bhatt). If this is the state of the people who are supposed to be the guardians of our society, then I feel really scared being a girl. I may start questioning my existence. The movie may be a work of fiction, but it is high time that we address these issues irrespective of the state.
realise that they are leaders of a growing India, the youngest country, and are spoiling its growth for their selfish motives. Next to be taken into account is the ease of access to drugs. India is located at the most fertile place for drugs, being sandwiched between the 'golden crescent' and the 'golden triangle', the areas with the highest opium production. It probably becomes easy for drug dealers to traffic drugs through porous borders. Almost all the modes of transport have been actively used for transportation of drugs concealed in various ways. These are then made available to the local people through jugaad as we all know. And those who don't, visit Goa, you will know! Such easy access makes the drug abusers more active and they sustain their habit.
A poster from the film Udta Punjab (Photo:Idivalive) Having stayed in Delhi for a long time, Punjab for me has been a state with lassi and sarson da saag. I have known about the drug addiction problem for long and I never believed that it is confined to only one state. I always knew that it is something that spans the entire world. But never did I think that the problem infiltrates almost every strata of our societies and mind you, it has nothing to do with just one state. The problem may be grave in Punjab but it is there everywhere. The youth which is the fuel of this developing country is actually lying half-dead with injections in some gutters and corners. The jugaad that always has been a catalyst
Aisa bhi kya stress, you ask. Well, to start with, the very question is stressful making the youth believe that their tensions are baseless and they are useless shit. Right from the start, a child is faced with constant struggles; some of which the elders never realise. Padhai nahi karoge toh kamaoge kaise? Duniya kaise ijjat degi? (How will you earn if you don't study? Who will respect you?) You have to score good marks in 10th, because it will decide your career. Score well in 12th, that will decide your life. College me padhai nahi karoge toh naukri kaise milegi? (If you don't study in college, how will
even on their comfy beds because there is always that nagging sound from within the heart to do something better. And this growing discontent has made them turn towards these secondary addictions which may not make them overcome their problems but at least make them forget them for a while. But the important question is whether we can put the entire blame on the youth? I believe that the demand for a particular thing sustains itself only if there is a supply. Here comes the role of security personnel especially the police officers. While watching the movie, the attitude of police officers at the toll booth gave me goosebumps, especially
The movie also depicts the role of higher officials in this dhanda. If this is how it actually is then it is something to worry about. And, moreover, we cannot totally ignore the fact that every now and then scams and ghotaleare laid bare in front of the people. We keep questioning the tours and travels of Modi, our very own Prime Minister who won by a majority. But in a democracy where we have the right to choose our own head, isn't it our responsibility to be honest in our own dealings? When we are ourselves corrupt and take to unethical ways to achieve selfish motives, how can we point fingers at someone who we have elected ourselves? And these officials fail to
Let us face a hard fact, the victims aren't just these drug abusers. The real victims are the families who lose their children to these drugs. A few bundles of currency is enough to buy a kid's life. This is not the society our forefathers might have dreamt about. How can we blame only the youth for something that they get hooked on to due to larger forces operating in society? And it is a matter of concern that people here, including me, find it difficult to see the truth. It's not who we are, it's what we end up as! Let's make our lives beautiful and work towards making someone else's life beautiful as well. If not the whole world, at least one person's life. Courtesy: Youthkiawaaz
What exactly is it about (both metaphorically and housework where a man literally) even though he's doing it makes him a saint now playing the role of and yet the women 'housewife' kinda brings who've always been do- home the point they're ing it hardly get a nod? missing. What is the big Well, many things don't deal if men choose to stay apply for women under at home? patriarchy, so we're not One, it really, really even getting into that ar- brings to the forefront gument. But the point re- how little household work mains that as we're see- is respected as real work, ing the e v e n l o n g Saswati Chatterjee though it awaited c a n inversion of gender roles, amount to as much as 56 somehow the idea of men hours a week. And for in the kitchen (or in the those people out there home) seems to be who don't think that romanticised a bit, while household work constiwomen at work get the tutes as work, newsflash: exact opposite treatment. it absolutely does. The We wonder why? second thing it does is Take a look at a recent repeat history's irritating Hindi film, 'Ki & Ka'. An habit of making golden
pretty sure this doesn't apply to husbands when they've switched the role around. The point remains: gendering of work just creates an unnecessary division of labour instead of expecting both sexes to shoulder an equal amount. Thus we can have a world where people like Kiran Bedi (the first woman Inspector General of police in India), Zama Mohammad Hadid (the first woman recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Award), Maryam Mirzakhani (mathematician), Anuradha Pal (first female professional tabla player) stop being exceptions. Women are thus breaking out roles assigned to them in a patriarchal
Image for representational purpose (Photo:ilive) entire film concerned with the reversal of gender roles where Kareena Kapoor's Kia plays a successful businesswoman against Arjun Kapoor's Kabir's more house-husbandly status. Yes, yes 'Ki & Ka', we all got the joke. But the point the film (and its trailers) focus on appears to be Kabir's acceptance of his role as managing the household which even in the movie is played up to be either a great personal sacrifice or something that affects his 'manliness'. The fact that the film goes out of its way to say that nope, Kabir is still totally the one wearing the 'pants'
everything that men touch even though women have always been doing those things, absolutely unappreciated. For further distressing details, look up women in computing (starting way back from Ada Lovelace to the likes of Adele Goldberg and Grace Hopper), DNA (uhh Rosalind Franklin?), science fiction, and the genre of the novel itself. The list is endless. In Indian society, the idea of the woman being in the kitchen and making food is often doubly reinforced by the tradition which often expects them to not eat before their husbands. I'm
society and redefining what 'women's labour' means. In reality, work is just work and while it's always nice to help out, you don't get a 21 gun salute for it. We must bring the household (seen primarily as a woman's realm) and the outside (seen primarily as a man's realm) on the same plane of importance and stop gendering them. In doing so, both men and women can receive equal credit for sharing work rather than expecting to share an entire world's worth of work by themselves. This article was originally published on Cake.
DIBRUGARH, FRIDAY, JULY 1
BUSINESS
Paytm ties up with Suzuki Motorcycle for easy booking of two-wheeler models ANI New Delhi, Jun 30: India's largest mobile payment and commerce platform Paytm announced its strategic partnership with Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt. Ltd. to offer its customers the largest assortment of bike and scooter models across all transactional platforms in India. With over 400+ Suzuki dealers on-board, the Paytm marketplace will now enable booking of all Suzuki twowheeler models on its platform across India. As part of the association, Suzuki will also have a brand store on Paytm for higher consumer engage-
Japan eyes market for security devices and sanitary ware in Asia ANI Tokyo/Kuala Lumpur, Jun 30: The implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been started in various fields. Japan's NTT Communications Corporation is testing if this can be applied in crime prevention. One of the tests is the visual analysis by "Deep Learning" technology. The device helps in analyzing the contents of still images. Koji Ito of the NTT Communications Corporation said, "By interpreting images with temporal movements, 'Time Series Deep Learning' has become the technology of comprehending what someone is doing." It identifies movements of a person by analyzing time changes, 'Time Series Deep Learning' can identify human movements from moving images with high precision. For example, detecting and identifying unnatural activities or an emergency patient becomes possible. Kenichiro Shimada also of the NTT Communications Corporation said, "Such activities so far were a burden for human beings. Monitoring certain operations used to require tireless attention. By doing so, the territory of cooperation with human beings extends and it broadens the possibilities of people engaging in other creative tasks." The application of 'Time Series Deep Learning' is fast-growing in Asia. Shimada further said, "More and more largescaled commercial facilities are being built. We think there are more possibilities for application in those growing markets. In Asia, we also believe it can be applied in the field of security." Not only security gadgets, the growing economics world over are generating more demands for highend sanitary. In Kuala Lumpur, the sanitary items installed in many luxury homes are of TOTO. Bridgett Hor, a sales manager at W.Atelier Sdn Bhd, said, "We thank to TOTO Japan for their 100 years of continuous innovation to improve our bathroom experience. TOTO products have been in Malaysia for more than 30 years. With our dedication in providing the best services, it is obvious TOTO is the preferred choice for bathroom fixtures and fittings." The prime location is the Kuala Lumpur City Centre. Here, luxury homes that are co-developed by the developers from Japan are also impressed with TOTO's technical strength. Tan Yee Seng, Senior General Manager, Architectural & Project Developments, IGB Corporation, Berhad, said, "In the area of toilets. They do it better than anybody else." TMS in Malaysia has been playing an important role as the production base of Washlet products used all around the world. Osamu Akiyoshi, Managing Director, Toto Malaysia SDN. BHD, said, "It has been 20 years since Toto Malaysia was established in 1995. We are delivering Washlet from Malaysia to clients throughout the world. We strive to bring Washlet with high quality to the clients from all over the world." In Cambodia, the booming economy has open new opportunities for luxury sanitary items. As a Japanese housing equipment brand, Toto has been playing an unparalleled role. One of the examples is Sokha Phnom Penh Hotel, where Toto products have been used.
JOINING HANDS FOR A GOOD REASON India's largest mobile payment and commerce platform Paytm announced its strategic partnership with Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt. Ltd. to offer its customers the largest assortment of bike and scooter models across all transactional platforms in India.
With over 400+ Suzuki dealers onboard, the Paytm marketplace will now enable booking of all Suzuki two-wheeler models on its platform across India.
As part of the association, Suzuki will also have a brand store on Paytm for higher consumer engagement guaranteeing an enhanced consumer experience.
Consumers can now book their favorite Suzuki motorbike with the ease of a click on Paytm.
Paytm dealerships present across the country will be actively involved in giving a great consumer experience to Paytm's customers while fulfilling the orders.
With the alliance, Paytm projects registering sales of more than 10,000 units to be sold on the platform within this calendar year.
ment guaranteeing an enhanced consumer experience. With the alliance,
Paytm projects registering sales of more than 10,000 units to be sold on the plat-
form within this calendar year. Paytm will also enable vehicle financing to
provide higher degree of assistance to consumers while buying a Suzuki product. "At Paytm, we always strive to maximize the product offerings available for our consumers. This partnership is a step further in the direction. We are highly delighted to announce that Suzuki has displayed their trust on Paytm by making us the preferred partner for all of their product offerings," said Vice President Paytm, Renu Satti. "We are confident that this will create a mutually beneficial relationship between Suzuki and Paytm, with consumers being the ultimate winners," added Renu Satti. On the
other hand, Managing Director (India) Suzuki Motorcycle, Satoshi Uchida believes that Paytm enjoys great consumer trust owing to transactional credibility and consumer satisfaction. "Based on this understanding, Paytm and Suzuki were the natural partners for this strategic alliance. Consumers can now book their favorite Suzuki motorbike with the ease of a click on Paytm. Our dealerships present across the country will be actively involved in giving a great consumer experience to Paytm's customers while fulfilling the orders," added Satoshi Uchida.
Ola signs MoU with Haryana govt. to create 10,000 entrepreneurs ANI New Delhi, Jun 30: Taxi aggregator Ola has signed a Memorandum of Understanding ( MoU) with the Government of Haryana to create over 10,000 entrepreneurs in the state. Mobile technology platform ensuring convenient, transparent and quick service fulfillment aims to invest Rs. 350 crore over the next five years to skill and train thousands of men and women and help them take their first step towards entrepreneurship. Ola will also work with the state government to introduce innovative and customized mobility solutions like Ola Auto, Ola Bike, Ola Share and Ola Shuttle across the state. Ola will further build for local mobility needs using its technology to serve citizens across Haryana, giving them instant access to reliable and convenient mobility. "Haryana is de-
veloping at a rapid pace. Our government recently introduced the 'enterprise promotion policy' for ease of doing business here. Ola's commitment to building mobility for citizens by using cutting edge mobile technology and by enabling entrepreneurship and skilling will be invaluable for the state's growth," said Managing Director HSIIDC, Sudhir Rajpal. "We are confident that our partnership with Ola will further accelerate government's efforts of pumping the economic development of the state with a focus on skilling and creating entrepreneurial opportunities for tens of thousands of men and women across the state," added Sudhir Rajpal. Haryana is banking on technology and skill development amongst the youth for further development in the region. It is through
Chief Operating Officer at Ola, Pranay Jivrajka. (Photo: bsmedia.business-standard) focused training and skilling initiatives with the involvement of the Government and private enterprises like Ola, that men and women in the state can realize their entrepreneurial dreams. Once trained, these individuals stand to benefit from Ola's technology platform. Driver partners working with Ola across India have seen their in-
comes grow by as much as 40 percent. In fact, more than 70 percent of the drivers associated with Ola are entrepreneurs themselves. "We are proud to partner with the Government of Haryana to create more than 10,000 entrepreneurship opportunities across the state. To this end, we are planning to invest over Rs. 350 crore
in Haryana over the next five years," said Chief Operating Officer at Ola, Pranay Jivrajka. "We will work with the government to train and provide the right skill set to thousands of men and women across Haryana and help them take their first step towards entrepreneurship." Added Pranay. He also said that the company aims to improve access to mobility in cities across the state by bringing on-board innovative transportation use cases like Ola Auto, Ola Share, Ola Shuttle, Ola Bike and many more, to complement the existing urban transportation system in Haryana. Ola is currently present in five cities in Haryana including Gurgaon, Faridabad, Panchkula, Kurukshetra and Ambala and plans to expand its services in the region further.
Tax evaders need to be legitimate by September 30: Arun Jaitley ANI New Delhi, Jun 30: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the people who have black money need to legitimate it and for that September 30 is the last date. Addressing the reporters after the meeting with industry associations and discussions over the four-month window of Income Dis-
closure Scheme ( IDS), the minister said, "Any declaration made under this law (Income Declaration Scheme '16) is protected, that info won't be shared with any other authority." "The compliance window is open for people with undisclosed income to legitimize it by paying 45 percent tax between June one to September
30th," added the minister. The meeting was held by the finance minister to explain provisions of the one-time compliance window provided to domestic black money holders to pay their taxes and escape harsher penalties. The scheme, which was announced in the Union Budget for 2016-17, became operational on
June 1. It allows domestic black money holders to declare unaccounted wealth and come clean by paying a tax and penalty of 45 per cent. The government has said that there will be no inquiry into the source of the undisclosed income and assets if declaration is made voluntarily. Delivering a strong message to the defaulters,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this week asked them not to evade taxes and come clean by September 30. "Don't evade taxes and come clean by September 30. There will be no leniency after September 30 against defaulters," he said in the 29th edition of his ' Mann ki Baat' radio programme.
Sobha launched Sobha City in Delhi-NCR ANI B e n g a l u r u (Karnataka), Jun 30: Sobha Limited will launch its first luxury apartment project, Sobha City in Delhi-NCR. The project is one of the largest group housing projects in Gurgaon which will offer best-in-class living experience to the customers. Located in Sector 108 of Gurgaon, the project is much sought-after due to its close proximity to Delhi and Indira Gandhi International Airport. Sprawled over 39 acres, Sobha City comprises of 1700 apartments across 22 towers with four units on each floor. The project offers 2BHK and 3BHK apartments that range from 1380 sq. ft. to 2342 sq. ft. Each unit is functionally planned with welldesigned layouts and optimally-sized living
spaces. With 85 percent open spaces, it offers an abundance of amenities along with a magnificent view of the surroundings. Speaking on the eve of the occasion, Mr. J C Sharma, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Sobha Limited, said: "Over the years, Gurgaon has developed and transformed into a leading financial and industrial hub in India. It not only boasts a presence of over 250 Fortune 500 companies but also caters to a population having third highest per capita income in the country. This has augmented the demand for luxury homes that meets the aspirations of people in the Delhi-NCR region. Additionally, Gurgaon being one of the fastest growing realty markets, offers high capital appreciation, making it a lucra-
tive investment option. Sobha City aims to fulfill the desires of quality conscious and value discerning customers. More importantly, the project underscores promise of international quality luxury, style, and comfortable living." Mr. Jagadish Nangineni, Regional Head - NCR, Sobha Limited, said: "Sobha City, Gurgaon is the first luxury apartment project from the house of Sobha. With this launch, we will have a product mix that will offer homes of all sizes in NCR region - 2 & 3 BHK apartments in Sobha City and villas at International City. Sobha City has been meticulously planned keeping customer's core requirements in mind for a luxurious community living both in terms of the apartment and amenities.
These apartments are designed with a good balance of functionality, aesthetics and luxury. The amenities are the best in class - open grounds, parks, large water bodies and two clubhouses. Sobha City is going to be a landmark community development owing to its scale of development, shape of the land and location which is on the edge of Delhi." The common amenities at Sobha City include a large cricket ground having 45 m radius, a lakelet, two oval club houses measuring 40,000 square feet with multipurpose halls, cafe, entertainment room, children's play area, library, and cards room. In addition, it also offers multiple lawns and parks, specially designed camping grounds, paved pathways, swimming pool,
cricket stadium, green landscaped outfield with more than a kilometre long walking and biking trail, designer landscaped greens and other amenities that match the pace and standard of living of today's smart customers. Founded in 1995, Sobha Limited, a Rs. 25 billion company, is one of the fastest growing and foremost backward integrated real estate players in the country. The company's residential projects include presidential apartments, villas, row houses, super luxury and luxury apartments, plotted developments and aspirational homes. In all its residential projects, the company lays strong emphasis on environmental management, water harvesting, and highest safety standards.
PAGE 10
Cabinet clears N.S. Vishwanathan's appointment as new RBI Dy Governor
Former RBI executive Director, N.S. Vishwanathan who is the newly-elected Deputy Governor. (Photo: media.newindianexpress) ANI New Delhi, Jun 30: The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet cleared the appointment of former RBI executive director N.S. Vishwanathan as the newly-elected Deputy Governor. Vishwanathan, who served the Indian central banking institution as an executive director, will succeed H.R. Khan as the Deputy Governor of RBI from July 3, 2016. Meanwhile, the government has narrowed its
long list of candidates for the next RBI Governor to just four. The four shortlisted candidates are RBI Deputy Governor Urjit Patel, former deputy governors Rakesh Mohan and Subir Gokarn and State Bank of India chief Arundhati Bhattacharya. The search began after incumbent Raghuram Rajan sent ripples across the financial sector, announcing that he would not continue to head the central bank after his term expires on September 4.
Myntra's 'End of Reason Sale' to have 10 million customers at festival ANI New Delhi, Jun 30: Over 2000 Indian and Global fashion brands will be on sale at the country's largest fashion shopping festival, 'End of Reason Sale' (EORS) by Myntra. With over 250,000 curated styles, designs and brands, riding on attractive discounts of up to 80 percent, EORS will be held this weekend, on July 2nd and 3rd July. The fourth edition of EORS is set to break all previous records with respect to scale, discounts on offer, number of brands, expected revenue and acquisition of new customers. Shoppers on Myntra can now enjoy shopping on the mobile app, mobile web and desktop site. A range of top brands including Nike, United Colors of Benetton, Forever 21, Mango, Marks and Spencer, Tommy Hilfiger, US Polo, Roadster, HRX, Louis Philippe, Anouk, Roush amongst others, would be participating in the shopping festival. Myntra's EORS brings unprecedented opportunity for over 10 million shoppers across the country to buy the latest designs and styles from the world's
leading brands. The EORS would also involve a range of innovations that will make the shopping and discovery experience exciting, easy to navigate and more engaging. "Myntra's 'End of Reason Sale' is getting bigger and better, each passing season. It is by far, the largest fashion sale event in the country with an ever increasing number of customers coming on board. We expect twenty times the revenue during the sale and twice as much as the previous EORS, held early this year," said Myntra CEO, Ananth Narayanan. "With an estimated 10 million people participating this time, we are actively gearing up for the sale to help customers make the best of the two days," added Narayanan. EORS has emerged as the most sought after fashion sale event in the country and is one of the most important properties of Myntra. EORS breaks away from the traditional end of season sale format which usually last for six to seven weeks. In the span of just two days, shoppers can avail the best of fashion from the widest catalogue at prices never heard of.
A PERFECT OPPORTUNITY Over 2000 Indian and Global fashion brands will be on sale at the country's largest fashion shopping festival, 'End of Reason Sale' (EORS) by Myntra. With over 250,000 curated styles, designs and brands, riding on attractive discounts of up to 80 percent, EORS will be held this weekend, on July 2nd and 3rd July. The fourth edition of EORS is set to break all previous records with respect to scale, discounts on offer, number of brands, expected revenue and acquisition of new customers. Shoppers on Myntra can now enjoy shopping on the mobile app, mobile web and desktop site. A range of top brands including Nike, United Colors of Benetton, Forever 21, Mango, Marks and Spencer, Tommy Hilfiger, US Polo, Roadster, HRX, Louis Philippe, Anouk, Roush amongst others, would be participating in the shopping festival.
DIBRUGARH, FRIDAY, JULY 1
Features
PAGE 11
TRAVEL & TOURISM
Places to visit in manipur Looking for the best places to visit in Manipur? Are you planning on travelling to Manipur anytime soon and wondering what places to visit in Manipur to get the most out of your experience to this beautiful place also known as the Switzerland of India? Yes. Then read on. But before we do that let's just be honest that it's almost impossible to be totally 100% prepared for any trip of any sort to any place ever. And that's one of the best things about travelling; it adds a zest of sweet uneasiness and excitement. Yet having a fair idea of places to visit while you are in Manipur will help you a lot. PLACES TO VISIT IN MANIPUR Imphal - The capital city Surrounded by seven hill ranges, the capital city of Manipur is the hub for culture and commercial activity. Khwairamband bazaar You get a glimpse into the matriarchal set up of
Manipur at this bazaar. Known as 'Ema Keithel', it is the only and the largest market run by women in the country. From here you can pick up traditional Manipuri handlooms such as shawls, baskets, bags, clothes, household tools, and many more. Tourists popularly buy cane and bamboo handicraft from here. War cemetery The cemetery commemorates the British and Indian soldiers who died during the Second World War. It looks tranquil and is well maintained with stone markers and bronze plaques recording brief accounts of the soldiers. Shri Govindajee Temple Adjacent to the palace of the former rulers of Manipur, this temple is a sacred center for Vaisnavites. The temple has a simple structure comprising twin domes, a paved courtyard and a large raised congregation hall. Gambhir Singh shopping complex: Wondering where to find those shoes
and shirts worn by rock stars? Well, this is the right place to buy them from. The place is flooded with latest foreign fashion accessories. Also look out for tattoo shops; the tattoo artists here are quite creative. Loktak Lake & Sendra Island This place is a must see for the tourists. About 48 kilometers from Imphal, Sendra island is more of an elevated hill in the center of Loktak Lake, the largest fresh water lake in the northeastern, and opens up a wonderful panorama of small islands of floating weed dotting the glittering blue waters, aquatic flora and the locals going about their daily life. Loktak is like a miniature inland sea with a beautiful stretch of water, and is a good place to enjoy boating, canoeing and other water sports. Keibul Lamjao National Park The park is home to the rare and endemic brow-
antlered deer called 'Sangai'. About 53 kilometers from Imphal, on the fringes of Loktak Lake, this is the last natural habitat of the endangered Sangai deer. The unique characteristic of this park is it floats on water. Moreh (IndoMyanmar border) Experience a little bit of Myanmar here in this place. Approx. 110 kilometers from Imphal, this border town is located on the lands of Tamu. It is an important commercial hub in Northeast. Enjoy the advantages of rupee at the Myanmar Shopping Complex. Here you get a cheap bargain on an assortment of Thai, Chinese and Burmese electronic gadgets, clothes, carpets and home decor range. Must do in Moreh- Go for a short tour of Myanmar's town like Kalimiew and Mandlay. Also enjoy a chariot ride near the border. An honest piece of advice, avoid hooking up with Burmese prostitutes
Fly Like A Bird: Places In India For An Exhilarating Paragliding Experience If there is one thing that has been the core of human fancy since ages, it surely is flying. After tasting the heights in the aircrafts developed by Wright brothers, many wished to take it to the next level and feel something closer to a bird's flight! That's when some crazy dreamer invented paragliding - a thrilling adventure sport that allows you to soar high, with the vast expanse of nature underneath.
Fly with: Skywalk Flying Club, Fly Ocatne Cost: INR 2,500 onwards Manali The other famous destination for paragliding in Himachal is Manali. Except for the monsoons season, you can try paragliding here anytime. Solang Valley and Marhi are two of the most popular spots for paragliding in Manali. Among the reasons which make Manali one of the most preferred paragliding places in India is the avail-
paragliding in Pune and Mumbai, Kamshet is a paraglider's paradise. A leap from the Tower hills and the bird's eye view of box shaped houses in the villages of Kamshet is a delight for lifetime. Fly with:Adventure Nation, Fly Nirvana Cost: From INR 2,500 INR Bangalore Besides streets full of gaming cafes, Silicon Valley has lately gained up on this
Fly like the bird (Photo: mumbainet) For years, paragliding in India had not been a popular choice but the recent years have seen a tremendous increase in the number of paragliding sites in India. So, if you are looking to conquer the skies, here is a list of paragliding places in India to challenge the adventure junkie in you. Bir Billing Bir Billing is a small village in Himachal Pradesh, famed for hosting the first ever world cup for paragliding. Himachal, actually, is 'the' home to paragliding in India. With a total of 11 best paragliding spots, this hilly state offers multiple options. Other places famous for paragliding in Himachal are Devidhar, Parvati Valley, Rohtang, and Bakhli.
ability of the sport through the year except monsoon. Fly with: Himalayan Raiders , Ski HImalayas, Tigereye Adventures Cost: Short flights at INR 600; Long flights start from INR 1,600 Mussoorie Another well thronged destination in India, Mussoorie also hosts paragliding like every other hill station. From the take off point near Mussoorie Lake, one can fly till Dehradun on a long flight up to the height of 2300 metres above sea level. Fly with: Paragliding Mussorie Cost: From INR 2,000; normally long flights and expeditions take off from Mussoorie. Kamshet For those looking for
adventure sport. Hoskote Lake, 20 km away from the main city, houses some operators who offer training for paragliding in Bangalore. At 65 km from the town, Nandi hills are another hub of paragliding which is at a height of 1478 m above sea level. The adventurers can also go for para-jumping and hang-gliding. Fly with: Fly Nandi Cost: From INR 1,500 Nainital So here is a complete package. The city famed for its lakes - Nainital offers paragliding for the heights of up to 2000 meters. Naukuchiatal and Bhimtal are two locations where one can go for paragliding in Nainital.With the beautiful lakes underneath the flier; this hill station
comes across as one of the best destinations for paragliding in India. Fly with: Sky Bird Adventures, Camp Lagoon Cost: INR 1,600 onwards Yelagiri If you are looking for paragliding in Chennai, Yelagiri is the place to head to. At a driving distance of 3 hours from the city, Yelagiri offers paragliding from a height of 2200 meters and has a vast clearing of natural expanse. Marina Beach also offers parasailing every day in the evening. Fly with: Temple Pilots Cost: From INR 1,200 Ranikhet Rafting and Rishikesh have become synonymous in recent years. Young adventure seekers throng to this holy hill station for its famous white water rafting. However, for those who are looking for paragliding in Rishikesh, Ranikhet at a distance of 120 kms is a perfect option. Various operators offer a range of parasailing and paragliding activities, here. Fly with: The Top Camp, Thrillomania Cost: From INR 3,200 Panchgani Panchgani, a town near the famous pilgrimage of Mahabaleshwar,is commonly frequented by honeymooners. Paragliding from the Horizon point gives you a bird's eye view of the temple town as well as the serene scenes of the quaint hills. Fly with: Joy Riding, Panchagani Cost: INR 2,000 onwards There you go! You just scrolled past the most happening paragliding places in India. Unleash the bird in you and go for one of the most daring adventure sports in world. Courtesy: trav eltriangle
for the fear of STDs. Other places to visit " Paona Bazar " Ukhrul " Singda " Manipur Zoological Garden " Moirang " Manipur state museum Other things to do - For those into music, must catch up a local rock concert in case it is on. Rock concerts are a common feature on the cultural calender of Manipur. - Don't hestitate taking a sip of the locally brewn rice beer and wine at local bars. They are as authentic as can get. The locals enjoy their drink with a platter of pakoras, momos, fish, singju and even dog meat. - Watch Ras Leela dance at theatres. Ras Leelas are based on the eternal and celestial love of Radha and Krishna and tell a love story in the form of dance movements and musical compositions. - Watch Manipuri films, which are totally inspired
Manipur waits to b explored (Photo: travelagentsindelh) by Bollywood! The Manipur film industry is one of the fastest growing industries in Manipur. Kaiku, Kamala, Maya Choudhary, Sadananda are some of the famous actors. - Don't miss out to watch Polo sport ( Sagol Kangjei) at Polo Ground. Polo is believed to have been initiated in Manipur. Where to stay? Classic Hotel, a new 3 star hotel in the city is highly recommended.
Hotel Imphal, Anand Continental Hotel, Excellency Hotel, and Tampha Hotel are among the best hotels in Imphal. How to get there? By air- Manipur is well connected to all the major cities in India by air. By rail- There is no railway station in Manipur. But the nearest rail head is in Dimapur, 215 kilometer from Imphal. By road- The roads here are in very good, motorable condition. The National Highway 39
connects the state with all the important neighbouring cities like Guwahati, Agartala, Dimapur, Shillong, and Kohima. Local transport - Most of the hotels in Imphal provide transport facilities to tourists. The best way to travel inside the state is by unmetered taxi and private vehicles. For travelling around the city, autorickshaw or cycle-rickshaw is the best option. Courtesy: reviewne
Nothing magnetic about magnetic hill Students research Ladakh phenomenon, find gravity does the trick of 'pulling' vehicles uphill Every year, thousands of motorists visit Ladakh to witness the phenomenon of the 'Magnetic Hill' where it is said vehicles are pulled uphill automatically. Travelers park their vehicles in the white-marked box on the road to witness the phenomenon. But five students decided to visit the region with magnetometers to know what exactly was happening at the place. And the results were interesting. The students were Sanjay Lakshminarayana (project lead), hailing from Bengaluru, Yashwanth Singh Chauhan, Vinit Soni, Anil Yogi and Devinder Kumar, all second year mechanical engineering students at Rajasthan Institute of Engineering and Technology. The Magnetic Hill is located on the Leh-Kargil-Baltik National Highway, about 30 km from Leh, at a height of 14,000 feet above sea level. "The investigation using magnetometer was conducted at various different sites along the hill and we made efforts to check for scientific accuracy of the claims," said Chauhan, an engineering student. He added, "If one can imagine a giant bar magnet underneath our feet and the field produced by that magnet is what we have measured at the hill. Earth's surface magnetic field varies from place to place depending upon the magnetic properties of the soil or rocks. Generally, the magnitude of the earth's magnetic field varies at the surface from 25 micro tesla to about 65 microtesla. (Tesla is symbolised with a 'T' and is the SI derived unit of magnetic flux density.) The magnetic field of the earth interacts and varies not only because of magnetic properties of the soil, but at a high altitude, this is also affected by space weather. Hence the student team conducted experiments; first to measure the magnetic intensity at the road, the Magnetic Hill itself and also at the nearby hills. Another student, Soni, said, "We have found relatively
high magnetic intensity readings and observed from the data that it fluctuates at a relatively higher rate at other places closer to the sea level. However, the magnetic intensity produced by the refrigerator at home is about 100 T and it is not strong enough to influence any motion. Hence, we measured the highest magnetic intensity of about 60 microtesla which is about a million times weaker than the strong magnet found in the refrigerator or likewise. Hence, it is physically impossible for the magnetic field intensity measured at the hill to produce enough force to have any accelerating effect on automobiles." DOES MAGNETIC FIELD AFFECT AIR-
TIVELY RAPID MAGNETIC FLUCTUATIONS? "We believe the geographical location of the hill, at a high altitude of about 14,000 feet, ensures that a significantly high dosage of radiation is received. As per records, Leh receives the highest radiation for any place on Earth, hence the effects are also significant. So we can attribute the fluctuations in magnetic intensities to the geomagnetic interactions with radiation. In support of the above, we observed noticeable fluctuations of magnetic fields especially during the day, relative to the night at the same place," added Yogi. WHAT IS CAUSING THE ACCELERATION OF AUTOMOBILES?
cian here is the gravity. It is eighth standard physics that objects fall to the ground under the action of gravity at a constant acceleration and also the object continues to accelerate unless there is an external force opposing it. We have observed and also noted that the terminal speed attained by the automobiles irrespective of its size is about 20 km/h on an average. Hence automobiles are influenced by gravity. There is a negative gradient, though very less in magnitude, which causes the body to slide under the influence of gravity (wheels make it easier and they roll much further due to inertia). The other contributing factor to the speed of the automobile are gusts of wind which are
People visiting the place claim to experience some sort of an influence of the magnetic field. (Photo: binoygupta) PLANES FLYING OVER THE MAGNETIC HILL? Jitendar Kumar, head of physics department, Arya Institute of Technology, Jaipur, told Bangalore Mirror, "The magnitude of magnetic field in upward direction is relatively fluctuating. But again, this is not strong enough. So claims such as a turbulence experienced by planes, in all likelihood, are caused by wind and air molecules which rise steeply due to the mountain terrain which causes rapid cooling and pressure variations which give rise to various weather anomalies. We were not able to find any evidence of magnetic interference with the flight instruments." WHAT CAUSES RELA-
The team conducted experiments with a bike and observed that the bike reached a speed of about 22 km/h on the first attempt and 19 km/h on the second. The average reported by their own experiment was about 20 km/h. "We also observed the magnetic intensity variation along the length of the bike, we have found that it doesn't vary and remains constant. Considering a possibility that the bike can be attracted by Magnetic Hill, the magnitude of the magnetic field along the bike should vary and also there would be a noticeable difference in the magnitude of magnetic intensity in the front of the bike and the rear. However, we didn't find anything as such. So, the magi-
known to reach up to 15 km/ h," added Kumar. CONCLUSION "The so called 'Magnetic Hill Effect' observed, is not gravity-defying as claimed but is in fact due to gravity coupled with minor influences from its geographical position and altitude. But we do acknowledge that the magnetic intensity is relatively higher but within the expected range hence nothing unnatural is to be assumed. People visiting the place claim to experience some sort of an influence of the magnetic field. However, we are not sure whether it is a psychological illusion being at such high altitude," said the project lead Sanjay Lakshminarayana. Courtesy: bangaloremirror
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India geared up for great 12 months under `unbelievable` Kumble : Murali Vijay ANI Bengaluru, June 30 : India's Test opener Murali Vijay on Thursday said his side is up for great 12 months ahead under newly-appointed coach Anil Kumble. Vijay, who believes it is too early to comment on the partnership between Kumble and Test skipper Virat Kohli, asserted that his side would try to turn best in the upcoming months. "I can't see anything ahead of me and talk. A couple of day's time it has been. So, it's very early to give a comment on that. But it's going to be a great 12 months for us, that much I can guarantee you as a team. We are up for it and we want to be the
best we can in these coming 12 months," Vijay told the media on the sidelines of the national team's camp in Bangalore. Admitting that his side had a great time with former team director Ravi Shastri, Vijay said India is now looking forward to share some quality time with the new coach. Shastri, who was the team director until the end of the World Twenty20 campaign, was among the frontrunners before Kumble was appointed as the new head coach for next one year by the BCCI's cricket advisory committee, which included Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly and VVS
Murali Vijay Laxman. "We had a great time with Ravi bhai and now Anil bhai has picked up and hopefully we can have a good time with
him and learn a lot of things from him because he has been an unbelievable cricketer for the Indian team," he insisted. Kumble's first assignment
will commence in the Caribbean, where India will play a four-match Test series against the West Indies from July 21. Reflecting on his strategy for the upcoming tour, the 32-year-old said his aim is to stick to basics and try to be consistent. "I have been to West Indies three times before. So, obviously I have a fair bit of idea about how it's going to be there. But we don't know what's going to be given to us on that particular Test match. So, we gotta be prepared overall as a unit because this is the start of our season. I'm looking forward to stick to my basics and be as consistent I can this season," affirmed Vijay.
England's Roy Scolari wants to succeed Hodgson as new England manager elated to see his hard work pay off
Jason Roy
ANI London, June 30 : Extremely delighted with his match-winning 162run knock that propelled England to a six-wicket Duckworth-Lewis method win over Sri Lanka in the fourth match of the ODI series, star batsman Jason Roy has admitted that it was nice to see his hard work pay off. With this victory today at Kenningston Oval, England have also taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the five-match series. Describing the triumph as `incredible`, Roy told Sky Sports that it was really special for him to be able to contribute in the side's winning cause. Roy, however, said he is disappointed on the personal level as he fell just five runs short of Robin Smith's unbeaten ODI record of 167 against Australia in 1993. Lavishing praise on Roy, skipper Eoin Morgan said that the 25-year-old displayed an impressive performance, adding he
is making use of the most of his form at the moment,the Guardian reported. Put in to bat first, the Lankan batsmen produced a brilliant batting display to guide their side to a score of 305-5 in 42 overs before the play was hit by rain.
ANI Johannesburg, June 30 : Mercedes driver Nico Roseberg has put a stop to team-mate Lewis Hamilton's claims that they are friends again while stating there would be trouble again in their relationship. While the duo's title rivalry has shaped the F1 narrative in recent times, reigning world champion Hamilton claimed that his relationship with
Rosberg is better than ever as they now hang out in their mutual apartment complex in Monaco. Rosberg quashed the statement, saying that little had actually changed between them,Sport24 reported. Rosberg currently holds a 24-point lead over Hamilton in the world championship table after winning five races of the season.
D h a n u s h k a Gunathilaka (62), Kusal Mendis (77), Dinesh Chandimal (63) and skipper Angelo Mathews (unbeaten at 67) all made significant contribution in the side's innings. In reply, Roy smashed 13 boundaries and three sixes in his scintillating 118-run knock as England chased down the target with 11 balls to spare. Roy was declared `man of the match` for his brilliant contribution with the bat. England will now play their inconsequiental final match against Lanka at Sophia Garden on July 2.
ANI London, June 30 : Former Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has expressed desire to succeed Roy Hodgson as the new manager of the England football team. The 67-year-old, who led Brazil to World Cup glory in 2002, was in contention to become England boss in 2006 before he ruled himself out from the post due to intense scrutiny from the English media. Scolari, however, insisted that he would be willing to opt for the role if given opportunity now. "I am the manager of Guangzhou and I am concentrating on my job here. But I know the importance of the England job in world football. I've an affection for English football and I am aware of the need for the national team to be successful," Scolariwas quoted as saying by goal.com.
Luiz Felipe Scolari Although Scolari is concentrating on his current job as Guangzhou manager, he completely understands the importance of what being international manager is. "I understand the importance of an international manager from my time with Brazil and Portugal." Gareth Southgat, who is currently a manager of En-
gland Under-21 team, was among frontrunner to succeed Hodgson, but he has reportedly refused the role, even on an interim basis. Hodgson stepped down from his post after the side's humiliating defeat at the hands of underdogs Iceland that also saw them crash out of the Euro 2016.
Portugal to clash against Poland in Euro 2016 first quarterfinal
Portugalnational team ANI Marseille, June.30 : Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal will take on Poland in
the first quarterfinal of the Euro 2016 in the southern French city of Marseille on Thursday.
While Portugal reached the quarterfinals following a 10 win over Croatia, Poland booked their last eight spot after defeating Switzerland in a thrilling penalty shootout. Poland are unbeaten in their past three matches against Portugal and the match is touted as a clash between the monstrous Polish centre back and the fiery pair of Ronaldo and Nani. However, Portugal defenders need to be wary of misfiring Robert Lewandowski and in-form striker Jakub Blaszczykowski if they are to reach the semi-finals for the fifth time in seven European Championship finals.
Amofa FC edge past Bodousa SC Sports Reporter Dibrugarh, June 30: Amofa Football Club, Manipur defeated Bodousa Sports Club, Tinsukia 3-2 in the 8th Bodousa Cup Football Tournament organized by Bodousa Sports Club at TDSA Stadium in Tinsukia today. Amofa FC opened the account through Sonpau in the 3rd minute. David Gurung of Bodousa SC equalized the goal in the 25th minute. He received a pass from Himanta Gaur and found the back of the net.
An Action Moment from the Match between Guwahati Town Club (Green) and ASEB (white) during 8th Bodousa Cup 2016 Football Tournament at Nehru Stadium in Guwahati. Pic - UB Photos.
Th. Risk of Amofa FC scored the second goal in the 40th minute converted a pass from the right flank. Th. Risk scored his second goal in the 67th minute through a pass
of Sonpau from the left flank. Both the teams toiled hard for the score. However, both the teams displayed a good attacking match but at the end, Amofa
FC was better on the field. Hemanta Gaur scored the second goal for Bodousa SC in the 88th minute. Sonpau was adjudged man of the match.
Mitchell `one Test innings away` to become best Oz all-rounder: Shaun ANI Melbourne, June 30 : Australian top-order batsman Shaun Marsh believes his brother Mitchell Marsh is just `one Test innings away` to cement himself as the country's best all-rounder in all formats. Mitchell produced an impressive performance with both bat and ball in the recently-concluded Caribbean tri-series, including his unbeaten 79-run knock that helped Australia secure their spot in the finals of the tournament. An elated brother insisted that his performance in the final group match was a real stepping stone in his career. "He's still pretty young, Mitch, he's only 24. To have that in him to guide his country into a final, in a big game like that, against quality opposition, was a real stepping stone for him," Shane was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au. Shaun observed Mitchell is turning into a mature cricketer with each passing game. "He's going really well, he's
Shaun Marsh learning every game he's playing and maturing into the cricketer we all know Mitch can be,"he said. Shaun, who wants Mitchell to display similar kind of batting performances in Test arena, believes the 24-year-old is potential enough to bat at number four spot for Australia in all formats. "I've got no doubt in Mitch's ability that he could get to that at some stage.I'm sure
Mitch knows himself he's got a bit of work to do. I know he's working really hard and if he keeps doing that I've got no doubt he can get to that position," he added. Mitchell also contributed modest 32 runs in his side's innings before bagging three wickets to help his side clinch a 58-run win over hosts West Indies in the finals.
Shuttlers Jayaram, Prannoy enter Canada Open third round
Ajay Jayaram ANI Calgary, June 30 : Topseed Ajay Jayaram progressed through to the third round of the Canada Open after edging past Martin Giuffrein the men's singles
event. After suffering a first-game defeat, Jayaram rebounded strongly to register a 17-21, 21-17, 21-13 win over his Canadian opponent in a thrilling second-round con-
test that lasted for 54 minutes. Second-seed H.S Prannoy also made it to the next round after a hard-fought battle against Sweden's Mattias Borg 13-21, 2111, 21-15 in another men's singles match. Meanwhile, fourth-seed B. Sai Praneeth also raced into the pre-qaurters after beating Chinese Taipei's Kan Chao Yu 26-24, 21-16. Jayaram and Prannoy will now lock horns with Austria's David Obernosterer and Canadian B.R. Sankeerth respectively while Praneeth has set up a clash against Canada's Wenchao Shi for a place in the semi-finals.
blames `excessive workload` behind Proteas' tri-series failure Rosberg predicts `trouble` Domingo ANI 24. batsman De Villiers is Johannesburg, June 30 The loss also invited a a hot topic as he has not with teammate Hamilton : South African coach flurry of criticism from taken break since the Russell Domingo has blamed excessive workload over his players as the reason behind his side's failure to reach the finals of the Caribbean tri-series. The Proteas' hopes of making it to the tournament finals were crushed after they suffered a 100run defeat against hosts West Indies in the crucial ninth match of the ODI tri-nation series at Kensington Oval on June
the media with experienced player Morne Morkel and skipper AB de Villiers being blamed for the defeat. Domingo, however, blamed excessive workload for the team's failure and insisted it is extremely difficult to maintain consistency and standard with hectic schedule, Sport24 reported. When it comes to workload, swashbuckling
Russell Domingo
start of the season. Domingo admitted that he is worried about the 32-year-old, but remains adamant that the skipper would be the first one to be considered for the upcoming two-match Test series against New Zealand if he proves his fitness. South Africa will play two-match Test series against New Zealand, starting from August 19 at Kingsmead.
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