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THOUSANDS LEAVE ALEPPO AS UN PLANS NEW PEACE TALKS

Vol. II

Issue 152

Dibrugarh, Wednesday, December 21, 2016

The unmaking of Parliament

P10

Chief Minister Pema Khandu has described demonetisation as "good" for the nation, adding that connectivity needs to improve in the state before the move started to pinch.

"Our population is very less. We have hardly 1.4 million people.

Initially, we panicked for our people, but later on they realised that demonetisation is overall good for the country," Khandu told IANS here.

"As far as banks are concerned, we have fewer banks in Arunachal Pradesh. A

ET CAPSULES

Training on service voters at Namsai ET Bureau Namsai, 20 Dec: A training cum awareness program of service voters conducted today regarding electronically transmitted postal ballot system and online registration of service personnel. In the training cum awareness program representatives of CRPF, BRTF, NDRF and ERO/ AEROs of all 3 A/Cs were present.

PowerPoint presentation displayed by District Level Master Trainer and briefed about the system of online registration of service personnel and informed about modified schedule of last date of submission of from 2/ 2A/3 online by 24th December 2016 and dwelt in length about the procedure of electronically transmitted postal ballot system.

Defence personnel were provided all related materials and revised schedule for summary revision of last part electoral rolls and instructed to ensure that all eligible voters of their concern unit are enrolled as service voters so that every defence personnel get the right to exercise their vote.

few districts have hardly three or four banks. Since our population is hugely scattered in remote places, we need to come up with a mechanism so that in the coming days people don't face any problem," he added.

Khandu, who has been the Chief Minister since July, spoke on the sidelines of the just-concluded Orange Festival of Adventure & Music, which saw a performance by Swedish guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen and off-roaders fighting it out in the JK TyreBSE -2.39 % Orange 4x4 Fury championship.

Khandu

insisted

his

government was stable.

"Now there is no issue of stability. We have a very stable government," said Khandu, the son of former Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu, who died in a helicopter crash in 2011.

Talking about the fest, supported by the Arunachal Pradesh Tourism Department, Khandu said: "The basic idea is of a local native (Abu Tayeng). Our government has been supporting him, but our vision is that... slowly everything should be privatised. It (the festival) should become a sustainable activity for the local population so that more and more tourists come here and the economy

also develops."

For that to happen, the infrastructure needs to be given importance.

"In the year ahead, we are looking into the development of infrastructure of Arunachal Pradesh. As you can see, we need more roads and railways.

Private people are investing in hotels and homestays," said Khandu.

True to his words, a bridge in the Lower Dibang Valley district is in the works.

"I had a review meeting with the bridge construction company... Including the road, the stretch is around 18 km.

They (the company) will finish the entire project by December 2017. Once this bridge and road are completed, it will give a huge boost to eastern Arunachal Pradesh.

"I'm also pushing for railway links to the foothills of the eastern side of Arunachal Pradesh starting from Pasighat.

The project is government sponsored. Most of the pillars have been erected. The erection of pillars should be completed by March 2017."

Pasighat is currently linked to New Delhi by a weekly airconditioned express that completes the journey in some 38 hours.

United States locates missing World War II soldiers’ remains in Arunachal PTI New Delhi, 20 Dec

DPAA’s MISSION IN INDIA

The United States Tuesday said it has successfully located remains of the country’s servicemen who went missing in Arunachal Pradesh during World War II. A Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) team carried out works on sites in the Himalayas where US aircrafts are believed to have crashed with still unaccounted for servicemen.

The team visited several locations in Arunachal Pradesh to determine if the reported sites can be definitively correlated with known crash sites involving missing US servicemen.

“The United States is committed to making sure all the soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines who served our country come home.

DPAA’s mission in India is a vital part of that commitment,” American Ambassador to India Richard Verma said.

In a statement by the American

A Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) team carried out works on sites in the Himalayas where US aircrafts are believed to have crashed with still unaccounted for servicemen.

The team visited several locations in Arunachal Pradesh to determine if the reported sites can be definitively correlated with known crash sites involving missing US servicemen.

The team trekked to sites ranging from 2,500 feet to 10,000 feet in altitude, over trails that took anywhere from a few hours to several days to reach from the last point a vehicle could travel.

Embassy here, Mission Commander Lt Col Pritz said, “we want to thank the government of India, the Ministry of External Affairs, the government of Arunachal Pradesh, and the Indian Air Force for their invaluable assistance and cooperation in conducting this mission. Without their support, this mission would not have been successful”.

If the team can corroborate evidence at the site with the historical records and reports, future missions to the sites may conduct an excavation in an attempt to recover the remains and return them for identification.

While discussing about the sites with local residents,

the team received a presentation of human remains and osseous material, which a witness recovered near a crashed aircraft.

After arriving at the sites, the team found additional human remains believed to be associated with the missing US service members. Once approved by the Indian government, these remains will be sent to the DPAA laboratory for identification. All these spots were located within Arunachal Pradesh, which is where the vast majority of losses took place.

The team trekked to sites ranging from 2,500 feet to 10,000 feet in altitude, over trails that took anywhere from a few hours to several days to reach from the last point a vehicle could travel.

Last year, the DPAA had successfully recovered remains from the same region. In April, US Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter received the remains from the Indian government and the process to identify them is underway.

OIL launches livelihood promotion and cluster development programme in Diyun Circle Indrajit Tingwa Innao, 20 Dec

The Oil India Limited launched its Livelihood Promotion and Cluster Development Programme at Innao which is being implemented by the Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship, Guwahati which is under the Ministry of Skill Development, Government of India. An initiative of OIL for economic development of the people from OIL operation area the program is the first in the state of Arunachal Pradesh and the Ningroo Oilfields (Kumchai OIL Operational area) which started operations in 1978 has been given the priority.

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TInspiring the students community with his brief and influencing speech during an Annual Day Function organized at Delhi Public School in Digboi, AK Hazarika the Chief guest on the

MR Hazarika who has been the Vice Chairman of North Eastern Delhi Public Schools was addressing the annual Day Celebration of DPS Digboi here this evening organized at the premises of the school together with a host of dignitaries from various walks of life including Mrityunjoy Pramanik the ED (AOD)

India seal 4-0 win over England as Jadeja takes 7/48

P12

Assam CM directs Irrigation Dept to complete irrigation projects expeditiously A Staff Reporter Guwahati, 20 Dec

Chairing a review meeting of Irrigation Department today at the Conference Hall in CM Secretariat, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today directed the department to complete the construction work of ongoing irrigation projects in the state at an early date to boost the agricultural production in the state. He directed the department to complete three projects at Bahirabkunda in Udalguri District, Champawati in Chirang District and Borolia near Tamulpur in Baksa District for which a total amount Rs 1033.05 crore has been allotted and these projects would cover an area of 1,07,360 hectares farming land.

Stating that the Irrigation Department must play its part in improving the agricultural sector in the

state, Chief Minister Sonowal said that to boost up the ‘Kharif’ and ‘Rabi’ cultivation the Irrigation Department must provide uninterrupted water supply in the farming lands.

“Along with big projects, the Irrigation Department should also focus on medium and small irrigation systems to bring more farming lands under the irrigation ambit” said Sonowal.

Directing the Irrigation Department to complete the 8 projects under NonLapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) and 2 projects under North Eastern Council (NEC) at an early date, Chief Minister Sonowal said that the department must work out ways through which those farming lands affected by floods can be properly irrigated to become more productive during the rainy season.

Reviewing the functioning of the Irrigation

Department and progress of the projects under Command Area Development Programme (CADP) and Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP) Sonowal also directed the department to submit an estimate of the total land under the possession of various offices of the department.

A total area of 83366 hectares of farming land will be irrigated under the Dhansiri Irrigation Project for the amount of Rs 567.05 crores. Similarly projects at Champawati in Chirang District for a total of Rs 309 crores and Borolia in Baksa District for a total of Rs 157 crores would bring 23994 hectares of farming land under the irrigation ambit.

Irrigation Minister Ranjit Dutta, Commissioner and Secretary to Chief Minister Sanjay Lohia and other top officials of Irrigation Department were present at the meeting.

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occasion reiterated here this evening that beside acquiring academic knowledge the students must equally be equipped with the power of spiritual knowledge, both which are significant in the making of one’s character must be acquired during the learning stage.

PAGE 11

Pages- 12

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Inspiring speech of AK Hazarika and astounding cultural performances left everyone awestruck at Annual Day of DPS Digboi ET Correspondent Digboi, Dec 20

5.00

P6

Overall, demonetisation is good for the country: CM Pema Khandu IANS Dambuk, 20 Dec

Price -

Digboi who has also been the Pro-Vice Chairman of the DPS Digboi.

The colorful event which kicked off amidst huge cheers and enthusiasms was marked by lightening of ceremonial lamp at the outset followed by welcome address rendered by Rakesh Singh Chowdhery, the

Principal DPS Digboi wherein he in a nut shell threw significant lights on various aspects of the School beside extending his red carpet welcome to all in the event.

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DIBRUGARH, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21

P2 Aries You may be inclined to stay in bed today with the latest best seller, Aries.

Who wouldn't want to spend the day this way? Alas, that isn't going to happen. The planets are practically pulling the covers off you and pushing you out of bed. There's work to be done! And more importantly, there are people you need to see right now.

Put a bookmark in the book. It can wait.

Taurus You have a lot to offer, Taurus. Everyone appreciates what you have to contribute.

Yet you've been unable to give yourself credit for all that you've accomplished. It would be worthwhile to take some time to contemplate why this is so. You have a strong need to be loved, but you must first love yourself. Your family and friends will support you, but first you must support yourself.

Gemini Whether you acknowledge it or not, there's a child inside you who needs tending, Gemini. You're proud of the person you've become - and well you should be. But you're the product of who you once were. Today's planetary positions suggest you acknowledge all parts of your past - the good and the bad. Only after you've integrated all the elements can you be the person you're meant to be.

Cancer Think of today as a wellearned rest day, Cancer.

You're usually the one people turn to when they need consolation. Today, in spite of the tension in the air, your words seem to have no effect. Let other people take care of themselves for a change. You can spend your time quietly reading a good book. It's much more relaxing to get involved in drama that's fictional rather than real.

Leo Today take stock of all that's occurring on the home front, Leo. Think back over the last few months and you will see how much of your attention has been on work rather than loved ones. There's probably some fallout as a result. Fortunately, a few days in close contact with family will put everything right. You can't blame them for wanting to be with you. Try to indulge them.

Virgo Think long and hard before making commitments, Virgo.

Much is at stake, especially where your love life is concerned. It's likely that a proposal is coming your way. Do you know how you will answer? Events may have you feeling like you're at a crossroads when actually you're more on track than ever.

The key lies in trusting your instincts and remaining true to your ideals.

Libra You will be busy today, Libra.

Nevertheless, you still may end the day with your desk piled high with projects - not because you're unproductive, but rather because you're popular and your work is valued. You may be wishing you weren't quite so valuable! Don't get stressed about all you have to do. No one expects you to get it all done immediately. Get some rest. Tomorrow is another day.

Scorpio You've been working exceptionally hard, Scorpio. Today is a good day to recharge your batteries. It seems ev-

Research student of Dibrugarh University selected for the Fulbright-Kalam Climate Fellowship A Staff Reporter Dibrugarh, Dec. 20: Tamanna Subba, Ph. D. scholar in Atmospheric Science under the joint supervision of Prof. P K Bhuyan in the Centre for Atmospheric Studies, Dibrugarh University and Dr. Mukunda M Gogoi, Scientist SE in the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Trivandrum has been selected for the Fulbright-Kalam Climate Fellowship, 2017-2018 for Doctoral research.

The US-India Climate Fellowship programme named ‘Fulbright-Kalam Climate Fellowship’ to build long term capacity to address Climate

Change related issues in both the countries was launched in pursuance of the Joint Statement made by the President of

A Staff Reporter Guwahati, 20 Dec: In a bid to create better civic amenities in Guwahati city, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has laid stress on revenue generation and directed a delegation of Gauhati Municipal Corporation (GMC) to adopt innovative measures for the same.

While discussing various issues of the Corporation in a meeting held today at Brahmaputra State Guest House, the Chief Minister asked the delegation led by GMC Mayor Mrigen Sarania to carry out a survey of the city to identify potential areas and to utilize the same for increasing the revenue collection.

“The additional revenue to be generated from these potential areas should be used for improving civic facilities, beautification of the city and to increase citizens’ convenience. However, the proposed means of revenue collection should not negatively impact the city dwellers” cautioned Sonowal.

Stating that tax-payers support is crucial for effecting newer changes,

Apply for PAN Card Just call at: +91 9863388669 Directly Delivered to you Diyun, Dist-Changlang A.P

the Chief Minister advised the delegation to conduct citizens’ meet to apprise them whenever any such potential revenue generating areas are identified. Sonowal also advised the GMC members to regularly inform the citizens about the bottlenecks faced by them while implementing the development activities as well as to draw their attention into all positive interventions. Sonowal also guided them for integrating the service delivery mechanism of GMC and create Single Window Operation system wherever possible.

“Being the apex civic body, GMC should have an imposing building with all modern amenities to create a better working environment as well as setting an impression about the standard of the city in the minds of the tax-payers and the visitors” said Sonowal.

Underlining the need for a visible structure for the city, Sonowal further advised to construct a new state-of-the-art building for the GMC and advocated for renovating market places, construction of

Capricorn

Aquarius You have a strong creative component to your personality.

You should use it more.

Today's planetary positions will influence both your creativity and productivity. You will likely find yourself working as never before, and with better results.

Take advantage of this phase while it lasts!

This is your moment to prove to others just what you're capable of.

Pisces You're highly sensitive and highly intellectual, Pisces.

This is a wonderful combination and part of what makes you a superstar. Today's planetary positions challenge you to think how you can best combine these two key components of your personality. Have you considered writing? It might provide the sort of balance you seek. Start writing and see if it suits you.

multi-storey parking facility and welcome gates at all the entry points of the city.

In order to improve coordination amongst all wings of the GMC, Chief Minister Sonowal asked the Mayor to conduct meetings with all concerned officials in every 15 days to identify contentious issues. In such meetings, the Branch Officers will table the progress of various activities undertaken by them.

Sonowal also informed the delegation that soon a meeting between the GMC and all stakeholding departments of the State Government will be held under his chairmanship to settle all alarming issues of municipal administration.

Chief Minister Sonowal also spoke about his vision about Guwahati as a city with all modern amenities and planned construction and shared with them the proposed State Capital Region concept. The proposed concept will increase the radius of the city encompassing several suburban areas and will open new vistas for a life with better facilities for the city dwellers.

ET Correspondent Teok, 20 Dec: In a critical theft incident at Teok town of Jorhat district under Teok police station approximate 2 lakhs amount of gold jewelry and another 12 thousands of cash rupees were stolen by a group of thieves this evening. The victim Mrs Rashmi Saikia of Saujipar gaon ,Teok was not at her resident due to official duty when the incident happened.

According to the police source the thieves were entered in to the resident by breaking a door and seriously damaged the various boxes like steel almira, trunks etc. around 4 pm today. The thieves also had stolen a Laptop. Teok police registered a case and investigate the matter for capture the accused persons.

Indian Space Research Organization and currently working as a Senior Research fellow in the project. She is at present involved in the impact assessment of atmospheric aerosols on climate through the estimation of radiative forcing over India using synergistic approach of both measurements and modeling.

Her work in the United States will basically be focused on the quantification of complex climate forcing due to aerosols and their impact on climate change in South Asia and Indian Summer Monsoon over the industrial period, utilizing regional climate model and satellite remote sensing techniques.

NRC data entry operators naharkatia submits memorandum ET Correspondent Naharkatia, Dec 20 : After nearly three decades, the NRC updating process is progressing under direct supervision of Supreme Court of India and the state government too has given top most piroity to National Register of Citizens (NRC).There are over 1200 contractual manpower engaged, over 7000 manpower outsourced and over 40,000 govt. employees engaged in the process of

NRC Updation.It is to be noted that these 7000 outsourced manpower has been provided by Wipro as Data Entry Operators working since February 2015 and are providing their services in NRC updation project but now operators of Naharkatia Revenue Circle of Dibrugarh district express their displeasure and said that during the period they are facing several issues related to irregular payment of salary due to which

it is difficult for them to manage their daily expenses they also says that they have been continuing service as Data Entry Operator since February 2015 getting remmuneration of Rs. 5050/since joining without any increment till date. Today all operators of Naharkatia Revenue Circle submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner, Dibrugarh through the Circle officer to ensure that the issues are addressed and salaries are paid regularly.

Arunachal Pradesh News Tirap DC convenes awareness meeting on implementation of Digital Payment

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Service

Sagittarius

Today's planetary positions urge you to assert yourself, Capricorn, but take care not to take this encouragement too far. You have a tendency to go a bit overboard when making a point. There are times (and this is one) when subtlety is more powerful. Try being low key and open rather than uptight and defensive. You have a warm personality, so why not let others experience it?

the United States of America and the Prime Minister of India in September 2014.

Ms Subba will pursue her re-

search in either Penn State, Washington University or Washington State University in the academic session 2017-18 as part of her current Doctoral programme in Dibrugarh University. She is one among the three selected scholars out of twenty two applicants for the Fellowship in this inaugural year. She completed her M. Sc. in Physics from Jadavpur University, West Bengal and joined the Centre for Atmospheric Studies, Dibrugarh University in 2014 as a Junior Research Fellow in the ‘Aerosol Radiative Forcing over India’ project sponsored by the Geosphere Biosphere Programme of the

Sonowal directs Guwahati Municipal Corporation to adopt innovative measures for revenue generation

eryone wants a piece of you. You may have reached the point where you have nothing left to give. It's OK to say so. If possible, take the phone off the hook and reserve the day for yourself. Sleep in, meditate, go for a walk - you get the idea!

Today could be a turning point for you, Sagittarius. Is it possible that you've finally learned how to say no? You're the one everyone asks for help.

You spend so much time on other people's problems that you have little energy left for you. This situation ultimately helps no one.

Put yourself first and there will be plenty of you left for others. If you're depleted, everyone loses.

Jewelry worth Rs 2 lakhs and 12 thousands in cash stolen at Teok town

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ET Bureau Khonsa, 20 Dec: A meeting in connection with Implementation of Digital Payment in Tirap District was convened at DC’s Chamber, Khonsa on 19th December under the Chairmanship of Ravi Jha, IAS Deputy Commissioner, Tirap District, Khonsa wherein Branch Manager SBI, Khonsa, Manager Petrol Pump, Khonsa, Secretary Khonsa Bazar Welfare Committee, State Superintendent APSTS, EE(PHED), AE(Electrical), FAO P.P.Deb, EAC Techu Aran, CO L. Modi were attended the awareness meeting.

While briefing about the implementation of Digital Payment in the district, Tirap DC Ravi Jha, IAS said thatDigital Payment system and Cash less transaction will be implemented soon in Jan Suvidha, Petrol Pump. However, in order to avoid inconvenient on the part of common people especially in rural areas who live without bank account, electricity and internet problems as such cash less transaction and digital payment in departments like Electrical department, PHED, Bus APSTS Bus fare, Market etc will be implemented after imparting proper awareness

programme. Jha added.

Resources person in the programme Chief Manager SBI, Khonsa and FAO Khonsa highlighted about the uses of Digital Payment and Cash less transaction and its benefits.

In the meeting 10 points were decided to implement digital payment and cash less transaction, initially Jan Suvidha and Petrol Pump will be implemented soon in Tirap District and rest concerned department and agency are being implemented after imparting proper training in rural remote areas.

Panchayat meeting held in Khonsa ET Bureau Khonsa, 20 Dec: The Panchayat meeting with the PRI members was held at ZPC's office building conference hall, Khonsa on 19th December regarding the 14th Finance Commission under the chairmanship of Smt. Sontung Bangsia ZPC, Tirap. Where at the meeting was attended by PRI Members of five blocks viz. Dadam, Khela-Lamsa, Lazu, Khonsa and Deomali, ZPMs, member secretary of different Anchal samitis, Sh. J. Tangjang , BDO , PTAs , CCAAs of various blocks and CAs. The meeting began with the welcome address by Sh. T. Aran, ADC-Cum -DPDO, wherein, in his welcome speech added that whenever Gram Sabha meeting is held or conducted the concerned

Block ZPM and Anchal Samiti Chairperson should be informed or made known.

He also said that whatever is being discussed or resolution is passed should be clearly flashed out in the minutes of the meeting. Secondly, ZPC madam informed the panchayat leaders that the 2nd instalment of 2015-16 will be soon released.

Further, she said that way of positive thinking will lead to an achievement saying that 'we can't but we can'.

She too told the panchayat leaders that the coordination and togetherness of PRI members of respective Gram panchayat is must if you really want to develop your village under my village my development or under at any other schemes

and projects. She eventually said that she is very grateful to all panchayat leaders attending the said meeting without failed. Tewari block JE also briefed out of an aadhar seeding - which means that as per the guidelines of the govt aadhar card should be linked with the account no of every job card account holders.

Later, he said the collection of new accounts no of apex bank account holders is the duty of Panchayat leaders and to submit to block office. The resource person Sh. Makba, briefing out said that the selection of proposals should be done referring to the guidelines of the government and if any problems occurs then the officers and PTAs are always to ready to assist them.

DIBRUGARH, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21

P3 Yak Dance of Arunachal Pradesh selected for Republic Day Tableaux Tripura and Manipur also in list from NE

Main lifeline for Lohit to Lower Dibang Valley, Difu Bridge to be ready by March next year Bishnu Rana Tezu, Dec 20: Greatly reducing the isolation syndrome of this hilly border state, the districts of Arunachal is blessed by the Trans Arunachal Highway (TAH). Namsai to Lohit to Lower Dibang Valley districts has been already benefited and public are enjoying the taste of its high class standard of road.

However few major uncompleted Bridges have posed immense inconveniences.

The Ongoing Lohit, Difu, Sadiya and Dibang Bridges

are in full swing where the organizations NAVAYUGA and Border Road Organization (BRO) have been working around the clock to get them through.

Lohit (also called Alubari) Bridge, Sadiya and Dibang have been carried out by the NAVAYUGA Engineering Private Ltd. The Difu Bridge being built

by BRO near Bhismaknagar in Lower Dibang Valley is expected to be completed by March 2017 next.

“The Bridge has approximately 470 meters span with 5 (five) well foundation Pillars in which four are already been done and rest lone well is creating much barrier due to failed attempt to score it adequate specification of depth. Beneath this particular well has a huge rock that we have succeeded to explode it and at present work at the site are in full force. Bridging the gap of two districts is a matter of few months”, commits BD Jangede newly joined Officer – in – Charge 1446

Changlang DC encourages people to adopt digital payment system

In order to give a push on opening of bank accounts among rural people the DC asked Manager, SBI to submit the list of Accounts opened through Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna as well as the list of left out people to enable them to avail various central govt as-

The meeting said that all programmes of the party for the coming year shall be organized in the name of Pt. Deen Dayalji, the party Ideologue. sistance extended through DBT. While encouraging the people for adopting digital payment system, the DC informed that govt is providing incentives by the way of 0.75% discount to customers using cards, mobile wallet, etc at PSU Petrol Pumps in order to promote cashless transaction.

Rakesh Chutia, resource person from SBI, Changlang explained various modes of cashless payment namely; USSD, e-wallet, Cards, Aadhaar En-

abled Payment System, Point of Sale (POS) in detail as well as the procedures to avail these facilities for cashless transactions.

Changlang COs Ms Jannes Mary Tayeng and Ms Shanti Mize also spoke on the occasion.

The programme was attended

by HOOs, PRI Members, Public Leaders, Executive Members fo CTTCA, Managers of SBI and Apex Bank from Changlang.

OIL launches livelihood promotion and cluster development programme in Diyun Circle As part of the programme, bee keeping has been launched in the first phase. Next, buckwheat (phapar) cultivation has been identified for the project.

Extra Assistant Commisioner of Diyun, Sabadam Tayang attended the function as the chief guest.

The project implementation area as informed by Dr S.B.Baruah, Head of Centre for Industrial Expansion, IIE will cover five villages and the thorough implementation period will be about one and half years during which time the beneficiaries will receive training on cultivation, processing, branding and marketing. The IIE will extend the market linkage. The estimated cost of the project is slated to be over crore rupees.

Altogether, two hundred people have been identified as beneficiaries of the project. During the ceremony Master Trainer and Demonstrator Krishna Kant Baruah also gave the demonstration and shared know how about bee keeping using the kits and equipments.

In a ceremonial handing over of kits and equipments for bee keeping two beneficiaries, Smti.

Chiringko Singpho and Ladoi Singpho were handed over wooden beehive box, bee vail , hand gloves, swarm capturing net, queen excluded, bed brush (qweel), smoker, extractor along with a sampling of bael (honey tree). The remaining beneficiaries will be receiving the kits and equipments in due course.

The chief guest in his address exhorted the people to take maximum benefit from the OIL CSR initiative. He added that bee keeping can address employment problem while ensuring a sustainable livelihood.

Lajala Singpho, Circle Head Gaon Burah besides being a registered OIL contractor and President of the Land Affected Local Men and Employment Sons Welfare Committee taking opportunity of the presence of senior officers of OIL said that it was unfortunate that the unemployed youths from the affected area were not absorbed in the last recruitment drive and appealed for considering the same in future besides also asking for maintenance of the main road in the area.

He lauded the OIL authorities of covering the area under the corporate social responsibility programme. The latest being bee keeping project, previously handloom project and free LPG connection to all unconnected households of Innao were done. Notably Innao has been declared a smokeless village after the free LPG distribution.

Dilip Kumar Das, General Manager (CSR) and Dilip Kumar Bhutan, Deputy General Manager (PR) from OIL Duliajan and Dr S.B.Baruah,Head CIE, ICE and Manoj Kumar Das, Director IIE, Smt Prabhawati Deiri, Anchal Samiti Chairperson, Medical Officer, PHC Diyun and Agriculture Development Officer, Diyun were also present and spoke during the function. GBs and PRI members besides villagers of the operational area were present.

winter we attend office from our respective home due to complete reduced of water level. Unfortunately during summer the scenario is reversed, if Difu Bridge comes up the twin districts gained immensely”, hopes one of the commuters in Anonymity.

Meanwhile, Digaru, Balijan (in Lohit), Inju, Simari (in L/ Dibang Valley) and other numbers of Bridges were already made motorable by the Versatile 48 BRTF Dimwe.

“All programmes of Arunachal BJP will be organised in the name of Pt. Deen Dayalji” ET Bureau Itanagar, 20 Dec: The State Level Committee for yearlong Pt. Deen Dayal Uapdhyay Janam Shatabdi Samaroh/celebration meeting was held today at the state office under the Chairmanship of State Vice President and Chairman of the State level organizing Committee Adv. Dominic Tadar.

ET Bureau Changlang, Dec 19: The District Administration Changlang under the Chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner Wayong Khimhun conducted an awareness programme on benefit of Demonitisation and Digital Payment here at Changlang Circuit house, today.

Addressing the programme, the Deputy Commissioner appealed people of the district to deposit their old currencies of Rs.500 & Rs.1000 by end of this month to avoid possible hardships in future. He requested the members present to extend their helping hand to the District Administration in giving wide publicity to the people of far flung areas enabling them to deposit their old currencies if any.

BCC BRTF Dimwe.

The TAH road has reduced the distance of the districts to 65 Km and takes 45 minutes to reach the respective headquarters (Tezu – Roing). The commuters from both sides would heave a sigh of relief if the Bridge completed soon to avail the road even during peak monsoon.

“It is herculean task to any Bridge construction agency to build structure over these Rivers in time due to horrific and turbulent nature during monsoon. During

The programme shall be organized from Booth to state level which includes campaign on sensitizing all major schemes and projects initiated by the Narendra Modi led NDA Govt. at the centre.

The programme on the life and history of Punditji will also be taken to the people and various activities like sports, literature, Swaach Bharat Abhiyan etc. shall be organized at the various levels to commemorate the birth centenary of Punditji throughout the year.

Mega rallies and state level programmes are also planned tentatively.

The meeting was attended by the other State Level Organizing Committee members Doni Nich State Secretary, Taring Tiri State Yuva Morcha President, Hinium Tachu State ST Morcha President, Loku Sono State Minority Morcha President and Jalley Sonam State President Labour/OBC Morcha.

ET Bureau Naharlagun, Dec 20: Witness the Yaks from the mountains of Arunachal Pradesh in the lanes of Rajpath in New Delhi on January 26th as it dances in all its glory in the cold misty morning along with other tableaus of the country at the Republic Day Parade Celebration 2017.

This selection comes after several rounds of meeting held by the Ministry of Defence, involving various stages of elimination. An expert committee, comprising of 10-15 members is appointed to choose the tableaux amongst all the states and to suggest various modifications and changes to the selected states. These suggestions are concerned with the music, the model and the overall theme itself. In the first round, Arunachal Pradesh had presented five themesBattle of Kekar Monying, Yak dance, Nyokum Yullo, Carpet Making and Murung Festival. The expert committee zeroed in on the Yak dance.

Yak dance is a famous pantomime of the Mahayana sect of Buddhism. The masked dancer represents the members of a family who are said to have discovered the Yak with the help of a magical bird hundreds of years ago. Belief is this leads to peace and prosperity in the community.

Performed during the Losar festival, this dance represents the joy of the people upon finding the yak and their belief that performing this dance would relieve

15 STATES & UTs SELECTED

In the first round of selection process, Arunachal Pradesh had presented five themesBattle of Kekar Monying, Yak dance, Nyokum Yullo, Carpet Making and Murung Festival. The expert committee zeroed in on the Yak dance.

The masked dancer represents the members of a family who are said to have discovered the Yak with the help of a magical bird hundreds of years ago.

Fifteen states and Union Territories have been selected this year.

Yak dance is a famous pantomime of the Mahayana sect of Buddhism.

Arunachal Pradesh features in it with only two other states from the Northeast – Manipur and Tripura.

them of all their complications and anxieties.

Arunachal Pradesh had missed out on a hat trick this year after parading in 2015 and 2014 with the theme ‘Igu Dance’ and ‘Aji Lhamu’ respectively. In 2007, the state got a special award for its theme ‘Harnessing the Nature’.

Fifteen states and Union Territories have been selected this year. Arunachal Pradesh features in it with only two other states from the Northeast – Manipur and Tripura.

A team of officers and officials, led by Shri Michi Kani, Deputy Director, DIPR, had

recently gone to Tawang to meet the artists and brief them about the requirements.

Republic Day Tableaux is an annual event to showcase the developmental, diversity and cultural fabric of the nation. The Department of Information and Public Relations, vested with the task of the tableaux, and Shri Dhruba Bhattacharjee, Art Expert in DIPR under whose able leadership the tableaux has been selected needs special mention and congratulations for pulling it off and for showcasing Arunachal in the national arena.

Tayeng praised the role of Christian community in development Staff Reporter PASIGHAT, Dec 20: While attending as Chief Guest in the Silver Jubilee celebration of Adi Baptist Church of Silluk at Silluk village under Mebo Sub-Division today, local MLA cum Advisor to Chief Minister, Government of Arunachal Pradesh appreciated the

role of Christian Community in development of the area.

Tayeng who was accompanied by ADC Mebo, Yemling Tayeng and ZPM MeboBanggo, Oling Perme beside others, categorically said that, Christian Communities have played a good role in development of the area in

the field of social changes especially in spreading educational knowledge besides maintaining peace & harmony in society and discipline daily life. He urged Silluk Baptist Church to play more proactive role in bringing societal development in the area, informed ADC Mebo Yemling Tayeng.

Block level UPS Sports Meet concluded at Ruksin

Pasighat DC for handholding support to farmers for success of MOVCD ET Bureau Paighat, Dec 20: East Siang DC Isha Khosla has asked to provide handholding support to the farmers for the success of the Mission Organic Value C h a i n Development(MOVCD) in East Siang, adding that as the scheme is not a simple welfare scheme, but for promoting organic commercial farming with emphasis on farmers ownership on cluster based approach, the DC also asked to create awareness among the farmers on the goals of the MOVCDNER. The DC was chairing the District Executive Committee members Meeting of Mission Organic Value Chain Development here today at DC Conference hall. The District Agriculture officer(DAO),Y Jamoh Lego, District Horticulture Officer,(DHO),O. Tabing, District Veterinary Officer(DVO), Representatives of Service provider ,Oppu Engineering and Agro Services(OEAS), Tadar Gandhi and Tushar Ghosh ,progressive farmers attended the meeting among others.

Under the Scheme, under

which 500 ha are to covered and certified organic in East Siang of the 5000 ha in AP, aim is to develop organic commercial farming through Farmers Producer Companies and ensuring value addition by processing, packaging, branding and marketing through e-commerce.

The DC suggested asked the Department of agriculture and Service provider to take expertise of ATMA and KVK and asked to make quarterly Action Plan. DC also stressed on identifying the farmers .While referring to the successful implementation under NERCOMP, she asked the stakeholders to replicate the same efforts with a Mission Mode approach.

Earlier, Consultant Tushar Ghosh,OEAS, in his PPT, said that MOVCD, aims to develop an integrated farm-t0-fork value chain for farmers of NE, providing direct access to National and International Market for their value added premium products and scheme targets for production of commodities which have a high commercial prospects. He also sought dedicated support of AFAs at village level.

Maksam Tayeng PASIGHAT, Dec 20: The Block Level Upper Primary School Sports Meet at Ruksin block concluded with overwhelming response from both students and teaching community alike final of which was played today at Ruksin where local MLA cum Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Er. Tatung Jamoh graced the day as Chief Guest, while DDSE East Siang, Jongge Yirang attended as Guest of Honour While addressing the students, Jamoh said that, games and sports are an integral part of a student’s life as its keep them mentally and physically strong which in turn helps the student to concentrate more efficiently toward studies to be successful in competitive examinations. Jamoh also appreciated DDSE Jongge Yiang, Organizing Chairman Tonggeng Panyang(ZPM) and his associates Omir Tatin (Member Secy) and Tanyo Tapak(BEO), Talen Talom(Match Commissioner) for successful conduct

of the sport meet and asserted that in developed countries, education of students is no longer confined to the classroom lectures alone. The participation in sports and games may not ensure immediate gain but it is not fruitless, there are several scope for sportsmen in government jobs as sports reservation are there in placed by the state and central government. And to promote sports making such event as annual event, Jamoh assured certain amount from his MLA LAD fund. While giving away prizes to the achievers on the occasion, Jamoh also assured to put extra efforts for promotion of literary activities in the area with the appropriate government authorities.

DDSE, Jongge Yirang advised the students to spend time on games and sports besides usual textbook learning. It never affect education but lead towards personality development and responsibilities. They learn cooperation, teamwork, leadership methods and time man-

agement and chance to show their hidden talents, added Yirang.

While Organizing Chairman, Tonggeng Panyang opined that, in students life, extracurricular activities empower them to make their own active decisions and also help them to gain an accurate experience, skills and confidence to lead them on the path of their future. Games are creative and mindful expression of the human spirit that comes out through the creation of activity which is entertaining, flexible, instructive and competing element. ADC Ruksin T. Pada also spoke on the occasion.

In total, 17 numbers Upper Primary school took part in the “Block level Sports Meet” where Remi UPS was adjudged as the best disciplined school, while Mirem Cluster grabbed the best position at cluster level. In boys’ football final Oyan team defeated Remi by 4-1, while in girls’ football final played between SikaBamin and Oyan, the former outscored later with 2-1 score.

DIBRUGARH, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21

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CM Sonowal directs Labour Department to reactivate the 71 defunct skill centres in tea garden areas A Staff Reporter Guwahati, 20 Dec: To bring back confidence and revive growth cycle for spearheading a paradigm of development, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal directed Labour Department for reactivating the 71 defunct skill centres in tea garden areas and develops modalities to transform them into skill development centres for honing the skills of the youths and make them employable for different vocations.

Chairing a meeting with the Central Committee members of Assam Tea Tribe Students’ Association in the conference room of Assam Secretariat on Monday evening, Sonowal said, “Shifting from ever-existing hyperbole for development of tea garden areas, the present State Government is committed to empower the youths of the tea garden areas and a blue print will be prepared for revitalising the skill centres to make them powerhouse for development of skills and putting them in different employment avenues”.

To give his priority a launch

FOR THE WELFARE OF TEA GARDEN COMMUNITY An MoU will be signed between Panchayat and Rural Development and Tea Garden Management where in the fitness of all the dwelling houses of the tea gardens will be assessed and upon the findings of the survey new dwelling houses will be constructed under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Decided to streamline issue and disbursal of caste certificates to the youths belonging to tea tribe community pad, Sonowal also said that the State Government will make the ground clear so that the tea gardens areas can reap rich dividends from the Central and State Government Schemes.

Adding he said, “We have to add wings to the hope, dreams, and aspirations of lakhs of our people living in tea garden areas by making government schemes acces-

To ensure adherence of Open Defecation Free areas, sanitary latrines will be constructed for every household in the tea garden areas

sible to them”.

He also informed the Central Committee of AATSA that an MoU will be signed between Panchayat and Rural Development and Tea Garden Management where in the fitness of all the dwelling houses of the tea gardens will be assessed and upon the findings of the survey new dwelling houses will be constructed under

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. Moreover, after the ongoing land survey of the of tea garden areas, steps will be taken to develop a model line in the vacant space in each tea garden for constructing dwelling houses.

Moreover, to streamline the execution of projects meant for the tea tribe communities by the Sub-Divisional

Welfare Offices, Sonowal also advocated for appointing project managers who will in charge of making the inroads for effective project implementation. To ensure adherence of Open Defecation Free areas, sanitary latrines will be constructed for every household in the tea garden areas. The meeting also decided to streamline issue and disbursal of caste certificates to the youths belonging to tea tribe community.

Chief Minister Sonowal also assured to take a sympathetic look in to the 36 point charter of demands submitted to him by the ATTSA delegation which comprises its President Rajen Kumar, General Secretary, Paban Bedia, Biraj Gowala and Ranjit Thakur both Assistant Secretaries.

Minister of State for Labour Pallab Lochan Das, MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa, Media Advisor to Chief Minister Hrishikesh Goswami, MLAs Sanjay Kisan, Terosh Gowala, Rituporna Bora, Commissioner and Secretary to the Chief Minister Sanjay Lohia were present at the meeting.

Brahmaputra literary festival to be held on 27 Jan next year ET Bureau Guwahati, 20 Dec: The Brahmaputra Literary Festival, 2017 is scheduled to be held at Guwahati from 28th January, 2017 with a three day programme at the S r i m a n t a SankardevaKalakshetra, Guwahati. For the smooth functioning of the Literary Festival a meeting of the Convenors and Members took place today at the Bhogeswari Phookonani Sports Complex at Dispur, Super Market.

The meeting was presided over by Ajay Tiwari, Commissioner & Secretary, Higher Education, Assam.

Smt. Rita Chaudhary, Director, National Book Trust and Chief Organising Secretary, Ramesh Jain, Sec-

retary, Secondary Education Department, Babulal Sarma, Director, Higher Education Department and Joint Organising Secretary along with the convenors and members were present during the meeting. The Commissioner &Secretary discussed in detail about related duties of every sub committees and urged upon everyone to work fervently for its overall accomplishment. ?The Sub Committees of the Brahmaputra Literary Festival, 2017 are: 1.

Ceremonies and Carnival Sub-Committee 2. Conduct Sub-Committee 3. Reception Sub-Committee 4.

Food Sub -Committee 5.Accommodation and Transport Sub-Committee 6. Press and Media SubCommittee 7. Content De-

signing, Branding & Promotion Sub-Committee 8.

Documentation Sub-Committee 9. Cultural SubCommittee 10. Venue SubCommittee 11.Security Sub-Committee. ?In the meantime, the Government of Assam through a Notification has constituted a High Level Organising Committee under the Chairmanship of the Education Minister of Assam. The Committee has been constituted with the Chief Secretary, Assam and the Chairman ,National Book Trust as the vice Chairmans along with the Addl. C.S(Finance), Addl.

C.S.(Tourism), Addl. C.S. (Transport), Principal Secretary(GAD), Joint Secretary(MHRD), Com-

missioner & Secretary(Higher Education), Commissioner & Secretary(Home & Political), Commissioner & Secretary(GDD), Commissioner & Secretary(H & FW), Commissioner & Secretary(Food & Civil Supplies),Director(NBT), President, Axom Sahitya Xabha, Secretary (Assam Publication Board),DC Kamrup (M), Police Commissioner (Guwahati) as members and the Director of Higher Education Department has been included in the Committee as the Member Secretary. ?The Brahmaputra Literary Festival, 2017 to be organised with the joint initiative of the National Book Trust and the Assam Government will be an attempt

to promote regional creativity at the global literary scene. The organisers of the Festival to a large extent will give the much needed thrust to this direction, as the amalgamation of renowned thinkers and writers will come together under one platform. The Festival will foster a better understanding of the literary and cultural milieu of the region at the national and international levels for the budding writers to exchange ideas with contemporary literary stalwarts. ?The organising Committee of The Brahmaputra Literary Festival, 2017 has sought the cooperation and support of the lovers of literature to make it a grand success.

Assam Governor Banwarilal Purohit urged the young generation to build good moral character Shambhu Boro Tezpur, Dec 20. Stressing unity in diversity among the millions of people of the nation, state’s Governor Banwarilal Purohit today urged the new generation to build up their moral character for becoming a good citizen of the nation. The state Guv who was addressing a huge gathering of NCC cadets on the occasion of the opening ceremony of the 12 day long National Integration Camp held from today at Tezpur University here in his address further stated that morality and character is the base of one’s life. “Character is the ladder of an

individual’s success. If one is not morally bold he cannot stand in his life.”

He observed adding NCC always helps to build the character of an individual thereby being dutiful and punctual in his life.

He also pointed out that everything can be regained in life, but if one loss his moral character he cannot regain it. “Good character is symbol of great personality.” He stated.

Mentioning cross-cultural bonding has been proved as a rout to the brotherhood and national integration he further

mentioned that he has seen that in this regard NCC has been playing a major role. For him NCC is the best platform where eighty percent people avail an atmosphere to make themselves fit for the nation’s good. Urging all concerned to widen their mental horizon with positive thought, the Governor also stated that if we do not go forward breaking the barrier of our thinking we will never be able to make a strong nation. “If we remain separated we will always be the looser, there is no any option of our unity. Hence we will have to stand united irrespective of

caste and creed and religion.” He said.

Meanwhile, in his welcome address, VC, Tezpur University, Prof. MK Choudhury urged the NCC cadets to devout themselves to work for the great cause of the nation.

The occasion was attended by Deputy Director General, NCC, NER, and group commander, NCC, Brigadier MS Jhodha and Col. Pijus Seth.

It is to be mentioned here that the national Integration camp held under the aegis of Tezpur based 5 Assam Battalion of NCC

is being participated by 600 cadets from across the nation.

Earlier the Governor took part in a cleanliness drive programme under “Swach Bharat Mission” in the Court Chariali area here wherein addressing the gathering he urged to keep their surroundings clean. He said, “Nation’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has cleaned the social filthy through the demonetization, now our duty is to keep our mind and soul and our surrounding clean with a positive involvement in all spheres of the society.” He maintained.

Inspiring speech of AK Hazarika and astounding cultural performances left everyone awestruck at Annual Day of DPS Digboi Contd. from Page 1

Following the speech of the chief guest which primarily focused on positive aspects, strong determination and civic virtues besides laying extra emphasis on spiritual learning among the students to make life more meaningful, a series of cultural presentation were held.

The students performing

various branches of arts displaying the culture and tradition of the soil of Assam and above all promoting a sense of unity, fraternity and nationalism simply left the house spellbound.

Among the cultural attraction were the presentation of Divine Giftthe Assamese traditional Borgeet, the patriotic presentation ‘salute to the Nation, fusion dance that was Sufi-Classical, English Choir and Kalbelia-a

presentation from Rajasthani which indeed entertained the house comprising the guardians, parents, invited guest dignitaries and teaching and non teaching staffs.

However, the English Play ’Dear Departed' and Bihu the pride of Assam stole the moments with their magical spells. The teachers also proved equally artistic with their teachers' Song 'Har Subha Hai Nayi'.

Meanwhile, the guests and dignitaries present on

the occasion enthusiastically took part in the prize distribution ceremony wherein the students of all sections from tiny tots to higher level were rewarded for their proficiency and academic achievements.

The meritorious students of higher classes including 10th and 12th Standard for all branches of Humanity, Science and Commerce were recognized adequately during the event which also

marks the beginning of the winter vacation of the students- a much awaited period for the student’s community.

The tempting and colorful event which the audience still wanted concluded following the presentation of symphony by the students and music teachers of the school followed by State Song and finally the National Anthem.

70 year old man of Bajali completed his B.A degree

ET Correspondent Bajali, Dec 20: 70 year-old Chandra Mohan Roy who is the senior most learner of Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University (KKHSOU), Assam has complicated his graduation vide Jnyanam Educational Institute, Pathsala. He completed his B.A degree this year and proved that age is not a bar for education.

He is a resident of

Badankuchi in Bajali subdivision under Barpeta district where he lives with his wife, sister and a son.

In the past, he was a student of science stream but couldn’t pursue his educational career as he secured a job in Assam Gramin Vikash Bank Mr. Roy always longed to complete his education and finally ended up graduating with a

Bachelor’s degree in the field of Arts.

Chandra Mohan Roy while speaking to our correspondent said “Education is really important for an individual. Every one needs to get educated to have knowledge and should utilize his/her right to education. In the near future I want to study M.A because education has no age limit.”

Road Safety Council Meeting held Minister accords highest priority on road safety standards ET Bureau Dispur, December 20: Under the chairmanship of the Transport Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary, the Road Safety Council Meeting was held at the Minister’s conference hall at Assam Secretariat, Dispur today. ?The Transport Minister voiced his concern over the increasing number of road accidents and fatalities in the State. He asked the officials from Police, PWD (Roads), State Highways (SH), National Highways (NH), National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL) to take adequate measure for identification, rectification and monitoring of ‘black spots’ and to ensure that proper signages, lighting and markings are done along with other compliances conforming with the road safety principles.

The Road Safety Council accorded highest priority in monitoring the black spots and that accidents are not repeated on the identified

black spots. In this regard, a Nodal / Lead Agency has been constituted to devote itself to road safety standards. Transport Secretary, Lalit Gogoi has been designated as its Nodal Officer who informed the Council that an Assam Road Safety Authority Bill has been prepared which would be soon tabled in the next Assembly session. ?The Road Safety Council proposed that the best three performing SPs and DTOs in implementing road safety measures in their respective districts would be awarded by the Chief Minister in the forthcoming Republic Day. ?All cinema halls across the state must show a short film / clip on road safety before beginning of each show, the Council observed. Road safety measures have already been incorporated in the syllabus of elementary classes in the State. The Council opined that this should also be a part of higher classes in the schools from the next academic session. ?The Council directed that Transport Officials should

cancel the licence of all private bus/ taxi counters operating within 500 metres in Guwahati of ASTC Station and within 300 metres at all places in the State. These counters should be cancelled and removed by taking help of police and magistrate. ?The matters of establishment of Trauma Centres, Logistic Hubs, new ISBTs were discussed at length; while issues on encroachment on pedestrian pathways by street vendors, shifting of distracting hoardings located within 100 metres from NH and SH, shifting of liquor shops operating on NH and SH were also discussed in the meeting today. ?ADGP, SN Singh; Commissioner of Police, Hiren Chandra Nath; Commissioner and Secretary ( T r a n s p o r t ) AshutoshAgnihotri; MD, ASTC, AP Tiwari; DCP (Traffic), AmanjeetKaur and other officials from PWD, NH, SH, NHAI, Excise, Education were also present in the meeting.

FBB Northeast India Fashion Weekend a big hit with celebrity participation ANI Guwahati, 20 Dec: FBB Northeast India Fashion Weekend-2nd season was a great success with a host of celebrity participation from the country and abroad.

International legendary designer Bibi Russel from Bangladesh was the first to showcase her exclusive designs in the event on 17th of December.

Top Indian designers Suvagata Saha (West Bengal), Tejas Gandhi (Delhi), Azam Khan (Bangladesh) and 30 other big and upcoming designers took part in the 2-day event. Delhi, West Bengal, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya are few states from where designers came in to join hands and showcased their varied designs. Besides this the organizers– PrasanttGhosh, Dipankar Kashyap, and Sanjay Choudhury who are well known designers themselves showcased their unique collections too.

The talented designers who showcased their exclusive designs in day one were

Sikha Gogoi, Banashree Deka, Monika Sonowal, Jeenudeyom, Mousam Choudhury, Parineeta Dutta, LuizeeDeka, Bashalipaul, Baishali Dutta, Motilal Swargiary, GautamNath, Sagarika Barman, Rina Das, BharatiGogoi, Pinki Bora, Mehzabeen Ershad, Ratna Basumatary, Faisal Abbas, RohanPariwar, Dimpi Saikia, Moitryee Mahanta, Bhargav Deka, Nayanika K h a n i k a r , Sachinjain,Kajaljain, and Kanchan Sabarwal. In day two, the designs of Ashikur Rehman Pony, Pallabi Devi, Mithu Boiragi, Swati Mishra, JyotikaBoruah, Swetasharma, Krishangi Gogoi, Kuldeep Choudhury, Aurain Neyar, AnjuBuragohain, Jetumoniteron, Priyanka Buragohain, Bornali Hazarika, pomi Sharma, Omi Das, Moonmee Boruah, Suman Roy were showcased along with the very talented Tejas Gandhi and Prasnatt Ghosh.

Besides, Mrs. Asia International winner 2015-Nupur Saigal, Mr India Tourism world winner–Sanju ray,

Indias Next top model 2016 winners Subhamita Banerjee and JanteeHazarika,Mrs India Earth Roshni Hassan, Russian model Irena, Assamese Film celebrities like Pritikankana, Utpal Das, and Ankur Bishaya also walked the ramp.

The two-day event was full of glitzy and glamour and the designs made of traditional touches were loved by the crowd. The designs made of Muga and Pat silk, traditional tribal attires of Assam and NE were added attraction on the occasion.

It is worth mentioning that with the aim of promoting the talents of people inclined towards fashion, Northeast India fashion weekend found its existence on the hands of 3 prominent names of the northeast fashion fraternity – Prasantt Ghosh, Dipankar Kashyap and Sanjay Choudhury. The main motive of the designers is to unite the industry together with the aim of showing good latest fashion to the region in a single platform and to show the others what is best in fashion from our region.

DIBRUGARH, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21

REST OF

P5 Kropha takes up mining Demonetisation, Governance exemption issue with PMO Day affected party: BJP

SHILLONG, Dec 20: Chief Secretary KS Kropha held a meeting with PMO officials in Delhi in the first week of December to discuss the need to exempt Meghalaya from the central mining laws.

In the wake of the ban on rat-hole mining by NGT, the President of India with the approval of the central government can issue a notification under Para 12A (b) of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution to exempt the autonomous areas of Meghalaya from the central mining laws.

An official source said on Monday that though NGT through its December 14 order wanted a comprehensive mining plan within two weeks, the State Govern-

ment is still waiting for an exemption to resume mining.

After the meeting of the Chief Secretary with the Principal Secretary, PMO, there was no feedback from the Centre, the source added.

The fear of the State Government is that the mining plan to be submitted to NGT will have to depend on the central mining laws, which include the Coal Mines Nationalisation Act, 1973, and the Mines and Minerals Development Regulation Act, 1957.

Earlier, the State Government had submitted draft mining guidelines to the NGT and other related central ministries. However, what NGT wanted was a proper mining plan.

According to the official source, the draft mining guideline itself is a comprehensive document that would have been sufficient to deal with the situation in Meghalaya.

If such a mining plan is endorsed by NGT and related Union ministries, then the miners in Meghalaya will be bound by the central mining laws and have to submit their plans to Delhi.

As per the Section 3 of the Coal Mines Nationalisation Act, 1973, the right, title, interest of the owners in relation to the coal mines will vest absolutely with the central government.

Vehicles torched in Imphal Imphal, Dec 20 : Violence on Monday spread to Senapati district of Manipur with two vehicles being torched even as indefinite curfew remained in force in Imphal East district and mobile data services suspended after protests over economic blockade by the United Naga Council.

However, curfew was lifted from Imphal West district early on Monday morning.

Amid heightened tension, unidentified persons torched two vehicles including a passenger bus at Naga Taphou area in Senapati district on Monday morning, a police officer said.

On Sunday night, four vehicles of former minister Marung Makunga were vandalised at Saombung in Imphal East district, the police said.

The police are on high alert

to contain spread of violence in the wake of yesterday's incident at Imphal-Ukhrul Road during which 22 vehicles were vandalised by a mob.

Mobile internet services were snapped till December 25 and Imphal East district was brought under indefinite curfew till further orders on Sunday after locals resorted to violence and vandalised vehicles on Imphal-Ukhrul road while protesting against the ongoing economic blockade by the United Naga Council (UNC) on the National Highways since November 1.

The landlocked state has been experiencing severe hardship in supply of essential items since November 1 after UNC imposed an indefinite economic blockade on the two national highways that serve as life-

line for the state. The blockade was imposed following the state government's announcement of formation of seven new districts, four of which have been formally inaugurated.

Tension in the state escalated after militants ambushed Manipur Police and other state forces in the last few days that left three policemen dead and 14 others injured last Thursday.

The attack was followed by triple bomb blasts at Nagaram area in Imphal West district allegedly by Manipur Naga People's Front the very next day.

In another incident, suspected militants overpowered a small outpost of Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) at Nungkao area yesterday in Tamenglong district and fled with nine service weapons. (PTI)

Naga Hoho expresses dismay IMPHAL, Dec 19 : Expressing dismay over the activities against the Nagas living in Manipur, the Naga Hoho today said the action against the Nagas has gone beyond the limit of tolerance and cited the attacks on Christian institutions and innocent passengers and burning down of vehicles by ‘State sponsored criminals’ as examples.

Stating that the Nagas and the Meiteis have been living together as good neighbours in the past, Naga Hoho in a statement said that however it seems that this is not possible

now.

The warlike situation created by the people of Manipur is beyond imagination, said Naga Hoho and appealed to the Meitei community living in Naga areas to talk to their people living in Manipur not to foment trouble along communal lines.

Stating that the Naga Hoho has been repeatedly appealing to the Government of Manipur and the Government of India to respect the rights of the Nagas, the statement said that this however has fallen on deaf

ears.

The Naga Hoho also recalled that the situation in Manipur has been highlighted to Union MoS for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju and the Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs on November 30 and December 1 respectively.

If the Government of Manipur under Chief Minister O Ibobi and the Government of India fail to redress the situation, they shall be held responsible for any untoward situation in the future, warned Naga Hoho.

Truck load of LPG sold in black market

IMPHAL, Dec 20: While people of the State have been facing acute shortage of LPG on account of the UNC’s indefinite economic blockade, one truck load of LPG refills belonging to a particular distributor has been sold in the black market.

A well placed source informed that 306 LPG refills allocated to a distributor based in Chandel district were loaded on a truck at Sekmai bottling plant on December 10.

The whole truck load of LPG refills was sold to some people who deal in used,

empty LPG cylinders at a place of Thoubal.

Meanwhile, the price of a single LPG refill at black markets has reached between Rs 1500 to Rs 2200.

What is rather strange is that none of the authorities concerned has been paying any attention to diverting subsidised LPG refills to black markets.

At Mayang Imphal, domestic LPG refills are available round the year in two shops.

Even before the UNC’s economic blockade came into force, LPG was sold between Rs 1200 and Rs 1230

per refill at Yairipok, Kakching and Wangjing in black markets. Now, each refill costs between Rs 1700 and Rs 1800.

The price has escalated to Rs 2000 and Rs 2200 at Moirang. In Imphal East and Imphal West districts, a single LPG refill costs between Rs 1750 and Rs 2000.

On the other hand, the existing stock of LPG at Sekmai bottling plant has depleted to just 27 metric tonnes and the existing stock is not enough to meet a day’s requirement, added the source.

NORTHEAST

SHILLONG, Dec 20 : The BJP state president said on Monday said lack of awareness on demonetisation among people and the late decision to change the date of Good Governance Day in Meghalaya are among the reasons that impacted the party's performance in the District Council by-election.

Shibun Lyngdoh said people are yet to be made aware of the importance of the Centre's move to scrap Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.

"People were misled.

They were made to believe that standing in long queues is nothing but harassment and this would affect them, which is not true," the BJP state head

said.

He pointed out that late announcement of the decision to change Good Governance Day in the State to December 23 from December 25 had also affected BJP's performance in the by-polls.

However, Lyngdoh refused to accept the by-poll result as a setback for the

party and instead said it was a "trial" for the BJP and "a lesson" that will help the party improve its performance in the 2018 Assembly elections.

"The party needs to work harder and ensure better results in the 2018 polls," he said and added that the party is proud that it maintained a corruption-free image and instead of us-

ing money power, it harped on its manifesto to woo the electorate.

The BJP had contested all the seven vacant seats in the KHADC and the JHADC by-polls but failed to win a single seat. The total vote count of the party in the seven constituencies was only 8,418 of the over 1 lakh electorate.

Marvelene case: City Tripura MLA hotels get police missive runs away with SCPCR CHAIRPERSONS CALLS FOR MONTHLY RAIDS SHILLONG: The city police have sent a stern directive to all hotels here in the wake of the alleged trafficking case at Marvelene's Inn and Guest House, owned by Home Minister HDR Lyngdoh's family, at Rilbong.

East Khasi Hills SP M. Kharkrang said it is mandatory for hotels and resorts to follow rules like registering every guest who checks in and installing CCTV cameras.

Despite the district police issuing frequent advisories in this regard, several hotels in the city are flouting the rules, said Kharkrang and added that legal action will be taken against erring hotels. "If we come across any such loopholes, we will not

hesitate to take legal action like what we had done in the past."

Chairperson of the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) Meena Kharkongor said on Tuesday police should conduct raids on hotels and guest houses in the city every month to stop cases of trafficking.

Pointing out that the alleged prostitution of the 14-yearold girl at the city guest house is not a one-off case, Kharkongor said, "We will write to the DGP and the SP on Tuesday that these incidents are very serious," she said and added that some more people are involved in this racket.

The girl's statement was recorded on Monday with the

Child Welfare Committee.

Meanwhile, the SP said it was surprising that the CCTV camera at Marvelene's Inn was not functional for many days.

Police raided the guest house, which is registered in the name of HDR's son Nathaniel Osbert Rymmai, last Friday for a case related to trafficking of a 14-yearold girl and alleged prostitution. Two persons, a woman who brought the girl to the hotel and a waiter, have been arrested so far.

The accused have been remanded to five-day police custody.

The SCPCR chairperson said the woman is desperately trying to secure bail for herself and she should not be given the bail.

Speaker's mace, stalls house Agartala, Dec 20 : Tripura Assembly on Monday witnessed uproarious scenes over personal allegations relating to Forest Minister Naresh Jamatiya, during which a Trinamool Congress MLA fled with the Speaker's mace.

During Zero Hour, TMC MLA Sudip Roy Burman, former leader of the opposition, raised the issue published in a local Bengali daily.

Jamatiya then stood up and said that the charges

published in the newspaper were baseless.

At one point of time, Roy Burman picked up the mace lying on the Speaker's table and fled from the House. He, however, handed it over to the watch and ward staff in the lobby.

The Speaker adjourned the house till 2 PM. When the House reassembled, the Speaker condemned taking away of the mace. Afterwards the House functioned normally. (PTI)

Healing process set into gear All community meet scheduled on Dec 21 IMPHAL, Dec 20: Taking serious note of the tense situation prevailing in the State and violent incidents that erupted at different places in the course of the almost 50 days old UNC sponsored economic blockade and against it, several civil society organisations have joined together and convened a meeting of all communities at Khwairamband Keithel at 11 am of December 21.

Altogether 15 CSOs held a joint meeting today and arrived at a decision to this effect.

The CSOs also agreed to launch a mission collectively with the primary objective of restoring normalcy and communal harmony in Manipur and the mission has been christened ‘Goodwill Mission for Peaceful Co-existence’.

CIRCA’s principal functionary Ningthouja Lancha has been appointed convenor of the goodwill mission.

Representatives of Tangkhul People’s Organisation, Naga People’s Union, Zeliangrong Union, Ten Union Social Upliftment Khurai, HERICOUN, LIPUN, Khwairamband Keithel women vendors, Komrem Union, ICHAM, CIRCA, Manipur Muslim Welfare Organisation, Malem Kanba Lup, Nagaram Women Society, KIMACS and Manipur Muslim Online Forum held a meeting at Nagaram community hall today.

The meeting deliberated on the violent protest agitation seen at Khurai along Imphal-Ukhrul road yesterday. Many of the speakers

opined that the violence seen yesterday was largely due to lack coordination among security forces.

Even as CIRCA and ICHAM tried their best to mollify the frenzied crowd gathered at Khurai Lamlong Keithel, the large number of vehicles stranded there were led by a single escort vehicle with the promise of giving full escort.

As soon as the stranded vehicles started moving, security forces began firing tear gas shells and mock bombs in their efforts to drive away bandh supporters gathered along the road.

This only enraged the crowd which ultimately resulted in torching a number of vehicles, Ningthouja Lancha said while briefing media persons after the meeting.

Before the vehicles started moving, Deputy Speaker

Preshow Shimray, MLA Victor Keishing, DIG IK Muivah and Imphal West Additional SP S Ibomcha arrived at the spot.

Ningthouja Lancha asked as to why the small number of security forces tried to escort those large number of stranded vehicles.

The 15 CSOs gathered today agreed to launch a Goodwill Mission for Peaceful Co-existence in order to restore normalcy in the State.

As a first step of the mission, a joint meeting of clubs and Meira Paibi groups located between Lamlong and Yaingangpokpi would be held tomorrow.

The meeting also agreed to struggle collectively against all oppressive measures unleashed by the Government of India and

the State Government.

All efforts would be made to get the UNC’s economic blockade as well as the counter economic blockade being imposed in the valley lifted, Lancha said.

The mission would also highlight the shared history of the hill people and plain people which was marked by peaceful co-existence.

While strongly condemning the Lamlong violence of December 18, Lancha invited all communities of the State to the meeting scheduled on December 21.

He also appealed to the media houses to report sensitive news items judiciously so as not to escalate the tensed situation.

Saying that attacking religious places was abominable in the contemporary age, Lancha appealed to all

sections of people not to ever attack any religious place.

Co-convenor (of the mission) and ZU president Amu Kamei said that CSOs are not the Government but they can definitely point out the State Government’s lapses, highlight people’s grievances as well as aspirations.

The Nagaram Women Society president appealed to all concerned to relax the purported prohibitions imposed upon Churches of Imphal in view of the Christmas festival.

Irom Sharmila who was also present at the press meet said that violence can never resolve any issue.

She also appealed to all concerned to explore non-violent options in order to resolve all outstanding issues.

NEIAH to be inaugurated on Dec 22 SHILLONG: The North Eastern Institute of Ayurveda and Homoeopathy (NEIAH)

will be officially inaugurated on December 22 by Minister of State (Independent Charge) Shripad

Yesso Naik.

The inaugural function will be held on the NEIAH campus at

Mawdiangdiang. Ajit M. Sharan, secretary-Ministry of Ayush, will preside over the programme. State

Health and Family Welfare Minister Roshan Warjri of the state government will also be present on the occasion.

EDITORIAL

DIBRUGARH, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21

Today's quote

“

Those who want to live, let them fight, and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live.

– Adolf Hitler

Grappling with water disputes A permanent tribunal to adjudicate river water disputes between States will undoubtedly be a vast improvement over the present system of setting up ad hoc tribunals. The Union Cabinet's proposal to have a permanent tribunal that will subsume existing tribunals is expected to provide for speedier adjudication. But whether this will resolve the problem of protracted proceedings is doubtful. Given the number of ongoing inter-State disputes and those likely to arise in future, it may be difficult for a single institution with a former Supreme Court judge as its chairperson to give its ruling within three years. Secondly, its interlocutory orders as well as final award are likely to be challenged in the Supreme Court. This month, in a landmark verdict, the Supreme Court said it had unfettered power to hear an appeal arising from a river water dispute tribunal under Article 136 of the Constitution. It has interpreted the ouster clause in the Inter-State Water Disputes Act as one that merely bars the court from entertaining an original complaint or suit on its own, but not its power to hear appeals against a tribunal's decisions. Thus, finality and enforcement of a tribunal's award may remain elusive. The idea of a Dispute Resolution Committee, an expert body that will seek to resolve inter-State differences before a tribunal is approached, will prove to be another disincentive for needless litigation.

A positive feature of the proposed changes is that there will be an expert agency to collect data on rainfall, irrigation and surface water flows. This acquires importance because party-States have a tendency to fiercely question data provided by the other side. A permanent forum having reliable data in its hands sounds like an ideal mechanism to apportion water. However, a confusing aspect is that benches of the permanent tribunal are going to be created to look into disputes as and when they arise. It is not clear in what way these temporary benches would be different from the present tribunals. A larger and more significant downside to any adjudicatory framework is the refusal or reluctance of parties to abide by judicial orders. Having an institutional mechanism is one thing, but infusing a sense of responsibility in those helming State governments is quite another. What is at stake is not merely a set of competing claims over riparian rights. Water disputes have humanitarian dimensions, including agrarian problems worsened by drought and monsoon failures. Adjudication, by whatever mechanism, should not be at the mercy of partisan leaders who turn claims into dangerously emotive issues. Institutional mechanisms should be backed by the political will to make them work.

Risks of Trump's China policy The seizure of an American underwater drone in the international waters of the South China Sea by the Chinese Navy marks the latest flashpoint in bilateral relations that have entered uncharted territory with the election of Donald Trump as U.S. President. Though it is not clear if the capture of the drone, which China agreed to return later, was a junior-level act by sailors or a strategic move directed by Beijing, Mr. Trump has seized the moment to step up his anti-China rhetoric. Interestingly, the incident comes days after he broke diplomatic protocol and accepted a congratulatory call from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, a move that invited an angry response from China, which sees Taiwan as a breakaway province. Despite repeated assurances from the White House that the basic building blocks of U.S.-China ties have not been altered, Mr. Trump escalated matters by questioning the OneChina policy. Throughout the election campaign he had maintained that he would renegotiate the terms of America's engagement with China. He had also accused Beijing of currency manipulation. So the issue is, are his attacks on China and questions over the One-China policy just a continuation of his campaign rhetoric, or part of a well-thought-out policy to establish a new normal in ties? One theory, which the President-elect himself indicated in an interview, is that he wants concessions from China over key issues such as trade, South China Sea disputes and the North Korea nuclear crisis, and that by raising the sensitive Taiwan issue, he is trying to gain some bargaining leverage over China.

Beijing certainly won't take this lightly. It has reiterated that the One-China policy is non-negotiable, besides installing anti-aircraft weapons and other arms on all seven artificial islands it has built in the South China Sea, as reported by a U.S. think tank with satellite imagery. China will find it politically difficult to ignore Mr. Trump's apparent effort to change the rules of the game. The geopolitical context is possibly even more important. China is a caged naval power. It has access to both South and East China Seas, but its force projection capability is limited by the existence of several islands on these seas, such as Taiwan, Japan's Ryukyu Islands, and the Babuyan Islands of the Philippines. One reason China is so sensitive about Taiwan is its geopolitical vulnerability. It doesn't want other powers to dictate or change the rules of engagement on its seafront. And if Mr. Trump tries to do that in the manner he handles foreign policy now, he could risk the progress the U.S. and China have painstakingly made in bilateral ties over four decades.

P6

The unmaking of Parliament Representative democ- by democratic imaginings, racy is the only form of de- and struggles to attain mocracy that enables a re- equality and dignity. Eleclationship between the citi- tions are marked by high zen and the state, provided voter turnouts, voters exerour representatives do cise freedom of choice and what they are supposed to elect and dismiss governbe doing in Parliament. ments in often unpredictThe Indian Parliament able ways. meets, the Indian Parliament ceases to meet, and there is The biography of India's nary an impact of this meet- democracy validates confiings/non T meetings on the dence in the maturity of the democratic discourse in the political public. The Motilal c o u n t r y.

N e h r u NewspaConstituper colNeera Chandhoke t i o n a l umns rue Draft recthe waste of time and ommended adult suffrage money, commentators com- for both men and women as plain about the clatter and far back as 1928, the very ear-splitting clamour in Par- year women finally got the liament, analysts regret that vote in England. "We," held widening of the social base the report, "attach no of the body has not resulted weight to the objections in meaningful legislation or based on the prevailing ilresponsible legislators, le- literacy of the masses and gal minds register the shift their lack of political experito law-making by ordi- ence. Political experience nance, and most Indians can only be acquired by an find Parliament irrelevant to active participation in politithe needs of the day. cal institutions and does not entirely depend on litThe chaos and the para- eracy. There should be equal opportunities availdox Why should they not find able to all to acquire this it so? The Opposition experience." The belief, focusses on denigrating which was reiterated in the the government rather than Constituent Assembly, unengaging with policies, the derscored the competence government hardly bothers of ordinary women and men to reply, political theatrics to participate in political dereplace calm, reflective and liberations. Simply put, polireasoned debate, and the tics is too important an acPrime Minister prefers to tivity to be left to professpeak directly to existing sional politicians. and potential voters. What In eighteenth century Jawaharlal Nehru termed France, the great defender the 'majesty' of Parliament of direct democracy, Jeanis insistently, systemati- Jacques Rousseau, wrote cally and repeatedly des- that sovereignty "lies esecrated. Is not democracy sentially in the general will, also subverted in the pro- and will does not admit of representation: it is either cess?

The paradox is that the same or the other; there generalised loss of confi- is no intermediate possibildence in representative in- ity". But direct democracy stitutions has not led to dis- can hardly be practised in enchantment with democ- large and complex societies. racy. Surveys show that In- In market-oriented societdians value democracy. ies, dominated as they are They value democracy be- by the imperative of 'need cause this form of govern- satisfaction', citizens canment has enabled them to not afford to put aside the realise the primordial desire time and energy-consuming of each human being to be task of earning their daily treated as an equal, at least bread, and participate during election time. Over whole-time in an activity the years, we see the mak- called politics. Besides ing of a body politic shaped modern citizens, unlike an-

cient Athenians, value and guard their personal spaces, their vocation, their interests, their social life, and their privacy. For these reasons and more, democracy requires a third set of political agents to mediate between the first two sets: the citizen and the state.

This is the representative.

To stand in Whereas the status of the citizen as the primary unit of political society is incontrovertible, the status of the representative is derivative.

Voters authorise representatives to speak and act on their behalf. Notably, the representative does not speak for individuals; her duty is to ensure that the opinions, interests and needs of constituents are adequately, competently and effectively represented in forums of decision-making. Representatives are obliged to perform the functions that they have been charged with, notably to assist in the production of appropriate policies. Fi-

nally, the representative is accountable to her constituency for all acts of omission and commission.

In theory, citizens have command over who they want to be represented by, and what issues representatives, normally members of political parties, should represent.

Civil society in India is inhabited by a large number of organisations, the media, social associations, neighbourhood groups, all kinds of professional lobbies, non-governmental and non-profit organisations, philanthropic bodies, social and political movements, and trade unions. Each of them claims to represent the interests of their members.

Political representatives, however, possess three advantages over other modes of representation. One, they represent all the members of a territorially delimited constituency, as opposed to say trade unions.

Two, political representa-

tives are accountable to their constituents via the route of election. And three, the party representative acquires legitimacy by the fact that she has been elected by the people whose interests she is charged with representing and furthering.

Representative democracy is not perfect, it is flawed, but it is the only form of democracy that enables a relationship between the citizen and the state, provided our representatives do what they are supposed to be doing in Parliament.

Parliament makes laws, ensures accountability of the government, and considers and scrutinises legislation through the committee system. But above all, Parliament provides a forum and establishes procedures for reflection on, and critical engagement with, what has been done, and what needs to be done in the light of popular expectations. Representatives are expected to 'stand in' for their constituents, even as they keep in mind that they are in Parliament to promote the public good, and not for advancing petty, grasping projects.

This is the job of representatives, the reason for which they have been elected, the source of their power and privilege, the rationale for their very existence. This is no small matter we are discussing, says Socrates in Plato's Republic, we are discussing how we should live. The deliberative aspect of Parliament is no small matter, nor is it just another function of the body. Deliberation, by way of representation of different points of view, is an indispensable component of how we, as a collective, should live. For policies generated by the parliamentary process establish a framework for the transaction of all manners of projects in different settings.

A sharp decline It is precisely this aspect of our Parliament that has

visibly gone missing. The failure of the body to deliberate on the public good is condemnable. Telecasts showed empty benches in the Rajya Sabha on the opening day of the winter session of Parliament. It made for a sorry spectacle.

Some members delivered excellent speeches on the benefits, or the lack thereof, of demonetisation. But parliamentarians simply could not be bothered to listen to or participate in a debate on what misery an ill-thoughtout action had caused their own constituents.

The sharp decline in the effectiveness of Parliament, its failure to monitor the executive, delegation of power to non-representative regulatory institutions, the substitution of dealmaking for informed arguments, the rushing through of legislation without discussion, and the increasing concentration of power in the hands of the executive, has been commented on extensively. Of overriding concern is the wilting of the representative and deliberative functions of the body.

If India wishes to hold on to her democratic credentials, parliamentarians must recognise that the task of representing the opinions, interests and needs of citizens is their paramount responsibility. Nehru, in a famous speech he made in the Lok Sabha on March 28, 1957, had said that historians will not pay much attention to the time expended on speeches, or the number of questions asked and answered in Parliament. They will be interested in the deeper things that go into the making of a nation.

There is no higher responsibility than to be a member of this sovereign body responsible for the fate of vast numbers of human beings. "Whether we are worthy of it or not is another matter." Our Parliamentarians have proved unworthy of the great responsibility bestowed on them. This is the political tragedy of our democracy.

The world according to Trump The pronouncements and appointments of the U.S. President-elect suggest the balance of outcomes may be positive for New Delhi, but it is early days yet.

It is now a month since the U.S. presidential elections and the surprise win of Donald Trump, a rank outsider. His political predilections were ambiguous and it was not clear whether, once coming into office, he would continue to adhere to the many apparently improbable and even outrageous campaign promises he had been making - such as building a wall to keep Mexican immigrants out, deporting illegal immigrants, penalising China for currency manipulation and unfair trade, and making U.S. allies pay more for their own defence. For the past month, Mr. Trump has been busy announcing several senior-level appointments in his incoming administration, and these give some indication of the likely changes one should expect in U.S. policies, both domestic as well as external.

There have also been some statements from Mr. Trump himself which one should regard as a harbinger of what to expect from the new administration. A few of the policy changes may directly affect India. Others will do so mainly through collateral consequences.

Washington and the Paris pledge In domestic policy, it is clear that despite his sharp criticism of Wall Street and U.S. big business, Mr. Trump's appointments so far suggest a boost to the corporate sector, with several senior appointees such as Gary Cohn, the president of Goldman Sachs, who will chair the National Economic Council, Wilbur Ross, a billionaire who will head the Commerce Department, and a former Goldman Sachs executive, Steve Mnuchin, who will be Treasury Secretary.

It is almost certain that there will be a roll-back even of the

modest climate change initiatives President Barack Obama had undertaken. The appointment of Scott Pruitt, a former Attorney General from Oklahoma, as head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and of Rick Perry, former Governor of Texas, as Secretary of Energy, would point in that direction since Shyam both are vocal climate change deniers and strong supporters of the fossil fuel industry. This does not augur well for the implementation of the Paris Agreement. Mr. Trump may not walk out of the agreement but since commitments under it are voluntary with no compliance procedures, there would be no downside to the U.S. not implementing its socalled Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC). One could argue that the pressure on India to deliver on its NDCs would also diminish as a result.

But this would be the same for other major emitters too. Since India is one of the countries mostly adversely impacted by climate change, the slowing down - if not reversal - of the current global trend towards renewable energy as a result of U.S. backtracking will exacerbate the climate challenge for India.

Defence, bilateral ties with India Under the current U.S. Secretary of Defence, Ashton Carter, India-U.S. defence relations have witnessed unprecedented expansion. Several codevelopment and co-production initiatives have been launched. India will have a direct interest in who succeeds Mr. Carter in the Trump administration. James Mattis, a former general who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan, is Mr. Trump's appointee for this

position. He has familiarity with Pakistan which falls under the U.S. Central Command, but not with India. In that sense Pakistan may have an advantage. However, he is equally focussed on jihadi terrorism and has faulted the Obama administration for not taking the threat seriously. Like Mr. Trump, he that in Saran believes West Asia, the focus should be on defeating the Islamic State (IS). Whether the focus on Islamic terrorism will increase the heat on Pakistan or whether it will give the latter additional leverage in relations with the U.S. is not clear. The sooner the Narendra Modi government engages with Gen. Mattis the better it would be because much is at stake.

The President-elect has appointed Rex Tillerson, CEO of the oil giant ExxonMobil, as his Secretary of State. Mr. Tillerson has no diplomatic experience but is familiar with Russia where he has had extensive business interests and counts Russian President Vladimir Putin as a close friend.

His appointment would appear to confirm that Mr. Trump wishes to normalise relations with Russia and work with Mr. Putin to tackle shared challenges such as the IS and jihadi terrorism in general. A return to more friendly relations between the U.S. and Russia should be welcome to India which can once again pursue closer relations with both without contradiction. Furthermore, a U.S.-Russia détente would diminish Russian dependence on Beijing, and Moscow's anxieties about a resurgent China on its borders may well resurface. This would be a good development from the Indian perspective.

In the past few years, particularly after the Ukrainian

crisis, U.S. and European sanctions against Russia had driven it closer to China. Russia had started aligning itself with China on some issues of concern to India, for example, weapons sales to Pakistan.

Hopefully this will begin to change as Mr. Putin gains new room for manoeuvre with improvement of relations with Washington. Mr. Tillerson is likely to be a key instrument in this regard.

It is not clear what Mr. Tillerson's attitude will be towards India. One presumes that he will follow his President's lead. He may be a welcome change from the often sanctimonious John Kerry, the outgoing U.S. Secretary of State, who also seemed to have a soft corner for Pakistan. As a CEO of a multinational company, he may also look upon India as a significant economic opportunity for the U.S. provided the Modi government gets its act together and shuns the path of populism which may look enticing in dealing with the negative consequences of an ill-planned demonetisation.

The China factor Mr. Trump's China policy will have a significant impact on India-China relations. The appointment of Terry Branstad as Ambassador-designate to Beijing suggests an acknowledgement of the importance and sensitivity of Sino-U.S. relations. He is from Iowa where Chinese President Xi Jinping had come on a homestay in the 1980s. He has known Xi since then and has maintained close ties since. His appointment has been welcomed by the Chinese media which has described him as "an old friend" of China. On the other hand, the latest controversy involving Mr. Trump having a telephonic conversa-

tion with the President of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen, has already created strains in the relationship. Mr. Trump rejected Chinese protests and repeated his charge that China was devaluing its currency, indulging in unfair trade and militarising the South China Sea. He appears prepared to confront China on several issues and this may become the defining feature of the geopolitical landscape going forward. Chinese calculations that a Trump presidency may create larger space for China to assert its dominance in Asia may prove to be premature. India should remain prepared for either possibility; one, that after the initial jousting this new administration, too, will settle down to a relationship of managed competition, avoiding chances of open confrontation or conflict; two, that this administration will contrarily inaugurate a new and hard-line policy towards China with a willingness to risk confrontation. There will be less room for manoeuvre for India in the first instance, more in the second instance.

Trump's choices for National Security Adviser (NSA), for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and for Homeland Security suggest a more robust and hard-line approach to terrorism. Michael Flynn, the NSA, and John Kelly at Homeland Security are both former military officers while Mike Pompeo at the CIA has also served some years in the military. They all bring a tough - even harsh - attitude to terrorism and this may augur well for India-U.S. cooperation in this critical area. As is well known, counterterrorism is one area, in addition to defence, where India-U.S. cooperation has seen unprecedented progress in recent years.

Trade and business relations Finally, what may be areas

of direct impact on India due to Mr. Trump's policies?

Clearly, there appears a determination on his part to limit H-1B visas for foreign professionals and a general discouragement to offshoring. This will impact India's IT industry but this was already a trend even in the previous administration.

On the other hand, the scrapping of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which had the potential of pushing India to the margins of global trade, has given the country some breathing space. We should use this to contribute to the early conclusion of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which has less onerous provisions than the TPP. India should also press ahead with its application for membership of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) which the U.S. Trade Representative in the current administration had opposed despite Mr.Obama's public commitment of support. APEC membership will enable India to be part of the proposed Asia-Pacific Free Trade Area, should that become a realistic possibility now that TPP is no longer on the anvil.

Overall, one can now see some emerging trends that may define the incoming Trump administration even though uncertainties and unpredictabilities remain in good measure. What we know now seems to suggest a hardright and conservative administration which should be welcome to big business, particularly powerful fossil fuel producers. A U.S.-Russia détente appears to be on the cards while the current indications are of a more confrontational policy towards China. For India, the balance of outcomes may be positive rather than negative but it is early days yet.

DIBRUGARH, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21

OP-ED P7 Demonetisation and the Rule of Law

The challenge in the Supreme Court and high courts to the current demonetisation exercise requires some serious discussion for what it tells us about the state of the rule of law and constitutional government in India.

Alok Prasanna Kumar (alok.prasanna@vidhilegalpolicy.in) is Visiting Fellow, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, New Delhi.

Since 8 November 2016, for the third time in modern Indian history, the central government has declared notes of certain denominations to no longer be valid legal tender. When announced by the Prime Minister on 8 November, it was pitched as a measure, inter alia, to tackle the “black money” problem in India. Since then, the justification has changed; it is now supposed to make India a “cashless society.”

The chaotic effects of demonetisation have been in the banks and ATMs which are out of cash, the businesses suffering severe losses, and the loss of income and assets of the poorest (Bharadwaj 2016; Gopalakrishnan 2016). Not to mention the people who are said to have died as a result of standing in the queues (Wire 2016), the shock of having lost their money or some proximate reason, whose ultimate cause lies in the unprepared and ill-thought-out manner in which the demonetisation exercise has been carried out.

The larger effects of demonetisation on the Indian economy are debatable. There are, however, questions that have been raised about the manner in which demonetisation has been carried out by the government. Several petitions have been filed in the high courts and in the Supreme Court as well, challenging the demonetisation or its specific aspects. No final verdict has been rendered at the time of writing this, but if the approach of the Madras, Karnataka and Bombay High Courts is anything to go by, the courts seem reluctant to in-

terfere in the process. While the Supreme Court did make a few stray observations about the difficulties being faced by people as a result of demonetisation, it has not stepped in either.

This does not mean that there are no legal problems with the current demonetisation exercise.

The petitioners challenging it have questioned the legality of the manner in which it has been done, the specifics of certain moves and the rights violations it possibly entails. These require some serious discussion, not only in the context of demonetisation, but also for what it tells us about the state of the rule of law and constitutional government in India.

To this end, therefore, this article will address the legality of demonetisation in three parts. In the first part, the legality of the demonetisation through notifications will be discussed. In the second part, the implications of demonetisation on the right to property will be discussed. In the final part, I argue that the way demonetisation has been carried out is against the rule of law.

Legality of Demonetisation Unlike in the past two instances in 1946 and 1978, on this occasion, demonetisation has been done through the issuance of notifications (Notification Nos SO 3407[E] and 3408[E]) under subsection (2) of Section 26 of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934. Under this section, the central government has the power, in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), to declare “any series” of notes of any denomination to no longer be legal tender. It has been contended by some petitioners that the said power cannot be exercised to declare all series of a note to no longer be legal tender.

They point to the fact that the previous demonetisation exercises were carried out through ordinances which later be-

came laws passed by the competent legislature, to contend that the present exercise cannot be carried out merely by the central government issuing notifications for this purpose.

do so.

Under the present demonetisation exercise, there is no legal prohibition against accepting or tendering ?500 and ?1,000 notes.

It only means that it is not While there is some merit in against the law to refuse to this accept line of uch Alok Prasanna Kumar snotes. thinking, it T h e is not legally tenable. The matter has however been interpretational argument— confused by the “exempthat “any” cannot mean tion” clauses in Notification “all”—finds no support in No 3408 (as amended, rethe principles of interpreta- peatedly since the antion or in well-established nouncement). It does not Supreme Court precedents. make clear if the places where Section 13 of the General the note is required to be Clauses Act, 1897 states that accepted are obligated ununless the context other- der law to do so, and, if they wise requires, in a statute, do not, whether they are lithe singular includes the able for any penalty. plural. Moreover, contrary to the assertions of the pe- Under the Constitution, titioners, in L D A v M K certain things can only be Gupta (1994) and in Sk done by a law made by ParMohammed Omer v Collec- liament. The fixing of Sutor of Customs (1970), the preme Court and high court Supreme Court has held that judges’ salaries for inthe term “any” includes stance, appropriations from “all.” “Any series” in Sec- the public exchequer, and tion 26 of the RBI Act limitations on the right to life should, in all circumstances, and liberty, among other include “all series” of a things, can only be done by given denomination and a law enacted by the legisthere is no other provision lature. This does not imply in the RBI Act or any other that everything that the law which requires it to be government does automatigiven a more restricted cally requires a law made by meaning. legislature, and certainly not demonetisation.

What of the constitutional argument that Right to Property and Ledemonetisation necessarily gitimate Expectation requires a law to be passed

by Parliament?

Another plausible argument that could be made against For context, the Janata the demonetisation exercise Party government enacted is that it is a violation of the the High Denomination right to property protected Bank Notes under Article 300-A of the (Demonetisation) Act, 1978 Constitution (Reddy 2016). after promulgating an ordi- Unlike in the Constitution nance to this effect first. as it was originally brought Like the notifications in the into force, the right to propcontext of ?500 and ?1,000 erty now is merely a right notes, the demonetisation against expropriation of act declares ?1,000, ?5,000 property without the auand ?10,000 notes as no thority of law. Even though longer being legal tender. It the words of Article 300-A also provides for a mecha- are analogous to those in nism for deposit and ex- Article 21, the protections change of these notes against the deprivation of within a specified time. Cru- property are not in the nacially, however, the ture of substantive due prodemonetisation act prohib- cess as Article 21 has been its persons from accepting interpreted to mean. or tendering the demonetised notes in any In the context of context, though it does not demonetisation, it has been make it a criminal offence to argued that Notification No

From Notebandi to Nasbandi Mass sterilisation as the way to curb population growth is dangerous talk.

Giriraj Singh, union minister of state for micro, small and medium enterprises, has a tendency to shoot his mouth off. In the past, this member of Parliament from Bihar has asked critics of the Modi government to move to Pakistan. He also suggested that nine out of 10 beef eaters studied at an Indian Institute of Technology. His latest diatribe, however, goes beyond these nonsensical comments because it hints darkly at a possible future strategy that his government could adopt. On 5 December, the minister said in Patna that notebandi, as the withdrawal of high denomination notes is being called, should be followed by nasbandi, or sterilisation. The latter term was first used in 1976 when Sanjay Gandhi launched his mass sterilisation campaign during the Emergency especially targeting poor men.

This campaign, ruthlessly executed in states like Uttar Pradesh, was considered to be one of the main reasons for Indira Gandhi’s defeat in the 1977 elections.

Singh is not the first to hint at this. A few weeks before him, Sanjay Paswan, a Bharatiya Janata Party leader from Bihar expressed similar sentiments as also the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat. Although the expressed concern of all these men is population growth that they argue holds back deve-lopment, they have made it abundantly clear that they are

concerned only about the increase in the population of Muslims in India. In fact, both Singh and Bhagwat are on record asking Hindus to have more children and increase their numbers. Singh has demanded a law on population control and even suggested that the voting rights of those with more than two children should be revoked.

Should we be alarmed at such statements? Or can they be dismissed as the rantings of a fringe of the ruling party and its allies?

Unfortunately, there is enough evidence to prove that the apparent extreme fringe is in fact the very centre of the ideology that rules India today. Thus, Singh, Bhagwat and Paswan’s fulminations could be an ominous precursor to future policies. And just as waiting in line to withdraw one’s own money is being projected as a patriotic act to “save” the nation from the evils of corruption and black money, in future, Indians, and especially women, could be asked to sacrifice their reproductive rights in the interests of saving the “motherland.”

It is evident that the men making these pronouncements are unaware of the growing evidence from India and around the world that central to any discussion on checking population growth must be women’s reproductive health and rights. In the past, “population control” strategies ig-

nored these rights with the focus on using any means to check population growth.

To remind us that this continues even today is the 14 September 2016 Supreme Court judgment in the Devika Biswas public interest case following the death of 13 tribal women in Chhattisgarh due to botched tubectomies. That tragedy highlighted the dangerous consequences of the state setting targets without considering the fallout on people, especially women.

While every such instance highlights the callousness that is the operational principle on which these population control policies are implemented, another glaring aspect is often overlooked. The term nasbandi usually refers to male sterilisation, an easier and reversible procedure.

Yet, the overwhelming majority of sterilisations in India are conducted on women. In 2013–14, out of 42,14,950 sterilisations, only 2.2% were on men. When men were the targets, as in the 1976 mass sterilisation campaign, the political repercussions were immediate. The Congress party lost the elections. Yet, between 2010 and 2013, 363 women died due to botched sterilisations—and these are only the reported cases—yet politicians are not worried.

While Singh and company can only think of mass sterilisation as a way to curb

population growth, there is solid evidence that shows that fertility rates drop when women’s health and their rights are addressed. According to the 2013 Sample Registration System (SRS), India’s total fertility rate (TFR) has dropped to 2.3 and is just 0.2 points away from reaching replacement levels. In fact in eight Indian states, the TFR is already below replacement levels.

This is the result of policies that have addressed women’s overall health needs. What is worrying, however, is that even as this is being done, women’s right to contraceptive choice has been largely ignored. Studies show that 65% of all contraceptive methods used by Indian women is sterilisation. If you combine this statistic with the fact that the system of setting sterilisation targets for health workers continues despite the Indian government’s commitment at the 1994 United Nations Conference on Population and Development to drop this strategy, tragedies like the one in Chhattisgarh are inevitable. Poor people have suffered enough by the nasbandi of the Indian economy done by this government by cutting off its cash lifeline. After this, India certainly does not need this other nasbandi that Singh and company recommend. This is dangerous talk that must be challenged.

Courtesy: Economics & political weekly

3407 extinguishes the right to property without any authority of law. Specifically, it is contended that limits on withdrawal of cash from bank accounts and exchange of the notes are contrary to the mandate of Article 300-A. Therefore, it has been said, by refusing to let people withdraw their money in cash, the government has restricted the right to property, and, by placing limits on exchange, extinguished the right entirely.

that the Parliament has power to make laws on, as listed in Schedule VII. The only limitation on this power is that it has to be exercised in accordance with law made by Parliament. Therefore, where Parliament has made a law, executive power has to be exercised in accordance with such law, and even where it has not, the executive is still free to act.

At the moment, there is no provision in any law that prohibits the central government from imposing limits on cash withdrawals from banks or exchange of cash. There is also no provision that vests this power with another agency such as the RBI. There is, therefore, no limitation on this power and when the central government has issued Notification No 3407, it has done so partly in exercise of the executive power under Article 73.

The argument is not without merit. The Supreme Court in Bishamber Dayal Chandra Mohan v State of Uttar Pradesh (1982) has held that an Executive Order is not “law” for the purposes of Article 300-A. This could be extended, therefore, to mean that unless the legislature allows imposition of cash withdrawal limits under a specific provision, or passes a new law, the government is constitutionally prevented from do- The question still remains: ing so.

Would this amount to an infringement of the right to There are two possible re- property without the ausponses to this argument. thority of law?

One is based on the RBI Act itself and the other on the Even if it is assumed that limConstitution. In exercising iting cash withdrawals and this power under Section exchanges is a violation of 26(2) of the RBI Act, the the right to property (it is government has ancillary not necessarily so since it powers to enable it to carry has been held that regulatout the demonetisation ing the use of property is smoothly. Arrangements not an infringement on the obviously have to be made right itself [K T Plantation to replace the currency, and (P) Ltd v State of Karnataka the lawmakers were quite 2011]), the fact that this has aware that the exercise is been done by the executive difficult in a vast country on the basis of either a statulike India and enough dis- tory power or a constitucretion needs to be given to tional power means that it the government to make the has been done with the aunecessary arrangements. thority of law. The Supreme To that extent, currency Court, in holding that a mere withdrawals and exchange executive order would not limits are also traceable to be “law” for the purposes Section 26(2) of the RBI Act of Article 300-A has also because they are in further- gone on to hold that a rule, ance of a demonetisation delegated legislation, a exercise and not for other statutory order or anything purposes. The doctrine of that has the force of law, that ancillary powers is well is, lays down norms (as oprecognised legally. posed to specific directions to an individual [Gulf Goans A second argument ad- Hotel Company Private Limdressing this can be made ited v Union of India2014]) with reference to the pow- is “law” for the purposes of ers of the executive trace- Article 300-A. Notification able to Article 73 of the Con- Nos 1307 and 1308 are not stitution. This provision directions to specific auvests the union executive thorities, but lay down powers on those subjects norms binding on all banks

and persons holding accounts. In the absence of any law to the contrary, such norms are valid and enforceable.

There is one problematic aspect of the demonetisation exercise when it comes to cash withdrawals.

When demonetisation was announced on 8 November 2016, it was stated by the Prime Minister that cash exchanges would be allowed till 30 December 2016. This was also indicated in Notification No 3407. This information was repeated through advertisement in newspapers and other media. However, in a sudden volte face, all cash exchanges in banks were stopped with effect from 25 November. This was done by giving a four-hour notice on 24 November. This came after cash exchanges were restricted from ?4,500 to ?2,000, that too for the entire duration of time till 30 December. Exchanges are now allowed only at RBI branches located in state capitals.

Such a rollback raises serious ethical and moral questions about the government’s behaviour.

Can it promise one thing to citizens, legally, and repudiate it in less than three weeks? If the government assures citizens that their money is safe and they have plenty of time to have it exchanged, and when people have acted upon it, given the massive queues that have formed around banks, would it be justified in going back on this promise with no notice in a short time?

Legally, such actions of the government could be challenged as a violation of the doctrine of legitimate expectation. Originally evolved

by United Kingdom courts (Schmidt v Secretary of State for Home Affairs1968), it has been applied in Indian Courts (Navjyoti Cooperative Group Housing Society v Union of India 1992). This doctrine simply means that where a citizen has taken a certain benefit on the basis of the government’s prom-

ise, the government cannot later deny the benefit to the citizen. It does not apply to the laws made by Parliament, but only to executive acts. A person who has not exchanged her notes and who does not have a bank account could, therefore, make a claim on this basis asking for the original timelines to be restored.

It is a different matter that the government could plead impossibility in complying with the court’s orders to restore cash exchanges since it is quite likely that it does not actually have enough cash to meet the demand. This would also expose the utter lack of preparation and foresight in the demonetisation exercise.

Rule of Law While the demonetisation per se is probably legally sound, the manner in which the government has responded to events afterwards has been chaotic and misguided. The daily announcements with changing rules and new prohibitions not only cause disorder, but also undermine the rule of law in the country. The cornerstones of what constitutes rule of law are stability and certainty in norms (Fuller 1964). The daily barrage of demonetisation announcements, ad hoc and ill-thought-out as they are, also point to a fundamental breakdown in the rule of law. Given the vast scale of the demonetisation exercise, affecting as it does every part of the country and virtually every sector of the economy, the haphazard way in which it is being carried out suggests a regime ill-equipped, or simply incompetent, to do it properly.

Apart from the deaths caused or the jobs lost, demonetisation’s lasting impact may be the general populace’s loss of faith not only in the currency, but also in the government’s ability to govern in accordance with the rule of law.

Reporting from the ground in times of war It is said: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for a friend." I would propose a caveat to this: the love is perhaps even greater when he is willing to risk his life for a stranger, just another fellow traveller in the human race.

In earlier acts of genocidal horror, often the world learned only of statistics, unable to witness the individual horror suffered by a 14-year-old boy, clinging on to the lifeless body of his infant brother.

In Aleppo, with its diminishing cast of traumatised civilian survivors, daily we learn their stories. And daily those who remain hope that their tears may move the pusillanimous hearts of far flung politicians who play, each day, with the pawns on the Middle Eastern chessboard.

When British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called on the Stop the War Coalition to protest outside the Russian Embassy, he said: "It's up to us in government to show a lead." It is well past time for a leadership, and yet we see very little.

The true leaders have been those who have risked their lives to report from Aleppo. Many civilians had no choice in the matter, finding themselves unwillingly between the Scylla of the rebel guns and the Charybdis of Bashar alAssad and his bloodthirsty

allies.

WATCH: Inside east Aleppo: People sleep in the cold (0:38) The journalists, on the other hand, made an active decision to put themselves in the path of danger in order to report the truth - normally an early casualty in warfare.

We are all in their debt.

Who can fail to be moved by the pictures of the stunned child, shared with the world by filmmaker, Wa'ad al Ketab? Salah Ashkar, Lina Shamy and others have brought the truth into our living rooms.

Aleppo has seen the rise of the "citizen journalist", including Zouhir Al Shimale, reporting on how he and others were "turned back" when they tried to evacuate.

Then there is the truly amateur journalist in the age of the mobile phone camera, epitomised by the anonymous medic who sent out the video of a five-year-old reciting Quranic verses while undergoing an operation without anaesthetic.

It has therefore been my privilege to have been working recently with Bilal Abdul Kareem, justifiably voted "Al Jazeera personality of the week" by a large margin.

OPINION: Aleppo - The guilt, the resentment, the indifference

Bilal remains in the ruins of that once proud city, pumping out his media reports to the comfortable world. He is American, a stand-up comedian-turned war journalist who has been in Syria since 2012 reporting on the conflict from his independent network On the Ground News. Before that, he risked danger to filmed Torture Agreement, a documentary in postMuammar Gaddafi Libya.

As he reports, the Russian barrel bombs periodically explode in the background. If there are only a handful of Syrians with operating generators in the dying city, they welcome Bilal in to charge his equipment, for they know that he speaks for them.

When news outlets were declaring the Aleppo evacuation over, he continued to dispatch his footage, and describe the rockets descending on the remaining women and children: "There are thousands upon thousands of people who are still here," he said.

"They were so many, they look like ants."

And yet, he makes jokes in times of despair, his humanity setting him far apart from stony faced analysts of war who prognosticate from their studios, coffee in hand.

Recently, Bilal was interviewing members of the Free Syrian Army. One said he reckoned they could get $20,000 for kidnapping an

American journalist. He made light of it, saying that since he was the only African-American in Aleppo they had miscalculated - a black man was worth very little.

We have been urging him to join the evacuation, and we wait for news that he is safe. Yet, at the same time, Bilal has reported on refugees being shot dead and men being snatched away as they attempt to leave.

No doubt there are members of the Assad regime who hate a man who has interviewed members of the Free Syrian Army and carried their voice to the world.

At the same time, there are misguided officials in the United States who think of Bilal as a traitor for interviewing members of alNusra Front. But the sane among us know that he represents the voice inside us all that we only wish we had the courage to let out.

Let it be known that the eyes of the world are watching over Bilal Abdul Kareem and his fellow journalists professional and amateur and we expect that they, and the other civilians in Aleppo, will be allowed a safe passage out.

Clive Stafford Smith is the founder of the legal action charity Reprieve.

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.

DIBRUGARH, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21

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NATION

Rahul Gandhi: RBI changing rules like PM Modi changes his clothes The central bank had on Monday issued guidelines where it said that individuals will only be able to deposit demonetised bank notes above ?5,000 only once till the remainder of the deposit deadline.

New Delhi, Dec 20 : A day after the Reserve Bank issued fresh guideline over deposits above Rs 5000, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that the RBI is changing rule like Prime Minister Narendra Modi changes his clothes. The central bank had on Monday issued guidelines where it said that individuals will only be able to deposit demonetised

bank notes above ?5,000 only once till the remainder of the deposit deadline i.e.

December 30, 2016.

The Congress Vice President took to twitter to lash out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the AICC demanded rollback of the restriction under which an amount over Rs 50,00 in scrapped currency can be deposited only once per

account till December 30.

"RBI is changing rules like the PM changes his clothes," Gandhi tweeted, while posting an article on the RBI rules announced post demonetisation.

Gandhi has been critical of the demonetisation ever since it was announced on November 8 by the prime minister. The Congress leader has maintained that

demonetisation is anti-poor and anti-farmer. He has also claimed that he has proof of corruption against the prime minister which will explode his balloon.

In a direct attack on Modi, Gandhi had on Monday alleged that Narendra Modi visits the US and China "using" the aircraft of his wealthy "friends" and has "made fun" of 99 per cent

honest people through demonetisation. "Maximum wealth lies with 50 families‌ Modi goes to America and China with their family members, using their aircraft," Rahul said at a 'Janakrosh Rally' in Juanpur, Uttar Pradesh. This was his first rally in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh after the Winter Session of Parliament was washed out over demonetisation.

Nitish, Lalu pay Centre approves Rs 2,000 cr rich tributes to package for POJK refugees Kishori Sinha PTI Patna, Dec 20 : Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today paid floral tributes to former Congress MP from Vaishali, Kishori Sinha, who died here yesterday after prolonged illness.

As a mark of respect to the departed leader, the CM postponed Aurangabad leg of his "Nishchay yatra" scheduled for tomorrow.

The Aurangabad visit of the CM would be clubbed with the yatra he would undertake of other districts in Magadh region later on, an official statement said here.

Kumar reached Boring road residence of Sinha and paid rich floral tributes to her.

Sinha (90) breathed her last in a private hospital here.

She was wife of Congress stalwart and former Bihar Chief Minister Satyendra Narayan Sinha and mother of ex-Delhi police commissioner and former Kerala Governor Nikhil Kumar.

She was MP from Vaishali twice from 1980 to 1989 from Congress.

PTI New Delhi, Dec 20 : A Rs 2,000-crore development package, approved by the central government recently, will be applicable to the displaced people of Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK) and not to those from West Pakistan.

The central assistance of Rs 2,000 crore would be given to 36,384 displaced families from POJK and Chhamb following an announcement of Prime Minister's Development Package for Jammu and Kashmir in November, 2015, according to the Union Cabinet decision on November 30.

The CM told reporters that her last rites would be performed with state honour.

In addition, he said a statue of the departed leader would be installed near the one of her late husband Satyendra Narain In the aftermath of partition Sinha in the state capital. of the country in 1947, thousands of families from Pakistan occupied areas of RJD President Lalu Prasad Jammu and Kashmir miand former Chief ministers grated to Jammu and KashJagannath Mishra and mir.

Jitan Ram Manjhi also visited residence of the de- Subsequently, during Indoparted leader to pay trib- Pak Wars of 1965 and 1971, utes to her. a large number of families

Chillai-Kalan, considered the harshest period of winter when the chances of snowfall are most frequent and maximum, will begin tomorrow.

The weather usually remains cold during this period with the mercury remaining several degrees below freezing point, which

often leads to freezing of water supply lines as well as water bodies, including the famous Dal Lake.

of the Valley, while fringes of several water bodies were also frozen.

Srinagar recorded a low of minus 5.5 degrees Celsius last night, down over a degree from the previous night's minus 4.2 degrees Celsius, an official of the MET department here said.

Leh, in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, also recorded the coldest night of the season as the mercury there settled at a low of minus 14 degrees Celsius, down from the previous night's minus 13.8 degrees Celsius.

He said this is the lowest night temperature the city has experienced so far this winter.

The official said the subzero temperatures have resulted in freezing of water supply lines in many areas

He said Leh was the coldest recorded place in the state.

Qazigund, the gateway town to Kashmir Valley, was another place which experienced the coldest night of the season, the official said.

PTI Rameswaram, Dec 20 : Seven Tamil Nadu fishermen were arrested by Sri Lankan Naval personnel for allegedly fishing near Neduntheevu in the island nation..

The fishermen from Jegadapattinam hamlet in Pudukottai district were detained yesterday and taken to Kangesanthurai Port there, along with their two

were displaced from Chhamb Niabat area of Jammu and Kashmir.

A series of relief and rehabilitation packages have been extended by the Governments of India and Jammu and Kashmir from time to time to mitigate the hardship of displaced persons from POJK and Chhamb and to rehabilitate them, an official said.

PTI had on November 30 inadvertently reported that refugees from West Pakistan, mostly from PoK, settled in different areas of

Jammu, Kathua and Rajouri districts will receive the package.

The POJK refugees are bonafide state subjects of Jammu and Kashmir as they originally belonged to Jammu and Kashmir and migrated only from one side of the state to the other.

Since POJK refugees are state subjects of Jammu and Kashmir, they are eligible to cast their votes to Lok Sabha, Jammu and Kashmir Assembly and local body elections.

Srinagar, Leh record coldest night of season SRINAGAR, Dec 20 : Cold wave tightened its grip on Kashmir Valley ahead of the onset of 'Chillai-Kalan', the 40-day harshest winter period, with the summer capital Srinagar and Leh town recording the coldest night of the season.

Seven TN fishermen arrested by Sri Lankan Navy

He said the mercury in the town settled at a low of minus 4.4 degrees Celsius compared to minus 3.8 degrees Celsius yesterday.

He said the north Kashmir town of Kupwara recorded a low minus 4.8 degrees Celsius, against minus 4.2 degrees Celsius the previous night.

The official said Pahalgam health resort in south Kashmir, which serves as a base camp for the annual Amarnath Yatra, recorded a low of minus 6.2 degrees Celsius - nearly a degree down from minus 5.3 degrees Celsius 24 hours earlier.

He said the resort was the coldest place in the Valley.

The mercury at the famous ski-resort of Gulmarg, in north Kashmir, settled at a low of minus 3 degrees Celsius -half a degree up from yesterday's low of minus 3.5 degrees Celsius.

The minimum temperature in Kokernag town of south Kashmir settled at a low of minus 3.4 degrees Celsius, the official said.

The Meteorological Department has forecast mainly dry in the state over the week ahead.

boats, Pudukottai Fisheries Department Assistant Director, Sekar said on?Tuesday.

The Lankan navalmen also allegedly rammed their boat against one of the mechanised boats and sank it leaving five fishermen on board to struggle in the sea till fellow fishermen rescued them, he said.

The fishers had put out to

Bimal Gurung, 17 others surrender in Tamang murder case KOLKATA, Dec 20 : Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) chief Bimal Gurung, his wife Asha and several senior leaders of the hill outfit surrendered before a city court today which granted them bail in connection with the murder of All India Gorkha League leader Madan Tamang.

Gurung and 17 others surrendered before the chief judge, city sessions court, Subhra Ghosh as per direction of the Calcutta High Court which had granted them anticipatory bail.

Gurung, who is also the chief of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) in Darjeeling, his wife Asha, Deputy Chief Executive of GTA Col Ramesh Allay and 15 others were given bail on a bond of Rs 10,000 each by the chief judge.

A division bench comprising justices Ashim Kumar Roy and M M Banerjee had on December 14 granted anticipatory bail plea to 22 persons accused in the murder of Tamang and directed

the petitioners to surrender before the chief judge of city sessions court here by December 21.

The high court had directed that charge should be framed in the murder case

by February 1, 2017 before the designated CMM court here.

The bench also directed that all accused should be present in Kolkata, a day before the framing of charge against them and none of them would be able to leave the jurisdiction of city court without the court's leave till disposal of the trial.

Tamang was hacked to death in Darjeeling town on May 21, 2010 when he was overseeing preparations for a public meeting.

The CBI had on May 29, 2015 filed a charge sheet against the GJM leaders under IPC sections for murder and criminal conspiracy in the Tamang case.

The investigating agency had filed the final supplementary charge sheet before the court against Gurung,

Rail services must be paid I-T searches at premises of BJP leader for, says Arun Jaitley PTI NEW DELHI, Dec 20 : Weeks before he presents India's first combined general and railway budget+ , Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said rail commuters must pay for the service they receive even as he made a strong case for outsourcing of non-core functions like hospitality services.

He said year after year, the success of Railway Budget was measured by subsidising consumers and making populist announcements regarding trains.

"Railways got caught in a battle where populism prevailed over performance and the basic principle on which any commercial establishment is to be run, the first essential principle

is that consumers must pay for the services that they receive," he said.

Speaking at a conference on Accounting Reforms in Railways organised by CII, Jaitley said unless the railways strengthen its performance and internal management system, they will lose out to competition from other sectors like highways and airlines in passenger and cargo transportation.

"The core competence of railways is really to drive trains, to provide those services. Hospitality may not be the core competence of the railways and therefore, what is not within its core competence, the principle of outsourcing -- which is accepted world over -can be a logical addition

to those activities of railways," Jaitley said.

Citing example of power and highway sectors which started doing well only after consumers paid for services they got, Jaitley said worldover, only those services have succeeded where there is a financial model which says that consumers pay for what they receive. " (But)We turned this whole theory upside down by a self imposed indiscipline that populism requires that I require that consumers not to pay for service that they receive.

Therefore any establishment will start crumbling in its own weight and contradictions," he said.

The government had in September scrapped the

92-year old practice of presenting a separate railway budget and decided to present a combined general and railway budget for 2017-18 on February 1, 2017.

Speaking at a conference on Accounting Reforms in Railways organised by CII, Jaitley said that the shift towards accrual system of accounting from cash system will better reflect its performance.

"Your accounting systems really must reveal more instead of concealing the reality. What is the kind of investment in infrastructure that is coming in, what is the kind of investment in railway safety, what is the kind of outcome of outlay that you have planned, I think those accounts must really reflect the reality," he said.

sea in more than 100 boats and were fishing off Neduntheevu when the naval personnel arrived and chased them away, he added.

On December 17, fishing nets of 10 mechanised boats of Tamil Nadu fishermen were allegedly snapped by the Lankan Naval personnel, who also chased away nearly 3,000 Rameswaram fishermen off Katchatheevu islet.

his wife Asha, former GJM leader Harkabahadur Chettri, GJM Assistant General Secretary Binoy Tamang, Pradeep Pradhan, Deputy Chief Executive of GTA Col Ramesh Allay and 17 others for criminal conspiracy, murder and other charges.

Prime accused in the case Nickol Tamang had, however, disappeared from Pintail village near Siliguri, in August 2010 where he was being held by the state CID for interrogation following his arrest.

Pema Tamang, wife of Nickol, had moved a Habeas Corpus petition before the Calcutta High Court praying that her husband be traced.

The high court had then directed the CBI to take up the Madan Tamang murder case and the Nickol Tamang disappearance case.

Tamang's widow Bharati had later moved the Supreme Court seeking early completion of investigation and arrest of the accused persons.

4 killed, 5 injured in truck-SUV collision PTI Amethi, Dec 20 : Four persons were today killed and five others injured when the SUV they were travelling in collided with a truck near Mahua Bejh village here, police said.

The incident took place near Malvika Steel factory when the nine persons were on their way to Kanpur from Jaunpur this morning, they said.

Income Tax sleuths on?Tuesday conducted searches at the residential and official premises of a local BJP leader Sushil Vaswani in?Bhopal. (Twitter Photo via ANI)

PTI Bhopal, Dec 20 : Income Tax sleuths on?Tuesday conducted searches at the residential and official premises of a local BJP leader Sushil Vaswani here.

The searches began this morning from Vaswani's home at Bairagarh, a suburb of Bhopal, and followed on to other premises including hotels and a co-operative bank run by him and family,

I-T officials said..

Though I-T officials did not provide any details, the searches are believed to be part of the ongoing cash clean up drive in wake of demonetisation.

Rehana Khatoon (40), Alfia (8) and Fakre Alam (25) died on the spot, police said.

Of the six seriously injured persons, one succumbed while being rushed to Lucknow Trauma Center, police said, adding his identity was not immediately known.

Hunt has been launched for the truck which sped away after the accident, police added.

DIBRUGARH, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21

BUSINESS China rejects criticism of corruption against CPEC China's envoy to Pakistan, Zhao Lijian rubbished allegations of corruption in $46 billion CPEC projects.

Rupee Recoups 6 Paise Against US Dollar PTI Mumbai, Dec 20: The rupee edged higher by 6 paise to 67.81 against the US dollar at the forex market in early trade on Monday on fresh selling of the American currency by exporters.

Besides, the dollar's weakness against some currencies overseas and early gains in the domestic equity market supported the rupee, dealers said.

On Monday, the rupee had

lost 11 paise to end at 67.87 on fresh dollar demand from importers and banks. Heavy capital outflows besides near-term consequences of the Federal Reserve rate hike largely kept market sentiments shaky despite a dollar retreat.

Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex was trading higher by 53.28 points, or 0.20 per cent, at 26,427.98 in early trade on Tuesday.

PTI Islamabad, Dec 20 : In a rare rebuttal, a senior Chinese diplomat has denied allegations of corruption and unequal distribution of projects under the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and sought public support against "disinformation" campaigns targeting it. Acting Chinese ambassador in Pakistan Zhao Lijian yesterday addressed a seminar organised by Strategic Vision Institute (SVI) - a local think tank - in Islamabad.

and environmental concerns. But it seems that the embassy officialsare now finally pushing back at the critics of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

"CPEC is working well. But there are some people who are maligning the project, which enjoys the support of most of the people of Pakistan," he said while responding to a question about the embassy's handling of the objections being voiced by different quarters.

"Then why not call it ChinaBalochistan Economic Corridor," he said addressing the detractors.

Media sources reported that the Chinese embassy, had all along been uneasily watching allegations of unequal distribution of projects among provinces, lack of transparency, corruption in CPEC projects,

The main criticism of the project has been that Punjab was the main beneficiary at the cost of smaller provinces. Zhao said some called it 'China-Punjab Economic Corridor', but the reality is that Balochistan had a larger share in the project.

Citing the presentations at the seminar, he said where did all these people get their figures? "Some people are making false allegations," he observed and said public support was needed to counter the "disinformation" cam-

For UK, Brexit eclipsed everything else in 2016 LONDON, Dec 20 : Britain's historic vote in 2016 favouring an exit from the EU was a political upheaval of seismic proportions as it led to a leadership change which brought to power a woman Prime Minister whose first bilateral visit outside Europe to India signalled the depth in ties.

Theresa May's choice of India for the trip after assuming office following the June 23 referendum sent a positive message but her government's recent crackdown on student and professional visas can hardly be called India-friendly.

'Brexit' also emerged as the word of the year due to the massive projected repercussions of the June 23 referendum, with the shock defeat forcing David Cameron to step down and triggering a bloodbath in world markets besides opening a fresh debate over issues like immigration and advance of the right-wing across Europe.

The early indications for Indo-UK ties seemed positive as there was widespread excitement over the pros-

pect of a free trade agreement between India and Britain -- one of the EU's big three economies, freed from the perceived shackles of its membership of the 28nation economic bloc after four decades.

"As we leave the EU, we will forge our own trade deals. The leaders from India, Mexico, South Korea and Singapore said they would welcome talks to remove trade barriers," the new Prime Minister told the House of Commons in September.

She then followed up on this promise during her November visit to India which came under very different circumstances than the other high-profile UK visit in April by Prince William and wife Kate - the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Her visit also came nearly a year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's maiden visit to the UK - the first by an Indian premier to the country in nearly a decade.

Ahead of the visit, May said she would use this visit to "reaffirm the importance of the strategic partnership

we already have, which delivers huge benefits for both our countries, and to work with Prime Minister Modi to agree to concrete steps to realise our shared vision of going even further in our cooperation across trade, investment, defence and security".

However, this message was somewhat overshadowed by her government's wider efforts to curb immigration into the UK, with a crackdown on student and professional visas expected to hit Indians the hardest.

Modi was candid in his message as he opened the UKIndia Tech Summit in New Delhi alongside May: "Education is vital for our students and will define our engagement in a shared future. We must, therefore, encourage greater mobility and participation of young people in educational and research opportunities."

Within days, tougher new rules announced on November 24 by the UK Home Office for the Tier 2 intracompany transfer (ICT) category, raising the salary threshold requirement to 30,000 pounds, came into force.

He further dismissed allegations of corruption. "This is all taxpayer's money. These are investment projects.

How can we tolerate corruption or bribe," the diplomat said, adding a transparent bidding process was in place for award of the projects.About the alleged secrecy, Zhao said all information was readily available.

paigns by the opponents of CPEC. In his briefing, he sought to allay concerns of environmentalists about the coal power projects. "All international standards are being complied. Environmental issues would be taken care of," he said.

Zhao also said that China was committed to complete the project and several early harvest schemes will mature in three-year time. He also said that bulk of the money for the CPEC was investment by Chinese companies while China has also given soft and grants also for some projects. Zhao who uses Muhammad Lijian Zhao for his twitter account said he was using social media to dispel impression of any criticism against the CPEC.

P9 Singapore, Bali top destinations for Indians in 2017: Report PTI New Delhi, Dec 20 (PTI) Singapore and Bali have emerged as the top country and city for Indian travellers to visit in 2017, a trends report by leading travel search engine Skyscanner has said.

Singapore is followed by countries like Australia, Malaysia, Maldives and South Africa as the most favoured destinations, says the report.

It analyses three years data from Indian travellers, dating back to 2013, Skyscanner said.

Bali as a favoured destination in 2017 with 35 per cent recorded average growth in searches in the past three years.

"In 2016, we saw the list heavily-dominated with South Asian destinations and in 2017, there has been a seismic shift to incorporate the near and far - from Australia to Europe," Skyscanner Growth Manager India, Reshmi Roy said.

This is an indication on changing travel mindset as it becomes simpler and easier, she added.

Singapore records the highest growth with a whopping 202 per cent average increase in searches since 2013, it added.

Among the cities tipped to be the favourite destinations in the coming year, Bali is at the top, followed by Budapest, Madrid, Kuala Lumpur and Amsterdam.

Skyscanners data places

"Each year the Skyscanner Travel Trend Report discovers more attributes of Indian travellers," Roy said.

Founded in 2003, global travel search company Skyscanner helps meet the travel planning needs of over 50 million people each month. It provides free search of flights, hotels and car hire.

Now, banks asking for source of funds deposited in old currency Cautious bank staffers also checking on last deposit amount, showering a volley of questions to save their own skin New Delhi, Dec 20 : A day after the Union government announced that bank customers would now need to provide satisfactory explanation while depositing more than Rs 5,000 in old currency notes, every bank has come out with its own way to evaluate its customers.

At one of the Central Bank branches in the national capital, the bank manager appeared reluctant to accept old currency in the denomination of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000. "This new scheme is to fix the bank officials. They will ask me why I took money in old currency," said the visibly upset manager, who did not wish to be identified.

The manager was asking each customers to write an application detailing why she didn't deposit the money before December 20.

The bank has also designed a form asking the customers to fill details like name, account number, and since

when she had held an account at the branch.

The customers were also being asked about the details of their last deposit.

Some customers were asked to attach copies of their PAN, along with their application letters.

The customers in their applications mentioned vari-

ous reasons for not depositing the money earlier.

However, long bank queues and December 30 being the initial deadline for depositing cash were the most cited reasons on the application forms.

At another public sector bank, the branch manager was yet to begin the process of accepting old cur-

rency notes above Rs 5,000 in total value. "I am yet to get directions from my seniors," the manager said on the condition of not being identified. But the manager was clear that no old currency would be accepted if the customer didn't have any concrete reasons.

"I will ask for evidence of hospitalisation or travel be-

cause I don't want to face any inquiry in the future," the manager said.

Private banks, a few of which are under scrutiny over money laundering to businessmen, are more sceptical. The second-largest private bank has come out with a form asking customers to detail the source of funds, besides other details.

Shortage of new notes: Several discrepancies emerge in RBI, Govt figures The shortage of notes, it seems, would continue much beyond the 50 days that the prime minister has mentioned IANS New Delhi, Dec 20 : Several new and large discrepancies have emerged in the stated positions of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the government on the printing and distribution of new currencies following the demonetisation of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes on November 8.

These discrepancies include a highly unlikely surge in the supply of high-denomination notes in two days. They also show substantial divergence in figures given by the central banker and those given by the government in Parliament.

And finally there's an unexplained hiatus in the supply of notes for 11 days.

Either parliament has been misled, or claims about the supply by the RBI are flawed.

Let's look at the figures in chronological order: On November 28, the RBI issued a press release saying that the public had

withdrawn Rs 2.16 lakh crore in new notes from accounts or ATMs till November 27. As RBI chose not to give any break-up of this amount, it is fair to assume that some of this was in lower denomination notes of Rs 100 or less.

However, according to a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, the Minister of State for Finance, Arjun Ram Meghwal, categorically stated that, by November 29, a total of 1,608 million pieces (160.8 crore) of Rs 2,000 denomination and 156 million (15.6 crore) pieces of Rs 500 had been supplied -- a total of 1,764 million pieces (or 1.76 billion) amounting to a little over Rs 3.29 lakh crore. The minister's reply came on December 6.

One, that the government's number implies that the currency disbursal had shot up by over Rs 1.13 lakh crore in just two days. This, when the RBI had supplied Rs 2.16 lakh crore in 17 days till

Of this amount, Rs 1.06 lakh crore was in smaller denomination currency notes, according to Gandhi, while the rest -Rs 2.94 lakh crore -- implicitly, was by way of high-denomination notes.

This figure of Rs 2.94 lakh crore, which was announced seven days after the date of disbursal given in Parliament reply, is substantially less than the amount of Rs 3.29 lakh crore mentioned in the minister's written statement about supply till November 29.

A man counting Rs 2,000 notes. Photo: Shutterstock

then -- at an average of only Rs 12,700 crore a day.

Moreover, Meghwal's number pertained only to high denomination notes, whereas the RBI number was a mix of all denominations. In other words, the discrepancy between

the two sets of numbers would have been even higher if the minister's reply in Parliament had included the smaller denomination currency notes disbursed till November 29.

Now things begin to get even more curiouser.

On the day the monetary policy was announced (December 7), the RBI revealed a new set of disbursal figures. The Deputy Governor of RBI, R. Gandhi, said a total of Rs 4 lakh crore had been disbursed as of the previous day.

Yet again, on December 12, Gandhi, while speaking to reporters, said that a total of 1.7 billion notes of higher denomination of Rs 2,000 and Rs 500 had been issued to the public till December 10.

That means, a full 11 days after Meghwal's reply that 1.76 billion high-value notes had been disbursed

by November 29, the RBI was stating that the notes given out had been less or at best the same -- if one

assumes that he was giving a rounded-off figure of 1.7 billion.

Was the disbursal or printing of new notes stopped from November 29 to December 10?

If we take Gandhi's words at face value, then, even on November 10 -- more than a month after demonetisation came into effect -- there was not much change.

Further, the government has been talking about the printing presses working overtime. Economic Affairs Secretary, Shaktikant Das, told Doordarshan in an interview on December 17 that 80 per cent to 90 per cent of the currency being printed a few days after the demonetisation date was of Rs 500 notes.

According to Meghwal's information, the amount of Rs 500 notes supplied till November 29, a full 20 days after demonetisation, was only Rs 7,800 crore (15.6 crore notes).

Of course, the Rs 2,000 notes, which the Economic Affairs Secretary has said were being printed for "months" are considerably more in circulation.

In comparison to the value of notes that were demonetised -- Rs 8.58 lakh crore -- the new Rs 500 notes amount to less than one per cent (0.91 per cent).

The value of such notes supplied on November 29 was Rs 3.21 lakh crore (160.8 crore x Rs 2,000) - almost 47 per cent compared to value of Rs 6.86 lakh crore (of Rs 1,000) demonetised. But Rs 2,000 notes are not easy to spend and have created a bottleneck in the cash economy.

Again, according to Gandhi's information, till December 10, there seems to have been no change even in the Rs 2,000 notes circulated.

The shortage of notes, it seems, would continue much beyond the 50 days that the prime minister has mentioned.

DIBRUGARH, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21

UN chief condemns Russia envoy's murder as 'senseless act'

P10

INTERNATIONAL

Donald Trump condemns Turkey, Germany attacks, vows to eradicate terrorists Terrorists and their regional and worldwide networks must be eradicated from the face of the earth: Donald Trump

UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) : UN Secretary-General Ban Kimoon on Monday condemned the murder of the Russian ambassador in Turkey, saying he was "appalled by this senseless act of terror."

Ambassador Andrei Karlov was shot dead while attending an art exhibition in Ankara by a Turkish policeman who shouted "Don t forget Aleppo" and "Allahu akbar" (God is great).

Ban is "appalled by this senseless act of terror and emphasizes that there can be no justification for the targeting of diplomatic personnel and civilians," said a statement from his spokesman.

"The secretary-general is following the unfolding situation closely and wishes the other people who were reportedly in-

jured in the attack a speedy and full recovery."

The UN Security Council will on Tuesday observe a minute a silence to pay tribute to the Russian diplomat, said Spanish Ambassador Roman Oyarzun, the current council president.

The council was preparing a formal statement condemning the attack.

Venezuela s Ambassador Rafael Ramirez denounced what he termed as a "campaign of hatred" against Russia, in reference to mounting criticism from Western powers of Moscow s role in Syria.

"Everything that is said, everything that is done in a situation which is so fraught with extremist actions, such as the situation in Syria, it does have, unfortunately, consequences," said Ramirez.

PTI Washington, Dec 20 : US President-elect Donald Trump today vowed to eradicate ISIS and other Islamist terrorists from the face of the earth after chilling attacks in Turkey, Germany and Switzerland.

In a tweet, Trump said, in view of the terrorist attack yesterday the civilised world must change its thinking.

"Today there were terror attacks in Turkey, Switzerland and Germany - and it is only getting worse. The civilised world must change thinking," he wrote.

"Today we offer our condolences to the family and loved ones of Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov, who was assassinated by a radical Islamic terrorist," Trump said in a statement.

In Switzerland, a man burst into a Muslim prayer hall, shooting and wounding three men. The attacker was later found dead.

"The murder of an ambassador is a violation of all rules of civilised order and must be universally condemned," he said.

Condemning the Berlin attack, the 70-year-old President- elect said: "Our hearts and prayers are with the loved ones of the victims of today's horrifying terror attack in Berlin. Innocent civilians were murdered in the streets as they prepared to celebrate the Christmas

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama, who is on a vacation in Hawaii, was briefed about the assassination of the Russian envoy by his national security aide, the White House said. holiday."

ror attack.

A lorry ploughed into a busy Christmas market in central Berlin yesterday, killing several people and injuring over 50 in what police said was a possible ter-

"ISIS and other Islamist terrorists continually slaughter Christians in their communities and places of worship as part of their global jihad. These terrorists and

Russia envoy murder won't shatter ties with Turkey: media AFP Moscow, Dec 20 : Russian media today reacted with outrage to the killing of the country's ambassador to Turkey but said it was unlikely to derail warming ties between Moscow and Ankara.

Ambassador Andrei Karlov, 62, was gunned down yesterday at the opening of a Russian photography exhibition in Ankara by a Turkish policeman crying "Aleppo" and "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest), in what Moscow called a "terrorist act".

"The murderer was afraid to look him in the eye," ran the

banner frontpage headline on pro-Kremlin paper Izvestiya above a dramatic picture of Karlov with his killer looming behind.

"They did not shoot at Karlov. They shot at Russia," Senator Konstantin Kosachev said in comments published alongside.

Both Russian leader Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the attack a "provocation" aimed at sabotaging ties that have been patched up since a furious dispute over Ankara's downing of a Russian jet in Syria in November 2015.

Putin also said that the killing in Ankara was designed to undermine efforts to find a settlement on the conflict in Syria that are currently being spearheaded by Russia and Turkey.

Moscow and Ankara are on different sides of the conflict in Syria but the two countries have worked closely together to evacuate citizens from the battered city of Aleppo.

The foreign and defence ministers from Russia, Turkey and Iran are set to meet today in Moscow for key talks on Syria.

"I don't think that Moscow will provoke conflict" over

the incident, Leonid Isayev of Moscow's Higher School of Economics told RBK business daily.

"Today dialogue between Russia and Turkey is developing quite actively."

In an interview with Izvestiya, the head of Russia's parliamentary committee on foreign affairs, Leonid Slutsky, warned those who try to drive a wedge between Russia and Turkey would fail.

"The main thing is that there will not be a new round of tensions between Russia and Turkey, no matter how much our opponents want this," he said.

"This was a terrible tragedy, but interstate relations overall will not suffer from this."

Other outlets were, however, harsher toward Ankara -- which state television had portrayed as Russia's top foe in the wake of the jet's downing -- pointing out that Turkish authorities had been unable to protect the Russian envoy.

"Responsibility for the death of a foreign ambassador on its territory always lies with the host country," Moskovsky Komsomolets tabloid wrote, adding that the murder was "yet another powerful blow" to the reputation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Thousands leave Aleppo as UN plans new peace talks AFP Aleppo, Dec 20 : Thousands of traumatised Syrians left the rebel enclave of Aleppo as the UN voted to deploy observers there and said it planned new peace talks in Geneva in February. "It is the intention of the United Nations to convene those negotiations in Geneva on 8 February 2017," UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said after the Security Council unanimously adopted a French-drafted resolution to monitor evacuations from Aleppo, with Russia's backing.

But in Moscow, President Vladimir Putin said after zambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov was shot dead by a policeman in Ankara that the killing could "disrupt" the peace process in Syria and harm Turkish-Russian ties.

Damascus denounced the "despicable" murder of Karlov, who a witness said was shot dead by a gunman who shouted "Aleppo" and "revenge".

James Nixey, head of the Russia and Eurasia programme at think tank Chatham House, said the diplomat's murder could affect Aleppo evacuations.

A Syrian woman holding a child who were evacuated from the embattled Syrian city of Aleppo during the ceasefire arrive at a refugee camp in Rashidin, near Idlib, Syria, early Monday, Dec. 19, 2016. (AP Photo) Families in Aleppo had spent hours waiting in below-freezing temperatures, sheltering from the rain in bombed-out apartment blocks and waiting desperately for news of a new wave of departures.

After an agonising delay, the operation resumed under a complex agreement that will see regime forces exert full control over Syria's second city.

Buses transported more

than 7,000 people out of the city, said Ingy Sedky, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). She said the evacuations were expected to continue overnight. "There are still thousands - it's a huge crowd, women, children," she said.

The evacuees included seven-year-old Bana alAbed, whose Twitter account had offered a tragic account of Syria's nearly sixyear war, as well as 47 children who had been trapped

in an orphanage. Ahmad alDbis, who heads a team of doctors and volunteers coordinating evacuations, saw dozens of buses and ambulances arrive at the staging ground west of Aleppo.

He said the evacuees were in "a very bad state after waiting for more than 16 hours" at a regime checkpoint without being allowed off the vehicles. The government had suspended evacuations on Friday, in-

sisting that people also be allowed to leave two northwestern villages under rebel siege.

The ICRC and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said around 500 people left in a dawn convoy out of Fuaa and Kafraya. The Britain-based Observatory said at least 14,000 people, including 4,000 rebels, have left the opposition sector since the evacuations began on Thursday while at least 7,000 remain.

their regional and worldwide networks must be eradicated from the face of the earth, a mission we will carry out with all freedomloving partners," Trump said.

"This morning the President was briefed by his National Security Team on the assassination of the Russian Ambassador to Turkey in Ankara today. The President directed his team to provide

updates as warranted," White House Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz said.

Earlier in a statement, US Secretary of State John Kerry condemned the assassination of Russian Ambassador and offered all American help in the investigation into the tragic incident.

"The US condemns the assassination today in Ankara of Russian Ambassador Andrey Karlov. Our thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones, the Russian people, and with the other victims who were injured in this shooting," Kerry said.

"We stand ready to offer assistance to Russia and Turkey as they investigate this despicable attack, which was also an assault on the right of all diplomats to safely and securely advance and represent their nations around the world," he added.

Trump shares dinner with Mexican billionaire critic Slim WASHINGTON, Dec 20 : President-elect Donald Trump on Monday dined with Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, who harshly criticized the US developer's presidential campaign before his win, transition officials said.

Trump invited Slim to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, and then called it "a lovely dinner with a wonderful man," according to a statement published by The Washington Post.

A source close to Trump, a billionaire developer turned television star turned politician, confirmed the event to AFP.

It also was confirmed in Mexico by a spokesman for Grupo Carso, owned by Slim, a telecoms magnate who before the election slammed Trump for his populist rhetoric.

Trump angered Mexicans by vowing to make their government pay for a giant border wall and pledging to deport millions of migrants, whom he called rapists and drug runners.

Slim quipped last month that Trump would destroy the US economy if he won the election.

"As we say in Mexico, being a drunk is different from

being a bartender," Slim told reporters then.

Slim said at the time that a Trump administration could impose a 35 percent import tariff that would dramatically raise prices in the United States.

But on Monday, a Slim spokesman said the dinner meeting was "cordial... with a good attitude toward Mexico and Mexicans."

Trump lashed out at Slim after The New York Times published claims from women accusing the real estate baron of sexual misconduct. Slim is the newspaper's largest shareholder.

Ex-Army chief Sharif helped me out in leaving Pak: Musharraf PTI Karachi,Dec 20 : Former dictator Gen Pervez Musharraf has said ex-army chief General Raheel Sharif's intervention helped him in exiting Pakistan, indicating the powerful influence wielded by the military in the country's affairs.

Participating in a talk show on Dunya News last night, Musharraf said Sharif helped him leave the country by keeping the government from pressuring the courts.

"Well he (Raheel Sharif) did help me. I have been his boss and I have been the Army Chief before him. He helped out, because the cases are politicised, they put me on the Exit Control List (ECL), they turned it into a political issue," he said.

When asked to explain, Musharraf, 73, said Gen Sharif played a role in "releasing the pressure" on courts to prevent him from leaving the country.

The statement came weeks after General Sharif retired in November after completing his three-year tenure.

He was succeeded by General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

Musharraf said, "Behind the scenes, the army chief had a role to release that pressure by dealing with the government."

"Once he (Gen Sharif) got the government to relieve the pressure that they were exerting, the courts gave their judgement and allowed me to go abroad for

treatment."

Musharraf alleged that Pakistani courts give decisions under pressure "behind the scenes" and this pressure was relieved by Gen Sharif with an "influencing" role.

Musharraf was able to fly out of Pakistan in March this year after the interior ministry issued a notification to remove his name from the ECL, following the Supreme Court's order to lift the ban on his foreign travel.

But the order from the top court had also said that the federal government or the three-judge special court trying the retired general for treason was free to make decisions to regulate his custody or restrict his movement.

Musharraf is facing treason charges in Pakistan for imposing emergency rule in November 2007, arresting

judges and limiting their powers. Besides, he is also being tried in murder cases of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti and Ghazi Abdul Rasheed, who was killed during the operation on Lal Masjid in Islamabad which was carried out on the orders of Musharraf.

Earlier this year, in a separate interview to The Atlantic in Washington DC, Musharraf had said that Pakistani social fabric was not conducive for democracy.

"Army has always had a role since our independence. Army has played a prominent role in the governance of Pakistan, partially, because, or mainly because of mis-governance by all of the so-called democratically elected governments," the former dictator had said.

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DIBRUGARH, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21

SPORTS

P11

PV Sindhu named brand ambassador of APIS India

India's Umesh Yadav (L) celebrates the wicket of England's Adil Rashid along with captain Virat Kohli on Day 5 in Chennai. (AFP)

IANS Hyderabad, Dec 20 : Badminton champion PV Sindhu, who won a silver medal at the Olympics this year, has been roped in by APIS India -- producer, distributor and exporter of honey under APIS Himalaya brand -- as its brand ambassador.

The 21-year-old said in a statement: "I identify myself with them (APIS India) as we both believe in giving our best and proving our mettle on the international stage. There is an absolute sync in our ideologies and being identified by them is recognition in itself. A trusted association helps a player in the right directions and keeps all other worries off the court." Talking about the association, Amit Anand, Joint Managing Di-

rector, APIS India said: "PV Sindhu's achievements are a reflection of her dedication and passion to bring glory to her country and present it on the global stage that resonates well with what we

intend to do through our brand."

Himalaya and APIS Himalaya Gold in the retail market.

As part of focusing on the domestic market, the company has introduced two honey variants APIS

Apart from honey, APIS India also produce cookies and tea.

India end year as top ranked Test team East Bengal likely to sign Hong Kong after 4-0 series win over England footballer Akande in Asian quota

IANS Dubai, Dec. 20: India have ended 2016 as the top ranked Test team on the ICC rankings after registering a 4-0 victory over England in the recently concluded fivematch series which culminated with an innings and 75 runs win for the home side in Chennai on Tuesday.

The series win has helped India gain five points. They have now moved to 120 points in the last Test team rankings update of 2016, 15 points ahead of second-

placed Australia. In contrast, England, who had started the series tied with Australia on 105 points but were ahead on decimal points, have slipped from the second to the fifth position.

England are now on 101 points, one point behind Pakistan and South Africa, who are both on 102 points with Pakistan ranked third on decimal points. This means that four teams are now within four points of each other with the annual

Delhi HC vacates stay, AIFF elections get green light

Viswanathan Anand ends joint third in London Classic Polo to get professional

"The same person had filed the same PIL in 2012 but did not get a stay order. Rather the Sports Ministry gave a letter that we are abiding by the Sports Code," an AIFF insider told IANS. The election, said informed sources, was just a formality as incumbent Praful Patel had the unanimous support from the AIFF Executive Committee.

IANS Kolkata, Dec. 20: Nigerian born Hong Kong international Alex Akande is all set to give trials at the East Bengal football club, sources have said.

coach Jose Molina during his tenure at the Hong Kong club.

Forward Akande scored nine goals in 13 appearances with Hong Kong champions Kitchee.

Akande, 26, arrived in Hong Kong in 2008 and joined Tai Chung in the then second division.

Akande, who holds a Hong Kong passport, will come to Kolkata on Friday to showcase his skills as the Kolkata giants look to replace South Korean striker Do Donghyun. He is expected to fill up the Asian foreigner quota permitted in the Ileague.

Akande played for Kitchee SC under Indian Super League (ISL) champions Atletico de Kolkata (ATK)

He soon caught the eye of top-flight clubs and joined Eastern club the following season.

In 2012, he joined Tai Po and scored 19 goals for them in that season before moving to Kitchee.

league next year

PTI London, Dec. 20: Viswanathan Anand played out a draw with long-time rival Vladimir Kramnik of Russia to end the London Chess Classic with a shared third result after the end of the ninth and final round in London. The highlights of Anand's campaign were the innovative ideas he displayed, while the lone low point was the defeat against Hikaru Nakamura in the third round. Anand remained the biggest star if the fan following was anything to go by.

the United States and Kramnik tied for the third spot on five points apiece and it's almost a certainty now that the Indian ace will get a call back for the next year of the Grand Chess tour which will have a new event added to the existing four.

Wesley So couldn't have wished for a better first appearance in London. His phenomenal debut brought him both the tournament victory worth USD 75,000 and, more importantly, a win in the Grand Chess Tour worth USD 100,000.

Wesley So of the United States expectedly won the tournament with an easy draw with white pieces against Maxime VachierLagrave of France in the final round.

The Filipino turned American ended up with six points out of a possible nine and remained a half point ahead of second placed compatriot Fabiano Caruana who also played a draw with Anish Giri of Holland.

"This is definitely my best achievement ever," So said.

Anand was all praise for the new star in world chess.

Anand, Hikaru Nakamura of

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The side at the top of the rankings on April 1 will receive $1 million. The second-placed side will be awarded $500,000 while the third and fourth placed sides will receive $200,000 and $ 100,000 respectively.

The ICC Test team rankings have seen an interesting year, with Australia, Pakistan and India all holding the top slot between August 21 and October 11.

The Virat Kohli-led side, which was awarded the ICC Test Championship Mace on October 11 following a 3-0 home series sweep over New Zealand, can't be overtaken this year since the team rankings are updated only at the end of each Test series.

The next Test series to be completed is the ongoing one between Australia and Pakistan with the third and final Test slated in Sydney from January 3-7.

"I guess the word that comes to my mind is effortless," he said, adding, "It really looks effortless. He doesn't even seem to be trying very hard. He's been undefeated for so long. I'm very impressed by how easy he makes it seem."

Anand played white and opened with the queen pawn that did not give him

many chances as Kramnik was well armed. The result was a quick draw when Anand decided there was not much left to play for.

The Indian was in fine fettle throughout the tournament and has every chance to be among the top eight that gives a chance to make to next world championship.

"I'm definitely going to play in the World Cup, that's my main chance to qualify for the Candidates'. In the mean time, I'm very excited to be in the Tour so definitely my ambitions are quite high. I'm going to play a lot of chess, and I'm going to enjoy it as well," said Anand on his plans for the future.

Results final round: V Anand (Ind, 5) drew with Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 5); Wesley So (Usa, 6) drew with Maxime VachierLagrave (Fra, 4); Levon Aronian (Arm, 4) lost to Veselin Topalov (Bul, 2); Anish Giri (Ned, 4.5) drew with Fabiano Caruana (Usa, 5.5); Hikaru Nakamura (Usa, 5) drew with Michale Adams (Eng, 4).

IANS Jaipur, Dec. 20: With India having seen professional leagues come up in several sports in the last few years, it is now the turn of the sport of kings -- polo.

Enthusiasts of the elite sport are in for a bonanza as the Champions Polo League (CPL), a brainchild of Gujarat-based industrialist Chirag Parekh, is all set to be launched next year.

Parekh, a keen polo lover, wants to make the sport popular among the masses.

He got the idea of a franchise-based professional league for polo after successfully conducting a tournament earlier this

year.

"Polo is generally perceived to be an elite sport.

It is mostly played by the patrons of the sport who are very passionate about it. But it is not a sport which is generally very popular among the masses. It has not made a connect with the masses.

"Those who are passionate about the game, play it. But people perceive it to be a game for the royalty. It is thought of an expensive sport and rightly so," Parekh told IANS. "But we received a huge response during a tournament in Gujarat recently.

That really brought in the crowds. We did the tournament in a shorter format

with simpler rules so the people can follow it. We held matches in the evenings instead of the usual afternon time so people can come in after work.

"People were very impressed with the game after that and established players on the domestic circuit like Shamsher Ali Khan and Sameer Suhag became really popular.

The matches used to attract crowds of 25,00030,000. This opened our eyes to the potential of this sport," he added.

"The polo players also requested me to start a league. They insisted that a pro league is the need of the hour for the sport."

The first edition of the

CPL will have six citybased franchises with the auction scheduled for early next year.

In order to make the game more accessible and easier to understand for common people, the CPL matches will be held on smaller grounds with simpler rules.

"We will market the CPL massively on social media and television prior to the launch. We have made the format a lot easier. We have removed the system of handicaps. It will also be held on smaller grounds," Parekh Said.

"Top broadcasters will be roped in and Bollywood celebrities will be invited to add the glamour quotient and attract people."

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IANS Kolkata, Dec 20 : The All India Football Federation (AIFF) breathed a sigh a relief on Tuesday after the Delhi High Court vacated a stay order granted against its election process.

According to a statement from the apex football's governing body, the elections will go ahead as scheduled on Wednesday.

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by petitioner Rahul Mehra, a sports activist, on grounds of non-compliance to the Sports Code forced the High Court to stay the AIFF election.

Mehra showed the Delhi High Court how the AIFF violated several provisions of the Sports Code.

The court stayed the election till the next hearing on January 20.

But according to AIFF sources, the agenda highlighted in the PIL that the AIFF has five proposers instead of two mentioned in the Sports Code is not correct as it is not mandatory.

cut-off date of April 1 for the ICC awards not far away.

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DIBRUGARH, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21

India seal 4-0 win over England as Jadeja takes 7/48 too much and ended up giving a catch at leg slip.

Jennings offered a return catch to Jadeja in a soft dismissal, while Root was out lbw after he went for a sweep and failed to connect.

PTI Chennai, Dec. 20: India pulled the curtains down on England's winter of discontent in the manner befitting their dominance as the hosts clinched the fivematch series 4-0 with an innings and 75-run victory in the fifth and final cricket Test here today. Spinner Ravindra Jadeja was the hero of the day as he returned exceptional figures of 7/48 to spell doom for England.

Jadeja's effort deserves special mention as he shone on a pitch where there were no demons. However, triplecenturion Karun Nair walked away with the Man of the Match award for his unbeaten 303-run knock that set the tone for the victory. In the process of winning their ninth match of the year to stretch an unbeaten run to 18, the hosts wrote and rewrote a plethora of records, including notching up their biggest-ever series victory over England.

Their previous best was the 3-0 verdict under Mohammed Azharuddin's captaincy in 1992-93. Having made a sedate start to the day, England made a hash of it after tea as they lost their last six wickets for a mere 15 runs.

England were staring down the barrel at 200 for eight, with Jadeja doing the bulk of damage in an exceptional display of slow bowling on a pitch that was one of the flattest in recent times. The left-arm spinner, who also pulled off a brilliant catch earlier in the day, triggered

Virat Kohli went for a review after the on field umpire thought otherwise, and the India skipper was right as replays showed the full ball hitting the leg stump. Then Bairstow flicked one towards deep midwicket and an agile Jadeja too a great catch running backwards. the English slide when he lured Moeen Ali into playing a casual shot after the tea break.

From 192 for four, the scoreline suddenly read 200 for eight, with plenty of overs left for Indian bowlers to wrap up the tail.

It soon became 207 for nine as the inevitable dawned on England and the end came when the last line of defence, Jake Ball, was foxed

by Jadeja for a three-ball duck.

Celebration erupted in the stands at the M A Chidambaram Stadium, and the Indian players also broke into wild celebrations following the team's fifth successive Test series win since September last year.

The win also made it India's longest unbeaten run in Test cricket, surpassing the previous best of 17 wins between 198-87.

In front of the plenty of heads totting the stands,

the Indian players went on a lap of honour. A pall of gloom, however, descended on the English camp, while the Indians' joy knew no bounds.

England lost 10 wickets in 48.2 overs, for the addition of 104 runs, after their openers - captain Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings - had added 103. Jadeja got into the act after lunch as he struck thrice to bring the spring back in India's steps to leave England at 167 for four at tea.

Jadeja first cut short Cook's stay at the crease when he was one shy of a half century, followed that with the dismissal of Jennings (54) and then sent back Joe Root (6) to leave England in a spot of bother at 126 for three. The situation got worse for the visitors when they lost Jonny Bairstow, sent back by a Ishant Sharma, who looked pretty sharp and thereafter, tested Ben Stokes with de-

Shiva, Vikas, Manoj among 7 Indians in fray for WSB PTI New Delhi, Dec. 20: World Championships bronzewinner Shiva Thapa and former Asian Games goldmedallist Vikas Krishan will be among the seven Indian boxers who are set to go under the hammer for AIBA's semi-professional World Series of Boxing's draft pick tomorrow for the 2017 edition.

The others who have made the draft for the auction are former Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Manoj Kumar, former Asian Olympic Qualifiers' goldmedallist Sumit Sangwan, Commonwealth Games silver-winner Mandeep Jangra, former national champion Madan Lal and India's best performing boxer in WSB Gaurav Bidhuri.

"This year seven Indian boxers will be up for auction. Shiva Thapa, Manoj Kumar, Gaurav Bidhuri, Sumit Sangwan, Vikas Krishan, Mandeep Jangra, Madan Lal," Boxing Federation of India President Ajay Singh, who is currently in Switzerland to attend the AIBA's annual congress, told PTI. Of these, Shiva, Gaurav and Sumit have prior experience of competing in the WSB, while Vikas has been active in AIBA Professional Boxing (APB).

Vikas (75kg), in fact, is cur-

rently in Switzerland to receive the Best Boxer award for 2016 during the AIBA's 70th anniversary celebrations.

Shiva and Manoj, on the other hand, were recently crowned national champions in Guwahati, their first titles in new weight categories after both of them decided to jump divisions to 60kg and 69kg respectively.

"I am glad to be finalised for the auctions. Hopefully, I would be picked. I look forward to a great start next year," Shiva, who is currently nursing a deep gash on his forehead sustained during the Nationals, said.

"The idea is to keep getting competitive fights to become a tougher boxer," added Manoj, who would be trying his luck in WSB, which gets underway from February 3 with 12 teams in 3 groups, for the first time.

The 23-year-old Shiva had competed for USA Knockouts in the 2014 edition of WSB along with Sumit but fought only a couple of bouts. Gaurav, on the other hand, has participated in three editions of the event for different franchises, winning four and losing four.

"I have completely recovered from my injuries and raring to go now. Finger crossed, I hope to be in good shape for WSB," Sumit, who had to pull out of the nationals earlier this

month due to a cut above his eye, said.

Mandeep had also been laid low by a wrist injury but has recovered from it now.

Meanwhile, BFI chief Ajay Singh said he discussed the possibility of bringing a WSB franchise to India next year with the event's top brass. India had a franchise in WSB till 2012 before administrative turmoil and financial crunch resulted in the franchise owners backing out.

Singh said the idea of India hosting the AIBA Youth World Championship for women was also put forth by him.

"We met the Managing Director of WSB to discuss how to include an Indian franchise in WSB next year.

We also discussed possibility of hosting the World Championship for Women (Youth) in India," he said.

Asked about the key takeaways for India from the AIBA Extraordinary Executive Committee meeting yesterday, Singh said, "Indian delegation had a long meeting with Dr. C.K. Wu, AIBA President. He offered full support and congratulated BFI on its speed and efficiency.

"Also, they have offered to help set up boxing academies in India, run a trainthe-trainer program for coaches and RJs (Referees and Judges)," he added.

liveries that got off the wicket.

At tea, first-innings centurion Moeen Ali and Stokes were batting on 32 and 13 respectively, cutting down the deficit to 115 runs with six wickets remaining. Jadeja, who pulled off a brilliant catch at midwicket to end Bairstow's brief stay in the middle, had impressive figures of 3/38 before the start of the final session. Moeen and Stokes' partnership had consumed 12 overs by tea, and had settled English nerves a bit.

Even though the hosts looked threatening, England took solace from the fact that the pitch remained pretty flat and hoped to avoid a 0-4 drubbing even with an set ultra attacking field placements. That was, however, not to be as wickets fell in a heap in the final session.

The first wicket of the day came when Cook, like he often does, shuffled across

That was tea, and things only got worse after the break. Moeen was the first casualty after tea as he fell to Jadeja's guile - caught at mid-on by Ravichandran Ashwin to a casual shot.

Jadeja was not done as he next dismissed Ben Stokes, who hit straight into the waiting hands of Karun Nair at midwicket. Liam Dawson became Amit Mishra's first wicket of the inniings, while Adil Rashid and Stuart Broad too perished quickly.

Earlier, England got through to lunch unscathed, reaching 97 without suffering an early setback. Having already conceded the five-match series, England had their backs to the wall on the penultimate evening after Nair notched up an incredible 303 to put the hosts in a commanding position, from where they could gun for a 4-0 series win.

Trailing by 270 runs after conceding a huge 282-run

first-innings lead, an innings defeat was not out of question when the English openers made their way back to the pavilion at stumps on the fourth day.

However, skipper Cook and Jennings stood firm and succeeded in negotiating the Indian bowlers in the first session of play on what was by far the best batting surface in the series.

Cook was batting on 47 while Jennings, who had scored a century on debut in Mumbai, was giving the English captain company on 46. Luck was on England's side as Cook got a life a couple of overs into the day's proceedings. The bowler to suffer was offspinner Ashwin as wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel failed to latch onto an outside edge from the lefthander's willow.

As the ball turned away from Cook, Parthiv moved to his left but the ball brushed the gloves and fell in front of slip. The ball would have gone straight to Virat Kohli if Parthiv had not moved to his left. Cook was on 4 then. The pitch wasn't exactly the kind where the spinners could extract big turn, but Ashwin and Jadeja fancied their chances.

Even with fielders placed around the batsmen, they could not succeed, though Ashwin should have had a wicket to his name by lunch.

Cook and Jennings had been watchful, showed the gumption to fight for a draw and though there was one clear chance, the pitch has nothing for the bowlers.

P12 Tinsukia Railway in semifinal Sports Reporter Dibrugarh, Dec 20 : Tinsukia Railway Division Sports Club defeated Duliajan Football Academy by 3-0 in a one sided affair of 13th Captain Jintu Gogoi, VrC Memorial Football Tournament played at Chowkidinghee field Dibrugarh on Tuesday. Bhaskar Gogoi of Tinsukia Railway scored the first salvo in the 41th minute through a pass

from the left flank.

Sontosh Chutia fired the second and third goal in the 51st and 70th minute for Tinsukia Railway.

Duliajan Football Aaademy missed many scoring opportunities.

Tomorrow, in the first semifinal Dibrugarh Railway Division Sports Club will lock horn with Lengrijan Tea Estate Football Club (Naharaktia).

Shillong Lajong FC sign midfielder Rocus Lamare for I-League IANS Shillong, Dec. 20: Shillong Lajong FC on Tuesday announced the signing of midfielder Rocus Lamare for the 2016-17 I-League football season.

Lamare has had a highly successful career at the club level and has also been capped by India 14 times.

Lamare began his football career as a teenager at Lajong in 2001 before being signed by Mohun

Bagan in 2003-2004. The majority of his playing years saw him at Goan club Salgaocar.

Shillong Lajong FC Managing Director Larsing Ming Sawyan said in a release, "Rocus Lamare is the first Lajong product to play for the Indian national team and his return to Lajong is aimed to mentor the young Lajong players as they embark on their journey to make a mark in the country's football scene."

Abhinav Bindra says goodbye in bad year for seniors, youngsters shine PTI New Delhi, Dec. 20: Perfectionist Abhinav Bindra walked into the sunset after a glorious career but, in an unfortunate coincidence, dark clouds hovered over a house in disorder after the Indian shooting team returned with only luggage to boast for following a barren Olympic campaign.

Bindra was not far away from a fairytale ending.

India's lone individual Olympic gold medallist till date, he quit the sport he loved dearly and practised with single-minded devotion over the last two decades, after winning plenty of laurels across the world.

Bindra officially announced his retirement from shooting in September, saying, "It is time to move on and hand over the baton to the younger generation".

With the profile of the sport taking a beating of sorts post Rio, youngsters would do well take a leaf out of Bindra's book of training.

The World Championship gold-medallist missed out on a second Olympic podium finish by a whisker in his last Games after losing in a tense shoot-off, but still he was by far the best Indian shooter on view in Rio. It was appropriate that the National Rifle Association

of India (NRAI), governing body for the sport in the country, commemorated the glittering career of Bindra at a gala ceremony.

While the sport made noises outside, by the standards Indian shooters have set over the years, it was quiet inside the ranges.

Performing regularly gave way to winning a rare medal or two intermittently.

The debacle in Rio was the first time since 2004 that India finished without a medal at an Olympic Games, prompting the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) to formulate a review committee headed by Bindra immediately after the multi-sport extravaganza to examine and identify in a cold and ruthless manner the reasons behind the failure.

Besides the shooters, the panel was equally scathing on coaches and the national federation in its damning 36-page report, and minced no words as it chastised the Rio flop show while recommending a systematic overhaul.

From Gagan Narang, Heena Sidhu to Ayonika Paul, none of the shooters were spared for the disastrous outing, with the panel talking to each shooter individually.

Among the juniors though, talented shooters have emerged with quite a few

shining on the world stage regularly, indicating a bright future.

The rise of junior shooters augers well for the sport, but the seniors have left a lot to be desired with their dismal showing, especially in the mother of all sporting events, where India has brought home four medals since the Athens Games, including a historic gold by Bindra at the 2008 Beijing edition.

Vijay Kumar and Gagan Narang continued the trend at London 2012, winning a silver and a bronze each, and the shooters kept the good work going by returning with a decent haul from the Incheon Asian Games and Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014.

Jitu Rai, who emerged as the brightest medal prospect in that period by regularly winning on the world stage, would prove to be the biggest disappointment as he failed to finish on the podium in both his pistol events at Rio. The likes of Heena, Manavjeet Singh Sandhu, Narang, Apurvi Chandela and Jitu, among others, left the country thoroughly disappointed after they were unable to put on an impressive show.

The committee concluded that the consistent trickle of shooting medals since the 2004 Athens Games

ended up making everyone involved in the sport complacent.

"Everyone took it for granted that there would be progress automatically, and forgot to ensure a systematic healthy process," the report had stated.

"The committee was unanimous in its view that Indian shooting needs to change, change its attitude, its policies and practices, so that the booming talent gets a fair chance to flourish in a healthy atmosphere, and win all the medals that it can in the World Championships and the Olympics."

It is an irony that the shooters let India down despite being provided all help while preparing for the mega sporting event.

Jitu revived his season by winning the Champion of Champions pistol award in the World Cup Final towards the end.

Meanwhile, India's rich haul of 15 medals in the Asian Shooting Championship for rifle and pistol in Tehran saw a lot of positives. It saw some new stars emerge with Shahzar Rizvi and Ruchita Vinerkar being the most notable faces.

There were a few others such as Shubhankar Pramanik, Anmol Jain, Swapnil Kusale, Manavaditya Rathore, son of the India's first Olympic medallist in shooting,

and Anant Jeet Singh Naruka who did very well, continuing the work in progress.

In the junior category, there was lot to cheer about as India finished second overall with a total of nine gold, five silver and 10 bronze medals at the year's second and final Junior World Cup in September in Azerbaijan.

They finished second in the tournament, an improvement of two places after being placed fourth in the year's first World Cup. Meanwhile, the ISSF (International Shooting Sport federation) has rung in some changes to international events that will rob a number of existing male shooters of their favoured events.

Bindra is heading the panel that has recommended the changes. Prepared to face brickbats, Bindra tried to reason with those who criticised the idea.

The ISSF announced that the double trap event will be replaced by trap mixed gender team event, while 10m air rifle mixed gender team event will replace the 50m rifle prone event.

The 50m pistol men event will be taken over by 10m air pistol mixed gender team event. All this is being done in an effort to correct the gender imbalance in medal events at the Olympics.

Printed and Published by NIKH KHOPI and Printed at PEE GEE(India) Ltd., C/O Asomiya Khabar Pulibor, Jorhat-785006 and Published from T.C Borah Building, 1st Floor, Next to Sankardeva Hospital, Mancotta Road, Chowkidingee Dibrugarh-786001, Assam. Email: editor.easterntoday@gmail.com. For advertisement: advt.easterntoday@gmail.com

Editor: Prahlad Hammey

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