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Vol-IV, Issue-XIV, Published for the period 16-31 October, 2019. Printed & Published by Virender for and on behalf of Karamvir Kamal (Owner) from 2569, Street No. 2, Jawahar Colony, N.I.T, Faridabad, Haryana and printed at Joy Printers, 3G-142, N.I.T. Faridabad-121001, Haryana. Editor Karamvir Kamal* (responsible for selection of news under PRB Act 1867). RNI No. HARENG/2016/67803. Executive Office: 431, Saraswati Vihar, Gurugram-122004, Haryana. Contact +91 9212 46 0446, 9899 73 1532, Email: asianchronicleindia@gmail.com, WWW.THEASIANCHRONICLE.COM | WWW.THEASIANCHRONICLE.IN

Vol IV, Issue XIV

16-31 October, 2019 Pages 16, Price Rs. 5/Faridabad (NCR)

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This is happening for the first time when the issue of pollution seems to be dominating all other issues in the elections.

New Political parties are the need of the hour

A Tihar Jail prisoner, Now a Nobel Laureate

theasianchronicle.in

ELECTION

Vikas vs Article 370

Pollution - the key issue in this election

PMC Bank failure: How safe the Indian Banks are?

FDCI Lotus India Fashion Week

A Tihar Jail prisoner, Now a Nobel Laureate

news

The talk of the world, Indian origin Abhijit Banerjee who now a day touches the sky of glory by winning Nobel Prize for Economics along with his wife.

An interesting as well as a pathetic situation that Mr. Banerjee had gone through a need to be known by all the people across the Globe. It’s the fact that in the past Mr. Banerjee had gone to Tihar Jail in India for 10 Days.

Actually, Abhijeet has been a student of Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi. He has been a student of JNU in the 1980s. Abhijeet Dhansu was a

Faridabad (NCR) 16-31 October, 2019 www.theasianchronicle.com

Abhijit Banerjee

brilliant student while studying at JNU. He not only topped the MA in Economics but also broke all the records by achieving the highest grades. During

6 Months Jail to the Speaker of Delhi VS

All of them had entered into BJP Leader, Manish Ghai’s house and had beaten him Delhi Assembly Speaker Ramniwas Goel ,accompanied with 5 people including his son have been sentenced to 6 months by Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court. He has been given this punishment in the case for forcibly entering the house of a BJP leader Manish Ghai. In this case, besides him and three other people have been sentenced and all have been fined one thousand each.

According to the court verdict, Ramniwas Goel and another 4 have been found guilty for forcibly entering and assaulting the victim’s house. The case was in dated 6 February 2015 before the Vidhan Sabha Election of Delhi.

Ramniwas Goel had informed in the court that he had received information that the BJP leader had hidden blankets and liquor in his house, which would be distributed among the poor before the elections. He gave this information to the police and entered the victim’s house with the police. But, without accepting his arguments, the court declared him as an accused of that case.

that time and at the same time his friends and teachers started to believe that Abhijeet would definitely do something big in the future course of his career.

Abhijeet always remains quite a low profile personality.

Perhaps this is the reason that very few people know all the things related to his life. During his stay at the JNU campus, he did not join any student organization, but when it came to giving his opinion on important issues, Abhijeet used to take part in it. In 1983, there was a movement against ‘reform’ in the admission policy in JNU. Abhijeet joined this debate and

had to spend 10 days in Tihar Jail for joining a group of 300 students in a protest debate. At that time all the students had made a movement called ‘Jail Bharo Andolan’.

It’s the matter of fact that Abhijeet would never back down from speaking his words of thought. Whether he has to pay any price for it.

During the discussion with the professors in the classroom, Abhijeet used to make such arguments that the students with him used to note it in the copy.

Abhijeet left JNU and joined Delhi School of Economics for his higher study in Economics.

How is the economy sluggish?

Films are earning Crores of Rupees

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has informed that the data related to unemployment of NSSO (National Sample Survey Office) is absolutely wrong. He made this statement during a conversation with reporters in Mumbai.

Ravi Shankar Prasad linked the economic recession of India with film world when asked about the sluggishness in the Indian economy.

He smilingly said, “Three films were released on October 2: War, Joker and Saira. According to Komal Nahata, an expert on box office business, these films grossed more than Rs 120 crore on the very 1st day of releases.That means, the country’s economy is absolutely fine. That is why films are doing so well. “ Ravi Shankar Prasad also urged that he was also the information broadcasting minister in the govern-

ment of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, so he has an attachment to films.

Social media feedback A lot of reaction is being seen in the social media on this statement of Ravi Shankar Prasad. People are also making jokes and memes on his statement.

A Twitter user named ‘The Lying Lama wrote,’ Sir, let’s make Komal Nahata the finance minister. What do you say? “ Twitter handle named Soul of India, today these people are citing box office figures. Afterward they may give examples of persons who do black out side the theater , may be termed as employed Youths of India.

According to Leaked Data of NSSO in February this year , the unemployment rate in 2017-18 was 6.1%, the highest in the last 45 years.

Journalist stabbed to death in Andhra Pradesh TAC News: Unidentified assailants stabbed and killed Andrah Pradesh journalist K Satyanarayana on October 14 – just a month after his attack in a separate incident. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate the National Union of Journalists (India) (NUJ) condemn his brutal murder and demand immediate investigation on the issue.

The 45-year-old was working as a reporter for Andhra Jyothi, a Telugu Dailyin East Godavari district and had previously filed a report to police concerning an attack a month ago. The journalist’s body was found near his house in Godavari district.

According to The News Minute, the incident occurred around 7 pm on Monday, when assailants attacked the journal-

The NUJ(I) said: “We appeal to the state government to setup a high level judicial committee to probe the incident and culprits should be nabbed immediately”.

ist with a heavy weapon and fled.

An official release from Director General of Police, Gautam Sawang, said he had directed Adnan Nayeem Asmi, East Godavari, the district superintendent, to personally visit the place of offence, and gather the facts. It is not yet clear if the incident was workrelated.

The NUJ(I) said: “We appeal to the state government to setup a high level judicial committee to probe the incident and culprits should be nabbed immediately”.

NUJ(I) president, Prajnananda Chauduri, and secretary general, Sheo Kumar Agarwal, condemn the incident and express their concern for safety of the journalists in India.

The IFJ joins NUJ(I) in calling on the police and government to investigate the case and punish the guilty, while reiterating the call for the enactment of the Journalists Protection Act. K Satyanarayana was the first journalist to be killed in India in 2019, according to IFJ’s list of journalists & media staff killed.

IFJ general secretary, Anthony Bellanger, said:“We condemn the horrific murder of K Satyanarayana. Indian authorities must take immediate action to investigate the murder and bring those responsible to justice. We urge the government of India tomake the strongest efforts to promote and protect the rights of journalists in order for them to be safe to continue their work.”

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Union Minister terms the killing of Mahatma Gandhi as a slaughter TAC News: BJP's Union Minister Nitin Gadkari recently put forward a controversial comment on a question in an interview given to the BBC. The Union Minister had recently given an interview to the BBC, in which questions were asked about his decision of maintaining distance from Kashmir issue to Maharashtra elections.

On the question of the issue of Kashmir, Nitin Gadkari urged that the issue of Kashmir is a national issue, and the Congress has been against it. According to the Union minister, everything has become normal in Kashmir and many terrorist attacks have reduced. The security forces will be withdrawn slowly thereafter normalization of the situation in the valley.

Talking about BJP’s decision of awarding ‘Bharat Ratna’ to Veer Savarkar at the BJP's manifesto, he urged during this interview that "Savarkar has been come out an innocent and clean in the case of Gandhi’s slaughter as per the judgment of the court."

Gandhi is the father of the nation. Gandhiji's assassination was done by Nathu Ram Godse of RSS in 1948 after independence. In such a situation, the use of the word "Slaughter" by the Union Minister of India for his unfortunate and calling the ringmaster of this organization as a patriot is not fair but absolutely controversial.

Arms found in son of Mukhtar Ansari’s Home

TAC News: The STF had been investigating illegitimate arms licenses issued in the name of Mukhtar and his close associates for several months. Investigation revealed that a double barrel gun was purchased on Abbas’ license at his Lucknow address.

The team of Delhi Police was also involved in the raid along with the Lucknow Police In addition to weapons made in the country like Italy, Slovenia and Austria were also found, these were being used both in Delhi and UP. On October 12, a FIR of fraud was also filed against Abbas Ansari in the arms license case.

UP Police has recovered several Foreign-made Pistols and Guns and thousands of cartridges from the Delhi-based house of Abbas Ansari from his Vasant Kunj residence. He is son of non other than,don-turned-Politician and MLA Mukhtar Ansari . The team of Delhi Police along with Lucknow Police were also involved in the raid.

SSP Kalanithi Naithani said on Thursday ,” on October 12, a fraudulent FIR was registered against Mukhtar Ansari’s son Abbas Ansari in the Mahanagar Kotwali in the arms license case. During the investigation, the police could able to know that Abbas’s location is in Delhi. Our team reached Delhi and also sought help from Delhi Police. Police came to know about his rented house at Vasantkunj. The police raided there on the basis of search warrant. “ According to sources, the STF had been investigating arms licenses issued in the name of Mukhtar and his close relatives for several months. Investigation revealed that a double barrel gun was purchased on Abbas’ license at Lucknow address.

This license was transferred to Delhi’s address without the permission of the police and DM. Five more Guns and Pistols were purchased after the license was transferred. The investigating Inspector of Mahanagar Ashok Singh said that Abbas was not found at home.

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PMC Bank failure:

How safe the Indian Banks are?

Current incident of Punjab& Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC ) Bank failure has once again shown the ugly face of Indian Banking System(IBS). It has shattered the belief of lakhs of people who deposit their hard earned money in the banks to keep it safe and secure. But, it has also unmasked that how the bank regulators including RBI and NABARD , managements, internal auditors and statutory auditors are unserious and keep their vigilant eyes closed.

ALICIA TUOVILA in an article in Investopedia.com, defining Statutory Audit, states, “ A statutory audit is a legally required review of the accuracy of a company's or government's financial statements and records. The purpose of a statutory audit is to determine whether an organization provides a fair and accurate representation of its financial position by examining information such as bank balances, book keeping records, and financial transactions.”

There is a saying “Saamp ko nahin, Saamp ki Maa ko mariye jo anginat Saamp paida karti hai.” (Don’t kill the snake, but kill the mother of snakes which gives birth to hundreds of snakes.)

Above mentioned auditing and checking authorities, responsible for curbing the birth of snakes in the IBS, should be kicked off with a hard hit. If they can’t even notice or smell the internal health of the Banks during their off- site and onsite inspection and audit period, then what kind of surveillance they are keeping?

PMC Bank, a cooperative bank operating in seven states with 137 branches, having a deposit of Rs. 11617 crore , a loan portfolio of Rs. 8383 crore, net profit of Rs. 99.69 crore and a declared NPA of mere 3.76% in its 31.03.2019 balance sheet. What a glorious picture the bank was sprucing up ! Then what were the reasons of its sudden collapse? Keeping aside the rules &regulations, distorting all bars and codes , the bank had reportedly lent a major portion of its loan portfolio nearly 70% of total advancement to a single entity HDIL, which gone bad. RBI failed to identify the violation of rules by the PMC bank, why?

PMC bank collapse is not the first incident in IBS, Neerav Modi & Mehul Choksi caused an alleged fraud of Rs. 13570 crore to Punjab National Bank and Vijay Mallya eloped after giving a jolt of Rs. 9000 crore.

During the financial year 2018-19, 6801 fraud cases involving an amount of Rs. 71500 crore have been detected in the Indian Banks and this shows only detected face, there may be some higher jerks which are still waiting to see the light.

During the first quarter (April to June ) of this fiscal year of 2019-20, frauds worth Rs. 32000 crore have rattled the 18 Public Sector Banks or Govt banks. An RTI answered by RBI reveals that 2480 fraud cases defrauding the amount of Rs. 31898.63 crore have been lime lighted.38 % of the chunk i.e 1197 cases of fraud involving an amount of Rs.

BY JAG MOHAN THAKEN 12012.77 crore relate to SBI alone. Allahabad Bank with 381 cases and amount of Rs. 2855.46 crore got the second position and the Punjab National Bank, despite having a deep wound of fraud of Rs. 13000 crore in February, 2018 by the big whale Neerav Modi, got the third position with a fraud of Rs 2526.55 crore during these three months of this year. Other Public sector banks are also not far behind, they also play major role in keeping the fraud train running with nearly the same speed. ( https://www.indiatoday.in/business/story/ frauds-worth-rs-32-000-crore-rattle-18public-banks-within-three-months-reveals-rti-1596960-2019-09-08)

What safety to the public money in Indian Banks?

The BJP government led by Prime Minister NarenderModi in 2016 enforced the public to deposit their hard earned all life savings to the banks by imposing NOTE- BANDI , which kept the earnings of the people on stake without making an arrangement to secure and guarantee the entire deposit. Presently the deposits of a person upto the maximum limit of Rs. one lakh in a bank are guaranteed by DICGC (Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation ) set up with a mission to contribute to financial stability by securing public confidence in the banking system through provision of deposit insurance, particularly for the benefit of the small depositors.

Banks covered by Deposit Insurance Scheme are (I) All commercial banks including the branches of foreign banks functioning in India, Local Area Banks and Regional Rural Banks and (II) Co-

operative Banks - All eligible co-operative banks as defined in Section 2(gg) of the DICGC Act.

What RBI states about the role of DICGC?

Reserve bank of India under the head of frequently asked questions regarding the role of DICGC states:

What does the DICGC insure?

In the event of a bank failure, DICGC protects bank deposits that are payable in India.

The DICGC insures all deposits such as savings, fixed, current, recurring, etc. except the following types of deposits. (i) Deposits of foreign Governments; (ii) Deposits of Central/State Governments; (iii)Inter-bank deposits; (iv) Deposits of the State Land Development Banks with the State co-operative bank; (v) Any amount due on account of any deposit received outside India (vi) Any amount, which has been specifically exempted by the corporation with the previous approval of Reserve Bank of India.

What is the maximum deposit amount insured by the DICGC?

Each depositor in a bank is insured upto a maximum of Rs.1,00,000 (Rupees One Lakh) for both principal and interest amount held by him in the same capacity and same right as on the date of liquidation/cancellation of bank's licence or the date on which the scheme of amalgamation/merger/reconstruction comes into force.

Never put your all eggs in a single basket

The elderly retired persons or the present working employees keep their funds in the banks to give a security cover to their future life and the farmers and businessmen also have their savings / sale proceeds or working funds in their accounts with the banks for their day to day needs. Also the government has made such harsh rules & regulations which stop the public from keeping cash in their white pockets, so the people are forced to keep money in banks. But when the money of the public is not safe even in the government banks and no security cover from the banks or the government has been provided to the depositors beyond Rs.One lakh per bank (Not Per Branch ), where the people should go?

Such type of restrictions and unsecure environment lead to unaccounted money and situation of chaos.

Keeping in mind all the consequences, the public should not keep more than Rs. one lakh in a single bank. If a person keeps his money in different branches of a single bank, even then total of his all deposits in all the branches are counted as one account and no security coverage from DICGC to more than Rs. one lakh deposit even in scattered accounts in the same bank. In the present scenario, the public should follow the thumb rule “Never put your all eggs in a single basket.”

Keep your deposits in different banks and not in different branches of a single bank.Howere it’s not an example of good governance and the government should come forward to frame rules for securing the hundred percent earnings of its subjects.

New Political parties are the need of the hour

politics

Faridabad (NCR) 16-31 October, 2019 www.theasianchronicle.com

Karamvir Kamal

After 10 years of Congress rule, the manner in which the people of the state handed over power to the BJP made it clear that the people wanted change. During the last 5 years of BJP's rule, BJP initiated many online processes.

On the issue of corruption and socio-economic development, the BJP Government in the state absolutely couldn’t able to perform as per the expectation of people. But the BJP Government only concentrated on the issues of Infrastructures.

The pending projects during the Congress rule on Road and Highway construction including Electricity were opened and worked out by the BJP Government.

The vision of SMART CITY and AADARSH GAON were highlighted during the BJP government in the center but not a single smart city has done in the state. And even there is not any AADARSH GAON has been adopted and developed.

Meanwhile, BJP also handled many hesitations like Jat movement, etc. If you look at the accounts of the last 5 years of the BJP, then only the network of roads and flyovers seems constructed. While the inner roads of many colonies are still covered in pits. In NCR, people cannot even get clean air to breathe.

The problem of water and electricity ascends with the onset of summer.

In the issues of development.

BJP’s own spokesperson claims

that they could able to do only 80 percent of the needed development works in the state. But according to other parties, not a single inch of developmental work has been done by the BJP in the state.

According to BJP spokesperson and Malik, Bharatiya Janata Party with 47 MLAs is running the government today with the support of 62 MLAs. Meanwhile, in the matter of the Legislative Assembly, during these 5 years, the BJP has put many MLAs in its court. Apart from this, many MLAs themselves are also associated with his party.

But this is the time to talk about newborn parties. Meanwhile, new parties like Aam Aadmi Party and Swaraj India have also their entry into the political battlefields. These parties have registered their presence in an intellectual manner, completely denying the development work of the BJP. Whether to analyze the performances of the BJP's works for people or to express their opinion on the problem of the state, these new parties live up to all these issues. The way in which for the first time these new parties have started the practice of implementing the manifesto of an MLA is absolutely a new political philosophy in politics.

This new thinking leads to a new change, which might also encourage the state to be elevated to a higher place in the future coarse of time. The manifesto of an MLA was first initiated by the Gurugram candidate of the Aam Aadmi Party, after that the Swaraj India Party of Yogendra Yadav also started the same.

The processor tradition of getting an account of performances in ad-

city.

In the meantime, Yogendra Yadav's formed Swaraj India also has raised the issue of pollution.

After this, Both the Congress and

BJP did add this issue in their respective Manifestoes. It’s absolutely loud and clear that pollution is the major concern for all parties, despite may any one’s government is formed.

After the election results, the new government will tell who is more concerned about pollution.

If we talk about Gurgaon and Faridabad, the pile of garbage on the ‘Bandhwadi plant’ exposes the present BJP government's concern about the increasing pollution.

It seems that the issue of pollution for the BJP Government in the state of Haryana is nothing but an additional line of the manifesto.

In the last 5 years, there has been a mountain of garbage in ‘Bandhwadi Plant’. In order to control the pollution, neither old diesel autos

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vance of 5-year tenure as an MLA shows a new idea in itself. Each state makes progress on its own but to a large extent depends on the thinking of a party.

In such a situation, if the opportunity is given to these new parties, then perhaps the future picture of the states along with the elections will be something else.

In the present time, the government and the opposition are full of cursing each other in the name of issues. They have nothing to tell about the work they have done for the state and people.

The BJP, that provided liquor contracts and shops even if in lanes and villages including nearby schools and temples is now claiming to keep liquor contracts away from schools and temples in its manifesto. In such a situation, it is important to raise the question of why this work was not done in the last 5 years. The state's health and education system are almost flat.

Whereas, contrary to all this, new parties and their style of executing their ideas in their manifestos seem that if the state is entrusted on these new parties, then maybe there is more progress in the state than before.

Time is changing today. People want to move forward by taking higher studies and also desire to move the rest of the world to touch the sky of glory. Whereas political parties still want to keep away from the main issues at the time of elections and keep people engaged in the issues of religion and Nationalism.

Pollution - the key issue in this election Let’s know about the New Born Parties

Virender Dhiman

This is happening for the first time when the issue of pollution seems to be dominating all other issues in the elections. Pollution is an important issue in elections this time which is raised by all National parties including some newly formed Political parties. All parties have given immense importance to pollution in their manifesto.

Significantly today's big political party like BJP is campaigning raising the issue of Article 370 more followed by issues like Nationalism and patriotism. In such a situation, it seems no clarity about the vision of BJP about it’s the stance to tackle the worse situation of pollution everywhere in the nation.

Apart from this, the first candidate of Gurgaon from Aam Aadmi Party has released his vision document for Gurgaon, in which he included pollution as a major issue of the

were banned from Haryana nor a sufficient amount of government transport was arranged. People still depend on these pollution ridden autos even to travel a short distance.

Newborn parties showing more seriousness

The new parties like Swaraj India or Aam Aadmi Party, both in fact are currently showing seriousness on the issue of pollution.

Swaraj India has set the entire vision document for pollution and garbage disposal before the media.

According to this, the problem of the garbage of Gurgaon and Faridabad and the pollution can be wiped out easily only if the government has the political will to prove it.

India's on a digital sprint that is leaving millions behind 5

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rural issue

India has more than 630 million internet subscribers. But for every Indian who has access to the internet, there is at least one who does not and that person is most likely living in a rural area.

Smriti Parsheera writes on the country's growing digital divide.

India has more than 630 million internet subscribers. But for every Indian who has access to the internet, there is at least one who does not and that person is most likely living in a rural area.

Smriti Parsheera writes on the country's growing digital divide.

There is an exuberance around India's digital story.

The country is home to the world's second-largest internet user base, consisting of more than 630 million subscribers. That is more than the total population of the US, the United Kingdom, Russia and South Africa put together.

It also has the cheapest mobile data prices, which has allowed a large population to use the internet just in the last four years.

Besides the size of the pie, data consumption is also on the rise.

The average internet user now consumes more than 9GB of data per month. That translates to watching 16 hours of video a month compared to just 15 minutes in 2015.

Other positive trends include a competitive e-commerce market, a booming video streaming industry and a choice of affordable devices.

At the government's end, electronic governance, mobile health and digital finance are at the heart of many policy discussions.

All of this excitement is, however, surrounded by the sobering reality of India's continuing digital divide.

This refers to the gap between those who have access to the internet and other digital technologies and those who

do not.

The divide is shaped both by the availability of internet services in different regions and the ability of individuals to tap into those services. A person's location, income, gender, education, language, and age are some of the factors that define their access.

As per data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the country has an internet density of 48.4. This represents the number of internet subscribers per 100 people in the population.

Even though 66% of the country's population lives in its villages, rural internet density is just 25.3. In comparison, urban areas have a significantly higher density of 97.9.

This means that for every Indian who has access to the internet, there is at least one who does not and that person is most likely living in a rural area.

We see stark variations in the access levels across the country's 28 states and nine union territories. States like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in the north and Orissa in the east are known to perform poorly on human development indicators, and they also fare badly in internet

use density.

The availability of internet infrastructure is also affected by geographic conditions.

For instance, the remote mountainous areas of Himachal Pradesh, sparsely populated deserts of Rajasthan and dense forests in Madhya Pradesh face greater digital exclusion. It so happens that many of these remote locations are also home to India's tribal and marginalised communities. Poor connectivity can therefore unwittingly end up perpetuating existing disadvantages.

Gender is another important factor that shapes digital access. Only 16% of Indian women were found to be using mobile and internet services, a 2019 report from the GSMA, a body which represents mobile operators, said.

On a comparative scale, women were 56% less likely to use mobile internet than men. This situation stems from a mix of economic, social and cultural factors placed against the backdrop of a deeply patriarchal setup.

On the economic front, while data access charges have gone down drastically, the cost of internet-enabled handsets is still a barrier for many households.

The financial dependence of women and their lower position in the household pecking order naturally reduces the likelihood of them owning such devices.

Besides ownership, lower literacy rates and digital awareness among women are some of the other limitations. Many of these factors also contribute to reduced access among the elderly population.

Digital empowerment is known to create greater awareness and independence, which may be perceived by some as a threat to the established social order.

This thinking has manifested itself in several reports about some village-level community bodies imposing restrictions on the use of mobile phones and social media by women, particularly younger women.

Finally, when it comes to the educated classes, the issue shifts from that of basic access to the chronic under-representa-

tion of women in various ways. From online spaces to research labs to meeting rooms, India mirrors the global trend of digital technologies continuing to remain the primary domain of men.

The Indian government has not been immune to these problems. One of its flagship programmes, the Digital India project, identifies universal access to mobile connectivity as one of its main pillars.

The government is trying to achieve this by providing broadband connectivity to the country's 250,000 village councils. This project has been in effect from 2011 but so far a little less than half of that target has been achieved. The number of locations where the completion of the work has led to functional internet is even lower.

The government's National Digital Communications Policy acknowledges that much more effort is needed on this front.

It speaks about the need to bring connectivity to all under served areas and identifies specific groups, like marginalised communities, women and persons with disabilities that merit specific attention. The policy also lays emphasis on solving last-mile connectivity issues in both urban and rural areas, through the use of public Wi-Fi infrastructure.

The policy discourse is clearly moving in the right direction.

From broad claims about the need for universal access, it has evolved to recognise some specific factors, like location, gender, and marginalisation, that shape the digital divide.

What India needs next is for policymakers to undertake a rigorous data-driven exercise to measure which factors are causing what level of exclusion and the reasons behind it. Only when we fully understand the beast of India's digital divide can we design targeted solutions to tame it.

Courtesy: BBC (Smriti Parsheera is a Delhi-based technology policy researcher)

India ranked 102 out of 117

nation

countries in the Global Hunger Index

Ankit Kunwar The hope of the Ram temple and the celebration for abrogating Article 370 amid in the Assembly Elections of two states are rising up issues like nationalism, Patriotism along with the so called ‘VIKASH which are being raised by our nation’s top brass politicians should also know the reality of some bad news.

The news that contradicts the

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claims of development and the growing dignity of India across the Globe.

The Global Hunger Index report was recently released by the Walt Hunger Organization of Ireland and Germany.

Ireland's ad agency Concern Worldwide and the German Organization's Welt Hunger issue a Global Hunger Index report every year. The Global Hunger Index report indicates people suffering

Two youths threw ink at Union Minister Two youths threw ink at Union Minister of State for Health Ashwini Choubey who visited PMCH,Patna and dodged the security personnel and escaped easily from the spot of their act of insulting a Union Minister.

Ashwini Choubey expressed strong resentment over this and ordered the arrest of both the youths. The Union Minister had reached Patna to know the condition of dengue patients admitted in PMCH. After meeting the dengue patients and taking stock of the super specialty hospital, the Union Minister was listening to the junior doctor.

Junior doctors had come to the hostel to complain to Ashwini Choubey about misbehavior.

After hearing the complaint, Chaubey was going to sit in his car and at the same time, unprecedentedly two youth threw ink on Mr. Minister. The security personnel chased the two youths far enough away but they escaped from the spot.

It is being told that the two youths are members of the Jan Adhikar Party of former MP Pappu Yadav.

As per the information, the youths were angry about the water logging in Patna and because of this, ink was thrown at the Union Minister. On this incident, the Union Minister said that they are anti-social elements and having criminal character.

from hunger and malnutrition in different countries of the world so that the entire global community and concerned countries can take initiative to end this.

This time, India ranked 102 out of 117 countries in the Global Hunger Index which released recently. It is a really a rare phenomenon and unfortunate situation that people in India cannot even in this 21st century are living with empty stomachs.

According to last year's ranking of Global Hunger Index, other than India, some other countries of the world have made efforts to improve their rank, while India is among the lowest ranking countries of Global Hunger Index this year.

It is to be noted that various countries of South Asia are ahead of India in this race of Global Hunger Index. If you look at the ranking of Global Hunger Index, it is seen that India's neighboring country Pakistan has been ranked 94th, Bangladesh 88th, Sri Lanka 66th. At the same time, Nepal, the closest neighboring country of

India, is ranked 73. It is unearthed from the ranking of these countries that despite of India being the largest economy in South Asia, it is difficult for the people of India to get enough food to fill up their empty stomach.

The ascending trends of malnutrition are making the children of India both weak in physically and mentally.

Even the people living on the roads in the metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata are physically and mentally malnourished.

The Government of India last year also conducted several public awareness programs to eliminate malnutrition and improve its place in the Global Hunger Index, but the recent report of the Global Hunger Index for the year 2019 still considers the people of India as hungry. Therefore it is now not only necessary but also should be mandatory that India needs to take some solid initiatives with a strategic plans of action to wipe out hunger and malnutrition at the grass root level.

Bina Modi conferred with Ph.D,

Honoris Causa by Dr. K.N Modi University

TAC New Delhi: Bina Modi, Head of Family Council, Modi Enterprises & Director, Godfrey Phillips India Limited, wasconferred with a Ph.D., Honoris Causa, by Dr. K.N. Modi University which was presented by Vice Chancellor for contribution to the fields of design, Arts, Technology, Management, Commerce, Agriculture, Fashion and the Hospitality Industry.

A successful entrepreneur and leader, Bina has founded and built several successful brands that respond to the niche audi-

ence; her Bina Fashions, Ego Specialty Restaurant Chain, Dessange Salon and Beacon Travels are renowned in their respective industries. Besides heading her successfully performing companies, she also serves on the Board of many Group Companies and as Head of Family Council for Modi Enterprises. She is driven by a personal vision to bring the most modern people management and human resource concepts into the Group. Bina Modi has been awarded the “Women of the

Decade in Business & Leadership 2018” by Women Economic Forum and has also featured on ‘India’s Most Powerful Women’, a book by Prem Ahluwalia along with being conferred with the prestigious Achiever’s Award in 2019.

The recognition has been bestowed by the prestigious University of Dr. K.N. Modiwith a heritage of over 77 years of quality and valuebased education infrastructure. The Founder, Dr Kedar Nath Modi was a renowned philanthropist and a pioneer in establishing educational institutions to offer quality and value based education, in the background of his committed belief, “Education Builds Nation”.

Bina Modi, elated with the degreesaid, “I am honored to be a part of such distinguished achievers and receive this degree. From an orthodox business family that did not encourage women working, pursuing my dreams and ambitions as an individual, as a woman, was not at all an easy task. It is a validation of the various challenges that I have overcome as an entrepreneur. I accept this honor with great humility and its immense encouragement to me as an individual and as an entrepreneur.”

An Indian Farmer Did perpetrate Suicide wearing BJP’s Campaign T-Shirt

It’s a matter of great distress that a rural farmer at ‘Bulldhana’ in Maharastra committed suicide wearing the Campaign T-Shirt of Bhartiya Janta Party(BJP).

The incident created an awkward situation for BJP ruled Maharastra Government including the Chief Minister of Maharastra. As the Chief Minister of Maharastra has to visit this area to attend as much as the Three Election rally amid the Assembly Election of Maharashtra.

Raju Talware, a 38-year-old poor farmer of this area did commit suicide near by his home due to the distress of poverty. It is believed and reported from various sources that Raju was living under a debt-ridden life Style.

The Slogan that was mentioned on the T-Shirt, he was wearing during committing suicide that ‘Bring Back your own Government again”.

IMF brings down India’s economic growth rate estimate to 6.1% Bishnupriya Mishra

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday lowered down India’s GDP growth forecast for 2019 to 6.1 percent, which is 1.2 percent lower than it’s calculation.

IMF had estimated in the month of April that India’s economic growth will grow at a rate of 7.3 percent in 2019. After three months, the IMF projected slower growth with a decline of 0.3 percent.

Unlike India’s actual growth rate of 6.8 percent in 2018, the IMF in its latest World Economic Outlook projected India’s growth rate to be 6.1% in 2019. Also, the Indian economy is expected to reach 7.0 percent by 2020.

In its recent edition of the South Asia Economic Focus, the World Bank on Sunday said that India’s growth rate in 2019 is expected to fall to 6% from 6.9 percent in 2018.

The IMF has also did forecast China’s economic growth at 6.1 percent in the current year and 5.8% in 2020. Whereas in 2018 the economic growth rate of the neighboring country was 6.6%. In the context of the global economic growth rate, the IMF warned that it is reducing the growth rate estimate for 2019 to three percent.

This down fall of economic growth rate is mainly due to increasing trade restrictions and geopolitical tensions.

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Another daughter of UK did mushroom the pride of State

Recently, in the International Dance Competition held in Bhilai (Durg) Chhattisgarh, Akanksha Bisht showed her touching talent by winning a gold medal by securing first position in singles and solo n dued, and also inflamed the honor and pride of Uttarakhand.

In this competition, not only India but also from every corner of the rest of the world , many talented dancers participated. The program was organized by the renowned international organization 'Nrityadham Kala Samiti' under the guidance of Chhatisgarh Government.

Akansha Bisht started her early education at the Christ Dilasa School in Uttarkash which is in fact her birthplace, then she opted higher study in Poonch, Jammu Kashmir and later from Dehradun and HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar Garhwal.

Akanksha has also done her post graduation from Mass Communication and Journalism from Galgotia University, Noida and currently works as a film maker and as Assitant Director, Production for various institutes.

Bollywood stars will congregate in the iconic award season 3

The launch party of the Iconic Award Ceremony Season 3 was held at the Previ Club of Shangri La Hotel, located in Connaught Place, Delhi. The launch party was organized under the eagle eyes of Shalu Jain, director of the KVJ group and founder Dhiraj Jain.

The award show will be

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Faridabad (NCR) 16-31 October, 2019 www.theasianchronicle.com

held in the month of December. Bollywood actor Dia Mirza will play the role as a celebrity on the occasion including MP Meenakshi Lekhi and Delhi BJP President Manoj Tiwari. The Iconic Award Season 3 is going to add many big and renowned branded companies along with celebrities.

Lotus India Fashion Week

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‘Nejma’ by Bhumika Sharma Bhumika Sharma showcased her new collection ‘Nejma’ at the Lotus India Fashion Week in Delhi.

Inspired by Moroccon architecture the collection wasa beautiful and effortless fusion of vintage craftsmanship with modern silhouettes.

Mahima Mahajan, the ‘Flower Child’

Collection by Mahima Mahajan showcased at FDCI LMIFW

Collection by Mahima Mahajan showcased at FDCI LMIFW

Neha Dhupia at Nidhika Shekhar show for FDCI LMIFW SS'20

Collection by Nithya Reddy

Collection by Rahul & Anushka

SGT University Diwali Fest: Teachers enthrall with performances Gurugram October 19: Teachers of 17 faculties of the SGT University presented their creative and cultural side during the second and concluding day of the Diwali Fest.

The university’s students had demonstrated their talent yesterday at their own special programme which was solely managed by them under the guidance of the faculty.

Over a dozen and a half attractive singing, dance and drama items were presented by enthusiastic members of

the University academic resource. The programme, which opened with the traditional invocation, was followed by an engaging sequence of national and international dances as well as fusion dances.

The retro film dances, south Indian dances and a comedy skits kept the large number of teaching staff and their families fully engaged. A energetic sequence of dances which started with Kathak and ended with the foot-stomping beats of the bhangra and Haryanvi songs charged up the audiences.

Faculty members, including top university officials, took an informal catwalk down the ramp amidst cheers from the audience.

Mr. Manmohan Chawla, Managing Trustee of SGT University, Mrs.Madhupreet Kaur, Chairperson Dashmesh Trust, CEO Prof.RizwanMusana, Pro Chancellor Prof Sham Lal Singla, Pro VC Prof. G.S. Tuteja, Registrar, Dr. NN Gupta, Deans and all faculty members of the faculties were present on the occasion.

events

Faridabad (NCR) 16-31 October, 2019 www.theasianchronicle.com

Fashionista Moments

Bhawna Gautam & Paashu Pandey

Recently Bhawna Gautam hosted a party at Club Privee for the launch of Mrs India Fashionista presented by Black Tie Events. The evening witnessed glamour and fashion in abundance while many well known socialites were spotted at the party to name a few were Anuradha Malhotra, Pavan Suri, Anuj Lalwani, Anubha Dawar, Shally Singh, Payal Gupta, Paashu Pandey and Chetna Kukreja. All the guests were seen having a gala time while they enjoyed the commercial music played at the gathering.

Eye for Photography Recently Manoj Aryan hosted the Eyewin International Photography Awards, it’s the first international photography awards event to be held in India. The award winning works were also exhibited after the ceremony. The event was held at Pragati Maidan where many well known photographers who were spotted at the event to name a few were Shivankar Kadu, Purnendu Nath, Rakhi Aggarwal, Bhaven Jani and Viral Padiy.

Festival Glitterati’s Recently Sunaina K Arora Founder Director SKA Creative Concepts hosted an all ladies Pre Diwali Party at Grand Imperia. The Theme of the party was all ethnic where all the guests were spotted in heavy Indian At-

Sunaina K Arora & Reena Mittal

Jasleen Sabharwal & Divya Kumar

Amrita Kaur & Jazz Kohli

Surinder Kumar and Nishu Dhawan

tire. All the guests were also seen dancing all along the party on latest and theme based bollywood numbers.

Many well known faces were seen at the gathering to name a few were Arti Gupta, Payal Grover, Jasleen Sabharwal, Monika Verma, Divya Kumar and Smily Chugh.

Khushi Malhotra & Abheer Malhotra

Smily Chugh & Shivani Malhotra

Arti Gupta & Payal Grover

Shivankar Kadu & Purnendu Nath

Karan Chaudhary & Rajiv Gupta

Anubha Dawar & Anuj Lalwani

Payal Gupta and Anurag Gautam

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Shelja Kakkar Chabbra & Sukam Kanwar

Tina Bajaj & Sakshi Aneja

Mamta Aryan & Manoj Aryan

Rakesh Sha & Kirti Gera

Anil Madaan & Ashok Dilwali

Kavita Bakle & Mahendra Bakle

Rakhi Aggarwal & Bhaven Jani

The Inner Path

Devyani Singh

Aruna Vasudev Recently was the Inauguration of The Inner Path – Festival of Buddhist Film, Art & Philosophy at the National Gallery of Modern Art. The festival is organised by The International Buddhist Confederation (IBC) and the Network for Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC India) in association with the National Gallery of Modern Art. The Main Host of the event were Ms Aruna Vasudev (NETPAC India) and Mr. Malay K Sinha (International Buddhist Confederation – IBC) Chief Guest for the evening was the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to India - H E Austin Fernando. Many well known names from the art fraternity were seen at the ceremony to name a few were Siddharth Tagore, Jatin Das, Vichitra Sharma, Nupur Kundu, Adwaita Charan Gadanayak, Niren Sengupta, Ananda Moy Banerji.

Dr Dhammapiya

Malay K Sinha

Vichitra Sharma

Adwaita Charan Gadanayak

Mr. Austin Fernando Jatin Das

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events

Puma celebrates the spirit of Propah Lady...

Faridabad (NCR) 16-31 October, 2019 www.theasianchronicle.com

New Delhi, India: Global Sport Brand PUMA’s new campaign PROPAH LADY counters the conventional idea of what makes women proper and redefines it. It celebrates the shift from women being told what to do, to them writing their own rules. This inclusive campaign for the first time brings together Indian Olympic boxer, MC Mary Kom; International athlete, Dutee Chand, Bollywood Actress, Sara Ali Khan and transgender model, Anjali Lama.

The campaign’s core narrative goes beyond breaking stereotypes, instead it drives home the focus on recognizing how women are owning their stand and living unapologetically. With a fresh perspective, the fun and relatable direction aims to give women an expression to celebrate their individuality and live life through their own mantra - like a Propah Lady.

“Be it our athletes, consumers or employees, we believe every woman is a Propah Lady. We appreciate that our ambassadors are taking the lead to work with us in

Dutee Chand, Mary Kom and Anjali Lama

changing the dialogue from ‘empowering’ to ‘celebrating the empowered,” said Abhishek Ganguly, Managing Director, PUMA India.

Leading by example, the cam-

paigns protagonists Mary Kom and Dutee Chand have not only rewritten the history of sports with their exceptional capabilities and determination, their grit and courage

have also made an undeniable contribution to change the fabric of societal norms. While Sara Ali Khan resonates with young Indian women for being outspoken, authentic and bold, Anjali Lama, with her unshakeable resolve is continuing to break gender barriers in a powerful way.

Talking about the campaign, MC Mary Kom said, "I’ve always been clear about my goals and what I wanted to achieve. The fact that PUMA is celebrating the empowered women shows the shift in our society where women fearlessly chase their goals. I feel very proud to lead this movement and believe this will set an example and encourage young girls to pursue their passion.”

Dutee Chand added, “I feel as long as you work hard to achieve your goals, you shouldn’t worry about what others think. I broke many shackles to get to where I am and live how I want to. It gives me great happiness that PUMA is continuing to change the narrative in a progressive and positive way for

women around the world.”

Sara Ali Khan believes, “We are raising the bar, leading the way and living unapologetically. PUMA’s Propah Lady campaign further cements the beauty of women being happy, confident and owning their uncompromising selves in every possible way.”

“I strongly believe, that if one has no inhibitions about expressing who they truly are, then social mindsets will not dampen one’s attitude. I am super excited to be a part of PUMA’s Propah Lady family and I am eager to inspire those who identify themselves as women to proudly live it,” added Anjali Lama.

PUMA partnered with Digitas to conceptualize and bring the Propah Lady campaign to life. A multi-platform digital campaign led by Instagram and YouTube, the campaign also spans Facebook and Twitter as channels to communicate with the audience. The brand’s business partners like Myntra, Dunzo and Nykaa will also join hands to amplify the conversation.

A beautiful afternoon soiree by Slient Stories by Akassh K Aggarwal fashion designer Ssheeba Seath

Arpana Agarwal, Founder President, Wonder Women Connect & renowned luxury consultant hosted a beautiful afternoon soiree to showcase Fusion collection of Stylish Indian and Fusion Wear by Fashion Designer Ssheeba Seath.

Guest spotted at the event were Neena Singh, Saveena Sharan, Shikha A Sharma, Ashima Gupta, Pooja

Vaswani, Ritu Kalra, Meenakshi Mohanti, Pooja Aggarwal, Ranju Malhotra, Preeti Narang.

Ssheeba Seath is also the designer on board for the upcoming Wonder Women Calendar 2020. The festive collection is all about different expressions and moods. It celebrates the journey of a collaborative and confident mood.

Neena Singh

Ssheeba Seath and Arpana Agarwal

Uma Agarwal Pooja Aggarwal

Savina Sharan

The ‘Silent Stories’ by Akassh K Aggarwal brings in the notice of LGBTQIA identity and issues curbed by the patriarchal system.

The show was presented by Shubhashini Ornamentals at India Runway Week Winter/Festive’19. The collection talks about a person’s choice as a sexual being, which is often not considered in a society like ours which is orthodox and conservative.

The vibrant collection resonates with the symbolism of the old tribal art of Peroi and Terrecota, Banarsi Meena work, wood karigari from Kashmir, lightweight metal sheet work, embossed

3D and metallics in silver and organic gemstones.

Akaash describes the collection of a versatile one that can be worn with ethnic and IndoWestern too. It’s time to bejeweled bold and beautiful. The collection comes with a social message of ‘Shine Bright Pride’.

On the launch of the collection at runway week, Akaash said, “I clearly remember my first Pride Parade...The fear of being seen and the harrowing of the closet... It was all difficult coming out & breaking the

silence. My only way to survive the depression and anxiety at a very young age was love for art. I made sure my #SilentStories be spoken, and the liberation of living life in real is blissful.

Though it’s been more than a year of the scrapping of Section 377 the equal civil rights are yet to be accessed and #FightForRights is the way forward.”

Literature

ART | CULTURE | LITERATURE | BOOK REVIEWS BOOKS LISTING

Faridabad (NCR) 16-31 October, 2019 www.theasianchronicle.com

Chit Chat with Author Kevin Missal

Interview

The charismatic prodigy: KevinMissal is a name which do not need an introduction to the literature lovers.

A St.Stephens graduate, Kevin wrote his first book at a tender age of 14. And today at 22, he is bestselling author and a full-time writer, with the first two books in his Kalki trilogy being a runaway successes. DharmayoddhaKalki: Avatar of Vishnu and its sequel Satyayoddha Kalki: Eye of Brahma have sold more than one lakh copies till date.

His books have featured in variousnewspapers.

Today we had a quick chit chat session with him to Sneha Prakashin order to know the informal side of this serious looking author.

Let us know something about you which no one knows ?

I am a big procrastinator. Like I love to just chill and not work for long periods of time.

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Romance Once Again Gets Rekindled with Bestselling Author

Ajitabha Bose

Fantasy is my genre. I love how I can weave my imagination with fantasy.

What is the second best thing after writing that you do?

I like to read.

What is the most surprising thing you discovered about yourself while writing?

That I write really fast.

When is your book going to be released?

It’s just released now- Kalki Book 3.

The next one which is called Raavanputr Meghnad is releasing this Christmas.

Rapid Fire Your favourite Author Brandon Sanderson Your favourite subject in school History Your all-time favourite food Rajma chawal Favourite colour Black

What inspired you to write your first Book and how many Books have you written tilldate?

Favourite Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt

Oliver Twist inspired me to write. I have four published books and a lot of unpublished books.

Your reaction when you are told your story is getting converted into a movie : Omgggggggg

What is your favourite genre as a writer or do you play with your imagination?

If you were not a writer then Filmmaker.

Author Kevin Missal

Interview by Sneha Prakash

The national record holder once again comes with his exciting romantic masterpiece to enthral us.

A graduate from Institute of Management Studies, Ghaziabad; Ajitabha Bose is a popular bestselling author, filmmaker, designer and an entrepreneur. The national record holder for publishing the smallest love story book, Mr. Bose was born and brought up in Jamshedpur.

The Delhi-based author who has six books to his credit has the distinction of introducing the concept of pocket books in India.

Mr. Bose was featured in Limca Book of Records for contribution in literature and making the national record of India's Smallest Love Story Book. His book"In Love With Shah Rukh Khan" received love from all over the world and Shah Rukh Khan himself appreciated the book.

Starting his literary journey with It’s A Love Story (2013); he has sold over 1,20,000 copies till date. He is known throughout the nation for his unique idea of pocket books.

Apart from being an acclaimed author, Mr. Bose is the Chairman & Co-Founder of BDL Studios, a renowned production house based in Delhi-NCR. He has worked in 450+ videos and made 30,000+ designs till date.

Book Happily Married, Happily Divorced Author Swati Kumari Publisher Srishti Publishers & Distributors Price : 199/Pages : 184

Book Walking With my Soul Author Jasbeer Singh Publisher Notion Press Prize : 100/Pages : 56

Ajitabha Bose

book listing

Book Dangerous And Feared Animals Of The World Author Faiz S. Lalani Publisher AABS PUBLISHING HOUSE Price :199/Pages : 80

Book Dear People, with Love and Care, Your Doctors Author Dr. Debraj Shome, Dr. Aparna Govil Bhasker Publisher Bloomsbury India Price : 499/Pages : 318

Book Garden Of Dreams Author Vishwas Vaidya Publisher : AABS PUBLISHING HOUSE Price : 249/Pages : 120

Book Ghulab Sahib Author Suresh K Goswami Publisher AABS PUBLISHING HOUSE Price : 299/Pages : 260

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Faridabad (NCR) 16-31 October, 2019 www.theasianchronicle.com

ART | CULTURE | LITERATURE | BOOK REVIEWS | BOOKS LISTING

Literature

Literature : A brief note and Gen Z "Literature is thought provoking; it allows us to raise questions and gives us a deeper understanding of issues and situations."

Literature has had a major impact on the development of society. It has shaped civilisations, changed political systems and exposed injustice. Literature gives us a detailed preview of human experiences, allowing us to connect on basic levels of desire and emotion.

However, just as it has constructed societies, the writings and works of certain authors have degraded societies to their most primitive form.

"Literature is thought provoking;

it allows us to raise questions and gives us a deeper understanding of issues and situations."

In an era of modern media, such as television and movies, people are misled into thinking that every question or problem has its quick answer or solution. However, literature confirms the real complexity of human experience. Literature is the study of human nature. We see human nature through tragedy and romance, joy and sorrow, in epipha-

nies and denial, in moments of heroism and in moments of cowardice.

Today's youth realises the true depth of human emotion and behaviour. They understand that there is more to a person than what they display on the exterior.

They see the intricacy of human experience, giving them an open mind and an open heart. However, today's youth can only reach this point of enlightenment through seeking knowledge - by being well read and cultured individuals.

Students also recognised literature's role in influencing human thought.Students are intrigued by the works of art and drama, they love to read plays and investigate contemporary works. These kids are smart.

So, the significance of literature has been confirmed, both over time and human understanding. However, despite student awareness of the importance of literature, is today's youth seeking that deeper level of knowledge?

According to the recent study, the response is promising about 50-60 percent of the youth are reading and doing a major in literature.

However, graduates with a degree

Driftwood is a beautiful collection of short stories about the sea and seafarers. It captures a range of moods and emotions that are philosophical, poignant, quirky, surprising and tragic. It introduces the reader to the thrill of the beauty of the sea.... crime, pirates, fire, an accident, love, friendship, fraud, despair, betrayal.... the stories touch upon many themes, each story markedly different from the other.

Behind the eye catching cover, Chatterjee's stories blend the wise old soul of the ancient mariner with the freshness (and folly) of a young sailor thirsting for adventure.

What stands out for me is the artfully drawn out suspense in the narratives, through which a range of unique characters reveal themselves.

The author's words have a deceptively soft touch and I found myself overpowered by emotion at unexpected places and junctures, as I navigated the anthology.

The stories I like most are, ‘The Piano Man’ which started as a simple story but surprised me at the end with a twist . ‘The Hijack’ is an adventure story of corruption in high places and the dangers it brings to a seaman’s life. ‘Reach for the Stars’ is another such story, suspenseful

and thrilling. My personal favourite is ‘Stairway to Heaven’, a story of blossoming friendship between two seafarers, because I identified with the craziness of the characters and their escapades.

Some end sadly, but not every story can end on a happy note, no ?

That’s a mariner’s life - its allure lies in its unpredictability.

Among the other stories, I liked ‘Miss Me’ and ‘Sapphire Blue’, which are completely opposite in temperament . Whereas in the first one, we witness betrayal from a husband ,in the other we meet a devoted husband whose wife.... well, you have to read the story to find out!

If this collection doesn’t give you a glimpse of sea life, what it’s like to live and work at sea, then nothing will. A perfect collection of stories created from the imperfections in human nature.

I will leave you with a line from the anthology that is close to my heart - ‘He waited till the boy sailed across the dark oceans of sleep to dream of things that should never change’. (From the story ‘Transition.’)

I suggest you grab a copy and let the stories carry you with them. Bon voyage!

in literature have plenty of opportunities in their careers. Not only does literature improve your understanding of others and communication skills, both characteristics sought after in the workplace, but it also presents you with many promising careers.

A degree in literature can get you into journalism and broadcasting or teaching. It can also work as a compliment to a degree in business or as a step towards studying law.

To me the purpose of life is to grow. Grow and become better people, better listeners and to connect better with those around us. No other field can teach us this better than literature.

Book Review

Driftwood by Beetashok Chatterjee

Sunita Paul

Book Review by

Sneha Prakash Book

Driftwood Author

Beetashok Chatterjee Publisher

Readomania Price : 271/Pages : 192 Rating : ☆☆☆☆4/5

Vikas vs Article 370

editorial

Faridabad (NCR) 16-31 October, 2019 www.theasianchronicle.com

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What kind of electoral Juncture is this? which the government tries to divert people’s minds from the original and needed issues.

The infrastructure of the state, employment opportunities, basic facilities, electricity, water, good roads, etc., along with better traffic facilities are considered important in a state.

But neither party workers nor anyone would have raised this fact in those elections. But, it’s really unfortunate that neither party workers nor BJP’s senior leaders are showing their truthful interest to raise such issues of the state.

Pitching in ‘Jai Sri Ram’

Anjan K Samal

BJP's star campaigners are hoisting issues like the abrogation of Article 370, Nationalism including patriotism during the election campaign.

But is there a lack of nationalism in Haryana or does the people here not able to feel the true spirit of patriotism? In fact, Indian soldiers hail from Haryana are absolutely at the forefront, fighting with our enemies on the border.

The state of Haryana is figured up in the security forces of the country.

But how the country's largest political party is making only the patriotism as an issue in elections, it seems that this election is forgetting the basic rights and needs of the general public.

Many basic facilities are still lacking in the state. No one is coming to explain to the people of Haryana that what are the benefits of Haryana in the change of any other state’s rules and regulations.

Will there be development in our state due to changes in rules and reg-

ulations of any other state in India?

The much-hyped vision of the ‘Gujarat model’ which was used as the most and best selective weapon in the agenda to win the 2014 Lok Sabha

by BJP seems disappeared in this Assembly Election. Why is the Gujarat model not fit in the state elections this time? Why is the Gujarat model not being discussed during the election campaign? Has the Gujarat model failed for which, the country’s largest political party has now engineered the propaganda in the name of National interest?

If we talk about the national or international issues in the Lok Sabha elections, then to a large extent it sounds fine, but how can national issues be brought up in the election of any state?

The manner in which the issue of Pakistan, the issue of terrorism and the issue of national interest are being raised, it seems the present government desires to regain the power for

The biggest and oldest issue of the country i.e. Ram temple’s case hearing has been completed in the Apex Court and now people are just waiting for its result of the verdict.

Despite that its decision has not been announced yet, a perception is being created among the common men that votes can easily be gathered by using the name of ‘Sri Ram’ and ‘Ram Temple’.

So that it can be known that it is appropriate to raise the issue of Ram or Ram temple here. So is the BJP still waiting for the miracle of Sri Ram after getting complete failure in the economic peripheral of the country?

In the last 5 years, Haryana has created a different image on the world stage, the sad fact is that this image is not a positive image but a negative one. In the last two-three years, the whole world had seen how the entire Gurgram was swimming in water.

Despite this, a solution was not found for the coming years as well.

The newly built underpasses were submerged in water, the same flyovers were seen collapsed faster than the flyovers were built. Bad quality of construction materials, poor construction, and planning are causes of an unfortunate situation.

Here it is not only about the Gurugram but also about other districts

where the system has completely crumbled. Be it the health sector, the public sector, everywhere the state government has completely failed due to immense laxity and irresponsibility.

Even today, people are not able to get clean drinking water. Roads are either broken or are rebuilt. No district has remained untouched by such problems.

In the health sector, everyone still remembers how people lost their eye sights even after the operation of their eyes. Every few days, the people of the state have witnessed the strike of Ambulance owners, the strike of workers, children born outside hospitals including misbehaving by staff, etc.

But during campaigning in the current elections, the BJP is only trying to divert public attention from real ground issues towards nationalism and patriotism. Where questioning the performance of the government seems a crime.

Leaving aside the talk of big leaders, a small level worker not seem capable of taking forward his basic needs. Today's election has been squeezed to Hindu and Muslim, Temple and nationalism.

The use of the word ‘Pakistan’ has initiated and ignited in this assembly elections. This is the very first time after the 70 years of our independence when the word ‘Pakistan’ has also been used for the issue of water.

Earlier, the SYL (Sutlej Yamuna link canal)was considered to be a big issue for water. But now Pakistan has been used for the issue of water in this assembly election. Is it appropriate for the Prime Minister to campaign in a state election by compromising with international law in this way?

The last but not the least is that it’s a misfortune for the world’s largest democracy for the journey of the country’s electoral process is approaching towards such direction.

news

Baba Ramdev turned apparent right behind BJP TAC News/Gurugram Baba Ram Dev appealed to vote in favor of BJP in the election amid the jingle of Jai Sri Ram.Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev, who had maintained a distance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, has come out in favor of BJP for the first time after the formation of the BJP government at the Center. Recently, in a press conference held in Guru-

gram to create awareness for votes, Swami Ramdev openly came out in favor of BJP. Baba Jee started his style of convince by addressing the general public that everyone should use their vote in elections. He said that winning a good candidate is also the duty of the voter which even a constitutional right.

Initially, without taking names,

Baba praised BJP Chief Minister Manohar Lal and described the BJP as a patriotic party. And appealed general masses to vote for BJP in the national interest. After some time Baba openly came in favor of BJP. Describing BJP as the only option, he praised the work of the Chief Minister of Haryana and Maharashtra and their able governance.

13 news point

Gurugram administration is equipped for peaceful elections

All preparations have been completed by the Gurugram adminstration for the Haryana Assembly General Election-2019 to be conducted in a peaceful manner. Significantly the wish of adminstration to have fair electoral process this time. On Monday, October 21, 12 lakh 10 thousand 398 voters of the district will decide the fate of as many as 54 candidates contesting elections.

This time, the total service voters count as 5,323numbers.In addition, 6 lakh 40 thousand 835 male and 5 lakh 69 thousand 529 female voters including 34 transgenders shall exercise their franchise in Gurugram district. Polling will begin at 7.00 am which will continue till 6.00 pm.

Awareness in regard to voting and it’s Process

In order to motivate all the voters to vote in Haryana Assembly General Election-2019, Adminstrator, Ashok Sangwan of Gurugram met young and first time voters at GD Goenka and Ameti University and explained to them the importance of voting and the voting process to strengthen the democratic ethos of world’s largest democray in the world.

The event was organized to in aim of motivating the young generation to exercise their franchise on polling day. To explain the voting process properly to the youth, a dummy of VVPAT and EVM machine was also placed on the spot of awareness. A live demotion of the voting process was shown in which many youths took full interest and cleared their voting related doubts from the Official.

Having No Voter ID Card Should Vote Like this

Polling for the Haryana Assembly elections will be held in the four assembly constituencies of the district on October 21 from 7 am to 6 pm. The voter ID card has been issued by the commission for voting, but if any voter does not have an Epic card, then for his convenience, the commission has approved 11 options of other identity cards to practice the franchise.

District Election Officer and Deputy Commissioner Amit Khatri informed that on the day of polling, the voter will have to show a photo identity card as per the instructions of the Election Commission in order to cast their respective votes.

He suggested that in the absence of Voter ID Card, the photo identity card issued by other concerned government authorities like passport, driving license and ID card issued by the state government or public undertakings ,public limited companies having the photo graphs including Photographed passbook issued by bank or post office, PAN card, Aadhaar card, job card, smart card issued by RGI under MPR, health insurance card issued under the scheme of Ministry of Labor, photo pension documents or Identity issued by MP, MLA or Member of Legislative Council can be used to caste the aluable votes of voters.

70 Lakh Cash Seized

haryana

GRAP implemented to deal with pollution

Faridabad (NCR) 16-31 October, 2019 www.theasianchronicle.com

To ensure adherence to the model code of conduct in Gurugram district, Static Surveillance Team No-3 has been installed in the Gurgaon Assembly constituency which has seized about 75 lakh rupees near

by Civil Lines area. These rupees were being carried in a gray-color Swift Desire vehicle number-HR-26 DK-1936.

TAC NEWS GURUGRAM : To control the pollution levels in the Delhi NCR region with the onset of the festive season and the arrival of winter, the Gurugram District Administration has given orders to implement the guidelines of EPCA including the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court including all concerned departments were instructed to send their daily reports in regard to following GRAP. All the departments have been ordered by the Deputy Commissioner Amit Khatri to appoint nodal officers in the departments responsible for pollution control to implement the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).

The names, mobile numbers and email IDs of these nodal officers have been asked to be sent immediately to the Regional Officer (South) and Deputy Commissioner of Haryana State Pollution Control Board. Today, the orders issued by the Deputy Commissioner have entrusted the responsibility to every department.

Municipal Corporation, Gurugram and Gurugram Metropolitan Development

Authority (GMDA) has ordered to ensure the ban of using coal and wood at hotels and other refreshments, to increase the cleanliness of the roads, avoid dust on the road, spraying water where ever necessery , to punish those who violate environmental norms on construction sites, construction of roads or storing of street water vessels or sewerage lines etc..

In addition, orders have been issued to constitute teams to ban the burning of rubber, plastic vests or cloth vests in public

places, burning of garbage by appointing a nodal officer or zonal officer and it is stated that If any person finds violations of burning solid waste in Bandhwadi plant, moving C&D waste or use of fireworks , should be informed the concerned authorities like the appropriate government department,Municipal Corporation and Gurugram Police.

Not only this, vehicles carrying garbage from Gurugram city to Bandhwadi plant should also be covered at the time of transportation and for this if the Night patrolling will be required, that shall be provided immediately.

Orders have also been given to ensure cleanliness by machines and to spray water regularly.

The police department has been ordered to seize diesel driven vehicles older than 10 years and petrol powered vehicles older than 15 years. In addition, orders also have been given to remove encroachments on the pavements, to manage the dust blowing in the parking area, as well as to ban and invoice illegal parking.

Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation

Chandigarh, October 15 - In the upcoming Haryana Assembly elections, scheduledfor October 21, 2019, several steps are being taken by the higher educational institutions of the State to make the youth aware under the Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP).

Meanwhile, today, the Director, Higher Education and Technical Education Department, Mr. A.Sreenivas held a review meeting with the principals of government, aided, self-financed colleges, engineering, polytechnic colleges and representatives of State universities, in this regard through video conferencing.

While, 157 government colleges, 97 aided colleges, 87 self-financing colleges, all State universities, 37 government polytechnics, four aided polytechnics and four engineering colleges of the district National Informatics Centre (NIC) centers participated in this video conferencing.

During the Video Conferencing, Mr. A.Sreenivas has directed all colleges and universities to make efforts to ensure that maximum number of students and their family members should cast their votes in

the upcoming Assembly Elections in the State. he further said that the Department of Higher Education and the Technical Education department has also issued detailed instructions to the universities, colleges, and polytechnics in the State to create awareness among the youth about the electoral process, encourage them about voter registration and voter rights etc.

He said that under this initiative, all institutions have been selected and Nodal officers have been appointed and along with this Election, Literacy Clubs have also been formed.

Mr. A.Sreenivas further said that regular meetings are being held in colleges, to ensure that most of the students cast their votes. He said that it has also been decided that the students who cast their votes will be awarded by their colleges/universities after the poll. He said that for this, certificates has been sent to all the colleges and the universities by the Department of Higher and Technical Education. He informed that the heads of organizations whose students will vote will also be honored on the occasion of National Voters' Day.

Strong security arrangements at sensitive and highly sensitive Pooling Both

For the Haryana Vidhan Sabha Election 2019, 71 sensitive and susceptible polling centers have been declared in ‘Gurgaon’ and‘Pataudi’ assembly constituencies. 75 ‘Pataudi’ assembly constituencies has total 34 sensetive constituency. 77Gurugram constituency consists of to 37 sensetive and highly sensetive constituencies.

District Election Officer and Deputy Commissioner Amit Khatri said that Pataudi assembly constituency has 9 sensitive and 25 susceptible booths and Gurgaon assembly constituency has 25 sensitive and 12 susceptible booths. He informed that tight security arrangements will be made at all these booths with additional police force.

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Liquor, cash and drugs worth over 9cr seized by the Police

In light of General Elections to Vidhan Sabha 2019, liquor, cash and drugs amounting to Rs 9,67,05,130 has been seized by the Police and Excise Department in Haryana.

Sharing more details, Joint Chief Electoral Officer, Haryana, Dr.Inder Jeet said that the police have so far recovered 121229 litres liquor, worth over Rs 2,74,20,448. Similarly, the Excise Department has so far recovered 24254 litres of liquor, which is worth Rs 60,91,60. Thus, a total of 145483 litres of liquor has been seized by the Excise

and Police Departments, which costs Rs 3,35,11,508.

He said that till now the police department has seized illegal cash amount of 2,68,17,419. He further shared that drugs and toxic substances worth Rs 3,63,76,203 have been seized by the flying squad and the static surveillance teams.

He said that in order to maintain law and order in the State during the elections, 117867 license arms have so far been deposited by the Haryana Police.

Apart from this, the police have also

seized 173 unlicensed weapons. He said that the 437 police check-post have been set up at various places in the state.

Dr.Inder Jeet said that the police have recovered 92787 bottles of country made liquor, 56516 bottles of English liquor, 4004 bottles of beer, 124 illegal liquor bottles, 656.57 kg hemp, 134.89 kg poppy husk, 1.36 kg heroin, 9.280 kg opium, 2.16 kg smack, 255 kg lahan, 27.832 kg churapost, 634 gm chita and 2.50 kg charas and 322 kg Sulfa. He said that fake currency notes of Rs 49,62,000 have also been seized by the police.

business/world

President of Zimbabwe signs MOU with UNSDG Health

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Faridabad (NCR) 16-31 October, 2019 www.theasianchronicle.com

Partnership for launch of 100 Primary Healthcare Clinics in NY

TAC News A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between The UNSDG Health Partnership and Government Of Zimbabwe recently during UN General Assembly 2019 in New York. The UNSDG Health Partnership has entered into an MOU with the Government of Zimbabwe to add 100 new Smart primary Healthcare centres that are digitally enabled with telehealth, telemedicine facilities across Zimbabwe and provide affordable and quality healthcare to patients from the economically and socially weaker sections of society. Also present at the summit were Her Excellency Auxillia Mnangagwa, The First Lady Of Zimbabwe, Mr. Peter Sands, Executive Director, Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria , Dr Obadio Moyo , Minister of Health and Family Zimbabwe , H.E. Dr. Mthuli Ncube, Minister of Minister for Finance , Government of Zimbabwe, H.E. Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Minister for

Health & Family Welfare,Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, India, H. E. Abdul Rahman Bin Mohammed Al Owais, Minister of Health & Prevention, United Arab Emirates, Dr Seth Berkeley, CEO, Gavi-The Vaccine Alliance and Dr Chitwan Malhotra, Director UNSDG Health Partnership.

The MOU represents a landmark for primary health delivery and UHC in Zimbabwe said Dr Chitwan Malhotra, Director UNSDG Health Partnership and India Africa Health Partnership. The world has 11 years left to make good on its sustainable development goals, Universal health coverage is key to

ensuring that happens and there is an urgent need to double health coverage between now and 2030 or 5 billion people will be unable to access health care.

HE Dr Emmerson Mnangagwa, Hon’ble President of Zimbabwe said, “Development on the healthcare front is the need of the hour today. We welcome support from UNSDG Health Partnership for helping us cater to the need for quality healthcare with 100 primary healthcare clinics and marketplace for affordable medicines. Our government is working towards creating better medical facilities for the public and this collaboration with UNSDG will go a long way in fulfilling the vision of universal health coverage.

With innovative products, equipment for diagnostics and medicines that facilitate healthcare intervention and provide affordable healthcare, The UNSDG Health Partnership has collaborated with the Ministry of Health and Family

Welfare, Government of India as a strategic provider for the marketplace of affordable medicines, equipment, medical devices and smart ambulances in Africa.

UNSDG Health Partnership has partnered with the Government of Zimbabwe to help the country efficiently manage its public healthcare facilities through sustainable health financing and global health delivery mechanisms.

A collaboration to run the Mobile Medical Care Unit Program to screen large sections of our population, especially under-privileged sections, for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) has also been signed between the UNSDG Health Partnership and Government Of Zimbabwe. Mobile Medical Care Units (buses), fully loaded with the screening technology including ECG, Stress Test, Echocardiogram, Ultrasound, Mammogram, Pap Smear and blood sample collection will be operated in Various urban as well as rural areas of Zimbabwe.

Unfolding the crisisof residential project delays: Is the problem all pervasive?

REP. PIC.

The story of the residential marketis uncomfortable when looked at from a buyer’s perspective. Contrary to the already published reports indicating that the real estate sector is struggling with billions of USD worth of delayed residential projects in the top seven cities of Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru and Kolkata, it is has been observed that the problem lies with only the upper middle income and premium category projects.

JLLResearch takes a closer look at the problem of ‘project delays’ and for this purpose, aperiod of five years from the launch of the project has been considered to estimate the delayed/stalled residential projects. To elaborate, the residential projects launched on or before 2014 and still ‘under-construction’ have been referred to as delayed/stalled projects and the total number of flats/apartments in these projects are categorised as

share of rest of the cities is in single digit.

Even at the city level, it is important to note that in Delhi, around 3/4thof the residential Delhi-NCR and units are delayed/stalled andone out of every Mumbai are major three residential units in Mumbai falls in the contributors of desame category.For rest of the cities, this prolayed projects portion is not significant.Hence, the delay in project completion is concentrated in NCR Affordable and midDelhi and Mumbai not a trend across all the income projects do top 7 cities of India – a reality that needs to not account for much be brought to light! of the delayed projects except in select Where are the funds trapped? cities like Kolkata In monetary terms, the delayed/stalled projand Pune ects stand at a whopping INR 4.62 lakh crore and Delhi NCR and Mumbaiagain account for nearly 90% of this value. The large proportion of delayed projects being concentrated in these two cities is alarming! delayed/stalled residential units.

However, as we move forward we will see Now, let us understand the current market that the trend of delay varies not only geodynamics before painting the entire sector graphically but also across different types of with a single brush. residential projects.

Having said that, the question remains: Is Mumbai & Delhi-NCR: The two the delay endemic across all categories of rescities account for 84% of the total idential projects? delays JLL data says ’No’.

It is the common perception that the entire We classify the houses with prices up to INR residential sector is reeling under the pressure 75 lakh as affordable and mid segment cateof delayed projects.JLL’s study demystifies gory for all cities except Mumbai. Due to the this. The aggregate data shows that total numhigh real estate prices, the threshold of affordber of residential units classified as able and mid segment in Mumbai is INR 1 delayed/stalledin the top seven cites stands at crore. While the total value of delayed/stalled 4.54 lakh. However, as high as 84 per cent of projects is INR 4.62 lakh crore, it would be these units are present in two major metro misleading to say that it is across the entire cities: Delhi NCR (62%) and Mumbai spectrum of housing categories. The reality is (22%).Needless to say, these two cities had not all that grim as the funds are mainly stuck always been on the radar of investors due to in projects belonging to the upper-mid and the promising returns and the scope for expremium categories.This is reflected in the pansion that they offered.The percentage

average price of residential units across cities.

For instance, the average price of delayed residential units stands at INR 1.99 crore for Mumbai as compared to INR 95 lakh in Bangalore, INR 94 lakh in Hyderabad and INR 87 lakh in Chennai.

Although it is the affordable and mid segment categories which form a substantial proportion of the residential sector activity,they do not account for much of the delayed projects except in select cities like Kolkata and Pune.

What lies ahead?

First, residential project delay is not a panIndia phenomenon and only limited to major metropolitan cities of Delhi NCR and Mumbai in terms of quantum as well as value of projects. Second, the slowdown in completion of projects is not across the entire spectrum of housing categories but significantly visible in upper-mid and premium categories.

What is needed is perhaps a push from the government and funding agencies along with a strict code of conduct among developers which will improve the situation. Going forward, developers should take cognizance of the situation at hand and accordingly realign their marketing strategies so that their launches are in sync with people’s affordability and demand.

By Dr. Samantak Das, Chief Economist and Head of Research & REIS, JLL India & Shradha Agarwal, Research Analyst, JLL India

Ayodhya dispute: The complex legal history of India's holy site

15

nation

Faridabad (NCR) 16-31 October, 2019 www.theasianchronicle.com

The Ayodhya dispute, which stretches back more than a century, is one of India's thorniest court cases and goes to the heart of its identity politics.

Hindus believe that Ayodhya, a city in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, is the birthplace of one of their most revered deities, Lord Ram. But Muslims say they have worshipped there for generations.

A court case pertaining to the ownership of the land has been dragging on in the Supreme Court for years, but a verdict is expected next month.

The court concluded its final hearing into the case on Wednesday.

What is the row actually about?

At the centre of the row is a 16th Century mosque that was demolished by Hindu mobs in 1992, sparking riots that killed nearly 2,000 people.

Many Hindus believe that the Babri Masjid was actually constructed on the ruins of a Hindu temple that was demolished by Muslim invaders.

Muslims say they offered prayers at the mosque until December 1949 when some Hindus placed an idol of Ram in the mosque and began to worship the idols.

Over the decades since, the two religious groups have gone to court many times over who should control the site.

Since then, there have been calls to build a temple on the spot where the mosque once stood.

The case currently being heard by five judges in the top court is to determine who the land in question belongs to.

A verdict is expected between 4 and 15 November.

Hinduism is India's majority religion and is thought to be more than 4,000 years old. India's first Islamic dynasty was established in the early 13th Century.

Who is fighting the case?

A total of 1168 candidates will fight it out for 90 seats in the Assembly polls in Haryana and 1,83,90,525 voters will exercise their voting rights in the State.

This time, a total of 19578 polling stations have been set up in the State.

Sharing more information in this regard, Joint Chief Electoral Officer, Haryana Dr Inder Jeet said that according to the voter list published on October 4, 2019, there are a total of 1,83,90,525 voters in the State, including 1,07,955 service voters.

He said that there are 98 lakh 78 thousand 42 male voters, 85 lakh 12 thousand 231 female voters and 252 transgender voters in the State.

He said that 19578 polling stations have been set up in 10324 locations in the State, of which 19425 are regular polling stations and 153 are auxiliary polling stations. While 5741 polling stations have been set up in urban areas and 13837 polling stations are set up in rural areas.

What are the other important legal developments?

In 1994 the Supreme Court, which was ruling on a related case, remarked that the concept of a mosque was "not integral to Islam".

This has bolstered the case made by Hindus who want control of the entire site.

In April 2018, senior lawyer Rajeev Dhavan filed a plea before the top court, asking judges to reconsider this observation.

But a few months later the

Supreme Court declined to do so.

Have religious tensions eased in India in recent years?

Ever since the Narendra Modi-led Hindu nationalist BJP first came to power in 2014, India has seen deepening social and religious divisions.

The call for the construction of a Hindu temple in Ayodhya has grown particularly loud, and has mostly come from MPs, ministers and leaders from the BJP since it took office.

Restrictions on the sale and slaughter of cows - considered a holy animal by the majority Hindus - have led to vigilante killings of a number of people, most of them Muslims who were transporting cattle.

An uninhibited display of muscular Hindu nationalism in other areas has also contributed to religious tension.

Most recently, the country's home minister Amit Shah said he would remove "illegal migrants" - understood to be Muslim - from the country through a government scheme that was used recently in the northeastern state of Assam.

BBC News (Additional reporting by Suchitra Mohanty)

VIOLATING ’ LAXMAN REKHA’ OF

The long and complicated prop-

1168 candidates for 90 seats in the Assembly polls in Haryana

erty dispute has been dragging in various courts for more than a century.

This particular case is being fought between three main parties two Hindu groups and the Muslim Waqf Board, which is responsible for the maintenance of Islamic properties in India.

The Hindu litigants are the Hindu Mahasabha, a right-wing political party, and the Nirmohi Akhara, which is a sect of Hindu monks.

They filed a title dispute in the Allahabad High Court in 2002, a decade after the mosque was demolished.

A verdict in that case was pronounced in September 2010 - it determined that the 2.77 acres of the disputed land would be divided equally into three parts.

The court ruled that the site should be split, with the Muslim community getting control of a third, Hindus another third and the Nirmohi Akhara sect the remainder. Control of the main disputed section, where the mosque once stood, was given to Hindus.

The judgement also made three key observations.

It affirmed the disputed spot was the birthplace of Lord Ram, that the Babri Masjid was built after the demolition of a Hindu temple and that it was not built in accordance with the tenets of Islam.

The Supreme Court suspended this ruling in 2011 after both Hindu and Muslim groups appealed against it.

CODE OF CONDUCT

More than 5249 complaints related to the violation of Model Code of Conduct in the state, have been received on cVIGIL App. Chief Electoral Officer, Mr. Anurag Agarwal said that all the complaints have been redressed within the prescribed time.

The Haryana Chief Electoral Officer said that it is matter of pride that the State people are giving their contribution in conducting the elections in a free, fair and transparent manner by reporting any violations of Model Code of Conduct during the elections through the cVIGIL app, directly to the Commission.

Sharing details about the complaints received through the cVIGIL app, Mr. Anurag Agarwal said that out of the complaints received so far, not a single complaint is pending at DCC level. He said that 126 complaints are under in-

vestigation, including 85 in Rohtak district and 21 in Faridabad district.

He told that 249 complaints have been received from Ambala district, 82 from Bhiwani district, six from Charkhi Dadri, 518 from Faridabad, 54 from Fatehabad, 821 from Gurugram, 535

from Hisar, 121 from Jhajjar, 30 from Jind, 461 from Kaithal, 158 from Karnal, 233 complaints from Kurukshetra, two from Mahendragarh, 18 from Mewat, 23 from Palwal, 40 from Panchkula, 33 from Panipat, 55 from Rewati, 767 from Rohtak, 419 from Sirsa, 184 from Sonipat and 440 from Yamunanagar district were received on the cVIGIL app.

Mr. Anurag Agarwal said that the Model Code of Conduct is strictly adhered to in the General Assembly Election-2019 in Haryana and to ensure that code of conduct is not violated, for this the Election Commission of India has also ensured the participation of the general public, so the general public can also file their complainant of any violation related to Model Code of Conduct directly to the Commission through the cVIGIL mobile application.

movie

Kirket Starcast dazzled in the Capital Faridabad (NCR) 16-31 October, 2019 www.theasianchronicle.com

Cricketer Kirti Azad, Actors Atul Wassan and Sonam Chhabra spotted in Delhi for the promotions of their upcoming movie Kirket. Director Yogendra Singh and Producer R K Jalan were also present at the press conference. The conference was held at the Le Meridien Hotel, New Delhi.

The film will take up the subject of politics taking place in the cricket world of the country. It will be released on 18 October 2019.

Present at the event, Cricketer Kirti Azad spoke about his role and

subject of the movie." Kirket is the story of my hard work. I remember when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was our Prime Minister, many states were divided and BCCI gave permission only to the cities which had the infrastructure. Bihar was not one of them. That time I struggled for the rights of Bihar cricketers." Talking about his role, he said," In the movie, I didn't have to act as it is my real life story, I am playing my-

Yaaram Starcast spotted in Delhi

"Yaaram" Starcast and Producer Veejay Mulchandani came in National capital to promote their movie. The press conference was held at Le Meridian Hotel, New Delhi. It is a Hindi Language drama directed by Ovais Khan under the banner

yashvvi films. Director Ovais Khan was also present at the event.

It stars Ishita Raj Sharma, Prateik Babbar, Siddhant Kapoor and Subha Rajput in lead roles. The movie will be released on 18 October 2019.

In the conversation with media, Prateik spoke about the subject of the movie, Yaaram is all about friendship, love, and Fun. How four friends form love square and who starts loving whom for that you will have to watch the movie."

Ishita talked about teamwork during the shooting " Pratiek and Sidhant are childhood friends and I was new to the team still they were really supportive throughout the shooting. The movie itself is so fun that we didn't use to hang out. Also, it is shot in such a beautiful place like Mauritius."

Siddhant shared about his character, " I am playing a very confused character in the movie and my friend

Prateik helps me a lot in the movie to sort my life."

Subha talked about her character that "I am playing myself in the movie. Because in real life I am like this only and everyone will co-relate with this movie.

And talked that Nowadays people are so impulsive and give up so easily in a relationship they have love between them but don't try to work things out because they have a less amount of patience in them.

Director Ovais Khan spoke that "This is my first movie as a director and Director of Photography which was a very difficult task. As I had to do both creative and technical work together. My team was very supportive."

16

self and when I saw the movie I cried as it was all true."

Actress Sonam spoke about the social issues touched upon in the movie. " In this movie, you will see how politics is done in the cricket world in a crisp manner. The movie has a very beautiful message that caste, religion or race should not affect sports in any way and a talented sportsperson should be given a fair chance to move ahead."