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ASSENG/2015/64205

Vol. II

SCRIBES PROTEST BOMB THREAT

ET CAPSULES Two One-horned rhino dealers arrested following a sting operation ET Correspondent Teok, Dec 29 : Two persons were arrested by Special Task Force of the Jakhalabondha Police force in collaboration with forest security force and Lahdoigarh police out post officials following a sting operation on the accused rhino-horn dealers. The police officials acted as a buyer of the valuable rhino horn in the sting operation. The police officials agreed to pay an amount of rupees 75 thousands against the rhino horn seller. In the process, a rhino horn weighing approximate 1.2 kg was seized from the duo.The Two persons were arrested are identified as Md. Ismail Ali and Md. Jahangir Ali from Kakajan Arandhora gaon from Teok of Jorhat district.

The two accused persons have been sent for police remand for further investigation. A case has been registered at the Lahdoigarh police station against the duo.

Miscreants hurl grenade at MoS Railway Rajen Gohain's house Naogaon, Dec 29: Miscreants lobbed a grenade at the residence of Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain in Nagaon in central Assam late Wednesday night, with the police still trying to identify and locate the culprits till late Thursday evening. "The grenade was reportedly hurled at the gate of the minister's residence on Tilak Deka Road in the heart of Nagaon town by two motorcycle-borne persons.

While police and a bomb disposal squad of the Army rushed to the spot within minutes of receiving the information, investigations are on to ascertain the identity of the culprits," Nagaon SP Devraj Upadhyaya said. While minister Gohain was in New Delhi, his wife and other family members were also not present in the house when the incident occurred, the SP said. Police said the grenade was hurled after midnight. Meanwhile, Assam Police additional DG (L&O) Kula Saikia rushed to Nagaon on Thursday morning and took stock of the situation, following which he directed all SPs and Range DIGs to step up security measures in residences of all ministers and other VIPs. "We are looking at various angles including trying to find out if any particular insurgent group has a history of using this particular kind of grenade," Saikia said.

Issue 160

Dibrugarh, Friday, December 30, 2016

Pages- 12

PAGE 11

Fill your wishing well with wellness fruits

P5 P7 CoSAAP, ATA, AASATA and other Indo-Bhutan civic bodies hold peace march in international highway Maio for Manthai Mossang soon: CM Sonowal Indrajit Tingwa Miao, Dec 29

About two thousand people from all walks of life joined in the candle light march organised by CoSAAP,ATA and AASATA units of Changlang District today at Miao. Twelve organisations were part of the peace march that was held to pay tribute to the departed soul.

The peace march was aimed at seeking justice for Late Manthai Mossang, teacher under SSA who was brutally murdered on 21st December last at Miao.

Police have already arrested one Suman Biswas, a taxi driver and the victim's wife Nunon Mossang as accused in the murder case. As of

now police are investigation into the case.

The march commenced from the General Ground Miao at 4 pm and proceeded towards Upper Colony.

Finally the march culminated at General Ground after covering the Lower Bazaar area.

Assembly of people later held a candlelight vigil expressing solidarity and justice for the late teacher.

This was followed by an observance of two-minute silence for the departed soul.

unanimous in condemning the murder in the strongest terms and called for the investigating agencies to deliver justice in the case at the earliest possible. It also appealed the government to grant compensation to the parents and child of the victim. The speakers also pointed to the fact that the incident was unprecedented in the history of Miao area and called for every denizen of the area to be vigilant and check the background history of non-APST people before employing.

Kamjai Taism on behalf of ATA spoke highly about late Mossang’s contribution as a school teacher. All the speakers affiliating various civic societies were

The organisations which took part in today's march were CoSAAP, ATA,AASATA, APWWS (Miao Unit),Muklom Elite Society, Kharsang Circle

Unemployed Youth Association, Miao SubDivision Youth Organisation,Tangsa Youth Association, Galo Welfare Society and Miao Mothers Association. The CoSAAP, ATA and AASATA Changlang District Unit had simultaneously organised the programme in five places in the district at Changlang headquartersJairampur,Manmao,Bordumsa and Miao at the same time.

The organisations are further planning to submit a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner very shortly with an appeal to regulate the employment of NonAPST people with a suggestion to conduct background checks before employing.

WASE checks illegal IMFL during dry day, seized buried liquor bottles local guys are forcibly letting the wine shop open backdoor to purchase IMFL even during dry days, hence, we went around in every wine shop to ensure whole hearted cooperation of dry day”, added WASE Secretary whose team were on the drive whole day while carrying their own lunch box.

Staff Reporter Pasighat, Dec 29

In continuation of their drive against illegal hoarding and sale of IMFL, the team WASE (Women Against Social Evils) carried out intensive checking of illegal sale of IMFL during dry days of this end of the year and New year eve in accordance with the district administration’s declaration of dry day from 28th December to 3rd January 2017.

As informed by WASE General Secretary, Joya Tasung Moyong, IMFL buried under ground were also seized from a small shop

at Oyan today packed in a cement bag. The team also conducted their checking at Ruksin, Sille and Airfield area under Siang village on getting information of unauthorized Ghumtis selling IMFL violating the order from DA.

While on Wednesday, the WASE activists accompanied magistrates in sealing the IMFL Wholesalers and retail outlet to ensure no shops take the dry day lightly. “We have came to know from some sources that, some of our

Earlier, the team WASE had also rescued a Crate Snake from a shop at Mirmir Chariali kept for sale while on drive to check illegal sale of IMFL. Later, the team informed the forest officials and subsequently DFO Tabang Jamoh and RFO, Pasighat RF J. Geyi seized the snake and released it at Reserve Forest.

Public lauds Lohit police family. LSI Rupa and her team went beyond the call of duty in carrying out the activity with no inconvenience caused to anyone concerned while also facing so much hardship to undertake long train travels under immediate orders from the authorities.

ET Correspondent Wakro, Dec 29

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5.00

Tel Aviv on tenterhooks P6

Kidnapped girl child reaches back home from Mumbai Lohit Police team led by Lady Sub Inspector Nich Rupa and team members HC Jay Ram Yadav, Ct Suman Swarup, Ct.David Mepo and L/CT NP Hopak received great appreciation from all sections of society for the excellent and well coordinated job for not only getting back home the girl child victim who was under captivity in Mumbai for more than two weeks but for also securing the custody of the accused. Bihem Lap, Secretary Wakro Women's Welfare Committee led a delegation of people of Wakro, met DC Lohit Danish Ashraf to convey the gratitude and appreciation on behalf of the people of the

Price -

area for the excellent sterling service of LSI Nich Rupa and her team in handling the case

successfully and also for their courteous conduct and moral support to the victim and her

SP in charge of Lohit James Kabang Lego, APPS, thanked Robin Hibu, Jt CP Delhi Police, officers and personnel of Mumbai Police for the great assistance and for securing the rescue and safety of the girl child. Lego conveyed that without the active involvement of Robin Hibu, IPS, the rescue mission would not have been achieved this early. People of Lohit also expressed their deep gratitude towards Mumbai

Police for the discreet and prompt actions.

Patam Rangmang, chairperson, Lohit Zilla Parishad and Balijan Krisikro thanked Isaac Pertin, IPS, who constantly monitored the case from Hyderabad for the right and timely decisions taken to ensure foolproof police action to achieve success under all circumstances.

Balijan also thanked MLA Tezu Dr Mohesh Chai for his active involvement and also appreciated D Pul, MLA Hayuliang for financial assistance rendered. People also thanked Jagannath Upadhyay of SBI, Er Sophreng Hakung, IMPULSE NGO and Raju Nepali for their support.

ET Bureau Guwahati, Dec 29

Assam government is in talks with the union ministry of highways, road transport and shipping to draw a roadmap for connecting India with Bhutan by constructing an international highway via Assam's BTAD area.

Chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Wednesday said that the proposed highway would prove vital in improving trade and commerce between the two nations.

Already two rounds of talks have been held between the state government officials and the centre for strengthening road connectivity with the neighbouring country, which Assam shares long border.

Sonowal said this while laying the foundation stone for a RCC Bridge over Bharola River on Tamulpur-Udalguri Road under Udalguri assembly constituency.

The bridge is part of a road project "Improvement and upgradation of Road section of Tamulpur to Paneri and Paneri

NESRIP Trance-II Project.

On the sidelines of the foundation stone laying ceremony at Suklai and KalaNanoi River Bridge, Chief Minister Sonowal also visited the Barangajuli Srimanta Sankardev Satra and interacted with the Satradhikar.

CM Sarbananda Sonowal to Udalguri in Assam under North Eastern States Road Investment Project (NESRIP).

The centre has accorded administrative approval for an amount of Rs 319.29 Crore towards execution of the Trance-II Project.

The chief minister also laid the foundation stone of Suklai River Bridge and Kala-Nanoi River Bridge under Paneri assembly constituency on Tamulpur-Paneri Road and Bornadi River Bridge under Tamulpur assembly constituency as part of the

Sonowal said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has laid utmost priority in improving surface communication in Assam for ushering development in northeastern region.

Union ministry of highways has also approved projects worth Rs. 1 lac Crore for reinforcing road connectivity in the state in a meeting recently held in New Delhi, he added.

Sonowal informed that the state cabinet has recently approved Mukhyamantir Path Nirman Achoni under which Rs. 2,000 Crore will be released to the districts within 31 st March, 2017. The amount will be utilized for construction of roads in the rural and urban areas of the state within three years. ---Kangkan

Arun Jaitley on note ban: Tax collection up, more new notes of Rs 500 soon PTI New Delhi, Dec 29

Nearly 50 days after the implementation of demonetisation , finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday that the critical phase for the economy is now over and the situation will only improve further.

"The critical part of remonetisation is now behind us and it will be much better, going forward," Jaitley told reporters at a media briefing.

Jaitley said that the November 8 decision has greatly benefitted the economy, with a double-digit increase in tax collection figures.

"Notwithstanding what critics predicted, there has been significant increase in tax collection in all segments. Till December 19, direct tax mop-

Arun Jatiley said that a large part of junked notes has been replaced.

He said that more new notes of Rs 500 will be in circulation soon.

The FM said that there has been an increase in tax collection after note ban. up rose 14.4%, indirect tax grew 26.2%, central excise is up 43.3%," Jaitley said.

On the issue of cash crunch, the BJP leader informed that remonetisation has advanced substantially and the RBI has a large amount of currency available with it.

"A large part of the demonetised currency has been replaced and more new

notes of Rs 500 are being released for circulation," he added.

Asked whether the government would take a conscious decision to reduce the quantity of money in circulation in the remonetising process, Jaitley said that is a decision RBI will take guided by market requirements.

Contd. on Page 3

Peaceful candle light march organized across Changlang district to demand justice for late manthai mossang Lomhom Thanga Changlang, Dec 29

The peaceful candle March was organised today at Miao

by Changlang Dist Unit of ATA, ASSATA,& CoSAAP where huge numbers of general public and other departments staffs participated along with students community to pay homage to late Manthai Mossang,SSA,Junior Teacher who was brutally murdered on 22nd Dec when he was on the way to his duty place near Tibetan Refugee camp under specially orchestrated plan by the one Mr. Suman Rajbongshi, who is a commer-

cial private taxi operator alongwith two other accomplices. As per the law enforcing agency inputs, the deceased wife is said to have had extra marital affairs with the prime accused for a longtime but when they were caught red handed, they had to device a plan to shun him forever to clear their everlasting union which surprisingly culminated in the Mioa police station jail.

It is reported that the duo had even hired some more persons to give a finishing touch to the preplanned murder where only one person have been caught besides the deceased wife.

However, the larger episode of this heinous crime is yet to be

unearthed with the Superintendent of police, Changlang district as the main driver in the mission. Interestingly, with the main kingpin of the crime under interrogation exposed that the crime had been committed under the influence of extra marital affairs between the Culprit and the deceased wife that enticed them to device a crime in the filmy style. So far three dreaded culprits have been arrested by the Miao police under the initiative of Superintendent of Police, Changlang district in this connection.

Contd. on Page 3

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DIBRUGARH, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30

P2 Aries You're usually good at bringing people together.

Your greatest strength is giving identity to those people who seek it. In fact, you're so aware of the differences between people that you resist the changes that come about as people evolve. Today's planetary alignment confronts you with issues that concern your future. Your position will help you accept things and go forward.

Army Conducts Free Medical Camp at Nalani Village

Taurus Some of you still let individuals from other Zodiac Signs do all the creating for you.

The planetary configuration today pushes you to free yourself from the ties that bind you. It's time for you to show more creativity. Show the gems that you usually hide. Express yourself fully, without hesitation. Show others who's really in charge.

Gemini You are very interested in all kinds of professions that concern humans, Gemini medicine, psychology, or any kind of spiritual therapy. You will be very sensitive to the great opening toward the future that comes along today. The planetary alignment initiates progress in all areas of human existence. Keep your eyes and ears wide open.

Cancer You may surprise the people around you over the next few days, Cancer. You're a responsible person and others can count on you. But just like anybody else, you're sensitive to your desires. You should expect your desires to be so strong today that they may be irresistible. If this is a positive experience, you may need to do some planning in your personal life.

Leo You may have to stand by certain difficult, worrisome decisions today, Leo. You may feel a kind of urgent need for stability in your personal life. What is really behind this feeling? Is it possible that you're just afraid of your desire to put everything into question in order to make a fresh start? Today you may find the answer to this question. Stay tuned.

Virgo Do you help the world evolve, Virgo? You may ask yourself this kind of delicate question today.

Even if you're a person of action who knows how to react to situations, you should be careful not to be too impulsive. You have a specific role to play. Don't get thrown off track by emotional circumstances.

Libra You may have a tendency to be overprotective of the people closest to you, especially children. You may feel you live in a dangerous world in which people don't care about responsibility to one another. But the people you're trying to protect are probably better prepared and adapted to the world than you think, Libra. They might try to tell you this even if your support is indispensable.

Tokalai river of Jorhat clogged with plastics. Photo by Nekib Ahmed.

ET Correspondent Doomdooma, Dec 29: Phillobari Army Camp of Rupai Battalion under Operation Sadbhavana Digboi Battalion under the aegis of Dao Division organised a free Medical Camp at Nalani village today. More than 200 people came from the neighbouring areas availed the free medical consultation service from the medical camp. A team of doctors and pharmacists attended to the needs of the villagers who availed the free medical camp.

It may be noted that, Nalani village being remotely situated villagers do face tough times when it comes to availing healthcare facilities. Now that the Nalani village is adopted, thanks

Phillobari Army Camp of the Rupai Battalion Army; now the villagers have something to cheer about.

“Similar kind of population friendly activities will be regularly organised such as medical camp, awareness campaign against drugs addiction, motivating youths to join Army and Government Jobs, Infrastructure improvement and other Grievances of public related to Civil Administration,” said an Army official. Army Medical Camp was Coordinated with Margherita Civil Administration, Margherita Civil Hospital, Ketetong Public Health Centre That apart, medicines were distributed free of cost. Senior citizens and children who are deprived of proper healthcare took the best advantage of the camp.

Addl Chief Secy visits Pathorughat MANGALDAI, Dec 29 : Additional Chief Secretary KK Mittal today visited Pathorughat, where the historic Pathorughat Peasants’ Uprising took place, almost a month ahead of the celebration of the ‘Krishak Swahid Divas’ on January 28.

Mittal’s visit is reportedly connected with the preparation for the forthcoming Krishak Swahid

Sushanta Roy Diphu, Dec 29: The Students & Youth Council, Simeon Rongphar led Karbi Student Association and Congress leader Bidyasing Rongpi on Wednesday opposed the move of the state government to extend the term of Executive Committee of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council.

The organizations demanded that government should hold election to the council before January 13; markedly, the Guwahati High Court Will take up the public in-

terest litigation (PIL) field by these organizations and an individual on Jnuary 4. The PIL has challenged the move of the government for extension of Council’s term for farther six month, as the election is due within January 13.

of delay in preparation of electoral rolls due to Baithalangso by-election held on November 19, last, The state government has also moved for the extension due to back budgetary provision to conduct the poll.

Addresing a joint press conference at Diphu Press Club yesterday SYC convener, Dr. Mongve Rongpi said as of now it is learnt that the present EC of KAAC has sought extension of the term for a period of six month on the excuse

They are showing the causes for implementation of memorandum of settlement (MoS) signed between the disbanded UPDS and officials of ministry of home affairs (MHA) and state home department.

Scorpio

Sagittarius

Capricorn The planetary aspects are going to have a big impact on you today, Capricorn. This isn't the time to fear the future.

Rather, it's a time to make it happen. The action you take right now will be instrumental in your future. Will there be enough of us walking toward the future? Capricorn will be at the head of the pack in any case, as always.

Aquarius The planetary aspects are going to have a big impact on you today, Capricorn. This isn't the time to fear the future. Rather, it's a time to make it happen. The action you take right now will be instrumental in your future. Will there be enough of us walking toward the future? Capricorn will be at the head of the pack in any case, as always.

Pisces Today is an inspirational day for you, fast-thinking Pisces. Let those visions come to you, process them, and try to verbalize them. A lot of information and electricity is in the air, and you should have no problem picking up on it. Open up your channels for the best reception.

Have a notepad handy to jot down all your insights.

It is worth mentioning that for the first time, a senior officer in the rank of an Additional Chief Secretary has visited Pathorughat to supervise the preliminary works for the same. During his visit Divas as the State gov- the Additional Chief Secernment is going to ob- retary talked to the local serve the historic ‘Day’ villagers and prominent

citizens regarding the event.

Sipajhar Legislator Binanda Kr Saikia, Darrang Deputy Commissioner Ashok Kumar Barman and officials of the Agriculture Department offered a detailed note on this historic event of freedom struggle of India.

Assam Govt. conspiring to ex- Veteran communist activist tend KAAC term, allege SYC Bhola Dutta no more

You probably need society's or other people's approval in order to feel good about yourself, Scorpio. But your original personality and way of thinking are often hard for others to accept. You may need to make your ideas less crazy and a little more down to Earth and practical.

This should be your goal over the next few days if you don't want to feel left out of things.

The events of the day depend on your ability to put things into question today, Sagittarius. In general, you're good at analyzing situations when things aren't going well in your relationships.

Now someone in your family may have a problem acting responsibly. It's up to that person to take care of things, but you could understand the message the person is trying to send other people with his or her behavior.

in a befitting manner with State honour on January 28.

Sivasagar District Schedule Cast Student Union burning effigy of Assam Sahitya Sabha president Dr. Dhurbajyute Bora. Photo by Firuz Ahmed.

ET Correspondent Doomdooma, Dec 29: Bhola Dutta, a freedom fighter, and a veteran communist activist passed away at his residence located at RupaiSiding, Lachit Nagar on Monday evening battling prolonged age old complications at the ripe age of 90. Bhola Dutta was a known face who worked tirelessly for the welfare of downtrodden people.

He was born in December 1926 at Jhanji Phulpanisiga Garchuk village in Sivasagar district.His primary schooling was completed from Jhanji. His elder brother late Ratneswar Dutta, an employee of Doomdooma Town Committee brought him to Doomdooma .He studied at Hoonlal High School at Doomdooma and was the first union Secretary of the Students' Union of Hoonlal High School .

He was influenced by the communist ideals from his adolescent. Subsequently he joined the Communist Party of India and started fighting for the freedom of the

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

country. During this period, he came in contact with Khagen Borborah, Hemanga Biswas, G a u r i s h a n k a r Bhattacharjee , Bishnu Prasad Rabha , Dr Bhupen Hazarika and the present Chief Minister of Tripura Manik Sarkar .

He was imprisoned two times for his involvement in revolutionary activities when he was reading in class seven.

He spent two years in Jorhat and Nagaon jails.In 1969, he started a printing press named Gunaram Press at Doomdooma. He was the founder of Rickshaw and Thella puller's Union, besides being associated with the Deeamoolie Tea Estate Mazdoor Union.

He contributed significantly in establishing Doomdooma College.

He is survived by his wife and four sons, one son being journalist Manoj Dutta, who was the former Secretary of Tinsukia District Journalists’ Association.

Doomdooma MLA Durga Bhumij ,

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Lakhimpur MP Pradan Barua , Doomdooma Press Club , Tinsukia District Journalist's Association , Tinsukia Press Club , Sadia - Saikhowa Press Club , Digboi Press Club, Kakopathar Press Club , Rupai High School, Doomdooma College and Rupai-Siding unit of Sahitya Sabha , Tinsukia district and Doomdooma unit of CPM , Ellora Vigyan Mancha , Hoonlal HS School , Doomdooma Girls' High School , Doomdooma Bangiya Vidyalaya , Learner's Educational institutions , Lachit Nagar Namghar and several other organizations and institutions condoled freedom fighter Bhola Dutta's sad demise.

In a condolence meet at Doomdooma Press Club, President Anuj Kalita, Secretary Abhijit Khataniar , Senior journalist Dhiren Deka , Journalist Pradip Moran and DY365 reporter Nawantik Orang expressed deep grief and three minutes silence was observed for the eternal peace of the departed soul.

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DIBRUGARH, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30

P3

Miao Administration Cancels Elated by your remarkable feat: CM Khandu congratulates APCSU-led Career weightlifter Jimjang Deru Counselling Program ET Bureau: Miao, 29 Dec: The career counselling program of Arunachal Pradesh Chakma Students’ Union (APCSU) scheduled to be organized at Community Hall, Miao in Changlang district on Thursday has been cancelled by the local Administration.

The local administration granted permission to use the community hall to APCSU for the program yesterday. As the program

was supposed to start after the organisers completed all the necessary arrangement, the local administration informed the organizers to cancel the program immediately on the ground of law and order issues.

“As a result, the students who sought permission from the school authorities to attend the career counselling went home dejected. Had the program being held, hundreds of

students would have benefited from the event,” the press statement of Arunachal Pradesh Chakma Students’ Union added.

Later in the evening, the APCSU and its members joined the peaceful candle light march organized by teachers associations at Miao to pay homage to Late Manthai Mossang, a Junior teacher who was brutally killed by miscreant recently.

Pertinently, the APCSU has been conducting a series of career counselling programs for the benefit of the students in the past few days. Apart from career guidance, the APCSU has been conducting the programs to create awareness among the students to fight various social evils such as drug menace, child labour, etc and to guide the youths and students to build a prosperous and peaceful State.

Jairampur Battalion Assam Rifles come to rescue of locals in firefighting ET Bureau: Jairampur, 29 Dec: Security Forces belonging to Jairampur Battalion of Assam Rifles under the aegis of Dao Division rose to the occasion and assisted the civil administration and

locals in dousing the fire that broke out at a residential complex near 17 Mile, Jairampur Town on Wednesday.

On being informed, troops of Jairampur Battalion imme-

diately rushed to the site along with a water bowser and firefighting equipment and commenced firefighting efforts to extinguish the fire.

Three houses in the residential complex were completely gutted by the fire due

to storage of inflammable products inside the houses which with timely intervention of the firefighting column resulted in prevention of spread of fire to four adjacent houses.

West Siang lift 15th Tadar Tang State Level Football Trophy ET Bureau ITANAGAR, Dec 29 : West Siang beat defending champion Capital Complex Sporting Club 2-0 to win the 15th Tadar Tang State Level Football Tournament in a keenly-fought final match.

Jumdo Padu and Gemar Loya scored a goal each for the newly crowned champions in a packed RG Stadium, Naharlagun on Wednesday.

Capital Complex made all out attempts in search of the equalizer. But they were denied any chance to restore parity as organized West Siang defenders and keeper thwarted all attempts.

West Siang coach M Sora credited the team’s victory to District Football Association (DFA), which worked

among others.

Meanwhile, Arunachal Pradesh Football Association (APFA) has selected a 21 players for the ensuing 71st National Football Championships for Santosh Trophy to be held in Meghalaya during JanuaryFebruary, 2017.

hard to train the players and select the best team.

Bengia Tagi of CCSC was adjudged the player of the tournament while Dodam Loyi of West Siang was chosen as the best goalkeeper. Tarh Rajkumar of Kra Daadi became the highest

scorer.

The final match was witnessed by Home and RWD Minister Kumar Waii, Director (Sports) Tadar Appa, Chairman of Sports Authority of Arunachal (SAA) Gora Makik and vice chairman (SAA) Gechi Doke,

Kipa Bharat and Dare Takar have been appointed as the head coach and manager of the team respectively.

The team: Tage Pilya, Gangte Chape, Biri Pada, Tarh Gungte, Giogi Tani, Bengia Tagi, Kito Loya, Tamuk Taja, Tai Natum, Taw Akash, Dari Lugu, Gekir Dolum, Pura Byai, Byabang Doley, RD Karma, Gobinso Drai, Tadar Kojum, Gyamar Appa, Techi Tatra.

Arun Jaitley on note ban: Tax collection up, more new notes of Rs 500 soon Contd. from Page 1

"One of the intentions as far as government of India is concerned is that the paper currency should shrink and a large part of businesses should be in the alternative digital or cheque mode. Considering the very large increase in digital users that have taken place

we seem to be moving in the right direction," he said.

Replying to questions on when customers can see easing of curbs on cash withdrawals, Jaitley said, "That is a decision the central bank will take in consultation with everyone."

The finance minister

underscored that contrary to apprehensions, the impact on GDP was not as bad as feared and in fact, various sectors such as investment in mutual funds and life insurance, fuel consumption, and tourism witnessed growth post demonetisation.

However, he refused to hazard a guess on the GDP growth for the year or the

possible impact on tax proposals in the Union Budget for 2017-18 on account of increased revenue collections, PTI reported.

Jaitley thanked people for supporting demonetisation and said that not a single incident of unrest has been reported over junked notes.

Peaceful candle light march organized across Changlang district to demand justice for late manthai mossang Contd. from Page 1

The peaceful candle march has been organized by the teachers and students fraternity across the district which started officially at 4 p.m in the evening and culminated around 7 p.m. The All Teacher Association(ATA) headed

by Mr. Kamjai Taisam, All Sarva Shiksa Abhiyan T e a c h e r s Association(ASSATA) headed by Ngongpa Zongsam and Confederation Of Service Association of Arunachal Pradesh(COSAAP), Changlang district unit headed by Er. Pusam Tangha, DFO, Changlang, partook in the procession to

offer solidarity to the departed soul of late. Manthai Mossang, who originally hailed from Borsattam in Manmao circle of Changlang district in Arunachal Pradesh was serving as a Junior teacher posted at Newtan village under Miao circle of the district.“On the other side of the district at Changlang township, the peaceful candle march was headed

by Mr. Salman Mungrey, President of All Changlang District Srudent Union and Mr. Wachom Rekhung, a General Secretary of ACDSU which culminated peacefully this evening.

With this, the general public as well as other civil societies had expressed strong resentment over the

heinous crimes committed under the very nose of Law of the Land without any fear should be shunned forever.

The educational, Students and the indigenous communities have alerted the peace loving tribals citiznes to be extremely cautious whenever they resort to appointing a personal drivers or labours at the household or in their work place to ensure safety in their lives. The victim family alongwith the Tangsa community are demanding capital punishment for the culprit and the accomplices against this heinous and inhuman act of the culprits but the time will tell how the law of the land deal with the intensity of the crime at par with the bereaved family wishes.

At Kharsang, Kharsang Circle Unemployed Youth A s s o c i a t i o n ( K C U YA ) headed by its President Mr. Sanjay Kimsing and its General Secretary Mr. Munglong Ngemu joined the candle light march with the rest of the circles in the district to pay solidarity to the deceased Late Manthai Mossang this evening.

Least but not the least, the candle light crusade was also joined by Muklom Elite Society, Miao-Kharsang unit headed by its President Mr. Langhom Tangha to pay homage to the departed soul of the victim. With this over whelming support from every corners of the district were witnessed.

ET Bureau Itanagar, Dec 29 : Chief Minister Pema Khandu has congratulated weightlifter Jimjang Deru for setting a new national record. Earlier, Jimjang Deru set a new national record in clean & jerk event in men's 62kg category with a lift of 153kg to secure the gold medal on Day Two of the Senior National Weightlifting Championships. In his

appreciation letter to Deru, the CM wrote, “I am elated by the news of you making it to the new Senior National Champion in clean and jerk category of weightlifting by breaking all previous national records. Indeed it is a history in making as we know and believe that it is just a beginning. There will be many records broken and too many new milestones set in your future attempts.

We see you as a bright shining star that will represent not only Arunachal but our nation in all upcoming international events including the Olympics”. CM khandu made a special note to congratulate on behalf of the State Government and stated the achievement as a ‘true recognition of Deru’s sincere endeavour and

never say die attitude’ which will set an example for thousands of aspiring sportsperson from the state and the nation.

“I am sure, you will continue to put your best foot forward and bring many more laurels to our tribal State and our great nation as a whole.We are proud of you!,” the letter added further.

Need to formulate DIP to regulate water distribution: Sinha TAWANG, Dec 29: Joint Secretary to Union Ministry of Agriculture, RB Sinha underscored the importance of formulating a proper District Irrigation Plan(DIP) by taking into consideration the forecast of water requirement in the coming years so as to increase efficiency and regulate proper distribution.

Sinha, who was in Tawang said this during a meeting with the head of departments convened under his chairmanship at Zomkhang Hall here on Wednesday.

While highlighting on the overall scenario of potable water in the entire country and informing about the low water efficiency, he said that serious threat is being posed by contamination from various sources.

He stressed on the impor-

tance of schemes like Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) and how the same would help in increasing agricultural productivity.

Tawang DC, Sang Phuntsok further informed that the District Irrigation Plan is under preparation

by NABCONS and is likely to be completed by coming month. He also

placed before the Joint Secretary, problems being faced by farmers due to monkey and wild boar menace and how the same has compelled many to abandon farming altogether. The Secretary assured to take up the matter with the Wild life Institute of India and said that funding would be arranged for necessary action. When apprised by

the DC about the increase in various diseases within the area possibly due to chemical contamination in water and also about the fragile topography of the region resulting into frequent landslides that has even taken up numerous lives, the Joint Secretary said that the problems would be flagged before the higher Authority in the Centre. (DIPRO)

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‘I am suffering from a All Tai Ahom Students Union to BJP-led Government at the Centre and State Government: complex disease that has no cure’: Zubeen Garg Don’t play communal politics in Assam ET Correspondent Margherita, Dec 29: All Tai Ahom Students’ Union Tinsukia District Committee President Chao Utpal Gogoi has slammed and criticized both BJP-led Government at the Centre and State Government for doing politics in the name

of caste and religion in Assam. On the eve of Christmas Day 25 December Sunday, Chao Utpal Gogoi said that RSS activists who stood at the historical Kareng Ghar Sibsagar resorted to communal sloganeering which has sparked communal tension

all over Assam. Chao Utpal Gogoi said that Assam is a land of Srimanta Sankardev,Azaan Pir Phakir,Chao Lung Chukafa,Veer Lachit Barphukan,Veee Chilarai where People of Assam irrespective of caste, creed, race, religion and language

have been living in peace, love, harmony and brotherhood since time immemorial.

He alleged that RSS like Communal organisations want to convert Assam into a Hindu State and spread the propaganda of Hindu ideol-

ogy and principles and he shall not allow them to do it. “Greater Assam shall not abide by Nagpur Order (headquarter of RSS); I warn them not to encourage communalistic politics and RSS must know the history of Ahoms,” Chao Utpal Gogoi said.

PM Modi’s interview to India Today: ‘Demonetisation a tough decision to clean economy’ New Delhi, Dec 29 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given an exclusive interview, his first after demonetisation, to India Today magazine. In the interview with Group Editorial Director of the magazine, Raj Chengappa, the prime minister dismissed all criticism and talked about the impact of demonetisation on Indian economy, government’s future action plan and how he sees Opposition’s protest against note ban.

Highlights of the interview #Black money has all been forced out into the open, whomsoever it may belong to-whether it is corrupt politicians, bureaucrats, businessmen or professionals. Counterfeit notes, which our intelligence agencies had reported to be available in high volumes with our enemies, have been instantly neutralised. The media has extensively reported on districts famous as counterfeiting hubs being badly hit. #Regarding frequent modifications one must be able to distinguish between Niti and Ran niti.

Our ran niti however needed to be different, aptly summarised by the age old saying tu daal daal main paat paat. #Regarding Manmohan Singh, it is interesting that

the world’s monumental mismanagement comes from a leader who has been at the helm of India economic journey for the past 45 years. His reference to ‘organised loot’ was perhaps a reference to the unending string of scams under his leadership, from the coal scam to the 2G and CWG scam.

Demonetisation on the other hand is the unprecedented step to confiscate the loot of the corrupt.

The govt tried its best to keep the parliament functioning. I was keen to speak in both the houses.

Yet, there was was a concerted attempt by the Congress to derail the functioning of the houses, rather than have a proper debate. While Opposition in Parliament is understandable, this is the first time this is being used to protect the dishonest and that to so openly. #When money returns to the bank, it loses its anonymity. Every rupee leaves a trail. This changes the game as black money that did not have an address till now has been tagged with one. We now know when was it, where and when. Holders of black money may hide behind the bank accounts of others, but unlike cash holdings, they can be traced. In this game of hide and seek they have a

few days to hide, but the govt has the mechanism and will to seek them out.

More interestingly the existence of such trails, the identification of one culprit invariably leads to the unearthing of even larger sources and schemes of corruption. #If you act with clarity and with the purest of motives, the results will be there for any to see. Whatever my critics may say, I seek no personal benefit from all this, only the greater good. # Cash held by terrorists, Maoists and other extremists has also been neutralised. There has been a crippling impact on dangerous and highly damaging illegal activities, such as human trafficking and narcotics. #I pity a few of our opponents, especially the Congress leadership, for the desperation they have been exhibiting..Congress leaders are entirely pre-occupied with only one thing-elections. #There is nothing political in the demonetisation decision…it was a tough decision taken to clean up our economy and our society. If I were guided by short-term electoral politics, I would have never done so. #If one does an unbiased, objective evaluation of my g o v e r n m e n t ’s programmes and priorities over the past two and a

half years, the one thing that will unambiguously emerge is the centrality of the poor, downtrodden and marginalised. # The multiplier effect of introduction of money, which was till now uselessly hoarded and stocked away as cash, into the active economic system will give the economy further boost. Additional government revenue will be pushed into priority domains such as irrigation and rural housing, empowering the poor and needy. #We took the demonetisation decision not for some short term windfall gain, but for a long term structural transformation. Our objective was to clean up our economy and society of the menace of black money, purging the distrust, artificial pressures and other ills that came with it. The revenue collected will be used for the welfare of the poor, downtrodden and marginalised. #Earlier the income tax department used to shoot in the dark. Now, people have voluntarily come forward and deposited money in their banks. The aim is to ensure that the honest tax payer is not harassed of inconvenienced while the dishonest tax evade is efficiently caught and punished. Beyond this any erring officer or banker will be caught and

punished. My government has zero tolerance for corruption. #Digital transaction should not be viewed only as a short-term substitute to help through the period of cash shortage. That is not my objective. Digital transaction deliver multiple benefits. They facilitate proper accounting and sizing of the formal economy. They provide greater ease and security in handling of money, especially for small businesses and ordinary people. They also deliver greater tax compliance ensuring the dishonest do not escape payment of their dues. Therefore, I see digital payment as method of cleaning the economy in the long run. # It is imperative that we figure out decisive ways of routing out black money from politics. I have been regularly appealing for the same. I have asserted before the last parliament session itself that the need of the hour is to comprehensively relook and reform political funding. I have also repeatedly expressed concern about how our current system of multiple elections not only raises political expenditure, thereby hurting the economy, but also result in the nation perpetually remaining in the election mode, stalling governance.

Minimum Rs 10,000 fine for holding old notes, no jail term PTI New Delhi, Dec 29: The government has made holding of more than 10 junked Rs 500/1000 notes a penal offence punishable with a minimum Rs 10,000 fine, but the harsher four-year jail term has been dropped.

The Specified Bank Notes Cessation of Liabilities Ordinance, approved on Wednesday by the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, allows individuals to hold no more than 10 notes of the old currency. It allows 25 such cur-

rencies to be held by research scholars.

Top sources said the ordinance, which will be sent to the President for his assent shortly, will come into effect from December 31.

It provides for making holding of old 1,000 and 500 rupee notes after March 31 a criminal offence that will attract a fine of Rs 10,000 or five times the cash held, whichever is higher.

Furnishing wrong information while depositing the

old currency between January 1 and March 31 - a window provided only for exigencies - will attract a fine of Rs 5,000 or five times the amount, whichever is higher.

The ordinance also provides for amending the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act to provide legislative support for extinguishing the demonetised banknotes that are not returned.

The 50-day window for depositing the old notes in bank accounts and post of-

fices expires on Friday.

While the high-denomination currency ceased to be a legal tender from midnight of November 8, 2016, a mere notification was not thought to be enough to end the central bank's liability and avoid future litigations.

Currency notes carry RBI's promise to pay the bearer the amount of the value of the note, a pledge that can be nullified only by legislation after giving due opportunity to everyone to return

old notes.

Sources said the proposal for a four-year jail term for anyone possessing large number of demonetised currency after March 31, 2017 was not approved.

The ordinance, which will have to be converted into proper legislation by passing of a law in Parliament within six months, makes possession, transfer or receiving an amount of over Rs 10,000 in the nowdemonetised 500 and 1,000-rupee notes a punishable offence.

Pramila Rani Brahma, Minister, Forest & Environment, Assam releasing the India Official WWF Report on the Greater One Horned Rhino at the Assam Secretariat.

Sasanka Talukda Bajali, Dec 29: Participating in a friendly football match organized by Bajali Hindu Yuba Chatra Parishad where Zubeen Friends’ Club and Bajali Prabin had a face-off at the Higher Secondary field, Pathsala in Barpeta district on Tuesday, Zubeen Garg scored a goal against Bajali Prabin.

Zubeen Garg said, “I am suffering from a complex

disease because the wishes of my people from Assam are always with me”.

Zubeen Garg disease that has no cure according to medical science.

I am still alive and played today’s match with full spirit”. He further added, “I am not at all sad about this

Zubeen has not been doing too well in the recent days and was recently hospitalized when his health deteriorated during a performance in Raiganj, West Bengal. He was rushed to Raiganj District Hospital and was later shifted to North Bengal Hospital in Siliguri where his condition was declared stable.

Crackdown on drinkdriving in festive Guwahati ET Bureau Guwahati, Dec 29 : The police are on their toes to check drink-driving in the run-up to the New Year Eve festivities. On Christmas, the police detected almost 117 cases of drink-driving.

A large number of road accidents take place because of driving in an inebriated state.

In view of the festive season, the police began a month-long awareness campaign against the dangers of drink-driving from the middle of December which will run till January 12.

Since 2010, the Guwahati traffic police have recorded around 7,200 road accidents. Probes revealed that 4,130 were due to drinkdriving. "Nearly 6,040 people received serious injuries and 1,616 lost their lives in road mishaps. Twowheelers, buses, trekkers and auto-vans are the big-

gest offenders," a traffic police source said.

cidents.

Police commissioner Hiren Nath has asked the people to initiate a campaign against drink-driving right from their homes. He said, "Awareness should begin with family members. They are the ones who should take the lead to educate others. We can keep a watch and fine the offenders. But the change should come from the people themselves."

The traffic police have formed 16 citizen committees to spread awareness about the menace. Incidents of traffic violations have also reached an alarming level with over 85,000 cases being registered last year, translating to an average of 235 violations a day. The number of road accidents has also gone up alarmingly to 1,083. Nearly 244 people lost their lives in these ac-

Though speed limits have been enforced, they are blatantly violated with offenders crossing the mandatory 30-40 km/hour rule. This continues despite the introduction of interceptor vehicles by the traffic police three years ago to keep a check on reckless and drinkdiving. "The traffic department received fines of over Rs 2.9 crore last year. It found that people would rather pay penalty than follow rules. Since 2013, nearly Rs 10 crore has been collected from traffic violators," the official added.

A study of the city's traffic scenario has also highlighted that poor illumination in several stretches leads to accidents. Areas like Uzan Bazar, Pan Bazar, Maligaon and Chandmari have insufficient street lights for motorists and pedestrians.

CPM workers slam National Register of Citizens update 'delay' ET Bureau Guwahati, Dec 29 : Hundreds of CPM activists on Tuesday gathered in front of the office of the state coordinator of National Register of Citizens (NRC), Prateek Hajela, to oppose the inclusion of names of 'illegal Hindu immigrants' in the updated document.

The activists vowed to launch a unified movement with other secular parties if the government allowed Hindus or other non-Muslims from Bangladesh to feature in the updated NRC. The workers also said the NRC should consider 1971

to be the cut-off year for the detection of foreigners in Assam.

The CPM workers said the BJP-led government at the Centre had delayed the NRC update process to regularize the entry of religious minorities from Bangladesh. "The Centre wants to pass the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, in Parliament before the NRC is fully updated; this will ensure that a section of illegal immigrants can be included in the NRC," state secretary of CPM Deben Bhattacharyya said.

In a memorandum addressed to the state coordinator of NRC, the party raised concern over noncompletion of the NRC update process in the state in spite of having begun in December 2014 under the supervision of the Supreme Court.

The CPM said a draft of the updated NRC should be published before March 31 next year and reiterated that 1971 should be considered the cut-off year to ensure that only genuine Indian citizens were listed in the all-important document.

Demonetisation, GST to transform India, NPAs key risk: RBI New Delhi, Dec 29 : Lauding the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and demonetisation initiative by the government, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday said these moves can transform the economy, inconvenience to public and momentary impact on growth notwithstanding. In a statement to the media on Thursday, RBI Governor Urjit Patel said withdrawal of specified bank notes will impart far reaching changes going forward, adding that demonetisation will significantly transform economy in due course. These observations were made in the Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India 2015-16 (RTP) and the 14th issue of the Financial Stability Report (FSR).

Patel said that enhanced transparency has helped in reinforcing the stability of India’s financial system. He further added that the performance of corporate sector has improved though the risk of lower turnover remains.

The Governor also cautioned

that there is “little room” for complacency and it is important to guard against sporadic volatility in financial markets. RBI further said that the banking stability indicator shows that the risks to the banking sector remained elevated due to continuous deterioration in asset quality, low profitability and liquidity.

Meanwhile, in an effort to

assuage concerns of Medium and Small Enterprises (MSMEs), the central bank directed banks to provide additional working capital limit to them to deal with cash crunch following demonetisation. It also noted that the financial system remains stable although banks, particularly public sector banks (PSBs) continue to face significant levels of stress.

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A year of high-profile visits & promises Shillong, Dec 29: Meghalaya, which will elect its government in 2018, hosted at least six Union Ministers this year indicating the BJP that has made inroads into the North East with its win in the Assam assembly elections consolidating the party’s position.

The high-profile visits this year began with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh who attended the 181st Raising Day celebration of the Assam Rifles in March. The programme was held at the headquarters of the Director General Assam Rifles in Laitkor.

Singh had also visited the residence of late Tura MP Purno Sangma and met his family.

This was followed by a visit

by Smriti Irani, who was the Union HRD Minister, at the end of the month to attend the convocations of IIMShillong and the North East Hill University.

Irani was followed by Union

DoNER Minister Jitendra Singh in April. He was in the city to attend a function of the North eastern Council.

Singh’s announcement at the function that the State would get a medical college under PPP mode came under the scanner of the State Election Commission as Tura Lok Sabha constituency was preparing for bypoll.

The most high-profile visit was of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May for two days to attend the 65th plenary session of the North Eastern Council. He had pledged to reduce isolation of the region by boosting connectivity like road, railways, telecom, power and waterway. He had also stressed on how important the region was for the government.

Modi had also addressed a large crowd in the city, besides visiting Elephant Falls and the Sacred Groves at Mawphlang.

Union Health and Family Welfare Minister J.P Nadda also visited NEIGRIHMS on two occasions, one being in June when he attended the institute’s governing council meeting.

DoNER Minister Singh was back in Shillong in August to pay tribute to Khasi freedom fighter U Tirot Sing at Nongkhlaw on the occasion of Independence Day. Nadda’s second trip to the city was in September when he attended the parliamentary consultative committee meeting on health at NEIGRIHMS. He had nudged all northeastern states, including Meghalaya, to utilise more central funds and asked them to develop capacity building support for the same.

The ninth month of the year saw another Union Minister’s visit. HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar held an interactive session

Scribes protest bomb threat

Imphal, Dec 29 : A one day sit in protest was held at Keishampat to condemn the planting of a hand grenade at the office of PANDAM evening daily by the journalist fraternity of the State under the aegis of Editors’ Guild, Manipur from 10 am till 4 pm yesterday.

A total of about 200 journalists joined the protest including representatives of various associations and organisations and political party leaders.

It can be recalled that KCPMP informed about the bomb being planted through a phone and the bomb disposal squad found it above a steel almirah inside the office on December 26.

The editorial section of vari-

SBI employees demand closure of Bhandari branch MOKOKCHUNG, DEC 29 : State Bank of India (SBI) employees Wednesday demanded that the SBI Bhandari branch be closed down immediately after one of its colleague posted at SBI Bhandari was allegedly assaulted by miscreants on the night of December 23.

Condemning the incident, the officer and staff of SBI Regional Branch, Mokokchung also staged “candlelight demonstration” to show solidarity to the victim.

The employees further submitted a memorandum addressed to assistant general manager SBI, which apart from its demand on closure of SBI Bhandari branch, has also demanded justice and proper security be ensured to the bankers.

The demonstration led by SBI officers association regional secretary Imtisanen Ao, held placards that read, “Stop attack on bank employees to prevent economic paralysis, we demand immediate action by the police and the district administration to book the offenders, stop playing with emotions of the bankers’, our silence is not our weakness etc”.

ous newspapers condemned the act and ISTV and Impact TV stopped broadcasting news programme on December 27.

he alleged and urged the authorities to take up measures to prevent such incidents in the future.

The Manipur Hills Journalists Union also staged a similar protest demonstration at Churachandpur district headquarters and left the editorial space of the newspapers blank for the day.

United NGOs Mission Manipur also called on the State and the Central Governments to investigate the hand grenade planted at PANDAM office and condemned the attempt to attack media persons and news organisations.

MLA and general secretary of BJP Manipur Pradesh, Th Biswajit Singh condemned the planting of the hand grenade at PANDAM office creating panic to the media persons. Such incidents happen because the State Government does not give attention to media houses,

UNM-M recalled the threats and attacks on many editors and reporters and urged the State Government and at the Centre to investigate the matter and punish the perpatrator/s according to the law of the land. It also appealed the group to stop such threats.

with students at IIM Shillong in September before meeting the chairpersons and directors of all IIMs. During his interaction, Javadekar had asked IIM students in the city to take up teaching as career, besides improving research in all the IIMs in the country.

November was the busiest month for the security apparatus in the city as it witnessed the maximum number of visits by Union Ministers.

Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju first visited Shillong to inaugurate the 10th Biennial National Conference of the Physics Academy of North East at St Anthony’s College on November 10. By that time, the Centre had announced its surgical strike on black money and scrapped old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.

Chief Minister Mukul Sangma had been pilloried by the MoS for being criti-

“Only insistent movement can oust the corrupt Marxist government from power.

The way TMC led by Mamata Banerjee has ousted the Marxist government from power in West Bengal, Tripura too would follow the example,” president of the newly formed Tripura unit of the party, Asish Saha told reporters.

Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee has constituted the Tripura Pradesh unit of her party with Ashish Saha as its president, a party leader said here on Tuesday.

“With the approval of Mamata Banerjee, a 74member TMC Tripura Pradesh Committee was an-

nounced late Monday night with Ashish Saha as state president,” TMC leader Sudip Roy Barman said.

He said that a nine-member state coordination committee was also announced with Ratan Chakraborty as chairman and Surajit Datta as convenor.

All the six TMC legislators and former Tripura Chief Minister Samir Ranjan Barman (1992-1993) are members of the coordination committee.

“Didi has formed the state committee and coordination committee comprising of both young and experienced leaders,” Barman told reporters.

“The new TMC committee would fight against the ruling Left Front to oust it from governance in the 2018 assembly elections,” he said.

In the new TMC state committee, there are 10 vice presidents with eight general secretaries, secretaries and one treasurer. Protesting against the Congress’

cal of the demonetisation.

A few days later on November 17, Rijiju again visited the city to attend the Platinum Jubilee Ceremony of the Assam Regimental Centre.

Union Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal also visited Shillong in November to review the activities of the North Eastern Council.

Sudarshan Bhagat, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, came in November and criticised the State Government for not utilising the horticulture budget during his meeting with the Horticulture and Agriculture Department officials.

However, such frequent visits by Union Ministers did not go down well with the Chief Minister who had questioned their intention of visiting Shillong at public expenditure.

E-ballot paper set for debut Imphal, Dec 29 : For the first time in the electoral history of Manipur, e-postal ballot paper will be used in the 11th Manipur Legislative Assembly election.

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) VK Dewangan told The Sangai Express that around 11,000 voters of Manipur are working in Army, Air Force, Navy and different Central paramilitary forces.

To remedy the usual problems encountered in sending ballot papers to these out-stationed voters through post offices, epostal ballot paper would be introduced in the forthcoming election, Dewangan said.

In order to introduce epostal ballot papers, EROs would first send e-mails to the record officers of different units where the out-stationed voters are currently posted.

Arrival of e-postal ballot papers would be informed to each service voter through their respective mobile numbers and to access the e-postal ballot papers, they would be given temporary passwords.

By using the temporary passwords, they can download their e-postal ballot

Trinamool announces continuous movement to oust Left Front in Tripura Agartala, Dec 29 : Trinamool Congress on Tuesday announced that it would launch a continuous movement in Tripura to “restore democracy” by ousting the Left Front government in the state assembly elections scheduled for 2018.

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electoral alliance with the Left parties in West Bengal, six of the ten party legislators led by Barman, along with many heads of the Congress’ frontal organisations, scores of party leaders and thousands of workers, quit the Congress and joined TMC few months back.

Both Chakraborty and Datta were former ministers of the Congress-led government that ruled the state from 1988 to 1993.

Saha alleged that the state’s employees were deprived because the recommendations of the sixth pay commission were not implemented.

Besides, a large number of youths were unemployed and crime against women was very high in Tripura. He announced that TMC supporters and activists would demonstrate before the RBI office here on January 3 against demonetisation, which caused “limitless inconveniences to the people”. (Agencies)

papers.

After casting votes, they should send back the downloaded e-postal ballot papers through post offices, informed the CEO. A separate electoral roll of the service voters of Manipur would be released on January 10 and a comprehensive electoral roll of the State would be released on January 12.

So far, 1258 numbers of VVPAT machines have reached the State and arrangements are being made to use VVPAT machines in 15 Assembly segments.

Meanwhile, 1500 EVMs have been brought from Assam. Extensive awareness programmes on using EVM and VVPAT machines would be held at higher secondary schools, colleges and 60 voter registration and facilitation centres starting from next month.

Flying squads of the 11th Manipur Legislative Assembly election would be equipped with GPS devices, Dewangan said. He further informed that vehicles needed for transporting security forces for the State Assembly election would be hired by the Government of Assam and sent to the State.

Police to keep up same tempo to maintain normalcy in GH in 2017 Shillong, Dec 29 : Meghalaya police are looking at continuity in anti-insurgency operations to maintain law and order in Garo Hills in the new year.

There were a series of arrests, surrenders and neutralisation of militants in 2016 in Garo Hills which have given hope to the police to further maintain normalcy by carrying on with the same strategy.

The action of the police against various militant groups, especially GNLA, in Garo Hills has isolated GNLA chief Sohan Shira and his followers, whose number has been reduced to a great extent.

Meghalaya DGP S.B Singh said on Wednesday that police will maintain continuity in ensuring the desired results in the coming year.

He said focus will be on South and East Garo Hills and the maximum forces are already deployed in Garo Hills to ensure normalcy.

On demonetisation and its effects on militants, the DGP said various money transactions of the rebel groups, activities of their sympathisers and over ground workers are under the constant watch of the police.

Demand for leadership change, empty pre-poll utterances dominated 2016 Shillong, Dec 29 : The perennial demand for change of leadership in the Congress Legislature Party and the statements without any action on pre-poll alliance by the non-Congress parties marked 2016 in Meghalaya.

The prominent political event of the year was the suspension of KHADC CEM P.N Syiem from the Congress for three years for being vocal against the Chief Minister, but at the cost of five MDCs who left the party in protest.

Moreover, the wining of the dual posts case made Syiem stronger and his PDF coalition in KHADC got a boost with the support of as many as 22 MDCs in the House of 29 after the by-election to seven district council seats, which saw the Congress getting only one each seat in KHADC and JHADC. Those who suffered the most in the by-poll to KHADC was Home Minister HDR Lyngdoh for his son’s defeat and HSPDP supremo Ardent Basaiawmoit for the setback to his candidate in Nongkrem.

The dropping of two ministers, AL Hek and Rowell Lyngdoh, from the cabinet capped the dissidence in the

Mukul Sangma-led MUA-II government, but the move has not helped in improving the party’s image.

The supporters of both Hek and Rowell were annoyed over the decision as they believed that the reasons cited by the Chief Minister were not genuine.

The sudden removal of Congress Minister Deborah Marak from the post of working president had also irked her as it was carried out without her knowledge.

These developments have only eroded the image of the party that will have to try hard to retain its regime in 2018.

The demand for change of leadership erupted after the humiliating defeat of the Congress candidate and Chief Minister’s wife Dikkanchi Shira in the byelection to the Tura Lok Sabha seat at the hands of NPP’s Conrad Sangma in the middle of the year.

NPP’s victory coupled with the defeat of the Congress in the neighbouring Assam in the Assembly polls rejuvenated the non-Congress parties in the State.

Though there were many statements from non-Congress parties on a pre-poll alliance ahead of the 2018 Assembly polls with the

blessings of BJP led North East Democratic Alliance post Assam polls, the idea is yet to become a reality.

HSPDP has already distanced itself from NEDA and also a pre-poll alliance.

When the disgruntlement in the Congress persisted during the year, the AICC had to rush in leaders like Mukul Wasnik and CP Joshi to quell the dissidence, but the matter reached the Assembly with the Opposition moving a no-confidence motion against both MUAII government and the Assembly Speaker with some understanding with the dissidents. While the no-confidence motion against the government was withdrawn after a six-hour debate, the Opposition did not take up the no-confidence motion against the Speaker.

The main reason for the inability of the dissidents to change the current leader was that more aspirants from among the dissidents surfaced vying for the top post.

Though the government survived the test, the party failed to remain united and the dissatisfaction among the legislators and the party men are bound to recur in 2017.

Addl forces sent to Naga areas at behest of O Ibobi : NSCN (IM) IMPHAL, Dec 28 : Asserting that the seriousness of the ongoing political talks between the NSCN (IM) and the Government of India has led to the signing of the Framework Agreement on August 3, 2015, the NSCN (IM) today said that though it is seriously committed to finding a peaceful solution, the Government of India seems to have lost its statesmanship in dealing with the issue and presented the existing problem in Manipur as an example.

In a statement issued to the press, the NSCN (IM) said that the current problem in Manipur has been created

by Chief Minister O Ibobi out of his sheer desperation and added that it is at his behest that the Government of India has sent additional Central forces against the Nagas.

This is a clear example of the nexus between Chief Minister O Ibobi and the Government of India, alleged the outfit and questioned, “Where is the sincerity of the Government of India to solve the Indo-Naga problem ?”

Stating that Nagas will

never accept any imposition, the outfit said that the creation of new districts out of Naga territory without their consent is a deliberate act to suppress the rights of the Naga people.

Governor Dr Najma Heptulla obviously gave assent to the creation of the seven new districts with the blessings of the Centre, claimed the outfit and added that this is more than clear that New Delhi is using O Ibobi to “please the Meiteis at the expense of the Nagas”.

Will the Indo-Naga problem be solved through Ibobi Singh, asked the outfit and asserted that the fate of the Nagas will never be placed at the hands of anyone.

Stating that it is for a political situation, the NSCN (IM) said that it would be wise on the part of the Government of India to seek a realistic approach to the Indo-Naga issue.

“The Indian leadership must realise the futility of using armed forces against the Nagas lest the hard earned peace process is rendered meaningless,” warned the outfit.

The refusal of Chief Minis-

ter O Ibobi to come forward for a tripartite talk is bound to invite an endless confrontation, said the outfit and questioned, ‘Is not the current volatile situation created by Ibobi a deliberate attempt to sabotage the progress of the talks ?”

The all out support extended to O Ibobi by the Central leadership has created a trust deficit, maintained the outfit and added that is surprising that the Government of India is allowing him to disturb the peace process at this crucial stage.

“The Nagas will defend their ancestral land at any cost and therefore they cannot be blamed if the worst were to happen,” added the statement.

The Government of India has deliberately chosen to support the Government of Manipur, some Meitei civil societies and Meitei insurgents who “humiliated and destroyed properties of the Nagas in Imphal valley and are desperately trying to derail the peace process,” claimed the outfit.

UNC to intensify agitation

KOHIMA/MANIPUR, DEC 29 : United Naga council (UNC) on Wednesday resolved to intensify its agitations by launching “democratic picketing” of state government offices in four Naga hill districts in Manipur-Senapati, Chandel, Ukhrul and Tamenlong from December 31 midnight.

The decision was taken at the marathon consultative meeting convened by UNC at Senapti town attended by various Naga tribal bodies,

frontal and regional organisations, intellectuals, church leaders, politicians, social leaders and public.

UNC has also decided to prevent district administration from functioning during the period.

However, educational institutions, medical services, and power sector have been exempted. The house also decided to hold consultative meeting with various tribal bodies to apprise the people on the latest situation.

It further appealed to all Naga churches to offer “special prayer” on January 8, 2017, for the peoples’ movement against creation of seven new districts and bifurcation of Nagas’ land.

At the meeting, former presidents of the United Naga Council-- K.S. Paul Leo, Samson Remei and L. Adani briefed the gathering on their recent visit to Delhi, where they met union home minister Rajnath Singh and centre’s interlocutor for Naga talk R.N. Ravi.

EDITORIAL

DIBRUGARH, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30

Today's quote When we have peace in our “hearts and minds, we draw peace into our lives.

–– Iyanla Vanzant

Disunity in opposition Ever since the Bharatiya Janata Party was voted to power with a majority of its own in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Opposition parties have been trying to find an issue that would resonate with the people, identify a rallying point that would put the Narendra Modi government at the Centre on the defensive. But when such an issue did crop up after Mr. Modi announced the demonetisation of high-value notes on November 8, opponents of the BJP found themselves unprepared and unable to tap into the public resentment at the seemingly unnecessary pain caused by the shortage of cash.

The demonetisation exercise did far more than divide the Opposition parties: it left them confused on the approach to be taken against the government. They were unable to fault the stated aims of the move: to curb black money, flush out counterfeit notes from the economy, and thereby curb terror funding. And when Mr. Modi sought 50 days to ease the cash flow, his opponents had no choice but to wait it out. Other than making noises about long queues at banks and ATMs and the flipflops in announcing new rules for withdrawals and deposits and amending them in quick time, they had little to do. They could not attack the move in principle without being seen as supporting the corrupt and the devious. And they could not attack the manner of implementation without giving Mr. Modi the time he wanted to deal with what could not but have been a crisis in cash supply.

It was probably inevitable that the Opposition parties would speak in different voices on an issue like this, but it was inexplicable that the main Opposition party, the Congress, did little to forge a united front in Parliament and outside. When Opposition parties were planning to petition President Pranab Mukherjee on the demonetisation issue, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi met Mr. Modi with a delegation of party leaders to request a waiver of farm loans. Leaders of the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Left parties were unhappy with the Congress approach. Not surprisingly, at a joint press conference of Opposition parties called by Mr. Gandhi, only Trinamool Congress leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was at hand to attack Mr. Modi. The other participants were mostly long-time allies of the Congress. The Janata Dal (United), whose leader Nitish Kumar had nice things to say about demonetisation initially, did not participate in a maha dharna organised by the RJD against demonetisation. The JD(U) stand was that it would rather wait for the 50 days before judging the move to be a failure or a mistake. Far from bringing together Opposition parties, the demonetisation move appears to have driven apart parties already in alliance.

Statesmanship at Pearl Harbour Conspicuous gestures of reconciliation between nations to heal the deep emotional wounds of wars will have connotations that go beyond the symbolic.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, through his visit to Pearl Harbour this week, and U.S. President Barack Obama, with his homage at the peace memorial at Hiroshima earlier in May, have undertaken this bold and difficult journey on behalf of their peoples more than 70 years after atrocities were committed against each other during World War II. That so much time should have been lost in both instances to put the painful past behind them only speaks to the powerful presence of nationalist sensibilities that invariably distort the moral force of reconciliation. That this should have occurred only now, despite the enduring economic engagement of several decades between Washington and Tokyo, merely underscores their ticklish nature and the strong political overtones involved. In the case of Japan, the conservatives have long regarded any attempt to own up the slaughter of hundreds of U.S. marines at Pearl Harbour in 1941 as nothing but a betrayal of the national interest. In fact, in comparison, earlier visits to the naval base

by Japanese leaders were relatively low-key affairs.

As for Washington, veterans of the war have seen little justification in the claim that the devastation caused by the twin nuclear bombings had to be condoled. In their view, the horror in Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought the war to a close sooner than it might otherwise have been. They have also sought to repudiate the narrative that the dropping of the atom bomb was a calculated demonstration of U.S. and western military superiority in a Cold War scenario. These competing nationalistic accounts have possibly helped the current generation in the two countries to see such views with a healthy dose of scepticism. Messrs Abe and Obama have displayed a statesmanlike readiness to rise above partisan accounts, emphasising instead the need to bridge the gulf that neither history nor geography could have narrowed. President-elect Donald Trump's pre-election rhetoric painted a picture of Japan as a nation that ought to be prepared to invest more in its own defence. The favourable public opinion in both countries towards each other will possibly prove critical in consolidating upon the current strengths in the economic partnership and weathering the uncertainties of the future. Prime Minister Abe and President Obama have shown how history can be revisited in a realistic manner. It remains for countries grappling with their own complex pasts to draw the right lessons from this.

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Tel Aviv on tenterhooks Vijay Prashad The UN resolution condemning settlement activity in the occupied territories is not what Israel fears. What troubles it is that the resolution opens the door to a full criminal investigation into Israeli excesses On December 23, the United States Ambassador to the UN abstained on UN Security Council resolution 2334, which condemned Israel's settlement activity in the occupied territory of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The language is tentative. It does not call the settlements illegal, but only having no "legal validity".

In the world of international law, the difference might not be significant. Israel pressured Egypt to withdraw the resolution, which it did, and it pressured the U.S. to veto it, which it did not.

Malaysia, New Zealand, Venezuela and Senegal sponsored the resolution, which passed with 14 votes in favour and one abstention (the U.S.). Ambassadors around the table hoped that the vote would push towards the two-state solution, the "common aspiration of the international community", said Chinese Ambassador Wu Haitao.

The resolution and the occupation Five years previously,

during the high point of the Arab Spring, the U.S. had vetoed a similar resolution.

Then U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said that her country rejects "in the strongest terms the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity". So then why veto the resolution, which the U.S. would abstain on five years later? In 2011, Ms. Rice said that the resolution would not further the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Israel, the subtext read, would lash out against the Palestinians. This is precisely what the Israelis now promise to do: build more settlements, fully annex the West Bank and East Jerusalem and thereby annul any prospect of a two-state solution.

The UN resolution - important as it is in itself - is not what Israel fears. What troubles Tel Aviv are the steps that would come after this resolution, particularly from the International Criminal Court (ICC). In January 2015, the ICC's Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda opened a preliminary investigation into Israel's actions during the 2014 bombing of Gaza and into the illegal settlements. Ms. Bensouda has since made it clear that she would not move forward to a full criminal investigation without substantial political clarity from the UN Security Council. Resolution 2334 produces the political will

for such a move by the ICC. With Palestine as a recognised state in the UN as of 2012, and as a member of the ICC since 2014, and with this resolution now in force, the ICC could move in the next few months to a rigorous investigation of Israeli criminality. This would threaten the settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, but it would also pressure Israeli soldiers to refuse to serve in any future criminal bombardment of Gaza. Whether the Palestinian leadership has the courage to insist on this remains to be seen..

In 1967, Israel seized the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip - parts of Palestine that had been outside its control. The UN Security Council passed a series of resolutions (242, 252, 298) within the next decade, asking Israel to withdraw from this land and - in resolution 446 (1979) - to desist from building settlements on the occupied territory.

The U.S., which had already become the shield for Israel, abstained from the major resolutions.

It was on this occupied territory that it was then assumed - against Israeli opinion - that a Palestinian state would be built. The twostate solution, the international consensus for the Israel-Palestine conflict, is premised on Israeli with-

drawal from this land occupied in 1967. No wonder that the UN has periodically returned to censure Israel for its ongoing occupation and - in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention - the construction of settlements on occupied land.

two-state solution nor a one-state solution. This negative approach to the 'peace process' means that Israel is committed to a permanent occupation of the Palestinians. It continues to harbour dreams of a Greater Israel (Eretz Israel).

The first major UN resolution to define the terms of the Israeli occupation was 242, sponsored by the United Kingdom and passed in November 1967 with unanimous approval.

There was no abstention and no veto used by the permanent members. U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk said at that time that despite the U.S. and Israel being "sharply divided" on the issue of territory, the U.S. made no commitment "to assist Israel in retaining territories seized in the 1967 war". Even when the administrations in Washington defended Israel's annexationist policies - such as during the term of Ronald Reagan - the U.S. did not veto to defend the settlements.

Four years after Oslo, the international community passed the Rome Statute for the establishment of the ICC. It was this new development - the ICC - rather than the Oslo Accords that increased the vetoes exercised by the U.S. in the UN Security Council to protect Israel. The Israeli establishment worried that the ICC would legitimately turn its gaze on issues such as population transfer and war crimes. The ICC - under pressure to investigate crimes outside the African continent - could find that Israeli actions provide a legitimate site of inquiry. The vetoes from Washington prevented any legal foundation for ICC action against Israel.

Prosecutor Bensouda's investigators visited the West Bank and East Jerusalem in October this year.

The ICC said that this was not part of its preliminary investigation, but it is hard to imagine that this is true.

The new UN Security Council resolution harkens back to more radical postures from it in 1979 and 1980 as well as to the International

The element of criminality The Oslo Accords (1994) put in place the possibility of a Palestinian state, although it did not have an explicit statement to end settlement activity. Israel continues to eat into the potential Palestinian state.

Neither does Israel want a

Court of Justice's 2014 finding that the 'apartheid' wall that entraps the West Bank is illegal. Pressure will mount on her to take her investigation forward.

Tel Aviv's triumphalism The tone of Israel's rejection came when Ambassador Danny Danon said that Tel Aviv has the right to build "homes in the Jewish people's historic homeland".

The settlements, for the Israeli government, are essential for their own project.

They see nothing short of as Ambassador Danon put it - "a Jewish State proudly reclaiming the land of our forefathers". Ambassador Danon is fully in agreement with Washington's incoming Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, who believes in a Greater Israel and denies the existence of Palestine. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to undo the resolution and threatened to end U.S. funding to the UN. António Guterres, the UN's new Secretary-General has indicated that he will send a UN Support Mission to push for a two-state solution. Mr. Guterres and Ms. Bensouda will have to thread the needle between the consensus of the international community (a twostate solution) and Israel's own illegal territorial ambitions. Optimism for progress would be unwarranted.

Signifying nothing Rahul Gandhi's hyperactivity only conceals the larger malady: His party still lacks a plan Suhas Palshikar As another year in wilderness ends for the Congress, it might derive some satisfaction from the show of energy by its leader-in-waiting. It has been a busy year for Rahul Gandhi in terms of leading his party's attack on the prime minister. Besides his desperate attempts to capture the political theatre of the national capital, Rahul spent a lot of time in Uttar Pradesh during this year. He continued to hog the headlines, particularly towards the end of the year.

Throughout the demonetisation episode, he was vocal, active and visible. In fact, he gave tough competition to both Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal as the prime target of trolling by Modidevotees on social media, and criticism by suave Modi-supporters in the press and electronic media.

The Congress would surely be hoping that the near paranoid attacks on Rahul would one day help him emerge as the main contender to Modi.

But then, presence in the headlines is not enough to turn the political tide.

Throughout the year, Rahul's tentativeness on the leadership question and the recurrent media gossip about the ascension of

Priyanka have been counterproductive themes for the Congress. Nor have Rahul or his party been able to respond to charges of dynastic control of the party. So, Rahul continues to be the hesitant heir, pushed both by obsessive opponents and self-serving sycophants.

imaginative ways of celebrating Indira Gandhi's centenary. Three, and most importantly, leaving daily criticism of the government to his colleagues, he could have concentrated on core issues of difference between Congress and the ruling party.

His hesitancy is obvious from the absence of a gameplan. Strident criticism of Modi would get headlines but what the Congress needs right now is support among a cross-section of the voters or alternatively, cultivation of a sizable social bloc. While the Congress is unlikely to make much of a dent in UP, and in the (more than likely) event that it would lose both Manipur and Uttarakhand and fail to wrest Punjab, the mother of all tests would come towards the end of 2017 in Gujarat.

In this context, Rahul's vigorous action remains inadequate because of three non-actions. One, he could have intervened in the debates on the issue of dynasty by clarifying either that he does not desire to take over the party reins or that he does not intend to lead a government, or both.

Two, he could have distanced himself from the authoritarian legacy of the Emergency and found more

But Rahul's hyperactivity only conceals the larger malady: He is unable to chart the course for the party. Organisationally, this has not been possible because of internal unease about the direction to be taken. He has also not been able to sort out the muchrumoured tussle between those who want to construct a new Congress and those who want to live off the remnants of palatial patronage. This stalemate has stalled any rejuvenation of the party. But besides these structural limitations of the Congress party, Rahul as the leader suffers also from an ideological ambiguity and resultant absence of a consistent message. So, he operates without an organisational anchor or an ideological beacon. The anti-Modi symbol called Rahul, thus, remains enigmatically empty.

This situation is as much about his inadequacy as about the party's inadequacy. A party, through its leadership, organisation,

Bad by name; bad by nature During Nelson Mandela's 19 years imprisoned on Robben Island, one particular commanding officer was the most brutal of them all: "A few days before Badenhorst's departure, I was called to the main office. General Steyn was visiting the island and wanted to know if we had any complaints.

Badenhorst was there as I went through a list of demands. When I had finished, Badenhorst spoke to me directly.

He told me he would be leaving the island and added: 'I just want to wish you people good luck'. I do not know if I looked dumb-

founded, but I was amazed.

He spoke these words like a human being and showed a side of himself we had never seen before. I thanked him for

his good wishes and wished him luck in his endeavours.

I thought about this moment for a long time after-

wards. Badenhorst had perhaps been the most callous and barbaric commanding officer we had had on Robben Island. But that day in the office, he had revealed that that there was another side to his nature, a side that had been obscured but still existed.

It was a useful reminder that all men, even the most seemingly cold-blooded, have a core of decency and that, if their hearts are touched, they are capable of changing.

Ultimately, Badenhorst was not evil; his inhumanity had been foisted upon him by an inhuman system. He behaved like a brute because he was rewarded for brutish behaviour."

cadres and network of likeminded groups, can, and must, make its presence felt in six arenas. In the past two and a half years, however, the Congress has only further disappeared from these crucial arenas of competitive politics.

First, electorally, it has slipped further. In no single state election has the party shown any signs of revival nor retention of a core constituency. This is not unexpected in view of the historic defeat it faced in 2014.

Confusing electoral strategies have only added to that slide - in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, where the party could not have gained from alliances, it went ahead with an alliance and in Assam where an alliance might have helped, it went alone. Bihar, perhaps, was the only sober decision that the party took in the past two years. Congress's UP and Punjab campaigns too, leave much to be desired in terms of strategy and outreach.

Two, the performance of the party where it is in power has been dismal if not disastrous. In state after state, the Congress has only proved further that it is no more a party of governance. This is true of states where it already lost in the last three years; it is equally

true of states where it will face the electorate in the next couple of years Uttarakhand, Manipur, Himachal and Karnataka.

Three, its performance in parliament has not earned it either positive media publicity or the confidence that it has substantial policy interventions to make. These two and half years have been riddled with critical issues - the agrarian crisis, economic slowdown, IndoPakistan relations, deterioration in J&K, demonetisation, face-off with the judiciary and so on.

But barring the tit-for-tat stalling of parliament, the party never came off as an effective parliamentary opposition. It is difficult to remember any substantial intervention by Congress MPs (barring Manmohan Singh's, recently) in parliamentary debates. Four, given its dilapidated organisation, the party has not been able to come out on the streets to lead, mobilise and galvanise the public on national or local issues. The Congress cannot be credited with raising and consistently pushing any issue in a state where it is not in power.

Five, the party lacks an organisational network that would work among the masses, engage in constructive work, build public service networks and earn the

people's goodwill. The yawning gap between the party the ordinary public becomes even more visible when we look for the second level, seemingly nonpolitical, networks that the Congress can draw upon.

The drug menace in Punjab, for instance, could have been handled through a sustained extra-party platform rather than merely accusing the government.

In the last instance, the party has not positioned itself clearly and resolutely on core ideological issues.

The over-enthusiastic elements from the BJP have given enough space for such positioning both on issues of cultural values and welfare and development. But the Congress only appears more and more confused when confronted with the challenge of ideological positioning. It is one thing to be centrist and another to run away from taking a stand.

So, an improvement in the leader's report card cannot bring solace if the party's report card draws a blank.

Yet another year has ended with a lot of noise and TV soundbites about Rahul, but without much indication that it would help the Congress. For yet another year, Rahul has been everywhere but the Congress is nowhere in sight.

Politics over demonetisation It is strange that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's charges levelled against the Prime Minister were given importance while the Prime Minister's speech on the fight against black money and corruption was confined to a column.

In the past, Indira Gandhi, when Prime Minister, made tall promises such as "Health for all" and "Garibi Hatao". But what happened? Did any one demand her resignation?

Economic reforms to tackle black money and high-level corruption are not something that can show results overnight. All this is a gradual process with slow yet fruitful results. The economic reforms that were initiated by P.V. Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh, as joint efforts, are a good example of this.

Deepa Das Paltyan Bazar, Dibrugarh

DIBRUGARH, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30

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Fill your wishing well with wellness fruits

Keep your skin soft and glowing this winter It's winter time, the harsh weather for the skin. Low humidity and dry chilled air steals the moisture away from the skin leaving it chapped and unhealthy.

Skin needs special care regimen to stay moist and youthful throughout the cold months.

Lightly scratch your skin. If it turns white, that means your skin is dry or else it is moisturized. Those suffering from dry skin, try out these simple home tips and

keep your skin beautifully soft and supple in cold season too.

In winters, your skin needs extra hydration not only from outside but from inside as well. It can be done by taking necessary diet full of fruits and vegetables having lots of water content.

Try to add vitamin A and vitamin E rich foods in your meal plan. Drink plenty of water, fresh juices and healthy drinks in your daily routine.

Hot water baths take out the moisture from the skin.

Avoid them. Take bath with lukewarm water and protect your skin from unnecessary dryness.

Wear clothes that cover most of your body. The skin exposed to cold air dries and chaps easily.

Apply a natural moisturizer like glycerine, coconut oil, olive oil, almond oil or castor oil on your whole body immediately after having bath. Natural gel directly extracted from aloe Vera leaf if applied for half an hour before bath also moisturize the skin from deep inside,

leaving it smooth and vibrant. Do not use chemical moisturizers and make up products having alcohol content. Do not apply heavy make-up. They block the pores of the skin.

Exfoliate your skin with vitamin C rich lemon juice.

The citric acid in the juice will remove the dryness as well as the darkness often caused by sun during winter. It will also renew the skin cells making it glow.

Apply some home-made packs which provide wonderful remedy for dry skin.

Soaked almond paste combined with raw milk, lemon juice and gram flour; oatmeal paste combined with lemon juice; ripe papaya paste and buttermilk face packs are perfect for winter glow.

Avoid scrubs if you have acne problem.

Avoid eating fried, sugary and junk foods.

If your skin is not treated for a long time in winters, it can cause more severe skin problems. A wide array of winter skincare products is available in the market, but some may not suit your skin.

So, try these home cures and keep your skin moisturized and glowing throughout the winter season.

Are you breathing right?

For all of us, breathing is just an automatic function that keeps us alive. Good breathing being a vital component of good health is sadly taken for granted by most of us. We take too shallow breaths, which increase our stress levels.

1) Pay attention to it Notice how your breathing changes when you laugh, cry, have sex and exercise.

Once you understand the way you breathe, you will be better equipped to modify it.

2) Breathe through your nose Your nose refines the air going inside your body. If you breathe through your mouth, many viruses, bacteria enter your body along with the unfiltered air.

3) Use your diaphragm Use your diaphragm to keep your breathing deep and nice. By using diaphragm, the pressure in the chest and belly is decreased so that the heart won't have to

work as hard.

4) Breathe rhythmically Breathing rhythmically is as simple as taking long, deliberate inhales at designated times throughout the day.

Count to three as you breathe in, and again when you exhale. Make each inhale and exhale the same length, without pausing.

5) Find a daily breathing routine Deep breathing for 10 to 20 minutes a day, or even practicing for a minute every hour will have noticeable benefits. It will change your mental and emotional state.

HOW TO BREATHE

RIGHT Method 1: One way is to increase the inhalation time, followed by long and complete 'Om' chants, by which the exhalation automatically lengthens.

Method 2: Ujjayi breathing is known as 'victorious breathing'. To practice Ujjayi, close your mouth and breathe through the nose. Next take a deep inhalation through the nose and exhale through the nose while tightening the muscles in the back of your throat with the Ujjayi sound. The sound in the throat should be like a hiss

or the sound of the ocean when you are standing far off, and can only hear it.

Method 3: Alternate nostril breathing or what we simply call Pranayama, allows both sides of the brain to collaborate by using one nostril at a time. Other benefits of pranayama are it supports our lungs and respiratory functions, rejuvenates the nervous system, removes toxins and helps to settle stress.

Method 4: Blow out candles. This exercise targets your core muscles so that you can exhale more effectively. Exhale through your mouth as if you were blowing out a row of candles, letting the air hit the back of your teeth in order to make the exhale audible.

Method 5: Blow up balloons. When you practice blowing up a balloon, it encourages you to contract your diaphragm and core muscles.

Tips to pair Indian food with wine sparkling wines from India a more opulent Zampa Brut or the razor sharp Fratelli.

The Party Menu To make your house parties fun and classy, here is a list of Indian food items and the wine to have with them: Chicken Tikka: Pair it with the Zampa Brut, a traditional sparkling wine from India or the AltemuraSasseo, a ripe Primitivo (Zinfandel) blend from Puglia, Italy.

Selecting the wine that goes well with our Indian cuisine can be a fascinating affair. We keep reading about the different facets of pairing wine with food, however, never get a settling answer to this delectable wedlock! Ajit Balgi founder of The Happy High a certified wine & liquour consultant has finally burst the bubble and he tells us what type of wine works best with our kind of food.

For a long time now, food connoisseurs have been trying to figure out the right drink to go with typical Indian food. Whenever this topic pops open, arguments flow like the numerous varieties of wine. There is no denying the fact that red

wine is most suitable to have with food, as it goes well with meats. But considering the fact that a large part of Indian fare is vegetarian, we often wonder what the recourse is for them who thrive on greens and paneer. Indian cuisine is extremely heterogeneous and changes from region to region and hence it won't be an exaggeration if 8 out of 10 people say that white wine compliments and accentuates the flavours of their food. Also, Indian food has a great affinity for white wines especially because of the condiments used in the preparation - the dry after taste and the spices are a soulful redemption for the taste buds.

I would bet all my money for the German Rieslings, they are undoubtedly the best wines for Indian food.

Mildly sweet and fruity, they balance out the spice on the palate. It is best paired with rich curried and red meat dishes that are heavy on spice and flavour.

Rieslings come in various degrees of sweetness and the dry/off-dry variants perfectly complement the Asian cuisines. Some brands in India like the organic Pfaffman from Germany, the iconic French Hugel or the new world Kiwi Framingham do a great justice to the kind of food we consume. For those who like some fizz, they can largely enjoy world class

Mutton Kadai: The Chilean Limited Edition of Carta Vieja Merlot, a Rhone Grenache Syrah blend, La Vielle Ferme or our own the ripe Reveilo Reserve Syrah will beautifully enhance the spice and the richness of the meat.

Paneer Manchurian: This mainstream Chindian food and a glass of the French Hugel Riesling will be a fantastic combination for that gastronomical evening.

Goat Cheese Tikki: Nothing can be better than the off-dry Riesling, Pfaffman, an organic wine from Germany, to have with this Indo-western fusion.

Time and again I have been asked what is the best pairing for the classic Indian 'chakna' or bar bite -Papad and Peanut Masala. I would say couple it with a fruity glass of sparkling York or a glass of Sauvignon Blanc from Charosa; both have Indian origin and I am sure that is the best pair of classy and sassy that you will witness!

Feast on natural food for healthy eyes Are you eating the right kind of foods that can help improve vision and prevent age-related eye diseases such as cataract. It is easier to protect your eyes by eating foods that are packed with vision-friendly nutrients. Learn more about some of these foods that can improve your eyesight and help protect against sight threatening diseases.

Eggs - Eggs are full of eyefriendly antioxidants. Egg yolks are high in lutein. It is a type of a carotenoid that helps fight macular degeneration, the leading cause of old age blindness.

Green and leafy vegetables - These vegetables contain carotenoids such as lutein and zeaxanthin, which are very beneficial for vision and have a positive impact on the retina. They may help reduce disability and discomfort from glare, enhance contrast and reduce photo-stress recovery times.

Fruits and vegetables containing vitamin C - Citrus fruits like oranges and vegetables like red capsicums are packed with vitamin C. They provide antioxidants that help keep the eyes healthy. Vitamin C helps the

body form and maintain connective tissue, including collagen found in the cornea of the eye. It promotes the delicate capillaries in the retina.

Nuts - Nuts are tasty snacks that are excellent source of vitamin E and minerals such as zinc that help keep your eyes healthy. They may decrease the risk of cataract and age related macular degeneration. Being packed with vitamin E, nuts help protect membranes of cells throughout the body against damage caused by

free radicals.

Beans - Kidney beans, black-eyed peas and lentils are good sources of bioflavonoids and zinc.

They can help protect the retina and lower the risk for developing macular degeneration and cataracts.

Oysters and pork - Oysters and pork are super foods proven to boost eye health.

The selenium and zinc in these foods are good for your eyes as they protect against macular degeneration and night blindness.

Salmon, tuna and other oily

fishes - Salmon, tuna and other fatty fishes are the best sources of omega-3 fatty acids which may help treat eye diseases. Omega3 fatty acids are essential for normal infant vision development. It is a high source of B vitamins too which can slash the risk of cataracts by about half.

So, there is more to eye nutrition beyond carrots.

God has bestowed us with a pair of beautiful eyes to see his stunning creations.

Reduce the risk of vision impairment with regular intake of these foods.

How to end unhealthy friendships

Ending a friendship is just like a break-up. It's bitter and there's no easy way to say it as eventually one of you will be more hurt than the other. Even though we've been brought up with the thought that friendships last forever, there might be things that haven't worked out between friends. One of you might be more giving, have severe ego issues, be constantly bullied by the other or even be jealous of the others success. Whatever the reason, if you think it's only leaving you stress ed and feeling bitter, you have to end it for your own mental peace. After all, nobody likes to be friends with someone who passes on negative energy. If being friends really doesn't work out despite all the effort, you have no choice but to let go of it gracefully. Here are some ways you can deal with it...

Meet in person and discuss You have spent years being good friends. But now that you have decided to bid goodbye, do so in person.

After all, you need to value the time you guys spent together for so many years.

Pick a spot where you can talk openly about it. You might expect a plethora of emotions when you are discussing it. So, pick a place that is not crowded. Head to a beach, lakeside or go to a restaurant at odd hours so that it is less crowded. Meet in person and decide to part

amicably.

Call up if meeting doesn't work If you both are in two different countries or can't meet for some reason, talk it out over the phone. Sending lengthy messages won't work. No matter how clearly you write, the other one always has the advantage of comprehending them in a way he/she wants to. Why make it sour? Choose an appropriate time and discuss why it isn't working.

This way, both of you will get a chance to speak. Even if the other blames you of saying something wrong, you can always explain it.

Let it fade away If you both haven't been on talking terms for a while now, let it fade away. Sometimes, natural death of a relationship is the best way to end it. Of course, you won't get the answers or the typical closure this way. But this could be the best way to deal with it. After a few

years, it will just look like you have grown out of this relationship. If you've been talking to each other thrice a week, cut it down to once a week. And slowly, move on. Avoid any conversations and the relationship cease.

Don't do the blame game You have decided to end it gracefully. Even if your friend is getting nasty, you don't get into the blame game. 'You didn't do this for me' or 'You said stuff like this' - might make things worse. So, go for things that explain how it wouldn't work for the both of you. Of course, you can't hide the reasons. But tell them in a manner that doesn't hurt.

Say things like, 'This won't make us happy in the long run.'

If it's worth it, give another chance Despite working on the pros and cons, if your friend is still persistent that he/she wants another chance, think

it over. This is quite tricky just like romantic break-ups.

But if your friend is positive about it and promises to put in effort to restore the good old times, give it another chance. But this time, ensure to work on all the problem areas. Being friends again after going through a rough patch is not easy. But ensure you work on it.

Things you should remember once you end your friendship 1) Don't discuss about it with your common friends.

Everyone will have their opinion on this and it might lead to a very judgmental conversation. We are sure you don't want somebody to feed on this gossip, right?

2) Avoid calls and messages from your friend. If you have ended the friendship, don't encourage any more conversations. Forget dealing with what to say and how to say it, it will simply be very embarrassing and awkward.

3) If you have decided to take a break, take a considerable amount of time to reconsider your relationship.

And once you guys are back, don't discuss the past.

4) Don't give up on good friendship. Just because you ended a bad friendship, it doesn't mean that there is no hope. Maintain healthy friendships with existing friends, but don't keep discussing it with them.

9 Ways to twirl your moustache this Movember Thirteen years after the launch of the Movember movement that was established to create awareness about men's health, November is no more known by its name. What starts on the first day of the eleventh month with a clean shave, ends with men who don't shave their moustaches for the rest of the month, thus sporting these stylish frizzies et al.

How it originated It was launched in 2003 in Australia by 30 friends as a campaign to create awareness as well as raise funds for prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health and suicide prevention among men. The campaign came into effect since several men were dying young due to severe health issues, which were not talked about. The Movember (Mo for the moustache and clubbed with November the month) Foundation, is supported by over five million people across the world and several countries participate in this movement.

RULES Clean it up November 1 should have been the last day to use a razor on your face. Make sure your entire face is smooth and sans any facial hair.

No beards at all Movember, as the name suggests, means 'Moustache-No-

vember'. It isn't about growing a sexy bearded look. At its core, it is just about growing hair on your upper lip.

No shaving, only grooming All you can do is to groom your moustache and clean the extra hair around your jaw, chin and neck, but you cannot shave the moustache.

No handlebars Make sure that you do not join your handlebar moustache to your mutton chops or sideburns, as they become beards. Remember, it's only about growing a clean moustache.

Support the cause It is important to understand the reason of growing a Movember.

The idea is for men to do their bit in order to create awareness about health issues and add to the significance of the movement.

Styles that you can sport with elan 1. Chevron This is a serious man's business - a bushy and luxuriant slug -this style of moustache is not for the faint-hearted. Make sure you have an even and hairy tash to sport this style. It is usually seen on cops, bureaucrats and men with mettle.

2. Dali It is not just the most different, but a stylish tash with an edge.

It gives you a certain shock value when you enter into a room with a bunch of mediocres. All you need to do to sport this look is to apply a lot of hair gel in order to stiffen the moustache and then use a blow-dryer to hold it in place.

3. Handlebar This is, by far, the most popular style of moustache, as it suits everyone, irrespective of age or shape of the face. It definitely brings back your mojo and helps you stand out in the crowd with the edgy curve to your tash.

4. Horseshoe Sported by the legendary wrestler Hulk Hogan, this style of moustache is the ultimate sign of masculinity. This tash is thick and fuller, the moustache runs down past your mouth and right up to your chin, making a really interesting statement.

5. English If you are a debonair, who is usually suited-up, then this is your style. Make sure you keep it well-sculpted, as any stray hair would simply disturb the look.

6. Fu Manchu Named after a fictional character, this moustache starts near the corners of the mouth and grows downward past cleanshaven lips and chin in two tapered tendrils. This one often

extends past the jawline.

7. Pencil A close cousin of the English moustache, this style comes with a dash of discipline. It is especially for a man with an eye for detail and a strong heart. However, it takes a steady hand to maintain the tash, as one bad move and you could end up looking like a catfish.

8. Walrus A bit of attitude and a lot of swag, this look is only chosen by those who really know how to play well. Make sure you have really lustrous locks to sport the Walrus tash as it needs to fall on your lips and not stay stiff.

9. Painter's brush Although it looks pretty simple, this moustache is classy and badass at the same time. When seen carefully, this style is thicker in the centre and tapers slights towards the end with a slight handlebar.

Did u know?

The world's longest moustache is known to belong to an Indian named Ram Singh Chauhan from Rajasthan. He proudly sports a 14-foot long one. This 61-year-old hasn't cut his moustache in the past 35 years and maintains it by applying mustard and coconut oil. He additionally also massages it.

DIBRUGARH, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30

HC judge raises doubts over circumstances of Jaya's death PTI Chennai, Dec 29: Expressing doubts over the circumstances leading to death of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, a Madras High Court judge indicated that he may order exhumation of the body after a plea before the court sought a probe by an inquiry commission or a fact-finding committee.

Justice S Vaidyanathan, who was heading a twojudge vacation bench, said the public should know what has happened.

His observations came when the bench, also comprising Justice V Parthiban, was hearing the PIL filed by an AIADMK worker P A Joseph seeking an inquiry commission or a factfinding committee to probe the circumstances leading to the death of Jayalalithaa.

The bench then recorded the acceptance of notice by counsel for Union Government.

"After the demise, everybody has a right to question. I personally have a doubt.

"One day it was told that she is walking, another day you said that she will come out and suddenly what happened. Even with regard to the health of late Chief Minister MGR, video was released," Justice

Vaidyanathan said.

When a special mention was made before the bench by senior counsel KM Vijayan who argued on the plea, Advocate General Muthu kumaraswamy said there is no mystery in the death.

Justice Vaidyanathan asked the AG, "What is that you say.

Right to live is a Funda-

Akhilesh Yadav conveys displeasure to Samajwadi Party chief over candidates' list

mental Right. Public should know what has happened."

"Even relations were not allowed to see and they are also not before the court now. I personally find in case if I have doubt I may order exhumation of the body of deceased and you have not told anything when she was alive," the judge said.

Turning to counsel J Madanagopala Rao, who appeared on behalf of Union Government, the Judge said: "You went there.

You have not reported anything. You know everything. But not reported anything for the reasons best known to you. You kept quiet."

The bench said, "We also saw in newspapers that the chief minister was recovering, and that she was eating, signing papers and even conduct-

ing meetings. And then suddenly she was dead."

The bench then recorded the acceptance of notice by counsel for Union Government on behalf of the Prime Minister's Office and the Ministries of Home, Law and Parliamentary Affairs and CBI and posted the matter for further hearing to January 9.

The PIL had sought a commission comprising retired Supreme Court judges to look into "questionable incidents", including Jayalalithaa's sudden hospitalisation, reported recovery and the cardiac arrest resulting in her death on December 5.

The PIL listed the sequence of events since Jayalalithaa's admission to Apollo Hospitals here on September 22 and claimed that the "secrecy" preceding her death gave rise to "grave doubts" in the minds of the people.

Pak PM Nawaz Sharif writes to Sushma Swaraj, wishes her speedy recovery

With Mulayam Singh Yadav's public snub to his son in announcement of candidates' list for UP polls leaving bitterness in the ruling camp, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav today spoke to the SP supremo to convey his displeasure over the choice of names.

Hectic political activities began right from the morning with party leaders gathering outside the residences of Akhilesh and Mulayam.

PTI Lucknow, Dec 29: With Mulayam Singh Yadav's public snub to his son in announcement of candidates' list for UP polls leaving bitterness in the ruling camp, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav today spoke to the SP supremo to convey his displeasure over the choice of names.

The factional feud in the Samajwadi Party was again in the open, a day after Mulayam Singh Yadav declared candidates for 325 of the 403 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh and ruled out projecting Akhilesh as the Chief Ministerial candidate.

A clearly upset Akhilesh today met his supporters at his 5-Kalidas Marg residence here and later

spoke to his father and party patriarch Mulayam Singh to convey his displeasure over the list of candidates from which names of his close confidants were missing, party sources said.

Hectic political activities began right from the morning with party leaders gathering outside the residences of Akhilesh and Mulayam. A big crowd also assembled outside Shivpal's residence.

Party sources said the Chief Minister, before meeting Mulayam, met legislators and office bearers who do not figure in the list of nominees.

The list, which includes 176 sitting MLAs, announced by Mulayam and Shivpal in the absence of Akhilesh, has

left out several proAkhilesh ministers, including Ram Govind Chaudhary, Pawan Pandey and Arvind Singh Gope, and does not carry names of over 50 sitting MLAs. Besides, 10 ministers, including Shivpal, sacked by the chief minister over the past few months have got tickets. These former ministers were in open defiance of Akhilesh and it paid off.

Within hours after release of the list, which clearly bore the stamp of Mulayam and Shivpal, Akhilesh who was away in Bundelkhand yesterday, had said he would take up the choice of candidates with the party chief.

"The list does not include names of certain candidates who are sure to win.

I will take it up with the SP chief and tell him that some of them have done really good work and they should be given tickets," an upset Akhilesh had said last night.

In a late night tit-for-tat action, the Chief Minister struck back sacking two Shivpal loyalists - Surabhi Shukla, vice-chairperson of UP Awas Vikas Parishad and her husband Sandeep Shukla from the post of advisor of Rajkiya Nirman Nigam. Sandeep has been fielded from Sultanpur Sadar seat.

capital on December 27 following which it proceeded to search the bank lockers.

The locker contained some diamonds, rubies and a lot of other jewellery which are being evaluated now, they said.

During the searches on Tuesday, the agency had also seized some documents related to a purported Swiss bank account.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is investigating Lodha after it booked him on criminal charges for his alleged involvement in two high-profile black money cases of illegal conversion of old notes post demonetisation.

Lodha (62) is also expected to be produced in a court in

Delhi as his ED custody ends today.

The agency, as part of the searches in Kolkata, covered two of his premises at S N Roy road and Queens Park even as one of his locations in Delhi's elite Lutyens zone area was brought under the operation a few days back.

The agency, apart from seizing some computer peripherals and other hardware, has also recovered some documents, purported to be of a Swiss bank account in the name of a women, who could be associated to Lodha.

Lodha was arrested by the agency in "connection with the recovery of large amount in new currency notes from a company belonging to Rohit

Manmohan to release Pb Congress election manifesto

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh PTI New Delhi, Dec 29 : Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will release the assembly election manifesto of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC).

Though the manifesto release date is yet to be finalised, Manmohan Singh agreed to launch the document, defining the party s blueprint for governance in Punjab, at a meeting with AICC incharge of Punjab affairs Asha Kumari and PPCC chief Amarinder Singh here.

Singh along with Asha discussed with Singh the key points in the manifesto, which will now be given final shape by the

PPCC manifesto committee led by former Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Badal.

Talking to media persons later, Asha said it had been decided by the party to take Singh s views on the manifesto draft before releasing it in view of his expertise on economic issues.

"Congress does not believe in taking arbitrary decisions, without understanding the nuances of the subject, and felt it was important to involve Singh in the finalisation of the manifesto, given its impact on the people of Punjab, she said.

She said the Congress functioned in contrast to that of Prime Minister

Narendra Modi, who was yet to disclose whom he had consulted on demonetisation, despite Rahul Gandhi s repeated queries on the issue.

Amarinder said Singh gave his valuable inputs on the manifesto a comprehensive document addressing issues relating to every section of Punjab s society.

Pointing out that the Badal government had plunged the people of Punjab into a state of despair with its "ill-conceived and anti-people" policies, Amarinder said Congress manifesto was designed to bring the state back on the track of growth and progress.

The manifesto, he said, seeks to give concrete shape to the promises he had made to the people of Punjab, and which he is totally committed to realise.

The PPCC president disclosed that the manifesto would be simultaneously released in key cities of Punjab to coincide with its release in New Delhi

by Singh to ensure that it is disseminated across the state, reaching out to the maximum number of people.

Local train derails in Thane, daily commuters face travel woes External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

PTI New Delhi, Dec 29: Among those who have wished speedy recovery to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj after she underwent a kidney transplant earlier this month is Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Sharif has written a letter to Swaraj wishing her a speedy recovery, ANI has reported quoting sources.

Swaraj underwent a success-

ful kidney transplant on December 10 at Delhi's AIIMS with the organ being harvested from a living unrelated donor.

When the Minister had tweeted about having suffered kidney failure and that doctors were exploring transplant as an alternative, AIIMS was flooded with offers for organ donation from across the country.

As of now, Swaraj is out of hospital and recuperating.

No intention to ban cash transaction under 'cashless concept': Goa govt PTI Panaji, Dec 29: State government has submitted before the Goa Human Rights Commission (GHRC) that it has not made any attempt to ban cash transaction under the 'cashless society concept', but instead wanted to facilitate business through alternate mode of payments.

The government's statement comes in response to a complaint filed by social activist Aires Rodrigues with the GHRC against a government circular, issued on November 30, seeking to make all business establishments in the state to opt for cashless transaction.

"No attempts have been made to cut or stop payments using cash. State government is merely facilitating alternative modes of payment," Commis-

sioner, Commercial Taxes department Dipak Bandekar stated in the affidavit filed before GHRC today.

The case was adjourned till January 23, 2017, for next the hearing.

In the affidavit, Bandekar further stated that the circular of November 30 was only an appeal for people to go for electronic payment.

In his complaint filed earlier this month, Rodrigues said that "in absolute and gross violation of human rights, Goa government had very high-handedly and without application of mind decided that the state go cashless."

The complaint also pointed out that use of cash is not prohibited anywhere in the world, even in those countries where substantial transactions happen through cash-less avenues.

Lodha PMLA case: ED recovers diamonds, rubies from bank locker PTI Kolkata/ New Delhi, Dec 29: Continuing its operations against arrested businessman Paras Mal Lodha, the ED has recovered a stash of diamonds, rubies and jewellery from a bank locker allegedly belonging to him in Kolkata.

The locker, located in a public bank branch in Alipore road of the state capital, was opened yesterday by a team of ED sleuths and the agency is now trying to evaluate the exact price of the recoveries, even as two more bank lockers belonging to Lodha are to be opened in as many other banks based here.

The agency had launched searches on two premises of Lodha in the West Bengal's

P8

NATION

Tandon and J Sekhar Reddy of Chennai".

The agency had earlier claimed that he was involved in a "deep-rooted conspiracy" in this case and that he was charging a commission "at the rate of 15-20 per cent" to convert old notes into new ones of several people.

It had said Lodha admitted that "post demonetisation he and his associates had converted old currency of at least Rs 25 crore into new currency notes."

While Tandon's case pertains to an operation of Delhi Police and the Income Tax department earlier this month when the agencies had alleg-

edly seized Rs 13.6 crore from a law firm he is associated with, that of mining baron Reddy relates to Chennai where the I-T department has made the biggest detection of alleged unaccounted income of over Rs 142 crore including Rs 34 crore cash seizure in new notes of Rs 2,000.

Tandon has also been arrested by the ED in Delhi yesterday.

Both the cases pertain to the ED's anti-black money operations post the currency ban.

These two cases, involving Tandon and Reddy, are being probed by at least four agencies -- the ED, the Income Tax department, the CBI and Delhi Police.

PTI Mumbai, Dec 29: Five coaches of KurlaAmbernath suburban train derailed today between Kalyan and Vitthalwadi stations in neighbouring Thane district, disrupting services on the busy Central Line and causing hardships to large number of daily commuters during the morning rush hours.

No injury or casualty was reported in the mishap that took place around 5.53 AM when five coaches of AmbernathboundKurla local train skidded-off from the track, thus forcing the Central Railway to suspend suburban services between Kalyan and Ambernath stations and divert some long distance trains.

"Immediately after getting information about the derailment, our team of engineers and other staff rushed to the spot to restore the services. Services in the Up direction (from Karjat side to Chhatrapati Shivaji Ter-

minus in Mumbai) was re-railed at 9.23 AM," CR spokesman A K Singh said.

At around 12.20 PM, all the five derailed coaches were put back on the tracks, he said.

CR General Manager D K Sharma rushed to the mishap site and and instructed officials to expedite the restoration operations so as to handle the evening peak hour rush.

The services between Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) and Kalyan in Thane were on while shuttle services were operated between Ambernath and Karjat.

However, due to disruption of the services, many commuters faced difficulties in reaching their work places and they had to travel in over-crowded trains. Some people who board the trains daily from the stations which got affected due to the derailment could not reach their offices.

Expressing regret over

the incident, Sharma told reporters here that, "Restoration work is in full progress and we hope to restore both Up and Down lines before the evening peak hour rush."

Meanwhile, long distance trains like CST-Pune Deccan Queen and CSTPune Intercity Express were cancelled for the day while 19 other long distance trains were diverted via Thane-DivaPanvel-Karjat route, a CR release said.

The Central Railway requested the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) to run extra buses between Kalyan and Ambernath to ease woes of the commuters.

According to another senior CR official, due to the derailment, some overhead equipment and sleepers on the tracks got damaged and efforts were on to repair it.

He also said that the cause of the derailment would be ascertained after an inquiry into it.

PM Modi likely to address nation on New Year eve PTI New Delhi, Dec 29: With the 50-day period for depositing of demonetised notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 expiring on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to address the nation before the dawn of the New Year.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to address the nation before dawn of the New Year," sources said.

The PM, announcing the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on November 8, had urged the nation to give him 50 days to get things back on track.

In his address, the Prime Minister may speak about the roadmap post the demonetisation period, especially on the steps likely to be taken to ease cash flow that has been a major

Prime Minister Narendra Modi. problem ever since demonetisation took place.

He may also speak on the steps to deal with the problems the economy faces after the demonetisation was announced on November 8.

The Prime Minister in his public meetings in the last few weeks has been urging

the people to bear with the pain following the government's decision and that it would start easing gradually once the 50day period is over.

On Tuesday, Modi met economists and experts at a meeting in Niti Aayog to discuss the current economic situation.

DIBRUGARH, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30

BUSINESS Sensex hits 2-week high; Nifty tops 8,100 on F&O expiry

PTI Mumbai, Dec 29 : A sudden spurt in buying at the fag end of the trading lifted markets higher today as the Sensex rebounded over 155 points to end at almost two-week high of 26,366 as December derivatives contracts expired amid recovery in the rupee.

The broader NSE Nifty too regained the key 8,100-mark.

The rupee strengthened by 18 paise against the dollar at 68.06 (intraday), which helped sentiment improve.

Marked by volatility, the rally was supported by gains, mainly in consumer durables, oil and gas, metal, auto, power, IT and PSU stocks, which turned attractive at current levels after recent losses.

After shuttling between 26,429.41 and 26,166.67, the Sensex finally settled higher by 155.47 points, or 0.59 per cent, at 26,366.15,

positions in view of F&O expiry, sustained buying by domestic institutional investors influenced market sentiment," said Manoj Choraria, a Delhibased NSE broker.

Concerns prevailed on continuous selling of shares by foreign institutional investors, which weighed on investor sentiment and limited the gains.

Sensex hits 2-week high; Nifty tops 8,100 on F&O expiry. its highest closing since December 19 when it closed at 26,374.70.

The index had shed 2.76 points in the previous session.

The broader Nifty ended higher by 68.75 points, or 0.86 per cent, at 8,103.60 after trading between 8,111.10 and 8,020.80.

In typical thin year-end trade, buying amid the expiry of the December series of futures and options contracts -- the last settlement of 2016 -- supported the recovery.

Participants were seen

carrying their long bets in futures and options (F&O) segment to the next series for January amid hopes of better returns in the new year, which accelerated the gains towards the fag end, they said.

Globally, other Asian markets closed mixed while European shares were in the negative mode early on following a lacklustre show of the Wall Street yesterday ahead of key US economic data.

"Covering-up of short

Meanwhile, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased shares worth Rs 824.84 crore yesterday, as per provisional data. Foreign portfolio investors net sold shares worth Rs 527.06 crore.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.17 per cent while Japan's Nikkei ended 1.32 per cent lower.

China's Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.20 per cent. European markets were down in their early deals as Frankfurt, Paris and London indices fell up to 0.32 per cent.

Market heavyweights like NTPC surged 1.68 per cent, Tata Motors 1.64 per cent, Maruti Suzuki 1.56 per cent, HDFC 1.55 per cent, TCS 1.51 per cent, RIL 1.21 per cent, HDFC Bank 1.12 per cent and Tata Steel 1.07 per cent.

Stocks of Sun Pharma, Adani Ports, L&T, Infosys, GAIL, Power Grid, ICICI Bank and Dr Reddy's came under some pressure and lost by up to 1.25.

In the 30-share Sensex constituents, 22 ended higher and 8 lower.

Sector-wise, the BSE consumer durable index gained the most by rising 1.67 per cent, followed by oil & gas (1.56 per cent), metal (1.44 per cent), auto (1.34 per cent), realty (1.14 per cent) and PSU (1.12 per cent).

The pace of buying also picked up in broader markets, lifting the BSE mid-cap index by 1.19 per cent and small-cap index by 1.11 per cent.

RBI refuses to give reasons RBI sets rupee reference rate at 68.1241 against dollar behind demonetisation

People wait for a bank to open to withdraw and deposit their money.

PTI New Delhi, Dec 29: 50 days after the government announced that these notes would cease to be legal tender, the Reserve Bank of India feels that the reasons behind the sudden announcement cannot be made public.

The monetary policy regulator also refused to give any details about the time it will take to replenish the currency notes.

"The query is in the nature of seeking future date of an event which is not defined as information as per Section 2(f) of the RTI Act," RBI said in response to an RTI query.

The central bank refused to disclose reasons behind the demonetisation of about Rs. 20 lakh crore of currency in the country citing Section 8(1)(a) of the Right to Information Act. The section states, "Information, disclosure of

which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence."

Denying the information sought in the RTI application, the RBI did not give any reasons as to how exemption would apply in the given case as the decision was already taken and there was no way that disclosure of information would have fit in any of the reasons cited in section 8(1)(a) of the RTI Act. "The clause of public interest would apply where exemption clause applies on the information sought by an applicant. In the present case, the information sought does not attract any exemption clause," former Central Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi told PTI. He said law is very clear that when a public authority rejects to disclose an information it must give

clear reasons as to how the exemption clause would apply in the given case.

Recently, it had refused to allow access to minutes of meetings held to decide on the issue of demonetisation of Rs. 1000 and Rs. 500 notes announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8.

Responding to an RTI application filed by activist Venkatesh Nayak, the RBI refused to disclose the minutes of the crucial meetings of Central Board of Directors on the issue of demonetisation citing section 8(1)(a) of the transparency law.

Mr. Nayak said he will appeal against the decision, adding, while confidentiality prior to the making of the demonetisation decision is understandable, continued secrecy after the implementation of the decision is difficult to understand when crores of Indians are facing difficulties due to the shortage of cash in the economy.

He said the refusal to disclose the minutes of the board meeting where the decision was taken is perplexing to say the very least.

Mr. Gandhi also underlined that RBI has created an in-house "disclosure policy" which is against the letter and spirit of the RTI Act. Mr. Gandhi has also filed a complaint before the Central Information Commission against the RBI for adopting the policy.

Image for representation purpose.

PTI Mumbai, Dec 29 :The Reserve Bank of India today fixed the reference rate of the rupee at 68.1241 against the US dollar and 71.2101 for the euro.

The corresponding rates were 68.2550 and 71.4520, yesterday.

According to an RBI

statement, the exchange rates for the pound and the yen against the rupee were 83.4180 and 58.41 per 100 yens, respectively, based on reference rates for the dollar and crosscurrency quotes at noon.

The SDR-rupee figure will be based on this rate, the statement added.

Rupee recoups 8 paise against dollar

Image for Representation purpose.

PTI Mumbai, Dec 29: After Wednesday's weakness, the rupee staged a mild recovery of 8 paise to 68.16 against the dollar at the forexmarket following fresh selling of the US currency by banks and exporters.

Forex dealers said dollar's weakness against some currencies overseas and a better trend in early trade at the domestic eq-

uity market supported the local currency.

The rupee had lost 18 paise to close at a 4-week low of 68.24 in Wednesday's trade on month-end dollar demand from importers coupled with sustained foreign capital outflows.

Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex was trading higher by 38.76 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 26,249.44 in early trade.

FRBM panel seeks RBI views, to submit report next month PTI New Delhi, Dec 29: The government panel set up to review the working of FRBM Act has sought views of the Reserve Bank on the fiscal consolidation path and will submit its report next month.

In May, the government formed a five-member committee under former Revenue Secretary N. K. Singh to review the working of the 12-year-old FRBM Act and examine the feasibility of a fiscal deficit range instead of a fixed target.

"The FRBM Panel is likely to submit its report by January 13. The panel has

sought RBI's view on fiscal consolidation path," sources said.

The Committee was originally slated to submit its report by October 31, but exceeded the time table after the government expanded their scope of work to include examination of the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission as also of the Expenditure Management Commission (EMC).

The panel may also suggest deviating from the current 3 per cent fiscal deficit target in 2017-18 and suggest a specific target for fiscal deficit instead of range, the sources added.

The other members of the committee, which was an-

nounced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech, include former Finance Secretary Sumit Bose, Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian, the then RBI deputy governor Urjit Patel and NIPFP Director Rathin Roy. Sources, however, said the panel report is unlikely to be made public until the Budget.

Among other things, the Committee will examine the need and feasibility of having a 'fiscal deficit range' as the target in place of the existing fixed numbers (percentage of GDP) as the goal.

The committee was set up to

review the working of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act over the last 12 years and suggest the way forward "keeping in view the broad objective of fiscal consolidation and prudence and the changes required in the context of the uncertainty and volatility in the global economy".

While announcing the intention of the government to set up a committee to examine the FRBM Act, Jaitley in his Budget speech in February had said "there is a school of thought which believes that instead of fixed numbers as fiscal deficit targets, it may

be better to have a fiscal deficit range as the target, which would give necessary policy space to the government to deal with dynamic situations".

Before presentation of the Budget for 2016-17, several economists had suggested that the government should breach the FRBM fiscal deficit target of 3.5 per cent and increase public spending to boost growth. Deficit in 2015-16 is estimated at 3.9 per cent.

Jaitley, however, decided to stick to the deficit target, but announced setting up of a committee to examine the feasibility of a fiscal deficit range instead of a target.

P9 Return all confidential papers: Tata Sons to Mistry

Cyrus Mistry.

PTI New Delhi, Dec 29 : After accusing former chairman Cyrus Mistry of breaching confidentiality rules, Tata Sons today asked the ousted chairman to return all classified papers and sign an undertaking within 48 hours that he would not disclose such information in future.

In a second legal notice in three days, Tata Sons alleged that Mistry had "wrongfully and dishonestly" taken confidential information out of the company premises without consent.

It asked him to "immediately return to the company all confidential information" in his possession and "not retain copies" of the same.

Asking him to cease from use or disclosure of confidential information, the holding company of the USD 103-billion saltto-software group also asked Mistry to sign an undertaking within 48 hours that he "shall preserve the confidentiality of all the confidential information and not use or

disclose" to anyone, including affiliates, relatives and family members.

On Tuesday, it had sent a legal notice accusing Mistry of breaching confidentiality rules by attaching dozens of confidential and sensitive company documents with the petition filed by his family investment firms before the National Company Law Tribunal against his removal.

It had threatened to take legal action against him, terming his action as "reckless failure" in discharging of "fiduciary, legal and contractual duties".

In today's notice served through its law firm, Tata Sons said Mistry was privy to confidential and commercially sensitive information and documents in his capacity as executive chairman and director of the company and its operating firms.

"Under applicable low, you are duty-bound to (a) preserve the confidentiality of all such information and data that you are

privy to in your capacity as director and (b) not disclose or use such information for any purpose whatsoever," it said adding any breach of such legal duties would cause irreparable harm and injury to Tata Sons.

Mistry, it said, is in "possession of highly valuable information and documents" pertaining to Tata Sons and Tata Group companies, which he has "disclosed" without prior authorisation from the board.

"We have credible information that you have wrongfully and dishonestly taken movable property being Confidential Information, out of the possession of the company, from the premises of the company, without taking the appropriate consent of the company," the notice said adding such an act was an offence punishable by law.

It asked him to "immediately return to the company all confidential information" in his possession and "not retain any copies" as well as "cease any and all use or disclosure of Confidential Information".

Also, Tata Sons wanted Mistry to execute an undertaking stating that he has returned all the confidential information without retaining any copies.

The undertaking also wants Mistry to state that he will "preserve the confidentiality of all Confidential Information and not use or disclose such Confidential Information for any purpose whatsoever and shall not provide any such Confidential Information to any affiliates, relatives and family members".

Builders pin hopes on rate cuts for revival in 2017 PTI New Delhi, Dec 29: Property market was the economy's underbelly this year and demonetisation towards the fag end only made it more isolated. But things might change in 2017 as builders are pinning their hopes on lower interest rate and transparency for the sector to come back to life.

The realty space remained weak even this year as housing sales fell on low demand and adverse impact of junking of old cash, but developers expect recovery from the second half of 2017.

The multi-year slowdown, however, did not deter investment as cash-starved developers raised Rs 48,300 crore in 2016 from private equity (PE) investors to fund their projects, up 53 per cent from last year's, according to property consultant Cushman & Wakefield.

"Housing sales were better this year before note ban. But sales have slowed in the last two months. We feel that 2017 will be a golden year for the developers in the primary market as they will benefit from the government's demonetisation move and a likely fall in interest rates

on home loans," realtors' apex body CREDAI President Getamber Anand told PTI. DLF's CEO Rajeev Talwar said: "There has been a lot of cleansing in the real estate sector this year. So, 2017 will be a good year for primary product suppliers of real estate."

He said housing prices would remain stable in the primary market, but decline in the secondary (resale) one.

Housing sales did rise in the first three quarters of 2016 on positives like tax sops in the budget, new real estate regulatory law and easing of interest rate by about 1 per cent, but transactions dried up post demonetisation, dragging the overall numbers down for 2016.

According to property consultant JLL India, housing sales in primary market stood at 1.2 lakh units in the seven cities during January-September 2016 as against 1.19 lakh in the yearago period. Total units sold in 2015 were 1,57,800.

"2016 overall was a watershed year for Indian real estate, with RERA (real estate regulation Act), demonetisation and the Benami Properties Act impacting sentiment nega-

tively. The momentum in 2016 housing sales was lower than 2015 and 2014.

Prices remained stable," JLL India Chairman and Country Head Anuj Puri told PTI. However, he exuded confidence in a market revival in 2017.

"In 2017, we will see consolidation within this industry, with financially disciplined developers having focus on buyers and delivery of projects doing well and the others falling by the wayside.

In housing, we will see confidence coming back among buyers with implementation of RERA," he added.

Demonetisation, coupled with the introduction of the real estate regulation Act, could create significant short-term uncertainty, Godrej Properties MD and CEO Pirojsha Godrej said, but added that same factors will lead to consolidation and improved governance in the sector, which in turn will drive consumer confidence.

"2017 will be a transition year where the realty sector starts the year with relatively soft demand, but ends the year very strongly as the benefits of lower interest rates, better affordability and far improved governance lead to a significant surge in demand," he said further. .

Rajesh Exports bags Rs 929cr export order from UAE PTI New Delhi, Dec 29:Jewellery firm Rajesh Exports today said it has won a Rs 929-crore export order from the United Arab Emirates.

In a BSE filing, Rajesh

Exports said it "has bagged an export order worth Rs 929 crore of designer range of gold and diamond-studded jewellery and medallions from the UAE".

This order will be executed from its manu-

facturing facility in Bengaluru and is to be completed by March 2017, the company said.

Shares of the company were trading 2.38 per cent up at Rs 462.10 apiece on BSE.

DIBRUGARH, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30

P10 4 militants shot dead in Xinjiang Sikh community head shot dead in Afghanistan

PTI Beijing, Dec 29: Four militants were shot dead after they attacked the ruling Communist Party of China's office in restive Xinjiang province, official media reported, one of the deadliest terror incidents reported in months.

A car carrying the attackers crashed into the yard of the office building of the local Communist Party committee in Karakax county and "detonated an explosive device", killing one person and injuring three others, the news portal of the Xinjiang government said.

Police shot and killed the four attackers, Hong Kong based South China Morning Post quoted the report as saying.

Social order had been restored, the portal report said, adding without identifying the attackers.

The attack was re-

INTERNATIONAL

4 militants shot dead in Xinjiang

ported after several months of lull in terrorist violence in the province where the Uyghur Muslims were restive for years over the settlements Han Chinese in the province, bordering Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Afghanistan.

China has been blaming separatist outfit, East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), for the violent attacks in the province and the rest of the country.

ETIM was blamed for suicide blast in the Chinese Embassy in Kyrgyzstan in Septem-

ber this year in which one person was killed and five others injured.

In November 2015, 28 suspected militants were killed over the course of a 56-day manhunt following an attack on a colliery in Aksu two months earlier that left 16 people dead.

In March 2014, 31 people were knifed to death at a train station in Kunming, in southwestern China, with four attackers killed.

Xinjiang had generally been quiet in 2016 with no major reported attacks or other violent incidents.

PTI Kabul, Dec 29: The head of the Sikh community in Afghanistan's restive Kunduz city was shot dead by unknown gunmen today, the second such incident within three months, triggering fear among the minority group members.

Lala Del Souz was gunned down at about 9am in the Haji Gulistan Kochi Haman area of the city, Tolo News reported.

He was reportedly on his way to his shop when the shooting occurred. He died from his injuries while being taken to hospital, the report said.

According to relatives of the deceased, he had been shot five years ago but survived the attack.

Kunduz security chief

Masoum Stanikzai confirmed the incident and said police have arrested three suspects.

"Investigations will however continue," he said.

Del Souz's uncle, Prem, said the deceased had been well- liked and had no enemies.

The shooting, meanwhile, sparked an outcry on social media with hundreds of people condemning the incident and sending condolences to his family.

Prem, however, called on government to thoroughly investigate the incident and make sure those responsible are brought to justice. He said if this does not happen, the few remaining Sikhs will sell up and leave the province.

Following the collapse of Kunduz to Taliban, many

Barack Obama PTI Washington, Dec 29: The outgoing Obama administration is planning a series of fresh sanctions against Russia for its alleged role in cyber hacking into servers and emails of American political parties and leaders in the run up to the general elections, multiple media reports have said.

Quoting unnamed senior administration officials, CBS News and CNN said the new set of sanctions is likely to target the Russian intelligence agency and its official.

US officials believes that the spy agency operated with the blessing of the Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The sanctions could be announced as early as Thursday, CNN reported.

Obama has already announced investigations into the alleged Russian

hacking.

The report is expected early January.

US president-elect Donald Trump told reporters that the administration "should do the best they can, figure it all out."

CBS News said the White House is seeking measures the incoming administration can t reverse. Trump has so far refused to acknowledge Russia's role in the cyberattacks.

Administration officials would also like to make it difficult for President-elect Donald Trump to roll back any action they take.

"Part of the goal here is to make sure that we have as much of the record public or communicated to Congress in a form that would be difficult to simply walk back," one senior administration official told The Washington Post.

Reacting to media re-

Earlier this month, CIA officials told US media they had "high confidence" that Russian hackers had attempted to sway the US election in Trump's favour.

The Trump team responded to those reports by saying "these are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction".

Police arrest man in New York City tourist stabbing AP New York, Dec 29: Police have arrested a suspect in the random stabbing of a tourist in New York City earlier this month.

Twenty-three-year-old Connor Rasmussen, of Puyallup (pyoo-AL'-up), Washington, was stabbed in the back of the head on December 18.

Police announced the arrest yesterday of 20year-old Steven Tlapanco on charges of attempted murder, assault and criminal possession of a weapon.

Rasmussen was attacked in the early morning hours, just blocks from popular tourist spots including Rockefeller Center and Grand Central Terminal.

Rasmussen said his assailant stabbed him without saying a word.

He required eight stitches.

Police arrested Tlapanco after releasing surveillance photos and video footage from the attack.

It's not clear if Tlapanco has an attorney who can comment on the charges.

Sikhs left the province.

Currently only three families are still there, the report said.

Sikhs have lived in Kunduz for over thirty years and at one time there were as many as 40 families in the area.

After the collapse of Kunduz city last year, Del

Souz apparently moved his family to India. He stayed on in Kunduz and lived with his uncle.

Close to 99 per cent of Hindu and Sikh in Afghanistan have left the country over the past three decades.

Sikh and Hindu population numbered 220,000 in the

UN not living up Russia, Iran ties with Taliban stoke Afghan anxiety to its potential: Donald Trump

"Obama Admin plans new sanctions against Russia" ports, Russia has said such a move by the US would be considered as provocative and warned of retaliation.

The sanctions is likely to name individuals associated with the hacking and having close contacts with the government.

"If Washington really does take new hostile steps, they will be answered...any action against Russian diplomatic missions in the US will immediately bounce back on US diplomats in Russia," a spokesperson of the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

According to CNN, the US actions are expected to include expanded sanctions and diplomatic measures.

In October, the United States formally blamed Russia for political hacking attacks, saying they were intended to interfere with American elections. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Interfax that the accusations are "nonsense."

Sikh community head shot dead in Afghanistan

1980's.

It is now estimated that only 1,350 Hindus and Sikhs remain in the country, the report said.

Hindus and Sikhs suffered huge setbacks after the Taliban regime collapsed in 2001. This forced many of them to leave rural areas and move to Kabul in order to make a living.

In October, a Sikh man was abducted from his home and gunned down by suspected militants in Afghanistan's restive Nangarhar province bordering Pakistan.

Sardar Rawail Singh, who lived in Jalalabad, was abducted from his house by militants wearing military fatigues and killed in Khalis Famil area.

US President-elect Donald Trump.

PTI Washington, Dec 29 : US President-elect Donald Trump has hit out at the United Nations, saying the world body is causing problems instead of solving them.

"The UN has such tremendous potential, not living up to its potential.

There is such tremendous potential, but it is not living up," Trump told reporters in Florida yesterday.

"When do you see the United Nations solving problems? They don't.

They cause problems," he said.

He was responding to a question if America under his administration is considering leaving the United Nations.

In a series of tweets earlier this week, Trump criticised the world body, in particularly the Security Council for passing a resolution against Israel.

"So, if it lives up to the potential, it's a great thing.

And if it doesn't, it's a waste of time and money," he said.

"We cannot continue to let Israel be treated with such total disdain and disrespect. They used to have a great friend in the US, but not anymore," Trump said in a tweet yesterday.

"The beginning of the end was the horrible Iran deal, and now this! Stay strong Israel, January 20th is fast approaching!" he added.

AFP Kabul, Dec 29: Allegations over Russia and Iran's deepening ties with the Taliban have ignited concerns of a renewed "Great Game" of proxy warfare in Afghanistan that could undermine USbacked troops and push the country deeper into turmoil.

Moscow and Tehran insist their contact with insurgents is aimed at promoting regional security, but local and US officials who are already frustrated with Pakistan's perceived double-dealing in Afghanistan have expressed bitter scepticism.

Washington's long-time nemesis Iran is accused of covertly aiding the Taliban, and Russia is back to what observers call Cold War shenanigans to derail US gains at a time when uncertainty reigns over President-elect Donald Trump's Afghanistan policy. "(Russia's) narrative goes something like this: that the Taliban are the ones fighting Islamic State," top US commander in Afghanistan John Nicholson said recently, denouncing the "malign influence" of external powers.

"This public legitimacy

Russia, Iran ties with Taliban stoke Afghan anxiety

that Russia lends to the Taliban is not based on fact, but it is used as a way to essentially undermine the Afghan government and the NATO effort and bolster the belligerents.

"Shifting to Iran, you have a similar situation.

There have been linkages between the Iranians and the Taliban."

Russia has officially provided military helicopters for Afghan forces, but simultaneously propped up the Taliban with arms, official and insurgent sources say.

"We are particularly concerned about loads of Russian-made weapons recently seized from areas on the border with Tajikistan," a senior Afghan security official told AFP. "Cross-border support for

the Taliban will further complicate the security situation in Afghanistan's north."

A Taliban commander told AFP the Russian support had helped the insurgents overrun the northern city of Kunduz in October for the second time in a year.

Taliban representatives in recent months have also held several meetings with Russian officials in Tajikistan and Moscow, sources say.

"No country should be in touch with destructive groups who are the enemies of Afghanistan.

This shows disrespect towards the victims of war," interior ministry spokesman Sediq Siddiqi told AFP. "We ask Russia and Iran to work with Afghans to defeat terrorism.

China to host key conference on CPEC PTI Beijing, Dec 29: China has claimed "massive support from all sectors in Pakistan" for the USD 46 billion CPEC project as it hosts a high-level conference here tomorrow, days after a Pakistani army general invited India to be a part of the ambitious venture.

China is also expected to announce a USD 1 billion soft loan at the Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) meeting of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in which Pakistan's Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal and chief ministers of all the Pakistan provinces are expected to participate, report on the official website of the CPEC said.

The JCC which includes chief ministers of Pakistani provinces is expected to discuss steps to ensure smooth construction of the CPEC which is a prestigious project for President Xi Jinping.

Lt Gen Amir Riaz, Com-

China to host key conference on CPEC mander of Pakistan's Southern Command had said that India should "shun enmity" with Pakistan and "join the CPEC along with Iran, Afghanistan and other Central Asian countries and enjoy its benefits".

Subsequently, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying also wondered about India's reaction to the Pakistani general's re-

marks.

"I wonder what is India's take on this whether this is a good sign from Pakistan," Hua said reacting to Riaz's remarks, adding that China has an open mind on India's participation.

"Surprise aside (over the general's call), New Delhi should consider accepting the olive branch Pakistan has extended in a bid to participate in the China-Pakistan Eco-

nomic Corridor," said an article in state-run Global Times.

Ahead of the conference, Pakistani media reported that Islamabad is likely to secure a USD 1 billion soft loan for three road projects under the CPEC. Reports quoted Ashraf Zaman, spokesman for Pakistan's National Highway Authority (NHA) as saying the

roads are on the western route of CPEC, a mega network of roads, rail links, power plants and other infrastructure connecting western China's Xinjiang province to Pakistan's southern port of Gwadar.

Zaman said a deal was reached with the Chinese to finance the three additional roads in November.

Asked about the loan and the meeting, Hua told a media briefing here today that she has no information on the loan and the meeting.

At the same time she said the "CPEC has drawn massive support from all sectors in Pakistan. We would like to work with the Pakistani side to press ahead with the development of the CPEC," she said.

Her comments followed reports in the Pakistani and Chinese media about criticism within Pakistan over the project on which India has also raised objections as it passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

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DIBRUGARH, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30

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Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo.

Dubai, Dec 29 : Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal's Euro 2016-winning coach Fernando Santosscooped the top prizes at the seventh edition of the Globe Soccer Awards in Dubai.

Ronaldo claimed the best player award after helping his country land their first major title at this year's European Championship and firing Real to a record 11th European Cup triumph.

"Probably (this) was my

best year so far," Ronaldo, who earlier this month won the Ballon d'Or for the fourth time in his career, said in a short video message.

"The people still doubt about me, about Real Madrid, about national team, and you have the proof. We win everything, so amazing year, I'm so happy."

The 62-year-old Santos was named best manager after masterminding Portugal's success in France, while Champions

League winners Real Madrid took home the prize for club of the year.

Paris Saint-Germain coach Unai Emery, under pressure at the Parc des Princesfollowing a mediocre first half of the season, also received an award having led Sevilla to a third straight Europa League crown before leaving for France.

Former Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o was lauded for his career achievements.

Record-chasing Chelsea out to stoke title dreams

Record-chasing Chelsea out to stoke title dreams.

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AFP London, Dec 29 : Chelsea can take another step towards English football history when they host Stoke City on Saturday, as the Premier League's jampacked festive schedule rumbles into 2017.

Chelsea's 3-0 win over Bournemouth on Boxing Day was their 12th in succession, leaving them two wins short of Arsenal's overall topflight record of 14, set over two seasons in 2002.

With each win, Antonio Conte's side have looked more and more like champions-in-waiting, but with half the season still to go, Chelsea's players are desperately trying to ignore the hype.

"It's unbelievable because it's very difficult to do that in the Premier League, but the team are very compact on the

pitch and that's the right way," Spanish forward Pedro Rodriguez told the club website.

"Bournemouth are a good team and it was very difficult.

Stoke are also a very good team, but we must take it game by game."

Scorer of two goals against Bournemouth, Pedro will be suspended for the visit of Stoke, which should see top scorer Diego Costa -banned on Boxing Day -- return to the starting XI. Midfield lynchpin N'Golo Kante is also available again after suspension.

Stoke fell to a 4-1 defeat at Liverpool on Tuesday, having gone ahead through Jonathan Walters, and left-back Erik Pieters has urged his team-mates to show more belief against the leading sides.

"Sometimes we have a

good 20 minutes, sometimes we have a good second half, but in patches we have been bad -- we need to learn to control the game," said the Dutchman, whose side are 13th in the table.

"It's difficult because it has to come as a group.

It's a team sport. But I think we have shown we can do it in spells and we don't have to be afraid of big teams."

Liverpool's victory took them back to second place, six points below Chelsea, and they will stage the biggest game of the New Year weekend when third-place Manchester City visit Anfield on Saturday.

City trail Liverpool by a point, having won their last three matches, and manager Pep Guardiola was in attendance to watch Jurgen Klopp's team overcome Stoke.

Smith century before storm hits Pakistan Test AFP Melbourne, Dec 29 : Australia skipper Steve Smith scored his 17th Test century Thursday before a storm stopped play on day four of the second Test against Pakistan in Melbourne.

Smith cut Sohail Khan for three through the off-side to bring up his fourth Test hundred of the year and help build a 22-run lead over the tourists when tea was called.

He was unbeaten on 100 with Mitchell Starc not out seven in Australia's 465 for six.

The umpires took the players from the field for deteriorating light just before a storm lashed the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

The Australians lost the wickets of under-pressure pair Nic Maddinson and Matthew Wade in the middle session.

Maddinson, fighting to nail down his Test spot, failed again, deceived by Yasir Shah's flight and was bowled off-stump for 22 off 55 balls.

Australia skipper Steve Smith.

Under pressure after scores of 0, 1 and 4 in his three Test innings, Maddinson advanced down the wicket but failed to get to the pitch of the ball and was cleaned up.

Wicketkeeper Wade again missed out, this time he was caught in the

slips off a slash outside off-stump from Sohail Khan for just nine.

Wade, like Maddinson, has struggled for runs since his recall for last month's third Test against South Africa and has scores of 4, 7, 1 not out and now 9 in his four innings this season.

Azhar Ali, who scored an unbeaten 205 in Pakistan's first innings, was fielding close in at short leg when he received a fearsome blow on the helmet off Wade's full-blooded pull shot and was taken from the field for observation.

Usman Khawaja was dis-

Sri Lankan openers steady in 488-run chase Port Elizabeth, Dec 29 : Sri Lankan openers Dimuth Karunaratne and Kaushal Silva negotiated a tricky period to reach 27 for no loss at lunch on Day 4 of the first Test in Port Elizabeth. Sri Lanka were asked to bat for an hour before the lunch break on Thursday (December 29) after South Africa declared their innings on 406/6 in the morning, thus setting the visitors a daunting target of 488 to win the Test.

The general consensus was that the home side would declare after batting for an hour in the morning. But quite surprisingly, skipper Faf du Plessis wasn't interested in carrying on after Quinton de Kock's dismissal and declared the innings 45 minutes into the day's play.

As widely expected, Sri Lanka took the new ball right at the start of the day's play, and Angelo Mathews handed the cherry to Dushmantha Chameera and Suranga Lakmal. The hosts began cautiously scoring only nine runs in the first four overs before du Plessis drove through the covers to fetch the first boundary of the day.

De Kock then reached his half-century in the next over with a couple through the covers. It was a fitting end to the year for the left-hander who managed to cement his spot in the Test side with some vital contributions. By this time, South Africa's lead swelled past

Kaushal Silva (above) and Dimuth Karunaratne ensured Sri Lanka's safe passage to Lunch Š Getty 450 as du Plessis reached his fifty as well by whipping one towards midwicket which fetched him three runs.

A little over half an hour into the day's play, South Africa signalled their intentions by targetting offspinner Dhananjaya de Silva. De Kock looked to hit him for a boundary almost every delivery as he first drove through the covers to beat the fielder and then came down the track to hit through the same region to fetch the same result. The duo took a conservative approach though while facing Rangana Herath and were content with picking singles off him.

With the total going past 400, the declaration was around the corner as the lead was also approaching the 500-run mark. De Kock, in search of quick

runs at that point in time, fell to a full-length delivery from Herath while attempting a sweep. The umpire's finger went up straightaway following the appeal for lbw, which was challenged by the batsman but to no avail.

Earlier in the over, Herath took a review against the left-hander, which he survived after the ball had just clipped the leg stump. The skipper immediately declared the innings that gave Sri Lanka a daunting task of having to chase down 488 with a minimum of 175 overs left in the game.

After getting out cheaply in the first innings.

Karunaratne was determined not to lose his wicket against the new ball bowlers and was more than happy to leave all the deliveries bowled on the good length just outside off. Only 10 runs

were scored in the first eight overs as the openers signalled their intentions to play through to Lunch without losing a wicket. The first boundary of the innings finally came in the 10th over when Karunaratne went on the backfoot to punch Kagiso Rabada through point.

A chance was finally created just minutes before the break when Rabada got one to rear off the surface which was fended off by Silva with literally one hand. The ball kissed the glove and was dying on its way to a diving de Kock who failed to grasp the chance.

Brief scores: Sri Lanka 205 & 27/0 need another 461 vs South Africa 286 & 406/6 decl. (Stephen Cook 117, Quinton de Kock 69; Dhananjaya de Silva 2-91)

missed on 97 for the second time this season when he played away from his body and edged Wahab Riaz to wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed.

He faced 12 balls for two runs Thursday before he was out in the day's fifth over and left the ground with his head bowed.

Khawaja also missed out on a century against South Africa in the second innings of last month's first Test in Perth.

Peter Handscomb claimed his third half-century in his three Tests to push along the Australia scoring.

He was dropped off a sharp caught-and-bowled chance by Mohammad Amir on 51, but three runs later he found Sami Aslam at point off Sohail.

Handscomb, playing on his home pitch, added 92 runs with Smith off 141 balls.

Paceman Riaz continued to have problems bowling no-balls and has overstepped 12 times in the 27 overs he has bowled so far.

Gillespie named Australia T20 assistant coach AFP Sydney, Dec 29 : Former Test fast bowler Jason Gillespie was Thursday appointed as Australia assistant coach for the three Twenty20 internationals against Sri Lanka in February.

Cricket Australia said Gillespie will work with Justin Langer, who was confirmed as coach for the series earlier this month.

They will step in for head coach Darren Lehmann and his assistant David Saker, who will be with the Test squad for the tour of India over the same period.

Apart from his work with the Adelaide Strikers in the T20 Big Bash League, Gillespie spent five successful years as head coach of English county Yorkshire.

"I'm just buzzing to get this role. It really is an exciting opportunity and I'm humbled to be thought of

by Cricket Australia in this regard," Gillespie said.

"With some players likely to be away in India it really will be a shop window for players from the BBL to showcase their skills and to show the selectors and the Australian public what they can do."

Gillespie took 259 wickets in 71 Tests as well as 142 wickets in 97 ODIs. The T20s between Australia and Sri Lanka will take place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on February 17, Geelong on February 19 and the Adelaide Oval on February 22.

Argentine soccer star Carlos Tevez signs $40M deal in China Beijing, Dec 29 : Argentine striker Carlos Tevez has signed to play for Shanghai Shenhua, becoming the latest in a procession of star players to join the Chinese Super League. Shanghai Shenhua said Thursday that it paid an $11 million transfer fee to Argentine club Boca Juniors.

A person familiar with the negotiations said the 32year-old Tevez would be paid $40 million over two years. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to divulge details of the

transaction.

Tevez is expected to join team training on the Japanese island of Okinawa next month, with a formal introduction to follow soon afterward. The next Super League season begins in March. Chinese clubs have spent heavily over the past year to attract mainly South American stars. Last week, Shenhua's city rival Shanghai SIPG sealed a deal with Oscar from Chelsea. Other stars to join Chinese clubs include the Brazilians Hulk, Ramires and Paulinho, Colombian striker Jackson

Martinez and Argentine forward Ezequiel Lavezzi.

Tevez will be coached by Gus Poyet, the former Sunderland and Real Betis manager who became Shenhua's manager in November. Other internationally recognized managers in the Chinese Super League include Guangzhou Evergrande coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, Shanghai SIPG coach Andre VillasBoas, and Hebei China Fortune's Manuel Pellegrini.

China's government wants to turn the country into a foot-

ball power, setting the goal of having a team capable of winning the World Cup by 2050. Leading the national team is Italian coach Marcello Lippi, signed earlier this year to a hefty contract of his own.

China has also invested in youth soccer and building stronger pipelines to develop homegrown talent.

But the Super League's shopping spree has raised eyebrows and alarmed major European clubs who previously had no rival in attracting the world's top players. Antonio Conte, manager of Chelsea, said earlier this month that

"the Chinese market is a danger for all."

Tevez has appeared in two World Cups for Argentina and previously played for Manchester United, Manchester City and West Ham United in the English Premier League, as well as Italy's Juventus.

Tevez moved last year to Boca Juniors, the club where he began his senior career, after helping Juventus win its fourth straight Serie A title.

But he was quoted in the Argentine press this year saying that he was unhappy and even contemplating retirement.

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Ronaldo, Santos honoured at Globe Soccer Awards

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DIBRUGARH, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30

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Kohli, Ashwin rule on field; Lodha garners eye-balls off it

Virat Kohli.

PTI New Delhi, Dec 29: He had a 'few good men' at his disposal and Virat Kohli transformed them into a champion outfit with generous helping from his trusted lieutenant Ravichandran Ashwin even as Indian cricket faced a massive credibility crisis with its freedom curbed beyond 22 yards.

There is a saying that "A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way," and the Indian captain seemed

to walk the talk as he catapulted the Test team to the top of the world rankings with brilliant batting and inspirational leadership.

And then he had his lethal weapon, the enforcer responding to the name of Ravichandran Ashwin, whose super human efforts exceeded all expectations with one match-winning effort after another.

With Ashwin being conferred the ICC's 'Test Cricketer of the Year',

hopefully Indian cricket's search for the 'Next Kapil Dev' ends.

Perhaps, Indian cricket does not even need a 'Next Kapil Dev' as it now has its 'First Ravichandran Ashwin'.

While the men in white flannels were providing their die-hard fans with immense joy, the administration was caught in a tangle as one of the country's most well-run sports body faced complete overhaul .

The trigger for this was

far-reaching recommendations by Justice R M Lodha committee on the directive of Supreme Court.

The administrators, for most part, were busy firefighting but the men who mattered -- the cricketers -- made winning a habit with 9 triumphs out of the 12 Test matches played this year.

A 2-0 win in the Caribbean followed by 3-0 rout of New Zealand and 4-0 drubbing of England showed that Kohli's boys never took their foot off the pedal.

The skipper's 1215 runs with a hat-trick of double hundreds in three back-toback series set a benchmark and the 'Crazy Diamond' Ashwin only took it a notch higher with 72 wickets in the season along with 612 runs.

There will be 'Doubting Thomases' and rightly so as they would like to wait how the team under the guidance of Anil Kumble performs when it hits road on foreign shores.

But then England looked out of sorts in India with below-par spinners in their ranks, Australia are going through a transfor-

mation having lost to South Africa, who in turn had looked clueless against India, only a year back.

The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in eating and while the jury is still out on India's ability to win outside the sub-continent, it does not take away anything from the side's fantastic performance during the last five months starting from the West Indies series.

There is no point in eulogising Kohli -- the Match winner as it is well-known for the past five years -- but what was phenomenal was the effortless ease with which he carried the burden of leading the Test team.

A team he created from scratch and it now has atleast five or six match-winners.

Ashwin's metamorphosis from a defensive bowler to an attacker happened under Kohli.

The eight five-fors and three 10-wicket hauls in this year's Test matches placed him at the cusp of being quickest bowler to 250 Test wickets.

2016 in review: Major sporting retirements New Delhi, Dec 29 : 2016 was a jam-packed year with World T20, Euro, Olympicsto go with the usual sporting calendar events and the year witnessed several high-profile retirements from the international sports stage. Here are some of them.

Michael Phelps (Swimming) The most decorated Olympian of all time, USA's Michael Phelps bid adieu to the sport of swimming after claiming his fifth gold medal at the Rio Olympics - his 23rd overall (to go with three silvers and two bronzes). Phelps had earlier announced his retirement after the 2012 London games but made a comeback two years later and dominated the pool. Shortly after helping USA win the 4x100 medley relay, the Baltimore native said, "I am done, boys," in a group huddle to his fellow swimmers.

Competing at the 2000 Sydney Games as a 15-yearold, Phelps did not win a medal and finished fifth in the 200-meter butterfly. Four years later at Athens, Phelps announced himself to the world with six gold and two bronze medals. Beijing Olympics was his 'tour de force' where he claimed eight gold medals thus breaking the fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz's record of seven firstplace finishes at any single Olympic Games. In London, Phelps won four gold and two silver medals. He holds world record timings in the 100 meter butterfly, 200 meter butterfly, and 400 meter individual medley. He has won the World Swimmer of the Year award eight times and American Swimmer of the Year Award eleven times as well as the FINA Swimmer of the Year Award in 2012 and 2016.

Steven Gerrard (Football) Liverpool great and former England captain Steven Gerrard announced his retirement from professional football in November at the age of 36. Gerrard spent 17 years at his home-town club Liverpool, 12 as captain, and won seven major honours including the 2005 Champions League before finishing his career with an 18-month stint at LA Galaxy. Although the Premier League title famously eluded him, he did win two FA Cups, three League Cups, the UEFA Cup, UEFA Super Cup and the Community Shield. His finest hour came in Istanbul in May 2005, when he inspired Liverpool to come from 3-0 down against AC Milan at half-time of the

Champions League final to win the club's fifth European Cup. In total he made 710 appearances for Liverpool, scoring 186 goals.

Gerrard made 114 appearances for England, a tally bettered only by Peter Shilton, Wayne Rooney and David Beckham, and scored 21 international goals.

Abhinav Bindra (Shooting) India's first individual Olympic gold medallist officially announced his retirement from shooting this year in September, saying 'it is time to move on and hand over the baton to the younger generation.' Rio Olympics turned out to be the swansong for the 2008 Beijing gold medallist and he missed his second Olympic medal by a whisker. In his last appearance on the Olympic stage, which was his third final in five attempts, Bindra came within 0.1 point of winning a second medal at the pinnacle of world sport. In the end, he bowed out of the competition at fourth place in the final of the men's 10m air rifle.

Having started his Olympic journey in Sydney back in 2000, the 33-year-old shooter qualified in three Olympic finals including his golden journey of Beijing in 2008 (Athens being the other one) in his pet 10m air rifle, while he missed out in Sydney and London. Bindra, a child prodigy, was bestowed with the Arjuna Award at the age of 18 and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna a year later. He was also honoured with India's third highest civilian award, the Padma Bhushan after the Beijing triumph. Famed for

his single-minded determination, at times bordering on obsession, Bindra set an example for everyone aiming to excel in life, not just in sports.

Kobe Bryant (Basketball) Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant delivered a Hollywood ending as the curtain came down on his glittering 20-year NBA career a fairytale finale in April. After announcing in 2015 that he will retire at the end of the 2015-16 NBA season, the 37-year-old signed off with a mammoth 60 points, including a final burst of scoring to inspire a 101-96 victory over the Utah Jazz.

Named Kobe by his parents after they spotted the popular Japanese cut of beef on a restaurant menu shortly before his birth, Bryant is a fivetime NBA champion having won titles in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009 and 2010.

He appeared in 17 All-Star games, was named the Most Valuable Player for the 200708 regular season and landed MVP honors in the 2009 and 2010 Finals when he led the Lakers to consecutive championships. Bryant has also won gold medals with the U.S. basketball team at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. Bryant, a surefire first-ballot Hall of Famer is third on the NBA's all-time scoring list with 33,643 points behind Karl Malone (36,928) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387).

Jamie Dwyer (Hockey) Australian hockey icon Jamie Dwyer's 16-year-long trophy-laden illustrious career ended with the loss against the Netherlands in the Rio Olympic Games in August. The World Player of the Year in 2011, 2010, 2009, 2007 and 2004 was the leading figure in Australia's title-winning sides

at the 2004 Olympic Games and the 2010 and 2014 World Cups. Making his debut in 2001, Dwyer went on to play 365 games and scored 242 goals. Dwyer also got two Olympic bronze medals at the 2008 and 2012 Games, apart from two silver medals from the 2002 and 2006 FIH World Cups.

Bastian Schweinsteiger (Football) 31-year-old Manchester United midfielder, who won his 120th and final cap in Germany's 2-0 defeat to France in the semi-finals of Euro 2016, announced his international retirement in July via his official Twitter account.

Schweinsteiger's finest moment in the famous white shirt was his battling performance in the 2014 World Cup final in Rio. He absorbed everything the Argentina midfield threw at him to help Germany secure a 1-0 extra-time victory as Mario Goezte's winning goal gave die Mannschaft a fourth title. In 120 appearances for his country, with a record of 81 wins and 20 defeats, the defensive midfielder scored 24 goals for Germany.

Brendon McCullum (Cricket) The 34-year-old retired from international cricket in February. McCullum's swan song was signalled last December after a chronic back injury finally forced him to acknowledge time was being called on his career. "The time's right. And now I walk away comfortable with my decision and looking forward to the next stage of my life," McCullum had stated when announcing his retirement.

From 101 Tests he finished with 6,453 runs, including 12

centuries, 31 half centuries and a Test average of 38.68.

However, his influence on the game since he assumed the captaincy in early 2013 is what many believe to be his legacy.

Shane Watson (Cricket) Shane Watson announced that he will retire from international at the end of the ICC World T20 in India.

The decision, 14 years after he made his debut for Australia at the age of 20, cut the last remaining link of the Australia's pre-2005 era of domination. Watson retired from Tests last year following the defeat to England in the Ashes and has not participated in ODIs since September last year.

Tillakaratne Dilshan (Cricket) Tillakaratne Dilshan called time on his limited-overs career in August this year.

Dilshan, 39, has been one of Sri Lanka's most consistent performers in ODI cricket, especially over the last few years. In 2015, he was the third highest run-scorer in the format in the world, with 1207 runs in 25 matches at 52.47. Since 2013, he has averaged 49.18, and he is only the fourth Sri Lanka batsman and 11th batsman overall to pass the 10,000run mark.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul (Cricket) Veteran West Indies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the seventh h i g h e s t Te s t m a t c h r u n maker in history, announced his international retirement in January, 22 years after his debut. The 41-year-old former captain from Guyana e n d s h i s Te s t c a r e e r o n 11,867 runs, just 86 short of the West Indies all-time record held by Brian Lara.

In 2008, Chanderpaul was named as one of the five Cricketers of the Year by Wisden.

Charlotte Edwards (Cricket) Long-serving England women's captain Charlotte Edwards announced her retirement in May after a sparkling and pioneering 20year career. The 36-year-old led her country to glory in the Ashes, World Cup and I C C Wo r l d Tw e n t y 2 0 , winning a world-record 309 caps and scoring over 10,000 runs across the formats.

Charlotte Edwards was named ICC's Wo m e n ' s P l a y e r o f t h e Year and was selected as Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2014.

Broom hundred sets up New Zealand series win

Neil Broom.

AFP Nelson, Dec 29 : Neil Broom's maiden century and the self-belief of Kane Williamson gave New Zealand a 67-run victory over Bangladesh to take the second oneday international and the series in Nelson on Thursday.

Bangladesh suffered a dramatic meltdown when they were cruising towards what should have been a comfortable victory after Broom's unbeaten 109 was the only significant score in New Zealand's 251.

The tourists reached 104 for one in the 23rd over and were all out for 184 by the 43rd, losing their last nine wickets for 80 runs.

The win, following New Zealand's 77-run victory in the first match, gives the home side an unbeatable 2-0 lead with one match remaining, also in Nelson, on Saturday.

With New Zealand's frontline bowlers struggled for consistency at the start of the Bangladesh innings, skipper and part-time spinner Williamson put himself into the attack as the seventh bowler and claimed three for 22 with his loop-

ing off-breaks.

It was the breakthrough New Zealand needed after Imrul Kayes, Tamim Iqbal and Sabbir Rahman had given Bangladesh a solid start to their chase.

Tamim produced a quick 16 and Imrul (59) and Sabbir (38) kept the scoreboard ticking over at a constant rate.

But after Imrul brought the 100 up with a huge six off Jimmy Neesham, Sabbir was run out in bizarre fashion as he turned back going for a single and both batsmen raced for the non-striker's end.

Imrul believed he lost the race and headed for the dressing room only to be recalled when television replays showed Sabbir had grounded his bat second.

It was the start of the Bangladesh downfall with Lockie Ferguson, who dropped a sitter from Imrul on 45, bowling new batsman Mahmudullah for one with a yorker.

Williamson then entered the attack to remove Shakib Al Hasan (7), Mosaddek Hossain (3) and Tanveer Haider (2).

Debutant Nurul Hasan, standing in for injured wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim, dragged the in-

nings out with 24 before being the last wicket to fall.

Bangladesh, in an unorthodox reaction to losing the first ODI, injected three debutants into their side.

Along with Nurul, who capped his game with the smart stumping of Neesham and two sharp catches, speedster Subashis Roy took the wicket of Mitchell Santner and Tanveer took a catch to remove New Zealand's Luke Ronchi for 35.

Ronchi (35) was the second best performing New Zealand batsman and featured in a 64-run stand with Broom for the sixth wicket.

New Zealand were sent into bat afer Bangladesh captain Mushrafe Mortaza won the toss and decided to make early use of heavily overcast conditions.

By the time the clouds dispersed the New Zealand top order, with the exception of Broom, were already out and the tail struggled to pick up the pace.

Mashrafe Mortaza led the Bangladesh bowling figures with three for 49.

Tevez signs for Shanghai Shenhua - club AFP Shanghai, Dec 29 : Argentina's former Manchester United and Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez has signed for Shanghai Shenhua in the latest big-money Chinese deal, the club said Thursday.

The acquisition of the 32year-old from Buenos Aires side Boca Juniors will "greatly enhance" the team's front line, Shenhua said on a verified social media account.

"The club looks forward to Tevez helping Greenland Shenhua attack cities and strike stockades in Asian and domestic matches and contribute to more exciting games for fans," it said.

It did not put a value on the transaction, but Argentine media previously reported Tevez would make 84 million over two years under the contract -- 20 times his previous earnings.

Tevez will join the rest of the squad, who are on the Japanese island of Okinawa, after passing a medical, according to Shenhua. The side are coached by former Uruguay international Gus Poyet.

The move makes Tevez the latest international name,

Tevez signs for Shanghai Shenhua - club. many of them South American, lured to Chinese football for eye-watering sums of money.

Crosstown rivals Shanghai SIPG, coached by former Tottenham Hotspur manager Andre Villas-Boas, last week agreed a reported 60 million deal ( 73 million, 70.5 million euros) for Chelsea's 25-year-old Brazilian midfielder Oscar.

Before the Oscar deal Chinese Super League clubs had already splashed out more than 400 million on players this year, after President Xi Jinping laid out a vision of turning the country into a football power.

Chinese teams broke the Asian record three times in just 10 days in the JanuaryFebruary transfer window, and moved it still higher when Brazil's Hulk joined SIPG for 55.8 million euros in July.

Significantly, Chinese clubs are now competing with European rivals for world-class players, who are opting for astronomical pay packets over the chance of a career in football's top leagues.

Tevez married the mother of his three children, Vanesa Mansilla, last week in Uruguay only to discover that his home had been burgled when he returned.

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