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PAGE 11

Vol. II

Issue 137

BELIEVERS CHURCH DISTRIBUTES 60 BLANKETS TO VILLAGERS OF GAUTAMPUR

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HOA demands strong action against Pak-based terror groups Amritsar : Strong action against terror groups including Pakistan-based LeT and JeM involved in high level of violence in the region was demanded by the Heart of Asia (HoA) conference here today with India and Afghanistan launching a stinging attack on a virtually isolated Islamabad for sponsoring and supporting terrorism.

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Manmohan 'lacks credibility' for slamming demonetisation:BJP Bengaluru : BJP today hit out at former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over his criticism of demonetisation, saying he "lacks credibility" for such an attack as he himself headed the most "corrupt regime ever".

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Need clear tax laws to prevent black money creation:Niti chief Mumbai : Terming taxation laws in the country as "illdefined", Niti Aayog vicechairman Arvind Panagariya today called for removing ambiguities in them so as to do away with "discretion of the tax officer".

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Bizman allowed to go after questioning, may be called later Ahmedabad : City-based property dealer Mahesh Shah, who made a sensational claim that he was used as a front to declare Rs 13,860 crore under the Income Declaration Scheme (IDS), was allowed to go home this morning after night-long interrogation by senior IT personnel.

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Dibrugarh, Monday, December 5, 2016

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The nine-year-old Kashmiri girl who rules the kickboxing world

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Fire breaks out One more ULFA cadre apprehended as Security Forces in Itanagar; 11 eye to make more breakthroughs houses gutted Laxman Sharma Digboi, Dec 4

Following the capture of two ULFA (I) cadres Sarat Mohan and Chiteshwar Chetia by joint team of Assam police and Jairampur Battalion of Assam Rifles under the aegis of Dao Division on Tuesday last from Jairampur on AssamArunachal Pradesh border, the joint security forces apprehended Tarun Moran alias Jantu here from Bordubi in Tinsukia District on Sunday evening. The arrest was made during a counter insurgency operation being carried out across the entire vulnerable location of the district following the ULFA ambush in Pengaree on 19th last.

A revolver, several rounds of live ammunitions, demand letters along with mobile hand-

The aapprehended Tarun Moran alias Jantu from Bordubi in Tinsukia by security forces on saturday evening.

sets were recovered from the possession of the apprehended ULFA cadre. It may be reiterated here that following the incident of Pengaree ambush thereby killing two soldiers of Indian Army on 19th November on Digboi - Pengaree Road, the joint security forces Indian Army and Assam Police have been carrying out the militant hunt operation in and out with no significant outcome as yet.

Incidents of arrest and apprehension however were reported from various places coupled with rural life being hit in different ways during the course of the ongoing operation, the actual perpetrators (militants) were yet to be cracked upon to avenge the incident. Though, investigation and interrogation were being made after the arrest of the ULFA cadres active in the form of link man, the solid outcome is still awaited.

Police seize 37 bank passbooks, 44 ATM cards from state farmer ET Bureau Guwahati, 4 Dec: Assam farmer Jintu Bora could well be the rustic version of Gujarat’s Mahesh Shah who declared Rs 13,860 crore under the income-tax disclosure scheme.

Barely 24 hours after Shah told a Gujarati news channel that the money “belongs to other Indians”, the police in central Assam’s Majuli district raided Bora’s house in Madhupur village. The raid on Saturday evening yielded 37 passbooks of nationalised banks and post office, 44 ATM cards, 34 cheque books and more than 200 blank cheques besides Rs 22,380 in cash, a laptop and blank stamp papers.

accounts,” Vaibhav Chandrakant Nimbalkar, Majuli’s superintendent of police, told Hindustan Times.

Bora, an investigating officer said, could get away with lighter punishment because scrapped high-value banknotes were not recovered from him.

“We are questioning him to find out who parked how much money in the accounts in his possession,” he said.

The farmer, an investigating officer said, could get away with lighter punishment because scrapped high-value banknotes were not recovered from him. (Reuters File Photo) “Bora said he had been keeping the passbooks, ATM cards and other documents as sureties against loans given to other

villagers, but we are not totally discounting the possibility of black money having been parked through these

be held by income tax officials for questioning.

Shah’s disclosure under the Centre’s IDS, which ended in September, accounts for over 20% of the total Rs 65,000 crore declared under the scheme.

Staff Reporter Itanagar, Dec 4

At least 11 houses were ravaged by a major fire which broke out at around 12.30pm today at Lower Mowb-II in Itanagar after three cylinders burst. The houses include seven government quarters and four SPT rented houses. One house was partially damaged.Several people residing near the accident area could also be seen vacating their houses with their belongings.

On receiving information regarding the outbreak of the fire, three fire tenders from Itanagar Fire Station rushed to the spot and were pressed into service under the supervision of OC Fire Station Koj Taro, and managed to control the flames from spreading any further.Going by preliminary findings, Itanagar Fire Station and Police Station sources said that the fire occurred due to short circuit caused by haphazard hooking of cables/ wires in electricity poles and lines.

Superintendent of Police Dr A Koan said that a case is being registered against such hooking of cables/wires on electricity poles and lines at Itanagar Police Station and an enquiry will be conducted shortly.Talking to reporters, Parliamentary Secretary (Home) Pani Taram requested the district administration to immediately prepare and submit the loss/damage report for approval and consideration of the government immediately.Apart from the 11

houses that were completely gutted down, Taram said that none of the personal belongings of the victims could be retrieved in the chaos.

Miraculously, there has been no report of any severe case of injury. Later, Itanagar MLA and UD Parliamentary Secretary Techi Kaso also visited the site and provided victims with blankets. He also extended financial support to members of the 11 victim houses and others who were injured.

Kaso also appealed to everyone to be aware of such incidents and construct houses properly with sufficient space for emergency and essential services.

He also requested the Capital District Administration to immediately provide relief and rehabilitation package to the victims. The victim residents were later identified as Santosh Sonar, Dipali Deka, Rajesh Kumar Rai, Chetry, Toko Talo, Takhe Garam, Hage Ekka of PWD, Taniang Tama of Power department, Sitaram Thapa of UD, Gopi Rai of PWD, Yapu Kamda, D Lama of Education Department and Senkar Ruti.Itanagar Police Station OC Tabi Bage, SP (Fire Service) Kime Aya, EAC Itanagar J Bomjen, CMEO Habung Lampung, Relief Officer J Angu, Councilor Pakyum Tagung, Councilor Donik Tayu, Parliamentary Secretary Nyamar Karbak and a large numbers of locals extended help to douse out the fire and help people escape from the inferno.

Property dealer Shah, who had declared a whopping Rs 13,860 crore of undisclosed wealth under the Income Declaration Scheme (IDS), appeared on a television show on Saturday night and claimed the money did not belong to him, only to

Roing DC cautions absentee government officials ET Bureau Roing, Dec 4

To get first hand information on developmental activities undertaken in the area, Roing Deputy Commissioner Deepak Shinde visited Hunli sub- division and remote CO circle, Desali from December 1 to 3 last.

In a public meeting at Hunli, the DC sought cooperation from public leaders and government officials for all-round development of the area.

He also cautioned all absentee government officials that action like deduction of salary for absent period from duty, followed by suspension will be initiated to habituate non station officer/ staffs posted in Hunli Sub- Division.

The DC briefed on present system of executing various developmental works and directed the executing agencies to provide proper guidance to the contractor in every steps of implementation.

Regarding illegal sale of liquor and illegal drugs, he requested the public to be pro active and help the District Administration and Tax & Excise department to curb the menace.

He also urged for dissemination of information regarding demonetization and to provide help to the public living in remote areas of the district.

Touching on the issue of road connectivity from Hunli to Desali, electricity, water supply,

PDS items, shortage of staff, shortage of police personnel, the DC assured to take up the matter with concerned authorities after consultation with the SDO of Hunli and other line departments.

He also urged the public to use BADP schemes and other government schemes judiciously for development of the area.

During the tour he also visited various schools and public health centres, and took stock of medicines and staff position

at Hunli and Desali.

In the meeting, ZPM Mama Miso, Gaon Burrahs and PRI leaders placed their grievances to the DC and his team.

Responding to public grievances on various developmental issues, DRDA PD T Tado, DFO Aduk Paron, DPO M Dirchi, PWD EE Moto Gara and HoDs also clarified their queries and urged them to report any discrepancies in implementation and execution of works undertaken in the area.

EFFORT TO SOLVE ISSUES TECHNOLOGICALLY

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Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal at the Assam State Meet on Promoting Space Technology Based Tools and Applications in Governance and Development organized jointly by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), North Eastern Space Applications Centre (NESAC) and Assam Remote Sensing Application Centre (ARSAC). The Chief Minister has requested the expertise and help of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in dredging the Brahmaputra to combat flood, erosion & realising the river's developmental potential. He also emphasised on having advanced warning system forNorth East Region to deal with natural calamities and using Science & Technology to defeat anti-India forces.

DIBRUGARH, MONDAY, DECEMBER 5

P2 Aries Make sure you get your daily dose of laughter and try to come out of your shell a bit more, Aries. This is an important time for you to let go of your inhibitions and open up to the world. You may find that there's a sober tone to your emotions, but you can overcome this easily as long as you keep your chin up. There's no reason for you to be gloomy.

Taurus This is an important day for you to give thanks for all that you have, Taurus. Give your loved ones extra hugs and let them know how much they mean to you. If things start to get a bit too serious and somber, you're the one who can pull others out of the rut. There is no need to be sad when you have so much to be happy about.

Cultural competition held among Adis Aalo, Dec 4 : A culture competition was held among the Adi community dwelling at Aalo town as a run up to the celebration of Podi Barbi festival at Kumin Kiin on December 3 last.

Competitions on traditional and modern dances that showed insight into their age-old culture and traditional faith presented by the community members dwelling at Aalo town.

Believers Church distributes 60 blankets to villagers of Gautampur

Gemini Maintain a positive attitude, Gemini, and things will naturally flow your way.

Tell a few jokes and keep things light and energetic. You will find that you can multitask very well and you have the ability to make everyone smile.

Don't shy away from things - move toward them. Put away your self-doubt and be more proactive in your approach to everything you encounter.

Cancer You may be reluctant to commit to anything major today, Cancer. Your natural tendency is to look askance at those who promise grand and wonderful things. You're smart to question such talk.

Don't be surprised if someone's new idea garners all the acclaim. Don't buy into it without first hearing the facts. It isn't a good day for you to gamble, either.

Leo This may be one of those days when you feel completely alone even if there are hundreds of people around, Leo. No one seems to understand your perspective. Your incredible sensitivity and emotionalism is putting you in a category all your own. Try not to ostracize yourself from the group. Reach out instead of pull away. You have more in common with other people than you think.

ET Bureau, Diyun, Dec 4: As poor families are reeling under the severe and frosty winter, Believers Church Changlang diocese distributed around 60 blankets to poor families at Gautampur. “Taking note of chill winter and the hardship people face during this winter, Believers Church Changlang diocese

distributed around 60 blankets to needy people on 4th December 2016 at Gautampur village of Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh,” reads the press release.

This year Believers Church Changlang diocese has had distributed nearly one thousand blankets in different district like Longding and Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh.

Bridges renamed

Virgo Balance your boisterous, adventurous nature with a bit of discipline today, Virgo. It's important to laugh, but it's also important to stay on task with your duties. The good news is that both of these things can work in tandem. They aren't mutually exclusive. In fact, one will help you achieve the other. Be serious, but have a good time and keep things in perspective.

Libra There may be a thousand things for you to do today, Libra, but you can only get them done if you concentrate on one at a time. Take a lighthearted approach. You will never finish by focusing on the sheer amount of work you have to do. Break it up into smaller pieces and delegate tasks if you can. Try to see the fun side of things. Schedule in breaks and snacks.

Scorpio No matter what you're doing today, have fun, Scorpio.

Whistle a tune. Turn the stereo up to full volume and dance around the kitchen as you make dinner. You can find amusement in just about anything, so keep this in mind as you tackle even the menial tasks. You're responsible for your own attitude, so don't blame anyone else for a sour mood. Turn yourself around and have fun.

ET Bureau Siyum, Dec 4 : Rural Development Minister Tanga Byaling officially renamed Keojoring motorable bailey bridge after late Tarik Rava, former MLA of Nacho, and the Siyum bridge after late Paksing Siyum, former vice president of Siyum Anchal Samity on

November 30 and December 2 respectively.

Public, government officials and other Panchayat leaders of the area also attended the renaming ceremony.

The bridges were executed under CSS funding with state matching share over the mighty river Subansiri.

Arunachal Pradesh State Commission for Women conducts 2 Day Legal awareness

Sagittarius You might need to spend time alone in order to reset your programming, Sagittarius.

Other people's influence may be seeping into your psyche.

There's no reason to always do or say what other people dictate. Your sensitivity helps you understand things about others, but it can also bring you down if you start to take on their burdens. Try to counterbalance this tendency with more of your own energy.

Capricorn You will find that discipline, organization, and a bit of a dramatic flair are exactly the things needed to be successful today, Capricorn. Just because you have to be practical doesn't mean that you have to be stern and grumpy. Remember that taking care of serious matters can actually be fun as long as you maintain a positive attitude about the situation. A smile goes a long way.

Aquarius You might find it difficult to deal with people on an emotional level today, Aquarius.

Others could seem too demanding of your attention, and want to keep the focus on themselves. At the same time, you will probably need a bit more attention than usual. Try not to be so stubborn! Give people the love they need and you will find that the love you require will come to you as well.

Pisces You might find your emotions a bit dampened today, Pisces, but this may not be a bad thing.

Try not to blow things out of proportion so much. Don't feel that you need to turn every small story into a major headline. There's no need to exaggerate the truth just to get more attention. Take a more reserved approach to your actions and reactions to all situations.

ET Bureau BANA, 4 DEC: The Arunachal Pradesh State Commission for Women (APSCW), conducted its maiden two days legal awareness programme at Bana Circle, under East Kameng District on December 2 and 3 on issues concerning women and children.

Highlighting the SocioEconomic Survey, APSCW Member Secretary Yame Higio stated that the survey revealed that 62 percent of women in remote areas do not know about legal awareness programme, which is why the Commission selected Bana Circle for the programme.

Urging upon the public to refrain from practicing polygamy, APSCW Chairperson Mitali Tingkhatra highlighted the laws that protect and provide aid to women if she is a victim of polygamy. She strongly advocated for compulsory marriage registration as it would benefit both men and women.

Also requesting everyone to put an end to the practice of child marriage, she called on them to report cases of child marriage to the Commission, and informed the gathering that they could contact Child Line, Women Helpline and Free Legal Aid. Labour Officer Ashok Sonam highlighted the issue of bonded and child labour, especially in East Kameng district, which he said has the highest number of bonded labours.

Saying that the main cause of bonded labour is economic disparity of parents, he suggested that the government should set up rehabilitation centres.

DLSA Advocate Bimon Sonam highlighted various provisions and implications under the Domestic Violence Act, 2005, while Circle Officer Abu Taba psoke on livelihood and stressed on introduction of horticulture sector, and requested the public to avail government schemes under

“My Village, My Development” plan.

Further, Assistant Professor Ripe Bagra highlighted the Indecent Representation of Women Prohibition Act, 1987.

Later, the commission also conducted legal awareness programme for school children at Government Higher Secondary School, Bana, where Bagra gave details regarding the POCSO Act, 2012, its various provisions and sections of the Act. APSCW members, Duma Yekar and Oter Ering Tayeng also encouraged the participants to take advantage of the legal awareness programme for their benefit.

The programme was attended by Women Welfare Organization president Veena Sonam Waii and general secretary Pooza Sonam Natung and chairperson Kameng Welfare Society Sorsomi Degio, gaon burrahs, head gaon burrahs, Gram Panchayat Chairperson, Gram Panchayat Members, ASM and public of Bana.

DIBRUGARH, MONDAY, DECEMBER 5

Kaliabor MP lays Foundation Stone of Sports Project ET Correspondent Golaghat , Dec 4: Member of Parliament of Kaliabor Constituency, Gaurav Gogoi today laid the foundation stone of Halmira Tea Garden Sports Project at Khumtai . The project is Assam Government's untied fund of 2015-16 year. MP Gaurav Gogoi along with APCC Secretary Dadu Taye, NSUI State President Manoj Hazarika and several other distinguished guests were present at the foundation stone laying ceremony. In the ceremony, Gaurav Gogoi vehemently criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Demonetization Scheme.

"Madhuren Samapayet" released In Jorhat ET Correspondent Jorhat, 4 Dec: Achyut Kumar Bora, a 24 year promising youth of Jorhat, released his novel "Madhuren Samapayet" in a simple ceremony under the presidency of Santanu Tamuli, held in Jorhat Press Club on Sunday.In the book release ceremony Dr. Manik Saikia former president of All Assam Kabi Sanmilan, Jyoti Rekha Hazarika noted writer and lecturer of J.B. College, noted children writer, Santanu Tamuli were present.The welcome addressing speech was delivered by Ujjal Pawgam, a noted poet from Jorhat.

Dr. Manik Saikia acknowledging the commendable and promising talent in Achyut Kumar Bora said that, “a new novelist is born today".

Acknowledging the different skill set and mettle needed to write novels unlike other form of writings, Jyoti Rekha Hazarika, in her speech said that it is very tough to write a novel. "In the novel, the writer draws a clean picture of life struggles along with a love story," added Jyoti Rekha Hazarika in her speech. On the other hand Santanu Tamuli said that "it is very unique that a young age writer could think such a thought". "A book only could truly get inaugurated when readers welcomes it" added Tamuli. Achyut Kumar Bora, had earlier released a poetry book named "Nadi Tumi Bhagna Hridayar Thikana".

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An ocean of books awaits at the 11th Jorhat Book Fair

Taekwondo Workshop held today at Sivasagar Boarding Field organised by Rangpur Taekwondo Academy. Photo by Firuz Ahmed

Rituraj Phukan JORHAT, Dec 4: Assam Academic Centre is all set to organise the 11th edition of Jorhat Book Fair as all preparations for the book fair have been made for the literary event. The book fair is set to commence on 5 December and will conclude on 15 December. “We are all set for the mega book fair,” declares a press statement released by the organising committee here today at Jorhat Court Field on Sunday. It is to be noted that plethora of organisations

have joined hands to make the event successful. “We are collaborating with the Jorhat District Administration, the National Book Trust, India and all Assam Publishers and other national publishing houses to make the 11th edition of Jorhat Book Fair successful,” added Dr. Paran Baruah, working president of Assam Academic Centre.

The event has also plenty to offer to avid readers of all age groups. On this note, said Dr. Paran Baruah is hopeful that the book fair

will be able to attract huge turnout. "We are going to organize many attractive activities," said Dr. Paran Baruah.

Array of activities are lined up for the book fair, such as quiz competition, poetry reciting program, skill and entrepreneurship development program, school educational development program, art competition, book inaugural program along with cultural night. “Nothing short of a delight for avid readers, the fair will not

only features more than ninety stalls by eminent publishing houses, but is also playing host to an eclectic mix of events like book releases, panel discussions and cultural dance performances, among other things, “added Dr. Paran Baruah.It is to be mentioned that the organizing committee have waived of entry fees for school and college students. Noted novelist and director of National Book Trust India is likely to inaugurate the 11th Jorhat Book Fair.

NRL pays interim dividend of Rs 31.79 cr to Assam Govt PTI Guwahati, 4 Dec: The Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) has handed over an interim dividend cheque of Rs 31.79 crore for the year 2016-17 to Assam Govern-

ment for its 12.35 per cent equity shareholding in the company.

The dividend cheque was presented to Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal by NRL Managing Director P

Padmanabhan here yesterday, an official release said here today.

It was for the second successive time that Interim Dividend was paid by NRL to its shareholders before

'Bangladeshi' tag haunts Muslims in Darrang chars Guwahati, Dec 4: Nineyear-old Malekuddin, a resident of Dhalpur char (sand bar), has been spending sleepless nights after receiving an eviction notice from a local court in Darrang district. A Class IV-student at a madrassa in nearby Dalgaon, Malekuddin has no idea about what led to the sudden crackdown.

Malekuddin is not alone.

Members of the minority community living along the fertile Sipajhar riverine area of Darrang district are a worried lot. Increasing tension between them and the local Assamese over the past couple of months has culminated in a malicious poster campaign. Several posters, of unknown origin, have been circulated in the area in which members of the minority community have been labelled 'Bangladeshi migrants'.

While his elderly neighbours attribute the growing unease to the installation of BJP in Dispur, Malekuddin, who has no idea about the persecution faced by his forefathers in

Darrang during the height of the Assam Agitation, could only hope for a miracle.

"I don't know anything about politics. My request to the government is to allow us to live peacefully in our homes. My family makes a living by cultivating corn but we didn't dare to farm this year because of this eviction notice," said the weary youngster who, along with some of his neighbours, was in Guwahati on Saturday.

Interestingly, the eviction notice was addressed to the nine-year-old boy, not his father or any other older family member.

As BJP leaders of Sipajhar have been urging chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal to make the eponymous revenue circle free of doubtful citizens, 60000-odd families in Dhalpur who had settled in the sand bars of the area since 1978 are facing the heat. They fear that Dhalpur - a major producer of vegetables - might soon turn into a conflict zone if the government did not take steps to protect them.

Jaynal Abedin, an elderly neighbour of Malekuddin, said settlement in Dhalpur char began in 1978 when flood-affected people from Kamrup, Barpeta and parts of Darrang began migrating there for shelter. "This land was not settled by Bangladeshis. We all are genuine Assamese," the 65year-old said.

A delegation of students and scholars comprising representative of the Post Graduate Students' Union (PGSU) of Gauhati University visited the greater Dhalpur area recently to assess the situation.

"In Dhalpur, as many as 37 primary schools, four high schools, one higher secondary school and 39 Anganwadi kendras have been set up by the government. There are several health centres here which are controlled by the government. We are shocked at the political conspiracy against the people of Dhalpur who have already been victims of floods and erosion,"said Sanjib Talukdar, president of PGSU.

AROUND DIBRUGARH

Locals indulging in community fishing at Bogibeel area in Dibrugarh on Sunday. Photo Manoj Pandey

close of the financial year.

The dividend amount was equivalent to 35 per cent of paid up share capital i.E. Rs 3.5 per fully paid share of Rs 10 per share, the release added.

Ramakrishna Mission distributes free blankets and garments to villagers

Mithun Baruah Margherita, 4 Dec: In a show of solidarity and compassion to the impoverished brethren, Shri Shri Ramakrishna Sevasram Margherita today distributed free blankets and garment at Janajati High School Ketetong, Margherita to the rural area people of Ketetong. The philanthropy programme was sponsored by Ramakrishna Mission Narottom Nagar

Deomali, Arunachal Pradesh.

More than 150 blankets and garments were distributed to the rural area people of Ketetong.

Swami NityaPriyanandaji Maharaj Ji from Deomali and Swami Ekroopananda Maharaj Ji both from Deomali Arunachal Pradesh, Bidyavati Lahon Hazarika Headmistress of Janajati High School Ketetong, Advocate S K Dutta from

Margherita,Sarat Chandra Hazarika Retired Headmaster, Mon Bahadur Chetry, President of Ketetong Gaon Panchayat, Rana Borah Headmaster of ME School Ketetong,SR Paul, Vice President of Shri Shri Ramakrishna Sevasram Margherita and all the members of Shri Shri Ramakrishna Sevasram of Margherita were present at the distribution of free blankets and garments.

DIBRUGARH, MONDAY, DECEMBER 5

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Experts bat for more health campaigns Guwahati, Dec 4 : Experts of the National Health Mission (NHM) on Saturday said women's health and hygiene should be promoted at the grassroots to curb rising cases of teenage pregnancy.

Terming the increase in such cases as 'one of the biggest challenges' they faced, the experts said the problem had reached such an extent that teenage brides often lied about their age.

The activists warned that

Bahniman fever catches cinegoers in Pathsala Pathsala, Dec 04: Sarma Talkies, the only cinema hall of the town has been witnessing mind-boggling thronging of cinegoers to watch the latest Assamese movie release Bahniman.

The latest offering from Biswajeet Bora is making all the headlines with its coming age Assamese movie. All the more curious cinegoers in Pathsala are thronging to see what Biswajeet has up his sleeve in his new project. But belying expectations, the

Mumbai-based filmmaker, out to prove a point or two, returns with a lot of fire power in his belly to direct a full-fledged entertainer titled ‘Bahniman the movie seems to have struck the right chord with Cine goers as one young cinegoer interacting with our correspondent said that the plot, actions, dialogue is very alike Bollywood movie.

The movie has Jatin Bora as the lead pratogonist and Yashpal Sharma as the leading lady.

teenage pregnancies whether a result of child marriage or elopement - had led to a vicious cycle that resulted in unhealthy, anaemic or even stunted babies.

"We need to break this cycle through a balanced approach. We need a better information-dispensing mechanism and more awareness campaigns. Adolescent girls in Assam are anaemic and, if they are al-

lowed to become mothers before the legitimate age, it will definitely lead to more problems for both the child and the mother," said Sikha Bothakur, behaviour change communication expert, NHM.

Governor reviews road work in Assam Guwahati, Dec 4: ATTACHING top priority to develop the existing National Highways and major road conditions in the State, Assam Governor Banwarilal Purohit convened a high level meeting with all stake holders at Raj Bhavan in Guwahati on Saturday.

The meeting, attended by top bureaucrats, it decided to prepare a road map for expeditious repairing of the roads of on-going projects of the State particularly the

Barak Valley region and reduce the inconvenience of the commuters. The Governor said road is the pre-requisite of development and life line for tourists, health services, transport etc.

He added that all road projects in the National Highway in Assam be taken in the right earnest including other development works. The Governor said, “The weather in Assam does not allow ample time to the Departments to execute the sanctioned projects. Therefore the

Government projects in Assam should be planned, sanctioned and should be allotted to the agencies between April to August so that the actual works in the field start the work immediately after the monsoon season, in the interest of prompt and efficient execution of the development works.”

He asked the DC, Karimganj, to clear the pending land acquisition payment for Karimganj bypass sites within 10 days so that the roads could be built at the earliest.

Assam CM Reviews Bodoland University, Engineering College Status ET Bureau Guwahati 4 Dec: Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Saturday chaired a meeting to review the status of Bodoland University (BU) and Bineswar Brahma Engineering College, Kokrajhar at the conference hall of Brahmaputra State Guest House.

The Chief Minister took stock of the present developmental activities going on at both Bodoland University and Bineswar Brahma Engineering College and discussed various plans for making both institutions top educational centres in the State.

The Chief Minister was apprised of various problems faced by both the institutions and he

Minister said that steps would be taken in this regard to extend the retirement age as per UGC guidelines.

Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal

stated that steps would be taken to solve the problems at an early date. Observing that out of 139 posts at Bodoland University, 55 posts would be appointed now to meet the requirement of UGC 12 (B) which would facilitate speedy growth of the University. The rest 84 posts of non-teaching staff would also be filled up soon so that

functioning of the varsity does not have to suffer, Sonowal said.

On being apprised of the issue of extending the retirement age of Registrar and equivalent posts till 62 years as the vice chancellor and professor’s retirement age is fixed at 70 and 65 years respectively by the State Education Department, the Chief

Saying that the high enrolment of 1,500 students in the varsity shows the demand of the institution as a centre of higher education in BTAD area, Sonowal directed the university representatives to consult an architect to derive maximum benefit out of the 365 bighas of land allotted to the varsity by fully utilizing all areas of the landscape. “We must build it as a premier institute of higher education of the state and for that all concerned must work with a proper plan and architectural design.” Sonowal said.

Similarly Chief Min-

ister also took stock of the progress of Bineswear Brahma Engineering College at Kokrajhar and instructed the College representatives to start two new streams of Civil Engineering and Computer Science and Engineering in addition to the two streams currently being imparted at the college.

He also assured of taking all steps to improve the College so that technical education needs can be fulfilled at the BTAD area.

Chief Executive Member, BTC Hagrama Mohilary, MLA Sidli Chandan Brahma, Chief Secretary VK Pipersenia, Principal Secretary Education Pawan Barthakur were present at the meeting, among others.

Heart of Asia conference demands strong action against Pakistan-based terror groups NEW DELHI: Strong action against terror groups involved in high level of violence in the South Asia region - including Pakistan-based Lashkare-Taiba and Jaish-eMuhammad - was demanded by the Heart of Asia (HoA) conference in Amristar, with India and Afghanistan launching a stinging attack on a virtually isolated Islamabad for sponsoring and supporting terrorism.

Combating terrorism was at the "core" of discussions at the annual HoA conference, which is meant to focus on efforts to reconstruct and stablise war-torn Afghanistan. However, it could not firm up an Afghanistan-initiated proposal to set up a regional framework to counter the menace as many countries had not given their inputs.

Attended by some 40

countries, the two-day conference concluded with a strong declaration calling for concerted regional and international cooperation to ensure elimination of terrorism as well as dismantling of terrorist sanctuaries and safe havens in region as also disrupting all financial, tactical and logistical support for terror networks.

Stopping short of directly naming Pakistan in his speech at the meet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said "resolute action" was needed not just against forces of terrorism, but also against "those who support, shelter, train and finance them", asserting that terrorism and externally induced instability pose the gravest threat to Afghanistan's peace, stability and prosperity.

Modi also asked the international community to

"demonstrate strong collective will to defeat terror networks that cause bloodshed and spread fear" as "silence and inaction" against terrorism in Afghanistan and in the region "will only embolden terrorists and their masters."

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani directly blamed Pakistan for "launching an undeclared war" against his country and demanded an Asian or international regime to verify Pakistan- sponsor terror operations.

Snubbing Pakistan, he said the USD 500 million pledged by it for reconstruction of Afghanistan could be used by Islamabad to check extremism.

"This fund Mr Aziz could very well be used to contain extremists because without peace any amount of assistance will not meet the needs of our

people," he said at the meet where Pakistan Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz was among those present.

Time has come for concrete action against terror infrastructure and those support it, Ghani asserted and quoted a top Taliban commander saying unless terror sanctuaries were allowed in Pakistan, the outfit will not last even a month.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley - who headed the Indian delegation to the conference said that "for the first time, a Heart of Asia Declaration expressed concern at the violence caused in Afghanistan and the region by terrorist groups like al-Qaida, Daesh, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammed etc."

The conferences' Amritsar declaration said

that among other terror groups propagating a "high level of violence" were "the Taliban, Daesh (Islamic State) and its affiliates, the Haqqani Network, Al Qaida ...

Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-eMuhammed, Tehreek-eTaliban Pakistan ... and other foreign terrorist fighters".

"We realise radicalisation of youth can only be prevented by effective deradicalisation strategies involving all Heart of Asia countries," it added.

The declaration sought the early finalization of a draft Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism, and favoured an early meeting of experts to discuss a draft Regional CounterTerrorism Framework (which was recently prepared by Afghanistan) for its early finalization.

APSC to Hold Examinations/Interviews Which Were Postponed PTI Guwahati 04 Dec: Assam Public Service Commission Chairman (Incharge) Brig (retd) Ranjit Borthakur on Saturday said the Commission would conduct some of the examinations and interviews which “we had to postpone because of reasons beyond our control”.

“Our immediate job at hand is to conduct some of the examinations and interviews which we had to postpone because of reasons beyond our control. Similarly, results of some examinations had to be postponed due to the present turmoil”, Borhakur told a press meet in Guwahati.

Borthakur, who was a member of the APSC, was appointed as the Chairman (Incharge) of the Commission yesterday by the state government following the arrest of his predecessor Rakesh Paul on November 4 last. “In many cases we will have to seek legal advice as well as seek opinion and advice from the state government. I have sought a meeting with the Chief Minister this evening and will take advice from him”, he said.

Explaining the exam procedure conducted by the APSC for government jobs, he said, for some posts written and oral marks are added, while in case of direct recruitment the candidates are chosen through

interviews and then screening test if there are a lost of applicants.

Stating the pending screening tests for various posts would be conducted soon, he said pending oral test for 786 medical and health officials will be conducted in the next 15 days as there is shortage of these professionals in the state. Immediately the APSC can also send recommendations for appointment of those who took exam for school teachers jobs for which the Commission will, however, seek the advice of the government, the Chairman said.

“Our computers and servers have been seized by police (during the cash-for-job scam) investigations. So we are unable to issue admit cards, etc. We will take the Chief Secretary’s advice on it and see if we can use a nearby government server for the purpose”, he said.

Following the arrest of APSC Chairman Rakesh Kumar Paul, two members Samedur Rahman and Basanta Kumar Doley, Assistant Controller of Examinations Pabitra Kaibarta and another official were arrested in connection with alleged corruption in the organisation.

The new Chairman also said that during the very difficult phase APSC has been going through for over a month he has been given a big responsibility by the

government.

“It is a big challenge and I will try my best to bring back the past glory of the Commission. Whatever credit it has earned in the past seems to have eroded with the negative developments in the recent past”, Borthakur said. “Ninty to 95 per cent of the people in the APSC are good. People should not have negative feelings but keep their trust in us and the old glory will be brought back”, the new Chairman insisted.

On corruption, he said, “in a meeting yesterday I told the APSC staff that corruption will not be tolerated. If any one is found to indulge in it there will departmental enquiry followed by police enquiry”. Asked if he had differences with Rakesh Paul, Borthakur said, “professional differences were there. I had written letter to him disagreeing with him on violation of mandated procedural matters. But I did not know about corruption involving cash for money”.

Stating the Commission is duty bound to implement all the directions given by the Chief Minister, including use of CCTV during interviews, Borthakur said the Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary (Personnel) have offered necessary help to ensure that the Commission can carry out assigned task.

Eye check-up camp concludes at press club Guwahati, Dec 14: Two senior eye specialists namely Dr Subhra Kinkor Goswami and Dr Bijuli Goswami, associated with Sight First eye-clinic, today checked the eyes of the member-journalists of Guwahati Press Club and provided free consultation & preliminary treatments for them. Over 45 scribes along with their family members participated in the evening clinic, where most of them were advised to follow some guidelines to protect and prolong their eye sights.

Sight First employees Ramen Haloi, Bapan Paul with Paresh Das and Soan Das assisted the ophthalmologists in conducting the camp.

The next (10 December 2016) evening OPD under the series of ‘Evening with a Doctor’ programs will be attended by Dr KN

Srinivasan, consultant cardiologist from Apollo Hospitals, Chennai. The clinic will begin at 4 pm and continue till 6 pm.

Income Tax department rejects declarations from Mahesh Shah, Mumbai family, worth a total of Rs 2,13,860 crore NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Finance today said the Income Tax (I-T) Department has rejected two sets of declarations of Rs 2,00,000 crore, and Rs 13,860 crore made under the Income Declaration Scheme.

The declaration of Rs 2 lakh crore was made by a family of four from Mumbai - headed by one Abdul Razzaque Mohammed Sayed - and the declaration of Rs 13,860 crore+ was made by Maheshkumar Champaklal Shah+ , a resident of Ahmedabad.

These declarations were kept pending for investigation, and an enquiry revealed these the declarants were "persons of suspicious nature and

very small means and the declarations could have been misused," the Finance Ministy said in a statement.

The I-T department has initiated enquiries against these declarants to "determine the intention behind these false declarations," it added.

These two declarations weren't included in the total value of declarations announced on October 1.

It was announced on October 1 that declarations worth Rs 65,250 crore had been received from 64,275 declarants - subject to reconciliation, the Finance Ministry said.

The revised figure of actual declarations received and taken on record was Rs 67,382 crore - made by 71,726 declarants.

The revised figure will fetch government a little over Rs 30,000 crore direct tax revenue.

An Income Declaration Scheme (IDS) had been announced in the Union Budget 2016-17, under which declaration of undisclosed income or assets could be made by agreeing to pay forty five percent (45%) of the declared amount as tax, surcharge and penalty, the statement said.

The scheme closed on 30th September 2016.

DIBRUGARH, MONDAY, DECEMBER 4

REST OF

P5

NORTHEAST

Naga-imposed blockade hampers Naga Civil Society Body Stages Protest in Manipur's construction works Delhi over Economic Blockade in Manipur Imphal, Dec 04: Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh said on Sunday that a United Naga Council-imposed blockade on National Highways No.2 and No.53 is slowing down construction work in the state and urged the Centre to persuade NSCN (IM) to call off the blockade.

The Chief Minister contends that the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah), which is holding negotiations with the Centre, is backbone of the United Naga Council (UNC) in the state.

The UNC enforced a blockade on National Highways2 and 53 on November 1 in protest the Okram Ibobi Singh government's move to upgrade Sadar Hills and Jiribam to full-fledged districts, allegedly without consulting the Nagas, who inhabit the areas.

Various construction works, including the construction of Integrated Check Posts near the international border with Myanmar as part of the legalised border trade infrastructure, have been

Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh stopped, according to officials.

The construction stopped as the prices of building materials have almost doubled due to drop in supplies. A bag of cement which was sold at Rs 420 before the blockade is now available at Rs 850.

"Trucks loaded with building materials are stranded for weeks. In case of the NH 2, they stayed in the mountain highway for more than one month. The transporters exact extra charges, including for food and other expenses of the

drivers and cleaners. Due to these additional expenses, prices have to increase," Ram Prasad, a shop owner, said.

Meanwhile, there is no indication that the blockade will be over soon. The Centre had arranged a tripartite meeting recently.

However, the Manipur government did not take part in it.

The Nagas also have been demanding an "alternative arrangement", contending that they no longer want to stay "under the communal government of Ibobi".(Agencies)

Meghalaya: BADO road destruction issue, DC orders inquiry

Meghalaya: BADO road destruction issue, DC orders inquiry

Shillong, Dec 04: The deputy commissioner of South West Garo Hills (SWGH), Cyril Diengdoh has ordered an inquiry into the matter of a well maintained BADO road through the villages of Kazipara and Kalupara following the destruction of the road allegedly without prior permission by some unscrupulous contractors.

Villagers of Kazipara and Kalupara of Mahendraganj had earlier filed a com-

Roger case : Accused appear in Court Imphal, Dec 04: Defence counsels of alleged accused Nongthombam Ajay today gave submissions before the Session Court during the ongoing final argument hearing of the Irom Roger murder case and the Court fixed December 5 for further submission by defence counsels.

The final argument hearing of the case (CBI versus Nongthombam Ajay) started from December 1 under session trial case number 3/12/ 15/13/55/2013 .

The alleged accused Nongthongbam Ajay who is presently on bail appeared before the Court today.

Three defence counsels gave their submissions on behalf of the alleged accused but the hearing could not be concluded today.

It may be mentioned that after the final submission of the last prosecution witness of CBI before the Court, examination of accused Nongthongbam Ajay was held on November 4 .

On December 1, the CBI counsel gave their submission before the Court.

The victim of the trial case, Irom Roger was shot dead during Holi festival on March 20, 2011 at Ghari, opposite KT Girls Hostel under Singjamei police station, Imphal West.

(Agencies)

plaint with the director of BADO in Shillong and the DC against three contractors Mustafa Miah of Majherchar - II, Chandian Miah (who is also the vice chairman of MGCC under the state government) and Khukon Miah - a class II contractor) for the destruction of the road.

The 1 km road through the village is close to the international border with Bangladesh through the villages of Kalupara and Kazipara and connects the

villages to the BSF border outpost.

Earlier PWD officials as well as BADO confirmed that no order had been given to the three contractors for either destroying or relaying the said road.

When contacted today the SWGH DC stated that an inquiry to be conducted by the Block Development Officer (BDO) had been initiated.

"The BDO has been asked to take information from all sources and submit a report on what happened.

BADO, PWD and other related departments will be spoken to and action will follow thereafter," said Diengdoh.

Residents of the two villages have decided to meet the DC this coming Monday on the matter.

Meanwhile villagers confirmed that work on the destruction of the road continued with a road ro l l e r c o m i n g t o t h e village to roll the already disrupted road.

(Agencies)

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar meets family of soldier killed in Jammu

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar Agartala, Dec 04: Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar on Sunday met the family members of Chittaranjan Debbarma, who was killed in a terror attack on an army camp near Jammu on November 29.

"The Chief Minister visited the residence of Debbarma at Gaishing Para and talked to his wife Namita, parents and other relatives," a Khowai district administration official said. Gaishing Para is 80 km north of Agartala.

The official said that the Chief Minister, accompanied by Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council Chairman Ranjit Debbarma, asked the Khowai District Magistrate and Collector to take up all relevant matters of the slain

soldier with the Indian Army authorities for their immediate resolution.

"Our brave Tripura soldier Chittaranjan Debbarma was martyred while protecting our country. We stand with his family in their tough times.

The state government would always stand by them," Sarkar later told the media.

Two officers and five army soldiers, including Debbarma, were killed last Tuesday when terrorists stormed a military base at Nagrota near Jammu. Three attackers were also gunned down.

Debbarma's last rites were performed at Gaishing Para village in West Tripura with full military honours and in the presence of thousands of villagers and his family members. (Agencies)

Imphal, Dec 04: Expressing concern over the grave situation in Naga areas caused due to the economic blockade called by the United Naga council, the Committee for Joint Naga Civil Societies, Delhi, organised a sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar.

Appealing to the Centre to deal with the situation quickly, the committee highlighted their struggle for the inclusion of Naga territories and population in Manipur and condemned the unprecedented arrest of the UNC President Gaidon Kamei.

The convenor of the committee, Lakpachui Shiro, said, "The Manipur Government is not interested in resolving this issue. We know that there has been a counter blockade and

volunteers from the dominant community have been vandalising the properties and targeting our innocent civilians, but we don't see any efforts from the state government to control the counter blockades which is targeting innocent civilians. The Manipur government has been discriminating us and sidelining us in every aspect and that can be forgettable but he cannot force us to starve. It is painful for us to see our children and parents suffering due to the economic blockade."

"Last time, the Ministry of Home Affairs invited us for tripartite talks, but the Manipur Government did not turn up giving excuses which are not even logical. Whereas, the UNC

Crime on the rise in State Shillong, Dec 04: More than 2,500 cases of crime have been reported in the State till September this year indicating a sharp rise in crime in Meghalaya.

Police statistics reveal that 2,553 cases under cognizable crimes have been reported in the State from January till September. Of the cases, 708 are of theft while there are 137 cases of rash driving and road rage.

In addition, there were also

115 cases of kidnapping and 64 cases of rape besides 55 cases of assault on women with intent to outrage their modesty.According to police data, there were 78 cases of murder in the State followed by 54 murder attempts. There were also 157 cases of cheating and 35 cases of forgery.

There were also 60 cases of causing death by negligence under Section 304A of the IPC. (Agencies)

Cancer Cases On The Rise In Mizoram, State Being Called 'Cancer Capital Of India' Aizawl, 04 Dec: Around 3,137 people have been killed by cancer over the last five years in Mizoram, dubbing this Northeastern state as the 'cancer capital of the country’.

The Population Based Cancer Registries (PBCR) report, which was released in the month of May this year in ICMR, New Delhi, was highlighted during one day seminar on cancer in Mizoram at I&PR conference hall. As per the report , over 700 people have been killed by cancer each year from 2012-14. The report also revealed that there were 4656 new cases of cancer reported between 2012 and 2014 with number of females at 2089 and males at 2567. On an average, there were 1,552 new cancercases per year in Mizoram. The report was highlighted during an official function to mark the World Cancer Day. Mizoram has the highest cancer incidence in the country, state Nodal Officer for Non- Communicable Diseases (NCD) Dr Eric Zomawia said at the function.

According to the report, in the three years period, i.e., 2012-2014, altogether 2176 people died of various types of cancer. This included 830 females and 1346 males. This means, on an average, there were 711 cancer deaths each year. Mizoram not only holds the top position in cancer across all sites for male and female but also topped in tongue cancer (male), lung cancer (male & female), stomach cancer (male & female), hypopharynx cancer (male), and gland cancer (male).

According to the PBCR report, Mizoram also topped the list in Cervix cancer in women in the country.

Extensive consumption of tobacco, coupled with unhealthy food items such as smoked meat and vegetables and fermented soyabean and pork etc are attributed to the high incidence of cancer in Mizoram. Thus, Mizoram has the dubious distinction of being the highest tobacco consuming state in India and this was the main factor for the high number of cancer cases in Mizoram. According to Dr. Zomawia, Mizoramtopped in 9 cancer “sites”.

Quoting the report, officials said, “Stomach cancer is the most common type of cancer among men, constituting 23.5 per cent, followed by esophageal cancer (14.5 per cent) Lung cancer (13.9 percent) and hypopharynx cancer (4.7

percent).

Lung and stomach cancers are the commonest among Mizo women, constituting 16.9 percent and 13.7 percent respectively, Cervix (13.2 percent), breast (11.2 percent) and oesophagus cancer (4.1 percent).

Liver cancer is said to be has increasing among men recently. With 80 per cent of men infected with liver cancer, contracting hepatitis B and C, this cancer is expected to rise further as cases of hepatitis keep increasing. Due to the changing lifestyles, breast cancer is also predicted to overtake lung and uterine c.

“At the present rate of cancer incidence, an average of three people in Mizoram is infected with the cancer per day,” a health official said. Six districts of Mizoram – Aizawl, Champhai, Kolasib Lunglei, Mamit and Serchhip – are among the ten districts of India with the highest cancer incidence among men. The other districts are North Goa, Chandigarh, Kollam and South Goa. As per Mizoram Post, a daily newspaper in the State, Papumpare in Arunachal Pradesh has the highest incidence rate of cancer of all sites in females followed by Aizawl district of Mizoram and Kamrup Urban district of Assam. Also, Aizawl is number one among all PBCRs in India in the following cancer sites- cancer all sites (males), lung cancer (males), lung cancer (females), colon cancer (males), and colon cancer (females), according to the daily, Mizoram Post.

Aizawl is also top two among all Registries in India in cancer sites like cancer all sites (females), Nasopharynx (females), stomach (males), stomach (females), colon (males), lung (males), lung (females) and cervix uteri (females), the daily added.

In India, the estimated total burden of cancer in the country for the year 2016 is 14.5 lakh and estimate for 2020 is 17.3 lakh. Breast, lung and cervix cancers are the top 3 cancers in India and about 30 percent of all cancers are associated with tobacco use.

The incidence of cancer of colon, prostrate, lung, rectum, breast, corpus uteri and ovary shows increasing trend, while cervix cancer shows decreasing trend.

came for the discussion and the state government is not ready to solve the issue. They are just trying to create communal and social tension among the people so that they can come back to power by creating a huge situation of polarisation," he added.

"The United Naga Council is not a criminal organisation; it represents every Naga. We have 18 Naga tribes and they have sovereign authority.

Gaidon represents the voice of Nagas as far as our land is concerned, our tradition and customary laws are concern. He cannot be simply dismissed.

Therefore, he has every right to assert what is important for the Nagas and aspirations of the Nagas.

We condemned the arrest

of the president by the Manipur Police as this is an insult for us," Shiro said.

He further informed that the committee earlier had met Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju and apprised him about the ongoing situation. They said the Centre has every right to intervene in the present crisis in Manipur and look for ways to resolve it.

However, in total disregard of the four Memorandam of Understanding signed between the Naga people and the Government of Manipur, no Sadar district or Jiribam district shall be created without the consent of the Nagas, but Chief Minister Ibobi Singh has forcedly imposed it.

The UNC has called for an economic blockade on the

two national highways NH-2 and NH-37 passing through the Naga areas in Senapati and Tamenglong districts respectively. Further, the committee urged for the immediate and unconditional release of the UNC leaders and reiterated that the UNC leaders are not criminal but leaders of the Naga people.

Meanwhile, efforts are on to meet Prime Minister Modi to make an impression that the land, identity and politics of the Nagas are subjects of the current ongoing political talks between Government of India and the NSCN. India must rein in its institutional agencies like the state of Manipur and stop them from creating any problems to the Naga-India political talk. (ANI)

25 Injured in TuraShillong Bus Accident Thura, Dec 04: 25 people who had boarded a Shillong bound Tura bus sustained injuries after the bus slammed into a building causing severe damage to both. Three out of 25 passengers have been declared to be in serious condition and were rushed to Guwahati for further medical care. The incident happened at about 11 pm on Friday night near the village of Leila in Goalpara, Assam.

According to locals and police personnel of the Dudhnoi Police Station under which the accident happened, the incident occurred when the driver lost control of the bus, averted a 11KV transformer before hitting the office of the All Rabha Students Union (ARSU) denting the building and causing massive damage to the bus itself.

The 'Millennium' bus had left Tura at about 8:30 pm and was en route to Shillong. "They averted a major disaster by a whisker. If the bus had hit the transformer the number of casualties would have been huge. Thankfully this did not happen," said a local from Leila.

25 Injured in Tura-Shillong Bus Accident

Locals from near the place of the incident immediately rushed to the spot to assist those with injuries, while also informing the police. "Those with injuries were immediately rushed to Goalpara for medical care before most of them were taken to Guwahati. Three, including the driver of the vehicle are said to be serious condition and are now in Guwahati" said the local.

"Timely support of the victims ensured there were no major problems and the people need to be complimented for their good Samaritan work," said a police source of Assam.

Meanwhile six victims of the accident, who are currently in Goalpara have been identified as Minlikhi Sangma, Ram Newar, Nirmal Thapa, Jopsingh Marak and Nur Islam. All of them sustained minor injuries.

Upon being contacted, the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of West Garo Hills (WGH) disrict, Pravin Bakshi said that he is aware of the incident and is seeking more information on what happened.

"We will extend all support in taking care of the victims in cohesion with the authorities of Goalpara district," said Bakshi. (Agencies)

LED bulb price reduced to Rs 70

LED bulb price reduced to Rs 70 Shillong, Dec 04: The prices of LED bulbs sold under the central UJALA (Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All) programme have been further reduced.

The 9W LED bulbs will now be available to consumers for just Rs 70 each.

Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), under the Ministry of Power, is implementing this programme across the country. Under the UJALA scheme, the price of LED bulbs may vary from state to state due to applicable local taxes.

EESL has advised consumers not to pay anything above Rs 70 a bulb and this price is applicable on upfront payment only.

If consumers notice anyone demanding prices higher than the stated price, they should immedi-

ately report such cases on UJALA dashboard www.ujala.gov.in, EESL mail ID info@eesl.co.in, or on EESL social media handles for Twitter @EESL_India and for Facebook @EESLIndia.

Saurabh Kumar, Managing Director of EESL, said, "The reduction in prices of LED bulbs is another significant step towards the government's vision of an energy efficient and sufficient India. With this price drop, the LED bulbs have become more affordable for the common man and we hope that this encourages everyone who has not yet got the benefit of the scheme to come forward and switch to LED bulbs."

The Government has ensured transparency and encouraged competition

by adopting e-procurement of goods and services. This has proved time-saving and cost-effective and further enhanced process efficiency.

This has led to a much larger participation of bidders, thereby increasing competition and reducing the procurement cost of LED bulbs.

The UJALA scheme has been widely accepted across rural and urban areas of the country. The primary reason for this mass adoption is the capability of LED bulbs to give consistent luminosity even in low voltage, where incandescent and CFL bulbs usually fail. Also, the LED bulbs distributed under the UJALA scheme are superior quality bulbs with a three-year free replacement warranty.

The UJALA scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 5, 2015, with a target of replacing 77 crore inefficient bulbs with Energy Efficient LED Bulbs.

Currently, EESL has distributed over 18 crore LED bulbs across 22 states.

This is leading to an annual energy savings of 23 billion kWh and resulting in avoidance of 4,698 MW of peak demand. Through the scheme the estimated cumulative cost reduction in bills of consumers, annually is Rs 9,387 crore.

(Agencies)

EDITORIAL

DIBRUGARH, MONDAY, DECEMBER 5

Today's quote Happiness is when what you “think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

– Mahatma Gandhi

FIGHTING AIDS CEASELESSLY It is good news that HIV infections have drastically come down in India. When the nation was dangerously poised to be the AIDS capital of the world two decades ago, health experts were of the view that the disease could take the form of an epidemic. But today, India has come to a position where it’s in a position to put an end to the dreaded illness by 2030. On the occasion of World AIDS Day, the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, JP Nadda, said: “We have arrested the epidemic successfully. There has been 57 per cent reduction in the incidences of new infection and 29 per cent decline in the number of AIDS-related deaths.” It is more than an indication of how India's National AIDS Control Programme (NACO) has been able to manage active prevention measures, while spreading awareness about the same. The Government's decision to continue with NACO, as a Central sector scheme, will certainly help to mobilise funds for carrying out sustained efforts in far-flung areas like the North-East, where HIV-infected patients are comparatively higher than in the rest of India. Besides, an attempt to cover young people in the country by linking the national AIDS initiatives and the Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram, would be more than a much-needed step in the direction towards controlling the disease. However, the Government must take all precautionary policies to check the disease in some low prevalence States like Odisha, Jharkhand and Punjab. Recent steps by the Health Ministry to launch a NACO mobile application, which includes a risk calculator, service directory addressing the existing myths and misconceptions about the disease, a link for a national tollfree AIDS helpline, and finally, a social protection scheme, should provide a big boost to India achieving the AIDS-free mark after a decade and half.

Today, it is widely believed that AIDS is not an incurable disease. But what we need is timely awareness accompanied by availability of adequate medicines. A global consensus has already developed that, most countries have the necessary tools to end the AIDS epidemic. India is not far behind, though it recorded an estimated 89,000 of the world's 2.1 million people newly affected by HIV in 2015. For a country like India, fighting AIDS requires essential medicines at affordable price.

Here, the Government has a crucial role to play and ensure that medicines needed to prevent HIV infection is supplied to the most affected zones first. And also, the Government needs to review a good number of public health facilities where the treatment of HIV-AIDS can be conducted safely.

Over the past one decade, the country has made considerable progress in preventing HIV-AIDS in the country, in comparison to other nations in the region. HIV infections have fallen by more than half since 2001. While this figure is encouraging, any laxity in continuity with the anti-HIV/AIDS programmes can be disastrous.

Let facts flow, and dispel conspiracies On Friday night, India witnessed a standoff between a state, Bengal, and New Delhi perhaps never seen since after the Emergency of 1975.

The details, so far, are vague and political jargon has muddied the waters. Two facts are, however, irrefutable. One is that the chief minister of Bengal was kept circling Kolkata airport on a flight with a private airline, respected for its adherence to schedules, while the aircraft ran out of fuel.

This prompted Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislators to ask whether this was a plot to assassinate Banerjee in the air. The other fact, also irrefutable, is that military was mobilised along highways, toll plazas and — most sensitive — on the road to Banerjee’s office and home on Friday night.

Bengal’s fiery — and populist — chief minister has linked these developments to her opposition to the demonetisation project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, announced on November 8.

Mamata Banerjee has not just taken up cudgels on behalf of those whose livelihoods have been disrupted and otherwise majorly inconvenienced by the demonetisation project, but also used her opposition to the central government to claim the Opposition limelight. Who would lead the Opposition charge against the incumbent BJP at the Centre is a question that has been engaging several Opposition leaders, who sense Rahul Gandhi might not quite cut it as the rallying figure.

It is only natural that a leader like Mamata would use any opportunity to attack the Centre. While this much is fair game in politics, dragging the army into a political controversy is not a good idea. The army must maintain disciplined equanimity and dispel any notion that it plays any role other than purely professional. The DGCA, too, must be vocal and voluble in its clarification, rather than reticent.

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Volunteerism for Social Transformation served. It is also intended to make contacts for possible employment. Many Ranjan K Baruah volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, Many people wanted to education, or emergency work without expecting any rescue. financial gains. A term We could find volunteers which is used in this con- around the world. More than text is volunteering. Volun- 1 billion people volunteer teering can be for different globally, the majority of causes which start from vol- them working in their own unteering for community countries. Many are in the services to helping people forefront of efforts to imduring calamities and disas- prove the way they and ters. It is generally consid- their fellow citizens are govered an altruistic activity erned and engaged - volunwhere an individual or teers are playing a vital role group provides services for in making governments no financial gain "to benefit worldwide more accountanother person, group or able and responsive to their organization". Volunteering citizens. They are working is also renowned for skill with governments and civil development and is often society to hold those in intended to promote good- power to account, to repreness or to improve human sent the voices of those who quality of life. Volunteering are often left out of develmay have positive benefits opment decisions such as for the volunteer as well as women, youth and for the person or community marginalised groups.

The International Volunteer Day (IVD) mandated by the UN General Assembly, is held each year on 5 December. It is viewed as a unique chance for volunteers and organizations to celebrate their efforts, to share their values, and to promote their work among their communities, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), United Nations agencies, government authorities and the private sector.

Apart from mobilising thousands of volunteers every year, the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme contributes to peace and development by advocating for the recognition of volunteers and working with partners to integrate volunteerism into development programming.

IVD 2016's theme is 'Global Applause - give volunteers a hand', recognizes volunteers worldwide and

all they do in making peace and sustainable development a reality. IVD is a chance for individual volunteers, communities and organizations to promote their contributions to development at the local, national and international levels. By combining UN support with a grassroots mandate, International Volunteer Day is a unique opportunity for people and volunteer-involving organizations to work with government agencies, non-profit institutions, community groups, academia and the private sector.

The International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly through Resolution A/RES/ 40/212 on 17 December 1985. Since then, governments, the UN system and civil society organizations have successfully joined

volunteers around the world to celebrate the Day on 5 December.

Ban K-moon, SecretaryGeneral of United Nations on his message on the occasion said that "volunteers work tirelessly to create a better future for all. They contribute to national wellbeing and show global solidarity at times of crisis. We see this in action all over the world, most notably over the past year as volunteers have provided shelter and wide-ranging support to millions of refugees forced from their homes by armed conflict and persecution."

He also added that "volunteering gives the most marginalized people in society an opportunity to get involved in the decisionmaking process. Volunteers can use their voices to shape conversations, question social norms and promote the values we all hold

dear. Volunteers are critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals."

There is no shadow of doubt that volunteers are committed advocates of making the world a better place. Let us recognize the immense value of the world's volunteers as they lend a hand to others, let us give volunteers a hand by applauding their global citizenship and their commitment to building a future of peace, prosperity and dignity for all. I have the experience of being a volunteer in many different occasions.

Let us all be part of volunteering movement and take part in whatever way we can and be part of achieving sustainable development goals in our life time.

(With inputs from UN publication and feedback may be sent to bkranjan@gmail.com)

10 ways to be the cleverest country When it comes to global education rankings it always seems to be the same story. Asian educational

superpowers take all the top places and everyone else goes in for bouts of doubt and recrimination.

1. Move to east Asia: There is no escaping the relentless geography of education rankings. Singapore is now in first place, followed by the likes of South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan. Shanghai has been a previous high flyer - but next week's PISA tests will incorporate the city with other parts of China. Add Taiwan, Macau and Vietnam to this list.

2. I'm only going to say this once... To put it diplomatically, many of the most successful countries have an expectation that people will do what they're told. A focused, conformist culture, a sense of collective purpose, or even an old-fashioned one-party state are often features of the highest achievers. But there are exceptions - the Finns are high achievers with a strong sense of liberal independence.

do you motivate someone who expects to be wealthy regardless of how well they achieve in exams? In contrast, small countries with few resources have had to learn quickly how to live on their wits. Sixty years ago South Korea had one of the worst levels of illiteracy in the world - now we're all watching their TVs. 4. Bet your house on the teachers. The OECD's education guru Andreas Schleicher has a catchphrase: "No education system can be better than the quality of its teachers". And this week's TIMSS rankings have the same message - success is inseparably linked to the supply of good quality teachers. Whatever headline-grabbing wheezes might be deployed by education ministers, it all comes down to investing in teachers.

3. Make sure you don't have natural resources. There's a phenomenon in education called "the resources curse", which shows that economies built on natural wealth - such as sitting on vast oil reserves - tend to underperform in education.

Much of the Middle East is given as an example. How

5. Be a young-ish nation.

These might be ancient cultures, but a curious feature of high education achievers is how many are relative newcomers as nation states or have newly-reconstituted boundaries. Finland will only celebrate its centenary next year. Singapore and South Korea, in their

For education ministers across most of the world this must be a gloomy time, trying to come up with an

upbeat explanation for another round of mid-table mediocrity.

This week Singapore was

rated as the best in the world for maths and science - and next week the OECD will publish its PISA test inter-

national rankings.

So what does it take to get into the international education winners' enclosure? ture in which they've grown.

As much as everyone likes to talk about "innovation", there are plenty of pressures against change. But many of the high achieving countries have been ruthless in cherry-picking ideas from other countries and trying them in their own schools.

Vietnam is a classic high achiever: Hungry, ambitious and with centralised control

currently political form, are products of the 20th Century. Vietnam, emerging from war in the 1970s, has been one of the most-rapid improvers, racing past the United States and crusty old European dinosaurs. Does it make them more lightfooted about changing and adapting?

land and Estonia - have all had to emerge from the shadow of the old Soviet bloc. South Korea and Hong Kong are up against mainland China. Singapore is a tiny city state surrounded by bigger, more populous neighbours. Education is their way to punch above their weight.

6. Get a big, overshadowing neighbour. Another surprisingly consistent feature of top countries at education is how many have to compete for daylight with a much bigger neighbour. The European success stories of recent years - Finland, Po-

7. It's not a knockout competition. Education league tables are based on the proportion of young people reaching some benchmark of ability. The winners will be those who assume that everyone should cross that finishing line, including the

poorest - and that is a distinguishing feature of the top Asian systems. They put the best teachers with the weakest pupils to make sure everyone gets to a basic standard. In contrast, much of the western approach to education is more like the Grand National, with the expectation that very few of the horses starting the race will still be there at the finish. And the rankings reflect this fundamental difference.

8. Classroom jackdaws.

Education systems are hard to disentangle from the politics and the cul-

9. Long-term planning in a short-term world. It might take 10 years before changes in an education system make any positive difference in global rankings. That's not much of an incentive for the fleeting life-span of ministerial office. A recent reforming education minister in Argentina's capital Buenos Aires entered office as the third minister in 12 days. But the big message from global rankings is that what is needed is consistency and continuity.

10. Blame everyone else.

Education is a super-tanker that takes many years to turn around. So ministers can take the credit for anything that succeeds and blame everything else on the previous administration. The weathervane of blame always points away from whoever is in charge.

Is ‘Empathy’ Really What the Nation Needs?

AMANDA HESS Two days after Donald Trump was elected president, Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Facebook, sat onstage at a Ritz-Carlton outside San Francisco and spoke of his deep understanding of the feelings of American voters. He was appearing at Techonomy’s annual retreat, a meeting of thought leaders in the worlds of technology, government, academia and business, and he was responding to a common criticism — the notion that Trump’s unconventional path to victory had benefited from a detour through Facebook, where a “filter bubble” distorts the flow of information and fake news stories loom large. “There is a certain profound lack of empathy,” he said, “in asserting that the only reason why someone could have voted the way they did is because they saw some fake news. If you believe that, then I don’t think you have internalized the message that Trump supporters are trying to send in this election.”

When asked to articulate that message, he dodged the question.

“Empathy” is one of Facebook’s all-time favorite buzzwords. For years, Zuckerberg has hopped from conference to conference in a selection of muted hoodies and T-shirts, delivering variations on the same pitch. “More

people are using Facebook to share more stuff,” he said in 2010. “That means that if we want, there’s more out there that we can go look at and research and understand what’s going on with the people around us. And I just think that leads to broader empathy, understanding — just a lot of good, core, human things that make society function better.” If you think Facebook may have had a hand in tipping popular opinion toward Trump, Zuckerberg seemed to suggest at the Ritz, then something was wrong with you — something that could be fixed by spending more time on Facebook.

He is not the only one shopping empathy as a cure for what ails us. In recent months, the Inspired Life blog of The Washington Post suggested “empathy for Trump voters.” In a Times Op-Ed article, Glenn Beck wrote,“Wouldn’t we all benefit from trying to empathize with people we disagree with?” It all feels like a bit of a throwback: Just as many of our modern, scientific mechanisms for gauging the national mood — things like public-opinion polling and data journalism — failed to predict Trump’s victory, there has been a call for Americans to reach out and touch one another more directly.

But there is a curiously strategic underpinning to these calls for empathy, too. Empathy, after all, is not sympathy.

Sympathy encourages a close

affinity with other people: You feel their pain. Empathy suggests something more technical — a dispassionate approach to understanding the emotions of others. And these days, it often seems to mean understanding their pain just enough to get something out of it — to manipulate political, technological and consumerist outcomes in our own favor.

“Empathy” first arose to explain our relationship to objects, not to other human beings. The word comes from the German einfühlung (ein for “in” and fühlung for “feeling”), a concept in 19th-century aesthetics. Einfühlungdescribed the act of “feeling into” art and nature, or projecting yourself into an aesthetic object. Soon “empathy” came to describe how human beings related to one another as objects: Like modern neuroscience, it looked for the roots of human emotions in “the material body and the interworking of its parts,” in the study of “muscles and nerves.” This turn toward “empathy” let people cast off the cultural baggage of “sympathy,” a word suddenly seen as soaked in sentimentality, tied up with ideas of Christian virtue, moral obligation and pity.

The Indiana University professor Rae Greiner, author of a book about sympathy in 19thcentury fiction, has written that by the dawn of the 20th century, “sympathy seemed to belong to the Victorians, empathy to us.”

A century later, the rise of social networking means our interactions are once again mediated through our relationship with objects. The theorist Marshall McLuhan once assumed this computerization of culture would lead to a rise in empathetic connection. “The aspiration of our time for wholeness, empathy and depth of awareness is a natural adjunct of electric technology,” he wrote in “Understanding Media,” published in 1964; the computer promised a “Pentecostal condition of universal understanding and unity.” But it wound up offering something else too: a convenient alternative to costly, messy interactions with human beings. What social networks like Facebook really offer is empathy in the aggregate — an illusion of having captured the mood of entire families and friend networks from a safe, neutral distance.

Then they turn around and offer advertisers a read on more than a billion users at once.

Buzz Andersen — a tech veteran who has worked for Apple, Tumblr and Square — told me that in Silicon Valley, “empathy is basically a more altruistic-sounding way of saying ‘market research.’?”

And in a marketplace, you’re not trying to understand other people out of altruism or moral responsibility; you’re doing it out of self-interest. In the days after the election, many commenters chafed at the idea that they ought to perform

the work of empathizing with Trump’s supporters.

Shouldn’t they — the people who elected him — try a little empathy for the lives that stand to be crushed by his policies? The market’s answer to this question is “no.” There is no movement for right-wing Americans to be more empathetic because they won.

The nation has already bought what they were selling. The call for blue-staters to cultivate empathy isn’t about finding instructive truths in others’ worldviews; it’s about understanding their motivations well enough to persuade them to vote differently.

Empathy is naturally irrational, cautions the Yale psychology professor Paul Bloom, author of a new book titled “Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion.” It’s more likely to activate in the face of one sad story than on the scale of widespread human tragedy. It’s manipulative too: Directing a crowd’s empathy toward one victim can cultivate anger and aggression toward other targets, even if they’re not responsible for the victim’s suffering. In a case like Zuckerberg’s, empathy can be a strategy for avoiding responsibility.

On a recent rainy day, I left my office to see empathy leveraged in yet another way.

Upworthy, a purveyor of feelgood viral content, had constructed a pop-up “empathy lab” in a nearby park. A black

curtain was pulled around a chair and a computer outfitted with software that could map the face at 500 points and analyze its emotional expressions. Participants watched a video — in my case, a short clip about a young boy with Down syndrome.

Outside, a crowd watched a Jumbotron, on which squiggly lines tracked the participant’s empathetic expressions against the average reaction. At the video’s conclusion, an “empathy score” flashed on the screen.

Upworthy is invested in empathy because it has found that emotionally engaging content shares well on Facebook — but also, its reps say, because it can prompt real-world action.

Upworthy’s business model relies mainly on the former.

Shortly after I arrived, a woman emerged from behind the curtain to spontaneous applause. She had received an empathy rating of 98 — the day’s high score. It was an odd image, like Facebook projected into real life: A woman lauded for sitting alone, watching a video. In the Victorian era, some critics worried that moralistic novels would channel people’s sympathy into books instead of out into the world.

Facebook takes it a step further, rerouting our attempts at empathetic connection back at us. When we reach out to one another, we’re often just feeling ourselves.

(Amanda Hess is a David Carr fellow at The New York Times.)

DIBRUGARH, MONDAY, DECEMBER 5

OP-ED

P7

The nine-year-old Kashmiri girl who rules the kickboxing world A nine-year-old girl has created history in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Tajamul Islam won the sub-junior World Kickboxing Championship in Italy in November.

She has been winning local championships since last year, and now aspires to participate in the Olympics.

Photographer Abid Bhat chronicles the life and times of the troubled region's newest heroine.

Tajamul comes from a village in Bandipora district, some 65km (40 miles) from the main city of Srinagar.

Her father works as a driver with a construction company and earns 10,000 rupees ($146; £117) a month.

She began kickboxing at an early age and picked up

a gold medal in a state championship in Jammu last year.

She defeated a 13-yearold opponent to pick up the gold medal in India's national kickboxing championship in 2015.

"I was a little afraid when I saw her [my opponent].

But then I said to myself that age or body structure does not matter. I will remain focused and give it my best shot," she said, after her win.

Tajamul began kickboxing in 2014 when she joined a local martial arts training academy.

"I was walking near the stadium here when I saw many young boys and girls training. I saw them punching and all that and told my

father that I wanted to join them and he let me," she told a journalist.

Every day she puts on her boxing gloves, punches the sand bag and does her

IR8: The miracle rice which saved millions of lives Justin Rowlatt

Last week I received a very unusual invitation indeed. It was to a 50th birthday party in a swanky Delhi hotel, but the party was for a plant: a strain of rice known only by its initials, IR8.

A celebration for an angry rice variety; who could refuse?

The Indian Agriculture Minister, Shri Sudarshan Bhagat, opened the event, describing the introduction of IR8 as "a great moment in India's history".

And it is true that, if any plant has earned the right to a fancy half-century knees-up, it is IR8.

A 29-year-old Indian farmer called Nekkanti Subba Rao was one of the first to discover the variety's extraordinary properties.

He is over 80 now and chuckles with delight as he recalls sowing his first field of IR8 on his small farm in the south-east Indian state of Andhra Pradesh in 1967.

Back then you could only expect a maximum of one and a half tonnes per hectare, he tells me, looking perfectly at home perched on a gilt chair in the hotel's Mughal-styled entertaining rooms.

"Yield was 10 tonnes per hectare", he told the BBC World Service Business Daily programme, recalling that first monster harvest.

The seed from the 1,000 hectares of IR8 planted in his village the following year was sent across India, ensuring the entire country experienced its first harvest of what became known as the "miracle" rice.

"It was a time of great change, in all states in India farmers are very happy," he laughs.

This jovial farmer - or Mr IR8 as he became affectionately known - had inadvertently kick-started one of the greatest revolutions the world has ever seen. Not a political or social upheaval but a "Green Revolution", a revolution in the way the world farmed.

It is thought that IR8 saved many millions of lives and transformed the lives of hundreds of millions of people.

Back in the 1950s it was obvious that Asia, home to half the world's population, faced an impending food crisis.

Rice accounts for 80% of the calories consumed in the region and you only

needed to plot population growth against rice production to see that, within a few years, there would not be enough to go around.

Something needed to be done and in 1960 two American charities, the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations, joined

ing the grain," Mr Morell explains, "So there was more grain per plant and secondly it didn't grow taller and fall over when fertiliser was applied."

IR8 was so much better than traditional rice varieties that its use spread rapidly throughout Asia

trition.

IRRI played a key part in the development of the controversial so-called "Golden Rice", a genetically-engineered strain designed to address vitamin A deficiency, which is estimated to kill 670,000 under-fives a year.

stretches under the watchful eyes of her local coach Faisal Ali.

IR8 was different. It married a tall high-yielding strain from Indonesia (PETA) with a sturdy dwarf variety from China (DGWG) with astounding results.

"There was never any instance in the history of the world where rice yields doubled in one step," says Dr Khush, clearly still amazed by what his team achieved.

In fact, according to some studies, IR8 yields in optimal conditions could be as much as 10 times that of traditional varieties.

"Genetics is fantastic when it works like that," agrees the current head of IRRI, Matthew Morell.

He says the "miracle" lay in the fact that the hybrid was short. "Much more of the energy from the sun went into produc-

and output soared. Famine was averted.

Most farmers benefited from the increases in productivity and the vast increases in output drove down prices, which benefited consumers.

But Mr Morell readily acknowledges that IR8 was not perfect.

So many farmers switched to it that IR8 became the sole variety grown in some areas of Asia, reducing biodiversity and risking a catastrophe if a pest or disease hit the crop. It also led to a big increase in fertiliser use leading to problems with pollution.

Then there was the taste and texture of the rice. IR8 was chalky and hardened after cooking: it may have been plentiful, but it wasn't particularly palatable.

Dr Khush and the IR8 team spent the next two decades improving the grain quality, introducing disease and pest resistance and reducing the growth duration.

Today the risk of famine may have receded, but the Institute is still busy developing new rice varieties and its efforts reflect the new threats the world faces.

Much of its work goes into developing varieties of rice that can withstand the effects of climate change.

Mr Morell says IRRI is working on drought, flood, salt and temperature resistant strains of rice.

At the same time it is still developing rice varieties to help tackle malnu-

And now the Institute is also working on varieties that help combat the effects of having too much food.

Diabetes is a huge problem in Asia and IRRI has helped develop strains of rice with a low glycaemic index. That means once digested the rice releases its energy slowly, keeping blood sugar levels more stable - a crucial part of diabetes management.

There is no shortage of food available at IR8's birthday celebration and, appropriately, the centrepiece is two steaming platters of Hyderabadi biryani - rice slowcooked with mutton and spices and widely regarded as the finest of all biryanis.

As I tuck into a large portion, I ask Dr Khush if the rice is likely to be a descendant of IR8. I rather like the idea that we are eating the host.

He can tell I'm disappointed when he says it is unlikely, but tells me that doesn't affect the fact that IR8 changed the lives of billions of people.

"The population of Asia is four and half billion and all of them are rice consumers," Dr Khush tells me. "The price of rice is half what it used to be before the Green Revolution. In the 1980s, 50% of the population in Asia was hungry, now it is 12%."

What better tribute could there be to this world-changing plant variety?

She has also become an inspiration for the youth in the Kashmir valley.

Tajamul's brother and two sisters also practice kickboxing.

"It is in their genes. All the siblings are champions, but Tajamul is far ahead of the pack," Shabnam Kounser, principal of her school told the Press Trust of India news agency.

"She has a fighting spirit even though she looks softspoken and cute. Do not be fooled by her innocent looks, they are deceptive."

Her mother has been very supportive of her daughter's sporting efforts.

Tajamul is close to her younger brother, Adnan-ulIslam, who wants to follow

in her footsteps. She often plays with Adnan and does not mind pretending to lose to him.

A student of the Indian Army's Goodwill School, Tajamul frequently tops her class and participates in all extracurricular activities at school.

"She dances well. She has her own team here and teaches them dancing. She is a bright kid and very good at studies," Ms Kounser says.

Tajamul says she wants to become a doctor.

"It will have its own benefits. I will first break my opponents bones and then treat them," she says with a laugh. (Courtesy: BBC)

Quest for cashless economy Without being dismissive of the hardships and tragedies the nation has faced close to a month, let’s take a moment to look at the larger scheme of things – India’s preparedness to become a cashless digital economy.

The number one argument against India going cashless comes from the Internet connectivity issues, such as lack of dependable data connection across non-metros and villages. This is a schizophrenic interpretation from us, because when Reliance Jio announced that its network covers 18,000 cities and towns, and over two lakh villages, we cheered for it.

As of today, over 330 million people have access to the Internet in India – larger than the population of the US – and ranks India second in Internet users after China.

forces to found the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines. They reckoned promising developments in the science of plant breeding might just be the trick that would avert the impending disaster.

The new team began patiently cross-breeding the 10,000 different varieties they had collected.

This is usually a laborious process, Dr Gurdev Singh Khush tells me. He is an agronomist and geneticist who joined the team that developed IR8 in 1967.

"Normally we get 1 or 2% yield increase every year," he says.

Mr Ali says she has sometimes practised up to 25 hours a week.

Earlier this month, Tajamul won the gold medal in the sub-junior world championship, winning six bouts in five days. Some 90 countries participated in the event, where she defeated opponents from China, Japan, France, Italy, Canada and the US. Tajamul's neighbours are turning up in droves to congratulate her after her return from Italy. Many garland her, shower her with gifts and carry her around the village.

She has become a celebrity of sorts as people recognise her on the streets and take selfies with her.

The Boston Consulting Group estimates that at present there are about 120 million Internet users in villages and this figure is projected to cross 315 million in the next two years. If the Internet is the foundation for building the digital economy edifice, I’d say we are laying it pretty strong.

Internet penetration argument aside, go bite a cookie if you know how to check your bank balance using USSD from feature phone (or a phone without a data plan). Just like how you check your prepaid phone’s validity or talk time using *111#, one can do banking, pay bills and more using similar technology. This requires no internet connectivity and works on any phone that has an active SIM card.

The Karnataka government introduced “Mobile One” as early as December 2014, the multi-digital initiative gives the convenience of over 4,000 services, both stateowned and private, for its users to pay bills, check Income Tax returns and more. Check it out yourself, open you phone keypad, type *161# and press dial (or call) and see what happens. Pure magic! The point is, in the last two years, the initiative has seen transaction worth over Rs 26 crore.

Now imagine if a similar

bet, and it can certainly wait until we resolve the after effects of demonisation on the public.

service goes nationwide that links our bank accounts in back-end, Aadhaar for authentication and PAN for KYC verifications, it will be advancing pure smooth cashless economy across the country with no dependency on mobile Internet or the need for a smartphone.

The government has demonetised high-value notes and has not abolished cash as a currency.

Countries like Sweden are going aggressive on cashless economy to the extent of removing ATMs from bank branches, the interest paid on saving account is negative, so people are paying the bank to keep their own money and then dissuaded to not withdraw cash; quite a situation to be in. Between cashless and less cash, India can only opt for the latter if it desires the former.

Since the radical night of November 8, ramping up of infrastructure to support the digital economy is now happening as default than by design, but that’s nothing to complain about. Mobile wallet players have seen a windfall in gaining new users and unprecedented amount of transactions.

All public sector banks and few private lenders have agreed to waive transaction charges on debit cards until December 31. Paytm’s mobile Point of Sale (PoS) through an app outgrows the need for a physical machine to swipe cards, though it comes with certain limitations and questionable security measures, nevertheless a great stop-gap solution until the lack of cash in hand storm calms down.

Outreach and initiatives

While the e-marketplace model for procurement does reduce paper trail and is far easier than the current clumsy tender at the grassroots level are process, it is unclear how the need of the hour. It is it will aid in mitigating not uncommon to see kickbacks and corruption. news about how a homemaker or an elderly was The successful rise of conned online or at an e-commerce in India can ATM. Highly trained be partly attributed to two crooks running rackets to government functions, wipe an average Joe the Railways and the Inclean of his savings is come Tax (I-T) Departnothing new to us, the ment. The Railways gave recent Mumbai fake call us an early demonstration centres scam did not of what convenience is even spare US citizens through its online Tatkal and NRIs. Cybercrime bookings, and the I-T Dedivision curbing these partment by making it scams and phishing compulsory to file tax reemails are a cruel apathy turns online for most similar to our bad roads people. and traffic woes.

These two online exAnnouncement by the periences had a profound Goa government to go impact on nearly 4 crore completely digital by De- people, who fearlessly cember 31 is ambitious, keyed in their bank and similarly the ICICI Bank PAN details online knowannouncing an initiative to ing they can rely on statedigitise 100 villages in In- run portals for informadia is heartening; It bet- tion security. ter not be a PR stunt from both. The public-priA similar approach is vate partnership with citi- needed where the govzen cooperation is another ernment can influence, way to create impact at for example instead of the grassroots level, the having bank extension way we eradicated polio counters at colleges and or conduct census by hospitals, e-kiosks can be roping in teachers is com- installed. mendable. A similar pragIn the world of marketmatic approach has to be ing, we say best camswiftly put in place to edu- paigns are those which cate and welcome first generates demand. And timers to the digital the best problem to have economy and impor- in business is when you tantly, empower them to have more demand than fend from being conned. what you can supply. The demonetisation move is Change must begin one of the most successat home ful government campaigns, the moot point It is a shame that the now is ‘order’ fulfilment state-maintained Taj - making those queues Mahal’s entry fee still shorter and installing can’t be bought using any more digital payment form of electronic pay- touch points across the ment, including debit country. It is every entrecards or mobile wallets. preneurs’ dream to have The Central surplus demand and the government’s bid to government must quickly transform its procure- find ways to increase ment process starting supply. from the office stationery (The writer, a digital to wind turbines to an marketing professional, Amazon-like online mar- is vice-president of ketplace is an audacious Publicis Beehive)

DIBRUGARH, MONDAY, DECEMBER 5

NATION HOA demands strong action against Pak-based terror groups

PTI Amritsar, Dec 4 : Strong action against terror groups including Pakistanbased LeT and JeM involved in high level of violence in the region was demanded by the Heart of Asia (HoA) conference here today with India and Afghanistan launching a stinging attack on a virtually isolated Islamabad for sponsoring and supporting terrorism.

Combating terrorism was at the "core" of discussions at the annual HoA conference, which is meant to focus on efforts to reconstruct and stablise war-torn Afghanistan, but it could not firm up an Afghanistan-initiated proposal to set up a regional framework to counter the menace as many countries had not given their inputs.

Attended by some 40 countries, the two-day conference concluded with a strong declaration calling for concerted regional and international cooperation to ensure elimination of terrorism as well as dismantling of terrorist sanctuaries and safe havens in region as also disrupting all financial, tactical and logistical support

HOA demands strong action against Pak-based terror groups for terror networks.

Stopping short of directly naming Pakistan in his speech at the meet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said "resolute action" was needed not just against forces of terrorism, but also against "those who support, shelter, train and finance them", asserting that terrorism and externally induced instability pose the gravest threat to Afghanistan's peace, stability and prosperity.

Modi also asked the international community to "demonstrate strong collective will to defeat ter-

ror networks that cause bloodshed and spread fear" as "silence and inaction" against terrorism in Afghanistan and in the region "will only embolden terrorists and their masters."

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani directly blamed Pakistan for "launching an undeclared war" against his country and demanded an Asian or international regime to verify Paksponsor terror operations.

Snubbing Pakistan, he said the USD 500 million pledged by it for reconstruction of Afghanistan

Ghani slams Pak on terror, tells it to end 'undeclared war'

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani PTI Amritsar, Dec 4 : In a hard hitting attack on Pakistan, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani today accused it of launching an "undeclared war" on his country by covertly supporting several terror networks including the Taliban, and noted that there were no hidden deals in India's growing engagement in the war-ravaged country.

In his address at the 6th annual conference of Heart of Asia, Ghani, who severely criticised Islamabad, said an Asian or international mechanism must be put in place, without "playing games", to find out who was benefiting from terror, extremism and other illicit activities.

He said time has come for con-

crete action against terror infrastructure and those support it, and quoted a top Taliban commander saying unless terror sanctuaries were allowed in Pakistan, the outfit will not last even a month.

He said despite Afghanistan's bilateral and multilateral ties with Pakistan, the "undeclared war" that started in winter of 2014, has intensified after the recent Brussels conference on Afghanistan's transition.

Slamming Pakistan's habit of denying cross border terror attacks, the Afghan President called for setting up of international mechanism to verify reality of such attacks which have increased in the last few months.

He also sought setting up of a global fund to contain terrorism.

"There should be an Asian or international regime, whatever is acceptable to Pakistan, should be put in place to verify frontier activities and terrorist operations.

"We do not want blame game, we want verification," he said, without mincing words.

"We need to set up a fund to combat extremism," Ghani said.

Pakistan Prime Minister's Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz was among representatives of 30 countries who attended the conference inaugurated jointly

by Ghani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Hailing India's role in Afghanistan's transition, he said "India's assistance is transparent and with no strings attached", adding "there are no hidden deals between India and Afghanistan."

"We thank Pakistan for their pledges of USD 500 million for reconstruction of Afghanistan.

"This fund Mr Aziz could very well be used to contain extremists because without peace any amount of assistance will not meet the needs of our people," he said.

Asserting that no amount of money can assist Afghanistan if there is support to terrorists by Pakistan, he said military operations in Pakistan have brought about selective displacement of terrorists.

Fashion show with 'bullet pellet effect' earns Omar's ire

could be used by Islamabad to check extremism.

"This fund Mr Aziz could very well be used to contain extremists because without peace any amount of assistance will not meet the needs of our people," he said at the meet where Pakistan Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz was among those present.

Time has come for concrete action against terror infrastructure and those support it, Ghani asserted and quoted a top Taliban commander saying unless terror sanctuaries were allowed in Pakistan, the outfit will not last even a month.

According to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the Amritsar Declaration had first time expressed concern at the violence caused in Afghanistan and the region by terrorist groups like Al Qaeda, Daesh, LeT and JeM etc.

Incidentally, HOA's Islamabad declaration last year had mentioned Al Qaeda and Daesh but did not talk about Lashkar-e Toiba (LeT) and Jaish-eMohammad (JeM).

"We remain concerned by the gravity of the security

situation in Afghanistan in particular and the region and the high level of violence caused by the Taliban, terrorist groups including ISIL/ DAISH and its affiliates, the Haqqani Network, Al Qaida, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, East Turkistan Islamic Movement, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, TTP, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, Jundullah and other foreign terrorist fighters.

"Acknowledging the support that terrorism derives in our region, we demand an immediate end to all forms of terrorism, as well as all support to it, including financing of terrorism. We recognize that terrorism is the biggest threat to peace, stability and cooperation in our region...

"We strongly call for concerted regional and international cooperation to ensure elimination of terrorism, in all its forms and manifestations, including dismantling of terrorist sanctuaries and safe havens in the Heart of Asia region, as well as disrupting all financial, tactical and logistical support for terrorism," the Declaration said.

Display charts showing MRPs: Delhi govt to liquor vends

The Excise Department has asked managers of all the liquor vends to display notice boards showing the changes in MRP of liquor brands so that consumers don’t get confused.

(Source: File/ Representational Image)

New Delhi, Dec 4 : The Delhi government has directed all liquor vends in the city to display rate charts reflecting changes in retail prices of various brands following complaints of overcharging. Although some liquor companies have increased prices of their products, rates of other brands have been untouched which led to confusion among consumers about changes in MRPs. “We have directed managers of all the liquor vends to display notice boards showing the changes in Maximum Retail Price (MRP) of liquor brands so that consumers don’t get confused,” said a senior official Excise Department. The Delhi government has not increased the excise duty for the second consecutive year and retail prices of liquor brands have also not been significantly raised this year.

Ankit Gautam, a resident of North Delhi’s Timarpur, said he had bought a bottle of rum for Rs 360 from a liquor vend in Nehru Place, but its MRP was Rs 320.

“When I asked the shop vendor as to why he is charging price beyond the MRP, he said the price has gone up,” Gautam, who is a marketing executive, said.

As per the 2016-17 excise policy, the city government will not issue any new licence for opening of new liquor vends in the city.

While announcing the move, government had said that mohalla sabhas will be empowered to shut existing neighbourhood vends if there are complaints of “nuisance”.

According to the policy, the process to decide on shutting a shop will be initiated once 10 per cent voters of a mohalla sabha submit a written complaint in this regard.

P8 Manmohan 'lacks credibility' for slamming demonetisation:BJP

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh.

(Photo: PTI) PTI Bengaluru, Dec 4 : BJP today hit out at former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over his criticism of demonetisation, saying he "lacks credibility" for such an attack as he himself headed the most "corrupt regime ever".

"Manmohan Singh attacking this government for fight against black money lacks credibility. He him-

self in his 10 years' regime, had not only failed in tackling black money, but is seen as heading the (most) corrupt regime ever in this country. He was responsible for accumulation of black money," BJP General Secretary Muralidhar Rao told reporters here.

Attacking the government over demonetisation in the Rajya Sabha, Singh

had on November 24 said the step was "a case of organised loot and legalised plunder" and reflected a "monumental management failure".

Rao said, "I don't value (Singh's criticism) because he is a failed leader, who is attacking a government and a leader who is performing and taking fight against black money to its logical end."

Responding to a question, Rao said the long queues at ATMs and banks besides currency crunch would disappear by December 30.

"That's what Honourable Prime Minister has said.

It may take some more time for the economy to become normal," he said.

Rao also said people, including farmers, who have been affected by demonetisation, would be "rewarded" in the next year's budget.

He said: "You will have a new budget in which all the suffering sections will get rewarded...

Modi, Ghani talk crossborder terrorism PTI Amritsar, Dec 4 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani today held bilateral talks on a range of key issues including cross-border terrorism and decided to strengthen counter-terror cooperation between the two countries.

During their meeting, the two leaders agreed to operationalise the additional amount of US Dollar One Billion for bilateral cooperation especially in capacity building, skill development, infrastructure building and connectivity linkages, including through a possible air corridor.

The corridor will give India a leverage in Afghanistan as Pakistan continues to deny transit link through its territory.

The two leaders discussed several aspects of the "close and friendly" relations between the two countries, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, adding they also reviewed the progress on recent decisions to deepen bilateral economic cooperation and strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries.

"Both leaders exchanged views on the common threat of terrorism, especially the cross border nature of the scourge which had caused immense suffering to the people of India and Afghanistan.

"In this context, the two leaders agreed to strengthen counter terror cooperation between the two countries, and enhance coordination at the

Sources said both India and Afghanistan were keen to finalise the air cargo agreement as soon as possible and that the broad contours of the pact were already finalised. (source: PTI) UN and other relevant fora," he said.

India had pulled out of SAARC Summit, to be held in Islamabad last month, citing cross-border terror strikes emanating from Pakistan. Afghanistan and other SAARC countries had also sought cancellation of the eight-nation meet on the grounds that there was incitement of terrorism in the region.

Noting with satisfaction the prospects for bilateral relations, Modi and Ghani agreed that both countries would continue to work ever harder for further strengthening them.

"Both leaders agreed to operationalise the additional amount of US Dollar One Billion for bilateral cooperation especially in capacity building, skill development, infrastructure building and connectivity linkages, including through a possible air corridor between India and Afghanistan to overcome obstacles to promotion of bilateral trade," Swarup

said.

Ghani, who arrived here last evening to attend the Heart of Asia Istanbul Process conference, also recalled his visit to Golden Temple yesterday, describing it as "a moving experience".

In the meeting, Modi assured Ghani of India's continued support for ensuring peace and stability in Afghanistan.

Also, Afghanistan is learnt to have sought enhanced supply of military hardware from India.

Afghanistan has been trying to revamp its military to fight the resurgent Taliban after drawdown of NATO forces began nearly two years back.

Sources said both India and Afghanistan were keen to finalise the air cargo agreement as soon as possible and that the broad contours of the pact were already finalised.

India and Afghanistan have been exploring various connectivity projects for greater two-way trade.

Ajit Pawar hits out at Modi over his Uddhav, Rajnath meet RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat 'fakir' remark The 'offensive' tweet was later taken down from the GQ India handle soon after Omar's reaction. (Source: Shantanu & Nikhil, Facebook and File Photo) PTI Srinagar, Dec 4 : Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah today came down heavily on the organisers of a fashion show for creating "bullet pellet effect" as part of its 'Kashmiriyat' collection.

"Am I reading this correctly?

A pellet injury 'effect' is being created for a fashion show.

That seems macabre if not downright thoughtless," he said on Twitter.

Omar was responding to a

tweet posted on the handle of 'VanHeusen GQ Fashion Nights'. "#Backstagepass @sonicsarwate creates a bullet pellet effect for Shantanu and Nikhil's Kashmiriyat collection," the official GQ India Fashion Nights had posted.

The National Conference leader said the pellets have blinded scores and to have the injuries recreated for a fashion show was "inexplicable even if collection (is) called Kashmiriyat."

"Are any part of the proceeds of the show or the 'Kashmiriyat' collection going to help rehabilitate those hurt by pellets," he asked.

The 'offensive' tweet was later taken down from the GQ India handle soon after Omar's reaction.

The former Chief Minister was quick to add, "And quietly deleting the tweet does not make it any better @gqindia. Here is a screen grab in case people wonder what my tweets are about.

PTI Pune, Dec 4 : Senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar today hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his "fakir" remark, saying how can someone call himself a hermit if he changes dresses thrice in a day and wear suits worth lakhs of rupees.

"He calls himself fakir. But, how can a person be called 'fakir', who is changing dresses thrice in a day and wearing suits worth lakhs of rupees," Pawar said at a gathering of NCP workers here.

Addressing a rally at Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh yesterday, Modi had said, "I am being hounded as if I have committed some crime by waging a battle against graft.

But, what can my opponents do to me? I am a fakir

(hermit)...jhola ley kar chaley jayenge (I will exit with the few belongings I have)."

Referring to long queues outside banks and ATMs, the former Maharashtra minister said before coming to the power in 2014, BJP had promised "acche din" (better days), which are "yet to come".

Criticising the Centre for taking demonetisation decision "arbitrarily", he said, "We too were in power, however, never took any decision arbitrarily."

Pawar also took a dig at a march, organised by Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Kakade here today supporting demonetisation, saying those who are opposing the move do not get a nod to carry out the march, while others get the permission.

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat PTI Nagpur, Dec 4 : Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray today met RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat here.

Thackeray, who arrived here

this morning, drove to the RSS headquarters where he met Bhagwat. Their meeting lasted for about an hour.

What transpired between the two leaders is not known, but

Sangh sources claimed it was a courtesy call by Thackeray, whose party is an ally in the BJP-ruled coalition at the Centre and Maharashtra.

Later, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh also met Bhagwat.

Singh and Thackeray among other politicians were here to attend the wedding of Union minister Nitin Gadkari's daughter.

The Winter session of Maharashtra Legislature is beginning here from tomorrow, which is likely to be a stormy one with the Opposition expected to raise the issue of demonetisation and its impact on common man.

The Sena has been critical of the implementation of the Centre's demonetisation drive.

EDUCATION

DIBRUGARH, MONDAY, DECEMBER 5

PAGE 9

IAS - How To Clear IAS Exam and Become an IAS Officer?

What is IAS? IAS is the short form of Indian Administrative Service.

It is one of the prestigious services among the 24 services like IPS, IFS etc for the which the UPSC conduct Civil Services Examination (CSE) for selecting the candidates. An officer selected into the Indian Administrative Service gets exposure in very diverse roles like the collector, commissioner, head of public sector units, chief secretary, cabinet secretary etc. Not only the experience and challenges, but also the scope of making positive changes in the life of millions in India makes IAS a unique career choice.

How to become an IAS officer?

Even though the exam to be undertaken is popularly known as IAS exam, it is officially called UPSC Civil Services Exam. The UPSC CSE consists of 3 stages Prelims, Mains, and Interview. Getting into Indian Administrative Service is not easy considering the competition involved, but not impossible for a candidate with right attitude and approach. Interesting read: Salary of an IAS officer.

which checks candidate's mathematical or verbal skills. To clear IAS, we feel two entities as essential: 1. Right guidance - for prelims and mains.

2. Right study-materials and books.

"ClearIAS" is a humble attempt to provide aspirants with these two basic entities giving stress to selfstudy.

IAS Exam Eligibility Criteria The educational qualification needed to appear in UPSC CSE is a degree (graduation) in any subject.

Final year students can also apply. Aspirants may go through the article to the eligibility criteria for writing UPSC CSE exam.

Civil Services Examination(CSE) UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) is the government agency responsible for selecting the right candidates for this service. Every year only around 1000 candidates is selected for all the 24 services combined.

The number of candidates who applied for UPSC Civil Service Exam was about 9 lakh in 2015, out of which around 4.5 lakh candidates

appeared on the exam day.

This exam is widely considered as the toughest exam in the world, considering the exam duration (extends 1 year), depth of the syllabus and the competition involved. The first stage of the exam - Preliminary (objective) - is usually conducted around June, while the second stage, Mains (written), is conducted around October. Those who clear Mains will have to face

interview/personality test during March-May period.

The final result usually comes in June.

How to Clear Civil Services Exam?

To clear IAS Exam, aspirants are advised to have a long-term strategy. Though most of the serious candidates start preparation 9-12 months before the exam date, there are candidates who successfully achieve

7 ways flipping mentoring roles can boost workplace productivity Reverse mentoring gives the most essential form of guidance-- feedback.

Find 7 ways it can boost your workplace efficiency.

Feedback, in any system or organisation, forms the most essential element of growth and establishes the base for continuous improvement. What does feedback do? It provides a way of life that creates more opportunities for collaboration, builds trust and most importantly, generates fresh ideas.

1. Providing feedback in the form of guidance A key form of feedback is guidance, which is the best kind of feedback as it is based on mutual respect, confidentiality and trust. Organisations are increasingly recognising the importance of HOW people achieve their goals not just WHAT they achieve.

Every firm aims for a culture that engages people and reflects the firm's values. At ZS, a consulting firm born from academic roots, continuous feedback is "part of the DNA", and it boosts employee satisfaction, productivity and creativity. It is natural for people then to feel involved and identify with their organisation.

2. Millennials need to be interacted with on 'equal terms' Regular feedback is what appeals to Millennials most. Given this generation is proactive, eager to learn continuously and loves to offer ideas, they need seniors and leaders who take the time to converse on equal terms.

It is important to reverse the dialogue from "Go

ahead with this" to "Do you think this is the right thing to do?" Communication is a two-way street.

3. Make individuals aware of their potential as future leaders Quite a few organisations have a "reverse mentoring" model in place, whereby the mentoring roles are flipped, positioning a young professional as the mentor and the seasoned professional as the mentee.

It is important for firms to make individuals aware of their potential as future leaders. This process helps employees engage in conversations by pushing them to take the lead and think ahead, which in turn boosts confidence and enables them to see themselves as future leaders in the firm.

At ZS, for every new employee, a mentor is assigned for the first six months, someone who has preferably been in the same role before and could effectively guide the employee and help with integration.

4. Implement '360 degree mentoring' However, the most important mentoring happens on every project, where the model is that of "360 degree mentoring" instead to one-way or two-way. Ø In this process of mentoring, teams are formed consisting of people at all levels of the organisation involved to different degrees, and preferably with a wide cross section of the organisation

Ø The teams meet in group settings as much as possible for free exchange of ideas across the team Ø Leaders learn from fresh perspectives that new associates and cross-functional team members bring, and the leaders mentor by contributing benchmarks and domain expertise The Socratic method of asking questions dominates. Asking relevant questions to understand the pulse and expressing a point of view to them becomes an effective way of a strong two-way communication between the leaders and the rest of the team 5. Conduct regular floor connect meetings to improve feedback Regular floor connects should also be organised, wherein senior members of the firm not only interact with employees on a specific floor and share updates, but also take questions and hear important updates and ideas from those present.

Keeping track of what is happening beyond project work and staying updated can help one innovate and even think of new ideas to accomplish routine tasks. Such practices help build camaraderie across areas of work and firm levels, too.

6. Establish transparency in appraisal and review process Finally, establishing transparency and open communication in the performance review process plays a crucial role in

top ranks with only a few months of dedicated study.

So what matters is not the duration of the preparation, but the quality of the same.

A disciplined and focused mind with a passion for learning and reading is the basic trait of all successful candidates. The UPSC Civil Services exam is more a test of the analytic and presentation skills along with knowledge gained by the candidate rather than a test

IAS Exam Number of attempts permitted Number of attempts permissible for a general category candidate in UPSC CSE is 6. For OBC candidates the number of attempts permitted it 9. SC/ST category candidates will have unlimited attempts till they attain the upper age limit to appear for UPSC CSE. IAS Exam Age Limits The minimum age to appear for UPSC Civil Services Exam is 21 years. Upper age

limit for General category is 32 years, for OBC it is 35 years while for SC/ST it is 37 years.

IAS syllabus A good understanding of UPSC syllabus and exam pattern is the first step for all freshers. Civil Services Preliminary exam comprises of two compulsory papers of 200 marks each (General Studies Paper I and General Studies Paper II). The questions will be of multiple choice, objective type. The marks in prelims will not be counted for final ranking, but just for qualification for main exam.

A candidate's rank in UPSC Civil Service Exam depends only on the mark scored in Main and Interview. The written examination (main) will consist of the following nine papers, but only 7 papers will be counted for final merit ranking. For the rest two papers, the candidate should secure minimum marks prescribed by UPSC each year. The main exam has 1750 marks while interview has 275 marks.

Classroom IAS Coaching is adopted by many students for proper guidance and ease of materials for learning though it is not a must

for clearing IAS. Now websites like ClearIAS.com provide guidance outside the classroom coaching and free online IAS study materials for those who can't afford it due to time/financial constraints. If the aspirant is dedicated and is properly guided, self-study is enough to clear UPSC CSE. Interesting read: Can I clear UPSC Civil Services exam without coaching classes?

Importance of mock exams As you may know, only when tested in an exam atmosphere with negative marking, you can improve the ability to deliver in the actual exam hall. Try for free the UPSC Prelims online mock exams by ClearIAS in the new innovative platform which integrates learning with test-taking. You would be surprised to find how fast you can learn!

Books needed for Civil Services Exams Taking inputs from toppers, a detailed list of the best UPSC books available in the market as per the latest UPSC syllabus for each subject in Prelims and Mains is prepared by us. Aspirants may click on each link to buy books online at discounted prices.

Top careers for science graduates

trust-building, productivity, retention and overall progress. At ZS, the review and appraisal process is based on a competency model, which moves away from the traditional bell-curve. The model is embedded in every aspect of the employee lifecycle-interview process, learning programmes and review. continuous improvement, which speaks of the firm's culture of learning.

The power of the model is that it describes expected behaviours all the way to the leadership level, thereby demystifying the path to the top.

7. Employees need to made aware that feedback is welcome All in all, feedback and open expression need to be a way of life versus a "programme". Employees need to be made aware that their feedback is welcome.

Firms need to look beyond formal feedback sessions. Team leaders need to take the first step and encourage their team members to have an open dialogue and share their ideas and aspirations as well. They need to connect with their teams not only when issues come up, but on a regular basis.

Soliciting feedback as a whole is very important as that builds trust and rapport, too. When everyone on the team works to the best of their ability, the team is at its productive best.

- Authored by Abhijit Nimgaonkar, Office Managing Principal and India CEC's Head, ZS Associates

Where will your science degree take you? From laboratory to field-work, from business to policy, the variety of career choices are endless. Plus, with so many challenges facing the human race, science graduates have never been so popular.

Even President Obama has weighed in, sounding concern over the lack of qualified scientists in the US workforce in an April speech at the National Academy of Sciences.

In reality, the supply of science students is increasing - but many are choosing careers in medicine, finance or law where the paycheques are higher.

So if you want to use your technical science skills in your graduate job, where are the best science opportunities today? In this article we look at some new and growing sectors.

Finding a cure Cancer research is becoming a very competitive area for scientists. "Because of its high profile and as it is such an exciting area of science, it's a highly com-

petitive and dynamic place," says Steve Jackson, a lab head for Cancer Research UK. "You have to keep your wits about you."

If you want to win the Nobel Prize for finding a cure for cancer, start with a degree in pharmacology.

Learning about other disciplines can be a real advantage too. "Cancer research is very complex," says David Knowles, chief scientific officer at UK biotech company Pharma. "The people who sit at the boundaries can help make or break a company."

Pharmacology graduates usually work in labs in hospitals, research organisations or pharmaceutical companies. It's important to note this field is different to a pharmacy degree, which will lead to a career as a pharmacist dispensing medicines to the general public.

Sexy forensics TV shows such as CSI have made forensic science a glamorous choice for scientists. The reality is a little different. You need a strong stomach and attention to detail to succeed. Develop

practical lab skills and prove your pure science ability before you specialise in catching the bad guys.

Saving the world Earth science is becoming increasingly popular, with major issues such as resource management and conservation and climate change one the agenda for all governments around the world.

You'll get your hands dirty collecting samples out in the field, and travel all over the world. Earth Science graduates may find themselves working at oceanographers, researchers, seismologists, or specialist consultants in fields such as contaminated land or reservoirs.

Biology graduates can also become scientific heroes, saving people from new strains of infectious diseases and virus pandemics, or protecting ecosystems. Embryology and genetics are growing fields for biologists too.

Brilliant minds Think of a famous scientist. Did Sir Isaac Newtown (gravity), Albert Einstein

(relativity) or Galileo Galilei (astronomics) come to mind? They all studied physics, and their theories have had an enormous impact on the way we think about our world.

As a physics graduate, you may continue to work in further research at a university, or in any type of industry as an engineer, software developer, computer scientist or medical researcher. Physics teaches you important sills such as problem solving, information handling and critical reasoning, so it can open up a wide range of career opportunities.

The building blocks of life If you're interested in chemistry, you'll find it's much more than bunsen burners and test tubes.

Chemistry graduates are in high demand, especially in the health industry where the global financial crisis has had little impact.

Chemistry focuses on new ideas and discoveries, and can lead you into a career developing new ecofriendly materials, new foods that taste better, or new medications for the pharmaceutical industry.

DIBRUGARH, MONDAY, DECEMBER 5

INTERNATION P10 Mocked For His Tweets, Donald India-US defence Trump Fires Back On Twitter ties closest ever: can't get any worse. Sad," Trump wrote.

WASHINGTON, Dec 4: President-elect Donald Trump sent a dismissive tweet in response to a comedy sketch that mocked his penchant for sending tweets.

In the latest sketch, Trump is gently chided by aides for sending retweets, one from a high school student, during a national security briefing.

Trump again lambasted the show "Saturday Night Live," on which he is played by actor Alec Baldwin.

But whereas on other occasions Trump has tweeted his criticism the next morning, this time he fired away before the show ended.

Donald Trump "Just tried watching Saturday Night Live -

unwatchable! Totally biased, not funny and the Baldwin impersonation just

Actress Kate McKinnon's Kellyanne Conway, a Trump strategist, said the president-elect tweets a lot to "to distract the media from his business conflicts and all the very scary people in his cabinet."

But Trump as played by

Baldwin said, "actually that's not why I do it. I do it because my brain is bad."

Ashton Carter

The sketch ended with Trump calling for his chief strategist Steve Bannon who then enters in the guise of the Grim Reaper. Bannon used to run Breitbart News, which has been criticized as a platform for white supremacists and antiSemitism.

US defence secretary Ashton Carter would be visiting India next week

After Trump's tweet, Baldwin himself tweeted: "Release your tax returns and I'll stop. Ha."

Pak media notes India supports Nepal ConstiModi-Aziz hand- tution amendment process The constitution promulgated last year shake in Amritsar could not be implemented due to the agitaISLAMABAD, Dec 4: Pakistani media on Sunday took note of the handshake and exchange of niceties between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan prime minister's adviser on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz at Amritsar amid deadly border skirmishes and rhetoric. ziz reached Amritsar last evening to attend the Heart of Asia conference+ , instead of this morning apparently to dodge early morning fog. provided a subtle opportunity for a handshake and exchange of pleasantries with Modi who hosted a banquet for the delegates.

The Express Tribune under the front page headline — "Aziz-Modi handshake sets off media frenzy" — wrote that "After months of war rhetoric and deadly border skirmishes, Indian and Pakistani officials exchanged niceties and set the media abuzz on Saturday".

"With a broad smile on his face, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shook hands with Pakistan's Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz

at a banquet he had hosted for the participants of the Heart of Asia conference in Amritsar," it reported.

The paper reported that Modi also asked about the health of his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif who had recently undergone open heart surgery in a London hospital.

Aziz conveyed "good wishes" to the Indian leader on behalf of Sharif.

The Dawn reported that Aziz+ was received by Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit and the joint secretary of Indian Ministry of External Affairs.

"Sartaj Aziz also sent a bouquet to Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj at her residence, extending his sincere good wishes for her full and speedy recovery," it said.

The News International reported that Modi shook hands with Aziz and inquired after the well-being of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from him.

"Aziz said Nawaz Sharif is well and he has also expressed good wishes for him," it further reported.

32 killed in coal mine blast in China

PTI Beijing , Dec 4 : At least 32 people have been declared dead after an explosion at a coal mine in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The explosion took place yesterday at Baoma Mining Co Ltd in Yuanbaoshan district in the city of Chifeng, staterun Xinhua news agency reported.

There were a total of 181 people working underground at the time of the accident, and 149 workers managed to get above ground, it said.

So far 268 policemen and 119 rescuers and medical staff have been rushed to the accident site.

This is the second big mine accident in China this week.

Twenty-one workers trapped in a coal mine in China after an explosion at a private coal mine in Qitaihe City, Heilongjiang provinceon November 30 were confirmed dead yesterday while search is on for one person.

State television CCTV reported the workers could not be reached by rescuers due to presence of poisonous gases and insurance firms began contacting the families of the trapped workers to settle claims.

Initial enquiries showed that the blast was an accident and that the mine was unlicensed, police said.

Chinese police had arrested the owner of the private coal mine and three managers yesterday, the emergency rescue headquarters said.

tion by the Madhesis, mostly Indian-origin

Kathmandu, Dec 4: Welcoming the move to amend the constitution by the Nepal government, India today expressed support for ongoing efforts to meet the aspirations of all sections of the Nepalese people. “Peace, progress, and stability of Nepal is in interest of both India and Nepal. We have been supportive of the initiative of the Nepal government to meet the aspiration of all sectors of society through dialogue and constitutional process,” the Indian Embassy said in a statement.

“India will continue to support Nepal’s peace, stability, and accelerated economic development as per the priorities of the people and government of Nepal,” it said. The constitution promulgated last year could not be implemented due to the agitation by the

Madhesis, mostly Indianorigin.

Amendment of the Constitution to redraw the provincial boundary of the country is the key demand of the Madhesi parties.

The Madhesi Front last week refused to back the constitution amendment bill, saying it was not acceptable in its current dis-

policy and practice since the end of World War II more than 70 years ago. Regardless of what else was going on at home or in other parts of the world–during Democratic and Republican administrations, in times of surplus and deficit, war and peace–the United States has remained economically, politically, and militarily engaged in the Asia-Pacific,” he said.

criminatory form. The United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) and the Federal Socialist Forum-Nepal (FSF-N) stated that they cannot accept the constitution amendment bill which has been registered in Parliament by Nepal’s government despite opposition from CPN-UML.

The outgoing US defence secretary Ashton Carter’s last overseas trip includes Japan, India, Israel, Bahrain, Italy and the UK. Photo: Getty Images/AFP Washington, Dec 4: Days ahead of his visit to India, US defence secretary Ashton Carter Saturday said that the defence relationship between the world’s two largest democracies has never been as close it is now.

“The US-India defence relationship is the closest it’s ever been. Through our strategic handshake–with America reaching west in the rebalance, and India reaching east in what Prime Minister Narendra Modi calls his ‘Act East policy’– our two nations are exercising together by air, land, and sea like never before,” Carter said.

Carter, who would be in India next week, said this in his address to the Regan National Defence Forum in Simi Valley, California. The outgoing US defence secretary’s last overseas trip includes Japan, India, Israel, Bahrain, Italy and the

UK.

The US, he said, has long taken a principled and inclusive approach, and collaborated with a network of regional allies and partners to enable security and uphold important principles like resolving disputes peacefully; ensuring countries can make choices free from external coercion and intimidation; and preserving the freedom of overflight and navigation guaranteed by international law.

“We also have a technological handshake–as the US-India Defence Technology and Trade Initiative, or DTTI, grasps hands with Prime Minister Modi’s Make in India campaign– that’s helping our countries move toward more diverse co-development and co- “Because we did so, out of production of weapons the rubble of World War II, economic miracle after systems,” he said. miracle has occurred. Think As he begins his last over- about it...first Japan, then seas tour from the Asia Pa- Taiwan, South Korea, and cific region, Carter reflected Southeast Asia rose and on the rebalance strategy of prospered, and today, China President Barack Obama. and India are doing the “It will ensure DoD contin- same,” he said. ues to help provide the security necessary for that That progress has produced consequential region– incredible changes in the rewhich is home to nearly half gion: populations are growthe global population and ing, education has imnearly half the global proved, freedom and selfeconomy– to remain a place determination have spread, where everyone can rise economies have grown and prosper for decades to more interconnected, and military spending and coopcome,” he said. eration are growing, he “That’s been American added. PTI

Indonesians rally for tolerance after blasphemy protests JAKARTA, INDONESIA, Dec 4 : Tens of thousands of Indonesians rallied Sunday in the center of the capital Jakarta, calling for tolerance and unity after massive protests by conservative Muslims against the city’s minority Christian governor.

immediate arrest. Police say his detention is not necessary and have called for the respect of the legal process.

A demonstration against Ahok on Friday drew at least 200,000 people. An anti-Ahok protest on November 4 attracted at least 100,000 people and turned violent, with one dead and dozens of protesters and police injured.

The crowds filled a major traffic circle in the heart of the city and sprawled into its main thoroughfares.

The demonstrators waved “We Are Indonesia” signs and a giant red-and-white national flag was held aloft by hundreds of people.

The capital of Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, has been rocked in the past month by

Indonesians gather during a rally in Jakarta, Indonesia, Dec. 4, 2016. Thousands of people staged the rally in attempt to demonstrate national unity as religious and racial tensions divide the world's most populous Muslim nation. two major protests against Gov. Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja

Purnama, who is being prosecuted for alleged blas-

phemy. Hardline Muslim groups are demanding his

National leaders of political parties under the progovernment coalition behind President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, an ally of Ahok, delivered short speeches on the importance of keeping the ethnically diverse nation united.

“We have to fight to materialize the aims of our independence. That will not happen if we are scattered, blaspheming, humiliating each other and no longer trust each other,” Surya Paloh, chairman of the National Democratic Party, said from the main stage.

“Our main enemies are stupidity and poverty.

Therefore we ask the current government to work harder and always consistently with the people’s aspirations,” Paloh said.

Blasphemy is a criminal offense in Indonesia and punishable by up to five years in prison.

Up to 40 feared dead in blaze at California party Oakland (United States) (AFP), Dec 4 - Fire crews in California on Sunday were searching the charred remains of a warehouse gutted by a blaze during a rave party, with officials saying the death toll could reach 40.

Relatives of dozens of people missing in the Friday night blaze in Oakland near San Francisco endured an anxious wait for news. Nine people have been confirmed dead so far.

The converted two-story warehouse was used by artists as a living and work space but had no license for this, officials said, nor for the electronic dance party under way when the blaze broke out. The cause of the fire was not yet known.

Firefighters said the building seemed to have no sprinklers or smoke detectors.

Orange flames shot through the roof as the fire burned for hours and thick smoke billowed into the sky. The roof collapsed onto the second floor, which officials said was connected to the ground floor only by a makeshift system of wooden pallets.

Firefighters had to withdraw from the building to shore it up when part of the fragile structure began to move.

Sergeant Ray Kelly of the Alameda County Sheriff's department said Saturday evening that about two dozen people who were reported missing had been located.

But at least two dozen more remain missing, he said.

"We don't know how far into the process we are, because we don't absolutely have a number of people

that we know are deceased inside of there," Kelly said.

"There’s still a lot of the building that needs to be searched," Fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed said.

An official at the sheriff's office who declined to be named said early Sunday the death toll could rise to 40 or higher.

Most of those who perished in the blaze that started about 11:30 pm Friday (0730 GMT Saturday) were thought to have died on the upper floor of the warehouse known as the Oakland Ghost Ship, Reed said.

- 'Expecting the worst' "It must have been a very fast-moving fire," she added.

The electronic dance music party was attended by an estimated 50 to 100 people.

The sheriff's office station

in Oakland became a center for relatives of the missing.

The Salvation Army dropped off 50 meals for them, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Daniel Vega told the newspaper he is looking for his brother Alex and his girlfriend, who had said they were going to a rave in Oakland.

"If he is dead, if he is in the rubble, fine, I'll get over it.

But I just want to find him," Vega told the Chronicle.

Al Garcia, who owns a supply company across the street, said that when he learned of the fire and went to the scene, flames were coming out of the windows and roof.

"I knew people were dead," he told the Chronicle.

"There was no way anyone could get out."

Some of the missing were

believed to be from overseas, making identification of the victims -- thought to be in their 20s and 30s -more difficult.

The warehouse had numerous partitions added to the original building.

Some of the structural changes made it extremely difficult for people to escape, Reed said.

"There wasn't a real entry or exit path," Reed said.

The clutter hampered firefighters' efforts to put out the blaze.

"It was filled end-to-end with furniture, whatnot, collections," Reed said. "It was like a maze, almost."

Friends and families of partygoers took to social media to search for news about their loved ones, with some posting information on the event's Facebook

page.

"Please tell me you are safe," one woman wrote, adding a friend's name, while others posted prayers.

"I literally felt my skin peeling and my lungs being suffocated by smoke," Bob Mule, a photographer who lives in the building, told Fox television affiliate KTVU. "I couldn't get the fire extinguisher to work."

The fire was described as the deadliest incident in Oakland since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in northern California, which killed 63 people.

The deadliest nightclub fire in the United States in recent decades occurred in 2003, when pyrotechnic effects by the rock band Great White set off an inferno at The Station nightclub in Rhode Island, killing about 100 people.

DIBRUGARH, MONDAY, DECEMBER 5

Need clear tax laws to prevent black money creation:Niti chief PTI Mumbai, Dec 4 : Terming taxation laws in the country as "ill-defined", Niti Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya today called for removing ambiguities in them so as to do away with "discretion of the tax officer".

He also said that demonetisation of high value currency is just one step to combat black money, and more needs to be done.

"Tax reform is really important to curb black money," he said at a panel discussion here.

"More simplification means reduction and presumably elimination of the many exemptions under the existing laws.

Also, we need to spell out many of these rules and laws explicitly. In our case the tax laws are often illdefined.

That of course leads to scope for discretions," he added.

He said tax reforms like reduction in stamp duty are necessary to stop gen-

Need clear tax laws to prevent black money creation:Niti chief eration of black money in the system and that this should be done at the earliest following the demonetisation of high value banknotes.

"Demonetisation is one of the steps to stop creation of black money but a lot more needs to be done," said the academic-turned planner.

Underlining the need for removing ambiguities in tax laws, he said: "We have to go back, start looking at those tax laws, if there is a way to make them precise enough so

that it is not left to the discretion of the tax officer but the law itself is clear enough that the taxpayer can figure out rather than having to negotiate with the tax officer."

Calling for the need to bring in reforms related to stamp duties to stop black money, Panagariya said: "Stamp duties vary widely across the states and there is need to look at that. If you keep the stamp duties too high, that encourages under the table real estate transactions." .

I-T dept detects undisclosed Rs 1.64 cr in Jan Dhan accounts

"Investigation being conducted by the Income Tax Department across India into the sudden surge in cash deposits in Jandhan accounts have revealed various inconsistencies."

PTI New Delhi, Dec 4 : The Income Tax department has found "various inconsistencies" in cash deposits in Jan Dhan accounts and detected about Rs 1.64 crore deposited by persons who have never filed returns as their income shown is below the taxable limit.

"Investigation being conducted by the Income Tax Department across India into the sudden surge in cash deposits in Jandhan accounts have revealed various inconsistencies," a Finance Ministry statement said Sunday.

Undisclosed money worth

about Rs 1.64 crore has already been found in Jan Dhan accounts, it said.

The money has been deposited by persons who have never filed returns, with their income being below the taxable limits, it added.

The money has been detected at Kolkata, Midnapore, Ara (Bihar), Kochi and Varanasi, the statement said, adding that Rs 40 Lakh has been seized from one such account in Bihar.

Undisclosed income so detected will be brought to tax as per the provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961, apart from

other actions depending upon the outcome of investigations, it said.

"The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), once again urges the account holders not to consent to any kind of misuse of their accounts which would expose them to the dangers of being held responsible for the tax evasion by unscrupulous elements," said the statement.

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi surprised entire nation with demonetisation of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes on November 8, deposits in Jan Dhan accounts have increased to 28,685 crore. As of November 9, the balance in about 25.5 crore such accounts was Rs 45,636.61 crore.

The total deposit in 25.85 crore such accounts was Rs 74,321.55 crore at the end of November 30, as per Finance Ministry data. The total was Rs 72,834.72 crore in 25.68 crore accounts at the end of November 23.

The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna was launched in August 2014 to increase banking penetration and promote financial inclusion in the country. .

BUSINESS P11 Bizman allowed to go after questioning, may be called later PTI Ahmedabad, Dec 4 : Citybased property dealer Mahesh Shah, who made a sensational claim that he was used as a front to declare Rs 13,860 crore under the Income Declaration Scheme (IDS), was allowed to go home this morning after night-long interrogation by senior I-T personnel.

Officials said the process of recording his starement is likley to continue tomorrow even as city police deployed two guards outside his residence apprehending security threat.

"Shah's statement has been recorded partially.

During the interrogation, he was provided adequate rest looking at his medical

condition. As per his request, the process of recording his statement temporarily concluded today morning," said Director of Investigations in I-T department P C Mody.

Shah shot into limelight after he declared Rs 13,860 crore under the IDS, which closed on September 30.

He was picked up from the office of a regional channel for questioning yesterday.

"The process of recording his statement will resume, may be tomorrow. He has just replied to our questions related to the search (at his residence). He has left for home. I can not reveal any further details as investigations are in progress," Mody added.

Patel may cut rate by 0.25% in policy review on Wed PTI New Delhi, Dec 4 : Reserve Bank Governor Urjit Patel is expected to again go in for a 0.25 per cent interest rate cut at its next policy review on Wednesday, with an aim to cushion the impact of demonetisation, a majority bankers feel.

This will be the first monetary policy review after demonetisation of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes following which banks witnessed surge in deposits.

Patel, in his first policy as RBI Governor, in October reduced the repo rate (short term lending rate) by 0.25 per cent to 6.25 per cent. This will be the second policy which will be based on recommendations of the Monetary Policy Committee.

RBI has cut repo by 1.75 per cent since January 2015.

Canara Bank MD and CEO Rakesh Sharma said that with softening of inflation, "we expect that RBI may go for a 25-basis point rate cut in the upcoming policy".

Echoing similar views, IDBI Bank CFO R K Bansal said the central bank would ease the repo rate to 6 per cent.

"The new two quarters are very important and they would like to see the impact of demonetisation," Bansal said.

Bankers opined that with the increase in Market Stabilisation Scheme (MSS) ceiling to Rs 6 lakh crore from Rs 30,000 crore, RBI is unlikely to continue to apply the incremental cash reserve ratio.

In order to manage liquidity conditions, RBI on November 28 had asked banks to maintain an incremental CRR of 100 per cent on deposits accrued between September 16 and November 11, 2016.

The temporary hike in CRR due to high deposits with banks is not a concern, but RBI should cut repo by 0.25 per cent to 6 per cent in next policy review in December to adjust balance between high liquidity and interest rates, Yes Bank said.

According to SBI, there is an expectation that the inflation in November will be below 4 per cent.

In October, retail inflation was at 4.20 per cent while wholesale inflation eased to 3.39 per cent.

"Also, the recent demonetisation will support easing inflation by affecting consumer demand adversely.

Hence, we are still expecting another round of repo rate cut by 2550 basis points (0.250.50 per cent) in 201617," a senior SBI official said.

Despite the cash reserve ratio (CRR) hike, the systemic liquidity will still be in a comfortable surplus of over Rs 1.5 lakh crore, said another banker.

Last week, RBI hiked CRR to 100 per cent on the incremental deposits on a temporary basis to suck out excess liquidity after deposits of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes following their withdrawal.

Jan Dhan deposits stabilise; get Rs 1,487 cr in 7 days PTI New Delhi, Dec 4 : The big surge in deposits into Jan Dhan accounts after the demonetisation seems to be stabilising now as just Rs 1,487 crore has been parked in them over 7 days to November 30, as against Rs 8,283 crore in the previous week.

Deposits in the 25.85 crore such accounts totalled Rs 74,321.55 crore at the end of November 30, as per the Finance Ministry data.

The overall amount was Rs 72,834.72 crore in 25.68 crore accounts at the end of November 23.

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi surprised entire nation with demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on November 8, deposits in Jan Dhan accounts have increased by 28,685 crore. As of November 9,

The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna was launched in August 2014 to increase banking penetration and promote financial inclusion in the country. the balance in about 25.5 crore such accounts was Rs 45,636.61 crore.

Interestingly, the percentage of zero balance account still remains flat at

about 22.85 per cent despite surge in deposits.

The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna was launched in August 2014 to increase banking penetration and promote financial inclusion in the country.

Such accounts have a deposit limit of Rs 50,000.

In order to check the misuse of Jan Dhan accounts by black money hoarders following the demonetisation, the Reserve Bank of India has restricted the withdrawal from such accounts to Rs 10,000 per month.

According to RBI, fully KYC-compliant Jan Dhan account holders will be allowed to withdraw Rs 10,000 per month from their account, while limited or NonKYC compliant account holders can withdraw Rs 5,000 per month.

It said however that branch managers may allow further withdrawals beyond Rs 10,000 a month within the current applicable limits only after ascertaining the genuineness of such withdrawals and duly documenting the same on bank s record.

The government suspects that black money hoarders are using farmers' and other people s Jan Dhan accounts to deposit their ill-gotten money so that they can safely convert that money into white.

Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he is working on a formula on how to send the corrupt to jail who deposited their money in Jan Dhan accounts of poor after demonetisationand ensure this money goes to the poor households.

Mahesh Shah Shah, who went missing after I-T department searched his residence a few days back, appeared in the studio of a local news channel yesterday for an interview. Later, he was taken away by I-T officials from there.

During the interview, Shah

claimed he made the declaration out of compulsion and for commission.

"The amount of Rs 13,860 crore I declared under IDS was not mine, will tell the names of those behind it before Income Tax officials.... I will disclose everything soon. I have com-

mitted a mistake but I will reveal everything soon," Shah said yesterday.

Meanwhile, apprehending possible threat to his life, city police deployed two guards outside his residence in Satellite area.

"As per the instructions we have received from senior officials, we have deployed two guards outside his residence for protection of Shah and his family," said Satellite police inspector M U Mashi.

Commenting on the issue, Gujarat Minister of State for Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja stated that truth will eventually come out.

"I am confident that truth will come out during the investigation by I-T department," said Jadeja. .

RBI Guv gets Rs 2 lakh pay, no supporting staff at home PTI New Delhi, Dec 4 : RBI Governor Urjit Patel gets a little over Rs 2 lakh as salary and has not been provided with any supporting staff at his residence, the central bank has said.

Patel, who took over as RBI Governor in September, is presently in possession of the bank's flat (Deputy Governor's flat) at Mumbai, it said.

"No supporting staff has been provided to the present Governor, Urjit Patel at his residence. Two cars and two drivers have been provided to the present Governor," RBI said in reply to an RTI query.

The bank was asked to

provide details of remuneration given to former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan and incumbent Patel.

For the month of October -- the first full month Patel was in office as Governor -- Patel got Rs 2.09 lakh as his salary, the same amount drawn by Rajan as his August's salary.

Rajan demitted office on September 4, and was given Rs 27,933 as remuneration for four days.

Rajan assumed the charge of RBI Governor from September 5, 2013 at a monthly salary of Rs 1.69 lakh. His salary was revised to Rs 1.78 lakh and Rs 1.87 lakh respectively during 2014 and March 2015. His salary was hiked

to Rs 2.09 lakh from Rs 2.04 lakh in January this year, the RTI reply said.

Rajan was provided with three cars and four drivers. "One caretaker and nine maintenance attendants were posted as supporting staff in the bungalow provided by the bank to the former Governor Raghuram Rajan at Mumbai," RBI said.

The Centre has recently declined to share details on appointment of Patel and other candidates shortlisted for the top post in the central bank saying these are "cabinet papers" and cannot be made public.

Patel was on August 20 named as RBI's Governor to succeed Rajan.

India presses Iran to award Farzad-B field to OVL

In October, the two nations had pushed back the timelines for concluding a deal on Farzad-B field to February from November agreed previously.

PTI New Delhi, Dec 4 : India has nudged Iran to quickly award rights to develop the coveted Farzad-B gas field in the Persian Gulf to ONGC Videsh by wrapping up negotiations that have been dragging on for months.

Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan met Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif yesterday to press for award of rights to develop the field, which was discovered by OVL, at the earliest.

"Our relationship is much more than a usual (bilateral) relationship," Pradhan told PTI. "We stood by them (Iran) in their difficult times (US and western sanctions) and continued to buy oil from them."

He said that he reminded the visiting minister of Iran's commitment to awarding the field development to OVL on nomination basis.

"I hope they will complete the process within the agreed timeframe," he added.

In October, the two nations had pushed back the timelines for concluding a deal on Farzad-B field to February from November agreed previously.

"Let me just say that I am hopeful of concluding the

deal within the agreed timeframe," Pradhan said when asked if Iran would awarded the field to OVL within this fiscal.

Iran is reportedly unhappy with the USD 10 billion plan submitted by OVL, the overseas arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), for development of the 12.5 trillion cubic feet reserves in FarzadB field and an accompanying plant to liquefy the gas for transportation in ships.

It feels the USD 5 billion cost OVL and its partners have put for developing the field is on the higher side and wants it to be reduced.

OVL will earn a fixed rate of return and get to recover all the investment it has made in the field development.

India, however, feels that Iran is not making the right comparison by comparing it with South Pars field development.

Farzad-B field is more complex than South Pars and has high sulphur, whose production and handling cost is additional.

The field in the Farsi block was discovered by an Indian consortium led by OVL in 2008. It has an inplace gas reserve of 21.7 tcf, of which 12.5 tcf are re-

coverable.

But India initially felt deterred from investing because of the fear of sanctions imposed by the US. But with the lifting of sanctions this year, it is back discussing a master development plan involving investment of USD 5 billion in field development and an equal amount in an LNG plant.

OVL is preparing a Master Development Plan for the gas field while also working on a gas pricing formula keeping in view of the global gas price scenario, sources said.

Gas produced from the field can either be converted into LNG by freezing at sub-zero temperature and shipping in cryogenic ships to India or transported through a pipeline via overland passing through Pakistan or sub-sea.

Iran and six world powers in July last year sealed a deal to curb the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme in return for ending sanctions, opening prospects of Indian investments in the Persian Gulf field. The sanctions were lifted in January this year.

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DIBRUGARH, MONDAY, DECEMBER 5

P12 Vineeth fires Kerala Blasters into the semi-finals Match Awards

India pound Pakistan to complete Asia Cup 'double hattrick'

Club award: Kerala Blasters FC Fittest Player of the Match: Sandesh Jhingan Winning Pass of the Match: Mohammed Rafi Swift Moment of the Match: TP Rehenesh ISL Emerging Player of the Match: Seityasen Singh Hero of the Match: CK Vineeth

Vineeth fires Kerala Blasters into the semi-finals Kochi, Dec 4 : Kerala Blasters FC entered the semi-finals of Hero Indian Super League 2016 after beating NorthEast United FC 1-0 in front of almost 54,000 fans at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi on Sunday. CK Vineeth’s solitary goal in the 66th minute proved to be enough for the 2014 runnersup.

Kerala had the first chance of the game after Duckens Nazon dispossessed Mailson Alves close to NorthEast’s box in the fourth minute. The Haitian forward then narrowed in on goal from the left with space in front of him but TP Rehenesh made the save in goal for the visitors

to deny the Blasters an early lead.

The Highlanders’ first shot on target came in the 18th minute with Seityasen Singh firing in a left-footed effort from distance that was straight down Graham Stack’s throat in goal.

Romaric was next to try his luck from range for NorthEast but his shot failed to test Stack this time. Rowllin Borges also had a volley from outside the box soon after that flew high above the crossbar.

Romaric went close to making the breakthrough in the 34th minute after NorthEast were awarded a free-kick in a dangerous area just outside the box. The Ivorian’s at-

tempt from the free-kick though flew inches above the crossbar to the joy of the home support.

The last chance of the half also went the visitors’ way in stoppage-time when a loose ball fell nicely for Seityasen just outside the penalty area. His shot, however, was always on the rise and never looked like troubling Stack in goal as both teams headed into the tunnel goalless after a nervy opening half.

After a slow start to the second half, NorthEast created the first opening in the 58th minute as Katsumi Yusa threaded in a good ball for Emiliano Alfaro to run onto. However, Stack

was quick off his line to thwart the threat. Alfaro was denied

by Stack a minute later as the Uruguayan’s goal-bound effort from a Seityasen pass was parried away by the Irishman.

Kerala took the lead in the 66th minute courtesy of some individual brilliance from Vineeth.

The pacey winger cut infield from the left flank and rifled his shot from outside the box past Rehenesh to make it 1-0 for the hosts.

The Blasters could have doubled the advantage two minutes later when Kervens Belfort cut in from the right flank before shooting straight at Rehenesh with his left-foot.

Belfort then ran at NorthEast’s

defence in the 72nd minute and managed to register a shot on target. Rehenesh tipped the ball over the bar to keep his side in the game. The Highlanders’ custodian was being kept busy by the home side and had to make another save three minutes later to deny substitute Antonio German his first goal of the season.

NorthEast had a rare effort on goal nine minutes from full-time when Alves rose highest to meet a corner. The Brazilian centreback’s header was straight at Stack and ended up being a routine save for the Irish keeper.

Alfaro came closest to finding an equaliser in the 84th minute when he fired in a shot from distance that shaved the post.

Kerala also hit the woodwork three minutes later when Mohammed Rafi’s header from close range was tipped onto the crossbar by Rehenesh. However, NorthEast failed to muster any serious threat in the closing stages of the game as Kerala entered the semis and set up a date with Delhi Dynamos FC.

Conte hails reformed match-winner Costa

Diego Costa is the joint top scorer in the Premier League. (Source: Reuters) AFP Manchester, Dec 4 : Chelsea manager Antonio Conte lauded Diego Costa after the striker made a decisive contribu-

tion -- and kept his cool -- in the Premier League leaders' tempestuous 31 win at Manchester City.

Costa cancelled out

Gary Cahill's own goal opener and set up Willian for Chelsea's second goal as Conte's men came from behind on Saturday to record an eighth successive victory.

The combative Spain international even acted as a peacemaker during an injury-time melee in which City pair Sergio Aguero and Fernandinho were sent off, belying his reputation as a firebrand.

"Diego is showing he is using his passion in the right way and I'm very happy about that," said Conte, whose team put four points between themselves and Pep Guardiola's City.

Costa has frequently fallen foul of England's

football authorities since joining Chelsea from Atletico Madrid in 2014.

His form slumped last season as Chelsea's title defence disintegrated, but he is the Premier League's joint-top scorer with 11 goals and believes he has benefited from keeping his head.

"I want to be on the pitch and I want to be cool," Costa said.

City deservedly went ahead on the stroke of half-time when Cahill's near-post lunge saw him turn Jesus Navas's cross into his own net.

Costa equalised on the hour, chesting down a pass from Cesc Fabregas and slamming a low shot past Claudio Bravo, be-

fore freeing substitute Willian to run through and score Chelsea's second.

Eden Hazard sealed victory in the final minute of normal time after cantering onto a pass from Marcos Alonso.

An injury to Nemanja Matic saw Fabregas make his first appearance since Chelsea's 3-0 loss at Arsenal on September 24.

Chelsea missed Matic's positional discipline as City pulled them all over the pitch, but Conte saluted Fabregas's contribution.

"He played a good game," said the Italian. "I know I can always count on him.

Indian Women Cricket team PTI Bangkok, Dec 4 : Indian women maintained their supremacy in the Asia Cup by beating arch-rivals Pakistan for their sixth title in as many editions here today.

Veteran Mithali Raj, who was removed as T20 captain before the start of the tournament, made a statement with an unbeaten 73 to guide India to 121 for five in 20 overs.

The bowlers then bowled brilliantly to limit Pakistan to 104 for six, completing a comprehensive 17run win. The star with ball once against was leftarm spinner Ekta Bisht, who took two wickets conceding 22 runs in her four overs.

It was the second time that India got the better of Pakistan in the competition, having beaten them by five wickets in the league stage besides remaining unbeaten in five games en route to the final.

It was also a sweet revenge of sorts for India, who had lost to Pakistan during the World T20 at home in March.

Recently, the ICC had docked them six points for not playing Pakistan.

With the memorable win, India also managed to maintain their enviable record in the continental event, having won all the six editions to have taken place so far.

However, the first four editions starting from 2004 were played in the 50 over format and the following two have been in the shortest format. In the last edition held in Guangzhou in 2012, India lifted the trophy after defeating Pakistan in the final.

The champion team could not have repeated the feat if it was not for the superlative efforts from Raj and Bisht.

Raj was instrumental in the team's resounding success, amassing 220 runs in four innings to end as the tournament's highest run scorer in the competition by some distance. Second in the list was Pakistan's Javeria Khan with 128 runs in six innings.

Raj kept calm in both tense games against Pa-

kistan to help the team's cause. Her 73 not out in the final was her highest score in the tournament and it came in quick time at the top of the order.

She ended with a strike rate of 112, smashing seven fours and a six.

It was also an occasion where the veteran made amends for her slow batting during World T20 where India lost to archrivals.

With her showing, the 34year-old displayed she still has a lot to offer in the T20 format after being sacked as captain to make way for Harmanpreet Kaur.

The new captain had a quiet tournament by her standards as the allrounder failed to muster up a 30 plus score in six innings and took just two wickets.

Left-arm spinner Bisht came good for India with the ball, ending as the team's most successful bowler with 10 wickets at an average of 5.20.

She along with the rest of the bowlers, ensured Pakistan never got close to the target.

Indian Aces suffer first defeat of season in IPTL

Smith slams 164 in Australia's 324-8 against NZ AFP Sydney, Dec 4 : Skipper Steve Smith smashed 164 Sunday, the highest oneday international score at the Sydney Cricket Ground, to lead Australia to 324 for eight against New Zealand.

Smith struck 14 fours and four sixes in his seventh ODI century after winning the toss in the first match of three in the Chappell-Hadlee Series to put his side in a strong position.

The innings, the seventh highest by an Australian, surpassed South Africa's AB de Villers 162 at the same ground in last year's World Cup. Smith's top-ranked team suffered a 5-0 ODI series drubbing in South Africa in October and looked shaky again when reduced to 92 for four in the 21st over.

But Smith, who was could have been out three times, took advantage to lead a swashbuckling recovery as he flailed the Black Caps bowlers and put his side in the ascendancy.

"I had a bit of luck, but you have to take that and

Smith gave New Zealand two chances in Boult's third over. make the most it," Smith said after his innings.

"Nice to get a big score on my home ground. I love batting here, it's a great place to play and great to play in front of my family."

Smith was finally out three overs from the end when he skied Trent Boult to Colin Munro at midwicket.

Smith was supported by

52 from newcomer Travis Head, who was dropped by Matt Henry on nine, while wicketkeeper Matt Wade clobbered three sixes off a Jimmy Neesham over on his way to 38 off 22 balls.

Australia made a disastrous start with Aaron Finch playing on to his leg-stump for a duck in Henry's opening over.

Smith gave New Zealand

two chances in Boult's third over.

BJ Watling missed a legside catch on 13 and one run later Boult's leg before wicket appeal was turned down by the umpire.

New Zealand inexplicably did not call for a review, which showed the Australian captain would have been out.

Smith had a third 'life' on 152 when Munro dropped

him at square leg.

David Warner attacked debutant paceman Lockie Ferguson, smashing two boundaries off the youngster's first over before he inside-edged on to his stumps for 24 off 29 balls.

George Bailey was out for 17 off a leg-side catch by Watling off Neesham and all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, batting at number five, was run out at the non-striker's end for one in unfortunate fashion when a Smith drive ricocheted off bowler Neesham's hands into the stumps.

Head put on 127 for the fifth wicket with Smith, before he was caught and bowled low down by Boult.

All-rounder Glenn Maxwell was left out of the Australian line-up after being fined Saturday for his criticism of teammate Wade.

Maxwell was excluded after last week taking a swipe at Wade's decision to bat above him for Victoria in two Sheffield Shield games, which he said hindered his Test selection chances.

The top spot is now shared between Indian Aces and UAE Royals. (Source: IPTL twitter page) PTI Tokyo, Dec 4 : Indian Aces lost all but one match as they suffered their first defeat of the 2016 IPTL season, losing 20-30 to Singapore Slammers, here today.

Mark Philipoussis began the day for the inaugural champions but lost 3-6 to Thomas Johannson in the legend singles.

Kirsten Flipkens, who had scripted a decisive win for the team yesterday, though could not help the side today, losing her women's singles contest 4-6 to

Swiss great Martina Hingis, a first-timer in IPTL. Hingis returned again with Pablo Cuevas and got the better of the Indian pair of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna 6-4. It was the first match for Sania and Hingis against each other after splitting.

Indian aces were now trailing by five points and they needed a big win from Feliciano Lopez but the Spaniard lost 3-6 to Czech Tomas Berdych.

The match was beyond the Indian team now and

the combine of Lopez and Bopanna managed a 6-6 tie in the men's doubles against Daniel Nestor and Cuevas.

Indian Aces had beaten Japan Warriors and UAE Royals in the first two matches. They now share the top spot with Royals with seven points each but are placed second as they have won 76 Games, compared to 79 of Royals.

The Top two teams in the points table will play the finale on December 11.

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Editor: Prahlad Hammey

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