Monday, october 24, 2016

facebook.com/easterntoday

@easterntoday

For business, mail at: md.easterntoday@gmail.com

cmyk

cmyk

www.eastern-today.com

ASSENG/2015/64205

Vol. II

TOP 5 MUST HAVE APPS FOR ANDROID DEVICES Assam Rifles nabs NSCN (K)

Issue 98

Changlang, Oct 23: Assam Rifles nabbed a hardcore NSCN (K) cadre from New Changlang market in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh today.

Acting on a specific input, a column of Assam Rifles apprehended the cadre Kamhing Ngemu, 27, S/o late Kamhong Ngemu resident of kattum on 22 Oct along with one mobile phone. The apprehended cadre has been handed over to the Changlang Police Station and a case has been registered against him.

Pakistan Court Releases 3 'R&AW Agents' For Lack of Evidence Karachi, Oct 23: Three Pakistani men, alleged to be 'spies' of India's external intelligence agency R&AW, have been acquitted by an anti-terrorism court here citing lack of evidence in five cases relating to carrying explosives and illegal weapons, media reported on Sunday.

Tahir, alias Lamba, Junaid Khan and Imtiaz have been booked for allegedly carrying explosive materials and unlicensed weapons in a Malir locality in April last year, Dawn reported.

P8

IT'S 2016 BUT YOUNG WORKING WOMEN STILL FACE SEXISM, WAGE GAP AND DOUBLE STANDARDS

P11

Following the announcement of the proposed seven days pens and tools down strike by Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) teachers, Secretary Education Bidol Tayeng today issued an order to deputy commissioners of all districts of the state to take strict administrative action and declare the strike illegal in the districts.

The DCs are also to direct all administrative officers and headmasters to keep strict vigilance on all striking days and draw up lists of striking SSA, RMSA and regular teachers not performing duties in the class rooms.

The headmasters will

monitor the strike and send a factual report with names of striking teachers of their respective schools. The completed lists with name of teacher(s) are to be forwarded

by DDSEs to Secretary Education at the end of the strike to take disciplinary action.

during the Month of October 2016.

Also, the two days of strike by regular teachers under the banner of the Arunachal Teachers’ Association (ATA) on October 28 and 29 will be treated as non-duty performing days/ absent.

The secretary education also instructed the DCs to issue an order to their respective DDSEs for compliance, that the pens down striking days will also be treated as 'No working days' and the provision of 'No work No pay' will be invoked against all striking SSA teachers.

No salary will be paid for the striking SSA and RMSA teachers for the striking days

The non-duties performing days/ absent will be deducted from their EL/CL credit. Till the two days absence is regularised to CL/ EL by competent authority, no pay for the two days will be released to the regular teachers in the Month of October 2016.

The secretary education also informed that the government is actively considering taking action against the contractual teachers under SSA and

It’s disheartening fact that the oldest Lohit district is still bereft from full flagged PHED and Electrical Division depriving the common public their basic needs of water and uninterrupted Power supply.

According to department sources, the district has geographical area of 3735 Sp Km having total population of 160182. Tezu being urban and Sunpura and Wakro are in semi – urban status. It has 3 (three) ZPM, 31 Gram Panchayat, 122 village and 151 habitation.

Despite fulfilling all criteria and eligibility the district has been dispossessed in state of apathy. The citizen has been struggling still for their basic

cause i.e. ‘Water & Power’.

Since creation the district has been control under the SubDivision where the officials from both Power and PHED have to visit Namsai Division taking their lives at risk during flooded Lohit River or must to traveled 130 Km via landslides prone Parsuram Kund for their mere official approval. Still the pain and distress is finding no to end.

The department failed to cater the increasing population and work load due to acute shortage of officials, manpower and acute shortage of funds to mitigate their daily grievances.

“Urgency of Division is need of the hour which could

ET Bureau Tawang, Oct 23

cmyk

In an effort to make the functioning and working of Dy. Director of School Education office, Pasighat effective and more time bound, which is not up to the mark at present, due to no electric supply since shifting of its office to 2 mile, the District Education Officers of East Siang District led by DDSE, Pasighat, Jongge Yirang met all the MLAs of the district one by one recently and appealed for contribution from their respective LAD fund with the tune of Rs. 3.00 Lakhs each for electrification of the

The DCs have also been requested to submit a daily report on the seven days pens and tools down strike to the secretary education.

Contd. on Page 4

Office of Assistant Engineer of PHED, Tezu address the burgeoning demand of urban population else we don’t have option then to invite public resentment or rebuke. The creation of division can only

CM Khandu showing flag of Indo-Bhutan Friendship Car Rally 2016 neighbours.

The rally with the theme – ‘Reconnect and strengthen

the age old historical linkage, cultural and linguistic affinities between Arunachal

Pradesh and Bhutan’ is being participated by more than 20 participants from Australia, Portugal, Bhutan and India.

The rally is the biggest motor sports event in Eastern India and one of the only three International events being held in Indian sub-continent.

Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein, Parliamentary Secretary Jambey Tashi, MLAs Tsering Tashi, Dikto Yekar and Olom Panyang including secretary tourism Dr Joram Beda, DC Tawang Sang Phuntsok attended the event.

DDSE Office seeks assistance from MLAs to electrify the office Staff Reporter Pasighat, Oct 23

RMSA as per the conditions of appointment and as per contract agreement, which clearly states that the second party has no right to claim for regularisation of the services rendered on contract basis.

Further, the service of the second party shall be liable to termination at any time by a notice in writing. These provisions of the agreement, he said should also be reminded to the striking contractual teachers or their district association.

(Absence of PHED & Power Division affected most to mitigate the issues) Bishnu Rana Tezu, October, 23

DDSE Office While calling on to them in their residence, DDSE Jongge Yirang briefed the legislators that, the working efficiency of the DDSE office is badly affected due to absence of electric connection.

The 1.5 KM distance from main road/pole required a minimum of 15 Poles and a separate transformer of capacity not below 100 KVA to electrify the office, Shikshak Sadan, one Upper Pry. School and 20 families living in the DDSE office campus, Yirang added. While responding to the appeals, the MLAs expressed their

solidarity with the concern of the DDSE and consented to contribute from their respective LAD fund.

Kento Rina, MLA NariKoyu has immediately sanctioned an amount of Rs. 3.00 lakhs while Lambo Tayeng, MLA Mebo cum Advisor to CM has handed over a cheque of Rs. 3.00 lakks from his own source, informed Yirang to this reporter. The estimated cost prepared by the power department is Rs. 25.00 lakhs which is too high for the Education Department.

Moreover, no proposal was kept in budget estimate of 2016-17 by the Department, so there is no hope during this

financial year and DDSE office cannot wait for another, added Yirang Finding no other alternative, estimates were prepared on market price of Dibrugarh and Guwahati which comes around Rs. 12.00 lakhs. So DDSE and team requested all the MLAs of the district to contribute in cash so that the works can be taken up immediately by the Education Department by constituting a Board of Officers.

DDSE has expressed his gratitude to all the MLAs of the District for their support and showing faith on him for making the office more digitally efficient.

5.00

bring succor to their unending problem”, hopes an official in the state of anonymity.

Contd. on Page 4

Pages- 12

PAGE 12

EXAM STUDY TIPS AND TECHNIQUES

P6

Oldest district, Lohit still struggling for basic Water & Power

CM Khandu flags-off Indo-Bhutan Friendship Car Rally 2016 Chief Minister Pema Khandu today flagged-off the Indo-Bhutan Friendship Car Rally 2016, that would cover a distance more than 1000 km and culminate in Bhutan’s capital, Thimpu.

The rally is organized by International Friendship Car Rally Association (IFCRA) and supported by state’s tourism department and Bhutan India Friendship Association (BIFA) to strengthen relations between the two

Price -

Govt to take strict action against teachers on strike A Staff Reporter Itanagar, Oct 23

Kamhing Ngemu

Dibrugarh, Monday, October 24, 2016

P9

MLA Nikh Kamin along with thousands of Chakma Buddhists donates ‘Kathin Civara’ at Diyun Bana Vihar 2 - Day 12th Maha Kathina Civara Dana celebration at Diyun Bana Vihar concludes last night Prahlad Hammey Diyun, Oct 23

The local legislator cum Parliamentary Secretary for disaster management along with his wife Nikh Meena and thousands of Theravada Buddhists belong to the Chakma tribe attended the 2Day Maha Kathina Civara Dana, the most important religious festival of the Chakmas with great devotion and sincerity at Bana Vihar, Diyun.

The speciality of Kathin Civara Dana was the offering of robes (that the Buddhist Monks wear and which are known as ‘Civara’) by the local MLA along with the thousands of Chakmas to their most revered religious Guru, Venerable Nandapal Mahathera and to all other Bhikkhu Sanghas invited even from Theravada Buddhist Countries such as Sri Lanka, Thailand and Japan. More than 1000 Chakma women weaved robes in just over a night, started in evening ofFriday (21st Oct) and ended early in next morning. It is believed that the donation of robes to monks is the highest form of donation according to Buddhism.

Venerable Nandapal Mahathera who is consider as the most revered and wise among all the living Buddhist Monks belong to the Chakma tribe around the world has preached the five precepts to the local MLA Nikh Kamin, to his family and EAC, S Tayang in a separate sermon on the first night of the 2- Day religious event.

During the Civara Dana offering ceremony attended by thousands of Chakmas from

MLA Nikh Kamin delivering his speech during Kathin Civara at Diyun Bana Vihar every village in Diyun Circle, MLA Nikh Kamin while expressing understanding of the Buddhist’s five precepts, he has advised the Chakmas to strictly follow the five precepts as preached by the Venerable Nandapal Mahathera as that could bring peace and social development within the society.

He have informed that he is an ardent follower of Jesus Christ and by following the 10 commandments of the Christianity it has brought drastic changes to their Society. He said the same miracle can happen to the Chakmas if they inculcate the essence of the five precepts.

While expressing gratitude to the grand hospitality and love given by the people of his constituency he has confessed that during his time of his youth even he have participated in the AAPSU anti-Chakma movement and shouted slogans against the Chakmas. He said there are lots of misgivings and misinformation passed to the

people of the state, particularly in Itanagar about the Chakmas.

But only after coming to Diyun and living with the Chakmas himself he have realised most of those misgivings about them are wrong. As a local MLA it is his responsibility to clear the sceptical of the local Arunachalees against the Chakmas, he said, while saying that he has started explaining things to people in Itanagar.

The local MLA who was accompanied by the Extra Assistant Commissioner of Diyun, S. Tayang and his brother-in-law, Arun Nido have witnessed the pathetic condition of the path from the main road towards the Bana Vihar and he have promised to build the road for the welfare of all the devotees.

Earlier Purno Sen Chakma has thanked the MLA Nikh Kamin for installing a deep well in the premises of the Bana Vihar which has solved the water scarcity problem of the grand temple.

Contd. on Page 4

CM Khandu accords warm welcome to John Abraham ET Bureau Tawang, Oct 23

Chief Minister Pema Khandu today accorded a warm welcome to Bollywood actor, John Abraham on his arrival here, who is also the ‘brand ambassador’ for Arunachal.

The Chief Minister said the actor has great feelings for the North East. His feeling for the region is demonstrated through his keen interest in promoting North East talents outside the region, who owns a football club with the name - North East United FC. Khandu was speaking to a large gathering in the Tawang festival ground here evening, while introducing the actor to the crowd.

The Chief Minister said

CM Khandu accords warm welcome to John Abraham during Tawang Festival John is also keen to shoot films in Arunachal, to which the state government is ready to extend any kind of support and service that is needed.

Khandu expressed hope that together with the actor, they

should be able to promote Arunachal as one of the hot tourist destinations in the country and conveyed that people of Arunachal has now high hopes and expectations from him.

The Chief Minister also welcomed the representatives from the renowned international tour operator, Cox and Kings Tours & Travels, and said that the state has started to join hands with renowned world agencies and business house for active tourism promotion in Arunachal.

John, who arrived here at the festival ground cheered by the crowd, thanked the people for choosing him as the brand ambassador for the state.

He also thanked the government of Arunachal for being cooperative in setting up his works in Arunachal. The actor suggested that an academy for the North East United FC and an international marathon club could be set up in the state.

ABKYW felicitates Taga for being inducted as Cabinet Minister Staff Reporter Pasighat, Oct 23

Showing happiness over induction of Tamiyo Taga, MLA 32nd Rumgong into the state cabinet as Minister, Textiles, Handloom, Handicraft, Industries and Cooperation, the Adi Baane Kebang Youth Wing felicitated him on Saturday at Itanagar While felicitating the newly inducted minister, the

ABKYW team urged him to stress upon clean governance with welfare measures and appealed for all round development of every departments or every sectors.

that, he will give justice to his newly assigned job besides restricting other state colleagues from doing wrong after being part of the PPA government in the state.

The Youth Wing of ABK led by President, Aling Pinggam and General Secretary, Er. Toi Modi termed Taga as one of the most cleaned and dynamic leader of the state politics today and opined hope

On the part of Taga, he assured the youth wing to cooperate and work for the betterment of the state as per vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He also assured to bridge the

relationship of NDA, NEDA with the Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh for better fund flow and development of the state, informed Dr. Taking Gammi, Secretary, (Research & Dev. & Health) ABKWY from Itanagar today. Taga has also appreciated the ABKYW for showing solidarity and believing upon him and urged them to take up welfare activities while showing guidance to the society.

cmyk

PAGE 10

DIBRUGARH, MONDAY, OCTOBER 24

P2 International Brotherhood Mission of Dibrugarh conducts Kathina Civara Dana ET Bureau Dibrugarh, Oct 23: The Kathina Civara Dana was held today at the International Brotherhood Mission, Dibrugarh where monks and devotees from all over Assam and northeast took part.

In the morning, a sanghadana was held in memory of all the senior monks and merits were transferred for the wellbeing of all. Thereafter lunch was offered to the monks and devotees.

The kathina Dana was then held and with the lay devotees offering robes and transferring merits for the peace, wellbeing and prosperity of all. The monks chanted suttas blessing all and for peace to prevail on earth.

The kathina Dana was sponsored by Mrs. Jongkonrat Wichitwechkarn of Thailand along with her family and friends. The International Brotherhood Mis-

Duliajan Buddha Vihara, Ven. Sasanapriya Thero, Pawai, Digboi, Ven. Subodhiratna Bhikkhu, Amaravati Buddha Vihara, Chabua, Ven. Bimaltissa Bhikkhu, Jorhat Buddha Vihara, Bhikkhu Bodhipala

sion, Dibrugarh expressed thanks and blessings to her for this spontaneous and meritorious deed done by her.

In the afternoon a religious discourse was held which was presided by Ven. Acharya Bhikkhu Karuna Shastry, General Secretary of International Brotherhood Mission.

The Arunachal Pradesh Chakma Students Union

While you normally like all of your romantic relationships to be extremely nurturing and comforting, you may find that this isn't always possible, Aries. There's a disconnect between you and a close partner right now that could be hard to rectify. Time is really the only thing that's likely to resolve this sort of problem.

Remember that all of your relationships can't always go exactly according to plan.

Taurus

A creative project that you've been working on may be coming to a climactic peak now, Taurus. Discuss your progress with others and feel free to hold an informal critique in order to get honest feedback on your work. A piece of art should stir some sort of reaction inside another person. Consider ways in which you can challenge the people around you with your talent.

Gemini

Be aware that love is likely to wear some sort of disguise today, Gemini. There's something fanciful about the way in which this new romance will manifest, so get ready. Don't think that love always has to be planned and calculated. There is a strong sense of spontaneity associated with the delicious love interest of the day. Don't dismiss those who don't seem practical or levelheaded enough for you.

Cancer

Leo

Take your loved one out for a romantic dinner tonight, Cancer. Escort him or her on a magic-carpet ride to fantastic places that encourage a playful mood and carefree attitude. Consider having a bottle of wine at a playground.

Decorate your house with candles and burn some incense. Create a mood that will calm the nerves and soothe the soul. Your sense of romance is right on target.

You're apt to be somewhat fickle when it comes to love and romance right now, Virgo. The key for you now is freedom. The problem with this mindset is that it might be misinterpreted. Your partner may think you simply aren't interested in him or her anymore. Remind your partner that it's OK to love someone while also needing time and space to do things on your own.

Libra

You may be confused when it comes to matters of the heart, Libra. Perhaps you feel cheated when the object of your desire doesn't give you complete attention at all times. The fundamental security of your being is your responsibility, not someone else's. Find a way to incorporate your dreams into the dreams of others instead of always working toward goals at opposite sides of the spectrum.

Scorpio

Your fairytale imagination of how your romantic life should run is hooking you up with many different opportunities, Scorpio. Whether you realize it or not, the optimal situation you seek is within your grasp.

Make sure that you aren't trying to manipulate a certain person into becoming the person you want him or her to be. If you're unhappy in your relationship, perhaps you need to find someone new.

Sagittarius

Your dreams work out quite nicely in your head, Sagittarius, but the problem now is how to turn them into some sort of real life scenario. Be careful of taking too intellectual of an approach. When it comes to relationships, things don't normally happen logically or rationally. You're going to have to leave a great deal up to chance, so just learn to deal with things as they come.

Capricorn

Love and personal relationships are likely to take on a much dreamier and more romantic tone now, Capricorn. Your eyes are apt to sparkle as you speak or even think of the person you care about the most.

The unmistakable glow that surrounds you is likely to attract others to your side even if you aren't in the market for a romantic relationship right now.

Pisces

(APCSU), Dibrugarh Unit who provided their helping hands to the International Brotherhood Mission, Dibrugarh played an active role during the programme.

APCSU, Margherita Unit too present during the event.

Ven. Sumedhananda Mahathera, Dibrugarh Buddha Vihara; Ven. Ratanapal Mahathera, Ratnankur Buddha Vihara, Bisfutia, Ven. Nandiya Mahathera,

Dilapidated road condition of Jorhat – Moriani highway. Pic Nakib Ahmed

23 rd Central Children ,Aei-Matri and Youth Convention of Srimanta Shankardeva Sangha held at Nazira

When it comes to relationships with others, be careful about insisting that everything be done only your way, Aquarius. It could be that you have such high expectations of your partner that he or she will never be able to live up to your standards.

Basically, you're setting the stage for failure by demanding that the person for you be of a certain make and model.

Your fantasies could come true now, especially when it comes to relationships, Pisces. This could be the moment you've always dreamed about, so get ready.

The attractive, romantic person in the corner has been keeping an eye on you all night. Your blood is pumping faster than ever. Remind yourself that all dreams can come true on a day such as today.

All Assam ONGC Cup Swimming championship held in Jorhat ET Correspondent Jorhat, Oct 23: The closing ceremony of All Assam ONGC Cup Swimming Championship was held this evening at the Aquatic Complex of the Jorhat Swimming Society.

Bijoy Bhushan, General Manager and officiating Asset Manager, Assam and Assam-Arakan Basin, ONGCL was present as Chief Guest of the concluding ceremony.

Prizes of the competition under various age groups were distributed among others by Jiten Mishra of ONGCL, President of Jorhat Press Club Diganta Buragohain, veteran N.I.S. Diving Coach Kanak Sarma, NIS coaches Robindra Modak, Sri R.A. Khadim, Mrinal Basumatary, Arindam Gogoi, Sri Rinky Bhuyan along with Siba Bora, Merilin Gogoi of the LNCP,

Guwahati and other dignitaries were also present.

In this Championships, 240 swimmers ( 169 boys and 71 girls) from different district units under the Assam Swimming Association (Jorhat-64; Titabar-9; Golaghat-32; Sivasagar-41; Biswanath-6; Charaideo14; Tezpur-24; Pathshala-6; Kamrup-25; Tinsukia-18; Suwalkuchi-1) participate in 5(five) age groups.

The best swimmers under various age groups were Group V : Sanskar Bhuyan of Jorhat (Boys) and Arista Saikia of Jorhat (Girls)

ET Correspondent Nazira, Oct 23: Three days long 23rd Central Children, Aei-Matri and youth convention of the Srimanta Shankardeva

Sangha was held at the Aei Kanaklata Harmony Ground of Nazira from last 21st October .Over 5000 devotees from different parts gathered at

Nazira for this convention. Different cultural, religious programmes along with seminar on carrier counseling were organised .

Group IV : Sanjeevan Kumar Das of Kamrup (Boys) and Jharna Kashyap of Sivasagar (Girls) Group III : Gyan Sandhan Kashyap of Jorhat (Boys) and Asatha Bordoloi of Jorhat (Girls) Group II : Anudhyan Hazarika of Jorhat (Boys) and jointly Subhalakshi Hazarika & Ishani Gogoi of Jorhat (Girls) Group I : Moyoukh Baruah (Boys) of Jorhat and Prity Rekha Phukan of Jorhat (Girls)

When it comes to romantic relationships, Leo, you might find that you're playing more of a game of hide-and-go-seek than a combined effort toward friendship, trust, and honesty. It could be that you're purposely trying to hide in order to test the stamina of your opponent. You might want to take a new approach now, one that involves an effort toward connecting instead of distancing.

Virgo

Aquarius

Barua, Working President of International Brotherhood Mission.

The monks gave discourses on the importance of the Kathina Dana and other aspects of the Buddha Sasana.

A daily wage labourer named Muhan Baruah aged about 67 years was found dead in a tree at Sivasagar Betbari Sangmai Goan today. Pic. Firuz Ahmed

HOROSCOPE Aries

and others were present during the programme. The programme also includes Debashish Sarma, Addl.

Superintendent of Police, Sivasagar, B. K. Baruah, former Executive Director, ONGC, Nidhu Bikash

Jorhat District was adjudged the best team with 41 gold, 32 silver

and 25 bronze while Sivasagar District was adjudged the Runners

up team with 12 gold, 15 silver and 16 bronze.

8th Bi- Ennial general meeting of N.F.Rly O.B.C employee’s Association today in Tinsukia.

Pic - Sidharth Singh

A scene from the drama named “Roja Kotha” organised by Nathyapeeth in Sivasagar today.

Pic Firuz Ahmed

Cinema

Sports

Galleria Cinema Dibrugarh Junction Mall Screen-1

Friendly football match in Margherita

INFERNO (ENGLISH) 1ST show at 11:00 AM 2ND show at 1:20 AM 3RD show at 03:40 PM MOTU PATLU : KING OF KINGS 3D 4th show at 06:00 PM INFERNO (ENGLISH) 5th show at 08:05 PM

Screen-2 BEIIMAAN LOVE (A) 1ST show at 10:15 AM

GAANE KI ANNE (ASSAMESE) 2ND show at 12:30 PM SAAT UCHAKKEY (A) 3RD show at 03:10 PM GAANE KI ANNE (ASSAMESE) 4TH show at 05:45 PM BEIIMAAN LOVE (A) 5TH show at 08:25 PM

Margherita Army camp and Margherita College students pose for a photograph today before the start of Friendly football match.

Tele booking timings: 9:00AM to 8:00 PM Tele booking No.: 8876565001/ 8876565002 (Terms & conditions apply)

Ticket Rates Rs. 100/ Rs. 150/Rs. 200/Rs.250/ Rs.300 MORNING SHOWS: Rs.80/Rs.130/Rs. 150/Rs.200/Rs.250

Website: www.bookmyshow.com

ET Correspondent Margherita, Oct 23: A friendly football match was today played between Margherita Army camp and Margherita College stu-

dents at Margherita College field. The football match was played in order to motivate and encourage youths to join Indian Army. In the tight match Margherita Col-

lege Students manage to Score Single goal where Margherita Army Camp gave two goals and Margherita Army Camp won the match by two goals.

NEWS

DIBRUGARH, MONDAY, OCTOBER 24

P3

Tezpur University conducts workshop for the youth GMC going slow on fumigation: Locals

ET Correspondent Tezpur, Oct 23: The National Service Scheme (NSS), Tezpur University in association with National-Governance Division (NeGD) of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology organized a day long Workshop for disseminating the information related to Digital IndiaMission among the youth of the University today. These workshops are being heldat 100 Uni-

versities in India on different dates.

With the full participations of 250 students and other staff members of the University, the workshop began at 10:30 AM and continuedtill5:30 PM.The workshop had lectures, Skit, Poster making, Quiz and idea generation competition among the participants.

Prof.

Mihir K. Chaudhuri, Vice Chancellor inaugurated the workshop along with Dr.

Biren Das, Registrar, Mr. Mukunda Madhav Pujari, Head, SeMT, Assam and Prof. Deben C. Baruah, Dean of Students Welfare, Tezpur University.

In this session, all the speakers delivered their insightful talks and motivated the participants.

In his speech, the Vice Chancellor mentioned that due to the intervention of the digital infrastructures, the transpar-

ency in the governance has increased. Mr. Pujari highlighted the importance of Digital India Mission for the development of the rural areas and made an appeal to the NSS Volunteers to reach out to the villagers.

Mr. IndranathChatterjee, SeMT, Assam conducted various sessions in the workshop. Finally, the Programme Coordinator, NSS, Tezpur University offered the vote of thanks and con-

cluded the workshop.

However, it is mentionable that the best three participants of the workshop will further participate in the 10thInternational Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic G o v e r n a n c e (ICEGOV)"Building Knowledge Societies – From Digital Government to Digital Empowerment" to be held during 7-9 March 2017 at New Delhi.

Doomdooma police observes Commemoration Day at Doomdooma ET Bureau Guwahati, Oct 23: Doomdooma Police Station in collaboration with Hoonlal HS School organised a Police Commemoration Day programme at the school premises where rich tributes were paid to a former student of the school and a Sub Inspector of Assam Police (SB), Dulal

Borkotoky who was kidnapped and killed by banned outfit ULFA during his posting at Duliajan PS in 1990.

The programme began with lightning of lamp and offering floral tribute to the portrait of martyr Dulal Borkotoky by his daughter Deepanjali Borpujari.

During the occasion, a meeting was also held un-

der the presidentship of senior journalist Arjun Baruah. The meeting was addressed by late Dulal Borkotoky’s brother Pradeep Borkotoky, retired professor of Doomdooma College Pronita Handique, principal of Hoonlal HS School Seema Choudhury and late Dulal Borkotoky’s son Abhijit Borkotoky.

Rangia police rescues girl from Siliguri ET Correspondent Rangia Oct 23: One minor girl of Rangia Kariara village has been rescued from Siliguri by Rangia police acting on a tip off on Sunday night with the help of West Bengal Police. According to the Rangia Police the girl was missing from Changsari, sometime of 2014.

After receiving perfect information Rangia police rushed to Siliguri and

rescued her. Talking to the reporter the girl said that one Lady of Changsari lead her to Siliguri by train for better job and huge money.

But the lady leaving her in New Jalpaiguri Railway station, she absconded.

When the girl roaming alone in the platform one man picked her and took her in his residence where she passed about 18 months. Somehow she

12 Injured as speeding city bus rams into Sarva Siksha office walls ET Bureau Guwahati, Oct 23: Twelve passengers were injured when a speeding city bus in which they were travelling rammed into the walls of Sarva Siksha office at Kahilipara on

Sunday.

According to reports, the driver of the bus lost control, ran over the footpath and halted after ramming into the wall. The injured were rushed to GMCH. (With inputs from agencies)

got the chance to talk with her mother over phone. Her mother informed Rangia police and police saved the girl.

After medical checkup police handed over the girl to her mother.

It may be mention that after the death of her father she was compelled to work in the Industry of Changsari where she meet the trafficker. Police started operation to nab the culprits.

Earlier, the officer-incharge of Doomdooma Police Station, Moni Mohan Sinha explained the significance of the day.

Mrigen Saikia, a subject teacher of Hoonlal HS School offered the vote of thanks.

At Talap outpost under Doomdooma PS the day was observed at Betoni ME School where rich

tributes were paid to Sub Inspector Bolin Sonowal who was killed in an encounter with ULFA militants in May 2001 in Dibrugarh district. Late Sonowal was a student of Betoni ME School. Drawing and essay writing competitions were also organised among the students of the school on this occasion.

Doomdooma press club condoles the death of Tilak Hazarika ET Bureau Doomdooma, Oct 23: The Press Club of Doomdooma has condoled the death of eminent journalist Tilak Hazarika.

Tinsukia District Journalists Association (TDJA) has also condoled the death of Tilak Hazarika.

In a condolence message Tinsukia District Journalists Association president Anuj Kalita and Secretary Manoranjan Das termed Hazarika’s deaths is a heavy loss for the field of journalism in Assam.

Doomdooma unit of

Sahitya Sabha, Rupai unit of Sahitya Sabha, Doomdooma Jatiya Vidyalaya, Doomdooma branch Sadau Asom Lekhika Samaroh Samity and several other organisations have also condoled the death of Tilak Hazarika.

Sadiya-Saikhowa Press Club and Kakopothar Press Club have also condoled the death of Tilak Hazarika and prayed for the eternal peace of the departed soul. (With inputs from agencies)

54 eminent persons named for UP's 'Yash Bharti' awards IANS Lucknow, Oct 23: The Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday named 54 persons for the coveted 'Yash Bharti' awards, given away annually by the state, for the year 2016-17.

Among those who have made it to the list are Ustad Gulfaam (Classical music), Soni Chaurasiya (Kathak), Kashinath Yadav (Birha singing), Aaftab

and Hashmi of the Sabri brothers (Qawwali) and Keval Kumar (Singing and music direction).

Others include Aslam Warsi (Sufi singing), Anupma Rag (Writing and film direction), Suman Yadav (Sports), Swaroop Kumari Bakshi (Literature) and Mohd Basheer Badra (Education).

Cricketer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Begum Habibullah, 'Waterman'

Rajendra Singh and Sarvesh Asthana (Writer) have also made it to the list.

Yash Bharti is a coveted award of Uttar Pradesh and is given to eminent people from various walks of life. It carries a citation, a shawl and a cash award of Rs 11 lakh.

Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav will give away the awards on October 27.

ET Bureau Guwahati, Oct 23: Even as dengue cases in Kamrup (Metro) district continue to worry health officials, residents complained that the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) had discontinued fumigation drives in their localities.

"It's strange that we have not seen any kind of fogging activity in our locality. A few cases of dengue were recorded here as well. We

urge the district administration to take the issue seriously," said Pranab Boro, a resident of Milanpur in Bamunimaidam.

The localities with the maximum number of dengue cases are Zoo Road, Noonmati, Dhirenpara, Geetanagar, Kahilipara, Lal Ganesh, Odalbakra and Betkuchi. So far, Kamrup (Metro) district has reported two dengue deaths. A third one was re-

ported from Kamrup district.

GMC mayor Mrigen Sarania told media said the corporation was doing its bit.

"Our people are undertaking fumigation activities regularly. We have 25 small devices and four big ones for fogging. The health department is supplying the necessary medicine," Sarania said. (With inputs from agencies)

Police struggles to combat inhalant abuse ET Bureau Guwahati, Oct 23: The Guwahati Police Commissionerate has been running an operation to combat the drug menace in the state. But they are finding it difficult to combat the high rate of inhalant abuse as the 'sniffers' abuse everyday products like glue, paint, lighter fluid, fingernail polish, permanent markers, deodorants, etc.

City police have been issuing advisories urging educational institutes, physical training centres

and sports academies to assist in spreading awareness about inhalant substance abuse.

"While this type of substance abuse may seem harmless because the products are not legally classified as drugs, they are deadly chemicals. An inhalant high may give the feeling of well-being and reduce inhibitions, much like the effects of alcohol and other sedatives," a city police advisory said. It added further that sniffing substances can lead to se-

vere brain damage or severe respiratory problems.

A police officer said, "Previous studies found that over 70% street children and school dropouts are addicted to sniffing glue here.

However, tee n a g e r s across all sections of the society are vulnerable to huffing."

Studies found that risk of substance abuse is relatively higher among those who had never been to school and common in those from a joint family when compared to others.

Session Judge of Kokrajhar held one under rape charges ET Bureau Kokrajhar, Oct 23: The Session Judge of Kokrajhar PK Bora, has held one Sahjamal Ali guilty under Section 376 IPC and ordered to suffer 10 years rigorous imprisonment and fine of Rs 5000 and in default further rigorous imprisonment for three months, in Session Case No-86/ 2015 in the matter of State vs Md Sahjamal Ali and two others recently.

The case was registered on 11/08/2011 on the basis of a written complaint

of the victim girl at Gossaigaon Police Station who stated that fivesix months before the date of filing of the FIR, in her house taking advantage of absence of the house mate she was raped by the accused Sahjamal Ali. Thereafter on the pretext of marrying her, the accused induced her to indulge in sexual acts with her.

The police registered a case against the accused and following investigation char sheeted the accused in the FIR under

Section 376/417 of IPC. The Session Judge, Kokrajhar has also ordered the State Government to pay a compensation of Rs 50,000 to the victim girl through the District Legal Services Authority, Kokrajhar.

This sensational case was committed to the Sessions Court, Kokrajhar and the Session Court gave the judgment recently. The prosecution examined as many as eight witnesses in this case. (With inputs from agencies)

Illegal casino busted in Delhi, 36 held IANS New Delhi, Oct 23: Police on Sunday busted an illegal casino in Delhi, arresting 36 persons and seizing tokens valued at nearly Rs 1.37 crore.

Acting on a tip, the casino was raided in Neb Sarai of south Delhi.

"A total of 36 persons includ-

ing players, table attendants and proprietors were arrested.

Two separate cases under the Delhi Gambling Act and Delhi Excise Act were registered," said Deputy Commissioner of Police Ishwar Singh.

Police also seized 11 luxury cars and several bottles of li-

quor. A manhunt has been launched for Harnendra Kaushik, the owner of the premises, and Kunal Chandra, the proprietor of the casino.

"We are moving the court requesting that the premises used for the casino be sealed under the Delhi Gambling Act," Ishwar Singh said.

Ramgopal Yadav expelled from SP IANS Lucknow, Oct 23: Pushing the Samajwadi Party to the brink of a split, party general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Ramgopal Yadav was on Sunday expelled from the party for six years. He was sacked on the instructions of SP supremo Mulayam Singh, informed SP State president Shivpal Yadav, who used his discretionary powers hours after he was unceremoniously removed from the Akhilesh Yadav cabinet in a retaliatory action.

Mr. Ramgopal is a cousin of Mr. Mulayam and Mr. Shivpal, and considered to play the role of a “think tank.” He has strongly supported Akhilesh Yadav in the entire fiasco and early on Sunday morning also shot off a letter to party workers endorsing Mr. Akhilesh as the future of the SP. Mr. Shivpal Yadav levelled serious allegations against Mr. Ramgopal, saying he was working as part of a “conspiracy” in collusion with the BJP to weaken the SP and tarnish the Akhilesh Yadav government’s image.

Ramgopal had met thrice with top leaders of the saffron party, Mr. Shivpal

said, also accusing his cousin of patronizing and shielding corrupt elements.

Shivpal Yadav said Mr. Ramgopal was trying to save his skin as his son MP Akshay Pratap and daughter-in-law were embroiled in the Yadav Singh corruption case probed by the CBI. “He worked to weaken the party and Netaji,” Mr. Shivpal said, adding that Mr. Akhilesh was unable to pinpoint the real villain. Mr. Shivpal also said that Mr. Ramgopal conspired against him as he had in the past raised voice against his "dictatorial ways" at the party forum. In a revealing claim, Mr. Shivpal also blamed Mr. Ramgopal for the SP’s breakup from the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar election last year.

Talking to a Hindi channel after his expulsion, Mr. Ramgopal said he was not upset over his sacking but saddened by the “false allegations” against him. “I did not expect such statements,” said Mr. Ramgopal, fondly called Professor Sahab by party workers. On his connections with the BJP, Mr. Ramgopal said it was normal for politicians to meet leaders from other parties.

He gave example of Prime

Minister Narendra Modi visiting Saifai on Mulayam Singh’s invite.

Mr. Ramgopal was sacked hours after Mr. Shivpal Yadav, and three other ministers considered close to him and Mulayam-aide Amar Singh, were sacked from the State cabinet by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. Putting his foot down, an emboldened Akhilesh Yadav dealt a severe blow to his uncle even as he sacked senior ministers Narad Rai and Om Prakash Singh, and MoS Shadab Fatima. Governor Ram Naik promptly gave his sanction to the sackings, which sent the SP into an unprecedented crisis.

Mr. Akhilesh Yadav took the drastic step after a meeting with State MLAs and MLCs at his official residence here. Shivpal Yadav and some MLAs loyal to him were not invited. In a show of strength, over 180 legislators turned up at Mr. Yadav’s call and even signed a resolution expressing “full faith” in the leadership of Akhilesh Yadav, acknowledging that he had fulfilled all promises made to public in the election manifesto. They praised his “spotless and clean-image.”

”I will not break the party at any cost," Mr. Akhilesh Yadav said, reaffirming that his leader was his father. He also said he would get the Lucknow- Agra Expressway, the longest in the country at 302 km, inaugurated by his father on November 21, Mr. Mulayam’s 77th birthday eve. The CM also said he would attend the SP's silver jubilee celebrations scheduled on November 5 and the important meeting called by his father on Monday.

MLAs who attended Mr. Yadav’s meeting said he told them anybody close to Amar Singh had no place in his cabinet.

Earlier in the day, SP general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Ramgopal Yadav wrote a one-page letter to party workers endorsing Mr. Akhilesh as the future of party. In a hurriedly-written note released at 6am and written from Mumbai, Mr. Ramgopal appealed his “dear colleagues” to ensure that a State government was formed under the leadership of his nephew. He said those supporting Akhilesh were “positive” while his detractors were “negative.” A cousin of Mulayam Singh, Mr. Ramgopal also distin-

guished between those supporting Akhilesh, saying they had “spilled blood for the party and made great sacrifices,” and those in the rival camp, alleging they had “minted crores and misused power.”

Powerful minister Azam Khan has also supported Mr. Akhilesh.

“Those opposing Akhilesh will not be able to see the face of the Vidhan Sabha.

The Rath Yatra is the noose in the rival’s neck...Don’t get perturbed, don’t be jolted. Where Akhilesh is, victory follows,” Mr. Ramgopal wrote.

Mr. Shivpal’s sacking comes a day after a close aide of Akhilesh Yadav, MLC Udayveer Singh was expelled from the Samajwadi Party, a few days after he shot off a stinging letter to party boss Mulayam Singh accusing his second wife of hatching a conspiracy against the CM. Mr. Udayveer Singh had earlier this week also announced that he along with other Akhilesh loyalists would boycott the SP’s silver celebrations on November in protest of the expulsion of many of their colleagues by Mulayam and Shivpal.

Mr. Udayveer Singh was

expelled from the SP for six years for indulging in “anti-party activities,” “indiscipline” and “working against the principles and polices” of the party, said Deepak Mishra, SP spokesperson and close aide of Shivpal Yadav.

The resolution against the young MLC was passed unanimously in the party’s state executive meeting held here, where his “objectionable, undignified and derogatory remarks” against the party supremo were “condemned,” Mr. Mishra said. A resident of Firozabad, Mr. Udayveer Singh, an M.Phil degree holder from JNU, is among Akhilesh Yadav’s most trusted men. The two went to the same school in Dholpur. Soon after Mr. Akhilesh Yadav earlier this week announced that he would start the party’s campaign on his own with a rath yatra on November 3, Mr. Udayveer wrote a fourpage note to Mulayam Singh alleging that his second wife Sadhna Gupta was conspiring against Akhilesh due to personal envy.

The letter also mentions the use of black magic against Akhilesh Yadav by his stepmother. Though she remained “behind the scenes,” Shivpal Yadav

acted as her “political front,” Mr. Udayveer wrote.

In the strongly-worded letter, the MLC cited several reasons for the ongoing feud in the family, including wrong advice and feedback to Mulayam about Akhilesh, conspiracy within the family and personal envy against Akhilesh further fermented by outsiders like Amar Singh.

While asking Mulayam to clarify on his political successor, Mr. Udayveer also demanded that Akhilesh Yadav be made the party’s national president so that there was no room for speculations or doubt. He should not just be a face but also needs to be empowered to take political decisions, the MLC argued.

Reacting to his expulsion, Mr. Udayveer said he had no regrets and expressed loyalty to Akhilesh Yadav.

“I stand by what I wrote,” he said, adding that he was upset not over his sacking but by the fact that the “truth” was being kept away from Mulayam. Sources said the expulsion had shocked and further confused the SP cadre and leaders in the Akhilesh camp.

His sacking comes at a critical time when the SP supremo is trying a fire fight

a seemingly unending family feud, involving himself, his younger brother, cousin and son. Last month Mr. Shivpal had dealt a severe blow to Akhilesh after he sacked seven leaders from his core group — three MLCs and four heads of the party organizations — for protesting his promotion as State president. On Saturday, Mr. Shivpal announced the new top office-bearers of the party’s frontal organizations — the Yuvajan Sabha, minority wing, Mulyam Singh Youth brigade and Lohia Vahini. It came a day after Akhilesh Yadav skipped an important strategy meeting of SP district and city unit presidents called by his uncle. Though the CM met the delegates later at his official residence, it did little to diffuse the tension, even as SP oldtimers tried to mediate a thaw to the ongoing crisis.

Targeting the SP, BJP state president Keshav Prasad Maurya said there was a “constitutional crisis” in the State and demanded that the Akhilesh Yadav government prove its majority as it had lost trust. “It is not clear who wins in the Chacha-Bhatija fight. But one thing is clear, UP is losing due to it,” Mr. Maurya said.

DIBRUGARH, MONDAY, OCTOBER 24

P4

CM Khandu inaugurates Mahabodhi School Laa Tukum gets gold medal in 2nd and Mahabodhi Siddhartha Children’s Home Chaaji Memorial All India Sub-Junior Badminton Raking Tournament-2016

ET Bureau Tawang, Oct 23: Chief Minister Pema Khandu today inaugurated the Mahabodhi School and Mahabodhi Siddhartha Children’s Home at Mahabodhi Centre at Teli village, funded by ex-MP Dr Ashok Ganguly and the Ministry of Culture, govt. of India respectively.

Also Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein inaugurated the seismic isolated Mahabodhi Kalyanamitra guesthouse, while RWD Parliamentary Secretary, Jambey Tashi inaugurated the Mahabodhi Cultural Hall funded by Rajya Sabha MP, Mukut Mithi.

The Chief Minister appreciated the remarkable infrastructural achievement made by the Mahabodhi centre within eight years of its establishment, with help received through donations and support from the central government.

He thanked Venerable

Kassapa Bhanteji, President of the Mahabodhi Society who took the initiative to establish the centre with home for elders and children, old age home, Mahabodhi Kalyanamitra guesthouse, cultural hall and Mahabodhi School.

Lauding his initiative, Khandu said anything in the world could be achieved if a person has a good vision.

He assured to help the Mahabodhi establishment starting next financial year and made a personal contri-

bution towards the Mahabodhi society from his personal expenses.

Stating that Arunachal now enjoys good relation with the centre, the Chief Minister said that PM Modi has a good vision for the state, which the people will get to see in the coming days. Also he announced that in the coming financial year, the state would see best people centric budget.

In order to enable him to devote his best effort in working for a pan Arunachal, Khandu ap-

pealed the people Tawang and West Kameng region to extend cooperation to his government, so that he could equally take care of the development needs of all the districts.

Further, the Chief Minister appreciated the PWD department, IIT Guwahati and Chief Engineer, PWD (Survey, Investigation, Design & Planning), Atop Lego for coming up with ‘seismic isolated Kalyanamitra Guesthouse’ for Mahabodhi house for elders and children.

The project with its cost at Rs 85 lakhs is a demonstration project developed jointly by PWD department and IIT Guwahati, wherein the construction concept of confined masonry has been adopted. The building is also installed with fiber ‘reinforced elastomeric isolator ’, developed by IIT Guwahati to reduce seismic force.

The Chief Minister appre-

ciated the PWD for using local architectural designs in the building, used in windows and doorframes.

Lauding it as creative initiative, Khandu appealed Mein, who also heads the PWD ministry to use local architectural designs in all government buildings as way to preserve and promote local culture.

On the occasion, a newsletter – Mahabodhi Aaj Tak was released by the Chief Minister. He also dedicated a documentary on the life of senior citizens, ‘The Third Inning’ for the Karuna old age home in the Mahabodhi centre. The documentary is sponsored by the family members of former Chief Minister, late Dorjee Khandu and directed by Tsangpa Norbu.

Tawang MLA Tsering Tashi, Daporijo MLA Dikto Yekar, DC Tawang Sang Phuntsok and SP Tawang MK Meena were also present on the occasion.

DFP organized Special Awareness Campaign on "Mother & Child Health and Mission Indradhanush at Tezu and also implement the knowledge in their daily life and share to the others too", said Danish Asharf, Deputy Commissioner, Lohit district who attended as a chief guest during the programme.

ET Bureau Tezu, Oct 23: A special awareness programme on "Mother & Child Health and Mission Indradhanush", was or-

ganized by Directorate of Field Publicity (DFP), Govt. of India, Ministry of I & B, Tezu unit, in coordination with district health department at

Loiliang village of Lohit District of Arunachal Pradesh yesterday "Villagers should attend awareness programme and gain the knowledge

Pointing out the role of ASHAs in rural health delivery system, the DC said to al pregnant women and newborn baby mothers to always keep in touch with ASHA of their area during pregnancy and after delivery, because ASHA is the immediate health staff to provide necessary approach of health check-up, immunization and others.

However, he also appealed to the ASHAs that to inform to their beneficiaries about natural phenomenon changes during pregnancy and timely health check-up as well as about TT vaccines and immunization of child after delivery etc.

About 500 people including, HGB, GB, PRI members, Public leaders, Officers, Youths, ASHAs, Aanganwari Workers, Villagers etc. from Loiliang, Mekaliang, Pomliang, Hucheliang, Shiblaliang, Kouraliang, Lohitpur and other nearby villages participated during the programme.

SPORT Oldest district, Lohit still struggling for basic Water & Power T Ao MEF Championship: Contd. from Page 1

“Despite the district is getting third highest revenue from the PHED department the govt. miserably failed to respond positively.

Earlier the sub –division was working smoothly under Namsai division after its bifurcation as Namsai district in 25th November 2014 the situation is deteriorating, rues the

official.

In PHED every diesel generator failed to work following lack of funds to get it repaired or due to acute shortage of funds to procure diesel.

Even the most humiliating thing is that the only Water Tanker gets hired after the consumer assured to bears the fuel charge.

Meanwhile, the oldest Lohit district created way back in the year 1956 has been divided

into 5 (five) districts under the Arunachal Pradesh (Reorganization of District), Act 1980 namely Dibang Valley (1980) Lower Diabng Valley (2001), Anjaw (2004) and Namsai (2014) respectively including the Lohit as parent district. Interestingly all these bifurcated districts have approved full – flagged division unfortunately the Lohit is left with naught.

Govt to take strict action against teachers on strike Contd. from Page 1

According to the press release issued by the secretary education, a meeting of ATA, AASSATA and RMSATA was convened by Parliamentary Secretary, Education in Itanagar to look into the grievances on October 22.

The teachers’ associations placed their demands in the meeting, to which the parliamentary secretary had assured to look into the issues seriously and appraise the matter to the minister education and the chief minister

when they return to headquarters. He had also fervently requested the SSA and other teachers’ associations to call off their agitation as the government would consider all their possible demands shortly.

The assurances of the meeting were communicated through a written letter by the Secretary Education to the three teachers’ associations on the same day.

However, despite the written assurances, the SSA teachers decided to go ahead with their agitation plans from October 24 to 30, with

the regular teachers represented by ATA and RMSA teachers deciding to join the strike for two days on October 28 and 29 next.

Accordingly, it has been decided that the government will act tough against the agitating teachers for defying the authority and assurances and going on strike path at the cost of lakhs of students of the state.

During the pens and tools down strike, the teachers proposed to attend schools and put their attendances but refrain from discharging class room and office activities.

Manipur shines over Sikkim

A Staff Reporter Naharlagun, Oct 23: Defeating Sikkim by four goals to nil, Manipur on Sunday became champions of the 7th edition of Dr T Ao Memorial North East Football Championship, which came to an upbeat end at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here.

Thanks to a solid formation of 4-4-2, Manipur started to dominate the match from the word go and did not take long to score.

Forward Md Imran Khan made his presence felt in the 7th minute by converting a cleverly played through ball into a pleasing goal.

Though Sikkim did get a few chances to hit the target but it was very tough for them to get past the solid Manipuri defence. 1-0 was the score when the first half ended.

The second half too did not bring much joy for Sikkim as the in-form player of Manipur, N Pritam Singh who already had six goals under his kitty dribbled past the defence of Sikkim in the 46th minute to score his first goal of the match.

On the other hand, Manipur’s S Subash Singh, who also plays for Mumbai City in the Indian Super League, had his own set of skills to display as he kept on haunting the Sikkim defence.

Subash, after numerous attempts at goal finally went on to score in the 58th minute as he lashed on to a cross to score a smart goal that went right through the legs of the Sikkimese goalkeeper.

Meanwhile, Pritam had some more fire power stored in him as he went on to score his 8th goal of the tournament in the 62nd minute.

The scoreboard which read 4-0 by then was enough for shattering Sikkim’s dreams

as they even failed to convert a penalty awarded to them in the dying minutes of the game.

The scoreboard however would have portrayed a different story had it not been for the heroics of Sikkim goalie Pujan Bhutia who made innumerable saves to keep the Manipuri forwards at bay.

Pujan for his outstanding back to back saves was later awarded the best goal keeper of the tournament.

Where Manipur by winning the tourney got richer by Rs 7 lakh and a trophy, Sikkim too were awarded a whopping amount of Rs 4 lakh for becoming the runners up.

Hosts Arunachal were awarded Rs 2 lakh for taking the third place.

Sikkim also bagged the Fair Play award, which came with a cheque of Rs 50, 000.

Player of the tournament went to K Phalguni Singh of Manipur, while N Pritam Singh with his eight goals was the highest scorer in the tournament. All the individual prizes included a trophy and Rs 10, 000 each.

The coaches and managers of both Sikkim (Mayal Lepcha and Thupten Rapgyal) and Manipur (M Ratankumar Singh and Md Zane Khan) were awarded Rs 20, 000 and Rs 40, 000 each respectively.

Earlier, the grand finale was kicked off by former chief minister Nabam Tuki who attended as chief guest, while Home Minister Kumar Waii, Parliamentary Secretary Nikh Kamin, IMC Chief Councilor Kipa Kaku, APCC president Padi Richo and various other officers and officials of the Sports and Youth affairs Department, DSA’s etc were also present.

A Staff Reporter Itanagar, Oct 23: A promising young shuttler of the state, Laa Tukum owned the gold medal in the Under-15 boys’ single event in the 2nd Chaaji Memorial All India Sub-Junior Badminton Raking Tournament-2016 at Karnail Singh Badminton Stadium, New Delhi today.

Tukum defeated his rival Bidyasagar Salam of

Manipur by 21-17 and 2113 in a straight set in the final match.

Earlier, Tukum defeated Adhee Gupta of Maharastra by 21-19, 2114, Sidhanth Gupta of tamil Nadu by 21-11, 1021, 21-13, Ishaan Bhatnagar of Chitistghar by 11-21, 21-16, 21-19, Gautam Walia of hariyana by 21-16, 21-16, and Siddharttha Mishra of Ut-

ter Pradesh by 21-19, 21`16.

Tukum is currently ranked at all India number 5 in the boys’ single Under-15 age group.

Engineer Ratu Techi, honorary president of Arunachal State Badminton Association has congratulated Tukum for bringing laurels to the state and asked him to keep up the spirit in future games.

Cultural and sports festivalResonance- 16 concludes at Ziro

A Staff Reporter Ziro, Oct 23: Resonating shades of youthful talents over an assortment of events, Saint Claret College Ziro’s traditional week-long art, literary, cultural and sports festival- Resonance’16–concluded with the ‘Fearless Ninjas’ making a fairy tale victory to claim the championship.

The ‘Flying Knights’, short by three points, became the runner’s up,

while the ‘Brave Gladiators’ and the ‘Powerful Vikings’ were placed at third and the fourth respectively.

The week of Resonance, besides presenting the audience with a varied accomplishment of extra and co-curricular activities, also ventured into another major festive innovation named “Gastronomia”, a food and fun festival, held primarily to raise funds for charity.

Six departments of the college— English, Anthropology, Political Science, Economics, History, and Mass Communication, took turns to put up their food stalls on different days of Resonance, offering a glimpse into their culinary skills and creative marketing strategies as well as catering to the taste buds of the Claretines.

The department of Mass Communication covered the entire event that lasted three half days and six full days through the “Resonance Post,” the daily news digest of Resonance.

Individual championship awards were also won by Hemant Toppo in the men’s category and by Debia Yopu in the women’s category.

MLA Nikh Kamin along with thousands of Chakma Buddhists donates ‘Kathin Civara’ at Diyun Bana Vihar Contd. from Page 1

The Bana Vihara located in Jyostnapur Village of Diyun is the largest Buddhist monastery complex for the Chakmas in Arunachal Pradesh. Established in 2003, it was founded by the Chief disciple of the Venerable Sadhananda Mahathera, popularly as Bana Bhante, the “forest monk”, Venerable Nandapal Mahathera.

The temple which promotes deep penance/

meditation in forest claimed that with the coming of the Nandapal Mahathera there is a sweeping reduction consumption of alcohol, wine among the Chakmas and even the practise of animal sacrifice have reduced drastically.

The President of the Maha Kathina Civara Dana Celebration Committee, Jamini Mohan Chakma has extended invitation to Venerable Nandapal

Mahathera for the 2017 Rains Retreat (Vassa) in Diyun Circle.

Other events of the 2Day religious festival included hoisting of world Buddhist flag, Dhamma discourse, colourful procession, opening of kathina civara weaving centre, colourful cultural p r o g r a m m e , illumination of candle, acceptance of Panchasila and releasing of Penace (Hot air Ballons).

SPORT 15 players of Arunachal to leave for Shillong for NE Zonal Inter-State Badminton Championship-2016 A Staff Reporter Itanagar, Oct 23: The 15 top raking players of the state will leave for Shillong on October 24 and represent Arunachal Pradesh in the upcoming North East Zonal Inter-State Badminton Championship-2016, scheduled for October 25 to 28 next.

The Arunachal contingent comprises of eight boys and seven girls, including three officials.

State number one Laa Talar, who is also three times consecutive winner of the regions in the individual men’s single event, will miss the forthcoming zonal championship, which is a setback for the state team.

The zonal championship is mandatory for all ranking players of the state to participate, and despite repeated requests from the Arunachal State Badminton Association (ASBA), Talar has decided not to participate in the ensuing championship citing reasons that he is to undergo coaching at Denmark. Talar is presently

perusing coaching at Denmark at his own expenses.

ASBA has constituted a five member committee to examine the nature of action to be initiated against Talar for avoiding the mandatory event.

The association said that it has supported Talar whenever required, and such a decision from Talar is unfortunate.

However, it maintained that team Arunachal is confident of winning the individual events, which will be

headed by manager Penya Bagra, coach Gita Karki and deputy coach K B Gurung.

Briefing the players, ASBA honorary secretary Bamang Tago urged the participating players to maintain the spirit of the game and put in their best efforts in the interest of the state.

ASBA honorary president Ratu Techi also extended his best wishes to the Arunachal contingent and hoped that they would bring laurels to the state in the zonal championship.

DIBRUGARH, MONDAY, OCTOBER 24

REST OF

P5

NORTHEAST

RG decries Syiem’s suspension, 1 Naga rebel killed in Nagaland calls for checks and balances Agencies Shillong, Oct 23: In the backdrop of action taken against KHADC CEM P.N Syiem by the Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee, former Congress leader R.G Lyngdoh, who also faced similar suspension from the party in 2008, said that consultation should have been the need of the hour instead of confrontation.

While Syiem was slapped with three years’ suspension from the party recently, Lyngdoh who was a critic of the wrongdoings of the Congress, especially those of D.D Lapang, eight years ago was placed under suspension for six years.

Lauds Syiem, urges others to raise their voice

Image for representational purpose Speaking to The Shillong Times, Lyngdoh said he admired the tenacity of the KHADC chief in holding on to his principal related to the dual posts and other issues.

The former home minister wanted others to fol-

low the courage of conviction and stand up to raise voices of dissent at the time of crisis. “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely is what I have to say about the current state of affairs,” Lyngdoh asserted.

Hopingson's support keeps growing: Kamjong villagers commit to backing NPF ticket aspirant

Kamjong villagers commit to backing NPF ticket aspirant

R Lester Makang Ukhrul, Oct 23 : For quite sometime, those who back Hopingson A Shimray and the NPF ticket aspirant himself have been claiming that the number of his supporters in the Phungyar assembly constituency has continued to grow over the last few months. As reported earlier, till the middle of October, a whooping 2200 supporters from the constituency have newly enrolled themselves as primary members in the Naga People's Front (NPF) to support Shimray in the ensuing Manipur legislative assembly elections.

And while Shimray arduously propels the 'new-vision-for-the-people' mantra, it seems to make sense to assume that 'grassroots campaigning' to genuinely feel the pulses and concerns of the electorates has been paramount to the current growth of his support.

The former Indian Railways officer, who hails from Marou village under 43Phungyar constituency in Ukhrul, has repeatedly stated that he has been able

to understand the needs of the villagers and enlighten them on the need for securing their lives on political, economic and social fronts.

In a new development touted as an outcome of his ongoing tour -- which has covered 87 villages so far -across the constituency, a group of like-minded youngsters of 24 villages under Kamjong subdivision voluntarily initiated a youth interaction cum enrollment drive for the NPF in support of Hopingson Shimray at Kamjong headquarters on Friday last.

"About 100 people including 85 youth from 24 villages under Kamjong subdivision drawn from different political affiliations participated in the interaction and pledged their support for Hopingson Shimray through a consensual resolution," event convenor Ningkhan Zimik told reporters during a news conference held at UDWJA office on Saturday.

According to Zimik, out of around 100 participants who received enrollment

No takers for specialists’ posts in NEIGRIHMS Agencies Shillong, Oct 23: Several doctors from outside the state do not want to work in NEIGRIHMS though their pay and other facilities are on a par with AIIMS and other national medical institutes.

There are at least three vacancies of specialists in each of the over 30 departments in NEIGRIHMS which are yet to be filled.

“There were occasions when we gave advertisements at least 17 times, but there are no takers,” said Dr A.C Phukan, medical superintendent of NEIGRIHMS. He also added that those who were selected in the past did not turn up though they made assurances that they would join the institute.

While NEIGRIHMS functionaries point out lack of facilities, including educational prospects for the children of the doctors who wish to serve at the institute as the reason for the lukewarm response, sources say the North East should no longer be con-

sidered as a remote and inaccessible place by the doctors who wish to serve in this part of the country.

Sources added that while defence personnel serve in the North East with their family facing hardships, it is a matter of concern that doctors who are supposed to have taken the Hippocratic oaths to serve the people are shying away from their commitment.

However, during the recent interactions with a select group of media persons, NEIGRIHMS director P. Bhattacharyya said there are several sanctioned posts in many departments.

There were instances when doctors who had joined some departments left as they found that the place did not provide them any future prospects and a feeling of belongingness.

According to Bhattacharyya, the learning resource allowance was stopped following complaints from certain quarters which otherwise would have been an additional attraction.

forms, 42 were confirmed as primary members of NPF on that day itself, while the rest are expected to submit the documents in a few day's time.

The participants have fully subscribed to the ideas and vision of Hopingson Shimray for the development of Phungyar constituency and other hill districts of Manipur, Zimik said quoting the resolution adopted in the meet.

He also said that the people have now realized the relevancy of NPF to the politics of Naga people in view of the ongoing peace process.

Continuing that NPF is also the only party that is pursuing effective implementation of the Article 371(C) for the tribals of Manipur, Zimik said as citizens of Manipur, they believe in the principles of mutual respect among the different communities in the interest of peace and unity.

To support Hopingson Shimray, each of us has taken the first step by enrolling ourselves as primary members of NPF, said a supporter Khangampam Eshidang.

"So, we are committed to work for the success of Hopingson Shimray in the forthcoming elections under any circumstances," said Eshidang.

Meanwhile, vice president 43- Phungyar area NPF unit B Chithung has, on behalf of the party, expressed pleasure in the enrollment of 42 new members in the party and extended wishes to Hopingson Shimray for success in the ensuing polls.

Syiem has been critical of Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, who hurriedly brought the amendment to the dual posts Act that resulted in the bye-election to seven vacant council seats after the legislators who were holding the posts resigned.

Commenting further on the action taken against Syiem, Lyngdoh said those who were at the helm of affairs were reactive rather than being pro-active.

No democracy in State Congress “As of now, it appears that there are no checks and balances in the party and the decision is made at the dictate of one or two persons which goes against the very sprit of democracy,” Lyngdoh said.

According to Lyngdoh, nobody can assume to be a perfect leader whether it is in the government or party as only checks and balances can bring about semblance of order.

It was on June 3, 2008, that Lyngdoh, a potential chief minister, was suspended from the party for his remarks in the media that several Congress leaders were “power hungry and greedy” as he had differences with several senior state Congress leaders, including Lapang and some AICC functionaries.

Though the party had served show-cause notice to Lyngdoh, he refused to reply resulting in six years’ suspension imposed on him by the party.

The NSCN (Unification), like the NSCN (Reformation) and the NSCN (IsakMuivah), has signed a ceasefire pact with the Indian government.

In 2014, the NSCN (Khaplang) had abrogated the 14-year-long ceasefire.

Image for representational purpose A leader of the NSCN (Unification) told IANS: "Ask the Indian Army which abrogated the ceasefire this morning.

Yes, there was a heavy exchange of gun fire near

Agencies Shillong, Oct 23: It was yet another day of traffic chaos in the city that witnessed long queues of vehicles inching forward as drivers were forced to maintain utmost patience.

Even VIPs were not spared as among those stuck in Saturday’s traffic snarl was Nongthymmai MLA Jemino Mawthoh who was on his way to Shillong from Sohiong.

Despite being a day off for schools, Saturdays usually witness a rise in the number of vehicles on city roads thanks to the inflow of tourists from Assam who descend to the pine city to spend their weekend. To add to it, the ongoing NH7 Weekender at Bhoirymbong (Umroi) added to the traffic congestion.

“There is a need for coordinated and holistic approach from the PWD, Transport, Urban Affairs and Home departments to solve the problem of traffic congestion,” said Mawthoh, who termed the situation as a state of ‘urban collapse’.

He added that one department cannot solve the issue and the government should not use the excuse of small roads. “An elaborate and comprehensive plan is required to over-

come the problem,” he said.

“The situation is alarming and I fear what will happen to Shillong roads in the next couple of years,” the Nongthymmai MLA added.

Meanwhile, a commuter told this correspondent that it took him over an hour to reach Police Bazar from Lumdiengjri when the time taken on a given day would be 15 minutes. On Saturday, many people were seen waiting for taxis at different junctions as the vehicles were stranded in different parts of the city during the jam.

While the number of vehicles is rising steadily in the city, the roads have remained narrow and while the government does not seem to be in a hurry to chalk out plans to broaden the roads or construct flyovers, the situation is expected to only get worse every passing day.

It may be mentioned that recently, PWD (Roads) Minster MM Danggo made a series of visits to spots of perennial traffic snarl in parts of the city and outskirts aimed at constructing alternate roads to ease congestion. According to the minister, there are a few practical alternate road construction plans which he feels would address the problem in the long run.

RTI activists demand online application

Okotso village."

The ceasefire agreement between New Delhi and the NSCN (Unification) and NSCN (Reformation) is renewed every year in April.

Fake currency, drug cases involving minors alarming

Another day of traffic mess in city

Image for representational purpose Agencies Shillong, Oct 23: Juvenile delinquency is on the rise in the city and several minors now are involved in crimes like possession of fake currency and drugs.

There were reports of thefts and rapes committed by minors in the past, but the recent trend of ju-

veniles resorting to circulation of fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) and selling drugs is alarming.

A case in point is that on Friday, a 17-year-old was apprehended while purchasing eatables from a woman’s shop with a fake note of Rs 500.

During inquiry, police re-

covered FICN amounting to Rs 11,200 from his residence at Dongkadiang Nongmynsong in the city.

The woman of Nongmynsong Umkdait filed an FIR in this connection.

In another case, on Friday, one Bishnu Agarwal (20) and two juveniles were apprehended at Laitumkhrah and .02 gm of a yellow-orange powder, which police suspect to be heroin, was recovered from their possession.

They were handed over to police for further action.

An FIR was lodged by one Danny Kharbani.

When contacted, police expressed concern over the incidents but said there are only a few instances where juveniles have been found to be involved in cases of possessing FICN and drugs.

India records world's highest number of poll frauds: Judge IANS Agartala, Oct 23: India records the world's "highest number of cases" related to electoral malpractices, Tripura High Court Justice Subhashish Talapatra has said.

Addressing a seminar here on Saturday night, Justice Talapatra said such cases included "electoral corruptions and various types of electoral dishonesty".

"During elections, many candidates or leaders get involved in various types of electoral malpractices, corruptions, but unfortunately no political party takes actions against such people."

He said mere framing of laws would not help

check electoral frauds unless people and leaders of political parties took corrective steps.

On a positive note, the judge said participation of increasing number of people in India's electoral process was a good indication for the world's largest democracy.

"Many decades back, 30 to 35 per cent people took part in the voting. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, 65 to 75 per cent people cast their votes," he said.

He praised people of Tripura and said over 90 per cent voters of the Northeastern state have been using their democratic right in the last several elections.

Chief Minister Manik

Sarkar also spoke at the seminar, organised by publishing house Niharika.

He suggested that to check electoral misconduct and other malpractices, the election expenditure of all political parties and candidates should be borne by the government.

Releasing a book on Indian electoral system written by former Electoral Officer Hiranmoy Chakraborty, Sarkar said it was an excellent proposal to hold counting of votes on the day of polling.

"Lengthy election process hampered developmental works and sometimes generate law and order problems," said Sarkar.

Garo martyrs in Kashmir remembered

Land acquisition for West Khasi Hills road project nearing completion Agencies Shillong, Oct 23: Land acquisition process for upgradation of the Nongstoin-RambraiKyrshai stretch up to Meghalaya-Assam border into a two-lane road will be completed shortly.

As per the status report of National Highway Infrastructure Development Corporation, the project will be taken up by M/s Holtec Consulting Pvt. Ltd. The report also said the West Khasi Hills DC started the land acquisition process after finalisation of alignment by NHIDCL last year.

In addition, the draft detailed project report was submitted to the State PWD earlier this year and the Chief Engineer PWD has sent the final DPR to Executive Engineer PWD Nongstoin for verification.

The 69.50km road project will be taken up at a cost of Rs 426 crore. The road will provide an alternative route to Assam.

IANS Kohima, Oct 23: A member of the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (Unification) was killed in a gun battle with the Assam Rifles on Sunday in Nagaland.

According to informed sources, the incident happened around 5.30 a.m. near Okotso village in Wokha district.

Agencies Shillong, Oct 23: Many activists in the State who have unearthed several scams using the Right to Information (RTI) tool feel that the government should make the process online along with the usual practice of submitting RTIs before the Public Information Officer.

CSWO president Agnes Kharshiing said many times, they are not given complete information and RTI applicants have to run from one government office to the other to file RTI. “Sometimes the PIOs say the application fee has to be paid through challan but as per the Act, the application fee has to be paid in cash,” she said, adding

that the online process, besides the existing system, would be helpful.

In many instances, the Public Information Officer refuses to receive the RTI application and asks applicants to go to different offices for the same.

RTI activist Angela Rangad also narrated similar experience and said sometimes applicants face problems in filing RTI. The Right to Information Act, 2005, mandates timely response to citizens’ requests for government information and the tool has been effectively used by NGOs and individuals in Meghalaya to bring several shortcomings and scams in the public domain.

Agencies Shillong, Oct 23: Two Garo jawans of the Border Security Force who died while fighting militants in the restive Kashmir region over 26 years ago were honoured in a special commemoration on Friday in their respective villages in West Garo Hills district.

Naik Kabindra Marak and Constable Mukesh B. Marak laid down their lives in the line of duty in 1990 and 1992, respectively.

The 20th battalion of the BSF observed this year’s Martyrs’ Day commemoration service with a special programme at two schools in Rajabala — Rajabala Higher Secondary School and Singwilgre Lower Primary School, where the two men had their education before joining the force.

The BSF dispatched a special delegation led by Assistant Commandants Pradeep Raipure and Pradeep Kumar Singh to hold the commemoration event at Rajabala.

The programmes were attended by students, village elders and BSF personnel.

The BSF jawans narrated the story of that fateful night when the duo fought valiantly against militants.

The story of their sacrifice was etched on special plaques which were unveiled at the respective schools.

The BSF also presented shawls to the next of kin of both martyrs as a mark of respect and donated sports equipment to the schools.

Headmen of Singwilgre and Koikuri villages, school staff, students and general public took part in the commemoration functions. Village elder and political leader Somorendro A. Sangma spoke on behalf of the citizens and recounted the days before the two men joined the force.

On the night of September 19, 1990, Naik Kabindra Marak and his team who were deployed for counterinsurgency operations at Sopore Bandipur in Jammu and Kashmir received information about the presence of two hideouts belonging to militant commander Mohd Shafi, a separatist

rebel who had the backing of neighbouring Pakistan.

The team launched a search operation but failed to locate the hideout. While returning the militants laid an ambush on them in a congested locality of the town leading to a gun battle.

During the exchange of fire the militants lobbed a grenade that exploded and critically injured Kabindra who later succumbed to his injuries.

Two years later, on August 1, 1992, Constable Mukesh B Marak was manning a security bunker near the Zaina Kadal tomb when militants lobbed a grenade and started firing indiscriminately.

During the gun fight a bullet ricocheted off a telephone post and hit Constable Mukesh in the stomach leading to profuse bleeding that led to his death.

“Their supreme sacrifice in the line of duty will always be remembered by the nation,” mentions the last line in the inscription on the BSF monument.

EDITORIAL

DIBRUGARH, MONDAY, OCTOBER 24

Today's quote

“

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear.

- Ambrose Redmoon

Thanks to Fadnavis' waffling stand on ADHM, Thackeray may up the ante

"P

roducers will have to given in writing that they will

not take Pakistani actors in their films in future." These words from Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray seem to have struck such fear into the hearts of not just filmmakers but also Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. Instead of telling him that he has no business dictating terms to filmmakers or threatening to disrupt the screening of Karan Johar's Ae Dil hai Mushkil which stars among others a Pakistani actor, Fadnavis allowed things to drift and today the thuggish MNS has added to its demands by saying that the filmmakers who use Pakistani artistes should pay Rs 5 crore to the army welfare fund. The army should not be dragged into this ugly politics. A senior army officer has said anyone is free to contribute to the army welfare fund provided it is voluntary.

Donations which have been literally extorted are unacceptable to the army according to another officer and they would not be accepted.

The army does not need the likes of Thackeray to speak up for it. If the Fadnavis government had made it clear that it would not tolerate any threat to the screening of the film, chances are that the MNS would have backed off. He instead dragged things along and also accepted assurances from the Producers' Guild that no filmmaker would work with Pakistani artistes again. This is unacceptable conduct from an elected leader who is bound to uphold law and order and the Constitutional right of the filmmaker to freedom of expression. .

Johar has had to promise to run tributes to martyred jawans at the beginning of the film to ensure its smooth release. Raj Thackeray has no right whatsoever to make any of demand for money for the army or for filmmakers to shun anyone. This is illegal. Indian actors get roles in Hollywood. So the Indian film industry should take pride in being able to attract talent from other countries. The army, of course, will reject this proposal for filmmakers to contribute money to its welfare fund outright.

Fadnavis's failure to act in time is in direct contrast with that of former chief minister Ashok Chavan when a similar controversy arose over the film My Name is Khan. In that case, it was a remark by the lead actor Shahrukh Khan that there were no Pakistanis in the premier league that created a huge kerfuffle. The Sena's fragile sensibilities were offended and it went on the rampage against this film. The chief minister gave the film protection and the bullies had to back off.

This is what should have been done this time.

People like Thackeray, once they taste victory, will not stop at this. He will up the ante. No one has gained from this and no one has come out smelling of roses apart from the army which has correctly distanced itself from all this. The state now has the duty to ensure that such a situation is not repeated and that filmmakers can work in peace without these extraneous pulls and pressures.

The laws against harassment are there, if only all women knew about them

T

he Trump gropathon saga saw women coming out al-

most every day with horrific stories of the presidential candidate's predatory behaviour. Closer home we had the Pachauri episode, in which the climate change czar allegedly harassed a young colleague at the workplace. The victim here had evidence in the form of emails to prove her allegations though an almighty fight was put up by the offender including insisting that his emails were hacked.

The good news is that the Indian law on this issue is surprisingly comprehensive and I think it is just that many women don't know enough about the provisions designed to protect them. Every organised sector is meant to have an internal committee to decide on matters of sexual harassment at the workplace. Few including government departments take this seriously. The inquiry into a complaint from a woman is meant to be completed in 90 days, according to the Sexual Harassment at the Workplace Act, 2013. This is rarely done except in a few workplaces which take this issue seriously.

The harassment is not confined to the workplace and here again the law is on the side of women in no uncertain terms.

The ridiculous and demeaning practice of eve-teasing, glorified by our films, assumes threatening proportions on the roads.

In films, the hero will follow a girl, jostle her in public places and pop up in unexpected places to embarrass her, and finally she gives in to his dubious charms. You will be glad to know that singing lewd songs to women in public spaces constitutes sexual harassment with a three-month jail term. That ought to silence budding roadside songsters but how many women know of this law. Women I know as well as myself have faced countless incidents of harassment in buses and other forms of public transport. I once actually filed a case against a man who harassed me relentlessly in a train to Kerala while I was in college.

Of course, such sweeping laws were not in place at that time. I found no support among the women in the compartment or the police on account of the fact that the harasser was the nephew of the then chief minister of the state. The attitude of the public also is that these are harmless little indiscretions which don't amount to violence and hence why should women make such a fuss about their private spaces being violated?

Demanding sexual favours, a form of harassment that takes place mostly at the workplace, could get the offender up to three years in jail. Stalking, of course, can get him three to five years. This is a serious problem in India, where many men almost feel entitled to a woman's compliance if he happens to fancy her. In one case, the stalker followed the victim all the way to another city where he killed her. The police tend not to take complaints about stalking very seriously and in several cases the victims who approached the police were met with indifference.

Capturing images of a woman without her consent is voyeurism and punishable under IPC Section 354, which can get the accused up to seven years in jail. Making sexually coloured remarks against a woman too is punishable with up to three years. The same goes for using sexually inappropriate language in the presence of a woman. This has been a problem in many workplaces and the woman who objects is seen as a prude or hypersensitive. Yet, in India most men do not even seem to realise that their language or "locker room" banter as Donald Trump would have it is offensive and demeaning to women.

But the real problem lies with the majority of women in India who work in the unorganised sector. If they are farm workers, they have no particular law to protect them at their workplace, apart from the general laws. Since they are daily wagers, there is little chance that they will report untoward behaviour from landlords. In the small units which employ less than eight people again, the harassment law does not apply, leaving women wide open to all manners of abuse. So, we have excellent anti-harassment laws if only all women knew about them and it applied evenly to every one of them.

P6

It's 2016 but Young Working Women Still Face Sexism, Wage Gap and Double Standards I made the jump from they had to say. college to work sud- The Meaning Of Work denly and found the tran- Job satisfaction seems to sition to be both exciting be an important theme and jarring. From a uni- across the board. Conversity student to a seri- sidering that people are ous 'working woman' - spending more and more the change took place in time at work, quality of a span of a few months work is of utmost imporand I found that my tance. The question world had changed. however is not how But, I wasn't the only comfortable they feel at one going through this work, but how much it transition. Many of my aligns with their ethics peers were joining the and belief systems. If we workforce, pursuing don't believe in what we their pasdo, then sions in Saswati Chatterjee why do diverse we do it? fields, and were now a Let's take Ananya for inpart of a system much stance. She joined one of like me. Some love their India's largest TV netjobs, some hate it, and works with huge expecsome complain of mind- tations. Sadly, reality boggling sexism and dis- proved to be disillusioncrimination. ing; she was disapWomen have always pointed when she found worked. But it is only in herself doing something the last few decades that radically different from they have come to be re- her job description. garded as critical mem- A student of literature, bers of the workforce. she was upset to find that Instead of being treated her work felt "less like a as invisible entities, to- creative process and day women are entering more like small scale diverse fields as scien- event management." As tists, IT professionals, Ananya says, "There is academicians, engi- hardly any intellectual neers, designers and agency and I feel like I more. But not too long am being paid to waste ago,women were hardly my time. I also worry recognised for their un- about getting duller and paid work. My mother's more indifferent by the generation, for instance, day." never saw the 'work' they Of Work Dynamics And did as turning into a vi- Hierarchies able career. For them it While most people unwas just something they derstand work structures did out of a sense of duty as linear - a 'boss' and a and no one put a value team of 'subordinates', to their contribution. But where the boss may even that's not how it is now. act as a mentor to his Work for a woman is a team - that concept is crucial part of her iden- fast changing. For extity. ample, Smita Mathur, We asked a few women who works in the pubwhat work means for lishing industry, says her them, and here's what workplace encourages

"an approachable support system." This essentially means that anyone can be a "sounding board" for any other person in the team. Undoubtedly, there is a movement towards a culture which promotes doing away with traditional notions of hierarchy. Today it is more team work - where everyone is helping each other.

With fluid work structures also comes the issue of work timings. It's here that women in India still face challenges.

Nidhi Taparia, an entrepreneur, talks of her boss who once went out of his way to spend a few minutes chatting with her dad who was visiting.

"My boss knew that I lived alone in the city and he did a lot to reassure my dad that I was doing great work and that I should be allowed to pursue my dreams." A workplace that understands the many problems women, especially in India, face while working, or just getting to work, can be invaluable.

However, while the system is changing, the

progress has been slow.

Nidhi, for example, feels that more women should be in positions of power, as compared to the reality today. More women in leadership roles would encourage greater participation of women in the workforce. "When a lot of women quit the team, whoever is the boss, he/she must be questioned. I don't think organisations hold men who are leaders - accountable or even sensitise them as to how to deal with the issues of women employees," she adds.

Discrimination - Is It A Myth?

Then there is the question of gender bias.

Many women may not have faced it openly but most have suffered silently sexist comments and attitudes. Public relations professional Asleen Madhok Anand says, "Sales companies look for that 'outrageously beautiful girl but with no brains'!"

Then there are companies that ask gender-insensitive questions during job interviews, and clearly, women are singled out. Some em-

ployers are direct, while others hint that marriage or motherhood may mar the woman's career progression.

Arti Khanijo, a doting parent to a two-year old, was shocked when she was asked inappropriate questions about future family plans during a job interview by a"renowned MNC." "If that wasn't enough, they went on to ask if I was planning to have kids in the next two years. I didn't want to join a company that takes such promises from an employee before joining," she says firmly.

This organisational mindset indicates that women are seen as burdens or an investment by companies. They are also still viewed as homemakers and caretakers first and working women later. Sairee Chahal, founder of Sheroes (a venture dedicated to making workplaces more equal and providing women with diverse career opportunities based on their needs) says, "I look forward to the day when the internet will show more results of women-led businesses and opportunities rather than stereotyping them as people who are interested only in cooking, parenting and shopping websites."

Money Talk And More The wage gap is another reality that working women are battling with all over the world. The gender wage divide has been found to be increasing at higher wage levels. So, the higher the

woman moves up the ladder, the more disparate her income becomes from her male counterparts. This has numbers as high as 34%in the tech sector, a industry not known for hiring a lot of women to begin with. Also, this issue is not just industry-specific. Anita, a TV producer, said that during her campus placement, her classmate - a man was offered twice as much as her and it was for the same job role. "I wondered - is it a gender thing, or if he's just a better negotiator? Either way, it's unfair," she recounts.

It was also noted that motherhood becomes one of the underlying reasons for the overall gender pay gap, with some countries paying mothers 33% less than non-mothers. Many companies step back from hiring women altogether so as to avoid granting them maternity leave. However, with the recent amendment to the Maternity Benefit Bill in India - increasing maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks, we can hope for better conditions for women in the workplace in the future.

The Double Standard Women have always been achievers. From being renowned scientists and astronauts to commanding in the boardroom. Yet, society still views them in nurturing roles - as mothers, daughters, sisters.

Women aren't necessarily seen as individuals.

And that's where everything gets topsy-turvy.

The Story Of A Swachh Bharat Toilet Abhishek Jha The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is alright but (look at) what we have to do towards it," a sanitation worker says, and another responds with a shrug, "People throw waste in the toilet". They are standing in front of a public toilet that was inaugurated this April by Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu. While preparing their brooms for work at the nearby chabutra, they say that cleaning the new toilet is not their responsibility. But if an official visits, it is they who have to clean it.

Delhi got 20 such public toilets, known as Namma toilets (meaning "our" toilets), built by the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) earlier this year under Corporate Social Responsibility. Costing 13 lakh INR each, these toilet complexes were

touted to be vandalism and tampering resistant and were said to have used special paint that prevents bacterial growth and bad odour. This seemed a welcome step, as the MoUD minister announced while inaugurating one of these toilets that there is shortage of 4,000 public toilets in the three municipalities of Delhi. The shortage exists although 7,000 toilets have been built since the Swachh Bharat Mission started in October 2014.

The Namma toilets, first built in Tamil Nadu, had apparentlycaught the attention of urban planners, and it is no surprise that it became a part of SBMurban - except that they seem to have fallen into disrepair in just half a year in Delhi. The toilet complex inaugurated by the union minister in Preet Vihar had no water running in its taps, some taps were missing and the latrines were clogged. A pool of urine in front of the complex was being

cleaned by one safai karamchari, using a broom and water from a bucket, he said, he had to bring from some distance because the water-tank has not had water for some time. Cleaning this toilet would be almost like cleaning a dry latrine. Outside the Samaypur Badli station, another such toilet complex has taps and water absent, and urine has flown down the floor of the urinal stalls to collect in puddles. The fate of the toilets in Chennai was not very different.

A Namma toilet in Munirka, however, had its taps intact and water running in them. The 19year old worker stationed there approved of the fact that it had both the English and Indian-style toilets. He did, however, wish that they were provided a toilet cleaning liquid. The broom, too, he says, isn't useful and he has to clean the toilets with a piece of cloth. Not

The Wise Woman's Stone A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left, rejoicing in his

good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the wise woman.

"I've been thinking," he said, "I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me something more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone.

keeping the toilet clean does not seem to be an option. The previous worker, he says, was fired because there were complaints made that the toilet was not being kept clean by him.

"If someone comes with a bottle of water, how much water will they have?" a municipal worker in charge of the Namma toilet at Uphaar Cinema in Green Park asks. While the wash basins here have water running, there is no water elsewhere, making this yet another Namma toilet with marginal functionality. The group of municipal corporation workers with whom the worker is chatting say that the water supply is erratic and so the water tank is sometimes empty.

"There is no water. When there is water, only then the toilet will be cleaned," another from the group says, a little annoyed. "A person (who has to take a dump) is in

an emergency. It is not as if one can hold oneself," a third worker quipped.

Asked how people dirty the toilet, one of them hawks up cough to imitate a paan-masala chewing person, "Gutkha khaa kar".

These workers have been working with the corporation for some decades, unlike the 19-year old at the Munirka toilet, and they ask about their pending arrears. They had gone on a strike earlier this year in protest and have received some arrears but they say they are yet to get some more payment.

The roof of the house of one of the workers is in dilapidated condition and he needs money to get it fixed. "Or else, we'll be found buried," he says and they laugh over it.

High-tech sanitation for the privileged, after all, has costs other than 13 lakh INR too.

Even though the Namma toilets project was

launched with much fanfare, it is obvious that there are several practical problems on the ground. Lack of water within and in the vicinity of toilets is likely to promote manual scavenging.

Employing manual scavengers is a punishable offence, and eradication of the same is also an objective of the SBM. These high-tech toilets don't seem to have a failsafe protection against that.

These, however, are not the only concerns people working in sanitation have with the rapid toilet-building exercise the government has undertaken under SBM. Namma toilets are just one instance of what needs fixing in the sanitation programme. If the government wants an inclusive Swachh Bharat, toilets - technologyequipped or otherwise need to be planned, built, and run accordingly.

Elderly Wisdom Those at the top must listen to the elder members of the BJP, who have warned against the party coming under the control of one or two leaders.

The BJP has always prided itself on being a “party with a difference� and has often taken potshots at the Congress for having become the family concern of the Gandhis.

It is necessary for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah to admit their mistakes and reach out to the cadres.

Shibo Rajak Gar Ali, Jorhat

DIBRUGARH, MONDAY, OCTOBER 24

BUSSINESS

P7

GST law to boost domestic demand, Sea plane service soon from Nagpur drive job creation: Narendra Modi to Shirdi: Nitin Gadkari This will further boost domestic demand, create more opportunities for Indian business and drive job creation," he said. India today, Modi said, is the fastest growing major economy, and one of the most attractive destinations for FDI

New Delhi, Oct 23: The Goods and Services Tax law will boost domestic demand, create more opportunities for domestic business and drive job creation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today. He said so far the domestic market has been fragmented and different taxes across different states have made goods and services more expensive.

"This has hampered growth in inter-state commerce. We are enacting a Goods and Services Tax law, to create an integrated national market.

This will further boost domestic demand, create more opportunities for Indian business and drive job creation," he said. India today, Modi said, is the fastest growing major economy, and one of the most attractive destinations for FDI. "Indeed, we stand out as a bright spot in the global economy. This is the result of India's fundamental strengths - democracy, demographic dividend and

Narendra Modi demand. We need to fully harness these strengths.

This can happen only if businesses make long-term investments that create jobs and sustain economic growth," he said. Addressing the valedictory function of an international conference on arbitration, the Prime Minister said India is experiencing a digital revolution which is bridging the digital and economic divide in the society in general and rural society in particular.

"A boost to the rural economy through this revo-

lution will make the Indian economy even more robust," he said. Innovative business models and appbased start-ups have instilled a spirit of enterprise among Indians, he noted, adding that yesterday's job seekers are becoming today's job creators. "The legal profession is also opening up to the promises of the digital world. From cause-lists to case-laws, the lawyer's library is now just a click away on your mobile phone," he said.

(PTI)

NHAI scraps Transstroy's Rs 912-cr highway project New Delhi, Oct 23: Acting tough against developers failing to adhere to contract timelines, NHAI has scrapped a Rs 912-crore contract awarded to Transstroy Ltd for a highway project in Madhya Pradesh.

"NHAI has terminated a contract given to Transstroy Ltd for four-laning of Obedullaganj-Betul section on NH-69 in Madhya Pradesh for which it had executed a contract with the company in April 2012, due to extremely slow pace of work on the project," an official told PTI. The Rs 912-crore contract was to be executed on build operate transfer (toll) basis on design, build, finance, operate and transfer pattern under the government's flagship road building programme NHDP. The decision to terminate the contract to four-lane 121.36 km stretch on NH 69 was taken after serving several warning notices to the developer which failed to

expedite work, the official informed.

The project was scheduled to be completed in August 2016 but the physical progress was barely "1.34 per cent", the official said.

The Hyderabad-based firm which had formed a special purpose vehicle (SPV) Transstroy ObedullaganjBetul Tollways Private Ltd could not be contacted.

The authority has started terminating contracts where developers failed to execute projects despite warnings.

Earlier, the NHAI got a bizarre bid of just Rs 1,500 from KMC Constructions for a project worth Rs 1,858 crore, while Tata Group firm Tata Realty and Infrastructure Ltd (TRIL) had withdrawn bids for two other projects, prompting earnest money forfeiture in all three cases.

The three projects were worth over Rs 4,000 crore were located in Odisha, Rajasthan and Gujarat, while the earnest money deposit forfeited by NHAI

was about Rs 30 crore.

NHAI Chairman Raghav Chandra has said that the authority had to take such decision as such bids amounted to delays in highway projects, besides causing uncalled for complications.

TRIL had bid for two projects worth Rs 2,272 crore for widening of different sections of KishangarhUdaipur-Ahmedabad highway but later after emerging as the lowest bidder for both the projects, the firm said that it had miscalculated the bidding cost and therefore would like to withdraw from bidding.

KMC Constructions Ltd, in response to a bid for Rs 1,858 crore AngulSambalpur highway project in Odisha, had quoted "only Rs 1,500 crore" and later "cited system error as the reason. However, the NHAI had said that investigations of NHAI revealed that the builder was lying and their bid was rejected.

(Agencies)

GST can be paid using debit, credit cards: Revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia Indore, Oct 23: Individuals and entities can pay taxes online using debit or credit cards once the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is rolled out, revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia said.

The government proposes to roll out the new indirect tax regime from April 1 next year and has made registration, refunds, returns filing and payment processes online.

"With regard to payments, the best thing that will happen is all payments will have to be made online. You can use any mode of payment, electronic, NEFT, RTGS. You can do it through debit cards or credit cards of any bank.

"You need not open account in banks of government. Even if you have account in a private bank you can transfer money and it will reach the government," Adhia said while addressing the Global Investors Summit here.

Pic for representation.

He said GST will make it easier for traders and industry to access Input Tax Credit and also ease compliance burden as the entire country will become a single market.

"I would ask the states to focus on the services sector because industry will come on its own once demand increases," Adhia said.

He said India is now taking several reform measures and GST is the biggest tax reform since Independence.

Adhia added that GST will also ensure that the taxes deducted by sellers reach the government.

Asked what will happen to excise duty benefits currently enjoyed by units in Jammu and Kashmir as well as Northeastern and hilly states, Adhia said they will be protected in a similar manner.

"Instead of giving direct exemptions, we will take it through the Government of India s budgetary route," he said.(PTI)

Nagpur, Oct 23: Road Transport and Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari today said a sea place service will be soon launched from Ambajhari lake here to Shirdi via Anand Sagar Lake in Shegaon.

The sea plane will fly in the morning and return the same day. The sea plane has been launched to benefit the people in and around Nagpur who visit these two pilgrim sites, Gadkari said at a function here.

There is a shrine of Sai Baba in Shirdi in Ahmednagar district of

Maharashtra while in Shegaon there is 'Gajanan Maharaj Samadhi Mandir'.

Gadkari along with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis performed 'bhoomipoojan' of network of cement concrete roads here.

The two BJP leaders vowed to make Maharashtra's second capital a top city in the country with number of development works.

Fadnavis said these cement concrete roads will last for at least 50 years.

The cement roads worth Rs 1,000 crores are being constructed in the city, in-

Gadkari along with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis performed 'bhoomipoojan' of network of cement concrete roads here. cluding Rs 300 crore cement roads in South-West Assembly constituency

which is represented by Fadnavis himself.

The Metro Rail work is

also in full swing and by 2019, Nagpur will be a developed in to a global city, said the Chief Minister.

Gadkari also said tar roads are not suitable for Nagpur and don't last long hence cement roads are being constructed by the Nagpur Improvement Trust and the N agpur Municipal Corporation (NMC).

The soil will be tested before taking up cement roads, he added.

Road works to the tune of Rs 28 crores was already undertaken during the last two-and-half-year regime of BJP-SS, he said.

(Agencies)

Fin Min Declines to Telcos liable for bill payment Share Black Money issues on mobile apps: Trai Assessment Reports Trai said that since websites and applications are non-licensed entities and are appointed by telecom service providers, operators are responsible for ensuring compliance of regulatory norms

Pic for representation purpose.

New Delhi, Oct 23: The Finance Ministry has declined to share reports submitted to it nearly three years ago on the quantum of black money held

by Indians inside the country and abroad, saying it will cause breach of privilege of Parliament.

The reports are related to studies commissioned by the previous UPA government five years ago. These were conducted by Delhi-based National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and National Institute of Financial Management (NIFM), Faridabad.

Replying to an RTI query, the Ministry said study reports of NIPFP, NCAER and NIFM were received by the government on December 30, 2013, July 18, 2014 and August 21, 2014 respectively.

When asked about the copies of the reports and action taken on them, it said they are under examination by the government.

"Information is exempt from disclosure under Section 8 (1)

(c) of the RTI Act, 2005, as the study reports received from the three institutes are under examination of the government and the same along with the government's response on these reports are yet to be taken to the Parliament through the Standing Committee on Finance," the Ministry said in reply to the RTI query filed by PTI. The Section bars disclosure of information "which would cause a breach of privilege of Parliament or the state Legislature".

There is at present no official assessment on the quantum of black money within the country and abroad.

The NDA government at the Centre has been taking steps to unearth black money. About Rs 65,250 crore of undeclared income has been declared under the recently concluded income Declaration Scheme -which provided an opportunity to people, who had not paid full taxes in the past, to come forward and declare their domestic undisclosed income and assets.(PTI)

FinMin expects report on debit card data breach in 10 days New Delhi, Oct 23:The Finance Ministry has asked various agencies, including RBI, which are looking into the largestbanking security breach involving over 32 lakh debit cards, to submit their report in 10 days.

"We expect result of the technical enquiry in the next 8-10 days. This will give us exact picture of the entire incidence.

It will give us lead as to where hacking or compromise took place," Finance Ministry sources said.

Earlier this week, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said the government asked RBI and banks to provide details of the data breach and also banks' preparedness to deal with cyber crimes.

As many as 32.14 lakh debit cards of various public and private sector banks are feared to have been 'compromised' by cyber malware attack in some ATM systems.

Several banks, including stateowned SBI, have recalled a number of cards while many others blocked the ones suspected to have been compromised and asked their customers to change PIN (personal identification number) before use.

Fraudulent withdrawals have been reported from 19 banks so far while complaints have been received from a few banks that their customers' cards were used fraudulently abroad, mainly in China and the US while the customers were in India.

According to the National Payments Corporation of India, as

many as 641 customers across 19 banks have been duped of Rs 1.3 crore using stolen debit card data.

The government asked regulator Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as well as banks to provide details of the data breach and also preparedness to deal with cyber crimes.

There are around 60 crore debit cards operational in India, of which 19 crore are indigenously developed by RuPay while the rest are Visa- and Master Card-enabled.

Of the debit cards affected, about 26.5 lakh are on Visa and MasterCard platforms while 6,00,000 are on RuPay. The breach reportedly involved some 90 ATMs. While Visa and MasterCard, in separate statements, have stated that their own networks had not been compromised, Hitachi subsidiary Hitachi Payment Services, which manages some of the ATM network processing, was investigating the matter, including whether there was a malware problem.

The Hitachi ATMs deployed by many white label ATM players and Yes Bank were impacted by the malware while usage at other ATMs were completely secured.

While Visa and MasterCard, in separate statements, have stated that their own networks had not been compromised, Hitachi subsidiary Hitachi Payment Services, which manages some of the ATM network processing, was investigating the matter, including whether there was a malware problem. (PTI)

New Delhi, Oct 23: Telecom regulator Trai has held that operators would be liable for any non-compliance to rules by third party vendors like websites and apps for issues related to bill payment and recharges.

In its guidelines, Trai said that as third party entities like websites and applications are non-licensed entities and are appointed by telecom service providers, operators are responsible for ensuring compliance of regulatory norms.

"Since Channel Partners and sub Channel Partners are non-licensed entities and appointed by telecom service providers (TSPs) based on mutually agreed terms and conditions, all responsibilities for ensuring compliance of terms and conditions of the license agreement and other regulatory guidelines shall remain with the TSP," Trai said.

At present there are many mobile applications and websites like Freecharge, Mobikwik, Oxigen that facilitate mobile recharge and bill payment facilities as channel partner of telecom companies.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai)

Pic for representation purpose. said that the agreement between operators and subchannel partner should incorporate clauses on subscriber relations, attending subscriber grievances, recharge process and tariff updation apart from other technical requirements.

The regulator said that there exists a possibility of time gap between telecom operators, channel partners and sub-channel partners in updating the information on the day of tariff product launch or revision which may cause inconsistency and subscribers may not get perceived benefits.

"A mechanism should be

introduced by the TSP where a new tariff product or any change in any tariff product is updated concurrently on Channel Partners Apps/websites. Only after ensuring updation of tariff products on Channel Partners, tariff product should be made live for the subscribers," Trai said.

The regulator has also said that any new tariff product or any change in existing tariff product should be made live only at midnight, between midnight and 0200 hours on the date of the launch or change in tariff product.

(Agencies)

After debit card data theft, Sebi to fast track plan to tackle cyber fraud New Delhi, Oct 23: Markets regulator Sebi is mulling a greater push to put in place strong safeguards against cyber threats to bourses, brokerages and other entities, amid concerns over the largest-ever banking data breach wherein 32 lakh debit cards are feared to have been 'compromised'.

The regulator will also look at the best global practices in this regard including through inputs from the regulatory authorities in advanced markets, while consultations will be held with government entities as well as with the information technology and cyber security experts, a senior official said.

While the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), which is mandated to regulate stock exchanges, clearing corporations, brokerages, portfolio managers, fund houses, rating agencies and a host of other entities in the capital market space, is already in the process of appointing a chief IT security officer to oversee various initiatives aimed at protecting the marketpace from cyber threats.

The regulator has further beefed up its efforts and wants to fast-track the work on a new and stronger policy framework in the areas of cyber security in the wake of the recent suspected compromise of 32 lakhdebit cards across various banks, presumably due to a cyber malware attack in the ATM network systems of a private sector bank, the official said.

The matter assumes significance as the entire marketpace is closely linked

and a cyber security threat in one segment of the capitalmarkets can prove to be disastrous for other segments as well.

The offiicial said the regulator is looking to beef up its own surveillance and risk management systems, as also that of the market infrastructure entities to check any cyber threats, while various intermediaries would also be asked to strengthen their respective systems, networks and databases.

Given the dynamic nature of new technologies, the risk management systems would also need to keep evolving so as to keep pace with the newer kinds of threats that may come to fore, the official added.

Sebi will appoint a Chief Information Technology Security Officer, who will be responsible for strengthening its regulatory policy framework in the area of cyber security.

The Officer would oversee implementation of these regulatory policies across securitymarkets and also help enhance capacity building at Sebi and various market participants with respect to cyber security.

Sebi would also develop stress testing mechanism to mitigate risk arising out of cyber attacks, while necessary framework would be put in place for taking corrective measures and prudent response in case of cyber attacks at the regulator or market participants.

In a recent interaction, Sebi Chairman U K Sinha raised concerns about growing cyber security threat for mar-

kets.

"We have some guidelines in place but there is a need to revamp them. We are working with experts to address the gaps and appropriate action would be taken soon.

"There are some government agencies also looking into the aspects of cyber security from the perspective of national security and they have also given us some inputs," he said.

Earlier, Sinha had said cyber attacks are now occurring in a more sophisticated manner, while he had also raised concerns about state-sponsored cyber attacks from abroad.

"We are worried over statesponsored cyber attacks.

There are worries that the vulnerability in markets are increasing. We need to create a framework for future plan of action on securities market resilience," he had said.

Last year, Sebi had asked all exchanges, clearing corporations and depositories to put in place a robust cyber security framework for systemically critical functions of trading, clearing and settlement in securities market.

Sebi has also asked Market Infrastructure Institutions (MIIs) to restrict access controls, whenever necessary.

"No person by virtue of rank or position should have any intrinsic right to access confidential data, applications, system resources or facilities.

"MIIs should deploy additional controls and security measures to supervise staff with elevated system access entitlements (such as admin or privileged users)," Sebi said. (Agencies)

DIBRUGARH, MONDAY, OCTOBER 24

P8

INTERNATIONAL Iran's President Criticizes US Presidential candidates Iran, Oct 23: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday criticized the U.S. presidential candidates' behavior during their recent debates.

"Did you see the debate and the way of their speaking, accusing and mocking each other? Do we want such a democracy in our country?

Do we want such elections in our country?" Rouhani said, speaking to a crowd in the Iranian city of Arak.

"You see the United States that claims it has had democracy for more than 200 years," he said in comments broadcast live by state TV. "Look at the country, what the situation is where morality has no place."

Rouhani said that during his September visit to the UN General Assembly, he was asked which of the candidates he preferred. "I said what? Should I prefer bad to worse or worse to bad?"

Iran's state TV has broadcast two of the debates between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in full. It has

Iran President Hassan Rouhani closely followed the campaign, often highlighting economic and social problems in the U.S. and the most confrontational debate segments.

Rouhani's speech marked his first public comment on the U.S. election.

Iran will hold its own presidential election in May 2017, and Rouhani is eligible to seek a second term.

Last month, hard-line former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he will not run in the election. Opposition to his candidacy exposed the still-lingering

wounds from the widespread unrest that followed his contested 2009 re-election.

Despite a landmark nuclear deal with the United States and world powers that went into effect in January, Tehran and Washington have not restored diplomatic ties that were cut after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and U.S. Embassy takeover.

The deal capped Iran's disputed nuclear activities in return for lifting international nuclear-related sanctions. (Agencies)

Pakistan Court Releases 3 'R&AW Agents' For Lack of Evidence Karachi, Oct 23: Three Pakistani men, alleged to be 'spies' of India's external intelligence agency R&AW, have been acquitted by an anti-terrorism court here citing lack of evidence in five cases relating to carrying explosives and illegal weapons, media reported on Sunday.

Tahir, alias Lamba, Junaid Khan and Imtiaz have been booked for allegedly carrying explosive materials and unlicensed weapons in a Malir locality in April last year, Dawn reported.

Police had alleged that the men belonged to Muttahida Qaumi Movement - a Karachi-based political party claiming to represent Mohajirs (Urdu-speaking people of Sindh province) -

and were trained by the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW).

MQM is the single-largest party in Karachi and has dominated its political landscape for years, but since a "clean-up" operation began on the orders of the federal government, the political party has come under pressure.

Judge Abdul Naeem Memon of Anti-Terrorism Court-VI, who conducted the trial inside the central prison, exonerated the accused, saying the prosecution was unable to establish their cases against the accused beyond any shadow of the doubt, the report said.

There were glaring contradictions in the documentary evidence and in the testimo-

Washington, Oct 23: The White House on Saturday condemned the Assad regime's "defiance" of international norms after United Nations experts found the Syrian army had conducted three chemical weapons attacks against its own people in 2014 and 2015.

Of the nine alleged chemical attacks it is considering in its ongoing probe, the UN-led joint investigative mechanism has now attributed three to the Syrian government and one to the Islamic State group.

"We condemn in the strongest possible terms the

Assad regime's defiance of the longstanding global norm against chemical weapons use and Syria's abrogation of its responsibilities under the Chemical Weapons Convention, which it joined in 2013," National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.

"The Syrian regime has violated the Chemical Weapons Convention and UN Security Council Resolution 2118 by using industrial chlorine as a weapon against its own people."

He warned the United States was continuing to work with its allies to hold

Alcohol is freely available in Iraq in scores of small shops like this one KHALIL AL-MURSHIDI Baghdad, Oct 23: Iraq's parliament has voted to ban the sale, import and production of alcohol in a surprise move. Proponents of the ban argue the ban is justified by the constitution, which prohibits any law contradicting Islam.

Opponents say it violates the same constitution which guarantees the traditions of religious minorities such as Christians and have vowed to appeal against the decision.

Those violating the law will be fined between 10 million and 25 million dinars (roughly ÂŁ7,000 to ÂŁ17,500).

According to an MP and a parliament official, the ban was a last-minute addition to a draft law on municipalities.

The law was also passed by MPs in Baghdad as all eyes were on the north of the country, where forces involved in Iraq's biggest military operation in years are battling Isis and moving to retake the city of Mosul.

Alcohol is rarely offered in restaurants and hotels in Iraq, but consumption is relatively widespread, especially in Baghdad where scores of small shops selling alcoholic beverages can be found.

"This article of the law goes against the constitution, which guarantees the freedoms of minorities," Yonadam Kanna, a veteran Christian MP, told AFP on Saturday.

Article 2 of the constitution says

it "guarantees the Islamic identity of the majority of the Iraqi people and guarantees the full religious rights of all individuals to freedom of religious belief and practice" such as Christians, Yazidis and Sabeans.

Ammar Toma, an MP who voted in support of the ban, argued that it was the constitution that made it illegal to sell, produce or import alcoholic drinks.

"The constitution says you cannot approve a law that goes against Islam," he told AFP, referring to an article stating that "no law that contradicts the established provisions of Islam may be established."

Mr Kanna and Mr Toma also differed on the impact of a ban.

"This law will put people out of jobs, drug consumption will rise, the economy will be affected," said Mr Kanna.

Observers say drug abuse has been on the rise in Iraq recently, especially in the southern city of Basra, where trafficking with neighbouring Iran is soaring and where alcohol is only found on the black market.

Mr Toma, a Shiite MP from the Fadhila party, rejected Mr Kanna's assessment and said "the effects of alcohol on society are great, and include depravation, terrorism and social problems."

"As for the people who will lose their jobs, new jobs can be found for them," he said, without elaborating. (Agencies)

2,400 migrants rescued; 14 die off Libya Libya, Oct 23: Horrific scenes unfolded in the Mediterranean off Libya Saturday as a full-to-capacity rescue ship was forced to sail away from desperate migrants trying to swim towards the rescuers.

During a dramatic 24 hours, the crew of the Norwegian Siem Pilot and another aid boat rescued panicked migrants in the dark, with only limited resources and in the face of aggressive people smugglers.

Around 2,400 migrants were rescued and 14 dead bodies pulled from the water on Saturday, according to the Italian coastguard.

"I've never had a SAR (search and rescue) like it.

We were in the process of transferring 1,000 migrants from the Okyroe (tanker) to the Siem Pilot when suddenly, in the dark, rubber boats appeared. It looked hopeless," said Pal Erik Teigen, the police officer in charge of the rescue operation.

Migrants aboard one of the rubber boats that had yet to be rescued desperately sought to reach the rescue ship, which by that point was full to capacity and unable to take on more passengers, motoring towards it while crying out

for help.

Around 25 people threw themselves into the water to attempt to swim towards the Siem Pilot, forcing the captain to pull back to deter others on the dinghy from doing the same.

Speed boats from the Siem Pilot later pulled the migrants from the sea and the dinghy and transferred them onto the tanker to wait rescue by another vessel, while the Medecins Sans Frontieres charity's Dignity vessel picked up the dead.

Teigen and his team are just one part of a massive effort under way in the Mediterranean to rescue desperate migrants seeking to reach Europe.

Jan Erik Valen, an intelligence officer and crew member who provided security for the operation, part of the EU's Frontex border force mission in the region, described the panic that greeted him as he boarded the overloaded tanker during the initial rescue.

"It was chaos on the tanker. They were pushing us towards the only way off the boat, coming from everywhere and pushing for lifejackets, arguing over them," he said.

"Then they came up from

behind us and we had to call for back-up. Other police officers from the Siem Pilot joined us with riot shields... we were banging our sticks on pipes to make a lot of noise, and we had to hit a few of them."

Several of those who were rescued fainted during the operation and had to be dragged aboard the Siem Pilot.

"It was the craziest SAR I've ever experienced. At night-time, with a wooden boat, dinghies, people in the water, and a transfer from a tanker," said Valen.

One of the migrants passed a baby from a stricken inflatable launch into the hands of a rescuer.

The Siem Pilot team faced not just the extreme danger of the sea rescues, but also had to contend with confrontational people traffickers.

'I wasn't aware of the risks' -"There was also a facilitator boat which was very aggressive all night. We used the ship's search light to scare it off but it was determined to try and retrieve the dinghies we had rescued the migrants from," said Teigen.

Following the night-time operation, conditions on board the dinghies deterio-

They disclosed that Imtiaz, who was arrested by Rangers at MQM headquarters Nine-Zero in March 2015, had provided the explosives and asked them to keep them, it added. Later, Imtiaz was also shown arrested in the main case of explosive material.

of sexual harassment

White House slams Syrian regime after United Nations report pins 3 chlorine attacks on government forces

Investigators take samples from sand near a part of a missile that was suspected of carrying chemical agents, according to activists, in the countryside of Ain Terma.

nies of the prosecution witnesses, the court said adding that the police also conducted faulty investigations.

According to the prosecution, initially police arrested Tahir and Junaid and allegedly found explosives, weapons and hand-grenades in their custody.

Iraq parliament bans Adult film star accuses Trump alcohol in surprise vote

US condemns Assad's 'defiance' on chemical weapons use those responsible to account.

"We strongly urge all UN member states and parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention, including Russia and Iran, which continue to conduct military operations on behalf of the Assad regime, to unequivocally support these efforts and sustain our shared commitment to the international standard against chemical weapons use."

Washington and Moscow are in the midst of a major diplomatic spat over Russian support for the Assad regime, with relations reaching a new low not seen since the Cold War. "Russian military and economic support to Syria enables the Assad regime to continue its military campaign against its own people, which it has done in violation of international law as demonstrated by the findings of this report," Price said.

"Together, we must send a strong signal that the use of weapons of mass destruction will not be tolerated by the international community." (Agencies)

Pic for representation purpose.

Three explosives and two illicit weapons cases were registered against them.

The court directed the jail authorities to release the three men if they were not wanted in any other criminal case.

After the arrest of the accused, SSP-Malir Rao Anwar had claimed that they were MQM men and had been trained by R&AW in India to carry out terrorist activities in the city.

The officer had also urged the federal government to ban the MQM and termed it an "anti-state" organisation.

Police had not registered any case of anti-state offences against them.

(Agencies)

rated as temperatures soared and the crew was forced to stop any more migrants boarding the ship, according to an AFP journalist aboard the vessel.

Sat in tight rows on the bridge of the ship, the migrants -- mostly from subSaharan Africa along with a handful who said they were from Syria -- had only a thin sheet of webbing to protect them from the baking sun.

Many of them used orange blankets to cover their bodies while their soaked clothes dried nearby.

Among the migrants were several young children, as well as entire families and some unaccompanied teenagers.

Scuffles broke out between some of the male migrants who had been rescued prompting the captain to tell the men on the deck: "If you don't stop fighting I will disembark you from the boat!"

The number of people seeking to make the perilous journey has increased in recent weeks as migrants attempt to complete their journeys before winter brings treacherous conditions to the Mediterranean, limiting the opportunities for Europe-bound

launches.

The Italian interior ministry said Friday that more than 146,500 migrants had landed in Italy so far this year.

Up to 25 people are still missing, feared drowned after men on a Libyan coastguard speedboat attacked a packed migrant dinghy during a rescue operation on Friday off the north African state.

And onboard another rescue ship, the Acquarius which is being operated by the SOS Mediterranee charity, recently rescued migrants spoke out Saturday about the horrors they had endured in an effort to reach Europe.

"I wasn't aware of what I would have to go through along this journey... But I promise I would never do this journey again," said a tearful 33-year-old migrant from Guinea.

Another individual, a 30year-old from Ivory Coast who had just been rescued, added: "I would never advise to anybody to do the trip that I have done to arrive here. Even to my worst enemy, I would never tell him to do this. I wasn't aware of the risks when I decided to leave."

(Agencies)

Washington, Oct 23: An adult film star on Sunday became the 11th woman to accuse Donald Trump of inappropriate sexual contact, saying he touched and kissed her in 2006, further damaging the already fragile campaign of the controversial Republican presidential nominee ahead of the November 8 polls.

Jessica Drake is at least the 11th woman to publicly accuse the real estate tycoon of unwanted sexual advances since the surfacing of a 2005 "Access Hollywood" tape in which Trump brags about being able to grope and kiss women.

42-year-old Drake, an adult film actress and director, alleged that during a charity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, in 2006, she met Trump. She was then invited to Trump's suite. She went there along with some of her women friends.

Drake claimed that Trump asked her for her phone number and invited her to his suite the night they met in 2006. She went and brought along two other women to accompany her because she said she did not feel comfortable attending alone.

"He grabbed each of us tightly, in a hug and kissed each one of us without asking permission," said Drake, who is being represented by Gloria Allred, the women's rights attorney who has represented other women -- including two other Trump accusers -- in

Donald Trump. high-profile sexual assault cases.

Feeling uncomfortable, Drake said she left after about 30 to 45 minutes but later received a phone call from one of Trump's representatives, who invited her to his room alone.

Drake declined.

According to Drake, Trump himself then got on the phone with her, asking her to come back and to go out to dinner or attend a party with him, but she again declined.

He then asked, "What do you want? How much?"

Drake said.

After she turned down his invite, she said he eventually offered her USD 10,000 and use of his private jet if she accepted.

11 woman have so far accused Trump of sexual misconduct since the leak of 2005 video in which he is seen making lewd remarks about woman, prompting a rare apology from him.

Like many of the women

Police given extension in London Tube anti-terror probe London, Oct 23: British police were granted a further six days to question a 19-year-old man arrested after a suspicious item was found on a London Underground train.

Counter-terror detectives also found a device they described as "not viable" at an address in southwestEngland and security was stepped up on the Tube network in a bid to reassure the public.

The first item, found on Thursday on a train at North Greenwich station, which serves the O2 entertainment complex in southeast London, was still being examined yesterday.

A controlled explosion was carried out on the item.

The 19-year-old was arrested by armed police inLondon on Friday. An electric stun gun was used during the arrest on a busy shopping street, but no shots were fired.

The man remains in custody for questioning on suspicion of the commission, preparation and instigation of terrorism acts.

Yesterday, a court in London gave police permission to hold the man until 12:20 pm (1120 GMT) on Friday.

Detectives have been "working tirelessly since the item was found to follow up all potential leads", police

said in a statement.

"Officers are keeping an open mind regarding any possible motive. They are not looking for anyone else in relation to this investigation at this stage.

"The public will see more officers, including armed police, in and around transport hubs to provide reassurance around public safety."

Yesterday, counter-terror officers attended an address in Newton Abbott, around 270 kilometres (170 miles) southwest of London, as part of the inquiry and "found an item they deemed suspicious", Scotland Yard police headquarters said.

Those officers evacuated the address and erected a 200-metre cordon around it but the item was later declared "not viable".

Britain's current national terror threat level has been set at severe -- the second highest of five -- since August 2014, meaning an attack is considered highly likely.

The Times newspaper spoke of a "lone wolf" and said that the incident was "feared to be the first credible bombing attempt on the London transport network in more than 10 years".

Scotland Yard refused to comment on the report.

(Agencies)

before her, Drake said her decision was sparked by watching a 2005 video of Trump bragging about getting away with assaulting women because of his celebrity status.

Meanwhile, the Trump campaign has refuted the charges claiming that the story is completely "false" and the "picture is one of thousands taken out of respect for people asking to have their picture taken with Trump."

"Trump does not know this person, does not remember this person and would have no interest in ever knowing her," the Campaign said.

"This is just another attempt by the Clinton campaign to defame a candidate who just today is number one in three different polls," it said.

Terming the allegation of sexual misconduct against him as "total fabrication" Trump has said, "All of these liars will be sued after the election is over."

(Agencies)

'Indian-American Congressman Ami Bera deserves third term' Washington , Oct 23: IndianAmerican Congressman from Silicon Valley Ami Bera has been endorsed by a prestigious newspaper for the third consecutive term, the elections for which would be held on November 8, 2016.

"Bera is a hardworking and thoughtful member ofCongress who has shown that he is willing to find common ground with Republicans, to the extent possible in these partisan times.

We recommend voters return the Elk Grove Democrat to Washingtonfor a third term," Sacramento Bee wrote in its editorial section.

51-year-old Bera is the only Indian-American in the current Congress and is third ever elected to the House of Representatives after Dalip Singh Saund in 1950 and Bobby Jindal in 2000s.

If re-elected for the third term, Bera would equal the record of Dalip Singh Saund, who was elected to the House of Representatives from the 29th Congressional District of California from January 1957 to January 1963.

Jindal, who later went on to become the two-term Governor of Louisiana, was elected to the US House of Representatives twice in 2004 and 2006.

The Sacramento Bee in its editorial also pointed to Bera's record and expertise, given the problems officials will have to tackle in the next Congress.

According to the daily, Bera can help focus attention on health care threats, including the spread of the Zika virus. He has also served as an associate dean for admissions at UC Davis medical school, and intends to engage in efforts to curb the rising cost of college.

DIBRUGARH, MONDAY, OCTOBER 24

EDUCATION

Exam study tips and techniques

When you start studying for your exams you may feel overwhelmed by all the material you have to revise.

The tips below will help you focus and find a way of studying that suits you.

Before you start studying, make sure you plan your study time and know what the exam format will be, and what sort of questions you will be asked in your exam.

Reviewing your course materials As well as reading through your course materials and notes to study for exams, there are a number of ways to help you study and remember what you are reading.

Summarise, using key words Summarising reduces the amount of material you have to remember, while helping you to learn. It involves reading your course materials then reducing the main ideas to key words that can be memorized. To do this: · Start by deciding on the main (most important) idea in each paragraph. Ask yourself what the paragraph/section is about.

· Rewrite the main idea in your own words then reduce it so you're left with a short sentence. · Write a few key words (the supporting details) under each main idea.

This technique is also useful for helping you to remember any model answers you prepare.

Distillation and re-creation A similar method to the one above is distillation and recreation, which involves: · Reducing or distilling the material into manageable chunks by identify the key

words and underlining or highlighting them. · Re-creating the information by re-telling it in a different way (paraphrasing it) and/or summarising it using your own words.

Reciting aloud · Read each section three or four times and listen carefully. Pay attention to what you're saying. · Hide the page from view. · Recite the main points from memory. · Check to see if your recall was accurate. · Repeat these steps until you can recall the information easily and accurately.

You can also try recording what you say and playing it back, perhaps in the car while you’re driving to work.

Post-it reminders Using post-its can help you review/remember important facts or key words. Stick them up in places where you won’t miss them: next to the bathroom mirror, on the fridge door, next to the coffee mugs, etc. Each time you see a post-it, review the information.

Move the Post-its around so you don’t become so used to seeing them in a certain place that you no longer notice them. Also, try using different coloured Post-its and pens, symbols, etc.

This will help you to remember.

You could also try using flashcards, which you can carry with you anywhere (see below).

Write model answers Predict possible questions When you know what sort of questions to expect you

can try to predict what those questions could be.

To do this: · Read your course materials/pages and note down possible questions. · Check your course page, and any emails and posts from the lecturer/tutor for hints or tips. · Work through old exam papers to see what sorts of questions have been in previous exams.

Remember to check if the course or exam format has been changed or revised before relying too much on old exams papers.

Work out model answers to your questions For each question that you come up with work out a model answer: · Start by brainstorming (perhaps use a mind map for this). · Group and order your ideas. · Decide on a draft outline and write it down. · Then fill in the gaps.

Practice writing your answers Practice writing your answers from memory. When you feel you know an answer well simulate exam

conditions by giving yourself questions to answer and a time limit. Remember to check how much time you should spend on each question first. As well as helping you learn the information, this will help you get used to writing non-stop, as you would in an exam.

Test yourself Recite aloud Testing yourself could be as simple as trying to recite information aloud, in your own words, without referring to your study notes.

Being able to explain some-

Where to start with exam study

The most important thing with exams is to start your studies early, and get prepared so that you know what to expect in your exam, what you need to study, and have a plan for how to approach your study.

Check your exam details Before you start studying for your exams make sure you know: · When and where your exam(s) is. · What of sort of weighting or percentage of the final mark for your

course the exam is. · What you need to take with you when you sit your exam, and what you can’t take into the exam venue.

To find this information check your learning material or course pages,

thing in your own words is the only way to be sure that you really understand it and know it well.

Do a model exam You could also try and set yourself a model exam and try it under exam conditions.

This will allow you to practise writing to a time limit, and using your own words to answer the questions.

Use flashcards Studying with flashcards is a form of active learning.

They force you to think about the material and do something with it, rather than just reading it. To make flashcards: · Identify and not any questions you could be asked as you work through your learning material or review your notes. Or try imagining you're teaching the course: what questions would you ask in the exam? · Note any terms, concepts or formulas that you need to learn. · Write each question, term, concept and/or formula on a separate flashcard. · Write the answer or explanation on the other side of the card, using your own words whenever possible.

From there shuffle the cards so you can't figure out any answers based on their location in the deck then pick the top card and try to answer the question or explain the term. If you know it, great! Put the card at the bottom of the deck.

If not, look at the answer and insert the card a few down in the deck so that it will come up again soon.

Keep working through the deck of cards until you know all the answers.

Carry your cards with you wherever you go so that you can take advantage of any spare time you may have, such as when you’re waiting in a queue, on the bus or train, or getting dressed in the morning.

Study with a friend Teaming up with a friend, fellow student or study group (face-to-face or online) is another great way to study. It will allow you to bounce ideas off one another, get help with difficult concepts, and it’s motivating.

Ideas for studying with others: · Quiz one another – each person draws up a list of questions to ask someone else. · Teach one another – teaching is a great way to learn. It’s also a good way make sure that you can explain something in your own words.

If you don’t have anyone to study with try teaching a family member or a friend.

The very act of talking about the work will clarify your thinking/knowledge and will reveal any gaps or weaknesses that require your attention.

correspondence from us, and the pages below: Find out the exam format Finding out about the length and format of the exam, including what types of questions to expect, will help focus your study. You’ll know what types of questions to prepare for and will be able to plan how you will allocate your time?during the exam before?you go into the venue. Check your course material or the course pages. If it is not in there, contact your lecturer/tutor.

You can also check the pages below to find out more about exam questions and how to plan your exam time: Plan your study time Creating a study plan will help you get organised for study, and give you goals to work towards.

Start by filling in the date(s) of your exam(s)

P9

Improve your memory We use a range of things to help us store memories and recall them when they're needed, incluing pictures and colour, language, organisation, repetition, emotions, spatial awareness, and all five senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch.

The techniques below make use of these features.

Using them should help you concentrate, understand and remember what you're learning The recency, primacy and chunking effect Studies have shown that most people who try to remember a list of 30 words, will recall some words from the beginning of the list and some from the end, but very few from the middle.

This effect is known as: · primacy (first, i.e. the words from the beginning of the list), and · recency (most recent, i.e. words from the end of the list which were seen most recently).

It is also easier to recall the words if the list is divided into a number of short meaningful lists. This is known as chunking.

To apply the recency, primacy and chunking effect: · Divide your study time into chunks of about 30 – 45 minutes with a five minute break between each chunk. · Make sure each chunk or section you study forms a meaningful whole, with a

For example, if you have to remember the order of the planets from the SunMercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto). To help you remember this, make up a sentence where each word starts with the same initial letter, in the same order. For example: Most volcanoes expel mulberry jam sandwiches under normal pressure.

It's ridiculous, but that makes it more memorable.

And if you turn it into a picture, it'll be even easier to remember.

Peg systems Peg systems are mnemonics that use words, letters, pictures or shapes (or pegs) that are associated with numbers.

These pegs are then linked to a list of things to be memorised.

pictures and visualisation can help you remember. For example, you could: · Really look at what you are studying then try to see it as a picture in your mind's eye. · If it's a page, you could try to see the headings and where the different bits are on the page. · If it's a picture or diagram, try to reproduce it in your mind or look at it and copy it. · Try to create a picture, or series of pictures, in your mind or on paper, to illustrate what you're learning. This could be a mind map.

Recite your work · Recite your work aloud and listen to yourself or record yourself and play it back. · Walk around while studying and recite your

beginning and an ending.

This will help you to optimise your study time by studying in chunks, and building in lots of beginnings and endings.

Mnemonics A mnemonic (pronounced 'nemonic') is a device, such as a pattern, rhyme or picture, which is used to help you remember things that may otherwise be difficult to remember.

A simple mnemonic to remember a list of things is to make up a sentence where the first letter of each word is a cue for the items you have to remember.

Use your senses and imagination We use our senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch) to take in information about the world around us.

Most of the time we don't passively accept the information we obtain from our senses, we use our thoughts and imagination to make sense of the information and to remember it.

This can be applied to helping you remember what you're studying.

Using pictures Our brains like pictures. Often we think in pictures, we dream in pictures, so using

work aloud to the rhythm of your footsteps.

Use smell Have you ever had the experience of a scent reminding you of something that happened long ago?

Make this work for your studies. For example, you could suck a lemon lolly while studying something you must remember and try to associate the taste and smell with what you have to remember. Then take a similar lolly into the exam room and use the taste and smell to jog your memory.

Touch Use your finger to trace out the letters of something you

on your calendar. Then divide your time according to the number of topics you need to cover. As well as time to revise, include time for time for practice exams and additional revision if required.

Remember to be realistic with your plan: · Plan to start your study early. If you start too late you will add to your stress, which won’t aid your learning. · Decide what days each week, and for how long each day you will study. Make sure your plan is flexible, and will let you adapt if something comes up. Don’t fill in every spare hour of every day. · Make sure you allow for breaks and include free time. Breaks help you to rest, and absorb what you are learning.

have to remember. Think about what the surface feels like and try to remember the movement and the shape of your letters - this will help you remember them.

Imagination Our imagination uses things like stories, humour, symbolism, colour, and exaggeration, so use them to help you remember what you're studying. For example: · Make up some private jokes about your studies or turn them into comic strips. · Use symbols like a big ! next to something you must remember or } to show things should be linked, or an —> to show progression. Whatever you use, make sure they are meaningful to you and serve as cues to help you remember. · Use different colour pens or highlighters to make things stand out. · Use larger letters than usual or CAPITALS for very important facts.

The story technique A story that links a number of facts is much easier to remember than a list of facts. This is because as each part of the story leads on to the next, each fact you remember is cue to help you remember the next.

The story links them together and helps trigger your memory.

The more memorable the story, the easy it is to remember the things you have to learn. To help with this, try to see the events and interactions in your mind’s eye as you’re telling yourself the story.

An example of how to use the story method: To remember the names of the Seven Dwarfs in the fairy story Snow White, you can make up a story to help you: I’m usually Sleepy when I wake up at seven in the morning, but today I was wide awake and Grumpy because I knew I had to visit the Doc. I’m normally quite Bashful about going, but a friend told me not to be so Dopey, as I had an allergy that was making me very Sneezy. After went, and was given an antihistamine really very Happy!

NATION

P10

Working to make India an arbitration hub: PM Modi

UP CM sacks Shivpal, 3 other ministers; crisis deepens in SP

DIBRUGARH, MONDAY, OCTOBER 24

New Delhi, Oct 23: Asserting that his government has initiated far-reaching legal reforms, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said it wants to create a vibrant arbitration mechanism as investors need to be assured that the rules of the game will not be changed arbitrarily and commercial disputes can be resolved efficiently.

An enabling alternative dispute resolution ecosystem is a national priority as it will not only add to investors' comfort level but also ease the burden on courts , he said, adding there is a need to promote India globally as an arbitration hub.

"Businesses seek assurance of the prevalence of rule of law in the Indian market. They need to be assured that the rules of the game will not change overnight, in an arbitrary fashion. And those commercial disputes will be resolved efficiently. A robust legal framework backed by a vibrant arbitration culture is essential," he said.

Addressing the valedictory function of 'National Initiative towards Strengthening Arbitration and Enforcement in India', Modi said

Prime Minister Narendra Modi. towards this end, the government has initiated farreaching legal reforms.

"Over a thousand archaic laws have been scrapped.

We have enacted a comprehensive Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, implemented the National Company Law Tribunals, established a statutory Monetary Policy Committee and effected a merger of the commodities and securities market," he told the gathering which included Chief Justice of India T S Thakur and members of the judiciary from several countries.

The Prime Minister said creation of a vibrant ecosystem for institutional ar-

bitration, is one of the foremost priorities of his government.

Recently, major amendments have been made to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act. This has made the arbitration process easy, timely and hassle-free.

He said legal reforms can deliver desired results only when there is an effective and efficient dispute resolution mechanism. .

"The independence of the judiciary is a basic feature of the Indian Constitution.

Common citizens as well as businesses repose immense faith in the integrity of the judicial process. Our government has taken various

initiatives to improve the judicial infrastructure and administration," Modi noted.

He said the enactment of Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Act for speedy resolution of commercial disputes is a step in that direction.

Modi said the government has been working on a strategy for convergence of existing tribunals. This will help transform the existing complicated tribunal system into a simpler structure.

"We need to simultaneously facilitate a vibrant ecosystem for alternative dispute resolution, including arbitration, mediation and conciliation. This will provide additional comfort to investors and businesses. More importantly, it will also ease the case-load on Indian courts," he said.

He said, today, corporates and financial institutions want legal experts who can help close business deals and transactions without any disputes and litigations. If a dispute arises, corporates want to resolve them quickly through arbitration, without going to courts. For this, they require

specialised arbitration lawyers.

"India has no dearth of brilliant lawyers and judges.

India also has a large number of retired judges, engineers, and scientists who can function as competent arbitrators in various fields.

India's economic interests shall be better served by a higher number of arbitration experts and lawyers. This in turn requires widening the ambit of legal education in India. There is need to develop specialised arbitration bar associations," he said.

He also said there is a need to have professionally run arbitral institutions which can deliver international standards of services at reasonable costs to businesses in India.

Recent trends, he said, indicate that Asian centres like Hong Kong and Singapore have emerged as preferred arbitration destinations. As popular business hubs, they also rank high in the levels of Ease of Doing Business.

"Thus, availability of quality arbitration mechanisms is an integral component of Ease of Doing Business, to which our government is committed," the Prime Minister said. (PTI)

Prepared to deal We are an ally who stood by India in darkest hours: Russia with any eventuality on IB: BSF

With deals over USD 12 billion in kitty this month, including leasing of a second nuclear submarine, Russia hopes to bag more projects as it termed itself as not just a business partner but an "ally" who stood by India in its "darkest hours".

New Delhi, Oct 23: Russia is eying the multi-billion dollar deal for P75-I project of India under which six conventional submarines are to be built with Air Independent Propulsion systems and the next aircraft carrier project besides the deal to jointly develop a fifth generation fighter aircraft.

Asserting that there is no limit to what India and Russia can do together, a top Russian defense official claimed the US and Europeans can never give what Moscow can and has offered.

"We are ready not just to deliver most serious weapons, most important weapons but continue to give our state of art technology," Sergei Chemezov, CEO of Rostec State Corporation, an umbrella organisation of 700 hi-tech civilian and military firms, told PTI. "Russia is a friend, an ally and not a business partner.

Russia stood by India during its darkest hours. Next year will mark 70 years of our relationship. It is a long time," he said and noted that Russia had stood by

India when it faced sanctions after the 1998 nuclear tests.

"Not so in the recent past, when India was under sanctions, we were pretty much the only partner for India.

"Russia has been a partner not only in every day military supplies but also most sensitive and most important supplies including a nuclear submarine which was rented to India for you to use," said Chemezov who is also a close aide of Russian President Vladmir Putin.

"Come to think about it, I would not imagine any other country to do that, he said.

Not in the past or in the future. I cannot imagine US or Europe giving India such a strategic asset," he said when asked about the tough competition that US and Europe are giving to Russia in the Indian defence market.

Not only did Russia lease out a nuclear powered submarine, it actively helped in the building India's first indigenous nuclear weapon carrying capable submarine INS Arihant which has been inducted into the Indian Navy.

Chemezov said "it is a very special year for us and will be marked by major projects

and things are starting already."

He, however, admitted that from a third person's point of view, there might have been some decline in some areas of defense between the two countries. US and some European countries have managed to strike mega deals with India which the Russians were also competing for.

"It is not a linear sort of relationship. We feel that ties are definitely developing and increasing," he said.

Giving example of the deadly BrahMos missile, Chemezov said that not only has Russia delivered high value equipment but has also collaborated with India on developing strategic assets.

He pointed out that in late 1990s, Russia had transferred technology for Su30 MKI, India's frontline fighter aircraft.

"At that point of time, it was our most modern equipment, our most modern plane. When we had actually signed that agreement, Russia did not even equip its army with this.

"This was basically our newest highest technology.

That shows and speaks about our relationship with India," he said.

He also gave the example of T90 tanks, saying they are "not in anyway less but in many way, modern than any advanced US or European technologies".

He said there is scope for cooperation in the P75-I and the aircraft carrier project."There is definitely scope for both of those.

There is pretty much no limit to what we could do together. Anything that is within our realm of things and possibilities, means it is the same with India," he said. (Agencies)

2 policemen injured after being hit by car-borne youths Saharanpur, Oct 23: Two police officials have been severely injured after being allegedly hit by two carborne youths at Biharigarh area here, police said today.

The incident took place yesterday when the Biharigarh police received a PCR call complaining that the two car-borne youths were misbehaving with a couple of persons, whose vehicle had broken down

on a nearby highway, ASP Sanjay Singh said.

As per the complaint, the accused started passing comments on the people and when they locked themselves in the vehicle, the youths hit their car.

The accused fled when police reached the spot, Singh said.

Sub Inspector Puran Singh, who chased the accused, was hit by their car, he said.

Meanwhile, Station Officer Piyush Dikshit tried to stop the accused's vehicle at another intersection but the duo managed to escape by breaking the police barricade. Dikshit was injured in the incident after being hit by the vehicle.

Both the officials are being treated, ASP said, adding efforts are on to arrest the absconding accused. (PTI)

Jammu, Oct 23: Warning that the 24-hour long lull on the border can take "any turn any time", the BSF today said that it was fully prepared to deal with any eventuality and any border build-up by the Pakistani side on the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir.

"Yes, there is lull on the IB for the past 24 hours.We have no doubt that this peace can take any turn any time and we are fully prepared.

"If they try to do anything they will be given a befitting reply. We are fully prepared for that", Additional Director General (ADG) BSF Western Command, Arun Kumar told reporters on the sidelines of a wreath laying ceremony here.

In the wake of reports of a border build-up by Pakistani troops across the IB, Kumar said BSF has the information and it was fully prepared to deal with any eventuality.

"I think we are having the information, we are ready for any eventuality and if they are building up we are ready for it", he said.

The BSF today paid rich tributes to Gurnam Singh, who succumbed to injures at a hospital in Jammu after he was injured in a sniping incident on the International Border in Kathua sector on Friday.

The BSF said the infiltration attempt, which was foiled by Gurnman and his other colleagues, had the support of the Pakistan Rangers.

"Absolutely that is on record and we have seen though our surveillance equipment as how they (Pakistan rangers) have given protection fire to get the people infiltrated into our border and how our men repulsed that", Kumar said.

To a question on the BSF claim of having gunned down seven Pakistani rangers and a terrorist in retaliatory fire, the ADG said, "See as far as the number of people killed (are concerned) there we

cannot be fully sure, but as we have a close border and we have equipment with which we can see on the other side we have seen several people being hit and falling".

He said the Pakistan side has been given a befitting reply and if they dare to target any BSF jawan they will have to pay a heavy price for that.

On the Line of Control, Kumar said there have been continuous incidents of ceasefire violations and BSF under the able guidance of the army are repulsing such incidents.

"But this was for the first incident after the Uri attack, that they tried to infiltrate through the international boundary and we gave them a befitting reply", he said.

He said that on the intervening night of October 19 and 20, Pakistan tried to push in some terrorists using fire power and the same was given a befitting reply by the alert BSF jawans led by Gurnam Singh because of which the infiltration bid was foiled and one terrorist was killed.

"The next day sniping was done from the Pakistani side on the same place where Gurnam Singh was standing and he was targeted and the bullet hit him in the head, we wanted to evacuate him, but because of heavy fire we faced some problems.

"We retaliated and shifted him to GMC and every possible treatment was given to him and air ambulance was also kept ready to shift him, but sadly we lost him during the night", Kumar said.

He said that Gurnam has made a supreme sacrifice for the nation and the BSF and the entire nation was proud of him.

"The BSF was planning to shift him to Delhi and Air ambulance was kept ready for that, but Gurnam breathed his last night," he said.

Gurnam's family had yesterday demanded that he be shifted to a better hospital. (Agencies)

Lucknow, Oct 23: Deepening the crisis in SP, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday sacked four pro-Amar Singh ministers including his uncle Shivpal Yadav, almost pushing the ruling party to the brink of a split The trouble in SP hit a new low on Sunday morning with the chief minister convening a meeting of party legislators here and recommending to Governor Ram Naik that Shivpal, Narad Rai and Om Prakash Singh (all Cabinet ministers) and Sayeda Shadab Fatima (MoS - Independent charge) be sacked from his ministry.

A Raj Bhawan communique said the recommendation was accepted with immediate effect.

Following the extreme action against supporters of Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh, the Mulayam-camp followers got into a huddle at the residence of the SP

Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav. supremo at a stone's throw distance from the CM's bungalow to decide the next course of action The fast-paced developments came a day ahead of a mega meeting of party MPs, MLAs, MLCs and ministers convened by Mulayam where some tough decisions are likely to be taken Sunday's actions stirred the political circles ahead of the

Assembly polls in the state early next year as the tense stand-off between Akhilesh and Shivpal gave rise to intense speculation about a possible split in SP Some SP leaders even suggested that a new party named National Samajwadi Party or Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party with motorcycle as its symbol could be launched by the Chief Minister. (PTI)

CJI slams dismal show of govts arbitration centre New Delhi, Oct 23: Lamenting that an avalanche of cases is putting the judicial system under stress, Chief Justice of India T S Thakur today pitched for revisiting legal framework to encourage arbitration and reforms in the existing governmentrun institution as it has performed "dismally".

He also lamented that India lacks proper institutions to hold arbitration proceedings, forcing people to approach "five star hotels and clubs" for the purpose.

Referring to governmentrun International Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution, he said in its two decades of existence, it has handled only 20 cases which talks of its "dismal performance".

"Domestic adjudication (of arbitration cases) has a great promise for litigants and overburdened courts...cou rts are overburdened, judges are overworked...18000 judges handled 50 million cases and disposed of 20 million cases...an avalanche of cases is putting the judicial system under stress," Justice Thakur said here.

Referring to the epic Mahabharata, he said Lord Krishna tried to mediate between Kaurava and Pandava, but failed. "Even gods can fail in mediation, but that does not mean, it is not successful...those who did not see reason were annihilated," he said in lighter vein.

Addressing an international conference on arbitration in the presence of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, he said there is a need to "revisit" the legal framework regarding arbitration awards.

The framework should "address and reduce prolongation in courts" once the arbitration award has been granted.

How judiciary will deal with arbitral award and the time courts take in deciding cases are arbitral award need to be looked into, the CJI said.

He said litigants and arbitrators prefer to go "to five star hotels and clubs to hold proceedings. Niti Bagh club here is a preferred choice as it provides facilities to hold such proceedings".

He said Singapore is a pre-

ferred arbitration hub not because it has an impressive building or provides translation facility, but because of its legal framework.

Justice Thakur said the criticism that courts interfere in arbitral awards is "not misplaced."

"I personally hold the view that once an award is made and it is challenged in the court, the first question the judge asks is who is the arbitrator. This is because the judge wants to know whether the award is honest. There have been cases where the judges have faltered.

"But there is a general impression, and I think it is a well-founded impression, that when it comes to a judge working as an arbitrator, the court will presume that the arbitration award may suffer from any error as such but will not have any element of having being corrupted by any exterious consideration," he said.

He said there is a need to sensitise judges to show deference to arbitration awards, subject to the grounds on which such awards can be challenged. (PTI)

Rajnath Singh Leaves For Bahrain; To Raise Pak Sponsored Terror In India New Delhi, Oct 23: Home Minister Rajnath Singh will raise the issue of Pakistan's continuous support to cross border terrorism with the top leadership of Bahrain and seek their cooperation in tackling international terrorism during his three-day visit to the Gulf country beginning today.

Mr Singh, who left for Manama today, will meet Bahrain King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa and Interior Minister Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa and will discuss with them various bilateral issues.

Pakistan's continuous support to cross border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir is expected to be raised by the Home Minister in his meetings with the top leadership of Bahrain.

Mr Singh is also likely to tell them that India cannot take at face any of the assurances that Pakistan provides in regard to stopping terrorism.

In a statement before his departure, Mr Singh said India and Bahrain are working together to further strengthen security and counter terrorism cooperation between the two countries.

The Home Minister said India and Bahrain enjoy excellent bilateral relations characterised by broadbased political, economic

Rajnath Singh said India cannot take assurances given by Pak in regard to stopping terrorism. and cultural contacts.

There will be extensive discussions on how to enhance bilateral cooperation with regard to tackling international terrorism, organised crime and each other's fugitives at the meeting between Mr Singh and his Bahrain counterpart Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, sources said.Bahrain is a key member of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in which Pakistan is also a member. Mr Singh will also address the Indian community in Bahrain during his trip.

On Friday, President of National Security Agency of Bahrain, Sheikh Talal bin Mohammed bin Khalifa AlKhalifa, had called on the Home Minister here.

Mr Singh then told him that his three-day visit to Bahrain will enhance bilateral ties with the Gulf na-

tion and it grows from strength to strength.

The Home Minister had hoped for an expeditious and successful negotiation of the bilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Defence Cooperation which is under active consideration of the Bahraini side.

Referrring to the presence of ISIS in the West AsiaGulf region and the rise of religious extremism, the Home Minister said its negative impact on the Muslim population around the world is of serious concern for India too.

On relations with Pakistan, Mr Singh had said since there was no change in Pakistan's approach of sponsoring terrorism, "we cannot take at face any of the assurances that Pakistan provides in regard to stopping terrorism". (PTI)

DIBRUGARH, MONDAY, OCTOBER 24

P11

Google Pixel and Pixel XL Will Start Shipping in India on October 25

It came as a delight when Google announced that India will be one of the

few countries where its Pixel smart phone duo will be launched. Follow-

ing that, it was just a week ago when Google's recently launched flagship

smart phones Pixel and Pixel XL went up for preorders in India via major retailers like Flipkart, Chroma, Reliance Digital, and others. However, it was not revealed when the smart phones will finally hit the shelves, but not the wait is over. The search giant has announced that the Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL will start shipping on October 25.

Google India on Saturday in a tweet said "The future is exciting. And by future we mean 3 days from now. #Pixel will start reaching stores on 25th October #made by google". To recall, Google launched its Pixel smart phones at its October 4 event, along with a slew of other gadgets. At the event, Google also re-

vealed that India will be one of the first six countries including the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and Germany to see the Pixel smart phones reaching the markets. Unfortunately, Google's yet impressive Really Blue colour variant of Pixel won't be available in India, while the Quite Black and Very Silver will ship starting Tuesday.

In other news, while the Pixel and Pixel XL smart phones are yet to start shipping in India, we already have received the teardown details of the larger variant Pixel XL, courtesy iFixit. As per the full teardown, the AMOLED display packed in the smartphone is a Samsung manufactured display (part num-

ber AMS546KD09).

Samsung has also given its UFS 2.0 internal flash storage RAM in the phone. The touch screen controller comes from Synaptics (ClearPad S3708) and surprisingly enough, it's just the battery that bears an HTC moniker.

We have already learnt that HTC is the commercial manufacturer of the Pixel and Pixel XL, just like Apple has Foxconn as its manufacturer for the iPhone. Summing up the whole procedure of teardown,iFixit gave Google Pixel XL a score of 6 out of 10 in terms of reparability, which is one point lower than the iPhone 7 Plus.

The Pixel 32GB variant will cost you Rs. 57,000

while the Pixel XL 32GB will sell at Rs. 67,000.

The 128GB variants are priced a bit higher at Rs. 66,000 for Pixel and Rs. 76,000 for Pixel XL. The festive season is going on in India, and major e-retailers are giving good discounts as well as offers on various products. Apple's recently launched iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 plus too entered India earlier this month with a bunch of discounts and offers being available via almost all e-commerce companies and offline retailers as well.

Samsung is still struggling with its Galaxy Note 7 fiasco with the device that could not even land in India. With Pixel and Pixel XL, Google is also eyeing to dominate the Indian smart phone

market this Diwali.

Talking about the specifications of the first Android 7.1-running smart phone, the Pixel and Pixel XL are almost identical.

The display size, of course, is different on both the devices - Pixel has a 5-inch full-HD display while the Pixel XL has a 5.5-inch QHD display. The Pixel packs a 2770mAh battery, whereas the Pixel XL has a 3450mAh battery inside. Other specifications on the Pixel smart phones include a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor, 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM, Pixel Imprint fingerprint sensor, 12.3megapixel rear cameras with a Sony IMX378 sensor, and an 8-megapixel front camera with a Sony IMX179 sensor.

Scientists May Have Finally Cracked Top 5 must have apps for Android devices the Curious Case of Sun's Tilt Planet Nine - the undiscovered one at the edge of our solar system -- appears to be responsible for the unusual tilt of the Sun, say researchers.

Planet Nine was predicted

by Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown from California Institute of Technology's (Caltech) in January this year.

The large and distant planet may be adding a wobble to the solar system, giving the appearance that the Sun is tilted slightly.

"Because Planet Nine is so

massive and has an orbit tilted compared to the other planets, the solar system has no choice but to slowly twist out of alignment," said Elizabeth Bailey, graduate student at Caltech and lead author of a study announcing the discovery.

All of the planets orbit in a flat plane with respect to the Sun, roughly within a couple degrees of each other.

That plane, however, rotates at a six-degree tilt with respect to the Sun-giving the appearance that the Sun itself is cocked off at an angle.

Brown and Batygin's discovery of evidence that the Sun is orbited by an as-yetunseen planet - that is about 10 times the size of Earth with an orbit that is about 20 times farther from the Sun on average than Neptune's - changes the physics.

Planet Nine, based on their

calculations, appears to orbit at about 30 degrees off from the other planets' orbital plane, influencing the orbit of a large population of objects in the Kuiper Belt.

"Every time we look carefully, we continue to find that Planet Nine explains something about the solar system that had long been a mystery," added Batygin, assistant professor of planetary science.

How did Planet Nine achieve its unusual orbit?

Though that remains to be determined, Batygin sug-

gests that the planet may have been ejected from the neighbourhood of the gas giants by Jupiter, or perhaps may have been influenced by the gravitational pull of other stellar bodies in the solar system's extreme past.

The findings have been accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal.

Debit Card Hacked: How to Change SBI, ICICI, HDFC, Axis Bank, Yes Bank Debit Card PIN Online A security breach has put 3.2 million debit cards in India at risk, with major banks like State Bank of India (SBI), HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, and Yes Bank being the worst hit.

Considering the scale of this new breach, it is advisable to change your debit card PIN at the earliest, and you don't even have to go to the ATM or the bank branch to change it. All the above mentioned banks, except SBI, allow net banking users to change their debit card PIN online.

Therefore, scroll down to find out how to change to change your HDFC, ICICI, Yes Bank, and Axis Bank debit card PIN online.

How to change SBI debit card PIN online Despite our best efforts, we haven't been able to find a way of changing the PIN for a State Bank of India debit card online. If you know a method, please let us know via the comments so we can update with post.

How to change ICICI Bank debit card PIN online

" Log into your ICICI Bank net banking account " Select the My Card Pin option that is located on the left. " Here, you will have the option to change the debit card PIN " Do that by selecting the active debit card and providing the CVV number. " You will have to verify the OTP you received, and submit the corresponding letters on the back of your debit card. " On the next page, just choose the new PIN code for your ICICI debit card and hit submit.

How to change HDFC Bank debit card PIN online " Open your net banking account and click on the Cards tab. " On the left side, in Debit Cards, scroll down and click the 'Request' button. " Of the new options

listed under Request select Instant PIN Generation. " To change your HDFC Bank debit card PIN, simply provide the requisite details on this page, i.e. the new PIN number and the OTP you received on the phone.

How to change Axis Bank debit card PIN online " Log into your Axis Bank netbanking account " Scroll the mouse over hamburger button on the top left (the button with the three horizontal bars). " Upon scrolling the cursor over the hamburger button, you will see the option My Debit Cards " Click that option and select your active debit card. " In the bar below marked More Services, select the Set Debit Card Pin option and press Go. " Here, you will be able to change the PIN by entering the new PIN code, expiry date of the card, and submitting the NETSecure code that you received on the phone.

How to change Yes Bank debit card PIN " When you enter your Yes Bank account, browse to the mySPACE tab on the top. " Click on the fourth tab on the top right of the mySPACE widget screen. " Under this, choose the third option i.e. Debit Card PIN Regeneration/ Change. " After clicking it, you will be prompted to choose your preferred debit card from the drop-down menu. " Enter you c a r d ' s v a l i d i t y, f o l lowed by the new PIN. " You'll need to re-enter the new PIN and proceed further. " A confirmation screen will appear; clicking Confirm on it will take you to the OTP page. " Input the code that you received in the OTP on your phone.

The best thing about smartphones is that you can enhance their abilities by simply installing required applications. However, with users very concerned about bloatwares (preinstalled apps) device makers these days try to roll out their devices with bare minimum apps.

Thankfully, for Android device users there is Google Play store which is the biggest market place in terms of number of apps. There are hundreds of free applications for which you don't have to even shell out a penny. But the sheer number of apps also makes it difficult to choose.

To help you out we have here listed the five must have apps for every Android user.

hibernates the apps you don't want to wake by themselves which in turn helps save a lot

Greenify Tired of those battery apps claiming to increase your battery life which in reality barely bring any change?

However, Greenify is much different. Greenify basically

of battery. Opening up the app, you will find a small '+' sign at the top which will add apps you want to hibernate.

Once done just tap the ZZZ button to instantly hibernate apps. You can also enable auto

hibernation by going into the settings menu. For Non-root users there will be a weird animation going on when the app auto-hibernates. Alternatively you can just add a widget to your home-screen for instant one tap hibernate.

This app saves a lot of battery as it doesn't let any hibernated apps to wake on its own. So if you hibernate messengers like Whatsapp, then you will not get any notifications regarding your messages unless you actually open up the app.

Parallel Space Have you been into that situation when you want to use multiple accounts on an app in the same phone? Parallel space does it for you. With Parallel space you can use multiple accounts on apps like Whatsapp, Facebook Snapchat etc. The basic concept behind this is that it duplicates the app on your phone and lets you operate another account for the same app in the phone. This app can be a life saver who always wanted to

display's really irritates especially when browsing over something which is totally white.

Night Screen' is the app which solves this issue perfectly. It doesn't lowers your brightness but creates a black tint over your screen. It also comes with an option of dark theme and also enables an option to overlay status bar. Overall the app is pretty light and does the job pretty well.

Backdrops Backdrops is a really nicely designed wallpaper app.

Opening the app, you will see a bunch of wallpapers you can select or you can jump to community section to find related wallpapers. You can also search for any specific wallpaper. What makes this app really innovative is the amount of ease with which you can either download the wallpaper or just the set wallpaper as your home screen background. Long pressing the 'set' button applies the wallpaper to your lock screen as well.

You also get an option to sign in and save your favorites for future use. Not only this, you also get an option to upload your own created wallpapers once you have logged in.

CM Lite Having occasional lags or hiccups while using your Android smart phone even after cleaning the memory? In that case try CM Lite or Clean Master Lite. CM Lite comes handy when one wants to quickly clean up his device without any filtering. The app scans in the first instance and intelligently lists various types of junk. Android phones generally store a lot of junk in the

have two whatsapp accounts on their Dual SIM devices.

Night Screen No matter how much you dim your phone's display, sometime you will feel that screen is bright enough for those late chatting sessions especially when there is no room light.

Casual browsing or chatting has become a prerequisite for good sleep these days and when its dark the phone

form of cache which can sometimes left unaltered. Additionally, the app also has a Battery Saver function which analyses different apps' battery consumption. Moreover it can also scan for viruses with its anti-virus functionality. And all of this is stored in a fairly light weight app. If you want more functionality you can also download the original Clean Master app.

metric for gaming revenue for Xbox and PC, saying it was $1.9 billion last quarter.

In the Intelligent Cloud unit, comprised of Azure and server software deployed in customers' own data centers, sales rose 8.3 percent to $6.38 billion, compared with the $6.26 billion average analyst estimate. Productivity revenue climbed 5.6 percent $6.66 billion. Analysts had estimated

$6.55 billion.

For the fiscal second quarter, the company said Productivity revenue will be as much as $7.1 billion, while Intelligent Cloud sales will be $6.55 billion to $6.75 billion. More Personal Computing, the unit most impacted by holiday sales of computers and video games, will be $11.2 billion to $11.6 billion, Hood said on a conference call.

Microsoft Sales, Profit Top Estimates as Cloud Demand Soars Microsoft Corp.'s first-quarter sales and earnings topped analysts' estimates, buoyed by growing demand for cloudbased software and services.

Profit excluding certain items was 76 cents a share on adjusted sales of $22.3 billion (roughly Rs. 1,49,209 crores), the Redmond, Washingtonbased company said in a statement Thursday. Analysts on average estimated profit in the period ended September 30 would be 68 cents on revenue of $21.7 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Shares surged to a record in extended trading.

Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella has been investing in data centers and striking partnerships to bolster sales of Microsoft's main corporate cloud products, Azure and Office 365 - internet-based versions of the popular productivity apps, e-mail and collaboration tools. Revenue from Azure cloud services more than doubled, helping Microsoft outperform even as

demand for PCs remained in the doldrums and its mobilephone efforts collapsed.

"Cloud is growing significantly and Azure represents incremental new revenue," said Mark Moerdler, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., who rates the shares outperform. "Commercial cloud is driving revenue growth, which is somewhat hidden by the fact that Nokia is going to zero."

Microsoft shares jumped as much as 6.2 percent in extended trading following the report, after losing less than 1 percent to $57.25 at the close in New York. If the gains hold when US trading opens tomorrow, the stock will top its alltime high - reached in 1999.

"This transition to the cloud represents the single largest addressable market opportunity we've all seen in many, many years," Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said after the report. "There is such an opportunity to grow our overall revenue and do it profitably."

Hood said half of the earningsper-share estimate beat was because of strong sales, and half was related to a lowerthan-expected tax rate and other income. Net income in the recent period declined to $4.69 billion (roughly Rs. 31,380 crores), or 60 cents a share.

Earlier this month, on a swing through Europe, Nadella said the company has spent $3 billion - $1 billion in the past year alone - on data centers on the Continent to expand cloud services. He promised continued investments there, including new sites in France next year.

Hood said in July that gross margins for commercial cloud would "materially improve" in the current year. That's because previous years of investment are starting to pay off as those data centers support more customers. Commercial cloud gross margin in the recent period was 49 percent, 7 points wider than in the prior quarter.

Microsoft has pledged to reach

annualised revenue of $20 billion (roughly 1,33,840 crores) in its corporate cloud business by the fiscal year that ends in June 2018. That metric stood at more than $13 billion at the end of the fiscal first quarter.

The company has been adding customers and workloads for its Azure services, which let clients run and store applications in Microsoft's data centers.

Elsewhere in the cloud business, paid users for the company's Salesforce.com rival, called Dynamics CRM Online, grew more than 2.5 times. Overall, Dynamics product revenue rose 11 percent. The two companies' rivalry has intensified in recent months after Microsoft beat out Salesforce in bidding forLinkedIn Corp. Since then, Salesforce has asked European regulators to scrutinize the $26.2 billion deal. Hood reiterated on Thursday that Microsoft expects the acquisition to close in the December quarter.

PC market Worldwide PC shipments in the September quarter were a smidgen better than expected - a decline of 3.9 percent, compared with a 4.1 percent drop in the prior period, researcher IDC said. Still, chipmakerIntel Corp. saw its shares plummet by the most in nine months after a disappointing fourthquarter sales forecast signaled lackluster demand for PCs heading into the holiday shopping season.

Microsoft in July admitted it won't meet its goal of getting the Windows 10 operating system on 1 billion devices within two to three years of the 2015 release of the software. The company blamed the shortfall on the decision to all but exit the phone hardware business and insisted this year would be a good one for corporate adoption of the system. Analysts are waiting to see evidence.

"I'm not yet ready to call success, but we are seeing enough people doing enough prep work for it that it's quite pos-

sible we could see a jump in adoption on the corporate side," Moerdler said.

Windows, Gaming Sales in the company's More Personal Computing business, including Windows and Xbox, slipped 1.8 percent from a year ago to $9.29 billion. That compares with the $8.88 billion average estimate of five analysts polled by Bloomberg.

Microsoft also reported a new

cmyk

cmyk

DIBRUGARH, MONDAY, OCTOBER 24

P12 Hamilton powers to pole at United States Grand Prix Paris, Oct 23: Defending champion Lewis Hamilton powered to pole position for the United States Grand Prix when he out-paced Mercedes teammate and championship leader Nico Rosberg with a blistering lap in Saturday's tense qualifying session.

The 31-year-old Briton dominated the action with a record best lap in one minute and 34.999 seconds -- to become the first driver to break the 1:35 barrier -- to outstrip the German by 0.216 seconds as the Silver Arrows pairing reeled off their 10th front row lockout of the year.

It is the 58th pole position of Hamilton's career, but his first at the Circuit of the Americas where, despite winning three of the four previous races, he had failed to dominate qualifying.

Even if he wins all four, Hamilton could be pipped to the title by Rosberg if he finishes second behind him.

"I must really say thank-you to the crowd because I could hear them on my slow-down lap and that really gives me energy," said Hamilton.

"This is my first pole position here and it is amazing. It has been many years of trying.

Ads by ZINC "A lot of great people have tried to get me there. It is a good feeling for me and gives me a good chance for Sunday and I hope we can give them all a great race."

On a bright, clear and blueskied day in Texas, with a track temperature of 34 degrees Celsius, the two Mercedes men traded laps from the start to wind up clear of the pack in Q1.

Their efforts kept a big crowd enthralled and engaged some interest from a busy paddock where many celebrity guests, including Hollywood actors Gerard Butler and Christophe Waltz and tennis player Venus Williams, were spotted.

To the dismay of their fans, the first mini-session ended with the elimination of Romain Grosjean in his American Haas car, Kevin Magnussen of Renault, Jenson Button of McLarenHonda, Pascal Wehrlein and his Manor team-mate Esteban Ocon along with Felipe Nasr of Sauber.

Luckless 2009 world champion Button complained afterwards that he was blocked by compatriot Jolyon Palmer, of Renault, at the final corner.

Out of Q2 went Sergio Perez of Force India, two-time champion Fernando Alonso of McLaren, Daniil Kvyat of Toro Rosso, Esteban Gutierrez in the second Haas car, Palmer and Marcus Ericsson of Sauber. (Agencies)

FC Pune hold Chennaiyin FC to 1-1 draw: As it happened

HIGHLIGHTS

Chennaiyin could not go top of the table despite a stunned from Jeje.

Jeje score a stunner to put Chennaiyin FC in front.

New Delhi, Oct 23: Chennaiyin FC manager Marco Materazzi and the referee would both be very unhappy when they see replays of this match. Neither the referee, nor the linesmen spotted Ravanan’s vicious stamp on Dudu and the entire incident went without any card or foul.

Chennnaiyin were the better team throughout the match but they never took advantage of the situation. In the end, a clinical free kick from Anibal took the full three points away from them. FC Pune are still without a win at home this season.

FC Pune City will be pleased

to have chief coach Antonio Habas in the dugout for their home clash against Chennaiyin FC on Sunday but still need to figure out how to avoid their worst start to a Hero Indian Super League campaign since inception.

Pune have always had a good start to their campaign while playing at home. In the first year, they won two of the first three matches at home and repeated the feat last season as well. But this time around, they have been caught on the back foot. Pune have picked up just a point from their first three matches

at home and it will be something that coach Habas needs to address at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex Stadium, Balewadi-Pune on Sunday.

Even their solitary victory in this year’s campaign came from a last-minute winner against FC Goa at Nehru Stadium in Goa last week.

“We are on the way to improving. At least we didn’t lose, we drew (against Kerala Blasters).

I think we played much better and we deserved to win. We will improve and we will work harder for our next game,” said assistant coach Miguel, who will now hand over charge to Habas who returns after serving a four-match suspension.

It will not be easy for the hosts against Chennaiyin FC. Previous records show that the defending champions have never lost against FC Pune City, winning three out of the four matches. The other clash ended with both teams sharing the spoils.

Worse for FC Pune City, their rivals have struck form after a disjointed start. They have picked up two convincing victories in a row against FC Goa

and NorthEast United FC, and if they managed to pick up full points against FC Pune City, they will become the first team to win three matches in a row in this edition of the ISL. “What makes the difference between winning and losing is the mentality. After the Delhi game (which we lost) we knew that our performance was bad and we changed our attitude and here is the result,” said Chennaiyin FC coach Marco Materazzi.

Not everything, however, has gone according to plan for Materazzi. His best Indian striker, Jeje Lalpekhlua, is far from the high standards he set last year, scoring six goals and three assists. This year, he has drawn a blank but given his past record against Pune – he has scored twice, including the winner when the two teams last met – Materazzi will be tempted to keep the faith in Jeje.

A win for Chennaiyin FC can take them to the top of the table, while Pune City will hope to jump to the top four and their nightmare at home will soon be forgotten.(Agencies)

New Delhi gets green signal to host FIFA U-17 World Cup New Delhi, Oct 23: New Delhi became the latest venue to get the green signal to host next year's FIFA U-17 World Cup after receiving the nod from a highlevel delegation of football's world body.

The capital, thus, became the fourth venue to be ratified to host next year's FIFA U-17 World Cup New after Kochi, Navi Mumbai and Goa. A 13-member FIFA delegation together with 10 members of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) made an inspection to ascertain the readiness of New Delhi to host matches and training sessions at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2017.

The capital city's stadium received the go ahead after the team inspected the pitch and the training facilities and all assurances were given by the facility owners that renovations would be completed before March 2017, including two training sites in the main Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Complex and other two owned by other stakeholders.

Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium received the go ahead after the team inspected the pitch and the training facilities.

"We have been working with different stakeholders in the country from the start of this process and it is good that we are now seeing the results on the ground. FIFA is satisfied with the progress of all the venues visited so far and it gives us a big fillip for next year's tournament. We will put every effort into making the FIFA U-17

World Cup India 2017 a memorable occasion for all Indian football fans," said All India Football Federation (AIFF) General Secretary Kushal Das. Speaking to the press about New Delhi as a venue, Tournament Director Javier Ceppi said: "Work has finally started here and we hope it progresses well. It took some time but we are confident of

the capacity of SAI to complete everything well in time for the event, so that we can test all the facilities.

"We have been working closely with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and Sports Authority of India to make sure that the renovation works go as planned and we are able to deliver the tournament successfully in New Delhi."

Also present at the event were Sagarpreet Hooda - Director (Sports), MoYAS; Sanjiv Baranwal - Director (Infrastructure), SAI; Joy Bhattacharjya - Project Director LOC and FIFA's Event Manager for the U17 World Cup from FIFA, Marion Mayer-Vorfelder.

Placing emphasis on the preparations, MayerVorfelder added, "We have been shown the plans for the renovation and we will be looking very carefully into the way the venue progresses to make it fully compliant. We hope that the pace of work now picks up and that we can have the facility match ready as soon as possible." (PTI)

Asian Champions Trophy 2016: India Prevail 3-2 in Pacy Encounter vs Pakistan Kuantan, Oct 23: Topranked India had to dig deep into their reserves to eke out a 3-2 victory over arch-rivals and defending champions Pakistan in a preliminary league match of the fourth Asian Champions Trophy hockey here on Sunday.

India exhibited their composed defence when under pressure from early Pakistan raids and worked hard to gain control of the showpiece encounter of the tournament at the Kuantan Hockey Stadium.

Young striker Pradeep Mor scored his maiden goal in 13 international appearances to give India the lead in the 11th minute, but Pakistan then took charge through strikes from Muhammad Rizwan Sr. in the 31st minute and Muhammad Irfan Jr. in the 39th.

Rupinder Pal Singh converted India's only penalty

India v New Zealand, 3rd ODI, Mohali: Kohli’s 154* takes India to seven-wicket win

nation league.

Top four team from the round-robin competition will advance to the semifinals.

Pakistan forced the first penalty corner in the opening minute when an Indian defender carried the ball in the circle, but goalkeeper PR Sreejesh blocked two shots to ward off danger.

Top-ranked India had to dig deep into their reserves to eke out a 3-2 victory over arch-rivals and defending champions Pakistan in a preliminary league match of the fourth Asian Champions Trophy hockey.

corner in the 43rd minute and Ramandeep Singh came into goal-scoring action the following minute by deflecting in a diagonal cross from Talwinder Singh.

This victory gives India seven points from three outings.

India had outplayed Japan

10-2 in their first outing, but was held to a 1-1 draw by South Korea yesterday.

Starting as two-time defending champions, Pakistan suffered a 2-4 loss to hosts Malaysia and then prevailed 1-0 over South Korea in their previous matches of the six-

Sreejesh first padded the drag-flick from Muhammad Aleem Bilal and then dived to his right to clear the rebound attempt.

Pakistan spelt danger again in the fourth minute when their strikers worked in unison to create space deep in the Indian territory and a cross from the right rebounded to unmarked Muhammad Rizwan Jr. on top of the circle. But he sent a wayward shot wide of the left post.

The Indian players did some hard work and got to the top of the rival scoring zone on a couple of occasions, but the resolute defence denied them a crack at the goal.

Talwinder Singh had the first Indian shy at the goal in the 11th minute when he picked up a pass from the right on top of the circle and created some space as he turned for the reverse hit, but the shot soared high over the cross-piece.

India took the lead against the run of play in the 22nd minute when Pradeep Mor on the right flank latched on to the ball that had deflected off a Pakistani defender. Mor darted into the circle and sent in a firm shot from a very narrow angle that beat goalkeeper Imran Butt to land on target. (PTI)

Kohli compiled his 26th ODI ton to steer India to seven-wicket victory over NZ Dhoni chipped in with 80 off 91 balls With the ball, Kedar Jadhav claimed 3 for 29

MS Dhoni New Delhi, Oct 23: The fact that New Zealand managed a competitive total of 285 despite a batting collapse, that saw them lose five wickets for just 27 runs, owed mainly to Jimmy Neesham superlative knock in the 3rd India v New Zealand ODI at Mohali. However, superlative is something that is a common feature to Virat Kohli's batting and Indian batting superstar was at it again, in chase mind you, compiling his 26th ODI ton to steer India to seven-wicket victory over NZ with ten balls to spare, helping India take 2-1 lead in the five-match series.

New Zealand is a formidable opponent in coloured clothing and it came to fore many a time during the third ODI but when up against a marauding Kohli and MS Dhoni, batting at number four, NZ had to surrender despite their valiant effort. The duo combined for a match winning 151-run stand for the third wicket in 27.1 overs to set up the game and Kohli did the honours remaining unbeaten on 154 off 134 balls.

The Mohali track was a belter and score of 310-320 seemed to be par, but defending 285, NZ pacers had evened up the match scalping the Indian openers - Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma - early.

A third could have been added if Ross Taylor at wide slip had held on to simple chance. Unfortunately for Talyor, the man he dropped was Kohli off Matt Henry. Kohli got the reprieve in the fifth over of the Indian innings when his score was just six. Dhoni, promoting himself up the order, put on a clinic with Kohli.

The strike was rotated regularly and the odd flourish of the bat earned the duo boundaries. Dhoni danced down the track to offspinner Mitchell Santner and deposited the ball for a massive six each time.

Kohli knocked the ball around and pounced on to the wide

deliveries with his silken touch.

His flicks raced to the boundary in no time and drives bisected the gaps with precision.

Dhoni en route to his 91-ball 80-run knock became the fifth Indian and third wicketkeeper batsman to score over 9000 runs and also surpassed Sachin Tendulkar as the Indian player with most sixes (196) in ODIs. New Zealand were undone by their own strategy with likes of right-arm medium pacers Tim Southee, Matt Henry and Jimmy Neesham providing zero variety to the attack and with Trent Boult having a rare off day with the ball, Kohli and Dhoni were never really tested.

Santner bowled couple of good spells but with lack of support he too was taken for 43 runs in his 10 overs.

By the time Dhoni got out chipping one to short over off Henry, Kohli had raced to 89 and India needed 93 runs in 85 deliveries.

Kohli notched up his 26th ODI hundred surpassing Kumar Sangakkara in the list of players with most ODI hundreds and now finds himself in the fourth position and two shy of Sri Lankan great Sanath Jayasuriya's tally of 28 hundreds. Manish Pandey joined Kohli at the fall of Dhoni and accelerated India's victory march with an entertaining 28 off 34 balls.

Earlier in the day, on what was the best batting track on offer on the tour, New Zealand produced their best opening partnership in the ODI series but the middle-order failed to capitalise on the start.

However, Neesham powered to his first ODI fifty and combined with Henry for morale boosting 84-run stand for the ninth wicket to help NZ finish with a competitive total.

At 150 for 2 in 28 overs, NZ would have eyed a total of over 300, but a batting collapse shifted the momentum in India's favour. Kedar Jadhav

was once again the surprise package for the India claiming career-best figures of three for 29 and if it was not for Neesham's power-hitting, NZ could have ended with a below-par total.

Tom Latham scored his sixth fifty on the tour holding one end tight for the Kiwis with a calm and composed 61 off 72 balls but he too fell prey to the barrage of soft dismissals that plagued the New Zealander middle-order. Martin Guptill had started on a positive note racing to 27 off 21 but was trapped in front by Umesh Yadav in the seventh over.

Skipper Kane Williamson walked in and he got the feel of the wicket early and cracked a couple of backward drives towards the fence. Sensing that NZ batsmen are at ease against the pacers, Dhoni threw the ball to his part-time spin option of Jadhav and the Maharashtra player responded with aplomb scalping the big wicket of Williamson in his second over with a straight one to which the NZ skipper went for a sweep but was trapped in front.

Ross Taylor applied himself in the middle and scored 44 before falling to a peach of a delivery from Amit Mishra. Jadhav swooped in with the wickets of Corey Anderson (6) and Latham. Sandwiched between Jadhav's two scalps was Mishra's dismissal of Luke Ronchi (1).

Mitchell Santner and Tim Southee departed quickly to leave NZ tottering at 199 for 8 before Neesham and Henry first revived the NZ innings, and went on an allout assault in the slog overs. Neesham fell to Umesh and the final wicket w as taken by Jasprit Bumrah when he cleaned up Trent Boult.

Brief Scores: India 289 for three (Kohli 154*, Dhoni 80; Henry 2/56) beat New Zealand 285 all out (Latham 61, Neesham 57; Jadhav 3 for 29) by seven wickets.

Leander Paes enhances doubles field, Saketh Myneni to lead singles challenge Saketh Myneni, who teamed up with Paes for Davis Cup tie, would look to get that elusive Challenger singles title as the season draws close to end.

Pune, Oct 23: Leander Paes has played a few Challengers this season to earn crucial points to improve his ranking.

Veteran Leander Paes will compete in an ATP Challenger event in India for the first time in almost two decades as he teams up with young Ramkumar Ramanathan for the KPITMSLTA Challenger starting tomorrow while Saketh Myneni will lead the country's singles challenge.

Paes, ranked 59 now, has played a few Challengers this season to earn crucial points to improve his ranking and his presence in the USD 50,000 event has enhanced the doubled field and the stature of the event.

The last time Paes played in an ATP Challenger event in India was in December 1997 when he paired with Nitin Kirrtane for the Ahmedabad event.

The 43-year-old star consistently features at the Chennai Open, India's only event on the ATP World Tour, at the start of the season apart from the home Davis Cup ties.

Mahesh Bhupathi had also played a Challenger this year in India when he teamed up with Yuki Bhambri to win the Delhi Open.

As Davis Cup teammates, Paes and Ramkumar have spent some time together this year and even as they are combining for the first time in an ATP

event, Paes has the reputation of building on-court chemistry with new partners quickly.

21-year-old Ramkumar will be his 110th partner in Men's doubles.

"I love the sports-loving people of Pune and decided to play in the event which is gradually becoming well known in the international circuit," Paes, who is a crowd puller, said.

Myneni, who teamed up with Paes for the Davis Cup tie against mighty Spain, would look to get that elusive Challenger singles title as the season draws close to end.

"It's great to see so many Indians playing in this event. It's a great opportunity for our guys.

Let's see if someone can break through. The last time I saw some Indian players was during Delhi Open, so good to have these Challengers in India," Myneni said after a training session.

Qualifying for his maiden Grand Slam singles main draw at US Open has been the highlight of the 2016 season while he enjoyed modest success on the Challenger Tour. Reaching the final of the Delhi Open was his best show this year while he had two semi-final finishes in Anning (China) and Launceston (Australia).

Myneni will be a contender in the both singles and doubles as he partners Sanam Singh.

In the singles, he is seeded

third behind Russian top seed Evgeny Donskoy and second seed Korean Duckhee Lee. The tall Vizag lad opens his campaign against Serbian Danilo Petrovic.

Out of 32 players in singles draw and 18 out of them are Indians, progress of Davis Cuppers Ramkumar and Sumit Nagal will be keenly watched.

Ramkumar plays Russian Alexander Zhubrin while Nagal will open his campaign against Marc Giner from Spain.

Nagal had impressed in his Davis Cup debut. The fifth rubber against Marc Lopez was in his grip before 'breathing problem' impacted his performance negatively and he lost the match.

Also in the fray are newlycrowned national champion Vishnu Vardhan, Sanam Singh and Prajnesh Gunneswaran apart from talented Vijay Sundar Prashanth.

Yuki Bhambri opted out of the event in a last minute decision as he is yet to get back to his full fitness.

A USD 10,000 ITF women event will also be played simultaneously. The new national champion, Delhi's Riya Bhatia will be a strong contender.

Left-handed Divij Sharan and Purav Raja, who are a formidable force on the Challenger circuit, are top seeded in the doubles. (PTI)

Printed, Published and Owned by NIKH KHOPI and Printed at PEE GEE(India) Ltd., C/O Asomiya Khabar Pulibor, Jorhat-785006 and Published from T.C Borah Building, 1st Floor, Next to Sankardeva Hospital, Mancotta Road, Chowkidingee Dibrugarh-786001, Assam. Email: editor.easterntoday@gmail.com. For advertisement: advt.easterntoday@gmail.com

Editor: Prahlad Hammey

cmyk

cmyk

Tele : 0373-2327517