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millenniumPUBLISHED FROM DELHI & KOLKATA VOL. 3, ISSUE 340 | Sunday, 17 December, 2017 | Kolkata | Pages 16 | Rs 3.00 post NO HALF TRUTHS CITY PAGE 3 NATION PAGE 4 GAME ON PAGE 15 5 YEARS OF NIRBHAYA: CM CALLS COAL SCAM: EX-J’KHAND CM KODA, CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FOR MAKING SOCIETY SAFE FORMER COAL SECY GET 3 YEARS’ JAIL DRAWS

Trump govt may ‘IT WILL STEAL MASSES’ LIFE SAVINGS TO BAIL OUT GIANT LOAN DEFAULTERS’ SONIA FORMALLY HANDS OVER 132-YR-OLD not let H-1B visa CONG’S PRESIDENTIAL BATON TO SON holders’ spouses ‘Roll back draconian FRDI Bill,’ BJP is taking India back work in USA LALIT K JHA Mamata writes to Jaitley to a medieval past: Rahul WASHINGTON DC: The OUR CORRESPONDENT fringes. He also assured them Trump administration is con- SOUMITRA NANDI that their voices would be sidering revoking an Obama- NEW DELHI: Almost one heard in the new set-up under era rule that extends work KOLKATA: Demanding a roll-back of hundred and thirty-two years him. authorisation to the spouses the proposed Financial Resolution and after Womesh Chunder Bon- “Today, the BJP people are of H-1B visa holders, a move Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill, Chief nerjee was sworn in as the trying to spread fire and vio- that could affect thousands of Minister Mamata Banerjee has written first president of the Indian lence in the entire country Indian workers and their fam- to Union Finance minister Arun Jaitley National Congress (INC) on and only the force of lovable ilies. Since 2015, the spouses raising objections on the provisions of the December 28, 1885, Nehru- Congress workers and leaders of H-1B, or high-skilled, visa bill. She has termed the bill as the “big- Gandhi family scion Rahul can stop them. They break, we holders waiting for green gest assault” on the financial security of Gandhi took the party baton unite. They ignite fire, we douse cards have been eligible to the poor and middle class of the country. from his mother — Italian it. They get angry, we love. This work in the US on H-4 depen- “It appears that that this Bill will forc- born Sonia Gandhi —on Sat- is the difference between them dent visas, under a rule intro- ibly take away the hard earned life savings urday. And he got straight into and us,” he said. “Once you duced by the previous Obama of the common people entrusted to the action… ignite fire in the country, it will administration. banks, for bailing one section of vested In his first speech to party be very difficult to douse it,” he In 2016, more than 41,000 interests, who have siphoned off the loans workers as their newly minted pointed out. of H-4 visa holders were issued given to them by the banking system. This President, he launched an all- Attacking Modi, he said work authorisation. This year is tantamounting to cheating of deposi- out attack on the ruling BJP, sing. They defame, we respect that the Congress spear- till June more than 36,000 H-4 tors (the common men and women of our accusing it of spreading hatred and defend.” headed India into the 21st cen- visa holders were issued work country) for no fault of them. This, in my and violence in the country, Gandhi said that he took tury “while the prime minister authorisation. The H-1B pro- view, is grossly unfair and totally unethi- and charged Prime Minis- over the party reins knowing today is taking us backward, to gramme attracts foreign spe- cal,” Banerjee has written in her letter. implement this bill not only for nation- this Draconian Law and withdraw the Bill, ter Narendra Modi with tak- that he would always be walk- a medieval past where people cialised workers to come to According to Banerjee, the Central alised banks but the rural and cooperative so as to ensure that the common people of ing India back to the medieval ing in the “shadow of giants”. are butchered because of who the United States for employ- government plans to bring this bill in the banks , which are the mainstays for agricul- our country are saved from financial ruin,” times. “The Congress’s respect He also told party men that they are, beaten for what they ment, many of them from India Winter session of Parliament. She has tural borrowing in far flung areas. she pointed out. for all Indians extends to even they were his “family” and he believe and killed for what they and China. “DHS is propos- maintained that it appears from the bill “It is a travesty that the Government In fact, the Trinamool Congress has the BJP. We do not fight hate would stand and protect all eat”. “No amount of hugs can ing to remove from its regu- that the banking system has failed to man- of India as an owner of the nationalised decided to go all out in protest against with hate. They crush voice, those workers fighting for the repair the damage done to this lations certain H-4 spouses of age banking on sound financial principles banks is now trying to replenish the eroded FRDI. Banerjee who had chaired the core we allow the most vulnerable to oppressed and those on the great country of ours,” he said. H-1B nonimmigrants as a class and highest norms of transparency and capital of banks by forcibly taking away the committee meeting of the party on Satur- of aliens eligible for employ- unacceptable. ”Now in order to cover up small depositors’ savings, instead of facing day at Trinamool Bhavan instructed her Sonia to NEW DELHI: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday ment authorisation,” said the the failure and allow one section of the the crisis in the banking sector head on Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members to put to rest the speculation over her contesting the Department of Homeland vested interests to go unpunished, the gov- from its own resources,” Banerjee stated. raise their voice against the draconian bill contest from Security (DHS) in a latest regu- ernment of India wants the common peo- She further asserted that the common peo- on the floor of the two Houses of Parlia- 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Rae Bareli, saying lation. According to the notice, ple to forego their life-savings. This is really ple are severely reeling under the adverse ment. It has been decided that the party Rae Bareli in her mother Sonia Gandhi would again be in the the changes is being made in shicking and unaccepatable,” she added effects of demonetisation and hastily intro- will go out on the streets to protest against fray from the UP seat. “There is no question of me light of President Trump’s ‘Buy The Chief Minister has also raised her duced unplanned GST regime. the bill. There will be meetings in the dis- 2019 LS polls: contesting (the 2019 polls)... my mother will contest American and Hire American’ apprehension for the farmers and common “I would sincerely appeal to the Gov- tricts up to the block level and steps will Priyanka from there (Rae Bareli),” Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. order issued earlier this year.PTI people with the government planning to ernment of India to desist from enacting be taken to make people aware of the bill. Navy to double UIDAI SUSPENDS AIRTEL, AIRTEL PAYMENTS BANK e-KYC LICENCE Interpol cancels US MNC Uber sent spies, aircraft fleet to 500 in Airtel secretly used Aadhaar to red corner to steal rivals’ trade secrets next decade notice against CHIEF OF NAVAL STAFF ADMIRAL SUNIL LANBA open payments bank A/Cs SAN FRANCISCO: A former Uber Zakir Naik security specialist accused the com- pany of dispatching a team of spies to In today’s OUR CORRESPONDENT OUR CORRESPONDENT steal its rivals’ trade secrets and using Denied nod to FB’s shady tactics to thwart its competition NEW DELHI: The UIDAI Free Basics: Prasad NEW DELHI: Interpol on in the ride-hailing market, according paper has temporarily barred Bharti Saturday cancelled the red an inflammatory letter unsealed by a Airtel and Airtel Payments NEW DELHI: Law and corner notice against the con- federal judge. Those tactics allegedly ... Bank from conducting Aad- IT Minister Ravi Shankar troversial religious preacher included impersonating other people, CITY haar-based SIM verification of Prasad on Saturday said and Islamic Research Foun- illegally recording conversations and mobile customers using e-KYC he had denied permission dation (IRF) founder Zakir hacking into computers. by that freewheeling culture have now 3K ARTISTES AT BANGLA SANGEET MELA 3 process as well as e-KYC of to Facebook’s Free Basics Naik, against whom India had Former Uber manager Richard become a major source of embar- payments bank clients. The platform when he was handling earlier slapped charges under Jacobs, who was fired earlier this rassment for Uber as it tries to recast NATION action follows allegations of Section 10 of the Unlaw- year, made the explosive claims in a itself as more compassionate and Bharti Airtel using the Aad- portfolio of the communications ful Activities Prevention Act 37-page letter that sought a big pay- better- behaved company under a ‘JK NEEDS HEALING TOUCH POLICY’ 4 haar-eKYC based SIM verifica- ministry. He said that it is for the [(UA(P)A], in addition to Sec- off for being forced out of the com- new management team led by Dara USA to decide its stand on net BUSINESS tion process to open payments tions 120B, 153A, 295A, 298 pany. The letter, written by a lawyer on Khosrowshahi. bank accounts of its subscrib- neutrality but “Our stand from and 505(2) of the Indian Penal Jacobs’ behalf, has already reshaped Over the past year, Uber has been E-WAY BILL MECHANISM BY JUNE 1 5 ers without their ‘informed day one is very clear — right Code (IPC). A National Inves- a high-profile trial pitting Uber rocked by revelations of rampant consent’. of non-discriminatory access to tigation Agency (NIA) Court against Waymo, a Google spin-off sexual harassment inside the com- INTERNATIONAL UIDAI also took strong internet is not negotiable”. had also declared him a pro- that accuses its rival of stealing its self- pany, technological trickery designed objection to allegations that claimed offender in July after driving car technology. to thwart regulators and a yearlong 3 DEAD, 77K FLEE IN PHILIPPINES STORM 6 such payments bank accounts he failed to appear before the The letter also has become evi- cover-up of a hacking attack that stole are being linked to receive LPG Your Customer) process of the authorities and are hope- agency despite several sum- dence in a criminal investigation the personal information of 57 mil- SPORT subsidies. UIDAI, in an interim UIDAI. Also, Airtel Payments ful of an early resolution. We mons. Interpol has instructed being conducted by the US Justice lion passengers and drivers. “While order, “suspended e-KYC Bank will not be able to open are also undertaking to com- its global offices to delete all Department. US District Judge Wil- we haven’t substantiated all the claims INDIANS EYE SERIES WIN 7 licence key of Bharti Airtel Ltd a new account with Aadhaar plete the said actions on priority data related to Naik. liam Alsup, who is overseeing the in (Jacobs’) letter importantly, any and Airtel Payment Bank Ltd e-KYC. However, accounts can and have commenced thorough Zakir Naik has been Waymo-Uber case, took the unusual related to Waymo our new leadership with immediate effect,” sources be opened through alternate checks of our process flows. accused of spreading hatred step of recommending that fed- has made clear that going forward we FOR ADVERTISING with direct knowledge of the methods, if available. “Being compliant to all through his speeches. He has eral prosecutors consider a crimi- will compete honestly and fairly, on kindly contact at 9810195709 development said. “We can confirm that we guidelines is paramount to also been accused of funding nal probe, based on the evidence and the strength of our ideas and technol- or This essentially means that have received interim order us. In the interim, any incon- terrorists and money laun- testimony that he had reviewed long ogy,” Uber said in a statement. Airtel would not be able to, in from the UIDAI regarding tem- venience to our customers is dering over the years. Uncon- before he knew about Jacobs’ letter. Many of the names and some of [email protected] the interim, carry out ‘elec- porary suspension of Aadhaar regretted,” the spokesperson firmed reports have said that Although most of Jacobs’ most the information in Jacobs’ letter have tronic-verification’ or link linked e-KYC services till their added. More than 23 lakh Naik has acquired Saudi citi- damaging allegations were aired in been redacted. Jacobs’ legal team per- FOR SUBSCRIPTION mobile SIMs of its customers satisfaction on certain processes customers have reportedly zenship. In its charge sheet, court hearings held two weeks ago, suaded Alsup to allow those deletions kindly contact at 8800854665 with their 12-digit biometric relating to Airtel payment received as many as Rs 47 crore NIA has also named IRF the letter’s release sheds more light to protect the identities of former CIA or national ID Aadhaar through banks onboarding of custom- in their Airtel bank accounts, and the company Harmony on the no-holds-barred culture that agents that worked with Uber’s espi- [email protected] the efficient and paperless ers,” said an Airtel spokesper- which they did not know had Media Ltd. former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick onage team, a since disbanded unit e-KYC (or electronic Know son. “We are engaging with been opened. encouraged. The scandals spawned called Marketplace Analytics. AP ALSO USED ADVANCE SECURITY SOFTWARE TO DISABLE IGNITION & SECURITY SYSTEMS, DUPLICATE KEYS & STEAL CARS Car lifters’ gang bought mobile jammers online to prevent phone calls to police ZAFAR ABBAS recently arrested. if they are spotted, the people from case he tries to call his team mem- criminals are buying it from online target luxury cars from Delhi and The acused used mobile jammers the adjoining area could not make bers while pretending to deal in the sites and effectively using it, said a NCR. “The members of this syn- NEW DELHI: In a first-of-its-kind while committing theft or dealing in a police call, helping them to flee purchase of the stolen cars giving senior police officer. Subodh Yadav, dicate eagerly purchase total dam- case, criminals are now making use stolen cars to dodge decoy customers the scene before the arrival of the the gang ample time to evade cops. a 37-year-old from Ettawa, UP, and aged or loss vehicles from insurance of the best available technology to as well as law enforcement agencies. cops.” explained DCP (South) Romil Delhi Police officers were shocked to 42-year-old Vipan Kumar from company and punch the Engine and evade arrest and dodge investigators. This device acted as a guard to elec- Baaniya, see that these mobile jammers were Mohali, Punjab, were arrested by Chassis numbers of total loss vehicle South Delhi AATS was shocked to tronic surveillance of these criminals. These jammers were also used procured by the gang from online a team of AATS South District on to stolen vehicle and sell stolen vehi- find sophisticated mobile jammers “They used the jammers while by this two-member gang to avoid marketing sites. cies are authorised to use the jam- December 11 which has busted an cles to second hand car buyers.” said from a gang of auto lifters whom they commiting vehicle theft. So in case a decoy customer sent by police in Though only government agen- mers for specific purpose, these inter-state cartel of auto-lifters who Romil Baaniya, DCP South. 2| KOLKATA|SUNDAY, 17 DECEMBER 2017|millenniumpost mp If you are not willing to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary Weekend Break -Jim Rohn WEB-SERIES IS THE NEW BLACK In a fantasy fiction, you can show anything as sky is the limit. But daily soaps certainly need stronger content to compete with the web series Arjun Bijlani, Television actor

After a decade of writing around irrelevant subjects for daily soaps, Instead of aping others, we writers are finally working to bring edgy and fresh web series have to come up

SYEDA EBA running episode after episode, boredom shows in India and that’s the reason why with shows that enters after a certain point of time. But makers come up with such plots.” Indian audience or every ‘90s kid, television was with the internet, you get to explore more.” But isn’t it also true that audience will all about those unnumbered saas- Though Gunjan Utreja, who was last see what we show them? can relate to. We bahu daily soaps starring a quintes- seen in the web series ‘Mickey Vicky Ka Who would not like to watch good, sential bahu, an overdramatic saas Program’ second the opinion that web meaningful, performance-based and moti- need to create our Fand the evil vamp whose dressing styles series is more popular these days, he feels vational concepts if made and delivered indeed gave major fashion goals. With that TV is still growing in terms of reach. on TV? Is it only the content that needs to version of ‘Game time, revolutions took place in the televi- “We must realize that TV is not competing be improved? Well, not for Karan Oberoi, sion industry but end results were nothing against any medium, it just caters to a spe- who says that it’s not really about the new of Thrones’ less than severe turmoil for the viewers. But cific audience. You cannot deny that televi- concepts and plots but the narrative struc- Sumeet Vyas, TV and Web to save us all, a nascent but definite revolu- sion caters to middle-class households with ture, which is old, archaic and redundant. for the makers. Netflix, YouTube, series actor tion – in the form of web-series – is brew- an average age of 25 and above, while web- “There are a few reasons that TV is not amazon etc are what’s appealing the ing in the online space. series is only catering to 16 to 24-year-old able to find its lost glory and it will con- millennials. Audience has become Thanks to some mentally composed audience. Hence we cannot claim the death tinue on its downward spiral if things don’t very sharp and easy access to inter- writers who stepped out of the demarca- of television as yet. It’s just that the content change dramatically. It’s not really about net has worsen the situation for the tions to tailor concepts that are edgy and and approach are different,” he mentioned. new concepts and plots if your narrative Television show makers. fresh. Web series not only talks about some That puts up a question as to why peo- structure is old, archaic and redundant. Despite leading makers like Ekta sensible plots - unlike those of ‘naagins’ ple are still liking shows full of irrelevant The shot taking itself hasn’t changed in the Kapoor, Vikram Bhatt etc shifting and ‘houseflies’ - but also gives creative and insane elements such as re-incarna- last few years and it’s so over the top that from television to web; actors still freedom to its makers in the absence of tions, female lead turning into a fly and it is almost bordering on asinine. When a feel there is a hope for the survival any kind of censorship. what not. country goes through an economic upward of Indian television. But how? Pranav Sachdeva, an actor who has Elaborating on the same note, Arjun swing, the exposure of the audience also Should we switch to making been part of innumerable television shows, Bijlani says that if they (makers) are not changes to newer forms of content. They shows like ‘Game of Thrones’ and will be next seen in Vikram Bhatt’s web doing these kinds of things in a fantasy become more discerning and spoilt for ‘Friends’ that have attained zenith in series ‘Hadh’. Speaking of why he finds fiction then it would actually be odd and choice. So as storytellers we have to up the terms of popularity in India? comfort in web series over TV, Pranav says, disgusting. ante and deliver or perish,” said Karan who “We had shows like ‘Shaanti’, “Web is more experimental than television. Bijlani, who has played the lead in the once ruled the television industry in a way ‘Kyuki Saas Bhi...’ and ‘Kahaani There is no broadcasting censor and thus top Indian television shows like ‘Left Right only a few people could. Ghar Ghai Ki....’ which were huge it offers more creative liberty. So, what the Left’, ‘Mile Jab Hum Tum’ and ‘Naagin’ Moreover, for Prachi tehlan, it’s the hits. It was an evolution because makers want to show and what the audi- adds, “In a fantasy fiction, you can show increasing competetion which is leading nobody had done something of that ences want to see finds a point of intersec- anything, the sky is the limit. If it’s a daily to the downfall of Indian Television indus- sort till then. So instead of aping tion. For me as an actor, web series was far soap, then we need to look at stronger con- try. “Availability of so many mediums for others to make anything like ‘Game more challenging yet creatively satisfying. tent so as to compete with the webs series. the viewers now a days is making it diffi- of Thrones’, we need to focus on Also, since the television series keeps on There is a great market for such fiction cult to have a loyal long lasting audience stuff that we can relate to. ‘Per-

manent Roommates’ did so well because India, it’s only a matter of time. Before people could associate with us and the people start tuning into newer forms of problems we faced. So, basically, we need content and shun TV stories, we need to to come up with our own versions of ‘Game pick up our socks and deliver. Slowly, the of Thrones’,” explained Sumeet Vyas. audience will get tuned to what we deliver While Karan Oberoi, keeping forth just like they got used to daily soaps from his solution, says, “Things would change the weeklies.” in the TV scenario only if we were to start Well, we don’t know what the future nurturing writers, and backing good nar- holds for the Television industry, but at ratives in addition to fresh plots. With the the moment web-series are winning all digital penetration increasing even in rural the points.

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“MILLENNIUM POST”, Printed & Published by Jaiyendra Kumar Sharma on behalf of Front Row Media Pvt. Ltd. and printed at Aaj Kaal Publishers Pvt. Ltd., BP-7, Sector-V, Bidhan Nagar, Kolkata - 700 091 and published from Tivoli Court 1A, Ballygunge Circular Road, Block-A, Flat-94, 1st Floor, Kolkata-700 019. Editor: Durbar Ganguly, Executive Editor: Arya Rudra. Email: [email protected], [email protected]. For marketing, contact: 9836292306, 9830532306. For editorial, call: 9836072100 millennium post KOLKATA SUNDAY, 17 DECEMBER 2017 | 3 mp | | Remembering #Nirbhaya... We cannot compensate her loss but let us resolve to keep our society safe City - Mamata Banerjee Five years of Nirbhaya: Mamata More than 3,000 artistes to perform at Bangla Sangeet Mela calls for making society safe OUR CORRESPONDENT KOLKATA: More than 3,000 OUR CORRESPONDENT cent of rape cases (2,155 cases of rape, artistes will be performing 669 cases of stalking and 41 cases of voy- in the Bangla Sangeet Mela that KOLKATA: Remembering the brutal eurism) during the period. will be held from December Nirbhaya gang-rape case in Delhi on Now, it needs to be seen when the 23 to 30. its fifth year, Chief Minister Mamata four accused in the case would be exe- However, the extravaganza Banerjee on Saturday called for mak- cuted as asked by the Apex Court. of the Bangla Sangeet Mela ing a safe society. Soon after coming to power, Chief started on Saturday itself with “Remembering #Nirbhaya on the Minister Mamata Banerjee took all nec- the curtain raiser being held in fifth anniversary of brutal Delhi inci- essary measures by giving priority to front of Rabindra Sadan. Folk dent. We cannot compensate her loss ensure safety and security of women artistes from different parts of but let us resolve to keep our society in Bengal. Her government has set up the state performed during the safe,” Banerjee tweeted. women police stations in most parts of curtain raiser that took place in Mela will be held at nine audi- while on rest of the days, it will The 23-year-old paramedical stu- the state which has helped to check such the presence of eminent singer toriums including Rabindra take place as usual. dent was brutally gang-raped inside incidents massively. Indranil Sen, Minister of State Sadan, Madhusudan Man- Announcing that “Matri a moving bus in Delhi on December Moreover, fast track courts have also for Information and Cultural cha, Sisir Mancha, Phanibhu- Maa”, collection of songs writ- 16, 2012, which led to her death due to been set up so that a victim gets justice Affairs Department. san Mancha, Mohur Kunja, ten and composed by the Chief internal injuries 13 days later in a Sin- at the earliest. Veteran singer Dwijen Hedua Park, Deshapriya Park Minister, has become gold disc, gapore hospital. Most importantly, it was the brain- Mukhopadhyay, Sriradha Ban- and Rabindra Okakura Bhavan Sen said: “The Sangeet Utsav The rapists pounced on the young child of the Chief Minister to introduce dyopadhyay and many other in Salt Lake. had been taking place for sev- woman who had boarded the bus with a project to provide self defence training well-known singers were also This is the first time the eral years but it has reached a her male friend to go home after see- to girls studying in schools so that they present. The entire Rabindra inauguration of the festival new height under the leader- ing a movie. The 23-yr-old paramedical student was brutally are also capable of safeguarding them- Sadan area got a new look will be held in Uttirnya at Ali- ship of Chief Minister Mamata After committing the crime, they selves against any untoward situation. when the folk artistes per- pore instead of Nazrul Man- Banerjee in the past six years. dumped both on the side of a road. gang-raped inside a moving bus in Delhi on Dec The Chief Minister had named the formed Natua, Chhau and cha. Chief Minister Mamata Several initiatives have been Later, some onlookers alerted the 16, 2012, which led to her death due to internal training programme “Sukanya” and the other folk dances one after the Banerjee will be inaugurating taken to support artistes.” police. The sheer brutality of the crime programme in different schools and other. Bauls were found per- the festival. The Biswa Bangla Stating that a misinforma- led to nationwide revulsion and street injuries 13 days later in a Singapore hospital colleges in the city and its surrounding forming on a tableau that has Loksanskriti Utsav will also be tion was getting circulated, he protests. areas is being carried out successfully by been prepared based on the inaugurated on December 23 clarified that veteran singer The brutality of the incident left the According to National Crime highest crime rate (160.4 percent) com- the Kolkata Police. theme of Bangla Sangeet Mela. and it will continue till Janu- Nirmala Mishra had been entire nation in so much shock that Records Bureau (NCRB) data for pared to the national average rate of The project has also been taken up Later, Sen held a press con- ary 1. This year, the Sangeet provided with all the neces- people came out on the streets to protest 2016-17, Delhi remains at the top 55.2 percent. by Howrah City Police and Bidhannagar ference in which he announced Mela on December 25, 29 and sary support including her against sexual violence against women. of the list when it comes to the The Capital reported nearly 40 per- Police Commissionerate. that this year Bangla Sangeet 30 will begin in the morning treatment. Real estate companies should build state-of-the-art RELIVING CHILDHOOD Gold worth over Plan to host Rajya Sishu Kishore Rs 3 cr seized warehouses & logistics centres: Firhad Hakim Utsav for 6 days from next yr: Sen in Bengal, OUR CORRESPONDENT the state. With an estimated 41.5 million people moving OUR CORRESPONDENT he called little Adrija Bagh, who for the past six years after the Assam; 4 held KOLKATA: State Urban to urban areas by 2030, Ben- sang the inaugural song, and Mamata Banerjee government Development and Municipal gal will see rapid urbanisation. KOLKATA: Indranil Sen, Min- requested her to light the lamp. came to power. So I would like KOLKATA: In separate opera- Affairs Minister Firhad Hakim Hence, the state will need to ister of State for Tourism, urged He later said since it is a festival to consider this year’s Utsav tions in Assam and Bengal, the on Saturday urged the real build an equivalent of 2.68 mil- Sishu Kishore Academy to take for the children, there could be to be the sixth one instead of Directorate of Revenue Intel- estate firms to build state-of lion additional units of dwell- the initiative to organise Rajya nothing better than getting the 10th”. ligence (DRI) has seized 10.5 the-art warehouses and logis- ings and approximately 3,100 Sishu Kishore Utsav for six days lamp lighted by a small girl to The minister added that kg gold valued at Rs 3 crore tics centres which will gener- hospitals. from next year. mark the inauguration. last year the Chief Minister in the international market. It ate more jobs. “While the metros are wit- The Utsav this year, under After explaining the signif- had suggested the setting up was smuggled into India from Speaking at the conference nessing fast evolving skyline the tagline “Ahladey paanch icance of such a festival as it of a permanent open air stage neighbouring countries, the on “Sustainable Real Estate” with tall skyscrapers and archi- Din”, began on Saturday at the helps in bringing out the tal- at Rabindra Sadan premises. agency said on Saturday. organised by the CII at a city tecture, the smaller towns are newly set up Ektara (Rabindra ent within children, Sen said: The stage has been constructed Acting on a tip-off, offi- hotel on Saturday, he said: “It observing transmutation of the Sadan Mukta Mancha). “I would like to urge so that as per the design prepared by cers of DRI Guwahati raided a will not only give a fresh impe- surface through expansion of It has been inaugurated the festival continues for six the Chief Minister and she has rented residential premises in tus to businesses here in the roads and flyovers. This change by Sen. Principal Secretary of days from next year onwards named it “Ektara”. Shantipur hill side of the Assa- state but will also create new is not irrational but it is inevi- opment and Municipal Affairs strategic relationship with the Information and Cultural instead of five.” The Rajya Sishu Kishore mese capital on Thursday and job opportunities. If more table,” he maintained. shared the state government’s the neighbours including the Affairs (I and CA) Depart- This year, the festival will Utsav 2017 is the first pro- seized 49 gold bars of foreign jobs are created, the demand The minister also reminded plans to build zones near each North-Eastern states. It may ment Vivek Kumar, poet continue for five days from gramme to take place in the origin cumulatively weighing for real estate will go up. Build that the state’s urban policy of the district headquarters in be mentioned here that Assam Subodh Sarkar and president Saturday. It may be mentioned newly built open air stage, 8.2 kg and valued at Rs 2.40 warehouses and logistics hubs. encompasses all. the state. The government’s government has shown keen of the Sishu Kishore Acad- that this is the 10th Rajya Sishu where there could be round crore from three persons of There is also a need for ensur- “Under the dynamic leader- green mission is not limited interest in replicating the New emy that functions under the Kishore Utsav. the year programmes to attract Bengal staying there, a DRI ing optimum use of the land ship of Chief Minister Mamata to one or two cities, but it cov- Town model. supervision of I and CA In this connection, Sen more tourists. release said. available.” Banerjee, we are committed to ers all the urban centres across During Horasis Meet department Arpita Ghosh were took a dig at the erstwhile Left The Kolkata International The three persons, who While addressing a gather- provide housing, health, sani- Bengal, Meena said. held in the city few days ago, also present in the inaugural Front government stating that Children’s Film Festival this were about to leave the city car- ing at the conference, Hakim tation, education, hygiene to While addressing the a top administrative official programme. “everyone knows very well how year will take place from Janu- rying the gold to Kolkata, have also said the growth in urban everyone,” the minister said. gathering earlier in the day expressed interest on replicat- When requested, Sen didn’t the Academy used to function ary 19-27. been arrested under the provi- infrastructure plays a key role O S Meena, Secretary, Debasish Sen, Chairman, ing the New Town model in light the lamp to mark the inau- before 2011 and everyone has More than 200 films will be sions of the Customs Act 1962. in building the economy of Department of Urban Devel- WBHIDCO, stressed on the their state. guration of the Utsav. Instead witnessed how it is functioning screened at the festival. According to sources, the smuggled gold bars were brought illegally from Myan- mar through the border in ‘Power supply to be raised Christmas celebrations at TMC will gain control Manipur. The accused are of Kultali, says Sovan 26-year-old Ranjit Halder, from 8.9 MU to 16 MU per day’ New Town with adda, baul 20-year-old Milan Mandal and 25-year-old Utpal Mandal, all FOR GANGA SAGAR MELA Sagar Mela where power mentary film festival at Nazrul hailing from South 24 Parga- department officers will be Tirtha will also be organised. nas district. deployed. They would over- There will be a grand musical In a separate operation on see the entire situation. programme. Both Rabindra Wednesday, DRI sleuths inter- If there is any complaint Tirtha and Nazrul Tirtha are cepted one person at Malda coming from any part of the coming up as major cultural Railway station in Bengal and Sagar Island, the depart- centres where apart from res- seized six pieces of foreign ori- ment will address the issue idents of New Town, people gin gold bars weighing 2.3 kg, within two to three minutes. from Lake Town, Bangur Ave- valued at Rs 69 lakh. Around 50 power OUR CORRESPONDENT nue and even Barasat come to Sanjay Prasad, 40, hailing department officers will watch the programmes. Eco from Bhojpur district of Bihar, be deployed in the Sagar KOLKATA: Christmas cele- Park, the country’s biggest was arrested after interrogation Island during the event. brations at New Town began urban park, will hold a carni- under the Customs Act. There will be an additional with adda and baul songs, val. There will be celebrations OUR CORRESPONDENT at Jamtolla High School ground in “Prasad was carrying the deployment of 300 contrac- enthralling one and all at at New Town Business Club a political rally at Kultali. gold bars in specially-tailored OUR CORRESPONDENT meeting with senior officials tual staff. Swapno Bhor on Saturday. and Café Ekante. KOLKATA: Mayor Sovan Chat- Chatterjee was vocal against the waist belts made of cloth fas- of his department at Sagar “There is hardly any Swapno Bhor, the only Café Ekante, named by terjee claimed on Saturday that the BJP alleging that they have been try- tened around his waist,” the KOLKATA: State Power Island instructing them to possibility of power cut dur- senior citizens’ park in Ben- Chief Minister Mamata Baner- Trinamool Congress will take con- ing desperately to spread canards release said. minister Sovandeb Chatto- take adequate measures to ing the Sagar Mela. All the gal, stands on three acres of jee, is gaining huge popular- trol of Kultali in South 24 Parganas against the Trinamool Congress. It is believed that the gold padhyay on Saturday said ensure that there are no senior officials have been sprawling lawn and with a two- ity because of quality food. It in the Panchayat elections next year. It may be mentioned that the bars were smuggled into the that the capacity of power incidents of power cuts dur- asked to take adequate storeyed building that houses has two outlets at Eco Park. “In the forthcoming Panchayat TMC had lost Kultali in the Assem- country from Bangladesh via supply to the Sagar Island ing the Ganga Sagar Mela. steps to provide uninter- administrative office, a library, Also, another has been opened elections, the hammer and sickle of bly elections in 2016 to the Left the Hili-Malda route. will be increased from 8.9 After holding the meet- rupted power supply. The coffee corner and an audito- near the bus stand at Action the Left will lose its relevance and Front. It is one of the few places in In the ongoing fiscal, the MU to 16 MU per day dur- ing, the minister said the load capacity will be dou- rium on the first floor where Area I where only vegetarian the lotus of the BJP will also not the state where the TMC has not DRI has seized over 185 kgs ing the forthcoming Ganga power department will bled during the event. Var- cultural programmes, motiva- food is served. There will be bloom. Trinamool Congress will been able to make much inroads. of gold valued at close to Rs 56 Sagar Mela scheduled to arrange six generators to ious electrical apparatus tional talks are held regularly a children’s film festival, car start gaining control of Kultali from Party supremo Mamata Banerjee crore in Bengal and the north- take place between Janu- meet any emergency situ- including high and low ten- for senior citizens. treasure hunt and motivational the panchayat,” Chatterjee, who hap- has instructed her party leaders to eastern states, smuggled from ary 10-16. ation. As many as 10 cen- sion wires have also been Poush mela will be held at talks at the Biswa Bangla Con- pens to be the president of the South focus on Kultali for the forthcom- Bangladesh, Myanmar and Chattopadhyay held a tres will be set up inside the repaired.” Rabindra Tirtha and a docu- vention Centre. 24 Parganas unit of the party, said ing Panchayat elections in the area. Bhutan. AGENCIES Chinese Consul General gives away Satyarup becomes 1st civilian Bengali to scale 7 Summits prizes to winners of Knowledge Test OUR CORRESPONDENT of hours. I got the news through one of the remotest and coldest his financial needs for the expe- his Facebook post. However, I was mountains on earth. dition. He could manage only Rs KOLKATA: Consul General of People’s Republic of China Ma Zhanwu KOLKATA: Pushing aside child- convinced only when I received He would be reaching the 30 lakh from private companies gave away the prizes to winners of Knowledge Test at a function in the hood fears of asthma attacks his official communication... It was base camp on Sunday and would and the rest of the amount was city on Friday. The Knowledge Test, a unique platform of quiz program returning to haunt him, 34-year- around 10 am when he called me then ski the last degree to South arranged through the loans he on China-India friendship and 19th National Congress was held on No- old Satyarup Siddhanta nurtured up through his satellite phone and Pole from 89 degree south to 90 took from the bank. only dreams of scaling the Seven informed me of the feat. I have degree south. The incredible and Siddhanta had successfully vember 27. It was an online test where many people from Bengal, Bihar, Summits that left him breathless no words to express my joy and adventurous journey is 60 nau- scaled the Mt Everest in June 2016. Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand took part. The prize-giving ceremony in his sleep. excitement,” Satyarup’s mother tical miles in length. Following The other difficult peaks that he was organised by the Consulate General of People’s Republic of China On Saturday, he became the Gayatri Siddhanta said. this, he will return back to Chile had climbed successfully includes in Kolkata. Ashwani Diwan and Debayan Pal got the first prize. Cai Zhi- first civilian Bengali from the state It is learnt that Siddhanta to climb the highest active volcano Mt Kilimanjaro, Mt. Elbrus, Mt. to have successfully scaled the had set out on his expedition in the world, Mt Ojos Del Salado Aconcagua in Argentina, Mt. feng, Deputy Consul General of China gave away the second prize to the Seven Summits. The mountain- on November 30. He started (6,893m) which is also the highest Denali in Alaska, Mt. Monc Blanc winners — Nishant Bhaskaran, Binoy Dhar, Sujit Kumar Mitra, Tapas eer reached the peak of Mt Vin- from Mumbai Airport and then mountain in Chile. The expedition in France to name a few. Kumar Bagchi, Ishita Ghosh, Surav Saraf and Bidesh Sardar. Indian Chi- son Massif (4,892m), the highest reached Amsterdam from where was a daunting task for him and will end on January 20. The first 7 summiteer from nese singer Chen Yongkhang from Tangra sang a Chinese song as well mountain of Antarctica at around he reached Chile. There he met his mates to adjust with the hostile The expedition involved a sum India, Malli Mastan Babu in 2015 and a Rabindra Sangeet. Indian classical dances, Bharatnatyam and 5.30 am. “What an achievement! his other four fellow expedition- climatic conditions there. Temper- of Rs 66 lakh. Some private com- died of hypothermia at Tres Cru- Few of us were closely tracking his ers and on December 7 he started ature was minus 50 degree Cel- panies came to his help after seeing ces Sur, on the Chile-Argentina Kuchipudi were performed by Anuradha Roy, principal of Hamsavahini movements since the last couple his journey for Vinson Massif. It sius keeping its reputation of being his post on Facebook page about border when a storm came. Kalalayam and her troupe. MPOST 4| KOLKATA|SUNDAY, 17 DECEMBER 2017|millenniumpost mp I feel there is every need for holding elections together Nation M Venkaiah Naidu Coal scam: Ex-J'khand CM Koda, Sonia confident that ‘fearless’ former coal secy get 3 yrs in jail

MPOST BUREAU approach the high court after Rahul will reinvigorate Cong perusing the order and con- NEW DELHI: Former sulting his lawyers. OUR CORRESPONDENT ready for any kind of sacri- Jharkhand chief minister On the issue of the Rs 25 fice," she said. Rahul to sustain Madhu Koda and ex-coal sec- lakh fine imposed on him, NEW DELHI: Passing on Sonia Gandhi said the retary H C Gupta were on Sat- Koda said his bank accounts the party's mantle to her son country was facing "unprec- politics of hope: urday sentenced to three years have been frozen and he will Rahul Gandhi, outgoing Con- edented challenges", but in jail in a coal scam case by a have to borrow the amount. gress president Sonia Gan- stressed that the party was not Manmohan special court which said "white "I had put forth my views dhi said today that the party going to be scared and would collar crimes" were more "dan- to prove my innocence. I am should set its house in order fight it out. NEW DELHI: Former prime gerous" to the society than sad because of the order and and introspect while readying In her emotionally-charged minister Manmohan Singh ordinary crimes. will approach the high court for any sacrifice to stop com- speech, she recalled the times today said that Congress chief A K Basu, former after reading the judgement munal forces in the country. when she entered politics after Rahul Gandhi will sustain the Jharkhand chief secretary, and the white collar crimes may and consulting my advocates," In her last speech as the losing her anchor (husband "politics of hope" which is Vijay Joshi, a close aide of the cause run not only in lakhs but he said. party president, she exuded Rajiv Gandhi) and mother needed by the country and not ex-chief minister, were also in crore of rupees," the judge The convicts were tried confidence that Rahul Gan- (Indira Gandhi), and how allow the "politics of fear" to awarded jail terms of three said in his order on the quan- for offences under sections dhi would lead the party with with the support of crores of take over. years for indulging in corrupt tum of sentence. 120-B (criminal conspiracy) courage, patience and devo- Congress workers she steered Congress president Rahul Gandhi with his mother Sonia Gandhi at the Certain "disturbing trends" practices and hatching a crimi- Parashar said, "The con- read with 420 (cheating) and tion, as he endured many per- the party to power both at the Party’s headquarters in New Delhi on Saturday PIC/NAVEEN SHARMA are noticeable in the country's nal conspiracy in the alloca- victed persons do not deserve 409 (criminal breach of trust sonal attacks which made him Centre and in many states. polity and the people depended tion of Rajhara North coal to be extended the benefit of by public servants) of the IPC "fearless". She said since 2014, the it is this country -- it is safe- brave and fearless man. I am on Rahul Gandhi to trans- block in Jharkhand to Kolk- probation." and under provisions of the She also voiced concerns Congress has been playing the guarding our fundamental proud of his endurance and form it, Singh said in his brief ata-based company, Vini Iron The convicts were, how- Prevention of Corruption Act. over the alleged attacks on the role of an opposition, saying principles," she said. firmness, and am confident he address at an event where the and Steel Udyog Ltd (VISUL). ever, granted statutory bail The CBI had said that the core constitutional and funda- "never before have we faced Congratulating Rahul will lead the party with a pure new Congress President took Special CBI court judge for a period of two months to firm had applied for allocation mental values of the country the challenge that we face Gandhi on his elevation, she heart, courage, patience and charge. Bharat Parashar also imposed enable them to file appeals in of Rajhara North coal block on by the BJP and asked party- today". said personal attacks on him devotion," she said. He described the day as fines of Rs 50 lakh, Rs 25 lakh the Delhi High Court chal- January 8, 2007. men not to relent in the fight "The fundamentals of our have made him fearless and Soon after a formal certifi- "unique" in the party's history and Rs 1 lakh on VISUL, Koda lenging the verdict. It had said although the against such forces. Constitution are under attack. voiced confidence his leader- cate was handed over to Rahul and said Rahul Gandhi's lead- and Gupta respectively in the With Saturday's sentenc- Jharkhand government and "We are all witness to daily Our party has lost several state ship would infuse new vigour Gandhi on becoming the Con- ership brings a new sense of UPA-era coal scam. ing, Koda would be barred the steel ministry did not rec- attacks on our fundamental elections. But an exemplary in the party. gress president, she hoped he dedication and commitment Joshi will also have to pay from venturing into electoral ommend VISUL's case for values, against freedom of energy fires our Congress "I am confident that with a would lead the party with which will steer the party to a fine of Rs 25 lakh and Basu politics in the light of a 2013 coal block allocation, the 36th speech and expression, against workers. We are not the ones new and young leadership, our courage and dedication. She greater heights of glory. Rs 1 lakh, the court here said. judgement of the Supreme Screening Committee rec- our rich diverse culture, and to bend in fear, because our party will be reinvigorated and said she was proud of her son's Singh also praised outgoing "White collar crimes are Court. ommended the block to the an atmosphere of fear and sus- struggle is a fight for the very bring about changes we need. endurance and determination. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in fact more dangerous to the So far, four out of 30 coal accused firm. picion is being created. soul of this nation. We will You have chosen Rahul At one point when Rahul for the "powerful and magnifi- society than ordinary crimes, block allocation scam cases The CBI had said that "Amid this, the Congress never retreat from this fight," as your leader. He is my son, rose to speak, he sought his cent" leadership provided by firstly, because the finan- have been decided by the spe- Gupta, who was chairman must look within and intro- she said. and it is not right for me to mother's blessings and kissed her to the Congress party that cial losses are much higher, cial court, including today's of the screening commit- spect and forge ahead. If we She said party leaders and praise him. her on the forehead. will go down in the annals of and, secondly because of the order, and 12 people and four tee, had concealed facts from do not stand by our principles, workers today are custodians "But I will say from his very Sonia Gandhi, who headed its history. damages inflicted on public companies held guilty. then prime minister Manmo- we will not be able to wage this of ideals and principles on childhood he has borne the the 132-year-old Congress for "Rahul ji today is taking morale. The average loss from After the sentence was han Singh, who at that time fight for the common people. which the nation was built. experience of violence, the the last 19 years, also thanked over as the the president of ordinary crimes such as bur- pronounced, Koda said that headed the coal ministry too, This is a moral battle and to "This is no small matter. It savage personal attacks he has party leaders and workers for the party at a time when there glaries, robberies and larcenies he was sad that he could not that Jharkhand had not rec- achieve success, we must set is not power, wealth or self- confronted since entering pol- the support she had received are certain disturbing trends etc may run into few thousand prove his innocence despite ommended VISUL for alloca- our house in order and be importance that is our aim, itics has served to make him a during her tenure as its chief. noticeable in our polity. rupees only but the loss which his best efforts and would tion of a coal block. ‘Rlys to offer discounts like hotels, Consider quota for forward Adopt modern technologies airlines; flexi-fare to be revamped’ to make India safe, VK caste poor: HC to Tamil Nadu Singh tells private agencies OUR CORRESPONDENT CHENNAI: In a radical sug- Railways mulling gestion, the Madras high court NEW DELHI: Just like the air- installation of CCTV has observed that poor candi- OUR CORRESPONDENT internal security environment lines and hotels, the railways dates from forward communi- needs better-trained personnel. could soon be dishing out cameras in trains ties too must get reservation in NEW DELHI: Minister of State The industry needs to look into discounts on tickets if trains education and employment. for External Affairs Gen (retd) the challenges of providing bet- were not fully booked, Rail- NEW DELHI: Taking a step “The poor, in the so-called VK Singh on Saturday asked ter trained and better-equipped way Minister Piyush Goyal said forward in women safety, the forward communities, have private security agencies to manpower,” he said. on Saturday, indicating a com- railways is mulling to install been neglected so far and no upgrade their skills and adopt “As government cannot plete revamp of the flexi-fare CCTV cameras inside trains one could speak about them modern technologies to make meet all the requirements of scheme. Lohani's expertise...like there and dedicate 2018 to collec- fearing protest voices in the India a safer place. security, particularly those Goyal's remarks came days is dynamic pricing in hotels. tively fight against human name of social justice. Social “Our security environment being demanded by pri- after the Railway Board formed First the prices are low..then trafficking, Railways Minis- justice should be extended to is changing fast. Our streets vate people, private agencies a six-member committee to the prices go high and then ter Piyush Goyal said. every section of the society,” may not be as safe as it is today. should take on this task. We are review the flexi-fare scheme. later you get discounts on the Justice N Kirubakaran said on Therefore, it is important that becoming more dependent on Speaking after a day-long remaining rooms through scheme which may include Friday. private security agencies wake private security. There is grow- conclave of senior officials here, bookmyhotel or other web- loyalty and other benefits to Noting that talking about observed further: “A poor on their economic status. He up to growing challenges ing demand for private security he said that the national trans- sites," Goyal said. the passengers. The board has reservation or extending help (person) is a poor (person), was passing interim orders on related to public safety and personnel. The private secu- porter is studying a model of He also questioned why also asked the panel to con- to the deserving poor in for- whether he is from a for- a plea moved by 14 students security. They need to fill the rity agencies should wake up dynamic pricing, offered by the flexi-fares only were meant for sider modifications or amend- ward communities should ward or backward commu- seeking to declare the trans- gaps in our security require- to this growing demand,” the airlines and hotels. price increase of rail tickets. ments to the flexi-fare system not be viewed or considered nity. A helping hand should be fer of MBBS seats in govern- ments,” he said while address- minister said. "We have been deliberating "Just like the airlines and to offer passengers flexibility of as an opposition to the reser- extended to such needy poor ment colleges meant for the ing the annual conference of Speaking at the conference, on a dynamic pricing policy. hotels where a person gets dis- rates during peak season, lean vation enjoyed by other sec- not only monetarily, but also OC category to BC and MBC the Central Association of Pri- CAPSI chairperson Kunwar So far we have been discuss- count at that last minute, it (the season or during week days, tions of society, the judge said: by way of reservation in edu- categories illegal and violative vate Security Industry (CAPSI) Vikram Singh raised the issues ing that the price should not railways) should also offer dis- weekends or festivals. The com- “This court is aware that in all cation and employment, the of Article 14. and the Association of Private concerning the sector, partic- go up but I want to go a step counts on the routes with rela- mittee has been asked to sub- communities, there are poor judge said.” They also wanted the court Detectives and Investigators ularly related to imposition of ahead. I am exploring a possi- tively low occupancy," he said. mit its report within 30 days. people and they should be Justice Kirubakaran to direct the Directorate of (APDI). GST which is putting a financial bility where suppose trains are The six-member commit- The flexi-fare system, encouraged to develop edu- directed the government to Medical Education to conduct Gen Singh said that the burden on agencies and also the not going full like in airlines we tee, set up on December 11, has launched in September 2016, cationally, economically and explore extending the scope recounselling for seats allotted sphere of private security agen- new regulation which puts the get discounted fairs. been mandated to recommend led to up to 50 per cent increase socially.” of reservation to people from to OC category as per reserva- cies has increased many times onus of crimes committed by a "We will use (Ashwani) ways to offer a more lucrative in fares. Justice Kirubakaran forward communities based tion policy in the state. AGENCIES and so has the challenges. “Our guard on his employer. JK needs healing touch policy, 2 profs booked Navy to double aircraft fleet for molesting change in discourse: Mufti colleague after to 500 in next decade: Lanba OUR CORRESPONDENT PMO steps in OUR CORRESPONDENT PANAJI: Jammu and Kashmir needs a "healing touch" pol- BILASPUR: Two professors HYDERABAD: The aviation icy for the political process to of a private college have been arm of the Indian Navy will take over, the chief minister of booked for allegedly molesting ICA/T 6330(5)/2017 double its aircraft fleet in the the state, Mehbooba Mufti, has a woman colleague here, police coming decade to nearly 500, said. Stating that eliminating said on Saturday. The Prime TENDER NOTICE Chief of Naval Staff Admi- militants alone will not solve (going) soft. If tomorrow, the Minister's Office (PMO) had The Superintending Engineer, North Circle has invited open ral Sunil Lanba said here on the problems of the state, she court lets (hardline separatist written to the Bilaspur police to tender against e-NIT No. 13 of 2017-18 Tender ID: 2017 _ Saturday. has called for a change in the leader) Masarat Alam go, in a take appropriate action in the HSD_143449_1 for Construction of the Sectional Office Building "We have a naval air wing, present discourse on militancy, democracy, what can you do? case, Superintendent of Police which has 238 aircraft at the fighting, crackdowns etc. "If he (Alam) goes to Shalabh Sinha said. including Maintenance Office (Civil & Electrical) with Rest Shed moment. It has a combina- "Those in the Army and the Supreme Court and the He said a case was regis- within the campus of R.H.E., Buniyadpur, Dakshin Dinajpur. tion of fighters, helicopters other security forces feel that Supreme Court says there is tered last night at the Kotwali The last date of Submission of Bid (online) is 11.01.2018 up to and maritime patrol aircraft, they have done their job to a nothing against him now and police station against Subir Sen 18:00 hrs. (IST). both- long range and short great extent. Now, there is a that you can't hold him back and Durga Sharan Chandra. Details may be seen from the office Notice Board on any working range. And we have a plan need for a healing touch pol- anymore, what will you do?" Sen is a professor of com- day within office hour and from the website www.wbtenders.gov.in in place...in a decade's time der-neutral service but Giri's "We are a gender-neutral icy for the political process to she asked. "Would you say merce and Chandra is a pro- Sd/- P. SAHA this Naval air wing will grow actions violated the rules. service. We make no distinc- take over," Mufti has said. no?...No, you can't! You have fessor of physics at DP Vipra Superintending Engineer to close to 500 aircraft of dif- "Specifically to the issue of tions based on gender. We She was speaking during these institutions. We can- College in the district. North Circle Government of West Bengal ferent types," Lanba said at a Giri, he was inducted as male induct both men and women. an interactive session with the not undermine these institu- Sinha said the victim, the press conference. in the Navy. And there is no They both have rigorous audience at the 'India Ideas tions for the sake of one person widow of an Army personnel, Lanba reviewed the Com- provision in the Navy or in training and same rules and Conclave 2017', an initiative because one person cannot cre- had complained to the Sainik bined Graduation Parade at the rules and regulation where regulations are followed," he of the India Foundation, last ate a havoc," Mufti said. Kalyan Board that the accused Air Force Academy here. you can go and do what he has added. evening. She added that flushing had molested her and passed Replying to a query on gone and done. That's why he The Navy chief said the "They (security forces) out militants from Jammu and lewd remarks at her. the issue of Sabi Giri, an has been dismissed from the defence wing is committed have created a conducive Kashmir would not solve the The victim, in her com- Indian Navy sailor, who was service for violating the rules to the government's 'Make in atmosphere. There is a general problem completely. plaint, alleged the accused discharged from service for and regulations. India' programme and cur- feeling among the police and "If we kill 200 militants, were pressuring her into hav- undergoing a sex change sur- "We told the court that we rently as many as 34 ships and security forces that they are 200 more will come from ing an intimate relationship gery, the naval chief said the cannot do that (take her into submarines are under con- doing their job, but they alone Pakistan, what to do?" the with them but she had refused. force cannot take her into employment). And we have struction in Indian shipyards. cannot do it," Mufti said while PDP leader said. "We need to Sinha said the Sainik direct employment, but is will- told the court that if a private Meanwhile, Air Force responding to a question from do what we did during (Atal Kalyan Board passed on the ing to accept her if she comes party is willing to employ her, Academy said, in a statement, a participant about the possibil- Bihari) Vajpayee's time. I am complaint to the Prime Minis- through any agency as a con- come as a contract worker that 105 flight cadets passed ity of adopting a soft approach sure the situation can be turned ter's Office (PMO. The Bilaspur tract staff. in the Navy (as an employee out today as Flying Officers, towards the separatist elements around," she said, referring to police received a letter from the Defending the termination of the private party, not as including 15 women officers. in the Valley. the peace initiatives taken by PMO on December 11, direct- of the sailor's employment, Navy's direct employee)," he The officers include two fighter "We need to have a healing the former prime minister with ing police to take appropriate ICA/T 6328(2)/2017 Lanba said the Navy is a gen- explained. pilots, it said. touch policy. It does not mean Pakistan. action, the official added. millennium post | KOLKATA|SUNDAY, 17 DECEMBER 2017 | 5 mp We have to create our own Googles, Facebooks, Alibabas and Tencents Business Jayant Sinha GST Council decides to roll out Arun Jaitley stresses need for sustainability in agriculture e-way bill mechanism by June 1 SIMONTINI BHATTACHARJEE NEW DELHI: Union Finance NEW DELHI: The GST provi- When an e-way bill is gen- which already have a system Minister Arun Jaitley on Sat- sion requiring transporters to erated, a unique e-way bill of e-way bill for intra-state as urday asserted that the gov- carry an electronic waybill or number (EBN) is allocated well as inter-state movement ernment was focusing on e-way bill when moving goods and is available to the supplier, and some of those states can be rural development to overcome from one place to another, will recipient, and the transporter. early adopters of the national the challenges in agricultural be implemented by June 1. The 24th meeting of the e- way bill system for intra- sector. The all-powerful GST GST Council, held on Satur- state movement also, it noted. The minister said, "The gov- Council today decided to day through video conferenc- "But in any case, the uni- ernment is trying to better the implement the e-way bill ing under the chairmanship of form system of e-way Bill for roads, irrigation system. Even mechanism throughout the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, inter-State as well as intra- in last three years, electricity country by June 1 after review- discussed the implementation state movement will be imple- has reached to every village ing the IT network readiness, of the e-way bill system in the mented across the country by and by the next year we hope FM Arun Jaitley in New Delhi on Saturday PIC/NAVEEN SHARMA an official statement said here. country after reviewing readi- June 1," it added. it would reach to every home. In the pre-GST era, supply ness of hardware and software 16, 2018, the Finance Minis- the government for the fall in According to Deloitte India Moreover, the government is produce in sustainable prices price, and on the other side it is of goods happened only after for its launch, the statement try statement said. revenue collection in October. Senior Director R Muralid- also trying to make sure proper to ensure credit in large quan- also very important to provide obtaining these 'waybills' from said. Trade and transporters can The GST revenue for Octo- haran, the mechanism will not sanitization and availability of tum and other means such as farmers their dues." VAT authorities. A waybill is a "Till such time as the start using this system on a ber stood at Rs 83,346 crore, only help the tax authorities agricultural inputs in afford- improving rural connectivity "India will achieve its physical document that allows national e-way Bill is ready, voluntary basis from Janu- the lowest since the implemen- monitor inter-state and intra- able price." and irrigation levels. "Agricul- ambitious vision of doubling movement of goods. Compli- the states were authorised to ary 16. tation of the new indirect tax state movement of goods but Jaitley was addressing the tural community in all over the of farmer's income by making ance of waybills was an issue. continue their own separate Subsequently, the rules for regime from July 1. also cut transportation time by 40th International Forum of world is very vulnerable," he inputs available to farmers at Under the Goods and Ser- e-way Bill systems," it added. implementation of nationwide It was significantly lower reducing loss of time at check the Bankers and Financial Insti- added further. reasonable cost and working vices Tax (GST) regime, the However, it was repre- e-way bill system for inter- than the September figure of posts. tutions from 21 Asia - Pacific The minister also called towards reducing the cost of waybill is replaced by an e-way sented by the trade and trans- state movement of goods on a Rs 95,131 crore. Further, this is expected to Countries jointly organised by for efforts by banks and finan- cultivation," he avouched. bill which aims at mitigating porters that this is causing compulsory basis will be noti- "While the system for both help the dealers who do inter- National Bank for Agriculture cial institutions from Asia - Dr Harsh Kumar Bhan- the problems caused by way- undue hardship in the inter- fied with effect from February inter-state and intra-state state transactions in multiple and Rural Development (NAB- Pacific countries to explore wala, Chairman of NABARD, bill compliance. state movement of goods and 1, 2018. This will bring uni- e-way Bill generation will be states as the e-way bill process ARD) and Asia - Pacific Rural newer ideas to bring equity to Shiba Raj Shrestha, Chairman E-way bill is an electronic therefore, bringing in an early formity across the states for ready by January 16, the states will now be common across and Agricultural Credit Asso- agriculture, improve incomes, of APRACA and Deputy Gov- way bill for movement of all- India system of e-way bill seamless inter-state movement may choose their own timings states, he said. ciation (APRACA). enhance the purchasing power ernor of Nepal Rastra Bank, goods which can be generated has become a necessity. of goods, it said. for implementation of e-way Harpreet Singh, Partner The minister categorically and quality of farmers’ lives. H. R. Dave, Deputy Manag- on the GSTN portal. Move- As per the schedule of The e-way bill mechanism Bill for intra-state movement Indirect Tax, KPMG in India, stressed on the need for sus- He said, "Certainly, this is very ing Director of NABARD, ment of goods of more than Rs implementation, the nation- has been introduced in the of goods on any date before said: "GST Council approving tainability in agriculture and important both India and other and Rajiv Kumar, Secretary of 50,000 in value cannot be done wide e-way bill system will GST regime to plug tax eva- June 1, 2018," the statement the mandatory compliance of enhancing farmers' incomes, countries in all over the world. Finance Services, Ministry of by a registered person without be ready to be rolled out on sion loopholes. Tax evasion said. E- waybill is a good news for and specially for enhancing the In one side, there is an effort of Finance were also present in an e-way bill. a trial basis latest by January was one of the reasons cited by There are certain states the industry." PTI availability of the agricultural providing food in affordable the occasion. Pradhan inaugurates Eastern India’s Taparia Tools Don’t privatise Salem Steel Plant, holds get first CNG stations in Odisha TN Chief Minister tells PM Modi together meet BHUBANESWAR: Oil Min- 25 CNG stations will be com- MUMBAI: Taparia Tools ister Dharmendra Pradhan missioned in the twin cities of CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu gov- He pointed out that SSP's had acquired about 15.5. sq organised a get together meet inaugurated eastern India's Bhubaneswar and Cuttack to ernment on Saturday again financial condition improved km land in nine villages four at the Engineering & Indus- first Compressed Natural Gas supply CNG to vehicles. requested the Centre to drop in the 2016-17 fiscal compared decades ago in Salem district trial Store Merchants Asso- (CNG) stations for scooters "By use of CNG instead of the move to privatise the public to 2015-16. Further, the state for the plant, he said it was pos- ciation, Nagdevi Cross Lane here on Saturday. Pradhan petrol and diesel in two wheel- sector Salem Steel Plant (SSP), government has supported sible to undertake such exten- on Thursday whereby most of inaugurated two CNG stations ers one can save up to 30 to 40 saying the unit must be given a SSP's Rs 2,005 crore expansion sive land acquisition in view of their new & old product ranges for scooters and three-wheelers per cent of his oil expenses per chance to make a turn-around. project, with a structured pack- its public sector character. were displayed. at Chandrasekharpur and Patia month," Pradhan told reporters "I believe the reasons for age of incentives in the form of "Further, the Salem Steel The main objectives of area here. tion (CGD) projects in Bhu- after the inauguration. the SSP s recent losses must be soft loan, capital subsidy, elec- Plant provides employment to the get-together meet was the The minister also launched baneswar and Cuttack. He said while many cit- studied...and it must be given a tricity tax exemption and envi- about 2,000 persons and many long lasting relationship with CNG-run scooters here. Two more stations are being ies of India are suffering due chance to improve its efficiency ronmental protection subsidy, ancillary and subsidiary units the retailers & to get them The CNG stations were part constructed in Khandagiri to pollution, CNG will be a to make a turn-around,"Chief he said. also depend on it," he said. acquainted with entire product of GAIL's Pradhan Mantri Urja and Tamando area in Odisha's smart fuel for smart city like Minister K Palaniswami said in He said Public Sector K Palaniswami Minister of State for Steel ranges of Taparia Tools, where Ganga and City Gas Distribu- state capital. In coming years, Bhubaneswar. PTI a letter to Prime Minister Nar- Undertakings are capable of Vishnu Deo Sai had said the by their salient features along endra Modi. performing better when given sory committee to speed up government accorded 'in-prin- with the technical aspects of the The chief minister, who the right support and direction. SSP's privatisation by calling a ciple' approval for strategic dis- products were also discussed. made a similar demand in Palaniswami recalled his global tender. investment of three units of During the get-together ED freezes assets worth April this year, said he was request to Modi on April 26 He said Salem Steel Plant Steel Authority of India. meet one to one interaction as sure that SSP would transform this year to not privatise SSP over the years has acquired These were Vis- well as queries of the retailers once again into a profit making and said the employees have a global reputation for high veswaraya Iron and Steel were taken care. enterprise if given the chance. apprised him that a legal advi- quality steel and was an iconic Plant(Karnataka), Salem Steel Taparia Tools, an ISO- `245 cr in STC fraud case "I therefore request you sor, asset valuer and transac- symbol for Tamil Nadu and Plant, (Tamil Nadu) and Alloy 9001-2000 accredited company once again to kindly intervene tion advisor were appointed by its people. "We have a deep Steel Plant, (West Bengal), started manufacturing hand NEW DELHI: The Enforce- asore Alloys valued at about Rs tered on the basis of a complaint expeditiously and advise the the Centre in June 2017. sense of pride and attachment "which have been consistently tools in India in 1969 in techni- ment Directorate (ED) has fro- 244.89 crore has been attached from the PSU, the STC. Steel Ministry and the Steel The Chief Minister said he to this public sector plant," making losses," he said in reply cal collaboration with a reputed zen assets worth Rs 245 crore in in lieu of the proceeds of crime,” It was alleged that Mittal Authority of India not to pri- got to know that it has been Palaniswami said. to a question in the Lok Sabha company by the name of A. B. connection with its money laun- the agency said in a statement. committed “criminal breach vatise SSP," he urged. decided to constitute an advi- Recalling that government on July 17 this year. PTI Bahco of Sweden. MPOST dering probe in the alleged fraud Investigation revealed, it of trust” as he failed to make of Rs 2,200 crore with the State said, that Mittal and Ms Global payments as per terms and con- Trading Corporation (STC). Steel Holding Limited are hold- ditions of the agreement with GOVT. OF MAHARASHTRA The agency had early this ing 30.35 per cent of the share- STC. year registered a criminal case holding of Ms Balasore Alloys The STC had arranged Public Works Division, Pune - 411 001 under the Prevention of Money through various Indian/ for- export of raw material for new Phone No. 020/26122485 & 26122414 Fax No. 020/26122485 Laundering Act (PMLA) against eign promoter and investment steel plants of Global Steel Phil- Web- www.mahapwd.com & e-mail- [email protected] Ms Global Steel Holding Lim- companies and thus have pro- ippines Inc (GSPI) in the Phil- E-TENDER NOTICE NO. 39 FOR 2017-2018 (Short Period) ited, its chairman Pramod portionate share of the said per- ippines and Bosnia, and also Kumar Mittal and others based centage in the fixed assets of Ms opened a line of credit for the The Executive Engineer, Public Works Division, Pune - 411 001 invites bids for on an FIR by the CBI. Balasore Alloys. company, the complaint had following work from Registered Government Contractors in P.W.D. as well as “Proportionate share of Mit- The agency earlier attached stated. It had said that despite unregistered Contractor, those who an experience and full filling the qualify- tal and Ms Global Steel Holding shares of Rs 62 crore (market irregular payments and piling ing criteria in B-2 (Item Rate) (SBD) Tender Format as per Maharashtra Gov- Ltd in Ms Balasore Alloys Lim- value) in the name of Mittal up of credit, STC officials alleg- ited which includes building, and others in this case. edly renewed line of credit to the ernment, Public Work Department G. R. No. CAT-2017/Pra.Kra-8/Bldg-2, dt. plant and machinery of Ms Bal- The CBI case had been regis- company. PTI 12/4/2017 and Govt. Corrigendum Regulation No. CAT-2017/Pra.Kra-8/ Bldg-2 dt. 29/6/2017. Bids document can be downloaded from website https://mahatenders.gov.in Executive Engineer reserves all rights to accept or reject bids. Conditional bids will not be accepted.

The detailed Tender Notice can be is available on 1. Web- www.mahapwd.com (Only Tender Notice) 2. https://mahatenders.gov.in (Any changes in the NIT will be Corrigendum’s published on above website) 3. Notice Board @ o/o Executive Engineer, P. W. Division, Pune, Central Building, Pune - 411 001. Sd/- 0.C. approved by Executive Engineer For, Executive Engineer, Public Work Division, DGIPR/2017/2018/4791 Pune 411 001. 6| KOLKATA SUNDAY, 17 DECEMBER 2017 millenniumpost mp | | This is a historic milestone for Nepal that will bring new local, provincial, and national government officials to lead the country’s new federal system World US State department spokesperson Heather Nauert North Korean defector Russia warns against fresh transferred to South preconditions for Republicans unveil final Korean military hospital US-N Korea talks

SEOUL: A North Korean sol- 24-year-old Oh Chong Song, MOSCOW: Russian deputy dier who suffered critical gun- was transferred to the mili- Foreign minister Sergei Ryab- shot wounds during a defection tary hospital on Friday from a kov on Saturday warned of a risk version of US tax Bill dash across the border to South trauma centre at Ajou Univer- of escalation after Washington WASHINGTON: The ruling to $2,000 for single filers and Korea has been transferred to sity Hospital south of Seoul, toughened its stance on North Republican party on Saturday married couples to help par- a military hospital, a South where his treatment for gun- Korea nuclear talks and Don- unveiled the final version of ents with the cost of raising Korean intelligence official said shot wounds and pre-existing ald Trump accused Moscow of their tax Bill which promises children. The tax credit is fully on Saturday. conditions included two major failing to help. massive tax cuts for the middle refundable up to $1,400 and The North Korean soldier, operations. “It’s sad that this powerful class and businesses. begins to phase-out for families 24-year-old Oh Chong Song, “Oh has been transferred to element of demands for fur- The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act making over $400,000. was transferred to the mili- South Korea’s military hospital ther pressure on Pyongyang lowers the corporate tax rate to Ryan said the reduction in tary hospital on Friday from a and South Korea’s intelligence has once again appeared in the 21 per cent (beginning January the corporate tax rate will help trauma center at Ajou Univer- services will soon schedule the American position,” Ryabkov 1, 2018) down from 35 percent, American businesses bring sity Hospital south of Seoul, security questioning process told RIA Novosti news agency. the largest reduction in the his- home foreign earnings to invest where his treatment for gun- depending on soldier Oh’s con- “It’s high time to stop this tory of the US. in growing jobs and paychecks shot wounds and pre-existing dition,” the intelligence official race of threats, pressure, black- The voting on the $1.5 tril- in local communities. conditions included two major said. mail and presentation of pre- lion tax cut Bill will be held “This is the first major operations. The official, who declined conditions and shift to a real next week and if passed will be tax reform in a generation. It “Oh has been transferred to to be identified, also declined search for a political solution,” the most sweeping tax overhaul means relief for hardworking South Korea’s military hospital to provide a specific schedule Ryabkov said. He said that now in decades. families and a jump- start for and South Korea’s intelligence for Oh’s questioning. both Pyongyang and Washing- President Donald Trump, our economy,” Ryan said. services will soon schedule the Oh was shot and badly ton are now putting forward who had promised tax-cut dur- The opposition Demo- security questioning process wounded by his fellow North preconditions for talks and there ing his election campaign, now crats, however, slammed the depending on Oh’s condition,” Korean soldiers while flee- is a “risk of uncontrolled esca- wants the bill signed into law by Bill alleging that it benefited the intelligence official said. ing across the border into the lation”. Rex Tillerson at the UN the end of the year. only the rich. The North Korean soldier, South in November. AGENCIES Security Council backed away “By lowering tax rates, sim- “Slashing the top tax rate for from an earlier offer of uncon- plifying the rigged and burden- the wealthiest Americans even North Korea short ditional talks to end the stand- some tax code, and repealing fulfilling the promise he made toward this for years, and now breaks, and modernise inter- deeper is Republicans final off with Pyongyang, apparently the failed tax on lower- and to the American people to give the American people are closer national tax system insult to hard-working Ameri- of posing imminent under White House pressure. middle-income households them a tax cut by the end of the to a plan that will deliver higher “The Tax Cuts and Jobs cans in this deficit-exploding missile threat Trump on Friday com- known as the Obamacare indi- year,” she said. wages, lower taxes, a simpler Act will help create more jobs, scam of a bill,” said Democrat plained that “Russia is not help- vidual mandate, this legisla- The White House statement system, and a stronger Ameri- increase paychecks, and make leader Nancy Pelosi. ing” to pressure North Korea tion will grow our economy, came after the House and the can economy,” he said. the tax code simpler and fairer “Republicans went into WASHINGTON: North Korea’s to halt its nuclear weapons raise wages, and promote eco- Senate agreed on the unified House speaker Paul Ryan for Americans of all walks of conference with two bills that latest missile test, which US programme. nomic competitiveness,” White tax Bill. Senators Marco Rubio said the bill overhauls Amer- life,” said Ryan. raise taxes on tens of millions experts say indicated an increasing Ryabkov said that “after the House press secretary Sarah and Bob Corker also voiced ica’s tax code to deliver tax With this bill, the typi- of middle class families. But technological sophistication, did UN Security Council session Sanders said. their support for the bill. relief for workers, families and cal family of four earning instead of actually helping not demonstrate an imminent and speeches by senior repre- “President Donald Trump House majority leader job creators, and revitalise the the median family income of middle class Americans, the threat of nuclear attack on the sentatives of Western countries, applauds the House and Sen- Kevin McCarthy hoped to nation’s economy. $73,000 will receive a tax cut GOP throws them a few mea- US, Defense secretary Jim AGENCIES we got the impression that the ate conferees on coming to an deliver the bill to the President’s The act will lower taxes of $2,059. gre crumbs while slashing taxes Mattis said. logic of pressure is the dominant agreement on the Tax Cuts and desk just in time for Christmas. across the board, eliminate The Bill also expands the for millionaires even deeper,” one in their approach”. AGENCIES Jobs Act, and looks forward to “We have been working costly special-interest tax Child Tax Credit from $1,000 she said. AGENCIES JAPAN EYES $46BN DEFENSE N Korea unmoved as world unites against its nuke dreams Three dead, 77,000 flee as BUDGET UNITED NATIONS: North cause of completing the state TOKYO: Japan plans Korea’s friends and enemies CESSATION OF N KOREA THREATS nuclear force.” a record $46 billion have joined forces in oppos- ESSENTIAL FOR TALKS: TILLERSON He pointed to the Novem- storm pounds Philippines defense Budget for the ing its determination to be rec- ber 29 launch of an interconti- ognised as a nuclear weapons WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson nental ballistic missile, which next year to strengthen state and calling on leader Kim today said that a sustained cessation of threatening experts say could reach the US TACLOBAN: At least three its missile defence against Jong Un to negotiate the denu- behaviour from North Korea is essential for any peace mainland. people were killed and tens of 6.5 magnitude quake strikes the threat posed by N clearisation of the Korean Pen- talks with Pyongyang. The US will not allow the nuclear- South Korea’s Vice Foreign thousands were driven from Korea, a report said. The insula, but the North gave no armed North Korean regime to hold the world hostage, Minister Cho Hyun told the their homes by floods as Tropi- Indonesia’s Java island sign of budging on its nuclear council that North Korea is “in cal Storm Kai-Tak pounded the government is expected he said. AGENCIES to set aside 5.19 trillion ambitions. the final stages of nuclear wea- eastern Philippines today, cut- In a very rare appearance “an inevitable self-defensive he called the council meet- ponisation” and warned that if ting off power and triggering JAKARTA: A strong 6.5-magnitude earthquake has yen for defence in the by a North Korean at the UN measure” to defend the country ing “a desperate measure plot- it can put a nuclear warhead landslides, officials said. rocked Indonesia’s main island of Java, leaving at country’s initial budget Security Council, Ambassador against “the US nuclear threat ted by the US being terrified on an intercontinental ballistic Kai-Tak, packing gusts of least one person dead and rattling nerves in the proposal for the year Ja Song Nam told a ministerial and blackmail.” by the incredible might of our missile “it will fundamentally up to 110 kilometres an hour, capital Jakarta. There was no immediate indication starting April 2018. AGENCIES meeting that the country’s pos- Ja never mentioned the republic that has successfully alter the security landscape in hit the country’s third-largest of a tsunami, but authorities said they had issued session of nuclear weapons was possibility of talks. Instead, achieved the great historic the region and beyond.” AGENCIES island Samar in the afternoon and tore through a region dev- a warning following the tremor, which struck a CALIFORNIA astated by Super Typhoon Hai- coastal region some 300 km from the capital. AGENCIES GOVERNMENT OF CHHATTISGARH, yan four years ago, the state WATER RESOURCES DEPARTMENT WILDFIRE GROWS weather service said. whose homes were flooded trees and power pylons, knock- OFFICE OF THE CHIEF ENGINEER SANTA BARBARA: Local officials reported from incessant rain. ing out power throughout the MAHANADI GODAWARI BASIN RAIPUR (C.G.) three deaths on neighbouring “We have yet to shake off region while floods, small land- e-PROCUREMENT TENDER NOTICE Calming winds gave eProcurement Portal: https://eproc.cgstate.gov.in Leyte island — a two-year-old our phobia. I hope to God we slides and rock falls blocked firefighters a chance to boy who drowned in the town don’t have a repeat of that,” Vil- roads and buried some homes, ( 1st Call ) gain ground against a of Mahaplag, a woman bur- laseran, who lost 39 cousins in local officials and witnesses System Tender No. : 25052 /NIT No. : 11/SAC/2017-18, Mahasa- huge wildfire in coastal ied by a landslide and another the Haiyan onslaught, said. said. Farmland in the mainly mund, Dated : 13.12.2017 mountains northwest person who fell into a flooded “My missus stockpiled on rural region was also under Online Tenders are Invited for The Following Works up to 03.01.2018 of LA but the blaze manhole in Ormoc city. groceries before the storm hit, water, while seven people were at 17:30 Hour (IST) :- Samar and Leyte, with a but since we also have to feed injured by landslides and fly- Name of Work: CONSTRUCTION OF KHAMHAN ANICUT AT continued to surge west, combined population of about these three other families we ing objects, the regional civil PANDRIPANI NALLA IN PITHORA BLOCK OF endangering thousands 4.5 million, had borne the are now running low on food,” defence office said in a report. MAHASAMUND DISTRICT. of homes, as forecasts brunt of Haiyan in 2013, which he added. A spokeswoman for the Probable Amount of Contract Rs. 296.31 Lakhs called for a renewal of left more than 7,350 people Military trucks drove national government’s National The details can be viewed and downloaded online directly from gusty winds. The Thomas dead or missing. through rising floodwaters Disaster Risk Reduction and the Government of Chhattisgarh Integrated e-Procurement Portal Bus driver Felix Villaseran, on Samar and Leyte to rescue Management Council said it (https://eproc.cgstate.gov.in) from Date 20.12.2017, at 17:31 Fire was 35 percent contained after sweep- his wife and four children hun- trapped residents, with more was trying to confirm reports Hours (IST) onwards. kered down in their two-storey than 77,000 people now in of two other deaths from land- NOTE :- ing about 1,036 square house in the Leyte city of Taclo- evacuation centres, local offi- slides and floods on the islands All eligible/interested contractors/bidders are mandated to get kilometers of Ventura AGENCIES enrolled on the Integrated e-procurement portal (https://eproc. ban along with 11 relatives cials said. Strong winds toppled of Biliran and Dinagat. cgstate.gov.in) and get approval on specific vendor class from and Santa Barbara PWD under Centralized Contractor/Supplier Registration in order counties since it erupted Bennelong to download the tender documents and participate in the subse- December 4. The blaze Miss Iraq’s family forced to quent bidding process. claimed another 3,000 EXECUTIVE ENGINEER byelection win Water Resources Division, Mahasamund acres as it fed on brush for, Chief Engineer, Mahanadi Godawari Basin and timber killed by leave country after death G46472/4 Water Resources Department, Raipur (C.G.) California’s long drought saves Turnbull’s or a week of hot, dry threats over online images majority OFFICE OF THE PRINCIPAL GOVT WOMEN I.T.I. BHILAI weather. AGENCIES DISTT. - DURG, CHHATTISGARH alcolm Turnbull has pre- Phone No. 0788-2283242, E-mail — [email protected] Mserved his one-seat lower INVITATION FOR QUOTATION house majority, with the Liberal John Alexander holding on in No. WITI BHL/WB/ADDF/2017/3174 BHILAI/Date : 14.12.17 the Bennelong byelection. Principal, Women I.T.I. Bhilai, Chhattisgarh invites quo- After a ferocious on-ground tations from eligible supplier’s (Manufacturers, or their campaign in the north Sydney authorized dealer, Sub dealer) for procurement of various seat, Alexander prevailed on Saturday night over his Labor Packages of Tools, Equipments & Machinery for Various rival, Kristina Keneally, despite CTS Trades “COPA, CH&NM, ICTSM, DBSA, MA&SE, IT” a two-party-preferred swing related under World Bank assisted Vocational Training he family of Miss Iraq, stand that it’s possible to live against the government of just Improvement Project (VTIP) in Shopping Mode. TSarah Idan, who was a together. In order for people over 5percent. The quotations form (complete set of bidding documents contestant in the Miss Uni- to see that we can connect, in The Liberals breathed a sigh verse pageant, had to leave the end, we are both human of relief at the result, because along with the packages including details of Items with the country after she received beings,” Gandelsman said. the outcome was critical for the quantity for purchase) is available in Women ITI Bhilai death threats over Idan’s mod- Last month, she defended Turnbull government’s fortunes from 18/12/2017 elling in a bikini and posting the photo in a post in Arabic and for the prime minister’s The sealed quotation should reach the Office of the Prin- photos on social media taken on Instagram, according to the internal authority, given Turn- with Miss Israel, as reported Times of Israel reported. Idan bull has battled both events and cipal, Women ITI Bhilai, Chhattisgarh on or before 27 Dec. by the news website, jewish- has not removed the photo dissent for much of 2017. Kris- 2017 by 13.00 hours and will be opened on the same day news.timesofisrael.com. from her Instagram account. tina Keneally jubilant in defeat at 14.00 hours. Any quotation received after the dead- During the competition “I want to stress that the as Bennelong voters please both line for submission of quotations as prescribed above will in Tokyo last month, Miss purpose of the picture was sides As the brutal political year be rejected and returned to the Bidder. The undersigned Israel, Adar Gandelsman only to express hope and drew to a close, Turnbull used and Idan posed for photos desire for peace between the Barnaby Joyce’s return in the has all the rights pertaining to the quotation. Interested on their respective Instagram two countries,” she wrote in recent New England byelection suppliers can contact to Principal Women ITI Bhilai (Power accounts. Idan’s caption read, the post, according to jewish- and the subsequent passage of house, Bhilai) for registration prior to bid or any query. “Peace and Love from Miss news.timesofisrael.com. She marriage equality legislation, as Principal, Iraq and Miss Israel.” Gan- added the photo does not sig- well as the recent bare-knuckle Govt.Women I.T.I. Bhilai, delsman told Hadashot that nal support for the Israeli gov- political assault on the Labor Idan said she does not regret ernment and apologised if the senator Sam Dastyari over his G46503/4 Dist.- Durg (C.G.) posting the photos. “She did photo was harmful to the Pal- contact with Chinese donors, it to so that people can under- estinian cause. AGENCIES to shore up his position. AGENCIES millennium post | KOLKATA|SUNDAY, 17 DECEMBER 2017 | 7 mp They (Virat & Anushka) realised how the media hype would be here so they went to Italy. At some point, they have to face it Sport Sania Mirza Sindhu enters ‘Special’ Smith leaves Ashes Indians eye series win at title round of rivals and teammates in awe Dubai Super fortress Visakhapatnam Series Finals PERTH: Rivals and team- mates alike were left in awe of DUBAI: Olympic silver-med- Steve Smith after the world’s VISAKHAPATNAM: An allist P V Sindhu on Saturday top-ranked Test batsman hit imposing line-up and an entered the title round of the new heights in the third Ashes impeccable record in this women’s singles in the $1 mil- match against England at the port city make India the clear lion Dubai Super Series Final WACA Ground on Saturday. favourites as they seek to clinch after beating Chen Yufei of The Australian captain another series win against Sri China in the semi-finals here. reached his highest Test score Lanka in the third and final World No. 3 Sindhu beat yet with his second double- One-day International on Chen, ranked eighth, 21-15 century, passed 1,000 Test runs Sunday. 21-18 in a 58-minute contest for the year and also notched India have not lost a series at the Sheikh Hamdan Indoor his fastest Test century in an at home since the defeat to Stadium here. innings that appeared to shat- South Africa in October 2015. The Indian will now meet ter England’s resolve. Sri Lanka, on the other world number two and top At stumps, Smith was on hand, are seeking to win their seed Akane Yamaguchi of 229 not out, having faced 390 first ever bilateral series in Japan in the summit clash of balls, hitting 28 fours and one seems likes strange positions, urday with an unbroken 301- India, having lost eight and six as his stellar year continued. but he hits the middle of the bat run fifth-wicket partnership. drawn one. She has been It was his second century of on a consistent basis. Resuming on 92 at the start Skipper Rohit Sharma led the series and he didn’t offer a “We’ve tried all sorts, we’ve of play, Smith wasted little time the fightback for India in Moh- in fine form this single chance throughout. thought about our plans to him raising century, reaching the ali with a superb double cen- season, having The closest England came for some time, but we’ve come mark from 138 balls — his tury, his third in ODIs after the to seeing the back of the star up against a player in the form fastest Test century in terms of team had been outplayed in the clinched two right-hander were two unsuc- of his life playing absolutely balls faced. series opener in Dharamsala. Super Series titles cessful third-umpire reviews fantastically.” Smith reached 200 by work- Sharma and his men will look after having leg before wicket Aged 28, Smith already has ing Moeen Ali through mid- to ride the momentum after before winning a appeals turned down. 22 centuries to his name from wicket for another single, a big win in the second game silver at the World English assistant coach 107 Test knocks. having faced 301 balls. and seal the series at the ACA- Paul Farbrace said their best Only Don Bradman (58 Marsh said Smith had an VDCA stadium. Championship plans for the unorthodox Smith innings) and Sunil Gavaskar aura about him and he had The Indian team has lost weren’t troubling him. (101 innings) have reached 22 sympathy for England’s pre- only once at the venue in the the high- profile season-ending “Every team will talk about Test centuries in fewer innings. dicament. “I have felt what it’s seven games played here (with tournament on Sunday. where to bowl to him,” he said. His current Test batting like, captained against him one being washed out) and will ROHIT SHARMA Yamaguchi had beaten “But the way he is playing at average is also second only to when he played for New South hope to keep winning on what Ratchanok of Intanon of Thai- the moment, he gets into some the legendary Bradman. Wales a couple of months ago,” has generally been a high-scor- The top-order’s perfor- news about the availabil- to the team’s cause. The other land 17 -21 21-12 21-19 in the awkward positions but he gets Smith and recalled all- he said. “You come up with all ing ground. mance could prove crucial for ity of ace all-rounder Angelo batters including Lahiru Thiri- first semifinals earlier in the his head back into the ball and rounder Mitchell Marsh car- these plans and none of them Defeat in Dharamsala the home team if it has to con- Mathews for the crucial game, manne, Danusha Gunathilaka day. keeps the bat face open. ried the home side past the seem to work. He is a special meant India can’t overtake tinue its dominance. will be give it their all to snatch and Niroshan Dickwella, have Sindhu had entered the “He hits the ball from what English first innings total Sat- player.” AGENCIES South Africa in the ICC ODI Also, the middle-order a much-needed series win, in been inconsistent and will have semifinals with an unbeaten rankings but a series win is at comprising Dinesh Karthik what has been a tough year for to find ways to make sizeable record, having got the better stake. and Manish Pandey will love them. scores. of all her three opponents in Surgery on Rohit & Co will look to to be among the runs as would Mathews scored a ton, The bowers, on the other Group A. Ranji semi-finals: maintain supremacy over the Mahendra Singh Dhoni and albeit in a losing cause in Moh- hand, will look to recover She has been in fine form cards, Sania visiting Lankans, having won Hardik Pandya. It also looks ali and will be the lynchpin of quickly from the horror show this season, having clinched the Test series earlier. like Ajinkya Rahane would the batting unit, which is short as Rohit turned on the heat. two Super Series titles before to miss The India captain will remain on the sidelines unless on experience, as the squad Nuwan Pradeep, who was winning a silver at the World Bengal take on Delhi, look to continue the good the think-tank opts to pick aims to secure a rare series win taken for 106 in 10 overs, Championship. AGENCIES work and domination of the him ahead of either Pandey or in India. will look for redemption if he Australian Open Lankan attack while the other Karthik. The Lankans were brought retains his place in the XI while batsmen will also hope to be The bowlers have looked crashing down to earth after Suranga Lakmal, the hero of Vidarbha face K’taka KOLKATA: Sania Mirza said among runs. After being shot the part so far and will aim to a good win at Dharamsala as the win at Dharamsala, holds on Saturday that she will not out for 112 in Dharamshala, the continue the good work on Rohit went on the rampage the key for Lanka. be taking part in the Australian host batting line-up regained what is likely to be a batsman- and their batsmen capitulated Spinners of both teams Open early next year due to a its mojo as Rohit led from the friendly wicket, going by the under the pressure of chasing haven’t had a great time in the right knee injury. front. records. a mammoth score. Mathews’ ODIs and could be under pres- “Basically I have something With Shikhar Dhawan And, the importance of return to form must be heart- sure to keep the runs down in that’s called a jumper’s knee. chipping in with a half-cen- bowling well in the first 10 ening news for them as is the Visakhapatnam, where big So it’s extremely painful...like tury and the young Shreyas Iyer overs can’t be overemphasised fact that he is bowling some scores have been the norm. I am okay to walk but it’s pain- announcing himself on the big and the lead bowlers Bhu- overs, and with a degree of suc- While India are unlikely to ful to change directions and stage with a knock of 88 in the vneshwar Kumar and Jasprit cess too. tinker with the XI that won in play. That’s the biggest prob- second ODI, the Indian batting Bumrah would be well aware Upul Tharanga, among the Mohali, the visiting side may lem. So I can run straight but seems to be back in form and of this as would Lanka’s spear- more experienced batsmen in consider bringing the pacy I can’t actually do plyometric would be expected to supply head Suranga Lakmal. the line-up, needs to step up Dushmantha Chameera in stuff on it,” the 31-year-old said the runs in the series decider. The visitors, buoyed by and make a bigger contribution place of Pradeep. AGENCIES told reporters on the sidelines of the Premjit Lall Invitational Tennis Tournamen t at the Jai- dip Mukherjea Academy. Plaza brace helps EB down Churchill 3-2 PUNE: Mohammed Shami’s who have had their share of “When I spoke to my doc- guile coupled with Ashok run-ins in the past. tor a couple of months ago, KOLKATA: East Bengal beat ball for him. Peter made no mistake Dinda’s consistency will be India’s craftiest red ball they told me to take a couple Churchill Brothers 3-2 in their in slotting the ball into the goal, countered by Gautam Gamb- bowler Shami will get some of months off, then see how it fourth match of I-League on Satur- from the centre of the box. hir’s experience and Rishabh serious match time against feels before getting into a pro- day, December 16, thanks to a brace The visitors’ lead didn’t last too Pant’s exuberance when Ben- Gambhir, who has been there cess of either surgery or injec- from Willis Plaza. The Trinidad and long as Laldanmawia Ralte levelled gal square off with Delhi in a and done that for Delhi on tions or whatever. So when I Tobago striker scored the winning things for Khalid Jamil’s side. As Ranji Trophy semi-final here numerous occasions. saw them, the pain wasn’t less goal just seconds before the full-time Katsumi passed the ball to Plaza, on Sunday. Meanwhile, Karnataka after two months. So mow we whistle to confirm full three points the latter sent the ball through to The match can be safely will start favourites against have to take a call whether we for his team. Laldanmawia, from outside the termed a fight between one of this season’s surprise package have to do a surgery or take a Both sides lined up in a 4-2- box. Ralte made the run into the the most potent domestic new Vidarbha in the Ranji Trophy couple of injections. 3-1 formation with the hosts opt- box, going past the Churchill Broth- ball attacks in the country and a semi-final on Sunday. “I can’t tell you a definitive ing to go ahead with the same squad ers defence, to safely find the back batting line-up that has players The Vinay Kumar-led side, when but it won’t be before the which defeated Shillong Lajong 5-1 of the net. who can win matches on their which thrashed Mumbai by an next couple of months atleast. last week. On the other hand, the East Bengal could have scored at own on a given day. innings and 20 runs enroute to I will be missing the Australian visiting side made one change from least four more goals but Churchill An encouraging piece of the semis, seems to be peak- Open for sure,” Sania added. the side that bowed down to Aizawl Brother custodian James Kithan statistic for Bengal is that they ing at the right time in their Sania said she will need time FC three days back as Kalu Ogba single-handedly denied the home have never ever conceded a quest for a ninth Ranji title and to get back on the court though replaced Joshuah Vaz in the attack, team. He was deservingly given the first-innings lead against Delhi twice in five seasons. He said: expressing hope that she will thereby making his comeback for man of the match award. Just sec- from 2009-10 season. And not “Definitely beating Mumbai take part in the Common- The Red Machines. ebrorhien Omoduemuke opened the who entered the East Bengal box with onds before the full time whistle Plaza to forget the bitter sweet rela- will help us, it will give us the wealth Games (April 4-15) and The match got off to an entertaining account for the Goan outfit as Israil Gurung from the left-side, flicking the headed in the third goal. AGENCIES tion between Bengal captain extra cushion. It’s past I can’t Asian Games (August 18-Sep- start as the crowd witnessed two goals Gurung assisted the Manoj Tiwary and Gambhir, think much about it.” AGENCIES tember 2) next year. AGENCIES within a minute. First, Peter Oghen- Nigerian. It was Peter DEVELOPMENT AND PANCHAYATS DEPARTMENT PANCHAYATI RAJ, PUBLIC WORKS, DIVISION GURGAON millenniumpost.in P.W.Department G.R.No.CAT2017/Pra.Kra.8/Building-2 Dt.12.04.2017 Notice Inviting Tenders (Re-Tenders)

millenniumpo NO H ALFst TR U THS Government Of Maharashtra The bids from eligible bidders are hereby invited on behalf of the Governor of Haryana through online bids in the website https://haryanaeprocurement.gov.in for the works detailed in the table below:- CHANGE OF NAME Office Of The Executive Engineer Public Works ( Tribal ) Division Chandrapur I, Shahzad Malik S/o E Tender Notice No.04/2017-18 (second call) Shafiquddin R/o H Online E Tenders of Item Rate in B2 Form for the following work are invited by the Executive Engineer, Public Works(Tribal) NO 544 Gali Gulam Division,Civil Line,Chandrapur-442 Tel: O7172- 270842, Email:[email protected]) On behalf of Public Works Tribal Hussain, Delite Cinema Department , Government of Maharashtra from Company/Contractor who fulfill the terms and Conditions of Bid.Tender Docu- ment available and downloaded from Government website (https:// tribal. maharashtra.gov.in). Right to reject any or all tender Chatta Lal Mian Darya is reservered by the competant authority.Conditional tender will not be accepted.. Ganj, Delhi-110002 That I have changed my name from Shahzad to Shahzad Malik for all future purposes. That Shahzad and Shahzad Malik are one and the same perons. I, Jagjit Singh Parmar Other Term &Conditiors: i. Eligible bidders are Bidders registered with Haryana Government, [Cl. 3.1) Other State Governments, Gov- S/o Sh. Surinder Singh ernment of India and other Central and State Government Undertakings who satisfy the Qualification criteria. ii. In case, the day of opening of tenders, happens to be holiday, the tenders will be opened on the next working day. Parmar R/o WB- iii. The time and place of receipt of tenders and other conditions will remain unchanged. 90 Ground Floor, iv. The undersigned reserve the right to reject a tender or all the tenders without assigning any reason. v. The societies shall produce an attested copy of resolution of the cooperative society duly attested from the Back Side, Ganesh competent authority of cooperative department for issuance/participation in the tenders. Nagar-II Shakarpur, vi. The tender without earnest money will not be opened. vii. In case of any dispute, the jurisdiction of court will be at Gurgaon Delhi-110092 That I viii. All material will be arranged by the contractor/society itself Further Information of Above E-Tender available At Following link ix. For other term & conditions, see the tender form. have changed my name 1 http//tribal.maharashtra.etenders.in (Any change in related Tender Notice will be mentioned at above web site) 1. Start date of tender submission for contractor & L&C society 21.12.2017 from 9:00 AM from Jagjit Singh Parmar 2Notice Board at Office Of Executive Engineer Public Works( Tribal ) Division Chandrapur-442401 2. End date for online submission of tenders for contractor & L&C society 27.12.2017 up to 5:00 PM Executive Engineer, 3. Opening of tenders 28.12.2017 from 10:00 AM to Surya Pratap Singh Or further details and e-tendering schedule visit website https://haryanaeprocurement.gov.in on behlaf of Governor of Haryana. Public Works ( Tribal ) PRDH-Advt. No:-1028/11/1067/1718/58987 (Dharmbir Ydav) for all future purposes. DGIPR/2017/2018/4822 Division Chandrapur Dated: 16.12.2017 Executive Engineer, Panchayati Raj, Gurgaon 8| KOLKATA|SUNDAY, 17 DECEMBER 2017|millenniumpost mp In retrospect POINT OF NO RETURN?

Sri Lankan players wearing masks

The world is kind of ostracising Delhi for its growing pollution menace which has not only left the residents breathless but also forced players to wear masks on the field for the first time in international cricketing history. Kaushikibrata Banerjee analyses the reasons behind this and why the national Capital may soon be no-balled when it comes to hosting India’s favourite sport

here is no winter season as such in masks. Lankan players had complained of unease is heavier, thus leading to the pollution. Delhi anymore. At least, not the one with some vomiting in the dressing room during the Dhrubajyoti Ghosh, Visiting Professor, Indian we knew when we were children. The second day of the Test match as well. Play at Kotla Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, sparkling winter sun, the beautiful, had begun under hazy skies in the morning with Shibpur, provides a detailed insight into this recur- mysterious fog; the long walks, the floodlights switched on. rent problem. He says: “Diesel and crop burning are wholesome chicken sweet corn soup, The Air Quality Index (AQI) had dropped to the two main contributors. It is impossible for the Sri Lanka’s the “soulful” roasted peanuts and oranges, the lovely 379 then, from an average of 390 the day before, government to ban diesel cars. Likewise, it is difficult flowers, the innumerable games of cricket and foot- on a scale of 0–500, according to official figures. to ban stubble burning in the neighbouring states Suranga Lakmal T vomits during ball, the clear starlit sky, tea-coffee shops thronging Although the level of particulate matter had also as well. Both are difficult, however, not impossible.” with people looking for heaven in a tiny warm cup, dropped compared to the previous day, it was still Ghosh goes on to explain the two aspects which the fourth day bonfires and angeethis with small crowds around on the higher side of “very poor” category. need immediate attention but are not being taken of their 3rd Test them summed it up all. With international players coming in to play Test up in any forum. against India But these days, what remains is a cloud of smog, matches, it was unprecedented to see them wear The first is resuspension of dust. He explains: acrid smoke, burning red eyes, sore throat and anti-pollution masks for a game of cricket. And that “Whenever a child walks on the road, the vehicles breathlessness. too in Delhi at a time when winter had set in. It is passing by him leave back a trail of dust. Now, the There has been a lot of talk about how the pol- supposed to be the most important time for sports. dust that rises and the kid’s nose are at the same level. crops allows them to till their land using the same distinction of becoming the most polluted city on lution levels in Delhi have shot up and is creating So what is making the scenario worse? Diesel The child takes all of it inside. Then just imagine farm equipment and harvesting machinery. Wheat earth, as air quality reached epically bad propor- problems for not only the people living in the city fumes, construction dust, emissions from coal plants how much dust he inhales every day?” is indispensable as it is the state’s staple diet, but rice tions. Pollution was so high on November 8 that but also cricketers and athletes. and smoke from huge swaths of crops being burned Ghosh goes on to explain the issue of stubble is grown primarily to feed the central pool. several monitoring stations reported an Air Quality In a recent Test match between India and Sri combine to form a smog blanket, thickened by the burning as well. “In Punjab, farmers are willing to Stubble burning is the act of removing paddy Index of 999, way above the upper limit of the worst Lanka at Feroze Shah Kotla, the game had to be relatively cool and still air. go back to wheat from rice. But they are not being crop residue from the field to sow wheat. It’s usually category, Hazardous. (An extra-sensitive air qual- stopped suddenly as the Lankan players battled with VK Soni, a scientist of the environment with the allowed to do so. Stubble burning has become a required in areas that use the “combine harvesting” ity instrument at the US embassy got a reading of Delhi’s toxic air. Sri Lankan pace bowler Suranga Indian Meteorological Department, Government of major contributor to Delhi’s pollution. And it has method which leaves crop residue behind. 1,010). United Airlines cancelled its flights to Delhi Lakmal doubled up and vomited soon after his India, says pollution levels were really high during definitely not happened in one day.” Combines are machines that harvest, thresh i.e. because of poor air quality. Visibility was so bad that team took the field for India’s second innings. The that time when the Test match was on. The com- Ghosh is a UN Global 500 Laureate and an separate the grain and clean the separated grain, all cars crashed in pileups on highways and trains had team physio ran in and escorted him off the field. plications become graver as there is no dispersal Ashoka Fellow. He was also a member of the Board at once. The problem, however, is that the machine to be delayed and cancelled. Eight Sri Lankan players took the field wearing face and everything gets accumulated in the air which of Trustees, Worldwide Fund for Nature, India. doesn’t cut close enough to the ground, leaving stub- The airborne particles and toxic chemicals that Wheat and rice are the two major crops ble behind that the farmer has no use for. There is make up the smog have choked the 19 million resi- of the Granary of India — Punjab. pressure on the farmer to sow the next crop in time dents of the metropolis, where merely breathing the A paramedic speaks to Sri Lanka’s Lahiru Gamage Of the state’s total geographical for it to achieve full yield. The quickest and cheap- air was, at its worst, like smoking 50 cigarettes in a after he complained of shortness of breath area of 50 lakh hectare, 41 lakh est solution, therefore, is to clear the field by burn- day. Hospitals reported a 20 percent surge in patients hectare is under cultivation ing the stubble. with pollution-related illnesses and doctors have — over 35 lakh hectare for India relies on its northern states of Punjab, declared a public health emergency. wheat and 30 lakh hect- Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand According to reports, the grey smoke and haze are for rice. Since wheat for wheat. were so terrible that the US State Department, which is a Rabi (winter) crop The clinching difference between northern and has its own air quality monitoring stations in India, and rice is a Kharif southern states is that the latter does not have the installed air filters for its staff at in their offices and crop, farmers in Pun- urgency to remove the stubble to make the field homes. Costa Rica’s ambassador to India, Mari- Mohammed jab grow both on the crop-ready. To sow wheat right after paddy, the field ela Cruz Alvarez, described in a blog post how she Shami too same farmland. The has to be harvested and readied for the next crop. developed a serious respiratory infection and had to vomits time gap between the This November, Delhi earned the unenviable decamp to South India. “I’m used to living in para- dise and suddenly India has become a threat to my health and the health of my friends and colleagues,” she wrote.More than an inconvenience, air pollution is indeed a major medical hazard. The Lancet Com- mission on pollution and health reported 9 million premature deaths stemming from air pollution in 2015. More than 2.5 million of these deaths were in India, the most in any single country. India’s environmentalists acknowledge that air pollution is a hydra-headed monster with many causes. But they also argue not only that the gov- ernment has failed to adequately respond, but its policies, like loosening rules on construction sites, have made a toxic air problem even worse. In early November, the smog in New Delhi became so thick that you couldn’t see the end of the block. This time of year, as winter sets in is the worst. Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal termed the national Capi- tal as a “gas chamber.” The dizzying layers of India’s policymakers, the vote banks and the demarcated constituencies, the exhaustible, half-hearted mea- sures, the lack of resolve make it all the more dif- ficult to address this growing menace, leave alone Team Sri Lanka warming up a redressal and reinvention of a solution, leaving during Day IV of the 3rd Test cracks wide open through which air pollution keeps seeping in year after year. 9| KOLKATA|SUNDAY, 17 DECEMBER 2017|millenniumpost mp Beacon In the monochrome matrix of documentation, Bhatt was searching not for the bare bones of cognition but the hidden truth of the rural psyche. These images invent a new visual language of lines and shade to evoke the deepest urges and traditions, writes UMA NAIR

Jyoti Bhatt: Embracing rural rhythms

yoti Bhatt brings to Rukshaan Art in Mumbai a MOMENTS INTO show that captures his journeys across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, MEMORIES West Bengal and Bihar from the 1960’s to the The only objective J1990’s. Walking into India’s villages and captur- behind the series for Bhatt ing women and children and huts and walls, was to record the medium this series of photographs is more than a docu- since it was the only way he mentation. It is an archive of the living traditions could save it. Ladies draw- of India’s rustic villages – the arts and crafts of the ing mandana become tools if folk idiom that were not just forms, but living rel- historical testimonies.While ics of the rituals that were integrated into the lives one work looks at a seated of humble dwellers embodying narratives that hark lady drawing an intricate back to centuries ago. mandana the second work Jyoti Bhatt the printmaker with his love for inta- has an old woman in a rural glio discovered the tribal arts of Indian villages with courtyard in Banasthali 1979 his camera. “I was asked to do a documentation of who draws while we espie a some of these villages,” says he, “The idea was to peacock on the roof of the capture the visual expressions in their original set- thatched hut.Form and space ting along with people who inhabited these spaces. become vital parameters in While I was focussing on daily traditions, like wall the study of these images. paintings and rangolis, I realised after I looked the Bhatt’s formal education works that there was a strong thread of transience. is reflected as much as the Suddenly it seemed as if I had captured vanishing commentary on indigenous walls in the lives of so many village dwellers.” art forms even as he offers interpretations of space that CALF IN REVERIE flits back and forth through Look at images such as Calf-Madhya Pradesh time. Look at the images of 1983 and Govardhan Rajasthan 1987 – in both the three Harijan girls Kutch works, there is a connectivity between the art, the Gujarat 1979 standing in coy wall, the people, and the bull and the calf. There is consciousness, the two boys an inter-relationship between their art and their in naïve innocence, the eth- lifestyle. The bull stands in tranquil comfort as the nic looking girl and child lady paints on his body, for the Govardhan festival with the stunning kitchen -- what entices is the drawing on the wall. tools in a surreal backdrop In the second case, the expression in the calf’s – Bhatt covers fascinatingly open eye paints a reflection of absolute reverie diverse subjects to offer us while you see the art on the two makeshift walls an authentic and indelible on two sides. There are two apertures here, one in vision of an India that is at the makeshift wall and the other in the calf’s eye – once teeming with rural a tender reflection of the beauty of animals and life rhythms of lifestyles and art enlivened. The two makeshift walls covered with a practices that are both tactile coat of clay and cow dung over which the women and triumphant. apply chhuimitti (white clay) soaked in water are Bhatt’s Bengal image of artistic in themselves. The parallel, lateral strokes a lantern with an abstract are created while the clay is still wet and it is this Durga drawing transports that adds the evocative elegance – a counterpoint us to the timelessness of the IMAGES: JYOTI BHATT ESTATE between animate and inanimate. Bhatt signifies the surreal and the stark that he truth that art for them is more than a centuries-old stumbles upon. Interior of a tradition, it is a part of the society they belong to. Rathwa tribal house in Mad- “I noticed most often that what was on their walls hya Pradesh 1979 is a magnificent mapping of the who kept their rituals and customs alive. from the inside out. That radical search for the hid- drawings were part of rituals, how they marked the was what they missed, sometimes it was the dying richness of the lived idiom in the midst of their “I thought ritualistic and secular art forms, usu- den structure of the indigenous arts in India is at the beginning of seasons such as winter, planting and peacocks or the tigers, but it was fascinating to see own abject poverty.If that has a sense of soul so ally created by women, using transient materials heart of Bhatt’s quest for documentation. harvesting seasons and before summer, apart from that they were painting their inherited memories. I does Daedapdia Gujarat 1967 of the young mother such a clay, dung, flowers and rice flour needed to VISUAL NOTES special and auspicious occasions like weddings, fes- felt that as contemporary artists how far behind we with her child. be given priority. It was most crucial because such tivals and communal religious workshops. are, we are not even truthful to our own journeys.” TRADITION, TIME, AND MORTALITY forms were not considered important as ‘National To look at Jyoti Bhatt’s black and whites is to be Bhatt began documenting the folk and tribal cul- Bhatt says he has focused on two basic art forms Cultural Treasures’ or ‘Archaeological Heritage’ and drawn into the perennial debate of the power of ture of rural India in the summer of 1967. He trav- in series, art forms on walls and floors. “It’s because The show traverses tradition through the tapes- their deteriorating condition did not seem to be monochromes. “I found that these folk artists in elled widely, visiting villages and tribal regions, and I studied painting that I could appreciate certain try of time and buttonholes mortality. Bhatt captures bothering the government,” said Bhatt in an inter- India’s heartlands, were more contemporary than his journey has turned into an archival encyclopaedia forms easily without bias. Most of this art is alive inherited artistic conventions-unique and powerful- view. His most profound images are of women and us, because they understand the presence and the that posits the past as a relic in the leaves of history. because the women were doing it all and they didn’t presents a lens that celebrates artistic expression children, they lead the human eye into a black and rootedness of their work, they live with their art and “The concentration in my work is not just on the art change as much the men.” which is shaped by the hands of the Rajwar women white labyrinth, where reality must be relearned they are always recreating.” It tells us about how these forms, but also on capturing the integrated relation- ship between art and people — how the two are interwoven in the act of daily living,” he explains. In the monochrome matrix of documentation, Bhatt was search- ing not for the bare bones of cog- nition but the hidden truth of the rural psyche. These images invent a new visual language of lines and shade to evoke the deepest urges and traditions. This same monochrome mythology spills into multiple com- mentaries to dig into the truth behind pictures. Pictures, in colours, are to be looked at, Bhatt does not want us to passively look, but to imagine moments from within. While colours let us off lightly; black and white forces us to think. 10| KOLKATA|SUNDAY, 17 DECEMBER 2017|millenniumpost mp Inland Transforming young girls into

WOMEN OF SUBSTANCE

VINATI BHARGAVA MITTAL chances each to appear in the com- Named after the 18th-century Maj Gen IP Singh, petitive exams during their stay at the legendary Sikh saint warrior Mai VSM (Retd) he army is not a place where institute. After this, their mentors are Bhago Kaur who fought the Mughal you give life, but it is a place there to guide them. Army alongside the Tenth Sikh Guru where you live life,” says “All of us here have a singular aim Guru Gobind Singh, the institute is Lady Cadet Tabassum which we pursue day and night, and a brainchild of former Punjab Chief “TKhan, 18, a second-course student, at Mai the institute is providing us with a Minister Parkash Singh Badal. “Tra- Bhago Armed Forces Preparatory Institute platform to achieve our goals,” says ditionally in Punjab, defence services for Women in Mohali (MBAFPI). Her aim Lady Cadet Harnoor Singh, 18, of were considered a male bastion and is to serve as a commissioned officer in the Pathankot. The training at MBAFPI womenfolk had been subdued over Armed Forces, preferably Air Force. “There is well scheduled; a combination of a period of time,” says Singh. A fron- is no second option. I can and will make it each and everything required in a tier state, Punjab used to send a large one day,” says Khan confidently. girl, she says, further adding, “I am a number of boys into the defence ser- Like Khan, 74 lady cadets from different product of an Air Force School. From vices earlier but over the years their parts of Punjab – mainly its rural hinter- my schooldays, the uniform tempted number has been on the decline. To land, driven by grit and determination, and me. Therefore, to serve the nation I arrest this alarming trend, the Pun- brimming with confidence have enrolled at chose defence services as a career.” jab Government set up the Maharaja MBAFPI. They all have a common goal – to The ‘Training Mission’ includes Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Prepa- serve as commissioned officers in the Indian building up physical and mental abil- ratory Institute (AFPI) in 2011 to defence services. “This institute trains girls ities and developing Officer Like train selected boys from the state for a career as commissioned officers in the Qualities (OLQ) in the lady cadets, for permanent commission into the defence services,” says Major General I P besides preparing them for the Ser- armed forces through the National Singh VSM (Retd), the founding Director vice Selection Board (SSB) interview. Defence Academy. of the Institute. “MBAFPI is the first of its The cadets are kept in an Army envi- Following its unprecedented suc- kind,” he claims, adding, “I have googled and ronment, and the focus between academics, cess, the State Government in 2014 thought not found a similar institution in the world.” sports and outdoors, personality develop- of setting up a similar institution for girls The preparatory institute, established ment, and competitive exams is altered with to spur greater representation of Punjab’s and funded by Punjab Government, envis- academics gaining priority in the beginning girls in the defence services. Moreover, Nani ages a three-year undergraduate programme and competitive exams towards the end. Chaon, an initiative to eliminate female foe- wherein, besides pursuing academics (BA, A typical day for the lady cadets begins ticide and empower the girl child had taken Bsc-Non Medical, BCom) at the prestigious at 5 am. After the muster which includes wings in Punjab. “When one wants to do MCM DAV College, Chandigarh; lady a pledge to serve the country, prayer and something, time itself gets compromised,” cadets are equipped with skills required thought for the day, it is time for the morn- says Singh. MBAFPI is an example of the to become officers in the defence services. ing drill and physical training. Thereafter, steadfastness of decision making since the Boarding, lodging and training are pro- the cadets leave for college at 8 am. On construction of the building was completed vided free to the girls, who only pay their return, they attend a preparatory period in eight months since the idea was first con- academic fee. A sum between Rs 15 and Rs and play games. Lectures on communi- ceived. Former Defence Minister Mano- 18 lakhs is spent on the girls every month, cation skills and personality development har Parrikar inaugurated the Institute on The aim of this says Singh, who is an alumnus of Sainik are delivered regularly. Stress is also laid on July 25, 2015. The well planned residential School, Kapurthala and National Defence updating their general knowledge, holding campus, spread over eight acres in Sector institute is to make us Academy, Khadakwasla. group discussions and debates. At times, 66, was once a back ally of the industrial “Here we get mental and physical train- eminent personalities from different fields, area of Mohali. Today, it houses a residential women of substance. ing which makes us emotionally balanced senior Army officers, lady officers, educa- complex – individual rooms with attached to cope with the schedule ahead,” says Khan tionists are invited to motivate the girls. Post toilets, smart classrooms, an auditorium, We are guided here from Bathinda. Her parents are school dinner is the self-study time, and lights are state-of-art gymnasium, library, and well – motivated if we teachers and Capt. Vikram Batra (PVC) switched off at 11 pm. laid out sports fields. The construction, who laid down his life during the Kargil War The first batch of lady cadets took the done on pillars, is an architectural and engi- are going in the right is her role model. Like girls of her age, she Combined Defence Services (CDSE) written neering marvel. likes to listen to music and watch movies. exam this November. Eight out of 23 lady To raise awareness about MBAFPI, pro- direction, checked if The zeal to serve in the armed forces is cadets from the first batch cleared the writ- grammes were shown in schools and on the prime requisite for entry into MBAFPI. ten examination of the Air Force Common the electronic media, and local newspa- we are going in the Applicants should also have appeared or Admission Test (AFCAT) recently. Nearly pers carried advertisements. The response passed class XII examination, be 16 years two lakh candidates across the country was good. There were nearly 1,500 appli- wrong direction or above on July 1 in the year of entry, hold had appeared for the same. Interviews for cants in the first year, 1,200 applicants in a domicile of Punjab, and have a minimum AFCAT will be held in March next year. the second year, and 1,800 applicants in height of 150 cm with correlated weight and Lady Cadet Naman Kadian of Chan- the third year. 25 per cent of students have BTech. Over three-fourths of vacancies in age. Candidates have to undertake a written digarh who cleared the written exam says, an urban background, and 75 have a rural the Army are technical and there are only test, face an interview and undergo a medi- “The aim of this institute is to make us and shooting here. Now, I have become and the girls are paired as partners and are background – 40 per cent coming directly 12 non-technical entries out of 48 every cal test. Thus, each cadet selected through women of substance. We are guided here more confident of my capabilities. The fear expected to know everything about their from the villages. Yet, Singh feels more work six months, with NCC having four addi- rigorous competition knows the privilege – motivated if we are going in the right of coming forward has reduced.” partner and be responsible for her. For still needs to be done.”We need to generate tional vacancies. of being a part of the MBAFPI family and direction, checked if we are going in the Lady Cadet Umang Randhawa, whose example, if the partner is late for a class then more interest and enthusiasm among girls In order to offer more opportunities to values the training imparted here. Whether wrong direction.” Kadian is satisfied with father is in the Army, is a fresher. Randhawa her buddy is also held responsible. Rand- to get a much larger population to choose its lady cadets, the institute has to enhance she cracks the exam or not since the seats her stay here. “Since I joined the institute, wants to join the Army Service Corps. Since hawa says the girls have coined the names from. And, this is likely to happen.” its training capacity so that it can prepare are few and the competition fierce, the I have changed a lot,” she says. “Earlier, I no man is left behind in the Army, she says of their batches. While the seniors opted for Currently, the lady cadets at MBAFPI girls for entry into the armed forces tech- cadet knows that a three-year stint here was not into sports but after coming here the institute has tried to build team spirit Spearheads, the second years decided on can apply only for non-technical vacan- nical stream as well. Yet, MBAFPI is an will transform her from a girl-next-door I have participated in sports. I have also amongst the youngsters through the concept Smashing Seconds and the freshers chose cies in the Army and the Air Force since excellent initiative by a state government to to a lady of substance. The cadets get two been exposed to horse riding, swimming, of buddy system. Everyone stays together, Tenacious Troikas. the minimum qualification for Navy is BE/ give girls an opportunity at par with boys. millennium post | KOLKATA|SUNDAY, 17 DECEMBER 2017 | 11 mp Read AN UNPUTDOWNABLE ATTEMPT FOR FRESH OFF THE

ordinary readers SHELF Tamal Bandyopadhyay has mastered the art of demystifying the Diary of a Whimpy Kid complicated world of finance for ordinary readers with his book To escape the stress of the holidays, the Heffleys ‘From Lehman to Demonetization’, writes Sugato Hazra decide to go to a resort instead of celebrating at Christmas home. perhaps have suited a coffee table book But the stress-free more than the serious one that Penguin vacation becomes a has brought out. More so since many of holiday nightmare. those who have been featured in part Author: two also had offered their praises for the Jeff Kinney Publisher: book. This gives an impression of mark- `206 ing the book to a certain market and not Penguin for a curious reader. The fault lies with the publisher who was expected to do justice to the well-articulated part one To the Moon of the book. Tamal Bandyopadhyay The book has attractive titles for top- ics discussed in brief. Not only these Malini Agarwal’s story began much read well but also have captured the like any Bollywood he collapse of Lehman Broth- essence of the issue discussed. What is movie from the ers Holdings Inc. has been a best in the book is the writing style. It nineties - with a momentous event in the global draws in the reader, making it a page- pigeon, a damsel financial system. It exposed turner much like a thriller. Tamal has in distress and Tthe underbelly of the US dollar 300 tril- mastered the art of demystifying the Mumbai, the city of lion worth global financial market. Col- complicated world of finance. He could dreams. lapse of the US market spread to Europe do it since he is not a student of finance. which eventually saw disintegration of Had he been, it would have ended up Author: European Union, an experiment which as another book for reference, not the Malini Agarwal Publisher: failed and creating several collateral ‘unputdownable’ one for ordinary read- ` HarperCollins damages in economies not so large as ers as ‘From Lehman to Demonetiza- 399 the European Union or the United States tion’ is. of America. Indian market which ini- tially, in the wake of the crisis, patted itself being immune to the problems The Dirty Dozen of the US financial market and lived merrily on denial mode has since been it helps a reader who wants to know facing, according to Tamal Bandyopad- but gets distracted by use of jargons The executioner has no remorse. hyay, “a decade of disruptions, reforms of finance professionals to understand He is the man and misadventures.” In the book ‘From several issues which the Indian finan- who strikes the Lehman to demonetization’ by Tamal cial system went through during the fear of his boss in one can have glimpses of major events momentous period. If the reader has everybody’s heart. of the period. been looking for serious research on Those who live by Tamal is a good story teller. He cap- Indian market this book can at best act the bullet die by the tured the plight of a young finance pro- as a guideline, flagging issues where in- bullet. fessional whose world collapsed along depth study will help. Serious readers, Author: with Lehman and the curious case of too, will find the book useful. Gabriel Khan people approaching bank branches with age when in fact, people across the world the speculator looking for ungoverned While the part one of the book fits `263 Publisher: car loads of cash through the experi- lost faith in the global financial system. and free currency as a new store of value. the reader’s need well, (only the chapter Westland ence of fifty days in the life of a bank’s It is argued that the crypto currency Bit- Maybe the author would think of work- on micro-finance, an insignificant sec- branch manager. Most of the articles in coin finally saw the light of the day due ing on issues beyond the geographic and tor in the world of big finance, sitting the book were published in the finan- to this loss of confidence in the institu- intellectual boundary of India. rather incongruously there) the part Price: ` cial newspaper the Mint where Tamal tions governing the financial market. Tamal has been frank enough to two on seminal leaders is out of place. 599 works. These were written in a con- But since the canvas of the book was not begin with an admission that he is not Both the choice of the leaders and the Publisher: India I Tagged Her in My Heart text as most newspaper columns are. wide enough to include the nitty gritty a student of finance. However, this is not notes on them does not add value to Portfolio Things get broken, Together the articles have captured the of the global issues it did not touch upon a weakness of the book. On the contrary a serious reader. Such profiles would we repair them and they get a new shape. This applies about. to love as well. It is a rather interesting Because, you are journey and was triggered yours before you are someone else’s. by my desire to start writing But what happens ‘Feels good to appreciate and enjoy again. This happened in 2010 when we fall or fail? after I had my third child. I got back on the saddle full- Author: steam with a food blog. It Anuj Tiwari was literally what I made for Publisher: ` dinner each night chronicled 195 Rupa Publications India for posterity – My kids and husband were indulgent and encouraging as they waited the best of both worlds’ patiently for their food while I took my pictures. My blog is a collection of vegetarian recipes from it comes to food, certain all encompass- Excerpts form an exclusive interview with Priya Mahadevan, an author India and many other parts of the world ing, all inclusive Hindu philosophies and that I had visited. The blog opened up temples, our beautiful saris which I don’t endless possibilities and connections and get to wear often enough, but buy unfail- living in the USA, during her short visit to India soon I had developed my very own small ingly during my yearly visits to India; the business enterprise under the banner of jasmine flowers to wear in my hair and OUR CORRESPONDENT book follows Fey Fey as she figures out how Suvaiyana LLC. the beautiful jewellery. Then there is the to incorporate these cultural clothes in her I sold my packaged products through music and dance both of which I rate as If you had to introduce yourself in five rather active, outdoorsy life in Charlottes- the local Whole Foods Market until terms the greatest in the world. In my American sentences how would you describe Priya ville, Virginia. The book has a glossary of of retail changed such that it became an setting, I value the privacy I get, the beau- Mahadevan? Tamil words with phonetic pronunciation unfeasible collaboration. People here may tiful expanses of countryside, the ability to I will start by saying I am a children’s and small illustrations. or may not know that there is way more express views, which are contrary to com- book author and have thus far published representation of North Indian food than mon beliefs without too much of a back- two books. I own a vegetarian catering Tell us about ‘Fey Fey Says NO’ South Indian, except in big cities. I took it lash; the fact that my three babies were business and have a line of packaged prod- ‘Fey Fey Says NO’, my second book, is a upon myself to spread the delectable joy born there and the friends I have made ucts like spices, chutneys and soups under “mainstream” book that explores the pas- of dosais to the small city I live in. This over the past 23 years, the education sys- the banner of Suvaiyana. I have a food blog, sion kids have to say “no”, and how to wean is also how my catering services took off. tem, the clean waters, the highways, the www.priyasnowserving.com where I share them from using it without taking away the My catering menu offers a wide selection respect for public places and civic respon- a fairly large repertoire of vegetarian reci- importance of the word in the right situ- of south and north Indian food. I do pop- sibilities; the philanthropy that cannot be pes. I have recently joined a national group ation and context. It is a charming story up gigs at wineries and at my home and upped by any other country. It feels good called Moms Demand Action for Gun where 2-year-old Fey Fey is stuck in “NO” have more recently been making interest- to appreciate and enjoy the best of both Sense as a chapter lead for Charlottesville, mode, much to her own detriment. Her ing forays into private cheffing and boxed worlds. VA where I live. family rallies around to help her under- lunches (tiffin). At the moment, things are very difficult Most importantly I am a mother of stand when to say “yes”. I have read this for anyone who is not white nor conforms three beautiful children and share my life book in several bookstores and schools You have been in the US for a long time. to the average perception of American. But with my best friend, my husband. around my city and have had so many kids What do you miss about India? we shall overcome like we have overcome with younger siblings who were imme- I am steeped in my Indian-ness when a lot of other things. Tell us about your journey to becoming diately able to state how they do/did the an author... same thing. I am sure parents of toddlers Well, I started my writing career in will definitely find this story close to home. India working in Delhi’s First City Mag- azine and then moving on to newspa- many of them in person as well. Often, the corner of a bookstore or library under the What prompted you to base the charac- per reporting with the Observer. When chronicling of my daughter’s daily mile- “ethnic” or “multicultural” section. ter in your book on your daughter? I moved to the US after a brief stay in stones preceded my recipes. Soon I realised Like many authors, I too like to write Canada, I pursued a Masters program in I had enough material to write little stories Tell us about your first book, ‘Princesses stories sometimes loosely, at times largely Journalism and Communications. While about her. only wear Putta-Puttas’ based on people I know and love, especially I continued to contribute sporadic arti- I became a member of the Society of I started shopping for publishers to those who inspire me. While all my chil- cles on topics that mattered to me to the Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators send my manuscript for ‘Princesses Only dren inspired me in different ways, I guess newspapers there, my primary focus was (SCBWI) and attended meetings and had Wear Putta-Puttas’, a bi-cultural book I was free enough to observe and appreci- on my two babies. After my third child my book critiqued. While the comments based on my own daughter. My first book, ate my youngest because she was born long was born, I decided to start a food blog, were all positive, I gleaned that a book that Princesses Only Wear Putta- Puttas, is an after the first two and in a way, I had in- merely to chronicle recipes that I could is bi-cultural in nature was not going to anecdote of Fey Fey going to India for the house babysitters who helped me take the pass on to my kids. But the blog world is be entertained by bigger publishers with- first time she could remember, and falling time out to get back to writing. full of moms wanting to share their recipes out being pigeonholed into the “multicul- in love with the sights, sounds and espe- and their stories. I ended up making a lot tural” category which is a euphemism for cially the traditional pavadai-chattai (skirt You are an entrepreneur and chef with a of blogger friends and ended up meeting being tucked away in some small deep dark and blouse) (putta-putta in her words). The catering business. Tell us how that came 12| KOLKATA|SUNDAY, 17 DECEMBER 2017|millenniumpost mp Routes

ON THE TIGER

Ranthambore is magic – a secluded island of wilderness – a living tale of humans and tigers sharing the same serene terrain, of the gurgling water of rivers Banas and Chambal

he range opposite to this is called jostled to be in the right place, tourists cried out of the thicket, halted for a picture perfect some careless fish. A lone snake-bird sat on ‘Rann’, this fort is ‘thamb’ and out in surprise but the ‘sher khan’ moved on photo and hurriedly made its way back from the tree in the water, taking a full view of its Trailthe deep valley from which the unperturbed, its velvet paws landing softly on where it had come. territory. Quite close to us, an ibis rummaged range arises ‘bhor’ – that is how the dirt road. T-34 halted, looked up, holding On our way back we halted for our brunch through the pebbles and wood, looking for crus- “Tthis place came to be known as Rann-tham- our gaze – compelling and powerful. Two more and the bati-choorma and spicy poha, just taceans; unaware of our presence. Our guide bore” our guide revealed as we strode past the steps and it was back into the thickets – a stripe added to the thrill of the morning. After lunch, pointed out four baby crocodiles sunbathing, famous Ganesha temple in the Ranthambore of gold and ochre disappearing into the bush. we got a canter booked for ourselves for an eve- right in front of us. They looked clueless and fort. Ranthambore is magic – a secluded island We followed it for a few minutes before it dis- ning safari and waited under a tree listening on the other side, some eight grown crocodiles of wilderness – a living tale of humans and tigers appeared in the dark of the jungle. We moved to the tales of Maharaja Hamir. We soaked in were lazing away in the sun. sharing the same serene terrain of the gurgling on in anticipation of it coming out from the the ambience and the battle story of Maharaja A little more into the deep forests and we water of River Banas and Chambal snaking its other end. As we moved on, the Hamir and Ala-ud-din Khilji saw six or seven gypsies and canters halting. way through the valleys to rejuvenate the for- landscape offered us a charm- and the long history of Ranth- “It must be a tiger,” we whispered. We learnt est and of unending, unparalleled myths and ing picturesque mosaic. The ambore fort. that a tiger was resting in the bushes after its tales of Maharaja Hamir. plum faced parakeets enjoy- At 2:30 pm we headed for hunt. Our guide decided to turn the vehicle Our tryst with the enigmatic Ranthambore ing their morning play on our second safari in Zone 4. and come from to the other side. We had esti- tiger started with six of us joining in from dif- the high branches, scar- This zone, unlike the zone mated that the animal would move from one ferent parts of the country. Like most of the let minivets lazing 6, had water bodies and side and go towards the water. The remains of young tourists in the country, we holed up in away the day, mag- thicker forests. Beau- its prey were lying there – a deer. Now only our resort and spent our day mak- the bones remained for the crows and ing arrangements for the next day’s jackals to feed on. Hesitantly we made big game. off towards the tiger oblivious to the A mist had enveloped the deer’s distress calls. It looked like a sky, and the morning wind traffic jam with every gypsy try- still carried the night’s chill, ing to get a toehold. The tiger had but the splendid panoply been in the bushes for more of the forest displayed its than an hour. Just a few min- own warmth. The ‘tiger utes after we reached and magic’ had already cast the tiger moved (as if it was its spell on us and was waiting for us to arrive). It reflected in the exclama- was a tigress, smaller in size tions of ‘My Gosh!! To get The landscape was and build; dragging herself, up at six’ being changed to adorned with trees limping, maybe a little old. She ‘definitely up at six’ by nightfall. came forward, paused pondered The resort did its bit to enhance sending out long roots, contemplating our awe and sur- the magic. Our safari was to head forlorn palm trees strutting prise; but was not too happy seeing towards Zone 6 – the outer forest so many vehicles lined up to have area of the park. The landscape was out as if were seeded in her ‘darshan’. She moved on, lost in adorned with trees sending out long the wrong climatic zones her thoughts – her ‘auggghhh augghh’ roots, forlorn palm trees strutting grunts resonating in the air as a fare- out as if were seeded in the wrong and tall grass to provide well. Her eyes held an ancient mys- climatic zones and tall grass a perfect camouflage to tery – untold story of sadness. She to provide a perfect camou- the most celebrated was dangerously beautiful. We flage to the most celebrated couldn’t have been luckier – predator. The entire land- predator two safaris and two tiger sight- scape was wrapped and ings, wow! Our thrill knew tangled with the branches no bounds when we were and tendrils of nature so introduced to the tigress – intricately that the thick- she was Machali. “There was ets had got impregnable. a time when she was called the The smell of the forest was Aaishwarya Rai of Rantham- just delicious. bore,” our guide said. We had been The gypsy trundled slowly face-to-face with Machali – the face up the dirt path. “Ranthambore of tiger conservation in India. has everything to offer – They are On our way back we again halted not just tigers, they are characters at the lakeside, to witness the great flight we identify ourselves with,” said our arc of a crested serpent eagle. Rantham- driver Shabbir, on our way to Zone 6. Tiger pie robins breasting to tiful green hills stood bore had cast its spell – from tiger sightings is the magic mantra here. Hardly had he said the soft winter morning on both sides. We were to seeing an eagle soar across the skies, from these words, when he jumped off his seat and sun, greater caucals rum- greeted by the gregarious crocodiles idling in the sun to the play of mini- cried,–”Tiger.” The word seemed to resonate maging for food among the cormorants roosting in the vets feeding on tree pines to catching a jungle in the air. It was a fully grown tiger; his stripes dead foliage and the colourful sun. Macaques were chattering fight live, from chatter- could be seen from in between the thickets of peacocks basking themselves in away busily on the tree-tops and ing monkeys to the shrill babool. The gypsies raced, but the tiger moved the sun, presenting myriad hues to the fragrance of wild fruits floated calls of brain fever cuckoo unhurriedly through the tall grass, peacefully leave even the best artist wanting; this natural in the air. Zone 4 is the home to the most famous – everything was burnt in making its way through the vegetation. We klaidescope was mesmerising. A langur perched tigers of India – Machli and her daughter Sun- our memory forever. Our TEXT & SELECT were moving parallel with the tiger and then high on a mahua tree, its golden vigilant eyes dari, whose lives have been intensively captured tryst ended with the words stood still waiting for the tiger to cross to the darting back and forth and ears twitching as by BBC. We moved ahead from one terrain to of our safari guide, ‘These PHOTOS: AAKASH other side. Our eyes didn’t blink for a moment. it barked to mark its territory. the other, enjoying the different colours of Ran- animals are so magnificent We waited patiently, and expectantly. The for- Zone 6 is a perfect place for leopard and thambore. Cooing of birds, pecking of wood- that it seems a tragedy they MEHROTRA est seemed to freeze for a moment and then sloth bear sightings. In the matter of a few min- peckers and the chuckling of langurs filled the should be allowed to van- came alive with alarm calls. The air was still utes, the terrain changed from grassy plains to air. A little away, we could see the Ranthambore ish’ and his appeal to plant and alert. A faint rustle and then a movement. tabletop plateau. The distant hills seemed to lake. Several water birds – greater egrets, ibis, for each of us to plant a The ‘sher khan’ was there – right in front of fill the up the emptiness of the area. Before we pond heron, sat on the wet rocks. A river tern tree to maintain forests for us, crossing over to the other side. Vehicles could call it a day, a shy male blue bull appeared was hovering in the air trying to fix its eye on these majestic animals. millennium post | KOLKATA|SUNDAY, 17 DECEMBER 2017 | 13 mp Trending STORIES IN A FRAME SAY CHEESE! Candid Talk

Hardevinder Singh Sandhu Edam, a picturesque small town in Holland, is where the world famous Edam cheese comes from. The name Edam originates from a dam on the little river E or IJe where the first settlement was located and which was therefore called E-dam. The dam was built in the 13th Century and the town has flourished since then. PICS: FIROZE MISTRY (Hardy Sandhu); singer

Birthday: 06/09/86 SEND YOUR ORIGINAL SNAPS ALONG WITH YOUR NAME AND A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE STORY BEHIND THEM TO [email protected]. IF WE LIKE THEM, WE'LL PUBLISH THEM! Favourite singers: Arijit Singh, Enrique/ Julia Michaels BAKING MONEY, MOVIE Favourite songs: Issues by Julia Michaels BELT MUSIC BRAIN DRAIN BOOK NECKLACE Favourite movies: All horror Movies BRACELET NECKTIE Your idea of an ideal weekend: At home SUDOKU WORD SEARCH CANDLES PANTS with family and my dog Juno CANDY PENDANT CHOCOLATES PERFUME Dream destination: Japan CLOTHES PLANT How would you rate yourself as a singer? COFFEE MAKER SCARF Still learning COFFEE MUG SHIRT Describe yourself in three words: COLOGNE SLIPPERS Honest, COOKIES SNEAKERS Dedicated, Fun DOLL SOCKS Five things you cannot do without: The EARRINGS STUFFED ANIMAL Gym, my healthy food, ELECTRONICS SWEATER What's the best compliment you've ever FLOWERS TELEVISION GAME TOOL SET received? GIFT BASKET TOY After Naah, it would be the compliments GIFT CARD TREE ORNAMENT I have been receiving about my Dancing HERBAL TEAS WATCH skills! JEWELRY WINE

SANTA'S GIFT While I was working as a store Santa, a boy asked me for an electric train set. I tld him, "If you get your train, your dad is going to want to Finish the proverb: play with it too. Is that alright?" the bor became very quiet , so moving the conversation ahead, I asked, "So what else do you like Santa to bring chuckles All is ______that comes to the mill. you?" He promptly replied, "Another train."

VANILLA PANNA COTTA (FRUIT JELLY) Chifferi Rigati With Cheese INGREDIENTS (Gr) Vanilla Whipped cream 600 Panna Cotta Sugar 60 Vanilla pod 1 Gelatin 10 Cold water 40 PROCEDURE: 1. Bloom gelatin in cold water and let dissolve 2. Boil together cream, sugar and vanilla 3. Cool to 60°C before adding gelatin STRAWBERRY AND GOAT 4. Pour mixture into verrines and chill to set CHEESE SALAD FRUIT JELLY(Gr) Prep Time: 15 minutes, Cooking Time: 30 minutes Ravifruit Blackberry puree 25 INGREDIENTS mixture has reduced to 1/3 Ravifruit Raspberry puree 25 cup, about 10 minutes. Set Ravifruit strawberry puree 38 180 gms strawberries the balsamic reduction aside Sugar 5 50 gms goat cheese to cool. Infuse some basil Gelatin 2 50 gms rocket leaves leaves into it and remove. Preparation time: 30 minutes 15 ml vinaigrette Cold water 8 Servings: 2 METHOD: RECIPE FOR ASSEMBLING SALAD: GASTRONOMY Cook pasta as per packet instructions. For Balsamic and Basil Slice the strawberries in a PROCEDURE: In a pan, melt butter, add flour and mix INGREDIENTS: reduction longitudinal manner. 1. Dissolve gelatin in cold very well making sure that there are no 2 cups, Del Monte Chifferi Rigati 200 ml balsamic vinegar Arrange them in a mould like water and let dissolve lumps. Add milk and whisk thoroughly 2 tablespoons, butter 50 ml honey we do for tartare. 2. Warm together purees until it's blended and there are no 2 tablespoons, all-purpose flour ½ cup fresh basil leaves Dress the rocket leaves with and sugar to 60°C lumps in it. Simmer for a minute. 2& ½ cups, milk the vinaigrette and place it 3. Remove from heat and Add sage, cream cheddar cheese, ¼ cup cream RECIPE FOR BALSAMIC on the side. add in gelatin mozzarella cheese; season with salt ½ cup, cheddar cheese, grated REDUCTION: Break up the goat cheese 4. Let cool before pouring and pepper and mix. Cook for another ¼ cup, mozzarella cheese, grated Stir balsamic vinegar and and sprinkle on the top of on top of the set Panna minute until cheese melts and it's rich ¼ teaspoon, sage leaves, finely honey together in a small the timbale. Dot the plate Cotta and creamy. Add boiled pasta and mix chopped (optional) saucepan and place over with the balsamic reduction. 5. Store in fridge well. Dish out in a bowl, garnish with Salt and Pepper to taste high heat. Bring to a boil, Serve chilled. some oregano, chilli flakes and sage, (Courtesy: Chef Kimberly Sage leaves, dried oregano, chilli reduce heat to low, and (Courtesy: Eros Hotel, New flakes for garnish (optional) serve hot. simmer until the vinegar Rozario from Academy of Delhi) Pastry Arts) 14| KOLKATA|SUNDAY, 17 DECEMBER 2017|millenniumpost mp

Insight COURTESY: www.horoscope.com

Aries (Mar 21–April 20) Taurus (April 21–May 21) Your focus continues to be The deeper issues of life on exploring new oppor- could continue to be on tunities and making fresh your mind and encour- discoveries. As chatty age conversations with Mercury conjoins the sun, this can also be those who can act as trusted advisers a chance to examine an offer that comes or confidants. As Mercury continues its your way again. By looking at it with fresh retrograde phase, you might need to take eyes, you may find reasons to want to ex- stock, especially when it ties with the sun plore it further. There might also be some on Tuesday. While your social life shows unexpected encounters coming your way great promise, you might be drawn to act that are like a breath of fresh air. on issues that will take your life forward.

Gemini (May 22– June 21) Cancer (June 22–July 22) With your sector of relat- Issues associated with your ing continuing in focus, job and wellness matters the coming week could continue to dominate. And see you networking and with Mercury spinning perhaps reviewing ideas, projects, or even backward until December 22, it pays to decisions. When Mercury, aligns with Venus, be watchful, if dealing with important you might need to unpick a promise or con- documents. Jupiter is happily ensconced in tract that requires adjustment due to recent your leisure sector for coming months; all events. On Saturday, it might be just as well kinds of activities get a boost. Long-term to expect the unexpected; an invitation relationships and new romance can see could lead to a sizzling encounter. the flame of love glowing brightly.

Leo (July 23–Aug 23) Virgo (Aug 24– Sept 23) GUILT IS A BAD TRIP, AVOID IT The love bug may continue While the holiday mood to keep you enthralled sparkles, there continues with the planetary setup to be activity at home ROOPSHA DASGUUPTA RAY highlighting dating op- that may involve impor- portunities. You might feel a need to make tant discussions. You might need to recon- I am a 32 years old housewife. My a decision on Friday, as Mercury meets with sider a decision that involves other family husband is in a reputed company. Venus. If so, consider leaving things as they members. With tactful Venus involved, He just doesn’t like my getting famil- Heart are for now, as your outlook could change you could find that others respond favor- iar with his colleagues and friends. I over coming weeks. With both Jupiter and ably to any changes. This can be a time feel lonely. What should I do? of the Mrs D Jha, New Delhi dynamic Mars in your home zone, you might of reunions, to reconnect with those you I strongly suggest you to do some- Matter be ready for a holiday get-together. haven’t seen in while. thing on your own. Learn some skill or spend time nurturing some hobby. Your problem of passing time will be relationship, I would advise to keep Libra (Sept 24– Oct 23) Scorpio (Oct 24–Nov 22) solved and you will feel independent both your eyes and mind open. It may Be sure to give yourself The focus on your too. This will also expand your world be a good idea to visit a counselor and personal financial zone and you will meet more and more peo- discuss the whole thing before taking plenty of time if you ple, make new friends. When you have any decision. That would help you in have deadlines to meet. continues. The sun here your own group your husband should rescuing from the unnecessary burden The reason is that it’s combines with chatty not have any problem. Go ahead, of betrayal and help you move ahead best not to leave everything until the retrograde Mercury and encourages spend your life your way and don’t feel positively. are young, sexual orientation is mixed each time we get close! I only reach last minute as long as talkative Mer- you to take stock of your situation and neglected or hurt. You have all the lib- in with all kinds of dynamic and some- the climax when I think of her. How cury is still retrograde. There’s good see what you can do to improve it. erty to choose your path of happiness. I come from a small town in UP. I’m times uncomfortable things that we do I come out of it? news on Friday, though, as Mercury Mercury continues to spin backward a student and stay with my sister are dealing with every moment. As Name unknown, New Delhi I am 42 and divorced. My husband in the city. I’m 16 and I’m not sure we mature and begin to seek and form You never know, she might be fan- conjoins Venus, which could see you until December 22. If you have no op- left me for another woman. I am whether I’m gay. How can I be sure? important relationships with individ- tasising someone else while you are connecting with a person who reminds tion but to buy big-ticket items, keep very scared to get into a new rela- I’m very worried! uals, the sexual piece gets clearer and close to her! This hurts, right? So dear, you of someone from your past. receipts and paperwork. tionship. Now it is just hard to trust. V Kashi, Uttar Pradesh clearer. It’s something you feel deep don’t do anything that you don’t want How to come out from this terrible It can be confusing to know if you inside. You may not know for a while for yourself. If she’s giving her mind situation. are gay, bi or straight when you are still and be unsure, but it’s only something and body to the man she loves, you Sagittarius ( Nov 23–Dec 21) Capricorn ( Dec 22– Jan 20) Name unknown, Kolkata going through puberty. Not everyone you will know. No one else can tell you. ideally should be hers. You may still have a Blaming the men of the universe for grows through this period fully aware Either way, listen to your heart and soul Try to watch some hot movies while This is a great time to a single person is really not justified. of their sexual identity. You should not and trust that they will lead you in the making love. Divert your mind and attend to personal goals desire to take time out Now you will have to help yourself by label yourself at this age as it can all direction that is right for you. just axe the ‘ex’, love your partner com- and interests. Don’t rush to reflect and recharge. deciding what you want in your part- change, by the time you have grown pletely. Guilt is a bad trip, avoid it! any decisions, as with If this is the case, you’re ner. Your previous experience itself will through and out of puberty. Sexual I love to get physical with my girl- (Send your questions to Mercury continuing its retrograde phase, on track, because a continued focus on help you a lot. For getting into another urges come in many forms. When we friend but I keep remembering my ex [email protected]) changes may need to be made. You may your spiritual sector encourages this. This also want to look into an idea that you can also be the perfect time to resolve rejected but that now seems very appeal- issues that may have dragged on for ing. Indeed, as the sun and Venus combine some time. A new moon on Sunday could RITEISH DESHMUKH with communicative Mercury, discussing this encourage you to take up a practice such Born on December 17, 1978, Riteish Deshmukh is an architect and an actor, with others can help you decide. as meditation that can help you relax. producer known for his work in Hindi and Marathi cinema. Deshmukh debuted with ‘Tujhe Meri Kasam’ (2003) opposite Genelia D’Souza, but it was not until 2004 that he achieved huge popularity, when he appeared Aquarius (Jan 21–Feb 18) Pisces (Feb 19 –March 20) in the commercially successful comedy ‘Masti’ and the critically acclaimed Your social sector contin- There’s a lot of activity in Bardaasht. His work in Masti was nominated for several awards, including the ues to look upbeat, en- your goal sector that can Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor category. Since then, Riteish Deshmukh couraging you to make a indicate a time of goal has starred in many commercially successful films such as ‘Kya Kool Hai Hum’, few changes and consider setting, whether it’s re- ‘Bluffmaster!’, ‘Malamaal Weekly’, ‘Heyy Babyy’, ‘Dhamaal’, ‘Housefull’, ‘House- full 2’, ‘Ek Villain’, and ‘Housefull 3’. In January 2013, Riteish made his debut as moving in new circles. And with Mercury lated to your career or a personal ambi- an film producer with the Marathi success ‘Balak Palak’. The following year he retrograde, you might also find that old tion. With Mercury presently retrograde, made his acting debut in Marathi cinema with the action film ‘Lai Bhaari’.Some friends come back into the fold, bringing hold off signing contracts or committing of his latest movies include ‘Bangistan’, ‘Great Grand Masti’, ‘Banjo’, and ‘Bank a chance to carry on where you left off. to major deals if possible. If you can’t, Chor’. He married Genelia D’Souza on 3 February 2012. They have two sons However, with a very potent focus on your you could find that changes occur that born on November 24, 2014 and June 1, 2016. career zone involving Jupiter and Mars, alter the original terms and conditions You share your birthday with birthday your share You things are certainly looking up in this area. considerably.

Heads Warning signs of a depressed dog! Most dogs bounce back from depression within a few days tails to a few months with just a little extra affection

Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, aration anxiety in dogs. But I would not MP & Union Cabinet recommend drugs as these can often cause Minister, also an eminent kidney failure. Depression affects different animal rights activist and dogs in different ways. Here are common indicators: environmentalist answers Being down in mood and body. A lack Millennium Post readers of joy or interest in what the dog used to queries related to animal look forward to. This is usually displayed by lethargy, inactivity and moping. A hang- welfare issues ing head, tail down or between the legs, or usually perky ears appearing to be droopy Are dogs prone to depression? or “pulled back.” Change in eating hab- Dog depression symptoms are very its. Most depressed dogs eat less; some similar to those in people. Dogs will refuse food. become withdrawn. They become inac- Oversleeping. Although dogs average when family members come home. These What is the punishment for stoning tive. Their eating and sleeping habits often about 14 hours of sleep per 24-hour cycle behaviors may be accompanied with whin- animals? change. They don’t participate in the things in a series of naps, some depressed dogs ing or sighing. As per Section 11 of Prevention of they once enjoyed. But this could also mean may find it hard to get out of bed. If you Paw licking. Excessive licking or chew- Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, stoning, that a dog has a medical problem. So the leave your dog for work and he continues ing may be rooted in physiological or psy- beating, kicking, over-riding, overload- first course of action should always be a to sleep after you get home, barely react- chological issues. Depressed dogs will ing, over-driving, torturing or otherwise full checkup by a veterinarian. A pet that ing to your presence, something is prob- often lick or chew their paws to soothe treating any animals so as to subject it mopes around and no longer wants to go mon triggers of severe dog depression are show signs of happiness. If the only thing ably wrong. Destructive and/or aggressive themselves. to unnecessary pain amounts to cruelty for walks could simply have pain from the loss of a companion animal or the loss that still gets a little tail wag out of your dog behavior. Usually affecting normally calmer Avoidance and hiding.This kind of on animals. arthritis. of an owner. is a car ride, then take him for a series of dogs, this usually suggests the pet isn’t get- behavior typically means one of two things: And whoever indulges in an act of Reasons for depression could be a Most dogs bounce back from depres- short rides each day, praising and reward- ting enough exercise. illness or injury (with depression falling cruelty to animals makes himself liable major change like moving into a new home, sion within a few days to a few months ing him when he appears happier. Seeming “lost” at home. Particularly under the “illness” category). Dogs that for action under Prevention of Cruelty a new spouse or baby in the household, or with just a little extra affection, Keep them Medications for depressed dogs are the following the loss of a family member, suddenly hide or want to be left alone to Animals Act. adding another pet. Even a change in the engaged, do more of the things they like to same as those used by depressed humans some depressed dogs pace room-to-room behave that way because something is both- (Views expressed and information dog’s schedule, for instance a stay-at-home do, get them a little more exercise and they – Paxil, Prozac, and Zoloft. Clomicalm is looking for that individual. Others no lon- ering them. If it’s not physical, it’s likely provided are personal; Send your ques- owner who takes a job. The two most com- should be fine. Reward them when they sometimes used for the treatment of sep- ger engage in normal “greeting behaviors” emotional. tions to [email protected]) millennium post | KOLKATA|SUNDAY, 17 DECEMBER 2017 | 15 mp Game On Unbeaten in 16 Premier League games this season, Manchester city will be one of the top contenders

6 1 Champions League Draws: An analysis 2 The draws this year are simply magnificent as they will challenge the big teams and will give the smaller, more inexperienced teams a chance to prove their worth, writes ANANYA DAS

he Champions League this season that will be a game that the people will want Besiktas has particularly been exciting for to hold their breaths to. This is unquestion- who have reasons quite obvious. There are ably the tie of the round. If PSG finally, han- been in five English teams this year who dles the pressure they can progress – and brilliant Thave reached the Round of 16, of course, Real will be the ultimate test. Though the European form but the Arsenal is not one of them, surprisingly but analysis is strongly in favour of PSG. Germans will be deter- Tottenham Hotspur, their rivals are. The Manchester City’s form has been at mined to reach to the semi- draws of the CL Ro16 was taken out this their peak and they are rampaging every finals, at least. This is the first time Besiktas Monday with exciting results. Manchester club they face. Last week’s derby against – still holders of the worst ever Champi- United will meet Sevilla, Chelsea will battle Manchester United stands testament. They ons League defeat from their 8-0 beating 3 it out with Barcelona, Tottenham will see have drawn with one of the easiest clubs – off Liverpool in 2007 – have ever made Juventus, Real Madrid will face off with Basel. Though they did beat Manchester the knockout stage. Besiktas will look to Parisian giants PSG. These are the main United, with Kun Aguero and Kevin De impress, but they are inexperienced at this draws for all the major clubs – Liverpool Bruyne’s form – it is a certainty that Basel level and could be exposed by a ruthless will face off with Porto and Manchester City will face a defeat against City. Bayern team. will see Basel for their campaign. Liverpool has had quite a season. Their One of the other intriguing draws this The thing that’s most interesting about advancement to the round of 16 means year will be the Tottenham-Juventus game. this year’s draw is that all the matches are more to the German boss than expected. The English team will put all their guns out going to be played between the giants of to beat the Italian giants. Juventus’ Paulo their respective countries. Dybala will be a threat to the London Manchester United will play Sevilla, based team and will turn out to be the a team they have never played against in There are five English man they need to mark the most, although European capacity. After the 3-3 ordeal teams this year who he has failed to score in any of Juven- against Liverpool, Sevilla will want to beat tus’ CL games, he still remains an impor- Manchester United with great measures have reached the tant player to beat. Juventus haven’t fared 4 but that won’t be easy as Paul Pogba is Round of 16. The thing well recently against English teams in the expected to be back to the squad with full knock out stages of European competition force. Manchester United’s derby defeat that’s most interesting – having been eliminated in their last five set them back in the league but they will about this year’s draw appearances against English competition. be determined to perform well in the Lastly, Shakhtar Donetsk drew with Champions League. Players like Rom- is that all the matches Roma. Roma will look to win this one. The elu Lukaku, Paul Pogba, Marcus Rash- are going to be played two sides have a history in this competi- ford and Jesse Lingard will be expected to tion, but it makes for mixed reading. Back be on the score sheet from Manchester’s between the giants of in 2006, in the group stages, Daniele De side. While United are on a good Euro- their respective countries Rossi was among the scorers in a 4-0 drub- pean record, Sevilla has an impeccable bing dished out in the Olimpico before a impact on Europe. It will be interesting single goal defeat in the return match. Fast to see what both the teams come up with. forward five years, however, and Shakhtar United will have to raise their game after They have matched with Porto this time, were good enough to triumph both home sailing through the group but should have the team managed by Jose Mourinho in and away – a warning signal of the progress enough to step up and see off Sevilla. the past. Porto is one of the top teams in the club has made. 5 Barcelona matched with Chelsea and Portugal and holds a very important place For, make no mistake, this is a golden this will be one of the most top ticket games in European football. Talk to any Liverpool opportunity for this team to confirm in the competition. Both the teams will fan for 30 seconds and you will be made the good impression made in the group be determined to beat one another. This well aware of their European heritage. The stages by going deeper in Europe’s elite should be looked in as one of the “clash of 2005 champions, however, will be in the competition. By winning a group that the Titans” matches. knockouts for the first time in nine years included heavyweights like Chelsea and Morata will play an important role in this season. Atletico Madrid, Roma sent out a message the London club’s squad. Barcelona is on a Liverpool rose to that they meant business. It would be a brilliant run in the La Liga and there is no the occasion when shame to spoil that now with elimination reason to believe that they won’t be able to needed to dismiss after what looks – on paper – a beat CFC. However, Conte has considerable Spartak Moscow manageable draw. experience in the CL and he will know how and book their All in all, the draws this year are to handle the ropes around. Saying, Lionel last 16 place. simply magnificent. They will chal- Messi, is the key figure for Barca is very The ‘Fab Four’ lenge the big teams and will give obvious - and his new contract at the club should fire the smaller, more inexperienced is a huge cause for celebration - but Gerard again here. teams a chance to prove their worth. Pique is almost of equal importance; they Other teams All of this will be worth the wait to are not the same without him at the back. like Bayern understand as to who really reigns over Real Madrid will face off with PSG and Munich will face Europe when it comes to football.

1. Álvaro Morata; 2. Lionel Messi; 3. Romelu Lukaku; 4. Ronaldo; 5. Neymar; 6. Paul Pogba 16| KOLKATA|SUNDAY, 17 DECEMBER 2017|millenniumpost mp Filmmaking is not a job but a social responsibility for me Film - Garth Davis YOURS, Faithfully Shashi Kapoor’s admirers from the film industry came forward to share some wonderful memories they have with the star

tunity to meet Shashiji, it would be wonderful to just talk to him and joke around with him. It has been a huge loss for all. I would go to the Prithvi theatre many times to watch plays or just sit there. I would see the energy there and the actors who were performing plays and it seemed amazing the kind of platform Shashiji created and left behind for the theatre world. When I heard about him passing away, I was extremely sad. Everyone has to go some day but some people just leave a void in your life when they go and Shashi sahab was that kind of per- son. This loss will always be there for us because he was not only a good actor but a spectacular human being too. Whomever one speaks, they all have similar stories about him because of the person he was. If someone met him even once, they would never forget that meeting as Shashiji met everyone with such openness and love, it was just beautiful.

Puneet Issar, Actor egends don’t die, they live forever. That attitude or arrogance towards anyone on the sets. For me, he was the most charismatic couldn’t be truer of the late Shashi And I believe that is why everyone loved him so actor and also a style icon. He was also very Kapoor, who won the hearts of mil- much. People who worked with him once wanted well-educated and had a fantastic sense of lions through his work across several to work with him again and again. He was a favou- humour. I worked on the film Akhri Muqa- decades.L His contribution to Indian cinema and rite among producers, co-actors, directors and bla with him, where I played the villain the stage will stay with us always. Here are some everyone on the sets. The industry has experi- and he was the central character. He was wonderful memories of the actor and the man enced a major loss. immaculate and very sophisticated, not at shared by some of his colleagues and admirers all loud like the other typical Indian actors. Padmini Kohlapure, Actor He was a pioneer of the new-age cinema Salim Khan, Writer He was such a fine human being and a pol- that we talk about now. He was the one who Shashiji was a wonderful human being. He was ished man. I always called him ‘Shashi uncle’. I started offbeat films, the ones that Shyam also a very committed and professional actor. He didn’t act with him in Satyam Shivam Sundaram Benegal made. He lost so much money mak- wasn’t linked to any controversies and led a sim- but I interacted so much with him as I am very ing these films. He always thought that since ple life. Even when he got a small or weak role, close to the Kapoor family. He was such a happy, he had done so well in commercial films, it he would give it one hundred per cent because jovial man, I never saw him sulking, morose, was his duty to give back to Indian cinema by he was committed to it. Bahut mehnat se kaam or angry. making meaningful and good movies. karte the and he never complained. He never had When a shot used to be delayed or if some- a problem with anyone, whether he was playing thing went wrong somewhere, he never once lost Rumi Jaffery, Writer the lead or the second hero. He worked with many his temper. That’s how I remember him. I don’t When I came to Bombay from Bhopal in the big directors but never had an issue with anyone. know how to explain it but he kind of tried to rec- ‘80s, I acted in a play called ‘Laila Majnu.’ oncile people in the industry. The way he used to Shashiji saw the play and liked it so much Subhash Ghai, Filmmaker introduce himself, saying, ‘Mera naam hai Shashi that he kept praising it. He told us this was a play I worked with him in two movies, Gautam Kapoor’ was so impactful! that would be remembered forever. When the Govinda and Krodhi in the late ‘70s. I learnt a Prithvi Theatre festival was held in 1987, he lot from him, like work ethics, discipline, time Shekhar Suman, Actor-Filmmaker told us to open that prestigious festi- management, compassion, humility and above The day Shashi Kapoorji passed away was val with Laila Majnu. This was all his love and passion for good cinema and the- the saddest day of my life, the man to whom I how my connection with atre development in India. He was a handsome owe my entire career. I am grateful to him for all him began. gentleman with a beautiful mind and heart. An my professional achievements, for giving me my One of the first inspiring institution. R.I.P. first and biggest break as a lead in Utsav opposite friends I made in Rekha. I will miss him every moment of my life. the industry Moushumi Chatterjee, Actor I grew up imitating him and trying to look like was Rishi Naina was our first him. I can’t bear the thought that he is no more. I film together. I was am heartbroken. very nervous

mein hi itna acha lagta tha. When he smiled at you, it made Years ago, your day. And that is why it hurt to see him in a I was attending a wheelchair during these last few years. It was great friend’s wedding. She was a cashier in a bank in to have known a man like him. South Bombay, where Shashi Kapoor personally went to get his transactions done. It speaks a lot Kapoor. I was Ramesh Taurani, Producer for him, that despite being a star, he would run close to his brothers As an actor, he was brilliant. He was one of his own errands instead of appointing someone too, especially Dabbooji the most handsome actors of his time and I don’t to do them for him. So when he went to the bank, (Randhir Kapoor). When we think the Hindi film industry has ever seen a my friend, as a gesture, invited him to her wed- but he made sure were all in New York for the shoot more good-looking actor than him. I had the ding. He actually showed up for the celebration I was comfortable while Anees Bazmee, Director of Aa Ab Laut Chalen, Shashi uncle was pleasure of meeting him just once in my life. He and took everyone by surprise! The entire Parsi working with him. There was a I have seen many of his films over there to give the first clap. was a very warm and welcoming person. When baug went crazy that their darling Shashi Kapoor lot to learn from him. As an actor, he the years. I have been very fond of Shashi Kapoor I learnt that he had passed away when Amitji you are in his company, you are surrounded by was there. always supported his co-actors. With his as he was very charming and a wonderful actor. (Amitabh Bachchan) messaged me about it. I his aura. People have grown up watching his mov- Coincidentally, my seat was right next passing, an era has ended. He was a real gentleman He had a different kind of style that was distinc- was so saddened that instead of saying anything ies. My only regret is that I didn’t get a chance to to his and he was so sweet and humble that and it is just not possible to describe him in words. tively his own. And above all, he was a very good myself, I wrote a few lines on Shashiji and sent it work with him. he casually chatted with me throughout din- human being. Even his face had that goodness to Amitji, which he put on his blog. ner. He spoke to me as if he was just another Dimple Kapadia, Actor about him which would just show you how inno- My only regret is that while I did get many Boman Irani, Actor guest and, that too, for a very long time. He I have very fond and dear memories of him; cent he is. I have even seen his earlier works as a opportunities to interact with him, I didn’t get a Unfortunately for me, I joined the industry didn’t behave like a star at all and was so he was the first man whose smile made me go child artist. I used to work as an assistant for Raj chance to actually work with him. Sadly, I was too after he had retired, so I didn’t get the opportunity gracious to everyone. He enjoyed the Parsi weak in the knees. We did a film together that he Kapoor so I knew Shashiji and the entire Kapoor junior for that. Whenever one is around him, one to work with him. But I recall an encounter I once food along with a drink and thanked everyone directed, and he was absolutely stupendous. He family very well. Whenever I would get the oppor- feels so nice. Unse haath milaane aur gale milne had with him before I became an actor. so sweetly. BOX OFFICE INDIA was a lovely and brilliant human being. He was also very kind. It is indeed a huge loss for all of us.

Govinda, Actor My career’s first film Ilzaam was with Shashiji and he touched my heart on the very first day, when he saw me dancing on stage in the shot. As a senior, he called me and his first wise words to me have stayed with me ever since: ‘Kisi din tum unchaai chuoge. Apni health ka khyaal rakhna.’ He was so kind and nice to me. I pray to God that his soul rests in peace.

Poonam Dhillon, Actor Shashiji was the most charming and hand- some man in our industry. He had a huge fan following and everyone loved him; he was a gen- tleman who cared about everyone around him. There are many good-looking heroes today, but there is only one Shashi Kapoor. Everyone around him always loved him. He was particular about following a disciplined life, which is why he lived life to the fullest. I never once saw him assert his ego or throw