Indian football team forward Jeje Lalpekhlua on Tuesday said that he has developed a “telepathic understanding” with ace striker Sunil Chhetri.
Jeje first caught the attention by scoring a hat-trick against Pakistan at the age of 19 — in his first tournament. Since then, despite scoring regularly, he was in and out of the national squad till 2015, when he cemented his place.
“I played with Sunil-bhai when I made my debut. Since then we have been playing together. I feel, together we fit in well, and complement each other’s styles,” Jeje stated.
“He has helped me a lot on and off the field. We have a telepathic understanding on the pitch. I know where he is, and he always knows where I am,” he added.
India take on Thailand in their opening match of the AFC Asian Cup 2019 and Jeje sounded confident.
“This team is a strong one as we have put in a lot of good work so far,” the Mizo player said.
“We are confident in our abilities and feel that we can take on any challenge.”
He stated that the side has been improving steadily, and that the progress is there for everyone to see.
“Compared to when I made my debut, there is a lot of difference in the National Team. With every match, we have been getting better and have achieved a lot in between,” he felt.
“I’m very happy to be a part of this team. We worked hard to qualify for the Asian Cup. It is the biggest tournament for us, almost like a World Cup. We hope to do well, and strive for bigger things,” he stated.
“In fact, there is still a lot we can do and the AFC Asian Cup is the next step along the way.”
Jeje also spoke about the role played by coach Constantine in the recent upsurge.
“The entire team has put in a lot of hard work. He has had the most crucial role to play. When he came in, he had told us that our target was to qualify for the Asian Cup, and we did it.
A statue of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi here was vandalised on Tuesday by some persons, who Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh claimed, owed allegiance to the Shiromani Akali Dal in the state.
The Chief Minister has asked the police to take action in the matter and identify the perpetrators.
Paint was sprayed by the miscreants on the statue at the Salem Tabri area here, police said.
They carried out the act in full public glare and blamed Rajiv Gandhi for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, they said.
Condemning the incident, Singh tweeted, “Strongly condemn vandalisation of Rajiv Gandhi’s statue by @Akali_ Dal_ workers in Ludhiana. Have asked Police to identify the guilty & take strict action.”
“@officeofssbadal should apologise to people of Punjab for this obnoxious act,” he posted on Twitter tagging the office of SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal.
Amarinder Singh also asked the SAD to apologise to the people of Punjab for this act.
Police said the miscreants demanded that statues of Rajiv Gandhi across the country be removed and Bharat Ratna conferred on him be withdrawn.
The statue was later cleaned by some Ludhiana Congress leaders.
Congress’s Ludhiana president Gurpreet Singh said they have lodged a police complaint.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath expanded his Cabinet on Tuesday, with 28 MLAs, including two woman legislators, sworn in as Ministers.
Governor Anandiben Patel administered the oath to the new Ministers at the Raj Bhavan.
Sajjan Singh Verma, Vijayalaxmi Sadho, Hukum Singh Karada, Govind Singh Rajput, Bala Bachchan, Arif Akil, Pradeep Jayaswal, Imarti Devi were among those sworn in as Ministers.
Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Kamal Nath had taken oath as the Chief Minister on December 17, after the Congress won the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, defeating the BJP in a nail-biting contest.
The Congress returned to power in the state after a hiatus of 15 years.
Having announced loan wavier for farmers, the Rajasthan government will soon roll out some other measures to enhance the ecosystem for the farming community and for the youth in need of jobs, Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot said.
He said that farmer’s issues and job creation for youngsters will dominate the agenda of the new Congress government in the state.
Pilot, after the formation of the Rajasthan Cabinet, said work has begun and the government will start delivering on the promises made in the party’s election manifesto.
“We have started working from the very first day by announcing farm loan waiver. Agrarian crisis is on the top of the agenda and very soon, there will be quick and substantive steps by the government to enhance the ecosystem for farming community to make sure that farming becomes a profitable venture,” Pilot told agencies.
“We will very soon start job creation on priority basis. These are the two issues which we will be going to be principally focused on because Rajasthan deserves a government that delivers on these two fronts,” he said.
The Deputy Chief Minister said that the manifesto will be given to the Chief Secretary, like previous times, and it will be made an official document for the government to function.
“The policy promises the Congress party has made will become a firm official commitment as we move forward,” he said.
The loan waiver for farmers was announced by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on December 19, two days after taking oath.
According to a government order, farmers’ entire short-term crop loan from cooperative banks and agriculture loans up to Rs two lakh from nationalised and other banks have been waived, putting a burden of Rs 18,000 crore on the exchequer.
Asked about the availability of the financial resources to bear the burden, Pilot said the government was “capable” to face the challenge.
“Resource management is not a big deal if there is a political will. The previous UPA government had waived 72,000 crore of farmers’ loan and we can also do it. So, I believe, the government is fully capable and equipped to deal with any challenge,” he said.
Pilot, who is also the President of the party’s state unit, said that the announcement of loan waiver has not only helped farmers but also gave a message to them that the new government is ready to listen and redress their grievances.
Similarly for job creation, Pilot said, that the work will begin and a system for continuous job creation and recruitment will be made.
“We have shown our commitment. The first decision was of loan waiver, which will be followed by other measures. Farmers and youths were never the priorities of the previous BJP government,” he claimed.
Talking about the cabinet expansion held on Monday, Pilot said that it was a balance between youths and experienced leaders and was an “energetic” cabinet.
“Ours is a forward looking, fully charged energetic cabinet in Rajasthan and the government is fully equipped to deal with the challenges and meet the expectations of people,” he added.
Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has appealed to the Supreme Court to fast-track the hearing in the Ayodhya title suit, stressing if it could happen in the Sabarimala issue, it can be done to resolve this long-pending matter as well.
Inaugurating the 15th National Conference of the Akhil Bharatiya Adhivakta Parishad on Monday, the Union minister said, “I appeal to the Supreme Court in my personal capacity to hear the Ram Janmabhoomi issue like a fast-track court for a prompt disposal of the case.”
“When the Supreme Court can give its verdict on the Sabarimala Temple case promptly, why is the Ram Janmabhoomi issue pending for the past 70 years,” he said.
Supreme Court Justice M R Shah, Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court Govind Mathur were among others present at the event.
“Why must we worship Babar,” Prasad asked.
Citing a copy of the Constitution, he said, “There is a mention of Ram, Krishna as well as Akbar but there is no mention of Babar… But if we talk about such things in the country, a different kind of controversy is raised.”
The Union minister also talked about bringing an all-India judicial services system for appointment of judges in the future.
He appealed to the members of the Adhivakta Parishad to ensure that the cases related to the poor and needy people were heard promptly.
The apex court is scheduled to take up a batch of petitions for hearing in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case on January 4.
The matter is listed before a bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice S K Kaul.
The bench is likely to constitute a three-judge bench for hearing as many as 14 appeals filed against the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgment, delivered in four civil suits, that the 2.77-acre land be partitioned equally among three parties — the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.
Assam is all set to get India’s longest rail-cum-road bridge on December 25, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi lays open the 4.94 km-long strategically important project over the mighty Brahmaputra at Bogibeel.
The Bogibeel Bridge, which was a part of the Assam Accord and sanctioned in 1997-98, is likely to play a crucial role in defence movement along the India-China border in Arunachal Pradesh.
The foundation stone of the project was laid by former prime minister HD Deve Gowda on January 22, 1997, while work commenced on April 21, 2002 under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government. December 25 happens to be Vajpayee’s birth anniversary.
Because of the inordinate delay in implementation, the cost of the project escalated by 85 per cent to Rs 5,960 crore from the sanctioned estimated cost of Rs 3,230.02 crore. The total length of the bridge was also revised to 4.94 km from the earlier 4.31 km.
Kerala government should assure women’s protection
Sabarimala temple in Kerala was on the boil once again as an eleven member group of women below the age of 50, owing allegiance to the Tamil Nadu based Progressive Women’s Forum – Manathi, made an attempt to enter the hill shrine under police protection on Sunday. But after a stand-off lasting almost 10 hours, the police dissuaded the women from proceeding to the temple as hundreds of devotees blocked the trekking path at Pampa and chased away the Manathi team escorted till there by the police. It shows the Kerala government’s failure to impose the Supreme Court’s decision even after a couple of months have passed. As the Kerala Chief Minister and the police have already assured the women’s protection to visit Sabarimala, it was quite unjust on their part to remain unsuccessful to fulfil their promise.
FT Mulla
Tax payers suffer
Since day one of the current Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha sessions, crores of the innocent Indian tax payers suffer unprecedented and extremely huge wastage of their hard-earned money mainly because of most disruptive, most destructive, most corrupt, most non-cooperative, most adamant and most arrogant ‘Gandhi’ Congress. Smart and sensible tax payers will never vote for such most anti-people and most anti-national, so called ‘Indian National’ party in the coming Lok Sabha elections or any other election.
Hansraj Bhat
Witticisms thy name was Nana Chudasama!
The city of Mumbai has lost its voice in the death of Nana Chudasama who was the conscience-keeper of the city. A towering personality by all yardsticks, ex-Sheriff Chudasama was known for his witticisms and the first thing you notice passing through Marine Drive are his one line banners that speaks about real life anecdotes in a manner that citizens loved to hear. He was also associated with social causes and also, charitable projects for the poor were close to his heart for which he went on to spend most of his valuable time.
Just as RK Laxman was famous for reproducing the city mood with his cartoons, Chudasama did just that with his one line banners which were as famous as the Gate Way of India or any other monument which Mumbai is remembered for. Nana Chudasama would be remembered for a long time to come and the city truly has lost its wits at his sad demise. RIP Nana Chudasama. May His Soul Rest In Peace!
SN Kabra
BJP bowed down to Nitish Kumar
Finally, after several rounds of closed door meetings with allies over seat-sharing arrangements in Bihar for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, BJP President Amit Shah on Sunday announced that his party and Nitish Kumar’s Janta Dal( United) will contest from 17 seats each, while the Ram Vilas Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party will fight from the remaining 6 seats. What is the most surprising in this bargaining is that the JD(U), which has only two MPs, will contest from 17 seats while the BJP, in spite of having 17 MPs, will also contest from 17 seats. It clearly shows that BJP is losing its reputation and power everywhere. What else can be the compulsion that the BJP has now bowed down to JD-U by agreeing to contest an equal number of seats in Bihar?
MFU Tandvi
Heartbreaking disaster in Indonesia
It was really heart-wrenching to learn about the volcano-triggered tsunami that has left at least 222 people dead and hundreds more injured after slamming without warning into beaches around Indonesia’s Sunda Strait. The incident left hundreds of families in immense sorrow and grief and also it caused financial damages in extensive scale. It was the third of the biggest national adverse disaster in Indonesia in the same year of 2018. Now, it is everyone’s responsibility to reach the affected people with every assistance possible for their rehabilitation. I request the Indian government to assure its support and assistance in any possible way. I thank the rescue teams and their tireless efforts to rescue the people and protect them.
MF Qasmi
Revive government-owned IDPL
Central and state governments are bulk buyers of medicines to be used in their hospitals and dispensaries. Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited (IDPL) was a government-owned premium drug manufacturing company in yesteryears which was known for providing quality medicines at a cost much below the famous branded medicines. For example, Calmod was its own brand name for sleeping pill with salt diazepam (5 mgs) as a cheaper substitute sold at a fractional cost of popular branded medicines sold under the tradenames Calmpose and Valium-5.
With generic medicines being sold at exorbitant profit-margins with maximum retail price (MRP) printed at even 400 per cent of that available at the wholesale drug market in Bhagirath Palace (Delhi), there is every likelihood of a big bribe margin in their supply to government hospitals. Thus, the Central government should revive IDPL in a much larger scale than before. Rather Ayurvedic, Unani and Homeopathic medicines should also be produced by IDPL for providing users reliable and cheaper products where nowadays, marketers of honey are advertising extensively for blaming their competitors in selling adulterated and overpriced honey.
Subhash Chandra Agrawal
Relevance of Revenue Stamps
Revenue-stamps are required for receipts of amounts for Rs 5,000 or above even though payment is made through banks. This useless colonial practice needs to be altogether abolished. Signed receipts become useless in case gumming of revenue-stamps is not proper, because major portion of signature vanishes in case poorly gummed revenue-stamp is somehow removed from the signed receipt. Union government should do away with the requirement of revenue-stamps for any receipt either by cash or through bank. If needed, special receipt-papers printed at Government Security Printing-press on lines of stamp-papers may be introduced at a cost of say Rs 100 for heavy transactions of say Rs 50,000 and above. But such receipt-papers, if introduced, should be conveniently available at all post offices and bank branches (private and public sectors) apart from other convenient centres by having a sales commission.
Union government should abolish Notary Public and Oath Commissioners who just authenticate documents for fees without actually identifying authenticity of persons having signed the documents. Instead, medical practitioners, lawyers, chartered accountants etc. apart from gazetted officers can be empowered to attest such documents.
Colonial practice of having special legal-size paper for use in courts should also be abolished by replacing these with normal A-4 size papers because most photo-copiers used at homes and offices are equipped to copy papers of A-4 size or less. If necessary, court-papers can be in distinct colours. For example, green papers are used at Madras High Court.
Madhu Agrawal
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
Despite Amazon Alexa being more popular globally, Google Assistant has outperformed her — and other voice assistants like Apple Siri — in a test meant to understand the effectiveness of smart speakers.
In the 2018 edition of “Smart Speaker IQ Test” by research-driven venture capital firm Loup Ventures, Google Assistant (tested on Home smart speaker) managed to answer 87.9 percent of the questions correctly — up from 81.1 percent in 2017, The Street.com reported on Sunday.
Alexa (tested on Amazon Echo smart speaker) saw its accuracy improve to 72.5 percent from 63.8 percent and Microsoft Cortana (tested on Harman Kardon’s Invoke speaker) improved to 63.4 percent from 56.4 percent.
Interestingly, Alexa was not the leader in the shopping category — despite Amazon heading the global e-commerce space — as Google Home returned more correct answers when asked about product information.
“Google Assistant was the only assistant to properly understand all 800 of the questions, but the others were able to understand 99 percent or more,” said the research firm.
Apple Siri (tested on HomePod speaker), got 74.6 percent of the questions right, up from about 52 percent.
The common set of 800 questions were split into five categories – Local information, commerce, navigation, information in general and commands.
Fearing a conservative backlash, Facebook has reportedly shelved a feature intended to encourage more civil discussion among users of opposing political beliefs.
Joel Kaplan, Facebook’s Global Head of Policy, flagged that the project — known as “Common Ground” — could lead to accusations that the site was biased against conservatives, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
Kaplan, a former White House aide to George W. Bush who has emerged as Facebook’s protector against allegations of political bias, was concerned that the change would disproportionately impact the conservative users, said the report.
Sources told the WSJ that the Common Ground project would have changed how the News Feed was ranked and de-emphasized “hateful” comments, The Verge reported.
Conservatives alleged in the past, that Facebook was biased against them, a charge that the social media giant denied.
While “Common Ground” might have been halted apparently to remove biased, there are concerns that Kaplan, who attened Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing, himself has been biased.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will soon introduce a new Rs 20 currency note with additional features, according to a document of the central bank.
The central bank has already issued new look currency notes in the denominations of Rs 10, Rs 50, Rs 100, and Rs 500, besides introducing Rs 200 and Rs 2,000 bank notes.
The new look notes are being introduced since November 2016 under Mahatma Gandhi (New) series. These are different in size and design compared to the notes issued previously.
The currency notes, except for banned Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, issued under old series continue to remain legal tender.
According to the RBI data bank, there were 4.92 billion pieces of Rs 20 note in circulation as on March 31, 2016. The number more than doubled to about 10 billion pieces by March 2018.
Indian football team forward Jeje Lalpekhlua on Tuesday said that he has developed a “telepathic understanding” with ace striker Sunil Chhetri.
A statue of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi here was vandalised on Tuesday by some persons, who Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh claimed, owed allegiance to the Shiromani Akali Dal in the state.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath expanded his Cabinet on Tuesday, with 28 MLAs, including two woman legislators, sworn in as Ministers.
Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has appealed to the Supreme Court to fast-track the hearing in the Ayodhya title suit, stressing if it could happen in the Sabarimala issue, it can be done to resolve this long-pending matter as well.
