08112017-TT-01.qxd 11/7/2017 10:42 PM Page 1 13 established in 1881 wednesday, november 8, 2017 jammu & kashmir chandigarh | gurugram | jalandhar | bathinda | jammu | srinagar | www.tribuneindia.com | vol. 2 no. 308 | 20 pages | ~4.00 | regd. no. chd/0006/2015-2017 /thetribunechd /thetribunechd Smog-hit Delhi shuts schools NN Vohra Tribune Trust President ■ Chandigarh, November 7 NN Vohra, an eminent public servant, has taken over as the President of The Tribune Trust. In a message to the Editor-in-Chief, General Manager and all members of the staff, Mr Vohra stressed that The Tribune Group of Newspapers must remain totally committed to the pursuit of highest journalistic values and to the promotion of sterling civic virtues and ethical standards. — TNS Amid deteriorating air quality in the NCR, the Delhi Government has ordered primary schools, including private ones, to remain closed on Wednesday ■ All other schools have been directed to stop outdoor activities, including morning assemblies ■ The government may reintroduce its odd-even scheme to regulate vehicular movement, said Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia after a meeting << Schoolchildren ride their bikes to school in dense fog and air pollution in Jalandhar. AFP Year on,Centre,Cong battle itout over DeMo ‘Ethical drive, watershed moment’ ‘Was organised loot, hit economy’ Tribune News Service Manas Dasgupta New Delhi, November 7 On the eve of demonetisation anniversary, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley termed the much-debated economic move an “ethical drive and moral step”. He reminded former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who today targeted the government on demonetisation and GST, that the “loot” happened under his UPA regime in 2G, CWG and coal block allocation scams. The Congress has decided to observe “black day” tomorrow on the first anniversary of the note ban that invalidated 86 per cent of the currency in the system. As a counter move, the BJP will celebrate it as “antiblack money day” to highlight the “successes” of the decisions. The Finance Minister said the demonetisation decision had led to a larger formal economy, cleaner economy and bigger tax base. The party and the government strongly stood by the “historic” and “watershed moment” for the economy, he added, speaking from the BJP platform at the party office. Hitting back at the Congress, which had fielded former PM Singh in high-stakes Gujarat to take on the BJP , Jaitley said his party had a different perspective than the Congress on the issue of ethics. “Their (Congress) prior- Ahmedabad, November 7 A combative former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today sought to demolish the performance of the government headed by his successor, saying Narendra Modi had neither fulfilled any promise made before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections nor recorded any remarkable achievement in his threeand-a-half years at the helm. Addressing the trading community and media separately during his day-long visit to PM’s home turf of Gujarat ahead of the Assembly elections next month, Singh said Modi wouldn’t have committed blunders like “tax terrorism” through “badly designed and hastily implemented” Goods and Services Tax (GST) had he studied Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s teachings properly. Singh hit out at the Modi government on multiple fronts, including demonetisation, state of economy, inflation, agricultural growth and bullet train project, saying he seriously doubted if the government would be able to achieve its economic growth targets during its existing term or even by 2022. He blamed the slowdown in private investments on “hastily implemented” GST and the “organised loot and legalised plunder” initiated IT’S NOT ONE-STOP SOLUTION TO GRAFT Demonetisation is not a one-stop solution to end corruption. It cannot be, but it did change the agenda. And that changed agenda is that we should go towards less-cash economy. ❝ Arun Jaitley, FINANCE MINISTER ity is to serve the family (Gandhis), while our (BJP) priority is to serve the nation,” Jaitley said in a scathing rebuttal to Singh’s strong attack on the government over demonetisation, saying it had harmed India’s image. Jaitley asked him to compare pre-2014 and post-2014 reputation of Indian economy to judge for himself. “You were being considered an economy impacted by policy paralysis... You were off the global radar. Today, there isn’t an international agency continued on page 7 ‘NIRBHAY’ TEST-FIRED TAX TERRORISM HAS HIT INVESTMENT At a time when the economy has slowed down considerably, despite favourable global macroeconomic conditions, the fear of tax terrorism has eroded the confidence of businesses to invest. ❝ Manmohan Singh, EX-PM by the “historic blunder measure” of demonetisation. On the eve of the first anniversary of demonetisation, Singh called it an “ill thought-out action” and said nowhere in the world had any democracy taken such a coercive step to ruin its own economy. He said demonetisation and GST together had dealt a twin blow to the country’s economy and job market, rendering lakhs of youths unemployed. “The GST has sown deep-rooted fear of tax continued on page 7 more reports page 7 Poll din ends in Himachal No discernible wave, GST could be clincher Pratibha Chauhan Tribune News Service Shimla, November 7 The high-blitz campaign in the hill-state of Himachal Pradesh came to an end today with the Congress and the BJP going all out to woo voters for the November 9 elections to the 68-member Vidhan Sabha. There are in all 338 candidates in the fray. With the third front failing to take wing in the state, it is primarily a Congress versus BJP affair. The CPM, that fielded candidates in 14 constituencies, is going strong in the Theog and Shimla (Urban) segments. While rebels are putting up a good fight in at least six segments, Independents are on a strong wicket in Shimla, Jogindernagar, Shahpur, Rampur and Dehra. No perceptible wave in favour of any party, the contentious GST seems to have emerged as a key issue. How the anti-GST sentiment pans out on the polling day remains to be seen. Interestingly, there is anti-incumbency not against the ruling party, but sitting MLAs, whether of the Congress or the BJP who , have enjoyed power for far too long, among them ministers DHUMAL SLAPS LEGAL NOTICE ON RAHUL SHANTA'S SILENCE CAN COST BJP DEAR ARMY VETERANS SAY THEY WILL BACK CONG INSIDE Kaul Singh Thakur and GS Bali and state BJP chief Satpal Satti and Jai Ram Thakur. During the bitter campaigning, the BJP hit out at the Congress on corruption, dynastic politics, "mafia" rule and deteriorating law and order. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh was the prime target, with the BJP accusing him of corruption and poor governance. “Fed up with corruption and mafia raj, the people have decided to vote the BJP to power,” claimed PK Dhumal, BJP's CM-candidate. The Congress attacked the BJP on inflation, GST, and demonetisation. “It makes no difference what the BJP says about me. The love I get from my people keeps me going. This will be my last election, but I will keep serving them till my last breath,” said Virbhadra, exuding confidence. An aggressive BJP dominated campaigning from the outset. Flushed with resources, it was visible everywhere. The Congress could not match the BJP continued on page 7 Satya Prakash Tribune News Service New Delhi, November 7 As smog engulfs the National Capital Region (NCR), the Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the Centre and the governments of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan to explain why they had not taken concrete actions to control air pollution caused by stubble burning despite its orders. A Bench headed by Justice S Ravindra Bhat, which had on September 22 issued a series of directions to the Centre and the four state governments to stop the practice of stubble burning by farmers, expressed serious concern over the deteriorating air quality. “Until the government treats the issue as something which is of concern to all of us, nothing is going to change,” the Bench, also comprising Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva, said and asked the Centre and the governments of Delhi and the four states to submit reports on steps taken by them to stop stubble burning. The order came after amicus curiae senior advocate Kailash Vasdev told the Bench that despite court orders, state governments had hardly done anything. Stubble burning begins in October and continues up to January, affecting air quality in the NCR. According to affidavits filed in the court, 14 million tons of paddy straw is burnt in Punjab alone. The emission of particulate matter from this stubble burning is beyond any acceptable human endurance, or “danger” levels. The figures regarding particulate matter emissions for Haryana are equally large. Punjab contended it had prohibited indiscriminate burning of agricultural waste. The court had on September 22 issued directions to Punjab, Haryana, UP Delhi and , Rajasthan to implement the ban on stubble burning. Gorakhpur again: 70 dead Haasan to launch app Citizenship notice to veteran Lucknow: Death of children continues unabated at Uttar Pradesh’s Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College and Hospital in Gorakhpur where 70 kids had died between November 1 and 5. Among the 70 dead, 36 were newborn and 34 were suffering from Japanese Encephalitis and other diseases. The number of deaths refuses to decline in the past three months with this month’s average being 14 per day. PAGE 7 Chennai: Veteran actor Kamal Haasan on Tuesday announced he will soon launch a mobile application that would serve as a platform to communicate with the people. Amid expectations of a big announcement on his longhinted entry in politics, he said he was already there. PTI Guwahati: A retired Armyman here has been served a notice to prove his citizenship, a month after a foreigners' tribunal in Assam had sent a similar notice to a retired Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) of the Army. Mahiruddin Ahmed, who retired as a havildar from the Army in 2004, along with his wife, was served notices by the foreigners’ tribunal in Barpeta district on September 16. BACK PAGE ISI terror module behind Punjab killings Jaish chief’s nephew 4 ‘conspirators’ held; Gagneja’s murder among 6 cases solved killed in Pulwama Rajmeet Singh Tribune News Service The DRDO successfully conducted the flight test of its sub-sonic cruise missile “NIRBHAY” at the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, Odisha, on Tuesday. PTI Officials leave for polling stations in Mandi on Tuesday. PHOTO: JAI KUMAR Stubble burning: Delhi HC puts Punjab, Haryana, UP on notice Chandigarh, November 7 Six of the nine high-profile killings over the last two years in Punjab were the handiwork of a terror module run by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), possibly in collusion with Sikh radicals, CM Capt Amarinder Singh announced at a press conference today. He said the police had arrested four persons involved in the killing of RSS state vicepresident Brig (Rtd) Jagdish Gagneja, Punjab Shiv Sena labour wing head Durga Prasad Gupta, Sri Hindu Takht publicity manager Amit Sharma, Dera Sacha Sauda followers Satpal Kumar and his son Ramesh, pastor Sultan Masih and Ludhiana RSS leader Ravinder Gosain. Suspect Jimmy Singh, a Jammu resident who had recently returned to India CM Capt Amarinder Singh with DGP Suresh Arora. PRADEEP TEWARI from the UK, was picked up from Delhi's IGI airport a week ago while Jagtar Singh Johal alias Jaggi, a UK national, was nabbed in Jalandhar. The third suspect, Dharmender alias Guggni, a gangster from Meharban (Ludhiana), supplied weapons to the killers. The fourth suspect, the main shooter, was caught this afternoon. "Details about him cannot be disclosed at this juncture as his interrogation is on," explained the CM, adding the police had forensic and ballistic evidence against him. Suresh Arora, state DGP, said gangster Guggni was lodged in the Nabha jail, which strengthened the suspicion of a nexus between radicals and gangsters. "Three weapons — 9mm, .32 and .30 bore pistols — were used in all the cases," he said. Though the state government had handed over the Gagneja case to the CBI, the Punjab Police had been able to crack the case with the smashing of the recent terror module — the eighth since the Congress government took charge, the CM said. He said the interrogation of the four "conspirators" revealed they had been trained at various places abroad and had been using encrypted mobile software/apps to communicate with their handlers in Pakistan and some countries in the West. DGP Arora said they had been able to bust the terror module owing to the efforts of the police Intelligence and counter-Intelligence wings as well as the Batala and Moga district police. The team comprised IG- Intelligence Amit Prasad, DIG-Counter-Intelligence Ranbir Khatra, SSPMoga Ranjit Singh, SSPBatala Opinderjit Ghuman, SPs Rajinder Singh and Wazir Singh, DSPs Sulakhan Singh and Sarabjit Singh, Inspector-CIA (Moga) Kikar Singh and ASI Haripal. Today’s issue is of 20 pages, including four-page Jobs and Careers. Majid Jahangir Tribune News Service Srinagar, November 7 The nephew of Jaish-eMohammad chief Masood Azhar was among the three militants killed in a fierce gunfight that also claimed the life of a soldier in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Monday evening. Masood’s nephew Talha Rahid, JeM divisional commander Mehmood Bahi, and local militant Waseem Ganai of Pulwama were killed in a four-hour gunfight at Aglar Pulwama, 45 km from Srinagar. Sepoy Vrahma Pal Singh, 30, of Army’s 44 Rashtriya Rifles was also killed in the gunfight. He belonged to Bulandshahr, UP . Police sources said Talha had been active for the past three months in Pulwama and had infiltrated as part of group of around 10 Jaish militants, US-made rifle seized, shows Pak role: Army mostly “fidayeen”, in August. A police officer said Mehmood Bahi and Talha had planned the recent attacks in Pulwama, including the “fidayeen” attack at District Police Lines that left eight soldiers dead. Kashmir IG Munir Khan said they would ask Pakistan to take the body of Azhar’s nephew. A US-made M4 carbine colt rifle and AK-47 Draco rifles were recovered from the slain militants. The Army said the recovery of a US-made rifle pointed to the link between the Pakistan army and the JeM. “The M4 weapon is used by NATO forces and by Pakistan army’s Special Forces. We believe this weapon was given by the Pakistan army,” said an Army officer.