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200 heavily armed militants waiting across LoC to infiltrate: Army

SRINAGAR: Around 200 heavily armed militants were waiting across the Line of Control to infiltrate into the Indian side even as the security forces foiled several attempts by the ultras to sneak into the Kashmir Valley following the recent floods.

"There are around 200 heavily armed terrorists across the Line of Control waiting to infiltrate into the Kashmir valley," Lt Gen Subrata Saha, the General Officer Commanding of Srinagar-based 15 Corps, said.

He said that infiltrators from across the border tried to take advantage of the recent floods in the Kashmir Valley, but the Army foiled their attempts.

He said around 200 militants were still active in the entire Valley and the security grid of the Army was in place to "neutralise" them.

"Even though we too suffered damage in the recent floods as more than 50 per cent of the cantonment area was inundated but we never allowed the security grid to weaken," he said.

Saha said that it was because of the 'robust' counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency grid in place that dreaded foreign militant Umar Bhat was recently killed in Rajwar forest area of Kupwara district.

Lt Gen Saha said in the past ten days, several cross-border infiltration attempts were made, but the Army foiled them in which five infiltrators were gunned down.

"Three infiltrators were killed in Keran sector and two were killed in Machil sector in the last ten days," Lt Gen Saha said.

Jammu and Kashmir has been hit by the worst-ever floods which have wreaked havoc in several districts and left 280 people dead.

Terming as "baseless" the allegations by "anti-social elements" that priority was given to the VVIP's and outsiders during the rescue operations undertaken by the Army after the floods hit Srinagar city , Lt Gen Saha said, "There was no way we could have distinguished an outsider or a local. Our priority was to save maximum number of human lives.

"We had to first save the people who were caught in the farthest points. We adopted a logical sequence of evacuation and first helped the people who were at a greater risk."

He said that people involved in stone-pelting on soldiers deployed in the relief and rescue operations had come from the unaffected areas to create trouble.

"The people who were marooned in the floods wanted to be saved and we saved them. The people who pelted stones on the Army personnel deployed in the rescue operations were the ones who had come to create mischief from the area that were the least affected with the floods," he said.

Lt Gen Saha said ammunition depots were not affected by the recent floods, but "some relocation had to be made".

"Some of our units suffered some damage in the floods, but the arms and ammunitions are safe," he said.

To carry out the emergency relief and rescue operations in the civilian areas, a makeshift helipad was made operational inside the cantonment area, as the floodwater had rendered two main helipads inside the cantonment defunct.

"Our main helipads were submerged and to carry out the emergency relief and rescue work we had to make a makeshift helipad operational and within hours of the catastrophe the relief and rescue work began from here" he said. — PTI

Four militants killed in Kupwara

I will take back entire Kashmir from India: Bilawal Bhutto 

Modi too shrewd to be derailed by nationalist
symbolism, says Fareed Zakaria 

WASHINGTON: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "far too shrewd" to be distracted by nationalist symbolism which would derail his growth agenda and embroil him in unwanted controversies, well known Indian-American journalist Fareed Zakaria suggests.

But Zakaria, who interviewed him for CNN last weekend, also wonders in an opinion piece in the Washington Post if the problem with the new Prime Minister "turns out to be not that he is too bold but rather that he is not bold enough."

Modi "radiates confidence", writes Zakaria. "The public lauds him, world leaders court him and the Bombay Stock Exchange continues to soar."

"But will this moment of euphoria translate into lasting gains? Can India become the world's next economic powerhouse?" he asks.

"Modi is extremely intelligent and focused but is different from most leaders," Zakaria writes noting that the Indian leader's "worldview has been shaped almost entirely from experience rather than formal schooling."

Noting that "Modi is passionate about hygiene" and during the election campaign stressed that "India needed toilets first and temples later" Zakaria called it "a significant statement because Modi is seen as an ardent Hindu nationalist."

His Bharatiya Janata Party "platform still contains plans to build a temple in Ayodhya on the grounds of a destroyed mosque, an issue that has been extremely divisive in the country," he wrote.

"My sense, based on our conversation, is that Modi is far too shrewd to be distracted by nationalist symbolism, which would derail his growth agenda and embroil him in a series of controversies that he does not seek," Zakaria wrote.

Modi has also handled the international stage deftly, the internationally regarded journalist suggests. "He is straightforwardly pro-American and seems to harbour little ill-will toward Washington for having refused to give him a visa for almost a decade,"

"Where Modi has underperformed, surprisingly, has been in his core competence — economics," Zakaria wrote suggesting "he has been slow to announce major reforms."

"The stalled reform agenda might actually be an outgrowth of Modi's great strength, his pragmatism," he wrote suggesting "India has many bottlenecks, and delaying major and needed reforms may come back to haunt Modi."
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"Already, Modi's honeymoon is coming to an end at home," Zakaria writes citing BJP's "surprisingly poor" performance in a series of byelections.

"It would be a strange irony if the problem with Narendra Modi turns out to be not that he is too bold but rather that he is not bold enough," Zakaria concludes. — IANS

India, China quietly struggle in Indian Ocean

NEW DELHI: At first glance, it looks like a diplomatic love-fest. There was Chinese President Xi Jinping, toasting the birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a quiet dinner earlier this week in Gujarat. There were the two leaders, deep in conversation as they walked along the Sabarmati River; Xi dressed in a Nehru jacket.

The men are full of praise for one another, and one another's countries. Xi gushes over India as "an enchanting and beautiful land". Modi declares that their pledges to work together "will open big gates for progress and development in the world". Just a few hours into the Xi's three-day visit, Indian newspapers were awash with accomplishments: a joint industrial park, a sister-city pact, ramped up cultural ties, business deals and investment promises from China worth well more than $20 billion.

Left largely unspoken, though, are the deep worries in India over Chinese maneuvering in the Indian Ocean, where New Delhi's years of dominance is being chipped away by billions of dollars in aid from Beijing and gargantuan Chinese construction projects.

And while China's recent push for dominance in the South China and East China seas get more attention, the quiet contest for influence in the Indian Ocean is being watched carefully from Tokyo to Washington, DC. More than anything else, the worries are over energy.

The tankers that move through Indian Ocean carry 80 per cent of China's oil, 65 per cent of India's and 60 per cent of Japan's, making those waters crucially important to three of Asia's great powers. A significant slowdown in tanker traffic — whether from diplomatic standoff, piracy or war — could cripple those countries and send shockwaves around the world.

So for years Beijing has been working to ensure it is not left out of the regional equation, building ports and forging alliances in coastal nations from Myanmar to Pakistan.

"China wants to be a major player in the Indian Ocean, alongside India and the US" said Kanwal Sibal, a former Indian Foreign Secretary who also held a series of ambassadorships.

Xi's latest initiative is the maritime Silk Road, a series of agreements that would link China to Europe by sea. But if China heralds the Silk Road as a vision of international cooperation, many in the Indian government worry it is a Trojan horse to hide Beijing's expanding influence, said Sibal, who is well-connected in New Delhi's foreign policy circles.

"It is a precursor to eventually positioning themselves more permanently in the Indian Ocean," he said.

Xi, notably, made two stops before arriving in India, both in Indian Ocean nations. First came the Maldives, the isolated archipelago and high-end tourist destination where Beijing's influence has been growing steadily. Next was Sri Lanka, a war-battered island nation where China has become the largest investor, and where it has built a colossal port in the once-quiet town of Hambantota.

"They are building pockets of influence," Sibal said.

Beijing, for its part, firmly denies it is on a quest for Indian Ocean influence. In a signing ceremony for the Silk Road plan in Sri Lanka, Xi called it a chance to "strengthen our cooperation" in everything from port development to maritime security.

Wang Shaopu, Director of the Center for Pan-Pacific Studies at Shanghai Jiaotong University, noted that competition was natural given the importance of the region. But, he added, that doesn't make conflict inevitable.

"China and India should make a high priority of cooperation and avoid letting competition become cutthroat," he said. "I think both countries already have realised this."

Publicly, that is definitely the case. The neighbors might have plenty of room for disagreement, from an immense Indian trade deficit to an Indian state that China claims as its own territory. But they have also become highly adept at avoiding the most sensitive issues, playing down disagreements to focus on economic growth.

Even in India, where China's emergence as a world power stings national pride deeply, plenty of people say that's not automatically a bad thing.

China "has the opportunity to build massive infrastructure," across the Indian Ocean as part of the Silk Road initiative, said Vijay Sakhuja, a former Indian Naval officer and head of the New Delhi-based National Maritime Foundation. "They make world-class ports ... So can we emulate them or partake" of what they build?

India, however, is also being careful not to put too much trust in China, forging diplomatic agreements in an attempt to balance Beijing's growing strength.

Just weeks ago, for instance, Modi returned from a highly successful trip to Japan, China's fiercest rival, bringing home pledges of billions of dollars in aid and investment along with agreements to strengthen security and economic ties. Then, just days ago, the Indian and Vietnamese presidents issued a joint statement calling for freedom of navigation in the South China and East China seas — a clear jab at Beijing's aggressiveness in the region.

And the underlying tensions between India and China never go completely away.

Indian officials said a few days ago that Chinese soldiers had again entered Indian territory in the border region of Ladakh. The soldiers were said to be building a road.

While Modi made a brief mention on Thursday of border disagreements during a joint appearance with Xi — saying he had raised the issue of the "repeated incursions" with the Chinese leader — his statement was overwhelmingly positive, concluding by saying their relationship was "filled with vast opportunities."

That didn't surprise Sibal.

"We rarely speak frankly to China," said Sibal, the former diplomat said. "We have preferred to speak about areas where we have common interests." — AP

Seat-sharing row: No new proposal from Sena, says BJP

MUMBAI: The BJP today said it hasn't received any new proposal on seat sharing from the Shiv Sena for the October 15 Maharashtra Assembly polls as its state unit prepared to put the list of candidates before the central parliamentary board in Delhi tomorrow.

"We have not received any proposal (on seat sharing) from the Shiv Sena," state BJP poll in charge Om Mathur told reporters here after a meeting of the party's state core committee at Leader of Opposition Eknath Khadse's official residence.

"We will submit a list of our candidates at the BJP Parliamentary Board Meeting in Delhi tomorrow," Mathur said.

"We discussed our seats. We are discussing on seats wherever discussions are needed," he said.

Asked about Uddhav Thackeray's remarks that the Sena had sent its proposal on seat sharing to the BJP, Mathur said, "We have not received any new formula (from the Sena).

"At yesterday's meeting (with Aaditya Thackeray and Subhash Desai of the Shiv Sena) it was decided that we will be told about when to sit for the next meeting. So far, we haven't got any intimation about that."

Mathur said the party will hold discussions on seat allocation for associate parties. "Tomorrow, there is a parliamentary board meeting in Delhi. We will go with our list of candidates to Delhi," he said.

Asked what would be the next course of action if talks on seat sharing with the Sena fail to materialise, Mathur said, "We are going to Delhi for tomorrow's meet with our list of candidates."

There were reports that the Shiv Sena had offered the BJP 119 seats with a rider that it also accommodate smaller allies of 'Mahayuti', a rainbow alliance, including smaller parties like the RPI(A) and Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, in its quota.

The Shiv Sena had earlier rejected BJP's proposal that the two major allies of 'Mahayuti' contest 135 seats each and leave the rest for smaller partners.

The Sena had contested 169 and the BJP 119 of the 288 Assembly seats in Maharashtra in 2009. — PTI

17th Asian Games: Jitu Rai bags gold in 50m pistol event

Shweta Chaudhary wins bronze in women’s 10m air pistol event

Indian women’s badminton team in quarterfinal

Indian handball team loses opening match

Incheon: The Indian handball team started its Asian Games campaign on a disappointing note, going down 20-39 to Chinese Taipei in their opening Group D match on Saturday.

In a rather lopsided contest, the Indian were trailing 11-24 at the end of the first 30-minute period before losing the next period 9-15.

Mahesh Vijay was the top scorer for the Indians, netting five goals in nine attempts, while Manpreet Singh Bassi, Vasu Binu and Avin Khatkar contributed three each.

For the Chinese Taipei team, Yi-Fan Chiu stole the limelight by converting eight of his nine shots at the goal. Hsien-Chang Chao scored five goals, while Hsin-Wei Huang and Hui-Hsiung Wang netted four each.

In total, Chinese Taipei had 61 shots at the goal, much higher than India’s 45 attempts.

The Indian goalkeepers only managed to keep out just nine of the 48 shots fired at them. — PTI

Time names Indian architect ‘young leader of tomorrow’

NEW YORK: A 28-year-old Indian architect has been named "young leader of tomorrow" by Time magazine for his pioneering work in designing affordable flood-proof houses for slum dwellers.

Alok Shetty is among "leaders of tomorrow" who are "working hard to change their worlds today," Time said as it named six inspirational young persons in its first class of "next generation leaders".

Time said Shetty is "building hope in India" as an architect who is "finding simple solutions to complex problems." Shetty, working with the Bangalore-based non-profit Parinaam Foundation, is designing homes for hundreds of slum dwellers whose makeshift houses flood during the heavy rains and become breeding grounds for diseases like malaria.

He has been working in Bangalore's LRDE slum, which lies next to one of the southern Indian city’s sprawling technology parks and is home to some 2,000 people.

Shetty, who studied Master's in Architecture at Columbia University, "came at the problem with an approach he brings to all of his projects — marrying smart design with a commitment to sustainability." He designed flood-proof houses, costing USD 300, out of discarded scaffolding, bamboo and wood. The houses are affordable and easy to set up as it takes only four hours to erect and dismantle them.

Shetty is seeking government subsidies to bring the price down further for those who cannot afford the units.

"Shetty epitomises a growing breed of young leaders and entrepreneurs in India who are committed to finding solutions for a country undergoing rapid social and economic changes, some of which can leave India’s poorest straggling behind," Time said.

Another venture by is a plan to boost access to healthcare and education in remote communities.

"In my travels I saw vast stretches of rural India where infrastructure for health care and education was severely underdeveloped," he says in the Time report.

"Building facilities in these areas is not impossible but it is time-consuming. Adaptive architecture ... can be an extremely effective solution to help address our developmental problems," he said, adding that "often the simplest solutions are the best solutions."

The list also includes Israeli social entrepreneur Adi Altschuler (27), China's Zhao Bowen (22) who is working on improving medical testing and activist Ikram Ben Said (34) who founded 'Aswat Nissa' in Tunisia that is dedicated to women’s rights and the first to involve Tunisian women politicians.

Online music video mogul Jamal Edwards (24) is building an online music video empire and giving other entrepreneurs a helping hand while British-Nigerian Ola Orekunrin (28) is the founder and managing director of Flying Doctors Nigeria, the first emergency air ambulance service in the country. — PTI

Swaraj's sister, former Congmen among BJP candidates for Haryana assembly polls 

New Delhi: BJP tonight announced the 47 remaining candidates for Haryana assembly elections including Union Minister Sushma Swaraj's younger sister Vandana Sharma and two former Congress MPs and a former minister in B S Hooda government in the state.

The BJP's Central Election Committee met in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and cleared the names of 47 nominees. With this, the party completed the choice of all its 90 candidates for the October 15 Assembly elections in Haryana.

The party's CEC also declared four of its candidates for the assembly bypolls in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland and Gujarat.

The party's CEC met under the chairmanship of BJP chief Amit Shah and was attended by other members including Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Ananth Kumar and Thawarchand Gehlot and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan who was recently inducted into the panel.

Vandana Sharma has been fielded from Safidon constituency and former MPs Surender Barwala, who had recently quit INLD to join the party, is BJP candidate in Jind seat. Another former Congress MP Jitendra Malik has been fielded from Ganaur constituency.

Former State Minister Santosh Sarwan, who was in Congress and was part of Bhajan Lal government, has been fielded by BJP from Mulana (SC) seats.

BJP general secretary and CEC's secretary J P Nadda said the party has tried to give representation to all sections.

BJP leader and incharge of Haryana affairs Jagdish Mukhi said the party has fielded 15 women leaders, which is the highest by any party so far.

Party general secretary (organisation) Ram Lal, besides Shahnawaz Hussain and Haryana state leaders Rambilas Sharma, Anil Vig and Anil Jain and party's Haryana affairs in-charge Jagdish Mukhi and electio