Midfielder Suresh Singh Wangjam, who has risen through the ranks to become an integral member of the Bengaluru FC squad, feels any time spent with national team skipper Suni Chhetri is “invaluable”.
Adil Khan, Abdul Sahal, Anirudh Thapa, Pritam Kotal and others have always reiterated how much Chhetri has mentored them about diet, fitness regime and other aspects of life.
“Any time spent with Chhetri-bhai is invaluable. I consider myself extremely lucky to have the chance to share a dressing room and a training pitch with him. He personally speaks with me, advises me, encourages me and talks to me about things beyond football,” Wangjam told www.the-aiff.com.
“I’ve picked up reading books, am focusing on a better diet, sharpening my general knowledge. He has even affected my viewing choices on television. It has only been a gain for me and I am extremely fortunate,” he added.
The midfielder further said he owes “a lot to the foundation” provided by the All India Football Federation Elite Academy in his formative years. After representing the country in the first-ever FIFA World Cup hosted by India, he gathered invaluable experience during his stint with the Indian Arrows which is being immensely useful during his time at Bengaluru FC.
“I owe a lot to the foundation that I have started building my career on. The whole World Cup phase was so memorable and helpful, given the kind of exposure we received, the teams we played, the platform we got,” the midfielder said.
“Once the FIFA U-17 World Cup was done, we got the big opportunity to play in the I-League through the Indian Arrows and that again was a fantastic chance for me to gain experience that I am now using during my time at Bengaluru FC,” he added.
As the deadline for submitting the Expressions of Interest (EoI) for privatisation of BPCL close on Monday there is buzz of mixed interest amongst the bidders.
There is buzz that global majors BP, Total and Saudi Aramco are unlikely to put in a bid while there is talk that ADNOC and Reliance may be interested.
After four extensions, the government is hopeful that strategic sale of BPCL may go through without any further need to postpone the bidding deadlines.
The deadline for submitting the Expressions of Interest (EoI) for 52.98 per cent stake in the BPCL is ending on November 16. Prior to this, the bid start date was September 30, but it got postponed due to bidders’ request in wake of prevailing situation arising out of Covid-19 pandemic.
The Indian government proposes to disinvest its entire shareholding in BPCL comprising 1,14,91,83,592 equity shares held through the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, which constitutes 52.98 per cent of BPCL’s equity share capital, along with the transfer of management control to the strategic buyer (except BPCL’s equity shareholding of 61.65 per cent in (NRL) and management control thereon).
However, the profit-making oil major has not received interest as anticipated due to low oil prices, coupled with poor demand.
The shareholding of BPCL in NRL will be transferred to a Central Public Sector Enterprise operating in the oil and gas sector under the Ministry and accordingly, is not a part of the proposed transaction.
The government’s stake in BPCL is worth around Rs 47,000 crore at BPCL’s current share price.
According to an earlier research note by Emkay Global, according to DIPAM’s response to PIM queries, interested parties may include global players with limited knowledge on Indian corporate/PSU/accounting /takeover rules as well as parties seeking higher level of clarifications.
“The progress on BPCL’s sale is positive for OMCs in terms of deepening deregulation and profitability outlook. Given the tight fiscal situation, disinvestment would be of utmost importance to the government this year”, the report said.
Industry sources said that Total and Russian giant Rosneft are also not interested to bid in the current subdued market conditions.
The report said RIL can be a serious contender being mostly net debt free now and possibly include BP also as a partner. Other players are Aramco, ADNOC, Rosneft and ExxonMobil, as per the reports. With RIL deal not progressing, Aramco may now look at BPCL aggressively.
Industry sources, however, said that Reliance Industries (RIL) and UAE’s Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) may bid for the state-run oil major.
ADNOC already has footprint in India as it is the only overseas company that has crude stored in Indian caverns.
The process of the BPCL’s strategic sale has been impacted due to the pandemic and the deadline for submission of bids has been postponed four times. The previous deadline was September 30.
The Centre has allowed bidders of privatisation-bound PSU refiner to submit their interest for the company electronically through e-mail to prevent restrictions imposed due to Covid-19 from impacting the sell-off process.
The government is also keen to complete the deal within FY21 as disinvestment proceeds from it would help the government inch closer to this year’s ambitious disinvestment target of Rs 2.1 lakh crore. So far, just over Rs 5,000 crore have been mobilised.
Fatah and Hamas delegations will head to Cairo to continue their negotiations on internal reconciliation, senior Palestinian officials said.
“The Fatah delegation is headed by its Central Committee Secretary-General Jibril Rajoub, and two other senior leaders — Rawhi Fattouh and Ahmed Helles,” Abbas Zaki, a senior Fatah leader, told Xinhua news agency on Sunday.
“These meetings aim to continue the reconciliation efforts between Fatah and Hamas to end the internal division that will lead to the Palestinian presidential and legislative elections as soon as possible,” Zaki added.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
He praised Egypt’s role in sponsoring Palestinian reconciliation, stressing that “those efforts will achieve success in ending the Palestinian division”.
Hazem Qassem, spokesman of Hamas in Gaza, said in a press statement that Hamas will meet Fatah in Cairo to prepare for building a joint strategy to face all challenges against the Palestinian cause.
Hamas had seized control of the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2007 and since then, an internal political and geographical division over administrative, financial and security issues has remained between the two sides despite a series of Arab and international mediations.
In March 2018, then Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah survived an explosion when his convoy entered Gaza, an incident that was blamed on Hamas.
Despite a history of strife, Fatah and Hamas recently announced their agreement to put differences aside to confront Israeli plan to annex parts of the West Bank.
Islamophobia Haunt Labour; Diwali at White House; New Trade Forum at Asia-Pacific; Palestine knocks Pompeo’s visit to Israeli settlement – all in Asian Lite Daily Digital – please click here to read.
Former England captain Nasser Hussain has lavished praise on Rohit Sharma, saying that the Mumbai Indians (MI) captain is not just one of the great white ball players but also a calm and cool captain as well as a decent man.
“His captaincy, he is calm, cool, makes the right decisions at the right time and he has had such a good time with MI that there are various cricketers around the world now, including in India, saying that maybe it is time for Virat [Kohli] to step down from T20s and let Rohit take over. His record speaks for himself,” Hussain was quoted as saying by Sky Sports.
Rohit Sharma
Hussain also praised Sharma’s batting skills. “He is one of the great white ball players. If you look at the 50-over cricket, he has a couple of double hundreds he has had massive scores, in T20, he lost a bit of rhythm but he made runs in the final,” he said.
The former England right-handed batsman also said that Sharma was one of those players who could face a dip in form but score on big occasions and could keep the opposition on their toes.
“He is a decent guy when he said I should have sacrificed my wicket for Suryakumar Yadav [in the IPL final]. He is a seriously very good player and captain.”
Women referees would undergo fitness tests meant for male referees and may even go on to officiate men’s Hero I-League matches soon, Ravishankar J., Director (Referees), All India Football Federation (AIFF), has said.
“Our target for the women referees is to make them capable to undergo the men’s fitness tests and to be able to officiate Hero I-League matches. They will also have to take the challenge head-on because it’ll be more challenging physically as well as psychologically. I am confident that they have the quality to match our expectations,” Ravishankar said.
Currently, a total of eight referees and 10 assistant referees are in the elite FIFA panel from India. Among them, Ranjita Devi Tekcham and Kanika Barman are enlisted amongst the referees whereas Riiohlang Dhar and Uvena Fernandes are in the category of assistant referees.
While Uvena is on the list since 2014, Riiohlang Dhar and Ranjita Devi were first enlisted in 2018. Kanika Barman, having been added to the elite list in 2020, is the latest entrant.
Ravishankar, a former FIFA referee, feels Indian women referees have improved significantly lately, and made a special mention of the Hero Indian Women’s League (IWL).
“Our women referees have done exceptionally well. Ranjita is rated as one of the top women match officials in Asia. With the Hero IWL coming in, they are getting more chances. About Kanika, I am sure she would be able to do a better job and comparatively, she would come out faster,” he told AIFF TV.
While Uvena Fernandes has already experienced officiating in the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup, Ravishankar is hopeful that the remaining three would also get a taste of the same experience at the forthcoming FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup that will be hosted in India.
“We are hopeful the trio will also get an opportunity to prove their worth in the Under-17 Women’s World Cup in India next year. It is our aspiration and it will be a really proud moment for us. We can proudly say Indian Football has come forward together along with #ShePower,” he said.
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U.S. President Donald Trump. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua/IANS)
United States President Donald Trump made a low-key concession in a tweet on Sunday conceding the election to Joe Biden but maintaining the Democrat’s victory was a fraud.
In a passive-aggressive concession tweet, Trump said: “He won because the Election was Rigged.”
Trump had refused to accept the media declaration that Biden was the winner based on their projections of the November 3 election’s outcome, even though the counting was still continuing and there have been no official announcements.
On Friday, the media gave 306 electoral college votes to Biden and 232 to Trump. To win, 270 electoral college votes are needed.
The media declaration of the election results has been acknowledged by many US politicians, including a few Repiublicans, and international leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has congratulated Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris.
On Friday, Biden declared: “I am the President-elect,” while giving a warning about the resurgence of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The immediate future of the transition is still uncertain because Trump’s administration has so far refused to give Biden’s transition team facilities or share information.
Trump has not yet given an indication if he would cooperate with Biden’s transition or if he will be dropping the cases filed by his campaign around the country.
Joe Biden.
Thousands of his supporters marched in Washington on Saturday in a rally they called, “Stop the Steal” – a reference to the allegations of fraud.
Trump drove by the rally but did not stop or speak to them.
Later in the evening, anti-Trump demonstrators clashed with Trump supporters and about 20 people were arrested, but there was no widespread violence or looting.
Continuing with his allegations of voter fraud, Trump added in his tweet: “NO VOTE WATCHERS OR OBSERVERS allowed, vote tabulated by a Radical Left privately owned company, Dominion, with a bad reputation & bum equipment that couldn’t even qualify for Texas (which I won by a lot!), the Fake & Silent Media, & more!”
Dominion is a company that provides software for conducting elections and Trump supporters have asserted that it switched thousands of Trump’s votes to Biden.
In Michigan, where inaccuracies in reporting the votes were discovered, officials said that they were due to human error and were not committed by the software.
Officials in Georgia said that Dominion software problems delayed the reporting of vote counts but did not affect the numbers.
In another tweet Trump said: “All of the mechanical ‘glitches’ that took place on Election Night were really THEM getting caught trying to steal votes. They succeeded plenty, however, without getting caught. Mail-in elections are a sick joke!”
At a White House briefing on Friday on the progress of his Covid-19 vaccination programme, Operation Warp Speed, Trump gave an indication that he was reconciled to a defeat.
While discussing the possibility of a coronavirus-induced lockdown he said: “Whatever happens in the future, who knows, which administration will be, I guess time will tell.”
Jen Psaki, a Biden transition official, said on Friday they did not have access “to the ongoing work on COVID, so that we can prepare to govern” or to national intelligence briefings and other important information.
Legally a president-elect has to be given official facilities for transitioning into the office and access to briefings.
The Trump administration official in charge of giving the Biden team access to information and facilities has said that they were waiting for an official announcement of the result.
A formal acknowledgement even before the official announcements by Trump that Biden has won would allow Bident transition team access to the federal facilities and information.
After a series of legal setbacks in Pennsylvania and Michigan, Trump appointed former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani to run his cases on alleged election irregularities.
At least one law firm withdrew from representing Trump.
PM Narendra Modi before Birsa Munda's statue (File Photo)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday greeted Jharkhand’s people on its Statehood Day and also paid tributes to 19th century freedom fighter and tribal leader Birsa Munda on his birth anniversary.
In a tweet in Hindi, the Prime Minister extended wishes for the happiness, prosperity and good health of people of Jharkhand on the occasion.
Modi also dubbed Birsa Munda a true ‘messiah’ of the poor, saying that “he struggled throughout his life for the welfare of the exploited and deprived”.
“Birsa Munda’s contribution in the freedom movement and his efforts for social harmony will always inspire the countrymen,” the Prime Minister said.
A century after Birsa Munda’s death, Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar on his birth anniversary on November 15, 2000.
Born in 1875 in Ulihatu in then Bengal Presidency in Ranchi district of current Jharkhand state, Birsa Munda from the Munda tribe had challenged the British rule and is credited with mobilising the tribals against the empire.
The freedom fighter died in British custody at the age of 25 and attained a folk hero status. His portrait hangs in the Indian Parliament Museum. He is the only tribal leader to have been so honoured.
Top US leaders including president-elect Joe Biden wish the Indian community on the occasion of Diwali.
“The First Lady and I send our warmest wishes to all those celebrating Diwali this week. During this Festival of Lights, friends, neighbors, and loved ones join in fellowship to commemorate the spiritual triumph of good over evil, light over darkness, and knowledge over ignorance. As diyas are lit throughout homes, workplaces, communities, and places of worship, their warmth reminds us of the hope and devotion that faith and tradition bring into our lives,” read an official statement issued by the White House.
Trump said, “The United States is a deeply faithful nation, and I am proud of my Administration’s work defending the constitutional right of all Americans to live and worship according to their conscience. Wherever Americans light diyas to celebrate Diwali, our nation shines bright as a beacon of religious liberty for all people.”
“This year, we are especially reminded to cherish and give thanks for the companionship of our friends and family. The First Lady and I wish the millions of people in the United States and around the world observing Diwali a joyous celebration and prosperous new beginnings,” he added.
Biden and Kamala
“To the millions of Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, and Buddhists celebrating the Festival of Lights, @DrBiden and I send our best wishes for a #HappyDiwali. May your new year be filled with hope, happiness, and prosperity. Sal Mubarak (sic),” Joe Biden wrote on Twitter.
Kamala Harris, who is the vice-president elect, has also made history by becoming the first woman, the first Black person and the first Indian-American to hold the office.
“Happy Diwali and Sal Mubarak! @DouglasEmhoff and I wish everyone celebrating around the world a safe, healthy, and joyous new year,” she wrote in her tweet.
