The Union HRD ministry’s All-India Survey of Higher Education can be greeted with a qualified welcome. It is gratifying to note that the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) has increased from 24.5 per cent in 2015-16 to 25.2 per cent in 2016-17; but any satisfaction on this score must be tempered with the thought that only a segment of the populace has been benefited by the trumpeted advancement of learning. Not least because the GER, a statistical index, pertains to the number of students enrolled in the under-graduate, post-graduate, and research levels ~ covering the search for learning at the college and university levels. The subaltern class, specifically the Dalits and tribals, continues to languish in terms of percentage points, not to forget the appalling literacy level among this class group. Sops such as rice at Rs 2 a kg, as in West Bengal, have done but little to address the fundamental malaise. It is cause for alarm that the GER for Dalits remains less than 21.1 per cent and that for tribals still lower at 15.4 per cent. Ergo, a pie-chart on the country’s educational scenario will be a decidedly distressing visual.

Not that the Dalits and tribals have been excluded from the purview of higher learning. In point of fact, the problem lies in the assimilation of knowledge, perhaps also the inability of the education authorities to counsel and encourage them to perform better. It is hard not to wonder whether the crutch of reservations assures them of employment opportunities ~ even in the rarefied Civil Services ~ and admission to centres of learning. Sad to reflect, there has been no matching upgrade in terms of educational attainments. The mismatch between education and social sector benefits can only place this class group at a fundamental disadvantage. This is the subtext of the document that was unveiled by the Union HRD minister, Prakash Javadekar, on Friday.

Going by the data, it seems unlikely that India will attain a GER of 30 per cent by 2020; if it could, the ruling BJP dispensation would have had a cogent reason to preen its feathers ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. It is still way behind several countries, notably China. In a sense, the problem mirrors the structural inadequacy ~ the superstructure of higher institutions of learning and centres of excellence above a frightfully weak foundation of decrepit primary and secondary schools in rural areas. For all the political turmoil, we must give it to the Tamil Nadu government that the state ranks highest in terms of GER at 46.9 per cent ~ higher than the national average. Bihar, as usual, is in the also-ran category with barely 14.9 per cent of its “eligible population pursuing higher education”. The singular saving grace must be that the Pupil/Teacher Ratio is more than 50 in Bihar and Jharkhand. Nationally, the latest GER has few bouquets to offer.

It was no goody-goody farewell embrace. When bringing the curtain down on yet another session marked by turbulence, the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha made bold to emphasise that Parliament had to extricate itself from the politics of confrontation that dominates contemporary public life. “All of you would agree with me that though the Parliament is a political institution, it cannot be an extension of politics in its typical sense which is marked by deep divisions and acrimony,” Mr M Venkaiah Naidu reminded members. “Parliament is an important institution for furthering the shared socio-economic goals of the nation, which are critical to fulfilling the aspirations of the citizens who are the chief patrons of our parliamentary democracy,” he said. The point about citizens being the “chief patron” was directed with equal force at the government and opposition benches ~ both sides now are overly concerned with furthering their own interests at the cost of the well-being of the common folk. Striking a positive note, Mr Venkaiah Naidu observed that “India is steadily evolving towards realising its immense untapped potential and the legislatures of the country, including Parliament, need to quickly evolve in the way we conduct our proceedings so as to meet the needs of our evolving nation”. In sharp contrast to the generally sugary presentation of the parliamentary affairs minister when evaluating the session at a media interaction, the Rajya Sabha Chairman contended that though some important business was transacted the functioning of the House could have been better, and he expressed concern and regret at the hours “lost” through disruption. That unruly behaviour worried him immensely was evident earlier that day. When making farewell references to three retiring members Mr Naidu recalled, with pleasure, that never once in his short tenure as Chairman had he felt it necessary to pull-up any of them.

Some critics would point out that there was nothing particularly new to what was said. Cynics might ask if Mr Naidu had himself taken the “straight and narrow” before his elevation. That would be missing the point, he has “grown with the job” ~ and the same cannot be said of his counterpart in the Lok Sabha, nor of former party colleagues who do not considers themselves ministers of the Government of India but senior party activists. It is against that backdrop that Mr Naidu’s plea to “de-contaminate” Parliament, liberate it from politics, must be appreciated. He has rightly drawn attention to the thin, but definite line that marks the legislature distinct from the political akhara. The tragedy is that so few of our legislators understand the subtle difference, sadly not many ministers are aware of that difference too. When Mr Naidu was “selected” for the office of Vice-President of India, this newspaper had hailed him as a “rough diamond” ~ it has not taken him too long to sparkle.

A medical student tried to commit suicide over caste discrimination harrassment by his seniors for more than a year at the BJ Medical College in Ahemddbad.

Dr M Mariraj who had come from Tamil Nadu for his Master of Surgery at the B J Medical College here had been suffering the harassment for more than a year, he decided to end his life by taking an overdose of sleeping pills.

As many as nine doctors of the BJ Medical College have been booked under the Prevention of Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes Atrocities Act. They are likely to be arrested soon, the police said.

Mariraj had finished his MBBS degree from Tamil Nadu and got admission here in the MS under the All India Scheduled Caste quota three years back. Going was smooth initially, but the local doctors started treating him badly as soon as they came to know about his caste.

They didn’t allow him to conduct surgeries, treated him like a peon and asked him to serve tea to the seniors besides passing caste-oriented remarks, Dr Mariraj told the police.

The medical college and the accused doctors have refuted the allegations about caste discrimination and defended themselves by saying that Dr Mariraj is not yet fully trained to handle surgeries he wanted to conduct.

The police didn’t take the complaints seriously on the first day but booked the nine doctors only after some Dalit organisations held protest demonstrations at the hospital.
A similar caste controversy had erupted last week too when the only Dalit minister in the newly installed Vijay Rupani Cabinet, Ishwar Parmar was allotted an office in the Swarnim Sankul II, an annexe of the Swarnim Sankul I where other senior ministers have been accommodated.

However, Parmar himself blew over the controversy by saying that his office at the annexe building is only a temporary arrangement till a suitable room for him is being arranged in the main building.

Traveling aboard the Chandigarh-New Delhi “Shatabdi” train (12045/46) will be a new experience now as the Indian Railways has upgraded the train to enhance the passenger experience by improving coach interiors and facilities to ‘gold’ category standards.

The Indian Railway, Chandigarh-Ambala Division on Saturday is all set to enhance the passenger experience, by upgrading coach interiors. Now, in the same fair passengers will be able to get more enriched facilities.

Under project ‘Swarna’ of Indian Railways, Chandigarh-Ambala division has upgraded the train by providing state of the art passenger facilities and much more secure atmosphere. The train made its first luxury run on 25 December, 2017, with an up gradation cost of Rs 2,22,107 per coach.

While addressing a Press conference, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Dinesh Chand Sharma said that, small efforts has been made by the Ambala division for the comfort of passengers. ‘Braille Signage’ are provided to indicate seat numbers and other instructions in the compartment area, gangway and lavatory area.

He said keeping the sanitary issue in mind, lavatories equipped with good quality SS bib cocks, automatic hygiene and odour controller, modular liquid soap container and personal seat cover dispenser have been provided.

Lavatory doors are also provided with the data sheet boards which indicate time of cleaning of lavatories.

Sharma further added that under project ‘Swarn’, Shatabdi’s walls wrapped with vinyl, coating of anti-abrasive paint on the luggage rack, curved compartments roof, gangway, lavatory roof. The train also have improved signage pantry walls.

To promote Tourism in India, beautiful and pleasing sceneries have also been displaced in the compartments. For better paint protection, exterior coach’s are covered with an anti-graffiti coating, he said.

Sharma told The Statesman that upgrading is made to maintain the standard for a long time. He also welcomed any other suggestions for upgrading facilities.

During his first visit to his home constituency, after becoming the Chief Minister, Jai Ram Thakur announced the up-gradation of Community Health Centre (CHC) Bagsaid to civil hospital.

He was given a rousing welcome during his visit to his home constituency Seraj in district Mandi on Sunday.

He was accompanied by his wife Dr. Sadhna Thakur.

After landing at Mandi, the Chief Minister headed to Baakhli to pay obeisance to Mata Bagulamukhi along with his hundred supporters.
While addressing public meetings at Bagsaad and Kelodhar, Jai Ram Thakur said that on numerous occasions the people of Mandi were bereft of the Chief Ministers candidate.

“It was after a long wait the dream had been realised and this was due to the love and strong belief of the people in their leaders as a result of which the Congress party was completely wiped out of the entire district,” he said.

He exhorted his supporters to be humble and gracious and thanked them for their unwavering faith and love.

Jai Ram Thakur said that he will be the same Jai Ram for the people of Seraj, however, now as he was the Chief Minister of the State and have a bigger family adding that the people of Seraj will ever be in his heart and needs to respect whatever decision will be taken for the development of the area.

He was given a warm welcome at Kanda, Khanyaari, Saroa, Badda and few other places.

While addressing the massive gathering at Bagsaid, the Chief Minister said that he was indebted to the people of Seraj who gave him full support to attain success.
He said that even he never thought of the feat he had achieved, adding that he did his schooling from Bagsaid and has too many memories attached to this place.
Chief Minister said that he used to travel nine kilometres up and down from his village Tandi to Bagsaid for education and time has come to repay my people, but they have to keep patience.

The Himachal Van Adhikar Manch has condemned the illegal manner in which many vulnerable communities are being evicted from their lands by labelling them as ‘encroachers.’

The Himachal Van Adhikar Manch is a platform of groups and activists demanding and working on the implementation of the Forest Rights Act 2006 in Himachal Pradesh.

The organization has condemned the latest incident of death of a Dalit, Kundan Singh, son of Rulia, from Salamatpur, Paonta Sahib (Sirmaur) after his family faced forced eviction from their home and land.

Himachal Van Adhikar Manch, convenor Akshay Jasrotia said that according to Kundan Singh’s youngest son, Rajesh Kumar, “The eviction took place on last December 27, when the forest officials came to remove the dwelling by force. Kundan was ill and lying on his bed and his thumb print was taken on the papers by force. Within hours of the incident Kundan passed away”.

“According to his widow Darshini Devi, they were living in the village, since several decades ago and the common village land under the category forests was given to them to reside by the village by passing a common resolution. Since he and his family were on a hand to mouth existence he used to cultivate some of the land around his dwelling for subsistence purposes,” he said.

The State Government needs to take immediate action against the responsible official and provide relief to Kundan’s family and needs to ensure that there is no repeat of this kind of instance, demanded the Manch.

Uncertainty over the J&K Pradesh Congress chief GA Mir continuing to hold the post has been cleared with the Congress president Rahul Gandhi giving him another lease of life.

Mir had replaced Saifuddin Soz in March 2015. Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi has, in a communication, said that Rahul Gandhi has taken the decision that all PCC chiefs shall continue on their posts after the organisational elections also unless any decision is taken to replace them.

Mir has to his credit rejuvenation of the Congress in J&K where the party was in power in alliance with the National Conference prior to 2015.

He was the Congress candidate for the by-election for the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat but the election was recently put off because of the security problem in South Kashmir.

Renowned doctor Dr Jai dev Retola, trained in plague and contagious diseases, passed away at the age of 71.

He breathed his last at PGIIMER, Chandigarh on 3 January, following massive cardiac arrest. Dr Retola was instrumental in single-handedly helping in containing the spread of plague in upper areas of Shimla district on three occasions, braving the inclement weather.

Plague was reportedly having spread in the upper areas of Shimla district in 1983 (Tangnu), 1984 (Mandhol) and 2002 (Kelvi), that had caused panic in the area. He was the first Registrar Medical Council of Himachal, incharge of Isolation Hospital at Shimla in addition to various posts, he retired as Senior Medical Officer (SMO) Himachal Vidhan Sabha.

Retola had also cured over a dozen gangrene patients where amputation was suggested, as last resort, but through conventional medication he cured the complex cases.He had to his credit over 85 domestic and international awards and was in regular touch with plague authorities in USA, who were seeking his advise on controlling this dreaded disease in America. Prayer meeting for peace to his soul is slated for 9 January in Shimla.

The Member of Parliament (MP) from Kangra, Shanta Kumar on Sunday called for constructive politics in Himachal Pradesh and said a welcome change was ushered into the state politics after recent assembly polls.

Shanta Kumar said the top leadership in both the major political parties of the state is occupied by young faces and it should lead to positive change in Himachal’s polity.
“While the BJP has given reigns to experienced and energetic youth, Jai Ram Thakur to lead the state as Chief Minister, the Congress has appointed young leader, Mukesh Agnihotri as the legislative party leader,” he said, while terming it as the ‘call of present times’.

He said Thakur’s anointment as Chief Minister of the state has not only fulfilled the demand of the people of Mandi district of appointing CM from the district for the first time in the history of the state.

But it was also the attempt of the party to thank the people of the district who had voted Congress out of power as 9 out of the total 10 seats were won by BJP while 1 seat was won by independent candidate.

“The lack of development in the state during the last five years was also the result of conflicting politics between the two parties and there was the general trend of opposing each and other on every issue,” he said.

Shanta urged the leaders of both the parties to indulge in constructive politics during the assembly session, scheduled to begin from 9 January and said it would lead to all round development of the state.

To provide residential facility to those people who have been living in slums on government land in urban areas Haryana, the state government has framed Slum-in-Situ Rehabilitation Policy.

State’s Urban Local Bodies Minister Kavita Jain said on Sunday that the Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had given his approval to this policy under which the government would allot houses to such people living in Municipal Corporations, Municipal Councils and Municipalities by developing colonies under Private Public Partnership mode.

Jain said that the policy applied to the slum identified under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana survey to be conducted by the state government and situated on Centre government land, state government land or Urban Local Bodies.

She said that private partner for slum redevelopment would be selected through open bidding process. The developer would pay rent to every household so that the beneficiaries should move to other location and construction will start.

The rent for such households in Municipal Corporation of Gurugram and Faridabad would be Rs 3,000 per month whereas it would Rs 2,000 per month for Municipal Corporation other than Gurugram and Faridabad.

Similarly, Rs 1,500 per month and Rs 1,000 per month would be the rent for all the municipal councils and the municipal committees, respectively. The rent would be paid by the developer to the project beneficiaries till the date of handing over the project to the municipality concerned, she added.

The Minister further stated that the allotment of units would be held under the chairmanship of Commissioner, Municipal Corporation in case of Municipal Corporation and Deputy Commissioner in case of Municipal Council and Committee. The ownership right over the unit allotted to beneficiary would be given after 15 years of the allotment.

She said that the municipality concerned would ensure that the Resident Welfare Association (RWA) be constituted within one year from allotment of flat or dwelling unit to the beneficiary. The RWA would be responsible for maintenance of the ‘Slum Redevelopment Component’.

Haryana government has decided to appoint Nodal Officer (Litigation) in all the departments.

An official spokesperson said that the role and responsibilities of Nodal Officer (NO) would be to consider each and every petition or notice for demand of justice or representation and notice under Section 80 of Code of Civil Procedure (CPC) positively within a period of 30 days from the date of its receipt, and this 30 days period is fixed so that the action taken be concluded and reached to the employee or person who served legal notice.

He said that all legal notices, petitions, letters from office of Advocate General (AG), Haryana regarding legal matters would be sent to the concerned Nodal Officer who would be responsible for bringing it to the notice of concerned Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Financial Commissioner (FC) or Head of the Department (HoD) for further necessary action to get issued sanction for defence of cases and filing of appeals, writ petitions, civil revisions, RSA, Arbitration cases or any other case by and on behalf of the State Government directly interact with the office of LR or Administrative Secretaries to avoid the procedural delay, which are now being regarded as one of the major reasons of delay in state cases.

On receipt of orders from the courts by Nodal Officer or the learned AG Officer, the Nodal Officer would ensure that necessary entries are made in Litigation Management System (LMS) and papers are sent to officer concerned for filing reply, implementation or processing the papers promptly and for sending him a response for uploading on LMS, he added.

He further said that the Nodal Officer must indicate the time lines by which the action has to be taken and in case of inaction, he must take up the matter with officer concerned and ACS, FC or HoD.

The role and responsibilities of Nodal Officer would also include endeavouring to see whether litigation between PSUs and Government Public Sector undertaking can be avoided.

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has lambasted the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and certain farmers’ unions for allegedly spreading false propaganda on the farm debt waiver promise, which his government has started implementing from five districts of the state on Sunday.

Addressing a gathering at the launch of Congress government’s key poll promise of Farm Debt Waiver Scheme at Mansa, Amarinder Singh referred to Saturday’s reported suicide of a Barnala farmer to point to the extent of “mis-propaganda” which the opposition parties and some of the unions had unleashed.

Amarinder categorically denied any such suicide on account of non-inclusion of the farmer’s name in the waiver list. The farmer’s name was included in the list from Barnala, he said, adding that it was obvious that a fraudulent campaign had been launched by vested interests.

The Chief Minister questioned the Akalis, AAP and some farmer’s unions, which he said were behind the propaganda campaign, on how they expected his government to give out more than it could afford to.

He said, “The fiscal crisis facing the state was much graver than the Congress had envisaged before the elections. Despite the problems, my government has found ways of launching the debt waiver scheme, as promised in the poll manifesto of the Congress.”

Amarinder Singh also cited figures to point out that not only had his government announced higher loan waiver than other states including UP, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, MP and Karnataka, but had, in fact, done so despite the huge financial constraints faced by it.

Our government had fulfilled another major promise with this launch, said the chief minister, as he symbolically handed over waiver certificates to 10 farmers from the five districts of Mansa, Bathinda, Faridkot, Muktsar and Moga.

Nearly 47,000 farmers who had taken loans from 701 Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies of the five districts were getting their money in their bank accounts, he said, describing the launch as a beginning towards solving the problems that were causing farmers to commit suicide.

As per the official information, a total of 5.63 lakh farmers will be benefitted during the first phase, which would provide relief to the tune of Rs 2700 Crore.

Acknowledging that some farmers could and might have got left out due to technical errors, Amarinder said these issues were being resolved and those who still ended up with complaints should approach their respective SDMs or DCs, whom he had personally directed to resolve any such issues at the earliest.

No eligible farmer will be excluded from the waiver exercise, he assured the people, adding that he was personally keeping tabs on the disbursements.

Amarinder Singh said the entire loan waiver process would be completed in four phases and his government would find ways and means of making it happen, “despite not getting any help from the Centre”.

On the occasion, Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar said former CM Parkash Singh Badal was resorting to “dirty politics over the debt waiver issue”.
The Akalis and others, who were allegedly politicizing the debt waiver issue and misleading the farmers, were doing a great disservice to Punjab, Jakhar said.

Three men died due to asphyxia on Sunday in a 10-feet-deep manhole in which they had descended to unclog it in the city’s south-east suburb, a civic official said.

“The incident came to light around noon when the victims did not come out of the manhole they had entered to clear an underground blockage in an apartment’s sewage treatment plant,” the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike (BBMP) told IANS here.

Two of them suffocated after inhaling toxic gases while the third was found inside the manhole in an unconscious state.

The victims, in mid-thirties, were identified as Mahadevappa, Ramesh and Srinivas.

“Fire brigade personnel retrieved the bodies of Mahadevappa and Ramesh from the manhole while Srinivas was rushed to a private hospital after pulling him out of it as he was breathing then,” the official said.

Doctors at the St John’s Hospital, however, declared Srinivas dead when he was brought there.

Bengaluru Development Minister K.G. George, who visited the area later, expressed concern over unqualified persons being employed for scavenging work manually.

“I have directed BBMP to inquire and book those responsible for hiring the victims without assessing their eligibility. They were not qualified to enter a manhole, so deep and emitting toxic gases,” George told reporters at the spot.

The civic body announced Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the families of each of the victims.

The Haryana government on Sunday announced that schools in the state will remain closed till January 14 in view of the severe cold wave conditions in the state.

Dense fog prevailed at several places, affecting normal life. Road, rail and air traffic were affected due to the fog.

Haryana Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma said that in view of the severe cold, all government, government-aided and private schools will remain closed up to January 14. They were to re-open after the winter break on Monday (January 8).

Narnaul and Hisar towns in Haryana saw minimum temperatures of 1.5 degrees and 2.4 degrees. Karnal and Bhiwani recorded lows of 4.5 and 4.6 degrees respectively.

In Punjab, the Sikh holy city Amritsar recorded a minimum temperature of 2.6 degrees while the industrial hub Ludhiana saw a low of 4.4 degrees.

The maximum temperatures at most places in Haryana and Punjab hovered between 18.5 and 22.5 degrees.

Chandigarh saw a high of 19.4 degrees and a minimum temperature of 5.8 degrees.

Various press bodies including the Press Club of India, the Editors Guild, Indian Women’s Press Corps, Press Association and the Mumbai Press Club on Sunday condemned the lodging of FIR against The Tribune reporter who exposed vulnerability of the Aadhaar data.

The press clubs and journalists’ associations dubbed the FIR as “a direct attack on the freedom of the press” and demanded an immediate withdrawal of the case.

Also read: Congress condemns FIR against Tribune, reporter Rachna Khaira

“The Press Club of India, Indian Women’s Press Corps (IWPC) and Press Association express their strong objection and condemnation at the registration of a FIR against a reporter of The Tribune by an officer of the Unique Identification Authority of India for writing a story exposing alleged loopholes in the system,” a joint statement by the three bodies said.

After a January 3 news report by The Tribune newspaper over breach in Aadhaar data with a headline “Rs 500, 10 minutes, and you have access to billion Aadhaar details”, the UIDAI has registered an FIR against the newspaper and reporter Rachna Khaira.

The FIR, lodged with the Cyber Cell of the Crime Branch, invokes serious charges under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), IT Act and Aadhaar Act.

The UIDAI on January 4 said its search facility for grievance redressal may have been “misused” but denied any breach or leak of Aadhaar data.

“If there is no breach, what is the offence they have supposed to have committed? Rather than addressing the loopholes which would actually ensure safety and security of the data and allay the general concerns about this, the UIDAI has chosen to persecute those whose actions appear to have been only in public interest, that is, drawing attention to the possibility of data insecurity before someone with ulterior motives is able to exploit them,” the statement said.

“We find the UIDAI’s move extremely intimidatory, obstructionist and inimical to the pursuit of free, fair and independent journalism. We demand that the complaint and the proceedings related to it should be withdrawn forthwith,” it said.

The Editors Guild of India, in a separate statement, said that is “deeply concerned” over reports that UIDAI had registered an FIR against the reporter of The Tribune who has been booked under IPC sections 419 (cheating under impersonation), 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery), 471 (using a forged document) and also under sections of the IT Act and the Aadhar Act.

“The Guild condemns UIDAI’s action to have the Tribune reporter booked by police as it is clearly meant to browbeat a journalist whose investigation on the matter was of great public interest. It is unfair, unjustified and a direct attack on the freedom of the press,” it said, demanding withdrawal of the police case and an “impartial investigation” into the matter.

The Mumbai Press Club too condemned the “unilateral action of the UIDAI for lodging an FIR” and underlined that the action “will be treated as nothing short of an attack on the privileges and rights of a free press”.

It also advised the “administration” to avoid a “clash with the Fourth Estate”.

“Mumbai Press Club demands an impartial inquiry on the Aadhaar data sale and take action against those involved in the data breach instead of taking action against the journalist who exposed it,” it said.

At least four persons — all women — were killed on Sunday in Betul district in Madhya Pradesh after a decommissioned coal mine, where they had gone to collect coal, caved in, officials said.

“Five women went to collect coal from a decommissioned Western Coalfield Limited (WCL) coal mine in Pathakhera area. When they went deeper, the upper part of the mine caved in,” Betul Superintendent of Police D.R. Senwar told IANS.

“Five women were trapped in the debris. Of them, four have died,” the police officer said.

The lone injured woman has been admitted to hospital.

All women were from underprivileged families. The kin of the deceased would receive compensation, Senwar said.

According to locals, people from poor families often collect coal from the decommissioned mine.

Australia’s Nick Kyrgios on Sunday won the Brisbane International tennis tournament after beating Ryan Harrison of the United States 6-4, 6-2 to claim his first trophy in 2018.

The Australian champion, ranked World No.21, needed one hour and 13 minutes to defeat his rival, World No.47.

“I felt good all week. I felt right at home,” said Kyrgios, third seed, after his first win in Australia.

Thanking the spectators, he said: “Every time I stepped out here you gave me such great support. I love playing in front of you guys even though sometimes it may not seem that way. But I do. I really appreciate it.”

Kyrgios overpowered Harrison in the same manner as in their previous two clashes — Tokyo 2016 and Madrid 2017 — without conceding any set.

Sunday’s win was the fourth title in the 22-year-old Australian’s short career, after three trophies in 2016 in Tokyo, Atlanta and Marseille.