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16
I n July 2016, when the secu- rity forces gunned down Burhan Wani, the poster boy of Hizbul Mujahideen, Kashmir valley erupted and stone pelt- ing became order of the day. Two years down the line, the number of stone-pelting inci- dents has come down drasti- cally, but their intensity has gone up. Last year saw 50 per cent drop in cases of stone pelting. There were 4,799 stone-pelting incidents in Jammu & Kashmir in the past three year. Of these, 730 incidents were reported in 2015, 2,808 in 2016, and 1,251 cases in 2017. However, the Valley has seen a shift in stone-pelters’ strategy. The stone-pelting is now usually taking place around the encounter sites when protesters try to break cordon to help holed up ter- rorists to escape. The trend is uniform in south Kashmir’s Shopian, Pulwama, Kulgam and Anantnag districts, Hajin pocket of north Kashmir’s Bandipora and volatile parts of old Srinagar city. Valley watchers have observed that stone-pelting starts shortly after terrorists are encircled in their hideouts by security forces. It all starts after the cornered terrorists inform their relatives through mobile phones about the secu- rity forces’ siege. This mobilis- es protesters, who try to storm the cordoned area. The inci- dents of stone-pelting have helped terrorists escape at sev- eral places. The latest such encounters occurred in Turkwangam vil- lage of Shopian on May 2. One teenager was killed in the encounter. In another incident at Seer jagir village of Tral in the last week of April, two ter- rorists gave slip to the securi- ty forces when stone pelters came to their rescue. Surprisingly, Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat’s declaration last year that anyone hamper- ing anti-terrorist operations would be dealt with like ter- rorists has failed to deter stone pelters in the Valley. Interestingly, the stone- pelters are not only locals. On Sunday, when security forces killed five protesters in Shopian, one of the slain pro- testers had travelled all the way from Dooru in Anantnag dis- trict to the trouble spot, around 45 kilometres from home. His family is clueless as to how he reached the encounter site. The intensity of the stone pelting incidents and targeting of tourists, schoolchildren and civilians has come as big set- back in the efforts to main- stream youngsters who have been exploited by the separatist to create unrest in the Valley. Both the Centre and the Mehbooba Mufti Government have been on the same page on releasing the stone pelters and going soft against them. The Mehbooba Government decision to with- draw cases against nearly 10,000 stone pelters followed a recommendation made by Centre’s interlocutor for J&K Dineshwar Sharma. On November 22 last year, Mehbooba announced launch of the Centre’s amnesty for first-time “offenders of stone pelting”. The decision saw police drop charges against an estimated 4,500 people, most of them youngsters. Mehbooba said the Government’s initiative was based on recommendations by Centre’s interlocutor Dineshwar Sharma, a former Intelligence Bureau chief tasked with starting a peace process in Kashmir. While Mehbooba was making a case for amnesty to the stone pelters since 2016, the Centre was not ready to take the risk. In fact, in 2016 when then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had announced the release of sep- aratist leader Masrat Alam, the man who had first rallied the youth in 2016 to take up stone pelting , the Modi Government had put tremen- dous pressure on him to lodge fresh cases against Alam and re-arrest him. However, with Mehbooba insisting that there was a need to reach out to the youth in the wake of major reduction in such incidents, the Centre con- ceded. On November 13, 2017, J&K Police chief SP Vaid said there has been a 90 per cent dip in incidents of stone-pelting in the Valley that year as com- pared to 2016. The Centre confirmed that assessment in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on March 7 this year. It said there were 4,799 stone-pelting incidents and 872 terror incidents in the State in past three year. Union Minister of State for Home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir said 730 incidents of stone pelting were reported in 2015, where- as 2,808 such incidents were reported in 2016, and 1,261 in 2017. In trying to further reach out to the youth on February this year, Mehbooba went step further when the J&K Government approved with- drawal of cases registered against 9,730 stone-pelters, including first-time offenders, between 2008 and 2017. However, the recent inci- dents of targeting of civilians, tourists and schoolchildren by the stone pelters may force both the Centre and the BJP-PDP Government in the State to redefine its policy. If stone pelters are not reined in, tourism in the State is bound to take a big hit. W orld’s largest retailer Walmart Inc on Wednesday announced it is buying 77 per cent equity stake in India’s e-tail major Flipkart for $16 billion, a move to give the US retailer access to Indian e-commerce market. It also said that Walmart will pay $16 billion or around 1.05 lakh crore for an initial stake of 77 per cent in Flipkart, subject to regulatory approval in India. The Arkansas-based firm, however, said its statement, “Walmart’s investment includes $2 billion of new equity fund- ing, which will help Flipkart accelerate growth in the future.” The deal, wherein co- founder Sachin Bansal and Japan’s Softbank Corp Group are exiting, values Flipkart at $20.8 billion. It is the biggest ever merger and acquisition (M&A) transaction in India this year. “They are also in discus- sions with additional potential investors who may join the round, which could result in Walmart’s investment stake moving lower after the trans- action is complete,” the state- ment said, adding that even so, the company would retain clear majority ownership. Reacting over the mega e- commerce deal, India Inc also said the deal would bring max- imum foreign direct invest- ment (FDI) to the country. “The valuation of about $21 bil- lion deal will make the Walmart equity infusion the largest ever FDI into India,” said ASSOCHAM Secretary General DS Rawat. As far as the deal is con- cerned, Google parent Alphabet Inc, however, is seen to be the potential investor who may get as much as 15 per cent. Binny Bansal, who had co-founded Flipkart with Sachin 11 years ago, will retain his 5.5 per cent stake and will be chairman of the company’s Board. Continued on Page 4 B arely a day before the fever- ish campaigning in Karnataka is to conclude and ahead of the Saturday poll, a major row has erupted over seizure of over 10,000 fake voter ID cards in a flat in Bengaluru. The Congress and the BJP on Wednesday accused each other of the racket. The BJP demanded coun- termanding of the poll in Raja Rajeshwari Nagar assembly seat where fake voter ID cards were found from a flat wrapped in smaller packets. Five laptops and printers were also recovered from the flat. Delegations comprising senior leaders from both the major parties met the Election Commission in New Delhi and sought steps against each other. Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma who met the EC alleged that it is not the EC or police but the BJP people who raided a flat that alleged- ly belonged to a BJP leader and that the tenant was also a BJP leader. The BJP, on the other hand, demanded countermanding of polls in the constituency with Union Minister and party’s Karnataka in-charge Prakash Javadekar alleging that Congress candidate and sitting MLA Munirathna Naidu was behind the “racket”, which was “exposed” by BJP worker Rakesh. Addressing a Press confer- ence in Bengaluru, the State EC said they would be sending a report to the EC. Meanwhile it is learnt the EC is sending a team to Bengaluru to look into the fake voter IDs. The flat belong to one Manjula Nanjamari who was with BJP and not active since 2002 with the party. The flat has been rented to one Rekha. Her brother Rangaraju was allegedly a close aide of Munirathna Naidu, the Congress candidate from Rajarajeshwari Nagara con- stituency. Speaking to TV channels, Manjula confessed that she was not active in the BJP but said she is identified with the party. Continued on Page 4 W ith a lot at stake in Iran, India on Wednesday urged the US and its allies to engage constructively with Tehran and resolve issues arisen after Washington pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal. US President Donald Trump had on Tuesday announced withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), formed in 2015 to rein in Iran’s nuclear programme. Trump termed the agree- ment as “decaying and rotting” while announcing his decision to pull out of the six-nation pact. The move is expected to be followed by economic sanc- tions against Iran which may push the oil prices globally. Iran is India’s third biggest supplier of oil after Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Any increase in oil prices will adversely impact inflation and the value of the Indian rupee. However, officials in India said that the US decision to reinstate financial sanctions on Iran will not impact India’s oil imports from the Islamic Republic as long as European countries do not follow suit. India pays Iran in Euros using European banking chan- nels and unless these are blocked, imports will continue, they said. India and Iran are already exploring the possibil- ity of trading in their own cur- rencies to bypass any trade sanctions. In a carefully crafted state- ment, India while on one side said the Iranian nuclear issue should be resolved peacefully through dialogue Continued on Page 4 M ore than 16 years in making, the country’s longest rail-cum-road Bogibeel bridge in Assam is now almost complete. Once operational, it would considerably reduce the travel time between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. The dedication of the 6,000 crore national project will be done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi shortly. The foundation stone of the 5-km Bogibeel bridge on Brahmaputra was laid by former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Not only the people of the North-East but also the entire country is waiting for this multi-technology and strategi- cally important bridge, officials said. The bridge will facilitate connec- tivity between north and south banks of the Brahmaputra in the eastern region of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. A distance of about 600 km now being covered between the two parts will be cut short merely by 40km. The Defence logistics along the Indo-Sino border is also set to improve after the bridge connects Dibrugarh to Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh. According to rail officials, the ambitious projects is both a symbol of development in the North-East as well as part of a strategic move to solve logistical issues for the armed forces stationed along the China border to get supplies from Tezpur. India has 3,488-km long land boundary with China with almost 75 per cent of it falls in Arunachal Pradesh. Continued on Page 4 T wo baby dolphins spotted alongside their mothers in the first-ever sci- entific survey recently conducted across the 185 km stretch of the river Beas in Punjab have thrilled the conservation- ists. They say it suggests that the Indus River Dolphins still find Indian waters safe enough to call it home. A blind species that communicates through echo as bats do, Indus River Dolphins are found in Pakistan besides India. The final estimate of the population of Indus River Dolphins, platanista gangetica minor, in the Beas River stands at 5-11 individuals, as per the sur- vey conducted by the Department of Forests and Wildlife Preservation, Punjab in collaboration to the World Wildlife India (WWI). When compared to Pakistan, which has around 1,500-1,800 dolphins over a stretch of 1,500 km of the Indus River, the population of the species in India is much less, but its presence in the Beas River above the Harike barrage for 70 years, indicates its existence in the region. Dr Kuldip Kumar, Chief Wildlife Warden Punjab, said the presence of a week-old calf and a sub-adult at two spots indicates a breeding population that is large enough to be viable. During the survey, the first dolphin sighting occurred at the village of Mundapind, which included an adult female with a week-old calf and a sub- adult. A second dolphin sighting occurred at the village of Karmowala (8 kilometres downstream of Mundapind), which again included an adult female with a week-old calf and a sub-adult, indicating breeding populations in the river, said Kumar. The survey was conducted from May3-6 across the 185 km stretch of the river Beas (Beas Conservation Reserve) from 52 Headworks, Talwara till Harike Nooze point. However, 55 km of river down- stream of 52 Headworks was surveyed by road due to insufficient water in the River Beas while the remaining 130 km was surveyed using motorboats. Direct counts were conducted using tandem boat survey method (using two boats and a team of eight observers and two data recorders), said Suresh Babu, Director-Rivers, Wetlands and Water Policy, WWF-India. The survey design and execution was led by world renowned Indus Dolphin specialist Dr Gill Braulik, Member of IUCN Cetacean Specialist Group. Now, the Punjab Government and the WWF-India will be preparing an Indus River Dolphin strategy with an implementation roadmap to secure the habitats and conserve the endangered species, said Suresh Babu. Continued on Page 4

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Page 1: -ˇ !ˆ 2 ! 3 ! 4 43˙ ˝ &˙ ˙ ˝ ! $ ˙ 34 &˙ ˙ " ˙ $ $ ˆ !! ˆ ˙ ˛ ˝ 3 ’ ˚ -. when protesters try to break5˘˜ ˇ˘67 8 2 5’9’2 In July 2016, when the secu

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In July 2016, when the secu-rity forces gunned down

Burhan Wani, the poster boy ofHizbul Mujahideen, Kashmirvalley erupted and stone pelt-ing became order of the day.Two years down the line, thenumber of stone-pelting inci-dents has come down drasti-cally, but their intensity hasgone up.

Last year saw 50 per centdrop in cases of stone pelting.There were 4,799 stone-peltingincidents in Jammu & Kashmirin the past three year. Of these,730 incidents were reported in2015, 2,808 in 2016, and 1,251cases in 2017.

However, the Valley hasseen a shift in stone-pelters’strategy. The stone-pelting isnow usually taking placearound the encounter sites

when protesters try to breakcordon to help holed up ter-rorists to escape. The trend isuniform in south Kashmir’sShopian, Pulwama, Kulgamand Anantnag districts, Hajinpocket of north Kashmir’sBandipora and volatile parts ofold Srinagar city.

Valley watchers haveobserved that stone-peltingstarts shortly after terrorists areencircled in their hideouts bysecurity forces. It all startsafter the cornered terroristsinform their relatives throughmobile phones about the secu-rity forces’ siege. This mobilis-es protesters, who try to stormthe cordoned area. The inci-dents of stone-pelting havehelped terrorists escape at sev-eral places.

The latest such encountersoccurred in Turkwangam vil-lage of Shopian on May 2. One

teenager was killed in theencounter. In another incidentat Seer jagir village of Tral inthe last week of April, two ter-rorists gave slip to the securi-ty forces when stone pelterscame to their rescue.

Surprisingly, Army chiefGen Bipin Rawat’s declarationlast year that anyone hamper-ing anti-terrorist operationswould be dealt with like ter-rorists has failed to deter stonepelters in the Valley.

Interestingly, the stone-pelters are not only locals. OnSunday, when security forceskilled five protesters inShopian, one of the slain pro-testers had travelled all the wayfrom Dooru in Anantnag dis-trict to the trouble spot, around45 kilometres from home. Hisfamily is clueless as to how hereached the encounter site.

The intensity of the stone

pelting incidents and targetingof tourists, schoolchildren andcivilians has come as big set-back in the efforts to main-stream youngsters who havebeen exploited by the separatistto create unrest in the Valley.Both the Centre and theMehbooba Mufti Governmenthave been on the same page on

releasing the stone pelters andgoing soft against them.

The MehboobaGovernment decision to with-draw cases against nearly10,000 stone pelters followed arecommendation made byCentre’s interlocutor for J&KDineshwar Sharma.

On November 22 last year,

Mehbooba announced launchof the Centre’s amnesty forfirst-time “offenders of stonepelting”. The decision sawpolice drop charges against anestimated 4,500 people, most ofthem youngsters.

Mehbooba said theGovernment’s initiative wasbased on recommendations by

Centre’s interlocutorDineshwar Sharma, a formerIntelligence Bureau chief taskedwith starting a peace process inKashmir.

While Mehbooba wasmaking a case for amnesty tothe stone pelters since 2016, theCentre was not ready to takethe risk.

In fact, in 2016 when thenChief Minister MuftiMohammad Sayeed hadannounced the release of sep-aratist leader Masrat Alam,the man who had first ralliedthe youth in 2016 to take upstone pelting , the ModiGovernment had put tremen-dous pressure on him to lodgefresh cases against Alam andre-arrest him.

However, with Mehboobainsisting that there was a needto reach out to the youth in thewake of major reduction insuch incidents, the Centre con-ceded. On November 13, 2017,J&K Police chief SP Vaid saidthere has been a 90 per cent dipin incidents of stone-pelting inthe Valley that year as com-pared to 2016.

The Centre confirmed thatassessment in a written reply tothe Rajya Sabha on March 7this year. It said there were4,799 stone-pelting incidentsand 872 terror incidents in theState in past three year. UnionMinister of State for HomeHansraj Gangaram Ahir said730 incidents of stone peltingwere reported in 2015, where-as 2,808 such incidents werereported in 2016, and 1,261 in2017.

In trying to further reachout to the youth on Februarythis year, Mehbooba went stepfurther when the J&KGovernment approved with-drawal of cases registeredagainst 9,730 stone-pelters,including first-time offenders,between 2008 and 2017.

However, the recent inci-dents of targeting of civilians,tourists and schoolchildren bythe stone pelters may force boththe Centre and the BJP-PDPGovernment in the State toredefine its policy. If stonepelters are not reined in,tourism in the State is bound totake a big hit.

����������������� ����� � ������������� �

����� 5�����67�

World’s largest retailerWalmart Inc on

Wednesday announced it isbuying 77 per cent equity stakein India’s e-tail major Flipkartfor $16 billion, a move to givethe US retailer access to Indiane-commerce market. It alsosaid that Walmart will pay $16billion or around �1.05 lakhcrore for an initial stake of 77per cent in Flipkart, subject toregulatory approval in India.

The Arkansas-based firm,however, said its statement,“Walmart’s investment includes$2 billion of new equity fund-ing, which will help Flipkartaccelerate growth in the future.”

The deal, wherein co-founder Sachin Bansal andJapan’s Softbank Corp Groupare exiting, values Flipkart at$20.8 billion. It is the biggestever merger and acquisition(M&A) transaction in Indiathis year.

“They are also in discus-sions with additional potentialinvestors who may join theround, which could result inWalmart’s investment stakemoving lower after the trans-

action is complete,” the state-ment said, adding that even so,the company would retain clearmajority ownership.

Reacting over the mega e-commerce deal, India Inc alsosaid the deal would bring max-imum foreign direct invest-ment (FDI) to the country.“The valuation of about $21 bil-lion deal will make theWalmart equity infusion thelargest ever FDI into India,”

said ASSOCHAM SecretaryGeneral DS Rawat.

As far as the deal is con-cerned, Google parent AlphabetInc, however, is seen to be thepotential investor who may getas much as 15 per cent. BinnyBansal, who had co-foundedFlipkart with Sachin 11 yearsago, will retain his 5.5 per centstake and will be chairman ofthe company’s Board.

Continued on Page 4

����� ��59'6:2:85�����67�

Barely a day before the fever-ish campaigning in

Karnataka is to conclude andahead of the Saturday poll, amajor row has erupted overseizure of over 10,000 fakevoter ID cards in a flat inBengaluru.

The Congress and the BJP

on Wednesday accused eachother of the racket.

The BJP demanded coun-termanding of the poll in RajaRajeshwari Nagar assemblyseat where fake voter ID cardswere found from a flat wrappedin smaller packets.

Five laptops and printerswere also recovered from theflat.

Delegations comprisingsenior leaders from both themajor parties met the ElectionCommission in New Delhi andsought steps against eachother.

Senior Congress leaderAnand Sharma who met theEC alleged that it is not the ECor police but the BJP peoplewho raided a flat that alleged-ly belonged to a BJP leader andthat the tenant was also a BJPleader.

The BJP, on the other hand,demanded countermanding of

polls in the constituency withUnion Minister and party’sKarnataka in-charge PrakashJavadekar alleging thatCongress candidate and sittingMLA Munirathna Naidu wasbehind the “racket”, which was“exposed” by BJP workerRakesh.

Addressing a Press confer-ence in Bengaluru, the State ECsaid they would be sending areport to the EC. Meanwhile itis learnt the EC is sending ateam to Bengaluru to look intothe fake voter IDs.

The flat belong to oneManjula Nanjamari who waswith BJP and not active since2002 with the party. The flathas been rented to one Rekha.Her brother Rangaraju wasallegedly a close aide ofMunirathna Naidu, theCongress candidate fromRajarajeshwari Nagara con-stituency. Speaking to TVchannels, Manjula confessedthat she was not active in theBJP but said she is identifiedwith the party.

Continued on Page 4

���������� ���������������������������������������������

� ���������#�� 5�����67�

With a lot at stake in Iran,India on Wednesday

urged the US and its allies toengage constructively withTehran and resolve issues arisenafter Washington pulled out ofthe Iran nuclear deal.

US President DonaldTrump had on Tuesdayannounced withdrawal fromthe Joint Comprehensive Planof Action (JCPOA), formed in2015 to rein in Iran’s nuclearprogramme.

Trump termed the agree-ment as “decaying and rotting”while announcing his decisionto pull out of the six-nationpact. The move is expected tobe followed by economic sanc-tions against Iran which maypush the oil prices globally.

Iran is India’s third biggest

supplier of oil after Iraq andSaudi Arabia. Any increase inoil prices will adversely impactinflation and the value of theIndian rupee.

However, officials in Indiasaid that the US decision toreinstate financial sanctionson Iran will not impact India’soil imports from the IslamicRepublic as long as Europeancountries do not follow suit.

India pays Iran in Eurosusing European banking chan-nels and unless these areblocked, imports will continue,they said. India and Iran arealready exploring the possibil-ity of trading in their own cur-rencies to bypass any tradesanctions.

In a carefully crafted state-ment, India while on one sidesaid the Iranian nuclear issueshould be resolved peacefullythrough dialogue

Continued on Page 4

�������������� ���2:9'27

More than 16 years in making, thecountry’s longest rail-cum-road

Bogibeel bridge in Assam is nowalmost complete. Once operational, itwould considerably reduce the traveltime between Assam and ArunachalPradesh.

The dedication of the �6,000 crorenational project will be done by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi shortly.

The foundation stone of the 5-kmBogibeel bridge on Brahmaputra waslaid by former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee.Not only the people of the North-Eastbut also the entire country is waitingfor this multi-technology and strategi-

cally important bridge, officials said.The bridge will facilitate connec-

tivity between north and south banksof the Brahmaputra in the easternregion of Assam and ArunachalPradesh. A distance of about 600 kmnow being covered between the twoparts will be cut short merely by 40km.

The Defence logistics along theIndo-Sino border is also set to improveafter the bridge connects Dibrugarh toPasighat in Arunachal Pradesh.According to rail officials, the ambitiousprojects is both a symbol of developmentin the North-East as well as part of astrategic move to solve logistical issuesfor the armed forces stationed along theChina border to get supplies fromTezpur. India has 3,488-km long landboundary with China with almost 75 percent of it falls in Arunachal Pradesh.

Continued on Page 4

�"���#�� �� 5�����67�

Two baby dolphins spotted alongsidetheir mothers in the first-ever sci-

entific survey recently conducted acrossthe 185 km stretch of the river Beas inPunjab have thrilled the conservation-ists. They say it suggests that the IndusRiver Dolphins still find Indian waterssafe enough to call it home. A blindspecies that communicates throughecho as bats do, Indus River Dolphinsare found in Pakistan besides India.

The final estimate of the populationof Indus River Dolphins, platanistagangetica minor, in the Beas Riverstands at 5-11 individuals, as per the sur-vey conducted by the Department ofForests and Wildlife Preservation,Punjab in collaboration to the WorldWildlife India (WWI).

When compared to Pakistan, whichhas around 1,500-1,800 dolphins over astretch of 1,500 km of the Indus River, thepopulation of the species in India is muchless, but its presence in the Beas Riverabove the Harike barrage for 70 years,indicates its existence in the region.

Dr Kuldip Kumar, Chief WildlifeWarden Punjab, said the presence of aweek-old calf and a sub-adult at twospots indicates a breeding populationthat is large enough to be viable.

During the survey, the first dolphinsighting occurred at the village ofMundapind, which included an adultfemale with a week-old calf and a sub-adult. A second dolphin sighting occurred

at the village of Karmowala (8 kilometresdownstream of Mundapind), which againincluded an adult female with a week-oldcalf and a sub-adult, indicating breedingpopulations in the river, said Kumar.

The survey was conducted fromMay3-6 across the 185 km stretch of theriver Beas (Beas Conservation Reserve)from 52 Headworks, Talwara till HarikeNooze point.

However, 55 km of river down-stream of 52 Headworks was surveyedby road due to insufficient water in theRiver Beas while the remaining 130 kmwas surveyed using motorboats. Directcounts were conducted using tandemboat survey method (using two boatsand a team of eight observers and twodata recorders), said Suresh Babu,Director-Rivers, Wetlands and WaterPolicy, WWF-India.

The survey design and executionwas led by world renowned IndusDolphin specialist Dr Gill Braulik,Member of IUCN Cetacean SpecialistGroup. Now, the Punjab Governmentand the WWF-India will be preparingan Indus River Dolphin strategy with animplementation roadmap to secure thehabitats and conserve the endangeredspecies, said Suresh Babu.

Continued on Page 4

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The Delhi Police registered aFirst Information Report

(FIR) after a poster with'Maharana Pratap Marg' writtenon it was found pasted on anAkbar Road signboard inLutyens' Delhi on Wednesdaymorning.

Madhur Verma, DeputyCommissioner of Police, NewDelhi said, “Based on the writ-ten complaint given by theNDMC, we have registered anFIR under section 3 of theDelhi Prevention ofDefacement of Property Act atthe Tilak Marg police sta-tion.”

The road on which resi-dences of several Union minis-ters, BJP chief Amit Shah as welland the Congress office are sit-

uated, falls under the NewDelhi Municipal Council(NDMC).

“No such proposal has beenreceived by the council neithersuch a renaming has beenapproved. The defacement ofthe signboard is a law andorder issue and the policeshould take the requiredaction,” an NDMC spokesper-son said.

So far, nobody hasclaimed responsibility for thedefacement which comes onthe birth anniversary of theMewar warrior. However, thisis not the first time AkbarRoad signboard has beendefaced.

In 2016, Akbar Road sign-boards were defaced and postersof ' Maharna Pratap Marg' wereput up. Hindu Sena, a right-

wing outfit, had then claimedresponsibility for the act.

“Our patrolling staff sawthe poster and removed it. Weare awaiting a complaint fromthe NDMC and then will reg-ister a case in the matter,” asenior Delhi Police official saidof today's incident.

Two years ago General VK Singh (retired) had written tothe Union Minister for UrbanDevelopment, proposing thatAkbar Road be renamedMaharana Pratap Road.

NDMC Vice ChairmanKaran Singh Tanwar had thensaid that he would raise the issuebefore the council but no pro-posal in this regard was made. Maharana Pratap was involvedin a war with Emperor Akbarafter he refused to accept thesuzerainty of the Mughals.

������������� � 5�����67�

An outfit which led a protestmarch at Jamia Millia

Islamia (JMI) said onWednesday that it was oppos-ing the alleged “intimidation”of Hindu students on the cam-pus. A group of “outsiders”protested on the main roadoutside JMI allegedly raising“provocative” slogans.

On Tuesday around 6 pm,a group of students, claimingto be from Jamia, took out themarch to Gate 7 and alleged-ly raised slogans againstPakistan’s founderMohammad Ali Jinnah, suchas “Jinnah premi desh chhodo”(Jinnah lovers, leave the coun-try), and “Hinduon ko daranaband karo” (Stop scaringHindus).

“Radical organisations oncampus were threateningHindu students after incidentslike Kathua rape and AMUcontroversy. Two students, whoare Hindus, were beaten upinside the campus. We organ-ised this march to fight thatintimidation,” said Rahul

Tiwari, one of the organisers ofthe march.

“Such organisations are notjust against Hindu students, butalso against those who are notsupporting their ideologies.This has been happening forfour weeks now,” Tiwari, whoclaims to be a student of thevarsity, said.

“A mob of unidentifiedoutsiders allegedly tried toincite communal sentimentsbut they cannot succeed. “Thesituation was diffused asJamia students do not react tosuch provocations. We areindeed saddened and painedby what happened and haveasked police to be vigilant atall the access points andmajor crossings outside theuniversity but in its vicinity,”said Saima Saeed, the mediacoordinator of JMI. Followingthe Tuesday protest by a few,some Jamia Hindu studentshave launched an online cam-paign claiming that they aresafe on the campus. Some stu-dents even shared their pho-tos carrying a banner with“safe in Jamia”.

������������� � 5�����67�

A28-year-old man has been arrested bythe Delhi Police for allegedly smug-

gling illicit liquor to Meerut in UttarPradesh in a car bearing a fake ‘BharatSarkar’ sticker.

A senior police officer said that onMay 8, local police from the Welcomepolice station received a tip-off about aperson carrying a large amount of illicitliquor in a car, who would pass throughthe Welcome area while travelling towardsMeerut.

“A trap was laid at the KeshavChowk flyover and the police teamstopped a car with the fake sticker of'Bharat Sarkar' (Government of India)pasted on the bonnet and rear side ofit,” said the officer. The car was drivenby one Salim, a resident of PatilyapurColony, Hapur Chungi in Meerut.During checking, 55 cartons of Haryana-made liquor and 10 cartons of beer were recovered from the car,said Atul Kumar Thakur, DeputyCommissioner of Police (Northeast).

During sustained interrogation,Salim revealed that the liquor and thecar allegedly belonged to one Hassan,who had handed over the liquor to himat the GT Karnal Road, said Thakur. Herevealed that he also supplied liquor inNand Nagri, Welcome and Seemapuri.The car was specially designed fortransporting illicit liquor and only hadfront seats. Salim revealed that he usedthe car with a fake sticker to evadedetection by the authorities, added theDCP.

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Acity court on Wednesday sent journalist UpendraRai, arrested for his alleged involvement in dubious

financial transactions, to 14-day judicial custody afterrejecting CBI's plea for his custody for five more days.

“I am rejecting your application,” Special CBI JudgeSantosh Snehi Mann said in response to the investiga-tive agency's argument that the scribe's custodial inter-rogation was necessary to carry forward the investiga-tion. The court thereafter sent him to judicial custodytill May 23.

CBI counsel Manoj Shukla sought 5-day custodyof Rai, saying certain new grounds had come up andthe journalist was required to be confronted with them.It also said that the journalist's bank locker had to besearched for which his presence was required, but Rai'scounsel argued that they could open the locker with-out his presence.

The CBI had on May 3 arrested the Delhi-basedscribe for allegedly indulging in dubious financial trans-actions and getting an airport access pass made by theBureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) by furnishingfalse information. The court had earlier sent Rai tothree-day CBI custody after the agency said severalincriminating material were recovered during the probeand he has not been cooperating in the investigation.

The Supreme Court had on May 4 refused to inter-fere with his arrest. In his application seeking protec-tion from arrest, Rai had claimed he was framed inthe case as he has been writing against an ED officerwho was part of the team probing the 2G spectrumallocation scam case.

Prasun Roy, chief security officer of Air OneAviation Pvt Ltd, was also booked by the CBI in thecase. The probe agency had carried out searches at eightlocations in Lucknow, Noida, Delhi and Mumbai.

In its FIR, the agency has alleged that going by thevalue of the transactions of over Rs one lakh during2017, Rai's accounts received Rs 79 crore while Rs 78.51crore was debited from it during the same period.

������������� � 5�����67�

The Delhi Police Crime Branch onWednesday arrested a 33-year-old

notorious auto lifter after a briefencounter in Najafgarh. The accused,Pramod, alias Ganja, used to steal lux-urious cars from various posh colonieson demand of receivers.

“Pramod told the police that healong with his associates used tosteal luxury cars from posh coloniesof Delhi-NCR after stealing thekeys from cleaners or security guardsoutside big houses. They then usedto replace the original key with afake one. Later on, when the ownerwas not able to open his car usingthe fake key, he got a duplicate. Theythen chased the owner and waitedfor him to park the car somewhere.Once the owner parked the car, theystole it using the key they hadstolen earlier. In this way, they havestolen hundreds of luxurious vehi-cles from posh colonies of Delhi-NCR and disposed off the same invarious areas of Western UttarPradesh and Har yana,” JointCommissioner of Police (Crime)

Alok Kumar said“A team of Inter-border Gangs

Investigation Squad has arrested thekingpin of the gangs of auto-liftersactive in Delhi after a brief encounterin Najafgarh area. He used to stealluxury cars from various poshcolonies on demand of receivers.Nine stolen cars including a Fortuner,Eco Sports, Honda City, Baleno andSwift cars with a country made pis-tol have been recovered”, the Joint CPadded

One of the Assistant Sub-Inspectors of the Crime Branch wastipped off about the movement ofPramod that he will be coming toKakrola village from Najafgarh viaDwarka side in a Maruti Swift car.accordingly, police under DCPBhisham Singh laid a trap nearDelhi Jal Board, he said.

While the cops managed tointercept him, he tried to escape andfired at the police team however hewas caught. During interrogation,Pramod revealed that he is involvedin more than 24 criminal casesacross Delhi and Uttar Pradesh,Kumar said.

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A38-year-old man was killedwhile an 18-year-old boy

sustained injuries after twoprivate buses, trying to over-take each other rammed intotwo vehicles in South Delhi'sSouth Extension 1 area onWednesday morning.

According to the police,Manoj Kumar Saini, thedeceased used to work in acourier company while theinjured Shashank, a student,sustained a fracture on his leg.Shashank is recuperating at anearby hospital. Police saidthat they have arrested both thedrivers of the private buses. Theaccused are Dinesh, driver ofSharda University bus andSarabjeet, driver of Al-FalahUniversity in Gurgaon,” saidRomil Baaniya, DCP South.

A senior police officer saidthat the accident took placeoutside the Tanishq showroomin South Extension 1 areawhen two private buses tryingto overtake each other rammedinto a motorcycle and then intoa scooty.

Eyewitnesses told policethat the intensity of the colli-sion between the four vehicleswas such that the motorcycleborne man died on the spotwhile the other, a student was

rushed to the AIIMS TraumaCenter. The locals managed toget hold of both the drivers ofthe private buses, beat themand handed them over to thelocal police.

Romil Baaniya, DeputyCommissioner of Police, Southsaid, “We received a PCR callat around 8am at the KotlaMubarakpur police stationregarding an accident nearTanishq Showroom. Afterreaching the spot, the stafffound that the driver of a pri-

vate bus, UP 70 DT 8281(engaged with the ShardaUniversity, Greater Noida) anddrier of another private busDL1PD 1593 (engaged withAlfalah University, Sohna road,Gurgaon) were driving theirbuses in a rash and negligentmanner and in a bid to over-take from the wrong side, theycollided with the rider of aHonda Activa who was identi-fied as Manoj Kumar Saini,)and another motorcycle riderShashank.

“A case under sections 279(Rash driving), 337 (Causinghurt by act endangering life orpersonal safety of others), 304A (Causing death by negli-gence) of the Indian PenalCode has been registered. Boththe accused drivers have beenarrested,” said Baaniya.

������������� � 5�����67�

Sudden light rain in some isolatedpockets of the national Capital

along with gusty winds onWednesday evening turned theweather pleasant in the city.According to Indian MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD), velocity of windwas recorded at 35-36 km per hour.

The minimum temperature wasrecorded at 22.4 degrees Celsius, twonotches below the season's average,whereas the maximum hoveredaround 35 degrees Celsius. “Lightrain has been witnessed in severalparts of the city,” the Met Departmentsaid.

Dr Rajendra Jenamani, MetScientist and weather observer forairport said that in this spell of badweather started since May 7 forDelhi, there were two duststorms(DS)/dry thunderstorm(TS)hit airport for two consecutivenights(1st was on 7 May and it waspeak at 1117pm(wind gust was 65-75kmph) while 2nd one was on 8May, peak time 0845pm when wind

gust was 60-65kmph),” Dr Jenamaniexplained.

“This is the first time the thun-derstorm had rain spell also report-ed during 1600- 17 : 15 hrs at IGIAalong with thunderstorm,” he added.

“Wind gusts in peak was atIGIA of 55kmph at 0430PM. Rainwas 3.2mm. The last spell was on 2May when TS accompanied with rainhit IGIA and caused flight disrup-tion,” he added further.

Elaborating the recorded obser-vations about wind and gusty storm,Dr Jenamani said that till there arethree major spells of activitiesDS/TS/Rain and gusty winds atIGIA -6-11 April and May 2 and May(7 - 9 ) 2018 when flight operationaffected in this season.

Meanwhile, according to theSafdarjung observatory, there weretraces of rain in the last 24 hours. Thehumidity level recorded at 8.30 amin the city was 55 per cent.

On Tuesday, the maximum tem-perature was recorded at 34.7 degreesCelsius, while the minimum stood at22 degrees Celsius.

������������� � 5�����67�

South Delhi MunicipalCorporation (SDMC) has decid-

ed to deploy adequate number ofmanpower for maintaining cleanli-ness of its toilets, urinals, commu-nity toilets and complex blocks(CTCs).

SDMC Mayor, Narender Chawlasaid that the need of additional man-power was felt necessary since thepublic toilets and CTCs will nowremain open for all seven days ofweek instead of six days.” It has alsobeen decided to hire manpowerservices (unskilled) for above statedtoilets and urinals,” he said.

A senior SDMC official said thatpresently 300 personnel have beendeployed for the purpose. “It isdecided that the number will beincreased from present 300 to 450,”he said.

The official further said that theadditional manpower is requiredkeeping in view of SwachhSarvekshan under Swachh BharatMission.

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The Association of IndianMedical Device Industry

(AiMeD) has lauded the DelhiGovernment for working oncapping profit margins of hos-pitals on drugs and devices,saying this will help commonman access medical devices atreasonable prices.

Based on recommenda-tions of an expert panel, theDelhi Government is likely tocome out with a policy later thisweek to cap profit margins ofcity hospitals on drugs anddevices, according toGovernment sources.

“We applaud the stepstaken by the Delhi Governmentand the advisory given by theIMA to consider capping ofprofit margin to 50 per centover the procurement cost of ahospital. This will result in con-sumers access to medicaldevices at prices below inflat-ed MRP,” said Rajiv Nath,Forum Coordinator of AiMeD.

The nine-member panel,headed by Director-Generalof Health Services KirtiBhushan, was set up by theKejriwal Government onDecember 13 last year.

“We submitted the recom-mendations about two monthsago and the new policy on cap-ping of profit margin by hos-

pitals should be out by thisweek,” a top official had toldPTI.

The move comes after apublic outrage on the death ofa child due to dengue last yearat a private hospital inGurugram, which charged thefamily around Rs 16 lakh fortreatment.

The committee had sug-gested capping the profit mar-gin for drugs and devices at amaximum of 50 per cent abovethe manufacturing price orprocurement cost, whicheverwas lower, the official had said.

On its website, the AiMeDdefines itself as an umbrellaassociation of Indian manu-facturers of medical devicescovering all types of medicaldevices including consumables,disposables, equipment, instru-ment, electronics, diagnosticsand implants. It says it has aprimary membership of over300 manufacturers and addi-tionally of over 200 associatemembers.

��������������� 5�����67�

Taking coginsance of thearbitrary fee hike by certain

private schools in the nationalCapital, the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) Government has sentde-recognition notice to a pri-vate school in East Delhi fornot providing free uniformand books to students admit-ted under the EconomicallyWeaker Section (EWS) catego-ry and directed two schools toroll back fee hike. If the schoolsdo not abide by the order,they will also face de-recogni-tion, according to Governmentofficials.

The Government alsoissued a stern warning to pri-vate schools to desist fromarbitrary fee hike. The govern-ment has also directed two pri-vate schools to roll back feehike immediately. The direc-tion to the schools came afteraggrieved parents met ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal dur-ing 'Janta Samvad' at the CM'sresidence.

According to an officialrelease issued by the ChiefMinister's office, “The DelhiGovernment has taken a strongnote over arbitrary fee hike andother violations by some pri-vate schools in the city. Twoprivate schools have beendirected to roll back arbitraryfee hike immediately. De-recognition notice has beensent to one school over viola-tion of rules”.

Later, the Chief Ministertweeted, “For the first time in

the country, schools are beingdisciplined. They are not beingallowed to hike fees arbitrari-ly. Many schools are beingmade to return hiked feesbecause there is an honestGovernment in Delhi.”

“The Government took astrong note of the complaintsof arbitrary fee hike in violationof the judgment of SupremeCourt and High Court and alsothe directions of the Educationdepartment. The schools havealso been asked to refund theincreased fee to the parents,”the official said.

A complaint was lodgedbefore the Chief Ministeragainst Victor Public school,Maujpur in Trans Yamuna area.The school was not providingfree uniform, books & otherstationeries to the studentsbelonging to the EWS catego-ry. The Chief Minister took astrong note of the serious vio-lation by the school and askedthe Department of Education(DoE) to take strict measures.

“DoE issued a notice to themanagement of Victor PublicSchool, Maujpur to providebooks, uniform etc. as pernorms but it defied the lawfuldirections and did not comply.In view of the above, the schoolhas now been served with a de-recognition notice by theDepartment of Education forviolating norms related to theEWS/DG category” the CMsaid.

The Government has alsodirected Mahavir Senior ModelSchool, Sangam Park andQueen Mary's Public School,Model Town III to roll back feehike. The schools could not bereached for their comments onthe issue.

“Taking action against thetwo private schools, MahavirSenior Model School, SangamPark and Queen Mary's PublicSchool, Model Town III, theDoE has directed them toimmediately roll back the feehike in the school and refundthe increased fee to the par-

ents/guardians of the studentswith immediate effect other-wise the government will takeaction”, a government officialsaid.

In another complaint sub-mitted to the Chief Ministerduring his Janta Samvad, par-ents informed him of hiked feebeing charged by the Bal BhartiPublic School, Pitampura in thename of implementation of7th Central Pay Commission.On directions of the ChiefMinister, the school was askedto clarify its position on thecomplaint.

“Bal Bharti Public Schoolin its reply said that it has notincreased any fee during theyear 2016-17 and 2017-18. Itsaid that the school will abideby directions & instructions ofthe education department inthis regard. It also said that allextra funds collected have beenkept separately and would beadjusted,” read the officialstatement by the cityGovernment.

����� ����� 5�����67��

The Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) Government on

Wednesday extended the sub-sidy of �2 per unit for domes-tic power consumers con-suming up to 400 units permonth and special subsidy tolawyers using chambers with-in the premises of the courtcomplexes across Delhi forthe financial year 2018-19.

A decision to this effectwas taken after a Cabinetmeeting chaired by the ChiefMinister Arvind Kejirwal.“The Cabinet approved theDepartment of Power's pro-posal for extension of subsidyfor electricity consumers con-suming up to 400 units permonth at a flat rate of Rs 2 perunit,” said an official releaseissued by the cityGovernment.

In addition to this, theCabinet also approved a sub-sidy of Rs 100 per month perconsumer on fixed electrici-ty charges for domestic con-sumers consuming up to 100units per month. The bud-getary allocation for electric-ity subsidy for the financialyear 2018-19 is Rs 1,830 crore.

In yet another move thatwill benefit lawyers, the DelhiCabinet also approved the spe-cial subsidy for lawyers usingchambers within the premisesof premises of court complex-es. This means that lawyers'subsidy will be the same as fordomestic consumers and they

will now be treated as domes-tic consumers. Incidentally,earlier lawyers were beingcharged on commercial ratesfor their chambers electricitybills.

“The Cabinet decision willbenefit around 41 lakh domes-tic electricity consumers ofDelhi and their monthly sav-ings will increase. The bud-getary allocation for electrici-ty subsidy for the financialyear 2018-19 is Rs 1,830 crore,”Deputy Chief Minister ManishSisodia said after the Cabinetdecision.

According to the officialrelease, “DISCOMs continue toowe a cumulative amount of Rs8,000 crore to the DelhiGovernment owned DTL andIPGCL-PPCL, therefore thesubsidy amount will be credit-ed to these Government-

owned utilities”. The Cabinet also asked

the Delhi ElectricityRegulator y Commission(DERC) to conduct a specialaudit of subsidy amountthrough an external auditor toensure its actual passage to theconsumers.

In yet another decision, thecity Government approvedrestructuring of StateEducational Research &Training (SCERT) and DistrictInstitutes of Education andTraining (DIETs).

Notably, SCERT Delhi isled by a Director and JointDirector and has a sanctionedcapacity of 44 academic fac-ulty posts and 101 non-acad-emic posts. After restructur-ing, SCERT Delhi will be ledby Director (Academic) andJoint Director

(Administration).“SCERT will have a total

of 12 administrative divisionswith a total of 103 academicfaculty, five post-doctoral fel-lows and 191 non-academicstaff. This includes a BEddivision catering to intakecapacity of 200 students ayear,” as mentioned in theDelhi Government's officialrecord.

However, DIET, the otherinstitute is catering to theneeds of 11 revenue districts.Therefore, the Departmentof Education (DoE) proposedcreation of two new DIETs forthe districts of Shahdara andNorth-East Delhi (these dis-tricts were created in 2012).

The Department also pro-posed to upgrade the existingRK Puram DIET into a full-fledged DIET.

��������������� 5�����67�

Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia on

Wednesday dubbedLieutenant-Governor AnilBaijal's formation of a com-mittee to monitor installationof CCTVs in the city as“unconstitutional”.

On Tuesday, Baijal hadformed a committee to comeup with a standard operatingprocedure for installation,operation and monitoring ofCCTVs in the city.

“From media reports wecame to know that LieutenantGovernor has formed a com-mittee (on CCTVs)... This iswrong, unconstitutional,”Sisodia told the mediapersons.

Public Works Department(PWD) Minister Satyendar Jainwould write a letter onThursday to the Lt-Governoron the issue, he added.

��������������� 5�����67�

In the ongoing anti-encroach-ment drive, three municipal

corporations on Wednesdayremoved structures built onroads across the city and alsoimpounded vehicles illegallyparked on roads.

North Delhi MunicipalCorporation (NMC) conduct-ed drive against encroachers inall its six zones and targetedareas of Preeragarhi toRampura (service road andfootpath), Preeragarhi Chowkto Paschim Vihar (East) MetroStation and cleared 700-sqmarea. It also removed 100square feet permanent and 550square feet temporaryencroachment and seized 36,including wheel carts and chap-pr and jhuggi.

The civic body also carriedout drive in areas of HamiltonRoad, GTB Nagar Metro Station(Gate No. 2), Nangloi to TikriBorder in ward number 37 and39, Deshbandhu Gupta road(Naz Cinema) to GurudwaraRoad and Mori Gate.

“A total of six km stretchwas cleaned in the drive andseveral permanent and non-permanent encroachmentswere removed. Also, 75 variousitems were seized,” he said. Theofficial further said 40 vehicleswere also impounded in the

operation conducted in variouszones.

Meanwhile, in a similarexercise the East DelhiMunicipal Corporation(EDMC) also sealed stilt por-tion of seven properties atKrishna Nagar and PandavNagar and demolished fiveproperties at Chand MohallaGandhi Nagar, JhilmilIndustrial area, Trilokpuri andLaxmi Nagar.

A senior EDMC officialsaid 31 cars and trucks werealso seized by the civic bodyfrom Vikas Marg area for ille-gal parking and 1.5 km stretchwas cleared. It also sealed fourfactories at Gandhi Nagar andVishwas Nagar. Ten shops weresealed in Rohtash Nagar and 40vehicles were impounded fromSonia Vihar, Shahdara andMoujpur, he added.

The health department of

the EDMC also prosecuted 25health traders for violatingnorms laid down by the cor-poration.

The official further saidthat encroachment removalaction was also carried out inthe Shakarpur, laxmi Nagar,Akshardham and Ghazipurward areas and 24 articlesseized. “Anti Malaria operationstaff has served 91 notices tohouseholders after detectingmosquitogenic conditions.

The South Delhi MunicipalCorporation (SDMC) sealedproperties and demolished sev-eral structures of encroach-ments in South and Najafgarhzones. It also cleared seven-kmstretches besides vacating gov-ernment lands.

The SDMC also conduct-ed the drive at CNG PumpVasat Kunj, Malviya Nagarmain market, Khirki SansthanBhavan, Dwarka More andClub Road and seized threevehicles, five rehris, three tan-doors and 150 articles.

A senior SDMC officialalso said seven properties at 22points were also sealed formisuse in stilt parking at CRPark.

“In West zone of SDMC, 29vehicles and seven rehris werealso seized and 18 semi per-manent structures were demol-ished.

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Ateam of University GrantsCommission (UGC) slat-

ed to visit St Stephen's Collegeof Delhi University onThursday for granting“autonomous” status, is likelyto ask all teachers of Stephen'swhether they are in favour ofautonomy to the college.

One of the major parame-ters on which the visiting teamwill judge the college for grant-ing autonomous status is“interaction with stakehold-ers”. It includes points likeinteraction with faculty,whether all teachers are infavour of autonomy to the col-lege, interaction with students,and interaction with non-teaching staff.

However, with almost 42out of more than 55 teachersexpressing their reservationagainst “autonomy” to college alleyes are now on the visit of theUGC team. The non-teachingstaff and students too haveexpressed their concern againstthe autonomous status to thecollege.

The other major parame-ters for UGC team are collegeprofile, Infrastructure facili-ties, courses, including self-financing ones, fee structure,achievement of students etc.

The six-member UGC

team is led by former ViceChancellor of AllahabadUniversity Prof Rajen Harshe.The other members includeProf Madhoolika Agarwal ofBanaras Hindu University(BHU), Dr (Ms) Nirmala S,Principal of PSGRKrishnammal College forWomen, Coimbatore, DrArchana Thakur, UGC JointSecretary and two other nom-inees of the State Governmentand Delhi University.

When contacted, the DUnominee outright refused tocomment on the matter citing

“confidentiality”. Dr ArchanaThakur said, “I cannot com-ment over this issue.”

However, highly placedsources in the university admin-istration said that DU wants to“push” autonomy for StStephen's but is apparentlycaught in a “Catch-22” situationwith Delhi University Teacher'sAssociation (DUTA) and major-ity of St. Stephen's faculty andstaff against the autonomous sta-tus to the college.

It is being alleged thatPrincipal John Varghese has“handpicked” teachers and staff

for meeting the visiting UGCteam. Varghese could not bereached for his commentsdespite repeated attempts.

As per the rules, the col-leges who scored 3.5 and aboveon the four point scale ofNational Assessment andAccreditation Council(NAAC) can directly approachthe UGC for autonomy. Whilethe St Stephen's College, whichhas been accredited withCGPA 3.21 by NAAC andneeds a visit of the UGC teambefore granting it autonomousstatus.

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The Delhi High Court onWednesday gave a week's

time to the Women and ChildDevelopment (WCD) Ministryto complete the process of giv-ing electronic access to theDelhi Police on data concern-ing missing children.

The Ministry had asked fora month to complete theprocess. However, a Bench ofJustices S Muralidhar and ISMehta, granted a week's timeand listed the matter for May16.

The WCD Ministry, inthe application filed throughits secretary, sought exten-sion of time by a month toundertake the entire exerciseof transfer of data and said thetime be granted “for providingarrangement/design modulefor enabling Delhi Police ZIP-NET application to electroni-cally search 'found children'data on the link from thewww.Trackthemissingchild.Gov.In.”

Central Governmentstanding counsel Anil Soni,appearing for the WCDMinistry, told the court that theMinistry has shared with theDelhi Police data of 1,323 miss-ing children and 933 foundchildren from April 7 to May 3.

The Ministry has made

arrangement through NationalInformatics Centre to sharedata of children with the DelhiPolice through e-mail on dailybasis as it was agreed in theMay 2 meeting.

The WCD Ministry alsosought permission to proceedwith the procurement of facialrecognition software (FRS) asit may help the Ministry infacilitating restoration of miss-ing children in the remaining35 States and UnionTerritories.

The court had earlier askedpolice to run on a trial basis theFRS, developed by a privateentity, which could help traceand rescue missing children.

Earlier, NGO BachpanBachao Andolan (BBA) hadgiven a proposal to give thesoftware to the Delhi Police freeof cost.

Senior counsel H SPhoolka and advocatePrabhsahay Kaur, appearingfor the NGO, had submitted inthe court that Vision Box, thesoftware developer, has offeredthe FRS free of cost for oneyear, provided it was used onlyfor tracing missing children.

The bench was hearing aPIL regarding missing chil-dren and was examining waysand means to address the issueof tracing and restoring themto their families.

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New Delhi: Adding impetusto health facilities, the Cabinetalso on Wednesday decided tocreate additional facilities infour major hospitals in theCapital to enhance their bedcapacity.

The Cabinet approved theconstruction of hospital blockat Guru Gobind SinghHospital Raghubir Nagar at anestimated cost of Rs 172 crore,“the bed capacity of this hos-pital will also be increased inaddition with 572 beds from

the existing 100 beds”.Cabinet also approved the

construction of Mother &Child and screening OPDBlock at Dr Baba SahibAmbedkar Hospital, Rohini atan estimated cost of Rs 195crore, which will increase thebed capacity of this hospital to963 from the existing 500beds.

Besides, the Cabinet alsoOkayed the construction ofTrauma Centre & UtilityBlock at Sanjay Gandhi

Memorial Hospital,Mangolpuri at an estimatedcost of Rs 118 crore, whichwill increase the bed capaci-ty of this hospital to 662 fromthe existing 300 beds.

Proposal for addition andremodelling work at BhagwanMahavir Hospital, Pitampuraat an estimated cost of Rs 173crore was also approved. It willincrease the bed capacity ofthe hospital to 744 from theexisting 325 beds, said aGovernment official.

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Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia

Wednesday said that somepeople in the CentralGovernment have the samearrogance as the Mughals hadand are not allowing the AAPdispensation to work.

Invoking Maharana Pratapon his birth anniversary,Sisodia said the DelhiGovernment was workingtowards providing health andeducation facilities to the com-mon man and abolishing therole of middlemen in bringingration to the doorsteps of peo-ple, like the warrior Rajput king

did to give all facilities to thepoor in his state.

"But a cruel ruler in Delhiused to ask him (MaharanaPratap) to leave. The fight issame. Today's several incidentsremind me of the Mughalrule," Sisodia said.

Pratap fought a war withthe Mughals under EmperorAkbar after he refused to accepttheir suzerainty. Sisodia saidthat voters in Delhi have cho-sen their Government whichwants RWAs and other peopleto decide where CCTV cam-eras should be installed fol-lowing their complaints aboutincreasing number of crimeincidents in their areas, but

hurdles are being created.“As the Mughals had arro-

gance, few people in the Centrealso have the same arrogance.They will not allow the com-mon man to work, saying theywill do... The same fight stillcontinues today,” he said afterunveiling a statue of MaharanaPratap at Kashmere Gate InterState Bus Terminus (ISBT).

Sisodia said those who usedto sit in the Red Fort (Mughals)thought that they would alwayshave power and harassed peo-ple thinking that they wouldnot raise their voice. “Voicesagainst harassment were raisedbefore and will continue to beraised,” he said.

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Due to higher sugar produc-tion against the estimated

consumption during the currentsugar season 2017-18, thedomestic sugar prices haveremained depressed since thecommencement of the season.As a result, accumulated dues offarmers have reached to over�20,000 crore.

In order to help sugar millsto clear cane dues of farmers, theGovernment has decided toprovide financial assistance of�5.50 per quintal of canecrushed in sugar season 2017-18to sugar mills to offset the costof cane. In order to stabilisesugar prices at reasonable leveland to improve liquidity positionof mills thereby enabling themto clear cane price dues of farm-ers, the Centre has issued ordersfor extending assistance to clearthe dues of sugarcane farmers.To provide relief to sugar canegrowers, the Centre has alreadyincreased customs duty on

import of sugar from 50% to100%. It has also imposedreverse stock holding limits onproducers of sugar for themonths of February and March,2018 to stabilise sugar price.

The Government has alsofully withdrawn the customsduty on export of sugar toencourage sugar industry tostart exploring possibility ofexport of sugar.

In view of the inventory lev-els with the sugar industry andto facilitate achievement offinancial liquidity, mill-wiseMinimum Indicative ExportQuotas (MIEQ) totalling 20Lakh MT have been fixed for

sugar season 2017-18. Further, to facilitate and

incentivise export of surplussugar by sugar mills,Government has allowed DutyFree Import Authorisation(DFIA) Scheme in respect ofsugar.

In April, 2015, the caneprice arrears of farmers reachedto an alarming level of about�22,000 crores. The CentralGovernment then notified, inDecember, 2015, a productionsubsidy scheme to offset the costof cane to clear the dues of sug-arcane farmers; a subsidy wasprovided @ �4.50/- per quintalof cane crushed. As a result ofthis measure, the sugar pricesstabilized and arrears werereduced substantially.

The said assistance shall bepaid directly to the farmers onbehalf of the mills and be adjust-ed against the cane price payabledue to the farmers against Fairand Remunerative Price (FRP)including arrears relating toprevious years.

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From Page 1He said decreasing river

flow due to extensive dammingand drought besides fishingnets are major factors affectingriver dolphin populations inthe Indian sub-continent.However, as the PunjabGovernment has declared the185-km stretch of the BeasRiver for conservation, wehope that dolphin numberswill increase, Suresh Babu said,while admitting that ensuring

water level in the river willremain a challenge.

He said that they were alsofound in Sutlej decades back,however, river pollution isbelieved to be a major cause oftheir extinction from the habitat.

According to theInternational Union forConservation of Nature(IUCN), population size of theIndus river dolphins hasreduced by more than 50 percent since 1944.

From Page 1Walmart’s Krish Iyer will

be the CEO of the companywhich will continue to bebased out of Bengaluru.

Walmart and Flipkart willremain separate brands and theIndian e-commerce companywill have an independentBoard, which will be revampedto give representation to the USfirm. Tencent Holdings Ltd,Tiger Global Management LLCand Microsoft Corp will alsocontinue to remain sharehold-ers in Flipkart, Walmart saidwithout divulging their stake.

“While the immediatefocus will be on serving cus-tomers and growing the busi-ness, Walmart supportsFlipkart’s ambition to transi-tion into a publicly-listed,majority-owned subsidiary inthe future,” it said. Pre-deal,Tiger Global Management heldabout 20 per cent stake inFlipkart.

The deal is subject to clear-ance from CompetitionCommission of India andother regulators. It is expectedto close later this year. The dealwill help the US retail giant —which has seen consumersmigrate to online platformslike those run by Amazon —get a vantage position in e-commerce space in the world’sfastest growing economywhich has a huge untapped but

rapidly growing market.Only 14 per cent of its over

400 million Internet users shoponline and the number is pro-jected to rise to over 50 percent by 2026. The deal wouldbring over 175 million users toWalmart, which has been eye-ing the Indian market for a fewyears. So far it had been hand-icapped by India’s retail policythat does not allow overseascompanies to sell directly toconsumers (except in whole-sale cash-and-carry segment).

Companies like Flipkartand Amazon operate as e-commerce marketplaces — asegment that allows 100 percent foreign direct investment(FDI). Walmart runs 21 BestPrice wholesale stores in thecountry that sell everythingfrom fast-moving consumergoods to furniture to otherretailers and institutions. Itcould potentially use thoseBest Price stores as pickup anddelivery points.

“India is one of the mostattractive retail markets in theworld, given its size andgrowth rate, and our invest-ment is an opportunity topartner with the company thatis leading the transformation ofeCommerce in the market,”said Doug McMillon,Walmart’s president and ChiefExecutive Officer.

Walmart investment, he

said, will benefit India by pro-viding quality, affordable goodsfor customers, while creatingnew skilled jobs and freshopportunities for small sup-pliers, farmers, and womenentrepreneurs.

Binny Bansal said Walmartis the ideal partner for the nextphase of Flipkart journey as hesaw e-commerce having greatpotential to grow from its cur-rent status of being a relative-ly small part of retail in India.

Amazon was also said tohave put in an aggressive offerto buy 60 per cent of Flipkartbut the board of the Indianfirm is said to have favouredthe Walmart offer.

Launched in 2007 andenvisioned as the ‘Amazon ofIndia’ before the latter came toIndia, Flipkart owns country’slargest online fashion retailers— Myntra and Jabong — bothof which it had acquired.Together, Flipkart-Myntra-Jabong hold 70 per cent mar-ket share of the online fashionbusiness in India.

It also owns eBay’s Indiabusiness as well as popularmobile payments app,PhonePe. Walmart previouslybought online retailer Jet.Comfor $3 billion in 2016 to accel-erate its stake in online retailin the US but the Flipkartacquisition would be its biggestinvestment to date.

From Page 1and by respecting Iran’s

right to peaceful uses of nuclearenergy, it also made it clear thatinternational community’sstrong interest in the exclusivelypeaceful nature of Iran’s nuclearprogramme is equally impor-tant.

“India has always main-tained that the Iranian nuclearissue should be resolved peace-fully through dialogue anddiplomacy by respecting Iran’sright to peaceful uses ofnuclear energy as also theinternational community’sstrong interest in the exclu-sively peaceful nature of Iran’snuclear program. All partiesshould engage constructivelyto address and resolve issuesthat have arises with respect tothe JCPOA,” the Ministry ofExternal Affairs said in a state-ment.

India has strategic interestsin Iran - both in terms of

investment and security. Indiarecently got control of opera-tions of strategic Chabaharport in Iran, and huge invest-ments are being planned in theFree Trade Zone near it. Iranhas also become third largestsupplier of crude oil to Indiaafter Iraq and Saudi Arabia.Besides, ONGC Videsh will begetting into oil exploration atFarzad B oil fields. In additionto this Iran has strategic impor-tance with regard to regionalsecurity and an importantpartner for India to reach outAfghanistan directly.

Shortly after Trumpannounced US was withdraw-ing from the JCPOA, Iran’ssupreme leader Ayatollah AliKhamenei threatened thatTehran would pull out of thenuclear deal unless theEuropean signatories of JCPOA(Germany, France, UnitedKingdom) guaranteed thattrade relations would continue

despite the US withdrawal.While both Germany and UKexpressed displeasure overTrump’s decision to quit thedeal that was negotiation byformer US President BarackObama in 2015 to rein in Iran’snuclear ambitions, Francepromptly assured Iran that theJCPOA is not entirely deaddespite US pulling out of it.

Under the JCPoA Iran isexpected to significantly cutdown its stores of centrifuges,enriched uranium and heavy-water - the key components fornuclear weapons.

India, a country that hasfaced sanctions following itsnuclear tests in 1998, in prin-cipal does not support eco-nomic sanctions on such issues.At the same time, India hasexpressed its deep commit-ment to non proliferation ofnuclear weapons and support-ed use of nuclear power onlyfor civil and peaceful purpose.

India and Iran share awarm relationship that gotbetter after the 2015 JCPOAmaking it easy for New Delhito have business relations withTehran. During the visit ofIranian President HassanRouhani this February, Indiaand Iran signed nine agree-ments on various spheres,including a lease contract of 18months for the operation ofShahid Beheshti Port ofChabahar. Besides, pacts onhealth and medicines, agricul-ture and trade promotion werealso signed.

The two sides also decid-ed to put in place an effectivebanking channel for businesstransactions. In this context,the possibility trading throughRupee-Rial arrangement is alsobeing worked out. The deci-sion to allow IranianPasargadbank to open a branchin India is under advance con-sideration.

From Page 1Javadekar said thousands of

fake cards with hologram, lam-ination machines, and comput-ers were seized by police afterBJP workers informed it aboutthe racket, and demanded athorough forensic enquiry.

“This is the philosophy ofthe Congress....if voters do notvote for you, create fake voters,”he added. He also said Manjulawas once associated with the BJPbut was now with the Congress,and demanded her immediate

arrest. “The Congress is losing

public support and they are try-ing hard to rig the upcomingelections in Karnataka by unde-mocratic ways. So, we demandcountermanding of polls in thisconstituency at RR Nagar,” headded. Meanwhile Congressspokesman Rajdeep SinghSurjawala blasted the BJP for liesand blamed them for creating arow. He also alleged that flatowner Manjula and Rakesh hadBJP connections and both con-tested Bengaluru MunicipalCorporation elections on BJPtickets. “The BJP’s lies standexposed. We demand a high levelenquiry in to this controversy”he said .

After the Tuesday’s mid-night drama and raid,

Karnataka’s Chief ElectoralOfficer Sanjiv Kumar said form6A (Application for Inclusion ofName in Electoral Roll by anOverseas Elector) with a coun-terfoil with certain numberswere also found. He also said thecolour in the counterfoilappeared unusual.

“In next 24 hours we will getto know more facts based onwhich a firm decision will betaken,” Kumar said.

The CEO’s official Pressrelease said the apartment wasowned by a person namedManjula and was rented to a per-son named Rakesh. “We do notknow if he is related in any wayto Muniratna,” he added.

According to state EC theyhave filed an FIR and investiga-tion is on.

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The UK Home Office hasagreed to review the cases

of hundreds of highly-skilledIndian professionals beingdenied their right to live andwork in the country over "triv-ial" tax corrections.

Britain's Home OfficeMinister for immigration,Caroline Nokes, was grilled bythe influential House ofCommons Home Affairs SelectCommittee on Tuesday overmedia reports that profession-als who came in on a Tier 1(General) are being refusedtheir Indefinite Leave toRemain (ILR) over minor,legally acceptable corrections intheir tax returns.

"This potentially sends a

terrible signal, does it not, tohighly skilled people of Indianor Pakistani origin who havecome over here and have con-tributed to the country, bring-ing their skills," questionedJohn Woodcock, anIndependent MP from thecommittee.

"Of course, I do not wantthis country to look like it isunwelcoming to people withhigh skills who have con-tributed a great deal. It isimportant to us that going for-ward we make sure we haveculture change in the HomeOffice," Nokes replied, stress-ing that she is determined toaddress immigration-relatedproblems following theWindrush scandal involvingCaribbean migrants frombefore the 1970s being wrong-fully denied their citizenshiprights in the UK.

"It is not about using rulesto have a 'computer says no'mentality," she said.

The Chair of the commit-tee, Labour MP Yvette Cooper,demanded why the minister

had not asked for a "review ofthese HMRC [Her Majesty'sRevenue and Customs] relatedTier 1 cases to find out howmany of them might be seriousfraud cases and how many ofthem might be trivial mistakesthat any one of us could havemade?" Nokes assured thecommittee that a review will beundertaken to establishwhether "there is a pattern herein what has gone wrong andwhether they are minorerrors".

Sir Philip Rutnam,Permanent Secretary in the UKHome Office, told the com-mittee that he will be lookinginto evidence to see how manyof these refusals are the resultof a clear-cut case of deceptionand where perhaps "overzeal-ous officials have been erringon the side of doubting peoplerather than giving them thebenefit of the doubt".

The affected professionals,such as doctors, academicsand entrepreneurs, are all fromnon-European Union coun-tries like India, Pakistan,

Bangladesh and Nigeria whoare based in the UK on a Tier1 (General) visa. They wereentitled to apply for ILR orpermanent residency statusafter a minimum of five years'lawful residency in the UK.While the visa category itselfwas discontinued in 2011, for-mer applicants were eligible toapply for ILR until April thisyear if they met the necessaryrequirements.

However, legal expertsnoted a pattern of many suchapplications being turneddown by Home Office case-workers on the basis of Rule322(5), a discretionary rulerelating to an applicant's "goodcharacter". Many of the pro-fessionals have since resortedto legally challenge the HomeOffice's approach of using aminor tax correction to classi-fy them as "undesirable"migrants. Aditi Bhardwaj, thecoordinator of the HighlySkilled Migrants group whichhas been protesting over such"unfair" refusals of ILR appli-cations, declared the UK gov-

ernment's review into the casesa "minor victory".

"But there is a long way togo. Let us see how the HomeOffice proceeds on this review.It is shocking that the minis-ter claims to have beenunaware of these cases, whenwe have documentary evi-dence to prove that she hadbeen made aware of this issuewith Tier 1 applicants back inMarch," said Bhardwaj, whoseteam is now preparing its owndossier of evidence for theHome Affairs SelectCommittee.

While legal experts believeRule 322(5) is being used as a"near-automatic" means todeny a residency application,the Home Office claims"robust checks" are essential toavoid the potential abuse of thecountry's immigration or taxsystem.

"We take into considera-tion the nature of the discrep-ancy and any explanation fromthe applicant before making adecision," a Home Office state-ment said.

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Calling for the resumption oftalks between top military

commanders of India andChina, Indian envoy here saidon Wednesday the dialoguebetween both countries cannotmake much progress if they donot "empathise" with eachother's aspirations and interests.

In his first remarks afterthe unprecedented informalsummit at Wuhan betweenPrime Minister Narendra Modiand Chinese President XiJinping last month,Ambassador GautamBambawale said, "I would liketo see a resumption of militaryexchanges between India andChina as well as strategic com-munication between our topmilitary commanders".

"This will be good formaintaining peace and tran-quillity in the India-China bor-der areas," he told the 8th

India-China dialogue betweenAnanta Aspen Centre (AAC)and China Reform Forum(CRF).

His comments followedModi and Xi issuing "strategicguidance" to their respectivemilitaries to strengthen com-munication in order to buildtrust and mutual understand-ing and enhance predictabilityand effectiveness in the man-agement of border affairs at theWuhan summit.

While emphasising theimportance of the significanceof candid talks at all levels,Bambawale significantlyobserved that dialogue cannotmake progress without the twosides empathising with eachother's sensitivities and inter-ests.

"An important principlein India-China relations is thenecessity of being sensitive tothe other country's aspirationsand interests," Bambawale said.

"In the absence of such sen-sitivity, we may talk to eachother but little progress will bemade if we do not empathisewith the other side's point ofview," he said.

"I hope that such sensitiv-ity will also be displayed in yourdiscussions today. This is animportant pre-requisite formoving forward in our bilateralties," he said, pointing out thatthat delegations at today's talksbetween AAC and CRF have"retired defence personnel intheir composition".

The dialogue between thetwo organisations was not heldlast year apparently due to theDokalam standoff.

Referring to the Wuhansummit between Modi and Xi,he said, "both leaders spokefreely and frankly to each otheron strategic and over-archingissues pertaining to the interna-tional and regional situations aswell as on India-China relations".

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The Gujarat High Court onWednesday reserved the pro-

nouncement of quantum of sen-tence of three convicts in the2002 Naroda Patiya massacrecase, after they prayed for anopportunity to make fresh argu-

ments. The division bench ofJustices Harsha Devani and A SSupehia kept thematter for hearingon June 15 after theconvicts made a submission thatthey were not properly repre-sented, and needed their lawyersto argue afresh on the quantum

of sentence.P J Rajput, Rajkumar

Chumal andU m e s hBharwad had

been acquitted by the special SITtrial court along with 29 othersin the verdict in 2012.

However, the high court,

while hearing appeals, foundthese three guilty, while it upheldthe acquittal of 29 others.

It had reserved the order onquantum of sentence for thesethree on Wednesday.

The trio are guilty of chargesother than that under IPC sec-tion 302 (murder).

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Senior Congress leaderAhmed Patel on Wednesday

said that Rahul Gandhi is theparty's prime ministerial can-didate for the next nationalelection.

Asked as to how he saw theCongress chief 's comment yes-terday that he was ready tooccupy the prime ministerialpost if the Congress emerges asthe single largest party in theLok Sabha polls, Patel said,"The Congress president hasalready said something. It alldepends on who will get howmany seats. Our candidate willbe Rahul Gandhi,"

"But ultimately it will alldepend on the (Lok Sabhapoll) results," Patel toldreporters here, maintainingthat Gandhi's claim did notmake him "arrogant."

"After all he (Gandhi) is the

president of the Congressparty...If we don't get majority,others (alliance parties) willdefinitely be consulted. This isnot arrogance. If he says hecannot become the prime min-ister, it will demoralise theparty," Patel added.

In reply to a question, Patelalleged that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi had "learntfrom China" how to showcasea few big projects to create theimpression that there is a lot ofdevelopment.

"He has learnt it fromChina how to build big projectsand showcase them as devel-opment. But if you go a bitdeeper, there is no develop-ment. The Sabarmati riverfront, the bullet train, theMetro trains are sold as devel-opment. But if you go to vil-lages, there is no development.Government schools are shut-ting down," he alleged.

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Probing a unique recruitmentscandal in the Indian Army, the

CBI has filed a case against 40 per-sons, including 34 candidates andunknown middlemen/touts, accus-ing them of using forged docu-ments (fake domicile certificates)during the selection process. The 34candidates got selected and hadeven joined training in the Army,but it was later found that they wereineligible. The agency has registereda preliminary enquiry in this mat-ter on December 12, 2017 on thebasis of source information.

The CBI FIR has stated thatenquiry has revealed that ColonelDeepak Sharma, DirectorRecruiting, Recruiting Office(Headquarters) Lucknow hasissued a letter to Sub DivisionalMagistrate (SDM) Hamirpur,Uttar Pradesh, for verification ofdomicle certificates issued bytheir office. “It was found fakeduring verification as such per-sons neither resides nor residingat the mentioned addresses,” theCBI FIR said. “Enquiry hasrevealed that four candidates werenot sent for training due to vari-ous reasons whereas 30 candidates

were sent to various training cen-tres,” it said.

During preliminary enquiry, itwas found that these 34 candidateshave submitted fake and bogusdomicle certificates, showing themto be residents of different vil-lages/Kurara town, Hamirpur tehsil.

The agency has examined severalofficials and employees of SDMoffice Hamirpur and it has beenestablished that they have neverissued domicle certificates to themand the same was found fake andbogus. These candidates were foundto be residents of other districtsrather than Hamirpur district.During investigation, it was foundthat one Girish NH Hawaldar post-ed at the Recruitment Office,Lucknow found indulged in tele-phonic conversation with Praveen

Tomar and Yogendra Kumar, bothprivate persons negotiating of bribemoney. The telephonic conversa-tion was intercepted by STF, UPafter obtaining all requisite approvalfrom various agencies in this regard.

All the accused have beenbooked under charges of criminal

conspiracy, cheating, forgery, crim-inal misconduct and hacking withcomputer system. According toCBI, the recruitment process forposts of soldiers consists of three-tier examination system whichincludes physical test, medical testand written examination. The CBIfiled the FIR following an April 19complaint of its own InspectorPradeep Kumar Singh who was partof the investigation of the case sinceDecember 12 last year when a pre-liminary enquiry was lodged.

In its PE, the agency has saidthat it has been alleged that during2016-17, 34 candidates had partic-ipated in the Army recruitmentdrive carried out by headquarters,Recruiting Office of Indian Army,Lucknow and they in connivancewith the touts, middlemen,unknown officials of Army head-quarters, got finally selected for theposts of soldiers for technical duty,medical duty, general duty, clericalduty and sentry duty on the basisof domicle certificates purported tohave been issued from the SDMoffice, Hamirpur where as all ofthem are residents of Western UP.In the PE, it was also alleged thatmost of the candidates out of these34 candidates have also joinedtraining in the Army at respectiveplaces.

In April this year, the CBI hasbooked 17 people including 12Army officials for allegedly takingbribes during a recruitment driveheld in 2013. The alleged irregu-larity pertains to recruitment of reli-gious teachers (pandit) for variousArmy establishments. Once induct-ed into the force, these candidatesare tasked to perform priestly ser-vices and deliver motivational talksto the jawans.

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Supreme Court judge JusticeJ Chelameswar, who is the

seniormost after CJI, does notwant a farewell in his honouras he prepares to retire on June22 this year. Citing personalreasons, Justice Chelameswaron Wednesday declined aninvite by the Supreme CourtBar Association (SCBA) invit-ing him to the customaryfarewell function to be organ-ised on May 18, the last work-ing day before the court clos-es for summer break.

With an eventful six yearsand nine months’ tenure at hisback, Justice Chelameswar wasin news recently following theunprecedented Press confer-ence held at his official resi-dence where he was joined bythree other seniormost judgesof apex court — Justices RanjanGogoi, Madan B Lokur andKurian Joseph, in holding aPress conference against thearbitrary practice adopted by

the CJI to allocate politicallysensitive cases to a select Bench.

Justice Chelameswar waslater seen meeting anOpposition MP from CPI thatsame day following whichOpposition MPs decided tobring a removal motion againstCJI Dipak Misra based on theallegations made by the judges.

But this was not the firstand the last time that thisjudge has been in news. Earlier,Justice Chelameswar stood outby raising the banner of protestagainst the non-transparentand arbitrary functioning ofthe Collegium. He refused toattend the Collegium meetings

on this count. Incidentally, hewas the lone judge to dissentagainst the majority judge-ment striking down theNational JudicialAppointments CommissionAct as unconstitutional.

Of late, his order consti-tuting a five-judge Bench tohear a PIL against CJI foralleged favours granted to aLucknow-based medical col-lege again brought him innews. That same day, CJI con-stituted a five-judge Benchthat held CJI is the master ofroster and he alone can listcases. This order overruledJustice Chelameswar’s deci-

sion. This week too, whenJustice Chelameswar was facedwith a petition by two CongressMPs challenging the order ofRajya Sabha Chairman dis-missing the removal motionbrought by 64 MPs against CJI,he asked the petitioners tocome the next day. Before that,CJI passed orders to list thecase before a five-judge Bench.

Keeping up the traditionfollowed at the Bar to give afarewell function for everyretiring judge, SCBA metJustice Chelameswar at his res-idence on Wednesday askinghim to reconsider his decision.He declined the invite citingpersonal reasons. He told thebar body members that whilemoving out of the AndhraPradesh High Court to anoth-er high court, he similarlyrefused to receive a farewell.This is the third consecutiveWednesday when he wasabsent from work. On thisday, judges meet for a commonlunch brought from one of thejudges’ residence.

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If you thought the taboo sur-rounding menstruation — a

normal physiological process inwomen — is confined only tothe country’s rural parts, thenthink again. A study conduct-ed by a Delhi UniversityCollege has found that in thenational capital and the NCRregion, at least 30 per cent ofthe girls that were surveyed hadmissed classes during periodswhile around 15 per cent stillfeel that it makes themunclean/impure.

Indicating that menstrua-tion remains a deep-rootedstigma in the patriarchal soci-ety like ours, the study foundthat families of 57 per cent girlsrestricted them to pray duringmenstruation, considering it

unhygienic. “This left theyoung women feel isolatedfrom the family and societyduring menstruation,” said thestudy which has been publishedin a recent edition ofInternational Journal of HealthSciences and Research.

The results of the studyindicated that every monthgirls have to spend approxi-mately one week in managingmenstruation. “Absenteeismdue to menstruation wasreported among 28.33 per centeven though the girls wereaware that menstruation is anormal physiological process.”However, the situation ischanging. At least, 70.53 per-cent young women surveyedsaid that they don’t want to fol-low religious restrictionsimposed by family membersdue to menstruation.

Further, discussion aboutmenstruation with males isalso a proscription which existsin society. For instance, inDelhi-NCR, 53.59 per centgirls did not discuss menstru-al problems with their malefriends as against 44.46 whodiscussed, as per the study.

At least 46.82 per centreported restriction on the foodduring menstruation, said thestudy conducted by MeenaYadav from Maitreyi College inher study, ‘Menstrual Cycle andthe Misconceptions Associatedwith it Among Young Womenin the NCR-Delhi.’

This puts an unwanted stresson the girls for the duration ofthe menstrual cycle. The mainreason of this stress is the preva-lent misconception that womenbecome impure when they aremenstruating, as per the study.

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Indian High Commissioner toDhaka, Harsh V Shringla, on

Wednesday handed over reliefmaterial meant for theRohingya refugees living inBangladesh.

The relief material, sentthrough Indian Naval ShipAiravat from Vishakhapatnamon May 5, reached Bangladeshon Tuesday carrying 373 metrictonnes of relief consignment.This included 104 MT of milkpowder, 102 MT of dried fish, 61MT of baby food, 50,000 rain-coats and 50,000 pairs of gumboots. The handing-over ofrelief material took place atChattogram port at Wednesdaymorning. Another tranche con-taining 1 million litres ofkerosene oil and 20,000 cookingstoves is expected to arrive soon.

The relief material was senton the request of Bangladeshgovernment in view of forth-

coming monsoons. This is thesecond consignment of reliefmaterial by India. LastSeptember under "OperationInsaniyat" India had handedover 981 MT of relief consign-ments brought through air andsea. The relief material con-sisted of family packs for eachof the families of displacedpersons consisting of rice, puls-

es, sugar, salt, cooking oil, tea,ready-to-eat noodles, biscuits,mosquito nets etc.

Speaking at the occasion,Shringla said India has alwaysstood by Bangladesh in timesof need. "Ours is a relationshipbased on trust, friendship andshared martyrdom that goesbeyond strategic partnership.Today, we stand beside the

friendly people of Bangladeshwith our second phase of reliefassistance to help face thehumanitarian crisis caused bythe influx of displaced personsfrom the Rakhine State ofMyanmar," the envoy said.

������������� ����������������� ��������New Delhi: Rohingya immi-grants are not being discrimi-nated and all health, sanitation,medical and educational facili-ties were being provided tothem, the Government told theSupreme Court on Wednesday.The Ministry of Health andFamily Welfare told the apexcourt that in pursuance to itsApril 9 order, a team was con-stituted comprising membersof Ministry of Health and a rep-resentative from the Ministry ofHome Affairs and which visitedthe refugee camps at Mewat inHaryana and Kalindi Kunj inDelhi on April 23 and 24.

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Aligarh Muslim UniversityVice Chancellor Tariq

Mansoor on Wednesday metHome Minister Rajnath Singhto discuss issues concerning thepremier academic institution,engulfed in controversy over aportrait of Muhammad AliJinnah on its premises. Singhassured Mansoor of all helpfrom the Central Governmentin restoring normalcy in theuniversity, an official privy tothe meeting said.

Mansoor, however, latertold reporters that the meet-ing was fixed long ago andhad nothing to do with thecurrent controversy. “I haverequested the Home Ministerto send Central Governmentofficials for the recruitment ofstudents in Central serviceslike the engineering service,”he said.

The VC said the portrait

of the Pakistan founder hadbeen hanging in the AMUstudents’ union office since1938 and it was a non-issue.BJP MP Satish Gautam hadwritten a letter to Mansoorobjecting to the portrait, trig-gering a row that led to twoyouths being arrested in con-nection with incidents of vio-lence and exams being post-poned to May 12.

The Vice Chancellor in anopen letter, urged student “notto fall into the trap of certainforces which are bent upondestroying the image of ouralma mater and are playingwith your bright future”.

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The Janata Dal (United) onWednesday requested the Election

Commission (EC) to hold bypoll to aBihar Rajya Sabha seat, following thedisqualification of its rebel leader,Sharad Yadav, from the Upper Houseof Parliament, saying that according tothe rules, the vacancy must be filledwithin six months.

Yadav had moved the Delhi HighCourt against his disqualification bythe Rajya Sabha chairman inDecember last year.

A JD(U) delegation, which includ-ed its leader in the Upper House, RamChandra Prasad Singh, and secretarygeneral KC Tyagi, pointed out in amemorandum submitted to the ECthat the court had ordered that Yadavwould continue to get his salary andother perks, but not stayed his dis-qualification.

“The commission is under a legalobligation to hold election to theRajya Sabha seat within six monthsfrom the date the vacancy arises,” thememorandum said.

The Nitish Kumar-led party notedthat Rajya Sabha Chairman M

Venkaiah Naidu had disqualified Yadavas well as Ali Anwar Ansari on thegrounds of their “anti-party” activities,but while the EC had filled the vacan-cy caused by Ansari’s departure, it wasyet to do so in Yadav’s case.

Ansari’s disqualification came bare-ly a few months before his term was toend, while Yadav’s tenure would havelasted till 2022.

Both the JD(U) MPs had opposedBihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’sdecision to break the party’s alliancewith the RJD and Congress and joinhands with the BJP.

They had also attended an RJDrally in Patna, following which theJD(U) had sought their disqualificationfrom the Rajya Sabha.

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Taking serious objection tothe US retail giant

Walmart purchasing 77 percent stake in Indian e-tailerFlipkart, the ‘Swadeshi JagranManch’ (SJM) — an RSS out-fit — on Wednesday urgedPrime Minister NarendraModi to ensure that the inter-ests of ‘small Kirana shops’ atthe bottom of retail pyramidbe safeguarded.

“Walmart is the world’slargest importer of Chinesegoods, they will continue topump in these products, killingout small and medium enter-prises further and kill ourMake in India dream too,” saidSJM convener AshwiniMahajan in a letter to thePrime Minister.

“We all know that theyhave interests in the multi-brand and retail food and com-bination of both will kill the

interests of farmers,” saidMahajan in his communicationafter news broke out about theWalmat-Flipkart deal.

The SJM, which is oppos-ing the sell-off of public enti-ty Air India, also took on Niti

Ayog CEO Amitabh Kant witha tweet saying,"@Amitabhk87ji what are youdoing in @NITIAayog favour-ing and facilitating illegal, anti-farmer, anti-entrepreneur, anti-people , anti exchequerFlipkart Walmart deal @ RajivKumar1& narendramodi@AmitShah@arunjaitley.”

Kant has been quoted bya news channel that “while

Government is at arms’ lengthin deals like Walmart andFlipkart but the Governmentwill act as facilitators for theecommerce industry”.

Mahajan told The Pioneerthat he has spoken to UnionCommerce Minister SureshPrabhu who told him that hehad asked his officials toascertain all facts of the deal.

At present, 100 per centFDI is allowed in single brandwhile in multi-brand it isallowed upto 51 per cent.

The SJM leader said theGovernment should not havedismantled FIPB (ForeignInvestment PromotionBoard) which he said pro-vided “a barrier”.

Mahajan said Walmarthas made a backdoor entryvia Flipkart “barging into theIndian market” which, hesaid, will further eliminate thesmall and medium business-es, small shops and oppor-tunity to create more jobs.

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The Supreme Court onWednesday held that

Parliamentary committeereports can be used as evidenceto highlight misuse of law orgaps in governance by peti-tioners filing public interest lit-igations (PIL) and by relying onthe same, courts cannot be heldguilty of breachingParliamentary privileges.

A five-judge ConstitutionBench headed by Chief Justiceof India (CJI) Dipak Misraheld, “The ParliamentaryStanding Committee Reportor any ParliamentaryCommittee Report can betaken judicial notice of andregarded as admissible in evi-dence.” However, the benchclarified that such reportscannot be impinged, chal-lenged or its validity called inquestion in court.

In three separate judg-ments, the Bench, also com-prising Justices AK Sikri, AM

Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud,and Ashok Bhushan, trashedthe objection of the Centre toallow Parliamentary reportsbeing made part of proceed-ings before the court. TheAttorney General took theview that if such reports can-not be adjudicated upon or

called in question by Courts,there was no use to bring it tocourt either. But the Benchstruck a balance by holdingthat such reports can invite faircriticism from public and canbe admissible as evidence in aproceeding so long as it sup-ports the case put forth by aPIL or a writ petition.

The judgment written byCJI and Justice Khanwilkarsaid, "The ParliamentaryStanding Committee report

being in the public domain caninvite fair comments and crit-icism from the citizens as insuch a situation, the citizens donot really comment upon anymember of the Parliament toinvite the hazard of violation ofParliamentary privilege."

The need for examiningthe issue arose after a two-judge bench referred a PIL toa five-judge bench on thequestion whetherParliamentary Standing

Committee's report can berelied upon by a petitioner tohighlight systemic lapses. Thecase related to human trialsconducted on girls agedbetween 10 to 14 years inAndhra Pradesh and Gujaratin 2014. The human papilo-mavirus (HPV) vaccine trial

by a US-based company wascriticized by the petitioners byrelying on a ParliamentaryCommittee report ofDecember 2014 which foundserious lapses in the projectwhich led to death of persons.

With the Centre pitchingthe case on the separation ofpowers principle, A-G arguedthat by relying on such a report,the proceeding would result inadjudication of the Committee'sview as the other side is bound

to object it or present facts tocontradict the findings. Thiswould amount to breach ofParliamentary privilege.

The Court said thatParliamentary reports havebeen relied in the past bycourts in India and developednations for appreciating the his-torical background of a law orto find out any kind of ambi-guity or incongruity in a pro-vision of an enactment. It canfurther be relied upon to appre-ciate the mischief legislatureintended to avoid. Moreover,Section 57(4) of Evidence Actcasts an obligation on theCourts to take judicial notice ofparliamentary reports.

Justice Chandrachud in hisseparate opinion said, "We nolonger live in a political culturebased on the subordination ofindividuals to the authority ofthe State. Our interpretation ofthe Constitution must reflect akeen sense of awareness of thebasic change which theConstitution has made to thepolity and to its governance."

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New Mahe in Kerala’sKannur district and Pallur

in adjoining Mahe enclave ofPuducherry, which had wit-nessed two brutal politicalkillings on Monday night andwidespread violence onTuesday, limped back to nor-mal on Wednesday even ascases were registered againstmore than 500 persons overthe violent incidents thatoccurred in the two places onTuesday.

The Puducherry andKerala police forces intensifiedtheir hunt for the killers oflocal CPI(M) leaderKannipoyil Babu (45), whowas hacked to death near hishouse in Pallur, Mahe lateMonday night, and BJP-RSSactivist Shamej Parambath(36), who was hacked to deathabout 45 minutes later when hewas returning home in hisautorikshaw at adjacent NewMahe, Kannur.

The police had not beenable to arrest anybody respon-sible for either of the incidentstill late Wednesday eveningthough they had been suc-

cessful in collecting crucialinformation about thoseaccused in both the cases.They suspected that the killerscould have slipped off intoother districts or even otherstates.

According to the police,Babu was attacked by profes-sional killers from outside theregion and local RSS workershad provided help to them.Babu was attacked by a gang ofeight men and the police havealready identified four of themand named them as accused inthe FIR. Six persons, reported-ly CPI(M) workers, have beennamed as accused in the case ofthe murder of Shamej.

The police have identifiedall the members of the gang thathad attacked Shamej, anautorikshaw driver, with thehelp of two eyewitnesses. Theyhave also collected all the avail-able CCTV footages from thearea where he was attacked.Sources in the police said sev-eral people were already ques-tioned in connection with thetwo killings but nobody hadbeen taken into custody.

The murder of Babu isbeing probed by the Puducherry

Police as the incident had takenplace in Mahe and a specialinvestigation team, headed bySenior Superintendent of PoliceApoorva Gupta, has beenformed for the purpose.Shamej’s killing is being inves-tigated by the Kerala Police asit had occurred in Kannur dis-trict.

Amidst concerns aboutpossibility of political inter-ferences due to the involve-ment of two different policeforces in the probe into relat-ed incidents of political mur-der, the police chiefs of Keralaand Puducherry, respectivelyLoknath Behera and SunilKumar Gautam, held discus-sions at the Government GuestHouse at Thalassery, Kannuron Wednesday afternoon.

“We discussed about howa joint investigation can lead toquick apprehension of the cul-prits. We are assisting eachother in all respects,” saidBehera said after the meetingwith his Puducherry counter-part. Towards the end of themeeting, a CPI(M) MLA anda party lawyer came up with acomplaint against thePuducherry Police.

“We are in touch with theKerala Police and the KeralaDGP. We are getting goodcooperation from them in theprobe,” Gautam told newsmenat Pallur earlier. He said the

killers of local the CPI(M)leader would be caught soon,adding that the anti-socialactivities and political con-flicts in Mahe would bebrought to an end.

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In an embarrassment forKerala’s CPI(M)-led LDF

Government, State Governor PSathasivam on Wednesdaysought a report from ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan overthe killing of a CPI(M) leader atPallur in Mahe, Puducherryand an RSS-BJP activist at adja-cent New Mahe in Kannur dis-trict Late Monday night and thesubsequent incidents of vio-lence in the region.

The Governor asked theoffice of the Chief Minister,who is also holding the Homeportfolio, to submit a report onthe actions taken over the mur-ders and to curb violence andpolitical conflict. New Maheand Pallur areas had witnessedwidespread violence on Tuesdayfollowing the killings. He also

conveyed to the Government hisconcerns over the murders.

This is not the first timeGovernor Sathasivam has inter-vened in cases of political mur-ders and associated violence.After the brutal murder of a localRSS leader, Choorakkad Biju, atPayyannur in Kannur in Maylast year, the Governor hadinstructed the Chief Minister,hailing from Kannur, to takeaction to ensure that such inci-dents did not repeat. In July lastyear, the Government had suf-fered a major embarrassmentwhen Sathasivam summonedPinarayi Vijayan and State policechief DGP Loknath Behera tothe Raj Bhavan to seek expla-nation on the actions taken onlaw and order issues in the con-text of the murder of an RSSleader, Rajesh, at Sreekaryam,Thiruvananthapuram.

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Fans of Tamil matinee idolRajinikanth were in for a

disappointment on Wednesdayas the matinee idol stayed awayfrom mentioning about hispolitical plans in a functionheld to release the audio trackof his upcoming film “Kaala”.

A record crowd includingsome of the top Kolywood starswere in attendance to be part ofthe meeting. Nearly 8,000 vol-unteers and office bearers ofRajinikanth Fans Associationwere issued special passes andthey did not disappoint theThalaiva(as Rajinikanth isaddressed by his fans).

Though the audio track ofthe fi lm was released,Rajinikanth did not make anymention about his politicalplans. The only consolation forthe fans was the announce-ment by the star that he wouldbe meeting the office bearers ofhis fans association onThursday.

Earlier in the day, SGurumurthy, Tamil Nadu’s

leading political commentatorand chief editor of Thuglaqtold journalists at Chennaithat Rajinikanth is the personpeople in the State are waitingto lead them. “He has thecharisma, honesty and thepeople’s acceptability to be theChief Minister of the State. Iam sure people would endorsehim as their leader. Rajinikanthhas studied the State wellunlike politicians of other par-ties in Tamil Nadu,” saidGurumurthy.

Gurumurthy, a leadingchartered accountant, said thatRajinikanth’s entry into politicswould result in a tectonic shiftin Tamil Nadu politics. “Peoplewho were voting for theAIADMK (anti-DMK voters)

as well as the anti-AIADMKvoters would vote forRajinikanth,” he said.

On Monday, MDMKleader Vaiko, who has swornthat he would work to makeDMK leader M K Stalin thechief minister of the State tolda public meeting thatRajinikanth is honest.“Rajinikanth is a clean andhonest person. But I can nevertell the same about KamalHaasan, leader of the MakkalNeethi Meiyam,” said Vaikowhile addressing a publicmeeting held to project Stalinas the Chief Minister of theState. Tamilaruvi Manian,leader of Gandhi MakkalAiykan, a NGO and who is aclose associate of Rajinikanthhad told this newspaper thatRajinikanth would make theannouncement about his polit-ical party at the appropriatetime. “It is his prerogative. Weshould not jump into any con-clusion. I can tell you with fullauthority that Rajinikanthwould make the rightannouncement at the righttime,” said Manian.

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Just the day after 47-year-oldCongress president Rahul

Gandhi’s cherished ambition tobecome Prime Minister in 2019,Prime Minister Narendra Modiin his full blown attack calledhim (Rahul) immature andNaamdar. In his election rallieson Wednesday the star cam-paigner for the saffron partyquestioned the credibility ofRahul to become PM and saidwill people accept such an imma-ture naamdar leader for thepost.

Modi took his attack on theGandhi family and said “ does hethink the PM’s chair is reservedto one family.” Modi addressinga massive election rally atBangarapete he said “he (Rahul)feels that PM's chair is reservedfor one family and no one can siton it. He feels it is an ancestralright (paitruk hak)." "Frommorning till evening, while sleep-ing and while awake….he hasonly thing in his mind and thatis Prime Minister's chair," Modi

took a dig at Congress presidentand said Gandhi was not both-ered about the Congress, itslegacy, senior leaders, or thecountry .

"The naamdar who doesnot have confidence in hisalliance partners... who doesn'tcare for Congress' internaldemocracy, whose arrogancehas reached cloud seven, and isdeclaring himself that he wouldbe the Prime Minister in 2019....will the country ever acceptsuch an immature 'naamdar'

leader?" Modi told election ral-lies.

"Yesterday in Karnataka andIndia's politics something hap-pened. All of a sudden one per-son came and he declared.....didnot care about others who arestanding in the line. Did not careabout other coalition partners."There are leaders waiting for 40years....he came all of a suddenand placed his bucket, and saidI will become the PrimeMinister," Modi said attackingGandhi scion and family politics.

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Gujarat Cabinet onWednesday decided to give

benefit of medical treatment upto �50,000 for those whobecome victims in road acci-dent within the boundaries ofGujarat State.

Elaborating on the deci-sion of Gujarat Government,Deputy Prime Minister NitinPatel said that medical expens-es of injured persons duringthe first 48 hours of accidentson being admitted to nearesthospitals — be it Government,private or trust own would beborne by the StateGovernment.

This benefit would be forall the citizens irrespective ofcaste, religion, income, genderor age.

The decision was taken tohelp victims avail speedy treat-ment and get the requisitetests, including MRI, CT Scanor X-Ray and treatment,including operation, duringthe critical 48 hours after theaccident, said Patel adding

that hospitals need not chargethe patient for treatment dur-ing the first 48 hours and canget them reimbursed by sub-mitting the bills to DistrictMedical Officer.

It is worth mentioningthat on an average nearly29000 road accidents takeplace in the State annuallywhich causes nearly 6500deaths also.

The scheme is not restrict-ed to only citizens of Gujarat,it would be given to any per-son from across the country oreven foreign national.

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Within days after ailingsenior NCP leader

Chhagan Bhujbal was grantedbail in an alleged money laun-dering case, his son PankajBhujbal on Wednesday calledon Shiv Sena president UddhavThackeray, sparking specula-tion in the State political circles.

Pankaj Bhujbal’s meetingwith Thackeray held at thelatter’s Bandra residence“Matoshri”, lasted for 15 min-utes. Pankaj’s close associatesdescribed the meeting as a“courtesy call”. Thackeray’s per-sonal aide Milind Narvekarwas present on the occasion.

At the meeting, Thackerayasked Pankaj to tell his fatherto take care of his health.

Wednesday’s developmentcomes on the heels of theSena’s official mouth-piece“Saamana” defending thesenior NCP leader, through aneditorial.

Pankaj’s meeting withThackeray seen in the contextof the fact that Sr Bhujbal wasa senior Shiv Sena leaderbefore he staged a major rebel-

lion within the Sena, walkedout of the party along with 18MLAs and joined the thenSharad Pawar-led MaharashtraCongress in 1991.

Bhujbal — who had builtbridges with the Sena chief inOctober 2008 by withdrawinga defamation case that he hadfiled in 1997 against the latter— had sparked intense spec-ulation within the State polit-ical circles ahead of the 2009Lok Sabha polls by meeting upwith Shiv Sena chief BalThackeray.

Subsequently onNovember 1, 2012, Bhujbalhad called on ailing BalThackeray and made enquiresabout the latter’s health.

Meanwhile, after twoyears of incarceration in thealleged money launderingcase, Sr Bhujbal will return toactive politics when headdresses a public rally organ-ised in Pune by the NCP on itsfoundation day on June 10.The function marks the con-cluding ceremony of the ongo-ing “halla bol” yatra in therun-up to next year’s LokSabha polls.

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Telangana Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao’s sud-

den revival of interest in the‘cash for vote’ scam has rattledand angered the Telugu Desamparty as well as a seniorCongress leader A RevanthReddy.

The revival of the dor-mant case after a gap of almosttwo years has turned the bud-ding friendship betweenTelangana Rashtra Samiti andTelugu Desam, the ruling par-ties of Telangana and APrespectively.

The case has come to thefore and probe was likely togain momentum at a timewhen the next elections inboth the States was due in lessthan a year and TDP leaderswere of the view that KCR wasreviving the matter for politi-cal motives.

According to the sources

the TRS Government was con-sidering naming AndhraPradesh Chief Minister NChandrababu Naidu as accusedNo.1 in the case. The fouraccused of the case include ARevanth Reddy, who was ear-lier working president of theTDP and has now joined theState Congress.

Stung by the developmentthe leaders of both the TDPand the Congress were alleging

a nexus between KCRand the Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to tar-get the political oppo-nents.

A Revanth Reddy,who has emerged thebitterest critic of theTelangana ChiefMinister and his fami-ly alleged that KCR hadbecome the puppet inthe hands of the PrimeMinister. “He is nowresorting to political

vendetta”, Reddy told a pressconference.

KCR reviewed the case toharass Chandrababu Naiduand earn the favor of the PrimeMinister as Naidu had appealedto the people of Karnataka todefeat the BJP there, he said.“KCR and his family and peo-ple of his caste are looting theState”, he alleged.

A senior Minister inAndhra Pradesh government S

Chandramohan Reddy ques-tioned the motive behind KCR’saction of reviewing the casewhen the matter was sub-judice.

Another senior TDP leaderK Penchala Naidu told a pressconference in Vijayawada thatKCR was trying to targetChandrababu Naidu toobstruct the development ofAndhra Pradesh and destroythe state. “While Naidu wasworking very hard for thedevelopment of the state aconspiracy was hatched to tar-nish him image by dragging hisname in the cash for votescam”, he said. He warned KCRnot to play cheap and dirty pol-itics.

Telangana TDP PresidentAmarnath Babu alleged thatthere was an open pact betweenKCR and the Prime MinisterModi. “Otherwise why wouldhe skip the Finance Ministers’conclave held in Amaravati”, he

asked. He also alleged that theFederal Front proposed byKCR was also aimed at helpingModi.

Meanwhile the oppositionYSR Congress Party has urgedKCR to ensure a free and faireprobe into the cash for votescam and bring the master-mind of the case to the book.Without taking the name ofChandrababu Naidu, YSRCPsenior leader BotchaSatyanayrana said that theTelangana government shouldbring the main persons to thebook.

Telangana state CPISecretary Chada Venkat Reddycriticized KCR for exploitingcases for political benefits.“KCR was reviving old casesarbitrarily. Cash for Vote scamis also one such case. Whathappened to gangster Nayeemcase after so much publicity. Itis lying in some cold storage”,he said.

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The State ElectionCommission on

Wednesday appealed beforethe Supreme Court questioningthe legality of the impugnedCalcutta High Court order val-idating e-nominations — filedby aspirants who had failed todo so physically in faceTrinamool Congress violence.

The Commission chal-lenged the High Court rulingsaying it was bad in law andwas not commensurate to therelevant sections of the StatePanchayat election act.

The Division Bench ofJustices B Somadder and AMukherjee of the High Courton Monday had relied on the

IT laws and directed the SEC toaccept the valid nominations,filed through e-mail by 3 pmon April 23, which was theextended date for filing nomi-nations for the upcoming ruralpolls.

The order was passed on

an appeal filed by the CPI(M)clearing passage for at least 800such nominations filed elec-tronically. The BJP soonclaimed it also had about 2000such nominations saying itwould also move the Court onsimilar grounds.

Curiously theCommission, thus far held as atool in Trinamool Congress’hands had fixed the poll dateon May 14 “in consultation”with the State Governmentkeeping the commencement ofRamadan in view.

Its appeal in the ApexCourt tended to push the fateof the elections in a limbo,experts said.

The poll panel also con-tended that the nominationswere e-mailed by the candi-dates from other’s accountswhich, was also not a valid wayof filing such papers, sourcessaid.

Sources in the CPI(M)which alongside BJP had fileda caveat in the Apex Courtanticipating an appeal from theSEC and the State Governmentsaid it was unlikely for the can-didates who hail from poorestof poor section of the societyoften working as farm labour-ers or domestic helps in vil-lages to maintain e-mailaccounts.

“The issue is whether thecandidates are genuine or not,”a senior leader said adding theparty had supreme faith in theApex Court.

Meanwhile, in an allegedtwo-pronged attack on theOpposition parties the rulingTrinamool Congress apartfrom moving the SupremeCourt via the SEC once againtook recourse to strong-armtactic threatening the candi-dates who had filed nomina-tions through e-mails, the

Marxists alleged.“They have now started

applying their old strategy ofbrowbeating the opponentsinto silence. This is dangerousfor democracy and will befought firmly,” SuryakantoMishra State CPI(M) secretarysaid.

In a related developmentattacking the TrinamoolCongress regime for promot-ing untold violence in electoralpolitics Union MinisterHarshvardhan on Wednesdaysaid “never in the history ofIndian elections such highlysophisticated rigging coupledwith Government backed vio-lence even at the level of filingnominations have been seen inthe past.”

The BJP however wasdetermined to take on theTrinamool Congress whichwould be defeated in its owngame, the BJP leaders said.

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Coming to the defence ofRahul Gandhi for voicing

his Prime Ministerial ambi-tions, the Shiv Sena onWednesday asked PrimeMinister Narendra Modi “not toridicule” the Congress presidentfor his statement that he wasprepared to occupy the country’stop post if his party emerged asthe single largest party in the2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Hitting out at Modi fordubbing Rahul’s statement as theone that smacked of “sky-higharrogance”, Raut said, “RahulGandhi has every right to voicehis prime ministerial ambitions.No one should ridicule him.Even Narendra Modi came tooccupy the country’s top postafter voicing his ambitions. Inthe normal course, senior BJPleader L K Advani should have

become the Prime Minister”.Taking a strong exception

Modi ridiculing Rahul for hisreadiness to take up the PrimeMinisterial mantle, Raut said,“There is no need for Modi toget unsettled by Rahul’s state-ment. The only way for Modito block the Prime Ministerialroute is to defeat the Congressin the 2019 Lok Sabha polls”.

“Let’s face it. The Congresscontinues to be a biggest partyacross the country. In 2014, theCongress was defeated in somepeculiar circumstances. .. Muchwill depend on what stand thatvarious UPA constituents willtake on Rahul’s candidature forthe Prime Minister’s post. Welook at Sharad Pawar as an idealcandidate for the PrimeMinster's post. Modi, Jaitleyand Advani have also the capa-bility to become a PrimeMinister. In addition, all of them

have the ability to prove theirmettle if and when they occupythe country’s top post,” the Senaspokesperson said.

Alluding to BJP nationalpresident Amit Shah’s statementthat his party would contest the2019 Lok Sabha polls in alliancewith the Shiv Sena, Raut said:“The BJP appears to be in a stateof confusion. I do not want toelaborate much on that. Ourpresident Uddhav Thackerayhas already made it clear that theSena would contest the forth-coming polls on its own strength.No one can pressure the Senainto changing its decision”.

Maintaining that the Senaplanned to contest the LokSabha by-polls to Palghar and Gondia-Bhandara seats onits own strength, Raut said:“The Sena wants to contestboth the Palghar and Gondia-Bhandara seats.

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Expressing concern over theuptick in violence and

killings in Kashmir, the main-stream leadership in the embat-tled State on Wednesday urgedthe Central leadership toannounce a unilateral cessationof hostilities in view of thecoming month of Ramzan andAmarnath yatra to extend reliefto common masses.

The suggestion was putforth to Chief MinisterMehbooba Mufti by the leadersof 13 mainstream political par-ties during an all-party meetingconvened and chaired by her atSher-e-Kashmir InternationalConvention Center here.

An official spokesman saidthat Mehbooba termed peace asthe ultimate yearning of everysection of society in the Stateand appealed all shades of opin-ion in joining this mission to getthe State out of violence andbloodshed.

Talking to reporters afterthe meeting Mehbooba saidthat the participants in themeeting suggested appealingthe Centre to announce a uni-lateral cessation of hostilities inview of the coming month ofRamadhan and Amarnath yatra

to extend relief to commonmasses. She said suggestionduring the meeting also came ofconstituting an All PartiesDelegation (APD) to apprise thePrime Minister, Narendra Modiof the emerging challenges inJammu and Kashmir and theurgent need to reach out to peo-ple in the light of his lastIndependence Day speech.

Earlier speaking in themeeting she asked all shades ofpolitical opinion to rise aboveparty politics and play their rolein giving youth of the State a safeand secure future. “This is theconcern of all of us because inpeace lie the stakes of every sec-

tion of society for which we allshould strive jointly”, she said.

The meeting was convenedin the backdrop of rising vio-lence in Kashmir that saw sev-eral militants, civilian protestersand a tourist from Tamil Nadukilled in past few days.

Terming Agenda ofAlliance (AoA) as a visionarydocument, Mehbooba Muftisaid the need of the hour was togo back to the document andseek its immediate implemen-tation which she said holds keyto the problems and issues con-fronting the State.

Chief Minister said it wassatisfying to note that all par-

ticipants were unanimouslyconcerned about the unendingcycle of violence in the State andwished its immediate end.Equally encouraging, she added,was that the participants want-ed implementation of theAgenda of Alliance which theybelieved would positivelychange the situation in theState.

Deputy Chief Minister,Kavinder Gupta also addressedthe meeting and stressed onclose cooperation betweenGovernment and opposition intackling issues confronting theState. He later told media per-sons that ceasefire doesn’t hap-pen unilaterally. “The gunsshould fall silent from both sidesand not only for (the month of)Ramadhan but once for all,” hesaid adding that the demand forunilateral ceasefire was raised bymany partiesand the same willbe communicated to Centerand they will take final call.

Besides leaders and minis-ters from ruling PDP and BJP,representatives of main oppo-sition National Conference,Congress, CPIM, PeoplesDemocratic Front, AwamiIttehad Party, Samajwadi Party,Panthers Party, DPN took partin the meeting.

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Nationalist Congress Party(NCP) leader Tariq Anwar

on Wednesday charged theBJP with stoking controversyover the portrait ofMohammad Ali Jinnah at theAligarh Muslim University inorder to polarise voters inKarnataka ahead of theAssembly elections.

Controversy over portraitof Pakistan's founderMuhammad Ali Jinnah at theAMU students' union office,which has been reportedlyhanging there for severaldecades, erupted last weekafter local BJP MP SatishGautam shot off a letter to thevice chancellor objecting to thepicture.

The NCP national gener-al secretary asserted thatIndian Muslims had theiraffinity towards leaders likeMahatma Gandhi andMaulana Abul Kalam Azadand not with the founder ofPakistan, but the BJP was rak-ing up the issue as it hasachieved little in the four yearsof its rule at the Centre.

"The AMU is a centraluniversity of which thePresident happens to be theVisitor. Had the Centre beenreally serious about removingthe portrait of Jinnah from thepremises, it could haveordered the same withoutmaking a fuss. But the BJP hadother plans," Anwar toldreporters here.

The BJP has been in powerat the Centre for four years butit finds itself in no position tospeak about its own achieve-ments, he said.

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At least nine people were killedand four others injured as a

thunderstorm lashed parts ofwestern Uttar Pradesh thisevening.

Four deaths were reportedfrom Etawah, three from Mathuraand one from Agra in incidentsrelated to the thunderstorm,Principal Secretary InformationAvanish Awasthi said.

Another death was reported from Hathraswhere a 15-year-old boy was struck by light-ning.

Today's storm comes days after dust stormsand thunderstorms lashed several areas in

Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. At least 80 peo-ple died then in Uttar Pradesh alone. The ear-lier storm hit Agra, Aligarh, Mathura and Firozabad districts in UP. Agra was theworst hit.

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The NagpurDistrict Court

on Wednesdayawarded the deathpenalty to a manfor kidnapping andmurdering an 11-year-old boy in thecity in 2013.

Santosh Kadve(26), the accused, was held guilty of kidnapping and murder-ing the boy on June 10, 2013, said special pub-lic prosecutor Vijay Kolhe.

Sessions judge Shekhar Munghate deliv-ered the verdict on Wednesday, he said.

"The case fell under the 'rarest of rare' cat-egory and we had sought capital punishment.We proved the boy was last seen with Kadveby examining two child witnesses," he said.

A total of 27 witnesses were examined bythe prosecution.

The boy had gone missing while playingoutside his house in the Khapri area here.According to the prosecution, Kadve, wholived nearby, had kidnapped him.

He later called the boy's parents anddemanded �2 lakh in ransom.

Police tried to track him down from themobile phone from which Kadve had called.

When they finally zeroed in on Kadve, they found that he had already killed the boyand dumped his body near Mihan Overbridge,covering it with stones.

The body was found on the basis of the information given by Kadve during theinterrogation, a fact which the court considered while holding him guilty, theprosecutor said.

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Sikkim is a special State and this formany reasons. First, Denjong orthe Valley of Rice, as Sikkim is tra-ditionally known, is today a stableand prosperous State; the fact that

the charismatic Chief Minister PawanKumar Chamling has recently become thelongest serving Indian Chief Minister, isa clear sign of the continuity. Sikkim is alsothe first organic State in India, showing theway to other smaller progressive States.

At a time this State is so crucial toIndia’s security, it remains a trend-setterand a model. India can’t afford to haveunsecure and ‘unhappy’ borders, when thenorthern neighbour is always ready tochange the status quo.

Another welcome change is the forth-coming disenclavement of the State. Lastweek, the Pakyong Airport formallyobtained a license to operate commercialflights, thus enabling Sikkim to be connect-ed with the rest of the country by air. UnionAviation Minister Suresh Prabhu tweeted:“The Pakyong Airport at Sikkim got alicense today for scheduled operations. It’san engineering marvel at a height of morethan 4,500 ft in a tough terrain.”

The need of the hour is the strength-ening of the Indian Himalayan borderStates; the issue has even become moreurgent after the Doklam episode. How todo that?

One possibility is ‘development’, par-ticularly eco-tourism, which can bringrich dividends. But it is probably notenough. It is also necessary to empowerthe local populations.

One issue which has not been under-stood properly in India is why theChinese decided to call for a cease-firehardly a month after their first attack onIndia in October 1962. The internalstruggle within the Chinese CommunistParty between 1959 and 1962 can’t beoverlooked, but the Tibet factor gives therationale why China suddenly decided toput a halt to its advance at a time it waswinning on all fronts. The obvious rea-son was not the winter, but the politicalinstability on the Tibetan plateau.

During a speech at the summer sta-tion of Beidaihe in August 1962, Maodelivered a diatribe against the 10thPanchen Lama, who in a 70,000-charac-ter petition, had described the unstablesituation in Tibet due to harsh commu-nist actions. The young Lama, who hadbeen made Chairman of the PreparatoryCommittee for the Tibet AutonomousRegion (TAR) after the Dalai Lama leftfor India, had dared to criticise the poli-cies of the party in Tibet.

The Tibetan instability greatly influ-enced the smooth running of the supplylines to the Indian front; it became a majorissue impeding longer military operations

against India as discontent was brewing onthe Roof of the World.

The petition was sent by the PanchenLama to Zhou Enlai and Xi Zhongxun(President Xi Jinping’s father) in April1962. The Chinese Premier requested XiSenior to read and study the PanchenLama’s petition. For his courage, thePanchen Lama spent 14 years in jail.

It is probably why China has recentlydecided to ‘empower’ its Himalayan pop-ulations; Xi Jinping’s doctrine is known toall: “Govern the nation by governing theborders, govern the borders by first stabi-lizing Tibet, ensure social harmony andstability in Tibet, and strengthen thedevelopment of border regions.”

The official top priority is a povertyalleviation campaign in Tibet “to make theborder villages prosperous and well-off.”

Beijing has, however, a second objec-tive that is to build-up the border defens-es against India.

China kills two birds at the sametime; tourism is the best way to tacklepoverty ...and to protect the country’sborders (by buying the local populationover to China’s side).

Recently, Che Dalha (alias Qizhala),the head of the TAR Government, visit-ed Zhayul, north of the McMahon line inthe Lohit Valley. Walong, which witnessedthe famous battle in November 1962, islocated some 50 km south in the same val-ley; there, the 11 Infantry Brigade and inparticular the 6 Kumaon of the IndianArmy managed to stop the Chineseadvances; they had to pay a high price forit …so did the Chinese.

While inspecting a Hero MemorialPark, he told the villagers that the mass-es should deeply cherish the memory ofthe Chinese soldiers who died in 1962 aswell as the ‘heroes’ who fought theTibetan resistance in the late 1950s therevolutionary martyrs.

But China does not only pay homageto its martyrs, it fast-track builds tens of‘model’ villages along the border in orderto literarily bring lakhs of tourists, at a timeIndia lives under an antiquated Inner LinePermit system.

India needs to satisfy the basic aspi-rations of the local population and givethem the freedom to develop according totheir own genius. This is something Chinamay be unable to do.

In connection with the local popula-tion’s aspiration, an important Summit wasrecently held in Gangtok. Though Sikkimis today stable, large sections of the soci-ety feel that they have been victim to his-torical injustices in the past.

After the merger in 1975, some com-munities were excluded from the tribal sta-tus. The Summit demanded that all com-munities having a Sikkim Subject’s Cardshould be given ‘tribal’ status and the Statebe declared a tribal State, like otherNorth-Eastern States where only the trib-als occupy the Assembly seats and gover-nance is kept in the hands of indigenouspeople.

The two-day summit was organised bythe EIECOS (Eleven indigenous ethniccommunities of Sikkim), a formerly reg-istered association, the SikkimCommission for Backward Classes and the

Social Justice Empowerment and WelfareDepartment.

Three years after the State joined Indiain a quasi-unanimous referendum, somecommunities were unfortunately left outwhen Scheduled Tribe recognition wasgranted to others.

According to IANS, during theSummit, Pawan Chamling made “a strongpitch for granting of Scheduled Tribe sta-tus …an issue which has been lying unre-solved for over 40 years.”

While inaugurating the SikkimSummit for Tribal Status 2018, Chamlingsaid: “We embraced India as a country onthe condition of never compromising ouruniqueness as Sikkimese people protect-ed by the Indian Constitution.”

With fast developments taking placeon India’s borders and the arrival of a rail-way line in Yatung in Chumbi Valley, thepressure is going to greatly increase for thelocal population to remain steadfast, asmall gesture such as granting Tribal sta-tus to Sikkim, would go a long way to makethe people of Sikkim ‘happier’ and, there-fore, more prepared to support the defenceof India’s borders. This is also valid forother Himalayan States which too havetheir long-pending demands, which areoften ignored by Big Brother in Delhi. Itis true for Ladakh, for Arunachal Pradesh,but for Himachal and Uttarakhand too.

The Himalayan people may not rep-resent a large or politically influential sec-tion of the population, but India’s securi-ty depends on them.

(The writer is an expert on India-Chinarelations and an author)�

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Issues not politics” (May 8).Row over MA Jinnah’s portraitbeing hung at the Central Hall ofthe Aligarh Muslim University(AMU) is getting murkier day byday. The only solace is that theignition is parochial to the stu-dents of the university.

The editorial has rightly saidthat universities are meant onlyfor study and for making one’scareer. It should not become abreeding ground for raising anti-India slogans where only boister-ous students’ rule reignssupreme, bypassing even theIndian Constitution. It is notunderstood as to why Jinnah’sportrait has been hanging at theCentral Hall of the AMU foreight decades.

It should have been removedsoon after Partition. Is Jinnah’sstature bigger than that ofMahatma Gandhi, Bhagat Singhor Lala Lajpat Rai? TheMahatma’s statue in Karachi wasdismantled in 1950; and one’s ofBhagat Singh and Lajpat Raiwere broken into pieces inLahore in 1947.

Even the statue of GangaRam, the renowned civil engi-neer who gave Lahore famousbuildings as the AitchisonCollege, Hailey College ofCommerce, Ganga RamHospital, General Post Officeamong others, was razed to theground and we Indians contin-ue to hang on to Jinnah’s portrait.The time has come that his por-trait be removed from AMU.

Sagar Singh Delhi

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Impeachment: The Chairmanwas right” (May 8) by A SuryaPrakash. It seems the Congress isunable to digest the fact thatRajya Sabha Chairman and VicePresident Venkaiah Naidu hasrejected their motion to impeachthe Chief Justice of India, likethey have not been able to com-prehend the massive defeat theysuffered in the 2014 generalelection till date.

Even within the Congress,there were differences of opinion,but many sycophant leaders hadto bow down in front of theGandhis. The Opposition need-ed 50 per cent votes in theirfavour to let their impeachmentnotice reach the President ofIndia. But, perhaps, it is crystalclear that they do not have amajority.

The Rajya Sabha Chairmanrightful ly rejected their request. All of the charges levied against Chief Justice ofIndia Deepak Misra were base-less to say the least. What ashame that the Opposition hastried to take political revenge through this.

Yes, judicial reforms are theneed of the hour, but that doesnot mean that a political partyshould go to the extent toimpeach the CJI and make amockery of our judiciary whichis always held with utmost regardby the citizen of this country.

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Page 9: -ˇ !ˆ 2 ! 3 ! 4 43˙ ˝ &˙ ˙ ˝ ! $ ˙ 34 &˙ ˙ " ˙ $ $ ˆ !! ˆ ˙ ˛ ˝ 3 ’ ˚ -. when protesters try to break5˘˜ ˇ˘67 8 2 5’9’2 In July 2016, when the secu

With yet another battle ofbal lot between theBharatiya Janata Party

(BJP) and the united Opposition inUttar Pradesh, which is just a fort-night away when these parties willslug it out in the by-election ofKairana and Nurpur, Bahujan SamajParty (BSP) supremo Mayawati’sannouncement that her party willcontest the next Lok Sabha electionwith the Samajwadi Party (SP) as itsalliance has bolstered the confi-dence of both SP and BSP workers.

Though she has kept the cardsclose to her chest whether theCongress, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD)and smaller parties in Uttar Pradeshwill find a place in her scheme ofthings, there is euphoria among theSP workers that this time, Mayawatiseems to be serious about thealliance.

Leaders vouch that there is achange in the demeanour of the BSPchief after the victory of the oppo-sition parties in the Uttar Pradeshby-election and the successfulbandh organised on April 2 by dalit

youths against alleged dilution ofthe Scheduled Castes andScheduled Tribes (Prevention ofAtrocities) Act.

The success has given Mayawati’sparty a fresh lease of life as she seesan opportunity to regain the lostpolitical ground in Uttar Pradeshwhere her party had received an elec-toral jolt in 2014 and 2017. She wasat her stinging best when she issueda warning to the officials. “When wewill come to power, all the casesagainst dalits will be withdrawn,” shesaid in a statement, cleverly using theword hum than ‘BSP’ in a Press note,sending the message among thepolitical spectrum that she is readyto honour the “alliance dharma”.

Political leaders considerMayawati as a fickle-minded leaderwho can change decisions withinseconds. There is a history that theBSP’s alliance has not worked withany political outfit for a longer peri-od. Can anyone forget the way theBSP ditched Atal Bihari Vajpayee,which resulted in a fall of hisGovernment by just one vote? Eventhe way she snapped ties with theBJP in Uttar Pradesh in 1996 signi-fies she is no longer trustworthy.

Mayawati is famous for herpolitical treachery and all this isdone with a design to strengthenthe party. BSP founder Kanshi Ramhad once told this writer that the

BSP wants quick elections as itinvigorates party workers and,therefore, does not mind ditchingits alliance. Much water has flowndown the river Gomati since KanshiRam said those words.

In modern politics, where reli-gion is used to get political mileage,regional parties are blown away ina whipped up Hindutava storm. TheBSP is no different. The party wasdecimated in the 2014 Lok Sabha

election, where it failed to win evenone seat, though in 28 seats, it camesecond and in the 2017 Assemblyelection, it won just 19 seats.

With her back against the wall,Mayawati is fighting for her party’ssurvival. When all top leaders akinto Swami Prasad Maur ya,Nasimuddin Siddiqui, ThakurJaiveer Singh and Indrajeet Saroj leftthe BSP and joined different parties,political pundits had written

requiems for the BSP. The writingon the horizon was that this is theend for the BSP because dalitsdeserted Mayawati and voted forthe BJP in 2017 and 2014 elections.

In this scenario, the decision ofMayawati to support the SP in thePhulpur and Gorakhpur by-elec-tions was no less than a master-stroke which is destined to changethe political discourse. Her partylost the Rajya Sabha election despitethe SP and Congress supportingher. She was suave in her reaction.She made it clear that one or twoelectoral defeats will not change theprospect of alliance.

The massive dalit support dur-ing the Bharat bandh has given herparty a new energy. In her state-ments, she now touts about the dilu-tion of the Scheduled Castes andScheduled Tribes (Prevention ofAtrocities) Act and how successfulthe agitation was, which had terri-fied the BJP because of which, theGovernments of BJP-ruled Stateswere “torturing” Dalits.

“Because of the widespreadsuccess and anger within the Dalitand tribal population, the BJP’sCentral and State Governmentsare now terrified and have startedto feel the power sliding from theirhands…,” Mayawati said, furtheradding that the atrocities commit-ted during the Emergency seemed

lesser in comparison to thesearrests. This statement of Mayawatihit the BJP the most becauseaccording to her, present days aremore traumatising compared tothe Emergency days.

With this statement, she eventried to assuage the Congress. TheBJP retaliates by reminding the GuestHouse case as to how the BJP hadsaved Mayawati’s life and made herthe Chief Minister for the first time.

It goes without saying that therelation between the SP and the BSPhad touched rock bottom afterJune 2, 1995, when SP supportersassaulted BSP legislators and eventried to storm into Mayawati’sroom in the Uttar PradeshGovernment’s State Guest House.She always believed that the SP’sattack on the guest house was actu-ally an attempt on her life.

After the SP was routed in theAssembly Election, Akhilesh Yadav,who was also facing a war withinthe family, had shown his inclina-tion to join hands with the BSP.Even Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)chief Lalu Prasad had said that ifBSP-SP joined hands, the alliancecan wipe out the BJP. When it cameto political survival, Mayawati choseto let bygones be bygones andopted for the alliance.

(The writer is Chief of Bureau,The Pioneer, Lucknow)

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Recently, there were somereports doing the roundson social media as well asin some newspapers,based on the Central

Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) ‘confi-dential' documents that were declas-sified last year, alleging that anattempt was made to assassinateField Marshal KM Cariappa, the firstIndian Commander-in-Chief of theArmy, during his visit to easternPunjab in 1950.

The report appears to be a crudeattempt by certain anti-India forcesto target the most powerful andrespected institution in India — theArmy. The report, based on fictitiousCIA documents, claims that theRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)tried to get Cariappa assassinated in1950 and six officers of the IndianArmy were hanged in 1950 for thisattempt. It also hints at an apparentnorth-south divide in the Indian

Army and insinuates that Sikh offi-cers were unwilling to serve underCariappa.

Nothing can be further fromtruth. In fact, anyone with rudimen-tary knowledge about the IndianArmy would know that officers andmen go by regimental affiliations andtheir caste, religion or region have noimpact on their conduct and/or ori-entation.

Cariappa, since 1923, was in theRajput Regiment (a North IndianRegiment) and laid great emphasison regimental loyalty; so much sothat before retirement on January 14,1953, he made a farewell visit to theRajput Regimental Centre accompa-nied by his son and daughter. Theofficer corps of the Indian Army atthe apex level in 1950 was highlyanglicized and fairly homogeneousin thinking and orientation.

It is well-known that it was anorth Indian officer LieutenantGeneral Nathu Singh Rathore whofirst asked Prime Minister JawaharlalNehru to appoint (then) GeneralCariappa as the Army Chief whenNehru felt that British officers mustcontinue for some more time.Infact, Cariappa is held in high esteemby all service offices cutting acrossregional, linguistic and religious

divides. Further, to set the recordstraight, no officer of the IndianArmy has ever been sentenced todeath post-Independence for plan-ning a coup. The reports also talk ofthe General being a Field Marshal in1965 during the India-Pakistan war,where he was conferred the rank ofField Marshal only on April 28, 1986.He was way above any considerationsof caste, religion or region.

General Cariappa raised theBrigade of the Guards and theParachute Regiments on an all-Indiacomposition basis and also directedthe establishment of the NationalCadet Corps and the TerritorialArmy. He has undoubtedly con-tributed a lot to make the IndianArmy truly Indian. Today, the nationjustifiably takes pride in the roleplayed by the Indian Army in guard-ing against external aggressions andinsurgencies sponsored by the anti-India forces.

The CIA report allegedly filed onJune 12, 1950, should have beenunclassified in 1975. But no oneseems to have heard of it till 2017!It shows that it is nothing but a mali-cious attempt to denigrate the RSSand run down the Indian Army.RSShas always been a fiercely national-ist organization which believes in an

undivided India and has alwaysrisen above regional, sectarian andother such narrow affiliations whenit comes to the nation.

The RSS has always expoundedthe need for a strong Army. Toexpect such an organisation to insti-gate dissensions within the IndianArmy of the kind alleged, that tooalong regional lines, is nothing shortof preposterous.

Anyone with basic knowledge ofthe RSS, would realise that right fromthe beginning, the first generation ofRSS pracharaks in pre-IndependenceIndia, worked in Punjab, Delhi,Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and evenKarachi, as well as in what are pre-sent day, Kerala, Tamil Nadu andKarnataka. Consequently, in 1950,the RSS had as much presence innorth India as it had in south India.

There is no doubt that thereports circulating on social mediaare totally devoid of facts and arepart of a vicious campaign launchedby anti-India forces to weaken theIndian Army, nationalist forces and,consequently, the Indian nation.

(The writer is a retired defenceoff icer and Director, IndiaFoundation. Views expressed are per-sonal)

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Expressing their happinessover Walmart's $16-billion

acquisition in the country's e-commerce space, Indian indus-tries sees the deal as a salute tothe success of the start-up sec-tor that pioneered the fledglingonline retailing in a countrywhere bulk of the trade is in theunorganised sector. "Is not it sogreat that a start-up goes on tofetch an enterprise

valuation of about $21 bil-lion, making the Walmart equi-ty infusion the largest everforeign direct investment (FDI)into India", ASSOCHAMSecretary General DS Rawatsaid.

However traders and retail-ers also said that US retailerWalmart's acquisition of

Flipkart will vitiate the coun-try's e-commerce space andcreate an uneven playing field."Despite several teething trou-

bles, hats off to Indian entre-preneurs, especially those of the'First Generation'. For them, itis no-holds barred. Great spir-

it of enterprise," Rawat added. Former Chief Financial

Officer of Infosys Ltd VBalakrishnan also said it was agreat validation of the potentialof Indian consumer market aswell as the evolving startupecosystem.

Confederation of All IndiaTraders (CAIT) said the deal isnothing but a clear attempt tocontrol and dominate the retailtrade in India by Walmartthrough e-commerce in thelong run. On the other hand,Retailers Association of Indiawhile staying away from com-menting directly on the acqui-sition, said some e-commercecompanies in India have beenflouting FDI Policy for mar-ketplaces.

"Digitally powered e-Walmart will certainly vitiatethe e-commerce and retailmarket. There will be anuneven level playing field to thedisadvantage of retail traders.

Only the venture capitalist,investors and promotors will bebenefitted and not the country,"CAIT said in a statement.

CAIT Secretary GeneralPraveen Khandelwal said thekey issue is whoever controlsthe platform controls data anddigital intelligence. "The ownercan squeeze and dictate any-thing. It is much more difficultfor the government to controland regulate foreign ownedplatforms and all indigenousplayers will have no value if aforeign company runs the plat-form," Khandelwal claimed.

He said the Governmentshould immediately frame anational policy for e-commerceand constitute a regulatoryauthority to regulate e-com-merce business in India and tillsuch time, the deal should beput in abeyance by theGovernment and a close scruti-ny should be held of the entiredeal.

NEW DELHI: Debt-riddenJindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL)on Wednesday reported widen-ing of its consolidated loss at Rs424.69 crore for the quarterended on March 31, 2018 dueto higher expenses and financecost. The private steel makerhad posted a consolidated lossof Rs 100.01 crore in the year-ago period, the company saidin a filing to BSE.

The company's consoli-dated income increased to Rs8,599.28 crore in January-March 2018 over Rs 6,756.07crore in January-March quar-ter of FY2016-17, the filingsaid.

Its expenses rose to Rs8,493.57 crore in the last quar-ter of 2017-18 against Rs7,074.10 crore in the year-agoperiod on increased exciseduty and finance cost.

For the full 2017-18 fiscal,the steel maker posted a con-solidated loss of Rs 1,615.50crore against that of Rs 2,537.52crore in the previous year.Total income, however,increased to Rs 27,844.25 crorein 2017-18 from Rs 22,706

corre in the previous year.The outlook for steel

remains positive as both thedemand and prices remainrobust, internationally anddomestically, the company saidin a statement. "As global eco-nomic situation strengthens,investment levels are set to riseacross geographies. Furthersupported by the shutdownsand curtailments in China onback of environmental norms,these should provide support tothe steel demand in the longrun," it said.

"Trade related barrierscould lead to some weakeningof the overall sentiment thoughlack of enough capacity ascompared to existing demandin developed economies couldmake it largely unsustainableand uneconomical in the longrun," it said.

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The International MonetaryFund (IMF) reaffirmed on

Wednesday that India will bethe fastest growing major econ-omy in 2018, with a growth rateof 7.4 per cent that rises to 7.8per cent in 2019 with medium-term prospects remaining pos-itive.

The IMF's Asia and PacificRegional Economic Outlookreport said that India wasrecovering from the effects ofdemonetisation and the intro-duction of the Goods andServices Tax and "the recoveryis expected to be underpinnedby a rebound from transitoryshocks as well as robust privateconsumption."

Medium-term consumerprice index inflation "is forecastto remain within but closer tothe upper bound of the ReserveBank of India's inflation-tar-geting banda of four per centwith a plus or minus two percent change, the report said.

However, it added a note ofcaution: "In India, given

increased inflation pressure,monetary policy should main-tain a tightening bias."

It said the consumer priceincrease in 2017 was 3.6 percent and projected it to be fiveper cent in 2018 and 2019.

"The current accountdeficit in fiscal year 2017-18 isexpected to widen somewhatbut should remain modest,financed by robust foreigndirect investment inflows," thereport said.

After India, Bangladesh isprojected to be the fastest-

growing economy in SouthAsia with growth rates of sevenper cent for 2018 and 2019; SriLanka is projected to grow atfour per cent in 2018 and 4.5in 2019, and Nepal five per centin 2018 and four per cent innext. (Pakistan, which isgrouped with the Middle East,is not covered in the Asiareport.)

Overall, the report saidthat Asia continues to be boththe fastest-growing region inthe world and the main engineof the world's economy.

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Jet Airways today said thegovernment has not given

approval for the merger of itssubsidiary Jet Lite with itself,nearly three years after theproposal was announced by thefull service carrier.

The merger proposal wasapproved by the board of JetAirways in September 2015and was later cleared by the air-line's shareholders in April2016.

In a BSE filing, the airlinesaid the civil aviation ministryhas not approved the merger of

Jet Lite Ltd with itself.Consequently,the mergerscheme stands revoked andcancelled, it added.

"Jet Lite (India) Ltd and JetAirways (India) Ltd shall con-tinue their respective opera-tions as two separate legal enti-ties with their respective AirOperator Certificates," the fil-ing said.

The specific reasons for therejection of approval for themerger could not be immedi-ately ascertained.A Jet Airwaysspokesperson said it respectsthe decision of the ministry.

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Benchmarks ended higherfor the third session on the

trot on Wednesday as strongbuying in tech and consump-tion stocks offset global con-cerns triggered by the USpulling out of the Iran nucleardeal.

IT counters spurted afterthe rupee hit fresh 15-monthlows against the US currency,boosting the dollar revenues ofsoftware outsourcers.

The BSE Sensex movedup 103 points to 35,319.35,while the wider NSE Nifty fin-ished at 10,741.70, up 23.90points.

Crude oil climbed to thehighest level since late 2014 atUSD 77.07 per barrel after USPresident Donald Trump aban-doned an international nucleardeal with Iran, ratcheting upgeopolitical tensions and like-ly disrupting oil supplies.

Back home, the 30-shareSensex opened weak and hit alow of 35,134.20 on profit-booking in recent gainers amidsustained outflows by foreignfunds. However, it soon recov-ered to touch the day’s high of35,404.83, before finally endingat 35,319.35 — up 103.03points, or 0.29%.

The 50-share NSE Niftytoo moved in a wide range on

hectic selling and buying andclosed 23.90 points, or 0.22%,higher at 10,741.70. Intra-day,it hovered between 10,689.85and 10,766.25.

Meanwhile, on a net basis,domestic institutional investors(DIIs) bought shares worth�923.25 crore while foreigninstitutional investors (FIIs)sold shares to the tune of�97.15 crore in Tuesday’s trade,provisional data showed.

“The US decision to with-draw from nuclear deal withIran added pressure on oilprices while gains in IT indexowing to weaknesses in rupeeand other stock specific buyingled the bourses to close posi-tive.

“Volatility in bond yieldwill impact companies’ marginswhich may lead to a cascadingimpact on earnings expecta-tion,” said Vinod Nair, head ofresearch at Geojit FinancialServices

Tata Motors posted thebiggest gain in the Sensex pack,jumping 2.79%, after the com-pany-owned Jaguar Land Rover(JLR) on Wednesday reportedan 11.9% rise in retail sales at45,180 units in April.

Other gainers were AsianPaints 1.69%, TCS 1.39%,Axis Bank 1.36%, Yes Bank1.31%, Tata Steel 1.06%, KotakBank 0.93%, RIL 0.79%, Bharti

Airtel 0.72%, HDFC Bank0.63%, Infosys 0.51%, L&T0.38%, HUL 0.25% andIndusInd Bank 0.23%.

On the other hand, SunPharma declined 1.02 %, fol-lowed by ICICI Bank 0.70%,Maruti Suzuki 0.70%, Wipro0.66%, M&M 0.64%, Bajaj Auto0.61%, NTPC 0.61%, DrReddy’s 0.57% and SBI 0.48%.

Sectorally, the BSE IT indexended 0.74% higher, while teckrose 0.56%, consumer durables0.46%, capital goods 0.40%,bankex 0.23%, and metal0.11%.

However, power declined0.57%, healthcare 0.47%, infra-structure 0.37%, PSU 0.36%,FMCG 0.26%, auto 0.22% andoil and gas 0.05%.

In the broader markets, theBSE mid-cap index fell 0.63%and the small-cap index shed0.13%.

Asian markets were mixedas investors digested the newsof the US pulling out of the Irandeal. Hong Kong’s Hang Sengrose 0.44%, Singapore gained0.15% while Japan’s Nikkei fell0.44% and ShanghaiComposite index inched lowerby 0.07%. In the Eurozone, Frankfurt’sDAX rose 0.27% and ParisCAC was up 0.07% in earlytrade. London’s FTSE toogained 0.60%.

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Fortis Healthcare’s four direc-tors, whose removal has been

sought by two institutionalshareholders, have denied alle-gations that they failed to main-tain corporate governance andfairly represent interests of allshareholders.

In a joint representation toshareholders, Brian W Tempest,Harpal Singh, Sabina Vaisohaand Tejinder S Shergill said theboard had decided to consideronly binding bids for Fortis, con-sidering the immediate financ-ing needs of the company.

National Westminster BankPlc as trustee of Jupiter IndiaFund and East Bridge CapitalMaster Fund, which togetherhold 12.04 per cent stake inFortis Healthcare, have demand-ed that the matter of removal ofthese directors from the com-pany’s board be taken up at thecompany’s EGM on May 22.

In their letter to the share-holders, the directors said theboard decided to consider onlybinding bids as “the non-bind-ing bids involve considerableuncertainty and merely runninga due diligence process does notguarantee a binding bid, whichthe board had wanted in the bestinterest of the company”.

They added: “Given thatthere are four binding offers forconsideration as on date andconsidering the need for a cer-

tain and quick solution for thecompany, it was considered pru-dent that only binding bidsshould be considered.”

Manipal-TPG, Munjals-Burmans, IHH Healthcare andKKR-backed Radiant Life Carehave given binding offers toacquire Fortis. The company’sboard will decide the winningbid on May 10.

They directors said that inthe last 18 months, Fortis hasbeen trying to close a possibletransaction and has seen inter-est from both financial andstrategic players.

Stating that significantamount of time and effort of themanagement has been spentwith the potential investors,they said the board “wished toend this seemingly unendingprocess in the best interest of thecompany and therefore decidedto evaluate only the bindingbids...”

The four board membersfurther said their decision wasalso supported by the new addi-tional board members, whowere suggested by the two insti-tutional shareholders.

Refuting allegations of notexercising their fiduciary duties,the board members said aftermedia reports came out, andbefore the formal institution ofan investigation by SEBI andother regulatory bodies, theaudit committee of the board,initiated an independent enquiry

by Luthra & Luthra Law Offices.“Taking the ground of gov-

ernance and our fiduciary duty,we directed the management toaccord all assistance to the inves-tigating agencies, and to makesure that the allegations arethoroughly examined in order tofacilitate a complete impartialinvestigation,” they said in theirletter.

Calling for a continuity ofthe members, they said, “Webelieve that the current Boarddue to its association with thecompany over a period of timeis completely capable of takingthe company out of its currentissues and is also familiar withthe workings of the companyand the skill sets of the man-agement.”

A complete change of theentire board at this time will cer-tainly add more turbulence andambiguity for Fortis as well asthe management, they claimedwhile asking the shareholders totake an informed decision whilevoting on the requisition by thetwo shareholders.

Stating that appointmentof Lt Gen Shergill as an inde-pendent director for five yearswith effect from February 12,2018 has already been approvedthe shareholders via a postal bal-lot, the directors said, “This tous also conveys that the major-ity of the shareholders are sup-portive of the current Board andits decision.”

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As many as two companiesraised over Rs 3,200 crore

by issuing non-convertibledebentures (NCDs) to retailinvestors in April, to meettheir business requirements, aplunge of 63 per cent from theyear-ago period.

Moreover, several firms,including JM Financial CreditSolutions and Dewan HousingFinance Corporation havelined up plans to mobilise atleast �18,000 crore throughthe route, according to the dataavailable with Securities andExchange Board of India (Sebi).

They will raise money aftersecuring Sebi’s approval and thefunds will be mopped-up tosupport lending activities alongwith working capital require-ments and for other generalcorporate purposes.

NCDs are loan-linked

bonds that cannot be convert-ed into stocks and usually offerhigher interest rates than con-vertible debentures.

According to the data, twofirms — Muthoot Finance,Kosamattam Finance — havemopped-up funds totalling�3,214 crore through retailissuance of NCDs in the firstmonth of the ongoing fiscal. Incomparison, one firm hadmobilised �1,969 crore throughNCDs in April last year.

Individually, MuthootFinance raised a total of Rs3,000 crore last month throughthis route against a target of Rs500 crore and KosamattamFinance garnered �214 croreagainst a base size of �150crore.

In 2017-18, companies hadraked in �4,975 crore throughNCDs, much lower than Rs29,558 crore mobilised in thepreceding fiscal.

����7���������������A���New Delhi: Shares of Tata

Motors rose by nearly 3 per centtoday after the company-ownedJaguar Land Rover (JLR) report-ed 11.9 per cent rise in retail salesin April 2018. The stockgained 2.79 per cent to end at�341.35 on BSE. During the day,it rose by 4.41 per cent to�346.75.

On NSE, shares of the com-

pany went up by 2.95 per centto close at �341.95. The stockwas the biggest gainer amongthe bluechips on both Sensexand Nifty.

The company’s market val-uation moved up by �2,671.65crore to �98,559.65 crore. Interms of equity volume, 10 lakhshares of the company weretraded on BSE.

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Expressing his anguish overthe continued “negative”

coverage of his administra-tion, US President DonaldTrump on Wednesday threat-ened to revoke media creden-tials of news channels.

“The Fake News is workingovertime. Just reported that,despite the tremendous successwe are having with the econo-my & all things else, 91 per centof the Network News about meis negative (Fake),” Trump ruedin a tweet.

“Why do we work so hard

in working with the mediawhen it is corrupt? Take awaycredentials?” Trump continued.

During the election cam-paign, Trump had denied cre-dentials to some of the top

media outlets including TheWashington Post and Politico.

They were later givenaccess. Trump routinelydescribes news outlets criticalof him as “dishonest” and“fake”.

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Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu, who

had been urging the US “to fixor nix” the Iranian nuclear deal, has supportedPresident Donald Trump’s“bold decision” to walk out ofit, saying the agreement did not reduce Tehran’s aggression but dramaticallyincreased it.

Trump has announced thathe was withdrawing the USfrom what he called the “decay-ing and rotten” Iran nucleardeal signed by the Obamaregime in 2015.

“Israel fully supportsPresident Trump’s bold deci-sion today to reject the disas-trous nuclear deal with the ter-rorist regime in Tehran. Israelhas opposed the nuclear dealfrom the start, because we saidthat rather than blocking Iran’spath to a bomb.

“The deal actually pavedIran’s path to an entire arsenalof nuclear bombs, and thiswithin a few years’ time,” hesaid in televised address soonafter Trump announced thewithdrawal from the deal, andbacking severe economic sanc-tions against the IslamicRepublic.

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UN Secretary GeneralAntonio Guterres said he

is “deeply concerned” overPresident Donald Trump’s deci-sion to withdraw the US fromthe 2015 nuclear agreementwith Iran, calling on all othernations to support the agree-ment and preserve the deal.

Trump made theannouncement at the WhiteHouse on Tuesday and signeda memorandum to begin rein-stating economic sanctions onIran at “the highest level”.

In a statement releasedshortly afterwards, Guterressaid he was “deeply concerned”by the announcement that theUS would withdraw from theJoint Comprehensive Plan ofAction (JCPOA) and reinstatesanctions on Iran.

“I have consistently reiter-ated that the JCPOA representsa major achievement in nuclear

non-proliferation and diplo-macy and has contributed toregional and internationalpeace and security,” he said.

The JCPOA – reached byIran, China, France, Germany,Russia, the United Kingdom, theUS andt h eEuropeanUnion – sets out rigorous mech-anisms for monitoring restric-tions placed on Iran’s nuclearprogramme, while paving theway for the lifting UN sanctionsagainst the country.

“It is essential that all con-cerns regarding the imple-mentation of the Plan beaddressed through the mecha-nisms established in theJCPOA,” Guterres said, addingthat “issues not directly relat-ed to the JCPOA” should beaddressed separately, “withoutprejudice to preserving theagreement and its accomplish-ments.”

The UN chief called onother JCPOA participants toabide by their respective com-mitments and on all othermember states to support theagreement.

Earlier this month, the

International Atomic EnergyAgency (IAEA) released a state-ment saying that according toits December 2015 Board ofGovernors report, “the agencyhad no credible indication ofactivities in Iran relevant to thedevelopment of a nuclearexplosive device after 2009.”

At the Board of Governorsmeeting in March, IAEA chiefYukiya Amano had said Iranwas abiding by the deal andIAEA inspectors had beengiven access to all sites andlocations, upon request.

“If the JCPOA were to fail,it would be a great loss for

nuclear verification and formultilateralism,” he said.

The leaders of France,Germany and the UnitedKingdom have expressed regretand concern over Trump’s deci-sion to withdraw the US fromthe JCPOA. In a joint statementfrom Prime Minister TheresaMay, German ChancellorAngela Merkel and PresidentEmmanuel Macron empha-sised their “continuing com-mitment” to the JCPOA.

They urged the US toensure that the structures of theJCPOA remained intact, and to“avoid” taking action which“obstructs” its full implemen-tation by all other parties to thedeal. “We call on the US to doeverything possible to preservethe gains for nuclear non-pro-liferation brought about by theJCPOA, by allowing for a con-tinued enforcement of its mainelements,” they said in thestatement.

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China on Wednesday voicedregret over President

Donald Trump’s decision topull the United States out of theIran nuclear deal and vowed to“safeguard” the agreement.

“China regrets this decision made by the US,” for-eign ministry spokesman GengShuang told a regular pressbriefing.

Geng said China will main-tain “normal economic andtrade exchanges” with Irandespite Trump’s decision towithdraw from the 2015 accordand reimpose sanctions onTehran.

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Former US President BarackObama on Wednesday crit-

icised his successor DonaldTrump’s “misguided” decisionto withdraw from the landmarkIran nuclear deal, saying themove was a “serious mistake”that risks eroding America’scredibility.

The Iranian nuclear dealwas a signature foreign policyaccomplishment of the Obamaadministration in 2015. It wasnegotiated and agreed to byIran and the P5+1 (the US, UK,France, China, Russia andGermany), granting Tehransanctions relief and returningfrozen assets in exchange forrestrictions on its nuclear pro-gramme and internationalinspections.

The 56-year-old formerpresident said without the JointComprehensive Plan of Action(JCPOA), the US could even-tually be left with a losingchoice between a nuclear-armed Iran or another war inthe Middle East.

“I believe that the decisionto put the JCPOA at risk with-out any Iranian violation of thedeal is a serious mistake,”Obama said in a rare statementissued after Trump announcedhis decision to withdraw fromthe Iranian nuclear deal and

signed an executive orderimposing new sanctions onTehran.

Noting that all are aware ofthe dangers of Iran obtaining anuclear weapon, he said itcould embolden an alreadydangerous regime, threatenfriends with destruction, poseunacceptable dangers toAmerica’s own security andtrigger an arms race in theworld’s most dangerous region.

“If the constraints on Iran’snuclear programme under theJCPOA are lost, we could behastening the day when we arefaced with the choice betweenliving with that threat, or goingto war to prevent it,” he said.

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Saudi Arabia, regional rival ofIran and longtime US ally,

said it “supports and welcomes”President Donald Trump’s deci-sion to withdraw from the2015 Iran nuclear deal.

“The kingdom supportsand welcomes the stepsannounced by the US presidenttowards withdrawing from thenuclear deal... And reinstatingeconomic sanctions againstIran,” the foreign ministry saidon Tuesday.

Riyadh’s allies in the Gulf,the United Arab Emirates andBahrain, also issued statementsvia their foreign ministries insupport of Trump’s decision,which has thrown a wrenchbetween the United States,Europe and their allies in theregion.

The US Navy’s Fifth Fleetis based in Bahrain, strategi-cally located between SaudiArabia and Iran. Trumpannounced the US withdraw-al from the “defective” multi-national nuclear deal with Iranyesterday, as Washingtonmoved to reinstate punishingsanctions against the Islamicrepublic. After consulting withUS “friends” across the MiddleEast, Trump said his countrywould “not be held hostage tonuclear blackmail”.

Following his address, theUS leader signed a presidentialmemorandum to start rein-stating US nuclear sanctions onthe Iranian regime.

Saudi Arabia accused Iranof “taking advantage of the rev-enue generated by the lifting ofthe sanctions to destabilise theregion”, the Ministry said.

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Russia’s foreign ministry saidMoscow was deeply

disappointed by US President Donald Trump’s deci-sion to abandon the Irannuclear deal, a move it called ablatant violation of interna-tional law.

In a statement issued onTuesday, the ministry said itwas “deeply disappointed bythe decision of US PresidentDonald Trump to unilaterallyrefuse to carry out commit-ments under the JointComprehensive Plan ofAction,” adding thatWashington’s actions were“trampling on the norms ofinternational law.”

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Iran’s supreme leaderAyatollah Ali Khamenei said

on Wednesday that Tehranwould quit a key nuclear dealunless European signatoriesoffered solid guarantees thattrade relations would continueafter the US withdrew.

Addressing Iran’sGovernment in a televisedspeech, Khamenei said: “If youdon’t succeed in obtaining adefinitive guarantee — and Ireally doubt that you can — atthat moment, we cannot con-tinue like this.”

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Three Americans detained inNorth Korea for more than

a year are on their way back tothe US with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, PresidentDonald Trump announced onWednesday in the latest sign of improving relations betweenthe two longtime adversarynations. Trump said on Twitterthat Pompeo was “in the air”and was with “the 3 wonderfulgentlemen that everyone islooking so forward to meeting.”

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�When did you read the novelCalling Sehmat by Harinder Sikkaand when did the idea come to tellthe story now?

I was working on a couple ofother subjects after the release ofTalvar. In the course of 2016, thisbook and story came to me twicethrough different producers. Firsttime, it was Preeti Sahani of JungleePictures. She said she was trying toacquire the rights and asked me ifI would be happy to direct the film.Of course, I agreed instantly as itwas a very powerful story. I hadn’tread the book then, she had justtold me the brief outline of thestory. Neither did the talks mate-rialise with the author. A couple ofmonths later, another productionhouse approached me and it turnedout to be the same book. That iswhen I met the author for the firsttime and read the book. Again,talks between the author and theproduction house didn’t work out.By that time, the author and I haddeveloped a rapport and he said, ‘Idon’t know who is going to produceit but I am certain I want you todirect it.’ I said, ‘If you trust me withthe material, let me develop astory out of it and take it to a stu-dio.’ We had an undertakingbetween us and I developed a storyout of it with my writer. I took itback to Junglee pictures because itwas morally the right thing to do.By that time, it was December 2016when Junglee pictures formallybought the rights to the book andwe had our first draft by February.Then the second production houseapproached me but I had alreadymet Alia and had given her a ver-bal narration till then. As soon asI read the book, I knew only shecould do it because she matched thecharacter, her age, her physicalityand fragility. Besides, she coulddeliver the level of performance thatI needed to a T. I told her that I did-n’t have a script but I wanted toknow if I could write with her in mymind as the character. And herprompt reply was, “absolutely.” Theminute I had the script, it was timeto go back to her and she formal-ly came on board. Karan Johar andI were already talking about work-ing together and this seemed likethe perfect opportunity.

�What is Raazi’s contemporaryrelevance in the India-Pakistancontext?

When I decided to make thefilm, I didn’t even think about thecontext or the relevance in today’stime. When I made Talvar too,there was no pressing reason to pullup a story eight years later. Butthere was a counter-narrative andunanswered questions that I foundvery interesting in terms of humancomplexity. So, I don’t really lookat any kind of messaging or state-ment. Neither am I drawing fromprevailing situations realistically. Letme clarify that Raazi is not a one-dimensional story about India andPakistan. There are a lot of greyareas and human conflicts that are

my driving force. How it becomesrelevant to society is by the processin the choice of stories that I wantto do. But I can say this, that theideals and principles of the protag-onist are hard to stick by in contem-porary times but the fragile-look-ing Sehmat still holds on to them.

�The protagonist is a young girlwho goes ahead in her missiondespite her vulnerabilities. Howdifficult was that to translate cin-ematically?

There are layers because she isstruggling between her expectedroles — there is loyalty to the fam-ily, to the father, the country andthen to her wedded family. Aboveall there is loyalty to her own con-science and righteousness. They areall operating at multiple levels. It isnot as black and white as it seems.There are moments when she isextremely vulnerable before herloving new husband. She is ayoung girl and it is probably herfirst flush of attraction too.Emotionally, she is invested in therelationship. Also, at times even ifshe doesn’t want to, there might bechances that she is drawn into con-flict. She is a human being. Therewill be emotions that will play andkind of criss-cross with her senseof duty and patriotism.

�Do you think as a woman direc-tor, you were easily able to touchthat core of a woman’s mind, cutthrough the layers?

I would hope so because bothme and my writer Bhavani Iyer arewomen. It is the first time in Indiathat two women have written ascript about a woman spy, who isnot an action junkie, and a film onwhom is eventually directed by awoman.

�Otherwise, would it have run therisk of stereotyping?

I don’t know but I was veryclear. I wouldn’t even say it is a con-scious attempt but going againststereotypes is something I havebeen subconsciously doing for along time. I am fortunate that peo-ple pick it up and associate it withmy story-telling or the choice offilms I make.

�All of your films have foundtheir own niche. Talvar did verywell, Filhaal came ahead of itstime but did make a mark. So, youare pushing your creative space inan industry which largely talksabout returns. How difficult is itto achieve that and hold on toyour creativity?

It is becoming easier becausethe producers and studios are real-ising that content is relevant andthe audience is rooting for differ-ent stories, big or small. Now, thedemarcation is simple, is it a goodfilm or a bad film. That whole artvs commercial, mainstream vs par-allel, independent vs crossover isover. I think the audience is wholeheartedly accepting good stories.

�Has the industry, the big studiosand producers who are market-driven, bent the rules for yourkind of films?

Producers should be consciousbecause they are in a business andare entitled to their money’s worth.So there is a way to make filmswhich are content-driven, whichmay not have that initial ability topull the audience for a first day, firstshow or may not have a star. Then,you work your way backwards. Youput a safe number to that film andtry and make the film within thatnumber. That is entirely possiblebecause I have done that with bothmy films.

�So, you are talking about smartbudgeting?

Absolutely, you can do it verycreatively and disburse that moneyvery creatively. That is anotherprocess that is extremely challeng-ing. It makes you more confidentas a director when your film is com-plete and you know that the pres-sure is not so much that it is goingto break the producer’s back. As adirector, you must have thatresponsibility.

�There is a lot of talk aboutwomen empowerment andwomen directors, crew and tech-

nicians. Do you think we shouldstop defining a filmmaker interms of his/her own gender?

I haven’t believed in these dis-cussions for a very long time.Growing up in the industry, Iknow that filmmakers from BimalRoy, my father and Shyam Benegalto Sanjay Leela Bhansali and FarahKhan, all have demolished stereo-types. The men have made women-oriented films much before andhave presented their central char-acters in flesh and flood and thefullness of things. And Farah Khan,a woman director, has made filmswith completely commercial maledirectors’ sensibilities. So, thesedivides don’t stand but coming toa sense of equality in the commer-cial sense, where rights and eco-nomics are concerned, there is adisparity between what femaleactors are paid versus their malecounterparts. There is also dispar-ity between what a female actor’sfilm earns versus a male actor’s.

One needs to be realistic about itand, therefore, push the envelopewith smart planning and execution.My only thing is, it is not a man-woman thing for me. It is humanto human. Please respect your fel-low humans. Be equal between allhuman beings regardless of black-white, male-female, rich-poor, edu-cated-uneducated. Gender is verysmall if you look at the larger pic-ture.

�How do you approach your sto-ries? What is your creative processand what kind of real life inputsdo you store in your mind?

Till Talvar, either by choice ordesign, there was a very longbreak. Between Talvar and Raazi,the timeframe was much smaller.Between Raazi and my next film,hopefully, the gap is smaller as well.I like to be involved with everyprocess of my film, right fromputting the first word on paper toseeing it release because it keeps meclose to my material. My best ideaexchange happens when I am col-laborating with my screenplaywriter, Bhavani. We have long con-versations about the story, how itwill go, what are the unusualnuances and we make our notes.Then she comes back withsequences and we discuss that andthe cycle repeats. She writes inEnglish so once we are done withone draft, I take over for Hindi dia-logues. There is a lot that is in thatconversation which may not comeon paper but it helps me on setbecause that recall is there.

�In terms of research, do you liketo travel and feel the context ofyour source material?

I couldn’t go to Pakistan for

Raazi but you need references ofwhat Pakistan of 1971 looked like,how those people dressed and for-tunately, the internet is a niceplace when it is used correctly. Alot of research went down there.Simple things in the film, like thegirl is studying in Delhi and she iscalled back home to Kashmir, werea challenge. There were no trainsto Srinagar then and not manybuses either. To make the travelrealistic, we had to do a lot ofresearch. We found out about thebus routes and train routes, themode of travel, the border crossingarrangements...You need toimmerse yourself in that researchto be able to even write one scene.Then there is really no ready ref-erence on RAW modules for train-ing women spies in the 1970samid heightened tensions. So yes,I am big on research.

I do take creative breaks, spendtime and catch up with my hus-band, my son and my family. If pos-sible, take a vacation becausereplenishing the mind and restor-ing the creative juices is veryimportant. Otherwise, you willstart replicating.

�How much of these creativediscussions do you have withyour parents?

My mother (acting legendRakhi) watches my film only whenit is completed and discusses noth-ing before that. As for my father(Gulzar), I discuss the subject of thefilm first and he gives me his pointof view. We may agree or disagree.Then, when I am done with the firstdraft of the film, I share it with him.He has his own pointers and if Iagree, I take them. If I disagree, Iexplain why. Then he gets to see the

first cut and the final cut afterwards.Now he has stopped making filmsand gone back to his first love,which is writing. As filmmakers,our sensibilities and craft are dif-ferent, but that’s why bouncing offideas becomes a very enrichingexperience.

�You haven’t thought of castingyour mother in your films?

None of my films have had arole for her and I don’t want toforce-fit her just because she is mymother. Besides, she is close to 70and has worked for 50 years of herlife. It is not that she has withdrawn,even professionals retire at the ageof 60. She has done a Bengali filmrecently and she is dubbing for itin Hindi right now in Kolkata as wespeak. She looks after my sonwhen I am travelling. If I do comeacross a story which is perfect forher and will do justice to her as anactor, I won’t think twice.

�What is your take on Indianfilms going to newer markets.How is this exposure going tochange the trajectory of Indianfilms?

It definitely opens up anotherrevenue stream for a film. Now,what kind of films these marketspick up, content-driven, entertain-ing or star-driven, will be decidedby the market. But at least there isa new possibility.

�What’s the status of your nextfilm?

I am working on the life ofField Marshal Sam Manekshaw soI am putting that together. Thatagain involves a lot of research. Butsince it is a real, human story, I havegot drawn to it.

During her five years in theindustry, the arc of her act-

ing prowess has encompassedthe likes of the romcom Studentof the Year to the critically andpopularly acclaimed Highwayand Udta Punjab. Alia Bhatt hasbeen on a roll and with Raazi, itseems that she is ready with yetanother cracker of a performance.

Looking resplendent in apink ethnic attire, Alia was inthe capital to promote the filmwhich is set against thebackdrop of 1971 war andthe sentiments, emotions,ideals and principlesthat reigned in thesociety during thattime are portrayed.Based on a truestory and CallingSehmat, a novel byHarinder Sikka, thefilm puts forth aquestion for indi-viduals to ponderover — is the kindof patriotismdepicted in the filmstill alive todayamong the younger gener-ation?

In the film, she

essays the role of Sehmat, a 20-year-old daughter who marries an officerin the Pakistani army but is essen-tially a spy. “I am not a typical spy,the likes of which we see in JamesBond movies who are confident intheir abilities with glamorous sur-roundings. I portray the role of asimple, feminine young girl who hasput herself in this situation for hercountry willingly. At times, she isscared of being caught but gives herall to her nation. Her upbringing hasshaped her personality where she isready to sacrifice everything to saveher motherland,” she says.

Soni Razdan, who is Alia’s moth-

er in real life, plays her screenmother as well. The actress wasextremely comfortable and felt thatthere were few challenges as such.“Ithink both of us were nervous ini-tially as it was a big moment for usbut we were so immersed in ourrespective roles that we forgot aboutour relationship. But during breakson set, we had nice conversations.”

As Alia portrays a Kashmiri girlwho is married to a Pakistani mili-tary officer, she had to learn thenuances of Urdu which is a poeticlanguage. “It was a new experiencebecause it was a starting pointtowards learning a language and one

day, hopefully, I would be able toconverse like my director, MeghnaGulzar. It was essential to understandthe nuances of the language keepingin mind the time period in which thefilm was set.”

Raazi has been shot in variouslocations like Patiala and Kashmir.Though there were a few obstaclesdue to the curfew which wasimposed during the agitation againstGurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s arrest,it did not throw the film’s scheduleoff kilter. The film celebrates unsungheroes who have laid down their livesfor the country but are not record-ed in the pages of history. For thepetite actress, there are a lot ofunsung heroes in her own life. “Theindividuals behind me, unknown tothe world, who take care of my dailyactivities and schedules are myheroes. They make sure that I am

eating, walking and reaching placeson time. My whole team from theperson who drives me around to myassistant and manager, all are respon-sible. Without them, I don’t know ifI will be able to wake up in the morn-ing or not.”

Alia is always eager to learn fromeveryone and believes that all youneed is a perceptive mind and anhonest heart. Her role models are notlimited to successful people. Thesimplest beings she comes acrosswho do not even belong to her fieldinspire her.

In India, the audience has aninnate tendency to typecast and slotartists into categories. But Alia hasbeen diligently choosing roles thatare very different from each other.She has always tried to bring a newcharacter to the fore with each of herfilms. “An actor is nothing withoutthe story. I am attracted to the scopeof performance that can be extract-ed out of me with a new role in dif-ferent genres.”

She comes across as a positiveperson who has developed a connec-tion with the viewers that cutsacross age groups and cultural bar-riers with her stellar performances.“I don’t overthink. I take time tochoose a script but eventually, I know

what I want. Our gut feeling guidesus in the right direction. Every timeI think over something for too long,I know it is not meant for me.”

Like every actor, she works hardto understand and imbibe a charac-ter, so people are able to relate to itbut a character’s portrayal doesn’tcome naturally to her. “The processis challenging but one does not needto take it too seriously. You shouldwait and let it come out instinctive-ly.”

Her father, Mahesh Bhatt, hasalways made women-oriented films.As his daughter, people usuallywant to know if she would essay anyof the roles in films like Arth,Zakhm, Saaransh, Naam and HumHain Rahi Pyar ke. But she feels thesefilms are special and unique andshould never be recreated. “His filmshave always been an inspiration forme. He has covered a vast spectrumin his films with versatile stories indifferent genres. All these films aremy favourites but I don’t want to actin them, ever.”

She is excited about her forth-coming films after Raazi which arevery different from each other andset in different time periods. “It is anexploration of a completely differentworld.”

The inaugural session of the IndianPavilion at the 71st International Cannes

Film Festival was hosted by actor SharadKelkar. With a strong delegation from thecountry, the agenda this year was to depictthe diversity in films of our country while fur-thering collaborations with various othercountries.

Speaking about the growth of the nationbeing well reflected through our cinema H.EVinay Mohan Kwatra, ambassador of Indiato France, said,“What is happening in ourcountry is the unprecedented transformationin technology and economy. This growingexternalities are also reflected in our coun-try’s cinema.”

Jerome Paillard, executive director,Marche Du Film Festival, Cannes film mar-ket, added, “The Indian pavilion is a veryimportant tool that helps in connecting theworldwide European and the community offilms.”

Speaking about Indo-French cinema col-laboration Vani Tripathi Tikoo, CentralBoard of Film Certification, producer anddirector, said, “It is a fantastic relationship,we have had, both with the Cannes film fes-tival and the French film industry. In the

recent times, films like Tamasha and Befikrewere shot extensively in this part of the worldand found great resonance with the narrativestory telling between the two countries. Oneof the major reasons why the members ofsteering committee from the InternationalFilm Festival of India, Goa are here is toensure deeper collaborations between Goa asa film festival with filmmakers across theworld,” she added.

During the inaugural address, PrasoonJoshi, writer, poet and chairman, CentralBoard of Film Certification India, said, “I amhappy that the national awards this year andthe ministry have taken special efforts indepicting the regional cinema at such a plat-form. We should also reach out to young film-makers who might not have access to festivalslike this. Let’s create many mini Cannes filmfestivals all across the world to help more andmore filmmakers.”

Filmmaker Jahnu Barua shared histhoughts saying, India has great content interms of cinema and so far only a little has beenexposed to the world. “There is so much moreto explore,” he said.

Filmmaker Shaji Karun spoke about howthe Cannes Film Festival helped him with hisvery first film saying “Cannes discovered thefilmmaker in me. It gave me an opportunityto get my film recognised in France and inother countries.”

“The government with all its initiatives andsupport for young filmmakers have createdcompetitive opportunity,” said filmmakerBharat Bala.

“Today, with such platforms, filmmakersare getting the opportunity to share their filmswith the world,” concluded actress HumaQureshi whose first film Gangs ofWasseypur was screened at Cannes inthe Directors Fortnight section.

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With a view to reach and servelarge number of MSMEs, the

National Small IndustriesCorporation Limited (NSIC) signedthe Memorandum of Understanding(MOU) with Ministry of Micro,Small and Medium Enterprises(MSMEs) for the year 2018-19. TheMOU was signed by Ravindra Nath,CMD, NSIC with Dr AK Panda, sec-retary, MSME, Govt of India in thepresence of Alka Nangia Arora, jointsecretary, MSME; Dr PGS Rao, direc-tor (MSME), P Udayakumar, direc-tor (P&M), NSIC and AK Mittal,director (finance), NSIC.

The MOU envisages provision ofenhanced services by NSIC under itsmarketing, financial, technology andother support services schemes, forMSMEs in the country. The corpo-ration projects to increase its totalbusiness by 21.30 per cent from�22,258 crore in the year 2017-18 to�27,000 crore in the year 2018-19.Corporation also projects growth of15 per cent in ‘Revenue fromOperation’ and 22 per cent in‘Profitability’ during the year 2018-

19. NSIC also plans to enhance itsactivities in the areas of impartingentrepreneurship and skill develop-ment training by targeting 15 per centgrowth in the number of trainees.

Under the scheme of NationalSC-ST hub, being implemented byNSIC on behalf of the ministry,NSIC’s continued endeavour shall beto prepare SC/ST entrepreneurs toavail enhanced benefits under pub-lic procurement for which NSIC hasundertaken certain steps to conductspecial VDPs, engage with CPSEs,organise Regional Conclaves et al.

Dr Arun Kumar Panda,Secretary, MSME, while appreciatingthe performance of NSIC, urged thecorporation to create niche activitiesfor itself. He also suggested thatgreater efforts will be made to expandthe reach of NSIC so as to serve larg-er number of MSMEs.

Further, Ravindra Nath, CMD,NSIC also informed that specialfocus will be given to modernise itstechnology centres so as to strength-en its vertical of training and testingservices for MSMEs.

One of the leading manufacturers of footwear in India Red Chief, a subsidiaryof Leayan Global Pvt Ltd

has launched its another exclu-sive premium brand store atChowk (Lucknow) on April30.

The brand currently has139 plus company-ownedstores pan India and has alsomarked a phenomenal pres-ence in 24 states through morethan 5000 multi brand outlets.

Further adding to top line,the brand’s online salesthrough e-commerce plat-forms is also growing at a fasterrate. On this exclusive store,Manoj Gyanchandani, manag-ing director said, “We haveopened this store to meet thegrowing demand acrossChowk, and nearby areas tocover huge untapped cus-tomers and would offer notonly formal and casual shoes,sandals but also latest collec-tion of apparels and acces-sories.” We are now offeringsolutions to all men’s fashion and lifestyle requirements.

In this store, consumers can walk in and experience the whole brand con-cept and see the width of their range through the help of their well-trained staffto entail greater interaction with consumers which would motivate them to becomebetter versions of themselves.

The Petroleum and Natural Gas and SkillDevelopment minister Dharmendra

Pradhan said, “Since May 2014, when ourgovernment took over, we have doubled thecoverage of CGD networks to 94 geograph-ical areas spread across 130 districts.”Natural Gas is the fuel for the future andthere is a need is to increase the share ofgas in India’s primary energy basket fromcurrent 6.5 per cent to 15 per cent. Theminister made it clear that till 2014, Indiahad City Gas networks in 47 geographicalareas across 73 districts. “Through theninth Bidding round, we are rolling out CityGas networks in another 86 GAs (geo-graphical areas) covering 174 districts. Afterthis round, India shall have CGD coveragein nearly 50 per cent of the total 640 dis-tricts in the country and about 50 per cent(61 crore) of the population of the coun-try.”

Pradhan said that this is the largest everround which covers 20 states and two UTsof the country. He added that bid processhas been rationalised and investor-friend-ly parameters have been adapted to attractserious bidders, encourage competition andunreasonable parameters like amount ofBank Guarantee determining the winnerhave been removed.

The minister underlined that reformsin Natural Gas sector in India are crucialand PNGRB is performing a significant rolein refining the gas usage model and evenbecoming a facilitator from a regulator.

Arobust increase in market share hasbeen recorded in the premium fanssegment from 19 per cent to 35 per

cent in a span of an year from the Orientelectric limited, part of a diversified USD1.8 billion CK Birla Group. The companyhas grown by 150 per cent in the segmentfollowing the launch of new variants in itspremium Aero Series fans range featuringworld-class technology.

Atul Jain, senior VP and business head,fans, Orient electric Ltd said, “Our Aeroseries range of fans in the premium seg-ment has been a huge success and the

growth figures indicate the increasingappetite within Indian consumers foraspirational lifestyle. Based on strong

consumer needs for silence, high air deliv-ery and premium finish, our design engi-neers have used aeronautical concepts todevelop this product lineup of Aero seriesfans. These fans have ABS blades withAerofoil blade design and are enabled withwinglet technology which ensures highestair delivery of up to 300 CMM and alsoimpart stunning looks to these fans.”

He further added, “We have a completerange of premium fans in different coloursand finish to suit every space and style.Now, we are expecting premium fans tocontribute to 10 per cent of our total fan

sales in the next two years as we build theportfolio of innovative products. We havean aggressive plan for this year and willincrease our business by another 50-60 percent in this segment.”

Orient electric is the largest manufac-turer and exporter of fans from India withmore than 60 per cent share in exports andpresence in over 35 international markets.In the domestic market, it has a well-organ-ised distribution network driven by over3500 dealers, 1,00,000 retail outlets and astrong service network covering more than 300 cities.

National Fertilisers Limited (NFL), a Govt of IndiaUndertaking has registered (standalone) a

record total income from operations of �9025 crorewith a Profit before Tax of �334.83 crore for the year2017-18 which is also ever best in last 15 years. Thecompany earned net profit (Profit after Tax) of�212.77 crore for the financial year.

During the year, the company has recorded theever highest urea production of 38.10 lakh MT witha capacity utilisation of 118 per cent that accountsfor 15.9 per cent share of the total urea productionin the country. NFL’s record urea production during2017-18 was the culmination of consistent operationof the plants and favourable urea policy of the GoIfor the urea production beyond reassessed (100 percent) capacity.

The company has achieved a record fertiliser saleof 43.09 lakh MT comprising record sale of 39.16 lakhMT of urea and 3.93 lakh MT of other fertilisers i.e.imported fertilisers (DAP, MoP, APS), BentoniteSulphur and compost.

The finest financial performance of the compa-ny during the year could be possible through ener-gy efficient operation of the plants and undertakingseveral strategic initiatives in last two year such asimport of fertilisers on larger scale, commencementof Seeds Multiplication Programme to produce andsale of certified seeds, trading of agrochemicals of dif-ferent molecules under company’s own brand,revival of Ammonium Nitrate plant at Nangal Unit,commissioning of Bentonite Sulphur Plant at PanipatUnit et al.

The company has also won an order from ISROto supply them Di-Nitrogen Tetroxide (N2O4) forwhich NFL is going to set up a plant at Vijaipur uniton BOOS (Built, Own, Operate and Supply) basis.

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She will pierce into that mirage of illusions. Shewill strip you off that disguised identity and put

you naked in front of your own ego. She is a haz-ard, a natural phenomenon. But she will not stopuntil you transform her into a disaster. Before shejeopardises the idea of your very existence, kill her.

Before she challenges the illusory norms of thecivilisation you hold so close, destroy her; don’tlet her consume you. Because, you won’t be ableto pause her rhythm. She will make you her voice.Before you have to go through the pain of stran-gling her after every turn on the road, kill her. This warriorwas her identity, much before you tried to give her one.

She never belonged to any tribe; she was a rebel even beforeyou helped her walk the first step. She was not born to smellthe roses of your neighbour’s garden, she was the unusualflower that bloomed in the cactus after seasons of neglect.

She will run in your veins and make you speak in a lan-

guage you never learnt before. She will make youremember things, you never thought you knew. Donot try to comprehend the reason of her lucidity. Shewas never born, neither would death call her home.No season would find solace in her, neither wouldany wind carry her away. She is a fragment of a questthat knows nothing about destination. She was risenfrom a place that causes tectonic plates to shamble.You will try to bury her, but how will your coffin con-tain her? She does not belong to a physical body, whatwill you cremate? She has nothing she calls her ‘own’,

what will you put in her grave? You will try setting her on fire,but even on her pilgrimage to death, her flames will unite withmany others. She is a thought. She will burn, only to cause herflames merge with the fire of another. When thoughts melt,absolute reality takes form; all that remains in the discarded ruinsis the recipe of, a disaster. (Charvee Sharma is a student who loves to write on women issues)

With the aim of enabling energy rev-olution by serving the

International community in the disci-plines of power, petroleum, gas, coal,nuclear and renewable energy sector, thethird TILA International energy confer-ence was organised by Dr Gopal withGovernment of Tripura as a partner stateand power finance corporation, RuralElectrification Corporation, THDCILand Indian Renewable EnergyDevelopment Agency (IREDA) as mainsponsors.

DGEF is a premier non-profitorganisation founded on April 15 withits corporate office in New Delhi. Withthe motto, “energy for all”, the confer-ence started with open house multilat-eral dialogue on the urgent need forenergy revolution between representa-tive of Singapore, Cameroon, India,

Mozambique, Hong Kong and Portugal.The representation of Kuwait wasacknowledged through the message ofPrime Minister for the success of theconference.

While welcoming the dignitaries RajSingh Niranjan, energy law expert andlegal advisor of ISA and convener of theconference, said that the objective of theconference is to bring about “energy rev-

olution” by bringing in all the stakehold-ers on a single platform to discuss theexisting Government initiatives, policies,innovative ideas and suggestions forpotential measures in wholesome imple-mentation of objectives in India (UrjaKranti) to remove the curse of energypoverty in India.

The Conference was supported byleading companies in energy sector.

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West Brom were relegated from the PremierLeague after Southampton took a huge steptowards keeping their place in the English

top flight by beating fellow strugglers Swansea.Darren Moore's West Brom needed a draw

between the Saints and Swans in south Wales onTuesday to take their fight to avoid relegation into thefinal day of the season on Sunday.

After more than 70 minutes of frenetic action onTuesday, substitute Manolo Gabbiadini provided thedecisive moment for Southampton when he reactedquickest to Charlie Austin's parried shot in a crowd-ed goalmouth.

Gabbiadini had only been on the pitch for fourminutes and it was only his fifth goal of a difficultseason for the Italian.

The result means Southampton move up to 16thin the table, three points clear of 18th-place Swansea,who are favourites to joint West Brom and Stoke inthe Championship.

Southampton's win confirmed West Brom'sreturn to the English second tier after eight seasonsin the top flight, with an eighth-place finish the bestthe Baggies managed during the 2012/13 season withSteve Clarke in charge.

West Brom's season started well, with six pointstaken from a possible six after successive 1-0 wins athome to Bournemouth and away to Burnley.

However, after picking up just four points froma possible 30, Tony Pulis was sacked two days afterlosing 4-0 at home to Chelsea and was replaced byGary Megson, who temporarily took charge of twogames.

Alan Pardew was then named permanent man-

ager but his arrival failed to deliver the improvementneeded to guide the side away from relegation.

Pardew, who led the Baggies to an FA Cup fourth-round victory at Liverpool, only had a 2-0 home winagainst Brighton to show for his efforts in the PremierLeague.

Problems off the pitch added to the disappoint-ment on it when a mid-season trip to Barcelona madethe headlines for the wrong reasons.

Four senior players, including captain JonnyEvans and England midfielder Jake Livermore, wereforced to apologise after a taxi was stolen from out-side a fast-food restaurant.

On April 2, Pardew's time was up and he wasreplaced by Moore until the end of the season, becom-ing West Brom's fourth manager of the campaign.

Since Moore's appointment, West Brom havetaken 11 points from a possible 15 to keep alive the

hope of a great escape.

������� ��"��Southampton had looked dead and buried

when Mark Hughes came in to replace the sackedMauricio Pellegrino in March.

But seven points from three games have givenSaints a huge opportunity to escape the drop on thefinal day this weekend, even if that match is a homedate against the champions Manchester City.

Southampton now have 36 points -- three morethan Swansea, who entertain relegated Stoke onSunday.

The Saints' goal difference is also nine better thanSwansea's, so they will be safe barring a significantturnaround.

Huddersfield also remain in the mix given thepoor state of their goal difference, although one point

from remaining games against Chelsea and Arsenalwill ensure they finish above Swansea.

���� ����J��� � ��I������� ����8Jose Mourinho says Manchester United are "very

positive" that former manager Alex Ferguson willrecover from the brain haemorrhage that has left himin intensive care.

Ferguson, who won 38 trophies during an unri-valled 26-year reign at Old Trafford, needed emer-gency surgery last weekend after a fall at his homenear Manchester.

United boss Mourinho declined to answer whenasked on Wednesday if he had been to visitFerguson, saying he wanted to respect the family'swish for privacy. However, he did say everyone at theclub was optimistic that the United great would recov-er. "We are confident," said Mourinho.

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Moments before liftingthe French Cup again,

Paris Saint-Germain captainThiago Silva beckoned thevaliant skipper from beatenthird division side LesHerbiers to join him.

After a moment's hesita-tion, unheralded SebastienFlochon shuffled across to theBrazil defender and they heldthe trophy aloft together.

It was a fitting tribute tothe resilience of the tiny clubfrom western France follow-ing its 2-0 defeat againstvastly superior opposition.

The performance by theplayers of Les Herbiers wasfull of courage and spiriteddefending.

They earned a guard ofhonor from PSG and a rous-ing ovation from the travel-ing, red-and-white clad fansof Les Herbiers.

A fourth straight FrenchCup and League Cup doubleseemed assured. But whilePSG secured a domestic tre-ble, the team made hardwork of seeing off LesHerbiers - whose populationof 16,000 is five times lessthan the capacity of the Stadede France.

PSG fielded its strongestside and went close severaltimes before midfielder

Giovani Lo Celso openedthe scoring after 26 minutes.

PSG then missed a suc-cession of chances, and hada goal from Kylian Mbappedisallowed by the VideoAssistant Referee system,before Edinson Cavani slot-ted in a penalty in the 74thminute.

PSG won a record-extending 12th French Cupand claimed a 42nd straightvictory in domestic cup com-petitions since Jan. 2014.

While PSG's stars head tothe World Cup in Russia inJune, this is likely to remainthe biggest game of theirlives for Les Herbiers.

Les Herbiers had the first

shot in the first minute,deflected by a defender for acorner. It was all PSG afterthat.

Lo Celso and Mbappe hitthe post, winger Angel DiMaria headed over and LoCelso struck the woodworkagain, all inside 20 minutes.

Then, Lo Celso pickedhis spot from 22 meters(yards) with a curling strikeinto the bottom left corner.

Cavani was denied bygoalkeeper Matthieu Pichotand, moments later, Mbappebundled the ball in fromclose range but referee MikaelLesage used the VAR andruled it out because Brazildefender Marquinhos had

handled.Mbappe, twice, and

Cavani miscued again beforethe Uruguay striker drilledhis spot-kick into the bottomcorner after being upendedby Pichot.

Lesage could have sentPichot off but only showedhim a yellow card and thegoalkeeper tapped the refer-ee's hand in appreciation.

It was a quiet night forPSG goalie Kevin Trapp, whoremarkably did not touchthe ball until the 54th minute.

"They fought very welland played good football,too," Trapp said. "Honestly, itwas tough. We had a lot ofchances and some bad luck."

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Novak Djokovic added another earlyelimination to his disappointing sea-

son, while Rafael Nadal continued tolook invincible on clay.

Djokovic lost to Kyle Edmund 6-3,2-6, 6-3 on Wednesday in the secondround of the Madrid Open, the sixthstraight tournament in which he hasfailed to reach the quarterfinals.

Nadal later cruised past Gael Monfils6-3, 6-1, extending his record of con-secutive sets won on clay to 48. The 16-time Grand Slam champion, coming offtitles in Monte Carlo and Barcelona, haswon 37 of his last 38 matches on the sur-face, including 20 straight.

Djokovic has struggled this year aftersaying he returned to action too quick-ly following a lingering right elbowinjury. Djokovic lost in the third roundin Monte Carlo and in the secondround in both Miami and Indian Wells.The 12th-ranked Serb also failed toadvance past the last 16 at the AustralianOpen.

Djokovic played poorly in the firstset but recovered to comfortably win thesecond. He had a chance to go up a breakearly in the third set but lost five straightpoints to allow Edmund to come backfrom 0-40. The unseeded British playerthen broke Djokovic's serve to go up 5-3 and easily closed out the match on hisserve. "I just felt good today, felt I was hit-ting the ball well," Edmund said. "I justknew that if I put myself in the matchhopefully in the closing stages I would

give myself a chance. That game in thethird set was very key. When Novak getsa lead it's very hard to break him downbecause he becomes a bit more aggres-sive."

Edmund will next play eighth-seed-ed David Goffin, who defeated RobinHaase 7-5, 6-3.

Nadal improved to 17-1 overall onthe season with his win over the 41st-ranked Monfils. "I'm happy to start witha victory," said Nadal, whose last loss onthe dirt came against Dominic Thiem inRome last year. "It was a very solid matchin all aspects."

Nadal is two sets away from break-ing John McEnroe's 1984 record of 49straight sets won on a single surface.

Eighth-ranked Kevin Anderson

defeated qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-2 to set up a third-roundmatch against Philipp Kohlschreiber,who beat Roberto Bautista Agut 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.

Also, top-ranked Simona Halepbeat Kristyna Pliskova 6-1, 6-4 to stay ontrack for a third straight title in Madrid,while Caroline Wozniacki's bid to returnto the top of the rankings ended with a6-2, 6-2 loss to 20th-ranked Kiki Bertens.

The second-ranked Wozniackineeded to win the title in Madrid to over-come Halep for the No 1 spot.

"At this tournament it's really nicethat I know I can play my best tennis,"said Halep, who next plays KarolinaPliskova, the sister of her opponent onWednesday, in the quarterfinals.

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Six athletes from the track and field, shootingand weightlifting disciplines were on

Wednesday inducted into the Target OlympicPodium Scheme, with the Sports Ministry includ-ing discus thrower Seema Punia and leaving outseasoned shooter Gagan Narang.

2012 London Olympics Bronze medallistNarang was among the 12 athletes to have beendropped due to poor performance and fitnessissues.

Weeks after the Gold Coast CommonwealthGames, the Mission Olympic Cell met to reviewthe performances of athletes, who were part ofTOPS and also discussed the inclusion of poten-tial medal-winners in the scheme.

Two weightlifters who were originally thereonly till the 2018 Commonwealth Games were alsoincluded, Sports Authority of India (SAI) said in

a release.The 34-year-old Punia has been one of India's

most distinguished track and field stars. A three-time Olympian, she has won laurels for the coun-try at both the Commonwealth Games and AsianGames.

Her standout performance was the Goldmedal-winning effort at the the 2014 IncheonAsian Games. She has also won three Silver anda Bronze in the Commonwealth Games from 2006to 2018.

Narang had a disappointing seventh CWGappearance, returning without a medal from themulti-sport event for the first time in his career.He has to his credit a stellar eight Gold medals,a Silver and a Bronze at the Games.

Apart from Narang, six shooters, threeweightlifters and two track and field athletes werealso dropped from the scheme on the grounds ofpoor recent performances and fitness issues.

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It's table-toppers versus bot-tom-placeholders here on

Thursday at the Feroz ShahKotla stadium as the visiblyshaken Delhi Daredevils host aSunrisers Hyderabad side whoare determined to extend theirlead at the top of the leaguetable.

The encounter will be arematch of the two sides' previ-ous meeting on May 5, whichhad ended in Hyderabad's favorafter the clinical battle, came toan end in the final over.

This time around, the homeside would be keen to leave nomargin for error at the deliver-ance of a strong opposition,while the visitors would bearriving with a clearly confidentedge on the shaky spirits of theiropponents.

In their last meeting withthe Sunrisers, Delhi had posteda target of 163 runs before theHyderabad franchise, courtesyof young Prithvi Shaw's 65-runknock.

However, they had failed todefend 28 runs across the lasttwo overs on account of twodropped catches which wouldhave dismissed Sunrisers open-er Alex Hales and Yusuf Pathan,who eventually lead then hoststo victory in the end.

The sloppiness in fieldingcost Daredevils the match asSunrisers eventually overcame

the target with Yusuf Pathan's27 off 12 balls.

Nevertheless, Delhi willchoose to remain optimisticin the face of adversity owingto the blistering form of cap-tain Shreyas Iyer, wicket-keeper-batsman RishabhPant and opener PrithviShaw.

So far, Pant leads the run-scoring chart for Delhi with 393runs from 10 games, while Iyerhas recorded a total of 351 runsin 10 matches to his tally.

India's under-19 World Cupwinning captain Shaw has

scored 205 runs across fiveinnings with two fifty plusscores.

Moreover, the Feroz ShahKotla has been a high-scoringvenue for the young trio.

They will also be oozing

with confidence after their inclu-sion in the India (Iyer) and IndiaA (Shaw, Pant) sides for forth-coming the United Kingdomseries.

However, Glen Maxwell hasbeen a major cause of worry forthe Delhi side of late.

The Australian all-rounderhas yet to do justice to hisdestructive reputation, after hav-ing recorded just 133 runs andhaving claimed 5 wickets in thenine games he has so far fea-tured in.

Thursday could be anotheropportunity for him to expresshimself on the pitch in a muchbetter way, or we could be see-ing Colin Munro open theinnings with Shaw.

As for the Sunrisers, theyhave little to worry about.

Captain Kane Williamsonhas come out all guns blazingfor Hyderabad, recording atotal of 410 runs in 10 match-es, and is currently fourth inthe race for the most runsscored in the tournament.

While their bowlingattack led by Rashid Khan isdoing a pretty fantastic job asthe pair of Rashid and Shakibare creating a riot with their

spin. Sidharth Kaul,

Bhuvneshwar Kumar andSandeep Sharma are leaving nochance to make their presencefelt in each game they have fea-tured.

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Mumbai Indians produced a bril-liant bowling and fielding per-formance after Ishan Kishan's

batting pyrotechnics as they thrashedKolkata Knight Riders by 102 runs tokeep themselves in the hunt for a play-offs berth in the Indian Premier Leaguehere on Wednesday.

Sent into bat at the Eden Gardens,defending champions MI scored animposing 210 for 6, riding on 19-year-old Kishan's 21-ball 62, studded with fivefours and six sixes, and then bowledKKR out for 108 in 18.1 overs.

Krunal Pandya and his brotherHardik returned with figures of 2/12 and2/16 respectively while all the other fiveMI bowlers took a wicket each as theyexcelled as a bowling unit.

After today's match, their third onthe trot, MI jumped to fourth spot with10 points from 11 matches. KKR alsohave the same 10 points from 11 match-es but they are below MI at fifth on infe-rior net run rate.

Chasing an imposing target of 211,KKR suffered a batting collapse undersome fine bowling and fielding show byMI who needed a win to keep afloat inthe tournament.

Chris Lynn and Nitish Rana top-scored with 21 each while all the otherKKR batsmen came a cropper. Theirhighest partnership was 31 betweenLynn and Uthappa (14) for the second

wicket.KKR made a disastrous start to their

run chase as Sunil Narine (4) was out inthe second ball, top-edging a MitchellMcClenaghan short delivery to KrunalPandya. Lynn and Uthappa was goingstrong for some time.

But a horrible mixed up in the fourthover led to Chris Lynn being run out asthe home side were reduced to 32 fortwo.

The two wickets meant KKR werelagging behind in the powerplay oversas they could score just 47 from the firstsix overs at the expense of two wickets.

Uthappa was the third batsman to goas he hit straight to Suryakumar Yadavat deep midwicket off a MayankMarkande delivery in the seventh overand Andrew Russell followed suit thenext over, after being deceived by aHardik Pandya slow delivery.

KKR were in deep trouble by thenwith half of their batting line up gone inthe ninth over for just 67 runs. CaptainDinesh Karthik (5) could not extricatehis side and he was run out in the 10thover.

McClenaghan then held on to a bril-liant running catch to dismiss Rana thenext ball and the match was as good asover for KKR by then.

The asking rate has gone up to animpossible 20 with the tails up but thematch lingered on a bit before KrunalPandya wrapped up the match by dis-missing Kuldeep Yadav (5).

Earlier, Ishan smashed a 17-ballhalf-century as MI overcame a slow startto post an imposing 210/6.

Ishan tore apart KKR bowling, espe-cially Kuldeep Yadav who was clobberedfor four consecutive sixes, en route to his21-ball 62 (5x4, 6x6) as MI scripted aturnaround in the middle overs.

The momentum shifted in favour ofMI in the 14th over that yielded 25 runswith Ishan making a mockery of china-man Kuldeep's bowling. The bulk ofMumbai's runs -- 148 -- came fromboundaries.

First, Ishan swept Kuldeep highover deep square leg, then smashedacross the line, followed by stepping outto hit the bowler over long on to get tohis fifty -- the joint second fastest of theseason with Sunil Narine.

Ishan ended the over with a heli-copter shot that would surely make hisRanchi mentor MS Dhoni smile asMumbai Indians scored 73 runs in fivemiddle overs to reach to 145/3 in 15overs from being a modest 72/2 midwayinto their innings.

After Ishan, it was Cutting show ashe hit the first three balls of the final overfor a six each en route to his nine-ball24 (1x4, 3x6) as MI finished on a highwith 22 runs in the final over bowled byPiyush Chawla.

Kuldep retrurned most expensivewith 43 runs from his three overs, fol-lowed by Chawla who took 3/48 but wasat his expensive best.

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KXIP coach Brad Hodge has made nobones about his team's over reliance

on openers Chris Gayle and K L Rahulthough he hopes the middle order willdeliver going forward in the IndianPremier League.

"Yes I admit that we rely heavily onChris Gayle and KL Rahul but that is thecase with almost every team. It (middle-order) has been (a concern), for sure,"said Hodge after the loss againstRajasthan Royals here on Tuesday night.

"We know that KL is in great formand when Chris Gayle fires, anything canhappen."

We have got some extremely talent-ed players and we need them to lift a lit-tle bit and contribute a little bit more towhat they are doing."

KXIP lost by 15 runs despite anunbeaten 95 off 70 balls from Rahul. Itwas their fourth loss in 10 matches.

"Unfortunately, we did not haveanyone to help KL Rahul get the job done.It is a slight area of concern. Every teamhas a couple of good players and the restof the batting revolves around them. Butwe have been getting good contributionsfrom others too."

Hodge said Rahul did the best hecould under the circumstances.

"It was difficult. In hindsight it is dif-ferent. Look, if he (Rahul) had pusheda bit harder and lost his wicket, then wemight not have gotten this close. It is adifferent thing in hindsight.

"If you maintain a level, and if youhave to chase 12 an over in the last five,you can get that but it probably got a lit-

tle bit out of hand. You cannot leave it allon KL. If we had contributions from themiddle order, we might have been in abetter position. But that didn't happen,"said the Australian.

KXIP conceded 158 runs againstRoyals with Jos Buttler scoring 82 off 58balls. Hodge felt his bowlers could havedone better.

"I think our bowling unit has beenoutstanding throughout the tourna-ment. That is probably the one area whichis contributing well. But if someone ishaving a good day like that there is notmuch one can do about. I feel webowled a fraction wide to Butler and hecapitalized on it."

On the other hand, 'Player of thematch' Butler said that the wicket hadslowed considerably and he knew that160 -170 would be a challenging total.

"Actually, after the first six overs Ithought it was a 180-190 pitch. And thenit sort of changed very quickly and start-ed to slow up. I thought 160-170 wasgoing to be a very good score. Early wick-ets were crucial too and I am happy thatGowtham dealt two vital blows early."

Talking about his new role as anopener and if it had something to do withteam mentor Shane Warne, Butler saidthat it was nice to have around a crick-eter like him in the dugout.

"I spent a lot of time in my career andenjoy batting in the middle order. I amvery comfortable in that position but Ijust did not play well enough in that posi-tion. I was lucky that there was changeof decision and try opening it hasworked well so far," said a modest Butlerwho has now three consecutive fifties inthat position.”

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Australia's World Cup winning captain MichaelClarke said on Wednesday he is "surprised" by

Virat Kohli's decision to skip India's one-off Testagainst Afghanistan next month in order to playfor English county side Surrey and prepare betterfor India's long tour of England.

"Look I am really surprised. I don't know that'sVirat's choice but I am really surprised. I think aTest match is a Test match. I don't care who youare playing against, it needs to be number one pri-ority."

"I still feel Virat can get what he wants in termsof coming and playing some games for Surrey andthen I would like to see him fly back and play theTest match," he added.

"I think there is a bit of a gap in the schedulewhich will allow him to do that. I think there aresome one-dayers which he would be missing forSurrey.

"In my whole career I prioritised my country.I gave up every other opportunity to play for what-ever franchise or other teams. To represent yourcountry is the most special thing in the world.Whatever team you play against, I think that shouldbe the No 1 priority," added the 37-year old wholed Australia to its 2015 World Cup triumph.

Earlier this month, Virat had officially inkeda deal with Surrey and the decision was backed byCommittee of Administrators (CoA) chief VinodRai.

India will take on England in five Tests laterthis year and the right-hander has a poor recordin England.

During the 2014 tour, he managed just 134 runsfrom five Tests at a woeful average of 13.40 with-out crossing the 50-mark even once in the series.

Hailing Virat's decision to play county crick-et, Clarke said it only shows the 29-year old's pas-sion to win and sends across a clear message to oneand all that India will leave no stones unturned intrying to win in England.

"Virat is showing how much he cares aboutIndia becoming the best team in the world. Thefact that he is going and playing county cricket issetting a clear message to his teammates, to Englandand everyone around the world that he wants Indiato have a successful tour of the UK and wants tolead from the front," he said.

"It will be fantastic preparation for him and alsoshows his determination. It shows not only howhungry he is to perform individually but how muchhe wants India to have success," he added.

Clarke also backed the India skipper despitehis team Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) far-ing poorly in the ongoing Indian Premier League(IPL), stating the right-hander has been in greatform.

"He is batting beautifully, RCB is losing but heis I think No 5 in the highest run-getters list in theIPL."

The RCB skipper is fifth in the leading scor-ers' list with 396 runs from 10 games at 49.50.

Asked about India's chances in the World Cupnext year, Clarke rated India as one of thefavourites saying the one-day side is a superb mixof youth and experience.

"India will go into the World Cup as one of thefavourites. The experience of the players will playa part. They have some wonderful spinners. Indiahave a very strong ODI team. They have so manymatch-winners. In 2015, we won the World Cup

because we had match winners," he said."I don't think the team is missing anything.

They have got it right there. I think it's about prepa-ration and form and playing your best cricket atthe right time.

"You have got the experience. I feel MS Dhonihas to be part of that World Cup squad. It's a goodmixture of youth and experience," he added.

Clarke also pointed out that the IPL has somany Indian captains and that is a huge advantage.

"What it means is when India select their 11players or 15 players for the squad, you are assuredsome of those players will use their leadership expe-rience into the Indian setup and that's what youwant," the former Kangaroo skipper pointed out.

"���������K������Terming this as a "chance" for India to script

their first-ever Test series win Down Under, for-mer Australia captain Michael Clarke onWednesday said India had their reasons to backout of a Day/Night match during their tour laterthis year.

"I think India feel like they know the condi-tions that will suit them best to beat Australia.Remember India have never beaten Australia everin Australia. This is their chance," Clarke said atan interactive session at the Indian Chamber ofCommerce & Young Leaders Forum (YLF) here.

The BCCI had officially informed CricketAustralia that Virat Kohli and Co would not engagein any pink ball Test during their tour Down

Under. India are slated to play three Tests againstAustralia, starting from December 10. There wouldbe three T20 internationals prior to that.

CA wanted to continue with their recent tra-dition of playing the opening Test at Adelaide fromDecember 6-10 under lights.

The Indian team management headed by chiefcoach Ravi Shastri though had intimated theCommittee of Administrators (CoA) that the teamwill take at least 18 months to prepare for theDay/Night Test.

Explaining the rationale behind India notwanting to play in white flannels under floodlights,Clarke said: "If India play during the day, the wick-et is flatter and spin a little bit more. At night thereis no spin, there is moisture and bit more move-ment."

"So India prefer to take their chances duringthe day like they have played every other Testmatch throughout their careers."

"So I can understand why they are not want-ing to play D/N test matches," said the 37-year-old who skippered Australia to the 2015 WorldCup.

Clarke though backed the Day-Night Tests,saying this is the future and would engage morefans watching the game.

"I do believe for the game, particularly in thesummer of Australia, to get people watching ontelevision we are going to see a lot more D/N Testmatches moving forward and probably around theworld."

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