maoist hotbed bastar lok,ˇ ,0 ... two solid rocket boosters. tracking data from range sen- ... in...

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I ndia on Wednesday achieved a rare feat when its missile successfully shot down a live satellite in space, displaying to the world its anti-satellite mis- sile (A-SAT) capability. With this, India has become the fourth country to acquire such a specialised and modern capability after the US, Russia and China. While the Opposition par- ties have congratulated the sci- entists of the DRDO for the successful test, they accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of violating model code of conduct by using the occa- sion to divert attention from issues troubling the BJP in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls. The Prime Minister announced the successful test in an unprecedented address to the nation, saying, “It shows the remarkable dexterity of India’s outstanding scientists and the success of our space pro- gramme.” He also said, “India can now defend itself in space, and not just on land, water, and air, after the success of Mission Shakti.” In his address to the nation, Modi said, “In the journey of every nation there are moments that bring utmost pride and have a historic impact on gen- erations to come. One such moment is today. India has suc- cessfully tested the Anti- Satellite (ASAT) Missile.” He, however, clarified the test was not directed against any country and the satellite was a pre-determined target orbiting at an altitude of 300 km adding India does not breach any international laws or treaties. Mission Shakti was aimed at strengthening India’s overall security, he said, adding it was “a highly complex one, con- ducted at extremely high speed with remarkable precision. It shows the remarkable dexter- ity of India’s outstanding sci- entists and the success of our space programme,” Modi said. “Shooting down a low earth orbit satellite is a rare achieve- ment for the country,” he said. The “entire effort is indige- nous. India’s stands tall as a space power. It will make India stronger, even more secure and will further peace and harmony,” Modi said. The Prime Minister had advertised his address to the nation on Twitter, calling it an important message. “Do watch the address on television, radio or social media,” he said, setting off speculation across the country on what the topic was likely to be. Earlier in the day, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) had met at the Prime Minister’s residence. I n a midnight drama in Goa, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant dropped Deputy Chief Minister Sudin Dhavalikar after two of his Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) MLAs joined the ruling BJP, leaving him high and dry in the coastal State. Dhavalikar was made the Deputy CM when Sawant became Chief Minister after the death of then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. Meanwhile, the Goa Forward Party (GFP), a partner in the State Government, has expressed fear about creation of “suspicion among partners” after the two MGP MLAs broke away and joined the BJP. While forming Government this month, the BJP had “accommodated” both the supporting parties’ Chief Ministerial claimants GFP chief Vijai Sardesai and MGP MLA Dhavalikar as Deputy Chief Ministers with BJP’s Sawant appointed as Chief Minister. BJP president Amit Shah and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had then coordinated the moves to install Sawant, then Assembly Speaker, as new State CM. The midnight coup crafted by the BJP saw two of the three MGP MLAs — Manohar Ajgaonkar and Dipak Pawaskar — giving a letter to officiating Speaker Michael Lobo, merg- ing their party’s legislative wing with the BJP. F ilm star Urmila Matondkar joined the Congress after meeting party chief Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday. The party made the announcement by tweeting a picture of the actor receiving a bouquet from Rahul. Urmila, 45, is expected to be chosen as the Congress candidate for Mumbai North Lok Sabha constituency. “I am here because I believe in the ideology of the Congress and what the party stands for. I have not joined the party for the sake of elections. I am here to stay,” Urmila said. Later, at a Press conference, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the actor will help spread the Congress ideology and strengthen the party. Urmila said she felt the need to join the Congress as the freedom to express was under attack and there are numerous examples in this regard in the last five years. She said the Congress participated in the freedom struggle and it stood for freedom. Urmila lauded the leader- ship of Rahul. She said he is the one who takes everyone along and such a leader is required in today’s times. B elarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has fired three officials, including a governor, for keeping cows in poor conditions at a local farm. Video aired by state televi- sion showed Lukashenko, an avid farmer himself, scolding the farm managers and the governor on a visit to the farm in the northern Mogilev region on Tuesday. Lukashenko, who gave a sack of potatoes to Russian President Vladimir Putin last year, compared the conditions at the farm to those at a Nazi death camp. The cows were shown walking in the manure with mud caked on their bodies. P rime Minister Narendra Modi incurred the wrath of Opposition parties over the Government’s announcement of Mission Shakti on Wednesday. While the Opposition leaders congratu- lated the scientists who devel- oped the anti-satellite missile, they took swipe at the PM. Some of them questioned the timing of the announce- ment while other wrote to the Election Commission terming Modi’s announcement as vio- lation of the model code of conduct. However, the EC on Wednesday clarified that issues related to national security and disaster management do not fall under the ambit of the model code of conduct. Mocking Modi, Congress chief Rahul wished him a “happy World Theatre Day”, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and BSP Chief Mayawati termed it a gross violation of the model code of conduct. Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav accused Modi of managing free air time to divert attention from real issues. Meanwhile, claiming that the Government in 2012 did not allow scientists to launch anti-satellite (ASAT) missile despite their having capability, the BJP on Wednesday assert- ed that India’s deterrence has increased under the “decisive leadership” of Modi which would allow the country to maintain peace in the region. Describing Mission Shakti as “monumental step”, senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said future wars will be different and “our preparation is the biggest safety for us”. Decrying the Congress and the TMC’s criticism, he said this issue was not related to the BJP but to India. “Scientists had capability to build anti-satellite missile a decade ago, then Government never gave permission,” said the BJP leader while congrat- ulating Modi whom he described as decisive leader who has changed India’s defence doctrine. Jaitley accused the Congress of lying on the issue. And as for TMC chief’s criticism, Jaitley said India’s nuclear programme is a con- tinuing programme and can- not be put to halt “if it does not suit West Bengal Chief Minister”. T witterati went into a tizzy with funny tweets before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the nation speculating whether it would be about Emergency, another surgical strike, bringing back Dawood Ibrahim or killing Masood Azhar. As the designated hour of noon came and went, jokes on Twitter gathered strength. As time slowed to a tedious crawl, imagination hurriedly took wing. With memories of that fateful November 8, 2016 evening, when Modi announced the demonetisation of high value currency notes still afresh, jokes about people running to the ATM and counting cash started doing the rounds. The news of Modi’s surprise address came from his personal Twitter handle at 11.23 am. Within minutes, the tweet went viral and in an hour the tweet had garnered 20,663 retweets, 57,674 likes and 15,000 comments. Tweeting in both Hindi and English, Modi said, “I would be addressing the nation around 11.45 am - 12 noon with an important message. Do watch the address on television, radio or social media.” This twit- ter message made Twitterati crazy. The announcement from the PM comes a month after the Balakot airstrikes in Pakistan by the Indian Air Force and days before polling for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. T he anti-satellite missile (A- SAT) test termed as “Mission Shakti” was con- ducted by scientists of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) from the APJ Abdul Kalam Island in Odisha on Wednesday. An indigenously developed Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) Interceptor Missile successfully engaged an Indian orbiting target satellite at an altitude of 300 km in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) in a “Hit to kill” mode. The interceptor missile was a three-stage missile with two solid rocket boosters. Tracking data from range sen- sors has confirmed that the mission met all its objectives. The entire mission lasted for about three minutes. Explaining the signifi- cance of the test, sources said an A-SAT can neutralise enemy satellites in space by blinding them or disrupting its communication systems besides providing a techno- logical base to intercept an incoming ballistic missile. Satellites are used for navigation, communications and for guiding their missile weaponry. The ability to bring down an enemy’s mis- sile, therefore, gives a coun- try the capability to cripple critical infrastructure of the other country, rendering their weapons useless, they said. While the US and Russia conducted these tests in the 1960s, China demonstrated its capability in 2007. In his observation about the test, DRDO chief G Satheesh Reddy said it is a reflection of the country’s growing capability to develop critical technology and it will act as a good deterrence adding clearance for the pro- ject was given over two years back. C hhattisgarh chief electoral officer Subrat Sahoo on Wednesday extensively reviewed security and other preparations at Jagdalpur for Maoist hotbed Bastar Lok Sabha seat which goes to polls in the first phase on April 11. Director general of police (Naxal operation) Girdhari Nayak also reviewed the secu- rity arrangement and deploy- ment of security forces there. He directed police officers to ensure a peaceful polling in Bastar which has track of poll- related violence. Returning officer and col- lector Bastar Ayyaz Tamboli gave a detailed presentation of the poll preparedness in the constituency at the review meeting. Addressing the officials, CEO Sahoo said, “The target is to hold peaceful election in the Naxal affected region, for which all basic necessary arrangements have to be done.” “Complaints received through cVIGIL should be dealt at the earliest within time-limit for which a separate cell can be set up. Ensure all basic amenities at polling cen- tres, while ramps are being made,” he told the officials. Election observers (gener- al) Ashwani Kumar Yadav and Gyaneshwar Tripathi, police observer K Padmakar and other officials were also present at the review meeting. T he notification for third phase of polling in which seven remaining Lok Sabha seats of Chhattisgarh will go to polls will be issued on Thursday. The seven seats are: Raipur, Bilaspur, Raigarh, Korba, Janjgir-Champa, Durg and Surguja. Chhattisgarh will witness a three-phased polling on April 11, April 18 and April 23 for one, three and seven seats respectively. According to commu- niqués issued by respective district electoral officers, the process of filing nominations will commence with the issuance of notification. The last date of filing nom- ination papers is April 4. The scrutiny of nomination papers will be take place on April 5. The candidates can withdraw their nomination papers by April 8. The polling is sched- uled on April 23, while the counting will be held on May 23. District electoral officers have intimated that a single widow system has been arranged for the candidates to procure the nomination papers in respective ‘collectorates’. The security deposit amount for general candidate is 25,000 while for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidate it is just 12500.

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Page 1: Maoist hotbed Bastar Lok,ˇ ,0 ... two solid rocket boosters. Tracking data from range sen- ... in the first phase on April 11. Director general of police

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India on Wednesday achieveda rare feat when its missile

successfully shot down a livesatellite in space, displaying tothe world its anti-satellite mis-sile (A-SAT) capability. Withthis, India has become thefourth country to acquire sucha specialised and moderncapability after the US, Russiaand China.

While the Opposition par-ties have congratulated the sci-entists of the DRDO for thesuccessful test, they accusedPrime Minister NarendraModi of violating model codeof conduct by using the occa-sion to divert attention fromissues troubling the BJP in therun-up to the Lok Sabha polls.

The Prime Ministerannounced the successful testin an unprecedented address tothe nation, saying, “It shows theremarkable dexterity of India’soutstanding scientists and thesuccess of our space pro-gramme.”

He also said, “India cannow defend itself in space, andnot just on land, water, and air,after the success of MissionShakti.”

In his address to the nation,Modi said, “In the journey ofevery nation there are momentsthat bring utmost pride andhave a historic impact on gen-erations to come. One suchmoment is today. India has suc-cessfully tested the Anti-Satellite (ASAT) Missile.”

He, however, clarified thetest was not directed againstany country and the satellitewas a pre-determined targetorbiting at an altitude of 300km adding India does notbreach any international lawsor treaties.

Mission Shakti was aimedat strengthening India’s overallsecurity, he said, adding it was“a highly complex one, con-ducted at extremely high speedwith remarkable precision. Itshows the remarkable dexter-

ity of India’s outstanding sci-entists and the success of ourspace programme,” Modi said.“Shooting down a low earthorbit satellite is a rare achieve-ment for the country,” hesaid.

The “entire effort is indige-nous. India’s stands tall as aspace power. It will make Indiastronger, even more secureand will further peace andharmony,” Modi said.

The Prime Minister hadadvertised his address to thenation on Twitter, calling it animportant message.

“Do watch the address ontelevision, radio or socialmedia,” he said, setting offspeculation across the countryon what the topic was likely tobe. Earlier in the day, theCabinet Committee onSecurity (CCS) had met at thePrime Minister’s residence.

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In a midnight drama in Goa,Chief Minister Pramod

Sawant dropped Deputy ChiefMinister Sudin Dhavalikarafter two of hisMaharashtrawadi GomantakParty (MGP) MLAs joined theruling BJP, leaving him highand dry in the coastal State.Dhavalikar was made theDeputy CM when Sawantbecame Chief Minister afterthe death of then ChiefMinister Manohar Parrikar.

Meanwhile, the GoaForward Party (GFP), a partnerin the State Government, hasexpressed fear about creation of“suspicion among partners”after the two MGP MLAs brokeaway and joined the BJP.

While formingGovernment this month, theBJP had “accommodated” boththe supporting parties’ ChiefMinisterial claimants GFP chiefVijai Sardesai and MGP MLADhavalikar as Deputy ChiefMinisters with BJP’s Sawantappointed as Chief Minister.

BJP president Amit Shahand Union Minister NitinGadkari had then coordinatedthe moves to install Sawant,then Assembly Speaker, as newState CM.

The midnight coup craftedby the BJP saw two of the threeMGP MLAs — ManoharAjgaonkar and Dipak Pawaskar— giving a letter to officiatingSpeaker Michael Lobo, merg-ing their party’s legislative wingwith the BJP.

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Film star Urmila Matondkarjoined the Congress after

meeting party chief RahulGandhi on Wednesday. Theparty made the announcementby tweeting a picture of theactor receiving a bouquet fromRahul. Urmila, 45, is expectedto be chosen as the Congresscandidate for Mumbai NorthLok Sabha constituency.

“I am here because Ibelieve in the ideology of theCongress and what the partystands for. I have not joined theparty for the sake of elections.I am here to stay,” Urmila said.

Later, at a Press conference,Congress chief spokespersonRandeep Surjewala said theactor will help spread theCongress ideology andstrengthen the party.

Urmila said she felt theneed to join the Congress as thefreedom to express was underattack and there are numerous

examples in this regard in thelast five years. She said theCongress participated in thefreedom struggle and it stoodfor freedom.

Urmila lauded the leader-ship of Rahul. She said he is theone who takes everyone alongand such a leader is required intoday’s times.

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Belarusian PresidentAlexander Lukashenko has

fired three officials, includinga governor, for keeping cows inpoor conditions at a local farm.

Video aired by state televi-sion showed Lukashenko, anavid farmer himself, scoldingthe farm managers and thegovernor on a visit to the farmin the northern Mogilev regionon Tuesday.

Lukashenko, who gave asack of potatoes to RussianPresident Vladimir Putin lastyear, compared the conditionsat the farm to those at a Nazideath camp.

The cows were shownwalking in the manure withmud caked on their bodies.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi incurred the wrath of

Opposition parties over theGovernment’s announcementof Mission Shakti onWednesday. While theOpposition leaders congratu-lated the scientists who devel-oped the anti-satellite missile,they took swipe at the PM.

Some of them questioned

the timing of the announce-ment while other wrote to theElection Commission termingModi’s announcement as vio-lation of the model code ofconduct.

However, the EC onWednesday clarified that issuesrelated to national securityand disaster management donot fall under the ambit of themodel code of conduct.

Mocking Modi, Congresschief Rahul wished him a“happy World Theatre Day”,West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee and BSPChief Mayawati termed it agross violation of the modelcode of conduct. SamajwadiParty president Akhilesh Yadav

accused Modi of managingfree air time to divert attentionfrom real issues.

Meanwhile, claiming thatthe Government in 2012 didnot allow scientists to launchanti-satellite (ASAT) missiledespite their having capability,the BJP on Wednesday assert-ed that India’s deterrence hasincreased under the “decisiveleadership” of Modi whichwould allow the country tomaintain peace in the region.

Describing Mission Shaktias “monumental step”, seniorBJP leader Arun Jaitley saidfuture wars will be differentand “our preparation is thebiggest safety for us”.

Decrying the Congress

and the TMC’s criticism, hesaid this issue was not relatedto the BJP but to India.

“Scientists had capabilityto build anti-satellite missile adecade ago, then Governmentnever gave permission,” saidthe BJP leader while congrat-ulating Modi whom hedescribed as decisive leaderwho has changed India’sdefence doctrine. Jaitleyaccused the Congress of lyingon the issue.

And as for TMC chief ’scriticism, Jaitley said India’snuclear programme is a con-tinuing programme and can-not be put to halt “if it does notsuit West Bengal ChiefMinister”.

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Twitterati went into a tizzywith funny tweets before

Prime Minister NarendraModi’s address to the nationspeculating whether it wouldbe about Emergency, anothersurgical strike, bringing backDawood Ibrahim or killingMasood Azhar.

As the designated hour ofnoon came and went, jokes onTwitter gathered strength. Astime slowed to a tedious crawl,imagination hurriedly tookwing.

With memories of that

fateful November 8, 2016evening, when Modiannounced the demonetisationof high value currency notesstill afresh, jokes aboutpeople running to theATM and counting cashstarted doing the rounds.

The news of Modi’ssurprise address came fromhis personal Twitter handle at11.23 am. Within minutes, thetweet went viral and in an hourthe tweet had garnered 20,663retweets, 57,674 likes and15,000 comments.

Tweeting in both Hindiand English, Modi said, “I

would be addressing the nationaround 11.45 am - 12 noonwith an important message. Do

watch theaddress ontelevision,

radio orsocial media.”

This twit-ter message

made Twitteraticrazy. The announcementfrom the PM comes a monthafter the Balakot airstrikes inPakistan by the Indian AirForce and days before pollingfor the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

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The anti-satellite missile (A-SAT) test termed as

“Mission Shakti” was con-ducted by scientists of DefenceResearch and DevelopmentOrganisation (DRDO) fromthe APJ Abdul Kalam Island inOdisha on Wednesday. Anindigenously developedBallistic Missile Defence(BMD) Interceptor Missilesuccessfully engaged an Indianorbiting target satellite at analtitude of 300 km in LowEarth Orbit (LEO) in a “Hit tokill” mode.

The interceptor missilewas a three-stage missile withtwo solid rocket boosters.Tracking data from range sen-sors has confirmed that themission met all its objectives.The entire mission lasted forabout three minutes.

Explaining the signifi-cance of the test, sources saidan A-SAT can neutraliseenemy satellites in space by

blinding them or disrupting itscommunication systemsbesides providing a techno-logical base to intercept anincoming ballistic missile.

Satellites are used fornavigation, communicationsand for guiding their missileweaponry. The ability tobring down an enemy’s mis-sile, therefore, gives a coun-try the capability to cripplecritical infrastructure of theother country, renderingtheir weapons useless, theysaid.

While the US and Russiaconducted these tests in the1960s, China demonstratedits capability in 2007.

In his observation aboutthe test, DRDO chief GSatheesh Reddy said it is areflection of the country’sgrowing capability to developcritical technology and it willact as a good deterrenceadding clearance for the pro-ject was given over two yearsback.

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Chhattisgarh chief electoralofficer Subrat Sahoo on

Wednesday extensivelyreviewed security and otherpreparations at Jagdalpur forMaoist hotbed Bastar LokSabha seat which goes to pollsin the first phase on April 11.

Director general of police(Naxal operation) GirdhariNayak also reviewed the secu-rity arrangement and deploy-ment of security forces there.He directed police officers toensure a peaceful polling inBastar which has track of poll-related violence.

Returning officer and col-lector Bastar Ayyaz Tamboligave a detailed presentation ofthe poll preparedness in theconstituency at the reviewmeeting.

Addressing the officials,CEO Sahoo said, “The target isto hold peaceful election in theNaxal affected region, forwhich all basic necessary

arrangements have to be done.”“Complaints received

through cVIGIL should bedealt at the earliest withintime-limit for which a separatecell can be set up. Ensure allbasic amenities at polling cen-tres, while ramps are beingmade,” he told the officials.

Election observers (gener-al) Ashwani Kumar Yadav andGyaneshwar Tripathi, policeobserver K Padmakar andother officials were also presentat the review meeting.

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The notification for thirdphase of polling in which

seven remaining Lok Sabhaseats of Chhattisgarh will go topolls will be issued onThursday.

The seven seats are:Raipur, Bilaspur, Raigarh,Korba, Janjgir-Champa, Durgand Surguja.

Chhattisgarh will witness athree-phased polling on April11, April 18 and April 23 forone, three and seven seatsrespectively.

According to commu-niqués issued by respectivedistrict electoral officers, theprocess of filing nominationswill commence with theissuance of notification.

The last date of filing nom-ination papers is April 4. Thescrutiny of nomination paperswill be take place on April 5.The candidates can withdraw

their nomination papers byApril 8. The polling is sched-uled on April 23, while thecounting will be held on May23.

District electoral officershave intimated that a singlewidow system has beenarranged for the candidates toprocure the nomination papersin respective ‘collectorates’.

The security depositamount for general candidateis �25,000 while for ScheduledCaste and Scheduled Tribecandidate it is just �12500.

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Page 2: Maoist hotbed Bastar Lok,ˇ ,0 ... two solid rocket boosters. Tracking data from range sen- ... in the first phase on April 11. Director general of police

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Holding cards close to theirchest, both the Congress andShiromani Akali Dal (SAD) arewaiting for each other to “show”.

Biding one’s time, both thetraditional political rivals havebeen waiting for the other to

announce their candidates forMay 19 elections, especiallyfor the crucial seats of Bathinda,Amritsar, and Ferozepur.

As the SAD is planning tofield party president SukhbirBadal from Ferozepur and hisUnion Minister wife HarsimratBadal from Bathinda, the

Congress party maintained thatthey would wait for the party tomake the formal announce-ment before declaring theircandidates for the seat.

On the other hand, SAD iswaiting for the Congress tomake the first move in declar-ing its candidates leaving

options open for itself.“We are waiting for them to

declare their candidates...Wewill see whom they field fromBathinda and other seats,”Punjab Congress presidentSunil Jakhar told The Pioneerwhen asked about the party’scandidates from the crucialseats.

Among the frontrunnersfor the Congress ticket fromBathinda, the party is mullingto field the state FinanceMinister Manpreet Singh Badal,who had, in the recent past, hadexpressed his desire to contestelections against his sister-in-law Harsimrat Badal.

Bathinda has also witnesseda fight within the Badal familyin 2014 elections, in whichHarsimrat defeated herestranged brother-in-law, by anarrow margin. And consider-ing the diminishing winningmargins from 1,20,948 votes in2009 Lok Sabha elections to19,395 votes in 2014, SAD isnow mulling to shift Harsimratto the neighbouring Ferozepurwhich is seen as a safer bet thistime.

Congress candidates fromFerozepur and Bathinda willdepend on the Akali Dal’s moveto shift Harsimrat to Ferozepurfrom Bathinda — which hasbeen the epicentre of anti-sac-rilege protests against theBadals, or Sukhbir may himselfdecide to throw his hat in theelectoral ring from Ferozepurretaining Bathinda forHarsimrat.

For Bathinda seat, the

name of Nirvan Singh, theChief Minister Capt AmarinderSingh’s grandson, was alsodoing the rounds. With CaptAmarinder talking in terms ofhanging his boots sooner, hemay decide to introduce hisdaughter Jai Inder Kaur’syounger son Nirvan as hispolitical heir.

Hailing from the Rai Sikhcommunity holding sway overthe Ferozepur seat, SAD rebeland sitting MP Sher SinghGhubaya has already started hiscampaign after joining theCongress recently.

AT the same time, the stateCabinet Minister Rana GurmitSingh Sodhi is also stakingclaim over the party ticket.

Now with Sukhbir expected toenter the poll fray, the situationwould change, and party wouldgo in for a party heavyweightagainst SAD president.

Jakhar, at the same time,made clear his intentions of“not” contesting fromFerozepur, the seat he lost in2014 elections against the thenSAD candidate, Sher SinghGhubaya. “I accepted the vot-ers’ verdict...I have no com-plaints against anyone. Sukhbirmay have ego, but I don’t, andI respectfully accept verdict ofFerozepur’s voters,” he said,while adding that he wouldcontest from where his partyleadership would ask him t,whether it is Ferozepur orGurdaspur or anywhere else.

For Amritsar seat, the partyis considering to field the crick-eter-turned-politician and thestate Cabinet Minister NavjotSingh Sidhu in case the BJPcomes up with a strong candi-date just like it fielded BJP stal-wart Arun Jaitley in 2014 elec-tions. To counter it, theCongress had fielded CaptAmarinder Singh.

Even as the time for cam-paigning is running out withlittle patience, both are look-ing at each other to cut thefirst turf, leaving the aspirantsanxious.

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Amritsar: SAD presidentSukhbir Badal on Wednesdaysaid that all reports regardingparty candidates from dif-ferent constituencies are merespeculations and the party isyet to decide the names.

Talking about his candi-dature from Ferozepur seat,Sukhbir said that the partyhas yet not decided.“Whatever decision the partytakes, whether I should con-test or not, will be acceptableto me. I am already fightingfrom the front being partypresident,” he said.

Sukhbir, who paid obei-

sance at the Golden Templein Amritsar along with hisUnion Minister wifeHarsimrat Kaur Badal, said that the final decisionregarding the Lok Sabhaseats’ candidates will be outsoon after the party undergoanalysis and decide over thesame. “The opposition is try-ing to strategise against SAD-BJP,” he said.

Taking a dig over theSAD (Taksali), Sukhbir saidthat the party has introducedall the new faces which isabsolutely opposite to its char-acter of being Taksali. PTI

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� ��� ��)$!/�.�

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesdayappealed to the visiting National Green

Tribunal (NGT) team not only to give sermonsto the farmers over stubble burning in Punjabbut also bring both the Union and StateGovernments on board to show what they haddone in this regard.

“AAP is not in favour of burning cropresidue as the exercise posed a potential dan-ger to the living and non-living organisms,including, besides humans, plants, water, air,animals and insects, et al...But the farmers doit out compulsion as they have to bear an addi-tional financial burden of Rs 1000 per acre toclear the residue to enable him to sow the nextseasonal crop,” said AAP MLA and theLeader of Opposition in Vidhan Sabha HarpalSingh Cheema.

Cheema said that the hassled farmer, whowas already head over heels in debt, had been

left with no finances to meet the expenses ondisposing of the crop residue, which was thefallout of anti-farmer policies of the subse-quent governments in the State.

He demanded that the Union and Stategovernments should come to the rescue ofpoor farmers and allow special bonus or sub-sidy to suffice enough to dispose of the stub-ble without spending additional money.

Cheema added that the governments should set up high-tech projectto generate power out of the stubble in thestate.

Expressing his satisfaction over margin-ally tackling the menace, Cheema said that thegovernment should not claim the credit forthis effort since the farmers had done it by dri-ving hole in their pockets.

Cheema urged the visiting NGT team toask the respective government what they haddone to check the menace of stubble burningin the state.

� ��� ��)$!/�.�

Facing an uphill task inensuing Lok Sabha polls,Indian National Lok Dal’spolitical affairs committeemet in Rohtak on Wednesdayto discuss the strategy for thepolls.

While the party leadersare quitting the INLD one byone in election season, theINLD has so far failed tostitch an alliance with anoth-er political party to contest on10 Lok Sabha seats inHaryana.

The political affairs com-mittee met a day after theHar yana Speaker hadannounced to remove INLDsecretary general AbhayChautala from the post ofLeader of Opposition inHaryana Assembly.

With two party MLAsresigning from the StateAssembly and joining the BJP,the INLD’s number reduced to

15 in the State Assembly andthe Congress with 17 MLAsbecame second largest party inthe State Assembly.

After the PAC meeting,INLD secretary general AbhayChautala while talking to themediapersons said that theparty will contest on its ownon all 10 seats in Haryana.

It has been decided thecommittee constituted underINLD state president AshokArora wil l conclude itsstatewide tour in the firstweek of April and finalize thelist of probable candidates for10 seats soon. The list will besubmitted to INLD chief OPChautala, who will finalize theparty’s nominees for LokSabha polls, said Chautala,who is an MLA fromEllenabad.

Reacting to the reportsthat Haryana Speaker KanwarPal Gujjar has sent notices tofour MLAs who have joinedJannayak Janta Party and

sought their reply in thisregard, Chautala said thatthese members should be dis-qualified.

Notably, Chautala had lastweek written a letter to theSpeaker seeking disqualifica-tion of five MLAs includingRanbir Gangwa who hadjoined the BJP and INLDMLAs- Naina Chautala(Dabwali), Rajdeep Phogat(Dadri), Prithi SinghNamberdar (Narwana) andAnoop Dhanak (Uklana) whohad joined DushyantChautala’s Janata JananayakParty (JJP).

Another INLD MLA,Kehar Singh Rawat had alsojoined the BJP earlier thisweek.

Both Gangwa and KeharSingh have already resignedfrom the State Assembly.

There are speculationsthat more INLD leaders mayalso join hands with rivalcamps in the coming days.

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Congress leader AshokTanwar, who is leading a

faction-ridden state party unitin Haryana, faces a stiff chal-lenge in the ensuing Lok Sabhapolls as the factionalism threat-ens to derail the party’sprospects in the state.

Tanwar, however, seemspositive about Congress’prospects in the polls inHaryana.

“Everyone in the Congresshas one goal, which is to defeatthe BJP and INLD in the LokSabha polls. We are confidentto win all 10 Lok Sabha seats inHaryana,” says Tanwar.

Maintaining that the larg-er objective of the Congress isto defeat the BJP in ensuingLok Sabha polls and StateAssembly polls later this year,he also denies having enmitywith anyone in the partyincluding the former ChiefMinister Bhupinder SinghHooda.

The humiliating defeat ofthe Congress in 2014 LokSabha polls and assembly pollsheld later that year in Haryanahad led to a bitter feud betweenTanwar, a dalit leader and anupper caste Jat Hooda, whoheaded Congress’ Governmentin Haryana from 2004-2014.

While the factionalism isnot a new phenomenon inHaryana Congress, the feudbetween Tanwar and Hoodahad taken an ugly turn in 2016during a party workers’ clashwhere Tanwar had sustainedinjuries and blamed Hoodafor the entire incident.

Since then, Hooda factionmade several attempts to dis-lodge Tanwar from his post butthe demand of change in thestate party leadership was

ignored by the party high com-mand.

Tanwar now terms theentire controversy, a thing ofpast and says that the party isfocused on Lok Sabha pollsnow.

To put up a united face inHaryana in view of polls, seniorparty leaders in the faction-rid-den state party unit are present-ly undertaking a six-daystatewide “Parivartan Yatra”.

Tanwar, 43, has a crucialvictory in 2009 Lok Sabhapolls in Chautala’s citadel Sirsato his credit and eyeing to con-test from the same seat in2019 polls.

The former MP had lost toINLD’s candidate CharanjeetSingh Rori in 2014 polls.Tanwar, however, had in thepast five years focused on Sirsaparliamentary constituencyand addressed many publicmeetings besides launchingseveral party’s campaigns there.

The Congress leader hadearlier served as the chief ofIndian Youth Congress andworked closely with party pres-ident Rahul Gandhi. Tanwarwas handpicked by RahulGandhi to head the Haryanaunit of the party in 2014 and isbelieved to be close to theparty chief.

In an interview with ThePioneer, Tanwar spoke onparty’s infighting, electionagenda and other issues.Excerpts from the interview

What is your view onprospects of the Congress in thepolls?

The Congress is in thestrongest position among allpolitical parties. This is evidentfrom the fact that Delhi ChiefMinister and Aam Aadmi partyconvener Arvind Kejriwal isdesperately trying to form an

alliance with the Congress inHaryana and Delhi. Also, var-ious sections of society havesuffered in the past five years’regime of the BJP and theyknow that Congress is the onlystrong alternative for them inthe country as well as at statelevel. We are confident to per-form well in the polls under theleadership of Congress presi-dent Rahul Gandhi.

Congress is stated to bedivided in several factions inHaryana. Do you think it willaffect the party’s poll prospects?

In Congress, there is aspace for difference of opinion.I don’t think it is a serious issue.All the party leaders have samegoal, which is to defeat the BJPand INLD in Haryana.

Everyone is aware aboutyour differences with the for-mer Chief Minister BhupinderSingh Hooda. The senior partyleaders and MLAs close toHooda, had also beendemanding your ouster fromthe state party leadership.Your take on that.

This was all in the past. AsI earlier said, now everyone’sgoal is to oust the BJPGovernment from the countryand the state. The party lead-ers are making collective efforts

to achieve this goal.

What will be party’s mainagenda during polls?

Issues of unemployment,farmers’ distress, deteriorat-ing law and order situation,demonetization and faulty GSTimplementation, corruptionamong others will be raisedduring the campaigning.Haryana has witnessed vio-lence and was burnt thrice inthe past five

years. This will be akey election issue as well. Apartfrom this, the amendment inPunjab Land Preservation(Haryana Amendment) Bill2019 is a big scam in Haryanaand we will raise this in thepolls.

Since this is a nationalelection, do you think the issueof IAF’s air strike in Pakistanwill upstage other issues in thepolls?

The BJP led CentralGovernment has been exposedafter the Pulwama terror attack.People are aware about themajor intelligence failure andalso, the failed foreign policyunder BJP’s regime. The coun-trymen also know the reality ofother claims made by the BJPfollowing the Pulwama attack.

The state will witness amulti-cornered electoral fightthis time. There is BJP,Congress, INLD, JannayakJanta Party, Aam AadmiParty, BSP-LSP alliance inthe fray. Who do you think asyour main challenger in thepolls?

This depends on seat toseat contest. It will be clear afterthe announcement of candi-dates. But, the BJP Governmentat the Centre as well as inHaryana has performed badlyduring its tenure and theCongress is currently in astrong position.

There are accusations ofcorruption against the formerHaryana Chief MinisterBhupinder Singh Hooda.Lands deals in Haryana dur-ing Congress’ ten-year tenurehad become a major electionissue in 2014. Do you think thesame issue and ongoing inves-tigations in various scams willaffect party’s poll prospects in2019?

They (BJP) have only madeaccusations against the Congress.Even after so many inquiries,they could not find anything orprove the allegations in the lastfive years. The BJP works with anegative mindset and it is evidentfrom their actions. During itstenure, the BJP have done noth-ing but blame the Congress foreverything.

As the elections have beenpushed to sixth phase inHaryana, how the party willgo about its election strategy?When will the Congressannounce its candidates inHaryana? Also, do you thinkthat delay in elections here willsomehow impact the poll out-come?

The party will take time toannounce its candidates as theelections are scheduled to beheld on May 12 in Haryana. Wehave a lot of time to prepareand campaign ahead of thepolling day. As far as the delayin polling day is concerned, Ifeel it will work in Congress’favor. The BJP’s lies are exposed

on the issues of Rafeal deal, airstrike in Pakistan, failure onnational security among otherissues.

Will you contest the LokSabha polls? You haveexpressed interest to contestfrom Sirsa.

Yes, I am interested in con-testing from Sirsa Lok Sabhaseat. Sirsa is my hometown andI had earlier represented theconstituency in the Lok Sabha.I was elected from Sirsa in 2009Lok Sabha polls. I hope theparty will repose its faith in meagain.

How do you rate the per-formance of BJP regime inHaryana?

BJP Government hasproved to be an insensitive,incompetent and non-per-forming government inHaryana. This BJPGovernment has become theworst in the entire history ofHaryana. Corruption is on therise. There are land scams,mining scams, PLPA amend-ment scam among others. Also,there is no law and order as thestate had witnessed violenceduring agitations in BJP’sregime.

It is being said that thereis Jat Vs non-Jat divide inHaryana after the Jat reser-vation agitation in 2016. Doyou think it will affectCongress’ poll prospects andimpact the poll outcome in2019?

This is BJP’s thoughtprocess. BJP had tried to dividethe people but it had a tempo-rary affect. People have nowunderstood the intentions ofBJP, which wants to rule anddivide. There is no such dividein the state.

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Congress president RahulGandhi will visit Haryana

on March 29 to join party’s‘Parivartan Yatra’ to give much-needed impetus toCongressmen, as the stateparty unit is battling faction-alism and infighting.

Looking to strengthenparty’s position in ensuingLok Sabha polls, the seniorparty leaders of HaryanaCongress had on Tuesdayembarked on a six-day‘Parivartan Yatra’ in a special-ly designed bus to firm upinternal unity and showcase itacross the state.

The show of unity,designed to achieve two keytasks including ending fac-tionalism in the party andensuring maximum connec-tivity with the people across

Haryana ahead of the pollingday on May12, will now bejoined by party presidentRahul Gandhi.

The Gandhi scion willhold a roadshow on March 29in Karnal, which is represent-ed by Chief Minister ManoharLal in the State Assembly. Thevery idea of holding the road-show in CM’s home turf Karnalis to challenge the ruling BJPhead-on.

As part of energizingCongress workers in the statewhere assembly elections arealso scheduled to be held laterthis year, Rahul will addresspublic meetings at Jagadhri(Anaj Mandi) in Yamunanagar,Ladwa (Anaj Mandi) inKurukshetra, Karnal (ITIchowk). His roadshow willbegin from Jagadhri and con-clude at Karnal on Friday.

This will be RahulGandhi’s first visit to Haryana

after taking over as the presi-dent of the Congress inDecember 2017.

His visit assumes signifi-cance as he will be reaching outto the voters of three LokSabha seats including Ambala,Kurukshetra and Karnal,which was won by BJP in the2014 general elections.

Congress’ main rival—BJP—will field new faces fromKurukshetra and Karnal thistime while Ambala BJP MPRattan Lal Kataria is likely toget party’s ticket again.

In Congress, two-time for-mer MP Naveen Jindal is fron-trunner for a party’s ticketfrom Kurkshetra, Rajya SabhaMP Kumari Selja from Ambalawhile former Speaker andGanaur MLA Kuldeep Sharmahas sought a ticket for his sonfrom Karnal seat.

The voting to 10 LokSabha seats in Haryana will be

held in a single phase on May12.

The Chief MinisterManohar Lal has already beenholding roadshows in variousparts of Haryana to connectwith the voters.

“Congress chief RahulGandhi will address publicmeetings and hold roadshowfrom Jagadhri to Karnal dur-ing his one day visit to Haryanaon March 29, the fourth day ofongoing ‘Parivartan Yatra’ ofHaryana Congress,” said stateCongress secretary PankajPunia, while talking to ThePioneer.

On the fourth day of‘Parivartan Yatra’, the nighthalt is scheduled at Karnal, hesaid. The yatra which began onMarch 26 from Gurugram willconclude at Faridabad onMarch 31. To end the faction-alism in Haryana Congressunit, Ghulam Nabi Azad, who

is the Congress general secre-tary in charge of Haryana,had recently given a strongmessage to senior party lead-ers to fight a united war todefeat the BJP and that ticketswill be refused to those who donot toe the party line.

It is no secret that stateparty president Ashok Tanwar,a dalit leader, and former ChiefMinister Bhupinder SinghHooda, an upper caste Jat, donot see eye to eye on most mat-ters and have been at logger-heads since 2014 polls.

However, both the leadersseem to have set aside their dif-ferences, at least for now andwere seen sharing a seat dur-ing Congress ‘Parivartan Yatra’on the first day.

Apart from the two fac-tions headed by Tanwar andHooda in Haryana Congressunit, senior party leadersincluding Kumari Selja,

Randeep Surjewala, KuldeepBishnoi, Kiran Choudhry alsohead other factions within theparty.

While Congress legisla-ture party leader KiranChoudhry, Rohtak MPDeepender Singh Hooda,Rajya Sabha MP Selja Kumari,former minister Ajay Yadav,former Assembly SpeakerKuldeep Sharma were amongthe leaders who are on boardduring the bus yatra, KuldeepBishnoi and RandeepSurjewala have stayed awayfrom the party’s yatra.

Notably, the Congresscould retain only one LokSabha seat out of 10 in LokSabha polls 2014. In assemblypolls held later that year, theparty was reduced to 15 seatsonly. The number of CongressMLAs had later increased to 17after Kuldeep Bishnoi’s HJC’smerger in the party in 2016.

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Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)on Wednesday announced to

launch an agitation in case theCongress-led PunjabGovernment did not release Rs500 crore due to the state’s SCstudents on account of Post-Matric scholarship scheme byMarch 31.

The party also demandedaction against the state FinanceMinister Manpreet Badal andthe state Welfare of SCs and BCsMinister Sadhu SinghDharamsot “for compromisingthe dignity of SC students whowere being humiliated by bothGovernment and PrivateCollege managements for fail-ing to deposit the tuition feewhich was the responsibility ofthe State government underthe central scheme”.

Party MLA Pawan KumarTinu said that the Congressgovernment diverted Rs 270crore received in February thisyear for the SC scholarshipscheme from the CentralGovernment, and there was abacklog of around Rs 250 crorein distribution of this scholar-ship taking the total amountdue to students to more than Rs500 crore.

Tinu said that even as stu-dents were not being giventheir scholarship, the CongressGovernment had allowed col-lege managements to chargethem admission fee which wasnot applicable to SC studentsearlier during SAD-BJP tenure.“While enrolment of SC stu-

dents has dropped from threelakh to two lakh during the lastone year, it is likely to drop evenfurther due these new mea-sures,” he said.

“It seems the Congress gov-ernment does not want SC stu-dents to pursue higher studiesand become eligible for theGhar Ghar Naukari schemewhich is anyway on paper only”,he added.

He pointed that the man-agement of GovernmentMohindra College, Patiala, hadput up a notice asking all SCstudents to deposit their schol-arship fee or they would not beissued roll numbers, and thesame notices had been issued bymany private colleges also. “Thesituation has become such thatprivate college managementsare not giving degrees to stu-dents whose scholarship feehas not been paid by the gov-ernment,” he said.

The SAD will now take upthis cause and take it to its log-ical conclusion, said Tinu whiledeclaring that in case theCongress Government did notrelease the scholarship by March31, we would start an intensiveagitation to ensure SC studentsare not denied their rights.

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Expressing its deep anguishover the failure of the pre-

ceding governments in Punjabto take on the rising incidentsof deaths due to farm distress

and the youths dying of drugoverdose, the Aam AadmiParty (AAP) on Wednesdaycastigated the “sleepy” gov-ernments for confounding theproblem.

“If official figures are to bebelieved, Punjab is passingthrough a critical phase with

the overstressed farmers,already in debt trap, beingshoved into taking the extremestep due to government’s apa-thetic attitude, peddling rosydreams of a complete loanwaiver, only to backtrack on the

promise, leaving the hassledfarmers to fend for themselves,”said AAP MLAs — KultarSingh Sandhwan (Kotkapura)and Prof Baljinder Kaur(Talwandi Sabo).

Sandhwan, also AAP’s stateunit Kisan wing chief, saidthat the government should,

taking a cue from the DelhiGovernment, should imple-ment the recommendations ofSwaminathan Commission toaddress the farm distress.

They said that the govern-ment in the saddle, like the pre-vious Akali Dal government,had failed on all fronts, be itcreating enough job opportu-nities under the ‘Ghar GharNaukari’, addressing the issuesand concerns of farmers,stamping out the menace ofdrugs, which had proved to bea mere ‘jumla’ as nothing cameabout out of the narrative.

Speaking about the drugsmenace, Sandhwan accusedthe former SAD-BJP govern-ment of shoving the youthinto drugs by offering a pro-tective cover to the drug lords.“It is the Akali Dal governmentwhich introduced the cult of‘mafia raj’ in the state. Even the

ruling Congress governmenthas done nothing,” he added.

Prof Baljinder Kaur saidthat the galloping pace at whichdeaths due to drug overdose bythe youths were taking placehad sounded a clarion for thedeaf dispensation. “What ismore worrying is that the drugshas spread its fangs over theyounger girls both in the urbanand rural pockets of the statefor which the governmentswere to be held solely respon-sible,” she added while citing arecent example of a 13-year-oldgirl from Rama Mandi inBathinda district who wasallegedly shoved into drugs byher seniors.

She said that the situationwas for more alarming in theborder districts of Gurdaspur,Ferozepur and Tarn Taran,where three youths had recent-ly died of drug overdose.

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In view of the ensuing LokSabha elections, Haryana

Director General of PoliceManoj Yadava on Wednesdaydirected the officers concernedto completely curb the crimeand criminal activities in theirrespective areas.

Yadava held a meeting withpolice officers of Hisar rangeand reviewed law and order,

crime and other related mattersof five districts.

He also took stock ofpreparations made by localpolice, demand for police force,number of sensitive and hyper-sensitive booths and the actionplan of police.

Emphasizing on thestrengthening of intelligencewing, the DGP also instructedthem to intensely investigate incriminal cases like under Arms

Act, NDPS Act so that involve-ment of others in such networkcould be unearthed and recur-rence of crime could be pre-vented. He also directed themto take stern action on thoseinvolved in racket of drug ped-dling.

Calling upon the officers todischarge their duties withutmost dedication and honesty,Yadava said that Police shouldenhance their visibility on

roads so that the commonman and women can feel safeand secure.

He asked them to closelymonitor cases pertaining tocrime against women and takeimmediate action on such com-plaints.

Emphasizing on trafficmanagement, he said that workshould be done in a plannedand effective manner to avoidtraffic congestion.

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Chandigarh: A 40-year-oldcyclist pedalled fromChandigarh to Mumbai fornearly 50 days to spread aware-ness on saving environment.

Chandigarh-based RajivKumar's expedition was flaggedoff by Punjab Governor andChandigarh Administrator V P

Singh Badnore on February 1."The main purpose of this

expedition was to spread aware-ness on saving the environment.During my journey, I tried toencourage people to ride bicy-cles for commuting short dis-tances and even for going toworkplace as it will help in

reducing the air pollution,"Kumar told PTI on Wednesdayupon his return here.

His custom-designed nine-feet tall green bicycle attractedpeople's attention wherever hewent.

"On the bicycle, which Ihave designed myself andweighs around 67 kg, I alsocarry a replica of the 'OpenHand Monument', which is thesymbol of Chandigarh.

"The unique shape of thebicycle, which is adjustable andcan be folded when not in use,attracts crowds, especiallyyoungsters who are keen toknow why I have set out tocover long distances. I alsourged bicyclists to wear safetyhelmets like scooter and motor-

cycle riders do," he said.Kumar said he is planning

his next trip from Kashmir toKanyakumari on a bicycle,which will be a different onefrom the present one and willweigh half of its weight.

"I intend to complete thistrip in 30 days," he said.

He said that he has beencycling for the last 24 years andhad designed his first bicycle in1995 when he was a student ofClass 10.

"I want that younger gen-eration take a lead, especially incities like Chandigarh, whichhas dedicated cycle tracks.However, these days, manyyoungsters sit at home, watch-ing TV or spending most oftheir time on their mobilephones. They don't use cycleand travel in cars and bikes evento commute short distances. "Atpresent, majority of India'spopulation comprises of youthand if I am able to encourageeven a fraction of this to take upcycling just as a hobby, I thinkmy purpose will be solved," hesaid. PTI

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Page 5: Maoist hotbed Bastar Lok,ˇ ,0 ... two solid rocket boosters. Tracking data from range sen- ... in the first phase on April 11. Director general of police

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Ajoint team of CBI and EDwill soon leave for London

to assist local authorities in theextradition case of fugitive dia-mantaire Nirav Modi, wantedin the �14,000 crore PNB cred-it fraud case.

Modi’s bail plea will comefor hearing before a court inLondon on Friday. He is cur-rently undergoing judicial cus-tody.

A Joint Director-level offi-cer each from CBI and ED hasbeen deputed to leave forLondon Modi’s hearing on bailin London.

The ED officer will carrythe latest chargesheet filed bythe agency against Modi’s wifeAmi and the recent attach-ments made by it in the case tobuttress its extradition plea.

The team will also meetvarious officers there, includ-ing those from the CrownProsecution Service (CPS), andbrief them about the chargesand fresh evidence againstModi, his family and others inconnection with the case.

He was spotted living in an

upscale locality in London bythe UK-based newspaper TheTelegraph.

Nirav Modi was laterarrested on the basis of theextradition request of Indiaand an Interpol Red CornerNotice issued against him onthe request of the CBI last year.

Modi was produced beforethe Westminster Magistrates’Court last week, wherein hecontested his extradition toIndia.

The district court inLondon denied bail to Modiand remanded him in custody

till March 29, saying therewere substantial grounds tobelieve that he would fail tosurrender if granted bail.

UK Home Secretary SajidJavid had certified India’s extra-dition request for the fugitivediamantaire earlier this month.This led to the issuance of awarrant against him.

He is suspected to havearrived in London last year andwas able to travel in and out ofBritain at least four times sincehis passport was cancelled bythe Indian authorities inFebruary 2018.

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Taking a swipe at PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,

Congress president RahulGandhi on Wednesday said hisexpression during his address tothe nation betrayed his anxietythat “his time to go has come”.

Addressing a convention ofthe party’s Other BackwardClasses (OBC) department,Rahul said the prime ministerhas realised that the Congresswill now give justice to thepoor. “He (PM) made thecountry wait for 45 minutes forhis announcement, did youlook at his face? He has realisedthat the Congress will now givejustice...Modi is now afraidthat his time to go has come,”he told the gathering at theIndira Gandhi Indoor Stadiumhere, ahead of the April-Mayparliamentary election.

The newly-announcedNYAY (minimum incomeguarantee scheme) wherebythe party promised to give Rs72,000 per year to five crorepoor families in the country tobring them out of poverty, wasjustice, the Congress chief saidand asserted that Modi’spromises were “lies” and thusinjustice.

The Congress presidentalso assured the OBC commu-nity that they would see manymore MPs and MLAs fromamong them as the Congresshad earlier given two OBCChief Ministers to the country.“I am guaranteeing the OBCcommunity that soon they will

be given more space in theCongress party. In the comingdays there will more CMs,more MLAs...This is my guar-antee. I am not Narendra Modi,I don’t lie. I have taken thischallenge to give space to theOBC, dalit, farmers, poor...InCongress,” he said.

Attacking the prime min-ister, Gandhi said he had liedabout giving �15 lakh to peo-ple in the run-up to the 2014election, but the Congresswould give �72,000 as part ofthe proposed income guaran-tee scheme. “We won’t be ableto give �15 lakh, but we won’t

lie. We will give �3.60 lakhcrore in the bank accounts ofthe 20 per cent of the poorestof the country over the next fiveyears,” he said.

He hailed the ability ofpeople belong to the OBC cat-egory to work hard and saidthat they do “kaam ki baat”(talk about work) and not“mann ki baat”, in an apparentdig at the PM’s radio pro-gramme.

“We have written in ourmanifesto that any youth, be itfrom any category, doesn’t needany permission for the firstthree years for starting a busi-ness. We want make in India,not made by Ambani...We wantmake in India, not made byAmbani in France,” he said tak-ing a swipe at the govern-ment’s flagship Make in Indiascheme. “Lakhs of youth seekfinancial help to start a busi-ness, but fail to get it. We can-not accept this. We believeeveryone should get ‘NYAY’,” hesaid.

Rahul has been allegingthat businessman Anil Ambanihas benefitted from the Rafaledeal with French defence firmDassault, an allegation deniedby the industrialist and the gov-ernment.

New Delhi: The CPI(M) haswritten to the EC against theappointment of former BSFDirector General KK Sharma asspecial police observer for theApril-May parliamentary elec-tion in West Bengal andJharkhand, alleging he was pre-sent at an RSS function a yearago. The EC has earlier appoint-ed four special observers, tworetired IRS and two retired IPSofficer, to spearhead its efforts tocheck the abuse of black moneyand illegal inducements to vot-ers and monitor deployment ofsecurity forces in select sensitivestates during the Lok Sabhapolls. Sharma is one of them.

“It has been widely report-ed that the DG, who has nowretired, participated in a two-day event in Kolkata which wasorganised by Seemanta ChetnaManch, part of the RSS-backedSeema Jagran Manch, a panIndia body which aims to instil‘patriotism’ in the border areasacross the country.

“The ECI’s appointment,therefore, is patently questionableand would raise the question of

political partisanship. We would,therefore, urge the commissionto reconsider and rescind thisappointment forthwith,” the let-ter from CPI(M) Polit bureaumember Nilotpal Basu said.

On Tuesday, theTrinamool Congress had raisedsimilar objection to Sharma’sappointment. The CPI(M)has also raised the issue of apurported video clip of TripuraChief Minister Biplab Deballegedly issuing a veiled threatto the opposition parties. “Inthe clip he clearly says that theelections to the two parlia-mentary seats from Tripura willbe different from the past andimplied a threat to the opposi-tion of undermining the nor-mal course. To add emphasis,he underlined that he was notjust speaking in his enthusiasm,but in complete senses.

“This is a clear violation ofmisusing his office to threatenfree, fair and peaceful polls andwould warrant urgent remedi-al measures from the ElectionCommission,” the letter fromthe CPI(M) leader said. PNS

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The Election Commission (EC) hassent a notice to four producers of the

film ‘PM Narendra Modi’ after receivingcomplaints from few other political partiesregarding the intent and timing of themovie. The Congress and Communist

Party of India (Marxist) had complainedto the ECI about the film’s release, claim-ing that it’s being done with political intent.

On March 25, a Congress delegationhad visited the EC to protest against theVivek Oberoi-starrer, alleging that the film’srelease slated just ahead of the com-mencement of Lok Sabha polls is a viola-tion of the model code of conduct.

The Congress delegation, includedRandeep Singh Surjewala, Kapil Sibal, andAbhishek Manu Singhvi, also sought a banon the release of the biopic ahead of polling.

Last week, the EC had sent notices totwo newspapers for publishing posters of‘PM Narendra Modi’ for promotions.

The movie has also got into legal trou-ble as a petition has been filed in theBombay High Court seeking a stay on therelease of the biopic on April 5.

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The Supreme Court onWednesday sentenced

advocate Mathews JNedumpara to three months injail for contempt of court andattempting to “browbeat”judges but suspended the sen-tence after taking note of theunconditional apology ten-dered by him.

The apex court, whichbarred the advocate from prac-tising before it for a year, saidthe jail sentence will be sus-pended only if Nedumparaabides by the undertaking thathe will never attempt to brow-beat judges of the top court andthe Bombay High Court.

A bench of Justices RFNariman and Vineet Saran,meanwhile, issued fresh con-tempt notice to Nedumparaand three others for “scan-dalous allegations” levelledagainst both the judges in a let-ter addressed to the Presidentof India, Chief Justice of IndiaRanjan Gogoi and other judgesof the top court and theBombay High Court.

On March 12, the top courthad held him guilty of con-tempt for taking the name of

noted jurist Fali S Nariman, thefather of Justice RF Nariman, toallege that sons and daughtersof judges were given priority inawarding ‘senior advocate’ des-ignation and had said that hehas attempted to browbeat thecourts.

It had issued notice to thelawyer on the punishment to beimposed on him for commit-ting contempt of court and hadsought his response within twoweeks.

The issue of contempt had

cropped up when the benchwas hearing a petition filed byan organisation, NationalLawyers Campaign for JudicialTransparency and Reforms,which was represented byNedumpara during the hear-ing.

In its order on Wednesday,the bench said: “We sentenceMathews J Nedumpara to threemonth imprisonment in jailwhich is suspended only ifMathews J Nedumpara, infuture, continues to abide by

the undertaking/affidavit(given by him).

“Mathews J Nedumpara isotherwise barred from prac-tising as an advocate before theSupreme Court for a period ofone year.”

The court said the freshcontempt case be placed beforethe CJI for constituting anappropriate bench to hear thematter as “serious allegations”have been levelled against boththe judges of the present bench.

The bench noted in its

verdict that Nedumpara hastendered an unconditionalapology to the court by way ofan affidavit given by him.

During the arguments onpoint of punishment to beimposed on Nedumpara,Justice Nariman said: “Are you(Nedumpara) aware that I havea daughter who is a practisinglawyer and she is not allowedto enter this court? Are youaware that Justice U U Lalit’s(sitting apex court judge) fatheris a lawyer?”

When Nedumpara said hehad raised an issue-based mat-ter in the plea filed by hisorganisation, Justice Narimansaid, “The issue is not FaliNariman but about relativespractising as advocate beforejudges. Justice Lalit’s issue wasnot mentioned and this showsit is not issue based.”

When the matter wasargued in the morning session,Nedumpara told the benchthat he has sought transfer ofthe case to another bench andhe will also file an applicationseeking recall of the March 12order holding him guilty ofcontempt of court.

However, the benchreferred to a letter written by a

Mumbai-based bar body tothe President of India, the CJIand other judges and toldNedumpara that “one very verydisturbing thing has takenplace”.

“They (bar body) haveattacked us (both the judges) inthe most scurrilous fashion,”Justice Nariman said.

The bench toldNedumpara that it appeared asif he and the bar body were“acting in tandem” and have“embarked upon the task todestroy the superior judiciaryof the country”.

He later sought a pass overon the ground that his lawyerwas on his way to the courtafter which the bench saidthat it would hear the matter at2 PM today itself.

When the bench assem-bled at 2 PM in the post-lunchsession, the counsel appearingfor Nedumpara referred to theprocedure of contempt of courtand said no charges wereframed in the matter.

However, the bench said,“Having held Nedumpara guiltyof contempt of court, can otherbench deal with the issue ofpunishment? Today, the issue isonly about punishment.”

New Delhi: The Election Commissionhas said it is eaxmining whether theGovernment has the right to invoke"national security" on Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's address to the nation onMission Shakti which has triggered theOpposition charge of model code of conduct.

In a statement the ElectionCommission said, "The matter related tothe address of the Prime Minister to thenation on electronic media today after-noon (March 27) has been brought to thenotice of the Election Commission ofIndia. The Commission has directed acommittee of officers to examine the mat-ter immediately in the light of model codeof conduct." Dr Sandeep Saxsena, DeputyElection Commissioner (DEC) of theMCC division, will head the committeeto examine PM Modi's speech. PNS

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The Election Commission islearnt to have issued a

show cause notice to theRailways and Civil Aviationministries over the use of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s pic-tures on rail tickets and AirIndia boarding passes as primafacie it violates the model codeof conduct.

The code came into forceon March 10 when the pollbody announced the schedulefor the Lok Sabha polls begin-ning April 11.

Sources in the poll panelsaid prima facie the railwaysand Air India have violated themodel code of conduct, andreferred to clause VII of thecode which states that “issue ofadvertisement at the cost ofpublic exchequer ... Regardingachievements with a view tofurthering the prospects of the

party in power shall be scrupu-lously avoided”.

In a complaint to the EC,the Trinamool Congress hadrecently claimed that the“...Railway tickets issued bythe Indian Railways containachievements of the party inpower at the Centre (BJP) withregard to Pradhan Mantri AwasYojana and photographs ofPrime Minister Narendra Modiwhich is being displayed at thecost of public exchequer andobviously to influence minds ofthe voters.”

The display of photographwas part of an Urban

Development Ministry adver-tisement campaign.

A portion of the back sideof tickets is often used foradvertising. The railways hadlast week decided to withdrawthe tickets carrying the pho-tographs of the PM, sources inthe ministry said.

Nearly one lakh such tick-ets were printed and a few wereremaining in the lot. The min-istry is likely to reiterate thesame position to EC, they said.

The railways had said all its17 zones have been directedagainst using the tickets carry-ing the picture of the prime

minister. A boarding pass issued by

Air India had pictures of PMModi and Gujarat ChiefMinister Vijay Rupani. Theairline had said the passes fea-turing the photographs, whichwere third-party advertise-ments, would be withdrawn ifthey were found to be in vio-lation of the Model Code ofConduct.

Former Punjab DGPShashi Kant on Monday tweet-ed a photograph of his board-ing pass issued at the NewDelhi airport, questioning howpictures of the two leaderscould be on it.

An Air India spokespersonearlier said the boarding pass-es seemed to be the ones print-ed during the Vibrant GujaratSummit held in January andthe photographs were part ofthe advertisement from ‘thirdparties’.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi is trying to create fear

psychosis in the minds of vot-ers through warmongering,CPI leader D Raja saidWednesday, alleging that hisannouncement on ‘MissionShakti’ showed his “desperationand panic”.

“He has politicised theachievements of the scientists,taken credit for it and usedpublic broadcasting to do so.This is definitely a violation ofthe model code of conduct (forthe Lok Sabha elections). TheEC should take action imme-diately.

“Also, he is trying to createa fear psychosis in the minds ofthe people ahead of the elec-

tions and is (resorting to) war-mongering. This shows thatthey are desperate and panicky,”Raja said.

However, sources in theElection Commission have saidthat issues related to national

security and disaster manage-ment do not fall under theambit of the model code ofconduct.

India shot down one of itssatellites in space onWednesday with an anti-satel-lite missile to demonstrate thiscomplex capability, PrimeMinister Narendra Modiannounced, making it only thefourth country to have usedsuch a weapon.

Declaring India has estab-lished itself as a global spacepower after the success of theoperation ‘Mission Shakti’,Modi said the missile hit a livesatellite flying in a Low EarthOrbit after it traversed a dis-tance of almost 300 km fromearth within three minutes ofits launch.

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The Chidambaram familyhas succeeded in buying

silence from Congress leaderSudarshana Nachiappan, whohad revolted against the HighCommand’s decision to nom-inate Karti Chidambaram asthe party candidate fromSivaganga parliamentary con-stituency.

In a hurriedly convenedpress meet at Karaikudi lateTuesday evening, Nachiappan,a strong contender for the seat,shook hands with Karti anddeclared that he would work forthe success of the latter. “Ourultimate dream of makingRahul Gandhi the PrimeMinister of the country wouldmaterialise only if Karti winsfrom here. Moreover, Karti ismy loveable brother and thereis no issue between us,” saidNachiappan while speaking toreporters at the Congress officein Karaikudi. He also recitedverses from the scriptures todrive home his stance that hewas not after power or wealth.

The Congress leadershiphad deputed AICC secretary

Sanjay Dutt to Karaikudi to sortout the issue. Tuesday morningsaw a series of phone callsbetween various Congressleaders in the State andNachiappan. The rebel leadercame down from his intransi-gent stance after he got a callfrom Chidambaram, said asenior Congress leader in theState. Following some plainspeaking by Chidambaram,who was once the HomeMinister of the country,Nachiappan rushed to the partyoffice, shook hands with Kartiand offered peace.

But Karti, who had forfeit-ed his security in the 2014 LokSabha election from the sameconstituency may have to sweatit out this time as theChidambarams are no more

that popular in the region,according to a former Congressleader in Sivaganga. “If theAIADMK led front succeeds inmobilising the Mukkulathoorcommunity votes in favour ofH Raja, the BJP nominee, itwould be a tough task for Kart,”said Arunagrinathan, formerSeva Dal chief of the district.

Meanwhile, Chidambaramgot another success in the runup to the election as RajaKannappan, the AIADMKleader who had contestedagainst him in the 2009 electionfrom the same constituencydeclaring that he would active-ly campaign for Karti. TheAIADMK leader who lost nar-rowly to Chidambaram in the2009 election had filed a peti-tion in Madras High Courtchallenging the latter’s electionwhich is in the final stage ofhearing.

Raja Kannappan’s argu-ment was that the data entryoperators employed in thecounting station by the thenDMK government entered thevotes polled by him in theaccount of Chidambaram andvice versa. J Jayalalithaa, thethen Leader of the Opposition

herself wrote to the ChiefElection Commissioner statingthat Chidambaram’s win was byfraudulent means and notbased on the votes cast by theelectorate.

Jayalalithaa said in the let-ter that 3400 votes polled byKannappan from 11 pollingstations were entered in favourof Chidambaram and 1617votes polled by the later wereentered in favour of theAIADMK candidate. She saidthis was done by the DEOs atthe behest of the then DMKgovernment and no action wastaken against the operatorswho indulged in such graveoffences.

The court is all set toexamine Pankaj Kumar Bansal,the then Returning Officer onApril 22.On Monday, whenthe matter came up for hearing, the new judge PushpaSathyanarayana issued a sternwarning to all concerned andsaid that the case should not beprolonged further. Kannappan,who crossed over to the DMKrecently following denial ofseat to him by the AIADMKhas said that he would notwithdraw the cases.

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Lucknow: BJP MP Anshul Verma joined theSamajwadi Party on Wednesday after he was deniedticket by the Bharatiya Janata Party for the LokSabha polls.

"I have joined the SP without any conditions.My fault for denial of ticket might be that I hadraised voice against distribution of liquor in a tem-ple premises at a conference of the Pasi commu-nity, to which I belong," Verma said.

"I was hurt by this and had also written to ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath," Verma told reporters atthe SP headquarters in presence of party supremoAkhilesh Yadav.

Verma said his other fault might be that he didnot prefix the word 'chowkidar' to his name inTwitter profile.

He was denied ticket by the BJP for the LokSabha elections and the party has fielded Jai PrakashRawat from the Hardoi seat, held by Verma.

Addressing media persons later, Yadav attackedboth the Congress and the BJP saying that there wasno difference between the two parties.

"In the past 30 to 40 years, see how other coun-tries have developed. The Congress is also respon-sible in taking country backward and for povertyand unemployment," he said.

He also alleged that "injustice" was being metedout to SP leader Azam Khan. PTI

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Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant will beinducting former MGP MLA Dipak Pawaskar, whohas merged the legislative wing of the party withthe BJP, into the State Cabinet at 11.30 pm onWednesday, a senior official said.

The swearing-in ceremony will be held at theRaj Bhavan where Governor Mridula Sinha willadminister oath to Pawaskar, a senior Governmentofficial told PTI.

The swearing-in was scheduled to be held inthe morning, but could not take place as Sinha wasin New Delhi.

"The Governor has cut short her Delhi trip andwould be arriving in the evening to administer oath,"the official said.

Pawaskar and another MaharahstrawadiGomantak Party (MGP) MLA Manohar Ajgaonkarmerged the legislature wing of the party with theBJP in the early hours of Wednesday.

The MGP is now left with only one MLA —Sudin Dhavalikar — after the split.

Dhavalikar, who was the Deputy Chief Minister,was dropped from the Cabinet after the early morn-ing developments. Pawaskar is the first-time MLAwho represents Sanvordem constituency in SouthGoa district. During the wee hours of Wednesday,Ajgaonkar and Pawaskar gave a letter to officiat-ing Speaker Michael Lobo, merging their party's leg-islative wing with the BJP. PTI

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Amethi (UP): Campaigning in herbrother Rahul Gandhi's parliamentaryconstituency, Congress general secre-tary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra onWednesday asked party workers toreach out to the villages and exposewhat she called was the BJP's "jumle-bazi" or empty rhetoric.

Priyanka Gandhi, who arrivedhere via Lucknow to hold a dialoguewith the booth level presidents as partof the party's 'humara booth, humaragaurav' campaign, remained closetedwith representatives of Amethi foraround two hours at the A H InterCollege in Musafirkhana.

This marked the beginning of thesecond phase of her election campaignin Uttar Pradesh.

Clad in a blue cotton sari, micro-phone in her hand, the Congressleader took centre stage among localleaders, taking feedback from them.The Amethi constituency has longremained a Congress stronghold.

In the interactive session, PriyankaGandhi told workers to reach out tovillages in order to respond to theBharatiya Janata Party's 'jumlebazi' and"expose the reality before the people".

Party workers who attended themeeting, later said, Priyanka Gandhipatiently heard ways to effectivelyreach out to the party's booth level.

Till we take the failures of the gov-ernment to the people, they will notcome to know the reality of this gov-ernment, she told workers.

The Congress general secretary in-charge of eastern districts said peopleand Amethi have suffered a lot becauseof demonetisation, stray cattle men-ace, stopping MNREGS and snatchingof a food park and the Indian Instituteof Information Technology.

She said it was during the Congress'rule the country achieved expertise inmanufacturing matchboxes to missiles,whereas Prime Minister NarendraModi was merely undertaking foreigntrips even as farmers faced immenseproblems and were not even gettingproper return for their produce.

She accused Modi of not fulfillinghis "promise" of depositing �15 lakheach into every Indian's account. Shesaid the Congress party does what itsays, pointing out that farm loans werewaived soon after the RajasthanGovernment was formed. PTI

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Tiruvarur (TN): Six peoplewere killed and three injured inan explosion on Wednesday ata firecracker unit atMannargudi, about 28 kmfrom here, a fire and rescueofficial said

The explosion was trig-gered when the workers werehandling raw materials to makecrackers in the unit, he said.

The owner of the unit wasamong the deceased.

The explosion was so pow-erful that the building thathoused the unit collapsed andportions of it were flattened, hesaid, adding there was noblaze.

"While four of them wereflung outside under the impactof the explosion, two gottrapped under the rubble andall of them died," a rescueofficial told PTI.

Several teams of fire andrescue personnel from hereand nearby areas were pressedinto service to rescue the vic-tims and clear the rubble.

The two seriously injuredworkers were admitted to anearby Government medicalcollege hospital, while the otherman was discharged after treat-ment, he said. PTI

Lucknow: The BJP appears tohave kept the caste factor inmind while picking candi-dates which will help it reachits "target" of 74 seats fromUttar Pradesh in the LokSabha elections.

Of the total 80 seats in thestate, the Bharatiya JanataParty has so far declared 61candidates, with the Brahminsgetting the most nominations,followed closely by backwardcommunities and the Dalits.

Fifteen seats have beenallotted to Brahmins, 14 tobackward community lead-ers, 13 to Dalits, 10 toKshatriyas, four Jats, twoGurjars and one each toVaishya, Parsi and Bhumiharcastes, said party leaders.

But the party claimed caste

was not taken into account."Our party does not

believe in caste politics. Thetickets are given consideringwinnability and local factors.All aspects are being takeninto account before declara-tion of tickets by the partyleadership," a senior BJP leadertold PTI.

"If you go through the BJPlist, it will be seen that theparty has taken minimumrisk in ticket distribution.Seats where sitting MPs havebeen dropped, the new can-didates are of the same caste,"said senior journalist andpolitical analyst HemantTiwari.

"The BJP has applied (the)tested social engineering for-mula and it's major thrust in

this election seems to be onthe non-Yadav OBCs, non-Jatav SCs and upper castesespecially Brahmins andKshatriyas due to ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath," hesaid.

The National DemocraticAlliance won 73 seats (71 forBJP and 2 for Apna Dal) in2014 polls in UP. The BJP iskeen on maintaining its win-ning spree here and its leadershave been given a target of "74plus seats" this time.

The Rashtriya Lok Dal,which has found space in theSamajwadi Party and BahujanSamaj Party's tie-up for UttarPradesh, is eyeing Muslim,OBC and SC votes, analystssaid.

This time, the BJP has

given tickets to seven sittingMLAs including three minis-ters.

Gangoh MLA PradepChowdhury has been giventicket from Kairana, whileDiler MLA Rajbir Singh hasbeen given ticket fromHathras, Jaidpur MLAUpdendra Rawat has securedticket from Barabanki andBalha MLA Akshaywar LalGaur has been given ticketfrom Bahraich seat.

The three cabinet minis-ters who have been given tick-ets for Lok Sabha polls are -Rita Bhauguna Joshi(Allahabad), SatyadevPachauri (Kanpur) and S PSingh Baghel from Agra.

The party has alsodropped several sitting MPs

keeping in mind local factors.Those dropped include

BJP stalwart Murli ManoharJoshi (Kanpur), PriyankaRawat (Barabanki-SC), AshokDohrey (Etawah-SC), BharatSingh (Ballia), Rajesh Pandey(Kushinagar) and Nepal Singh(Rampur).

The BJP has so far giventickets to eight women, includ-ing Maneka Gandhi, Rita Joshiand Jaya Prada.

Denying any impact of thereported resentment among"dropped" leaders, a BJP leadersaid, "Our cadre is disciplinedand everyone has one objec-tive this time - to makeNarendra Modi PM again. Wewill succeed in our endeavourand defeat casteist forces andcorrupt people." PTI

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Jammu: Retired senior IAS officerVinod Koul, instrumental in the cre-ation of 659 new administrative unitsin Jammu & Kashmir during theOmar Abdullah regime, joined theCongress on Wednesday.

Son of former Congress ministerManohar Nath Koul, a prominentpolitician from south Kashmir, the 62-year-old former bureaucrat joined theparty in the presence of Jammu &Kashmir Pradesh CongressCommittee (JKPCC) chief GulamAhmed Mir.

"I have joined Congress party ata function in Srinagar today. It was ahome coming, in a way, for me as Ibelong to a family connected with theCongress party in Jammu & Kashmir,"Kaul told PTI.

The former relief commissioner ofthe state, Koul said he wanted tostrengthen the secular forces inJammu & Kashmir and continue thelegacy of his father.

"If at all I wanted to join politics,it was only Congress. So, I com-menced the journey following in thefootsteps of my father," Kaul said,adding that his joining the Congresswas a homecoming.

Koul, who attained superannua-tion in 2017, served as administrativesecretary of different departmentsincluding revenue, technical educa-tion, youth services and sports, ani-mal husbandry among others.

As commissioner/secretary of thestate's revenue department, Kaul wasthe brains behind the expansion of theadministrative units to reach thestate's grass-root level under theNational Conference governmentback in 2014. As many as 659 newadministrative units including 46 subdivisions, 135 tehsils, 177 CommunityDevelopment (CD) Blocks and 301Niabats across the State were approvedby the Government.

He was widely appreciated by thestate's political leadership for hisproactive role in gearing up the Statemachinery for relief and rescue worksafter the devastating floods that hitKashmir in 2014.

Koul, who belongs to Vessu ham-let of Anantnag district, was also thearchitect of the �44,000-crore mem-orandum submitted by the NC-Congress regime to the Union gov-ernment for rehabilitation of theflood victims. PTI

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Mumbai: The Bombay HighCourt on Wednesday refusedto stay proceedings before amagistrate court in a 2016criminal defamation case filedby Nusli Wadia against RatanTata and some other directorsof Tata Sons.

A single bench presidedover by Justice MridulaBhatkar refused to extend herMarch 18 order whereby shehad restrained the magistratecourt from hearing the caseuntil Wednesday (March 27).

The court was hearing awrit petition filed by Tataand the other directors seek-ing that the complaint, FIRand the charge sheet filedagainst them in the case bequashed.

While senior advocate

Abhishek Manu Singhvi, whorepresents Tata in the case,sought an extension of suchstay, Justice Bhatkar pointedout that the next hearingbefore the magistrate courtwas in July this year. She saidthe HC will hear the quashingmatter before July and, there-fore, the stay was not neces-sary.

In December 2018, a mag-istrate court in the city hadissued notices to Ratan Tataand other directors of TataSons in the criminal defama-tion case filed by Wadia.

Wadia had filed the casein 2016 after he was voted outof the boards of some TataGroup companies.

Wadia had claimed thatTata and others had made

defamatory statements againsthim after they removed CyrusMistry on October 24, 2016 asthe group chairman of TataSons.

Wadia was on the boardsas an independent director ofgroup companies like theIndian Hotels Company thatruns the Taj group of hotels,TCS, Tata Motors and TataSteel among others.

He was voted out byshareholders at a speciallyconvened general meetingbetween December 2016 andFebruary 2017.

He said he approachedthe magistrate court as he wasnot satisfied with the expla-nation the respondents (Tataand others) had given him fol-lowing his letters to them. PTI

Lucknow: Uttar PradeshGovernor Ram Naik onWednesday lodged a strongobjection over Akhilesh Yadav'stweet calling him a "campaign-er for the BJP", saying the SPchief "disrespected those occu-pying constitutional posts".

A Raj Bhawan statementsaid Naik has written a letter toYadav over his Tuesday's tweet.

Referring to reports in a sec-tion of the media, Naik saidYadav has been quoted as say-ing "Governor and Governmentagencies were campaigning forthe BJP and today itself theGovernor has gone to visit some

people involved in an incidentin Lucknow". Naik said he hadvisited the family of an accidentvictim in the State capital whichhe considers as his duty. TheGovernor said he has not visit-ed any public programme norissued any statement since theannouncement of elections.

"I think that such a talk atelection time is not appropriateand is not expected of you," thegovernor said. The SP presidenthad tweeted on Tuesday: "BJP'selection issues: Opposition andchowkidar. BJP's campaigners:Governor, Government agenciesand media." PTI

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Mumbai: The Bombay HighCourt on Wednesday directedthe dean of JJ Group ofHospitals here to constitute apanel of doctors to assess themental health condition of a20-year-old college student,who has approached the courtseeking to terminate her preg-nancy.

The petitioner is in 23rdweek of pregnancy, which is aresult of a "consensual" rela-tionship.

She approached the highcourt saying though the foetushas no known abnormalitiesand the pregnancy doesn'tpose a threat to her physicalwell being, carrying the preg-

nancy to its full term will bedetrimental to her mentalhealth.

In her petition, filedthrough advocate Neha Philip,the woman submitted opinionsof some private medical prac-titioners affirming she suf-fered from some mental healthproblems and that her mentalcondition was "fragile".

The petitioner claimed shewas also incapable of havinggiven a coherent consent tosuch a relationship.

The Medical Terminationof Pregnancy (MTP) Act pro-hibits termination of preg-nancy beyond 20 weeks.

The Act permits abortion

after consultation with onedoctor up to 12 weeks.Between 12 to 20 weeks, med-ical opinion of two doctors isrequired for termination ofpregnancy.

Beyond the 20-week,exceptions are legally permis-sible only if continuation of thepregnancy poses a threat to themother's health and life.

However, in the recentpast, the Supreme Court andseveral high courts, includingseveral benches of the BombayHigh Court, have taken anexpansive view of the defini-tion of health and risks to thelife of the woman as definedunder the Act. PTI

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Jammu: With the Oppositionaccusing Prime Minister Modiof trying to get electoralmileage by announcing amidthe poll process the successfultesting of India's anti-satellitemissile ability, the BJP onWednesday cautioned politicalparties against playing "politicson the issue".

Terming DRDO scientistsachievement as a "pride" of thenation, BJP national generalsecretary Ram Madhav said "letus not play politics" on theissue.

Modi announcedWednesday that India demon-strated its anti-satellite missilecapability by shooting down alive satellite, and described it a"rare achievement" that puts thecountry in an exclusive club ofspace super powers.

"Let us not play any politics(on the achievement). Thewhole country takes pride inthe achievement of our scien-tists," Madhav told reportershere.

Replying to a question ona reported Congress' claim thatthe country developed thiscapability way back in 2012, theBJP leader said, "If it wasdeveloped in 2012, I don'tknow why it was never tested

or never told to the people.""We have come to know

about it through a successfultesting today, so we give cred-it to our scientists for the greatachievement," he added.

"The BJP congratulates theDefence ResearchDevelopment Organisation sci-entists and the people of thecountry. It is a phenomenalachievement in the spacepower and has filled our heartswith pride. Congratulations toour Government and the PrimeMinister," he said.

The BJP leader said the suc-cessful testing has placed India

in the elite club of major coun-tries in the space technologyand "it is a big achievement forIndia because cyber area isgoing to be future of all conflictsand the challenges the countryis going to face in future.

"Mastering this kind oftechnology is a great relief forthe country and a big achieve-ment," he said.

Congress spokespersonRandeep Singh Surjewala ear-lier had said in tweet that "thebuilding blocks for success" ofanti-satellite programme"were laid during UPA-CongGovt in 2012". PTI

Lucknow : Terming theCongress' minimum incomescheme "Garibi Hatao 2.0",BSP president Mayawati onWednesday backed the BJP'sassessment that it was a "bluff ".

But while taking the dig atthe Congress' pre-poll promise,she also mocked at the BJP,asking it if the ruling party hasthe sole right to poll bluffs andpromises.

"The ruling BJP callingthe Congress slogan of GaribiHatao 2.0 as bluff is true. Butis poll bluff and reneging onpoll promises the sole domainof the BJP?" Mayawati asked ina tweet.

"In fact the BJP & Congressparty are both birds of the samefeather in betraying the inter-ests of the poor, labourers,farmers & others," she added.

Mayawati 's comment

comes days after the Congresspromised a minimum annualwage of �72,000 to 20 per centof the poorest in the countryif it is voted to power.

She cal led Congress 'Nyuntam Aay Yojna (NYAY)"Garibi Hatao 2.0" on thelines of late Indira Gandhi'sslogan of Garibi Hatao duringthe Emergency in the mid-1970s. PTI

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Mamata Banerjee hasoffered to solve the

Kashmir problem, provided shewas called upon to do so, theBengal Chief Minister said onWednesday even as she under-scored the highlights ofTrinamool Congress’ electionmanifesto.

Credited with breaking the

Darjeeling impasse swiftly andsteadily and handling of theMaoist crisis in Jangalmahalareas of her State, Banerjeesaid, “I don’t believe that theKashmir problem cannot besolved. Everything has a solu-tion and Kashmir issue too canbe solved. The only need is toreach out to the people of thatState and talk to them with yourheart,” adding she was ready for

talks with the Kashmiris.“If I am asked to take up the

issue, I will gladly accept thetask. For that, I will have to goto Kashmir. I will reside therefor some period of time whenI reach out to the women folk,mothers, sisters, housewivestaking all into confidence,” theChief Minister said, adding“Kashmir issue needs a bit ofheart for it to be solved.”

Speaking about theDemonetisation issue, Banerjeevouched for an investigationinto the “biggest scam.” She hadalways been vocal againstDemonetisation which, sheclaimed was used as a money-making device for the BJP to

win elections.“We will probe into whether

and how this demonetisationwas used to make black moneywhite and who benefited fromthis step” that made the wholecountry to suffer as the country’seconomy suffered as never

before and crores of people losttheir jobs.

On Goods and ServicesTax, the Chief Minister said ifOpposition parties come topower, they would consider thereviewing of the GST so as tolessen its burden on the people.

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PNS: The party will try to findout “why was demonetisationcarried out? To serve whoseinterests? We want a judicialprobe monitored by a formerSupreme Court judge.”

Again “Our aim is to gen-erate employment for youthsand students. We are proud tosay we have reduced unem-ployment by 40 per cent inBengal.” Besides “every vacantseat for SC/ST/OBCs must befilled.”

The manifesto said “eco-nomic security of farmers andensuring their livelihood mustbe ensured. We will see to itthat farmers do not have to selltheir products at low price.”

It also said that “socialsecurity of the workers in theunorganised sector must betaken care of,” particularly,

“we will lay special emphasison the empowerment ofwomen.”

On the GST it says that“the basic idea behind theGST was initially completelydifferent. But the way theCentral Government imple-mented the GST, it did notbenefit anybody from thesmall business to the generalconsumer. So, the GST will bereviewed so that the public,buyers and small and mediumenterprises benefit from it.”

It also says, “we want 100Days’ Work to be increased to200 days, and their daily wagesto be doubled. This will ensuretheir livelihood and improvetheir quality of life. We will tryto ensure employment anddouble the labourer’s wage.”

To further strengthen the

federal structure, a new modelof Planning Commission willbe established it has saidadding “continuous commu-nication with the States will bemaintained. The PlanningCommission will become thefocal point of development.”

The manifesto seeks tocreate better social infrastruc-ture; we will increase invest-ment in education and healthsectors. Besides laying stresson science, research, econom-ic progress, agriculture, indus-try and service, our focuswoul also be on new invest-ments and holistic develop-ment of the country.” It alsowrites about how the party“will encourage sports and allcultural thoughts for the bet-terment of the people of thenation.”

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Allahabad: The AllahabadHigh Court on Wednesdaystayed the arrest of senior SPleader Azam Khan, his wifeand son in a case of forgeryand cheating to secure two"fake" birth date certificates fortheir son.

A bench of justices ManojMishra and Vivek Verma sus-pended the arrest of Khan, hiswife Nazneem Fatima, a RajyaSabha member and sonAbdullah Azam Khan, anUttar Pradesh MLA on theirpetition seeking quashing ofthe FIR against them.

The bench halted theirarrest till submission of theprobe report by the police.

The case against Khanand his family members had

been lodged at Ganj police sta-tion in Rampur district onJanuary 3 on a complaint by aBJP leader, Akash Saxena.

Saxena had alleged thatKhan and his wife had helpedtheir son secure two fake birthdate certificates — one fromLucknow and another fromRampur through cheating andforgery.

Appearing on behalf of theKhans, their counsel arguedbefore the bench that the FIRwas lodged out of "politicalvendetta with ulteriormotives".

He also contended that asno pecuniary loss or gain wasmade to anybody, no case ofcheating is made out againsthis clients. PTI

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Ahmedabad: Prime MinisterMinister Narendra Modi isunlikely to contest electionfrom Gujarat is spite of thedemands from the BJP's Stateunit, a party leader here hassaid.

Modi had won fromVadodara and Varanasi in 2014and chose to retain the latter.

As BJP president AmitShah will be contesting fromGandhinagar, the chances ofanother national-level leadercontesting from the state arevery slim, a state BP leader saidon the condition of anonymi-ty.

"I do not think that theywill field two national leadersfrom one State. There is nochance of Modi fighting froma seat in Gujarat," the BJPleader said.

State BJP leaders haverequested Modi to contestfrom Gujarat to boost partyworkers' morale, especially inthe aftermath of the 2017Assembly elections when theCongress managed to restrictthe BJP to 99 seats, lowest intwo decades, and increased itsown tally by 16 seats to 77 inthe 182-member LegislativeAssembly. PTI

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Mumbai: Abdul KadirNajmudin Sathak, an allegedaide of Islamic preacher ZakirNaik, on Wednesday deniedthat he helped the controversialtelevangelist with money laun-dering.

Sathak, a jeweller, was arrest-ed Friday under the Preventionof Money Laundering (PMLA).

He is accused of helpingNaik by transferring "funds ofdubious origin from the UAE(United Arab Emirates) to facil-itate production and broadcast-ing of incriminating videos forspreading communal hatred andradicalisation of a particularcommunity".

In his bail plea before specialPMLA judge M S Azmi, filedafter he was sent in judicial cus-tody, Sathak said there was noth-ing to show that he "acquired ordealt with any property" obtainedthrough crime. PTI

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Shillong: Coal mining ban inMeghalaya has become a majorpoll issue in the State with bothChief Minister and NPP pres-ident Conrad K Sangma and hispredecessor Mukul Sangma ofthe Congress harping on theissue.

Conrad K Sangma onWednesday accused MukulSangma of failing to challengethe coal mining ban in the Stateby the National Green Tribunal(NGT) when he was ChiefMinister.

The ban has not onlyaffected livelihood of the peo-

ple but also led to financial lossfor the State, Conrad, alsoNational People's Party (NPP)president, said while addressingelection rallies in South GaroHills district.

The NGT had imposed ablanket ban on mining andtransportation of coal inMeghalaya in 2014, citingunscientific methods andabsence of safety measures.Mukul Sangma was the chiefminister at that time.

An NPP-led coalition,Meghalaya DemocraticAlliance (MDA) which includes

the BJP, ousted the CongressGovernment in the state in theassembly election held early lastyear. "In 2014, the NGT hadbanned coal mining inMeghalaya. I ask MukulSangma why he had failed tochallenge the NGT order in theSupreme Court. In 2018, whenthe MDA came to power, thegovernment had to start fromscratch and now is fighting thecase in the Supreme Court,"Conrad said.

"We have talked to variousstakeholders to resolve the issuefor the greater interest of our

people," said the chief ministerwho has just completed oneyear in office.Conrad said thethen Congress government didnot even respond to a queryfrom the Centre in 2015 regard-ing the exemption of the Mineand Mineral (Development andRegulation) Act fromMeghalaya.

Mukul Sangma, now the Congress candidate for Tura Lok Sabha seat, on the other hand, accused the ruling dispensation of cheatingthe people with sugar-coatedtalks. PTI

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On January 28, 1964, The NewYork Times reported: “Generalde Gaulle’s Government broketoday with the United States(US) policy of isolating com-

munist China and announced the establish-ment of diplomatic relations with Peking.”The US newspaper added: “France’s recog-nition of the communist regime was thefirst by any major power since the KoreanWar began nearly 14 years ago.” The USdeeply regretted the French move at a timethe Chinese communists were “promotingaggression and subversion.” So as FrenchPresident Emmanuel Macron and his wifeBrigitte Macron received the Chinesepresidential couple for an intimate dinnerat Beaulieu-sur-Mer, a resort on theRiviera, the stakes have changed. Chinanow has the upper hand.

In 1964, former French PresidentCharles de Gaulle had affirmed: “La Chineest un grand pays” (China is a big country)but today it has become power No 2 on theplanet after the US and Xi Jinping plans todethrone America with his own dream.Fifty-five years later, the same New YorkTimes reported the arrival of the ChinesePresident: “The Promenade des Anglais [inNice] — the palm-lined beachside avenuethat is the city’s premier attraction — wasclosed to traffic all weekend.” This neverhappened before.

In March last year, Xi made news whenhe was given a life-long term as Presidentof China. The international Press thenmainly noted the Emperor-for-life aspect,forgetting that Xi wanted to transformChina into the No 1 world power. A yearlater, partly due to Twitter attacks from USPresident Donald Trump, Xi is not so self-assured and an economic crisis, loominglarge over China, has weakened the MiddleKingdom. Officially, its growth was only 6.5per cent in 2018, the slowest pace since thedepths of the global financial crisis in 2009.Bloomberg noted: “Tariffs on Chineseexports to the US imposed by PresidentTrump are starting to pinch the country’sfactories.”

Xiang Songzuo, a professor at theRenmin University School of Finance,wrote that China’s GDP growth would onlybe 1.67 per cent and not 6.5 per cent in2018. According to the website Chinascope,Xiang also warned that “nowadays, Chinesehave become addicted to playing with debtand high leverage financing. This is actu-ally a mirage and will collapse soon.”

L’Affaire Huawei has been a turningpoint for the Western views on the MiddleKingdom; the telecom equipment compa-ny has been at the centre of media atten-tion for the wrong reasons; US officialscharged the company with stealing technol-ogy from T-Mobile, one of its business part-ners and wanting to impose its own stan-dards for the 5G, the latest generation ofcellular mobile communications. This is the

background of Xi’s visit toItaly, Monaco and France.

Chinese strategists wereaware that Italy is the weakestlink in the Europe Union (EU)and while more and morecountries realise that the Beltand Road Initiative (BRI), sodear to Xi, is not offering freemeals but often plunges thebeneficiary nations into deepdebts, Beijing managed to finda European “client.”

On March 23, Xinhuareported that Xi and ItalianPrime Minister GiuseppeConte jointly “elevated theChina-Italy relations into anew era”. A Memorandum ofUnderstanding to advance theconstruction of the Belt andRoad was signed. In a diplo-matic jargon, the Chinese newsagency said that “the two coun-tries have continuously deep-ened their communication andcooperation in various fields,which helped each other’ssocial and economic develop-ment.”

Xi urged the two sides toaccelerate negotiations on aChina-EU investment agree-ment, enhance synergy of theBRI and the EU’s developmentstrategies. Conte answered theChinese President: “Italy isglad to seize the historic oppor-tunity in joining the Belt andRoad construction.”

Other European countrieswere not amused, though Xiassured Italy that the BRIwould be a two-way road forinvestment and trade. GermanForeign Minister Heiko Maas

told Welt am Sonntag newspa-per: “In a world with giants likeChina, Russia or our partnersin the US, we can only surviveif we are united as the EU…and if some countries believethat they can do clever businesswith the Chinese, then they willbe surprised when they wakeup and find themselves depen-dent.”

The EU’s German budgetcommissioner, GuentherOettinger, told the Funke news-paper group that Europeshould ensure it retains itsautonomy and sovereigntywhen dealing with China.

French President Macronforcefully asserted that thetime of European naivety overChina was over: “For manyyears, we had an uncoordinat-ed approach and China tookadvantage of our divisions,” hesaid. He called for stricter ruleson Chinese investments in theEU; German ChancellorAngela Merkel expressed sim-ilar views.

French Finance MinisterJean-Yves Le Drian remarkedthat “Silk Road cooperationmust go in both directions”.

The French Press quotedthe Sri Lankan experience as“the dark side of the new SilkRoad.” It mentioned the port ofHambantota and how in themid-2000s Colombo agreed“to entrust Beijing with theconstruction of an ex-nihiloport in the town ofHambantota, in the south ofthe island. It is not yet a ques-tion of the Silk Road …but all

the ingredients were there.”Like for the China-

Pakistan Economic Corridor,Chinese funds, engineers andworkers would build the infra-structure in partnership, sup-posedly becoming a ‘win-win’venture. But Sri Lanka, likeMalaysia and many other coun-tries, has now discovered thatit was in fact a lose-lose oper-ation, with the new assetsbecoming Chinese as soon asthe client state is unable torefund the ‘loans’.

Xi probably did not con-vince Macron, Angela Merkeland European CommissionPresident Jean-Claude Juncker(the latter two joined Macronin Paris to meet the ChinesePresident) of Beijing’s bonafide,despite the Chinese President’senigmatic words: “In politics,we should not only build astrong ‘dam’ of mutual trust,but also a ‘lighthouse’ of ideal.”

However, at the end of hisvisit, Xi left a small present forthe European firm Airbus, a$35 billion jet deal, whichincluded 290 A320-series nar-row-body planes and 10 A350wide-bodies. President Macronobserved that Xi’s official visitwas an “excellent signal” of thestrength and reliability of rela-tions between China andFrance. He added that the twocountries are ready to build a“strong Euro-Chinese partner-ship, based on clear, strict andambitious rules” …minusnaivety. Will it work?

(The writer is an expert onIndia-China relations)

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Vote guarantee scheme”(March 27). One fails to under-stand how the Congress will gen-erate funds for the said mass pro-gramme. And what about cor-ruption or pilferage of money?The fact is that a huge chunk ofour population is still poor with-out even a nutritious square meala day. The gap between the richand the poor is widening everyday while the wealth of politiciansacross the spectrum multipliesevery five years. Political partiesshould be advised and warned bythe judiciary not to misuse tax-payer money, especially duringelection time. Sops only end upmaking people lazy. Instead, themoney can be put to use forindustrialisation and creating theinfrastructure that will give jobsto our unemployed youth.

Sravana RamachandranChennai

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Sir — The Election Commission(EC) is striving to make pollingaccessible to physically chal-

lenged voters. Among other ini-tiatives, the EC has ensured iden-tification of such voters and pro-viding them with free pick-up anddrop facility. Apart from this, theelectoral body is also making ade-quate arrangements to providewheelchairs at polling boothsand has requested volunteers tochip in with additional wheel-chairs if the numbers fall short.Further, the EC can look at

arranging mobile polling boothsfor the exclusive use of physical-ly challenged voters.

Varun DambalBengaluru

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “India firm on terror” (March25). The Union Government has

taken a firm decision to ban theseparatist outfits in Jammu andKashmir. This move is laudable.The Pulwama terror attack fur-ther provided ample scope andopportunity to the Government.It allowed the Army freedom toeliminate terrorists across theborder.

However, it is not understoodwhy similar retaliatory steps werenot taken during the 2008

Mumbai attacks. The thenCongress-led Government wasrattled and frightened. It darednot retaliate even though theinternational community wouldhave overtly or covertly extend-ed unstinting support to us.

Nimai Charan SwainBhubaneswar

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Vote guarantee scheme” (March27). It looks Congress chief RahulGandhi has proceeded to give afresh coat of paint to theCongress’s decades-old ‘GareebiHatao’ slogan less than threeweeks before the general election.Whether ‘Nyuntam Aay Yojana’ orthe minimum income scheme canbe the ‘final assault on poverty’, asRahul Gandhi thundered on TV,one would not know till all its con-tours are revealed. Till then hischallenge should be on how toshift gear from a negative cam-paign against Modi to a positiveone for his affirmative agenda.

J AkshayBengaluru

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After several years of deliberations andcounters, the Ministry ofEnvironment, Forest and ClimateChange has finally decided to drafta fresh legislation to replace the colo-

nial Indian Forest Act, 1927. In doing so, it seeksto reflect the changed needs and aspirations ofthe country while negotiating the challenges offorest and environment conservation, originaldwellers and development imperatives.

Truth be told, the colonial law has little rel-evance considering the British framed it with theexpress purpose of harnessing natural resourcesfor the Empire’s needs. The imperial rulersrealised the potential of scientific forestry man-agement practices that could help the colonialadministration in procuring timber for revenue,developing the track infrastructure of the IndianRailways and other needs. The British Raj, there-fore, established the Imperial Forest Departmentunder Dietrich Brandis, a trained forester, in1864.

Brandis held a vision of conserving forestcatchments so that they could help in soil andmoisture conservation that in turn helped agri-cultural practices. In 1884, he laid down a pol-icy subordinating forestry to agriculture with theintention of protecting farm communities fromrepeated famines which would have a cascadingsocial and economic cost. The first forest act wasthus drafted in 1878 and with the formal open-ing of a dedicated college at Dehradun, forestry,as a full-fledged science, started taking roots inIndia. To mirror the changes of an evolved under-standing and assessment, a new Forest Act wasenacted in 1927, which is the law-enforcing bookon forests in India today (many States framedtheir own laws exactly on the pattern of this Act)until the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, WildlifeProtection Act, 1972, and the Scheduled Tribesand Other Traditional Forest Dwellers(Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, cameinto force.

In the early 1990s, the Central Governmentfelt the need for a new law, considering there wasa need for a joint forest management policy inthe face of increasing plundering of forests by thetimber mafia. Existing and codified punitive mea-sures were archaic and clearly not sufficient. Thiswriter was a member of two committees that wereentrusted with the task of revising the Act, butafter preparing a voluminous draft, it was foundto be too unwieldy for implementation.Ultimately, it was decided to propose an increasein fine and compensation as also the duration ofimprisonment for those committing offences byamending certain provisions in the Act.

Dimensions for forest conservation havechanged in the past 15 years, primarily due to ashift in the focus from timber-oriented forestryto people-centric forest management practices.A fresh approach was required following theenactment of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, whichhad to factor in emerging challenges likeencroachers, illegal poachers and mafia besideshrinkage, degradation and change of the forestcover itself due to climate change. Now let us dis-cuss some of the silent features of the new draftAct. It must be accepted that the colonial ForestAct was the most people-friendly from among

imperial edicts. It had a provisionunder Section 28 to create villageforests, which is akin to the present-dayjoint forest management and the com-munity forestry concept. Further, underSection 80, the Government can joint-ly manage any forest or wasteland withanybody’s support.

The old Act laid emphasis on theconsolidation of forests and at the sametime had left the door open for people’sinvolvement in deciding the extent ofthe Government forest land and thewillingness to jointly manage any for-est with anyone who is willing to do so.The new Act improves on this byexpanding the chapter on village forestsand giving them legal backing. Thisindeed is very crucial in the present-dayscenario. The draft policy documentalso talks about degraded land and howit can be improved by undertakingafforestation activities using public-pri-vate partnership models.

The new draft Act aims to ensuresmooth sailing for those people, whoare dependent on the forests for theirlivelihood as also for capacity-building.Section 2 clearly defines forest land andproduce, community, owner, localbody, non-timber forest produce andshifting cultivation. This will helppeople exempt themselves from thetransit regulatory regime for peddlingtheir defined forest and horticultureproduce. Section 4 will help in quicksettlement of rights on forests by a des-ignated officer. The new Act makes itexplicitly clear under Section 5 thatexcept under the Forest Rights Act,2006, no pattas can be given to anyone.It also acknowledges the harmony

between forest management and trib-al life and makes provisions for ade-quate compensation for tribal land.

In the draft Act, the role of GramSabhas has been codified and it seeksto make provisions for other stakehold-ers, too, like people cooperatives/bod-ies, tribals and other Ministry officials,who will now be holistically includedin forest management. One of theimportant features in the new Act isunder Section 22(A) that recognises aprocedure for recording individualand community rights — a very pro-gressive and laudable venture.

The new Act seeks to deal firmlywith emerging challenges, be it of tim-ber mafia, poachers or any other anti-social elements. It rightfully empowersthe forest officials and other law enforc-ing representatives to deal with sucherrants. According to global reports,India tops the list in losing forest offi-cials to forest crime syndicates. The newdraft provisions must, therefore, becomplemented by enhancing infra-structure for the forest personnel, at parwith the police.

However, in India, corruption is abig problem, even among forest staff,and self-proclaimed tribal well-wishersemerge with assistance from vestedinterests to derail any reform. Some ofthem have already started a campaignto criticise the provisions in the newdraft Act that empower field forest offi-cers. By raking up the issue of forestbureaucracy, they want to confuse ourpolicy-makers. Stringent provisionsare needed to deal with organised crim-inal activities, along with a people-cen-tric approach in governance. India

cannot meet climate change and otherinternational commitments to sustain-able goals and aim to enhance tree coverwithout a viable and strong legal backup. As it is, India is a water-stressedcountry. Unless forests in the catch-ments and elsewhere are saved, the sit-uation will worsen. According to sta-tistics by the Central Ground WaterBoard, 70 per cent of India’s districtssuffer from shortage of ground water.The situation is turning acute year afteryear. Many rivers and their tributariesare drying up and many Indian villagesand cities are facing shortage of drink-ing water. Water riots have broken outin many places.

It would be anybody’s guess as towhat will happen to our agriculture inthe next few years if steps are not takento recharge the aquifers, protect ourforests, manage our rural landscape andtackle climate change on a war-footing.Social media as well as intellectualsmust realise that the good work of alarge number of unsung foresters innation-building should be recognised.In fact, it should be expanded with theprovisions of the new Act to cater to thelivelihood of the villagers situated infringe forests.

Further, State Governments mustcome up with positive suggestions onthe draft Act early without getting influ-enced by naysayers. Simultaneously theEnvironment Ministry should wrap updeliberatons on it in a timely manner.This is the best they can do to accom-modate aspirations of forest-dependentpeople and save our green cover.

(The writer is a retired civil servant)

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The spectre of water shortagelooming large over India isnot new. In fact, this crisis has

become a stark reality, especiallyduring gruelling summer months.As the municipal water systemstruggles to keep pace with the ever-growing urban demand,the beleaguered ground water tablein rural areas is increasingly unableto cater to an average farmer’s irri-gation needs. In the cities, waterriots and buying up tankers are fair-ly common occurrences.

This has had a telling impact onagricultural productivity and con-sequently, food security. Further, thewater availability scenario in ruralareas has assumed grim proportions

due to a fall in levels in the tradi-tional hand-dug wells such as bao-lis.

As India prepares for yet anoth-er summer, it is not surprising thatmany citizens have already madepreparations to face the attendanthardships. Thanks to climatechange, rains have been playing tru-ant and have shown irregular pat-terns for a long while now. This sce-nario is resulting in a cumulativeimpact on the availability of wateracross major Indian cities that arereeling under the impact of scarcenatural resources besides having todeal with an immense load ofmigratory population. These con-ditions have made living in someIndian cities such as Bengalurualmost unbearable.

Where has India gone wrong?Clearly, climate change has becomea reality for nations across theworld but some countries are han-dling its consequences much betterthan India. There are some aspectsthat are unique to India such as ahuge population problem, whichweakens our fight against climate

change. Since population and otherassociated issues cannot be wishedaway, India must find ways to over-come the challenges posed by scarcenatural resources and manage themfor consumption. How we achievethis basically depends on how wellwe observe the goings on in othercountries around the world.

Singapore is an apt example ofhow a nation can beat the odds ofwater crisis to become self-reliant.It emerged from being a water-scarce developing nation to a worldleader in water management prac-tices in just a few decades. Since itsindependence in 1965, one of themain concerns for the Governmentwas to provide clean water to grow-ing domestic and non-domesticsectors. In 1965, Singapore wasdependent on Johor, a state insouthern Malaysia, for waterresources under two agreements:One signed in 1961 and the otherin 1962.

In view of this dependence,long-term security of water becamean essential consideration for thecity-state. As a result, it developed

and executed plans to enhancewater security and self-sufficiency.Innovations covered aspects of pol-icy, planning, management, institu-tional development, finances, tech-nology and most recently, societalbehaviour. The main reason forSingapore’s success in managing itswater resources was a parallelemphasis on supply and demandmanagement, including conven-tional and non-conventionalsources of water — reused waterand desalinated water.

Singapore’s entire water cycle ismanaged by the Public UtilitiesBoard (PUB) that collects, treatsand reuses water on an extensivescale — a step that very few coun-tries have taken. The supply ofwater has further been expanded byreducing water that’s unaccountedfor, which is defined as actualwater loss due to leaks, plus appar-ent water losses arising from meterinaccuracies. Also, Singapore doesnot have illegal connections and allwater connections are metered.The unaccounted for water hasdecreased from about 9.5 per cent

in 1990 to about five per cent inrecent years, one of the lowestrates in the world.

Water conservation is encour-aged in the domestic sector andmandated in the non-domestic sec-tor, too. These include efficiencymeasures, both engineering solu-tions and human behaviour, such asappliances within PUB’s efficiencyratings. The ability of the nation toachieve these feats can be attributedto Government support, long-termplanning and realisation that cleanand reliable water resources areessential for overall socio-develop-ment.

Following the policy paradigmof ‘think ahead, think again andthink across’, Singapore has lookedfor every opportunity to collect,treat, reuse and produce the neces-sary water resources not only at pre-sent but in a horizon that spans sev-eral decades. The city-state’s waterresources planning, governanceand practices hold lessons for everyother developed and developing cityand country.

Indian conditions are apt for

emulating the Singapore model.For a successful simulation, concen-trated efforts have to be made toensure that free water sops for thesake of political mileage are discon-tinued forthwith.

India must also consider thepollution of its remaining freshwater bodies and rivers from urbanand industrial pollution. Unlessthis is done, we are in the processof worsening an already difficultposition. Stress has to be laid onensuring that water wastage is con-tained during supply. Additionallyit is also crucial that the wastewatertreatment facilities are not onlyramped up with growing require-ments but the STPs are also ade-quately functioning. India hasample resources if only they aremanaged well. The responsibility toeffectively and optimally utilisethese resources lies with each oneof us under the guidance of theGovernment. If this translates intoreality, water scarcity will be athing of the past for India.

(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)

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Shares of Jet Airways contin-ued their upward journey on

Wednesday and closed over 3per cent higher after the com-pany set an ‘ambitious’ target offlying 40 additional aircraft bythe end of April.

The stock closed at�277.15, up 2.27 per cent on theBSE. During the day, it gained5.79 per cent to �286.70.

At the NSE, shares went upby 3.21 per cent to close at�279.60. In terms of volume,23.40 lakh shares traded on theBSE, while over 2 crore shareschanged hands on the NSEduring the day.

In the past two days, the

stock has climbed 20 per cent.Jet Airways has informed

the Government that it has 35aircraft in operation and it has setan “ambitious” target of flying 40additional aircraft by the end ofApril, Civil Aviation Secretary PS Kharola said Tuesday.

For the past few weeks, thefull-service carrier has beengrounding its aircraft in tranch-es due to non-payment of dues tolessors, bringing down its oper-ational fleet from 103 to just 35.

Giving up the chairman-ship after more than 26 years,embattled Jet Airways’ founderNaresh Goyal Monday quit asa board member, with thelenders taking control anddeciding to infuse �1,500 crore

immediately into the ailingairline.

Addressing a press confer-ence, Kharola said, “They (JetAirways) were hopeful that byMonday or Tuesday, they willbe able to come to some set-tlement with the lessors. As perthe plan given by Jet, they arehopeful that by the end of nextmonth, they will be able to flyabout 40 more planes.”

“We had discussions withJet and we asked them what isthe plan now to bring the(grounded) planes back in thesystem. So, the first thing theyhave assured us is that 35planes are flying and no moreadditional planes will begrounded,” he added.

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Currencyin circu-

lation aspercentageof GDPdeclined byover 1 per-c e n t a g epoints to10.48 percent in thetwo yearsafter demonetisation, a FinanceMinistry official said.

The Government haddemonetised currency notes of500 and 1000 denomination onNovember 8, 2016, to checkblack money.

“In terms of GDP, notes incirculation declined from11.55 per cent as on November8, 2016, to 10.48 per cent as onNovember 8, 2018, reflectingthat it has actually contributedin reducing the currency incirculation,” an official said.This reflects a decline of 1 per-centage point or 100 basispoints.

Post note ban, �15.31 lakhcrore worth demonetised noteswere deposited in banks with-in a stipulated time. This was99.3 per cent of the �15.41 lakhcrore worth of �500 and �1,000notes in circulation onNovember 8, 2016.

One of the objectives ofdemonetisation was to reducecash-economy and encouragedigital mode of payment.

The notes in circulationhad recorded an averagegrowth rate of 14.51 per centyear-on-year since October2014 to October 2016.

As on November 4, 2016,notes in circulation was �17.74lakh crore, which increased to�21.22 lakh crore as on March22, 2019.

According to the financeministry calculation the notesin circulation would havegrown to �24.55 lakh crore byend of March 2019, higher byRs 3 lakh crore than the cur-rent level, if the governmenthad not demonetised curren-cy notes.

With regards to digitaltransactions, the official saidthe volume has increased to210.32 crore in October 2018,from 71.19 crore in October2016.

The value of digital trans-action also increased to �135.97lakh crore in October 2018from �87.68 lakh crore inOctober 2016.

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Amid speculation that hemay be the Finance

Minister if an Oppositionalliance wins the ensuing gen-eral elections, former RBIGovernor Raghuram Rajan hassaid he is willing to return totake an opportunity where hecould be of use.

Rajan, a former ChiefEconomist at the InternationalMonetary Fund who wasdenied a second term asReserve Bank Governor by theBJP-led government, said he is“very happy” where he is, butis open to opportunities.

“I am very happy where Iam. But if there is an opportu-nity to be of use I will alwaysbe there,” he said at the launchof his new book ‘The ThirdPillar’ on Tuesday evening.

Rajan, who is currentlythe Katherine Dusak MillerDistinguished Service Professorof Finance at the University ofChicago’s Booth School ofBusiness in the US, was askedif he would like to return toIndia in public service or evena political role.

Speculation in political cir-cles has been that he may be achoice for Finance Minister ifthe ‘Grand Alliance’ of oppo-sition parties such as TMC,Samajwadi Party, BSP and TDPwere to win the April/Maygeneral elections.

Congress President RahulGandhi had on Tuesday statedthat Rajan was among topeconomists that his party hadconsulted to draft its minimum

income guarantee scheme,Nyuntam Aay Yojana or NYAY.

The scheme assures up to�72,000 a year or �6,000 amonth income to 20 per centof India’s poorest families if theCongress is voted back topower in the Lok Sabha elec-tions next month.

In an interview to CNBCTV18 Tuesday, Rajan said itwas “premature” to discuss if hewas approached by any of theparties to take up a policy-mak-ing position if they were to win.

“I think it is premature tohave this discussion. I reallythink that this is an importantelection for India and I alsothink we need a new set ofreforms. I would be happy topush those ideas and we aretrying to do that more broad-ly to anybody who listens,” hehad said.

Rajan, who is credited withtaking some bold decisions oncleaning up of bank balancesheets as the RBI Governor,when asked what his prioritieswould be if he was the finance

minister of the country, hesaid “I think there areshort-term issues”.

“A number of econo-mists, of which I was one,have put together a set ofpolicy ideas and they areout there for anybody toread. They are comingout in a book but let mesay very quickly that cer-tainly, I would focus onshort-term actions thatcould put a lot of projectsback on track,” he said.

Also, cleaning up thebanks as quickly as possible andset them back on credit growth,and finding two or three keyreforms that could unleashgrowth would be his focus, hesaid.

“Certainly one of them hasto be how we review agriculturein a way that reduces distress.Second would be the issue ofland acquisition. Can we learnfrom the best practices of thestates and find methods thatseem fair and in a sense alsogive states the freedom to pickthe method that works best forthem so that we learn fromeach other’s experiments?

“Land acquisition andbank cleanup, as well as, tryingto find some key policies thatwould revive agriculture - thesewould be top priorities,” hesaid. Rajan was the 23rdGovernor of the Reserve Bankof India between September2013 and September 2016.Between 2003 and 2006, he wasthe Chief Economist andDirector of Research at theIMF.

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Subsidies provided by Indiato its farmers are quite low

as compared to billions ofdollars given by western coun-tries, a top government officialsaid Wednesday.

Commerce SecretaryAnup Wadhawan said Indiaprovides only about $250 perannum per farmer but unfor-tunatley “our subsidies runinto trouble” as they are notstructured properly, so there isa need to learn from othercountries.

Developed countries,including the European Union(EU) and the US, have allegedin the World TradeOrganization (WTO) thatIndia provides huge subsidiesto its farmers. India alwaysmaintains that its farm subsi-dies are well below the WTO’scap of 10 per cent.

The US has also draggedIndia to the WTO’s disputesettlement mechanism overexport subsidies being pro-vided by New Delhi.

“If you look at the kind of

budgetary support whichdeveloped countries provideto their economic agents, thenumbers are mind boggling,”Wadhawan said here at afunction.

In the agriculture sector,he said, the EU and the USprovides huge subsidies butcleverly put those in boxeswhich are WTO compatible.

Citing a joke, he said,cows in the EU get so much ofsubsidy that a cow can beflown around the world inbusiness class twice.

“Our subsidies in agricul-ture for instance are onlyabout $250 per annum perfarmer, compared to billions ofdollars which western coun-tries give,” he said.

Talking about special eco-nomic zones (SEZs), he saidthere is a need to make thesezones as zones of excellence,which should be investorfriendly, having state-of-the-art infrastructure.

“We need to transformour SEZs into that model,” hesaid adding that competitiveeconomic zones are not based

on fiscal incentives but basedon easy regulatory environ-ment and single-window sys-tem.

There is also a need tolook at Chinese model of thesezones which are spread in amuch wider space, Wadhawansaid adding India’s SEZ policydoes not get implementedentirely as envisaged.

“India is not as successfulstory as China and other coun-tries...But India has a relativedecent start. The exports(from SEZs) are about �6 lakhcrore per annum and has cre-ated 2 million direct jobs,” headded.

Speaking at the function,Niti Aayog Chief ExecutiveOfficer Amitabh Kant saidincreasing exports would helpin boosting the country’s eco-nomic growth.

Rather than SEZs, Indianeeds coastal economic zones,he said adding incentivesshould be linked to employ-ment creation.

These zones would have ahuge positive impact on India’seconomic growth, he added.

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Six additional posts of judi-cial and technical members

will be created in the NationalCompany Law AppellateTribunal (NCLAT), with theCabinet approving a proposalon Wednesday.

The tribunal hears appealsagainst rulings of the NationalCompany Law Tribunal (NCLT).The Cabinet on Wednesdaycleared a proposal for creation ofthree additional posts, each forjudicial members and technicalmembers, in the NCLAT,according to an official release.

“The posts will be createdin Level 17 (�2,25,000 - fixed)plus allowances as admissible.The total financial implicationwill be �2,27,82,096 perannum,” it added.

The new posts wouldensure meeting the mandateprovided to NCLAT by theFinance Act, 2017, theCompanies Act, the Insolvencyand Bankruptcy Code, 2016.

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GST anti-profiteeringauthority has found

Kerala-based distributor WinWin Appliances guilty of prof-iteering �32,926 by not pass-ing on GST rate cut benefit tocustomers.

A complaint was filedwith the Kerala StateScreening Committee onAnti-Profiteering against WinWin Appliances for not reduc-ing the price of mixer-grindercommensurate with thereduction of the goods andservices tax (GST) from 28 percent to 12 per cent with effectfrom November 15, 2017.

The respondent, in itsdefence, said he was a dis-tributor of the product whichwas sold under the brandname ‘Butterfly’. It said theproduct was being sold at theprice fixed by the manufac-turer — M/s Butterf ly,Gandhimathi Appliances Ltd.

During the investigation,the Directorate General ofAnti Profiteering found thatWin Win Appliances hadincreased the base price of theproduct when the GST ratewas reduced to 12 per centand hence indulged in profi-teering by not passing on thebenefit of the tax rate cut tocustomers.

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Mandated by the Ministryof Interior, State of Qatar,

Mohammed Khater Ibrahim AlKhater, Ambassador of theState of Qatar to the Republicof India on Wednesday inau-gurated Qatar Visa Center inNew Delhi where Visa appli-cants can enroll their biomet-rics and undergo mandatorymedical test all under one-roof,making the whole Visa processhassle free for the applicants.

Six other visa centers inMumbai, Kochi, Hyderabad,Lucknow, Chennai and Kolkatawill be operational shortly.

Speaking to The Pioneer onworking conditions, safety andsalary issues, Major AddullahKhalifa Al Mohannadi, Directorof Department of Visa SupportServices at the Ministry ofInterior of the State of Qatar,said, “We have a lot of rules andregulations that protect therights of labourers in the Stateof Qater. It is very apparent thatthe State of Qatar has improvedits regulations with regard tolabourers’ issues. And we are

continuously working toimprove the services providedto the workers. This projectitself is a part of many otherprojects that provide safe work-ing environment.”

The move to get work visaapplicants to complete the mostessential and critical part oftheir visa processes in thecountry of origin is aimed atguaranteeing prospectiveemployees their rights in amanner consistent with thebest international standards.

On this occasion, theAmbassador of the State of Qatarto India, Mohammed Khater AlKhater, said, “the State of Qatar,under the wise leadership ofSheikh Tamim bin Hamad AlThani, Emir of the State of Qatar,has witnessed a speedy growthand development over the pastyears and the Indian communi-ty in the State of Qatar has con-tributed significantly in thedevelopment process. The Stateof Qatar protects the rights of theexpatriates and facilitate theirwork procedures while recog-nizing the contribution of theIndian community.”

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Housing sales are expectedto rise in 2019, as the

realty market is on a recoverypath after absorbing the impactof policy reforms like RERA,GST and note ban, according toCBRE.

The CBRE said 200 millionsq ft of space would be addedin 2019 across all segmentsincluding housing, office, retailand logistics. The real estatestock in India will reach 3.7 tril-lion sq ft at the end of this year,the consultant said in a report‘Real Estate Market Outlook2019 — India, released here.

“The growth of the IndianReal Estate market in 2019 willbe driven by numerous factorsincluding technology, demand-supply dynamics, improved easeof doing business rankings andthe dust settling post the imple-mentation of reforms such asGST, RERA among others,” saidAnshuman Magazine, chair-man & CEO of CBRE India.

Magazine, who is also thechairman and CEO of SouthEast Asia, Middle East andAfrica, said significant growthacross segments, would lead tothe addition of almost 200 mil-lion sq ft of new real estate spacein 2019 across categories includ-ing office, retail, residential andlogistics.

Post the policy reforms in2016 and 2017 such as demon-etisation, Real Estate RegulatoryAuthority (RERA) and Goods &Services Tax (GST), the resi-dential market is absorbing theimpact of these changes and ison the path to recovery, CBREsaid. This led to a growth ofabout 15 per cent year-on-yearin new supply and 13 per centyear-on-year in sales.

“As developers align them-selves with structural policyreforms implemented in thepast few years and with chang-ing characteristics of demand,we can expect residential supplyto improve in 2019,” the con-sultant said in a report.

The residential market isbetter placed this year as spec-ulation-led investment activityhas reduced significantly andfinancial checks are in place toprevent over-gearing, it added.

On outlook for housingsector, the report said the sup-ply-demand scenario is expect-ed to improve and unsold inven-tory levels are likely to declinefurther. Affordable housing willdrive supply and demand,backed by several governmentreforms.

“Alternate assets such asco-living, student and seniorhousing will continue to garnergreater interest from end-usersand developers,” CBRE said.

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Snapdeal is making progressin taking Indian markets

online to offer sellers a robustand future-ready opportunityto grow their business byexpanding their operations, asenior company official saidhere on Wednesday.

“In India, (just) 10 per

cent of the retail is in theorganised sector... In the past,unorganised retail was adverse-ly impacted by organisedretail... Snapdeal built a mar-ketplace to provide these(unorganised) sellers with anopportunity to move online inorder to grow,” Snapdeal seniorvice-president (CorporateAffairs and Communications)

Rajnish Wahi said here.He said the country’s over-

all consumption demand wasworth USD 800 billion cur-rently and was expected toreach USD 2 trillion by 2025.“Online commerce is nearly 2per cent of India’s retail and willreach 10 per cent by 2025.Thus, the online market inIndia will be worth USD 200

billion in the next 7 years.”On the Punjab market, he

told reporters that Punjab-based retailers were the high-est sellers of sports goods onSnapdeal and serve buyers allover the country. “Some of thepopular sports goods soldonline by Punjab-based sellersare punching bags, badmintonracquets, sports shoes, hand

wraps, and home gym sets.They also sell huge quantitiesof safety rods and protein sup-plements,” Wahi added.

Snapdeal has more than 5lakh registered sellers fromacross India including 15,000 inPunjab, he said.

“On the buyer’s side, the e-commerce market in India isgrowing not only in size but also

in diversity. In 2018, India’s e-commerce heralded the rapidemergence of buyers from India’stier-II and III cities. This growthof e-commerce into India’s non-metro cities is expected to accel-erate in 2019 and over the nextfew years,” he said. Punjab isindustrially an aggressive andprosperous state and is a signif-icant market, he added.

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Benchmark Sensex erasedearly gains and endedover 100 points lower on

Wednesday as investor senti-ment remained subdued aheadof expiry of derivative con-tracts.

A weak rupee and linger-ing worries of a global slow-down also weighed on themarkets, brokers said.

The 30-share BSE Sensexsettled 100.53 points, or 0.26%,lower at 38,132.88, while thebroader NSE Nifty slipped38.20 points, or 0.3%, to11,445.05.

During the day, the bench-mark indices witnessed sharpvolatility after Prime MinisterNarendra Modi tweeted that hewill be addressing the nation,

amid various speculationsabout the message.

However, the markets roseduring Modi’s announcementthat India had demonstratedanti-satellite missile capabilityby shooting down a live satellite.

“Market gave up openinggains ahead of F&O expiry (onThursday) and on worries overglobal economic growth as US10-year yield slid further.However, bank index remainson positive trajectory in expec-tation of ease in liquiditycrunch and pick up in creditgrowth by FY20.

“India is likely to continueits outperformance amongemerging markets due to FIIinflow, expectation of revival inearnings growth and politicalstability,” said Vinod Nair, head

of research at Geojit FinancialServices.

NTPC was the biggest loserin the Sensex pack, tumbling2.25%, followed by Tata Motors,Bharti Airtel, PowerGrid,HDFC, Reliance Industries,Hero MotoCorp and M&Mthat shed up to 1.85%,

Yes Bank was the top gain-er, spurting 5.62%.

Other winners wereIndusInd Bank, SBI, Bajaj Auto,HCL Tech, ONGC, BajajFinance, Axis Bank, Infosysand Vedanta, rising up to 5.27%.

Sectorally, BSE Utilitiesshed 1.08%, energy 1.01%,power 0.95% and auto 0.77%,among others.

Bankex gained 0.70%, fol-lowed by consumer durables,finance and basic materials.

Meanwhile, foreign insti-

tutional investors (FIIs) netbought shares worth �999.02crore Tuesday, while domesticinstitutional investors (DIIs)offloaded equities to the tuneof �196.70 crore, provisionaldata showed.

Globally, equity marketswere mixed amid expectationsof action by central banks tocounter slowdown fears.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkeidropped 0.23%, Singapore’sStraits Times 0.06%, Taiwanindex 0.16% and Korea’s KOSPIfell 0.15%. Hong Kong’s HangSeng rose 0.56% and ShanghaiComposite Index advanced0.85%.

Among European markets,Paris CAC 40 fell 0.42% andFrankfurt’s DAX shed 0.33% inmorning deals. London’s FTSEalso dropped 0.47%.

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GMR Infrastructure onWednesday said Tata

Group along with an affiliate ofSingapore’s sovereign wealthfund GIC and SSG CapitalManagement would invest�8,000 crore in the company’sairports business.

Following the transac-tion, GMR Infrastructure andits subsidiaries will holdaround 54 per cent stake inGMR Airport, while employ-ee welfare trust will hold about2 per cent, Tata Group around20 per cent, GIC about 15 percent and SSG around 10 percent.

As part of this transaction,GMR Infrastructure alsointends to provide exit to exist-ing private equity investorswho hold 5.8 per cent equity

stake in GMR Airport Ltd.GMR Infrastructure has

signed a binding term sheetwith the investors (TataGroup, GIC and SSG CapitalManagement) pursuant towhich the investors haveagreed to invest �8,000 crorein GMR Airports Ltd, GMRInfra said in a regulatory filing.

The investment amount of�8,000 crore will consist of�1,000 crore equity infusion inGMR Airports and �7,000 croretowards purchase of GMRAirports Ltd’s equity sharesfrom GMR Infrastructure andits subsidiaries.

The proposed investmentis subject to definitive docu-mentation, customary regula-tory approvals, lender con-sents and other approvals, thecompany added.

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Script Open High Low LTPSUZLON 6.70 6.86 6.60 6.65YESBANK 258.45 269.70 256.10 267.95JPASSOCIAT 5.55 5.66 5.36 5.42JETAIRWAYS 285.00 286.70 274.15 277.15RELCAPITAL 202.00 212.00 196.00 200.60ICICIPRULI 334.00 354.30 333.00 349.10SBIN 305.00 310.70 304.30 308.05SPICEJET 92.00 97.50 91.20 96.30RELIANCE 1377.00 1377.00 1344.90 1350.10IBULHSGFIN 732.10 759.60 731.40 749.55RELINFRA 134.75 137.10 130.05 130.65ICICIBANK 395.00 397.90 389.60 392.05INDUSINDBK 1720.10 1814.20 1720.10 1805.85DHFL 136.00 140.00 135.20 136.40JUBILANT 682.40 683.80 647.05 651.85GMRINFRA 21.25 21.25 18.85 19.40PNB 93.60 95.05 92.85 93.35IDEA 29.45 29.55 28.30 28.45DABUR 428.95 428.95 410.00 412.25UBL 1363.80 1428.80 1329.65 1355.50BAJFINANCE 2957.00 3009.00 2931.05 2942.65WOCKPHARMA 431.40 443.00 426.35 429.35AXISBANK 762.00 769.85 756.00 760.15TATAMOTORS 174.00 175.00 169.00 169.90MOTHERSUMI 146.60 147.75 140.00 140.40MARUTI 6605.00 6643.70 6500.00 6522.25RPOWER 10.80 10.85 10.29 10.38NTPC 140.60 140.85 136.20 136.95IDFCFIRSTB 52.95 54.60 52.80 53.55INFY* 728.00 732.40 726.25 729.05L&TFH 149.00 152.90 148.05 151.50TCS 1985.00 1998.25 1961.00 1968.20HDFCLIFE 369.55 375.90 369.55 371.45SUNPHARMA 469.35 477.50 460.40 464.20HDFCBANK 2311.20 2326.70 2280.30 2300.20SAIL 51.00 51.80 50.00 50.20ASHOKLEY 87.00 87.75 85.05 85.30RBLBANK 661.00 678.65 658.00 670.50DLF 197.05 199.10 189.25 190.50STAR 452.00 468.00 449.15 460.25FORCEMOT 1659.80 1748.00 1650.00 1679.25BOMDYEING 137.50 139.85 134.40 135.85BANKINDIA 102.75 103.50 101.50 103.10KOTAKBANK 1346.20 1362.50 1325.25 1333.65AVANTI 391.60 421.90 391.60 418.90ABCAPITAL 101.60 103.15 99.05 101.00HINDUNILVR 1689.40 1707.00 1676.00 1680.05TAKE 137.90 142.45 129.95 134.75RECLTD 151.65 152.20 148.75 149.35TATASTEEL 519.35 523.00 513.10 515.90VENKYS 2318.00 2370.00 2305.00 2341.25M&MFIN 412.00 431.50 412.00 425.00IOC 161.05 163.70 160.50 161.40ZEEL 423.95 428.35 419.80 424.20RNAM 194.20 207.20 192.00 197.40INDIACEM 100.50 104.15 100.45 101.30BANKBARODA 122.85 123.45 120.40 121.55JUSTDIAL 611.30 617.65 595.00 597.55LT 1376.30 1390.75 1363.00 1367.85INOXLEISUR 303.00 341.80 296.40 323.45M&M 675.00 675.00 660.15 661.60BHEL 71.50 72.65 70.70 71.25ORIENTBANK 106.15 115.50 106.15 114.20ESCORTS 811.10 824.65 800.90 816.80VEDL 175.00 177.15 173.55 175.55UNIONBANK 91.80 94.25 90.90 93.85CGPOWER 44.00 44.30 42.50 42.70IBREALEST 90.00 90.85 88.15 89.65HEG 2013.35 2026.00 1970.00 1983.60ONGC 160.00 161.40 157.40 160.25HDFC 1959.90 1959.90 1906.75 1920.45MINDTREE 939.90 948.50 911.00 940.95CANBK 282.00 287.40 279.30 285.90PCJEWELLER 80.25 81.80 79.75 80.45GRAPHITE 423.00 428.00 414.00 416.80GODREJPROP 819.05 879.00 806.00 853.75ITC 293.00 296.35 291.75 293.00HINDPETRO 275.80 276.95 268.20 269.15BEML 973.00 990.40 956.95 967.00PFC 119.00 119.80 117.05 117.70TECHM 772.10 772.90 762.35 764.40ICICIGI 1014.65 1023.00 972.70 980.00DELTACORP 248.00 258.90 247.30 257.25LUPIN 734.00 741.00 723.00 724.75ALBK 51.70 52.55 51.00 52.25JINDALSTEL 164.50 168.05 164.20 166.25PHILIPCARB 169.00 176.00 168.10 172.55HEROMOTOCO 2593.00 2593.00 2538.00 2548.60IBVENTURES 273.00 288.85 267.75 281.75JSWSTEEL 282.35 289.20 281.60 287.50GICHSGFIN 250.05 275.50 242.20 271.85ASIANPAINT 1486.55 1495.00 1465.90 1470.00VIPIND 470.30 483.40 465.00 477.90NCC 112.00 114.05 111.65 112.10UJJIVAN 327.95 341.95 326.85 338.20SRTRANSFIN 1204.45 1263.70 1197.05 1247.45BAJAJELEC 536.00 565.80 534.50 560.30LICHSGFIN 530.00 542.95 528.00 528.50JSWENERGY 65.05 69.05 65.00 68.60BEL 93.00 94.15 91.50 92.05ACC 1572.00 1613.50 1570.00 1601.00CHOLAFIN 1379.50 1460.00 1379.50 1428.05EDELWEISS 187.90 191.00 185.85 189.00AMARAJABAT 709.00 730.00 705.45 721.05IFCI 13.31 13.55 13.10 13.19JAICORPLTD 110.95 114.00 110.50 113.10NESTLEIND 10706.70 11080.00 10598.95 10855.00FEDERALBNK 91.20 92.60 90.65 91.85

NATIONALUM 53.60 54.30 53.00 53.35WELCORP 126.80 133.40 125.60 133.00BHARTIARTL 330.00 333.15 321.05 323.30RADICO 399.00 399.00 390.00 393.70MEGH 58.70 62.60 58.15 61.80GRUH 262.00 270.95 261.05 268.50DBL 654.20 681.95 654.20 660.95WESTLIFE 444.90 444.90 420.00 427.70PIDILITIND 1227.00 1236.90 1213.80 1225.80TIINDIA 381.00 383.00 363.30 365.00ADANIPOWER 47.85 48.50 46.40 46.70HINDALCO 208.00 210.55 206.50 207.25GNFC 302.05 306.10 298.50 302.55VOLTAS 613.00 626.75 613.00 623.80SPARC 187.75 195.55 186.00 191.90INDIGO 1422.00 1422.00 1392.50 1400.40BALKRISIND 956.00 972.05 954.00 960.95NATCOPHARM* 569.95 570.00 557.00 559.10COALINDIA 236.60 238.05 233.05 234.50MGL 999.00 1034.15 990.30 1020.05REPCOHOME 461.85 478.80 460.75 471.40PNBHOUSING 819.70 840.75 816.00 816.05SUNTECK 460.80 464.25 453.45 460.00STRTECH 220.10 222.00 216.90 218.70ULTRACEMCO 3931.00 3996.75 3885.00 3913.90DMART 1490.00 1490.00 1470.15 1477.75IDBI 42.60 42.95 42.25 42.45WIPRO 255.50 256.50 253.75 254.50WELSPUNIND 58.75 60.65 58.15 60.15MANPASAND 113.00 120.00 113.00 119.30BLISSGVS 165.10 169.50 162.25 167.25IGL 308.60 309.80 302.75 304.90HIMATSEIDE 200.50 225.00 199.55 221.60NOCIL 144.95 146.50 143.25 145.15ENGINERSIN 114.65 117.90 114.35 116.15PEL 2639.05 2673.95 2605.00 2621.70NBCC 65.00 65.10 63.50 63.70SIEMENS 1066.55 1084.00 1058.50 1061.80HFCL 22.05 23.10 21.65 22.90GRASIM 840.00 844.35 823.30 827.00KEI 410.00 429.25 405.80 426.10GODREJAGRO 504.00 518.00 500.10 505.00CANFINHOME 337.95 344.75 333.30 333.50INFIBEAM 42.80 42.80 41.30 41.65MAGMA 105.65 123.00 104.00 120.00RAYMOND 806.85 812.50 793.95 797.00AMBUJACEM 232.00 238.15 230.65 231.60FSL 46.65 48.75 46.00 48.30DRREDDY 2782.90 2812.00 2748.50 2757.00BIOCON 612.35 617.75 600.00 603.15

BANDHANBNK 490.00 499.00 485.80 492.60HCLTECH 1034.00 1054.60 1027.80 1041.50IDFC 45.00 46.95 44.65 46.20NMDC 104.70 105.40 101.35 101.70HAL 722.10 775.00 721.05 739.20EMAMILTD 393.90 411.00 393.00 396.90JMFINANCIL 88.00 93.80 87.85 92.45AUROPHARMA 780.20 788.00 771.85 776.45TATAPOWER 72.25 72.80 71.10 71.35BAJAJFINSV 6999.00 7075.00 6963.35 6967.00JSLHISAR 88.45 93.00 87.65 91.45AARTIIND 1538.00 1596.00 1531.90 1591.70BBTC 1280.00 1296.65 1260.00 1281.45PVR 1609.00 1623.45 1570.20 1606.90RAIN 97.00 98.45 96.15 96.35TITAN 1120.00 1123.10 1105.00 1119.00SYNDIBANK 40.70 40.85 39.85 40.50NAVKARCORP 39.80 41.50 39.25 40.80CASTROLIND 163.55 165.65 162.75 164.65SOBHA 460.00 474.00 459.45 472.00OIL 178.10 183.00 177.65 181.65TATAGLOBAL 196.05 200.15 195.35 196.45CIPLA 535.00 535.00 522.30 525.00MPHASIS 955.35 955.35 937.70 946.50JISLJALEQS 57.50 58.70 56.75 57.05TATAELXSI 957.30 966.55 948.25 950.95POWERGRID 203.50 204.60 198.55 200.00INTELLECT 200.45 206.40 195.90 204.10DISHTV 35.80 37.35 35.80 36.20BPCL 384.90 385.95 377.35 378.65BATAINDIA 1370.00 1385.40 1356.25 1365.50GRANULES 111.15 117.45 111.15 116.50MANAPPURAM 120.45 123.75 120.35 120.40CEATLTD 1109.90 1109.90 1075.95 1077.90IRB 144.50 144.50 138.80 141.40GODREJIND 543.00 553.50 541.00 541.25DCBBANK 199.20 205.80 199.20 202.00JUBLFOOD 1463.10 1468.30 1441.05 1449.40PETRONET 238.20 240.30 234.10 235.45

ADANIPORTS 369.50 371.70 364.15 365.70AUBANK 560.30 580.40 559.80 572.85CENTURYTEX 919.90 924.00 891.95 895.85BHARATFORG 493.00 499.15 486.70 490.90ABFRL 218.00 224.70 217.50 223.90UCOBANK 19.50 20.10 18.30 18.60KTKBANK 131.55 132.25 129.30 131.50SFL 1222.00 1297.20 1201.75 1246.80EQUITAS 132.85 136.35 132.30 134.00TATAMTRDVR 86.85 86.85 84.65 85.05UPL 904.20 911.65 895.40 900.05SUNTV 588.05 601.40 583.05 588.85KALPATPOWR 445.00 469.50 445.00 467.70MFSL 440.95 451.20 438.20 449.50INDIANB 263.05 267.65 261.45 263.55JKTYRE 90.30 91.00 89.00 89.50EICHERMOT 21460.00 21528.75 20881.30 20972.85PAGEIND 24766.85 25462.85 24402.65 24402.65HAVELLS 760.00 764.40 745.10 749.60TORNTPHARM 1893.45 1915.85 1872.00 1885.50CHAMBLFERT 165.00 171.00 164.70 171.00MUTHOOTFIN 600.10 603.05 589.75 593.95KEC 299.05 301.85 292.40 297.00LAURUSLABS 395.00 404.50 391.55 401.90DCMSHRIRAM 417.00 417.00 407.00 407.10CADILAHC 336.00 341.40 328.55 332.05SOUTHBANK 16.00 16.10 15.80 15.85IEX 159.40 161.00 156.00 158.80MCX 788.00 799.05 781.00 787.50VGUARD 217.75 224.30 215.30 223.45TVSMOTOR 461.00 465.00 457.70 460.55LTI 1674.00 1690.20 1662.65 1668.75JINDALSAW 86.15 87.85 83.75 84.45APOLLOTYRE 215.00 217.40 213.20 214.10EXIDEIND 227.70 228.50 224.55 225.80SWANENERGY 104.50 108.95 104.20 107.00PRESTIGE 259.00 260.65 245.30 248.80SUVEN 267.00 269.95 263.10 265.50BRITANNIA 3102.20 3108.70 3080.00 3100.00FRETAIL 467.40 467.40 452.25 467.00BAJAJ-AUTO 2956.00 2992.85 2950.00 2986.15INFRATEL 314.00 318.80 311.30 316.20COROMANDEL 484.00 495.50 482.00 491.95DEEPAKNI 274.00 276.00 266.00 272.25ITI 94.00 95.50 93.10 94.35RAMCOCEM 711.60 722.00 707.65 711.70BERGEPAINT 321.00 325.50 319.35 324.00NIACL 187.10 197.00 186.35 194.85HINDCOPPER 48.20 48.65 47.70 48.15BDL 279.05 300.00 277.40 284.00HEXAWARE 329.55 337.20 329.50 335.90MOIL 155.60 156.15 152.05 152.50FCONSUMER 44.70 45.35 43.95 44.65KAJARIACER 560.10 584.45 560.00 568.00LAKSHVILAS 65.00 67.80 62.80 63.15ASHOKA 126.95 131.60 124.80 130.20GODREJCP 692.00 696.45 686.00 688.10RCF 58.25 58.50 57.10 57.65APOLLOHOSP 1167.35 1177.10 1151.95 1157.00OMAXE 209.45 209.45 206.05 207.80MERCK 3363.00 3500.00 3363.00 3461.20SBILIFE 609.70 621.50 605.55 618.35BHARATFIN 1098.00 1137.75 1098.00 1133.70CUMMINSIND 732.00 744.70 732.00 736.85HINDZINC 274.15 274.15 271.25 271.95AJANTPHARM 1018.65 1023.30 982.30 999.00EVEREADY 196.60 198.50 187.70 195.60INDHOTEL 151.45 153.00 149.25 151.25HSCL 115.75 117.80 113.05 114.20JAMNAAUTO 59.40 60.00 58.60 59.25JSL 39.70 40.50 38.30 38.70LEMONTREE 79.00 81.80 78.70 80.35HUDCO 44.70 44.70 43.30 43.60LTTS 1470.00 1490.00 1452.50 1463.45TV18BRDCST 35.05 35.35 34.45 34.55DIVISLAB 1711.00 1719.30 1661.00 1673.00OBEROIRLTY 521.00 527.00 516.35 521.00GODFRYPHLP 1123.60 1147.50 1111.40 1119.00GHCL 234.70 246.00 234.65 243.20CENTURYPLY 198.50 201.50 195.20 197.00GREAVESCOT 137.10 142.00 136.50 141.00TIMETECHNO 101.00 107.35 100.35 105.90TRIDENT 67.45 68.75 66.95 68.25COCHINSHIP 391.00 397.95 383.45 395.20NHPC 24.85 25.00 24.50 24.60BAJAJHLDNG 3291.00 3324.25 3253.80 3290.00TORNTPOWER 255.10 257.05 250.50 252.75SRF 2463.00 2463.00 2417.95 2437.45RCOM 4.57 4.57 4.57 4.57MOTILALOFS 598.80 600.35 589.55 594.70GSFC 101.05 101.95 98.55 99.50GAIL 362.80 362.80 353.30 353.60MINDACORP 137.30 142.80 135.60 138.00SCI 37.90 37.90 37.10 37.25PRSMJOHNSN 88.55 93.20 88.55 91.60NIITTECH 1310.00 1318.55 1302.25 1318.20INOXWIND 66.65 67.50 63.75 64.40GSPL 178.80 179.80 171.65 176.00MRPL 73.95 75.00 73.70 74.00INDOSTAR 353.60 369.00 351.75 367.05MAHLOG 500.00 508.35 496.00 505.60SYMPHONY 1356.10 1420.00 1356.10 1405.00ASTRAL 1125.50 1140.00 1103.35 1135.00KSCL 456.00 459.45 447.45 449.20THOMASCOOK 235.20 242.90 233.00 241.85WABAG 327.45 329.65 323.00 328.40COFFEEDAY 285.00 291.55 284.70 288.90BASF 1461.50 1468.65 1376.00 1442.95RAJESHEXPO 667.50 673.55 656.80 663.50

TRENT 376.45 380.00 370.00 370.20ASTERDM 155.50 160.00 154.05 155.85JBCHEPHARM 345.00 356.70 343.00 353.65ANDHRABANK 25.95 27.40 25.70 27.00NAUKRI 1894.95 1900.00 1850.00 1875.65TATACHEM 583.10 585.90 577.50 583.35HEIDELBERG 176.20 178.50 172.20 176.55MARICO 339.10 342.30 335.10 339.90IPCALAB 927.95 932.95 917.50 921.25QUESS 790.00 819.85 747.70 754.00SHANKARA 410.00 414.85 390.00 398.45VINATIORGA 1630.00 1661.50 1620.00 1651.85CHENNPETRO 265.00 266.70 256.90 258.35ABB 1330.00 1346.50 1321.05 1329.30GREENPLY 151.00 155.90 151.00 153.75COLPAL 1258.00 1274.95 1256.05 1262.10TEJASNET 167.00 172.90 161.45 169.05DEEPAKFERT 133.00 134.10 130.10 133.40TATAMETALI 623.85 634.95 616.50 620.85GICRE 240.00 245.25 238.00 239.00KANSAINER 453.70 454.00 444.00 446.90WHIRLPOOL 1512.95 1541.05 1501.00 1511.00ADANIGREEN 35.25 36.60 35.25 35.45SHK 152.15 154.60 150.15 151.65GPPL 102.55 103.65 99.10 100.70MAHINDCIE 233.50 234.00 225.00 231.60PERSISTENT* 636.00 648.00 625.15 626.00SUDARSCHEM 328.90 356.85 328.65 339.70J&KBANK 49.25 49.85 48.10 48.50CUB 200.80 205.00 200.00 201.00UFLEX 215.70 218.80 206.10 210.00ADANITRANS 218.05 219.40 210.10 212.30FORTIS 136.55 138.00 136.10 137.45OFSS 3362.25 3407.80 3340.10 3345.50GLAXO 1295.25 1300.00 1270.00 1292.10NBVENTURES 103.00 103.90 101.20 102.75ATUL 3391.30 3579.00 3391.30 3522.55NLCINDIA 70.85 71.10 69.20 69.45GUJGAS 146.00 146.50 143.00 145.00SADBHAV 250.60 260.00 250.00 250.00ISEC 245.00 247.60 242.50 243.65HERITGFOOD 532.35 540.65 518.60 520.35PARAGMILK 254.00 260.00 254.00 257.60NAVINFLUOR 716.25 717.15 708.05 711.10CONCOR 504.75 509.90 501.10 501.10RALLIS 162.00 163.00 161.10 162.40MHRIL 242.00 252.95 237.70 249.45MMTC 27.90 28.25 27.55 27.65ADVENZYMES 171.85 174.00 169.45 170.55LINDEINDIA 470.15 500.00 470.15 484.20IBULISL 277.00 287.00 275.55 279.05NETWORK18 33.95 34.60 33.25 34.50EIHOTEL 195.35 195.60 189.80 194.45TATACOFFEE 89.55 91.70 89.55 90.60SUPREMEIND 1079.35 1111.00 1063.40 1085.55ALLCARGO 112.95 114.00 111.25 113.00PTC 74.85 75.25 73.40 73.85PIIND 1025.00 1030.00 1014.10 1030.00CENTRALBK 32.95 33.10 31.95 32.00ALKEM 1769.10 1775.55 1748.00 1750.00FINCABLES 481.00 490.00 476.00 488.00ITDCEM 132.80 132.80 128.65 129.00GET&D 270.50 275.00 263.00 263.00EIDPARRY 202.20 203.10 195.10 199.35JKLAKSHMI 341.85 368.95 340.20 360.50BOSCHLTD 18280.00 18280.00 17905.10 17990.75GLENMARK 647.30 650.35 640.75 643.65JAGRAN 114.45 118.00 113.00 116.70BIRLACORPN 516.80 523.80 516.80 517.85TATACOMM 601.25 603.55 594.70 601.60CROMPTON 215.05 217.15 213.00 213.95KRBL 343.40 351.40 343.40 345.10REDINGTON 96.45 98.00 94.30 95.10BLUESTARCO 667.10 673.00 659.00 661.00NILKAMAL 1424.60 1437.90 1411.10 1424.90SUPRAJIT 236.45 240.00 231.00 237.50PFIZER 3206.25 3280.50 3192.85 3266.15TTKPRESTIG 8316.90 8400.00 8275.05 8379.15SREINFRA 28.40 28.90 27.80 28.15CORPBANK 27.90 28.80 27.90 28.25PGHH 10499.00 10990.00 10452.35 10680.00NESCO 463.00 484.35 451.70 484.35SHREECEM 18150.00 18299.00 17863.15 17945.50FORBESCO 2200.00 2276.95 2160.00 2170.05ISGEC 5510.00 5570.00 5375.15 5432.50CYIENT* 660.00 675.00 654.00 657.75

CARBORUNIV 376.00 391.00 374.45 390.00NH 227.30 227.30 210.15 210.40UNITEDBNK 10.90 10.99 10.77 10.84BAJAJCON 316.90 320.55 316.00 316.00GUJALKALI 489.70 492.65 484.60 489.20SJVN 24.30 24.30 23.95 24.05LAXMIMACH 6070.00 6194.00 5915.00 5975.00HSIL 250.00 255.50 248.30 252.10MRF 56300.00 56700.00 56223.95 56506.00SYNGENE 572.05 584.00 572.05 584.00ECLERX 1135.00 1143.50 1135.00 1138.50MINDAIND 346.00 346.00 335.10 335.10SUNDRMFAST 552.05 574.95 549.95 574.95APLLTD 537.00 537.00 522.50 528.00KNRCON 261.75 268.95 258.05 265.00GUJFLUORO 1059.50 1070.10 1057.00 1069.90DCAL 200.50 208.40 200.50 203.05GRINDWELL 568.35 594.00 568.35 585.00ZENSARTECH 230.20 237.00 228.10 236.20SANOFI 5620.00 5759.45 5620.00 5715.80DBCORP 188.00 189.50 184.45 185.00LUXIND 1348.00 1358.00 1327.00 1350.00VBL 811.65 816.90 805.10 811.90CRISIL 1504.00 1504.00 1455.00 1472.00SCHNEIDER 104.70 105.95 101.00 101.25SHILPAMED 345.95 353.00 337.15 344.30PNCINFRA 153.30 154.25 146.20 148.45BAYERCROP 4350.00 4350.00 4325.00 4345.00ITDC 279.90 283.65 276.90 278.00CAPPL 407.55 407.55 400.00 404.00GSKCONS 7018.00 7062.60 6960.00 6960.00IOB 13.75 14.10 13.68 13.77TEAMLEASE 3079.95 3079.95 2974.05 3011.55VMART 2861.00 2861.00 2660.80 2685.00SONATSOFTW 329.90 339.00 329.90 337.85GMDCLTD 81.15 81.95 80.80 81.50PHOENIXLTD 655.35 655.35 628.60 630.10ABBOTINDIA 7349.00 7349.95 7240.00 7245.00JYOTHYLAB 185.00 185.90 182.60 183.60TNPL 205.00 211.00 205.00 206.50LALPATHLAB 1085.00 1090.00 1055.00 1065.60AEGISLOG 201.60 204.50 201.45 203.15CENTRUM 32.70 32.70 31.00 31.70ENDURANCE 1142.05 1154.80 1139.05 1149.50GALAXYSURF 1082.00 1086.80 1041.50 1055.00JKCEMENT 814.45 840.00 814.05 840.00SOMANYCERA 398.00 409.50 398.00 408.50MAHLIFE 351.90 362.90 351.90 359.10SOLARINDS 1026.20 1032.55 1010.00 1020.00SUPPETRO 223.55 227.55 220.05 226.90CCL 290.00 295.50 288.60 290.00SKFINDIA 1925.00 1931.55 1884.20 1885.90NAVNETEDUL 108.15 110.00 107.00 108.00MAHABANK 13.45 13.55 13.20 13.27MAHSCOOTER 3392.35 3445.00 3371.00 3406.00TVTODAY 317.95 320.00 314.00 315.00TATAINVEST 830.00 835.00 826.00 826.75SCHAEFFLER 5415.20 5555.00 5398.65 5419.00GESHIP 287.40 287.40 279.00 281.45GAYAPROJ 149.85 155.45 148.85 151.55SHOPERSTOP 468.60 471.40 462.60 465.25AIAENG 1700.00 1775.00 1695.40 1775.00KPRMILL 548.00 549.00 537.25 540.00IFBIND 949.00 964.00 930.00 935.00DHANUKA 401.75 414.70 399.00 410.00GDL 126.30 127.50 123.45 124.55FDC 169.90 170.10 165.25 170.00MAXINDIA 68.55 68.95 68.20 68.20ASTRAZEN 1975.45 1981.75 1940.45 1969.85THYROCARE 519.05 530.15 517.00 517.00FINOLEXIND 498.00 499.40 490.05 498.80HONAUT 22015.00 22401.00 21926.50 22400.00CARERATING 994.90 995.50 990.00 991.55APLAPOLLO 1405.90 1437.00 1401.95 1423.00SIS 859.10 874.40 857.20 858.70BALMLAWRIE 185.80 186.05 184.00 185.75ORIENTCEM 85.00 85.10 81.20 81.20AKZOINDIA 1779.60 1779.95 1740.95 1749.70ESSELPRO 115.35 116.25 113.00 114.35KIOCL 138.25 141.45 136.10 136.50LAOPALA 206.55 211.00 201.85 209.70THERMAX 995.00 995.00 985.00 991.45JCHAC 1832.00 1964.40 1800.00 1939.00GULFOILLUB 828.35 840.00 819.50 830.00VTL 1078.10 1082.10 1062.00 1062.00RELAXO 751.70 764.50 751.65 760.00FLFL 480.20 483.25 475.70 480.00TVSSRICHAK 2200.80 2243.60 2180.00 2200.85GILLETTE 6497.00 6515.00 6462.00 6475.00TIMKEN 560.50 569.85 560.00 567.65TRITURBINE 106.00 108.00 105.50 108.00MONSANTO 2606.40 2607.00 2575.00 2575.00ELGIEQUIP 243.80 243.80 238.45 242.00ZYDUSWELL 1303.10 1305.05 1290.00 1290.00ERIS 634.00 639.70 627.00 636.00ASAHIINDIA 262.50 262.50 255.05 259.503MINDIA 23997.00 24007.00 23611.05 23611.05BLUEDART 3460.40 3488.00 3420.00 3483.25STARCEMENT 99.25 99.25 96.70 96.70APARINDS 663.90 672.00 662.10 662.70WABCOINDIA 6259.55 6449.00 6199.95 6449.00CERA 2571.75 2668.95 2571.75 2664.45SHARDACROP 360.30 366.65 360.00 365.00TIFHL 471.00 479.90 470.20 479.90GEPIL 807.00 812.95 805.45 812.95HATSUN 717.00 717.95 701.80 710.00RATNAMANI 904.00 904.00 888.00 888.00SUNCLAYLTD 2875.05 2935.00 2840.00 2935.00SHRIRAMCIT 1786.65 1789.50 1786.65 1789.50

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 11531.45 11546.20 11413.00 11445.05 -38.20YESBANK 258.40 269.85 256.10 268.60 14.90INDUSINDBK 1730.00 1813.45 1720.10 1812.00 97.35IBULHSGFIN 735.00 759.80 731.05 750.00 20.30JSWSTEEL 283.00 289.25 281.50 286.15 4.80SBIN 305.25 310.85 304.35 308.00 4.50INFRATEL 316.90 318.50 311.10 317.00 4.15ZEEL 424.00 428.20 419.10 426.15 5.15BAJAJ-AUTO 2965.00 2995.00 2950.00 2985.00 32.20HCLTECH 1020.00 1056.35 1020.00 1042.50 7.90VEDL 175.30 177.25 173.40 174.70 1.10IOC 162.00 163.70 160.40 161.15 0.85TITAN 1125.00 1125.00 1106.00 1121.60 5.85AXISBANK 761.30 770.00 755.85 760.50 3.40BAJFINANCE 2950.00 3014.15 2932.50 2943.00 8.65INFY 730.00 732.30 727.15 728.90 1.15ONGC 160.15 161.40 157.50 160.10 0.05WIPRO 255.20 256.40 253.75 254.55 -0.45ITC 294.00 296.70 291.60 292.70 -0.70BAJAJFINSV 7000.00 7079.00 6951.35 6969.75 -18.10UPL 903.35 911.95 894.55 900.00 -3.30ICICIBANK 395.40 398.45 390.15 392.50 -1.60HDFCBANK 2318.55 2328.05 2279.05 2301.00 -10.35HINDUNILVR 1684.00 1707.80 1675.00 1676.00 -7.80LT 1379.00 1391.10 1363.15 1365.00 -7.80ADANIPORTS 367.20 371.70 364.20 366.25 -2.35ULTRACEMCO 3951.70 3997.20 3880.00 3900.00 -25.60DRREDDY 2781.05 2814.00 2744.10 2764.00 -18.35CIPLA 531.40 533.60 524.05 525.30 -4.00HINDALCO 209.05 210.85 206.70 206.90 -1.60TECHM 771.00 773.00 761.60 764.50 -6.25COALINDIA 236.40 238.10 233.60 234.45 -2.00TCS 1994.00 1998.00 1961.00 1964.85 -17.80ASIANPAINT 1494.00 1496.95 1463.50 1471.50 -13.55KOTAKBANK 1349.95 1363.90 1325.05 1329.95 -13.00TATASTEEL 520.00 523.00 513.05 514.00 -5.35SUNPHARMA 471.80 477.35 459.75 464.85 -4.95GAIL 359.00 362.00 354.45 355.00 -4.35MARUTI 6628.00 6640.00 6500.00 6505.05 -80.65GRASIM 843.00 844.40 825.00 826.10 -10.60BPCL 384.45 386.00 377.30 379.00 -4.90HEROMOTOCO 2593.80 2594.00 2535.00 2538.35 -36.10RELIANCE 1377.95 1377.95 1344.25 1347.00 -20.25M&M 672.05 672.65 658.55 659.00 -10.60POWERGRID 203.00 204.70 198.50 199.60 -3.25HDFC 1955.55 1959.00 1906.00 1914.10 -32.20EICHERMOT 21401.00 21485.00 20855.65 21024.00 -358.00BHARTIARTL 331.00 333.00 320.40 321.60 -6.20TATAMOTORS 174.00 175.00 169.15 169.75 -3.35NTPC 140.90 140.90 136.20 137.00 -3.80HINDPETRO 276.00 277.00 268.40 269.25 -7.80

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 27806.65 27904.50 27575.95 27623.20 -58.55ICICIPRULI 333.90 354.00 332.15 347.65 27.40SRTRANSFIN 1208.50 1263.35 1197.00 1251.85 47.75PGHH 10398.05 10880.00 10398.05 10770.10 372.05L&TFH 148.90 152.90 148.00 151.90 4.45OIL 178.00 182.50 177.50 181.60 4.25NIACL 188.90 198.50 186.30 190.10 3.60BANDHANBNK 490.00 498.30 484.15 496.90 9.10SBILIFE 607.45 620.80 607.45 620.50 10.90ACC 1584.00 1614.00 1568.85 1597.60 26.75LICHSGFIN 531.05 543.55 531.05 532.50 2.50MRF 56350.00 56885.00 56200.00 56432.00 251.85SUNTV 587.00 601.70 586.00 587.40 2.60SIEMENS 1065.00 1085.65 1058.50 1062.00 4.45HDFCLIFE 370.05 375.75 370.05 371.00 1.45BHEL 72.00 72.75 70.65 71.30 0.25OFSS 3360.00 3410.80 3355.00 3370.00 11.70BANKBARODA 122.40 123.45 120.30 121.15 0.35DMART 1486.00 1489.95 1467.50 1481.50 3.55BEL 92.90 94.20 91.55 91.85 0.15AMBUJACEM 233.00 238.25 230.40 231.60 0.20COLPAL 1262.95 1276.00 1255.55 1255.55 -0.05BRITANNIA 3117.00 3117.00 3078.00 3098.00 -1.15GODREJCP 692.00 697.60 686.15 690.15 -2.05PIDILITIND 1230.00 1237.05 1213.55 1222.50 -4.05PEL 2644.00 2675.00 2607.05 2618.00 -10.05NHPC 24.80 25.00 24.60 24.70 -0.10GICRE 242.05 246.00 239.10 239.60 -1.25HINDZINC 273.50 276.00 271.00 271.30 -1.90ABB 1335.00 1348.00 1319.95 1321.30 -9.65ASHOKLEY 86.70 87.75 85.10 85.60 -0.70MARICO 338.40 342.50 334.90 335.05 -3.05CONCOR 504.00 510.35 500.00 500.00 -4.65ABCAPITAL 102.00 103.25 99.50 100.70 -0.95SAIL 51.00 51.85 50.05 50.15 -0.50PETRONET 237.40 240.30 234.00 235.15 -2.80HAVELLS 766.70 766.70 745.30 748.60 -9.20MOTHERSUMI 146.15 147.70 139.90 143.05 -1.90AUROPHARMA 783.00 788.70 769.40 771.15 -10.75LUPIN 735.50 740.85 722.30 723.95 -10.85BOSCHLTD 18200.00 18201.95 17900.00 17900.00 -282.60INDIGO 1421.00 1421.00 1394.00 1400.00 -23.15CADILAHC 336.00 341.70 329.15 330.20 -5.75BIOCON 614.70 617.50 600.00 600.40 -11.00SHREECEM 18239.45 18300.00 17790.00 17790.15 -336.05MCDOWELL-N 549.10 553.40 537.00 537.95 -10.75NMDC 105.90 105.90 101.25 101.80 -2.80ICICIGI 1019.55 1021.40 983.00 984.20 -29.05DLF 199.10 199.40 189.60 190.45 -6.10DABUR 425.20 427.05 409.45 410.45 -14.65IDEA 29.25 29.55 28.30 28.50 -1.10

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British MPs will onWednesday hold votes on

various Brexit options even asPrime Minister Theresa Maycomes under pressure toannounce a departure plan toget support for her unpopulardivorce deal.

Three years after a refer-endum in which Britain votedto leave the European Union,the country is gripped bypainful uncertainty over how— or even whether — it shouldput an end to its 46-year mem-bership. May’s deal negotiatedwith Brussels has already beenvoted down overwhelmingly byparliament twice but the gov-ernment is widely expected topresent it for a third time onThursday to ensure an orderlyBrexit.

EU leaders said Britaincould leave the EU on May 22if the deal is adopted this week,or face a potential no-dealBrexit as early as April 12.

In a bid to find Brexitalternatives, lawmakers tookthe unprecedented step onMonday of seizing control ofWednesday’s parliamentary

business.MPs will hold a series of

“indicative votes” — indicatingtheir preferences on a piece ofpaper — for different Brexitoutcomes, although May is notlegally-bound to follow theirinstructions.

The proposals put forwardso include a customs unionwith the EU, remaining in the

single market, holding a secondreferendum or stopping Brexitby revoking Article 50 — theformal notification for depar-ture. The alternatives that willactually be voted on will beselected by speaker JohnBercow on Wednesday andvoting will take place at around1900 GMT with the resultsexpected at around 2100 GMT.

Time has been set asidenext Monday to try and whit-tle down the most popularoptions to a final plan.

Parliament’s unprecedent-ed power-grab was spearhead-ed by arch-EU MPs, who wantto either reverse Brexit or pre-serve much closer economicties with the remaining 27States.

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Strasbourg: European CouncilPresident Donald Tusk urgedEU lawmakers Wednesday toremain open to a long post-ponement of Brexit whileBritain rethinks its position,urging them not to “betray”the UK’s pro-Europe voters.

“I said that we should beopen to a long extension if theUK wishes to rethink its Brexitstrategy, which would of coursemean the UK’s participation inthe European Parliament elec-tions,” Tusk said.

“And then there were voic-es saying that this would beharmful or inconvenient tosome of you. Let me be clear,such thinking is unaccept-able,” he told the StrasbourgAssembly. At last week’sEuropean summit, EU leadersagreed to delay the day ofBritain’s departure from the

bloc by three weeks until April12, while Prime MinisterTheresa May struggles to rat-ify a withdrawal treaty.

But many on the continent-- most vocally France’sPresident Emmanuel Macron-- oppose a longer extension,concerned it would disrupt theEuropean Parliament electionsthat start on May 23.

If Britain is still an EUmember on that date, it wouldhave to take part in the vote,and wrangling over Brexitwould continue to disrupt theEuropean political agenda formonths or years to come.

Tusk, who stressed he wasexpressing his personal view,urged the European parliamentto keep faith with those Britishvoters still hoping for a longerdelay or even the reversal of theBrexit decision. AFP

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South African President CyrilRamaphosa’s son Andile

admitted on Wednesday hewas paid $1,40,000 by a com-pany facing extensive corrup-tion allegations, an admissionthat could embarrass his fatherahead of polls.

President Ramaphosa hassought, ahead of elections onMay 8, to de-toxify the rulingAfrican National Congresswhich has been embroiled innumerous graft scandals sincecoming to power in 1994.

“It was a severe oversighton our part,” Andile told theNews24 site of a $16,000-a-month deal his companysigned with the Bosasa groupin December 2017.

Bosasa, which is nowAfrican Global Operations,was a conglomerate involved inbidding for and running lucra-tive Government contracts.

Several suspects includingthe company’s former chiefoperating officer AngeloAgrizzi appeared at theSpecialised CommercialCrimes Court Wednesday overthe alleged theft of $120 millionfrom contracts with the prisonsservice. The case was post-poned to July.

“It is clear now with thebenefit of hindsight that ourdue diligence was insufficientin retrospect of my father’s rolegoing into the Presidency,”Andile Ramaphosa toldNews24.

His company, Blue CraneCapital, was contracted to pro-vide advice on more than 20public and private sector con-tracts in Uganda and Kenya.

There is no suggestionAndile Ramaphosa or his com-pany were involved in thealleged corruption at the cen-tre of the ongoing criminalcase.

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The US Supreme Court over-turned Tuesday a ruling

ordering Sudan to pay damagesto the families of 17 servicemenkilled in the 2000 bombing ofthe USS Cole in Yemen.

The high court ruled onprocedural grounds: under reg-ulations related to the prosecu-tion of foreign states, it said theSudanese government shouldhave been served the complaintin Khartoum instead of via itsembassy in Washington.

“In cases with sensitivediplomatic implications, therule of law demands adherenceto strict rules,” the justices saidin an 8-1 ruling.

On October 12, 2000, arubber boat loaded with explo-sives blew up as it rounded thebow of the guided-missiledestroyer, which had just pulledinto Aden, Yemen, for a refu-eling stop.

Beijing: China on Wednesdaysacked former Interpol chiefMeng Hongwei from all hisofficial positions and expelledhim from the rulingCommunist Party, accusinghim of corruption, serious dis-ciplinary violations andencouraging his wife who issettled abroad to campaignagainst his detention.

Meng, 65, who was once arising political star among offi-cialdom of the CommunistParty of China (CPC), held thepowerful post of vice-minister ofpublic security before beingappointed as China’s first officialto head the Interpol — a glob-al organisation that facilitatesworldwide police cooperation.

He was expelled from theCPC and removed from officefor serious disciplinary viola-tions and suspected graft crimes,the Party’s disciplinary watchdogand national supervisory com-mission announced, state-runChina Daily reported. PTI

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Pakistan said on Wednesdaythat it was against the mil-

itarisation of outer space andtook a swipe at India’sannouncement of shootingdown a live satellite with a mis-sile — a rare achievement thatputs the country in an exclusiveclub of space super powers.

Prime Minister NarendraModi earlier announced thatIndia successfully test-fired ananti-satellite missile by shoot-ing down a live satellite.

The test makes India thefourth country in the worldafter the US, Russia and Chinato acquire the strategic capa-bility to shoot down enemysatellites.

“Space is the common her-itage of mankind and everynation has the responsibility toavoid actions which can lead tothe militarisation of this arena,”Foreign Office spokespersonMohammad Faisal said.

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Pakistan on Wednesdaysought “more informa-

tion/evidence” from India onthe involvement of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in the dead-ly Pulwama terror attack andthe presence of camps of theUN-proscribed terror outfit.

Indian HighCommissioner Ajay Bisariawas called to the ForeignMinistry by Foreign SecretaryTehmina Janjua and the “pre-liminary findings” on the“Pulwama incident” wereshared with him, the ForeignOffice said, referring the dead-ly terror attack as an “incident”.

India handed over thedossier to the Acting HighCommissioner of Pakistan inNew Delhi on February 27 withspecific details of JeM’s com-plicity in the Pulwama attackthat killed 40 CRPF personnelon February 14 and the pres-ence of JeM terror camps andits leadership in Pakistan.

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China on Wednesday react-ed guardedly to India’s

anti-satellite missile test andexpressed hope that all coun-tries will uphold peace andtranquillity in the outer space.

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Wednesdayannounced that India success-fully test-fired an anti-satellitemissile by shooting down a livesatellite, describing it as a rareachievement that puts thecountry in an exclusive club ofspace super powers.

The test makes India thefourth country in the worldafter the US, Russia and Chinato acquire the strategic capa-bility to shoot down enemysatellites.

The Chinese ForeignMinistry, in a written responseto a question from PTI on Indiasuccessfully test-firing an anti-satellite missile, said: “We havenoticed reports and hope thateach country will uphold peaceand tranquillity in outer space”.

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Washington: US Secretary ofState Mike Pompeo has toldPakistan that it must "deliveroutcomes" to build confidenceand trust between the twocountries, the StateDepartment has said.

State Department DeputySpokesperson Robert Palladinosaid this when asked about therecent remarks by Secretary ofState Mike Pompeo in which heidentified Pakistan's nuclearproliferation as the third topsecurity concern for the US.

"The secretary (of StatePompeo) has emphasised theneed (for Pakistan) to deliveroutcomes and to build confi-dence and trust between ourtwo nations and we do want tosee a prosperous Pakistan thatcontributes positively towardsregional stability and security,"Palladino told reporters onTuesday at his biweekly newsconference. PTI

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As they say, “short-cuts makelong delays” and director

Raman Kumar is its firm believ-er. He elaborates when he says,“There are no short-cuts in life,the simpler you live your life, thehappier it will be. In life, mostshort-cuts end up taking muchlonger than actually taking thelonger route.”

The director recently helmeda theatrical drama, Hello Zindagi,that revolves around five womenof different backgrounds andcharacteristics. These women areplayed by actresses MinisshaLamba, Kishwer Merchant,Delnaz Irani, Guddi Maruti andChitrashi Rawat, who live togeth-er in Mumbai. Raman explainsthe characters, “Pammi Singh(Minissha Lamba), is divorcedand lives with Bakula (DelnaazIrani), her ex mother-in-law. Theyare great buddies and live their lifeto the fullest. Shivani (ChitrashiRawat), the sanest member of thismad house, who not only runs thehouse but also takes care ofBakula’s hotel business. Pammi’sschool friend, Sheena (KishwerMerchant) is another resident ofthe house, who was physicallyabused by her husband and nowhad completely lost her self con-fidence. Lastly, the householdhelp, Bijoya Di (Guddi Maruti) isthe most respected woman in thehouse.

The harmony in the homegets tangled in a web of mixedemotions when Vicky (RahulNayyar) enters the scene andfalls in love with Pammi. Hewants to marry her and take herto the US. Bakula decides tomove with them too. The plotthickens when Bakula decides togive her business to a corporationon lease which is being organisedby Vicky. What’s guaranteed isthat these flaming personalitieswhen thrown together in thecauldron of life turn up the heat

leaving things more problematicand complex than ever.

Raman says that it is impor-tant to celebrate life rather thansimply living it, and “the playadvocates just that. Those five

women living under one roof pos-sess extremely disparate charac-teristics, and are from differentstrata of life, but humanity issomething that keeps them unit-ed. I have tried to portray that

God has made life beautiful, butit’s we who are the problem cre-ators and this results in causingmisery.”

Raman has been around forso many years, ask him how has

theatre evolved over the years, hewould say, “Theatre has changeda lot. Just as the advent of inter-net and digital platforms hastransformed our lives, similarlypeople’s attitude of looking at the

things have changed the theatre.It’s much more professional andit is no longer the platform for theamateur. With the emergence ofvarious theatre groups, it is sure-ly touching new heights.”

Raman strongly feels that infact, the emergence of onlinechannels and technology has beenspoon-feeding people, and hence,theatre has become a means forthem to come out of their housesand watch live performances onstage. “This has become a majorreason why we see more of house-ful shows nowadays,” he says.

While the director feels thatthe two media work in terms ofpeople’s comfort and entertain-ment choices, actresses Delnaazand Kishwer both feel that everymedium has its own charm and asan artist, one should keep the goodwork going, whether it’s acting fortheatres or for a film. “One shouldaccept the work and do it honest-ly. Nowadays, online shows areshowcasing a lot of bold content,however, one can find bold storiesin theatre too. So both the mediahas its own place,” says Kishwer.

Raman explains that it takes alot of hard work to transform awritten play into a stage perfor-mance. He says, “Everyone hastheir part to play. The director isthe captain but the crew’s contri-bution cannot be ignored.Especially, the actors’ as they arethe medium to convey the scriptto the audience.”

The director says that he findshis inspiration from life stories. Hesays, “I read a lot. I am an observ-er. I look around and find inspira-tion in so many real stories. Realityis great art and the world aroundyou, the greatest school.Interpreting life is more creativethan doing a pure fiction. It’sgoodness of those real storiesaround you that makes life beau-tiful and you feel like saying HelloZindagi!”

Gaulwasi Asterix. A literal transla-tion of Asterix in Gaul, ourfavourite comic hero is back in

Hindi to draw in fans from a cross-sec-tion of society that would naturally warmup to an underdog story and to whomsuperheroes are all about super achieversand least about human frailty. They areoddballs who fight while having fun andrenew us with the comforting warmth ofnostalgia. So it is that a city-based pub-lisher decided to get down to the businessof taking the franchise to a larger audi-ence. And yesterday, French AmbassadorAlexander Ziegler launched the first of thecomic books in Delhi.

The series follows the adventures ofa village of Gauls as they resist Romanoccupation in 50 BC. The comic book thatextends beyond the realm of just onemeant for children, the series has a fan-following that extends way beyond theborders of where it is based and has nowbroken one more language frontier withits launch in Hindi.

However, what was the need for atranslation? “Most of us speak two or threelanguages and range from dreadful Hindispeakers to the anglophone to theHindiphone. Hindi is our official languageand there are so many ads in it that wecome across in our daily lives. We read allour sarkaari documents in Hindi. Wewatch our news in the language. So, it’spretty much part of our day-to-day inter-action with people. So, we thought itwouldn’t hurt to pick up the comic andsee how would read in Hindi because wedo read comics written in the language.And also these are meant for collectors,anthropologists, ethnographers, linguists,translators, and college students. There isa vast variety of audience and readershipthat we are looking at,” says DipaChaudhuri, co-translator of the AsterixComics in Hindi.

The decision to have an edition in thelanguage, says Chaudhuri, originatedfrom “a lot of mad ideas that take placein publishing houses. During one of theinternational book fairs, the publisher AjayMago, made a blind call and walked insidethe stand of Hachette Livre, the publish-er of the comic in French. He had recent-ly acquired the publishing rights of TheAdventures of Tintin comics for its trans-lation in Hindi from Casterman (in2009). So he was almost convinced thatthe logical thing after Tintin ought to beAsterix. Then he negotiated with them forat least five years.”

One of the important component oftheir demands was that it had to be trans-lated from French and not from English.“I suggested Ajay that he should bringPuneet Gupta on board who had trans-lated Tintin from English to Hindi. Andsince, I knew French, Ajay Mago told meto step in. It just took me 24 hours to signthe project,” she says.

But the idea, feels Chaudhuri, origi-nate in Ajay’s head much before. “Likemost Indians we have grown up listeningto mad comedies and reading comics andwe have had serialised comics in news-papers and in single-frame as well. SoAjay, in his childhood, nurtured thisdream and imagined what would it be liketo read Asterix comics in Hindi.”

However, getting the project was thefirst of the many steps that they had toundergo. “There were several rounds oftranslation because there is a huge play ofwords. There are a lot of cultural inputsin Asterix in French so you don’t conveythe narrative, you communicate it.”

No, the purists need not worry for thepublishers never had the intention ofIndianising the narrative. “Every languagehas its own kind of rhymes and phrasesthat hail from its deep-rooted cultureswhich were kept intact.”

Moreover, while putting it in Hindi,the visuals which had a very importantpresence in the comic, had to match thetext. “There is no way in which you canpass off a wild boar as chicken,” she says.For getting it right, there were variousdrafts of translations — at least six to sevenof them before they went to HachetteLivre in France. “First they asked for asample translation and we sent them 10pages of the first book. After a month orso, they got back with a very good feed-back and they were convinced that it’sheaded in the right direction. We sentthem about two rounds of final transla-tion so that they could come up with finalchanges and feedback,” she says. However,this was not the end as laying out Asterixin a different language, in the comicframes, was another ballgame altogetherbecause Hindi is much longer thanFrench.

In French, all the accents are on top,whereas in Hindi, all the maatras are onthe side. All of us had to be very careful

about what we were writing so that wedidn’t exceed the speech blurb,” saysChaudhuri while talking about the chal-lenges that came her and her co-transla-tor Pankaj Gupta’s way while translatingthe first four comics of Asterix andObelix. So minute details to the extent ofnot changing the sizes of the blurbs weretaken into account.

However, it was not easy. “Every lan-guage has got its own sound system. Soa simple thing like a water splash wouldbe written plouf in French and splash inEnglish. The Hindi equivalent is chapaak!Even though it is obvious with the visu-al of splashing water, but again the textneeds to match with the language. So wetranslated a tremendous amount of wordplay too in the dialogues.”

Moreover, any one who has read thecomics can recall that it is peppered withframes which had only battle cries orsounds (without speech blurbs) so thoseframes had to be redrawn. “The originalFrench or English text is transcribed byhand (manually), but we did not do that.We looked for a font which was close tothe original one and the text was enteredby a keyboard,” she says.

Asterix often had run-ins with theGoths, who spoke in a dramatic Frenchaccent. This is depicted by harsher soundsin Hindi. “We had to look for fonts thatwere dramatic, bold and hard-hitting.People say, ‘God lies in detail’ and evenwhile being an atheist, I have to confessthat it did lie in detail and in the way wewere trying to convey each and everydetail through translation,” she says.

The comics have an abundance ofsongs and Chaudhuri uses those to illus-trate the nitty gritty that they went into.“There is a song where it says that theslaves do not know how to row a boatwhich is taken from a French nurseryrhyme which is actually cruel and indi-

cates that at the end, a boy would becooked and eaten. So while translating, wehad to take both into account to get thecontext right. It wasn’t just the questionof translating the dialogues but about tak-ing the background in account, makingsure that nothing gets lost in translationor goes out of context or becomes too oddsince they are speaking in Hindi,” she says.That is also the reason why even thoughAsterix speaks in Hindi, he still has theFrench connect intact. “We can’t do awaywith it because of the visuals since thestory is also French as are the battles,” shesays. The only thing that has beenchanged are the names of the Romansexcept for Julius Caesar, for the sake ofeasy identification.

Chaudhuri insists that Asterix comicsin Hindi has got the same production val-ues and quality as the French and Englishones.

Chaudhuri believes that it is a wrongnotion to think that Asterix is for children.“These relate not only the medieval his-tory of France, there are some expressionsin Latin like, de facto, ad nauseum that wecontinue to use that makes them very con-temporary. There are interesting, lesser-known facts that have multiple interpre-tations and connotations. A child wouldinterpret it very differently and is likelyto love all his antics and all the fighting.The adolescent might react to all the fight-ing very differently because of the raginghormones. The adult might want to gobeyond the surface and look at the con-structs — the social hierarchy, implica-tions of these songs and sounds and dia-logues as the meaning keeps slippingthrough your fingers and you have tocatch it. And then you might get a differ-ent meaning the next time you read it.”

So what is stopping you from pickingup the Hindi translation of the Asterix?

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Sunanda Sharma kick start-ed her career with aPunjabi song, ‘Billi Akh’ in

March 2016, which gathered themuch deserved appreciationfrom the audience. This singerand model, went on to create abuzz with her songs ‘Patake’ and‘Jaani Tera Naa’ which resonat-ed amongst the youth and goteverybody tapping their feet notonly in Mumbai, Ranchi andDelhi in India, but her voice hasbeen creating magic across theglobe through her successfulshows in Canada, Australia,Europe, New Zealand, England,Dubai and so on. Sharma alsohas the accolades of being invit-ed to the Dolce and Gabbanashow in Milano, and at the storelaunch of Louis Vuitton, Delhi.

Such talent is not hiddenfrom Bollywood, and Sharmaspread her wings into the glam-our industry with the track ‘TereNaal Nachna’ in July, 2018along with Badshah, acclaimingmore than 160 million hits onYoutube. Talent and determina-tion bring out the pearls fromthe deepest of the seas, andSharma has proved this with herlatest chartbuster song ‘PosterLagwado’ for the movie, LukaChuppi. The singing industry isin awe of this fresh voice and sheis going to keep the audience ontheir toes with her soon to belaunched new track ‘Sandal’which like all her other tracksis going to resonate the youthspecially the girls with exhilara-tion and delight. Edited excerptsfrom the interview:

� How has the journey beenso far?It has been a wonderful chap-

ter! Everyday I have learnt newstuff, lived new moments and Icherish every single minute ofit.

� What type of music do youidentify with?There is no single genre whichdefines me. Up until now, I havegiven beat songs and romantictracks, and ,ore of the sad and

romantic songs will be releasedthis year.

� What have been your chal-lenges in making a name in theindustry?Honestly speaking, I have notfaced any challenges as such, forwhich I am thankful to mymentor, Pinky Dhaliwal paaji. Ifeel blessed and lucky that I was

able to establish myself in thisindustry with him, as his expe-rience and vision for me mademy journey in this field verystress free.

� Have you found the Punjabimusic industry different fromthat of Bollywood?The Punjabi music industry isequivalently good as Bollywood.As of today, every Bollywoodmovie is incomplete without aPunjabi number. Either thereare remakes or new Punjabisongs which give a sense of live-liness that lightens up the moodand pumps in blood when youstep out of the theater. Thesesongs have been responsible toboost up the energy and emo-tions in audiences. But, yes theBollywood music industry isvery professional and the peo-ple understand the value oftime, which is comparativelyless in the Punjabi music indus-try.

� Nepotism in Bollywoodhas caught quite a bit ofattention. What are yourthoughts on this?I do not believe that as such’ it’snatural that you will give pref-erence to your loved ones orpeople who are close to you.However, I believe that talentis the main key because ofwhich the performers sustaintheir level in the industry. Onthe hand, people fromPollywood (as we call thePunjabi industry), also get anopportunity at big platforms.So, I guess the claim of nepo-tism is not a 100 per cent true,though it may exist in somepercentage.

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Among the many sins thatman should avoid, thank-

lessness is one that is cruellydouble edged, causing morepain to the benefactor. To for-get the good deeds done on youby someone breaks the heart ofthe good-doer. Consequently,many others with good inten-tions for the society curb theirnatural inclination for helpingothers when examples ofungratefulness are put forth tothem. The world gets poorerwhen people start questioningthe very moral of doing good toothers and become indifferentto the problems of others. Thisis most damaging to the healthof a society. The sinner whocommits the act of thankless-ness in fact, causes grievousinjury to the society, much to itsdetriment.

At the spiritual level too,man falls prey to acts of thank-lessness, sometimes due to hisarrogance. God, our ultimateFather, has sent us to this beau-tiful planet, provided us with allthe requirements for survival,flora and fauna, a versatile bodyand a brain without a rival. Andthis, he has given us, withoutexpecting anything in return. Ofcourse, we can’t give him any-thing but we surely can give himsome of our time, just a fewminutes of the twenty fourhours in a day.

Our saints have stressed inthe holy books that man shouldremember God always. With

firm determination and regularpractice, it is possible to do soeven when submerged in ourdaily activities. In time itbecomes part of man’s existenceand he need not consciouslyremember God all the time.

God has given us life, themeans and spirit to survive, andto excel, and yet we fail toremember Him. It shows thank-lessness, which sometimesbecomes deep rooted in manand he finds difficult to cleansehimself of this sin. This happensbecause of his arrogance and hisself deception that he is the doerand should come out winner byall means. With this kind oftemperament he severs his in-born relationship with God.

If material gain is the pur-pose of life, or accumulation ofwealth gives us inner peace,then Ravanna, Kansa andDuryodhan should have beenmost happy and content butthen we see what kind of endthey met with because theydenied God, turning epitomesof thanklessness.

Being thankful makes aman humble and realise the trueworth of his existence, which isto help and do good to his fel-low beings. Always be thankfuleven to the smallest of gooddeeds. It spreads goodness allaround. And that is the essenceof life.

(The author is the chief edi-tor of a bi-annual magazine pub-lished by Ved Ishvareeya Vani)

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After a stellar performance in the lastthree years, and with the support of thegovernment, NAFED is set to record a

turnover of �20,000 crore and should be ableto reach a profit of �450 crore in this year. Thisis the first time that NAFED has posted suchhigh profits. However, the managing directorof the company, SANJEEV KUMAR CHADHA,understands that the company cannot remaindependent only on procurement and thus, hasbegun to diversify its revenue channels intoretail, bio-CNG and is also exporting andimporting agri products on behalf of the gov-ernment. Edited excerpts from the interview:

� NAFED is eying to set up 100 bio-CNGplants across the country. What is theupdate on this front?The Ministry of Petroleum has come out witha policy to promote bio CNG in the country.The challenge in this sector till now was thatthe chain from the supply of raw materials tothe final product was not getting completed.Thus, NAFED has taken up the role of the facil-itator and we will be supplying the raw mate-rials in the form of agri-waste from sugar mills,municipal waste and stubble from farmer’sfields. We have tied up with the municipali-ties in Ahmedabad and Jammu to provide uswith segregated waste for the plants. We willalso apply for all the statuary clearances forthese projects and have tied up with technol-ogy and funding partners.

To make the projects financially viable, thegovernment has offered us a very good off takerate of �48 per kg for 10 years, following which,we have already signed an off take agreementwith Indian Oil Corporation. The businessmodel is independent of government subsidy.As of now, we have already applied for 12 suchprojects and actual work on these projects willbegin soon. We will lay the foundation stonefor one such project in western UP in the com-ing week.

India needs at least 5000-6000 such plantsand for this to happen it is important that thefunding source is not dependent on banks.Thus, we are looking at green bonds, UN fundsand maybe even consider collaborating withIndianOil to jointly create a bond structure forthese projects.

� There is talk about the launch of NAFED’sown bio-fertiliser. What are the plans in placefor this?We are launching our bio fertilisers since fer-tilisers are going to be one of the bi-productsat the bio-CNG plants. However, this fertilis-er will need enrichment since it will come outof different types of raw materials. It will needaddition of some inoculum, bacteria and oth-ers to make it rich and thus improve produc-

tion. It is important to note that the bio-fer-tilisers have to be enriched and packed at thesite of the bio-CNG plants to avoid transporta-tion costs from other location, to make it com-petitive. As far as marketing it is considered,with our outreach with the farmers across thecountry and our established NAFED brand, wewill be able to sell it easily. Also, Indian Oil hasaround 3000 Farmer Seva Kendras where wewill be selling this product. It is estimated thatonce functional, the bio-CNG plants will gen-erate employment for around 100-125 personsat a unit.

� What type of certified seeds is NAFEDsupplying to the farmers?We get the breeder seed from the IndianCouncil of Agricultural Research (ICAR),which is converted into foundation seed. Thisis used to produce the certified seeds whichare then supplied to the farmers. India hasbecome almost self sufficient in pulses in thelast three years but, we are lacking in oil seeds.Currently, we import around 80 per cent of ourrequirement for oil seeds but, there is a lot ofscope in this area for India. Self sufficiency for

pulses was achieved by government’s empha-sis on supply of seeds and its promotion but,the key was purchase. If the farmer is con-vinced that the government will buy hisgrains if the price is below the minimum sup-port price (MSP), then he is incentivised togrow more. This has to be similarly applied tooil seeds.

We are producing certified seeds for puls-es and oil seeds for this purpose and are sup-plying it to farmers. We have observed thatmany farmers in Uttar Pradesh have shiftedfrom sugarcane to mustard production, whichadds to their income. Also, growing legumeshelps nourish the soil with nutrients. This canreduce the use of artificial nourishment andeventually improve the soil quality. Anotherarea to explore is the demand for oil cake fromChina and other Asia Pacific countries, whichis one of the bi products of the oil industry.

� How are you planning to popularise theorganic products launched by NAFED?Under the NAFED brand, we have launched90 new organic products, starting from seedslike flax seeds, chia seeds, tea, flour, pulses and

so on. We have also partnered with e-com-merce platforms like Grofers and Amazon. Ourfocus is to popularise these products in thephysical markets in the states by making useof the distribution channel.

The challenge in organic farming is thatthe farmers who grow these products do notget the premium as paid by the consumers. Tobridge the gap between the growers and themarket, we have identified farmer co-opera-tives and farmer producer organisations whoget the products certified and we are nowsourcing the products directly from them. Thisway we are ensuring that the farmers are paidat least 20 per cent more for their products.Also, since we are able to make these productsmore competitive, we will be able to pass onthe benefit to the end consumers as well.Recently, we participated in BIOFACH, thelargest event in the world for organic food, tostudy and understand the international mar-ket in this segment. Since all our organic prod-ucts are APIDA certified, we can also exportthese to meet the demand from the interna-tional markets like the Middle East.

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The Steel Authority of IndiaLimited (SAIL)-Durgapur

Steel Plant has supplied the firstconsignment of 30 LinkeHofmann Busch (LHB) wheelsto the Indian Railways.Whilethe Indian Railways is shiftingto LHB coaches from the ICFcoaches for improved safetyand higher speed, the wheelsfor LHB coaches are currentlybeing imported. SAIL was ini-tially given an order to supply1000 LHB wheels by IndianRailways, of which, the firstconsignment has been dis-patched.

These LHB wheels haveunique web profile with met-allurgical properties and arespecially designed to befit thehigh speed movement on

broad gauge. These wheels aredeveloped with the help fromResearch Design and StandardOrganisation (RDSO) of theIndian Railways and the Wheel

and Axle Plant of DSP. Theyhave pneumatic disc brake sys-tem for efficient braking athigher speeds, reducing theimpact during accidents oremergency situations.Chairman SAIL commented,“Our entire focus is to beginthe supply of this advancedLHB wheels so that the require-ment of Indian Railways can befulfilled domestically. I believethat meeting the entire require-ment of LHB wheels domesti-cally, will reduce the importsand also help in saving foreignexchange”

The executive director (HR)of IndianOil Refineries, VK

Shukla, recently addressed thefirth batch of successful traineesof the youth skill developmentprogramme, undertaken by thecompany last year in associationwith the National SkillDevelopment Corporation(NSDC). IndianOil Refineries,as part of its corporate socialresponsibility, had undertakentraining of youth from theDelhi-NCT region in varioustraining courses to support thenational campaign of Skill India.He advised the students to reg-ularly update their skills andknowledge, to stand good in anycircumstance and support theirfamilies. Adding further, AnitaShrivastava, general manager(CC and CSR), specificallyadvised the female trainees to

keep up the momentum andmaintain their financial inde-pendence. As part of this sus-tainable project, 394 success-ful candidates found job place-ments by the NSDC in privatesector in trades like sewingmachine operator, generalhouse keeping, emergencymedical technician, visiontechnician, customer careexecutive and general dutyassistance.

The beneficiaries for thisinitiative were drawn mainlyfrom Below Poverty Line(BPL) families, placing a spe-cial emphasis on skilling girlstudents. Similar skillingschemes for youth were rolledout in all nine refineries ofIndianOil located in variousstates across the country, ben-efitting about 2500 youths.

The 48th National Safety Week was celebrated at POWER-GRID Northern Region-I recently. In order to generate more

awareness among employees about safety in all spheres of life.The training programme on first aid and fire fighting was alsoconducted at 37 establishments of the NRTS-1 along with train-ing and safety awareness programme for contract workers at allconstruction site offices. The celebrations saw the presence ofHK Mallick, executive director NRTS-I, YK Dixit, chief gener-al manager (AM/Engineering/ULDC), among other senior offi-cials of the organisation.

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SCOPE and the Competition Commission of India (CCI) joint-ly organised a workshop on ‘Competition Law and Public

Procurement’. CCI’s chairperson, Ashok Kumar Gupta, said thatPSEs are not working in isolation and therefore, they have tobe aware about the environment all around. He informed thatCCI will come out with a diagnostic tool kit for tender designto avoid bid rigging. The Director General of SCOPE, Dr UDChoubey said. “Procurement, value wise world over, is 15 percent of the global GDP. India spends 30 per cent of the GDP onprocurement.” He said public sector are system oriented and haveintroduced reforms in procurement like e-tendering, e-procure-ment, bill watch system, reverse auctioning and so on. Other dig-nitaries present during the workshop included AtanuChakraborty, secretary, Department of Investment and PublicAsset Management (DIPAM), Ved Prakash, chairman, SCOPEand CMD, MMTC, among others.

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Novak Djokovic's pursuitof a record seventh

Miami Open ATP title endedin dramatic fashion onTuesday as Roberto BautistaAgut superbly recovered froma first set destruction to win1-6, 7-5, 6-3 and book a placein the quarter-finals.

And the top seeds keptfalling as women's worldnumber two Petra Kvitovaslumped to a surprise 7-6(8/6), 3-6, 6-2 defeat toAustralian Ashleigh Barty.

Bautista Agut, 30, mayhave beaten Djokovic on theway to winning the title inDoha earlier this year but 15-

time Grand Slam championDjokovic started like a trainin this last 16 encounterbefore being amazingly reinedback in.

After just 25 minutes,Djokovic was 5-0 ahead andon cruise control, BautistaAgut severely struggling tokeep the Serbian at bay.

A short rain delay late inthe second set al lowedBautista Agut to regroup,however.

He returned a complete-ly different player and at theend of an absorbing twohours and 29 minutes, it wasthe number 22 seed who willnow meet defending champi-on John Isner for a place in

the semi-finals."I played more aggres-

sive," said Bautista Agut whobegan to noticeably stepinside and force Djokoviconto the back foot. "I tried tomiss less balls, to really con-

centrate on the beginning of

the point with my serve, withmy return."

With Roger Federer'smatch with Daniil Medvedevpostponed until Wednesdayafter a spell of heavy rainforced tournament officialsinto a reshuffle, all the focusremained on Djokovic's shockexit.

The reigning Wimbledon,US Open and AustralianOpen champion left courtand headed straight to a pressconference to try and explainthis most remarkable of turn-

arounds at Hard RockStadium.

"He is a solid player but Ishouldn't have lost this match,I had way too many wastedopportunities," said the worldnumber one, who also failedto make the latter stages ofIndian Wells this month.

"I thought I played welltoday and during this tourna-ment but two or three slug-gish games and that's whathappens."

Djokovic, who also hint-ed his vociferous involve-ment in ATP tennis politicswhich saw President ChrisKermode ousted this monthmay have affected his focus,was initially consistent with

�$�������Teenage Indian shoot-ing stars Manu Bhaker andSaurabh Chaudhary smashed thequalification world record beforeclinching the 10m air pistol mixedteam Gold in the 12th AsianAirgun Championship inTaoyuan, Taipei on Wednesday.

Their feat came exactly amonth after they won the

International Shooting SportFederation (ISSF) World Cupstage Gold in the same event inDelhi.

The 17-year-old Manu and16-year-old Saurabh shot a com-bined score of 784 in the qualifi-cation round, breaking the recordset by Russians VitalinaBatsarashkina and Artem

Chernousov at the EuropeanChampionships five days ago.

The Indians then went on towin the five-team final with a scoreof 484.8.

Hwang Seongeun and KimMose of Korea won the Silver witha score of 481.1 while Wu ChiaYing and Kou Kuan-Ting claimedthe Bronze.

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Fabio Quagliarella attributedhis new-found serenity afteryears of a stalker nightmare to

his stunning form as the 36-year-old on Tuesday became the oldestplayer to score for Italy.

The player fromCastellammare di Stabia nearNaples converted two penalties ina crushing 6-0 Euro 2020 qualify-ing win by the Azzurri overLiechtenstein in Parma.

Italy top Group J with sixpoints after also beating Finland 2-0 in Udine on Saturday with goalsfrom youngsters Nicolo Barella, 22,and 19-year-old Moise Kean.

Bosnia threw away a two-goallead to draw 2-2 with Greece andboth are behind Italy on fourpoints followed by Finland onthree.

Serie A top scorer Quagliarellahas earned his recall to RobertoMancini's new-look Italy thanks tohis 21 goals in 28 league games, twomore than Portuguese starCristiano Ronaldo has managed forJuventus.

And he marked his return forthe Azzurri after nearly nine yearsby converting a penalty on 35 min-utes, adding a second, also from thespot, just before the break.

The Sampdoria player at 36years and 54 days becomes the old-est player to score for Italy, overtak-ing Christian Panucci who was 35years and 62 days when he nettedin 2008.

"I don't feel my age, I feel goodand I'm very serene," saidQuagliarella, whose career hadbeen blighted by a stalker whoforced him to leave Naples in2010.

"It's a wonderful evening," saidthe veteran forward after scoringhis ninth goal in 27 caps for Italy.

His first international startwas in March 2007, with his last inJune 2010, before Mancini revivedhis international career.

"Quagliarella deserved thiscall, because he is theCapocannoniere (top scorer) inSerie A this season," said theItaly coach.

"I want to thank myteammates," continuedQuagliarella.

"After the two goals theyencouraged me to get a thirdone too, but it didn't happen.

"I thank Jorginho and Bonuccibecause they're the penalty takersand they told me to kick.

"They said: 'The evening isyours, you kick it'."

Stefano Sensi had headed Italyin front after 17 minutes withMarco Verratti adding a secondafter 32 minutes.

Kean nodded in his secondItaly goal on 69 minutes with

substitute Leonardo Pavoletti,30, who got his first Italystart in the second half toreplace Quagliarella, addinga sixth.

������ ���������� Alvaro Morata's

remarkable revival continued onTuesday as he scored twice forSpain in a 2-0 victory over Malta.

After edging past Norway 2-1on Saturday, Morata's double at theTa'Qali stadium gives Spain twowins from two in Euro 2020 qual-ifying and the perfect start inGroup F.

Luis Enrique's side again

showed the inability to convert pos-session into chances that cloudedtheir early exit from last year'sWorld Cup.

But Morata's brace offers roomfor encouragement, the strikerextending his return to form sincehe joined Atletico Madrid on loanfrom Chelsea in January.

He has five goals in six games,his best return since Sept 2017, andhas strengthened his case for aposition that has proved so trou-blesome for Spain in recent years.

"The boss knows how happy Iam to be here and I am grateful tohim," Morata said. "We want toqualify as soon as possible for theEuros so it was important to wintoday."

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Australian Graham Reid isset to be named the Indian

men's hockey team chief coachtill the 2022 World Cup afterthe national federation andthe Sports Authority of Indiagave their go ahead to fill theposition lying vacant for near-ly three months.

Reid's name was finalisedin a meeting between HockeyIndia and SAI officials onTuesday. He was picked over anumber of candidates, includ-ing Jay Stacy, anotherAustralian and a three-timeOlympic medallist.

Reid's name has been for-warded to the Sports Ministryfor a final approval and accord-ing to a source in the ministry,an official announcementwould be made by the end ofthis week.

"Reid's contract is expect-

ed to be till 2022 but as hasbeen case in the past, the NSFwill review his performanceafter every tournament," thesource said.

A veteran of 130 interna-tional matches, Reid was amember of the Australian teamthat won the Silver medal in the1992 Barcelona Olympics. Adisciple of the legendary Ric

Charlesworth, Reid was hisassistant in the Australian teamfor five years before being ele-vated to the top position in2014.

He was Australia's coach atthe 2016 Rio Olympics but quitafter the Kookaburras failed tofinish on the podium.

In 2017, Reid took up thepost of head coach of his for-mer club Amsterdam as well asassistant coach of theNetherlands team. But earlierthis month, he was dismissedas Amsterdam coach followingwhich speculations startedabout him taking up the Indiajob.

Even though Reid wouldbe given a long rope till 2022,a federation source said qual-ifying for next year's TokyoOlympics would be theAustralian's biggest test and hisfuture with India woulddepend on it.

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Striker Mandeep Singhscored a hat-trick as India

outplayed Canada 7-3 to booka summit clash berth in theSultan Azlan Shah Cup hock-ey tournament on Wednesday.

The 24-year-old Mandeepfired in three quick goals (20th,27th and 29th minutes), all ofthem coming in the secondquarter, after Varun Kumarhad given India the lead in the12th minute of the high-scor-ing match.

At the half time, Indiawere 4-0 up in the matchbefore Canada reduced themargin through a strike fromMark Pearson in the 35thminute.

Amit Rohidas (39th),Vivek Prasad (55th) andNilakanta Sharma (58th)struck later to take the game

beyond the reach of theCanadians who scored twolate goals through FinBoothroyd (50th) and JamesWallace (57th).

With the win, India con-tinued their unbeaten run inthe tournament, with threewins and a draw to top theround-robin league table with10 points. They are nowassured of a place in the finalto be played on March 30, witha game in hand.

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Substitute Gabriel Jesus scoredtwice in the closing minutes to

help Brazil come from behind tobeat the Czech Republic 3-1 in afriendly on Tuesday.

The Manchester City strikerfirst slammed home a cross fromDavid Neres who had sprinteddown the left flank following asuperb pass from Danilo on 83minutes.

And then in the 90th minute,Jesus scored on a rebound of hisown shot after a series of clinicalpasses inside the Czech box.

The Czechs took the lead inthe 37th minute when midfield-er David Pavelka found himselfin possession behind a leakyBrazil defence and slammed theball in past Alisson.

Roberto Firmino equalisedfour minutes after half-time,picking up a pass aimed at Czechsweeper Marek Suchy inside thebox and firing home.

"I'm super happy withGabriel Jesus, I'm glad I gave hima chance in the second half," saidBrazil coach Tite, praising the72nd-minute substitute for hisoffensive drive.

Brazil had a lone shot on goalin the first-half but Czech keep-er Jiri Pavlenka had little troubleparrying away Casemiro's freekick.

In the second period,Philippe Coutinho saw his lowshot cleared by a diving Pavlenka

while substitute Neres fired intothe Bremen keeper from closerange.

"The Czechs were more cre-ative in the first-half, we lackedthis aspect," said Tite.

"The first-half was tough, Iwas upset with the passing, butsecond-half substitutions allowedus to combine better."

��������� �� ����� ���� � :������ MidfielderChristian Pulisic scored earlybut limped off with a quadricepsinjury on Tuesday as the UnitedStates remained unbeaten undercoach Gregg Berhalter with a 1-1 friendly draw against Chile.

Pulisic became the youngestAmerican to score 10 internation-al goals when he opened the scor-ing at BBVA Compass Stadium inHouston in the fourth minute.

Pulisic sprinted onto a neat-ly played ball from Gyasi Zardes,racing into the penalty area andbeating goalkeeper Gabriel Arias.

At 20 years, 189 days oldPulisic broke the US mark todouble-digit international goalsset by Jozy Altidore, who was 20years, 337 days old when hescored his 10th US goal inOctober 2010.

The lead lasted just five min-utes as Oscar Opazo knotted thescore at 1-1 with a left-footedblast in the ninth, completing asequence that saw US defendersOmar Gonzalez and Matt Miazgabeaten.

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his serve during the openingset.

He mixed up is shotssuperbly, blending power andsubtlety to keep his opponentguessing.

However, a drop inDjokovic's level coupled witha rise in Bautista Agut'saggression saw a completereversal in fortunes after a 30minute weather delay. TheSpaniard grabbed two setpoints, the second of whichwas taken when the Serbiannetted a forehand.

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With Jasprit Bumrah "ready androaring" after an injury scare,

Mumbai Indians would fancy theirchances against an erratic RoyalChallengers Bangalore when the twostar-studded teams square off onThursday.

The big sub-plot of the contestwould be the world's best ODI bats-man — Virat Kohli — taking guardagainst the world's best ODI bowler —Bumrah — in a format notorious forits unpredictability.

Bumrah's shoulder injury was acause of concern for the Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai but India's premier pacerseems to have recovered in time to beback in the fold.

Both teams will be eager to regis-ter their first win of this year’s tourna-ment and the onus will be on Kohli andRohit, both of who failed to justify theirreputation in the first game.

Mumbai will also be boosted bythe availability of IPL’s all-time lead-ing wicket taker Lasith Malinga.

The Sri Lankan was on Tuesdayreleased by Sri Lanka Cricket from thedomestic Super Provincial One-Daydomestic tournament, slated fromApril 4 to 11. The SLC had made thetournament a trial for the World Cupsquad selection, prompting Malinga topull out of the IPL's first leg initially.

However, the SLC softened itsstance, reasoning that the fast bowlerwill be bowling to better batsmen inthe IPL.

Mumbai will also heave a sigh ofrelief as Bumrah joined practice onWednesday during which he ran for20 minutes and participated in catch-ing drills. He also took to social

media to state that he is "ready androaring."

Bumrah suffered the shoulderinjury after landing awkwardly duringSunday's contest against DelhiCapitals.

Yuvraj Singh will also be in focusafter the 37-year-old started the sea-

son on a classy note hitting a sublimehalf-century against Delhi Capitals.While Mitchell McClenaghan will beeager to face the challenge of bowlingto Kohli, AB De Villers and hard hit-ting West Indian youngster ShimronHetmyer.

RCB will expect its batsmen to putup a formidable total after they werebundled out for a paltry 70 in 17.1overs against the Chennai Super Kingsin the opening match of the season.With power-hitters like Kohli, AB deVilliers and Shimron Heymeyer in theteam, that should not be an uphill task.

Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahalwill again be the key man in the RCBbowling attack and will need thesupport of the other bowlers.

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Jofra Archer, one of the most sought-afterbowlers in franchise-based leagues, rates

Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah as the best T20bowler currently playing in world cricket.

The Barbados-born medium-pacer,who will soon qualify to play for Englandin the international arena after completinga mandatory seven-year residency in thecountry, also placed himself andAfghanistan's Rashid Khan in the list of topthree bowlers in the shortest format.

"I am going to say that I quite likeBumrah. I would include a spinner in thelist and that is Rashid Khan. So it's myself,Bumrah and Rashid, who are three bestbowlers in T20 cricket," Archer, playing forRajasthan Royals in the ongoing IPL said.

Archer, who has 105 wickets from 82T20 games at an economy rate of less than

eight runs per over, feels Bumrah's unusu-al action makes it difficult for batsmen topick him.

"With the new ball, it can go either way,so for all the fast bowlers, it is essential thatyou have an extra edge at the death," saidArcher.

"Even with his action, he bowls york-ers really well. And the key to possessinga potent slower delivery in case of Bumrahis his action. His hands go on all directionsand suddenly you will find it really hardto pick up the slower one," explainedArcher.

Archer has a couple of deceptivebouncers and some good variation of slow-er deliveries but he admitted that the tough-est delivery to execute in a pressure cook-er scenario is the wide Yorker because ofthe margin of error.

"Personally, I don't even like it really

because your margin for error could be awide or a four or if you nail it then a sin-gle. Personally, for me I find it way too hardand try not using it," he said.

Royals have enough firepower to winthe IPL after 11 years, Archer exuded con-fidence despite the fact that England'sWorld Cup hopefuls such as Jos Buttler andBen Stokes will be back in the UK on April25 as per an England and Wales CricketBoard's diktat.

On the personal front, Archer has sethis sights on the 'Purple Cap', meant for thetop wicket-taker in the IPL.

"I just want us to get to the play-offs firstand then worry about getting into the finals.Personally, I will like to get the Purple Cap.I want to score a few runs as well as I did-n't score too many last year. Hopefully, I canturn that round this year and show what Ican do with the bat," the 23-year-old said.

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Half centuries from Nitish Ranaand Robin Uthappa, and yet

another blistering knock fromAndre Russell helped KolkataKnight Riders post a massive 218for 4 against Kings XI Punjab intheir IPL match at Eden Gardenson Wednesday.

Russell made full use of areprieve when he was on three tohammer five sixes and three foursin his 17-ball 48 to play a majorrole in KKR posting a big total.

Russell, who hit a sensational19-ball 49 against SunrisersHyderabad, was brilliantly yorkedby Mohammed Shami. But it wasadjudged a no-ball as only threeKXIP fielders were inside the 30-yard-circle against a mandatoryminimum of four.

The Jamaican then hit top gear,smashing Andre Tye for two sixesand two fours. He then went on tohit Shami for three sixes in a rowto take KKR past 200.

Playing his first match after the'Mankading' controversy, KingsXI Punjab skipper RavichandranAshwin found the going toughafter he opted to bowl with SunilNarine unleashing the fury earlyon with a nine-ball 24.

Nitish Rana struck his consec-utive half century, a 34-ball 67while number 3 Robin Uthappawas their top-scorer, remainingunbeaten on a 50-ball 67 (2x6, 6x4)to lend KKR the stability.

Off to a sedate start with 22runs from 21 balls, Rana switchedgear against Ashwin hitting the

India off-spinner for two sixes andcontinued his assault on MandeepSingh in the next over with succes-sive sixes.

Such was Rana's fury that hisnext 41 runs came off just 13 ballsas he along with Uthappa made aspectacular 110-run third wicket

partnership off just 66 balls.Having grabbed the spotlight

in the Tamil Nadu Premier Leagueen route to fetching the joint-high-est bid of �8.4, VarunChakravarthy found IPL a differ-ent ball game when Narinesmashed the debutant for three

sixes and a boundary in his firstover.

But Narine's innings (24 offnine balls) ended when SouthAfrican pacer Hardus Viljoenworked up great pace and bounceto get a top-edge for his debut IPLwicket.

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Dwayne Bravo hasnever understood the

age-related fuss that cropsup everytime ChennaiSuper Kings win a matchbecause for him smartalways trumps fast in anysport.

CSK defeated DelhiCapitals on Tuesday andBravo could barely holdback when the age questionwas thrown at him at thepost-match press confer-ence.

"We are aware of ourage. It's there and you cangoogle it but that's nothing.We are not 60 year-olds, weare 35, 32-year-olds. We arestill young, we look afterour bodies and we have alot of experience," Bravo hitback at the critics.

It's the experience ofhandling crunch situationsthat makes CSK a cut

above the rest with the"best captain in the world"leading the side, said

Bravo, "In any sport, in anytournament, you just can-not beat experience. We

know our weaknesses andwe play smart and we arewell led by the best captainin the world. And he(Dhoni) keeps remindingus that you know we arenot the fastest team, but wecan be the smartest team,"the former West Indiesall-rounder said.

For CSK, it's moreabout situational aware-ness rather than long-drawn tactical planningsaid Bravo.

Asked if there is a strat-egy to bat around Dhoni,he replied: "We don't plan.We don't have team meet-ings. We just turn up andgo with the flow. MS has astyle, and every player hasa style. We just watch thesituation and adapt quick-ly and that's where experi-ence comes in." It was

Bravo's over that changedthe match when he dis-missed Rishabh Pant andColin Ingram in quick suc-cession.

"MS wanted me tobowl a straighter line, ontothe stumps, wicket to wick-et, a lot of seam ups. Sotoday I bowled a lot moreeffort balls than in othergames. Normally, I bowl alot of slower balls, a lot ofvariations, yorkers buttoday the wicket wasn'tsuitable for that type ofdeliveries.

"And again MS stand-ing behind the stumps, heknew exactly what wasrequired and he also knewthat he could count on meat any point in time todeliver for him," theTrinidad and Tobago crick-eter said.

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Shikhar Dhawan has to up theante in the Powerplay overs as

it will not be possible for RishabhPant to be the swashbucklereveryday, feels Delhi Capitalscoach Ricky Ponting.

Dhawan's batting has becomea talking point as he didn't scoreat a particularly good pace evenin the opening win against theMumbai Indians.

Asked if he would have likedDhawan to accelerate, Pontingreplied, "Ideally, yes you'd like that.But it obviously wasn't an easywicket either for anyone to go inand strike, especially at the end ofthe PowerPlay." Dhawan's strike-

rate has been less than 115, whichis considered poor in T20 formatas his scores of 43 off 36 balls (MI)and 51 off 47 balls (CSK) wouldindicate.

"There's a certain role that wewant Shikhar to play in this team.Even by his own admission, hewould've liked to score quickertoday but at the 15th over markwe were 118 for 2," Ponting said.

"We struggled to get to 147 soit's the back-end of the inningsthat I am sort of most disappoint-ed in because I think we set up thefront part of the innings prettywell," he added.

It was Pant's dismissal thatbecame the difference between agood and a below-par total. Theformer Australian skipper saidone shouldn't expect the maver-ick keeper-batsman to do the jobeveryday.

"No, we can't expect Rishabh

to play like he did in Mumbai,everyday. No one can do that. Noone can go and get 78 off 20-oddballs in every game. But it wasthere for that to happen today. Itwasn't just Rishabh, (Colin)Ingram had an opportunity aswell. Shreyas (Iyer) had a goodopportunity again today," heexplained.

Ponting said he firmlybelieves that it wasn't poor bowl-ing but batting at the death thatcost them the match.

"At the end of the day, it was-n't the bowling that cost us thegame. We were 20-30 runs shortwith the bat, which has been thedifference in the game," he con-cluded.

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India's Subhankar Dey produced thebiggest upset of the Yonex-Sunrise

India Open so far, knocking out fourthseed Indonesian Tommy Sugiarto, whileformer champions P V Sindhu andKidambi Srikanth also progressed to thesecond round on Wednesday.

Unseeded Subhankar, ranked 44thin the world, eked out a stunning 14-21,22-20, 21-11 triumph over world num-ber 9 Sugiarto to join a group ofIndians, including H S Prannoy, B SaiPraneeth and Sameer Verma, in themen's singles second round.

Earlier, Sindhu, who reached thefinals in the last two editions and wonthe title in 2017, brushed aside fellowIndian Mugdha Agrey 21-8, 21-13 inwomen's singles, while Srikanthrecorded his fourth successivewin over Hong Kong's WongWing Ki Vincent with a 21-16, 18-21, 21-19 triumph in men's singles.

Prannoy also showed good signsof recovering from a gastro-esophagealreflux disease that troubled him last year,notching up a come-from-behind 14-21,21-18,21-14 win over Thailand's eighthseeded Kantaphon Wangcharoen.

Fifth seed Sameer Verma beatDenmark's Rasmus Gemke 21-18, 21-12, while Riya Mookerjee shockedThailand's Phittayaporn Chaiwan 21-17,21-15 to set up a meeting withDenmark's eighth seed Mia Blichfeldt,who knocked out Rita Thaker.

Swiss Open finalist B Sai Praneethrecovered from a first-game reversal tooutwit compatriot Kartikey GulshanKumar 22-24, 21-13, 21-8 to also enterthe second round.

Former champions RatchanokIntanon and Li Xuerui made a goodstart to their respective campaigns. Thefourth-seeded Intanon, who is eyeinga third title at this prestigious event,

comfortably beat India's SaiUttejitha Rao Chukka 21-9,21-6.

London Olympic Goldmedallist Xuerui, the winner of

this tournament in 2012, over-came a tough opponent in NitchaonJindapol with a 21-17, 21-11 win.

Third seed He Bingjiao needed 30minutes to dismiss India's Prashi Joshi21-12, 21-15 and was joined by hercompatriot Chen Xiaoxin following her21-15, 21-11 victory over YuliaYosephin Susanto.

In doubles, sixth seeds Manu Attriand Sumeeth Reddy blew away youngercountrymen Ravi and Lakshay Saroha21-14, 21-7.

Pranaav Jerry Chopra and ShivamSharma, who qualified for the maindraw, made short work of Senthil VelGovindarasu and VembarasanVenkatachalam 21-13, 21-13.

In women's doubles, the pairs ofPooja Dandu-Sanjana Santosh andVenkata Ramya Tulasi Bailupudi-Shivani Santosh Singh made it throughRound 2.

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The condition of Jasprit Bumrah'sinjured shoulder has certainly

improved but there is still no cer-tainty over India's international'sparticipation in Mumbai's matchagainst RCB.

"As we all know, Bumrah was

out there yesterday warming up andtook a few catches. He has recoveredwell today and looks fit," a memberfrom Mumbai Indians' manage-ment told reporters at theChinnaswamy stadium.

"He will be assessed after today's(training) session," the officialadded.

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