inspires me: shah rukh 14 vivacity we’ll repeat 2014: modifor modi… · 2019-05-17 · modi...

BREXIT TALKS COLLAPSEAS UK OPP BLAMES MAYLondon: A day after BritishPrime Minister Theresa May wasforced to set a June timeline forher exit from Downing Street,the Opposition Labour Partyended the cross-party Brexittalks on Friday without arrivingat any agreement.

2K AADHAAR DUMPED ONRIVERBANK: OFFICIALSThanjavur: About 2,000 Aadhaarcards have been dumped nearthe Mulliyaaru bank in Tiruvarurdistrict, according to revenueofficials.

GOVT DECLINES TO SHAREBLACK MONEY DETAILS New Delhi: The Government hasdeclined to share information onblack money cases receivedfrom Switzerland, citingconfidentiality. Replying to anRTI query, the Finance Ministrysaid India and Switzerland shareinformation on black money on acase to case basis as per theinvestigations being carried out.

CAPSULE

DEEPAK K UPRETI n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister NarendraModi walking into BJP’s

Press conference room at theBJP headquarters surprisedscribes on Friday as it had nothappened in the last five-yearof his tenure. While excitedjournalists hoped a rare free-wheeling question-answer ses-sion with him, the PrimeMinster did not oblige themand merely expressed confi-dence that the NDA was set toreturn to power. In PM’s place,party chief Amit Shah inter-acted with the journalists.

Modi chose not to answerquestions saying he will notanswer because the Press con-ference is being addressed byShah, and in BJP’s system, dis-cipline has to be followed. “Weare disciplined soldiers of theparty. The party president iseverything for us,” Modi said.

Shah started fieldingqueries with Modi looking atscribes whom he had thankedand complimented on theirhard work and hoped that theywould have an opportunity totake rest after the gruelingcampaign coverage.

Modi had flown fromMadhya Pradesh and drove tothe BJP office here to brief themedia on his experience andexpectations from the seven-phase poll.

Exuding full-confidence ofagain heading the NationalDemocratic Alliance (NDA)Government at the Centre, thePrime Minister affirmed thatthe new Government wouldstart working on BJP’s mani-festo promises at the earliest.

Claiming that it was aftera long time that theGovernment at the Centre wasreturning with ease, Modi said,“Rarely has it happened that amajority Government after

completing five years will cometo power again. Political pun-dits should do an analysis of itas why it happened.”

He claimed that theGovernment of 2014 and 2019were formed with “mandate ofpeople” and not on account ofany particular “situation” or“dynastic tradition” as was thecase with previousGovernment formations.

In a subtle dig at the headsof journalistic organisations,Modi asked reporters to ask

their bosses to “analyse” why asecond-mandate is given to aGovernment.

He said his campaign wasa thanksgiving to people forfive years when in differenttwists and turns the nationstood with him. “Maine kaha joyatra hamne shuru ki uskobadhane ke liye aapka ashirwadbhi chahiye, aur main dekh rahahoon ki janata pahale se jyadabadh chadh ke ashirwad de rahihai” (I sought their blessings tocontinue our journey at the

Centre and I am seeing thatthey are giving greater mandatethan they gave in 2014).

Taking a swipe at the poll-sters, Modi said, “These pun-ters were the biggest casualtyon May 17, a day after LokSabha results were announcedin 2014”. Saying that thesepunters were then controlled bythe Congress, he said, “Ye saabdoob gaye the.”

“People have decided onGovernment formation… Wewill move forward as early as

possible,” Modi said, addingpoll-promises as mentioned inthe “Sankalp Patra” (mani-festo) would be decided andacted upon.

He said his Government’sUSP was the last mile deliveryof all the welfare schemeswhich he said was “new cultureof governance”.

Shah, who addressed thePress conference and tookquestions, mentioned 133Central schemes which, hesaid, impacted 50 crore peopleat all level as these were mon-itored directly by PMO.

Modi said he started hisfirst campaign from Meerut,the city of 1857 rebellion, andconcluded in Madhya Pradeshwhere revolutionary Bhima, atribal, led it and was executedby the British.

Continued on Page 7

PNS n NEW DELHI

Congress president RahulGandhi on Friday said his

party’s strategy was to system-atically close down every“door” to stop Prime MinisterNarendra Modi from escaping.

“We closed 90 per cent ofthe doors (for Modi), he closed10 per cent himself by abusingthe opponents,” the Congresschief said, while mocking thePM for holding his first Pressconference in five years.

Rahul claimed theCongress has managed to dis-mantle the idea of NarendraModi in the past five years.

The Congress allegationagainst Modi and BJP chiefAmit Shah was led by Rahulafter the PM showed up on thedais for a scheduled Press con-ference by the BJP chief, whogave a report card on the per-formance of the NDAGovernment as well as party’sextensive electioneering.

“PM Modi is accompany-ing Shah in a Press conference,which is an unprecedentedevent for him. Let me ask hima question right now: Mr PM,why did you not accept mychallenge to debate on corrup-tion in Rafale?” Rahul said.

Mocking the PM for nottaking any questions in his firstappearance at a Press confer-ence, Rahul said, “Showing upis half the battle”. He said it is“very impressive” to see the PMaddress his first Press confer-ence a few days before the LokSabha election results are out.

“The PM’s first Press con-ference is coming 4-5 daysbefore the election results. The

PM is accompanying AmitShah in the Press briefing. It isunprecedented. Very good. Iam told the doors have alsobeen shut as journalists whowant to ask questions havebeen blocked. It is a great Pressconference,” Rahul said.

“I want to ask the PrimeMinister why he did not holda debate on the Rafale issue? Iwant to ask you why did yougive `30,000 crore to AnilAmbani. I was ready to cometo Race Course Road to hold adebate with Modi,” Rahul said,posing a question at his Pressconference.

On a question on insult ofhis parents (late PM Rajiv

Gandhi and mother SoniaGandhi) by Modi, the Congresschief said he would rather diethan insult the Prime Minister’sparents. “Modi ji talks withhatred. He insults my father,grandmother, great grandfa-ther. But I will never in my lifespeak about his family, hismother and father. I will die,but will never insult his moth-er and father,” he said.

On question about the PM,Rahul said Modi came fiveyears ago and he had a hugeopportunity. “As an Oppositionleader, I would have liked to seethe PM moving the countryforward,” he said.

Continued on Page 7

PNS n NEW DELHI

Senior Congress leaderGhulam Nabi Azad on

Friday made a U-turn sayinghis party must be given achance to head theGovernment for the sake of sta-bility, a remark comes a dayafter he had said that theCongress was only keen ondefeating the NDA and thePrime Minister’s post was notits primary concern.

“No, this is not true thatCongress will not claim orCongress is not interested inthe Prime Minister’s post. Ofcourse, we are the biggest andoldest political party. If wehave to run the Governmentfor five years, the biggest polit-ical party should be given achance,” Azad said.

While the Congress lead-ership is understood to have

urged UPA partner and NCPchief Sharad Pawar to coordi-nate with other Oppositionleaders to form a cohesivepost-result strategy, Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi at aPress conference said regionalparties such as the SP, BSP andTDP will not support the BJPand indicated that Oppositionparties will get together to

form the next Government.AICC sources said Sharad

Pawar will play a catalyst roleto unite non-BJP parties onceresults start pouring out. “He(Pawar) has been requested byparty leadership to station him-self in Delhi and make sure thatif needed all secular forces beput together,” sources said.

Sources also said TMCleader and West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee,who is having a poll battle withModi, seems to have conveyedher only aim is to removeModi hence would not like topitch for PM post. NCP sourcessaid NCP general secretaryand former Minister in UPAPraful Patel called up Mamataand expressed solidarity withher in her fight against theCentre and struggle towardsthe Election Commission.

Continued on Page 7

STAFF REPORTER n NEW DELHI

Rain lashed several parts ofDelhi-NCR on Friday pro-

viding relief from the scorch-ing heat in the region.

The Safdarjung observato-ry, recording of which is con-sidered official for the nation-al Capital, received 2.4 mm ofrainfall till 5.30 pm.

Areas under Palam, LodhiRoad, Ridge and Ayanagarreceived 7.6 mm, 1.8 mm, 0.2mm and 3.6 mm of rainfall,respectively. The minimumtemperature was recorded at24.6 degrees Celsius, twonotches below the season’saverage, while the maximumwas recorded at 37.4 degreesCelsius, three notches belowthe season’s average. Humidityoscillated between 100 per centand 53 per cent.

The weatherman has fore-cast cloudy skies for Saturdaywith the possibility of thun-derstorm accompanied withvery light rain in Delhi-NCR.

The weather is likely toremain pleasant on Saturdaywith the maximum and mini-mum temperatures hoveringaround 37 degrees and 24degrees Celsius, respectively.

The Indian MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) had pre-dicted thunderstorm with rainand gusty winds over Delhi andits adjoining areas of, Hisar,Rohtak, Jhajjar, Panipat, Kosli,Sonipat, Bagpat, Gurugram,Rewari, Bawal, ManesarGhaziabad, Noida, Hodal,Mahendragarh. On Thursday,the maximum temperature wasrecorded at 36.7 degrees Celsiuswhile the minimum settled at23.4 degrees Celsius.

For Saturday, the IMD hasforecast pleasant weather withthe possibility of thunderstormaccompanied with very lightrain and gusty winds in Delhiand adjoining areas. Monsoonrain, the lifeblood for India’sagriculture-dependent econo-my, is expected to arrive inKerala on June 4.

We’ll repeat 2014: Modi

In rare PC, ‘disciplined’ PM directs questions to party boss PM shut down 10%

himself, asserts

Congress chief

In U-turn, Azad says PM from

Cong a must for stable Govt

Won't forgive Pragya, vows PMafter 3 more leaders hail Godse PNS n NEW DELHI

As three more BJP leaders —Union Minister

Anantkumar Hegde, KarnatakaMP Nalin Kumar Kateel andMadhya Pradesh partyspokesperson Anil Soumitra-echoed Sadhvi Pragya SinghThakur’s view on NathuramGodse, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi broke hissilence on the issue and said hewill never forgive Pragya Singhfor her remarks.

BJP chief Amit Shah saidthe party’s disciplinary com-mittee has sought an explana-tion from them in 10 days.

The BJP top leadershipwas pushed into a corner andforced to ask its leaders toexplain their comments onMahatma Gandhi’s assassinNathuram Godse in view of all-round condemnation and theCongress questioning the PM’ssilence on the row.

Meanwhile, MadhyaPradesh Chief Electoral Officer(CEO) VL Kanthrao on Fridaysubmitted a factual report tothe Election Commission (EC)over the statement of Pragya.

Reacting to Sadhvi’s com-ments on Godse, Modi said, “I

will never be able to forgiveSadhvi Pragya for insultingMahatma Gandhi.”

“Whatever has been saidabout Gandhi or Godse, thesekind of statements are very badand worth contempt. In a cul-tured society, this type of lan-guage is not permissible. Thistype of thinking won’t do.Therefore, those who are doingthis have to think a hundredtimes. Though she has apolo-gised, I won’t be able to pardonher from my heart,” Modi said,to a TV channel, hours beforecampaigning for the last phaseof Lok Sabha polls ended.

Earlier, BJP president Shah

said the party has taken seriousnote of the statements fromUnion Minister AnantkumarHegde, Pragya Thakur and itsKarnataka MP Nalin KumarKateel. Stating that the com-ments were against the party’sideology, Shah asked the party’sdisciplinary committee to sub-mit a report on the issue in 10days for further action.”

The entire BJP regrets theremarks and that is whyprompt action has been taken,Shah said at a Press conferencewith PM Modi alongside him.“We will immediately decideon appropriate action on them,”Shah said.

“The BJP does not associ-ate itself with the comments.We not only consider suchremarks as personal but also wehave issued notices to thoseresponsible and disciplinaryproceedings have been initiat-ed against them,” Shah said.

On the candidature ofSadhvi, the BJP chief said,“Her candidature is a ‘satya-grah’ against a fake case of fakeBhagwa terror. A fake case of‘Bhagwa terror’ was made inwhich accused have beenacquitted”.

Continued on Page 7

Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks as BJP president Amit Shah looks on during a Press conference at the party HQ in New Delhi on Friday Ranjan Dimri | Pioneer

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi addresses a Press conference in Delhi on Friday AP

City cools off, more relief to rain today

We closed 90% of doorsfor Modi, claims Rahul

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INSPIRES ME:

SHAH RUKH

14 VIVACITY

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OPINION 8

CHAMPIONS OFDEFECTION

Bitter campaign ends

PTI* n NEW DELHI

Campaigning in the bitterlyfought marathon Lok

Sabha elections spread over 38days drew to a close on Fridayas top leaders made a final pushin the seventh and concludingphase for the remaining 59seats that included Varanasiwhere Prime MinisterNarendra Modi is seeking toretain the seat.

Modi wrapped up his cam-paign for a second consecutiveterm predicting the BJP’s returnto power with a bigger mandateat his first media event since heassumed charge in 2014 whileCongress chief Rahul Gandhiindicated that opposition par-ties will get together to form thenext government.

The high octane campaignmarked by vitriolic attacks andcounter-attacks by politicalleaders and use of derogatorylanguage and objectionable

remarks that forced theElection Commission to step inended at 6 pm.

Polling will be held onSunday in the seventh phase inall 13 seats in Punjab and anequal number of seats in UttarPradesh, nine in West Bengal,eight seats each in Bihar andMadhya Pradesh, four inHimachal Pradesh, three inJharkhand and the lone seatChandigarh.

In a first, campaigning inWest Bengal came to an end onThursday, 20 hours before thescheduled time, on the ordersof the Election Commission inthe aftermath of violencebetween the BJP and the rulingTMC in Kolkata during BJPchief Amit Shah’s roadshow.

After the close of voting thefocus will shift to exit pollswhich is not always known tobe correct.

Counting of votes in theworld’s largest exercise in

democracy will be taken up onMay 23.

The regional parties andthe Congress are making adetermined bid to keep theNDA out of power in the eventof hung parliament and havebegun informal parleys.

On the last day of the cam-paign, BSP president Mayawatitermed the BSP-SP-RLDalliance a combine of ideas andsaid it will not sit silent till ituproots the Yogi Adityanathgovernment from UttarPradesh and the Modi govern-ment from the Centre.

Modi and Shah spear-headed the BJP challenge andcrisscrossed the countryaddressing scores of rallies.

The Nehru-Gandhi fami-ly made a vigorous push forvotes with Rahul, and his sis-ter Priyanka Gandhi leadingthe party challenge.

Sonia and Rahul are con-testing from the family pock-

etborough in Rae Bareli andAmethi in UP where theCongress president is pittedagainst BJP’s Smriti Irani.Rahul is also contesting froma second seat in Wayanad inKerala.

On the last day of thecampaign, Priyanka Gandhidubbed Modi as an “actor” andsaid it would have been betterif Bollywood superstarAmitabh Bachchan was madethe prime minister.

Modi whipped up nation-alistic sentiments and repeat-edly invoked the Balakot airstrikes into his campaignspeeches to woo voters and alsolaunched an allout offensiveagainst the Congress.

Rahul Gandhi’s campaignplank was centred over hisfarm loan waiver promise andthe alleged irregularities in theRafale jet deal. He also accusedModi of practicing the cultureof crony capitalism.

city 02LUCKNOW | SATURDAY | MAY 18, 2019

PNS n LUCKNOW

The charged campaign forthe final phase of elections

to 13 Lok Sabha seats of east-ern Uttar Pradesh came to anend on Friday evening.

This phase of election in UPwill decide the fate of the coun-try as well as its most populousstate. Prime Minister NarendraModi, Bharatiya Janata Party’sstate president Mahendra NathPandey, Union ministers ManojSinha and Anupriya Patel areamong the high profile contes-tants in this phase.

The epicentre of campaign-ing in this phase have beenVaranasi, from where PrimeMinister Narendra Modi is seek-ing re-election, and Gorakhpur,the citadel of Chief Minister YogiAdityanath.

Polling for the last phase willbe held on May 19 from 7 am to6 pm except for three Assemblysegments — Robertsganj,Duddhi and Chakia — ofRobertsganj Lok Sabha con-stituency where polling will endtwo hours earlier at 4 pm.

Along with polling for 13Lok Sabha seats, bypolls to Agra(North) Assembly constituencywill also be held on May 19.

On Sunday, 2.32 crore vot-ers — 1.26 crore males and 1.06crore females — will cast theirvotes in 13,979 booths to decidethe fate of 167 candidates whoare in fray in Maharajganj,Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria,Bansgaon, Ghosi, Salempur,Ballia, Ghazipur, Chandauli,

Varanasi, Mirzapur andRobertsganj.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls,the BJP and its ally Apna Dal(Sonelal) had won all theseseats, but in the 2018 bypoll,Samajwadi Party had wrestedthe Gorakhpur seat from theBJP.

The Samajwadi Party iscontesting eight and the BSP fiveseats in this phase. The BJP haschanged candidates in Ballia,Kushinagar and Deoria andinternal sabotage on these seatscannot be ruled out.

In Varanasi, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi faces almost nochallenge. While the BJP’s effortis to increase his previous mar-gin of victory (3.37 lakh votes),the opposition is fighting toreduce the margin.

The biggest challenge lies inGorakhpur, the traditional seatof Chief Minister YogiAdityanath. The BJP has field-ed Bhojpuri star Ravi Kishanfrom this seat and he is attract-

ing huge crowds and playing tothe gallery with his song, danceand dialogues. The SamajwadiParty has fielded Ram BhualNishad in order to capitalise onthe growing discontent amongthe Nishad community. Thecaste arithmetic is in favour ofthe SP-BSP candidate and itremains to be seen if RaviKishan is able to swing voters.

In Chandauli, BJP statepresident Mahendra NathPandey finds himself in a toughsituation as the constituencyhas over six lakh Yadav and Dalitvotes.

Union minister ManojSinha is also locked in a directcontest in Ghazipur whereBahujan Samaj Party candidateAfzal Ansari (brother of don-turned-politician MukhtarAnsari).

Union minister AnupriyaPatel is facing her second parlia-mentary election in Mirzapurand is pitted against Lalitesh PatiTripathi, grandson of Congress

veteran late Kamlapati Tripathi. Deoria is another tough

seat for the BJP. Outgoing MPSharad Tripathi made it tonational headlines when he beatup his party MLA with shoes atan official meeting.

Though the BJP has notgiven ticket to the MP, it hasfielded the dropped MP’s fatherRamapati Ram Tripathi. TheThakur community is waiting toavenge the humiliation that theMLA Rakesh Singh, faced in theincident. Brahmins are alsoupset with the manner in whichKalraj Misra was made to resignfrom the Union Cabinet.

In Kushinagar, the BJP hasreplaced outgoing MP RajeshPandey with Vijay Dubey. Thestrong presence of former Unionminister and Congress candidateRPN Singh is posing big chal-lenge for the BJP.

Maharajganj has been in thenews because of Congress can-didate Surpiya Shrinetra, a for-mer TV anchor. She is beingchallenged by former SamajwadiParty MP Akhilesh Singh andoutgoing BJP MP PankajChaudhary.

Varanasi has the highestnumber of 26 candidates, fol-lowed by 15 each in Ghosi andSalempur, 14 each inMaharajganj, Kushinagar andGhazipur, 13 in Chandauli, 12 inRobertsganj, 11 in Deoria, 10each in Ballia and Gorakhpur,nine in Mirzapur and four inBansgaon. Counting of votes forall 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP willbe taken up on May 23.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Bahujan Samaj Party supre-mo Mayawati on Friday

said the BSP-SP-RLD alliancewas one of ideas and it wouldnot sit silent till the YogiAdityanath government in UPand the Narendra Modi gov-ernment at the Centre werethrown out.

“Unlike the BharatiyaJanata Party, this alliance is ofideas and it will not sit silent tillit uproots the Yogi Adityanathgovernment in UP along withthe Narendra Modi govern-ment,” the BSP chief said whileaddressing rallies for thealliance candidates in Mirzapurand Chandauli.

“The sad faces of the BJPleaders after the completion ofsix phases of polling indicatethat they know it is time for theNarendra Modi government togo. Their bad days will startfrom May 23. After that, prepa-rations for Yogi to return to hisMutt will start,” she said.

The BSP chief said that see-ing their poor prospects in thepolls, the BJP and its support-ers tried to create misunder-standing between the BSP andthe SP but they failed. “Thisalliance has been formed afterdue consideration and will lastlong,” she asserted.

Mayawati exhorted theelectorate to ensure BJP stateunit president Mahendra NathPandey was not only defeatedin Chandauli but also lost hisdeposit.

Mayawati said the amountof work the BSP and the SP haddone for the sisters and daugh-ters of the state had not been

done by any other party.She said when in power her

government had taken steps toconnect Naxal infested areaswith development works.

“Instead of killing Naxals,we extended employment andfood. We gave employment tothe poor people of Sonebhadra(naxal infested area) and laterthe SP government did a lot ofwork in this direction,” shesaid.

Stating that SP presidentAkhilesh Yadav had put in a lotof effort to ensure BSP candi-dates fared well in the polls,Mayawati said it was the BSP’smoral responsibility to ensurethe victory of SP candidatefrom Chandauli.

Akhilesh Yadav, in hisaddress, said the mahagath-bandhan had wiped off the BJPin the six phases of pollingbecause of which their leaderswere having sleepless nights.

“As May 23 is nearing,their (BJP) fear is rising,” the SPchief said.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Adozen people were killedand over half-a-dozen

injured in separate road acci-dents since Thursday evening.

A report from Deoria saidthat seven people traveling ina car were killed when theirvehicle collided with a sta-tionary truck at Baraunaroundabout in Khukudu areaof the district on Thursdaynight. While three died on thespot, four succumbed to theirinjuries at the hospital.

The deceased were identi-fied as Achhelal (52), a nativeof Siwan in Bihar,Shashankmani (30), AnilSrivastava (50), ChandraeshSingh (60), Ramesh Singh (21),Santosh (22) and Om Prakash(45), hailing from Gorakhpur.

The bodies were sent forpost-mortem and a case wasregistered in this regard.

In Bulandshahr, a speeding

truck hit a van returning froma marriage function in ChatariDohre area on Aligarh-Anoopshahr highway earlyFriday morning. While threepeople — Shivam (28), Rahul(21) and Ravi (30) — died onthe spot, four other occupantsof the van were criticallyinjured.

The injured were rushed tohospital in Meerut.

In Mirzapur, two personswere killed and four injuredwhen the jeep they were trav-elling in collided with a bus ata village on Friday morning.

The deceased were identi-fied as Chandan Kumar (40)and Vinay (35) who died on thespot. The injured were admit-ted to district hospital.

Meanwhile in Shahjahan-pur, a man was beaten to deathin a case of road rage after anaccident involving two motor-cycles.

According to station officer

of Nigohi, Dalvir Singh, oneMahesh and his wife were trav-elling on a motorcycle onThursday evening when theycrashed into the motorcycle ofone Kapil at Garha village,who was coming from theopposite side.

All three persons sustainedinjuries.

While Kapil was taken to anearby hospital, Mahesh andhis wife were taken to a hut inthe adjacent field and beatenup, the SO said. “Mahesh, 50,died on the spot. His wife hasbeen hospitalised,” Singh said.

Based on the complaint ofMahesh’s wife, a case had beenregistered against one Satyaveerand 14 others, he said. Theaccused are absconding, andefforts are on to arrest them.

ACID ATTACKMeanwhile, a 45-year-old

woman was allegedly rapedand attacked with acid in

Shahjahanpur by a man aftershe told him that she wanted toend their five-year-old affair.

The incident took place inKachhiyana Khera onThursday night when theaccused called the woman in anorchard, Superintendent ofPolice (Rural) SubhashChandra Shakya said. “Theaccused allegedly raped her.And after the woman protest-ed and wanted to end the rela-tionship, he allegedly threwacid on her,” the SP added.

The accused has beenarrested under the rape chargeson the basis of a complaint filedby the woman, Shakya said.

He further added, thewoman had been hospitalisedand was undergoing treatment.

A report fromMuzaffarnagar said a 35-year-old woman set herself and herthree children ablaze atUmerpur village on Friday.

While the children died

while the woman was rushed toa hospital in a critical condi-tion, SHO Yashpal Singh said.

The woman, identified asNaseema, took the extremestep over a family dispute. Herparents alleged that she wasbeing harassed by her in-laws.

The woman had lockedherself in a room with son Anas(9) and daughters Aisha (7) andEtah (2),police said. Her hus-band, identified as Jabbar, wasnot at home.

In a separate incident, awoman was allegedly killed byher husband over a family dis-pute in Garhi Pukhta areaShamli district. Sonam wasstrangled to death by her hus-band Abdul Kalam, 40, onThursday in Bunta village of thedistrict, Police said. Victim’sfather Ali Hasan in his com-plaint to the police has allegedthat Kalam, along with his fam-ily members, killed his daugh-ter over a family dispute.

PNS n LUCKNOW

The Uttar Pradesh unit ofBharatiya Janata Party has

slammed the opposition, par-ticularly Bahujan Samaj Partypresident Mayawati, for equat-ing Uttar Pradesh situationwith that of West Bengal andsupporting Mamata Banerjee,saying how could the formerchief minister of UP comparethe state with Bengal.

BJP state general secretaryVijay Bahadur Pathak said thatcomparing Uttar Pradesh withBengal was frivolous.

“Mayawati is talking abouta state where opposition lead-ers were not allowed to holdrallies or lead roadshows whilein UP, leaders of all politicalhues addressed rallies and thestate government madearrangements for their securi-ty,” the BJP state general secre-tary said.

“Bahujan Samaj Partypresident Mayawati criticisedthe Election Commission fortaking action in West Bengalbut has been silent on theundemocratic acts ofTrinamool Congress goons indenying voters their right tofranchise. She should answerwhether she supports snatch-ing the voters’ right to casttheir votes in West Bengal?”

Pathak asked.He said that Mayawati

should be happy that in UP alldemocratic rights of all polit-ical parties were protected asthere was no ban on holdingelection rallies or making ofhelipads.

“Does Mayawati approveBengal government’s deci-sions to deny permission tohold rallies in Bengal?” theBJP state general secretaryasked.

“In UP, even Mayawatiand Akhilesh Yadav addressedjoint rallies. This was unthink-able a few years ago but nowit is possible because ofimprovement in law and orderin the state and the belief ofthe Yogi Adityanath govern-ment in democratic and par-liamentary norms,” Pathaksaid.

Refuting the charges lev-elled by Mayawati that inVaranasi, voters were beingthreatened, Pathak said theopposition was frustrated as itknew the outcome of the polls.

“The opposition partieshave nothing to say after wit-nessing the free and fairarrangements for polls in UPhence they are now trying tomake wild allegations just tosatisfy their ego,” he said.

PNS n LUCKNOW

On the last day of elec-tioneering for the finalphase of parliamentary

elections, Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath saidthe expiry date of the alliancebetween Samajwadi Party andBahujan Samaj Party was draw-ing closer and on May 23 itwould end with both partiesblaming each other for thedefeat.

“After May 23, SP presidentAkhilesh Yadav (Babua) willblame BSP supremo Mayawati(Bua) for buying votes whileBua will say that Babua is theking of goons. She will alsoblame SP for its failure totransfer votes which resulted inthe loss,” Yogi said whileaddressing a series of rallies ineastern Uttar Pradesh.

Yogi addressed rallies atBansdih in Ballia and Kauriramand Sahjanwa in Gorakhpurthat go to polls in the last phaseon May 19.

“Those who divide thecountry in the name of casteand religion have discriminat-ed against the people. They didnot allot houses to the poor anddestroyed the social structureof the country by dividingpeople on the basis of caste andreligion,” he said.

Highlighting the achieve-

ments of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, YogiAdityanath said the previousgovernments never thoughtabout development of thecountry but Modiji alwaysworked for the betterment ofthe poor, the farmers, the youthand the women through sever-al welfare schemes.

“Our government provid-ed houses, toilets, free cookinggas and electricity connec-tions, and offered several otherbenefits to crores of poor fam-ilies without any discriminationon the lines of caste and creed,”he said.

On the work done byPrime Minister Modi forwomen, Yogi said, “A lot ofwork has been done to upliftthe status of women andimprove their security. Modihas also worked for Muslimwomen by freeing them fromtriple talaq, which was onlypossible during this govern-ment.”

Attacking the Congress,Yogi said that even formerPrime Minister Rajiv Gandhihad admitted that out of every100 rupees his governmentsent for the poor, only 10rupees reached the beneficia-ries while the rest 90 rupeeswere taken by Congress’ mid-dlemen.

“To curb this, Prime

Minister Modi opened JanDhan bank accounts of everypoor and now they are gettingthe money of welfare schemesin their accounts without anyrole of a third person,” he said.

Yogi said: “This is newand corruption-free Indiawhich was corruption-laced atthe time of Congress.”

He appealed to voters tovote for Bharatiya Janata Partybecause every vote to BJPwould strengthen the hands ofNarendra Modi at the Centre.

Campaigning in the east-ern UP ended at 6 pm onFriday and the 13 constituen-cies of this region in UP will goto polls on May 19.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Even as payment of arrears tothe sugarcane farmers

picked up pace after the LokSabha election were announcedon March 10, the arrears arestill high in Uttar Pradesh.

The arrears of the currentseason are likely to persist dur-ing the next cane crushingseason which will commencefrom October due to lack ofstructural reforms like rational-isation of cane prices.

Private and cooperativesector sugar mills in UP paidaround ̀ 8,500 crore to farmersbetween March 11 (day afterelection dates were announced)and May 3, compared with`4,500 crore a year before.

Official sources saiddespite expediting the pay-ment, the mills had so far paidonly 64.8 per cent of the duesas of May 3 this year, against64.7 per cent in 2018.

In absolute term, canearrears in UP stood uncomfort-ably high at `10,500 crore as ofMay 3. Usually, UP alonemakes up for over 60 per centof the country’s cane arrears.Mills had cleared arrears fast ininitial months of the last sea-son’s (2017-18) marketing yearbefore slowing down paymentsfrom March 2018 onward dueto a crash in domestic price.

Cane crushing startedaround mid-November in 2018in UP and mills are still pur-chasing the raw material,although the peak crushingseason was over by end-April.

Apart from the incentivesannounced by the UP govern-ment, the Centre’s directive inFebruary to raise the minimumsale price of sugar to ̀ 31 per kgfrom `29 earlier increased real-isation of mills and helpedthem clear arrears at a fasterpace since March.

Larger exports of sugarand consequent easing ofdomestic surplus, too, proppedup domestic prices.

The UP government’s

announcement in October2018 to offer cheaper loans tosugar mills helped the industryto clear the dues.

The defeat of the BJP inbypoll to Kairana Lok Sabhaseat in May 2018 was attributedmainly to the plight of farmersdue to delayed payment forsugarcane.

UP, the country’s mostpopulous state, accounts for 80of the 543 Lok Sabha con-stituencies that are witnessingpolls and woes of cane farmerswas a crucial poll plank inmany of these seats.

On February 28, the gov-ernment also announced softloans worth `10,540 crore at asubsidised interest of 7 per centfor sugar mills to help themclear cane dues. One of thesources said mills in UP mayhave already been providedsuch loans of around `1,700-1,800 crore. This also helpedthe sugar industry to cleardues.

In 2018, a sharp fall insugar prices prompted the gov-ernment to announce severalmeasures to improve mill’sability to clear cane dues,including the imposition of aminimum sale price of sugar,subsidised loans for creating orexpanding ethanol capacity.

Printed and Published by Vijay Prakash Singh for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., 4th Floor, Sahara Shopping Centre, Faizabad Road, Lucknow-226016 and Printed at Tin Tin Printech Pvt Ltd., C-33 Amausi Industrial Area, Nadarganj, Lucknow. Editor: Chandan Mitra. Resident

Editor: Vijay Prakash Singh. RNI No. 2016/57. Lucknow Telephones: EPABX: 4036600 Fax: 2345582. Allahabad Office: (0532) 2420818, 2421018, 3290460. Kanpur Office: (0512) 2304006, 2304416. Varanasi Office: (0542) 2414294, 2414295. Delhi Office: No. 6, Behind Gulab Bhawan,

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damage or loss to any person, a purchaser of this publication or not for the result of any action taken on the basis of this work. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent court and forums in Lucknow only. Readers are advised and requested to verify and seek appropriate advice to satisfy themselves about the veracity of any kind of advertisement before respond-

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NOTICE

I, JC-697648 Sub. (NT)Chavan Janardan TukaramNo. 2 T T Wing, AMC C & C,Lucknow would like to notifythat the name of my daughtermentioned as Pragya in Unitdocuments is incorrect hercorrect name is Pradnya, Infuture She should be known asPradnya.

‘Expiry date’ of SP-BSP alliance

drawing closer, says Adityanath

Campaign for final phase of polls ends 26% candidates with criminal records

Lucknow (PNS): Twenty-six per cent of the 167 candidatesin the fray for the seventh phase of Lok Sabha elections in UP havecriminal records. This was disclosed by the Association forDemocratic Reforms and UP Election Watch at a media confer-ence here on Thursday. Don-turned-politico Atique Ahmed, con-testing as an Independent from Varanasi, tops the list of candi-dates with shady past with 59 cases while BSP candidate AtulKumar Rai, contesting from Ghosi, has 13 cases. Congress can-didate from Varanasi Ajay Rai too has eight cases registered againsthim. BJP’s Pankaj Choudhury (Maharajganj) is the richest can-didate with assets of `37 crore while Congress candidate fromKushinagar, RPN Singh, has assets worth over `29 crore. AtiqueAhmed with assets worth over `25 crore trails closely.

12 killed in separate road accidents

Pathak slams oppnfor comparing UPwith West Bengal

BSP-SP-RLD alliance is of ideas: Maya

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati wave at their supporters during an election campaign rallyin Mirzapur on Friday PTI

OUTSIDERS THREATENING VOTERS IN VARANASI, SAYS BSP CHIEF

Lucknow (PNS): Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati hasquestioned the impartiality of Election Commission over hold-ing election in Narendra Modi’s Varanasi constituency. “Why hasthe Election Commission not been so attentive in Varanasi whenit has acted so fast in West Bengal?” Mayawati asked, alleging thatin Varanasi, supporters of Modi were adopting all types of illegalmethods and even threatening voters. The BSP chief alleged thateven outsiders had been summoned to Varanasi from across thecountry to manage victory for Modi. In a tweet on Friday, the BSPpresident said when the Bharatiya Janata Party workers were goingto every household in Varanasi to seek vote and threaten the vot-ers, how could a free and fair poll be held there. On Thursday also,Mayawati had commented that the BJP and Rashtriya SwayamsevakSangh tried to create a West Bengal-like situation in UP but theSP-BSP alliance thwarted their conspiracy and would not let it hap-pen till the last phase of election was completed.

REPOLL IN ONE AZAMGARH BOOTH TODAYThe Election Commission of India has ordered repoll in one

booth of Azamgarh Lok Sabha constituency on May 19. UP’s ChiefElectoral Officer L Venkateshwarlu said here on Friday that repollhad been ordered in booth number 337 at Primary School, Karautin Mubarakpur assembly segment of Azamgarh Lok Sabha con-stituency. He said the repolling would be held from 7 am to 6pm on Sunday.

Sugarcanearrears still high in UP


PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

Mayor Sanyukta Bhatia willbe holding a meeting with

corporators on Saturday to dealwith the issue of garbage dis-


Five persons sustained griev-ous injuries in a scuffle

which escalated over somedispute at Kasimpur villageunder Gosainganj police sta-tion on Friday afternoon.Three persons were detainedfor interrogation while thoseinjured were rushed to thecommunity health centre.Three of them were referred toKGMU Trauma Centre.

As per reports, Vikram, aresident of Kasimpur village,went to a shop to purchaseitems of daily use and had analtercation with the shop-owner, identified as Urmila. Inthe meantime, Urmila’s hus-band reached there along withthree unidentified persons andbashed up Vikram.

When other customerstried to intervene, they werealso beaten up. Two of themwere identified as Dhaniram

and Shri Ram while the iden-tity of two others could not beascertained.

Gosainganj police stationincharge Vijay Singh said thecause of clash would be knownafter a thorough probe.Vikram, Dhaniram andManiram were detained forinterrogation following acomplaint lodged by Urmila inthe evening. Singh said Urmilaand her husband would also beinterrogation.


The incidents of moneywithdrawal through ATM

cloning continue unabated inthe state capital. In a latestcase, a sum of Rs 62,000 wasfraudulently withdrawn fromthe SBI account of RupaliRai Chowdhary, a resident ofSouth City under PGI policestation area. She told thepolice that her account bal-ance was Rs 62,000 after shewithdrew Rs 7,000 from anATM on May 4. She went towithdraw money again onThursday afternoon and wasin for a surprise as there wasno money in her account.

She said she immediatelycontacted the branch manag-er and told him that heraccount had zero balancethough she had Rs 62,000after she made her last trans-action through ATM on May4. The branch manager toldher that an amount of Rs

20,000 was withdrawn twicefrom the Mathura branch ofSBI on May 6 and Rs 22,000from Paharganj branch inNew Delhi the following day.

The police said a group ofmiscreants was involved inoperating ATm cloning rack-et with the connivance ofbank staff. Sources said themiscreants were working insuch an organised mannerthat they could get details ofATM cards and account num-bers with ease. “The tricksterswithdraw money throughATM cloning from booths inother cities,” the sources said.

In Rupali’s case, the trick-sters must be keeping a watchwhen she was withdrawingmoney on May 4 and musthave got the details of herATM and PIN, they said. Thepolice said they would inter-rogate the bank employees asit could help them lay theirhands on the tricksters.


Following complaints offlesh trade at a hotel in

Viraj Khand (Gomti Nagar),police conducted a raid onFriday evening, but it provedto be a bummer as most ofthose engaged in the sexracket managed to escapethrough back door. It wassuspected that someoneleaked the information aboutraid to the persons involvedin sex trade and it helpedthem flee the scene.

However, a person, iden-tified as Vikrant Singh ofBarabanki, and two womenbelonging to West Bengalwere arrested later in thenight. The police planned toconduct the raid between4.30 pm and 6 pm on Friday.They were supposed to keepthe plan a secret to catch theaccused unawares, but infor-mation leak did the cops in.

The police said thatbookings used to be donethrough OYO mobile appli-cation. Members ofResidents’ WelfareAssociation of Viraj Khandhad submitted memoran-

dums to SeniorSuperintendent of Police(SSP) Kalanidhi Naithanithrice in the past, drawing hisattention to the unscrupulousactivities at the hotel. A del-egation had also met the SSPin this regard on May 4.

As per hotel records, over50 bookings were madethrough OYO application fora day and night stay on adaily basis. Interestingly, noother visitors, baring thoseengaged in flesh trade, wereallowed to check in. Peoplefrom other parts of the coun-try would also use the hotelfor this purpose.

Residents of Charbagh,Kaiserbagh, Hussainganj andIndira Nagar preferred thishotel as it was said to be safeand quiet. “Had the infor-mation not been leaked, theraid would have busted thebiggest flesh trade racket inthe city in recent days,”sources said. The police con-ducted the raid at one of thehotels in Hussainganj on theintervening night of May 13and May 14 and arrestedseveral persons involved in asex racket.

Lucknow (PNS): Nomonument has been adoptedin Lucknow under the ‘Adopta monument’ scheme of theMinistry of Tourism. A seniorofficial from the ArcheologicalSurvey of India (ASI) saidthat the project had beenmooted with the idea of givingboost to the process of con-servation of monuments. “Nomonument from eitherLucknow city or circle hasbeen adopted. People havebeen invited to adopt themonuments to help in theirconservation,” he said.

Officials said that the pro-ject was aimed at conservationof heritage sites, monumentsand other tourist sites with thehelp of private and public sec-tor companies and individuals.

“Those who adopt theheritage sites will become‘monument mitras’. Basic andadvanced amenities at thetourist destinations will beprovided by them and theywill also look after the opera-tions and maintenance of theamenities. The project willbegin with 93 ASI’s ticketedmonuments and expanded toother natural and cultural sitesacross India. The heritage sitesare classified into various cat-egories. The ‘monumentmitras’ will take up sites of var-ied visibility and footfalls as apackage,” the officials said.

Woman duped of cashthrough ATM cloning

PICTURE FRAME AT AIRPORT FALLS OFF

5 hurt in clash over petty issue

The passengers and visitors had a lucky escape when a picture frame above the feedback box at Chaudhary Charan SinghAirport fell off on Friday. Airport authorities said they regretted the incident. However, they said no one was injured Pioneer


Mayor Sanyukta Bhatia saidon Friday that she would

make a separate team consistingof Lucknow MunicipalCorporation staff to focus onmaking the polythene ban effec-tive in the city. She admitted thatthe ban which had started as amajor campaign fizzled out asthe focus shifted to severalother things such as ‘SwachhataAbhiyan’.

The polythene ban of lessthan 50 micron had beenenforced with much vigour onJuly 14, 2018, but currently theusage of polythene could beseen everywhere right from themarket place from the veg-etable vendors till the restau-rants. Post-August 15, 2018,efforts had been made forenforcing a complete ban onplastic. Talking to The Pioneer,the Mayor said, “Right now alsowe are focusing on the desilt-ing of nullahs which is necessarybefore the monsoon. With thesame staff being involved inthese campaigns it is under-stood that the other campaignsget neglected,” she said. TheMayor said that they had restart-ed the check on the usage of

polythene and hope that itwould catch steam. “I also hopeto have a separate team whichwill look into the polytheneissue and carry out raids too,”she said. She said that there wasa dire need to stop the manu-facture of polythene because itwould curtail its usage in a bigmanner if the shopkeepers donot get it from the manufac-turers. “We had earlier giventhem the permission to use thepolythene which they hadamassed before the ban.However,0 they kept on sayingthat they are using only thepolythene which they had pur-chased earlier,” she added.

It may be pointed out herethat the district administrationhad taken a strong initiative forensuring that polythene wastotally banned from the city inJuly 2018 with the higher offi-cials in the administrationdirecting those from the NagarNigam, Pollution ControlBoard, Excise, LDA, MandiSamiti, Commercial depart-ment and others to keep a tabon the market.

The officials of theCommercial Department hadbeen asked to hold meetingswith the traders and local

organisations and tell them toclear their stocks which were ofplastic with a thickness below 50micron by July 14. It had alsobeen announced that if theshopkeepers did not follow therules action would l be takenagainst them.

The Nagar Nigam officialshad been directed by the zonalofficers to hold meetings withthe shopkeepers in their respec-tive areas. The FSDA officialswere told to inform the restau-rants, hotels and shops in theFood Court about the ban.Industries Department had toinform all the units which wereinvolved in the manufacture ofplastic and polythene aboutthe ban. The ExciseDepartment was asked to carryout a similar exercise with theliquor and model shopkeepers.The Mandi Samiti memberswere asked to make the veg-etable vendors familiar aboutthe ban on plastic with athickness less than 50 microns.It was also announced thatafter July 14, 2018, inspectionswould be carried out. Doctorswere asked to lend their supportby writing on the prescrip-tions of the patients about theban and spread awareness aboutit. On the first day of the ban onJuly 14 raids were carried out at16 points in eight zones andnearly one quintal of poly-thene and plastic below 50microns were confiscated.Most of the shopkeepers wereaware about the ban and werealso informed as to how theycould differentiate the poly-thene which was banned fromthe one which was not. Most ofthe shopkeepers had averred atthat time that it was the fear ofthe fines due to which they hadremoved the polythene fromtheir shops on the first day ofthe ban itself. However, thethings had changed andreturned to normal.

Separate team to enforce

total ban on polythene

Vegetables packed in polythene bags at a shop Pioneer

posal. She said despite the 72-hour cleaning drive byLucknow MunicipalCorporation, the situation wasmore or less the same. LMChad started the drive onTuesday with over 400 vehiclesand 9,000 employees.

She said several tonnes ofgarbage had been picked up,yet the streets were littered aspeople dumped almost thesame amount of garbage in theopen. She said they would tryand find a solution to thisproblem.

“We feel most of thisgarbage is coming from out-siders who are not aware of therules here, and this is the timewhen most of the outsiders arein the city,” she added.

The mayor said appropri-ate measures would be takento see that the problem couldbe effectively looked into.

It may be noted thatLucknow has secured 121strank amongst 4,000 cities witha score of 2747.06 in the‘Swachh Sarvekshan-2019’ car-ried out by the Union Ministry

of Urban Development.Last year, Lucknow had

secured 115th rank amongst400 cities. The LMC authori-ties had admitted that theresult was a disappointment.The officials had said that thecompetition was bigger and

they had also worked veryhard for it, but there must havebeen something lacking ontheir part. Though Lucknow’sperformance had not beengood, 14 cities from UttarPradesh won awards in the‘Swachh Sarvekshan 2019’.

Garbage remains even after 72-hour drive

‘Info leak’ makes

crackdown on flesh

trade a damp squib

No heritage site adopted in city


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ELECTED

Central ExecutiveCommittee members of IndianIndustries Association (IIA)on Friday elected PankajKumar Gupta as its nationalpresident for the year 2019-20.Election officer and formerpresident of IIA Ajay Guptaconducted the election meetingand declared election results.Born in 1956 in Meerut, Guptais an electrical engineer fromMNR Regional EngineeringCollege, Allahabad. Guptaserved in Bhutan from 1980 to1985 as a lecturer in an engi-neering college and workedwith a private company as atechnical manager from 1985to 1994. In 1994, Gupta start-ed his own company in trans-formers manufacturing inMeerut. He is associated withIIA since 1994 and has heldseveral positions at chapter,divisional, state and nationallevels in the past.

Co-MeDDIUK-India

collaborativeproject entitled‘CollaborativeMedical DeviceD e s i g nInitiative’ (Co-MeDDI), fund-ed by UK-India Education andResearch Initiative in the year2017-18 for a period of twoyears, has an Indian side inves-tigator, Prof Divya Mehrotrafrom the department of Oraland Maxillofacial Surgery, andvice-dean, Faculty of DentalSciences, King George’sMedical University, Lucknowand UK side investigator,Dominic Eggbeer, CardiffMetropolitan University,Cardiff UK. KGMU authoritiessaid that UKIERI was instru-mental in establishing high-endpromising research collabora-tions on exciting themes.


CISH is maintaining 35 vari-eties of litchi and sharing

them with many researchorganisations in the state.Talking to The Pioneer, direc-tor of the institute DrShailendra Rajan, said thatmany of these varieties wereshared with the NationalResearch Centre on Litchis,Muzaffarpur. He said that thefarmers from Punjab and otherareas know about this uniquecollection and thereforedemand specific varieties andthe Institute multiplied plantsand provided them as per therequirements. “This is one ofthe richest collections of litchivarieties in India,” he added.

He said that the litchi wasnot a native fruit of India andwas probably introduced herefrom China. “This is the reasonwhy not many varieties are

available in the markets of thecountry. Few varieties have nat-urally evolved as a result ofseedlings of commercial vari-eties,” he added. The Directorsaid that decades ago not muchwas known about the possibili-ty of litchi cultivation underLucknow conditions.

“CISH, Lucknow, initiated aproject on this line by collectingseveral litchi varieties from dif-ferent parts of the country,mainly from Bihar, Punjab andJharkhand. About 50 varieties oflitchis are grown in differentparts of the country. Litchi hasa specific climate liking forproper flowering and fruiting.Its adaptability vis-a-vis regionis quite specific, a variety iden-tified and suitable for a partic-ular region may not performequally well in another regionbecause several may have a spe-cific climatic requirement,” hesaid. He further said that the

seedless varieties may per-form well in Gurdaspur area ofPunjab whereas in Lucknowconditions these did notbecome ready for bearing fruitseven after attaining 10 years ofage. Keeping this in mindCISH collected several litchivarieties at Lucknow to findout suitable cultivars for com-mercial cultivation in non-traditional areas of UP. “Asmany as 35 varieties of litchiwere collected from differentparts of the country for theirevaluation. Twenty-seven vari-eties were evaluated for growthcharacters and the Dehradunvariety was found the mostfavourable followed by theLarge Red, Early Large Red,Rose-Scented, Ajhauli andKasailiya. The varieties likeGreen, Shahi, Calcuttia, Purbiand China were observed to beless vigorous under Lucknowconditions. Out of 35 varieties17 of similar age group camein to bearing were evaluatedfor their yield and fruit char-acters,” he added.

Calcuttia litchi had maxi-mum stone weight and lesspulp. Highest peel percentagewas recorded in Kasba and itwas minimum in the EarlyLarge Red variety. Ajhauli wasthe sweetest among all andEarly Large Red had less sweet-ness. Fruit sunburn is one ofthe major problems in litchicultivation in non-traditionalareas and different varietiesshow different degrees of sus-ceptibility. The maximum fruitsunburn was recorded in theGreen variety which ripened early under Lucknowconditions.


The historical connect andtheir innate love for

tourism makes the maximumnumber of tourists fromBengal visit Lucknow in vaca-tions. According to chairmanof Indian Tours Association ofIndia Prateek Hira, Bengalisremain the number one as faras domestic tourists visitingthe state capital is concerned.

It may be noted thatBengal has a big cultural con-nect with Lucknow becausewhen Wajid Ali Shah wasbanished from Lucknow bythe Britishers to Bengal, he set

up a mini Lucknow there,which is known as MartiyaBurj. “Bengalis have an inter-est and an innate curiosityabout literature and historyand members of this commu-nity not only visit the monu-ments in the city but alsoinsist on guided tours whichmost tourists don’t do becausethey do not want to invest inguides. Bengalis want to delveinto the history and culture ofthe place,” Hira said.

He said that the Bengalitourists were also interested inLucknow’s cuisine as general-ly, they are foodies. “Lastweek, we had a very large

number of Bengali touristswho went out for a culinarytour of the city. They have agreat interest in the cuisine ofany city and they have knowl-edge about the Awadhi cuisinesince it is a part of MartiyaBurj. The group went aroundthe city with great interest andalso took separate tours forfood in the eateries whichthey had read about,” he point-ed out.

He said another reasonwhy Bengalis were interestedin visiting Lucknow wasbecause it was a gateway toother important places in thestate, including Ayodhya.

Asked if ‘Shatranj KeKhiladi’, the movie made bySatyajit Ray focusing onLucknow, evinced any interestin the tourists from Bengal,Hira said movies were a greatboost for tourism, but filmsalone could not create interestamong Bengalis in visitingLucknow.

“These tourists have inter-est in books and in a sectionwhich we have maintained inour office as a small library.This goes across the agesbecause youngsters only learnwhat the elders teach as far asinterest in books of history isconcerned,” he added.


District Magistrate and dis-trict election off icer

Kaushal Raj Sharma held ameeting with the candidates ofpolitical parties and their elec-tion agents at Collectorate onFriday to give them necessarydirections regarding thecounting process.

He told the election agentsof political parties that theywould not be allowed to carrytheir mobile phone in thecounting area. He said therewould be calculators on thetables of AEROs but theycould also take their own cal-culators.

Sharma said all the candi-dates had to ask their pollingagents to fill form 18 and thatthey would be allotted tableswhere they had to sit and notroam around.

He said that in theLucknow Lok Sabha con-stituency counting area, therewould be a total of 70 tablesand five AERO tables. He saidthere would be six tables forservice voters and five forcounting of postal ballot.

He said that for the count-ing of VVPAT slips, therewould be 9 separate tables. “Itis important for the pollingagents to put their signaturesand if they have any doubts

about counting, it can be heldfor the second time. However,it can be done only immedi-ately and not after completionof the round,” he explained.

The DM said no personsuffering from diabetes orblood pressure should bemade an election agent whileMLAs, MLCs, mayor or prad-han were ineligible for the pur-pose. The district administra-tion officials said that the‘Suvidha’ App would also aidin counting. They said it wasa single integrated portaldeveloped by the ElectionCommission of India alsoused for management of can-didates’ nominations, upload-

ing of affidavits, allotment ofsymbols, scrutiny of candi-dates’ nomination papers, per-missions, counting of votes,and result management.

The officials said that theElection Commission of Indiahad worked towards easingcandidates’ procedure forfi ling nomination and permission.

“Through this application,the counting agents will feedthe figures for every roundwhich will be updated on theElection Commission’s web-site. There will be approxi-mately 37 rounds after whichthe results start coming in,” anofficial said.


The annual review meetingand award ceremony for

the year 2018-19 was organisedby the Postal Department inLucknow on Friday under thechairmanship of VP Singh,Chief Post Master General,Uttar Pradesh Circle. On theoccasion all the divisionalheads who had excelled inrevenue achievement, businessdevelopment and performancewere awarded by the Chief PostMaster General. He congratu-lated all the achievers andasked the others to drawinspiration from the formerand try to excel in performanceand revenue collection duringthe current financial year.

The Lucknow Divisionhas been awarded theChampion Award andFaizabad the runner-up cham-pion award. The DeliveryExcellence Award was givento the Lucknow GPO andBasti Division, Revenue excel-lence award was given to theGhaziabad Division, SavingsBank Revenue ExcellenceAward to the Jhansi Divisionand Ballia Division, PostalLife Insurance Leader of theYear Award to Lucknow andRae Bareli Divisions, RPLILeader of the Year Award tothe Faizabad and EtahDivisions, BusinessDevelopment of the YearAward to the Ghaziabad andVaranasi Divisions and the

Best RMS Division Awardwas provided to RMS‘Saharanpur’ Division by VPSingh, Chief Post MasterGeneral, Uttar Pradesh Circle.

All the 46 divisionalheads, including the PMG,Agra, Manisha Sinha, thePMG, Gorakhpur, SanjaySingh, the PMG, Allahabad,Suvendu Kumar, the PMGVaranasi, Pranav Kumar, theDirector Postal Services,Lucknow HQ Region, KrishnaKumar Yadav, the Director,Postal Services, Rajeev Umrao,Senior Superintendent of PostOffices,Lucknow, SK Uttam,and the Chief Postmaster,Lucknow GPO, RN Yadav,were present during the function.

FELICITATION CEREMONYThe felicitation ceremony

of meritorious ICSE and ISCstudents of St Joseph Group ofInstitutions was held atGautam Buddha auditorium ofSt Joseph College inThakurganj on Friday. Themeritorious students weregiven away several awards.Former Chief Secretary ofUttar Pradesh Alok Ranjanwas chief guest on the occasionwhile former CEO of BiotechPark PK Seth the guest of hon-our. The programme beganwith the lighting of lamp.Founder-chairperson of StJoseph Group of InstitutionsPushplata Agarwal welcomedthe guests by presenting themmementoes and bouquets.

Vasundhara Singh secured98.50% in ISC and Kesarscored secured 96.60% in ICSEfrom Thakurganj branch.Deeksha Singh secured 95.25%in ISC and Shreya Tiwari 97.80marks in ICSE fromRajajipuram branch. Nearly200 students were felicitated onthe occasion. Ranjan congrat-ulated all the achievers andtheir parents, and shared hisencouraging thoughts withthem. Managing directors ofthe school appreciated the mer-itorious students.

SCHOLARSHIPAoun Ashraf, a student of

City Montessori School,Mahanagar, has been offeredadmission with scholarship by

seven prestigious universities ofthe USA. The offer has beenmade by Pace University withUS$ 72,000 scholarship; FloridaInstitute ofTechnologywith US$4 0 , 0 0 0 ,University ofCincinnatiwith US$4 0 , 0 0 0 ,University ofS o u t hFlorida withUS$ 36,000, University ofIllinois with US$ 24,000,University of Utah with US$20,000, and Washington StateUniversity with a scholarship ofUS$ 16,000 for the entire studyperiod of four years.

Counting: DM’s directives to

candidates, polling agents

SCHOOLSCAN

CITYBRIEFS

Students taking part in a painting contest at State Museum in Lucknow on the occasion of Museum Day on Friday Pioneer

Historical connect with Lucknow

attracts Bengali tourists

CISH maintaining, sharing 35 varieties of litchis

Postal dept congratulates,felicitates achievers

Muzaffarnagar: A rev-enue official was arrested forallegedly accepting a bribe ofRs 20,000 here, police said onFriday. Lekhpal Sunil Kumarwas arrested on Thursdayafter he was caught acceptingthe bribe from an IAF per-sonnel for measurement of a

disputed land, they said.The IAF personnel had

complained to police thatKumar was demanding a bribeof Rs 20,000 for measure-ment of his land which was inunauthorised possession ofsome people, an officer ofUttar Pradesh Police’s anti-

corruption unit said. A trapwas laid and Kumar was caught accepting thebribe, he said.

The IAF personnel hadcome home on leave to solvethe problem of unauthorisedpossession on his agricultureland, the officer said.

Revenue official held for taking bribe

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n ALLAHABAD

The Naini police on Fridayclaimed to have arrested

two persons for their allegedrole in the murder of a man fol-lowing a dispute over IPL bet-ting on April 16.

The two had poured acidon his body in order to preventhis identification, SeniorSuperintendent of Police (SSP)Atul Sharma said. He said thatthe body which was foundlying in Madauka area underthe Naini police station wasidentified as that of VikasKumar and a case of murder

was registered against someunidentified persons in thisconnection following an FIRlodged by his uncle.

Electronic surveillance andother clues revealed that Kumarwas involved in an IPL bettingracket and was in contact withVikas Nishad, a resident of

Mahewa, and Rahul Nishad, aresident of Jhunsi. The calldetails of Vikas also indicatedthat the two were with him onthe day when he disappearedmysteriously. On being tippedoff by an informer, the Nainipolice caught Vikas and Rahulfrom the COD, Chheoki, whilethey were waiting for a MadhyaPradesh-bound bus. Duringinterrogation the duo alleged-ly confessed their involvementin Kumar’s murder. Theyinformed the police that theyand Kumar used to place betson IPL matches. They had lostover ̀ 4,500 cash to Kumar but

were reluctant to pay him theamount. Kumar was pres-surising them to repay themoney and used to stop themfor paying it back.

Fed up with the constantreminders by Vikas Kumar,Vikas Nishad and Rahul calledhim near the gas godown out-side the village on the pretextof consuming liquor. WhileKumar was in an inebriatedstate Rahul attacked him witha hammer on his head and thenstrangulated him to death withhis shirt. The two then pouredacid on his face to conceal hisidentity, the SSP added.

2 persons arrested for man’s murder

following dispute over IPL betting

Anand Giri

refutes

charges

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n ALLAHABAD

Yoga guru and ChhoteMahant of Bade Hanuman

temple, Anand Giri, haddenied the allegations of sex-ual assault levelled againsthim by two women inAustralia. In a video shared onsocial networking s ites ,Anand Giri claimed that theallegations against him werecompletely baseless. He saidthat he had full faith in theAustralian legal system. Girialso urged his followers toremain patient and not toget upset over the false alle-gations levelled against himor indulge in any kind ofviolence against anyone.

Meanwhile the AkhilBharatiya Akhara Parishad(ABAP) chairman MahantNarendra Giri said that theAustralian court had given amont h’s mont h to t heSydney police to complete itsinvestigation and present itsreport in connection with theallegations levelled againstAnand Giri. At present AnandGiri is at his residence inAustralia and it might takesome time for him to return toIndia, he added. The 38 year-old- Giri had been accused ofassaulting one woman at herresidence in Rooty Hill ofSydney in 2016, where he wascalled to pray. The Australianpolice said that Giri hadassaulted the 29-year-oldwoman in her bedroom.

Former UP Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan at the felicitation ceremony of St Joseph Group of Institutions

LUCKNOW | SATURDAY | MAY 18, 2019 nation 05

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Defence Ministry hasagreed in principle to

grant ex-servicemen status tothe personnel of MilitaryNursing Service(MNS) com-prising mostly women. Thisservice is demanding the sta-tus for a long time and oncegranted, the retired personnelcan avail of all facilities likeex-servicemen identity card,attending resettlement cours-es for future employment andjobs in public sector under-takings (PSU) and StateGovernments.

The Government may alsoallow the MNS officers to havestar plates on their cars if theyare above the rank of Brigadier.So far, the officers of MNS werenot allowed to do so leading tofriction sometimes. The MNShas the highest rank of a MajorGeneral.

As regards the veteran sta-tus, sources said here on Fridaythe ministry will soon submitin principle approval for grantof ex-servicemen to MNS tothe Supreme Court. A casewas filed in Supreme Court bythe MNS personnel and itshearing was held on May 7,2019. Supreme Court told theMinistry of Defence to submitits reply in next hearing in aclosed envelope.

The MNS are the supportwomen staff commissioned asofficers in the Medical streamof the Armed Forces and theycome under the DG, ArmedForces Medical Services. TheMNS representatives hadmoved Armed ForcesTribunal(AFT) on 28 differentissues. The main issue was ofthem being granted the Ex-ser-vicemen Status. AFT had givenfavourable decision to MNSwhich was challenged by theGovernment in the SupremeCourt in 2010.

The grant of status to theMNS will include them intoresettlement schemes and ben-efits, for the re-employmentcourses, exemptions like the tollcharges will be extended andthe institute facilities like that

of the Defence Services OfficersInstitute will be granted. Theyalready get the benefits of pen-sion.

The Army has also agreedin-principle to allow, the officers of MNS of the rank of Brigadier and above to put their appointment starson their vehicles. Brigadier has one star and the Major gen-eral has two stars on theirvehicle.

Sources said the defenceministry had held a meeting inMarch with the Department ofPersonnel and Training(DoPT) representatives toredefine the definition of ex-servicemen include MNS.MNS was raised in 1943through an ordinance andwere defined as an 'auxiliaryforce'. The ESM status is givento the personnel who are in'regular' force.

MNS staff to get ex-servicemen status

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Indian Navy on Fridayachieved a major milestone

in adding muscle to its anti-airwarfare capability with themaiden network enabled coop-erative engagement firing of themedium range surface to airmissile (MRSAM) by two of itswarships.

Cooperative engagementcomprises of all the warshipsand platforms having commondata link to have common pic-ture of the battle field andenable them to thwart satura-tion attacks from incomingmissiles and low flying air-craft. This test has put theIndian Navy in the select groupof the navies like the US andAustralia having this capabili-ty.

Giving details of the exer-cise, Navy officials said here thefiring was undertaken on theWestern Seaboard by Indianships Kochi and Chennaiwherein the missiles of bothships were controlled by one

ship to intercept different aer-ial targets at extended ranges.The firing trial was carried outby the Indian Navy, DefenceResearch DevelopmentOrganisation(DRDO) andIsrael Aerospace Industries.India is manufacturing Barakmissiles in collaboration withthe Israel Aerospace Industries.

The successful conduct ofthe test firing was the result ofsustained efforts by all stake-holders over the years. Defence

Research and DevelopmentLaboratory(DRDL) Hyderabad,a DRDO Lab, has jointly devel-oped this missile in collabora-tion with Israel AerospaceIndustries. The MRSAM ismanufactured by BharatDynamics Limited, India.

These Surface to AirMissiles are fitted onboard theKolkata Class Destroyers andwould also be fitted on allfuture major warships of theIndian Navy. With the success-

ful proving of this cooperativemode of engagement, theIndian Navy has become a partof a select group of Navies thathave this niche capability. Thiscapability significantlyenhances the combat effective-ness of the Indian Navy there-by providing an operationaledge over potential adversaries.The radars on the warships candetect a hostile target at a dis-tance of 450km and guide themissile in destroying the threat.

Navy test-fires MRSAM missile successfully

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Indian Army moun-taineering team, which spot-

ted the footprints of the mythi-cal Yeti last month while ascend-ing Mount Makalu in Nepal, hassuccessfully scaled the peak.However, the expedition suf-fered a casualty when one soldierdied while descending afterreaching the peak. He was iden-tified as Naik Narayan Singhhailing from Pithoragarh,Uttrakhand and is survived byhis wife and three children.

Giving details of the inci-dent, the Army said here onFriday, Singh was part of the 18-member expedition team toMount Makalu and died on May16 while descending from thesummit point to camp four(firstcamp during the descent). Thesoldier had joined the Army in2002 and was a keen moun-taineer having taking part inseveral expeditions in the past.

In the first ever discovery ofits kind, the Indian Army onApril 30 had said its moun-taineering team has sighted thefootprints of mythical beast'Yeti' in Nepal. The size of thepugmark measures about 32inch by 15 inch and the Armytweeted its photograph and saidthe evidence will be shared with

the experts once the expeditionreturns by this month end orearly June.

Commonly known as the"abominable snowman," scien-tists and experts, world overhave tried to sight the mythicalanimal for the last severaldecades but success has eludedthem. In this backdrop, the

Latest finding by the Armyteam has generated interest afterit released the photographs andsocial media was abuzz with it.

The footprint was mea-sured by calipers and armysources claimed here it match-es with earlier theories addingthe photograph was released to"excite scientific temper." Alsothe evidence will help in reach-ing logical conclusion, they said.

Army team scales Mt MakaluNew Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Friday withdrew pro-tection from arrest given to for-mer Kolkata police commis-sioner Rajeev Kumar in themulti-crore Saradha chit fundscam, in which the CBI want-ed to interrogate him in cus-tody.

The top court alsoexpressed concern over theconfrontation between the CBIand the West Bengal Police inthe case, saying that "at thereceiving end are silently wait-ing lakhs of small town andrural investors who have beendeprived and looted of theirsavings".

It said however that itsFebruary 5 order granting pro-tection from arrest to Kumarwould continue for anotherseven days from Friday toenable him to approach thecompetent court for relief.

A bench headed by ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi andJustices Deepak Gupta andSanjiv Khanna left it open tothe Central Bureau ofInvestigation to act in accor-dance with the law.

"Therefore, in the givenfacts, we would withdraw theprotection given to RajeevKumar, former Commissionerof Police, Kolkata, vide ourorder dated February 5, 2019restraining the CBI from arrest-ing him and thereby, leave itopen to the CBI to act inaccordance with the law," thebench said.

"At the same time, wedirect that the interim orderdated February 5, 2019 wouldcontinue for a period of seven days from the date ofpronouncement of this orderto enable Rajeev Kumar to approach competent Courtfor relief, if so advised," said Justice Khanna, who pronounced the eight-pageverdict.

The bench, which wasdealing with an application of

CBI seeking to vacate theFebruary 5 order, clarified thatcontentions and reasons raisedin the probe agency's applica-tion would not be grounds toaccept or reject the request ofcustodial interrogation or grantof protection, if any such peti-tion is moved.

It disposed of the applica-tion in pursuant to the direc-tions and said that the CBI'spetition seeking contemptaction against Kumar for cre-ating hurdles in the investiga-tion of Saradha chit fund casewould be taken up in the duecourse. PTI

New Delhi: The Supreme Courton Friday expressed "disap-pointment and dismay" over thefeud between CBI and WestBengal Police during probe intothe Saradha chit fund scam caseand said though the situationwas "grim", there was no admin-istrative mechanism to avoid orresolve such conflicts.

While withdrawing the pro-tection from arrest granted ear-lier by it to former KolkataPolice Commissioner RajeevKumar in the case, the apexcourt said that despite ordersand words of advice, "antago-nism and acrimony" has esca-lated between the two forces ofthe country.

A bench headed by ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi said thatdue to the "clash" between theCentral Bureau of Investigationand West Bengal Police, lakhs ofsmall town and rural investorswho have been deprived oftheir savings in the case are "atthe receiving end".

"They (CBI and WestBengal Police) have forgottenthat the primary purpose androle of the police is to investigatecrime, collect evidence andprosecute the offenders.Situation is grim as both sides

have hardened their stand andthere is no administrative mech-anism in place to avoid andresolve such conflicts betweenthe two wings of the police forcein the country," said the bench,also comprising Justices DeepakGupta and Sanjiv Khanna.

The bench noted that byslew of orders passed in the case,including the one on February5 this year, granting protectionfrom arrest to Kumar, the apexcourt had sought to "allay con-frontation and clash" betweenthe CBI and the West BengalState Police Force (WBSPF)."With regret, we acknowledgeand accept that despite ordersand words of advice, antago-nism and acrimony has esca-lated and not ebbed as is evidentfrom the pleading and argu-ments addressed before us,"the bench said. "To avoid pro-lixity and as limited controver-sy arises for consideration, weare not referring the earlierorders for the purpose of thepresent judgment, albeit expressour disappointment and dismayseeing the CBI and the WBSPFpitted and casting aspersionsagainst each other and beingembroiled in this feud," thecourt said. PTI

Feud between CBI, Bengal policedismays apex court

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Enforcement Directorate(ED) on Friday attached a

national Capital-based proper-ty worth nearly `2 crore of for-mer Haryana Chief Minister OPChautala in connection with amoney laundering case.

The attached immovableproperty consists of land andfarm house located in NewDelhi worth ̀ 1.94 crore ownedby Chautala.

With this attachment, EDhas attached properties ofChautala to the extent of theentire "proceeds of crime" gen-erated through alleged acquisi-tion of disproportionate assetsamounting to ̀ 6 crores (approx-imately).

The money laundering casewas initiated on the basis of anFIR registered by CBI againstOm Prakash Chautala and oth-ers for acquisition of assets dis-proportionate to their knownsource of income. CBI has filedcharge sheet against OmPrakash Chautala, his sonsAbhay Chautala and Ajay

Chautala under Prevention ofCorruption Act 1988.

Investigation conducted byCBI revealed that the seniorChautala had acquired assetsdisproportionate to his knownsource of income to the tune of`6,09,79,026 during the checkperiod from May 24, 1993 toMay 31, 2006. Investigation alsorevealed that Abhay SinghChautala and Ajay SinghChautala had also acquiredassets disproportionate to theirknown source of income to thetune of `119, 69,82,619 and`27,74,74,260 respectively, theED said in a statement.

During the course of inves-tigation under PMLA it wasrevealed that OP Chautala hadacquired Immovable Properties

at New Delhi, Panchkula andalso constructed residentialhouse at Sirsa (Haryana) duringthe check period from themoney received from undis-closed sources. It is also revealedthat Chautala was directlyinvolved in acquisition and pro-jecting various tainted proper-ties as his untainted properties.He had disclosed properties soacquired in the affidavit filedbefore returning officer inHaryana Vidhan Sabha Election2005 and 2009 thereby project-ing publicly the tainted proper-ties as untainted.

Earlier, the ED had attachedproperties of the formerHaryana CM to the tune of`46,96,000. Further to this, hisproperties worth `3.68 croreswere also attached in April 2019.

Prosecution Complaint(chargesheet in police parlance)against Chautala was also filedbefore Special Court on July 17,2018. The court took cognisanceon November 27, 2018. Later aSupplementary ProsecutionComplaint was also filed onApril 25 this year.

ED attaches OP Chautala’sassets worth `2 crore

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Election Commission(EC) has asked star cam-

paigners and other leaders of allpolitical parties to not give anyinterviews to media on electionmatters during the beginning of"silence period," from Fridayevening for the last phase of LokSabha polls or 48 hours beforethe start of polling when cam-paigning comes to an end.

"During the silence period,star campaigners and otherpolitical leaders should refrainfrom addressing the media byway of Press conferences andgiving interviews on electionmatters," the poll panel said inan advisory.

"In a multi-phased election,the silence period of last 48hours may be on in certain con-stituencies while campaign isongoing in other constituencies.In such event, there should notbe any direct or indirect refer-ence amounting to solicitingsupport for parties or candi-dates in the constituenciesobserving the silence period," itsaid.

The poll panel underlinedthat Section 126 of theRepresentation of People Act,1951, "inter-alia prohibits elec-

tion campaign activitiesthrough public meetings, pro-cessions etc, and displaying ofelection matter by means oftelevision and similar appara-tus". The EC has advised thatcampaigners should not makeany reference to a constituen-cy where the silence period is

being observed.The EC has also changed

rules not allowing any politicalparty to release manifesto in last48 hours of the start of pollingperiod. Amending the ModelCode of Conduct, EC barredpolitical parties from releasingtheir manifestos in the last 48

hours leading up to voting ineach phase of the coming LokSabha elections.

The statement came in ref-erence to queries received bythe poll body on telecastinginterview of star campaignersduring the silence period.During the Gujarat Assembly

elections in 2017, controversyerupted after Congress presi-dent Rahul Gandhi gave inter-views to some regional TVchannels a day ahead of thepolling. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi had also organ-ised a road show just a daybefore polling.

Be silent during silent period, EC to campaigners

PNS n NEW DELHI

Andhra Pradesh ChiefMinister and TDP chief

N Chandrababu Naidu onFriday met Chief ElectionCommissioner Sunil Aroraand lodged a protest over itsdecision to hold re-poll in fivepolling booths in ChandragiriAssembly segment in ChittoorParliamentary seat after 25days. During his meeting,Naidu also asked the poll bodyto take action against BJP can-didate Pragya Thakur for herremarks describing MahatmaGandhi's assassin NathuramGodse as a "patriot".

Naidu questioned therationale behind re-polling infive Assembly seats after the

complaint was made by theYSR Congress Party (YSRCP).

In the meeting with theEC, Naidu said that he request-ed the poll panel to take a seri-ous note of the series of com-plaints filed by his partyincluding against the repollordered in ChandragiriAssembly segment in theAndhra Pradesh and counting

of votes in the entire con-stituency if discrepancy foundin VVPAT slips with five man-dated Electronic VotingMachines (EVMs) in any partof the country.

"As on today, the ECI'sdecisions are very controver-sial, one-sided, pro-establish-ment and pro-government.During the entire election,they were supporting the gov-ernment. It is unfortunate," hetold reporters after the meet-ing. Questioning the workingstyle of the poll panel, Naidusaid, "I am the party presidentfor the last 25 years. I havenever seen this type of ElectionCommission. The poll bodyhas ordered repolling after 25days. They have to address all

grievances simultaneously,they have to take properaction," Naidu said.

In the letter, Naidu askedthat the EC has already con-ducted re-polling in five otherpolling stations in three dis-tricts on May 6, based on cer-tain complaints. "If there wereany issues in the polling sta-tions in Chandragiri assemblyconstituency, why didn't theCommission enquire into thesame and conduct the re-polling on May 6?"

Naidu lamented that theEC once again showed its biasby ignoring the TDP demandfor re-poll while accepting asimilar demand by YSRCongress Party (YSRCP) morethan a month after the polling.

ARCHANA JYOTI n NEW DELHI

Contrary to general belief,dementia is not an

inevitable (or natural) conse-quence of ageing which,though, is the strongest risk fac-tor, a recent World HealthOrganisation (WHO) reporthas said.

It maintained that youngonset dementia (defined as theonset of symptoms before theage of 65 years) accounts for upto 9 per cent of the total cases.

In fact, lifestyle risk factors,such as physical inactivity,excessive alcohol use, certainmedical conditions like highblood pressure, high cholesteroland diabetes and smoking tooare associated with a high riskof developing dementia.

Additional risk factorsinclude depression, low edu-cational attainment, social iso-lation, and cognitive inactivity,as per the report as per theWHO which has warned that

the number of people withdementia is expected to triplein the next 30 years fromaround current 50 million.

These should be kept at thebay to prevent dementia, saidthe WHO as it recently issuedhealth guidelines to tackle themental health related debili-tating progressive disease.

Dementia is a category ofbrain disease which can causelong-term memory loss andeven gradual decrease in theability to think. Dementia is nota specific disease, but a groupof disorders associated with adecline in memory or otherthinking skills.

The decline is so severe it

reduces a person's ability toperform simple daily activitiesand affects memory, compre-hension, orientation and judg-ment among other cognitivefunctions.

The most common type ofdementia is Alzheimer's dis-ease.

Yet another studies show

that in absolute terms, there areabout 35.6 million people liv-ing in the world currently withdementia and 7.7 million newcases of dementia added everyyear, i.e., nearly one case every4 s with highest projections inSouth Asian nations such asIndia and China.

WHO Director-GeneralDr Tedros AdhanomGhebreyesus said, "We need todo everything we can to reduceour risk of dementia. The sci-entific evidence gathered forthese Guidelines confirm whatwe have suspected for sometime, that what is good for ourheart, is also good for ourbrain."

The WHO Guidelinesprovide the knowledge basefor health-care providers toadvise patients on what theycan do to help prevent cogni-tive decline and dementia.An essential element of everynational dementia plan is sup-port for carers of people with

dementia, said Dr DévoraKestel, Director of theDepartment of Mental Healthand Substance Abuse atWHO.

In India, only 10 per centof the cases are diagnosedaccording to the Alzheimer'sand Related Disorders Societyof India (ARDSI), which hassubmitted a Dementia IndiaStrategy Report to the UnionHealth Ministry.

There are seven core areasto set out as national prioritiesin the national strategy --Make dementia a nationalhealth and social care priority;dementia awareness anddementia friendly communi-ties; Risk reduction anddementia prevention; Improveaccess to best medical carestrengthen standard treatmentprotocols; Social support ser-vices; Research andDevelopment; Strengthendementia disease surveillancesystem.

Dementia not only due to ageing, says WHOPTI n NEW DELHI

Congress general secretaryPriyanka Gandhi Vadra

on Friday said her party didnot allow the BJP to divert thefocus in elections from issuesof employment and farming asshe asserted that the victory of'Nyay' was certain on May 23.

Campaigning in the bit-terly fought marathon LokSabha elections, spread over 38days, drew to a close Fridayevening as top leaders made afinal push in the seventh andconcluding phase for theremaining 59 seats.

"Dear friends, 60 days ofspirited election campaign for'one person one vote' or polit-ical equality was made possi-ble because of your love,"Priyanka said.

"Despite BJP's efforts, wedid not allow the elections tobe diverted from issues of

employment, farming, andincome. On the 23rd (May),the victory of 'Nyay' (justice)and people's voice is certain,"said the AICC general secre-tary, in-charge Uttar Pradesh(East).

The Congress' proposedNyuntam Aay Yojana (Nyay)promises up to `72,000 a yearto 20 per cent of India's poor-est families if the party isvoted to power.

Polling will be held onSunday in the seventh phase inall 13 seats in Punjab and anequal number of seats in UttarPradesh, nine in West Bengal,eight seats each in Bihar andMadhya Pradesh, four inHimachal Pradesh, three inJharkhand and the lone seatChandigarh.

Counting of votes in theworld's largest exercise indemocracy will be taken up onMay 23.

Victory of NYAY certainon May 23: Priyanka

One jawan dies

while descending

from peak

Source: Twitter

SARADHA SCAM

SC withdraws protection from arrestgranted to former Kolkata top cop

MONEY LAUNDERING

o Exercise. o Do not smoke. o Do not drink too

much. o Eat a balanced diet -

the reportrecommends diet thatis mostly plant-basedand includes fish,nuts and wholegrains.

o Manage your bloodpressure.

o Manage your weight.

HOW TO KEEPDEMENTIA AT BAY

Andhra CM meets CEC over re-polling in 5 booths

LUCKNOW | SATURDAY | MAY 18, 2019 06

STATES/UT SEATS

Bihar (8) Nalanda, Patna Sahib, Pataliputra, Arrah, Buxar, Sasaram, Karakat, Jahanabad

Chandigarh (1) Chandigarh

Himachal Pradesh (4) Kangra, Mandi, Hamirpur, Shimla

Jharkhand (3) Rajmahal, Dumka, Godda

Madhya Pradesh (8) Dewas, Ujjain, Mandsour, Ratlam, Dhar, Indore, Khargone, Khandwa

Punjab (13) Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Khadoor Sahib, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Anandpur Sahib, Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib, Faridkot, Firozpur, Bathinda,Sangrur, Patiala

Uttar Pradesh (13) Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushi Nagar, Deoria, Bansgaon, Ghosi, Salempur,Ballia, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Robertsganj

West Bengal (9) Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Joynagar, Mathurapur, Diamond Harbour,Jadavpur, Kolkata Dakshin, Kolkata Uttar

I am not going to pre-judge what thepeople of India will decide. The moodand vision of the people will comeout on May 23... Whatever the peopledecide, we will do that. Whatever themood and vision of people of India, itwill be known on May 23...I am notgoing to disrespect the people of thiscountry by judging what they aregoing to do

RAHUL GANDHI

From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, fromKutch to Kamrup, the whole nation issaying — Ab ki baar, 300 paar, phirek baar Modi sarkar...The BJP-ledNDA is the choice of 130 croreIndians... This Sunday when you goto cast your vote then you will bescripting history. After decades youwill elect a majority govt for a secondtime in a row

NARENDRA MODI

QUOTE-UNQUOTE

PTI n DIAMOND HARBOUR

The stakes are high for theTrinamool Congress in its

decade-long bastion ofDiamond Harbour, the parlia-mentary seat from where ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee’snephew Abhishek is seeking are-election, as the result here islikely to have a bearing on theparty’s internal dynamics andon West Bengal politics.

The State’s Opposition par-ties claim the result in this seatwill be seen as “people’s verdict”in favour of or against the TMCsupremo herself. Situated onthe banks of the Hooghly riverin the South 24 Parganas dis-trict, the constituency was aLeft pocket borough since thelate 60s until the TMC, ridingon winds of change, breachedit in 2009 with then TMCleader Somen Mitra snatchingthe seat from four-time MPSamik Lahiri.

But Mitra left the TMC andreturned to the Congress inearly 2014 and is now its state

unit chief. In 2014, just threeyears after his baptism in pol-itics as a leader of theTrinamool Youth Congress,Abhishek Banerjee was giventicket from this seat and wonit by polling more than 40 percent votes.

Since then, he has onlygrown in stature within theparty and is its de facto num-ber two. This rise has not onlyraised some eyebrows in statepolitics but also among someparty veterans, who allegedlyfeel sidelined.

Mukul Roy was one of

those whose fall in TMC wasproportional to AbhishekBanerjee’s rise. Roy quit theparty in 2017 to join the BJP.Five years ago, the TMC’sSouth 24 Parganas district unitwas united and worked togeth-er to ensure that AbhishekBanerjee wins by a huge mar-gin. But since then, much waterhas flown down the riverHooghly and the scenario with-in the ruling party and in theState has changed drastically.

The Trinamool Congress,which was then literally unchal-lenged in Bengal is now facinga tough fight from the BJP, withChief Minister’s nephew beingone of the target. The inner-bickering of the ruling party hasalso come out in open.

According to a TMCleader, who did not wish to benamed, Abhishek Banerjee’svictory of is a foregone con-clusion but “what bothers theparty is whether it would beable to increase the margin ornot”. Prime Minister NarendraModi, during his poll campaign

at Diamond Harbour, had evensaid that Abhishek would bedefeated and his office in thearea would shut down after theelections.

TMC sources say a victo-ry by a margin bigger than thatin 2014 would help him notonly quash allegations againsthim but also cement his posi-tion in the party.

BJP State president DilipGhosh said this election willprove whether AbhishekBanerjee is a true leader or not.

“The TMC is trying toproject him as the leader afterMamata Banerjee. He alongwith his aunt are the star cam-paigners. But the question iswhether he would be able toretain his own seat.

“Last time, the oppositionwas weak and he won. But thistime, things are different. If heloses, which he is most likely to,it will be the end of his politi-cal journey,” Ghosh claimed,adding, “His victory is MamataBanerjee’s victory, his defeat isher defeat.”

PTI n NEW DELHI

Over 2,000 agile comman-dos on ground, 120 young

supervisory officers, thousandsof bullet rounds, first-aid kitsand volumes of intelligencedata sheets. This is what it takesfor the Central forces to ensurea watertight VIP securitycover everyday to politicianscampaigning across thecountry during the ongo-ing polls.

While PrimeMinister NarendraModi and Congresspresident RahulGandhi are protectedby the elite SpecialProtection Group(SPG), other promi-nent politicians areguarded by Centralforces like the NSG,CRPF, CISF and ITBP,as they travel thou-sands of kilometreseach day canvassingfor their parties.

“In all, about 2,000commandos are on groundand are rotated in shifts,apart from 120 young offi-cers as party of the central

security cover to the politicians.A huge amount of parapher-nalia of logistics, weapons andintelligence and operationaldossiers are put at their disposaleveryday when the teams headout with their VIPs for cam-paigning in the country,” asenior official in the VIP secu-

rity establishment said. The Central

Reserve Police Force(CRPF) has been

entrusted with theresponsibility to guard

78 VIPs, includingBJP President Amit

Shah who isunder their topcategory ‘Z+’security cover.

Shah, the onlyone for whom anadvance security

liaison is doneon the lines ofSPG protectees,said it wouldhave been diffi-cult for him tosurvive anattack on hisconvoy during

his roadshow in Kolkatahad it not been for the

CRPF cover.Sources said the force has

mobilised a team of officers inthe ranks of AssistantCommandants and DeputyCommandants to carry outadvance recce of the venues tobe covered across the countryby Shah, who faces serioussecurity threats.

Over 54 such officers havebeen deployed in various partsof the country to keep a trackof prominent protectees underthe cover of the CRPF. They areassisted by ground units from28 various bases of the forceactivated for the special task,they said.

These commandos of thecountry’s largest paramilitaryforce also provide proximatesecurity cover to UnionMinisters Nitin Gadkari, RaviShankar Prasad among othersand are armed with sophisti-cated AK series and MP5assault rifles, loaded maga-zines, pistols, mobile bodyarmour and even ropes andsticks for crowd control andspecial circumstances.

A 24x7 control room at aCRPF base in Noida remains inconstant touch with a similar

operational centre at theMinistry of Home Affairs inNorth Block that coordinatesevery move that these teamsundertake and is in regulartouch with them over the wire-less and mobilephone.

“VIP security is a game ofsharp reflexes and nerves ofsteel. One has to be very verymeticulous while renderingthe VIP security task as thereare virtually no secondchances,” the official said.

Commandos hailing fromthe local area are also deputedwith these VIPs at times so thatthey are able to catch everymurmur or voice that emerges

from the crowd, he said.They also carry first-aid

kits to help the VIP in case ofan injury, motion sickness ortiredness, the official said.

The Central IndustrialSecurity Force (CISF), that hasbeen entrusted with the secu-rity of 93 VIPs, has a tough jobat hand as it has been recentlyasked to protect over a dozennew people in West Bengal,most of whom are trying theirluck at the hustings. About 40officials have been deployed insupervisory roles to keep atrack of the various protectionteams that are out on field.

They camp in the local area

and ensure the preparedness,logistics, food and otherrequirements of the comman-dos on move, the official said.

The CISF VIP security unithas specially-trained personneland they are called SpecialSecurity Group (SSG).

The National SecurityGuard (NSG) has an all-timelow of 13 VIPs under its coverbut the task to guard them isvery enduring as they includeUnion Home Minister RajnathSingh, former Chief Ministerslike Akhilesh Yadav andMayawati and serving CMslike Yogi Adityanath and NChandrababu Naidu, among

others.The NSG has fine-tuned its

security drills before Lok Sabhaelections were declared and the‘black cats’ are now armedwith smart communicationgadgets, body armour shields.They also conduct an advancerecce of the venue for someVIPs like the home ministerand others, the official said.

“The commando teams arepre-positioned when the VIPtakes a flight or helicopter to trav-el from one place to the other.When one team securely leavesthe VIP at point A, the otherreceives him when he lands atpoint B,” the official explained.

A good number of VIPsecurity trained drivers havebeen deployed with these teamson ground as they are a veryvital cog of the unit as they canswiftly manoeuvre and rush outthe protectee in case of anattack, ambush or bombingincident, he said.

The Indo-Tibetan PoliceForce guards about 16 VIPs likesenior BJP leader MurliManohar Joshi (Z+), formerJammu & Kashmir CMs OmarAbdullah, Mehbooba Muftiamong others.

SAUGAR SENGUPTA n KOLKATA

Even as Mamata Banerjeealleged “free flow of illegal

money for votes” in Bengalpointing at the BJP as themain accused, the police appre-hended more people withunexplained cash from South24 Parganas, North 24 Pargans,Durgapur and elsewhere.

An alleged saffron workerwas arrested with Rs 30 lakhnear Baruipur in South 24Parganas police said, addinganother person was held fromDurgapur region with Rs 19lakh. Both the persons werebeing questioned. Earlier aperson reportedly travellingfrom Varanasi was arrested atDurgapur Railway Stationwhile he was carrying Rs 70lakh inside a trolley bag, policesaid. The Durgapur incidentcame within 48 hours of twopersons being arrested by theAsansol GRP with Rs 1 crore.

The accused in Asansolcase was remanded to policecustody and had reportedlytold his interrogators that thefund belonged to the saffronoutfit and was likely to beused for electoral purposes.The person is a former privatesecretary of Bengal BJP presi-dent Dilip Ghosh.

With the Friday’s catchmore than Rs 2 crore wasseized in the past four days,police sources said.

Meanwhile, in a relateddevelopment allegedTrinamool Congress workersattacked and vandalized thevehicles belonging to TMCleader Mukul Roy and DumDum BJP candidate SamikBhattacharya following infor-mation that the two leaderswere meeting with a veteranCPI(M) leader Paltu Dasguptainside a guest house.

The TMC sources said theLeft and BJP leaders weretransacting cash though thepolice found no evidence ofsuch transaction.

“We had assembled at afamily function in a house atDum Dum where a CPI(M)leader too had come to join theoccasion. The TMC made it anissue alleging the CPI(M)leader was taking cash to trans-fer Left votes to the BJP,” saidBhattacharya adding the vehi-cles of his party were badlydamaged by the TMC workers.

Forces on toes to keep VIPs safe during campaigns� Central forces ensure watertight security cover —

over 2,000 agile commandos on ground, 120young supervisory officers, thousands of bulletrounds, first-aid kits and volumes ofIntelligence data sheets to — VIPs acrossnation during the ongoing polls

� Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi get elite SpecialProtection Group (SPG), otherprominent politicians are guarded byCentral forces like the NSG, CRPF,CISF and ITBP

� CRPF has been entrusted with theresponsibility to guard 78 VIPs

� The commandos are armed with sophisticated AKseries and MP5 assault rifles, loaded magazines,pistols, mobile body armour and even ropes andsticks for crowd control and special circumstances

� Commandos hailing from the local area arealso deputed so they can catch every murmuror voice that emerges from the crowd

� They also carry first-aid kits to help theVIP in case of an injury, motionsickness or tiredness

� The NSG has fine-tuned its security

drills before Lok Sabha elections

were declared and the ‘black cats’

PTI n MIRZAPUR/GORAKHPUR

Congress general secretaryPriyanka Gandhi Vadra on

Friday dubbed Narendra Modian “actor” and said AmitabhBachchan would have been abetter choice for the PrimeMinister’s post.

In another Bollywood ref-erence, she likened Modi toAsrani’s character in Bachchan-starrer Sholay. “Prime MinisterModi is not a leader, he is anactor. It would have been betterif Amitabh Bachchan was madethe Prime Minister,” she said atan election meeting at the endof her roadshow in Mirzapur.

In Gorakhpur, she askedthe crowd, “Have you seen theSholay movie and Asrani’s rolein it? He used to always sayangrezon ke zamane mein (inthe time of the British).”

“And in the same wayModi ji talks about Jawaharlal’swork, Indira Gandhi’s work andRajiv Gandhi’s work. Whydoesn’t he talk about his workin the last five years?” she said.

“The aim of the BJP is tograb power. Modi has beenunable to fulfil the promisesmade during the last generalelection,” she said in Mirzapur.“The Congress on the contrarydoes not make false promises,but works in the interests of thefarmers, the poor and theyoungsters,” she added.

At both events, she referredto the stray cattle menace inUttar Pradesh. “When stray ani-mals come and destroy yourcrops, do the ‘chowkidars’ turn

up? They do not come. Theyhad claimed that demonetisationwill bring back black money. Hasblack money come back?Nothing has come to the coun-try except troubles,” she said.

“What kind ofGovernment is that which nei-ther listens to the farmers, norsaves your farms from strayanimals?” she said.

She also claimed that therehas been a loss of jobs duringthe Bharatiya Janata Party’sterm, and accused the ModiGovernment of weakeningMGNREGA, the rural employ-ment guarantee schemelaunched by the previousCongress-led Government.

She halted her Mirzapur

address during the ‘azaan’,resuming it after the call forprayers was over. “The PrimeMinister has been unable to pre-

sent his account on develop-ment work done for the farm-ers, labourers and youngsters inthe last five years,” she said.

The Congress leaderaccused the Modi governmentof weakening democratic insti-tutions. The roadshow in sup-port of the party’s Mirzapurcandidate Laliteshpati Tripathistarted from Dankeenganj andended at Waasliganj, coveringabout two kilometres.

The crowd chanted‘Priyanka didi’ and showeredflowers on her. The Congressleader waved back at the peo-ple. She also pulled a child onto her vehicle, and they coveredsome distance together.

The flags of SuheldevBhartiya Samaj Party, whoseleader Om Prakash Rajbhar isstill a Minister in the BJP-ledGovernment in Uttar Pradesh,were also seen at the rally.

The SBSP, which won fourseats in the 2017 assemblypolls, has fielded its own can-didates this time. Apna Dal(Krishna Patel faction) workersalso took part in the roadshow,waving their party flags.

Modi is like Asrani of Sholay: Priyanka

More men with

‘illegal’ cash held

ahead of polls

DIAMOND HARBOUR: Result may impact TMC

LUCKNOW | SATURDAY | MAY 18, 2019

snippets

poll

RE-POLLING IN 7 BOOTHS IN KERALA ON MAY 19The Election Commission (EC) on Friday directed its Kerala unit toconduct re-polling in seven booths in Kasaragod and Kannurparliamentary constituencies of the state on May 19 when 59 LokSabha seats across eight states will go to the polls in the seventhand final phase of polling. Kasaragod’s four booths in Kalliassery andThrikkaripur Assembly segments and three booths in Kannur’sTaliparamba and Dharmadam Assembly constituencies will go to thepolls on Sunday after the EC declared the voting conducted at thesepolling stations on April 23 as “void”.

BJP, CONG CONFIDENT OF WINNING PANAJI BYPOLLAs the election campaign for the Panaji Assembly bypoll wound upon Friday evening, both the Congress and the BJP expressedconfidence at winning the May 19 by-election, even as Chief MinisterPramod Sawant scoffed at claims made by the Congress, aboutoverthrowing the BJP-led coalition government soon after results offour Assembly bypolls, including Panaji, are declared on May 23.Addressing the media on Friday, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said,“The Congress should rouse of its pipe-dream of forming agovernment, after results are declared on May 23.”

VAJPAYEE WAS LARGE-HEARTED, NOT LIKE MODI: AJAYFormer Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a large-hearted manwho took everyone along, quite unlike Narendra Modi, saysCongress’ Varanasi candidate and old BJP hand Ajay Rai. Rai, whotakes on Varanasi MP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in thisUttar Pradesh temple town, said the election this time is easier thanin 2014. “The election is relatively easier this time than last time aspeople have seen through Modiji’s tall and fake promises and he hasnot delivered anything,” Rai told PTI ahead of the election onSunday. The now Congress leader is full of appreciation forVajpayee.

CONG-JD(S) FALL IMMINENT AFTER LS POLLS: BSYDescribing the Congress-JDS coalition dispensation in Karnataka asa hub of infighting and confusion, BJP State president BSYeddyurappa on Friday expressed doubts over the Government’scontinuation after the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP leader made theremark in Hubballi when asked about the Twitter war between chiefminister HD Kumaraswamy and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiahon Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge becoming the Chief Minister.

PTI n VARANASI

Voters may complain thatthe competitive zing was

missing in the Prime Minister’sconstituency but the BJP had aclear-cut strategy to keep thecampaign ship sailing —entrusting senior leaders andcelebrities to canvass for voteswhile a handful of carefullychosen lieutenants managedthe back end.

A string of senior leaderssuch as Sushma Swaraj andYogi Adityanath visited thetown to address meet-ings and Bhojpurishowbiz starsManoj Tiwari andNirahua added adash of glamour inthe campaigning for theBJP’s most prestigiousseat.

The campaigning endedon Friday evening, ahead ofthe last round of the seven-phase elections on Sunday.Behind the scenes, three BJPleaders from Gujarat, Prime

Minister Narendra Modi’shome State, have been silentlyrunning the show, said partyinsiders.

Parindu Bhagat, alsoknown as Kakubhai, looks atthe overall election manage-ment of Varanasi and theexpenditure, local BJP leaderssaid. Bhagat, a lawyer by pro-fession, received Modi’s win-ning certificate from the districtmagistrate in Varanasi in thelast general elections.

M o d i ’ strusted allyfor years,Bhagat han-dles all legalmatters relat-

ed to electionsin Varanasi

and operates froman office inMahmoorganj inVaranasi.

The second manbehind the scenes isSunil Oza, anotherleader from Modi’shome State and former

MLA from Bhavnagar. He isoverall in charge of theVaranasi and Gorakhpur LokSabha seats.

According to party work-ers, Oza managed Modi’s elec-tion in 2014 as well and was theperson assigned for door-to-door campaigning and reach-ing out to voters across the con-stituency.

The third is BJP’s MP fromNavsari, C R Patil who has beenassigned to stay in constanttouch with BJP’s ‘panna pra-mukhs’, local councillors andvillage headmen.

He also looks after devel-opmental work in two of thevillages adopted by Modi.While the trio from Gujarathandled the nitty-gritty, theothers managed the optics ofthe voter outreach.

Two Union MinistersPiyush Goyal and JP Naddaalong with Uttar PradeshDeputy Chief Minister KeshavPrasad Maurya have beencamping here for more than aweek.

07

IANS n NEW DELHI

In ‘dry’ Bihar and Gujarat,liquor has found a new route

as road routes are being guard-ed by paramilitary and thelocal police to enforce themodel code of conduct to checksmuggling of liquor and cash.

A senior Railway Ministryofficial said after the modelcode of conduct came intoforce across the country onMarch 10, trains going to thedry States like Bihar andGujarat in the last two monthshave reported a spurt in thenumber of the incidents of‘chain-pulling’ (to stop a run-ning train).

“As Bihar and Gujarat aredry States, transporting liquorin these two States has becomevery tough as the road routesare being guarded by paramil-itary forces as well as the statepolice, which conduct extensivechecking of vehicles for liquor

smuggling and cash flow,” saidthe official.

“Thus it forced the boot-leggers to shift to the train routeto transport their shipments,which in return has resulted ina spurt in the incidents ofalarm chain pulling (ACP) intrains in these two States.Forcing trains to stop badlyaffects the schedule,” he said.

The manufacture, storage,sale and consumption of alco-holic beverages of liquor wascompletely banned in Biharafter the Nitish KumarGovernment returned to powerin 2015 in the State, while inGujarat the sale, consumptionand storage of liquor is bannedsince 1960.

Worried over the incidentsof the alarm chain pulling(ACP), LC Trivedi GeneralManager of East CentralRailways and Ravindra VermaInspector General of RailwayProtection Force (RPF) held a

meeting with the Bihar DirectorGeneral of Police (DGP)Gupteshwar Pandey at its zonalheadquarters in Hajipur.

ECR spokesperson RajeshKumar said, “The DGP and theGM of ECR have discussed thespurt in incidents of ACP dur-ing odd-hours and at odd loca-

tions far away from the stations.”He said three railway

routes in the State — Ara-Patna, Chapra-Hajipurand Hajipur-Muzaffarpur —have reported high incidents of‘chain pulling’.

He said following reportsof the ACP at off-hours in the

long-distance trains, the rail-ways formed a flying squad andalso increased patrolling alongthe three routes.

“The task of the flyingsquad and the patrol team wasto arrest those who pulled theACP to stop the train at anunscheduled location,” he said.

Kumar said in April, 362cases of ACP were received and393 people were arrested. Therailways also collected a fine ofRs 2.91 lakh in April in Bihar.

He said that the from May1 to May 12 in Bihar, 125 casesof ACP were recieved and 190people arrested. He said so farnone of railway employee hasbeen detained for illegal smug-gling of liquor.

However, railway sourcesindicated that the local railwayemployees were also playing amajor role in liquor smuggling.A senior ECR official said thatfrom January 1, 2019, to April30, 2019, a total of 909 ACP

incidents were reported and1,460 people were arrested.

Western Railwayspokesperson Ravinder Bhakersaid, “Following a spurt in theincidents of the ACP in thewestern railway zone, we sentteams in plain clothes to arrestthose who stopped the train byusing the ACP”.

He said in the WesternRailway zone, the Vapi-Suratroute was most affected, report-ing high incidents of chainpulling. A senior railway officialsaid that the Vapi-Surat routewas most affected due to itsproximity with Daman and Diu,known for illegal liquor trade.

However, Bhaker did notshare the number of the inci-dents of chain pulling and thepeople arrested in the case.

During this election sea-son, the Election Commissionhas seized liquor worth Rs 285crore till the end of the sixthphase of polling on May 12.

Liquor smugglers pick rail routes in Bihar, Guj

PTI n GORAKHPUR

Many Muslims in easternUP may not want to vote

for the BJP but they face adilemma over choosingbetween the SP-BSP allianceand the Congress.

Though some members ofthe community speak in favourof Prime Minister NarendraModi for the development car-ried out in Gorakhpur, ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath’s bas-tion, they harbour a sense ofinsecurity.

Mufti MohammedWaliullah, who leads prayers atGorakhpur’s biggest mosque,said the Muslims are not“unanimous” over their choiceof parties. “Less literateMuslims will vote for the‘mahagathbandhan’ (theOpposition alliance) and theeducated will vote as per theirunderstanding,” he said.

Waliullah expressedanguish over the BJP ques-tioning the nationalism ofMuslims, reminding that thecommunity is indigenous to

India. “Only a few Muslimclerics visited India and peoplewho lived in the countryadopted Islam. India is ourcountry,” he said.

Muslims account for about

10 per cent of population inGorakhpur, which will go tothe polls on May 19, alongwhich other 12 Lok Sabhaseats in the State.

The Gorakhnath templeheaded by Adityanath is in alocality dominated by Muslims.The temple employs peoplefrom the minority community.

In 2014, the BJP had got233 out of 330 votes polled ata booth from where fromAdityanath votes. Around halfof the voters from the booth areestimated to be from theMuslim community.

Seeking to allay the fears ofthe community, Adityanathtold PTI that not a single inci-dent of rioting has occurred inthe state since his Governmenttook over two years ago.

“Like here (Gorakhpur),Muslims feel safe in other partsof the State,” he said.

The Chief Minister said allreligious festivals in the Stateare celebrated in harmony. Itproves that every individual inthe state want to live in peace,he added.

� After the model code of conduct came into force across thecountry on March 10, trains going to the dry States like Biharand Gujarat in the last two months have reported a spurt in thenumber of the incidents of ‘chain-pulling’

� Three railway routes in the State — Ara-Patna, Chapra-Hajipur and Hajipur-Muzaffarpur — havereported high incidents of ‘chain pulling’

� From May 1 to May 12 in Bihar, 125 cases of ACP wererecieved and 190 people arrested

� January 1, 2019, to April 30,2019, a total of 909 ACP

incidents werereported and 1,460people werearrested

DMK President MK Stalin campaigns for the party candidate Senthil Balajiahead of bypoll to the Aravakuruchi Assembly seat, in Karur, on Friday PTI

HOW BJP CRAFTED ITS

campaign in prized Varanasi

Muslims in dilemma over choosing

between SP-BSP alliance, Cong

THE ‘CHOWKIDAR’ FROMVaranasi who has boycottedelections all his lifePTI n VARANASI

Dressed in a sweat-staineduniform, Lalji

Vishwakarma wears a jadedlook on his face as he waits thedoor at an economy hotel nearthe Varanasi railway station.

The ‘chowkidar’ (watch-man) with a slight built and abig moustache sits on a plasticstool in a corner, getting uppromptly every now and thento welcome guests with a salute.In between, he also assists thehotel staff in room service, aroutine he has followed for thelast several decades.

Ask him about the electionbuzz in Varanasi — his home-town and parliamentary con-stituency of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, Vishwakarma,who has never voted in nearly70 years of his life, says, “I amjust waiting for this poll‘tamasha’ (theatrics) to end”.

“Elections are held timeand again, politicians comeand go, they urge us to vote forthem, they become MLAs, MPsor ministers, but we remainwherever we are,” he said, witha note of pessimism in hisvoice. Born in 1950 in the tem-ple town, Vishwakarma, whohas seen multiple Governmentsand elections come and go,recalled how his father strug-gled with the “faulty system”.

“As a child, I would see myfather struggle to get workdone at Government offices.He worked in the furnituremaking sector and did notearn much. In local offices, hewould either be expected to paya bribe to get his work done orwait with little hope,” the 69-year-old lamented.

“To get access to ration and

other facilities, I would see himget frustrated with the faultysystem. So, when I turned 18,I decided to not vote for any-one. And I am still not inter-ested in any party as I have lostfaith in all of them. They are allthe same, mere vote seekers,” hesaid. The high-pitched cam-paigning and elaborate electionmanifestos of political partieshave failed to enthuseVishwakarma.

“I know the city is nowunder the spotlight after Modijibecame the MP from here. Bigparties are doing big road-shows, I see so many ordinarypeople running behind thoseleaders, chanting slogans andshowering flower petals onthem. But what happens to peo-ple like us after elections? Doour lives change? Do lives of ourchildren change?” he asked.

A father of three daughtersand two sons, Vishwakarmaworks 12 hours a day (from 8 amto 8 pm), gets no weekly off andearns a meager Rs 8,000 permonth. His wife, who works asa cook, and his son, a carpenter,supplement the family income.

He said his experience withthe system hasn’t been very dif-ferent from that of his father.

“When my son was little, Iwent to a Government schoolto get him admitted there with-out any fees as we belong to theeconomically backward cate-gory, but in vain. LastDecember, I married my thirddaughter, Babita, with my sav-ings. Somebody had suggestedme to approach the StateGovernment department toseek financial assistance undera scheme for daughters’ mar-riage for the poor, but that alsodid not work out,” he said.

WE’LL REPEAT...The Prime Minster said

entire BJP campaign wasplanned to the minutest detail.

Answering question onOpposition accusing BJP oflowering the level of cam-paigning, Shah said “Nothingelse could be started fromthem, BJP did not start it andraising corruption is loweringdown level…” He said BJPwould on its own win morethan 300 LS seats and NDAwould form the Government“but those who identify withour ideology are welcome tojoin us.” He said arm-chair cal-culations cannot explain pollresults and the party wouldrepeat its record poll percent-age in Lok Sabha poll like it didin Tripura. Shah said WestBengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee should answer for theviolence in the State saying 80BJP worker killed in the State inone and half year. Asked aboutCongress charge on Rafalefighter-jet deal, he said ifCongress president RahulGandhi has information heshould have informed theSupreme Court. “There is nobasis for his charges.. he shouldapologise,” he said. The BJPpresident said his party woulddo well in North-East, “verywell” in West Bengal andimprove in Karnataka andMaharashtra. Shah informedthat at the end of seven-phasecampaign the Prime Ministeraddressed 142 rallies and con-ducted four roadshows and“connected with 1.5 crore peo-ple”.

WE CLOSED 90%...“I would have liked to see

Mr Modi actually take on thechallenge of joblessness. I wouldhave liked to see Mr. Modi actu-ally, trying and work on help-ing our farmers. With all duerespects, he lost site of the realpicture,” Rahul said. “There isno work that has been done. Sonow he is distracting, he willprobably do something tomor-row or a day after. He will doone of the sea plane types ofthings; you will see some eventthat he will think up. I don’tknow what it is. Some event willbe thought up, that will be sortof the ‘distract India event’. Wewill see it in next couple ofhours, but India is not going tobe distracted,” Rahul stated atthe Press conference where healso attacked the Election

Commission’s role and said inthese polls they have been“biased” and it has issued orderskeeping in mind Modi’s sched-ule. “Congratulations Modi ji.Excellent Press Conference!Showing up is half the battle.Next time Mr Shah may evenallow you to answer a couple ofquestions. Well done!” Rahultweeted while Modi was in hisPress conference with Shah.Senior Congress leader AhmedPatel and Congress chiefspokesperson RandeepSurjewala took social media tocriticise PM and said they havenever seen a Press conferencewhere someone else is answer-ing questions on someone’sbehalf. “There was no need tolower the dignity of the officeof the PM just to prove apoint,” tweeted Patel. “Modi ji’sfirst and last Press conferencebecame Shah’s crutches...Onehour speech, tired journalistsand sermons to them, no ques-tion, no answer,” Surjewalatweeted.

WON'T FORGIVE...The BJP has been put in a

tight spot since Sadhvi calledGodse a patriot, fuelling an all-out attack by the Opposition.Even as the party was trying tocontain the damage, two moreleaders - Union MinisterAnanthkumar Hegde and NalinKumar Kateel - tweeted in sup-port of Godse just before thelast round of voting for thenational election on Sunday.After the controversy erupted,Sadhvi apologised for hercomment and retracted thestatement. “It was my person-al opinion remark. My intentionwas not to hurt anyone’s senti-ments. If I’ve hurt anyone I doapologise. What Gandhi Ji hasdone for the country cannot beforgotten. My statement hasbeen twisted by the media,” shetweeted her apology. Modi hadearlier defended BJP’s decisionto field Malegaon blast accusedSadhvi Pragya. He had statedthe ticket to Pragya Thakur wasan answer to those who brand-ed 5,000 years of civilisation asterrorism. “They defamed a5000-old culture that believes inVasudhaiv Kutumbakam. Theycalled them terrorists. Toanswer them all, this is a sym-bol and it will cost Congress,”Modi had said.

Joining the Godse debate,Kateel tweeted, “Number ofpeople killed by Nathuram is 1.Number of people Ajmal Kasabkilled is 72. Number of peopleRajiv Gandhi killed is 17,000.Now you tell me who is themost cruel person?”

Another related tweetappeared on Union Minister ofState for Skill Developmentand EntrepreneurshipAnantkumar Hegdes officialTwitter handle. Sharing awoman’s tweet, Hegdes tweetread, “Am glad that 7 decadeslater today’s generation debatesin a changed perceptional envi-ronment and gives good scopefor the condemned to be heardupon. #NathuramGodse wouldhave finally felt happy with thedebate. Another tweet thatappeared on Hegdes page said,“Time to assert and move awayfrom being apologetic! If notnow... When???

Meanwhile, the MadhyaPradesh unit of the BJP sus-pended its spokesperson AnilSaumitra over his social mediapost calling Mahatma Gandhifather of Pakistan. In aFacebook post, Saumitra saidthat Mahatma Gandhi is afather of nation but forPakistan. He added that croresof people were born in thecountry, though some wereuseful and others were useless.Earlier, questioning PM Modi’ssilence on Sadhvi Pragya,Congress leader Kapil Sibaltweeted, “When Sadhvi Pragyasays, “Godse a Deshbakht” andModi is silent with Vidyasagar’sstatue a victim of violence. I canonly pray for my country andhope that one day the silentmajority will keep violence atbay”. Andhra Pradesh ChiefMinister and TDP chief NChandrababu Naidu met theCEC Sunil Arora and demand-ed to take action against BJPcandidate Sadhvi Pragya for herremarks. The CPI (M) onFriday described Sadhvi’s apol-ogy for calling MahatmaGandhi’s assassin a “patriot” an“eyewash”.

IN U-TURN, AZAD...Refusing to spell out the

Opposition’s strategy ahead ofthe Lok Sabha poll results onMay 23, Rahul said unlikeModi, the Congress will takethe experience of veterans such

as UPA chairperson SoniaGandhi and former PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh. Hewas also asked what role SoniaGandhi will play in bringingtogether Opposition partiestogether to form the nextGovernment.

Another leader TDP chiefChandrababu Naidu, who isspearheading an effort to cob-ble up an anti-BJP front, is like-ly to meet Congress presidentRahul Gandhi in the nationalCapital and BSP chief Mayawatiin Lucknow Saturday. He willmeet Rahul twice in recenttimes. Naidu also said not onlythe TRS but any outfit which isagainst the saffron party arewelcome to join a grand allianceafter the election results aredeclared. “I am meeting every-body. Will chalk out a plan afterdiscussing with all leaders,”Naidu said after he met theElection Commission of Indiain the national Capital onFriday.

Naidu has stepped upefforts to bring together partieswhich are against the BJP aheadof a possible meeting of thegrand alliance after the electionresults are declared on May 23.The Andhra Pradesh ChiefMinister met CPI(M) generalsecretary Sitaram Yechury andAam Admi Party (AAP)national convener ArvindKejriwal on Friday and dis-cussed with them about thepossible tie-up in the post-election scenario. Rahul hasrepeatedly denied being inter-ested in the top post eventhough he has received supportfrom regional satraps like MKStalin and Tejashwi Yadav.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Consistency, as they say, is avirtue of asses. Whatever onemay think about our politicians,their virtues or even vices arecertainly not asinine. They fol-

low the age-old adage that in politics, thereare no permanent friends or foes, only per-manent interests. This is the reason whythey have no compunctions in switchingsides, particularly during election time,when personal and political ambitionsreplace ideology for convenience.

Now, this is quite a routine at the Statelevel. In Uttar Pradesh, for instance, lead-ers move seamlessly from the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) to the Samajwadi Party(SP) or Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) andvice-versa if their own party doesn’t givethem a ticket to fight the Assembly or LokSabha polls. However, at the nationallevel, this was not very usual till recently.In the last few years, this, too, has changed.In West Bengal, they say the faces don’tchange, only the colour does.

As the narrative of waning ideologyand political ambition takes centrestage, thecommon man, the most important cog inthe wheel of democracy, has been taken forgranted as if he/she is captive and pinnedto the political leaders rather than to theideology or other relevant social and eco-nomic issues that have a direct bearing onhis/her monotonous daily life. It is time thatwe, the people of India, must decidewhether political ideology and principlesare only a hyperbole, reserved for rhetoricon television debates or do they translateinto action on the ground.

Examples of political leaders, who havesacrificed ideology at the altar of politicalambitions, are aplenty and have been wit-nessed across party lines. Take the exam-ple of motor-mouth Navjot Singh Sidhu.When in the BJP, he used to regale crowdswith his one-liners and ridicule Congressleaders. Back then, he did not even sparea thorough gentleman like former PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh. Sidhu hadcalled Manmohan Singh a “Pappu PrimeMinister” and said he didn’t know if the for-mer Prime Minister was a sardar (Sikh) ornot. “Sir, you worked hard silently in sucha way that your success created an uproar.Sir, you are a sardar and also asardar (effec-tive)”, he had said. Once he joined theCongress, it was revealed to Sidhu that hewas wrong earlier: “I want to apologise tosardar Manmohan Singh with my headhanging down. I want to say that sardarManmohan Singh, what your maun(silence) has done, the noise made by BJPcould not do so.”

However, the story of PriyankaChaturvedi, one of the prominentspokespersons of the Congress till a fewdays ago, is a little different. She joined theShiv Sena, which has made her upneta ofthe party. In the past, she was at the fore-front of those fighting “communalism.”

During the communal clashesof Uttar Pradesh in Decemberlast year, that led to the deathof a cop and a youth, she hadslammed the BJP leadership atboth the Centre and the Stateand accused it of polarising thecountry in the name of religionand caste. “BJP’s political tra-jectory since 1980 is on thebasis of creating religiousdivides. Today, unfortunately ithas reached a stage where theyare now trying to divide godsover the castes,” she said.

It does not bother her nowthat she has joined the BJP’soldest ally and ideologicallykindred spirit Shiv Sena. Infact, among her immediatepriorities, she has listed cham-pioning the cause of empower-ing women in politics andother fields besides helping“strengthen and build up ShivSena at the national level.”

The case of formerCongress leader and a closeaide of UPA chairperson SoniaGandhi, Tom Vadakkan, issimilar, too. For years, he hadslammed the BJP for its “com-munal agenda.” A few weeksago, however, he joined the“communal” party.

For two decades, formerLok Sabha member BaijayantPanda was a senior leader ofthe Biju Janata Dal (BJD). Herecently joined the BJP, soonafter which he was made its

national vice-president andspokesperson. To be fair toPanda, he seldom, if ever, tookan extreme stand against thesaffron party when with theBJD in the manner thatChaturvedi did. Yet, switchingsides during the war canscarcely be called exemplarybehaviour.

Then there is actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha,who recently quit the BJP tojoin the Congress. This, justbecause Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and party pres-ident Amit Shah didn’t givehim any responsibility. Heturned his back on the partyand joined the Congress. Infact, even before joining thegrand old party and still beinga BJP MP, he attended a rallyof Opposition leaders in Patna.

At another rally in thesame city, he talked about the“most important role”Congress leaders had played forthe development and freedomof the country. “...Inki party haijinka desh ke vikas me, desh kitarakki me, desh ki azadi mesabse mehatvapurna aur sabsebada yogdaan hua, isliye humyaha aye,” (they [Congress]had the most important role indevelopment and freedom ofthe country. This is the reasonwhy I have come here,” Sinhasaid while addressing a rally. AsDaagh Dehlvi wrote, “Badi der

ki meherbaan aate aate.” Ittook you decades to realise this,Mr Sinha!

Praveen Nishad, however,took just a year to quit the SP,from whose ticket he hademerged victorious in the LokSabha byelection last year, andjoined the BJP, whose verycandidate he had defeated.

What these leaders andtheir actions show is thatpolitical philosophy and ide-ology mean little. It’s not thatsuch transgressions mean any-thing to the loyalists but theturncoats bring greater disre-pute to politics. The aayaram gaya ram (come and gomen) phase in Indian politicswas checked to some extent bythe anti-defection law in 1985.However, the lack of any spe-cific laws, provision of manda-tory cooling off period orelectoral restrictions haveensured that the menace ofpolitical leaders switchingparties without any fear orremorse continues to remainas easy and casual as chang-ing clothes. The collectiveconsciousness of democracydemands that political leaders,who are the representatives ofthe people, must be distin-guishable from speculators infinancial markets, who areconstantly on the lookout fora better deal.

We have not seen the last

of these political switches as wecome closer to the results of theLok Sabha elections. A frac-tured verdict will give rise tonumerous permutations, whichwill be at play to form the newGovernment, and we are like-ly to witness more suchinstances of political turncoatsto remind us of Ekta Kapoor’sditty for her long-standing TVshow: “Rishton ke bhi roopbadalte hain, naye nayesaanchen mein dhaalte hain(Relationships change and getcast in new moulds).”

It goes without saying thatwe, the people of India, whoelect leaders and whose inter-ests our political masters claimto represent, rarely figure intheir calculations. We are takenfor a ride. As the backbone ofthe largest democracy of theworld, we must not identifyourselves with political partiesbut ideology and real issues.The herd mentality has got usnowhere.

Former US PresidentRonald Reagan had once said,“It has been said that politics isthe second oldest profession. Ihave learned that it bears astriking resemblance to thefirst.” In India, the resemblancejust became even more striking.

(The writer is a politicalcommentator, Barrister andpractising advocate in theSupreme Court of India)

The police in Surat, Gujarat, in all their

wisdom, have prohibited exuberant

birthday celebrations in public. By

calling rituals such as smearing cake on faces

and giving birthday bumps as “cruel and vio-

lent” behaviour, do the cops have a point or

are they needlessly shoring up their worth

as neighbourhood vigilantes? Is this anoth-

er case of overreach by the authorities? Could

be a bit of both. Celebrations, especially

involving the youth, can and often do get rau-

cous but if they are not bothering other

patrons or the public at large, then frankly no authority has any business to inter-

vene and play spoilsport. After all, a bit of smeared cake never killed anyone.

However, it is also true that some birthday celebrations can go a bit too far.

Birthday bumps are no laughing matter, particularly as you get older, and can

leave a person fairly badly bruised, if not injured, if done in an inebriated or spir-

ited condition in a group. Most often this harmless physical banter can descend

into bullyism, chaos and in worst cases assault. That said, extreme behaviour,

one would like to believe, happens in only a minuscule of birthday jamborees.

India’s cities are not free from pub brawls or harassment of women, particu-

larly on New Year’s Eve parties or during cricket wins, and often pose a law

and order problem. Does that mean we curb the idea of street parties altogeth-

er in the apprehension that all of them would test our manageable limits?

The problem with rules, regulations and a social ban is that there cannot

be a one-size-fits-all solution to societal transgressions. For example, in this

case, do authorities in Surat plan to draw up a code on dos and don’ts for cel-

ebrating birthday parties in public places, the cheapest venue of a get-togeth-

er by college students? As it is, overly exuberant celebrations of any sort that

create a public nuisance are already effectively banned because creating a pub-

lic disturbance has always been against the laws. It would, therefore, be wiser

for the authorities in Surat and other cities to first enforce those restrictions. In

addition, they should run an education campaign through advertisements that

celebrations are no excuse for physical assault and people can get badly hurt

in the excitement. They must make it clear that forcing someone to partake in

the festivities or even smearing cake on his/her face could amount to assault

and a case would be made out against the offender. And indeed, the authori-

ties should make it easier for any aggrieved party to file a case of assault or

bullying. But it is not the job of the Surat Police or any police force in India to

say how one should celebrate and what one can or cannot do within reason-

able bounds.

The response to industrialist Anand

Mahindra’s tweet earlier yesterday on

how we should spare icons we hold

sacred, particularly Mahatma Gandhi, the

“beacon” of “global morality,” from crude

politicisation, best sums up the sentiment

of the times. Somebody complimented him

for “daring to speak up” on an issue that has

been simmering in people’s minds but given

the viciousness of discourse, has been lost

to fear and self-doubt. With all talk of

Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram

Godse being a “patriot” or a “Hindu terror-

ist,” everybody seems to have forgotten what the Father of the Nation stood

for and why years later he continues to be a global icon, our most famous Indian

and the spiritual heart of India. Most importantly, the greatest patriot of the idea

of India. His assassination was tragic and any justification of that as a patriot-

ic act should be struck off from our consciousness simply because Gandhi

was above the politics of his time and his philosophy continues to be the guid-

ing principle of our State policy. Would the devolution of power to our panchay-

ati Raj institutions, the idea of self-rule, the persuasion of a non-violent protest,

sustainable living, a swachch Bharat, a participatory democracy have been pos-

sible without the values he espoused? Had he not upheld civil liberties or fierce-

ly stuck to his Indian identity and asceticism, our netas would not have been

wearing the Gandhi topi or appropriating his thoughts for political sustenance.

So whatever may be his flaw as an individual man or his actions within the

specifics and imperatives of his time, howsoever we may want to separate his-

tory from hagiography, there is no taking away from him his universal relevance,

which continues to shape world leaders and movements. And certainly Sadhvi

Pragya Thakur, still an accused in the Malegaon blasts case that killed six peo-

ple and injured countless others, holds no brief to judge his stature or denude

it by exalting his killer. Worse, it is the implication of calling Godse a patriot that’s

frighteningly askew. Does that mean she feels Gandhi is a traitor to his cause?

It doesn’t matter that the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) top leaders, Prime

Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah, are unforgiving of her fol-

lowing a public outcry. They had endorsed her candidature for Lok Sabha polls

in the first instance and accorded her mainstream political legitimacy, one which

had given her enough confidence to admit that “my party’s line is my line.” It

doesn’t even matter if she offers an apology or not. It doesn’t mean much if

she is ultimately suspended from the party. It isn’t of consequence either if she

reaps political dividends or scores self-goals for the BJP or not. For she and

many fiery rabble-rousers of the party, who were so far consigned to the fringe,

have been allowed to evangelise the mass Indian mindset with a line of think-

ing that treats history as its enemy and the source of all wrong-doing. In one

stroke, it absolves the current regime of non-performance and responsibility

simply because the ills are inherited and that burden cannot be shifted in five

years. This blind acquiescence to revising historical wrongs rather than chang-

ing the legacy for the future hereon is the reason why statues we hold dear are

being desecrated across the country in a Taliban-like zeal. Be it that of Ambedkar

or that of Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar, all of whom challenged conservatism of

thought and reset the narrative with their actions. As we demolish our icons

metaphorically and brutally, does this mean that we are uncomfortable with the

ideals they stand for, only because they do not fit in with a simplified and Orwellian

conformity that has no space for inquiry and reason? Nothing is wrong with

the presence of a Hindu narrative in a pluralistic society. Neither will it ever be

under threat considering its placement in a majoritarian context. But this imag-

ined threat to the nationalist identity is fast descending into a self-defeatist cry

wolf syndrome, considering we are attacking the very pillars who defined nation-

alism for us in the first place. We are becoming our own enemy.

Best left alone

It doesn’t matter if BJP punishes Pragya Thakur on Godse,an irreparable damage has been done to nationalist thought

Did authorities in Surat go overboard in asking revellers totone down birthday rituals? Or do they have a point?

Battleground Bengal

Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Ocean of darkness” (May16). It is no surprise that the bit-terly contested Lok Sabha elec-tion in West Bengal has beenravaged by violence, the likes ofwhich has not been seen any-where else in the country.

Violence and brutality seemto be running in the veins of WestBengal’s politics. Remember whenTrinamool Congress (TMC) chiefMamata Banerjee, then in theascendant, made her bid to top-ple the then incumbent Left FrontGovernment? Similar scenes ofviolence were witnessed in theState at the time. A few monthsago, during the panchayat elec-tions, Mamata’s TMC had creat-ed a similar environment of intim-idation and fear. Stone-pelting, anexchange of blows and torchingof vehicles are now par for thecourse. The political players inthe news, both the TMC as wellas the BJP, are equally responsi-ble for letting their workers runriot. Politics in West Bengal, itwould seem, is destined to bedistorted by the cult of violence.

J Akshobhya Mysuru

Take it easy

Sir — The case of a BJP YuvaMorcha (Priyanka Sharma)functionary being arrested inWest Bengal for sharing a mor-phed image of Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee can be bestdescribed as a despotic act.Didi, who once got a JadavpurUniversity professor arrested

for allegedly posting a cartoonon social media involvingBanerjee, maybe taking herselfa tad too seriously. No matterhow disparaging a meme or acaricature, should someone bearrested for creating or sharingthe same?

In recent years, we havebeen treated to endless jokes on‘NaMo’ and ‘Pappu’. BahujanSamaj Party (BSP) chief

Mayawati and BJP chief AmitShah, too, are favourite targetsfor gagsters.

Stand-up comics have mercilessly pilloried the politi-cal class as a whole and theincumbent regime in particular.It is understood that public figures, particularly politicians,are fair game.

JS Acharya Hyderabad

Iconic appeal

Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Ocean of darkness (May17). There can be no secondopinion about the destruction ofa bust of Ishwar ChandraVidyasagar. One wonders whythe police could not catch thegoons red-handed. Had thisbeen the case, the police couldhave found out the truth fromthem.

Nevertheless, Vidyasagar’sgreatness is limited not just toBengal or Hindus. According tomedia reports, Taslima Nasreen,a noted Bangladeshi feminist,respected only three men viz,her father, Vladimir Lenin andVidyasagar. Maulana Bhasani,one-time mentor of SheikhMujib-ur-Rahaman in hisMuslim League days, was alsohis (Vidyasagar’s) admirer.Leading intellectuals of thosetimes, of Bombay (nowMumbai), Madras (nowChennai) and Delhi were alsohis admirers.

SC PandaBhubaneswar

P A P E R W I T H P A S S I O N


facebook.com/dailypioneer | @TheDailyPioneer | instagram.com/dailypioneer/

op nionLUCKNOW | SATURDAY | MAY 18, 2019

08

Champions of defection

SAMEER CHAUDHARY

The lack of specific laws has meant that political leaders continue to switch parties without any fear or remorse and as easily and casually as changing clothes

There is a consciouseffort to do movies thathave a social topic andsubjects and stories thatcan touch hearts.

Actor—Kareena Kapoor

The increasing weakness andinstability of your (May)Government means there cannotbe confidence in securing whatev-er might be agreed between us.

Labour leader —Jeremy Corbyn

S O U N D B I T E

L E T T E R S T O T H E E D I T O R

India must seal visible cracks

Alot has changed in four years. In 2015, therenowned Time magazine had featured PrimeMinister Narendra Modi on its cover with the words,

“Why Modi matters.” This year, the Prime Minister hasonce again featured on the same magazine’s cover butthe words accompanying his image have changed to,“India’s divider in chief.” The phrase refers to an articleby a writer named Aatish Taseer — son of journalistTavleen Singh and the Pakistani statesman Salman Taseer— which claims that division is clearly visible in India.

Whether it is mob lynchings or the appointment ofYogi Adityanath as the Chief Minister or the BJP’s deci-sion to field terror accused Pragya Singh Thakur fromBhopal, the veins of divisive ideology run deep in the coun-try, according to him. In the same article, Taseer is alsocritical of the Opposition, calling it a “weak”, “ragtag” coali-tion. He is of the opinion that the Congress has “little tooffer than the dynastic principle” and describes Congresschief Rahul Gandhi as “an unteachable mediocrity.” This

notwithstanding, there can be no condoning what theModi-Shah duo has done to the country. One only hopesthat Indians have realised what the BJP is capable ofdoing, how communal it is and how dangerous this canbe going forward. The sooner people see through this,the better it will be for the country.

Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee Faridabad

Send your feedback to:[email protected]

Curbing celebrations

Every religion has its own terror-ists and we cannot claim that weare sanctimonious and we havenot done that. History shows thatall religions have their extremists.

Actor-politician —Kamal Haasan

Despite its cultured popula-tion, Goa's MLAs often defectfrom parties. They are influenced by the US wheremarriages do not last.

Union Minister—Nitin Gadkari

Asking for the moon

WE CHERISH THE OPEN DOOR THAT WE WANT TO

CREATE FOR OUR COUNTRY BUT A BIG PROPORTION OF

THOSE IMMIGRANTS MUST COME THROUGH MERIT.

—US PRESIDENT

DONALD TRUMP

WE CANNOT ALLOW PEOPLE TO START PARSING

AND POINTING FINGERS AND CREATING

HIERARCHIES AMONG IMMIGRANTS.

—INDIAN-ORIGIN US SENATOR

KAMALA HARRIS

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

Amid the recent boom in extra-terres-trial exploration, a new frontier for pri-vate companies and space agenciesappears to have emerged: Mining themoon for precious resources. Once

thought to be a beautiful but largely barren rock,the moon is now believed by some to be a treasuretrove of rich materials that could play a vital rolein the Earth’s future. For instance, space agencies,hoping to mine the moon, say oxygen in its regolith— or lunar soil — could be used to power life sup-port and fuel rockets in space, while rare metalscould be ferried back to Earth to be used in every-thing from gadgets to construction.

What has got the industry most excited, how-ever, is the Helium-3 isotope that is present inmoondust, which has been touted as a possiblekey to safe nuclear energy. But despite its hid-den treasure, is mining the moon a viable com-mercial project? Some private companies thinkso. Among them is the Cape Canaveral-basedMoon Express, which has raised $12.5m (£9.7m)in late 2018 to fund its plan to put robotic lan-ders on the moon with the goal of sending sam-ples back to Earth.

The ultimate goal is to commercialise theresources, according to boss Bob Richards.“We’ll make some of it available to scientificresearch,” he said. “But we also plan to commodi-tise it ourselves.” Moon Express is not alone inlooking to mine resources from space. Otherfirms such as Planetary Resources, backed byGoogle founders Larry Page and Eric Schmidt,and Japan’s iSpace, are making their own progresson mining either the moon or asteroids. But ifpotential private miners are expecting immedi-ate returns on what will be an expensive under-taking, they may well be disappointed.

“Companies are assuming that a market willbe available,” says Dr Ian Crawford, professor ofEarth and Planetary Sciences at Birkbeck CollegeLondon. “Which is a problem, because without amarket, they can’t justify the expense. It will startoff smaller than the companies hope.”

The European Space Agency (ESA) recent-ly announced a deal with French rocket makerArianeSpace to study and prepare for a moonmining mission. The feasibility study is focussedon finding out if mining the moon is possible,with the aim to send robotic equipment to minea small sample by 2025. The primary motiva-tion for such mining is to broaden the potentialof human exploration into space rather thantransporting resources back to Earth.

“The strategy is aimed at trying to understandif we can economically exploit resources to supportfuture exploration missions,” says BernhardHufenbach, strategy and innovation team leaderat ESA. “From an ESA perspective, it isn’t aboutmining the moon to bring resources back to Earth,I think if that happens it’s a commercial undertak-ing. We’ve purposefully called for an ambitioustimeline. We’re not sure if 2025 is realistic as thereare a lot of steps that need to be done before.”

Oxygen found in the moon’s regolith couldbe used in space-faring life-support and refuellingefforts. Fuel could then be transported to near-by stations to allow refuelling following a rock-et’s propellant-hungry launch.

Water on the moon, which exists as ice in per-

manently shadowed craters, could also be an essen-tial resource. In its announcement that it would bereturning to the moon by 2024, NASA cited themining of water as a way of creating oxygen androcket fuel. And that the moon was a ‘checkpointto what lies beyond’.

The theory goes that finding a way to suc-cessfully extract resources from the moon’s sur-face — be it for those rockets or a potential lunarstation — is cheaper and more practical thantransporting heavy substances from Earth.

It can cost between $100,000 and $400,000 forevery pound of water sent to the moon. There isbelieved to be an around 600m tonnes of water onthe moon, and transporting that from Earth wouldcost between $120 quadrillion to $480 quadrillion.This use of the moon’s resources could be key tothe grandiose visions of the world’s billionaires look-ing to take humanity to the stars.

When Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos unveiled hisBlue Moon lander, the targetted site was the waterice rich Shackleton Crater near the moon’s southpole. The further exploration of space, not to men-tion Bezos’ far-flung plans for O’Neill colonies inEarth’s orbit, or Elon Musk’s desires to coloniseMars, could hinge on the success of mining researchprojects such as ESA’s.

“Making it more sustainable is essentially abouttransporting less mass into space and using localresources which hopefully leads to lower costs,” saysHufenbach. “Then we may have synergies withtechnologies which could be used by commercialactors to mine the moon for other materials if thatwould legally be possible one day and if there wasa business case.”

While the immediate concern is to use themoon’s resources to further space exploration,Helium-3 is an otherworldly isotope that has longbeen speculated as a way of producing clean nuclearenergy. Its rarity on Earth means it is worth an esti-mated $3 billion per tonne.

In theory, the nuclear fusion of Helium-3 wouldproduce a large amount of energy without caus-ing surrounding material to become radioactive.However, the temperature required would be muchhigher than ‘traditional’ fusion, leading to debatesabout its viability before successful nuclear fusionhas even been achieved.

“It’s a bit premature to decide we have a hugemarket for Helium-3 when we haven’t proved itworks yet,” he says.

There is also some contention about its abun-dance on the moon. While some reports claim thereare 1.1m tonnes of Helium-3 on the moon — the-oretically enough to power the entire Earth for10,000 years — other experts such as Dr Crawfordare more sceptical.

“It’s true that a tiny fraction of Helium-3 existsin lunar soils,” he says. “Its concentration varies,about 4 parts per billion on average, but even in arelatively well concentrated area it would be 10 ina billion. The concentration is quite low.”

The other problem, says Dr Crawford, comesfrom extracting the isotope from the moon dust.“You’d imagine huge combine harvester like trac-tors scooping up regolith,” he says. “Then you needto heat it up which takes a lot of energy. Just toextract a small amount of Helium-3 would be ahuge undertaking.”

Nevertheless, countries such as China andIndia have shown interest in the potential ofHelium-3. China landed its Chang’e 4 lunar roveron the far side of the moon in January — the firsttime a ‘dark side’ landing has been achieved —with the purpose of measuring the chemical com-positions of rocks and soils. This could give amore definitive answer to the question of just howresource-rich the lunar surface is. However, ifmoon mining moves from theory to practice therecould be contention over the legal issues of claim-ing moon materials.

Both from national agencies, potentially giv-

ing their country exceptional energy resources andprivate companies. Article II of the 1967 OuterSpace Treaty currently says that the moon is “notsubject to national appropriation.” But the treaty,drawn up during the heightened tensions of theCold War and the US-Soviet space race, is widelythought to be outdated and stifling current spaceexploration efforts.

“There is a lot of work required on the legalside in order to define the right framework,” saysHufenbach. “That has to take place. To some extentmay be the work we do in Research andDevelopment may inform the debate on legal issues.But if in the future there is a business case for min-ing the moon or even asteroids, there is a lot of legalframework that needs to be done.”

There is also the ethical and environmentalquestion of whether it is right to move on to stripmining the moon after using up so much of theEarth’s own resources. “It depends on the generalpolicy for utilising the moon in the long-term,whether it’s meant to be a place which can be eco-nomically exploited or if it’s meant to be a heritageof mankind,” says Hufenbach.

Crawford argues that it could be ethically rightto mine the moon. “There is an environmental casefor using space resources,” he says. “Rare EarthElements can be environmentally damaging tomine and refine. You could argue that if in the futurewe could extract rare Earth elements from the moonor asteroids, then it would be environmentallypreferable to mine from dead rocks in space thanfrom our own planet.”

But before any ethical discussion, there is muchwork ahead to confirm how feasible mining on themoon is. While we might not be experiencing alunar gold rush just yet, the world’s best minds arefiring on a fascinating aspect of this new chapterof mankind’s journey to the stars. And if feasible,it could be our key to the galaxy.

(Courtesy: Daily Telegraph)

Can mining the moon really become a big business? Before fascinating about this journey,much work needs to be done about the feasibility of digging the treasure trove of minerals

analysis 09F I R S T C O L U M N

Time to rethink

monetary policies

RANJAN CHAKRAVARTY

Governor Das’ out-of-the-box suggestion that Centralbanks need to be more flexible on the size of their

interest rate ought to be taken seriously

TOM HOGGINS

Speaking at the 2019 Spring Meetings of the World Bank

Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF),

Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das made

an extremely significant point that can have far-reaching ram-

ifications, one that would have revolutionary implications for

the monetary policy worldwide. He asked Central bankers all

over the world to reflect on the conduct of monetary policy and

not restrict themselves to the existing norms of oversimplified

stances on policy direction and standardised 25 basis point

tranches of policy action.

Governor Das explained that the current approach, followed

by Central banks worldwide, actually serves to deter policy

through an example: “If the easing of monetary policy is required

but the Central bank prefers to be cautious in its accommoda-

tion, a 10 bps reduction in the policy rate would, perhaps, com-

municate the intent of authorities more clearly than two sepa-

rate moves — one on the policy rate, wasting 15 bps of valu-

able rate action to rounding off and the other on the stance,

which, in a sense, binds future policy action to a pre-commit-

ted direction.”

This leads us to reflect as to why such a convention exists

and why we have persisted with it for so long. A logical con-

jecture that comes to mind is that it is a remnant of the unipo-

lar economic world of the last quarter of the last century when

the United States overwhelmingly dominated global markets both

in terms of volume of real as well as financial products. In those

days, it made eminent sense for all economic activity to be

aligned, both operationally and conceptually, to American prac-

tices. Hence, it made sense for Europe, Japan, non-Japan Asia,

Australia and emerging markets to be in sync with the actions

of the US Federal Reserve.

So do we need to use those conventions any longer? The

answer is a clear no. The current approach is unwieldy and

insufficient for the needs and growth of today’s economies.

Take the example of India. Governor Das cannot be hamstrung

by being forced simply by convention to make a delayed impact

instead of one that he is required to make instantaneously.

The market he operates in is large enough and diverse enough

to adjust to policy in extremely quick time. In addition, India

is clearly a supply side economy and a policy factoring in ratio-

nal expectations is needed, not the old traditional post

Keynesian policies of late 20th century America. In such an

economy, the RBI Governor not only needs freedom of action

but actually more empowerment.

Governor Das is clearly a Central banker for growth, unlike

any in the recent past. Most Governors have been stance-dri-

ven liquidity managers in the last 20 years, whether India was

in growth mode or not. This had resulted in the self-imposed

restriction of inflation management as the almost sole function

of the RBI and one at which it has not been a spectacular suc-

cess. Witness what happened to the USDINR and the purchas-

ing power of the rupee in this decade. For the longest time, RBI

watchers have almost repetitively focussed solely on the reverse

repo window and overnight liquidity management numbers.

Combined with this activity was the occasional reactive posi-

tioning on USDINR spot that came to define the limits of RBI’s

role, which was one of a passive Central bank, similar to the

Reserve Bank of Australia, one utterly unsuited to the RBI’s role

in an economy as diverse, dynamic and with the amount of

potential as that of India’s.

In contrast to the past, Governor Das’ conduct of Open

Market Operations, as exemplified by the dollar swap initiatives

of March and April this year, are directed to meeting multiple

growth and rate management objectives and have been an

unqualified success. Not only have these issues been applaud-

ed by the market by being three time oversubscribed but they

have also succeeded in providing the market with direction via

a definite notional level for the three-year USDINR rate while

infusing the much-needed liquidity into the system through a

proper, tractable swap mechanism. This reminds us of the incred-

ibly successful monetary policy conducted by Japan in the 1970s

and 1980s while the US faltered. Hence, in terms of actual oper-

ational conduct of monetary policy, imitating US conventions

with a voting Monetary Policy Committee is not optimal. Though

we are all for a strong MPC, it should have a strictly closed

door advisory role to the RBI Governor. If the buck stops with

him, there is no way his actions should be fettered in any form.

Governor Das is absolutely right. More power to him.

(The writer is a product strategy at Metropolitan Stock

Exchange)

In India, the discourse aboutnew pathways for developmenthardly focusses on water. The

narrative generally centres on twothings: First, the availability ofwater and second accessibility togood and safe drinking water. Publicpolicies largely focus on the lattereven as the Government launchesflagship programmes like NamamiGange and National Rural DrinkingWater Programme.

But to be able to measure soci-etal impact of any given pro-gramme, it is important to havebaseline and endline information.In this case, how river water scarci-ty or its quality impacts commonhouseholds. Specially, informationon the use of water, livelihoodaspects and quantifiable aestheticvalue of the river are of utmostimportance to gauge value.

Such information is, however,sparse and available only for pilotprojects. Further, no serious effortshave been made to compile them forbetter identification of water-stressed regions, especially in theIndian context. However, efforts are

under way to create a data-drivenpolicy-making in our country.

With the launch of theComposite Water ManagementIndex developed by NITI Aayog,one gets a sense of the macro pic-ture of the effectiveness of watermanagement across various States.Efforts like these must, however, becomplemented with informationlinking household welfare, under-standing livelihood implications ofwater scarcity and the degree towhich it impacts human population.All of these can succinctly bring dis-parate data sources together.

Further, river basins in India areof different sizes, with habitationand livelihood depending on it.Therefore, analysing the communi-ties living off the basin is critical totake into account both the physicaland socio-demographic factorsassociated with water scarcity. Awater poverty index approach isappropriate for such an analysis asit can monitor both the availabilityof water as well as the socio-eco-nomic factors that hinder the useand access of the same.

Elsewhere in the world, waterpoverty index, a relatively newlyintroduced policy tool, has caughtthe attention of policy-makers in therealm of water-driven issues.However, it is yet to catch theattention of Indian researchers andlegislators.

The concept is based on thepremise that the lack of adequate

water supply in a country can leadto poor health of its population,whereas despite its availability, it isthe user cost of clean water that candrive one to use inadequate andunreliable sources of water supply.

Therefore, a country, which iswater-scarce should encompassunderstanding of different inter-related components: The availabil-

ity of internal water resources andexternal water inflows followed byaccess to safe water and sanitationin the region. Equally important isto capture the share of regionalwater use for domestic, industrialand agricultural purposes.

Scientific measurements ofwater quality parameters are equal-ly critical to understanding the roleof different kinds of regulatorymechanisms to preserve the waterbody, including biodiversity threats.

Last but not the least, the socio-economic ability of availing cleanwater resources and status of healthinformation constitute the much-needed water data for a comprehen-sive analysis. The applicability ofthis kind of measure goes beyondjust ranking the regions, which isthe usual reporting norm, but actu-ally categorising the components.Targetted approach allows diagno-sis of the source of water problemand helps identify those policyparameters that need more atten-tion.

Indeed, this is by no means asimple task that can be accom-

plished easily. An inter-discipli-nary team of researchers is neededto understand and analyse the waterpoverty index of a river basin.More frequently, it happens thatdata is not available at the adequatelevel in India. For example, scantyinformation is available on waterscarcity or how the poor quality ofthe same impacts the health anddevelopmental goals of the peoplein various communities across riverbasins.

In sum, working towards aunique data-set to construct a waterpoverty measure will require hydrol-ogists, who can advise on the waterflow and availability, scientists whocan develop water quality mea-sures and social science researchers,who can assess the information onthe use and implications of riverwater usage, including health costs,economic costs and other socio-demographic linkages.

(The writers are Associate Fellowand Professors at National Councilof Applied Economic Research(NCAER), New Delhi. Viewsexpressed here are personal)

How to measure water needs The value of a river will depend on a unique data-set to construct the water poverty profile and experts who can suggest

future correctives, say SOUMI ROY CHOWDHURY, DEVENDRA B GUPTA and SANJIB POHIT

F O R E I G N E Y E

Julian Richer hasannounced a successionplan that involves handingcontrol of his hi-fi and TVretail chain to its 531employees. Mr Richer’sgrand gesture was born ofparticular circumstances,and the wish to secure hisbusiness’s future. But by notonly handing over a share ofprofits but a controllingstake, his actions serve as areminder of what ispossible. Profitablebusinesses don’t have toremain in the hands of thevery few.(The Guardian Editorial)

MUTUAL BENEFITS



money 10LUCKNOW | SATURDAY | MAY 18, 2019

New Delhi (PTI): Riding on good domestic motorcycle sales,Bajaj Auto on Friday reported 19.82% increase in consolidatednet profit at ̀ 1,408.49 crore for the fourth quarter ended March31, 2019. The company posted a profit of `1,175.47 crore in theyear-ago period, Bajaj Auto said in a regulatory filing.

Total revenue from operations for the period under reviewstood at `7,395.19 crore as against `6,788.43 crore in the year-ago quarter, it said. In the fourth quarter, the company’s total saleswere up 14% at 11,93,590 units as against 10,45,378 units in thesame period previous year, it said.

Commenting on the performance, Bajaj Auto ExecutiveDirector Rakesh Sharma said in a conference call that the motor-cycle segment, particularly in the domestic market, has done welleven as the company faced headwinds in the commercial vehi-cles three-wheeler segment.

During the quarter, the company clocked 23% rise indomestic bike sales at 6,10,094 units as against 4,97,587 unitsin the year-ago period. He said Bajaj Auto did well in the entry-level and top-end premium sports segment. Motorcycleexports during the quarter stood at 3,91,889 units as against3,58,802 units in the year-ago period. Commercial vehicle saleswere down 16 per cent at 1,02,258 units as against 1,22,229units in the fourth quarter previous fiscal. For the year endedMarch 31, 2019, the company’s profit was at `4,927.61 croreas against `4,218.95 crore in the previous year, a growth of 16.79per cent. Total revenue from operations for the year was at`30,249.96 crore as against `25,617.27 crore in the previousfiscal.

Commenting on new product launches, Sharma said in thenext three to four months Bajaj Auto would bring upgrades ofsome of its existing models. Besides, he said the company wasworking on electric options for all the formats of vehicles thatit has in its portfolio — two and three-wheelers along with quadri-cycle. “We will this year certainly test the waters to see how themarket and consumers respond to electric vehicles,” he said.

IOC NET RISES 17% TO `6,099 CRORE IN Q4New Delhi: State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) on Friday

reported a 17% rise in its fourth quarter net profit at ̀ 6,099.27 crore.Net profit in January-March 2018 was `5,218.10 crore, the com-pany said in a regulatory filing. Turnover rose to `1.44 lakh crorein January-March quarter from `1.37 lakh crore a year earlier.

PTI n MUMBAI

The BSE Sensex soared537 points and the NSENifty reclaimed the

11,400 level on Friday in abroad-based rally led by bank-ing and auto stocks ahead ofexit poll results, despite globalheadwinds.

Markets are pricing in theformation of a stable govern-ment and continuation ofreforms, experts said.

The 30-share BSE bench-mark closed 537.29 points, or1.44%, higher at 37,930.77.Similarly, the broader Niftyrose 150.05 points, or 1.33%, tosettle at 11,407.15.

During the week, theSensex gained 467.78 points, or1.24%, and the Nifty advanced128.25 points, or 1.13%.

Bajaj Finance was the topgainer in the Sensex pack onFriday, surging 6.09%, afterthe company reported a 50%jump in net profit for theMarch quarter. Bajaj Auto tooended higher following strongresults.

Hero MotoCorp, Maruti,Kotak Bank, HDFC, HUL,M&M, HDFC Bank, ITC,ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, CoalIndia, SBI, IndusInd Bank andAsian Paints were among theother gainers, rising up to4.26%.

On the other hand, YesBank, Vedanta, Infosys, HCLTech, Sun Pharma, TCS andNTPC shed up to 2.36%.

Investors lapped up bank-ing and auto stocks, boostingkey indices, ahead of the exit pollresults scheduled for Sunday.

“Indian markets haveshown tremendous strengthbefore the long-awaited exitpolls, despite the ongoing ambi-guity in US-China trade talks.

“With the last phase ofelections scheduled for Sunday,the all-round buying across thesectors reflects market’s antic-ipation that exit polls mayindicate the formation of a sta-ble government,” said

Jagannadham Thunuguntla,cenior vice-president and headof research (wealth), CentrumBroking Limited.

Sectorally, the BSE auto,FMCG, finance, bankex andcapital goods indices ended upto 2.45% higher. However,healthcare, IT and teck lost upto 0.99%.

Broader indices followedthe benchmarks, with the BSEmid-cap and small-cap indicessettling in the green.

The Indian rupee depreci-ated by 16 paise to 70.20 againstthe US dollar intra-day.

Global oil benchmarkBrent crude was trading 0.26 %higher at USD 72.81 per barrel.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Industry body Ficci has sug-gested to the railways min-

istry various measures likeinclusion of coal and coke inlong-term tariff contract(LTTC) policy, to promotegrowth of steel industry.

The policy was unveiled bythe ministry for key customersusing predetermined priceescalation principle.

Ficci also suggested ratio-nalisation of freight class for ironore, formulation of long-termpolicy on freight structure forshort lead traffic, allocation ofmore rakes for movement ofcargo for industries, and routerationalisation policy for iron oreand limestone.

It also said it is essential torationalise freight class for ironore in view of the viability of

domestic iron ore mining andsteel sector. “Since a wide rangeof industrial segments rangingfrom metals to thermal powergeneration are dependent uponcoal, coke and iron ore, thesecommodities should also becovered under the LTTC policy,”it said.

Ficci noted that while thispolicy provides certainty inlogistics operations to the indus-try and railways, there are excep-tions in the policy and the mosttransported commodities —iron ore, coal and coke – havebeen listed under excluded cat-egory. Further, it said several rail-way routes carrying iron ore andlimestones have been subjectedto route rationalisation due tocongestion in the railway net-work and delays in doubling/trebling of lines to ease the situation.

Hong Kong (AFP): Asianmarkets were mixed on Fridayas another rally on Wall Streetand data indicating a strong USeconomy were offset by theincreasingly tense trade andtechnology stand-off betweenChina and the United States.The Brexit saga also movedback into view, with the poundat three-month lows onrenewed concerns Britain willleave the EU with no deal as

Prime Minister Theresa Maytries to push her divorce dealthrough again.

And oil prices sank astrade worries overshadowedtensions in the Middle Eastwhere the US and Iran aregrowing increasingly hostile.

New York’s three mainindices rose for a third succes-sive day on the back of better-than-expected housing con-struction data and a dip in US

jobless claims, while solid earn-ings from Walmart and techfirms Cisco Systems and Nvidiareinforced optimism. The fig-ures boosted sentiment afteralmost two weeks of volatilitysparked by Donald Trump’sthreat, and implementation, ofhigher tariffs on Chineseimports.

In light of the Wall Streetrally, OANDA senior marketanalyst Jeffrey Halley said

investors seem “to have tem-porarily given up trying to pre-dict the fluid situation that is US-China trade relations and con-centrate on the here and now”.

Hong Kong fell 1.2% in theafternoon and Shanghai tum-bled 2.5% while Seoul shed0.6% and Taipei dived 0.9%with Singapore dropping 0.7%.Tokyo finished 0.9% higher,Sydney rose 0.6%, Manilasoared more than one percent.

In early trade London fell 0.2%,Paris eased 0.3% and Frankfurtwas off 0.5%.

Uncertainty amonginvestors was reflected in adrop in high-yielding, riskierunits, with the Chinese yuan atlows not seen since November.

The pound was also underpressure after May said shewould set out her timetable forleaving office after her Brexitdeal with the EU, which has

already been rejected by par-liament three times, goes toMPs early next month.Investors sold sterling on wor-ries her likely defeat couldlead to a no-deal Brexiter tak-ing her post, which most com-mentators warn would ham-mer the economy.

In a sign of things to come,arch-Brexiter Boris Johnsonhas said he will run for the PM’sjob once it is vacated.

Sensex soars 537 points

ahead of exit poll results

Asian markets mixed after US rally, pound down on Brexit woes

Bajaj Auto Q4 net up

20% at `1,408 crore

Ficci for more inclusiveLTTC policy of Rlys

Script Open High Low LTPRPOWER 5.89 6.17 5.81 5.97YESBANK 141.00 145.95 133.05 134.55SUZLON 5.25 5.34 5.13 5.25DELTACORP 188.20 190.20 155.50 165.55RELIANCE 1268.00 1276.90 1255.00 1265.70RELCAPITAL 120.25 121.75 113.60 114.95ZEEL 350.10 378.40 347.30 372.20BAJFINANCE 3144.00 3314.95 3125.00 3301.20ICICIBANK 381.80 392.10 381.10 390.30INDIGO 1462.00 1497.15 1415.60 1474.00SPICEJET 131.80 131.90 124.85 125.90TATAGLOBAL 220.00 237.90 218.60 235.30DHFL 111.20 116.20 109.35 112.60PCJEWELLER 109.35 109.90 97.55 99.85ITC 296.15 302.25 295.00 301.40IOC 149.50 152.20 146.90 149.70INFY* 733.30 735.70 721.00 723.80BAJAJ-AUTO 2959.90 3145.55 2935.00 3041.80AUROPHARMA 725.00 725.00 662.15 670.25KOTAKBANK 1414.00 1469.90 1413.95 1460.70MARUTI 6501.00 6799.00 6484.00 6707.20HDFCBANK 2317.90 2369.00 2311.45 2361.65IBVENTURES 249.55 301.40 249.50 298.40TATAMOTORS 175.25 177.65 170.20 176.70IBULHSGFIN 713.60 727.00 712.55 721.15SUNPHARMA 410.55 415.70 401.85 408.00JUSTDIAL 592.90 634.20 588.20 622.00BAJAJFINSV 7685.00 8024.80 7590.05 7993.00SBIN 315.05 321.60 313.30 318.95LT 1338.00 1371.00 1333.20 1361.90VENKYS 1502.70 1695.00 1455.00 1634.60RELINFRA 108.50 113.40 105.30 107.85JETAIRWAYS 129.95 130.30 120.50 124.10GRAPHITE 314.00 333.45 314.00 325.30IBREALEST 107.95 111.40 104.10 105.80IDEA 12.25 12.45 11.60 11.85HDFC 1959.95 1999.90 1940.00 1993.75HEROMOTOCO 2525.55 2640.50 2520.85 2623.50TATASTEEL 465.90 471.45 461.00 469.55TATACHEM 601.35 623.60 601.00 619.10PHILIPCARB 122.00 136.50 122.00 134.05PNBHOUSING 747.80 752.70 717.15 734.20HINDUNILVR 1691.00 1741.00 1687.00 1735.75JPASSOCIAT 4.35 4.60 4.32 4.47M&M 609.00 623.00 607.75 621.25RCOM 1.86 2.03 1.85 2.03CHAMBLFERT 141.85 163.75 141.00 161.25CADILAHC 257.00 257.00 247.20 249.55TITAN 1187.75 1198.60 1181.15 1190.25NCC 95.00 96.00 91.35 94.40PNB 80.70 83.10 79.50 82.65UPL 973.00 992.85 960.05 970.20AXISBANK 734.00 751.50 727.25 748.15TCS 2120.60 2134.95 2088.95 2096.35COALINDIA 233.00 238.00 232.50 236.40RBLBANK 636.05 659.95 632.55 659.00UJJIVAN 324.90 328.35 301.00 308.20MOTHERSUMI 121.00 121.00 114.00 117.40DRREDDY 2790.00 2811.65 2668.80 2748.10LUPIN 778.70 778.70 747.40 752.75BANKINDIA 81.60 82.35 79.65 81.65MANAPPURAM 122.05 126.70 121.20 122.50DCMSHRIRAM 547.50 572.90 543.40 567.00INDUSINDBK 1369.75 1394.00 1366.00 1373.85HEG 1565.00 1630.80 1565.00 1598.80PETRONET 224.00 238.85 224.00 237.05ULTRACEMCO 4519.95 4519.95 4439.00 4490.00HINDALCO 192.00 193.75 187.25 191.90BANKBARODA 109.80 112.65 107.75 112.05RAIN 98.90 101.30 97.00 99.40PEL 2046.00 2149.30 2040.00 2131.00ASHOKLEY 83.70 84.80 82.70 84.30WIPRO 285.90 289.90 285.55 286.75ESCORTS 566.80 568.70 549.30 558.95HINDPETRO 278.60 279.10 271.90 274.00DMART 1254.00 1269.55 1232.00 1237.30BIOCON 527.00 527.00 516.00 520.80BPCL 373.10 378.60 366.80 375.85EICHERMOT 20100.00 21040.95 20067.95 20959.70J&KBANK 56.20 57.75 55.25 56.00JUBILANT 620.00 629.40 590.00 596.05JSLHISAR 74.45 80.00 74.25 75.25VEDL 163.90 164.25 159.45 160.80HDFCLIFE 379.05 384.00 374.50 382.50JINDALSTEL 156.35 158.10 153.60 156.55STRTECH 166.90 169.80 165.95 166.70BHEL 62.90 62.90 61.20 62.05DLF 163.60 167.00 161.80 164.20ASIANPAINT 1306.90 1329.00 1301.75 1318.15BLISSGVS 159.50 174.35 157.65 171.35ADANIPOWER 40.30 41.05 38.80 40.60DABUR 363.90 376.90 361.10 370.25LTI 1801.95 1827.00 1760.05 1789.60UNIONBANK 70.45 71.15 69.25 70.40MERCK 4250.00 4389.00 4236.10 4342.55L&TFH 116.70 118.00 115.90 117.20AUBANK 640.00 675.00 640.00 665.30PFC 109.00 109.90 107.60 108.85M&MFIN 372.10 381.45 369.00 379.65IDFCFIRSTB 41.40 42.00 40.75 41.80SRF 2775.00 2823.75 2747.20 2800.05ICICIGI 1095.00 1122.25 1087.00 1119.15RNAM 207.00 210.85 198.00 201.70FEDERALBNK 98.10 99.65 96.25 98.45NTPC 125.00 126.80 124.05 125.80BEL 89.80 92.00 88.70 91.70SAIL 47.80 48.20 47.05 47.65GNFC 281.75 286.45 278.25 282.20EVEREADY 67.70 74.80 67.70 74.80

WOCKPHARMA 365.00 369.00 360.00 364.90SPARC 150.00 150.00 145.00 148.65JAICORPLTD 99.35 103.35 99.35 100.80JKTYRE 76.85 79.80 75.00 78.20RADICO 341.20 352.50 335.10 349.40WESTLIFE 332.05 350.00 330.60 348.15JUBLFOOD 1259.00 1279.30 1241.50 1272.55VIPIND 427.00 433.00 425.25 428.25DISHTV 28.50 29.85 28.00 29.20INDIACEM 95.15 96.30 92.50 95.55INDHOTEL 141.25 150.50 140.15 143.00BATAINDIA 1348.90 1377.95 1333.35 1369.45BRITANNIA 2715.00 2785.70 2711.50 2780.00IRB 113.35 119.80 113.35 118.90SRTRANSFIN 1002.10 1043.35 1001.15 1039.95TECHM 795.70 796.50 779.00 787.15

STAR 420.30 423.80 411.05 414.85ADANIPORTS 370.50 372.20 362.10 366.50ABFRL 193.25 198.80 189.40 195.30LICHSGFIN 491.95 504.55 486.55 499.50HSCL 102.55 105.00 100.25 100.60BHARTIARTL 324.35 330.60 322.20 328.20NATIONALUM 49.00 49.35 48.30 48.85BOMDYEING 110.00 113.35 109.00 109.80UBL 1300.00 1364.75 1300.00 1358.80BEML 843.40 850.05 826.55 833.00NBCC 53.85 53.85 52.05 53.00CANBK 242.00 247.15 241.20 246.80POWERGRID 181.85 183.50 180.60 182.10GODREJCP 640.00 671.00 638.00 668.10JISLJALEQS 49.40 50.75 48.10 50.40AVANTI 333.10 336.90 326.50 327.00PERSISTENT* 607.00 610.00 601.40 605.70TATAMTRDVR 84.00 84.00 80.80 83.10GODREJPROP 820.00 837.30 815.00 828.35KTKBANK 111.90 112.25 109.20 110.00BANDHANBNK 564.00 567.35 550.40 561.60ONGC 166.10 168.35 162.30 167.50GRANULES 107.00 109.40 104.85 105.75PAGEIND 21729.35 22945.70 21686.35 22799.90TATAPOWER 61.25 61.80 61.00 61.35MINDTREE 986.00 990.20 980.00 983.50DIVISLAB 1632.35 1652.40 1622.60 1633.30VOLTAS 557.50 577.95 556.95 574.65INFIBEAM 42.65 43.50 42.25 42.55KEI 390.05 394.55 382.00 389.95HAVELLS 726.00 738.95 724.00 733.10FORCEMOT 1441.00 1465.00 1441.00 1452.25TATACOFFEE 86.65 89.20 85.70 87.15MANPASAND 99.15 102.90 98.00 101.45PIDILITIND 1156.00 1173.90 1150.00 1163.10SOUTHBANK 13.40 13.55 13.20 13.35DEEPAKNI 283.35 290.00 282.30 283.10TATAELXSI 852.00 869.75 849.95 863.60FSL 51.00 51.80 50.55 50.80TVSMOTOR 464.70 472.00 460.10 469.85JSWSTEEL 275.00 277.15 271.55 276.30RCF 53.80 55.75 53.80 54.90ABCAPITAL 91.50 92.05 90.55 90.85IDBI 34.45 35.00 33.75 34.40CUMMINSIND 696.75 716.00 695.20 711.70DBL 472.90 495.10 469.80 492.80CGPOWER 35.95 36.45 35.00 36.00DCBBANK 220.20 222.25 218.15 221.10CEATLTD 941.05 965.00 939.50 948.40HEXAWARE 352.80 358.85 351.90 353.95GRASIM 821.00 832.00 815.00 830.00RECLTD 136.90 136.90 133.00 136.00NOCIL 116.90 117.75 114.80 115.30GODREJIND 443.00 453.40 442.35 449.70EXIDEIND 207.00 207.60 204.00 207.00HCLTECH 1074.10 1077.00 1058.20 1061.60SIEMENS 1129.95 1137.00 1111.00 1126.05GSFC 94.25 96.35 93.40 95.70LTTS 1730.00 1765.00 1730.00 1760.05BAJAJHLDNG 3165.00 3300.00 3165.00 3263.00SYNDIBANK 32.40 32.80 31.60 32.15ITI 79.25 80.90 78.70 80.10ICICIPRULI 334.45 342.95 332.90 337.00CHOLAFIN 1313.15 1356.90 1294.90 1335.50

AMBUJACEM 213.25 219.80 213.20 218.60SBILIFE 632.05 645.00 625.15 630.70BALKRISIND 787.70 798.50 778.55 794.30GUJGAS 159.10 160.00 156.00 159.10NESTLEIND 10309.95 10522.85 10270.00 10448.90NMDC 90.50 91.55 90.35 90.55SWANENERGY 99.50 102.65 98.55 101.00MINDAIND 317.90 333.00 306.00 330.00CIPLA 549.15 551.90 540.75 543.95ACC 1588.00 1614.20 1571.15 1601.35ORIENTBANK 89.55 91.20 88.50 89.80CENTURYTEX 919.20 919.20 904.50 912.00INDIANB 231.55 236.40 230.70 235.90APOLLOTYRE 176.60 178.80 175.20 177.00IFCI 9.39 9.39 8.95 8.99BHARATFIN 834.10 863.65 834.10 849.95PVR 1800.00 1800.00 1737.05 1789.25GRUH 300.05 307.40 300.05 306.10EQUITAS 127.60 130.10 126.65 128.75SUNTECK 461.35 461.50 437.05 443.65TORNTPOWER 238.70 238.75 235.15 236.40EDELWEISS 154.80 158.35 152.10 153.65ENGINERSIN 107.85 108.90 107.00 108.20BLUESTARCO 725.00 735.25 717.20 722.85COLPAL 1120.00 1144.50 1112.00 1142.25AARTIIND 1561.70 1585.00 1561.70 1574.00JINDALSAW 74.40 75.85 73.60 75.25IDFC 35.15 36.55 35.15 36.00MCX 805.30 834.60 805.30 833.50IGL 298.15 307.15 298.15 304.15SUVEN 255.00 257.10 251.85 257.10FRETAIL 430.95 438.50 425.50 432.00MGL 845.00 863.75 841.55 855.85MARICO 356.00 361.30 352.00 359.70CAPPL 336.00 363.00 336.00 355.80GLENMARK 576.50 585.35 570.05 579.65DCAL 211.35 216.65 202.00 205.45PIIND 1090.00 1111.20 1060.00 1071.75BHARATFORG 448.00 456.45 447.95 456.00ZYDUSWELL 1301.00 1301.00 1217.00 1274.00IEX 157.00 157.00 140.10 143.00MUTHOOTFIN 578.55 586.00 577.00 579.75LALPATHLAB 1044.00 1072.00 1040.00 1044.40GSPL 179.75 182.00 175.65 179.70BBTC 1146.60 1147.55 1115.70 1121.30GMRINFRA 15.30 15.65 15.15 15.20CANFINHOME 312.90 321.80 311.20 319.00MFSL 398.30 409.10 395.85 403.85EMAMILTD 384.00 384.00 365.00 365.00GODREJAGRO 462.25 469.65 461.80 469.00NAUKRI 1893.70 1918.70 1808.50 1811.00TRIDENT 61.50 62.00 61.15 61.50INTELLECT 221.30 226.00 219.50 225.00TORNTPHARM 1667.10 1675.80 1637.15 1646.95HINDCOPPER 40.55 40.85 39.95 40.20BERGEPAINT 296.75 301.90 295.20 301.90INOXLEISUR 311.20 315.00 311.00 314.55TV18BRDCST 27.30 27.35 26.60 27.25APOLLOHOSP 1136.45 1158.00 1131.90 1142.35KEC 280.00 281.25 275.00 279.70JYOTHYLAB 149.00 149.50 144.00 149.30DEEPAKFERT 122.05 129.35 122.05 127.95CONCOR 470.15 480.80 470.00 477.80OBEROIRLTY 522.45 527.00 517.85 525.00MAHSCOOTER 3891.95 4042.20 3891.95 3951.65CASTROLIND 141.30 144.00 140.85 143.20IPCALAB 926.70 926.70 910.85 920.05SUNTV 531.35 545.00 527.75 535.85SJVN 24.00 24.25 23.80 23.90WELCORP 130.15 131.85 126.40 131.65MEGH 59.65 61.50 59.65 60.40CUB 196.60 200.40 196.60 198.60GAIL 329.70 335.00 329.70 332.95LUXIND 1169.30 1169.30 1100.00 1155.00FINCABLES 439.55 439.55 422.00 422.00HFCL 20.50 20.50 20.05 20.30ADANIGREEN 37.35 37.75 36.65 37.45TRENT 366.00 375.00 362.00 364.90MAHLOG 451.35 467.40 435.00 455.00KAJARIACER 595.00 600.40 590.75 598.00OMAXE 205.25 205.25 203.00 203.00AJANTPHARM 1038.80 1038.80 1015.70 1025.00GODFRYPHLP 1013.65 1037.90 1003.40 1010.25NAVKARCORP 27.60 28.00 26.30 26.60RAYMOND 783.95 801.35 783.95 797.80BLUEDART 2887.80 2887.80 2655.50 2717.25CHENNPETRO 210.00 214.50 205.80 213.40KSCL 440.25 454.90 440.10 452.60MPHASIS 940.55 952.25 933.15 941.25RAJESHEXPO 671.50 679.60 670.50 672.50ASTRAZEN 2257.50 2362.90 2249.50 2340.00KRBL 331.10 335.05 317.75 333.00PTC 67.30 67.85 66.90 67.30BIRLACORPN 558.00 558.00 540.05 548.90ALBK 41.80 42.90 41.80 42.60JSWENERGY 67.25 68.00 66.50 66.65SOBHA 443.00 452.00 437.85 450.25TAKE 138.55 139.65 134.00 138.10SHANKARA 502.95 505.00 491.95 496.40CENTRALBK 25.45 26.35 25.45 26.10WHIRLPOOL 1365.00 1417.75 1359.00 1417.75KANSAINER 409.00 412.90 394.40 409.00KALPATPOWR 450.35 463.45 446.90 463.00COCHINSHIP 356.55 364.80 356.55 362.00NATCOPHARM 524.00 526.45 519.00 522.35GREAVESCOT 134.60 138.20 134.15 136.90JMFINANCIL 81.00 83.20 81.00 81.85IBULISL 252.90 263.75 252.35 263.75HINDZINC 254.00 255.20 252.00 253.20PARAGMILK 243.70 245.00 241.20 244.00

JAMNAAUTO 50.50 51.10 50.00 50.30PNCINFRA 151.50 156.80 146.60 156.80AMARAJABAT 630.80 634.90 625.80 627.50MRPL 63.00 64.55 62.25 62.70CROMPTON 212.05 216.00 211.10 213.50ATUL 3826.00 3860.00 3740.00 3742.00SHREECEM 19083.20 19727.65 18741.35 19555.00TEJASNET 195.50 196.20 192.00 195.95MAHABANK 14.50 14.50 14.10 14.20PRESTIGE 250.00 257.65 250.00 251.75JBCHEPHARM 331.00 337.00 328.20 334.80LEMONTREE 70.50 73.95 70.05 73.25TATACOMM 538.65 557.10 538.65 549.80ANDHRABANK 24.00 24.40 23.10 23.65OIL 176.00 177.30 174.00 176.40INDOSTAR 335.05 348.00 333.05 347.75

JSL 34.80 34.80 33.90 34.30INFRATEL 267.20 270.30 265.65 268.05RAMCOCEM 732.95 749.00 723.25 749.00PRSMJOHNSN 86.90 88.50 85.00 86.80OFSS 3440.00 3465.40 3421.10 3421.10NHPC 21.90 22.25 21.75 22.05LAXMIMACH 5560.00 5609.70 5410.00 5465.15SYNGENE 595.00 598.00 587.00 587.00LINDEINDIA 538.50 544.35 531.50 537.00FCONSUMER 39.10 39.20 38.30 39.00CRISIL 1370.05 1400.00 1340.95 1400.00IOB 12.29 12.29 11.73 11.93GPPL 88.00 88.90 86.95 87.95ABB 1376.05 1405.00 1375.00 1392.05VMART 2365.00 2365.00 2222.95 2255.00MOIL 142.95 144.85 142.95 144.25NIITTECH 1264.75 1277.50 1257.10 1261.70QUESS 664.95 673.95 655.05 666.00BAJAJELEC 533.00 535.15 528.10 529.05NILKAMAL 1094.25 1110.10 1083.70 1093.00HIMATSEIDE 183.00 185.05 181.30 181.65GUJALKALI 521.25 524.00 513.35 523.10SONATSOFTW 333.00 334.30 331.65 333.30ASHOKA 113.00 114.95 110.00 114.35HUDCO 38.25 38.65 38.00 38.50MMTC 23.90 24.30 23.75 23.90SUPPETRO 202.90 205.00 200.00 200.20LAKSHVILAS 71.80 72.10 70.50 71.15SCHAEFFLER 4753.70 4809.55 4671.05 4750.00THOMASCOOK 236.00 248.00 235.50 247.95WABAG 269.95 274.95 268.10 272.65SCI 31.25 31.60 30.50 31.00MAHINDCIE 221.70 223.00 216.90 220.00ZENSARTECH 246.00 247.50 245.10 247.00GSKCONS 7100.00 7339.90 7099.35 7339.90VBL 939.90 939.90 907.00 907.00THYROCARE 430.00 451.60 430.00 443.95RELAXO 767.00 802.00 765.00 792.05COROMANDEL 400.00 404.00 393.60 402.00ALKEM 1674.00 1696.50 1674.00 1687.55CYIENT 549.80 560.00 540.00 548.10DBCORP 180.00 189.00 180.00 188.55MHRIL 209.75 212.45 208.00 208.00UCOBANK 16.65 16.85 16.55 16.60GDL 135.00 140.00 135.00 138.55PHOENIXLTD 619.00 620.95 595.00 599.05MRF 53738.05 54639.55 53696.20 54150.00GUJFLUORO 972.00 972.00 946.45 964.90ADVENZYMES 168.00 173.10 167.10 168.20GICRE 225.45 230.00 224.90 229.00SCHNEIDER 92.65 93.45 90.50 91.00MAGMA 130.00 135.00 125.00 127.80BOSCHLTD 17050.00 17329.95 17050.00 17237.85ADANITRANS 208.60 208.60 204.45 205.40GESHIP 241.00 245.95 240.80 243.50BAJAJCON 337.80 345.00 333.15 336.85VGUARD 204.00 207.85 203.85 205.00HEIDELBERG 179.90 183.20 179.05 179.55GICHSGFIN 239.85 247.40 239.70 246.00CARBORUNIV 358.95 359.80 352.00 357.00SUNDRMFAST 524.90 524.90 520.00 520.05ASAHIINDIA 211.25 222.20 210.15 215.50TTKPRESTIG 7244.90 7700.00 6959.85 7104.30MINDACORP 119.85 122.25 118.50 120.70EIDPARRY 181.10 181.10 177.20 178.00TATAMETALI 589.80 592.00 576.55 579.00WELSPUNIND 51.55 52.75 51.45 51.65VINATIORGA 1820.00 1835.00 1802.00 1813.55THERMAX 965.40 965.40 943.00 944.45FORBESCO 2010.05 2074.00 1996.00 2002.95REPCOHOME 411.90 416.80 403.85 405.45TIMETECHNO 80.10 80.45 77.60 78.00ORIENTCEM 101.30 104.10 100.90 102.60GREENPLY 146.85 149.15 145.40 147.85ALLCARGO 102.70 103.30 100.15 101.05NLCINDIA 64.50 64.60 63.60 64.05

KNRCON 231.95 236.35 230.00 232.00UFLEX 226.25 226.25 220.55 221.15LAOPALA 191.05 197.05 181.50 193.50COFFEEDAY 244.50 244.50 239.00 241.00RALLIS 141.00 142.80 139.95 142.65SREINFRA 22.80 23.05 22.40 22.65CENTURYPLY 163.40 165.90 162.05 162.05GMDCLTD 73.15 74.00 72.30 73.50FORTIS 127.15 127.65 126.20 126.95TIINDIA 376.00 381.10 371.90 377.00SYMPHONY 1199.50 1236.00 1177.10 1225.00BDL 256.50 266.00 256.50 263.50TNPL 184.70 185.20 177.25 179.50JKCEMENT 845.00 850.00 827.10 850.00ISEC 202.05 202.05 199.25 199.45NAVINFLUOR 664.55 670.00 660.00 666.00SADBHAV 227.00 229.30 221.30 222.65BAYERCROP 4070.00 4080.05 4060.00 4075.00LAURUSLABS 374.00 375.00 371.00 372.00NETWORK18 28.90 29.50 28.50 29.20ENDURANCE 1189.00 1189.00 1146.55 1146.55SHK 142.45 147.80 142.45 144.70EIHOTEL 187.45 187.45 178.05 180.45TEAMLEASE 2845.35 2965.00 2820.00 2965.00SUPREMEIND 954.50 959.70 951.00 954.10REDINGTON 90.00 92.95 90.00 91.55ITDCEM 109.00 114.00 108.25 113.00ISGEC 503.95 509.45 492.40 502.00UNITEDBNK 10.50 10.75 10.47 10.55ECLERX 927.05 936.25 919.20 925.00ABBOTINDIA 7221.00 7416.20 7207.00 7415.00WABCOINDIA 6193.35 6212.00 6131.00 6171.95HAL 641.55 649.90 633.70 642.40MOTILALOFS 684.05 696.60 682.40 686.00NBVENTURES 90.40 92.75 89.65 91.25JKLAKSHMI 339.90 344.15 337.40 338.85BASF 1237.00 1252.10 1217.90 1241.75HSIL 255.75 260.25 255.00 259.00CARERATING 940.00 945.25 925.40 938.35GET&D 236.60 236.60 230.60 230.60FDC 163.00 165.90 162.90 164.00PFIZER 2981.00 3021.00 2963.70 3003.70NESCO 475.90 489.50 470.00 489.50SHILPAMED 378.50 387.75 371.90 374.75ESSELPRO 132.00 133.10 132.00 132.25GHCL 236.00 239.70 236.00 238.00CORPBANK 25.50 25.80 25.25 25.553MINDIA 22900.00 22924.65 22639.70 22801.20MAHLIFE 362.90 366.45 357.85 357.85PGHH 10510.00 10567.15 10397.00 10567.00AEGISLOG 200.00 202.40 200.00 200.20CENTRUM 29.00 29.90 28.45 29.60MONSANTO 2394.00 2421.40 2375.60 2401.65TATAINVEST 860.00 862.55 852.30 861.15FINOLEXIND 445.00 451.90 444.00 444.00ASTERDM 133.55 135.45 127.00 127.00BALMLAWRIE 164.85 166.55 164.55 166.55NIACL 164.80 165.35 163.00 163.85RATNAMANI 840.00 855.40 838.95 845.00ASTRAL 1167.00 1175.05 1156.00 1175.00SHOPERSTOP 447.65 458.90 446.55 458.75GLAXO 1277.05 1277.05 1269.00 1269.00GALAXYSURF 1001.55 1038.90 995.90 1029.90JCHAC 1775.00 1832.45 1730.00 1794.00SIS 874.00 888.00 842.70 870.15APLAPOLLO 1444.65 1452.00 1434.30 1439.50MAXINDIA 64.95 67.50 64.60 65.95AKZOINDIA 1620.00 1625.10 1608.00 1619.85SOLARINDS 1114.30 1114.30 1065.45 1065.50AIAENG 1636.20 1669.00 1623.85 1668.90JAGRAN 105.00 108.35 103.50 108.35SUDARSCHEM 313.00 318.25 310.00 316.00SANOFI 5390.25 5420.00 5372.40 5386.05INOXWIND 58.00 58.00 56.00 56.75SUPRAJIT 200.00 203.15 198.55 201.05CERA 2889.00 2925.00 2854.00 2860.00NAVNETEDUL 108.00 108.50 107.10 107.50KPRMILL 584.15 593.95 581.05 592.50SKFINDIA 1804.00 1842.15 1804.00 1821.00GRINDWELL 580.05 599.00 580.05 598.00SFL 1220.05 1230.00 1200.05 1225.00IFBIND 799.00 799.00 762.70 762.70ITDC 233.65 233.90 231.00 233.40SOMANYCERA 366.75 369.75 361.80 367.80GAYAPROJ 154.30 156.80 150.90 156.80GILLETTE 6900.00 6949.40 6864.60 6940.00SHRIRAMCIT 1419.05 1440.05 1418.40 1435.50GEPIL 907.60 909.80 897.10 898.15TRITURBINE 102.95 103.65 102.00 103.50ELGIEQUIP 265.90 265.90 260.00 261.75SHARDACROP 340.30 347.00 340.30 340.30NH 192.00 192.00 181.35 188.00TVSSRICHAK 2033.05 2149.90 2033.00 2050.15GULFOILLUB 845.00 855.00 843.50 853.45TIMKEN 538.00 548.50 538.00 547.00STARCEMENT 109.35 109.50 107.90 109.50APLLTD 531.40 531.40 524.55 528.00FLFL 449.35 463.45 449.15 460.00HERITGFOOD 447.15 451.30 444.05 444.05DHANUKA 360.30 369.15 357.05 362.90CCL 255.20 258.00 255.10 257.00HATSUN 720.00 730.00 711.05 725.80CHOLAHLDNG 515.00 515.00 505.55 505.55KIOCL 118.00 120.80 116.00 116.00TVTODAY 280.75 284.85 280.75 282.50VTL 1105.25 1107.15 1090.00 1090.00SUNCLAYLTD 2460.05 2503.65 2450.00 2450.05HONAUT 23751.00 24000.00 23751.00 23934.05APARINDS 640.00 645.45 640.00 645.00ERIS 606.00 611.25 601.05 606.70

NIFTY 50

SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 11261.90 11426.15 11259.85 11407.15 150.05ZEEL 350.10 377.80 346.30 374.45 28.75BAJFINANCE 3137.00 3316.00 3122.05 3295.00 184.95BAJAJFINSV 7675.00 8029.75 7588.35 7979.00 361.55MARUTI 6497.00 6790.00 6485.00 6769.95 290.30HEROMOTOCO 2523.00 2637.00 2521.80 2625.00 104.70KOTAKBANK 1416.00 1469.80 1415.40 1465.00 51.85BAJAJ-AUTO 2950.00 3149.95 2935.15 3046.90 104.25EICHERMOT 20200.00 21000.00 20054.20 21000.00 694.75HDFC 1941.00 1997.95 1938.55 1996.00 53.90HINDUNILVR 1690.10 1742.20 1685.20 1734.00 45.80AXISBANK 731.80 752.15 727.20 750.30 18.45HDFCBANK 2313.00 2369.30 2311.60 2365.00 54.35M&M 607.00 622.50 607.00 619.20 13.95ICICIBANK 381.20 392.00 380.75 391.15 8.65ITC 295.10 302.35 295.10 301.40 6.65BRITANNIA 2719.85 2785.10 2710.00 2772.00 55.80IBULHSGFIN 715.00 728.00 712.00 720.80 12.85LT 1335.00 1371.50 1332.55 1360.50 23.35COALINDIA 233.10 238.00 232.35 236.20 4.05SBIN 315.65 321.95 313.45 321.00 5.25GAIL 331.00 334.10 330.20 333.50 4.30GRASIM 819.00 833.60 814.30 830.50 10.40ASIANPAINT 1305.00 1330.75 1301.00 1320.00 15.60INDUSINDBK 1368.00 1392.00 1365.00 1371.10 12.90TATAMOTORS 174.95 177.70 170.20 176.85 1.45ONGC 166.50 168.00 162.10 167.30 1.35WIPRO 286.50 289.90 285.30 287.30 1.95TITAN 1184.00 1203.00 1180.00 1193.15 6.70BHARTIARTL 323.70 330.70 322.15 327.00 1.80BPCL 372.00 378.85 366.55 377.00 1.45POWERGRID 181.70 183.60 180.35 182.50 0.65RELIANCE 1267.00 1276.95 1252.00 1269.00 3.65UPL 970.85 992.95 958.35 972.00 1.15TATASTEEL 465.05 471.50 461.00 469.50 0.25INFRATEL 269.00 270.90 265.50 267.95 -0.20NTPC 124.75 126.60 124.00 125.60 -0.15JSWSTEEL 275.45 277.70 271.55 275.50 -0.45ULTRACEMCO 4500.00 4508.90 4435.00 4499.00 -13.80TECHM 793.00 793.00 776.55 784.50 -4.85SUNPHARMA 409.05 416.00 401.70 409.60 -2.80TCS 2112.60 2135.00 2090.00 2094.00 -14.75HCLTECH 1075.05 1077.00 1059.75 1062.60 -9.65INFY 733.15 735.80 720.10 724.50 -8.60ADANIPORTS 368.80 372.80 362.00 367.00 -4.50CIPLA 549.00 551.95 541.00 542.85 -7.35HINDALCO 192.00 192.80 187.25 191.90 -2.70VEDL 163.15 164.30 159.35 160.75 -2.75IOC 150.00 152.65 146.85 148.45 -2.70YESBANK 141.00 146.00 132.45 134.10 -3.65DRREDDY 2791.00 2810.00 2667.45 2724.75 -76.25

SE 500B

NIFTY NEXT 50

SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 25984.55 26263.00 25910.60 26226.50 221.80PETRONET 224.40 237.80 223.35 236.85 12.70GODREJCP 640.15 673.75 639.00 671.00 32.85PAGEIND 21730.00 23000.00 21631.80 22820.00 1078.60PEL 2040.00 2150.00 2035.65 2130.00 83.40BAJAJHLDNG 3180.00 3310.00 3174.00 3287.00 119.55SRTRANSFIN 1001.00 1045.00 999.10 1034.00 31.60ICICIGI 1097.00 1126.00 1088.00 1119.15 27.80DABUR 361.00 377.30 361.00 370.00 8.95BANKBARODA 109.75 113.15 107.70 112.30 2.50MARICO 352.00 361.70 351.70 360.00 7.90CONCOR 469.95 481.00 467.65 478.80 9.75ASHOKLEY 83.10 85.05 82.60 84.60 1.70COLPAL 1120.00 1148.90 1111.00 1143.00 22.40BOSCHLTD 16970.00 17389.90 16970.00 17259.90 292.10MCDOWELL-N 523.60 536.50 519.00 532.25 8.65NHPC 21.90 22.30 21.65 22.10 0.35GICRE 224.55 232.45 224.20 229.50 3.30BANDHANBNK 558.80 565.00 549.45 564.90 7.15AMBUJACEM 214.45 220.00 213.20 218.00 2.75HAVELLS 724.80 739.00 723.00 733.80 8.60INDIGO 1450.00 1498.35 1413.70 1479.30 14.40UBL 1345.25 1366.90 1331.80 1362.45 12.95L&TFH 116.15 118.00 115.80 117.25 1.10PIDILITIND 1157.40 1174.80 1148.40 1163.50 9.65HDFCAMC 1582.00 1604.95 1575.05 1600.00 12.55DLF 162.65 167.00 161.85 164.05 1.15ACC 1575.50 1614.65 1570.10 1594.60 11.25ABB 1385.00 1403.80 1372.55 1397.00 9.75MRF 53749.90 54750.00 53401.65 54045.05 352.65HDFCLIFE 379.75 384.00 374.25 382.40 2.50ICICIPRULI 334.65 343.10 332.40 336.95 2.10PGHH 10520.00 10615.05 10359.95 10570.00 48.20SHREECEM 19350.00 19748.00 19000.00 19500.05 82.35NMDC 90.45 91.65 90.30 90.45 0.05DIVISLAB 1636.00 1653.00 1622.10 1638.00 -2.30BHEL 62.00 62.65 61.20 62.00 -0.20SIEMENS 1129.15 1138.60 1110.00 1125.05 -4.55SAIL 48.00 48.25 47.05 47.75 -0.25OFSS 3445.00 3466.95 3421.10 3422.50 -18.95SBILIFE 634.85 645.95 623.35 626.25 -4.70HINDZINC 252.60 255.85 251.90 252.25 -2.30MOTHERSUMI 119.00 119.00 114.15 117.00 -1.45BIOCON 523.50 525.00 515.70 519.00 -6.55NIACL 164.25 165.00 162.15 162.85 -2.90DMART 1252.90 1268.00 1230.00 1230.80 -23.00HINDPETRO 279.45 279.45 272.00 274.15 -6.95IDEA 12.40 12.45 11.60 11.85 -0.35CADILAHC 257.70 260.20 247.20 250.05 -7.65LUPIN 771.00 773.00 746.30 753.50 -29.10AUROPHARMA 728.40 728.40 662.00 670.10 -56.20

LUCKNOW | SATURDAY | MAY 18, 2019world 11

Trump shifts immigration focus to merit

AP n WASHINGTON

Unveiling a new immigra-tion plan, President

Donald Trump said Thursdayhe wanted to provide a sharpcontrast with Democrats, andhe did — aiming to upenddecades of family-based immi-gration policy with a newapproach that favors younger,“totally brilliant”, high-skilledworkers he says won’t competefor American jobs.

Trump’s sweeping immi-gration plan is more a cam-paign document than anythingelse. It’s a White House attemptto stretch beyond the “build-the-wall” rhetoric that sweptthe president to office but maynot be enough to deliver hima second term. As Trump headsinto reelection season, his cam-paign sees the plan as a way tohelp him look more reasonableon a signature issue than heoften seems — and to castDemocrats as blocking him.

“We want immigrantscoming in. We cherish theopen door,” Trump said in aRose Garden speech as Cabinetmembers and Republican law-

makers filled the front rows.Trump said his new sys-

tem, with points given forthose with advanced degrees,job offers and other attributes,will make it exactly “clear whatstandards we ask you toachieve.”

Nowadays, “we discrimi-nate against genius,” he said,using a softer tone than hisusual fiery campaign rallies.“We discriminate against bril-liance. We won't anymore oncewe get this passed.”

Even before the speech,Democrats, whose votes wouldbe needed for any bill to beapproved by the dividedCongress, panned the effortand questioned the RepublicanParty’s commitment to families.

“Are they saying family iswithout merit?” asked HouseSpeaker Nancy Pelosi. “Arethey saying most of the peoplewho’ve come to the UnitedStates in the history of ourcountry are without meritbecause they don’t have anengineering degree?”

Pelosi continued:“Certainly we want to attractthe best to our country.” But she

said “merit” is “ "condescend-ing” word that means “merit inthe eyes of Donald Trump”.

Trump’s new plan has beenmonths in the making, a pro-ject of his son-in-law, JaredKushner, who has been meet-ing privately with businessgroups, religious leaders andconservatives to find commonground among Republicans onan issue that has long dividedthe party.

Kushner has long com-plained that many advocates onthe immigration issue are veryclear about what they’re against,but have much more troublearticulating what they’re “for”.Kushner set out to create a pro-posal that Republicans mightbe able to rally around, his mis-sion to give the president andhis party a clear platform head-ing into the 2020 elections.

Trump didn’t mention hisson-in-law’s work during theaddress but noted that the pro-posal wasn’t written by politi-cians. Instead, the presidentsaid it had input from lawenforcement personnel. It alsohad echoes of White Housesenior adviser Stephen Miller,

who wants to push down thecountry’s immigration levelsand has driven much of theadministration’s policy.

With a humanitarian crisisat the border — officials saidthis week that a fourth child, a2-year-old Guatemalanmigrant, died in US custody —Trump promised to halt illegalborder crossings with the “mostcomplete and effective bordersecurity package ever assem-bled.” He did not mention thechild’s death.

As part of the plan, officialswant to shore up ports of entryto ensure all vehicles and peo-ple are screened and to createa self-sustaining fund, paid forwith increased fees, to mod-ernize ports of entry.

The plan also calls forbuilding border wall in target-ed locations and continues topush for an overhaul to the USasylum system, with the goal ofprocessing fewer applicationsand more quickly removingpeople who don’t qualify.

In addition, the planincludes a proposal to allowpublic donations to pay for thepresident’s long-promised bor-

der wall.The plan does not address

what to do about the millionsof immigrants already living inthe country illegally, includinghundreds of thousands ofyoung “Dreamers” brought tothe US as children — a top pri-ority for Democrats. Nor doesit reduce overall rates of immi-gration, as Miller and manyconservative Republicanswould like.

Republicans in Congresswho were briefed on the planby Kushner and Miller earlierthis week welcomed, but didnot fully embrace, theapproach. Some of those up forreelection, including Sen. SusanCollins of Maine, objected to itsfailure to account for the youngDreamers. In Colorado, aDemocrat running againstGOP Sen. Cory Gardner blast-ed it as part of Trump’s “hate-ful” immigration agenda thatwould do nothing but “buildTrump’s wall and keep familiesapart.”

Under the Trump plan,the country would award thesame number of green card asit now does, about 1 million

annually. But far more wouldgo to exceptional students,professionals and people withhigh-level and vocationaldegrees. Factors such as age,English language ability andemployment offers would alsobe considered.

Far fewer green cardswould be given to people withrelatives already in the US.They would be reserved just forimmediate family members —Trump mentioned spouses andchildren — rather than parentsand adult siblings. Fifty-sevenpercent would be awarded onmerit as opposed to the current12%.

While Trump is seeking toput a softer facade on the topissue from his first campaign,he also is making a directappeal to his supporters. Hesays his plan means fewer low-skilled immigrants will com-pete for low-paying Americanjobs.

Efforts to overhaul theimmigration system have gonenowhere for three decades,and prospects for an agreementseem especially bleak as the2020 elections approach.

May’s Brexitcompromisetalks fail

AP n LONDON

Talks between Britain’s gov-ernment and opposition

aimed at striking a compromiseBrexit deal broke down withoutagreement Friday, plunging thecountry back into a morass ofuncertainty over its departurefrom the European Union.

Opposition Labour Partyleader Jeremy Corbyn said thetalks with Prime MinisterTheresa May’s Conservativegovernment have “gone as far asthey can.” In a letter to Mayreleased by Labour, Corbyn said“we have been unable to bridgeimportant policy gaps betweenus.” And with May set toannounce within weeks thatshe plans to step down, Corbynsaid the “increasing weaknessand instability” of the govern-ment made striking a lastingagreement impossible.

The two sides have heldweeks of negotiations to try toagree on terms for Brexit thatcan win support in Parliament.The talks began after lawmak-ers rejected May’s divorce dealwith the EU three times.

But the Conservatives andleft-of-center Labour differ onhow close an economic rela-tionship to seek with the blocafter the UK leaves. Labourwants to stick close to EU rulesin order to guarantee seamlesstrade, while the governmentwants a looser relationship thatwould leave Britain freer tostrike new trade deals aroundthe world.

Britain was due to leave theEU on March 29, but the bloc

has extended the Brexit deadlineuntil Oct. 31 amid the politicalimpasse in the UK.

That deadlock has deepenedthis week with the breakdown ofthe cross-party talks and inten-sifying pressure on May fromwithin the Conservative Party toquit.

Pro-Brexit Conservativesare furious that Britain hasn’t yetleft the EU, almost three yearsafter voters backed Brexit in areferendum. Many blame Mayand want her replaced with amore staunchly pro-Brexitleader such as former ForeignSecretary Boris Johnson.

On Thursday, May agreedto set out a timetable for herdeparture early next month,raising the prospect that Britainwill get a new prime ministerbefore it leaves the EU.

Her resignation, when itcomes, will trigger a party lead-ership contest in which anyConservative lawmaker can run.The winner will become partyleader and prime minister with-out the need for a general elec-tion. May plans to make afourth attempt to get lawmakers’backing for Brexit terms byputting a withdrawal agreementbill to a vote during the week ofJune 3. She says that if it passes,Britain could leave the EU inJuly, well before the Octoberdeadline set by the bloc.

But it’s unclear how thegovernment plans to persuade amajority of lawmakers to backMay’s EU divorce terms, sincefew legislators on either side ofthe Brexit divide seem preparedto change their positions.

President Donald Trump speaks about modernizing the immigration system in the Rose Garden of the White House, onThursday AP

Silicon Valley-based IT firm sues govt H-1B visa denialAP n WASHINGTON

ASilicon Valley-based ITcompany has filed a lawsuit

against the US government fordenying the most sought-afterH-1B visa to a highly qualified28-year-old Indian profession-al, terming the renunciation“arbitrary” and a “clear abuse ofdiscretion”.

Xterra Solutions alleged inits lawsuit that the USCitizenship and ImmigrationServices (USCIS) improperlydenied H-1B visa to PraharshChandra Sai Venkata Anisetty,whom it had hired as aBusiness System Analyst.

The company’s H-1B peti-tion on behalf of Anisetty wasdenied on the sole ground thatthe job offered to him did notqualify as an H-1B specialtyoccupation, the lawsuit said.

“The denial is not sup-ported by substantial evidencein the record, is contrary toestablished legal precedent,and is arbitrary, capricious andconstitutes a clear abuse of dis-cretion,” the company allegedand urged the NorthernDistrict of California USDistrict Court to set aside theUSCIS order.

The H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows UScompanies to employ foreignworkers in speciality occupa-

tions that require theoretical ortechnical expertise. The tech-nology companies depend onit to hire tens of thousands ofemployees each year fromcountries like India and China.

The most sought-after visahas an annual numerical limitcap of 65,000 visas each fiscalyear as mandated by the USCongress. The first 20,000 peti-tions filed on behalf of benefi-ciaries with a US mastersdegree or higher are exemptfrom the cap. Anisetty holds aBachelor’s degree inEngineering (Electronics andCommunication Engineering)as well as a Master’s of Sciencedegree in InformationTechnology and Managementfrom the University of Texas atDallas.

He currently holds valid H-4 dependent status throughhis wife, the principal benefi-ciary of an H-1B application.

From 2014 to 2016,Anisetty held valid F-1 non-immigrant status as a studentenrolled in the informationtechnology and managementmaster’s program at TexasUniversity.

Later, he also participatedin Curricular PracticalTraining, an employment-training programme with anestablished academic curricu-lum in the form of cooperative

education programmes offeredby sponsoring employersthrough agreements with F-1students’ universities.

The company asserted thatAnisetty’s current position as aBusiness Systems Analystmeets one or more of the cri-teria for an H-1B specialtyoccupation. “USCIS’s decisiondated February 19, 2019 deny-ing Xterra’s H-1B petition, filedon behalf of Anisetty, was arbi-trary, capricious, an abuse ofdiscretion, and not in accor-dance with the law,” the lawsuitsaid.

The USCIS gave no expla-nation as to why, despiteXterra’s significant evidentiarysubmissions in its request forevidence, documenting thatAnisetty’s position as a BusinessAnalyst met all four criteria fora specialty occupation, itdenied Xterra’s petition tochange Anisetty’s status to thatof the principal beneficiary ofan H-1B petition, it said.

The company alleged thatthe USCIS acted arbitrarilyand capriciously in findingthat the current positionoffered to the Indian profes-sional did not meet criterionthat “a baccalaureate or high-er degree or its equivalent isnormally the minimumrequirement for entry into theparticular position”.

Harris invokes Indian heritage in response to Trump’s planAP n WASHINGTON

Kamala Harris, the firstIndian-origin Senator cas-

tigated President DonaldTrump’s merit-based immi-gration plan saying it was“short-sighted” and invokedher unique background as aDemocratic candidate for theWhite House in 2020 — beingthe daughter of an Indianimmigrant.

Trump on Thursday rolledout the system that would pri-oritise high-skilled workersover those who already haverelatives in the country whendetermining who receivesgreen cards.

Harris, Senator fromCalifornia, criticised the pro-posal, which Democratic lead-ers have vowed to fight, sayingthat Americans routinely cele-brate a “unified culture” and theUS Constitution guaranteesequality for all people.

“I found the announce-ment today to be short-sight-ed,” said the 54-year-oldCalifornia Democrat, slam-ming the Trump plan before anAsian American audience inLas Vegas.

On the plan’s intention toaward immigrants certainpoints based on education orskills, Harris said, “We cannotallow people to start parsingand pointing fingers and cre-

ating hierarchies among immi-grants.”

“The beauty of the tradi-tion of our country has been tosay, when you walk through thedoor, you are equal. We spokethose words in 1776, ‘we are allequal’ and should be treatedthat way. Not, oh well, if youcome from this place, youmight only have a certain num-ber of points, and if you comefrom that place you mighthave a different number ofpoints.”

Asians have historicallyimmigrated as family units,Harris pointed out.

At an event hosted by anAsian American group, OneAPIA Nevada, Harris doveinto her barrier-breaking elec-tion to the US Senate as the firstSouth Asian to serve in thebody’s history. She acknowl-edged her presidential run as abiracial woman helping to shat-ter notions about being black,Asian and a woman.

The first South Asian-American US senator in histo-ry — her mother is Indian, herfather is Jamaican — Harrissaid breaking barriers wasmore than about personalachievement as she eyedbecoming the first womancommander in chief.

“It’s about making a state-ment about who can do whatand redefining images about

who can do what and how theydo it,” she said.

Trump and others have“perverted” the issue of immi-gration, Harris added, as sheechoed her call for pathway tocitizenship.

She noted how asCalifornia attorney general shehad alerted county sheriffs thatthey were not required to com-ply with detainer requests byImmigration and CustomsEnforcement.

In a lighthearted moment,an audience member askedHarris if she would commit towearing a traditional Indiangarment to her inauguration,known as a sari.

“Let’s first win,” Harrissaid, smiling. “My motherraised us with a very strongappreciation for our culturalbackground and pride.Celebrations that we all par-ticipate in regardless of how ourlast name is spelled. It’s thebeauty of who we are as anation.”

In her campaign stumpspeech, Harris always includesstories about how her mother,Shyamala Gopalan, impactedevery aspect of her life. Andwhile she has spoken about vis-its to India during her booktour, Harris on the trail hasleaned far more into theAfrican American identity hermother raised her to embrace.

EU citizens in UK have their say on Brexit

AP n LONDON

Hedwig Hegtermans has livedin Britain for two decades,

but she didn’t have a vote whenthe country decided in 2016 toleave the European Union. She’sdetermined to have her say onBrexit now.

An election for the EuropeanParliament being held this monthin all 28 EU member states —including the not-yet-departedUK — is giving Hegtermans andother Europeans in Britain thechance to pass judgment on theBrexit decision that left their livesin limbo.

“It is a way for people to voicetheir frustration,” saidHegtermans, a Dutch citizenand member of The 3 Million, alobby group for EU citizens inBritain.

Like other non-UK EU

nationals, she was not eligible tovote in Britain’s EU membershipreferendum three years ago —and like them she saw her auto-matic right to live and work inBritain whipped away by theBrexit decision.

The British government saysall 3 million EU citizens inBritain can stay, but they have toapply for “settled status” througha somewhat glitch-prone newregistration process.

“We did not have a vote inthe referendum, we could notvoice anything while we were thepeople who will be affected themost,” Hegtermans said.

She said the May 23 electionto fill the UK’s 73 seats in the 751-seat EU legislature “is one way forus to let our voices (be) heard.”The result of next week’s electionwon’t directly affect Brexit. But itwill be interpreted as a test of

public sentiment — almost amini-referendum — and couldsway politicians to take a harderor softer course as Britain headsfor the exit door.

That makes this the mosthigh-profile European election inBritain in years — but it should-

n’t be happening. The UK wasdue to have left the EU by now.

Instead, British politicians aredeadlocked over departure termsand Brexit has been postponedfrom March 29 until Oct. 31while they try to sort out themess. So Britain is taking part,and the contest here is dominat-ed by candidates promising eitherto speed up Brexit or throw it intoreverse gear. Pro-European par-ties are eager to attract votes fromEU citizens, who can vote inEuropean polls though not in UKnational elections.

That’s why a former financeminister of Poland could befound recently standing outsidea suburban London subway sta-tion, thrusting anti-Brexit leafletsat tired commuters. Jan Vincent-Rostowski, a London-born econ-omist who served in a center-right Polish government between

2007 and 2013, is a candidate forthe newly former pro-EU partyChange UK.

“I thought that was some-thing I could bring to the cam-paign, being both a British citi-zen — a Londoner born and bred— but also a Polish citizen whohas done his bit in politics else-where,” Vincent-Rostowski said.

“Brexit is collapsing underthe weight of its own internalcontradictions. And if some-thing bad is collapsing I think it’sa good idea to give it a push.That’s what I’m trying to do.”Chipper and polite — “Can I giveyou a leaflet madam?” — he gota reasonably warm reception insuburban Ealing, a diverseLondon district that voted 60 percent for remaining in theEuropean Union. Several Polesrecognized him, stopping to chator film him on their phones.

AFP n WASHINGTON

SpaceX postponed a launch of 60satellites into low-Earth orbit

that was scheduled for last night,possibly until next week, citing aneed for software updates.

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocketlaunch from Cape Canaveral was tobe the first of potentially thousandsin its Starlink project to beambroadband internet across the plan-et.

“Standing down to update satel-lite software and triple-check every-thing again,” said a tweet from theofficial SpaceX account. “Alwayswant to do everything we can on theground to maximize mission suc-cess, next launch opportunity inabout a week.” The launch, which

was initially envisaged forWednesday, was first delayedbecause of high winds.

Billionaire Elon Musk’s firm,which is leading the private spacerace when it comes to rocket launch-es, is now looking to seize a chunkof the future space internet market.

The launch will make it an earlyforerunner, along with rivalOneWeb, a startup, but well aheadof Amazon’s Project Kuiper, thebrainchild of Musk’s space rival JeffBezos.

Musk is hoping to grab three tofive per cent of the future globalmarket, a figure he sharedWednesday during a call withreporters.

That could earn SpaceX an eye-watering USD 30 billion a year, more

than ten times what rocket launch-es make, he added.

The goal is to finance thedevelopment of future rockets andspacecraft, to realize the boss’sdream of colonizing Mars.

Each of the satellites weighsjust 227 kilograms (500 pounds)and was built in-house inRedmond, near Seattle.

The second stage of the rock-et will begin to release them onehour after launch, at an altitude of270 miles (440 kilometres), andthen the satellites will use theirthrusters to take up their places ina relatively low orbit of 340 miles(550 kilometers).

That’s slightly higher than theInternational Space Station, butwell below the majority of terres-

trial satellites, the highest of whichsit in a geostationary orbit of22,400 miles (36,000 kilometers).

The advantage of being so lowis reduced lag times, key for broad-band connectivity.

The disadvantage though ismore satellites are required tocover the globe, and, being closerto the atmosphere, they fall back toearth faster, after a few years.

SpaceX will therefore have toreplace them regularly — some-thing that only became realisticfrom a price perspective recentlywith the rapid decline in the costof manufacturing satellites andthe development of mini-satel-lites.

SpaceX has obtained approvalfrom the US government to launch

up to 12,000 satellites, at varyinglevels of orbit, but Musk saidWednesday that a thousand wouldbe enough for it to be “economi-cally viable.” Starlink will becomeoperational once 800 satelliteshave been activated, which willrequire a dozen more launches.

“I think within a year and ahalf, maybe two years, if things gowell, SpaceX will probably havemore satellites in orbit than allother satellites combined,” saidMusk.

Today there are about 2,100active satellites orbiting our plan-et (and thousands of others thataren’t operational any more).

In order to receive SpaceXinternet, users will need an anten-na which “basically looks like a sort

of a small to medium sized pizza,”said Musk, adding it would be a“flat disc.” The company plans toteam up with telecoms operators,but hasn’t yet begun the process offinding clients, he said.

The satellites will be designedsuch that 95 per cent will burn upas they fall back through theatmosphere, with the rest of thedebris falling into the Pacificocean. Finally, to reduce the risk ofstriking other satellites, each pieceof the constellation will beequipped with anti-collision tech-nology, according to SpaceX.

Musk added: “We don’t want totrivialize it or not take it serious-ly because we certainly do take itseriously. But it’s not crowded upthere, it’s extremely sparse.”

SpaceX postpones launch of its first internet network satellites

LUCKNOW | SATURDAY | MAY 18, 2019world 12

Iran urges China, Russia

to save nuclear deal

AFP n BEIJING

Iranian Foreign MinisterMohammad Javad Zarif onFriday urged “friends”

including China and Russia totake “concrete action” to safe-guard the 2015 nuclear dealafter the US withdrew from theagreement.

On a visit to Beijing, Zarifsaid he would also talk withChinese officials about “bilat-eral ties and the very danger-ous issues that are ongoing inour region today,” according toa video published on theIranian foreign ministry web-site.

Amid rising tensions in theGulf, Iran on Thursday reject-ed negotiations with the USand said it was showing “max-imum restraint” afterWashington sent extra militaryforces to the region againstwhat it claimed was an immi-nent threat from Tehran.

Zarif called on the inter-national community to save theJCPOA, or JointComprehensive Plan of Action.

The landmark 2015 dealbetween Iran and world pow-ers including the EU and theUnited States offered sanctionsrelief to Iran for scaling back itsnuclear programme.

In May 2018 PresidentDonald Trump withdrew theUS from the deal and reinstat-ed unilateral economic sanc-tions. “If the international com-munity and other JCPOAmember countries and ourfriends in the JCPOA likeChina and Russia want to keepthis achievement, it is required

that they make sure the Iranianpeople enjoy the benefits of theJCPOA with concrete actions,”Zarif said.

Zarif said last week thatonly Russia and China had sup-ported Iran and helped it keepthe nuclear deal going, andaccused other parties to theagreement of letting Tehrandown.

China was one of the eightglobal buyers — India, Turkey,Japan, South Korea, Taiwan,Italy and Greece — that wasallowed to import Iranian

crude oil before the US endedwaivers in early May.

Zarif ’s China trip comesafter visits to Turkmenistan,India and Japan in the pastweek. Despite Washington’scampaign of “maximum pres-sure” against Iran, the IslamicRepublic has vowed to keepselling oil to its main cus-tomers, especially China, evenif it takes using indirect means.

On May 8, IranianPresident Hassan Rouhani saidIran would stop observingrestrictions on stocks of

enriched uranium and heavywater agreed under the nucleardeal in retaliation for the USwithdrawal and the reimposi-tion of sanctions.

In his announcement,Rouhani threatened to go fur-ther if the European membersof the deal failed to start deliv-ering on their promises to helpIran circumvent US sanctionswithin 60 days.

China in response calledon all parties to uphold thenuclear deal in what it called a“shared responsibility”.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse inBeijing on Friday AP

US slaps sanctions over Russiarights despite revived tiesAFP n WASHINGTON

The United States hasimposed sanctions on five

Russians over abuses includingthe killing of a prominentopposition leader, days aftertop-level talks seemed to easetensions between the powers.

The State Departmenthighlighted the actions againstthe five people, plus one enti-ty, as it submitted an annualreport required by Congress onactions taken under a law overhuman rights in Russia.

The law, which blocks anyUS assets of blacklisted peopleand bars them from travelingto the United States, is namedafter Sergei Magnitsky, an anti-corruption accountant whodied in custody in 2009.

Among the five newly

blacklisted figures are RuslanGeremeyev, an interior min-istry official in the restiveNorth Caucasus region ofChechnya who is close to itsleader Ramzan Kadyrov.

Geremeyev has faced accu-sations of involvement in the2015 killing in central Moscowof Boris Nemtsov, a formerdeputy prime minister turnedleading critic of PresidentVladimir Putin.

The US TreasuryDepartment said that Russianinvestigators twice tried butwere blocked from bringingcharges against Geremeyev asthe possible organizer of thekilling of Nemtsov — the mosthigh-profile death of a dissidentsince Putin rose to power twodecades ago.

The United States also

slapped sanctions on twoRussian investigators, ElenaAnatolievna Trikulya andGennady VyacheslavovichKarlov, for allegedly concealingfacts over the death and deten-tion of Magnitsky, the accoun-tant. “Nearly 10 years after hisdeath, we remain concerned bythe impunity for this and otherviolent crimes against activists,journalists, whistleblowers andpolitical opposition,” StateDepartment spokeswomanMorgan Ortagus said in astatement.

She also voiced concernabout “the intense atmosphereof intimidation for those whowork to uncover corruption orhuman rights violations in theRussian Federation.”

The sanctions came justtwo days after Secretary of

State Mike Pompeo met Putinin the Russian resort of Sochi,with both sides voicing opti-mism at finding areas on whichto work together.

Pompeo said he still haddeep disagreements with Putinbut believed the two powerscould cooperate on issuesincluding finding a political set-tlement in war-ravaged Syriaand seeking a denuclearizationdeal with North Korea.

Also hit with sanctionswere the Terek Special RapidResponse Team in Chechnyaand its commander, AbuzayedVismuradov. The TreasuryDepartment said that the forcehad engaged in extrajudicialkillings and torture, includingin a crackdown on gay menthat has drawn internationalcondemnation.

Taiwan nod to same-sex marriage

AFP n TAIPEI

Taiwan’s parliament legalisedsame-sex marriage on

Friday in a landmark first forAsia as the government sur-vived a last-minute attempt byconservatives to pass watered-down legislation.

Lawmakers comfortablypassed a bill allowing same-sexcouples to form “exclusive per-manent unions” and anotherclause that would let themapply for a “marriage registra-tion” with government agen-cies.

The vote — which tookplace on the International DayAgainst Homophobia,Transphobia and Biphobia — isa major victory for the island’sLGBT community and it placesthe island at the vanguard ofAsia’s burgeoning gay rightsmovement.

Thousands of gay rightssupporters gathered outsideparliament despite heavydownpours, waving rainbowflags, flashing victory signsand breaking into cheers as thenews filtered out.

In recent months conserv-atives had mobilised to rid thelaw of any reference to mar-riage, instead putting forwardrival bills that offered some-thing closer to limited same-sexunions. But those bills strug-gled to receive enough votes.

Gay rights groups hailedthe vote on Friday, saying theability to apply for a “marriageregistration” — known asClause Four — put their com-

munity much closer to paritywith heterosexual couples.

“The passage of ClauseFour ensures that two personsof the same-sex can registertheir marriage on May 24thand ensure that Taiwanbecomes the first country inAsia to legalise same-sex mar-riage and to successfully opena new page in history,” said theTaiwan Alliance to PromoteCivil Partnership Rights.

Two years ago Taiwan’s topcourt ruled that not allowingsame-sex couples to marryviolates the constitution withjudges giving the governmentuntil May 24, 2019 to make thechanges or see marriage equal-ity enacted automatically.

Other key sections of thelaw were still being debated andvoted on Friday, includingwhat, if any, provisions therewill be for same-sex couples toadopt.

That resulted in moremuted celebrations outside par-

liament as gay marriage sup-porters continued to keep aclose eye on voting.

Whatever the result, thelaw will not bring full equalitywith heterosexual couples aseven the most progressive ver-sion only offers biologicaladoptions.

But gay rights groups havesaid they were willing to acceptcompromises, as long as thenew law recognised the conceptof marriage, adding they couldfight legal battles over surro-gacy and adoption down theline.

“In Taiwan a marriage willtake effect when it’s registered,so allowing marriage registra-tion is no doubt recognising themarriage itself,” Victoria Hsu,a gay rights lawyer, told AFP.

“For me the outcome todayis not 100 percent perfect, butit’s still pretty good for the gaycommunity as it provides legaldefinition,” added Elias Tseng,a gay pastor who was among

the crowds outside parliament.In the last decade, Taiwan

has been one of the most pro-gressive societies in Asia whenit comes to gay rights, stagingthe continent’s biggest annualgay pride parade.

But the island remains astaunchly conservative place,especially outside urban areas.

Conservative and religiousgroups were buoyed by a seriesof referendum wins inNovember, in which voterscomprehensively rejecteddefining marriage as anythingother than a union between aman and a woman, illustratingthe limited popular support.

President Tsai Ing-wenhailed the vote as a “big steptowards true equality” that“made Taiwan a better country.”Tsai had previously spoken infavour of gay marriage butwas later accused of draggingher feet after the court judge-ment, fearful of a voter back-lash.

AFP n PARIS

Atop French court on Friday reject-ed an appeal by former president

Nicolas Sarkozy to avoid facing chargesof illicit financing for his failed 2012re-election bid, with a trial of the ex-head of state now appearing inevitable.

Prosecutors claim Sarkozy spentnearly 43 million euros (USD 51 mil-lion) on his lavish re-election bid —almost double the legal limit of 22.5million euros — using fake invoices,and demanded he answer the chargesin court.

Sarkozy has denounced thecharges, saying he was unaware of thefraud by executives at the public rela-tions firm Bygmalion, who are alsoamong a total of 13 people likely to facetrial.

Sarkozy’s lawyers appealed to theConstitutional Council, which rules onthe admissibility of laws and legal rul-ings, arguing that he had already paida financial penalty for the overspend-ing.

But that ruling concerned just364,000 euros of overspending in thecampaign, and came before revelationsof the “Bygmalion affair” and fakebillings.

Bygmalion executives and JeromeLavrilleux, the deputy manager ofSarkozy’s 2012 campaign, haveacknowledged the existence of fraudand false accounting.

On Friday, the ConstitutionalCouncil ruled that a criminal trial wasjustified on the grounds that it con-

cerned “the potential breach of probityby candidates or elected officials.” “It’sa big disappointment,” one of Sarkozy’slawyers, Emmanuel Piwnica, told AFP.

Sarkozy retired from political lifeafter failing to secure the nominationfrom his rightwing Republicans partyfor the 2017 presidential election, wonby centrist Emmanuel Macron.

He would be the second formerFrench head of state to face trial sincethe founding of the Fifth Republic in1958.

In 2011, former president JacquesChirac was given a two-year suspend-ed sentence for embezzlement and mis-use of public funds during his time asmayor of Paris.

Trial looms for Sarkozy over campaign finance

Lanka cops arrest

two for links with

extremist group

PTI n COLOMBO

Sri Lankan Police said Friday they have arrest-ed a school principal and a teacher for their

alleged links to the local Islamist extremistgroup National Thawheed Jamaath (NTJ) blamedby the government for the deadly Easter Sundaybombings which killed nearly 260 people.

The 56-year-old principal and the 47-year-old teacher at a school in Ataweerawewa werearrested from Horowpathana city on Thursday,police said.

The Special Task Force in Horowpathanamade the arrests, they said.

The suspects have been identified as NoorMohamed Addu Ul and Ajibul Jabar, residents ofKapugollewa, Horowpathana, Colombo Pagereported.

The police have received information thatthey have had direct ties with the NTJ and theleader Mohamad Sahran Hashim, who carried outthe suicide attack on Shangri-La Hotel inColombo on April 21, it said.

The suspects will be produced before theKebithigollewa Magistrate court Friday, it added.

Nine suicide bombers, including a woman,carried out a series of devastating blasts that torethrough three churches and three luxury hotels,killing 258 people and injuring over 500 otherson the Easter Sunday.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility forthe attack, but the government has blamed theNTJ for the bombings. Widespread communalriots have followed the Easter blasts in SriLanka. Anti-Muslim riots have killed one personand caused extensive damage to homes, businessesand mosques in Sri Lanka this week.

The Sri Lankan police have said over 70 peo-ple have been arrested for attacking the Muslims.

Pak’s action against terror groups, money laundering questioned at APG meetPTI n ISLAMABAD

Pakistan’s seriousness to actagainst proscribed terror

outfits and its efforts to curbmoney laundering and terrorfinancing were questioned bymembers of a regional affiliateof the Financial Action TaskForce (FATF) at a meetingheld in China, according to amedia report.

A 10-member delegation,led by Finance SecretaryMohammad Younas Dagha,attended the two-day meetingof the Asia-Pacific Group(APG) of the Paris-based FATFin the southern Chinese city ofGuangzhou where it defendedPakistan’s efforts against moneylaundering and terror financ-ing.

According to a Dawnreport, some participants, par-ticularly those from India,raised very tough questionsabout Pakistan’s seriousness toact against proscribed organi-sations and effectiveness of

internal controls.On May 3, Finance

Minister Arun Jaitley said Indiawill ask the FATF to putPakistan on a blacklist of coun-tries that fail to meet interna-tional standards in stoppingfinancial crime.

The APG will submit to theFATF its analysis of the com-pliance report submitted byPakistan at the meeting, whichconcluded yesterday, and theprogress made since the group’son-site inspection in Islamabadand Karachi in March, thereport said.

The APG report willbecome the basis for the FATFto decide whether to excludePakistan from its grey list ornot.

The delegation briefed themeeting about Pakistan’s updat-ed actions against currencysmuggling, proscribed organ-isations and tightening offinancial and corporate sectorsystems and operational effec-tiveness, the report said.

Giving examples of themeasures taken by it, Pakistancited arrests of key operativesof some proscribed outfits,putting more such groups andtheir affiliates in the list ofbanned outfits, blocking theiraccounts and financial flowsand taking control of theirassets.

In March, bowing down tointernational pressure, Pakistanlaunched a major crackdownon Jaish-e-Mohammad, Jamat-ud-Dawa, Falah-i-InsaniyatFoundation and other bannedoutfits and took over the con-trol of their assets throughoutthe country.

The Pakistan delegationsaid the country was very closeto accomplish the milestonesset under the FATF actionplan well before the Septemberdeadline.

It also said the governmentrecently revised its nationalrisk assessment of the corporatesector, strengthened customsprocedures on borders and

inland movement of funds andassets.

Besides, internal controlof the banking and non-bank-ing financial institutions, insur-ance companies and stockexchanges has been strength-ened to curb the possibility ofmoney laundering and terrorfinancing.

The delegation cited thecreation of a specialised direc-torate of Cross-BorderCurrency Movement (CBCM)in Islamabad to maintain adatabase of currency seizures.

The APG had earlierflashed contradictory situa-tions and poor coordinationamong stakeholders, includinglaw enforcement agencies, infighting money launderingand terror f inancing inPakistan.

Last month, it expressedserious reservations overinsufficient physical actionson ground against proscribedorganisations to block flow offunds and activities.

Trump more cautious than

his top advisers on Iran

AP n WASHINGTON

President Donald Trumpsays he hopes the US is not

on a path to war with Iran amidfears that his two most hawk-ish advisers could be anglingfor such a conflict with theIslamic Republic.

Asked Thursday if the USwas going to war with Iran, thepresident replied, “I hope not”— a day after he repeated adesire for dialogue, tweeting,“I’m sure that Iran will want totalk soon.”

The tone contrasted with aseries of moves by the US andIran that have sharply escalat-ed tensions in the Middle Eastin recent days.

For the past year, nationalsecurity adviser John Boltonand Secretary of State MikePompeo have been the publicface of the administration’s“maximum pressure” campaignagainst Tehran.

The friction has rattledlawmakers who are demandingmore information on the White

House’s claims of rising Iranianaggression.

Top leaders in Congressreceived a classified briefing onIran Thursday, but many otherlawmakers from both partieshave criticized the WhiteHouse for not keeping theminformed.

Iran poses a particularchallenge for Trump. While hetalks tough against foreignadversaries to the delight of hissupporters, a military con-frontation with Iran couldmake him appear to be back-tracking on a campaign pledgeto keep America out of foreignentanglements.

Lawmakers and allies,however, worry that any errat-ic or miscalculated responsefrom Trump could send the UScareening into conflict.

Trump pulled the US out ofthe Iran nuclear deal last yearand reinstated sanctions onTehran that are crippling itseconomy.

Tensions rose dramatical-ly May 5, when Bolton

announced that the USSAbraham Lincoln CarrierStrike Group would be rushedfrom the Mediterranean to thePersian Gulf ahead of schedulein response to “a number oftroubling and escalatory indi-cations and warnings,” withoutgoing into details.

Since then, four oil tankers,including two belonging toSaudi Arabia, were targeted inan apparent act of sabotage offthe coast of the United ArabEmirates, according to officialsin the region, and a Saudipipeline was attacked byIranian-backed Houthi rebelsfrom Yemen.

The US also ordered non-essential staff out of Iraq andhas dispatched additional mil-itary assets to the region.

The Senate will receive aclassified briefing on Iran onTuesday, according to JimRisch of Idaho, the chairmanof the Foreign RelationsCommittee. The House hasrequested a classified briefingas well.

Singapore PMsays call to curb online violence ‘effective’Singapore (AP): Singapore’sPrime Minister Lee HsienLoong says a global call tocurb the spread of hate andextremism on internet plat-forms is an “effective”response to the New Zealandmosque attacks, but stoppedshort of endorsing it.

The “Christchurch Call”set of guidelines for worldleaders and tech companies wasdrafted by France and NewZealand.

It is named after the NewZealand city where 51 peoplewere killed in a March attackon mosques. The attack wasbroadcast live on Facebook,fueling calls to regulate socialmedia.

On Friday, Lee saidSingapore takes this problem“very seriously.” He alsothanked New Zealand’s PrimeMinister Jacinda Ardern, whois on an official visit toSingapore, for “rallying aneffective international responseto this serious issue.”

Trade war could slice 1% off China’s GDP

PTI n BEIJING

Ahigh ranking Chinese offi-cial has said that the ongo-

ing trade war with the UScould slash China’s GDP by oneper cent, in the first suchadmission by Beijing that thetariff war with Washington isbiting the world’s second largesteconomy.

The Chinese economywhich is on a downward trendslowed down to 6.8 per centlast year and the governmentthis year officially slashedthe GDP growth to bebetween 6.5 and six per cent.

US President DonaldTrump, who kicked off thetrade war last year, isdemanding China to reducethe massive trade deficitwhich has climbed to overUSD 539 billion last year. Heis also insisting on Beijing forverifiable measures for pro-tection of intellectual prop-erty rights (IPR), technologytransfer and more access toAmerican goods to Chinesemarkets.

The US-China trade warcould slash one percentagepoint off Beijing’s economicgrowth this year, Wang Yang,

one of the seven members ofthe elite Politburo StandingCommittee of the CommunistParty of China (CPC) whichvirtually rules the country,was quoted as saying by theHong Kong-based SouthChina Morning Post.

Speaking to a group ofTaiwanese business peoplewhose companies are based inmainland China on Thursday,Wang said the governmenthad assessed the impact of thenear year-long dispute andestimated that in the worst-case scenario gross domesticproduct growth would be one

percentage point lower thanexpected.

While Wang did not out-line any plans for dealingwith the fallout from thetrade war, he is the first offi-cial from the top policymak-ing body to speak so candid-ly about its possible impact onheadline targets, the reportsaid.

A member of the audi-ence at the event in Beijingsaid despite the official’s frankassessment, he did not seemtoo worried about the long-term effects of China’s spatwith the US.

vivacity {48 hours} 13LUCKNOW | SATURDAY | MAY 18, 2019

DEEPIKA GOES DRAMATICActress Deepika Padukone went asdramatic as it could get for her redcarpet appearance. Draped in an ele-gant monochromatic, Peter Dundasgown and a high hairdo, the actressset the red carpet on fire. With agigantic bow, the gown had a frontslit, a plunging neckline and exag-gerated sleeves. Her eye make-upexuded drama with dark reversewinged eyeliner and a sleek and neathigh ponytail.

She looked fresh and wore herconfidence on her sleeve as her faceshowed no sign of fatigue eventhough she got ready amid a tightschedule.

Well, on the second day, theglobal audience applauded at herfour disparate looks, each one allur-ing than the other. The first was ablue and white-striped pantsuit,paired with bright orange courtshoes, followed by a black dress withneon green bralette. In her thirdensemble, she wore a translucentcream shirt with high waist pants,which was followed by a floralgown with a stylised neck.

PRIYANKA SHIMMERS INBLACK For her debut, actress PriyankaChopra Jonas looked fiery in a boldblack and red embellished ensemble,a custom creation by RobertoCavalli.

She carried the strapless gownwith a thigh-high slit with panache.The former Miss World took to thered carpet with a smile on her faceand folded her hands to gestureNamaste. Her accessories were lim-ited to statement earrings, while herhair was left simple in loose curls.

Earlier, the actress was seen ina white ensemble inspired by whatlate Lady Diana once wore to the fes-tival.

CHANDIVALI TO CANNES:HINA A ‘PROUD OUTSIDER’Actress Hina Khan says she is a“proud outsider” who will continueworking hard to make her ownplace, after a scribe commented onher appearance at the film festival.

“Cannes has suddenly becomeChandivali Studios kya?” a magazineeditor posted on an Instagram story,which drew ire from a host of TVfraternity members who supportedHina and her journey whole-heart-edly.

“I was persistent, I am constantand I will be efficient again andagain. Don’t know where I belong,don’t know if I have to, as the placedoesn’t define me. Because as alwaysI will work hard and I will make my

own place. My promise, a proud out-sider from my Chandivali Studios,”Hina wrote on social media.

The Kasautti Zindagii Kayactress made a sparkling debut in agown by Lebanese designer ZiadNakad.

“Cannes 2019. The picture is justnot ‘a’ picture. God’s sign. Shiningstar,” she wrote alongside one of herimages from the event. At the IndiaPavilion of the fest, Hina will also bea speaker and will launch the firstlook of her film Lines, set in thebackdrop of the Kargil War.

Many of the fraternity memberscheered for her. Producer EktaKapoor said, “Hina we are so proudof you.”

Filmmaker Farah Khan wrote,“I’ve shot many a times at ChandivaliStudios and it’s a great place. Soproud of you Hina Khan... it’s notwhere we come from but where weare going that matters. Have fun atCannes Film Festival, you are prob-ably the only one who is there for theright reasons... A film.”

Actor Karanvir Bohra slammedthe scribe’s “snide” remarks andwrote, “Maybe, you had things readyfor you maybe you didn’t have ahumble beginning, maybe you did...But I think hobnobbing with the glit-terati, you have forgotten your roots.This is the same Chandivali Studioswhere Shah Rukh Khan sir,Naseeruddin Shah sir, AnupamKherji, Ekta Kapoor and SushantSingh Rajput have come up the hardway and made a name for them-selves. We all are very proud of HinaKhan and for this achievement. Weall are with you girl.”

Arjun Bijlani applauded Hina’sself-made journey and thanked thescribe for making her a “superstar”.

Actress Kavita Kaushik wrote,“Chandivali Studios holds waymore talent, inspirational storiesthan one will ever hear from the‘just lost weight to become anactor just like daddy’ talents. TVactors can make the biggies talk likea jealous chachi (aunt). You havemade us all proud.”

—Agencies

Actress KanganaRanaut, who chose toflaunt a traditionalKanjeevaram saristyled with a corset

and gloves at the 72nd CannesFilm Festival, said she considersnationalism spiritual in nature.

At the India Pavilion of theongoing gala, Kangana spokeabout her journey, the changes inthe industry, the need to take careof technicians and her idea ofnationalism among other things.

She said, “I don’t know whenand how nationalism and being lib-eral became two different thingsbecause nationalism is somethingvery spiritual in nature. Whenyou identify with another being,when you fall in love with some-one, it is such an exhilarating feel-ing. You include them and you feelone with them. And if you identi-fy with a set of people, that makesyour family, right? And then youstart to identify with your village,your caste people. It expands yourexperience of inclusiveness. So,nationalism is nothing but identi-fying with a whole lot of peoplewho have vowed to be in the sameconstitution or have the same pass-port or vow to protect the sameland. It’s your extended family.”

Kangana delved upon somechanges that need to be broughtabout in the way a film set func-tions. She said, “Our techniciansare hugely devalued. There is noinsurance for people who dostunts. Human life, the way it istreated on sets, it’s so sad. Somepeople have no value of time.Shifts of eight hours run to 12hours and some people get so con-sumed by the so-called fashionand the lack of planning, thatthings roll into lunch breaks,snack breaks and a lot of delay.Actors, directors go into theirvans, eat on time, they take care oftheir diet, but the way a unit istreated is definitely somethingwe must look at.”

She said food is another con-cern. “There is a differencebetween the food they get. There’sunit 1, 2, 3... these are pettythings. Sometimes the films costcrores. Sometimes they have ahuge budget, but because you areused to treat human life in such acrass way, you continue with thattradition without realising youhave the budget for everything, butyou just don’t want to do it. Thereshould be strict rules for that andmore for human rights,” she assert-ed.

On the changes she has seen inthe industry for actresses since thetime she stepped in, Kangana said,

“I see a lot of change. When I start-ed out, after my debut in a verystrong role, I was jobless for a con-siderable time because I was not fit-ting into the roles that were popu-lar during those days... the singingand dancing, and that was theabsolute. But now I see a lot of peo-ple and actresses who come andfind themselves in some category.There are a lot of categories now.Some can do niche cinema if youdon’t know dancing. Like I didn’tknow dancing and it was such a bigdeal. I can fight, I can do everything,but I am not good with dancing.“Today I see so many actresses whocan have a successful career if theydon’t know dancing. Or if you area dancer, you can continue doingthat, but I feel that since the last yearor two, a lot of women have madea comeback, be it Neena Gupta orMadhuri Dixit without beingfrowned upon for age. So, there arenot mainstream things that are hap-pening, but at least there are someexamples to begin with, and it’s nota bad thing,” she added.

On the second day, the actressadorned an all-black pantsuit,which was followed by a MichaelCinco white and mauve gown withjewellery by Chopard.

—IANS

C A N N E S D I A R I E S

Rocketman isn’t so dissimilarfrom Bohemian Rhapsody

Elton John, the 72-year-old pop starcame dressed in a tuxedo with‘Rocket Man’ emblazoned on theback and regaled attendees with anafter-party performance on thebeach.

John, an executive producer ofthe film, hadn’t spoken much aboutthe film before it made its premiere.But donning heart-shaped, red-tinted glasses, he gave the film hishearty blessing. At the post-pre-miere party, he called it “an emo-tional night.”

“Even if the film doesn’t makeone penny at the box office — whichwill kill (Paramount Pictures chief)Jim Gianopulos — it is the movie Iwanted to make,” John said.

At the party John performed I’mStill Standing before being joined byTaron Egerton, who plays him in thefilm for a rendition of “RocketMan.” Egerton was visibly moved totears after the premiere.

The film is directed by Dexter

Fletcher who also took over direct-ing duties on last year’s hit musicbiopic, Bohemian Rhapsody, afterBryan Singer departed mid-produc-tion.

Rocketman isn’t so dissimilarfrom Bohemian Rhapsody. It’s aglossy music-stuffed biopic with astar-making turn from Egerton.But this film is R-rated and

less cautious about its star’s homo-sexuality.Les Miserables rings alarm for ParissuburbsMore than 150 years after Victor

Hugo’s classic novel, a French filmtitled Les Miserables gives a gritty,modern view of the Paris suburbswhere Jean Valjean first met Cosette.Ladj Ly’s Les Miserables contains no

singing or romance, but rather atough, “The Wire”-like street-levelportrait of the Parisian banlieue ofMontfermeil. It’s the same neigh-bourhood where the 37-year-old Lygrew up and still lives.

Ly said he made his movie as “analarm bell” for the plight of kidsgrowing up in neighbourhoods likeMontfermeil. He said, “For the past20 years, we’ve said things are notgoing well. We have the impressionno one’s listening. I wanted to addressa message to Emmanuel Macron, thepresident of the Republic. It’s impor-tant for him to see the film.

“For 20 years now, we havebeen yellow vests,” he added, refer-encing the ongoing protests of work-ing-class French. “We’ve beendemanding our rights for the past 20years. We’ve had to cope with policeviolence for so many years.”

Les Miserables, which is compet-ing for the top Palme d’Or prize,shows the Paris suburbs as a com-bustible powder keg, where neigh-bourhood gang leaders and overanx-

ious police are in a constant dance.Much of Ly’s film revolves around theyoung kids growing up in the hous-ing projects.

In 2015, the Paris banlieue ofClichy-sous-Bois exploded in riotsthat put an international spotlight onthe lives of immigrants and French-Africans in the areas surroundingParis.

“One shouldn’t forget that three-fourths of the people who live inthese housing estates are French,” saidLy. “Now we have the impression thatthere are different classifications ofcitizenship. But we’re just French, soaccept us as French, full stop.”

Other recent films have soughtto capture the reality of the banlieues,including La Haine and Dheepan,which won the Palme d’Or in 2015.The film, Ly’s feature directing debut,drew largely strong reviews for itsmuscular genre work and passionatesocial commentary.

“One century later, misery, abjectpoverty is still present in these hous-ing estates,” said Ly. —AP

In 72 years of celebrating cinema,only eight Indians have been called

upon to adjudge the best films of theyear.

VIDYA BALAN (2013)Vidya Balan was a part of the nine-member jury alongside StevenSpielberg, Ang Li, Nicole Kidman andChristophe Waltz.

SHEKHAR KAPUR (2010)Padma Shri awardee Shekhar Kapur

served as a jury member in the 63rdCannes Film Festival. He is one of thefew individuals who has contributed tonational as well as international cine-ma — from Mr India to the GoldenGlobe nominated Elizabeth.

SHARMILA TAGORE (2009)Sharmila Tagore was invited in the62nd edition of the festival.

NANDITA DAS (2005)Das is the first Indian to be a jury

member twice. Her first time was in2005 and then in 2013.

AISHWARYA RAI (2003)The first Indian actress to be invitedto Cannes to be a jury member.

ARUNDHATI ROY (2000)Author and political activist ArundhatiRoy was part of the jury board in 2000,three years after her debut novel TheGod Of Small Things went on to winthe Booker Prize in 1997.

MIRA NAIR (1990)Mira Nair’s debut film earned her theGolden Camera Award as well as theAudience Award in 1988, followingwhich she joined the jury panel in 1990.

KRISHNA RIBOUD (1958)Krishna Riboud was the first Indian tohave been on the panel way back in1958. She was a historian, collector ofIndian and Chinese textiles, also aTagore descendant, and she passedaway in 2000.

There was a time when our films picked up top honours at Cannes and our film personalities made it to its prestigious jury. Now, the growingbusiness of Indian films, small and big, in the film market section and their attendant promotions have meant that our stars are also joining ourfilmmakers to make a statement. So it is that the red carpet is ablaze this season, too, with headlining acts by Bollywood’s leading ladies. Style onpoint, ever ready with quotes, here’s a look at how some of them carried themselves

LOOK, FEEL AND SUBSTANCE TOO

J U R I E S O V E R T H E Y E A R S

Nationalism is very spiritual, says Kangana

S H O R T C I R C U I T S

While people might haveexpectations, I feel what I amdoing from my side is avoid-ing putting pressure onmyself about performing wellat the box office. In fact, Idon’t want to take the pres-sure because it doesn’t workfor me. I need to be relaxedand keep doing what I believeI know and what comes to meand what works for me.

Where my marriage is con-cerned, speculation is under-standable because that's thenature of the business. Also,the buzz that I should just getmarried is because my peersalso have. But I am veryhappy in my personal, profes-sional space and I wish tokeep it like that. I haven’t hid-den things. I will tell whensomething comes.

KIRTI KULHARIARMAAN MALIK

In a musical, you express morerather than just singing. I haveto modulate with my voice in away where I am making thecharacter show that they areseeing a new world. So, it isimportant you sing like a char-acter and the character is not asinger. That was a challengingpart. But I have done this in thepast. So once I got a hang of it,I got into it.

ARJUN KAPOOR

No more footprints... this isThe Abominable Snowman.Before Batman andSpiderman, there is Mr (David) Letterman thanksfor your generosity. Had toomuch fun being interviewed.Not because it was about mebut because you were kindenough to make me feel Ican be me. You are an inspiration sir.

Since I am in deep dis-cussions with Shekhar(Kapur) about the look forMr India 2, it feels likedeja vu. We are superexcited. We're hoping tocreate the same magic we did before with Mr

India. The cap adjustmentwas lucky then and itmight do the trick thistime as well.

vivacity {48 hours} 14

SHAH RUKH KHAN


ANIL KAPOOR

Rakul Preet Singh is fiddling withher ring and it drops off while sheis mid-sentence. She picks it uppromptly, puts it back on her fin-ger and goes on to say, “I don’t

wear accessories. These rings, my stylist gavethem to me.” She lifts her carefully coiffuredhair to reveal her ears. “I don’t even wear ear-rings,” she says and laughs. Given that sheis in a business where dressing up to thenines is the norm, this statement sums uphow candid the 29-year-old actor can be infront of the media.

In the city to promote her newest releaseDe De Pyaar De, which also stars AjayDevgn and Tabu, Rakul comes across as abreath of fresh air. While she might pauseand ponder to answer a question, none ofthem come across as rehearsed or diplomat-ic.

The film, about an older divorced manwith children who falls in love with a muchyounger woman, has her cast as Ayesha, thegirlfriend. “When Luv (Ranjan) sir (the pro-ducer) narrated the script, he said that a lotof girls have reservations if they are paireddirectly opposite an older star as their screenage goes up immediately. He said that Ishould take a day to think about it but Iwanted to be on board immediately. It is sonew-age and progressive, if I may call it so,”she says as she sits in a conference room ina Delhi hotel, the city which she called homefor a good 11 years. Elaborating further onwhy she believes that the script is forward-looking, she says, “There are a lot of thingshappening in society but you do not talkabout them. Despite that, these are normal.Relationships, where there are extreme agedifferences, are usually the subject of an artfilm. De De... deals with it in a humorousway and shows what happens in a familydrama where the emotions are extremelystrong. The man takes the girl to introduceher to his family and what happens nextunfolds in the film.”

Her character is that of an independent

girl who lives in London. “She has a jobbut works part-time as a bartender,which she loves,” says Rakul who took aweek of bartending classes to get the bodylanguage and mannerisms right. “When Iam serving, I shouldn’t be just holding theglass and making a drink. I needed to havethe flair to flip the bottle and hold the glassin a certain way,” says the actor who grad-uated in Maths honours from Jesus andMary College. But this was not the only thingthat she had to do to prep for the role. Shelost a lot of weight within a period of 45 daysas she signed the film in November end andit had to go on the floor in January. Andsince there was a lot of dancing involved,classes for that, too, became essential forher to slip into the role.

She wants to stick with the lost weightand has no qualms in sharing that, “Sinceyesterday, the conversation has beenchhole bhature kahan se khaenge whenwe are in Delhi? And I said, you guyscan eat all you like but I am on a see-food diet,” she says gesturingtowards her eyes.

Since we are talking about a May-September pairing, I ask her thatoften when the tables are reversedwhere the woman is older, she tendsto face flak and be trolled with sex-ist comments as happened recent-ly when actor Priyanka Chopragot married to singer Nick Jonas.She says matter of factly, “Peoplewho want to talk will do so irre-spective of whether there is anage difference or not,” andgoes on to add in a voice thattakes on an expression ofshock, “Oh my god! That girlis dating that guy!” Shepoints out that naturallythese are the people, whowould express even moredispleasure if the couple hap-pens to be a same sex one.

“Our society likes to talk. But people at largeaccept the more non-conventional relation-ships. It should not matter as long as twopeople in a relationship are happy and theycomplement each other rather than perfect-ly fitting the age group and being terrible athonestly living together or cheating on eachother. Just leave the couple alone,” she assertsand goes on to say, “The youth do not real-ly care as they have more things to do thansit back and talk about relationships. A fewyears from now we won’t be having this con-versation. Hopefully.”

Talking more about the film, did shefind it intimidating to be paired with Ajayand sharing the same screen space withTabu, who is known to be a powerhouseperformer? She disagrees. “One does wantto work with bigger stars. If in such a sce-nario, I come in and bring my nervousenergy then I don’t deserve to be there.It was exciting. And it is a learningprocess, though that happens sub-consciously. I can’t say I learnt A, B andC on a particular day but when youwork with people, who are so sea-soned and know their job so well, youpick up a lot of things because act-ing is nothing but action and reac-tion. If the person opposite you is agreat performer, you need to raisethe bar,” she says. She also points outthat working on the film was a riot.“Everytime we read a scene, wewere like yeh karne mein mazaaayega. Both Ajay and Tabu arespontaneous and so am I,” shesays.

While, this is her third filmin Hindi after Yaariyan (2014)and Aiyaary (2018), she hasdone a substantial number inKannada, Tamil and Teluguover a period of four years. “Itwas not intentional that I did lessHindi films. It just happenedthat way. Yaariyan was my firstfilm and three days after I fin-ished shooting it, I started myfirst Telugu film, VenkatadriExpress, which released twomonths before it. That becamea success and I immediatelysigned three-four more films.In Hindi, I signed ShimlaMirchi, opposite RajkummarRao, directed by RameshSippy, which was neverreleased. The Telugu onesreleased faster and werehits,” she says. Moreover,she was supposed to essaythe role which later wentto Disha Patani in MSDhoni: The Untold Story,but fate had other plans.“Everything was signed atthat time but the dateschanged at the last minute.

I was working with Mahesh Babuand Allu Arjun and I couldn’t move a date,”she says and is philosophical about the waythings unfolded. “I am glad it is happeningnow, because during the time of Yaariyan,I was very young and naive. I would not haveunderstood my work — the craft and howto deal with it publicly. I was an Army kidwith no exposure to films and took every-thing at face value. If I came earlier, I would-n’t have sustained because I call a spade aspade. I still can’t lie but at least now I know

how to keep shut,” she says.The rapid pace at which she has worked

has resulted in 24 films across four languagesthat have been released and five more willhit the theatres during the course of the year.But she credits her background for not flag-ging. “I always had a very hectic life as a kid.My parents never left me free. Right fromclass 1, after school, I was attending class-es like singing, dance, harmonium, riding,lawn tennis, swimming and more. But nowI thank them when I see people around megetting tired. I have a timetable in my head.In 3rd or 4th grade, I asked my parents whyI can’t go outside to play ghar ghar? Theyresponded that I should play a sport. I wasnot allowed to waste time or watch TV.Multi-tasking was never a problem for me.I studied in college and was modeling fulltime alongside in Delhi. I can take flightsfrom different cities and shoot day and night.I have done that,” she says.

Since she has worked in four differentindustries, are there points of convergenceand separation? “They don’t have anythingwhich make them different from eachother. The lines are blurring. AfterBaahubali, people have realised that thereis South Indian cinema even thoughremakes have been happening in the 70s and80s. There were so many Anil Kapoor’s filmswhich were remakes. I feel either you areworking with a good team or a bad team andthat happens irrespective of language. It iseither a good script or a bad script.Otherwise there is not much of a difference,”she says.

But what about the barriers of language?Did she have a lot of problems while cross-ing those frontiers? She says, “It was not verydifficult. Switching languages is just likeswitching characters and roles. Initially, I wasscared when I started doing films in Telugubut now I speak it as fluently as Hindi orPunjabi. Even when I didn’t know it, I wouldcram the lines and understand the emotionbehind them. On the whole, it becomes agood space when people from here areworking there and from there are workinghere. It happened in the past too. Just thatit is being noticed now as there is morereachability.”

Each actor signs on a project based ontheir understanding of what they are look-ing for in a film or a role. For Rakul, thereis a permutation and combination that sheworks with. “Beggars are not really choosersas initially people do not know what you arecapable of. A little luck also makes thingsfall into place. In Telugu, where I am 16 filmsold, I would want variation as I want toexperiment more and not do regular stuffor perhaps at least not do the kind of roles

that I’ve already done. In Hindi, on the otherhand, I am fine with doing roles of smallerlength which are impactful as people haven’tseen me. Sometimes it is the director. IfSanjay Leela Bhansali offered me a role, evenif it was a small one, I would take it.Sometimes it is the actor whom you wantto work with and the other times, it is thescript that excites you. If there are five thingsto choose from, I will go with my gut feel-ing,” she says.

She feels that it is a great time to be inthe industry as there is great content.“Films have progressed, content has changedand the audience has evolved, especiallysince the last two years. People are no longerrigid that I’ve been paired with a certain cat-egory of actors and I can only work withthem. Earlier, you were either doing art orcommercial films. Now everything hascome together,” she says.

She does believe that a lot of thechange has been powered by digital content.“It has influenced films. People did not haveaccess to this kind of content earlier. Thereare other factors at play. Lives are very fastand everything is available on the phone. Sounless it is a spectacle film or it is great con-tent, where you can go and enjoy with yourfriends, you would not venture into the the-atre. That is the reason why films like Stree,Andhadhun, Badhaai Ho! have doneimmense business. People want to watchgreat content, else they can see everythingsitting on their couch. You can’t take theaudience for granted and that has led to alot of experimentation. And there is thisinflux of new directors,” she says and adds,“It is not about star power anymore.”

As an outsider, was it a problem, break-ing through the industry? “I have not madeit,” she laughs and goes on to add, “This isjust the beginning. It is not easy but it is notsomething which I consider difficult. Ibelieve in myself. Moreover, what is the joyof getting something easily? I am a little spir-itual in my head and I feel lucky to have beenable to pursue my passion. So, the journeyitself has been beautiful.”

Having graduated in Maths, the imme-diate assumption is that she must have beena nerd. “I was never one but I was good withnumbers in school. I knew I wanted to startmodeling during college, which I did, so Itook on a subject that I was good at,” she saysas someone gestures to me to bring the inter-view to a close. Rakul responds, “Why? Itis a very rare interaction that I haveenjoyed.” But when it becomes apparent thatthe end cannot be staved off any further, shebeams a wide and warm smile to bid good-bye. Clearly, never the one to shy away frombeing candid.

The Golmaal series has gainedhigh popularity among the audi-ence over the years that it is nowbeing turned into a cartoon series.This must be a huge complimentfor you...Rohit: Yes, it makes me very happy.When we started Golmaal, I didn’texpect that a second part would bemade. We started in 2005 and nowit has been 14 years of the Golmaaljourney. It has become a householdbrand and now I feel that the brandbelongs to the audience and we justwork towards reinforcing it. The car-toon series is a new journey. Whenthe idea of animation came by, it wasgreat. Here, there would be samecharacters and traits but differentstories.

If we speak about animation,Indian characters are very limited,most of them are from overseas...The growth will happen gradually.Whether it’s our country or televi-sion and digital medium, it will taketime. When television picks upmore pace and we have more reachthrough channels, then we willhave more animation. We still havemany famous characters.

Who is your target audience?When films like Golmaal weremade, I never felt that kids wouldlike Singham or Simmba, especial-ly the former because it was an

action film. But parents startedreaching out and letting us know oftheir kids’ love for the film. That’swhen we made Golmaal Again,where we targeted families andchildren. Films and television con-tribute to the popularity of our fran-chise. Whatever we do, it feels likea responsibility now. We sub-con-sciously make an effort to ensurekids watch the film.

Of all your films, which is yourson’s favourite?He likes all the films I make. Whenhe was young he used to like all theaction films I did and would try toimitate them with toy cars at home.

You’ve made Singham, Simmbaand now Sooryavanshi is on thefloors. Is this the ‘desi’ Avengers inthe making?In today’s social media world, if aperson speaks his mind, he mightget into trouble. If I say, I am mak-ing something like Avengers, I wouldbe grilled. Comparing us to Avengers

is no less than a joke. But we are try-ing to create our own world and areopen to it. There is no suspense. Weare creating our own universe.During Simmba, I was a bit afraid

because it was the first time Singhamwould meet Simmba and I didn’tknow how people would react to it.It was big. However, we are justexpanding that universe now.

What impact did action filmshave on you during your child-hood?My father was in the film industryand an action director. So, it hasalways been my background. If I askmy son about his future goals, hewould say that he wants to be infilms. He is just 13. When I was 16,I was an assistant director. Theimpact stayed with me because ofmy father. Many people question meabout when did I decide to becomea director. However, I am unawareof the truth. I always wanted to bea director.

How has your mother inspiredyou?Even my mother was a stuntwoman. That’s how my parentsmet each other. I had a fantasticupbringing, always surrounded bya work culture. Honesty and integri-ty is what I’ve learnt from them.Even Ajay Devgn, who is such a bigstar today, has the same level of sin-

cerity. For instance, I have missed aflight or two in my career but he has-n’t missed a single flight. I’ve beenlucky that I’ve had such peoplearound me.My mother is a strong woman. Shehas taught me honesty and how togive 100 per cent, whether its pro-fessional or personal.

What are your favourite cartoonsand comic books?I like Tom and Jerry. And Tintin wasmy favourite comic because the ani-mation was excellent. It makes menostalgic.

We felt that Kiran Bedi would bea perfect police woman for abiopic...Usually, people start with writing agreat script and then make the film.With me its the other way round.First, I need to think of a film, judgewhether people will like it or not andthen jump into it and make a scriptout of it. We will definitely plan tomake a film on a lady cop.

You usually release one film everyyear. Will you continue with thesame pace even afterSooryavanshi?It has been only four days since wecommenced its shoot. At the most,I take a break only for a month ortwo. I love working and makingfilms. I don’t remember a day whenI got up and felt like I shouldn’twork. It has never happened withme. Even after starting the workearly in the morning and thenlooking at other things till late in thenight, I would still go back to shoottomorrow at the same time. But Ifeel that only a few directors areloved by kids. So I am privileged thatway and feel that I have to put mybest.

When will the second schedulebegin?The current schedule is till June 30.We’ll go to Bangkok then Hyderabad.

Do you think animation will beaccepted more now?If there is a great story and good tech-nique, it will do really well. We are ayoung company when it comes toanimation. We did Little Singham lastyear and now it’s Golmaal Juniors. Wewill wait for the response to see howit goes.(The series airs every Monday toFriday at 1.30 pm on Sonic.)

OF CHOICESTIMELINE

SETS HERSHEActor RAKUL PREET SINGH believes in herselfrather than abiding by the fixed norms of societyor the film industry, says SAIMI SATTAR

ENCOUNTER 45 MINUTES

STUDIO CHAT 30 MINUTES

‘Golmaal animated for kids’

Director ROHIT SHETTY laughs when Sooryavanshi is compared with Avengers and says that hisfilms have an ever-expanding universe, without a suspense. By TEAM VIVA

Photo: Pankaj Kumar

AFP ■ MUNICH

Bayern Munich coachNiko Kovac and hisBorussia Dortmund

counterpart Lucien Favre bothface a trip down memorylane on Saturday as theBundesliga braces itself for themost nail-biting season finalein years.

Both Kovac and Favre willface their former clubs on amuch-anticipated final day, asthe title race goes down to thelast weekend of the season forthe first time since 2010.

Bayern currently sit twopoints ahead of Dortmund,and can claim a seventhstraight league crown if theyavoid defeat at home byKovac's old club EintrachtFrankfurt on Saturday.

Dortmund, meanwhile,travel to Favre's old huntingground at BorussiaMoenchengladbach, knowingthat they can only be crownedchampions if they win andBayern lose.

"We need to focus on ourgame," said Favre onThursday, adding thatDortmund needed to be pre-pared for all eventualitiesagainst Gladbach, whom hecoached between 2011 and2015.

"They play well on thecounter-attack, but they canalso press high up the pitch,and they need to win too," hesaid.

There is more than thetitle at stake on Saturday, withboth Gladbach and Frankfurtsti l l in the running forChampions League qualifica-tion.

Dortmund sporting direc-tor Michael Zorc joked onThursday that he would notsend Frankfurt a crate of beerif they beat Bayern.

"They have something toplay for, so they don't needany extra motivation," he said.

Zorc admitted that Bayernwere in "pole position", but

confirmed that the club weremaking plans for a potentialtit le celebration in theDortmund town centre.

"We are hugely lookingforward to the game, and theexcitement will rise when weare on the way to the stadium,those are nice moments," hesaid.

‘WE MUST WIN TROPHIES'Bayern coach Kovac said

on Thursday that he is proudto be on the verge of the title,having trailed Dortmund by

nine points in December."In winter, we just hoped

we would have any chance atall on the final day, and nowwe are in the comfortable sit-uation of having it in our ownhands," he said.

The Croatian says he isexpecting an emotional after-noon on Saturday, when hisold club Frankfurt come toMunich.

Bayern have not won thetitle in front of their own fanssince 2000, and are preparingto bid farewell to club icons

Arjen Robben and FranckRibery.

"There hasn't been a situ-ation like this in Munich fora while, and we want to bringthe fans with us on Saturday,"he said.

Kovac, who steeredFrankfurt away from relega-tion in 2016 before leadingthem to glory in the GermanCup last season, said that thepressure to win the title isnothing compared to a relega-tion fight.

"When you are fighting

for your existence, that issomething different," he said.

Yet the under-fire coachknows that Saturday's meetingwith his Frankfurt past couldyet define his Bayern future.

With Saturday's t it ledecider and next weekend'sGerman Cup final against RBLeipzig, Kovac has twochances to win silverware inthe next week, and is deter-mined to take both of them inhis maiden year in charge.

"We must win trophies,"he said.

sport 15LUCKNOW | SATURDAY | MAY 18, 2019

AFP ■ TURIN

Coach MassimilianoAllegri will leave Serie A

champions Juventus at theend of the season after guid-ing them to five straightItalian titles, the club said onFriday.

"Massimiliano Allegri willnot be on the Juventus benchfor the 2019/2020 season,"the club announced in a sur-prise development.

Allegri, 55, held meet-ings with the club's hierarchyearlier in the week duringwhich a clear disagreementbetween the two partiesemerged.

He had rejected reportssaying he was about to be dis-missed last Saturday addinghe had already been makingplans for the side's future forthe past six months.

Juventus have alreadywrapped up their record

eighth consecutive title, andAllegri's fifth in as many yearsand he lifted the Coppa Italiaon four occasions sincereplacing Antonio Conte in2014.

The club's former mid-fielder Conte along with

France boss and ex-defenderand boss Didier Deschamps,Champions League finalistMauricio Pochettino ofTottenham and Lazio'sSimone Inzaghi have beenlinked with taking over fromAllegri in the Italian press inrecent weeks.

Despite signing CristianoRonaldo from Real Madridlast summer the Bianconerifailed to make it past thequarter-finals of the Europeanfootball's top competition forthe second successive season.

They were humiliated bymodest-spending Ajax in thelast eight in April despite astar-studded side includingRonaldo, Argentina's PauloDybala and France WorldCup winner Blaise Matuidi.

Allegri guided Juve totwo European finals losing toBarcelona in 2015 beforebeing hammered by RealMadrid two years later.

AFP ■ LIVERPOOL

Dejan Lovren believesLiverpool will be Premier

League title contenders againnext season, saying they are stillimproving under Jurgen Klopp.

Liverpool were pipped tothe title by Manchester City bya single point despite reaching97 points — the third-highesttally in Premier League history.

The Reds have also securedback-to-back ChampionsLeague final appearances, whichLovren said was another indica-tion of their improvement.

"When you look back on thelast three years, it was every sea-son improvement," he told liv-

erpoolfc.com."When Klopp came (in

2015), every year we did better

and better. Last season we didquite well, we had quite a lot ofinjuries and reached the final of

the Champions League."This year, with the new

players, we reached second placewith 97 points, it's incredible.

"And again the final of theChampions League, so defi-nitely we are again one of thecontenders for next year to dosomething great.

"With this team, we can onlyimprove."

Central to that, according toLovren, will be keeping the cur-rent squad together — most keyplayers have already been tieddown to long contracts — andmaking the right additions.

Narrowly missing out onthe title meant the Croatiainternational suffered a second

heartbreaking runners-up fin-ish in 10 months, having beenbeaten by France in the WorldCup final last year.

He is confident, however,this season can end on a highwith victory over Tottenham inMadrid on June 1.

"We gave everything thisseason, it was a brilliant season— especially (at) Anfield and Ithink the fans really enjoyed it,especially the game againstBarca (Liverpool beatBarcelona 4-0 to in the secondleg of their Champions Leaguesemi-final).

"So, at the end we haveanother final and I'm sure wewill come back with big smiles."

AFP ■ MUNICH

Bayern Munich deniedreports on Friday that

coach Niko Kovac is to besacked regardless of whetherhe wins the Bundesliga title,and that Mark van Bommel isbeing lined up as his succes-sor.

Despite being on course towin a league and cup doublein the next week, Kovac hasbeen under growing pressureamid widespread speculationthat he will not be in chargenext season.

On Friday morning, web-sites Spox.com and Goal.comclaimed to have "exclusiveinformation" that Kovacwould be sacked regardless ofwhether he won the title onSaturday and the GermanCup final seven days later.

"Kovac isn't just lackingthe unconditional trust of theclub hierarchy, he also hasmost of the dressing roomagainst him," wrote Spox.

Yet Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who isconsidered one of Kovac'sbiggest boardroom critics,denied the reports.

"There is no decision (tosack Kovac), this report iscompletely made up," he toldBild newspaper.

AFP ■ LONDON

Tottenham Hotspur strikerHarry Kane could miss the

Champions League final butstill captain England in their bidto win the Nations League, saidnational coach GarethSouthgate.

The 25-year-old talismanhas not played since injuringankle ligaments in the first legof Spurs' Champions Leaguequarter-final win overManchester City.

But is hoping to be fit fortheir European showpiece finalwith Liverpool.

That game takes place inMadrid on June 1, just five daysbefore England face Holland intheir Nations League semi-final.

Kane was included in an ini-tial 27-man squad for the tour-nament named by Southgate onThursday, with the final groupof 23 to be confirmed on May27.

"Frankly, we will know a lotmore about that if he is inTottenham's team," he said ofKane's current fitness level.

Asked if Kane needs to playin the Champions League finalto be considered for internation-al duty, Southgate replied: "Notnecessarily, because they mighttake a view that (Lucas) Mourascored a hat-trick (in the semi-final) and Son (Heung-min)

played well so they keep Harryas an impact player.

"So without talking toMauricio (Pochettino), I don'tknow what his thinking on thatwill be. I guess that depends onhow Harry trains in the build-up to the game."

Southgate said he is prepar-ing to make a special case for hiscaptain.

"Where there are one or twoothers we need to know a lotmore about in the next week, heis one I will make an exceptionfor in that I will see how it goesin the final week," he said.

Kane is one of nine playersfrom Tottenham and Liverpoolwho could potentially beinvolved in the ChampionsLeague final and go on to linkup with the England squad inPortugal for the Nations League.

Southgate admitted the all-English final presents a rare chal-lenge.

"That's a test of our manage-ment skills and our collectivespirit as a team," he told BBCRadio 5.

"It's the biggest challenge ofall to compete against eachother, then leave that at the doorand remember with England weare a team, we support eachother.

"That's been a massivestrength for us over the last 18months."

Bundesliga (Match Day 34)

Live from 7:00pm IST

STAR SPORTS NETWORK

PTI ■ PERTH

The Indian men's hockeyteam ended its tour Down

Under with a 2-5 loss to worldNo 2 Australia in the fifth andfinal match here on Friday.

Trent Mitton (11th and24th minutes), Flynn Ogilvie(3rd), Blake Govers (28th) andTim Brand (43rd) scored for thehosts while Nilakanta Sharma(12th) and Rupinderpal Singh(53rd) registered their names onthe scoresheet for India.

The visitors had the open-ing chance in the match, but itwas cleared by Eddie Ockenden,while on the counter Australiaforced Indian goalkeeperKrishan Pathak to make a bril-liant save towards his left side asdeflected it outside for a longcorner.

The following seconds sawAustralia score the openinggoal of the match in the 3rdminute as Ogilvie managed toget the final touch.

Australia won their firstpenalty corner in the 10thminute, but the shot wasblocked by India, and clearedaway.

However, the next minutesaw India play out a loose ballfrom the back which was lost byGurinder Singh, and it wasAustralia's Mitton who tookadvantage as he found himselfin space on the left flank andfired the ball past Pathak tomake it 2-0.

However, India were quickto respond as Gursahibjit playeda pass into the circle from theleft flank, and it was Indianmidfielder Nilakanta who gotthe last touch to put the ball into

the back of the net, and pull agoal back in the 12th minute.

Mitton found himself in agreat position during secondhalf on the right side of thestriking circle as JoshuaSimmonds played a great passto him, and Mitton turned andfired the ball past PR Sreejeshinto the back of the net to makeit 3-1 after 24 minutes.

In the 29th minute,Gurinder Singh was dubiouslyfined for a push inside the 16-yard line by the umpire, and theresulting penalty corner sawBlake Govers fire a shot pastSreejesh's left side into the backof the net to make it 4-1 at thehalf-time.

In the 43rd minute,Armaan Qureshi had a gloriouschance to score India's second

goal but Johan Durst made afine save on his left side, and itwas Australia who managed toscore on the counter as TimBrand pushed the ball pastPathak to make it 5-1 with justone quarter to play.

India needed to score heav-ily in the last quarter and theytried to create chances but theAustralian defence made surethat they did not give themspace in the circle.

It was only in the 53rdminute that India managed toscore their second goal asRupinderpal converted a penal-ty corner as he fired the ball pastDurst's left side to make it 5-2.

The Indian team tried tocreate a few more chances in theremaining minutes, but couldnot score.

PTI ■ NEW DELHI

The Indian football team led by tal-ismanic skipper Sunil Chhetri

Friday welcomed new coach IgorStimac to the new set-up and said theyare determined to give their 100 percent on the field under the formerCroatian World Cupper.

The 51-year-old Stimac, who waspart of Croatia's 1998 World Cupsquad that finished third in France, wason Wednesday officially appointed ashead coach of the Indian team. Hecomes with an experience of over 18years in coaching, structuring anddeveloping football with players backhome and internationally.

As a coach, Stimac's majorachievement was guiding Croatia tothe 2014 FIFA World Cup Finals inBrazil.

"I'd like to extend a warm welcometo the new boss, @stimac_ligor on hisappointment as coach of the Nationalteam. He brings with him tremendousexperience of having coached on some of the biggest stages in football. We will do well to benefit from it," Chhetri had

earlier tweeted soon after Stimac'sappointment.

"This will be a process, onetowards which we will be giving noth-ing less than 100 per cent. I've alreadyspoken with the boys from the nation-al team, and we have begun workingon our fitness as we need to switchmodes soon.

"When there is a change in guardat the helm, what doesn't change is ourdesire to keep improving. What I amalso assuming won't change is the wayall you fans have backed us. Let's allturn to this new chapter," he added.

India defender Sandesh Jhingansaid Stimac's experience will be of greathelp to Indian football.

"At the moment, Croatia areranked 5 in the FIFA ladder, besidesbeing the FIFA World Cup finalists,and him being one of the pioneers ofthat process shows his positive vision,"he said.

"Personally, it's a big bonus for me.He was a central defender during hisplaying days, and had such a great

World Cup in 1998. So it's an oppor-tunity for me to learn a lot."

India goalkeeper Gurpreet SinghSandhu said he is eagerly waiting forthe first national camp under Stimachere.

"I am very excited to be honest. Wehave a busy year coming ahead whichis really good for us to keep develop-ing as a team. We need games like theKing's Cup, and the HeroIntercontinental Cup to challengeourselves to grow. I am really lookingforward, and very happy," Gurpreetwas quoted as saying by All IndiaFootball Federation (AIFF) in its web-site.

"If we keep doing our jobs like wehave in the recent past, I am sure wewill grow even more."

Right-back Pritam Kotal alsocouldn't hide his excitement.

"I am very excited to have IgorStimac as our new coach. His experi-ence will be a great addition to theteam and we will look to go one bet-ter under his leadership," Kotal said.

BUNDESLIGA FINALE GRIPS GERMANYBayern Munich need to avoid defeat to secure 7th straight league title as Dortmund hope miracle on final day

Bayern deny reports

of Kovac departure

Kane will get time toprove fitness: Southgate

We will give our 100%: Chhetri on Stimac's appointment

India end Aus tour

with 2-5 defeat

Allegri to leave Old Lady

L’pool will be PL contenders again: Lovren

BAYERN CURRENTLYSIT TWO POINTS

AHEAD OFDORTMUND, AND CAN

CLAIM A SEVENTHSTRAIGHT CROWN IFTHEY AVOID DEFEAT

AT HOME BY KOVAC'SOLD CLUB EINTRACHT

FRANKFURT ONSATURDAY

sport 16LUCKNOW | SATURDAY | MAY 18, 2019

PTI ■ KOLKATA

Hurling yorkers like Jasprit Bumrah andmaster death bowling is among the few tricks

Navdeep Saini wants to learn while steaming inat nets alongside one of the world's best bowlersand his lieutenants.

The pacer from Karnal, who plays for Delhiin domestic cricket and represents RoyalChallengers Bangalore in the IPL, will be flyingto the United Kingdom for the ICC World Cupas one of India's four net bowlers for the show-piece.

Bumrah's unplayable yorkers aside, Saini alsowants to learn from Bhuvneshwar Kumar andMohammad Shami.

"We have spoken briefly in the IPL but notmuch as we were busy with our respective fran-chises. Bhuvi bhai's swing, Bumrah bhai's york-er and the way Shami bhai seams after pitchingon the length is just amazing. I hope I will learnthese things from them and become a betterbowler," Saini said.

Playing under Virat Kohli at RCB, the 26-year-old took 11 wickets in 13 matches, bowling141 dot balls which was among the top-10 in therecently-concluded IPL.

"It was a great learning experience playingunder the Indian captain. He always backed me.He told me never to take any pressure and alwayskeep the intensity high. Give your 110 per centeffort. It has become a habit for me now," Sainiadded.

He is paying a lot of attention to death bowl-ing these days, something Bumrah has mastered.

"My focus currently is on improving my deathbowling and backing my strength — bowlinghard length ball that comes on top of the stumps.

"It's a deadly delivery. We think batsmen willhit you, but if you make slight variation and bowlin the same area, it becomes a very difficult toclear."

Saini has impressed with his pace in his firstIPL season and was the fastest among Indians,clocking 152.85 kph, which was second only toSouth Africa's Kagiso Rabada's at 154.23 kph.

$10 MILLION ON OFFER IN WORLD CUPLondon: The winners of the upcoming ICC men'sWorld Cup will earn a cash award of $ 4 million, thehighest prize money on offer in the history of thetournament. The winners of the 10-teamtournament will also get a trophy that they will lift atthe historic Lord's on July 16, a statement from theICC read. The total prize pot of $ 10 million will seethe runners-up take home $ 2 million and the losingsemifinalists $ 800,000 each at the end of the 46-day tournament being played across 11 venues inUK from May 30. There are prizes for each leaguematch won, in what promises to be a competitivetournament with the world's best teams playingeach other in a round-robin format.

ICC RELEASES OFFICIAL ICC WCUP SONG London: The ICC on Friday released the officialsong of the Men's World Cup — ‘Stand By' withLORYN and Rudimental across all streamingplatforms. ‘Stand By' — a collaboration betweennew artist LORYN and one of the UK's mostsuccessful and influential acts, Rudimental - will beplayed in ground and city events across thetournament when the showpiece event begins onMay 30. The ICC Men's World Cup is one of theworld's biggest global sporting events, attractingaround one million sporting fans soaking up theaction in the UK and a further billion fans watchingworld-wide across the 48-match event. 'Stand By'will provide a common voice for fans when theyshow their passion for their respective teamsduring the month and a half long tournament whichculminates on July 14.

IND EVES TO TOUR AUS FOR A SERIES Melbourne: India women's A team will embark onits maiden tour to Australia in December this yearfor a limited-overs series, Cricket Australiaconfirmed on Friday. The series is a part of anagreement between CA and BCCI to host annual Aseries between the two nations. The first suchseries was held in October last year, when AustraliaA toured India for an ODI and T20 series. During thetour, India A will play three ODIs and as many T20matches in Brisbane and Gold Coast respectivelystarting December 12. The three ODIs betweenIndia 'A' and Australia 'A' will be played in Brisbaneon December 12, 14 and 16 while the T20 matcheswill be hosted by Gold Coast December 19, 21 and23.

PATHAN PART OF CPL 2019 PLAYER DRAFTNew Delhi: Irfan Pathan is one of 536 players fromaround the world who have signed up for theCarribean Premier League (CPL) player draft. Whilethis is the first time an Indian has applied in thedraft, Pathan's participation would be subject towhether he gets a No Objection Certificate (NOC)from the Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI), which maintains a strict policy of notallowing Indian players to play in foreign T20leagues. Pathan's name appears on the CPL'swebsite among several others who have madethemselves available for the draft, which is to beheld on May 22 in London. His is the only namefrom India. Pathan, who has got over 100 Testwickets to his name, has not featured in the Indianteam since a T20I against South Africa in 2012. Hehas also not been a part of the Indian PremierLeague over the past two seasons.

MARTA LEADS BRAZIL IN WORLD CUPRio De Janerio: Veteran Brazilian stars Marta,Formiga and Cristiane are among the 23-strongBrazilian squad selected for the women's WorldCup in France next month, coach Vadao said onThursday. Chasing their first World Cup trophy,Brazil will face Jamaica in their opening Group Cmatch in Grenoble on June 9, before taking onAustralia on June 13 in Montpellier and Italy inValenciennes on June 18. "We are optimistic for agreat campaign and look for that coveted worldtitle," coach Oswaldo Alvarez, better known asVadao, said. Crowned the world player of the year arecord six times, Orlando Pride forward Marta, 33,will captain Brazil in their attempt to finally win thecoveted trophy. At 41, Formiga, who recentlyextended her contract with Paris Saint-Germain to2020, will be the oldest player in the tournamentthat kicks off on June 7. Agencies

SINGLES

PTI ■ NEW DELHI

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's six-hitting prowess is still intactand the Indian team manage-

ment must give him the license toattack from the word go during theWorld Cup, suggests senior off-spin-ner Harbhajan Singh.

A trend shows that Dhoni has beentaking the game deep before going fora final assault but his one-time nation-al and current CSK teammate wantshim to go back to his big-hitting ways.

"I feel he is at his best when he hitsfrom the onset. Some of his bestinnings have come when he started theonslaught straightaway. I feel the teammanagement should give him andHardik Pandya the licence to bat theway they want to. No restrictions, onlygo for the jugular at No 5," Harbhajansaid.

For Harbahajan, top-order bats-men Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma,Virat Kohli and KL Rahul can build theinnings, so Dhoni has the freedom toattack.

But what about his problems in themiddle overs when spinners likeMitchell Santner or Nathan Lyon willbe operational?

"That exactly is my point. TheDhoni of the old would hit a six off thesecond ball off any spinner and thoseare big sixes. He should and can stilldo it as I have seen at the CSK nets.Uske chhakkon mein bahot jaan hai(He still hits mighty sixes)," said themember of the victorious 2011 World

Cup squad.Harbhajan wants Dhoni to have

the same intimidating presence that heand Virender Sehwag had some dur-ing their best years of internationalcricket.

"I can tell you how a bowler's mindworks. Suppose I am bowling toKevin Pietersen and Ian Bell in tan-dem, I would be more worried aboutKP than Bell. I could bowl a couple ofdot balls to KP but he had the ability

to take me on. Bell on the other handwould push for singles. Dhoni like KPcan intimidate bowlers. He has thateffect," said one of India's greatestspinners.

On the team front, Harbhajan saidthat there is a bit of worry about thenumber 4 and 6 slots going into theWorld Cup.

"I don't see anyone except for KLRahul fitting into that No. 4 slot. Sothat's a bit of a worry and also No 6slot where Kedar Jadhav will play. Ihope that Jadhav gets fully fit beforethe South Africa game (June 5) as itis a very important slot," said themember of the two-time World cham-pionship winning team.

Apart from world's best batsmanVirat Kohli, the other game changer forIndia would be Jasprit Bumrah.

"Sachin Tendulkar called himworld's best fast bowler at the moment.Indeed he is, for the impact he has cre-ated. If you take Bumrah out of thatIndia line-up, it's like you rip a heartout of the body. He is that precious. Heis your Virat Kohli of Indian bowling,"said Harbhajan.

Harbhajan's four semi-finalists areIndia, Australia, England and NewZealand.

Asked why no West Indies orPakistan, the veteran off-spinneropined, "I am not saying they can't butNew Zealand is a team that does wellin big events. Best part of that set upis their boys do the basics well on aconsistent basis. That makes a huge dif-ference in a big event," he concluded.

PTI ■ NOTTINGHAM

Pakistan's Imam-ul-Haq suffered apre-World Cup injury scare after

being struck by England pacemanMark Wood on Friday but scansshowed he did not suffer any brokenbones.

The 23-year-old left-handedopener had to retire hurt after a ballby Wood hit him on the elbow.

The incident took place in thepenultimate match of the five-gameseries at Trent Bridge, when Imammissed an intended pull off an 89mile-per-hour (143 kilometres-per-hour) delivery from the Durhampaceman.

Imam, fresh from his career-best151 in the third ODI at Bristol onTuesday, fell to the ground and wincedon the turf in agony.

Imam, the nephew of Pakistangreat and chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq received several minutes' treat-ment before retiring hurt on three notout, with the tourists then nine with-

out loss in the fourth over.He was taken to hospital but a

Pakistan team spokesman told AFPthat scans showed there were no bro-ken bones, with swelling on his leftarm the full extent of the injury.

The fact his injury was not assevere as first feared was confirmedwhen Imam resumed his inningsafter Pakistan lost their seventh wick-et on 319 in the 48th over.

He finished on six not out in atotal of 340 for seven.

AFP ■ ROME

Roger Federer and NaomiOsaka both pulled out of

the Italian Open on Fridaybefore their quarter-finalmatches due to injuries just aweek before the start of theFrench Open, as defendingchampion Rafael Nadal sweptinto the last four.

The eight-time championcame through 6-4, 6-0 againstcompatriot FernandoVerdasco to set up a rematchwith Greek rising star StefanosTsitsipas for a place in thefinal.

Tsitsipas advanced afterFederer -- returning to clayafter a two-year absence --retired with a right leg injurybefore their game.

"I am not 100 percentphysically and after consulta-tion with my team, it wasdetermined that I not play,"said 37-year-old Federer.

The 32-year-old Nadal,seeded second, advanced tohis fourth straight semi-finalbut has not managed to gofurther on clay this season,ahead of his bid for a 12thFrench Open title at RolandGarros, starting on May 26.

Tsitsipas beat Nadal inlast week's Madrid Opensemi-finals before falling toNovak Djokovic, but lost tothe Spaniard in the AustralianOpen semis earlier this year.

Reigning US andAustralian Open championOsaka had earlier said shecould not compete because of

a problem with her hand."I woke up this morning

and I couldn't really move mythumb," the 21-year-old tolda press conference.

"I can't move my hand. Ican't move my thumb and I'mnot sure I can play my match.

"I tried to practice andgrip my racket and I just feltthis pain every time I tried tomove my hand in differentdirections."

The Japanese star was dueto meet Madrid Open cham-pion and sixth seed KikiBertens.

Bertens goes through tomeet either Britain's JohannaKonta or Czech Marketa

Vondrousova.Osaka said she could stay

in Rome before going on tothe French Open, but did notrule out competing in RolandGarros.

Osaka won twice onThursday after the previousday's play was rained off,retaining the world numberone spot ahead of the FrenchOpen.

Federer was playing inthe Italian capital to preparefor his return to the FrenchOpen for the first time since2015.

"I am disappointed that Iwill not be able to competetoday," said Federer, who also

reached the quarter-finals inMadrid.

"Rome has always beenone of my favourite cities tovisit and I hope to be backnext year."

The 20-time Grand Slamchampion had been on courtfor nearly four hours onThursday, saving two matchpoints to win through in threesets against Borna Coric afterearlier easing to a straight setswin over Portgual's JoaoSousa.

The former world numberone had been a late additionto the Rome tournament as hesought clay-court practiceahead of his bid to add to hislone French Open title from2009.

On court, Argentina'sDiego Schwartzman dis-patched Japanese sixth seedKei Nishikori to reach thesemi-finals.

Schwartzman, 26, won 6-4, 6-2 in 87 minutes in thequarter-final for his first winin four meetings with formerUS Open finalist Nishikori.

The world number 24, aFrench Open quarter-finalistlast year, has not dropped a setso far on the red clay of theForo Italico and next faceseither the top-rankedDjokovic or compatriot JuanMartin del Potro.

"It's not the best result Iwanted, but I'm getting betterever y tournament fromBarcelona and looking for-ward to playing the French,"said Nishikori.

Saini hopes tolearn how Bumrahbowls yorkers

Navdeep Saini bowls during Royal Challengers Bangaloretraining session during Indian Premier League RCB/Twitter

‘Dhoni, Pandya should beallowed to attack from start’Harbhajan suggests team management to let MS & Hardik play their natural game

Imam escapes serious

injury after painful blow

PTI ■ MELBOURNE

India are the "sleeping giants" ofwomen's cricket with the resources

they have at their disposal, feelsAustralia coach Matthew Mott.

The interest in women's cricket inIndia has been on the rise ever sincethey finished runners-up in the 2017World Cup in the United Kingdom.

India also entered the semi-finalsof last November's T20 World Cup inthe West Indies.

"They're (India) the sleeping giantin women's cricket. They've got acountry that's mad on the game, andin their batting they've already gotthree or four world-class players," saidMott.

"The depth in their batting is out-standing, their bowling's got potentialas well and their fielding has improvedout of sight," he was quoted as sayingby cricket.Com.Au.

India entered two World Cupfinals (2005, 2017) but finished on thelosing on both occasions.

But Mott believes if they contin-ue in the same vein, the future is brightfor women's cricket in India.

"They're going to be a force inworld cricket. Having made thatWorld Cup final (in 2017), and they'vegot a country of a billion peoplebehind them as well, they're going tobe a huge force," said the 45-year-oldformer Queensland all-rounder.

‘India sleeping giantof woman's cricket’

NADAL ENTERS ROME SEMIS;FEDERER, OSAKA PULL OUT INJURED

The 32-year-oldNadal, seededsecond, advancedto his fourthstraight semi-finalbut has notmanaged to gofurther on claythis season,ahead of his bidfor a 12th FrenchOpen title atRoland Garros,starting on May 26

FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT KICKS-OFF

Ashiana Rovers, Tectro Football Club, Milani Football Club and Millennium School A wonthe respective matches to enter the quarter-finals of Excellia School Seven-a-side FootballTournament at Milka Singh ground on Friday.RESULTS: Ashiyana Rovers bt Millennium School B 5-0; Techtro Football Club bt InvincibleFootball Club 7-0; Milani Footb all Club bt Excellia Schhol 5-0; Millennium School A bt DPS,Indira nagar 3-2.

INDIAN ELEVEN ENTER FINALIndian Eleven thrashed AS Gymkhana by 100 runs to enter the final of Surya Trophy at Chowk

Stadium on Friday.BRIEF SCORES:IE: 226 (Anjaneya 65, Mudassar 60; Yaiswa 30/3)ASG: 126 (Chirag 34, Lalit 17; Arun 15/3, Virat 16/2)

SANYAM EMERGES WINNERSanyam Srivastava

of CMS Gomti Nagarwon the 14th Lucknowdistrict U-11 OpenChess Championshipheld at LucknowDistrict ChessAcademy on Friday. Inthe last round, Sanyamsplit the point with topseed Aryan Pandey, butlifted the trophy onbetter tie-break.Secretary, LucknowDistrict Chess SportsAssociation AKRaizada gave away theprizes.

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