nearby playing of national anthem in cinema halls made...

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OPPORTUNITIES A PAGE 2

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NEARBY

The Supreme Court on Tuesday modi�ed its November30, 2016, interim order andmade it optional for cinemahalls to play the 52secondnational anthem before every show.

A Bench, led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra,clari�ed that it is not mandatory to play the anthem before screenings.

The court left the choiceof whether to play the anthem or not to the discretionof individual cinema hallowners. However, if the anthem was played, patronswere bound to stand up inrespect.

The court clari�ed that theexception granted to the disabled persons “shall remain

in force on all occasions.”The court banked on a UnionHome Ministry order of 2015which directs that “whenever the Anthem is sung orplayed, the audience shallstand to attention.”

“Playing of the Anthem isdirective, but showing respect is mandatory,” Chief Justice Misra observed.

Playing of national anthem incinema halls made optional Supreme Court says it must be left to the discretion of the theatre owners

Krishnadas Rajagopal

NEW DELHI

CONTINUED ON A PAGE 10

India will sign a pact withthe United Kingdom for areturn of illegal Indian migrants within a month oftheir being detected byauthorities.

The U.K. has consistently raised the issue of returnof illegal migrants — said tonumber in thousands —with India. The memorandum of understandingcomes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’sproposed visit in March.

During her visit to Indiain 2016, British Prime Minister Theresa May said theU.K. would consider an improved visa deal, “if, at thesame time, we can step upthe speed and volume ofreturns of Indians with noright to remain in the U.K.”

India, U.K. to ink illegalmigrants pact

Vijaita Singh

Nistula Hebbar

New Delhi


The United States has noplans under considerationto discontinue the extensionof H1B visa beyond sixyears, when bene�ciariesapply for a permanent residency (green card), authorities clari�ed on Monday.

Speculative reporting onthe issue over the last 10days had caused considerable panic among IndianAmericans.

A spokesperson of theU.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which administers the programme,said: “USCIS is not considering a regulatory change thatwould force H1B visa holders to leave the U.S. bychanging our interpretationof Section 104(c) of AC21,which provides for H1B extensions beyond the sixyear

limit.” ‘AC21’ or the American Competitiveness in theTwenty First Century Act isthe law passed by the Congress in 2000 governing theextension of H1B visas.

‘No modi�cation being considered’

Varghese K. George

Washington

No change inH-1B rules: U.S.

NO PLAN TO REINTERPRET

H-1B-LINKED CLAUSE A PAGE 12

Triangle trail: The Navy’s MiG 29K aircraft in formation at a �ypast during the operational manoeuvres of the Western Fleet ships. Minister of Defence Nirmala Sitharaman attended the exercise. * MINISTRY OF DEFENCE/AFP

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The art of �ying

The Ranchi police on Tuesday ordered a probe intohow RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s longtime cook andanother aide got themselves imprisoned in theBirsa Munda Central Jailhours before Mr. Prasadwas convicted in a fodderscam case and sent to thejail on December 23 last.

Aides join Lalu Prasad inRanchi jailSpecial correspondent

Patna

FOLLOWING THEIR LEADER

TO PRISON A PAGE 11

There is no viable method atpresent other than hangingto execute condemned prisoners. Lethal injections areunworkable and often fail,the Centre told the SupremeCourt on Tuesday.

The government was responding to a query from thecourt on alternative modesof execution.

The court had previouslysaid a condemned convictshould die in peace and notin pain. A human being is entitled to dignity even indeath.

Issuing notice, the courthad asked the governmentto consider the the “dynam

ic progress” made in modern science to adopt painlessmethods of causing death.

Additional SolicitorGeneral Pinky Anand, whileseeking more time to �le a

detailed a�davit, orally submitted that “today, there isno viable method other thanhanging.”

No viable alternative tohanging, Centre tells courtSupreme Court has sought less painful means of execution

Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI


Claiming that madrasaswere producing “more terrorists than civil servants,”Shia Central Waqf Boardchairman Wasim Rizvi onTuesday appealed to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi toabolish madrasa boardsacross the country and recategorise them as“schools” with a common,secular education policy.

Mr. Rizvi suggested thatmadrasas be registered un

der various State educationboards, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)

or ICSE with a common education policy.

Mr. Rizvi addressed a similar letter to Uttar PradeshChief Minister YogiAdityanath.

Illiteracy issue“The primary reasons for[illiteracy and backwardness among Muslims] revolve around the four corners of the madrasas,” hesaid.

Shut madrasa boards: Shia Waqf head Writes to Prime Minister and U.P. Chief Minister

Omar Rashid

LUCKNOW


Wasim Rizvi

The Home Ministry hasappointed a 12memberinterministerial committee,which will take a �nal callon the playing of thenational anthem in cinemahalls and public places.

The committee, led byAdditional Secretary B.R.Sharma, will recommendchanges, if needed, in theexisting laws. The �rstmeeting will be held onJanuary 19, an o�cial of theHome Ministry said.

12-memberpanel to take a call Special Correspondent

New Delhi


The rare discovery of a200yearold shipwreck isset to turn the quaint �shingvillage of Bheemunipatnam,about 45 km fromVisakhapatnam, into thenext big scuba divingdestination of the country.

The wreck, located justsix metres below the seasurface, was �rst spotted byscuba divers Balaram Naiduand dive master Anil Kumaron December 21. The teammade their secondexploration to the wreck siteon Monday and the �ndings

have the scuba divingcommunity all excited.

“Preliminaryobservations revealed the

shipwreck site to be spreadover a vast area. Our�ndings indicate the ship tobe around 200 years old,

and 150 metres in length.But we are still in theprocess of putting togetherall the facts,” said Mr. Naidu,who is also the director ofLivein Adventures, aVisakhapatnambased �rmthat conducts adventuresports. On Monday, thescuba diving team spottedparrot �sh, yellow backsnappers, sweetlips,ribbon�sh, moray eel, andlion �sh, among otheraquatic life in and aroundthe shipwreck.

According to experiencedscuba divers, this isprobably the only wreck site

in the world at such ashallow depth, making itaccessible even to novicedivers and nonswimmers.“Most of the world’s famousshipwreck sites are locateddeep in the ocean whereonly experienced andcerti�ed scuba divers cango,” Mr. Kumar said.

According to historianEdward Paul, the location issaid to be north ofBheemunipatnam, near‘Santhapalli rocks’. Thisarea has a record of shipssinking due to the rocky seabed. The British built a lighthouse here in 1840.

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Vizag could be India’s new scuba diving hotspot

Nivedita Ganguly

VISAKHAPATNAM

Discovery of a 200-year-old shipwreck has the diving community all excited

Intrepid explorers: Scuba divers exploring the shipwreck,spotted o� Bheemunipatnam. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

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Modi govt. threat todemocracy: MevaniNEW DELHI

Jignesh Mevani, the face ofnewfound Dalitassertiveness in Gujarat,made his debut on thenational political stage onTuesday with a rally herewhere he called the Modigovernment a “threat” todemocracy and Constitution.

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A man who consumed poison before UttarakhandMinister Subodh Uniyallast week after su�eringlosses allegedly due to demonetisation and GST diedduring treatment in Dehradun on Tuesday, hospitalsources said. Prakash Pandey, a resident of Haldwani, was a transporter.

Debt-riddenman who tookpoison, dies

Press Trust of India

dehradun

DETAILS ON A PAGE 6

Flight attendant sent to judicial custodyNEW DELHI

A Delhi court on Tuesdayremanded in judicial custodythe �ight attendant arrestedby the Directorate ofRevenue Intelligence (DRI)on Sunday night for allegedlytrying to smuggle $4,80,200(over �3 crore) out of thecountry.

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 20182EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Workplace gender-balanceprogrammes that keepmale employees out of

the picture, are lop-sided, incom-plete and unsustainable. Real bal-ance could be achieved only ifmen shared the responsibility ofpromoting these programmes. To-wards this end, AVTAR, a diversityconsulting group, has partneredwith Working Mother for “MaleAlly Legacy Award”, which seeksto recognise and reward maleleaders who have mentored wo-men professionals into leadershiproles.

Here are what two awardeeshave to say about the organisa-tional philosophies that havedriven their mentoring experi-ences.

SUSHOBHAN DASGUPTAAt Johnson & Johnson Medical,

we train employees to spot “un-conscious bias”. Many of us don’trealise that we unconsciouslypractise bias. For example, whena female employee is being inter-viewed, unconscious bias maycreep in. We may think of the pos-sibility that she will go the familyway sometime in the future andwonder if it is worth investing inthe person.

Over the last two years, wehave had a Harvard professorcome down to train our employ-ees to guard themselves againstunconscious bias. Using scientifictechniques and presenting ex-amples, she helps us to under-

stand unconscious gender-relatedbias at the workplace and showsus how to fight it.

One of the biggest challenges in

the healthcare sector is that manydepartments are dominated bymen. Today, women constitute 16% of employees at J&J. At the lead-ership level, women constitute25% of the group.

A shift in thinking

Diversity and inclusion have to be-gin with our thinking. And, theyhave to start from the top. Bring-ing in an inclusive culture at theleadership level will make all thedifference.

We have male and female em-ployees from the managementboard who are part of the di-versity and inclusion council. So,when you have diversity withinthe diversity council, the voicesare much more rational, decisionsare more balanced and diversityand inclusion become much

stronger.(Sushobhan Dasgupta is Man-

aging Director at Johnson & John-son Medical India and Vice-Presid-ent, Orthopaedics — Asia Pacific,Johnson & Johnson Medical)

S.V. NATHAN

It is essential to understand theunique problems faced by femaleemployees, at various stages oftheir career, and offer them sup-port.

To get male employees to un-derstand these challenges, wehave what is called “Men AsChampions” programme. It is anatural offshoot of the manygender-sensitive initiatives wehave at Deloitee. These initiativesare reviewed continually with theobjective of improving them —which explains why our diversity

ratio keeps improving. In recenttimes, the number of women em-ployees has increased from 32 %to 38% over the past three years.

Care for working mothers

A quick run-through of two ofthese initiatives. Under the DMOM(Deloitte Mothers) programme,we offer free transport for preg-nant women who are in their lasttrimester.

We grant six-and-a-half monthsof leave to pregnant women em-ployees — we are among the firstorganisations to have introducedthis feature. We have a specialprogramme to fast-track the ca-reer growth of women managers.

(S.V. Nathan is Partner andChief Talent Officer at DeloitteIndia)

When men become powerful allies in gender diversity programmes, the results are impressive

Liffy Thomas

Sushobhan Dasgupta

S.V. Nathan

A balanced approach

When a condition of honesty andsincerity is recognised to exist, er-rors of judgement, defects of ability,are sympathetically endured. Theyare expected. Employees don’tascribe infallibility to leaders ormanagement.

What does disturb them is insin-cerity and the appearance of insin-cerity when the facts are not in theirpossession.

***Organisations endure, however,

in proportion to the breadth of themorality by which they are gov-erned.

Thus the endurance of organisa-tion depends upon the quality ofleadership; and that quality derives

from the breadth of the moralityupon which it rests.

Chester Irving Barnard (1886-1961)is known for his work in organisa-tional studies

Barnard on sincerity in leadership

QUOTING THE GURU

have distinguished themselvesthrough their innovations in humancapital management will be awardedat a leadership summit, ‘LeadingFrom Behind’.

According to a release, the“HR40Under40” award winners willbe identified by a jury consisting ofacclaimed HR professionals fromcorporate India. The jury will selectthe winners from a short-list of 100young HR leaders, who had earlierbeen chosen from a list of over 650.The 40 short-listed HR professionalswill receive mentoring over a one-year period.

Other highlights of the summit in-clude: the release of findings ofPeople Development Index fromJombay, a talent assessment and de-velopment company, and talks by apanel of experts.

For details, visit http://leading-frombe hind.jombay.com/

Rewards conclave

When: January 12Where: Mumbai At the fifth edition of Total Re-

wards & Wellness Conclave, organ-ised by People Matters, leaders froma variety of industries will come to-gether to share ideas on how to man-age rewards, benefits and promote apositive culture and employee en-gagement.

The conclave will feature paneldiscussions, talk shows, workshopsand an award function.

For details, visit https://www.totalrewards conclave.com***

The big 40

When: January 17Where: Mumbai Forty young HR professionals who

HR BUZZ


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THE HINDU NOIDA/DELHI

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The BJP has won the posts ofmayor, senior deputy mayorand deputy mayor of theChandigarh Municipal Corporation, the voting forwhich was held here onTuesday.

Davesh Moudgil was elected mayor, Gurpreet SinghDhillon senior deputy mayorand Vinod Aggarwal deputymayor in the 27memberChandigarh Municipal Corporation, an election o�cespokesman said here aftercounting.

Mr. Moudgil will be the22nd mayor of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation.He bagged 22 votes asagainst his Congress rival Davinder Singh Babla who got�ve votes. Mr. Dhillon got 21votes as against Congress rival Sheela Phool Singh whogot six votes.

Mr. Aggarwal got 22 votesas against Congress candidate Ravinder Kaur who gotfour votes, while one vote

was declared invalid.In the 27member Corpo

ration, the strength of BJP is20, Congress four, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) one, Independent one and one vote isof sitting MP Kirron Kher ofthe BJP.

The nine nominatedcouncillors could not vote

this year as their right to exercise franchise was struckdown by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in August2017.

In the runup to the polls,the BJP, despite having a majority, witnessed rift withinthe party which was sortedout on Monday. BJP rebel

and outgoing mayor AshaKumari Jaswal and Ravi KantSharma had earlier �ledtheir nominations as Independents, but after a trucewith Mr. Moudgil, they withdrew from the race.

Mr. Moudgil is consideredto be close to former partyMP Satya Pal Jain.

BJP wins all 3 mayoral postsin Chandigarh civic body Davesh Moudgil defeats Davinder Singh Babla of the Congress for mayor’s post


Chandigarh

The newly elected mayor of Chandigarh, Davesh Moudgil (centre), taking out a victoryprocession on Tuesday. * AKHILESH KUMAR

DELHI Timings

Wednesday, January 10

RISE 07:15 SET 17:43

RISE 01:18 SET 13:04

Thursday, January 11

RISE 07:15 SET 17:43

RISE 02:11 SET 13:40

Friday, January 12

RISE 07:15 SET 17:44

RISE 03:05 SET 14:18

The Punjab government hasdecided to adopt an openbidding mechanism for mining at suitable panchayatland across the State.

“Three thousand acres ofpanchayat land on thebanks of rivers, which issuitable for mining, hasbeen identi�ed, the eauction of which would yield anincome of �100 crore,” saidTript Rajinder Singh Bajwa,Rural Development andPanchayats, Water Supply &Sanitation Minister, at apress conference here.

Mr. Bajwa said that hisDepartment would encourage the planting of saplingsbesides promoting the concept of agroforestry so as toincrease the income of thepanchayats.

“The Department hasidenti�ed 1 lakh acre areaout of which in the �rst year35,000 acres would bebrought under use. Fiftylakh saplings under theMGNREGA would be planted,” he said.

Mr. Bajwa added that to

end the problem of spoilheap in the villages, the government proposes to establish rendering plants onPPP mode for scienti�callydisposing o� the carcassesof dead animals.

Pilot projects“The plants would be coming up at Patiala, Amritsarand Ludhiana as pilot projects. This would lead to anincome of �5,000 from every dead animal after processing while putting a stopto the menace of straydogs,” he said.

Punjab to go for openbidding for mining‘3,000 acres of panchayat land identi�ed’

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHANDIGARH

Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa ata press conference inChandigarh on Tuesday.

* AKHILESH KUMAR

Rajasthan Education Minister Vasudev Devnani hassaid that BrahmaguptaIIdiscovered the law of gravitybefore Isaac Newton.

Speaking at a programmeat Rajasthan University hereon Monday, he asserted thatBrahmaguptaII came upwith the gravitation law athousand years ago.

“We all have studied thatNewton gave the law of gravitation, but delving deeper,we can �nd that BrahmaguptaII came up with thetheory of gravitation 1,000years before (Newton). Whydon’t we include this fact inthe curriculum,” Mr. Devna

ni asked.The Minister said the

school curriculum waschanged and close to 200Indian personalities, including Rajput king MaharanaPratap, were included.

He also stressed that education should bevaluebased.


Jaipur

Vasudev Devnani.* FILE PHOTO

Minister claims Indiandiscovered law of gravity

A 17yearold di�erentlyabled girl was burnt to deathhere allegedly by the fatherand maternal uncle of a girlher brother had eloped withabout a week ago, the policesaid on Tuesday.

Both the accused were arrested, a police o�cer said.

The girl was set on �re onSunday night when she wasalone at home. She succumbed to her burns whileundergoing treatment onMonday, Nishatpura policestation incharge ChainSingh Raghuvanshi said.

“In her dying statement,the girl named two persons Radha Mohan Agnihotriand Amit Tiwari who, shesaid, had set her a�re after

pouring petrol on her. Boththe accused have been arrested,” he said, adding thatTiwari was Agnihotri’sbrotherinlaw.

The deceased, who livedwith her family, and the twoaccused were neighbours,Mr. Raghuvanshi said.

On January 2, Agnihotrihad �led a complaint alleging that the victim’s 21yearold brother had abductedhis 17yearold daughter theprevious day.

The police had lodged acase of abduction againstthe man and launched aprobe.

Agnihotri and Tiwariwere putting pressure onthe victim to reveal herbrother’s whereabouts, Mr.Raghuvanshi said.

Di�erentlyabled girlset a�re by neighboursPress Trust of India

Bhopal


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HC asks Amala Paul toappear before policeKOCHI

The Kerala High Court has

asked actor Amala Paul, who

is accused of evading vehicle

tax in Kerala by registering

her luxury car at Puducherry,

to appear before Crime

Branch officials on January

15. The court issued the

directive while considering

her anticipatory bail.

IN BRIEF

Order on Dileep’spetition on January 17KOCHI

The judicial first class

magistrate court in Angamaly

on Tuesday deferred the

pronouncement of its order

on the leakage of the

chargesheet in the actor

abduction case to January 17.

Actor Dileep, accused in the

case, had pleaded that

leakage of contents would

affect the final judgment.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to examine a pleachallenging the quashing ofcriminal and corruptioncharges variously againstformer Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa,State Urban DevelopmentMinister D.K. Shivakumarand public o�cials for the illegal purchase, transfer anddenoti�cation of a governmentacquired land forpro�t.

A Bench led by JusticeA.K. Sikri issued notice to theaccused on a special leavepetition �led by one KabbaleGowda, represented byPrashant Bhushan and K. Parameshwar, against a Karnataka High Court decision ofDecember 2015.

HC order The High Court had set asidea trial court order of February 2012 to prosecute the

politicians and other accused and quashed the entire criminal proceedings.

“The High Court completely erred in not appreciating the entire case asforming part of one big criminal conspiracy betweenpublic servants amountingto criminal misconduct under Section 13(1)(d)(iii) underthe Prevention of CorruptionAct, 1987. This is clear case,

where valuable land, under�nal noti�cation, was disposed o�, without followingany legal norms. The electedrepresentatives and civil servants colluded to obtain pecuniary advantage for another person, without publicinterest,” Mr. Bhushan andMr. Parameshwar argued tothe prima facie satisfactionof the Bench.

Mr. Gowda was the defac

to complainant in the case.The history of the land

measuring over �ve acresdates back to 1962 and reveals the alleged corrupt actsright from the level of the village accountant to the thenChief Minister, the petitionsaid. The then purchaser decided to convert the land useof over four acres from agricultural to industrial. TheBangalore DevelopmentAuthority (BDA) acquiredthe land in 1986.

Land bought, registeredDespite the BDA acquisition,Mr. Shivakumar, who wasthe Urban Development Minister, purchased the landfor �1.62 crore in 2003, thepetition said. The transaction was registered by thethen Subregistrar, HamidAli, an accused in the case,despite speci�c prohibitionunder the Karnataka Land(Restriction on Transfer)Act, 1991. Transfer of govern

mentacquired land is punishable with three years’ imprisonment,” the petitionsaid. The land registrationwas done despite revenuedocuments showing that theland stood in the BDA’sname. In 2004, another o�cial accused in the case,Rame Gowda, then SpecialDeputy Commissioner(Land), went on to illegallyconvert the land use of theproperty from industrial toresidential.

“Accused Yeddyurappa, inhis capacity as the Chief Minister, denoti�ed the landfrom acquisition proceedings on 13.5.2010. This wasdone unilaterally despite aspeci�c �le noting asking the�le to be placed before thedenoti�cation committeeon 23.7.2009. The o�cerwho recommended that the�le be placed before the denotifcation committee wasimmediately transferredout,” the petition submitted.

Setback to Yeddyurappa, ShivakumarSupreme Court to examine plea challenging quashing of corruption charges against them

Krishnadas Rajagopal

NEW DELHI

B.S. Yeddyurappa D.K. Shivakumar

In�ghting in the Congressover ticket for kith and kin ofleaders came to the fore onTuesday, with senior leaderand former MLC VaijanathPatil throwing a tantrum over the denial of a MLC ticketto his son and calling Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president G. Parameshwara names.

The incident happenedafter a press conferencecalled by Dr. Parameshwaraat the Congress o�ce here.Mr. Patil, who was in thesame hall, stood up at theend of the conference andaddressed Dr. Parameshwa

ra as a “sycophant”.“Both the Chief Minister

and KPCC president had assured my son, Vikram Patil,a Council seat to contestfrom the Northeast Graduates’ constituency. However, they backtracked because I objected to theviolation of norms under Article 371 ( J), giving specialstatus to the Hyderabad Karnataka region, in the noti�cation that called for the appointment of 6,000 dataentry operators,” Mr. Patiltold The Hindu. “I am hurtby this attitude and am ofthe opinion that senior leaders are sidelined in the party.”

Pointing out that the sonsof former Chief Minister N.Dharam Singh and Leader ofOpposition in the Lok SabhaM. Mallikarjun Kharge weregiven ticket, he said: “I amnot opposing that. While Mr.Singh’s two sons have got representation, Mr. Kharge’sson has been made a Minister. But when it comes to myson, they have betrayed usafter giving assurances. Moreover, I have not even beengiven the reason why theyrejected my son.”

The general trend amongparty leaders lobbying andsucceeding in getting ticketfor their relatives in the pasthas upset party workers.

Row breaks out in Congressover ticket for generation nextFormer MLC Vaijanath Patil criticises Karnataka leadership

Special Correspondent

Bengaluru

At a time when the AndhraPradesh unit of the BJP andTelangana Congress leadersare up in arms against him,Governor ESL Narasimhanhas asserted that his meeting with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh was routine and no signi�canceshould be attached to it.

He met President RamNath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and theHome Minister in New Delhion Tuesday.

Mr. Narasimhan, alongwith other members of theCommittee of Governors,constituted during the 48thconference of Governors inOctober 2017, submitted areport ‘RajyapalVikas keRajdoot: Catalytic role ofGovernors as Agents forChange in Society’ to thePresident. The committee

was constituted to examinethe role of Governors in taking forward the developmental process.

While Congress leadershave accused him of favouring the TRS government,BJP leaders have criticisedhim for ‘not being fair toA.P.’ Brushing aside the allegations, Mr. Narasimhansaid: “The di�erences between elders and children ina family are common andtherefore, they should notbe given importance.”

‘Interaction with Rajnath routine a�air’

Staff Reporter

VIJAYAWADA

ESL Narasimhan

Narasimhan meetsPresident, PM Modi

Within days of the suicide ofa college girl in Mudigere following alleged online harassment by some Hindutva activists over her friendshipwith a Muslim boy, leadersof the Bajrang Dal havespread a message threatening that they would “thrash”any Hindu woman foundspending time with youthsfrom other religions.

Bajrang Dal leaders havedefended the messagewhich has gone viral, statingthat it was issued “in the interest of avoiding instancesof ‘love jihad’.”

Tudukuru Manjunath,

Chikkamagaluru districtconvener of Bajrang Dal,told The Hindu the messagewas intended to “protectHindu girls from falling into‘love jihad’ trap”.

He said the out�t’s localleaders had “circulated themessage with the right intention” and were “acting tosave the victims”.

However, Mr. Manjunathdenied any role of his out�tin the suicide of college student Dhanyashree, 20, onSaturday.

The Mudigere police havearrested M.V. Anil, presidentof Mudigere town unit of theBJP’s Yuva Morcha on this issue, based on the suicide

note. Anil and four othershad allegedly visited thegirl’s residence and met herparents before the girl committed suicide.

‘Anil being targeted’Bajrang Dal leaders havemaintained that neither Anilnor any member of the Bajrang Dal in Mudigere wasresponsible for the death ofthe girl. Mr. Manjunath saidthe person who had calledthe girl and circulated herpictures online was not amember of their group.

The Mudigere police had“targeted” Anil because ofinstigation by Congress leaders, he alleged.

Bajrang Dal leaders defend message that was put up online


Chikkamagaluru

Keep away from men of otherfaiths, Karnataka women warned

The Supreme Court onTuesday indicated that itwould deliver within amonth its verdict on the decades old Cauvery water dispute between Tamil Naduand Karnataka, sayingenough confusion had beencreated on it for over twodecades. The court said anyforum could touch the matter relating to the Cauverybasin only after it gave itsverdict in four weeks.

A threejudge Bench hadreserved its verdict on theappeals �led by Karnataka,Tamil Nadu and Keralaagainst the 2007 award ofthe Cauvery Water Disputes

Tribunal on sharing of water, after a marathon hearing on September 20.

“Enough of confusion hasbeen there for past two decades. Any forum can touchthe matter after the verdictis delivered in the issue. Wewill give the verdict in fourweeks,” a Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and JusticesA.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y.Chandrachud said.

The court’s remark cameduring the hearing of a plea�led in 2016 by a citizens’group, led by philanthropistKiran Mazumdar Shaw,seeking its intervention forsupply of drinking water tothe residents of Bengaluruand surrounding districts.

Cauvery verdict infour weeks, says SC ‘Enough confusion for over 2 decades’

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi


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YKA ND-NDE

NATION

Odisha: Every house tohave power connection BHUBANESWAR

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen

Patnaik on Tuesday

announced that every

household in both rural and

urban areas of the State will

be provided electricity

connections by October 2 this

year. Mr. Patnaik gave this

direction to the authorities

concerned while chairing a

review meeting on rural

electrification at the State

Secretariat here.

IN BRIEF

Fire in Kolkata hospital,none injuredKOLKATA

A minor fire broke out at a

private hospital in the city’s

Ekbalpore area on Tuesday

evening but no one was

injured, the Kolkata police

said. The fire broke out in the

ophthalmology department

of the hospital around 6.15

p.m. and the handful of

patients present rushed out

to safety, the police

said.Three fire tenders were

pressed into service and the

blaze was doused, the police

said, adding investigation into

the incident is on. PTI

A man, who had consumedpoison before UttarakhandAgriculture Minister SubodhUniyal last week after he suffered losses allegedly due todemonetisation and GST, onTuesday died during treatment in Dehradun, hospitalsources said.

Prakash Pandey, a resident of Haldwani, the largestcity in the Kumaun region,had recounted his story toMr. Uniyal during a JanataDarbar programme at theBJP o�ce in the State capitalon Saturday.

Mr. Pandey had introduced himself as a transpor

ter during the event. He toldthe Minister that he wasstruggling to repay his loansafter demonetisation of abulk of the currency and theimplementation of theGoods and Services Tax hithis business.

E�orts failed

He said he had to consumepoison as his attempts todraw the attention of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyand BJP chief Amit Shahthrough letters failed.

When BJP workers realised Mr. Pandey had consumed poison, they rushedhim in the Minister's car to

Doon Hospital, from wherehe was later referred to MaxHospital in Dehradun.

Mr. Pandey on Tuesdaysuccumbed in the IntensiveCare Unit of Max Hospital,hospital sources said.

Chief Minister TrivendraSingh Rawat said he was sadto learn about Mr. Pandey'sdeath. “We have just been informed that Mr. Pandeypassed away at Max Hospital. It is extremely sad tohear this. Doctors attendinghim tried hard to save him.”

Mr. Rawat said Mr. Pandeywas on life support, butcould not be saved “as hehad taken more than the fatal dose of poison”.

Former UttarakhandChief Minister Harish Rawatsaid the death was a “shameful” incident for the State government.

“Mr. Pandey representedscores of people strugglingto support their families. It isa matter of shame for theState government that itcould not do anything tosave the man. He has fallenvictim to GST and demonetisation," he said.

Pradesh BJP presidentAjay Bhatt said the "painfulincident" should not havehappened. "As the State BJPpresident I can only say weall stand by his family," hesaid.

Man who consumed poison atUttarakhand BJP o�ce, dies Transporter was su�ering losses allegedly due to demonetisation and GST


Dehradun

Weather WatchRainfall, temperature & air quality in select metros yesterday

Temperature Data: IMD, Pollution Data: CPCB, Map: Skymet (Taken at 18.00 Hrs)

Forecast for Wednesday: Dense to very dense fog at a few/isolated places is likely over Bihar, east Uttar Pradesh, westUttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura

city rain max min city rain max min

Agartala................. —.... 23.0...... 6.3 Kozhikode ............... —.... 32.8.... 21.5

Ahmedabad............ —.... 26.8.... 14.6 Kurnool ................... —.... 30.0.... 18.2

Aizawl ................... —.... 24.8...... 7.5 Lucknow.................. —.... 15.2...... 6.4

Allahabad .............. —.... 23.3...... 6.0 Madurai................... —.... 32.0.... 20.1

Bengaluru .............. —.... 27.1.... 15.5 Mangaluru............... —.... 34.2.... 19.5

Bhopal................... —.... 23.7.... 11.4 Mumbai................... —.... 31.4.... 16.6

Bhubaneswar ......... —.... 26.6.... 10.6 Mysuru.................... —.... 27.7.... 14.6

Chandigarh ............ —.... 21.0...... 3.8 New Delhi ............... —.... 21.6...... 4.2

Chennai ................. —.... 28.5.... 24.5 Patna ...................... —.... 17.6...... 5.5

Coimbatore............ —.... 30.4.... 18.0 Port Blair ................ —.... 30.1.... 25.6

Dehradun............... —.... 21.8...... 4.6 Puducherry.............. —.... 26.3.... 19.3

Gangtok................. —.... 12.4...... 3.6 Pune ....................... —.... 27.5.... 11.0

Goa ....................... —.... 31.8.... 18.8 Raipur ..................... —.... 27.1.... 13.1

Guwahati ............... —.... 23.8...... 8.0 Ranchi..................... —.... 23.6...... 7.7

Hubballi................. —.... 27.0.... 17.0 Shillong................... —.... 14.6...... 1.4

Hyderabad ............. —.... 27.0.... 14.6 Shimla..................... —.... 16.3...... 5.5

Imphal................... —.... 21.2...... 2.7 Srinagar .................. —.... 10.8.....-6.2

Jaipur .................... —.... 24.1...... 6.9 Trivandrum ............. —.... 32.6.... 20.7

Kochi..................... —.... 31.0.... 23.8 Tiruchi .................... —.... 28.5.... 20.6

Kohima.................. —.... 19.8...... 5.3 Vijayawada .............. —.... 28.9.... 18.6

Kolkata.................. —.... 22.7.... 11.0 Visakhapatnam ......... —.... 28.6.... 20.4

Pollutants in the air you are breathing Yesterday

CITIES SO2 NO2 COPM2.5PM10CODE

In observation made at 4.00 p.m.,Muzaffarpur, Bihar recorded anoverall air quality index (AQI)score of 417 indicating anunhealthy level of pollution. In contrast, Moradabad, UttarPradesh recorded a moderate AQI score of 105

Ahmedabad........41..6544 ..121 .....— ....*

Bengaluru ......... ..7..5057 ..... — ...92 ....*

Chennai .............27..1722 ..128 .....— ....*

Delhi..................2916659 ..446 .445 ....*

Hyderabad ........ ..8..7348 ..169 .149 ....*

Kolkata ............. ..— ...— .— ..... — .....—.....—

Lucknow ............17..8140 ..429 .....— ....*

Mumbai .............19..4176 ..211 .186 ....*

Pune ..................28..1858 ....54 ...79 ....*

Vishakhapatnam.13..3943 ..105 .107 ....*

Air Quality Code: * Poor * Moderate * Good (Readings indicate average AQI)

SO2: Sulphur Dioxide. Short-term exposure can harm the respiratory system,

making breathing difficult. It can affect visibility by reacting with other air

particles to form haze and stain culturally important objects such as statues

and monuments.

NO2: Nitrogen Dioxide. Aggravates respiratory illness, causes haze to form by

reacting with other air particles, causes acid rain, pollutes coastal waters.

CO: Carbon monoxide. High concentration in air reduces oxygen supply to

critical organs like the heart and brain. At very high levels, it can cause

dizziness, confusion, unconsciousness and even death.

PM2.5 & PM10: Particulate matter pollution can cause irritation of the eyes,

nose and throat, coughing, chest tightness and shortness of breath, reduced

lung function, irregular heartbeat, asthma attacks, heart attacks and

premature death in people with heart or lung disease

(Individual pollutant data for various cities are averages for the previous day)

Cold wave like conditionswill continue in several partsof West Bengal for the nextcouple of days, and the Stateis unlikely to get any respitebefore Thursday. Accordingto weather experts, the temperature is expected to riseby a few degrees across theState from Thursday.

Even as the metropoliswitnessed a slight increase intemperature (11 degrees Celsius), the districts of Nadia,Malda, Birbhum and Bankura continued to reel under acold wave on Tuesday. Thisis turning out to be one ofcoldest winter the city hasseen in the past few years.On Sunday, the city recorded

temperature of 10.6 degreesCelsius is the lowest temperature in the season.

“With the low pressuresystem over the Bay of Bengal loosing strength todaythe current low tempera

tures in the State will continue till Wednesday,” said G.K. Das, director of the Regional MeteorologicalCentre, Kolkata.

While the minimum temperature at Krishnagar in Na

dia was a chilling 6 degreesCelsius, Malda continued toreel under a cold wave with aminimum temperature of 7degrees Celsius. The temperature in Darjeeling droppedto 1 degree Celsius.

Earlier weather expertsattributed the sharp drop intemperature due to the ongoing snowfall in Jammu andKashmir and the absence ofany cyclonic formations between Jammu and Kashmirand West Bengal enablingthe North Westerly wind toreach the State without anyobstruction. The northwesterly wind �ows from the direction of Jammu and Kashmir and arrives in Bengalafter passing through Delhi,Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

No respite from battering cold inWest Bengal for next two daysMercury expected to rise by a few degrees across the State from Thursday

Staff Reporter

Kolkata

The KatiharAmritsar Express crossing the Malhaur railwaystation amid foggy conditions on the outskirts of Lucknow onTuesday. * RAJEEV BHATT

The Odisha Human RightsCommission (OHRC) hasdecided to send its highlevel team to Kandhamal toinquire into allegations ofirregularities in implementation of the National FoodSecurity Act (NFSA) in thisunderdeveloped district.

According to the orderpassed by the commissionon January 8, the highlevelcommittee will go to Daringbadi in Kandhamal tolook into the matter andsubmit its report to theOHRC within 15 days. Theteam will include the commission’s additional director generalcumdirector ofinvestigation, commissionercumsecretary, and anadditional SP.

The OHRC took this decision in view of seriousobjections raised by the petitioner — convenor of ‘Banabasi Suraksha Parishad’Narendra Mohanty —against the report �led bythe Kandhamal collectorbefore the commission.

No ration cards

Speaking to The Hindu, Mr.Mohanty said following anagitation by the tribals andDalits living in the remotepockets of the district in2016, the administrationhad declared issuance ofaround 1,000 new rationcards to bene�ciaries. Butit was alleged that the realbene�ciaries did not receive the ration cards andthe subsidised food items.In July 2017, Mr. Mohantyapproached OHRC regarding this.

The information provided by the Kandhamal collector to the OHRC in October 2017 was objected toby Mr. Mohanty during ahearing on January 8 inBhubaneswar.

Food SecurityAct: Team toprobe bunglingin Odisha

Staff Reporter

BERHAMPUR

Notorious criminal killedin encounter in U.P.AZAMGARH

A notorious criminal was

killed in an encounter with

the police in the Jehanganj

area in the district, the police

said on Tuesday. Chunnu

Sonkar, carrying a reward

of�25,000 on his head, was

killed and a constable was

injured, SP Ajay Sahni said.

The SP said that some bike

borne criminals tried to rob a

couple coming to the district

headquarters on a

motorcycle. The couple

resisted and dialled the

emergency police helpline

number 100 following which

the police reached the spot

leading to the encounter, the

SP said. PTI


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CMYK

A ND-NDE

NATION

BSP MLA Ansari su�ersheart attack in U.P. jailLUCKNOW

BSP MLA Mukhtar Ansari, 55,

lodged in Banda prison,

suffered a heart attack on

Tuesday and was rushed to

the district hospital in Banda,

from where he was referred

to a hospital in Lucknow. The

legislator suffered a heart

attack when he was meeting

his wife, and she too

developed chest pain. PTI

IN BRIEF

Beef traders in Goa call o� their strikePANAJI

Beef traders in Goa called off

their fourday long strike

after the BJPled coalition

government assured them

that the meat would be

allowed to be imported from

Karnataka under police

protection, president of the

Quraishi Meat Traders

Association of Goa Manna

Bepari said on Tuesday.

The Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act AppellateTribunal has ordered “status quo”, preventing the Enforcement Directorate fromtaking possession of two immovable properties that the

agency has attached in theZakir Naik case.

The Directorate said itwould challenge the decision in the Delhi High Court.

The order pertains to aChennaibased school and acommercial property inMumbai.

Don’t take over Naik’sassets: panel Special Correspondent

New Delhi

Days after two Jet Airways seniorcommanders fought inside thecockpit, the airline on Tuesday terminated their services as per laiddown procedure since their conduct was against the safety rules ofthe carrier.

The �ight’s copilot, Captain D.Balaraman, allegedly slapped theo�ciating pilot of �ight 9W119from London to Mumbai when the�ight was midair on January 1.

Following the assault, the sobbing pilot left the cockpit, only toreturn and then come out sobbinga second time.

It is then that the copilot is saidto have walked out to request her toreturn, leaving the cockpit unmanned. A complaint was made bythe cabin crew incharge to theairline.

Jet Airways had then termed thisa “misunderstanding that had occurred between the cockpit crew”and that it was “resolved amicably”and “quickly.”

On Tuesday, the airline issued astatement, which read: “Consequent to the review of the events onboard �ight 9W 119, LondonMumbai of January 1, Jet Airways has terminated the services of both cockpit crew with immediate e�ect.”

They stepped out of cockpit midair after a �ght

special correspondent

Mumbai

Jet Airways terminatesservices of two pilots

The Indian Space ResearchOrganisation (ISRO) has setitself an ambitious todo listof making and launchingaround 65 satellites for aslew of uses. They areplanned to be realised overthe period from 2017 to2021, according to a topo�cial.

This post12th FiveYearPlan pace is stupendous asthe number of satellitesmade in India over the last40odd years hit a centuryonly a few days ago.

The last three, includingtwo small ones, were rolledout of its Bengaluru centrein late December and areslated to be launched thismonth.

Jump in outputM. Annadurai, Director ofISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC),where spacecraft are assembled, told The Hindu

that the new goal putsISAC’s annual asking rate ataround 18 satellites a year:ISAC would now need tocome out with three satellites every two months.

Since ISAC was set up in1972 and until a few yearsago, this used to be its average yearly output.

Dr. Annadurai said ISAC’s

45year tally peaked in 2017with a record 12 spacecraft.“We rolled out Cartosat2F,Microsat and INS1C on December 20 [and shippedthem out to Sriharikota forlaunch.] With these threesatellites, we have made themaiden century of rollingout spacecraft from thiscentre,” he said in a NewYear’s Day address to ISACemployees. “We can becounted in the league ofTendulkars and Virat Kohlis,” he said.

ISAC’s spacecraft aremeant for communication,navigation and Earth obser

vation (EO), for both general and strategic purposes,while new emerging applications are getting added.In the fouryear list, ISACcounts 26 for communication, 28 for EO and sevenfor navigation besides thescienti�c missions AdityaL1and XPoSat, apart from afew small experimentalsatellites.

Awaiting approvalA few proposals that weremade during 2017 are awaiting approval. A satellitelaunch costs �200�300crore depending on its size

and the level of technology.Dr. Annadurai said the

centre was ready to rise tothe challenge; its sta� wasroutinely working almost24/7. Last year, ISAC startedto outsource some of thelarge and critical activitiesof satellite assembly andtesting to Indian industry.The second such project forthe ninth navigation satellite, IRNSS1I, is under wayat an ISAC campus.

He said ISRO expected industry to give them the additional six satellites a yearbeyond the 12 that theywould build.

ISRO mulls launching 65satellites for a slew of usesMadhumathi D.S.

Bengaluru

An Indian space startup’sdream of landing a roveron Moon in March mayhave got dashed. Thelaunch contract of TeamIndus with ISRO’s businessarm Antrix Corporationhas reportedly been cancelled.

O�cials of Antrix andTeamIndus declined to respond to queries about thismission. One ISRO personin the know said it lookedlike the deal and the launchon the PSLV were o�.

Unnamed sumTeamIndus had booked ISRO’s light lift rocket PSLV inDecember 2016 to launchits spacecraft and signedthe deal with Antrix for anunnamed sum. The Bengaluru startup was the loneIndian bid for the $30 million Google Lunar XPrizecontest, which stipulatesthat candidates shouldraise around 90% of theirfunds from nongovernment sources.

A report in news portal,The Ken, said the contracthad been cancelled as TeamIndus was short of fundsto pay for the launch.

A Japanese cocontestant, spacecraft Hakuto,was also slated to ride withTeamIndus’s spacecraft toMoon. Now, it would alsobe out of the race.

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw,

one of the investors in theenterprise, said in a tweet:“Team Indus, the �rst Indian space startup, dropsout of Moon race most unfortunate but they say theywill still try to reach out tolaunchers outside thecountry as a last e�ort.”

O�cial hintIn fact, the �rst o�cial hinton the fate of the missioncame from ISRO ChairmanA.S. Kiran Kumar a fewweeks ago. He said on a television programme duringa recent FICCI meet in Delhi, “There are a lot of challenges [for TeamIndus],both in terms of technology and their constraint ingetting the funds they require for it. It is not easy tobridge the gap of buildingthe technology capabilityneeded for an activity suchas this. They have muchwork ahead.”

In October, TeamIndusCEO Rahul Narayan saidthey were raising the se

cond half of the fundsneeded to complete themission. And that their lunar mission would costaround $65 million (around�450 crore). Part of it hadcome from early investorsand promoters, includingNandan Nilekani, Ratan Tata, Kiran Mazumdar Shawof Biocon, ‘big bull’ RakeshJhunjhunwala and Flipkart’s cofounders SachinBansal and Binny Bansal.

He also said their spacecraft would have to belaunched by March 68 “inthe worst case.”

A person who asked notto be named said TeamIndus had paid one milestoneinstalment so far. Many approvals were also due fromthe Central government asthe nations are accountable for space missions under the UN space law.

Space industry sourcessaid it would take severalmonths for TeamIndus if itwanted to go to a suitableinternational launcher forits 600 kgplus spacecraftand 60 kg landerrover,apart from matching thetechnical and proceduralrequirements.

Globally, there is a biglaunch gap for boostersthat can launch such smallspacecraft; and they alsoneed much expertise to putthem on a trajectory toMoon. The PSLV �ew ISRO’s Chandrayaan1 in2008.


Bengaluru

Is TeamIndus’s lunar bid o�?

A �le photo of models ofthe unmanned lunar roversdeveloped by TeamIndus.

Even as the government body is looking to reach new heights with its space programme, a private e�ort to land on moon could fall �at

Plea in HC challengesD.Litt for Mamata KOLKATA

A PIL challenging the Calcutta

University’s decision to

honour West Bengal Chief

Minister Mamata Banerjee

with a D.Litt has been filed

before the Calcutta High

Court and is likely to be heard

on Wednesday. The university

had announced that it would

bestow the honorary D.Litt on

the Trinamool Congress chief,

an alumnus, for her

contribution to social service

at its convocation to be held

on January 11. PTI

Even as the demand of theMarathas for reservation isyet to be ful�lled, the Maharashtra government, headedby Devendra Fadnavis, ishanding out sops to appeasethe community. The Stategovernment on Tuesday increased the upper limit ofthe Economically BackwardClasses (EBC) to �8 lakh from�6 lakh.

The move comes at a timewhen the Maratha KrantiMorcha organisers have

threatened to carry out agitations against the government on February 19 ontheir pending demands.

On Tuesday, besides increasing the upper limit ofthe EBCs, which covers allopen category students, anumber of decisions were taken by a highpower committee of Ministers. Studentsof professional courses willhave to pay only 50% of thefee at the time of admissionand the rest will be paid bythe government to the institute. “Initially, the students

were supposed to deposit100% fee to avail the bene�tof this scheme and theywere to reimbursed later,”said Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil.

The government has alsodecided to provide loans toMaratha youths for businessup to �10 lakh through theAnnasaheb Patil Arthik Vikas Mahamandal. The repayment tenure of the loan willbe �ve years and the interestamount of about �6 lakh willbe paid by the governmentto the bank directly.

To pay 50% fee for professional courses, help provide loans

Staff Reporter

Mumbai

To appease Marathas, Fadnavisgovt. announces more sops

A BSP corporator from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh wasbooked for sedition onTuesday after a video showing her supporters allegedlyraising proPakistan slogansduring her victory procession went viral recently.

A case was registered atthe Nawabganj police station against Nawabganj Nagar Palika Parishad chairman Shehla Tahir, herhusband Mohammad Tahirand 500 other unidenti�edpeople, sources said.

The case was lodged under Sections 124A and 143 ofthe Indian Penal Code, sedition and unlawful assembly.

When contacted onphone, Nawabganj policestation SHO Pramod Sharma con�rmed that a case ofsedition had been lodgedagainst the BSP corporator.

“A case has been lodged.Now the investigation willtake place,” he said, whenasked if the police hadprobed the content of the vi

deo. Ms. Tahir’s electionhad come under the scanner of the district authorities after it was alleged that‘Pakistan zindabad’ sloganswere raised during the victory procession led by herlast month.

After this, the administration deferred her swearingin ceremony as it ordered aprobe into the allegations.Ms. Tahir has, meanwhile,gone to court pleading thatthe administration hold herswearingin ceremony.

Ms. Tahir’s phone number was unavailable. However, in a statement to the media a few days earlier, shehad strongly denied the allegations, claiming that the video was doctored. “If youlisten carefully to the video,you will realise that thesound is coming from behind. It has been edited. If itwas actually from that day,then why was it hidden for10 days? Only after 10 daysthey realised that Pakistanzindabad was raised,” shesaid.

Omar Rashid

LUCKNOW

Bareilly corporatorbooked for sedition

Seikh Mo�zul, a potatofarmer in Purba Bardhamandistrict of Bengal, has beenspending sleepless nightsthese days. He had lostabout �2.80 lakhs he had invested in potato farmingwiththe price of the tuberplummeting owing to overproduction. In 201617, 1.15crore tonnes of potato wasproduced in the State whichwas considerably higherthan the 90 lakh tonne produced the previous season.

“I have mortgaged jewellery and some of my landsfor growing potato this season and now with the fall inprice, I have no way to retrieve the property,” Mr.Mo�zul told The Hindu.

Having lost all hopes of retrieving his investment, hehad decided not to takeback the 4,500 kg of potato,which he had put in cold

storage.Mr. Mo�zul was just one

among thousands of farmers incurring huge lossesowing to the fall in potatoprices. From the usual priceof �14 per kg, the farmerswere getting just �1 thisyear. Apart from Purba andPaschim Bardhaman, potato was cultivated mainly inthe districts of Hooghly andBankura.

The potato farmers were

unwilling to take out theircrop from the cold storageas they did not have the money to pay for the rent. Onehas to pay about �80 persack of potato kept in thecold storage.

Accusing the TrinamoolCongress for the crisis, thePradeshik Krishak Sabha,peasant wing of the CPIM,said it would burn potatoesat Moshagram town onWednesday.

CPI(M) plans to burn the crop as part of its protest

Soumya Das

KOLKATA

Bleak prospects:Women segregating potatoes at a coldstorage in Purba Bardhaman district. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Farmers refuse to take outpotatoes from cold storage


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CMYK

A ND-NDE

EDITORIAL

puja mehra

With rural economic anxieties acquiring a politicalvoice, the expectation is

that the Budget will focus on agriculture. For some time, the country has been in denial over the extent of the mess in the sector.

Farm incomes are unattractivefor a variety of reasons; the absurdity of policies features amongthem. The overriding objective ofprice stability, over time, has tiltedfarm policy in favour of the consumer, the numerically larger votebank. Trade and price controls arehighly restrictive, and mostly antifarmer. Protection a�orded to theine�cient fertilizer industry ensures that input costs are high. Thefarmer is forced to sell in the domestic market where prices tend tobe lower than global agriculturalprices. Research papers havequanti�ed the degree of antiagriculture bias in the system. Farmers’ economic viability is rarelythe primary consideration, although political rhetoric would suggest otherwise. Increasinglythough, incompetence and polit

ics have ensured that policies arefailing to serve even consumers.

Agrimarkets are not free. Governments seek to in�uence prices, to smoothen them out. In theabsence of state intervention, prices soar in bad weather years andplunge in good weather years,hurting consumers and farmers.The levers in governments’ handsare import and export controls,bu�er stocks management and minimum support prices (MSPs).

About MSPsPrime Minister Narendra Modi isunder pressure to deliver on the2014 poll promise of higher MSPs.The centrality of MSPs in votebank politics is wellknown, butthe economics of it is not su�ciently appreciated. The MSP, theprice at which the government o�ers to procure from farmers, is aneconomic policy tool which requires technical acumen.

A sensible policy would be tobuy from farmers when marketprices are depressed and sellstocks in the open market whenprices are elevated. In the �rst scenario, if the MSP is pegged higherthan the market price, the procurement will raise the marketprice, boosting farm incomes. Inthe latter, by o�oading its stocksat a price lower than the marketprice, government can cushionconsumers against excessive in�a

tion. The buyers of the subsidisedsales (an e�cient Public Distribution System) are directly bene�tted, but as the sales also lead tolower prices in the open market,all consumers gain.

Procurement works e�ectivelyonly if trade controls and stocksmanagement are aligned with it.How these tools tend to be deployed in a counterproductivemanner was evident in the example of pulses in 201617. Despite abumper harvest, after a steep MSPhike and good rains, export controls and stocking limits for privatetraders were retained and a recordvolume of imports allowed to beshipped in. The resulting glut sentthe market price down, below theMSPs, rendering it pointless. Thelooming losses set o� farmer protests seeking even higher MSPs.

The United Progressive Alliancegovernment’s MSP policy wasblamed for the food prices in�ation, from 2009 to 2013. The culprit, though, was poor management of food stocks. The

government had been raisingMSPs to reduce the gap betweenlow domestic and high global agricultural prices. The launch of theNational Food Security Missionand a global food prices crisis necessitated hikes more aggressivethan were originally planned. Thehigh MSP ensured that the increase in food grain production inthe fouryear period, 42 millionmetric tonnes, was more thandouble of what had been targeted.But the high MSP also edged outprivate traders, forcing a scaleupin procurement. Wheat and ricestocks surged but were not used todampen market prices.

Former Chief Economic AdviserKaushik Basu has written aboutthe mindset behind the reluctanceto release stocks to cool rising prices. The argument was that sellingat a price lower than the purchaseprice (MSP plus carrying costs)would in�ict losses on the exchequer and add to the �scal de�cit.Since procurement spending is asunk cost, not selling implied evenhigher �scal losses. Internationalwheat prices were 30% lower thanin India, yet consumers wereforced to pay more.

A biasAgricultural economist Ashok Gulati’s calculations show that evenafter four years of systematicallyaggressive hikes, Indian MSPs of

rice and wheat are less than support prices in China and otherAsian countries, betraying India’sbias in favour of consumers.

This bias explains the deepening economic divide between thefarmdependent and the rest ofthe population, re�ected in insecurities of even traditionally landowning people.

The narrative is that the bulk ofagriculture is not su�ciently productive to be able to gainfully engage young rural Indians and sopolicy attention must be on building industry. China’s experiencechallenges such notions. The Chinese economic reforms werekicked o� in 1978 with an overhaulof agriculture. As farm prices weredecontrolled, real per capita incomes began rising and, in just sixyears Chinese poverty levelshalved, from 33% in 1978 to 15% in1984. In contrast, India’s 1991 reforms bypassed agriculture altogether and instead focussed completely on industrial liberalisation.Indian poverty halved in 18 yearsfrom 45% in 1993 to 22% in 2011.

The Budget presents an opportunity to revisit strategic choices.Nothing short of an overhaul ofagriculture, resembling the industrial liberalisation of 1991, willwork.

Puja Mehra is a Delhi-based journalist

Agriculture needs a reforms packageOnly an overhaul resembling the industrial liberalisation of 1991 will work

GE

TT

Y IM

AG

ES/I

ST

OC

KP

HO

TO

more letters online:

www.hindu.com/opinion/letters/

When revolutionary regimes stagnate, confusion and chaos reign,

and both are palpably true of theIslamic Republic of Iran today.Amid a deep economic, politicaland now social crisis, many on theground in Iran and even more observing from abroad don’t knowwhat to think or to do. The recentprotests which spread around Iranin the waning days of 2017 and early 2018 represented the largest public display of discontent in Iransince the 2009 Green Movement.

Beyond Tehran Unlike the 2009 Green Movement,which was largely a product of theurban middle class youth in Tehran, the recent unrest in Iranseems to re�ect the economic grievances of the lower and workingclasses, alienated from institutional politics and su�ering heavilyfrom the consequences of an unjust and unequal management ofthe Iranian economy. As a result,these protests have been largelydriven by disa�ected young people in rural areas, towns and smallcities who seized a pretext to express their frustrations with economic woes that are caused byIran’s foreign policy, as the country has been largely involved inboth the Syrian con�ict and turmoil in Yemen.

However, more than two weeksago, the hardliners who encouraged the rioters to direct their economic frustrations against the reformist government of PresidentHassan Rouhani had no idea that asmall regional expression of dissent would take on a life of its own

and turn into a general uprising.The protests, therefore, turnednot only into a reaction over rampant in�ation, continuous corruption and rising prices, but also focused on the crisis of legitimacy ofthe Islamic regime in Iran, totallymisunderstood by a generation ofIranians who were too young to remember the revolution of 1979.

The growing generational gapbetween the Islamic state and theIranian youth, particularly youngwomen, has never been wider. Inthe ‘last 25 years Iran has been ona course of major political and societal evolution, as the increasingly young population has becomemore educated, secular and rebellious’.

An ‘explosive mix of a growingpopulation — which led to a youthbulge — combined with urbanisation, an increasing unemploymentrate and the rapid expansion ofuniversity education, producednew sociological actors in Iranwho were essentially young andeducated (and mostly women, infact) but with no political, economic or social future. As a result,a generational gap divided Iraniansociety between moneymakingand powerful conservatives andyoung rebels without a cause. Iranbecame a society divided betweenrich supporters of the regime andpoor rebels with no ideology andno political leaders. On one side

are those who use power to makemoney, and on the other side arethose who disobey the social andpolitical order’.

Political fragmentation A large segment of the youth inIran have access to ‘satellite television and the Internet and see howtheir counterparts in the rest ofthe world, particularly in theWest, are living, and they long forthe same lifestyle’. Recent eventsindicate the impact of a longtermdemographic problem which hasno short term remedies and whichforetells certain unavoidabletruths for the Iranian regime —that undeniably, a young and restless population can only be contained and repressed for so long.For the past 40 years the Islamicregime has continuously searchedfor an ‘appropriate approach tocope with the challenge of governance while contending with aperpetual struggle for power between competing tendencies andgrave regional and internationalchallenges’. Political fragmentation within Iran has never beenmore evident, and the clerical elitehave never been challenged moreclearly, both at the domestic andinternational level.

As recent riots in cities aroundIran reveal, despite the subjectshaving been systematically arrested or killed by the authorities, the

tension between discontentedyouth and the regime will continue. It happens that Iranians remain unsurprisingly unreconciledto theocracy. Moreover, evenwhen protests in Iran start overeconomic issues, as in the past fewweeks, it seems that people arenot just ‘demonstrating for betterworking conditions or pay, but insisting on wholesale rejection ofthe system itself ’. The widespreadwaves of protests that have sweptIran practically every ten yearssuggest the gradual meltdown ofthe theocratic ideology in Iran.

Let us not forget that ‘Iran’s recent violent protests surgedamong the nation’s poor, presumed bedrock supporters of theregime’, who have been disappointed by the limited economicand social improvements of thenation. The Iranian government’spromises to revitalise the Iranianeconomy after the reelection ofMr. Rouhani as President must beseen against the rise of youth unemployment which stands todayat more than 40%. Also, thoseyoung Iranians who supported thenuclear deal of 2015 between theRouhani cabinet and the Obamaadministration considered it as an‘opportunity for Iranian civic actors to enable and empower Iran’scivil society space’.

Almost ten years ago, what wasknown as the Green Movement of2009 ‘changed the destiny of theIranian civil society. The unprecedented protests that followed thepresidential elections presentedserious challenges to the moralstatus of the theological sovereignty and its legitimacy in the world.The public anger and the ensuingin�ghting among the founding architects of the revolution presented the most serious challenge toIran’s clerical regime since it replaced the Shah in 1979. Thoseamong the reformists who believed that the system allowed

scope for reform found themselves facetoface with a theologicalpolitical structure that used extreme violence to ensure itslegitimacy’.

The reformists’ silenceStrangely, the reformists were totally absent in leading or participating in the recent unrest in Iran.Iranian reformists, like formerPresident Mohammad Khatami,could have provided leadershipbut decided to stay out of the action. Some have attributed the reformists’ reluctance to their fear ofIran turning into a new Syria, inother words, a wartorn countryheading for “failed state” statusand threatening the region’s fragile stability. This is certainly notwhat Saudi Arabia, Israel and Donald Trump’s America are lookingfor.

As a result, while the recentprotests engulfed Iranian cities ofall sizes and the country’s lowerclass population, the reactionamong political leaders aroundthe globe has been far from united. While Mr. Trump endorsed theprotests in Iran, advocatingchange, the European leadersalong with Russia’s Vladimir Putintook a more cautious tone, pointing to the “unpredictable outcome” of the Arab Spring. EvenSaudi Arabia, Iran’s archenemy inthe region, stayed unusually quiet.

One way or another, both insideand outside Iran, observers areworried about the future. All thisas Iran might be leading to a newperiod of political repression andeconomic hardship, while its population continues to grow, withfew new jobs, and more international isolation. It looks like theIranian crisis is not yet over.

Ramin Jahanbegloo is Director, Mahatma

Gandhi Centre for Peace, Jindal Global

University, Sonipat

The Iranian crisis is not yet overThe largest public display of discontent since 2009, the current protests signal a new period of uncertainty

ramin jahanbegloo

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Reason for optimismIt is true that as far asIndian diplomacy isconcerned, it is unable tokeep pace with a risingChina. Its engagement withPakistan is mostunsatisfactory, while thepotential for turmoil inWest Asia can be a sourceof worry. However, thereare reasons to be optimistic(Editorial page, “Darkclouds across Asia”,January 9). The image that China istrying to cultivate, of acountry which is “risingpeacefully”, has beenblown away after theDoklam stando�. Second,though India cannotcompete with China inimplementing massiveinfrastructure projects , thedeveloping world, whereChina is trying to make animpact, cannot ignoreChinese neocolonialism asis evident in the potentialdebt trap that some of these

countries might face afterreceiving Chinese aid.India’s pursuit ofinfrastructure projects suchas the AsiaAfrica growthcorridor, in collaborationwith Japan, is based on therule of law, trust andtransparency.Third, the coming togetherof the U.S., Japan, India andAustralia to form aQuadrilateral to maintainpeace in the AsiaPaci�cregion shows India’ssigni�cance in the region.As far as Pakistansponsored terrorism isconcerned, there is a globalconsensus building upagainst terrorism of allkinds, so China’s e�orts tocreate road blocks in thisarea may not pay o�. Lastly,regarding the turmoil inWest Asia, India has alwaysmaintained the need tosettle the disputesamicably. Atul Kriti,

New Delhi

Lessons for UIDAI In the issue around theUnique Identi�cationAuthority of India’s FIR, thegovernment agency needsto be reminded that one ofthe prime duties of themedia in any democracy isto bring matters of concerninto the public domain sothat the executive and thejudiciary can come to therescue of victims (Editorial– “Data theft”, January 9).In the present case, theUIDAI’s foremost dutyshould have been toascertain whether its datasecurity measures havefailed and, if so, to identifythe weak points. Instead ofthreatening themediaperson, the agencyshould have taken the helpof the newspaper to �ndout what is wrong. TheUIDAI also appears toignore the existence ofoperators in villagelevelenterprises once entrustedby the government with

issuing Aadhaar cards, andlater rendered jobless.There are ample clues thatthey have access to UIDAIdata. The agency shouldrecognise the fact that therewere thousands of suchoperators. P.R.V. Raja,

Pandalam, Kerala

Before the gavel strikesThe Supreme Court’sdecision to refer a writpetition seeking the strikingdown of the homophobiclaw built into Section 377 ofthe Indian Penal Code to alarger Bench has beenwidely welcomed (“LargerBench to decide on Sec.377”, January 9), especiallyin the context of the right toprivacy having beenreckoned to be afundamental right.While the court’swillingness to review itsown earlier decision is asign of judicial sagacity andprogressivism, one fails to

Transport strikeThe bus strike in TamilNadu is taking a toll on thetravelling public, even afterthe Madras High Court hasdirected the employees toreturn to work (Someeditions, “HC order on busstrike stays”, January 9).The State government,already riven byfactionalism, is de�nitelyunable to break thedeadlock. This is a clearcase of harassing thecommon man who islargely dependent onpublic transport. It is a factthat transport undertakingsare facing huge losses andany prolonged agitation willcripple them further. Itwould be in the interests ofthe employees themselvesto withdraw their massagitation and resume workimmediately. V. Padmanabhan,

Bengaluru

understand why the courthas no functionalmechanism for judicialreview when a major rulingsuch as the one about theright to privacyautomatically renders someearlier judgmentsinappropriate orredundant. Should thecourt have waited for somepetitioners to inform it thatits 2013 decision on Section377 militates against theright to privacy? Thegovernment has deletedmany obsolete laws fromthe statute books. TheSupreme Court should alsohave a wellestablishedprocedure to review its owndecisions on an ongoingbasis. Judicial wisdom is not atame process, and issupposed to be alive to theincongruencies andinconsistencies in judicialpronouncements.V.N. Mukundarajan,

Thiruvananthapuram

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters emailed to [email protected] must carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.

The tragic death of Bajirao, one of India’s breeding

tigers from the Bor reserve in Maharashtra, on a

highway is a reminder that building unsuitable

roads through wildlife habitats has a terrible cost. Los

ing a charismatic tiger in its prime to a hitandrun acci

dent is an irony, given that it is one of the most protect

ed species. Successive Prime Ministers have personally

monitored its status. Yet, the fate of the big cat, and that

of so many other animals such as leopards, bears, deer,

snakes, amphibians, butter�ies and birds that end up as

roadkill, highlights the contradictions in development

policy. It is inevitable that new roads are built, but good

scienti�c advice to keep them out of wildlife corridors is

mostly ignored. The sensible response to the growing

number of roadkills should be to stop road construction

in wildlife habitat and reassess the impact. After all,

protected areas are just 4% of the land. India is commit

ted to such an approach under Article 14 of the Conven

tion on Biological Diversity. The Centre and the Nation

al Highways Authority of India have been repeatedly

advised by the National Board for Wildlife, as well as in

dependent researchers, to realign or modify sensitive

roads. They should heed their sound advice.

An assessment by the Wildlife Institute of India states

that tigers in at least 26 reserves face the destructive im

pact of roads and tra�c. The National Tiger Conserva

tion Authority should insist on modi�cation of existing

roads to provide crossings for animals at locations iden

ti�ed in various studies. A more robust approach would

be to realign the roads away from all such landscapes.

Users can be asked to pay a small price for the protec

tion of vital environmental features, and more areas for

nature tourism can also raise revenues. This would en

sure that tigers and other animals are not isolated, and

can disperse strong genetic traits to other populations.

In one wellstudied case of two populations of breeding

tigers in the KanhaPench corridor, which also forms

part of the sensitive central Indian belt, scientists com

missioned by the Environment Ministry found that a

national highway could block �ow of genes between re

gions. The remedy suggested for NH7 was a combina

tion of realignment and creation of long underpasses

for animal movement. That is the sustainable way for

ward, and the Centre should order the modi�cations

without delay wherever they are needed. It would be

consistent with the Wildlife Action Plan 20022016 an

nounced by Atal Bihari Vajpayee as Prime Minister. Al

so, curbs should be imposed on tra�c on existing roads

passing through sanctuaries. This can be done using

speed restraints and by allowing only escorted convoys,

with a ban on private vehicular movement at night. Res

trictions should be applicable to religious tourism as

well. Without a determined e�ort, roadkill will severely

diminish India’s conservation achievements.

Avoiding roadkillRoads must be kept out of wildlife corridors

to protect tigers and other animals

The time has come to undo the judicial wrong

done to homosexual individuals in 2013, when

the Supreme Court upheld the validity of Section

377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalises gay

sex. A reconsideration of the �awed verdict in Suresh

Kumar Koushal is now in prospect. A threejudge Bench

has opened up an opportunity to reconsider that ver

dict, which came to the disturbing conclusion that the

LGBT community was just a “minuscule fraction” of the

population and also ruled that those having sexual in

tercourse “against the order of nature” constituted a

separate class on which the law could validly impose

penal sanctions. Although the matter is already before a

Constitution Bench by way of a curative petition against

the earlier judgment, the latest order is on a fresh peti

tion challenging Section 377. It draws from the observa

tions in the ninejudge Bench judgment in the ‘right to

privacy’ case. The majority observed in Justice K.S. Put-

taswamy v. Union of India that “equality demands that

the sexual orientation of each individual in society

must be protected on an even platform. The right to pri

vacy and the protection of sexual orientation lie at the

core of the fundamental rights guaranteed by Articles

14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution.” The Bench has rightly

observed that social morality changes from age to age,

that “the morality that public perceives, the Constitu

tion may not conceive of,” and that what is “natural to

one may not be natural to another”.

Thus, there is fresh hope that the Delhi High Court

judgment of 2009, which read down Section 377 to de

criminalise consensual sex between adults, may be res

tored. Ever since the court, in National Legal Services

Authority v. Union of India (2014), concerning the rights

of transgender persons, questioned the Koushal reason

ing, there has been a body of jurisprudence that sees

gender identity and sexual orientation as an aspect of

privacy, personal freedom and dignity. It is not yet clear

if the present petition and the curative petition will be

heard together. A curative petition is normally allowed

only on the limited grounds of violation of principles of

natural justice and circumstances suggesting possible

bias on the part of judges. In contrast, the latest petition

has paved the way for a comprehensive hearing on all

dimensions of the right of individuals to a�rm their

sexual orientation. In this, the court must not con�ne it

self to the issue of privacy, but also address the discrim

ination inherent in Section 377 on the basis of sexual

orientation. The formulation in Koushal that constitu

tional protection is not available to a tiny fraction of the

population can be overturned only on the touchstone

of Article 14, which protects the right to equality.

Question of equalityThe Supreme Court has an opportunity to

reconsider its 2013 order criminalising gay sex


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CMYK

A ND-NDE

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DATA POINT

The Congress Party in West Bengal has been authorised toform a coalition Government headed by Dr. P.C. Ghosh, Leader of the Progressive Democratic Front. This decision was taken at a meeting of the Central Parliamentary Board of theCongress here [Hyderabad] tonight [ January 9] under thepresidentship of Mr. S. Nijalingappa. The Board heard an account of the West Bengal situation from the Leader of the StateCongress Party, Mr. Das Gupta, and the President of the WestBengal Pradesh Congress Committee, Dr. P.C. Chunder. TheCongress General Secretary, Mr. Sadiq Ali, told correspondents that after considering the West Bengal situation in all itsaspects the Board decided to allow the State Congress Party toform a coalition Ministry headed by Dr. Ghosh.

FIFTY YEARS AGO JANUARY 10, 1968

Congress coalition govt. in West Bengal

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FROM ARCHIVES

The “Gazette” contains a Despatch by Marshal Haig of 26,000words, covering the operations during 1917, except those atCambrai. He explains that a conference of Military Heads of Allies in November 1916, arranged a plan for last year comprisingo�ensives on all fronts. The British o�ensive in April was to bepreparatory for more decisive subsequent French operations,in the latter stages of which the British were to cooperate. Butevents in Russia and France necessarily modi�ed the plan.

A HUNDRED YEARS AGO JANUARY 10, 1918.

British Operations: Haig’s Despatch.

Summerlearning lossEducation

Also known as the Summer Slide, this refers to thetendency for students tolose some achievementgains when they are out ofschool during summer.The concept has its originin research studies arguingthat the educational levelof students, when schoolsopened after summer, waslower than at the beginning of summer. Suchlearning loss is said to beequivalent to about one totwo months of learningand found to be higher inthe case of subjects such asmathematics. In some cases, it can also cause teachers to spend a signi�canttime after summer tryingto teach lessons from theprevious academic year.

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CONCEPTUAL

The Hindu Explains:

Spectre and Meltdown

http://bit.ly/Intelrisk

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We have a pretty healthy tradition now ofalmost anyone and everyone taking exception to a �lm. In that sense, we are allequal rights censors. There are somegroups which don’t like a �lm because ofsome very genuine reasons. These couldrange from an incorrect portrayal of an

ancestor (�ctional or otherwise), of a politician (living ordead), a religious �gure (god forbid), a professional occupation (lawyers) and so on. On the religious front, Hindus,Muslims, Sikhs, and Christians have been equal rights censors when it comes to defending their faith. We are not talking castes here as that would get too complex. On the political front, almost all have united in their call to censor a �lmwithout watching it. With so many nonstate censors, wheredoes that leave the o�cial ‘censor board?

Pressure pointsBack in 2005, the chief of the Central Board of Film Certi

�cation (CBFC), Sharmila Tagore, invited the Indian AirForce chief to watch Rang De Basanti in the capital’s Mahadev auditorium. What a sight it was to see uniformed mensharing their reservations on the �ctional takeo� on angstridden youth. Somewhere in the �lm, a “faulty” MiG crashes, necessitating an intervention from the defence forces.Then again, she had to take a call on The Da Vinci Code,when several Christian organisations objected to its contents and complained to the Information and BroadcastingMinistry; it too censors �lms in the name of restoring lawand order. This got a little tricky as the Ministry had alreadygiven its assurance to Christian organisations. After a brieflull, in 2009, a �lm proposal based on Jawaharlal Nehru andEdwina Mountbatten’s relationship called Indian Summer,did not even get past the Ministry. The main objection of theCongress, though it was never stated, was the portrayal ofNehru. Joe Wright, the director, never stood a chance. CBFCchiefs have often conceded to the demands made by the public and elected representatives of the public.

Against the backdrop of much censorship led by nonstate actors, governments have done their bit to appointcommittees to suggest certi�cation of �lms, if only to showhow much they value democracy and the freedom of expression. Yet, as experience shows, their �ndings have hadno takers. It is a process governments go through. So, wemust not despair at the future of Rani Padmavati’s bioepic,sorry, Malik Mohammad Jayasi’s �ctional story. Someoneout there was bound to take exception with or without theCBFC’s mediation. That the Board has changed the �lm’sname has not helped. The Rajasthan Chief Minister has saidno to the �lm being screened in the State.

So, here is a simple solution. The next time the Board isconstituted, with the exception of the �lmmaker, people ofall faiths, cricketers, politicians, businessmen, traders, lawyers, women, and from the defence forces should have afair representation. That will allow everyone to express selfrighteous indignation at facts/�ction and ensure that nothing, virtually nothing, escapes the censors.

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We the censorsA simple solution to getting aroundthe issue of �lm censorship

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As we unsteadily clambered into the mini lorries, the drivers told us tobe alert and keep lookingup for obstacles. “Whatcould possibly fall out ofthe sky?” we laughed. Wesoon realised the problem: lowhangingbranches.

Seven kilometres fromThenkurichi, where wehad started our journey,we entered a small villagewith breathtaking views ofthe hills. As a rookie journalist who had lived all herlife in a city, it was unusualfor me to hear how the villagers themselves had laidout the uneven path about�ve years earlier.

“A direct road to thenearest village would helpus take our produce to themarket and for medicalemergencies,” a womanthere said.

I learnt that there wasno road there because of atussle between the districtadministration and theforest department. But

“Is this the only way to travel? Wouldn’t it be easierto walk?” I asked a groupof people standing near acluster of mini lorriesparked at the foot of along, winding path leading uphill toMeenakshipuram.

“The path is very steepand full of boulders. It iseither this or the few jeepsthat the o�cials use,” Gunasekaran from Meenakshipuram said.

In October 2013, o�cials from the Madurai district administration wereaccompanied by a fewjournalists to visit Meenakshipuram, a small villagenear the Sirumalai range,which is a part of the Eastern Ghats. They werethere to carry out inspections and check on the implementation of variousschemes. But for many ofus journalists, this �eld visit was anything butroutine.

the everyday arduous travel hadn’t dented the spirit of the people. They eagerly showed us theirsmall patches of vegetables, co�ee and peppers,all grown organically, andasked us if their producecould be marketed well.

Another visitDespite my aching bonesfrom that journey, Ilooked forward to a trip tothe village again in 2015,on a similar �eld visit.

Met with the same minilorries at the foot of thepath in Ponnaruvi, a hamlet, I asked the residents ifthe situation had changed.

“No roads for 3 km, andno brides for many youngmen in the village,” one ofthem said in the samebreath. After most of themhad had a laugh, he continued in a serious tone:“No one wants to givebrides to a place that hasbad roads. What will wedo for an emergency if shegoes into labour?”

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NOTEBOOK

The road to marriageHow a village in Tamil Nadu charted its own pathPoorvaja S.

Nicholas Burns has served in the U.S. government for 27 yearsand worked closely with several Presidents, Republican aswell as Democratic. As Under Secretary of State for PoliticalA�airs from 2005 to 2008, he led negotiations on the IndiaU.S. Civil Nuclear Agreement. Currently a Professor at theHarvard Kennedy School of Government, he travels to Indiaoften, keenly follows developments and IndiaU.S. relations.As Donald Trump completes one year as President, he talksabout the entire gamut of IndiaU.S. ties in the context ofchanging American priorities and how India is viewed byfriends in America. Excerpts:

President Trump will

complete his �rst year in

o�ce later this month. Has

this �rst year been di�erent

from that of previous

presidencies?

n I think President Trump’sAmerica First policy is a fundamental departure from 70years of American foreignpolicy under both Republican and Democratic Presidents. It is a very negative departure. President Trumphas weakened the U.S. andhas taken us in the wrong direction. He is diminishingour commitment to some ofour alliances. He has disavowed America’s traditionalsupport for the World TradeOrganisation, for big multilateral agreements like theTransPaci�c Partnership. Hehas also turned his back onthe existential basis of American society, which is that weare an immigrant nation. Hewants to severely curtail immigration…. he has refusedto take even a single Syrianrefugee. He has put a travelban on several countries,mainly Muslim. On thesethree structural areas — alliances, trade and immigration — he has turned his backon what Republicans and Democrats have supported foryears. Besides, we have withdrawn from the Paris climateagreement, and we are theonly country that is out of itnow, and we are the secondlargest carbon emitter. Most

importantly, the Presidentappears to not see himself —as every American Presidentsince Franklin D. Roosevelthas seen himself — as theleader of the West, leader ofa democratic alliance ofcountries, a supporter ofdemocracy.

On alliances, the President

has given con�icting signals

though. He has said that the

U.S. remains committed to

its allies. So what do we take

from this?

n He has not been consistent. Every time he speaks upfor South Korea or Japan…we have to remember thatnot long ago, he accused theSouth Korean government ofappeasement of the NorthKorean government, in wanting to talk to them. Wordsmatter. When you are thePresident of the U.S., youhave to be consistent in conveying what you believe in.This President has not beenconsistent. He sees the worldalmost solely through theprism of trade and investment, and ignores the valueof democracy and other strategic issues. This to me is afundamental departure.

But in his speech in Poland

last year he portrayed the

U.S.Europe partnership as a

civilisational alliance. So he

does have a view, albeit

di�erent from his

predecessors, on the

foundations of that

relationship?

n There is a crisis in Europe— the crisis is the rise of rightwing populism. People likeMarine Le Pen in France,Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, Viktor Orbán in Hungary, some of the rightwingleaders in Poland are fundamentally antidemocraticleaders. They don’t believein the kind of democracythat we believe in, or you inIndia believe in. What thePresident did in Warsaw lastsummer was to praise a government that is �irting withantidemocratic factions. Itwas misguided. This is thetime when the American President must be standing withthe truly democratic leaders.The President failed to convey what we stand for, whatAmerican values are.

The President also says that

friends of America fooled all

his predecessors…

n I think it’s arrogant to say,as he repeatedly does, thatall of his predecessors failed.I worked for every administration from Jimmy Carter toGeorge W. Bush, … I can say,they did their best. Theywere all good men. They all

believed in our country. Allof them made mistakes, weall do. But they advancedAmerican interests signi�cantly. To say that all that wedid about alliances, refugees,trade treaties so far is wrong,ahistorical. It is grossly unfair for him to make thatjudgment.

But the President hasdone some things that arepositive. I think he has beenable to strengthen our relationship with some of themoderate Sunni Arab regimes in the Middle East. Hecertainly strengthened ourrelationship with Israel. Hispolicy on North Korea, of trying to increase pressure on it,is good. The problem withthis President is that evenwhen he is correct, the verbal excess that comes with itis unconscionably o�ensive[in] that it erodes whatevergood he is doing in policy.

The Trump administration

is clear that its objective is to

enhance hard power and it

sees soft power as a waste of

money. How is this

impacting the State

Department? How does this

impact American standing

in the world?

n For countries like the U.S.,India, Japan or France, softpower is very important.What makes India and theU.S. uniquely important inthe world is our support fordemocracy, religious tolerance, human rights. This iswhat distinguishes us fromChina or Russia. As a leaderyou have to pay attention toboth aspects of your power,hard and soft. The State Department is facing a threat ofbudget cuts, and to see thePresident and Secretary [ofState] Rex Tillerson �ringsome of our senior career diplomats, not listening tothem… it has been a painfulyear.

What is heartening to seeis that both parties in Congress are standing up to thePresident and Secretary Tillerson in support of diplomats and diplomacy. Mr. Tillerson has not shown faith inour career diplomats. He hasnot shown support for them.

How do you see India’s role

in the changing priorities of

the U.S.?

n Under President Trump India remains a signi�cantpriority for U.S. foreign policy. I think President Trumpis continuing the policy ofPresidents Bush and Obama.We all believe that the rise ofIndia as a global power is inthe interest of America. President Trump has appointeda very capable ambassadorto India, and I have knownKen Juster for many years. Iadmire Ken, and he is a trueexpert on India. His going toIndia as ambassador is a verypositive signal, and India isone of the success stories ofthe Trump administration.The continuation of our policy of close economic cooperation and much closer strategic partnership is goodnews. The strategic convergence between India andAmerica that is underway forsome time continues underPresident Trump. If you lookat President Trump’s policiesworldwide, one of the brightest spots has been his policytowards India.

What about his Pakistan

policy?

n There is a challenge withregards to Pakistan. He isright in calling out Pakistanfor its support of terrorists.Realistically, we will alsohave to try and maintain a relationship with Pakistan.This is a very di�cult balance to maintain. There isvalue in being clear to Pakistan publicly. I don’t think it iswise to drive that to a pointwhere we don’t have the ability to have a continuous lineof communication with Pakistan. India has the same interest. The situation in SouthAsia will be better if Indiaand Pakistan are talking.

President Trump is an

advocate of bilateral deals.

Given that, how con�dent

can India be in his ability to

watch the speci�c policy proposals related to these issuesin 2018, and to deal withthem constructively. We arefortunate that we have KenJuster as ambassador in NewDelhi, who understandsthese issues very well.

How do you assess the Modi

government in India, which

will be completing four

years in o�ce this year?

n Mr. Modi has been a dynamic leader internationally.He has been successful incontinuing with the �nework of his predecessorsManmohan Singh and A.B.Vajpayee. Looking at thegrowth of investment, e�ortsin improving infrastructure,e�orts to �ght corruption,there is much to admireabout Mr. Modi. I am quitewell aware that there are many problems in India; thereare economic problems asthere are successes. I will saythis as a friend of India, as anadmirer of India, one of thegreatest strengths of Indiahas been its religious tolerance and the fact that religious minorities in India,particularly Muslims, havefull rights and full opportunities. There are aspects ofHindu nationalism that wehave seen under this government that give many of India’s friends a concern. Particularly after 9/11 it was soremarkable that India’s Muslim community continued tosucceed in business, politics,and there has been a relatively peaceful coexistence ofthe Hindu and Muslim communities. We have a similarproblem in the U.S. by theway — under PresidentTrump race relations haveworsened. We are strugglingto sustain the progress wemade in race relations over50 years. One of PresidentTrump’s greatest mistakeshas been to be a divisive leader on race. Friends of Indiawant it to remain a countrywhere people of all faiths cansucceed.

understand the IndoPaci�c

as a strategic theatre?

n The policy of any countrymust be consistent with itslongterm interests. I thinkthe policy of the U.S. in theIndoPaci�c is not going tochange radically in the nextseveral decades.

Our interest in the IndoPaci�c is to ensure that weare a power there, as you are(India), as Japan is, as Chinais… to maintain regionalpeace, to maintain freetrade, to protect the rise ofsmaller countries. Aggressive Chinese military actionsare a threat to this. Our interest is in aligning ourselveswith India, Japan, Australia,Singapore. There are veryfew topics on which the Democrats and Republicansagree with each other, butone of them is relations withIndia.

India has been named very

favourably by President

Trump several times, but

also very unfavourably

many times in the past year,

particularly in matters

related to trade. How do we

make sense of this?

n Trade has been a di�cultissue in IndiaU.S. relationsfor decades. It has been a dif�cult issue for PresidentBush, and I know that as Iserved as Under Secretary ofState for him. It was very dif�cult for President Obama.The fact is that the U.S. seessome of India’s trade policiesas very protectionist. Thathas not changed under thisadministration, and it is acommonly held view by theU.S. Congress and the lastthree U.S. administrations.The potential for con�ict inthe trade area is greater under this administration because President Trump’sviews are much more aggressive, towards countries withwhich we have di�culties intrade, and much more aggressive on the issue of H1Bvisas. It is important for us to

THE WEDNESDAY INTERVIEW | NICHOLAS BURNS

‘Trump has weakened the U.S., taken us in the wrong direction’The former U.S. diplomat on Donald Trump’s �rst year in the White House, and what it means for India

Varghese K. George

<> There are aspects

of Hindu

nationalism that

we have seen

under this

government that

give many of

India’s friends a

concern.

<> Mr. Trump sees the world almost solely through

the prism of trade and investment, and ignores the

value of democracy and other strategic issues

OF

FIC

E O

F P

RO

FE

SSO

R N

ICH

OLA

S B

UR

NS,

HA

RV

AR

D K

EN

NE

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SC

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#3 9 7 9 1 8

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A ND-NDE




NEWS

FROM PAGE ONE

The court took note of itsjudgment in the Bijoe Emmanuel versus State of Kerala, which dealt with threechildren belonging to the Jehovah Witnesses sect whorefused to sing the anthemin the school assemblythough they stood up in respect, to drive home thepoint that standing up was asign of “proper respect” tothe anthem. “Proper respect is shown to the National Anthem by standing upwhen the National Anthemis sung,” the Bench quotedJustice O. Chinnappa Reddy’s words in the verdict.

The modi�cation will bein place till the Union government takes a �nal decision. The Home Ministryappointed committee willexamine whether anyamendment is necessary tothe Prevention of Insults toNational Honour Act, 1971,to expand or specify themeaning of ‘respect’ to thenational anthem.

The Prevention of Insultsto National Honour Actstates: “Whoever intentionally prevents the singing ofthe Jana Gana Mana orcauses disturbances to anyassembly engaged in suchsinging shall be punished

with imprisonment for aterm, which may extend tothree years, or with �ne, orwith both.”

AttorneyGeneral K.K. Venugopal submitted the committee would conduct acomprehensive study of theissue. The government began the hearing by referringto its latest a�davit, suggesting that the court modify itsNovember 30, 2016, orderand give cinema hall ownersdiscretion till the committeetook a �nal decision.

Referring to complaints�led under the 1971 Actagainst Infosys founder Narayanamurthy and CongressMP Shashi Tharoor for disrespecting the anthem, Mr.Venugopal said: “Respect ordisrespect to the anthemhas to be decided on a casebycase basis. Your Lordships cannot think of a1,000 ways of respect to theanthem.”

The Bench summed up:“Three things are obvious.The Anthem has to be respected as it is the salutationto the motherland. The listof occasions for showingrespect to the Anthem.Proper decorum has to bemaintained during theAnthem.”

SC makes anthem in cinemas optional

at an earlier hearing, favoured a relook at the practice of hanging to death as“the Constitution of India isan organic and compassionate document which recognises the sanctity of �exibility of law as situationschange with the �ux oftime.”

The court is hearing awrit petition �led by DelhiHigh Court lawyer Rishi Malhotra, who sought thecourt’s intervention to reduce the su�ering of condemned prisoners at thetime of death. He said a convict should not be compelled to su�er at the termination of his or her life.

Petitionerinperson and advocate Rishi Malhotra countered that death by lethal injection is practised inseveral States in the U.S. andeven the Law Commissionof India had recommendedlethal injection.

The court gave the government four weeks to �lethe a�davit.

The court has alreadyclari�ed that it is not questioning the constitutionalityof the death penalty. Section 354 (5), which mandates death by hanging, ofthe Code of Criminal Procedure has already beenupheld.

However, the Bench had,

No viable alternativeto hanging: Centre

Modi.Describing madrasas as a

“curse” for Indian Muslims,Mr. Rizvi blamed them forcreating an “Islamic atmosphere” which is keeping Muslim children awayfrom government and othersecular schools and in�uencing their minds towards fundamentalism.

‘Fake madrasas’In his letter to Mr. Adityanath, Mr. Rizvi points outthat there are 16,000 registered madrasas in U.P.alone, of which most are“fake” and do not followstandard practices.

In his letters Mr. Rizvi iscritical of the current functioning of madrasas, sayingnot only do they have poorinfrastructure and limitedsyllabi, the abysmal qualityof education is driving Muslim youth away from the“national mainstream” towards fundamentalism andterrorism.

Religious educationReligious education shouldbe kept optional in theseschools and those madrasasfunctioning without registration should be shutdown immediately, Mr. Rizvi said in his letter to Mr.

Shut madrasa boards,says Shia Waqf head

One Hizbul Mujahideen militant was killed and anotherinjured in an operation inAnantnag on Tuesday. In aseparate incident in Kulgam,a civilian was killed while security forces opened �redduring mob violence.

“One militant was killedwhen a search party cameunder �re from hiding militants in the Larnoo area ofKokernag on Tuesday.Another militant, who wasinjured, managed to escape,” Swayam Prakash Pani, Deputy InspectorGeneral, South Kashmir, said.

The slain militant wasidenti�ed as Farhan AhmadWani of Redwani in Kulgam.“One INSAS ri�e, two magazines and 42 rounds were recovered from the encountersite,” Mr. Pani said.

The slain militant, the police said, was “a hardcorestonethrower” and joinedthe militant ranks eightmonths ago. The killing ofthe militant sparked violentprotests in Kokernag andRedwani. Security forcesused smoke shells to containthe situation.

In a separate incident,one civilian, identi�ed asKhalid Ahmad Dar, died ofbullet injuries as securityforces �red upon a protesting mob.

Stone-throwingA police o�cial said two civilians sustained bullet injuries when a mob threwstones on the Army camp located at Kudwani. “Some unidenti�ed militants from the

mob also �red some shots towards the Army camp,” thepolice said. Dar, 22, who sustained a bullet injury on theneck, died in hospital, thepolice said. Another manwas hit in the shoulder and isstable, they added.

Meanwhile, a BSF driverwas arrested after his vehiclehit a civilian in Kulgam, fuelling more protests in Kulgam.

The police in Sopore arrested two militants and

busted a module. Two terrorists hiding near a school,who tried to open �re on security forces, were overpowered and arrested on January 7, an o�cial said. Thesemilitants were in touch withHizbul Mujahideen andJaisheMuhammad commanders Reyaz Naikoo, Qasim and Ali,” said a police of�cial. The arrested areMushtaq Ahmad Chopanand Shijauddin Sheikh.

Hizb militant killed in Anantnag encounter Another militant escapes; civilian dies of bullet injury after security forces �re on protesting mob

Special correspondent

Srinagar

On vigil: Army personnel on a patrol near Larnoo in Kokernag of Anantnag district . * PTI

The campus mates of Mannan Wani, 26, a researchscholar at Aligarh MuslimUniversity, who reportedlyjoined the militant ranks,wrote an open letter to himon Tuesday, asking him toreturn. His family circulatedan online appeal to him.

Signed by over 20 students of the university, theletter expressed surprise over Wani’s move.

“We were thunderstruckwhen we saw your photo onsocial media holding a guninstead of a pen. It gives uspain to even consider thatyou chose a path riddenwith unmeasurable troublesand immense sacri�ce. Weare still prepared to believethat it is not too late for youto reconsider your decision,” the letter read.

Recalling Wani’s oratory,presentation and debatingskills, the university students described him as “an

inspiration to the youth”.“You could participate in

the reformation of our society. You could �ll the lacuna in leadership that we always claim to face. Youcould directly address thepeople if you choose a nonviolent path over the violentone, without burdeningyour conscience,” they said.

The letter asked Wani to“come back”.

“We urge the State government to ensure the return of this budding scholar.We are hopeful that his safepassage would be ensuredwithout causing him any harassment,” the letter said.

The family of the scholartoo has issued an appeal.“Come back my son. I won’tforce you for further studiesand will keep you at homeonly. Please return to yourparents, I am waiting foryou,” his mother said.

The police said they wereyet to conclude that Wanihad joined the militants.

Friends, family askWani to returnPeerzada Ashiq

Srinagar

China on Tuesday did notchallenge the remarks ofthe chief of Army Sta� Bipin Rawat that Beijing hadthinned down its troops inthe Doklam area.

Instead of referring to itstroop deployments, theChinese Foreign Ministrysaid the “Dong Lang [Doklam] area has all alongbeen part of China and under China’s continuous ande�ective jurisdiction.There is no dispute in thisregard.”

It added: “The Chineseborder troops’ patrollingand stationing in the DongLang area is exercising sovereignty rights in accordance with historical conventions and upholdingterritorial sovereignty.”

Gen. Rawat said on Monday that China had withdrawn a large part of itstroops deployed near theDoklam.

China avoidsa counter on Doklam

Atul Aneja

BEIJING

With the party set to take acall on its politicaltacticalline at its threeday CentralCommittee meeting in Kolkata from January 19, CPI(M)general secretary SitaramYechury said here on Tuesday that the organisationcould not be divided intopro and antiCongresscamps.

The discussion on the politicaltactical line has remained inconclusive at PolitBureau meetings. There aretwo views, one advocated byMr. Yechury and the other bythe previous general secretary, Prakash Karat. Bothagree that the primary objective is to oust the BJP from

power and there should beno electoral alliances otherthan with the Left parties.Mr. Yechury, however, advocates that doors should notbe closed to other parties.

“You can’t say some people are proCongress andsome people are proBJP. Weare propeople. We want a

di�erent society in Indiawhere not only secular democratic values are safeguarded, we move towards amore egalitarian and socialstate. If we are close, we areonly close to people,” he saidat an interaction at the Women’s Press Club here.

He said this sort of labelling [proCongress and proBJP] was “deliberate” and“mischievous”. “I, as generalsecretary, will be the lastperson to preempt any decision the party will collectively take. We are the only partythat releases the draft political resolution two monthsbefore the party congress forcomplete dissection,” hesaid.

Speaking on the “softHin

dutva” image of the Congress, Mr. Yechury said theOpposition unity wouldcome about only if it was anchored in secularism.

Electoral bondsResponding to a call for a debate on electoral bonds, Mr.Yechury, in a letter to Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyon Tuesday, said the bondswere a “deeply regressivemove”. “They make the donor, donee and the amount,each of these three vital aspects, a state secret, literally,” he wrote. Also, the government had raised theprospect of allowing shellcompanies being set up withblack money purely to fundpolitical parties.

CPI(M) can’t be divided: Yechury Says the organisation is not split into pro and antiCongress camps

Sitaram Yechury


New Delhi

Accusing both the BJP andthe Congress of trying topoliticise the process of updating the National Registerof Citizens, Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, MP from Assam, said his party, the AllIndia United DemocraticFront (AIUDF), supportedthe process since the entireprocess was being done under the watch of the Supreme Court.

“It is true that though theprocess of updating the NRCis going on under the supervision of the Honourable Supreme Court and the RegistrarGeneral of India, theactual �eld work is beingdone by Assam governmento�cials. And the BJP government may use a sectionof their employees to manipulate the process. But weshouldn’t oppose at thisstage as any discrepancycan be corrected throughthe claims and objectionprocess,” said Mr. Ajmalwho heads the AIUDF.

In the 126member AssamAssembly, the party has 13MLAs and is popular amongthe Bengalispeaking minorities. Many of them are settlers who had migrated fromthe erstwhile East Bengalbefore Independence butoften get branded as suspected foreigners.

“Once it becomes clearwho is a citizen and who is aforeigner, it will put an end

to the politics of vote bankand the harassment thatsome sections of our population face,” said Mr. Ajmal.

Missing nameInterestingly, the MP’s namewas missing from the �rstdraft of the NRC that cameout on the midnight of December 3.

The National Register ofCitizenship — �rst publishedafter the 1951 Census in postpartition India when partsof Assam went to erstwhileEast Pakistan (now Bangladesh) — is being updated todetermine foreigners whoentered Assam after themidnight of March 24, 1971as set out in the Assam Accord.

NRC is beingpoliticised: AjmalSays SC is overseeing process


New Delhi

Badruddin Ajmal

<> Once it becomes

clear who is a

citizen and who is

a foreigner, it will

put an end to the

politics of vote

bank

Raking up the issue of update of the National Registerof Citizens (NRC) in Assamafresh, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee onTuesday urged the people ofher State to give shelter tothose from Assam “in casethey are driven out from theneighbouring State”.

“You should remain alert.If someone comes here, givethem shelter as your own, donot drive them out,” Ms. Ba

nerjee said at a meeting inAlipurduar district in northBengal. During the 2012 BodoMuslim riots in the Bodo

land Territorial Council areain western Assam, northBengal accommodated many refugees.

Many excludedMs. Banerjee said that genuine citizens who spokeBengali, along with manyHindispeaking people fromBihar, had been excludedfrom the updated NRC.

“There are many from theState, from Alipurduar, Murshidabad, Malda, Jalpaiguri,who have spent decades in

Assam. There are many people from Assam who are living in Bengal, but we neverdiscriminate,” she said, adding that 30% of the peopleliving in West Bengal arefrom other States.

Out of 3.39 crore peoplein Assam, 1.29 crore havebeen excluded, Ms. Banerjeealleged. Describing Assam asa border State, she said shewas raising the issue asanything that happened inAssam concerned WestBengal.

Mamata backs Bengalis in Assam ‘Give shelter to people in case they are driven out from neighbouring Assam’

Mamata Banerjee


Kolkata

A senior Home Ministryo�cial said, “Till now U.Khas assured us of all possiblehelp in the extradition requests placed by India, butwe would like to know thestand they are going to takein court in Mallya’s case.”

A senior o�cial said theMoU will streamline the return of illegal migrants to India.

Minister of State for HomeKiren Rijiju will lead a delegation to the U.K. this week.The team is expected to askWestminster to “spell out”its position in court on businessman Vijay Mallya’s extradition. Mr. Modi’s visit tothe U.K. coincides with thehearing in Mr. Mallya’s casewhen the court takes up the“admissibility of evidence.”

India-U.K. MoU onillegal migrants

men and ChildDevelopment, HRD, Culture, Parliamentary A�airs,Law, Minority A�airs and Information and Broadcasting, and the Department ofEmpowerment of Personswith Disabilities.

It will submit its report within six months.

Set up on December 5last, the committee willhave o�cers of the rank ofJoint Secretary from the Ministries of Home A�airs, Defence, External A�airs, Wo

12member panel to take a call

Insha Mushtaq, 16, whosepelletriddled face forced adebate on the use of shotgun in Valley, cleared theClass 10 examinations onTuesday, despite losingsight in both eyes.

“Our happiness is inexplicable. It’s beyond ourexpectations. She will pursue her studies given hermarks,” said the victim’sfather, Mushtaq AhmadLone.

Insha was hit by pelletsin 2016 during clashes atSedow village in Shopian.

Pellet victim clears Class10 exams


Srinagar

Insha Mushtaq

Former city Commissionerof Police Julio F. Riberiomoved the Bombay HighCourt on Tuesday, seeking acomprehensive �re safetyaudit, a special investigationteam (SIT) and a judicialcommission to �x accountability for the loss of 14 lives inthe recent �re at two restaurants in Kamala Mills.

Mr. Ribeiro, 89, has alsoserved as the Director General of the Central ReservePolice Force. He is the founding trustee of NGO PublicConcern for GovernanceTrust. His PIL claims the“BMC was in completeknowledge of the illegalitiesand �outing of norms by thelicensee and licensor at –1Above and Mojo’s Bistro.”

It mentions how the “BMCchief has frankly admitted

that there was immensepressure from the powerfulpersons to ‘not take actionagainst certain o�cials’, andthat there were people whowere insistent that no actionshould be taken againstthem”. The PIL points outthat neither restaurant had�re safety equipment.

Among other requests,Mr. Riberio has sought a direction from the court to theChief Fire O�cer (CFO) to

conduct a comprehensive�re safety audit of all eateries, lounges, bas and pubs.He wants the Urban Development Department to depute an o�cer in all civicwards to aid the CFO in conducting a comprehensivewardwise �re safety audit,and report a submit to courtin a timebound manner.

Mr. Riberio, who was alsothe Indian Ambassador toRomania, sought alternaterelief through a judicial commission that will �x accountability of public o�cers andprivate individuals, whichwill submit a report to thecourt. The PIL also soughtthe constitution of an SITcomprising IPS o�cers notbelow the rank of AdditionalCP (Crime) to continue withthe investigation into the Kamala Mills �re. All FIRs in theincident have been regis

tered at NM Marg police station.

Mr. Ribeiro said, “I reallyhope a proper investigationtakes place, and those punished should not only be theowners, but also erring municipal corporation o�cers.”

ADivision Bench comprising Justices R.M. Borde andR.G. Ketkar said when authorities permit commercialestablishments, they shouldalso put regulations in place,and ensure �re tenders havesu�cient access. The matterwill be heard on January 15.

On December 29, a �rebroke out after midnight atrestaurant 1Above and Mojo’s Bistro next to it. Dozensof patrons were trapped inthem as smoke �lled the narrow entrances. While mostmade it safely to the lanesoutside, 14 people lost theirlives.

Kamala Mills �re: Ribeiro movesHigh Court seeking probePIL seeks �re safety audit of all eateries, bars, a judicial probe into mishap

J.F. Ribeiro *


Mumbai


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NEWS

India on Tuesday reachedout to lawmakers of Indianorigin spread across theworld, seeking support forits emerging status as a global power.

Speaking at the “First PIOParliamentarian Conference”, External A�airs Minister Sushma Swaraj urgedthe legislators and political�gures to consider what kindof contribution they couldmake for India’s globalambition.

“This conference will be amix of two dimensions onyour present situation andpast struggle, and what youcan do to promote theemerging India in the globalscene,” she said.

Global leadersIntroducing the theme of theevent, Ms. Swaraj remindedthe guests of the contribution of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee instarting the annual PravasiBharatiya Divas, and appreciated the political awareness of the people of Indian

origin in various countries.“A total of 141 lawmakers

con�rmed their attendanceand 134 leaders have made tothis event today despite massive weather disturbance [inthe West],” Ms. Swaraj said.

The PIO Parliamentarianforum was planned last yearduring a conversation withPrime Minister NarendraModi to connect the lawmakers of Indian origin with

their ancestral land, the Minister said.

Cultural linkMr. Modi inaugurated theconference and highlightedthe cultural link with thediaspora.

“Your ancestors had toleave India under various circumstances and that is whywhen you return to an Indian airport, you are remind

ed of your ties with thiscountry. You have a desire toreturn to India and I understand your feelings very well.On the one hand, you havepreserved Indian culture. Onthe other hand, your peoplehave excelled in sports, arts,cinema in the global platforms and have contributedto your adopted country’swelfare,” he said in Hindi.

He mentioned the pre

sence of former GuyanesePresident Bharat Jagdeo, andnoted that from Mauritius toGuyana, there were severalIndianorigin individualswho had become leaders oftheir countries. “We have aminiworld Parliament infront of us today,” Mr. Modisaid.

“For enhancing our prideand dignity, you all deserveour appreciation,” he saidnoting that India was experiencing aspirational and societal changes.

He said there was an “irreversible change” sweepingIndia, and urged the leadersto come forward to joinhands.

Ms. Swaraj made specialmention of the Indian community in Mauritius whichhad emerged as the leadingplayer in the island nation.“Gandhiji inspired people inMauritius to get educationand increase political awareness and that is why after afew generations, they haveachieved political leadership,” she said congratulating the girmitiyas livingabroad for their success.

PIOs make ‘mini-world Parliament’ As lawmakers of Indian origin across the world gather, India seeks support for global power status

Kallol Bhattacherjee

NEW DELHI

Diaspora connect: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with External A�airs Minister Sushma Swarajand Minister of State M.J. Akbar at the PIOparliamentarian meet in New Delhi on Tuesday. * PTI

After his mega roadshowwith Japanese premier Shinzo Abe here, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi will take hisIsraeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, on a similartrip in the city on January 17.

The Prime Ministers willtravel in an open jeep fromthe airport to the SabarmatiAshram following Mr. Netanyahu’s arrival at 10.30 a.m.The civic body is decking upthe route.

Schedule of events“Mr. Modi will land in the city early in the morning andsubsequently, the IsraelPrime Minister with his delegation will land at the airport, where Mr. Modi willreceive them,” a senior Stategovernment o�cial said.“After a brief halt at the airport, both dignitaries willembark on the roadshow inan open jeep.”

Mr. Modi will take Mr. Netanyahu around the ashram

and Mahatma Gandhi’s cottage. Both would later inaugurate a new incubationand startup support centre,iCreate, set up with Israeliassistance. More than 1,000delegates from industry andbusiness would be present.

In the afternoon, bothleaders would reach Vadrajvillage in Sabarkantha inNorth Gujarat where acentre for excellence for vegetable farming had beenset up with Israel’s help. Mr.Netanyahu will inaugurateanother centre of excellencefor date farming in Kutch.

“We have three eventsduring Israel Prime Minister’s daylong visit to theState,” the Gujarat government o�cial added.

In 2014, Chinese President Xi Jinping became the�rst foreign dignitary to visitMr. Modi’s home state. InAhmedabad, Mr. Modi andMr. Xi attended a variety ofevents.

Mr. Shinzo laid the stonefor the bullet train project.

Modi, Netanyahuplan roadshowTo ride in open jeep in Ahmedabad


AHMEDABAD

In a sign of a possible thaw inIndiaMaldives ties, Maldivian Foreign Minister Mohamed Asim will arrive inDelhi on Wednesday to meetPrime Minister NarendraModi and External A�airsMinister Sushma Swaraj onThursday. The visit was announced by the External Affairs Ministry and the Maldives government onTuesday.

“This is part of an e�ort toincrease the visibility in bilateral ties,” Maldives’ HighCommissioner to IndiaAhmed Mohamed told TheHindu.

“While there is no speci�cagenda for the visit, we expect close bilateral consultations,” he said adding thatthere would be discussionson the MoUs that weresigned during President Abdulla Yameen’s visit to Delhiin April 2016.

Mr. Asim’s visit is the �rst

highlevel visit between thetwo countries in nearly ayear, since Minister of Statefor External A�airs M.J. Akbar visited in February 2017,and the �rst since the Maldives and China signed aFree Trade Agreement (FTA)in November 2017.

Shortly thereafter, Indiahad indicated its displeasureat the speed with which theFTA was passed in the Maldivian parliament, followed byPresident Yameen’s state visit to Beijing. “It is our expectation that as a close andfriendly neighbour, Maldiveswill be sensitive to our concerns, in keeping with its India First policy,” External Affairs Ministry spokespersonRaveesh Kumar had said atthe time.

Modi visit?Mr. Asim will also o�ciate asPresident Yameen’s specialenvoy, according to the Ministry, raising speculationthat he would formally invite

Prime Minister NarendraModi to the Maldives.

Male is the only SAARCcapital Mr. Modi has not visited since he took o�ce,having cancelled a plannedvisit in March 2015 over theYameen government’s crackdown on political protests,putting a strain on bilateralties.

Meanwhile, an o�cial invitation last year by New Delhi to former President Mohammed Nasheed, whofaces a jail term in the Mal

dives, had further widenedthe perceived rift.

However, High Commissioner Mohamed declined tocomment on whether Mr.Modi was likely to travel tothe Maldives in the near future. He also denied reportsof any strain in ties, sayingthat other bilateral engagements continued, includingconsular talks between thetwo countries in October lastyear. Counterterrorism exercises between armed forces called “EKUVERIN” hadbeen held in Karnataka inDecember.

FTA dialogueOn the issue of the FreeTrade Agreement negotiations, Mr. Mohamed admitted that “no serious negotiations” had taken placebetween India and the Maldives yet, but that his government “would like tohave an FTA in place” at theearliest.

The FTA was only one of a

series of issues between NewDelhi and the Maldives in thepast few months, however.In December, the Yameengovernment passed strictures against local councillors, who met High Commissioner of India AkhileshMishra, and restricted localo�cials from meeting diplomats.

An editorial in a governmentfriendly newspaper,the Vaguthu, criticising theModi government’s “proHindutva” policies had alsocaused concern in New Delhi. The editorial, which wascondemned by the Opposition, was subsequently withdrawn, but Mr. Nasheed hadalso alleged that PresidentYameen’s actions were spoiling ties with India.

“President Yameen’s reckless foreign policy is destroying our relationship with India. The Maldives must besensitive to India’s securityand safety,” he said in atweet last month.

Delhi, Male set to reboot bilateral tiesMaldivian Foreign Minister’s visit signals possible thaw in relations strained over FTA with China

Abdulla Yameen

Suhasini Haidar

NEW DELHI

Bar on national �agsmade of plasticNEW DELHI

The Centre on Tuesday urged

the public not to use national

flag made of plastic, and

asked the States and the

Union Territories to ensure

compliance with the Flag

Code of India. The Home

Ministry said plastic flags did

not decompose fast and

ensuring their disposal in

keeping with the dignity of

the flag was difficult. PTI

IN BRIEF

Saudi Arabia increasesIndia’s Haj quota NEW DELHI

Saudi Arabia has increased

India’s Haj quota by 5,000,

the second hike in two years,

taking the number of pilgrims

who can perform Haj from the

country to 1,75,025, Union

Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi

said on Tuesday. Mr. Naqvi

said the increase over the

past two years — of nearly

40,000 — was a “record

expansion” since

Independence. PTI

Modi to attend World Economic ForumNEW DELHI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

will become the first Indian

Prime Minister since 1997 to

attend the annual meeting of

the World Economic Forum,

the government said in a

release. The meeting will be

held from January 23 to 26 on

the theme of “Creating a

shared future in a fractured

world”, it said. The Prime

Minister will address the

inaugural plenary session at

3.30 p.m. IST on January 23.

Ministers Arun Jaitley, Suresh

Prabhu, Piyush Goyal,

Dharmendra Pradhan and M.J.

Akbar will participate, the

release added.

The BJP on Tuesday condemned what it termed “irresponsible utterances” byCongress president RahulGandhi during his tour ofBahrain.

At a press conference,Law Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad said Mr. Gandhi’s interactions were “an attemptto malign India’s image onforeign soil” and “highlyshameful”. The Ministerdrew a contrast between Mr.Gandhi’s speeches andPrime Minister NarendraModi’s address to 270 parliamentarians of Indian Originin New Delhi on Tuesday,which he said was aimed at“boosting ties between India and other countries”.

“I am not only surprisedbut also amused at the kindof statements being madeby the president of the Congress party. The attempt byRahul Gandhi to malign India’s image on foreign soil ishighly shameful,” he said.

“The BJP condemns thisirresponsible utterance ofRahul Gandhi before a global interaction. It is not theBJP, but the Congress that isplaying the politics ofhatred..” “[Rahul Gandhi’s]speech shows that that he orhis associates haven’t donetheir homework. Hisspeeches are helping peoplelike Umar Khalid, who haveopenly raised slogans aboutdividing India,” he said.

He said the Congress hada lot to answer for the “hypocrisy that it displayed” onwelfare of communities,speci�cally its ambiguity onthe triple talaq Bill.

BJP slams Rahul for‘irresponsible’ talkSpecial Correspondent

NEW DELHI

Ravi Shankar Prasad

The Ranchi police are studying an FIR lodged againsttwo aides of convicted RJDchief Lalu Prasad which resulted in their being takeninto custody and lodged inthe Birsa Munda Central Jailhours before Mr. Prasad wasshifted there after his conviction in a fodder scamcase.

“We’re looking at the FIRand the circumstances inwhich it was lodged againstthe duo and they were sentto jail … the police had notsent them to jail but theysurrendered before the judicial magistrate and were taken into custody,” Sunil Kumar Sinha, o�cer in chargeof the police station, toldpresspersons in Ranchi.

The onepage FIR was registered against Madan Yadav and Lakshman Kumarby one Sumit Yadav for assault and snatching of�10,000 at 8.15 a.m. on December 23, 2017 near theKatatoli Chowk.

Mr. Sumit Yadav mentions in the FIR that he “didnot take medical assistanceas he was not injured in theincident”.

One Raju Singh is namedas witness. Based on thecomplaint, the police registered the case (no: 447/17)under sections 341, 323,504, 379 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code. Later, bothmen surrendered before ajudicial magistrate and were

taken into custody.They were taken to the

jail exactly two hours beforeRJD chief Lalu Prasadreached there after beingconvicted in the fodderscam case RC (A)/64.

Mr. Prasad, prisoner no3351, was lodged in the upper division ward of the jailand provided a cook, a wooden cot, a television set withonly Doordarshan channeland some vernacularnewspapers.

Repeat performanceBoth Mr. Lakshman Kumarand Mr. Madan Yadav areknown to be Mr. Prasad’slongtime aides in Ranchi.Earlier in 2013, when Mr.Prasad had spent over 70days in the same jail inanother fodder scam case,Mr. Madan Yadav had managed to get himself imprisoned to o�er his services.

The ruling JD(U) and BJPleaders have slammed Mr.Prasad for having a “feudalmindset” to get two of his“poor aides” into jail forhaving their “services”.

Following theirleader to prisonHow Lalu’s aides gamed the system


Patna

Lalu Prasad

The Army is fully satis�edwith the performance of theindigenously developedAkash shortrange surfacetoair missile (SR SAM) system and is looking for further performance enhancements in future, Lt. Gen.Parminder Singh S. Jaggi, DirectorGeneral, Army Air Defence (AAD), said here onTuesday.

Last month, the Army carried out the �rst user trial ofthe missile system.

Biggest advantage“We are happy with theAkash system. It is a watershed as far as indigenoussystems are concerned. Thebiggest advantage is it is ahome grown system,” Lt.Gen. Jaggi said.

The Army’s AAD celebrated its 25th year of raising onTuesday.

The Army currently hastwo Akash regiments which

it began inducting in 2015.Last year, the Defence Ministry cancelled a global tenderfor additional SR SAMs andapproved procurement oftwo more regiments. Eachregiment consists of sixlaunchers with each launcher having three missiles. O�cials say Akash has an indigenous content of 96%.

“The �rst user trial byAAD crew was fully successful. Akash has been validatedas it has been conceptualised,” Lt. Gen. Jaggi said.

25-km rangeAkash has a range of 25 kmand can simultaneously engage multiple targets in allweather conditions and has

a large operational envelopefrom a low altitude of 30metres to a maximum of upto 20 km.

The Army is likely to ordermore Akash regiments as it isin the process of replacing itslegacy systems in service.

Lt. Gen. Jaggi said as moreregiments were ordered,there would be additionalenhancements in the systemas well in performance.

He noted that as AAD celebrated its silver jubilee, therehad beeb a major modernisation drive under way withthe induction of a mediumrange surfacetoair missilefor which contracts hadbeen signed and other dealsin progress.

Akash was developed bythe Defence Research andDevelopment Organisation(DRDO) as part of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme initiated in 1984 and ismanufactured by Bharat Dynamics Ltd. (BDL).

Army satis�ed with Akash missile Looks for performance enhancement of indigenously developed system

Blazing a trail: An Akash missile being �red from the Jaisalmerairbase in 2016. * FILE PHOTO

Dinakar Peri

New Delhi

U.S. whistleblower EdwardSnowden on Tuesday saidthe Indian journalist againstwhom an FIR was �led foralleged Aadhaar databreach, merited an awardand not a government investigation. Mr. Snowden, aformer CIA employee, said

India should reform its policy to safeguard the privacyof its citizens. “If the government were truly concernedfor justice, they would be reforming the policies thatdestroyed the privacy of abillion Indians. Want to arrest those responsible? Theyare called @UIDAI,” hetweeted.

Snowden backs journalistPress Trust of India

London

The Home Ministry is expected to approach the Urban Development Ministryto allow Central armed police forces personnel servingin Jammu and Kashmir andNortheast India to retaintheir accommodations inDelhi beyond the threeyear

stipulated time, an o�cialsaid. The request for providing accommodation for longer durations to the familiesfollows a representationmade by the paramilitaryforces.

The Home Ministry wantsto ensure that the families ofthe jawans are completelylooked after.

Housing concessionfor paramilitary forcesSpecial Correspondent

New Delhi

Himachal PradeshMLAs take oathDHARAMSALA

Pro tem Speaker of the

Himachal Pradesh Assembly

Ramesh Dhawala on Tuesday

administered the oath of

office to the newly elected

MLAs here. Leader of the

House and Chief Minister

Jairam Thakur was the first to

take the oath, followed by

the Ministers. Former Chief

Minister Virbhadra Singh, 83,

was the oldest and his son

Vikramaditya, 28, the

youngest member of the

Assembly. A majority of the

MLAs took the oath in Hindi

and some in English.


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Grace’s doctorate comesunder the scannerHARARE

Zimbabwe’s anticorruption

agency is investigating

whether former First

Lady Grace Mugabe was

wrongly awarded a doctorate

more than three years ago, an

o�cial said on Tuesday.

Ms. Mugabe graduated in

2014, just months after she

had registered to study

at the University of

Zimbabwe. Reuters

ELSEWHERE

Syria accuses Israel of air strikesBEIRUT

Israeli jets and groundto

ground missiles struck Syria

early on Tuesday, Syria’s

Army said, as Israeli Prime

Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

reiterated he would do what

was needed to stop the

Hezbollah gaining “game

changing” Iranian weapons.

The Syrian Army said that

Israeli jets �red missiles at

the alQutaifa area near

Damascus. AFP

200 injured in SouthAfrica train collisionJOHANNESBURG

A train collision on the

outskirts of South Africa’s

commercial hub,

Johannesburg, left more than

200 people injured,

emergency responders said

on Tuesday morning. At least

226 people were taken to

hospitals “but most with

minor injuries,” said Nana

Radebe, spokeswoman for

the city’s emergency

management service. AP

U.S. apologises to Japanfor Okinawa accidentsTOKYO

The U.S. has apologised to

Japan over a series of

accidents involving U.S.

military equipment that have

sparked anger over its

operations in the country, a

spokesman in Tokyo said.

U.S. Secretary of Defence

James Mattis apologised to

his Japanese counterpart

Itsunori Onodera after a

string of accidents including

the emergency landing of

military helicopter in

Okinawa on Monday. AFP

North and South Koreas onTuesday agreed on negotiations to resolve problemsand military talks aimed ataverting accidental con�ict,after their �rst o�cial dialogue in more than twoyears, as Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programmefuels tension.

In a joint statement afterthe 11hour talks, the Northpledged to send a large delegation to next month’s Pyeongchang Winter Olympicsin the South, but made a‘strong complaint’ after Seoul proposed talks to denuclearise the Koreanpeninsula.

South Korea asked itsneighbour to halt hostile actsthat stoke tension on the peninsula, and in return, theNorth agreed that peaceshould be guaranteed in theregion, the South’s Uni�cation Ministry said in a separate statement.

The talks had been closelywatched by world leaderskeen for any sign of a reduction in tension, as fears growover the North’s missilelaunches and developmentof nuclear weapons, in de�ance of United Nations Security Council resolutions.

Large delegationEarlier on Tuesday, Seoulsaid it was prepared to liftsome sanctions temporarilyso North Korean o�cialscould visit the South for theGames. The North said itsdelegation would compriseathletes, highranking o�cials, a cheering squad, artperformers as well as reporters and spectators.

South Korea has unilaterally banned several NorthKorean o�cials from entryin response to Pyongyang’srampedup missile and nuclear tests, held despite in

ternational pressure. However, some South Koreano�cials have said they seethe Olympics as a possibleopportunity for easing tension. Foreign ministry spokesman Roh Kyudeok saidSeoul would consider whether it needed to take “priorsteps”, together with the UNSecurity Council and otherrelevant countries, to helpthe North Koreans visit forthe Olympics.

Working talks will be heldsoon to work out the detailsof bringing the North Koreans to the Olympics, thestatement said, with the exact schedule to be decidedvia documented exchanges.

At Tuesday’s talks, the�rst since December 2015,Seoul proposed interKoreanmilitary discussions to reduce tension on the peninsula and a reunion of familymembers in time for February’s Lunar New Year holiday, but the joint statementmade no mention of thereunions.

The North has �nishedtechnical work to restore amilitary hotline with SouthKorea, Seoul said, with normal communications set toresume on Wednesday.

It was not immediatelyclear what informationwould be transferred alongthe hotline. The North cut

communications in February 2016, following theSouth’s decision to shutdown a jointly run industrialpark in the North.

Joint activitiesNorth Korea also responded‘positively' to the South’sproposal for athletes fromboth sides to march togetherat the Games’ opening ceremony and other joint activities during the Winter Olympics, Seoul said.

Athletes of the two sideshave not paraded together atinternational sports eventssince the 2007 Asian WinterGames in China, after relations chilled under nearly a

decade of conservative rulein the South.

The United States, whichhas 28,500 troops stationedin South Korea as a legacy ofthe 19501953 Korean War,initially responded coolly tothe idea of interKoreanmeetings, but U.S. PresidentDonald Trump later calledthem “a good thing”.

On Tuesday, China’s Foreign Ministry said it washappy to see talks betweenNorth and South Korea andwelcomed all positive steps.Russia echoed the sentiment, with a Kremlin spokesman saying, “This is exactly the kind of dialoguethat we said was necessary.”

N. Korea to take part in OlympicsThe two Koreas agree that peace should be guaranteed in the region; Seoul prepared to lift sanctions

Reuters

Seoul

Thais were left bemused bythe latest antics of Thai juntaleader Prayut ChanOCha after he told reporters to directany serious questions to acardboard cutout of himself. Talking to reporters outside Government House onMonday, General Prayutturned the media’s attentionto the lifesize likeness afteran aide dutifully placed thecutout in front of amicrophone.

‘Ask this guy’“Whoever wants to take apicture, ask political questions... about con�ict... askthis guy,” Gen. Prayut jokedbefore saying “bye bye” and�ashing sign language for ‘Ilove you’ before swaggeringaway.

His humorous approachto the media did not go un

noticed by Thai social mediausers. Many were left befuddled by Gen. Prayut’s casualattitude to media scrutiny.

Others said it was in character for an authoritarianformer general who hasstamped out dissent sinceseizing power four years ago.

Rebuke on social media“If you don’t have the abilityto answer people’s questions, how can you solve people’s problems?” Phanuphong Thongfueang postedon Facebook.

Some were less charitable. Gen. Prayut “is an idiot”was a common refrainamong many Facebook comments on the subject onTuesday.

Another Facebook post byPinyo San accused Gen.Prayut, who is also Thailand’s Prime Minister, ofshowing “bad manners”

while calling out Thailand’sdowntrodden media for being pliant before the kingdom’s military ruler.

Since seizing power in a2014 coup by deposing thenPrime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Gen. Prayut has de

veloped a reputation for hisrough treatment of themedia.

Disdain for mediaOn separate occasions, hehas tossed a banana peel at acameraman, threatened tosmack someone with his podium and pulled a reporterby the ear.

Many Thais now believehe is remodelling himself asa funloving, likeable character — instead of a grimfacedexgeneral — in time for elections slated for later thisyear. Last week Gen. Prayuttold reporters he was no longer an Army man but a “politician” — although he hasbeen coy on whether he willseek to become the country’s �rst civilian leadersince Ms. Yingluck was deposed as Prime Ministermore than three years ago ina bloodless coup.

Thai PM Prayut’s ‘cut-out’ stunt bemuses mediaExgeneral directs reporters’ questions to a lifesize cardboard cutout of himself and walks away

No child’s play: Children pose next to a cardboard cutout ofThai Prime Minster Prayut Chanocha in Bangkok. * REUTERS

Agence France-Presse

Bangkok

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has soughtthe Supreme Court’s opinion on whether he couldhold o�ce until 2021, apparently contradicting a Constitutional Amendment —stipulating a �veyear term— that was passed after heassumed charge in 2015.The issue will be argued inopen court on Thursday,The Sunday Times newspaper reported.

Written referenceOn Monday, Mr. Sirisena, ina written reference, askedthe Chief Justice if there isany impediment barringhim from continuing in theo�ce for six years.

The 19th Amendmentwas adopted by the Parliament less than four months

after the SirisenaRanilWickremesinghe coalitionrose to power in January2015.

With 215 out of the 225lawmakers voting in its favour, the amendment washailed as a key legislationthat clipped some executivepowers of the President andrestored independence ofinstitutions.

It envisaged a �veyearterm for the President, inaddition to placing a twoterm limit on presidency. Itwas the �rst and the mostsigni�cant reform initiativeof the government taken tohonour the election promises.

Mr. Sirisena has, on manyoccasions since coming topower, promised to abolishexecutive presidency, amidconsiderable pressure fromhis party to retain it.

Sirisena seeks judicialopinion on 6year termThe 19th Amendment, passed in 2015,had envisaged a �veyear stint

Meera Srinivasan

Colombo

China on Tuesday counselled the “outside world”not to speculate on Beijing’sreported intent to open a naval base at Gwadar, the starting point of the ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC).

“I am not aware of whatyou mentioned,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said,when asked to comment onreports that China would establish a naval base at Gwadar, to supplement its already existing Indian Oceanfacility at Djibouti.

Beijing’s denial“As you know the building ofCPEC is an important part ofthe Belt and Road initiativeand China and Pakistan arealso making e�orts to buildthe CPEC which is in thecommon interest of thecountries along the route,”Mr. Lu observed. He added:

“So, I don’t need think it isnecessary for the outsideworld to make too muchguesses in this regard.”

In Pakistan, the PakistanToday daily said that Beijingand Islamabad have no plansto build a Chinese naval basein coastal areas of Pakistan,and the matter has neverbeen discussed between thetwo countries.

It quoted a senior o�cialat the Pakistan’s Ministry ofForeign A�airs as saying thatneither has China made anysuch request nor is there anysuch plan being discussedbetween the two sides.

“It looks that such rumours are being spread justto sabotage the successfulcompletion of early harvestprojects under the game

changing ChinaPakistanEconomic Corridor (CPEC).But Islamabad and Beijingare wellaware of the enemydesigns, and we will not letanyone sabotage the project’s success,” the o�cialwas quoted as saying.

Special security divisionThe o�cial mentioned thatthe security of the Chinesenationals working on theCPEC projects, as well as ofthe Chinese shipments goinginto the Arabian Sea, wouldsolely be a responsibility ofPakistani law enforcementagencies, and, for the samepurpose, a designated division — Strategic Security Division — had beenestablished.

“Pakistan Navy is wellequipped to handle the security of Chinese shipments...” the source said, adding that this was the reasonthat the capacitybuildingprocess of Pakistan Navy wasbeing given a priority.

No plan to build naval base at GwadarRumours are being spread to sabotage the completion of CPEC, says Pakistan

Bilateral ties: A view of Gwadar port in Pakistan, the startingpoint of the ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor. * REUTERS

Atul Aneja

Beijing

Pakistan’s BalochistanChief Minister SanaullahZehri on Tuesday resignedfrom his post ahead of anocon�dence motionagainst him in the provincial assembly, amid speculation of ‘horse trading’,media reports said. Balochistan Governor Muhammad Khan Achakzai accepted the resignation, TheExpress Tribune reported.

The Opposition had announced that they wouldnot withdraw the nocon�dence motion movedagainst the Chief Minister,who belongs to the rulingPakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PMLN) party.

The resignation followsa telephonic conversationbetween Prime MinisterShahid Khaqan Abbasi andMr. Zehri, during whichMr. Abbasi advised him tostep down, the report said.

Baloch CMsteps downamidst crisis


Karachi

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei onTuesday praised a “massivemovement of the peopleagainst the plots of the enemies”, accusing the U.S. andIsrael of inciting antigovernment demonstrations.

Progovernment rallieshave been held across thecountry since late December, according to Iranianstate media, following several days of opposition protests which sparked violencethat left 21 dead.

Such a “popular mobilisation against the enemy’splots targeting the regime...doesn’t exist anywhere(else) in the world,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.

He accused the U.S. and“the Zionists” of spending

months preparing demonstrations in small towns inthe hope that they wouldspread to the capital.

He said protests for rightshad nothing to do with“burning the Koran, insulting Islam, insulting the �agand burning mosques”.

U.S., Israel incited protests: KhameneiPraises Iranians for defeating ‘plot’

Agence France-Pressse

Tehran

Ayatollah Khamenei. *

REUTERS

Rishi Sunak, the Conservative Member of Parliamentfrom Richmond and soninlaw of Infosys cofounderNarayana Murthy, has joinedthe U.K. government in thelatest reshu�e conducted byPrime Minister Theresa May.

Mr. Sunak, who enteredParliament in 2015, will become the parliamentary undersecretary of state at theMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the government saidon Tuesday afternoon.

Mr. Sunak was widelytipped as one of the backbench MPs likely to bebrought into the government in the reshu�e. Astrong supporter of Brexit,he has criticised the European Union’s “dismal re

cord” of opening up newtrade markets for memberstates, arguing that outsidethe customs union, Britaincould “regain control” overits trade policy.

Other changesAlok Sharma, another Indianorigin MP who was earlier the Minister of Housing,was made the Minister forEmployment. Ms. May’s

plans for the reshu�e got o�to a rocky start this week, asJeremy Hunt, the controversial Health Secretary, managed to retain his positionwhile Justine Greening, earlier the Education Secretary,walked out of the government after declining a position at the Department ofWork and Pensions.

The loss of Ms. Greeningwas a particular blow for thegovernment, which hadbeen eager to highlight itsstability and diversity following a di�cult 2017.

Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, held ontohis position as did Home Secretary Amber Rudd. PennyMordaunt, who took overfrom Priti Patel as International Development Secretary last year, also retainedher position.

A Brexit supporter, he has been critical of EU’s trade policy

Vidya Ram

London

Rishi Sunak * WIKIMEDIA

COMMONS

Murthy’s soninlaw RishiSunak joins May’s Cabinet

Fears that up to 7,50,000 Indian Americans could beforced to leave the U.S. asthe result of possible changes in H1B visa policy weredispelled this week.

“Even if it were (considering changes to section 104c), such a change would notlikely result in these H1B visa holders having to leavethe United States becauseemployers could request extensions in oneyear increments under section 106(a)(b) of AC21 instead,” Jonathan Withington, chief ofmedia relations for the U.S.Citizenship and ImmigrationServices, told The Hindu.

The ‘AC21’ or the ‘American Competitiveness in theTwenty First Century Act’,in its section on threeyearextensions, uses the word‘may’ which could allowsome discretion by the executive. However, there is aseparate section that allowsa oneyear extension inwhich the executive has nodiscretion. It says that theadministration ‘shall’ grantsuch extensions. The agencysaid as much on Monday,but also added that there hasnot been a move at all toreinterpret the clause related to threeyear extensions.

However, the USCIS alsoclari�ed that it is reviewingthe programme, and will

come up with changes laterthis year.

Possible changes“The agency is considering anumber of policy and regulatory changes... including athorough review of employmentbased visa programmes,” said Mr. Withington.

But the administrationcan change through executive action only those aspects of the H1B programme that were e�ectedthrough executive actions.The work permit for spousesof H1B visa holders and thelottery system that selectsbene�ciaries are governedby executive decisions.

No proposal to reinterpret

H-1B-linked clause, says USCISVarghese K. George

Washington


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BUSINESSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



NIFTY 50

PRICE CHANGE

Adani Ports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421.10. . . . . . . . -1.80

Ambuja Cements. . . .. . . . . . 277.15. . . . . . . . . 2.55

Asian Paints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1193.05. . . . . . . 11.05

Aurobindo Pharma . . . . . . 673.15. . . . . . . . -4.20

Axis Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565.30. . . . . . . . -0.15

Bajaj Auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3243.50. . . . . . -32.25

Bajaj Finance . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1819.50. . . . . . -17.35

Bharti Airtel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509.80. . . . . . . . -6.55

Bosch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19830.10. . . -168.25

BPCL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496.10. . . . . . . . -1.10

Cipla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615.60. . . . . . . . . 0.55

Coal India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304.05. . . . . . . 16.60

Dr Reddys Lab . . . . . . . .. . . . 2457.80. . . . . . -18.80

Eicher Motors. . . . . . . . .. 28596.95. . . -600.45

GAIL (India). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500.95. . . . . . . . . 3.55

HCL Tech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 893.85. . . . . . . . -6.65

HDFC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1735.05. . . . . . . . -5.90

HDFC Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1863.70. . . . . . . . . 3.10

Hero MotoCorp . . . . . .. . . . 3749.45. . . . . . -37.30

Hindalco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271.50. . . . . . . . -4.65

HPCL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417.25. . . . . . . . -3.90

Hind Unilever . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1361.30. . . . . . . . -7.10

Indiabulls HFL . . . . . . . .. . . . 1216.80. . . . . . . . -8.50

ICICI Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312.60. . . . . . . . -1.55

IndusInd Bank . . . . . . . .. . . . 1725.05. . . . . . . . . 5.15

Bharti Infratel . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 368.40. . . . . . . . -6.00

Infosys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1041.35. . . . . . . . . 5.30

Indian OilCorp . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 392.40. . . . . . . . . 3.85

ITC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270.55. . . . . . . . . 4.95

Kotak Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1009.75. . . . . . . . . 3.65

L&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1332.75. . . . . . . . -5.50

Lupin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 923.25. . . . . . . . -0.05

M&M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 762.45. . . . . . . . . 2.55

Maurti Suzuki . . . . . . . . .. . . . 9383.55. . . . . . -65.40

NTPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176.70. . . . . . . . -0.95

ONGC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197.00. . . . . . . . -0.40

PowerGrid Corp . . . . .. . . . . . 201.00. . . . . . . . . 0.45

Reliance Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 940.95. . . . . . . 12.40

State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304.30. . . . . . . . -1.50

Sun Pharma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586.50. . . . . . . . -5.10

Tata Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437.55. . . . . . . . . 4.00

Tata Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 772.30. . . . . . . . . 3.55

TCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2709.00. . . . . . . . -5.40

Tech Mahindra . . . . . . .. . . . . . 533.85. . . . . . . . -2.45

UltraTech Cement. .. . . . 4426.85. . . . . . . . . 1.55

UPL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 790.60. . . . . . . . . 6.25

Vedanta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337.70. . . . . . . . -2.55

Wipro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317.20. . . . . . . . . 6.05

YES Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341.35. . . . . . . . . 7.75

Zee Entertainment . . . . . . 580.05. . . . . . -13.85

EXCHANGE RATES

Indicative direct rates in rupees a unitexcept yen at 4 p.m. on January 09

CURRENCY TT BUY TT SELL

US Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 63.51. . . . . . . 63.83

Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 75.75. . . . . . . 76.14

British Pound. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 85.98. . . . . . . 86.44

Japanese Yen (100) . .. . 56.36. . . . . . . 56.65

Chinese Yuan . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 9.73. . . . . . . . . 9.78

Swiss Franc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 64.58. . . . . . . 64.94

Singapore Dollar . . . . . . .. . 47.53. . . . . . . 47.81

Canadian Dollar. . . . . . . . .. . 51.09. . . . . . . 51.35

Malaysian Ringitt . . . . . .. . 15.84. . . . . . . 15.93

Source:Indian Bank

BULLION RATES CHENNAI

January 09 rates in rupees with pre-vious rates in parentheses

Retail Silver (1g) . . . . . . . . . . . 41.80. . . . . (42.00)

22 ct gold (1 g) . .. . . . . . . . . . . 2,821. . . . . (2,814)

market watch

09-01-2018 % CHANGE

Sensex dddddddddddddddddddddd 34,443 ddddddddddddddd0.26

US Dollardddddddddddddddddddd 63.71 ddddddddddddd-0.31

Gold ddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 30,500 ddddddddddddddd0.06

Brent oil ddddddddddddddddddddd 67.90 ddddddddddddddd0.50

Microsoft Corp. said onTuesday it had suspendedpatches to guard againstMeltdown and Spectre security threats for computersrunning AMD chipsets aftercomplaints by AMD customers that the software updatesfroze their machines.

Microsoft said in a support blog that it was workingwith AMD to resolve the issues and would resume Windows operating system software updates to a�ectedAMD devices via its WindowsUpdate process as soon aspossible.

‘Temporary pause’“To prevent AMD customersfrom getting into an unbootable state, Microsoft willtemporarily pause sendingthe following Windows operating system updates to dev

ices with impacted AMD processors at this time,”Microsoft said in itsstatement.

Microsoft said it had received complaints from AMDcustomers that their machines stopped loading theStart menu or taskbar afterinstalling Windows operating system security updates.

Upon investigation, Microsoft said some AMD chipsets did not conform to technical documentation thechipmaker had provided,preventing Microsoft fromsuccessfully patching a�ected machines.

In its blog post, the software giant said the patcheshad caused computer

screens to freeze up, or havesocalled “blue screen errors” on Windows 10, Windows 8.1 and Windows 7.

Memory corruptionMeltdown and Spectre aretwo memory corruption�aws which could allowhackers bypass operatingsystems and other securitysoftware to steal passwordsor encryption keys, on mosttypes of computers, phonesand cloudbased servers.

AMD said last week thatdi�erences in its chip designs from rival Intel Corp.meant its products were at“zero risk” from Meltdown�aw but that one variant ofthe Spectre bug could be resolved by software updatesfrom vendors such asMicrosoft.

AMD was not immediatelyavailable for further comment.

Microsoft halts AMD patches as PCs freezeSoftware updates meant to guard against Meltdown and Spectre security threats

Code blue: Microsoft said the patches had caused some PCsrunning AMD chipsets to have ‘blue screen errors.’ * AFP

Reuters

Frankfurt

Net direct tax collectionsgrew at a multiyear high of18.2% in the April to December period, according to o�cial data released onTuesday.

“The provisional �guresof direct tax collections up toDecember 2017 show thatnet collections are at �6.56lakh crore which is 18.2%higher than the net collections for the correspondingperiod of last year,” the government said in a release.“The net direct tax collections represent 67% of the total Budget Estimates of directtaxes for �nancial year 201718 (�9.8 lakh crore).”

Net direct tax collectionsgrew 12% in the same periodof the previous �nancial

year. Tax experts ascribe thisquicker increase in direct taxcollections to the government’s e�orts to widen thetax net and increase com

pliance. “Undoubtedly, theincrease in collection of direct tax was expected,” Naveen Wadhwa, deputy general manager at Taxmann said.

“Such an unprecedented increase in revenue could beattributed to demonetisation, GST and the government’s emphasis on digitaltransactions,” he said.

‘Tax arrears pursued’“In December 2017, theCBDT had issued instructions to step up e�orts in taxcollection by pursuing tax arrears and expediting evennontime barring caseswhere there was a possibilityof raising tax demand,” Shefali Goradia, partner, Deloitte India said. “Increase inthe tax collection may be inresponse to this initiative.”

The release added that�3.18 lakh crore had beencollected as advance tax upto December 2017, whichamounts to a 12.7% increase

over the advance tax collections in the same period ofthe previous �nancial year.

“The growth in [advancetax payments for] corporateincome tax (CIT) is 10.9%and that in personal incometax (PIT) is 21.6%,” the release said.

‘Compliance simpli�ed’“Growth in personal advance tax has surpassed theincrease in payment of corporate advance tax,” Mr.Wadhwa noted.

The increase in advancetax receipts could also be theresult of a simpli�cation inthe compliance processesfor small business entitiesand increasing the thresholdlimit for opting for the Presumptive Taxation Schemeunder income tax, he added.

Direct tax collections jump 18.2%At a multi-year high, growth attributed to demonetisation, Centre’s emphasis on digital transactions

Trend changes: Growth in personal advance tax has surpassedthat in corporate advance tax, says Naveen Wadhwa.


NEW DELHI

The new industrial policy,which seeks to promoteemerging sectors, will be released within a few months,Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu said onTuesday.

“The new industrial policy should be [released] inthe next few months,” hetold reporters. The proposed policy, a draft ofwhich has been prepared bythe Ministry, will completelyrevamp the Industrial Policyof 1991. Among other things,it would endeavour to reduce regulations and widenthe purview to new industries currently in focus.

In August, the Department of Industrial Policyand Promotion had �oated adraft industrial policy whoseaim is to create jobs over the

next two decades, promoteforeign technology transferand attract $100 billion inFDI annually.

AI task forceMr. Prabhu also said that onTuesday, he had chaired ameeting of the task force onarti�cial intelligence (AI).The 18member panel was

constituted to explore possibilities to leverage AI for economic transformation.

The Ministry said in astatement that the membersdrafted preliminary proposals that were discussed atthe meeting. Mr. Prabhu saidWTO’s miniministerial meetto be organised by Indiawould be held in March.

New industrial policy in a fewmonths: Commerce Minister August draft envisaged attracting $100 billion in annual FDI


New Delhi

Seeking accord: WTO’s mini-ministerial meet, to be organisedby India, will be held in March, says Mr. Prabhu. * PTI

The benchmark BSE Sensex built on gains to closeat a record high for a thirdstraight session on Tuesday, riding on smart jumpsin Coal India, Reliance Industries and ITC amid positive leads from globalmarkets.

Extending the recordrun for the third consecutive day, the 30share Sensex closed at a fresh lifehigh of 34,443.19, eking outgains of 90.40 points aftera choppy trade. The widebased Nifty of the NSE alsosettled at record high of10,637, rising 13.40 points,or 0.13%, even as 19 of itsconstituents advanced and31 dropped. Caution prevailed as crude pricessurged to the highest levelsince 2015. The index hasrisen 559.41 points in theprevious three sessions.

Sensex hitsnew high forthird day


Mumbai

The Insurance Regulatoryand Development Authorityof India (IRDAI) has invitedexpression of interest (EOI)from consultants to assist itin implementation of riskbased capital framework forthe insurance sector.

The call for consultants,who would “provide necessary and essential adviceand guidance,” comes in thebackdrop of IRDAI’s decision to shift from the existing solvency capital regime.

Risk monitoring The proposed risk based supervisory framework is “fore�ective and e�cient monitoring and evaluation of potential risks in the insurancesector.”

IRDAI had constitutedtwo committees — on roadmap for riskbased capitalapproach in insurance sector; and on riskbased capital approach and marketconsistent valuation of liabilities.

Both committees hadsubmitted their reports.

The latter had suggesteda timeframe of March 2021for implementation of theproposed RBC regime.

In September, the regulator had also constituted a10member steering committee to implement theRBC regime.

According to the EOI document, the regulator plansto move towards a RBC regime that is appropriate andtailored for the Indian insurance industry.

Risk-based system forinsurers picks up paceIRDAI seeks EOI to prepare framework


HYDERABAD

The Telecom Commissionon Tuesday favoured easingthe cap on spectrum holding by telcos, a move thatwould aid mergers and acquisitions in the sectorwhich is reeling under �nancial stress.

Agreeing with regulatorTRAI’s recommendations,the Telecom Commission,which is the highest decisionmaking body in the Telecom Ministry, approvedraising the cap of overallspectrum that can be heldby an operator in a circle to35% from the current 25%.

“One of the issues forconsideration before thecommission was the overalland intraband cap on spectrum held by telecom service providers in the contextof restructuring of stressedassets. The commission hasconcurred with the TRAI recommendations,” an o�cialsaid, adding that the decision would now be sent forCabinet approval.

TRAI had, in November,also recommended that thecurrent cap of 50% on intraband spectrum holding beremoved, and instead be acap of 50% on the combinedspectrum holding in thesub1 GHz bands (700 MHz,800 MHz and 900 MHzbands).

The commission’s decision comes at a time whenthe telecom industry is seeing rapid consolidation. Themove, if approved by Cabinet, is likely to bene�t Vodafone and Idea, which are inthe middle of a merger.

Besides, Reliance Jio alsorecently announced that itwould acquire spectrum,tower, optical �ber networkand other wireless assetsfrom RelianceCommunications.

Rajan S. Mathews, DG,COAI welcomed the decision as “it will facilitatemergers and acquisitions inthe sector.”

‘Network for Spectrum’The Telecom Commissionalso approved increase inbudget for ‘Network forSpectrum’ project, underwhich a dedicated communications network is beingset up for defence forces inlieu of airwaves vacated forcivilian use, from �11,330crore to �24,664 crore. Thisdecision would also be sentto Cabinet for approval.

The o�cial added thatthe Telecom Commissionhad also approved upgradation of an earlier project toprovide 2G mobile servicesin Andaman and Nicobar islands to 4G mobile servicesat a cost of �343 crore, asagainst the earlier approved�262 crore. Further, a proposal to provide satelliteconnectivity to 5,298 grampanchayats, of which about4,240 GPs are in North Eastand about 800 GPs are inJammu and Kashmir, at acost of �916 crore for threeyears had also been approved.

Telecom panel for lifting spectrum cap Move will aid mergers, acquisitions


NEW DELHI

Approval was given to raisethe cap on overall spectrumheld by an operator to 35%.

Infosys Ltd. on Tuesday saidit had signed an AdvancePrice Agreement (APA) withthe U.S. Internal RevenueService (IRS) that would enable it to reverse tax provisions of about $225 millionin the quarter ended December 31, 2017.

The tax reversal wouldboost consolidated basicearnings per share for thethree months ended December by about $0.10, the Bengalurubased software services provider said in a �lingto stock exchanges.

‘Enhance predictability’“The APA will enhance thepredictability of the company’s tax obligations in respect of its U.S. operations,”Infosys said in the �ling.

Preliminary discussions

with the IRS had started in2015. As per the terms of theaccord Infosys and IRSagreed on the methodologyto allocate revenues andcompute the taxable incomeof the company’s U.S. operations. The pact covers �nancial years starting 2011 to2021, according to the �ling.

On account of the APA

methodology, Infosys expects its overall e�ective taxrate to be lower by about 100basis points for future periods covered under thepact.

“In accordance with theAPA, the company expectsto reverse tax provisions ofapproximately $225 millionmade in the previous periods which are no longer required. Further in line withthe APA the company expects to payout approximately $233 million due tothe taxes payable for priorperiods as per the APA andthe actual taxes paid forsuch periods.”

The amount will be paidout during the next “fewquarters,” according to thestatement.

Infosys is scheduled to announce its thirdquarterearnings on January 12.

Infosys signs U.S. tax pact‘Reversal of $225 mn in provisions to lift 3Q EPS by $0.10’Special Correspondent

Bengaluru


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BUSINESSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



IN BRIEF

ICICI Bank ties up withOla for booking app MUMBAI

ICICI Bank has entered in toan agreement with cabaggregator Ola by which thebank’s customers can book acab and pay through themobile banking application‘iMobile’ and ‘Pockets’. Olacustomers can avail alsosmall ticket instant digitalcredit from ICICI Bank, thelender said in a statement.ICICI Bank will also unveil acobranded credit card withOla using which customerscan avail cashbacks andaccelerated reward points.

South Indian Bank posts3% rise in net; mulls QIPNEW DELHI

South Indian Bank posted a3.25% rise in net pro�t to�115 crore for the quarterended December. The bankhad recorded a net pro�t of�111.38 crore in yearearlierperiod. The total incomedeclined to �1,735.77 crore asagainst �1,737.47 crore, thebank said in a �ling with theBSE. The bank also said itproposed to raise �20 crorethrough private placement ofshares to fund businessgrowth, the �ling said. PTI

Newgen Software IPO to open on January 16NEW DELHI

IT �rm Newgen SoftwareTechnologies will begin itsinitial public o�er (IPO) onJanuary 16 and has �xed aprice band of �240245 pershare, a company statementsaid. The IPO, to raise about�424 crore, comprises freshissue of up to �95 crore bythe company and an o�er forsale by the existingshareholders. The o�er forsale consists of up to1,34,53,932 shares. The IPOwill close on January 18. PTI

ReNew Power Ventures Pvt.Ltd, one of India’s leadingclean energy companies, hasannounced the closure ofthe issue of nonconvertibledebentures (NCDs) collectively worth �2,235 crore (orabout $360 million).

The issuance comes intwo parts: the �rst, a creditenhanced NCD worth �760crore and the second, a multiissuer crosscollateralisedrupee bond valued at �1,475crore and involving multiplepower distributioncompanies.

‘Frees up limits’“ReNew Power continues tobroadbase its sources of debt�nancing and the recentlyconcluded NCD transactionshave resulted in the reduc

tion of interest cost [by] between 1.5% and 2%,” said Kailash Vaswani, deputy CFO,ReNew Power. “This is expected to help free up existing bank limits and allow us

to work towards the renewable energy targets set byState governments and theCentre.”

The NCD worth �1,475crore involves multiple pow

er distribution �rms fromthe States of Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujaratand spread across eight special purpose vehicles and 12projects totalling 234 MW ofinstalled capacity, the company said in a statement.

‘Prepay existing loans’It added that the proceedsfrom the bond issue wouldbe used for the prepaymentof existing term loans.

ReNew Power is backedby international investors,namely Goldman Sachs andGlobal Environment Fundfrom the U.S., Abu Dhabi Investment Authority fromWest Asia, the Asian Development Bank and JERAfrom Asia.

Till date, the power company has raised a total equityof $900 million.

ReNew Power raises �2,235 cr.Issue of nonconvertible debentures to help reduce �rm’s interest cost by 1.52%

Fund �ow: Till date, the renewable energy company hasraised a total equity of $900 million. * AFP


Mumbai

Public sector Coal India Ltd.has announced an increasein prices of noncoking coalfrom January 9, aiming torake in �1,956 crore for theremaining part of this �scal.

Analyst �rm ICRA estimated that this move, combinedwith an earlier levy on evacuation facilities, may resultin a 15paise increase in power price for distributioncompanies.

Following the price increase, CIL projected annualincremental revenue at�6,421 crore. The increasewould be applicable to allsubsidiaries for the regulated and the nonregulatedsectors, the company said in

a regulatory �ling. Shares ofCIL rose 5.6% to �304.05 onthe BSE.

Sabyasachi Mazumdar,group head and senior VP,ICRA Ratings, said the thermal cost of generation waslikely to experience upwardpressure. Edelweiss Research described CIL’s moveas signi�cant, saying this

was likely to balance out thewage increase impact.

‘Negates wage impact’It may also restore the coalbehemoth’s pro�tability tothe prewage increase levels,the �rm said. The NationalCoal Wage Agreement–X lefta �5,667 crore impact onCIL’s costs.

CIL’s net pro�t dipped to�2,720.1 crore in the �rst halfended September from�3,677.7 crore a year earlieron the back of a �attish topline.

Amit Dixit of EdelweissResearch noted the absenceof additional growth triggersfor CIL and also a decline ineauction realisations due tointernational price parity.

‘May result in 15paise rise in costs for distribution �rms’


KOLKATA

*A

FP

CIL raises noncoking coalprice; stock surges 5.6%

Chennaibased nonbanking�nance company Samunnati said it had raised �150crore in a SeriesC fundinground led by Swiss investment �rm responsAbility.

Existing investors ElevarEquity and Accel also participated in this round. Thestartup, which is focussedon �nancing agriculture value chains, said it aimed toprovide support to smalland marginal farmers.

“We look forward to leveraging responsAbility’s global development �nance experience,” said Anil KumarS.G., founder and CEO, Samunnati Financial Intermediation & Services, in astatement.

Samunnati said it operates in a market that needsmore than $50 billion of credit every year. It said the �nancial constraints in agriculture remained pervasive,and the availability of creditwas inequitably distributedand expensive.

‘Productivity impact’This, it said, adversely impacted the productivity ofsmall and marginal farmers.Samunnati added that itaimed to provide solutionsfor �nancial intermediation,market linkages and advisory services. “Samunnati is aunique institution addressing this gap,” said AkshayDua, responsAbility — headof private equity, Asia PacificAgri and Food.

NBFC Samunnati gets�150 crore in fundingFirm operates in farmcredit sector


BENGALURU

Freelancers in India, on anaverage, earn about �19 lakhper year, according to a newsurvey by global digital payments giant PayPal.

The survey, titled ‘Insightsinto the freelancers ecosystem’, said that web and mobile development, web designing, Internet researchand data entry were the keyfocus areas for Indian freelancers, while some of themwere also engaged in accounting, graphic designand consultancy. India is thelargest freelancer marketwith 10 million people freelancing, according to PayPal.

About 23% of the surveyed freelancers earn in therange of �4045 lakh annually, 23% earn in the range of�2.55 lakh a year, 13% earn

between �1015 lakh annually, 11% earn �2.5 lakh or lessannually and 8% earn �7.510lakh annually, as per the report. “Most people took tofreelancing after havingheard about it from friends,family, social media andfreelancing platforms. Of the

reasons that drove them toadopt freelancing, earningmore income, �exibility inschedules and ability tochoose who to work for,topped the list,” Narsi Subramanian, Director Growth,PayPal India, said.

He added that receiving

payments in a timely, safeand secure manner was oneof the key concerns for thiscommunity.

Payment issues“Close to 61% of the surveyedfreelancers have not beenpaid at least once throughtheir career. Further, manyfreelancers receive payments only after 24 weeks ofinvoicing, thereby creating agap in �ow of capital,” thesurvey said. The survey, conducted with 500 Indian freelancers, found that theywere below the age of 40 andpredominantly men.

“Of the surveyed freelancers, 41% have witnessed very fast growth in through thepast 12 months, with 80% ofthem working with international as well as domesticclients,” the report said.

‘India largest market for freelancers’ About 10 mn engaged in freelance work, mainly in web, mobile: PayPal survey

Cash & comfort:More income and �exible hours drove mostto freelancing, according to PayPal. * GETTYIMAGES/ISTOCK


NEW DELHI

Institutional investors putin bids worth �976 crore onTuesday for buying the government’s part stake instateowned miner NMDC.

The government hadoriginally planned to sell1.5% stake in the company,with a greenshoe option toretain an equal quantum.

However, based on theresponse from institutionalbuyers, it has decided tokeep issue size at 2.52%,said a �nance ministry o�cial. FIIs and institutionalinvestors have bid for morethan 6.36 crore shares —1.68 times of the 3.79 croreshares reserved for them,according to NSE data. Theo�er will open for retail investors on Wednesday.

NMDC stake:

bids amount

to �976 crore


New Delhi


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A ND-NDE




SPORT

The popular reaction to India’s defeatin Cape Town is summed up thus:“When they come here, they getthrashed because they can’t play spin.When we go there we get thrashed because we can’t play fast bowling. That’slife.”

For the Indian team, however, that isno consolation. They should take theirlessons from A.B. de Villiers — surprisingly not ManoftheMatch despite histwo gamealtering innings — whoshowed how to adapt whiteball batsmanship to redball cricket.

You often learn more from defeatthan victory. India’s setback could beput down to psychological, technicaland historical reasons. In the �rst category falls team selection. The questionto be asked is, can India a�ord to playboth Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma in the same Test? Had India won,the question would still have remained,for it segued into the second issue.

The essential di�erence betweenbatting in the two formats is that in thelonger one, you make the bowler cometo you, in the shorter you go after thebowler. On a track with seam andbounce, even India’s best leavers of theball — Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara — played at more deliveries thanthey should have.

The South African pace attack wasbrilliant, subtly bowling wider and wider incrementally till the batsman eitherreached out and edged, or as in the caseof Virat Kohli in the second innings,played across when Vernon Philandermade one dip in.

Even in the home series against SriLanka earlier, Indian batsmen had displayed a similar tendency; they justdidn’t have the time before Cape Townto work it out. In a short series (cutfrom four Tests to three) India’s muchtouted dreams of �nally winning in

South Africa may not be easily realised.The historical reason is interesting.

India have for decades su�ered fromthe First Test Syndrome — struggling inthe opening matchup that has usuallyset the tone for the series. Of the 59 bilateral series played since 1980 (including oneo� Tests and the current one inSouth Africa), India have lost the �rstTest 28 times, drawn 18 and won just 13.Outside Asia, the number of victoriesfalls to nine.

This brings into question matters ofacclimatisation more than anythingelse, and team selection. You cannotprepare for the �rst Test in South Africaby playing a weak Sri Lanka at homeand landing there just a couple of daysearlier. It skews selection. The man inform at home, Rohit Sharma, wasplayed instead of the more reliableplayer with a better record abroad,Ajinkya Rahane. Dhawan, a lefthander,began with an advantage, but K.L. Rahul might get a callup now. In any case,Kohli doesn’t play the same team in twosuccessive Tests.

Di�erent teams, the answer?

These things begin as jokes but gain seriousness with every setback abroad:the suggestion that India should pickdi�erent teams at home and away. Ro

hit Sharma may have added his name tothe list of �attrack tigers in India whoturn into lambs outside thesubcontinent.

Many years ago, I watched a Test inBangalore with Dilip Vengsarkar andRavi Shastri. They had been droppeddespite good scores in the previous Testagainst the West Indies of terrifying fastbowlers. Vengsarkar had made 94 andShastri 102 in the �nal Test in Antigua.

They were disappointed, but not disheartened. The following series wasagainst the West Indies. “Let the fastbowlers come, and we will be invitedback into the Indian team,” Vengsarkarsaid. He was right. When the going getstough, etc.

Allowing selectorial favourites to in�ate their statistics in home series is anold Indian custom. Rohit Sharma is farsuperior to many who struggledabroad; he is better advised, has the advantage of better technical inputs intohis batting, and he could get over thehump in his career. But it will takemuch hard work and enormous innerstrength.

Kohli’s aggression has permeatedthrough the team, which can be a goodthing if it does not develop into hubris.Batsmen have to respect the bowler justas they have to respect the conditions.India had the better batting conditionsin both innings, but seemed to thinkthat 208 would be a walkover. If theirown splendid fast bowling dismissedSouth Africa cheaply on this track,surely it would have been logical topresume that the home team bowlers —even without Dale Steyn — would be ahandful too.

Terri�c advertisement for Tests

It has been a wonderful start to the series, though, and a terri�c advertisement for Test cricket (which needs allthe terri�c advertisements it can getthese days). The better prepared teamwon. But India’s fast bowlers didenough to suggest they could turn itaround. Ironically, it is now the fastbowlers who are telling the Indian batsmen what generations of spinners didin the past, “Please give us 250 runs atleast”!

Back to the drawing board as theFirst Test Syndrome strikes againThe Indian batsmen should take their lessons from de Villiers who showed howto adapt white-ball batsmanship to red-ball cricket

BETWEEN WICKETSsuresh menon

Rohit Sharma... �attrack tiger? * AFP

India, perhaps, may not get abetter shot at a win in thisTest series than the chance ithad at Newlands.

Now India faces the prospect of taking on South Africa on surfaces with evenmore pace, bounce andmovement at the Centurionand the Wanderers.

Given the strength of itspace attack and the chinks inthe South African batting,more opportunities mightopen up for India. They willamount to nothing, though,if the batsmen do not stepup.

Actually, the host got theworst of the batting conditions in the Test. The SouthAfricans misread the pitch —they expected the surface tobecome drier and faster onthe second day which did nothappen — and elected to baton the �rst day when therewas considerable lateralmovement for the Indianpacemen.

Then, the South Africans,just two wickets down intheir second innings, had tobat on the fourth day morning after the pitch was covered the entire third daythat was washed out.

With all the sweating under the covers there wasmoisture on the surface andagain there was considerableassistance for the Indianpacemen.

India should have nailedthe Test. But Virat Kohli andhis men had lost ground onthe �rst day itself when, aftermaking serious inroads, theyallowed the South Africantail to wag, Vernon Philander(23), Keshav Maharaj (35),Kagiso Rabada (26), DaleSteyn (16) added preciousruns.

This was a period whenthe Indian pacemen tendedto pitch short and wide, bowled on the pads to be takenfor runs. These runs cameback to haunt India — the

margin of the South Africanvictory was 72. Hardik Pandya came up with a brave innings of 93 to keep India inthe hunt on day two, but, disappointingly, no other Indian batsman crossed 40 inthe Test.

These are conditionswhen the batsmen need toplay close to the body, leavedeliveries outside o�, pushand drive in the ‘V’ than venture into big drives and waitfor the shortpitched deliveries that are o� target to unleash the cut and the pull.

Someone such as RohitSharma, so destructive on�at tracks back home, is �nding life a lot harder here witha game that is not tight. Ajinkya Rahane has to bebrought back for the nextTest.

Playing Jaspirt Bumrahwas a brave move and thelanky seamer justi�ed the selection. If this paceman witha whippy, unusual actiongets his line right — like hedid on day four — he can be

lethal in these conditionswith his ability to extractbounce from a length.

Along with MohammedShami of skiddy pace andseam movement, the craftyBhuvneshwar Kumar and thebustling Pandya, he forms aworthy pace pack.

Then, after the paceman —bowling with a lot more control in the second innings —had opened a path to victoryon day four, the batsmencame unstuck again.

South Africa was withoutthe injured Steyn and the In

dian batsmen had to play fortime with the entire �fth dayremaining, see through the�rst 40 overs with minimumdamage and then test theSteynless threeman SouthAfrican pace attack, whichwould have been tiring bythen, in their third andfourth spells.

But then, the lack of feetmovement, both in defenceand o�ence, and the lack ofpatience saw the Indians collapsing when in pursuit of anattainable target of 208.

Of course, Philander wasoutstanding. The manner inwhich he drew Kohli to oneside of the pitch with a seriesof awayseamers and then removed him with one thatcame in was an outstandingpiece of bowling.

With his accuracy, o�stump line and twowayseam movement, Philanderis hard to pick and play.

The Indians have a job ontheir hands in the remainingtwo Tests. The batsmen areunder scrutiny.

The chance that the Indian batsmen let slip South Africa misread the Newlands wicket and had the worst of the conditions; sterner tests on tougher pitches await Kohli & Co.

INDIA IN SA

S. Dinakar

Cape Town

At sixes and sevens: The Indian batsmen’s inability to tackle the South African pace machine was all too evident in the �rst Test atNewlands. * REUTERS

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

O South Africa squad for

second Test: Faf du

Plessis (captain), Hashim

Amla, Temba Bavuma,

Theunis de Bruyn, Quinton

de Kock (wk), A.B. de

Villiers, Dean Elgar,

Keshav Maharaj, Aiden

Markram, Morne Morkel,

Chris Morris, Lungi Ngidi,

Duanne Olivier, Andile

Phehlukwayo, Vernon

Philander, Kagiso Rabada.

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

The BCCI on Tuesday announced a �vemonth retrospective ban on YusufPathan for doping violations, but with the suspension period ending on January 14, it is likely to makelittle di�erence to the batsman’s prospects in the upcoming IPL auction at theend of the month. Pathanhas been banned for thepresence of Terbutaline, abeta2 agonist present in the2017 list of WADAspeci�edprohibited substances, fromAugust 15, 2017.

While the BCCI stated itwas “satis�ed with the explanation that he had takenTerbutaline inadvertently[through a cough syrup] totreat an upper respiratorytract infection and not as aperformanceenhancingdrug,” its own report leavesa lot of questions unanswered.

The news was �rst reported by The Hindu.

The sample was collectedon March 16 (following theBaroda vs Tamil Nadu VijayHazare Trophy match inNew Delhi) and provisionalsuspension was given fromOctober 27 after informingPathan of the adverse �nding. However, there is no explanation for why it took sixmonths for the Board tosend notice even though ithas admitted that the initialadverse report from the National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL) on his A samplecame on April 12 itself.

Sources said August 15was the date BCCI decidedto send the NDTL report toan independent reviewboard seeking rea�rmationthat international standardsfor testing were followedand there was no departurefrom a possible Therapeutic

Use Exemption (TUE). The o�ence was o�cially

converted into a doping violation only on September22. O�cial sources alsoclaimed that WADA protocols allow crosschecking ofa result after receiving a labpackage from the NDTL(end of May in this case) toensure there were no procedural or testing discrepancy before initiating ahearing.

The Baroda allroundernot only played Ranji Trophy in the interim but alsorepresented Kolkata KnightRiders in the IPL that continued till May 17.

There are other contentious issues. Terbutaline isamong substances used totreat asthma and can be excused if applied for under aTUE. But while a formal notice was sent to Pathan in October, he was informedabout the �nding earlier andquestioned about the TUE.

The �nal decision on theactual dates for suspensioncame only on January 8 despite Pathan waiving his rightto appeal on October 29 itself. With the BCCI AntiDoping Rules under sections 10.101, 10.10.2 and10.10.3 giving the Board discretion to backdate suspensions, the most convenientdates seem to have beenchosen.

Retrospective ban onYusuf for doping issueHe will, however, be available for theIPL auction this month

Uthra Ganesan

New Delhi

Yusuf Pathan. * FILE PHOTO

South Africa coach Ottis Gibson has said pace bowlingwill continue to be at the forefront of his team’s strategyagainst India.

Gibson, a former West Indies fast bowler, said, “Whenyou’re playing at home youplay to your strengths and atthe moment we have somehigh quality fast bowlers.”

Even with Dale Steynruled out of the series, SouthAfrica has a formidable pacepack in Vernon Philander,Morne Morkel and Kagiso Rabada. And the lively pacebowling allrounder ChrisMorris is in the mix, too.

The South African selectors have also named fastbowler Duanne Olivier andthe uncapped Lungi Ngidi inthe squad for the secondTest.

Talking about the surface

at Centurion, Gibson said,“You saw some good fastbowlers on both sides andfrom my understanding ofCenturion, it is a pitch withsome pace and bounce andthat will probably be themakeup of the team.”

Gibson added: “I’m a veryfast bowlingminded coachand I guess we’ll always haveto �nd a balance with whether or not we can get four fastbowlers in the team, �rst ofall. If not, then we will tryand look to shape the team inother ways.”

He observed: “Ultimately,and especially in this seriesand for the rest of the summer, we’ll be looking to see

how best we can �t four fastbowlers into whatever formula we come up with.”

Asked whether, given theconditions, the South Africans could leave out leftarmspinner Keshav Maharaj andinclude an additional batsman in Temba Bavuma atCenturion, Gibson said,“He’s [Maharaj] been spokento about how we’re going tolook to shape for this seriesand he is very much a part ofit.”

Gibson elaborated: “Withthe nature of the pitch, Kesh[Maharaj] didn’t get to operate as much as he normallydoes, but he is still a very important part of our group,whether he plays or not.

“Kesh is certainly a bigpart of our plans moving forward into the summer andeven beyond, because he’s aworld class spinner.”

South Africa coach Gibsonsticks to pace mantra Special Correspondent

Cape Town

A pleasant burden: Kagiso Rabada, on Dean Elgar’s shoulders, and Morne Morkel, left, willassume greater responsibility in the absence of Dale Steyn. * AFP

<> When you’re playing

at home you play to

your strengths and

at the moment we

have some high

quality fast bowlers

There was more good newsfor South Africa following itsvictory over India in the dramatic �rst Test here.

South Africa’s sensationalfast bowler Kagiso Rabadahas now gone past England’sJames Anderson to becomethe No. 1 Test bowler in theICC rankings. Rabada, fastand hostile at Newlandswhere he picked up �vewickets, now has 888 points,one more than Anderson.

The South African fastbowler said it was a “dreamcome true” for him, but added “cricket is a team game.”

The 22yearold Rabada,who made his debut againstIndia at Mohali, 2015, hassurged to 110 wickets in only24 Tests at 21.96.

Rabada is No. 1 in ICCTest rankings


Cape Town

Ahmedabad Smash Masterseased past Mumbai Rockets50 to enter the semi�nals ofthe VodafonePremier Badminton League here onTuesday. Mumbai, a twotime runnerup, is out ofcontention for a place in thelastfour.

Ahmedabad won its �rstfour matches including themuchtouted match between siblings Sourabh Verma and Sameer Verma,where both were the trumpcards.

After Kamilla Rytter Juhland Law Cheuk Himtrounced Gabriella Stoevaand Lee Yong Dae in the �rst(mixed doubles) contest,H.S. Prannoy stunnedWorld No. 5 San Wan Ho togive Ahmedabad a 20 lead.World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying defeated Beiwen Zhang instraight games in the thirdmatch.

In the clash betweenbrothers, the elder Sourabhhad the measure of Sameer1514, 1511. Aggressiveplayers both, the match, however, failed to meetexpectations.

There were hardly anyabsorbing rallies. The �rst

game was somewhat interesting with a few good rallies, but Sourabh was a cutabove Sameer on the day.

Prannoy’s upset win overHo was the best of the lot.The match was interestingfor the way the World No. 10and reigning US Open champion approached the match.

Against a defensive playerlike Son, Prannoy realisedfrom the start that the onlyway to defeat the South Korean was to attack.

And he did that to perfection at crucial junctures. Inmost of the exchanges at thenet, Prannoy got the betterof Son.The results: AhmedabadSmash Masters bt MumbaiRockets 50 (Kamilla RytterJuhl & Law Cheuk Him bt Gabriela Stoeva & Le Yong Dae1511, 157; H.S. Prannoy bt SonWan Ho 1512, 1512; Tai TzuYing bt Beiwen Zhang 159, 1512; (T) Sourabh Verma bt (T)Sameer Verma 1514, 1511;L.C.H. Reginald & K. Nandagopal lost to Lee Yong Dae & B.H.Tan 1015, 1215).Points table (team, tiesplayed, points): 1. AhmedabadSmash Masters, 5, 17; 2. Bengaluru Blasters, 4, 15; 3. Hyderabad Hunters, 4, 14; 4.Awadhe Warriors, 5, 12; 5.Chennai Smashers, 5, 12; 6.Delhi Dashers 4, 11; 7. NorthEastern Warriors, 4, 11; 8.Mumbai Rockets, 5, 10.

Smash Masterstrounce Rockets In crucial trump match betweensiblings, Sourabh beats Sameer

Aggressive tactics: H.S. Prannoy’s ploy of attacking thedefensive Son Wan Ho paid o� with an upset win for theIndian. * B. JOTHI RAMALINGAM

PBL

K. Keerthivasan

CHENNAI


#3 9 7 9 1 8

CMYK

A ND-NDE




SPORT

SUDOKU

Solution to puzzle 12210 Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

It is held that when the Lord incarnated as Krishna, NeelaDevi took birth as the daughter of Yasodha’s brother Kumban and was known as Nappinnai. The story goes that Kumban had bought seven calves that were really asuras in disguise, and they eventually turned out to be recalcitrantbulls. Krishna subdued the bulls and won Nappinnai’s hand.She came to live in Nandagopa’s house. In the Pasuram‘Undhu Madhagalitran,’ after waking Nandagopa and Yasodha, the Gopis proceed to wake up Nappinnai who sleepsalong with Krishna in Nandagopa’s house. This is in keepingwith the tradition that the jivatma seeks the Lord throughthe good graces of His consort, pointed out KalyanapuramSri Aravamudhachariar in a discourse. Andal and the Gopisentreat Nappinnai to help them have darshan of Krishna.The picture of Nappinnai holding a ball in her palm as shesleeps next to Krishna while evoking the bhava of play between them implies that Nappinnai, with her charming ways,is able to bind the very Lord who bears the entire creation asa mere play or leela. The Gopis begin to wake up Nappinnaiand tell her that they have come to sing the glory of her husband Krishna. They request her to get up and walk towardsthe door and open it for their sake. They eagerly wait to hearthe melodious tinkling of her bangles that are symbolic ofSamslesham with her Lord in this context. Vedanta Desika,in the hymn Daya Sataka, sung in praise of Lord Srinivasa’smost auspicious quality, enumerates the individual roles ofHis consorts Sri, Bhu and Neela when they are forever engaged in the act of leading the jivatmas to salvation. He extols Neela Devi’s ability to enthrall the Lord with her delightful conduct and behaviour and shows that her intent is tomake the Lord turn a blind eye to the faults of the jivatmas.

FAITH

Her grace is unique2 Bahadur ran to hide grain (5)

3 Turning right away for

preparing... (7)

5 ...extract in two months (6)

6 At Brunei, Sam built a boat (9)

7 In a way, Malay boys are

empty and disgraceful... (7)

8 ...because of a suit in a way

(5,1,7)

14 Displayed dedication without

love somehow (9)

17 Special unit lacking leadership

takes a year to design a

feature in door (7)

19 Delight family right away (7)

20 Assembler in the absence of

boss puts last part �rst —

primarily screws up and

makes a mess (7)

21 Worries about wrong GST

levied on article at the �rst

shop (6)

24 Took off beyond the end of

sky to capital (5)

11 A female draping sari is a trip

(6)

12 Heard it’s easy to get kiss, lady

hopes to get calls (8)

13 Beaten up, in Goa forces face a

test, perhaps (9)

15 In general, many have gun (5)

16 Departure of a group (5)

18 Probably blocking tickets for

leaves (9)

22 Cynthia watered husband's

plant (8)

23 Wise have different taste

having passed university (6)

25 Master involving seniors to

create a method of education

(10)

26 Look back but carry on (4)

27 First in the family led astray —

set right (6)

28 Spies' profession is dangerous

— needs �re inside (6)

n DOWN

1 Avoid touching female on

shower (7)

(set by Afterdark)

n ACROSS1 Censor record about attorney

facing �rst trial (6)

4 Song written on ship arriving

�rst at Ukrainian city (6)

9 A long distance, but right in the

middle of 12 (4)

10 Assistants down with cold —

boss spends a dollar to hire

youth leader as replacement

(6,4)

THE HINDU CROSSWORD 12211

NBA: Sony Six (SD & HD),6.30 & 9 a.m.ILeague: Star Sports 2 (SD& HD), 5.30 p.m.PBL: Star Sports 1 (SD & HD),7 p.m.PWL: Sony ESPN (SD & HD),7 p.m.ISL: Star Sports 2 (SD & HD),8 p.m.

TV PICKS

Several former India starsbegan their T20 season inearnest at the FerozeshahKotla Stadium here on Tuesday as Punjab edged pasthost Delhi by two runs in aclose North Zone match ofthe Syed Mushtaq Ali T20Trophy.

Chasing a belowpar totalof 170, Delhi could only manage 168 for four. It faltered inthe last over as SiddharthKaul, the most expensivePunjab bowler till then, prevented Pawan Negi and LalitYadav from playing any bigshots.

The marquee clash had representatives from three IPLfranchises as witnessesahead of the auction laterthis month.

Put in to bat, it looked likePunjab would have an easyrun with Manan Vohra andMandeep Singh batting freely before Delhi pegged itback. The team raced to 50in �ve overs before Mandeep, returning to action after a long break post his backsurgery, fell to Pawan Negi’sturn.

Anmolpreet Singh failed

to get going but Yuvraj Singhand Vohra smashed the ballall over the ground.

Yuvraj’s 40ball 50 included some delightful shotsthrough the cover region but

was overshadowed by Vohra’s 74run knock that sawhim punish every bowler.

In reply, Gautam Gambhirplayed his own version of a�ghtback with a 54ball 66

but once Rishabh Pant wasrun out at the other end, thescoring rate dropped andDelhi was left playing catchup.

Gambhir continued to

�nd the gaps but �nally fellgoing for a second run in thepenultimate over.

In the other match, Himachal Pradesh racked up itssecond win in as manygames and with equal ease,defeating Jammu & Kashmirby 33 runs in a lowscoringgame.

Nikhil Gangta and BipulSharma were the only Himachal batsmen to providesome resistance in a total of130 but even that was a targettoo high for the J&K batsmenwith eight of them managingonly single digit scores.Seamer Pankaj Jaiswalpicked up four wickets.

The scores: Punjab 170 forthree in 20 overs (Manan Vohra74, Yuvraj Singh 50 not out,Mandeep Singh 27, Pawan Negitwo for eight) bt Delhi 168 forfour in 20 overs (GautamGambhir 66, Rishabh Pant 38,Nitish Rana 29). Points: Punjab4, Delhi 0.

Himachal Pradesh 130 foreight in 20 overs (Nikhil Gangta31, Bipul Sharma 28, Mohammed Mudhasir two for 20,Ram Dayal two for 34, WaseemRaza two for 31, Parvez Rasooltwo for 15) bt J&K 97 in 17.4 overs (Manzoor Dar 36, PankajJaiswal four for 15, Mayank Dagar two for seven). HP 4, J&K0.

Punjab edges Delhi in thrillerGambhir’s men falter in the last over to fall short by just two runs

UTHRA GANESAN

NEW DELHI

Punishing knock: Punjab’s Manan Vohra was severe on every bowler with the bulk of his runs,including �ve of his six sixes, coming between longon and deepmidwicket. * SANDEEP SAXENA

MUSHTAQ ALI T20

Guptill powers NZ to victory Fifties from Hasan Ali, Hafeez and Shadab in vain

Whirlwind knock:Martin Guptill went on the o�ensive in theKiwi chase. * AFP


Nelson

Pakistan: Azhar Ali lbw bSouthee 6, ImamulHaq cMunro b Boult 2, Babar Azam cTaylor b Ferguson 10, Mohammad Hafeez c Guptill bSantner 60, Shoaib Malik cSouthee b Astle 27, SarfrazAhmed st Latham b Astle 3,Shadab Khan c Latham b Ferguson 52, Faheem Ashraf cSouthee b Ferguson 7, HasanAli c Astle b Southee 51, Mohammad Amir (not out) 8,Rumman Raees (not out) 6; Extras (b1, w12, nb1) 14; Total:(for nine wkts. in 50 overs):246.

Fall of wickets: 15, 214, 339,484 , 5108, 6127, 7141, 8211, 9239.

New Zealand bowling:Southee 101572, Boult 100541, Santner 101341, Fer

guson 100393, Astle 70502, Munro 30110.

New Zealand: (revised target151 in 25 overs): M. Guptill (notout) 86, C. Munro c Faheem bAmir 0, K. Williamson c ShadabKhan b Faheem 19, R. Taylor(not out) 45; Extras: (nb1) 1;Total: (for two wkts. in 23.5overs): 151.

Fall of wickets: 11, 247.

Pakistan bowling: Amir 51181, Raees 4.50370, Faheem 50301, Hasan 50370, Shadab 40290.

Toss: Pakistan

ManoftheMatch: MartinGuptill

New Zealand won by eightwickets with seven balls tospare via D/L method to leadfive-match series 2-0 .

SCOREBOARD NEW ZEALAND VS PAKISTAN, 2ND ODI

Wild card entrants Leander Paes and Purav Rajastumbled on the brink ofvictory losing 67(4), 76(8),[107] to Marcin Matkowskiof Poland and AisamUlHaq Qureshi of Pakistan inthe doubles prequarter�nals of the $561,345 ASBClassic ATP Tour event.

Sasi Kumar bows out

In the $50,000 BangkokChallenger, Sasi Kumar Mukund went down in threesets to seventh seed YusukeTakahashi of Japan whilequali�er Sidharth Rawatlost to local lad WishayaTrongcharoenchaikul.

The results:

$561,345 ATP, Auckland:Doubles (prequarter�nals):Marcin Matkowski (Pol) & AisamUlHaq Qureshi (Pak) btLeander Paes & Purav Raja 67(4), 76(8), [107].

$50,000 Challenger, Bangkok: First round: Yusuke Takahashi (Jpn) bt Sasi KumarMukund 62, 57, 60; Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul(Tha) bt Sidharth Rawat 76(3), 63.

$15,000 ITF, Anning, China:First round: Goran Markovic(Srb) bt Nitin Kumar Sinha75, 16, 63; Manish Sureshkumar bt Rhett Purcell (Nzl)57, 63, 76(5).

Doubles: First round: Tyler Lu(US) & Issei Okamura (Jpn) btNIitn Kumar Sinha & ManishSureshkumar 76(5), 63.

Leander andPurav lose inpre-quarters

Sports Bureau

Auckland

Tamil Nadu’s D. Bhuvaneswaran defeated Madhya Pradesh’s Ketan Chawla 10297,10081, 10039 in their opening group stage match in theSenior National men’s billiards tournament, at KSBAhere on Tuesday.

Karnataka’s Sasha Sambi,who entered the main drawthrough the quali�ers, received a walkover from Saurabh Ayyagari. Rafath Habiband Utsav Ramani receivedwalkovers as well.

Favourite Pankaj Advanistarts his campaign on Wed

nesday, against Bihar’sTushar Shresta.The results: Men’s billiards:Group stage: League:Muneem(TLGN) bt Tushar Shresta (Bih)10029, 10191, 10155; Siddhartha Patni (MP) bt LakshaySudi (Utk) 10152, 1000,1000; Kunal Agarwal (Odi) btAnkur Khetan (Guj) 10064,55100, 10157, 97101, 10047; D. Bhuvaneswaran (TN) btKetan Chawla (MP) 10297,10081, 10039; Arjun Mehta(Kar) bt I.S. Malik (UP) 10090,10070, 10083; Sasha Sambi(Kar) w/o Saurabh Ayyagari(Chg); Rafath Habib (RSPB)w/o Ajinkya Agnihotri (Har);Utsav Ramani (Guj) w/o VishalAbrol (J&K).

Bhuvaneswaranstuns Chawla

Sports Reporter

Bengaluru

Advani begins campaign today

Qual�ier Sushant Dabas outplayed �fth seed Eric Vanshelboim of Ukraine 61, 60in the boys �rst round of theITF grade2 junior tennistournament at the DLTAComplex here on Tuesday.

Another quali�er, ClavinGolmei also sailed past TheoVandeweghe of Belgium 63,63. The champion last weekin Chandigarh, Park Minjong of Korea beat sixth seedAbhimanyu Vannem Reddy36, 64, 62.

In the girls’ section, quali�er Sonashe Bhatnagarbeat sixth seed Janice Tjenof Indonesia 63, 62.

The results:

Boys (�rst round): RohanMehra bt Neel Rajesh (US) 63,64; Calvin Golmei bt TheoVandeweghe (Bel) 63, 63;Sushant Dabas bt Eric Vanshelboim (Ukr) 61, 60; TerenceAtmane (Fra) bt Rithvik Choudhary Bolliapalli 63, 76(6);Gauthier Onclin (Bel) bt AjayMalik 62, 61; Park Minjong(Kor) bt Abhimanyu VannemReddy 36, 64, 62.

Doubles (prequarter�

nals): Shivank Bhatnagar & Ayush Deswal bt Sou�ane El Mesbahi & Younes Lalami Laaroussi(Mar) 36, 75, 119; RithvikChoudary Bollipalli & Abhimanyu Vannem Reddy bt Kimdong Ju & Park Minjong (Kor)64, 61; Sushant Dabas &Rhythm Malhotra bt Theo Vandeweghe (Bel) & Eric Vanshelboim (Ukr) 26, 76(2), 104;

Dev Javia & Karan Srivastava btTerence Atmane & Mathys Erhard (Fra) 62, 64; Zhao Zhao& Zhou Xinmu (Chn) bt HanChih Lin (Tpe) & SiddharthThakran 62, 67(6), 102;Shashank Teertha & Piyush Surendra Salekar bt Nikit Reddy(US) & Calvin Golmei 75, 75;Louis Herman & Gauthier Onclin (Bel) bt Neel Rajesh (US) &Aman Patel 60, 63.

Girls (�rst round): Sonashe Bhatnagar bt Janice Tjen(Ina) 63, 62; Supapitch Kuearum (Tha) bt Kaavya Sawhney61, 63; Emma Raducanu(GBR) bt Muskan Gupta 61,63; Diana Khodan (Ukr) btPrinkle Singh 62, 63; VaidehiChaudhari bt NIkita Vishwase(US) 76(3), 61.

Doubles (prequarter�

nals): Doroteja Joksovic (Srb)& Shivani Amineni bt AkankshaBhan & Vaidehi Chaudhari 36,63, 108; Aunchisa Chanta(Tha) & Hoi Ki Jenny Wong(Hkg) bt Jade Bornay & ChloeCirotte (Fra) 63, 61; ZivaFalkner (Slo) & Selin Ovunc(Tur) bt Julie Belgraver & Isabelle Haverlag (Ned) 46, 62,104; Diana Khodan & Vera Tagasheva (Ukr) bt Kaavya Sawhney & Prinkle Singh 76(6),36, 119; Sophia Biolay & Margaux Rouvroy (Fra) bt AaliyaEbrahim & Maanya Viswanath60, 60; Yuna Ohashi (Jpn) &Shrivalli Rashmika bt Supapitch Kuearum (Tha) & JaniceTjen (Ina) 16, 76(4), 104;Salsa Aher & Yubarani Banerjeebt Nikita Vishwase (US) & RichaChougule 75, 76(2); Mai Napatt Nirundorn (Tha) & TanishaKashyap bt Sonashe Bhatnagar& Muskan Gupta 61, 61.

Dabas outplaysVanshelboimSpecial Correspondent

NEW DELHI

Mohit and Sunil starfor RR SportsMohit Sharma’s 62runknock and three wickets bySunil Dalal saw RR Sportsbeat Shri Guru GovindSingh College beat by sixruns to enter thequarter�nals of the 22ndSahibzada Ajit Singh crickettournament.

Parth Madaan scored 99 forthe losing side but wasnamed Man of the Matchfor his e�orts.The scores: RR Sports 218 fornine in 40 overs (MohitSharma 62, Anshul Kambhojfour for 42, Rohan Rawat fourfor 19) bt GGSC 212 for nine in40 overs (Parth Madaan 99,Tushar Khattar 42, Sunil Dalalthree for 50).

Manish hits centuryManish Dhillon topscoredwith 118 runs as Delhi Policebeat Mata Ved Solanki by 51runs in a DDCA Leaguematch here on Tuesday.

In other games, Jawad Khanand Mohit Kumar picked upfour wickets each as AnandSports Sports defeatedAlpine Cricket Club by 16runs and Salman Khan tookfour wickets for just 16 runsas Young Delhi thrashedSonex CC by 133 runs.Allround brilliance withboth bat and ball sawMohan Meakins beat ChandKhanna CC by 10 wicketselsewhere in the league.The scores: Chand KhannaCC 145 in 37.2 overs(Pradeep Sangwan four for11, Yashjeet Balhara threefor seven) lost to MohanMeakins 147 for no loss in21.5 overs (Avinesh Sudha87 not out, Gourav Rana 54not out); KG Colts 199 foreight in 40 overs (TurangPandit 61, SunnyChaudhary 45, SiddhantBansal six for 44) bt Ekta CC190 for nine in 40 overs(Dhruv Kaushik 75, AshishDabas 31, Karan Mahajan�ve for 23); Delhi Police 320for seven in 40 overs(Manish Dhillon 118, VikreetMohan 83, Shivam Dubeythree for 42) bt Mata VedSolanki 269 for nine in 40overs (Sahil Attri 70, JaiAhuja 51); Paragon CC 194

all out in 38.4 overs(Simranjeet Singh 52, AjaySingh 32, Ankit Pal six for32, Digvesh Rathi three for35) lost to Delhi Blues CC196 for �ve in 37.1 overs(Salil Malhotra 70, IshanPandey 43 not out); YoungDelhi 206 in 39.3 overs( Jeeshan Mewati 42, MohitRana 40 not out, SatenderChoudhary three for 24) btSonex 73 in 22.4 overs(Salman Khan four for 16);Anand Sports 227 in 27.5overs ( Jawad Khan 52,Mannu Kashyap 41,Kartikey three for 44) btAlpine CC 211 in 30.3 overs(Bhavesh Seth 91, SandeepSingh 48; Jawad Khan fourfor 52, Mohit Kumar fourfor 15).

Vijay prevailsover KeshavVijay Sharma of Delhi Auditovercame a close �ght inthe �rst game to beatKeshav Sharma of Ministryof Defence 1921, 2113, 2110in the men’s quarter�nalsof the interMinistrybadminton tournamentorganised by the CentralCivil Services Cultural andSports Board at the AIIMSGymkhana here onTuesday.

Sachin Rawat and SiddarthNandal of Ministry ofFinance and Amit Sharmaof Ministry ofCommunication andInformation Technologywere the others to make thesemi�nals.

The results: Men

(quarter�nals): Sachin Rawatbt Abhinav Prakash 2115,2116; Siddarth Nandal btRajeev Sharma 2118, 2119;Vijay Sharma bt KeshavSharma 1921, 2113, 2110;Amit Sharma bt Amit Tyagi216, 217.

Veteran men (quarter�nals):Rajeev Sharma bt Dr NeerajKumar Gupta 2116, 216;Gulshan Kumar bt AK Garg217, 219; AK Jain bt N.Krishnan 2110, 218; VijaySharma bt Vijay Anand 2110,2112.

Veteran women (semi�nals):Priya Nalgundwari bt MadhuGyanchandani 2118, 1821,2117; Annie bt Sarita Kumari1821, 2321, 2111.

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

\ DELHI ROUND-UP \

Ricky Ponting will be an assistant coach during Australia’s T20I series againstEngland and New Zealandnext month, Cricket Australia said on Tuesday.

The former Australiacaptain will work underhead coach Darren Lehmann, while Troy Cooleyand Matthew Mott will helpout during the series.

Ponting isassistantcoach


Sydney

Martin Guptill belted NewZealand to an eightwicketwin over Pakistan in a rainshortened second ODI hereon Tuesday.

Guptill blasted 55 o� 31balls after the rain break tobe unbeaten on 86 as NewZealand reached its revisedtarget of 151 in 25 overs withseven balls to spare.

Pakistan, boosted by alate run charge from HasanAli and Shadab Khan, made246 for nine in its 50 oversand New Zealand was 64for two after 14 overs in reply when the rain set in.

Under the DuckworthLewis revision, New Zealand had 11 overs to make afurther 87 runs.

Guptill’s whirlwindknock included �ve foursand �ve sixes while RossTaylor, keen to yield thestrike in their 104runstand, had only four boundaries in his 45 o� 43deliveries.

After Pakistan won thetoss and elected to bat it recovered from an early collapse to reach 246 on theback of halfcenturies byMohammad Hafeez (60),Shadab Khan (52) and Hasan Ali (51).

Mohammad Hafeez heldthe �rst half of the inningstogether while Hasan andShadab mounted a late rescue mission when Pakistanwas 141 for seven.

The pair featured in a 70run partnership o� 49 deliveries for the eighth wicket which included 21 o� one

over by Todd Astle. LochieFerguson was New Zealand’s chief wickettakerwith three for 39.


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SPORT

Pwilao Basumatary, a Worldyouth bronze medallist in2011, represents a group ofRailways boxers who trainwithout a boxing coach fromtheir own department inGuwahati.

After taming an aggressive Aakanksha 50 in a second round bout to reachthe 64kg quarter�nals in theNational women’s boxingchampionship at the RajivGandhi Sports Complexhere on Tuesday, Pwilao wasdetermined to do better thistime.

“Last time I was hospitalised prior to the Nationalsand lost in the quarter�nals.Here I look forward to beamong the medals,” saidPwilao.

In fact, it was her determination which kept Pwilao going. She and Minu Basumatary of Kokrajhar area ofAssam had hit headlines byclaiming the bronze andgold medals respectively inthe World youth championship in Turkey.

No guidanceHowever, they could not dojustice to their talent due tothe lack of any guidance.

“Since 2014, when Ijoined the Railways in Guwahati, there is no boxing

coach from our department.We had made a request regarding this but to no avail,”said Pwilao, who trains withsome elite Railways boxers,including Bhagyabati Kachari and Rumi Gogoi.

“We train under coachesduring the Railways campbefore the National championship. Otherwise, wetrain on our own. I watch videos of the Olympic Gamesand try to pick up somepoints,” said Pwilao, anAsian championship bronzemedallist in 2015.

Alari Boro upset formerAsian Games bronze medallist Kavita Goyat 32 in akeenlyfought 75kg secondround bout.

Former World championL. Sarita Devi (60kg), twotime Worlds bronze medal

list Kavita Chahal (82kg) andAsian championship silvermedallist Sonia Lather(57kg) advanced smoothly.Important results:

Prequarter�nals: 48kg: Ar-chana Thapa (Utk) bt Fancy De-vi (AIP) 4-1, Bina Devi (Man) btS. Kalaivani (TN) 5-0, Aarohi Bi-rajdar (Mah) bt Muni Lya (Aru)3-2, Varsha Choudhery (UP) btG. Jyothi (AP) 3-2, KhushbooTokas (Del) bt Rituz (Chd) 4-1.

51kg: Sarjubala Devi (Man) btSaroj (Raj) 5-0, Nikhat Zareen(Tel) bt Ramisha Lyngdoh(Meg) RSC-R1.

54kg: Shiksha (RSPB) bt Jyoti(Raj) 5-0, Manisha (Har) bt So-nia 5-0, Richa Sharma (WB) btN.L. Thampy (Ker) 3-1.

57kg: Sonia Lather (RSPB) btPreeti (Pun) 5-0, Shashi Chopra(Har) bt Saloni Shah (Mah) 4-1.

60kg: L. Sarita Devi (AIP) btMuthulakshmi (TN) RSC-R1,Priyanka Choudhary (Utk) btManju (Chd) 5-0, Pavitra(RSPB) bt Shivani Bharti (Bih)RSC-R1.

64kg: Pwilao Basumatary(RSPB) bt Aakansha (Bih) 5-0,Simranjit Kaur (Pun) bt SarikaKumari 5-0.

69kg: Memthoi Devi (AIP) btAruna Geetha (AP) RSC-R1,Lovlina Borgohain (Asm) bt Al-mas Shaikh (Mah) RSC-R1, Ga-gandeep Kaur (Pun) bt Th. Aru-na Devi (Man) 5-0.

75kg: Alari Boro (Asm) bt Kavi-ta Goyat (AIP) 3-2.

81kg: Parvaz Kaur (Pun) bt G.Geya Rupini (AP) 5-0, Bhagya-bati Kachari (RSPB) bt LaxmiPadiya (Jha) 5-0.

82kg: Kavita Chahal (AIP) btTejinder Kaur (Chd) 5-0.

Pwilao tames AakankshaAlari upsets Kavita; smooth sailing for Sarita & Kavita

Pwilao Basumatary.

NATL. WOMEN’S BOXING

Y.B. Sarangi

ROHTAKA fourwicket haul by pacerIshan Porel helped Indianotch up a massive 189runwin over South Africa in awarmup match ahead ofthe U19 World Cup here onTuesday.

Batting �rst, riding onhalfcenturies from AryanJuyal (86) and HimanshuRana (68), India U19scored 332 for eight.

In reply, South Africawas bundled out for 143with Porel claiming four for23 runs in his eight overs.The scores:

India U-19 332 for eight in50 overs (Aryan Juyal 86, Hi-manshu Rana 68, AkhonaMnyaka three for 40) btSouth Africa U-19 143 in 38.3overs (Jean du Plessis 50, Ji-veshan Pillay 29, Ishan Porelfour for 23).

Indian coltsthump SA inWC warmup Press Trust of India

Christchurch

Espanyol scored early inthe �rst half and held on toit to beat struggling Malaga10 in La Liga for its �rstaway win of the season onMonday.

Mid�elder Sergi Darderscored six minutes into thematch to spur Espanyol tothe elusive victory in its10th away match of the season.

It was Espanyol’s secondconsecutive league triumph following a win oversecondplace Atletico Madrid in its last game lastyear.

The club from Barcelonareached the 14th place inthe 20team standings,moving further away fromthe relegation zone. The result: La Liga: Malaga 0lost to Espanyol 1 (Darder 6).

Espanyolposts �rstaway winAgencies

Madrid

World No. 1 Rafael Nadallost his �rst match of theyear 64, 75 to RichardGasquet at the KooyongClassic on Tuesday, butsaid he was happy after histroublesome knee held up“�ne.”

“I’m happy to be back inAustralia,” he said. “Thiswas a good test for me,that’s an important thing.”

Nadal beatenAgence France-Presse

Melbourne

Chennai City FC fought hardall the way, but Neroca FCmanaged to hold it to a goalless draw in the Hero Ileague at the Nehru Stadiumhere on Tuesday.

It was quite disappointingfor CCFC as it failed to convert the home advantage forthe second time on the trotthis season.

The �rst half was clearlydominated by the Chennaimen.

They enjoyed the lion’sshare of possession. They attacked well and even foundpockets of space in the rivalhalf.

It did rattle the Neroca de

fenders but there was notmuch damage done as themen upfront for Chennaifailed to �re.

The Orange Brigade fromManipur, known for counterattacking football, wasforced to defend its fort.

It did no good for the teamas the CCFC men kept push

ing hard for that allimportant goal, which never cametheir way.

Golden chanceCCFC almost scored in the32nd minute when Murilo deAlmeida received a ball fromAlexander Romario from theedge of the box.

It looked a golden chancefor a moment but a tacklefrom behind by a Neroca defender went unnoticed bythe referee.

The second session wasplayed on similar lines withthe CCFC men in full �ow,but Neroca withstood thepressure well to earn a welldeserved draw and a point.

Captain Soosai Raj walkedaway with the HerooftheMatch award.

It was his �rst for the season and �fth for the team.

“Our boys played reallywell but we could not convert the advantage into awin. I am still glad that wegot a point as Neroca is agood team, ” said V. Soundararajan, CCFC’s headcoach.

Goalless, but entertainingNeroca manages to get a point against a dominant CCFC

Rayan Rozario

Coimbatore

Futile attempt: Murilo de Almeida, second right, of CCFC tries to get one past the defensive wall. * M. PERIASAMY

I-LEAGUE

In the Swiss League — wherethe top half of the draw playsthe bottom half in the opening round — unexpected results are always at a premium.

But some littleknownplayers have the knack ofseizing their moments whenpitted against overwhelmingfavourites.

Soham Datar is one suchplayer who pulled it o� onemore time to provide the biggest openinground surpriseof the Delhi InternationalOpen chess tournamenthere on Tuesday.

Rated a modest 2032, Datar battled from a pawn de�cit and held 10thseeded Ukrainian Adam Tukhaev to a40move draw following perpetual checks.

Datar, rated way belowTukhaev’s 2570, lost a pawnon the 13th move, but kept

�ghting to force a creditabledraw.

In fact, even in the 2016Chennai International Open,Datar had made a mockeryof the ratings by holding Russian GM Vladimir Belous.

At that time, Datar wasrated 1961 against Belouswhose rating stood at 2556!

Tough goingSome of the other players,including two Grandmasters, found the going tootough for their liking.

Playing on adjacentboards, the unheralded duoof Ustab Chatterjee (2005)and Karthik Kumar Pradeep(2004) scored over lowerrated GMs, Russia’s AndreiDeviatkin and HimanshuSharma.

Chatterjee, playing blackwon in 45 moves before Karthik prevailed in 67 moves.

Among the InternationalMasters, Uzbek Javokhir,Australia’s Rishi Sardana andhomegrown talent P. Iniyanwere held.

In the last game to get over, Woman Grandmaster Mary Ann Gomes settled for a121move draw with youngMohammad Anees.Important results:

First round: V. Varshini lost toArkadij Naiditsch (Aze); FarrukhAmonatov (Tjk) bt A. Balkishan;Likht Chilukuri lost to AbhijeetGupta; Timur Gareyev (USA) btHarshal Shahi.

Manish Hamal (Nep) lost toIvan Rozum (Rus); SaptorshiGupta lost to Sergei Tiviakov(Ned); M. Karthikeyan bt NiladriBhattacharya.

Adam Tukhaev (Ukr) drewwith Soham Datar; Aryan Polak-hare drew with Suat Atalik(Tur).

Andrei Deviatkin (Rus) lostto Utsab Chatterjee; KarthikKumar Pradeep bt HimanshuSharma; Sambit Panda drewwith P. Iniyan;

Jalpan Bhatt drew with Ja-vokhir Sindarov (Uzb); SurbirLamba drew with Rishi Sardana(Aus); Mohammad Anees drewwith Mary Ann Gomes.

Datar holds TukhaevChatterjee and Karthik beat GMs Deviatkin and Himanshu

Way to go! Soham Datar, right, showed once again that he hasthe game to cause a few upsets. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

RAKESH RAO

NEW DELHI


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LIFE

Giant lily pads drawcrowds to Paraguay ASUNCION

A tiny corner of Paraguay has

become a tourist attraction

this month as visitors flock to

see a rare delight floating on

a hidden lagoon: giant round

water lilies spanning over 1.5

metres. Locals call the plants

alligator lilies, as they are

sprawling enough to hide a

small alligator. AFP

IN BRIEF

Sumo championsperform New Year ritual TOKYO

Sumo’s three grand

champions clapped their

hands and stamped their feet

in a traditional New Year

offering to the Shinto gods

on Tuesday, as the sport seeks

to turn the page on a scandal

hit 2017. The rite took place

at Tokyo’s Meiji Shrine. AFP

Princess Charlotte starts nursery school LONDON

Princess Charlotte, the

daughter of British royals

William and Kate, began her

first day at Willcocks Nursery

School in Kensington on

Monday. Photographs taken

by Kate shows the twoyear

old happy to set off to

school. REUTERS

Bats’ brains boil inAustralia heatwaveSYDNEY

Hundreds of bats have died in

sweltering conditions in

Australia, with many dropping

from their perches as the

scorching temperatures “fried

their brains”, wildlife officials

said. The Sydney suburb of

Penrith recorded 47.3 Celsius

on Sunday. AFP

Working human muscle hasbeen grown from stem cellsin the lab in a breakthroughthat holds promise for su�erers of degenerative musculardiseases, scientists said onTuesday.

The team from Duke University in North Carolinasaid they were the �rst toachieve this feat using adultskin or blood cells whichwere “reprogrammed” into ajuvenile, versatile state.

These are called “inducedpluripotent stem cells” oriPSCs. Like naturallyoccurring stem cells found in embryos, they can become anyother type of human cell.

In this case, the iPSCswere coaxed into becomingskeletal muscle cells, whichgrew into “functioning human skeletal muscle”, theteam reported in the sciencejournal NatureCommunications.

“It’s taken years of trialand error, making educated

guesses and taking babysteps to �nally produce functioning human muscle frompluripotent stem cells,” study coauthor Lingjun Raosaid.

The breakthrough wasmade possible by “uniquecell culture conditions” inthe lab, and a special 3Dsca�old which allowed thecells to grow “much fasterand longer” than otherteams had managed, he saidin a statement issued by theuniversity.

The tissue contracted andreacted to external stimulisuch as electrical pulses orchemical signals, the teamsaid.

Tested in miceThey also implanted themuscle �bres into adultmice, where it survived andfunctioned for at least threeweeks, though it was “not asstrong” as natural tissue. Theteam hopes their techniquewill allow scientists to grow“an endless amount” of

functioning muscle in the labon which to test drugs andgene treatments for degenerative muscle diseases.

“The prospect of studyingrare diseases is especially exciting for us,” said researcherNenad Bursac.

“When a child’s musclesare already withering awayfrom something like Duchenne muscular dystrophy,it would not be ethical totake muscle samples fromthem and do furtherdamage.”

Skeletal muscle tissue grown from stem cellsScientists will use the material to test drugs and gene treatments for degenerative diseases


Paris

The �rst Asian to win theGolden Globe Award for theBest Actor — Television Series Musical or Comedy, AzizAnsari traces his roots to verdant Tirunelveli. His parentsShoukath Ansari, a gastroenterologist, and Fatima immigrated to the U.S. in the1970s.

In Master of None, a comedy series on Net�ix, Ansari plays Dev Shah, a struggling actor in New York, andis loosely based on Ansari’sown experiences.

Ansari’s parents steppedforward to play his onscreen parents in the popular series. The conversationsinclude snatches of Tamil.

MGR songsThe series has caught the attention of critics for its sensitive and e�ective use of music, especially period trackssuch as the MGR song Pon-nanthi Maalaipozhuthu.

“Dr Shoukath Ansari,who is from Vasudevanallur,was one of the students ofthe �rst batch of TirunelveliMedical College,” said Dr.Habibullah, a paediatricianand a relative of Mr Ansari.Aziz Ansari’s mother, Fatima, is the daughter of Fakrudeen Adam, a public prosecutor from Edalakkudi inKanyakumari district.

“Aziz visits his grandmother Dilsath and other relatives. He can converse in

Tamil and during a recent visit to Kovalam near Thiruvanathapuram, he replied inTamil to the questions fromfans,” Dr Habibullah toldThe Hindu.

Aziz Ansari was born inthe U.S. and graduated fromNew York University’s SternSchool of Business.

“Aziz is a simple and reserved man [but] transformshimself completely in frontof the camera. The daughters of former U.S. PresidentBarack Obama are great fansof his and he has been invited to the White House a couple of times,” said Dr Habibullah, who moved fromChennai to his native Nagercoil recently.

The exclamations in Tamil add an authentic touchto the immigrant experiencein Master of None. ShoukathAnsari remarks in a scene,“Ayyo Dr. Ramasami is visiting… He will be wanderingand eating pretzels.”

True-blue sonAziz Ansari thanked his parents for all their supportwhile accepting his GoldenGlobe. He was up against Anthony Anderson of (Black-ish), Kevin Bacon (I LoveDick), William H. Macy(Shameless) and Eric McCormack (Will and Grace).

He had been nominatedin the same category for aGolden Globe in 2016.

Global links anchorGolden Globe winnerAziz Ansari has visited India and can converse in Tamil

B. Kolappan

CHENNAI

King of comedy: Aziz Ansari, with his relative Dr. Habibullah,during a visit to Chennai. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Virtual aides battled to rule“smart homes” on the eve ofthe o�cial opening of theConsumer Electronics showgadget gala here.

Samsung, LG Electronics,Panasonic and others touteda future in which homes,cars and pockets brim withtechnology that collaboratesto make lives easier.

Google and Amazon arekey players in the trend, withtheir rival Assistant andAlexa voicecommanded virtual aides being woven deeper into consumer electronicsand vehicles. Samsungmeanwhile is playing catchup with its Bixby assistant.

“The biggest theme is the�ght for the connected homebetween Google and Amazon,” Patrick Moorhead ofMoor Insights & Strategy saidduring a day of backtobackCES press brie�ngs.

“The notion that there isthis new layer that can replace apps and operatingsystems means the stakesare high.”

If voicecommanded assistants become the newnorm for interacting withcomputers and the Internet,being the virtual aide ofchoice could be a powerfuland pro�table position.

“Competition is heatingup for the smart assistantecosystem, and the questionis who is going to be thesmart assistant of choice in2018,” Gartner analyst BrianBlau said.

Apple and Google havebig leads, since their rival

digital assistants are alreadyon millions of smartphonesand computers, according toMr. Blau.

“That is why Amazon isbeing so aggressive; theyneed millions of more endpoints for Alexa in people’shands,” Mr. Blau said.

“The loser, if any, is Cortana, because nobody is talking about them,” he added,referring to Microsoft’s digital assistant. But, Mr. Moorhead countered, Microsoft islikely playing to its strengthby angling to be the dominant digital assistant inworkplaces and Cortana isalready on some half a billion computers powered byWindows 10 software.

Robot snubs LG Consumer electronics titanLG proclaimed this year a“tipping point” for smarthomes during a press eventthat featured an ignoble onstage fail.

A cute, tabletop smarthub called CLOi went awry,

with the voicecommanded,small snowperson shapeddevice quickly ignoring anLG executive.

“CLOi doesn’t like me evidently,” quipped LG U.S.marketing vice president David VanderWaal.

“Even robots have baddays.”

Such moments are playfully referred to as “the curseof the live demo” in SiliconValley. LG is developing technology designed to enable itsappliances, televisions andother devices adapt to usersand collaborate to handletasks.

Google Assistant is beingintegrated into LG productsincluding televisions, headphones and smart speakers.“Our goal at Google is to helppeople get things done in anatural, seamless way,” Google Assistant vice presidentof engineering Scott Hu�man said.

Interacting with computers by speaking has provena hit, and the ability of vir

tual aides to converse withpeople is expected to improve quickly, according toresearchers from the Consumer Technology Association behind the annual CESgathering.

An LG ThinQ speaker withGoogle Assistant will beavailable in the “comingmonths,” according to Mr.Hu�man.

LG’s vision for its AI platform includes enabling appliances, cars, air conditioners and other “everyday”devices to adapt to users’ individual preferences as wellas collaborate on tasks.

“Our products will learnfrom users to provide intelligent services, not the otherway around,” Mr. Park said.

Tailor-made experienceSamsung Electronics extolled its strategy of makingits broad array of o�eringsconnected and enhancingthem with digital brains ofBixby virtual assistant. “Televisions, refrigerators andmore will understand youand your preferences, andtailor an experience that isright for you,” said Samsungglobal consumer electronicspresident H.S. Kim.

A new SmartThings application to be released by midyear will consolidate command of Samsung devicesand be a “remote control foryour connected life,” Mr.Kim said.

Panasonic said it is working with Amazon to buildAlexa smart assistant into“infotainment” systems itsells to carmakers.

The battle of digital assistantsSmart home gadgets vie for dominance at Consumer Electronics Show

A day o�: LG’s CLOi robot did not respond to voice commandsduring a live demo at CES 2018 in Las Vegas. * AFP


Las Vegas

The second edition of theGoa Bird Festival will be heldfrom January 12 to 14 at Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary, Canacona.

The State Forest department is organising the eventwith the support of Goa Tourism, the Goa Bird Conservation Network (GBCN) andBirderpics.com, said AjaiSaxena, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests. Oceanicbird tours would be on o�er.

Goa is said to have over440 species of birds out of

over 1,200 in the country.Some of the birds are endemic to the region as the Stateo�ers a unique con�uence oftwo diverse ecosystems —tropical forests and marine,said Mr. Saxena.

The festival will host someof the country’s top naturalists, photographers and artists as resource persons.

Bird walks are beingplanned with experts andguides in Cotigao and the adjoining Netravali WildlifeSanctuary.

The pelagic birds tour willbe on the Arabian Sea.

Vibhu Prakash, scientist,Bombay Natural History Society will deliver the keynoteaddress on conservation ofvultures.

Vibrant discussionSome of the other lecturesare: “Recording Bird Calls”by Pratap Singh; “Bird Callsand Songs” by Sharad Apte;“Science behind Superstitions” by Satish Pande and“Pelagic Birds of WesternCoast and Birds of WesternGhats” by Shiv Shankar.

Rohan Chakraborty fromNagpur will conduct a ses

sion on “Drawing of Birds”while Karthikeyan from Jungle Lodges and Resorts, Karnataka, will hold a discussionon “Organising Nature

Camps – the JLR experience.”An origami workshop by

Coralie D’ Lima from WWF, atalk on green humour by Rohan Chakraborty, guidedwalks by the Goa Bird Conservation Network and �lmshows on nature are also onthe agenda.

A special edition of IndianBirds with articles on thebirds of Goa will be released.The �ndings of the longtermbird survey and monitoringin Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary, undertaken by the Forest Department and GBCN,will also be released.

Goa bird festival to o�er pelagic avian tourNaturalists, guides and other resource persons will host workshops at Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary

A tern hunts for �sh.

Prakash Kamat

Panaji

Samesex couples marriedin midnight ceremoniesacross Australia on Tuesdayafter the country’s last legalimpediment to gay marriageexpired.

Marriage equality became law on December 9with overwhelming supportin Parliament, but Australia’s requirement that allcouples give a month’s notice for weddings made Tuesday the �rst possible datefor gay marriages.

Athletes Craig Burns andLuke Sullivan married at amidnight ceremony nearthe east coast city of TweedHeads.

“It’s another way to showyour love and appreciation

of your partner in front ofthe people in your life,” saidMr. Burns, a 29yearoldsprinter who will competein the CommonwealthGames in Australia’s GoldCoast in April.

In Newcastle, north ofSydney, Rebecca Hickson,32, married her partner ofnine years, Sarah Turnbull,34. In the west coast city ofPerth, Kelly and Sam PilgrimByrne solemnisedtheir 24yearold relationship in a midnight ceremony on the steps of the Western Australia statelegislature.

Lainey Carmichael, 51,and Roz Kitschke, 46, married in front of 65 guests inthe town of Franklin in theisland state of Tasmania.

Gay wedding spree atmidnight in Australia Associated Press

Canberra

Spicing it up: Two poledancing robots built by British artist Giles Walker perform at a club inLas Vegas. The event was held to coincide with CES International. * AP

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Techno jive

“Teaching young people todream again” is the vision ofa Moroccan cultural centrein a rundown Casablancadistrict, once home to agroup of suicide bomberswho killed 33 people in2003.

Based in a white buildingnext to a tram line and opposite a mosque, the Stars Cultural Centre in Sidi Moumenregularly hosts more than300 young people for classes in music and music theory, classical dance, hiphop,English and French.

“When we tell young people that violence is not ameans to express themselves, we must �nd themother means,” said �lmmaker Nabil Ayouch, who cofounded the centre with artist Mahi Binebine.

Mr. Ayouch’s connectionwith the district began withhis �lm Horses of God,which looked at how youngpeople in the neighbourhood were becoming radicalised.

When he organised ascreening of the �lm in SidiMoumen, Mr. Ayouch realised something: “Even in anarea without rights, there isthe right to hope.”

That seed of an idea eventually led him to set up thecentre in the district thatwas home to 12 suicide bombers, who carried out theMay 2003 attacks inCasablanca.

Yacine, 14, is studying piano and music theory andhopes that one day he canbecome a concert musicianand perform with an orchestra. “The training is muchbetter than at the Casablanca Conservatoire,” he said.

Students’ families pay forthe lessons but those on limited means receive subsidised rates. The centre o�ers free �lm screenings,hosts foreign artists andgives shows that attractspectators from far andwide.

Conservative society“Back in 2014, there wasnothing — no culture, no cinema,” said the centre’s assistant manager, SoumiaErrahmani.

But funded by private donations and foreign culturalinstitutes, the centre hasshown that “there are also

stars and not only terrorists”in the district, she said.

The 24yearold, her haircovered with a headscarf,said the project had taughther that “if you want, youcan”. She put together aband, Africa Vibes, andstayed. Now she managesstudent registrations at thecentre and works to “reassure parents”.

In Morocco’s conservativesociety, “the relationshipwith art in general, and withdance in particular, is verydi�cult,” she said.

But today, “parents cometo see the shows, they areproud of their children,” shesaid. “Mothers, who wereworried about seeing theirdaughters dancing, come toask for advice, some borrowbooks.” Performances andlessons at the centre takebreaks around Muslimprayer times.

Moroccan cultural centreurges children to dreamArt taught in a locality that was once home to suicide bombers


Morocco

Music of hope:Moroccan girls attend a ballet class at theStars Cultural Centre in Sidi Moumen, Casablanca. * AFP


nearby playing of national anthem in cinema halls made...

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