˜ $#% ˜ˇ...pragya in bhopal which has been a bjp stronghold and won by it previously. the poll...

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T he penultimate round of the fast and furious seven- phase Lok Sabha poll on Sunday would witness 59 con- stituencies voting in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Jharkhand, Haryana and West Bengal with heavyweights like Digvijaya Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia (Congress), Union Ministers Maneka Gandhi, Narendra Singh Tomar and RK Singh (BJP) and former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav (SP) testing their ballot popularity. Much is at stake for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) which had won 45 of these 59 Lok Sabha seats in the 2014 elections, pocketing all eight seats from Bihar and winning 13 of 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh. Of the 59 seats, 14 are in UP, 10 seats in Haryana, eight each in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, seven seats in Delhi and four in Jharkhand. The Trinamool Congress, which is locked in a eyeball- to-eyeball poll confrontation with the BJP, had lifted all 8 seats from Bengal in this phase in 2014 poll. The TMC too will have to put its best foot forward in this round to retain its tight grip in the State. The Congress had won two and the Samajwadi Party and the LJP one seat each in this round five years ago. After the sixth round, anoth- er 59 seats would go to polls in the last phase on May 19. As things stand, Sam Pitroda, a close associate of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, has given a handle to the BJP to beat the Congress with seven seats of Delhi, 13 of Punjab and one of Chandigarh having a sizeable population of Sikhs to go for polls. Just like Mani Shankar Aiyar did with his ‘neech’ com- ment before the 2014 polls, Pitroda seems to have stirred the poll pot this time round in favour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP with his “hua to hua” (so what) comment for the Sikh riots of 1984. Modi and the BJP have since then came down heavi- ly on the Congress by saying that these words are the “char- acter and mentality and inten- tions of the Congress”. Though Pitroda later apol- ogised, the BJP seems to have made most of the controversial comments before Punjab, Chandigarh and Delhi votes. The 6th round goes to the floor with the eye-catching contest between former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya and Malegaon terror accused Pragya in Bhopal which has been a BJP stronghold and won by it previously. The poll bout between the two has also been seen as a litmus test for BJP’s assertion that Digvijaya was acting against the interests of the majority community and tainting it with a “terror tag”. Digvijaya has matched Sadhvi’s saffron credibility with his own by organising a ‘havan’ of ‘sad- hus’ in Bhopal. Among other poll fights, Akhilesh is contesting from Azamgarh, the seat won last time by his father Mulayam Singh Yadav against Bhojpuri filmstar Dinesh Lal Nirhaua. Union Minister Maneka Gandhi, who has changed her seat from Piliphit to Sultanpur, is pitted in a good fight with Congress leader Sanjay Singh and BSP’s Chandra Bhadra Singh alias Sonu who is the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ candidate. Other prominent candi- date from UP contesting is State Minister Rita Joshi Bahuguna from Prayagraj (Allahabad). A s many as 164 candidates, including 18 women, are in the fray for the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi which goes to polls on Sunday. ‘’ It is expected to be three- cornered fight involving the BJP, AAP and the Congress in all the seats. The Congress is looking to bounce back after ending up at the third spot in the 2014 elec- tions while the BJP is trying to retain all the seven seats. The AAP is contesting the election on the agenda of full Statehood, hoping to give a tight fight to both the national parties. Voting will begin at 7 am on May 12 and it is scheduled to go on till 6 pm. A total of 13,819 polling stations will be set up at 2,700 locations in Delhi, with one model polling station in each of the 70 Assembly segments. W ith arrest of three foreign nationals, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Saturday claimed to have made country’s highest seizure of over 1,800-kg pseudoephedrine kept outside a factory in Greater Noida. The estimated value of the seized chemical, along with about 2 kgs of party drugs cocaine, is around 25 crore. A senior NCB official said it stumbled on the narcotics after grilling a South African woman arrested on May 9 from the IGI Airport. T he death toll due to the very severe Cyclone Fani, which hit the State’s coast on May 3, rose to 43 with two more casualties being con- firmed by the Government on Saturday. According to Special Relief Commissioner Bishnupada Sethi, the two more bodies were recovered at two different places. Out of the toll, the highest 21 is in Puri district, six in Cuttack, five in Khordha, four each in Mayurbhanj and Jajpur and three in Kendrapada district. According to the SRC, three persons were injured and hospitalised in Bhubaneswar, four grievously injured in Kendrapada and 74 in Jajpur district. A total of 1,65,30,900 people of 16,659 villages under 159 blocks and 52 urban local bodies spread over 14 districts have been affected in the cyclonic storm. The affected districts are Angul, Baleswar, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Kendrapada, Keonjhar, Khordha, Mayurbhanj, Nayagarh and Puri. Besides, 5,08,467 houses and 87,39,657 livestock have been affected in the calami- ty. As many as 34,56,362 domestic animals have died in the storm, said a situation report released by the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC). Clearing of roads and power restoration process are in full swing in Bhubaneswar city and all affected districts. In Puri district, the marine drive, Nimapara-Satsankh road, New Jagannath Sadak, Gop-Balighai Road, Pipili-Konark, Patnaikia-Khordha road and Pipili-Jatni road have been cleared. All PWD roads have been cleared in Bhubaneswar and other parts of Khordha dis- trict. The SRC said 100-per cent power sup- ply has been restored in Cuttack city. SRC Sethi has written to the Khordha district Collector asking him to ensure implementation of the Chief Minister’s package to the families who do not have a ration card. He asked the Collector to provide assis- tance to families living in slums under the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) even if they do not own a ration card under the National Food Security Act and the State Food Security Scheme. The decision was taken after several slum dwellers expressed unhappiness over not being paid Government assistance even though they have suffered a lot due to Fani. According to the package, the families living under the BMC who do not possess a ration card would receive 2,000 as mone- tary assistance, 500 for polythene and 50 kg of rice. T he hearing over the Mahanadi water dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh was postponed to July 13 by the Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal in New Delhi on Saturday. As soon as the proceedings started in the tribunal, both Odisha and Chhattisgarh Governments pleaded for a period of four weeks because the third joint meeting between them couldn’t take place owing to Cyclone Fani hitting Odisha on May 3. The tribunal accepted the pleas and fixed the next date of hearing on July 13. “For the Cyclone Fani, State officials are busy in relief and rehabilitation works in the affected districts. Thus, the Government couldn’t hold another joint meeting and failed to undertake site visit. Therefore, we pleaded for more time to conduct site visit, pre- pare a report and submit it to the tribunal,” informed Odisha Advocate General Surya Prasad Mishra. T hree jawans of the elite Special Operations Group (SOG) were martyred in a landmine explosion trig- gered by Maoists in Malkangiri district on Saturday. The incident occurred at the Bogapadar hill under the Mathili police station when a team of SOG personnel were carrying out a combing operation based on intel- ligence inputs about the presence of Red rebels in the area. Sources said that around 30 to 40 ultras, who were in a hideout, had planted the landmine suspecting a search operation by security forces. Later, they triggered the landmine when they spotted the SOG per- sonnel. Following the landmine explosion, a gun battle also ensued between the jawans and Maoists. The injured security personnel had been rushed to the nearby BSF camp for treatment, but they succumbed to the injuries, the sources added.Later, a joint combing operation by the SOG and the anti-Maoist forces of Chhattisgarh was con- ducted in the area. P assengers of the New Delhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express were panicked as smokes emerged in the power car of the train at the Khantapara railway station here on Saturday afternoon. However, no passenger coaches were affected. Following the incident, the train halted at the Khantapara station for about two hours. The train service resumed only after the affected coach was detached from it. An expert team from the Kharagpur railway division visited the station. An official of the East Coast Railway said three fire extinguishing engines reached the spot and doused the flames. Overhead electric wires were imme- diately switched off for safety reason and the generator car was also disconnected from the rest of the train. The train left for Bhubaneswar at around 3 pm. According to reports, the smoke was detected in the unit of power car that sup- plied power to the coaches. R esponding to the appeal by Nalco CMD Dr Tapan Kumar Chand in the aftermath of the Cyclone Fani, all employees of Nalco have donated one day’s salary to the Chief Minster’s Relief Fund (CMRF). A cheque of 2.53 crore was handed over by top Nalco officials, including Chand, to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the State Secretariat on Saturday. Immediately after the cyclone, the Nalco has been working round the clock for providing relief to the affect- ed people of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri. Seven dedicated teams comprising plumbers, wood cutters, electricians and volunteers have been put to work in different localities. Also, more than 8,000 families have been provided relief packets. Also, several water tankers drawn from the Nalco’s production units at Angul and Damanjodi have been pressed into service at Bhubaneswar for providing water. In another development, Nalco CMD Dr Chand has been appointed as the chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) cyclone management committee. Dr Chand, who is also the chairman of the Aluminium Association of India, has appealed to all corporate bodies to help in the relief and restoration works in the cyclone-hit areas.

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The penultimate round ofthe fast and furious seven-

phase Lok Sabha poll onSunday would witness 59 con-stituencies voting in UttarPradesh, Bihar, MadhyaPradesh, Delhi, Jharkhand,Haryana and West Bengalwith heavyweights likeDigvijaya Singh andJyotiraditya Scindia(Congress), Union MinistersManeka Gandhi, NarendraSingh Tomar and RK Singh(BJP) and former ChiefMinister Akhilesh Yadav (SP)testing their ballot popularity.

Much is at stake for theBJP-led National DemocraticAlliance (NDA) which hadwon 45 of these 59 Lok Sabhaseats in the 2014 elections,pocketing all eight seats fromBihar and winning 13 of 14seats in Uttar Pradesh. Of the59 seats, 14 are in UP, 10 seatsin Haryana, eight each in Bihar,Madhya Pradesh and WestBengal, seven seats in Delhiand four in Jharkhand.

The Trinamool Congress,which is locked in a eyeball-to-eyeball poll confrontationwith the BJP, had lifted all 8seats from Bengal in thisphase in 2014 poll. The TMCtoo will have to put its bestfoot forward in this round toretain its tight grip in theState. The Congress had won

two and the Samajwadi Partyand the LJP one seat each inthis round five years ago.After the sixth round, anoth-er 59 seats would go to pollsin the last phase on May 19.

As things stand, SamPitroda, a close associate ofCongress president RahulGandhi, has given a handle tothe BJP to beat the Congresswith seven seats of Delhi, 13 ofPunjab and one of Chandigarhhaving a sizeable population ofSikhs to go for polls.

Just like Mani Shankar

Aiyar did with his ‘neech’ com-ment before the 2014 polls,Pitroda seems to have stirredthe poll pot this time round infavour of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and the BJPwith his “hua to hua” (so what)comment for the Sikh riots of1984. Modi and the BJP havesince then came down heavi-ly on the Congress by sayingthat these words are the “char-acter and mentality and inten-tions of the Congress”.

Though Pitroda later apol-ogised, the BJP seems to have

made most of the controversialcomments before Punjab,Chandigarh and Delhi votes.

The 6th round goes to thefloor with the eye-catchingcontest between formerMadhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Digvijaya andMalegaon terror accusedPragya in Bhopal which hasbeen a BJP stronghold and wonby it previously. The poll boutbetween the two has also beenseen as a litmus test for BJP’sassertion that Digvijaya wasacting against the interests ofthe majority community andtainting it with a “terror tag”.Digvijaya has matched Sadhvi’ssaffron credibility with his ownby organising a ‘havan’ of ‘sad-hus’ in Bhopal.

Among other poll fights,Akhilesh is contesting fromAzamgarh, the seat won lasttime by his father MulayamSingh Yadav against Bhojpurifilmstar Dinesh Lal Nirhaua.Union Minister ManekaGandhi, who has changed herseat from Piliphit to Sultanpur, is pitted in a goodfight with Congress leaderSanjay Singh and BSP’sChandra Bhadra Singh aliasSonu who is the‘Mahagathbandhan’ candidate.

Other prominent candi-date from UP contesting isState Minister Rita JoshiBahuguna from Prayagraj(Allahabad).

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As many as 164 candidates,including 18 women, are in

the fray for the seven LokSabha seats in Delhi which goesto polls on Sunday. ‘’

It is expected to be three-cornered fight involving theBJP, AAP and the Congress inall the seats.

The Congress is looking tobounce back after ending up atthe third spot in the 2014 elec-

tions while the BJP is trying toretain all the seven seats. TheAAP is contesting the electionon the agenda of full Statehood,hoping to give a tight fight toboth the national parties.

Voting will begin at 7 amon May 12 and it is scheduledto go on till 6 pm.

A total of 13,819 pollingstations will be set up at 2,700locations in Delhi, with onemodel polling station in each ofthe 70 Assembly segments.

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With arrest of three foreignnationals, the Narcotics

Control Bureau (NCB) onSaturday claimed to have madecountry’s highest seizure ofover 1,800-kg pseudoephedrinekept outside a factory in Greater Noida. The estimatedvalue of the seized chemical,along with about 2 kgs of partydrugs cocaine, is around�25 crore.

A senior NCB official saidit stumbled on the narcoticsafter grilling a South Africanwoman arrested on May 9from the IGI Airport.

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The death toll due to the very severe CycloneFani, which hit the State’s coast on May 3,

rose to 43 with two more casualties being con-firmed by the Government on Saturday.According to Special Relief CommissionerBishnupada Sethi, the two more bodies wererecovered at two different places.

Out of the toll, the highest 21 is in Puridistrict, six in Cuttack, five in Khordha, foureach in Mayurbhanj and Jajpur and three inKendrapada district.

According to the SRC, three persons wereinjured and hospitalised in Bhubaneswar, fourgrievously injured in Kendrapada and 74 inJajpur district. A total of 1,65,30,900 peopleof 16,659 villages under 159 blocks and 52urban local bodies spread over 14 districtshave been affected in the cyclonic storm.

The affected districts are Angul,Baleswar, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Dhenkanal,Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Kendrapada,Keonjhar, Khordha, Mayurbhanj, Nayagarh

and Puri.Besides, 5,08,467 houses and 87,39,657

livestock have been affected in the calami-ty. As many as 34,56,362 domestic animalshave died in the storm, said a situation reportreleased by the State Emergency OperationCentre (SEOC).

Clearing of roads and power restorationprocess are in full swing in Bhubaneswar cityand all affected districts. In Puri district, themarine drive, Nimapara-Satsankh road,New Jagannath Sadak, Gop-Balighai Road,Pipili-Konark, Patnaikia-Khordha road andPipili-Jatni road have been cleared. AllPWD roads have been cleared inBhubaneswar and other parts of Khordha dis-trict. The SRC said 100-per cent power sup-ply has been restored in Cuttack city.

SRC Sethi has written to the Khordhadistrict Collector asking him to ensureimplementation of the Chief Minister’spackage to the families who do not have aration card.

He asked the Collector to provide assis-tance to families living in slums under theBhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC)even if they do not own a ration card underthe National Food Security Act and the StateFood Security Scheme.

The decision was taken after several slumdwellers expressed unhappiness over notbeing paid Government assistance eventhough they have suffered a lot due to Fani.

According to the package, the familiesliving under the BMC who do not possess aration card would receive �2,000 as mone-tary assistance, �500 for polythene and 50 kgof rice.

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The hearing over theMahanadi water dispute

between Odisha andChhattisgarh was postponed toJuly 13 by the Mahanadi WaterDisputes Tribunal in NewDelhi on Saturday.

As soon as the proceedingsstarted in the tribunal, bothOdisha and ChhattisgarhGovernments pleaded for aperiod of four weeks becausethe third joint meeting betweenthem couldn’t take place owingto Cyclone Fani hitting Odishaon May 3.

The tribunal accepted thepleas and fixed the next date ofhearing on July 13.

“For the Cyclone Fani,State officials are busy in reliefand rehabilitation works inthe affected districts. Thus,the Government couldn’t holdanother joint meeting andfailed to undertake site visit.Therefore, we pleaded for moretime to conduct site visit, pre-pare a report and submit it tothe tribunal,” informed OdishaAdvocate General Surya PrasadMishra.

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Three jawans of the elite Special Operations Group(SOG) were martyred in a landmine explosion trig-

gered by Maoists in Malkangiri district on Saturday.The incident occurred at the Bogapadar hill under the

Mathili police station when a team of SOG personnel were carrying out acombing operation based on intel-ligence inputs about the presence ofRed rebels in the area.

Sources said that around 30 to40 ultras, who were in a hideout, hadplanted the landmine suspecting asearch operation by security forces.Later, they triggered the landminewhen they spotted the SOG per-sonnel. Following the landmineexplosion, a gun battle also ensuedbetween the jawans and Maoists.

The injured security personnelhad been rushed to the nearby BSF

camp for treatment, but they succumbed to the injuries,the sources added.Later, a joint combing operation by theSOG and the anti-Maoist forces of Chhattisgarh was con-ducted in the area.

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Passengers of the New Delhi-BhubaneswarRajdhani Express were panicked as

smokes emerged in the power car of the trainat the Khantapara railway station here onSaturday afternoon. However, no passengercoaches were affected.

Following the incident, the train halted at the Khantapara station for abouttwo hours. The train service resumedonly after the affected coach was detachedfrom it. An expert team from theKharagpur railway division visited thestation. An official of the East CoastRailway said three fire extinguishingengines reached the spot and doused theflames. Overhead electric wires were imme-diately switched off for safety reason andthe generator car was also disconnectedfrom the rest of the train. The train left forBhubaneswar at around 3 pm.

According to reports, the smoke wasdetected in the unit of power car that sup-plied power to the coaches.

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Responding to the appeal by NalcoCMD Dr Tapan Kumar Chand in

the aftermath of the Cyclone Fani, allemployees of Nalco have donated oneday’s salary to the Chief Minster’sRelief Fund (CMRF).

A cheque of �2.53 crore washanded over by top Nalco officials,including Chand, to Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik at the State Secretariaton Saturday.

Immediately after the cyclone, theNalco has been working round theclock for providing relief to the affect-ed people of Bhubaneswar, Cuttackand Puri.

Seven dedicated teams comprisingplumbers, wood cutters, electriciansand volunteers have been put to workin different localities. Also, more than8,000 families have been providedrelief packets.

Also, several water tankers drawnfrom the Nalco’s production units at

Angul and Damanjodi have beenpressed into service at Bhubaneswarfor providing water.

In another development, NalcoCMD Dr Chand has been appointedas the chairman of the Confederationof Indian Industry’s (CII) cyclonemanagement committee. Dr Chand,who is also the chairman of theAluminium Association of India, hasappealed to all corporate bodies tohelp in the relief and restorationworks in the cyclone-hit areas.

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Student of the Year starringthree newcomers —Varun Dhawan,

Siddharth Malhotra and AliaBhatt — had done well foritself and KJo decided to gofor a sequel. A lot was ridingon SOTY 2 starring TigerShroff with newbies TaraSutaria and Ananya Panday.

The sequel comes withboth good and bad. The good,girls are pretty, clothes chic.Action is awesome. Fans ofTiger Shroff are going to loveall the back flips and jumps.He is quick on his feet too.One should also not forget hispecs and the abs.

Then there are somecliches. A middle class familywhere there is love. A richfamily where the membershave a disconnect. Then thereare friends who get offendedat the drop of a hat andsuddenly all is well.

The bad? There is way toomuch action. We were hopingthat SOTY 2 would besomewhat in the same vein asit’s prequel — more rivalry,less fighting and no bloodynoses.

Director Punit Malhotraspent time in ensuring that weare surrounded with prettythings. While there is nothingwrong with watching a filmthat is pretty it is a bit farremoved from reality. India’seducation system has notevolved so much that sportstakes centrestage. And whichcollege in India do girls wearwhat our lead protagonistswere wearing?

Then like the directors ofGame of Thrones forgot toremove the Starbucks Coffeecup, there are a couple ofmisses here too. Take thisexample. In one scene theyshow a boy with bandage onhis head, the second it ismissing. In the third shot, thebandage is back. So is thebandage on or off?

As for the acting,

unfortunately Shroff is unableto emote. His expressionsremain the same throughout.The girls have nothing toshow for themselves exceptlook pretty. The saddest part isa precisely two-secondappearance by Will Smithwhere he comes to shake a leg.We all know that he is notdesperate for screen presence.Wonder what made him dothis?

If only the director hadrealised that the audience isnow looking for content thathas a story to it as well.

Though a couple ofdialogues warm the heart —Shroff says that his dream is toensure that he is able to fulfillhis girlfriend’s dream. It is atad different take from theusual where it is the girl whohas to follow the man and notthe other way round.

Overall, SOTY 2 hasnothing new to offer butmakes for a good time pass ifyou are a fan of actionsequences.

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For all those people who have notbeen following this hero fromDholakpur who loves to eat

laddoo and gets his powers from thismithai, Chhoto Bheem Kung FuDhamaka is the fourth movie. The firstthree in the order: Chhota Bheem andthe Curse of Damyaan (2012), ChhotaBheem and the Throne of Bali (2013)and Chhota Bheem: HimalayanAdventure (2016). Such is the fanfollowing for Bheem by toddlers andover the years, over 25 movies thatwere made just for TV.

What makes these movie fun towatch besides the adventure that thefriends go on, there is fun, frolic andlaughter. The antics by Kalia andDholu and Bholu, his two minions willcrack up adults as well.

In Kung Fu Dhamaka, the friendsfind themselves in China and go on amission to save Princess Kia. It is goodto see Kalia fully clothed instead of theusual langot that he otherwise favours.

The quality of the animation hassomewhat improved even though wehave a long way to go before we can becompare ourselves with Hollywoodreleases. But it is good to see that aneffort has been put.

The summer holidays are roundthe corner and it is time to treat yourtoddlers to this latest adventure thatBheem and his friends go on.

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��� �!)���������������While some are coffee drinkers, some just believe that perfect

cup of tea is all that they need to kick start their day. Onesuch tea connoisseur is Kundali Bhagya’s much-loved villanero,actor Sanjay Gagnani who essays the character of PrithviMalhotra. Gagnani loves experimenting with different kinds ofteas and doesn’t refrain from stepping into the kitchen to makehis favorite chai.

Recently, during the evening snack break, the case of KundaliBhagya was in for a sweet surprise. Sanjay decided to treateveryone with his style of tea — hot and kadak.

Gagnani said: “I need a cup of perfectly blended tea to startmy day. I prefer kadak-chai with a dash of some chai-masala,elaichi and ginger. People on the sets are also aware of myobsession with tea and hence I decided to give them a surpriseby making it for my co-actors and a few people from the unitas well. They enjoyed it and were really happy with the gesture.Moreover, I am looking forward to making something moreinteresting for them soon.”

+��������������When more than 12 hours of one’s time is spent shooting,

co-stars often become extended family. The better thebonding the better is the chemistry on screen, this was recentlyproved by Vikkas Manaktala who plays Gangadhar andAnushka Sen who plays Manikarnika in Colors’ Khoob LadiMardaani Jhansi Ki Rani.

Recently the wedding of Manikarnika and Gangadhar wasa grand affair due to which Vikkas Manaktala was not able tospend time with his wife as he was shooting continuously fordays without a break. As a surprise for her husband and to catchup on some quality time, his real wife Gunjan Walia made aspecial visit to meet him on the sets. Vikkas Manakatala wascompletely unaware of her plans. Gunjan, who is good friendswith Vikkas’ on-screen wife Anushka Sen aka Manikarnika wasthe only one who was looped in and was part of making itsuccessful.

Gunjan also had a sweet surprise for the whole crew who’vebeen shooting tirelessly. She brought home cooked food for thecast and crew who were thrilled with their treats. The two ladies,Gunjan and Anushka, specifically were seen enjoying each other’scompany and bonding over the man of the hour — Vikkas.

When asked, Vikkas Manakatala excitedly stated: “My wife,Gunjan and Anushka share a very good bond. It was really nicethat Gunjan planned this entire surprise visit keeping Anushkain loop so she can handle the situation on set. Due to my busyschedule, I get very limited time to spend time with my wifeand I’m extremely thankful to her for understanding what myjob demands. This surprise was extremely special and I'm ontop of the world to have such a loving wife in reality.”

�Tell us about your character in Cityof Dreams?

I play Wasim Khan, a policeofficer. He has had a glorious past. Herealises that at some point of time aGovernment servant becomeliabilities. His journey will be shownin the series. People will get to see whathe does to get back into the game andwhat City of Dreamsmakes him into.The storyline isexciting and setin Mumbaiagainst thebackdrop ofIndian politicsand election. Itwas great

working with the team of ApplauseEntertainment. �How have you evolved as an artist?

I was a professional dancer before.But somehow ended up acting.Thoughout my journey, the mostimportant thing that I have learnt is toreact and not act. In City of Dreams,I have done method acting and havetried to be in the shoes of the character.Nagesh sir (Kukunoor) has alwaystaught me not to act, but be as real aspossible and that is what I try to do inall my projects. �You have worked for TV, films andnow web. Where do you find yourselfmost comfortable working in?

Platform doesn’t matter much,but the kind of work you are doing and

the characters that you are playingmakes a difference. While I wasdoing TV, I find myself tied up.It is more hectic. In films, thereis more luxury but lot of hardwork. The most challenging forme is working on a digitalplatform. Here we have toshoot for a longer time. Wehave to keep a track of thewhole character because theinter-dyanamics of everycharacter changes in everyepisode and it becomesscary. �What kind of roles attractyou?

The grey characters. Idon’t know the reasonbehind this. I have realisedthat the world is not only fullof good people, there are badones too. It is good to be theway you like to be. A lot of

people have taught me that youare a villian in somebody’s story.So grey characters add a sense ofrealism in the story. You can’t

whitewash all the characters with thesame brush — good.�What is there in your check listwhen it comes to signing projects?

First, the script should be goodand compelling enough. Second, I lookwho the director is. He is the captainof the ship. The whole mood of a filmor series is triggered by the director.It is important for me to get along withthe director and understand himmore than my family. Because I haveto portray a life and it is important tobe as real and as true as possible, so Ineed to understand the director well. �Was there a moment when youthought of quitting?

Not at all. I am the kind of personif someone pushes me away, I’llcome right back at him.�Was it hard for you to make a placein the industry?

The hard part for me wasconnecting with myself. I am stilltrying to do that. It is now that I haverealised that how important self-loveis. It has been very difficult for me tobe comfortable with myself and fightall the fears of being in the industry.But now, I have been doing it and Ibelieve it will reflect in my acting skillsalso. �Apart from acting, what else keepsyou busy?

I try not be busy. We have beengiving a lot of importance to beingbusy all the time. But sometimes, youneed not to do anything. As an actor,we need to experience everything. Butmy daily routine is to water my plantand take care of my 14 dogs.�What is there in the pipeline?

Right now I am only doing City ofDreams but I believe my pipe shouldbe full after this project. I believe allmy dreams will come true after doingthis web series.

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Arecent comment from DipakMisra, former Chief Justice ofIndia, during a Press confer-ence shows how regressiveIndians are when it comes to

women. Misra said that marital rapeshould not be criminalised in India and itis an idea borrowed from other nations. “Idon’t think that marital rape should beregarded as an offence in India, becauseit will create absolute anarchy in familiesand our country is sustaining itself becauseof the family platform which upholds fam-ily values,” he said.

However, this is not the first time thatsuch a comment has been made. SirMathew Hale, Lord Chief Justice ofEngland in his History of the Pleas of theCrown (1736) has said: “But the husbandcannot be guilty of a rape committed byhimself upon his lawful wife, for, by theirmutual matrimonial consent and contract,the wife hath given up herself in this kindunto her husband which she cannotretract.”

Sadly, nothing much has changedsince the repressive 17th century England.In 2014, a court in Delhi, recently, acquit-ted a man of raping his wife. It ruled thatsince the victim was married to the rapist,the attack could not be considered rape.In fact, it said that the act was not evenrape. The victim had said that her attack-er had drugged and married her in 2013and then forced himself on her. The rapist(her husband) denied the charges. JusticeVirender Bhat stated: “The parties beinghusband and wife, the sexual intercoursebetween the two does not come within theambit of the offence of rape, even if thesame was against the will and consent ofthe victim.”

This judgment reiterates that once awoman is married she doesn’t have theright to refuse sex with her husband whichis in direct contravention of the principlesof human rights. In other words, once mar-ried, the husband gets legal sanction tohave sex with her — consensual or forced.

The National Database on SexualOffenders contains 4,44,000 entries of rapecases that have been reported till 2018. But,there are no clear statistics that indicatehow many marital rape cases have beenfiled or reported till now. The fact in itselfis enough to show that how marital rapeis ignored in our country.

Ajita Sharma, Advocate and practic-ing lawyer at the Supreme Court says it isdiscouraging to hear something like thisfrom a prominent person from the judi-ciary. “It is discouraging to hear this com-ment from the former CJI. He shouldn’thave said it especially because he is knownto be a pro-women judge, though hisjudgements are not well articulated but theperception is that he is pro-women judge.He has given the judgement on adulteryand Sabrimala, so something more wasexpected from him,” she tells you.

Sharma says that most women don’teven realise that marital rape is a violationof their bodies. “Most women don’t seemarital rape is wrong. They don’t realise

that it is violation of their bodies. Theydon’t consider it equivalent to rape. Theydon’t see it as a crime. But when somewomen do realise that this is wrong theygo to a hospital for treatment of injuries,if any. But still they will hide the fact andwould not easily speak up about. They treattheir physical injuries but completelyignore the mental injuries which maritalrape has caused to them. Studies haveshown that women who have faced mar-ital rape, don't open up easily. It is onlyafter sustained injuries and years of abusewhen they finally speak up,” she says.

She recalls a case when a wife ofprominent and powerful person spoke upabout marital rape. “I have dealt with a casewhen a wife revealed that she has been avictim of marital rape and his husband hada lot of contacts with some prominent peo-ple from the judiciary, he was a powerfulperson. When she went on to register anFIR, the police did file an FIR but then saidthat she did not have a case at all. Therewere enough evidences of the marital rapein the medical report but the police washostile towards her case. So, even whenwomen register cases against their hus-bands, the influence of the family whichshe belongs to does affect the case,” she tellsyou.

In such cases women are so trauma-tised that they just want to leave theirhomes. We live in a society where it isbelieved that ghar me sab sulajh jayega butthis is not the case. It is only when thesewomen have spoken to a number of peo-ple in the family and have tried every rem-edy at home that they want to move outand seek help. They are so much trauma-tised by that time that they want to leavetheir homes, but they can’t. These womengo through psychological problems includ-ing stress. They tend to lose concentrationin the daily household chores which againresult in addition scolding by their fami-ly members. They are the primary care-takers of the house so if they are not in theright mental state then their children willalso get affected by this. So, it is a mix ofboth physical and mental trauma that thesewomen go through.

It is difficult to prove such casesbecause of the mentality of the people.First, it comes as a challenge to prove thatis was rape and not consensual sex, in caseof married couples. Second, is the attitudeof the hospital staff in such cases. Three,the attitude of the society is that if you aremarried you automatically give consent toeverything. Finally, the police is also notwell-equipped when it comes to handlingmarital rape cases. Since, it is not crimi-nalised in IPC and it comes as an excep-tion, everyone asks you to settle the mat-ter internally. The police is hostile towardssuch cases and they show a stereotypicalbehaviour where they ask you to go andcompromise.

Sharma opines that is should be cov-ered under the IPC section and it shouldnot be considered as an exceptional clausein Section 375 of the IPC which states that“sexual intercourse by a man with his wife,

the wife not being under 15 years of age,is not rape”. “Marital rape should be seenas a violation of the body. The exceptionclause should be deleted and it should beconsidered as rape. Fines can be imposedon the accused as a possible remedy to pre-vent such crimes,” she says.

Marital rape survivors need propercounselling in order to get out from thetrauma. “They need counselling from pro-fessional psychologists who can establisha sense of trust and make these womenspeak up. Women Rights commission canalso help in such cases. Medical profes-sionals should be trained enough that theycan help out these women. It is not thatthey only need psychological help. Theyare economically dependent on their hus-bands so they need financial help too,” shetells you.

Kavita Krishnan, Secretary, All IndiaProgressive Women’s Association alsofeels that it is difficult for marital rape vic-tims to come across and speak up abouttheir miseries.

“It is very difficult for women to speakup. They hesitate in filing complaints andreaching out to the police in such cases.The first and foremost thing that thewomen do is to try and change their hus-band's behaviour and persuade them tobehave in a better way. So speaking upagainst this evil is the last thing they do.Since marital rape is not criminalised,women are discouraged to even talkabout it. The whole social norm is thatsince he is your husband, he has a rightover you and your body and you’re notsupposed to speak up against it,” she says.

Creating public awareness about theissue is the key to tackle it. “We as a soci-ety should step up and create awarenessabout the issue that it does exist. NationalFamily Health Survey data shows how sucha large number of men and women whobelieve that domestic violence is notwrong. In this scenario, this mentality ofthe people has to be changed and it is thebiggest challenge. Changing the law ofmarital rape is just a smaller part, the big-ger change needs to come from the soci-ety,” she tells you and adds that propercounselling services for the survivors ofdomestic violence should be embedded inthe society, where these women can go andseek help and counselling from.

In India, a woman is seen as a sex sym-bol who is available all the time for theman. After marriage, the man gets a stampof approval to have sex with his wife when-ever he wants, irrespective of the wife’swish. This is because our society is suchwhere the women have no say, no indi-viduality, especially once they get married.A woman in such a situation is notexpected to say no. to sex. The problemsget compounded in situations where thefamily forces a lesbian to get married; it iseven more difficult for such a woman tocome to terms with having sex with herhusband.

Take a case in point. A 21-year-old wasmarried off to a 35-year-old. husbandwould tear her clothes and force himselfupon her. If she refused, forced sex wouldbe followed by violent thrashings. It wasnot that this girl refused to have sex withhim all the time. But there were timeswhen she did not want to. The husbandcould not understand how his wife couldrefuse him his conjugal rights.

While the 21-year-old may have got areprieve another homemaker in Delhidoesn’t have it so easy. It has been years ofphysical abuse — mainly forced sex. Shediscovered early in her marriage that herhusband was an extremely suspiciousman. He would call up from work on thehome landline to check whether she wasat home. When they would go out for par-ties and she would speak to a man, thehusband would get violently angry. Slowly,he started beating her up whenever he sawher talking to a man, even the colony’ssecurity guard. And then he would wantto have sex. Having sex with a man whohad just beaten her up repulsed her. Shegot no help from her parents who blamedher. Going to a counselor is not an option.Her husband would only beat her more.She lives for her son.

Pooja Sareen, Advocate, Litigator andspeaker says that marital rape should bea punishable offence.

“The former CJI made such a state-ment because he knows that the whole sce-nario had undergone a complete changetoday. There is one strata of the society,which is lower middle class — the domi-nated oppressed, downtrodden andexploited class, where the females are notgiven their basic right of education and the

right to even choose their clothes. They areyet in chains and under the ageold shack-les of conventions and traditions, whererape is a taboo and females should notspeak about it. This is where the preven-tive measures should be implemented.Then there is another strata of the society,where the females are in power. Theybelong to the elite class, they want todivorce their husbands just for the sake ofbig alimony, they fabricate the in-laws forthe small reasons. That is why you see thereare so many modifications in the existinglaws. Justice should be given to the right-eous, be it man or woman. Marital rape,is a rape is and it should be punishable. Butif fabricated, the culprit should also bepenalised, considering the stakes and thegrounds,” she tells you.

In the last few years many things havechanged when it comes to the rights ofwomen. “Since last few years, there havebeen many amendments made in the exist-ing laws — live-in relationships havebeen legalised, and moreover the childborn out of the relationship is entitled tohave all the legit rights. Article 377 isdecriminalised, liberating the same sex, tolive and love by their free will, the trans-gender bill got passed, allowing andenabling a social space and right to vari-ous opportunities for them. Change hasbeen driven at a grass root level. Femaleshave been given more rights, liberty to livethe way they want. The Policy forPrevention of Sexual Harassment Act of2013 has been made more stringentlyeffective in all workplaces, securing andsafeguarding women’s right to work in asafe environment. Judiciary has alwaysgiven more importance to women rightsand their empowerment,” she tells you andadds that fabricated cases of marital rapeor others, also exist.

“Yes, fabricated cases do exist, reasonscould be many — avenging the revenge,is the most common, else than that per-sonal animosity, settling the scores, psy-chic disorders are a few others,” Sareensays.

She opines that the judiciary is doingtheir part, it’s time for the people to broad-en their thoughts and be able to find outwho is the real culprit.

“Judiciary is doing it’s bit, we need tobroaden our horizon. Women are not rightand just every time, sometimes it can bevice-versa. There can be malicious com-plaints against the men as well. We shouldempower the weak women and alsoensure that the equilibrium is main-tained, so that no one is exploited. A malealso has equal right to seek justice just likethe females,” she tells you.

Today, over 104 countries across theworld, some being New Zealand, Canada,Israel, France, Sweden, Denmark, Norway,Russia and Poland, have criminalisedmarital rape. It is also an offence in manyStates in the US and Australia. India, ofcourse, is not among these nations.

Till marital rape becomes a criminaloffence in the country, men will continueto literally get away with rape.

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After students, now CRPFjawans are getting addict-

ed to the online gaming appPUBG (PlayerUnknown'sBattlegrounds), which is posinga threat to their operationalperformance and aggressionbesides leading to attitudinalissues.

The addiction to PUBG isalso minimising the interactionbetween the jawans and lead-ing to less camaraderie andbonding, sources said. TheCRPF's Bihar unit has direct-ed all DIGs and company com-manders to ensure that thegaming app is deleted from allphones and conduct randomchecks on all such phones atregular intervals, they pointedout.

PUBG has become a rag-ing point of discussion in Indiawith cases of mental harm tokids or teenagers being report-ed due to the online gamingaddiction.

In January this year, theGujarat Government hadissued a new circular statingthat district authorities shouldnow ensure that there shouldbe a ban on students for play-ing PUBG in schools. The

notice said that the PUBG banwas necessary as children arenow getting addicted to theonline multiplayer battle royalewhich was "adversely affectingtheir studies".

Senior CRPF officers said,"Addiction to online gaminghas impacted the operationalcapabilities of jawans. Many ofthem have withdrawn them-selves from socialising withtheir fellow jawans. Besides, ithas also led to sleep deprivationowing to less physical activityin the wake of addictive hook-ing up to the game."

An order issued by theCRPF's Bihar unit on May 6,said that CRPF troops, youngpersonnel, are addicted to thePUBG app. It's affecting theirops performance and posingaggressive and attitudinalissues, it outlined.

Lesser interaction with col-leagues is affecting bondingand comradeship between theforce's personnel, it said.

"All Deputy InspectorsGeneral to ensure and instructall unit/company personnelunder your command to get itdeleted/deactivated from theirmobile phones. All companycommanders will ensure thatthis app is deleted in all phonesand random check of phonesshould be done," added the cir-cular sent to all the formationsof Central Reserve Police Forceand Combat Battalion forResolute Action (CoBRA).

CRPF is the lead Centralparamilitary force for counter-insurgency, anti-terrorist andanti-Naxal force deployed in amajor way in Jammu andKsshmir, Naxalism-hit Statesand the Northeast.

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In a significant step to mod-ernise the helicopter fleet, the

first Apache attack helicoptermanufactured by US aerospacemajor Boeing was handed overto the IAF on Friday. India hadinked a nearly 1.5 billion dol-lar deal for 22 Apaches in 2015to enhance its capabilities todestroy enemy tanks, armouredpersonnel carriers and fortifiedenemy positions. At present,the IAF has Russian originMI-35 helicopters.

The first of the 22 Apachehelicopters was formally hand-ed over to the IAF at Boeingproduction facility in Mesa,Arizona, the US on May10,officials said here onSaturday adding the helicopterhas been customised to suitIAF's future requirements andwould have significant capa-bility in mountainous terrain,they said.

The AH-64E Apache is aleading multi-role attack heli-copter and is flown by the USArmy. It is an advanced all-weather attack helicopter thatcan engage both air and groundtargets with relative stealthusing low-altitude obstacleslike trees and hills as cover. AirMarshal AS Butola represent-ed the IAF and accepted thefirst Apache in a ceremony.Representatives from the US

government were also present,the IAFsaid.

The IAF signed the con-tract in September 2015 for 22Apache helicopters and thefirst batch of these helicoptersis scheduled to be shipped toIndia by July this year."Selected aircrew and groundcrew have undergone trainingat the training facilities at USArmy base Fort Rucker,Alabama. These personnel willlead the operationalisation ofthe Apache fleet in the IAF," theIAF said in a statement.

The helicopter has thecapability to carry out precision

attacks at standoff ranges andoperate in hostile airspace withthreats from ground. Moreover,the ability of these helicopters,to transmit and receive the bat-tlefield picture, to and from theweapon systems through datanetworking makes it a lethalacquisition. "These attack heli-copters will provide significantedge in any future joint oper-ations in support of landforces," the IAF added.

Since the attack helicoptersprovide cover to its own armytanks and infantry during bat-tle by taking out enemy tanksand artillery guns, the defence

ministry in 2017 approved theprocurement of six Apachehelicopters along with weaponssystems from Boeing at a costof �4,168 crore for the Army.This will be its first fleet ofattack helicopters exclusivelyoperated by the Army.Fuselages for this Army orderwill be produced by TataBoeing Aerospace Limited, ajoint venture between Boeingand Tata Advanced Systems inHyderabad.

India has already boughtthe Chinook transport heli-copter, made by Boeing, fromthe US. The Chinook is a

multi-role, vertical-lift plat-form, which is used for trans-porting troops, artillery, equip-ment and fuel. The IAF hadinked a deal for 15 Chinooks.

These top of the line induc-tions follow similar efforts bythe Government to sustain themomentum of modernisationand inaugurating a joint ven-ture in Amethi, Uttar Pradeshin March for manufacturing7,50,000 AK-203 rifles. It is anadvanced version of the icon-ic AK-47 and OrdnanceFactory Board in collaborationwith Russia will manufacturethe rifles in India. The overallproject cost is more than �7,000crores as the factory will latermanufacture these rifles for thepara-military forces and statepolice after meeting the armedforces requirements.

Similarly, a deal worth over�700 crores was inked earlierthis year for buying 72,4000 SigSauer rifles for meeting imme-diate operational needs of thearmy. The rifles will start com-ing in within a year after thecontract was signed in February.These rifles made by a UScompany will enhance the fight-ing capabilities of infantry sol-diers deployed on the Line OfControl(LOC), Line of ActualControl(LAC) and engaged incounter insurgency operationsin Jammu & Kashmir and theNorth-East.

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The BJP on Saturdayaccused the author of the

Time magazine article thatcalled Prime MinisterNarendra Modi "divider inchief " of pursuing Pakistan'sagenda and termed it anattempt to malign Modi'simage.

BJP spokesperson SambitPatra told a press conferencethat article's author was aPakistani and that nothingbetter can be expected fromPakistan. He also took a swipeat Congress president RahulGandhi for retwitting thestory.

The piece, a sharp criticismof Modi's leadership, has beenwritten by Aatish Taseer, son ofIndian journalist Tavleen Singhand late Pakistani politicianand businessman SalmaanTaseer.

Patra said several foreignmagazines had written storiescritical of Modi in 2014 as well.

Calling the Prime Ministera unifier, the BJP spokespersonlisted a number of welfaremeasures started by the Modigovernment to claim that thecountry was heading towardsa new India under his "reform-ing, performing and trans-forming" agenda.

Patra also slammedCongress leader Navjot SinghSidhu for his barbs at Modi,accusing Sidhu of making

racist and sexist remarks.Taking a swipe at Sidhu,

Patra said he keeps making allsort of loose statements but hasnot spoken a word againstCongress leader Sam Pitroda's"so what" remarks on 1984anti-Sikh riots.

Pitroda, a close aide ofGandhi and OverseasCongress' head, on Thursdaysaid, 'hua to hua' (So what, ithappened) about the anti-Sikhriots. He made this remark inresponse to a question on theriots by a newsman inDharamshala in HimachalPradesh.

Patra claimed Sidhu was

targetting Modi at the behestof Madhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Kamal Nath who, healleged was also involved in theriots.

Sidhu at a poll rally hadasked people to defeat "kaleangrez", in an apparent attemptto liken the Modi Governmentto the British rule before inde-pendence.

The Congress leader hadalso claimed that Modi was likea bride who makes noise fromher bangles to give an impres-sion that she was workinghard but did not really work.

Patra said these remarksshowed the Congress' mindset.

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In fresh trouble for Congressleader Navjot Singh Sidhu,

the Election Commission hasagain issued a showcausenotice to him for prima facieviolating the Model Code ofConduct by allegedly makingdisparaging remarks againstPrime Minister NarendraModi.

He was given a day to replyto the notice that was issuedFriday by the commission.

The poll panel hadreceived a complaint from theBJP that Sidhu, during a rallyin Madhya Pradesh on April

29, had made disparagingcomments about Modi.

He had reportedly accusedthe Prime Minister of "makingmoney in the Rafale jet deal"and also "allowing" the rich toescape the country after "rob-bing" nationalised banks.

The poll panel had in Aprilcensured Sidhu for allegedlywarning the Muslim commu-nity that efforts were on todivide their votes in Bihar andit barred him from campaign-ing for 72 hours.

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Union Finance Minister ArunJaitley on Saturday termed

as “absolutely incorrect” reportsof differences between AttorneyGeneral KK Venugopal and theGovernment over the sexualharassment case against theChief Justice of India.

“The motivated news itemof differences between theAttorney General and theGovernment is absolutely incor-

rect. As one of the senior mostmembers of the Bar, he(Venugopal) certainly has hisviews on some issues. TheGovernment respects him forthe objectivity of his advice,”Jaitley said in a tweet.

Venugopal had written to allthe Supreme Court judges to setup a committee of three retiredjudges of the apex court to lookinto allegations of sexualharassment made against CJIRanjan Gogoi by a dismissed

woman employee of the court.The matter, however, was

scrutinised by a panel of threesitting judges of the SupremeCourt.

Venugopal said he had writ-ten the letter on April 22, beforethe three-member in-housecommittee headed by Justice SA Bobde was set up to hold aninquiry into the allegations.

The three-judge panel hasgiven CJI Gogoi a clean chit inthe matter.

Clarifying on a news report,Venugopal Friday said: "I admitthat I had written a letter beforethe appointment of an in-houseinquiry committee seekingappointment of three retiredjudges of the Supreme Court."

The law officer also said hewrote a second letter clarifyinghis position that the earlier onewas written in his personalcapacity as a senior bar memberhaving an experience of 65years.

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Acting tough for seekingcomplementary passes

for IPL matches from theDelhi District CricketAssociation (DDCA), theGovernment has curtailedthe Central deputation ofsenior bureaucrat GopalKrishan Gupta and hasrepatriated him back to hiscadre — the Railway Ministry.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC),headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved pre-mature repatriation of Gupta with immediate effect, an orderissued by the personnel ministry said without mentioningany reason.

Gupta, a 1987 batch officer of the Indian Railway Serviceof Mechanical Engineers (IRSME), is posted as the JointSecretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

He had in March sought complementary passes of an IPLmatch from DDCA president Rajat Sharma's office, accord-ing to an official communique.

After not getting the desired response from the DDCA,Gupta wrote a letter to Sharma on April 3, giving the sequenceof events. Gupta mentioned telephonic discussion betweenSharma's executive assistant Sapna Soni and his personal staff.

"I do not know whether this episode and the sequenceof events as narrated above has been brought to your noticeand whether your executive assistant had informed you aboutmy call and my request for arrangement of passes," Guptasaid in a letter to Sharma.

"May I request that your office staff may show courtesyin such matters and give timely feedback even if the responseis not affirmative. I think, we must have mutual respect forthe positions being held by us," his letter reads.

The ACC's decision on curtailing Gupta's tenure is saidto have been taken after the copy of this letter was sharedon a public platform.

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Wednesday's cold bloodedmurder of Tilakavati, a

19-year-old college student ina village near Virudachalam inCuddalore district, substanti-ates the fear among social sci-entists and psychologists thatthere is something abnormalwith the youth in the State.Tilakavati, ailing from a poorfamily was a graduate studentand wanted to take up a civilservice job to help her father,a tea vendor who was strug-gling to meet both the end oflife.

Dr S Tamadoss, founder ofthe PMK asked the State andCentral Governments toaddress the grey areas in thelaw concerning safety of girlsand women in the State. "Thisis not an isolated incident andTamil Nadu has been witness-ing such murders over the lastso many years. There is a def-inite pattern in all these mur-ders which is dangerous to allwomenfolk in the State," saidDr Ramdoss.

Tilakavati was murderedby Akash, a school drop out ofthe same age, for rebuffing hisadvances towards her. Both ofthem were class mates in schoolbefore Akash dropped out ofstudies and started movingwith his friends for a carefreelife. When the boy sounded

about his love for her,Tilakavati told him that her toppriority was to complete herstudies in order to find out ajob to minimise the hardship ofher parents, according to one ofher close relations.

When Akash continuedwith his pleas and requests , sheblocked his number from hermobile phone which seems tohave infuriated the boy. Thisled him to her house wherethere was a verbal altercationbetween the two and this cul-minated in Akash stabbingTilakavati many times leadingto her death.

Though he made a quickretreat from the scene, policenabbed him and has beenremanded to judicial custody."This is a strange phenomenonin Tamil Nadu and the numberof such murders have increasedover the years. The boys fail tounderstand the reality that thegirls have a right to tell no totheir advances and this leading

to murders. The last threeyears have seen many suchgirls falling prey to the evildesigns of the boys," said ChitraRaghulan, a Chennai basedactivist .

What has upset the resi-dents of the village was the apa-thy of political leaders andsocial activists towards theincident. G K Mani, presidentPMK, the political outfit ofVanniyar community to whichthe girl belonged was the onlypolitician to visit her house andconsoled her parents. The vil-lagers staged a road block onFriday demanding a compen-sation of Rs one crore to thefamily of Tilakavathy

K Balu, PMK spokesman,called for an investigation intothe murder which he saidwould reveal a major conspir-acy. "The youth have beendeployed by certain politicalparties to forcibly marry girlsfrom some particular castes asa strategy to abolish the castesystem. While we are notagainst love marriage or intercaste marriage , what we areopposing is the targeting of cer-tain communities by theseyouth," said Balu. TheVanniyars, a dominat com-munity in northern TamilNadu is upset over the murderas they feel let down and alien-ated by the indifference ofmajor political outfits in con-demning the murder.

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Jammu: Several leaders of theJammu & Kashmir CongressSaturday staged a protest here againstPrime Minister Narendra Modi andGovernor Satya Pal Malik for theirremarks on former Prime MinisterRajiv Gandhi.

"We have assembled here toexpress our anger over the insult tothe former Prime Minister who laiddown his life for the country 28 years ago. It is most unfortunate thatthe State Governor has joined the vilification campaign of BJP and Modi,"J&K Congress chief spokesperson Ravinder Sharma told reporters.

On Thursday, the Governor had said in Srinagar that Rajiv Gandhiwas not initially corrupt but, under the influence of some people, hegot involved in the Bofors corruption case.

During a rally in Uttar Pradesh on May 4, Modi had targetedCongress chief Rahul Gandhi, saying, "Your father (Rajiv Gandhi) wastermed Mr Clean by his courtiers, but his life ended as 'bhrashtachari'no 1 (corrupt number 1).

Besides, Modi on Wednesday accused the Gandhi family of usingwarship INS Viraat as its "personal taxi" when Rajiv Gandhi was theprime minister.

"Over the years, the BJP left no stone unturned to implicate him(Rajiv Gandhi) but nothing could be proved against him and he cameout clean in the judicial process. But the BJP continued its vilificationcampaign against him and entire Gandhi family, till date which is abuseof judicial process and insult to the martyr, who got assassinated dueto lack of foolproof security by then BJP supported Government at theCentre," Sharma alleged.

Criticising Malik for his remarks, state unit senior vice presidentRaman Bhalla said, "He made the statement to please his bosses in Delhi.It is better if he resigns from the constitutional post and work as aspokesperson of the BJP," he said.

Sharma accused Modi and BJP president Amit Shah of bringing the election campaigning to the lowest level by using abusivelanguage and hurling expletives on the opposition leaders, includingformer prime ministers.

The agitated Congress leaders protested outside the party head-quarters at Shaheedi Chowk and raised anti-BJP slogans. PTI

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Bengal has been warned of apossible Fiadayeen attack in

the election season. Accordingto sources, the CentralIntelligence Bureau has warnedof such an attack in a temple onthe Buddha Purnima.

The attack could be carriedout either by the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh orIslamic State (ISIS) either inBengal or Bangladesh, com-muniqué from the IB says. Afortnight ago, a message wasreleased by the pro-ISIStelegram channels, warning ofan attack in West Bengal orBangladesh, sources said

The State IB has beefed upsecurity with Naka checkinggoing on in "likely locations,"police sources said. JMB hadset up a strong base in this sideof the border with one suchmodule getting busted inOctober 2014 following a blastat Khagragarh in Burdwan dis-trict.

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New Delhi: Actor and singerArun Bakshi joined the BJP hereon Saturday in the presence offormer Chhattisgarh ChiefMinister Raman Singh.

Bakshi has acted and sungin several films and tele-serials,including 'Mahabharat'.

He said he has always sup-ported the BJP's ideology andexpressed his admiration forPrime Minister Narendra Modi,saying he has been serving thenation diligently with hard workand honesty.

Bakshi said there was noone like Modi and the countryhad seen such a leader after AtalBihari Vajpayee in 1990s. Singhsaid many actors and artistes ingeneral have been voicing theirsupport for the BJP. PTI

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Three heavily-armed terror-ists on Saturday stormed a

luxury hotel in Pakistan's portcity of Gwadar in the restiveBalochistan province, leadingto a fierce gunbattle in whichfour persons including theattackers were killed, policesaid.

The armed men enteredthe upscale Pearl Continental(PC) Hotel and opened ran-dom firing, a senior policeofficial said.

They shot dead a guard atthe entrance, the army's mediawing Inter-Services PublicRelations (ISPR) said.

A shootout between themilitants and the security forcesbroke out at the hotel as theanti-terrorism force, the Armyand the Frontier Corps were

called in, Gwadar StationHouse Officer (SHO) AslamBangulzai said.

Balochistan HomeMinister Ziaullah Langov saidthat all the three attackers werekilled by the security forces.

He said that some of theguests in the hotel were alsoinjured but their number wasnot immediately known.

The outlawed BalochistanLiberation Army (BLA)claimed responsibility of theattack which it said was carriedout by the militants linkedwith its Majeed Brigade group.

Locals said several gun-shots were heard after the ter-rorists entered the luxury hotel.

Gwadar port is one of thefocal points of the USD 50 bil-lion China-Pakistan EconomicCorridor (CPEC) with manyChinese workers from other

provinces of Pakistan workingat the port.

The hotel, frequented bybusiness as well as leisure trav-ellers, is located on the Koh-e-Batil hill, south of West Bay onFish Harbour road in Gwadar.

All foreign and local guestsstaying at the hotel had beensafely evacuated, ExpressTribune quoted BalochistanInformation Minister ZahoorBuledi as saying.

“At around 4:50 pm (localtime) we got reports that thereare two to there armed men inPC Hotel,” SHO Bangulzai said.

“Two to three gunmen hadfirst fired at and then enteredthe hotel,” Inspector General ofPolice (IGP) Mohsin HassanButt said.

“A clearance operation wasgoing on,” a spokesman of theArmy said.

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Amid escalating tensionswith Iran, the Pentagon has

announced that it is deployinga warship and a Patriot airdefence missile system in theMiddle East to deter the threatsof possible operations againstUS forces in the region byTehran.

The USS Arlington, whichtransports amphibious vehiclesand aircraft, and the Patriot airdefence system will join theUSS Abraham Lincoln CarrierStrike Group and a B-52bomber task force in theMiddle East region in responseto “indications of heightenedIranian readiness to conductoffensive operations againstUS forces and our interests,” thePentagon said on Friday.

The approval to deployadditional military asset againstIran has been done at therequest of US CentralCommand, it said, adding thatthe Pentagon continues to

closely monitor the activities ofthe Iranian regime, their mili-tary and proxies.

The Pentagon said the USdid not seek conflict with Iran,but that Washington was “readyto defend US forces and inter-ests in the region”.

“The Department ofDefense continues to closelymonitor the activities of theIranian regime,” it said in astatement.

“Due to operational secu-rity, we will not discuss time-lines or location of forces,” thePentagon said.

USS Arlington is a San

Antonio-class ship that trans-ports US marines, amphibiousvehicles, conventional landingcraft and rotary aircraft withthe capability to supportamphibious assault, specialoperations or expeditionarywarfare missions.

It also provides a high-quality command and controlcapability and improved inter-operability with our allies andpartners in the region. APatriot battery is a long-range,all-weather air defense systemto counter tactical ballisticmissiles, cruise missiles andadvanced aircraft.

Senator Jim Inhofe, chair-man of the Senate ArmedServices Committee, welcomedthe move. “By proactively mov-ing the USS Arlington and aPatriot system to the region tojoin the USS Abraham Lincoln,the United States is sendingIran a clear message: standdown or we will stand up,” hesaid.

US President Donald

Trump last year unilaterallywithdrew from a landmarknuclear deal America and othernations had agreed with Iran in2015. Under the accord, Iranhad agreed to limit its sensitivenuclear activities and allow ininternational inspectors inreturn for sanctions relief.

White House last monthsaid it would end exemptionsfrom sanctions for five coun-tries — China, India, Japan,South Korea and Turkey — thatwere still buying Iranian oil.

The US also blacklistedIran’s elite Revolutionary GuardCorps, designating it as a for-eign terrorist group.

Iran on Wednesday threat-ened to enrich its uraniumstockpile closer to weapons-grade levels if Europe, Chinaand Russia fail to deliver sanc-tions relief within 60 days.

Early this week, US CentralCommand CommanderGeneral Kenneth McKenziealleged that Iranian regimedirectly engages in far reaching

terrorist activities. “We know that the Iranian

regime knows what our mili-tary capabilities are and wehave a healthy respect for them.And that’s good. And whilethey have avoided direct mili-tary conflict with the UnitedStates and our partners theyhave demonstrated the will-ingness and ability to attack ourpeople, our interests and ourfriends and allies in the con-fusing, complex zone just shortof armed conflict,” he said.

In his address to theFoundation of Defence andDemocracies, McKenziealleged that the Iranian regimehas smuggled ballistic missilesinto Yemen and assisted withtheir construction and deploy-ment.

And they’re employed bythe Hufis against the King ofSaudi Arabia as well as againstthe United Arab Emirates,threatening US partners aswell as Americans who live andwork there.

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Pakistan Government hasbanned 11 organisations

for having links with the pro-scribed outifts Jaamat-ud-Dawa (JuD), Falah-e-InsaniatFoundation (FIF) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), an officialstatement said Saturday.

The decision to ban theseorganisations was taken duringa meeting between Pakistan’sPrime Minister Imran Khanand Interior Minister Ijaz Shahon Friday.

After the February 14Pulwama attack, in which 40Indian security personnel werekilled by a suicide bomber ofthe Pakistan-based JeM, Khanhad said Islamabad would notspare any group involved inmilitancy or using Pakistani soilfor any kind of terror activityagainst other countries.

Pakistan’s National

Counter Terrorism Authority(NACTA), which works underthe Ministry of Interior,announced on its website thatseven groups have been bannedfor their affiliation with theJuD, which was proscribed inMarch by the Pakistan gov-ernment.

The organisation whichhave been proscribed are Al-Anfal Trust, Idara Khidmat-e-Khalaq, Al-Dawat ul Irshad,Mosques & Welfare Trust, Al-Medina Foundation, Mazz-Bin-Jabel Education Trust andAl-Hamad Trust, the state-ment said. All these groups areLahore-based.

Pakistan’s Ministry ofInterior took the action on thegovernment’s directive to speedup implementation of theNational Action Plan of 2015 toeliminate militancy andextremism from the country’ssoil.

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Sudan’s military rulers have invitedprotest leaders for a new round of

talks on transferring power to a civilianadministration, the protest movementsaid Saturday.

The call came as thousands ofdemonstrators remain camped outsidearmy headquarters in central Khartoum,vowing to force the generals to cedepower just as they forced veteran pres-ident Omar al-Bashir from office exact-ly a month ago.

Talks on the protesters’ key demandfor a civilian-led body to oversee a four-year transition have been deadlocked fordays, with the military insisting on hold-ing a majority in any new ruling body.

“We received a call from the mili-tary council to resume negotiations,” theAlliance for Freedom and Change saidin a statement.

Late last month, the alliance, whichbrings together protest organisers andopposition and rebel groups, handed thegenerals its proposals for a civilian-ledtransition.

But the generals have expressed“many reservations” over the alliance’sroadmap, They have singled out itssilence on the constitutional position ofIslamic sharia law which was the guid-ing principle of all legislation underBashir’s rule but is anathema to seculargroups like the Sudanese CommunistParty and some rebel factions in thealliance.

“We have identified the points ofcontention with the military council and... Decisive talks will revolve around(them) in each meeting,” the alliancesaid in its statement.

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Theresa May could beforced to set an exact

date for her resignation asConservative Party leaderto make way for a newBritish Prime Minister in thecoming days, a senior ToryMP has said.

Sir Graham Brady, whochairs the influential back-bench 1922 Committee ofthe Conservative Party, toldthe BBC that he expects a

“clear understanding” ofMay’s departure timetableonce she has met the com-

mittee on Wednesday.“It would be strange for

that not to result in a clearunderstanding (of when shewill leave) at the end of themeeting,” said Brady.

The 1922 Committeehas asked for “clarity” abouther plans for the future, andshe “offered to come andmeet with the executive”, hesaid.

May has alreadyannounced back in Marchthat she would step down as

British PM once the Brexitprocess has been finalisedbut the pressure from with-in her party has only mount-ed for her to actually namea specific end date for hertenure.

On why the PM had sofar been unwilling to set adate to step down, Bradysaid: “I don’t think it’s aboutan intention for stayingindefinitely as prime minis-ter or leader of theConservative Party.

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Ajournalist critical ofPresident Recep Tayyip

Erdogan’s Government and itsnationalist allies has been hos-pitalised after being attackedoutside his home.

The Yenicag newspapersays Saturday that columnistYavuz Selim Demirag was beat-en up by about five or six peo-ple with baseball bats afterappearing on a TV showFriday.

The reason for the attackwas not known but it comesamid tensions over the topelectoral authority’s decision tocancel the results of the March31 mayoral race for Istanbul,which was won by the opposi-tion, and order a revote to takeplace June 23.

Erdogan’s party says theIstanbul vote was marred byfraud but the opposition saysthe electoral board was pres-sured by the government,which desperately wants tohold on to power in Turkey’slargest city.

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Sri Lankan authorities onSaturday announced a

three-day deadline for public toinform and handover all illegalexplosives to the nearest policestation as part of a crackdownon suspects following theEaster Sunday bombings inwhich over 250 people werekilled.

The move came a weekafter authorities directed peo-ple to deposit swords and othersharp-edged weapons to thenearest police station, afterpolice recovered sword s andother weapons from mosquesduring search operations fol-lowing the April 21 blasts inwhich over 250 people, includ-ing 44 foreigners 10 of whom

were Indians, were killed and500 others injured.

“A three-day period hasbeen announced from 6.00a.M. Today (Saturday) toinform and handover all illegalexplosives material to the near-est police,” Police spokespersonSP Ruwan Gunasekara said.

“Individuals in possessionof such explosives shouldinform the nearest police sta-tion before 6.00 a.M. OnTuesday (May 14),” he added.

On Saturday last, the SriLankan police asked the pub-lic to hand over swords andlarge knives to the nearestpolice station after a large haulof weapons, including swords,and camouflaged materialswere recovered during search-es of mosques and houses.

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An Afghan official says thatunidentified gunmen have

shot and killed a female jour-nalist and adviser to the coun-try’s parliament in the capitalKabul.

Nasrat Rahimi, aspokesman for the interiorministry, says that MenaMangal, a cultural adviser forthe lower house of the parlia-ment and former TV presenter,was killed when she was on her way to work onSaturday morning.

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Robert Mueller, the US spe-cial counsel whose report

on Russian election interfer-ence has shaken a dividedWashington, will not testifybefore Congress next week, atop Democrat said on Friday.

House Judiciary Committeechairman Jerry Nadler hadwanted Mueller to testify onMay 15, but he said a date forthe highly anticipated appear-ance before lawmakersremained under discussion.

“It won’t be next week,”Nadler told reporters. “But we’renegotiating with him, we’retalking to him and the JusticeDepartment.” Nadler has saidthat the committee would sub-poena Mueller if necessary, butexpressed hope that such a stepcould be avoided.

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Venezuela bracedSaturday for another day

of nationwide protests afterPresident Nicolas Maduroclamped down further onOpposition leader JuanGuaido, locking up hisdeputy in a military prisonfollowing a dramatic arrest.

Edgar Zambrano, deputyspeaker of the opposition-majority National Assembly,is being held in preventivedetention for “the flagrantcommission of the crimes oftreason, conspiracy and civilrebellion,” the SupremeCourt said in a statementannouncing the verdict of alower court.

Zambrano was arrestedby Maduro’s SEBIN intelli-gence service in dramatic cir-cumstances on Wednesdayfor supporting the April 30revolt organised by US-

backed Guaido.Maduro also accused his

sacked intelligence chief ofbeing a CIA “mole” and thearchitect of the failed militaryuprising.

He said GeneralChristopher Figuera was “theone who orchestrated thecoup d’etat” by contacting thegroup of around 30 membersof the armed forces whojoined Guaido’s massdemonstration.

“He was captured by theCIA a year ago and wasworking as a traitor, moleand infiltrator,” Maduro saidof Figuera, whose defectionto the opposition saw himrewarded earlier this week bythe US, which removed him from its sanc-tions list.

The latest regime actionsratcheted up tensions aheadof a national demonstrationGuaido called for Saturday to

reject measures taken by theSupreme Court againstopposition lawmakers.

Zambrano is one of 10charged by the SupremeCourt for participating in theApril 30 movement.

He was transferred to theCaracas headquarters of themilitary police, Fort Tiuna,the court said.

One of the other chargedlawmakers, Luis Florido,announced in a video onFriday that he had fled toneighbouring Colombia,“sheltered from a regimethat is willing to imprisondeputies,” he said.

Three others — RichardBlanco, Mariela Magallanesand Americo De Grazia —have sought refuge in theArgentine and Italianembassies in Caracas.

Zambrano’s lawyer LiliaCamejo denounced the pro-cedure under which

Zambrano, a civilian, wassent to a military prison, andsaid his rights had been vio-lated.

“From the moment ofthe arrest, they have violat-ed the deputy’s rights. We didnot have access to the file,nor could we be appointed inhis defense,” Camejo toldreporters.

Guaido said onThursday the arrests werepart of a bid by Maduro todismantle the NationalAssembly legislature,Venezuela’s sole opposition-controlled institution butone which had already beenrendered powerless by thepro-Maduro Supreme Court.

“If we can talk about acoup d’etat in Venezuela,here it is: the dismantling ofthe national parliament,”Guaido told a news confer-ence, accusing Maduro’sregime of “state terrorism.”

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Girls freed from the clutch-es of human traffickers

worldwide are given shelterby nuns from the Talitha Kumnetwork, which is marking its10th anniversary with supportfrom Pope Francis.

“We have sisters who gointo the streets, but also torefugee camps, schools, teaplantations, (and) prisons,” theinternational network’s coor-dinator, Sister Gabriella Bottanitold AFP.

“We can identify situa-tions, do prevention work,offer help,” she said.

Efforts to help thosetrapped in prostitution are reg-ularly lauded by the 82-year oldpope. The Argentine choose ananti-trafficking Italian nun towrite the Way of Cross medi-tations this Easter, with sea-soned campaigner EugeniaBonetti slamming public“indifference” as the main rea-son girls are still on the street.

On Friday, Francis openedan exhibition at the Vatican ofphotographs by Lisa Kristine ofthe US, portraying nuns work-ing with victims.

Trafficking in women is“an octopus with many tenta-cles,” said Sister YvonneClemence Bambara, who runsa rehabilitation centre inBurkina Faso.

“We have to work togeth-er in many ways to overcomeit and mitigate the conse-quences as much as possible,”she added.

Many convents have beenactive in fighting prostitutionsince the 19th century.

Their efforts were broughtunder one umbrella in 2009

with the creation of TalithaKum — Aramaic words fromthe bible that mean “Young girl,rise up”.

The network has hundredsof members in India, where sis-ters train young people in vil-lages and slums to be vigilantand work together to find chil-dren who have been sold topimps or abducted by traffick-ers.

“If a child goes missing, wesend the message out,” SisterPrema Chowallur from AssamState in India told AFP bytelephone.

The nuns have differenttypes of shelters ready for thosedetermined to get off thestreets, offering both firstresponse care and help withreintegration into society.

Sister Luisa Puglisi lives injust such a shelter in Valenciain Spain: “What matters mostis our presence with them ona daily basis,” she said.

“Doing the dishes togeth-er, watching television... Wegive them something for free ina world where everything canbe bought and sold”.

As well as helping thosewho want to denounce theircaptors, or return to their homecountries, the nuns also raiseawareness in societies that maybe reluctant to acknowledge the

problem.In the US, Sister Jean

Shafer — who ran a shelter forsix years — publishes a month-ly newsletter on the phenom-enon that is widely read with-in the Catholic Church there.

“We are able to talk withpeople of influence, money,education, to get theminvolved,” she said.

“We can mingle amongthe poorest of the poor andamong the richest of the rich.”

In Australia, Sister ColleenJackson spends one week a yearmeeting with lawmakers.

“We are generally trusted:some victims will speak to sis-ters before law enforcement,”she said. While many non-reli-gious social workers appreciatetheir dedication, some worryabout the Church’s position onabortion.

“We are all against abor-tion, but none of us will put agirl who has made that choiceout on the street,” Bottani said.

Living with nuns does notnecessarily come naturally to allof the girls, she admits, but sheinsists the human warmth andsupport they are offered meansthe world to many.

“The most importantthings are captured in a look.How we look at them, how theylook at us,” Bottani said.

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Nearly every country in theworld has agreed upon a

legally binding framework toreduce the pollution from plas-tic waste except for the UnitedStates, UN environmental offi-cials say. An agreement ontracking thousands of types ofplastic waste emerged onFriday at the end of a two-weekmeeting of UN-backed con-ventions on plastic waste andtoxic, hazardous chemicals.

Discarded plastic clutterspristine land, floats in hugemasses in oceans and rivers andentangles wildlife, sometimeswith deadly results .

Rolph Payet of the UnitedNations Environment Programsaid the “historic” agreementlinked to the 186-country, UN-supported Basel Conventionmeans that countries will haveto monitor and track the move-ments of plastic waste outsidetheir borders. The deal affectsproducts used in a broad arrayof industries, such as healthcare, technology, aerospace,fashion, food and beverages.

“It’s sending a very strongpolitical signal to the rest of theworld — to the private sector,to the consumer market — thatwe need to do something,”Payet said.

“Countries have decided todo something which will trans-late into real action on theground.” Countries will have tofigure out their own ways ofadhering to the accord, Payetsaid. Even the few countriesthat did not sign it, like theUnited States, could be affect-ed by the accord when theyship plastic waste to countriesthat are on board with the deal.

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A26-year-old man in theUK has been charged with

murder in connection withthe killing of an Indian-originman who was stabbed to deathin a supermarket parking area.

Nadeem Uddin HameedMohammed, 24, was formallyidentified by Thames ValleyPolice as the victim of theattack in Slough, near London,on Friday, when Aqib Pervaizwas produced before ReadingCrown Court charged with hismurder.

Nadeem, from Hyderabad,was living in south-westLondon with his parents andseven-month pregnant wife.The family is being supportedby specially-trained officersfrom the police force.

“Aqib Pervaiz, aged 26, ofRochford Gardens, Slough, wascharged this evening (Friday)with one count of murder,”Thames Valley Police said in astatement.

“It is in connection with anincident in Slough at 12.32 PMon Wednesday, which resultedin the death of 24-year-oldNadeem Uddin HameedMohammed, from Southall, inthe car park of Tesco inWellington Street. MrMohammed had been stabbedin the chest and taken to hos-pital where he died,” the state-ment said.

A post-mortem examina-tion confirmed the cause ofNadeem’s death as a stabwound to the chest.

Pervaiz, believed to haveknown Nadeem from his workas a shop manager in Slough,was arrested in Birminghamand has been remanded incustody.

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The final preparatory meet-ing for next year’s review of

the Nuclear NonproliferationTreaty ended Friday with deepdivisions, and US AmbassadorRobert Wood said reachingagreement at the 2020 confer-ence “will be an incredibly dif-ficult task.”

But he told the closingsession of the two-weekpreparatory conference that “itis a task we cannot abandon.”The NPT is the world’s singlemost important pact on nucleararms, credited with preventingtheir spread to dozens ofnations since entering intoforce in 1970.

It has succeeded in doingthis via a grand global bargain:Nations without nuclearweapons committed not toacquire them; those with themcommitted to move towardtheir elimination; and allendorsed everyone’s right todevelop peaceful nuclear energy.

Treaty members — everynation but India, Pakistan andNorth Korea who possessnuclear weapons, and Israelwhich is believed to be anuclear power but has neveracknowledged it — gatherevery five years to review howit’s working.

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Noted industry leader andITC Chairman YC

Deveshwar, who transformedthe cigarette major into a diver-sified player with interests inFMCG, hospitality, IT and othersectors, passed away Saturdaymorning after a brief illness.

Deveshwar (72), whostepped down from executiverole as chairman and CEO in2017 but remained as a non-executive chairman, breathedhis last at a private hospital inGurugram.

“We deeply mourn thepassing away of YC Deveshwar,Chairman ITC,” ITC ManagingDirector Sanjiv Puri said in astatement. Deveshwar pas-sionately championed the causefor sustainable and inclusivegrowth and the transformativerole businesses could play increating larger societal value.This vision drove ITC to pur-sue business models that todaysupport over 6 million liveli-hoods, many among the weak-est in society, Puri added.

He leaves behind his wifeand two children — a son anda daughter. Deveshwar joinedITC in 1968 and was appoint-ed as a director on ITC’s boardon April 11, 1984. He rose tobecome its chief executive andchairman on January 1, 1996.

One of the longest servingtop executives of a corporateentity in India, he was respon-sible for transforming ITC frommainly a cigarettes maker intoa diversified entity with interestsin FMCG, hospitality, paper,agri business and informationtechnology, among others.

When Deveshwar tookcharge at the helm of the com-pany in the mid-1990’s, ITCwas confronted with formida-ble challenges, with diversifi-cation efforts either failing orlanguishing. The company’srevenue was less than Rs 5,200crore and Profit Before Tax(PBT) stood at Rs 452 crore.

In 2017-18, the companyposted revenues of Rs 44,329.77crore and net profit of Rs11,223.25 crore. “His leadershiptransformed ITC into a valuableand admired multi-businessconglomerate with a robustportfolio of front-ranking busi-nesses in FMCG, hotels, paper-boards and paper, packaging

and agri-business.“His vision to make soci-

etal value creation a bedrock ofcorporate strategy also led ITCto become a global exemplar insustainability and the onlycompany in the world to becarbon positive, water positiveand solid waste positive forover a decade,” Puri said.

An alumnus of IIT Delhiand Harvard Business School,Deveshwar had also led AirIndia as chairman and manag-ing director between 1991 and1994. When ITC split the roleof the Executive Chairmanbetween Chairman and ChiefExecutive Officer with effectfrom February 5, 2017, as partof succession planning in thecompany, Deveshwar contin-ued as chairman in non-exec-utive capacity and played therole of mentor to the executivemanagement led by Sanjiv Puri.

A recipient of PadmaBhushan — one of the highestcivilian awards in the country— in 2011, Deveshwar alsoplayed his part in nation build-ing, taking up various roles inseveral institutions. He servedas a director on the CentralBoard of the Reserve Bank ofIndia, as a member of theNational Foundation forCorporate Governance andmember of the governing bodyof the National Council ofApplied Economic Research.

“Inspired by a patrioticfervour, manifest in his clarioncall of ‘Lets Put India First’, heled ITC’s strategic thrust to cre-ate an exemplary Indian enter-prise dedicated to servingnational priorities,” Puri said.

Deveshwar was also amember of the Board of Trade,Ministry of Commerce andIndustry, and a member of theNational Food ProcessingDevelopment Council, Ministryof Food Processing Industries,Government of India.

Well respected by his peersin the industry, YCD, as he waspopularly known in corporatecircles, was also a past presidentof CII, besides being on theNational Executive Committeesof some of India’s premier tradeand industry bodies.

He also served as a mem-ber of the UK-India CEOForum and US-India CEOForum instituted by the respec-tive Governments.

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US President Donald Trumpordered a tariff hike on

almost all imports from Chinaafter the latest round of talks toend the trade war between theworld’s two largest economiesended on Friday without adeal even as Beijing said thenegotiations have not brokendown and it is cautiously opti-mistic to reach an agreement.

Expected to further esca-late the trade war between theUS and China, Trump’s latestmove came less than a day afterhe ramped up punitive dutieson $200 billion worth ofChinese imports, raising themto 25 per cent from 10 per cent,and Beijing vowed to retaliate.

The new increase applies toan even greater value of goods— put at about $300 billion.

US Trade Representative

Robert Lighthizer said in astatement Trump had “orderedus to begin the process of rais-ing tariffs on essentially allremaining imports from China.”

“Earlier today, at the direc-tion of the President, theUnited States increased thelevel of tariffs from 10 per centto 25 per cent on approximately$200 billion worth of Chineseimports,” Lighthizer said.

“The President alsoordered us to begin the processof raising tariffs on essentiallyall remaining imports fromChina, which are valued atapproximately $300 billion,”he said.

The process for publicnotice and comment will bepublished shortly in the FederalRegister. “The details will be onthe USTR website on Mondayas we begin the process prior toa final decision on these tariffs,”

Lighthizer said.The latest Trump move

came as China’s top trade nego-tiator, Vice Premier Liu He, onFriday concluded his two daysof trade talks with the USteam led by Lighthizer.

The 11th round of talks inWashington ended on Fridaywith no deal, but the Chinesevice premier said the negotia-tions have not broken down.

“Negotiations have not bro-ken down. Quite the opposite. Ithink they are normal. Small set-backs are inevitable in bilateralnegotiations. Looking ahead, weare cautiously optimistic aboutthe future,” the Hong Kongbased South China MorningPost quoted him as saying.

“Both sides agree they willmeet again in Beijing in thefuture and keep pushing for-ward the negotiations,” he saidwithout giving a date.

In a series of tweets, Trumpdescribed the talks as candidand constructive, but indicat-ed taking a tough approachagainst massive imbalance oftrade with China.

“Over the course of the pasttwo days, the United States andChina have held candid andconstructive conversations onthe status of the trade relation-ship between both countries,”Trump said, praising his rela-tionship with Chinese PresidentXi Jinping and saying the nego-

tiations would carry on.“In the meantime, the US

has imposed Tariffs on China,which may or may not beremoved depending on whathappens with respect to futurenegotiations!” Trump said.

He said tariffs will bring in“far more” wealth to the USthan even a phenomenal dealof the traditional kind. Trumpsaid he is in no rush to con-clude trade talks with China.

“Talks with China contin-ue in a very congenial manner— there is absolutely no needto rush — as Tariffs are NOWbeing paid to the United Statesby China of 25 per cent on 250Billion Dollars worth of goods& products. These massivepayments go directly to theTreasury of the US...,” he said.

“We have lost 500 BillionDollars a year, for many years,on Crazy Trade with China.NO MORE!” Trump said.

In a transcript of the pressinterview published on thewebsite of Phoenix Television,a Hong Kong-based broad-caster, Chinese Vice PresidentLiu said there were severalissues on which the two sidesstill disagreed.

“China believes tariffs arethe starting point of the bilat-eral trade disputes. If a deal isto be reached, the tariffs shouldall be eliminated. This is thefirst point,” Liu said.

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The Civil Aviation Ministryhas told Air India that it

should prepare 2018-19 finan-cials for itself and its sub-sidiaries by end of June as thePrime Minister’s Office (PMO)has decided to speed up the dis-investment process of three ofits wings, according to an offi-cial document.

After a botched attempt tosell Air India in May last year,a panel led by Finance MinisterArun Jaitley had decided inJune to scrap the stake-sale planfor the time being. It was thendecided to infuse more fundsinto the carrier and cut downdebt by raising resources byselling land assets and othersubsidiaries.

Air India has a total debtburden of around Rs 55,000crore. On April 1 this year, ameeting was held in the PMOunder the chairmanship ofNripendra Misra, the principalsecretary to the Prime Minister,to discuss matter regardingstrategic disinvestment of AirIndia and its subsidiaries.

“A meeting was held onApril 1 under the chairmanshipof the Principal Secretary toPM in which it was, inter-alia,decided to speed up the processof disinvestment of AIATSL,AIESL and AASL,” civil avia-tion secretary Pradeep SinghKharola told Air India’sChairman and ManagingDirector (CMD) Ashwani

Lohani in a letter dated May 6.

Air India Air TransportServices Limited (AIATSL),Air India Engineering ServicesLimited (AIESL) and AirlineAllied Services Limited (AASL)are subsidiaries of the nation-al carrier. Kharola said in orderto proceed with disinvestmentprocess of Air India and its sub-sidiaries, audited financials for2018-19 will be required.

“I would, therefore, requestyou to kindly get financials ofAir India and its subsidiariesfor the financial year 2018-19finalised by end of June,”Kharola said.

Aviation secretary also saidthat since the accounts for2018-19 would form the “basisof bidding”, it is necessary thatthey are prepared with “utmostcaution so as to reflect the cor-rect financial status”.

He added that contingentliabilities must be thoroughlyverified. Moreover, he addedthat “account receivables” and“account payables” must beverified and confirmed fromthe other parties.

“A physical verification ofthe inventories need to bedone so as to ensure that thevalue of inventories shown onthe balance sheet matches withthe assets physically,” Kharolatold Lohani.

The secretary also told AirIndia CMD that a list of allpending litigations have to bedrawn up.

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Facebook is actively creatingnew terror content on the

website with its auto-generationfeature, alleges a whistleblow-er who analysed over 3,000Facebook profiles of individu-als expressing affiliation withterror or hate groups.

The social networkinggiant last year claimed that withthe use of advanced ArtificialIntelligence (AI) technologyand a growing team of experthuman reviewers it could nowblock 99 per cent of the ter-rorist content of ISIS, al-Qaeda,and affiliated groups before itwas reported by users.

The study by the anony-mous whistleblower workingwith the US-based non-profitNational Whistleblower Centershowed that terror and hatespeech content are proliferatingon Facebook. The whistle-blower found that 317 profilesout of the 3,228 surveyed con-tained the flag or symbol of aterrorist group in their profileimages, cover photo, or fea-tured photos on their publiclyaccessible profiles.

San Francisco: After settling abitter multi-billion dollar legalbattle with Apple, the CEO ofUS-based chip-makerQualcomm received a heftybonus of $3.5 million.

Qualcomm CEO SteveMollenkopf received 40,794shares of Qualcomm stock,which works out to just under$3,501,757 at Friday’s closingprice of $85.84, CNBC report-ed. In an official filing with theUS-based Securities andExchange Commission, thechip-maker noted that theentire executive team atQualcomm received bonusesfor settling the legal war withthe iPhone-maker.

The two tech giants lockedhorns in courts around theworld over how muchQualcomm charges for the intel-lectual property inside of thechips that enable devices like theiPhone to connect to cellular net-works. Apple settled the legal bat-tle earlier in April at an undis-closed amount and as part of thedeal agreed to use Qualcommchips in its upcoming 5G-enabled iPhone, scheduled to belaunched in 2020. IANS

Mumbai: Two of the SpiceJet’sBoeing passenger planes —one from Mumbai and otherfrom Bengaluru — sufferedmid-air technical glitches, forc-ing their pilots to terminatejourneys with one flight land-ing back in Mumbai and sec-ond diverted to Nagpur onSaturday.

SpiceJet flight SG-611,which departed from Mumbai’sChhatrapapati Shivaji MaharajInternational Airport forChennai around 7.30 am,returned to the city airport dueto a mid-air technical glitchafter being airborne for about16 minutes, a source said. ASpiceJet spokesperson con-firmed the return of itsChennai flight to Mumbai dueto a “technical” issue.

“The aircraft has alreadydeparted back for its destina-tion around 10 am after the theengineers rectified the glitch,”the spokesperson said. In asimilar incident, the airline’sNew Delhi-bound flight SG8720 from Bengaluru wasdiverted to Nagpur after thepilot reported some issue to theATC and sought a diversion.

“SpiceJet flight SG 8720operating on Bangalore-Delhiroute was diverted to Nagpurdue to a technical issue.Passengers were served refresh-ments at Nagpur. An alternativeaircraft was sent to Nagpur andthe passengers have nowboarded the flight to Delhi,” theairline said in a statement.

The spokesperson, howev-er, did not share the number ofpassengers on board the twoBoeing 737 planes. PTI

Islamabad: Talks between cash-strapped Pakistan and the IMFwill continue over the weekendafter the parleys between the twosides reached a deadlock due toPrime Minister Imran Khan’sreservations over heavy taxationthe people will have to bear,according to a media report.

Head of IMF Mission toPakistan Ernesto Rigo is cur-rently in Islamabad as the coun-try hopes to strike a deal with theglobal lender for a three-yearbailout package totalling around$6.5 billion. “We have madegood progress in our discussionswith the visiting IMF Mission.Consultations will continue overthe weekend,” Khaqan HasanNajeeb, spokesman of theFinance Ministry said. PTI

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China’s leading envoy totrade talks in Washington

says the failure to strike a dealin the tariffs war with the USwas “just a small setback” andnegotiations will continuedespite increases in importduties on American importsfrom China.

In comments to reportersbefore he left Washington forBeijing on Friday, Vice PremierLiu He said he was cautiouslyoptimistic but that a dealwould require the Trumpadministration to agree to endthe punitive tariffs it hasimposed on billions of dollars’worth of Chinese goods.

In comments carried byChina’s state-run CCTV, Liusaid the remaining differencesare crucial ones having to dowith principles, “and we willmake no concessions on mat-ters of principle.”

Still, he said he did notbelieve the negotiations hadbroken down. “On the contrary,I think it is just a small setbackin the talks between two coun-tries, which is inevitable,” Hong

Kong’s Phoenix TV showedhim as saying.

Liu said it was “China’sopinion that the tariffs are thestarting point of the trade fric-tion and must be totally liftedif a deal is reached.” TheTrump administration raisedtariffs on billions of dollars ofChinese goods to 25 per centfrom 10 per cent on Friday.

US Trade RepresentativeRobert Lighthizer said the USwas preparing to expand thosetariffs to cover USD 300 billionof Chinese products that aren’talready facing import taxes, orvirtually everything importedfrom China.

Liu also said the two sideswere disagreeing over theamount of goods China wouldpledge to purchase from theUS to help reduce theAmerican trade deficit.

“We think this is a veryserious issue and we cannoteasily change our minds,” hesaid. Liu sought to downplaythe scale and impact of the dis-pute, saying that China was astrong nation and would sur-mount any problems caused bythe conflict.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Saturday con-

doled the death of businesstycoon and ITC Group chair-man YC Deveshwar, saying hemade a strong contribution tothe Indian industry.

Deveshwar, 72, whopassed away at a private hos-pital in Gurugram near herethis morning after a brief ill-ness. “Shri YC Deveshwarmade a strong contribution toIndian industry. His effortshelped ITC become a profes-sionally-run Indian companywith a global footprint.Saddened by his demise. Mythoughts are with his family,friends and the ITC group inthis hour of grief,” the PrimeMinister said in a tweet.

Condolence messages alsopoured in from other politicaland business leaders. FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley tweeted:“Saddened by the death of YogiC Deveshwar, Chairman ITC.Yogi excelled as a corporateprofessional and an entrepre-neur and took his company togreat heights. May God renderpeace to the departed soul &give to his family strength tobear this loss.”

In a statement, the

Confederation of IndianIndustry (CII) expressed itscondolences at the demise ofDeveshwar, terming it a greatloss for the Indian industry.Deveshwar was the presidentof CII in 2005-06.

In a tweet, AssochamPresident BK Goenka said hewas a “tall leader of India Incwho immensely contributed tothe industry and society”.Chairman of RP-SanjivGoenka Group, SanjeevGoenka, said, “Yogi was a tallleader and a visionary. I have lost a friend. I am deeplysaddened.”

Ambuja Neotia GroupChairman Harsh Neotia saidDeveshwar was an extraordi-nary professional, who steeredthe company in “troubledtimes and diversified it fromtobacco to FMCG and hospi-tality. He has been a familyfriend for two generations.”

Keventer Agro CMDMayank Jalan creditedDeveshwar for putting Kolkataon the global business map.

Srei Infrastructure FinanceCMD Hemant Kanoria said,“He built a great company likeITC and diversified it into somany areas, all with sustain-able long-term business andsocial models.”

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Manchester City and Liverpoolhave slugged it out in one ofthe most gripping Premier

League title races of all time, going toeto toe in a monumental battle for theages.

But it will all be decided onSunday when City travel to Brightonand Liverpool host Wolves, withPep Guardiola's team firmfavourites to get over the lineahead of Jurgen Klopp's charg-ing team.

The bare statistics fromboth sides this season are phe-nomenal.

City, on 95 points, havewon their past 13 PremierLeague matches to wipe outa seven-point lead forLiverpool and are on the brinkof becoming the first team to retain thetitle since Manchester United in 2009.

Klopp's men, with 94 points, have

recovered from a mid-season stum-ble to record eight straight victoriesand are agonisingly close to their firstEnglish top-flight title since 1990.

The 18-time league winners facethe scarcely credible scenario of end-ing the season with the third-highestpoints tally in Premier League histo-ry and a single defeat yet still miss-

ing out on the title.City look almost certain to fin-

ish off the job on the south coastbut Guardiola, speaking after anervy 1-0 win against Leicesteron Monday, is taking nothingfor granted.

"The players are mature,and we have one more game," said

Guardiola. "It will be tough inBrighton. They took a resultat Arsenal. We played a fewweeks ago against them (in the

FA Cup semi-final) and it wastough.

"They will play for pride but it's inour hands. We were seven points

behind but we never give up. We arestill there and we win 13 games in arow."

City cannot quite match the record100 points they mustered last seasonbut they have shown their ability to digdeep in recent weeks. Guardiola's sidehave been free-scoring for the major-ity of the campaign, racking up 91goals, but three of their past four winshave been 1-0 victories.

A second consecutive title for theclub, who remain on course for a his-toric domestic treble, would underlinetheir status as the dominant force in theEnglish game.

� ������� ������Klopp will have to re-focus his

players' minds on their clash withWolves at Anfield after their semi-final heroics against Barcelona as theycling to the hope that City will slip up.

"We will again try to collect thebones and go again against Wolves,"said Klopp, who also has fitnessdoubts over Mohamed Salah, Roberto

Firmino, Jordan Henderson and AndyRobertson to deal with.

The Liverpool narrative haschanged dramatically since they over-turned a 3-0 first-leg deficit against theSpanish champions to reach theChampions League final 4-3 on aggre-gate on Tuesday.

They now know that even if theyfall short they have the chance tobecome champions of Europe for asixth time if they can get pastTottenham in Madrid on June 1.

But despite their European adven-ture, the Anfield faithful are desper-ate to see their team at the top of the

domestic tree again."Now I know the atmosphere will

be brilliant again and they will needto push us again because it is a diffi-cult game on Sunday," added Klopp.

"We have to win, which is alreadydifficult enough, and then we will seewhat happens in the other stadium."

Behind the runaway front two, allthe issues in the Premier League arevirtually done and dusted.

Barring a spectacular swing ingoal difference, Tottenham will finishabove Arsenal and mathematicallyseal the remaining Champions Leaguespot alongside Chelsea, while thehighest Manchester United can finishis fifth.

Wolves, in seventh place, cannotbe caught and will earn a EuropaLeague spot provided Watford do notbeat City in the FA Cup final.

At the bottom of the table,Huddersfield, Fulham and Cardiff arealready preparing for life in the sec-ond-tier Championship.

����■ ��2#0.9 �

Championship leader ValtteriBottas completed a hat-

trick of pole positions onSaturday when he outpaced hisMercedes team-mate LewisHamilton in a tightly-contestedqualifying for Sunday's SpanishGrand Prix.

The Finn, who leadsdefending five-time championHamilton by a single point inthis year's title race, completeda treble after taking the primegrid position in both Chinaand Azerbaijan.

Bottas clocked astunning track recordlap in 1min15.406sec to finishsix-tenths clear ofhis teammate in the top 10shootout on a dry and gusty dayat the Circuit de Catalunya.

With Hamilton second, itgave Mercedes another front rowlock-out and suggested thisyear's title race may become aduel between the two SilverArrows drivers with Bottas cur-rently enjoying the momen-tum.

Four-time championSebastian Vettel of Ferrari wasthird ahead of Max Verstappenof Red Bull, Charles Leclerc inthe second Ferrari and PierreGasly in the second Red Bull.

Romain Grosjean was sev-enth ahead of his Haas team-mate Kevin Magnussen, RussianDaniil Kvyat of Toro Rosso andDaniel Ricciardo in his Renault.

"I really enjoyed that," saidBottas. "The adrenaline rush youget from laps like that is great soI am really pleased.

"The season has started well,the way I hoped for, and I feelbetter in the car."

Hamilton congratulatedBottas and conceded that he hadbeen unable to extract the max-

imum from his car on a cir-cuit where he

was hoping toland his own hat-

trick of three straightSpanish poles.

"My final laps in Q3just weren't strong enough.

Ultimately, I didn't do the job,"Hamilton said.

"It's great to have anotherMercedes 1-2, but I can reverseit tomorrow that would begreat."

Vettel was also disappoint-ed as Ferrari failed to deliver thepace that could bring an end toMercedes domination.

"The car doesn't feel too bad,but obviously we are not quickenough," he said. "It seems to bemore than an achilles heelhere… I spoke to Valtteri andthey were happy with their car."

��� ■ "�2�

Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegrion Saturday dismissed talk he is

about to quit the Serie A champions,hitting back at the criticism hereceived following his side'sChampions League quarter-final exitat the hands of Ajax.

"Sometimes I wonder if I hadn'tmanaged to bring home some tro-phies in these years, what would have

happened?" asked the 51-year-old,who recently won his fifth league titleis as many years.

"Maybe they would have impaledme and burnt me at the stake."

Allegri, speaking ahead of hisside's Serie A trip to Roma onSunday, said he was due to meet withclub chairman Andrea Agnelli to dis-cuss his plans for next season.

"I have already told the chairmanthat I would like to stay, but now we

need to talk," he said."I have had the new Juventus in

mind for six months, but first I needto meet Agnelli to see if we agree."

Juventus, who were also bootedout of the Coppa Italia by Atalanta,have been linked with the return ofAllegri's predecessor Antonio Conte,who won the first three of their cur-rent run of eight titles in a row.

Other names reported in Italianmedia include Lazio boss Simone

Inzaghi, Champions League finalistMauricio Pochettino and Francecoach Didier Deschamps.

"Rumours about my successorsare part of the game," said Allegri,who also won the league with ACMilan in 2011.

"I am grateful to the chairmanand he also said he wanted to con-tinue with me.

"I told him before Ajax that Iwould stay. I owe him and club."

����■ 3�%2�%

Novak Djokovic enhanced hiscredentials as the greatest threat

to Rafael Nadal winning a 12thFrench Open title next month afterhe beat Dominic Thiem on Saturdayto reach the Madrid Open final.

If Nadal overcomes the talent-ed Stefanos Tsitsipas later onSaturday, it will be the Spaniard andDjokovic in Sunday's final, in whatcould prove a dress rehearsal for thetitle match at Roland Garros too.

World number one Djokovic's7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/4) win over Thiemwas far from comfortable, theMadrid crowd treated to two exhil-irating sets of baseline tennis, butthe Serb found his best in both tie-breaks.

In those pressure moments,Thiem, who saved two match pointsin beating Roger Federer in thequarter-finals, was unable torespond, even if he ran the top seedclose enough to suggest he will bea serious contender again in Paris,where he was runner-up to Nadallast year.

Djokovic conceded an earlybreak when a short forehand hit thetape but struck back for 3-3, match-

ing a Thiem drop-shot in kindbefore his opponent patted wide.

Thiem had a break point at 4-4 but it was Djokovic who stormedclear in the tie-break, winning thepoint of the match with, perhaps,the shot of the tournament.

Scrambling left into his back-hand corner, Djokovic not onlyretrieved Thiem's approach butturned it into a brilliant lob thatlanded on the opposite baseline.

Disorientated, Thiem hit long tofall 4-1 behind and then again at 6-2 to hand Djokovic the set.

Thiem came again early in thesecond and broke in the sixthgame, only to fail again to consoli-date, Djokovic responding imme-diately for 3-3.

There was nothing in it untilThiem blinked again at 5-5 but thistime Djokovic wavered, brokenwhen serving for the match aftercoughing up a double fault.

Djokovic recovered his nerve inthe tie-break, however, earning twomatch points and converting thefirst, when a tired Thiem framed afinal backhand long.

����B����� ���������Roger Federer will play in next

week's Italian Open as he warms upfor his return to Roland Garros forthe first time in four years, the 20-time Grand Slam winnerannounced on Saturday.

Federer, playing his first claycourt event in three years, lost inthree sets to Austrian DominicThiem in the Madrid Open quarter-finals on Friday.

"Hello everybody. Just finishedspeaking to the team and happy tosay I'm coming back to Rome toplay in Italy," the 37-year-old sais inan Instagram video on Saturday.

Federer will have a first-roundbye as the number three seed inRome, where he will begin histournament against either FrancesTiafoe or Joao Sousa.

The Swiss has never won on theclay in Rome's Foro Italico havingfinished runner-up four times.

His only title at the FrenchOpen, which this year starts on May26, was in 2009.

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Bayern Munich missedthe chance to wrap up a

seventh successiveBundesliga title as they wereheld to a goalless draw at RBLeipzig on Saturday andrivals Borussia Dortmundedged a nervy 3-2 win overFortuna Duesseldorf.

Chelsea-bound USinternational ChristianPulisic found the net in hisfinal home game forDortmund, helping them tobattle back to within twopoints of league leadersBayern ahead of the finalround of games next week-end.

Bayern can now securethe title with a win at hometo Eintracht Frankfurt nextSaturday, while Dortmundmust win at BorussiaMoenchengladbach.

Dortmund, who lookeddead and buried after slip-ping four points behind lastweek, enjoyed the rub of thegreen as they stumbled tovictory over Duesseldorf.

Pulisic, who will joinChelsea next season, bid anemotional farewell to theDortmund fans before thegame and then opened thescoring on 41 minutes.

A howler from stand-ingoalkeeper Marwin Hitzallowed Oliver Fink toequalise, but ThomasDelaney restored the leadfor Dortmund.

Hitz then gave away apenalty with a foul on DodiLukebakio, but the Belgiandragged the ball wide from12 yards.

Mario Goetze appearedto seal the win forDortmund on 90 minutes,but Dawid Kownacki pulledone back for Duesseldorfminutes later to make it anerve-jangling finish forthe hosts.

In Leipzig, LeonGoretzka's stylish scissor-

kick sent Bayern into ecsta-sy after half-time, but thegoal was ruled out by VAR.

Serge Gnabry hit thebar later in the second half,but Bayern could not forcethe winner.

At the other end of thetable, Nuremberg andHanover were finally rele-gated as Stuttgart securedthe relegation play-off placewith a 3-0 win overWolfsburg.

Hanover went downfighting as goals fromWaldemar Anton, IhlasBebou and Walace sawthem beat Freiburg 3-0.

Yet Anastasios Donis,Gonzalo Castro and DanielDidavi were on the mark forStuttgart to condemnHanover and Nurembergto the drop.

Nuremberg, mean-while, suffered a 4-0 defeatto BorussiaMoenchengladbach thanksto an own-goal from LukasMuehl and strikes fromThorgan Hazard, DenisZakaria and formerNuremberg man JosipDrmic.

The thumping win seesGladbach go fourthovernight, leapfroggingboth Eintracht Frankfurtand Bayer Leverkusen, whowere held to a 1-1 draw athome to Schalke, GuidoBurgstaller cancelling outKai Havertz's opener.

Frankfurt have thechance to break back intothe top four with a win overMainz on Sunday.

Werder Bremen alsokept their European hopesalive with a 1-0 win overHoffenheim, and HerthaBerlin snatched a late 4-3victory away to Augsburg.

Johannes Eggestein'sfirst-half goal condemnedRB Leipzig-bound coachJulian Nagelsmann to defeatin his last home game incharge of Hoffenheim.

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LIVERPOOL: Jurgen Klopp saysLiverpool's astonishing European fight-back proves his side will not give up hopeof winning the Premier League untilManchester City have the trophy in theirhands on Sunday.

Klopp's team staged arguably thegreatest comeback in Champions Leaguehistory on Tuesday when they thrashedBarcelona 4-0 to overturn a 3-0 semi-final first-leg deficit.

With an all-English ChampionsLeague final against Tottenham set forJune 1, Liverpool can pour all their ener-gy into one last push to win their firstEnglish title since 1990.

The Reds are one point behind lead-ers Manchester City heading into theirfinal game of the season against Wolvesat Anfield.

City will retain the title if they winat Brighton but a draw or loss for PepGuardiola's men would open the doorfor Liverpool to be crowned championsif they defeat Wolves.

Given Brighton's lowly position,the odds are firmly on a City coronation,but Liverpool boss Klopp says thisweek's astonishing Champions Leaguedrama showed anything can happenwhen the pressure mounts.

Not only did Liverpool author afightback for the ages, but Tottenhamscored three times in their semi-finalagainst Ajax to go through on away goalsafter trailing 3-0 on aggregate with just35 minutes left.

"It's been a week of big footballmoments. But from our point of view itcould be a big football moment on theweekend -- the week is not over yet,"Klopp said.

"I think at the start of the week mostpeople expected me to be sitting here andsaying 'OK, after not being in theChampions League final, it's difficult tobe champions'. Well now we are in thefinal and it is still difficult.

"We are not used to moments ofglory but we win from time to time.Focus is not a problem. The only thingwe can do is win this game."

In virtually any other season,Liverpool, who have 94 points and have

lost only once in the league, would havebeen champions by now.

Having secured successiveChampions League final appearances,the sting of failure will not be quite sosharp if Liverpool do not get a helpinghand from Brighton this weekend.

But do not tell that to Klopp and hisplayers.

Reflecting the togetherness anddesire fuelling their remarkable season,Klopp revealed Mohamed Salah, AndyRobertson and Jordan Henderson willall play through the pain barrier againstWolves.

- 'It's only pain' -Salah missed the Barcelona game

with a concussion, while Henderson(knee) and Robertson (calf) both suf-fered injuries in that match.

"The famous three words of thisweek in the dressing room is 'It's onlypain'. Very important for all the younglads to learn," Klopp said.

Liverpool fans will be glued to theirphones for updates from Brighton as thedrama unfolds on Sunday, but Klopp justwants his team to focus on Wolves.

"Maybe our supporters shouldn't cel-ebrate the result before it's 3-0 forBrighton and 87 or 88 minutes played,all the rest is only information, nothing

else," Klopp said.The manager is still waiting for the

first trophy of his four-year Liverpoolreign, but that pales into comparisonwith his club's nearly three-decade titledrought.

When Liverpool last won the league,it was their 10th title in 15 years -- a peri-od of dominance that came to an unex-pected end when Kenny Dalglishresigned as manager in February 1991.

In the barren years since then,Liverpool have finished second fourtimes, most famously falling just shortwhen Steven Gerrard's slip in a defeatagainst Chelsea allowed City to sneakpast them in 2014.

While Liverpool have a special rela-tionship with the European Cup, whichthey have won five times, this is a clubraised on legendary boss Bill Shankly'sdemand that "the league is our bread andbutter, that's the one I want".

Winning their 19th title wouldspark delirous celebrations acrossMerseyside and, after what he has wit-nessed this week, Klopp senses one lastmiracle could be on the cards.

"Both teams have to win theirgames. That's not sure (to happen) in themoment, so we have to focus on that,"he said.

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Familiar foes and the two mostsuccessful teams of the IPL —Mumbai Indians and Chennai

Super Kings — clash in a mouth-watering final here at Rajiv GandhiInternational stadium on Sunday, fol-lowing a rather eventful season thatproduced some unprecedentedmoments on the field.

It can't be disputed that Mumbaigo into the final as the favourites, hav-ing beaten CSK as many as threetimes earlier in the tournamentincluding in the Qualifier 1 atChennai on Tuesday.

However, statistics count for lit-tle going into the title fight with bothteams being in the situation beforemultiple times.

Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai cancertainly take confidence out of thefact that they have won three out ofthe four finals they have been part of,including the two against CSK in2013 and 2015.

For three-time champions CSK,who have entered their eighth final,it has been another remarkable sea-son after last year when they made atriumphant return having serving atwo-year suspension.

Whatever the outcome may be,the final here will add another mem-orable chapter to their longtimerivalry.

The way the entire seasonunfolded will also not be forgottenanytime soon by the fans and expertsalike.

With World Cup beginning rightafter the IPL, the league had addition-al significance for tainted Australianstars — Steve Smith and DavidWarner — who made a successfulreturn after serving out one-year bansfor their role in the ball-tamperingscandal.

Warner especially made a roar-ing return by amassing 692 runs and

formed the most dangerous openingpairing this season alongside JonnyBairstow. The left-handed opener,who is back in Australia for the WorldCup preparation, is set to end as thetournament's highest run-getter.

For India's very own, HardikPandya and K L Rahul, it was also atournament to remember with bothhitting top-gear ahead of the WorldCup.

Pandya is not done yet andexpect him to deliver a match-win-ning performance for Mumbai in thefinal. He and KKR's Andre Russellelevated power hitting to anotherlevel with their sensational strokeplay.

Besides producing plenty of on-field moments to savour, IPL 2019

had its fair share of controversies.Amongst the ones that stood outinvolved KXIP skipper RavichandranAshwin and talismanic CSK captainMahendra Singh Dhoni.

Early into the competition,Ashwin triggered a massive 'spirit ofcricket' debate in the entire cricket-ing fraternity by 'Mankading' JosButtler who was backing up at thenon striker's end.

Two weeks later, none otherthan Dhoni's conduct was ques-tioned after he stormed onto the pitchfrom the dugout to dispute a no-ballcall. It was a rare sight of Dhoni los-ing his cool.

Bringing the focus back to thefinal on Sunday, CSK will have toredraw their plans against Mumbai,who have beaten them convincinglythree times this season.

Rohit and Co have dealt withCSK's spin threat smartly while otherteams' batsmen struggled againstthe experience trio of Imran Tahir,Harbhajan Singh and RavindraJadeja. CSK pacer Deepak Chahar toohas been impressive with 19 wicketsso far.

Going into the Qualifier 2, thelack of runs from Shane Watson's batwas a concern but he regained histouch with a 32-ball 50 against DelhiCapitals.

Mumbai, on the other hand,will be well rested following a four-day break and backing themselves fora fourth win over Dhoni's side thisseason and fourth IPL title.

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Former Australia speedster BrettLee applauded Harbhajan Singh,

saying that the veteran Indian off-spin-ner has shown a lot of confidence whilebowling for Chennai Super Kings in theongoing IPL.

Harbhajan, 38, has turned theclock this season more than once, tak-ing crucial wickets during the tourna-ment to help CSK reach their recordeighth final in 10 years.

"He exactly knows where to bowlfor certain batsmen. His bowling wasoutstanding, he got some beautifulshape on the ball again. I love the rev-olutions of the ball," the Star SportsSelect Dugout Expert, Lee said.

"That tells us that he has good con-

trol on the ball. He is bowling with con-fidence," the former fast bowler added.

Harbajan finished with figures of31 for two in Qualifier 2 to help CSKrestrict Delhi Capitals to 147 for 9 andthen win by six wickets.

Two wickets in the game againstDelhi meant Harbhajan became thethird Indian to claim 150 wickets inIPL.

"His stand is basically right-han-ders vs left-handers. Just shows howgood a bowler he is. He can bring inthe LBW both against the left and theright-handers," Kings XI Punjab coachMike Hesson, who is also a Star SportsSelect Dugout Expert, said.

Harbhajan has taken 16 wicketsfrom 10 matches so far in the ongoingcash-rich tournament.

���� ��������Half-centuriesfrom openers helped ChennaiSuper Kings post a six-wicketwin over Delhi Capitals in IPLQualifier 2 and Shane Watsonthanked Faf du Plessis for scor-ing quickly in the beginning ashe got time to get set.

Chasing a modest target of148, Du Plessis (50 off 39 balls;7x4s, 1x60) and Watson (50 off32; 3x4s, 4x6s) stitched 81 runsin 10.2 overs.

"We spoke about it beforethe game — didn't have the bestrun in the last 5-6 games. Wehave a lot of confidence as ateam to win a lot of big games— so we draw confidence fromthat," said man-of-the-matchDu Plessis.

"We also know the strengthof ours is getting those partner-ships — even if we go 3-4 overswithout runs, we have a great

lower and middle order to bringus back.

"Watto (Watson) thankedme already for scoring quicklyat the beginning before he gotset. Hopefully we can both getthem off the meat in the finalright from the word go," headded.

Watson, whose lack of runswas a concern before Qualifier2, admitted that he was nervousin the beginning.

"Very grateful for the faithCSK have shown in not just me,but all the players are grateful.Faf batted beautifully. Thanks toFaf for helping me through thatstage," said the 37-year-old for-mer Australian captain.

" We are making the most ofthe experience we have hadand we are going to make themost out of it on Sunday," hesaid. PTI

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Rahmat Shah hit 113 while HashmatullahShahidi and Mohammad Shahzad made half-

centuries as Afghanistan defeated Scotland by tworuns in a rain-hit ODI.

Scotland made 325 for seven from their 50overs with Calum MacLeod hitting 100 and cap-tain Kyle Coetzer supporting him with 79.

Afghanistan reached 269 for three with 31 ballsremaining when rain forced the players off the fieldand they were eventually declared the winners onthe Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method on Friday.

Hashmatullah Shahidi finished with anunbeaten 59 while opener Mohammad Shahzadhit 55.

The first match that was scheduled forWednesday was called off without a ball beingbowled because of rain.

Afghanistan are one of just 10 teams takingpart in the World Cup which gets underway inEngland and Wales on May 30.

7�������Scotland 325 for 7 (MacLeod 100, Coetzer 73)vs Afghanistan 269 for 3 (Rahmat 113,Hashmatullah 59 not out, Shahzad 55).Afghanistan won by two runs (DLS method).

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He is considered one of the bestT20 players in the New

Zealand outfit, but Colin Munroplayed just four games for DelhiCapitals in this edition of theIndian Premier League. Withscores of 40, 3, 14 and 27, Munrofound the going tough. But beinga foreign signing comes withadded baggage. Even when youaren't finding a spot in the XI, youmust be available to interact withthe youngsters and impart knowl-edge about the game.

The Kiwi said that keeping apositive frame of mind and alwayslooking to help the youngsters inthe team is a must when you arean overseas professional playing inthe IPL.

"You just got to try and passout what knowledge you havefrom playing in the various T20leagues around the world. Only 11players can take the field, so youpass on the knowledge and makethem a better cricketer. It is frus-trating not playing, but you havea lot of work off the field as well.It is all about keeping a good atti-

tude when you are not playing andhelp the boys out," he smiled.

"Yes, very frustrating, but at theend of the day you can only playfour foreigners and the conditionsyou are playing in matter in teamcomposition. You just have to berealistic and cannot be negative.You have to turn up to trainingwith a positive attitude."

While everyone has beenspeaking about the youngsters inthe team and their brilliant display,Munro feels that credit must go tothe whole team, including thehead coach Ricky Ponting and

advisor Sourav Ganguly."The players knew their roles

and they tried to go out and exe-cute what they had been asked todo. Guys went out and achievedtheir goals and as a collective unitalso we did well. We peaked at theright time. The way they (Pontingand Ganguly) have interacted withthe youngsters, they gave eachother space and let each other workin their respective areas ofstrengths. They have allowed eachother to be who they are and havealso worked well with each other,"he said.

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Supernovas produced a clinicalbowling display to restrict

Velocity to 121 for 6 in the sum-mit clash of the Women's T20Challenge here on Saturday.

Sent into bat, Velocity suf-fered a batting collapse as theywere reduced to 37 for 5 in theeighth over before Amelia Kerr(36) and Sushma Verma (40 notout) stitched 71 runs in 10.5 oversfor the sixth wicket to take theirside to a respectable total.

But for the superb late fight-back by Kerr and Verma, Velocitywould not have even crossed the100-run mark.

Wicketkeeper batswomanVerma top-scored for Velocity

with a 32-ball 40 not out whichwas lashed with three fours anda six.

Kerr, who holds the record ofscoring highest individual runs

(232 not out) in ODIs, hit 36 off38 deliveries which had fourboundaries in it.

Velocity made a disastrousstart, losing a wicket each in thefirst three overs to be reduced to14 for 3.

New Zealand pacewomanLea Tahuhu swung the secondball of the innings away fromHayley Mathews who edged it tothe keeper for a duck. DanielleWyatt (0) went for a pre-meditat-ed shot in the next over bowledby Anuja Patil but failed to con-nect with the ball due to a latedrift and was stumped.

Shafali Verma (0) hit thefirst four of the innings in thethird over bowled by Tuhuhuwho, however, had the last laugh

by dismissing the batswoman thenext delivery with Anuja Patiltaking the catch.

A brief period of recoveryintervened with captain MithaliRaj (12) and VedaKrishnamurthy (8) stitching a 23-run partnership for the fourthwicket before both thebatswomen fell in a heap in thespace of four deliveries withoutaddition of any run.

It left the Velocity innings ina mess at 73 for 5 in the eighthover before Kerr and Verma res-cued their side with a superbpartnership.

For Supernovas, Tuhuhutook two wickets for 21 runswhile Patil, Devine and PoonamYadav grabbed a wicket each.

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Jos Buttler's stunning 50-ball cen-tury took England to 373 for three

against Pakistan in the second one-day international at Southamptonon Saturday.

Buttler's 110 not out featurednine sixes, including a straight driveoff Hasan Ali that took him to threefigures.

Such was his command thatButtler's second fifty took him amere 18 balls, with new fatherButtler making a 'rocking the baby'gesture to celebrate bringing up acentury that also included fourfours.

An extraordinary 'inside out' sixoff Hasan over long-off was arguablythe pick of his shots, although a pulloff Shaheen Shah Afridi that clearedthe rope and took him into the 90swas almost as impressive.

Together with England captainEoin Morgan (71 not out) he sharedan unbroken partnership of 162.

It was an encouraging display by

the World Cup hosts just a fewweeks from the start of the tourna-ment and further proof of theirprogress as an ODI side.

Saturday's total was the 35thtime since their miserable first-round exit at the 2015 World Cupthat England, now top of the ODIrankings, had posted a total in excessof 300 — a feat they had achievedonly 34 times in total prior to thattournament.

A Pakistan attack missing the illMohammad Amir took a pounding,with Hasan conceding 81 runsfrom his maximum 10 overs andAfridi 80.

Earlier, Jason Roy (87) andJonny Bairstow (51) laid a platformfor the innings with an openingstand of 115 after Morgan won thetoss.

Roy, fit following back troublethat kept him out of Wednesday's

washed out opener of a five-matchseries at his Oval home ground, hitmedium-pacer Faheem Ashraf fortwo huge sixes -- a drive over long-on followed by an extravagantuppercut over extra-cover.

But the return of left-arm quickAfridi for a second spell sawPakistan make the breakthrough.

Bairstow pulled him for aboundary to complete a 44-ball fifty.But the next ball saw Bairstow failto pull down and a leaping FakharZaman at deep backward square legheld a good catch at the secondattempt.

Following a brief rain break,Roy fell in sight of what would havebeen his eighth ODI hundred whenhe miscued a pull off Hasan to mid-on. Test captain Joe Root made 40before he holed out, his exit pavingthe way for Buttler's blisteringinnings.

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Summing up Delhi Capitals'performance this season,

skipper Shreyas Iyer said everyplayer took initiative andresponsibility before they felljust short of making their firstever IPL final, going down toChennai Super Kings inQualifier 2.

Playing under a new namein this edition, Delhi Capitalsmanaged to turn their for-tunes around with coach RickyPonting and advisor SouravGanguly at the helm.

"There are a lot of positivesto talk about. At the start of theseason with half of us young-sters in the team (but) Ricky,Sourav Ganguly came in andgave their views regarding howwe would be going this season.Everyone was really enthusias-tic to take forward from thereon.

"The way we started...Rightfrom the Mumbai game,Rishabh (Pant) started with agreat knock and from there onevery individual took respon-sibility. In the league phase wedid amazing. Last season wasreally disappointing for us andthe way we came out this year,everybody took that initiativeand responsibility till thisgame," Iyer said at the postmatch press conference.

"Off the field also, we havegelled as a team and and nowit's time to grow from here on.I am really of proud the way weplayed this season. We've gota lot more to come next sea-son," he added.

Delhi Capitals ended theleague stage with 18 points,similar points as finalistsMumbai Indian and ChennaiSuper Kings. They also man-aged to win their Eliminatoragainst Sunrisers Hyderabadbut could not cross theQualifier 2 hurdle against thedefending champions, losing bysix wickets on Friday.

The 24-year-old said thatDelhi players were lucky tohave Ponting as their coach.

"Ponting is definitely a leg-end. Whenever he talks in thedressing room, no one has totalk after that. Because if some-one does that, it's of no use.The way he talks, it's just likea song or a rap. He's got thatflow and he's been doing it for20 years.

"As youngsters, we are real-ly happy and lucky to have himas our coach. The positivity thathe spreads, the freedom that hegives to every player is some-thing out of the box. That'swhat we need as youngsters.We need someone to supportus and back us. That's what weget from Ricky," said Iyer.

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According to Christian belief, it wason the Easter day that the world sawthe death of death. Death, hithertounconquered and unassailable, sur-rendered to death and thus we got

the Resurrection Sunday. The tomb of death wasblown to smithereens as the saviour of humanityresurrected. While the world that had been fast-ing and praying for the return of the saviourwatched in awe, the son of the Lord appearedbefore them, giving the message that theirprayers had been answered. And they rejoicedby singing “hallelujah”. Since then, the world hasbeen surviving because of the ResurrectionSunday, a day which Christians all over theworld observe and celebrate as the Day of Hope.

Not anymore. The 2019 ResurrectionSunday saw hopes and dreams getting blown topieces as a group of Islamic human bombswalked into the Easter congregations being heldin many churches in and around Colombo inSri Lanka, resulting in death and destruction,leaving more than 250 dead and 500 maimedfor the rest of their lives. The suicide bombersowing allegiance to the Sri Lankan NationalThowheed Jamaat did not leave even some ofthe five-star hotels in Colombo owned andoperated by the Christian community.

The murder and mayhem, which shook theglobal conscience, was not for money and goldstored in the churches or hotels, the scenarioportrayed in the Spaghetti Western. All terroristattacks unleashed by various Islamic outfitsaround the world were perpetrated as part ofthe “clash of civilisations” described by SamuelHuntington, the Harvard University professorand social scientist in the book, The Clash ofCivilizations and the Remaking of World Order.

“For the first time in history, global politics is both multi-polar and multi-civilisa-tional; modernisation is distinct fromWesternisation and is producing neither auniversal civilisation in any meaningful sensenor the Westernisation of non-Western soci-eties,” said the professor, who pointed out thatIslam can never co-exist with other religionsin the world because it teaches its followers tokill all non-believers. “The Koran and otherstatements of Muslim beliefs contain few pro-hibitions on violence, and concept of non-violence is absent from Muslim doctrine andpractice,” wrote Huntington.

Osama bin Laden and those who tookover from him the leadership of globalIslamic terrorism have declared that their aim

is to create a Darul Islam (pure Islamic State)and unite Muslims all over the world. Theyhave also declared Christians, Jews, andHindus as their main enemies. All terroristacts which have taken place in the worldsince the emergence of bin Laden and his fol-lowers have been targeted against these three“enemies” of the Muslim world.

Why Sri Lanka and why Colombo? Theanswer is simple. The Sri Lankan Government,which came to power in the 2015 Elections,dumped all stringent security measures andlaws brought in by its predecessor, the MahindaRajapaksa Government. It became easy forIslamist terrorists to operate freely all over theisland nation. The LTTE remnants, who wereon the run from the Sri Lankan laws, made useof this interregnum to recover and recoup forfuture attacks. The statement issued by thetransnational Government of the LTTE con-demning the Sri Lankan Government orderbanning the Muslim niqab is proof of thisunholy alliance between the Tigers and terror-ists. Visvanathan Rudrakumaran, the “PrimeMinister” of the Transnational Government ofTamil Eelam operating from New York, saidthe decision of the Sri Lankan Government wastantamount to violation of the right to religiousfreedom. We must remember here that theLTTE had butchered 173 Muslims in aBatticaloa village in 1990.

The truth is that the LTTE and the IS havecome together in their mission to establish sepa-rate Tamil Eelam in the north of Sri Lanka,while the Islamists would strive for a Caliphateincorporating a part of the island nation. Thechoice of Colombo and the churches should beseen in this backdrop. Northern Sri Lanka has aTamil majority, while the Christians in Colomboare seen as friendly with the Government of theisland nation. The Christians and Buddhistsenjoy camaraderie dating back to centuries.Most of the present day Christians in Sri Lankaare the descendants of the Kauravas of theMahabharata, who migrated to the shores ofthe island nation after they were defeated in theKurukshetra War by cousins Pandavas. Thename Kaurava itself has its origins in Kauravarand the Coromandel Coast of India, fromwhere they set sail to Lanka.

Not only Sri Lanka, even the neighbouringIndia would not be the same after the Colomboblasts. There is no guarantee for life in thesecountries as terrorists, especially Islamic terror-ists, have expanded their areas of operation

from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan to the SouthAsian region that includes Sri Lanka and India.If the versions of the official secret servicespursuing the pattern of attacks carried out bythe Islamic terrorists are to be believed, moresevere attacks are on the anvil. The disciples ofOsama bin Laden are adapting themselves tonew situations and horizons, which are yet tofall in the radar of the intelligence and spyagencies. Their modus operandi changes on adaily basis. The proposed Islamic Caliphatevisualised by bin Laden and company extendsfrom West Asia to Indonesia and includesmajor parts of the Indian subcontinent.

The attitude of the self-styled secular, liberalintelligentsia towards the barbarians, too, haschanged — from love and respect to that of pas-sion. One was shocked when a Left liberal secu-larist wrote a lengthy article in a Tamil Nadubased newspaper (popularly known as thePeople’s Daily of Chennai), questioning and lam-basting those who linked the Easter Sundayattacks to the Islamic State. This despite theclaims by the IS itself that it was behind theblasts and had extended salutes to the suicidebombers who made the mayhem possible.

The attacks happened in Colombo, anhour’s flight from Chennai. The moment TVchannels flashed about the attack, this writer’sfirst reaction was to contact Siri Fernando, a 78-year-old devote Catholic in Colombo, who overthe years has assumed the role of an elderbrother. “We are fine and safe at home,” saidSiri, who also disclosed that the IS was behindthe cruel act. It took another three days for theIS to come out with video statements claimingresponsibility for the attacks.

But by the evening of Resurrection Sunday,it turned out that the Sri Lankan ThowheedJamaat, the module of the IS in the islandnation, was behind the attacks. It was also dis-closed that the Indian spy and intelligence agen-cies had warned the Sri Lankan Police about thesuicide bombs at least 10 days in advance. Butthe President and Prime Minister of Sri Lanka,who were busy with shadow-boxing and thegame of one-upmanship, paid scant regard tosuch crucial information. It was the haplessdevotees, who thronged the churches withprayers on their lips and hopes in their hearts,who had to bear the brunt.

The repercussions of the Sri Lankan blastswould definitely be felt in India. Those whohave been following the pattern of the Islamicextremists are surprised over the delay in such

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attacks in the Indian subcontinent. Since May 2014, theIslamic terrorists have split themselves into variousorganisations bearing unique and strange names and hadlowered their hoods to gear up for the big operations.Their targets would be crowded temples, market places,shopping malls, and other public places. India is nostranger to acts of terrorism by Islamic extremists.

According to P Chidambaram, the former Financeand Home Minister, the country was completely safeunder Dr Manmohan Singh’s Government (2004 to2014). “Borders were secure, infiltration came down,civilian and security forces’ casualties came downdrastically. The numbers will tell the story,” saidChidambaram. But studies released by the GlobalTerrorism Database and National Consortium for theStudy of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism throwmore light on these figures, in sharp contrast toChidambaram’s claims.

According to the data released by these agencies,5,788 people died in terrorist attacks in India from2004 to 2013. Most of the international agencies spe-cialising in terrorism related studies say India experi-ences more terrorist incidents annually (3,500) and ter-rorist related deaths (3,100) per year than any countryother than Iraq, wrote Dr Subramanian Swamy in thebook, Terrorism in India, published in 2008. Quotingvarious agencies, including the Union Home Ministry’sAnnual Report (2004-05), Dr Swamy wrote: “Of the 35States of today’s India, 29 are afflicted by terrorism.India is thus today a seriously terrorist challengednation which has profound national security implica-tions.” This was written in 2008 and the country hasundergone many political changes since then.

Even as the repercussions of the Colombo blastsare felt in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, an organisationcalled the Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath has startedrunning for cover. It issues daily statements claiming itdoes not have any ties with the National ThowheedJamaat of Sri Lanka. But R Abdur Razik, the GeneralSecretary of Sri Lanka’s National Thowheed Jamaat, ison record declaring that the two organisations arebound by common ideology and are promoting trueIslam unadulterated by non-Islamic influences. Theintelligence agencies in India have gathered details ofhow the Thowheed Jamaats in Tamil Nadu and SriLanka mobilised billions of rupees from Saudi Arabiato propagate Wahhabi Islam.

In January 2013, the then Chief Minister of TamilNadu, Jayalalithaa, had disclosed during a press meet thatthe Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath had 7.5 lakh activemembers. Jayalalithaa was no ordinary politician andwhatever she said would be based only on facts and figureswhich she had gathered from the intelligence agencies. Shealso cautioned the media from terming Thowheed Jamaatas a fringe element. But strangely enough, the media didnot report about the startling disclosures made by her.Since then, the Thowheed Jamath has gone from strengthto strength in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

General Mahesh Senanayake, Sri Lanka’s Chief ofArmy Staff, recently told a global news agency thatsome of the suicide bombers behind the Easter Sundayblasts had travelled to Kerala, Karnataka, and Kashmir.The General, true to his reputation as an officer with astiff upper lip, also said that the trip could have beenmade as part of a training programme.

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The world’s biggest elections are on. India, after all, isthe world’s largest democracy and the over 900 mil-lion eligible voters spread across 29 States and seven

Union Territories are in the process of electing a newGovernment in a seven stage election. A huge event by anystandards. Moreover, this year’s elections may also prove tobe the world’s costliest with mindboggling advertising spend-ing to the tune of several billions being invested by differ-ent political parties to allure voters through all kinds of mediacampaigns, propaganda, and gimmicks. Not just the con-ventional print and electronic media, but the now notori-ous social media and even the contrived biopics by manyfilmmakers are going the whole hog to prove their point bytrying to suggest to the electorate who is the “fairest of themall”. But amid this deafening cacophony of sound and lightsand advertisement blitzkrieg, the Indian voter is to watchout for. Though baffled and beleaguered, angry and con-fused, the voter is keen to vote. But how will he vote is thebillion dollar issue? While the so-called pollsters and psephol-ogists, the soothsayers and the astrologers, and even the datascientists are all throwing their wisdom in the ring, the votercontinues to keep the cards close to his chest. Yes, he maybe wondering who he should vote for. Nevertheless, hisdemeanour has also kept the so-called ivory tower thinktanks at their wit’s end, wondering what the voter is goingto do. Certainly then, the voter is standing tall to prove hispoint, like in the past: “Catch me if you can”. But this timearound, we are witnessing, perhaps, the most unpredictableof the elections, which many have already named as themother of all elections. Not just because the results are hardto predict, but also because the stakes are high for the world’slargest democracy. However, these issues notwithstanding,there is a need to raise the basic question that matters mostfor the success as also the survival of a democracy. That cru-cial question of the wisdom of the voter. The Indian voter,who has been delivering most unplayable of the googliesto even the most formidable of the challengers on even themost placid of the wickets. “Will he, won’t he” is the ques-tion this time. Will he defy all those predictions to provethat he has a mind of his own? Or will he prove to be thegullible simpleton some politicians assume? The advertise-ments, the claims and counter claims of marketers, the blamegame, the charlatans and turncoats, who think they are omni-scient have all made this election hard to gauge. Naturally,we need to figure out whether the voter can keep his cooland apply his mind. We will have to wait for some more time.But who wins or loses is not the question. The question iswhether the voter entity is intact.That is, if there is votermind that transcends castes and communities and discrim-inates between issues and non-issues, some kind of a col-lective unconsciousness that proves the strength of unity indiversity. We certainly would come to know about that ina few days. But there is a popular saying which suggests thatVox Populi, Vox Dei — that is the voice of people — is thevoice of God. The onus, of course, is on the Indian voterto prove this Latin proverb right or wrong.

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Most parents will say thatthey do. Do they really?My answer is no. I will

explain why I made such anassertion and you will agree.When a child is born, who doesthe child see most of the time, ifnot all the time, especially intoday’s nuclear family culture?The child’s parents, of course.Then, the child will learn from orape his parents only, because we,human beings, mostly learn byseeing, especially as far as ourbehaviour goes. I am talkingabout the formative years of achild when the foundation forbehaviour is laid. Now the impor-tant question: Are the parents onperfect behaviour? What do youthink the answer is?

You know the answer but Iwill still like to remind everyoneabout what we actually do. Let mestart with speaking. How many ofus can claim to be truthful all thetime? The answer will be: “We trybut it is not always practical.” Isthis what the child should learn,ie speak lies when it suits him.Same is true about honesty. Arewe really honest in our dealings.I will admit that many are butthat still leaves a large chunk ofthe population. How about rais-ing our voice or getting angrybetween parents? What are weteaching our young wards? Thatit is alright to get nasty with yourloved ones? The child does thatas he grows up; there are goodchances of it.

Somebody may like to chal-lenge me on my assertion thatyoung children learn mostlyfrom their parents as far asbehaviour goes. What does the

Gita inform us? That whatevera superior person does, in ourcase a parent, other people, inour case children, follow that.Whatever standard a commonman establishes, a child tries toemulate that. (3.21) I don’tthink that there can be a betterproof than that.

So now we can continuewith what parents mostly do.Let me take up eating. Whatdetermines what people most-ly eat? The answer is taste.There is nothing wrong with it.The Gita also recommends it,when it tells us, “Tasty, deliciousfoods, which enhance life-span;promote vitality; give strength,health, joy; and which are con-ducive to cheerfulness are dearto people in goodness.” (17.8)However, there is an importantdifference. We are supposed toeat those foods which do a lotof other good things, as men-tioned, besides being tasty. Doparents follow such wisdom?The child learns what parentsdo and is burdened with bad

habits for the rest of his life.What do parents watch on

television? Are they selective inwhat they see? Or they seesomething which is full of pas-sion, even hate, sensuous, hor-ror, etc? Yes, children start withcartoons but the foundation hasbeen laid for what they willwatch later in their lives. Does itnot place a lot of responsibilityon parents to be role models fortheir beloved children? Shouldn’tthey be highly disciplined inwhatever they do? Living togeth-er rubs off a lot on one another.

Let me take up anotherimportant activity, ie exercising.Why are children in Indiabecoming obese in larger num-bers like in the West? Becauseparents simply do not care. Ifthey were doing asans,pranayam, etc regularly, will thechildren not be influenced bysuch practices and benefit for therest of their lives? How aboutdoing your own work? I blamemothers for this; they are in toomuch love to act sensibly.

Whether we like it or not,our role as parents is crucial tomake a success of the lives of ourchildren. The growing childsees his parents as samplehuman beings. Does it not placea lot of responsibility on parentsto act sensibly at all times? Ifthey are really keen on the wel-fare of their wards, they must setgood examples. This is expect-ed if they really wish the verybest for their loved ones. And ifthe parents make connectionwith God, sky is the limit.

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For as long as I can remember,I was seized by a sense of dis-contentment, which sprungfrom a rather abstract source.This is what triggered my

spiritual quest. That’s when I startedlooking around for a master. Ofcourse, finding a master is a rare for-tune and it was a good many yearsbefore I finally met Osho, my master.I used to be a BSc student atTrichandra College in Kathmanduand I had gone to Janakpur, myhometown, for some familial chore. Bythen, I had been initiated by a fewgurus and was trying many differenttechniques of meditation withoutmuch success. Countless times I hadbeen praying to existence to bring areal guide for me.

One morning, I woke up to finda yogi standing silently at our gate,seeking alms. Such a sight is not thatuncommon in Janakpur. Janakpurused to be the capital of the kingdomof Mithila and the centre of Mithilaculture. I noticed that this yogi hadan exceptionally bright countenanceas though he was dripping withradiance. I went to the kitchen andfilled a handkerchief with rice andcame outside to give the pouch to theyogi. The yogi was in silence soinstead of speaking he took out a slatefrom his bag and wrote down, “I don’thave anything to carry the rice in, soit would be better if you could giveme some money.”

I fished into my pocket andfound a quarter, which I gave to theyogi. He accepted the offering grate-fully. We did not exchange words. Hewas about to leave when he sudden-ly turned back and started scribblingon his slate again. His English wasnotably good, as was his handwrit-ing. “What kind of meditation doyou practise?” I was taken off guardby this rather strange exchange andtold him that I didn’t practise anymeditation. But he insisted, “Yourvibrations tell me that you are try-ing hard to meditate.”

Surprised by his clairvoyance, Itold him how I had been trying dif-ferent techniques of meditation with-out much success. “My meditation isnot going well at all. Although I havelearnt many things from many gurus,I am not able to practise somethingthat is meaningful,” I told him withutmost honesty. He again wrote on theslate, “If you are ready, I am willing tohelp you.” After hearing that, I cordial-ly invited him into my house, madehim comfortably seated, and startedsharing my queries. He started writ-ing the answers in perfect English andHindi on his slate. After a while it wastime for lunch and I asked him whatI could serve him. He said, “Anything

vegetarian which has been made inthe house is good for me.”

We had a tradition of eating allour meals together, so my familymembers joined us too. After lunch,I invited him to my room. He sharedsome of the most insightful analysesof Aurobindo’s integral yoga,Vivekananda’s karmayoga andgyanyoga, as well as RamanMaharshi’s silence. His presence wasso pleasurable that I lost all track oftime. When the time came for theyogi to leave, he wrote on his slate,“You have all my blessings. Now Ishall leave.” I was enchanted by hispresence and didn’t want him to leave,so I requested him to come the nextday. The next morning, the yogiarrived as he had promised. After alight breakfast, we again sat togeth-er. As I mentioned earlier, I was strug-gling with my meditation and askeda great deal of questions.

His answers reflected the depthof his own meditation, inspiringfresh reverence in me. I was intriguedby his answers and insisted on know-ing more about him. He wrote thatbefore taking sannyasa, he used to bea professor in South India. Gradually,it dawned upon him that no outwardexcellence or accomplishment couldsatiate his deepest longing. When thisrealisation crystallised within him, hetook the jump and became an ascetic.Initially, he had taken a vow of

silence for 12 years. Those 12 yearsgave him the taste of solitude andbeatitude. By the time his vow wasover, he had immersed himself toodeeply in the blissful world of silenceto ever utter another word again.Whenever necessary, he communi-cated through his slate.

The yogi also gave me a shortmantra and a beautiful technique ofRajyoga. I pleaded with him to be myguru, but he refused. “I am not des-tined to be your guru. You will findyour guru at the right time.” I hadcome to inaugurate a yoga school inSiliguri. There I heard your cry forhelp and came to Janakpur just to helpyou. Whenever you have a real questand pray for it, someone will appearto help you. I am happy with yourthirst and this thirst will lead you toyour guru in right time.”

I got the darshan of Osho threeyears later. On the third day, the yogiarrived at my house as usual. Thatmeeting was to be our last one. Witha cryptic precision, he told me to fetcha diary, and wrote his answers on it.I brought a small notebook and start-ed asking him questions:

Which sect are you from and who isyour guru?“I don’t belong to any sect and Ihaven’t been initiated by anyone.God himself is my guru and human-ity is what I believe in.”

How can I meet you?“I don’t have an ashram. I am a wan-dering monk. I go wherever existencetakes me.”

What shall I call you?A yogi’s past has no meaning and wedon’t usually talk about it. And sinceI wasn’t initiated by anyone, I don’thave a name either. Due to God’sgrace, I am usually blissed out, so youcan call me Mastaram (the divinelyintoxicated one).

Is it true that yogis have variousmiraculous powers? Do you alsopossess such powers?“The mind starts to become pure andsharp once meditation takes hold ofyou. A silent mind becomes very pow-erful. A lot of miracles start happen-ing. These miracles are not necessaryon the path of samadhi, rather they arehindrances. I do experience suchpowers but discussing them will nothelp you in any way. You are veryinquisitive about such spiritual pow-ers. Begin practising meditation as Ihave taught you and soon you willexperience these powers by yourself.But it is not good to think andenquire about them. A lot of medita-tors go astray this way.”

There are many yogis, such as you,who have a lot of spiritual powersbut misery and injustice is only

growing in this world. Why don’tthe yogis make this world a betterplace to live in? Why do theyescape from the world?“The world has always been like this.There was injustice and misery evenin the time of Ram, Krishna orBuddha. Ram himself had to live inthe forest for 14 years in exile. Sita wasalso kidnapped. Buddha had to beara lot of humiliation. During his ownlifetime, he saw the end of the Shakyaclan and Kapilvastu. Krishna could-n’t stop the Mahabharata war or thedemise of his Yadav clan. The warbetween good and evil has beengoing on since eternity and will go onfor eternity. The desire for freedomfrom this world arises only after youunderstand that absolute justice,peace or system is not possible here.This world is a school. Learn your les-son and be free of it. This is not aplace where you should live forever.I see a strong wish in you to changethe world. This is a good wish, butyou will not be able to change theworld. We come here with limitedtime and energy, which should beused for self-transformation. Firstrealise God, then whatever the divinewishes for you will be the best for youand the world at large. After enlight-enment, God made Buddha roamaround villages for 45 years, while hemade Raman Maharshi sit silentlybelow the Arunachal hill.”

It is said that not even a leaf on a treecan move without divine will. If thisis true, then why do you tell me tomake constant effort in my medita-tion? Will my meditation not hap-pen naturally if He wishes? “It is probably not happening nowbecause He doesn’t wish it to be so.On the surface, your question lookslike the ultimate philosophical querybut underneath it shows the lethar-gic tendency of the mind. It is myunderstanding that even a leaf does-n’t move without God’s wish. I amtelling you to make effort in medi-tation so that you realise this byyourself. Through constant medita-tion when your ego melts and yourealise that you are not the doer butjust the watcher, only then will yousee that this whole world is a divineplay and runs exactly according toHis wish. When you say this now, itonly aids your laziness.”

Soon the time came for the depar-ture of the yogi and although we wereboth unwilling, we bid farewell to eachother. For the next three years beforeI met my master, his words becamemy pathfinder, always challenging andassuring me at the same time.

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����(�"�� �����(�%��������������������������������&�������������������/����!��������������8����������������!�������������������&�������/��!������������/�&������+�"�-�3�2����1 9�It is an open secret that Kerala

and Tamil Nadu are safe havensfor Islamic terrorists and membersof other extremist organisationslike the Maoists, Liberation Tigersof Tamil Eelam, and Kashmiri mil-itants. Pon Radhakrishnan, theUnion Minister of State forFinance, has been warning theState Government about the pres-ence of Islamic terrorists andMaoists in Tamil Nadu. Some ofthe Islamic outfits have their ownarms training camps in places likeTheni, according to a group ofsecurity experts who undertook arecent survey on the vulnerabilityof Tamil Nadu to extremists andterrorists. They point out that theheavily guarded Arivakam is theepicentre from where all conspira-cies are hatched for Love Jihad aswell as murder of Hindu leaders.

Sources in the NationalInvestigation Agency, probing theattempt to murder on ArjunSampath, the Hindu leader inTamil Nadu, said they got theleads to the Thowheed Jamathplan to attack Sri Lankan churcheswhile interrogating the suspectswho had been taken into custodyand this was instantly relayed tothe authorities. Both Tamil Naduand Kerala are ticking time bombsand the day is not far when we willsee blasts of much higher magni-tude rocking the States.

While Islamic terrorists haveestablished their base camps allover Kerala allegedly in con-nivance with some political partiesvying with one another to appeasethe minority vote bank, organisa-tions like the Thowheed Jamathare having a free run in southIndia as a prelude to demand andestablish the Islamic Caliphate by

incorporating parts of Kerala,Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh,Karnataka, and Telangana. Theyear 2020 will see various Islamistorganisations demanding the for-mation of the State of Malabarbecause the next year marks thecentenary of the MoplahRebellion, which ravaged theMalabar province of Kerala.Thousands of Hindus werebutchered by the maraudingIslamists and their temples plun-dered. The mainstream politicalparties accepted the demand byvarious Muslim organisations anddeclared the Moplah Rebellion ablatant communal riot as part ofIndia’s freedom struggle. Thosewho took part in the rebellioncontinue to draw freedom fighters’

pension from the UnionGovernment to this date.

Chandmal Chopra of Kolkatahad in 1985 filed a petition in theCalcutta High Court, stating that“publication of Koran attractsSections 153A and 295 A of theIPC because it incites violence,disturbs public tranquillity, pro-motes on ground of religion feel-ings of enmity, hatred, and ill-willbetween religious communitiesand insults other religions or reli-gious beliefs of other communitiesin India”. The petition was disal-lowed by the High Court and thepetitioner was incarcerated oncharges of inciting different reli-gions. Sita Ram Goel brought outa compendium, The CalcuttaQuran Petition, detailing theentire episode in 1986, but themodern, liberal, and secularmedia blacked out the entire inci-dent and published a differentversion altogether. The woundstill remains unattended to andhas become more infected.

The latest information is thatcolleges in Kerala have allegedlybecome breeding grounds torecruit, train, and deploy jihadisfor the establishment of theCaliphate. The CH MohammedKoya College of Arts and Scienceat Thiruvananthapuram recentlysaw students dressed as Islamicwarriors with guns and wavingthe black IS flags, undertaking avehicular parade around the city.The same spectacles were repeatedin many places in Kerala andTamil Nadu. Eternal vigilance isthe price we have to pay for liber-ty. For that to become a reality, wemust have stringent laws and pun-ishments. Extraordinary situationsdemand extraordinary measures.

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We perceive the world notin any objectively accu-

rate sense but through the lensof our own needs, goals, andprior experience. Still, we takea lot of pride in being a ratio-nal person. This is evident inour endeavour to get the high-est degree of educational qual-ification from topmost educa-tional gatekeepers — a signal-ing effort on our part to makeus look smarter and rational.

Therefore, when it comesto voting, we expect every per-son to exercise this democrat-ic right with a lot of rationali-ty, but alas, that expectation isoften misplaced. Because avoter in general never subjectshis/her decision to even a con-servatively moderate level ofanalysis. That is why voting isinherently irrational, and con-trary to popular belief, this irra-tionality has nothing to do withthe educational qualification ofthe voter.

Do you think any voter canafford to analyse what per-centage of promises made by apolitical party were fulfilled? Isthere any plausible reason fornot delivering on their promis-es? Is there threadbare analy-sis to identify the party whichhas a higher chance of deliver-ing on future promises?

Looks like a lot of work toarrive at a decision that mightnot always be conclusive.

The educated voter doesn’twant to use their intelligence toresearch and determine thebest candidate, but they dowant their candidate to demon-strate a relatively adequate levelof intelligence and capacity. Forpolitical candidates, it is farmore easy to stoke base emotions in potential voters

rather than developing a water-tight case for themselvesthrough demonstrating theirintelligence.

Today, politicians manip-ulate the electoral process byinfluencing voters much beforethey make an entry to thepolling booth. Contrary topopular belief, voting is not anindividual but a group behav-ior — this behavioral responsefrom the potential voter issomething well known to thepolitical class.

For millions of years, peo-ple have been part of group,commonly known as tribes.

Whether the groups are reli-gious, ethnic or political, wecan’t seem to have enough of it— humans need to belong to agroup identity more significantthan them.

Tribes are everywhere; andwhether you know it or not,you also are a member of atleast one of them — as anemployee of your organisa-tion, as a member of your reli-gious community or a castegroup. Being a member of thisexclusive group, you end upinternalising a lot of peculiarcharacteristics of the group.

All tribes share three com-

ponents: a group of people, acommon cause and at least oneleader who represents andorganises the tribe. However,the most important featurehere is the shared cause. It’s theshared cause that leads itsmembers to internalise thetribe’s values and ideas as theirown; turning group membersinto believers instead of merefollowers.

In India, caste is an essen-tial and sacred group identity.Time and again, in most of thecases, caste identity has provento be more potent than that ofreligious identity. Politicians

have somehow intuitively man-aged to decode this social iden-tity for their political gains.That is the very reason theyproject their candidates assomeone who could be trust-ed to fight for the commoncause of these particulargroups.

This is quite evident in theway most political parties selecta candidate belonging to one ofthe largest religious or castegroup from the constituency.And this is normally doneafter a meticulous grassrootsanalysis of unique caste demog-raphy prevalent in each con-

stituency that is slated toundergo the hammer of elec-toral verdict. Time and again,it has been proven beyonddoubt that emotional connectthrough group identity is ofgreat value and that it could never go out of fashionduring elections.

The political class in thiscountry, irrespective of thecolour of their ideologicalundergarments, do have thisknack of weaving a reasonablybelievable narrative aroundcomplex issues to focus acute-ly only on a topic that succeedseither in polarising or unitingthe potential voters. It isbecause an air of polarisationcreates an immediate environ-ment where voters tend toconveniently forget the mostobvious mistakes of their lead-ers. As a result, every election,including this one, has wit-nessed an attempt by repre-sentatives of people to indulgein politics of polarisation.

Whenever the polarisationalong identity lines succeeds infinding its victim among thepotential voters, even the mostself-proclaimed rational voterfinds it a bit too difficult toentertain a perspective thatlies on the other side of the faultline. Any digression is oftenperceived as disloyalty againsttheir peers and interest groups.

Be that as it may, everypolitical party is well aware ofthe active role of news media(including social media plat-forms) in influencing publicopinion. The parties are verymuch aware that media iscapable of playing an indirectbut persuasive role in shapingthe contours of public percep-tion by giving selected issues

and facts better coverage thanother issues and events.

It is this coverage thatleads audience — by virtue ofthe greater attention theydevote to specific topics — todecide that these are the mostimportant ones to be taken intoconsideration when adopting aposition.

Therefore, every politicalparty wants to have a definitesay in deciding those selectedissues and facts that could getthem maximum coveragethrough different media plat-forms, because the amount ofnews coverage can make a bigdifference in the perceived sig-nificance of an issue amongpotential voters. During anelection, whichever politicalparty is seen by voters to havea superior stance on the issuehighest on the media’s agendaat the moment gets a distinctadvantage.

Steven Pinker, the famousthinker and evolutionary psy-chologist of the modern era,said that one function of themind might be to hold beliefsthat bring the belief-holderthe most significant possiblenumber of allies, protectors ordisciples, rather than ideas thatare more likely to be true.Therefore, even if you belongto a group of a selected fewwho could see through allthese elaborate facades, optingto go against the grain bychoosing to use your intelli-gence might not find many tak-ers. It is so because in the end,everyone wants to contribute toa winning side by affirmingone’s identity.

(The writer is an IRS officer.Views expressed are personal)

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Islamist terror in the Sahel is nota new phenomenon. It has been

gaining ground for long. Whilefighting major wars in West Asia,Afghanistan and Syria — catalysedby democratic deficit and fastdecline of liberal world order — theWestern powers have hardly paidserious attention to the Sahel terror.Today, for many of the global pow-ers, jehad in this part of Africa is “aforgotten war”. Despite an onslaughtof deadly attacks coming from amatrix of Islamist radicals, theregional Governments are either notbeen able to counter them or attimes not willing to nip the terror-ist organisations in the bud.

The Sahel, a vast sub-Saharnscrubland, has witnessed the emer-gence of a number of jehadi groupsover the years. By early 2007, a localSalafist group in Algeria was brand-ed as al-Qaeda in the IslamicMaghreb (AQIM). Gradually,AQIM has become the centre of var-ious disruptive activities across theregion. Afterwards, some other ter-rorist groups emerged in the Sahel,such as Mokhtar Belmokhtar’sKatibat (battalion) al-Murabitun(Those who remain steadfast), theMovement for Unity and Jehad inWest Africa (MUJAO), Boko Haramand its breakaway faction, Ansaru.So far it has been observed that allthese groups have their own strate-gies and dynamics, but they havemaintained communications witheach other. Further, in all of them,as they are increasingly posingthreat to Western interests, twotypologies demand attention at themoment: borderless criminals kid-napping for ransom, and highlypolitically motivated terrorism. Infact, following the coup d’etat in Maliin 2012, the Sahel has come at theforefront of the US foreign policy.

Some of the security and intel-ligence experts opine that as theIslamist militants are fast losing theirhold in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan,they may look for new operationalgrounds with local designs. After the

conduct of French military’sOperation Serval from January 11,2013 to July 15, 2014, three of thefive Islamist leaders —AbdelhamidAbou Zeid, Abdel Karim and OmarOuld Hamaha — were killed.Unfortunately, Mokhtar Belmokhtarfled to Libya and Iyad Ag Ghali leftfor Algeria. The French mission waslargely successful in pushing thejehadis out of the main centres.

The Sahel consists of parts ofNorthern Senegal, SouthernMauritania, Central Mali, NorthernBurkina Faso, the extreme South ofAlgeria, Niger, the extreme North ofNigeria, Central Chad, Central andSouthern Sudan, the extreme Northof South Sudan, Eritrea, Cameroon,Central African Republic and theextreme North of Ethiopia. This vastexpanse of Africa is mainly plaguedby misrule and abject poverty. It has

broad and open lands, weak centralGovernments and porous borders.These things work as catalysts forjehadis to operate transnationally,often with absolute freedom.

Today, what is happening on theground is that the US, the UK andFrance, along with other Westerncountries, are trying to assist thelocal forces, both in the form ofoffering training in advanced war-fare and financial aid to fight thegrowing menace of Islamist jehad inalmost 16 African nations. But todate, these efforts are hardly bring-ing any result.

Besides, ordering for troopwithdrawal from Syria andAfghanistan, the American militaryis cutting back its forces in Africa by25 per cent in its western front.Around the same time, the jehadisare mounting their attacks on

Northern Burkina Faso and movingtowards South along the border withNiger. It is disheartening to note thatnew jehadi elements are fast spread-ing to areas such as Ivory Coast,Ghana, Togo and Benin.

Amid the gloom and a completeU-turn in the US global strategiesand priorities under the TrumpAdministration, initiatives like“Flintlock” were carried out inBurkina Faso in February. Thecounterterrorism exercise drew2,000 military personnel from morethan 30 African and Western coun-tries. This kind of vigil and counterterror steps might be helpful, but asustained strategy is on highdemand to secure this impoverishedregion from the grip of Islamist ter-ror. The US is only providing airpower or at most intelligence assis-tance to its European and African

allies in the name of the so-calledglobal war on terror (GWOT).

On record, this year so farAmerica has conducted 24 airstrikes against al Shabab in Somalia,compared to 47 such operations in2018. At the moment, only 6,000 UStroops and 1,000 Defence expertswork throughout Africa. Their pri-mary task is to impart training andconduct exercises with localGovernment forces. Under Trump,no one knows who are America’sallies and who are friends. Nothingseems stable for Trump, includinghis own presidency. He is only cre-ating chaos and bringing the wholeliberal institutions into limbo.

France, the erstwhile colonialpower in West Africa, is todaymaintaining 4,500 troops in the areato fight the jehadis in countries suchas Mali, Niger and Chad. France

very successfully routed al-Qaedaaffiliates from the North of Mali in2013. But is it enough to offer a safe-ty cover to such a vast expanse ofland from these disgruntled and ina way dislodged firepower ofIslamist jehadis? Absolutely not. Itis a growing threat. It is spreadingfast beyond Sahel region.

Islamist jehad is not dead. It isonly retreating from Syria and Iraqfor the time being. In disguise, rem-nants of al-Qaeda, ISIS and theirlocal variants are appearing acrossthe world. Recently, when localoffshoots of the ISIS massacred hun-dreds of Christians in Sri Lanka inApril, the reclusive caliph of the ISIS,Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (believed tobe dead), issued his first videomessage in five years showeringpraise on his followers in Africa.

He said, “Your brothers inBurkina Faso and Mali…We con-gratulate them for their joining theconvoy of the Caliphate”, as report-ed by the SITE intelligence groupthat monitors communication net-works of the jehadi organisations.This shows how the ISIS in WestAsia is connecting to their follow-ers in Africa and considering thecontinent as a fertile ground forfuture course of action.

The jehadis in Africa havemainly been fighting their ownGovernments, but generally they areaverse to westerners coming totheir lands. Some like Boko Haramin Nigeria, which is known as theIslamic State in West Africa, is byprinciple completely againstWestern learning and it is virtuallycreating chaos in that country.Whereas the groups such as the al-Shabab in Somalia is deep into theteachings of the al-Qaeda and it ismostly targeting major populationcentres in the capital city ofMogadishu.

This is how a strong tendencyof establishing a proto-Caliphate isspreading in some parts of Africa.

To conclude, imparting trainingto local Government forces and

eliminating regional jehadis may notharbinger peace and stability tothese poor African nations. Whatcomes worse is that some of theGovernments are giving a free handto the local ethnic militias to fightthe jehadis. Instead these groups areturning on the locals and their ownenemies and becoming a big threatto peace and stability.

At this hour, Bob Dylan’sprophetic words must serve as thesole guideline to the Westernnations while countering Islamistterror in this part of the world. Hewrote in 1963, “Come you mastersof war. You build all the guns. Youbuild the death planes. You build allthe bombs. You hide behind walls.You hide behind desks. I just wantyou to know I can see through yourmasks. You never done nothing. Butbuild to destroy. You play with myworld.”

Most of the African nations arefighting the worst of the evils thatwere simply left behind either bytheir former colonial masters or themisguided policies and programmesdesigned by leading global powersin the name of GWOT. And whatadds fuel to fire is long lasting mis-rule, corruption and mayhembrought by many of the Africanleaders and their ilk. Hence, thejehadis, ethnic militias and localgoons are constantly gaining groundboth to exploit rich reservoirs ofresources and inflict torture on thecommon citizenry. To put thischaos to an end or to minimise it,the local governance system mustfight the evils first, instead of blam-ing former colonial powers and topglobal players operating in theSahel region.

To bring peace, stability anddevelopment back, it is time for theSahelians to think glocally. Theymust propel good governors asalmost no governance is the root ofall their evils.

(The writer is an expert oninternational affairs)

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Awoman concerned about contin-ued struggle in her husband’s life,came asking the other day:

“What is wrong in his destiny that hehas been subject to unwanted twists andturns in his career all through his life?So far, he lost his job nothing less than adozen times. In between, many a times,he has to be out of job also. He is hon-est, truthful, and hardworking and yet,he has to suffer. His health, too,becomes a matter of concern every nowand then. We have got done so manypujas, as suggested by the pundits toward off the evil, but to no avail. Whyso? Is there no remedial measure thatcould grant him ease and comfort?”

In the above context, let us firstexamine whether heavenly beings couldgrant boons in return for transactionalpujas offered in their praise, to mitigateour sufferings. Had it been so, noresourceful person would have ever suf-fered in life. That is, however, not inevidence. At best, such pujas can bringin psychological satisfaction, which mayhelp restore your own faith.

It may not be out of place to men-tion here that the Upanishads, whichserves as the premise on which the

Indian philosophy stands, does talk ofvarious deities engaged in cosmic man-agement. That, however, doesn’t meansome heavenly beings like us, who couldselectively respond to our prayers. They,in fact, symbolise various forces playingthrough the cosmos, vital to life cycle,and available in equal proportion to all.It is difficult to digest that forces wouldbe imbued with some mind-like organ-ism to respond to our individual call,and that too mediated by pundits. It isagain an established fact that our livesare driven by the laws of karma — asyou sow, so shall you reap — and whichdefines the course of our destiny. And itworks in a self-automated mode, almostlike a software programme. There is noscope for any external agency adjudicat-ing our course of destiny.

The question now is: How doesdestiny play upon in our lives? Goingby the Indian philosophy’s concept,human life is structured in three layers— causal, astral, and gross bodies. Ondeath, it is just the gross body that dis-integrates. The causal and astral bodies,that are pure energy platforms, do notwither away. They carry over memoryimpressions pertaining to the past life

and make it available to the freshlyincarnated body as thought seeds.These thought seeds set the trends ofmind — indwelling desires, virtues andattributes, habits and attitudes, likesand dislikes, prejudices and obsessions.They, however, do not define in finiteterm specific events due in emergingtimes. They rather just offer a lead toproceed with. It needs to be remem-bered here that unless ground suited togermination of seeds is available, theymay never bear fruit-bearing plants.Invariably, guided by indwelling desires,we take off in life. Their fruition, how-ever, would need qualitative effort,which, in the first place calls for creat-ing the ground necessary for fruition.Second, assess the environmental con-straints as well as challenges posed bycompeting interests. Accordingly, artic-ulate ways and means to intelligentlypursue the task in hand. The irony isthat our mind, blinded by indwellingdesires, doesn’t allow time and space toinvoke our own empowerment tool —buddhi — for due diligence, before tak-ing the final call. And when we fail,instead of trying to find our own fault-lines, we take refuge in our destiny.

The most potent remedy, therefore,is that your husband reflects upon his

own mind-trends and makes necessaryamends. In this context, let us look atastrological pointers of the man con-cerned. The main marker is hisSagittarius lagna, with its lord Jupiter,though in exaltation, but placed adverseto Uranus, Sun, and Moon. It implies, inthe first place, an undiplomatic and tact-less person. He would be known for hisindiscrete and ill-timed instinctive out-bursts, often offending those around.Second, he is headstrong and opinionat-ed and may try to force his viewpoint.Third, he has a swaggering ego, oftenout of touch with reality that makes himstuck to his beliefs and not open to look-ing beyond to explore better options.The Sun also ill-disposed off to Moonmakes him vulnerable to conflict anddisharmony with others on the slightestpretext. Intelligence signifying Mercurysandwiched between headless Ketu andmischievous Neptune accounts for hisinner confusions and insensible reason-ing. And the result is there to see.

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