professionals to don joint secy cap days ago · pns n new delhi in an attempt to break away from...

PNS n NEW DELHI

In an attempt to break awayfrom “bureaucratic red

tapism” and infuse fresh ideasinto governance, the Centre onSunday advertised 10 for postsof Joint Secretary-level officersopening them for general pub-lic bypassing the prevalentUnion Public ServiceCommission system. TheGovernment hopes to overhaulthe governance system throughthis experimental step.

Terming the recruitment as“lateral recruitment”, theGovernment through theDepartment of Personnel andTraining (DoPT) advertisedfor 10 posts against vacanciesin ministries of Finance,Commerce, Civil Aviation,Environment, Agriculture,Road Transport and Highways,Shipping, Renewable Energy.The advertisement invited pro-

fessionals working in variousfield to join the Governmentand become part of the nation-building.

Though the appointmentof individuals from privatesector in the Government atSecretary level is not new — theNDA Government in 2002 hadappointed Reliance-ownedBSES head RV Sahi as the

Power Secretary — this is thefirst time posts at JointSecretary level have beenthrown open for the generalpublic from the public and pri-vate sectors.

“The Government of Indiahas decided to invite talentedand motivated Indian nation-als willing to contributetowards nation-building to jointhe Government at the level of

Joint Secretary. The proposal oflateral entry is aimed at bring-ing in fresh ideas and newapproaches to governance andalso to augment manpower.Candidates who have expertisein specific areas of Revenue,Financial Services, EconomicAffairs, Agriculture, RoadTransport & Highways,Shipping, Environment &

Forests, New & RenewableEnergy, Civil Aviation andCommerce and fulfil the eligi-bility criteria may apply for spe-cific posts mentioned in theadvertisement,” the DoPTadvertisement said.

It added that candidatesfrom State Governments/Union TerritoriesAdministration, Central/StatePSUs/autonomous bodies, etc,

set up or controlled byCentral/State Governmentsshall be appointed on deputa-tion (including short-term con-tract). The candidates fromprivate sector organisations,international/multinationalorganisations, etc, shall beappointed on contract basis fora period of three years extend-able up to five years.

Minister of State (MoS) inthe Prime Minister’s OfficeJitendra Singh said theGovernment’s decision of intro-ducing lateral entry of 10 posi-tions as Joint Secretaries is anendeavour to give every Indiana chance to grow and con-tribute his expertise in thenational growth.

Terming the lateral entry asa huge reform by exposing the

top civil service to competitionthrough lateral entry, formervice chairman of Niti Aayog,Arvind Panagriya tweeted,“Hope India’s best minds willrise to the occasion and comeforward to serve. They are thekey to the success of thereform.”

The unconventional movebased on recommendations of

the NITI Aayog drew strongcriticism from Opposition par-ties who were against the ideaof diluting bureaucratic checksand balances. “Why are time-tested UPSC and SSC beingsought to be undermined? Tofill IAS ranks with Sanghisand undermine reservationtoo, in the BJP’s last few monthsin office,” tweeted CPI(M) gen-eral secretary Sitaram Yechury.

Defending the move NitiAayog CEO Amitabh Kanttweeted, “Niti’s experience withlateral entry has been extreme-ly good. They bring in a vastnumber of fresh & vibrantideas. This move in Govt waslong overdue & I welcome it.Will catalyse UPSC entrants tospecialise. Govt must also allowdeputation of its officers to pri-vate sector as well.”

This move was also wel-comed by RTI activist and for-mer CIC Shailesh Gandhi, whosaid that this is a better methodas UPSC doesn’t show the spe-cialisation. “If the selection isdone in a transparent manner,laying down proper criteriaand ensuring that experts inthose fields joined is a brilliantidea,” he said.

Historian RamachandranGuha posted his 2016 articlewritten in a newspaper sug-gesting the Government toopen bureaucracy for compe-tition. “I think that from thelevel of Joint Secretaryupwards, all Government jobsshould be subject to open com-petition. At that level one canbring in professionals withexpertise, and yet allow themto grow in the State system,before assuming larger respon-sibilities,” Guha had written.

Professionals to don Joint Secy cap

NAVIN UPADHYAY n NEW DELHI

Bihar Chief Minister NitishKumar comes from the

Kurmi caste having just overthree per cent presence in theState, which has been a labo-ratory of caste politics for ages.If Nitish is still the tallestleader of Bihar, then there arereasons for it: He commandsacceptance across caste andcommunity, his political acu-men is unmatched, and hisadministrative qualitiesunquestionable.

All of these will be on testnow that one of the NDA allieswants him to relinquish thechair of Chief Minister and theBJP desires him to be a juniorpartner and settle for justaround 10-12 out of 40 seats inthe 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

With virtually no chance ofa reunion with Lalu Prasad,Nitish will now have to explorehis option within the NDAitself. A well-known election“manager” recently tried topersuade Lalu to take steps to

revive the JD(U)-RJD allianceby extending support to Nitish.However, sources said, Laluremained non-committal onshowing any such magnanim-ity.

In the 2009 Lok Sabhapolls, when the BJP and theJD(U) were allies, Nitish wasthe face of the alliance and theJD(U) contested 25 out of 40seats. In the next year’sAssembly polls, once again, theJD(U) was the big brother as itcontested 141 seats and the BJPhad to be content with 102seats. In 2005 Assembly pollsalso, the two sides had con-tested nearly the same numberof seats.

But that equation is boundto change now. After Nitishdumped the BJP and went soloin 2014 Lok Sabha polls, thesaffron outfit contested 30 seatsin alliance with Ram VilasPaswan’s LJP and UpendraKuswaha’s RLSP. The BJP won22 seats, whereas the LJP wonsix out of the seven seats it con-tested, and the RLSP won three

out of three. So, the

BJP, the LJPand the RLSPtogether have31 MPs inthe currentLok Sabha.That leavesonly nineseats which

can be given to Nitish.BJP sources said the party

may deny tickets to sulkingMPs Shatrughan Sinha andKirti Azad and may give twoadditional seats to the JD(U).That makes it 11 for the JD(U).This seems to be the best casescenario for Nitish, unless theBJP is ready to surrender moreof the seats it won in 2014 gen-eral elections, or Kushwahawalks out of the NDA. In thesecond case, the BJP couldoffer the RLSP quota seats tothe JD(U). Kushwaha hasrefused to accept Nitish as CMcandidate in 2020 Assemblypolls and staked his own claimfor the coveted chair.

For Nitish who contested25 seats in 2009 in alliance withthe BJP, it will be a big climbdown if he agreed to settle forjust around one dozen seats.

Nitish could hope for a facesaver only if there is a “sacro-sanct” agreement that theJD(U) will contest the majorshare of Assembly seats.However, given the distrustbetween the two parties, a sec-tion of the JD(U) is of the opin-ion that Nitish should advancethe Assembly polls and holdthem along with the generalelections. That would insulatehim against any “change ofmind” by the BJP leadership ifthe Modi Government is backin the saddles and Nitish is seenas an expendable ally. Theresults of the 2009 Lok Sabhapolls showed that the BJP willbe well placed if Nitish and theRJD are locked in a triangularcontest.

However, Nitish has so farpersistently denied advancingthe Assembly polls, which areslated to be held in 2020.

The BJP central leader-ship understands it too wellthat Nitish’s options are limit-ed. That is why the JD(U) hasnot even got invitation to jointhe Union Cabinet and AmitShah did not think it necessaryto reach out to Nitish as he didin case of Uddhav Thackerayand Prakash Singh Badal. Of course, Shah may still meetNitish when he visits the Statein course of his jan samparakprogramme, but the messagehas gone that Nitish may haveto play the role of a junior part-ner in to the BJP in Bihar in theLok Sabha polls.

The setbacks suffered byhis party in Jehanabad andJokihat polls show that theJD(U) has to pay a heavy costfor abandoning Lalu. Now thatthe BJP is trying to cut him tosize and even someone likeKushwaha is questioning hisability to lead Bihar, Nitishseems to be running out ofoptions. Can he produce onemore political googly he is sofamous for?

India frowns onOBOR, PM callsfor SECURE

TN RAGHUNATHA n MUMBAI

The Shiv Sena has set the catamong the pigeons by

charging that the purposebehind the RSS inviting formerPresident Pranab Mukherjee toits headquarters might be thatin the event of 2019 Lok Sabhapolls throwing up a hungHouse, it might initiate a moveto form a “nationalGovernment’ with “citizen”Pranab at the helm of the newdispensation.

In an editorial published inits official mouth-pieceSaamana, the Shiv Sena said,“There must be definitely someagenda behind the RSS invitingPranab to its headquarters (toaddress the graduatedpracharaks). Whatever may beagenda, we will get to knowabout it in 2019”.

“Available pointers suggestthat the BJP will not get major-ity in the 2019 Lok Sabhapolls. In the event of a hungHouse and the likelihood ofother political parties not sup-porting Modi’s candidature forthe Prime Minister’s post, thegrapevine in Delhi has it thatthe RSS might try to float anational Government with

Pranab at its helm,” theSaamana editorial stated.

Elaborating on the editor-ial in Saamana, the Sena’sspokesperson and the newspa-

per’s executive editor SanjayRaut said, “We feel the RSS ispreparing itself for a situationwhere it might put forth Pranabji as the Prime Minister’s can-didate if the BJP fails to getrequired numbers in the lowerhouse of Parliament, in anycase the BJP will lose a mini-mum of 110 seats this time.”

Swift came the responsefrom Pranab’s daughterSharmistha Mukherjee whotweeted, “Raut, after retiring as

President of India, my father isNOT going to enter into activepolitics again.”

Sharmistha had earlierquestioned her father Pranab’sdecision to go to the RSS head-quarters in Nagpur by sayingthat his speech would be for-gotten, visuals will remain andthose would be circulated withfake statements.

Sharmistha also respondedto a tweet from a RSS sympa-thiser Rahul Easwar who said,“Expecting a Tweet of applausefrom respected, dear@Sharmistha_GK ji; Not as adaughter, but as a Citizen. Sri #PranabMukherjeewassuperb :-).”

In her tweet, Sharmisthasaid, “Thanks @RahulEaswar jifrom a daughter. But as adaughter as well as a citizen, Ireserve the right to differ &express that difference withoutfear. Was brought up like thatby my parents. I am what I am-good or bad- thanks to them”.

Earlier, alluding to the“changing approach” of theSangh Parivar towardsMuslims, the Sena mouth-piece stated that the RSS, whichin the past would criticise theCongress of trying to “appease”had begun to hold Iftar partiesusing the Government machin-ery and State-run guest houses.

Continued on Page 4

Nitish faces challenge of a lifetime

RAJESH KUMAR n NEW DELHI

The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) will

soon be able to issue flash floodalerts with its ambitious “flashflood guidance FFG system”.FFG systems are specialisedforecasting and early-warningsystems for flash floods.

The system will forecast theimpact of rainfall warning thatwould alert States/cities onwhether a particular spell ofrain could lead to flooding afterassessment of soil condition,moisture level and topographyof the particular area.

According to DirectorGeneral of IMD KJ Ramesh,the new system will help takeprecautionary measures inadvance in case of suddenflood in any specific area.

“Rainfall spell would floodan area often depends on inter-play of factors that include thetemperature, soil condition,

soil depth, antecedent soil mois-ture conditions, state of thedrainage system, topographyand the amount of rain. Thetrial run is going on the system,”said an official of IMD.

Elaborating the FFG sys-tem, officials said that real-timedata input comes from remotesensing satellite radar trackingrainfall in the region andhydrological models based onlocal climatic and geographicconditions.

“Flash flood guidance sys-tems focus primarily on heavyrainfall and rainfall on satu-rated soils. The systems seek toidentify the amount of rainfallthat exceeds a water body’s car-rying capacity,” official added.

For instance soil condition

of Rajasthan and MadhyaPradesh can absorb 10 to 20 cmrainfall. On the other hand, soilconditions of Uttarakhand can-not absorb 10 cm or 20 cmrainfall so there are chances offlood-like situation.

“Presently the IMD issueswarnings for heavy rain butthese have mostly failed toprompt States into taking pre-emptive measures. What needsto be done is to convert thatforecast into a flood warning.Will the rain flood the city ornot?, an official said.

To forecast the floods, theIMD operates FloodMeteorological Offices (FMOs)at 13 locations, which includeAgra, Ahmedabad, Asansol,Bhubaneswar, Guwahati,Hyderabad, Jalpaiguri,Lucknow, New Delhi, Patna,Srinagar, Bangaluru andChennai with the support ofCentral Water Commission.

Continued on Page 4

Modi Govt invites

applications for

10 posts from

public/pvt sectors

PTI n QINGDAO (CHINA)

In a clear message of India’scontinued Opposition to

China’s ambitious One BeltOne Road (OBOR) initiative,Prime Minister Narendra Modion Sunday said mega connec-tivity projects must respectsovereignty and territorialintegrity of the countries, assert-ing that New Delhi would sup-port initiatives which ensureinclusivity.

In an address at the annu-al summit of the ShanghaiCooperation Organisation(SCO) in port city Qingdao, thePrime Minister also coined anacronym SECURE which heexplained: ‘S’ for security for cit-izens, ‘E’ for economic devel-opment, ‘C’ for connectivity inthe region, ‘U’ for unity, ‘R’ forrespect of sovereignty andintegrity and ‘E’ for environ-ment protection. Referring tothe threat of terrorism, Moditalked about the “unfortunate”example of the effects of ter-rorism and extremism inAfghanistan and hoped that thebold steps taken by its PresidentAshraf Ghani will be respectedby all the players in the region.

It was the responsibility of thebloc to ensure that the reasonsfor which Afghanistan’s unity,integrity and sovereignty wereaffected in the past are notrepeated, he said, adding Indiawill play an important role inthe SCO Contact group onAfghanistan. Officials saidalmost all SCO leaders, includ-ing Russian President VladimirPutin and Chinese President XiJinping, talked about the dan-gers of terrorism and extrem-ism and resolved to contain itwith a concrete action plan.Talking about the importance oftransport corridors, Modi, inthe presence of the ChinesePresident, said India’s commit-ment to connectivity projects isreflected in its involvement inInternational North SouthCorridor project, developmentof the Chabahar port andAshgabat agreement.“Connectivity with the neigh-bouring countries is India’s pri-ority. We welcome the connec-tivity projects which are sus-tainable and efficient and whichrespect territorial integrity andsovereignty of the countries,”the Prime Minister said.

Continued on Page 4

Prime Minister Narendra Modi shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping onthe sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Qingdao onSaturday PTI

Niti’s experience withlateral entry has beenextremely good. Theybring in a vast numberof fresh & vibrant ideas.This move in Govt waslong overdue & Iwelcome it. Will catalyseUPSC entrants to specialise. Govt mustalso allow deputation of its officers toprivate sector as well

— Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant

If theselection isdone in atransparentmanner,laying downpropercriteria and ensuring thatexperts in those fields joinedis a brilliant idea

— RTI activist and formerCIC Shailesh Gandhi

Why are time-tested UPSCand SSC beingsought to beundermined?To fill IAS rankswith Sanghisand undermine reservation too, inthe BJP’s last few months inoffice— CPI(M) general secretarySitaram Yechury

HopeIndia’sbestminds willrise to theoccasionand comeforward to serve. They arethe key to the success ofthe reform— Former Niti Aayog vicechairman Arvind Panagariya

Sharmistha rejects

Shiv Sena’s theory

Raut, after retiring as

President of India, my

father is NOT going to

enter into active

politics again

— Sharmistha Mukherjee

RSS may project Pranab as PM if2019 throws up hung House: Sena

@TheDailyPioneer facebook.com/dailypioneerFollow us on:

SPORT 16

NADAL WINS RECORD11TH FRENCH OPEN

RNI No.2016/1957, REGD NO. SSP/LW/NP-34/2016-18

Published From DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPAL

BHUBANESWAR RANCHI RAIPURCHANDIGARH DEHRADUN

Late City Vol. 154 Issue 158*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

Established 1864

LUCKNOW, MONDAY JUNE 11, 2018; PAGES 16 `3

www.dailypioneer.com

}}

WORLD 12

TRUMP, KIM ARRIVE IN SINGAPORE

OPINION 8

AIR INDIA: GOVERNMENTBARKING UP WRONG TREE

QUANTICO

ROW: PEECEE

APOLOGISES

13 VIVACITY

IMD alert system poised totake sting out of flash flood

UP minister demands

probe into damage

in vacated bungalow

PNS n LUCKNOW

Aday after the official bun-galow vacated by former

Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadavwas found to be badly damaged,Minister of State for TransportSwatantra Dev Singh on Sundaydemanded a high-level probeinto it.

He said the former ChiefMinister, who was occupyingthe bungalow for the last overone year, had violated theSupreme Court order by dam-aging the official accommoda-tion and the probe would bringout the truth. “Leaders likeAkhilesh Yadav claim to repre-sent the poor and the down-trodden masses. His claim isbogus as he is used to luxuriousand lavish life at the cost of thestate exchequer. Akhilesh Yadavand other leaders of his ilk, whohave amassed huge wealth andhave now come together toescape corruption charges, spenthundreds of crores of people’smoney for their luxury andcomfort,” Singh said here onSunday. “Air-conditioners andItalian tiles and marbles shouldnot have been removed fromthe bungalow because thesewere government properties.He has violated the apex courtorder. An investigation is need-ed,” Singh said.

Akhilesh Yadav, who

recently vacated his govern-ment bungalow in compliancewith Supreme Court order andshifted to a private villa, hasallegedly taken away importedtiles, false ceiling, ACs, gardenlights and bathroom fittingsamong others.

The minister said: “ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath alsoshifted to the official residenceof the Chief Minister in Marchlast year but nothing waschanged there. There was nei-ther any demolition nor anynew construction,” the ministersaid.

On June 2, Akhilesh Yadavhad vacated his official resi-dence in compliance with theapex court order. He nowresides at the Ansal township onSultanpur road in Lucknow.

The Supreme Court in May2016 had quashed the lawpassed by the then SamajwadiParty government granting per-manent residential accommo-dation to former ChiefMinisters of the state. The apexcourt, in its order, said formerChief Ministers of the statewere not entitled to governmentbungalows.

Thereafter, Chief MinisterAdityanath government hadissued notices in May this yearto six former Chief Ministers ofUP to vacate their official bun-galows.

Dr Kafeel Khan’s brother shot at

Gorakhpur: Dr KafeelKhan’s younger brother KashifJameel was reportedly shot at inGorakhpur on Sunday.Speaking to the media, DrKhan alleged that his brotherhad been fired at thrice and wascurrently admitted in a cityhospital. Initial reports claim hehas sustained injuries on hisarm, neck and chin. “I alwayssaid they would try to kill us”,he said. Khan’s brother was shotat by two unidentified bike-borne assailants, and a policeprobe is underway into theincident.

Jameel, 34, is currentlyadmitted to Star private hospi-tal in Gorakhpur. He sustainedthree bullet shots--one each onhis upper arm, neck and chin.

Dr Khan, a pediatrician,who was booked for the oxygensupply tragedy at Gorakhpur'sBRD Medical College that tooklives of at least 30 children, wasreleased on bail last month,after he wrote a letter detailingthe events that had unfolded inAugust last year. In his letter,Khan had alleged that he hadbeen made a scapegoat forwhat was a ‘total administrativefailure at the higher level.’

Khan had also alleged inhis letter that UP CM YogiAdityanath was then angry asthe Gorakhpur tragedy hadmade it into the media, fol-lowing which the police hadbegun to hound him and hisfamily.

He had recently volun-teered to serve in the Nipahvirus hit Kerala.

Inspirational Indian captain Sunil Chhetri scored a brace to put himself on par withLionel Messi and lead the home side to Intercontinental Cup title triumph with a 2-0 win over Kenya in the summit clash on Sunday PTI

city 02LUCKNOW | MONDAY | JUNE 11, 2018

PNS n LUCKNOW

After the ruling party legis-lators, now a Bharatiya

Janata Party parliamentarianhas levelled allegations of cor-ruption at ministers in theYogi Adityanath governmentwhile claiming in the samebreath that no one can raise afinger at Prime MinisterNarendra Modi or UttarPradesh Chief Minister YogiAdityanath.

BJP Member of Parliamentfrom Kaiserganj, Braj BhushanSharan Singh, said that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andChief Minister Yogi Adityanathwere honest in the true sense butthe same could not be saidabout UP ministers.

The MP said this during aninteraction with the media afterholding a chaupal at Haldarmaublock of Gonda under the GramSwaraj campaign to highlight theachievements of the four-yearrule of the National DemocraticAlliance government,

“I can give honesty certifi-cates to PM Modi and CM Yogibut not to the (state) ministers.There are complaints aboutministers minting money andeveryone knows this,” he said,adding that the time had comefor Yogi to take action againstthe corrupt ministers.

During the chaupal, theBJP MP heard the grievances ofthe villagers and assured to getthem redressed.

Earlier, Suheldeo Bharatiya

Samaj Party president and UPCabinet minister Om PrakashRajbhar had raised a voiceagainst the BJP governmentover misgovernance and corrup-tion.

Two BJP MLAs, one fromBallia and the other fromHardoi, have also slammed theYogi Adityanath governmentfor failing to control corruption,saying it led to the defeat of partycandidates in the parliamentaryand assembly bypolls.

BJP MLA from Gopamauconstituency in Hardoi allegedthat state officers were corrupt.

“Farmers are not happywith the government becausethe officers are not listening tothem. There are several otherreasons for the party’s debacle

(in by-elections),” he said with-out elaborating.

Shyam Prakash even wrotea five-verse poem on hisFacebook account, claiming thatstill Modi was the most popularleader of the country but hispopularity was mired by corrup-tion charges.

Another BJP MLA fromBeria assembly constituency inBallia district, Surendra Singh,has compared officers with pros-titutes saying officers are takingmoney but are not doing thework. “The entire governmentis involved in corruption and thepeople are not getting the ben-efit of welfare schemes.Therefore, they are angry andthey voted against the govern-ment,” Singh said.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Deputy Chief MinisterDinesh Sharma said that

the Yogi Adityanath govern-ment in Uttar Pradesh wasworking for the uplift of Dalitsbecause they had been ignoredby the previous regime and hadbeen denied the benefits ofgovernment schemes.

Sharma was addressingmeetings of Akhil BharatiyaBaanskar Mahasabha andAkhil Bharatiya DharkarSamaj at the AmbedkarMahasabh grounds here onSunday.

“The country can progressonly if all sections of societymarch ahead. The progresswill be lopsided if one sectionmarched ahead while theother remains stagnant. Ourgovernment realises this factand therefore it is working forthe uplift of all sections ofsociety, including Dalits,”Sharma said.

The Deputy ChiefMinister said it was for thefirst time that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi had organiseda summit of Dalit entrepre-neurs.

He said that in UP, theYogi government had appoint-ed Dr Lalji Prasad Nirmal,who belonged to the Baanskarsamaj, as Chairman of theUttar Pradesh ScheduledCastes/Scheduled TribesDevelopment Corporation.

“The government workson the principle of ‘sabka

Saath, Sabka Vikas’ to ensurethat the benefits of govern-ment schemes reach all quar-ters,” the Deputy ChiefMinister said and appealed topeople to support PrimeMinister Narendra Modi inhis endeavour to bring socialequality.

Governor Ram Naik alsospoke on this occasion.

Lali Prasad said that in thename of Dalit appeasement,they (Dalits) were being used

by different parties as votebank.

“Caste divide is widenedby some political parties to useDalits against others. This isan attack on the ideologypropagated by Dr BRAmbedkar, he said, andadded, “This should end andDalits should be treated asnormal man.”

Social Welfare MinisterRamapati Shastri also spoke inthe meeting.

Lucknow (PNS): In a drive conducted in the prisons acrossUttar Pradesh, 459 inmates were found to be HIV positive. Thejoint drive by Prisons Administration and Reforms Services andthe UP State AIDS Control Society was launched last month andis still underway.

As per the records, blood test (finger prick) was conducted on78,739 prisoners of which 559 were found reactive. Of them, 479inmates were detected for the first time. These prisoners under-went confirmatory three-kit tests to check if they are HIV posi-tive. As per the report, so far 459 inmates have been tested HIVpositive. The reports of other inmates are still awaited.

Lucknow prison comprising Lucknow District Jail, Nari BandiNiketan and Model Jail, tops the list with 49 HIV positive inmatesfollowed by Ghaziabad and Moradabad district jails with 46 and33 HIV positive inmates, respectively. Twenty-one inmates at Nainijail and 24 at Aligarh district jail also tested HIV positive.

Of the total 459 HIV positive inmates, the officials have start-ed antiretroviral treatment (ART) of 69, as per the report. Earlier,when the list was compiled, the total number of HIV positive inmateswas pegged at 406. At that time, the test had been conducted on78,057 inmates of which 563 were found reactive.

A senior jail official said they were facing problems as sever-al inmates had refused to go for the blood test. The state Prisondepartment is now trying to motivate the remaining 11,166 inmatesto go for blood test, promising that if the disease is detected theywill be provided free treatment. Muzaffarnagar district jail tops thelist where 1,455 inmates refused to go for the test. Inmates at Kanpur(480), Azamgarh (455), Ballia (356), Jaunpur (330), Unnao (267),and Agra (289) district jails have also refused to go for the test. Asper jail records, till last year, 163 prison inmates were HIV posi-tive out of the total number of 89,885 prisoners in UP jails.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Samajwadi Party presidentAkhilesh Yadav, who had lit-

erally vacated his official bunga-low along with tapes and tiles onSaturday, came out with a bizarreargument, accusing the ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath gov-ernment and Bharatiya JanataParty for the vandalism in theofficial accommodation. Thiscomes after the BJP slammed theformer Chief Minister for thealleged damage caused to thegovernment bungalow whereAkhilesh used to reside.

“The BJP government isdeliberately tarnishing myimage. One can learn such tac-tics from the ruling party’s dirtytricks department which knowshow to malign a political leader.I took only my goods and arti-cle. I have not taken away anycostly item from the official bun-galow. In fact, I left behind alarge number of items like cost-ly plants dedicated to LordKrishna,” Akhilesh said here onSunday.

He added: “The mediashould go and inspect all therooms, including the templeand the toilets. The governmentshould give me a list of the miss-ing items and I will pay for it.The government should alsoreturn all those items I leftbehind in that bungalow.”

The SP also deployed itsleaders to defend the party pres-ident. SP MLC and close aide ofAkhilesh, Sunil Yadav said,“After handing over the keys of

the government bungalow, thedamages inside the premises wasdone on the instructions ofChief Minister Yogi Adityanathhimself. It was not the estate offi-cer but the OSD to the ChiefMinister who took the media totake a round of the bungalow.This was deliberately done onthe instruction of the ChiefMinister to tarnish AkhileshYadav’s image in public becausethe Chief Minister is frustratedafter losing a series of bypolls,”Sunil said.

According to officials, thegovernment accommodationon Vikramaditya Marg was leftin a bad shape with missingwater taps, broken taps, lights,bathroom fittings, electrical fit-tings, broken tiles. The swim-ming pool, cycle track andkitchen were also damaged.

The BJP has accused the for-mer Chief Minister of damagingthe property “out of frustration”.BJP state spokesperson RakeshTripathi asked the SamajwadiParty to explain why the tiles atthe bungalow were uprooted.“The bungalow was damagedbefore it was vacated by AkhileshYadav and this shows his frus-tration,” Tripathi said here onSunday. He said, “One willunderstand if they took air-con-ditioners, but even electric bulbholders and tiles are missing.The broken tiles cannot be usedagain, and this shows that heacted out of frustration. Thebungalows of Mulayam SinghYadav, Rajnath Singh andMayawati had no such damage.”

PNS n LUCKNOW

Six members of a family wereamong 18 people killed in

separate road accidents.Six members of a family

were killed and four otherswere seriously injured in car-truck collision in Unchahararea Rae Bareli on Sundayevening.

Police said that ShivkaranMaurya, a resident of GangharaGulal Ganj, was returning withhis family from MangarhAshram when their car collid-ed with another speeding carnear Arkha turning point in thearea. Due to the heavy impact,the car was badly damaged andthe occupants were trappedinside it. The deceased wereidentified as Keshkali (75),Anupa Devi (35), Prince (12)and Pari (2).

Six people were killedwhen a stationary UPRoadways bus was hit by atruck on National Highway 91near Maman village inBulandshahr district.

The driver and conductorof the bus going from Agra toHaridwar were replacing apunctured tyre when a truckrammed into the bus frombehind killing the six peoplewhich included four women,he said.

In Hathras, six personswere killed and three injuredwhen a vehicle lost control andrammed into a tree on theHathras-Aligarh road in Sasaniarea on Saturday night. Besidesdriver Alisher (28), others areyet to be identified.

Under Gram Swaraj, govt will

reach out to farmers: CM

PNS n VARANASI

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath said thefarmers would no more

have to approach the govern-ment for redressal of theirgrievances as the governmentwould itself reach out to themto fulfil their needs.

Addressing gram pradhansat the Trade Facilitation Centreat Bada Lalpur on the secondday of his visit to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s par-liamentary constituency onSunday, Yogi said the state gov-ernment had selected 13,500villages for their overall devel-opment and the pradhans ofthese villages would get addi-tional funds for development.

He said gram pradhan ofvillages having more than20,000 population wouldreceive more funds than anMLA for development of theirvillage.

He asked the gram prad-hans to initiate developmentwork without any bias.

Yogi also assured the grampradhans that farmers wouldget compensation within 24hours for losses due to any nat-ural calamity.

Highlighting the impor-tance of Clean India Mission,he appealed to all the grampradhans to make their villagesopen defecation-free (ODF).

He also advised the prad-hans to convene meetings ofsenior citizens and intellectu-als of their respective villages

to resolve land disputes.Citing the example of

Hausari Ausanpur village inSiddharthnagar district, Yogisaid that it had become the firstvillage in the state to be fullyequipped with CCTV as 23CCTV cameras had beeninstalled there to keep watchon the activities of anti-socialelements.

Talking about Kashi, hesaid that in the city projectsworth `1,545 crore had alreadybeen completed and the pro-jects worth `11,400 croreswould be completed by June30. He said that sinceIndependence such a largenumber of projects had neverbeen launched.

Yogi said that there wouldbe no age limit for widow pen-sions. He later gave away enti-tlement cheques to the eligiblegram pradhans.

Earlier, Yogi performedPanchkosi Parikarma after tak-ing sankalp at ManikarnikaGhat Kund and completed theyatra after visiting all the mainfive ‘paraos’ (halts).

During the over six-hourjourney, Yogi offered prayers atall the main halts.

The Chief Minister said thestate government had sanc-tioned ̀ 101 crore for the beau-tification of PanchkosiParikarma route in Varanasi.

Yogi also visited differentplaces to seek support of promi-

nent denizens for the BJP forLok Sabha elections next year.

The Chief Minister alsovisited one of the leadingashrams at Garhwaghat whichModi had also visited justbefore the last Assembly elec-tions on his last phase of thepoll campaign.

Besides, Yogi met formerVice-Chancellor of KingGeorge’s Medical University(KGMU) Dr SarojChooramani, retired professorof Kashi Vidyapeeth and social-ist thinker Surendra Pratap,astrologer ChandramauliUpadhyay of BHU, senior advo-cate Radhey Shyam Choubey,veteran party leader KailashKeshri and others.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath presenting a cheque to a gram pradhan in Varanasi on Sunday Pioneer

Yogi govt working for

uplift of Dalits: Sharma

Governor Ram Naik garlanding the statue of Dr BR Ambedkar at AmbedkarMahasabh grounds in Lucknow on Sunday Pioneer

Govt tarnishing

my image, says

Akhilesh Yadav

Poor to get all basic facilities: Puri PNS n LUCKNOW

Highlighting the achieve-ments of the Narendra

Modi government, UnionMinister of State for UrbanDevelopment Hardeep Purimet the intelligentsia of thestate capital on Sunday andapprised them of the develop-ment works carried out by thegovernment in the last fouryears.

Puri met the intelligentsiaunder the ruling party’s‘Contact for Support’ cam-paign under which leadersmeet prominent citizens toinform them about govern-ment policies and seek theirsupport for the coming LokSabha elections. Over 4,000party leaders will contact overone lakh people who matterduring the last one year of theNational Democratic Alliancerule at the Centre.

“During the last four years,the Central government haslaunched various developmentschemes and is ensuring thattheir benefits reach the poor.The sole aim of this governmentis to ensure that the poor get allthe basic facilities of life whichthey deserve. The policies arebeing implemented without anybias because the spirit behindimplementation is ‘Sabka SaathSabka Vikas,,” the UnionMinister of State with indepen-dent charge said in his interac-tion with the intelligentsia.

Puri had interaction withretired IAS officers like UKMittal, AP Verma, Anis Ansari,Atul Gupta, R Ramani, retiredIPS officers likes KL Gupta, DKSharma, managing director ofLucknow Metro RailCorporation D Kumar Keshav,Vice-Chancellor of LucknowUniversity, Prof SP Singh, prin-

cipal of La Martiniere Girl’sCollege Ashita Das, director ofBalram Hospital, Dr RajivLochan, noted eye surgeon DrSanjiv Hansraj and others.

Puri said in the last fouryears, farmers, who weredeprived of the benefits ofgovernment schemes, wereincluded in the mainstream.

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath had met cine starSanjay Dutt on Saturday underthe Contact for Support pro-gramme.

Union Minister of State for Urban Development Hardeep Puri addressing prominent citizens in Lucknow on Sunday Pioneer

Toilet construction target to be met

before 2019, says minister

Lucknow (PNS): UnionMinister of State for UrbanDevelopment, Hardeep Puri,said the Union governmentwould complete its target forconstruction of toilets in urbanareas under Swachh BharatMission much before 2019because it was no longer a gov-ernment programme but hadtransformed into a public cam-paign.

Talking to reporters atBharatiya Janata Party officehere on Sunday, Puri said thatagainst the target to construct 67lakh toilets, the government,

with the help of corporate hous-es and non-governmentalorganisations, had so far con-structed 52 lakh toilets.

Similarly, he said, againstthe target to construct 5 lakhcommunity toilets, so far 3.2lakh such toilets had been con-structed.

“This is no longer a govern-ment scheme but has taken theshape of people’s movement,” hesaid, adding that impressed bythis campaign, a man hadnamed his newly-born girl childas Swachhata. “During freedomstruggle, freedom fighters were

called satyagrahi but those whoadvocate Swachh BharatCampaign are called‘Swachhagrahi’,” the minister said.

Puri said the governmentwas also close to meeting thetarget of Pradhan Mantri AwasYojana. He said this schemewould also ensure that citiesbecome open defection-free.

Puri was in city to meetintelligentsia under the rulingparty’s Contact for Supportcampaign, in which prominentcitizens of the city are being con-tacted for their support in thecoming Lok Sabha elections.

459 prisoners test HIV

positive in UP jails

UP ministers corrupt, says BJP MP

Four criminals arrested

Lucknow (PNS): Thepolice arrested two hardcorecriminals each from Moradabadand Bulandshahar districts onSaturday night raids. Police saidRajendra aka Ravindra of CivilLines in Moradabad was arrest-ed from the Kotwali police sta-tion area while Ratan of Kotwalilocality was arrested near aguest house in Kotwali area ofBulandshahar. Police hadannounced cash reward of`25,000 on Rajendra and of`20,000 on Ratan. Rajendrawas named in 19 cases crimescommitted in Bihar, Haryana,Punjab, Uttarakhand,Moradabad, Agra and Bareilly.A country-made pistol and alive cartridge was recoveredfrom him.

Six of a familyamong 18 killedin mishaps

Printed and Published by Vijay Prakash Singh for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., 4th Floor, Sahara Shopping Centre, Faizabad Road, Lucknow-226016 and Printed at Tin Tin Printech Pvt Ltd., C-33 Amausi Industrial Area, Nadarganj, Lucknow. Tel: (0522) 2438656 / 9336266608.

Editor: Chandan Mitra. Resident Editor: Vijay Prakash Singh. RNI No. 2016/57. Lucknow Telephones: EPABX: 4036600 Fax: 2345582. Allahabad Office: (95532) 2420818, 2421018, 3290460. Kanpur Office: (95512) 2304006, 2304416. Varanasi Office: (95542) 2414294, 2414295. Delhi

Office: Link House, II Floor, 3 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi 110 002. Tel: (011) 23755271-274, 41509074.

Office of the Director & Superintendent in Chief, UHM District Male Hospital, Kanpur Nagar

Letter No: - UHM/2018/ 991 Dated:-05-06-2018

AdvertisementWalk in Interview for the post of Senior Residents (Non Academic) in following departments ofUHM District Male Hospital, Kanpur-208001. With post graduate degree as mentioned below forthe duration of one year on contractual basis. Candidates should have completed PG not morethan 0-4 years back.

S.No. Name of Department Essential Qualification No of Sr.Residents Required

1 General Medicine MD/DNB 02*

2 General Surgery MS/DNB 02*

3 Emergency Medicine MD/DNB 02*

4 Paediatric MD/DNB 02*

(*- Reservation rule will be followed as per government Norms) The Position will be on contractual basis for one year. Total emoluments for above post will be90,000/- (Per Month) Fixed. Apply and appear with all essential documents Original and One set Photocopy for walk in inter-view on 20-06-2018 at 10:30A.M. In Hospital Campus Auditorium near Director's room.

Dr. Umakant, Director and Superintendent in Chief

UHM District Male Hospital, Kanpur Nagar

UP 128876 Date 9.6.2018foKkiu osclkbV www.upgov.nic.in ij miyC/k gSA


PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

After the JEE Advancedresults were announced

on Sunday morning, the cityachievers with high ranksfound reasons to smile.However, majority of the stu-dents said they could havesecured better ranks had theChemistry section not beenthat tough. There were manywho bettered their ranks incomparison to what theyachieved in Mains. The achiev-ers are now looking forward tojoining the reputed IITs.

Utkarsh Gupta, whosecured all-India rank (AIR)431 in JEE Advanced, said hewas happy with the result. Sonof a drug inspector , Utkarshhad secured AIR 1073 inMains. About his successmantra, Utkarsh said it wasimportant to keep revisingbefore the exam.

“In the last 15 days beforethe exam, I attempted a lot ofquestion papers so that I couldbe able to answer the questionswith ease being strong andclear about my concepts,” hesaid. However, he added thathe was aiming at a rank with-in 150. A student of CMS(Gomti Nagar), it was Utkarsh’sfirst shot at the exam. Lookingforward to getting into IIT-Delhi, he said he was stillundecided about what streamto pursue.

Ishank Srivastava, whosecured AIR 598, had got AIR3774 in the Mains exam.Happy to have made such aremarkable improvement,Ishank said his Mains rankwent down because the com-

puter he was allotted was notfunctioning properly. Abouthis preparations, he said hestudied almost eight hours ona daily basis. “I hope to getElectrical Engineering orMechanical Engineering. Withthis rank, I will probably getadmission to IIT-Delhi. I willalso take up MBA from anyIIM,” he said.

Divyanshu Singh, son ofadditional CMO Dr SanjayKumar, secured AIR 1403 inJEE Advanced. He had got AIR1260 in Mains. Divyanshu saidhe was not very happy as hecould have done better.

“There were several easyquestions but with a lot of ‘non’and ‘no’ added to confuse thestudents. It was the reason stu-dents made silly mistakes. TheOrganic Chemistry sectionwas really tough. I could havedone better but for the prob-lems I faced at the exam cen-tre where there was no prop-er cooling and it affected myperformance,” he reasoned. Hesaid he followed what his teach-ers taught them and it was thereason that he could performwell. He said he was consider-ing Computer Engineering orElectrical Engineering.

Muskaan Aggarwal, whosecured AIR 1730 in JEEAdvanced, showed significantimprovement as she had gotAIR 4657 in Mains. Muskaan,who dropped a year to clear theexam, said she was looking for-ward to joining IIT-Kanpurwith Electrical or MechanicalEngineering.

Ayush Singh, who securedAIR 1017, said he was happyand satisfied. A student of

Kendriya Vidyalaya, Ayushmade it in the first attempt.

“I could have secured abetter rank but for the fact thatI made several mistakes inChemistry,” he admitted. Hesaid that to crack the exam, itwas important to keep practis-ing and to study NCERTbooks. Son of a dentist, theyoung achiever said he did notopt for medical field becausehe was not interested inBiology. “I am looking forwardto joining IIT-Kharagpur orIIT-Roorkee for Electrical orComputer Engineering.

Astitva Chowdhary, whosecured AIR 1044, said he wasnot too happy as he was aim-ing at a rank within 1000.“However, I owe my success tomy teachers. I am still in theprocess of deciding as to whichinstitute should I join becauseI am planning to do PhD ineither Physics or Mathematics,”he added.

Shubhang Pandey, whosecured AIR 1226 in JEEAdvanced, had got AIR 436 inMains. She said she was disap-pointed with the result. “Imade several mistakes inChemistry and lost some vitalmarks,” she said, adding thatshe was looking forward toworking in a multi-nationalcompany.

Ankish Kumar, whosecured AIR 4500 in JEEAdvanced, had secured AIR1018 in Mains. Admitting thathe had become overconfident,he said he made several sillymistakes. Hoping to join IIT-Delhi with Civil Engineering,he said he also wanted to goabroad for studies.


Markets in the Old City areabuzz with hectic activi-

ties as Eid-ul-Fitr draws closerwith men and women goingshopping and eating out at thefamous eateries near AkbariGate and other areas. Touristsare also not missing the oppor-tunity to visit the markets at thispoint of time when the marketslook appealing post 10 pm. Thenight life remains alive till thewee hours.

There are numerous ven-dors which come up on thestreets during this time, sellingdelicacies like shahi tukda,chaat, pakora, halwa etc.

Abu Bakr of the famousIdris biryani joint, while talkingto The Pioneer, said the crowdsincreased during the last tendays of Ramzan. “We remainopen almost through the dayand then till around 3.30 am

when sehri time ends. Themaximum rush is between 7pm and 10 pm and then at thetime of sehri,” he said. Apartfrom biryani, other eatablesthat sell like hot cakes arekorma, sheermal and nihari-kulcha besides gauzabaan, spe-cial bread made from doughmixed with dry fruits. “Wealso serve paya nihari whicheven the poor rozedaars relishas it is not that pricey,” Abu Bakrsaid. However, he said though

the rush was huge, it was not ashuge as it used to be in the pre-vious years, probably due toheat. “Several people from near-by districts and cities are visit-ing to taste our biryani whichwe are famous for. We had vis-itors from Kanpur and a teamfrom Delhi eager to have ourbiryani and and they enjoyed itunder a blistering sun. It’s truethat during Ramzan, biryanihas special flavours. There arealso people who first read about

the thriving markets on theinternet or elsewhere and thengo about savouring the delica-cies,” he said.

Mohammed Usman of thefamous Tundey kebabi shop inAminabad said they received ahuge number of visitors duringRamzan. “We open the shoparound noon and close ataround sehri. People come hereto have kebab-paratha and ourkebabs have special masalaswhich help in digestion,” he

said.Masood Abdullah, a resi-

dent of Chowk, said the young-sters in particular loved to stepout and enjoy the food at vari-ous eateries at the time of sehri.“My son visits various eaterieslate night and relish all the non-veg items served there. Thescorching heat notwithstanding,the rush of visitors is huge.Women go shopping afterbreaking their fasts and its is thetime when the markets are

overflowing with the crowd.There are people who just cometo view these markets in fullglory late in the night,” he said.

Prateek Hira, owner of acompany which conducts culi-nary tours during Ramzan,said that even in the lean sea-son when Ramzan is falling inextreme heat, they had takeneight tourists from Englandand Australia on a visit toAkbari Gate and nearby areas.“These tours start at 8:30 pmand end around 10 pm whenthe crowds start peaking. Wetake our visitors to the eatingjoints of Mubeen, Raheem,Rehmat and the popular paanshops. The tourist enjoy theexperience of watching theshops in their actual forms.They also do not shy away fromtasting the huge variety of fooditems sold by roadside vendors.They are impressed by thecolourful markets,” he said.


A45-day-old girl childdied allegedly after shewas given a wrong vac-

cination at Community HealthCentre of Chinhat on Sundaymorning fuelling speculationthat the vaccination in thecity is not infallible. This alsoexposes the department’s claimthat ampules of vaccinationsare doubly checked and chil-dren are examined before theyare given the same.

Chief Medical Officer(CMO) Narendra Agarwalformed a committee to probeinto the incident. The commit-tee, headed by Dr DK Rawat,has been asked to submit thereport to the senior officials atthe earliest. “Dr Rawat was sentto the CHC after the issuecame to our notice. We arewaiting for his report andaction will be taken according-ly,” the CMO said. Kin of thevictim and local residents cre-ated a ruckus at the CHCalleging that a trainee nursehad injected the vaccine whichcaused the death of the child.They demanded action againsthospital staff including an

Auxiliary Nurse and Midwife(ANM). However, the policewere yet o register a case in thisconnection. Police sent thebody for autopsy to ascertainthe cause of death.

As per reports, VikasSharma of Awadh Vihar local-ity in Chinhat, along with hiswife Shalu and their daughterSarika, went to the CHC forvaccination on Saturday. Theywere given a vaccination cardand had reached the CHC onthe due date with their child.

“ANM Madhubala Guptaand her assistant VandanaGupta (contractual employ-ee) administered the vaccina-tion to our daughter. At thetime of giving injection, theytold us that the child may catchfever due to the vaccinationand asked us not get panic dueto that. However, my child’scondition started deterioratingsoon after she was given thevaccination. She stoppedresponding and we complainedto the doctors. But the doctorssent us back to our home say-ing that my daughter would benormal a little later,” Vikasalleged. He said Sarika was cry-ing all the time since they

returned home and she hadhigh fever on Saturday night.“We panicked at her conditionand waited for the dawn.Around 4 am, we reached theCHC on Sunday where hercondition was diagnosed asserious. The CHC doctorsreferred her to Ram ManoharLohiya Hospital where shewas declared brought dead,”Vikas said while sobbing bitter-

ly. He alleged that the doctorsgave his daughter some wrongvaccination or some vaccina-tion which had expired andthat claimed his daughter’slife. As the protest intensified,a police team was sent to theplace to contain the public ire.The cops assured protesters ofan action after a panel of doc-tors ascertained the cause ofdeath and accordingly a case

would be registered. CHC incharge Dr Suresh

Pandey said the child wasgiven polio drops, an intra-muscular polio vial, a vial ofPenta 1 and a PCV vial. “Someother children were given thesame dosage during the vacci-nation camp. The vials at theCHC are fully secured, pre-served as per the standardnorms and are safe,” he said.He added there was an obser-vation through a mobilemethod by which he couldeven check if a particular vialhad been put on a propertemperature or not. “Theupkeep of the vials is underclose surveillance of top offi-cials in the Medical depart-ment of UP and in Union gov-ernment,” he contested. Pandeyadded that the directives on thevaccination were followed inno uncertain terms at CHCs allacross the state.

Sources at CHC said thechild was probably given thevaccination without sterilisa-tion and this caused the deathof the child. They said death ofthe child occurred when awrong component of the vac-cination was given to him/her.


Awoman was killed alleged-ly for dowry by her hus-

band and in-laws in Ashiyanaon Sunday. As per reports, thewoman, identified as ShaluTiwari (24) of Rae Bareli, hada love marriage with Rahul andwas living at a house in sectorG of Ashiyana. On Sundaymorning, some residentsinformed the police that awoman was found hanging ather house and her husbandhad fled the scene after lock-ing the doors.

A police team reached theplace and later called woman’sbrother Raman Tiwari whoreached the scene. “I got a callfrom Ashiyana police aboutShalu’s death and reached thehouse. I found Shalu lying ona bed dead,” he said. He said hehad visited Shalu’s house onJune 5 to inquire about well-being. “She was looking verynervous and upset. I insistedher to tell the reason but shedid not speak up probably dueto fear of Rahul and his fami-ly members,’ he told. He allegedthat though Rahul had a lovemarriage with Shalu, he and hisfamily members used to torture

her for dowry. “We are not richand are unable to give dowrygifts. So we tried to persuadeRahul and his family not to askfor the dowry gifts. But theyignored our entreaties andkilled her,” he said. Ramanadded that he had an apprehen-sion that Rahul, his mother andhis sister killed Shalu for dowry.

The police spokesman saida case was registered againstRahul, his mother Aruna andhis sister under different sec-tions of IPC for dowry death.He said the couple was marriedthree years back and they hadno issue from the marriage.“The police sent the body forautopsy to ascertain the causeof death,” he said. The PROadded that Rahul was jobless.

Meanwhile, a mason wasfound dead at an under-con-

struction house in PGI policestation area on Sunday morn-ing. As per reports, RameshSingh of Alambagh is getting ahouse constructed in PanchamKheda locality under PGIpolice station area these days.He had asked Charles of PGICampus to get the house con-structed. Charles hired a masonfor the job and asked him tostay at the under-constructionhouse to guard it.

On Sunday morning, aresident of Pancham Khedacalled Ramesh and informedhim of the death of the mason.On the information, Rameshcontacted Charles and laterreached the under-construc-tion house. He later informedthe police about the incident.

The police spokesman saidthe name of the mason couldnot be identified. “Charlesfailed to name him as he washired through some labourersand they also did not know vic-tim’s name. A newly-purchasedmobile and the purchase billwere recovered from the vic-tim’s possession. It was issuedin the name of Anil,” he said.The police sent the body forautopsy and further investiga-tions were on.


A10-year-old Assamese rag-picker drowned in a nul-

lah while one of his colleaguesis missing in Thakurganj policestation area on Saturday. Thepolice put the incident underwraps but it surfaced after theboy’s was recovered on Sunday.

In a damage control exer-cise, the police came up withexplanation that it got theinformation later and carriedout a rescue operation. As perreports, the deceased, identi-fied as Rubiyan, along withSufian and Shahbaz, allAssamese and living at a slumin Thakurganj, left for pickingrags on Saturday morning. OnSaturday night, Shahbazreturned home all alone, thefamily members of Sufian andRubiyan asked him about boththe missing boys.

“Shahbaz told then thatboth Rubiyan and Sufian haddrowned in a nullah nearKalicharan Degree College inthe locality. The family theninformed the police and ateam was sent to the place,” thepolice spokesman said arguingagainst the allegation thatpolice were apathetic in han-dling the case. He said jal

police and divers were pressedinto the job to search both themissing boys. “During search,the police recovered the bodyof Rubiyan while Sufian is stillmissing,” he said. The policesaid the body was recoveredfrom near Gullalaghat locality.“The police are searching forSufian,” he said.

JOB ASPIRANT DIES IN ROAD MISHAP

A 25-year-old job aspirantwas killed in a road mishap inVibhuti Khand police stationarea on Saturday night. He hadto appear in an interview.

As per reports, the victim,identified as identified asDharmendra of Basti district,was returning to his relative’shome in Chinhat and when hereached Viraj Tower, a speed-ing truck knocked the bike hewas riding from behind. Due tothe heavy impact, he sufferedcritical injuries and later died.

The police spokesman saidthe police had seized the truck.“The driver fled the sceneabandoning the truck at thescene. Police are searching forhim,” he said. The policespokesman said the victim’smaternal uncle had lodged acase in this connection.

Child dies at CHC after vaccination

THE INCIDENT EXPOSES THE HEALTH

DEPARTMENT’S CLAIM THAT AMPULES OF

VACCINATIONS ARE DOUBLY CHECKED

AND CHILDREN ARE EXAMINED BEFORE

THEY ARE GIVEN THE SAME

Chemistry spoiled achievers’equation with JEE AdvancedUtkarsh Gupta of city secures AIR 431

Utkarsh Gupta (extreme right) and Muskaan Aggarwal (left) pose for a photograph with other achievers after JEE Advancedresults were declared on Sunday Pioneer

Woman killed for dowryby husband, in-laws

Crowds swell at eateries dishing out delicacies

RAMZAN IN LAST LEG, EID FEVER CATCHES UP

People throng markets for Eid shopping in Nakkhas as the festival draws closer Pioneer


The counselling for under-graduate programmes will

kick off at Lucknow Universityon Monday and will continuetill June 30. Admission coordi-nator Anil Mishra said thedetailed schedule was availableon LU website. “There hasbeen a 10 percent increase inseats of all courses except LLB(Integrated). This year, the stu-dents will be issued enrollmentand roll numbers at the time ofadmission and the same will beprinted on their allotment let-ters,” he said.

The candidates appearingin the counselling also have theoption to apply for hostel at thetime of subject allotment. Thestudents will be given printoutsof hostel forms which they cansubmit at the counter set up atthe counselling centre. Hostelswill be allotted later. Only thecandidates with their names on

the list will be allowed to enterthe counselling centre.

Mishra said they hadadopted an on-campus onlinecounselling. “It will comprisesequential steps. The candi-dates will be required to reportfor counselling at the designat-ed date and time. The report-ing counter will open for only30 minutes from the time therank is called. Candidatesreporting late for any reasonwill not be considered forcounselling during that session.However, they will be consid-ered in the subsequent session,if seats are available. Seats willbe allotted on the basis ofranks of candidates who havereported for counselling with-in the stipulated time andthose reporting late will haveno claim, if seats of higherchoices are filled up. They willbe offered choices of subjectsavailable at that point of time,”Mishra clarified.

UG counselling

kicks off today

People break fast at Mankameshwar temple where a roza iftar was organised onSunday to highlight the Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb that the country is known for. Theiftar was attended by a large number of people Pioneer

Ragpicker drowns in

nullah; one missing



The markets these days arefull of larger varieties ofmangoes. Director of

Central Institute for SubtropicalHorticulture (CISH) ShailendraRajan gave details of the flowof varieties in the market dur-ing this season.

“The mango season beginsin Lucknow with an Andhravariety, Banganpalli, which isalso known as Safeda,Baneshan and by several othernames. Totapari enters theLucknow market before thisvariety but the real presence ofmango is believed with thearrival of Safeda which is most-ly used for mangoshake.Alphonso is seen at a fewplaces in Lucknow but due toits premium price this mangois out of the reach of the com-mon man. Along with Safeda,the red-blushed Suvarnrekha isalso seen early in the market.At the beginning of the seasondue to the absence of Dussehri

mango lovers purchase thesevarieties as starters,” he said.

He said that the arrival ofDussehri was celebrated as itreached the market at differentplaces, not only in fruit shopsbut also in streets people startselling and everywhere youfind this unique variety. “Somepeople leave other businesses inthis season and rely solely onthe Dussehri mango for theirlivelihood. The Dussehrimango market starts in the sec-ond fortnight of May but todaycustomers are aware that this isa forcibly-ripened mango. Thereal taste of Dussehri comesonly after June 15. Lucknow isfamous for Dussehri but due toits specialty other states likeAndhra Pradesh, Maharashtra,Karnataka and Odisha are alsocultivating this variety,” he said.

He said that Lucknowiteswere not only fond ofDussehri Lakhnaua, Langdaand Chausa but they enjoyedseveral traditional varieties ofmangoes being grown around

the city.“These lesser-known vari-

eties are not available every-where in the city but in specif-ic markets you can easily getthese rare mango varieties. Ifyou ever travel from Lucknowto Barabanki or on HardoiRoad farmers would be seenselling the finest lesser known

varieties on the road in thevicinity of Malihabad andSandila. Now the farmers havelearnt to sell mangoes at betterprices as in the wholesalemandi they get a throwawayprice. Mango lovers plan pic-nics in mango groves to enjoytheir taste and after waiting fora year they like to go to the gar-

dens by travelling a long dis-tance from the city. During themango season in the olden daysaround Lucknow people usedto offer varieties in a mangofeast which have become raretoday. The fruits of dozens ofvarieties were displayed andoffered in the Nawabi wayswhich could not be seen todaybecause these were disappear-ing gradually as the city wasexpanding at a rapid rate,” hesaid. He added that due to theincreased supply of Dussehrithe South Indian varieties likeBanganpalli and Suvarnrekhahad disappeared from the mar-ket as the consumers prefer thenorth Indian varieties whichstart making their place in themarket.

“Along with Dussehri, anumber of varieties startappearing. Everyone knowsthe unique taste of Langda butsome varieties such as JauhariSafeda, Benazir, Gillas, Khas-ul-Khas, Amin Abdul AhadKhan start coming gradually to

the market. At one time thecommon sellers use to sellsome of the lesser known vari-eties using common namesbut today the customer is inter-ested in consuming varietiesother than Dussehri such asLakhnaua Safeda and Chausa.After a few days LakhnauaSafeda will be entering themarket and Chausa accompa-nies it late in the season.Amrapali and Mallika are beingplanted in the surroundingarea. Their fruits are easilyseen in the market. But thesemangoes are only recognisedby a select few. A few decadesago these varieties were used bythe family members or gifted torelatives and VIPs. Graduallythe rare varieties are making aplace in the market. One canget Jauhari Safeda (MalihabadiSafeda), Benazir, BenazirSandila in the market but notthe Bride of Russia (SurkhaBurma), Laila Majnu,Tehsilwala, Amina Abrahimpurand Khas-ul-Khas,” said Rajan.

Lucknow (PNS): In aninteractive session on ‘Bustingmyths around menstruationand hygiene’, held in the city onSunday, senior gynaecologistMonika Aggarwal had the par-ticipants engaged on a varietyof topics such as importance ofchanging sanitary napkins andusing cotton sanitary napkinsrather than the popular syn-thetic ones. She also answeredquestions on hygiene, hor-monal and other body changesduring menstruation and thetaboos associated with it. Thesession was attended by sever-al young girls and women.Senior immunologist (CDRI)Nuzhat Kaushal also sharedsome tips on the issue.

Meanwhile, another inter-active session with senioryogacharya Awadhesh Sharmawas also held on Sunday andwas attended by several people.The key discussion points werearound understanding the phi-losophy of yoga as an integralpart of life and looking at it asjust as a form of exercise whichcan be practised to cure dis-eases. Sharma discussed anddemonstrated basic changesin life such as correct bodyalignment, correct way of walk-ing and a few asanas whichopen up the chest, spine andpelvis for improved health ofbody, mind and soul. He alsoanswered several questionsrelated to right way of drinkingwater, right food habits andhow our lifestyle can change bypractising yoga on a daily basis.


Astudy carried out by profes-sor of Applied Economics

department, LucknowUniversity, Madhurima Lallrevealed that the rural womenhad better entrepreneurialcapabilities than their urbancounterparts. She said that theresearch was carried out to findout these capabilities.

“It was carried out in theeastern parts of Uttar Pradeshto study the factors responsiblefor the emergence of entrepre-neurship among young womenin the rural area, What is the

impact and what are the socialconsequences which theseyoung women face?” she asked.

She said that although thefigures may not point out butthe fact remained that everywoman was an entrepreneur inthe rural areas and had greatrisk-taking capabilities “It isestimated that presentlywomen entrepreneurs com-prise about 10% of the totalentrepreneurs in India andtheir number was increasingevery year. If the prevailingtrends continue, it appearswomen will comprise 20 percent of the entrepreneurial

force in India. It is because ofthese reasons that the govern-ment bodies, NGOs, social sci-entists, researchers and interna-tional agencies have startedshowing interest in the issuesrelated to entrepreneurshipamong women in India,” shesaid.

Lall said that the Indianrural women had this uncan-ny capability of rememberingthe accounts and taking therisk. “This is something whicheven the urban women do nothave despite the fact that theyhave so many things to theiradvantage,” she said. She said

that entrepreneurship amongyoung women could be eyed asa means for employment andincome generation.

“Efforts have been made byvarious government and non-government agencies acrossthe globe to promote womenentrepreneurs. The results aresomewhat encouraging. Thereis a growth in the number ofwomen opting for entrepre-neurship as their career option.There is also a lot of shift in thenature of businesses being setup by them in India. Women inrural areas carry out business-es of all kinds,” she said.

CMS DELEGATION LEAVES FOR USAA 64-member delegation of City Montessori School left for

the USA on Sunday on their educational excursion and performyoga at the UNO Headquarters in presence of SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterras. Before their departure, CMS studentsand teachers, under the guidance of school’s founder JagdishGandhi, met Home Minister Rajnath Singh at his residence inNew Delhi and received his good wishes.


The son of a head constablewas arrested for faking

his academic credentials to geta job at his father’s place inGudamba on Sunday. As perreports, the accused, identifiedas Vijay Kumar Srivastava ofAdil Nagar, had applied for ajob on compensatory groundat the place of his fatherKailash Nath Srivastava, whowas posted at Organisationagainst Corruption as a headconstable (promotee) and haddied in 2017 during duty.

After his application wasreceived, the recruitmentboard cross checked Vijay’sHigh School and Intermediatemarksheet and found themfake. Subsequently. a case offraud was registered atGudamba police station.“Vijay was absconding sincehis name surfaced in thecrime. A team working on thecase got a tip-off about Vijay’spresence at his house inGudamba and he wasnabbed,” the police said.

INJURED In a freak incident, a

seven-year-old girl sufferedinjuries after strings of theswing snapped all of a suddenand she fell down at a famousmall in Gomti Nagar onSaturday night. Razi Khan ofThakurganj, along with his

family, had visited the mall onSaturday evening.

His daughter Karima (7)fell down when she wasswinging and suf feredinjuries. The family mem-bers complained to authori-ties concerned but their pleawas not heard. SHO, GomtiNagar, Devi Prasad Tiwarisaid a case had been regis-tered in that connection.

SUICIDEThe wife of a Municipal

Corporation employee wasfound hanging from a tree inMohanlalganj police stationarea on Sunday morning.Reports said the woman, iden-tified as Sharmila (26), wasfound hanging from the treewith a nylon rope tied aroundher neck around 5 am and res-idents informed her family.Police sent the body for autopsy.

Lucknow (PNS): Themonthly rent of properties,whether residential or com-mercial, owned by LucknowDevelopment Authority (LDA)will go up by Rs 50 per monthfrom July 1. Three surveyteams are engaged in studying27 residential areas and 24commercial properties to deter-mine the hike.

Perhaps this is for the firsttime the LDA administrationwill calculate the hike on thebasis of District Magistratecircle rate. Till now, the LDAadministration used to workout the rent on the sector cir-cle. The distance of properties

from the main road, width ofroad, height of the roof, watersupply and constructed areawill also be considered whilehiking the rent.

Officer on Special Duty(OSD) Rajiv Lal said the teamswould submit their report byJune 15. It is expected theLDA administration will fetchover Rs 10 crore after the hike.He said the LDA administra-tion was unable to trace about450 persons who, according tothe records, were allotted prop-erties in the past severaldecades and added they musthave left the city after sellingthe properties.

Larger varieties of mangoes flood markets

SCHOOLSCAN

CITYBRIEFS

LAST SUMMER CAMP FOR STUDENTS AT RSC ENDSThe last summer camp for the students at Regional Science

City ended on Saturday when CM Nautiyal and PK Srivastavaalso addressed the present students, teachers and guardians andgave away certificates to about 80 participants. The camp wasthe fourth in the series of hobby camps this summer while theearlier ones were organised twice in May and once in June. DrRaj Mehrotra said that the campus had acquired a new look andmore such camps would be organised in future as they werebecoming very popular. About 300 people, mainly students,attended these camps this year but they included 30 housewivestoo, who learnt about aromatic materials and their uses. Theyoung students from Lucknow as well as some others from near-by cities like Gonda provided their feedback based on their expe-rience and received their certificates.

THUNDERSHOWERSThe Met department has forecast thundershowers over iso-

lated places of eastern UP. Met director JP Gupta said it wasbecause of the prevalence of a cyclonic circulation over easternUP. There is also a warning for thunderstorm accompanied bygutsy winds in the eastern parts of the state. In Lucknow, the skiesare likely to be clear. On Sunday, the state capital recorded themaximum temperature at 38.2 degree Celsius, which was just anotch below normal.

VIDEO GOES VIRALA video of a stretcher being used to carry bricks inside the

Trauma Centre went viral on whatsapp. Trauma incharge SandeepTewari said that they would look into the matter. “A stretchershould not be used for such a purpose. We will look into the mat-ter,” he said.

With an aim to increase the green cover and to spread awareness among peopleabout the importance of environment, Anukriti Foundation organised a vrikshbhandara at KD Singh ‘Babu’ Stadium on Sunday. They planted distributed 1001saplings of different varieties.

Former cop’s son

held for fraud

Study: Rural women have better entrepreneurial capabilities

Rent of properties to go up

Interactive

sessions on

menstrual

hygiene, yoga

Alambagh residents protesting over dirty water supply on Sunday Pioneer

INDIA FROWNS...India has been severely critical of

OBOR, the pet project of Xi, as theUSD 50 billion China PakistanEconomic Corridor, which is part ofthe BRI, passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). India saysit cannot accept a project that ignoresits core concern on sovereignty andterritorial integrity. Except India, allother member nations of the SCOincluding Russia, Pakistan and Iranhave been supporting China’s OBOR.

Prime Minister Modi also said thehistory of the region carries a clearmessage that connectivity does notonly mean physical connectivity andthat the human aspect relating to it isalso important. He said priority forpeople-to-people contact andexchange of ideas should be given duepriority. He added that India welcomesthe concept of “open doors”. TheInternational North-South TransportCorridor (INSTC) is a 7,200-km-long multi-mode transport project formoving freight among India, Iran,Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan,Russia, Central Asia and Europe. The Ashgabat agreement is a transportagreement among several Gulf andCentral Asian countries which isaimed at creating a transit corridor tospur trade and investment. India hasbeen supporting the project.

“We have again reached a stagewhere physical and digital connectiv-ity is changing the definition of geog-raphy. Therefore, connectivity with ourneighbourhood & in the SCO regionis our priority,” Modi said. In hisaddress, Pakistani PresidentMamnoon Hussain whole-heartedlysupported the OBOR and said theChina-Pakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC), which is part of the OBOR,has boosted Pakistan’s economy.

It is for the first time the IndianPrime Minister attended the SCOsummit after India along with Pakistanbecame a full-fledged members of thegrouping, jointly dominated by Chinaand Russia. The officials said Indiawants stabilisation of the energy mar-ket and the issue figured during delib-erations at the summit. The SCO cur-

rently has eight member countrieswhich represents around 42 per centof the world’s population and 20 percent of the global GDP. Modi saidIndia would like to extend all cooper-ation to the SCO and that the blocgives India immense opportunities toenhance friendship with resource-richCentral Asian nations. He also sug-gested that the SCO members shouldset some goals and form a small com-mittee to prepare a roadmap to achievethem by the bloc’s 25th summit. Healso announced that India will host anSCO food festival and a comprehen-sive exhibition on Buddhist heritage.Modi also complimented China’s ini-tiative to organise an SCO film festi-val and SCO world heritage exhibition.In his address, Chinese President XiJinping announced offering a 30 bil-lion yuan (USD 4.7 billion) loan toSCO for joint projects. The SCO wasfounded at a summit in Shanghai in2001 by the presidents of Russia,China, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan,Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India andPakistan became its members last year.

RSS MAY...“Roza-Iftar parties are in full

swing across the country. There wasa time when the Sangh Parivar peo-ple would criticise the Congress forholding such parties for Muslims.They would then say that Iftar partiesdid not fit into the scheme ofHindutva. But, the Sangh itself is hold-ing currently Roza-Iftar parties somuch so that they are using theGovernment machinery and State-runguest houses,” the editorial stated.

Recalling a statement made byRSS third Sarsanghchalak lateBalasaheb Devaras in response to acomment by a socialist leader, theSaamana editorial stated: “Devaras hadsaid that the Sangh Parivar had notchanged, but the outlook of the peo-ple towards the RSS had changed. But,we have now begun to realise that theRSS has indeed changed. Otherwisehow can one explain this: When theCongress held Iftar parties forMuslims, it would call the then rulingparty as being religiously blind. Now

when the RSS holds such parties forMuslims, then we need to justify it say-ing that the act is tolerance towardsother religions”. Quoting Mukhejee’sstatement made in his speech at theRSS headquarters that “India’s nation-hood is not one language, one religion,one enemy... they (Indians) live underone system, one flag and one identi-ty of being Bharatiya,” the Senamouth-piece stated: “When PranabMukherjee made this statement, thepeople from the Sangh Parivar presentat that function clapped. TheCongresswallahs being idiots tried tostop Mukherjee from going to Nagpur.Ok. Let’s hail Hindutva”.

IMD ALERT...Apart from this, the IMD also sup-

ports Damodar Valley Corporation(DVC) by providing QuantitativePrecipitation Estimation (QPF) forDamodar river basin areas for theirflood forecasting activities. During theflood season, FMOs provide valuablemeteorological support to the CentralWater Commission (CWC) for issu-ing flood warnings in respect of the 43rivers of India covering 146 riverbasins. CWC is working in closeassociation with IMD and StateGovernments for timely flood forecastwhenever the river water level risesabove warning level. In a pilot mode,mathematical models for rainfallrunoff estimation (like MIKE-11 FF)are used for some of the sites inDamodar Basin, Godavari Basin,Mahanadi Basin & Chambal Basin.

According to reports, between2011 and 2014, Arunachal Pradeshsuffered an average annual loss of 10per cent of the GDP. The State hasbeen reporting significant flood dam-ages since early 2000s. Sikkim wit-nessed annual average losses of 1.7 percent of the GDP between 2011 and2014, followed by Meghalaya, at 1.5per cent of the GDP during the sameperiod. For Himachal Pradesh, annu-al average losses between 2011 and2013 stood at 1.8 per cent of the GDP.Hilly regions suffer more due to flashfloods which are difficult to predictand also cause landslides.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

PTI n NEW DELHI

The results for the 2018 JointEntrance Examination (JEE)

Advanced for admission to IITswere announced on Sunday withPranav Goyal from Panchkula inHaryana bagging the top rank,scoring 337 marks out of 360.

The second position wassecured by Kota’s Sahil Jain whileDelhi’s Kailash Gupta got the thirdspot. Meenal Parekh from Kota inRajasthan is the topper among girlswith 318 marks. Minister forHuman Resource Development(HRD) Prakash Javadekar congrat-ulated the successful candidatesand asked others not to lose theirheart. “Congrats to all candidateswho have qualified in JEE(Advanced). Those who could not

get results as per their expectationsshould not lose heart. There isalways a next time,” the ministersaid on Twitter. He also tweeted,“Kudos to @IITKanpur for ensur-ing foolproof conduct of JEE2018exam, first time conducted fullyonline. A total of 11279 seats arebeing offered in IITs. 800 supernu-merary seats have been createdspecifically for female candidatesto improve gender balance.”

This year, a total of 11,279 seatsare being offered in the IndianInstitutes of Technology (IITs)and 800 supernumerary seats havebeen created specifically forwomen candidates to improve thegender balance in IITs, as per thedirectives of the HRD Ministry,according to an official statement.

It said as per provisions, the

total supernumerary seats createdcannot exceed 10 per cent of thetotal seats being offered in the IITs.

This year, out of the total1,55,158 students, who appearedfor the JEE Advanced on May 20,18,138 have qualified. Of the totalqualified candidates, 2,076 arewomen. With the results out, seatallocation will begin from June 15.For the first time, JEE Advancedwas held completely in the onlinemode. Selected candidates willobtain admission into undergrad-uate courses, which will help inobtaining a bachelors, integratedmasters or bachelor-master dualdegree in engineering, sciences orarchitecture. Aspirants can attempt JEE (Advanced) for amaximum of two times in two con-secutive years.

Panchkula boy tops JEE Advanced

Family and relatives of Pranav Goyal, who topped IIT-JEE exam 2018 celebrate, in Chandigarh on Sunday PTI

nation 05LUCKNOW | MONDAY | JUNE 11, 2018

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Ministry of Home affairs(MHA), which recently

eased penalties on NGOs forviolating Foreign contribution(regulation) Act, has startedcrackdown on private limitedcompanies receiving foreignfunds in violation of FCRA Act2010.

The MHA, which has sofar cancelled more than 18,000licenses of NGOs for allegedviolation of FCRA, in its recentinvestigation found that foreigndonors have now changed theirstrategies and instead of givingdonations to NGOs, they arerouting money through privatelimited companies, mostlyowned by the trusties of theseNGOs or new entities, to carryon their activities without beingnoticed.

Investigation furtherrevealed that in many cases sev-eral NGOs after receiving for-eign donations, transferred thismoney to private limited com-panies in total violation ofFCRA norms.

For example, activistsTeesta Setalvad received `2crore in her private ltd com-pany, Sabrang Communicationand publishing private limited,in which she and her husbandJaved Anand are directors.Teesta and her husband are fac-ing criminal case against them

and are out on bail. Similarly, Advantage India

of Deepak Talwar received `5crore in his company and hetoo is facing criminal case.Global Advisory AssociationService private limited received`1.75 crore in violation ofFCRA norms. Rajendra PratapGupta and his wife KopalGupta are directors of the com-pany. Lawyers Collectivereceived `9 crore through for-eign funding. Indira Jaisinghand her husband AnandGrover are directors onLawyers Collective.

The MHA has prepared anelaborate list of such companiesand initiating action againstthem. A probe by the MHAagainst 21 top NGOs revealedalleged irregularities in theirforeign contribution receipts.Prominent among them wereMary Kom’s boxing training

school, Rajiv GandhiCharitable Trust , Public HealthFoundation of India (PHFI),Asianet New Charitable Trust,Waste Management Society,New Era Society, YateemKhana and Madrasa, AmenstyInternational (India) founda-tion, Center for socialDevelopment, etc.

The MHA, which has by anorder on June 5, eases penaltieson NGOs for violating FCRAnorms said that for offencepunishable under Section 37for transferring foreign contri-bution to any other person incontravention of Section 7 ofthe Act, a penalty of `1 lakh or10 per cent of such of suchtransferred foreign contribu-tion, whichever is higher will bepaid. However no relaxationhas been given to the compa-nies receiving foreign fund inviolation of FCRA norms.

CRACKDOWN ON FCRA VIOLATION

ARCHANA JYOTI n NEW DELHI

After having devoured manyforests in the country, an

invasive weed from SouthAmerica, Lantana camara, isgradually spreading its tentaclesto eat away the native medici-nal plants found in theDhauladhar range, an exten-sion of Himalayas in HimachalPradesh, researchers havewarned.

During their research, theyfound that more than 86 percent plant species were report-ed to be used for therapeuticpurpose by the locals. Thestudy is published in the latestjournal of Current Science.

They pointed out that theheavy infestation of Lantanacamera in sub-tropical forestshas degraded the habitats ofnative medicinal plant species.The invasion of Lantana cama-

ra, which emerged asthe most dominantshrub species duringthe present study, ischanging the structureand composition ofsubtropical forests.

Among the catego-ry of medicinal plant,Lantana camara is one,but in India this plant iscategorised in poiso-nous plant as, this plant isamong top ten invasive weedsand toxic plant on the earth.

“Since Lantana camaraprefers relatively warm climat-ic condition, it has not yetinvaded the temperate andsubalpine forests in the region.

“Besides, as Lantana cama-ra spreads in the habitats occu-pied by many important med-icinally and ecologically impor-tant species, including Berberisasiatica, Vitex negundo and

Adhatoda vasica, its continuousproliferation may be crucial forthe survival of these importantnative plant species,” notedresearchers, Natasha Sharmaand Chandra Prakash Kalafrom Ecosystem andEnvironment Management ofBhopal-based Indian Instituteof Forest Management (IIFM).

They have called for imme-diate protective steps such asdeclaring the high density med-icinal plant areas as medicinal

plant conservationareas among others.The researchers saidthat apart from theirtherapeutic properties,these medicinal plantspecies maintain thehealth of an ecosystemas each species has aspecific role in the func-tioning of an ecosys-tem.

During their study, theyencountered around 184 plantspecies in the sampling region,of which 86 per cent had med-icinal uses. Among woodyplant species, the use of barkwas highest, whereas in herba-ceous species the use of leaf androot was highest for treatmentof over 32 groups of diseases.

Though the local peopledeserve credit for sustainingvillage forests for centuries,further loss of medicinal plants

at these elevations should bediscouraged, said theresearchers.

Agreed Sanchit Sharmafrom AIMIL Pharma, Delhi,which is engaged in productionof herbal drugs like Lukoskinfor white patches and BGR-34to treat diabetes, based onextracts from medicinal plantsviz. Daruharidra, Giloy,Vijaysar, Gudmar, Manjeesthaand Methi.

He laid stress on immedi-ate protection of country'sherbal wealth to ensure costeffective herbal drugs to thelarge segment of the populationwho can't afford to pay thecostlier allopathic drugs. Moreso, when the Government isgoing all out of its way to pro-mote the herbal drugs, most ofwhose efficacy has been wellproven through various stud-ies, said Sharma.

MHA noose tightens

around pvt companiesPTI n NEW DELHI

ABSF Sub-Officer has beenwarned and issued a show-

cause notice by hisCommanding Officer (CO)for failing to attend a ceremo-nial ‘rope pulling’ farewellparty of a senior at a forcecamp in West Bengal, leadingto a “war of letters” betweenthe two.

The officiating CO of the155th battalion of the BorderSecurity Force, a second-in-command rank official, shot ofanother letter to the Inspectorunder him after the latterargued that such an event was“neither regimental or official”and is meant to be accordedonly to the head of the unit orestablishment, according torecords accessed by PTI.

This is the second instancethat has come to light in thecountry’s largest border guard-ing force in the recent pastwhere a supervisory officer hasreprimanded his junior fornot following the age-old tra-ditions and norms of the uni-formed force.

In March, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi had expressedhis displeasure and directed theBSF to withdraw a seven-daypay cut order against a jawanafter his CO found him guiltyof “disrespecting” the PM.

The current instance wastriggered after InspectorDamodara BB failed to attenda traditional event of pulling

the vehicle by ropes to see offan assistant commandant rankofficer from the unit mess at 9am on June 6 at the BSF campin Salugura in West Bengal.

The very same day theunit’s deputy Manish Negi, fil-ing in for commanding officeron leave, shot of an explana-tion-cum-warning letter toDamodara seeking reasons forhis failure to attend the event.

The Inspector repliedstating he came to work onthat day as “routine” as therewas no written order com-municated to him and thatsuch an event was neither“regimental nor official” andis restricted to be accorded tothe head of the department,which was not the case thistime.

Miffed by the junior offi-cial seeking a copy of rank-wise “entitlements” of officersfrom him, Negi shot off anoth-er show cause notice to himstating that the Inspectorshould know that it is the tra-dition of the force to see off anofficer who is either retired ormoving out for a new posting.

Senior BSF officers said theforces’ North Bengal frontierand the headquarter has takennote of the incident and aninquiry is being carried out toascertain the circumstancesand facts of the case.

“No doubt, this war of let-ters cannot be ignored as anaberration as the supervisoryofficers are always told to be

judicious and issue rationale-based orders while undertak-ing disciplinary action onpaper or verbally.

“However, the uniformedforces have a long tradition andeven in this case the officiatingCO has pointed out that theInspector concerned hasattended such events in thepast.

This will be resolved soon,”the official said.

He said there have beenissues in the past between thecombat and non-combatadministrative cadre officials,as in this case where theInspector is from ministerialcadre, and the discipline of auniformed force is the topmost irrespective of a person-nel belonging to any cadre.

However, another officialsaid that such ceremonialevents are accorded to a CO orformation commander andhence arbitrary use of such tra-ditions should not be allowedas this leads to grievanceamongst the jawans and juniorofficers.

The 2.5-lakh personnelstrong BSF is primarily taskedto guard Indian borders withPakistan and Bangladesh apartfrom rendering a number ofduties in the internal securitydomain.

A number of its battalionsare deployed under the NorthBengal frontier in West Bengalto guard the Indo-Bangla inter-national border.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Election Commissionhas given the nod to

amended rules and regulationsof the ruling AIADMK, whichhas done away with the pow-erful general secretary postheld by the late J Jayalalithaa.

The EC has uploaded theamended rules and regulationson its website. Put up under‘Constitutions of PoliticalParties,’ the amended rules andregulations include the cre-ation of new party posts —Coordinator and JointCoordinator, held by OPanneerselvam and KPalaniswami, respectively.

While Palaniswami is theChief Minister of the State,Panneerselvam is his Deputy.The two leaders had mergedtheir led respective factions inAugust 2017.

A party general councilunder them later adopted aslew of resolutions, includingabolishing the GeneralSecretary post held byJayalalithaa following her deathin December 2016, besidesannulling the interim appoint-ment of her confidante, thejailed VK Sasikala, as her suc-cessor. Putting up the amend-ed rules and regulations on theEC website for ‘public view’ wasa ‘technical’ process, officialsources said.

In the amended rules, theparty has said, among others,that the late Jayalalithaa shall bethe “eternal” General Secretaryand that the post has been“abolished.”

“As per wishes of the mem-bers of the party and the partycadre, Puratchi Thalaivi(Revolutionary leader) Dr JJayalalithaa shall be the eternalGeneral Secretary of the partyand no person shall be electedappointed/nominated to thatpost.”

The Co-ordinator and JointCo-ordinator, elected by theparty General Council, shallhold respective posts for fiveyears and “are fully authorisedto relax or make alterations toany of the rules and regulations,”it said. Among others, the toptwo leaders were ‘empowered’ totake decisions on importantpolitical events, policies andprogrammes of urgent nature,which cannot “brook delay andawait the meeting of eitherExecutive Committee orGeneral Council.”

In April this year,AIADMK had written to theEC, requesting it to take onrecord and update the amend-ment to its party rules and reg-ulations done in its September2017 General Council meeting.

It had also sought that thesame be uploaded on theCommission’s website.

EC OK’s amendedrules & regulationsof ruling AIADMK

RAJESH KUMAR n NEW DELHI

India’s first “Sexed SemenProduction Centre” will

come up at Rishikesh inUttrakhand to produce femalecalves for indigenous Indiancattle. This would ensure thatthe cows inseminated with‘sexed semen’ give birth onlyto female calves. Sexed sementechnology is a breeding tech-nology about preselecting thesex of offspring by sorting orseparating the X-sperms fromY-sperms. This will help to pro-duce more cows than bulls.

“In normal breeding, thereare 50-50 chances that, weeither get a bull or a cow. Withsexed semen, in majority casesone gets a female progeny,” saidofficials of AgricultureMinistry. Union AgricultureMinister Radha Mohan Singhhas laid the foundation of thecountry’s first sex semen pro-duction centre at Rishikesh.The Centre is being set up aspart of the Rashtriya GokulMission.

“The Centre has plannedto set up 10 more such sortedsemen centre across the coun-try and global tender has beenfloated to this effect,” Singhsaid. According to officials,the technology is being adopt-ed for this centre, was devel-oped by the United States, toproduce more cows than bulls.The project is being undertak-en to increase milk productiv-ity and the cow population.

Officials said that in sexsorted semen technology, thefractions of X-bearing (female)and Y-bearing (male) spermare modified from the naturalmix through sorting and selec-

tion. The new semen mix,which is formed, when impreg-nated will only yield femalecalves in almost 90% of thecases. The sorting process basi-cally involves exploiting the dif-ferences in deoxyribonucleicacid (DNA) content betweenX-chromosome-bearing andY- c h r o m o s o m e - b e a r i n gsperms. The former containsslightly more DNA, with thedifference ranging from 3.6%to 4.2%, depending upon thebreed of the cattle or buffalo.The process of sorting is doneeither by passing the spermcells through a laser beam or bystaining sperm with a DNA-binding fluorescent dye.

Data from the 19th live-stock census shows that whilethe cattle population hasdipped by 4.1 per cent in 2012from 2007 (previous censusperiod), the buffalo populationhas grown by 3.19 per cent dur-ing the same period. Further,the study notes that the per-centage changes in milch buf-falo population during theperiod 2003-07 and 2007-12has increased by 46 per cent inrural areas.

“Cow is a better animalthan buffalo to increase thefarmers’ income. Cow can giveyou a better jump in milkyield and is more amenable toupgrading in breeding than abuffalo,” officials said.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Union Minister Arun Jaitleyon Sunday criticised the

Congress party for creatinghue and cry over theGovernment’s decision to referback a judicial appointmentrecommendation to the col-legium for reconsideration.

He also recalled how thejudges were superseded in thepast and attempts were made toinfluence judgements.

The Government hadreturned the recommendationof Supreme Court collegiumfor elevation of UttarakhandHigh Court Chief Justice KMJoseph to the apex court.Although, the collegium hasdecided to resend his name tothe Government, it is yet toofficially approach theGovernment.

Under the present sce-nario, Jaitley said the executivecan give inputs to the col-legium, it can even refer a rec-ommendation back with rele-vant inputs for reconsiderationbut is eventually bound by therecommendations. “This iscontrary to the text of theConstitution,” he said in aFacebook post.

“The hue and cry made bymy friends in the Congressparty recently when theGovernment referred a caseback for reconsideration, fadesinto the oblivion.

“It is part of the muchdiluted role of an electedGovernment that relevantinputs be brought to the noticeof the collegium. This is in con-sonance with democraticaccountability …? I have writ-ten this blog so that my friendsin the Congress party get anopportunity to look at the mir-

ror,” he said.Jaitley spelled out various

incidents of the past wherejudges of the Supreme Courtwere superseded and how rec-ommendations of the apexcourt were turned down.

“Chief Justice Hidayatullahrecommended the names ofJustice SP Kotwal, the ChiefJustice of Bombay; Justice MSMenon, Chief Justice of Keralato the Supreme Court. Theexecutive did not respond toeither of the two names andignored the recommendations.The Chief Justice meekly sub-mitted and never questionedthe inaction,” Jaitley said.

Citing the famousKesavananda Bharati case, theMinister recalled how theGovernment of the day tried tosubvert the independence ofjudiciary and gain the power toeven tweak the basic tenets ofthe Constitution with the helpof Parliament.

It was a landmark decisionof the Supreme Court thatoutlined the basic structuredoctrine of the constitution,which cannot be temperedwith. “It goes to (TR)Andhyarjuna’s credit that hav-ing appeared with HM Seervaion the Government side, he has

authored a brilliant and accu-rate day by day history of howthe Kesavananda case pro-ceeded. There was acrimony onthe Bench,” Jaitley said.

Andhyarjuna’s book, TheKesavananda Bharati Case —the Untold Story of Struggle forSupremacy by Supreme Courtand Parliament, was publishedin 2011.

The citizen was represent-ed by Nani Palkhiwala and thegovernment by HM Seervaiwith supporting argumentsfrom Attorney General NirenDe, he said, recalling detailsfrom the book.

“When a judge asked coun-sel a question, someone with analternate opinion on the benchwould answer it. It was a thir-teen judge Bench and the obvi-ous object of both sides in adividing bench was to reach thefigure of 7 for the law to be laiddown. There are several inter-esting episodes which need tobe stated,” he said.

He also recounted how thegovernment tried various tricksto delay the hearing so that thethen Chief Justice SM Sikriretires and Government retainsthe right to amend the consti-tution even with regard to fun-damental rights.

Finally on the judgementday, six judges held that fun-damental rights were una-mendable and there was animplied limitation on thepower of Parliament to amend.

Six others held thatParliament had power toamend every Article of theConstitution, he said.

“The thirteenth judge HRKhanna held that the impliedlimitation on the power toamend was in relation to thebasic structure of the constitu-tion. The opinion of one judgethus became the law. After thejudgement had been read andthe Chief Justice read out thefinal order with regard to thelaw declared by the SupremeCourt and then signed thesame, he circulated it to thebench for signatures,” he said.

Four of the dissentingjudges — A N Ray, MH Beg,KK Mathew and SN Dwivedi— refused to sign the order, hesaid, adding that theKesavananda Bharati’s finalorder was signed by only nineof the thirteen judges.

That very day JM Shelat,AN Grover and KS Hegdewere superseded and AN Raybecome the new Chief Justice.Upon Ray’s retirement, HRKhanna was superseded andBeg became the Chief Justice,he said.

Talking about Nehru era,Jaitley said when Justice HJKania started recommendingnames for appointment to theHigh Courts, it caused a sig-nificant flutter.

“Pandit Nehru questionedhis suitability to be the firstChief Justice of India. It wasonly Sardar Patel’s pragma-tism that had enabled him tomanage Justice Kania,” he said.

DEEPAK K UPRETI n NEW DELHI

On the lines of campaigns inMadhya Pradesh and

Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan ChiefMinister Vasundhara Raje, whois set to face a tough challengefrom the Congress in theupcoming Assembly poll, is alsoembarking on a ‘Vikas Yatra’ toshowcase development under-taken by her Government andthat of the Modi-dispensation atthe Centre.

Madhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Shivraj SinghChouhan has completed his‘Vikas Yatra’ and ChhattisgarhCM is currently touring acrossthe State. Rajasthan BJP is tak-ing ‘Vikas Yatra’ in all 200Assembly seats which would goto poll by the year-end. Alongwith Rajasthan, MadhyaPradesh, Chhattisgarh — allBJP-ruled States — will faceelection together with Mizoramby November-December.

All the three States wouldbe facing anti-incumbency, butthe BJP in Rajasthan would bemore apprehensive of elec-torates who traditionally arenot in habit of repeating aGovernment twice. BJP’s cen-tral leadership had earlierdeclared that in all three States,the party would go to polls withthe incumbent Chief Ministers.

The three States would betaking fresh mandate close to2019 elections and Assemblyresults could be a curtain rais-er to the Lok Sabha polls.Madhya Pradesh (29),Rajasthan (25) andChhattisgarh (25) contributesa total of 65 Lok Sabah seats-a majority of which are cur-rently with the BJP.

Vasundhara Raje (65), whohad issues with the centralleadership in the past is expect-ed to commence ‘Yatra’ fromMonday to highlight welfareschemes undertaken by her

Government. Her previous two‘yatras’ were ‘Parivartan Yatra’(to bring in change) and ‘SurajSankalp Yatra’ (for good gov-ernance). The latest one hasbeen named ‘Vikas Yatra’ (fordevelopment).

State leaders and Ministerswould be touring all 200Assembly constituencies. It is,however, not clear as howmany central leaders andMinisters would participate inthe ‘Yatra’. The much delayedyatra is to first cove the tribal-dominated division of Udaipurand peak in July.

Like in Madhya Pradeshand Chhattisgarh, Rajasthantoo would go with the devel-opment agenda and focus onthe performance of NDA underPrime Minister NarendraModi, said a senior centralleader from Rajasthan. BJPwhich had won 160 out of the200 Vidhan Sabha seats in the2013 Assembly election is nowfaced with a resurgent Congress

The BJP poll campaign inRajasthan is affected by nothaving a new State president asa consensus has not reachedbetween Vasudhara Raje andparty president Amit Shah onthe issue. Raje is understood tohave opposed the nominationof Union Minister of State forAgriculture and Lok Sabhamember from Jodhpur,Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, asreplacement for AshokParnami, the State BJP presi-dent who was asked to stepdown following the party’sdefeat in the Ajmer and AlwarLok Sabha byelections andMandalgarh Assembly bypoll.

The defeats in bypolls hassent message to the BJP inRajasthan that unless it puts animmediate stop to its internal dif-ferences and factionalism, itwould have a tough task aheadin the polls against the Congresswhich is smelling power.

PNS n NEW DELHI

In a move to achieve self-reliance in defence sector

and to reduce the dependenceon imports, especially fromChina, India is all set to produceits first lithium ion (Li-ion) bat-tery on commercial basis. TheCentral Electro ChemicalResearch Institute (CECRI),Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu underCouncil of Scientific &Industrial Research (CSIR) anda private firm, RAASI SolarPower Private Limited haveinked a pact for transfer of tech-nology for India’s first LithiumIon (Li-ion) Battery project.

The RAASI Group will setup the manufacturing facility inKrishnagiri district of TamilNadu close to Bangalore. “Wewant to bring down the cost of

cell manufacturing below`15,000 per KW to replaceLead Acid Battery,” said CNarasimhan, CMD of RAASIGroup. “We also have plans tomake Lithium Ion battery forsolar roof top with life span of25 years to make it affordableenough to drive the photovoltaic segment.”

This is the first commercialToT for manufacturing of theLi-ion battery in the country.

The CECRI has alreadyset up the first indigenous Li-ion fabrication facility that hasapplications in defence, solarpowered devices, railways andother high end usages. Thefacility is to start industrial levelproduction in two months.

“It’s the first time that wewill have our own technologyand potential to produce Li-ion

batteries domestically. Thiswould help in cutting costs aswell as our dependence on theforeign market,” said professorVijayamohan K Pillai, Diectorof the CECRI. We are lookingfor more investor, he said.

Currently, Indian manu-facturers source Lithium IonBattery from China, Japan andSouth Korea among some othercountries. India is one of thelargest importers and in 2017,it imported nearly 150 MillionUS Dollar worth Li-Ion bat-teries. “Today’s development isa validation of the capabilitiesof CSIR and its laboratories tomeet technology in criticalareas to support our industry,besides other sectors,” said DrHarsh Vardhan, Union Scienceand Technology Minister whowas present at the occasion.

Jaitley criticises Congress

for creating hue and cry

JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS Arun Jaitley recalledhow the judges were

superseded in thepast and attempts

were made toinfluence judgements

Rajasthan CM too willembark on Vikas Yatra

Lantana camara threat looms over HP forests Lithium ion (Li-ion) battery to cut

dependence on Chinese imports

Uttarakhand gets sexsorted semen lab toprodue female calves Jaitley spelled out

various incidents

of the past where

judges of the

Supreme Court

were superseded

and how

recommendations

of the apex court

were turned down

Lantana camara

BSF Commander issues notice tojunior for skipping farewell party

nation 06LUCKNOW | MONDAY | JUNE 11, 2018

SAUGAR SENGUPTA n KOLKATA

Bengal Chief Minister hasonce again raised the issue

of Central deprivation allegingthe BJP Government has heldback its rightful 10,000 croreearmarked for development.

In the recent weeks theChief Minister has shot off atleast three letters to the Centredemanding clearance of herState’s dues amounting to about`9,959 crore under 16 heads.

According to officials inthe State Finance Departmentthe Centre is yet to clear `609crore — due on account ofgood performance. Besides,the State has also demanded itsdue of `3830 crore on accountof Sarva Shiksha Aviyan and`790 crore under Mid DayMeal scheme.

Besides there are a numberof other schemes under whichthe State has been deprived ofits lawful grants from theCentre, sources said.Accordingly huge amount ofmoney is due under UrbanRenewal Mission, NationalUrban Employment Scheme,Swacchh Bharat and other pro-grammes.

“This is a blatant denial of

State rights. The people ofBengal are being deprived. Weare not begging for funds. Weare only demanding our dues.The Centre will have to keep inmind that the people of theStates pay taxes and out ofthose taxes the States get theirdues for development of theirpeople,” the Chief Minister hassaid wondering whether Bengalis being deprived because of itspolitical preference.

While the Centre haslinked nonpayment of dueswith non-receipt of “utilizationcertificates,” the StateGovernment has vehementlyrefuted the claims saying “theCentre is creating excuses todeprive Bengal. We have doc-umentary proof to show thatwe have been regularly sending

utilization certificates,” said asenior official.

Notwithstanding Banerjee’sclaims of “malicious depriva-tion” by the Centre the LeftFront leadership on the otherhand have different things tosay.

According to the Marxists“both Mamata Banerjee andthe BJP are hand-in-glovesregardless of public saber-rat-tling in order to polarize votes.Under Trinamool regime BJPhas not deprived Bengal. Thebiggest proof of it is Centre’ssanctioning of Rs 3,100 crorejust before the 2016 Assemblyelections.

The money was given toclear the dues under 100-dayswork scheme. The grant savedthe day for the Trinamool as itmanaged to temporarily calmdown crores of rural poor.Mamata managed to scrapethrough in 70 seats in whichthe TMC won by a mere 150 to4,000 votes. Her Governmentwould have fallen in 2016 hadBJP not helped it with funds.”

Similarly the Centre haddisbursed funds to t heTrinamool Government aheadof this year’s rural elections too,the CPI(M) leadership said.

Centre holding `10K-cr

aid to West Bengal: Didi

KESTUR VASUKI n BENGALURU

As the dissidence inCongress reached a

crescendo, it has also madedivided factions amongLingayats to come together tofight against the Congress HighCommand which has refusedto budge to their demands.

After the formation of theGovernment led by JDs chiefHD Kumaraswamy in a fragilecoalition formation and sub-sequent cabinet expansion hasled to major revolt by a sectionof powerful MLAs in theCongress which was rejected bythe people of the State by giv-ing them only 78 seats. It isclear indication many leadersbased on the caste calcula-tions have come out against theparty high command after theywere rejected by the party byrefusing to make them minis-ters. Former water resourcesminister and a powerfulLingayat Minister from NorthKarnataka MB Patil is takingthe lead along with anotherLingayat leader and seniorcongress leader ShamnurShivashankarappa whoopposed Lingayat division havejoined to fight the party highcommand. Even though theparty is putting a brave faceabout dissidence, they are shak-en by the tremors they havesent.

A senior lingayat leader in

the Congress said “ We are allelected for fourth or fifth time.We are true soldiers of theparty. But party has not treat-ed us well. We were promiseda birth but someone in theparty has influenced the highcommand not to include us inthe cabinet. One thing is surethis has brought us together.We will fight together.”

Lingayat leaders like MBPatil, who spearheaded themovement for a separateLingayat movement a master-stroke to garner Lingayat votesfor the congress has joinedhands with another Lingayatleader ShamanurShivashankarappa, whoopposed the division ofLingayats within the party tofight for justice. HK Patilanother Reddy Lingayat, BCPatil, SR Patil significantly whoresigned as the working presi-dent of the party , Iswar Kandreand as many as another tenLingayat leaders have joinedthe bandwagon of dissidence tofight the decision of the con-gress party. This has become amajor headache for theKumaraswamy governmentwhich is yet to start function-ing.

Congress has 18 LingayatMLAs and only three havebeen inducted into cabinetignoring senior members of theparty. With more than 18 per-cent of the population

Lingayats are a dominant com-munity and deciding factor inKarnataka politics. The divisionof Lingayats has not yieldedmuch needed results to thecentury old party which has tostrategically go for an alliancewith local JDs to keep the BJPaway. An advertisement by theseparate Lingayat movementgroup in major newspapershas claimed the division hasbenefited the congress andmany religious leaders whohad supported the movementto divide the Lingayats arenow demanding ministries forthe leaders who helped the con-gress to win as many as 78seats.

“I am of the opinion thattwo Deputy Chief Ministerposts must have been created.One for a leader from NorthKarnataka and one from theSouth. My self-respect is hurt.

I must have been given a min-isterial post in the first roundof selection itself,” hurt MBPatil told the media.

Patil, who spearheaded themovement for a separateLingayat religion, said that hewas disappointed that his ownparty had “dumped him”. “Butjust because they dumped me,I will not dump the Congress,”Patil said after meeting withKumaraswamy.

He also said that he was notalone in this struggle and thatthere are 20 MLAs who arewilling to join him.

Hunaswadi Rajan, editor inchief of Samyuktha Karnataka,a popular daily in Kannada saysthe next session will decide thefate of the Government. Hesaid” dissidence and rebellionhas so far refused to die down.It’s going to be testing time forthe chief minister and the con-gress in the first session as theyhave to pass many bills. If they(dissidence) abstain it showsthat the government is in asticky wicket and an oppor-tunity for them to prove theirstrength. This is a very fragilecoalition. Groups within theparty has emerged to establishtheir supremacy to fight theparty high command.”

Congress and JDs are fac-ing dissidence with manysenior leaders miffed that theywere not given ministerialberths. The Congress chose 14

legislators to become ministersin the coalition government.Leaders including MB Patil,HK Patil, SR Patil, SatishJarkiholi, ShamanurShivashankarappa, RamalingaReddy, R Roshan Baig - all ofwhom were ministers in theprevious Siddaramaiah gov-ernment - are upset over beingnot being given a portfolio thistime around. Satish Jarkiholi,told the media that he wouldsoon resign from the post ofAICC secretary. An insider inthe party said this groupwhich is akin to former chiefminister Siddaramaiah whohas been sidelined in the partyis instrumental in strummingthe dissidence.

Meanwhile Congress floorleader in the Lok SabhaMallikarjun M Kharge onSunday said he would talk toAICC president Rahul Gandhion filling the remaining sixministerial berths allocated tothe party in the Congress-JDScoalition government to pre-vent dissident activity.

Under the power sharingagreement, the Congress hasbeen allotted 22 berths and theJDS 12. The JDS-Congress cab-inet was expanded on June 6with the induction of 25 newministers, after intense bar-gaining for ministerial berths.The Congress has left six vacan-cies to be filled under its quotaand the JDS one.

Cong infighting unites Lingayat factions in Karnataka“We are all elected for

fourth or fifth time. We aretrue soldiers of the party.But party has not treated

us well. We werepromised a birth but

someone in the party hasinfluenced the high

command not to include usin the cabinet. One thing is

sure this has brought ustogether. We will fight

together.”

KUMAR CHELLAPPAN nCHENNAI

In spite of the claims by theruling AIADMK that Tamil

Nadu is a garden of peace, thescheduled caste and scheduledtribe communities in the Statesay that there has been no letdown in their sufferings.“Though Tamil Nadu has beenunder Dravidian rule since1967, the sufferings experi-enced by the SC/ST commu-nities continue unabated,” LMurugan, member, NationalCommission for ScheduledCaste, told The Pioneer.

He was referring to theMay 28 murder of threeScheduled Caste persons inSivaganga district of the Stateby members of the caste Hinducommunity. Six persons havebeen arrested for the gruesomemurder, arising out of a frivo-lous charge made by the CasteHindus that the scheduledcaste persons did not get up onseeing a youth belonging totheir community.

Murugan had rushed toKachanatham village on hear-ing that the police was indif-ferent to the pleas by the SC

community. “There was grossviolation of norms by thepolice. It was only after myintervention that the districtsuperintendent of police sus-pended the two sub inspectorswho had colluded with theaccused,” said Murugan.

The NCSC member saidthat the AIADMK and theDMK, ruling Tamil Nadu alter-nately have been using thescheduled caste and scheduledtribe communities as votebanks. His views were echoedby TADA Periasamy, leader ofthe scheduled caste communi-ties who have been waging awar against the atrocities per-petrated on SC/ST communi-ties by caste Hindus.

“The Dravidian move-ments and parties stand for theinterests of the backward andmost backward communities .They portray themselves assaviours of SC/ST communitiesand claim that they are againstthe Brahmins. The Brahminsconstitute a mere two or threeper cent Tamil Nadu popula-tion at all a threat to the SC/STor anyone. We are tormentedand attacked by the casteHindus with the full support of

the DMK and the AIADMK.Have you seen the Dravidianparties acting against the inter-ests of the caste Hindus?” askedPeriasamy, a CPI-turned-Maoist-turned Dalit active.

He said Tamil Nadu couldbe the only State in the coun-try which has separate resi-dential areas for Dalits and theBackward Communities.“Though caste Hindus cancome to Dalit colonies, we arenot allowed in their areas,”said Periasamy. He said inmost of the villages there are teashops serving tea in separatetumblers for the Dalits.

Murugan said Erode dis-trict, the birth place of E VRamasamy cker (popularlyknown as Periyar), the Dalitsare still denied entry in templesadministered by the TamilNadu government. Periasamysaid that situation was no dif-ferent in other temples. “Pleaseunderstand that RamasamyNaicker, C N Annadurai(founder of the DMK) , M GRamachandran stood for theinterests of the backward com-munities while they had noconcern for the Dalits,” saidPeriasamy.

Atrocities against Dalitscontinue in TN: SC bodyKHURSHEED WANI n SRINAGAR

Six infiltrators have beenkilled as Army foiled a

major infiltration bid in Keransector of north Kashmir’sKupwara district on Sunday.Theentire area has been cor-doned off for a combing oper-ation to trackdown more sus-pected infiltrators.

Sources said a group ofarmed militants was noticedtrying toinfiltrate into this sideof the Line of Control (LoC)early onSunday. Soon after thesuspicious movement wasnoticed, the counterinfiltra-tion security grid initiatedaction that resulted into apro-longed gunfight.

In the ensuing encounter,six armed infiltratorswerekilled in several phases of theoperation.

A defence spokesman saidthat a large haul of arms andammunition wasrecoveredfrom the slain militants.

He said search operationwas in progress till last reportscame infrom the area.

The infiltration bid tookplace despite the armies ofIndia andPakistan reaffirmingtheir commitment to adhere toceasefire agreedupon by thetwo countries in 2003.

Six infiltratorskilled in Kashmir

PTI n KOLKATA

West Bengal has witnesseda four-fold rise in its

expenditure on physical infra-structure since the TrinamoolCongress formed theGovernment in 2011, ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee onSunday said.

Recently, `18,000 crore ofnew infrastructure projectshave been allocated, in addition to the `25,755 crore ofbudgetary allocation for capital expenditure for the cur-rent financial year, she said.

“ I n f r a s t r u c t u r e development is going on in arapid pace in Bengal.

In fact, expenditure onphysical infrastructure in thestate has increased almost four-fold since 2011,” Banerjee wroteon her Facebook wall thisevening.

The `18,000 crore of new infrastructure projectsinclude flyovers, rural andurban drinking water, roadsand bridges, power, affordablehousing and irrigation, shesaid.

4-fold rise ininfrastructureexpenditure,says Mamata

Forest Department personnel take away the nine-year old male tiger after tranquilising it near Hediyala town in Nanjangud talukof Mysore district on Sunday PTI

PTI n AHMEDABAD

Several Congress leaders andworkers were on Sunday

detained as they protestedacross the State against whatthe party claimed was the BJPgovernment’s failure to addressthe issues of farmers.

As part of the protest,Congress workers threw veg-etables and poured milk on theroads.

They also blocked severalroads, including national andstate highways, by burningtyres.

Today was the third day ofthe protest and it includedtractor rallies as well as a “jailbharo andolan”.

While Congress state pres-ident Amit Chavda wasdetained along with partyworkers at Asodar in Ananddistrict, police detained Leaderof Opposition in the GujaratAssembly, Paresh Dhanani, atVadia village in Amreli district.

Chief Minister VijayRupani, however, termed it asa “Congress only” protest andclaimed that farmers in thestate had lent no support to theopposition party’s three-dayprogramme.

The three-day agitationstarted on Friday.

“Speaking up for farmersand raising the voice against theanti-farmer and anti-peoplepolicies of the government is acrime in the eyes of Gujaratgovernment. Was arrested (sic)

by the police (at) Aasodar,Anand for seeking#JusticeForFarmers and debtwaiver for farmers in Gujarat,”Chavda tweeted.

Talking to reporters, hesaid “Congress supports thedemands of farmers. The BJPgovernment has failed to fulfilpromises made to farmers, andwe are committed to ensuringthat farmers get their due. Thepolicies adopted by the BJPgovernment are anti-farmer.”

CM Rupani said, “The pro-gramme being held since thelast three days is a Congressone. Nobody other than theCongress is supporting it. It isjust to instigate people.”

“All I would like to tell theCongress is that, instead ofthrowing milk in Gujarat, youshould go to Congress-ruledStates like Karnataka andPunjab where farmers get alower price for milk whencompared to Gujarat,” he said.

Gujarat Cong leadersdetained during party’sstir over farm demands

“All I would like totell the Congress isthat, instead ofthrowing milk inGujarat, you shouldgo to Congress-ruledStates likeKarnataka andPunjab wherefarmers get a lowerprice for milk whencompared to Gujarat”

PTI n SRINAGAR

The Jammu and KashmirTourism Department on

Sunday handed over a chequeof ` five lakh to the family of atourist from Chennai who waskilled by stone-pelters herelast month, officials said.

The stone-pelting incidenthad received widespread con-demnation.

On the directions ofTourism Minister TassaduqMufti, Director, Tourism,Kashmir, Mahmood A Shahtoday met in Chennai, the fam-ily of a 22-year-old R Thirumany, who died in stone-pelting incident at Narbal onMay 8, an official spokesmansaid.

He said the official hand-ed over a cheque of Rs five lakhto the family.

No amount can compen-sate the loss of the life, thewhole J&K state shares thegrief of the family, Shah said atPress Club, Chapak.

After the incident on May8, Jammu and Kashmir ChiefMinister Mehbooba Mufti andthe Tourism Minister, on thebehalf of entire state, had apol-ogized for the incident and thehuman loss.

The chief minister had alsohanded over a cash amount ofRs two lakh to the bereavedfamily, officials said.

Shah claimed the incidentwas an “isolated” one and other tourists who were part of

the group completed their trav-el safely.

Every Kashmiri regrettedthe incident including those inthe travel trade, who even helda press conference to condemnit, he said.

Assuring that Kashmircontinued to be safe for travel,Shah urged travel agents inChennai to keep promoting thedestination.

South India, especiallyChennai, was emerging as agood market and J&K receivesgood flow of tourists fromthese places, Shah said.

He said under the Centre’s‘Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat’scheme, both states were pro-moting tourism in each other’sdestinations.

J&K gives `5L cheque to family ofChennai man killed by stone-pelters

PTI n COIMBATORE

Aflood alert has been sound-ed along river Bhavani in

the district, as surplus water isbeing released from Pilloordam, official sources said today.

People living on the banksof the river have been asked tomove to safer places, they said.

With the onset of thesouthwest monsoon,Coimbatore and neighbour-ing districts, particularlyNilgiris district, have beenexperiencing heavy rains forthe last two days.

Besides, 12,000 cusecsof water is being released toPilloor from Kunda dam inNilgiris district, which is full,district collector T N Hariharansaid in a press release here.

In view of this, 6,000 cusecsof water is being released fromPilloor through each of the twosluice gates, due to which thereis a possibility of Bhavani to bein spate. Considering the situ-ation, the collector asked thepeople living on the banks andlow-lying areas to move tosafer places.

Flood alertsounded alongBhavani riverbanks in TN

PTI n JAMMU

After hiding for nearly 20days, the Jammu and

Kashmir Police has arrested Rajinder Singh, broth-er of BJP leader Lal Singh, from Rajasthan in connectionwith a case related to allegedabuse of State Chief MinisterMehbooba Mufti during a pub-lic rally, officials said heretoday.

Police cracked the casewith the help of technicalexperts and pinpointedRajinder’s location in Udaipurof Rajasthan. Immediately, ateam was sent to Udaipur where help from thelocal police was sought in nab-bing the accused, whose pur-ported remarks on a videoagainst the Chief Minister cre-ated a flutter with politicalleaders cutting across the partylines demanded strict actionagainst him.

Singh, while participatingin ‘Dogra Samman rally’ organised by his brother Lal Singh, had pur-portedly used very bad lan-

guage against the ChiefMinister and had also abusedher.

Police registered a case onMay 21 under Section 501(printing or engraving wordsthat are defamatory) and sec-tion 509 (word, gesture or actintended to insult the modestyof a woman) of the RanbirPenal Code (RPC) and Section66A of the InformationTechnology Act.

Based on the FIR, aLookout Notice was issued against Rajinder Singhby Chief Judicial MagistrateKathua.

“Based on application filedby SHO Police StationHiranagar to the effect thataccused Rajinder Singh,involved in FIR no 187 of 2018for offences under sections501, 509 of RPC and sections66/67 of IT Act registered withPolice Station Hiranagar, isevading arrest and ishiding/concealing himself...,”the order read.

His bail application wasalso rejected on June 1 by thecourt.

BJP leader’s brotherheld from Rajasthan for‘abusing’ Mehbooba

Telangana Governor ESL Narasimhan, Chief Minister K Chandra Sekhar Rao, Deputy CM Mohammed Mahmood Ali, WakfBoard chairman Mohammed Saleem and others at an Iftar party hosted by the Governor in Hyderabad on Sunday PTI

Nipah spread checkedVR JAYARAJ n KOCHI

The Kerala Government onSunday decided to lift the

high alert sounded inKozhikode and Malappuramdistricts that were hit by thedeadly Nipah virus last monthas the virus has been broughtunder control and its spreadhas been stopped. Nipah hasclaimed 17 lives so far in thetwo northern Kerala districts.

“No new cases of Nipahinfection have been reported.In this context, we can con-clude that the spread hasended. Therefore, we are relax-ing the high alert that hasbeen in force so far,” HealthMinister KK Shailaja toldnewsmen on Sunday afterchairing an all-party meeting

held at the Kozhikode DistrictCollectorate for assessing theNipah situation.

“As the situation has comeunder control, educationalinstitutions will reopen onTuesday as announced earlierby the District Collector,” saidthe Minister. Schools in Keralahad reopened after the two-month summer vacation onJune 1 but this was postponedto June 12 in Kozhikode,Malappuram and some adja-cent areas of Kozhikode districtin the context of the virusscare. Restrictions on holdingpublic functions also werebeing relaxed but it would bebetter to continue the vigil tillJune 30 as decided earlier,Shailaja said, adding, “As thesituation stands now, there is

no need to isolate those underobservation or to avoid talkingto them. They should be ableto lead normal life.”

Of the total 379 blood andbody fluid samples subjected toanalyses, only 18 had testedpositive for Nipah and 16 per-sons in whom the virus wasconfirmed had died. “Weexpect the remaining samplesalso to prove negative. Nobodyunder observation has testedpositive since May 31. Wedon’t expect any further spreadnow,” the Minister said.

The total number of Nipahdeaths is considered as 17because the blood and bodyfluid samples of Sabith (26), thefirst person to die with Nipahsymptoms, had not been sub-jected to analysis.

LUCKNOW | MONDAY | JUNE 11, 2018 nation 07

PNS n KOCHI

At least 16 people werereportedly killed in rain-

related incidents in Kerala inthe past two days as south-western monsoon activityintensified causing landslides,sea erosion, swelling of riversand widespread power andtraffic disruption due touprooting of trees in strongwinds and mudslides.

According to the IndianMeteorological Department(IMD), the monsoon activitywill remain intense with heavyrain and wind with speed up to60 KMPH may occur in theState till Wednesday. Fishermenhave been warned not to ven-ture into the sea during theperiod and people living in themountainous areas of the Statehave also been advised toremain alert.

Intense sea erosion wasreported from Tirur and Tanurin north Kerala, where fisher-men lost nets and other fishingimplements and Chellanamnear Kochi while the entirecoastline of the State remainedunder the threat of swellingwaves on Saturday and Sunday.Several houses in Chellanam

were flooded due to sea erosionand people were shifted tosafer places.

According to reports, threepersons each were killed inmonsoon-related incidents inthe past two days inThiruvananthapuram, Kannurand Alappuzha districts, twoeach in Kasaragod andWayanad and one each inIdukki, Pathanamthitta andKozhikode districts onSaturday and Sunday. Reportsindicated that the death tollcould still go up.

Most of the deathsoccurred due to drowning inswollen rivers and waterloggedpits and uprooting of trees. Twochildren, Muhammad Shahil(8) and Sana Fatima (7),drowned in a pond at Cheeralnear Sultan Bathery inWayanad district on Sunday.The tragedy occurred after thechildren, who were relatives,slipped into the water whileplaying near the pond.

A four-year-old LKG stu-dent, Fatima, had died atKushal Nagar in Kanhangad,Kasaragod on Saturday aftershe fell into a waterlogged pit.An eight-year-old boy Akshayof Aranmula, Pathanamthitta,

on Sunday reportedly suc-cumbed to the injuries he hadsuffered in an incident of treeuprooting on Saturday.

Two persons — one inIdukki and the other inThiruvananthapuram — diedon Sunday after coming tocontact with live power linesthat were snapped in thewinds. At least five personssuffered injuries in two inci-dents of tree uprooting onSunday in Idukki district.Dozens of houses have beendestroyed or damaged in therains and winds in the Statesince Friday.

Reports from the moun-tainous districts of Wayanadand Idukki said that people liv-

ing in the higher reaches werein panic following reports onthe possibility of landslides asheavy rains were expected tocontinue till Wednesday. Fourmilk vendors were injured atAyyanpuzha, Angamaly nearKochi on Sunday morning inan incident of tree uprooting.

Extensive damages inheavy rains and winds werereported fromThiruvananthapuram, Idukki,Thrissur, Kozhikode andKannur districts. Controlrooms have been opened in allTaluks and three relief campshave started functioning inKozhikode districts. Controlrooms have also been openedin Idukki district.

At least four incidents oflandslides were reported fromIdukki district in the past twodays. Four tourist resorts wereordered to be shut down atPallivasal near Munnar fol-lowing a landslide on Saturday.Traffic along the Kochi-Dhanushkodi NationalHighway came to a standstillfollowing a landslide on theAdimali-Munnar Road inIdukki district.

A one-and-a-half acrefarmland was washed awaynear View Point at Kallimalinear Rajakkad in Idukki districton Sunday. However, no casu-alties were reported in theincident. Reports said thatmany areas of the district likeRajakkad and Bison Valley hadbeen out of electricity sinceFriday due to uprooting oftrees in rains and winds.

The Idukki DistrictCollector on Sunday declaredMonday as a holiday for alleducational institutions exceptprofessional colleges in thedistrict in view of the intensemonsoon activity. Tourists andothers were advised to avoidtravel through the high rangesof Idukki district after eveningtill Wednesday.

MOHIT KANDHARI n JAMMU

Seventy years long strugglewaged by thousands of fam-

ilies of West Pakistan refugeesto earn their citizenship rightshas finally helped them to earncompensation of `21 per day.

Over 3 lakh West Pakistanrefugees had migrated to Indiaduring the 1947 partition andlarge number of them settleddown in the State weredeprived citizenship rightsgiven to permanent residents ofthe State.

The compensation packageat `5.50 lakh per family wasannounced by the UnionHome Minister Rajnath Singhduring his two-day long visit tothe State on Friday.

If calculated on daily basis5764 West Pakistan Refugeefamilies have been compensat-ed `21 per day for a period of70 long years.

Despite receiving stepmotherly treatment at thehands of successiveState/Centre GovernmentsPresident of the West PakistanRefugee Action Committee

Labha Ram Gandhi told ThePioneer, “We welcome theannouncement of the unionGovernment but I want tomake it clear we will continueto struggle for our citizenshiprights till our last breath”.

Gandhi said, “More thanthree generations of WestPakistan refugees have sacri-ficed every thing to fight fortheir identity and after waginga 70 year long struggle we aregoing to receive a sum of ̀ 5.50lakh per family”.

He appealed to the UnionGovernment to immediatelyappoint nodal officer to ensurespeedy distribution of com-pensation package among therefugee families. At the sametime he also raised the issue ofexact number of families enti-tled for compensation package.

Gandhi claimed there werea total number of 19960 fami-lies but as per Governmentrecords only 5764 families wereregistered with them.

Initially, the state govt hadregistered claims of 5764 fam-ilies while rest of them failed tocomplete the formalities and

have been left out.Sukhdev Singh,Vice

President of the West PakistanRefugees Action committeesaid, after announcing the com-pensation package theGovernment should fulfill ourdemand for grant of PermanentResident Certificate. He said inthe absence of same our chil-dren cannot apply for StateGovt jobs, exercise their right tofranchise in the State Assemblyelections and cannot purchaseland.

Bihari Lal, a resident of RSPura said, “majority of refugeepopulation,living in patheticconditions,want us to contin-ue to fight for their citizenshiprights”.He said, “we are living inhouses which we cannot callour own as none of us can ownState land”. He said our childrencontinue to struggle to get gov-ernment jobs, they face dis-crimination for want of Statesubject. He said we have beenpleading before every centreand State Govt to acknowledgeour plight and treat our cases onhumanitarian basis to deliverjustice to us.

Relief for West Pakistanirefugees living in J&K

ANUP SHARMA n GUWAHATI

Assam Chief MinisterSarbananda Sonowal on

Sunday reviewed the law andorder situation with top policeand civil administration officialin the aftermath of the lynch-ing of two youths in KarbiAnglong districtand asked policeto go all outagainst the rumour-mongers,which led to the incident onFriday.

The Assam Police havealready arrested 16 people fortheir alleged involvement inlynching the two youths at avillage under Dokmoka policestation on late Friday eveningon mere suspicion that theywere child snatchers.

The Chief Minister alsoheld a threadbare discussion onall aspects of law and order inthe state and asked AssamDGP Kuladhar Saikia to ensurethat the police force maintainconstant vigilance on all activ-ities and put spanner on anycanards likely to vitiate public

order and peace in the State.Referring to the killing of

two, he maintained that the cul-prits should be brought tobook and no leniency shouldbe exhibited in dealing with theincident. The Chief Ministerfurther asked the police to beon their toes to defeat any evil

agenda ofrumour andt r o u b l e

mongers.Later Assam DGP

Kuladhar Saikia and ChiefSecretary TY Das addressed ajoint press conference and saidthat while 15 people have beenarrested for their involvementin the crime, one more personwas arrested for posting fakeinformation about the inci-dent on social media aroundsame time when the mob waslynching the two youths.

“While 15 of them havebeen arrested for theirinvolvement in killing theyouths, one person was arrest-ed for posting objectionableand fake information on thesocial networking site while the

mob fury was on on Friday,”said Assam DGP KuladharSaikia. He said that police haveidentified more personsinvolved in the crime andsearch is on to nab them.

Narrating on the incidenton Friday, the DGP said that thetwo youth seemed to havebecome victim of some rumour.“There was a rumour aboutsopadhara or child snatchers

being circulated by somerumour mongers in the village.The villagers were scared aboutthe child snatchers and seeingthe two youth they mistookthem to be child snatchers andattacked,” said the DGP whileadding that police are also try-ing to find out if there is anyother angle to the incident.

“Our additional DGPMukesh Agarwal is camping in

Karbi Anglong and monitoringthe situation closely. We haveinstructed to the police in alldistricts to take action againstthose who are spreading theserumours,” he said .

Saikia further informedthat police have also instituteda special team headed byAdditional DGP HarmeetSingh to strengthen cyberpatrolling across the State.

Youths during a protest rally against unidentified people responsible for lynching two men in Central Assam’s Karbi Anglongdistrict on suspicion of being ‘child lifters’, in Guwahati on Sunday PTI

TN RAGHUNATHA n MUMBAI

Several trains were eithercancelled or diverted on the

Central Railway after threecoaches of 12809 Mumbai-Howrah Mail via Nagpurderailed near Igatpuri station inthe small hours of Sunday.

The coaches — S-12, S-13and pantry car — of theMumbai-Howrah Mail at 2.05am between TGR 1 andIgatpuri before the trainentered the platform 2 atIgatpuri on Mumbai division.“There are no injuries to anypassenger,” a CR spokespersonsaid.

The track restoration workbegan soon after the mishap.The front portion of the engineand eight coaches of themishap-hit train left the site forIgatpuri at 03.50 am. At 05.45am, 9th coach from engine S-13 was re-railed, while the s-12coach was put back on the railsat 6.35 am. At 7.05 am, the rearportion of the train (10 coach-es) left the mishap site forIgatpuri, the rear portion of thetrain arrived Igatpuri at 7.15 am

The railway authoritiesmade arrangements to attachthree sleeper class coaches atManmad and 3 general secondclass coaches at Bhusaval. “Theaffected train — front portionand rear portion — wasattached at Nasik Road and thetrain left Nasik Road at 09.15hrs for its onward journey,” thespokesperson said.

After the mishap, a dozentrains were cancelled, whileseven trains diverted. Thetrains that were cancelled were:22101 CSMT-Manmad RajyaRani Express, 22102 Manmad-

CSMT Rajya Rani Express,12109 CSMT-ManmadPanchvati Express, 12110Manmad-CSMT PanchvatiExpress, 12117 LTT-ManmadGodavari Express, 12118Manmad—LTT GodavariExpress, 99902 Pune-TalegaonEMU, 99903 Talegaon-PuneEMU, 99810 Pune-LonavalaEMU, 99809 Lonavala-PuneEMU, 51318 Pune-KarjatPassenger and 51317 Karjat-Pune Passenger.

The three trains that werediverted via Trains Diverted viaPune-Daund-Manmad were:

11057 CSMT-Amritsar Express(JCO 9.6.2018), 15645 LTT-Guwahati Express (JCO9.6.2018) and 12167 LTT-Varanasi Express (JCO10.6.2018)

The trains that were divert-ed via Vasai Road-Surat-Jalgaon were: 11093 CSMT-Varanasi Mahanagari Express(JCO 10.6.2018), 12141 LTT-Patliputra Express (JCO9.6.2018), 15066 Panvel-Gorakhpur Express (JCO9.6.2018) and 12811 LTT-HatiaExpress (JCO 10.6.2018).

Vishal Agarwal, AdditionalGeneral Manager, along withDivisional Railway Manager,Mumbai Division, CentralRailway and other officialssupervised the restorationoperation. The passengers ofthe affected coaches wereadjusted in other coaches.

Sunday’s was the secondtrain derailment witnessed inMaharashtra during the pastthree months. Earlier, nineempty wagons of a goods trainhad derailed between Jejuriand Daundaj on Pune-Mirajsection March 26 this year.

3 coaches of Mumbai-Howrah Mail derail, service restored

Vehicles wade through a water-logged street after heavy rainfall in Nagpur on Sunday PTI

Rain fury in Kerala, 16 killed

CM asks cops to crack down on rumour-mongers

ASSAM LYNCHING

PNS n NEW DELHI

After a complex surgery, that lastedfor more than 10 hours, doctors suc-

cessfully removed a giant 2-feet longtumour, weighing 10 kgs, from theabdomen of a patient. Doctors at SirGanga Ram hospital in national Capitalgave new lease of life to a farmer, CharanLal, from Bikaner in Rajasthan who wassuffering from the cancer since last morethan 6 months.

Doctors informed that having occu-pied more than 80 percent of the abdom-inal volume of the patient the tumour hasmade life miserable for the Charan Lal ashe felt regular pain and was not able to eatanything. Further, he lost 10 Kg of weightin 3 months and was even unable to sleepor breathe easily.

Experts said that such large tumourwas a grave threat to other vital organsof the patient body and was hampering

their functioning also. “His scan revealeda large tumour in his body occupyingmore than 80 percent space in hisabdomen. This tumour had grown sohuge that it had displaced his intestinesto the left side of his body. The tumourwas now compressing on all structuresof his abdomen including his liver, bothof his kidneys, stomach and spleen. Itwas also putting pressure on the mainblood vessels which help in getting bloodto and fro from heart,” said Dr. UshastDhir, Consultant in Department ofSurgical Gastroenterology and Livertransplantation at Sir Ganga RamHospital.

Patient said that initially he thoughtit was regular gas pain until recentlywhen his symptoms got worse and hestarted feeling pain in his stomach. Hesaid he always felt bloated and was notable to eat and he lost over 10 Kg of hisweight in 3months. He said he was

unable to lie flat on bed to sleep and norwas able to breathe easily. Heapproached many hospitals but nevergot any relief.

At Sir Ganga Ram, multi discipli-nary team approach was employed onthe patient for performing complexsurgery. The process of optimizing thepatient required help of multiple doc-tors from various disciplines includingDr. Sachin Kathuria from urology, DrIsh Anand from neurology and DrMehta from cardiology. “The anaes-thesia in this patient was complicatedby the fact that this huge tumour hadcompromised blood return to theheart,” said the doctor.

According to experts, the tumour hadleft no room in the abdomen to operate.The surgery to be successful requiredremoval of the tumour in one piece with-out damaging the vital organs and theirblood supply.

“This required extremely precisedissection of this tumour separating itfrom liver and its blood supply,intestines, right kidney and Ureter.There was no room for blood loss as thevenous return to heart was already com-promised and loosing blood wouldmean a disaster. The most complex partof the surgery was separating thetumour from renal veins, aorta and venacava without losing blood or damagingthese structures,” said Dr Dhir.According to him the team had to con-duct this surgery with absolute perfec-tion. “It required over 10 hours for theteam to successfully remove the tumour.The tumour weighed over 10 Kg andwas 2 feet long,” he said. Dr Dhir saidthe tumour was a well differentiated“liposarcoma” and to his knowledge wasthe largest liposarcoma removed untilnow. The patient was discharged after1 week of surgery.

Docs remove 10-kg tumour from patient’s abdomen

SP SINGH n GHAZIABAD

Agang of armed robbers thathad unleashed reign of ter-

ror in Ghaziabad and its adjoin-ing areas finally met its matchwhen a team of GhaziabadPolice intercepted them. Thegang was identified during theinvestigation into a robbery inwhich robbers had snatched `13,05,000 from a Mother Dairydistributor in Indirapuram area,on June 4 this year.

Senior Superintendent ofPolice (SSP) Viabhav Krishnasaid they have busted a gangthat had committed 34 rob-beries and murders in thenational Capital region. Withthe arrest of six members of thisnotorious gang, 13 cases ofrobbery have been solved.

Indirapuram police and spe-cial cell of Ghaziabad Police car-ried out a joint operation to nabthe gang members near thebridge at sector 5/6 of Vaishaliarea. All of them were taken tothe police station for question-ing. On their instance, police

raided their hide out place nearHarsha Mall and recovered Rs. 11, 55, 000 in cash lootedfrom the distributor andweapons used in the crime. Allthe arrested gang members con-fessed their involvement in thecases of robbery. They have beenidentified as Sonu Bhati, RajKumar, Deepak Sharma,Subham, Nemkar and ParvezHasan, the SSP said.

The police recovered six firearms including rifle pistol, singleand double barrel guns andcountry made pistols. The policealso recovered a pistol fromSonu a resident of GB Nagar, whowas found involved in threecriminal cases in the police sta-tions of Noida and Ghaziabad.The police recovered a DBBLGun from Raj Kumar a residentof Delhi he was found involvedin seven criminal cases of robberyand murder. Police recovered aSBBL Gun from Deepak Sharmaa resident of Delhi who wasfound involved in eight criminalcases of robbery, murder andextortion.

Gang involved in 34 robberies,

murders busted, six arrested

STAFF REPORTER n NEW DELHI

Upping the ante against theNational Democratic

Alliance (NDA) Government atthe Centre, Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal has allegedthat the Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) has startedinvestigating the MohallaClinics project. Kejriwal furtheraccused the CBI of summon-ing several senior officials andseizing documents related to it.

The Chief Minister madethe accusation in a series oftweets, a day after he allegedthat the CBI and the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) hadstarted random picking of filesfrom the Delhi Jal Board (DJB),of which he is the minister-in-charge, to "somehow framehim in something".

"Now, CBI starts investi-gating moh clinics-takes 3 lacpages incl all patients pre-

scriptions. All CDMOs, 2 AddlDirs, Project Dir, Addl secy,OSD to Dir n many other offi-cers summoned (sic)..,"Kejriwal tweeted. He alsoattacked Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, tweeting"Modi ji, instead of closingDelhi's mohalla clinics, openmohalla clinics across thecountry." Mohalla Clinics is oneof the flagship projects of theAam Aadmi Party (AAP)Government. There are cur-rently around 165 mohallaclinics aimed at providing freeprimary healthcare to city res-idents closer to home.

The Government has atarget of setting up 1,000 suchclinics across the national cap-ital. In another tweet, Kejriwalalleged, "Delhi Governmenthas spent Rs 3lakh to get thesepages photocopied. Special per-mission was taken by officersfor this money."

Delhi CM slams Centre

for CBI probe into

Mohalla Clinics

The Indian Government extend-ed the last date for the receiptof Expression of Interests forAir India’s disinvestment dueto a lukewarm response. Air

India was once one of the preferred air-lines all over the world when late JRDTata established it in 1932 and over time,under his visionary leadership, it madea brand name for itself. Tata, himself anace pilot, flew its first single-engine DeHavilland Puss Moth on October 15,1932, carrying air mail from Karachi toBombay’s Juhu airport and continued fly-ing to Chennai. After World War II, itbecame a public limited company andwas renamed Air India. It required deepcommitment and hard labour to make aninternational airline at that time. Thecommitment of service and quality itoffered once is best explained by the con-duct of JRD Tata himself, who refused totravel even in the long haul flights in theBusiness class and always traveled in theEconomy class.

Apart from the personal example heset, it also had a management signal tokeep the crew on their toes. The countrymust know the history of the takeover ofAir India and the internecine fights it hadwith the Government before its privati-sation. India must act in its national inter-est while privatising the national carrierconsidering that Air India provides a ser-vice; it is not just to make profits but tomake travelling accessible to the manywho can’t afford to fly. The decision to dis-invest should not look like cutting off thehead for treating a headache.

Around 300 letters written by JRDwere published in 2004 on the occasionof his 100th birth anniversary. In one ofthe letters, JRD explains the pain andagony of the takeover of his airline. In theletter, he described how the thenCommunications Minister, Rafi AhmedKidwai made disparaging comments inthe Constitution Assembly in 1949 aboutthe airline.

JRD wrote to former Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru that “by resorting toincorrect and unfair statements andallegations, Mr Kidwai has convinced themajority of the members of the Assemblythat the airlines in general, and Air-Indiain particular, are dishonest and greedy,cannot be trusted, and fully deserve theirpresent plight.” Being pragmatic, Nehrureplied and tried to clear the air and.in1948 Hence, Air India International wasset up in 1948 as the country’s first jointsector project between the Governmentand the private sector to start overseasflightsbegin international flights.

However, after five years, theGovernment decided to nationalise it andwithout having any consultation with

JRD as the idea of public sector aspanacea for all had taken over thenation’s psyche then.

Though Tata opposed the manner inwhich the takeover took place, he wasconvinced by Nehru to chair it and Tata,thus, continued as its Chairman till1978, after which then Prime MinisterMorarji Desai removed him unceremo-niously. He was brought back again in1980 for a few years by former PrimeMinister Indira Gandhi.

The objective of narrating these factsis to recall history to learn from it andmake well thought-out decisions. Athoughtful decision is necessary for astrategic financial entity like Air India toensure that we have a strategic vision ofcontrolling machines flying in our sky.Now let us discuss why the Governmentwas forced to sell it off despite investinghuge amount of money in purchaseingnext generation aircrafts. It was a massivefoolishness in going for huge loans with-out monetary backing and can aptly bedescribed in a British proverb: “Pennywise, pound foolish.” Due to this, the air-line is reeling under debt. However, thisis not the only reason for its bad shape.The merger of Indian and Air India in2007 was the biggest folly committed atthe time and at best can be described asa tragic error.

The Government-controlled airlinebusiness has always been a victim ofcrony capitalism and is treated as a fief-dom of politicians and bureaucrats forappointing and promoting undeserving

people to higher positions. Some ofthese people behaved like headless chick-ens during tense situations whenthoughtful decisions were the need of thehour. You cannot pitch a tent by fittingsquare pegs in round holes. Besides,many competent airline professionalswere sidelined in the war of favoritismsand with both of the merged airlines suf-fering from incompetency. This is con-sidered to be the most valid point whenit comes to selling off Air India.

However, whenever, competentChairman and Managing Directors wereat the helm of the affairs in the past, bothof the Government-owned airlines didwell. The most compelling argument forthe present sell-off is the massive debt ofmore than `52,000 crore and an annualinterest burden of `4,000 crore. TheGovernment must thus,must also reviewthe social service quotient of private air-lines like Jet Airways, SpiceJet and Indigobefore privatising Air India.

The performance of private airlines isnowhere near the net accretion value topublic good and faith. The splendidexample of evacuation by Air India dur-ing the Gulf War is for all to see. The ontime performance and profitability ofIndigo can be good from their own man-agement point of view but not from thelarger people’s welfare angle. The fate ofKingfisher Airlines is for all to see andthere is no guarantee that the sell-off willnot ground the airline after privatisation.The airline claimed a 20 per cent jump inthe revenue recently and the Government

should analyse this operational prof-itability claim and assess how and whenit can repay the loan and recover theground.

What is needed here is a decentralisedefficient management of resources bycompetent professionals with excellenttrack records. Hire the world's best air-line professional as the CEO and give himthe freedom and resources. Other thanTata, no one in this country had the hon-esty, grit and business sense to steer an air-line of Air India’s size and reach. If at allGovernment is bent upon it, it should rec-tify its mistake committed many decadesago and hand it over to Tata through amutual agreement and by assessing theongoing national consensus. Alternatively,it would be wise to consider separating thetwo merged airlines and cut down themanpower per aircraft at par with inter-national standards.

The best option here would be toappoint a committee of experts to findout how to undothe mistakes of of thepast. Similarly, the wrongs committed bypeople must be investigated and a fledg-ling airline's rescue attempt through selloff should be the last resort. As the say-ing goes, “to address a wrong it is notgood to commit another wrong to belamented later on.” After all “discretionis the better part of valour.”

(The writer is former Director-General, Indian Council of ForestryResearch Chancellor, FRI University andPrincipal Secretary to Government of Tripura)

That the usual suspects would allege a “right-wing conspiracy” was only to beexpected when police,after five months of investigating the Bhima-Koregaon riotsin January this year, arrested five so-called Dalit/Maoist activists ranging from

an academic at Nagpur university to a well-known radical causes lawyer and uneartheda letter/documents from their possession which, among other things, divulged interalia their stated desire to assassinate the Prime Minister of India, block the BJP's marchof electoral successes and in general feed into the narrative of victimhood cultivatedby the simpatico around their cause. But before we get to the heart of the issues thatinform the discourse being peddled by those sworn to the overthrow of the Indianstate, it would useful to keep in mind that even the lawyers of the activists who havebeen arrested have not said that due process was not followed in effecting the arrests.And we would also do well to remember that police submitted before a Sessions Courtthe letters and other incriminating documents it has seized from the laptop/posses-

sion of one or more of the Maoist sym-pathizers and the court, in turn, hasaccepted prime facie their genuinenessand remanded the five accused in policecustody for interrogation.

It is not our case that police in Indiadoes not lend itself to framing innocentson occasion or that the lower judiciaryis exemplary in the dispensation of jus-tice at all times. That out of the way, how-ever, let's also be clear that there are thou-sands upon thousands of hardworkingpolice personnel and officers of the courtwho do a very trying job under circum-stances in which many of us would giveup without a fight.

As for the ultra-left radicals and theirurban and sometimes urbane sympathiz-

ers, the first issue they need to resolve is that of their support — implicit or overt —for the violent means espoused by Maoist terrorists to achieve their purported ends.It is, in a word, unacceptable. India is a liberal-democratic state and for all its flawsthe state apparatus has a legally, constitutionally sanctioned monopoly over violence.There is and can never be any equivalence with non-state actors. Secondly, creakingand decrepit it may seem on occasion, the legal system is open to all comers includ-ing those ultra-left activists who may feel hard done by. But alleging conspiracy whendecisions go against one is s hypocrisy taken to a whole new level. Last but not least,the hatred towards those who have a different point of view to the extent of wantingto eliminate them suggests a sense of deep-seated psychological entitlement. Indianeeds have no sympathy for these disturbed, vicious bunch of malcontents.

Finally, it took the Supreme Court to restore the sanctity of the Puri Jagannath tem-ple as a receptacle of people’s faith, make it accessible to devotees and free themfrom the oppressive hold of servitors, who thought it their divine right to inter-

vene in rituals, offerings, prasad and even day-to-day running of affairs. The apexcourt has also ordered a committee to study the manner in which other shrine boardsat peeths were run and coopt their best practices as a manual for running the cen-turies-old temple. What though is pitiable is that the court had to intervene despitethe temple administration being a largely secular affair with representatives of the stategovernment on the board and the Puri gajapati being a nominal head. But over theyears, the BJD has hardly applied its mind on rescuing the crowning glory of Odisha,letting it slide into the hands of exploitative servitors, who it nursed as a constituen-cy. They may be the descendants of the original keepers but have been waylaid bypolitical imperatives and patronage and taken to autocratic and self-serving meansof running operations. Considering that it is one of the richest shrines and has a holdof the cultural consciousness, the Puri temple has over the years emerged as a powercentre, inspiring awe and fear among common devotees rather than respect. But the

State Government allowed this mindsetto fester. Neither did it invite neutral cul-ture icons on the board.

A run-through of the last few head-lines has only been about controversies,the latest being about an ASI team vis-iting the sanctum sanctorum for repairsand finding that the keys to the templetreasure trove have been missing foryears. The Puri king and servitors havedenied knowledge of the key or its pos-session though the chief priest has main-tained that it automatically does not implyloot as the seal on the lock remainsunbroken. But it definitely raised ques-tions and doubts about the safe-keepingof something that was bestowed on thetemple for benefitting devotees rather thanbeing used as collateral for running a tem-

ple economy. There have been further episodes of reversing rituals at whim, deny-ing prasad, arbitrary usage of offerings and arrogance and misbehaviour by servi-tors. The incident where a young girl was viciously manhandled for holding on to therope of the chariot of Lord Jagannath during rathyatra even drew censure from thePuri Shankaracharya himself. Besides, the upkeep of the temple itself left much tobe desired, with devotees complaining of slippery grime and extortion for availingprasad or darshan. In all this, the beautiful essence of the Puri temple as a concept,as a beacon of Jagannath culture, and its civilisational context as a gana dharma (massreligion) have been lost. Lord Jagannath was never about royal patronage though theroyals adopted the folk nirguna form of the tribals. He emerged out of common menand as a lord of the universe embraced all tenets of Hinduism, Jainism Buddhism,Vaishnavism to embody a mass living philosophy. That is why all temple rituals arein the form of processions and spectacles to enable the participation of the devout;they have been historically inclusive rather than exclusive, plebeian rather than elit-ist. The apex court reminded us of this ethos.

However, the ruling, though specific to the Hindu shrine, should be understoodin its wider implications. Rigidity of clergy and intermediaries, mandated by heredi-ty and tradition, is costing the devout in other faith shrines across the country andconsigning them to the status of subjects rather than stakeholders. And the gatekeep-ers of faith, by virtue of their psychological clout ordained by the office they hold,have become heavily politicised too. It’s time for ritual cleansing and some real com-munity service.

Temple tales

All public spaces, including temples, mosques,

churches, gurudwaras, must follow rules

opinion 08LUCKNOW | MONDAY | JUNE 11, 2018

Air India: Governmentbarking up wrong tree

Malcontents galore

Maoist simpatico discourse needs to be confronted

on issues of violence, rule of law, victimhood

Tolerance needed

Sir — This refers to the article,“Soul of India in pluralism, toler-ance: Pranab” (June 8). FormerPresident of India Mukherjee,first accepted the invite from theRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) and attended its conclave atNagpur the other day.

Despite some reservationsfrom Congress leaders, his boldstep needs deserves applause. Hisspeech there was more bolder andlouder. He was quite right inclaiming that the soul of thenation resides in pluralism andtolerance. His love for KBHedgewar seems to be humanitar-ian and simple.

His concern for secularism isunderstandable in the presentday context. But some pseudo-sec-ular politicians vitiate the atmos-phere of a true democracy. Thisshould end.

Sravana RamachandranChennai

Secular democracy

Sir — This refers to the article,“Soul of India in pluralism, toler-ance: Pranab” (June 8). TheRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) event in Nagpur, as usualwent without hoisting the nation-al flag and the singing of thenational anthem despite a formerPresident’s presence. Nationalism,as defined by RSS and practised byit the organisation, could do with-out them.

RSS is now sure to take advan-tage of the visuals of PranabMukherjee with RSS chief and oth-ers in RSS uniform at the RSS

headquarter and the erstwhileCongressman’s eulogy of KBHedgewar as a ‘great son of MotherIndia’ at a time when secular par-ties are uniting against the Hindurevivalist challenge mounted by it.

Mukherjee would now dowell to clarify how his tribute to theRSS founder was not inconsistentwith his advocacy of Nehruviansecularism, an antithesis to Hindunationalism. It has now fallenupon the ‘elder statesman’ to provein the backdrop of his ‘association’with RSS that ‘secular’ inheritorsof privilege are not indistinguish-able from ‘sacred’ inheritors ofprivilege.

Nevertheless, it should becomforting to the Congress thatPranab Mukherjee deployed hisverbal repertoire for the defence ofsecularism and other ideals thatsprang from the freedom move-ment. He wore the secular cap andnot the Hindu nationalist capwhile delivering his keynoteaddress and wrong-footed thedoubters (secular sentinels). Itwould be churlish of us to under-rate his speech as an inter-minable reiteration of defini-tions of nation, nationalism andpatriotism.

The clash between inclusiveIndian nationalism representedby the secular-minded people andexclusive Hindu nationalism rep-resented by the Sangh Parivar iscentral to contemporary Indianpolitics and the former’s triumphis crucially important for India’scontinued existence as a seculardemocracy.

G David MiltonMaruthancode

www.dailypioneer.com

p a p e r w i t h p a s s i o n

Send your feedback to: [email protected]

SOUNDBITE

Pranab Mukherjee at RSS

home is a significant

event in history. There was

significant concord and

resonance in the views

expressed by both lead-

ers.Both of them highlight-

ed the essential

unity of India

BJP veteran

—L K Advani

VK BAHUGUNA

Air India privatisation is not the solution to the massive debt that the airline has managed to accumulate. In orderto resolve the situation, the Government must decentralise management and hire competent professionals

Even before the SDG

goals were crystallized,

India’s own develop-

ment efforts reflected

many of the same priori-

ties. India is, for all of us,

an inspiration.

UN chief

—Antonio

Guterres

Crew of Spaceship

Earth has run amok

This refers to the article, “Seas of trouble: We need to act now” (June9) by Hiranmay Karlekar. Kudos to the writer for painting an explic-it picture of the anthropogenic excesses that brought this blue plan-

et to this pass. When Buckminster Fuller used the term ‘Spaceship Earth',he cleverly said that the resources of this ship were limited. For millen-nia, the voyage of this spaceship was smooth and in utter balance as allspecies followed the laws of nature and all was pretty hunky dory. At somepoint, however, the ‘Homo sapiens' broke the rules and upset the applecart. The crew did what pleased it, uncaring about what happened to theprecious resources, and other species whose stakes in the voyage wereno meaner than those of the humans. The power drunk crew has nowrun berserk. Rest is for all to see.

Air, water, earth, space, and oceans, are now choked and the man,Bhasmasura of the Hindu mythology is on the verge of starting his dance.With the laws of nature, and moral and ethical values being tattered, manis beyond redemption. Bring any laws, and he will find ways to circumventthem. The more advanced and rich nations are, the more stubborn they get.If someone or some inspiration could bring sanity to this mad world, weshould feel blessed. Otherwise, the cause is lost and we shall not have thosehundred years of Stephen Hawking to migrate to other planets.

Prakash C DixitRishikesh

LETTERS TO THE EDITORWe’ve to work together to

strengthen the fabric of

unity. Minorities in India

are safe and their socio-

religious, constitutional

rights are safer here than

any other country.

Union Minister

—Mukhtar

Abbas Naqvi

I believe a good script

should be like those

books that you read till 4

am and you know you

have to get up and go to

work. It is a book that is

unputdownable.

Actor

—Kajol

On a two-day visit to the state toreview the security situationamid an ongoing Ramzan

ceasefire, Home Minister RajnathSingh asserted that the Centre willchange the “face and fate” of Jammu &Kashmir. In this context, it is importantto argue why Rajnath Singh’s visit to thevalley will turn out to be a crucial steptowards breaking the political logjamin Jammu & Kashmir. Considerably, theHome Minister’s visit has now assumedsignificance in the wake of the exten-sion of the ceasefire announced earli-er by the Home Minister during theongoing holy month of Ramazan.

Thus, the two-day visit to Jammu& Kashmir was reportedly focused onconditional ceasefire announced byRajnath Singh on May 16 for the holymonth of Ramazan. Now, the closureof Ramazan is around the corner. It isthe month of peace, reconciliation, non-violence and ceasefire — a move ofhope and opportunity that was takenin the beginning of Ramazan in the val-ley of Jammu & Kashmir.

Though the extension of theceasefire would depend on inputs

Rajnath Singh will gather from secu-rity and intelligence agencies, suchchances are rare and must be takento mitigate the mayhem and decreasethe chaos insurgency causes.

While the Ramazan ceasefire hasbrought great relief to the belea-guered people of Jammu & Kashmir,militants and insurgents continue tounleash mindless violence, desperate-ly trying to sabotage the peaceprocess.Jammu & Kashmir ChiefMinister Mehbooba Mufti has opti-mistically tweeted that the militantswill, soon, realise the “futility of theiractions”, wholeheartedly welcomingthe reiteration of the commitment tothe ceasefire on the border by bothDGMO’s. “This brings great relief tothe people residing in the vicinity.Peace on our borders is the firstessential step to a larger understand-ing and I truly hope it sustains…”, hertweet remarked.

Of course, Centre’s announce-ment of a unilateral ceasefire during theongoing Ramzan has given theKashmiris in general and youths inparticular an atmosphere to move

ahead. Therefore, most peace-lovingyouths in the valley are strongly plead-ing for an extension of the truce.Mehbooba Mufti has rightly pointedout that “these children want to live,they want to play, they want tosmile...like elsewhere in the country”.

This has put Rajnath Singh’s visitto the valley in a renewed focus amidspeculations that the centre may extendthe Ramazan ceasefire. But this trucehas also left many Kashmiri intellectu-als entangled with questions like these:Is azadi (freedom) of Kashmir a call forviolence? Why has Kashmir never beenallowed to settle down and take abreather from violence? Those whoobjectively analyze and review theongoings in the valley are now highlycritical of the insurgent ideology of vio-lence. MHA Sikander, a youngKashmiri writer-activist based inSrinagar, has penned a moving schol-arly article in which he asks: Is violencethe only way out in Kashmir?

Sikander writes: “Since last onedecade gun culture has gained newcurrency as a tool of resistance inKashmir....The vicious cycle of

death and violence needs to be bro-ken and fractured.”

The Srinagar-based writer-activist offers a historical account ofhow violence in the valley has beenromanticised with the flawed notionof Islamic state. He further writes:“The romanticism and tryst for theIslamic state is not new. In 1990s,most pro-Pakistan militant organi-sations declared their aim as estab-lishment of Islamic state, once theaccession with Pakistan is com-plete…..The discourse in Kashmirfor establishing an Islamic statebecame vibrant once again with therise of Pan Islamist insurgent move-ments like ISIS and Al Qaeda. Thisdiscourse is being represented byAnsar Ghazwatul Hind organisationheaded by Zakir Moosa.”

The rise of the Ansar GhazwatulHind forced many militants to ponderon whether Kashmir is fighting a ter-ritorial war or a religious war? Thewhole of the Kashmiri insurgency isnow divided on this. Now the commonKashmiris are left with only two pos-sible options: Either support this mani-

ac call for the self-styled 'Islamic state'of Zakir Moosa or blame the forces forlying about the ceasefire call. We as apopulation are so confused about thisstruggle now that nobody knows whois running all this.

On the other hand, Pakistan ispromoting leaders like SAS Geelaniwho loudly claims to achieve the goalof ‘Azadi Baraa-e-Islam’ (freedom forIslam). These perverse minds don’tunderstand that Muslims since ageshave lived and prospered with peo-ple of all communities and religions.

But in the name of Islam andJihad, what Pakistan wants to achieveis extend its borders and influence oneither side, be it creating Taliban orinterfering in Kashmir. Inevitably,Pakistan’s state-sponsored militantscreating radical Islamist states on itsborders are fuelling Islamophobiaaround the world. In the past 30 years,aspirations were never heard, roadswere never paved, now that the oppor-tunity in form of ceasefire has present-ed itself, something else has to happen.It’s about time the mainstreamKashmiri people focused on their lost

heritage — Kashmiriyat — the great-est gift of sufis and rishis, the mysticsof the land.

Notably, the Union HomeMinister directly reached out to thechildren and youth by meetingplayers of different sports andyouths at a separate event inSrinagar. Speaking at the Jammu &Kashmir Sports Conclave 2018, theHome Minister rightly stated:“Children can be misguided easily,but we know the truth, which is whywe have withdrawn all stone-pelt-ing cases against them.”

The delegate bubbled with excite-ment when a nine-year-old kickbox-ing sensation, Tajamul Islam huggedthe Union Home Minister and eventook a selfie with him and other dig-nitaries including the Chief Minister.Kashmir is too diverse, too multicul-tural, a land, to imagine turning intoa radical Islamist state. This visit ofthe Home Minister seems to godown well in the wake of fierce polit-ical turmoil in the Valley.

(The writer is a freelance contributor)

Iran nuclear deal crisis

LUCKNOW | MONDAY | JUNE 11, 2018

Police conducted raids against urban Naxals

and have unearthed information which point to

a conspiracy against Modi.

—Maharashtra Chief Minister

DEVENDRA FADNAVIS

Modi is habitual of spreading such false info

to gain sympathy particularly when his

popularity declines. It needs investigation.

—Mumbai Congress chief

SANJAY NIRUPAM

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

The nuclear deal which wasconcluded almost after 20months of negotiationsbetween Iran and P5 1 wasannulled on May 8, 2018,

after US president Donald Trumpannounced the withdrawal of USfrom the Iran nuclear deal.

Both countries declared theirstrong positions on the issue.President Trump stated that the USwill undertake any measures, including imposing more sanctionsand even military action if needed,to prevent Iran from nuclear enrichment.

On the contrary, IranianPresident Hassan Rouhani said, “IfIran and other countries in theagreement cannot agree on a wayforward, Iran might start enrichinguranium at uncapped levels.”

Now under this circumstance,US withdrawal from the deal can riskthe peacemaking ef forts ofAfghanistan and the US against ter-rorism and state-building in thecountry. This piece evaluates thepotential role that Iran can play inAfghanistan and the possible impli-cation of the US policy towards Iranfor Afghanistan.

Considering the fragility of sit-uations in Afghanistan and the influence of Iran in these countriesas a close neighbour, Afghanistan isthe only place that can be easilyturned into a battle field betweenIran and the US.

Realistically, Iran has a hugesphere of influence in Afghanistan,ranging from security and econom-ics, to refugees and regional politics.

Iran has established deep linkswith the Taliban in Afghanistan. Itwas in 2016 that ties between Iranand Taliban became public when avehicle was struck by a US dronetransporting Taliban chief MullahMansour from Iran to theBaluchistan area of Pakistan.

Iran has been a great supporterof the Shiite militant groups inAfghanistan for the last couple ofdecades.

More recently it has beenunveiled that Afghan refugees arerecruited and trained by the IranianRevolutionary Guard Corps to fightin Syria under the t it le ofFatemiyoun. There are possibilitiesthat Fatemiyoun’s focus could beturned to Afghanistan and lead tothe establishment of their sanctuar-ies in the country after ending thewar in Syria.

Moreover, in the economicsphere, the Chabahar port in Iranbecame a lucrative alternative for theAfghanistan imports and exports.Expanding trade, attracting invest-ment, creating job opportunitiesand, seizing connectivity are the

expectations that Afghanistan bearsin mind from Chabahar andTurkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India Pipeline (TAPI) projects.

Today, almost three millionAfghan refugees are in Iran, makingthis country home to the world’sfourth largest refugee population.The Afghan refugees in Iran will beanother potential source of Iranianinfluence in Afghanistan.

Iran often utilises Afghanrefugees as an instrument to putpressure on Afghanistan’sGovernment.

Now Afghanistan is more unsta-ble that it has been in years and itseconomy continues to stagnate, sothe repatriation of refugees wouldincrease the challenges before for thegovernment of Afghanistan and itssupporting countries for providingappropriate shelters and services tothe repatriates.

Since its formation, the NationalUnity Government of Afghanistanhas compiled its efforts to create aregional consensus towards fightingterrorism and maintaining peace inAfghanistan and the region.

Such efforts are perceivable inPresident Ashraf Ghani and ChiefExecutive Abdullah Abdullah’sspeeches during their foreign visitssince 2016.

Currently, the Afghan diploma-cy is still active in this arena, it urgesall the countries in South Asia,Central Asia and Gulf region to leavetheir antagonistic interest aside andhelp the Government in Afghanistanwith a strong collaboration.

To this end, Iran is one of the

main countries with acentral role tohelp Afghanistan build a regionalconsensus on peace and stability.Thus, in Afghanistan, Iran possess-es all necessary tools in hand to retal-iate against any US action vis à visthe Iran nuclear programme.

Impact on AfghanistanUS pulling out from the nuclear

deal and the imposition of moresanctions on Iran may have theopposite effect to that intended. Itmay provoke Iran to act potentiallybeyond the agreement and expand itssupport to regional armed factionslike Taliban and Shiite groups inAfghanistan.

It largely hampered the develop-ment of political and economic rela-tion between Iran and Afghanistanas well as other strategic allies ofAfghanistan in the region like India.Furthermore, the extraction willshrink the level of confidencebetween Afghanistan, Iran and Indiaunder the framework of trilateral.

Moreover, the reimposition ofsanctions on Iran by US will hamperthe regional consensus toward fight-ing terrorism and assist ingAfghanistan to overcome its securi-ty and economic problems.

Similarly, Afghanistan’s region-al initiatives, mainly Chabahar andTAPI projects may fail to materialise.Sweeping sanctions against Tehrando not only condemn Afghanistan’scampaign of “creating regional con-sensus” to failure, but could result inthe so-called new Great Game con-cept in the region.

Therefore, Iran’s role inAfghanistan could be changed from

spoiler to an all-out destabiliser andcould create great challenges to thepeacemaking efforts of Afghanistanand US against terrorism.

The attack on the Farah provinceby Taliban can be counted as anIranian reaction to US withdrawalfrom its nuclear deal.

The message was clear, Iranwanted to show to the United Statesthat it can retaliate in many ways,and supporting the Taliban is one ofthose ways.

What are the preventive measures for Afghanistan, how couldAfghanistan manage the state ofaffairs?

One can argue that Afghanistan’sGovernment may undertake cer-tain measures instead: First ,Afghanistan could announce itsposition on US withdrawal from theIran nuclear deal.

Second, it could work to keep ahigh level of confidence with Iran,both through reiterating its commit-ment that Afghan soil will never beused against Iran and likewise, continue holding the bilateral, trilat-eral and multilateral interactionswith Iran.

Third, communicate the negativeimpacts of this withdrawal by US onAfghanistan and the entire regionwith P5 countries.

Fourth, Afghanistan could workon a scenario that may possibly helpAfghanistan it remain a white zoneat least in between the US-Iran andIran-Saudi Arabia conflicts.

(The writer is First Secretary-Political Incharge, Embassy of theIslamic Republic of Afghanistan)

Valley in renewed focus thinknow

Leadership

contains

certain

elements of good

management, but

it requires that

you inspire, that

you build durable

trust. For an

organization to

be not just good

but to win,

leadership

means evoking

participation

larger than the

job description,

commitment

deeper than any

job contract's

wording.

—Stanley A.

McChrystal

American soldier

In defeat, BJP has

a reason to smile

US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal might lead to Tehran retaliating, making it difficult for Afghanistan to stabilise in the face of several security and economic issues

Though the extension of the ceasefire would depend on inputs Rajnath Singh will gather from security and intelligence agencies, such chances

are rare and must be taken to mitigate the mayhem and decrease the chaos insurgency causes, writes GHULAM RASOOL DEHLVI

HAMID TAHZEEB

Although BJP has lost the UP byelections, the factremains that the party maintained its vote share from

2017 and lost only because of a united Opposition

US PULLING OUTFROM THE NUCLEAR

DEAL AND THEIMPOSITION OF MORESANCTIONS ON IRAN

MAY HAVE THEOPPOSITE EFFECT TO

THAT INTENDED. IT MAY PROVOKE

IRAN TO ACTPOTENTIALLYBEYOND THE

AGREEMENT ANDEXPAND ITS SUPPORTTO REGIONAL ARMED

FACTIONS LIKETALIBAN AND

SHIITE GROUPS INAFGHANISTAN

The result of Kairana andNoorpur byelections inUttar Pradesh, where the

BJP lost to the unitedOpposition, has set tongueswagging and questioning theleadership quality of ChiefMinister Yogi Adiyanath.Some political pundits havestarted writing the requiem of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh saying thatit is the beginning of the end of this party and that it will be deci-mated in Lok Sabha election. Some even said that ‘ganna' (sug-arcane) proved to be better than ‘danga' (Muzaffarnagar riot) sug-gesting that the ruling BJP had to face the wrath of farmers becauseof the non-payment of cane dues.

Is this the true reflection of the by-election result? Is BJP real-ly staring down the barrel and is it the end of the road for Yogi andModi in Uttar Pradesh? A close analysis suggests that even in thisdefeat, BJP has a reason to smile as it got more votes in NoorpurAssembly segment as compared to the 2017 polls, while in Kairana,the party did well in patches indicating counter polarisation in theby-polls despite a united opposition.

One thing has to be kept in mind is that the battle was of oneagainst many. The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Congress and many splinter groupscombined together to fight the by-elections of Kairana and Noorpur— the seats which were earlier won by the BJP.

Technically speaking, Kairana parliamentary seat, comprising fiveAssembly segments, namely Nakur, Gangoh, Thana Bhawan, Shamliand Kairana, had never been a BJP bastion. With 40 per cent Muslimsand large population of Gujjars — both Hindus and Muslims, Jatav(dalit) Ahir and Jats BJP — were always at the receiving end. Suchwas the influence of minority votes in this constituency that even dur-ing the Ram Temple wave BJP did not win this seat. The first time BJPwon Kairana was in 1998 and later followed it up with party's top leaderHukum Singh winning it in 2014. Because of Jatav and Jat consoli-dation RLD and BSP had won Kairana many a times.

In 2014, BJP polled around 5.65 lakh votes against Nahid Hasanof SP who got 2.30 lakh votes. Kanwar Hasan, the BSP candidatethird who polled 1.60 lakh votes. That time RLD and Congress con-tested election as an ally and Kartar Bhadana of RLD only got 42,000votes. In that election BJP won in all the assembly segments.

Things started changing after that. In the 2017 State Assemblypolls, BJP polled around 1.3 lakh votes less than the combined tallyof Hukum Singh in 2014. The result was BJP winning four Assemblyseats and losing Kairana to SP where Hukum Singh's daughterMriganka lost election.

In the 2018 by-election result, Mriganka Singh, who contest-ed the election from Kairana, won from two Assembly segmentsbut lost in the remaining three. Singh won from Shamli and Kairanasegments but lost to Thana Bhawan in Shamli, Nakur and Gangohsegments in Saharanpur. Incidentally, Nakur and Gangoh were thesegments where 68 booths went to repolls, which also turned thetables against the BJP.

Even in Noorpur, BJP did not surrender tamely - in fact it didbetter than the 2017 Assembly elections. Party's candidate AwaniSingh polled almost 11,000 votes more than her husband LokendraChauhan who had won election in 2017 and whose death in an acci-dent necessitated this election. In this constituency BJP lost to thecombined Opposition keeping its vote share intact.

In 2012, BJP won the seat by securing almost 27 per cent votes.BSP with 24 per cent votes and SP ( 20 per cent) came secondand third respectively. The combined vote share of SP and BSPwas much more than BJP. The situation was no different in 2017where SP and BSP together polled 1,11,000 votes while the BJPgot 79,000 votes and won the election. Thus, meaning that BJPhad polled almost 32,000 less votes than the combined BSP andSP. In other words, against united opposition BJP should have lostelection by 32,000 voted in 2017 but in 2018 by-election it lost byjust 5600 votes.

Another point which the Opposition has been raising gleeful-ly is that the failure of the Government to clear cane dues has ledto the debacle of BJP in Kairana and Noorpur. But the fact is thatBJP lost in those region where cane payment was high and wonin those constituencies where cane dues were high.

The BJP won in Shamli, the assembly constituency that hasthree sugar mills. In these mills the combined cane due is`512.71 crores but in three mills of Saharanpur comprising ofGangoh and Nakkud assembly constituencies the payment wasgood and the due was just `261.74 crores. Government recordshows that over 70 per cent of cane payment was cleared butthe ruling party still lost. In Gangoh RLD got 1,08,411 votes whileBJP got 96,141 votes. Similarly in Nakud RLD got 1,14,341 votesand BJP got 86,224 votes.

This shows that ganna was not at all an issue in the by-polls.It was caste which proved decisive in this battle of ballots. The resulthas made it clear that there is a decisive shift of Jat votes fromBJP to RLD. The voters who went with BJP in Nagar Nigam andAssembly elections, this time voted for RLD. The muslims consol-idated against the ruling party and the revival of Jat-Muslim com-bination with dalit throwing weight revived the old Muslim-Ahir-Jat-Gujjar and Dalit Jatav formula.

(The writer is Executive Director (News), The Pioneer,Lucknow)

BISWAJEET BANERJEE

3rdeye 09

LUCKNOW | MONDAY | JUNE 11, 2018 money 10

BUZZ

BUSINESS

The economy is in a sweet spot rightnow as the adjustment process regardingmajor reforms of the past few years islargely stabilised and industry is readyfor a fresh phase of investment whilecapacity utilization builds up

Rakesh Bharti Mittal, CIIPresident

We welcome the opening of newerchannels..Together with the

strengthening of backward linkagesinto the agrarian economy, we

should see improvement in the overall pace of business and also the

contribution to the business

Suresh Narayanan, NestleIndia CMD

India Inc

PNS n NEW DELHI

Invesco Mutual Funds, whichhas a wide range of equity

and equity-oriented schemes,has now launched InvescoIndia Equity Bond and Fund tomitigate the turbulent marketas well as providing security tothe investors. The new fundoffer or NFO will open onMonday and will close on June25.

This product is the balancemixture of debt and equity and

works like an open hybridscheme to invest in infrastruc-ture-related equities. Bondgives a stable return and is lessriskier than equity, besidesperform well at every stage ofthe market.

Actually, Invesco India hassuccessfully tried to providedouble benefit to the investorsby introducing such a productwhich can not only handle thechoppy market but also givessustainable return. “This willensure investors to reap thebenefits of growing equities aswell as from the stable debt.The longer you stay invested inequity, it paves the way for big-ger asset creation. Moreover, anexposure in bond protects the

investors to handle the ups anddowns of the market,” said aMumbai based fund manager.

“This works as cushion forthe risk of the portfolio and prof-it propositions. This fund willinvest across all the sectors andmarket capitalisation,” he added.

Invesco India Equity Bondand Fund have so many things

and benefits to offer. It willwork in all the circumstancesof the market that will ensurethe growth as well as the valueof the invested fund. Debtsecurities portfolio will givepriority to AAA ratings while65-80 per cent investment willbe made in equity and rest of20-35 per cent investment will

be made in debt and moneymarket. The fund managers ofthis fund are Taher Badshahand Amit Ganatra.

If seen as an asset class,then equity has given betterreturns to the investors, how-ever, it’s fluctuating trend some-times dents its performance. Insuch circumstances, if investorsget a product which is kind ofblend of debt and equity, thenit will certainly be not onlypopular but will eventually beproved as the most wantedproduct. However, InvescoLimited offers its hosts of ser-vices to the customers speed-ing across 120 countries andcurrently enjoys an AUM of$937.6 billion.

Invesco’s Equity Bond Fund best bet for investors’ return

Kochhar, her family face US regulatory probe

PTI n NEW DELHI

As multi-agency probe con-tinues in India into alleged

lapses involving ICICI Bank’schief Chanda Kochhar and herfamily members, the matter hasalso come under the scanner ofthe US markets regulator SEC.

Besides, the Indian regu-lators and investigative agenciesare mulling seeking help fromtheir overseas counterpartsincluding in Mauritius as partof their own probes, officialssaid.

When asked about itsprobe into matters related toICICI Bank and Kochhar, aspokesperson for the SECOffice of Public Affairsdeclined to comment.

The queries sent to ICICIBank also remained unan-swered. The bank has alreadyinstituted an independentenquiry into allegations of ‘con-flict of interest’ and ‘quid proquo’ in Kochhar’s dealing withcertain borrowers.

Earlier in March, whenthe reports first surfaced in thisregard, the bank had said that

its board has “full confidenceand reposes full faith” inKochhar.

Sources said the SEC(Securities and ExchangeCommission) is actively look-ing into the matter as ICICIBank is listed in the US alsoand it may seek further detailsfrom its Indian counterpart theSecurities and Exchange Boardof India (Sebi), which hasalready issued show-causenotices to ICICI Bank andKochhar as part of its probe.

Officials said the Sebi hasbeen approached for some clar-ificatory details which would beprovided to the bank and itsCEO, among others to whomnotices have been served.

Those looking into thematter also include the bank-ing regulator RBI and theCorporate Affairs Ministry,while the CBI had earlier reg-istered a preliminary enquiryagainst Kochhar’s husband,among others, and extensivelyquestioned her brother-in-lawin April.

The cases under scannerinclude the bank’s Rs 3,250crore loan to Videocon Groupin 2012 and the involvement ofKochhar family members inrestructuring of the loan.

Last week, Interim FinanceMinister Piyush Goyal said thelaw will take its own course in the

alleged case of nepotism at ICICIBank, even though it is a goodbank with “very robust process-es” and there was no cause forconcern for any of the stake-holders of ICICI Bank per se.

There are allegations ofimpropriety in ICICI Bankextending loans to some com-panies and enjoying reciprocalbenefits.

It has been alleged thatfamily members of the bank’schief, including her husbandDeepak Kochhar, got financialfavours from the borrowers

against the loans sanctioned bythe bank.

It was also alleged thatVideocon Group pumpedmoney into NuPowerRenewables, a firm owned byDeepak Kochhar.

Sebi has served a notice onKochhar on dealings of thebank with Videocon Groupand Nupower.

There are also allegationsthat NuPower got investmentsof Rs 325 crore from Mauritius-based Firstland Holdings, acompany owned by Nishant

Kanodia, son-in-law of EssarGroup co-founder Ravi Ruia.

An independentprobe was ordered by ICICIBank board after fresh

allegations of quid pro quowere levelled by activist andwhistle-blower Arvind Gupta,who also accused Ruia broth-ers of Essar group of having gotundue favours from the bankfor “round-tripping” invest-ments into NuPower Group.

The allegations have beendismissed as “motivated” by theEssar Group, which maintainsit has no business interest inFirstland Holdings.

The Ministry of CorporateAffairs is looking into compa-nies involved in the ICICIBank controversy of allegedconflict of interest in ChandaKochhar’s dealings with certainborrowers, according to asenior official.

The official also said theaffairs of ICICI Bank are notbeing looked into by the min-istry as that is completely underthe purview of the ReserveBank of India (RBI).

“The ministry is looking atallegations with respect tofraudulent, preferential orunder-valued transactions...(related to) those companieswhich have come into contro-versy in the light of ICICIBank issue,” the official said.

NFO opens on June

11, to close on

June 25

INDIAN AGENCIES

MAY SEEK

FOREIGN HELP

SBI to auction 12 bad a/cs thismonth to recover over `1,325crPTI n NEW DELHI

The country’s largest lenderSBI will conduct auction of

12 non-performing accounts(NPAs) later this month torecover dues of over `1,325crore.

The e-auction of theseaccounts will take place on June25, according to an SBI notice.

The NPA accounts thathave been put under the ham-mer include Ankit Metal &Power Ltd (`690.08 crore),Modern Steels Ltd (`122.61crore), Good Health AgrotechPvt Ltd (`109.14 crore), AmitCottons Pvt Ltd (`84.70 crore),and Ind-Swift Ltd (`80.49crore).

The remaining are NikhilRefineries (`52.85 crore),Bhaskar Shrachi Alloys (` 51.48crore), Sri Ganesh Sponge IronPvt Ltd (`38.96 crore), AsmitaPapers (`37.23 crore), ForelLabs (`22.86 crore), KarthikAgro Industries (`20.82 crore)and Abhinandan Interexim(`14.15 crore).

State Bank of India (SBI)said interested bidders canconduct due diligence of theseassets with immediate effectafter submitting the expressionof interest and executing anon-disclosure agreement with

the bank.The lender’s gross non-

performing assets or bad loansas on March 31, 2018, reached`2.23 lakh crore, which was10.91 per cent of grossadvances by the end of 2017-18.

SBI reported a record netloss of `7,718 crore in thefourth quarter ended March,and of `6,547 crore for 2017-18 due to higher provisioningfor bad loans.

The net NPAs were`1,10,855 crore (5.73 per cent ofnet loans) by end of March, 2018.

SBI said that the recoveryin its written-off accountsimproved to 21.18 per cent inMarch quarter and the lossesduring the past fiscal weremainly because it was required

to make provisions at a high-er rates in respect of advancesto stressed sectors of the econ-omy.

The Reserve Bank’s revisedframework has earmarkedspecified norms for early iden-tification of stressed assets,timeline for implementation ofresolution plans and a penaltyon banks for failing to adhereto the prescribed timeline.

These guidelines cameafter the banking sector reg-ulator scrapped the previousmechanisms such as theCorporate Debt RestructuringScheme, Strategic DebtRestructuring Scheme (SDR)and Scheme for SustainableStructuring of Stressed Assets(S4A).

PNB expects `8,000 crorerecovery from NPAs this monthPTI n NEW DELHI

Enthused by the successfulresolution of Bhushan Steel,

Nirav Modi fraud-hit PunjabNational Bank (PNB) is hope-ful of `8,000 crore recoveryfrom bad loans in the firstquarter of the current fiscal.

The bank, with its focuson recovery of dues fromdefaulters, has managed to sur-pass the total amount recoveredin the last fiscal in the first twomonths of this financial year, asenior PNB official told PTI.

“This is due to renewedfocus on recovery by PSB banksincluding referral of manycases to NCLT under the bank-ruptcy code is forcing many ofthe defaulting companies tosettle their NPAs. While PNBhad recovered `5617.55 crorein the whole of last year, thebank’s recovery stands at `6,000crore by first week of June,” theofficial said.

By the time, this quarter(April-June) ends, PNB expectsto complete recovery of almost`8,000 crore, the official said,adding that large corporates likeReligare, Arcotech and SuryaAlloys have recently settledbad loans worth `350 crore inthe last two months via therecovery camps setup by PNB.

It is to be noted that PNBposted loss of `13,416.91 crorefor the fourth quarter endedMarch, 2018, the biggest everby any domestic lender.

The bank last month saidit provided for `7,178 crore, 50per cent of the total amount of`14,356 crore in the fourthquarter of 2017-18, withregards to the loss incurred onaccount of Nirav Modi fraud.

According to the bank, theremaining amount will be cov-ered in the three quarters of thecurrent fiscal year. PNB furthersaid it has paid `6,586.11 croreto other banks to discharge its

liabilities towards Letter ofUndertakings (LoUs) andForeign Letter of Credits (FLCs)issued fraudulently and in unau-thorised manner to certain over-seas branches of Indian banksthrough the misuse of SWIFTsystem of the bank, which wasthen not integrated with CBS(core banking solutions).

Modi and his associates inconnivance with some offi-cials of PNB defrauded thebank of over $ 2 billion dollar.

To focus on recovery, PNBhas moved over 3,000 person-nel from operations across thecountry into the stressed assetsvertical, the official said.

“The stressed assets verti-cal has started operating fromJune 1. Four General Managersfrom the Corporate office havebeen tasked with heading therecovery vertical as part of thebank’s management strategyto fast track recovery of NPAs,”the official said.

PSU banks suffer whopping`87,000 cr loss in FY18PTI n NEW DELHI

Losses of public sector bankscrossed a whopping ̀ 87,300

crore in 2017-18 fiscal, toppedby scam-tainted PunjabNational Bank which took a hitof nearly `12,283 crore.

Of the 21 state-ownedbanks, only two banks, IndianBank and Vijaya Bank, postedprofits during 2017-18. IndianBank posted the highest prof-it of `1,258.99 crore and VijayaBank’s profit was `727.02 crorein the fiscal.

So, the net loss posted bystate-owned banks was about`85,370 crore in 2017-18 asagainst a net profit of `473.72crore in the previous fiscal.

The 19 Government-runbanks collectively posted a netloss of ̀ 87,357 crore during thefiscal, according to the latestquarterly numbers posted bythese lenders.

Punjab National Bank,which is reeling under morethan `14,000-crore scamallegedly perpetrated by NiravModi and associates, posted anet loss of ̀ 12,282.82 crore lastfiscal. In 2016-17, the Delhi-headquartered bank had post-ed a profit of `1,324.8 crore.

PNB was followed by IDBIBank, whose net loss widenedto `8,237.93 crore in the fiscalended March 2018 from`5,158.14 crore in the previousyear.

India’s largest bank StateBank of India too added huge-ly to the combined losses ofPSBs. SBI’s net loss in 2017-18stood at `6,547.45 crore asagainst a net profit of ̀ 10,484.1crore in 2016-17.

Indian banking sector isgrappling with mounting non-performing assets (NPAs) andhost of scams and frauds.

The NPA in the banking

sector stood at ̀ 8.31 lakh croreas of December 2017.

Weak financials due tomounting bad loans havealready pushed 11 banks, out of21 state-owned banks, underthe Prompt Corrective Action(PCA) framework of theReserve Bank.

The recent tight prudentialnorms released by the RBI onFebruary 12 have added to theNPA woes.

Interim Finance MinisterPiyush Goyal has announcedsetting up of a committee togive recommendations in twoweeks on formation of an AssetReconstruction Company forfaster resolution of stressedaccounts.

The committee under SunilMehta, non-executive chair-man of PNB, will make rec-ommendations in two weekson setting up of an AssetReconstruction Company orAsset Management Companyfor faster resolution of stressedaccounts.

The finance minister saidthe committee will considerwhether such an arrangementwill be good for the bankingsystem and, if any such sug-gestion is advisable, it will alsoconsider the modalities bywhich such an ARC and/or andAMC should be set up.

India, China should set upnew bilateral trade target of$100 bn by 2020: Xi to Modi PTI n QINGDAO

President Xi Jinping has sug-gested to Prime Minister

Narendra Modi that Chinaand India should set up a newbilateral trade target of $100billion by 2020, as Beijing islooking at importing non-Basmati rice as well as sugar toaddress the huge trade deficit.

PM Modi had detailed dis-cussions with President Xi onbilateral and global issues on thesidelines Shanghai CooperationOrganisation (SCO) summithere on Saturday.

Addressing a press briefingafter the Modi-Xi meeting, thesecond in nearly six weeks,Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhalesaid that President Xi suggest-ed to Prime Minister Modi thatIndia and China should set upa new bilateral trade target of$100 billion by 2020.

The India-China bilateraltrade reached $84.44 billion lastyear, according to data of the

Chinese General Administrationof Customs in March.

The bilateral trade in 2017rose by 18.63 per cent year-on-year to reach $84.44 billion. Thetwo countries had earlier set abilateral trade target of $100 bil-lion by 2015. Gokhale said thatIndia has allowed China’s state-owned Bank of China to openits branch in Mumbai.

“There were some discus-sion on trade and investmentrelated issues. And in that con-text Xi told Modi that China islooking at enhancing agricul-tural exports from Indiaincluding non-Basmati riceand sugar,” Gokhale said.

An agreement was signedbetween China’s GeneralAdministration of Customsand India’s Department ofAgriculture, Cooperation andFarmers Welfare onPhytosanitary requirements forexporting rice from India toChina, world’s biggest rice mar-kets.

Gold price may

touch `34K by

Diwali on weak

rupee: Analysts

PTI n MUMBAI

Gold prices are likely to riseup to `34,000 per 10 grams

during Diwali mainly on theback of depreciating rupee andgeo-political concerns, accord-ing to analysts.

Gold prices are likely tohold in the range of `30,000-34,000 per ten grams untilDiwali in the domestic market,and internationally the yellowmetal might be in $1,260-1,400an ounce level, CommtrendzRisk Management directorGnanasekar Thiagarajan toldPTI here.

“Price would haveabsorbed the effect of ratehikes and rate hikes wouldonly confirm inflationaryexpectations, which couldincrease the appeal for bullionas a inflationary hedge then.And with domestic currencypoised to weaken further pricescould test previous highsaround Diwali,” he added.

In India, gold on June 8closed at `31,010 per 10 gramsand while in New York itclosed at $1,302.70 an ounce.

Globally, Thiagarajan said,gold prices have been in a rangebeing capped by rising yieldsand dollar, and supported byglobal uncertainties and geo-political tensions, but it is hold-ing well in spite of a strength-ening dollar.

“With more rate cuts, thedollar could eventually comeunder pressure as cost of doingbusiness increases in the US.So, I see the possibility ofinvestors moving towards goldby the end of the second quar-ter in a big way,” he added.

Ex-RBI Guv Reddy slams Govt over PNB fraudPTI n KOLHAPUR

Former RBI governor Y VReddy has slammed the

Government for the multi-crore fraud at state- run PunjabNational Bank (PNB) and saidas the owner of public sectorlenders, it is answerable to tax-payer losses rising out of suchfinancial scams.

In February this year, PNBdetected a over `13,000- crorefraud allegedly involving dia-mantaire Nirav Modi and hisuncle Mehul Choksi, a billion-aire jeweller, at one of its

branches in Mumbai.“A big fraud has come to

light in the recent months involv-ing thousands of crores in regardto one particular bank. It is clearthat it is a fraud. Who should beworried most about the fraud?“Its the owner of the bank whostands to lose the most. Theowner (in the PNB case) is theGovernment,” Reddy said in aspeech at the Shivaji Universityat Kolhapur on Saturday.

He was speaking on thetopic `Keeping Banks Safe’.

The former RBI Governor,who headed the central bank

from 2003 to 2008, said it is thetaxpayers who pay for the loss-es due to such banking frauds.

“The taxpayers who haveentrusted their money to theGovernment-owned banksshould be asking the governmentto explain why, as the custodianof their money, it failed to pre-vent the fraud,” Reddy said.

He said as the majorityshareholder of public sectorbanks (PSBs), the Governmentshould be worried about whatthe directors it nominated on thetheir boards were doing (whenirregularities were taking place).

Embassy group to launch

REIT this year to raise $1 bn

PTI n NEW DELHI

Realty firm Embassy groupplans to launch its real

estate investment trust (REIT)this year to raise about $1 bil-lion as part of its strategy tomonetise rent-yielding com-mercial assets, sources said.

Global investment firmBlackstone-backed EmbassyOffice Parks is likely to file thedraft prospectus with marketregulator Sebi by next month tolaunch the country’s first REIT,

they added. Its REIT is alreadyregistered with Sebi. TheBengaluru-based Embassygroup has over 30 million sq ftof leased office space and hasa pipeline of about 22 millionsq ft across major cities.

According to sources, theEmbassy group is in the processof finalising the total office assetsthat would form part of REITplatform. The size of the REITwould be about $1 billion and theamount raised would be utilisedto retire debt, they added.

The 19Government-runbanks collective-ly posted a netloss of ̀ 87,357 crduring the fiscal,according to thelatest quarterlynumbers postedby these lenders

FinMin may transfer 5 sick CPSE

shares to a fund to meet Sebi norm

PTI n NEW DELHI

The Finance Ministry isplanning to transfer shares

of five sick CPSEs, includingHMT and Andrew Yule &Company, to the SNIF fund tomeet Sebi’s minimum 25 percent public shareholding.

The Central Public SectorEnterprises (CPSEs) whoseshares would be transferred tothe Special National InvestmentFund (SNIF) are Fertilizers &Chemicals (Travancore)(FACT), Hindustan PhotoFilms Manufacturing Co.,Scooters India, HMT andAndrew Yule & Company, anofficial said.

The Finance Ministrywould be discussing with mar-ket regulator Sebi to allowtransfer of shares in these com-panies to SNIF to meet the 25per cent public holding normfor listed companies. Thesecompanies have time till August21 to meet the 25 per cent pub-lic share holding norm.

“Since these CPSEs werenot financially sound, meetingthe minimum public share-holding norm by followingSebi’s method to reduce stakeswould have been difficult.Hence, we are planning totransfer the shares to SNIF ona case-to-case basis,” the officialtold PTI.

Currently, governmentholds 89.25 per cent stake inAndrew Yule & Company, 90per cent each in FACT andHindustan Photo Films, 93.69per cent in HMT and 93.74 percent in Scooters India.

Accordingly, shares wouldbe transferred on a propor-tionate basis to the fund tobring down government stakein these CPSEs to 75 per cent.

The government had in2013 approved setting up of theSNIF with the specific objectiveof meeting the minimum pub-lic shareholding of 10 per centas was then mandated by theSecurities and Exchange Boardof India (Sebi).

Invesco India has successfully tried to

provide double benefit to the investors

by introducing such a product which

can not only handle the choppy market

but also gives sustainable return

money 11LUCKNOW | MONDAY | JUNE 11, 2018

PTI n NEW DELHI

Timely monsoon will bring demand stabili-ty and spur growth this year, while the fast

growing e-commerce channel will providegood opportunities in the future, said NestleIndia CMD Suresh Narayanan.

“The monsoon at least this year, seems tobe on time. We are an agro-based economy bylarge, and to that extent, it augurs well...We lookforward to stability of demand and hopefully bet-ter growth,” Narayanan told PTI.

The India Meteorological Department(IMD) has predicted an average monsoon thisyear, which has already hit the Indian coast.While, referring to the recent big ticket invest-ments in e-commerce space, he said this chan-nel would improve and grow further in comingyears. “We welcome the opening of newer chan-nels... Together with the strengthening of back-ward linkages into the agrarian economy, weshould see improvement in the over all pace ofbusiness and also the contribution to the busi-ness,” Narayanan said.

Nestle India, which has crossed `10,000crore sales in 2017, would continue to pursueits growth here with expansion of product port-folio, he added. “Growth would come from exist-ing and new portfolio,” he said. The company,which had suffered setback after a five-monthban on its popular instant noodles Maggi in2015, has introduced several new products infood and chocolates and confectioneries cate-gories. It has also pulled back some of them afterevaluation. “It’s an ongoing programme, we areconsistently trying to evaluate our products and

I am happy to say about a fifth of our growthis coming from new products,” he added.

On upcoming products, he said that Nestlehas already announced the launch of breakfastcereals, which would be a significant move.“Now we have secular growth across categoriesand that is something we would like to contin-ue,” he added. Maggi now has around 60 per centmarket share of the instant noodles segment.“We are at little over 60 per cent of the marketshare and I think we have got a healthy tractionof the business. New innovations have seen goodresponses and I am happy with the progresswhich has been made with so far,” Narayananadded. Maggi commanded a market share ofaround 75 per cent prior to the five-month banin 2015. On being asked whether Nestle wouldbe able to cross that figure in the future, he said,ambition is always there and we are trying to getas close as possible to where we were.”

PTI n NEW DELHI

Australia-based The CrêpeCafé has entered the

Indian food and beverage mar-ket and is planning to openaround 50 stores in the nextthree years. It specialises inmade-to-order traditionalsavouries like sweet crepes,waffles, pancakes, omelettesand other fat-free delicacies ina contemporary café atmos-phere, with trendy designs anda cosy ambience.

The Crêpe Café, a part ofBFC Retail Group, has part-nered with World IconicBrands and Franchise India forits master franchise in India.

“Our expansion target is toopen around 50 stores in thecoming 3 years and reacharound 100 stores in next fiveyears with an investments of Rs80 lakh per store,” BFC GroupChairman and CEO Jean-Pierre Corgnet told PTI.

He added: “We are plan-ning to open two shops in thenext three months and 7-8more by the end of this year.”

The company is adoptingsmall floor concept between700 to 800 sq feet area, whichcan accommodate around 35to 40 seats. “It is easier to findsuch locations and its cheaper,”Pierre added. The Crêpe Caféwould also little tweak itsmenu by adapting to Indianfood habits and targeting kids,family and young profession-als. “We are targeting an aver-age of `300 to `400 (per cus-tomer), which is very muchachievable,” he said, addingthat it would place the brandas “affordable premium”.

According to FranchiseIndia Chairman GauravMarya, the market size inIndia for food and beveragesindustry is forecasted to beapproximately USD 46 billionby 2020.

New Delhi (PTI): Valuefashion and lifestyle productsretailer V-Mart Retail plans toinvest Rs 300 crore to doublestore count and treble itsturnover to `3,500 crore in thenext five years.

V-Mart, which primarilyoperates in tier II, tier III andtier IV cities and follows a clus-ter-based model approach toexpand, plans to add morethan 200 stores in the next fiveyears to create network of 400outlets. It currently operatesabout 180 outlets in 14 states inIndia. “We plan to invest `300crore to more than double ourstore count to 400 stores. We areaiming to treble our turnover to`3,500 crore,” its chairman and

managing director LalitAgarwal told PTI. In 2017-18,the company had reported arevenue of over Rs 1,200 crore.V-Mart, which has very lowdebt on its books, will fundexpansion through internalaccruals, Agarwal said. Whenasked if the company will con-tinue to focus on smaller townsin India to expand, he said: “75pet cent of our stores are locat-ed in just four states — UttarPradesh, Uttarakhand,Jharkhand and Bihar.Consumption levels are muchhigher in the markets we oper-ate in. These markets are under-served. We will continue to godeeper and focus on tier II, IIIand IV towns as we expand”.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Violence cost the Indianeconomy a whopping USD

1.19 trillion (over Rs 80 lakhcrore) last year in constantpurchasing power parity (PPP)terms, which amounts toroughly USD 595.4 per person,says a report.

The findings are part of thereport prepared by the Institutefor Economics and Peace (IEP)based on an analysis of 163countries and territories.

Violence impacted USD1,190.51 billion to the Indianeconomy in 2017, 9 per cent ofthe country’s gross domesticproduct (GDP) or USD 595.4(over Rs 40,000) per person.

The economic impact ofviolence to the global economywas USD 14.76 trillion in 2017,in PPP terms. This is equivalentto 12.4 per cent of GDP, orUSD 1,988 per person. Theglobal economic impact of vio-lence is defined as the expen-diture and economic effectrelated to “containing, pre-

venting and dealing with theconsequences of violence”.

The estimates include thedirect and indirect cost of vio-lence as well as an economicmultiplier. “The multipliereffect calculates the additionaleconomic activity that wouldhave accrued if the direct costsof violence had been avoided,”the report noted.

As per the report, humanbeings encounter conflict reg-ularly — whether at home, atwork, among friends, or on amore systemic level betweenethnic, religious or politicalgroups. But the majority ofthese conflicts do not result inviolence. The fall in peaceful-ness over the decade wascaused by a wide range of fac-tors, including increased ter-rorist activity, the intensifica-tion of conflicts in the MiddleEast, rising regional tensions inEastern Europe and northeastAsia, and increasing numbersof refugees and heightenedpolitical tensions in Europe andthe US, it added.

About the Asia-Pacificregion, it said it remained thethird most peaceful region inthe world despite a slight fall inits overall peacefulness. Therewere notable improvements inboth internal and external con-flicts fought and relations withneighbouring countries, butviolent crime, terrorismimpact, political instability andpolitical terror all deterioratedacross the region. For SouthAsia, the report said strength-

ening scores on the PoliticalTerror Scale, refugees and inter-nally displaced person (IDPs)and terrorism impact wereonly partially offset by a dete-rioration in external conflictsfought after a border disputewith China flared in theDoklam Pass. The three-monthstandoff also involved India,which sent troops to the area,it added.

In this region, the twoleast peaceful nations –

Afghanistan and Pakistan –continued their decline.Besides, Bangladesh andMyanmar also saw deteriora-tion, including due to theRohingya crisis. “The totaleconomic impact of violence(globally) was higher in 2017than at any point in the lastdecade,” the report said, addingthat the global economicimpact of violence increased by2.1 per cent from 2016 to 2017,mainly due to a rise in internalsecurity expenditure.

Syria topped the list ofmost affected countries by eco-nomic cost of violence as a per-centage of GDP at 68 per cent,followed by Afghanistan (63per cent), Iraq (51 per cent) inthe second and third positionrespectively. Others in the tenmost affected countries by eco-nomic cost of violence includeEl Salvador, South Sudan,Central African Republic,Cyprus, Colombia, Lesothoand Somalia. The report fur-ther noted that there has beena widening “prosperity gap”

between less and more peace-ful countries. Since 1960, themost peaceful countries have,on average, seen their per capi-ta GDP grow by an annual rateof 2.8 per cent.

On the other hand, lesspeaceful countries have expe-rienced economic stagnation.Their annual per capita GDPhas, on average, grown by just1 per cent over the last sevendecades. Switzerland is theleast affected country in termsof economic cost of violence,followed by Indonesia andBurkina Faso.

Among emerging marketsviolence impacted USD1,704.62 billion to the Chineseeconomy, Brazil (USD511,364.9 million), Russia(USD 1,013.78 billion) andSouth Africa (USD 239,480.2million). Among developednations, for the US, the cost ofviolence in terms of PPP wasUSD 2.67 trillion or 8 per centof the GDP. For the UK, it was312.27 billion, 7 per cent ofGDP.

PTI n NEW DELHI

An international arbitrationtribunal has concluded

hearing in the USD 1.55 billionclaims made against RelianceIndustries and its partners forallegedly syphoning gas fromdeposits they had no right toexploit and is expected to pro-nounce a judgement nextmonth. The panel headed bySingapore-based arbitratorLawrence Boo has concludedhearings on the validity of thegovernment’s demand thatReliance and its partners BP plcof UK and Canada’s NikoResources pay for “unfairly”producing natural gas belong-ing to state-owned Oil andNatural Gas Corp (ONGC),sources privy to the develop-ment said.

The three-member panel islikely to give its award in July,they said. Boo, a professor atuniversities in China, Australiaand Singapore, and head of theSingapore-based ArbitrationChambers, was last yearappointed as president of thetribunal by its two other mem-bers — government’s arbitratorand former Supreme Courtjudge GS Singhvi and Reliance-appointed arbitrator, formerEnglish High Court JusticeBernard Eder. The oil ministryon November 4, 2016, slappeda demand of USD 1.47 billionon Reliance-BP-Niko combinefor producing in seven yearsending March 31, 2016 about338.332 million British thermalunits of gas that had seeped ormigrated from ONGC’s blocksinto their adjoining KG-D6 inthe Bay of Bengal.

After deducting USD 71.71million royalty paid on the gasproduced and adding an inter-est at the rate of LIBOR plus 2per cent, totalling USD 149.86million, a total demand ofUSD 1.55 billion was made onReliance, BP and Niko.

At the time, Reliance dis-puted the government’sdemand as being based on a“misreading and misinterpre-tation of key elements of thePSC,” and it said that such ademand was without precedentin the oil and gas industry. It on

November 11, 2016, slapped anarbitration notice.

Reliance is the operator ofthe KG-D6 block with 60 percent interest while BP holds 30per cent. The remaining 10 percent is with Niko Resources.

The government’s com-pensation claim flowed fromthe report of the Justice (retd)AP Shah Committee. The Shahpanel, in its August 28, 2016,report, concluded that there hasbeen “unjust enrichment” tothe contractor of the blockKG-DWN-98/3 (KG-D6) dueto the production of themigrated gas from ONGC’sblocks KG-DWN-98/2 andGodavari PML.

It relied on a report pro-duced by petroleum industryconsultant DeGolyer andMacNaughton which conclud-ed that gas had migrated fromONGC-controlled parts of thesea floor and the geological for-mations beneath it into areascontrolled by the private com-panies. But Reliance had at thattime stated that the methodswere flawed. The government,sources said, accepted the rec-ommendations of the com-mittee and consequently, decid-ed to claim restitution fromReliance-BP-Niko for “theunjust benefit received andunfairly retained”.

So, a notice was sent, theysaid, adding that the govern-ment is also pressing Relianceto pay USD 174.9 million ofadditional profit petroleumafter certain costs were disal-lowed because of KG-D6 out-put being lower than the target.The cost recovery issue is beingarbitrated separately.Originally, ONGC had suedReliance for producing gas thathad migrated from its blocksKG-DWN-98/2 (KG-D5) andGodavari PML in the KG basinto adjoining KG-D6 block ofReliance. Under the directionof the Delhi High Court, thegovernment had appointed aone-man committee underretired Justice A P Shah to gointo the issue. Shah, however,said the compensation shouldgo to the government as it is theowner of all unproduced nat-ural resources.

PTI n MUMBAI

As theme parks continue tofascinate Indian travellers,

bookings to such destinationshave grown considerably andthe demand is likely to doublein the next five years, accordingto industry experts.

“There has been an increaseof about 13 per cent in the book-ings for domestic theme parkscompared to 2017, whereas, wecontinue to witness an increaseof close to 18 per cent for inter-national parks,” Cox and Kingshead, relationships, KaranAnand told PTI. He said thegrowth is picking up as its notabout going there only on avacation but also if there is anextended weekend, people like

to take their children to thoseparks. “Another trend that wehave observed is that parents gifta theme park vacation to thechildren when they excel instudies or sports. We see thedemand doubling in the nextfive years. Theme parks are des-tinations by itself and one doesnot have to go anywhere else,”he added. Indian travellers areletting South-East Asian coun-tries take the lead with about 60per cent of the total theme parkbound traffic heading to thesedestinations, including the LegoLand in Malaysia, Disneyworldin Hong Kong and UniversalStudios in Singapore, Anandsaid. Indians make most of theschool vacations for going totheme parks and since majori-

ty of the visitors are familieswith children, the peak seasonstart from April and goes untilJune-July, after which trafficresumes in October.

“However, we see a consid-erable growth in the number ofyoungsters visiting as well. TheBollywood parks and water

sports parks are a big hit amongthem. Hence, we can see theseason gradually extending toSeptember,” he added. Anandsaid, theme parks are evolvingto attract different segments oftravellers.

“Women-only groups, cou-ples with no kids, youngsters

and also certain percentage ofsolo travellers from India to getattracted to these parks,” he said.Dubai Bollywood Park,Universal Studios in SentosaIsland of Singapore, UniversalStudios in Japan, Harbin Ice inChina, Ocean Park in HongKong and Yas Waterworld inAbu Dhabi are some of diverseparks that are wooing othertravellers’ segments from India,he said. Meanwhile, ExpediaIndia marketing head, brand,Manmeet Ahluwalia said theIndian theme park industry isgrowing at 11-13 per cent most-ly from metro cities in like Pune,Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Surat,Indore, Bhopal and Jalandhar.He said, “though the bookingsfor theme parks are on through-

out the year, we have noticedsummer vacations are the peakseason.” The bookings are usu-ally done for 3-4 days as mostof the international parks havepasses valid for multiple day use,he added. Nikhil Ganju, coun-try manager, TripAdvisor Indiasaid, theme parks are always afun activity to consider no mat-ter what type of traveller you are.In fact, he said, out of the top 15most popular international des-tinations Indians are travellingto this summer to at least 10,including Bali, Phuket,Singapore, Dubai, London,Paris, Bangkok, Pattaya, NewYork and Hong Kong - whichhave theme parks that offerunforgettable experiences for allage groups.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Smartphone maker Xiaomiexpects offline retail to

account for about half of itssmartphone sales, up fromabout 30 per cent currently, byearly next year as it expands itspresence into small cities.

Xiaomi, which is present inoffline retail in the top 30-40Indian cities through its MiPreferred Partners and MiHomes, is looking at increasingthis number to about 100 citiesby early next year.

“Within a shorttime, we have seenphenomenal growth inour offline business. Itis about 30 per cent ofour sales, even thoughwe are present in onlytop 30-40 cities inoffline retail. We arelooking at rampingthis to about 100 citiesby early next year,”Xiaomi VP and IndiaManaging DirectorManu Jain told PTI.

He added that thecompany has about 40Mi Homes and 2,500Mi Preferred Partnerscurrently. Jain saidXiaomi is looking at

taking this number to about100 Mi Homes and a few thou-sand Mi Preferred Partners.“Every new city where we haveexpanded our offline business,we have seen strong growthcoming in and our volumes inthose cities have increased sig-nificantly. By early next year,offline should be about half ofour sales,” he said.

Xiaomi had forayed intothe Indian market in 2014, sell-ing smartphones exclusivelyonline through Flipkart.

However, a year later, it part-nered with distributors to selldevices through brick and mor-tar stores as well. Last year, ithad set up its first Mi Home inBengaluru with an aim to allowconsumers to experience andbuy all Xiaomi products underone roof.

According to research firmIDC, Xiaomi led the Indiansmartphone market with 30.3per cent share in the January-March 2018 quarter, whichregistered shipment of about 30million units.

Samsung ranked sec-ond in the tally with 25.1per cent, followed by Oppo(7.4 per cent), Vivo (6.7per cent) and Transsion(4.6 per cent), as per IDC.The overall smartphoneshipment in the said quar-ter grew 11 per cent from27 million in January-March 2017 quarter.

Xiaomi maintained itslead in the Indian marketfor second quarter in a rowwith further expansion inthe offline channel andpopularity of its modelssuch as Redmi 5A andRedmi Note 5, the researchfirm had said.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Foreign tourists may soon getto claim GST refunds at

airports at the time of exit as therevenue department is workingon a mechanism to refundtaxes paid by them on local pur-chases. Initially, only purchas-es made by tourists from bigretailers would be eligible forGoods and Services Tax (GST)refunds at the airports when thetourist is leaving the country, anofficial said.

In several countries VAT orGST are refunded to thetourists for purchases madebeyond a prescribed threshold.The department is workingout a mechanism which willensure refund of GST to foreigntourists and for that the fieldoffices have to be sensitised, theofficial said. “It has to beensured that refunds are notclaimed on the basis of fakeinvoices. The refund mecha-nism could start on the basis ofinvoices issued by big retailers,”the official told PTI. A provi-sion for GST refund to touristshave been made in the GST law,

but it is yet to be operational.The law has defined the

term ‘tourist’ as a person notnormally resident in India,who enters India for a stay ofnot more than six months forlegitimate non-immigrant pur-poses. AMRG & AssociatesPartner Rajat Mohan saidtourist refund claims are agreat inbound tourism mar-keting technique with a lowcost to the exchequer.

“Internationally, countrieslike Singapore and Australiahave an online robust systemconnecting multiple refundagencies and retailers on a sin-gle platform, offering tourists aseamless and hassle-free expe-rience while verifying, pro-cessing and disbursing the taxrefunds. Matching such state-of-the-art systems could be atechnological nightmare forIndian counterparts,” Mohansaid. Countries like Australia,Germany, France, Singapore,Japan, Malaysia, UnitedKingdom and Switzerland offerVAT or GST refund to inter-national tourists subject to cer-tain conditions.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Tata Motors is open todivesting stake in its financ-

ing arm, Tata Motors Finance,which is expected to have`50,000 crore of assets undermanagement by 2020, accord-ing to company officials.

The auto major, however,intends to keep control in TataMotors Finance Ltd (TMFL),an entity which it expects toplay a key role in its futuregrowth even as it sells a stakein other businesses or winds upsome operations abroad as partof a restructuring exercise.

“Of course, we are veryclear that we will now contin-ue to invest as far as TataMotors Finance is concerned.We will maintain control as faras Tata Motors Finance is con-cerned. But clearly, there is nointention to say that it shouldalways hold at 100 per cent.That is also clear,” Tata MotorsGroup CFO PB Balaji toldanalysts. He said the companyexpects “a very strong broad-

based rebound” in TMFL,which saw 24 per cent increasein assets under management(AUM) in 2017-18 at `27,932crore as against `22,517 crorein 2016-17. “Probably the mostheartening to see is gross NPAhas gone from 18 per cent lastyear (FY17) down to 4 per cent(in FY18) and the businessactually generates an ROE(return on equity) of 17 percent,” Balaji added.

Elaborating on strategic

goals, Tata Motors FinanceLtd(TMFL) CEO Samrat Guptasaid in an investor presentationthat the company is aiming tobe a “`50,000 crore asset undermanagement group” by 2020.

As part of the plan, TMFLalso plans to expand its reachby increasing total branchesacross India to 500 by 2020from 270 at present, he added.

Moreover, Gupta saidTMFL is also targeting to“attain 20 per cent sustainable

ROE” by 2020. Apart fromdriving up financing of its newvehicles by TMFL, Tata Motorsalso looking at the financingarm to help its partner suppli-ers with poor financial health.

Conducting the financialrisk assessment of stressed ven-dors, providing assistance incorrecting capital structure andfinancial working capitalrequirements are some of theareas that Tata Motors is look-ing to leverage on TMFL.

The significance of TMFLto Tata Motors is in contrast toother businesses such asdefence the sale of which is inprogress.

Balaji said Tata Motors is“now holding for sale of astake in Tata Technologies aswell as Tata Hitachi” and somesmall shareholding in othercompanies like Tata Steel.

“We are winding up ourSpain business (Tata Hispano),which is already in final stagesas well as Tata Precision inSingapore has been woundup,” he added.

Violence cost GDP over $1 trn on PPP basisArbitration awardin Rel-ONGC gasrow next month

Tata Motors open to stake sale in financearm, expects `50k crore AUM by 2020

Crêpe Café to foray

into India, targets

50 stores in 3 years

Xiaomi expects 50% smartphonesales to come via offline next yr

GST refund to foreign

tourists at airports

on the cards

‘Timely monsoon this yearto help spur Nestle growth’

V-Mart to invest `300 cr

to double store count

Theme park fever grips Indians; bookings to double by 2024

LUCKNOW | MONDAY | JUNE 11, 2018 world 12

TROTTINGTROTTING

GLOBE

WIND UP CASES AGAINSTSHARIF IN A MONTHIslamabad: Pakistan's SupremeCourt on Sunday directed ananti-corruption court to wind upwithin a month proceedingsagainst ousted Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif and his family.

100 YEARS OF VOTINGOBSERVED IN UKLondon: Thousands of womengathered on Sunday to turnBritish cities into rivers of green,white and violet to mark 100years since the first UK womenwon the right to vote.

WIFE OF BAHRAIN'SCROWN PRINCE, DIESDubai: Sheikha Hala bint D'aji AlKhalifa, the wife of Bahrain'scrown prince, has died.The state-run Bahrain NewsAgency announced SheikhaHala's death early this morning.It offered no details, nor gaveher age.

MIGRANTS RESCUEDFROM MEDITERRANEANMadrid: Spain's maritimerescue service has saved 334migrants and recovered fourbodies from boats it interceptedtrying to reach Europe bycrossing the Mediterranean Sea.

AP n SINGAPORE

President Donald Trumplanded in Singapore on

Sunday evening, joining NorthKorean leader Kim Jong Un inthe island city-state ahead ofone of the most unusual andhighly anticipated summits inrecent world history, a Tuesdaysit-down meant to settle astandoff over Pyongyang'snuclear arsenal.

Air Force One toucheddown at a military air base,travelling from Canada, whereTrump had attended a meetingof the Group of Seven Nations.

Hours earlier, a jet carryingKim landed, and after shakinghands with the SingaporeForeign Minister, Kim spedthrough the city's streets in amassive limousine, two largeNorth Korean flags flutteringon the hood, surrounded byother black vehicles with tint-ed windows and bound for theluxurious and closely guardedSt Regis Hotel.

Kim smiled broadly todayevening as he met withSingapore Prime Minister LeeHsien Loong.

"The entire world is watch-ing the historic summitbetween North Korea and theUnited States of America, andthanks to your sincere efforts ...We were able to complete thepreparations for the historicsummit," Kim told Lee throughan interpreter.

Trump is set to meet withLee on Monday.

Trump has said he hopes towin a legacy-making deal withthe North to give up theirnuclear weapons, though hehas recently sought to manageexpectations, saying that it maytake more than one meeting.

The North, many expertsbelieve, stands on the brink ofbeing able to target the entireUS mainland with its nuclear-armed missiles, and whilethere's deep scepticism thatKim will quickly give up thosehard-won nukes, there's alsosome hope that diplomacy canreplace the animosity between

the US and the North.This will be the first sum-

mit of its kind between a leaderof North Korea and a sitting USPresident. The North has facedcrippling diplomatic and eco-nomic sanctions as it hasadvanced development of itsnuclear and ballistic missileprograms.

The North Korean auto-crat's every move will be fol-lowed by 3,000 journalists whohave converged on Singapore,and by gawkers around the

world, up until he shakes handswith Trump on Tuesday. It's areflection of the intense glob-al curiosity over Kim's suddenturn to diplomacy in recentmonths after a slew of NorthKorean nuclear and missiletests last year raised seriousfears of war.

Part of the interest inTuesday's summit is simplybecause Kim has had suchlimited appearances on theworld stage.

He has only publicly left

his country three times sincetaking power after his father'sdeath in late 2011 — twicetravelling to China and onceacross his shared border withthe South to the southern partof the Demilitarized Zone inrecent summits with the lead-ers of China and South Korearespectively.

But it is Kim's pursuit ofnuclear weapons that gives hismeeting with Trump such highstakes. The meeting was ini-tially meant to rid North Korea

of its nuclear weapons, but thetalks have been portrayed byTrump in recent days more asa get-to-know-you session.

Trump has also raised thepossibility of further summitsand an agreement ending theKorean War by replacing thearmistice signed in 1953 witha peace treaty. China and SouthKorea would have to sign offon any legal treaty.

It's unclear what Trumpand Kim might decideTuesday.

Trump, Kim arrive in Singapore

President Donald Trump arrives at Paya Lebar Airbase for a summit with NorthKorean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on Sunday AP

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrives at the Changi International Airport inSingapore on Sunday AP

Worried, hopeful and wary:Neighbours await summitAP n TOKYO

North Korea’s East Asianeighbors — Japan, China

and South Korea — have ashared goal of denuclearizingthe peninsula, but what maycome out of Tuesday’s summitin Singapore betweenPresident Donald Trump andNorth Korea’s Kim Jong Unhas different and possibly con-flicting implications for theirsecurity, economic and geopo-litical interests.WORRIED JAPAN

Japan, a U.S. ally whosediplomatic policies largely mir-ror Washington’s, is relying onTrump because PrimeMinister Shinzo Abe has been

unable to meet Kim. Japanworries about being margin-alized by other regional play-ers who have increased theirinteraction with North Korea.Abe doesn’t want Trump tostrike a compromise on NorthKorea’s missile program thatwould leave Japan exposed toshorter-range missiles that donot reach the U.S. HOPEFUL BUT SKEPTI-CAL SOUTH

South Koreans have beensplit between hope and doubtafter seeing the seesaw devel-opments leading up to thesummit. They hope thatimproved relations betweenthe U.S. and North Koreawould ease tensions, adding

momentum for inter-Koreanreconciliation and coopera-tion. Some even speculate thatTrump and Kim may discussa peace treaty formally endingthe 1950-1953 Korean War,replacing the currentarmistice.CAUTIOUS CHINA

Trump has long leanedon China to convince NorthKorea to moderate its actionsdespite protests from Beijingand some experts that China’sinfluence may be overstated.But the success or failure of thesummit will be seen by someas an indication of China’s sta-tus as a major player inNortheast Asia, somethingBeijing has long craved.

Singapore: Pope Francis hasprayed that the summit thisweek between the US andNorth Korean leaders succeedsin laying the groundwork forpeace.

Francis expressed hopetoday that Tuesday's talksbetween US President DonaldTrump and North Korea'sleader Kim Jong Un inSingapore will "contribute to thedevelopment of a positive paththat will assure a future ofpeace for the Korean Peninsulaand the entire world."

He invited the thousands offaithful in St Peter's Square topray with him so that the VirginMary "accompany these talks."

Francis said he wanted yetagain to send "a special thoughtin friendship and prayer" to thebeloved Korean people. AP

Pope prays for

successful summit

AP n LA MALBAIE, QUEBEC

The annual G-7 summitappeared to have weathered

tensions over President DonaldTrump’s threats of a tariff-fueled trade war until the mer-curial American pulled out ofa joint statement while citing“false statements” by CanadianPrime Minister Justin Trudeau.

It was an unprecedentedattack on the leader of the U.S.neighbor and ally.

Trump was aboard AirForce One heading to an his-toric summit with NorthKorea’s Kim Jong Un when heissued a pair of tweets Saturdaycriticizing the G-7 host andstepping back from the gener-ally positive tone that hadended the two-day meeting. Afew hours earlier, Trudeau hadtold reporters that all sevenleaders had come together tosign the joint declaration.

Trudeau said he had reiter-ated to Trump that tariffs wouldharm industries and workers onboth sides of the U.S.-Canadaborder. He said unleashing retal-iatory measures “is not some-thing I relish doing” but that hewouldn’t hesitate to do sobecause “I will always protectCanadian workers and

Canadian interests.”“As Canadians, we are polite,

we’re reasonable, but also we willnot be pushed around,” Trudeausaid, and he described all sevenleaders coming together to signa joint declaration despite hav-ing “some strong, firm conver-sations on trade, and specifical-ly on American tariffs.”

In the air by then, Trumptweeted: “Based on Justin’s falsestatements at his news confer-ence, and the fact that Canadais charging massive Tariffs to ourU.S. farmers, workers and com-panies, I have instructed our U.S.Reps not to endorse theCommunique as we look atTariffs on automobiles floodingthe U.S. Market!”

He followed up by tweeting:“PM Justin Trudeau of Canadaacted so meek and mild duringour @G7 meetings only to givea news conference after I left say-ing that, “US Tariffs were kindof insulting” and he “will not bepushed around.” Very dishonest& weak. Our Tariffs are inresponse to his of 270% ondairy!” A spokesman forTrudeau did not address Trump’sinsults in a statement. “We arefocused on everything weaccomplished here at the #G7summit,” spokesman CameronAhmad said. “The PrimeMinister said nothing he hasn’tsaid before — both in public,and in private conversationswith the President.”

Trump pulls out of joint G-7statement, attacks Trudeau

German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks with US President Donald Trump during the G-7 Leaders Summit in La Malbaie,Quebec, Canada, on Saturday AP

Paris: France warned todaythat "fits of anger" could notdictate international coopera-tion after US President DonaldTrump abruptly rejected a jointstatement agreed after a bad-tempered G7 summit inCanada.

"International cooperation

cannot be dictated by fits of anger and throwawayremarks," President EmmanuelMacron's office said in a state-ment to AFP, adding thatreneging on the commitmentsagreed in the statement showed "incoherence andinconsistency."

‘Fits of anger' cannot dictateglobal cooperation: France

IANS n QINGDAO (CHINA)

Chinese President Xi Jinpingon Sunday said new

progress has been made by theShanghai CooperationOrganisation (SCO) since thearrival of India and Pakistan.

On behalf of leaders of theSCO member States, Xi madethe remarks at a joint pressconference in the coastal cityof Qingdao in China'sShandong Province, Xinhuanews agency reported.

Several documents wereissued during the summit,including the QingdaoDeclaration of the Council ofHeads of Member States of theSCO, and the Joint Statementof the Heads of Member Statesof the SCO on PromotingTrade Facilitation, Xi said.

The summit also ratified afive-year action plan for imple-menting the Treaty on Long-Term Good-Neighbourliness,Friendship and Cooperation of

the SCO Member States, hesaid.

"We have agreed to abideby the goals and principles ofthe SCO Charter, carry for-ward the Shanghai Spirit ofmutual trust, mutual benefit,equality, consultation, respectfor diversity of civilisationsand pursuit of common devel-opment, and jointly pursueregional peace, stability anddevelopment by promotinggood-neighbourliness andfriendship and deepeningpractical cooperation," Xi said.

SCO achievesnew progress afterenlargement: Xi

PTI n LONDON

Milk in parts of Ukraine hasradioactivity levels up to

five times over the country'sofficial safe limit — a conse-quence of the catastrophicChernobyl Nuclear Power Plantexplosion that took place over30 years ago, scientists say.

Scientists from theUniversity of Exeter in the UKand the Ukrainian Institute ofAgricultural Radiology sam-pled cow's milk from privatefarms and homes in the Rivneregion, about 200 kilometresfrom the site of the Chernobylexplosion in 1986.

They found levels ofradioactive caesium in milkabove Ukraine's safe limit foradults of 100 Becquerel per litreat six of 14 settlements studied,and above the children's limitof 40 Becquerel per litre at eightsites.

The highest levels foundwere about 500 Becquerel per

litre - five times over the limitfor adults and more than 12times that for children.

"More than 30 years afterthe Chernobyl disaster, peopleare still routinely exposed toradioactive caesium when con-suming locally produced staplefoods, including milk, inChernobyl-affected areas ofUkraine," said Iryna Labunska,at the University of Exeter inthe UK.

"Many people in the areawe studied keep cows for milk,and children are the main con-sumers of that milk," saidLabunska.

"Though the level of soilcontamination in the studiedareas is not extremely high,radioactive caesium continuesto accumulate in milk andother foods, such that the res-idents of these villages arechronically exposed toradioactivity that presentshealth risks to almost everysystem in the body — espe-

cially among children," shesaid.

Some simple protectivemeasures could be taken tobring radiation exposure levelsbelow limits at a cost of lessthan 10 euros per person peryear for the 8,300 people livingin the six villages with the high-est contamination.

Such measures includeapplying a caesium binder,called Ferrocyn, to cows, min-eral fertilisation of potato fieldsand feeding pigs with uncont-aminated fodder.The cost ofthis would decrease each yearas radiation levels fall - but ifno action is taken, the expertswarn that milk contaminationwill continue to exceed the 100Becquerel per litre adult limitin parts of Ukraine until at least2040.

"This situation should alsoact as a warning and areminder of just how long thelegacy of nuclear accidents canbe," said Labunska.

Chernobyl disaster continuesto contaminate milk in Ukraine

AFP n DHAKA

The first monsoon rainshave hit camps in

Bangladesh housing around amillion Rohingya refugees,triggering floods and land-slides but no casualties ormajor damage so far, officialssaid on Sunday.

Aid agencies have beenwarning that the monsoon sea-son could prompt a humani-tarian catastrophe in comingmonths at what is the world'sbiggest refugee camp, shelter-ing people fleeing violence inMyanmar.

The sites in southeasternBangladesh are predicted to behit by powerful cyclones and bymore than 2.5 metres (eightfeet) of rainfall over the com-ing three months of monsoon— roughly triple what Britain

gets in a year.Bangladesh's meteorologi-

cal office said the Cox's Bazararea where many of therefugees live in makeshift shel-ters on bare hillsides had 138millimetres (5.4 inches) of rainsince last evening.

"Some areas like the foot-ball field areas are flooded.Some houses have been inun-dated with water.

There have been a fewlandslides. The conditions arebad," UN refugee agencyspokesperson Caroline Glucktold AFP.

The monsoon season "isgoing to be big test for every-body involved in the humani-tarian response in support ofthe Government ofBangladesh", she said.

More heavy rain is forecastfor coming days.

First monsoonrains poundRohingya camps

AFP n BEIRUT

Eleven Syrian civilians werekilled on Sunday in regime

strikes in the country's north-west, a monitor said, in appar-ent retaliation for a jihadistattack on two besiegedGovernment-held villages.

The bombing raids hit astring of towns and villages inthe northwest province of Idlib,which is almost entirely con-trolled by various jihadist andhardline rebels.

"Nine civilians, includingthree children, were killed inthe raids on the town ofTaftanaz," said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory forHuman Rights.

Observatory head RamiAbdel Rahman said strikeshad also hit near a children'shospital, putting it out of ser-vice.

Two more civi l ians,including a child, were killedin other raids nearby. The airstrikes came a day after

jihadists from Al-Qaeda's for-mer Syrian affiliate launchedan attack on Fuaa andKafraya, two villages held bythe regime but cut off byhardline forces.

Late Saturday, Hayat Tahriral-Sham (HTS) and allied fight-ers shelled Fuaa and Kafrayaheavily and clashed with localfighters.

"This is the fiercest attackin around three years," saidAbdel Rahman. Six Syrian pro-regime fighters and at leastthree from HTS were killed inthe fighting, which continuedtoday.

Syrian state news agencySANA also reported yesterday'sattack, and said local fighterswere able to push back thejihadists.

Fuaa and Kafraya are theonly two places in Syria cur-rently designated as besieged bythe United Nations after thegovernment recaptured theYarmuk Palestinian camp insouthern Damascus.

Syria strikes kill 11

civilians after jihadist

attack: Monitor

PTI n MELBOURNE

Removing tonsils and ade-noids in childhood increas-

es the risk of diseases likeasthma, influenza and pneu-monia, say scientists who haveexamined the long-term effectsof these common paediatricsurgeries for the first time.

The researchers suggestrenewed evaluation of alterna-tives to these surgeries thatinclude removal of tonsils (ton-sillectomy) to treat chronictonsillitis or adenoids (ade-noidectomy) to treat recur-rent middle ear infections.

The adenoids and tonsilsare strategically positioned inthe nose and throat respectivelyto act as a first line of defense,helping to recognise airbornepathogens like bacteria andviruses, and begin the immuneresponse to clear them from thebody.

Tonsil removal

may up flu,

asthma risk,

says scientists

PTI n LOS ANGELES

In a breakthrough, scientistshave developed a new tech-

nique that enables them toimage 10,421 genes at oncewithin individual cells.

The technique, called intronseqFISH (sequential fluores-cence in situ hybridisation), isa major advance in being ableto identify what goes on acrossthe genome in hundreds of dif-ferent cells at once.

"This technique can beapplied to any tissue," said LongCai, research professor atCalifornia Institute ofTechnology in the US.

"Intron seqFISH can helpidentify cell types and also whatthe cells are going to do, in addi-tion to giving us a look at thechromosome structure in thesame cells," said Cai.

Previously, researcherscould only image four to five

genes at a time in cells withmicroscopy.

Scaling seqFISH up to agenomic level now enables theimaging of over 10,000 genes -about half of the total numberof genes in mammals - withinsingle cells, according to theresearch published in the jour-nal Cell.

In order for genetic instruc-tions to be turned into an actu-al functioning protein, a processcalled transcription must firstoccur. This process often occursin pulses, or "bursts."

First, a gene will be read andcopied into a precursor mes-senger RNA, or pre-mRNA,like jotting a quick, rough draft.This molecule then maturesinto a messenger RNA, ormRNA, akin to editing therough draft. During the "edit-ing" process, certain regionscalled introns are cut out of thepre-mRNA.

Novel imagingtechnique can captureover 10k genes at once

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shakes hands with Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as he welcomesrepresentatives from outreach countries and international organisations during the G-7 summit in La Malbaie, Quebec onSaturday AP

LUCKNOW | MONDAY | JUNE 11, 2018vivacity 13

I never fearedtaking risk: Swara

Actress SWARA BHASKAR, whowas recently trolled for a scene inVeere di Wedding,believes in breakingstereotypes. She said,“When I came to thefilm industry, peo-ple advised menot to play thesister or bestfriend of the pro-tagonist as Iwould only beoffered sec-ond leads. Iwas told notto playvamp andmother at ayoung age.Now youknow whatare thecharactersI haveplayed infilms. Ithought if thoseare the rules to get the lead role,why not break them?

Marsden joinsTarantino’s movie

Priyanka Chopraapologised for

a recent episode in“Quantico”, fol-lowing onl inebacklash for the‘Indian national-ists’ terror plot linein her show. The35-year-old actortook to Twitter toclear the air

around the episode, titled ‘TheBlood of Romeo’, which receiveda lot of backlash from Indian fansof the show, who criticised her ofbeing a part of the storyline thatshowed India in a negative light.Calling herself a “proud Indian”,Chopra said she is “extremely sad-dened” and that hurting sentimentsof people was never her intention.“I’m extremely saddened and sorrythat some sentiments have beenhurt by a recent episode of‘Quantico’. That was not andwould never be my intention. I sin-cerely apologise. I’m a proudIndian and that will never change,”she tweeted. Chopra’s remarkscome a day after ABC’s statementwhere the network apologised forstepping into a “complex politicalissue” with the latest episode of“Quantico”, which showed ‘Indiannationalists’ planning to carry outa terrorist attack in Manhattan andframe Pakistan for it days beforea summit on Kashmir.

Actor JAMES MARSDEN is thelatest addition to the cast ofQuentin Tarantino’s Once Upon aTime in Hollywood.The 44-year-old actor,who currently stars inHBO’s Westworldseason two, joins thestar-studded castof LeonardoDiCaprio, BradPitt, MargotRobbie and AlPacino inTarantino’sninth featurefilm.AmericanHousewifeactor JuliaButters has alsoboarded the cast.However, the detailsof Marsden’ andButters’ charactersare not known yet.The movie is basedon the murder ofactor Sharon Tateand three others at the hands ofthe Manson family cult.The filmwill release on August 19 nextyear commemorating the 50thanniversary of the murders.

It has been the most challenging journey for me butprobably the most interesting one too. This by farhas been the biggest learning curve for me. There

were challenges I faced at almost every step of theprocess,” actor, director Nandita Das said about her lat-est outing, Manto, which premiered at the recentCannes Film Festival.

“It took me four years to research and write thescript and two years to get funding, cast, crew, loca-tions and all the preparation to shoot and get the filmout. The genesis of the idea of the film was in 2012,Manto’s centenary celebration, and now it finally pre-miered in Cannes.”

After having helmed Firaaq in 2008, Nandita wentbehind the camera to trace the life of writer SaadatHasan Manto, to be portrayed by NawazuddinSiddiqui in the film, expected to release in September.

Manto, who died in 1955 at the age of 43, pennedan impressive body of work touching various genres.He churned out about 22 collections of stories com-prising a novel, essays, personal sketches and moviescripts. One of his literary gems was a story on MirzaGhalib, a poet who is often compared with the statureof Shakespeare. His work also gained attention forweaving stories around the ordeal of Partition as wellas sexuality. The film provides a window into his lifeduring the tumultuous partitioning of British colonialIndia into two new nations — India and Pakistan.

Manto, co-produced by HP Studios, Filmstoc andViacom 18 Motion Pictures, was the only Indian filmin Un Certain Regard category at the 71st Cannes FilmFestival. It will also be screened at the Sydney FilmFestival, which started on June 6 and will go on till June17.

Nandita said she was “deeply involved with everydepartment and have learnt so much in the process.After all I never went to a film school or assisted anydirector, so everything was being learnt on the job andI was relying mostly on my creative instinct and lifeexperiences.”

On her experience at the fest, she said, “I have beenattending Cannes since I was invited in the main juryin 2005. Then again in 2013 in the short film jury.Including more recently, to raise funds for Manto. Otherthan these two opportunities, I have been there sev-eral times as a film lover. Apart from it being the mostcelebrated festival, it truly manages to combine greatcinema and is a thriving platform for filmmakers andfilm lovers from all over the world. While you, ofcourse, wish your film to be premiered in Cannes, oneis aware that every filmmaker wishes that too. The com-petition is extremely fierce. And Manto is not a typi-cal festival film”.

There is more which made the movie an unlike-ly candidate for Cannes according to Nandita. “Thereferences and contexts are not always easy for foreign-ers to understand. I didn’t know till the day they offi-cially announced the list. It was the only Indian filmin the main official section and so it is a huge honour.I am most delighted that Manto has started its jour-ney in Cannes.”

Nandita also discussed the recent attacks on filmsand media and drew comparisons of Manto with thecurrent scenario. The director said: “Manto was triedfor obscenity six times because he wrote about sexworkers, giving them dignity that was rare and usedthe language of the street, deemed inappropriate. Hesaid, ‘If you can’t bear my stories, it is because we livein unbearable times’.”

She quoted Martin Luther King Jr. to highlight thepoint further. “He said, ‘Our lives begin to end the daywe become silent about things that matter.’ These dayswhether it is media or individuals, people are beingcensored by self-proclaimed vigilante groups or are self-censoring themselves, out of fear,” Nandita said.

“Conservatives are increasingly becoming themoral police. At the same time, official censoring bod-ies are becoming more bigoted and their rulings aregetting more and more subjective and arbitrary,” addedNandita, who had faced protests over her socially mov-ing and bold film Fire.

The actress noted that artists, writers, rationalistsare all being attacked in some form or the other and

are being silenced. “A society can grow and developonly when it gives space for dissent and free thinking.And this shrinking space threatens democracy andhuman progress,” she said.

When questioned about how far we had movedaway from Partition, she replied, “Far from it. ThePartition remains a very important part of the sub-con-tinent’s narrative. It has been invoked for all kinds ofreasons. Sometimes for political agenda, sometimes tounderstand the pain and trauma some still feel today.Close to 14 million people were displaced, hundredsof thousands of people were killed, women raped... itspanned all the heinous crimes that come with sectar-ian violence. It is bound to have a lasting impact. ButI am not sure we have learnt all the lessons that weneeded to learn.”

—IANS

Bhatt’s photo: Pankaj Kumar

Internet is a strange place whereanybody can become famous. If

you have talent, great! There is aslight chance for you. But if youare trying hard without talent,Internet guarantees you success.That’s what happened to theseworldwide known personalities.They simply uploaded their pho-tos or videos and became famouswith their meme characters.

Who would have thoughtthat a young girl from East Delhi,who is nowhere close to what asinger would be like, could besuch a huge sensation and pock-et millions? Or take the young-ster in the US, who made millionsby just saying three magicalwords, “Cash me out.” Here wetake a look at the four biggestinternet sensations, who becamefamous by chance

MASON RAMSEY — THEWALMART BOY

The 11-year-old kid ended upbeing a web sensation after hisvideo of singing his grandfatherHank Williams’ tune LovesickBlues (recorded very nearly 70years earlier) in a Walmart storewent viral on YouTube. Theenergetic music kid, who aston-ished Walmart customers bybreaking out into a stellar chat-ter at a store in Harrisburg,ended up being a shinning inter-net star. Inside a few days he got25 million+ views and became aviral meme.

Due to his new-found pop-ularity Mason Ramsey also

appeared on the Ellen DeGeneresShow. After he became aYouTube sensation, he was pro-moted to the Coachella (a ValleyMusic and Arts Festival) andshared the stage with anAmerican DJ and music produc-er from Chicago, DJ Whethan.With a dream of showing up onGrand Ole Orpy one day, the kidsigned his first record deal withAtlantic Records and Big-LoudRecords and made his debutsong Famous entering at number62 on the US Billboard 100.

SAMMY GRINER — THEFORMULA FOR SUCCESS

You must be living under therock if you haven’t seen the pic-ture of a boy clenching a fistful ofsand with a determined facialexpression. The picture, which isprobably the most popular memeon the internet, is of SammyGriner. His mother Laney clickedthat picture when Sammy was just11 months old and was playing onthe beach. The boy became a sym-bol to demonstrate success thatmade a person’s day. But the

story doesn’t end here. Sammy Griner’s fame was

used again when he was 10 yearsold to save his father’s life. His dad

fell sick and experienced kidneyfailure and required kidney trans-plant. The family set up aGoFundMe page, a platformwhich allows you to raise moneyfor life events. In a few days Grinerraised more than $100,000. Hesaid after his father’s treatment, “Iam happy my fame went for agood cause and don’t want to goviral again.”

DANIELLE BREGOLI —‘CASH ME OUTSIDE’ GIRL

A teenager, Danielle becamepopular after she made an appear-ance on Dr Phil (an Americantabloid talk show) with her moth-er Barbara. On the show, themother revealed that she wantedto hand over Danielle to theauthorities after she found her tobe a drug user and uploaded avideo of her attempting to hit her.Barbara also said that her daugh-ter had been stealing credit cardsand cash, even taking cars of oth-ers for a “joyride.”

The 13-year-old told theaudience boldly, “Cash me ous-side”, a phrase that transformedinto a music recording by DJSuede. It entered the BillboardHot 100. The song led to a seriesof funny dance videos onYouTube and made Danielleanother sparkling star of theInternet. Branding herself as arapper, she recorded her firstmusic video These Heaux pro-duced by an American Grammy-nominated singer Brittany B.Furthermore, the song entered

the US Billboard Hot 100 chartat number 77 in 2017 makingDanielle the third youngest artistof all time to make it to the charton Hot 100. The success of hersong encouraged AtlanticRecords to sign a multi-albumrecording contract. With morethan 4.5 million subscribers andseven successful songs, Daniellemade it to the 2017 MTV movieand TV Awards in Trending cat-egory and Billboard musicawards nominations.

POOJA JAIN — DHINCHAKPOOJA

The swagger girl turned outto be a YouTube sensation afterher cringe music videos got viralon social media. The self-approved singer got famous withher popular song Swag Wali Topiwhich she uploaded and sharedon several social media accounts.The precise next tune of her SelfieMaine Leli Aaj ran uncommon-ly popular with more than 35million views and marked hercringe pop genre in the historyof social media.

Not just popularity but cashalso flew her way. Her YouTubechannel revenue was above `50lakh as per reports. But thequestion is where she spent thatmuch money? Instead of makingnew “out of the world songs” shestarted making Vlogs and travelling around the world likeother YouTubers. Her latest Vlogshares the experience she had in Dubai.

You need to leave Mumbai regularly to keepyour soul intact. Otherwise you just get

caught up in its pace and you lose your con-science,” says the bold and audacious PoojaBhatt, the first woman producer of Bollywood,who is now endorsing basketball. She was in thecapital for the launch of The Delhi Hoopers, oneof the teams of the 3×3 basketball tournamentthat will be held at The Great India Place Mall,Noida, on June 9 and 10. The winners of thetournament will get a chance to represent Indiaat the FIBA.

nHow has cinema changed since the time youbegan and what is your take on women-cen-tric films?

Whether it is my battle with alcohol, orwhether it has been being an actor or a film-maker, I was always told that you have no busi-ness in either of them ever since I was 21 — andthe industry was fairly male-dominated at thattime. When I began directing movies, peopletold me “tum acting karo na, why do you wantto be like us?” I used to be like, excuse me? Youtell me not to do it and I will put my foot intothat box. Don’t tell me I can’t belong to that clubbecause I will rule that club and jump over youand form my own club. That’s the way I am.

nHow did you hold on to your creativity in ahostile atmosphere?

Creativity is something that anybody whois remotely original has to guard very fiercelyand passionately because people just want youto be run-of-the-mill. Whatever is new and peo-ple can’t put into a slot, they will dismiss. Iremember when I had got Rahat Fateh Ali Khanto sing Man ki lagan for my film Paap, expertsin the movie industry said it wouldn’t work. Nowlook at the singer’s career. Our audience is farmore evolved than we will ever be.

nYou were denounced for getting actors likeSunny Leone in the film business... How didyou hold out?

I work for the people. They not onlyaccepted Sunny but loved her work and gave heran eminent career. Apparently, it has never hap-pened in the world ever before where an adultfilm star has made a mark for herself in main-stream entertainment. It has not even happenedin America which talks about being very mod-ern and forward but is actually very conserva-tive. I guess that in itself was an answer for mycritics.

nWhat is your take on content-driven films? We like everything glamorous and

whatever makes a lot of money. It is right-ly said, “Jo dikhta hai voh bikta hai.” Weall understand that whether it is media,entertainment or newspapers, it is final-ly a business. So people makemovies that they know the audi-ence is going to watch.

But what is good now is that allkinds of stories are getting heardand seen thanks to a strengtheneddistribution network. Regionalcinema like Marathi is pack-ing some wonderful sto-ries in tiny budgetsand creating a farbigger impact.Even for that mat-ter Tamil and Bengalifilms have amazingstory-telling. Irecently watchedSrijit Mukherji’s

Uma and it was beyond marvellous. Apart fromthe story of a father and daughter, it also cele-brates the spirit of a city like Calcutta. Also, sometime ago, I watched Secret Superstar and it wasa gem of a film. But you do need a backing ofAamir Khan to tell a story like that.

nDo you follow basketball and what has beenyour involvement with FIBA?

We live in an attention-deficient time whena sport like basketball has been made more con-cise and simpler to understand with 3BL whichis a 10-minute high speed version. I am goingto watch my first live basketball match today andI am looking forward to it. It gives me some-thing new to immerse myself into. I think lifebegins when you constantly will yourself tounlearn and relearn and the process goes on. Ihave zero knowledge on basketball but I guessit is a great place to start with zero.

nWhat has been your affiliation with theundermined sports of India?

It was one day that Ritvik (former numberone squash player, owner of team DelhiHoopers) visited us and he talked about how hewanted to open a squash institute. That dreambecame a reality. So slowly but surely, Munna(Munish Makhija, former VJ and owner of teamDelhi Hoopers) and him identified the land andcollected the money or rather saved it and builtthe place without an architect. It was just localcontractors, where we used people who built forthe village really and got to do things our way.They have this beautiful institute now wherethere are not only kids from all over India whocome from privileged backgrounds but alsofrom villages. Ritvik said I want to find the nextchamp from this village. That is the day I wouldhave achieved something. I would have achievedsomething the day when I have an young adi-vasi kid becoming the next champion of India.Through squash and boxing, I then met Rohit(3BL, League Commissioner) who has a passionfor basketball.

nBasketball has not had conspicuous support,what is your take on that?

Like I said, Rohit himself plays and he saidwhy are Indians not a part of this, why are wenot staking our claim here? With his ownresources, dignity and his entire being, he devel-oped this format. What binds these people are

the underdogs in a crick-et-obsessed nation.

You will be amazedhow kids naturallytake to basketballin our country.

Acclaimed actress and filmmaker NANDITA DAS says makingManto was a most challenging yet interesting journey

THEY PUSH THE COMFORT ZONE‘Manto more relevant today’ ‘Great to begin at zero’

POOJA BHATT believes inruling everything that they tellher not to and this time it’sbasketball, says APARNA BHALLA

NOT JUST A MEME

There seems to be simply noreason or logic behind thehuge success of some internetsensations

W E B B E D

Nitesh Jidani

After finally breaking through withits first major title at the European

Championship two years ago, Portugalwill use the same formula at the WorldCup.

The European champions willtravel to Russia with many of the play-ers from the squad that won Euro2016, including Cristiano Ronaldo,and it will also carry the same low-keymentality it had when it succeeded inFrance.

"We are fully aware that we are notthe favorites," Portugal coach FernandoSantos said. "History shows it, as do allthe titles of the other teams that willbe playing at the World Cup. Beforethe European Championship I alsodidn't believe we were the favorites."

Santos said Portugal can be con-sidered a "candidate" for the title butit still shouldn't be included among thetop contenders despite being Europeanchampions.

"We have the same three or fourteams that were favorites in theEuropean Championship - Germany,Spain, France - and now we add Braziland Argentina. These teams are thefavorites, then there is a group of can-didates in which we can naturallyinclude Portugal," he told Portuguesetelevision channel RTP.

Portugal won its first major title in2016 - after coming close a few othertimes in the Ronaldo era - by avoid-ing all those traditional favorites untilthe final against host France, when itwon in extra time. It played Hungary,Iceland and Austria in the groupstage, then faced Croatia, Poland andWales in the knockout matches.

Santos said this time he can makethe same type of promise he made to

the Portuguese people before theEuropean Championship.

"We will give our best and we willbe a contender to win every match,"he said. "I have the same confidencein my players and in my team that Ihad before the EuropeanChampionship. We will have the samegoal now that we had then."

Nine of the players who started inthe final against France are back withthe World Cup team, with the onlyabsences being veteran forward Nani

and young midfielder Renato Sanches.In total, 13 players from the Euro

2016 squad will be in Russia. Amongthose not going to Russia are RicardoCarvalho, Andre Gomes and Eder,who scored the title-winning goal inthe extra time against the hosts.

"It hurts not to be able to includeall the players who were with us in theEuropean Championship," said Santos,who opted to add a few younger play-ers to the World Cup squad. "All ofthem helped us write a brilliant page

in the history of Portuguese football."The team was drawn into Group

B at the World Cup, along withMorocco, Iran and Iberian rival Spain.Portugal's opener will be against theSpaniards on June 15 in Sochi in oneof the most anticipated matches of thetournament.

"It will be the game between thefavorite and the candidate," Santos said."We will need to be very careful in thisgroup, but if Portugal doesn't advanceit will be disappointing.

VAR OPERATIONS ROOM UNVEILSMOSCOW: FIFA has presented the World Cup's videoassistant referee (VAR) operations room, which willmake its debut at the tournament's 21st edition inRussia. At a press conference on Saturday, MassimoBusacca, head of FIFA's refereeing department, said theVAR would be important at this summer's World Cup butstressed that the officials on the field would still betasked with managing the games. Five days before theevent kicks off on June 14 with a match between hostRussia and Saudi Arabia, the VAR system has been inthe spotlight and seems to be attracting moreproponents and critics as the countdown to thetournament advances.

FABRA OUT OF WC WITH INJURYBOGOTA: Colombia defender Frank Fabra has been ruledout of a maiden World Cup with a serious knee injuryhours before the South Americans were scheduled totravel to their team base in Kazan, the Colombian footballfederation said on Saturday. The Boca Juniors left-backsuffered a "ruptured anterior cruciate ligament" (ACL) inhis left knee during a training session in Italy, thefederation said in a statement. "I fought, I worked hardand tried to get better... But now my heart is broken intoa million little pieces," Fabra lamented in a message onhis Instagram account. According to medical experts,Fabra's recovery will take bertween four and six months.

URUGUAY FOCUSED ON GAMEMONTEVIDEO: Uruguay's captain Diego Godin said theplayers are focused on their first game against Egypt asthe national team flew out from Montevideo for the FIFAWorld Cup in Russia, which kicks off on June 14. Godinsaid the team is focused on their first challenge, whichwill be to beat an Egyptian team likely to be missingtalisman Mohamed Salah, who is recovering from ashoulder injury. "Although we, like the whole of theUruguayan people, are dreaming big, the main challengefacing us is winning the game against Egypt; this iswhat's most important to us and is what is on ourminds" the Atletico Madrid man said.

SPAIN’S LATE GOAL EDGE TUNISIAKRASNODAR: Spain needed substitute Iago Aspas toscore a late goal to beat Tunisia 1-0 in their final warmupfor the World Cup on Saturday. Sergio Busquets finallyundid Tunisia's defense with a long pass, and DiegoCosta set up Aspas to rifle in a low strike. Spainremained undefeated through 20 matches under coachJulen Lopetegui. It starts the World Cup with a highlyfrustrated the 2010 world champion with disciplineddefending until Busquets spotted Costa's run behind thebackline. Aspas, who was Spain's sixth and finalsubstitution in the 76th, scored the winner with sixminutes remaininganticipated clash against neighborPortugal next Friday.

FRANCE DRAW WITH USLYON: Kylian Mbappe struck a late equalizer as Francedrew with the United States 1-1 in its final World Cupwarmup on Saturday. The 19-year-old forward reactedswiftly from near the penalty spot in the 78th minute,turning in a cross from right back Benjamin Pavard afterhe was released down the right flank by forward NabilFekir. France missed several first-half chances and waspunished in the 44th when the US scored with its firstmeaningful attack through forward Julian Green. Thegoal came about thanks largely to a defensive blunderfrom right back Djibril Sidibe. He made a hash of aclearance and knocked the ball into the path of Green,who beat goalkeeper Hugo Lloris with a crisp shot insidethe near post.

EGYPT GET WARM SEND-OFFCAIRO: About 2,000 fans gathered at Cairo's mainstadium on Saturday to watch Egypt's last home practicebefore the Pharaohs fly to their World Cup base inGrozny, Chechnya. Egypt also unveiled its mascot, agreen "Nile Crocodile" in a red Egypt jersey, white shortsand a yellow-and-black pharaonic head cover. Qualifyingfor the World Cup for the first time since 1990, Egyptopens its campaign against Uruguay on Friday. Starstriker Mohamed Salah, still recovering from a rightshoulder injury sustained during the Champions Leaguefinal last month, suited up for the celebrations but didnot train with the squad. With six days left to theUruguay match, it is not certain whether Salah, will be fitto play. He has not spoken to the media since he flewhome on Wednesday from Spain, where he receivedtreatment for his injury. Agencies

NAVIGATORS

EYE CUP GLORY

CLOSE WATCH: VAR refereeing Project Leader Roberto Rosetti, left,

demonstrates a video operation room (VOR), a facility of the Video Assistant

Referee (VAR) system which will be rolled out for the first time during the WC AP

NACHO FERNANDEZ HOPESHE HAS DONE ENOUGH TO BE

IN SPAIN'S TEAM FOR THEIRWORLD CUP OPENERAGAINST PORTUGAL

ASPAS PUT HIS NAME IN THEFRAME TO START UP FRONTFOR SPAIN BUT LOPETEGUIREMAINED GUARDED NOTSHOWING STRIKING HAND

EGYPT HAVE RECEIVED AMAJOR BOOST LESS THAN A

WEEK OUT FROM THEIRFIRST WC GAME AS SALAH IS

CONFIDENT OF BEING FIT

PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN STAREDINSON CAVANI BELIEVES

URUGUAY HAVE GROWN AS ATEAM AHEAD OF THE WORLD

CUP CAMPAIGN IN RUSSIA

LUCKNOW | MONDAY

JUNE 11, 2018 14

T E A M P R O F I L E : P O R T U G A L

MOTION PICTURE

Portugal will try to replicate European success

S L I D E R

�KEY PLAYERS: Cristiano

Ronaldo, Adrien Silva, Bernardo

Silva, William Carvalho, Gelson

Martins

�SURPRISE PACKAGE: Bruno

Fernandes

�STRENGTH: Lies in front line

as attack

�Euro 2016 success

�Cristiano is good enough to

shatter any defence

�Young defence that will play a

crucial role in counter-attacks

�Confidence of turning things

around

�Presence of Bernardo, Andre

and Adrien Silva

�COACH: Fernando Santos took

Greece to the round of 16 in

2014 and won the Euros with

Portugal at the first attempt

�FAVOURITE CHANTS: Clap,

clap, clap-clap-clap] Ole Ronaldo,

Ole

�WINNING ODDS: 22/1

�WC PREDICTION: Qualify from

the group and out at the quarter-

final stage

LOW POINT

�Weak bench strength

�Extra dependence on Ronaldo

�Fernando Santos injury

�Aging Backline

�Javier Mascerhano’s best days

are behind him

TACTIC

4-4-2

MUSCOB TES

Reigning European Champions Portugal with presence of star striker Cristiano Ronaldo (Third from Right) will certainly pose a major threat to theother competiting nations in the Russia World Cup and will be one of the top contenders to lift the title AP

World Cup’s Group B hasattracted much interest anddeservedly so — this being the

group where two of the four contendershave won three European titles betweenthem from 2008 to 2016: Spain in 2008and 2012 and Portugal — the reigningChampions since 2016. A battle betweenthe two, which will be the 36th Iberianderby, shall mark the highlight of thegroup's fixtures but only after the othertwo teams — Morocco and Iran — kick-off their World Cup campaign againsteach other. Morocco are back in theWorld Cup after their third appearance20 years ago while Iran's fifth partici-pation in the tournament also markstheir involvement in two consecutiveWorld Cups for the first time.

PORTUGALAfter chiming in a European

Championship to their trophy cabinet

two years ago, the Portuguese have clear-ly shirked off the disappointing brandof being the dark horses at major inter-national events. Complacency in Russiawill be the death for this team, and there-fore a policy best left unattended —which is why head coach FernandoSantos will need to come up with a rem-edy to fill up the cracks. The team'sdefence, with an ageing Pepe cutting asolitary figure (in terms of a fearsomereputation) at the centre of it, can usesome of that.

The offensive front, on the otherhand, has little worries with CristianoRonaldo leading the lot and BernardoSilva and Andre Silva expected to getinvolved in creative displays. Moreover,Ricardo Quaresma, who is likely to besummoned off the bench, might havelost a bit of pace in recent years, but theoutlandish magic on his feet remainsintact.

SPAINThe best way to sum up La Roja's

chances this summer in Russia wouldbe to simply quote that they look likethemselves again. There were doubts —of humongous proportions — whenSpain, the defending champions afterattaining catharsis in South Africa,were toppled out of the World Cup inBrazil at the group stage. Further mis-ery followed after Italy drove them outof the 2016 Euro Championship — thetournament which their first grouprivals in Russia eventually won.

But then on came Julen Lopetegui,picking up the pieces and composingfrom the fragments a new poetry. Thetheme, nevertheless, appears familiar,bringing its own dosage of nostalgiafrom eight years ago: the Ramos-Piqueconfluence at the heart of the defenceand Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets

at the heart of the entire formation.Moreover, there is another piece thatfloats perfectly in Spain’s fluidity andcan become their hero this year — Isco.The only disturbing note is the lack ofa natural striker up ahead, with the likesof David Villa and Fernando Torres nomore available to sneak past defences —a worrying aspect that could prove tobe the grain in the shoe for Spain beyondthe group stage.

MOROCCOCoach Herve Renard has struck

the right chords in the Morocconational team — instigating theemotions of a group frustrated by theirfailures and channeling them into aspirit befitting of warriors. Renard'sside conceded only a single goal intheir World Cup qualifying campaignand now has passionate stars in theirranks in the form of Ajax's Hakim

Ziyech and a 19-year old AchrafHakimi, who at Real Madrid has beenunder the watchful eye of ZinedineZidane.

IRANDespite doubts in central defence

with Jalal Hosseini being dropped andthe team struggling to find an efficientdefensive partnership, Iran look strongerthan they did in Brazil four years ago.Their key strength depends on the formof players like Alireza Jahanbakhsh andSardar Azmoun. The latter, in particu-lar, will be closely watched after beingdubbed as the 'Iranian Messi' and canprove to be a crucial factor in Iran's fin-ish at group stage, with number threebeing the realistic aim for CarlosQueiroz's men. A future beyond thatseems highly questionable, consideringthat the top two slots will be gobbled upby the Iberian nations.

MOTION PICTURE

The days of sanity are numbered as the world prepares to set its foot into a frenzied universe where god is round. A ball pursuedby grown up men is pretty much going to decide the temperament of the people around us and as passion assumes numerousforms this summer, PIYUSH BISHT takes a look at the World Cup groups which are going to be at the centre of it all

ALL SET FOR FASCINATING RIVALRYG R O U P B : P O R T U G A L , S PA I N , M O R O C C O , I R A N

From (Left to Right): Morocco’s Mehdi Benatia,Spain’s Andres Iniesta, Portugal’s star striker Cristiano Ronaldo and Iran’s Sardar Azmoun

MANUEL NEUER (GERMANY)AGE: 32 years; CLUB: Bayern Munich (German Bundesliga)INTERNATIONAL CAPS: 76

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: FIFA World Cup Golden Glove 2014; GermanFootballer of the Year 2011, 2014; IFFHS World’s Best Goalkeeper 2013,‘14, ‘15, ‘16; UEFA Goalkeeper of the Year 2011, ‘13, ‘14, ‘15

Die Mannschaft — were just on the brink of taking a flight toRussia without their sweeper-keeper — his recursive

fractures furrowing German brows, until a stem-cell basedtreatment got Manuel Neuer back on course to be able to jointhe fray this summer. Winner of the Golden Glove in 2014 as hiscountry won the World Cup, Neuer has been touted by many asthe best goalkeeper in the world today. His prowess does not stayrestricted close to the goal posts as he usually wanders forwardto thwart the opponent’s cheeky attempts of sneaking in athrough ball past the German defence, in which case, the six-feetfour- inch Neuer will always have the upper hand to gainadvantage on the intruding ball. The 32-year old has an excellentsense of positioning himself to defend the goal-line even undernerve-wrecking pressure. His built and stature further allowshim to block even the most perfectly placed shots sent rocketingthrough the air with all intent to damage.

THIBAUT COURTOIS (BELGIUM)AGE: 26 years CLUB: Chelsea (EnglishPremier League)INTERNATIONAL CAPS: 57

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: La Liga ZamoraTrophy 2013, ‘14:, La Liga Goalkeeper ofthe Year 2013, Premier League GoldenGlove 2016-17

Coming from a player ofvolleyball players,

Thibaut Courtois made hissenior international debut forBelgium in October 2011,becoming the youngestgoalkeeper to represent the RedDevils. Till now he has appearedin more than 50 matches and was alsothere in the 2014 FIFA World Cup inBrazil. Courtois managed to keep a total ofsix clean shees out of ten matches throughthe tournament. He also helped Belgium toseal qualification into the competition forthe first time in 16 years. Courtois hasbrilliant reflexes and a flexibility that allowshim to push a ball bending dangerously outof reach away from danger. Although therecentremarks upon him have been criticaldue to his slip-up against LionelMessi in the ChampionsLeague, Courtois bears theexpectations of a promisingBelgian lineup.

KEYLOR NAVAS (COSTA RICA) AGE:31 years CLUB: RealMadrid(Spanish Primera Division)INTERNATIONAL CAPS: 76

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:CONCACAF Gold Cup BestKeeper 2009; Player of theYear 2016 and 2017, LFPBest Goalkeeper of the Year2016

Hailed by Costa Rica as theirangel after his performaces at

the 2014 World Cup in Brazil,Keylor Navas is the man uponwhom depends the country’shopes. His displays during thesummer of 2014 earned him amove to vjoined Real Madridwho signed him among theirGalacticos for €10 million. TheWorld Cup in 2014 was alsoNavas’ debut. He appeared in thegroup stage against Uruguay,winning by 3-1 and conceded onlya single goal across the three Groupgames. In the round of 16 he endedthe tournament with three cleansheets from five matches and wasalso one of the nominees for theGolden Glove Award.

LAST MAN STANDING

Not so brilliant orange, a clouded azure and the‘chili’ that lost its heat ITALY This was the first time for Italy not tomake it in the FIFA World Cup. The 3-0 loss in Madrid was a dramaticturning point. Our football associationis led by incompetent officials who arekeen to bow to top clubs' demandsand were not able to draw a properlong-term map for the team. Thechoice of manager was an outcome ofthis. Ventura is a small playeramongst the other Italian coachesalso his main flaw was a stubbornadherence to his old-school tacticalcreed.

NETHERLANDS Replacing Guus Hiddink with DannyBlind was one of the reasons he alsofailed to guide in 2016 Euros. Theatrocious 2-0 defeat in Sofia against apoor Bulgaria side was one eventwhich was a turning point. That gamein Sofia and he was a goner fourgames into the campaign and despitewinning last three games. We need tostart from the youth teams onwards,and focus more on the physical sideof modern day football.

CHILEMany arguments can given but thedeparture of coach Jorge Sampaoliclearly jeopardised our chances. Hisreplacement, Juan Antonio Pizzi,managed to win the Copa AméricaCentenario in 2016 but the team hadclearly lost its chemistry. They didn'tpick up a single point from theirgames against Paraguay and Bolivia,but instead we managed to lose toBolivia away for the first time since2000. After loosing to brazil 3-0 ourelimination became official but theloss had been done.

USAMany reasons can be stated for ourdefeat. We almost make it and then wefall down this problem has beenaround for many cycles and only nowhave we finally paid for it We wereslow and lethargic in away fixtureswith poor defending through out thetournament. If players like Dos Santosbeen integrated into the squad soonerthe US would never have been in sucha bad situation. Lack of preparationswas, integrating new and youngplayers who could have made it betterthan tried and tested players. USA'syouth system need some changes toproduce new young players.

GHANAGhana was in terrible home form andwas not able to win any game out ofthree at there home field, which isunacceptable and is the reason for

our stay. Players are getting olderand we are loosing the spine to theteam also everyone was out ofform in the clubs as well as thenational team. We need new

talents in the team for which thefootball association and ministry ofsports need to cooperate. They havebeen feuding for a long time now andthat led to a slashing of funding forthe national team.

WALESGareth Bale — the man who left theworld agape with a spectacular chile-

na kickk in the Champions Leaguesemi-final will not be going to Russiaowing to Wales’ failure to qualify forthe World Cup. The team was in astae of crisis as some of its best play-ers including Bale were shadowedwith injury. Complacency also provedto be fatal for the Welsh side whoalmost looked promising enough tomake it through the qualification frayand grab a slot in the World Cup.

FIRST DAY AT OFFICE: The selected World Cup Video AssistantReferees and match officials visit the Video Operation Rooms inMoscow on Sunday. The Rooms will be their ‘office' for thetournament

FIFA.com/Twitter

MUSCOB TES

FIFA PRESIDENT GIANNIINFANTINO’S 48-TEAM

WORLD CUP PLANSPOSTPONED AFTER QATAR

WORRIES

RUSSIA DEFENDER ILYAKUTEPOV CLAIMSFOLLOWING RAMOS’EXAMPLE AS ONLY WAY TOSTOP MO SALAH

EX-ARSENAL DEFENDERTONY ADAMS BELIEVESTOOTENHAM PLAYERS

COULD COST ENGLAND ATWORLD CUP

ARGENTINA MUST RISE TOMESSI’S STANDARDS, SAYSJAVIER MASCHERANO;HOPES ‘LEO WILL BE THEBEST VERSION OF HIMSELF’

LUCKNOW | MONDAY

JUNE 11, 201815

PIONEER SPORTS highlights the best shot-stoppers at play this summer in Russia whowill be donning the mantle of the saviour for their national teams

HUGO LLORIS (FRANCE) AGE:31 years CLUB: Tottenham Hotspur(English Premier League)INTERNATIONAL CAPS: 98

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Ligue 1Goalkeeper of the Year: 2008–09,2009–10, 2011–12

Labeled as ‘Saint Lloris’by the French media

after his performance over two legs againstthe Republic of Ireland saw Les Bleusearn a spot in the 2010 FIFA World Cupfinals, 31-year old Hugo Lloris is thecaptain of both the English PremierClub Tottenham Hotspur and theFrench national team. He is oftenaccredited for his lightening reflexesand good decision making. The sonof an investment banker, Llorismade his debut for France inNovember 2008 in a friendlyagainst Uruguay. Hecaptained the nationalteam in 2010 for thefirst time.

COSTA RICANANGEL

SWEEPER KEEPER CAT LIKE REFLEXESDAVID DE GEA (SPAIN)AGE: 27 years; CLUB: Manchester United (English PremierLeague)INTERNATIONAL CAPS: 29

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Premeir League Golden Glove 2017-18

When the goal is under siege and all hope seemsto be lost, David de Gea will be the messiah for

his national team just like he has been for JoseMourinho’s Manchester United in the English PremierLeague last season where the tall, lanky Spaniardmade the fifth most saves in the League and equalleda record for most saves in a match — 14 — inDecember. He has also contributed with precisionkicks which assume the role od assists for histeammates up ahead in the offensive. De Gea isknown in particular for his outstanding reflexes,agility, and shot-stopping ability between the postsalong with acrobatic dives and excellent saves. He gotselected in Spain's 30-man provisional squad for the2014 FIFA World Cup and later made the final squadbut was not featured in any of the games. However,this year has been his in almost every sense and inRussia, he can prove to be the heir of Iker Casillas.

THE PUNTER

MISTER LONG LEGS

ALISSON BECKER (BRAZIL)AGE: 25 years; CLUB: Roma (Italian Serie A )

INTERNATIONAL CAPS: 25

He made his senior international debut in the year 2015. He hasrepresented Brazil in U-17 and U-21 levels after which he was

called by the squad manager Dunga for the first two matches of the2018 World Cup qualification campaign against Chile and Venezuela.Alisson completed 90 mins in a World Cup friendly against Croatia atAnfield which Brazil won 2-0. He is very strong in saving close rangeshots with his fast reflexes. His long passing abilities can be seen inmatches, and he also comes off his line very often. Brazil’s number onereceived coaching from childhood hero Claudio Taffarel, a veteranwho has gone through three World Cups. Alisson also drewinspiration from older brother Muriel who was a keeper for Brazilianclub Internacional. He even followed Muriel there, collecting ahundred caps and winning the Campeonato Gaucho at each of hisfour season there before he was ultimately signed by Italian Serie Aside Roma for 7.5 million euros. During the last season, Alissongrabbed the attention of many within the footballing world for playinga crucial role and emerging as a cetral figure in Roma’s miraculousrun to the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League. The Italianside eventually lost Liverpool on aggregate, but attention towardsAlisson has not turned out to be momentary as Europe’s elitescontinue to keep an eye on him.

MOTION PICTURE

STOPPER & ENFORCER

LUCKNOW | MONDAY | JUNE 11, 2018 16

"To win 11 times here - it's fantastic and notsomething I ever dreamed of ”— Rafael Nadal after winnning FrenchOpen for record 11th time

O T H E R S P O R TENG GIVE ANDERSON 6-WEEK BREAKLONDON: To be in his best shape tocounter India in the upcoming Testseries, paceman James Anderson will gointo a six-week rehabilitation period torecover from a long-standing shoulderinjury, England coach Trevor Bayliss hassaid. The five-Test series will begin onAugust 1 at Birmingham. Bayliss, in anECB statement, said they want Andersonto be in best possible shape before thechallenging India tour. "We have fiveTests against India in a six-week periodfrom August 1, which will be an intenseand challenging period for all ourbowlers, and therefore it's vital that weensure Jimmy goes into that series in thebest possible condition," said Bayliss inan ECB statement issued on Sunday.

SAKSHI, VINESH TO LEAD IN ASIADLUCKNOW: Olympic Bronze medallistSakshi Malik and CommonwealthGames Gold winner Vinesh Phogat willlead a six-member Indian womenwrestling team at the Asian Games to beheld in Indonesia later this year. Sakshi,who won Bronze medals in this year'sGold Coast Commonwealth Games aswell as 2016 Rio Olympics, and Vineshwere exempted from the trials by theWrestling Federation of India because oftheir current form and pastperformances. Sakshi and Vinesh willcarry India's hopes in the 50kg and 62kgfreestyle categories in the Asian Games,which is planned to take place in Jakartaand Palembang from August 18.

VETTEL CLAIMS POLE AT CANADIAN PRIXMONTREAL: German Ferrari driverSebastian Vettel secured pole positionfor the Canadian Grand Prix, the seventhrace of the Formula One season. Thefour-time F1 champion posted a fastestlap of 1:10.764 in the third and finalround of qualifying for Sunday's race atthe 4.361-kilometer (2.709-mile) CircuitGilles Villeneuve on Saturday. That wasnearly one-tenth of a second quickerthan the best lap recorded by thesecond-place finisher in Q3, Mercedesdriver Valtteri Bottas. Mercedes driverLewis Hamilton, the defending F1champion and current leader of thisseason's drivers' standings with 110points, finished fourth in Q3 and will bejoined on the second row by the third-place qualifier Max Verstappen.

INDIA FINISH 3RD IN JR ATHLETICSGIFU: India clinched four medals,including two Golds, on the last day ofcompetitions at the Junior AsianAthletics Championships to finish thirdin the medal standings, here on Sunday.Kamalraj Kanagaraj and Ajit Kumar wonGold medals in the men's triple jump and5000m respectively while the women's4x400m relay team claimed a Silver.Jisna Mathew took home her secondindividual medal and third overall of thechampionships with a Bronze inwomen's 200m race. India bagged 17medals - five Gold, two Silver and 10Bronze in the four-day championshipsto finish third behind Japan and China.

Agencies

S I N G L E S

PTI n KUALA LUMPUR

Indian women faced abjecthumiliation after

Bangladesh beat the six-time champions by threewickets to win their maidenAsia Cup trophy here onSunday.

The tournament turnedout to be the most embar-rassing for the 'Women inBlue' as they lost to theminnows twice inside aweek.

Needing two off the lastdelivery of the match,Jahanara Alam hit rival skip-per Harmanpreet Kaurtowards deep mid-wicketand scampered home for adouble to chase down amodest target of 113.

For India, it wasHarmanpreet (56 off 42balls, 2/19) and leg-spinnerPoonam Yadav (4/9), whoput up a semblance of fightas a below-par batting effortonce again became theirundoing.

India skipper Kaur

agreed that the batters let theteam down.

"It was a pressure gameand we have to control ournerves. We had to bataccording to the situation.The batswomen did nothandle the nerves. Creditgoes to Bangladesh. Theywere excellent in all depart-ments of the game,"Harmanpreet, who wasadjudged Player of theTournament, said.

Had it not been for

Harmanpreet's innings,India who had slumped to62 for 5, would have beenshot out for less than 100.

Chasing a modest total,spinners Poonam and EktaBisht (0/13 in 4 overs) didtry to bring India back in thematch but middle-orderbatswomen Nigar Sultana(27 off 24 balls) andRumana Ahmed (23 off 22balls) were the ones instru-mental in Bangladesh's suc-cessful chase.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Former Australia captainIan Chappell feels that

India have the best opportu-nity to win the five Testseries against England,exposing the multiple chinksin the home team's armoury.

"There's a rare opportu-nity beckoning for India - thechance to beat both Englandand Australia in away Testseries. England are in a stateof flux after a devastating lossat Lord's and then a less-than-convincing win overthe predictably inconsistentPakistan at Headingley,"Chappell wrote in his col-umn.

Chappell listed a numberof weaknesses in the Englandline-up from Alastair Cook'sperformance suffering due tonot having a stableopening partner topredictability intheir pace attackwhich compriseonly r ight-armpacers. Not to for-get off-spinnerDom Bess' inexpe-rience.

" E n g l a n d ' stop-order collapsesare now a regularoccurrence, whichis not surprisingwhen both open-ing positions areunder a cloud. If it weren't forthe fact that Alastair Cook'snumerous partners have beenunder intense scrutiny, Cookhimself would be in jeop-ardy," Chappell wrote.

"Two classic Cook double-centuries can't mask the factthat in his last 29 Test innings- a period of 12 months - hehas had 19 scores under 20,including ten single-figure dis-missals. If an opener isn'tmaking centuries regularlythen he has to ensure theopposition doesn't get at themiddle order while the ball isstill new. Too often Cook isdoing neither," the legendaryAussie captain observed.

Talking about spinners,Chappell wrote: "Smith's(Chairman of selectors EdSmith) other notable choice inhis selection debut was off-spinner Dom Bess, an ener-getic and effervescent cricketer.

"His batting and desire to

be involved in the contest arelaudable but the early signs arethat his offspin won't threatenan Indian team bred on facingthis type of bowler regularly. Inone over at Headingley, Bessdelivered more full tosses thanR Ashwin offers up in a year,a prospect that players like

Virat Kohli and MVijay should be rel-ishing."

Lack of variationin pace attack andthe Test series start-ing in August willalso have an impacton England's perfor-mance despite havinga quality seamer likeJimmy Anderson intheir ranks.

"Apart from theopeners' batting,England's other

major problem on thetour of Australia and NewZealand was that the paceattack comprised all right-arm bowlers of similar speed.

"Their inability to uneartha genuine pace bowler is agreater problem when they areoverseas, but if the late UKsummer is hot and dry, theywill also need someone whocan shake things up on homepitches in an attempt to dra-matically change the course ofa game," Chappell opined.

"There is no doubt that theswing bowling of JimmyAnderson will present theIndian line-up with a seriouschallenge, and if there's move-ment off the seam, StuartBroad will also be a handful.Nevertheless India have thestronger batting line-up of thetwo teams and their variety inattack could help negateEngland's middle-orderstrength if the openers con-tinue to fail."

AFP n LONDON

Australia batsman Travis Head is confident a new-look bowl-ing attack will have the "firepower" to trouble England in an

upcoming one-day international series.Head made a century as Australia completed their prepara-

tions with a 101-run win over Middlesex at Lord's on Saturday.Despite his 106, Australia were held to a total of 283 for six.

It was the second time in two warm-up games they had failed toreach the benchmark score of 300, having made 277 for nineagainst Sussex at Hove in their tour-opener on Thursday.

The tourists will likely need to raisetheir game when a five-match series withEngland starts across London at The Ovalon Wednesday but Head was uncon-cerned by their recent failure to break the300 mark.

"It depends, if we bowl the way wehave... We'll find that out pretty quickly,what's a good score," Head said.

Australia are also without theirinjured Ashes-winning fast-bowling trioof Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and JoshHazlewood for this white-ball only tour.

But Head backed pacemen KaneRichardson, Jhye Richardson, Billy Stanlake and Andrew Tye tofill the void.

"They are all nasty in the nets, both Richardsons, Billy, evenNes (Michael Neser) can bowl quite sharply," he said.

"We've got firepower and the control on that side, mix thatwith AJ Tye, he's got unbelievable skills at the back end with (left-arm spinner) Ashton Agar, who is bowling as well as he proba-bly has in his career," Head added.

PTI n BENGALURU

Rain played spoilsport onAfghanistan's first practice session

ahead of its historic Test debut againstIndia as the minnows were forced towind up its nets 45 minutes ahead ofthe scheduled time, here on Sunday.

Afghanistan team arrived at NCAon time and started practising from 2PM but had to wind up its session at4.15 PM following a heavy downpour.

Rain threat also looms large overthe match starting on June 14 asweathermen had forecast wet condi-tions during one or two days.

Afghanistan players looked ingood shape as they batted and bowledin the presence of their support staffled by coach Phil Simmons.

The batsmen, including AshgarStanikzai, Mohammad Shazad,Mohammad Nabi and Rahmat Shah,who all have scored first-class tons, hada good hit at the nets.

Afghan bowlers, especially spin-ners Rashid Khan and Mujeeb urRahman also swung their arms in thenet.

Mujeeb, who was bought for Rs 4crore by Kings XI Punjab in Indian

Premier League, displayed all histricks.

In his debut IPl season, Mujeeb fin-ished with 14 wickets rom 11 match-es at a highly impressive average of20.64 and an economy rate of 6.99.

Rashid, who is numero uno bowlerin the world in T20 format, was at hisbest at nets by bamboozling batsmen

as they failed to read his well-disguisedgooglies.

On Saturday night, the 15-mem-ber Afghan squad had arrived atKempe Gowda International Airportwith their tails up after decimatingBangladesh 3-0 in a T20 Internationalseries in Dehradun.

The local officials gave an unfor-

gettable welcome to the squad.Afghanistan, who got their full sta-

tus along with Ireland last year, havebeen doing well especially in limitedovers format with the help of theirworld class spin bowlers led by Rashid,who made his presence while repre-senting runners-up SunrisersHyderabad in the IPL this year.

However, a big test lies ahead ofAfghanistan, who would be making itsdebut in the longer format of the gameby taking on the formidable India inhome conditions.

The Stanikzai-led Afghanistanteam would hope to make an impres-sion with the help of its four spinners,which has prompted India to bolste itsspin department, from two to threespinners by recalling Kuldeep Yadav.

In a mind game battle, Stanikzaihas called his spinners - Rashid,Mujeeb, Mohammad Nabi, RahmatShah and Zahir Khan - better thanIndian tweakers.

Stanikzai is hopeful of a great showfrom his spinners in their inauguralTest.

The match will be played at the MChinnaswamy Stadium from June 14to 18.

AP n PARIS

As Rafael Nadal and DominicThiem warmed up before theFrench Open final, the booming

voice of an announcer at Court PhilippeChatrier called out each player's bonafides.

Nadal's introduction included a year-by-year accounting of every time he'dalready won the title at Roland Garros.The crowd responded, initially offeringpolite applause, then adding their voic-es, rising into a full-throated roar.

Go ahead and 2018 to the lengthy list.Nadal won his record-extending 11thchampionship at the French Open onSunday, overcoming a late problem witha finger on his racket-swinging hand anddisplaying his foe-rattling best for a 6-4,6-3, 6-2 victory over No 7 seed Thiem,the only person to beat the Spaniard onclay over the past two seasons.

Up a break at 2-1 in the third set,Nadal stopped serving after a faultbecause he couldn't straighten his leftmiddle f inger. At the followingchangeover, Nadal was given a salt pill bya doctor and had his left forearm mas-saged by a trainer.

"Tough moment in the third setwhen I got a little bit cramped on thehand," Nadal said. "I was very scared."

Nadal's form never wavered, though,and soon enough he was celebrating his17th Grand Slam title overall, secondamong men only to Roger Federer's 20.The two stars have combined to win thepast six majors.

The victory also allowed the 32-year-old Nadal to hold onto the No 1 ranking,just ahead of Federer.

Nadal called it "not even a dream" togather 11 titles in Paris, saying it was"impossible to think of something likethis."

Thiem, a 24-year-old from Austria,was appearing in a major final for the firsttime. Not much more of a daunting task

than doing so against this particularopponent at the French Open, whereNadal is now 11-0 in finals and 86-2 over-all. The only losses came against RobinSoderling in the fourth round in 2009and Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinalsin 2015.

"What you did and what you aredoing," Thiem told Nadal during the tro-phy ceremony, "is one of the most out-standing things that any athlete is doingin any sport."

If there were any reason for a bit ofintrigue entering Sunday's match, it wasthis: Thiem beat Nadal in two sets on redclay at Rome in May 2017 and again atMadrid last month.

"I am sure you will win here in thenext couple of years," Nadal told Thiemafterward.

Nadal is so dominant and so imper-vious on clay, in general, and at this tour-nament, especially, it made sense forThiem to go for broke as much as pos-sible, accepting that there would berisks along with the rewards. If standardplay would likely lead to a loss, why nottry for the spectacular, instead?

So that's what Thiem tried. Hepounded huge serves, topping 135 mph(220 kph) - about 25 mph (40 kph) morethan Nadal's fastest - and that translat-ed into seven aces, but also five double-faults. He attempted drop shots; someworked, some didn't. And he took thebiggest of big cuts on his groundstrokes,his feet leaving the ground as he threwhis whole body into them, as if the veryoutcome of the match - not any individ-ual point, but the whole shebang -depended on the strength of that onewhip of his white racket. That led to 34winners (eight more than Nadal), but also42 unforced errors (18 more than Nadal).

It worked. For a bit.Thiem stayed with Nadal in the

early going on a cloudy and steamy after-noon; the temperature was 77 degrees (24Celsius), the humidity approached 70percent. Midway through the opening set,Nadal's aqua T-shirt was so soaked withsweat it stuck to him, so he changed intoa fresh one at a changeover, drawing cat-calls from spectators.

From 4-all, 15-all in the opening set,Thiem faltered. After Nadal held there for5-4, Thiem basically handed over the nextgame - and the set - by making four mis-takes in a row. A volley into the net. Aforehand wide. A forehand into the net.A forehand long. Just like that, Nadal wasoff on a five-game run that put him up3-0 in the second set.

Soon, Nadal was finding his spots.One down-the-line forehand winnerlanded right at the baseline and Thiem'sshoulders sagged as he muttered to him-self. Another forehand winner fromNadal followed, and this time Thiemlooked up toward his coach and yelled.

The conditions might have con-tributed to the cramping that affectedNadal about two hours into the final. Hisfinger bent awkwardly and he pulled atit. He removed the taping from his leftforearm, and maybe that let the bloodflow better. After guzzling water during

his visit from the doctor, Nadal was backto playing his unmistakable brand ofnearly unbeatable clay-court tennis.

MAHUT-HERBERT WIN Once again, Nicolas Mahut fell on his

back on the red clay of Roland Garros.This time it was to celebrate a joyful

moment, and not because his doublespartner Pierre-Hugues Herbert knockedhim down the way he did two days agoat the French Open.

Having recovered well from the inci-dent, Mahut captured the French Opentitle with Herbert on Saturday by defeat-ing Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic 6-2,7-6 (4) in the final.

During Thursday's semifinals, Mahutwas accidentally hit in the left temple bya ball from Herbert. Mahut left the courtfor a little while to recover, and managedto advance to the final with his fellowFrenchman.

"You can't imagine how happy Iam," said Mahut, who lost in the final fiveyears ago to the Bryan brothers whenplaying with Michael Llodra. "Five yearsago it was so difficult I could not talk, Idid not know if I would get anotherchance."

With their Davis Cup captainYannick Noah in the stands, Herbert andMahut claimed their third Grand Slamtitle after saving six of seven breakpoints.

As the only local players to win a title,their victory was celebrated by FrenchOpen spectators, who rendered France'snational anthem, La Marseillaise, a cap-pella.

Mahut and Herbert, who also wonthe US Open and Wimbledon together,became just the third all-French team inthe Open era to win Roland Garros.

Marach and Pavic, an Austria-Croatiacombination, were trying to win theirsecond Grand Slam title of the seasonafter claiming their first major title at theAustralian Open.

Rain curtails Afghan's first training session ‘India have chance

to win Test series’

B’DESH PIP INDIAN

EVES TO WIN TITLE

Head backs Australia'sbowlers to surprise England

Chappelllisted a

number ofweaknesses

in theEnglish line-

up fromAlastairCook’s

performanceto offieBess’

inexperience

Travis Head in a file photo

Bangladeshi women's celebrate after clinching Women's Asia Cup afterbeating India in finals on Sunday PTI

Afghanistan players with coach Phil Simmons during a practice session ahead of their maiden Testmatch against India, in Bengaluru on Sunday PTI

Ian Chappell in a file picture

Spain's Rafael Nadal holds the trophy as he celebrates winning the men's final match at the Roland Garrosstadium in Paris on Sunday AP

CHAMPION ELEVENFOLD

Despite injury scares World No. 1 Rafael Nadal beats Dominic Thiem in straight sets to win record 11th title at Roland Garros

11-times French Open winner Spain's Rafael Nadal,right, and runner-up Austria's Dominic Thiem hold thetrophies after the men's final on Sunday AP

professionals to don joint secy cap days ago · pns n new delhi in an attempt to break away from...

Documents