rni no.2016/1957, regd no. ssp/lw/np-34/2016-18 ... cbi books ex-chief over coalgate fir filed...

DINAKARAN HELD INEC BRIBERY CASENew Delhi: AIADMK leader TTVDinakaran was arrested late onTuesday night by the Delhi Policefor allegedly trying to bribe ECofficials to bag freezed symbol ofthe AIADMK — Two Leaves —ahead of the RK Nagar bypoll.Dinakaran had been grilled bythe Delhi Police for four days.

2G ELEPHANT, MANY BLINDMEN: RAJA’S ARGUMENTNew Delhi: In the final argumentin the 2G scam, former TelecomMinister A Raja denied anywrongdoing and compared hiscase to the parable of blind menand the elephant. “The 2Gelephant was touched by theCVC, CAG, JPC and CBI withoutproper understanding,” he said.

SC FINES 2 DOCs `1.4 CRFOR MEDICAL ASYLUM New Delhi: The SC on Tuesdayslapped a whopping `1.40 crorefine on two Gurugram-baseddoctors for giving “medicalasylum” to former INLDlegislator Balbir Singh after hisbail was cancelled in 2013 by theapex court in a 2011 murdercase. “We are not intending tosend you to custody,” the SCsaid as the two doctors offeredunconditional apology andprayed for mercy.

CAPSULE

PNS n NEW DELHI

The official websites of somepremier educational institu-

tions, including IIT Delhi,Aligarh Muslim University(AMU) and Delhi University(DU), were hacked on Tuesday and defaced with pro-Pakistani slogans.

All the three websitesflashed the same message andappear to have been hacked bythe same person or a groupallegedly based in Pakistan.

The hackers smeared thewebsites in black with posters ofthe alleged “brutalities” by the‘Indian forces’ in Kashmir.

‘Pakistan Haxors CREW -PHC’, the group which claimedresponsibility for hacking intothe two websites, posted ascreenshot on their Facebook

page, claiming they had hackedseveral websites, including thoseof AMU and IIT.

Though the Delhi Policeand officials of the two institu-tions said they were unaware ofthe websites being hacked, manyusers said they came across“Pakistani propaganda” mater-ial when they tried accessing thewebsites.

Those using Androidphones continued experienc-

ing a hacked IIT-Delhi websitetill late evening while AMUwebsite was hacked across plat-forms. The Delhi Universitywebsite, however, returned tonormal within a matter of min-utes. The poster by hackers’group posted on top of the IITDelhi website’s main page read:“Greetings Government of Indiaand the people of India.” Ittalked about alleged “killingand rape of Kashmiri people bythe Indian soldiers”.

“Take your murderers andrapists back home,” the post said.The hackers also shared twovideos of alleged police brutal-ity in Kashmir. “Just here todeliver my message to theGovernment and the people ofIndia...Security Is Just AnIllusion. Pakistan Zindabad,”the post read.

TN RAGHUNATHA n MUMBAI

Arrested nearly eight and ahalf years ago in the 2008

Malegaon blasts case, theBombay High Court onTuesday granted bail to cancerpatient Sadhvi Pragya SinghThakur after holding that “itcannot be said there are rea-sonable grounds for believingthat accusations made againsther are prima facie true” andthat the benefit of bail couldnot be withheld to her if theATS charges against her were“grave and serious”.

Meanwhile, in a separateorder, the Bench of Justice(Dr) Shalini Phansalkar-Joshiand Justice Ranjit More reject-ed the bail application of Lt Col

Continued on Page 6

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Central Bureau ofInvestigation on Tuesday

filed a case against its formerdirector Ranjit Sinha under thePrevention of Corruption Actfor allegedly “scuttling” and“influencing” probe into thecoal block allocation scam bymeeting high-profile accusedpersons.

Sinha has been chargedunder Sections 13-2 (criminalmisconduct) and Section 13-1d (abuse of official position andindulging in corruption) ofthe Prevention of Corruption(PC) Act 1988. If convicted,Sinha may face up to sevenyears’ imprisonment.

Following the direction ofthe Supreme Court, the CBI hadformed a Special Investigation

Team to conduct an investiga-tion into the abuse of authori-ty prima facie committed bySinha with a view “to scuttlingenquiries, investigations, andprosecutions being carried outby the CBI in the coal block allo-cation cases”, said the CBI FIR.

Sinha is the second CBIdirector to be probed by theagency after his predecessor APSingh, who was booked by the premier investigativeagency, along with meatexporter Moin Qureshi, in a

money laundering case. Sinha had faced the

ignominy of being restrainedby the Supreme Court fromhandling the 2G and coal scamcases when he was heading theCBI. During his two years’tenure from 2012 to 2014, theCBI was also called a “cagedparrot” by the Supreme Court.

“In view of the orders ofthe Supreme Court datedJanuary 23, 2017 vide whichCBI was instructed to conductan investigation (as a Special

Investigating Team) into theabuse of authority prima faciecommitted by Ranjit Sinhawith a view to scuttle enquires,investigations and prosecu-tion,” the FIR said.

“During investigations ofthe coal block allocation cases,certain allegations were levelledabout the inappropriate con-duct of then CBI director RanjitSinha. The Supreme Courtwhich was looking into all theabove matters of the coal blockallocations had held that itwas completely inappropriatefor Ranjit Sinha to have metpersons accused in the coalblock allocation scam withoutthe investigating officer beingpresent or without the investi-gating team being present.Hence it is necessary to lookinto the question whether anyone or more such meetings ofSinha with accused personswithout the investigating offi-cer have had any impact on the investigations and subse-quent charge sheets or closurereports filed by the CBI,” theFIR said.

Continued on Page 6

RAJNATH VOWS FINAL SOLUTION

If necessary, we will revisit anti-Naxal strategy, says Minister, but MHA rules out Army deploymentPIONEER NEWS SERVICE nRAIPUR

Describing the killing of 25CRPF men by Naxals in

Chhattisgarh “a cold-bloodedmurder” and “an act of cow-ardice and desperation”, UnionHome Minister Rajnath Singhon Tuesday said the Governmentwill review the strategy to rootout Left Wing Extremism (LWE)and if necessary the Governmentwill revisit it.

Speaking to reporters afterpaying homage to the CRPFpersonnel killed in Monday’sambush in Sukma district, theHome Minister said, “I haveconvened a meeting of Statesaffected by Maoism on May 8.We will review the strategy andif necessary we will revisit it.”

He asserted that the Centreand the States would worktogether to take on Naxals,who have access to rocketlaunchers, mortars and AK-47s.

“We have accepted it as achallenge,” he said.

Rajnath directed actingchief of the CRPF and a topofficer of the Home Ministry tostay put in Chhattisgarh toensure coordinated “targeted”operations against Naxals.

Saying LWE groups wereanti-development and soughtto destabilise development inthe State, the Home Ministersaid, “The sacrifice of ourbrave jawans will not go in vain.The Naxals are frustrated withthe development of roads inBastar region. But they will notsucceed in their evil designs.”

He expressed surprise thatMaoists were using tribals ashuman shields to target secu-rity personnel.

Meanwhile, a senior HomeMinistry official on Tuesday

ruled out deployment of theArmy to tackle Naxals,notwithstanding reverses beingfaced by paramilitary andpolice forces. “It is an internalsecurity issue. There is noquestion of deploying the Armyin the anti-Naxal operations,”the official said.

Since the Naxal violence isconsidered as a law and orderproblem, paramilitary andpolice forces will continue todeal with Maoists, even thoughthere have been casualties onthe part of the security forces,the official said.

The comments of thesenior Home Ministry officialcame in the wake of specula-tion in a section of the mediathat the Government was con-sidering the option of deploy-ing the Army.

The Home Minister, whorushed to Raipur on Tuesdaymorning, first visited the head-quarters of the 4th battalion ofthe Chhattisgarh Armed Force inthe Mana camp, where a wreath-laying ceremony was held.

Continued on Page 6

PTI n NEW DELHI

The 25 CRPF jawans, who were killedin a deadly Naxal ambush in

Chhattisgarh’s Sukma, were having lunchwhen a hail of bullets and grenades hitthem fatally.

A party of about 36 troops, out ofthe total 99, came under the first assaultafter they had ventured out fromBurkapal on Monday to sanitise andprovide protection to a 5.5-km long roadconstruction work connecting Chitagufain the said district, officials said.

The Maoists squad “very discreetlywith the aid of locals” kept tracking themovement of the troops when one partyof 36, out of the total three, sat down forlaunch; the strong squad of Naxals, pos-sessing sophisticated weapons, took themby surprise and rained heavy gun fire,they said.

A huge assortment of 22 smartarms, including 13 AK series assault

rifles and 5 INSAS rifles, 3,420 liverounds of various rifles, 75 magazinesof AK rifles, 31 of INSAS, 67 live UBGLrounds, 22 bulletproof jackets, twobinoculars, five wireless sets and adeep search metal detector were loot-ed by Naxals, they said.

While a top CRPF officer said thekilled troops had “finished their lunch”and were not in an absolute alert modefor the next few minutes, other officialssaid “some of them were having theirlunch” when the attack was launchedaround 12.30 pm.

While the slain 25 men and aboutsix others who were injured tried togather their weapons or take aim at themarauding Naxals, the others on theguard duty mounted an effective retal-iation and saved about 40 civilians andconstruction workers who were presentin the vicinity of the area during thedeadly assault that lasted over an hour.

Continued on Page 6

New Delhi: Union HomeMinister Rajnath Singh hasconvened a meeting of Naxal-hit State Chief Ministers onMay 8 to strategise the anti-Naxal operations. Ten ChiefMinisters and top police andcivil officials of these States willattend the meeting.

CMs of Chhattisgarh,Jharkhand, Odisha, WestBengal, Bihar, Maharashtra,Telangana, Uttar Pradesh,Madhya Pradesh and AndhraPradesh are expected to takepart in the crucial meeting.Chief Secretaries and DGPs ofthese States too will attend themeeting with chiefs of para-military forces. PNS

Lunch break during clean-up proved too costly

10 CMs to meetRajnath Singh onMay 8 to plananti-Maoists ops

The sacrifice of ourbrave jawans willnot go in vain. TheNaxals arefrustrated with thedevelopment ofroads in Bastarregion. But theywill not succeed intheir evil designs

Home MinisterRajnath Singh

CBI books ex-chief over coalgateFIR filed against

Ranjit Sinha for

bid to influence

coal scam probe

IIT, AMU, DU’s hacked sites

hail Pak, slam Army

Cancer patient

Pragya gets bail

as blast charges

‘not watertight’

DAY AFTER CARNAGEl President Pranab Mukherjee observed

two-minute silence to pay respect to the 25 martyrs

l Bihar Chief Minister announced an ex-gratiaassistance of `5 lakh each for six of the 25 slainjawans hailing from Bihar

l Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattarannounced an ex-gratia of `50 lakh to the kin ofthe two martyrs from the State

l The Tamil Nadu Government announced asolatium of `20 lakh each to families of fourmartyrs hailing from the State

l The Bengal Government decided to give financialassistance of `5 lakh each to the families of thethree slain jawans from State

l The Jharkhand Government would give `2 lakh to the family members of one martyrfrom the State

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh enquires about thehealth of an injured CRPF jawan in Raipur on Tuesday PTI

CRPF officials pay tribute totheir martyred colleagues inRaipur on Tuesday

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The hackerssmeared thewebsites in blackwith posters ofthe alleged“brutalities” bythe ‘Indian forces’

Govt staff need to work for 15 more

days as state curtails holidays

PNS n LUCKNOW

There is a bad news for gov-ernment employees and

students as the Yogi govern-ment has decided to curtail 15holidays which wereannounced by previous gov-ernments on the birth anddeath anniversaries of emi-nent personalities.

State spokesperson and UPPower Minister ShrikantSharma, while briefing aboutthe Cabinet decisions, said thatduring birth and deathanniversaries of eminent per-sonalities, all schools and col-leges would have an hour-longfunction educating studentsabout the achievements ofthose personalities.

“We have also asked edu-cational institutions to holdsimilar programmes during

the birth and death anniver-saries of freedom fighters andother persons who contributedfor the country and society,” hesaid.

The minister clarified thatgovernment offices would alsoremain open on those days.“The departments can alsohold seminars and similar

functions for an hour or so butmore or less it will be normalworking hour for offices,” hesaid.

Uttar Pradesh has thelargest number of public holi-days in government institu-tions, including schools.Governments offices and edu-cational institutions remainclosed for over 100 days. Theseholidays include 48 gazettedholidays which comprise birthanniversaries of 23 great per-sonalities, including GuruGovind Singh, KarpooriThakur, Maharishi Kashyap,Chetti Chand, Lord Mahavir,Md Hazrat Ali and MahatamaGandhi. Government schoolsremain closed for over 60 daysin winter and summer vaca-tions while government officersget 17 restricted holidays.

The holidays which have

been curtailed under Negoti-able Instruments Act are:Karpoori Thakur’s birthanniversay (Jan 24), MahrishiKashyap avum Maharaj GuhaJayanti (April 5), Cheti Chand(March 29), Urs of KhwajaMoinuddin Chisti (April 14),Chandrashekhar Jayanti (April17), Parshuram Jayanti (April28), Loknayak MaharanaPratap Jayanti (May 9), JumatulVida, Vishwakarma Puja (Sept17), Maharaja Agrasen Jayanti(Sept 21), Maharshi ValmikiJayanti (Oct 5), Chhatt Puja(Oct 26), Sardar VallabhbhiPatel and Acharya NarendraDev Jayanti (October 31), Eid-e-Milad, Chaudhary CharanSingh Jayanti (Dec 23).

In yet another decision, theYogi government has set upAnti-Land Mafia Task Force

Continued on Page 6

Task force set up to check land-grabbing

POCSO court grants bail to Gayatri PrajapatiPTI n LUCKNOW

Former Uttar Pradesh min-ister Gayatri Prajapati and

two of his alleged accom-plices were on Tuesday grant-ed bail by a special court herein connection with a rapecase.

Special judge of theProtection of Children fromSexual Offences (POCSO)court Om Prakash Mishragranted bail to Prajapati,Vikas Verma and AmrendraSingh alias Mintu.

The court asked Prajapatito furnish two sureties of `1lakh each and a personalbond of the same amount anddirected the accused thatthey would not affect trial orinfluence the witnesses dur-ing trial and remain in theterritorial jurisdiction of thecourt during the trial.

It held that the com-plainant had given her

implied consent in the inci-dent.

The court observed thatsince she did not complain tothe police or the competentcourt despite claiming thatthey had been committingrape on her for last threeyears, it was an indicationthat she had given impliedconsent.

It also observed in theorder that the circumstancesrevealed that the accusedwere implicated in the casedue to mala fide intention.

In his bail order, thejudge said there was contra-diction in the statements ofthe woman and her daughteras recorded under section161 of CrPC and 164 of theCrPC.

The court also noted thatthe woman had earlier lodgedan FIR in Chitrakoot againstthree of the accused on almostsame allegations but she did not

say that rape was committed onher.

“Now after three years ofthe alleged incident she has lev-elled the allegations. The inci-dent took place three years agoand it was repeated time andagain but the woman did notapproach the police or court forlodging her FIR. This goes toprove that the woman hadgiven her consent for cohabi-tation,” the court observed.

An FIR was registeredagainst 49-year-old Prajapatiand six others on February 17on a Supreme Court directive.

Prajapati was then a min-ister in the Akhilesh Yadav’sSamajwadi Party governmentin Uttar Pradesh.

When asked about the bailgranted to his former Cabinetcolleague, Akhilesh said, “It’sgood that he got bail. Please tellme if there is anything wrongin it.

“After being on the run for

nearly a month, Prajapati (49)was arrested from theAashiyana area here on March15 and was sent to jail forallegedly raping a woman andattempting to rape her minordaughter in 2014.

The six others had beenarrested earlier.

Prajapati had approachedthe Supreme Court to get a stayon his arrest. But the apex courtasked him to approach thecourt concerned.

At the time of his arrest,Prajapati had claimed that hewas innocent and the chargeswere a conspiracy to malignhim. The former minister hadsaid that he was prepared for anarco test to bring out the truthand also demanded a similartest on the minor victim.

The allegations againstPrajapati were raked by the BJPduring the state assembly elec-tions to attack the thenAkhilesh government.

city 02LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 26, 2017

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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

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Akhilesh corners Yogi govt

over law and order situation

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

Samajwadi Party presidentAkhilesh Yadav targeted

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathsaying that the law and ordersituation was never so bad inthe state since independence.

The former Chief Ministersaid that the saffron brigadehad unleashed a reign of terroracross the state and the copswere being beaten up insidepolice stations and even IPSofficers were being targeted.

“The BJP had made tallclaims on improving law andorder during elections. But thesituation is vastly different afterthey came to power. The saf-fron brigade has been targetingthe police and the people at willand recent incidents of violencein Saharanpur, Agra, Aligarhand other places prove that lawand order situation is abysmal,”charged Akhilesh.

Yadav added: “If a BJP MPcan attack the SSP ofSaharanpur and his familymembers and can go scotfreethen anything can happen inBJP-ruled UP.”

Speaking to mediapersonsin Lucknow on Tuesday,Akhilesh Yadav also questionedthe Union government’s moveto issue Aadhaar card to cows.“I believe that somebody hasplayed a prank which hasfound space in mainstreammedia,” said the SP chief.

On the Allahabad crimeincident where two sisters wereraped and murdered alongwith their parents, Yadav said:“If such crime had happenedduring the SP regime, themedia would have gone ham-mer and tongs like they did in

Badaun sisters gangrape case in2014.”

Akhilesh made a sarcasticcomment on the observation ofChief Minister Yogi Adityanaththat Lord Krishna was the firstperson on the earth to haveconducted cashless transac-tion with his friend Sudama. “Ifsuch thing has happened at thattime then they should give usthe email ID of Lord Krishna,”he said.

Criticising the Yogi govern-ment for suspendingSamajwadi Pension Schemegiven to 55 lakh women acrossUP, Akhilesh said: “It would beclear only after the budget of2017-18 is presented in theAssembly whether the gov-ernment has scrapped thescheme. I have asked all womenleaders of the party to enrol 55lakh women as members of theparty as they will immensely

strengthen the SP’s social base.”The former CM also lashed

out at Yogi Adityanath forordering probe into develop-ment projects implementedduring the SP regime. “Ratherthan digging the past and prob-ing into projects of my regime,the BJP government should dosomething new. The Lucknow-Agra Expressway was one ofthe best in the country. If theyhave any doubt, they shouldcancel the tenders ofPoorvanchal Expressway con-necting Lucknow and Ballia,”said Akhilesh.

Yadav dismissed the gov-ernment’s order for removingof red beacon lights from VIPvehicles as a ‘publicity stunt’. Healso alleged that the BJP regimewas lodging fake criminal casesagainst sitting block pramukhsto topple them and appoint BJPsupporters.

Former Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav at a pressconference at the party office in Lucknow on Tuesday PTI

Former CM loses cool over journo’s queryPIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

Samajwadi Party presidentAkhilesh Yadav lost his tem-

per during a press conferencewhen a TV channel reportersought his response to repeat-ed demand of his uncle and SPleader Shivpal Yadav for hand-ing over the post of nationalpresident to Mulayam SinghYadav. The scribe was inciden-tally wearing a saffron-colouredshirt. A furious Akhilesh said:“You are wearing a saffron-coloured shirt and that con-firms your political affiliation.”

“Journalists like you havedestroyed the nation. You giveme your all questions in writ-ing and I will answer all yourquestions. After that you willnot ask any question,” said anangry Akhilesh.

Yadav rebuked the journal-ist for asking an uncomfortablequestion and repeatedly ques-tioned his professional integri-ty. Later, the security personnelof Akhilesh also pushed medi-apersons when they tried tolodge their protest.

Akhilesh Yadav had invit-ed the media to share report ofthe inquiry committee consti-tuted by the Samajwadi Party toprobe into the recent incidentof communal violence inSaharanpur where a BJP MPhad allegedly stormed the res-idence of SSP, Saharanpur, LuvKumar.

Public order toppriority: DGPPIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

Di r e c t o rG enera l

of PoliceSulkhan Singhstressed thattop prioritywould beattached tomaintainingpublic order and warned thatany trouble to masses would behandled with an iron fist orofficers responsible be ready toface the music.

“Public order should bemaintained at any cost and noone should be allowed to trou-ble others through protest orblocking of roads,” Singh saidwhile asking officers to takeaction against those involved inbreaking law of the land.

“No new tradition shouldbe allowed during religiousceremonies and the policeshould take preventive steps toavert any untoward incident,”he added.

Singh gave these direc-tions while interacting withsenior police officers, includingdistrict chiefs, DIGs Range,IGs Zone, through video con-ferencing in Lucknow onTuesday.

In his 10-minute-longdirectives to his junior col-leagues, Singh tried to make itclear that no one should bespared for indulging in crimi-nal activities, irrespective of theclout enjoyed by them.

“We have strict orders fromChief Minister Yogi Adityanaththat policing should be done toensure security of the peoplekeeping their respect and hon-

our intact. Action will be takenagainst anyone indulging invigilantism in the name of ‘gauraksha’ or moral policing as noone has the right to intervenein any law and order issue. Any‘goondagardi’ will be actedupon and UP police will workwith total impartiality,” theDGP said.

Singh made it clear that thepersonnel on duty for anti-Romeo squads would act andtake action only against peoplewith objectionable behaviourand directed district policechiefs that special briefings bemade before dispatching thosesquads. Similarly, the DGPdirected for upgradation ofanti-violence squads. He alsopassed standing orders to allpolice stations to register 100per cent cases.

“We want to win the con-fidence of the people throughour policing and this is whatour CM wants from us,” he stat-ed while directing that any FIRagainst unknown person mustbe immediately registered andalso in case any injured reachedthe police station.

The DGP also asked offi-cers to ensure hygienic atmos-phere at police stations, bar-racks and Reserve Police Linesso that policemen or any visi-tor did not face any inconve-nience. He also asked for reg-ular parade in the Police Lines.

Singh also expressed hisconcern over traffic conges-tions and asked officials that hewanted a well-planned ‘trafficmanagement’ system in eachdistrict and instructed thattraffic laws be enforced strict-ly.

Trouble ahead for BSP leadersPIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

After electoral rout, nowsenior Bahujan Samaj

Party leaders NaseemudinSiddiqui, Ram Achal Rajbharand Mewa Lal Gautam arelikely to face more trouble fortheir alleged objectionableremarks against Swati Singh(now a minister in YogiAdityanath government) andher minor daughter.

With the change of guardin UP, the same Lucknowpolice, which had earlierpushed the probe under thecarpet claiming not to havefound any objectionable com-ments by Siddiqui in the CDhanded over to them for probe,are now planning tochargesheet the BSP leaderunder various sections ofProtection of Children fromSexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Sources said that Lucknowpolice had served notices onSiddiqui and other BSP leadersasking them to record their

statements regarding abuseshurled by them on Swati Singhand her minor daughter.

Once these leaders recordtheir statements, the Lucknowpolice are likely to submit achargesheet which ultimatelywould lead to the arrest ofSiddiqui and his party col-leagues.

During the SP regime,while Swati’s husbandDayashankar Singh was arrest-ed for using profane languageagainst Mayawati, Siddiqui andhis party mates got awaydespite using derogatory insin-uations against Swati Singhand her daughter. The topbrass of Lucknow police sur-prisingly chose to give a cleanchit to Siddiqui and his col-leagues.

Last August, a seniorLucknow police official hadsaid: “In the 28-minute CD,Siddiqui was not heard usingany foul language against thevictim. Other leaders, howev-er, were heard using disparag-

ing language against the minorgirl. As per provisions ofPOCSO Act, any foul languageused against a minor amount-ed to sexual offence undersection 11 A of the Act. On thisbasis, the Act will be imposedon those who used disparaginglanguage barring Siddiqui.”

Earlier, the Hazratganjpolice added POCSO Act inthe case lodged on the com-plaint of Dayashanker Singh’smother against BSP chiefMayawati and leadersNaseemuddin Siddiqui, RamAchal Rajbhar and Mewa LalGautam. The police hadslapped sections 153 (a), 504/506 IPC for using disparaginglanguage, threat and abusingbesides criminal conspiracy(section 120 b) against thenamed leaders. Swati Singhhad earlier questioned theLucknow police bias sayingthat if legal action was initiat-ed against Dayashanker thenwhy no action was takenagainst the BSP leaders.

Assembly sessionfrom May 15PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

The Yogi government hasdecided to hold a one-

week-long Assembly sessionfrom May 15 to pass the GSTbill.

This, however, will be theinaugural session of the 17thUttar Pradesh Assembly andthe Budget session will be heldlater.

The state Cabinet, whichmet in Lucknow and chairedby Chief Minister YogiAdityanath, decided to hold aspecial one-week session fromMay 15 to pass the GST bill,informed governmentspokesperson and PowerMinister Shrikant Sharma.

“The GST is slated to beimplemented from July 1 nextand hence the UP governmenthas to summon the Assemblyto pass the bill,” Sharma said.

On the opening day,

Governor Ram Naik willaddress the joint session ofboth Houses of the stateLegislature. This will be thef irst sitt ing of the UPAssembly after members wereadministered oath in Marchlast week.

However, the Budget ses-sion of the Assembly is slatedto be held from June secondweek.

Earlier in the day, theCM, along with AssemblySpeaker Hriday Narayan Dixitand Parliamentary AffairsMinister Suresh KumarKhanna, met the Governorand took his permission forthe special session of theAssembly.

UP govt asks DMs, SPs to tone up info network


District magistrates andpolice chiefs in UP have

been asked by the YogiAdityanath government to acti-vate their information network.The direction was issuedbecause of officials’ failure ingetting prompt reports aboutincidents in their area.

In a letter to all the districtmagistrates and police chiefs,Chief Secretary RahulBhatnagar said it had beenobserved that the districtadministrations had not beengetting prompt informationabout crime, accidents and inci-dents of sensitive nature intheir areas which often imped-ed immediate action.

In many cases it has beenseen that before the administra-tion, it is the electronic and printmedia which come to know ofthe incidents and administrative

officials also get to know aboutthem from the media, he said inthe letter on Monday, addingthis reflected the failure of theirinformation network.

“Remaining vigilant andalert is most essential for theadministration,” the letter said,directing officials to make their

network strong and get promptinformation to facilitate imme-diate action in adherence withthe priorities of the government.

The Chief Secretary saidany laxity on this front will notbe tolerated and action will betaken against the guilty after fix-ing responsibility.

Meanwhile, all villages inUP situated on the bank ofGanga will be made open defe-cation-free under the ‘SwachhBharat Mission’ from April 30.The certificate regarding thiswill be issued by QualityCouncil of India after thoroughinspection.

This was stated by ChiefSecretary Rahul Bhatnagarwhile speaking at a meeting heldto review the progress of thework being undertaken at iden-tified sites.

He added that there were 25districts located on the banks ofGanga and 1,627 villages wereidentified to make them opendefecation-free. The ChiefSecretary will hold a meetingwith District Magistrates ofrespective districts throughvideo conferencing onWednesday to review theprogress being made on identi-fied sites.

UP govt announces relief for two slain CRPF menPIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath and his entire

Cabinet expressed grief overthe death of 25 CRPF person-nel during a ambush byMaoists in Chhattisgarh onMonday. The state govern-ment also announced a com-

pensation of `30 lakh each forthe two martyrs hailing fromthe state.

The matter was raised dur-ing a Cabinet meeting inLucknow on Tuesday where theCM and ministers expressedtheir grief over the incident.

Constables KP Singh fromEtah and Manoj Kumar from

Muzaffarnagar were martyredin the encounter.

Government spokespersonand UP Power Minister SrikantSharma said that of `30 lakh tobe given to families of themartyrs, the widow wouldreceive `25 lakh and parentswould get `5 lakh.

Sharma said that the CM

had instructed UP ministers SPSingh Baghel and Atul Garg tovisit the residence of KP Singhin Etah to express condolenceson behalf of the governmentwhile ministers Satish Mahanaand Suresh Kumar Khannawould visit Muzaffarnagar tovisit the residence of ManojKumar.

Chief Secretary Rahul Bhatnagar

Government of India Ministry of Defence

Indian Ordnance Factories Field Gun Factory

Kalpi Road, Kanpur- 208009 Telephone Nos. : 0512&2295100&103,2240145 Fax -: 0512&2219462, E-Mail: [email protected]

e-PROCUREMENT OPEN TENDER NOTICE Under competitive bidding, The General Manager Field Gun Factory, Kanpur, on behalf of

the President of India, invites open tenders under two bid systems/singe bid system. S.No. Tender No. & Date Item Quantity Te Type Bid Type01 C-370001 date BODY (FINISH)-TITANIUM 31 500.00 E-PROC. Two bid

01.04.2017 EQUALENT TO ASTM B348-GR NOV FOR LIGHT WEIGHT REV. 32AS PER DRG NO. SK-01571.

AII relevant details of both the tenders, term and conditions etc. are available on website http://ofbeproc.gov.inNote :� The firms are advised to regularly keep in touch of the said website as any change/amend-

ment will be uploaded only in website. � General Manager, Field Gun Factory, Kanpur reserves the right to reject/withdraw/drop

any or all tender at his discretion without assigning any reason.Sd/-

WORKS MANAGERFor GENERAL MANAGER

davp 10201/11/0102/1718

NOTICE

WANTED

Be it known to all that I havemy Highschool year 2015 RollNo. 1154378/019 (ICSE Board)Marksheet have been actual-ly lost-Sawan Patel S/o DamjiPatel, R/o-GF1, Anushka Apt.,Sec-F, Jankipuram, Lucknow.



ADalit man fighting alegal case against landsharks died under mys-

terious circumstances after hereportedly fell off the the 8thfloor of civil court building inWazirganj police station areaon Tuesday morning. Whilethe family alleged foul play,police claimed that it was amishap. As per reports, around11.30 am on Tuesday, somelawyers heard a thud in theopen space and went to checkout what was wrong. Theyfound a man lying in a pool ofblood.

During preliminary inves-tigation, the police recoveredan identity card bearing thename of Rakesh Kumar Rawatof Mardan Kheda localityunder Para police station. Thecops also recovered a slip whichhad a case, crime number161/17 (IPC sections147/323/427 and SC/ST act).The police later managed tocontact the family of thedeceased.

SHO, Wazirganj, DharmrajUpadhyay said that Rakeshhad visited the court for somework and he later went to the8th floor. “He probably felldown after losing balance whilelooking down from the bal-cony. This is what some eyewit-nesses said, but we are verify-ing the claims. We are alsoseeking CCTV footage to findout with whom he visited thecourt,” he said.

Initial findings revealed

that deceased’s mother ShyamaDevi and wife Kanti Devi hadlodged a case with Para policestation alleging that theirparental land had been grabbedon March 8. Both Shyama andKanti had alleged that someland sharks forcibly carriedout construction and thrashedthem.

The victims in their com-plaint accused Prem Yadav,Pradyuman and SP Yadav offorcibly grabbing their landon March 8. When they wentthere to get the work stopped,they were thrashed and man-handled. The miscreants alsotouched them inappropriately.

Police sources said thatRakesh’ rivals seemed to havehand in his mysterious death.

They said that the victim hada verbal spat with some personswhen he was on the eighthfloor and later he fell down.

“A tea vendor in the veran-dah said that the man was seenarguing with some personsminutes before he fell down.After the incident, those per-sons disappeared from thescene,” sources disclosed.

“Rakesh was pursuing thecase at the court and he used tovisit the court on the day ofhearing in the case. On Tuesdaymorning he left the house say-ing he was going to court on ahearing date. There seems to bea foul play behind the death ofRakesh,” a kin suspected.

Interestingly, the policedenied the reports of foul play

in the incident. The policeeven was not aware to whichcourt the victim had gone topresent on hearing if his fam-ily were making such claim.

The body was sent forautopsy and investigations areon. The police was yet to reg-ister a case in this connection.The SHO Wazirganj said thefamily did not give any com-plaint in this regard as yet.

Meanwhile, there werereports that Rakesh wanted tomarry some woman and hadmade plans for the same. Hehad gone to court to meet somelawyer and was waiting for thewoman. After the woman didnot turn up, he ended his life.However, the police did notendorse the reports.

Fatal fall for man fighting

land sharks in civil court

Family allegesfoul play

Police conducting investigations after a man reportedly fell off the civil court building in Lucknow on Tuesday Pioneer


In a fit of rage, a customerknifed to death a tea vendor

at Gate No. 1 of KGMU inChowk Police station area lateMonday night. The victim,identified as Indrapal Singh(65) of Daulatganj(Thakurganj), had been runninga tea stall near KGMU gate ofthe KGMU for a long time.Around 2 am, a rickshaw-puller,identified as Mohit Kashyap ofHasanganj, reached the stallasked for tea. When Indrapalwas preparing tea, he askedMohit to park his rickshaw onthe roadside so that it could notobstruct traffic movement. AsMohit refused, a verbal spatbetween the two started whichsoon escalated. Eyewitnessessaid as Indrapal pushed downMohit, he stood up and pickedup a knife with which heattacked the victim several timesand fled the scene.

Neighbouring vendorscalled the police while Indrapalwas rushed to the TraumaCentre, but he was pronounced‘brought dead’. “Delay in rush-ing the victim to hospital causedhis death. He had bled profuse-ly through the wounds,” a doc-tor opined. The police said thatthe assailant had been arrested.“The miscreant owned up hiscrime during interrogation,”the police said. The cops alsorecovered the knife with whichMohit had attacked Indrapal.The police said Mohit was a reg-ular visitor to the tea stall.

Meanwhile, a girl preparingfor competitive exams com-mitted suicide at her house inSarvodaya Nagar underGhazipur police station onTuesday afternoon. She wasalone when she took theextreme step. Priya was living ather sister Priyanka’s house inSarvodaya Nagar. Priyankalooks after clerical work atVikas Bhawan in SarvodayaNagar. The family belongs toAligarh. Priyanka called Priya

around noon to ask about herwell-being but she did notrespond. Thinking that she wasbusy in some work, Priyankacalled her again after sometime but her call went unan-swered. Apprehensive, Priyankawent to her house and found thedoors bolted from inside. Sherepeatedly knocked the doorsbut there was no response frominside. Priyanka later sought thehelp of her neighbours to gainaccess in the room only to findPriya hanging from the ceilingwith a dupatta tied around herneck. Police said no suicide notewas recovered from the room.The body was sent for autopsyand the police started investiga-tions. Besides, the body of anunidentified man was recoveredfrom a vacant plot in PeetamberVihar Colony in Chinhat onTuesday. Police said that theman was a beggar and used toloiter in the area. The police sus-pected that the man might havedied of some disease. The bodywas sent for autopsy to ascertainthe cause of death.

PURSE LOOTEDAn unidentified miscreant

snatched the purse from awoman in Mahanagar onTuesday afternoon. ArpitaGajwani lives with her familyin Mahanagar and works with

a government department.On Tuesday afternoon, shewas returning home and asreached near her house, abike-borne miscreantsnatched her purse and spedoff. The victim raised analarm and the passersbyhelped her in contacting herfamily. She later lodged a casein this connection. She toldthe police that she had Rs5,000, two mobile phones,two ATM cards and an IDcard in her purse.

FIREA massive fire broke out in

a village in Itaunja engulfingscores of thatched houses onTuesday afternoon. As many as11 livestock were burnt todeath even as property worthlakhs of rupees was gutted.Over half-a-dozen fire tenderswere pressed into service. Thefire broke out in the thatchedhouse of a fair price shopowner, identified as Ram Vilasof Bharigahna village. Easterlywinds stoked the flames whichspread to neighboruing hous-es. Villagers called village prad-han for help and later, policewere informed. The policeteams, along with fire brigade,reached the place and extin-guished the flames after hecticefforts.

Tea-seller stabbed to death


Officials of the UPHousing Development

Board and Developmentauthorities are unaware ofthe details of ‘Prime MinisterAwas Yojana’ (PMAY) andwaiting for clear-cut instruc-tion from the Union HousingMinistry.

Sources said the UnionHousing Ministry had issuedinstructions in February lastto the state government aboutPMAY launch across thecountry with an aim to pro-vide decent places ofdwellings to people belongingmiddle-income group andunder privileged sections ataffordable prices. The Centrehad also directed the stategovernment to make arrange-ments for effective imple-mentation of the scheme andalso made it clear that itwould be their task to executethe scheme. The Board hadbeen asked to construct20,000 shelters all over thestate in three years.

Surprisingly, no instruc-tions have been given as tohow the plan will be execut-ed, what will be the terms andconditions, mode of paymentand procedure for registrationand allotment of shelters.

The sources said it wasstill not known which agencywould give the money forsubsidy offered to the buyers.

Housing CommissionerDheeraj Sahu termed the planbenevolent but said they werewaiting for clear-cut instruc-tions from the Centre.

The sources said that peo-ple recently turned up inlarge numbers at the headoffice as well as in other dis-tricts to know about PMAY,but the officials told them towait for some time. It is cer-tain that the buyers would getsubstantial concession onhouses purchased under thisscheme.

The sources said that theproposed scheme would bedelayed in the absence ofguidelines. The Board author-ities are in touch with theCentral government officialsto be clear about the guide-lines. The Board authoritieshave decided to start the con-struction work across thestate after they get the greensignal from the Centre.

A meeting in connectionwith PMAY would be organ-ised by UP UrbanDevelopment Authority onWednesday. Officials of theHousing Development Boardand Lucknow DevelopmentAuthority (LDA), districtadministration, and Revenuedepartment will attend themeeting.

PMAY: Officials

waiting for

clear-cut

guidelines


State coordinator, BEd JEE,Naveen Khare said here on

Tuesday that there would be905 centres in 16 cities of UPfor the JEE examinations whichwill be held on May 3. The totalnumber of candidates is4,64,676. The centres will be inAgra, Aligarh, Allahabad,Azamgarh, Ballia, Bareilly,Faizabad, Ghaziabad,Gorakhpur, Jaunpur, Jhansi,Kanpur, Lucknow, Meerut,Moradabad and Varanasi.

“Ballia has been made awritten test city from this year.Since the number of candidatesis more for the Lucknow city,therefore, Lucknow has beendivided into two zones with citycode 51 (cis-Gomti) and 99(trans-Gomti).”

He further said that ameeting of the respective nodalofficers and nodal coordinatorsof all the 16 cities was sched-uled on April 28, 2017, for pro-viding detailed instructions forconducting the entrance testexamination on May 3, 2017, ina fair and transparent manner.He said that only a handful ofcandidates were there whocould not upload the pho-tographs and signatures due totechnical reasons but filled therest of the application form instep 3.

“We are provisionallyallowing these candidates toappear in the written test. Weare calling such candidates inone of the centres in Lucknowwhere the provision of still pho-tography has been made. Thecandidates can download theiradmit cards from the UP JEEBEd website(http://upbed.nic.in) in theafternoon of April 25, 2017,” headded. He further said that twocopies of the admit cardsshould be downloaded.

“The candidate will have tosubmit one copy of the admitcard to the invigilator at thetime of test with the samephotograph which he uploadedin his or her application form.Candidates who fail to producetheir admit cards at the centrewould not be allowed to appearin the test. The physicallyhandicapped, the blind andthe female candidates havebeen allotted their first choiceof the written test centres. Theblind candidates will have tocontact their centre superinten-dent a day prior to the writ-ten examination for thearrangement of a writer alongwith the application for it andit will be made by the CentreSuperintendent as per therules.” He said that they hadtaken the following decisions inconnection with the wrongly-filled JEE BEd 2017 onlineapplication form by some can-didates. The corrections inname, father’s name, mother’sname, date of birth and marksin the qualifying examinationwill be made at the time ofcounselling.

“For corrections in genderand subject group, a provisionhas been made in the OMRanswersheet on the day of thewritten test. Candidates willhave to fill the correct genderand subject group there.However, for a subject groupchange the candidate will haveto bring the original and self-attested photocopy of themarksheet of the qualifyingexam. Candidates will get thetest booklet of the required sub-ject group from the invigilatorat the time of the test.”

For the correction inweightage (which affects themerit of the candidates at thetime of result preparation),photograph and signature, thecandidates will have to contactthe invigilator.

“A form for the purposehas been made available to theCentre Superintendent throughthe respective nodal officer.Candidates will have to fill itand attach the self-attestedphotocopies of the supportingdocuments and submit them tothe Centre Superintendent withtheir photographs and signa-tures. The photograph and sig-nature pasted on the secondcopy of the admit card shouldmatch with that on the form,on the attendance sheet and onthe duplicate admit card.”

905 centres to beset up in 16 citiesfor BEd JEE


Placements at LucknowUniversity are catching up at

an unexpectedly high rate.Counselling and PlacementCell director Madhurima Lal,while giving the information tomediapersons, said that theplacement cell had been creat-ed last month for the first timein the history of LU by Vice-Chancellor SP Singh, and it hadrecorded unprecedentedrecord-breaking placements aswell as internships for the stu-dents.

Almost 350 recruitmentshave been done so far andmore are slated this month.

“Companies like ICICIPrudential, Vodafone, SomnyCremics, IndusInd Bank, JaiLakshmi, CCD, Karvi, ICICIBank, Varun Beverages, ITC,Yadh Papers, Trauson, SatyaMicro Finance, Axis Bank,Manar, Bajaj Capital, MRFTyres, Richman FellowshipSociety, India and CreativeMind, DEALL, Bangalore, etchave already selected studentsfrom the campus. Aditya Birla– results awaited, Solutions PvtLtd, Centena Biomed Pvt Ltd,RALSON (INDIA) LTD,Analytical Equipment IndiaPvt Ltd, and Upgrade Solutions

Private Limited along with var-ious college and schools arefixed for campus placementsthis month,” he added.

She said that LucknowUniversity produced one of themost high quality academicstudents every year.

“We are receiving an over-whelming response from thecompanies for campus place-ments across the country. Wedo realise that we should pro-vide the best of opportunities toour students during their stu-dentship. Presently dozens ofcompanies are waiting to takeup more and more of our stu-dents. I suggest to all studentsto keep a regular watch on thewebsite at the placement cell forinformation.”

She said that when thecountry was facing the unem-ployment problem on the onehand and the fast rate of growthof the corporate sector on theother it was only getting thetwo ends meet which wouldsolve the problems from bothsides and that was what exact-ly they were doing and theopportunity should not bemissed.

“Placements in variousorganisations are taken up as acostly affair but here in the cam-pus we are able to assist our stu-

dents in getting jobs and intern-ships without any fee or chargefrom the students. We are tar-geting students from all facul-ties to get proper placements intheir respective areas. I haverequested all the heads, deansand directors of all the facultiesto provide a list of the prospec-tive companies and alumniorganisations which could bepursued for more placements oftheir respective departments.Once we are able to build up astrong data base I expect thebest of campus placements formy students,” she added. Lalsaid that she was happy tostate that campus placementshad been done for those depart-ments where they were not pos-sible.

“So far we had two fromAnthropology, 12 fromPsychology, 60 from AppliedEconomics and Commerce, 70from Business Administration,24 from Journalism and MassCommunication, 9 from IMS,11 from Social Works, 13 fromMSc QTM, 9 from MSc(Chemistry) and 11 from B.Edwho have been placed so far.We expect more placements inthe near future as a large num-ber of companies are in linewhich are interested in ourcampus placements,” she said.

Varsity registers record

number of placements

Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court Justice Dilip Babasaheb Bhosale meeting Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath at his officialresidence in Lucknow ion Tuesday

Lucknow (PNS): KingGeorge’s Medical University(KGMU) on Tuesday appoint-ed Dr Anil Parihar as deputyregistrar to handle administra-tion. The medical universityalso constituted a probe teamto investigate the circumstanceswhich lead to the death of apatient. Dr Parihar has beenworking as an additional pro-fessor in the Radiodiagnosisdepartment. He will continueto discharge his academicresponsibilities while holdingthe administrative post.

The KGMU administra-tion also appointed DrNarsingh Verma of Physiologydepartment as incharge of theFaculty of Medical Sciences atKGMU as also spokesperson.Dr Vibha Singh of Oral andMaxillofacial Surgery depart-ment has also been appointedas spokesperson.

“Additional administrativeresponsibilities have been givento Dr Anil Parihar. He willassist in ensuring smoothadministration. His appoint-ment has been made as perKGMU rules. Two newspokespersons of KGMU werealso appointed today,” KGMUVice-Chancellor Dr MLB Bhattsaid on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the KGMU V-C paid a surprise visit toTrauma Centre and other

departments. He directed theauthorities concerned tostrengthen healthcare services.He constituted a 5-memberteam to probe into the death ofa patient from AmbedkarNagar. It may be noted that thedaughter of Manoj KumarTripti succumbed to illness onMonday even as the medicaluniversity administrationclaimed that the patient wasprovided adequate healthcarebut she could not survive forunknown reasons.

The probe team will lookin to the possible reasons whichlead to her death. The probeteam comprises Dr ArchanaKumar, Dr Vijay Kumar, Dr SNShankhwar, Dr NarsinghVerma and Dr RK Dixit.

Parihar appointed deputy

registrar of KGMU

People protesting against the murder of tea-seller (inset) Pioneer


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Lucknow Metro RailCorporation (LMRC) man-

aging director Kumar Keshavsaid on Tuesday that theywould be shortly receiving thefourth train from manufactur-ers for the priority section.

“We will soon get thefourth train and we are expect-ing two more trains in Maywhich will make us complete-ly ready for Metro operations”he said.

In September 2015, LRMChad awarded a contract toAlstom to supply 80 Metro carsfor 20 train sets of four carseach for North-South Corridorof Lucknow Metro Phase-1Aproject covering 22 stations.The Metro cars are being pro-duced at Alstom’s Sri Citymanufacturing facilities inIndia. The signalling system isbeing jointly supplied byAlstom’s sites in Bangalore,India and Saint-Ouen, France.

The design of driver cab

has been developed in strongcollaboration with ergonomicexperts contributing to driverefficiency and serenity. Thisdesign is believed to be a mile-stone in modern history ofLucknow.

Meanwhile, regarding trainoperations for the public, theLMRC officials said reportshad already been submitted tothe Railway SafetyCommission, which comesunder the Ministry of Aviation,and the same would be for-warded to the Union RailwayMinistry.

Giving details of theprogress of the elevated corri-dor on Faizabad road whichmoves from Charbagh toMunshipulia station, theLMRC officials said that piercaps would be laid down fromthe first week of May. “We havealready erected nine pillarsand now we will begin with theinstallation of pier caps overwhich the U girders will beplaced,” the officials said.

It may be noted that thepriority section is fromTransportnagar to Charbaghand LMRC is going ahead with

the construction work fromTransportnagar to Amausi.

A highly energy efficienttrain with LED lighting and

regenerative braking to feed theenergy back to overhead elec-trical energy system duringbraking has been planned. Theentire system in the train willbe monitored and selectivelycontrolled by a microproces-sor-based Train Control andManagement System (TCMS).

The passenger comfortsplanned are low noise insidetrains, wide passenger doorsand inter-car gangways foreasy passenger movement,ergonomically designedhandrail and grab handle sys-tem for easy and comfortablestanding, soothing publicannouncement system withall-around visible display sys-tem inside car as well as sideand front of trains, large win-dows and scratch proof stain-less steel bucket type seats forcomfortable sitting. The facil-ities for differently-abled pas-sengers inside trains are dedi-cated wheelchair spaces, Braillestickers for visually-challengedpeople and talk-back buttons.


Senior divisional commercialmanager, Northern

Railways, Shivendra Shukla saidhere on Tuesday that six auto-matic ticket vending machineswould be installed at Charbaghstation shortly. Currently, thestation has coin-operated tick-et vending machines but theautomatic t icket vendingmachines wil l be more user-friendly.

“The coin-operated ticketvending machines can be usedwith the help of facilitatorswho charge some money forticket buying. When the auto-matic tending machines areinstalled, they will help the


Drug watchdog Food Safetyand Drug Administration

(FSDA) has been too under-staffed for a long time toproperly monitor medicalstores and drug manufactur-ing units apart from othermedical establishments.

The quantum of annualtransaction on medicine dis-tribution and manufacturingin Lucknow itself is in thevicinity of Rs 20,000 croreannually. Moreover, with over1800 wholesellers and around40,000 retailers in drug distri-bution, the regulation is like-ly to become more cumber-some with government pushon selling generic medicines.

Ironically, the post of druglicensing authority inLucknow division has beenlying vacant for a long time.Also, the post of DrugController in the division isvacant too.

The scarcity of druginspectors across the state hasaffected the regulation of drugmanufacturing units and med-ical stores. It has also causeddelay in opening more publicdrug distribution counters(Jan Aushdhi Kendra) to pro-vide generic medicines asthese centres require govern-ment license before startingdrug distribution counters.

“The drug inspectors have

a vital role in regulating tradeof drugs. With huge growth inpopulation and more medicalstores opening up, it is impor-tant for the government totighten regulations. A druginspector is required to mon-itor 400 medical stores and 10manufacturing units apartfrom blood banks and hospi-tals. More than 30 per centposts of drug inspectors arevacant in various divisions ofthe state,” said a former addi-tional food safety commis-sioner. As part of regulatorymechanism, regulation fromcollecting drug samples totaking action according tothe findings of lab analysisreports comes under the ambitof drug inspectors. Privatehospitals, medical shops, drugmanufacturing units andblood banks are the otherareas of regulation that comesunder the jurisdiction of DrugInspectors.

Meanwhile, drug regulatorassociations have raised thedemand for revising the cadrerules and appointing druginspectors at the district levelrather divisional level. “Wehave sent proposal to the stategovernment for start theappointment of more druginspectors immediately toimplement the regulatorynorms,” Drug ControllerOfficers’ Union said in a statement.


Minister for UrbanDevelopment (UP) Suresh

Kumar Khanna paid his firstvisit to Regional Centre forUrban and EnvironmentalStudies (RCUES) at the invita-tion of director Nishith Rai.

He had a meeting with thefaculties, administrative person-nel and other staff members ofthe centre. During the visit hewas given a presentation aboutthe Centre’s aims and objectives,its achievements, future plans

and about the bigger role thatit could play in all the urban-related schemes and projects.

AK Gupta, additional

director, RCUES (Lucknow),highlighted the activities beingdone currently by the RCUES,Lucknow, and also underlinedthe sectors where it could pro-vide active support to the urbandevelopment sectors in UP.Khanna remained very obser-vant throughout the presenta-tion and also posed queriesrelated to various urban man-agement projects.

The minister addressed themembers of the RCUES teamand expressed his delight onhaving visited it . He expressed

his happiness in knowing moreabout the activities of the cen-tre. In his address Khannafocused on the role of the soci-ety and its contribution inmaking the world a better placeto live. He encouraged andmotivated the people to workefficiently and said that eachmember’s role was important.

The minister reiterated theimportance of cleanliness in ourlives and surroundings. Heurged the RCUES team to con-duct a cleanliness drive on thefirst Saturday of every month.

CMS TEAM RETURNSFROM ENGLAND

The 7-member team ofCity Montessori School,Gomti Nagar (Campus I),returned from England onTuesday after attending CISVYouth Meeting. On theirreturn, school’s teachers andparents gave them a warmwelcome at the Amausi air-port. The students of thisteam included Hitova Assumi,Vani Verma, Prakriti Singh,Nanki Kaur, Sohan Saraswatand Aryan Saket Joshi whileLavisha Panjwani was theirleader. The Children’sInternational Summer Village(CISV) is the organisation

that conducts a month-longInternational Children’s Campin different countries invitingyoung participants of variouscountries to stay under oneroof and learn the lessons offriendship, cordiality andbrotherhood. The CISV YouthMeeting conducted fromApril 15 to 22 at Hull city ofEngland, was a part of itorganised with the aim to letyoung children open theirhearts on concurrent issues topromote the concept of peaceeducation.

SEMINARCity Montessori School,

Lucknow, in association with

the Spiritual Assembly of theBahai’s of Lucknow, HolyVision International, PRAYASand Purvanchal Gramin VikasSansthan, organised a seminaron gender equality, ‘Womenin the changing world ofwork: Planet 50-50 by 2030’ atGomti Nagar auditorium.CMS president Geeta GandhiKingdon said that the status ofmen and women should beequal for two reasons – intrin-sic and instrumental. She fur-ther said that educating a girlproduces more significantoutcomes, yet women aredeprived of similar standardsof education as they are con-sidered to be a liability.

LMRC to receive 4th train shortly

SCHOOLSCAN

Minister pays maiden visit to RSUES


The state government hasdrawn up an elaborate

plan to ensure supply ofdrinking water in the parchedregion of Bundelkhand dur-ing the peak summer season.The government said therewas no need for water trainfrom the Centre as water inadequate quantity was avail-able in the region.

During the previousAkhilesh Yadav governmentin May 2016, the Union gov-ernment had sent a watertrain to Jhansi for supplyingwater to the drought-affecteddistricts of Bundelkhand. Thestate government had, howev-er, refused to entertain thetrain and had demanded fromthe Centre to give financialassistance to procure 1,000water tankers for supply waterto villages in Bundelkhand.

Minister of State (inde-pendent charge) for RuralDevelopment MahendraSingh said on Tuesday thatcontrol rooms had been setup in all seven districts ofBundelkhand which would beoperated by officers ofPanchayati Raj departmentand engineers of Jal Sansthan.

Singh said that priorityaccorded to Bundelkhand bystate government is evidentfrom the fact that ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath hadchosen the region for con-ducting review of develop-ment works in districts anddivisional headquarters. Hesaid in seven districts ofBundelkhand, there were4,504 village panchayats andthe total population was 21 lakh.

The minister added thatthe government had sanc-

tioned Rs 45.36 crore forreboring and installation ofnew India Mark-II handpumps. He disclosed over4,800 new hand pumps wouldbe installed and pumps sanc-tioned during 2016-17 wouldalso be installed taking thenumber of operational handpumps to 6,500 in the regionin peak summer season.

Singh pointed out thatRural Development depart-ment asked contractors tomaintain pumps for one year.

“The Rural Developmentdepartments, which imple-ments drinking waterschemes in rural areas, hasarranged 1,000 water tankerswhich will be stationed attehsils and block develop-ment headquarters. Thetankers will be pressed in ser-vice for supplying water to vil-lages facing scarcity,” the min-ister said.

Singh said that the gov-ernment had also ordered allgovernment offices in allseven districts to provide thefacility of drinking water. Theminister said that the govern-ment would not tolerate anylaxity by government officialsand action would be taken oncomplaints.


Twenty-four hours after thesensational killing of four

of a family in Allahabad inwhich two girls were alsoraped, the bodies of fourminors were recovered inChitrakoot on Tuesday. A casewas registered by the policeand efforts were being made toascertain their identity. Asper reports, the bodies of an11- and 7-year-old girls werefound in a gunny bag nearKachuwa nullah in AmhanTikra hamlet of Rajapur onTuesday morning. Somemetres away, the bodies of afive-year-old boy and a four-year-old boy were also foundin a gunny bag. All the fourwere hacked with sharp-edgedweapons. Circumstantial evi-dence pointed towards thefour being siblings.

The cops claimed thatthey were trying to ascertaintheir identity and suspectedthat either the parents wereinvolved in the killing or theyalso met with a similar fateand their bodies were dumpedat some other place.Investigations were on and thebodies were sent for autopsy.

Meanwhile, inPratapgarh, former presidentof Lalganj Bar Associationwas shot dead over an old dis-pute on Monday evening.

As per reports, DhananjayMisra (45) was returninghome with his brother VinayKumar Mishra when fourmotorcycle-borne assailantsfollowed them and openedfire near Motheen village onMonday evening. As Mishracrashed on the road, maskedassailants pumped more bul-lets into his head and chestbefore fleeing. The injuredwas rushed to LalganjCommunity Health Centrewhere doctors declared him“dead upon arrival”.

Enraged locals refused tohand over the body to thepolice and staged a protestdemanding security and com-pensation to the family of thedeceased. They were laterpacified by officials and thebody was sent for autopsy lateat night. The cops suspectedthe role of Shabbir, who hadearlier made an attempt onDhananjay’s life in 2010 andwas sent to jail. Recently,Shabbir and three of hisaccomplices had come out on

bail. The police are makingefforts to arrest them.

Elsewhere in Mathura, a13-year-old boy drowned inthe swimming pool of aboarding school run byInternational Society forKrishna Consciousness(ISKCON) on Monday.

Kartik, a class VII studentin Delhi, was taking a bath inthe pool of Bhakti VedantaGurukul and InternationalSchool (BGIS), Vrindavan.The victim’s friends alerted theschool staff when they spottedhim struggling in the water.The boy was somehow takenout and rushed to a hospitalwhere he was declared “deadon arrival”.

The police said that it wasa case of negligence on thepart of the school manage-ment as no trainer wasdeployed near the pool at thetime of the incident. Thebody was sent for autopsy. Thepolice added that no FIR wasregistered in the case as noone came forward with acomplaint. Meanwhile,ISKCON PRO Ravilochansaid the school managementhad ordered a probe into theincident.

Lucknow (PNS): StateElection Commission hasdirected District Magistrates ofall 75 districts to ensure pub-lication of the final list of eachward after delimitation in eachurban local body. The delimi-tation of wards in each urbanlocal body is being conductedin all local bodies. StateElection Commissioner SKAgarwal on Tuesday held videoconferencing with all DistrictMagistrates for a review of thepreparations for the election ofurban local bodies.

Agarwal directed theDistrict Magistrates to furnishdata of the rapid survey for esti-mating the population of OBCsto the state government byMay 3. He said that EVMs inall 14 nagar nigams ofLucknow, Gorakhpur, Varanasi,Aligarh, Agra, Allahabad,Kanpur, Ghaziabad, Jhansi,Bareilly, Meerut, Moradabad,Ferozabad and Saharanpur bedelivered by April 26. He saidthat the first-level checking ofall EVMs be conducted at theearliest. The commissioner alsodirected that the data of stateemployees to be deployed forelection duty be completed asper the ‘Election StaffDeployment Software’ (ESD).

The last elections ofmunicipal bodies in 2012 wereheld between May 25 and July7 and the first meeting ofelected bodies was held onJuly 15. Agarwal said that thesame timeline was to be imple-mented in 2017 and that waspossible only if the process ofdelimitation of wards, rapidsurvey of OBCs and reserva-tion of wards was completed byMay 25. He said that the StateElection Commission had tocomplete the process of revi-sion of electoral rolls and pub-lication of final rolls.

Bodies of 4 minors found

passengers because they areeasier to operate,” he said.

Shukla further said thatthe rush in queues had less-ened with the installation ofthe coin-operated ticketvending machines. “Nearly800-900 passengers are buy-ing t ickets from thesemachines every day foralmost all major destinationsacross the country,” he point-ed out.

He said they were hopingthat with this facility, whichwould be much more user-friendly, people would beable to get the tickets even atthe eleventh hour. “In total,66 automatic ticket vendingmachines will be installed inthe Lucknow division,” headded.

Among the four escala-tors and lifts which have to beinstalled at Charbagh station,Shukla said that work for onewas in progress while theremaining were yet to beinstalled.

Asked about the cleanli-ness of linen, he said they hada mechanised laundry cater-ing to a load of 2 tonnes.“The requirement is for 6tonnes but we are able tocater to only 2 tonnes whilethe rest is outsourced. We arehoping to increase the capac-ity by another tonne for themechanised laundry in thecoming months,” he added.

Charbagh station to havesix automatic ticketvending machines

Drug watchdog

understaffed

SEC gears upfor urban localbodies’ poll

Elaborate plan for

parched B’khand

nation 05LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 26, 2017

PNS n NEW DELHI

Suspecting that the outlawsin Chhattisgarh “in des-

peration” want to derail the“positive narrative” of devel-opment of the ModiGovernment and the State dis-pensation, Union Minister MVenkaiah Naidu Tuesday won-dered whether there could bea tacit support from “the socalled human rights activistssilent on mindless acts” of theLeft extremists.

Naidu called for an urgentneed “to build strong publicopinion” against such acts ofviolence and “the so calledhuman rights activists whohave double standards”.

The Union Informationand Broadcasting Minister saidhuman rights groups “don’tuphold similar rights” of secu-rity personnel, their familiesand innocent people.

“I am constrained to infer

that such motivated acts ofmindless violence are beingresorted to with tacit supportfrom the so called humanrights advocates in desperationto derail the positive narrativeemerging from the ongoingefforts by the Central andState Governments to reach thefruits of development to thelast of the poor and to ensurerapid economic development”,said Naidu.

The Minister said whilethe nation was shocked by thekillings and violence, “the socalled sympathisers and pro-ponents of human rights havemaintained baffling silencesince yesterday”.

He said rights activistsraise voice and “react violent-ly” if an extremist or a terror-ist is killed by the police “buttake shelter in silence whenlarge number of Jawans andinnocent people get killed”.

He asked if human rights

are only meant for those whotake to violence in furtheranceof “their outdated ideologies”and not for security personaland common people.

The Minister said the fam-ilies of Jawans killed andinjured while in uniformwould get the highest consid-eration from Central and StateGovernments.

Another Central MinisterPrakash Javadekar also con-demned the killing of 25 CRPFpersonnel by Naxals in Chhatt-isgarh “as an act of cowardice.”

“Since their strength isgetting reduced they are doingsuch things. This is a strategyof cowards. This is a coward-ly attack,” he said.

As many as 25 CRPF per-sonnel were killed and sevenwounded in Chhattisgarh’sSukma district on Monday , inthe deadliest ambush byNaxalites of security forcesthis year.

Naidu: Why rights activists silent

on Naxal attack on CRPF jawans?

RAJESH KUMAR n NEW DELHI

The Narendra ModiGovernment is aiming to

achieve an all-time high 273million tonnes of foodgrainproduction in the 2017-18 cropyear beginning July, anticipat-ing good monsoon. This evenas wheat production is set totouch a record 98 milliontonnes (MT) in the ongoing2016-17 crop year ending June,on account of higher yields.

Union AgricultureMinister Radha Mohan Singhsaid that foodgrain productionis estimated to touch a record271.98 million tonnes in thecurrent year (July-June), asper the second estimate of theAgriculture Ministry.

“Foodgrain production tar-get for next year is set at record273 million tonnes. Monsoonis expected to be normal whichwill help achieving the desiredtarget,” Singh said whileaddressing a national eventthat aims to chalk out sowingstrategy for the coming kharifseason. There is sufficient sup-ply of seeds for the forthcom-ing kharif season. For instance,

about 83.46 lakh quintals ofpaddy seeds and 3.75 lakhquintals of tur dal seeds areavailable. Fertiliser require-ment is estimated to be 28.99million tonnes for the season,he added.

In its second estimate, theAgriculture Ministry hadpegged a record wheat outputof 96.64 MT for the currentcrop year (July-June) as againstthe actual output of 92.29 MTlast year. “Taking into accountthe feedback from the StateGovernments and experts, itlooks like wheat output willreach all-time high of 98 MTthis year,” said officials on the

sidelines of an event at VigyanBhawan. The two-day longnational conference is deliber-ating on how to increase food-grain production in the nextyear and implement technolo-gy and new innovations in thefarm sector

“The crop yields are bet-ter this year as weather con-dition during February-March remained favourable.There was no adverse tem-perature variation, whichhelped soi l moisture toremain normal for cropgrowth,” officials said. In viewof the expected record outputon the back of good mon-soon, the Government is aim-ing to procure 30 MT ofwheat at the support price.

At present, the new crop isbeing harvested in full swing.Already, Government agencieslike FCI, have procured morethan 10 MT grains from stateslike Punjab and Haryana. Toensure farmers get better pricefor their produce, theGovernment has restrictedimports by reverting to a cus-toms duty of 10 per cent on thegrain.

PNS n NEW DELHI

With the fast changingnature of fighting war,

the Joint Doctrine of ArmedForces was released on Tuesdaystressing on the need for syn-ergy amongst the three Servicesnamely Army, IAF and Navyand honing strategy for inter-operability to achieve the polit-ical and military objectives inan effective manner.

The 86-page doctrinereleased by Chairman Chiefs ofStaff Committee and Navy ChiefAdmiral Sunil Lanba also urgedthe three Services to prepare forfighting the future conflicts in allthe five spectrums includingland, air, water, cyber and spaceby pooling resources and train-ing together to operate in aseamless manner.

Moreover, the armed forceswill have to remain opera-tionally current, agile and effi-cient besides utilising scarce

resources in an optimised man-ner to meet the challenge rapid-ly changing character of con-flict, the doctrine said.

The Joint Doctrine willserve as a cornerstone docu-ment for application of MilitaryPower in a synergised mannerand also establish a broadframework of concepts andprinciples to understand

approach to joint planning andconduct of operations across allthe domains of conflict.

The present doctrine isthe second in the series afterthe planners revised the firstJoint Doctrine released in 2007.The new doctrine has includ-ed the lessons learnt over thepast ten years and is alignedwith the doctrines of individ-

ual Services.Taking the strategic sce-

nario into account, the doctrinesaid India will have to havedeterrent capabilities to protectits interests on the Line ofActual Control (LAC) facingChina and Line of Control(LOC) with Pakistan. The doc-ument noted that while con-flicts the world over for gain-

ing territorial control werediminishing, India, however,has to protect its territory as theLAC and LOC are disputed.

The doctrine also notedthat proxy war in Jammu &Kashmir and volatile situationin Af-Pak region is anothermajor challenge for India andfuture strategies will have tofactor these ground realities toprotect its interests.

Radicalisation of youth insome states through socialmedia was another contempo-rary challenge facing nationalsecurity, the document saidadding management of digitalenvironment is priority area.

The Navy chief in theforeword of the doctrine said itis reference for policy makersincluding bureaucrats and mil-itary besides private and pub-lic sector industries. Moreover,the document will form part ofinitial training curriculum ofthe Services, he noted.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The HRD Ministry is under-taking a rehaul of the current

National Assessment andAccreditation Council (NAAC)accreditation process that willhave a ‘surprise’ element as theinstitutes will not be knowing inadvance about the team visitingthe campus for the assessment.The accommodation and trav-el plans of the peer team’s visitwill also be outsourced to pre-vent any collusion betweenGovernment-institute officials.

This apart, following com-plaints of corruption, an 80 percent weightage has been pro-posed for self-reported dataanalysed through software-based capturing and 20 percent weightage to peer reviewteams. Provisions of penalty forinstitutes submitting “fraudu-lent” information are also like-ly to be introduced and thenumber of parameters may bereduced to make the assess-ment more comprehensive.

“As per the new methodol-ogy in deciding the grade of aninstitute, the peer team assess-ment of institutes will be givenjust 20 per cent weightage insteadof the current 100 per cent.Eighty per cent weightage will begiven to self reported data whichcan be analysed through softwaredriven data capture,” HRDMinister Prakash Javadekar saidwhile inaugurating a nationalconsultation of revised accredi-tation framework.

The NAAC, which accred-its institutes of higher educa-tion in the country, had onMarch 31 suspended the appli-cation process till the gradingsystem undergoes an overhaul.

Javdekar pressed upon theneed for more accreditationagencies. “If we want to reachthe institutes in a time-boundmanner and assess them prop-erly, we need more valuators.Therefore we want to set up at

least three to four more insti-tutes and we should also give amessage to them in this regard,”he said during the consultation.

While the number of para-meters will be reduced to makethe assessment more compre-hensive, a third party verifica-tion of the data captured onlineis also required and provisionsof penalty for those submittingfalse data will also be intro-duced, he said, adding therevised framework focuses onaugmented use of technology,greater objectivity, and trans-parency of the process.

Javadekar referred to therecent advertisements of insti-tutions citing its NAAC ranking,its certifications and assess-ment reports and on its basis thetrend of students in selectinginstitutes for further education.He said now the institutes havealso added up NIRF ranking asa feather in their caps and nowthe students as well as the soci-ety can’t be misguided any moreas the pressure of quality is nowworking.

HRD Minister Prakash Javadekaron Tuesday said it was up to

various State education boards totake a final call on the practice ofawarding grace marks to studentsin exams for difficult questions. “Itis a good decision (by the CBSE).Several States have been taken onboard, a consensus has beendeveloped. But the final decisionwill be of the States, this is justlike a suggestion,” Javadekar said.In a major decision, the CentralBoard of Secondary Education(CBSE) had scrapped the marksmoderation policy. The CBSE hadin 1992 adopted the practice ofawarding grace marks of up to 15per cent in certain papers if thequestions are deemed to bedifficult. The CBSE had inDecember last requested the HRDMinistry to help develop aconsensus among all state boardson scrapping the marksmoderation policy which isconsidered as the reason behindvery high scores in board examresults.

FINAL CALL BY STATESEDUCATION BOARD ON GRACE MARKS TOSTUDENTS: JAVADEKAR

NAAC asked to rehaulaccreditation process for higher edu institutesVarsities won’t

know in advance

about surprise

element: HRD

Joint doctrine of Army, Navy, AF unveiled

ABRAHAM THOMAS n

NEW DELHI

Though allowing divorce to aman who was mentally tor-

tured by his wife for 17 years,the Supreme Court has fixed aprice for buying peace with thewoman at `1.50 crore.

Granting divorce to thetortured husband, a Bench ofJustices Adarsh K Goel andDeepak Gupta directed theman Raj Talreja, a resident ofUdaipur, to arrange a sum of`50 lakh to be set apart as per-manent alimony for his wifeKavita and even ordered him toprovide her a residential flatvaluing upto `1 crore.

The order was passed onMonday with a timeframe ofthree months fixed by theCourt for deposit of thealimony. With regard to theresidential flat, the Benchdirected that the wife cancontinue to stay at her presentresidence, owned by themother of the husband. Thecouple has a son who is mar-ried. Both son and daughter-

in-law stay with Kavita in thesame house while the aggriev-ed husband Raj has been stay-ing with his parents in a sep-arate accommodation.Interestingly, the son has beenassisting the father in businessand the latter, in turn, has ful-filled all his paternal obliga-tions by regularly payingmaintenance to his wife.

In these circumstances, theCourt was asked to decide as towhether the conduct of wife inspreading false accusationsagainst husband will amount tocruelty. The Bench said,“Though we have held that theacts of the wife in filing false

complaints against the hus-band amounts to cruelty, weare, however, not oblivious tothe requirements of the wife tohave a decent house where shecan live...some permanentarrangement has to be made forher alimony and residence.”

The apex court said thatcruelty can never be defined“with exactitude” and what it is,will depend upon the factsand circumstances of each case.“Mere filing of complaints isnot cruelty, if there are justifi-able reasons to file the com-plaints. Merely because noaction is taken on the com-plaint or after trial the accusedis acquitted may not be aground to treat such accusa-tions of the wife as cruelty with-in the meaning of the HinduMarriage Act.

“However, if it is found thatthe allegations are patentlyfalse, then there can be nomanner of doubt that the saidconduct of a spouse levellingfalse accusations against theother spouse would be an actof cruelty,” the Bench held.

SC grants divorce to tortured man,

asks him to pay wife `1.5 crore

BJP leader L K Advani greets Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in New Delhi on Tuesday. Advani’s daughter PratibhaAdvani is also seen PTI

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n

NEW DELHI

Delhi High Court onTuesday asked CBI to file

a status report by July 25 in acomplaint that sister-in-law offormer Finance Minister PChidambaram was wronglygiven a hotel in an auction incollusion with Indian OverseasBank ( IOB) officials. The HCwas acting on petition filed byDr Kathirvel, the former ownerof the Comfort Inn in Tirupur,who had approached CBI toprobe the illegal manner inwhich his hotel was put on auc-tion as part of a conspiracy.

In the petition, Kathirvelsaid his hotel Comfort Inn inTirupur in Tamil Nadu wasworth more than `10 croreagainst which he had taken aloan due of `2.5 crore from theIOB. After payment delay, thebank declared the loan as a Non-Performing Asset (NPA) andannounced the auction of thehotel. After this, Kathirvelapproached Madras High Courtand Debt Recovery Tribunal andpaid `64 lakhs to the IOB toavoid the auction.

Chidambaram was then FinanceMinister at the centre.

After receiving `64 lakhs in2008, the Bank promised can-cellation of auction, claimed theclaimant. According to thecomplaint filed to CBI, theBank cheated him and con-ducted an improper auctionand allotted the hotel toChidambaram’s sister-in-lawPadmini for just `4.5 crores.

Chidambaram wrote to thehotelier that he had nothing todo with the issue and claimedthat he had instructed his wifeNalini to avoid handling thecase of Padmini. Kathrivel alsoproduced in the Court Nalini’saudio transcripts in whichNalini was purportedly heardtelling him to leave the hotel.She even offered him a com-pensation of `2.5 crore, thecomplainant said.

Arguing for Kathirvel,Advocate Yatinder Chaudharysaid this is a clear case of abuseof power by the FinanceMinister’s family. Justice RKGauba asked CBI’s advocate whythe agency has s not acted till dateand directed the agency to sub-mit a status report by July 25.

Delhi HC asks CBI to

probe charge against

Chidambaram’s kin

ARCHANA JYOTI n NEW DELHI

Siruthuli, a Tamil Nadu-based NGO, which is spear-

heading people’s movement byengaging in rejuvenating watersources and waste manage-ment in Coimbatore has drawnthe attention of the Centrewhich has asked the StateGovernments to consider repli-cating the green initiative intheir regions.

The Union Water andSanitation Ministry’s move fol-lows Prime Minister Office(PMO) reference to the cam-paign led by green crusaderVanitha Mohan, who is thevice-chairperson of Pricol Ltdand first woman to be electedpresident of the Indian

Chamber of Commerce andIndustry, Coimbatore (ICCIC).

Appreciating the effortsundertaken by her NGO inpromoting green activities, AKSrivastava, Under Secretary(Water) in the Union Waterand Sanitation Ministry haswritten to all the PrincipalSecretaries (Water andSanitation Department) of theStates, to implement the stepsto get due benefits in theirrespective regions.

For ready reference for theStates, the official in his letteralso attached the report ‘Waterconservation efforts for achiev-ing water security’ detailingafforestation, water conserva-tion, removal of agriculturalencroachments among others

undertaken by the NGO alongwith locals in Coimbatore.

Since 2003, “the NGO hascarried out water conservation,desilting of tanks, strengthen-ing of bunds, restoration ofrivers by removing encroach-ment, construction of checkdams, rain water harvestingsystem, afforestation and wastemanagement,” says the letter.

As per the report, as a firststep towards Noyyal riverrestoration, Siruthuli has

removed the agriculturalencroachments to a distance ofabout 33 kilometers from its ori-gin and in association with theGovernment marked bound-ary stones while undertakenrestoration efforts on the fourdistricts through which the riverpasses, namely Coimbatore,Tirupur, Erode and Karur.

The Siruthuli’s afforestationefforts to green the city ofCoimbatore and the sur-rounding areas was inaugurat-

ed by the then President DrAPJ Abdul Kalam.

As per the report, the pro-ject aims to plant 1.5 millionsaplings across Coimbatore, thusrestoring the green cover andincreasing the lung spaces. Massplanting activities, with dripirrigation system are being car-ried out through Public PrivatePartnership model, involvingcorporates, local administra-tion, and Government bodies.

In a unique initiative, theNGO recently adopted the‘Miyawaki’ method of planningwhich promotes quickafforestation with native speciesplanted in proximity. Thismethod is most ideal for areaswith space constraints such asurban locations.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Tuesday promised

all possible assistance to Nepalin the conduct of its first pollsto local bodies in 20 years as hereceived a call from hisNepalese counterpart PushpaKamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’.

Modi’s assurance toPrachanda followed on the lat-ter’s request for India’s assis-tance while speaking aboutNepal holding the local elections.

The two Prime Ministersreiterated their commitment toadvance multi-faceted India-Nepal cooperative ties for thebenefit of the two peoples, aPMO statement said.

Modi and Prachanda dis-cussed recent developments inIndia-Nepal relations, includ-ing the recently-concluded“highly successful” State visit ofPresident of Nepal Bidya DeviBhandari here, it said.

Modi promises helpto Nepal in 1st localelections in 20 years

TN-based green crusader’s initiatives appreciatedThe NGO recently adopted the ‘Miyawaki’ method

of planning which promotes quick afforestation

with native species planted in proximity.

This method is most ideal for areas with

space constraints such as urban locations

Govt aims record

foodgrain output

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi with Egypt Ambassador Hatem El Sayed Tageldin who arrivesfor a meeting at Antyodaya Bhawan in New Delhi on Tuesday PTI


From Page 1Prasad Shrikant Purohit,

another key accused in the case.While Sadhavi’s family memberswelcomed the order, the JamiatUlama-e-Maharashtra said itwill challenge the order.

Talking to mediapersonsoutside the court, Sadhvi’s broth-er-in-law Bhagwan Jha said hisfamily would celebrate thecourt’s order. “Finally, we havewon. For nine years she was injail without evidence. Now wewill celebrate the court’s ordernationwide,” he said. “We aregoing to challenge the HighCourt’s order in the SupremeCourt,” Gulzar Azmi, Secretaryof Legal Aid department of theJamiat Ulama-e-Maharashtra,said. Jamiat had on behalf of vic-tims of blast intervened andopposed bail applications Sadhviand Col Prohit.

Regarding Col Purohit, thena military Intelligence official,the Bench said, after holding that

the charges against him were“serious and grave one, invitingeven punishment of death or lifeimprisonment” and that it didnot find him entitled for bail.

“… in our considered opin-ion, if both the reports of ATSand National InvestigationAgency (NIA) are consideredconjointly, so far as the appellantis concerned, it cannot be saidthere are reasonable grounds forbelieving that accusation madeagainst her are prima facie true.Once it is held so, then the ben-efit of bail cannot be withheld tothe Appellant, even if theoffences alleged against her byATS are grave and serious one,”a HC Bench noted, while grant-ing bail to Sadhvi.

The HC Bench also tookcognisance of the fact thatSadhvi was suffering from breastcancer and that she had becomeinfirm and could not even walkwithout support. The court,however, noted that an

Ayurvedic hospital, in which shewas being treated, could notproperly treat her cancer.

Sadhvi and Lt Col Purohitwere two of the 11 peoplecharge-sheeted by the ATS onJanuary 20, 2009 in connectionwith 2008 Malegaon blasts.

It may be recalled that animprovised explosive kept underthe seat of a LML Freedommotor-bicycle had explodedbetween Bhikku Chowk andAnjuman Chowk, near NooraniMasjid on the night ofSeptember 29, 2008, leaving sixpeople dead and injuring 101others. The judges said after tak-ing “totality of the facts and cir-cumstances of the case”, theywere of the considered opinionthat Sadhvi had made out a casefor bail under sub-section (5) ofsection 43D of the UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Act,1967, and ordered that she bereleased on bail on her furnish-ing bail bond of Rs 5 lakh with

one or two sureties of likeamount. Also, the High Courtasked her to deposit her pass-port, if she held one; report tothe NIA if and when required;that she would not tamper evi-dence or prosecution witnessesand that she would remain pre-sent during hearings of the casebefore the Special court.

After Sadhvi’s arrest in theMalegaon blasts case on October23, 2008, the Maharashtra’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) -- whichhad investigated the case initially-- had charged her with havingprovided motorcycle toabsconding one of the accusedRamji. The motorcycle was usedfor planting bombs and causingbomb blast. The ATS had alsocharged her with having partic-ipated in meetings held inBhopal where the conspiracy tostrike terror by exploding bombin Malegaon was hatched.

In observations that putthings in perspective vis-a-vis

the ATS’ first charge againstSadhvi, the judges observed,“The statements of four prose-cution witnesses do show thatthe appellant was not in pos-session of the said motorcyclesince much prior to the incident.The trial Court in this regardobserved that the motorcyclewas being used by accusedRamji much prior to the date ofincident is the defence of theappellant which can be provedduring trial. However, we findthat this is not the defence of theappellant but these facts areborne out from the material col-lected by the ATS itself.”

Alluding to the ATS’ secondcharge against Sadhvi, the judgesobserved, “Though there issome material on record that theappellant was present at theBhopal meeting, this material,however, shows that apart fromthe appellant several other per-sons were also present at the saidmeeting. In our view, the same

cannot be considered as cir-cumstance against the appellantalone, excluding the other par-ticipants, especially, now in theabsence of any objectionable andincriminating material attrib-uted to her.”

The grant of bail to Sadhvicomes three months after theNIA told the High Court that ithad no objection if Sadhvi isgranted bail in the 2008Malegaon blasts case.

In a submission made onJanuary 19, 2017 before a HCdivision Bench of Justices RVMore and Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi hearing Sadhvi’s petitionchallenging the trial court’sorder rejecting her bail,Additional Solicitor GeneralAnil Singh, appearing for theNIA, had said the agency hadalready held that the provisionsof stringent MaharashtraControl of Organised Crime Act(MCOCA) were not applicablein the case.

The special court had ear-lier on June 28, 2016 rejectedSadhvi’s bail, after observingthat there were “reasonablegrounds” to believe that thecharges against her were primafacie true. The rejection ofSadhvi’s bail plea had come sixweeks after the NIA dropped allcharges against her and five oth-ers.

In the second supplemen-tary charge-sheet filed before thespecial court on May 13, 2016,the NIA had dropped all chargesagainst six accused -- Sadhvi,Shiv Kalsangra, Shyam Sahu,Praveen Takkalki, LokeshSharma, Dhan Choudhury-onthe ground that it had “notfound” sufficient evidencesagainst them during its investi-gations.

The NIA had also droppedcharges invoked under MCOCAagainst all other accused in thecase, including Lt Col PrasadPurohit.

Cancer patient Pragya gets bail as blast charges ‘not watertight’

From Page 1which wil l identi fy

encroached land in the nexttwo months so that a processcan be initiated to free it fromencroachers.

“The Task Force willwork at four levels — state,divisional, district and tehsil— and identify governmentland encroached in previousyears. This force will also ini-tiate process to free privateland from encroachers as andwhen the police gets a com-plaint ,” Sharma toldreporters.

It was BJP’s commitmentto free government land from

encroachers after the JawaharBagh incident came to light inMathura where over 300acres of land was encroachedupon by illegal squatters.“Our Sankalp Patra promisedsetting up of a task force andwe have fulfilled it,” he said.

“The Cabinet has giventwo months to identify gov-ernment land which has beenencroached as generally noone lodges complaint aboutencroachment of governmentland. In case of private land,people can lodge a complaintwith the police. After properverification, action would betaken against encroachers,”

Sharma said and added thatthe police had also beenasked to prepare a list ofland grabbers who worked inconnivance with officials.

The general public canalso lodge their complaintonline at ‘jansunvai.up.nic.in’.

Interestingly, the govern-ment does not have details ashow much of its land hasbeen encroached. “The twomonths’ window has beengiven for this purpose only toknow exactly as how muchland has been encroached.Police would act after wehave complete facts and fig-ures in our hand. The task

force will also identify offi-cials who helped people toencroach the land,” Sharmasaid but refused to divulgewhether the government hasset a time frame to free allgovernment land from illegalsquatters.

The task force at the statelevel will be headed by ChiefSecretary, at the divisionallevel by the Commissioner, atthe district level by the DMand at the tehsil level by theSDM.

The Cabinet also decidedthat no one would be allowedto encroach any land on thename of religion. “No one,

belonging to any religion,will be allowed to encroachgovernment or private land inthe name of temple, masjid ormazar,” Sharma said.

Pr incipal Secretar y,Revenue, Arvind Kumar saidthat Supreme Court in itsorder in 2009 had asked thegovernment not to allowencroachment of land in thename of religious places.

“In 2010, a detailed gov-ernment order was issued bythe Home department. TheCabinet has reiterated thatthe Supreme Court order beimplemented in letter and inspirit,” he said.

Govt staff need to work for 15 more days...

From Page 1What has surprised multiple securi-

ty officials whom PTI talked to, is the factthat the Maoists are understood to haveused few under-barrel grenade launchers(UBGL), a smart and sophisticatedweapon used by security forces, to inflictfatal casualties on the troops by lobbinggrenades in quick succession.

“It is very likely that these UBGLswere looted from security forces only. Thatcould be as recent as the incident where12 CRPF men were killed in Sukma onMarch 11,” a senior officer said.

He that while no ImprovisedExplosive Device (IEDs) was used in theambush, the favourite weapon for inflict-ing damage on security forces, whatclaimed the lives in the biggest Naxal

ambush of the country in the last threeyears was heavy usage of gun fire andgrenades.

Officials said as the troops of the 74thbattalion of the CRPF that came underattack, and few other similar contingentshave been going out on the same track forsome time and hence there was a possi-bility that their “presence was beingtracked, marked and trailed” by Maoistcadres.

“Our men have told us that the vil-lagers were making movements close tothem. Villagers were also taken as shieldsby Naxals and that restricted our fire forsome time,” the officer said.

At present the troops were securing aculvert that is being constructed on theroad and it would have taken about four-

five months more to complete this task,the officer said.

The area where the deadly blood bathtook place is considered the stronghold ofsouth Bastar Divisional Committee of theNaxals headed by Maoist commanderRaghu and is under the Jagargunda AreaCommittee led by another red ultra PapaRao.

Officials said, “It is beyond doubt” thatthe assault will have been led by the 1stbattalion of the Naxal People’s LiberationGuerrilla Army (PLGA) led by Naxal com-mander Hidma who is said to be active inthe area at present in view of the TacticalCouter Offencive Campaign (TCOC)undertaken by Naxals during summermonths to assert their influence in thearea.

Lunch break during clean-up...

From Page 1The FIR further stated that on theinstruction of the SC, a teamheaded by ML Sharma, ex-SpecialDirector, CBI was constituted toprobe visitors’ diary at Sinha’sofficial residence enquire into thematter. The probe showed thatseveral accused of the coal blockallocation scam case were regularvisitors to his houses. After this, aspecial investigative team (SIT)headed by CBI was set up to lookinto Sharma’s findings and otherrelated documents. The agencyhad registered three preliminaryenquiries against unknown publicservants, inter alia, of theoffenses relating to the allocationof coal blocks for the period from1993 to 2005 and 2006 to 2009.54 regular cases have also beenregistered against public servantsand private persons. The allegedirregularities in the coal scam,came to the light when a visitors’diary revealed that Sinha had“privately” met some of the high-profile accused at his officialresidence several times.

CBI books ex-chief...

From Page 1Chhattisgarh Governor Balramji DasTandon, Chief Minister RamanSingh, Union Minister of State forHome Hansraj Ahir and senior stateand paramilitary officials werepresent on the occasion.He later attended a meeting with theChief Minister and senior officers.Meanwhile, anger boiled in entireChhattisgarh a day after brutalkillings over CRPF jawans aspolitical parties, social organisationsand intellectuals called for ‘adecisive war’ against Maoists andsuggested the Central Governmentto finish off Maoists forever as they‘crossed all limits’. Various socialoutfits took out a candle-lightmarch in Raipur to expresssolidarity with the families ofmartyred jawans. The nearly 100-strong CRPF patrol providingsecurity for road construction workin Sukma came under fierce gunfirefrom Maoist guerrillas occupyingvantage positions. The Naxalitesmounted the assault on the CRPFmen in the Kalapathar area of southBastar, which has been in the gripof Left-wing extremism.

RAJNATH VOWS...

OMER FAROOQ n HYDERABAD

Even as the ChattisgarhGovernment and the secu-

rity forces in the State were try-ing to recover from the shockof Maoist’s attack in Sukmaleaving 25 personnel of theCentral Reserve Police Forcedead, police in Andhra Pradeshhas gone on a high alert onState’s borders with Odisha.

The police and theGreyhound Forces havelaunched combing operationsin the forest areas and were alsosearching all the vehicles mov-ing from Visakhatapatanamtowards Odisha border.

Elected representativeshave also been warned againstentering the remote areas ortravelling without prior infor-mation to the police. Patrollingwas also intensified in the inte-rior areas like Sileru andDokarai in Visakhapatanamdistrict.

The State Director Generalof Police K Sambasvia Raoduring a recent visit to

Visakhapatanam had said thatthere was a warning of possi-ble attack by the Maoists.Within three days’ of his state-ment, the CPI Maoist carriedout a massive and well orga-nized guerilla attack on theCRPF jawans.

The intelligence agencieshave warned that after therecent encounter at Ramagudaon AP-Odisha border killing alarge number of Maoist leadersand cadres, there was a possi-bility of a revenge attack by theleft wing extremists. Reports

had indicated that following theencounter many leaders andcadres of Maoists had gatheredand regrouped in Chattisgarh.

In view of the warningsand the increasing activities ofthe Maoists, the authoritieshad stopped the road layingworks in the remote areas toavoid any loss of life or prop-erty. Intelligence agencies in APestimate that 350 to 400Maoists might have participat-ed in Tuesday’s attack on CRPFmen and they were likely tocross in to Andhra region.


Hyderabad police were onthe lookout for an Army

Major after his wife diedunder suspicious circum-stances at her home inBollarum military area.

The news of death ofSandhya Singh, an RJ with alocal FM radio station, cameto light when her relativesfrom Ghaziabad in UttarPradesh approachedHyderabad police expressingsuspicion that the womanwas murdered.

Though Sandhya Singhdied a week ago neither herhusband nor anyone inBollarum military area inHyderabad had lodged acomplaint with the police andperformed her last rites. Nowthe Bollarum police haveapproached the Defenceauthorities seeking permis-sion to conduct an enquiryand also question her hus-

band Major Vishal Vaibhav.However the Defence author-ities have expressed theirinability to do so on theground that Major Vaibhavwas unwell and was under-going treatment at a militaryhospital for heart ailment.

Sandhya who was work-ing as RJ with RadioCharminar, a local FM stationhad last attended her duty aweek ago. Earlier on April 16she had hosted a Sufi night inBanjara Hills area and onMonday came to office for ashortwhile.

Her col league AbdulSamad said that she appeareddepressed on that day. Earlier,she had told her female col-leagues that she was fed upwith her life. The Radio staffalso came to know about hersuspicious death only afterher sister lodged a complainwith the police. Till then allefforts by the radio staff tocontact her had failed.


An Indian driver, workingin Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

died under suspicious cir-cumstances due to seriousburn injuries and his familyback in Hyderabad has allegedthat he was burnt to death byher Saudi employers.

The new of the death of 26-year-old MohammedAbdul Samad resident ofZehra Nagar in Banjara Hillsarea of Hyderabad came as abig shock to the family as theywere under the impressionthat he was undergoing treat-ment in a Riyadh hospital andrecovering.

The fact that he had suc-cumbed to his injuries onApril 18 reached the family onTuesday when a city basedpolitical activist received amessage from the Indian

embassy officials in Riyadhand he in turn informed thefamily.

Amjadullah Khan Khalid,a former corporator of MajlisBachao Tehreek and VijayaReddy, a corporator of rulingTelangana Rashtra Samiti vis-ited the house of the deceasedand met his mother AsgariBegum and brother MohdAbdul Qayum.

According to the familyAbdul Samad had gone toSaudi Arabia on November19, 2015 to work as a driverwith a family but for the lastfew months he was com-plaining of torture by herwoman employer and otherfamily member.

“He last spoke to us onMarch 28 and told us that hewas not paid salary for the lastsix month. The on March 31,we were informed by the

employer that he was admit-ted to King Abdul AzizHospital with 75 per centburns,” said Abdul Qayum.

Since then the family wasfrantically trying to contactAbdul Samad and the employ-er to find out his condition.

Meanwhile, AmjadullahKhan took up the issue withthe External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj, State Ministerfor NRI affairs K Taraka RamaRao and the IndianAmbassador to Saudi ArabiaAhmed Javed.

When the officials fromIndian Embassy visited thehospital on Monday, theycame to know that AbdulSamad had died on April 18itself but the Saudi authoritiesas well as the employer hadkept the Indian Embassy indark.

According to the Indian

Embassy officials in SaudiArabia Abdul Samad sufferedburn injuries after he had analtercation with a male mem-ber of the employer’s family.

The shocked family ofAbdul Samad has appealed tothe External Affairs Ministerto order a thorough probe intothe circumstances that led tohis death and help in bringingthe body back to Hyderabad.

The horrifying incidenthas come to light close on theheels of another shockingreport of a Hyderabadiwoman Salma Begum beingsold to a Saudi Kafeel for `3lakh and was facing a lot ofharassment and torture at thehands of the Kafeel. The mat-ter came to light when SalmaBegum sent a recorded audiomessage to her daughterSameena pleading to be res-cued.

AP Police on high alert

after Sukma carnage

Combing operation on in forest bordering AP and Odisha

Cops seek Def nodto grill Army Major

Hyderabad man burnt to death in Saudi

RAJESH KUMAR n NEW DELHI

The Delhi Metro network isset to see significant expan-

sion as the Public InvestmentBoard (PIB) of the Ministry ofFinance has approved two lineextension projects worth`1,090 crore. This will enablethe extension of the metro linefrom YMCA Chowk toBallabhgarh in Faridabad and Najafgarh to DhansaBorder in Delhi.

The metro line fromYMCA to Ballabhgarh isexpected to be completed earlynext year while work on theNajafgarh to Dhansa Bordermetro line is yet to start. TheCentre could not make thedecision public due to theModel Code of Conduct thatwas in force in Delhi.

Top sources said that afterPIB approval, the proposalswould be brought before theUnion Cabinet for approval.

The extension project fromYMCA to Ballabhgarh, VioletLine, which would cost `580 crore, is set to be com-pleted by 2018.

The foundation stone ofthe metro extension projectfrom Badarpur to YMCAChowk was laid by thenHaryana Chief MinisterBhupinder Singh Hooda on

June 22, 2015 with the aim ofimproving connectivitybetween Faridabad and Delhi.

This line will have two sta-tions, one at Ballabhgarh itselfand another at National Councilfor Cement and BuildingMaterial colony. The total lengthof the YMCA Chowk-Ballabhgarh line is 3.2 kms. Ofthe `580 crore required for theproject, the Centre would

provide ̀ 95 crore. The HaryanaGovernment has already allo-cated its share of the funds forthe project. After completion ofthis stretch, the Violet Line willextend from Kashmere Gate toBallabhgarh as the KashmereGate stretch is expected to befunctional by May-end.

The second projectapproved by PIB for the exten-

sion of the metro line fromNajafgarh to Dhansa Border,that would be underground,would cost `510 crore and itstotal length would be 1.2 kms.

The Government will takean `300 crore loan from JapanInternational CooperationAgency (JICA) as the Centreand the Delhi Governmentwill contribute 35.65 per centof the project cost while the restof the funding will be provid-ed by JICA.

This corridor will provideeasy access to the commutersresiding in Najafgarh, Mitraon,Jharoda Kalan, Kair, DichaonKalan, Dindarpur Extn, BabaHaridas Nagar, Chhawla,Roshanpura, Shyam Vihar,Dharmpura, Sai Baba Enclave,Nangli Sakravati, Arjun Park,Roshan Garden, Shiva Enclave,Todarmal Colony, Prem Nagar,New Hira Park, Ajay Park,Nathu Ram Park, Gemini Park,Shiva Enclave and RaghubirNagar etc.

Extension of Delhi Metro line from YMCA Chowk to Ballabhgarh in Faridabad andNajafgarh to Dhansa Border in Delhi gets approval of Public Investment Board

Kashmere Gate to Ballabhgarh in one go!

PNS n NEW DELHI

In order to realise her dreamof becoming a model, a 19-

year-old girl, along with hertwo friends stole cash andjewellery worth `7.5 lakhfrom her own house inNorth-East Delhi's HarshVihar area. Police said thatthe incident took place onApril 16 and the theft wasdiscovered when a familymember found that valuableswere missing from the almi-rah.

"Since the door of theroom was found tampered,we suspected the role of aninsider. We began question-ing close relatives and friendsof the family and were keep-ing tabs on their movements.

“On getting a tip-off thatone boy, Vikas, used to fre-quent the house of the com-plainant regularly, we mount-ed surveillance on him andeventually apprehended him,"said a senior police officer.

“Vikas, a class XII stu-dent, was interogated and hetold the police that the girl,also a class XII student askedhim to help her in commit-ting the theft as she needed toarrange `6 lakh to realise hermodeling dreams,” said DCP(North-East) AK Singla. Asher parents were not sup-portive of her dream sheplanned the theft with Vikasand another friend Akshay, alaw student. Vikas confessedthat the trio committed thetheft after the girl gave hermother a glass of milk, lacedwith sedatives. Later, sheopened the locker with ascrewdriver and stole `3.08lakh and jewellery compris-ing gold bangles, earringsand nose pins. Anothersenior police officer said,"Her father and brother weresleeping on a separate floor,so she didn't give them anysleeping pills." She handedover the booty to Vikas andAkshay after that. A case wasregistered the next day whenthe theft was discovered.Vikas, who was apprehendedon Tuesday night from hishouse in Karawal Nagar toldthe police that the theft hadbeen planned by the girl sinceher parents were not sup-portive of her modeling aspi-rations and would not giveher the money she needed fora professional photo shoot.Police are also likely to ques-tion the girl's friend whohad told her to arrange `6lakh for a photo shoot. Thestolen money and valuableshave been recovered.

19-yr-old

robs parents

to pay for

photo shoot

Family members and relatives mourn the death of CRPF jawan Saurabh Kumar atDanapur Cantt in Danapur on Tuesday. Kumar was one of the 25 CRPF personnelkilled in Monday's naxal attack in Chattisgarh's Sukma district PTI


KUMAR CHELLAPPAN nCHENNAI

The call for Tamil Nadubandh given by the pro-

posed Rainbow Alliance to beled by the DMK evoked mixedreaction on Tuesday with mostshops and business establish-ments in the State downing theshutters.

Though there were nountoward incidents anywherein Tamil Nadu, MK Stalin, theworking president of the DMK,claimed that the bandh wastotal and a ‘big success’. Stalinand some of his senior col-leagues were detained by thepolice at Thiruvarur wherethey staged a demonstrationviolating the prohibitoryorders.

Elsewhere in the State, nor-mal life was affected to a cer-tain extent as taxis and cabskept off the roads. But train andbus services remained unaf-fected which reduced the inten-sity of the general strike.

The bandh was to expresssolidarity with the farmers in

the State who, according to theDMK leaders are facing severecrisis.

The DMK was joined by itstrusted allies like the Congress,the Islamist and Dalit outfits.Parties like the CPI(M), theCPI and the VCK which arestruggling for survival in theState too had expressed theirsolidarity with the DMK andthe farmers as a prelude to theirjoining the Rainbow Alliance.

But the farmers led byPonnuchami Ayyakkanu, whowere staging a demonstrationat New Delhi’s Jantar Mantarfor the last 40 days returned toChennai on Tuesday morning.Ayyakkannu claimed that theUnion Government had givenhim an assurance that theirdemands would be met soon.

“If the Government fails tokeep its promise, we will returnto New Delhi after May 25 andlaunch an agitation till we die,”Ayyakkannu told reporters atChennai.

Interestingly, the wrath ofthe DMK and the Left partieswere against the Narendra

Modi-led Government at theCentre. They blamed theUnion Government for thecrisis faced by the farmers.

Stalin made use of theopportunity to whip-up anti-

Hindi feelings against theUnion Government. “Even asthe farmers are committingsuicides in Tamil Nadu, theCentre is busy enforcing andimposing Hindi all over the

country much is against the willof the people. We would likethe Government to rememberwhat happened in the 1960swhen it tried to impose Hindion non-Hindi speaking States,”said Stalin.

Meanwhile, former ChiefMinister O Panneerselvam saidon Tuesday that talks for themerger of the two factions ofthe AIADMK have made someprogress. Sources in the OPSfaction said that the directivefrom the Centre was to keepthe Sasikala family away fromthe party as well as theGovernment.

Meanwhile, the DelhiPolice has tightened the noosearound TTV Dinakaran, theAIADMK deputy general sec-retary and nephew of Sasikalain connection with the caseregistered against conmanSukesh Chandrasekhar forattempting to bribe the ElectionCommission officials for get-ting the ‘Two Leaves’ symbolwhich has been frozen by theEC following dispute betweenthe two factions of the party.


Aday after the ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar

Rao met the Prime MinisterNarendra Modi seekingCenter’s nod to 12 per centquota for backward Muslims,the main Opposition Congressdemanded to know the detailsof the discussions between thetwo leaders.

Mohammed Ali Shabbir,Leader of the Opposition,urged the Chief Minister tocome out with the details ofPrime Minister Modi’sresponse to his request onMuslim quota.

“I want to know from theChief Minister the basis of hisassertion that 12 per cent quotafor the backward Muslims waspossible,” he said. He pointedout that in Prime Minister’sown State Gujarat, the HighCourt had struck down the 10per cent quota for the Patelcommunity.

Mohammed Ali Shabbirwas reacting to the reportsfrom New Delhi about thehour-long meeting betweenKCR and the Prime Ministeron Monday.

The reports quotingsources said that KCR urgedthe Prime Minister to accord anearly approval to the TelanganaState Reservation Act 2017which increased the reservationfor the backward Muslims from4 to 12 per cent and for theScheduled Tribes from 8 to 10per cent. The Bill was passed

recently by a special session ofthe State legislature.

According to the report,KCR also demanded that Statesshould get the powers to decidethe reservation quota for vari-ous sections keeping in viewthe social composition whichvary from State to State.

Chief Minister explained tothe Prime Minister reasonsbehind the decision to increasethe quota for the backwardMuslims. “This is not on thebasis of religion but on the basisof economic and educationalbackwardness of Muslims,”sources quoted KCR tellingthe Prime Minister.

However, nothing wasknown about the response ofPrime Minister to his demand.The meeting assumes signifi-cance in view of the fact thatthe BJP was vociferous inopposing the quota for theMuslims. Telangana BJP lead-ership has already launched amovement against the legisla-tion and was demanding scrap-ping the quota for Muslimsaltogether.

Sources said that the ideaof simultaneous polls for theLok Sabha and all the StateAssembly also came up dur-ing the discussion. KCR sup-ported the idea of the PrimeMinister Modi and said thatTelangana was ready to acceptit. But it was unlikely tomake any major difference asthe State had simultaneouspolls in 2014 and will havethe next polls in 2019 simul-taneously.

NAYAN DAVE n GANDHINAGAR

Political heat would soarfurther in the poll-bound

Gujarat on its 58thFoundation Day to be cele-brated on May 1 as on onehand Gujarat Chief MinisterVijay Rupani will be busywith the State-level functionat Ahmedabad and on theother hand All IndiaCongress Committee (AICC)vice-president will address ahuge rally in tribal dominat-ed Dediya-pada in South Gujarat.

Former Gujarat ChiefMinister Narendra Modi hadset a new trend to hold State-level functions on RepublicDay, Gujarat Day andIndependence Day at differ-ent districts rather thanholding it at the State capitalGandhinagar since 2005.Going with the new tradition,Rupani Government has keptthis year’s Gujarat Day cele-brations at Ahmedabad.

On the day, Gujarat CMwould dedicate projectsworth `101 crore to the peo-ple of Ahmedabad district ina series of functions. He andhis Cabinet colleagues wouldnot only project hisGovernment’s achievementsbut a lso Centra lGovernment’s feat during thelast three years.

Since 2017 is the electionyear in the State, politicalremarks from BJP leadersand Ministers are expectedduring the functions onGujarat Day, especially whenthe top leader of the rivalparty will also be camping inthe State on the same day.There would be a tug-of-warbetween the two major par-ties to draw attention of thepeople in order to win max-imum seats in the upcomingAssembly polls.

Strategical ly, R ahulGandhi’s visit has been kept

on the Gujarat Day in thetribal dominated area whenthe entire State Governmentmachinery would be busy inAhmedabad to make the statelevel function successful.

“Gujarat PradeshCongress Committee had ini-tiated a month-long drive toeducate tribals on their rights.To mark the conclusion ofthis campaign, Rahul Gandhiwill address a mega rally atDedi- apada in NarmadaDistrict,” said Manish Doshi,spokesman of GujaratCongress.

Interestingly, Gujarat BJPtoo had organised a 15-daylong ‘Trial DevelopmentMarch’ under the leadershipof the State BJP president JituVaghani. Besides, PM toomade it a point to address ahuge rally in tribal dominat-ed Tapi district on April 17during his visit to his homeState.

Tribal belt of Gujaratright from Sabarkantha inNorth Gujarat up toMaharashtra border in SouthGujarat including parts ofCentral Gujarat is politicallyimportant as it comprisesnearly 15 per cent of theState’s population and wouldimpact more than 50Constituencies.

VR JAYARAJ n KOCHI

Kerala’s Marxist ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan

on Tuesday gave strong indi-cations that his party colleagueand Power Minister MM Mani,presently in the eye of a polit-ical storm over his allegedobscene remarks against thewoman tea estate workers ofMunnar, is unlikely to resign orto be expelled from theCPI(M)-led LDF Cabinet evenas the Marxist party reported-ly came to the conclusion thatdisciplinary action wasrequired against him.

Mani came under intensecriticism at a meeting of theCPI(M)’s State secretariat, inwhich he is a member, lateTuesday evening. The Ministertold newsmen after the meet-ing that he would abide by anydecision the party took againsthim. Sources said several lead-ers including State secretaryKodiyeri Balakrishnan camedown heavily on Mani for his

dirty remarks.A final decision on the

organizational action to betaken against Mani could betaken at the meeting of theCPI(M)’s State committee onWednesday while sources saidthe action against him wasunlikely to be stringent.However, the Opposition andthose protesting against Mani’sremarks said organizationalaction was not sufficient in thematter.

Earlier in the day, the ChiefMinister effectively declaredtotal support for Mani in theState Assembly amidst nosyprotests from the Opposition.He said Mani committed nowrong and the media wasresponsible for the controver-sy. Mani himself claimed in theAssembly that he had notinsulted any woman throughhis controversial speech theother day.

“Mani is a village personand his rustic style would nat-urally come up in his speech-es. What is happening here isan effort to make politicalmileage by exaggerating some-thing like that,” Pinarayi saidwhile replying to the

Opposition’s notice for anadjournment motion over theissue of the alleged dirtyremarks Mani had madeagainst Munnar’s woman work-ers.

The Congress-ledOpposition UDF said that itwould intensify its protestsinside the Assembly as well asoutside till Mani resigned orwas expelled from the Cabinet.“He is a disgrace to culturalKerala,” said Opposition leaderRamesh Chennithala. TheUDF will hold protest demon-strations in all the 140Assembly constituencies in theState on Wednesday.

Some dirty remarks made

by Mani in a recent speechabout the legendary agitationheld in Munnar in 2015 byPenpilai Orumai (Women’sUnity), a forum of woman teaworkers, demanding higherwages and bonus had trig-gered State-wide protests. Theforum’s leaders started anindefinite stir in Munnarimmediately demanding hisresignation and apology.

After the statements ofPinarayi and Mani in theAssembly on Tuesday, theOrumai intensified its agitationwith two of its leaders, GomathyAugustine and Kausalya, start-ing an indefinite protest fast. “Ifit is rustic style, will he speak inthe same style about his chil-dren? Will he speak in that styleabout CPI(M) families?” askedGomathy.

While criticizing someaspects of the recent anti-encroachment drive ofRevenue Department officialsin Munnar in his controversialspeech, Mani said, “Manythings had happened duringthe Penpilai Orumai (struggle).Boozing and other dirty thingshad taken place there. The‘programme’ was in the near-

by forest. We know all that.”Functionaries of several

political parties including UDFconstituents, BJP and AAPreached Munnar on Tuesday todeclare solidarity with theprotesting Penpilai Orumaimembers. AAP leader andenvironmentalist CRNeelakantan started an indef-inite fast in Munnar in supportof the Orumai workers.

Mani claimed in theAssembly that he had notinsulted anyone. “I had notmentioned the name of anywoman. Even the word womanwas not used in my speech…I am an ordinary person, bornand brought up amidst planta-tion workers. I can’t speak thelanguage of professors andscholars,” he said.

The Opposition members,who had arrived in theAssembly with placards andbanners featuring slogansagainst Mani, created pande-monium by shouting slogansagainst him and the LDFGovernment and encirclingthe Speaker’s podium forcinghim to first adjourn the Housefor 45 minutes and then for theday in the morning itself.

KHURSHEED WANI n SRINAGAR

Aday after Jammu &Kashmir Chief Minister

Mehbooba Mufti held separatemeetings with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and HomeMinister Rajnath Singh in NewDelhi, the counter-insurgencygrid in the embattled Statewas on Tuesday geared up totake effective measures to curbyouth unrest in Kashmir valleyand incidents of communalhatred in Jammu.

Mufti chaired a crucialmeeting of Unified CommandHeadquarters (UHQ) here toreview the emerging securitysituation in the State. In themeeting, the Chief Ministerasked the security forces to acthumanely while dealing withthe law and order situationsand make strides to engagewith the embittered young-sters. She asked the Army andParamilitary Forces to work inclose coordination with localpolice.

“The collateral damagesshould be prevented at any costduring encounters or law and

order situations. The SpecialOperating Procedures shouldbe followed strictly while han-dling the situations,” Mehboobatold the meeting.

Topmost State and provin-cial level officers of the Army,security and intelligence agen-cies and the civil administra-tion took part in the meeting.

Established in early 1990’s,the Chief Minister-led UHQ isthe highest body to take syn-ergised anti-insurgency initia-tives in the region.

Sources said the top secu-rity officers including the com-mander of Srinagar-based XVCorps, who is also ChiefMinister’s security advisor, wereof the view that stone peltinghas emerged as a ‘greater chal-lenge’ in the emerging situationin Kashmir.

Sources said thatMehbooba asked the securityforces to avoid counterinsur-gency operations where appre-hensions of collateral damagewere higher. This was said inthe backdrop of DarbughChadoora encounter wherethree protesters were killed

while they were allegedlyattempting to help a holed upmilitant to escape.

In reference to recent inci-dents of communal hatred inJammu region, Mehbooba saidculprits should be brought tojustice if found involved inharassing a community or sec-tion of society in the name ofa social cause.

An official spokesman saidthat Chief Minister directed thesecurity agencies to exerciserestraint while dealing with‘provocative situations’.

“The youth unfortunatelycaught in the cycle of misin-formation and violence areour own who ought to be wonover with a healing touch,” shetold the meeting asking thesecurity agencies to prioritise‘youth engagement’ rather thanviewing it as a routine law andorder issue.

She said the parents ofyouth must be taken into con-fidence as and when there issome complaint about anyyouth and in no way should thefamily be held accountable forthe deeds of the said youth.

Mixed response to TN bandh

Tamil Nadu farmers raise slogans against the Centre to waive the farmers loanduring a protest, the day long bandh call given by Opposition parties in Chennaion Tuesday PTI

Cong demands toknow PM's replyto KCR on quota

Political heat to

soar on Gujarat

Foundation Day

With Rupani todedicate projectsworth `101 crore

in a series offunctions andRahul’s visit to

tribal dominatedDediyapada, there

would be a tug-of-war betweenthe two parties todraw attention of

the people

Kerala’s ‘dirty-tongue’ Min unlikely to lose job

MM Mani

Mani may face

party-level action

Youth unrest in J&K: CM askssecurity forces to act humanely

Kashmiri Muslim devotees during an early morning prayer at the Hazratbal Shrine on the outskirts of Srinagar. Tuesday markthe Mehraj-u-Alam, the ascension of Prophet Mohammad to heaven AP

PNS n PANAJI

President Pranab Mukherjeeon Tuesday said that glob-

al changes are both complexand unpredictable and Indiahas to galvanise its demo-graphic strength to capitaliseon opportunities in the glob-alised market.

Mukherjee, who was pre-siding over the Goa University’s29th annual convocation cere-mony, was also conferred anhonorary doctorate in literatureby the University.

“India is presently at avery challenging phase of itssocio-economic transition. Weare in the midst of globalchanges that are both complexand unpredictable. Indianexpertise and talent has muchdemand worldwide. Theprospects in a liberal econom-ic environment are immense.Yet, to take advantage of theunfolding opportunities in aglobalised market, we have togalvanize our demographicstrength,” Mukherjee said.

In his speech Mukherjeealso underscored the impor-tance of education of women.

“It is important that youngwomen particularly thosebelonging to marginal sectionsgain increased access to theportals of colleges and univer-sities. Women’s empowermentthrough education will have apositive impact on our futuregeneration. It is rightly said thatif we educate a man, we educatean individual but if we educatea women, we educate an entirefamily,” Mukherjee said.

SAUGAR SENGUPTA n KOLKATA

Carrying to Bengal hisexperimental social engi-

neering — physically minglingwith the masses — that recent-ly swept hisparty to power inUttar Pradesh, BJP nationalpresident Amit Shah onTuesday said the saffron outfitwill win largest number ofseats from the State in 2019general polls and finally uprootthe Mamata Banerjee Gover-nment in 2021.

Launching a scathingattack on the TrinamoolGovernment he said, “Peoplebrought Mamata Banerjee topower to get rid of the com-munist misrule but she perpe-trated a rule even worse thanthe one given by the LeftFront.”

The Trinamool Congresshad unleashed a reign of terror,violence and corruption high-lighted by syndicate and fakecurrency rackets, he said.

Shah said the TrinamoolCongress was trying to scareaway the BJP workers usingviolence but more they spreadthe muck of violence the big-ger the lotus will bloom,adding, the TrinamoolGovernment is not allowing theCentral Schemes to percolate tothe grassroots level in a bid tothwart the movement ofNarendra Modi’s chariot ofdevelopment.

“But more they try toimpede the developmentprocess the more the BJP willgain support from the people,”Shah said.

Earlier, in a symbolic moveShah began his day’s campaignby visiting the humble house-

holds at Dakshin Katiajote vil-lage in Naxalbari near Siliguri,the birth place of ultra Leftistmovement saying “Let peaceprevail in a land that saw vio-lent ultra-Leftist movementdecades ago.”

Sitting on the floor, he hadmeal at the house of one RajuMahali. The meal comprisedrice, moong dal, potol bhaja(parwal fry), squash curry withsalad and papad, all served onbanana leaf.

“He is one of our tallestleaders. Overwhelmed! Cannotimagine in my wildest dream ofhaving lunch with him. This ishis greatness which has movedthe people around. ThoughCPI(M) leaders sometime dolike this, Mamata Didi nevershared meals with us like that,”

a woman worker said adding,“ We will bet our lives to bringthe BJP to power in Bengal.”

Drawing a huge applausefrom the packed audience atIndoor Stadium in Siliguri theBJP president said.

“There is no industry inBengal as all have fled. The onlyone that thrives in this State isthe bomb-making industry.Bombs boom in State ofRabindra Sangeet,” he thun-dered asking the people toback the BJP as “You have test-ed, Congress, CPI(M) andTrinamool all of who havefailed and so it is time to bringthe BJP which is the largestparty in the world with 11 croremembers.”

He said 60 per cent of thevoters back the BJP and 70 percent of India was ruled by theparty.

“The reason behind this isthat in three years PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hastransformed the country to afastest growing economy bybringing about some revolu-tionary reforms -- the merg-ing of the railway budget withgeneral budget, the demoneti-sation to bring out blackmoney, bringing benami lawsto fight corruption are to namea few,” he said.

Shah, who will onWednesday carry forward hismeet the people programme byinteracting with the grassrootspeople at Chetla in SouthKolkata’s Bhawanipore con-stituency of Mamata Banerjee,called upon the people ofBengal to let the Lotus bloomin the State and help BJP tomake India the greatest nationof the world.

Shah appeals to people tolet lotus bloom in Bengal

Kolkata: The TrinamoolCongress on Tuesday reacted toBJP president Amit Shah's‘grand plans’ for Bengal saying“Let them first retain Delhi in2019 and then proceed toBengal because the people ofIndia will team up to end theviolent and intolerant rule of BJPin the next general elections."Chief Minister Mamata Banerjeewho was in Coochbehar pooh-poohed the BJP Government forplanning Aadhaar certificationfor cows.“They are planningAadhar cards for cows,tomorrow they will do the samefor goats, ducks, chickens andeven fishes before deciding whatyou shall eat and what you shallshun,” Mamata said. PNS

‘AFTER COW, AADHAARFOR GOAT, DUCK, FISH'

India has togalvanisedemographicstrength: Prez

As the convenor of anuninterrupted India-Pakistan track II con-ference since 2003,even as we were explor-

ing at Dubai, ways and means ofreviving the dialogue process, I gota rude shock when Pakistanannounced the death sentence toretired Indian naval officer,Kulbhushan Jadhav, alias HusainMubarak Patel with two passports.The owner of a media house attend-ing the conference called it a newlow in India-Pakistan relations.Lately, India seems to have lost themoral high ground on combatingterrorism by what some people arecalling as ‘Doval-isation’.

Seeking moral equivalencewith India, even moderate Pakistaniinterlocutors are regularly citinginstances of the slow trial ofSamjhauta Express blasts, collusionbetween Indian and Afghan secu-rity agencies for cross-border terror-ism in Pakistan and the Modi dec-larations of political and moral sup-port for Pakistan-occupied Kashmirand Balochistan. They quoteNational Security Advisor AjitDoval’s statement, albeit before hebecame a security czar that “if therewas another Mumbai, there wouldbe no Balochistan” with Pakistan.Former Defence Minister ManoharParrikar is also a celebrity for hiscomments like, “To catch a terror-ist, use a terrorist”; “going toPakistan is like going to hell”, andre-thinking India’s No First Usenuclear doctrine. This narrative hasallowed Pakistan to shift the focusfrom being the perpetrator of ter-rorism to a victim of terrorismemanating from India. Regrettably,all that India has really done is themodest surgical strikes whichPakistanis uniformly deny.

On the other hand, a memberof the Azad Jammu & Kashmir(AJK) Assembly attending the con-ference accused the Indian Army oftargeting a civilian bus and anambulance in the Neelam valleyafter Uri and Nagrota. I do hope weare causing sufficient pain andpolitical dividend to deserve theDoval-isation label.

A former General and InteriorMinister of Pakistan at Dubai, said:“India is perceived as a hegemon,arrogant and state-sponsor of ter-rorism, determined to destabiliseand isolate Pakistan as well as toblock the China Pakistan EconomicCorridor.” Though every allegationis countered, the moot point is: Hasit been strategically worth India’swhile doing what Pakistan is alleg-ing? Or are most of these, False Flagoperations? The blame game isunending, the trust gap widening,

even at civilised Track II meetingssuch as ours.

What went unnoticed duringthe Dubai dialogue was the quietdisappearance of a retired Pakistaniofficer, Lt Col Mohammad HabibZahir, along the India-Nepal bor-der, notorious as a trading point forspies, soothsayers and terrorists.Zahir was ostensibly involved in thecapture of Kulbhushan Jadhav in alandmark Inter-Services Intelligence(ISI) operation which has madePakistani charges of Indian espi-onage and terrorism stick domes-tically. Rawalpindi has been able tosell the canard that it was India andnot Pakistan which was the region-al villain in sponsoring terrorism.

The alleged abduction of Zahirin early April was a classic revengeoperation masterminded byResearch &Analysis Wing(R&AW). According to a PakistaniBrigadier, he was lured to Nepal viaOman, evidently for a UN job. Hismilitary colleagues are incensedwith his ‘greedy behaviour’ whichlanded him in the R&AW trap.Feeling vulnerable, retired IndianGenerals are now loath to travel toNepal or the Gulf region. Theanti-India sentiment in Pakistan,and among the establishment inparticular, is very high.

The visit of Bangladesh’s PrimeMinister Sheikh Hasina to New

Delhi around the same time as thedisappearance of Zahir and picturesof Prime Ministers Narendra Modiand Hasina sitting against the back-drop of the legendary 1971 surren-der ceremony at Dacca going viralin Pakistan, is another blow toIndian-Pakistan bilateral relations.

On Track II discourse, mattershave not got out of hand, which isthe case at Track 1. Despite India’svaliant attempts, Pakistan is not iso-lated. In fact, it has a new ally inRussia, besides the indelible andenduring strategic bonding withChina. Even US National SecurityAdvisor Lt Gen HR McMaster, inhis first meeting with PakistaniGenerals this month, deliveredonly the mildest of rebukes, coun-selling the use of diplomacy notproxies, and not being selective oncountering terrorism.

The constant problem is of thediarchy of Governments in Pakistan— Rawalpindi and Islamabad —which adversely impacts bilateralrelations. No way has been foundworking around the Pakistan mil-itary, though informal military-to-military dialogues have long triedto overcome this hurdle. It seemsneither the Generals in Pakistan northe Government in India are inter-ested in high level military contacts.

The most recently crafted two-strand Comprehensive Bilateral

Dialogue — NSA and ForeignSecretary — which is yet to breakthe ice, has the potential of blossom-ing into an outcome-yielding path.It has one snag though. On theIndian side, it has a policeman, nota soldier, as the NSA. I have neverunderstood why the Indian rulingpolitical class has not selected aGeneral or Admiral and insteadpersisted with a diplomat or anintelligence chief for the post. ThePakistan NSA, Lt Gen NasserJanjua, would bond better andfamously with, for example, LtGen HS Panag, a recently retiredKashmir Army Commander, orAdmiral Arun Prakash or anyother military officer. US PresidentDonald Trump has seven retiredGenerals and Admirals on hisNational Security Staff.

It is time Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, who is frequentlyinvoking the good work of theArmy, tried out a military man ashis NSA, even though a Chief ofDefence Staff is yet to be appoint-ed. The military has been system-atically enfeebled by the lack offinance, and against which fear andsuspicion has been engineered bythe bureaucracy. The military is stillportrayed as a threat. So much for nationalism!

The Dubai dialogue recog-nised that present conditions werenot conducive for reviving the dia-logue process that has been stalledwith the longest interruption of fourand a half years. Still, both sides feltthat core concerns of Kashmir andterrorism be addressed swiftly,especially when the situation in theSrinagar valley was slipping out ofcontrol. In absence of any politicalengagement and outreach withstakeholders and youth, the contin-uing over-dependence on the mil-itary is bound to be counter produc-tive. On Kashmir, the Four-pointMusharraf formula once refinedand rebranded, could constitute theframework of a solution. On terror-ism, finger-pointing has become thenew normal.

A Panamagate weakenedNawaz Sharif and on an all-timehigh, Modi will be together inKazakhstan in early June as fullmembers of the ShanghaiCooperation Organisation. A dealon a swap of Jadhav for Zahir couldbecome the ice breaker. Remember,Modi invited Sharif for his swear-ing in, dropped in at Lahore forSharif ’s grand daughter’s weddingand called him before his heartoperation in London. Will Modipull out a rabbit in Astana?

(The writer is a retired MajorGeneral of the Indian Army, and astrategic affairs expert)F

or a second year in a row, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) haspredicted a near normal monsoon this summer. This bodes well for the over-all growth of the economy as well as for agriculture, both of which have been

reeling under stress for the last couple of years. Agriculturally, the forecast mustbring cheer to the farming community and it must prepare itself for an enhancedagricultural outcome. That India is an agriculture-based economy, which is large-ly dependent on the monsoon, is known. It is, therefore, expected that the giftof the rain god will lead to better crop yield, which will result in a rise in ruraldemand and thereby alleviate farmers’ distress, who have off and on resortedto frequent strikes due to agrarian distress — many have committed suicide.The role of the monsoons on the overall growth and development of the econ-omy too cannot be more emphasised. A good monsoon will mean a boost towater reservoir levels, more hydropower and reduced wars over water-sharingand availability. However, despite the IMD's positive prediction, the monsoon isfraught with uncertainties. Two crucial phenomenon in this regard deserve men-

tion. First, is the El Niño factor, whichrefers to an unusual rise of sea sur-face temperatures in the PacificOcean, and which is also known tocurtail rainfall in this region, bound tocast its shadow? The effects of El Niñoare hard to predict now, but they willbe known later when the monsoon isin its final stage. The second is to dowith the La Niña phenomenon, whichis just the opposite of the El Niñoimpact, and is known to boost rain-fall. Expectations are high that the LaNiña factor may well counter the ElNiño phenomenon, both of which maytake some time, if not months. Lastyear, while the IMD predicted rains tobe above normal, which is 106 percent, the actual rainfall was 97 percent, as La Niña remained in a neu-

tral state. Welcome as this year’s developments may be, both phenomena arejust two of the many complex factors that determine actual rainfall. At the cruxof the matter, one may ask: Why be dependent on monsoons at all when theyhave largely been unpredictable every year?

This calls for a need to pull up our socks in the implementation of effectivewater management strategies to save whatever we have and will get. There's aneed to shore up our water storage systems such as ponds, tanks and reser-voirs, besides the dams. Side by side, we need to effectively use water — fordomestic, industrial and agricultural purposes. Equipping farmers with moderntechnologies, training them on the use of varieties of seeds, encouraging themto use less water-intensive crops and granting them financial aid can help themovercome the vagaries of the monsoon. Additionally, what we need is a sustain-able water usage policy that can help us maintain a balance between the demandand supply of water. We must change our age-old habits too.

The Monday massacre by Maoists of security personnel in the infamous Sukmadistrict of Chhattisgarh, should ideally disabuse the bleeding hearts of thenotion that the ultras are waging a just battle against the state's injustices.

But even this gruesome incident, in which more than two dozen jawans of theCentral Reserve Police Force (CRPF) lost their lives, will not serve that purpose.The Left-liberals, who are so gregarious in condemning one incident of strongdefensive action by security forces against stone-pelters of Kashmir, or one caseof errant conduct by a security person in the line of duty, will not condemn theMaoist killers. The maximum they will stretch their conscience to is to criticisethe action and say that violence cannot be a solution. These so-called activistshave been brought up since their younger learning days on a staple diet of ide-ological extremes, and that makes them speak of tolerance but look the otherway when the grossest forms of intolerance are committed by their own — includ-ing those who have become enemies of the state. In the recent Monday inci-dent, the CRPF jawans were on duty sanitising a stretch for the laying of a road— work for which was in progress. The Maoists have been crying themselveshoarse against the supposed indifference of Government authorities in provid-

ing basic necessities to the people, onwhose behalf the ultras are allegedlywaging their war. But the constructionof a road is a developmental activity.On occasions in the past, Maoists inChhattisgarh and elsewhere have tar-geted Government assets that weredirectly crucial to local self-governanceand effective law and order to bene-fit the common citizen. Thus, panchay-at building, police stations, schools etcwere vandalised. The Maoist ‘concern'for the lay people is also evident byother activities of sabotage the ultra-Leftists, such as blowing up of railwaytracks and causing accidents thatclaim the lives of hundreds of inno-cent people. The bare truth is that theMaoists do not want development tocome in their strongholds because

development brings growth and greater economic leverage to the poor. It makesthem understand the dubious plan of the Maoists to keep them backward andilliterate; and thus easy fodder for disruption. The Maoists' approach is not verydifferent from that of separatist elements in Kashmir valley. They too are deter-mined to not allow normalcy — because normalcy would lead people to put theirminds on development-oriented work.

Though the situations are different in both the cases, the underlying agen-da is the same: Undermining the authority of the state and its democratic sys-tem, and plotting to have the bullet dominate the ballot. The response of theGovernment cannot be too different — in essence at least. For far too long, bothState and Union Governments have been giving more carrot than the stick tothe anti-state elements in the hope that persuasion instead of coercion is theway forward. While it's true that persuasion is the desirable method, it cannotbe put to work repeatedly even after it has not just failed but also been exploit-ed by the potential beneficiaries to further their violent means. The strong armof the state must show up now, before it’s too late.

Make the Maoists pay

Brutality cannot be met by persuasion and doles

opinion 08LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 26, 2017

Pains of tackling bothterror and PakistanIndia seems to have lost the moral high ground on combating terrorism by what some people are callingas ‘Doval-isation'. Even moderate elements in Pakistan are seeking moral equivalence with India

Beyond monsoon forecast

We must set our strategies and priorities right

Better management

Sir — This refers to the article,“The city of Questions and FewAnswers” (April 22) by AshokMalik. The writer has rightlylamented about the multiplicity ofmunicipal corporations in thecapital city which overlap oneanother in functions and develop-ment. With 1,500sq km of area,Delhi has to elect seven MPs, 70MLAs for an Assembly and 272corporators for three corporations— in north, south and east.

Each Member of Parliamentgets five crore rupees MPLADfund for development and an MLAgets four crore rupees every year forthe same. A corporator, on the otherhand gets ̀ 25-60 lakh each, whichvaries according to the situation ofthe party. The results of thesefunds is not visible on the ground.

There is consequential overlap-ping, and other complexities ariseas a result. The writer has rightlycalled for the abolition of at least onesurplus body, which also includesthe cantonment board and NewDelhi municipal committee. Ifthese decisions are taken, they willcheck corruption, multiplicity andoverlapping. The idea needs to beseriously examined.

PN SaxenaVia email

Being wise

Sir — One must concede that theAll India Anna Dravida MunnetraKazhagam has proved to be morefaithful to its symbol than to itsgeneral secretary. Even die-hardcommunists have, at times, beenotherwise. If VK Sasikala engi-neered a split, the ElectionCommission of India (ECI), in onestroke, piloted the party to desper-ately explore unification.

Hopefully, now, both theparty and Tamil Nadu will ben-efit. The nation would be betterserved if the ECI were to keepparty symbols in the freezerwhenever there is a clash ofopinions between different fac-tions. And in this, none should bean exception — be it theCongress, the BJP, the TrinamoolCongress or any other party.

We would have then seen notonly sobering re-alignment in theleadership but also ideology with-in each of them. The SamajwadiParty must be ruing the day the ECI,instead of locking up the cycle fora while, decided to release it to oneof them. After all, UttarPradeshdeserved to benefit as much as per-haps Tamil Nadu may. The ECImust be wiser by now.

R Narayanan Ghaziabad

Welcome move

Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Pruning the VIP culture”(April 21). Kudos to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi for hisdecision to shake up India’sprivileged VIP culture, mostnotably symbolised by flashingred beacon lights on top ofvehicles. The UnionGovernment has indeed given asurprise by going a step ahead toput the ban on all dignitaries,which includes the PrimeMinister and the President.

The red beacon, or the laalbatti, had come to signify influ-ence and privilege. Motor vehi-cles carrying ‘high dignitaries’specif ied by the UnionGovernment and their counter-parts specified by the StateGovernments may be fitted withred lights, but the red lights withor without flasher can be usedonly when the specified highdignitary is on duty. It is alsotime that the Supreme Courtpasses an order to remove polit-ical flags, political leaders pho-tos from the cars.

Vinod C DixitAhmedabad

www.dailypioneer.com

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

ASHOK K MEHTA

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Am I not to ask

questions as to why

the police left inno-

cent people at the

mercy of these

goons in the

Saharanpur village?

BJP MP

—Raghav L Sharma

I'm ashamed to be a

citizen of a country that

doesn't take enough

care of its own vulnera-

ble people. I'm at a loss.

American actor

—Lena Headey

Younis Khan com-

pleting 10,000 Test

runs is a historic

moment for Pakistan

cricket. There can

be no better role

model than him.

Former cricketer

—Ramiz Raja

THE MILITARY HAS BEEN

SYSTEMATICALLYENFEEBLED BY THELACK OF FINANCE,

AND AGAINSTWHICH FEAR ANDSUSPICION HAS

BEEN ENGINEEREDBY THE

BUREAUCRACY. SOMUCH FOR

NATIONALISM!

SOUNDBITE

Intoxicated with power,

Mamata ruining Bengal

This refers to the editorial, “Trinamool’s violence” (April 24). When theMamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress succeeded in ousting thethree-decade anarchic, violence-prone communist rule in West Bengal,

there was a sigh of relief not only in the State but also elsewhere in India.But sadly, within a few years of coming to power, Banerjee started actingarbitrarily and irresponsibly. Perhaps she was intoxicated by the massivepopular support. She accused the Narendra Modi Government for someof her problems, a la Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

It was no secret that Banerjee had a pan-India leadership dream andwas keen to forge a grand alliance of opposition parties against the NDA.The appeasement of the minority community seemed a natural policy topursue; she also shut her eyes to violent activities of these anti-nationalelements to intimidate political opponents. It has to be seen how long willBengali voters put up with her wayward and dangerous ways.

M RatanVia email

Send your feedback to: [email protected]

BHAVNA SINGH

KALYANI SHANKAR

Can the two factions of theAll India Anna DravidaMunnetra Kazhagam

(AIADMK) re-unite and con-tinue to be relevant in TamilNadu? Almost 75 days after thesplit in the party, the AIADMKAmma (led by Chief MinisterEdappadi K Palaniswami) andthe AIADMK Puratchi ThalaiviAmma (led by former ChiefMinister O Panneerselvam)have set up committees formerger talks. Even if the merg-er takes place after hard nego-tiations, can the party survive tillthe next election?

The unity move came afterboth the groups realised thatunited they win and dividedthey sink. The EPS factionfound that the Sasikala clan wasbecoming a liability. Peoplewere fed up after the IncomeTax raided AIADMK MinisterVijaya Baskar’s house. To top itall, the Sasikala group wasbribing the voters for the RK

Nagar by-election, which hasnow been countermanded.

The future is uncertainbecause the Panneerselvam fac-tion asserted that the merger cantake place only after the EPS fac-tion dumps both the aunt and thenephew. Fearing that, Sasikala’snephew Dinakaran might stakeclaim for his chair, EPS is only tooglad to go along. Interestingly,neither Sasikala nor Dinakaranhad put up any resistance aboutthe ouster. Perhaps they treat thisas a strategic retreat rather thanpolitical oblivion.

Tamil Nadu is going througha political churning after thedeath of J Jayalalithaa inDecember last year. She is part-ly responsible for the present stateof affairs as she had neithergroomed nor named anyone asher successor. Her mentor, MGRamachandran too did the same,but Jayalalithaa, who claimed hislegacy, was a charismatic leader.

Even though the party split

after MGR’s death in 1987, andhis wife VN Janaki took over, theJayalalithaa faction emerged vic-torious, winning 27 seats in the1989 polls while Janaki won justtwo. Jayalalithaa had understoodthat to win the polls she neededto mobilise the anti-DravidaMunnetra Kazhagam (DMK)votes. Seeing the ground reality,Janaki left politics and Jayalalithaawas able to unite the two factions.

This year the party has splitagain. But the situation is differ-ent. For one thing, there is nocharismatic leader in theAIADMK in whose name theparty can win the next electionsand Panneerselvam is notJayalalithaa. Jayalalithaa’s com-panion Sasikala’s bid to takeover the party failed afterPanneerselvam revolted andthe court verdict sent her to jailfor four years.

Money is with Sasikala, whois in jail and her plan to rule theparty from the prison, through

Dinakaran has failed. Dinakaranallegedly attempted to bribe theElection Commission of Indiaofficials to secure the two leavessymbol of the AIADMK.

The unity move came as anopportunity as well as a dilem-ma for both the factions. Thoughthey may get Cabinet berths,there is apprehension that theymay be swamped by the EPSgroup. Also, the OPS factionwould like to have some clarityabout the ouster of the Sasikalaclan. After all, his revolt is againstSasikala. As for EPS, this was anopportunity to get out of theclutches of the Sasikala clan.

Second, once the Sasikalaissue is settled, the question thenwould be: Who will be the ChiefMinister? Should the presentChief Minister EPS continue orthe dethroned Chief MinisterOPS get back his chair? This istricky and needs to be decided.

Third, the Assembly has astrong Opposition led by the

DMK, unlike the 1989 scenario,where the Opposition strengthwas negligible. Moreover,although the DMK patriarch MKarunanidhi is out of action, hisson MK Stalin, who is now theworking president of the party,has been active in taking on theGovernment. Though there areother Opposition leaders toowho can make noise.

Fourth, neitherPanneerselvam norPalaniswami has proved hisgov-ernance capabilities. For instance,a delegation of farmers had beencamping in Delhi for almost 40days now, seeking relief for theirparched fields. The StateGovernment did little to mitigatetheir sufferings. Panneerselvamdid show some enterprise to con-tain the Jallikattu agitation, but itwas with support from theCentre. He did not show any ini-tiative when he was the ChiefMinister thrice before.

Fifth, neither OPS nor EPS

can provide the kind of leader-ship needed to satisfy the partycadres. It will be difficult for theAIADMK to attract workers orvoters with the aspirations of theyoung people changing.

Sixth, whoever is the ChiefMinister, he has to be on the rightside of the Centre in view of thefragility of the party. OPS is saidto have good relationship withDelhi and EPS is also trying tocultivate the BJP. While the BJPclaims that it has no role in theunification of the AIADMK, it isclear that the BJP would like todeal with a united AIADMKminus Sasikala clan. The BJPwould like to have the support ofthe AIADMK in the Rajya Sabhawhere the party is in a minorityfor legislative measures and alsofor the upcoming presidentialelection, where the BJP-led NDAneeds about 25,000 votes.

(The writer is a senior polit-ical commentator and syndicat-ed columnist)

After J Jayalalithaa’s death, Tamil Nadu is going through a difficult political phase. Which way the developmentsturn, can only be speculated. But one thing is for sure — power will be the glue to keep the AIADMK united

Return to hallowed civilisation

3rdeye 09LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 26, 2017

Let the Tamil Nadu Government call for a

Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into

the hospitalization and death of Jayalalithaa.

—Former Tamil Nadu CM

O PANNEERSELVAM

A PIL demanding a probe is already under

consideration of the Madras High Court. If

the court orders CBI probe, we are ready.

—TN Law Minister

CV SHANMUGAM

The two need to

concede that, if

China has the

mandate of heaven

to rule the world,

then India's glorious

traditions in

science, technology

and culture have

also existed as old

as time. The two

have to learn

to co-exist by

accommodating

each other's

interests if they

wish to live side-by-

side as good

neighbours for

another 4,000 years

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

Manufacturing consensus,even by means of rein-venting tradition, is noeasy enterprise, espe-cially when it entails

bringing together people from differ-ent communities and backgroundsinto one fold. But for the two risingAsian giants — India and China — itseems to be the central objective at pre-sent. While the Chinese leadership hasvisualised its nationalist aspirationsunder the notions of the China dream(Zhongguo meng) and the GreatRejuvenation of the Chinese nation(Zhonghua minzu weida fuxing), theIndian dream of reconstructing a newIndia (bhavya bharat) is still takingshape. As the two countries embark onthe realisation of their respective his-toric missions, resonances from the pastare tremendously striking.

To begin with, the ModiGovernment’s initiatives to transformIndia and reclaim its traditionalgrandeur seem to draw heavily on thecustoms of the Indus valley civilisation.For instance, the new smart cities ini-tiative appears to be aimed at achiev-ing the same level of urban planning asseen during the Indus valley civilisation.Narendra Modi’s obsession with toiletsand the Swachch Bharat Abhiyan res-onate a good deal of the acclaimeddrainage/sanitation systems and theelaborate communal baths of theBronze age civilisation. The drive fordemonetisation, a reform which stillremains not properly understood andhas been the victim of much controver-sy, seems to be putting in place a soci-ety with low concentration of wealth aswas the case in ancient India.

Even the norms of administrationseem to change in favour of the tradi-tional practice of the temple-priestadministration as the preferred modeof governance and distributing socialwelfare, as was the case with the tem-ple-granaries distribution network ofancient India. This is evident in theappointment of Yogi Adityanath as theChief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.

Developing accountability frame-work through this mix of religion andadministration remained steeped inantiquity. The hand of history alsobecame evident in India’s increasingtrade ties with Bahrain (Dilmun), thefirst historically recorded maritimetrade route in the world, and Oman(Magan) in the Arabia.

The parallels are even more strik-ing when we consider the case of China.The cradle of civilisation seems to beshifting to the central provinces ofShaanxi (the birth place of the SilkRoad) and around the Huang He Riveras in ancient China. Its forays into con-struction of monumental architectureare shaping up in the proposals ofbuilding the Xiongan New Area (XNA)in Hebei Province as a new capital/sub-capital. With its One Belt One Road ini-tiative, China has set the ball rolling fortrade routes to connect it with Egyptand Arabia through Xinjiang viaCentral Asia.

The peacock now flies west to theByzantine. The country that inventedthe gunpowder is back to being the

biggest military power in recent times,endorsing a military strategy of ‘deter-rence by threat’.

Of course, a kung fu panda mayone day dump the peacock’s nucleararsenal and weapons into the SouthChina Sea and establish world peace,but that time is not yet. The inventorof the compass, paper-making andprinting is back to having the largestnumber of patents on inventions andIPRs registered on its name. Andeven in the sphere of religion, therevival of Confucius, and the empha-sis on filial piety have returned to hauntthe ideological and cultural campaignsof the present.

Both, India and China seem to beat a critical stage of technological andcultural development that heralds a tec-tonic shift, China being the manufac-turing factory of the world already andIndia catching up with its Make in Indiacampaign. In fact, India has been thebiggest beneficiary of an unconstrainedgrowth story escaping from the gaze ofthe West, while China has been brac-ing the heat of containment by the USand its allies.

And though much ado has beenmade about China’s growing imperial-ist ambitions, it deserves some credit forfitting in the shoe as the US retreats,especially because there is a huge dif-ference between China’s approach toAfrica (which was interestingly also thesource of material prosperity of theBronze Age civilisations) and othernations and the imperialism of theWest; at the time when the Britishcolonised India it was still largelyrenowned for its wealth and splendour

— ‘the golden bird’, which the Britishruthlessly exploited, and so was the casewith China before its ‘century of humil-iation’ at the hands of the barbarians,but Africa is far from a prosperouscountry at the moment. Meanwhile, theUS with its rising sectarian violenceseems headed towards being reducedto the few sects of inter-fighting tribesthat it had traditionally been.

In this change of the world orderand revitalisations of nations, thequestion that arises now is not justwhether this is the breakdown of theUS hegemony and the institutions ithelped to proliferate, but whether thisis the breakdown of the entireWestphalian model of nation-statebased on the idea of sovereignty andrespecting boundaries entailing ‘goodfences make good neighbours’, whichhas engendered nothing but con-flicts and internecine warfare wit-nessed in the two world wars over the350 years of its existence, a third onebeing desperately avoided.

With the rise of China and India,the return of the Egyptian andBabylonian civilisations, along with theWestern peripheries of Meso Americaand South America (which combine tomake the six great ancient civilisations)it seems history is coming full circle tothe return of the civilisation, albeit ina highly modernised and digitisedform of megalopolises abetted bychanging technology or rather theadvent of space age civilisations.

Even more overwhelming is theissue whether we are learning from his-tory and using the past to serve the pre-sent or is history itself at play? Has the

‘wheel of history’ indeed come full cir-cle over the last 4,000 years? If indeedit has, is this the victory of the civili-sation paradigm, which reigned stead-fast for more than 3,500 years over thenation-state paradigm which couldbarely last 350 years?

As far as China and India are con-cerned, the two need to concede that,if China has the mandate of heaven torule the world, then India’s glorious tra-ditions in science, technology and cul-ture have also existed as old as time. Thetwo have to learn to co-exist by accom-modating each other’s interests if theywish to live side-by-side as good neigh-bours for another 4,000 years.

Threatening a military interventionwould not procure for China what itseeks from India and upping the anteas far as Chinese Achilles’ heels in Tibet,Taiwan and Xinjiang are concernedwould not obtain for India what itdesires. The two have much to gainfrom mending the wall the ‘civilised’way — a challenge they will face repeat-edly sharing borders with each other.

The return to civilisation would ina sense then forebode the renegotiationof China’s frontiers by granting genuineautonomy to its restive frontiersthrough a system of tributes and tradeand the return of the expatriates fromthe Tibetan (especially the Dalai Lama)and Xinjiang communities back to theirhomeland and a true opportunity forIndia to resolve its Pakistan dilemma.Let’s drop the savagery and becomecivilised again!

(The writer is author of China’sDiscursive Nationalism: Contending inSofter Realms)

Political churning in Tamil Nadu thinknow

Nothing was ever in tune.

People just blindly grabbed

at whatever there was:

Communism, health foods, zen,

surfing, ballet, hypnotism, group

encounters, orgies, biking, herbs,

Catholicism, weight-lifting, travel,

withdrawal, vegetarianism, India,

painting, writing, sculpting,

composing, conducting,

backpacking, yoga, copulating,

gambling, drinking, hanging

around, frozen yogurt, Beethoven,

Back, Buddha, Christ, TM, H,

carrot juice, suicide, handmade

suits, jet travel, New York City.

And then it all evaporated.

— Charles Bukowski

State-run schools

and their plight

The tussle between private and Government schools inthe country’s education sector symbolises much that isboth good and bad. The issue needs a resolution

For the two rising Asian giants, India and China, manufacturing consensus, even by means of re-inventing tradition, is no easy enterprise.However, a return to the civilisational roots can resolve most problems they face today. Let's drop the savagery and become civilised againNAVNEET ANAND

RIGHTANGLE

Aquiet unease has been brewing among parents sending theirchildren to private unaided schools across the country, andmost glaringly in the National Capital Region. For the past

few weeks, parents have resorted to protests by lining up acrossschools in Noida and Gurgaon against what they claim arbitraryand unjustifiable fee hike by private schools. Frenetic appealsin form of tweets and social media feeds have gone out to all,including the Prime Ministers and Chief Ministers, urging themto intervene.

Thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's accessibility andconstant dialogue with people, many parents have pinned theirhope in him and rightly think that he might offer a solution. Whilethe problem is disturbing and exhibits perils of an aspirationalmiddle class, it may not be out of context to look at what mayhave contributed to the high-handedness of these schools, thatare brazen in encashing on the anxieties of the newIndia's parents.

The rise of the private sector in education is a relatively newphenomenon — in just over two decades we have seen unprece-dented boom here. From nursery to PhD, today students haveinnumerable choices. From Jammu to Jamnagar and Siliguri toSalem, parents have flocked to the private sector like moths toa flame. The Kotas and the Manipals have emerged as new India'sNalanda and Varanasi. Two factors which have triggered this madrush have been the claim by private sector to impart ‘world-class’education and craving among parents to spend more in orderto get a prestigious degree — thereby implying a better futurefor their children.

The rise of the private sector has been synonymous with thedecline of credibility of the Government sector. A perception deficittoo has played a critical role in the dismissal of Government schoolsas credible centres of learning. The same middle class whichdemands and feels entitled to extract the best services from theGovernment, looks to its schools with utmost contempt. New Indiaparents feel it derogatory to even consider Government schoolsfor their children. It is another matter that some of the finest stu-dents are churned out from these schools. It also does not mat-ter to many that a large number of children studying in theseschools go on to clear the most difficult, and prestigious exam-inations, including the civil services and IITs.

Having said this, it is a fact that private schools have turnedinto commercial mercenaries and work in glaring opaqueness tohike fees in the name of superfluous grounds. Little wonder, agen-cies including the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG), theSupreme Court and the Delhi High Court have indicted the schoolsfor such practice. The CAG had noted in a report in 2010 that “inmany cases, schools charge fee they cannot justify”. A High Court-appointed three-member committee headed by Justice Anil DevSingh had ordered the recovery of `300 crore collected as excessfee from 535 private schools in Delhi ever since its formation in2011. In January 2017, the Supreme Court had ordered privateschools built on land allotted by the Delhi Development Authority(DDA) to seek the Government's permission before hiking fees.

Noted lawyer and activist Ashok Agarwal, in a petition to theUnion Minister for Human Resource Development, PrakashJavadekar, had raised some pertinent issues and asked for imme-diate redressal through, among others, enacting a law regulat-ing the fees and other charges in unaided private schools. He alsoasked for the Union Government to enact a rule on the lines ofthe Allahabad High Court judgement mandating all public servantsto send their children to public-aided schools. Parents in Noidahave urged Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to create a State reg-ulatory body to monitor charges by private schools.

The gripe of grievance is growing louder everyday, and itis only pertinent that the state intervenes to restore the sancti-ty of this critical institution of our society. It must take alongthe schools and parents to resolve the contentious issue. If itis left unattended, the chorus of discontent might turn into anavoidable chaos.

(The writer is a strategic communications professional)

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 26, 2017 money 10

Presently, we are tapping VAT ateach stage of supply chain, frommanufacturer to wholesaler toretailer. We already have multiplepoints taxation. Under GST, we arejust merging the taxes of theCentre and states. The inflationwhich happened in other countrieswas because they shifted fromsingle point taxation to GST

REVENUE SECRETARY HASMUKH ADHIA

As many have pointed out, it is notclear that we need so many publicsector banks. The system could be

better off if they are consolidatedinto fewer but healthier banks. Since

there were cooperative banks andmicro- financial institutions to

provide community-level banking,“some banks can be merged, as a

quid pro quo for timely Governmenttechnical injection”

RBI GOVERNOR URJIT PATEL

GOVT

FROM

BUZZ

PNS n NEW DELHI/MUMBAI

With strong corporateearnings, upbeat glob-

al cues and investors’ buyingspree, Dalal Street witnesseda historic stock market rallyon Tuesday when BenchmarkNifty closed above the 9,300-mark for the first time, whilethe Sensex surged 287 pointsto a three-week high of29,943.24, a little distanceaway from 30,000-mark.

The rupee also continuedits upward trend to log a near21-month high of 64.26, bysurging 18 paise against theUS dollar on sustained dollarunwinding from exportersamid positive global cues.This is the rupee’s highestclosing since August 11, 2015,when it had ended at 64.19against the greenback.

Overall forex market sen-timent remained buoyant asFrench election outcomeremoved some of the politi-

cal uncertainties in the nearterm even as global equitieshit multi-year highs.

Though, currency tradersare keeping an eye on eventsin North Korea as a US car-rier group heads for the Seaof Japan.

The incredible bullishsentiment seems to be borneout of a weaker dollar whichalso provided a boost foremerging market currencies,a forex dealer commented.

However, the RBI inter-vened in the market throughstate-run banks in both thespot and the forward marketsto prevent further gains in therupee, he added.

The 50-share Nif tysurged 88.65 points, or 0.96per cent, to reach its new life-time closing high of 9,306.60,surpassing the previousrecord close of 9,265.15 onApril 5.

Intra-day, it rallied to9,309.20, breaking its previ-

ous intra-day record of9,273.90 reached on April 5.

The BSE 30-share Sensexalso rose about 287 points to

end at a three-week high of29,943.24, after shuttlingbetween 29,961.82 and29,780.84. The gauge hadgained 290.54 points onMonday. This is the highestclosing for Sensex since April5, when it had ended on29,974.24.

Market insiders, however,said that a string of strongquarterly earnings, includ-ing from heavyweight RIL,

and appreciat ing rupeezoomed the buying activity.On the other hand, Asianshares also ended higher fol-lowing a relief rally in glob-al equities after centrist can-didate Emmanuel Macronwon the first round of theFrench presidential election.

“Earnings from both pri-vate as well as public sectorfirms have shown encourag-ing signs, lifting bankingstocks, while Nifty’s surge to9,300 gave added vigour tomarket. “Government’s pushin the infra and affordablehousing space has also kepthousing, cement and realtystocks buzzing,” said AnandJames, Chief MarketStrategist, Geojit FinancialServices.

Meanwhile, domesticfunds bought shares worth anet Rs 984.17 crore onMonday, while foreign port-folio investors (FPIs) soldstocks worth a net Rs 279.55

crore, as per provisional datafrom the stock exchanges.Shares of Reliance Industriesrose 1.14 per cent after thecompany on Monday posteda record fourth quarter netprofit of Rs 8,046 crore.

Globally, key indices inChina, Hong Kong, Japan,Singapore, South Korea andTaiwan rose by 0.16 - 1.31per cent. European stockswere trading higher, extend-ing previous day’s gains, asinvestors monitored politicaldevelopments in Franceahead of the EuropeanCentral Bank’s policy meet-ing later in the week. Keyindices in France, Germanyand UK rose by 0.03 - 0.18per cent.

US markets rallied onMonday as concerns overFrance’s potential exit fromthe euro currency bloc eased.The Dow Jones IndustrialAverage jumped 216.13points to close at 20,763.89.

The S&P 500 surged 25.46points to 2,374.15. Backhome, out of the 30-shareSensex pack, 24 scrips endedhigher. Major gainers wereM&M (3.40 per cent), AxisBank (3.40 per cent), BhartiAirtel (3.18 per cent), HeroMotoco (2.93 per cent), AsianPaints (2.40 per cent), HUL(2.13 per cent), ITC (1.79 percent), Power Grid (1.44 percent), Dr Reddy’s (1.43 percent), ICICI Bank (1.43 percent), Bajaj Auto (1.30 percent), HDFC (1.14 per cent)and Reliance (1.14 per cent).

However, TCS fell 0.76per cent, followed by Cipla0.58 per cent, Gail 0.39 percent and NTPC 0.30 per cent.Among BSE sectoral andindustry indices, telecom rose2.62 per cent, FMCG 1.67 percent, realty 1.26 per cent,oil&gas 1.23 per cent, energy1.20 per cent, finance 1.18 percent, auto 1.15 per cent andbankex 1.03 per cent.

Dalal St creates history, Nifty hits lifetime high of 9,307; Sensex nears 30K-mark

NEW DELHI: Telecom regulatorTrai expects to start the con-sultation process for the nextround of spectrum auction inabout a fortnight.

“We expect to issue it(consultation paper on spec-trum price) in about 15 days,”Trai Chairman RS Sharmatold reporters on the sidelinesof FTTH APAC Conferencehere.

He was responding to aquery on when the TelecomRegulatory Authority of India(Trai) will start the consulta-tion process for the nextround of spectrum auction.

The Department ofTelecom (DoT) has soughtTrai’s views on spectrum pricefor various frequencies,including premium airwavesin the 700 MHz band whichremained unsold in the lastauctions in October 2016.

In the last auctions,Government had kept air-waves worth `5.66 lakh crorefor sale.

In the five-day auction,seven telecom companiesmade commitments of`65,789 crore for buying964.80 MHz of spectrum invarious frequency bands.

Bids were received for964.80 MHz of spectrum outof 2,354.55 MHz across sevenbands put on offer. Even at the

end of the auction, nearly 60per cent of the spectrumremained unsold and spec-trum worth `4 lakh crore in700 Mhz band found no tak-ers.

Meanwhile, the industrytoday pitched for holding theauctions late next year orearly 2019 in view of the sec-

tor’s weak financials and thesti l l-nascent equipmentecosystem for the prized 700MHz band.

“The timing of the auc-tion should be later part of2018 or early 2019,” COAIDirector General RajanMathews told the newsagency.

The DoT has also soughtTrai’s views on 5G services.

Sharma said the consul-tation process generally takessix months.

“Generally, it takes sixmonths’ time to complete thewhole process. You can expectrecommendation around thesame time,” Sharma said.

In his speech at the event,Sharma said Trai is propagat-ing sharing of backend infra-structure to achieve goals of‘Digita India’.

“We are of the firm viewthat sharing at the backendwill in no way dilute compe-tition in the front end. Sharingwill be required for smartcities and all the componentsof smart cities,” Sharma said.

He said there is lot of trac-tion in the Government overthe idea to allow cable TVoperators to provide broadbandservices as there are 100 millioncable TV homes covering about40 per cent of total populationin the country. PTI

Consultation paper on spectrum

auction in 15 days: Trai Chairman

We expect to issue it(consultation paperon spectrum price) inabout 15 daysGenerally, it takes sixmonths’ time tocomplete the wholeprocess. You canexpectrecommendationaround the same timeTRAI CHAIRMAN RS SHARMA

PTI n NEW YORK

RBI Governor Urjit Patel hassaid the Indian banking

system could be better off ifsome public sector banks areconsolidated to have fewer buthealthier entities, as it wouldhelp in dealing with the prob-lem of stressed assets.

“As many have pointed out,it is not clear that we need somany public sector banks. Thesystem could be better off if theyare consolidated into fewer buthealthier banks,” Patel said whiledelivering the Kotak FamilyDistinguished Lecture atColumbia University here.

He said since there werecooperative banks and micro-financial institutions to providecommunity-level banking,“some banks can be merged, asa quid pro quo for timelyGovernment technical injec-tion”.

Patel said a challenge thatIndia’s central bank was grap-pling with was the large stressedbanking sector balance sheets.

He noted that a series ofmeasures have been taken in thepast year on resolving the prob-lem of the non-performingassets (NPAs), including com-pletion of a comprehensive assetquality review of the banks.

Patel said in the instance ofthe insolvency and bankruptcy

code, the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has been preparing active-ly for the next step in an order-ly resolution and this will beundertaken concomitantly withthe resolution of the weakestbank balance sheets under theaegis of a revised prompt cor-rective action framework.

“One of the things that thepublic sector banks need to dois to raise private capital fromthe market and not rely onGovernment largesse,” he said.

Public sector banks have tobe required to share the burdenof recapitalising, Patel said.

This will be a good way torestore some market disciplineand get the banks and theirshareholders to more seriouslycare about management deci-sions, he said.

Patel also said that consol-idation of banks could alsoentail sale of real estate wherebranches are redundant as wellas offering voluntary retire-ment schemes to manage head-count and adding younger, dig-ital-savvy personnel.

“The weaker banks are los-ing market share (and) that is agood thing,” Patel said.

“The stronger banks aregaining market share, which isa good thing, particularly theprivate sector banks. In a way itis working; those who need toshrink are shrinking.

“Lenders who are strongerare gaining more market share.I think there is a nice shift hap-pening and we need to workwith that to resolve this,” hesaid.

Patel said that divestmentin public sector banks wouldhave a positive role for the sec-tor.

“Divestment measureswould improve overall bankingsector health,” he said.

Improved market valua-tions would create an oppor-tune time for the governmentto divest some of the ownershipin the restructured banks andthis would reduce the overallamount that the governmentneeds to inject into them to dealwith the problem of NPAs andstressed assets, he said.

Patel said that across thenation, forces were gatheringcritical mass for the launchingof reforms that will help thecountry achieve a highergrowth.

“The materialisation ofreforms in the form of rolloutof the GST, the institution ofIndian Insolvency andBankruptcy Code and the abo-lition of the Foreign InvestmentPromotion Board should boostinvestor and investment confi-dence,” he said.

Looking ahead, Patel saidIndia’s economic growth was

getting a boost with domesticdrivers and was poised to be 7.4per cent in 2017-18.

“India will remain amongthe fastest growing economies,”he said, adding that its growthacceleration was reflective of itsresilience.

Patel said that inflation wasbelow target, the currentaccount deficit was about oneper cent of GDP and fiscaldeficit was on path of consoli-dation that will take it down tothree per cent by 2018-19.

He noted that recent sharpdecline in inflation was essen-tially the result of supply shocks.

Giving a comprehensiveview of the demonetisationprocess undertaken by theGovernment, Patel said its pos-itive spillover was reflected inhigher financial reintermedia-tion.

The share of low cost cur-rent account and savingsaccount deposits in aggregateddeposits with commercialbanks went up to about 39 percent, which is a four percentageincrease relative to pre-demon-etisation period.

“That is a large number ona large base. Financial reinter-mediation could be one of thebiggest collateral benefits of thisexercise, but time will tell. It’s tooearly to tell but initial statisticsare interesting,” he said.

Public sector banks merger couldhelp banking system: RBI Governor

NEW DELHI: The Income Taxdepartment has issued a ̀ 24,646crore tax demand notice toSahara Group’s Aamby ValleyLimited (AVL) after conductinga special audit of the company.

The department, as part ofa special investigation and auditinto the account books of AVL,found that an income of over`48,000 crore for a particularassessment year was allegedlynot reflected in the recordbooks of the firm and hence itraised a fresh tax demand andpenalty amount on it.

A Sahara Groupspokesperson confirmed thedevelopment to the newsagency PTI.

“Yes, the Income TaxDepartment has raised`48,085.79 crores to the incomeof the Aamby Valley Limitedwith a total demand of incometax of ̀ 24,646.96 crores on theAamby Valley Limited,” thespokesperson said in a briefstatement.

Officials said the notice wasissued by the taxman in Januarythis year after the special auditof AVL’s income for theAssessment Year 2012-13 foundthat the parent firm had alleged-ly floated a clutch of SpecialPurpose Vehicles whoseincomes were later accountedon the account of AVL as theywere merged with the former indue course of time. PTI

PNS n NEW DELHI/BENGALURU

Country’s third largest soft-ware service provider

Wipro on Tuesday announceda marginal rise in net profit forthe March quarter and offereda muted outlook, but sought tocheer investors by announcinga bonus issue and a likely sharebuyback.

Begaluru based firm saidit will issue bonus shares with-in the next two months, amove aimed at encouragingparticipation of smallinvestors, enhancing liquidityand expanding retail share-holder base.

However, market watcherswere disappointed with theoutlook of a flat sequentialgrowth for the June quarter.

This could spell furthertrouble for Indian IT firms asthey face challenging timesahead in the form of visacurbs in their largest market -- the US -- as well as tighten-ing of work permit norms byother nations.

Wipro registered a negli-gible rise in the consolidatedprofit at `2,267 crore for thefourth quarter ended March2017. The total income roseover 5 per cent to `15,033.8crore in the said quarter, com-

pared to the year-ago period.The IT firm attributed the

muted guidance to softness inhealthcare and retail business.Wipro expects revenues fromits IT services - its mainstay -to be in the range of $1,915-1,955 million for the April-June 2017 quarter.

This is almost similar toMarch quarter IT services rev-enue that stood at $1,954.6million. The dollar revenuewas 3.9 per cent higher thanthe year-ago period.

“The guidance that wegive at the beginning of thequarter is what we see. Wehave had certain project can-cellations in our healthcarebusiness which will haveimpact in Q1 (first quarter),”Wipro CFO Jatin Dalal said.

He further said there wassimilar “softness” in the retail

sector.For the full 2016-17,

Wipro’s profit fell nearly 5per cent to `8,518 crore whiletotal income grew 7.4 per centto `57,995 crore compared tothe previous fiscal.

The results wereannounced after the close oftrading hours. Shares of thecompany closed marginallyup at `494.55 on the BSE.

“The fourth quarter of2016-17 results better thanexpected... For the first quar-ter of 2017-18, the companyhas guided for $1,915-1,955million... Which indicates adim outlook for Q1 2017-18,”said Sarabjit Kour Nangra, V-P (Research-IT), AngelBroking.

The conglomerate said itwill offer one bonus share forevery one equity held (includ-

ing American DepositoryShares). It will also exploreshare buyback option aroundJuly.

“...The issuance of bonusshares was not part of theagenda papers for the boardmeeting,” it stated.

Bigger rivals TCS andInfosys have alreadyannounced mega share buy-backs to offer rich returns toshareholders.

Wipro CEO Abidali ZNeemuchwala said the com-pany has stepped up efforts tohire more locals and set updelivery centres in the US toensure continuity of service forclients.

Locals will constitute morethan half of Wipro’s workforcein the US by June, he added.

In the news recently forhanding out pink slips to hun-dreds of employees, Wipromaintained that hiring is goingon as planned on the cam-puses.

The company said it isrecruiting people for newertechnologies as and whenrequired.

Wipro had over 1.65 lakhemployees under the IT ser-vices with voluntary attritionat 16.3 per cent at the end ofMarch.

Wipro Q4 net marginally up,company unveils bonus issue NEW DELHI: The Government on

Tuesday said GST will not leadto inflation and rather makedomestic goods competitivevia-a-vis imported items.

Revenue SecretaryHasmukh Adhia dismissed fearsthat GST implementation willlead to a spurt in prices, sayingthat unlike in other countries,the transition to the new taxregime would be smooth inIndia.

He said several countrieswitnessed inflation followingGST rollout as they had singlepoint taxation system. In thecase of India, there are multiplepoints of taxation and hence thepossibility of sudden spurt ininflation is remote.

“Presently, we are tappingVAT at each stage of supplychain, from manufacturer towholesaler to retailer. Wealready have multiple points tax-ation. Under GST, we are justmerging the taxes of the Centreand states. The inflation whichhappened in other countries wasbecause they shifted from sin-gle point taxation to GST,”Adhia said at the GST Conclavehere.

He said that once the newindirect tax regime is rolled out,the incidence of tax on import-ed goods would be the same ason the locally manufactureditems.

The imported goods, heexplained, will be subject to

Integrated GST (IGST) forwhich credit can be claimed atthe time of sale. IGST is just aninterim tax or a washout taxwhich is equivalent to the GSTrate on a specific product.

In case of locally manu-factured goods, a similar GSTrate will be applicable andhence, there will be no advan-tage for the imported goods.

The Government leviescountervailing duty (CVD)and special additional duty(SAD) on imported goods toprotect domestic manufactur-ers.

“The incidence of tax onimported goods will be equiv-alent to the tax paid by the localindustry. This will strengthendomestic manufacturing andMake in India,” Adhia said.

Goods and services tax(GST), which is proposed to berolled out from July 1, willunify at least 10 different cen-tral and state levies and makeIndia a uniform market forseamless transfer of goods andservices.

Adhia said as many as 71per cent of the existing taxpay-ers have already migrated to theGSTN portal and the CBEC hasasked field offices to organiseawareness camps in towns witha population of 1 lakh or more.

Also, the department willcome out with sector-wiseguidance note for GST imple-mentation. PTI

NEW DELHI: NITI Aayog mem-ber Bibek Debroy on Tuesdaymade a strong case for taxingagriculture income, an opinioncontrary to the Government’sstated position.

In addition, the member ofthe Government’s top thinktank also suggested that exemp-tions on personal income taxshould be removed to increasetax base from the current about37 million in the country of 1.3billion of people.

“On expanding the base onthe personal income tax side,other than elimination ofexemptions, is to also tax ruralsector, including agricultureincome above certain thresh-old,” Debroy said in a pressconference.

Taxing agriculture incomeis a politically sensitive issueand successive governmentshave refrained from doing so.

As recent at March 22,Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyhad assured Parliament:“Agriculture income is not

taxed and will not be taxed”.When asked what should

be the threshold of imposingincome tax on rural sector,Debroy said it could be decid-ed after taking into account theaverage income of either threeyears or five years.

“I don’t believe in artificialdistinction of rural and urban,so whatever is the threshold onpersonal income side on urbanside, should be the exactlysame on rural side.

“At best what I can dobecause it is an agricultureincome, instead of using agri-culture income for one partic-ular year, what I could do is Iaverage it over three-year peri-od or may over five years peri-od as agriculture income is sub-ject to annual fluctuations,barring that threshold shouldbe the same,” said Debroy, anoted economist.

NITI Aayog had calledreporters for briefing on itsthree-year draft action agendafor accelerating the economy.

NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya,who was present at the pressconference, however refrainedfrom answering questions ontaxation of agriculture income.

In May 2016, the PrimeMinister’s Office had advisedthe NITI Aayog to prepare doc-uments on 15-Year Vision,Seven-Year Strategy and Three-Year Action Agenda. PTI

GST to boost domestic mfg,

won’t up inflation, says Adhia

Tax agriculture income, saysNITI Aayog member Debroy

I-T department

issues `24,646 cr

notice to Sahara’s

Aamby Valley

world 11LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 26, 2017

Grande to tour Aus, New

Zealand for the 1st time

Los Angeles: Singer Ariana Grande will soon embark on herfirst-ever tour to Australiaand New Zealand. The23-year-old singer willperform in the two coun-trieslater this year, report-ed Billboard. Grande istouring in support of herthird and most recent LP'Dangerous Woman'. The"Side to Side" singer'sjaunt will kick off onSeptember 2 atAuckland's Spark Arenaand will then hitAustralia's east coast forconcerts in the threebiggest cities, Melbourne(Rod Laver Arena onSeptember 5), Sydney(ICC Theatre onSeptember 9) andBrisbane (EntertainmentCentre on September 12).The concert will be pro-duced by Live Nation'sAustralasian company.Last year in September,Grande had said onAustralia's Sunrise TVshow, "I'm definitely com-ing too Australia. That is confirmed. I'm definitely, definitelycoming."

There's a possibility: Reese on

'Big Little Lies' second season

Los Angeles: Actress-pro-ducer Reese Witherspoonhas confirmed the possibili-ty of a second season of theTV show, "Big Little Lies".Witherspoon and NicoleKidman, who starred in theshow, were also its executiveproducers, reportedEntertainment Weekly.Shailene Woodley also playeda prominent role in the series,which was based on the bookof the same name by LianeMoriarty. The Australianauthor recently revealed thatthere had been talks about asecond season. "Yeah, Nicoleand I just spoke about itthree days ago. We're talkingto Liane Moriarty, who wrotethe book, about how couldthese characters go on, whatwould happen? We definite-ly left it open-ended so there'sa possibility there,"Witherspoon said. The 41-year-old actress previously told fans that a sequel would relyon whether Moriarty would return to the characters.

GLOBE

TROTTING

Labour party to scrap May's

Brexit plan if it wins election

PTI n LONDON

Britain's main oppositionLabour party on Tuesday

unveiled its own Brexit plan,saying it will scrap the rulingConservative White Paper onthe UK's exit from theEuropean Union (EU) if itwins the general election inJune. The central plank of theLabour strategy will be to uni-laterally guarantee the rights ofEU citizens living and workingin the UK.

British Prime MinisterTheresa May has repeatedlylinked this with a reciprocalEU guarantee of the rights ofBritish citizens domiciled inEuropean countries. There arean estimated 3 million citizensof other EU countries living inthe UK, and about 1.2 millionBritish expats living elsewherein Europe.

Labour's shadow Brexitminister, Sir Kier Starmer,setout his party's Brexit plansfor the upcoming June 8 gen-eralelection in a speech inLondon today."A Labour gov-ernment will set out a newBrexit strategy. nWe will scrapthe government’s Brexit WhitePaper and replace it with freshnegotiating priorities thatreflect Labour values and oursix tests," he said.

He said the White Paperwill have a strong emphasis onretaining the benefits of theSingle Market and the CustomsUnion as Labour know that isvital to protecting jobs and theeconomy.

"And we will approachnegotiations in a completelydifferent way to a Tory Brexit:negotiating for the many, notthe few," he said. "Where Maywants to shut down scrutinyand challenge, Labour willwelcome it. We will work withParliament, not against it.Because on an issue of thisimportance the governmentcan’t hide from the public or

Parliament."A Labour approach to

Brexit means legislating toguarantee that Parliament hasa truly meaningful vote on thefinal Brexit deal." Starmerstressed that while Labour hadaccepted Brexit, it wanted adeal that would prioritise jobsand workers' rights.

He also said that unlikeMay, Labour would not walkaway from the EU withoutsecuring a deal and that theparty wasclear that no dealwould be a "bad deal". May, inher Brexit stance, has previ-ously said that no deal wouldbe better than a bad deal.

Responding to Starmer'sspeech, Tory MP DominicRaab, member of the Exitingthe European Union SelectCommittee, said, "OnlyTheresa May and theConservatives can provide thestrong and stable leadershipthe United Kingdom needs to

see us through Brexit andbeyond.

"But there is a real risk ofJeremy Corbyn – with thesupport of the SNP and LibDems – becoming PrimeMinister and being in charge ofthe Brexit negotiations. He isa weak leader of a dividedparty who couldn't get theright deal for the UnitedKingdom.

"We have a clear plan forthe Brexit negotiations, andevery vote for Theresa May willstrengthen her hand in thosenegotiations to get a good dealfor the UK." The Conservativesare hoping to take seats fromLabour in the snap election inareas which voted to leave theEU, including the Midlands,the north-east and north-westof England and across Wales.

May was on a tour ofWales with the hope of gain-ingground from Labour in theregion. Writing in the 'Western

Mail', she said: "This electionis not about the kind of tribalpolitics that has held sway inWales and elsewhere for manyyears. It is an opportunity toprovide this United Kingdomwith the strong and stableleadership it needs to see usthrough Brexit and beyond.

"Securing that deal is mypriority and we have the planto do it. A plan to regain con-trol of our own money, ourown laws and our own borders,and to be free to strike tradedeals with old friends andnew partners all around theworld."

Pro-EU campaigners,meanwhile, have launched anew bid toprevent a so-called"hard Brexit". The "key seatstrategy" will attempt to unseatMPs the campaigners say backa "hard Brexit" and supportthose who oppose it, includingConservative, Labour and LibDem politicians.

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May, right, laughs as she speaks to a worker during a visit to a steel works in Newport, Wales,Tuesday. AP

China begins deep-sea probe into disputed South China SeaPTI n BEIJING

Chinese scientists embarkedon a deep-sea mission in

the resource-rich South ChinaSeaon Tuesday notwithstand-ing a simmering maritime dis-pute with many countries in theregion.

China's manned sub-mersible 'Jiaolong' with hercrew of scientists arrived in thelocation aboard the mothership Xiangyanghong 09 today,the beginning of the secondstage of China's 38th oceanicexpedition.

The submersible is expect-ed to conduct its first SouthChina Sea dive this year tomor-row if the weather conditionsallow, the official Xinhua newsagency quoted Wu Changbin,the general commander of thesecond stage of the expeditionas saying.

During the mission, whichlasts until May 13, scientistshope to choose a site for exper-imenting the collection of poly-metallic nodules and completegeological and biological sur-veys. The 38th oceanic scien-tific expedition started on

February 6. Jiaolong complet-ed a dive in the northwesternIndian Ocean earlier this yearin the mission's first stage. Itwill also conduct surveys in theYap Trench and the MarianaTrench in the third stage.

Named after a mythicaldragon, Jiaolong reached itsdeepest depth of 7,062 metersin the Mariana Trench in June\2012. China claims almost allof the South China Sea, includ-ing islands more than 800miles from the Chinese main-land, despite objections fromneighbours such as the

Philippines, Malaysia,Bruneiand Vietnam.

The region is home to awealth of natural resources,fisheries, trade routes, and mil-itary bases, all of which are atstake in the increasingly fre-quent diplomatic standoffs,experts say.

Beijing has also createdartificial islands in the area,turning them into military andlogistical bases. The newdefence facilities will furtherestablish China's military dom-inance over the highly con-tested region, they say.

14 killed in Taliban attackin Pakistan's tribal beltPTI n PESHAWAR

Taliban militants on Tuesdaytargeted a mini bus with a

remote-controlled bomb inPakistan's restive northwesttribal region, killing at least 14people includingfour womenand two children.

The improvised explosivedevice (IED) blast targeted thevan in Kontara village in cen-tral Kurram Agency. JamaatulAhrar, a splinter group of theoutlawed Tehrik- e-TalibanPakistan, claimed responsibil-ity for the attack. Fourteenpeople, including four womenand two children,were killed inthe blast, officials said. Thirteen

people were injured in theexplosion. Theinjured wereshifted to a nearby hospital.

The military's media wing,Inter Services Public Relations,said a special Mi-17 helicopterhas been sent to KurramAgency headquarters

Parachinar to bring the injuredto Peshawar for treatment.Security personnel rushed tothe blast site and cordoned offthe entire area.

A search operation wasalso conducted. Last month, atleast 28 people were killed and100 others wounded when asuicide bomber detonated a car"rigged with explosives" outsidea Shiite imambargah in a busymarket in Parachinar, the maintown of the Kurram tribalregion. The grisly violence hadsparked angry protests by res-idents in Parachinar, theadministrative headquarters ofthe agency, which is prone tosectarian violence.

Three Taliban

militants held

in Pakistan

Lahore: Three Taliban mili-tants involved in a series ofbomb attacks in Pakistan havebeen arrested by counter ter-rorism police in the country'sPunjab province, police said.According to the Counter

Terrorism Department (CTD)of Punjab police, they receivedan information about some-militants belonging to JamaatulAhrar, a splinter group of theoutlawed Tehrik-e-TalibanPakistan, present in GallaSarwar Maharwala near AlamChowk in Gujranwala district,some 90 kilometres fromLahore.The militants wereplanning to attack some sensi-tive installation and personnelof law enforcement agencies,the CTD said.

The CTD team along withpolice yesterday raided thehideout of terrorists andnabbed the militants beforethey could launch an attack.

"Three terrorists have beenarrested. Some 2,395 grammesof explosives, 100 feet deto-nating cord and three detona-tors were recovered fromthem," the CTD said.

They have been shifted toundisclosed location for inter-rogation.

A case has been registeredagainst the militants.

Last week, security forceshad killed eight terrorists ofJammatul Ahrar inSheikhupura. Jammatul Ahrarhas been involved in a series ofbombing in Punjab especiallyin Lahore.

It has also claimed theattack on policemen in Lahorethat killed 15 people includingsixpolicemen in February.

Turnbull looking forward to

meeting Donald Trump

PTI n CANBERRA

Australia 's prime minister said onTuesday he is looking forward to meet-

ing soon with US President Donald Trump,three months after their heated tele-phoneconversation over an Obama-erarefugee deal. Prime Minister MalcolmTurnbull was speaking to reporters at theal-Minhad air base in the United ArabEmirates after meeting in Afghanistanwith Defense Secretary James Mattis andgreeting Australian troops in the MiddleEast ahead of Veterans' Day commemora-tions today.

Turnbull met in Sydney over the week-end with Vice President Mike Pence, whosevisit was intended to smooth over any lin-gering hard feelings after the prime min-ister's contentious phone call with Trumpon January 28 over a refugee resettlementdeal struck by the previous Obama admin-istration.

Turnbull said today he will announcehis Trump visit "very shortly." The meet-ing will take place in New York, accordingto media reports.

"We've had very good meetings withVice President Pence and the DefenseSecretary James Mattis just in the last few-days. I look forward to continuing thosediscussions withPresident Trump and will

do so at an early opportunity,"Turnbull toldreporters.

Australia is unhappy with Trump'sdecision to pull the United States out of the12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership tradepact. Under the refugee resettlement agree-ment, the United States will take up to1,250 refugees that Australia houses inde-tention camps on the Pacific island nationsof Nauru andPapua New Guinea.

Trump, who campaigned on tough-on-immigration policies, was enraged by theagreement, prompting a tense phone call-with Turnbull and an angry tweet in whichthe president dubbedthe deal "dumb."White House spokesman Sean Spicer'ssubsequentmispronunciation of Turnbull'sname as "Trumbull" did not helpmatters.The fallout has left relations between theUS and

Australia at their lowest point since theVietnam War, when Australia's then-PrimeMinister Gough Whitlam criticised a seriesof bombings authorised by then-PresidentRichard Nixon. Turnbull today left openthe possibility of Australia increasing itsmilitary contribution in Iraq, Syria andAfghanistan.

He also announced an additional 110million Australian dollars (USD 83 million)over three years in humanitarian and sta-bilisation assistance for Iraq.

Queen removes ivory gongfrom Indian exhibitionLONDON: Queen Elizabeth II has removed anantique gong framed with ivory from an Indianartifacts exhibition held on her SandringhamEstate to avoid angering conservationists. The91-year-old monarch's estate in the East Angliaregion of England houses the museum whichholds a specialexhibition annually.This year thetheme of the exhibition is India to mark the 'UK-India Year of Culture 2017' and 70 years ofIndian independence.Among the exhibits on dis-play are items presented to the Queen and theBritish royal family over the years, manyofthem by Indian royalty during the Raj. Thegong was presented to the Queen's great grand-father George V during a state visit to India in1911.

However, under modern day laws the dis-play of ivory has come under strict scrutiny,requiring special exemption in many cases. TheControl of Trade in Endangered Species Act bansthe display of "unworked ivory" for commercialgain and the offence carries a sentence of up totwo years in jail and an unlimited fine.Additionally, the Queen's grandson and secondin line to the throne Prince William is amongthe most vocal campaignersagainst ivory tradein the UK to protect endangered elephantsaround the world.

Last year, the Duke of Cambridge called fora complete ban on ivory trade in the UK. "Weknow now what previous generations did not –ivory treated as a commodity is the fuel of extinc-tion. Ivory is not something to be desired andwhen removed from an elephant it is not beau-tiful. "So, the question is: why are we still trad-

ing it? We need governments to send a clear sig-nal that trading in ivory is abhorrent," he hadsaid at an international wildlife convention inNovember 2016.

The Museum at Sandringham holds a vastRoyal Collection, including tiny Indian dolldancers in its Curio Cupboard and gifts in pearland exotic hardwoods given to the Queen andmembers of the royal family on State Visitsabroad.

"The exhibition of Indian artefact's in theMuseum is proving popular with visitors," aSandringham Estate statement said. "It is ourunderstanding that items on display at theSandringham Estate comply with all existingregulation. However, in any case where there isa genuine doubt, the relevant specimen will beremoved from display," it said. AFP

Man fatally shoots boss,kills himself in USHouston (PTI): A unidenti-fied man shot dead hiswomanboss before killing himself,leading to chaos in a multi-storey building in the northernpart of Dallas city, police said.The Dallas police responded toa report of an activeshooter inan office building in the 8300block of the LBJFreeway ataround 10:45 AM (local time)yesterday.

When officers arrived onthe scene, they suspectedtheshooter was in a meetingroom. They breached the doorbyfiring a shotgun, authoritiessaid. Officers found a manand a woman dead in theroom. It appears the man shotand killed the woman andthen turned the gun on himself,police said.

The woman was the super-visor of the gunman, they said.As the incident unfolded, tele-vision footage showed a heavypolice response including aSWAT team at the officebuild-ing along an interstate.A bro-ken window could be seen onone of the upper floors of the

building."(Officers) went insidethe office where the shootingwas taking place, and they dis-covered that the possible shoot-er was inside a particular officein a meeting room," Asst ChiefRandy Blankenbaker said."Theofficers were forced to utilise ashotgun to breach the frontoffice door," he said.

Blankenbaker said the vic-tim and suspect will not beidentified until the next of kinare notified Investigators saidthere were multiple witnessesin the building at the time ofthe shooting and were taken topolice headquarters for ques-tioning. The building wasdeclared to be safe around12:49 PM (local time). Picturesof the crime scene show dozensof people outside the buildingbeing evacuated. Anotherphoto shows a busted out win-dow on the far edge of theproperty.

One officer was injureddue to broken glass during thesearch and was taken to thehospital, the police depart-ment’s Twitter account said.

Sharif may file review petitionin Panamagate judgementPTI n ISLAMABAD

Pakistan Prime MinisterNawazSharif may file a

review petition against theSupreme Court's verdict in thehigh-profile Panamagate caseas his familyfears that thestrong observations made bythe five-judge bench may influ-ence the Joint InvestigationTeam's probe, a media reportsaid on Tuesday.

Sharif, 67, got a temporaryreprieve last week from theapex court which said there was"insufficient evidence" toremove him from office butordered setting up of a jointteam to investigate the graftallegations against his family.

The bench issued a land-mark 540-page split judge-ment ordering setting up of aJoint Investigation Team (JIT)comprising officials from dif-ferent agencies including thosefrom the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence and theMilitary Intelligence. The legal

wizards of the Sharif familyhave expressed fears that strongobservations might create prej-udice in the investigation of theJIT, which the apex courtordered tofurther probe himand his two sons, 'The ExpressTribune' reported.

A senior Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz (PML-N) leadertold the paper that legal mindsof the ruling party and theShariffamily's legal team havestarted deliberations overwhether to file a review petitionor not against the April 20judgement. He also said thatthe legal team had strong reser-

vationsover the observationsmade by every member of thelarger benchagainst membersof the Sharif family, particularlythe prime minister.

"We fail to understand whythe Supreme Court judges havegiven observations before theoutcome of theJIT'sinvestigation,” he said.If thejudges were saying that theycould not examineevidence atthis stage, why they had con-sidered and givenobservationson it, the senior leader said,adding that the judgementshould not be delivered on per-sonal likes and dislikes.

A senior PML-N lawyer,who was initially part of thelegal team, believes that therespondents must file a reviewpetition, otherwise the JIT'sprobe will be prejudiced.Counsel for the prime minis-ter, Makhoom Ali Khan, wholives in Karachi, arrived inIslamabad yesterday to delib-erate on whether a review peti-tion should be launched.

Bus-truck crashin Kenya kills atleast 26 peopleNairobi (AFP): At least 26people were killed and manyothers injured in a head-oncrash between a bus and atruck on the highwaybetween Nairobi and Kenya'ssecond city Mombasa, policesaid on Tuesday.

"It was a very bad head-on collision. We lost 26 peo-ple in the accident," LeonardKimaiyo, police chief for thesouthern town of Kibwezisaid. Another senior officersaid the bus, heading toMombasa, was overtakingseveral vehicles when it col-lided with an oil tanker.Kenya has a poor road safe-ty record, with up to 3,000people ki l led each yearaccording to police.

The World HealthOrganization puts the toll at12,000. In December at least40 people were killed anaccident around 100 kilome-tres (60 miles) northwest ofNairobi, in which a tankersmashed into several othervehicles before exploding.

world 12LUCKNOW | WEDNESAY | APRIL 26, 2017

Government giving top priorityto addressing bad loans issuePTI n WASHINGTON

Finance Minister ArunJaitley has asserted that

the government was giving toppriority to addressing the issueof bad loans while acknowl-edging that the problem ofnon-performing assets was"adversely impacting" theIndian banking system.

Speaking at the Councilon Foreign Relations here,Jaitley termed the resolution ofthe Non-Performing Assets(NPAs) as the "one very bigchallenge" going forward andthe government's "top priori-ty" at the moment.

He said the magnitude ofthe NPAs problem was thatessentially it was about 20 to30 big accounts. "It's not aproblem spread over hun-dreds of thousands ofaccounts...And it's not impos-sible for a large economy likeIndia to resolve 20 to 30accounts. So it's not an insur-mountable problem. I think it'sjust persisted too long, but it'scertainly adversely impactingus," he said.

"So if you were to ask me,there are a series of reform-changes which we've success-fully made. This is one hurdlewhich we are now required tojump, and that's where ourcurrent focus is," he said yes-terday. However, Jaitley saidthere was one constraint the

government was facing."It's not a constraint on the

leadership quality in the bank,but it's a constraint on theenvironment in which thebank bureaucracy functions. Ihave seen that the banks arenot bold enough to take theirdecisions because...our anti-corruption law is still a pre-lib-eralisation law," he said.

Jaitley emphasised thatone of the fundamental flawsin the anti-corruption law hasbeen that erroneous decision-making, which may be takinghair cuts in order to settle, getsidentified as an act of corrup-tion.

The parliamentary com-mittee has unanimously rec-ommended that this be cor-rected, he said. "And this is atthe final stage now. The rec-ommendation of a larger con-sensus parliamentary com-mittee has come.Hopefully, inthe next session we will takethis up," he said. "The bank

bureaucracy is going to be --or, for that matter, any bureau-cracy or a public servant deal-ing with

economic decisions, thenthey can decide on commer-cial considerations rather thanbe constrained as to the futureconsequences of their actionitself," Jaitley said.

"So the decision between apossible commercial decisionbeing treated as an act of cor-ruption, I think that the lawhas to eliminate that possibil-ity," he said. The Reserve Bankof India has come out withseveral guidelines and schemesunder which the banks havebeen empowered, Jaitley said.

Outlining these schemes,Jaitley said there was an insol-vency law in place and therewas another action which thegovernment has in the pipelinein order to resolve this.

"Essentially, it would also

mean that the defaulting com-panies will have to find part-ners, will have to go in foreither change of managements,they'll have to get investors.

And some precipitativeaction will be taken. This mayalso involve some hair cuts bythe banks, which would be abona fide commercial consid-eration," Jailtey said.

He noted that Indianbanks, particularly public sec-tor banks, have conventional-ly lent for both infrastructureand industry, rather than justretail lending.

"Now, during the boomperiod and thereafter, therewas lending in several sectors.And because of the globaldownturn and those sectorsbeing impacted, you found anadverse impact on some ofthose sectors," he said.

Further, he stressed that asa combined impact of theGST, demonetisation and sev-eral other steps, the govern-menthas taken, revenues inIndia are increasing quiterapidly.

"In fact, in the last threeyears, despite global slow-down, India has consistentlyseen 15 to 18 per cent annu-alrevenue growth, which isquite significant."And there-fore, I do see over the next sev-eral years this revenue growth,particularly as the result ofGST and the anti-evasionmeasures we've been taking,rapidly increasing," he said.

US state of Arkansas executes two prisoners in one night

Value investments by Indian

companies: US on H-1B issue

PTI n WASHINGTON

The US has said that it greatly valuesinvestments by Indian companies

and wants to see bilateral business tiesremain strong, days af terFinanceMinister Arun Jaitley raised theissue of tightening of the H-1B visaregime with his American counterpartSteven Mnuchin.

"We want to see US-India business-to-business ties remain strong," StateDepartment Acting Spokesman MarkToner told reporters at his daily newsconference.

He was responding to questions onthe ongoing review of H-1B visas by theTrump Administration and its impact onthe Indian IT companies, who are heav-ily dependent on it.

"We greatly value Indian companies'continued investment in the US econ-omy, which also, of course, supportsthousands of US jobs," Toner said."With respect to any new requirementson visas, I'd have to check and see ifthat's been updated," he said, adding thatunder the current government, the UShas been looking at ways to strengthenthe processes like visa interview andadmission processes.

Toner said that this had been thecase from the beginning of the Trumpadministration and certainly withrespect to immigration and with refugeeflows.

"Those processes are ongoing," hesaid. On being asked about the visareview process, Toner said, "It's impor-tant to remember that this is always apart of howour consular bureau worksand our consular officers work overseas,and our embassies and missions work

overseas, and that is we're always review-ing the processes that are in place toissue these visas and finding ways tostrengthen them, because we want toensure the security of the American peo-ple."

During his US visit, Jaitley onSaturday had raised theH-1B visa issuewith Treasury Secretary Mnuchin andhighlighted the contribution Indiancompanies and professionals were mak-ing to the US economy.

He had alsoraised the issue with USCommerce Secretary Wilbur Ross ear-lier. President Donald Trump had signedan executive order earlier this month fortightening the rules of the H-1B visaprogramme to stop its 'abuse', a decisionthat would impact India's USD 150 bil-lion IT industry. The Indian IT indus-try had expressed serious concernsover this as these visas were mainly usedby domestic IT professionals for short-term work in America. The H-1B is a

non-immigrant visa that allows UScompanies to employ foreign workers inspeciality occupations that require the-oretical or technical expertise in spe-cialised fields.

Indian technolog y companiesdepend on it to hire tens of thousandsof employees each year for their USoperations.The US market accounts forabout 60 per cent of the revenue of theIndian IT industry. the H-1B visa sys-tem was one of the major electionpromises of Trump. As per several USreports, a majority of the H-1B visasevery year are grabbed by Indian IT pro-fessionals. India accounts for the high-est pool of qualified IT professionals,whose services go a long way in mak-ing American companies globally com-petitive. The US had earlier this monthalso accused top Indian IT firms TCSand Infosys of unfairly cornering thelion's share of H-1B visas by puttingextra tickets in the lottery system.

AFP n WASHINGTON

The southern state ofArkansas, rushing to exe-

cute several inmates before alethal drug expires nextweek, put to death twoinmates, the first doubleexe-cution in the United States in17 years.

Arkansas AttorneyGeneral Leslie Rutledge saidthat Jack Jones and MarcelWilliams, both sentenced todeath in the 1990s, were exe-cuted by lethal injection afterhigher courts rejected theirfinal legal appeals. Arkansashad planned to put eightconvicted murderers to deathin 11 days -- a record, had itbeen carried out -- but fourhave won reprieves.

Jones, 52, was executedaf ter the US SupremeCourtrejected an 11th-hourrequest from his attorneysasking justices to reconsidera procedural issue from histrial. Williams, 46, died hourslater after his appeals wereexhausted. His lawyers hadfiled a string of last-minutechallenges, which includedallegations that Jones suf-fered unnecessarily becausehe was executed improperly,and that Williams was soobese that it would be hard tofind a proper vein for thelethal injection.

Arkansas Governor AsaHutchinson has said thea c c e l e r a t e d e x e c u t i o ntimetable was necessary asthe state's stock of a sedativeused in lethal injections willexpire at the end of the

month. Rutledge said in aseparate statements that thefamily and friends of thevictims had "seen justice car-r ied out" .The executionprocess began at 7:06 pm(0006 GMT Tuesday) andJones was pronounced deadat 7:20 pm, the ArkansasDemocrat-Gazette newspa-per cited Department ofC orrect ion spokesmanS olomon Graves assaying.Jones was calm as hemade a rambling final state-ment while strapped to thegurney, saying he tried tobecome abetter person andapologizing to Lacey, adaughter of Jones's victim,34-year-old Mary Phillips,the paper said, citing mediawitnesses in the death cham-ber.

Three hours later thelethal injection process beganonWilliams, who accordingto the newspaper refused tomake a final statement. Hewas pronounced dead at10:33 pm (0333GMT). Last

minute appeals had delayedthe execution, which hadbeen scheduled for one hourafter Jones's execution.

Last week, on Thursday,Ledell Lee was put to deathin the state's first executionin more than a decade. Manyof the legal clashes overArkansas's plan focus on useof the drug midazolam, asedative meant to renderacondemned person uncon-scious before other drugsinduce death.Critics say itdoes not always adequatelysedateprisoners, potentiallycausing undue suffering. AndMcKesson Medical-Surgical,a distributor forpharmaceu-tical giant Pfizer, had askedcourts to ban the us of a par-alytic it sells, vecuroniumbromide, in the chemicalcocktail used to kill prison-ers. Arkansas has scheduledanother execution for April27. The last US state to exe-cute two convicts in onenight was Texas in August2000.

Major action onH1-B visa wouldworry India: CEAPTI n WASHINGTON

Any "serious actions" taken bythe Trump Administration onthe H-1B visa programme would be a cause of "worry" as a

majority of Indian exports in theservices sector go to the US, ChiefEconomic Advisor Arvind Subramanian has said. "If there areserious actions taken it's something that'sgoing to kind of worryus a lot because, remember that ourexports of services are about40 to 45 per cent of the total exports,” Subramanian told an audi-ence here last week."Something like 50 to 60 per cent of all ourexports ofservices goes to the United States. So it would worryus quitea bit,” he said while responding to a question on the H1-Bvisa during his visit at the Peterson Institute, a top Americaneconomic think-tank.

Subramanian said that India would be "okay" as long as thevisa reforms are manageable and it's keeping a close watch onit."Anything that is going to interfere with export growth cre-ates anxiety (in India). In the context of the UnitedStates, we'reall watching very carefully the H1-B visasituation,” the ChiefEconomic Advisor said.

"On the visa side, I don't know but as long as you know wecan keep this thing manageable. You know it should be okay,”he said. During his US visit, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley hadalso taken up the the H-1B issue with the American side and-highlighted the contribution Indian companies andprofession-als are making to the US economy.

President Donald Trump had earlier this month signed anexecutive order for tightening the rules of the H-1B visa pro-gramme to stop its "abuse" and ensure that the visas are givento the "most-skilled or highest paid" petitioners, a decision thatwould impact India's USD 150 billion IT industry. The IndianIT industry expressed serious concerns over this as these visaswere mainly used by domestic IT professionals for short-termwork in America.

The H-1B is a non-immigrant visa that allows US compa-nies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that nre-quire theoretical or technical expertise in specialised fields. Indiantechnology companies depend on it to hire tensof thousands ofemployees each year for their US operations.The US marketaccounts for about 60 per cent of the revenue of the Indian ITindustry. Reforming the H-1B visa system was one of the majorelection promises of Trump. As per several US reports, a major-ity of the H-1B visas every year are grabbed by Indian IT pro-fessionals. India accounts for the highest pool of qualified IT pro-fessionals, whose services go a long way in making Americancompanies globally competitive.

‘Standardisation of names shows China less likely to make concessions'PTI n BEIJING

The standardisation of offi-cial names for six places in

Arunachal Pradesh shows thatChina is less likely to make"concessions" in the protractedborder negotiations with India,a Chinese expert said onTuesday.

An article in the GlobalTimes, written by LongXingchun, a research fellow atthe Charhar Institute and direc-tor of the Center for IndianStudies at China West NormalUniversity, noted that Chinaannounced earlier this monththat it has "standardised" thenames of six places inArunachal Pradesh.

It quoted Chinese ForeignMinistry spokesperson LuKang as saying at the time thatthe move was "legitimate andappropriate". Indian media out-lets believe the move is China's"revenge" against the 14th DalaiLama's visit to the "disputedregion" on the China-Indiaborder, said the article titled'New Delhi must avoid turningSino-Indian ties into con-frontation'.

"The standardisation ofnames demonstrates China isless likely to make concessionsin border negotiations withIndia," Long's article said.Border disputes are core con-flicts between Beijing and NewDelhi, the article said.

"Some radical Indiansbelieve India's military strengthhas seen rapid growth and areeager to triumph over China inpotential armed clashes," itsaid.

"In fact, India had moreadvantages in 1962, and it

should learn from its erro-neous strategic judgements andcarefully evaluate the currentinternational situation," said thearticle.

Both sides need to havemore strategic communica-tions to promote cooperation,maintain regional peace andstability, it said.

"New Delhi has arrangedthe Dalai Lama to visit the dis-puted area several times,attempting to strengthen con-trol over South Tibet(Arunachal Pradesh). Beijing,for the sake of friendly ties withNew Delhi, only lodged diplo-matic representations ratherthan taking retaliatory mea-sures against India's provoca-tions," it said.

The article stated that theBeijing-New Delhi relation-ship has encountered two "fric-tion points" since 2016 --India's Nuclear SuppliersGroup bid and blocking ofJaish- e-Mohammed chiefMasood Azhar's banning by

the UN.However, the article said

the Chinese governmentattaches great importance to itsrelationship with India. "Beijingwants to work together withNew Delhi to keep the conflictsunder control, stabilise thebilateral relations, enhance eco-nomic cooperation andencourage more Chineseenterprises to invest in India.These are beneficial to Modi's'Made in India' ambition andthe country's economic devel-opment," the article said.

Some Indian scholarsunderstand China's stance onthe issues of NSG and Azhar,and believe that India is free toexpress its dissatisfaction but itwas not necessary to deteriorateits relations with China, thearticle said. "A few other Indianobservers argue that the Modigovernment is utilising thetwo issues to instigate domes-tic nationalist sentiments so asto win more support in the nextelection," it said.

Exercise ‘keeps the mind sharp' in over-50sPTI n LONDON

Are you over 50 and show-ing signs of cognitive

decline? Then doing moderateexercise several times a weekis the best way to keep yourmind sharp, research suggests.

Thinking and memoryskills were most improvedwhen people exercised theheart and muscles on a regu-lar basis, a review of 39 stud-ies found.

This remained true inthose who already showedsigns of cognitive decline.Taking up exercise at any agewas worthwhile for the mindand body, the BBC quotedAustralian researchers as say-ing.

Exercises such as T'ai Chiwere recommended for peopleover the age of 50 who couldnot manage other more chal-lenging forms of exercise, thestudy in the British Journal ofSports Medicine said. Physicalactivity has long been knownto reduce the risk of a number

of diseases, including type-2diabetes and some cancers,and it is thought to play a rolein warding off the brain's nat-ural decline as we enter mid-dle age.

The theory is that throughexercise the brain receives agreater supply of blood, oxy-gen and nutrients that boost itshealth as well as a growth hor-mone that helps the formationof new neurons and connec-tions. In this analysis of pre-vious studies, researchers fromthe University of Canberralooked at the effects of at leastfour weeks of structured phys-ical exercise on the brain\func-tion of adults.

In a variety of brain tests,they found evidence of aero-bic exercise improving cogni-tive abilities, such as thinking,reading, learning and reason-ing, while muscle training - forexample, using weights - hada significant effect on memo-ry and the brain's ability toplan and organise, the so-called executive functions.

Joe Northey, study authorand researcher from theResearch Institute for Sportand Exercise at Canberra, saidthe findings were convincingenough to enable both types ofexercise to be prescribed toimprove brain health in theover-50s.

"Even if you are doing

moderate exercise only once ortwice a week there are stillimprovements in cognitivefunction, but the improve-ments were better the moreexercisewas done," he said.He said people should be ableto hold a conversation whiledoing moderate exercise.

Dr Justin Varney, lead for

adult health and wellbeing atPublic Health England, saidany physical activity was goodfor brain and body."Whilstevery 10 minutes of exerciseprovides some benefit, doing150 minutes a week cuts thechances of depression anddementia by a third, andboosts mental health at anyage.

"Doing both aerobic andstrengthening exercises leadsto a greater variety of healthbenefits," Varney said. DrDean Burnett, lecturer in neu-roscience and psychiatryatCardiff University, said thestudy gave a clearer picture ofhow exercise affected the brain- but there were still issues.

"It could lead to increasedpressure for the 50-plus agegroup to exercise more inorder to stay mentally healthy,which is good advice but alsooverlooks the fact that asweage it's increasingly difficultto engage in physical activity,as our bodies are simply lesscapable of it," he said.

China bans dozens of Muslim baby names in XinjiangPTI n BEIJING

China has banned dozens of Islamicnames like 'Saddam' and 'Jihad' for

babies belonging to the restive Muslim-majority Xinjiang province, in a movethat would prevent children from gettingaccess to education and governmentbenefits, a leading rights group said onTuesday.

Xinjiang authorities have recentlybanned dozens of names with religiousc o n n o t a t i o n s c o m m o n t o Mu s l i m saround the world on the basis that theycould "exaggerate religious fervour," theHuman Rights Watch (HRW) said.

Islam, Quran, Mecca, Jihad, Imam,Saddam, Hajj, and Medina are amongdozens of baby names banned under rul-ing Chinese Communist Party's "NamingRules For EthnicMinorities," an officialwas quoted as saying by Radio FreeAsia.

Children with banned names willnot be able to obtain a "hukou," orhousehold registration, essentia l foraccessingpublic school and other socialservices, it said. The new measures arepart of China's fight against terrorism inthis troubled region, home to 10 million

Muslim Uyghur ethnic minority.This is the latest in a slew of new reg-

ulations restricting religious freedomin the name of countering "religiousextremism," the HRW said. Conflictsbetween the Uyghur and the Han, themajority ethnic group in China who alsocontrol the government, are common inXinjiang.

A full list of names has not yet beenpublished and it is unclear exactly whatqualifies as a religious name, it said. OnApril 1, Xinjiang authorities imposednew rules prohibiting the wearing of"abnormal" beards or veils in publicplaces, and imposing punishments forrefusing to watch state TV or radio pro-grammes.

These policies are blatant violationsof domestic and international protectionson the rights to freedom of beliefandexpression, the HRW said.

P u n i s h m e nt s a l s o ap p e a r t o b eincreasing for officials in Xinjiang whoare deemed to be too lenient.

In January, the authorities imposed a"serious warning" on an official for com-plaining to his wife through a messagingapp about government policies.

Jones 52 and William 46

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 26, 2017vivacity {48 hours} 13

PERSONALITY 40 MINUTES EVENT SPACE 20 MINUTES

Keith Sequeira is plotting hisgraph backwards. From

being a “with it” veejay, a hotshotmodel, a wanted reality showcontestant and smart anchor, heis settling into domesticity onthe idiot box. He will be playinga prince in modern day India,Madhav Singh Ranavat, on thenew Star Plus finite soap Love KaHai Intezaar.

The new-born actor is quickto clarify though that the serieshas a year-long runtime with adefinite beginning and an end.And having packaged showsummaries as an anchor, heknows what to sell best. “This isnot the first time that a royalfamily and its intrigue havebeen shown on television. ButLove Ka Hai Intezaar has scaleand has been shot in an actualpalace. Our sets were used ear-lier in a Salman Khan film,” hetells us.

But is the content really newgiven that it could be a spinofffrom the pop version ofKhoobsurat starring FawadKhan and Sonam Kapoor?

Skimming over the contentoverlap, Sequeira focusses ondeveloping his acting abilities inthe presence of stalwarts fromthe industry. “I’m blessed tohave such an opportunity. Theartists that I am working withwith right now are so dedicat-ed that I somehow don’t get tiredof working. I see people puttingtheir heart and soul into the pro-ject. And the taut storyline isworth investing my time,” hesays.

His modelling experience ofplaying the complete man in a

series of ads for a fabric giant hasstood him in good stead. “Thathelped a lot as I knew how tocarry myself as this character. Ialso stayed with the locals ofRajgarh and sort of tried tounderstand their daily problemsto get a hold of the ‘Raja/Praja’concept,” he reasons.

Sequeira says he decided todo fiction rather late in the daybecause the industry is goingthrough a shakeout and is high-ly content-oriented. “It is notpossible to engage the viewer inplots that would go on for fiveor ten years with unwantedtwists. Our show has a briefstructure that will end in its duecourse of 10 years.”

The initial promos of theshow are out and already hislook is being compared toFawad’s in Khoobsurat. But he israther sporting. “Fawad is a real-ly good-looking guy and has thatroyal charm. So instead of diss-ing away the comparison Iwould say yes, my look sure doesseem to be inspired by him,” hesquares off.

Rarely do TV actors get to break stereotypesgiven their short shelf life and the need to con-

form to a TRP-driven pattern. But actor AvineshRekhi has managed to reinvent himself within alimited space and time. He has got a certaincharm, spark and a brooding silence. After play-ing the multi-layered lead in Chhal — Sheh AurMaat and a negative character in Madhubala, heis back with new show Tu Sooraj, Main SaanjhPiyaji as a very conservative Uma Shankar in smalltown India.

Talking about the sequel of the hugely pop-ular Diya Aur Baati Hum, he says, “It’s a newstory. It’s not quite related to the first plotlinealthough some characters like Bhabho,Meenakshi and Baba sa are from the first sea-son. The story is very fresh. It is about peo-ple who are meant to be together, who crosspaths in the most unexpected manner andin the end complete each other.”

“The previous season of this show hassuch a legacy that I feel privileged to con-tinue the baton. My character Uma Shankarisn’t linear. He just has a traditionalapproach towards life but isn’t negative ordominating. He is a Shiv bhakt and lives theconventional life of a Brahmin with no inter-est in the outside world,” he adds. The trans-formation from this mindset to accommo-date the new world around him is anonscreen challenge he has prepped him-self for. “In culture and values, me and mycharacter are very similar although I amnot at all rigid in my perception aboutwomen. I believe in equality. So toadapt that character, I did Surya

Namaskar everyday without fail. I worked exten-sively on my body for six months. And to do jus-tice, I followed a strict ‘Keto’ diet,” he says.

The shoot has been largely outdoor, inKerala and Rajasthan. “Recreating the Bahubalimoment (standing under a waterfall) was a chal-

lenging job for me but my confidencegrew when I could see the camera cap-turing me.”

Avinesh’s journey as an actorstarted in 2005 when he started doingadvertisements in Mumbai. He was

also a student of Shiamak Davarwho mentored him and helped

him meet photographers.“Then came a phase in my lifewhen I was scared aboutlong-term prospects in theindustry. For back-up, I com-pleted my post-graduationfrom Australia but I alwayswanted to become an actor.And as fortune favours the

brave, I got a small role in DilBole Hadippa. After that Ibecame more confident aboutpursuing my passion. In 2012,I got my first show Chhal —Sheh Aur Maat and then aseries of shows started comingto me,” recalls Avinesh.

He advises budding actors tobe dedicated and patient enoughif they want to last in the indus-try. “You have to be religiousabout your work. The restdepends upon destiny.”

Future plans? “I amfocussed only on Tu SoorajMain Saanjh Piyaji and have noplans for reality shows as I amhappy in my own space. What

matters most is portraying mycharacter properly and taking theaudience on a journey withhim,” he says, signing off.

As we enter Kiran Juneja’shouse at Niti Bagh, aYorkshire jumps on us.

“Don’t worry it won’t bite,” shesays.

“I look like a mess, don’t I?”she asks, looking graceful in herorange kurta.

Years ago Kiran made apower-packed entry on thesmall screen with the accolade-winning portrayal of Veerawaliin Buniyaad and Ganga inMahabharat. Today she is anartist, painter, director, produc-er and a teacher-to-be.

Imparting his knowledgethrough his Ramesh SippyAcademy of Cinema andEntertainment, the veteranfilmmaker, Ramesh Sippy hasventured into another field.

“I am the MD and will alsobe taking classes,” she shares.

How did it happen? Askabout it, she takes a deepbreath and says, “Dreams haveto begin somewhere. It hadstarted long ago, we used todiscuss education from time totime and Sippy ji would say, ‘Iwant to start a school but Idon’t know how to start, I real-

ly want to take this thoughtforward.’ And from last

five years we figuredthat there has been agrowth and expan-sion in our industry.

We are gettingall the internationalwork, be it VFX oranimation becausethe labour is rela-tively cheap here.Web series havestarted now, digitalmedia has pickedup, social media isthere. There are somany disciplines tolearn and imbibe.That is when weseriously startedthinking that weshould start some-thing as it’s the need

of the hour. Seventy per cent of

the education is goingto be practical and 25

per cent will be theory. Bypractical I mean the student

will actually shoot a short filmthat will be written and

directed by his peers.We have incorpo-

rated manyother aspects

so thate v e r ychild has

a personalview of film-

making,” she says,articulating hervision. We aresitting in herliving room,sipping ourcoffee. Kiranp o i n t stowards a

painting and tells us, “That’smine. There was a point in mylife when I was obsessive aboutpainting. I would just get up,not even eat breakfast and godirectly to my studio. My hus-band had to literally drag medown for breakfast. So whatev-er I have done in my life, I havedone with passion and commit-ment. It is very important inwhatever you do. It gives youthe sense of achievement. I ama self- trained painter andactor. I have this passion forlearning as it gives me theopportunity to grow and learn.I have even written at times,directed and produced ven-tures. I have done interior dec-oration too. Anything creativegives me a great pleasure.”

Kiran feels that the currentbrigade of actresses has lostidentity as everyone looks thesame onscreen.“The only thingI feel sad about is that I thinkthe women have lost theiridentity somewhere today. Ifyou watch actresses likeSadhana, Sharmila Tagore,Madhubala and even Srideviand Madhuri Dixit, each hadtheir own style and personali-ty. Like Sadhana’s haircut. It wasa regular fringe but she popu-larised it. Can you name any-thing like that today?Unfortunately today’s actress-es are being styled and I don’tknow for what reasons they areafraid to break away. It’s verydifficult to identify themonscreen. If it is a long shot youcan’t, same hair, same clothes.I wish they would come out ofthis image trap,” she shares.

Ask her about her ownstyle and she says, “I have a mixof everything. I don’t believe infollowing trends. I have a set ofpeople working for me, I callthem if I have a design in mind.I pick up a lot of stuff from mytravels abroad. I might also pickup unbranded stuff if I like it.I do not wear what makes melook bad even if it’s trendy. Youshould know your sellingpoints. You have good legs,show them. If you have badlegs, please keep them covered.Do not be a blind follower.”

Photo: Pankaj Kumar

Women actors have losttheir sense of identity,says KIRAN JUNEJASIPPY as she gets candidwith UNNATI JOSHI

Still got the fire

I HAVE A MIXOF

EVERYTHING.I DON'T

BELIEVE INFOLLOWINGTRENDS. I

HAVE A SETOF PEOPLEWORKINGFOR ME, I

CALL THEM IFI HAVE A

DESIGN INMIND

Actor AVINESH REKHI saysportraying his character properlyand making the audience flowwith the story in a good way ismore important to him thanbeing part of a reality show. ByVAIBHAV RATRA

Happy in his space

Model-anchor KEITH SEQUEIRA now turns a daily soap lead, playing a new-agePrince Charming. SIDHARTH CHAUDHARY asks him if this gamble will work

Regally correct

Dresses are the bestgo-to options

when it comes toworkwear. They arechic and comfortable,and come in a varietyof silhouettes andstyles. Pep up yourwardrobe with quirkyyet sophisticated dress-es or wear your sum-mer dress over a crispshirt to up your dress-ing game.

“When choosingyour workwear dress,always make sure youpick the right cuts.Anything A-line,body-hugging or but-ton down should bethe easiest pick,”saidShreyasi, Head Stylistat Vajor

Bottoms areone thing you

can have a lot offun with. Let goof your old bor-ing corporatepants and makeway for some Ikatculottes andpants withquirky embroi-dery that willadd to your allnew personality.

“A bold,bright hue thatcan never go outof vogue is backagain. Layeryourself head-to-toe in Fuschia,the most fash-ionable shadeand set the moodfor the season. Acute skater dresswith a bow shirtlooks fab nomatter the occa-sion,” said TanviMalik, CEO,FabAlley.

Jumpsuits are themost comfort-

able and stylishoutfits to carry oute f f o r t l e s s l y…Forget your dailywoes of pairingyour outfits andjust jump intothose jumpsuitswith Ikat prints,breezy silhouettesor soothing huesto run throughyour busy workdayeasily.

“Apart fromwhat to wear, alsoknow what youroutfit should bemade of and pickabsorbent andwrinkle free fab-rics. Also, alwayshave a pair ofwedges, some nicescarves and mini-malistic jewelrypieces to makeaccessorising yourlooks effortless”Shreyasi told us.

Shrug

it up

Ashrug is like the‘cherry on the

cake’... It instantly liftsup any outfit from abasic to a more for-mal one. Layer yourshrugs and jackets fora formal look and takethem off in theevening for a morerelaxed party look andyou are good to go!

The right shirt

Dressy play

Trim Jumpsuits Perfect pants

Experiment more withthe cuts, colours and

prints and try shirts andblouses that are in pacewith the ongoing trendsyet elegant enough for yourever yday off ice wear.Embroidered, striped, coldshouldered and pinstripedshirts can be worn to workwithout any secondthought!

“Shirts are a styleweapon when comes toworkwear! Pick out pastelcolours and stripes this sea-son. Also, embroidery is atrend you can easily incor-porate in your office wear

using embroidered shirtsand tops in clean silhou-ettes,”Shreyasi added.

“Ruffles, from prettyfrills to oversized decora-tion, neatly arranged or indisarray, are big trend win-ners,” shared Tanvi Malik.

Looking stylish at work doesn’t always need a suit. Here’s a guide tocasual dressing in summer

Crack the dress code

Is there a daily challenge more exhaustingthan finding something to wear to work?

When it comes to workwear, you want some-

thing that is comfortable, easy-going, modestand yet exuberates your identity, somethingthat breaks the monotony and adds a little

oomph to your wardrobe. So, here are a fewideas that you can wear to your next meetingand make a lasting impressio.

sport 14LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 26, 2017

AP n MADRID

With its cushion at the top gone,Real Madrid needs wins.

Another setback in the final roundsof the Spanish league could leave the titlein the hands of Barcelona, which is car-rying all the momentum after the last-minute win against Madrid at theSantiago Bernabeu Stadium over theweekend.

"Our fate is still in our hands,"Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane saidTuesday. "It's still all up to us. We will keepdoing our best to try to win matches. Weare not going to change anything."

Barcelona leads on the head-to-headtiebreaker, but Madrid has a game inhand. Madrid will next face Deportivo LaCoruna on Wednesday. Barcelona has amuch easier game, against last-placeOsasuna at the Camp Nou.

Madrid led 26 of the 33 rounds so far,and was as many as six points ahead ofBarcelona. It had been holding on to athree-point advantage for several weeksuntil finally giving it away with theheart-breaking home loss on Sunday.

"We still only depend on ourselvesand we are going to give everything wehave to win La Liga," Madrid captainSergio Ramos said. "The defeat toBarcelona hurt us because of the situationthat we had before the game, but there isno time to lament. We have to turn thepage and start focusing on the nextmatch."

It will help Madrid's confidence thatit has beaten Deportivo the last seventimes the teams met, including the lastthree league games in La Coruna.Deportivo defeated Barcelona at home lastmonth, but it has won only once in sixgames since then. It is 16th in the 20-teamstandings, eight points clear of the rele-gation zone.

Ramos won't be able to play onWednesday because of the red card hereceived late in the game againstBarcelona. Madrid also won't be able tocount on Gareth Bale, who left Sunday's

game before halftime because of a left calfinjury. Raphael Varane is expected toreplace Ramos, and either Marco Asensioor Francisco "Isco" Alarcon will likely playin Bale's place.

Madrid is trying to win its firstleague trophy since 2012 and avoid itsbiggest title drought in the league sincethe 1980s.

"The pressure remains the same,"

Zidane said. "Our only obligation is togive our best and to try to win everymatch."

Madrid will have to split its attentionbetween the title race and the semifinalsof the Champions League, which will beplayed in the coming weeks. The secondleg against city rival Atletico Madrid willbe played just before the league's second-to-last round.

The team's game in hand is at CeltaVigo and is likely to be played justbefore the final round.

Barcelona, already eliminated fromthe European competition, can fully focuson the Spanish league. The Copa del Reyfinal against Alaves will only be playedafter the league has already finished. "Younever know how that is going to affect theteams," Barcelona coach Luis Enrique said."We can't pay attention to our rival. Wehave to be prepared to play our best foot-ball and win the matches."

He said the victory at the Bernabeulifted the team's morale after a run of dis-appointing results.

"It's obvious that it was important psy-chologically," Luis Enrique said. "It gaveus a boost of confidence going into theend of the season, but we will need to bevery consistent in this final stretch."

BALE COULD MISS UCL S/FReal Madrid forward Gareth Bale is

expected to miss the Champions Leaguesemifinals because of a calf muscle injury.

The club said tests on Tuesday con-firmed the extent of the left calf injurythat forced Bale to leave the Spanishleague game against Barcelona on Sundaybefore halftime.

Madrid did not specify how long itexpects Bale to be sidelined, but similarinjuries usually require three to fourweeks of recovery time.

The first leg against city rival AtleticoMadrid in the Champions League semi-finals is next week. The second leg is onMay 10.

Bale was out for nearly three monthsthis season after surgery on his rightankle.

AP n LONDON

We move on", was the firm message from Spursmanager Mauricio Pochettino after its FA Cup

semifinal defeat."The motivation is always there and we will find

it again because it's our passion to play football," theArgentine said ahead of their clash with Crystal Palace.

After an impressive 2-1 win over Liverpool atAnfield on Sunday, Crystal Palace manager SamAllardyce is looking to preserve his remarkable recordof never being relegated from the Premier League dur-ing his managerial career.

Victory lifted Palace up to 12th place on 38 pointsahead of Wednesday's game.

ARSENAL VS LEICESTERArsenal has slipped to seventh place, seven points

behind fourth-placed Manchester City but has gamesin hand on the sidesabove it. ManagerArsene Wenger wasencouraged by thecharacter his sideshowed to come frombehind to defeatManchester City intheir FA Cup semifi-nal at Wembley onSunday.

"I felt as well thatwhat was questionedwas answered on thepitch," the Frenchmansaid, responding toclaims by critics thatArsenal lacked spirit.

Wenger's sideshould be confident ofthree points, withLeicester having not won a league game against Arsenalsince 1994.

Last season's clash at the Emirates produced latedrama with Danny Welbeck scoring Arsenal's winnerin the fifth minute of stoppage time. Defeat ultimate-ly did not cost Leicester, which went on to be crownedchampion.

MIDDLESBROUGH VS SUNDERLANDHopes of avoiding relegation look bleak for both

clubs from northeast England, with the teams firmlyentrenched in the bottom two places.

Middlesbrough is without a win in 16 PremierLeague games, a run stretching back to Dec. 17, andappears set for an immediate return to theChampionship. It is not difficult to pinpoint the team'sproblem — it is the league's lowest goal scorers, hav-ing managed just 23 all season.

Steve Agnew's' appointment as interim manager lastmonth after Aitor Karanka's dismissal has brought noupturn in fortunes.

Sunderland, which is three points behindMiddlesbrough but has a game in hand, has lost six ofits last eight matches in the league.

MAN CITY VS MAN UNITEDBoth sides might have expected to be challenging

for the title at this stage of the season, rather than bat-tling it out to secure a top-four finish and a ChampionsLeague place. City is fourth, just one point and one placeabove United.

AP n NEWCASTLE

After one season in the EnglishChampionship, Newcastle United

secured an immediate return to thePremier League by beating PrestonNorth End 4-1 on Monday.

Under Rafa Benitez, the formerLiverpool manager who won theChampions League during his time atAnfield, Newcastle enjoyed an impres-sive season although two defeats and adraw in its last three league games ledto a few nerves at the north-east club.

One of England's best supportedclubs which regularly attracts crowdsmore than 50,000 for home games,Newcastle sealed promotion with twomatches remaining.

Championship leader Brighton andHove Albion secured one of the twoautomatic promotion places a week ago.Brighton leads Newcastle by four points.

Benitez was unable to saveNewcastle from relegation last seasonafter being appointed for the last 10games, but decided not to activate aclause in his three-year contract allow-ing him to leave if the club was demot-ed.

The former Real Madrid manager,after meetings with owner Mike Ashleyand managing director Lee Charnley,announced his intention to stay in May

and his decision has been vindicated.Despite selling Dutch midfielder

Gini Wijnaldum to Liverpool for areported 25 million pounds followingrelegation, Benitez has acted astutely inthe transfer market.

The signings of striker DwightGayle from Crystal Palace and Scotlandwinger Matt Ritchie from Bournemouth

have paid dividends, with Gayle scoring22 league goals and Ritchie 12.

An awful start to the season whenNewcastle lost its opening two leaguegames was quickly erased with five suc-cessive wins, creating a momentum thatstalled only in the past month, on theverge of promotion. It got there in theend.

AP n NEW YORK

Serena Williams is briefly back at No.1 in the WTA rankings, despite not

playing a match since January - and withplans to take the rest of 2017 off becauseshe is expecting a baby.

Thanks to a calendar quirk, Williamsmoved up one spot Monday from No. 2,swapping places with Angelique Kerber.

The return to No. 1 , which gives the35-year-old American her 317th weekthere, comes less than a week afterWilliams let the world know via Snapchatthat she is pregnant. The baby is due inthe fall, and spokeswoman Kelly BushNovak said Williams will take off the restof this season and intends to return to thetour next year.

Williams confirmed that timetable onInstagram on Monday, when she posteda photo of herself and a note addressedto "My Dearest Baby."

"You gave me the strength I didn'tknow I had. You taught me the truemeaning of serenity and peace. I can'twait to meet you. I can't wait for you tojoin the players box next year. But mostimportantly, I am so happy to share beingnumber one in the world with you.... once

again today," the post reads.Williams closed it with: "from the

world's oldest number one to the world'syoungest number one. -Your Mommy"

The reason Williams was able to sup-plant Kerber for at least a week - and pos-sibly more - is that the women's clay-court tournament that is being played thisweek in Stuttgart, Germany, was playeda week earlier a year ago. So Kerber, atwo-time defending champion at thatevent, lost the rankings points she earnedthere and can't replace them until the endof this year's tournament.

Kerber can reclaim the top rankingby winning two matches in Stuttgart.

AFP n KINGSTON (JAMAICA)

Yasir Shah ripped through thetop order of the West Indies

second innings in the final ses-sion of another long day to putPakistan on course for victory atthe end of the fourth day of thefirst cricket Test at Sabina Park,here.

After captain Misbah ul Haqbecame just the sixth batsman inTest history to be left stranded on99 not out as Pakistan were dis-missed for 407 in their firstinnings, the hosts, trailing by 121runs, were reduced to 93 for fourat stumps yesterday with Shahtaking all four wickets.

They go into the final dayneeding another 28 runs to erasethe first innings deficit with thepair of nightwatchman,Devendra Bishoo and debutantVishaul Singh, expected to beunder immense pressure, espe-cially from the rampant leg-spin-ner, when play gets underway ona wearing pitch on the finalmorning.

Shah struck with his veryfirst delivery, bowling KraiggBrathwaite with a ball that skid-ded through on the openingbatsman.

He quickly added the scalpsof newcomer Shimron Hetmayerand Shai Hope before finishingoff with the important wicket of

Kieran Powell, the opener takenat slip by Younis Khan for a well-played 49.

That late drama was in con-trast to the pedestrian progressthrough the first two sessions ofthe day as Misbah worked histeam into a dominant positiondespite being left one run short

of an 11th Test century.Last man and debutant

Mohammad Abbas was trappedleg- before by Roston Chase onthe stroke of the tea interval.

In his usual phlegmaticmanner, Misbah ensuredPakistan constructed their posi-tion of dominance via a succes-

sion of partnerships after theyresumed on the fourth morningat 201 for four and facing thethreat of the second new ball.

Yet it was a far from a flaw-less effort as the West Indiesextended their season of woe inthe field, allowing the opposingskipper to escape when he

should have first been taken atshort-leg by Singh off ShannonGabriel and then later on in themorning session by AlzarriJoseph running back at mid-offto the bowling of leg-spinnerBishoo.

It was Bishoo who eventuallybroke an 88-run sixth-wicketstand between Misbah andSarfraz Ahmed, the wicketkeep-er batsman playing in his usualpugnacious manner in getting to54 before he was bowled aroundhis legs attempting a sweep shotjust after lunch.

During the course of hisinnings, Ahmed went past 2,000runs in his Test career.

Misbah achieved a mile-stone of his own when henotched his 5,000th Test careerrun before reaching the half-cen-tury mark and began to play anincreasingly important rolethrough the afternoon session asthe West Indies emerged fromthe listless indifference of the firstsession to finally get among thewickets.

Joseph removedMohammad Amir and WahabRiaz in quick succession to fin-ish with three wickets in theinnings, the same as fellow open-ing bowler Gabriel.

When substitute fielderJermaine Blackwood ran outShah, Misbah was on 68 with thescore at 373 for nine.

REAL CANNOT HAVE ANY MORE SLIP-UPS

After losing crucial clash against Barcelona, there is no room for error for Madrid in Liga

MADRID LED 26 OF THE 33 ROUNDS SO FAR, AND WAS ASMANY AS SIX POINTS AHEAD OF BARCELONA. IT HAD BEEN

HOLDING ON TO A 3-POINT ADVANTAGE FOR SEVERAL WEEKSUNTIL FINALLY GIVING IT AWAY WITH A LOSS ON SUNDAY

Serena at No.1, despitenot playing since January

Newcastle promoted to EPL SPURS LOOK TOBOUNCE BACKOVER PALACE

Pak in command after Misbah left stranded on 99

ASCA ENTER FINALAbhijeet Sinha Cricket Academy

defeated Gemini Cricket Academy byfour wickets to enter the final ofBentota T20 Cricket Champiosnhip.ASCA will now face Bentota CricketAcademy on Wednesday.BRIEF SCORES:Gemini: 101 (Chamaka 29, R Lokesh24; Manmath Twari 21/4, AdilHussain 19/3)ASCA: 104 (Shashank Verma 38,Sarthak 42; C Fernendo 29/2, Denith30/2)

JYOTI CLUB BEAT NDBGJyoti Club beat NDBG Club by

five wickets to enter the final of Saud-ul-Hasan T20 Cricket tournament atRB Tiwari Stadium on Tuesday.BRIEF SCORES:NDBG: 107 (Rajat 44, Mandeep 18;Piyush 3/3, Vinay 16/2, Vansh 21/2,Jamshed 25/2)Jyoti: 108 (Manish 40, Ashraf 35;Mohit 27/2)

PALM INFRA WINPalm Infra thrashed Purple Seas

by 63 runs in a league match ofMicrolit T20 Night CricketTournament at Microlit Gymkhanaon Tuesday.BRIEF SCORES:Palm Infra: 169 (Artf 46, Kenny 26,Anshul 19; Ashish 41/5, Kamran27/2, Rizwan 32/2)Purple Seas: 106 (Dhrul 22, Kamran19, Deepesh 15; Sagar 14/4, Love21/2, Arif 32/2).

Local Events

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 26, 2017 15

Former India all-rounderIrfan Pathan got an IPL life-

line after the strugglingGujarat Lions roped him as

Dwayne Bravo's replacement

4s

6s 353

boundarymeter

801

O T H E R S P O R T

TODAYINACTION

HARIKRISHNA GOES DOWN FIGHTINGSHAMKIR (AZERBAIJAN): IndianGrandmaster Pentala Harikrishna fought hardbefore going down against World No 4Vladimir Kramnik Russia in fourth round ofthe Shamkir Chess tournament, here. TheRussian took 42 moves to finish the gameagainst the World No 14 Indian Grandmaster,who tried all tricks up his sleeves but failed tosave the game yesterday. Earlier on Sunday,Harikrishna played an interesting gameagainst local Grandmaster Teimour Radjabov.The Hyderabadi used Ragozin defense but tohis dismay his opponent surprised him withcounter moves in the third round game.Harikrishna was quick enough to display hismeticulous skills and turned the game into ahalf point in quick 28 moves.

NASIR CHALLENGES SPOT-FIXING CHARGES KARACHI: Pakistan opener Nasir Jamshed haschallenged the spot-fixing charges framedagainst him by Pakistan Cricket Board. Nasirhas also asked the PCB to keep him out of anyinvestigation until the UK's crime investigationagency concludes its inquiry against him."Basically Nasir has informed the Boardthrough a legal response that he will be con-testing the charges laid out against him in thenotice sent to him earlier," a source in PCBsaid. Crime agency has been allowed toextend his bail to June 21 in London. The PCBclaims that Nasir, who is in the eye of a stormover the spot-fixing scandal in the PakistanSuper League, has not been available forquestioning to PCB officials as he resides inthe UK.

SUBRATA PAUL FAILS DOPE TESTNEW DELHI: India's top goalkeeper SubrataPaul is staring at a career-threatening four-year ban for failing a dope test but has vowedto prove himself innocent by going for theconfirmatory 'B' sample test. The 30-year-oldPaul returned positive for terbutaline in thetests conducted by National Anti-DopingAgency on his urine sample taken on March18 during the national camp in Mumbai. AllIndia Football Federation general secretaryKushal Das said Paul flunked an out-of- com-petition test last month. Paul said he will gofor the 'B' sample test. "I will request for the'B' sample test as I believe that I have notdone anything to fail a dope test. All the play-ers were tested during the Mumbai nationalcamp and I never thought that my sample willreturn positive," he added.

WOOD RECALLED IN ENG SQUAD FOR CTLONDON: England has called up fit-againMark Wood for the forthcoming ChampionsTrophy campaign, but his fellow pace bowlerSteven Finn has been left out of the 15-mansquad. Wood has returned to fitness afterbeing sidelined for several months following athird ankle operation. Apart from that, thereare no real surprises in the squad, which willalso take on South Africa in a three-matchseries before the Champions Trophy. Agencies

S I N G L E S Q U O T E U N Q U O T E

PTI n PUNE

On a roll after three back-to-back wins, theresurgent Rising Pune Supergiant will facea tough challenge when they take on two-

time champions Kolkata Knight Riders in an IPLencounter here on Wednesday.

After languishing in the bottom-half of the tableinitially, Supergiant notched up three successivewins to grab the fourth place.

On Monday night, Pune eked out a three-runvictory over Mumbai Indians in a thrillingencounter, thanks to some effective bowling by BenStokes and Jaydev Unadkat at the death.

Opener Rahul Tripathi's batting has also boost-ed their campaign. The 26-year-old fromMaharashtra came up with scores of 31, 59 and 45in the last three matches.

Former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni tooshowed his vintage form with a sparkling 61 notout against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Skipper Steve Smith and Ajinkya Rahane havealso contributed from time to time and ManojTiwary has also played a few useful cameos.

In the bowling department, spinner Imran Tahirhas taken 10 wickets so far to emerge as the team'sbest bowler, while Stokes and Unadkat snapped sixand five wickets respectively so far.

Kolkata, on the other hand, have been prettyconsistent this season and are placed second in thepoints table with two losses and five wins in sevenmatches.

Skipper Gautam Gambhir led from the frontwith two half- centuries in the initial phase andwhen he failed to contribute, Robin Uthappa andManish Pandey have stepped up to do the bulk ofscoring.

In fact, Yusuf Pathan alsoproduced a 39-ball 59 againstDelhi Daredevils to rescue histeam once. So overall, KKRboasts of a formidable battingline-up.

During their last outinghowever, it was the KKRbowlers who produced a fantastic show to bundleout Royal Challengers Bangalore for 49 -- the low-est score in IPL's history.

Chris Woakes has taken 10 wickets in the sevenmatches that he has played, while Nathan Coulter-

Nile has scalped eight after featuring inonly three games for Kolkata. UmeshYadav too has seven wickets from fiveoutings.

Among the spinners, slow left-arm chinamanKuldeep Yadav has taken six wickets in as manymatches for KKR.

SquadKKR: Gautam Gambhir (C), Darren Bravo, Trent

Boult, Piyush Chawla, Nathan Coulter Nile, ColinDe Grandhomme, Rishi Dhawan, Sayan Ghosh,Shaikb-Al-Hasan, Sheldon Jackson, Ishank Jaggi,Kuldeep Yadav, Chris Woakes, Chris Lynn, SunilNarine, Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, AnkitRajpoot, Suryakumar Yadav, Robin Uthappa andUmesh Yadav. RPS: Steve Smith (C), Ajinkya Rahane, MahendraSingh Dhoni (WK), Ashok Dinda, Faf du Plessis,

Mayank Agarwal, Ankit Sharma, Baba Aparajith,Ankush Bains, Rajat Bhatia, Deepak Chahar,Rahul Chahar, Dan Christian, Lockie Ferguson,Imran Tahir, Jaskaran Singh, Usman Khawaja,Saurabh Kumar, Ben Stokes, Washington Sundar,Milind Tandon, Manoj Tiwary, Adam Zampa,Jaydev Unadkat, Ishwar Pandey, Rahul Tripathi,Shardul Thakur.

‘WILL BE DIFFICULT TO SET TREND’Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Gautam

Gambhir on Tuesday said it will be a challenge tomaintain the trend they had set in their last IPL out-ing by bowling out Royal Challengers Bangalore fora record lowest 49.

Chasing a modest target of 132, RCB's famedbatting line-up comprising the likes of Virat Kohli,AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle and Kedar Jadhav col-lapsed in no time.

On the eve of their next match against RisingPune Supergiant, Gambhir said it will be a difficulttask to continue in the same vein.

"It's difficult to set the trend, but it's more dif-ficult to maintain it," Gambhir told reporters.

"We have set the trend of intensity what youwant to play with. Now the biggest challenge is howwe can maintain it. That was one phase, now it isup to us.

"We have set the benchmark, now we need tomaintain it. You know one game it's easy to do butnow people will be expecting us to deliver again. Ihope the guys realise that and what I expect fromthe team and myself as well. It has to start from me,"he added.

AP n STUTTGART

Maria Sharapova's firstopponent after her 15-

month doping suspension saysthe Russian should not havebeen granted a wild card forthe Porsche Grand Prix orupcoming tournaments.

Roberta Vinci,who wil l faceSharapova in ahighly anticipat-ed f irst-roundmatch lateWednesday, does"not agree" withorganisers givingSharapova a freepassage into themain draw oftheir events.

"She is a greatplayer and I havenothing againsther. She paid forher mistakes,"Vinci said onMonday. "She canreturn to play butwithout any wildcards, without anyhelp."

Sharapova's sus-pension for using heart drugmeldonium after it wasbanned at the beginning of2016, ends on Wednesday,just in time to enter the open-ing round of the indoor claytournament she won threetimes in a row from 2012-14.

Vinci joined the likes ofCaroline Wozniacki,Dominika Cibulkova,Agnieszka Radwanska, andAngelique Kerber in speakingout against wild cards forplayers who return from adoping suspension. "I know(Sharapova) is important for

the tennis, for theWTA, for every-thing," Vinci said."She is a great per-son, a great player, agreat champion, butthis is my opinion."

The 36th-ranked Vinci, whoreached a careerhigh 10th a yearago, would try toforget about thewild-card debatewhen stepping oncourt onWednesday.

Vinci expected"a lot of the crowdon Wednesday tobe (cheering) forher. But I don'tknow about theplayers. A lot of

players will agree withme on the wild card."

Vinci lost all four setsand scored only four games intotal during her two previousmatches against Sharapova,but those were played onhard-court, 10 and five yearsago, respectively.

PTI n MUMBAI

Mumbai Indians off-spinner Harbhajan Singhsaid his captain Rohit Sharma, who has been

fined for showing dissent to the umpire, didn't mis-behave with the official and was only trying to clar-ify rules.

Sharma was at the crease when Mumbai need-ed 17 off the last over to win against Rising PuneSupergiant. After losing Hardik Pandya in the firstball, Sharma hit a six in the second but JaydevUnadkat pushed the third delivery wide after see-ing Sharma shuffle across the stumps.

Realising that the ball was veering away fromthe guideline for wide deliveries, Sharma left italone. However, umpire S Ravi didn't call it a wide.Disappointed with the decision, Sharma walked upto the umpire and protested even as the square-leg umpire A Nand Kishore intervened. He wasfined 50 per cent of his match fee after the inci-dent. "The ball was too far outside, to be honest,but I don't really know whether it was wide or not,"Harbhajan said at the post match conference.

"If both the batsman's leg move, then bowler

should get the margin, but Rohit's one leg hadmoved and as per me it should have been a wide.But we have to move on with the umpire's deci-sion and they played better than us and it was greatgame of cricket.

"He (Rohit) wanted to check what is the rulethen, where he need to stand, he did not shout at

the umpire and asked him why did he not call awide, he was asking where should I stand so thatit is called a wide, if the bowl so outside, the moreyou move, the bowler will get the margin," heexplained.

Harbhajan also differed that because of thatparticular ball, the hosts and specially Sharma lostthe momentum. "I don't know whether momen-tum was lost (because of the wide not being called),Rohit was hitting nicely but unfortunately he endedup hitting the ball straight in the air. That's whathappens, cricket is game, anything can happen,"he said. "Just before that he hit a six and a similarball went up in the air. I don't think momentumwould have lost, at that time (you need to do) asa batter, just see and hit the ball, Rohit was battingon 50 odd, so don't think there were chances tolose the momentum," he added.

Harbhajan, however, admitted that the 19thover of their innings bowled by Englishman BenStokes brought Pune back into contention.

Stokes, the costliest buy of this IPL, conced-ed only 7 runs, and Mumbai eventually lost by threeruns.

PTI n MUMBAI

He might not be scoring big runs inthe ongoing IPL, but Rising

Pune Supergiant opener AjinkyaRahane is a contented man as longas his contributions are bringingout positive results for his side.

Rahane so far has hit just onefifty (60 off 48 balls) in the ongoingIPL and that too came in the lungopener against Sunrisers Hyderabadon April 5.

Thereafter, Rahane's bat went silentbut the right-hander said he is satisfiedwith his personal form.

"I am happy the way I am batting at themoment. It is important to spend time in themiddle. Right now the way I am middlingand timing the ball, I am really happy. Aslong as we are winning matches I am happybecause that is important," Rahane said atthe post-match press conference onMonday night.

"Switching from Test to T20 format isabout mental adjustment and I did thatcompletely well," he said.

Mumbai needed 17 runs in the lastover for a win but Rsing PuneSupergiant left-arm pacer JaydevUnadkat did just to clinch the encounterin his side's favour.

Asked Rahane about the rationale

behind the final over to Unadkat overShardul Thakur, he said, "After the 19thover, when (Steve) Smith, I and Mahi

bhai (Mahendra Singh Dhoni) werediscussing who should bowl between

Shardul and Jaydev (Unadkat), we pickedup Jaydev. Shardul has good pace and wedidn't want to give batsman the pace inthe last over."

"Jaydev's pace is comparatively less-er than Shardul and his slower ball iseffective. The wicket was also little slowand Rohit (Sharma) was a set batsman,so our point was not to give thempace.

“One side of the ground issmall and one or two shots inthe last over (could have madethe difference). That was theplanning in the last over."

Terming Monday's win andthe one against Royal ChallengersBangalore as big, Rahane said that

each bowler has different stockballs.

"It is not easy to bowl yorkers,everyone has different bowling style.

Ben Strokes' stock ball is the yorker,which you saw in the 19th over. That

over was important for us. Jaydev's(Unadkat) strength is slower ball. Every

bowler has different plan," he signed off.

‘Rohit did not shout at umpire’

S T A T P I C K

100GAUTAM GABHIR WILLBECOME THE FIRST PLAYERFROM KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDER

TO COMPLETE A CENTURY OF MATCHES INIPL. THE LEFT-HANDED BATSMAN FROMDELHI APPEARED IN 40 MATCHES FORDELHI DAREDEVILS BEFORE JOINING THECURRENT TEAM IN 2011

FAISEL FEATURES

Live on Sony Six

PUNE

RPS vs KKR

HEADTO

HEADM 2

RPS 0

KKR 2WEDNESDAY | 8:00 PM

Sharapova set to return

Happy with my batting: Rahane

However, Maria's 1st opponent Vinci

opposes wild cards after doping ban

Resurgent Pune face Knight Riders

On back of thrilling victory, Supergiants look to maintain momentum against in-form Kolkata

OPENER RAHUL TRIPATHI'SBATTING HAS ALSO BOOSTED

THEIR CAMPAIGN. THE 26-YEAR-OLD CAME UP WITH

SCORES OF 31, 59 AND 45 INTHE LAST THREE MATCHES

VINCI JOINEDTHE LIKES OFWOZNIACKI,CIBULKOVA,

RADWANSKA,AND KERBERIN SPEAKINGOUT AGAINSTWILD CARDSFOR PLAYERSWHO RETURN

FROM ADOPING

SUSPENSION

SRH vs RCB match called off due to rainBENGALURU: The IPL match between SunrisersHyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore wastoday called off without a ball being bowled asincessant rain made the ground unplayable.

Both the sides got one point each from theabandoned match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Heavy rain lashed the city in the evening butstopped an hour before the start of the match. Itseemed for a while that the match would go aheadas scheduled and RCB players have even startedwarming up on the ground. But, it began drizzlingjust before the scheduled toss time and it con-tinued non-stop. Later, rain intensified and forcedthe abandonment of the match. There was no tossat all. Puddles of water were seen at several areasof the ground and frenetic efforts of the ground-staff went in vain as rain finally played the spoil-sport. Though the cut-off time for a five-overshootout match was 11.26pm, the umpires calledoff the match at around 11pm.

With the one point from the abandonedmatch, RCB jumped to sixth spot with fivepoints from eight matches while SRH remainedat third position with nine points from eightgames. SRH had won the first-leg match betweenthe two sides, the tournament's inaugural match,by 35 runs in Hyderabad. RCB, under India cap-tain Virat Kohli, were looking to come out of theembarrassing batting debacle when they were allout for just 49 in their match against KolkataKnight Riders at the Eden Gardens on Sunday butthey will have to wait longer to do so.

16LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 26, 2017the pioneer

rni no.2016/1957, regd no. ssp/lw/np-34/2016-18 ... cbi books ex-chief over coalgate fir filed...

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