rni regn. no. chheng/2012/42718, postal reg. no. - ryp dn ...€¦ · mitment to repeal article...

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P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday pegged BJP’s manifesto on the themes of “Rashtavad”, “Antodaya” and “Sushasan” even as the party declared it would provide 1 lakh interest-free loan to farm- ers for five years and spend 25 lakh crore for the development of villages during the same period. The party also resolved to have zero tolerance approach towards terrorism and achieve self-reliance in Defence sector. The BJP reiterated its com- mitment to repeal Article 370, which gives Jammu & Kashmir a special status, and Article 35A, which allows the State’s legislature to define permanent residents, and pledged in its manifesto to work towards ensuring return of Kashmiri Pandits to the valley. It was for the first time since the foundation of the BJP in 1980 that the manifesto was released in the absence of its veteran leaders LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi. In fact, Joshi headed the 2014 mani- festo drafting committee of the BJP. While repeating the old themes of the construction of Ram temple at the earliest and implementing Uniform Civil Code, the BJP manifesto stretched the party’s vision and goal-posts further to 2022 when the county would achieve 75 years of Independence and to 2047 when it would com- plete a century. Prime Minister Narendra Modi — who released the party’s manifesto titled “Sankalp Patra: Sankalpit Bharat Sashakt Bharat”, along with BJP president Amit Shah in the presence of senior leaders Rajanth Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Thawar Chand Ghelot and Ram Lal —said his Government have laid solid foundations from 2014-19 for a “New India” in 2022 by which time country would have achieved 75 goals. The 75-targets included doubling farmers income, pen- sion schemes for small and marginal farmers of 60 years of age and shopkeepers, ensuring “pucca” house to every family, availability of banking services within 5 kms to all individuals, LPG connection to all rural households and electrification of all households. Modi said by the time country achieves 100 years of Independence by 2047 “we will be a developed country”. He said the BJP Government would address and work for “aspirational India with vikas to be made a people’s movement”. He said the BJP Government has unrolled last- mile delivery to the common man and continues to work on the themes of “Rashtravad, Antodaya and Sushashan”. Focussing on water con- servation and availability of drinking water, the PM said his Government would, for the first time, set up a Jal Sakhti Mantralaya. He said a separate Ministry would be formed for fishermen also. Modi said he would work out how to max- imise utilisation of river waters and facilitate “Nal se jal” (potable tap water) to all house- hold by 2024. A UK High Court has reject- ed Vijay Mallya’s applica- tion to appeal against his extra- dition, a move that brings India closer in getting back the embattled liquor tycoon want- ed in alleged fraud and money laundering charges amount- ing to 9,000 crores. The 63-year-old former Kingfisher Airlines boss had filed the application seeking “leave to appeal” in the HC on February 14 against his extra- dition order, which was signed by UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid. “The applica- tion for permis- sion to appeal was refused by Mr Justice William Davis on 05/04/2019,” said a spokesperson for the UK Judiciary. “The appellant (Mallya) has five business days to apply for oral consideration. If a renewal application is made, it will be listed before a High Court judge and dealt with at a hearing,” the spokesperson added. Mallya’s “leave to appeal” application had been put before Justice Davis, who was to make a decision on the basis of papers submitted as part of the appeals process. Now that the “judge on papers” application has been rejected by Justice Davis, Mallya has the option to “renew his application for per- mission to appeal” by this Friday. “If he (Mallya) does so (applies for renewal), there will be an oral hearing at which the Administrative Court (High Court) will consider whether or not to grant per- mission to appeal,” a CPS spokesperson said. During the oral hearing, Mallya’s legal team and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) — on behalf of the I n d i a n Government — will renew their respec- tive claims for and against an appeal for a judge to deter- mine if it can proceed to a full hearing. While the rejection by the HC on Friday doesn’t mean that the appeal process in the case has come to an end, the latest decision does move the case one step further in favour of India in bringing back Mallya, who fled India in 2016. The latest ruling marks a fresh legal setback for Mallya who last week offered to cur- tail his “lavish” lifestyle after a bid by the banks to recoup some of the 1.145 billion pounds he owed as a result of the now-defunct Kingfisher V ice Admiral Bimal Verma has approached the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) seeking to know the reason for being superseded for the post of the Navy chief even though he was the senior most in the succes- sion line. His plea to the AFT comes after the Government on March 23 named Vice Admiral Karambir Singh as the next Navy chief, who will take over when incumbent Admiral Sunil Lanba retires on May 3. With his selection, the pre- sent Government for the sec- ond time bypassed the tradition of picking the senior most officer for the Navy chief’s post. The first instance was in 2016 when Bipin Rawat super- seded senior most officer Lt General Pravin Bakshi for the Army chief’s post. Giving possible reason for superseding Verma, younger brother of former Navy chief Nirmal Verma, sources said he had not commanded as chief of operationally important Western and Eastern Commands and these tenures are considered very important for being in the reckoning for the post of the Navy chief. Verma was reportedly overlooked for these postings as he was the principal direc- tor of naval operations during the 2005 Naval War Room leak in New Delhi. Several critical commercial and some operational documents were leaked. Verma came under scrutiny but was cleared with a “severe displeasure” note. He later served as India’s naval attaché in Iran and also com- manded a ship. It is a rare that a senior offi- cer has moved the AFT to seek the cause of being sidelined for the Navy chief post. T he IAF on Monday reiter- ated that it had shot down a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) F- 16 on February 27 during an aerial duel in Naushera Sector and said it has more credible radar evidence that is clearly indicative of the fact that Pakistan had lost one F-16 that day. “However, due to security and confidentiality concerns, we are restricting the information being shared in the public domain,” the IAF said. This assertion here by Air Vice Marshal RG Kapoor, assis- tant chief of operations and space, came three days after the IAF held an off-the-camera briefing to negate some US reports claiming all the F-16s of Pakistan were accounted for and the Indian version of shooting down a F-16 was not correct. Sharing some slides and maps for reference, Kapoor said the PAF aircraft had fired multiple AMRAAM missiles and the IAF had used counter measures and tactical manoeu- vres. In the aerial combat that ensued, Varthaman flying Mig- 21 shot down F-16. As shown in the radar images, the F-16 crashed and fell across the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK), he said. “There is no doubt that two aircraft went down in the aer- ial engagement on February 27, one was the Bison (MiG 21) of the IAF and the other was a F- 16 of PAF, conclusively identi- fied by its electronic signature and radio transcripts,” said the Air Vice Marshal. Detailed report on P5 T he Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has topped the national rank- ing of higher institutes released by the HRD Ministry on Monday. Delhi University’s Miranda House has been ranked the best among colleges across the country and the prestigious St Stephen’s College ranked fourth. The fourth edition of the Indian rankings based on the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2019 was announced by President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday. Of the top 10 institutes, seven are IITs. Among the top 10 colleges, six are from Delhi University which includes Hindu (2nd), Lady Shri Ram College (5), SRCC (7) and Hansraj College (9). Others in the list are Presidency College and Madras Christian College. The HRD Ministry has been publishing the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) since 2016. Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and the Banaras Hindu University ranked have been ranked sev- enth and 10th respectively. The Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, and IIT- Delhi came at second and third in the list, respectively. AIIMS is the top-ranking institution in medical sciences. Speaking on the occasion, the President said recent expansion of higher education in India has widened access and improved equity. “Even so, quality remains a concern. While there are islands of excellence, both in the public and private sectors, overall standards are uneven. As our higher education infrastructure continues to grow and enrol- ment rises, it is important to raise the bar. A nuanced approach is essential to ensure that higher education not only fulfils individual aspirations, but also achieves national goals and priorities,” he said at the award function. A total of 3,127 institutions participated in the ranking process under overall rankings, category-specific and domain specific ranking. In all, 4,867 applications for rankings were made by the 3,127 applicant institutions under various cat- egories and domains. A closer look at the insti- tutions ranked in overall cate- gory reveal that although the Central Government funded institutions continue to do well, some of the deemed-to-be universities, State-funded and private universities too appear prominently. Science, engineering and technological institutes domi- nate the ranking in overall category with as many as 23 institutes in the list. IIM Kolkata is the only manage- ment institute that could find a place in the first 50 in the overall category. IISER Pune and HBNI, Mumbai are a few new institutions which could claim a slot in top 50 in the overall category. Among the management colleges, top six ranks have been retained by Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), led by Bengaluru. IIT- Delhi, Mumbai and Roorkee are also among the top 10 in the category. Jamia Hamdard has been announced as the top var- sity for pharmacy, while National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, has been adjudged as the best law school. The ranking framework instituted in 2016 evaluates institutions on five broad generic groups of parameters, including Teaching, Learning and Resources (TLR), Research and Professional Practice (RP), Graduation Outcomes (GO), Outreach and Inclusivity (OI) and Perception (PR). T he Congress on Monday termed the BJP’s “Sankalp Patra” as “jhansa patra” (a deluded manifesto), and said the document failed to mention jobs, notebandi (demonetisation), GST and black money. The mention of Ram Mandir in the manifesto caught the attention of other political parties, including Left, and Trinamool, who termed the mention “as no surprise”. CPI(M) chief Sitaram Yechury said the saffron party has been using it for the last 30 years in a bid to “sharpen communal polarisation.” National Conference (NC) and BJP ally Janata Dal (United) too hit out at the rul- ing dispensation for its stand on Article 370 that grants spe- cial status to Jammu & Kashmir and Article 35A. E nding speculation about the fate of BJP turncoat Kirti Azad, the Congress on Monday fielded the former test cricketer from the Dhanbad Lok Sabha con- stituency in Jharkhand. Azad, an MP from Dharbhanga, had to shift to Jharkhand after the Congress agreed to give the seat to the RJD as part of the seat-sharing arrangement for the grand alliance in the Bihar. Azad, who was suspended by the BJP for anti-party activ- ities, had joined the Congress in February. The party also fielded Kalicharan Munda from Khunti ST seat in Jharkhand after changing the earlier announced candidature of for- mer Jharkhand Congress chief Pradeep Balmuchu. B astar has been a bastion of BJP for decades, but the resurgence of Congress in this tribal dominated region in 2018 Assembly elections has generat- ed hope within the grand-old party of toppling the saffron citadel. After its impressive victory in the recently concluded Assembly polls in the region, the Congress is desperate to win the Bastar Lok Sabha constituency. It has fielded sitting MLA and member of Bastar Development Authority (BDA) Dipak Baij against BJP’s former MLA Baidu Ram Kashyap. Apart from the two, five oth- ers are also in the fray, including Ayaturam Mandavi from BSP and Ramuram Maurya from Communist Party of India (CPI). Bastar, an important Scheduled Tribe reserved seat, was represented by late Baliram Kashyap since 1999 till his death in 2011. He was succeed- ed by his son Dinesh Kashyap who inherited the legacy and had won the general elections twice in 2011 and 2014. This time, as the BJP decided against fielding any sitting MP from Chhattisgarh, Kashyap was replaced by Baidu Ram. Bastar Lok Sabha con- stituency comprises eight assem- bly segments and seven among those now have Congress MLAs. Congress candidate Baij is confident that his party would repeat the performance of the assembly elections propelled by welfare measures taken by the newly formed Bhupesh Baghel Government. While talking to The Pioneer he said “the decisions of farm loan waiver of defaulting farmers, declaring Rs 2500 Minimum Support Price (MSP) for paddy, hike in support price of minor forest produce and historic decision of returning back the acquired land for Tata Steel in Lohandiguda region have win the hearts of tribal populace here”. Baij further claimed “People here will repose trust on the Congress this time and I am def- initely going to win from here with more than 2 Lakh votes”. Baidu Ram of the BJP on the other hand dismissed the Congress’s high hope. He was hopeful that the BJP workers who are unitedly working for him would ensure his victory. Regarding claim of Baij that historic decision of returning acquired land in Lohandiguda would play a key role in favour of the Congress, Baidu said it’s impact would be limited to a mere 10 villages and would not affect the entire constituency. He denied that the family members of late Baliram Kashyap were disgruntled. “All are cooperating and with the help of all, we are going to retain the seat for the BJP this time too”. Bastar will go to poll in the first phase on April 11 to decide whether BJP retains its citadel or Congress upstages the saffron party. RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015

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Page 1: RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN ...€¦ · mitment to repeal Article 370, which gives Jammu & Kashmir a special status, and Article 35A, which allows the

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Monday pegged

BJP’s manifesto on the themesof “Rashtavad”, “Antodaya” and“Sushasan” even as the partydeclared it would provide �1lakh interest-free loan to farm-ers for five years and spend �25lakh crore for the developmentof villages during the sameperiod.

The party also resolved tohave zero tolerance approachtowards terrorism and achieveself-reliance in Defence sector.

The BJP reiterated its com-mitment to repeal Article 370,which gives Jammu & Kashmira special status, and Article35A, which allows the State’slegislature to define permanentresidents, and pledged in itsmanifesto to work towardsensuring return of KashmiriPandits to the valley.

It was for the first timesince the foundation of the BJPin 1980 that the manifesto wasreleased in the absence of itsveteran leaders LK Advani andMurli Manohar Joshi. In fact,Joshi headed the 2014 mani-festo drafting committee ofthe BJP.

While repeating the oldthemes of the construction ofRam temple at the earliest andimplementing Uniform CivilCode, the BJP manifestostretched the party’s vision andgoal-posts further to 2022when the county would achieve75 years of Independence andto 2047 when it would com-

plete a century. Prime Minister Narendra

Modi — who released theparty’s manifesto titled“Sankalp Patra: SankalpitBharat Sashakt Bharat”, alongwith BJP president Amit Shahin the presence of senior leaders Rajanth Singh,Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley,Thawar Chand Ghelot andRam Lal —said hisGovernment have laid solidfoundations from 2014-19 fora “New India” in 2022 bywhich time country wouldhave achieved 75 goals.

The 75-targets includeddoubling farmers income, pen-sion schemes for small andmarginal farmers of 60 years ofage and shopkeepers, ensuring“pucca” house to every family,availability of banking serviceswithin 5 kms to all individuals,LPG connection to all ruralhouseholds and electrificationof all households.

Modi said by the timecountry achieves 100 years ofIndependence by 2047 “wewill be a developed country”.He said the BJP Governmentwould address and work for“aspirational India with vikas tobe made a people’s movement”.

He said the BJPGovernment has unrolled last-

mile delivery to the commonman and continues to work onthe themes of “Rashtravad,Antodaya and Sushashan”.

Focussing on water con-servation and availability ofdrinking water, the PM said hisGovernment would, for thefirst time, set up a Jal SakhtiMantralaya. He said a separateMinistry would be formed forfishermen also. Modi said hewould work out how to max-imise utilisation of river watersand facilitate “Nal se jal”(potable tap water) to all house-hold by 2024.

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AUK High Court has reject-ed Vijay Mallya’s applica-

tion to appeal against his extra-dition, a move that bringsIndia closer in getting back theembattled liquor tycoon want-ed in alleged fraud and moneylaundering charges amount-ing to �9,000 crores.

The 63-year-old formerKingfisher Airlines boss hadfiled the application seeking“leave to appeal”in the HC onFebruary 14against his extra-dition order,which was signedby UK HomeSecretary SajidJavid.

“The applica-tion for permis-sion to appeal wasrefused by Mr Justice WilliamDavis on 05/04/2019,” said aspokesperson for the UKJudiciary.

“The appellant (Mallya)has five business days to applyfor oral consideration. If arenewal application is made, itwill be listed before a HighCourt judge and dealt with ata hearing,” the spokespersonadded.

Mallya’s “leave to appeal”application had been put beforeJustice Davis, who was to makea decision on the basis ofpapers submitted as part of theappeals process. Now that the

“judge on papers” applicationhas been rejected by JusticeDavis, Mallya has the option to“renew his application for per-mission to appeal” by thisFriday.

“If he (Mallya) does so(applies for renewal), therewill be an oral hearing at whichthe Administrative Court(High Court) will considerwhether or not to grant per-mission to appeal,” a CPSspokesperson said.

During the oralhearing, Mallya’slegal team and theCrown ProsecutionService (CPS) —on behalf of theI n d i a nGovernment — willrenew their respec-tive claims for andagainst an appealfor a judge to deter-

mine if it can proceed to a fullhearing.

While the rejection by theHC on Friday doesn’t meanthat the appeal process in thecase has come to an end, thelatest decision does move thecase one step further in favourof India in bringing backMallya, who fled India in 2016.

The latest ruling marks afresh legal setback for Mallyawho last week offered to cur-tail his “lavish” lifestyle after abid by the banks to recoupsome of the 1.145 billionpounds he owed as a result ofthe now-defunct Kingfisher

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Vice Admiral Bimal Vermahas approached the Armed

Forces Tribunal (AFT) seekingto know the reason for beingsuperseded for the post of theNavy chief even though he wasthe senior most in the succes-sion line.

His plea to the AFT comesafter the Government onMarch 23 named Vice AdmiralKarambir Singh as the nextNavy chief, who will take overwhen incumbent AdmiralSunil Lanba retires on May 3.

With his selection, the pre-sent Government for the sec-ond time bypassed the traditionof picking the senior mostofficer for the Navy chief ’spost. The first instance was in2016 when Bipin Rawat super-seded senior most officer LtGeneral Pravin Bakshi for theArmy chief ’s post.

Giving possible reason forsuperseding Verma, youngerbrother of former Navy chiefNirmal Verma, sources said hehad not commanded as chief ofoperationally important

Western and EasternCommands and these tenuresare considered very importantfor being in the reckoning forthe post of the Navy chief.

Verma was reportedlyoverlooked for these postingsas he was the principal direc-tor of naval operations duringthe 2005 Naval War Roomleak in New Delhi. Severalcritical commercial and someoperational documents wereleaked. Verma came underscrutiny but was cleared with a“severe displeasure” note. Helater served as India’s navalattaché in Iran and also com-manded a ship.

It is a rare that a senior offi-cer has moved the AFT to seekthe cause of being sidelined forthe Navy chief post.

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The IAF on Monday reiter-ated that it had shot down

a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) F-16 on February 27 during anaerial duel in Naushera Sectorand said it has more credibleradar evidence that is clearlyindicative of the fact thatPakistan had lost one F-16that day. “However, due tosecurity and confidentialityconcerns, we are restricting theinformation being shared in thepublic domain,” the IAF said.

This assertion here by AirVice Marshal RG Kapoor, assis-tant chief of operations andspace, came three days after theIAF held an off-the-camerabriefing to negate some USreports claiming all the F-16sof Pakistan were accountedfor and the Indian version ofshooting down a F-16 was notcorrect.

Sharing some slides andmaps for reference, Kapoorsaid the PAF aircraft had firedmultiple AMRAAM missilesand the IAF had used countermeasures and tactical manoeu-vres. In the aerial combat that

ensued, Varthaman flying Mig-21 shot down F-16. As shownin the radar images, the F-16crashed and fell across theLine of Control (LoC) inPakistan Occupied Kashmir(POK), he said.

“There is no doubt that twoaircraft went down in the aer-ial engagement on February 27,one was the Bison (MiG 21) ofthe IAF and the other was a F-16 of PAF, conclusively identi-fied by its electronic signatureand radio transcripts,” said theAir Vice Marshal.

Detailed report on P5

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The Indian Institute ofTechnology (IIT) Madras

has topped the national rank-ing of higher institutes releasedby the HRD Ministry onMonday. Delhi University’sMiranda House has beenranked the best among collegesacross the country and theprestigious St Stephen’s Collegeranked fourth.

The fourth edition of theIndian rankings based on theNational Institutional RankingFramework (NIRF) 2019 wasannounced by President RamNath Kovind on Monday.

Of the top 10 institutes,seven are IITs. Among the top10 colleges, six are from DelhiUniversity which includesHindu (2nd), Lady Shri RamCollege (5), SRCC (7) andHansraj College (9). Others inthe list are Presidency College

and Madras Christian College.The HRD Ministry has beenpublishing the NationalInstitutional RankingFramework (NIRF) since 2016.

Jawaharlal NehruUniversity (JNU) and theBanaras Hindu Universityranked have been ranked sev-enth and 10th respectively.The Indian Institute of Science(IISc), Bangalore, and IIT-Delhi came at second and thirdin the list, respectively. AIIMSis the top-ranking institution inmedical sciences.

Speaking on the occasion,the President said recentexpansion of higher educationin India has widened accessand improved equity. “Even so,quality remains a concern.While there are islands ofexcellence, both in the publicand private sectors, overallstandards are uneven. As ourhigher education infrastructure

continues to grow and enrol-ment rises, it is important toraise the bar. A nuanced

approach is essential to ensurethat higher education not onlyfulfils individual aspirations,

but also achieves national goalsand priorities,” he said at theaward function.

A total of 3,127 institutionsparticipated in the rankingprocess under overall rankings,category-specific and domainspecific ranking. In all, 4,867applications for rankings weremade by the 3,127 applicantinstitutions under various cat-egories and domains.

A closer look at the insti-tutions ranked in overall cate-gory reveal that although theCentral Government fundedinstitutions continue to dowell, some of the deemed-to-beuniversities, State-funded andprivate universities too appearprominently.

Science, engineering andtechnological institutes domi-nate the ranking in overallcategory with as many as 23institutes in the list. IIMKolkata is the only manage-ment institute that could finda place in the first 50 in theoverall category. IISER Pune

and HBNI, Mumbai are a fewnew institutions which couldclaim a slot in top 50 in theoverall category.

Among the managementcolleges, top six ranks havebeen retained by IndianInstitutes of Management(IIMs), led by Bengaluru. IIT-Delhi, Mumbai and Roorkeeare also among the top 10 in thecategory. Jamia Hamdard hasbeen announced as the top var-sity for pharmacy, whileNational Law School of IndiaUniversity, Bengaluru, has beenadjudged as the best law school.

The ranking frameworkinstituted in 2016 evaluatesinstitutions on five broadgeneric groups of parameters,including Teaching, Learningand Resources (TLR), Researchand Professional Practice (RP),Graduation Outcomes (GO),Outreach and Inclusivity (OI)and Perception (PR).

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The Congress on Mondaytermed the BJP’s “Sankalp

Patra” as “jhansa patra” (adeluded manifesto), and saidthe document failed to mentionjobs, notebandi (demonetisation), GST andblack money.

The mention of RamMandir in the manifesto caughtthe attention of other politicalparties, including Left, andTrinamool, who termed themention “as no surprise”.CPI(M) chief Sitaram Yechurysaid the saffron party has beenusing it for the last 30 years ina bid to “sharpen communal

polarisation.”National Conference (NC)

and BJP ally Janata Dal(United) too hit out at the rul-

ing dispensation for its standon Article 370 that grants spe-cial status to Jammu & Kashmirand Article 35A.

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Ending speculation aboutthe fate of BJP turncoat

Kirti Azad, the Congress onMonday fielded the formertest cricketer from theDhanbad Lok Sabha con-stituency in Jharkhand. Azad, an MP fromDharbhanga, had to shift toJharkhand after the Congressagreed to give the seat to theRJD as part of the seat-sharingarrangement for the grandalliance in the Bihar.

Azad, who was suspendedby the BJP for anti-party activ-ities, had joined the Congressin February.

The party also fieldedKalicharan Munda fromKhunti ST seat in Jharkhandafter changing the earlierannounced candidature of for-mer Jharkhand Congress chiefPradeep Balmuchu.

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Bastar has been a bastion ofBJP for decades, but the

resurgence of Congress in thistribal dominated region in 2018Assembly elections has generat-ed hope within the grand-oldparty of toppling the saffroncitadel.

After its impressive victoryin the recently concludedAssembly polls in the region, theCongress is desperate to win theBastar Lok Sabha constituency.It has fielded sitting MLA andmember of Bastar DevelopmentAuthority (BDA) Dipak Baijagainst BJP’s former MLA BaiduRam Kashyap.

Apart from the two, five oth-ers are also in the fray, includingAyaturam Mandavi from BSPand Ramuram Maurya fromCommunist Party of India (CPI).

Bastar, an importantScheduled Tribe reserved seat,was represented by late Baliram

Kashyap since 1999 till hisdeath in 2011. He was succeed-ed by his son Dinesh Kashyapwho inherited the legacy andhad won the general electionstwice in 2011 and 2014. Thistime, as the BJP decided againstfielding any sitting MP fromChhattisgarh, Kashyap wasreplaced by Baidu Ram.

Bastar Lok Sabha con-stituency comprises eight assem-bly segments and seven amongthose now have Congress MLAs.

Congress candidate Baij isconfident that his party wouldrepeat the performance of theassembly elections propelledby welfare measures taken bythe newly formed BhupeshBaghel Government.

While talking to ThePioneer he said “the decisions offarm loan waiver of defaultingfarmers, declaring Rs 2500Minimum Support Price (MSP)for paddy, hike in support priceof minor forest produce and

historic decision of returningback the acquired land for TataSteel in Lohandiguda regionhave win the hearts of tribalpopulace here”.

Baij further claimed “Peoplehere will repose trust on theCongress this time and I am def-initely going to win from herewith more than 2 Lakh votes”.

Baidu Ram of the BJP on theother hand dismissed theCongress’s high hope. He washopeful that the BJP workerswho are unitedly working forhim would ensure his victory.

Regarding claim of Baij thathistoric decision of returningacquired land in Lohandigudawould play a key role in favourof the Congress, Baidu said it’simpact would be limited to amere 10 villages and would notaffect the entire constituency.

He denied that the familymembers of late BaliramKashyap were disgruntled. “Allare cooperating and with thehelp of all, we are going toretain the seat for the BJP thistime too”.

Bastar will go to poll in thefirst phase on April 11 todecide whether BJP retains itscitadel or Congress upstagesthe saffron party.

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The IAF on Monday reiter-ated that it had shot down

a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) F-16 on February 27 during anaerial duel in Naushera sectorand said it has more credibleevidence that is clearly indica-tive of the fact that Pakistanhad lost one F-16 that day.“However, due to security andconfidentiality concerns, weare restricting the informationbeing shared in the publicdomain,” the IAF said.

This assertion here by AirVice Marshal RG Kapoor, assis-tant chief of operations andspace, came three days after theIAF held an off-the-camerabriefing to negate some USreports claiming all the F-16s ofPakistan were accounted for andthe Indian version of shootingdown a F-16 was not correct.

While briefing mediaper-sons on record for the first time,Kapoor said not only the IAFhas irrefutable evidence that F-16 was used by PAF on Feb 27but also the MiG-21 Bisonpiloted by Wing CommanderAbhinandan Varthaman shot

down a PAF F-16.“There is no doubt that two

aircraft went down in the aer-ial engagement on February 27,one was the Bison (MiG 21) ofthe IAF and the other was a F-16 of PAF, conclusively identi-fied by its electronic signatureand radio transcripts,” he said.The senior officers, however,did not take any questionsfrom the media.

In an effort to back theassertion of shooting downthe F-16, the IAF also shared itsradar images about the aerialduel between Varthaman andthe F-16 that day with print andelectronic media for the firsttime. The radar images alsoshowed Varthaman locking inon the F-16 and seconds later the F-16 signature disap-pears from the radar screen

indicating it was hit, Kapooradded.

Sharing some slides andmaps for reference, Kapoorsaid the PAF aircraft had firedmultiple AMRAAM missilesand the IAF had used countermeasures and tactical manoeu-vres. In the aerial combat thatensued Varthaman flying Mig-21 shot down F-16. As shownin the radar images, the F-16crashed and fell across theLine of Control (LoC) inPakistan OccupiedKashmir(POK), he said.

The IAF lost one MIG-21and pilot Varthaman ejectedsafely but his parachute drift-ed into POK where he wastaken into custody by thePakistan Army, he said.Incidentally, the F-16 wasdowned at least seven to eight

kms inside POK in Sabzkotarea there.

The IAF briefings in quicksuccession over last three dayscame after a fresh controversybroke out when US magazineForeign Policy in an article lastweek claimed no F-16 jet wasshot down during the aerialcombat. A report published inthe US publication onThursday last said, “Two seniorUS defence officials with directknowledge of the situation toldForeign Policy that US per-sonnel recently countedIslamabad’s F-16s and foundnone missing.” However, thenames of the officials were notdisclosed in the report.

Rejecting the report, theIAF had then asserted that it hadshot down an F-16 aircraft of thePAF. Briefing media on Friday

last, the IAF sources had also saidradio communication of PAFintercepted by the IAF con-firmed that one of the F-16s thatattacked India on February 27 inretaliation against IAF air strikesin Balakot a day earlier did notreturn to its base in Pakistan.

In a statement last week,the IAF said after its attack onthe terrorist camp in Balakot onFebruary 26, PAF attempted ariposte on February 27, 2019.A large force of PAF F-16s, JF-17s and Mirage III/V aircraftwere picked up by IAF radars.They were intercepted by IAFSu-30MKI, Mirage-2000 andMig-21 Bison fighters guidedby ground radars and AWACS.

All attempts of PAF to attackany military targets were thwart-ed by the IAF. Kapoor said theIndian forces confirmed sighting

ejections at two different placeson that day. The two sightingswere at places separated by atleast 8-10 km. One was an IAFMig-21 Bison and the other aPAF aircraft. Electronic signa-tures gathered by us indicate thatPAF aircraft was an F-16.

The magazine report alsosaid, “A US count of Pakistan’sF-16 fleet has found that all thejets are present and accountedfor, a direct contradiction toIndia’s claim that it shot downone of the fighter jets during aFebruary clash.”

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New Delhi: The Supreme Courton Monday refused urgent list-ing of a plea challenging therecent Madras High Courtorder directing the Centre toban the TikTok app over con-cerns about access to porno-graphic contentthrough it.

A Bench of ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoiand Justices DeepakGupta and SanjivKhanna said the pleawill come up for hear-ing in due course of time.Senior advocate A M Singhvi,appearing for Chinese compa-ny ByteDance, said that thereare over billion download of theapp and the Madurai Bsench ofMadras High Court has passedan ex-parte order.

“No urgent listing. Thematter will come up in duecourse of time,” the Benchsaid. The Madurai Bench of

Madras High Court on April 3,had directed the Centre to banmobile application TikTok as itvoiced concern over the“pornographic and inappro-priate contents” being madeavailable through such apps.

It directed the medianot to telecast video clipsmade with TikTok. Theapp allows users to createshort videos and thenshare them. It had askedthe Government if itwould enact a statute on

the line of the Children’s OnlinePrivacy Protection Act in theUS and posted the matter forfurther hearing on April 16.

The High Court hadpassed the interim orderWednesday on a PIL petitionwhich sought to ban Tik Tokapp on ground that it alleged-ly contained contents that“degraded culture and encour-aged pornography”. PTI

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Monday said it can-not pass an order at this stageon a plea seeking stay on therelease of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s biopic as thecensor board is yet to certifythe film.

The apex court said it willhear the matter on Tuesday andcould possibly pass an order ifthe petitioner brings on recordwhat the film depicts is “high-ly objectionable”.

“Any kind of order fromthe court will be possible if thepetitioner states and pleadswhat the film is seeking todepict and his objections onthis count,” said the order by abench headed by Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi. The Bench alsorefused the plea of the peti-tioner, Congress activist AmanPanwar, that the copy of thefilm should be given to him.

“Why should we directthat individual be given a copyof the film,” said the Bench, alsocomprising Justices Deepak

Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna.“On behalf of the peti-

tioner, a prayer has been madethat directions should be issuedfor furnishing a copy of the filmto enable the petitioner to actin terms of the order. We fail tosee how such a direction can beissued by the court,” it said.

At the outset, the ChiefJustice of India (CJI) said thefilm is not yet certified andreferred to April 4 statement byCentral Board of FilmCertification (CBFC) chair-person Prasoon Joshi given toPTI about it.

Joshi had told PTI that thefilm was undergoing due

process of examination andcertification. “Since there are alot of queries around the cer-tification of the film, (I) wouldlike to give a clear picture: thefilm is going through the dueprocess of examination andcertification according to therequisite guidelines and is yetto be certified as the processis not complete at this point,”Joshi had said.

Senior advocate AMSinghvi, appearing for theCongress activist, said pro-ducer Sandip Singh had comeout with a statement that thebiopic would be released onApril 11. PTI

New Delhi: Former Congressleader Sajjan Kumar was the“kingpin” of gruesome offencein which Sikhs were “massa-cred” in Delhi during the 1984anti-Sikhs riots, CBI told theSupreme Court on Mondaywhile opposing his plea seekingbail. Kumar has challenged inthe apex court the Delhi HighCourt verdict of December 17last year that awarded him lifeimprisonment for the “remain-der of his natural life” in a 1984anti-Sikh riots case.

Kumar, 73, who is lodged injail, has also filed an applicationseeking bail. His bail applicationcame up for hearing on Mondaybefore a Bench of Justices SABobde and SA Nazeer. SolicitorGeneral Tushar Mehta, appear-ing for the CBI, opposed his pleasaying it would be a “travesty ofjustice” if Kumar was grantedbail as he is facing trial inanother 1984 anti-Sikh riotscase at Patiala House districtcourt here.

“This is a gruesome offenceof massacre of Sikhs. He(Kumar) was the leader and hewas the kingpin of this,” Mehtatold the Bench.

The case in which Kumarwas convicted and sentencedrelates to the killing of fiveSikhs in Delhi Cantonment’sRaj Nagar Part-I area of south-west Delhi on November 1 and2, 1984, and burning down ofa Gurdwara in Raj Nagar Part-II. Anti-Sikh riots had brokenout after the assassination ofthen Prime Minister IndiraGandhi on October 31, 1984,by her two Sikh bodyguards.

During the arguments, thecounsel representing Kumartold the Bench that a key wit-ness in the case had earliergiven four statements in whichshe had not named Kumar but

later, she named the formerCongress leader in her statement.

“How long he (Kumar) hasbeen in jail?” the Bench asked.To this, the counsel said Kumaris in jail for past over threemonths and during the adju-dication of the trial, he was outon anticipatory bail and nevermisused the liberty.

Mehta, however, told theBench about the circumstancesin which Kumar was grantedanticipatory bail and arguedthat a violent mob had gatheredat Kumar’s residence when CBIteam had gone there duringprobe into the case. The Benchwas also told by one of theadvocates that Kumar was a sit-ting MP in 1984 and severalSikhs were killed during theriots in his constituency.

When Kumar’s counselreferred to the merits of thecase, the Bench said, “We donot know why you are invitingour attention to the facts of thecase. “Today, you (Kumar) areconvicted by the high court. Itis not a charge by police. Wecannot treat it lightly.”

During the hearing, whenMehta referred to the ongoingtrial against Kumar in a caserelated to 1984 anti-Sikh riots,the bench asked, “How manywitnesses are yet to be exam-ined?” PTI

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Monday sought theresponse of former KolkataPolice Commissioner RajeevKumar on CBI’s plea seekinghis arrest in the multi-crorerupee Saradha chit fund scam.

The apex court, onFebruary 5, granted protectionfrom arrest to Kumar whiledirecting him to appear beforethe CBI and “faithfully” coop-erating into the investigation ofcases arising out of the scam.

The Central probe agencyhas sought vacation of theorder so that it can arrest andinterrogate Kumar.

“This is the interim appli-cation (IA) of the CBI seekingcustodial interrogation of

Rajeev Kumar. Issue notice. Letthe matter be listed for hearingon April 15,” said a Bench ofChief Justice Ranjan Gogoiand Justices Deepak Guptaand Sanjiv Khanna.

The Bench also allowedCBI to file a fresh affidavitregarding its allegations thattelecom operators — Vodafoneand Airtel — were not coop-erating with it in the probe.

Senior advocate MukulRohatgi, appearing for Vodafone,said it has provided the details,including the Call Data Records(CDRs) to the CBI and soughtthe hearing after three weeks.The Bench has now posted thisaspect after two weeks.

At the outset, senior advo-

cate AM Singhvi, appearing forthe former Kolkata police chief,said that CBI’s plea in this casemust be settled or approved bythe CBI Director as he has nofaith in M Nageswara Rao,former interim CBI Director,whose wife is being probed bythe West Bengal police in a2017 case.

“Let us not digress from thereal issue. You are taking excus-

es. The CBI is seeking yourarrest. Don’t go here and there,”the Bench said.

Singhvi then said he wasnot aware of listing of CBI’splea, seeking arrest of Kumar,on Monday. “This (CBI’s IA) isvery much there. It is listedtoday. If you do not know this,what can I do,” the bench saidand it prompted Singhvi to ten-der an apology.

In its plea to the apexcourt, the agency has said therecall of the order grantingKumar an interim protectionfrom the arrest was necessary“to unravel the entire gamut ofthe larger conspiracy in theponzi scam cases”.

The CBI also sought the

court’s directions to the WestBengal authorities to complywith the court’s earlier orders“in letter and spirit” and not tocreate any hurdle in the CBIprobe or try to “intimidate,harass and scare the agencyofficials” probing the cases.

“Recall the interim protec-tion granted to Rajeev Kumarfor no coercive steps, includingarrest, granted by this court byorder dated February 5, 2019,to enable the CBI to subjecthim to interrogation in accor-dance with the law to unravelthe entire gamut of larger con-spiracy in these ponzi scamcases and its subsequent inves-tigation,” the CBI’s applicationsaid. PTI

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With healthcare costsbecoming a major issue

among voters in elections 2019,main political parties like theBJP and the Congress are tryingto woo them by promising toimprove the situation of healthsystem in the country. While theBJP has promised to take its flag-ship Ayushman Bharat Yojana(ABY) further by strengtheningit in the next five years if it comesto power, the Congress’ ‘Nyay’manifesto has promised to makefull healthcare as the right ofevery citizen — child, adult andsenior citizen.

The Congress has also con-tested the insurance model ofthe ABY and promised to dou-ble up the health budget to 3per cent of the GDP coupledwith free healthcare services.

On the other hand, the BJPin its manifesto the ‘SankalpPatra’ said it will ensure health-

care for all and control pricesof medicines.

While asserting that annu-al health cover of Rs 5 lakh to10.74 crore poor families underthe Pradhan Mantri Jan ArogyaYojana under AyushmanBharat is being doled out whileat least 17,150 Health andWellness Centres have becomefunctional. By 2022, at least1,50,000 Health and WellnessCentres (HWCs) have beenproposed to be set up.

These will have telemedicineand diagnostic laboratory facil-ities at the HWCs by 2022 toensure quality primary medicalcare to the poor at his doorstep,the BJP manifesto said.

To create an essentialdevices list and a separate pric-ing policy for medical devices,set up one medical college orPost Graduate medical collegein every district by 2024, accel-erate the pace of reforms inmedical education sector and

improve doctor: popu-lation ratio by dou-bling the number ofMBBS and Specialistdoctors in the coun-try by 2024 and

reform para-medicaleducationsector.

Saf f ronparty has also

promised toimprove immunisation

and nutrition programmesby strengthening NationalNutrition Mission’s infrastruc-ture and capacity in allAnganwadis and full immu-nization coverage for all the chil-dren and pregnant women by2022. On eliminatingTuberculosis, the BJP said it willroll out Special Mission to elim-inate TB from India by 2025.

BJP has also promised to setup one medical college or postgraduate medical college inevery district, through public or

private participation, by 2024. Tostart with 75 such medical insti-tutes will be set up by 2022.

Asserting that full health-care is the right of every citizen- child, adult and senior citizen,the Congress, in its manifesto,has promised that the total gov-ernment expenditure onhealthcare will be doubled to 3per cent of GDP from current1 per cent by 2023-24.

Challenging BJP’s AB-PMJAY, the Congress said, “Weare of the firm belief that theinsurance-based model cannotbe the preferred model to pro-vide universal healthcare in ourcountry. Congress promises tovigorously promote and imple-ment the free public hospitals-model to provide universalhealthcare.

“Congress promises toenact the Right to HealthcareAct that will guarantee to everycitizen the right to healthcareservices, including free diag-

nostics, out-patient care, med-icines and hospitalisationthrough a network of publichospitals and enlisted privatehospitals,” it stated.

Apart from promising toimplement the ClinicalEstablishments Act, 2010, tobring accountability to thefunctioning of private and pub-lic clinical establishments, theCongress has also promised topromote, and eventually man-date, the digitisation of medicalrecords on the foundation of arobust ICT infrastructure withsuitable provisions for privacy,mobility and interoperability.

The Congress alsopromised to implement theNational Mental Health Policy,2014 and the Mental HealthCare Act, 2017 by ensuring thatmental healthcare profession-als are appointed in all publicdistrict hospitals and that men-tal healthcare services are pro-vided in such hospitals.

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Continuing with his pollpromises, Congress chief

Rahul Gandhi on Monday saidif his party was voted to powerin theupcomingLok Sabhapolls, theapplicationf e e s f o rexamina-tions forGovernment posts would bedone away with. “The CongressGovernment will do away withthe application fee imposed onthe examinations forGovernment posts,” he said ina Facebook post.

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chhattisgarh 03RAIPUR | TUESDAY | APRIL 9, 2019

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Chhattisgarh Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel on Monday

lodged a complaint with theElection Commission againstPrime Minister Narendra Modiaccusing him of violating theModel Code of Conduct (MCC)in his speech at a public meetingat Balod recently.

Baghel, who also holds thePradesh Congress Committee(PCC) president post drove tochief electoral officer (CEO)Subrat Sahoo office along with hissenior party leaders and handedover a written complaint.

In the complaint letter, withwhich a CD of PM’s speech inBalod on Saturday was attached,Baghel claimed that by raising

issues of air strike, surgical strikeas well as mentioning the achieve-ments of the Indian ArmedForces, the PM had violated themodel code of conduct.

Citing the records in the CD,the Congress leader claimed thatwhile campaigning for BJP candi-dates Mohan Mandavi (Kanker),Vijay Baghel (Durg), SantoshPandey (Rajnandgaon) andChunnilal Sahu (Mahasamund),the PM violated the code of con-duct five times during his speech.

The Prime Minister didn’t citeany of the achievements of hisgovernment and his entire speechwas self praise at the cost of thegallantry of the India army, Baghelalleged.

Modi also claimed that the

BJP was working to strengthen theIndian military while Congresswas fighting the elections to weak-en the military, Baghel said in hiscomplaint and objected tone andtenor of the speech.

He said the PM tried to takepolitical mileage from theachievements of the military.

The PM tried to mislead theaudience and as there was a stand-ing instruction of the commissionagainst politicising the achieve-ments of armed forces, his speechwas a sheer violation of the MCC,the CM further alleged in his com-plaint letter. Baghel and otherCongress leaders further demand-ed action against the PrimeMinister and the BJP for the modelcode of the conduct violation.

Baghel drives to EC officeto complain against Modi STAFF REPORTER n SUKMA

Shunning the path of violence,32 lower-rung Maoist cadres,

including 18 against whom per-manent arrest warrant wereissued, surrendered beforepolice here on Monday.

According to police, thesurrendered ultras include threewomen Naxals.

They gave up arms beforesuperintendent of police (SP)Sukma DS Maravi while pledg-ing to shun the path of violence.

“Madvi Hinga who was mili-tia in-charge and member of theNaxal RPC (RevolutionaryPeople’s Committee) handedover a muzzle- loading gun tothe SP,” police said.

They were wanted in con-nection with incidents like loot,arson, brawl, violation of ArmsAct and similar offenses, policesaid.

The surrender was seen as amoral victory of police in Bastar

which has been under pressuredue to continuous Naxal attacksin past few weeks ahead of elec-tions.

Bastar will go for voting onApril 11.

32 lower-rung Naxalscadres give up arms

The surrenderwas seen as a

moral victory ofpolice in Bastarwhich has beenunder pressure

due to continuousNaxal attacks inpast few weeks

ahead ofelections.

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

As part of the ongoing drive tocheck illegal inflow of cash and

goods that could use to influenceelections, currency, liquor andmaterials worth ` 5 crore has beenseized till Saturday in Chhattisgarh.

The state will witness three-phase polling, starting April 11. Toensure free and fair polls, flyingsquads are conducting the raidsacross the state to enforce theelection model code of conducts.

According to a statement issuedby the office of the chief electoralofficer around ` 4,34,19,205 crorein cash were seized. Cases havebeen registered by the concerneddistrict electoral officer from whomthe seizures were made. About4,651 litres of illegal liquors worth `8.31 lakh were also seized.

Laptops, sarees, pressure cook-

ers were among other seized arti-cles. The collective price of theseitems is ` 48,86,695, the statementsaid.

The jewellery and diamondworth ` 16.50 lakh too were seized.

STAFF REPORTER nMAHASAMUND

Police on Monday busted ahigh-tech IPL satta (betting)

racket operating from two placesin Mahasamund town of the dis-trict.

Three persons were nabbedwith Rs 1.75 lakh in cash. Bettingrecords detailing transactions ofaround Rs 30 lakh were alsoseized from them, police said.

According to police, fivemobile phones, two laptops and aLCD TV and a set-top box wasalso seized during the raid.

Those arrested have beenidentified as Suresh Nasine (40), aresident of Subhash Nagar andDeepak Thakur alias Golu (35)and Than Singh Thakur (31),both residents of Imli Bhata

locality of Mahasamund town.Police conducted the raid

after getting a tip off about a bet-ting racket under operation inImli Bhata locality of the town onthe match played betweenRajasthan Royals and ChennaiSuper Kings. Deepak Thakur andThan Singh were held after theraid.

They were using a specialmobile app which also hasfeatures of online betting on liveIPL cricket matches, policeinformed, while adding that theaccused tried to dodge the arrestby posing as media persons.

Later in a separate action,police nabbed a lawyer SureshNasine who was allegedly runningsatta racket from his house inSubhash Nagar locality of thetown.

IPL betting racketbusted, three held

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Awhopping 123 candidatesremain in electoral fray for

seven parliamentary seats inChhattisgarh after the last dateof withdrawal of nominationpapers on Monday.

These parliamentary seatswill elect their new members ofparliament on April 23, the thirdand final phase of polling in thestate.

According to informationprovided by chief electoral offi-cer’s office, the time for with-drawal of nominations was till3pm on Monday. With thatnomination processes have beencompleted for all the three-phase elections.

After the expiry of with-drawal dates, 10 candidatesremained in the fray in Sarguja,

14 in Raigarh, 15 in Janjgir, 13 inKorba, 25 each in Bilaspur andRaipur and 21 in Durg .

A total of 11 candidates hadfiled nominations for SurgujaLok Sabha seat out of which onenomination paper was rejectedduring the scrutiny. No onewithdrew nomination.

In Raigarh 14 candidatesfiled nominations and all ofthem are in the fray as no nomi-nation got rejected and no onewithdrew from the contest.

In Janjgir, a total of 18 can-didates filed nomination papersbut three of them later backedout of the race, thus leaving 15candidates in the fray.

In Korba a total of 20 candi-dates filed the nominationpapers out of which two wererejected during scrutiny and five

candidates withdrew the nomi-nation papers leaving 13 con-testants.

In Bilaspur, 27 candidatesfiled nomination papers out ofwhich two withdrew nomina-tions on Monday, leaving 25candidates in the fray.

For the Durg seat also 27candidates filed nominationspapers, but nominations of twogot rejected and four decidedagainst contesting, leaving 21candidates in the race.

Raipur seat witnessed high-est number of candidates filingnomination papers with 32 ofthem filing nominations. Butduring scrutiny six nominationpapers were rejected and laterone candidate withdrew thenomination, leaving 25 candi-dates in the contest.

123 candidates in fray forthird-phase poll in 7 seats

Pre-poll raids lead toseizure of cash, materialsworth over ` 5 cr

According to a statementissued by the office of the

chief electoral officeraround ` 4,34,19,205 crorein cash were seized. Cases

have been registered bythe concerned districtelectoral officer from

whom the seizures weremade. About 4,651 litres ofillegal liquors worth ` 8.31

lakh were also seized.

Exit polls bannedfrom April 11 toMay 19RAIPUR: Election Commission of Indiahas banned the exit polls in media from theday of commencement of the first phase ofelections till the end of last phase ofpolling.

Stating this, Chhattisgarh chiefelectoral officer Subrat Sahoo said actionwould be taken under relevant sections ofthe Representation of the People Act, 1951if such polls were conducted treating it asviolation of election model code ofconduct.

Similarly, a ban has also been imposedon all types of opinion polls or itspublication, 48 hours prior to the end ofpolling.

As per the circular issued by the ECI,there will be a total ban on publication inprint, electronic media, cinema, televisionor any other medium of the exit polls from7am of April 11 (first phase of polling) till6.30pm of May 19 (last phase of polling inthe country).

The CEO has said that commission hasdirected to send this information to all thenewspaper bureau, media organisationsand televisions channels.

Preparationscompleted for pollingin Bastar on April 11JAGDALPUR: Polling for the Bastar Lok Sabha seat,reserved for Scheduled Tribe candidates, will be held onApril 11, the lone seat in Chhattisgarh to witness pollingin the first phase.

All the preparations for the polling party to leave fortheir respective polling booths have been completed.Bastar division has five districts covered under eightassembly constituencies having 13,77,946 electors.Bastar with 7,15,550 female voters surpassed 6,62,355male voters. The constituency also has 41 voters fromthird gender. A total of 1880 polling centres have beenmade for electors while two are additional polling cen-tres. Bastar has 224 highly sensitive and 512 sensitivepolling centres. Many parts of the constituency was inac-cessible by roads and hence polling teams will bedropped at polling centres there by helicopter. Fates ofseven candidates will be decided. The contestants areAyatu Ram Mandavi of Bahujan Samaj Party, DeepakBaij of Indian National Congress, Baiduram Kashyap ofBharatiya Janata Party, Ramu Ram Maurya ofCommunist Party of India, Panish Prasad Nag ofAmbedkarite Party of India, Manglaram Karma of AkhilBharat Samagra Kranti Party and Suresh alias SargimKawasi of Shiv Sena. In assembly segments ofKondagaon, Chitrakot, Bastar and Jagdalpur polling willbe held from 7am to 5pm.

In assembly constituencies of Narayanpur,Dantewada, Bijapur and Konta polling will be held from7am to 3pm due to security reasons.

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Chhattisgarh ChiefMinister and chairman

of the ChhattisgarhPradesh CongressCommittee BhupeshBaghel on Monday flayedthe BJP’s poll manifesto, the‘Sankalp Patra’ asking theparty to first give a statusreport of its poll promisesof 2014.

In a statement, Baghelalleged that the “extrava-gant” foreign tours of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,travelling almost half of theglobe, did not bring a singleinvestor to the country.

Baghel further remind-ed the BJP about its previ-ous promise of providingtwo crore employment eachyear. He claimed all themajor poll promises madeby the BJP ahead of the

2014 general electionsturned out to be a hollow.

He said youth of thecountry would teach theBJP a lesson for not fulfill-ing its promise of generat-ing employment.

The CGPCC generalsecretary Shailesh NitinTrivedi in a statement saidinstead of releasing the‘Sankalp Patra,’ the BJPshould apologise to thepeople for failing to fulfillearlier promises.

He further claimed thatthe Congress prepared itsmanifesto by taking sugges-tions from various quarterswhile the “Sankalp Patra” ofthe BJP was “Man Ki Baat’of a single person.

“Now it’s time that peo-ple of the country expresstheir ‘Man Ki Baat’ andteach BJP a lesson”, he fur-ther added.

Cong flays BJP ‘SankalpPatra’, demands statusreport of previous promisesSTAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Soon after the BJP released its mani-festo titled the ‘Sankalp patra’ on

Monday, the party’s Chhattisgarh statepresident Vikram Usendi said the docu-ment encompassed the vision of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

It is a positive approach to make thecountry a 5 lakh crore dollar economy by2025 and 10 lakh crore dollar by 2032.

The economic growth will generatecrores of employment for new generationin the country with 65% youth popula-tion.

Welcoming the manifesto, he furthersaid key announcement has been madefor farmers. He particularly hailed theannouncement to provide pension tofarmers above 60 years and Rs 6000annually incurring investment of Rs 25lakh crore per year.

BJP national president for ScheduledTribe cell Ramvichar Netam termed themanifesto as commitment towardsproviding all benefits as perconstitutional provisions for the ST-SCand OBCs.

Model residential swchools will paveways for development, he added.

Leader of the Opposition in the stateassembly Dharamlal Kaushik said the‘Sankalp patra’ reflects the sentiments ofcitizens of the country. The BJP is com-mitted to building a new India and ismoving towards it.

“It reflects the integrated and inclu-sive 75 development promises to be ful-filled in the 75th year of theIndependence of the country,” he added.

Former BJP minister Rajesh Munattermed it as a golden document for thefast progress of the country. BJP Minoritycell state president Dr Salim Raj said themanifesto would help achieve“respectable progress” for the minorities.

‘Sankalp Patra’ reflects PM Modi’s vision: Usendi

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As the Akali Dal onMonday took on the

Congress for inducting a“gangster” in its party to winthe ensuing elections by hookor crook, Punjab’s ruling partysaid that it was difficult to vetevery individual when hun-dreds of people are joining theparty.

Maintaining that the join-ing of gangster was neitherdeliberate nor condonable,Congress candidate fromPatiala and former UnionMinister Preneet Kaur — inwhose presence the allegedgangster Randeep SinghKharoud joined the Congresspast week — made it clear thathe would not be allowed toremain a member of theCongress at any cost.

She added that the partyhad zero tolerance to criminalsgetting into politics throughnefarious ways.

An alleged gangsterRandeep, hailing from Baranin Sanaur and is facing attempt

to murder, arms and robberycases, had joined the Congresslast week. Notably, he hadbeen desperate to join politicsfor the past three years, andhad earlier made an attempt tojoin the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP).

“The gangster in questionhad joined the party in Patialaat a function last week as partof a group of some 1,500Panjabi University studentsand I was not aware of hiscriminal antecedents,” saidPreneet.

Pointing to the fact thatRandeep had been a support-er of the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) in the past, Preneet saidthat he had evidently found an easy way to foray intopolitics by projecting himselfas a student and a politicalactivist.

Notably, Randeep wassidelined by Patiala MP DrDharamvir Gandhi after hisname cropped up in manycriminal cases.

Preneet said: “When hun-dreds of people are joining the

Congress in one go, it becomesdiff icult to vet each ofthem...Now that Randeep’sbackground has been broughtto my notice, I would person-ally ensure that he is thrownout of the party.”

She added that the lawwould take its course as far asthe criminal cases against thegangster were concerned.

At the same time, sheurged all parties, includingSAD and AAP, to be more cau-tious. The Congress, on itspart, would take steps tobecome even more vigilant,and further tighten its screen-ing framework before admit-ting anyone into the party, saidPreneet.

“Allegations of politicalpatronage to gangsters andhardened criminals were ram-pant during the previousregime,” she said, asking theAkalis to focus more on mon-itoring their own activitiesthan on accusing the Congressof “trying to win the LokSabha elections by hook or bycrook.

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Ameeting between HaryanaChief Minister Manohar

Lal and Indian National LokDal secretary general AbhayChautala on Monday triggeredspeculations that the saffronparty may join hands with theregional party to defeat a com-mon enemy-Congress-in thestate in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls.

Abhay Chautala, who wasrecently removed as the Leaderof Opposition in the HaryanaAssembly, was accompaniedby state party president AshokArora during the meeting withChief Minister Manohar Lal atNew Delhi.

After the meeting whichlasted for about half an hour,Chautala cited personal reasonsfor meeting the Chief Minister.Though political meanings arebeing drawn out of this meet-

ing, Chautala maintained thatthere was no discussion of anyalliance with the BJP.

The BJP has alreadyannounced their eight candi-dates in Haryana and the INLDwill also announce its 10 can-didates for the polls soon, heasserted.

Chief Minister ManoharLal also maintained that notalks related to an alliancewere held during the meeting.

The INLD has been bat-tling a crisis of existence fol-lowing its split and formationof Jannayak Janta Party lastyear. The exodus of party’sMLAs and senior leaders con-tinues and its cadre is also erod-ing fast.

The INLD chief and for-mer Chief Minister OmParkash Chautala had earlierattempted to forge an alliancewith the BJP for Lok Sabhapolls but the saffron party hadrejected the offer.

The ruling BJP has alreadyannounced candidates on eightseats out of 10 Lok Sabha seatsin the state. However, the BJPis treading cautiously in final-izing the name of candidatesfor Hisar and Rohtak Lok

Sabha seats, which it had lostin 2014 parliamentary polls.

While Congress’ three-time MP Deepender SinghHooda represents Rohtak con-stituency, Jannayak Janta Partyleader and MP DushyantChautala represents Hisar LokSabha seat.

Both the young MPs areseen as strong contenders inLok Sabha polls and the BJPfaces a tough challenge to wrestthese two Jat-dominated seatsagainst them.

Rohtak, a Congress bastionwas the only seat lost by the BJPin 2014 polls, the other twobeing lost by its alliance part-

ner-Haryana Janhit Congress-at that time.

Meanwhile, the INLD is yetto announce candidates forLok Sabha polls and is keen toretain its Sirsa and Hisar seatswon by it in 2014 Lok Sabhapolls.

After Monday’s meetingbetween Chief MinisterManohar Lal and top INLDleaders, speculations are rifethat the two parties may cometogether for atleast two seats i.e.Rohtak and Hisar. While theBJP is looking to register vic-tory on these two Lok Sabhaseats, the INLD is desperate todefeat JJP leader Dushyant

Chautala to secure its politicalfuture.

Dushyant, who had con-tested the 2014 polls on anINLD’s ticket, is likely to con-test from Hisar seat again onJJP’s ticket. JJP’s candidate hadfinished at second spot in cru-cial Jind bypoll and the rise inpopularity of fledgling politicaloutfit poses a major threat tothe INLD’s political future,both parties being formed bythe Chautala family.

Taking a jibe at the INLD,JJP leader Dushyant Chautalaon Monday said that the meet-ing indicates a complete polit-ical surrender by the INLD.While the BJP has alreadyannounced eight party candi-dates, the INLD is holdingtalks with them. Given thecurrent circumstances, I thinkit will be a merger of INLDwith the BJP rather than analliance in Haryana now, headded.

Political observers werealso quick to state that themeeting between CM ManoharLal and Abhay Chautala is sig-naling towards an interestingpolitical equation that theINLD still wants to stitch ties

with the BJP.Though the alliance seems

unlikely as the BJP has alreadyannounced its eight candi-dates, the INLD may extendsupport to BJP candidates at afew seats. The INLD is fightingfor its political survival thistime. However, it remains to beseen how the two parties workout their pre-poll alliance ifthey decides to come togetherto take on Congress and JJP, saypolitical analysts.

After Mayawati ledBahujan Samaj Party had bro-ken ties with the INLD, thelatter has been looking for analliance partner to contestthe Lok Sabha polls, slated tobe held on May 12 inHaryana.

Out of power for over 14years in Haryana, the INLD isattempting to revive its wan-ing fortunes and also bankingon the outcome of paroleplea of its party chief OPChautala. The seniorChautala, who is serving a 10-year jail term in teachers’recruitment scam case, hassought parole before the DelhiHigh Court, which will hearthe case on April 12.

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Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)on Monday appealed to

the people to come out of theircosy confines and vote againstthose who delivered nothingon promises they made withthe people.

In an emotional letteraddressed to the people,Punjab unit president andSangrur MP Bhagwant Mannsaid that he took the reins ofstate unit of the party, whichwas passing through a roughpatch, as certain people weretrying to harm it for their per-sonal political ends.

“They have now partedways to pursue their person-al agenda or aspirations. Eversince, I assumed the charge,the party has emerged as aguiding force and workingharder on performing andproving its credentials in thestate,” Mann said without tak-ing any names.

Mann said that he was anestablished artiste earninglakhs, and said “no to thislucrative profession with asole objective of serving you”.

“I used to have harddrinks once in a while whichI left for good in January2019 on the insistence of mymother so that I could makemyself available for you 24X7.It was a nothing but a callfrom within to be at your ser-vice,” he added.

APP leader said that hehad tried to raise each andevery issue and concern thepeople of the state were con-fronted with. He added that hehad taken a solemn vow toextend a helping hand tothose youngsters who gettrapped in the foreign lands,and during past five years, “Ihave helped bring back hun-dreds of such youths trappedin various countries reachhome safe”.

Giving full marks to theArvind Kejriwal-led govern-ment in Delhi, he said that theCapt Amarinder SinghGovernment should take a

cue from the Delhi model andreplicate it in Punjab.

Taking a dig at CaptAmarinder Government,Mann said that he and hisgovernment had promisedjobs and smartphones toyouth, loan waiver to farmersand farm hand, Rs 2,500 old-age pension, among others,and failed to keep any ofthese.

Mann exhorted the peopleof Punjab to get rid of theseconventional parties whichhave “done nothing for themduring their longest spells inpower by defeating these anti-people forces so that theycould realize what injusticethey had done to the people.It would serve as a deterrentto other political outfits toshun making catchy promis-es and backtracking on them”.

Saying that AAP wouldmove heaven and earth todeliver on promises the pre-ceding governments hadbacktracked on, Mann saidthat the party would replicatethe Delhi model in Punjab inletter and in spirit making allthese issues a palpable realityand not merely a plank to winvotes.

Mann urged the people todeliver a decisive mandate infavour of AAP and ask theirkin to vote and support theparty nominees in the fray sothat the people could livetheir dreams and live on merefalse promises.

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Punjab Police IG Kunwar Vijay PartapSingh has been relieved from his present

posting as IG Intelligence (Organised CrimeControl Unit), and also as the member ofSpecial Investigation Team (SIT) probing thesacrilege and related police firing cases, onthe directions of the Election Commissionof India.

Complying with the orders, the PunjabGovernment on Monday issued the trans-fer orders posting Kunwar Vijay as IGPCounter-Intelligence at Amritsar against avacant post.

The directions came following a com-plaint by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)against Kunwar Vijay on March 22 alleginghim of giving a “politically-motivated”interview on a TV channel on March 18 and19. Acting on the same, the poll panel direct-ed Punjab Chief Secretary to “immediate-ly” relive Kunwar Vijay from his present post-ing, while making it clear that he should notbe given any post related to conduct of elec-tions.

The Commission has also directed that

action may be initiated against him for the“lapses or violations”.

In addition, “the Commission has decid-ed that the member of SIT may be directednot to air any such contents in future dur-ing the period of Model Code of Conductwhich will affect the fairness of the conductof electoral process”.

The Commission, in its order datedApril 5, stated that after examining the com-

plaint filed by SAD’s Rajya Sbaha MPNaresh Gujral, “it was found that the offi-cer have politically motivated interview toa TV Channel on 18 and 19 March aboutongoing investigation by SIT and made cer-tain political comments”.

“It has also been observed that the con-tents of the part of the interview has politi-

cal connotations and has the potential toshow certain political leaders in poor light.The officer also mentioned the name of lead-ers of SAD which is clearly in violation ofthe provision of Model Code of Conduct,”stated the Commission.

The Commission had asked the ChiefSecretary to make compliance of the direc-tions of relieving Kunwar Vijay by 5 pm onMonday.

Notably, the Congress has recently sub-mitted a representation to Punjab ChiefElectoral Officer (CEO) S Karuna Rajuaccusing the SAD of “using” the ElectionCommission to “sabotage” the ongoingprobe by the SIT into the sacrilege and policefiring incidents by filing “frivolous” com-plaints against the officer.

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Even as the Bharatiya JanataParty is pulling out all the

stops to repeat its 2014 poll suc-cess in Chandigarh, there is astrong sense of déjà vu forChandigarh BJP facing thesame dilemma as in 2014 overprojecting its face here.

The BJP remains in a fixover deciding its candidate forChandigarh’s lone Lok Sabhaseat while the rival parties—Congress and Aam AadmiParty—have already announcedtheir candidates here.

The BJP’s apparent troubleto finalize its candidate forhigh-profile Chandigarh seathas enabled its main rival–Congress-to go full throttlewith its election campaign andalso, gain an initial perceptionaladvantage over the saffronparty.

The Congress had last weekannounced to field its old warhorse and four-time formerMP Pawan Kumar Bansal whilethe AAP had announced can-didature of former Union

Minister Harmohan Dhawan inJanuary from Chandigarh.

The three ticket aspirants ofBJP including sitting MPKirron Kher, city BJP chiefSanjay Tandon and former MPSatya Pal Jain are now keepingtheir fingers crossed on theirpolitical future while the partyworkers are displeased and leftin a state of uncertainty over thedelay in announcement ofparty’s candidate.

In absence of party’s face inChandigarh, the game of one-upmanship is already ongoingbetween MP Kirron Kher andSanjay Tandon. Both of themhave been campaigning sepa-rately, apparently pushing theirindividual cases.

While the actor-turned-politician Kirron Kher is busywith her “Coffee with Kiran”and “RuhBaRuh” programmesto connect with the voters,Tandon is reaching out to thevoters through “Chai peCharcha” and its similar ver-sions like “Bus pe charcha” inthe city.

The three ticket aspirantswere last seen together at the

launch of BJP’s national pro-gramme “Mein BhiChowkidar” campaign but hadfailed to put an end to murmursof factionalism in the city BJPunit.

Notably, the first-time MPKher has been accused byopposition parties of “guestappearance” and “lack of focus”in the city due to her shuttlingbetween Mumbai andChandigarh during the fiveyears tenure. Kher’s detractorswithin the party have also tar-geted her over the similar issue.

“The party workers areeagerly waiting for theannouncement of candidateand are hoping that the centralleadership does not bring anoutsider this time to contest theelection. The ticket aspirants arecarrying out campaigns sepa-rately… Hence, it is importantto announce the candidate nowto give a boost to party’s elec-tion campaign,” said a seniorBJP leader.

“Whoever is made theparty candidate, the entire partycadre will be backing that can-didate,” he said.

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Trashing the BJP manifestoas a cruel joke on the peo-

ple of India, Punjab ChiefMinister Capt AmarinderSingh on Monday said that thepeople of India, after theirfutile wait for the past five yearsfor the fulfilment of the party’searlier promises, were onceagain left high and dry by theself-seeking ruling party.

Terming the BJP’s ‘SankalpPatra’ as a bundle of lies, Captsaid BJP’s attempt to againbefool people would backfire inthese elections as the party,having failed to deliver on anyof its earlier promises, hadchosen to set aside the keyissues of concern to the mass-es.

“BJP manifesto does nottalk of jobs, nor does it explainthe absence of the earlierpromised Rs 15 lakh to everycitizen,” pointed out the ChiefMinister, adding that the rulingparty had, through this

thoughtless document, exposedits total lack of concern for thewelfare of the people.

“It is nothing but anotherlong list of jumlas from the‘jumla sarkar’ of NarendraModi,” said Capt Amarinder,adding that there was nothingin the manifesto for the uplift-ment of any section of the soci-ety.

Even though farmers con-tinue to commit suicide, theBJP has not deemed it fit toannounce the much-needednational debt waiver scheme forthem, said Capt Amarinder,pointing out that even thepromise of doubling of farmers’income was an old one.

“What is more, the promiseof extension of PM KISANscheme is clearly prompted bythe Congress president RahulGandhi’s announcement ofNYAY scheme, showing thedesperation of the BJP in theface of their imminent defeat inthese parliamentary elections,”he added.

Page 5: RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN ...€¦ · mitment to repeal Article 370, which gives Jammu & Kashmir a special status, and Article 35A, which allows the

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Turkish President RecepTayyip Erdogan on

Monday cast doubt on resultsshowing his ruling party’s can-didate narrowly lost the elec-tion for Istanbul mayor, sayingthere had been “theft at the bal-lot box”.

Erdogan’s Justice andDevelopment Party (AKP)demanded a recount in Ankaraand Istanbul citing irregulari-ties after tallies showed theparty was defeated in bothcities last week — in whatwould be a major setback in adecade and a half in power.

Erdogan’s remarksappeared to signal more AKPchallenges over Istanbul, thecountry’s economic hub andlargest city, echoing commen-tary in pro-government medialast week denouncing a “ballotbox putsch” during the March31 election.

“We are seeing that some

organised crimes have beencarried out,” Erdogan said at apress conference before a tripto Russia, without givingdetails. “There is an element ofrobbery in all of this. There wassome theft at the ballot box.”

Erdogan said the marginbetween the two Istanbul can-didates was too small for any-one to claim victory, suggestingwhen there was a problemwith a percentage of votes inother countries, appeals andeven new elections were notunusual.

“No one has the right todeclare themselves victoriouswith a difference of around13,000-14,000 votes,” Erdogansaid of the Istanbul results.

In the capital Ankara, theSupreme Electoral Council onMonday officially handedopposition CHP party candi-date Mansur Yavas his man-date.

Erdogan’s AKP won mostvotes nationwide in the elec-

tion, but voters appeared topunish the party in the two bigcities with Turkey’s economy inrecession and inflation in dou-ble digits after a currency cri-sis last year.

Defeat in Istanbul would beespecially sensitive for Erdoganwho grew up in one of its work-ing-class districts and began hispolitical career as mayor of thecity. AKP’s candidate forIstanbul former premier BinaliYildirim and opposition CHP’sEkrem Imamoglu bothdeclared victory soon after theIstanbul race when initialresults showed a dead heat.

Electoral authorities latersaid Imamoglu was winning by

around 20,000 ballots, but thatgap has narrowed during aweek of recounting. The dif-ference is now less than 16,000ballots. The two candidateseach received more than 4million votes.

“The AKP is broadening itsappeal in Istanbul everyday.The next step could be askingto redo the election,” pro-gov-ernment columnist AbdulkadirSelvi wrote in Monday’sHurriyet newspaper, thoughhe added he did not think theelection would be cancelled.

Imamoglu, a former mayorof one of the city’s local dis-tricts, has already declaredhimself Istanbul mayor andcalled on the AKP to accept theresult. The opposition appealedon Monday for electoralauthorities to stay impartial.

“I appeal to the jurists atthe Supreme Electoral Council:your independence and yourobjectivity are very important,”CHP party chief Kemal

Kilicdaroglu said during a pressconference.

“Turkey has experiencedsuch important economicproblems, internal and externalproblems, and must get out ofthis electoral atmosphere assoon as possible.” After 16years in power, Erdogan ispraised by supporters, espe-cially among his base withmore religiously conservative

Turks, who say he oversawa period of economic growthand prosperity.

But his critics at home andamong Western allies say theTurkish leader has undermineddemocracy by purging dissentespecially in the wake of a 2016failed coup Ankara blames ona US-based Muslim cleric.

Erdogan campaigned hardportraying the local vote formayors and district councils asa fight for the nation’s survival,but the election became a testof AKP’s support after the eco-nomic slowdown hit Turkey.

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Tripoli: Libyan military strong-man Khalifa Haftar pushed onwith his assault on TripoliMonday, defying internationalcalls for a ceasefire days into abattle that has left dozens dead.

At least 35 people havebeen killed in fighting sinceHaftar’s forces launched theirassault Thursday, Libya’s unitygovernment said, while theUN says thousands have beendisplaced. Oil-rich Libya hasbeen rocked by violent powerstruggles between an array ofarmed groups since the NATO-backed overthrow of dictatorMoamer Kadhafi in 2011.

Haftar, a former Kadhafimilitary chief, has emerged asa major player, his self-styledLibyan National Army backingan administration in the coun-try’s east in opposition to theUN-backed unity Government.

Having seized control ofmuch of eastern Libya andbuoyed by a series of victoriesin the desert south, Haftar

turned his sights on Tripoli thismonth, vowing to “cleanse” it of“terrorists and mercenaries”.

After a pause overnight,fighting resumed Mondaymorning around the capital’sdestroyed airport, some 30kilometres south of Tripoli,and the rural area of Wadi Rabifurther east. AFP

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�����������������������"���������������%��������Tripoli: A warplane carried outan air strike Monday againstthe Libyan capital’s only func-tioning airport and halted allflights, aviation authorities said,as fighting raged for control ofTripoli.

A security source at Mitigaairport east of the city said noside had yet claimed responsi-bility for the raid, which hit arunway without causing casu-alties.

The civil aviation authori-

ty decided “to suspend aerialtraffic until further notice” toMitiga airport, saidMohammed Gniwa, aspokesman for national carri-er Libyan Airlines. An airportsource, who did want to benamed, confirmed the closure.

There has been heavyfighting near Tripoli since theforces of military strongmanKhalifa Haftar launched anassault on Thursday aimed attaking the capital.

Oil-rich Libya has beenrocked by violent power strug-gles between an array of armedgroups since the NATO-backedoverthrow of dictator MoamerKadhafi in 2011.

Haftar, a former Kadhafimilitary chief, has emerged asa major player, his self-styledLibyan National Army backingan administration in the coun-try’s east in opposition to theUN-backed government basedin Tripoli. AFP

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The French Governmentmust implement bold tax

cuts in response to the “yellowvest” protests, Prime MinisterEdouard Philippe arguedMonday as he revealed theresults of a major public con-sultation on the crisis.

Giving the first conclu-sions of a “Great NationalDebate” which was launched inJanuary, Philippe said thatFrench citizens had expressed“an enormous exasperation”over the country’s tax burden,which is the highest in theworld.

“The debates show us veryclearly which way to go. Weneed to lower taxes, and lowerthem more quickly,” Philippewho told an audience in Paris.

The “yellow vest” protests,so called for the fluorescentvests worn by demonstrators,began in small-town France inmid-November, initially overfuel taxes before spiralling into

a nation-wide revolt againstPresident Emmanuel Macron.

The 41-year-old came topower in May 2017 promisingpro-business reforms and taxcuts for companies andinvestors to encourage job cre-ation, earning him a reputationas a “president of the rich.”Philippe, a centre-right fiscalhawk who has previously called for tax cuts and reduc-tions in public spending, saidthe government needed to gofurther. “We have reached apoint where hesitating wouldbe worse than an error, itwould be an offence,” Philippeadded.

“The need for change is soradical that any conservatism,any feebleness would be unfor-giveable in my view.” Macron isexpected to announce his con-clusions in a major speech inthe next fortnight, with the“Great National Debate” billedas a watershed moment in hisnearly two-year-old presidency.

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Britain will make socialmedia bosses personally

liable for harmful content andshut down offending platformsunder a government actionplan published Monday — thefirst of its kind anywhere.

The long-delayed andeagerly anticipated proposalslay the groundwork for legis-lation that could be passed inthe coming months.

They were drawn up after

consultations with social mediamoguls such as Facebook chiefMark Zuckerberg and havefaced little resistance fromother platforms that have alsobeen blamed for allowing thespread of hate and abuse. Someof the proposals have sparkedconcerns from free speechgroups.

“What we’re proposingtoday is that companies thatdeal with user-generated con-tent should take greater respon-sibility for keeping those users

safe,” culture and media min-ister Jeremy Wright told BBCradio.

“These are world-leadingproposals. No one in the worldhas done this before.”

The proposed regulationswould see social media com-panies accept “duty of care”obligations that require them toidentify and remove “onlineharms”. Those that fail wouldbe first issued warnings andthen hit progressively withmore punitive sanctions.

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Indonesia’s Supreme Courton Monday rejected an

appeal by a woman sentencedto 18 months in jail under thecountry’s controversial blas-phemy law for complainingabout the volume of a mosque’scall to prayer. Meiliana, 44, anethnic Chinese Buddhist, wasfound guilty of insulting Islamfor asking her neighbourhoodmosque in Medan, on Sumatraisland, to lower its sound sys-tem because it was too loud and“hurt” her ears.

In a decision posted to itswebsite Monday, the SupremeCourt said that it had rejectedher appeal, but did not elabo-rate further.

Indonesia, which has theworld’s biggest Muslim popu-lation, is officially pluralistwith six major religions recog-nised, including Hinduism,Christianity and Buddhism.Freedom of expression is sup-posed to be guaranteed by law.But criticising religion — par-ticularly Islam.

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Moscow: Russia on Mondaycalled for calm on all sides inthe Libya conflict after at least32 people were killed in fight-ing near the capital Tripoli.

Kremlin spokesmanDmitry Peskov said Moscowwas calling “on all sides to rejectactions that could provokebloodshed in battle”.

Russia’s deputy foreignminister Mikhail Bogdanovsaid Moscow was in contact

with all sides in the conflict.“We talk with everyone:

with the west, the east and thesouth,” Bogdanov told newsagency RIA Novosti.

“We call on everyone for apolitical solution.” Fierce clash-es raged on Sunday near Tripolibetween strongman KhalifaHaftar’s fighters and troopsloyal to the internationallyrecognised Government ofNational Accord (GNA). AFP

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British Prime MinisterTheresa May will meet with

German and French leadersAngela Merkel and EmmanuelMacron as she scrambles tofind a Brexit breakthroughahead of Wednesday’s crucialEU summit.

May will meet the twoleaders on Tuesday, their officesannounced on Monday, the daybefore the summit where she isexpected to ask the bloc foranother delay to Brexit. Britainwill fall out of the EuropeanUnion without a deal on Fridayif no delay agreement isreached.

“The chancellor and theBritish prime minister willhave an exchange of views onBritain’s exit from the EU aswell as on Wednesday’s specialsummit of the EuropeanCouncil,” said Merkel’sspokesman Steffen Seibert.

May was on Monday topress ahead with her bid to finda “compromise” with the oppo-sition Labour Party despite abacklash from her ownConservatives.

“Our intention is to engagefurther with the oppositiontoday ... And we hope that will

lead to formal face-to-face dis-cussions” later Monday, aDowning Street spokeswomansaid. Having failed three timesto get her withdrawal dealthrough parliament, May hasbeen locked in talks withLabour to find a modified planthat could command a major-ity.

“It’ll mean compromise onboth sides but I believe thatdelivering Brexit is the mostimportant thing for us,” she saidin a video message released onSunday.

“The longer this takes, thegreater the risk of the UKnever leaving at all. It wouldmean letting the Brexit theBritish people voted for slipthrough our fingers.” Labourwants a customs union withBrussels, something May con-sistently ruled out as it wouldprevent Britain striking tradedeals with the rest of the world.

The talks broke down lastweek, with Labour leaderJeremy Corbyn saying, “I’mwaiting to see the red linesmove”.

Labour is also facing inter-nal division, with 80 MPs writ-ing to Corbyn urging him tosecure a guarantee of a secondreferendum in any deal.

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Washington: President DonaldTrump on Monday announcedthe United States is designatingIran’s elite military force, theIslamic Revolutionary GuardCorps, a terrorist organiza-tion. Trump said in a statementthat the “unprecedented” move“recognizes the reality thatIran is not only a State Sponsorof Terrorism, but that the IRGCactively participates in,finances, and promotes terror-ism as a tool of statecraft.”

The Islamic RevolutionaryGuard Corps was formed afterthe 1979 Islamic revolutionwith a mission to defend theclerical regime, in contrast tomore traditional military unitsthat protect borders. At home,the Revolutionary Guards haveamassed strong power, includ-ing with significant economicinterests.

The Guards’ prized unit isthe Quds Force, named for theArabic word for Jerusalem,which supports forces alliedwith Iran around the regionincluding Syrian PresidentBashar al-Assad and Lebanon’sHezbollah. AFP

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Page 6: RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN ...€¦ · mitment to repeal Article 370, which gives Jammu & Kashmir a special status, and Article 35A, which allows the

The Congress recently released itsmanifesto. As it is India’s oldestparty with presence in every partof the country, however nomi-nal and depleted it may be

today in many States, its statement of intent,should it come to power, must be read withutmost seriousness. However, while doingso, one must test its assertions, claims andpromises on the anvil of truth. The firstimpression one gets from reading this doc-ument is that the party would like us tobelieve that the history of democratic Indiabegan in 2014! The entire narrative ispinned on this premise because if it wereto go back, it would have to account for itspast sins. In other words, while it makesthe most noble declarations about demo-cratic values, the Constitution, its commit-ment to federalism and to fight corruption,it would like the nation to forget its owndreadful track record when it imposed adictatorship on India in 1975-77; when itcrushed non-Congress Governments timeand again over several decades using pli-able Governors; when it brought a viciousdefamation Bill to curb the media duringRajiv Gandhi’s prime ministership and, ofcourse, when it was caught in the Boforsbribery scandal.

The manifesto is hoping for sympathet-ic amnesia on the part of the electorate byjust talking about governance and politicspost 2014 and hoping that the people willforget its pathetic record when it governedthis country for close to 60 years. It is, there-fore, time to tickle public memory and leaveit to their wisdom to remember or forget thedisturbing events of the past.

The manifesto begins with a forewordby Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, whobegan with a rhetorical question: “Will Indiabe a free democratic country and willIndian people be free from fear?...Or willIndia be governed by a pernicious ideologythat will trample upon peoples’ rights, insti-tutions, conventions?...”. This is exactly thequestion that was on the top of every Indian’smind when the Congress imposed a fascistregime on the nation during the Emergency.

Further, he claimed that his party standscommitted to “truth, freedom, dignity, self-respect and prosperity of our people.” Thisstatement must be tested on the anvil oftruth. The manifesto loftily proclaims that“Freedom is the hallmark of our open anddemocratic Republic. The purpose of law isregulation in order to strengthen freedom.Laws must be just and reasonable and reflectour constitutional values.”

The question we need to ask ourselvesis whether the Congress has the moral rightto even discuss these core democratic prin-ciples. If freedom is the hallmark of ourRepublic, why did the party impose anEmergency and snatch away all the funda-mental rights of citizens? If laws must be justand reasonable and reflect Constitutional val-ues, why was the dreaded Maintenance of

Internal Security Act (MISA)enforced ruthlessly in 1975-77and why were all leaders of theOpposition incarcerated? Whywas the 39th Amendment intro-duced to put Indira Gandhiabove all other citizens and barthe Supreme Court from hear-ing her petition? Why were theessential features of a democra-tic Constitution like equalitybefore law and right to life andpersonal liberty done away with?

Let us turn to the media,institutions and the judiciary.About the media, the manifestosays the party firmly believesthat “the media must be free andself-regulated.” It says it will“uphold editorial independenceand guard against Governmentinterference.” Really? This isthe same party which cut offelectricity to newspaper officesin New Delhi on June 25, 1975,jailed 253 independent journal-ists, banned many foreign cor-respondents, imposed censor-ship on the media and evenappointed an Inspector-Generalof Police as Chief Censor inKarnataka. This is also the sameparty which classified newspa-pers as “friendly”, “neutral” and“hostile” during Indira Gandhi’stime and brought a draconiandefamation law to curb Pressfreedom when Rajiv Gandhi wasthe Prime Minister. Can we trustthis party when it comes tomedia freedom?

The Congress’ manifestopromises that it will restore“the dignity, authority and

autonomy” of institutions likethe Election Commission ofIndia. Is this believable, given theconduct of this party in the past?When the Shah Commissionprobed the excesses during theEmergency, the Superintendentof Tihar Jail told theCommission that NavinChawla, who was close to theNehru-Gandhis, asked him tothrow political prisoners inasbestos cells and “bake” themor to dump them in the lunaticscell. Referring to Navin Chawla,the Shah Commission said,“tyrants sprouted at all levelsovernight...”. It said Chawla con-ducted himself in an “authoritar-ian and callous” manner andrendered himself “unfit to holdany public office...”.

Is it not amazing that theparty, which appointed NavinChawla as an ElectionCommissioner in 2005 whenSonia Gandhi was the de factoPrime Minister, is now claimingthat it will “restore the dignity,authority and autonomy” of theElection Commission and otherinstitutions? Even more amaz-ing is its promise that appoint-ment to these bodies will betransparent and institutionalintegrity will be protected.

As regards the judiciary,the Congress has a terriblerecord. In the 1970s, it super-seded three Supreme Courtjudges, clamoured for a “com-mitted judiciary” and hurledabuses and threats on judges onthe floor of Parliament. In fact,

in November 1976, in the LokSabha, one Congress MP askedthe Supreme Court judges ifthey had “the temerity” to goagainst the Government andwent on to say that the party hadits “methods and machinery” todeal with such judges. Now inmanifesto 2019, the Congresshas promised that “the indepen-dence and integrity of the judi-ciary will be maintained.” Giventhe party’s discomfort with anindependent judiciary, thispromise must be taken with abag of salt.

Finally, a word about cor-ruption. The manifesto claimsthat the party will take “deter-mined steps” to bring backscamsters. This is the very partywhich ensured the exit of Italianbusinessman and SoniaGandhi’s friend OttavioQuattrocchi, who pocketed acommission of $7.3 millionwhen we bought field guns forour Army from Bofors and gotthe UK Government to unfreezehis bank account so that hecould walk away with the loot.

Somewhere in the begin-ning of the document, the partytalks about its commitment tothe Constitution and says, “Ourrecord speaks for itself...Wehave done it before. We will doit again!”

Given the party’s trackrecord, does this not soundominous?

(The writer is an author spe-cialising in democracy studies.Views expressed are personal.)

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Advani’s last stand” (April 6).In a sort of farewell blog, BJP vet-eran LK Advani has said, “thosewho disagree with us are not ourenemies.” For the BJP, a stridentdenigration of opponents andself-praise of populism are twosides of the same coin that it putin circulation ever since it beganfacing flak for its failures on thesocio-economic front. The party,led by the Prime Minister, mountssevere and personal attacks onrival leaders even as theOpposition (for example, theCongress’ leaders) says it hasquarrels with policies and notpeople. The BJP built up a narra-tive on a “corrupt Opposition”that has since been undone byRafale as the game of perceptioncan be played by others too.

It is strange that the BJP, hav-ing come to power solely on thedevelopment plank, should nowrely largely on rabble-rousing totake on the Congress on an inclu-sive manifesto. In 2019, theIndian voter must still rely on hisinstincts to seek his destiny.

R NarayanaNavi Mumbai

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Advani’s last stand” (April6). In my view, it would bewrong to interpret LK Advani’sremarks as an attack on the topleadership of the BJP, includingPrime Minister Narendra Modiand his senior colleagues. In ahuge party like the BJP, there

may be some hot-heads, who seestatements of some Oppositionleaders questioning the ModiGovernment’s post-Pulwamaactions, including Balakot, asvery provocative and anti-Indian. However, PrimeMinister Modi has promptlywelcomed Advani’s “guidingmantra” of “nation first, partynext and self last.”

LK Advani’s commitment

to nationalism began with hisentr y into the RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh (RSS) whenhe was a teen. Over the years, itgrew with his pioneering workas he set up the Jan Sangh andlater the BJP. He is still regard-ed as the main margdarshak —a guiding and inspiring soul ofthe party he founded.

M Ratan Via email

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “The F-16 mystery” (April 8).A US-based magazine has citedAmerican personnel as havingcounted the number of F-16fighter aircraft with the PakistanAir Force and found none to bemissing. This report has confusedmany of us who were led tobelieve that India shot down anF-16. Meanwhile, ourGovernment has stuck to itsstand, saying that it has conclu-sive evidence that the aircraft wasshot down. We need to know thetruth. Is it so difficult to verify?

KV SeetharamaiahHassan

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Sir — Doing away with the sedi-tion law will cost the nationdearly. Secessionists have alreadytrained their guns against theState. The Congress should re-think on this.

ShivaliVia email

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Beejankuram, meaning embryo, is the name ofa Malayalam short story written way back inthe 1970s by Vadakke Koottala

Narayanankutty Nair (popularly known as VKN),the czar of laughter. The protagonist, Payyan, a mem-ber of the All India Anna Dravida MunnetraKazhagam (AIADMK), goes to a theatre in the vil-lage to watch a movie starring MG Ramachandran(MGR). A sword fight was on between MGR andthe villain. Payyan, who became tense, lit a beedi andstarted smoking. In the process, he could not con-trol himself and coughed once. MGR, who lost con-centration, turned towards Payyan and asked himto get out of the theatre. The latter, who felt humil-iated, came out of the theatre and went back to theDravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).

Readers must be wondering what this story hasto do with present-day politics in Tamil Nadu. Thetruth is that politics in this State did not emerge outof the scenario as portrayed by VKN through thisshort story. Ever since the AIADMK released its listof candidates for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections onApril 18, four leaders crossed over to the DMK. Thereason behind this was that they were denied tick-ets and hence, they decided to punish the parentby joining hands with the rival.

During the 2016 Assembly election, there werefour fronts who were running for power. First, theAIADMK-led front, which included some fringe andletterhead organisations. Second, the DMK-led UPA,which included the Congress and some caste-basedparties. Third, the BJP-led NDA. And fourth, theDesiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK),which included the Left, the Viduthalai ChiruthaigalKatchi, Vaiko’s Marumalarchi Dravida MunnetraKazhagam and the Tamil Maanila Congress.Anbumani Ramadoss of the Pattali Makkal Katchiwas fighting it alone and he himself became the chiefministerial candidate. The fourth front’s chiefministerial candidate was Vijayakanth.

It is known that traditionally the AIADMK andthe DMK have been rivals. Politics in Tamil Nadurevolves around enmity between these twoDravidian parties. During the 2016 Assembly elec-tion, the DMDK-led front was campaigning, tar-geting the DMK as well as the AIADMK.Karunanidhi, Jayalalithaa and their political outfitswere corrupt and communal, shouted Vaiko and allthe leaders of the front. Vijayakanth was the embod-iment of all that was good and divine. M K Stalin,too, came under attack.

Well by 2019, the political landscape in TamilNadu underwent a major change as AIADMKleader J Jayalalithaa and DMK patriarch MKarunanidhi left the scene in quick succession. PostJayalalithaa’s death, the AIADMK suffered a splitwith TTV Dhinakaran, the nephew of Jayalalithaa’sclose confidante Sasikala, breaking away and form-ing a new party, the Amma Makkal MunnetraKazhagam (AMMK). But with the passing away ofKarunanidhi, the DMK and its chosen heir MKStalin (Karunanidhi’s second son by his second wifeDayalu) turned out to be “a saviour of democracyand pluralism”, claimed Vaiko. The latter also tookan oath in public that his mission was to anoint Stalinas the Chief Minister of the State.

Meanwhile, Dhinakaran, with help from hisMannargudi clan, began the process of hijacking theAIADMK. He was nowhere in the picture whenJayalalithaa was hale and hearty. It was only after

her demise on December 5, 2016, thatDhinakaran appeared from nowhere andthe media in Tamil Nadu started singing“Amen” to him. Dhinakaran was the“man in a hurry” and dreamt of becom-ing the Chief Minister. He filed the nom-ination from RK Nagar Assembly con-stituency, which was represented byJayalalithaa till her death.

The bypoll scheduled in April 2017had to be called off in the eleventh hourfollowing the seizure of a large amountof unaccounted cash from Vijay Bhaskar,Tamil Nadu Minister for Health. TheIncome Tax department alleged that thismoney was meant for distribution amongthe voters in RK Nagar. Though Stalinhad claimed that the DMK would defeatthe AIADMK in the byelection, the can-didate he fielded against Dhinakaran wasa political lightweight. ShimlaMuthuchozhanm — the DMK candidatefrom TK Nagar in the 2016 Assemblyelection, who gave a scare to the thenChief Minister Jayalalithaa by bringingthe latter’s margin of victory to almosthalf of what she received in the 2015byelection — was nowhere to be seen forthe 2017 bypoll.

By the time the ElectionCommission scheduled the rescindedbyelection, AIADMK had eased outDhinakaran from the party and OPanneerselvan and EdappadyPalaniswamy, the current ChiefMinister, buried the hatchet and stoodunited. Though Dhinakaran won thebyelection, what surprised all was theDMK forfeiting its security deposit.While Shimla had polled 57, 673 votesin the 2016 Assembly election againstJayalalithaa, the new candidate of theDMK, Maruthu Ganesh, could poll just24, 651 votes in the bypoll. Where didthe remaining 33,000 votes of the

DMK, a cadre party whose votes are likea safe deposit, go?

The DMK wanted to hasten the dis-integration of the AIADMK and it suc-ceeded in this strategy. ThoughDhinakaran is being projected as thenew star of Tamil Nadu politics, wemust wait for the 2019 Lok Sabha elec-tion and the subsequent bypolls toknow the capability and acceptability ofSasikala’s nephew. He is being project-ed by a section of the media as the right-ful heir of Jayalalithaa. But till now, hehas not impressed anybody with hisorganisational skills or oratoricalprowess. Moreover, he is listed as anaccused by the Enforcement Directorateand the Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) in cases of money launderingand violation of FERA.

While the AIADMK and the BJPhave joined hands, they hold differencesof opinion. The former is totally againsta Uniform Civil Code as well as tripletalaq. It is also against the NEET and theUnion Government’s decision to enact alegislation to introduce the CommonEntrance Examination across the coun-try for engineering college admissions.The party also wants the Centre toretrieve the Katchatheevu islet, which wasceded to Sri Lanka by the then PrimeMinister Indira Gandhi in 1975. It is cer-tain that the BJP Government would notbudge an inch from its stance on all theseissues.

The same is the case with the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA). Itmay sound strange that SPA means a placewhere people go in order to becomehealthier through exercises, eating specialfood and other such activities. But this isthe dictionary meaning of SPA. The con-stituents of the SPA in Tamil Nadu arebadly in need of a “spa” service if their pre-

sent situation is any indication. None ofthem has representation in the LokSabha. All of them are fighting for polit-ical survival. The VCK, a Dalit militantoutfit, has no representation in the LokSabha or Assembly. The Leftists, too, areout of work since 2014. For them it is afight for survival.

The DMK wants the Centre torelease the seven accused, who are serv-ing life-term in jail in connection with theassassination of Rajiv Gandhi. The DMK’sargument is that since the accused haveserved more than 20 years in jail, theyshould be set free. But there are no suchrules in India, according to legal experts.A life-term sentence means imprisonmentfor the entire life and there can never beany different opinion over it.

In its 2014 election manifesto, theCongress had declared that it would banJallikkattu, the taming of bull sport heldin connection with the Pongal festivi-ties, but was in the forefront, demand-ing the lifting of a ban on it imposedby the Supreme Court. Everythingassociated with Tamil Nadu politics iscontradictory. Politicians, who till theother day were at each other’s throats,were hugging each other the momentthe Election Commission declared thepoll schedule. A political party, whichwas in serious seat-sharing discussionwith the AIADMK, was also in simul-taneous negotiations with the DMK!With a section of the media, too, join-ing the race in the electoral battle,democracy has lost its remaining sem-blance of civility. Yes, politics in TamilNadu has turned out to be a comedy oferrors. A comedy, which will make youonly laugh. So, the original play retainsits charm and spirit.

(The writer is Special Correspondent,The Pioneer)

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The 17th Lok Sabha elections,scheduled for April 11 inUttarakhand, seem to be a

lacklustre affair. Unlike previouspolls, this time there is no excite-ment either in the public or in thepropaganda machinery of the polit-ical parties. This is indeed unique aspeople of this State, particularly inthe hill areas, are not only political-ly active but also divided along partylines — mainly BJP and Congress.It is the lack of issues, star leadersand aggressive campaigning that hascreated doubts among the voters.

Although Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s recent electionrally in Dehradun pulled a massivecrowd, Congress chief Rahul

Gandhi’s rally at Srinagar alsobecame the talk of town.Nevertheless, a perceptible lull wasvisible in both camps.

Such lukewarm response is dueto three reasons: First, in its very firstphase, the election has deprived thecandidates an opportunity to gearup their machinery. Second, thestrictness of the ElectionCommission has deprived them ofthe luxury of spending recklessly onposters, loudspeakers and rallies.Third, the candidates fielded by thepolitical parties lack a strong pres-ence among the electorate, partic-ularly in the hilly areas.

The fielding of ManishKhanduri, former UttarakhandChief Minister BC Khanduri’s son,by the Congress has not really gonedown well with the voters despiteKhanduri’s claim that his father’sblessings are with him. It has, in fact,created a peculiar situation for BCKhanduri and his daughter RituKhanduri, a BJP MLA fromYumkeshwar Assembly constituen-cy of the Pauri Garhwal Lok Sabhaseat. The claim of both canvassing

in favour of the BJP candidateTirath Singh Rawat for the PauriGarhwal Lok Sabha seat is also beingdoubted due to bloodline politics.

What could be the best exam-ple of political ambition — that seesno boundary or ideology — thanthis? The father was provided every-thing by the BJP. Even the 2012Assembly election was contested bythe party on the slogan, “Khandurihai jaroori”, but the fear of not get-ting an opportunity to hold hisfather’s place in the BJP and lust forpower allowed the son to trudge toanother territory. Pauri Garhwal isalso an area dominated by ex-Armymen. Therefore, this can alsocreate confusion among them.

The BJP has fielded three sittingMPs — Mala Raj Laxmi from TehriGarhwal parliamentary constituen-cy, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank fromHaridwar and Minister of State forTextile Ajay Tamta from Almoraparliamentary constituency. On theother hand, the Congress has field-ed Pritam Singh, Ambrish Kumarand Pradeep Tamta respectivelyfrom these three constituencies.

Pritam Singh is a sitting MLA fromChakrata Assembly constituencyand also the president of theUttarakhand Pradesh CongressCommittee; Ambrish Kumar is aformer MLA; and Pradeep Tamta isa member of the Rajya Sabha.Further, Mala Raj Laxmi, Nishankand Ajay Tamta enjoy good rapportwith voters in their area. Therefore,the contest in these seats couldweigh in the BJP’s favour.

However, Harish Rawat’s pref-erence for Nainital in place of theHaridwar Lok Sabha seat is interest-ing as he had contested from therein the 2009 Lok Sabha polls and hadwon it, too. He had been contestingfrom the Almora Lok Sabha seatsince 1980 and won and lost fromhere a couple of times before shift-ing to the Haridwar parliamentaryconstituency in 2009 after Almorabecame a reserved seat. However, in2014, his wife replaced him and con-tested from Haridwar seat but lostto BJP’s Nishank. This time, Rawatwill be contesting for the first timefrom Nainital parliamentary con-stituency against the BJP candidate

Ajay Bhatt, who is also State presi-dent of the party and is contestingthe Lok Sabha election for the first time.

Both Rawat and Bhatt shareinteresting political backgrounds.The former, who is a has-beenChief Minister of Uttarakhand,faced a political revolt in the Statein March 2016 when nine CongressMLAs defected to the BJP and con-verted him into a leader of a minor-ity Government. The Congress lostthe 2017 Assembly election underRawat’s leadership, who himselfwas defeated from two Assemblyseats — one in Garhwal and theother in Kumaun: Haridwar ruraland Kicha respectively.

On the other hand, Ajay Bhatt,despite holding the charge of theBJP’s State president, lost fromRanikhet in the 2017 Assemblyelection. Both leaders, who losttheir Assembly seats in 2017, areconfronting each other in the 2019Lok Sabha election. It would,therefore, be interesting to see acontest between the two first-timers seeking legitimacy in the

Lok Sabha. This would be stimu-lating as Modi’s developmentalagenda, the Balakot airstrikes, thereservation to economically weak-er sections and the Prime MinisterKisan loan scheme are likely toimpact voters in these parts.

The fast pace of the ChardhamRoad project is somewhat tiltingthe mood in favour of the BJP butthe lack of employment for localyouth can dim its prospects.Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’sNYAY scheme is also being talkedabout but people are not convincedabout its outcome as questionsabout its fiscal viability and imple-mentation module remain.

In Uttarakhand particularly,people’s awareness about local andnational issues, their dissatisfactionwith non-performing parties andGovernments are reflected throughvarious election results. The firstBJP-led Government inUttarakhand was voted out of powerin the first Assembly elections of2002. But it was interesting to seethat the people, who voted for theCongress in the Assembly elec-

tions, voted for the BJP, which cap-tured three out of five Lok Sabhaseats in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls.

Similarly, in the Assembly elec-tions held in 2007, though theCongress got the vote of 46.3 percent people and BJP of 38.2 percent, the latter was able to form theGovernment with support of theUKD (Uttarakhand Kranti Dal)and Independents. However, in the2009 Lok Sabha elections, theCongress won all the five LokSabha seats.

Interestingly, the BJP lost the2012 Assembly election despiteKhanduri leading the poll but cap-tured all the five Lok Sabha seats in2014 with a 55 per cent voteshare.Such electoral volatility, besidesrevealing people’s discomfort withnon-performing leaders and parties,also reflects their helplessness. Asthere is no effective presence of anythird winnable party, the electoralcontest in Uttarakhand will largelyremain bipolar.

(The writer is professor of polit-ical science, HNB GarhwalUniversity, Uttarakhand)

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Adding teeth to the BJP’saggressive campaign in

Jammu, Union Home MinisterRajnath Singh on Monday saidthere will be no option with theGovernment but to abolishArticles 370 and 35A related tospecial status to Jammu &Kashmir in the Constitution if“someone” talks about havinga separate Prime Minister forthe terrorism-affected State.

Addressing an electionrally in the border area ofSuchetgarh in RS Pura sectorlate on Monday evening,Rajanth Singh said, "Thosewho occupied the chair ofChief Minister in the State arenow talking about having aseparate Prime Minister forJammu & Kashmir.” He said, "Ifsomeone talks like that, we willhave no option other thanabolishing Article 370 andArticle 35A.”

On the occasion, Rajnathasked the Congress and leadersof all other parties to comeclean and clarify their standwhether or not they supportsuch demands.

Earlier in the day, BJP reit-erated its old demand to abro-gate Article 370 of theConstitution while releasingparty's 'Sankalp Patra' in NewDelhi.

The BJP manifesto alsopromised to annul Article 35A"as the provision is discrimi-natory against non-permanentresidents and women of Jammu& Kashmir".

Addressing an electionrally in support of BJP candi-

date, Jugal Kishore Sharma,ahead of the last day of thecampaigning for the first phaseof polls on April 11, Singh said,"as Union Home Minister, I vis-ited Kashmir valley on numberof occasions and invited all thestakeholders to join the dia-logue process".

He said, I even invitedseparatists, who claim to be'messiah' of Kashmiri people tojoin the dialogue process withopen arms. He said, "I had evenrequested the Chief Minister ofthe State to extend an invitation

on her behalf to come on thedialogue table. He said, theyrefused. They were not ready tohold parleys.

Referring to the dastardlyPulwama terror attack, Singhsaid, "Jammu & Kashmir ishogging the headlines thesedays. 40 CRPF jawans weremartyred in a terror attack inPulwama. After that attack,we gave a befitting reply toPakistan."

He said the country is nowin the "strong hands" of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

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Patna: The Rashtriya LokSamata Party, a constituent ofOpposition "Mahagathba-ndhan" in Bihar, suffered yetanother setback on Mondaywith its sitting MP Ram KumarSharma floating his own fac-tion and lambasting the party'sfounder Upendra Kushwahafor allegedly ignoring com-mitted workers while distrib-uting tickets.

The Sitamarhi MP, whohas been the party's "chief whip"in the Lok Sabha and the chair-man of the parliamentary board,made the announcement at anews conference here, saying, "Iam going to write to the ElectionCommission to recognise RLSP(Ram Kumar Sharma) as a sep-arate group".

"Like a feudal oligarch,Kushwaha decided on the can-didates for all five seats he wasallotted in Mahagathbandhan,without consulting me. Jitteryover his prospects in his sittingseat of Karakat, he is contest-ing from Ujiyarpur as well,"Sharma alleged.

The disgruntled leader, theonly sitting MP in the RLSPother than Kushwaha, also saidthat the party's founder hadfalsely accused Chief MinisterNitish Kumar of using foul lan-guage against him.

"He denied me a ticketbecause I tried to stop himwhenever he took suicidal deci-sions like falling into the trapof the Congress and SharadYadav and quitting the NDA.He falsely accused Bihar ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar of usingfoul language against him,"Sharma claimed."The mostbrazen example of his shenani-gans was on display in Motihari(Purvi Champaran). He tookmoney for the seat from formergeneral secretary PradeepMishra and reneged on hispromise when he got a biggerprice from Madhaw Anand.

"In the end, he sold the tick-et to Akash Prasad Singh whoturned out to be the highest bid-der. Singh was not even a partymember before his candidaturewas announced," he said.

Singh is the son of formerUnion Minister AkhileshPrasad Singh, who won PurviChamparan seat — earlierknown as Motihari — in 2004and was the runner up in 2009as a Congress nominee. Theformer Minister currentlyheads the campaign committeeof the Bihar Congress.

Sharma also alleged "thecandidate for Pashchim

Champaran, too, has beenimported from the JD(U) for aprice. Brajesh Kushwaha's can-didature left us all wonderingwhen he acquired the primarymembership".

"All through, Kushwahahas functioned in an undemo-cratic manner. He made right-eous noises about the need forrepresentation of lower castesin the judiciary and used themetaphor of kheer (rice pud-ding) to hoodwink the peoplewith the claim that he wantedto take all sections along.

"Whenever somebodyraised objections about thenear absence of non-KushwahaOBCs, he was eased out,"Sharma alleged.

All RLSP members in thebicameral state legislature hadturned their backs on himwhen he walked out of theNDA, the sitting MP claimed.

"He stands isolated today,even though he may be feelinghigh over getting five out of the40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar.Our Jehanabad MP ArunKumar had parted ways longback. Now our group will workto ensure that he loses all thefive seats," Sharma asserted.

A former JD(U) leader,Kushwaha floated his own partyin 2013 after having voted infavor of the bill for introducingFDI in retail brought by the thenCongress-led UPA government,defying the party whip.

When Nitish Kumar, the defacto leader of the JD(U),pulled out of the NDA,Kushwaha cosied up to the BJP.His fledgling party won all thethree seats it contested — rid-ing the Modi wave.

The BJP — which neededan OBC face to compensate forthe exit of Kumar — prompt-ly rewarded him with a minis-terial berth at the Centre.

Kushwaha, however, grewuneasy following Kumar'sreturn to the NDA in 2017. TheBJP insisted that all NDA part-ners make sacrifices in order toaccommodate the new ally andasked him to settle for twoseats. He ultimately walkedout of the NDA in Decemberlast year. PTI

Srinagar: The BJP should notplay with fire when it comes tothe special status of Jammu &Kashmir, PDP presidentMehbooba Mufti said onMonday and warned that abro-gating Article 370 would leadto freedom for the state fromIndia.

"If you free Jammu &Kashmir from Article 370, youwill free the state from countryas well. I have said many timesthat Article 370 links J&K withthe country. When you breakthis bridge, India loses its legit-imacy over the state. It becomesan occupational force," Muftisaid.

The former Chief Ministerwas reacting to the BharatiyaJanata Party's manifesto, in

which the party has reiteratedits commitment to abrogateArticle 370 and annul Article35A of the Constitution.

"The BJP has failed onfronts, be it unemployment,farmer issues or it price rise.Now they are looking for issueswhich they can use to garnervotes," Mufti said.

The Peoples DemocraticParty leader warned that theBJP should desist from playingwith fire, saying any change inthe special status of the statecould endanger the entireSouth-Asian region.

"J&K is already on a heapof explosives and we saw aglimpse of it in Pulwama. If theBJP does not stop making suchstatements and give up such

intentions (about Article 370),it will not only burn J&K butthe entire region.

"So my warning to the BJPis to stop playing with fire.There is explosives in Jammu& Kashmir. If you will light aspark, everything will go up inflames... There will be noJammu & Kashmir or Indialeft," she added.

Earlier, Mufti said theIndian constitution would notbe applicable to the State ifArticle 370 was abrogated.

"Why waste time in court.Wait for BJP to scrap Article370. It will automatically debarus from fighting elections sinceIndian constitution won't beapplicable to J&K anymore,"she said in a tweet.

Mufti was responding toreports that a PIL has been filedin the Delhi High Court, seek-ing a ban on the PDP presidentand National Conference chiefFarooq Abdullah from con-testing the Lok Sabha election.

While Mehbooba is con-testing from Anantnag,Abdullah is the candidate fromSrinagar constituency.

Mehbooba, in her tweet,quoted a famous couplet ofUrdu poet Allama Iqbal whichreads: "'Na samjho gay tou mitjaouge aye Hindustan walo.Tumhari dastaan tak bhi nahogi dastaano main' (O youpeople of Hindustan, if youdon't understand, you will per-ish, your story will be erasedfrom history)". PTI

Srinagar: National Conferencepresident Farooq Abdullah onMonday said abrogatingArticle 370 of the Constitutionwill pave the way for "freedom"for people of Jammu &Kashmir and asked the BJP totry joining the hearts and notbreaking them.

Abdullah's remarks comeon the day BJP released itsmanifesto for the Lok Sabhapolls in which the party reit-erated its commitment to scrapArticle 370, which grants spe-cial status to Jammu &Kashmir.

The party also resolved toannul Article 35A of theConstitution, which bars peo-ple from outside to own prop-erty in Jammu & Kashmir.

"They talk of abrogatingArticle 370. If you do that, theaccession will also not stand. Iswear by Allah, I think this isthe wish of Almighty, we willget freedom from them,"Abdullah, who is contestingthe Lok Sabha polls fromSrinagar constituency, said atan election rally here.

The former Chief Ministersaid there would not be anyoneto hoist the national flag inKashmir if Article 370 is abro-gated.

"Let them do it, we will see.I will see who is ready to hoisttheir flag here. So don't do suchthings that break our hearts.

Try joining the hearts, notbreaking them," he said.

Launching a scathingattack on the BJP leadership,including Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, Abdullah said,"When you do an electionrally do speak a few words oflove for Jammu & Kashmir."

"Yes, we are a Muslimmajority state and there is nodoubt about that. Try as muchas you want but you can'tchange it. You think by remov-ing Article 35A, you will usurpour rights. Will we take thislying down? We will fight it,"he added.

The NC president said thespecial residency laws werebrought in by then Maharaja ofJammu & Kashmir, Hari Singh,in 1927 as a safeguard for

Dogras so that their numberswere not diluted by influx ofpopulation from other parts ofIndia.

"Do you know what isArticle 35A? It gives you (peo-ple of State) the right to thisplace. Nobody from outsidecan buy land here or apply forjobs. This was kept byMaharaja Hari Singh in 1927so that the population ofDogras does not fall. It was notas much for us as much forthem (Dogras). What do theywant? Will they bring peoplefrom outside and settle themhere to dilute our numbers?" heasked.

NC vice president OmarAbdullah used the BJP mani-festo to hit out at GovernorSatya Pal Malik. PTI

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4��B�����)������ ����!�������������$%�Jammu: Panun Kashmir, anorganisation representingKashmiri pandit migrants, onMonday appealed to theElection Commission to bancandidates of the NC and thePDP from contesting the LokSabha polls as they were run-ning a "seditious and seces-sionist" campaign in the valley.

The campaign launchedby the National Conferenceand the Peoples DemocraticParty that accession of Jammu& Kashmir with India wasconditional and abrogationof Article 370 will lead to sep-aration of the State from Indiais preposterous and has sedi-tious connotation, the organ-isation said.

"NC andPDP haveembarked upona brazenly sedi-tious and seces-sionist cam-paign. They are virtually act-ing as over ground flanks ofPakistan and the separatistestablishment in Jammu &Kashmir," Convenor of PanunKashmir Agnishakher said.

"We appeal to the EC totake notice of the seditiousnature of the election cam-paign launched by NC andPDP in Jammu & Kashmirand ban their candidates fromcontesting the forth comingParliamentary elections in theState," he said. PTI

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The Madras High Court onMonday quashed the land

acquisition proceedings initi-ated by the Centre and TamilNadu Government for the�10,000 crore Chennai –Salemeight lane Greenfield express-way project.

The Division Bench ofJustices T S Sivagnanam and VBhavani Subbaroyan asked theconcerned agencies to stop allwork of the proposed 277 kmstretch of the state-of-the-arthighway which was to be builtthrough agricultural lands andreserve forest.

The judges were of theview that the project reportsubmitted by the consultant

was not satisfactory. They alsoaccepted the argument byactivists and local residentsthat environmental clearancewas mandatory since the pro-ject would have an adverseimpact on the environment,including waterbodies.

Anbumani Ramadoss, thePMK leader and Lok Sabhacandidate from Dharmapuriwas one of the petitioners whohad challenged the project inthe Madras High Court. ThePMK led by Ramadoss is oneof the constituents of theAIADMK-led mega alliancecontesting the April 18 election.Barring the AIADMK nd theBJP, most of the political out-fits in the State are against thedream project. The DMK hasdeclared that it would quash

the project if returned to power.Rohini Bhajibhakare,

Salem district collector hadtold that only a minuscule per-centage of farmers was oppos-ing the project that has other-wise elicited overwhelmingsupport. “About 90 per cent ofpatta (title) holders extendedfull support for th land survey.Only ten per cent hadapproached the higher author-ities for enhanced compensa-tion,” Bhajibhakare had told themedia in June 2018.

The court order is seen asa set back to the proposedDefence Hub to be sety up onSalem as well as the manyindustrial ancillary units com-ing up along the Salem-Chennai stretch, pointed outentrepreneurs. PTI

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Chennai: Opposition DMK onMonday welcomed the MadrasHigh Court order quashingthe land acquisition process forthe Salem-Chennai green cor-ridor project, saying it has dealta 'death blow' to the KPalaniswami Government inTamil Nadu.

PMK leader AnbumaniRamadoss, one of the petition-ers who challenged the �10,000crore worth project, hailed thecourt order and said the out-come was a 'victory' to hisparty and farmers.

DMK president and Leaderof Opposition in the StateAssembly M K Stalin said theGovernment should not preferan appeal against the courtruling and demanded that theChief Minister apologise tofarmers for acquiring theirland.

"The court has dealt a deathblow to the PalaniswamiGovernment which does notrespect people's sentiments,"

Stalin alleged in a statementhere.

Earlier in the day, a specialbench of the high courtquashed the land acquisitionprocess for the project, holdingit required a mega realignmentas the proposed route wouldhave an adverse effect on theenvironment.

The bench of Justice T SSivagnanam and JusticeBhavani Subbarayan passed theorder allowing a batch of peti-tions of 35 landowners andRamadoss, whose party is nowa constituent of the AIADMK-led NDA.

Stalin claimed the govern-ment paid no heed to the viewsof the farmers who did not wantto part with their land and waskeen on implementing the pro-ject with the help of the police.He also took a swipe atRamadoss, saying "he hasstopped talking" about the pro-ject after entering into an alliancewith the AIADMK. PTI

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Itanagar: The number ofwomen contestants inArunachal Pradesh has gone upto 11 in the current election forthe 60-member Assembly,against seven in the 2014 polls.

One of the two Lok Sabhaseats in the State also has awoman candidate who is agreenhorn.

With nine first time con-testants in both assembly andLok Sabha, this is the highestnumber of women candidates inthe state till date. There wereseven women contestants in2014 elections and one of themwon.

Simultaneous Lok Sabhaand Assembly elections will be

held in the Northeastern state onApril 11.

Of the 11 assembly poll con-testants, the Congress has field-ed five women candidates, the

ruling BJP nominated three,while the People's Party ofArunachal (PPA) and the (JDU)selected one each.

It is encouraging to see a

large participation of women inelections this time, but morewomen need to come forwardand participate in nation-build-ing exercise, Arunachal PradeshState Commission for Women(APSCW) Chairperson RadhilaChai Techi said.

"We are committed to cre-ate a political space for womenin the state," Techi added.

Of the three candidates notnew to electoral politics,Dasanglu Pul and Gum Tayengof the BJP are seeking re-electionfrom their seats while formerminister Komoli Mosang is con-testing the poll as a Congresscandidate.

Several of these 12 candi-

dates are focusing on empow-erment of women to give theirdues in the tribal society of thestate.

"My focus will be on peace,development, transparency andjustice to women. I will fight fortheir rights in the society,"Komoli, Congress nominee forNampong assembly constituen-cy, said.

"Women empowerment willbe my main agenda," anotherCongress candidate YamanTatak Bagra who is contestingfrom Along West seat, said.

BJP nominee Dasanglu Pul,wife of former chief ministerKalikho Pul, said "I believe thework I have done for the con-

stituency in a short periodwould Reflect on theoutcome ofthe election. Many who doubt-ed my ability as a woman havechanged their minds."

Kalikho Pul had committedsuicide on August 9, 2016. Aftermonths of intense politicaldevelopments, Pul had takenover the reins of the state onFebruary 19, 2016 but had torelinquish the job following aSupreme Court order in July.

Dasanglu Pul had won theby-election from Hayuliangassembly seat as a BJP candidate.

Gum Tayeng was electedunopposed as a Congress nom-inee from Dambuk in a by-elec-tion in 2013 following the death

of her husband — then sittingMLA Jomin Tayeng. She alsoretained the seat in 2014Assembly polls.

JD(U)'s Jarjum Ete, formerAPSCW chairperson, is con-testing the poll from ArunachalWest Lok Sabha seat.

Dipti Bengia, president of awomen's organisations ofArunachal, said the women inthe state have realised they arecapable enough in all fieldsincluding politics.

"They (women) have vol-unteered to contest the electionwhich is a good sign in a male-dominated society of the state.The women can manage theirfamilies and they can also shine

in politics. The society shouldsupport and encourage them toprove their mettle," said Bengia,president of the ArunachalPradesh Women WelfareSociety.

Arunachal Pradesh votedseveral women representatives tothe state assembly in the past.

Sibo Kai was the firstwoman legislator after she wasnominated to the assembly in1978 when the state was a unionterritory.

Nyari Welly was the firstelected woman MLA of thestate when she won on a PPAticket in 1980. She was re-elect-ed in 1984 as a Congress candi-date. PTI

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Two autocrats in form ofDuryodhan and Dushasan

had been impeding the Indiandemocracy and it seems if theduo return to power after thegeneral elections, the same“fall” of democracy will occur.This was stated by BengalChief Minister MamataBanerjee on Monday withoutnaming Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and BJP pres-ident Amit Shah.

“There is a person (readModi) who sends out 560 liesbaring his 56 inches’ chest.This person is as spurious asRavana. But then even Ravanahad his end,” Banerjee told ahuge rally at Coochbehar won-dering how instead of placingthe account his own perfor-mance, the Prime Ministerwas asking her to explain herdeeds.

“Look at his audacity.Instead of seeking votes on hisperformance of the past fiveyears, he is asking me to explainmy conduct,” Banerjee said.

It was like “vinash kaaleyviprit buddhi (destruction darkcontrast wit)” for the PrimeMinister who was running a“Hitler-like fascistGovernment.” The Prime

Minister was “arrogant, auto-cratic, dictatorial with noregard for democratic princi-ples,” Banerjee said alleginghow the PMO and the centralagencies were acting at hisdirections by victimising theopposition leaders.

“They are sending centralagencies like ED, CBI andIncome Tax to raid the housesof those raise their voicesagainst them. But I am a dif-ferent mettle. I will not cowdown in the face of such mea-sures. I will continue to fight,”

she said comparing the Modiand BJP president Amit Shahwith Duryodhan andDushyashan — the two evilspersonified in grand epic ofMahabharata.

“These two Duryodhanand Dushasan are destroyingIndian democracy,” she saidasking “where is the 2 crore jobyou had promised ModiBabu?” Instead of creating 2crore jobs “you have snatched2 crore employments from thepeople. Did the people vote foryou for this?”

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Pudukottai: A life-size statueof rationalist leader andDravidian movement founderEV Ramasamy, popularlyknown as Periyar, was foundvandalised at Aranthangi in thedistrict on Monday, police said.

The incident triggered anoutrage with the Tamil Nadugovernment joining the oppo-sition parties in condemningthe act, while assuring actionagainst the culprits.

The statue of Periyar locat-ed near the government hos-pital in Aranthangi town wasfound with the head dislodgedand lying on the ground, policesaid.

Local leaders of theDravidar Kazhagam noticedthe damage caused to the stat-ue Monday morning andinformed police, demandingthat the culprits be arrestedimmediately.

Officials said steps werebeing taken to repair the stat-ue.

Periyar, who launched theself-respect movement in thestate, was a staunch atheist andhad founded the DravidarKazhagam, the parent organi-sation of the DMK.

Condemning the incident,

state Fisheries Minister DJayakumar, in Chennai, said,"This is not at all acceptable.Whoever did this, action willbe taken against them."

DMK president M K Stalintweeted, "Not only should sternaction be taken against who-ever be the destructive forceswhich acted with the intentionto disturb peace during electiontime, but they should becrushed with an iron fist."

Dravidar Kazhagam (DK)leader K Veeramani, MDMKfounder Vaiko and AMMK'sTTV Dhinakaran also con-demned the incident.

"Periyar statues are notmere stones, but an inspira-tion," Veeramani said in astatement.

Vaiko said that those who"cannot break" Periyar's ideal-ogy were damaging his statuesand urged the Government totake strong action against thosebehind the desecration.

Dhinakaran alleged thatattempts were being made toderive political mileage by tar-geting Periyar statues at thetime of election.

"Those responsible for (thedesecration) should be pun-ished," he tweeted. PTI

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No person could be morehappy than S

Kalyanaraman, director,Saraswathi Research Centre,Chennai with the sankalappatra or the election manifestoof the BJP which was releasedon Monday.

The manifesto has threesuggestions by Kalyanaraman,former banker of AsianDevelopment Bank, to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.Kalyanaraman has been writ-ing continuously to the PrimeMinister about the need tointerlink the major rivers, mak-ing water available all over thecountry at the turn of a tap andfor the setting up of NationalWater Authority to manage thecountry’s waterways. All threesuggestions are incorporated inthe Sankalp Patra.

A long standing demandby the farmers of the State, theInterlinking of Rivers findsthe pride of place in the man-ifesto. The party has sworn thatit would implement thescheme, the dream project offormer Prime Minister lateAtal Bihari Vajpayee, which hitthe road block in 2004 with thechange of Government at theCentre.

The project visualises the

inter linking of major rivers inthe country with a network ofcanals to address the acutewater shortage faced by manyregions even as some States reelunder severe flood.

For example, theBrahmaputra gets flooded dur-ing the Indian summer whilethe States of Tamil Nadu,Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh,Telangama face severe draughtand crop failure. The surplus

flood waters in north Indianrivers could be diverted tosouth Indian rivers to resolvethe floods as well as draughtthat simultaneously ravage thecountry.

“It is a good project aboutwhich we have been hearing alot . But when are they launch-ing the project?”, askedKattumannarkoil Kannan, afarmer leader in the CauveryDelta Region of Tamil Nadu.

Ahmedabad: A local court ofon Monday issued summons toCongress president RahulGandhi and its nationalspokesperson Randeep SinghSurjewala in a criminaldefamation suit filed by theAhmedabad DistrictCooperative Bank (ADCB) andits chairman Ajay Patel.

BJP president Amit Shah isa director in the bank.

The two complainants hadmoved the court last year afterthe Congress leaders reportedlyalleged the bank was involvedin "scam" to convert "�750crore" scrapped notes withinfive days of demonetisation inNovember 2016.

Additional ChiefMetropolitan Magistrate S KGadhvi issued summons tothe two leaders after findingprima facie evidence againstthem, and asked them toappear in the court on May 27.

The court ordered thisafter holding a probe into thematter under section 202 of theCrPC (to enquire into the caseto decide whether or not thereis sufficient ground for pro-ceeding) as part of which evi-dences were produced and wit-nesses examined.

The complainants — theADCB and its chairman Patel— have said the two leaders

levelled "false and defamatoryallegations" against the bank.

Gandhi and Surjewala hadreportedly alleged the ADCBhad received deposits of�745.59 crore in demonetisedcurrencies within five days ofPrime Minister Narendra Modiannouncing the note-ban,wherein higher denomination�500 and �1,000 bills werescrapped.

The note ban announce-ment was made on November8, 2016.

The allegations were madeby Gandhi and Surjewala onthe basis of a response given byNABARD (National Bank forAgriculture and RuralDevelopment) to an RTI queryfiled by a Mumbai-basedactivist.

Surjewala is the commu-nication department in-chargeof the Congress and the chief

spokesperson of the mainOpposition party.In the pleasfiled through their lawyer S VRaju, the ADCB and Patel sub-mitted before the court that thestatement made by both theCongress leaders was falsebecause the bank did notexchange such a huge amountof money.

They said the bank did nothave so much (demonetised)money to exchange (with validcurrency notes) and their claimwere defamatory. Gandhi hadtweeted, "Congratulations AmitShah ji, Director, AhmedabadDistrict Cooperative Bank, onyour bank winning 1st prize inthe conversion of old notes tonew race. �750 crore in 5days!" "Millions of Indianswhose lives were destroyed bydemonetisation, salute yourachievement," he had said onTwitter. PTI

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Srinagar: The Jammu &Kashmir High Court Mondayissued a notice to the StateGovernment on a plea seekingstriking down of the ban onmovement of civilian vehicleson the Jammu-Srinagar nation-al highway on Sundays andWednesdays.

A division bench of ChiefJustice Gita Mittal and JusticeTashi Rabstan issued notice tothe State Government on apublic interest litigation filedby former IAS officer ShahFaesal, through his counseladvocate Tassaduq Khwaja.

Faesal, in his PIL, hassought quashing of the orderpassed by State Governmentlast week, according to whichthe movement of civilian traf-fic on National Highway 44between Udhampur andBaramulla has been bannedon Sundays and Wednesdays

to allow safe passage to securi-ty forces convoys. The bancame into force on Sunday.

The division bench direct-

ed the petition be listed for nexthearing on Tuesday.

Faesal, the 2010 batchUPSC topper, resigned from theIndian Administrative Service(IAS) in January this year toprotest unabated killings inKashmir and maginalisation ofIndian Muslims. Last month, helaunched his own party the'Jammu & Kashmir People'sMovement'. PTI

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The country’s commercialcapital came alive politically

on Monday, as several candi-dates, including Congress’Milind Deora, UrmilaMatondkar, Sanjay Nirupam,Eknath Gaikwad, Shiv Sena’sArvind Sawant and BJP’sManoj Kotak, filed their nom-inations for the Lok Sabhapolls from various constituen-cies in the metropolis.

With still three weeks to gofor the fourth phase of pollingin Mumbai and some otherparts of Maharashtra, candi-dates from various politicalparties took massive proces-sions in Mumbai and filedtheir papers for the April 29Lok Sabha polls.

Mumbai Congress chiefMilind Deora, party candi-dates Urmila Matondkar, PriyaDutt, Sanjay Nirupam, EknathGaikwad were among thosewho filed their papers.

Deora, who filed his nom-ination from Mumbai southconstituency, tweeted after fil-ing the papers: “Filed my nom-ination with Mumbaikars fromdifferent walks of life, all ofwhom came together to placetheir faith in me as their rep-resentative. They reflect thecurrent State of affairs inMumbai — and their supportsymbolises the political courseI will take once elected”.

Deora, who was defeated inthe 2014 polls, is taking on thesitting Sena MP ArvindSawant.

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Imphal: The Manipur HighCourt on Monday revoked thedetention of journalistKishorchandra Wangkhemunder the National SecurityAct and ordered his immediaterelease.

A division bench of JusticeLanusungkum Jamir and JusticeKH Nobin Singh quashed theorder of the district magistrateof Imphal West for detainingWangkhem under the NSA.

The bench said the televi-sion journalist be freed forth-with unless he is not wanted inother cases, Wangkhem's coun-sel, Soraisam Chittaranjan, said.

Wangkhem, 39, wasdetained under the NSA at theorders of the Imphal West dis-trict magistrate last Novemberfor allegedly criticising the BJP,RSS, Prime Minister Narendra

Modi and Manipur ChiefMinister N Biren Singh. He wasarrested on sedition charges onNovember 21 and was sent tojail for 12 months.

Wangkhem, who washoused in the central jail here,had moved court against hisdetention on December 20. Hisfamily members had lodged acomplaint with the high courtthat his health had been deteri-orating in the prison. PTI

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Union Minister of State forDefence Subhash Bhamre

of the BJP, seeking re-election tothe Lok Sabha from Dhule,found himself in a spot of both-er on Monday, as his party’slocal MLA Anil Anna Goteresigned from the party andannounced that he would con-test against him the polls as anIndependent candidate.

Gote, a journalist-turnedpolitician who had been pub-licly criticising the BJP leader-ship and Bhamre for severalmonths now, sent off his resig-nation to Maharashtra BJP pres-ident Raosaheb Danve-Patiland announced his decision tocontest the polls against Bhamrefrom Dhule constituency.

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The Congress on Mondaylodged a complaint

against BJP, Zee TV, & TVproduction team and actors ofserials Bhabhi ji Ghar par Haiand Tujhse hai Raabta forallegedly violating the pollcode of conduct through themisuse of two popular televi-sion serials to promote vari-ous schemes of the Modi gov-ernment.

A delegation ofMaharashtra PradeshCongress Committee(MPCC), led by its GeneralSecretary and SpokespersonSachin Sawant, met the StateChief Election Officer andlodged a formal complaintagainst the BJP for alleged vio-

lation of the code of conductby the BJP.

Talking to media personsafter lodging a complaintagainst the BJP and otherswith the State Chief ElectionOfficer, Sawant said: “TheBJP has now become aCharlatan and are using alldeceptive and illegal means toinfluence the electorate. Sincethe last few days televisionserials with high TRPs arebeing used to promote gov-ernment schemes to benefitthe ruling party”.

Sawant al leged that the schemes like MudraYojana, Swachcha BharatAbhiyaan were being project-ed as the key achievements ofthe current government andPrime Minister is said to be

responsible for these achieve-ments.

“We have submitted theclips of these serials in whichthe actors are seen indirectlycampaigning for the rulingparty and we feel the method-ology fits the definition ofpaid news,” Sawant said.

“The BJP is stooping tothe lowest possible level eversince they have started sens-ing imminent defeat,” Sawantsaid.

In its complaint, theMPCC has demanded that thetwo erring channels respon-sible must be taken off airimmediately and action betaken against the owners ofthe channels as well as theproducers, actors of the seri-als and the BJP.

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India’s GDP growth is expect-ed to accelerate moderately

to 7.5 per cent in Fiscal Year 19-20, driven by continuedinvestment strengthening, par-ticularly private-improvedexport performance andresilient consumption, theWorld Bank has said.

The real GDP growth isestimated at 7.2 per cent inFY18/19, the World Bank saidin its latest report on SouthAsia on Sunday ahead of thespring meeting of the WorldBank and the InternationalMonetary Fund.

Data for the first threequarters suggest that growthhas been broad-based.Industrial growth accelerated to7.9 per cent, making up for adeceleration in services.

Meanwhile, agriculturegrowth was robust at four percent. On the demand side,domestic consumptionremained the primary growthdriver, but gross fixed capitalformation and exports bothmade growing contributions.Over the last quarter, growth isexpected to remain balancedacross sectors, the report said.

Inflation dynamics havebeen subdued over most ofFY18/19, the report said.

The World Bank saidIndia’s GDP growth is expect-ed to accelerate moderately to7.5 per cent in FY19/20, drivenby continued investmentstrengthening-particularly pri-vate- improved export perfor-

mance, andresilient con-sumption.

W i t hrobust growth,and food pricespoised to recov-er, inflation isexpected toc o n v e r g etoward four percent, it said,adding thatboth the cur-rent account and the fiscaldeficit are expected to narrow.

“On the external front,improvements in India’s exportperformance and low oil pricesshould bring about a reductionin the current account deficit to1.9 per cent of GDP,” it said.

“On the internal front, theconsolidated fiscal deficit isprojected to decline, albeitslowly (to 6.2 and 6.0 per centof GDP in FY19/20 andFY20/21 respectively). As thecenter’s deficit is budgeted toremain unchanged at 3.4 percent of GDP in FY19/20, theburden of adjustment will reston the states,” the World Banksaid.

A sustained decline in foodprices since July 2018, subse-quently complemented by thesoftening of oil prices and con-comitant appreciation of therupee, has led to a steadydecline in inflation, it noted.

Observing that headlineinflation stood at 2.6 per centin February 2019, and theaverage for FY18/19 so far at3.5 per cent, well below the

RBI’s target-midpoint of fourpercent, the report said that asa result, the RBI reduced thepolicy rate by 25 basis points(to 6.25 percent) in February2019.

However, the report saidthat the current account deficitwidened in FY18-19.

India’s external positionworsened significantly in thefirst half of FY18-19, as largeportfolio outflows were trig-gered by US monetary policyand fears of contagion fromstress in some emerging mar-ket economies. The nominalexchange rate depreciated, andforeign reserves declined byover eight percent over Januaryto October 2018.

However, since then, thedecline in oil prices and theUnited States Fed signaling aslower pace of normalisationthan initially anticipated led toa partial reversal.

Portfolio outflows havereversed, and the rupee hasappreciated by about four per-cent vis-a-vis the USD sinceOctober 2018.

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The State Bank of India (SBI)on Monday invited bids

from strategic as well as finan-cial bidders for stake sale in ail-ing Jet Airways.

SBI, which is the leadlender of a consortium ofdomestic lenders that hasextended loans to Jet Airways,is looking for “change in con-trol and management” of thecarrier, according to a publicnotice.

SBI Capital Markets wouldbe assisting and advising thelenders on the bid process.

The bids have to be sub-mitted by April 10.

The lenders’ consortiumhas taken control of the airlineunder a debt recast plan.

Under the debt resolutionplan approved by the JetAirways’ board on March 25,lenders have taken a majoritystake in the airline and are setto infuse �1,500 crore.

Besides, the carrier’sfounder and promoter NareshGoyal as well as his wife AnitaGoyal quit the board. Theshareholding of Goyals hascome down to 25 per cent from51 per cent earlier.

As per the advertisement,the airline has availed variouscredit facilities aggregating over�8,000 from a consortium ofdomestic lenders led by SBI.The company has subsequent-ly come under stress and notbeen able to service its debtobligations in relation to the

facilities.Acute financial crunch has

forced the airline to ground air-craft, cancel flights and delaypayment of salaries, includingto pilots.

The consortium has pro-posed to offer at least 3.54 croreshares of the airline comprising31.2 per cent of equity sharecapital of the company and upto a maximum of 8.51 croreshares comprising 75 per centon fully diluted basis subject toapproval, it said.

“Bidders shall bear all costsassociated with the preparationand submission of the EOI.The lenders or authorised rep-resentative shall not, under anycircumstances be responsibleor liable for any such costs in thisregard, whether direct, inciden-tal or consequential,” it added.

It further said that the bid-ders can be strategic investors(SIs) and/ or financial investors(FIs).

“SIs may include body cor-porates having experience insimilar sectors with domestic orglobal experience or both. FIsmay include private equity funds,investment funds etc,” it said.

SIs should have a mini-mum three years of experiencein commercial aviation busi-ness.

In the event the bidder is aconsortium, it should consist ofnot more than three memberswith shareholding of an indi-vidual member not being lessthan 15 per cent and shouldalso have a lead member.

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The European Union saidMonday it has fined US

engineering giant GeneralElectric 52 million euros forproviding incorrect informa-tion during a probe into itsmerger with LM Wind Power.

But the EuropeanCommission, the EU’s execu-tive arm, said the decision,taken under competition rules,has no impact on its 2017approval of the merger with theDanish supplier.

“The fine imposed todayon General Electric is proofthat the Commission takesbreaches of the obligation forcompanies to provide us withcorrect information very seri-ously,” EU competition com-missioner Margrethe Vestagersaid.

The Commission said “anoverall fine of $58.4 million isboth deterrent and propor-tionate” calling GE’s breach ofits obligations a “seriousinfringement”.

In January 2017, when GEnotified the Commission of itsmerger plans, it said it was notdeveloping any offshore windturbine more powerful than anexisting six megawatt turbine.

But the Commission saidit had learned from a thirdparty, which it did not identi-fy, that GE was offering a 12-megawatt offshore wind tur-bine to potential customers.General Electric subsequent-ly withdrew its notificationand resubmitted its plans with“complete information”, theCommission said.

The Commission approvedthe proposed acquisition onMarch 20, 2017. It was the sec-ond time that Brussels fined acompany for having suppliedincorrect or misleading infor-mation.

In May 2017, theCommission fined the USsocial media network Facebook110 million euros as part of its2014 investigation into itsacquisition of mobile telephoneapplication WhatsApp.

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The National Company LawAppellate Tribunal on

Monday said it would decideon the insolvency of debt-rid-den Reliance Communications(RCom). RCom has pleadedthe tribunal to go ahead withinsolvency proceedings againstit as it is unable to pay dues toits lenders.

Swiss telecom gear makerEricsson, which received itsunpaid dues of �550 crorefrom RCom last month fol-lowing a Supreme Court order,is opposing the move. A two-member bench headed byChairman Justice S JMukhopadhaya also observedthat if insolvency proceedingsagainst RCom are allowed,then Ericsson would have toreturn �550 crore.

“Why one party will takeamount and let the financialcreditors suffer,” said theNCLAT, adding that either itmay quash RCom bankruptcyproceedings in NCLT or allowbankruptcy case to proceed.

The appellate tribunal alsosaid that it would consider thereply filed by the Departmentof Telecom (DoT) over theRCom’s plea against the showcause notice issued by it overspectrum charges due on April30, the next date of hearing.

Earlier on February 4, thetribunal had said that until fur-ther orders of the NCLAT orthe Supreme Court, no one cansell, alienate, or create third-party rights over RCom’s assets.

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The Government has againdeferred the last date for

bidding for oil and gas explo-ration blocks offered underthe Open Acreage LicensingPolicy (OALP) by over a monthto May 15.

Last date for OALP bidround II and III, which are run-ning almost concurrently, wasApril 10 but has now beenpushed back.

“Bid submission closingdate for OALP Bid Round II &III stands extended up to May15, 2019,” upstream regulatorDGH said in a notice.

It did not give reasons forextending the deadline.

The Government had inJanuary offered 14 blocks inOALP-II bid round and amonth later offered another 23oil and gas blocks and coal-bedmethane (CBM) blocks in thirdround.

Bids for the 14 blocksoffered in OALP-II bid round,covering an area of 29,333square kilometres, were to closeon March 12 but the deadlinewas extended to April 10,according to the DirectorateGeneral of Hydrocarbon(DGH).

April 10 was also the biddeadline for the 23 oil and gasand CBM blocks offered in thethird round, which waslaunched on February 10.

OALP-II bid round wasdelayed by six months and itslaunch came barely a monthbefore the third round.

Officials said OALP-II andOALP-III will run concurrent-ly.

Oil Minister DharmendraPradhan had at the time oflaunch of OALP-II bid roundon January 7 stated that aninvestment of about �40,000crore is expected in theprospecting of oil and gas inblocks offered.

In the first round of OALPlast year, as much as �60,000crore was committed in theexploration of oil and gas in 55blocks or areas.

In the third round, thegovernment is expecting up to$700 million (about �49,000crore) of investment that ithopes will help raise domesticoutput and cut imports.

India had in July 2017allowed companies to carve outblocks of their choice with aview to bringing about 2.8million sq km of unexploredarea in the country under

exploration.Under this policy, called

open acreage licensing policyor OALP, companies areallowed to put in an expres-sion of interest (EoI) forprospecting of oil and gas inany area that is presently notunder any production orexploration licence. The EoIscan be put in at any time ofthe year but they are accu-mulated twice annually.

The blocks or areas thatreceive EoIs at the end of acycle are put up for auctionwith the originator or thefirm that originally selectedthe area getting a 5-markadvantage.

The two window of accu-mulating EoIs end on May 15and November 15 every year.EoIs accumulated till May 15are supposed to be put onauction by June 30 and those inthe second window byDecember 31.

The first OALP round waslaunched in 2017 and bidscame in by May 2018. EoIs forsecond round closed on May15, 2018, and the blocks weresupposed to be put for auctionby June but the round wasdelayed for unknown reasons.OALP-II was finally launched

on January 7.In the meanwhile, EoIs in

the third window also closedon November 15, 2018 with asmany as 18 blocks and fiveCBM blocks, measuring 31,722sq km, being sought for. OALP-III bid round was launched onFebruary 10 with April 10 asthe last date for bidding.

Officials said the 14 blocksin OALP-II are estimated tohold in-place resource of12,609 million tonne oil and oilequivalent gas.

In OALP-1, mining mogulAnil Agarwal-led Vedantawalked away with 41 out of 55blocks bid out. State-owned OilIndia won nine blocks whileOil and Natural Gas Corp(ONGC) managed to win justtwo.

The 55 blocks have a totalarea of 59,282 sq km. Thiscompares to about 1,02,000 sqkm being under explorationprior to OALP.

Blocks are awarded to thecompany which offers thehighest share of oil and gas tothe Government as well ascommits to doing maximumexploration work by way ofshooting 2D and 3D seismicsurvey and drilling explorationwells.

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Additional Secretar y,Ministry of Housing and

Urban Affairs (MoHUA),Government of India, ShivDas Meena assumed office asChairman-cum-ManagingDirector (CMD) of NavratnaCPSE, NBCC (India) Ltd.,with effect from April 5,2019. After assuming thecharge, Meena visited theNBCC Corporate office alongwith Durga Shanker Mishra,Secretary, MoHUA; K SanjayMurty, Additional Secretary,MoHUA and other seniorofficials of the Ministry onMonday, to attend the formalfarewell function of AnoopKumar Mittal who laid downthe office of CMD, NBCC onApril 5, 2019.

Speaking at the farewellfunction, Durga ShankerMishra dwelt at length aboutthe Company’s remarkableperformance during thetenure of Dr. Mittal and com-plimented the entire NBCCteam for their dedicationand efforts in bringing abouta holistic change in the over-a l l operat ions of theCompany and its tremen-dous contributions to theInfrastructure Developmentof the country.

Meena in his remarksalso appreciated the entireNBCC team led by Dr. Mittalso far for their excellent per-formance enabling the orga-nization to attain many mile-stones. He urged upon all toextend their support andcontinuously remain com-mitted in their endeavour inbringing laurels for theCompany.

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Zee Educare will host itsvery 1st edition in Delhi on

20, 21 April 2019 at the IndiraGandhi Indoor Stadium, NewDelhi. Zee Educare is an all-round education festival for thestudent community.

The main agenda of theevent will be to address gapamongst young adults for high-er education by bringing togeth-er researchers, industry experts,professors and alumni underone-roof enabling students totake an informed career decision.

The Academic conclavewill build upon a range of ini-tiatives that will aid existingprofessionals to leap forth intheir career graph and parents/students to explore optionsbeyond the regular.

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The National Company LawAppellate Tribunal on

Monday directed debt-riddenIL&FS to submit informationover investment made by pen-sion and provident funds in itsfour group firms, and alsosought details of financial lia-bilities of those entities.

These four ‘amber’ com-panies are — Hazribagh RanchiExpressway, Jharkhand RoadProject ImplementationCompany, Moradabad BareilyExpressway and West GujaratExpressway.

The NCLAT also madeclear that it has not stoppedIL&FS and its group entitiesfrom going for resolutionprocess.

During the proceedings ofthe appellate tribunal, a two-member bench headed byJustice S J Mukhopadhayaobserved that the moneyinvested by pension fund, and

provident fund in the IL&FScompanies should be releasedfirst.

“Provident fund and pen-sion fund have nothing to dowith this, this is not yourmoney, it is related to theemployees.

“We want that it should bereleased first,” the bench said.

The NCLAT had directed4 out of 13 amber entities toprepare charts, and held thatthe remaining 9 firms will alsotry to prepare charts by the nextdate of hearing, which is April 16.

Earlier on March 29, theNCLAT had sought financialdetails about 13 entities ofIL&FS group that have beenclassified under the ‘amber’category.

Under its resolution plan,the Government has cate-gorised IL&FS group entitiesinto green, amber and red cat-egories based on their respec-tive financial positions.

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Equity benchmarks Sensexand Nifty were hit by

volatility and registered losseson Monday as investors turnedcautious ahead of the start ofcorporate earnings season andpolling for the general elec-tions.

The BSE gauge Sensexended lower by 161.70 pointsat 38,700.53, while the NSENifty lost 61.45 points to settlethe day at 11,604.50.

Losses mainly in finan-cial, metal and energy stocksdragged the Sensex into thered.

Oil stocks came underpressure due to constant rise inglobal crude oil prices.

International benchmarkBrent was trading at 70.81 perbarrel, up 0.67 per cent.

Among the Sensex con-stituents, Yes Bank emerged asthe biggest laggard with 2.66per cent drop in share price.Other top losers were BajajFinance, Vedanta, Tata Motors,Reliance Industries and SBI —dropping as much as 2.57 percent.

On the other hand, Infosys,Mahindra and Mahindra,ONGC, TCS, PowerGrid andNTPC closed with significantgains on the Sensex chart.

Of the 30 Sensex shares, 20witnessed losses and 10 sawgains. The 30-share gaugeopened higher at 38,993.60against the previous close of38,862.23. Intra-day, it hit ahigh of 39,041.25 and a low of38,520.96, swinging over 520points. The BSE benchmarkfinally settled at 38,700.53,losing 161.70 points or 0.42 percent.

Similarly, the 50-share NSENifty started off on a positivenote at 11,704.35 against theFriday’s close of 11,665.95. Theindex traded in the range of11,549.10 and 11,710.30 duringthe day. It swung over 161points during the session. TheNSE barometer finally closed at11,604.50, down 61.45 pointsor 0.53 per cent.

Market analysts believethat the upcoming corporateresults season along withbeginning of polling for generalelections will drive tradingsentiments over the next fewweeks as investors will be keen-ly watching such developments.

The country’s top two soft-ware exporters TCS and Infosyswill announce their quarterlyearnings on Friday.

Lok Sabha elections willbegin on April 11 and will beheld over seven phases followedby counting of votes on May 23.

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Paris Saint-Germain squan-dered the chance to clinch

the Ligue 1 title in record-equalling time on Sunday aftera 2-2 draw at home toStrasbourg, with Eric MaximChoupo-Moting's incrediblemiss from on the goal-line cost-ing his team dear.

PSG were handed theopportunity to win their sixthFrench crown in seven seasonsafter second-placed Lille drew 1-1 at Reims earlier.

That left Thomas Tuchel'sside knowing that three pointsat the Parc des Princes would seethem retain the title and wrap itup with eight games to spare,matching the speed with whichLaurent Blanc's team becamechampions in 2016.

Choupo-Moting gave theman early lead with his third Ligue1 goal, but later in the first halfhe somehow succeeded in turn-ing a net-bound ChristopherNkunku shot onto the postwhile standing on the line.

"I wondered if I was offsideand it all happened very fast. Itouched the ball, it hit the post

and, well, it's a real shamebecause the ball was going in,"Choupo-Moting told Canal+.

"Sorry about that."Fresh from winning the

League Cup last weekend,Strasbourg had equalised priorto Choupo-Moting's howlerwhen Nuno Da Costa turned ina Lionel Carole cross, and theyfound themselves 2-1 up in the38th minute when AnthonyGoncalves lashed home from 22yards.

Kylian Mbappe came off thebench on the hour mark but it

was another PSG substitutewho made it 2-2 with eight min-utes remaining. Julian Draxlersent in a corner from the rightand Germany defender ThiloKehrer headed home.

However, having drawn athome to PSG back in December,mid-table Strasbourg then heldon for a point. Cameroon inter-national Choupo-Moting start-ed with Mbappe rested andNeymar, Angel Di Maria andEdinson Cavani all unfit — thelatter watched from the standssporting a beret.

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Napoli drew 1-1 with ten-man Genoa on Sunday to

ensure that Juventus will haveto wait another week toseal an eighth consecutiveSerie A title.

The champions have a20-point advantage onsecond-placed Napoli,who they have beaten inboth their head-to-head clash-es, with seven games to go.

Juventus, who beat ACMilan 2-1 on Saturday, need-ed Napoli to lose to win theScudetto for the 35th time,ahead of their ChampionsLeague quarter-final first legagainst Ajax next week.

A draw next weekend atlowly SPAL would be enoughfor Massimiliano Allegri's sideto win the title which would bethe first in Italy for CristianoRonaldo.

Despite their numericaladvantage, Napoli struggledto contain the visitors whoinflicted the only league defeatthis season on Juventus lastmonth.

Genoa went a man downwhen Stefano Sturaro was sentoff on 28 minutes following aVAR review for a diving studs-up tackle on Allan.

Dries Mertens blasted inthe opener on 34 minutes, butDarko Lazovic pulled Genoalevel just before the break.

Genoa goalkeeper IonutRadu ensured his 14th-placed

side went away with a pointwith a string of fine savesincluding two late on Mertensand Kalidou Koulibaly.

"It was an unexpected per-formance that makes analarm bell ring, if we playlike this in London, thenwe're in trouble," saidNapoli coach CarloAncelotti ahead of nextweek's Europa League

game against Arsenal."We absolutely must wake

up, demonstrate the value andpotential that this group hasand find our true identity.

"Luckily we have four daysto fix things."

�������$�����Atalanta missed the chance

to move fourth and into theChampions League berths atthe expense of AC Milan witha 0-0 draw against Inter Milanat the San Siro.

The side from Bergamowere without suspendedColombian striker DuvanZapata, who has scored 20Serie A goals this season, andhad to settle for a point as Interconsolidated third position.

Inter are five points aheadof city rivals Milan who areahead of Atalanta on goal dif-ference.

Mauro Icardi returned tothe San Siro for the first timesince a defeat by Bologna onFebruary 3, and was greetedwith a mixture of whistles andcheers from the home crowd.

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Indian women's footballteam will have to come

out all guns blazing againsta formidable Myanmar sidein a must-win final round-robin game of the 2020Olympic Qualifying tour-nament, here on Tuesday.

India will need to winthe encounter in order toproceed to the next roundwhile a draw will be enoughfor the hosts to qualifywith better goal difference.

Currently, both Indiaand Myanmar are on sixpoints from two games butMyanmar enjoy a bettergoal difference of (+8)compared to India (+4).India beat Indonesia 2-0 inthe opening game followedby 3-1 win against Nepal.

However India willmiss the services of theirdependable first goalkeep-er Aditi Chauhan, who isout with injury.

"When I was appoint-ed the head coach of thesenior team, I knew thechallenges we faced. I knew

things needed to bechanged and the firstchange was to bring downthe average age of team.That could only have beendone by focusing on theyouth, aiming to create asquad for the future whichcan be the mainstay of theNational Team for years to

come," Maymol Rocky saidon the eve of the match.

Rocky is happy thather young team has peakedat the right time and has theability to beat Myanmar intheir own den.

"In the 14 Internationalmatches that these girlshave played in the span of

3 months, each one of themhas displayed that they arecapable of greatness. Wewon the SAFFChampionship in Nepalagainst Nepal in the finalsin an intimidating environ-ment where the crowd wasbooing us with every touchof the ball we had."

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Olympic Silver medallist P V Sindhuwill look to shrug off the disappoint-

ment of her recent early exits when shespearheads Indian challenge at the$355,000 Singapore Open, starting hereon Tuesday.

Sindhu, who had claimed the BWFWorld Tour Finals in December last year,has looked off colour in the last few weeks.

She made a first round exit at the AllEngland Championship and lost in thesecond round of Malaysia Open, losingto Korea's Sung Ji Hyun on both occasion.

She had entered the semifinals atIndia Open but went down to He Bingjiaoof China despite holding advantage in thefirst game.

With hardly any time to makechanges on the game or work on weak-nesses considering the back-to-backtournaments in the BWF calender, it willbe a challenge for fourth seed Sindhu toget to her best. She begins her campaignagainst Indonesia's Lyanny AlessandraMainaky.

Saina Nehwal is the only Indian toclaim a title this season with the 29-year-old from Hyderabad securing the crown

at the Indonesia Masters following theinjury of Carolina Marin of Spain in thefinals.

She also entered the quarterfinals atthe All England Championship afterbattling through a pancreas infection.However, the Indian needed hospitalisa-tion to treat the problem and had to skipthe Swiss Open and India Open to giveherself time to recover.

She returned to Malaysia Open butwent down in the first round after a three-game battle with Thailand's PornpaweeChochuwong.

The sixth seeded Indian will nowhave to be careful when she plays a fast-rising Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt ofDenmark in the opening round here.

Last week, Kidambi Srikanth was thebest-placed Indian at Kuala Lumpur as hefinished at the quarterfinals after losingto Olympic champion Chen Long. The26-year-old from Guntur had broken a 17month drought by reaching the finals ofa BWF event at India Open.

This week, sixth seed Srikanth willcontinue his quest to break his title jinxwhen he begins his campaign against aqualifier at BWF World Tour Super 500event.

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Hockey India has named GrahamReid as the new chief coach of the

Indian men's hockey team. The 54-year-old will join the team in Bengalurushortly for the ongoing national camp atthe Sports Authority of India.

Reid has a decorated playing careeras the defender/midfielder for theAustralian national team and was part ofthe silver medal winning team at the 1992Barcelona Olympics. He was also part ofthe Australian squad that won back-to-back Champions Trophy titles in 1984,1985 and 1989, 1990.

With 130 international caps, Reidtook to coaching a national team whenhe was appointed assistant coach in 2009for Australia.

During this tenure, he was elevatedto the head coach position and he guid-ed the Australian team to their fifth con-secutive Champions Trophy title in 2012.

In his recent stint, he worked as theassistant coach for the Netherlands teamwhich won the Silver medal at the 2018

men's World Cup. "Graham Reid is backed by a success-

ful career as a player and also comes withstrong coaching experience, having

worked with the Australian and theNetherlands national teams. We arehopeful his experience and expertise willhelp the Indian men's hockey teamachieve desirable results leading up toand at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics," stat-ed Hockey India President MohdMushtaque Ahmad.

Expressing his delight over taking ona new assignment, Reid said: "It's an hon-our and a privilege to be appointed aschief coach of the Indian men's hockeyteam. No other country has a history inthis sport that can compare to India. Asan opposition coach I have enjoyedwatching first hand, the steady rise of theIndian team to one of the most excitingand threatening teams in world hockey.

"I have a passion for the fast andattacking brand of hockey that Indiaplays which marries closely with theAustralian style. I am looking forward toworking with Hockey India, SAI, MYAS,team support staff and players with thecontinuation of positive development ofthe team in the lead up to the TokyoOlympics."

���� ,13�*1 4'�

All India Football Federation presidentPraful Patel may consider appointing a big

name as national team coach only if the can-didate fits their criteria, saying the appoint-ment will be done at the earliest.

The AIFF has received more than 250applications for the top job, post of which wasleft vacant after Stephen Constantine resignedfollowing the Indian team's failure to make theknockouts of the AFC Asian Cup after com-ing close.

Among the 250-odd applicants, sourcesclose to the federation said 35 of them are well-known names from Europe and elsewhere.

"If the candidate fulfils the criteria, whatwe are looking at, and if he is well-qualified,then we can think of that (appointing a bigname)," the AIFF chief told PTI.

"The appointment will be made as soonas possible, maybe by the end of this month,"he added.

Patel was Saturday elected as a FIFACouncil member, becoming the first Indianto enter the prestigious panel in a landmarkdevelopment.

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Sadio Mane has grown used toplaying second fiddle toMohamed Salah in the two sea-

sons since the latter joined theSenegalese at Liverpool.

However, the fact Jurgen Klopp'smen top the Premier League in theirquest to end a 29-year wait to win thetitle and face Porto in the first leg ofa Champions League quarter-final atAnfield on Tuesday, is largely thanksto Mane.

As Salah's goals dried up in aneight-game drought prior to Friday's3-1 win at Southampton, Maneassumed the mantle as chief goal get-ter with 11 in his last 13 Liverpoolappearances taking his tally for the sea-son to 20.

That run included a double awayto Bayern Munich last month thateased the five-time European cham-pions past the German giants and eye-ing another shot at Champions Leagueglory.

Mane controlled a raking longpass from Virgil van Dijk, roundedManuel Neuer and then dinked theball into an unguarded net.

Porto are already very aware of thethreat Mane poses.

When the sides met inthe last of the ChampionsLeague last season, hescored a hat-trick in a 5-0first leg rout in northernPortugal that killed the tieas a contest even before it evenreturned to fortress Anfield.

This time round, Liverpool will bekeen to get the job done in the first legon home soil.

Klopp's men have not made lifeeasy for themselves in recent weeks onleague duty, requiring late goals to seeoff Fulham, Tottenham and

Southampton to keep their title dreamsalive.

However, just by keeping pacewith quadruple chasing Manchester

City all season, they have shown amaturity and mental strength that hasevolved from the kamikaze matchesthat carried them to last season's final.

"The boys are mentality monsters- I love that," said Klopp after victoryat Southampton.

Moreover, unlike when SergioRamos's takedown of Salah seemed tosuck belief from Liverpool againstMadrid almost a year ago, they nowhave a cast of characters capable ofstepping up.

Goalkeeper Alisson Becker andtalismanic centre-back Van Dijk havestrengthened the defence.

And, at the other end, Mane hasshown he can be counted on at thebusiness end of the season.

�������������%Tottenham Hotspur are hoping for

a lift from their new stadium as theyprepare for the daunting task of play-ing quadruple-chasing ManchesterCity in the Champions League quar-ter-finals on Tuesday.

Spurs won last week in their firstmatch at their new home, beatingCrystal Palace 2-0 to move back intothird in the Premier League after a dis-appointing run of results.

City midfielder Kevin De Bruyneclaims Tottenham's new ground willnot be a significant factor in the firstleg of the tie but South Korean forwardSon Heung-min said the atmospherecould help his team, who had beenbased at Wembley since the start of the2017/18 season.

Son, who scored the first leaguegoal in the new stadium, said theopening match there was a specialoccasion.

Tottenham boss MauricioPochettino said the game against thedefending Premier League champions,who are aiming for a clean sweep oftrophies, would be one of the mostimportant of his coaching career butvowed to attack.

And he said the stadium could bea factor that works in his side's favour.

"Of course we hope and wishthat... (it) is going to be amazing andgoing to be tough for our opponentand can help us to perform in the waywe want," he added.

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David Warner struck hisfourth fifth of the sea-son before Deepak

Hooda played a cameo in thefinal over to lift SunrisersHyderabad to a challenging150 for four against Kings XIPunjab in an IPL match hereon Monday.

Opening the batting,Warner carried on his bat foran uncharacteristic 70 not outoff 62 balls balls to anchorSunrisers' innings but it wasHooda's unbeaten 14 off threedeliveries that provided thelate thrust to the visitors'innings.

Warner struck six bound-aries and one six during hisknock, but it was Hooda whostole the limelight, smashingMohammed Shami for twofours and one hit over thefence to pick up vital 15 runsoff the last over.

Sunrisers suffered an earlyblow in the form of JonnyBairstow (1) after being sentinto bat.

Bairstow failed to controla f lick off Mujeeb UrRahman's (1/34) bowling asKings XI skipperRavichandran Ashwin took asmart catch at short midwick-et in the second over.

The early dismissal,together with some disciplinedbowling from Kings XI, madelife difficult for Sunrisers bats-men as Warner and new manin Vijay Shankar (26) foundthe going tough.

The duo failed to strike bigand stitched 49 runs for thesecond wicket off 57 balls tostabilise the Sunrisers innings.

But just when it was timeto cut loose after a slow start,Shankar edged a Ashwin(1/30) delivery to K L Rahulbehind the stumps asSunrisers slumped to 56 fortwo after 10.4 overs.

Promoted up the order,

Mohammad Nabi (12) fellvictim to an unfortunate runout after adding just 24 runswith Warner.

Warner was not his ele-ments Monday as he struggledto his fifty off 49 balls with thehelp of four boundaries andone six.

Warner and ManishPandey (19) then added 55runs for the fourth wicket totake Sunrisers forward beforeHooda f inished off theinnings in style to giveSunrisers' bowlers a total to

defend. In the second innings,

Kings XI Punjab was leadingwith 43/1 with the partnershipof Lokesh Rahul and MayankAgarwal.

Lokesh Rahul was leadingwith 11 runs out of 15 balls.While Mayank Agarwal wasleading with 16 runs for 13balls, including one 4 and one6.

Deepak Hooda took ChrisGayle’s wicket. Gayle scored16 runs out of 14 balls, includ-ing one 4 and one six.

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Defending championsChennai Super Kings will

be focussing on containing thebig-hitting batsman AndreRussell when they take onKolkata Knight Riders in an IPLmatch here on Tuesday.

In a clash between twoteams with a battery of qualityspinners, a batsman of Russell'scalibre may just prove to be thedifference between the twosides.

Both the teams have fourwins each and have been inpretty impressive form. Bothwill be eyeing victory to go atthe top of the points table.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led CSK, which beat Kings XIPunjab here on Saturday ratherconvincingly, will be wary of theDinesh Karthik's KKR.

The Knight Riders are alsocoming off an all-round clini-cal win over Rajasthan Royalson Sunday night.

With two teams having anarray of top-notch spinners,the onus would be on the bats-men to counter them, given thenature of the pitch at MAChidambaram stadium.

While Harbhajan Singh,Imran Tahir and Ravindra

Jadeja stifled the Kings XI bats-men to set up the win, KuldeepYadav, Sunil Narine and PiyushChawla didn't allow the attack-

ing Jos Buttler to get going ona slowish Jaipur track, thusrestricting the Royals to a belowpar total of 139/3 in 20 overs.

That the tweakers in bothteams will be keen to have abowl at Chepauk would be anunderstatement. It will be fas-cinating to see which of thebowling units shines.

All eyes will be on the bat-ting line-ups and how they goabout neutralising the spinthreat. How the Super Kingshandle the in-form Russellthreat will be watched withkeen interest.

The flamboyant Jamaicanhas been in awe-inspiring formwith the bat and how he goesabout his business at CSK'sden against Harbhajan & Co.Will be worth watching.

CSK, on their part, broughtin Faf du Plessis in place of theinjured Dwayne Bravo and hemade an immediate impactwith a quality knock (54 off 38balls). His contribution at thetop will be crucial again.

Dhoni has been providingthe thrust in the end overs insome style.

The home crowd will behoping that their 'Captain Cool'will once again be leading fromthe front.

���� +41,,/'�

Chennai Super Kings headcoach Stephen Fleming

Monday said focusing too muchon the big-hitting Andre Russellcould backfire as Kolkata KnightRiders also have other qualitybatsmen in their line-up.

"Possibly, there are a coupleof challenges. One is you ignorethe other six (batsmen). And ina team that has (Chris) Lynn,(Dinesh) Karthik and (Robin)Uthappa you do that at your ownperil. We've got to be careful wedon't focus overtly on Russell,"he said at the press conferenceahead the IPL match againstKKR.

"Even though he has been sodynamic, there's still good workdone by the other players. So,again, I stress it doesn't changeour preparation to focus on oneor two players, but we're acutelyaware of how dangerous these

players are so, it's business asusual for us," Fleming said.

With the f lamboyant

Jamaican being in red-hot form,Fleming whether it is spin orseam, one had to be accurate

against hitters like Russell."You've got to put context

around that as well - differentstages of the game. Look atanalysis and match up with whatyou have, it's no secret that we'respin-heavy anyway. So, if there'san opportunity to change-up toRussell, we will certainly look atit.

"Whether it's spin or seam atthe end you've to be accurateagainst hitters like Russell, Dhoni,Pollard and Pandya. It's no dif-ferent really, the pressure isalways on in the last few overs."

About the possibility of CSKusing spinners at the death,Fleming said things couldn't beover planned.

"Possibly. But, again, if it'sdewy. Mitch Santner who is oneof the best spinners aroundstruggled to hold the ball...So,you can't overplan...We have tohave a free mind and be smartenough to assess conditions."

���� ,13�*1 4'

It's time that India skipper Virat Kohli, endur-ing a win-less streak in the ongoing IPL, is rest-

ed till the World Cup says former England skip-per Michael Vaughan.

Royal ChallengersBangalore is the onlyteam to not have wona single contest thisseason. They have lostsix straight matchesand need a miracle tomake it to the knock-out stage.

Vaughan feels giv-ing Kohli some timeoff before the big eventwill be a good decision.

"If India are smartthey rest @imVkohlinow for the World Cup… Give him some timeoff before the big event… #IPL2019," Vaughan wrote on his twitter han-dle.

RCB needs to win all their remaining eightmatches to salvage any hope of making it to thePlay-offs.

India will open their World Cup campaignagainst South Africa on June 5.

���� ,13�*1 4'

Their campaign back on track after thewin over Royal Challengers Bangalore,

Delhi Capitals are ready to upset table top-pers Kolkata Knight Riders in their ownden, said the team's all-rounder ChrisMorris.

By virtue of the four-wicket win overstruggling RCB in Bengaluru on Sunday,Delhi Capitals have moved up to the fifthposition in the eight-team standings withsix points from as many games.

KKR are currently leading the chartwith eight points out of four wins from fivematches.

Asked Morris about their next match,the South African said playing at the icon-ic Eden Gardens against the hosts wouldbe a tough challenge. "KKR are playingsome amazing cricket at the moment. Theyhave some great match winners in theirteam, players with X-factor. We've got a fewdays in between to rest and recover, and

to get our bodies strong and fresh," he said."Eden Gardens is a tough place to play

for the visiting side, but as a team and asa unit, we look forward to the challenge andhopefully we can pull off a win on Friday."

But it would be easier said than doneas in their last outing against KKR at theFeroze Shah Kotla here, Delhi huffed andpuffed to register victory in the Super Over.

Morris was happy with Delhi Capitals'performance against RCB and said the vic-tory on Sunday instilled confidence amongthe players.

���� ,13�*1 4'

The Indian squad for the ICC WorldCup will be selected on April 15 in

Mumbai, the CoA decided on Mondayapart from giving a one-week deadlineto TNCA to get required clearances forkeeping the IPL final in Chennai.

The Committee of Administrators(CoA) along with three BCCI officebearers met in the Capital to discussvarious issues related to IPL andCricket Operations.

The last date for announcing theWorld Cup squads is April 23 butBCCI has decided to announce it eightdays prior to the scheduled date. TheWorld Cup will begin on May 30 in theUnited Kingdom.

The decision was informally takenat an earlier date but was announcedon Monday.

While Indian team's World Cuppreparations are on right track withonly a couple of slots up for grabs, theformidable Chennai Super Kings teammight feel a bit uncomfortable afterBCCI zeroed in on Hyderabad as the

stand by venue for the May 12 final.The issue of the three empty

stands — I, J and K — at the Chepaukhas been an issue since 2012 and when-ever Tamil Nadu Cricket Association(TNCA) has organised matches (IPLor international), the three standshave remained out of bounds for thespectators as the local municipal cor-poration has not provided a fit certifi-cate. The only exception was an ODImatch in December 2012, when anexception was made as India was play-ing Pakistan. The issue many believeis more political between the state gov-ernment and the TNCA.

"Three stands constitute 12,000spectators. It looks really odd on TVwhenever one finds completely emptystands. We don't want CSK to lose outon home advantage if they qualify forthe Play-Offs," a senior BCCI officialtold PTI on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, the CoA also decidedon the format of the mini Women's IPLwhich will be played with three teams.There will be four games instead of theodd-exhibition match played last year.

���� �%� /'

After impressing with hissuperb raiding skills in

the maiden season, SiddharthSirish Desai grabs the head-lines on Monday again bybecoming the second mostexpensive player in the ProKabaddi League history.

The 26-year old starraider’s sensational form inthe sixth edition of the leaguepaid him well, as he wasgrabbed by Telugu Titans fora huge amount of rs 1.45crores in the first day of 2019players auction, making himthe top pick of this year’stournament.

In his first season, Desaiwas the standout performerfor the Mumbai side, wherethe Maharashtrian youngstersecured 221 points in 21games.

And after Mumbai decid-ed to let him go in the auc-tion, it was understood thathe will be in the priority listof many of the team owners.

And it happened also likethe way it was expected.

As soon as his name wasannounced to go under thehammer, Tamil Thalaivas

made a direct bid of �1crore. Which was way more

than his base price of �30lakhs.

However, despite thatmassive early bid Tamil sidefailed to secure his servicesand lose him to Telugu Titansafter an intense battle.

His rs 1.45 crores bid isonly second to Monu Goyat’sall-time record of rs 1.51crores. Monu was picked byHaryana Steelers for therecord amount in 2018 auc-tion.

Apart from Desai, NitinTomar also gets more than acrore rupee contract. TamilThalaivas sealed Nitin’s ser-vices for rs 1.20 crores beforehis former franchise PuneriPaltan played a Mastercard byretaining him via Final BidMatch (FBM).

And it was not just thecase of Nitin Tomar whereFBM changed the completescenario in the end butinstead more than a dozenplayers were retained by theirformer franchises using thismethod.

���� ,13�*1 4'�

Prithvi Shaw's phenomenal talenthas been much talked-about

and the latest to join the bandwag-on is none other than Brian Lara,who has found shades of "VirenderSehwag" in Mumbai youngster'sbatting style.

Just like Sehwag, Prithvi is alsoa fierce cutter of the ball and hisshort-arm pull at times is a carboncopy of the 'Nawab of Najafgarh'.

One of the greatest batsman tohave ever graced the game, Lara wasall praise for young Shaw'sapproach.

"I see more of Virender Sehwagin Prithvi Shaw's style of batting andthink his maturity is amazing,"Lara told Star Sports Select Dugout.

Lara was impressed watchingPrithvi score a hundred on his Testdebut in Rajkot last year.

"I saw him play against the WestIndies last October and he scored alot of runs. It's wonderful to see ayoung player on Indian soil doingso well. He travelled to Australia butunfortunately could not play,because of an injury," he said.

He is only 19 years but with twoseasons of IPL, he is already a"senior player", reckons Lara.

"I think he has been in the IPLfor a couple of years and is a seniorplayer already. A lot is expected ofhim, he is in a big man's game nowand has got to do what is necessary

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