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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Thursday raised

the issue of cross-border ter-rorism emanating fromPakistan during his talks withChinese President Xi Jinpinghere and said India expects“concrete action” by Islamabadto create an atmosphere free ofterror for the resumption ofdialogue.

Modi met Xi on the side-lines of the ShanghaiCooperation Organisation(SCO) Summit here and dis-cussed the full spectrum ofbilateral relations. This is thefirst meeting between the twoleaders after Modi’s re-electionfollowing the stunning victoryof the BJP in the general elec-tions last month.

The meeting also comes amonth after the 1267 Al QaedaSanctions Committee of thepowerful UN Security Councildesignated Pakistan-based ter-ror group Jaish-e-Mohammedchief Masood Azhar as a glob-al terrorist after China,Pakistan’s closest ally, lifted itstechnical hold on the propos-al to blacklist him.

After the delegation-leveltalks with Xi, Modi tweeted,“Had an extremely fruitfulmeeting with President XiJinping. Our talks includedthe full spectrum of India-China relations. We shall con-tinue working together toimprove economic and cultur-al ties between our nations.”

The Modi-Xi meeting

began with President Xi con-gratulating the Indian PrimeMinister over his election vic-tory. “After the election resultsin India, I got your message,and today again you wish meon the victory, I am very grate-ful to you for this,” Modireplied.

Briefing the reporters afterthe meeting, Foreign SecretaryVijay Gokhale said that therewas a brief discussion onPakistan during the talksbetween the two leaders. He

said India has a consistentposition with respect toPakistan that it wants peacefulrelations with Islamabad.Gokhale said Modi told Xithat he has made efforts toimprove ties with Islamabadbut these efforts have been“derailed”.

“Pakistan needs to createan atmosphere free of terror,but at this stage we do not seeit happening. We expectIslamabad to take concreteaction” to resume talks,

Gokhale quoted the PM astelling President Xi.

Modi’s comments cameahead of President Xi’s meetingwith Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan, who is also herein the Kyrgyz capital to attendthe SCO summit. Khan hastwice written to Modi, seekingresumption of dialogue on allissues, including Kashmir.

Responding to Khan’s over-tures, Modi told his Pakistanicounterpart that creating trustand an environment free of vio-

lence and terrorism was essen-tial for fostering peace andprosperity in the region. Indiahas not been engaging withPakistan since an attack on theAir Force base at Pathankot inJanuary of 2016 by a Pakistan-based terror group, maintain-ing that talks and terror cannotgo together.

Early this year, tensionsflared up between India andPakistan after a suicide bomberof Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) killed 40CRPF personnel in Kashmir’sPulwama district.

Amid mounting outrage,the Indian Air Force (IAF)carried out a counter-terroroperation, hitting the biggestJeM training camp in Balakotin Pakistan on February 26.The next day, Pakistan AirForce retaliated and downed aMiG-21 in an aerial combatand captured an IAF pilot,who was later handed over toIndia. China played a role ineasing tensions between NewDelhi and Islamabad.

The 2018 Wuhan summitbetween Prime Minister Modiand President Xi was largelycredited to have turned around

the bilateral relations soured bythe 73-day Doklam standoff,triggered by Chinese troopsattempts to build a road closeto Indian border in an area alsoclaimed by Bhutan in 2017.After the Wuhan summit, boththe countries stepped up effortsto improve relations on differ-ent spheres including the mil-itary-to-military ties. The twoleaders have met more than 10times in the last five years,including thrice after theirinformal summit in Wuhan --- first at the ShanghaiCooperation Organisation(SCO) summit held in June lastin China’s Qingdao, the secondtime at the BRICS summit inSouth Africa’s Johannesburgin July and third time inDecember last on the sidelinesof the G-20 summit inArgentina.

Ahead of the meeting,China hinted that President Xiwould highlight the need toforge a united front against USPresident Donald Trump’s poli-cies of trade protectionism andunilateralism using tariffs as aweapon. China and the UShave been in an escalatingconflict over trade for the pastyear. The scope of the battle hasexpanded in recent months asWashington has tightenedtrade restrictions on Chinesetelecom giant Huawei.

Modi also met RussianPresident Vladimir Putin hereand the two leaders reviewedall aspects of bilateral rela-tions to further strengthen thestrategic relationship.

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All the 13 Air Force person-nel on board the AN-32

plane that crashed inArunachal Pradesh on June 3are confirmed dead. The searchand rescue team that landednear the crash site on Thursdayfound no survivors but recov-ered the flight data recorder orblack box. This retrieval willhelp the IAF to ascertain thecause of the accident.

“Eight members of the res-cue team reached the crash sitetoday morning. IAF is sad toinform that there are no sur-vivors from the crash of AN-32,” the IAF said in a tweet.

The 13 personnel onboardwere identified as WingCommander GM Charles,Squadron Leader H Vinod,Flight Lieutenants R Thapa, ATanwar, S Mohanty and MKGarg, Warrant Officer KKMishra, Sgt Anoop Kumar,Cpl Sherin, Leading AircraftMen (LAC) SK Singh, Pankaj,Non Combatant EnrolledNC(E) Putali and RajeshKumar.

The families of the per-sonnel have also beeninformed, officials said.

For a week, relatives of the

13 personnel were positionedat a Jorhat base camp waitingfor news about their lovedones.

On Wednesday, the firstteam of mountaineers of theIAF reached the crash site aftergetting airdropped but couldnot get close due to rain. Onreaching the exact spot onThursday, the unit did notfind any survivors. Efforts arenow on to secure the remainsof the deceased and deliver theblack box safely to the IAFauthorities for examination,sources said.

Meanwhile, ground troopsof the Army and Indo-TibetanBorder Police (ITBP) will reachthe site in day or two for sal-vaging the parts of the planeand other related activities.

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The striking junior doctorsdefied Chief Minister

Mamata Banerjee’s ultimatumon Thursday and decided tocontinue their protest till shewithdrew her statement inwhich she saw a communal andpolitical agenda behind theagitation and till theirdemands for adequate securi-ty in Government hospitalsare met .

Emergency wards, outdoorfacilities, pathological units ofmany State-run medical col-leges and hospitals and a num-ber of private medical facilitiesin the state remained closed forthe third day due to the strikeby the doctors who are protest-ing after two of their col-leagues were attacked and seri-ously injured at the NRSMedical College and Hospitalhere by a mob following thedeath of a patient.

While visiting the SSKMHospital on Thursday morn-ing, Mamata directed the doc-tors to resume work within fourhours or face consequence

attracting protest slogans fromthe agitating doctors. By theevening the medics decided tocarry on the agitation.

The doctors’ strike hastaken a pan-Indian proportionwith Indian MedicalAssociation calling for a “ceasework” nationally. The doctorsof All India Institute of MedicalSciences too would strike workas mark of solidarity on Friday.

The large group of juniordoctors who got moral supportfrom their seniors and thepan-Indian doctors’ associa-tions as well as world forum ofdoctors, demanded an apologyfrom Mamata for her state-ments.

Meanwhile, ProfessorSaibal Kumar Mukherjee andProfessor SaurabhChattopadhyay resigned as thePrincipal and MedicalSuperintendent/vice principal,respectively, of NRS MedicalCollege and Hospital where thejunior doctors were brutallyassaulted by hooligans after the death of apatient.

At least 18 senior doctors

working in various medicalcolleges, including Sagar DuttaMedical College, tendered theirresignation in protest againstthe Government’s “insensitive

handling of a delicate and sen-sitive issue.”

While the Chief Ministeraccused some doctors ofenquiring the patients’ reli-

gious background before givingthem treatment, the medicsdenied the charges saying it was“not clinically possible to asksuch questions during the dutyhours without being chal-lenged.”

Calling upon the doctors,Mamata said “on the first day,things were not political, lateron it was given political andcommunal colours as a politi-cian said the Muslim doctorsbeat up the Hindu doctorswhen it was just another caseof hooliganism.”

The Monday’s attack on thedoctors was so grievous thattwo of them had to be shiftedto ICU at Institute ofNeurology with severe braininjury. “One of them sustainedserious injury as his frontalskull bone had pierced thebrain following an attack sup-posedly with some heavy sub-stance.”

More attacks followed onThursday both at NRS MedicalCollege and Burdwan MedicalCollege with alleged TMC sup-porters assaulting the strikingdoctors with bricks and bottles.

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The BJP is to continue withAmit Shah as party presi-

dent until Assembly polls inMaharashtra, Haryana andJharkhand by the year-end.The party on Thursdayappointed former MadhyaPradesh Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan as incharge ofthe mammoth membershipdrive for the organisationalelections that will culminate inelecting Shah’s successor.

The decision to initiatemembership drive was taken ata meeting headed by the BJPpresident and attended byparty’s national office-bearers,general secretaries and presi-dents of the State units at theparty headquarters.

According to sources, Shahis likely to continue as partypresident till the organisation-al elections get over. Shah’sextended tenure would end inJanuary 2020.

Shah may later pave theway for the new party chief touphold the party’s stated poli-cy of one-man-one-post.Sources did not confirmwhether any discussion took

place on appointing a workingpresident.

The meeting also discussedchanges in the party and vacan-cies created on account of anumber of party leaders join-ing the Modi Government,including State unit presidentsof Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Party’s coordination withthe Modi-2 dispensation andeffective propagation andimplementation of flagshipGovernment policies was alsodeliberated by the meeting,the first after Shah becoming the Union HomeMinister.

Addressing a Press confer-ence after the meeting, BJP’sgeneral secretary BhupenderYadav said the party presidenttold the organisational officebearers that “the party has stillnot peaked in terms of its elec-toral performance despite win-ning the highest ever 303 seatsin 2019”.

The party’s reach is need tobe further expanded to newregions and sections of thesociety, Yadav said quotingShah.

Yadav said Shah creditedthe hard work of the crores ofparty supporters for the BJPgetting more than 50 per centvote share in 220 seats in theLok Sabha elections.

Shah said in the Lok Sabhapoll, party succeeded in spread-ing its wings in West Bengal,Telangana, Odisha and North-East States.

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After almost a week long agi-tation at Bailadila,

Chhattisgarh, the iron ore min-ing operations of the public sec-tor NMDC Ltd at bothBailadila Mining Complexes-Kirandul and Bacheli- haveresumed on Thursday.

N. Baijendra Kumar,CMD, NMDC Ltd, had heldmeeting with ChhattisgarhChief Minister Bhupesh Baghelbesides Acting Chief SecretaryC.K. Khaitan, DGP D.M.Awasthi and Gaurav Dwivedi,Principal Secretary to ChiefMinister on Wednesday.

Kumar said NMDC hasreceived timely support fromthe State Government and localadministration and assuredthat NMDC would continue to

focus on local developmentactivities with thrust on edu-cation, health, skill develop-ment and integrated villagedevelopment.

He also said that companywould put all its efforts tomake up for the productionloss during this period.

The mining work was halt-ed by a massive protest by localtribes at Bailadila hills in state’sDantewada district. The tribalswere staging a protest mainlyagainst Adani EnterprisesLimited (AEL).

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Chhattisgarh DirectorGeneral of Police DM

Awasthi on Thursday address-ing a state- level conference ofStation House Officers (SHOs)pitched for transformation ofpolice stations into public facil-itation centres.

“Common people in thestate in case of any problemapproach the police station inhope of justice. The SHOthrough his and his subordi-nates’ behaviour can try tosolve problems of these people.It should be kept in mind thatmajority of the peopleapproaching police station areeither from middle class orfinancially weaker sections,”the DGP said in his address atpolice headquarters at AtalNagar Nava Raipur.

The DGP told the SHOs that

in coming days he himself, alongwith other senior police officialsfrom PHQ, will inspect all 464police stations across the state.

“The responsibility of a

SHO is very challenging. So,the responsibilities must beexecuted with great care,” theDGP told SHOs.

Continued on Page 4

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The Congress on Thursdayraised apprehensions that

elections to the Rajya Sabhaseats falling vacant fromGujarat due to the resignationsof BJP leaders Amit Shah andSmriti Irani following theirwins in the Lok Sabha pollswill be held separately toensure the ruling dispensation’svictory on both the seats. Theparty demanded elections tothe two Rajya Sabha seats beheld together.

Congress spokespersonAbhishek Manu Singhvi saidthey came to know that therecould be a bid to hold the elec-tions for the two seats sepa-rately. “This would be a mock-ery of our constitutional ethos.It would be completely con-trary to conventions.Whenever there are two seatsof a State going vacant, you

have elections together. It isobvious to everybody that thepurpose of that is to ensurethere is a fair exercise of fran-chise of each MLA,” Singhvisaid at the AICC press briefing.

“If you have one electiontoday and one after two weeks,four weeks, six weeks then youwill enable the ruling partyMLAs (lawmakers) to simplycross 51 per cent in the assem-bly of Gujarat and elect him inthe first round and him in thesecond round which is heldafter weeks,” he said.

The BJP has 99 legislators

in the Gujarat Assembly andthe Congress 77. If the electionto each seat is held on differ-ent days, the BJP is expected towin both, while if the voting isheld on the same day, theCongress could win one of theseats.

Any such “games” shouldbe throttled at the inceptionbecause they are “unconstitu-tional games”, the Congressspokesperson said. “We willdemand from the ElectionCommission complete vigi-lance to ensure that wheneveryou want to have elec-tions...They have to be heldtogether. You cannot use atechnicality to hold them sep-arately,” Singhvi said.

He said the party willapproach the ElectionCommission with its demandof holding of the elections ofthe two Rajya Sabha seats inGujarat together.

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The CBI has booked formerSamajwadi Party MP Ateeq

Ahmed and others for alleged-ly orchestrating the abductionof a Lucknow-based business-man Mohit Jaiswal from DeoriaJail to extort money from himand take over his business.The case was initially registeredby the Uttar Pradesh Police,and the CBI took over theprobe on Wednesday followinga directive from the SupremeCourt.

The CBI has bookedAhmed on the charges of crim-inal conspiracy, extortion,cheating, forgery, robbery andcriminal intimidation amongothers.

Real estate dealer Jaiswalwas allegedly abducted fromLucknow and taken to DeoriaJail, where he was assaulted byAhmed and his aides, whowere lodged there, and forcedto transfer his business tothem, sources said.

Jaiswal, whose real estatebusiness is based at the poshGomti Nagar area in Lucknow,

had alleged in his complaintthat Ahmed was threateninghim for extortion for the lasttwo years.

Jaiswal had said he hadmade some payments toAhmed, after which thedemands for money hadstopped for a while, but Ahmedagain started asking for moneyfrom him in 2018.

He had alleged thatAhmed’s goons had taken overhis business forcibly by obtain-ing his and his sister’s digitalsignatures.

Jaiswal further alleged thaton December 26, 2018, he wastaken in his own sports utilityvehicle (SUV) by one ofAhmed’s goons to Deoria Jail,where the former MP waslodged.

Ahmed’s son Umar and 10-12 other gang members werealso present in the jail, who beathim up, causing serious injuriesto him, Jaiswal had alleged.

Four of his companies,including MJ Infra HousingPrivate Limited, were trans-ferred in the name of Farooqand Zaki Ahmad, both goons

of Ahmed who had beenthreatening him, he hadalleged.

The combined assets ofthe firms were worth �45 crore,according to the FIR.

They had also taken hissignatures on his company let-terhead in the jail, Jaiswal hadclaimed.

The businessman had alsoalleged that Ahmed threat-ened him, saying he could notbe killed inside the jail andhence, he was being allowed togo. But the politician hadforcibly kept his SUV in the jail,Jaiswal had alleged.

The matter was handedover to the CBI by the SupremeCourt, which had also orderedAhmed’s transfer to a jail inGujarat.

During the hearing in theSupreme Court, the UttarPradesh government had con-firmed the incident and saidthe CCTV cameras in the jailcomplex were tampered with atthe time of Jaiswal’s abductionand forcible visit to Deoria jail.

As many as eight casespending investigation were reg-

istered against Ahmed between2015 and 2019, of which twowere murder cases.

Ahmed was an SP MP inthe 14th Lok Sabha fromPhulpur in Uttar Pradesh from

2004 to 2009 and a five-timeMLA. He has been in jail sinceFebruary 11, 2017. In the past,he was also associated with theApna Dal (Sonelal).

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The CBI has filed a chargesheet against fugitive self-

styled ‘godman’ Virendra DevDixit for allegedly raping aminor at his ashrams in UttarPradesh and Delhi in 1999.

In its chargesheet filed inthe Rouse Avenue special courthere, the CBI has pressedstringent charges of rape andcriminal intimidation on Dixit,who is absconding. The hasannounced a reward of �5lakh for any information lead-ing to his arrest.

The agency had registeredthe case on January 3, 2018 on

a directive of the Delhi HighCourt.

The CBI has alleged thatDixit, as the head of AdhyatmikVishwa Vidyalaya, which isnow renamed AdhyatmikVidyalaya, and spiritual leader,was in a position to control anddominate over the complainant,a minor girl at that time, andraped her repeatedly in May-June 1999 at his ashrams inKampil, Uttar Pradesh, andVijay Vihar in Delhi.

The accused had alleged-ly threatened to “cause injuryto her reputation” and alsoissued “life threats” to herfamily, according to the FIR.

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In a major relief to lakhs ofpeople of Gujarat, the

cyclonic storm ‘Vayu’ did notmake its scheduled land fall onThursday as it changed itscourse and drifted towardsOman. The IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD) said that the storm hasmade a small deviation, skirt-ed the Gujarat coast.

“It is moving over north-east and adjoining east centralArabian Sea. Heavy rains whichlashed the coastal areas werelikely to continue,” the IMDsaid. According to privateforecaster Skymet Weather, thecyclone which at present isCategory 2 storm may weakeninto a Category 1 storm.However, strong winds andrough seas are expected tocontinue and may cause dam-age. The cyclone may impactthe arrival of monsoon in Goa.

For his part, DefenceMinister Rajnath Singhreviewed the Navy’s prepared-

ness along the Maharashtraand Gujarat coast in view ofVayu. “Senior Navy officialsbriefed Singh at a meeting innaval headquarters duringwhich he was apprised aboutvarious measures being takenby the force to deal with pos-sible scenarios,” officials said.The railways has cancelled 86trains and short terminated 37others as a precaution eventhough the cyclone changed itscourse and is unlikely to makelandfall in Gujarat.

“The cyclone is likely tomove north-northwestwardsfor some time and then north-westwards, skirting theSaurashtra coast (and) affect-ing Gir Somnath, Diu,Junagarh, Porbandar andDevbhoomi Dwarka with windspeed of 90-100 kmph gustingto 110 kmph during the next12 hours,” the IMD said in arelease.

Pankaj Kumar, AdditionalChief Secretary, Gujarat, saidthat although the IMD has

informed that the cyclone haschanged its course, “it may stillcause heavy winds and rains,and so we are still on stand-bymode”.

“Cyclone Vayu is 110 kilo-metres from Veraval to thesouth-west and 150 kilometresfrom Porbandar to the south.The cyclone is moving towardsthe north and was crossing overSaurashtra,” he said.

The Chief Minister’s Officein Gujarat said Prime MinisterNarendra Modi spoke to ChiefMinister Vijay Rupani imme-diately after reaching Bishkekfor the SCO Summit andinquired about the cyclonepreparedness and assured allassistance and support fromCentre to mitigate the effects ofthe storm.

Skymet Weather had earli-er stated that the ‘Very SevereCyclone’ might weaken into aCategory 1 Cyclonic Stormfrom Category 2, though thewind speed will be 135-145kms per hour gusting up to 175kms per hour.

Gujarat has, meanwhile,already evacuated over 3.1 lakhpeople and the Union Territoryof Diu that touches theSaurashtra coast has movedover 10,000 people to safety.

The Coast Guard has stat-ed that the cyclone would takeup to Saturday before it com-pletely moves over into the seaat Dwarka.

Besides taking help of thearmed forces and the CoastGuard, the state governmenthas deployed 33 teams of theNational Disaster ResponseForce (NDRF) (each having 90to 100 personnel) and nineteams of the State DisasterResponse Force (SDRF) in 10coastal districts of the state, hesaid.

In addition, 11 columns ofthe army (each having nearly70 personnel), two companiesof the Border Security Force, 14companies of the State ReservePolice and 300 commandos aredeployed at different locationsin the Kutch and Saurashtraareas.

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Bihar cadre IAS officer Kundan Kumar willbe Private Secretary to Defence Minister

Rajnath Singh. As per an order ofDepartment of Personnel and Training,Kumar, a 2004 batch officer, will have atenure up to February 3, 2020.

Navneet Mohan Kothari will be PrivateSecretary to Agriculture and FarmersWelfare, Rural Development and PanchayatiRaj Minister Narendra Singh Tomar. Kothariis a 2001 batch IAS officer of MadhyaPradesh cadre.

IAS officer Sachin Shinde has beenappointed PS to Youth Affairs and SportsMinister Kiren Rijiju. Rijiju is also theMinister of State for Minority Affairs.

Manoj Kumar Singh will be PrivateSecretary to Power, and New and RenewableEnergy Minister Raj Kumar Singh. ManojKumar Singh is a 2009 batch IAS officer ofBihar cadre.

IRS officer Raj Kumar Digvijay has beenappointed PS to Animal Husbandry,Dairying and Fisheries Minister GirirajSingh.

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People in rural areas will soon beable to access Aadhaar-related

services at the common service cen-tres (CSC) following the UIDAI’sauthorisation to these centres toresume such services. The CSC hadearlier stopped providing Aadhaar-related services after the UniqueIdentification Authority of India(UIDAI) withdrew authorisationfrom them following debates arounddata security of the 12-digit uniqueidentifier.

“UIDAI has authorised CSCs tostart printing of Aadhaar cards. Userswill be charged standard fees as pre-scribed by UIDAI. This work isexpected to start in a week,” CSC e-Governance Services CEO DineshTyagi said. There are 3.9 lakh villagelevel entrepreneurs (VLE) that arerunning common service centres inrural areas across the country.

VLEs provide Government ser-vices like train ticket booking, pass-

port application, birth certificate,registration for Ayushman Bharatscheme etc. “CSCs will also be able toupdate demographic details ofAadhaar users like address, photo etc.This work is expected to start by theend of this month,” Tyagi said.

Apart from CSCs, people canaccess Aadhaar-related services atbank branches, post offices andUIDAI authorised centres located ingovernment premises. Earlier, CSCswere also allowed to process Aadhaarenrollment as well but it stopped inSeptember 2017 after privacy anddata security-related debates in thecountry.

VLEs had threatened to protestagainst the government if they are notallowed to conduct Aadhaar-relatedwork. IT Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad had assured them that theywill soon be allowed to do Aadhaarrelated processes. “We are graduallystarting Aadhaar related works. I amhopeful more projects will come toCSC,” Tyagi said.

Noida: The I&B Ministry hasissued a notice to the owners ofNation Live, the news channelthat aired content allegedlydefaming UP Chief Minister YogiAdityanath, for operating underthat name without Governmentapproval, officials said.

The Information andBroadcasting Ministry issued theshowcause notice on June 10 tothe managing director ofUttarakhand-based Bharat HydelProjects Private Limited, whichowns the TV channel.

Three senior journalists ofthe Noida-based TV channelhave been arrested in recent daysfor allegedly airing defamatoryremarks against Adityanath andalso charged with fraud andforgery.

The I&B Ministry has soughtresponse from the channel own-ers within seven days, failingwhich it said ex parte proceedingswill be initiated against them.

The company has been askedas to why action should not beinitiated against them as perrules.

Nation Live owners could notbe reached for comments.

The Ministry also informedthe Uttar Pradesh Governmentthat the company was given per-mission to operate under thename of “Network 10” in 2011,officials in the state said.

The district administrationhad last week written to the I &BMinistry to apprise it about thesituation.

“It has been ascertained thatthe said news channel is beingrun by Bharat Hydel Projects PvtLtd, which was given permissionin February 2011 touplink/downlink news and cur-rent affairs by the name ofNetwork 10,” the ministry said ina letter to UP Chief SecretaryAnup Chandra Pandey on June11.

The ministry said it had notgiven “any approval” to the com-pany for the use of the name“Nation Live”.

“The company by using thename and logo of Nation Live hascontravened the provisions of theuplinking/downlinking guidelinesof 2011,” it added in the letter.

Earlier, two separate FIRswere registered against NationLive.

One of the FIRs includedcharges like promoting enmitybetween different groups andcirculating rumours, officialssaid.

The second complaint overthe illegal operation of the chan-nel was made by the district addi-tional director, information, at theNoida Phase 3 police station fol-lowing which an FIR underSections 420 (fraud), 467 (forgeryof documents) of the IPC andrelated offences was registered,police said.

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New Delhi: A PIL was filed inthe Supreme Court onThursday seeking urgent stepsto protect forests, wildlife andbirds from wildfires inUttarakhand, saying forestblazes have increased over theyears causing huge loss to theenvironment.

The petition sought direc-tions to the Centre, theUttarakhand Government andthe principal chief conservatorof forests in the state to makepre-fire arrangements andframe policy to prevent forestfires.

The plea, filed by advocateRituparn Uniyal, also soughtinvestigation into the matter byan independent agency anddirections to declare the animalkingdom as legal entities hav-ing a distinct persona with cor-

responding rights, duties andliabilities of a living person.

“Forest fires inUttarakhand have been regularand historic feature. Every yearforest fires in Uttarakhandcauses great loss to the forestecosystem, diversity of floraand fauna and economicwealth. Forest fire is one of themajor disasters in the forests ofUttarakhand.

“Despite a consistent his-tory of forest fires the igno-rance, inactiveness, negligenceand unreadiness of the respon-dents (Centre, StateGovernment and chief conser-vator of forests) have rendereda great loss to forests, wildlifeand birds in Uttarakhand andthus caused ecological imbal-ance,” it said.

The plea claimed one of the

prominent forest research cen-tres was at Uttarakhand but theauthorities have not consultedthe institution for remedies totackle wildfires.

“Uttarakhand has one ofthe prominent forest researchcentres, that is, Forest ResearchInstitute Deemed to beUniversity, Dehradun.Surprisingly, the respondentshave never consulted the insti-tution for the reasons and solu-tions of devastating forest firesin the State. This clearly showsa lackadaisical approach of therespondents in tackling theforest fires,” it said.

The plea further said for-est and wildlife were the mostimportant natural resourcesand played significant role inthe human life and environ-ment. PTI

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New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Thursday agreed tohear on June 14 a plea ofMaharashtra MLC DhananjayMunde against the BombayHigh Court order directingregistration of a case againsthim in an alleged illegal pur-chase of Government land case.

A vacation bench of justicesIndira Banerjee and AjayRastogi said it will hear the pleaon Friday in which the NCPleader has sought stay of thehigh court order which direct-ed police to file a case againsthim for allegedly purchasing aland at Pus village in Ambajogaitehsil of Beed district.

The high court’s order waspassed on Tuesday by a divisionbench on a plea filed by oneRajabhau Phad, who alleged

that the land which belonged tothe Government was purchasedand given to the BelkhandiMath in Beed as gift.

As per the law, the landcannot be transferred withoutthe Government’s permission,the initial petition had said.

Heirs of Ranit WyankaGiri, the mahant of theBelkhandi Math when the landwas given as a gift, transferredit in their names and claimedthat they were its owners andthe Government was notinformed about it.

The land was then laterbought by Munde on the basisof a general power of attorneyin 2012. Munde applied fornon-agricultural status (NA) ofthe land and got it, the petitionhad alleged. PTI

��)��*��+��,'��+� ��$��'�� New Delhi: The Supreme

Court agreed on Thursday tohear tomorrow a plea of med-ical aspirants, who claimed thatthe answer key of five questionsasked in NEET(UG)-2019exam was wrong and the paperneeds to be quashed.

A vacation bench of JusticesIndira Banerjee and AjayRastogi agreed to hear the pleafiled by four students whoappeared for the exam.

The petition filed by fourHyderabad-based students —Kayathi Mohan Reddy andthree others through advocateMahfooz Nazki, said thatNational Testing Agency (NTA)which conducted the examissued wrong answer keys andtherefore jeopardised the careerprospects of the aspirants whosat for the exam.

The exam was conducted

on May 5 and the officialanswer key was issued on May29 to the questions asked in theexamination. “Upon perusal ofthe key, the petitioners wereshocked to note that answers toa number of questions weredemonstrably wrong,” the pleasaid.

The students said they gavethe representation about theerrors in the official answer keyon May 30 and subsequently onJune 5, a revised answer key waspublished.

“Pertinently, no option wasgiven to the candidates to fileany objections. To the shockand chagrin of the petitioners,not only did the key continueto have errors, some answersthat had been correctly notifiedearlier, stood changed to awrong answer,” the petitionsaid. PTI

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New Delhi: Mountaineers ofthe ITBP on Thursdaylaunched an over a week-longexpedition from Pithoragarh inUttarakhand to retrieve themortal remains of at least eightclimbers who were killed lastmonth in an avalanche near anunscaled peak adjoiningNanda Devi East.

“A team of 11 speciallychosen personnel of the force,many of whom have con-quered the Mount Everest andother peaks, today began theiroperation to retrieve the mor-tal remains of the climbers,”Indo-Tibetan Border Police(ITPBP) spokesperson VivekKumar Pandey said.

“The personnel, led by oursecond-in-command rank offi-cer Ratan Singh Sonal, will beaided by other ground teamsand will trek over a 100 kilo-metres to finally reach the sitewhere the bodies of theclimbers were last spotted,” hesaid.

Pandey said the team ofthe ITBP, a border guardingforce tasked to guard the Chinaborder, is expected to reach thebase camp in a week and afterrequired acclimatisation, it willattempt to retrieve the bodies.

“It will be a very challeng-ing mission as the site is locat-ed at about 20,000 feet inbetween glaciers and othersnow hazard prone areas. Airsupport will also be taken forlogistics in the course of theoperation,” he said.

Eight mountaineers, includ-ing from the US, the UK andAustralia, were reported miss-ing after they left Munsiyari onMay 13 to scale the 7,434 metretall peak, but did not return tothe base camp on the scheduleddate of May 25.

The team was led byBritish mountaineer MartinMoran.

It was a 12-member groupout of which four were rescued.

Indian Air Force heli-copters had spotted five bod-ies on June 3 after multiple sor-ties to trace them.

The missing mountaineerscomprised seven from the UK,the US and Australia, and aliaison officer from Delhi’sIndian MountaineeringFoundation.

The route to the peakbegins from Munsiyari, about132 km from Pithoragarh dis-trict headquarters. The districtis about 456 km from state cap-ital Dehradun. PTI

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chhattisgarh 03RAIPUR | FRIDAY | JUNE 14, 2019

Chief Minister Bhuepsh Baghel paying tribute to Asharam Daharia, father of urban administration and labour minister Dr Shiv KumarDaharia, who passed away on Thursday. The CM was also present during the final rites.

S Bharathidasan on Thursday took the charge of Collector Raipur. The 2006 batch IAS Bharathidasan had earlierserved as Collector Surajpur and Janjgir-Champa districts, Managing Director MARKFED, Additional ChiefElectoral Officer (CEO) Chhattisgarh and Director Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Department.

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

The Headquarters ofNagarnar Integrated

Steel Plant (NISP) of thestate-owned NationalMineral DevelopmentCorporation (NMDC) willbe shifted from Hyderabadto Nagarnar.

Apart from this, therecruitment examinationsfor group C and group Dstaff of the NMDC fromnow onwards will also beconducted at district head-quarters of Dantewada.

These decisions weretaken at a meeting of

Chairman National MineralDevelopment Corporation

(NMDC) with ChhattisgarhChief Minister BhupeshBaghel here at MahanadiBhawan on Wednesdayevening.

Official sourcesinformed that the CM sug-gested the NMDCChairman to take these twosteps in favour of citizens ofthe state, to which the chair-man immediately agreed.

Official sources furtherinformed that after themeeting the NMDC chair-man issued instructions tofulfill promises made to theCM.

NMDC takes key decisionsto benefit ChhattisgarhSteps are taken following Chief Minister’s prodding

NISP’s HQ to be shifted fromHyderabad to NagarnarRecruitment exams for groupC & group D to be conductedat district headquarters ofDantewada from now onwards

Key Decisions:

STAFF REPORTER nDANTEWADA

The agitation of tribalvillagers at Bailadila

and Bacheli against Adani’sAEL under the banner ofSanyukta Sangharsh Samiti(SSS) was called off onThursday morning follow-ing state government’sintervention.

The Bhupesh Baghel-led state governmentrecently instructed defor-estation at the disputed siteshould be stopped immedi-ately. It also ordered a probeinto the alleged fake gramSabha being conducted in2014 to give nod to the min-ing activities in the area.Following these decisions ofthe government, agitatorswithdrew their protest.

They were, however,adamant till Thursday

morning for setting up atime frame for the comple-tion of probe into thealleged fake gram sabha.

The district adminis-tration, however, pacifiedthem and assured that theprobe would be completedwithin 15 days as they weredemanding.

Meanwhile, the vil-lagers have warned thatthey would again resumethe agitation if the probewas not completed within15 days. Chief Minister

Bhupesh Baghel on Tuesdayinstructed that the projectworks of Adani EnterprisesLimited (AEL), includingfelling of trees at block no13 of Bailadila minesshould be stalled withimmediate effect.

The CM also declared aprobe into the alleged fakeGram Sabha held in 2014,which granted the permis-sion for mining contract insacred hillock, regarded bytribal villagers as theirnatural deity.

Seminar to mark WorldBlood Donor Day todayRAIPUR: To mark the WorldBlood Donor Day, Pt JawaharlalNehru Memorial Medical College,Raipur (MEKHARA) andChhattisgarh AIDS ControlCommittee, Raipur are jointlyorganising a seminar at lecture hallnumber 6 of the Medical Collegeon Friday (June 14) at 2.00 pm.

Key speaker on the occasionwill be Dr Arvind Neral, Professorand Head of Department,Microbiology. Dr Renuka Gahine,director professor and HODPathology department, Dr NirmalVerma, Professor and HOD, com-munity medicine will brief on dif-ferent aspects of blood donation.Dr S. K. Binjhwar, AdditionalProject Director, ChhattisgarhAIDS Control Committee will pre-side the seminar.

Intern doctors and MBBS stu-dents of 2015 batch will also partic-ipate in the seminar. The speakerswill guide the future doctors ondifferent aspects of blood donationand motivating others to donateblood.

Tribal villagers call offprotest against Adani’s AEL

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Former PWD ministerand BJP leader Rajesh

Munat urged the Congressgovernment not to politi-cise the public-utilityrelated developments,which should be seen inpositive note.

He was referring tothe signature and othercampaign started by theCongress against theRaipur’s skywalk projectinitiated by the erstwhileBJP government.

Munat addressing themedia on Thursday at BJPdivisional office said manyprojects such as canallinking road, marine

drive, express highway ofthe previous governmentwere opposed, but nowpeople are getting benefitsof those projects. Thesenetworks, including theROB and underpass havehelped in easing pressureon roads, he added.

He pointed out that as

per a survey conducted bythe then government,around 27,000 pedestrianswere passing ShastriChowk while present sur-vey by Congress govern-ment revealed 35,000pedestrians are beingcaught in traffic.Therefore, skywalk had

the plan to install escala-tors and lifts at key pointslike Tehsil office, ShahidSmarak, Mekahara, collec-torate etc.

Munat admitted thatdue to IT raids and furtherdevelopment, the agencycould not complete thework. Had it been com-pleted, no fingers wouldhave been raised on itsutility, he claimed.

He suggested that ifgovernment takes initia-tive to do some technicalchanges, BJP will supportthe development. But itwill hit the streets if publicmoney is wasted just forthe sake of politics, theBJP leader cautioned.

BJP to oppose politicsover skywalk: Munat

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

AICC’s Chhattisgarh in-chargeP.L. Punia on Friday

announced that appointments ingovernment boards and corpora-tions would be done soon.

Talking to media personshere at Swami VivekanandAirport, Raipur, Punia said theparty leaders and workers whohad done exemplary work in therecently concluded assemblyelections and paved the way forthe party’s impressive win wouldbe rewarded by providing themcoveted posts.

Such leaders would not haveto wait long as the list of chair-men in boards and corporationswould soon be declared, he said.

Replying to a query on tribalvillagers’ movement in Bailadilaagainst allotment of iron oreblock no 13 to Adani’s AdaniEnterprises Limited, Punia said

“The rights of tribals will neverbe compromised at any cost.Chhattisgarh government is withthe tribals and not the industrial-ists”. “Whatever decision has tobe taken will be taken in theinterest of the tribals,” he added.

On the resentment of stateemployees, Punia said it was inthe knowledge of state leadership

and it would do the best to resolveit. He also declared that the partywould now gear up activities forthe Panchayat and urban bodypolls. He would conduct a seriesof meeting in this regard.

“We are taking feedbacksfrom common workers and willformulate a plan accordingly tofight the polls”, he added.

Appointments in boards& corporations soon: Punia


Senior divisional head (Centraland West), Fino Payments Bank

said Chhattisgarh has untappedpotential to bring simple and con-venient banking closer to people,through creating a strong networkof neighbourhood shops as bank-ing partners or merchant points.

At present there are 2063banking partners in Chhattisgarhand target is to achieve 8000 part-ners. Soon, the bank’s regionaloffice will be opened at Raipur asthere are already branches in thestate. These next door outlets offerservices such as new bank accountopening, deposit, withdrawal,money transfer, utility bill pay-ment transactions. These outletscan be any provision store, mobilerepair shop, beauty salon and sta-tionery shop where a customergenerally frequents, said Mishra.

The most important aspect is

there is no need to visit a bank, andthere is no banking hours and it iscloser to the place of residence. Tillthe outlet remains open, bankingcan be done. One can withdrawamount as per the limit of bank ordebit card holder, he pointed out.

Any person having passedclass 10th examination canbecome partner. The bank willimpart training on using the digi-tal banking system, Mishra said.

Fino Bank to expand

its footprint in C’garh


Suspended Special DG MukeshGupta on Thursday reached

Economic Offense Wing (EOW),where he was grilled for aboutfive hours.

According to sources in theEOW, the temper of the formertop cop appeared toned downthis time and he cooperated withthe investigating officers. Gupta’sstatement was recorded for thesecond time.

Interestingly, Gupta’s advo-cate was not allowed to sit withhim when he was questioned thistime. During previous question-ing, his advocate Amin Khanhad accompanied him.

Sources reveled that though

Gupta cooperated with theinvestigating officers, he did notprovide satisfactory answers tomost of the questions.

About 50 questions wereasked to Gupta, sources said.

Notably, Gupta and IPS offi-cer Rajnesh Singh were suspend-ed for alleged illegal call record-ing made during the BJP regimein Chhattisgarh.

Rajnesh Singh who had ear-lier appeared before the EOWhad stated that he was notinvolved in the call recordingand it was all done at the behestof Mukesh Gupta.

Gupta later claimed that hehad all required permissions forrecording the calls.

Suspended DG MukeshGupta appears before EOW

According to EOW sources theformer top cop cooperated with

the investigating officers


Chhattisgarh State PowerCompany has registered a

FIR at Kotwali police station,Rajnandgaon against anunknown person under section124 A of the IPC (Sedition) and505 (1)(b) (with intent to incite,or which is likely to incite) onWednesday.

In a statement issued by thecompany says that the FIR wasregistered for spreading rumoursamong the common manregarding the functioning of thepower company.

It states that PowerCompany’s generation, trans-mission and distribution

personnel are working round theclock to ensure uninterruptedpower supply. With heat wavecontinuing in the state, thedemand for power has increased,but there is no imbalance in sup-ply.

Due to natural forces likestorms or other local reasons,power supply has been affected.

But anti-social elements throughsocial media are spreading thenews that to boost sale of invert-er and generator, governmentand power companies intention-ally resorting to power cut,release states.

Even other media sourcesare also spreading fake news toincite common men against the

government and the PowerCompany.

Power Company’s legal advi-sor N.P.K Singh stated that avideo was received in which anunknown person was seen sayingan inverter company has givenfunds to the state government tosnap power supply for 10-15minutes after every two hours soas to increase its sale in the state.After which the FIR was regis-tered against the person.

The Power Company’sChairman Shailendra Shukla hasappealed to the power con-sumers not to fall in the trap ofsuch rumours or fake news,instead they should cooperatewith the company.

FIR registered for spreadingfake news on power scenario

Police during investigation, identified the accused asMangelal son of late Ganesh Prasad Agrawal (53), aresident of village Musra under Dongargarh policestation. He was taken into custody during eveninghours on Thursday. The video clip and the mobile

phone used have been seized by the police

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From Page 1Special Director General (Intelligence) Sanjay Pillai stated

that common people have high expectations from police. So, theofficers/employees should be disciplined.

“In case of any eventuality, when people approach a policestation the behaviour of police staff there can mitigate half oftheir problems,” Pillai stated.

SDG (Planning/Management) RK Vij opined that it is theduty of a policeman to solve problems of the public and hencethe attitude of police staff at police stations must be sober.

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Under attack for its allegedfailure to rescue the two-

year-old Fatehveer Singh aliveout of 150-foot-deep aban-doned borewell in Sangrur,Punjab Government has nowproposed reward for anyonereporting abandonedunplugged borewells, besides acriminal action and penaltyagainst the defaulters.

Switching into a strictmode in a knee-jerk reactionafter a toddler fell prey to oneof such open death-trap lyingabandoned since 1990s out ofmany more across the state, the

Government has set up amonth’s deadline to initiate acriminal action, underTandrust Punjab Mission,against any person who doesnot plug such borewells.

“Any mishap in suchborewells should attract penal-ty against the owner of the landunder various provisions ofIndian Penal Code (IPC) bylodging FIR against such per-son,” stated a letter written byTandrust Punjab Mission direc-tor Kahan Singh Pannu to allDeputy Commissioners of thestate.

The letter stated that aftera period of one month, Mission

Tandrust Punjab shall give anadvertisement asking the gen-eral public to give informationabout abandoned borewellsstill not filled and plugged.“The person giving such infor-mation will be given a rewardof Rs 5000 after verification ofinformation,” said Pannu.

Pannu maintained that acompliance report has alsobeen sought in this respect bythe Mission Directorate with-in one month.

Targeting prompt closureof all abandoned unpluggedborewells across the State aftershaken up from deep slumberfollowing Sangrur incident, allthe Deputy Commissionershave also been asked to rope invarious field departments toundertake immediate mea-sures to fill and plug the aban-doned borewells in Punjab.

Pannu said that the aban-doned borewells in the State area cause of concern, for the safe-ty of human beings especiallythat of children, as well asource of contamination ofgroundwater.

To ensure that all aban-doned borewells are properlyfilled and plugged, the DCshave been suggested to initiatea publicity campaign makingthe farmers aware about the

dangers of unplugged borewellsand directing them to ensurethat there is no unplugged orabandoned borewell in thefields owned by them.

Announcements on thevillage public address systemshould be made to this effect,he said while adding that theDepartment of Agricultureshould hold meetings at thefield level to identify suchborewells and motivate the

farmers to plug them.It has been said that since

almost all the farmers who haveabandoned such borewells haveobtained the power connectionfor alternative borewells, there-fore, PSPCL officials, especial-ly those at cutting edge levellike Junior Engineers, should

ensure that all the abandonedborewells should be plugged.

Besides, the GramPanchayats should pass a res-olution after properly verifyingfrom all the members of GramPanchayats to the effect thatthere is no abandoned borewellin the revenue estate (mauja) ofthe village.

The Panchayat Secretary ofthe village may also contact allthe Nambardars of the villageto verify about existence ofabandoned borewells in the vil-lage, he said.

Further, the Sub-DivisionalMagistrate (SDM) and the con-cerned Deputy Superintendentof Police (DSP) should jointlytour the area and convey to thepublic about the seriousness ofthe issue and ensure filling upand plugging off all abandonedborewells in their jurisdiction.

The Executive Officer orCommissioner of MunicipalBodies should interact with allthe councillors to make themaware about the problem andsuggesting them to furtherinteract with people in theirrespective areas to know aboutthe existence of any aban-doned borewell and also to takenecessary action to plug it.

It has also been directedthat Punjab Water Resourcesand DevelopmentCorporation (TubewellCorporation) and PunjabRural Water Supply andSanitation Department, whichare running various ground-water based drinking watersupply and irrigation schemes,should ensure that abandonedborewells, if any, belonging tothem are plugged within aperiod of one month.

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Rejecting Punjab Ekta Party(PEP) president Sukhpal

Singh Khaira’s allegation of thestate’s canals going dry while thegovernment was releasing waterto Pakistan, Punjab ChiefMinister Capt Amarinder Singhon Thursday said that surpluswater was being discharged asa precautionary measure toprevent flooding in the areasalong Sutlej and Beas rivers.

Reacting to the PEP chief ’s“baseless” accusations, the ChiefMinister termed the charges aspolitically motivated and aimedat spreading disinformation.

“Khaira is a chronic atten-tion-seeker with no credibilityand no respect for truth,” saidCapt Amarinder Singh, lashingout at the PEP leader andterming as “ludicrous” his out-rageous remarks questioningthe Chief Minister’s ‘motives’.

The decision to releaseexcess water, in a regulatedmanner, was a precautionarymeasure taken by a TechnicalCommittee meeting held onMay 28, 2019, wherein all part-ner states were represented,said the Chief Minister.

He pointed that a unani-mous view had emerged at themeeting that there was clearlysurplus water and it would beappropriate to use it gainfully byreleasing excess supplies and getthe benefit of power generation

too. If it was not done now thenexcess water released throughspillway will not only go waste,but will also cause flood dam-ages in the areas located alongrivers Sutlej and Beas, theCommittee had found.

The Chief Ministerridiculed Khaira for reading ahidden agenda and motive in adecision taken on technicalgrounds by all the partnerstates. Not only was the releaseof excess water necessary to pre-vent flooding later, it was actu-ally beneficial for the state,pointed out Capt Amarinder,adding that there was no short-age of water as a result of thisdischarge.

“The water requirementin the fields is being fully metfor cotton sowing and waterhas now been released in allcanals to meet with therequirement of paddy trans-plantation which is due tostart from June 13, as per thegovernment’s policy to arrestdecline of groundwater whichoccurs due to early sowing,”Capt Amarinder said.

Capt Amarinder urgedKhaira to stop indulging inhistrionics to stay in publiclimelight by making unsub-stantiated claims.

Contrary to Khaira’sunfounded claims of 15,000 to20,000 cusecs of water beingreleased, on an average, 8700cusecs of water on daily basis

had been released downstreamof Ferozepur headworks toPakistan for the past 24 days,with regular monitoring of thesituation, said the ChiefMinister, adding that the releas-es going down to Pakistan willbe controlled in the comingdays.

The Chief Minister citedfigures to state that water levelin Bhakra Dam as on June 13,2019, stood at 1609.43 feet,which was about 100 feet high-er than last year's level and 38feet higher than the historicalmaximum level observed onthis date.

The situation was equallyworrying at Pong dam andRanjit Sagar Dam, where waterlevels in reservoirs was 46.41feet and 38 feet respectivelyhigher than the correspondinglevels last year on the same date,he said.

Due to heavy snow accu-mulation and normal forecastfor Monsoon by IMD, theinflows were also expected to behigher this year, he furtherdisclosed.

Had the decision to go infor precautionary releases notbeen taken, river Sutlej was sureto experience releases fromBhakra in the range of 50,000to 2,00,000 cusecs during themonths of July and August,which would trigger floods inthe areas near the river, theChief Minister pointed out.

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Union External AffairsMinister Dr Jaishankar

has directed the IndianEmbassy in Iraq to takeimmediate steps to ensurethe quick return of sevenPunjabi youth stranded inErbil city since seven months.

Disclosing this, the UnionFood Processing IndustriesMinister Harsimrat Kaur

Badal, who met the ExternalAffairs Minister along withthe family members of sevenyouth who belong toJalandhar and Kapurthala dis-tricts, said that the country’sConsul General in IraqChandramouli K Kern wasalso part of the meeting andbriefed the parents about thesteps taken by the Consulateto ensure the well being of theyouth. The Consul Generaldisclosed that the Embassy

staff were in touch with theyouth and were extending allneeded help to them, includ-ing financial assistance. Kernsaid that more financial assis-tance would be extended asand when required. Since theyouth had filed a complaintwith regard to being duped, alegal case had been initiated,he said.

After listening to thebriefing, Dr Jaishankar saidthat the Indian Consulate

would take all needed steps tocomplete legal formalitiesneeded to ensure the return ofthe youth to their homeland.

Harsimrat informed theExternal Affairs Minister thatthe Akali Dal would pay forthe tickets to bring the youthback to their homeland.

Giving a brief about thecase, Harsimrat said that theseven youth had been dupedby travel agents who hadpromised them jobs in Iraq.

She said that the agents hadtaken money to provide nec-essary work papers but didnot provide any documents tothem to make them eligible towork in Iraq.

The youth had appealedto the State as well as theCentral Governments to repa-triate them as wel l asdemanded action against thetravel agents who had leftthem in the lurch without anyidentity cards, she said.

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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal on

Thursday directed to makeadequate arrangement ofdrinking water and electrici-ty in the state especially dur-ing the months of June andJuly and

He also asked the officersto remain alert to deal with

any situation of flooding anddrought.

Manohar Lal was presid-ing over the meeting to reviewheatwave, drought and floodpreparedness in the state withal l the DeputyCommissioners of the statethrough video conferencinghere.

He made it clear thatthere should not be any com-plaint pertaining to shortageof drinking water, floodingand water stagnation in anypart of Haryana.

The Chief Ministerdirected to identify those vil-lages and cities where theproblem of drinking watersupply might arise in thesetwo months so that adequatearrangement of the samecould be made. He alsodirected the Public HealthEngineering and Irrigationand Water Resources

Departments to identity thosewater works in the state whichare either empty or has lesswater to ensure that these arefilled with water.

It was informed that thereare total 1636 water works inthe state out of which 1613 arefilled and the work is inprogress for filling remaining23 water works. In was alsoinformed that in the meetingof Flood Control Board heldunder the chairmanship ofChief Minister in the monthof January this year, as manyas 167 short term projectswere approved out of which104 projects have been com-pleted and the remaining pro-jects would be completed byJune 25.

The Chief Minister wasalso informed that addition-al capacity of 560 cusec ofwater has been added as com-pared to the last year.

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Israeli warplanes bombedbunkers at a Hamas base in

Gaza early on Thursday fol-lowing the first rocket firefrom the territory since earlyMay, the military said.

Israeli aircraft targeted“underground infrastructure” atthe base in the southern GazaStrip, it said in a statement.

The strike came after Israeliair defences intercepted a rock-et launched from the territory,the first since hundreds werefired in early May in a two-dayflare-up which killed fourIsraelis and 25 Palestinians.

On Wednesday evening,Israel announced it had bannedall fishing off Gaza in retaliationfor the launch of more incen-diary balloons from the enclave.

“Due to the continuous

launching of incendiary bal-loons and kites from the GazaStrip towards Israel, it has beendecided tonight (Wednesday)not to allow access to Gaza’smaritime space until furthernotice,” the Israeli defence min-istry department responsible

for Palestinian civil affairs,COGAT, said. The move cameafter COGAT said on Tuesdayit had reduced the extent of thefishing zone to six nautical milesoffshore from 10 nautical miles,having downscaled it from 15nautical miles a week ago.

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The Israeli military says it istaking the rare step of clos-

ing the Gaza Strip’s offshorewaters to Palestinian fishermenuntil further notice in responseto incendiaries launched intoIsrael in recent days.

COGAT, the IsraeliDefense Ministry body con-trolling the crossings with thecoastal enclave, announced onWednesday that “due to thecontinuous launching of incen-diary balloons and kites from

the Gaza Strip towards Israel,”Israel would bar Gazans fromusing the territory’s coastalwaters.

Israel often restricts the off-shore fishing zone in responseto cross-border violence. Israeland Egypt have maintained ablockade of the Gaza Stripsince the Islamist militantgroup Hamas took power in2007.

A cease-fire struck by Israeland Hamas in May to end theworst round of fighting since2014 has largely held.

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Two oil tankers near thestrategic Strait of Hormuz

were reportedly attacked onThursday, an assault that leftone ablaze and adrift as sailorswere evacuated from both ves-sels and the US Navy rushed toassist amid heightened ten-sions between Washington andTehran.

Japan’s Trade Ministry saidthe two vessels had “Japan-related cargo” as PrimeMinister Shinzo Abe was wrap-ping up a high-stakes visit inTehran that sought to easetensions between Iran and theUnited States.

Benchmark Brent crudespiked at one point by as much4 per cent in trading followingthe reported attack, to overUSD 62 a barrel, highlightinghow crucial the area remains toglobal energy supplies.

A third of all oil traded bysea passes through the strait,which is the narrow mouth ofthe Persian Gulf.

The latest incident comesafter the US alleged that Iranused mines to attack four oiltankers off the nearby Emiratiport of Fujairah last month.Iran has denied being involved,but it comes as Iranian-backedrebels in Yemen also havelaunched missile and droneattacks on Saudi Arabia.

Cmdr. Joshua Frey, a 5thFleet spokesman, said the U.S.Navy was assisting the two ves-sels that he described as beinghit in a “reported attack.” Hedid not say how the ships wereattacked or who was suspected of being behindthe assault.

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Tehran: Iranian ForeignMinister Mohammad JavadZarif said on Thursday thatreported attacks on two tankersoff the Iranian coast just asJapan’s prime minister heldTehran talks was more thansuspicious.

“Reported attacks onJapan-related tankers occurredwhile PM @AbeShinzo wasmeeting with Ayatollah@khamenei_ir for extensiveand friendly talks. Suspiciousdoesn’t begin to describe whatlikely transpired this morning,”Zarif tweeted.

Japan PM Shinzo Abe metIran’s supreme leader AyatollahAli Khamenei on Thursdaymorning, seeking to ease soaring tensionsbetween Tehran andWashington. AFP

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Iran’s navy rescued 44 crewmembers from two oil

tankers which caught fire afteran “accident” in the Sea ofOman on Thursday, officialnews agency IRNA reported.

“Forty-four sailors fromthe two foreign oil tankerswhich had an accident thismorning in the Sea of Omanwere saved from the water bythe (navy) rescue unit ofHormozgan province andtransferred to the port ofBandar-e-Jask,” IRNA quoted an “informed source” assaying.

The news agency said thefirst accident occurred at 8:50(0420 GMT) 25 nautical milesoff Bandar-e-Jask in southernIran.

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Agroup of Muslims, whohave been residing in the

Kathmandu Valley for cen-turies, have joined hands withthe members of local Newarcommunity in their demandfor protection of SanatanHindu culture after the gov-ernment moved a bill aimed atnationalising public and privatetrusts.

Newar Muslim Society, alocal Muslim group, carryingplacards, took part in a rally onMonday in the heart ofKathmandu city demandingprotection of the SanatanHindu religion and culture.

“Sanatan Hindu religioncould be jeopardised if theBill, tabled by the Communist

Party government inParliament, gets endorsed,” thegroup said.

Guthis are socio-econom-ic institutions (trusts), bothpublic and private, that fundtheir obligations from incomesfrom cultivated or leased landassets. Depending on theirobligations, guthis fulfil reli-gious, public service or socialroles and could either involvemembers from a common lin-eage, or several.

The K P Sharma Oli-ledCommunist Party governmenthas tabled a Bill in Parliamentto amend the Guthi Act andnationalise both public andprivate guthis and regulate allreligious sites under a power-ful commission.

Expressing concerns over

the controversial provisions ofthe Bill, the members of theNewar community and trusteesof major guthis staged protestson Monday and Tuesday andalleged the government’s moveis designed to erase the histo-ry by wiping out the institu-tional memory of variousindigenous communities.

“By nationalising outguthis, the state intends tosuppress our fundamentalrights and exploit guthis forcommercial purposes. The billis a direct attack on all out tan-gible and intangible heritageand does not say a word aboutour religion, heritage, culture ortradition,” Satya NarayanDangol of the Nardevi ShwetKali Ajima Guthi was quoted assaying in the Kathmandu Post.

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Boris Johnson on Thursdaysecured his position as the

frontrunner in the race to suc-ceed Theresa May as BritishPrime Minister as he won thehighest number of votes in thefirst round of the leadership poll.

The former Cabinet min-ister received 114 votes in thefirst round of a secret ballot ofTory MPs held in the House ofCommons, followed by UKforeign secretary Jeremy Huntin second place with 43 andenvironment secretary MichaelGove third with 37 votes.

Three contenders — MarkHarper, Andrea Leadsom andEsther McVey — were knockedout of the race after failing tosecure the minimum require-ment of 17 votes.

It leaves seven candidatesin the fray for the secondround of voting next week,including former Brexit secre-tary Dominic Raab in fourthplace with 27 votes, home sec-

retary Sajid Javid fifth with 23,health secretary Matt Hancocksixth with 20 and internation-al development secretary RoryStewart in last place with 19.

The two most popular MPsfrom among the seven will beput to the wider Tory partymembers in a final vote laterthis month, with the winner ofthe contest to succeed May inDowning Street expected to beannounced in the week of July.

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Hong Kong protest leadersannounced plans for

another mass rally on Sunday,escalating their campaignagainst a China extraditionbill a day after police clearedthem from the streets usingvolleys of tear gas and rubberbullets.

The move sets up a freshconfrontation with the city’sleaders who have refused towithdraw the proposed lawand have the staunch backing of Beijing, whichdescribed the protests as “riots”.

The international financehub was rocked by the worstpolitical violence since its 1997handover to China onWednesday as tens of thou-sands of protesters who hadsurrounded the city’s parlia-ment were dispersed in chaot-ic scenes.

Sporadic demonstrations

broke out again on Thursday,with occasional scuffles withpolice, but crowds were muchsmaller and there was no repeatof the running battles of the daybefore.

The Government hasindefinitely postponed a par-liamentary debate on the Bill

which had been scheduled forWednesday and was the triggerfor Wednesday’s violence.

But demonstrators havevowed no let up in their cam-paign until the law is aban-doned entirely, calling for arally on Sunday and a city-widestrike on Monday.

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Kathmandu: The large num-ber of deaths of climbers on theMount Everest this season isnot solely due to the “trafficjam” on the world’s highestpeak, the Nepal governmentclaimed Thursday, citing fac-tors like high altitude sickness,other health reasons andadverse weather.

The number of deaths onMt Everest was put at 11 by theinternational media, making itthe deadliest season since 2015.However, the Nepal tourismministry maintained the deathtoll at 8 and one missing.

According to tourism offi-cials altogether 16 climbersdied and one went missing inthe Himalayas this season.PTI

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Afew days ago, a fight broke outin the city of Ranchi whichresulted in the stabbing of atleast six people. The brawl wasnot about an alleged theft or

some form of disagreement that escalatedquickly or any other incident commonlyassociated with a serious fight in broad day-light. Instead, it was over water.

Jharkhand, as also the rest of India, issuffering from an acute water crisis in thehigh heat of summer. This is why it was notsurprising that while residents in a partic-ular locality in Ranchi were standing in linepatiently for hours to draw water, a fightbroke out when an individual allegedly filledwater in large quantities, leaving little tospare for other residents. While fortunate-ly no one died in the incident, such waterriots will only rise unless we tackle this seri-ous problem with the sincerity and commit-ment it demands.

Benjamin Franklin had once said,“When the well is dry, we’ll know the worthof water.” While he meant to use this phraseas a metaphor, this quotation is now truerthan ever in its literal sense. Water is anessential component of our lives. Justimagine a single part of your day withoutit. From the moment we wake up and washour faces before having a cup of tea till thetime we sit down for dinner: Water makeseach of these activities possible.

However, today, we stand at a crucialcrossroad: To survive using judiciousnessor perish due to ignorance and recklessness.Villagers from all over the country havebeen forced to evacuate their homes insearch of newer water sources and habitats.The current water crisis, which has onlybeen aggravated due to this year’s unrelent-ing summer, has forced a number of peo-ple to leave their homes and abandon theircattle and sheep since they do not havewater to provide for them. It is no surprisethat food production, too, has been severe-ly hit.

In Chennai, IT companies are askingtheir employees to work from home becausethey do not have enough water to sustainoperations. In other firms, employees arebeing asked to bring their own drinkingwater since employers cannot guaranteedrinking water during work. It is, therefore,obvious that a lack of water will soonenough stop our daily lives as we current-ly know it.

Let me give some other worrying sta-tistics, which I hope, will jolt one into actionjust as it has affected me. By the end of May,it was reported that 43 per cent of India wasexperiencing drought conditions.Furthermore, the country has witnessed adrought every year since 2015 (other than2017). In many parts of the country, peo-ple are falling ill and are being admitted tohospitals, sometimes at huge expenses,because they are being forced to drinkuntreated water.

In terms of groundwater,the situation is even more grim.Ground water, which serves 40per cent of India’s needs, isbeing depleted at a frightening-ly unsustainable rate. The NITIAayog, a Government think-tank, has said in its report in2018 that 21 Indian cities,including Delhi, Bengaluru,Chennai and Hyderabad, willrun out of ground water by2020 and that 40 per cent ofIndia’s population will have noaccess to drinking water by2030. The year 2030 is less than11 years away. This means thatin a little more than a decade,more than one in three peoplein the country will not haveaccess to drinking water.

To bring this point closerhome, if you are a family of fouror five, it is likely that only twoor three of you will essentiallyhave access to drinking water by2030. I must apologise forsounding apocalyptic but thetime for sugar-coating is over.India is facing a ticking time-bomb and all of us, includingour future generations, willface a disastrous scenario unlesswe get our acts together andstart taking hard decisions.

A good start has alreadybeen made by the Government.The BJP has decided to inte-grate all Ministries dealing withwater-related issues into one

Ministry — the ‘Jal ShaktiMinistry’ — and has promisedto provide clean drinking waterto all households in the coun-try. Unlike other promises madeby the Government like ‘SmartCities’ or ‘Make in India’, thispromise cannot afford to fail.

Even though I am from anopposing party, I sincerely hopethat it does not turn out to beanother jumla, reserved only forrallies of the Prime Minister.The Government, however, hasnot started out on the right foot.Asked about water scarcity,Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, theJal Shakti Minister, respondedby saying, “Water crisis is not asbad as the hype created by themedia.” This comment was allthe more surprising becauseonly last month the BJPGovernment had issued adrought advisory to six Statessince water storage levels indams had dropped to a “critical”level.

Irrespective of whetherShekhawat thinks this is all“media hype” or not, it will nottake much to figure out that weare suffering from a water cri-sis. Just look around. Our wellsare drying up, getting drinkablewater is becoming more andmore expensive, we often endup standing in long queues forwater. Are these not obvioussigns of a crisis? Therefore, I

urge you to take charge yourself.There is no doubt that Indianeeds a comprehensive andwell-thought out policy to tack-le this issue. The Governmentneeds to adopt a multi-facetedapproach which examines thekind of crops we should grow,the kind of resources we needto set aside and invest amongother things.

However, merely ignoringthe problem because it seemstoo big can be disastrous. I urgeeveryone as a concerned citizenof India to take full responsibil-ity to help avert this water cri-sis. There is enough of animpact you can create if youcare enough about the situation.

For example, at home,where we often leave the tapsrunning or consume morewater than is necessary, wemust encourage family mem-bers and helps to use water judi-ciously. We can adopt water-saving techniques that are eas-ily available online. At theoffice, too, you can ask youremployers to use more water-efficient toilet stalls and hostawareness sessions for fellowemployees. All of these stepsmay eventually help us win cru-cial battles and ultimately winthe war against drought.

(The author is president ofJharkhand Pradesh CongressCommittee)

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Lessons from Kathua” (June 12).While the family of the Kathuarape case has got justice, over onelakh daughters still await closurein our courts. It is time to stopchild rape through strong legaldeterrent and social action. Oneonly hopes that stringent andeffective punishment would offerdeterrence for ever-increasingcrimes against children. I alsothink it’s imperative that lenien-cy is not offered to perpetratorsand more so on sociological argu-ments on the identity of the crim-inal, centered on their caste,minority status or economic back-ground, ie ‘sole bread earner’ et al.

Those who file mercy peti-tions for the perpetrators ofheinous crimes or push thehuman rights rhetoric of lesserpunishment for some of them,should take a backseat. A societythat cannot safeguard its childrenhas no right to talk about therights of the perpetrators, espe-cially under the garb of a politi-cal correctness which could verywell sent us to doom.

Padmini Raghavendra Secunderabad

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Lessons from Kathua” (June12). Rape victims deserve nomercy. They need to be severe-

ly punished and the Kathuarape case was no exception.

That justice has finally beenserved is welcome. The verdictis a triumph of the justice deliv-ery system. It was only due toeffective investigation, diligent

prosecution and judicial sensi-tivity that this case could get aspeedy closure. This case shouldinspire people’s confidence in thejustice system.

However, it is also a matterof concern that the country has

been a witness to a spate ofheinous crimes against minorgirls. One rape case is reportedevery 15 minutes. Even as theKathua verdict is being hailed,the gruesome murder of a three-year-old in Aligarh has shockedthe society. There are manycases that are pending for yearstogether awaiting a judgement.All such long-pending casesmust be fast-tracked so thatjustice is not delayed.

Sravana RamachandranChennai

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Searing hot conditions the newnormal” (June 13) by Kota Sriraj.With the country witnessingunprecedented heat wave condi-tions, the problem has been exac-erbated by an acute water crisis.Poor water management plan isat the root of urban nightmares.A comprehensive water policythat focusses on reusing wastewater is the need of the hour.

Alok SinhaVia email

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It’s great to see so many Indian and Americanbusiness people coming together to talk abouthow to draw our two nations closer together,

and to talk about big ideas. That project has beenin the forefront of my mind too, in preparation formy upcoming trip. I want to give you a sneak pre-view of my mission, and tell you why I truly believethat our two nations have an incredibly uniqueopportunity to move forward together, for the goodof both of our peoples, the Indo-Pacific region, andindeed the entire world.

The idea of a US-India partnership franklystretches back a long way. When the Indian peo-ple first courageously won their independence over70 years ago, a strong relationship between ourcountries was something people talked about. Ourtwo democracies and a close relationship seemedinevitable, a matter of “when” not “if.” But for toolong — indeed, for decades — we found ourselveson different trajectories. The US was fighting theCold War. And India was asserting itself, its new-found, cherished independence through its non-aligned movement, trying not to take sides. Wecooperated when we could, but frankly I think mostwould agree that we mostly fell short of our poten-tial.

We couldn’t trade much because India had aclosed economy. The Licence Raj kept businessesand innovators out of the black and covered in redtape. Five-year plans became the received wisdom,something like our 2 per cent growth here in thelast administration became sort of a new normal.We focussed our attention on other Asian tradingpartners, and what were once cubs grew up to betrue tigers in the region. But all that changed in1991, when India opened its doors to the world.Prime Minister Rao said that at the time his gov-ernment would “sweep the cobwebs of the past andusher in change.” India’s free-market reformsunleashed the innovation, the entrepreneurship, thesheer drive of its own people to do remarkablethings. First, we’ve had a seven per cent growth inIndia from 1997 to 2017, year-on-year. Millionsof Indians have been lifted out of poverty. Indiabecame a world leader in IT — IT services, engi-neering, pharmaceuticals, and so many more thingsthat you all know so well. The US-India bilateraltrade reached $142 billion just last year, a seven-fold increase since 2001. Additionally, more than500 American companies now successfully oper-ate in India. And of course, the US is a market forroughly 20 per cent of India’s exports in both goodsand services. Indian-Americans, too, have con-tributed mightily to things that happened here inthe US. We’ve watched Indians reach the heightsof industry, and academia, and government.People like Microsoft’s CEO and the FCC chair-man Ajit Pai, a great Kansan, have done remark-able things all around the world.

US Presidents of both parties have seized theopportunity for closer ties. President Clinton’s visitin 2000 set a real marker, he set the table for clos-er cooperation between the two countries, and thenPresident Bush inked a historic civil nuclear deal.More recently, President Obama granted India“Major Defence Partner” status and supportedIndia’s quest for a permanent seat on the UNSecurity Council — a position that the US contin-ues to support. And under President Trump, we’vetaken our defence cooperation to new heights, solid-

ified our common vision for the Indo-Pacific andtaken a far tougher stand on Pakistan’s unaccept-able support for terrorism in the region.

Just a few weeks ago, in a truly historic elec-tion, 600 million Indians voted in the largest exer-cise of the franchise in history. And they gave MrModi a huge mandate. Not since 1971 has an IndianPrime Minister been returned to office with a sin-gle-party majority, and — to borrow a phrase – heenjoyed an awful lot of winning. Many observerswere surprised by the result, but, frankly, I wasn’t.I’ve been watching closely. And we knew that thePrime Minister was a new kind of leader for theworld’s most populous democracy. He is the sonof a tea seller who worked his way up to govern-ing a state for 13 years and now leads one of theworld’s truly emerging powers. He’s made econom-ic development for the poorest Indians a priority.And indeed, millions who once went without lightbulbs now have electricity. And millions who lackedcook stoves now have them. It’s interesting thatyoung Indians constituted one of the PrimeMinister’s largest voting blocks, one of his biggestgroups of support in this most recent election. Ithink that tells you something.

For my part, as the Secretary of State, I knowI have a strong partner, a new, great counterpartin Minister Jaishankar — a former Ambassador tothe US. First, we have to build ever-stronger rela-tionships. In fact, we’ve sent some of our finestminds to New Delhi, thinkers like Daniel PatrickMoynihan and our current ambassador, Ken Juster.But forging stronger ties is more than that. It meansformalising these individual friendships, buildingout a diplomatic framework for our two countries.I think we’ve done that but there’s more to do. Lastyear we kicked off a 2+2 dialogue and I went toattend it alongside the Secretary of Defence. Wealso reinvigorated the Quad Dialogue among theUnited States, Japan, and Australia — all like-mind-ed democracies in the Indo-Pacific.

But I want to talk about a couple other thingsI believe we can do together. We must embracethat strategic framework that works for both ofour nations. We respect India as a truly sover-eign, important country, with its own unique pol-itics and its own unique strategic challenges. Weget it. We realise it’s different to deal with thelikes of China and Pakistan from across the oceanthan it is when they are on your borders. That’swhy in this room, not so many months ago, Ielaborated on President Trump’s vision for a Free

and Open Indo-Pacific. It starts from the premisethat we share a common set of values — the val-ues of democracy and freedom and a core beliefin the ingenuity of the human spirit.

We also have to make sure that we have eco-nomic openness. We have to have a central themebeing the idea that we have liberty and sovereign-ty in each of our two nations, and build on thoseideas. These need to be places in which econom-ic growth reinforces our democratic values, and notdictatorship. It needs to be a place where our part-nership is one of true equals, not of domination.Based on my conversations in New Delhi last year,and in subsequent phone calls and meetings, Ibelieve this is a deeply shared vision.

Third, we have to deliver. We have to execute.The Trump administration has already enabledAmerican companies to export more high-techitems to India. This includes cutting-edge defenceplatforms like armed UAVs and ballistic missiledefence systems. We’ve already launched theAsia-EDGE programme to help India raise privatecapital to meet its energy and security needs foryears to come. These are solid achievements butwe want to do so much more.

We clearly have overlapping interests: defence,energy, space. The list goes on. The first batch ofApache helicopters is coming off Boeing’s produc-tion line in Arizona even as we speak. LockheedMartin’s F-21 and Boeing’s F/A-18 are state-of-the-art fighters that could give India the capabilities itneeds to become a full-fledged security providerthroughout the Indo-Pacific.

On energy, we want to complete theWestinghouse civil nuclear project and delivermore LNG and crude. These steps will giveIndians reliable, affordable, diversified energyindependence. So they will no longer have to relyon difficult regimes like those in Venezuela andin Iran. On space, NASA is already working withthe Indian Space Research Organisation on theworld’s most advanced earth-observation satel-lite and India’s second lunar mission. I mean,how cool is that?

Now, I’m sure we’ll broach some tough topicstoo. But as we democracies have come to know, thatwe work out our disagreements. We bring themto the table honestly and fairly. And we’ll proba-bly discuss the recent decision on the GSP pro-gramme. I do hope, and remain open – and weremain open to dialogue, and hope that our friendsin India will drop their trade barriers and trust in

the competitiveness of their own companies,their own businesses, their own people, and pri-vate sector companies. We’ll also push for free flowof data across borders, not just to help Americancompanies, but to protect data and secure con-sumers’ privacy. And speaking of privacy, we areeager to help India establish secure communica-tions networks – including 5G networks as well.

I know that these conversations that we willcontinue with the new government in India thathas so much promise for its people, for our rela-tionship, and for the world – I hope together, wewill finally fulfill the great promise of cooperationthat was present at India’s birth and which remainsevident today.

I did business in India when I — before I lostmy mind and ran for Congress — ran a small busi-ness that made machine parts for the aerospaceindustry. And I spent a fair amount of time inBangalore and in Chennai working with HAL. I’lltell you what. It was tough. India was still open-ing up, it was still figuring its way through, but therewas a real value proposition there and we did well.When I think about that, when I think about whatbusinesses need when they go to invest in eachother’s countries, they need stability, they need aset of rules that they can understand, they need tomake sure that the efforts that we put forwardtogether from the US have sufficient bipartisanship,that they won’t be whipsawed as we have electionshere. That is, when you invest, your ROI oftenextends beyond any particular congress or any par-ticular administration.

It’s already happening in technology andengineers. I know all of the amazing, brilliantIndian students that come to study in our schoolsat Wichita State University in my hometown, lotsof amazing people doing amazing things wantto come work in places where they can go makemoney and be successful. They don’t care somuch if it’s with an Indian company or anAmerican company. They want to go out anduse their skill set. If we can, at the StateDepartment, lay the foundation for that, then I’mconfident the folks in this room will knock it outof the park. They’ll take risk, they’ll invest cap-ital, they’ll invest capital here and in India, andwe’ll grow both sides of the relationship.

(Excerpted from the remarks of the US Secretaryof State Michael R. Pompeo at the India Ideas Summitand 44th Annual Meeting of the US-India BusinessCouncil)

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India was witness to a massiveelection exercise in the pasttwo months. We had an elec-

torate of 900 million — the turnoutin this general election was thehighest ever at 67.11 per cent — andthe mandate for the winning party,the BJP, was decisive. NarendraModi has once again been electedas the country’s Prime Minister andpolitical pundits are still busy find-ing whether it was a wave, anunder-current or a “tsunami” thatled to the party’s victory.

The factors that led to the mas-sive victory of the BJP will be dis-cussed and debated for a long timeto come but everyone seems toagree that the electoral campaign

was centered around the theme of“national security.” The PrimeMinister did touch upon this issueduring his campaigns but at thesame time, he focussed on develop-mental works. After all, there can’tbe a strong economy without secureborders.

Developmental activities in theborder areas of the country, especial-ly Jammu & Kashmir and the North-East, have been a lesser talked aspectof the Modi Government. Theseregions have historically beenignored. But prioritising them hasyielded rich dividends for the NDA,with its candidates winning 25 of the32 seats in these two regions. The BJPspecifically made deep inroads withthe electorate. This was also reflect-ed in the party’s performance in theAssembly elections held simultane-ously in Arunachal Pradesh with thegeneral elections (along with threeother States).

Arunachal Pradesh shares inter-national borders with three countries— Bhutan, Myanmar and TibetAutonomous Region of China. Areawise, it is the largest State in the entire

North-East with a population ofapproximately 14 lakh. Populationdensity of the State is around 12 peo-ple per sq km. The State boasts of 26major tribes and over 100 sub-tribes. Each tribe has a unique cul-ture and a language distinct from theother. “Arunachali Hindi” is the lin-gua franca and “Jai Hind” the pop-ular slogan. The BJP has, for the firsttime, formed an elected Governmenton its own in this important borderState under the leadership of Pema

Khandu. The party won in 41 out ofthe 60 Assembly constituencies. Itincreased its vote share from 31 percent in 2014 to 51 per cent in 2019and saw three of its candidates win-ning as uncontested even before thefirst votes were cast on April 11.

For those who did not notice,Arunachal Pradesh was the first togive an indication of this huge BJPwin and rout of the Congress. Anational party like the Congresscould manage to field only 46 can-

didates in the 60 Assembly seats.Sixteen of its candidates had a voteshare of 10 per cent or less withsome getting as low as 54 votes.Such poor statistics of a nationalparty, whose vote share only fiveyears ago was 49.5 per cent, isalarming and calls for attention.Leaving the media aside, the ironyis that even the Indian NationalCongress isn’t taking note of it.

Apathy towards the North-Eastin general and Arunachal Pradesh inparticular is to be blamed for thesame. Only incidents of violence orinsurgency get noticed. Itanagar, thecapital of Arunachal Pradesh, sawviolence for over three days inFebruary. This was hardly even cov-ered. To think that an innovativeGovernment initiative will be cov-ered is, perhaps, asking too much.

Still, Arunachal Pradesh did aunique experiment. Hundred youthfrom all across the State were select-ed for a boot camp. They worked on10 most relevant sustainable devel-opment issues for the State andmade a presentation of challengesand opportunities before

Government officials, Ministers andthe Chief Minister. It was called theArunachal Transformation andAspirational Leadership (ATAL)Conclave. Delegates were in the agegroup of 18-30 and for many of them,this was their first visit outside theirhome districts. The conclave saw par-ticipation of three Union Ministersand the response from the youth wasoverwhelming. Khandu sat throughthe entire conclave, taking notes. Isit too much of a stretch to co-relatethat the State elected the youngestChief Minister of India?

The BJP in Arunachal has shat-tered all stereotypes and promised tomake the State the “happiest.” It iseasier to overlook the hard work putin by political leaders towards devel-opmental activities and convenient-ly argue that the North-East votesonly for cash. That Prime MinisterModi won on the “national securi-ty” plank is another such manifesta-tion of arm-chair journalism. Thevoter today is aspirational and notmerely voting for slogans.

(The writer is a Fellow withIndia Foundation)

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The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT)Thursday adjourned the hearing on Jet Airways

insolvency case to June 20.By asking the two operational creditors — Shaman

Wheels and Gaggar Enterprises — who have taken JetAirways to NCLT, to again serve legal notices to thegrounded airline, the tribunal is yet to admit the bank-ruptcy pleas.

These two companied had on June 10 dragged theairline to the NCLT seeking bankruptcy proceedings.The airline, which was grounded on April 17, owes �8.74crore to Shaman Wheels and �53 lakh to GaggarEnterprises.

Jet Airways owes more than �8,000 crore to a con-sortium of banks led by the State Bank of India, whichnow run the airline, while it has a much larger debt pileby way of accumulated losses to the tune of �13,000crore and vendor dues of over �10,000 crore and salarydues of over �3,000 crore.

The banks have appointed SBI Capital Markets asthe investment banker to find an investor to scoutinvestors.

Bankers, after taking over the airline late March hadinvited bids on April 8 to sell up to 75 percent stake inthe crippled carrier that formally stopped operationson April 17.

Though it had received initial bids from parties-Ethihad Airways, private equity players TPG Capital andIndigo Partners, and the sovereign wealth fund NIIF,none of them chose to submit the final bids.

Currently bankers are trying to stave off bankruptcyeven as media reports said Etihad Airways, whichalready owns 24 percent in the airline, has teamed upwith the Hindujas to buy the airline.

The Jet Airways counter plunged close to 17 per-cent to �91.95 on the BSE after the exchanges put manyrestrictions on trading in the stock last evening.

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Shares of Jet Airways on Thursdaycracked nearly 18 per cent after stock

exchanges decided to impose restrictionson its stock trading from June 28.

The scrip plunged 16.71 per cent toclose at �91.95 on the BSE. During theday, it dropped 23.18 per cent to �84.80— its multi-year low.

On the NSE, shares tumbled 17.72per cent to close at �90.75.

In terms of traded volume, 35.05lakh shares were traded on the BSE andover three crore shares changed handson the NSE during the day.

Led by the sharp fall in the scrip, itsmarket valuation fell by �209.47 crore to�1,044.53 crore on the BSE.

Jet Airways shares have been falling forninth consecutive days, tumbling 39 percent on the BSE. Stock exchanges willimpose restrictions on trading in JetAirways shares from June 28 as part of pre-ventive surveillance measures to curbexcessive volatility, according to a circular.

The cash-starved company suspend-ed operations in April and lenders areworking on ways for revival of the airline.

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Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) to India grew by 6 per

cent to $42 billion in 2018, withstrong inflows in the manufac-turing, communication andfinancial services sectors, andcross-border merger and acqui-sition activities, according to aUN report that ranked Indiaamong the top 20 host economiesfor FDI inflows in 2017-18.

The World InvestmentReport 2019, released by theUN Conference on Trade andDevelopment (UNCTAD)Wednesday, said global FDIflows slid by 13 per cent in 2018to $1.3 trillion from $1.5 trillionthe previous year — the thirdconsecutive annual decline.

However, FDI inflows todeveloping countries in Asiarose by 3.9 per cent to $512 bil-lion in 2018, with growth occur-ring mainly in China, HongKong, Singapore, Indonesia andother ASEAN countries, as wellas India and Turkey. The Asianregion remained the world’slargest FDI recipient, absorbing39 per cent of global inflows in2018, up from 33 per cent in2017. FDI inflows to South Asiaincreased by 3.5 per cent to $54billion.

“Investment in India - thesubregion’s largest recipient -rose by 6 per cent to $42 billionwith strong inflows in manufac-

turing, communication, financialservices and cross-border merg-er and acquisition (M&A) activ-ities,” the report said.

The report added that Indiahas historically accounted for 70to 80 per cent of inflows to thesubregion. Further, the growthin cross-border M&As for Indiafrom $23 billion in 2017 to $33billion in 2018 was primarily dueto transactions in retail trade($16 billion), which includes e-commerce, and telecommuni-cation ($13 billion).

It said that notablemegadeals included the acqui-sition of Flipkart, India’s biggeste-commerce platform, byAmerican giant Walmart. Inaddition, telecommunicationdeals involving Vodafone (UK)and American Tower (US)amounted to $2 billion.

The report added thatIndia and the UAE, not tradi-tionally in the top 20 outwardinvestor countries, were alsoconsidered as among the top 10most important sources of FDIfor the 2019 to 2021 period.

Further, prospects for FDIinflows into South Asia arelargely determined by expecta-tions of growing investment intoIndia. Announced greenfieldinvestment in the country dou-bled to $56 billion in 2018, withprojects in a number of manu-facturing industries, includingautomotive, the report said.

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Domestic equity benchmarkBSE Sensex ended mar-

ginally lower after a see-sawsession Thursday as lack ofbuying triggers kept tradingsentiment at a low ebb.

A depreciating rupee andweak global cues also weighedon the markets, traders said.

After plunging over 300points intra-day, the BSE gaugepared most losses to settle15.45 points, or 0.04 per cent,lower at 39,741.36.

However, the broader NSENifty inched up 7.85 points, or0.07 per cent, to close at11,914.05.

Yes Bank was the biggestloser in the Sensex pack for thesecond consecutive session,plummeting 12.96 per cent,after Moody’s placed the privatesector lender’s ratings underreview for a possible down-grade.

IndusInd Bank, Infosys,Maruti, Vedanta, HeroMotoCorp, Tata Motors,ONGC and RIL too fell up to4.96 per cent.

Top gainers includedPowerGrid, M&M, KotakBank, Bajaj Finance, BhartiAirtel and HDFC twins, risingup to 1.54 per cent.

According to experts, mar-ket mood was subdued amidrising uncertainty over tradetalks between the US andChina. Oil prices soared fol-lowing conflicting reports of

attacks on two oil tankers in theGulf of Oman and the Strait ofHormuz.

However, losses werecapped as investors took posi-tive cues from factory outputnumbers, released after markethours on Wednesday.

India’s industrial outputgrew to a six-month high of 3.4per cent in April mainly onaccount of improvement inmining and power generation,while retail inflation spiked toa seven-month high of 3.05 percent in May, though remainingwithin the RBI’s comfort level.

“Benchmark indices endedon a flat note amid weak glob-al cues. After opening negative,Nifty reversed its trend andclosed positive above 11,900levels. However, investorsremained cautious on Niftyand Bank Nifty weekly expiryday.

“Post election euphoria,markets to shift focus on earn-ings visibility, onset of mon-soon and various economicreforms and policies by wayUnion Budget. On global front,US-China trade wars alongwith oil price volatility willdetermine further trend,” saidHemang Jani, Head —Advisory, Sharekhan by BNPParibas.

Sectorally, BSE teck, auto,energy and healthcare indicesended up to 0.57 per centlower. Realty, power, finance,consumer durables and utilitiesgained up to 0.62 per cent.

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Snapping its two-sessiongaining streak, the rupee

dived 16 paise to close at69.50 against the US dollarThursday amid a sharp rise incrude oil prices.

Brent crude futures, theglobal oil benchmark, soared3.84 per cent to $62.27 perbarrel after attacks on two oiltankers in the Gulf of Omantriggered fears of supply dis-ruptions.

The rupee opened at69.33 per dollar and fell fur-ther to touch a low of 69.56 atthe interbank foreignexchange market.

The local unit finally set-tled at 69.50, down by 16paise over its previous close.The rupee Wednesday closedat 69.34 against the US dollar.

Foreign investors pur-chased shares worth a net�172.35 crore Thursday, pro-visional exchange datashowed.

The 10-year Governmentbond yield was at 7.01 percent on Thursday.

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The drought situation, farm distress and secu-rity concerns of Naxal-affected districts will

be among the issues to be discussed at the fifthmeeting of Niti Aayog’s Governing Council tobe chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modihere on Saturday.

The agenda for the meeting also includesrain-water harvesting, aspirational districtsprogramme and structural reforms in the agri-culture sector, an official statement said.

The meeting, to be held at Rashtrapati

Bhavan, will be attended by chief ministers, lieu-tenant governors of union territories, severalunion ministers and senior government officials.

This will be the first governing councilmeeting under the new Modi government.

West Bengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee, however, has refused to attend themeeting, saying it is “fruitless” as Niti Aayog hasno financial powers to support state plans.

Headed by the Prime Minister, theGoverning Council includes ministers ofFinance, Home, Defence, Agriculture,Commerce and Rural Development, besides

state chief ministers and Niti Aayog vice chair-man, CEO and members.

According to the statement, the GoverningCouncil reviews the action taken on the agen-da items of the previous meeting and delib-erates upon the future developmental priori-ties.

So far, four meetings of the GoverningCouncil have been held under the chairman-ship of the Prime Minister.

The first meeting the Governing Councilwas held on February 8, 2015, at which thePrime Minister laid down the key mandatesof Niti Aayog such as fostering cooperative fed-eralism and addressing national issues throughactive participation of the states.

The second meeting on July 15, 2015reviewed the progress made by the three sub-groups of chief ministers and the two task forces.

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Markets watchdog Sebi onThursday came out with

a strict disclosure frameworkfor credit rating agencieswherein they will be requiredto provide the probability ofdefault for various rated instru-ments.

The regulator’s move comesagainst the backdrop of risinginstances of debt defaults andconcerns over the role of cred-it rating agencies in assessing thepossible risks. Credit ratingagencies have also come underthe scanner in the IL&FS case.

“...CRAs (credit ratingagencies), in consultation withSebi, shall prepare and disclosestandardized and uniformprobability of default (PD)benchmarks for each rating cat-egory on their website, forone-year, two-year and three-year cumulative default rates,both for short-run and long-run,” the circular said.

Issuing guidelines forenhanced disclosures by CRAs,the watchdog has called for

having a uniform StandardOperating Procedure (SOP) inrespect of tracking and timelyrecognition of default. Thesame has to be disclosed on thewebsite of each CRA.

Sebi has also mandated aspecific section on ‘rating sen-sitivity’ in the press releasesfrom the agencies to indicatepossible trigger for an upwardor downward rating change ina simple language rather thanlike a general risk factor.

Besides, the regulatorexpect the rating agencies tomake meaningful disclosuresabout liquidity conditions byusing simple terms like supe-rior or strong, adequate,stretched or poor, with properexplanations to help the endusers understand them better.

Also, the CRAs will have todevise a model to track devia-tions in bond spreads, Sebi said.

Additionally, CRAs shallnow assign the suffix ‘CE’(Credit Enhancement) to rat-ing of instruments havingexplicit credit enhancement, itadded.

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India detected at least 22 vio-lations of auditing standards

by Deloitte Haskins & Sells anda KPMG affiliate while inves-tigating a fraud at a financialcompany, leading it to seek afive-year ban on the auditors,according to government legalfilings seen by Reuters.

The failures were detectedas part of a wide-ranging probeinto alleged fraud and mis-management at InfrastructureLeasing & Financial Services(IL&FS), which defaulted on itsdebt obligations last year andsparked fears of financial con-tagion.

Both auditors have deniedwrongdoing.

After the government tookover IL&FS, government inves-tigators began looking intoone of its key financial units,IFIN, which was audited byDeloitte between 2008/09 and2017/18, and by a KPMG affil-iate, BSR & Associates, from2017/18.

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The Government on Thursdayannounced a cut in contri-

butions made by employers andemployees toward the healthinsurance scheme of Employees’State Insurance Corporation(ESIC) to 4 per cent from theexisting 6.5 per cent, a movewhich would lead to an esti-mated annual saving of around�5,000 crore for firms.

The reduced rates will beeffective from July 1, 2019, theLabour Ministry said in arelease. This would benefit 3.6crore employees and 12.85 lakhemployers.

“The government has takena historic decision to reduce therate of contribution under theEmployees’ State Insurance Actfrom 6.5 per cent to 4 per cent(employers’ contribution beingreduced from 4.75 per cent to3.25 per cent and employees’contribution being reducedfrom 1.75 per cent to 0.75 percent),” the ministry said.

As many as 12.85 lakhemployers and 3.6 croreemployees contributed �22,279crore towards the ESI scheme

in 2018-19. Back of the envelop calcu-

lations suggest that reduction inthe contribution rate foremployers would results inannual savings of over �5,000crore to these firms.

The ministry said that thereduced rate of contributionwill bring about a substantialrelief to workers and facilitatefurther enrollment of workersunder the Employees’ StateInsurance (ESIC) scheme andbring more and more work-force into the formal sector.

Similarly, reduction in theshare of contribution ofemployers will reduce the finan-cial liability of the establish-ments leading to improved via-bility of these establishments.This shall also lead to enhancedEase of Doing Business.

It is also expected thatreduction in rate of ESI con-tribution shall lead to improvedcompliance of law. TheEmployees’ State Insurance Act1948 (the ESI Act) provides formedical, cash, maternity, dis-ability and dependent benefitsto the Insured Persons underthe Act.

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Swords are out in Tamil NaduBJP following the failure of

the party to win at least one LokSabha seat in the State in therecently held Lok Sabha elec-tions. While a senior leader ofthe party has written to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi askingfor an urgent overhaul of theparty in the State, another seniorleader blamed the ineffectivenessof the leaders in countering theDMK-led Opposition’s anti-Modi campaign.

“In Tamil Nadu there was astrong anti-Modi campaignunleashed and fanned by theDMK and other Tamil outfits.They were united in harping forthe past four years that Modi ispro-corporate and anti farmer,"said Kaattumannarkoil Kannan,leader, Kisan Morchha, in a let-ter to the Prime Minister, a copyof which was accessed by ThePioneer.

The essence of Kannan’sletter us that the present lead-ership of the BJP has provedtheir incapacity and inefficien-cy in winning any election. Hestates that though the BJP-ledGovernment at the Centrebrought in a number of pro-poor programmes and pro-farmer policies, the BJP’s TamilNadu leaders failed miserably inexplaining it to the people of theState.

Kannan says in his letter thatthe BJP should not have alignedwith either of the the dravidanparties viz, the DMK andAIADMK. "Both the parties aretainted and tarnished. These twoparties have been looting TamilNadu for the past 50 years. Ifyou make raids against bothparty leaders you can unearthhuge money," says Kannan whowas recently in the news forauthoring the book “RiverCauvery , The Most Battled”.

He points out that theintegrity of the Tamil Nadu BJP

took a beating for the worse fol-lowing the seizure of three con-tainers packed with currencynotes worth Rs 570 crore duringthe 2016 assembly election.“Some connected houses wereraided but after that there was noaction,” he says.

According to Kannan, thecentral leadership of the BJPshould take into confidence thefarming community in the Stateas TN is an agricultural econo-my. “Not a single farmer hasvoted for the BJP this time,” hesaid when asked about the rea-son behind the failure of the BJP.

Kannan also wanted thecentral leadership to order athorough overhaul and revampof the party in the State andappoint a farmer as the Stateparty chief. The words ofKannan were echoed by ArjunSampath, leader of the HinduMakkal Katchi. “The presentand past leaders of Tamil NaduBJP should make way for newfaces as they had proved their

incapability. The party whihcould poll 19 per cent votes inthe 2014 parliament election hadto content with just 3.5 per cent.Tamilissai Sounderarajan, theState BJP president was trouncedby a margin of 3,47,209 votes,while former Union MinisterPon Radhakrishnan lost by2,60,000 votes. H Raja, thnational secretary , lost by 3,32,244 votes to tainted KartiChidambaram of the Congress.The BJP should introspect whythese leaders were defeated bysuch huge margins,” said ArjunSampath. He said he had spokento the national leadership aboutthe state of affairs in TamilNadu BJP.

Interestingly, the ire of theparty cadre has also been direct-ed against the high profile PMuraleedhar Rao , the secretaryin charge of the State. “Please doan audit about his contributionstowards the BJP .That will revealthe whole story,” said a second-rung leader based in Chennai.

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In a major relief to NanaPatekar, the Oshiwara police

on Thursday filed a closurereport in a local court atAndheri in north-westMumbai, stating that they hadno evidence to prosecute thesenior actor in the alleged sex-ual harassment case filedagainst him by actressTanushree Dutta.

Confirming the develop-ment, Deputy Commissionerof Police and Mumbai policespokesperson ManjunathShinge said: “Yes. We havefiled a B-summary reportbefore a MetropolitanMagistrate at Andheri (west)”.

The investigators file a B-Summary report in a courtwhen they do not find any evi-dence against the accused per-son to file a charge-sheetagainst him and seek a trial.

Reacting to the develop-ment, Tanushtree's lawyer,Nitin Satpute said that hewould challenge the B-sum-mary report in a court. “The Bor C-summary report filed bythe police is not final. We willchallenge the B-Summaryreport. After a hearing, if thecourt – if satisfied -- can againdirect the police re-investigatethe case,” Satpute said.

Demanding to know as towhat was urgency for the policeto file B-Summary report inthe case of Patekar, Tanushree

contested the “clean chIt” givento the senior actor, by alleging:“A corrupt police force andlegal system giving a clean chitto an even more corrupt per-son Nana who has beenaccused even in the past of bul-lying, intimidation and harass-ment by several women in thefilm Industry”

“Our witnesses have beensilenced by intimidation andfake witnesses have been putforth to weaken the case. Whatwas the rush to file a B-sum-mary report when all of mywitnesses have not even record-ed their statements yet?,”Tanushree asked.

“I'm neither shocked norsurprised being a woman inIndia this is something we allhave got used to. I mean if rapeaccused Alok Nath got a cleanchit and returned to moviesthen surely it was not going tobe difficult for harassmentaccused Nana Patekar to gethimself or shall we say buyhimself a clean chit to contin-ue to bully hapless youngwomen,” the actress alleged.

It may be recalled that act-

ing on a complaint filed byTanushree on October 6, 2018,the Oshiwara police had regis-tered a First InformationReport (FIR) against senioractor Nana Patekar and threeothers four days later.

After she recordedTanushree’s statement on thenight of October 10 last year,the Oshiwara police formallyregistered an FIR againstPatekar and three others undersections 354 (Assault or crim-inal force to women with intentto outrage her modesty), 354-A (Assault or use of criminalforce with intent to disrobe her)and section 509 (word, gestureor act intended to insult themodesty o a woman) of IndianPenal Code.

In her complaint lodgedwith the police on October 6,Tanushree had alleged that theincident took place on March 26,2008 during the shooting of asong in the film “Horn OkPleaseee”. The entire was to bepicturised on the actress, whilePatekar had only line in the song.She said that before the shoot,she had made it clear to the pro-ducer and director that shewould not enact or perform anylewd, vulgar or uncomfortablesteps in the particular song.

“On the 4th day of theshoot, 26th March 2008, whileshooting was going on, NanaPatekar’s behaviour was inap-propriate towards me. He wason the set despite his work in

the song being over and he wasgrabbing me by the arms andpushing me around on thepretext of teaching me how todance. When he was teachingindecently and unnecessarily,then I felt very uncomfortablebecause of his behaviour and Ifelt he has outraged my mod-esty,” Tanushree alleged.

“He (Patekar) told thechoreographer and other juniorartists to back away so that hecould teach me the dance stepsthrough he was not a choreo-grapher and he was notrequired during the choreog-raphy as per my previousrehearsals,” the actress added.

“After the incident, I wasunder tremendous shock, Isuffered psychological trauma,was unable to take up work,suffered huge monetary lossesin crores and therefore I decid-ed to take action through filmindustry by lodging a writtencomplaint with the Cine andTV Artistes Association. TheAssociation decided the matterand passed the order withoutconsidering my complaint forapology,” Tanushree stated inher police complaint.

In her complaint,Tanushreee had also namedchoreographer GaneshAcharya, producer SameeSiddiqui, director RakeshSarang and some MNS work-ers who allegedly damaged hercar and pulled her out of hercar, as co-accused.

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Muzaffarnagar: Four railwaypolicemen, including a stationhouse officer, were booked forallegedly beating up a journal-ist in Uttar Pradesh's Shamli dis-trict, an official said onThursday.

In a purported video of theincident, which went viral onsocial media late Tuesday night,the accused GovernmentRailway Police (GRP) personnel,dressed in plain clothes, can beseen repeatedly slapping andpunching television journalistAmit Sharma.

Subsequently, the scribe wasdetained by the railway police-men.

Police registered a caseagainst the four personnel,including Station HouseOfficer Rakesh Kumar, onWednesday under sections ofthe Indian Penal Code (IPC)pertaining to causing hurt,insult, robbery and wrongfulconfinement, GRPSuperintendent of Police

Subhash Chand Dubey said.Of the four GRP officers,

Kumar and Constable SanjayPawar were suspended onWednesday.

A case has been registeredunder the IPC sections 323(causing hurt), 504 (intention-al insult), 506 (criminal intimi-dation), 364 (abduction), 392(punishment for robbery) and342 (wrongful confinement),according to police.

The incident took placeafter the policemen entered intoan argument with Sharma whenhe was covering the derailmentof a goods train in Shamli

Sharma has alleged that hewas thrashed by the GRP per-sonnel and put in a lock up.

"They forced me to take myclothes off and urinated on me,"the scribe said. However, thischarge was denied by the GRP.

The policemen were bookedafter an agitation by journalistsover incident.They staged a sit-in in Shamli on Wednesday. PTI

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The Western Railway onThursday chose not to take

any chances in view of the alertover the Cyclone Vayu , as it can-celled fully the operation of 88mainline trains, while it short-terminated/ short-orginated 40other mainline trains as a pre-cautionary measure.

With Thursday’s cancella-tions and short-terminations,the total number of long-dis-tance trains affected by thecyclone Vayu-triggeredinclement weather condition-sm the total number trainsaffected since Wednesday wentup 128.

The Western Railway con-tinued to take precautionarymeasures on the second con-secutive day on Thursday, evenas Cyclone Vayu spared Gujarat.

Till Wednesday, 77 main-line trains had been cancelledwhile 33 were short terminat-

ed by Western Railway in viewof cyclone. On Thursday, 11more trains were cancelledwhile seven more trains werescheduled to be short termi-nated/short originated withpartial cancellation, as a pre-cautionary measure in thecyclone prone areas. “Varioussafety and security precautionsare also being taken by WR fortrain passengers of thesecyclone prone areas under thejurisdiction of WR i.e. Veraval,Okha, Porbandar, Bhavnagar,Bhuj and Gandhidham, etc,” theWR spokesperson said. Twospecial trains from Okha wererun to evacuate affected peoplein coastal area, while eight spe-cial coaching rakes were kept inreadiness at Ghandhidham,Bhuj, Khambalia, Adri, Botad,Ranavav, Wansjaliya &Bhavnagar stations on WesternRailway to evacuate peopleaffected with VAYU in thecoastal area.

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The National InvestigationAgency in a surprise move

on Wednesday took into cus-tody six persons fromCoimbatore who were plan-ning to stage massive suicideattacks in South India on thepattern of the Easter Sundaybombings at Colombo whichhad claimed more than 250lives.

Mohammed Azharudheen,a 32-year-old youth, who hasbeen taken into custody by theNIA team, is said to be a closeassociate of Zahran Hashim,the master brain behind theEaster Sunday blasts atColombo staged by theThowheed Jamat of Sri Lanka. “Mohammed Azharudheenwas a Facebook friend ofZahran Hashim and they wereexchanging information aboutthe setting up of Islamic State(IS) modules in Tamil Naduand Kerala,” said a senior NIAofficial who did not want hisname to be quoted. The NIA isin the process of unravellingwhether Azharudheen had per-

sonal contacts with Hashim inaddition to the exchange ofinformation through the socialmedia sites.

The six persons who havebeen taken into custody besidesAzharudheen are AkramSindhaa (26), ShiekHdayatullah (38), MAbubacker (29), SadhaamHussein (26) and Shahin Shah@Ibrahim (28). All those whohave been taken into custodyare residents of Coimbatoredistrict, a known hub ofIslamic extremism.

The NIA team has foundthat the Facebook page KHI-LAFAH GFX was being usedby Azharudheen and others topropagate the Islamic State ide-ology and to recruit youngstersfor terrorist attacks in Keralaand Tamil Nadu. The NIAaction comes immediately afterits sleuths visited Colomborecently where it held discus-sions with their counterpartsin Sri Lanka. The Indian intel-ligence agencies had warnedtheir Sri Lankan counterpartsabout possible terrorist strikesin the island nation weeksbefore the Easter Sunday blasts.

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Chennai: The PMK, an ally of the BJP inTamil Nadu, on Thursday urged GovernorBanwarilal Purohit to order the release ofseven Rajiv Gandhi assasination case con-victs without any further delay.

Pointing out that the Tamil NaduGovernment had recommended theirrelease on September 9 last year, PMKfounder leader S Ramadoss, in a letter tothe Governor, said "it is sad that no deci-sion has been taken yet on the recom-mendation till today, even after 276 days."

There were no legal restrictions torelease the convicts and the Governor has"independent powers" on the matter, the

PMK leader noted.Also, Supreme Court judgments in this

respect showed that the Governor "hascomplete authority" under the Constitutionto release convicts, he said.

While life imprisonment "in practice"was confined to 14 years, Ramadoss saidthe convicts have been in prison for 29years since 1991.

Nearly 1,500 people were released aftercompletion of 10 years of imprisonment onthe birth centenary celebrations of the lateChief Minister M G Ramachandran, he said.

"...In many cases life imprisonmentprisoners have been released much before

completion of their sentence period on thegrounds of good conduct."

A similar privilege should have beengranted to all the seven Tamils imprisonedfor life in the Rajiv case on a humanitar-ian basis, he said.

"Therefore, I kindly urge and requestyour excellency to grant an order for theimmediate release" of the seven convictsbased on the state government recom-mendation "without any further delay."

Perarivalan, Murugan, Shanthan,Nalini, Robert Payas, Ravichandran andJayakumar are the seven Rajiv case con-victs now in prison. PTI

Madurai: The Tamil Nadupolice on Thursday informedthe Madras High Court that itwould not arrest film directorPa Ranjith against whom acase has been registered inconnection with his reported"derogatory" remarks against a10th century Chola emperor.

When the anticipatory bailplea of Ranjith came up beforeJustice P Rajamanickam, theGovernment prosecutor

informed that police wouldnot arrest him.

Recording the submission,the court posted the matter forhearing to June 19.

The judge also directedthe police to file a counter tothe director's plea against thecase registered byTirupanandal police inThanjavur district.

The case was registeredunder IPC sections 153

(provocation to cause riot)and 153 (A) (1)(promotinghatred etc) following a com-plaint lodged by a HinduMakkal Katchi functionaryalleging that the director'sspeech was aimed at creatingdivisions among people of dif-ferent castes.

Ranjith had made thealleged remarks at a publicmeeting organised by a Dalitoutfit in that district. PTI

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Guwahati: Two NRC officialswere arrested here on Thursdayfor allegedly accepting bribefrom a woman to enter her namein the citizenship list, policesaid.

Field Level Officer of Dispur,National Register of CitizensSewa Kendra, Syed Shahjahanwas caught red handed by ateam of Anti-Corruption Bureauwhile accepting a bribe of�10,000 from a woman, identi-fied as Kajari Ghosh Dutta, thepolice said.

Dutta, a resident of AnandaNagar area of the city, had filedanother FIR against the AssistantLocal Registrar of CitizenRegistration (LRCR) RahulParashar of the same NRC SewaKendra who was also arrested forhis alleged complicity with theother official, they said. PTI

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The India-New Zealand tieat the Trent Bridge stadi-um was abandoned late

on Thursday as the rain tookNottingham to the cleaners lit-erally and the players, alongwith a motely crowd in thestands and the media contin-gent in the Press box, waited forsunshine Godot to break out ofthe laden skies, quite unsuccess-fully.

The washed-out scenariomeans India has lost one pointand come to a tally of just 5from three games as opposed tothe Kiwis who will continue tobe on the top with seven pointsfrom four games, having won allthe three matches they playedbefore India.

This would be the fourthmatch in the tournament to beabandoned, with the ICC turn-

ing down requests for reservedays in the preliminary roundon grounds of logistics issuesand prolonging an alreadystretched tournament. Theother teams to have suffered onthe points tally because ofweather conditions are Pakistan,South Africa, Bangladesh, WestIndies and Sri Lanka. Washoutshave particularly upset theapplecart Pakistan which isnow staring an early ouster if itloses the match against India inManchester on June 16.

Incidentally, Manchester,too, is showing up on the riskyweather chart on the block-buster Sunday with intermittentshower and sunshine forecastfor match day. So, the morealarming thing now for not justthe ICC but also India andPakistan is the precipitationgathering around Manchesterwhere the humidity will be 70per cent and chances of rain

mounting to 53 per cent around2 pm, impacting the marqueeevent and giving India morethan Pakistan reason to worryabout a compromised pointstable in case rain manages toplay spoilsport, or the matchgets slashed in overs or theDuckworth-Lewis tenet comesinto play. Abandonment is astricky as a shortened or D/L hitmatch for either team. Losingyet another point to weatherwill mean India will have a nar-rower window for a bad day atwork.

However, as India fieldingcoach Sreedhar said, “the out-field at Trent Bridge resembleda skating rink so there was noquestion of risking injuries,”even though he admitted thatthe momentum gets upset withsuch breaks. “To be waiting inthe dressing room, to switchdown but not switch off, is high-ly frustrating for the players,” he

added.Not that New Zealand, who

are table toppers for now, hav-ing started early in the tourna-ment, are any less upset with thebreak in playing schedules. “Wewould have loved to have playedIndia. They're obviously goinghot and we feel as though we'replaying reasonably well as well,so it would have been a nicematch-up. Having said that,It's quite ironic that our last fourtrainings have all been indoors.It's just what we have to dealwith and we try to pride our-selves on our adaptability. Thefirst thing we're going to do ishave a couple of days off. Wedon't play again for about sixdays now, and it's importantthat we manage the break,”Kiwi coach Gary Stead said.

The rain rules of the tour-nament allow the match to becut to a minimum of 20 overs.The umpires have the discretion

of extending extra time to up to75 minutes beyond the sched-uled play time and to another 75minutes conditions permitting.

Earlier in the day, in theirbid to save the match somehow,the umpires kept on theirinspection rounds till 3 pmlocal time before announcingthat that the match had beenabandoned. There was notmuch activity in the groundother than the umpires inspect-ing the ground four times andthen anointing yet another timefor yet another inspection andthe ground staff working outtheir muscles with the heavycovers pulling them off and onwhile airing the pitch and drain-ing the outfield. Even the extrasuper-soppers ordered in onWednesday stood haplesslyacross the afternoon with thedrizzle in no mood to relent andthe sun peeping in just for a fewminutes.

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India fielding coach Sridharsaid India are on the top of their

game where fielding is con-cerned though direct throws is anarea one needs to work on.

"It is something which Ihave my eye on and we practicea lot for that. I would say convert-ing, whether it's a run-out or not,converting one in three or fourthrows is a good conversion rate.In my opinion, picking up oneout of four, you're doing a goodjob as a direct unit. But we failedto do that in the last game. Wehad over 10 strikes and hit onlyonce. On some days we hit threeout of five. It's a practice thing butthat is one area we work hard onin every session," he said.

Talking about criticismaround modern fielders throwingunnecessarily, he said if there isan opportunity, a fielder isencouraged to go for the stumps."We believe that his teammatewill be backing up. We encour-age fielders to create an opportu-nity where none exists. Weencourage them to try and con-vert an opportunity which theyhave created. So that is a rule wewould like to take as a fieldingunit, to be more on the aggres-sive side. We all know where itcomes from. It comes from thecaptain himself," he said.

That, he asserted, was thekind of cricket India want to play."There is a brand of cricket wewant to play as a fielding unit, sowe encourage that. In the bargain,we lose one here or there, it does-n't matter because on a good daywe pull off two or three brilliantrun-outs. Also, if you keep throw-ing at the stumps, it keeps yourshoulder warm in conditions

like this".Speaking about managing

players like Bumrah, Chahal andKedar in the outfield, Sridhar saidthey have been working hard onit, especially Bumrah who hasshown a marked improvement inhis fitness levels. "Bumrah is oneof the hardest workers as far asfielding goes. From when hejoined the team in 2016 to whathe is now, he's a massive improve-ment, although still a work inprogress, but a massive improve-ment," Sridhar said, adding thatwhat is needed is the right mind-set of the players combined withthe increased levels of fitness."Then we can chip in with thetechnical aspect of fielding likeawareness and anticipation."

So how does it go to practicein such cold weather wherecatches are being dropped by allteams? "Hand warmers is obvi-ously the first option to keephands warm. Also, if you're run-ning around in the groundbetween overs or between fieldpositions and throwing the ballaround to the players, that keepsyou warm between overs anddoesn't allow your body to cooldown. We also practice in thesame weather, so that also givesus a heads up," he said.

On training an injuredShikhar Dhawan, Sridhar said:"It's his bottom hand while bat-ting, if I'm not mistaken. It's not

even his dominant hand becausehe's a right-hander. Throwingwon't be a problem, but definite-ly the impact while fielding andcatching, especially as he's a slipfielder in the initial phase of theinnings. That can be an issue.We'll test him out with lighterballs first and gradually move onto the cricket ball and see how itgoes from there. But yes, it willbe a challenge," he added.

Sridhar is happy with thekind of resources he has. "Wehave a terrific slip catcher and asafe catcher in Rohit, and we havetwo guys, Virat and Jadhav, whoare very intimidating in the field.They can intimidate any bats-man, and they are prowling in the30-yard range. To complementthat, we have a player in HardikPandya, who can really helpwhen needed. We are safe catch-ers. We're not fast bowlers. Theseare all the usual suspects, but wesaw Chahal and Bumrah crack itup in the last game, diving afterbowling long spells. We were inthe penalty minute ball of theinning, diving and stopping runs.So that all goes well," the coachsaid.

The biggest thing for Sridharhas been the attitude of the field-ers, where they put the teamahead of themselves, qualitieswhich you need when you wantto go out and win champi-onships.

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Pace spearhead Mohammad Amir soaked up the adu-lation from Pakistan fans as he roared to the top of

the World Cup bowling charts with career-best figuresagainst Australia on Wednesday.

Amir was back in Taunton, in southwest England,where he made his return to first-class cricket three yearsago following a ban for spot-fixing.

The 27-year-old was a rising star in world cricketwhen his career came to a stunning halt in 2010 afterboth he and new-ball partner Mohammad Asif werecaught bowling no-balls on the orders of then Pakistancaptain Salman Butt as part of a newspaper sting.

The trio all received five-year bans from cricket andjail terms, taking a huge chunk out of the left-arm pace-man’s career.

The intervening years have not been easy for Amirand he almost missed what is his first World Cup aftertaking just five wickets in 14 matches before a recentone-day international series inEngland.

He did not bowl in the rain-ruined first match of that bilateralseries against England and missedthe last four games with chickenpox. England won the series4-0.

Now he is back with abang, taking five for 30 inhis 10 overs on Wednesdayto improve on his previousbest figures of 4-28 againstSri Lanka a decade ago.

With the crowdchanting “Amir, Amir,Shabash” (come on)from the stands inTaunton, he deliveredtwo maiden overs in hisfirst spell as Australiaopeners Aaron Finchand David Warnerplayed and missed.

Amir conceded just 11 runsoff his opening four overs andthen returned to snare Australiacaptain Finch before taking thewickets of Usman Khawaja,Shaun Marsh, Alex Carey andMitchell Starc.

His efforts helped pegAustralia back to 307 but thatultimately proved too much forPakistan, who lost wicketsconsistently during their replyto slip to a 41-run loss — theirsecond defeat of the World Cup.

Australia century-maker Warner hailed Amir,describing his second spell as ‘fantastic’.

Amir’s haul against Australia took him to 10 wick-ets for the tournament after three matches at an aver-age of 12.30 and an impressive economy rate of 4.73.

Last week Amir said how he was thankful he wasfor the backing of Pakistan’s passionate supporters

“It’s really amazing, I mean the crowd support,” Amirsaid. “We have so many Pakistani fans at all Englandgrounds and when they shout my name it pumps meup.”

He was left out of Pakistan’s preliminary squad forthe World Cup but he made it into the final 15 and hasproved his worth from the start of the tournament.

His WC debut was a rare Pak highlight after theyslumped to 105 all out against the WI, with Amir tak-ing 3-26 in a seven-wicket loss.

Australia aren’t playing attheir best but they are win-ning matches — that’s the

way I saw the win over Pakistan.They hung in there, rode out

some pressure and came out withthe victory.

The bottom line is there’s roomfor improvement from JustinLanger’s team, and that’s a goodthing that will only worry everyother side in this World Cup.

Australia were 126 withoutloss from 22 overs in Taunton, sothey will have been disappointedto only post 307. It’s a very goodscore, but they should have gotmore.

You can’t knock the inningsDavid Warner played. A few peo-ple have been saying he’s scoringtoo slowly, but the ball was doinga bit and there was a little bit ofswing and seam.

He was typically belligerentand upped the scoring rate. AaronFinch was his usual aggressiveself, hitting the ball here, there andeverywhere.

In the middle overs, Australianeed to be a bit smarter. When youget a flying start, like they did atTaunton, you’re desperate to keepthat momentum going and it’shard to do.

Someone has to be prepared tojust knock the ball around for a fewovers but Pakistan didn't really letthem do that. Mohammad Amirbowled beautifully and gave histeam a chance.

I’ve got no problem with bat-ting Glenn Maxwell at four, given

the start Australia had. He’s so dan-gerous.

He might not stick around, likeSteve Smith, Usman Khawaja orShaun Marsh, but he can take thegame away from you and I think

his team understand that a bitmore than they did in the past.

The bowlers did the job upfront. Pat Cummins bowled fantas-tically well and that's a good sign,that him and Mitchell Starc are car-

rying the fight at the top.Pakistan had their tails up at

one stage with Sarfaraz and Wahabat the crease and it was when Finchhad to bowl either himself orMaxwell that you saw a sign of

weakness.The fifth, and even the fourth,

bowling option is looking like aslight concern for them.

Nathan Coulter-Nile bowledpretty well and got the big wicketof Babar, while Kane Richardsonwas a bit expensive.

Finch’s low full-toss did the jobin the end, but I think they shouldlook at Steve Smith having a bowl,I really do.

Leg spin takes wickets andwhether it's Adam Zampa comingback in or Smith trying a bit of hisspin, that should improve theattack dramatically.

All sides are working towardsputting in that perfect, 100-overperformance.

In the early stages of the WorldCup, you want to be right amongstthe pacesetters after four roundsand Australia very much are.

They’re building nicely and all10 teams will feel the total packageis still in them.

Australia play Sri Lanka onSaturday and they won’t want torelax at all.

They’ll talk about being relent-less and consistent in their teammeetings and they can createmomentum for some of the bigteams they still have to play.

You want to be building con-fidence, not dropping your bundleagainst any team.

Sri Lanka are dangerous butAustralia will be confident they canget across the line at The Oval.

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David Warner said wife Candicehad been his “rock” and the

driving force behind his return toAustralia duty after the openerscored his first international cen-tury since a ball-tampering banduring a 41-runs win overPakistan.

The opener made 107, hisfirst hundred in Australia colourssince an Ashes century againstEngland during the 2017 BoxingDay Test at Melbourne.

Both Warner and former cap-tain Steve Smith were given 12-month bans by Cricket Australiafollowing their roles in a ball-tam-pering scandal in South Africa.

“I was always coming back tointernational cricket if selected,”Warner told reporters after stumpsin his first major press conferencesince his suspension expired.

“The thing that kept me goingwas my wife and kids. My wife isjust, she’s just my rock. She’s unbe-lievable. She’s determined, disci-plined, selfless,” the 32-year-oldleft-hander added.

“She’s a strong woman. Andshe got me out of bed a lot in thosesort of first 12 weeks, and got meback running and training hard as

I could... She really nailed that intome.”

Candice Warner, who is preg-nant with the couple’s third child,is now in England.

Australia, whose next match isagainst Sri Lanka at the Oval onSaturday, now have an officialperiod of ‘family time’ today whenplayers can see their wives andfamilies.

“We’re fortunate enough tohave our families away with uswhich is great and obviously we’regoing to be here for a while in theUK,” said Warner, set for a long staygiven Australia remain in Englandfor an Ashes series after the WorldCup.

While Smith and CameronBancroft, who received a nine-month ban for applying sandpaperto the ball during a Test at CapeTown, gave interviews during theirsuspensions, Warner maintainedhis silence following an emotion-al press conference at SydneyAirport after he was sent homefrom the tour.

“I didn't need to say any-thing,” explained Warner, report-ed to be the instigator of the ball-tampering incident. What wassaid was said back in those Pressconferences. And now it’s about

looking forward.”Warner’s century was also his third fifty

in four innings this World Cup after scoresof 89 not out against Afghanistan and anuncharacteristically slow 56 off 84 balls ina defeat by India last time out.

“Personally, it’s a great thing,” saidWarner of his hundred. “It was a long timecoming. Against Afghanistan I felt like I hadno rhythm.

“And still last game they (India) bowledreally straight to me. But to come out here,play the way I know I can play was awe-some,” explained Warner, who faced just111 balls at Taunton.

Warner and Australia captain AaronFinch (82) shared an opening stand of 146— the highest partnership for any wicketof this World Cup so far.

But they had to see off a testing open-ing spell from Pakistan left-arm quickMohammad Amir, who finished withcareer-best figures of 5-30.

“He’s a world-class bowler,” said Warner.“When he's swinging it, it’s very difficult totry to get on top of him. I tried my best tosee him off but still try and rotate the strike.”

Pakistan fans in Taunton largely heed-ed a pre-match plea from captain SarfarazAhmed not to ‘boo’ Smith and Warner —indeed many of them cheered and clappedWarner after he was out.

This was in marked contrast to thecrowd taunts that had come Warner’s wayin previous World Cup games, with furtherjeers expected during the Ashes.

“The boos, we don’t really hear thatwhen we’re out there... It’s water off a duck’sback,” Warner insisted. “I’ve heard it mywhole career.

“Actually it eggs us on a lot and makesus knuckle down and try to score more runsif anything.”

� �� *15� 5

Emphasising on the impor-tance of dot balls in limit-

ed overs cricket, Australiapacer Pat Cummins is delight-ed that the hard work he hasput in to become accurate isstarting to pay off.

Cummins is increasinglylooking like the workhorse ofthis Australian team, plug-ging away with the wicketswhile others hog the head-lines. The 26-year-old lookedin great rhythm againstPakistan, taking 3 for 33 toderail their chase.

The right-arm pacer hasbowled the most number ofdot balls in the ongoingWorld Cup and the twobowlers that follow him arealso from Australia —Mitchell Starc and NathanCoulter-Nile.

“That’s the big improve-ment in my game in the lastcouple of years, the ability tohold a length and make it dif-ficult to get runs,” Cumminssaid after Australia’s 41-runagainst Pakistan onWednesday.

“If you give away easysingles then 300 becomesquite an achievable score.Cutting out the singles ishuge, it means if you give

away a boundary it might not be thatbig over of ten or 11, it may just bea five or a six,” Cummins added.

After they were set 308 for win,Pakistan scored steadily butAustralia held their nerve and tookwickets at regular intervals.

An eighth-wicket stand betweenSarfaraz and Wahab Riaz, whoscored 45 from just 39 balls, madeit nervy for the defending champi-ons until the last three wickets fellfor just two runs — securing a thirdvictory.

“It goes to show that everyonecan bat these days. It was a bit clos-er than we would have liked, so it wasgood to get those couple of wicketsand finish it off. We gave them a bittoo much width and suddenly theywere back in the game, it’s a good les-son to learn,” Cummins said.

Cummins and his strike partnerStarc have 18 wickets between themin the tournament while the rest ofthe team have a combined 12.

Meanwhile, Australian seamerKane Richardson is determined toseize every chance that comes his wayat the ICC Men’s World Cup.

Richardson was a late call upwhen namesake Jhye was ruled outwith a dislocated shoulder, capping adramatic change in fortunes for the28-year old South Australian.

On the eve of the tournament cap-tain Aaron Finch admitted he thoughtRichardson’s international career wasover after a run of disappointing per-

formances.But some attention-grabbing per-

formances in the Big Bash forMelbourne Renegades earned his slotfor the defending champions.

With the Taunton track favouringpace, he was picked ahead of JasonBehrendorff to replace spinner AdamZampa, as Australia claimed 41-runwin over Pakistan at Taunton.

And he took two wickets to stakehis claim for another shot whenAustralia take on Sri Lanka at the Ovalthis weekend.

“Anytime someone questions yourbottle its tough but I was pretty dis-appointed in my performances at thetime and knew something had tochange,” he said.

“I knew he (Aaron) thought thatbecause I remembered sitting downwith him and talking about it.

“I remember going on a tour toZimbabwe and not playing a game,you learn pretty quickly that you areoutside the pecking order.

“I’ve tried to stop caring aboutselection and just focussed on doingmy best and playing cricket.Throughout the summer I took somewickets and a few blokes fell down andI’m the next man in.

“There was no point crying aboutit. I just thought I’ll do everything Ican, if I do end up not playing againthen so be it.

“It’s good to know the guys thinkI’ve made progress and have confi-dence in me.”

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Cancer-hit badminton star Lee Chong Weiannounced his retirement on Thursday, endinga brilliant career in which he collected a swatheof honours but never won a world or Olympictitle.

Lee, who spent a total of 348 weeks as worldnumber one but lost six world and Olympicfinals, wept as he called it quits months after suf-fering a cancer scare.

"My decision to retire is a heavy one. I real-ly love this sport. But it is a demanding sport.I thank all Malaysians for the past 19 years," atearful Lee, 36, told a news conference.

Lee, a father of two, was diagnosed withearly-stage nose cancer last year and after inten-sive treatment in Taiwan, said he was keen toplay again.

But he hasn't trained since Apriland after missing a series of self-imposed deadlines to return tocompetition, his hopes of beingeligible for next year's TokyoOlympics were remote.

The three-time Olympic Silvermedallist said he now wanted torest and spend time with hisfamily, and even take hiswife on a “honeymoon”,a trip that has beendelayed since theirmarriage in 2012.

Lee’s unsuccessfulattempts to captureMalaysia's first everOlympic Gold medal,reaching three con-secutive finals, werefollowed avidly by hisfans, as was his long-running rivalry withChinese superstar LinDan.

His last shot at the Olympic title at Rio 2016ended in crushing disappointment when theMalaysian lost out to China's Chen Long in anail-biting final.

F�� CCancer proved the career-ending blow but

it wasn’t the only low for Lee, who was bannedafter testing positive for a banned anti-inflam-matory at the 2014 world championships.

The long-time former world number onereturned to the sport in 2015, after authoritiesaccepted he took the drug inadvertently.

“I have no regrets. More important is myhealth, the decision to retire is very tough,” saidLee, adding that his cancer treatment was nowover.

"My plan to retire was originally after theOlympic Games. I made this decision due to myhealth.

"You know I got married in 2012.But we (have) never gone for

a honeymoon. I owe thispromise (to my wife),now I have to pleaseher."

As he beganannouncing his retire-

ment, Lee paused foralmost a minute as tears

rolled down his cheeks.Badminton Association

of Malaysia (BAM) president NorzaZakaria, who was at the news confer-

ence, described Lee as a "legend"."It is a sad day. Lee is a legend and very

dependable. We accept his decision," Norzasaid.

Lee has slipped to 191 in the BadmintonWorld rankings.

"I fought for my country all the way,"he said, at one point, his voice chok-

ing."It's my retirement day."

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Atricky opponent inAsian Games championJapan is sure to test

India but home advantage givesManpreet Singh and his menthe upper-hand in the semifi-nal of the FIH Series Finalshockey tournament here onFriday.

Even though they regis-tered some big wins in the pre-liminary stages against lower-ranked opponents, the Indians,under new chief coach GrahamReid, are yet to showcase theirperfect game on the turf. Thefinalists will qualify for the FIHOlympic Qualifiers to be heldin October-November this year.

India notched up 10-0 winsover Russia and Uzbekistan andscraped past Poland 3-1 in thepool stages.

The performance of theManpreet Singh-led side is farfrom impressive. While themidfield has done well underManpreet, it is the finishingwhich is a cause of concern forthe Indians.

In all the three matches,India created innumerablescoring chances, but the strikeforce lacked the finishingtouch.

Barring Akashdeep Singh,no other striker has lookedthreatening in the tournamentso far.

While Mandeep Singh andyoung Gursahibjit Singh playedwell in patches, RamandeepSingh, who returned to the sideafter nearly a one-year injurylay-off, looked a pale shadow ofhis past self.

The Indian defence toohas hardly been tested in thetournament so far with Polandbeing the only team to causesome trouble.

Both the goalkeepers — PRSreejesh and Krishan BahadurPathak — were mostly specta-tors in the pool matches but thescenario would be differenton Friday as the Japanese areexpected to trouble the hosts.

The Asian Games champi-ons gave India a tough fight

even though they lost in thepast two encounters.

While India beat Japan 3-2 in the semifinal of the AsianChampions Trophy in Dohalast year, in their last meetingin the Azlan Shah Cup earlierthis year, Manpreet and Coeked out a 2-0 win.

Japan, on the other hand,have nothing to lose as they arealready assured of an Olympicberth by virtue of being thehosts as well as continental

champions.Japan are taking this tour-

nament as a preparation for theGames to be held in Tokyo.

Siegfried Aikman and hismen would be desperate toprove a point that their AsianGames Gold was not a fluke.

After a below-par poolround where they finished sec-ond behind lower-ranked USA,world No 18 Japan thrashedPoland 6-2 in the cross-overson Wednesday.

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When Pakistan playIndia it’s always ahuge game, but

their meeting on Sunday isshaping up to be more cru-cial than ever.

It’s simple — if Pakistanwant to stay in the tourna-ment, they have to bring an‘A plus’ performance andwin that game.

The match has alwaysmeant so much to bothcountries. There will be bil-lions watching the game.

Pakistan’s track record isvery mixed, but that’s allgone. That’s all history. It’s anew game, a new day.

Pakistan have got to takepositives out of what they didto India in the final of theICC Champions Trophy acouple of years ago. Theymust think positively goinginto this game.

I hope they have gottheir best game in the lock-er for India, who showedagainst Australia that they area very fine side.

What I have seen in thisWorld Cup so far is that ifyou don’t pick up early wick-ets, you’re in trouble. Thenew ball is so crucial andopeners are being more care-ful in the first ten overs thisyear.

They’re not really goingfull throttle, they are being abit more watchful. Once youdon’t lose any wickets earlyon, it becomes easier becausethe ball doesn’t swing andbatting becomes easier.

It was with the new ball,in both batting and bowling,

that I felt Pakistan missed atrick in their entertainingdefeat to Australia atTaunton.

Early on, we were notreally sharp enough andSarfaraz Ahmed was not onhis toes. Mohammad Amirdidn’t get any support fromthe other end.

No-one really saw thecomeback coming and forthat, you have to take yourhat off to Amir. Full marks tohim for the way he bowled.

Even with the new ball,I thought he bowled quitenicely. He could have pickedup more than five wickets inthe end. He was unfortunate

with a couple of nicks earlyon.

Pakistan pulled it backvery nicely. They were sharpafter 25 overs and startedpicking up wickets. Theyfound the right lengths.

Amir bowled superbly.He showed us all his cutters,variations and short pitched

deliveries. I think we all know Amir

is mentally very, very strong.He showed once again thatclass is permanent — he is nodoubt a match-winner.

Dealing with short bowl-ing again proved an issue forthe batsmen. It’s been a realproblem for them on this

tour.I felt they managed it

well against England but notagainst West Indies, only toget exposed again byAustralia. They haven’t quitefigured it out yet.

The batsmen are suchgood players, they just needto avoid playing into thehands of the opposition withsome of the shots they play.

It may be that MickeyArthur looks at changingthe team for Sunday. I spoketo Mickey in Taunton and heis thinking in terms of hors-es for courses, and I agreewith him to an extent.

The pitch there was goodfor pacers and he rightlywent with four of them. Theissue was not the nature ofthe plan, but the execution.

Shadab is the key man inthis side and I think they willlook to bring him back inagainst India. They might gofor five bowlers, use four pac-ers and Shadab and dropsomeone like Shoaib Malik.

It depends a lot on whatconditions are like inManchester, up to a fewhours before the game.

Going from a defeat toplaying the old rivalry againstIndia isn’t going to be easy.India probably watched theAustralia game very closelyand know what needs to bedone.

Pakistan need to liftthemselves up and I hopethey bring their best onSunday.�� -'��"� ��

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Pakistan opener Imam-ul-Haqdescribed the World Cup matchagainst India on Sunday as a"huge-pressure game", whichhas also become a must-win onefor his side following the loss toAustralia.

Despite some late defiancefrom captain Sarfaraz Ahmedand freewheeling number nineWahab Riaz, Pakistan suc-cumbed to a 41-run loss toAustralia on Wednesday and arenow in an increasingly precar-ious position in eighth place inthe standings.

Asked if the defeat made thehigh-pressure match againstIndia at Old Trafford a must-win affair, Imam admitted: "Yes,we've had one game rained offwhich was very important for us

— every game now is veryimportant for us, so yes you cansay that.

"Obviously, to be part ofthat kind of game, it's great. It'sin Manchester, lots of Pakistanifans there so I'm really excitedabout it. It's a huge pressuregame, obviously. Pakistan andIndia, there's a lot of mysteriesbehind that but we want to justfocus on our cricket strengthsand how we can get better."

Imam also felt "hugely dis-appointed" after getting outtamely just when he thought hewas in a position to inspire hisside to a famous win over

defending champions Australia.Pakistan's opener looked

in fine form and had justreached his 50 in a dangerous-looking partnership with veter-an Mohammad Hafeez. At thatstage his side was at 136/2, chas-ing what seemed a reachabletarget of 308.

But he was dismissed for 53off 75 balls in soft fashion by PatCummins. From a ball whichwas short down the leg side, andwould have been called a widehad he left it alone, Imam triedto pull but could only glove itto the Australian wicket-keep-er Alex Carey.

It was a dismissal that trans-formed the match with threemore wickets tumbling quicklyand it left Imam so crestfallenthat he hung his head andcould barely drag himself backto the pavilion.

"Obviously, I'm playing well- and this team depends on meand Babar (Azam). When Babargot out (for 30), it was then myresponsibility and I was goingwell but it was not a good ballthat got me out, the same as Idid against the West Indies.

"I knew I'd spent a hell of alot of time on a tricky wicket soI knew it wouldn't be easy for anynew batsman to come in. So itwas a huge disappointmentbecause it's a World Cup stageand if you get set, you really haveto make it count if you want tostay in the tournament," he said.

� �� *15� 5

Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed haswarned his teammates to raise their field-ing standards ahead of the crucial gameagainst India following the side's sloppydisplay on the field against Australia.

"We made too many mistakes in alldepartments. I'm very disappointed withour fielding, it is not up to the mark orstandard expected. We will have to workhard to improve on this before we playIndia, there can be no excuse," Sarfarazsaid after the loss on Wednesday.

Pakistan had upset tournamentfavourites England last week largelybecause Eoin Morgan's side produced apoor display in the field. But roles werereversed against Australia, as droppedcatches, mis-fields and overthrows madea big difference in Pakistan's loss.

Asif Ali dropped opener Aaron Finchon 33 and then saw him go on to addanother 49 runs to his score, in an ulti-mately decisive first wicket partnershipwith Warner. Asif 's day didn't get any bet-ter when he also dropped Warner later on.

But there are some positives forPakistan Sarfaraz to take into this week-end's clash with India. Mohammad Amirproduced a brilliant display of swing andseam bowling to bank career best figuresof 5/30 as Australia lost their last sevenwickets for just 86 runs.

Sarfaraz was lavish in his praise ofAmir, who was originally left out of theWorld Cup team but now the leadingwicket taker at the tournament after hisfirst-ever five wicket haul.

"If you take a positive from thismatch it is how Mohammad is bowling forus, that is a big thing to take into our nextmatches."

"He's a world-class bowler. Whenhe's swinging it, it's very difficult to try toget on top of him. Then when it's seam-ing and swinging, it's even harder,"Sarfaraz said.

Sarfaraz and Wahab Riaz put on arecord eighth wicket stand for Pakistan atthe World Cup.

"I'm very disappointed. We lost threewickets in 15 balls and that's why we lost.We conceded too many runs in the first20 overs, we came back and restrictedthem well but it was a 270-280 pitch.

"We made some runs and got starts butwe've got to convert them and go long. Ifyou want to win matches your top fourmust score runs," he added.

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