DELHI HISTORY-SHEETERKILLED IN MUMBAI Mumbai: Sandeep Gadoli, ahistory-sheeter, wanted in over30 criminal cases in Delhi and itsneighbouring areas and carryinga `1.25-lakh reward on his head,was killed in an encounter withwith sleuths of Gurgaon CrimeBranch at Airport Metro Hotel insuburban Andheri in Mumbai onSunday around 11 am.

‘METEORITE’ BLAST KILLS VELLORE COLLEGE DRIVERVellore: Mystery over anexplosion in Vellore district hasbeen solved after the Tamil NaduGovernment confirmed that ameteorite fell on a privateengineering college on Saturdaykilling a bus driver and injuringtwo gardeners and a student.

CBI PROBE LIKELY INTORYAN’S DEATHNEW DELHI: The DelhiGovernment will recommend aprobe by the Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) into the deathof six-year-old Devansh Kakrora,a Class-I student of RyanInternational School, whosebody was found in a reservoir atthe school.

CAPSULE

TN RAGHUNATHA/AGENCIES nMUMBAI

At a time when Pakistan isdilly-dallying in acting deci-

sively against the mastermindsof the Phatankot attack, itreceived another bombshell asincarcerated Pakistani-American terrorist and 26/11terror convict David ColemanHeadley has reportedly con-fessed to the NIA that theMumbai attacks were launchedwith Lashkar-e-Tayyeba’s HafizSaeed’s approval and executedwith the help of Pakistan’s ISIand the Pakistan Army.

Headley is scheduled todepose, via videoconference,before a Mumbai court in thesecond phase of the 26/11attacks trial on Monday.Islamabad will have more thana reason to be worried, asHeadley is expected to spell outmore specific details than whathe had given to the FBI and thedeposition he had made beforeIllinois court in October-November 2009.

More than anything else,Pakistan — which has not deliv-ered anything in the 26/11 caseand has been extremely slow indealing in matters relating to thePhatankot attack despite NewDelhi having provided consid-erable evidence to Islamabad —will have a lot to explain bothterror attacks.

Significantly enough, whenHeadley — one of the main con-spirators of the 26/11 Mumbaiattacks, will depose before a spe-cial court in Mumbai —

through video conferencingfrom the United States — inconnection with the attacks, twomonths after he was pardonedand made an approver in thecase by the same court.

When 55-year-old Headley’sdisposition before the specialcourt in the trial of ZaibuddinAnsari, alias Abu Jundal, as oneof the key conspirators in the26/11 attacks case, will begin at19.00 hours (Indian StandardTime) and would go on till 0030hours past midnight.

Talking to The Pioneer onSunday evening, Special PublicProsecutor Ujjwal Nikam said,“This will be the first time inthe judicial history that a per-son will be deposing before acourt and giving evidence on aterror act from a foreign soil.

Headley’s deposition will set aprecedent for countries acrossthe world in dealing with glob-al terrorism.”

Official sources said thatNikam would both seek infor-mation and question Headley onthe larger conspiracy, the han-dlers and masterminds behindthe 26/11 attacks, how theMumbai mayhem was executedand seek details about the otherterror acts sponsored by Pakistanon the Indian soil over the years.

During the course of thehearing, Nikam is expectingHeadley to unravel in detail theconspiracy behind 26/11 attackson Mumbai and the chain ofevents leading to the dastardlyterror act perpetrated by the 10LeT terrorists from Pakistan.

At the previous hearing in

the second phase of the 26/11attacks trial held on December10, 2015, Additional SessionsJudge GA Sanap — who pre-sides over special cases relatedto terrorism, including thosecharged under now repealedTADA — made Headley anapprover, subject to certainconditions, and granted himpardon in the 26/11 case.

“I have received the charg-ing document filed against mein this court. It charges me withsame conduct for which I wascharged in the US (by the FBI).I had pleaded guilty to thecharges in the US (court) andI admitted that I was participantin these charges (role 26/11attacks),” Headley had told thespecial court here on that day.

Continued on Page 4

MOUSHUMI BASU n NEW DELHI

Recurring incidents ofstranding and death of

whales along the various coast-lines of the country have baf-fled marine biologists andexperts. Losing their way fromtheir deep sea migratory pathsdue to natural or manmadeocean disturbances is believedto be among the probable caus-es of their beaching.

However, not much scien-tific study has so far beendone to assess the behaviour,habitat and adaptability of thesegiant marine mammals.

The latest of these incidentstook place in Odisha on Friday.The body of a 66-feet-longwhale was washed ashore nearthe mouth of Chinchiri river offthe coast of Bay of Bengal. Thiswas preceded by a similar inci-dent in the State when carcassof a 33-feet long whale was

found off the Ganjam coast. The Arabian Sea coast of

Maharashtra also witnessedtwo successive incidents ofwhale stranding recently. Whilea 40-feet-long blue whale wasfound in shallow waters alongthe Dapoli coast in the Konkanregion, a 37-feet-long Bryde’swhale was found dead on Juhubeach. The former was, how-ever, rescued and sent back tothe sea.

The most puzzling of themall was the mass stranding ofnearly 80-100 baleen whalesalong Tuticorin coast of TamilNadu between January 12 and13. While about 45 of themdied, the remaining werepushed back to the sea byexperts and authorities.

Throwing light on theabove phenomenon, Dr AbhijitMitra, Faculty Member,Department of Marine Science,

University of Calcutta pointedout that an earthquake with amagnitude of 6.5 and 6.9 on theRichter scale had occurred in the Philippines andIndonesia, respectively onJanuary 11.

“The vibration of seabedand overlying water could haveposed an adverse impact on thesensory system of whales thatprobably disoriented theirdirection of migration. Nearly

75 whales were found beachednear Mandapu village inTuticorin district in TamilNadu shortly after the inci-dent,” said Dr Mitra.

The whales are social ani-mals, moving in groups. Theyhave poor visibility and com-municate with each otherthrough echolocation or sound made by them to stay intouch with each other duringmigration.

“However, due to distur-bances in the sea water creat-ed by the movement of war-ships, thundering, cyclone etc.,echolocation of certain indi-vidual whale may get disrupt-ed, turning it haywire. In theprocess, such individuals tendto get washed ashore as seen inOdisha and Maharashtra,” saidDr K Sivakumar, Marine biologist, Wildlife Institute ofIndia (WII).

Continued on Page 4

PTI n PUNE

Spiritual guru Sri Sri RaviShankar on Sunday claimed

to have broken the impasse onthe “gender bias” at ShaniShingnapur temple by propos-ing the “Tirupati Balaji” darshanmodel that keeps both men andwomen away from sanctumsanctorum, but women’s activistTrupti Desai said she is await-ing a “proper decision” from theMaharashtra Chief Minister onthe issue.

Sri Sri mediated on theissue by holding separate meet-ings with the trustees of the tem-ple and Bhoomata Brigadeleader Trupti Desai, who hadrecently led an agitation againstthe traditional ban on women atthe temple’s sacred ‘chabutara’

(platform) at the temple.“There are two models for

darshans by devotees namelyKashi Vishwanath and TirupatiBalaji. This solution is based onthe Tirupati Balaji model whereno one — men or women —are allowed in the inner sanc-tum,” Sri Sri told reportersafter the meeting.

“No one (both men andwomen) will step on the sacred‘Chabutara’ and all will havedarshan of the deity from a dis-tance of three feet. Thus therewill be no gender discrimina-tion,” he said.

“It is not that you do notget blessings of God if you havea darshan from some distance,”he added.

Continued on Page 4

STAFF REPORTER n NEW DELHI

Any foreign national in thenational Capital can now

marry an Indian even if he orshe has not been providedwith the prescribed ‘NoObjection Certificate’ by theirEmbassy about their maritalstatus. A circular to this effectissued by Delhi GovernmentDeputy Commissioner JuhiMukherjee has given the relax-ation with some riders to easemarriage process of Indianswith foreign nationals in thecountry.

The circular has been issuedfollowing complaints that cer-tain Embassies have been refus-ing to provide the prescribedNOC required by the depart-ment to ascertain marital statusof their respective citizens.

In cases where Embassiesneither communicate anyobjection nor furnish any NOCto their citizens to enter intowedlock with Indian citizens,the circular said, the concernedperson may be asked to furnishan affidavit duly attested by theofficial of the concerned

Embassy in India. It said, “If the Embassy

chooses not to attest even theaffidavit, the foreign nationalmay get the affidavit attested byan executive magistrate on thebasis of identity disclosedthrough the passport.”

Continued on Page 4

Revelations cameduring NIA grilling; Mumbaiattack conspiratorto depose beforecourt today

Will wait for ‘properdecision’ from CM,says woman activist

q Headley, one of the main conspirators of the26/11 Mumbai attacks, is expected to spell outmore specific details than what he had given tothe FBI and the deposition he had made beforeIllinois court in October-November 2009

q Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said,‘This will be the first time inthe judicial history that aperson will be deposingbefore a court and givinglive evidence on a terror actfrom a foreign soil’

q Official sources thatNikam would both seekinformation and questionHeadley on the largerconspiracy, the handlersand masterminds behindthe 26/11 attacks, how the

Mumbai mayhem was executed and seek detailsabout the other terror acts sponsored by Pakistanon the Indian soil over the years

q Apart from confessing to his close links withLeT, Headley has admitted to the US investigatorsthat he had done reconnaissance for the 26/11

attacks

Peple jostle to move closer to Prime Minister Narendra Modiduring his visit to Jagannath temple in Puri on Sunday. Modialso launched IOCL refinery in Paradip and regreted projectdelay by previous Congress-led UPA Government. Lateraddressing Naval review in Visakhapatnam, he said piracy isa strong challenge and we should cooperate and not competeon freedom of navigation PTI

‘Bar men too’ is

Sri Sri’s solution to

Shani temple row

Losing their way fromtheir deep sea migratorypaths due to natural orman-made oceandisturbances is believedto be among the probablecauses of Whalebeaching, say experts

Disturbances to blame for whales’ suicide

If the Embassy chooses not to attest eventhe affidavit, the foreign national may get theaffidavit attested by an executive magistrateon the basis of identity disclosed through thepassport — Delhi Government circular

Pak Army, ISI guided

LeT for 26/11: Headley

TIGHTENING NOOSE AROUND PAKISTAN

Embassy’s NOC not a mustfor foreigners to wed Indians

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RNI No.2016/1957, REGD NO. SSP/LW/NP-34/2013-15

Published From DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPAL

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MARKETSSENSEX 24,616.97 7 278.54

NIFTY 7,489.10 7 85.10

WEATHERMAX 23.1 0C (-1)MIN 11.1 0C (+2)

Mainly clear sky.

Markets as on 5th February(Friday)

Governor Ram Naik presenting a memento to ghazal singer Ghulam Ali at the Lucknow Mahotsava on Sunday. Vidhan SabhaSpeaker Mata Prasad and Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan are also seen in the picture

PTI n NEW DELHI

Controversial Noida chiefengineer Yadav Singh, fac-

ing corruption probe by CBI,is alleged to have pocketedover `100 crore as “undis-closed commmission” duringhis tenure between 2008-14.

Singh was arrested byCBI, becoming the second inthe case with first one beingProject Engineer Ramendrawho reported to him, sourcessaid.

They said initial probeshows that according to aconservative estimate, pro-jects of over `2,500 crorewere passed by Singh duringhis tenure of which about anaverage of five per cent wastaken by him as commission.

Late in November 2014,Singh had allegedly signed1,280 contract bonds amount-

ing to `959 crore within aspan of eight days, CBI hasalleged in the FIR.

The sources said these areconservative figures whichhave been arrived at from thestatements of Noida staffincluding some of the officialswho were working closelywith Singh. The sources saidthe figures of alleged bribemay increase exponentially.

The officials have told theinvestigative agencies--Income Tax and CBI--thatthe commission was alleged-ly taken by Singh personallywhich was above other set ofbribe amount which perco-lated down to lowest run ofstaff, the sources claimed.

Singh is being confrontedwith such details during hisexamination in CBI custody,they said.

The sources said although

these al legations haveemerged in questioning ofstaff members of Noida, theyare being verified indepen-dently by CBI which is alsotrying to connect the moneytrail and investments made bySingh, his family and his asso-ciates in various companies.

They said the agency isgoing in every contract award-ed during the tenure of Singhas chief engineer of Noida,Greater Noida and YamunaExpressway and beneficiariesof those contracts will beexamined by CBI.

Singh is facing two CBIcases--one of corruptioninvolved in giving contracts and the other ofamassing properties in hisand his family's name whichare disproportionate to theknown sources of his income,they said.

‘Yadav Singh allegedly received

`100-cr cut for `2.5K-cr works’

Amit Shah meets

UP BJP leaders

New Delhi (PTI): BJP ChiefAmit Shah on Sunday helddeliberations with the party’sUttar Pradesh leaders as heseeks to firm up the electoralstrategy for the politically cru-cial state, which goes to thepolls early next year.

The party is yet toannounce its state unit presi-dent as it grapples with thechallenge of identifying a suit-able candidate for the job.

Shah deliberated on sever-al issues in his meeting with thecore group of state leaders,including UP party chiefLaxmikant Bajpai, whose termin the post had ended in mid-December, and Om Prakash

Mathur, party sources said.Shah is meeting party lead-

ers from states where assemblypolls are due next year. He hadmet Punjab BJP leaders onSaturday and will meet thosefrom Uttarakhand andHimachal Pradesh in the com-ing days.

UP holds key to BJP’s for-tune as its stupendous perfor-mance in 2014 Lok Sabha elec-tion paved the way for it toform its first majority govern-ment at the Centre.

SP and BSP have recoveredground after being swept asideby the ‘Modi wave’ in 2014,making the assembly polls atough battle.

UN condemnsNorth KoreaUnited Nations (AFP): The UNSecurity Council met on Sundayto condemn North Korea’s rock-et launch, just weeks afterPyongyang carried out its fourthnuclear test. “We have consensusto condemn this kind of violationof sanctions,” Venezuela’sAmbassador Rafael Ramirez,who holds the council presiden-cy, said ahead of the closed-doortalks. North Korea said onSunday it had successfully put asatellite into orbit, with a rocketlaunch widely condemned asanother defiant step towards amissile capable of striking the USmainland. “This is a ballistic mis-sile technology test and as suchit is a violation of four SecurityCouncil resolutions,” said BritishDeputy Ambassador PeterWilson. Also see Page 13

city 02LUCKNOW | MONDAY | FEBRUARY 8, 2016

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SHARMILA KRISHNA ■LUCKNOW

Pakistani ghazal singerGhulam Ali’s programme

went off smoothly on Sundayat the Lucknow Mahotsav withno “hungama” except forrequests for his song“Hungama hai kyon barpa”.The district administrationpassed its most crucial test onthe last day of the LucknowMahotsav with no untowardincident happening as thesinger regaled the audiencewith his mellifluous voice.

The occasion saw consid-erable police force at theMahotsav with over 200 policepersonnel deployed in the mainpandal itself and the singer wasescorted to the stage betweenrows made of policemen back-stage. All visitors to Lucknowwere allowed to enter theMahotsav grounds throughonly one main gate and multi-entries to the cultural pandalwere closed.

The singer, who was notfeeling well, got a rousingreception from the crowdswhen he appeared on the stageto perform. Addressing thedenizens, he said: “This is a cityof ‘adab’ and ‘tehzeeb’ and I amhappy that so many peoplehave come to hear me. In thepast 20 years, I have visited thecity at least 10 to 15 times andI always feel that ghazal shouldbe sung first in this city andthen in any other part of theworld.”

The singer started off withthe famous Ghalib’s ghazal“Harek baat pe kehte ho tum ketoo kya hai, tumhi kaho ki yehandaaze guftagoo kya hai”. “Itis important to sing Ghalibbecause if you do not, then youare not singing ghazal you aresinging a goli. Also it is impor-tant to have the classical andsemi-classical element in the

ghazal,” said the singer whoplayed on the words and thetune much to the delight of thecrowds who constantly urgedhim to sing ghazals of their

choice.The maestro interspersed

his ghazals with Urdu coupletsthat drew tremendous responsefrom onlookers. “Roz kehtahoon ke bhool jaana use, rozyahi baat bhul jaata hoon,”recited the singer before singinghis next ghazal “Karoon yaadmagar kis tarah bhulaon use”.

It was when he begansinging the ghazal “Hum tereshahar main aye hain musafirki tarah” that had the audiencecompletely in his grip. Therewas tremendous applausewhen he recited the couplet“Andaaz apna dekhte hainayeene mein woh, aur yeh bhidekhte hain ki koi dekh to nahiraha”.

The ghazal singer, there-after, sang his famous ghazal“Dil mein ek lehar si uthi hai

abhi” with his usual flair inwhich he sang the word “leher”in several styles capturing thehearts of the audience. GhulamAli’s son Amir Ghulam Alijoined him on the stage for thepopular ghazals “Chupke chup-ke raat din” and “Hungama haikyon barpa”.

Earlier the singer was pre-sented a memento by GovernorRam Naik in the ceremonialclosing of the LucknowMahotsav. Speaking on theoccasion, the Governor saidthat Ghulam Ali’s presencehad put an end to speculationsof whether he was performingor not. “To me a singer whetherfrom Pakistan or from India isa singer first and the interest-ing thing is that whatever maybe the language the grammarof music is always ‘sa re ga mapa”. He added that the LucknowMahotsav was an event towhich everyone looked for-ward to and there were mixedfeelings when the festival drewto its close. The annual maga-zine was also released on theoccasion and the entire team ofadministrative officials, police-men, event managers, tourismofficials who had been a part ofthe programme were felicitat-ed by the Governor.

Commissioner MaheshGupta said that the nextMahotsav would be organisedin November this year. Theoccasion also saw the presenceof Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan.

It was heartening momentwhen Ghulam Ali stood inrespect to the National Anthemwhich was sung at the time ofthe departure of the Governor.

Pandit Vishwanath andother artistes also performedon the last day but the eveningclearly belonged to Ghulam Aliwho left the audience com-pletely hypnotised with thefeeling ‘Dil mein ek lehar si uthihai abhi”.

DIG warns lax copsPIONEER NEWS SERVICE ■ LUCKNOW

DIG, Lucknow Range, DK Chaudharyreviewed the progress of pending

cases of dacoity, loot, murder,chain/purse- snatching and auto-liftingin the state capital.

He called a meeting of the inchargeof police outpost of the state capital atReserve Police Lines on Saturday night.ASPs of West, Trans Gomti, Rural andCrime, circle officers of Gomti Nagar,Ghazipur, Chowk, Bazaarkhala,Kaiserbagh, Krishna Nagar, Hazratganj,Mohanlalganj, Bakshi-Ka-Talab andMalihabad took part in the meeting.

During the review, Chaudharyissued orders suspending Babuganjpolice outpost incharge (Hasanganj)Paramhans Gupta for not taking inter-est in government orders and laxity ininvestigation of cases.

The DIG pulled up Ashiyana policeoutpost incharge Sher Bahadur Maurya,Bangla Bazaar police outpost inchargeSachin Kumar Gupta, Patrakarpurampolice outpost incharge Harikesh Raiand incharge, Lekhraj, Nurul Huda forshowing lack of interest in expediting theinvestigation of cases they had beenassigned.

He warned lax police officials of sus-pension if they did not mend their ways.The DIG gave a target to the inchargeof different police outpost asking themto come out with their progress report.The DIG asked police officials to be alertabout crime cases in which women werethe target. He asked them to ensure thatcow slaughter did not take place in theirarea of jurisdiction.

PNS ■ LUCKNOW

The lottery draw to allothouses under the

Samajwadi Lohia Enclave willstart from March. The allot-ment of houses will be doneonline and it is expected thatthe possession will be given toallottees within a year.

According to sources, 5,700houses units will be built underthe housing scheme. Over6,000 people belonging to dif-ferent walks of the society haveapplied for the residentialaccommodation. The enclave islocated at two different sites inPara locality. The phase first islocated at Deopura while thesecond phase is situated atHanskheda. The distancebetween the two is approxi-mately half a kilometre.

The housing scheme isfunded by LucknowDevelopment Authority (LDA).

A senior LDA officer saidthat the allotment process wasto start in January but it gotdelayed because the LDA’scomputer department failedto develop a software pro-gramme.

The housing scheme isdivided into three categories:Economic Weaker Section(EWS), Lower Income Group(LIG), Middle Income Group(MIG) and High IncomeGroup (HIG). Over 1,700 flats

will be constructed under theEWS with an estimated cost ofR 4 lakh while 608 houses willbe built under the LIG at thecost of Rs 5.20 lakh.

Over 1,584 houses willcome under MIG scheme withan estimated cost R 28 lakh. Anindividual flat under the HIGwill be Rs 33 lakh. There willbe 608 houses falling underHIG scheme. Source said thatthe development authority hadearlier planned to build anexclusive residential colony forpersons falling under the EWSat Deopura located at Para.

Initially, the housingscheme was planned atDeopura village but later thedevelopment authorityacquired another land inHanskheda village adjacent tothe Deopura village in 2013.

Vice-Chairman SatyendraSingh said that the housingscheme would be completed ina time-bound period.

PNS ■ LUCKNOW

Cocking a snook at policegovernance, unidentified

miscreants opened fire on a for-mer contestant for zila pan-chayat chairmanship and pep-pered him with bullets inMalihabad on Sunday. Whenthe miscreants attacked thecontestant, a heavy police forcewas present in the area follow-ing the election of block pra-mukh and counting of votes.

Khushi Ram (52) ofKandiya Kheda village(Malihabad) had gone to seethe fields he recently had pur-chased in Bargadi Kheda vil-lage of Malihabad in his SUV.Reports said when he reachedat the road near the field andgot down from the vehicle, the PNS n LUCKNOW

The vintage car rally, which was flaggedoff from the Hazratganj petrol pump

here on Sunday, highlighted the LucknowMahotsav theme which is “BadaltaLucknow, Savarta Lucknow.’ The rally wasflagged off by District Magistrate RajShekhar, who also rode the first vehiclethere.

Old vintage beauties trudged down theHazratganj road and moved towards theShaheed Smarak, Teele Wali masjid andthen towards the majestic Roomi Darwazafrom where they took a U-turn and wenttowards the new Lucknow moving toHazratganj, Gomti Nagar and then culmi-nating at the Indira Gandhi Pratishthan.

Sandeep Das, secretary of the VintageCar Association, while talking to ThePioneer, said: “The cars moved in both theold part of the city and the new part inkeeping with the theme of Lucknow

Mahotsav. The idea of holding the vintagecar rally is to encourage the car owners sothat they preserve these beauties,” he said.

The vintage car rally saw the partici-pation of over 50 cars and some bikes too.The vintage beauties which participated inthe rally included Ford, Fiat, Jaguar,Pontiac, Pacard, Pontiac, Willy jeep andbikes were primarily BSA and Matchless.Das added that there were two new addi-tions in this vintage car rally which includ-ed a Ford Custom 1953 from Faizabad andFiat Balilla of 1934.

MA Khan’s oldest car of Awadh a 1936Baby Austin Chummy led the rally. “Thisis the oldest car in Awadh and hence it hasled the rally,” said Khan. For onlookers, itwas a great time watching these beautiesand most of the cars attracted a lot of eye-balls. All owners were felicitated for theirparticipation in the rally at the IndiraGandhi Pratishthan here.

Lucknow(PNS): TheMeteorological departmenthas forecast that the weather,which was cloudy onSunday, will become clear on

Monday. Talking to The Pioneer,

director, Meteorological office,JP Gupta, said: “The cloudyweather was because of the

south easterly winds andthe western disturbanceover Kashmir. The weatherwill return to normal onMonday.”

Ghulam Ali casts a hypnotic spell

“To me a singerwhether fromPakistan or fromIndia is a singerfirst and theinteresting thingis that whatevermay be thelanguage thegrammar ofmusic is always‘sa re ga ma pa

- Guv Ram Naik

Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav with Ghulam Ali

miscreants opened the fire.The victim suffered three gun-shots, two on his chest and oneon his back when he turnedand tried to flee the scene tosave his life. His driver Soorajfled the scene when the miscre-ants opened the fire on hisemployer.

The villagers rushed thevictim to a nearby hospitalwhere he was referred toTrauma Centre. He, however,was declared “brought dead”when the doctors examinedhim.

Preliminary investigationrevealed that Khusi Ram hadenmity with some persons inconnection with property-relat-ed issue. He also was not ongood terms with some of hisfamily members. The victimhad purchased the land in therecent past from a villager.The victim had unsuccessful-ly contested the zila panchay-at election a few months back.

Police officers of Kakoriand Malihabad had no infor-mation about the incident evenhours after the fatal attack onthe victim. The same surfacedwhen SSP, Lucknow, RajeshPandey called up the SOs ofKakori and Malihabad to get toknow about the incident.

While SO, Kakori, did notattend the phone call of the SSP,SO, Malihabad, expressed hisignorance about the case. Later,the SO, Kakori, called back theSSP and told him that no suchincident took place in Kakori.

Zila panchayat contestant shot

Transport officialsummoned by HCLAW REPORTER ■ LUCKNOW

The Lucknow bench of theAllahabad High Court

again summoned TransportCommissioner K RavindraNaik on February 18 in a con-tempt case. Justice Anil Kumarpassed the order on a contemptapplication filed by Ajay KumarMishra alleging non-compli-ance of court orders. As perearlier order of the court, KRavindra Naik was present onFebruary 4. An affidavit ofapology was filed on his behalfand the same was taken onrecord by the court. The appli-cant’s counsel prayed for andwas granted time to file rebut-tal by the next date of listing.

The court fixed February18 as the next date of hearingthe matter and directed theTransport Commissioner toappear in person again on thesaid date.

Weather likely to turn normal today

Vintage beauties flaunt their charm

Over 1,584houses will comeunder MIGscheme with anestimated cost R28 lakh. Anindividual flatunder the HIGwill be Rs 33lakh.

LDA to start allotmentprocess in March

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city 03LUCKNOW | MONDAY | FEBRUARY 8, 2016

Government defers decision on increasing liquor vends PIONEER NEWS SERVICE ■ LUCKNOW

The UP government has deferred a propos-al to increase the number of liquor vends

in the state selling country liquor (CL) andIndia Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) for the nextfinancial year.

The excise policy empowers the ExciseCommissioner to increase the number of liquorvends every year under UP Excise (Number ofShops and Location) Rules, 1968.

Though the real purpose of opening newliquor vends is to increase revenue, officially,it is done for preventing the adverse effects onpublic health by sale of illicit and spuriousliquor in remote and rural areas of the state.

The government has also deferred the pro-posal for sale of IMFL in 250 ml tetra packs.The proposal was sent to the government inJune last year and placed before the Cabinet,which has decided to defer it.

Sources said following the decision of theKerala and Bihar governments to restrict saleof potable alcohol, the state governmentthought it prudent to freeze the number ofliquor vends selling IMFL, CL, beer and alsothe model shops selling IMFL.

“Due to resource constraints, it is not pos-sible for the state government to consider par-tial or total ban on the sale of alcohol in thestate as it fetches huge revenue for the stateexchequer. However, the number of liquorvends will be freezed up to the next financialyear,” said an official.

UP has over 23,000 liquor vends, includ-ing 13,746 for CL, 5,263 for IMFL, 4,242 beershops and 400 model shops across the state.

Excise Commissioner Bhavnath Singhsaid, “Fixing the number of liquor vends is apolicy issue decided by the state government.The excise policy for the 2016-17 fiscal is like-ly to be announced this month.”

He said the Excise department had sent aproposal to the state government to allow saleof IMFL in 250 ml tetra packs. If the propos-al is approved for the next fiscal, then thedepartment will implement it only for IMFLand not for country liquor (CL) and beer.

The sources said the new excise policy waslikely to be announced within a week. They saidthe next fiscal being the election year, the pol-icy will remain in force for two years. Theyindicated that the licences of the existing liquorshop owners were likely to be renewed for thenext two years with an annual hike of 15 percent in the licence fee.

The hike in licence fee is likely to result in10 per cent increase in the price of CL and 15per cent in IMFL.

Against the target of Rs 17,500 crore as rev-enue from excise for 2015-16, the collectionis estimated to be close to Rs 16,000 crore, ashortfall of Rs 1,500 crore.

PNS ■ Lucknow

Majlis-e-Ittehadul Musalmeen(MIM) president Asaduddin

Owaisi has exhorted dalits andMuslims to come under one flag tocapture power in UP with theultimate objective of capturing thethrone of Delhi.

The MP from Hyderabad alsolaunched a scathing attack onSamajwadi Party supremoMulayam Singh Yadav andquestioned his secular credentials.Addressing his second electionmeeting at Sohawal in BikapurAssembly constituency going tobypolls on February 13, Owaisireminding the dalits about thetreatment meted out to Dr BRAmbedkar during his life time.

“Today all political parties ledand controlled by the upper castesare vying for the support of dalits asthey have realised the electoralstrength of the community. But thesame people and same partieshumiliated Baba Saheb as he wasan untouchable,” the MIM chiefsaid. “Dr Ambedkar had stated thatduring his childhood when he

needed water the upper castepeople used to pour it in his handsfrom a distance. Even today thesepeople, who claim to be working forthe uplift of dalits and Muslims,actually treat them the same way.We will no longer allow them topour water in our hands from adistance, we will take water withour own hands,” he said.“Exhorting dalits and Muslims tojoin hands, the MIM leader said,“The upper castes rule the roost aswe are divided and so out of thepower structure; we continue to beused by them for their benefit. Letus capture power and be master ofour own destiny,” Owaisi said.

Targeting the Samajwadi Party,he said, “Mulayam Singh Yadav hadpromised 18 per cent reservationsfor Muslims. He should tell howmany Muslims have been recruitedin government jobs during the lastfour years of the SP rule in UP.”

Owaisi said the Samajwadi Partysupremo should also tell dalits whyatrocities against them hadregistered a sharp rise during thelast four years in the state.

BJP demands Azam’s

removal from Cabinet

Lucknow (PNS): Describing UrbanDevelopment Minister Mohammad Azam Khanas a “mentally bankrupt person”, the BharatiyaJanata Party asked Chief Minister AkhileshYadav to clarify whether he agreed with his min-ister’s statement.

“Akhilesh Yadav should clarify whether heascribes to the statement of his minister. If not,he should throw him out of the ministrybecause his (Khan’s) statement smacks of anti-national feelings and sedition charges should belevelled against him,” BJP state spokesmanManoj Mishra said in a statement here onSunday. Azam Khan had claimed that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi had met DawoodIbrahim during his recent visit to Pakistan. TheIndian government has denied any such meet-ing. Mishra said that Azam Khan had a penchantto give statements to earn headlines.

“He never realises that such irresponsiblestatements can harm the image of the country,”Mishra said and added, “The Chief Ministershould immediately throw this man out of hisCabinet.” Suspended IPS officer AmitabhThakur also criticised Azam Khan for his com-ment. “The way UP minister Azam Khan hasmade statement about PM Narendra Modi meet-ing Dawood Ibrahim in Nawaz Sharif ’s houseis not merely irresponsible and stupid, it also hasextremely dangerous national and internation-al ramifications,” he said.

PNS ■ LUCKNOW

Chief Minister AkhileshYadav has written a letter to

Union Civil Aviation MinisterAshok Gajapathi Raju Pusapatito start civil aviation projects inMeerut, Moradabad andFaizabad so that these citiescould be linked by air withother parts of the state.

“The state government hasagreed in principle to con-struct airfields in Meerut,Moradabad and Faizabad. Wehave also agreed to transferland for these projects free ofcost to the Airport Authority ofIndia but the Civil AviationDepartment has thrown aspanner in this project,” Yadavsaid in his letter, contents ofwhich were released to themedia here on Sunday.

Yadav said that if the AAIgave its approval, the state gov-ernment could even constructthe airfields at its own cost.

“The AAI had envisaged aproject in 2013 under whichthe state governments wereasked to build new airportsand develop airfields for theIndian Air Force. The govern-ments were asked to provideland free of cost,” the ChiefMinister said.

He said under this pro-posal, the government hadproposed to set up airfields inMeerut, Moradabad andFaizabad. Besides, he said, thegovernment had also agreed toprovide land free of cost to theAAI to set up civil enclave inAir Force-controlled Agra,Allahabad, Bareilly and Kanpurairfields.

“A memorandum of under-standing (MoU) was alsosigned to implement projects atthese seven places. In July2014, the government eventransferred land to the AAI toset up airfields in Meerut,Moradabad and Faizabad. Thegovernment has even sanc-tioned Rs 182.55 crore,” headded.

Yadav alleged that the civilaviation department did nothonour the MoU. Hesaid the projects in Allahabad,Agra, Kanpur and Bareilly weretaken up but the projects ofthree other cities were ignored.

“We were informed thatthese projects are not viablebecause their investment returnratio is negative,” he said.

“The stand of the civil avi-ation department is unaccept-able. The project has movedahead and it is out of thedrawing board. At this stage, ifthe civil aviation departmentbacktracks, it amounts to vio-lation of the MoU,” Yadav saidand urged the minister to askhis department to take upthe pending projects at the ear-liest.

Uttar Pradesh, home to 21crore people, has two civil avi-ation airports, eight airfields ofIndian Air Force and 16 stateairfields. Besides, there areproposals to construct inter-national airports in Agra andKushinagar.

VHP demandsearly resolutionof temple issue

Lucknow (PNS): VishwaHindu Parishad has urged theBharatiya Janata Party-led gov-ernment at the Centre to ini-tiate measures for early reso-lution of the Ram temple issueso that the wish of millions ofpeople to see a grand templeat Ayodhya was fulfilled.

VHP’s international gen-eral secretary Champat Raisaid in Ayodhya on Sundaythat the Supreme Court shouldconstitute a special bench toexpedite the RamJanmabhoomi case.

“This case should be adju-dicated within six months. Ifthe apex court of the countryholds hearing on daily basis,the verdict will be out in sixmonths and it will help in solv-ing the problem at many lev-els,” Rai said while addressinga function.He said that con-struction of a grand Ram tem-ple at Ayodhya was related tothe faith and religious belief ofthe majority community of thecountry.

PNS ■ LUCKNOW

The block pramukh electionswere held on Sunday amidst

incidents of violence and allegationsof abductions, intimidation andhorse trading in 73 districts of thestate.

Block pramukh elections wereheld in 816 development blocks andthe State Election Commission hadby late evening declared the resultsof over 800 blocks, including 385where the pramukhs were electedunopposed. The remaining resultswere to be declared late in the night.

The block pramukh elections inAllahabad and Chitrakoot districtswill be held on February 10. Thesepolls have not been held in GautamBuddha Nagar on the directive ofthe Allahabad High Court.

According to reports, 385 can-didates belonging to the rulingSamajwadi Party have been electedunopposed.

On Sunday, polling was held for431 seats of block pramukh andthere were 1,007 candidates in the

fray. Their fate was decided by41,533 members of the block devel-opment committees.

Samajwadi Party claimed thatthe results of block pramukh elec-tions once again showed that theruling party was the first choice ofthe people.

SP spokesman RajendraChowdhary said on Sunday thatafter winning 60 out of 74 seats ofdistrict panchayat chairpersons,the party had won 80 per cent seatsof block pramukh. The SP leaderthanked the people of the state forreposing their faith in the rulingparty candidates.

SP claimed that it had fielded775 candidates in these polls and623 of them had already won.

Sources in the Samajwadi Partysaid their candidates had won in 10out of 12 blocks in Mirzapur, alleight blocks in Jhansi, all nineblocks in Jalaun, 15 out of 17blocks in Pratapgarh, all eightblocks in Lucknow, 7 out of 8 blocksin Sonebhadra, 13 out of 15 blocksin Gonda, all 13 blocks in Amethi,

13 out of 19 blocks in Sitapur, 6 outof 7 blocks in Hamirpur, 14 out of15 blocks in Bareilly and all 7 blocksin Pilibhit.

In Prime Minister NarendraModi’s Lok Sabha constituency,Varanasi, the SP claimed that itscandidates won in six out of theeight blocks with BJP and an inde-pendent winning in one blockeach. In Akbarpur block ofAmbedkar Nagar district, the sup-porters of Samajwadi Party andBahujan Samaj Party clashed nearthe office of the ruling party.

The BSP workers allegedly raid-ed the SP office on the suspicionthat some block development com-mittee members had been abduct-ed and locked inside the office.

The situation was broughtunder control by the police.

In Mawana block of Meerut, ablock development committeemember was allegedly abducted bya Samajwadi Party leader.

In Hapur district, the policerecovered Rs 8 lakh in cash from thevehicle of a candidate contesting the

block pramukh poll. Two BDCmembers were also arrested by thepolice.

In Fatehabad block of Agra,police had to use force to chase awaythe supporters of two candidateswhen they clashed.

Group clash was also reportedfrom Ghatampur block of KanpurDehat where the opposition partycandidates alleged that the policewere openly aiding and abettingforcible voting in favour ofSamajwadi Party candidate. Pollingwas held up for a few hours and itlater resumed.

In Gonda district, the policehad to fire in the air to bring the sit-uation under control following aclash between supporters of twocandidates.

In Farrukhabad, supporters ofthe Samajwadi Party candidatefired on his rivals. However, no onewas injured in the incident.

In Bhadohi, son of former min-ister Rangnath Mishra and seniorBSP leader, Brij Mohan, won theelection from Aurai block.

CM asks Centre to

give approval for

airfields in 3 cities

SP claims massive win in block pramukh polls

Owaisi exhorts Muslims,

dalits to ‘capture power’

city 04LUCKNOW | MONDAY | FEBRUARY 8, 2016

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE ■ LUCKNOW

Taking advantage of lax police patrolling, unidentifiedmiscreants struck a drug store in Vikas Nagar and a

house in Thakurganj and decamped with cash and valu-ables on Saturday night.

In Vikas nagar, the miscreants broke into a drug storeowned by Dinesh Chandra Tiwari of Sector C of VikasNagar. He has a shop on Kurshi road. He came to knowabout the theft after he got a call from the watchman ofthe area around 3.30 am on Sunday. Tiwari said the mis-creant took away Rs 80,000 in cash and medicines worthRs 9 lakh from the shop. Police initially doubted his claimand asked him why he had kept such a huge cash in theshop. The cops later lodged a case in this connection.

In Thakurganj, Pradeep Kumar of Muftiganj locali-ty informed police that unidentified miscreants burgledhis house and decamped with household articles and jew-ellery. Pradeep, along with his family, had gone out of thecity for some work on February 4 and returned on Sunday.

DiedHarishchandra, aged 40, of Bahraich died after he was

hit by a train in Gomti Nagar on Sunday morning. He wasworking as a rickshaw-puller and his body was identifiedby his father Shyam Lal. The victim lived in a slum areain Makdoompur locality.

CASE REGISTEREDA case was registered at the Hazratganj police station

against BSP leader Babu Singh Kushwaha for blocking roadin front of Kasmanmda House.

PNS n LUCKNOW

The IIM-Lucknow hasachieved 100 per cent final

placement for its 30th batch of446 students in a record timeof just over three days.

In an official communiquéfrom the institute, it was stat-ed that the recruitment drivesaw participation from over160 domestic and internation-al recruiters. The highlight ofthe placement season was theparticipation of esteemed firmslike Alvarez and Marsal,BlackRock, MasterCard,Advisers and 03 Capital. Theparticipation of these firmsalso marked the ascent of IIM-Lucknow as a preferred recruit-ment destination for market-ing, finance and consultancy inthe country.

The top four segmentsbased on roles offered weresales and marketing, finance,consultancy and businessdevelopment, including someextremely sought after andniche profiles in the financedomain. The remaining offerscame from domains such asoperations, supply chain, gen-eral management, systems, IT,market research, analytics andHR. Some of the top recruitersacross different sectors wereAccenture, Aditya Birla Group,Amazon, Avendus, Flipkart,Hindustan Unilever, P&G, TASand the Boston ConsultingGroup.

The first-time recruiters

included Avalon Consultancy,BMW Group, KotakInvestments and Tata Skyamong others. Internationalprofiles were offered by EquirusCapital and OlamInternational.

The top segments based onroles offered were sales andmarketing (25 per cent),finance (22 per cent), consul-tancy (21per cent), e-Commerce (15 per cent), sys-tems/IT (10 per cent) and gen-eral management (7 per cent).

The remaining offers camefrom domains such as marketresearch, analytics, businessdevelopment, social mediamarketing and HR among oth-ers. In the FMCG, consumergoods telecom and digitalmedia sector a total number of110 offers were made withsome of the top firms beingAirtel, Colgate Palmolive, DrReddy’s, GSK, HindustanUnilever, ITC, Nivea, P&G,Pepsi, Puma, Samsung andStar TV. In addition to the tra-ditional sales and marketingroles, these firms offered rolesin supply chain management,IT, corporate finance, HR andanalytics with some of thembeing exclusive roles for IIM-Lucknow. The BFSI sector sawthe participation of a numberof international firms hiring fora diverse set of profiles. Thecampus secured its position asa potential recruiting destina-tion amongst premium slot

recruiters. The BFSI sector sawoffers by firms such as Arga,Avendus Capital, Bank ofAmerica, Merrill Lynch,BlackRock, Citibank,DBS,Edelweiss, EquirusCapital, Goldman Sachs, ICICIBank and o3 Capital amongothers. The major roles were infront end investment banking,global markets, investmentresearch, corporate/wholesale,retail banking, market research,trading and operations.

In the consultancydomain, Accenture, Alvarezand Marsal, AvalonConsultancy and FeedbackInfra among others madeoffers, with Accenture andBCG being the top tworecruiters. The general man-agement domain saw partici-pation from companies such asAditya Birla Group (ABG),Airtel, Lodha Group and TASamong others. ABG and TASwere the highest recruiters inthis domain.

Some of the firms from theIT, e-commerce, technologysectors were Amazon, Flipkart,Google, Magicbricks,Microsoft, Uber and Wipro.These firms opened not onlyIT/Systems profiles but alsoroles such as category man-agement, sales enablement,business development, supplychain management, productmarketing, strategic alliances,programme manager and ana-lytics.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Shubha Mudgal’s voice filledthe air as the sun rose at the

‘Concert at Dawn’ starting earlyin the morning at Baradari onthe third day of the SanatkadaFest on Sunday. The singermesmerised the audience in theprogramme titled ‘Sehar.’

Born in 1959 and broughtup in Allahabad, ShubhaMudgal is a well-known Indiansinger of Hindustani classicalmusic, khayal, thumri, dadraand Indian pop music. Shetrained under her first guru,Pandit Ramashreya Jha, inAllahabad. Shubha thenmoved to New Delhi andenrolled at the Delhi University.She continued her musicaleducation under Pandit VinayChandra Maudgalya.

The Awadhi HomeCooked Food Festival includ-ed home- cooked specialtiesfrom homes of Lucknow withrecipes that have been passeddown over generations. Non-vegetarians could indulge inNoor’s lal mirch ka qeema,Sufia’s mutton raan, Rashid’sachaar gosht and regional spe-cialties like Farzeen’s Parsidhansaak, Anuradha’sKashmiri mutton kofta andBulbul’s sarson maach.Vegetarians were not left want-ing, with menu items like theBundeli thali, Sheena’s Sindhikadhi, Anuradha’s Kashmirimethi-chaman, Madhu’s sarsonka saag and Rashmi’s Marwaridaal ki poori.

Sanatkada’s car tour of themohallas of different commu-nities and Begum Akhtar’smazaar left from Baradari andled guests on a route passingthe different mohallas of dif-ferent communities that makeup the diverse fabric of the city.The car tour visited Kashmirimohalla, Parsi Anjuman andHazratganj where they learntabout the places that held spe-cial importance to differentgroups of Lucknowites.

The second literary panel

of the festival took place at theLiterary Pavilion. PanelistsVeena Talwar Oldenburg, AlokRai, and Asghar Wajahat spokeon the topic ‘Rachi-basitehzeeb.”

Veena Talwar Oldenburg isa professor of history at theCity University of New York.She is best known for herwidely- reviewed book ondowry murder. Oldenburg is anative of Lucknow and hasdone an MA from theUniversity of Lucknow. Alok

Rai, originally from Allahabad,is currently a professor in theHumanities department of IIT,Delhi. Syed Asghar Wajahat isa professor of Hindi at JamiaMilia Islamia and an acclaimedHindi scholar, fiction writer,novelist, playwright, indepen-dent documentary film-makerand television scriptwriter. Heis most known for his work‘SaatAasmaan ’ and hisacclaimed play ‘Jis Lahore NaiDekhya O JamyaiNai, based onthe story of an old Punjabi

Hindu woman, who decides tostay in Lahore after thePartition of India.

There was a very specialbook release of ‘Lucknow kadastarkhwan’ written by MirzaJafar Hussain and translated bySufia Kidwai at 1 pm. Writingtowards the end of the 20thcentury, Jafar Hussain recol-lected the dishes that he grewup eating in the house of hisgrandfather, the physician tolast Nawab of Awadh Wajid AliShah. But this book is not sim-ply a piece of nostalgia. Theauthor describes the changesthat had to be made in recipesaccording to changing timesand how best the taste of thedishes could be retained in ourtimes.

Sanatkada’s KaiserbaghHeritage Walk offered aglimpse of the homes, institu-tions and monuments thatmake up this important cul-tural and historical hub ofLucknow.

The walking tour high-lighted the architecture and his-tory of the area, which wasestablished in the 19th centu-ry under the rule of NawabWajid Ali Shah. The guests lis-tened to the interesting storiesand anecdotes that giveKaiserbagh its charm. The walkbegan at the Press Club andended at Baradari. The guestsmade stops along the way atsites such as Begum Akhtar’shouse, Sher Darwaza andmaqbaras of Saadat Ali Khanand Khurshid Zadi.

IIM-Lucknow achieves 100 pc final placement in record time

Shubha Mudgal captivates audience

CHILDREN’S FILM FESTIVAL The festival logo and poster of

the 8th International Children’sFilm Festival (ICFF-2016) to beorganised by City MontessoriSchool will be unveiled at a grandceremony on February 21 at 1.00pm at CMS, Kanpur Road audito-rium. Principal Secretary,Education, Jitendra Kumar will bethe chief guest on this occasion.This information was given bychief public relations officer HariOm Sharma. Sharma added thatthe Films Division of the CMS hadbeen organising the InternationalChildren’s Film Festival for the past7 years with the aim to broaden thevision of children and motivatethem to grow up with a soundmoral character and inculcate inthem the virtues like obedience,loyalty, faithfulness, respect forelders and a quest for acquiringknowledge and wisdom. Now, theworld’s biggest 8th InternationalChildren’s Film Festival will beorganised this year from April 7to 15 at CMS, Kanpur Road audi-torium.

BOOK LAUNCH ON FEB 15Inspirational book for youth

‘Your Destiny is in Your Hands’ is

slated for a grand release at a func-tion being organized at the UPPress Club, Hazratganj, Lucknowon Monday, 15 February at 12.30in the afternoon.

On this occasion, the StateMinister for Vocational Educationand Skill Development, Prof.Abhishek Mishra will be the ChiefGuest while renowned education-ist and social worker Dr JagdishGandhi will preside over the BookRelease ceremony.

SATSANGAddressing the vast gathering

at the World Unity Satsang held atCity Montessori School, GomtiNagar auditorium, the main speak-er, Dr (Mrs) Bharti Gandhi,Founder-Director of CMS and aprominent Bahai, said that totaldedication to Almighty God canmake one get rid of troubles andanxiety.

Therefore we must instill thisfeeling of total dedication to Godin little children. It will make themdevelop reverent qualities andvirtues of truth, honesty, non-vio-lence, justice etc. We must encour-age children to pray to God daily.Prayers have immense power, shesaid.

Thieves target drug

store, house

SCHOOLSCAN

Governor Ram Naik with the winners of the flower show organised at NBRI on Sunday

Case against Kushwaha

PNS ■ LUCKNOW

An FIR was registered against former Bahujan Samaj Partyleader Babu Singh Kuswaha and his supporters for

obstructing the road between Hazratganj crossing to KasmandaHouse during the road-show and celebration on Kushwaha’srelease from the jail on Sunday.

In the afternoon, when Kuswaha reached Hazratganj, his sup-porters came on the road and exploded firecrackers causing thetraffic on the road to come to a standstill. The supporters laterraised slogans and followed their leader while chanting praisesfor him. The SHO, Hazratagnj, said a case under Sections 343 and141 of IPC for obstructing the road was registered against Kuswahaand his supporters.

SHOT ATUnidentified miscreants shot at Satish Yadav when he was

standing outside his house in Manas City under Indira Nagarpolice station area on Sunday night.

The victim was rushed to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital incritical condition. Police failed to ascertain the motive for theattack. Police suspected the victim was attacked due to somepersonal rivalry.

PAK ARMY, ISI GUIDED LET...Disclosing to the court that he had

confessed his role through a “plea bar-gain” to the US Government, Headleyhad also told the Special court, “Iaccepted responsibility for my role inthose offences in my plea agreement(in the US). I also agreed to makemyself available as a witness in thiscourt. I appear here ready to answerquestions regarding these events if Ireceive a pardon from this court.”

Apart from confessing to his closelinks with LeT, Headley has admittedto the US investigators that he haddone reconnaissance for the 26/11attacks.

Investigations have so far revealedthat Headley visited India five timesbetween 2006 and 2008, drew maps,took video footage and did physicalreconnaissance of several targets for theattacks, including the Taj Hotel, OberoiHotel and Nariman House.

Headley had allegedly passed thevital information that he had obtainedthrough his reconnaissance of thetarget for use by the 10 LeT operativeswho carried out the attacks on variousplaces in Mumbai like ChhatrapatiShivaji Terminus, Taj and Oberoi-Trident hotels, Jewish centre NarimanHouse, and popular eatery CaféLeopold during the November 26-29,2008 attacks, in which 166 people werekilled and 300 others injured.

The Mumbai police had mademoved the special court here onOctober 8, seeking a joint trial ofAnsari and Headley in the 26/11 case.Now with Headley turning anapprover, only Jundal will be tried inthe 26/11 case.

Mohammed Ajmal Kasab is theonly accused who has so far convict-ed and sentenced to death in the 26/11case. (In all 35 LeT functionaries,including Hafeez Mohammad Saeed @Hafiz @ Hafiz Saab, Zaki-Ur-RehamanLakhvi, Abu Hamza and Abu Al Kama@ Amjid, were named as wantedaccused in the original 26/11 trial).

Kasab was hanged to death inPune’s Yerwada central prison on

November 21, 2012. He was among theten Pakistani terrorists who had car-ried out brazen attacks on Mumbai.

While nine of the ten terroristswere killed by the security forces dur-ing the attacks, Mohammed AjmalKasab was caught alive by the policeat Girgaum Chowpatty on the inter-vening night of November 26 and 27,2008.

In an amended criminal complaintin the Illinois court against Headley, hisaccomplice Tahawwur Hussain Rana,on October 21, 2009, the FBI had givendetails about the reconnaissance doneby Headley in India and his links withRahul Bhatt, whom he (Headley) hadbefriended during his trips to India.Bhatt and his fitness instructor friendVilas Pandurang Varak had subse-quently confirmed having met Headleyduring his visits to India.

Given that Headley will deposebefore the special court as an approver,the second phase of the 26/11 trial isvery crucial in view of the fact that14,676-page supplementarychargesheet filed before AdditionalMetropolitan Magistrate PS Rathod, onOctober 16, 2012, dwells extensivelyupon the conspiracy hatched by LeTcommander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi,Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed,and others to carry out attack and therole allegedly played by Jundal in it.

The Prosecution’s case is thatJundal had taught Hindi to the lonesurviving terrorist, Mohammed AjmalKasab, and nine other fellow Pakistaniterrorists who carried out theNovember 26-29, 2008 attacks. He alsofaces the charges of having givendirections to two of the Pakistani ter-rorists holed up at Nariman House, oneof the terror targets, and briefing thePakistani terrorists about the topog-raphy of south Mumbai where theattack took place.

Jundal, who was one of the han-dlers in the attack, was allegedly pre-sent along with Lakvi and other con-spirators at Karachi-based LET “con-trol room”, from where the attack onMumbai was supervised.

BAR MEN TOO...The spiritual leader added that

because of constant pouring of oil, theslippery surface of the ‘chabutara’posed the risk of skidding for the devo-tees who throng for darshan. “Thereseems to be a communication gapbetween the two sides,” he felt.

However, responding to Sri Sri’ssuggestion, Desai said, “If both menand women are to be disallowed tohave darshan by stepping on the‘chabutara’ in future, then activists ofBhoomata Brigade should have anopportunity to perform the last poojaat the sacred platform in the presenceof Sri Sri and Maharashtra ChiefMinister Devendra Fadnavis.”

Asked what was her next movesince she was not satisfied with theformula evolved by Sri Sri, Desai said,“We are scheduled to meetMaharashtra Chief Minister next week.We hope he will take a proper decisionon the issue backing women’s rights toend gender bias at religious places.”

On January 26, at least 400 womenvolunteers, mainly hailing from Pune,led by Desai had made an unsuccess-ful attempt to storm the chabutara ofthe temple when police stopped themarchers at Supa village, 70 km fromthe shrine.

EMBASSY’S NOC...The circular, however, made it

clear that in such cases, marriage cer-tificate may then be issued with a dis-claimer at the foot note saying that the“marriage is being registered on thebasis of documents furnished by theparties engaged in/having solem-nised the marriage. It said, “The mar-riage officer is not certifying theauthenticity of the documents. Theparty to the marriage shall be per-sonally responsible for any persua-sion, fraud or violation of any law forthe time being in force.”

The circular has been issued inconnection with marriages involvingforeign national under Section 15 ofthe Special Marriage Act, 1954 whichstates any marriage solemnized before

or after the commencement of theAct, other than a marriage solemnisedunder the Special Marriage Act, 1872(III of 1872) or under this Act, maybe registered by a marriage officer inthe territories to which the Actextends if certain conditions are ful-filled.

DISTURBANCES TO BLAME...Other factors — including climate

change, tectonic movements of seabeds caused by sub oceanic volcanoesor earthquakes — also impact theoverlying ocean water, which in turncan influence the whales as well.

Further, disturbances in the formof Active SONAR (sound navigationand ranging) may also affect certainspecies of whales. SONAR emitsvarying frequencies of sound vibra-tions under water and used to detectmarine vehicles. The immense pres-sure of such waves may cause inter-nal bleeding in the ear and brain tissues, killing or disorienting whales, including infants from theirmothers.

It is, however, rare for such indi-vidual stranded whales to survive,said Dr Mitra. “The habitat of thewhales is in deep sea. The shallowwater on the sea coast puts themunder physiological stress, whichthey are seldom able to withstand,” heexplained.

Illness may also lead to separationof whales from its group, he said,adding natural deaths also result infloating their bodies ashore.

The Environment Ministry withthe WII is to initiate capacity build-ing measures for the rescue of strand-ed whales and other marine speciesunder the Sea cow & DugongRecovery programme, said DrSivakumar. However, more researchand studies need to be conducted onthe species.

There are about 80 species ofwhales found in the oceans across theworld. Blue whales and Sperm whalesare among the ten most endangeredspecies of this giant mammal.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

nation 05LUCKNOW | MONDAY | FEBRUARY 8, 2016

GRAPEVINE

Odd man out

On the day the Supreme Court referred toa Constitution Bench the question of alid-

ity of same sex unions, top guns of the legal fra-ternity had lined up to support the flag-bear-ers of gay sex. Only two lawyers stood up tooppose the demand to decriminalize gay sex.When the TV reporters sought the commentof one of them,he was heard telling the jour-nalist, “All I want is to get to safety. It seems Iam marked out by the petitioners.”

Kudos

Panchayat Raj and IT Minister KT Rama Raoearned applauds at a national conclave on

drinking water and sanitation last week in Delhifor his detailed and lucid narration of MissionBhagiratha, a water project of the State.Impressed by “young and dynamic” Minister’scrisp presentation, Union Minister for RuralDevelopment Chaudhary Birender Singhremarked, “Ministers, generally, do not givePower Point presentations, leaving it to officials.However, the young minister from Telanganapresented the Mission Bhagiratha in a greatmanner.” The State also received a certificateof appreciation from Singh for completingwater testing laboratories within 96 days asagainst the Centre’s target of 100 days

Goel’s way

BJP Rajya Sabha memberVijay Goel has put up yet

another eye catching hoard-ing at his Ashoka Raod res-idence. The MP who lastyear compared PrimeMinister Narendra Modiwith ‘Sabarmati ke Sant’(Gandhiji), this time alsodid something innovative.While greeting people on theoccasion of the Republic Day, a banner withpictures of Modi and party president Amit Shahread “Do Badhayeeyan” (give greetings/salu-tations) in Hindi which could also be inter-preted that the duo were in fact ‘two greetings’for all .

Wake-up call for BSF

With the probe into the Pathankot airbaseattack case hinting at the possible nexus

between drug “trade” in Punjab and the jeha-di, the BSF is now dusting the actionable pointsof the DGPs conference held in November lastyear. At the annual conference of top cops

organised by the IB, PM Narendra Modi hadstressed that DGs of BSF and Punjab Policeneed to take firm measures to tackle drug men-ace in Punjab with focus on internal networkin supply of drugs. The BSF is now pulling upits socks to strengthen its defences along theborder to check the twin problem of drug traf-ficking and infiltration of the jehadi.

Afghan warmth

Chief Executive Officer of Afghanistan DrAbdullah Abdullah is not only popular in

his own country but also in India. Abdullahcould feel this at a breakfast meeting withIndian journalists last week, when mediaper-sons enjoyed a free-wheeling, witty conversa-tion with him over varied topics. At the end,when some journalists requested to be pho-tographed with Abdullah, the Afghan leaderbroke his security cordon and happily oblig-ed them. Despite a packed schedule ahead andbeing hard pressed for time, Abdullah patient-ly spent time with everyone willing to be clickedwith him. The warmth of famous Afghan hos-pitality was evident.

Irani’s woes

The suicide of a Dalit scholar last month inHyderabad University has brought tough

times for HRD Minister Smriti Irani who hasfailed to convince that the entire blame doesnot lie at her Ministry's door.Irani’s press inter-action on the issue created more controversy.Last week, sheskipped a World UrduConference at Delhi University after hundredsof students gathered outside the venue toprotest over the Rohith Vemula suicide.Herdeputy - MoS Ram Shankar Katheria and aHRD Joint Secretary S S Sandhu- who wereamong the Guests of Honour also gave a missto the function, bringing embarrassment toNational Council for Promotion of UrduLanguage (NCPUL). The event later began witha keynote address by BJP MP M J Akbar on“200 years of Urdu Journalism”.

ISIS phobia

When last week TV channels ran amokwith the reports that the ISIS was plan-

ning to conduct terror attacks in India, theHome Ministry was forced to call a Press con-ference. The Ministry spokesperson explainedto media that some suspects linked to IndianMujahideen (IM)were arrested and callingthem ISIS men was totally wrong. But mediadid not oblige and continued with the sensa-tional stories.The officials described this as TRPsyndrome to get viewership.

RAKESH K SINGH n NEW DELHI

Better intelligence andemphasis on small team

actions are paying dividends tothe CRPF which had improvedviolence parameters last year.CRPF, the lead Central agencyfor anti-Naxal operations,recorded just five deaths in2015 while its personnel elim-inated 40 ultras. In contrast, thecasualty figure of CRPF per-sonnel in 2014 was 50 and itcould kill just 24 Naxals.

The number of paramilitarypersonnel injured in the Naxal

theatre in 2015 also registereda downward spiral with 91jawans sustaining injuries dur-ing the year as compared to 126men getting injured in 2014.

Out of the five CRPF per-sonnel killed in 2015, threewere martyred in Chhattisgarhand two in Bihar andJharkhand recorded a zerocasualty figure.

The apprehension of theultras also improved marginallyin 2015 in contrast to 2014.While 998 ultras were appre-hended in 2015, the figure for2014 stood at 987.

With improved attritionrate and lesser casualties in2015 in contrast to the previ-ous years, the loss of weaponsby the paramilitary personnelat the hands of the ultras alsoregistered a significant decline.

The CRPF lost just one weaponin 2015 in comparison to 31arms making way to the Naxalarmoury in 2014.

Violence parameters inJharkhand were particularlynotable with the CRPF not suf-fering a single casualty 228operations and 25 encounters

with the Naxals. Just five per-sonnel suffered injuries andthe CRPF killed 22 Naxals andapprehended 225 ultras in 2015.In 2014, two CRPF personnelwere killed and 27 personswere injured during operations.

The CRPF that had suf-fered 42 casualties and sus-

tained injuries to 80 personnelin 2014 in Chhattisgarh andmanaged to kill just 13 Naxalsin 288 operations and 111encounters also improved thetally in 2015 with loss of livesof just three men and injuriesto 57 personnel and attrition of11 ultras in 335 operations and93 encounters.

Senior officials said theoperational strategy in theNaxal theatre was revisitedafter a spurt in violence in 2014with the paramilitary suffering50 casualties and dwindlingattrition of the ultras.

Apart from improvingupon the gathering of ownintelligence, the paramilitaryalso decided to launch shortduration operations with smallteam and minimising unnec-essary exposure.

CRPF killed 40 Naxals, lost 5 in 2015

Three martyred inChhattisgarh, two inBihar with no casualtyin Jharkhand

PNS n NEW DELHI

With fingers being raisedon the Gandhi family in

the National Herald case, theCongress has come out with aset of ‘Frequently AskedQuestions’ to present its sideof the story. It has clarifiedthat the party’s first family hasnot benefited financially fromYoung Indian Ltd.

The Congress dismissedas “absolutely false” the claimthat Young Indian (YI) Ltd,the company formed to bailout Associated Journals Ltd(AJL) was a “real estate com-pany”. It also claimed there isno restriction in law on polit-ical parties giving loans andthe Election Commission hadissued a clear order in thisregard in November, 2012.

“BJP leader SubramanianSwamy had sought derecog-nition of Congress on thisground but his complaint wasdismissed by a full benchorder of the ElectionCommission” at that time,AICC said.

On whether Sonia orRahul Gandhi benefitedfinancial ly from YoungIndian, it said, “No. As direc-tors or shareholders of Young

Indian, a non-profit, Section25 company, they are prohibited by law from drawing (and have not drawn)any financial benefits from the company.”

It also denied that anyassets were transferred fromAJL to YI. “All the assets andthe income of AJL remainwith the company. Not a sin-gle paisa has gone to YI, YIDirectors or YI Shareholders,”it said in the FAQs on its web-site under the heading,‘National Herald’. It rejected as“false” the claim that YI wascreated to usurp the propertyowned by AJL.

“On the contrary, YoungIndian, being a non-profitSection 25 company, as themajor shareholder AJL, in fact,enhances the safeguards on theproperties of the AJL,” it said.

On the claim by FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley that YIis a real estate company, it saidthe statement was “absolutelyfalse”. “Absolutely false. YIdoes not own a single realestate asset or immoveableproperty. AJL continues toown all its assets. The allega-tion is, therefore, completely

baseless,” it said. Congress also denied

claims that YI now owns theproperty of AJL. On the jus-tification behind Congressgiving loans of Rs 90 crore toAJL, the party maintained ithas financially supported AJLover several decades throughthe financial ill- health of thecompany.

It also said no commercialbank was willing to lend a sin-gle rupee to AJL due to thenegative worth of the compa-ny, its “meagre income and itsover-leveraged” balance sheet.

According to Swamy’scomplaint, all who are namedin the case were directors ofYI, a company that was incor-porated in 2010 and tookover the “debt” of AJL, thepublisher of National Herald.

Sonia and Rahul last month moved theSupreme Court seeking thequashing of the criminal caseand summons issued to themand five others on severalgrounds, including that thecomplaint by Swamy in theNational Herald case was a“political move” aimed to“defame” them.

National Herald row: Conganswers FAQs to clear airDenies that party’sfirst family benefitedfinancially fromYoung Indian Ltd

New Delhi: Arunachal PradeshCongress on Sunday accusedState Governor JP Rajkhowa ofconspiring to help the dissidentMLAs form a Government withthe support of the BJP withoutwaiting for a decision of theSupreme Court which is hearingpetitions challenging impositionof President’s Rule in the State.

Former Chief MinisterNabam Tuki and CLP leaderGeetartha Darshan Baruaalleged that Deputy SpeakerTN Thongdok, who is in thedissident camp, has sought theopinion of the State LawDepartment through theGovernor if he can function asDeputy Speaker performingthe duties of Speaker whenPresident’s Rule is in place inthe State. Rajkhowa has soughta report from the law depart-ment on the subject.

“We have contended thatthe Governor is guided bymalafide intention and he hadtaken all decisions keeping inmind vested interests. TheDeputy Speaker’s letter to theGovernor reflects the nexusbetween the two. Their finalaim is to lodge a Governmentwith the help of BJP withoutwaiting for the Supreme Courtorder,” Barua alleged.

In his letter, Thondok hascontended that althoughaConstitution Bench is hearingmatters related to the sessionheld on December 16 and 17,

2015, the Speaker’s office isvacant as per the Gauhati HighCourt order dated January 13,2016. Thongdok has sought toknow whether Deputy Speakerperforming duties of Speakercontinues in office when theProclamation under Article356 is operative in the State.

Barua claimed, theGovernor through his DeputySecretary Minik Damin wrote tothe Secretary (Law) on February4, 2016 directing him to furnisha reply by February 5.

The query from Thongdokhas come at a time when theSupreme Court is hearing thematter related to the AssemblySession having been advancedby the Governor in December2015 without the aid and adviceof the Council of Ministers.

Congress party, which has47 MLAs in the 60-memberassembly, suffered a jolt when21 of its lawmakers rebelled.Eleven BJP MLAs and twoindependents backed the rebelsin a bid to upstage the govern-ment. The Congress rebels had“impeached” Speaker NabamRabia and later voted outNabam Tuki as Chief Ministers.

The Supreme Court, whichis considering pleas againstimposition of President’s rule inArunachal Pradesh, is hearingon petitions seeking examina-tion of constitutional schemeson the scope of discretionarypowers of the Governor. PNS

Arunachal Cong accuses

Governor of conspiracy

to topple Government

ON THE CLAIM BY FINANCE MINISTERARUN JAITLEY THAT YOUNG INDIAN LTDIS A REAL ESTATE COMPANY, CONGRESS

SAID THE STATEMENT WAS“ABSOLUTELY FALSE”

PNS n NEW DELHI

Nepal has sought addition-al assistance from India in

various sectors for its recon-struction process.

On Sunday, Nepal FinanceMinister Bishnu Poudel metExternal Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj and discussedabout getting more money,expertise and assistance fromIndia for the Himalayan coun-try that faced devastation fol-lowing a strong earthquakelast year.

Poudel’s visit to New Delhiis also to prepare groundworkfor Nepalese Prime MinisterKP Oli’s visit to India onFebruary 20.Both India andNepal are hoping for some“concrete outcomes” and reju-venation of ties during PM Oli’svisit next week.

“Moving forward ourengagement with Nepal. EAM@SushmaSwaraj meets withFinance Minister BishnuPoudel FM Poudel discussesreconstruction assistance.Briefs EAM on political situa-tion, remaining constitutionalissues & PM Oli’s visit to India,”External Affairs Ministryspokesman Vikas Swarup

tweeted on Sunday.For the reconstruction

process India has alreadypromised financial assistance inthe form of a grant of $250 mil-lion and a loan of $750 millionto Nepal following the earth-quake last year. However,Poudel sought some addition-al assistance from India for thehousing projects for the peopleimpacted by the earthquake.

Poudel also briefed Swarajabout the recent political devel-

opments and Constitutionamendments by the NepaliParliament. “We are preparedto address remaining issuesthrough intensedialogue,”Poudel told Swaraj,sources said. He appreciatedIndia’s role in Nepal’s journeyto democracy, and Constitutionset up and peacemaking.

According to sources,Swaraj conveyed Poudel thatIndia is all for the developmentof Nepal and it will be always

ready to extend assistance to itdespite the odds. She alsourged the Minister to see thatall `remaining issues areresolved at the earliest” throughreconciliation and peacefulmethods. India has urgedNepal to resolve all issues withthe agitating Madhesi groupsthrough dialogue and in anatmosphere without violence.

Apart from political dis-cussions Poudel sought India’sassistance in construction of

Terai roads and development ofrailway infrastructure in thecountry. Besides, Nepal alsowants Indian help in the ener-gy sector. Poudel sought India’sassistance in setting up threepower projects - Pancheswar,Uppar Karnali and Arun 3 --within Nepal. In agricultureand animal husbandry sector,Nepal wants India’s help in theMahakali irrigation project,cow breeding and farmingtechnology. Poudel also soughtcooperation in education, cul-ture, traditional medicines andpharmaceutical sectors.

Trade and transportationissues were also discussed atlength and in this connectionPoudel sought easing up ofimport export with Nepal.Nepal has sought India’s help insetting up of Special EconomicZones in its country.

On Swaraj’s concerns withregard to security and drug smuggling through the porous India-Nepal bor-ders, Poudel said: “Nepalrespects legitimate concernsof India and will step of secu-rity measures to prevent ter-rorism, counterfeit notessmuggling, besides strength-ening border security.”

External Affairs Minister SushmaSwaraj meeting with Nepal’sFinance Minister, Bishnu Poudel inNew Delhi on Sunday PTI

Nepal seeks more aid, expertise from India

ARCHANA JYOTI n NEW DELHI

The Centre is planning tomake it mandatory for the

States to take up at least onemega-surface water basedpiped water supply schemes toreduce dependence on ground-water sources and ensure safedrinking water to the people.However, hilly States will beexempted from this plan pro-posed to be executed under theNational Rural Drinking WaterProgramme.

“The purpose of taking upof such a scheme is to take anddemonstrate the benefits ofsuch an approach for tacklingslippages of fully covered habi-tations which are based ongroundwater sources and toreduce dependence of groundwater in rural water supplyscheme,” said a senior officialfrom the Union Water andSanitation Ministry.

Presently, coverage ofpiped water supply is poor at 35per cent. By 2017, theGovernment plans to ensurethat at least 55% of rural pop-ulation in the country haveaccess to 55 litre per capita perday (lpcd) within their house-hold premises or at a horizon-tal or vertical distance of notmore than 100 metres fromtheir households without bar-riers of social or financial dis-crimination.

“This is possible only if theStates take up the water gridprojects that have potential tosupply water to far-off places,”the official said.

In this regard, the Centre

has been showcasing Gujaratmodel of statewidewater supplygrid to achieve potable watersecurity in their region. Spreadover 1,20,769 km supplieswater to far-off places throughan inter-basin bulk water trans-fer, the State Wide DrinkingWater Grid is said to serve 65per cent of Gujarat’s popula-tion.

Other States are followingsuit, ensuring better technolo-gy and results.

For instance, Telangana’sBhagiratha Mission he watergrid project, estimated to cost`25,000 crore aims at provid-ing 100 litres of clean drinkingwater per person in ruralhouseholds and 150 litres perperson in urban areas. In all,the project is designed to deliv-er drinking water to nearly25,000 rural and 67 urbanhabitations, said TelanganaPanchyati Raj Minister KTRama Rao recently at an eventin the national capital.

The Water and SanitationMinistry official added thatMadhya Pradesh and Rajasthantoo have planned water grids toprovide drinking water to all

rural houses from safe surfacesources through mega scheme.

This is being done throughfunding from external inter-national agencies like WorldBank, JICA and domesticsources like Nabard andHudco, he added.

Over the years, there hasbeen massive over-exploita-tion of groundwater mostly tomeet irrigation demand andincreasing scarcity in drinkingwater during summer months.

The status of groundwaterdevelopment is more than 100per cent in Delhi, Haryana,Punjab and Rajasthan. Morethan 15 per cent of the totalblocks in Andhra Pradesh,Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana,Karnataka, Punjab, Rajasthanand Tamil Nadu are over-exploited or critical in terms ofground water development.

Due to deeper drilling ofaquifers, drinking watersources are increasinglybecoming contaminated withnatural contaminants like flu-oride, arsenic and salinity. Thepiped water availability willalso meet these problems, theofficial added.

States asked to initiate steps tocurb groundwater dependence

PNS n NEW DELHI

The canteen employees ofDefence units haveurged

Prime Minister Narendra Modiand Defence Minister ManoharParrikar for the implementationof sixth pay commission andparity with other CentralGovernment employees. In amemorandum submitted toParrikar recently, All IndiaDefence Civilian CanteenEmployees Union pointed outthat four years ago the CAG andPublic Accounts Committee(PAC) of Parliament repeat-edlyasked the Government toimplement the parity of staffworking in canteens.

The Union alleged that theleadership of the Forces isopposing the directions of PACand even misleading theCourts.. There are 4500 can-teens across the country inArmy, Navy and Air Force unitsand more than 20,000 civilianstaff working in these units.

“With all humility and con-viction, it is once again submit-ted that the Tri-Services (Army,Navy and Air Force) have beenmisleading the Ministry ofDefence, Parliament and theSuprme Court with regard to thefunctioning of 4500 Unit RunCanteens (URC). The CAG aswell as PAC, after a detailedexamination of the functioning

of URCs for a period of morethan one year each respectivelyhave come to a conclusion thatthe URCs are evidently adepartmental activity controlledby the Tri-Services which is partof Ministry of Defence,” said theUnion, seeking a fact findingcommission to report the affairsof canteens.

The Union alleged that theForces wanted to treat theactivities of the canteens as pri-vate activity. They pointed outthat the Canteens are involvedin 12,000 crore annual turnoverwith more than Rs.1000 croreprofit every year and the lead-ership of Tri-Services wanted tohandle it as a private business.

Def canteen staff seek pay parity

PNS n NEW DELHI

The ayurvedic doctors havewelcomed Defence

Ministry’s move to implementalternative medicine in Armyhospitals and urged theMinistry to remove certainhindrances in the decision.

According to theAyurvedic Doctors’Association, the present deci-sion allowing Ayurvedic treat-ment to only “terminally illpatients” does not exploit thefull potential of ayurveda treat-ment which should be availablefor treating other ailments too.

Armed Forces MedicalServices (AFMS), which is dom-

inated by allopathic stream doc-tors, vehemently opposed theimplementation of alternativemedicine treatments in forces fordecades even after several courtorders. Last monthy, the AFMSdecided to allow use of alterna-tive medicines and treatment forcertain ailments in coordinationwith AYUSH Ministry.

“This initiation by AFMS iswelcome, but it should havebeen earlier. Further, byrestricting Ayurveda to termi-nal illness care, whereAllopathy has failed, the poten-tial of Ayurveda system ofmedicine shall not be utilisedin full. Instead, Ayurvedashould be used where it has

most potential such as indegenerative diseases, repeatedstress injuries suffered by sol-diers, immuno-modulatoryeffects, mental stress, rehabil-itation, etc.” said Dr RejithAnand, general secretary,Ayurveda Medical Associationof India (AMAI) in a statement.

“While we welcome thesteps to initiate pilots and exper-iments in incorporation ofAyurveda and other systems ofmedicine to treat Indian soldiers,veterans and their dependants,we urge the AFMS not to bepatronising and restrict access ofthese specialists only to termi-nally ill patients. We take notewith concern the approach of

the AFMS that specialist ofAyurveda would be providedaccess to only terminally illpatients would be providedaccess,” said AyurVAIDHospitals CEO Rajiv Vasudevan.

The Ayurveda doctors sug-gested that AFMS to workwith an open mind and look atfive select chronic diseases andareas of rehabilitation in con-sensus with AYUSHDepartment, areas such asArthritis, Diabetes, InjuryRehabilitation among the manyothers, and adopt an evidencebased approach for evaluationand establishment of Ayurvedaas the preferred mode or formof care.

The ayurvedic doctorslaunched legal battle in mid2011 after ‘The Pioneer’ report-ed how the army denie-dayurvedica medical expensesofNSG commando PVManesh, wounded in 26/11Mumbai terror operation.Discharged as paralysed fromArmy hospital, Manish startedwalking after months ofAyurvedic treatment. ButArmydid not reimburse his medicalexpenses.In 2011, AdvocateArjun Harkauli had filed aPIL inthis regard in Delhi HighCourt. Later inNovember 2013,Defence Minister AK Antonyintervened and allowed allbenefits to ailing Manesh.

Ayurvedic doctors want no restriction in Army hospitals

nation 06LUCKNOW | MONDAY | FEBRUARY 8, 2016

VR JAYARAJ n KOCHI

Unhappiness is said to bespreading among the

senior personnel of the KeralaPolice over the State HomeDepartment’s act of ordering aCrime Branch probe against RSukesan, Superintendent ofPolice (Vigilance), by charginghim with suspected conspira-cy in connection with the infa-mous bar bribery scam involv-ing several Ministers, which hasstunned the Congress-led UDFGovernment.

Many senior police officialsare of the view that the probeagainst Sukesan, oftendescribed as one of the mostexperienced investigators inthe Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB), issure to affect the morale of theforce. According to them, a“double justice system” is pre-vailing in the State’s PoliceDepartment and Sukesan’s caseis a telling example of that.

“(Such) illogical probes andactions can destroy the morale ofthe police force,” said JacobThomas, a DGP who had fallenout with Chief MinisterOommen Chandy’s Governmentdue primarily to his firm standover the probe into the barbribery scam. Two kinds of jus-tices were prevailing in the Stateand some officials were gettingspecial consideration, he alleged.

Pointing out that the inves-tigation into the scam wasunder the court’s consideration,Jacob Thomas said that it wasup to the court to decide on theaction to be taken against theinvestigating officer if there hadbeen any lapses on his part. Itwas not proper for others tocarry out actions which thecourt should take, he added.

Several other officials werenot as frank over the issue asJacob Thomas was but they didshare the view expressed byhim. A middle-level officialwho did not want his name toappear in print for obvious rea-sons said he would henceforthtry his level best to avoid tak-ing up the responsibility of theinvestigation of any case which

had anything to do with theGovernment.

The Government orderedthe Crime Branch probe againstSukesan on Friday on the basisof a recommendation fromAdditional DGP (Vigilance) NShankar Reddy that certain voicerecordings contained on a CDshowed that the SP could haveentered into a conspiracy withBiju Ramesh, whistleblower inthe scam, to implicate certainmembers of the Chandy Cabinet.

The probe against Sukesanwas ordered within a week ofBiju Ramesh openly accusingHome Minister RameshChennithala, who also holdsthe Vigilance portfolio, of tak-ing `2 crore from Kerala BarHotels’ Association, when hewas State Congress chief. Bijualso alleged that HealthMinister VS Sivakumar, a loy-alist of Chennithala, had taken`25 lakh from the bar owners.

Kerala Congress (M) chair-man KM Mani, charged withtaking `1-crore bribe from barowners, had resigned asFinance Minister on November10. The Vigilance probe againsthim was carried out bySukesan, who had filed a fac-tual report saying that therewere enough circumstantialand other evidences to prose-cute Mani.

According to the VigilanceDirector’s report to the HomeMinistry, the voice recordingson a CD Biju had given to aMagistrate as evidence in thescam had shown that he andSukesan had been acquain-tances for a long time. It isalleged that Sukesan had askedBiju to raise allegations ofbribery against four Ministersand prompted him to raise theallegations through the media.

Critics of the Governmentpoint out that the VigilanceDirector and the HomeDepartment had moved againstSukesan by taking recordingsfound on a CD as evidence whilethey have consistently refused togrant the evidential value of theother recordings on the sameCD, which justified implica-tion of Ministers in the scam.

TN RAGHUNATHA n MUMBAI

Notorious criminal SandeepGadoli, wanted by the

Haryana police in as many as36 cases, was shot dead by a vis-iting team of Gurgaon police inan encounter inside a hotel atAndheri (East) in northMumbai on Sunday morning.

Two policemen too wereinjured in the shootout.However, they are out of dan-ger, the city police said.

Acting on a tip-off thatGadoli and his gang memberswere holed up in a room at theHotel Airport Metro, a visitingteam of police officials fromGurgaon raided the hotel at 11am, in a bid to arrest the gang-ster. Gadoli and his aides firedat the visiting police team mem-bers, when they tried to enterthe hotel room where Gadoliwas putting up with his aides.

The Gurgaon police per-sonnel returned the fire, criti-cally injuring Gadoli. Twopolice men were also injured inthe encounter.

Gadoli, who had sustainedsevere bullet wounds, was

taken to a nearby hospitalwhere he succumbed to injuriesat 12.55 pm.

“A team of Crime Branchof Gurgaon police had come insearch the accused in a murdercase, who was residing in ahotel at Andheri-East. Whenthe police team entered his

room at around 11 am therewas a cross fire between theaccused and the police team.He has 36 offences againsthim. The injured was taken toa hospital where he wasdeclared dead around 12.55pm,” Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (Zone X) Vinayak

Deshmukh said.Gadoli, who had been on

the run for the past twodecades, was wanted by theGurgaon police in at least 36criminal cases. He was carry-ing a cash prize of `1.25 lakhon his head.

One of the cases that

Gadoli was wanted in was themurder of Ashok Kumar, thedriver of Gurgaon Councillorand his rival Binder Gujjar.Kumar was shot dead by theformer’s aides at Gurgaon onOctober 3, 2015. Kumar’s mur-der, which marked the returnof gangwar in Gurgaon, wassaid to be in retaliation to theGadoli’s aide Manish Khurana’selimination at his home carriedout a day before Kumar’s death.

Ironically enough, comingas it does on the heels of thereinstatement of yesteryearencounter-specialist DayaNayak, the encounter killing ofGadoli by the Gurgaon policehas revived the memories ofencounter killings that Mumbaihad witnessed between 1999and 2002.

During these three crucialyears which saw encounter-specialists eliminate over 250gangsters, the encounter-spe-cialists had unleashed panicwithin the underworld in themetropolis.

The encounter-killings bythe police were a far cry fromsituation from the 1997-98

when underworld gang lordshad unleashed a reign of terroragainst Bollywood personalities,builders, industrialists, busi-nessmen and other influentialpeople/ in the country’s com-mercial capital. So much so thatthe underworld shot over 150people, most of whom innocentpeople, beginning with the dar-ing murder of Bollywood musicbaron Gulshan Kumar onAugust 12, 1997.

There were some fakeencounter killings by between2006 and 2009 and a couplegenuine encounters witnessedduring that 2010-11 – includ-ing that of an aggrieved resi-dent Harish Marolia who wasshot dead on March 17, 2010after he gunned down a retiredcustoms officer and a 16-year-old girl whom he had takenhostage in a housing society atAndheri (west) in northMumbai. However, Sunday’swas an action drama involvingthe encounter killing of ahardened criminal by theGurgaon police that was akinto the ones witnessed in thelate 1990s and early 2000s.

BAR BRIBERY SCAM

Probe against SPtriggers unhappinessamong Kerala cops

SAUGAR SENGUPTA n KOLKATA

With Tripura and Keralaleaders of both CPI(M)

and Congress building up pres-sure on their respective nation-al leaderships opposing a Left-Congress alliance againstMamata Banerjee, BengalOpposition Leader SuryakantoMishra on Sunday said irre-spective of what the nationalleaderships think the people atthe grassroots had alreadytaken a decision in favour of agrand alliance.

“A formal alliance or not thepeople at the grassroots havealready taken their decision infavour of a grand alliance of sec-ular democratic forces. Netascannot thwart the popular move.The popular mood is very muchin favour of alliance and that isgoing to happen anyway,” Mishraa Politburo member said.

The Marxists have decidedto wait till February 18 beforetaking a final call. “We will waittill February 18 and take a deci-sion accordingly,” a CPI(M)State secretariat leader said. Anoverwhelming majority of the

CPI(M) State secretariat hadlast week decided in favour ofthe alliance and referred thematter to the State committee.

CPI(M) Politburo memberPrakash Karat recently toldthat the final call will be takenby the central committee —where Karat loyalists are inmajority. The former CPI(M)general secretary is a knownCongress baiter and does notsee eye to eye with currentparty chief Sitaram Yechurywho is known for his betterequations with Janpath.

Notwithstanding at theextended party plenum inKolkata last year, Karat had

gone on record saying therespective State committeeswill be free to take their deci-sions vis a vis striking alliancesand that the central committeewill ratify such decisions.

The Trinamool had beendefeated in the last year’s civicpolls in Siliguri Corporationand district board electionsafter the Left and the Congressstood up jointly to resist theruling party violence. But theyfailed to ditto the feat inSouth Bengal.

In a significant develop-ment at least in half a dozencases across Nadia andBirbhum districts the CPI(M)

supporters were seen last weekresisting the Trinamool raidersfrom taking control of clubsrun by the Congress. In Bengallocal clubs play an importantrole in conducting elections.

Mishra’s statement ongrass-root alliance is seen to beaimed at the former CPI(M)general secretary who is heldprimarily responsible for theLeft’s downfall in Bengal.

Incidentally the Congresswhich also is at the receivingend of the alleged Trinamoolatrocities is similarly dividedover the alliance issue with amajority of PCC leaders back-ing the tie-up cause. In fact PCCpresident Adhir Chowdhuryhas also gone on record sayingirrespective of what the leaderssaid “the people have made uptheir mind to vote unitedlyagainst the Trinamool and if itis needed they will join causewith the Left.”

Kerala Congress leaderChandrashekhar who visitedKolkata last week also saidthat system of alliances in oneState were not going to throwany impact on other States.

‘People at grassroots are united against Didi’A formal alliance or not the people

at the grassroots have alreadytaken their decision in favour of

a grand alliance of seculardemocratic forces. Netas cannot

thwart the popular move. Thepopular mood is very much infavour of alliance and that is

going to happen anyway

MOHIT KANDHARI n JAMMU

Batting for early announce-ment of Assembly elections

in Jammu & Kashmir formerChief Minister and workingpresident of the NationalConference Omar Abdullah onSunday mocked the alliancepartners BJP and PDP to clari-fy if their alliance was stillintact why they were shyingaway from formingGovernment in the State.

Speaking to reporters afterinaugurating local cricket tour-nament in Jammu, Omar saidfor how long the people of theState would have to wait to seea popular Government in place.

Taking a dig at PDP chiefMehbooba Mufti, Omar saidshe cannot take people of theState for a ride by shying awayfrom taking responsibilityespecially when numbers wereon her side.

On the occasion Omaralso sent out clear signals to theBJP leadership announcingdoors of his party were alreadyshut for them long ago.

“At present we are not keen

on forging any alliance with theBJP in the State”. He said wealready knew if BJP came topower in the State the situationwould worsen. This is whathappened in the last 10months. The situation deterio-rated in both Jammu andSrinagar, Omar said elaborat-ing the State cannot be bene-fited if NC too formed analliance with the BJP.

Meanwhile, questioningthe muted silence of the PDPchief over the all importantquestion of forming theGovernment in alliance withthe BJP Omar posed few directquestions to her during thebrief media interaction.

“Mehbooba Mufti has beenquiet for long and she can nolonger remain silent and keeppeople guessing. He daredMehbooba to take a bold stepand clear the air. Omar askedwe would like to know what are

those CBMs and how long shewill wait for those ConfidenceBuilding Measures and why didthe need of CBMs suddenlyarise after the demise of MuftiMohammed Sayeed”.

Sharing his own assessmentof the current political situationin the State Omar said, “as far asour knowledge is concerned, thealliance (between BJP and PDP)still exists. We haven’t heardeither from BJP or PDP thatalliance has been broken, so thealliance exists and if the allianceexists, then why there is noGovernment in place.

Omar said last year boththe parties came together after“Agenda of the alliance wasformed and Mufti sahab wasmade the Chief Minister. Nowwe want to know What haschanged in the past ten monthsthat today even though theyhave numbers in the Assemblythey are not ready to form the

Government?”Omar said that National

Conference has been tellingthem time and again that ifthey are not ready to form theGovernment, they should bebold enough to break thealliance and go to the massesfor fresh mandate.

“We will go back to thepeople, but I am unable tounderstand the way of theirleadership. They ask forConfidence Building Measures,but I am not sure that withinthe party people know or not,but outside nobody knows whatthey have asked for,” he said.

He said that even BJP wasnot aware of what PDP was ask-ing for. “Even BJP has said thatplease clearly tell us what you areasking for, so we too would wantto know what are the CBMswhich Mehbooba Mufti is ask-ing for, and did they keep a timeframe, a deadline,” Omar said.

Visakhapatnam: Kapu leaderMudragada Padmanabhamand his wife on Sunday con-tinued their indefinite fast forthe third day in support of thedemand for reservation for thecommunity in education andjobs in Andhra Pradesh.

The former Minister andhis wife Padmavati have beenfasting at their house atKirlampudi in East Godavaridistrict since Friday. The cou-ple locked themselves up andrefused to undergo medicalcheck-up.

Though Joint CollectorSatyanarayana and districtSuperintendent of Police RaviPrakash along with a team ofdoctors reached Mudragada’shouse on Sunday, the couplesent them back. The officersmade a similar attempt onSaturday night as well.

The Kapu leader saidthere was no need for check-up since the couple had decid-ed to dedicate their lives forthe Kapu community’s cause.

He also accused police of pre-venting people from visitinghis house.

Meanwhile, police andparamilitary forces weredeployed near the house amidindications that the fastingcouple may be forcibly shiftedto a hospital to break their fast.

They are demandinginclusion of the Kapus in a listof backward classes and reser-vation for the community ineducation and jobs. They arealso seeking `1,900 crore fora Kapu corporation.

Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu earlierappealed to Mudragada tocall off his fast and assured thatthe Andhra Pradesh govern-ment was committed to fulfilits promise to include theKapus in the BC list.

The Government has said acommission will make a detailedstudy of the socio-economic sta-tus of the Kapus and recom-mend the quantum of reserva-tion to be provided. IANS

PNS n PATNA

Chief Minister Nitish Kumarhas suggested amendments

and simplification of the rule ofthe executive business of thelegislature in bid to give morespace to the new legislators sothat they could also speak ondifferent issues and raise prob-lems related to their respectiveconstituencies.

Inaugurating the two-dayorientation programme for thenewly elected MLAs at theBihar Assembly which alsoobserved its 96th foundationday on Sunday, the CM saidaltogether 98 MLAs, of the total243, from different parties havebeen elected first time andthey needed training about thefunctioning of the House andtheir privileges.

Two former secretary gen-erals of Lok Sabha SubhashKashyap and GC Malhotrahave been invited to teach thenew legislators the normalfunctioning and proceduresapart from nitty gritty of thelegislative business, how to

raise questions and participatein Zero Hours.

Giving his own exampleNitish, who served as MLA andLok Sabha member many timesduring his three-decade longParliamentary career, said thenew member should not hesi-tate in raising the issues andasking questions in the interestof the society.

“This is my suggestion thatsome rules of legislative busi-ness should be amended andsimplified and duration of thedebates and zero hour shouldbe enhanced to give morespace to the new legislators,” theCM said addressing AssemblySpeaker Vijay KumarChaudhary and chairman ofLegislative Council AwadheshNarain Singh.

Reacting to leader of theOpposition in Bihar AssemblyPrem Kumar of BJP, Nitish saidhe was in favour of long ses-sions of the legislative bodiesbut there should not be chaot-ic scenes and noisy walkouts orstalling the proceeding by cre-ating ruckus. If the sessions are

prolonged the members wouldget much time to raise theirissues for which the peoplehave elected them. Each MLA,he said, represents over twolakh electors and he/she shouldwork for their interest.

The CM also stressed needfor orientation camps for thenew MLAs from time to time.He said the parliamentarydemocracy is proved best in theworld for under this systemgovernment is formed at thewill of the people. In this sys-tem people are supreme andthose elected by them for afixed period are supposed toserve them.

Deputy CM TejashwiPrasad Yadav said while par-ticipating in the debates onpublic issues one should shunnegativity. He said it was a goodopportunity for first timeMLAs like him to learn fromsuch programmes. AssemblySpeaker Chaudhary highlight-ed the need of the orientationof the legislators and to makethem aware about the rules ofbusiness.

Gangster shot dead in Mumbai encounter

Orientation programmefor new Bihar MLAs

Omar pitches for early polls in J&K

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar with Assembly Speaker Vijay Chaudhary, Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav and others during theinauguration of 96th foundation day of Bihar Legislative Assembly, in Patna on Sunday PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Khadi India Sales outlet at International Fleet Review, IFR Village, at Visakhapatam onSaturday along with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Chiefs of Army and Naval staff. Modi saw the live demonstration ofmanufacturing of century-old Pondure Khadi. KVIC Chairman VK Saxena explained to Modi about Pondure Khadi and shownnew coloured dress material introduced recently Pioneer photo

MEHBOOBA MUFTIHAS BEEN QUIETFOR LONG AND

SHE CAN NOLONGER REMAINSILENT AND KEEPPEOPLE GUESSING

Gangster SandeepGadoli was shotdead during anencounter at anAndheri-basedhotel in Mumbaion Sunday PTI

Kapu leader, wife continuefast on quota issue in AP

CHENNAI: A day after a manwas killed and three otherswere injured in a mysteriousexplosion in Vellore, TamilNadu Chief Minister JJayalalithaa on Sunday said itwas a meteorite fall that causedthe mishap.

“A mishap occurred yes-terday when a meteorite fell inthe campus of a private engi-neering college in Vellore dis-trict’s K Pantharappalli vil-lage,” she said in a statement.

Condoling the death of abus driver, Kamaraj, of thecollege in the incident, sheannounced a compensation ofRs. 1 lakh to his family and`25,000 each to the threeinjured persons from the ChiefMinister’s Public Relief Fund.

“I have ordered the Velloredistrict administration andhospital officials to providethem best treatment,” she said.

Window panes of the collegebuses and several glass planes ofthe building were damaged whenthe meteorite fell.

The bus driver lost his lifeafter the meteorite fell near himas he was walking past thebuilding.

The bus driver was killedafter an object exploded nearhim as he was walking past abuilding. PTI

Meteorite killed TN busdriver, says Jayalalithaa

I have ordered theVellore districtadministrationand hospitalofficials to

provide them best treatment

news 07LUCKNOW | MONDAY | FEBRUARY 8, 2016

Visakhapatnam: New ways andbetter mechanism need to beevolved to resolve peacefully thedisputes related to the seas,Defence Minister ManoharParrikar said on Sunday.

“In the changing eco-nomic situation, the scenarioof finding more and moreresources in deep seas ischanging. Original laws andtreaties may not be of muchuse… we need to find ways toresolve disputes more peace-fully,” Parrikar said in hiskeynote address at theInternational Marit imeConference here.

“…more land will go underwater and better mechanism is(thus) needed to resolve con-flicts,” Parrikar said whilepointing out that importance ofoceans will increase in future asland availability will shrinkdue to rise in water levels dueto global warming.

“Oceans have alwaysdirectly or indirectly influ-enced events on land. At pre-sent too, besides power pro-jection, oceans are increasing-ly being looked upon asresource provider,” he said.

The Minister also pointedout to the growing securitychallenges at sea.

“Our strategic environ-ment continues to pose widechallenges… blurring of lines

between traditional and non-traditional threats remains aconcern,” he said, adding thatthe conference should deliber-ate on all these issues.

The conference saw delib-erations by Indian and inter-national speakers and repre-sentatives of global navies overits theme 'Partnering Togetherfor a Secure Maritime Future'.

IANS

Visakhapatnam: Terming therecent death of 10 soldiers in anavalanche on the Siachen glac-ier “painful”, Defence MinisterManohar Parrikar said onSunday that withdrawing troopsfrom the world's highest battle-field could not be a solution.

“This incident is painful tome personally, but the solutionthat is suggested is not a prop-er analysis,” he said, referring todemands that Indian soldiers bewithdrawn from the glacier.

Asked if the proposal to con-vert Siachen into a “peace moun-tain” still exists, the minister said:“The decision (on deployingtroops) on Siachen is based onthe security of the nation.”

He said the loss of humanlives on the Siachen had comedown in recent years due toimproved facilities.

“We have lost thousands ofsoldiers to get control (of theglacier)... The loss of life is lessin the last few years,” he toldreporters on the sidelines of anInternational MaritimeConference here.

He said the incident hadnothing to do with prepared-ness. “I don't find any looseends. It's an avalanche... Theseare unpredictable in nature.”

Parrikar said the searchoperation was on though therewas little hope of survival ofthe soldiers. IANS

Parrikar: No pulling out

of troops from Siachen President Pranab Mukherjee being welcomed by West Bengal Agriculture Minister Purnendu Basu at NSCBI Airport, in Kolkataon Sunday PTI

Bengaluru: A leopard entereda Bengaluru school early onSunday morning and attackedat least six people who were try-ing to capture it.

The animal entered thecampus of the VIBGYORschool in Whitefield around 4am, CCTV cameras show. Itremained undetected until lateafternoon when it attackedone of the school staffers.

Forest department officials

and police were called in tocapture the animal. Since then,the leopard has already injuredsix people including a newscameraman who got too closeand environmentalist SanjayGubbi who was part of the res-cue team.

Forest department officialstold reporters that the feline isstill at large. They said one ofthe tranquiliser darts fired at itfound its mark.

“The animal has becomesluggish and disoriented. Weneed to capture it before it thetranquiliser wears off,” chiefwildlife warden Ralf Ravi toldreporters.

The leopard was finallytranquillised after a 14-hourlong operation. The incidenthas once again brought to thefore the man-animal conflicton the outskirts of this rapid-ly expanding city. Agencies

Leopard spotted inside Bengaluru school

Hyderabad: Union Minister MVenkaiah Naidu on Sundayaccused the Congress of being“intolerant” towards mandateof people and indulging inexcuses to block the Bills andthe Parliament proceedings.

“... there is no excuse atall...Congress should stop mak-ing excuses and blocking thebills. Obstruction and blockingof the bills is blocking progressof the country. And it is Congresswhich is making excuses sayingwe are being not consulted,” theUnion Parliamentary AffairsMinister said.

“We never ignore anybody,we are consulting all parties.Umpteen number of times,Congress has been spoken to.Even Prime Minister has invit-ed Congress president andeven I have been to the houseof Congress presidenttwice...there is no question ofignoring,” Venkaiah said.

“What we inherited fromCongress party is fiscal deficit,revenue deficit, trade deficit,current account deficit andabove all trust deficit. Nowthose deficits are over andIndia is moving forward andthey should recognise that andshould not find excuses toblock the Bills and block theParliament,” he said.

The senior BJP leaderaccused the Congress of being“intolerant” to people's mandateand asked the party to realise itand support the Government.

“They (Congress) shouldfunction democratically andthey should understand thespirit of democracy and respectmandate of people. They areintolerant towards the mandateof the people. Mandate is for

Modi, mandate is for develop-ment and mandate is for goodgovernance,” he said.

Let the Congress also realisethis and support theGovernment, instead of bring-ing lame excuses, Venkaiah said.

He sought to know whereare the excuses (from the gov-ernment side). Prime MinisterNarendra Modi is movingahead and now internationalrecognition and respect hascome to India, he stressed.

Venkaiah said worldwideeconomy has slowed down,but India is moving forward.India is the most favouritedestination, according to WorldBank, ADB, IMF, WorldEconomic Forum and every-body is saying with one voice.

“(There is) Internationalslow down, China is goingnegative and India is movingforward...where is the questionof finding excuses?” the Unionminister asked.

He was reacting to Congressvice-president Rahul Gandhi'srecent comments that the PMshould stop making excusesand start running the country.

Social security measuresare being taken up, he said,adding that 20 crore bankaccounts were opened and PMcrop insurance scheme hasbeen launched.

On the forthcoming Budgetsession, he said, “In the upcom-ing Parliament session my pri-ority is GST Bill, Real EstateDevelopment Bill, Bankruptcybill. There are few more bills. Ionly hope the Opposition par-ties also join hands together topass these progressive billswhich will help the country,”Venkaiah said. PTI

Congress ‘intolerant'towards mandate ofpeople: Venkaiah

Hyderabad: The GreaterHyderabad MunicipalCorporation (GHMC) onSunday suspended nine of itsofficers after they were caughtred handed at a 'mujra' party.

GHMC commissioner andspecial officer Janardhan Reddysuspended the officials includ-ing three tax inspectors andordered an inquiry by the addi-tional commissioner.

The officers along withothers including six womenwere arrested late on Saturdaynight during a police raid ona mujra party at Khanmetunder Madhapur police stationlimits of Cyberabad policecommissionerate.

Police said the raid wasconducted following a tip-offabout the party being held in aprivate building. Dancersbrought from Mumbai wereamong those arrested. Takinga serious view of the incident,the GHMC commissioner sus-pended the officials. IANS

Nine Hyderabadmunicipal officerscaught at mujraparty, suspended

S RAJAGOPALAN n

WASHINGTON

Senator Marco Rubio, pro-jected by some analysts as the

dark horse in the Republicanpresidential race after his strongshowing in the Iowa caucuseslast week, came under a wave ofsharp and sustained attacks at ano-holds-barred debate aheadof the New Hampshire prima-ry on Tuesday.

The assault on the first-term Senator from Florida,who has had a run of stellar per-formances in previous debates,was mounted by two rivalswho have been trailing waybehind him in polls – NewJersey Governor Chris Christieand one-time mentor and for-mer Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

Christie repeatedly wentafter Rubio, the youngest in thecontest, projecting him assomeone who just did not havethe experience to be thePresident of the United States.Dubbing him the “boy in thebubble”, Christie spoke ofRubio coming up with “mem-orized 25-second” responses toissues posed in debates.

Curiously enough, Rubioplayed into Christie’s hands byrepeating an assertion aboutPresident Barack Obama fourtimes in quick succession, usingthe very same phrases eachtime. When Rubio repeated thelines for the first time, Christie

mocked him, saying: “There itis. The memorized-25 secondspeech.” But Rubio spoke in thesame vein two more times.

Rubio briefly sought to hitback at Christie for not goingright away to attend to the rav-ages of a massive snowstormtwo weeks ago, “They had toshame you into going back.And then you stayed there for36 hours and then he left andcame back to campaign.”Denying the charge, Christieremarked: “Is that one of theskills you get as a United Statessenator ESP also?”

Front-runner DonaldTrump, who leads theRepublican polls nationallyand in New Hampshire as well,was locked in an unseemlyexchange with Bush, who

attacked the billionaire busi-nessman for trying to take theproperty of an elderly womanin Atlantic City where he hadbuilt casinos.

Trump got booed severaltimes by Bush supporters in theaudience. When Trump said hedidn’t take the woman’s prop-erty, Bush shot back, saying thathe tried to get the property andturn it into a limousine park-ing lot for his casinos, but losthis case in court.

Trump, otherwise project-ing him as the boldest andstrongest contender, said inreply to a question by thedebate moderators that hewould very much use water-boarding as a tool of enhancedinterrogation of terror sus-pects, something denounced by

the Obama administration astorture. Stating how ISIS mili-tants are chopping off heads ofChristians, Trump said: “Iwould bring back waterboard-ing and I’d bring it back a hellof a lot worse than water-boarding.”

Senator Ted Cruz, whoinflicted a shock defeat onTrump in Iowa, remainedlargely subdued. When askedabout the “dirty tricks” of hiscampaign sending word outthat fellow-presidential hope-ful Ben Carson was planning todrop out and mobilizing hisvotes, Cruz blamed the confu-sion on a CNN broadcast –something the cable networkhas denied. Cruz, who calledCarson a friend, offered him apublic apology.

REPUBLICAN DEBATE

Surging Rubio comes under sharp attack

Trump getsbooed by Bushsupporters

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks with members of the media after a Republican presidential primarydebate hosted by ABC News at the St. Anselm College Saturday AP

Boston: Top Republican pres-idential hopefuls have favouredusing military force to defeatISIS, with Iowa Caucus winnerTed Cruz calling for “killing theenemy” and frontrunnerDonald Trump seeking to“bomb the oil” to damage therevenue source of the terroroutfit.

“America has always beenreluctant to use military force.It's the last step we take. But ifand when we use it when itcomes to defeating ISIS, weshould use it,” Senator TedCruz, winner of the IowaCaucus, said during theRepublican presidential debateon Saturday.

“We should use over-whelming force, kill the enemyand then get the heck out.Don't engage in nation-build-ing...” said Cruz who in thepast has also advocated formassive carpet bombing todefeat ISIS.

Florida Senator MarcoRubio, who is now consideredas an Republican establish-ment candidate after hisimpressive performance inIowa Caucus, argued that ISIS

needs to be defeated.“And I believe they need to

be defeated on the ground, bya ground force, made up pri-marily of Sunni Arabs,” hesaid.

“It will take Sunni Arabs toreject them ideologically anddefeat them militarily,” he said,adding: “That will need to bebacked up with more US spe-cial operation forces alongsidethem,” Rubio said.

“We need to understandwho they are. ISIS is not just ajihadist group, they're an apoc-alyptic group,” he said.

Trump said “bomb the oiland take the oil”.

“You have to knock the hellout of the oil. You have to takethe oil. And you have also backchannels of banking. You havepeople that you think are ourgreat allies, our friends, in theMiddle East, that are payingtremendous numbers of —tremendous amounts of moneyto ISIS,” he said.

Former Florida Guv JebBush underscored that dealingwith the caliphate is important,because it now has spawnedother areas. PTI

Republicans favour usingmilitary force to defeat ISIS

Abu Dhabi: A top official inthe United Arab Emirates saidtoday that his country is pre-pared to send ground troopsto Syria to fight Islamic Statemilitants as part of an inter-national coalition.

Minister of State forForeign Affairs AnwarGargash made the commentsin the federal capital of AbuDhabi, days after Saudi Arabiasaid it is ready to deployground forces if leaders of theUS-led international coali-tion fighting the group call for it.

Gargash said it has beenthe Emirates' long-held posi-tion that a campaign to defeatthe group “has to includeground elements,” though hislatest comments took onadded weight in light ofRiyadh's pledge last week.

“We have been frustratedat the slow pace of confrontingDaesh,” Gargash said inresponse to a question fromThe Associated Press, usingthe Arabic acronym for IS.

He stressed that anydeployment would be rela-tively small, saying that “We're

not talking about thousands oftroops.”

“We are talking abouttroops on the ground that willlead the way, that will train,that will support and so forth.And I think our positionremains the same and we willhave to see how this pro-gresses,” he said. “Of course anAmerican leadership in thiseffort is a prerequisite also.”

Saudi Arabia's militaryspokesman said late Thursdaythat the kingdom is deter-mined to defeat the IslamicState group and could provideground troops if coalitionmembers agree to such adeployment when defenseministers meet in Brusselslater this month.

Saudi Arabia and theEmirates are the two largestArab economies and boastsome of the region's mostpowerful militaries. They areclose allies and are the drivingforce behind a Saudi-led coali-tion fighting on the side ofYemen's internationally rec-ognized government againstIranian-supported Shiiterebels in Yemen. AP

UAE says it's prepared to

send ground forces to Syria

London: Former British PrimeMinister Margaret Thatcher isthe most influential woman ofthe past 200 years, according toa survey of Britons publishedon Tuesday which showed menplace a higher value on politi-cal influence than women do.

Thatcher, who was Britain'sfirst — and, so far, only —Prime Minister, led herConservative party to three

election victories, governingfrom 1979 to 1990, the longestcontinuous term in office for aBritish premier in over 150years. She died in April 2013.

Thatcher's policies on tradeunions, privatization and theFalklands war left Britain bit-terly divided over her legacy,and the survey by British pen-sions and insurance firmScottish Widows highlighted

the depth of her influence inthe country.

With 28 per cent of thevote, Thatcher beat scientistMarie Curie into second placewith 24 per cent. They were fol-lowed by the Queen with 18per cent, Diana, princess ofWales with 17 per cent andwomen's rights campaignerEmmeline Pankhurst with 16per cent.

Nun Mother Teresa, Britishnurse Florence Nightingale,Queen Victoria, US civil rightsactivist Rosa Parks and US tele-vision host Oprah Winfreymade up the rest of the top 10most influential women.

The results show that royalwomen are considered moreinfluential than innovators,scientists and politicians,Scottish Widows said. Agencies

Britons vote Margaret Thatcher most influential woman of past 200 years

Mumbai: Stepping up its actionagainst the Bhujbal family, theEnforcement Directorate hasseized the passport of PankajBhujbal, son of senior NCP leaderChhagan Bhujbal, and hassummoned him for questioning ina money laundering caseregistered against him and others.Officials said the agency has takenthe action of seizing theinternational travel document ofPankaj under relevant sections ofthe Passport Act and the summonsfor recording of his statement havebeen issued under the provisions ofthe Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA) recently.“He has been summoned toappear before agency investigatorsin the coming week. He has beensent such summons earlier too buthe did not come,” they said.Pankaj, an MLA in the Maharashtraassembly, has been also named inthe criminal FIR filed by the agencywhich includes former PWDminister Chhagan Bhujbal, otherassociates and entities and hisnephew Samir, who was arrestedby the ED in the same case.

PTI

ED summonsBhujbal'sson, seizeshis passport

‘Need to evolve ways to

resolve sea disputes’ Patna: A proctor of a Bihar uni-versity was arrested on Sundayfor alleged links with Maoistsand two suspected guerrillasapprehended from the varsityhostel in Bhagalpur but all threewere later released, police said.

Professor VilakhjhanRavidas, proctor of Tilka ManjhiBhagalpur university inBhagalpur and KapildeoMandal and Arjun Paswan werereleased after they filed a bondin a police station.

"Ravidas and others werereleased due to lack of evidenceagainst them," said a districtpolice official.

Ravidas, however deniedany links with Maoists.

Police said Ravidas wasarrested on information pro-vided by suspected MaoistGhanshayam alias Ghoghan

Da. A pistol, mobile phone andMaoist literature were alleged-ly seized from Ghanshayamwho gave information about theproctor during his two-hourquestioning.

Police then raided severalplaces and arrested Ravidas.

"We arrested Ravidas fromhis private residence for linkswith Maoists and for providingpatronage to them," BhagalpurSuperintendent of Police VivekKumar had said earlier.

The two suspected Maoistsarrested from the varsity's wel-fare hostel, of which Ravidas isincharge, were Mandal, who isa visiting professor of Murarkacollege, and Paswan, who werealso released.

However, police said inves-tigation will continue in the case. IANS

Bihar university proctor heldfor Maoist links, released

Tourists enjoy Shikara rides at Dal Lake as tourism in J&K comes back to life after2014 floods, in Srinagar on Sunday PTI

Vyapam scam hasruined quality ofdoctors: TrehanPTI n BHOPAL

Vyapam scam, the massiveadmission and recruitment

racket in Madhya Pradesh, hasruined the quality of doctors inIndia, renowned cardiovascu-lar surgeon Dr Naresh Trehanhas said.

“Vyapam scam has ruinedthe quality of doctors in thecountry,” he said at meet-the-press programme of CentralPress Club last evening here.

The students who gotadmitted to medical coursesfraudulently have got license toplay with people’s life, therenowned cardiovascular andcardiothoracic surgeon opined.

He said the governmentshould toughen its stand andkeep a hawk’s eye onadmissions in the medical col-leges.

The ‘Vyavsayik PareekshaMandal’ had been in news forthe massive scam, popularlyknown as ‘Vyapam’ scam inconducting various examina-tions and recruitment tests.Top authorities and somepoliticians were allegedlyinvolved in the scam. The mas-sive racket is being probed bythe CBI.

Trehan said that he wantsto work for elimination oftuberculosis (TB) fromMadhya Pradesh.

For this, he informed thathe has submitted a proposal tostate Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan. Dr Trehansaid Medanta has pressed intoservice five mobile lab vans inHaryana which go arounddoing free digital

X-rays of people. Thosewho test positive for TB areprovided Rs 6,000 treatment forthree months, by Medanta, hesaid.

Though the Constitutionof India guarantees jus-tice to all, yet its guide-lines have been imple-mented more in the

breach. High-profile politicians,despite being convicted by a lowercourt, manage to get out on bail.This has justified former ChiefJustice HL Dattu’s words: “All jus-tice is judge-centric.”

A woefully under-staffed judi-ciary adds to court pendency. Lackof judicial manpower, pendency ofcases, lack of infrastructure facili-ties and delay in judges’ appoint-ment are some of the challenges thatthe judiciary is yet to overcome. Theresult of all this is an unmanageablebacklog of cases.

According to the Ministry ofLaw and Justice, the pendency ofcases in the Supreme Court hasgone down from 66,692 in 2012 to58,879 in 2015. Pendency of casesin the High Courts also declined to41.53 lakh as against 44.34 lakhcases in 2012. However, there wasa spurt in cases of crimes againstchildren. Countrywide pendency ofsuch cases went up from 74,400 in2012 to 1,25,000 in 2014 — a riseof over 59 per cent.

According to the Law Ministry,in 2012, at least 3,500 cases of crimesagainst children were pending invarious courts in the national cap-ital. This went up to 4,253 at the endof 2013 and to 6,021 in 2014. Still,there are people in our country whodo not want juveniles to be treatedon par with adults for grievouscrimes like murder, rape etc.

Maharashtra had the highestnumber of pending cases of crimesagainst children; higher than UttarPradesh. In 2012, about 18,000pending cases were reported in thatState. This increased to 21,255 in2013 and to 25,302 in 2014. In UttarPradesh, the pendency of such casesincreased from 11,115 to 25,011during the same period. MadhyaPradesh and Gujarat were the nexton the list.

The following stories is reveal-ing enough. In a bizarre ruling inBaghpat district of Uttar Pradesh,three men who were accused ofraping a 15-year-old girl weregiven a punishment of just fiveslaps and let off by the local pan-chayat. The three rapists are nowabsconding. This incident comesweeks after a Haryana panchayatordered five shoe-slaps as punish-ment to two people who wereaccused of gang-raping a girl inHissar district. Even the nationalcapital is not safe. In October 2015and January this year, two eight-years-old girls were raped.

In consumer courts, over 3.72

lakh consumers await disposal oftheir complaints. A Supreme CourtBench, headed by Chief Justice TSThakur observed, “Our experi-ence shows nothing is working inthese courts. The members (ofConsumer Dispute RedressalCommissions) are frustrated.Disposal of cases doesn’t mean thesystem is working with perfection...In some States, the members hear-ing cases cannot even write twolines of an order in English.”

The Bench added,“Government’s apathy has furthercompounded the problem as con-sumer forum members have to runwith a begging bowl seeking finan-cial aid from the administrationeven for small things such as sta-tionery. Crumbling buildings,incomplete forum and shortage ofmanpower were stressing out themembers who are unable to disposeof cases within three months, asmandated under the ConsumerProtection Act… You(Government) coined the slogan(wake up consumer, wake up). Butthe day a grahak (consumer) wakesup, we are not able to handle theavalanche of litigation.” Delay isperennial, as admitted by theGovernment in Parliament.

An MP who was accused of

criminal cases, including that ofmurder, was convicted after morethan a decade of pendency of hiscase in the court. In yet anothercase, a former Chief Minister of aState was convicted after almost twodecades but was eventually out onbail till his appeal was decided.

At the beginning of 2011, therewere 9,928 cases pending trial,and more than 10, 000 CBI caseswere also pending trial. Of these,over 2,200 cases with the CBI arewaiting for trial for over 10 years asthe agency suffers from a shortageof more than 1,100 officers at var-ious levels. In fact, in 2011, as againstthe sanctioned strength of 6,565officers, the actual strength of theCBI was 5,389.

As of July 2009, as many as53,000 cases were pending beforethe Supreme Court, 40 lakh beforeHigh Courts and 2.7 crore beforelower courts. This is an increase of139 per cent for the SupremeCourt, 46 per cent for the HighCourts and 32 per cent for the lowercourts. In 2011, our criminal justicesystem, with a staggering 2.63 crorecases pending in the district andsubordinate courts (of which 29.49lakh cases pertain to traffic challansand motor-vehicle claims), wasalready close to collapse with rela-

tively unimportant cases cloggingthe judicial system.

In 1987, the Law Commission,recognising that the low judge-to-population ratio was leading to pen-dency of matters in courts, had rec-ommended that India raise thenumber of judges from an averageof 10 judges for a million people to50 for a million. In the quarter-cen-tury since, the ratio hasn’t improved.

The 13th Finance Commissionhad provided States with `5,000crore for developing judicial infra-structure, and the 12th Plan (2012-2017) working group of the UnionMinistry of Law and Justice cameup with a series of recommenda-tions to overhaul the judicial system.However, there is little to show byway of implementation.

For instance, the Governmentproposed setting up 5,000 gramnyayalays in 2009 to ensure that,“Opportunities for justice were notdenied to any citizen by reason ofsocial, economic or other disabili-ties”. But only 159 had been set upby March 2015. As of January 1, thesanctioned strength of permanentand additional judges was 1,044.

Our legal system is 150 yearsold. Laws have become outdatedand procedures have becomevogue. There ought to be a limit tothe number of appeals and also tothe number of courts an accusedcan approach. It has become a tra-dition for an accused to go onappealing to the High Court or theSupreme Court, hoping to securea favourable decision.

Whether a person is killed,either by a gun or knife or due torash driving, a murder is murder.For every incident, the onus lies onthe prosecution and investigation totrace and produce witnesses beforethe court. One gets an impressionthat the law expects that for everysingle crime, a witness will be nearby to record the event and then keento depose in court.

Road accidents take the cake,with almost no or nominal pun-ishment, whereas, penalties shouldbe at par with murder and includeconfiscation of the vehicleinvolved. One serious road acci-dent in the country occurs everyminute and 16 die on Indianroads every hour. Some 1,214 roadcrashes occur every day in India.Two-wheelers account for 25 percent of the total road crash deaths.Twenty children under the age of14 die every day in road crashes.Some 377 people die every day,equivalent to a jumbo jet crashingevery day. Regrettably, noGovernment has tightened thescrews. How long should we haveto wait for prompt justice? F

oreign policy work is commonly associated with glitzy high-level diplomat-ic summits, where world leaders make speeches and sign documents, bethey peace treaties or trade agreements, all under the glare of a thousand

flashbulbs. And while these are, of course, important and do aim to deliver goodto the public, often the spotlight tends to blight out those in whose name all ofthis is done: The citizen. Yet, it is the citizen and his welfare that should lie atthe core of any nation's foreign policy; and securing the citizen's interests at homeand abroad must be the most important yardstick with which to measure thesuccess of any diplomatic effort. It in this context that India's Minister for ExternalAffairs Sushma Swaraj has proved herself to be a class apart. In the less thantwo years that she has held office, Ms Swaraj has repeatedly responded to thecries of the aam aadmi, many of whom have reached out to her directly throughsocial media, and brought them relief. And she has done all of this quietly andefficiently, away from the media glare. There has been no celebratory chest-thump-ing, just a gentle, ‘We were happy to help' — a rare gesture among vote-seek-

ing politicians. Recently, Ms Swarajand her ministry rescued a mother andher child stranded in Germany, and abusinessman abducted in Senegal. Inthe first case, she promptly respond-ed to one Ms Gurpreet fromFaridabad, who had sent her a videomessage on the micro-blogging siteTwitter, detailing how she and her lit-tle daughter had been abandoned ata refugee camp in Frankfurt. Withina day, officials from the Indian con-sulate in Frankfurt had rescued theduo. In the second case, award-win-ning Kerala novelist and playwrightShreekumar Varma had been takenhostage in Dakar on January 23.Varma had travelled to the Senegalesecapital to sell an original painting byhis great grandfather, the legendary

19th century painter Raja Ravi Varma, but it was only after he was on foreignshores that he realised he had been conned. It was then that the External AffairsMinistry, upon being intimated by the Varma family, swung into action; withinthree days, the hostage had been freed without any ransom being paid.

Notably, these two cases are only the latest in a long line of such instances.In December 2015, Ms Swaraj was able to extend timely assistance to an Indianlabourer stranded in Saudi Arabia, who had contacted her on Twitter and saidthat he hadn't been paid his salary for 28 months. Around the same time, theMinister, based on a report in a leading national daily, rescued labourers livingout of a bus in Dubai after their former employer shut shop and they lost theiraccommodation. Before that, in April, another Indian woman was rescued fromJohannesburg and brought home safely to Kochi. Now, if only we could con-firm the whereabouts of the 39 Indians missing in Iraq and, hopefully, bring themhome, we could place the cherry on Ms Swaraj’s cake.

While the Telangana Rashtra Samithi has done the expected by winning theGreater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation election, the scale of its victo-ry has come as a shock to its rivals and pleasantly surprised its support-

ers. The party bagged 102 of the 150 seats. In normal circumstances, the resultwould have generated little interest outside the city and the State of Telangana.What makes it interesting is the resounding defeat of the Asaduddin Owaisi-ledAll India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, which could manage only a little over 40seats. While it is true that the AIMIM has emerged as the second biggest partyin the corporation, this is little consolation since it had earlier either shared powerwith both the Congress and the Telugu Desam Party or helped them in secur-ing key positions in the corporation. It is clear from the outcome that the peo-ple of Hyderabad were disgusted with the state of affairs earlier and perhaps feltthat the governance of the corporation had suffered as a result of the presenceof the AIMIM. It is for the first time in a decade that a single party will have afull term for itself, without being shackled by a partner, either from inside or out-side. In 2004 and 2009, the Congress, having fallen short of numbers, had beencompelled to seek Mr Owaisi's support to have its nominee elected for the Mayor

and Deputy Mayor's posts. The freshresult is also a negation of Mr Owaisi'spolitics of divisiveness — during thecampaign he had exhorted voters toback his candidates since his party'sdefeat would mean that the peoplewould no longer be able to consumebeef! The seats which the AIMIMgained have come largely from the oldcity, which further underlines thelack of broad-based support MrOwaisi has across Hyderabad. If theAIMIM continues with its belligerentpolitics of hate, it has no way but oneto go: Downhill. It may still retain thefew pockets of influence it commands,but that will not help in its outreachbeyond Telangana, something that MrOwaisi attempted in Maharashtra andBihar, and is now hoping to do in the

2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election. Meanwhile, both the Telugu Desam Partyand the Bharatiya Janata Party, which have been reduced to single-digit num-bers, haves some stock-taking to do. While they did not stand a chance beforethe TRS's popularity in Hyderabad, they must reflect because they could havedone better.

The triumph of the TRS, crafted by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, iseven more special for the party, given that just a little over a decade ago it hadonly one corporator to boast of in Hyderabad. Moreover, it comes on the heelsof the massive win the TRS had secured in the Warangal by-election less thanthree months ago, with the record margin of victory sending shockwaves in rivalcamps. Mr Rao is on a jolly good ride at the moment, and he must seize it topush forward his Government's development agenda in the State by actively col-laborating with the Centre. So far, the Chief Minister has demonstrated maturi-ty in the matter and signalled that political differences cannot be allowed to comein the way of the State's progress. It's a lesson that some of his counterpartsin other States ought to learn.

Hate politics trounced

Owaisi party’s defeat in Hyderabad poll a signal

opinion 08LUCKNOW | MONDAY | FEBRUARY 8, 2016

Reforming the nation’screaky judicial systemThe Indian judiciary is one of the oldest and is faced with multiple challenges which include pendency ofcases, lack of infrastructure facilities and delay in judges’ appointment. Need of the hour is radical reform

The ‘happy to help’ motto

Low-key but efficient External Affairs Ministry

Indian culture

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Discard racial mindset”(February 6). Even as we are mak-ing efforts to emerge as the mostattractive investment destinationin the world, incidents like thebrutal assault on a Tanzanianwoman student in Bangalore hasshamed us globally.

This issue has now takendiplomatic tones with Tanzaniaissuing a note verbale. India is thepreferred education destinationfor many African countries sincethey find the educational stan-dards here to be good. Moreover,the fees here in India are moreaffordable than those in Europeor the US. It will be better if everyIndian understands the truemeaning of Atithi Devo Bhava.

KS Jayatheertha Bangalore

Pakistan’s duplicity

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Anything can happen, sir”(February 5). This editorial hasunravelled the duplicity of Pakistanin general and its HighCommission in India in particular.

Why are Indian artistes, whoenjoy maximum freedom in their

own country, so eager to go toanother country where Islam is thebe-all and end-all? Do they forgetabout the pain that our neighbourinflicts on us by way of cross-bor-der terrorism and attacks like theones in Pathankot and Mumbai?

SC PandaBhubaneswar

Act fast

Sir — This refers to the article,“Curbing black money is the wayforward” (February 5) byVinayshil Gautam. The UnionGovernment is under no obliga-tion to appear active on the issueof black money. So much waspromised during the electioncampaign, but the ModiGovernment has done preciouslittle to tackle this problem.People are getting impatient andthe Government must act fast.

Abhi Via web

Preventing accumulation

Sir — This refers to the article,“Curbing black money is the wayforward” (February 5) byVinayshil Gautam. We all knowthat gold and property are theplaces where black money is

poured in. Preventing the accu-mulation of black money is moreimportant than unearthing it.

Tax evasion is one of thebiggest problems that we face, andit should be nipped in the bud. Asa law-abiding citizen, I feel everyIndian should receive equal treat-ment. Each and every accountshould undergo an audit.

Manoj Mafatlal DaveVia web

Real history

Sir — This refers to the article,“‘Left historians misledMuslims’” (February 4) byKavita Nair-Fondekar. A dead-ly combination of Marxist his-torians and the media has cre-ated havoc on the Indian psyche.Ever since independence, theduo has misled us, with the netdamage being immeasurable.

I just hope that we come toknow about our real history onthe basis of a rigorous histori-ographical process and get tosee India as it is and not as whatmalicious forces have wantedus to see.

Janardhan Via web

www.dailypioneer.com

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

JOGINDER SINGH

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Prime Minister Modi

can advance the

interest of the peo-

ple of India by work-

ing effectively with

President Obama.

White House Press

Secretary

—Josh Earnest

I’m endorsing Marco

Rubio to be our next

president. We have got

to turn the page on the

Obama Administration.

US Republican

—Bobby Jindal

Whatever is conjec-

ture (about Netaji

Bose) is not of conse-

quence to me. What

is of consequence is

that he was fighting

for India’s freedom.

Film-maker

—Shyam Benegal

THERE MUST BE ALIMIT TO THE NUMBEROF APPEALS AND TO

THE NUMBER OFCOURTS AN ACCUSED

CAN APPROACH. ITHAS BECOME A

TRADITION TO GO ONAPPEALING TO THE

HIGH COURT OR THESUPREME COURT,

HOPING FOR AFAVOURABLE VERDICT

SOUNDBITE

Let’s clean our backyard

before accusing others

This refers to the editorial, “Discard racial mindset” (February 6).Racism runs deep in the Indian society not just against African stu-dents but also against its own citizens. Wide-scale discrimination

meted out to the students from the North-East is well known. Given suchscandalous state of affairs, brutal attacks like the one on YannickNihangaza, a student from Burundi in 2012, or the recent one on aTanzanian girl in Bangalore, should not be surprising.

If people in Australia or Britain are selectively ‘racist’ against Indianstudents studying there, then the assault on African students or the stu-dents from the North-East, who come to the mainland to study, is noless than racism. Instead of blowing our own trumpet of ‘tolerance’ oraccusing others of practising ‘racism’, we should at first learn to cleanour own backyard. Else, India will end up as a classical case of ‘potcalling the kettle black’.

Kajal ChatterjeeKolkata

Send your feedback to: letterstopioneer@gmail.com

MAYURI MUKHERJEE

NAVIN UPADHYAY

Difficult Dialogues’, thetitle itself can put offeven the most avid listen-

ers and professional ‘talkers’. Ahost of participants shared thesame apprehension during thethree-day eponymous event atthe International Centre Goa.Difficult Dialogues, an inde-pendent, non-partisan forumcurated in collaboration with theSouth Asia Centre of the LondonSchool of Economics, andTelevision Trust forEnvironment, brought leadingthinkers, activists, academiciansand economists from across theglobe on one platform, to givefood for thought to policymak-ers in areas of global finance,infrastructure, civil society, Indiaand West Asia.

When Goa Chief MinisterLaxmikant Parsekar consumedmore than 30 minutes of theforum, delivering a monoto-nous speech that had no connec-tion with the event, apprehension

deepened that it was going to bea tedious affair. But what followedwas a feast for eyes and ears.

Well-known Serbian politi-cal thinker Srdja Popovic’s talk,‘People Power: How Non-ViolentStrategies are Shaking andShaping the World’, was heardwith rapt attention. The lankySerb, who spoke fluent English,was a great performer, mixingaction with words, well-rehearsedpauses with rapid fire words andimpact-making geniculations toenthrall the audience. MrPopovic made a powerful caseagainst military intervention bythe West and the US for impos-ing democracy in several parts ofthe world by presenting aresearch that showed how frag-ile such regime could be.

According to him, thechances of survival of mili-tary-imposed democracy wasonly four per cent, where as in51 per cent cases, democracyushered in by non-violent

means survived and flourished.The next evening saw

another captivating presenta-tion — this time by award win-ning author Amitabh Ghosh onopium trade between India andChina. The subject was titled,‘From Bombay to Canton:Traveling the Opium Route to19th Century China’. On the lav-ish beachside of Cidade Goa, MrGhosh made a fabulous audio-visual presentation, presentingsome of the rarest paintingsthat captured the differentdemission of the opium trade.

A separate panel discussionon the plight of street childrenand the crying need for theirrehabilitation was also an eye-opener. The discussion high-lighted how little was beingdone to address the problemfaced by over 11 million suchchildren, who are forced toembrace drug and crime.

The session on globalfinance brought some of the best

known speakers on one platform.They included Mr Erik Berglöf,Director of the Institute of GlobalAffairs and Professor in Practicein Economics at the LSE; MrNasser Munjee, LSE alumnusand also chairman of DCB Bank;Mr Nicholas Stern, IG PatelChair Professor in Economicsand Government at the LSE; andtelecom industry expert andentrepreneur Sam Pitroda.

At the end of the discussion,when the panelists invited ques-tions, from the rear of the roomcame a voice: “I’m YashwantSinha, and I’ve run the financeof this country for years. May Iask a question?” Mr Sinha dis-agreed with a lot of propositionsput forward by the panelists andpointed out how the big bossesof the World Bank andInternational Monetary Fundtreated with contempt PrimeMinisters and Presidents ofsmaller countries. Mr Sinhaalso called for a permanent

institution to deal with recurringfinancial crisis.

In the closing session, MrSinha grabbed the attentionwhen he slammed the absence of‘dialogue’ in the country and said,“Those who do not believe indialogues are decimated by theforces of democracy.” Though hedid not name anyone, in the con-text of the nature of discussionand preceding remark made byCommunist Party of India(Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury,it was clear that BJP leader, MrSinha was taking a potshot at thebosses of his own party-ledGovernment at the Centre.

In the lead-up to its firstyear’s programme, the festivalmobilised youth into engagingwith critical issues, throughdaring debated. Talking aboutthe event’s objective, Ms SurinaNarula, Founding Director,Difficult Dialogues said,“Difficult Dialogues is aimed atworking with individuals,

organisations, think-tanks,media, Government toencourage multi-faceted dia-logue and debate to positionSouth Asia as a dynamic glob-al region influencing widerchanges and powers. We hopethese dialogues will lead tomeaningful actions by peopleacross sectors and policymak-ers that will bring about thedesired change in the society.”

Ms Surina went on to add,“Difficult Dialogues is premisedon the conviction that knowl-edge sharing is the corner-stone of progressive change inthis fastest growing, volatileregion of the world.”

The closing ceremonyincluded a curtain-raiser onDifficult Dialogues 2017 bySridhar Venkatapuram whoon medical ethics, remarks byDifficult Dialogues SteeringCommittee Chairman, AnilGupta and ICG President,Yatin Kakodar.

While senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha added spice to Difficult Dialogues, the event facilitated valuable interactionamong thinkers from across the globe in areas of global finance, infrastructure, civil society and foreign relations

In Naypyidaw, democracy dawns

3rdeye 09LUCKNOW | MONDAY | FEBRUARY 8, 2016

Those who have been reduced to 40 seats

are creating obstacles in the Government's

functioning. Just one family is doing this.

—Prime Minister

NARENDRA MODI

The job of the Prime Minister is to run the

Government, not make excuses. All that he

has done in 18 months is to make excuses.

—Congress vice president

RAHUL GANDHI

The military is

expected to keep

the key portfolios of

Defence, Home and

Border Operations.

This will further

complicate matters

of day-to-day

governance and can

easily become a

source of friction. It

could even lead to a

full confrontation

that may undermine

Myanmar's

democratic

transition,

especially since the

military still has

emergency powers

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

Ruled by the military junta forfive decades, and under asemi-military Governmentthat secured its mandatethough a rigged election for

the last five years, Myanmar last weektook one of its most definitive stepstowards becoming a functional democ-racy: It swore in a new Parliament com-prised mostly of civilian lawmakersbrought to power through a largely freeand fair election. In the 664-seat legis-lature, political icon and Nobel laure-ate Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, theNational League for Democracy, whichwon a landslide victory in the parlia-mentary election held last year onNovember 8, has 390 members, whilethe military-backed Union Solidarityand Development Party, which was pre-viously in charge, has only 42.

However, this does not mean thatthe military has been marginalised inParliament since Army-appointed rep-resentatives still hold 25 per cent of theseats that were not open for election.But even factoring in this block ofunelected members, it is noteworthythat the NLD still has a clear 50 per centmajority in Parliament.

The much-awaited big decisionnow is: Who will be the next President?NLD chief Suu Kyi is barred from tak-ing the top job, as her sons holdBritish passports and the Constitutionof Myanmar prohibits those with for-eign nationals in their immediate fam-ily from the Presidency. This clause wasspecifically inserted to keep Ms Suu Kyiout of the presidential palace and it ispossible that in due course of time, theConstitution will be amended.

But for now, there is no clarity onwho will be the next leader. Ms Suu Kyi,who has long expressed her desire to bePresident, is holding back channeltalks with the military and The NewYork Times has reported that the NLDmay be offering the Chief Minister’spost in three key States to the USDP.But it’s difficult to tell how these talksare progressing. If the talks fail at leastfor the time being (keeping the optionopen for Ms Suu Kyi to take over thepresidency later in the term), the focuswill be on a proxy President: Ms SuuKyi has no clear deputy in the party butmore importantly, she has already saidthat irrespective of who wears thePresident’s tag, it is she who will be theleader of any NLD Government.

Either way, the new Governmentfaces many challenges. First isGovernment formation. Having beenin opposition for so many years, NLDmembers have no experience in nation-al governance or institutional reform.This will make it enormously difficultfor the new Government to guide thecountry through this crucial period oftransition and deliver meaningfulchange and progress. The public, ofcourse, has high expectations and it willbe a huge setback to the democraticprocess if the Government fails to deliv-er, and at the end of the next five years,there is much public resentment.

Second, the NLD will have tocarefully manage its relations with themilitary, which remains a powerfulforce. Ms Suu Kyi has done this with

aplomb in recent years. She has a goodworking relationship with outgoingPresident Thein Sein — an importantfactor in the steady democratic transi-tion of the past five years. Remember,when the parliamentary election washeld in 2010, Ms Suu Kyi’s NLD, hav-ing been unlawfully denied the oppor-tunity to form the Government evenafter having won the election in 1990,had boycotted. However, since 2012,after election laws were reformed, theNLD participated in several by-elec-tions, all of which it won.

So, to that end, the NLD is off to asafe start. However, one mustn’t under-mine the challenges ahead. For one, thepossibility of a proxy President will addanother variable to the mix and thereis no telling how that it will affect thecarefully-set equation between theNLD and the old military establish-ment. Moreover, the military is expect-ed to keep the key portfolios of Defence,Home and Border Operations. This willfurther complicate matters of day-to-day governance and can easily becomea source of friction. It could even leadto a full confrontation that may under-mine Myanmar’s democratic transitionespecially since the military still hasemergency powers.

Outside politics, the big issue forthe new Government is fructifying thepeace process with the ethnic armedgroups. The Thein Sein Governmentmade major progress in this regard lastyear when it signed a peace deal with

the ethnic armed groups. However,fighting has continued despite theagreement to cease fire and violentclashes in Shan and Kachin States arethreatening to undermine the peaceprocess. This could lead to large-scaleeconomic turbulence that Myanmar ishardly prepared to deal with.

Also, the situation in Rakhine State,where most Muslim Rohingya are dis-enfranchised, remains volatile. At home,any decision of the NLD Governmenton this issue will be viewed through anationalist lens but outside Myanmar,it will be seen as test of character for thepeace laureate-politician. Notably, MsSuu Kyi has maintained a studiedsilence on the Rohingya issue whichhasn’t gone unnoticed in the international community.

Another long term challenge beforethe new Government will be dealingwith China. Myanmar was close tobecoming a Chinese satellite statewhen the junta decided to the reversecourse. This has led to some cooling ofties between China and Myanmar butthe latter is still deeply entrenched andunlikely to back away without a fight.

Ms Suu Kyi and the NLD will needdeft diplomatic skills to shepherdMyanmar’s ongoing re-engagementwith the West, without rocking the boatwith a more assertive China that is pre-sumable concerned about its interestsbeing harmed. For this geo-political re-orientation to succeed, the Westerncountries must also understand that

while do have a significant role to playin bringing positive change inMyanmar, and the new Governmentwill, of course, dip into the large reser-voir of support and goodwill but every-body needs to be cognizant of domes-tic and regional sensitivities.

This is also where India comes intoplay. Myanmar stands at the crossroadsof India’s Neighbourhood First and ActEast policies; and it is crucial to thedevelopment of India’s own North-Eastern States as well as its relationswith South East Asia. However, Indiais still only a minor player in Myanmardespite its longstanding historical andcivilisational ties. Though New Delhihas been pragmatic enough to dobusiness with the junta since the 1990s,this has been far below potential.Meanwhile, other regional powers suchas Singapore and Thailand, not to men-tion China, have soared ahead.

India has a lot of catching up to dobut a good place to start will be accel-erating the transport connectivity pro-jects that are already in the pipeline. Atthe top of the list is the `2,904-croreKaladan project, which includes a225km-waterway on the Kaladan Riverfrom Sittwe Port to Kaletwa and fromthere, a 62km-roadway from Kaletwato the India-Myanmar border. TheIndia-Myanmar-Thailand highway andthe Bangladesh-China-India-MyanmarEconomic Corridor are the two otherimportant projects that require immediate attention.

Difficult but necessary dialogue thinknowH

eroes in fact die with one's

youth. They are pinned like

butterflies to the setting

board of early memories-the

time when skies were always

blue, the sun shone and the air

was filled with the sounds and

scents of grass being cut. I no

longer worship heroes, beings

for whom the ordinary scales of

human values are inadequate.

One learns that as one grows

up, so do the gods grow down.

It is in many ways a pity: for

one had thought that heroes

had no problems of their own.

Now one knows different!

—Alan Ross

British author

Tapping into freight

for railway growth

Given that Indian Railways is losing business to theroad sector due to its low average speed, capacityaugmentation can become a game-changer

Last week, Myanmar took one of its most definitive steps towards democracy: It swore in a Parliament comprised mostly of civilianlawmakers, brought to power through a largely free and fair election. However, the new Government still faces many challengesRC ACHARYA

FIRSTCOLUMN

Of the 7,000 odd passenger trains that run daily, the Howrah-Amritsar express holds the record for the largest numberof halts. With 115 stations, the train takes about 44 hours

and 30 minutes to cover 1,922kms. It clocks at an average speedof just over 43kmph, and, therefore, has been relegated to thestatus of a slow passenger train.

And this is the same story for many other trains too. Theslow speed of passenger trains can be attributed to the populistmeasures of successive Railways Ministers. When MPs, MLAs,rail passenger associations and other assorted self-styled bod-ies, out to establish their clout with the Minister, demanded addi-tional halts for Rajdhanis and other super-fast trains, the Ministerscomplied with their demands.

Such haults were sanctioned on an experimental basis bythe Minister to gain quick popularity and also to assess the vol-ume of traffic that is to be generated from the intermediate sta-tion. In due course, it has to be decided if such a halt shouldbe discontinued or made permanent.

However, due to bureaucratic lethargy, such a review is sel-dom done. The result is that the halt becomes permanent bydefault. A whopping 4,840 so-called experimental halts were sanc-tioned by the Railways Ministry since 2004, all of which weresupposed to lapse on September 30, 2014 but unfortunately con-tinued as Mr Sadananda Gowda, the then Minister for Railways,could not muster enough courage to review and axe them.

Resultantly, over the years, the average speeds of trains haveplummeted. This has had a far-reaching impact on long-distancepassengers. To deal with this sorry state of affairs, Union RailwaysMinister Suresh Prabhu has proposed that stoppages for trainsbe considered only on the basis of operational feasibility, com-mercial justifications and genuine demands — not the whimsof local netas.

As usual, this year too, trying to make the most of their pres-ence at the Winter Session of Parliament, a stream of MPs madea bee-line at Rail Bhavan, seeking the Railway Minister’s indul-gence, to sanction stoppage of mail express trains at waysidestations, to introduce new trains, and to extend the run of someothers, so that they reach the stations in their constituency.

At this point, when railways is fast losing business to theroad sector because of a low average speed, Mr Prabhu can ill-afford to add new trains, extend the run of existing ones or sanc-tion new halts. The sanction of such demands will further lowerthe speed of passenger as well as freight trains.

Mr Prabhu’s massive drive to augment the railways’ capac-ity by doubling, tripling, and even quadrupling it in some exist-ing high-density sections which are already carrying traffic over150 per cent of their design capacity will take time — he hasto make things work with the existing infrastructure, to carryincreased freight, if and when it materialises.

Also, the railways has found the Public Private Partnershipmodel which was successful for port connectivity projects suchas Mundra, Pipavav and Dhamra, where the area of responsi-bilities had been clearly demarcated and there have been no post-construction disputes. Resultantly, more projects like these areon the anvil.

The JSW group, in 2015, signed an agreement with theKonkan Railway, to build a 34km, `771 crore rail link to con-nect its Jaigarh port on the Konkan coast. This will create a chan-nel for growth of freight business for the railways.

In order to tap the business for parcel transport that is esti-mated at one lakh crore rupees, Mr Prabhu, aided by his teamof whizkids, in consultation with experts in logistics, has fast-tracked a policy paper to attract major private players in this lucra-tive field. To be announced by end of this month, this paper willoffer substantial benefits to the private sector to enter into a longterm partnership. The private sector will use its limitedresources to bring about last mile connectivity while asking IndianRailways will have undertake the major projects for the long haul.This can substantially improve the Government’s bottom line.

(The writer is a former Member, Railway Board)

LUCKNOW | MONDAY | FEBRUARY 8, 2016 money 10

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PARADIP

Concerned with slowprogress of development

due to delaying implementa-tion of projects and policies,especially Paradip refinery pro-ject, Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday slammedCongress for not completingthe projects on time. Callingfor more production of oil inthe country through Paradiplike chanels, he wants somecuts in oil imports by 2022.

“Delays shouldn’t occur asthey affect people as far as anyproject is concerned. MyCongress friends often say thisrefinery project was started byus. I don’t relish such cere-monies rather I would have

been happy if the projectswere completed 15 years ago,well in time,” Modi said whilededicating the Paradip refineryto the nation here.

Focusing oil consumptionin the country, the PrimeMinister praised all employeesof Paradip for indigenous tal-ent to successfully producingsuch huge tonnes of oil as aninitiative of his Make in Indiamovement.

“The oil imports should bereduced by at least 10 per centby 2022. It will change theeconomy of the country andOdisha, too. Now, they will bethe producers of energy. Wewill be able to produce morejob opportunities,” he added.

Though India will cele-brate 75 years of Independence

in 2022, the country has spent$112.7 billion on import of189.4 million tonnes of crudeoil in 2014-15 fiscal year.

“We will produce petrole-um products from khadi (gulf)and Jhadi (sugarcane andJatropha)," he said.

The Prime Minister also

claimed that the Governmentis trying to bring a culture forcompleting projects well intime. "We are trying to bring awork culture where projectsare conceived in time andcompleted on time. TheInitiatives have to be futuristicand completed before the des-

ignated time period.""Modi said while address-

ing a public rally here whereOrissa Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik, IOC Chairman BAshok, among others werealso present. The Government,he added, was 'trying to bringin this change so that there isno serious loss to the exche-quer because of delay.”Initiatives have to be futuristicand completed before the des-ignated time period.

“Delays shouldn't occur,”he said, adding that in the past,ideas originated 50 years back,would take 10 years to putthem on paper and conceiveda similar number of years to layfoundation stone and manymore years before it is com-pleted.” Describing the refinery

as the ray of hope for devel-opment in Odisha, and thecountry as well, he said, “I haveasked officials to work in thisdirection.”

Modi also claimed thecredit for completion of projectthe foundation stone for whichwas laid in May 2000 by thethen Prime Minister AtalBihari Vajpayee while takingshots at the UPA-led previousgovernment at the Centre. Hewas of the view that it is notgood that tendering, agita-tions and unnecessary process-es delay projects and plans asthis affects people.

Talking about Paradiprefinery with 15 million tonnesannual capacity, he said thefoundation stone was laid byformer Prime Minister Atal

Bihari Vajpayee in 2000 andcompleted again by the NDAgovernment's tenure.

Citing another example ofdelay in implementation byprevious regimes, Modisaid,"around 26 lakh cooking(LPG) gas connections weregiven in last 60 years in Odishawhereas Dharmendra Pradhangave 11 lakh connections inone year in the state after hetook over as PetroleumMinister. This is the way workshould be done."

"For the development ofthe country, we all - citizens,bureaucracy, industry and pol-icy-makers, have to give birthto such a culture where pro-jects start on time, progresswithin the scheduled time,and finish within the pre-

decided time so that countrygets the benefit, the benefitcomes before scheduled time,"he said.

As fas as this refinery isconcerned, Modi said that itwould create lakhs of jobs forthe youth and provide LPGcylinders to the crores of poorwomen. Further, we are alsoplanning to set up a fertiliserfactory in eastern belt of Odishasoon. Moreover, he encour-aged the youth, saying that theyouth to be the job-givers ratherthan job seekers. In addition, hesaid that for public and privatesectors, ̀ personal' sector shouldalso be nurtured for develop-ment. Modi also said there areplans afoot to set up an ethyl-ene recovery unit with `3,800crore by 2020-21.

Modi blames Cong for project delays, calls for cut in oil imports

PNS n PARADIP (ODISHA)

Loans worth about `1 lakhcrore have been sanctioned

to small entrepreneurs under thePradhan Mantri MUDRAYojana, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi said on Sunday,emphasising that the govern-ment wants youth to be job cre-ators and not job seekers.

Speaking at the inaugura-tion of Indian Oil Corp's (IOC)`34,555-crore Paradip Refinery,Modi said apart from public andprivate sector, there was a needfor developing ‘personal sector’in which youth can become selfsufficient, start businesses andgenerate new employmentavenues.

“We do not want youth ofthe country to become job seek-ers, we want that they becomejob creators so that they giveemployment to one, two or fivepeople. So, under MUDRAYojana we are giving fund to theyouth. We have disbursed about`1 lakh crore. Within such lesstime, giving so much money tosuch people is not a small thing,”Modi said.

Under Pradhan MantriMUDRA Yojana, which waslaunched in April last year, loans

between `50,000 and `10 lakhare provided to small entrepre-neurs.

In India, about 65 per centof the population is below theage of 35 years and for theprogress of these youth, therewas a need to boost entrepre-neurship, Modi said.

“We need to create employ-ment opportunities for youth inthe country. So, throughMUDRA Yojana, we wanted tomake the youth self sufficient,”hesaid, adding that the governmentis moving ahead with the eco-nomic principle to make each

individual and every family selfsufficient.

Modi said whenever there isa discussion on economy, it isonly public and private sectorthat is talked out.

“I'm giving emphasis onthird sector. If there is impor-tance of public and private sec-tor in the economy, then thethird sector on which emphasisshould be given is the personalsector.”

The Micro UnitsDevelopment and RefinanceAgency Ltd (MUDRA) focuseson the 5.75 crore self-employed

who use funds totaling ̀ 11 lakhcrore and provide jobs to 12crore people.

The banking sector hasbeen allocated an overall dis-bursement target of about ̀ 1.22lakh crore during 2015-16 forMUDRA loans. The unit willmanufacture 78 crore kg ofLPG, 500 crore litres of petrol,660 crore litre of diesel, 250 crorelitre of kerosene and ATF, 27lakh quintal of sulphur and 120lakh qunital of petroleum coke.

“You can imagine howmuch these products will givemomentum to economic devel-opment,” he said. LPG from therefinery will replace firewood inrural households. One hour ofcooking on firewood subjectrural women to smoke equiva-lent to 400 cigarettes.

“We are trying that thepoor get LPG gas cylinders togive them freedom fromsmoke,’ he said. Also, fertiliz-er plants in the region arebeing revived to produce ureafor farmers, he added. Paradiprefinery, he said, has added tothe 'Make-in-India' glory asIOC's indigenously developedINDMAX has maximisedLPG yield to 44 per cent, thehighest in the world.

PNS n NEW DELHI

With India becoming aglobal hub for manufac-

turing of mobile phones, thecountry may reach productionof 500 million units in nexttwo years on the back of anincentive policy and availabil-ity of good talent, a top offi-cial of Department of Telecom(DoT) said on Sunday. In2015, production of mobilephones in the country hasalready reached 100 million.

“The number of phonesbeing manufactured was 10million sometime back (now ithas increased) to 100 million.The time has come when wewill reach 500 million, may bein 2 years,” Telecom SecretaryJS Deepak said here.

He was speaking on the sec-ond day of a seminar onTelecom and Broadcastingtheme – ART (Adjudication,R e g u l a t i o n ,Telecommunication) ofConvergence, TDSAT.

He added that apart fromphones, the differential tariffis helping domestic manufac-turers to get into other areaslike medical electronics, con-sumer electronics as well asbroadband equipment and set

up boxes. “Today, with base oftalent and incentive policy,India is becoming a global hubfor manufacturing of phonesand specially low-end phones,”he added. The Government ismaking efforts to reduceimports of electronic productsand meet requirement ofdomestic market throughindigenous production.

Given the Governmentspush for Make in India, devicemakers, including Micromax,Lava, Gionee, Lenovo,OnePlus and Xiaomi, havestarted assembling theirdevices in the country.

India is one of the fastestgrowing smartphone marketsglobally and device makersare keen to set up manufac-turing units here to cater to theburgeoning demand.

Foxconn, the world'sbiggest contract manufacturerof electronics goods, includingfor Apple Inc, has announcedplans to set up as many as 12factories in India.

The Government hasreceived proposals worth `1.13lakh crore in the electronicsmanufacturing segment frommajor brands under the mod-ified special incentive packagescheme (M-SIPS).

M-SIPS has been extend-ed till July 2020, which was ear-lier valid till July 2017. Thescheme offers capital subsidiesto large investments in elec-tronics manufacturing and sys-tem design. The Secretary alsosaid that making high-speedbroadband available to indi-viduals in rural areas is a pri-ority of the government.

According to a survey, hesaid, while Internet usersmay have touched 400 mil-lion, broadband users are inthe range of 40-50 millionand growing very slowly inrural areas. “May be 7 percent people in rural areas useInternet. More importantly,it's the issue of digital divide.We have only 14 per centrural households which aredigitally literate.

Mobile phones production in Indiamay reach 500 mn in 2 years: DoT

PTI n NEW DELHI

GoAir now plans to comeout with its initial share

sale next fiscal amid persistinguncertainty over the scheduleddelivery of new Airbus aircraftwhich is key for the no-frillscarrier's ambitious growthstrategy. The airline original-ly was looking to hit the cap-ital market in the currentfinancial year, which has alsoseen budget carrier IndiGo'sblockbuster IPO.

Sources said that GoAir isstill awaiting clarity on thedelivery of 72 Airbus A320neo planes before taking a finaldecision on the timing of theIPO. The delivery of the aircraftwas to start from April this year.While the Wadia group airlinehas not officially made its IPOplan public, sources said GoAirwould be looking to raisearound $150-175 million.

At current exchange rate,this would translate into`1,000 to 1,200 crore. Apartfrom aircraft delivery sched-ule, GoAir would also be tak-ing into account market con-ditions before deciding onthe IPO timing, sources said.

GoAir plans IPO next fiscal, awaits clarity on A320 neos

PTI nMUMBAI

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajanhas said the Central Bank has

finished negotiations with theFinance Ministry on the vexedissue of the monetary policycommittee, but declined to givedetails, saying the Governmentwill table it before Parliamentthrough an amendment.

“It is completed. Everythingis done, certainly the discussionsbetween us and the Government,”Rajan told reporters from wireagencies last week when askedabout the progress on MPC. Headded that now the governmenthas to decide on the timing oftabling the amendments to theRBI Act before Parliament.

Rajan did not get into thespecifics, saying “I think the gov-ernment does not want to discussthis outside Parliament with duerespect for parliamentary proce-dures.” He, however, reiteratedthat all the discussions sur-rounding issues that have gener-ated a lot of speculation are over.

“As far as the discussion of thedetails goes, I think we are all onboard,” he clarified. In a recentspeech, Rajan had said the cen-tral bank is looking forward to theamendments to the RBI Actbefore the migration to the infla-tion-targeting framework. “Wehave absolutely no intent ofdeparting from the inflationframework that has been agreedwith the Government. We lookforward to the Government

amending the RBI Act to usherin the monetary policy commit-tee, further strengthening theframework,” Rajan had said.

The representation of nom-inees from the government as wellas RBI in the committee, whichwill set the rates, has been an issueof intense speculation after Rajansaid in August that he does notwant the veto on rates to be withthe governor.

“RBI believes that institu-tionalising the process of mone-tary policy formulation is vital,given that the government hasgiven RBI a clear inflation objec-tive,” Rajan had said earlier, hint-ing that he is completely fine withnot having the veto power.

“If we continue to retainthe veto, it does not change thesituation, it maintains the sta-tus quo,” he said, referring tothe current practice wherethe governor can overrule theadvice of the technical advi-sory committee. RBI joined agrowing list of central banks inthe world with inflation tar-geting as an explicit objectiveby signing an agreement withthe Government last February.

Discussions with

Govt on MPC over,

says RBI Governor

PTI n NEW DELHI

India's economic recovery islosing some steam and there

is a likelihood of slowdown inthe growth momentum, saysJapanese financial servicesfirm Nomura. While improv-ing urban consumptiondemand and a robust trans-portation sector are support-ing growth, weak externalconditions and sluggish invest-ment demand are weighing onthe pace of the recovery, it said.

There is a ‘downside risk’

to its baseline forecast of 7.8per cent GDP growth in 2016,it said, adding however thatNomura Composite LeadingIndex, with a reading stillabove 100, ‘suggests a mid-cycle consolidation, ratherthan the start of a downturn’.

“The economic recovery,which began in the fourthquarter of 2014, is headedinto a consolidation zone intothe second quarter of 2016,”Nomura said in a researchnote, adding that the growthrecovery is not yet broad-

based. While urban con-sumption demand (passengercars, aviation traffic, dieselconsumption, consumer cred-it) remains the brightest spotin the economy, boosted byhigher real disposable incomesand lower commodity prices,rural consumption demand(of two-wheelers) remainssubdued.

“Overall, Nomura's pro-prietary indices for India,together with the high fre-quency data, indicate someslowdown in the growth

momentum towards end-2015and a high likelihood of fur-ther monetary policy easing,”it said. The Governmentrecently lowered its econom-ic growth forecast for 2015-16to 7-7.5 per cent from 8.1-8.5per cent.

On RBI's policy stance,the report said the CentralBank is expected to deliver afinal 25 bps rate cut in April,utilising the room afforded bylower commodity prices (andweaker growth momentum).

“Beyond that, we expect

the RBI to stay on hold untilend-2016. We will monitorour growth and policy indica-tors on a monthly basis forearly signs of any further dete-rioration in growth outlook orpossible room for further eas-ing,” it added.

Meanwhile, RBI GovernorRaghuram Rajan on February2, left the key interest rateunchanged citing inflation risksand growth concerns, whilepegging further easing of mon-etary policy on Government'sbudget proposals.

Nomura says Indian economic recovery losing steam

PTI n LONDON

With oil price plummeting,nearly 150 uneconomic oil

platforms in the UK North Seaare expected to be scrapped overthe next 10 years, according toindustry analysts. Of all thedecommissioning over the next25 years, more than half is like-ly to take place between 2019and 2026.

The estimate, fromDouglas-Westwood, takesaccount of the fall in the price ofoil. Crude prices have plungedaround 70 per cent over the past18 months to around $35 a bar-rel. The estimate said this willresult in many oil fields in UKwaters, including the North Sea,becoming uneconomic.

Another consultancy, WoodMackenzie, reported on Fridaythat, at recent prices, one inseven barrels of oil being pro-duced in UK waters is at a cashloss. It said the UK is thecountry third most likely to seeoil fields permanently shut downas a result of low prices, the BBCreported. Canada and Venezuelahave more production at a cashloss. Prices are falling as aresult of too much supply andtoo little demand.

China's economic slow-down has curbed appetite forcommodities in general, whileSaudi Arabia, which producesa third of the Opec cartel's out-put, is keener on preserving itsmarket share than it is on cut-ting production to boostprices. At the same time, therise of the US as a shale oilproducer means it nowimports less oil, adding to theglut on world markets.

‘North Sea could lose150 oil platformsover next 10 years’

PNS n NEW DELHI

The withdrawal of customs duty exemption onimports of life-saving drugs came under crit-

icism today with Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw saying levy of any kind of duty for these med-icines does not resonate well with India's afford-able healthcare mission. Echoing Mazumdar-Shaw's view, the Organisation of PharmaceuticalProducers of India Director General RanjanaSmetacek told PTI the government move will bedetrimental to Indian patients depending on life-saving drugs.

“We should, as a country, exempt life savingdrugs from any kind of levies. Because after all youwant affordable access and that is what you are basi-cally touting as your healthcare mission then youknow levying any kind of duty on life saving drugdoes not resonate well,” Mazumdar-Shaw, the BioconCMD told NDTV.

The prices of some of the medicines are likelyto increase by 22 to 35 per cent if companies decideto transfer the customs duty to patients, industryanalysts said. Recently, the Central Board of Exciseand Customs (CBEC) had issued a notification with-drawing exemption of levy of basic customs duty

on as many as 74 drugs including life-saving ones.The medicines on which customs duty will now beimposed include the ones used for treating kidneystones, cancer chemotherapy and radiotherapy, life-threatening heart rhythm disorders, diabetes,

Parkinson's disease, bone diseases and antibi-otics to treat infections. Besides, drugsused for bacterial infections, leukemia, anestheticmedication, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)or hepatitis B virus cells, allergies, arthritis, lupusand ulcerative colitis might also see spurt in prices.Smetacek told PTI that the industry body was notconsulted on this, adding, We believe the recent hikein duties on life saving drugs will be detrimental toIndian patients.”

Withdrawal of concessional custom duty forthese drugs will adversely impact patients' inter-est as it may lead to increase in prices. This is incomplete contradiction to the public interest asmentioned in the notification, she added. LeenaMenghaney, a lawyer who works with MedicinsSans Frontieres, the international humanitarianagency on its campaign for affordable medicines,said imposition of customs duty is expected toaffect patients who ask for or need drugs suppliedexclusively by foreign manufacturers.

Cust duty exemption withdrawal

on life saving drugs draw flak

PTI n NEW DELHI

Home-grown consumerelectronics brand Onida is

aiming to join the billion dol-lar club in the next four yearswith a six-fold jump in revenueon the back of 'smart products'targeting youth, besides focus-ing on expansion in non-metromarkets.

Mirc Electronics, whichowns Onida brand, plans totake its dealer count to 9,500 inthe next three years focusingnorth and east regions besidesintroducing new non-metrocentric models with highlyoptimised features.

“By 2020, Onida will beknown for smart products. Wewill be one among the top 3choice in young consumers'mind. We will be doing around

$1 billion of sales subject ofmarket stability,” MircElectronics Chairman and MD,GL Mirchandani told PTI. Inthe financial year 2014-15, MircElectronics had a revenue of`1,070.62 crore.

“As a strategy, we are mov-ing into more connecteddevices (Smart devices) prod-uct portfolio- where potential ishuge in metros,” he added. Onida plans to introduce 20new models in its flat panelrange in which most would be"Live Genius" range of smartTVs. It is loaded with androidplatform, Quad core processorand Wi-Fi.

In the segment of air-con-ditioners, Onida has launched"i Genius" model, which can becontrolled from the owner'ssmart phone through Wi-Fi.

Onida aims to join $1-bn club by 2020

Telecom Secretary JS Deepak

DELAYS SHOULDN’T OCCUR AS THEY AFFECTPEOPLE AS FAR AS ANY PROJECT ISCONCERNED. MY CONGRESS FRIENDS OFTENSAY THIS REFINERY PROJECT WAS STARTEDBY US. I DON’T RELISH SUCH CEREMONIESRATHER I WOULD HAVE BEEN HAPPY IF THEPROJECTS WERE COMPLETED 15 YEARS AGO,WELL IN TIME, SAYSPRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI

We do not want youthof the country to

become job seekers,we want that theybecome job creators sothat they giveemployment to one, twoor five people. So, underMUDRA Yojana we are giving fund tothe youth. We have disbursed about `1lakh crore. Within such less time,giving so much money to such peopleis not a small thingPrime Minister Narendra Modi

Prime Minister says `1L crore

disbursed under MUDRA Yojana

PNS n NEW DELHI

As the current fiscal nears itsend, Sebi has stepped up

its surveillance to check taxevasion attempts through 'arbi-trage' and bogus losses usingstocks and mutual fund invest-ments.

Towards the end of everyfinancial year, the manipula-tors tend to devise new ways oftax evasion, including incur-ring 'losses' from stock markettrades and offsetting thatagainst their capital gainsbooked earlier in the fiscal.

Besides, there are alsoattempts to make temporaryinvestments in mutual fundsand other financial instru-ments providing tax benefitstowards the end of a financialyear, which get re-routed backto the investors soon after thenew fiscal begins, a seniorofficial said.

Sebi has also stepped up itsvigil against illicit 'arbitrage'through derivatives tradingfrom offshore locations, asalso for any misuse of 'clientcode modifications', he added.The regulator has alreadyclamped down on a number ofhigh-profile cases followingsuch a modus-operandi in thepast while it is now also con-cerned about the misuse ofmutual fund platforms for taxevasion attempts in fiscal-endperiods.

The Securities andExchange Board of India (Sebi)is already investigating somesuspected cases of tax evasion

by way of 'arbitrage' betweenbogus losses shown in theIndian market and the 'gains'at offshore locations.

Such arbitrage could havetaken place through trades incurrency as well as equityderivatives, sources said, whileadding that the modus-operandi typically involvedpayments being made for'bogus losses' in Indian marketsand 'huge profits' at overseaslocations.

With regard to the clientcode modifications, severalcases had come under the Sebi'sscanner that took place between2009 and 2011 after which theregulator tightened its norms tocheck such manipulations.

Before tightening of thenorms, the Indian markets sawclient code modifications to thetune of `50,000-60,000 crore amonth, which came down tojust about `100 crore soonafter Sebi's action.

This is believed to havefurther come down, sourcessaid, while adding this showsthat a large-scale manipulationwas taking place where bro-kers were making changes inthe client details after execu-tion of trades citing 'genuineerrors'. Modification of theclient codes is a practice underwhich brokers change clientdetails in sale and purchaseorders of securities after thetrades are conducted.

LUCKNOW | MONDAY | FEBRUARY 8, 2016 money 11

{usp}

CMD, NLC, Sarath Kumar Acharya, presenting the Niraja Sahai Award, (instituted in memory of wife of formerCMD of NLC, AK Sahay), at the 9th Graduation Day of Jawahar Science College, to Selvi MR Thirumagal, whobagged Thiruvalluvar University Second Rank, in MSc, (Mathematics), during the academic year 2010-11. Alsoseen are Senior Officers of NLC and Principal of the college.

PTI n BOSTON

With India placing highpriority to cyber securi-

ty, the Government is in talkswith a number of countries,including the US, for co-oper-ation to check cyber espionageand other attacks, UnionCommunications and ITMinister Ravi Shankar Prasadon Sunday said.

“The Prime Minister him-self has said, cyber security rep-resents something like blood-less war. Therefore, cyber secu-rity is an agenda of greatimportance for ourGovernment,” Prasad, who washere to attend the annual IndiaConference of the HarvardUniversity, told PTI.

Emphasising that India isvery particular on the issue ofcyber security, the ministersaid the government is in talkswith a number of countriesincluding the US in this regard.

“Internet is the finest cre-ation of human mind. It shouldnot be allowed to be abused bya few. In that scenario there isgreater co-operation amongcountries world over,” he said.

The minister said theambitious Digital India cam-paign has aroused great inter-est about the country across theworld and the total digitaleconomy being pursued byIndia is going to be $one tril-lion in the next two-threeyears.

“I see a lot of digital deliv-ery of services happening (inthe next few years),” he said,adding that governance is grad-ually moving towards on themobile phone. Underliningthat programmes initiated byIndia has ‘caught the fancy’ ofthe world, Prasad said thatAmerican companies are ‘verykeen’ to partner in India's

growth story.“This shows the interest

being reflected in India's turn-around story,” said Prasad, whoheld meetings with a large

number of academicians,research scholars and top busi-ness executives on India andIndia related issues.

“May be the personal

chemistry of the US President(Barack) Obama and (PrimeMinister) Narendra Modi, isalso a reason for this kind ofrenewed interest,” he said.

Prasad says India in touch with

foreign Govts on cyber security

PNS n NEW DELHI

Apex body of company secre-taries ICSI plans to come up

with initiatives to help enhancejob skills of aspirants who fail toclear the company secretaryexamination.

The plan comes against thebackdrop of a significant num-ber of individuals enrolling forcompany secretary course. Aboutfour lakh students are pursuingthe company secretaries pro-gramme at various levels. ICSIPresident Mamta Binani toldPTI that the institute is lookingat having initiatives that wouldhelp aspirants who are unable toclear the examination boost theiremployability skills.

“The idea is to improvetheir skills and make them moreemployable,” she said, addingthat it is at a very initial stage. For graduates, the course has twolevels -intermediate and final -while those who have passedplus-two examination can startwith the foundation programme.There are around 42,000 com-pany secretaries.

Binani, who took over asICSI (Institute of CompanySecretaries of India) Presidentlast month, said there has beena lot of changes in terms of reg-ulations in recent times.

ICSI plans initiativesto help enhance jobskills of aspirants

PTI n NEW DELHI

Former Civil Aviation MinisterPraful Patel on Sunday

strongly opposed NDAGovernment's proposal to handover substantial control of Indianairlines to foreign carriers,terming the suggestion ‘ridicu-lous’ and saying such a move, ifapproved, would harm nationalinterests.

Patel, during whose tenurethe civil aviation policy was for-mulated, also stressed that thegovernment should not be seento be favouring select Indian car-riers while bringing in a new pol-icy and instead ensure a level-playing field for all of them, whilecontinuing the ‘time-tested’ routedispersal guidelines to ensure airconnectivity across the country.

Asked about the proposal toraise the FDI cap in airlines from

49 to beyond 50 per cent, he said"all over the world, the issue ofsubstantial ownership and effec-tive control (of an airline) is veryminutely scrutinised" as aviationindustry is different fromanyother and is affected by sev-eral factors including external.

“I am surprised that the draftaviation policy carries a provisionto increase the FDI limit over 50per cent. That is ridiculous. Youhave already done 49 per cent. 50per cent or more will hurt thecountry,” Patel told PTI.

He said the United Statesdoes not allow more than 25 percent voting rights by foreignersin an airline's board, while inMalaysia and Singapore, “youmay not be allowed to buy intotheir airlines ... Do these coun-tries have reciprocal policies (onFDI in airlines)?”

“If the country's carrier has

to carry the Indian flag, its for-eign ownership cannot be 50 percent or more. It (increasing theexisting FDI limit) will hurt thecountry,” he said, adding that anairline that carries the nationalflag on its tail has to be sub-stantially owned by Indians.

Stressing the need for hav-ing national flag carriers, he said

"this template also goes againstthe spirit of the ICAO resolu-tions". The UN body ICAO(International Civil AviationOrganisation) has evolved aseries of rules and procedures onvarious aspects of the aviationindustry business which arebeing followed by all govern-ments and their airlines.Regarding the 5/20 norm whichallows an Indian carrier tolaunch global operations afterflying five years domestically andhaving a fleet of 20 aircraft, Patelsaid the government has toensure a level-playing field vis-a-vis the existing carriers and"should not appear to favour thenew entrants". Patel, duringwhose tenure the 5/20 rule wasbrought in by the then UnionCabinet, at the same time saidthat “I don't think theGovernment is interested in

favouring any airline.”“The new carriers are the

ones interested in change ofthese rules. They knew theserules when they came in,” theformer Civil Aviation Ministersaid. The Government has nowproposed to either completely doaway with 5/20, continue with itor tweaking it. Abolition of therule is being sought by new air-lines Vistara and AirAsia India,but the older airlines haveopposed it strongly.

Observing that the govern-ment has not spelt out any for-mulation regarding this rulebut given all three options toeither continue with it, modifyit or do away with it, he said itshows that the Governmentwas "obviously concerned thatthere is a need to have a policywhich provides some kind oflevel-playing field for all airlines".

Budget 2016: Agri

Min seeks animal

health card scheme

Praful opposes proposal to dilute airlines’ substantial control

PNS n NEW DELHI

Aiming to control animaldiseases and boost milk

output, the AgricultureMinistry has sought mea-sures like a new scheme onanimal health card, e-marketplatform for bovinegermplasm and increase inallocation for Rashtriya GokulMission in Budget 2016.

In its pre-Budget recom-mendations, the AgricultureMinistr y has proposedlaunching of a 'PashuSanjeevani scheme' with com-ponents of health cards,emergency helpline andhealth services at door step,according to sources in theFinance Ministry.

The ministry has soughtfunds worth Rs 140 crore tocover 85 million milk pro-ducing animals under thescheme which would aim tocontrol spread of animal dis-eases, enhance productivityand improve quality of live-stock, the sources said.

The proposed animal wel-fare scheme will identify andtrace animal with uniqueidentif ication number,upgrade information networkon animal productivity andhealth to national data baseand create a dedicatedhelpline and doorstep deliveryof health services, they added.

In the absence of anauthentic market for qualityand disease free bovinegermplasm, the ministry hasproposed creation of 'e-Pashu

Haat' connecting breedersstate agencies with stake-holders on an online plat-form, thereby maintainingidentification and traceabili-ty of germplasm sold.

The ministry has said thatthe proposed e-market will

enhance availability of dis-ease-free germplasm withknown genetic merit, pro-vide a one stop portal forbovine breeders, no involve-ment of middlemen in saleand purchase of animals,allow sale of animals taggedwith animal wellness cardbesides propagating indige-nous bovine breeds and raisemilk output.

That apart, the sourcessaid the ministry has sug-gested a scheme to promotesex sorted semen to increasefemale population to makemilk production more remu-nerative to farmers.

The new scheme has beenproposed as at present out of300 million bovines, only 85million are milk producing,leaving large number ofunproductive animals.

The ministry has alsoproposed the FinanceMinistry to make RashtriyaGokul Mission (RGM) --which works towards devel-opment, preservation andconservation of indigenousbreeds -- a separate schemewith higher fund allocation,sources added.

The ministry hassought funds

worth `140 croreto cover 85 million

milk producinganimals under the

scheme whichwould aim to

control spread ofanimal diseases,

enhanceproductivity andimprove quality

of livestock

PNS n NEW DELHI

Concerned over high pol-lution, the Centre has

given green clearance to asubsidiary of Coal India forphase one production expan-sion of Kusmunda mine inChhattisgarh to only upto 26million tonnes per annum(MTPA) instead of 50 MTPAsought earlier.

The Kusmunda open castmine, which presently pro-duces 18.75 MTPA of coal ofpower grade, is operated bySouth Eastern Coalfields Ltd(SECL) -- the country's largestcoal producing company andthe flagship entity of state-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL).

SECL had initially soughtgreen clearance for productionexpansion upto 50 MTPA intwo phases, entailing aninvestment of `7,612.33 crore.

But the Expert AppraisalCommittee (EAC) of theEnvironment Ministry exam-ined the proposal and gave itsapproval for expansion onlyupto 26 MTPA in view of highpollution.

“Based on the recommen-dations of the EAC, the min-istry has given environmentclearance (EC) for expansionof Kusmunda open cast coalmine from 18.75 MTPA to 26MTPA in mining lease area of1,449.86 hectare under phaseone, subject to certain condi-tions,” a senior EnvironmentMinistry official said.

Further, productionexpansion of the Kusmundaproject, located in Korba dis-trict, would depend on effec-tive pollution control measuresadopted by the company, theofficial said.

Among specific condi-

tions, the company has beenasked to adopt additional con-trol measures beyond thosealready committed by it forproduction level of 26 MTPAso as to reduce the existinghigh levels of pollution load asshown in its study.

It has asked to take imme-diate steps for an adequate andeffective green belt aroundthe villages affected by thehigher PM10 level particulatepollution.

“After six months fromthe issue of the EC, the com-pany has been asked to reportto the ministry along with thedata on air quality and controlmeasures for the villagesaffected by higher PM10 val-ues,” the official said. Thecompany has also been askedto set up four ambient air qual-ity monitoring stations in thecore zone as well as in the

buffer zone to monitor pollu-tion. Besides, the companyhas been asked not to carry outmining in forest area of 324.84hectare, including 205.96hectare for Kusmunda opencast project (OCP) and 118.87hectare for Laxman OCP tillregularisation or Stage-I forestclearance.

Kusmunda mine hasbeen identified as one ofthe expansion projectsunder the Emergency CoalProduction Plan of CIL.The mine has coal linkagewith various thermal powerplants and the ChhattisgarhState Electricity Board.

CIL, a major supplier ofcoal to the power sector, isaiming for 1 billion tonnesof production by 2020. Ithas a target to achieve 550million tonnes output inthe current fiscal.

Green panel curtails CIL mine expansion on pollution worries

NEW DELHI: The country has more than 15 lakh registeredcompanies but only 10.7 lakh of them were active at the endof 2015, according to official data. Against the backdrop of theGovernment working on ways to improve the ease of doingbusiness, the total number of companies registered in the coun-try went up to 15.19 lakh at the end of December last year.

This is higher than 14.39 lakh companies registered at theend of December 2014. Latest data compiled by the CorporateAffairs Ministry show that there were over 15.19 lakh com-panies as on December 2015 but only 10.7 lakh were active.

Among active companies, 10.63 lakh were limited by shares.Out of the total registered companies, more than 2.82 lakh havebeen shuttered while 1.39 lakh entities were inactive. As onDecember 2015, as many as 27,596 companies were in theprocess of being closed down. PNS

India has over 15L registered cos

Sebi ups vigil on tax evasion

attempts as fiscal-end nears

PNS n NEW DELHI

Eyeing big-ticket investment opportunities indefence sector under 'Make in India' drive,

engineering and construction giant Larsen &Toubro sees huge scope in areas like sub-marines, nuclear power equipment and artilleryguns.

The infrastructure major, which saw its bot-tomline surge 19 per cent to ̀ 1,034.8 crore in thelast quarter, has listed "indigenisation thrust fordefence equipment", "interceptor boats, naval ves-sels and submarines for Indian Navy andCoastguard" and "artillery guns and other equip-ment for Indian Army" as investment opportu-nities. L&T, in an investor presentation, has alsolisted "oil and gas equipment supply opportuni-ties in India and key petroleum/petrochem pro-ducing regions", "nuclear power plant equipmentin India and "components for Indian space pro-gram" as potential areas.

However, the company has also underlinedchallenges in heavy engineering and defence seg-ments as "shrinking spends on oil and gas withlow crude price" and "reduced prospect base ofnuclear power equipment post Fukushima andconsequent Indian civil liability overhang."

It also sees "very long prospect-to-awardtimelines and dominance of public sector and for-eign OEMs (original equipment manufacturers)in Defence orders" as another challenge.

L&T Heavy Engineering manufactures andsupplies custom designed equipment to criticalprocess industries such as refinery, petrochem-

ical, and oil and gas, as well as to sectors such asnuclear power, aerospace and defence.

Likewise, its shipbuilding arm has global scaleheavy manufacturing facilities. Heavy engineer-ing segment of the company has achieved a cus-tomer revenue of `884 crore for the quarterended December 31, 2015, registering growthof 9 per cent over the corresponding quarterof the previous fiscal, mainly contributed bydefence and aerospace business.

International sales constituted 52 per centof the total customer revenue of the segment.The order book of the segment stood at Rs8,180 crore as on December 31, 2015. L&T isIndia's largest E&C company with interests inprojects, infrastructure, development andmanufacturing, among others.

Its revenues stood at $15 billion last yearand the company has a market cap of $18 bil-lion as on December 31, 2015. L&T is aim-ing to restructure its top management as partof its succession plan as well as making effortsto expand its global presence. GroupExecutive Chairman A M Naik has recentlysaid that the company is looking to expandits global presence.

L&T sees huge potential in defence under ‘Make in India’

PTI n NEW DELHI

Polaris India, which sells theluxury American bike brand

Indian Motorcycle, aims toclock 50 per cent growth in salesthis year and corner 15 per centmarket share in the 1,200cc-plussegment, apart from doublingthe sales network.

The company sells six mod-els of these super-luxury bikes-Indian Roadmaster, Chief,Scout, Chieftain, Chief DarkHorse and the Chief Vintage,with a price tag of ̀ 13.8 lakh to`38 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi)in the domestic market sinceMay 2011. The 1,000-unit perannum domestic super premi-um bikes market is dominatedby the American HarleyDavison, the Japanese Hondaand Yamaha and Suzuki, andalso the European brandTriumph.

“Currently, we enjoy 10 percent of the 1,000 units perannum super premium bikes inthe 1,200-cc category. We haveset a target of growing oursales by 50 per cent this year andthe market share to 15 per centfrom the present 10 per cent,”Polaris India Managing DirectorPankaj Dubey told PTI duringthe ongoing Auto Expo inGreater Noida near here.

He also said the companywill be doubling its showroomsfrom the present six dealers incities like Gurgaon (its firstshowroom), Ahmedabad,Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabadand Bangalore.

Indian Motorcycle eyes 15% market share, 2 showroomsin current fiscal

PTI n BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

Looking for greener pas-tures, Mohinder Singh

Bhullar cycled his way toBrunei at the tender age of 19and now having seen 90springs, he is the oldest Indianliving in the oil and gas-richcountry and contributing toits economy through his car-pet business.

Bhullar, who became a cit-izen of Brunei in 2009, was con-ferred the next year the PravasiBharatiya Samman, India'shighest award to an Indian liv-ing overseas. His journey fromPunjab began in 1936, when hetravelled to Malaysia and stayedin Sarawak - one of the twoMalaysian states on the island ofBorneo - with his uncle. Hestudied there up to class VI, butafter some years, he decided tomove on and chose Brunei ashis next destination.

“I heard that job opportu-nities in Brunei were better. SoI cycled my way to that coun-try in 1946 and got a job of bull-dozer driver at Shell Companyin Seria (a town in the Belait dis-trict),” Bhullar told PTI here.

Brunei’s oldest Indian a successfulentrepreneurand flag-bearer

NEW DELHI: To catch manipulators, markets regulator Sebi has begunlooking into social media accounts of suspected persons, with 'mutualfriends on Facebook' being cited as evidence for the first time in aninsider trading case. While Sebi has been examining Twitter andFacebook for quite some time for investigation purposes, this is thefirst time the regulator has used Facebook account as evidence forproving charges against an individual.

In an insider trading case, Securities and Exchange Board of India(Sebi) has ordered impounding of unlawful gains of over Rs 2 crorefrom 15 individuals. These individuals were allegedly 'connectedentities' and had traded in the shares of Palred Technologies Ltd (PTL)while possessing price-sensitive information and allegedly madeunlawful gains in the process, Sebi found. These persons are PalemSrikanth Reddy (CMD of PTL), P Soujanya Reddy, Ameen Khwaja,Noorjahan Khwaja, Ashik Ali Khwaja, Rozina Hirani Khwaja, ShefaliAmeen Khwaja, Shahid Khwaja, Kukati Parvathi, Pirani Amyn AbdulAziz, Karna Ramanjula Reddy, Umashankar S, Raja LakshmiSrivaiguntam, Prakash Lohia and Mohan Krishna Reddy Aryabumi.

PNS

... scans Facebook accounts

in insider trading case

BOSTON: In an apparent dig at China,Communications and IT Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad on Sunday warned against the impulse tobecome an autocratic society for attaining fastergrowth and said development through democracyis more stable.

“Development through democracy is thebiggest challenge today because in the heat of themoment people call for becoming some kind of anautocratic society” Prasad said during a paneldiscussion on India at the prestigious HarvardUniversity.

Referring to China's fast growth rate during thepast decades, he said in a democracy developmentmay be slower but it is stable. People in India, hesaid, wants the government to deliver with goodgovernance and transparency. China, which is ruledby the Communist Party since 1949, witnessedclose to double-digit growth for over three decades.

However, growth has fallen steadily over thepast five years and China clocked 6.9 per cent GDP

growth in 2015, its weakest performancein aquarter century, with analysts warning of a hardlanding for the world's second largest economy.Responding to a question, Prasad opposed the ideaof disbanding the Indian civil services, which heargued brings in continuity and stability. At thesame time, he felt the need of creatingopportunities for bringing fresh minds togovernance.

Speaking on the phenomena of regional partiesin Indian politics, senior member of parliament JayPanda said that it would be foolish to write offregional parties, which have been there for the pastfew decades.

“They may have in some sense reached thepeak of their popularity, but they are not going awayany time soon," he said, adding there is a gradualevolution of two coalition system rather than twoparties in Indian polity. Panda also referred to themassive use of social media in recent elections inIndia. PTI

Development via democracyremains the biggest challenge

OPEN-ENDED

(GROWTH)

KOTAK MAHINDRA MUTUAL FUND

50 - Dividend 31.334

50 - Dividend - Direct 32.413

50 - Growth 159.037

50 - Growth - Direct 163.2

Classic Equity Scheme---Dividend 17.276

Classic Equity Scheme---Dividend - Direct 17.99

Classic Equity Scheme---Growth 32.046

Classic Equity Scheme---Growth - Direct 33.08

Emerging Equity Scheme - Dividend 18.934

Emerging Equity Scheme - Dividend - Direct 19.544

Emerging Equity Scheme - Growth 24.414

Emerging Equity Scheme - Growth - Direct 25.14

Equity Arbitrage Fund - Bimonthly 19.9556

Equity Arbitrage Fund - Bimonthly Direct 20.1484

Equity Arbitrage Fund - Dividend 10.7345

Equity Arbitrage Fund - Dividend - Direct 10.8765

Equity Arbitrage Fund - Growth 21.7752

Equity Arbitrage Fund - Growth - Direct 22.1156

Equity Savings Fund - Direct - Growth 10.9396

Equity Savings Fund - Direct - Monthly Dividend 10.2648

Equity Savings Fund - Direct - Quarterly Dividend 10.3181

Equity Savings Fund - Regular - Growth 10.8482

Equity Savings Fund - Regular - Monthly Dividend 10.2249

Equity Savings Fund - Regular - Quarterly Dividend 10.2737

Global Emerging Market Fund - Dividend 12.061

Global Emerging Market Fund - Dividend - Direct 12.309

Global Emerging Market Fund - Growth 12.061

Global Emerging Market Fund - Growth - Direct 12.27

Infrastructure & Economic Reform Fund - Standard - Div 13.401

Infrastructure & Economic Reform Fund - Standard - Gr 13.856

Infrastructure & Economic Reform Fund- Direct - Div 14.281

Infrastructure & Economic Reform Fund- Direct - Growth 14.289

Mid-Cap-Dividend 28.296

Mid-Cap-Dividend - Direct 29.241

Mid-Cap-Growth 49.12

Mid-Cap-Growth - Direct 50.694

Opportunities---Dividend 20.843

Opportunities---Dividend - Direct 21.424

Opportunities---Growth 75.068

Opportunities---Growth - Direct 77.018

Select Focus Fund - Dividend 17.24

Select Focus Fund - Dividend - Direct 17.723

Select Focus Fund - Growth 21.318

Select Focus Fund - Growth - Direct 21.877

L&T MUTUAL FUND

Arbitrage Opportunities Fund - Bonus Option 11.236

Arbitrage Opportunities Fund - Direct Plan - Bonus Option 11.348

Arbitrage Opportunities Fund - Direct Plan - Growth Option 11.348

Arbitrage Opportunities Fund - Direct Plan - Monthly Div 10.254

Arbitrage Opportunities Fund - Direct Plan - Quarterly Div 10.386

Arbitrage Opportunities Fund - Growth Option 11.236

Arbitrage Opportunities Fund - Monthly Dividend Option 10.178

Arbitrage Opportunities Fund - Quarterly Dividend Option 10.302

Business Cycles Fund - Direct Plan - Dividend Option 10.825

Business Cycles Fund - Direct Plan - Growth Option 10.825

Business Cycles Fund - Dividend Option 10.718

Business Cycles Fund - Growth Option 10.718

Dynamic Equity Fund-Direct Plan-Dividend Option 18.175

Dynamic Equity Fund-Direct Plan-Growth Option 19.592

Dynamic Equity Fund-Dividend Option 17.667

Dynamic Equity Fund-Growth Option 19.069

Equity Fund-Direct Plan-Dividend Option 28.183

Equity Fund-Direct Plan-Growth Option 57.284

Equity Fund-Dividend Option 25.968

Equity Fund-Growth Option 56.148

Equity Savings Fund- Direct Plan-Quarterly Dividend 11.7

Equity Savings Fund - Direct Plan-Growth Plan 14.562

Equity Savings Fund - Direct Plan-Monthly Dividend 11.399

Equity Savings Fund - Growth Option 14.23

Equity Savings Fund - Monthly Dividend payout 11.741

Equity Savings Fund - Quarterly Dividend payout 11.298

India Large Cap Fund - Direct Plan - Growth Option 19.057

India Large Cap Fund - Direct Plan- Dividend Option 15.499

India Large Cap Fund - Dividend Option 14.799

India Large Cap Fund - Growth Option 18.675

India Prudence Fund - Annual Dividend Option 10.088

India Prudence Fund - Direct Plan - Annual Dividend Option 10.193

India Prudence Fund- Direct Plan -Dividend Option 17.724

India Prudence Fund- Direct Plan-Growth Option 19.451

India Prudence Fund- Dividend Option 16.708

India Prudence Fund- Growth Option 18.893

India Special Situations Fund- Direct Plan -Dividend Option 24.971

India Special Situations Fund-Direct Plan-Growth Option 32.88

India Special Situations Fund-Dividend Option 24.394

India Special Situations Fund-Growth Option 32.198

India Value Fund-Direct Plan-Dividend Option 20.725

India Value Fund-Direct Plan-Growth Option 23.995

India Value Fund-Dividend Option 20.219

India Value Fund-Growth Option 23.471

Infrastructure Fund - Dividend Option 9.83

Infrastructure Fund - Growth Option 9.83

Infrastructure Fund -Direct Plan-Growth Option 10.03

Infrastructure Fund-Direct Plan-Dividend Option 10.03

Mid Cap Fund-Direct Plan -Dividend Plan 35.07

Mid Cap Fund-Direct Plan-Growth Plan 84.87

Mid Cap Fund-Dividend 34.21

Mid Cap Fund-Growth 82.86

LIC NOMURA MUTUAL FUND

Growth Fund - Direct Plan Dividend Option 15.7105

Growth Fund - Direct Plan Growth Option 18.7434

Growth Fund - Dividend Option 14.4248

Growth Fund - Growth Option 18.3488

BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES - DIRECT - DIV 7.5344

BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES - DIRECT - GR 7.5366

BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES - REGULAR - DIV 7.5149

BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES - REGULAR - GR 7.5147

Equity Fund-Direct Plan Dividend Option 13.2355

Equity Fund-Direct Plan Growth Option 34.312

Equity Fund-Dividend 12.4404

Equity Fund-Growth 33.7556

Index Fund-Sensex Advantage-Direct Plan Growth Option 52.6027

Index Fund-Sensex Advantage-Growth 51.9645

Index Fund-Nifty-Direct Plan Growth Option 42.2078

Index Fund-Nifty-Growth 41.5571

Index Fund-Nifty-Direct Plan Dividend Option 15.5662

Index Fund-Nifty-Dividend 15.3289

Index Fund-Sensex Advantage-Direct Plan Div Option 18.6179

Index Fund-Sensex Advantage-Dividend 18.3813

Index Fund-Sensex-Direct Plan Dividend Option 15.7038

Index Fund-Sensex-Direct Plan GrowthOption 46.7631

Index Fund-Sensex-Dividend 15.7735

Index Fund-Sensex-Growth 46.0219

INFRASTRUCTURE FUND - Direct Plan DIV OPTION 10.3698

INFRASTRUCTURE FUND - Direct Plan GROWTH OPTION 10.4064

INFRASTRUCTURE FUND - DIVIDEND OPTION 10.1664

INFRASTRUCTURE FUND - GROWTH OPTION 10.1664

MIDCAP FUND - DIRECT PLAN - GROWTH 9.0653

MIDCAP FUND - REGULAR PLAN - DIVIDEND 9.0232

MIDCAP FUND - REGULAR PLAN - GROWTH 9.023

MIDCAP FUND-DIRECT PLAN - DIVIDEND 9.0631

MIRAE ASSET MUTUAL FUND

Emerging Bluechip Fund - Direct Plan - Dividend 27.498

Emerging Bluechip Fund - Direct Plan - Growth 30.118

Emerging Bluechip Fund - Regular Plan - Dividend 20.745

Emerging Bluechip Fund - Regular Plan - Growth Option 29.184

Global Commodity Stocks - Direct Plan - Dividend 8.198

Global Commodity Stocks - Direct Plan - Growth 8.267

Global Commodity Stocks - Dividend Option 8.052

Global Commodity Stocks - Growth Option 8.052

India-China Consumption Fund - Direct Plan - Dividend 20.375

India-China Consumption Fund - Direct Plan - Growth 20.434

India-China Consumption Fund - Regular Plan - Div Option 12.906

India-China Consumption Fund - Regular Plan - Gr Option 19.697

India Opportunities Fund - Direct Plan - Dividend 22.848

India Opportunities Fund - Direct Plan - Growth 30.68

India Opportunities Fund - Dividend Plan 16.622

India Opportunities Fund - Growth Plan 29.809

Prudence Fund -Direct Plan-Dividend 9.559

Prudence Fund -Direct Plan-Growth 9.559

Prudence Fund -Regular Plan-Dividend 9.484

Prudence Fund -Regular Plan-Growth 9.484

MOTILAL OSWAL MUTUAL FUND

Focused 25 Fund- Direct Plan Dividend Option 13.3485

Focused 25 Fund- Direct Plan Growth Option 15.3945

Focused 25 Fund- Regular Plan Dividend Option 12.7925

Focused 25 Fund- Regular Plan Growth Option 14.8006

Focused Midcap 30-Direct Plan-Dividend Option 18.9662

Focused Midcap 30-Direct Plan-Growth Option 19.9361

Focused Midcap 30-Regular Plan-Dividend Option 18.516

Focused Midcap 30-Regular Plan-Growth Option 19.4759

Focused Multicap 35- Direct Plan-Dividend Option 16.619

Focused Multicap 35-Direct Plan-Growth Option 16.619

Focused Multicap 35-Regular Plan -Dividend Option 16.3093

Focused Multicap 35-Regular Plan-Growth Option 16.3093

PEERLESS MUTUAL FUND

Equity Fund - Growth Option 15.9912

Equity Fund - Regular Plan- Normal Dividend Option 12.5099

Equity Fund- Direct Plan- Half Yearly Dividend Option 0

Equity Fund- Direct Plan- Quarterly Dividend Option 15.4679

Equity Fund- Direct Plan- Yearly Dividend Option 0

Equity Fund- Regular Plan- Half Yearly Dividend Option 14.952

Equity Fund- Regular Plan- Quarterly Dividend Option 14.9521

Equity Fund- Regular Plan- Yearly Dividend Option 14.8983

Equity Fund-Direct Plan- Normal Dividend Option 13.0109

Equity Fund-Direct Plan-Growth Option 16.6121

Midcap Fund- Direct Plan- Dividend Option 10.0074

Midcap Fund- Direct Plan- Growth Option 10.019

Midcap Fund- Regular Plan- Dividend Option 9.9839

Midcap Fund- Regular Plan- Growth Option 9.9836

PPFAS MUTUAL FUND

Long Term Value Fund - Direct Plan - Growth 16.3692

Long Term Value Fund - Regular Plan - Growth 16.1542

PRINCIPAL MUTUAL FUND

Dividend Yield Fund - Direct Plan - Growth Option 32.11

Dividend Yield Fund- Direct Plan - Half Yearly Div Option 21.28

Dividend Yield Fund- Half Yearly Dividend Plan 20.48

Dividend Yield Fund-Growth Plan 31.56

Emerging Bluechip Fund - Direct Plan - Growth Option 64.38

Emerging Bluechip Fund - Direct Plan - Half Yearly Div Op 49.01

Emerging Bluechip Fund - Growth Option 62.89

Emerging Bluechip Fund - Half Yearly Dividend Option 40.75

Growth Fund - Direct Plan -Half Yearly Dividend Option 36.26

Growth Fund- Half Yearly Dividend Option 33.7

Growth Fund-Growth Option 86.09

Growth Fund-Direct Plan - Growth Option 87.76

Index Fund- Midcap- Direct Plan - Dividend Option 13.7686

Index Fund- Midcap- Direct Plan - Growth 13.7686

Index Fund- Midcap- Regular Plan - Dividend Option 13.6465

Index Fund- Midcap- Regular Plan - Growth 13.6465

Index Fund- Nifty - Direct Plan - Growth Option 52.307

Index Fund- Nifty- Direct Plan - Dividend Option 30.7403

Index Fund-Dividend 30.3031

Index Fund-Growth 51.5604

Large Cap Fund- Direct Plan - Growth Option 43.06

Large Cap Fund- Direct Plan - Half Yearly Dividend Option 25.7

Large Cap Fund-Growth Option 42.23

Large Cap Fund-Half Yearly Dividend Option 25.58

Services Industries Fund-DIVIDEND 10.86

Services Industries Fund-GROWTH 12.25

Smart Equity Fund - Direct Plan - Growth Option 16.57

Smart Equity Fund - Direct Plan - Half Yearly Div Option 15.81

Smart Equity Fund - Growth Option 16.15

Smart Equity Fund - Half Yearly Dividend Option 14.61

QUANTUM MUTUAL FUND

Long-Term Equity Fund-Dividend Option 37.41

Long-Term Equity Fund-Growth Option 37.09

RELIANCE MUTUAL FUND

Arbitrage Advantage Fund - Direct Plan Dividend Plan 12.2109

Arbitrage Advantage Fund - Direct - Growth Plan - Growth 15.8141

Arbitrage Advantage Fund - Dividend Plan 11.8574

Arbitrage Advantage Fund - Growth Plan - Growth Option 15.6024

Arbitrage Advantage Fund- Direct Plan- Monthly Div Plan 10.5918

Arbitrage Advantage Fund-Monthly dividend Plan 10.4776

Banking Fund - Direct Plan Dividend Plan 47.6779

Banking Fund - Direct Plan Growth Plan - Bonus Option 153.2436

Banking Fund - Direct Plan Growth Plan - Growth Option 153.2436

Banking Fund-Dividend Plan-Dividend Option 41.2355

Banking Fund-Growth Plan-Bonus Option 150.8982

Banking Fund-Growth Plan-Growth Option 150.8982

Diversified Power Sector Fund - Direct Plan Div Plan 28.8557

Diversified Power Sector - Direct - Growth Plan - Bonus Op 67.7218

Diversified Power Sector - Direct - Growth Plan - Growth Op 67.7218

Diversified Power Sector Fund-Dividend Plan 28.2306

Diversified Power Sector Fund-Growth Plan -Growth Op 66.5817

Diversified Power Sector Fund-Growth Plan-Bonus Op 66.5817

Equity Opportunities Fund Institutional Dividend Plan 45.2497

Equity Opportunities Fund Instl - Growth Plan Growth Op 17.5867

Equity Opportunities Fund-Dividend Plan 29.7783

Equity Opportunities Fund-Growth Plan-Bonus Option 66.2299

Equity Opportunities Fund-Growth Plan-Growth Option 66.2299

Equity Opportunities Fund - Direct Plan Dividend Plan 34.6634

Equity Opportunities Fund - Direct - Growth Plan - Bonus Op 67.7677

Equity Opportunities Fund - Direct - Growth Plan - Gr Op 67.7677

Equity Savings Fund- Direct Plan- Growth Plan- Bonus Op 10.0002

Equity Savings Fund- Direct Plan- Growth Plan-Growth Op 10.0002

Equity Savings Fund- Direct Plan- Quarterly Dividend Plan 10.0002

Equity Savings Fund- Direct Plan-Dividend Plan 10.0002

Equity Savings Fund- Direct Plan-Monthly Dividend Plan 10.0002

Equity Savings Fund- Dividend Plan 9.928

Equity Savings Fund- Growth Plan- Bonus Option 9.928

Equity Savings Fund- Growth Plan- Growth Option 9.928

Equity Savings Fund- Monthly Dividend Plan 9.928

Equity Savings Fund- Quarterly Dividend Plan 9.928

Focused Large Cap Fund - Direct Plan Dividend Plan 17.9751

Focused Large Cap Fund - Direct - Growth Plan - Bonus Op 21.5566

Focused Large Cap Fund - Direct - Growth Plan - Growth Op 21.5566

Focused Large Cap Fund-Dividend Plan 17.7737

Focused Large Cap Fund-Growth Plan-Bonus Option 21.1355

Focused Large Cap Fund-Growth Plan-Growth Option 21.1355

Growth Fund - Direct Plan Dividend Plan 68.859

Growth Fund - Direct Plan Growth Plan - Bonus Option 122.8803

Growth Fund - Direct Plan Growth Plan - Growth Option 739.6159

Growth Fund Institutional Plan Dividend Plan 530.8375

Growth Fund-Dividend Plan-(D) 59.1494

Growth Fund-Growth Plan-Bonus Option 120.604

Growth Fund-Growth Plan-Growth Option 724.97

Index Fund - Nifty Plan - Direct - Growth Plan - Bonus Op 12.6367

Index Fund - Nifty Plan - Direct - Growth Plan - Growth Op 12.6367

Index Fund - Nifty Plan - Direct - Half Yearly Dividend Plan 12.6367

Index Fund - Nifty Plan - Direct - Qtrly Dividend Plan 12.6367

Index Fund - Nifty Plan - Direct Plan Yearly Dividend Plan 12.6367

Index Fund - Nifty Plan - Growth Plan - Bonus Option 12.4869

Index Fund - Nifty Plan - Growth Plan - Growth Option 12.4869

Index Fund - Nifty Plan - Quarterly Dividend Plan 12.4869

Index Fund - Nifty Plan- Annual Dividend Plan 12.4869

Index Fund - Nifty Plan- Half Yearly Dividend Plan 12.4869

Index Fund - Sensex Plan - Annual Dividend Plan 12.0936

Index Fund - Sensex Plan - Direct Plan - Annual Div Plan 12.2235

Index Fund - Sensex Plan - Direct - Half Yearly Div Plan 12.2235

Index Fund - Sensex Plan - Direct - Quarterly Div Plan 12.2235

Index Fund - Sensex Plan - Direct - Growth Plan - Bonus Op 12.2235

Index Fund - Sensex Plan - Direct - Growth Plan - Gr Op 12.2235

Index Fund - Sensex Plan - Growth Plan - Bonus Option 12.0936

Index Fund - Sensex Plan - Growth Plan - Growth Option 12.0936

Index Fund - Sensex Plan - Half Yearly Dividend Plan 12.0936

Index Fund - Sensex Plan - Quarterly Dividend Plan 12.0936

Japan Equity Fund- Direct Plan- Dividend Plan 10.2588

Japan Equity Fund- Direct Plan- Growth Plan- Bonus Op 10.2588

Japan Equity Fund- Direct Plan- Growth Plan- Growth Op 10.2588

Japan Equity Fund- Dividend Plan 10.1576

Japan Equity Fund- Growth Plan- Bonus Option 10.1576

Japan Equity Fund- Growth Plan- Growth Option 10.1576

Media & Entertainment Fund - Direct Plan Dividend Plan 24.3087

Media & Entertainment Fund - Direct - Gr Plan - Bonus 54.4097

Media & Entertainment Fund - Direct - Gr Plan - Gr Op 54.4097

Media & Entertainment Fund-Dividend Plan 20.3619

Media & Entertainment Fund-Growth Plan-Bonus Option 53.1631

Media & Entertainment Fund-Growth Plan-Growth Option 53.1631

Mid & Small Cap Fund - Direct Plan Dividend Plan 21.1839

Mid & Small Cap Fund - Direct - Gr Plan - Gr Option 31.3442

Mid & Small Cap Fund -Dividend Plan 18.8169

Mid & Small Cap Fund -Growth Plan -Growth Option 30.6658

NRI Equity Fund - Direct Plan Dividend Plan 23.4426

NRI Equity Fund - Direct Plan Growth Plan - Bonus Op 9.6826

NRI Equity Fund - Direct Plan Growth Plan - Growth Option 61.046

NRI Equity Fund-Dividend Plan 20.9842

NRI Equity Fund-Growth Plan-Bonus Option 60.0038

NRI Equity Fund-Growth Plan-Growth Option 60.0038

Pharma Fund - Direct Plan Dividend Plan 81.5087

Pharma Fund - Direct Plan Growth Plan - Bonus Option 142.508

Pharma Fund - Direct Plan Growth Plan - Growth Option 142.508

Pharma Fund-Dividend Plan 72.2498

Pharma Fund-Growth Plan-Bonus Option 139.2004

Pharma Fund-Growth Plan-Growth Option 139.2004

Quant Plus Fund - Direct Plan Dividend Plan 10.4252

Quant Plus Fund - Direct Plan Growth Plan - Bonus Option 18.1227

Quant Plus Fund - Direct Plan Growth Plan - Growth Op 18.1227

Quant Plus Fund -Dividend Plan 9.3058

Quant Plus Fund -Growth Plan - Growth Option 17.4486

Quant Plus Fund -Growth Plan -Bonus Option 17.4486

Regular Savings Fund - Equity Option - Direct - Div Plan 27.5491

Regular Savings Fund - Equity Option - Direct - Gr Plan 49.5179

Regular Savings Fund-EQUITY OPTION-Dividend Plan 23.1194

Regular Savings Fund-EQUITY OPTION-Growth Plan 48.3939

Retirement Fund- Wealth Creation Sch-Direct-Gr Plan - Gr Op 9.4547

Retirement Fund- Wealth Creation Sch-Direct-Div Payout Op 9.4547

Retirement Fund- Wealth Creation Sch-Direct-Gr Plan- Bonus Op 9.4547

Retirement Fund- Wealth Creation Sch-Div Payout Option 9.3107

Retirement Fund- Wealth Creation Sch-Growth-Gr Option 9.3107

Retirement Fund- Wealth Creation Sch-Growth- Bonus Op 9.3107

Small Cap Fund - Direct Plan Dividend Plan 20.8113

Small Cap Fund - Direct Plan Growth Plan - Bonus Option 25.0197

Small Cap Fund - Direct Plan Growth Plan - Growth Option 25.0197

Small Cap Fund - Dividend Plan 20.2539

Small Cap Fund - Growth Plan - Bonus Option 24.4395

Small Cap Fund - Growth Plan - Growth Option 24.4395

Top 200 Fund - Direct Plan Dividend Plan 15.924

Top 200 Fund - Direct Plan Growth Plan - Bonus Option 22.1293

Top 200 Fund - Direct Plan Growth Plan - Growth Option 22.1293

Top 200 Fund- Dividend Plan 13.4009

Top 200 Fund- Growth Plan -Growth Option 21.6575

Top 200 Fund- Growth Plan Bonus Option 21.6575

Top 200 Fund-Institutional Plan Growth Plan Bonus Op 22.2645

US Equity Opportunites Fund- Direct Plan- Dividend Plan 9.2293

US Equity Opportunites Fund- Direct - Growth Plan- Gr Op 9.2293

US Equity Opportunites Fund- Dividend Plan 9.1766

US Equity Opportunites Fund- Growth Plan- Growth Option 9.1766

Vision Fund - Direct Plan Dividend Plan 37.87

Vision Fund - Direct Plan Growth Plan - Bonus Option 67.2729

Vision Fund - Direct Plan Growth Plan - Growth Option 396.7662

Vision Fund Institutional Dividend Plan 238.1175

Vision Fund-DIVIDEND PLAN-D 36.966

Vision Fund-GROWTH PLAN-Bonus Option 65.5917

Vision Fund-GROWTH PLAN-Growth Option 389.4499

RELIGARE INVESCO MF

Infrastructure Fund - Direct Pan - Dividend Option 12.62

Infrastructure Fund - Direct Pan - Growth Option 12.64

Infrastructure Fund - Dividend Option 12.13

Infrastructure Fund - Growth Option 12.13

Arbitrage Fund - Annual Bonus 18.752

Arbitrage Fund - Bonus Option 12.5017

Arbitrage Fund - Direct Plan - Annual Bonus 19.1003

Arbitrage Fund - Direct Plan - Bonus Option 12.7335

Arbitrage Fund - Direct Plan - Dividend Option 13.0282

Arbitrage Fund - Direct Plan - Growth Option 19.1006

Arbitrage Fund - Dividend Option 12.6974

Arbitrage Fund - Growth Option 18.7519

Banking Fund - Direct Plan - Dividend 17.97

Banking Fund - Direct Plan - Growth 31.43

Banking Fund - Retail Dividend 17.15

Banking Fund - Retail Growth 30.15

Business Leaders Fund - Direct Plan - Dividend 16.4

Business Leaders Fund - Direct Plan - Growth 20.43

Business Leaders Fund - Dividend 15.9

Business Leaders Fund - Growth 19.63

Contra Fund - Direct Plan - Dividend 22.98

Contra Fund - Direct Plan - Growth 29.75

Contra Fund - Dividend 22.19

Contra Fund - Growth 28.7

Dynamic Equity Fund - Direct Plan - Dividend 17.22

Dynamic Equity Fund - Direct Plan - Growth 21.05

Dynamic Equity Fund - Dividend 17.13

Dynamic Equity Fund - Growth 20.18

Growth Fund - Direct Plan - Dividend 12.26

Growth Fund - Direct Plan - Growth 22.23

Growth Fund - Dividend 11.64

Growth Fund - Growth 21.33

Mid Cap Fund - Direct Plan - Dividend Option 24.91

Mid Cap Fund - Direct Plan - Growth Option 33.49

Mid Cap Fund - Dividend Option 23.81

Mid Cap Fund - Growth Option 32.09

MID N SMALL CAP Fund - Direct Plan - Dividend Option 31.09

MID N SMALL CAP Fund - Direct Plan - Growth Option 34.3

MID N SMALL CAP Fund - Dividend Option 29.92

MID N SMALL CAP Fund - Growth Option 32.99

PSU Equity Fund - Direct Plan - Dividend 11.77

PSU Equity Fund - Direct Plan - Growth 13.08

PSU Equity Fund - Dividend 11.37

PSU Equity Fund - Growth 12.6

SAHARA MUTUAL FUND

BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES - GROWTH - Direct 38.6397

BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES - GROWTH OPTION 38.0886

BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES - DIVIDEND - Direct 13.6091

BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES - DIVIDEND OPTION 13.4654

Growth Fund-Dividend 29.7504

Growth Fund-Dividend- Direct 30.0708

Growth Fund-Growth 102.5108

Growth Fund-Growth- Direct 106.3198

Infrastructure Fund FIXED PRICING -Direct-Dividend 12.4105

Infrastructure Fund FIXED PRICING OPTION-Direct-Growth 16.9478

Infrastructure Fund FIXED PRICING OPTION-Div Option 12.3061

Infrastructure Fund FIXED PRICING OPTION-Growth Option 16.8523

Infrastructure Fund VARIABLE PRICING OPTION-Direct-Div 13.6539

Infrastructure Fund VARIABLE PRICING OPTION-Direct-Gr 18.555

Infrastructure Fund VARIABLE PRICING OPTION-Div Option 13.5663

Infrastructure Fund VARIABLE PRICING OPTION-Growth Op 18.4417

Midcap Fund-Auto Payout 50.241

Midcap Fund-Auto Payout- Direct 50.8199

Midcap Fund-Bonus 50.241

Midcap Fund-Bonus- Direct 50.8199

Midcap Fund-Dividend -Direct 22.3044

Midcap Fund-Dividend Plan 22.1516

Midcap Fund-Growth Option - Direct 50.8199

Midcap Fund-Growth Plan 50.241

Power & Natural Resources Fund - Dividend Option 11.4394

Power & Natural resources Fund- Growth - Direct 13.5293

Power & Natural resources Fund- Growth Option 13.4121

Power & Natural Resources Fund-Dividend - Direct 11.5421

R.E.A.L Fund - Dividend Option 14.2747

R.E.A.L Fund - Dividend Option- Direct 14.406

R.E.A.L Fund - Growth Fund 14.2726

R.E.A.L Fund - Growth Fund- Direct 14.7088

Star Value Fund-Dividend - Direct 12.5169

Star Value Fund-Dividend Option 12.4125

Star Value Fund-Growth - Direct 17.1103

Star Value Fund-Growth Option 15.9273

Super 20 Fund - Dividend - Direct 15.1098

Super 20 Fund - Dividend Option 14.9315

Super 20 Fund - Growth - Direct 15.194

Super 20 Fund - Growth Option 14.9458

Wealth Plus Fund-Fixed Pricing Option-Direct-Div Option 24.2578

Wealth Plus Fund-Fixed Pricing Option-Direct-Growth 34.1012

Wealth Plus Fund-Fixed Pricing Option-Dividend Option 24.0627

Wealth Plus Fund-Fixed Pricing Option-Growth Option 33.7864

Wealth Plus Fund-Variable Pricing Option-Direct -Div 27.1151

Wealth Plus Fund-Variable Pricing Option-Direct-Growth 37.4776

Wealth Plus Fund-Variable Pricing Option-Dividend Option 26.9063

Wealth Plus Fund-Variable Pricing Option-Growth Option 37.1122

SBI MUTUAL FUND

Arbitrage Opportunities Fund - Direct Plan - DIVIDEND 13.7971

Arbitrage Opportunities Fund - Regular Plan - Div 13.0909

Arbitrage Opportunities Fund - Direct Plan - Gr 20.2518

Arbitrage Opportunities Fund - Regular Plan - Gr 19.9738

BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES - DIRECT PLAN - DIV 8.7404

BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES - DIRECT PLAN - GR 8.7425

BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES - REGULAR - DIV 8.7058

BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES - REGULAR - GR 8.7055

BLUE CHIP FUND - DIRECT PLAN - DIVIDEND 19.0451

BLUE CHIP FUND- REGULAR PLAN - DIVIDEND 16.3154

BLUE CHIP FUND-DIRECT PLAN -GROWTH 27.8112

BLUE CHIP FUND-REGULAR PLAN GROWTH 27.2064

CONTRA-DIRECT PLAN -DIVIDEND 23.8283

CONTRA-REGULAR PLAN -DIVIDEND 19.35

CONTRA - DIRECT PLAN - GROWTH 81.4938

CONTRA - REGULAR PLAN -GROWTH 79.9948

Dynamic Asset Allocation Fund - Direct Plan - Dividend 9.977

Dynamic Asset Allocation Fund - Direct Plan - Growth 9.9772

Index Fund - Nifty-Direct Plan Nifty 46.3899

Index Fund - Sensex Direct Plan Sensex 60.4022

Index Fund - Sensex-Regular Plan 59.5685

Index Fund - Nifty-Regular Plan 44.4634

India Consumer Fund-Direct Plan-Dividend Payout 9.6852

India Consumer Fund-Direct Plan-Dividend Reinvestment 9.6852

India Consumer Fund-Direct Plan-Growth 9.6852

India Consumer Fund-Regular Plan-Dividend Payout 9.6659

India Consumer Fund-Regular Plan-Dividend Reinvestment 9.6659

India Consumer Fund-Regular Plan-Growth 9.6659

India Pharma & Healthcare Fund-Direct Plan-Div Payout 10.0146

India Pharma & Healthcare Fund-Direct - Div Reinvestment 10.0146

India Pharma & Healthcare Fund-Direct Plan-Growth 10.0146

India Pharma & Healthcare Fund-Regular Plan-Div Payout 9.9971

India Pharma & Healthcare Fund-Regular - Div Reinvestment 9.9971

India Pharma & Healthcare Fund-Regular Plan-Growth 9.9971

Infrastructure Fund -Direct Plan Dividend 25.8136

Infrastructure Fund -Direct Plan Growth 39.2077

Infrastructure Fund-Regular Plan - Dividend 23.5014

Infrastructure Fund-Regular Plan- Growth 38.6311

Mid Cap Growth Fund - Direct Plan Bonus(Growth) 88.1925

Mid Cap Growth Fund - Direct Plan Dividend 36.3869

Mid Cap Growth Fund - Direct Plan Growth 96.104

Mid Cap Growth Fund-Regular Plan - Dividend 30.6529

Mid Cap Growth Fund Regular Plan- Growth 93.8022

Mid Cap Growth Fund Regular Plan - Bonus (Growth) 87.3204

Pure Equity Fund -Direct Plan Dividend 43.5754

Pure Equity Fund -Direct Plan Growth 155.5189

Pure Equity Fund Regular Plan - Growth 150.8688

Pure Equity Fund -Regular Plan - Dividend Option 42.2043

Regular Savngs Equity Fund - RegularPlan- Monthly Div 13.312

Regular Savings Equity Fund - Regular Plan-Qrtly Div 13.3386

Regular Savings Equity Fund- Direct Plan -Monthly Div 13.4871

Regular Savings Equity Fund- Direct Plan -Quarterly Div 13.8772

Regular Savings Equity Fund- Direct Plan- Growth 27.0263

Regular Savings Equity Fund -Regular Plan-Growth 26.2935

Resources & Energy Fund-Direct Plan-Dividend Payout 9.898

Resources & Energy Fund-Direct Plan-Div Reinvestment 9.898

Resources & Energy Fund-Direct Plan-Growth 9.898

Resources & Energy Fund-Regular Plan-Dividend Payout 9.8767

Resources & Energy Fund-Regular Plan-Div Reinvestment 9.8767

Resources & Energy Fund-Regular Plan-Growth 9.8767

Retirement Savings Fund -Regular - Progressive -Growth 17.7367

Retirement Savings Fund Moderate - Regular - (Growth) 19.2828

Retirement Savings Fund Moderate -Direct Plan Growth 20.1656

Retirement Savings Fund-Direct Plan Growth 18.7122

TAURUS MUTUAL FUND

Banking & Financial Services Fund - Dividend Option 12.56

Banking & Financial Services Fund - Growth Option 14.04

Banking & Financial Services Fund-Direct Plan-Div Option 14.38

Banking & Financial Services Fund-Direct Plan-Growth Op 14.44

Bonanza Fund-Direct Plan-Dividend Option 57.1

Bonanza Fund-Direct Plan-Growth Option 57.66

Bonanza Fund-Dividend Option 56.4

Bonanza Fund-Growth Option 56.4

Discovery Fund - Divided Option 27.75

Discovery Fund - Growth Option 27.76

Discovery Fund-Direct Plan-Dividend Option 28.12

Discovery Fund-Direct Plan-Growth Option 28.18

Ethical Fund - Bonus Option 37.02

Ethical Fund - Dividend Option 25.01

Ethical Fund - Growth Option 37.02

Ethical Fund-Direct Plan-Bonus Option 12.41

Ethical Fund-Direct Plan-Dividend Option 25.4

Ethical Fund-Direct Plan-Growth Option 37.8

Infrastructure Fund -Dividend Option 14.6

Infrastructure Fund -Growth Option 15.52

Infrastructure Fund-Direct Plan-Dividend Option 14.83

Infrastructure Fund-Direct Plan-Growth Option 15.85

Nifty Index Fund - Dividend Option 13.9336

Nifty Index Fund - Growth Option 13.9336

Nifty Index Fund-Direct Plan-Dividend Option 14.2013

Nifty Index Fund-Direct Plan-Growth Option 14.2073

Starshare-Direct Plan-Dividend Option 57.97

Starshare Dividend Option 57.78

Starshare Growth Option 82.08

Starshare-Direct Plan-Growth Option 83.8

UNION KBC MUTUAL FUND

Equity Fund - Direct Plan - Dividend Option 14.08

Equity Fund - Direct Plan - Growth Option 14.08

Equity Fund - Dividend Option 11.9

Equity Fund - Growth Option 13.76

Small and Midcap Fund - Direct Plan - Dividend Option 11.43

Small and Midcap Fund - Direct Plan - Growth Option 11.43

Small and Midcap Fund - Regular Plan - Dividend Option 11.29

Small and Midcap Fund - Regular Plan - Growth Option 11.29

UTI MUTUAL FUND

Equity Fund-Growth Option 93.876

Equity Fund-Growth Option - Direct 94.8133

Equity Fund-Income Option 76.225

Equity Fund-Income Option - Direct 77.0188

INDEX SELECT FUND-Growth Option 35.58

INDEX SELECT FUND-Income Option 15.56

Master Share-Growth Option 81.5683

Master Share-Growth Option - Direct 82.6515

Master Share-Income Option 28.8023

Master Share-Income Option - Direct 29.2524

MNC Fund (UGS 10000)-Growth Option 140.039

MNC Fund (UGS 10000)-Growth Option - Direct 143.4819

MNC Fund (UGS 10000)-Income Option 80.2799

MNC Fund (UGS 10000)-Income Option- Direct 82.3567

NIFTY Index Fund-Growth Option 47.3218

NIFTY Index Fund-Growth Option- Direct 47.5785

NIFTY Index Fund-Income Option 24.0905

NIFTY Index Fund-Income Option- Direct 24.2193

TOP 100 Fund- Growth Option 43.8671

TOP 100 Fund- Growth Option - Direct 44.3377

TOP 100 Fund-Income Option 29.2576

TOP 100 Fund-Income Option - Direct 29.5919

Wealth Builder Fund - Series II - Dividend Option 15.8613

Wealth Builder Fund - Series II - Dividend Option-Direct 16.2156

Wealth Builder Fund - Series II - Growth Option 25.863

Wealth Builder Fund - Series II - Growth Option-Direct 26.3652

Banking Sector Fund-Growth Option 55.2075

Banking Sector Fund-Growth Option- Direct 56.8998

Banking Sector Fund-Income Option 23.3948

Banking Sector Fund-Income Option-Direct 24.1666

Bluechip Flexicap Fund - Direct Plan - Dividend Option 19.3593

Bluechip Flexicap Fund - Direct Plan - Growth Option 22.9977

Bluechip Flexicap Fund - Regular Plan - Dividend Option 19.1723

Bluechip Flexicap Fund - Regular Plan - Growth option 22.7905

CCP Advantage Fund - Growth 24.0016

CCP Advantage Fund - Growth- Direct 24.3857

CCP Advantage Fund - Income 24.0014

CCP Advantage Fund - Income- Direct 24.4191

Energy Fund-Growth Option 10.7264

Energy Fund-Growth Option-Direct 10.8675

Energy Fund-Income Option 12.1676

Energy Fund-Income Option-Direct 12.3234

Pharma & Healthcare Fund-Growth Option 91.4669

Pharma & Healthcare Fund-Growth Option- Direct 93.854

Pharma & Healthcare Fund-Income Option 70.6904

Pharma & Healthcare Fund-Income Option-Direct 72.5414

Infrastructure Fund-Growth Option 35.3018

Infrastructure Fund-Growth Option- Direct 35.7711

Infrastructure Fund-Income Option 20.0661

Infrastructure Fund-Income Option- Direct 20.3303

Mid Cap Fund-Growth Option 73.5793

Mid Cap Fund-Growth Option- Direct 75.184

Mid Cap Fund-Income Option 42.0074

Mid Cap Fund-Income Option- Direct 44.0204

Multi Cap Fund - Dividend Option 9.8621

Multi Cap Fund - Dividend Option - Direct 9.9383

Multi Cap Fund - Growth Option 9.8621

Multi Cap Fund - Growth Option - Direct 9.9383

Opportunities Fund-Dividend Option 15.7411

Opportunities Fund-Dividend Option-Direct 17.4644

Opportunities Fund-Growth Option 41.7391

Opportunities Fund-Growth Option-Direct 42.721

Spread Fund - Dividend Option 15.637

Spread Fund - Dividend Option- Direct 16.1118

Spread Fund - Growth Option 20.5969

Spread Fund - Growth Option- Direct 20.8609

Dividend Yield Fund.-Growth 43.1155

Dividend Yield Fund.-Growth-Direct 43.9448

Dividend Yield Fund.-Income 13.7689

Dividend Yield Fund.-Income-Direct 14.7591

Transportation and Logistics Fund-Income Option 39.3726

Transportation and Logistics Fund-Income Option- Direct 40.4772

Transpotation and Logistics Fund-Growth Option 78.6583

Transpotation and Logistics Fund-Growth Option- Direct 80.8251

Dynamic Asset Allocation Fund - Regular Plan - Dividend 9.9326

Dynamic Asset Allocation Fund - Regular Plan - Growth 9.9327

EMERGING BUSINESSES FUND - DIRECT PLAN - DIV 29.026

EMERGING BUSINESSES FUND - REG PLAN - DIV 21.4627

EMERGING BUSINESSES FUND - DIRECT - GROWTH 89.4649

EMERGING BUSINESSES FUND - REGULAR - GROWTH 87.192

Equity Savings Fund - Direct Plan - Growth 10.2865

Equity Savings Fund - Direct Plan - Monthly Dividend 10.0934

Equity Savings Fund - Direct Plan - Quarterly Dividend 10.1347

Equity Savings Fund - Regular Plan - Growth 10.1527

Equity Savings Fund - Regular Plan - Monthly Dividend 10.0233

Equity Savings Fund - Regular Plan - Quarterly Dividend 10.0043

FMCG FUND - DIRECT PLAN - DIVIDEND 62.6442

FMCG FUND - DIRECT PLAN - GROWTH 75.3237

FMCG FUND - REGULAR - GROWTH 73.0021

FMCG FUND - REGULAR PLAN - DIVIDEND 51.9411

INFRASTRUCTURE FUND - DIRECT PLAN - DIVIDEND 10.3286

INFRASTRUCTURE FUND - REGULAR - DIV (6/7/2007) 10.1737

INFRASTRUCTURE FUND - SERIES I - DIRECT - GR 10.339

INFRASTRUCTURE FUND - SERIES I - REGULAR - GR (6/7/2007) 10.1727

IT FUND - DIRECT PLAN - DIVIDEND 39.2441

IT FUND - DIRECT PLAN - GROWTH 47.0432

IT FUND - REGULAR PLAN - DIVIDEND 32.1517

IT FUND - REGULAR PLAN - GROWTH 45.5274

Magnum COMMA Fund - DIRECT PLAN - Dividend 14.7546

Magnum COMMA Fund - REGULAR PLAN - Dividend 14.4775

Magnum COMMA Fund - DIRECT PLAN - Growth 21.8218

Magnum COMMA Fund - REGULAR PLAN - Growth 21.4368

Magnum Equity Fund - DIRECT PLAN -Dividend 35.3224

Magnum Equity Fund - DIRECT PLAN -GROWTH 71.5099

Magnum Equity Fund - REGULAR PLAN - Dividend 30.3313

Magnum Equity Fund- REGULAR PLAN - Growth 70.0824

MAGNUM GLOBAL FUND - DIRECT PLAN - DIVIDEND 55.6246

MAGNUM GLOBAL FUND - REGULAR PLAN -DIVIDEND 46.5515

MAGNUM GLOBAL FUND - DIRECT PLAN -GROWTH 128.3267

MAGNUM GLOBAL FUND - REGULAR PLAN -GROWTH 125.4245

Magnum MIDCAP FUND - DIRECT PLAN -DIVIDEND 38.3484

Magnum MIDCAP FUND - REGULAR PLAN -DIVIDEND 27.0582

Magnum MIDCAP FUND - DIRECT PLAN - GROWTH 59.0209

Magnum MIDCAP FUND - REGULAR PLAN - GROWTH 57.6457

Magnum Multicap Fund - DIRECT PLAN -Dividend Option 21.1443

Magnum Multicap Fund - REGULAR PLAN -Div Option 18.5798

Magnum Multicap Fund - DIRECT PLAN - Growth Option 31.8957

Magnum Multicap Fund - REGULAR - Growth Option 31.2862

Magnum Multiplier Fund - REGULAR PLAN -Dividend 81.0577

Magnum Multiplier Fund -DIRECT PLAN -Dividend 94.6513

Magnum Multiplier Fund - REGULAR PLAN -Growth 147.8

Magnum Multiplier Fund -DIRECT PLAN -Growth 149.4965

NIFTY INDEX FUND - DIRECT PLAN - GROWTH 64.0105

NIFTY INDEX FUND - REGULAR PLAN - GROWTH 63.2329

NIFTY INDEX FUND - DIRECT PLAN - DIVIDEND 32.8582

NIFTY INDEX FUND- REGULAR PLAN - DIVIDEND 32.3894

PHARMA - DIRECT PLAN -DIVIDEND 119.6288

PHARMA - REGULAR PLAN - DIVIDEND 105.218

PHARMA - DIRECT PLAN -GROWTH 145.2491

PHARMA - REGULAR PLAN -GROWTH 140.8856

PSU Fund - DIRECT PLAN - DIVIDEND 8.1918

PSU Fund - DIRECT PLAN - GROWTH 8.1957

PSU Fund - REGULAR PLAN -Dividend 8.0734

PSU Fund - REGULAR PLAN -Growth 8.0745

Smal & Midcap - Regular Plan - Growth 31.1752

Small & Midcap - Direct Plan - Dividend 27.9591

Small & Midcap - Direct Plan - Growth 32.187

Small & Midcap - Regular Plan - Dividend 23.4475

MAGNUM NRI FLEXIASSET PLAN-DIVIDEND 30.3025

MAGNUM NRI FLEXIASSET PLAN-GROWTH 30.1918

ONE INDIA - DIV (PREV CLOSE ENDED UPTO 14/01/2010) 10.43

ONE INDIA - GROWTH (PREV CLOSE ENDED UPTO 14/01/2010) 10.43

SHRIRAM MUTUAL FUND

Equity and Debt Opportunities Fund 12.4657

Equity and Debt Opportunities Fund- (Direct) Dividend 9.9473

Equity and Debt Opportunities Fund- Dividend 9.8438

Equity and Debt Opportunities Fund-Growth 12.3134

SUNDARAM MUTUAL FUND

PSU Opportunities Dividend Option 9.1664

PSU Opportunities Growth Option 10.0666

Select Thematic Funds PSU Opportunities - Direct - Div Op 9.3088

Select Thematic Funds PSU Opportunities - Direct - Growth Op 10.2165

Entertainment Opportunities Fund - Direct - Div Option 14.3147

Entertainment Opportunities Fund - Inst Dividend 0

Entertainment Opportunities Fund - Inst Growth 19.9174

Entertainment Opportunities Fund - Regular Dividend 14.1421

Entertainment Opportunities Fund - Regular Growth 19.3186

Entertainment Opportunities Fund - Direct - Growth Op 19.5669

Equity Multiplier - Direct Plan - Dividend Option 16.3562

Equity Multiplier - Direct Plan - Growth Option 21.8006

Equity Multiplier Fund Dividend 16.082

Equity Multiplier Fund Growth 21.4169

Equity plus - Direct Plan - Dividend Option 11.67

Equity plus - Direct Plan - Growth Option 12.6895

Equity Plus- Dividend Option 11.4486

Equity Plus- Growth Option 12.4364

Financial Services Opportunities - Direct - Dividend Option 13.6786

Financial Services Opportunities - Direct - Growth Option 23.9851

Financial Services Opportunities Fund Inst Dividend 13.8914

Financial Services Opportunities Fund Inst Growth 24.6906

Financial Services Opportunities Fund Reg Dividend 13.4378

Financial Services Opportunities Fund Reg Growth 23.6612

Growth Fund - Direct Plan - Dividend Option 9.1469

Growth Fund - Direct Plan - Growth Option 103.2706

Growth Fund- Inst Dividend 9.6483

Growth Fund-Dividend 9.0884

Growth Fund-Growth 101.6156

Infrastructure Advantage Fund (ESCO) Direct - Growth 23.3549

Infrastructure Advantage Fund (ESCO) Regular - Growth 23.0274

Infrastructure Advantage Fund (MoC&EO) Direct - Div 23.3491

Infrastructure Advantage Fund (MoC&EO) Regular - Div 23.0281

Rural India Fund Dividend 16.7854

Rural India Fund Inst Dividend 24.906

Select Thematic - Rural India Fund - Direct - Div Option 17.0317

Rural India Fund Growth 25.1112

Select Thematic - Rural India Fund - Direct - Growth Op 25.4642

S.M.I.L.E Fund - Direct Plan - Dividend Option 19.5262

S.M.I.L.E Fund - Direct Plan - Growth Option 65.1534

S.M.I.L.E.Fund-Dividend 19.1786

S.M.I.L.E.Fund-Growth 64.1704

S.M.I.L.E.Fund-Inst Dividend 19.9741

S.M.I.L.E.Fund-iNST Growth 66.5251

Select Focus - Direct Plan - Dividend Option 12.4989

Select Focus - Direct Plan - Growth Option 115.6627

Select Focus-Dividend 12.3377

Select Focus-Growth 114.037

Select Focus-Inst Dividend 12.6419

Select Focus-Inst Growth 118.2257

Select Mid Cap - Direct Plan - Dividend Option 30.8203

Select Mid Cap - Direct Plan - Growth Option 324.8869

Select Midcap-Dividend 30.2551

Select Midcap-Growth 319.6128

Select Midcap-Institutional Dividend 27.8072

Select Midcap-Institutional Growth 331.6432

TATA MUTUAL FUND

Banking And Financial Services - Direct - Div Payout 9.7244

Banking And Financial Services - Direct - Div Reinvestment 9.7244

Banking And Financial Services - Direct Plan-Growth 9.7244

Banking And Financial Services - Regular-Div Payout 9.705

Banking And Financial Services - Regular - Div Reinvestment 9.705

Banking And Financial Services Fund-Regular Plan-Growth 9.705

Digital India Fund-Direct Plan-Dividend Payout 10.2741

Digital India Fund-Direct Plan-Dividend Reinvetsment 10.2741

Digital India Fund-Direct Plan-Growth 10.2741

Digital India Fund-Regular Plan-Dividend Payout 10.2556

Digital India Fund-Regular Plan-Dividend Reinvestment 10.2556

Digital India Fund-Regular Plan-Growth 10.2556

Dividend Yield Fund Regular Plan -( Div) 23.8527

Dividend Yield Fund Regular Plan 55.0233

Dividend Yield Fund-Direct Plan Dividend 24.4145

Dividend Yield Fund-Direct Plan Growth 56.2012

Equity Opportunities Fund -Direct Plan Dividend 30.774

Equity Opportunities Fund -Direct Plan Growth 144.2065

Equity Opportunities Fund Regular Plan - Dividend 29.8624

Equity Opportunities Fund Regular Plan - Growth 140.1746

Equity P/E Fund - Direct Plan Dividend Trigger A (5%) 41.7871

Equity P/E Fund - Direct Plan Dividend Trigger B(10%) 41.6145

Equity P/E Fund - Direct Plan Growth 80.7175

Equity P/E Fund Regular Plan -(Growth Option) 79.2768

Equity P/E Fund Regular Plan (Div Trigger Option A - 5%) 40.8929

Equity P/E Fund Regular Plan (Div Trigger Option B - 10%) 40.7912

Ethical Fund - Direct Plan Dividend 75.576

Ethical Fund - Direct Plan Growth 125.7042

Ethical Fund Regular Plan - Dividend 59.1853

Ethical Fund Regular Plan - Growth 122.4035

Scheme NAV

funds 12LUCKNOW | MONDAY | FEBRUARY 8, 2016

LUCKNOW | MONDAY | FEBRUARY 8, 2016 world 13

AFP n TOKYO

Japanese PM Shinzo Abe con-demned North Korea’s launch

on Sunday of a long-range rock-et and said it was a violation ofUN Security resolutions.

The launch was “absolute-ly intolerable,” Abe toldreporters as it came despiterepeated protests by the inter-national community. He alsocalled it a “clear violation” of UNSecurity Council resolutions.

The rocket took off ataround 9:00 am Pyongyangtime (0030 GMT), according tothe S Korean defence ministrywhich was monitoring thelaunch site.

N Korea had labelled thelaunch part of a purely scien-tific space programme, butmost of the world viewed it asa disguised ballistic missiletest and the nuclear-armedstate’s latest step towards aweapons delivery system capa-ble of striking the US mainland.

Japanese Chief CabinetSecretary Yoshihide Suga tolda hastily arranged press con-ference that the Govt so far hadjudged that no part of therocket had fallen within Japan’sterritory.

AFP n SEOUL

South Korean and USdefence officials said on

Sunday that they would beginformal talks on the deploy-ment on the Korean peninsu-la of a US missile defence sys-tem to counter the growingthreat from North Korea.

The announcement fol-lowed a North Korean rocketlaunch that the US and its alliescondemned as a covert ballis-tic missile test. “It has beendecided to formally start talkson the possibility of deployingthe THAAD system to S Koreaas part of steps to bolster themissile defence of the Korea-US alliance,” said Yoo Jeh-Seung, the South’s deputydefence minister for policy.

There has been specula-tion for years about thedeployment of the TerminalHigh Altitude Area Defense(THAAD) system - one of themost advanced in the world -to the South, one of Washington’s main Asian allies.

The US insists that it is adeterrent necessitated by theNorth’s advancing ballisticmissile programme, whileChina and Russia argue that itwould undermine stabilityand could trigger an arms racein a delicately balanced region.“The Korea-US alliance hadno choice but to take such adefence action because NorthKorea staged a strategic provo-cation and is refusing to havea dialogue,” Yoo said.

PTI nWASHINGTON/BEIJING

North Korea’s launch of along-range rocket on

Sunday triggered angry reactionsfrom across the globe and callsfor a “tough” response to its lat-est provocation with arch-rivalSouth Korea saying it will begintalks on possible deployment ofa US missile defence system.

A month after it claimed asuccessful hydrogen bomb test,N Korea announced it had suc-cessfully put a satellite into orbit,“legitimately exercising the rightto use space for independent andpeaceful purposes”.

The development was hailedby Pyongyang as an “epochalevent” but the rocket launch was

widely condemned as a ballisticmissile test for a weapons deliv-ery system to strike the US ma-inland. The US condemned No-rth Korea’s launch of the long-range rocket, describing themove by the hermit nation as“destabilising and provocative.”

“The United States stronglycondemns Sunday’s missilelaunch by the DPRK(Democratic People’s Republic ofKorea) - a flagrant violation ofUN Security Council resolu-tions related to its use of ballis-tic missile technology,” USSecretary of State John Kerry saidin a statement. “This is the sec-ond time in just over a monththat the DPRK has chosen toconduct a major provocation,

threatening not only the securi-ty of the Korean peninsula, butthat of the region and the UnitedStates as well,” he said.

On January 6, Pyongyangclaimed to have successfullydetonated a powerful hydro-gen bomb, prompting S Koreaand Japan to demand freshround of punitive sanctions onthe country.

Kerry said the US willstand with its allies, includingS Korea and Japan, and willhold the DPRK to account.

UN Secretary General BanKi-moon denounced N Korea’srocket launch while asking thecountry to halt its “provocativeactions” and return to compli-ance with its international

obligations.Condemning the launch

as “deeply deplorable”, the UN chief said it was in viola-tion of UN Security Councilresolutions.

China “expressed regret”over N Korea’s rocket launchafter Pyongyang said it suc-cessfully put a satellite intoorbit. China is N Korea’s solemajor ally and main tradingpartner but ties between thetwo have been strained inrecent years due to Pyongyang’snuclear programme.

Russia, considered of beingsoft on North Korea, also con-demned the move, saying it wasa serious blow to regional secu-rity including that of Pyongyang.

S. RAJAGOPALAN nWASHINGTON

The United States led theinternational condemnation

of North Korea after it launchedon Sunday a long-range rocketas part of its planned develop-ment of intercontinental ballis-tic missile technologies thatcame about exactly a monthafter its nuclear test.

An emergency meeting ofthe United Nations SecurityCouncil was called on Sundayto deliberate on what theUnited States called “a flagrantviolation of UN SecurityCouncil Resolutions related tothe DPRK use of ballistic mis-sile technology”.

UN Secretary-General BanKi-moon called the launch“deeply deplorable”. Aspokesman for Ban said: “TheSecretary-General reiterates hiscall on the DPRK to halt itsprovocative actions and returnto compliance with its inter-national obligations.”

Calling it “a major provoca-tion”, US Secretary of State JohnKerry said the North Koreanaction threatens not only thesecurity of the Korean peninsu-

la, but of the whole region andthe United States as well.

“We reaffirm our ironcladcommitment to the defense ofour allies, including theRepublic of Korea and Japan.We will continue to work withour partners and members ofthe UN Security Council onsignificant measures to hold theDPRK to account,” Kerry saidin a statement.

Kerry said it was time todeal with Nork Korea in a firmand united way, with mea-sures that make clear the deter-mination of the internationalcommunity to ?address thereclusive nation’s pursuit of

nuclear and ballistic missilecapabilities.

US National SecurityAdvisor Susan Rice said thelaunch using ballistic missiletechnology “represents yetanother destabilizing andprovocative action and is a fla-grant violation of multipleUnited Nations SecurityCouncil resolutions”.

“North Korea’s missile andnuclear weapons programs rep-resent serious threats to ourinterests--including the securityof some of our closest allies--and undermine peace andsecurity in the broader region,”she said.

AFP n TAINAN

Rescuers raced on Sunday tofree more than 120 people

buried under the rubble of anapartment complex felled by anearthquake in southern Taiwanthat left 29 confirmed dead, asan investigation began into the

collapse.The death toll rose as emer-

gency workers dug for survivorsof the 6.4-magnitude quakethat toppled the 16-storey com-plex of almost 100 homes in thecity of Tainan on Saturday.

Officials said an investiga-tion had been launched asquestions were raised over thesafety of the residential blocksin the complex.

Tainan mayor William Laisaid survivors and relativeshad reported legal “violations”but gave no further detail.

“I’ve contacted judicialunits and prosecutors haveformally launched an investi-gation,” said Lai.

“We’ve also commissionedthree independent bodies topreserve evidence during therescue so we can assist the res-idents if they want to file law-suits in the future. We will holdthe builder responsible if theyhave broken the law.”

Local media reported the

construction company thatbuilt the complex had gone outof business and also raisedquestions over the quality of thematerials used.

Yueh Chin-sen, whosemother-in-law’s family of eightis still trapped, said the resi-dents had complained ofdefects in the building.

“They complained that thebuilding wasn’t well construct-ed as there were cracks in thewalls and tiles fell off after sev-eral quakes in recent years,” hetold AFP.

“I hope the governmentwill prosecute the builder oncriminal charges as people losttheir lives.”

Chicago: A 12-year-old Germanshepherd in the US state ofMissouri is lucky to be alive afterbeing buried in a sinkhole for 72hours. The hunt for Maverickstarted on February 4 after hewandered from his home inParkville, north of Kansas City.“He had on his invisible fencecollar,” said owner Lisa Van Val-kenburgh.

One day while VanValkenburgh was walking out-side her home she heard a fainthowl coming from under theground. At first, she thought herdog was in the ditch below, stuckin a drain pipe. “I jumped downfrantically searching,” she said. “Aman stopped to help me when hesaw a sinkhole at the side of theroad.” Her dog was buried alive.

Van Valkenburgh’s son andhusband came to try to dig thedog out, but Maverick wassucked into the mud and veryweak. The family then called res-cue authorities for help. It tookrescue crews almost two hoursto dig Maverick out. “They hadto dig out under Maverick torelease the suction the clay hadon him,” she said. Once he wasrescued, the pooch was lifelessand had to be rushed to theemergency vet hospital. PTI

London: A Nigerian woman,who wanted to see Barbiedressed the way she did, hasgiven the popular doll arguablyits most surprising makeoveryet — all covered up and wear-ing a ‘hijab’.

The ‘Hijarbie’, created by24-year-old Haneefah Adam,will be initially available in theUS and will be sold in the UKfrom mid March at major toyretailers for 9.99 pounds each.

Adam said a look at thehugely popular Barbie StyleInstagram “got me thinkingabout how I’d actually like tosee a doll dressed up like Iwould have — covered up.

“I was mulling about theidea for about three monthswhile I was still studying for mymaster’s degree in the UK.When I got back to Nigeria, Iwent to the mall, purchased adoll, dressed it up, document-ed it and here we are,” she toldStyle.Mic.

Adam, who currently ownsand runs a lifestyle brand calledHanie, posts about her‘Hijarbies’ on an Instagramaccount which already has over17,000 of followers. PTI

Oncupinar: Turkey is ready “ifnecessary” to let in tens ofthousands of Syrian refugeestrapped on its border afterfleeing a regime assault,Turkish President Recep TayyipErdogan said.

Thousands of Syrians,mostly women and children,have fled toward the Turkishborder since Friday from thenorthern Syrian city ofAleppo to escape a majorregime offensive backed byRussian air strikes. “Theregime has now blocked a partof Aleppo. Turkey is underthreat,” Erdogan told reporterson his plane returning fromSenegal on Saturday.

“If they reached our doorand have no other choice, ifnecessary, we have to and willlet our brothers in,” he said.

The Governor of Turkey’sKilis border province,Suleyman Tapsiz, said onSaturday that Turkey - alreadyhome to 2-2.5 mn Syrians wastaking care of 30-35,000refugees who had gatheredaround the nearby Syrian cityof Azaz in the space of 48 hours.

Another 70,000 may headfor the frontier if Russian airstrikes and Syrian regime mil-itary advances continued inAleppo, he added.

Turkey’s Oncupinar bordercrossing, which faces Bab al-Salama inside Syria, remainedclosed to thousands of refugeesgathered there for a third day,an AFP reporter said. “But theborder keeps open for emer-gency situations,” a Turkishoffical said. AFP

Karachi: At least 10 people,including women and chil-dren, were on Sunday killed inPakistan’s southern Sindhprovince when a fire broke outat a tent, police said.

The fire broke out in themorning in a tent located inKeti Bandar area in Thatta city which engulfedseveral makeshift houses,local media reported.

Three women and fourchildren were among the 10killed, police said, addingthat several others receivedserious burns.

The injured have beenshifted to a Karachi hospital fortreatment. PTI

PTI n NEW YORK

Pakistan’s powerful intelli-gence service has long acted

as the “manager” of internationaljehadi forces and it may havebeen involved in the rise of theISIS, a leading US daily on Sun-day said, in a stinging commen-tary on Pakistan’s “intervention”in a number of foreign conflicts.

Underlining that expertshave found “a lot of evidence”that Pakistan facilitated theTaliban offensive, an op-ed inthe New York Times said, “Thisbehaviour is not just an issuefor Afghanistan. Pakistan isintervening in a number of for-eign conflicts.”

“Its intelligence service haslong acted as the manager ofinternational mujahedeen forces,many of them Sunni extremists,and there is even speculation thatit may have been involved in therise of the ISIS.”

It said that though Pakistandenies harbouring the Talibanand Al Qaeda, and points outthat it, too, is a victim of ter-rorism, “many analysts havedetailed how the military hasnurtured Islamist militant as aninstrument to suppress nation-alist movements, in particularamong the Pashtun minority, athome and abroad.”

“Pakistan regardsAfghanistan as its backyard.Determined not to let its archri-val, India, gain influence there,and to ensure that Afghanistanremains in the Sunni Islamistcamp, Pakistan has used theTaliban selectively, promotingthose who further its agenda andcracking down on those whodon’t. The same goes for AlQaeda and other foreign fight-ers,” wrote Carlotta Gall, theNorth Africa correspondent forNYT. It said there are reports thatPakistan had a role in the rise ofthe Islamic State.

“It might come as a surprisethat the region’s triumvirate ofviolent jihad is living openly inPakistan,” Gall said as she listedout top terrorist leaders livingopenly in Pakistan. “First, there’sSirajuddin Haqqani, the leader ofthe Haqqani network, and sec-ond in command of the Taliban.He moves freely aroundPakistan, and has even visited thePakistani intelligence headquar-ters of the Afghan campaign inRawalpindi,” she said.

Then there is the new leaderof the Taliban, Mullah AkhtarMuhammad Mansour, who hasopenly assembled meetings of hismilitary and leadership councilnear the Pakistani town ofQuetta, the author said.

Philippine mayor shot in pre-election ambushAFP n MANILA

APhilippine town mayor wasshot and wounded in an

ambush in the conflict-wrackedsouth on Sunday, two daysbefore the official campaign forgeneral elections in May kickoff, police said.

A gunman riding a motor-cycle opened fire on MayorJasper Que as he drove with histwo bodyguards in the port cityof Zamboanga at around 9 am,

city police spokeswoman SeniorInspector Helen Galvez said.

Que, who is not seeking reelec-tion, is mayor of Bongao, a remoteseaside town in Tawi, an impover-ished island chain on the country’ssouthernmost tip. A relative is

running to succeed him, accordingto poll records.

Que, who suffered threegunshot wounds to his arm, legand buttocks, is recovering ina Zamboanga hospital while hisassailant escaped.It was notimmediately clear if the attackwas election-related, Galvezsaid. The mayor is a member ofPresident Benigno Aquino’sLiberal Party.

Elections in one of SoutheastAsia’s most chaotic democracies

are routinely marred by violencedue to intense political rivalries.In 2010, 179 people were killedor injured in election-relatedattacks. No Poll related violentincidents have so far beenrecorded ahead of the May vote.

The official campaign fornational positions includingpresident and members ofparliament will start onTuesday while campaigningfor local executive positionswill start in March.

AFP n SEOUL

North Korea on Sundaysaid it had successfully

put a satellite into orbit, witha rocket launch widely con-demned as a ballistic missiletest for a weapons delivery sys-tem to strike the US mainland.

The launch, which violatedmultiple UN resolutions,amounted to the North dou-bling down against an interna-tional community alreadystruggling to punish Pyongyangfor its nuclear test a month ago.

There was no immediateexternal confirmation that thefinal stage of the satellite-bearing rocket had successfullyachieved orbit, although a USdefence official said the launchvehicle “appears to havereached space.”

An earlier unconfirmedreport from South Korea’sYonhap news agency had sug-gested the second stage mayhave malfunctioned.

In a special state TVbroadcast, a female NorthKorean announcer, wearing atraditional Korean hanbok

dress, said the launch, per-sonally ordered by leader KimJong-Un, had “successfully putour Earth observation satelliteKwangmyong 4. Into orbit.”

While stressing that thelaunch represented the legiti-mate exercise of North Korea’sright to the “peaceful and inde-pendent” use of space, she alsonoted that it marked a “break-through in boosting our nation-al defence capability.” TheNorth’s scientists would worktowards further satellite launch-es in the future, she added.

Condemnation was swift,with the United States callingthe launch “destabilising and provocative”, whileJapanese Prime MinisterShinzo Abe slammed it as“absolutely intolerable.”

In New York, diplomatssaid the UN Security Councilwould meet in emergency ses-sion later on Sunday.

South Korean PresidentPark Geun-Hye said theCouncil should respondquickly with “strong punitivemeasures” against what shecalled a grave challenge to

global peace and security.The rocket, carrying an

Earth observation satellite,took off at around 9:00 amPyongyang time, accordingto the South Korean defenceministry which was monitor-ing the launch site.

Its pre-orbital flight arcwas planned to traverse theYellow Sea and further south to the Philippine Sea,with both South Korea andJapan threatening to shoot itdown if it encroached ontheir territory. Multiple UNSecurity Council resolutionsproscribe North Korea’s devel-opment of its ballistic missileprogramme.

Despite Pyongyang’s insis-tence on a peaceful space mis-sion, its rockets are considereddual-use technology with bothcivil and military applications.

The US, along with allieslike S Korea and Japan, hadwarned Pyongyang it wouldpay a heavy price for pushingahead with launch, but ana-lysts said the North’s timingwas carefully calculated tominimise the repercussions.

N Korea triggers outrage

with rocket launch

Launch absolutelyintolerable, saysJapanese PM Abe

Rescuers race tosave over 120 buriedafter Taiwan quake

S Korea, USfor deploymentof US missilediscussion

N Korea’s rocket launch sparks global outrage

Turkey to open

border to Syrian

refugees if

necessary: Prez

A gunman riding amotorcycle openedfire on the Mayor

Muslimmakeover forBarbie with‘Hijarbie’

10 killed infire in Pak

Buried alive,

dog rescued

after 72 hrs

UNSC calls

emergency meet

NYT: Pakistan behind rise ofinternational jehadi forces

Britain’s Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge smiles as she meets members of the air cadets, after a service to mark the 75thanniversary year of the RAF Air Cadets, in London, on Sunday AP

US, UN slam missile launch

A passer-by receives an extra newspaper reporting North Korea’s rocket launch, inTokyo, on Sunday AP

People watch a TV news reporting a rocket launch in North Korea, at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul,on Sunday, Feb. 7, 2016. AP

Emergency rescuers remove a body found in a collapsed building from anearthquake in Tainan, Taiwan, Sunday, Feb. 7, 2016. AP

AP n BENGHAZI (LIBYA)

ALibyan parliamentariansays an airstrike hit a

medical technology college ina populated area of the easterncity of Darna, killing four people, including a womanand her son.

Hamid Albandag, a mem-ber of the internationallyrecognised parliament, saysthe early today airstrike hitnear a hospital. It was notimmediately clear who carriedout the strike.

Darna is controlled by analliance of Islamic militantgroups which have beendefending the town fromIslamic State militants.Albandag says the IS group is6-7 kilometers outside the city.

Libya has fallen into chaossince the 2011 toppling oflongtime dictator, MoammarGadhafi.

Since 2014, an interna-tionally recognized govern-ment convenes in the east. AnIslamist-dominated parliamentsits in the capital, Tripoli.

Airstrike hits

college in

Libyan city,

killing four

sport 14LUCKNOW | MONDAY | FEBRUARY 8, 2016

PTI n GUWAHATI

There was no stopping the Indian jug-gernaut in the 12th South AsianGames with the country’s swimmers,

wrestlers and weightlifters continuing theirdemolition of competition to fetch a bulkof the gold medals and complete a secondsuccessive day of supremacy here.

India stood heads and shoulders abovecompetition to top the medals tally with acount of 43, which included 28 gold, 12 sil-ver and 3 bronze medals. The second spotcontinued to be held by Sri Lanka with a totalof 38 medals (8 gold, 17 silver, 13 bronze).

The bulk of the medals on Sunday camethrough the swimmers, who scooped 10 inall — including 4 gold, 5 silver and 1 bronze.The wrestlers added 4 gold and a silver, whilethe weightlifters snared 3 gold medals.

On Sunday, Amit Dhankar (70kg),Mamta (53kg), Manju Kumari (58kg) andPradeep (61kg) picked up the gold medalsin their respective events.

The lone silver for Indian in wrestlingcame through Gopal Yadav (86kg) who lostto Mohd Imam of Pakistan in the final.

India also continued their overwhelm-ing dominance in the weightlifting event bybagging three more gold medals.

Saraswati Rout (women’s 58 kg), SamboLapung (men’s 69 kg) and Ajay Singh (men’s77 kg) won a gold each on Sunday to takeIndia’s medal tally from weightlifting to sixgold out of eight on offer in two days.

Rout brought the first gold of the day,and fourth for India, in women’s 58kg witha total lift of 187 kg (80 kg in snatch + 107kg clean and jerk). Fullapati Chakma ofBangladesh won the silver by lifting a totalof 144 kg (63 kg + 81 kg) while MohideenUmeria of Sri Lanka got the bronze with 142kg (61 kg + 81 kg).

Lapung then gave India another gold inmen’s 69 kg event in a close contest. Aftertrailing by 5 kg in snatch, the Indian liftedfive more kilograms than his Sri Lanka rivalM Disanayake in clean and jerk and the twolifters tied on total lift of 281kg.

Lapung was adjudged the gold medalwinner as his body weight (68.8 kg) waslesser by 200 grams than Disanayake (69.00kg) who won the silver. Sufiyan Abu ofPakistan won the bronze with a total lift of275 kg (124kg + 151kg).

Youngster Ajay secured the third goldof the day with his personal best effort. Sixclear lifts took Ajay to gold with a total liftof 305 kg (136 kg + 169 kg). Chinthana ofSri Lanka won the silver with a total lift of300 kg and Umar Rasool Lone of Pakistangot the bronze with a total lift of 281 kg.

In Shillong, Y Sapna Devi and AnjulNamdeo clinched a gold and bronze in thewomen’s and men’s events respectively ofwushu. Sapna dished out a fine display towin the gold with a huge margin as shesecured 9.45 points to emerge champion inthe women’s taolu (Changquan) event.

The men’s taolu (Changquan) event, onthe other hand, went down the wire asNamdeo settled for a bronze with 8:66 pointsbehind Nepalese Bijay Sinjali’s 8.80 and P LH Lakshan, who won the gold with 8:86.

Also continuing their fine show werethe cyclists, who added a gold, a silver anda bronze medal on Sunday.

Lidiyamol Sunny and TongbramManorama Devi bagged a gold and silverin women’s 40km criterium event.

Sunny accumulated 30 points to bag thetop spot, while Manorama secured 26points as Indians returned one-two for thethird time in a row. In men’s 60km criteri-um event, India’s Pankaj Kumar bagged abronze with 21 total points.

Also performing well were the archersand the hosts remained on course to graball the 10 gold medals on offer by storm-ing into the finals of the recurve and com-pound team and mixed pair events.

Indian women shuttlers also began theircampaign with an easy 3-0 win over theirNepalese opponents.

Cynosure of Indian badminton team atthe SA Games, PV Sindhu gave the team aperfect start with a 21-2, 21-8 win over SaraDevi Tamang.

18-year-old rising Indian shuttlerGadde Ruthvika Shivani used her height toadvantage to breeze past Nangsal Tamang21-6, 21-2 to make it 2-0 for the hosts.

Meanwhile in men’s event, India beatAfghanistan 3-0 with Ajay Jayram, HSPrannoy, Akshay Dewalkar and PranayChopra securing facile victories to top

Group A.The Indian women’s hockey team

began its campaign with a 24-0 mauling ofNepal in a completely lopsided roundrobin league match.

The day was not without disappoint-ment though with India suffering a majorsetback in squash. The fancied men’s duoof Saurav Ghosal and Harinder Pal SinghSandhu lost to opponents from arch-rivalsPakistan in the individual men’s semifinals.

Top seed Ghosal was out of sorts in his4-11, 5-11, 12-10, 5-11 loss to FarhanZaman while Sandhu did a shade betterbefore conceding the match in the fourthgame in favour of his rival second seed NasirIqbal, citing a right hamstring injury.Sandhu was trailing at 7-11, 14-12, 7-11, 6-6 when he called injury time out in an ill-

tempered match.In the women’s event, however, ace play-

er and top seed Joshna Chinappa easilydefeated her Pakistani rival Sadia Gul 11-9, 11-7, 11-5 in the semifinals to set up thesummit clash on Monday against anotherplayer of the western neighbours.

INDIA WIN GOLD IN TT TOOSHILLONG: India clinched two gold medals inthe men’s and women’s table tennis teamevents with easy wins over Sri Lanka andPakistan here on Sunday.

This was the table tennis men’s andwomen’s teams 12th successive gold medalwins from as many editions of the Games.

Lanky Lankan Udaya Ranasinghe gavenational champion Anthony Amalraj sometrouble before the India registered a 11-9,13-11, 6-11, 11-8 win to give them a 1-0 lead.

Dishing out powerful service, GSathiyan stormed past Rohan Sirisena 11-3 11-3 11-3 to double the lead.

Sanil Shetty was down 8-11 in the firstgame but the southpaw overcame stronglyto win 11-3, 11-7 to snatch a 2-1 lead. Thefourth set went down the wire as both werelocked 11-11 before Shetty settled theissue 13-11.

The women’s team earlier opened thetally for India when they outplayed Pakistan3-0 en route to their 12th successive teamgold medal in the competition.

Reigning national champion Manikadefeated Raheela Kashif 11-2, 11-6, 11-6 inthe first rubber. Mouma Das had little dif-ficulty against Shabnam Bilal to take the tie11-7, 11-4, 11-4. K Shamini clinched theissue in the third rubber when she sweptaside Ayesha Ansari 11-3, 11-3, 11-7.

PTI n GUWAHATI

India scooped 10 medals, including four gold, from the pool to continue itsdominance in swimming with Sandeep Sejwal picking his second yellow metal

of the competitions at the 12th South Asian Games here on Sunday.As many as five Games record were created out of the seven events on Sunday

with the Indians accounting for three of them, including Sejwal’s.India also suffered a rare reverse as ace swimmer Veerdhawal Khade was

beaten in men’s 50m freestyle by the promising Sri Lankan teenager MatthewAbeysinghe, who continued with his fine performance by grabbing the third goldof the Games, the most by any swimmer so far.

Abeysinghe won in a Games record time of of 23:33 to emerge as the fastestswimmer of the SAG, eclipsing Khade’s 2010 Dhaka edition mark of 23.75 secs.Khade also bettered his own Dhaka mark with an effort of 23.54 secs but hadto be content with the silver. India collected four gold, five silver and a bronzefrom the pool, adding to the 11 medals won on Saturday.

Sri Lanka took two gold, one silver and two bronze while Bangladesh bagged

a gold and two bronze.Sejwal, who on Saturday won a gold in 200m breaststroke, added another

yellow metal in 100m breastroke in a new Games record time of 1:03.14, bet-tering his own mark of 1:05.01, which he had set in the 2010 edition.

Another Indian, Puneet Rana, took the silver in 1:03.80, while Kiran Jasingheof Sri Lanka got the bronze.

In men’s 1500m freestyle, Kerala swimmer Sajan Prakash won his first inter-national gold in 15:55.30 ahead of his compatriot Saurabh Sangvekar, who tookthe silver in 16:13.2. Mohd. Mahfizur Rahman of Bangladesh was third in 17:12.0.

In women’s 400m individual medley also, India finished one-two with SayaniGhosh winning the gold in 05:14.51 and Shraddha Sudhir bagging the silver in05:23.32. J Silva of Sri Lanka was third in 05:44.20.

M Arvind gave India the fourth gold by winning the men’s 200m backstrokeevent. In women’s 200m backstroke, Manna Patel took a silver in 2 minutes and22.06 seconds. The lone bronze winner for India was Chahat Arora in women’s100m breastroke.

AP n MOSCOW

Last year’s finalist Russia suffered a surprise first-round defeatin the Fed Cup on Sunday as the Netherlands built an unassail-

able 3-0 lead when Kiki Bertens beat Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1, 6-4 in the first reverse singles match.

Russian No. 1 Maria Sharapova had been scheduled to play onlythe final doubles match because of a shoulder injury. But with tiealready lost, she was replaced by Ekaterina Makarova, who teamedwith Darya Kasatkina to quickly beat Dutch pair Cindy Burger andArantxa Rus 6-0, 6-2 to give Russia its only point. The second reversesingles was canceled.

Kuznetsova had come into her encounter with Bertens tiredfrom a four-hour marathon loss to Richel Hogenkamp onSaturday, the longest rubber in Fed Cup history. Bertens had dom-inated Makarova 6-3, 6-4 in the opening rubber.

The Dutch, without a player ranked in the top 100, had beenconsidered major underdogs against a Russian team whose low-est-ranked player, the 18-year-old Kasatkina, is No. 61.

BENCIC UPSETS KERBER TO GIVE SWISS 2-1 LEADLEIPZIG (GERMANY): Belinda Bencic upset Australian Open champi-on Angelique Kerber 7-6 (4), 6-3 to give Switzerland a 2-1 lead overGermany in their Fed Cup first-round tie on Sunday.

Timea Bacsinszky could seal Switzerland’s progress to April’ssemifinals with a win over the 39th-ranked Annika Beck in thefourth rubber ahead of the doubles match.

AP n BOURNEMOUTH

Arsenal ended a four-game winless run by scoring quick-fire goals to beat Bournemouth 2-0 on Sunday, rising to

third in the Premier League.Mesut Ozil tucked away the opener in the 23rd minute for

his first goal since netting in December’s reverse fixture againstBournemouth. And only 88 seconds later, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain struck to end a 17-month wait for a PremierLeague goal.

When the Gunners beat Bournemouth on Dec. 28 they hadmoved to the summit but they have fallen off the pace duringa poor run since.

Leicester is now in front with Tottenham and Arsenal fivepoints behind and only separated by goal difference. ManchesterCity dropped to fourth after losing to Leicester on Saturday.

NAPOLI, JUVENTUS RECORD NARROW WINSMILAN: Napoli and Juventus both recorded narrow victories againstrelegation-threatened sides to remain first and second in SerieA on Sunday ahead of their showdown in Turin next weekend.

Juventus, which went on to win 2-0, appeared to be on theverge of moving level at the top when Juan Cuadrado brokethe deadlock in the 73rd minute at Frosinone with the scorein Naples. Gonzalo Higuain then converted a penalty against10-man Carpi moments later for his 24th goal in 24 leaguematches this season.

There was a touching moment before the match as Napolifans held up prints of Kalidou Koulibaly’s face in a show of sup-port after he was racially abused by Lazio fans in midweek.

Napoli, a 1-0 winner, remained two points ahead of Juventus.

AP nMADRID

Barcelona did just enough to defeat last-place Levante 2-0 and tie its all-time

record of 28 consecutive games withoutlosing on Sunday.

Barcelona took the lead with an owngoal by Levante defender David Navarroin the 21st and sealed the victory with aninjury-time score by Luis Suarez to matchthe unbeaten streak set by Pep Guardiola’steam in the 2010-11 season.

The result also kept Barcelona atop theSpanish league with 54 points, three morethan Atletico Madrid, which defeatedEibar 3-1 on Saturday. Barcelona will havea game in hand at the end of the 23rdround this weekend.

It was the 10th win in a row forBarcelona in all competitions. LuisEnrique’s squad hasn’t lost since a 2-1defeat at Sevilla in the seventh round ofthe Spanish league in October.

“What matters to me are the team’sobjectives,” said Enrique, who coachedBarcelona for the 100th game on Sunday.“These are nice numbers, if they help uswin titles at the end of the season, fantas-tic. We are in good position, but there isstill a lot left.”

Guardiola’s team in 2011 went on towin the league by four points over RealMadrid. It also won the ChampionsLeague, beating Manchester United in thefinal a few weeks later. That unbeatenstreak ended with a 3-1 loss at Real Betisin the Copa del Rey quarterfinals.

The Barcelona team coached byRinus Michels in the 1973-74 season,which had Johan Cruyff in the squad, alsohadn’t lost in 27 straight games.

Barcelona faced difficulties againstminnow Levante on Sunday in the coastalcity of Valencia.

Although the Catalan club controlledpossession, Levante was able to contain theattacking trio of Lionel Messi, Neymar andSuarez, whose goal came in the final sec-onds of the game.

The hosts threatened on a few occa-sions and had some good chances to score,especially on counterattacks. The local fans

gave the team a standing ovation at the endof the game despite the loss at the Ciutatde Valencia Stadium.

Barcelona’s first goal came whenJordi Alba’s cross from inside the areastruck Navarro’s back and bounced intohis own net.

Suarez had few chances until findingthe net with an easy goal following abreakaway just before the final whistle. Itwas Suarez’s 10th goal in his last six match-es. The Uruguay striker is the league’s lead-ing scorer with 20 goals, one more thanReal Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo.

Messi had a goal disallowed for off-side after a great pass by Andres Iniestaless than five minutes into the game,though replays were at odds with thedecision.

TORRES REACHES CENTURYFernando Torres scored his 100th

Atletico Madrid goal as Los Rojiblancoscame from behind to move level onpoints with Barcelona at the top of La

Liga thanks to a 3-1 win over Eibar.Central defensive pairing Jose Maria

Gimenez and Saul Niguez headed homecorners after Keko had fired Eibar into ashock lead just after half-time beforeTorres ended a five-month goal droughtin stoppage time.

Atletico’s first win in five gamesopens up a four-point lead over third-placed Real Madrid.

“To score 100 goals for this club issomething that will stay with me forev-er,” Torres told Canal Plus. “It is an impor-tant moment in his sporting life at the clubwhere he has always belonged,” addedAtletico boss Diego Simeone.

Torres was given a standing ovationas he was brought on for the final 15 min-utes with his future beyond the end of theseason. However, the former Liverpooland Chelsea did finally find the net for thefirst time since the sides last met inSeptember when Vietto’s excellent lowcross left him with the simple task of tap-ping into an empty net in stoppage time.

Indian dominance continues

Wrestlers, swimmers shine as hosts bag 28 gold medals at SAG

MEDALS TALLYGold Silver Bronze Total

India 28 12 3 43Sri Lanka 8 17 13 38Pakistan 2 4 7 13Bangladesh 2 3 13 18Nepal 0 3 5 8Afghanistan 0 1 3 4

Swimmers scoop 10medals on productive day

Bertens guides Dutch tomemorable win overRussia in Fed Cup

Gunners ease past

Cherries, move third

Barca go 28 games unbeaten

From left: Swimmers Avantika Chavan, V Malvika, Maana Patel and Shivani Kataria PTI

Sayani Ghosh during final round of women 400 meter medley event on Sunday PTI

Top pic: India’s Amit Dhankar (in red) is declared winneras Afghanistan’s Malak Jan watches after the 70 kgfreestyle wrestling final event; Left pic: Cyclists on a 40kms criterium race during 12th South Asian Games inGuwahati on Sunday. AP/PTI

Luis Suarez (right) celebrates his goal with Lionel Messi on Sunday AP

Mesut Ozil scores Arsenal’s opener on Sunday AP

DHANANJAY KUMAR n NEW DELHI

Cricket legend SachinTendulkar on Sunday told

The Pioneer that his cricketdiscipline filters into his trafficetiquette too. Though of hisown admission, he is a drivingenthusiast but while on road henever gets reckless, whether hedrove a Ferari donated to himby Shumaker or any lesser car.He said he is such a car drivingenthusiast that he is always indriver’s seat and tell his driverto sit in rear seat. His driver’srole is only to park the car.

But despite his fetish fordriving, he never goes over thetop and keeps strictly to traf-fic rules. Today, he opened upabout his car driving craving in

a brief standing tete a tetewith Pioneer while launchingiPledge campaign for safety.He got school children recitethe pledge of driving etiquette.He said He never forgets towear a seat belt and never talkson mobile while mobile on theroad. Zebra crossing is verysacrosanct for him.

Bharat Ratna Tedulkar isan ideal driver and car owner.He has a fleet of premium carswhich also included Ferraridonated to him by racing iconMichael Schumacher whichhe later on sold to a Surat busi-nessman.

Sachin said he is a so stick-ler for rules in Cricket that henever hands over his helmet toumpire while on the field how-

ever tough conditions like hotand humid climate as in SriLanka or say South India. Likeshould be regarding while dri-ving on the road.

He said his discipline incricket filtered into his drivingetiquette.He further said, ‘ Ihave seen many young bikerswhose helmet hangs besideside mirrors. Helmet is forhead not for side screens.

His pitch for road safetyrules took a turn for SwachhaBharat. He said very often footpaths are not clean, so pedes-trians have to jut out ontoroads. He said like we havepartnership on the creasebetween players there shouldalso be between vehicle driversand pedestrians

He narrated his experi-ences on the road while dri-ving. He said he is left worry-ing when he sees, standing onthe signal himself, other carswhizz past me. He narratedhow in Bandra a lady drivingcar jumped the traffic and hithis car from rear. He said hehas not much of a driving expe-rience in Delhi, save and exceptonce with Uvaraj. So he cannotsay the difference betweenMumbai and Delhi roads interms of traffic rule compli-ance.

He said, ‘It is also theduty of pedestrians to behaveresponsibly. He called#ipledge a fantastic initiativeby Aster DM healthcare byway of corporate social

responsibility. The chairmanof the health entity, Dr.Moopen Azad is an NRIhealth honcho whose mainbusiness stake is in Dubai. AKeralite by birth he was hon-ored by padma shri in 2011 inreturn of which he hadannounced 20 percent of hiswealth for the poor patients ofthe country.

Tendulkar said we cannotafford so much loss of life ina day due to road accidents. Inone day, India loses as manylives as can fill a jumbo jet air-plane. I felt deeply about it andso engaged with this cam-paign. It is start of my journeyfor sensitizing country’s dri-vers and pedestrians to instillin them respect for human life.Dr. Mupen Azad said thecampaign would run for threemonths.

sport 15LUCKNOW | MONDAY | FEBRUARY 8, 2016

PTI n MUMBAI

Cornered by the Supreme Court’s latestmissive to “fall in line” with the rec-

ommendations of the Justice R M LodhaCommittee, the BCCI on Sunday decid-ed to convene a Special General Meetingbefore responding to the apex court.

BCCI President Shashank Manohar,himself a lawyer by profession, attendedthe meeting of its legal panel here compris-ing P S Raman (Tamil Nadu, chairman),D V S S Somayajulu (Andhra) and AbhayApte (Maharashtra), along with treasurerAnirudh Chaudhary.

It is learnt, that in the meeting, it wasdecided that an SGM would be convenedat the earliest to get the views of the BCCI’svarious affiliates before it responds to theSupreme Court on the issue.

As per the BCCI’s Memorandum ofRules and Regulations 21 days’ notice has

to be given to convene an SGM, but thePresident has the discretionary powers todirect the secretary to convene an SGM “atshorter notice in which case as a notice ofat least 10 days shall be given.”

The apex court had said on February4 that the recommendations are “straight,rational and understandable” and “deserverespect” and “there is no reason to disagreewith the committee” which has the most“illuminated and respected members of thelegal community”.

While four weeks time was grantedto the BCCI to respond to the implemen-tation of the recommendations, thecourt had made it clear that there shouldnot be any difficulty in accepting the rec-ommendations.

The remarks by a bench headed byChief Justice T S Thakur came aftersenior advocate Shekhar Naphade, repre-senting BCCI, said there was a need to

consult the 30-odd members of the Boardon the recommendations and in view ofits legal committee’s meeting on Sunday,four weeks be allowed to respond.

However, the bench said “they all havebeen heard and have given their views tothe Committee. Ask your client to take astrict view of the recommendations. Youcan’t jump the gun. You must see the rec-ommendations. These recommendationsdeserve respect.

“They have come from the most illu-minated and respected members of thelegal community. They had invited peo-ple and have done extensive deliberationswith all stakeholders. The recommenda-tions are straightforward, understand-able and rational.”

“The best thing is to fall in line and fol-low the suggestions to save the trouble,” thebench, which also comprised Justice F MI Kalifulla, said.

The BCCI had submitted that itshould not be seen as “obstructionist” andit would come back with “concrete sug-gestions” after the meeting of the legalcommittee.

However, the bench said “decks mustbe cleared for complete reform”.

When Naphade said several techni-cal problems would arise in implement-ing the recommendations of the commit-tee as BCCI is registered under the TamilNadu Societies Registration Act, thebench said it would give the solution forfollowing the suggestions.

The bench, which was hearing theplea filed by Aditya Verma, Secretary ofCricket Association of Bihar, on whosepetition N Srinivasan was asked by theapex court to step down as the BCCIPresident for conflict of interest, postedthe matter for further hearing on March3.

PTI nMUMBAI

Skipper Manoj Tiwary and lower order batsmanPankaj Shaw cracked individual hundreds butcould not save Bengal from suffering a huge 355-

run defeat against Madhya Pradesh in the five-dayRanji Trophy quarter final on Sunday.

Starting the final day on 113 for 3 and chasingan improbable victory target of 788, Bengal were keptin the fight till the extended tea session by Tiwary(124), Shaw (118) and Ashok Dinda (52) before theyfolded up for 432.

Lanky pacer Ishwar Pandey once again led thebowling honours for MP with a haul of 4 for 93 toadd to his first innings tally of 4 for 45, while debu-tant pacer Chandrakant Sakure finished with amatch haul of six wickets that included his secondinnings 3 for 114.

MP, who thus recorded their second outright winover Bengal in nine outings in the tournament, now

take on 40-time champions Mumbaiin the five-day semi finals commenc-ing at Cuttack on February 13.

When play started on the finalday, the only point of interest waswhether Bengal — similar to last yearwhen they denied MP an outrightwin — could repeat the feat.

The loss of two wickets in suc-cessive overs pegged them back butTiwary, who stroked his way to 14fours and 3 sixes in 161 balls, andShaw — who was the last batsman tobe dismissed after facing 137 ballsand striking 13 fours and four sixes— put on 108 for the sixth wicket toprolong the fight.

Tiwary fell seven minutesbefore lunch in trying to hitPandey, whom he had smacked for

two sixes off successive ballslast evening, for a maximum overmid-off and was caught.

After lunch, Shaw kept oneend up, adding 58 runs withPragyan Ojha (27) for the seventhwicket and 78 for the next wick-et with Dinda, who used the longhandle to smack ten fours in his42-ball cameo.

The game ended when Pandeycaught and bowled Shaw with thesecond new ball soon after dismiss-ing Dinda while Sakure account-ed for Veerpratap Singh.

Brief scores:Madhya Pradesh: 348 and 560/9dec beat Bengal: 121 and 432(Tiwary 124, Shaw 118; Pandey 4/93, Sakure 3/114) by 355 runs.

MP coach Harvinder Singh Sodhi exuded con-fidence for the tough semi-final clash againstMumbai following his side’s crushing victory overBengal

“This game has been a tremendous morale-booster for the team. We have dominated the gamefor five days. So that’s a very positive thing that hashappened in this game and this should really helpus against Mumbai,” said Sodhi after the match.

“You have to be very patient and you have tobuild partnerships. These are the two very impor-tant things in a five-day game. You have to followall these things. This game has helped all our boysand prepared us well for the semi-final.

“It was also important because we were com-ing to play a five-day game after playing the one-day and T20 tournaments. So in the mental switchfrom that short format to the long format, I thinkwe have done well in this game and that should alsohelp us (against Mumbai),” he added.

PTI n MIRPUR

India will face Sri Lanka in the semifinals ofthe ICC Under-19 cricket World Cup after

the island nation reached the last-four stagewith a six-wicket win over England on Sunday.

In an impressive all-round performance, SriLanka dismissed England for just 184 and thenoverhauled the modest target in the 36th over.

Avishka Fernando hit 95 off 96 balls afterWanidu Hasanranga grabbed three wickets toset up the semifinal against India on Tuesday.

This is only the third time Sri Lanka hasreached the semi-final of this tournament sinceits inception in 1988. In the home event in 2000,it reached the final where it lost to MohammadKaif ’s India, while in 2010 in New Zealand, SriLanka reached the last four and finished infourth position.

England failed to match its earlier run-feastin Group C where it raked up totals of 371 forthree against Fiji, 282 for seven against the WestIndies and 288 for four against Zimbabwe.

Callum Taylor top-scored with 42 afterEngland won the toss and elected to bat, but therest of the batting fell apart against the sustainedpressure applied by the Sri Lanka bowlers.

Leg-spinner Hasaranga finished with threewickets for 34 runs after seamer Asitha Fernandohad wrecked the start with two dismissals.

Sri Lanka made a breezy start to its reply,racing to 51 for no loss in eight overs beforethe lunch break, with Fernando contributing

35 of those runs.Kaveen Bandara helped Fernando put on

76 for the first wicket by the 14th over whenhe was run out for 22.

Fernando hit 11 boundaries and a six to steerSri Lanka towards an emphatic win before he wascaught behind off Saqib Mahmood when just 14runs were needed for victory in 17 overs.

Skipper Charith Asalanka, who put on 69for the third wicket with Fernando, fell for 34soon after, but Sri Lanka cruised home easily.

Asalanka said he was delighted to see histeam bounce back after losing to Pakistan inthe last league match.

“We had not batted well against Pakistan,so it was important to settle down and buildbig scores, which is what Avishka was able todo today,” he said.

“But the bowlers won us the game today. Webowled well and fielded very well too. But theplus point is that we have improved our batting.”

Asalanka said Sri Lanka will test India withspin. “We know India players are good facingspin, but spin is our strength and we will stickto that. We are confident of doing well in thesemi-final,” he said.

England captain Brad Taylor said he wasdisappointed to lose after his team did so wellin the league stage. “I genuinely believe wehad an off-day. I think Sri Lanka played verywell, but on another day, we would back our-selves,” he said.

PTI n BHUBANESWAR

Simon Orchard and Satbir Singhscored a field goal each as Jaypee

Punjab Warriors registrered a 4-1victory over Kalinga Lancers topropel to the second position in thefourth edition of the Hockey IndiaLeague on Sunday.

The visitors emerged victoriousthrough field strikes from Orchard(48th minute) and Satbir Singh(58th) after the Lancers took the leadthrough a penalty corner conversionby Glenn Turner in the 42nd minute.

By virtue of this win, PunjabWarriors have moved to the secondspot in the standings with 22 pointsfrom seven games. The Lancers toohave similar points from as manymatches but they are atop the tablebecause of superior goal difference.

The first quarter of the matchstarted with attacking intent from theLancers but Punjab Warriors showedgood defensive skills to keep thehosts at bay as both the teamslooked dangerous on counter attacks.

The second quarter started

with the home team getting defen-sive as the visitors raised theirpace in the game.

The third quarter saw both theteams pushing hard for a goal. TheLancers finally managed to break thedeadlock in the 42nd minute whenstar Turner made no mistakes in con-verting a penalty corner, giving thehome team a much needed 1-0 lead.

The final quarter started with

the Lancers trying hard to capitaliseon their lead in the early momentsbut an excellent interception bySardar Singh foiled their ambitionsand the visitors scored a field goalthrough Orchard in the 48th minute.

The Lancers pressed hard butPunjab stayed strong. In the processWarriors scored their second fieldgoal in the 58th minute throughSatbir to propel their lead.

AP n ISLAMABAD

The ICC suspended Pakistan leg spinnerYasir Shah on Sunday for three months

after he tested positive for a bannedsubstance.

Shah was tested during theODIs between Pakistan andEngland in the UAE in November.The ICC then provisionally sus-pended him in December whenthe result showed that his samplecontained the banned substancechlortalidone.

The ICC said in a statementShah has “admitted the viola-tion and three-month sus-pension has beenimposed.” The ban startsfrom December 27, 2015,the day Shah was provi-sionally suspended. Itmeans Shah will not beeligible for selection fornext month’s WorldTwenty20 in India.

Shah told the ICC hehad mistakenly taken hiswife’s blood pressure med-ication that was identical in

appearance to his own but which contained theprohibited substance.

“I should have taken extra precautions toensure that my blood pressure medication was

stored separately from my wife’s medicationso that there was no possibility of my wife’s

medication being mistaken for my own,”Shah said. “I accept the consequencesimposed upon me.”

The ICC accepted that Shah had inad-vertently taken the medicine and had nointention of enhancing his sporting perfor-mance or to mask the use of another perfor-

mance-enhancing substance.“I assure all fans and followers of the

Pakistan cricket team that I have never takena performance enhancing substance nor

have I ever had the intent of maskingany such substance,” Shah said.

“I have always been careful tocheck my medication with doctorsand medical support staff to

ensure it does not contain anyprohibited substances.”

ICC general managerGeoff Allardice said theban on Shah reinforcedthe game’s governingbody’s zero toleranceapproach to doping.

BCCI to convene SGM before responding to SC

Kalinga’s winning streak snapped

Tendulkar stickler for the law

Late flourish not enough for Bengal

Despite Tiwary and Shaw’s tons, Madhya Pradesh claim massive 355 run win

Yasir suspended for 3 months

Sri Lanka U19set up India clash

WHEN PLAYSTARTED ON THEFINAL DAY, THE

POINT OF INTERESTWAS WHETHER

BENGAL, SIMILAR TOLAST YEAR WHEN

THEY DENIED MP AWIN, COULD REPEAT

THE FEAT

Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav flagging off Lucknow Half-Marathon on Sunday

Amid the growing diversity debateover this year's Oscarnominations, musician JOHN

LEGEND has urged his fellowartistes to stand up and usetheir voice to fight forracial equality in the USwhile picking up theNAACP President’sAward. “We knowthat we stand onthe shoulders ofgiants who riskedtheir lives to bringus closer to truefreedom. And ofcourse, we arestill fighting forfreedom,” he said.Legend, who alsoperformed his hitsong Ordinary people,added, “Today,communities of colourare still being crushedby a criminal justicesystem that over-polices us, over-arrestsus, over-incarceratesus, anddisproportionatelytakes the lives of our young peoplebecause of the simple fact that ourskin conjures the image of threatand violence.”

Legend calls forracial equality

Shankar tocreate history

I have a fear ofgiving up. Idon't ever wantto wake upwith a thoughtthat I want togive up or I

can't do this anymore.Whatever is that I amattempting, I reallydon't want to give upon that

—ARJUN KAPOOR

ANOUSHKA SHANKAR becomesthe first ever Indian presenter atthe Grammy AwardsNominated for time fifthtime. Anoushka Shankarwill create history as thefirst Indian musician topresent at the PremiereCeremony. It’s aproud moment forIndia, with therecent news thatPriyanka Choprawill be the onlyIndian woman topresent at the AcademyAwards. Shankar isnominated for herclassical album Home.She shares the plansfor the year, “I amexcited to bepresenting at theGrammy AwardsPremiere Ceremonyand releasing my nextalbum just a fewweeks later. I’m happyas it's always been my goalto balance a career betweenclassical and experimentalwork, and that is exactlywhere I'm at with a classicalalbum nominated and a non-classical album about to release.”

LUCKNOW | MONDAY | FEBRUARY 8, 2016

Whether it was playing the role of a psychopathkiller in Road or Sardar Khan in Gangs of

Wasseypur, actor Manoj Bajpai has always gone onestep ahead and surprised everyone with his uncon-ventional roles. In his next, Aligarh, directed by HansalMehta, he essays the role of Ramchandra Siras. In achat, he shares how difficult it was to get into the shoesof the character, how no other actor could have takenthe risk of doing it and about his dream role.

nHow different and difficult was it to play the char-acter of Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras?

This was a little more difficult because this char-acter is far more lonely and into himself. If you seethe film twice or thrice, then you will see the hardwork that has gone into it. It doesn’t look obvious; itdoes not give you a stereotypical image. He is some-body whose sexual preference is different from a het-erosexual. But, I wanted to focus more on being apoet, a Marathi literature person. So, to create thatmindset of a intellectual guy was far more importantto me than him being a gay. I took 15-20 days of work-shop, and created an atmosphere of Marathi litera-ture in my home. There were times when two-threeMarathi guys would be reciting poetry — it was onlyabout Marathi poems, songs and literature for me. Itis not that I have learnt Marathi but I wanted it tolook natural — get the hang of it.

nWere you apprehensive at any point to play a gaycharacter?

My DNA is not of a person who will have appre-hensions once he decides. I have never been a homo-phobic person myself. So, somewhere that convictionand belief never let it occur to me of whether I shoulddo this or not? After 22 years of my career, I couldfind and do this role which others found risky — Icredit my career to it. Everyone has a fear of losingout everything that they have earned, but I think, Iwasn’t worried about it.

nYou said in an interview that no other actor couldhave taken the risk of doing the role...

Anybody couldn’t have taken the risk of doingit because actors, by nature, are very insecure peo-ple. I am also insecure but very little, because I amalways ready to lose everything that I have. That fear-less nature of mine — it comes handy whenever I amtaking tough decisions.

nWhile acting, how careful were you not to hurtthe sentiments of the gay community?

You just have to be truthful. Since this role wasbeing played by someone who is quite aware, and infavour of the existence of the gay community in oursociety, I am one of the many advocates of the gaycommunity and their rights. So, the question does-n’t even arise that I would have hurt their sentiments.Philosophically and emotionally, I am with them. Ijust hope that they feel proud of me.

nAll the characters that you have played till now,you have fit in them completely. And as part of theaudience, we feel that you are meant for that par-ticular character. How do you choose your roles?

Eventually, it all comes down on being that deci-sion very organic. You just start feeling so strong aboutthat character. That’s also an integral part of a veryengaging and engrossing script. So, many elementstogether make one decision. You can’t really pin-point that decision. Also, the role has to looklike a dream role.

nIs there any dream role that you havealways wanted to do?

I always wanted to do Hamlet but Iam too old for it.

nDo you think that the gap betweencommercial and non-commercialcinema is diminishing?

Commercial films will alwaysbe there and niche, independentfilms will always be there, too.Now, they have their ownindependent, parallel cine-ma. It is great because Ididn’t want commer-cial f ilms to goaway. But, Ip e r s o n a l l ywanted thatthe films that I believe in, should co-exist, so that theaudience has choices. They should be the one todecide which movie they want to see and spend theirmoney on. Earlier, these choices were not there, andthat was quite frustrating.

photo Sanjeev Kumar

Do you know that in a fewyears you will have sensitiverobotic cars which will be

able to navigate their way in a crowdand also advanced technology thatwill allow you to park your car intight parking spaces without evenbeing inside the vehicle? Therewere plenty of futuristic and inno-vative concepts in automobiles —both two wheelers and four wheel-ers — that we came across on oursecond day at the Auto Expo.

HOME GROWNWe are so fascinated with west-

ern technology them that at timeswe forget that we are capable ofcoming up with plenty of innov-ative plans, designs, models andconcepts ourselves.

Take for example, Revolta, aBangalore based start-up dedicat-ed to develop lean, efficient, and

affordable urban transportationsolutions. They have developed two veryunique bikes — Urban Fun Object and thefirst pick-up truck in two wheels. “Thesetwo bikes are very efficient and we com-bine our innovative zero-emission technol-ogy to make them more eco-friendly,” saidVijay K Praveen, founder director. Thesewill hit the streets in 2017.

We came across Best Bird Motor Carsand K Gajapathi showed us the Black Beast5.2. This particular automobile, oncecomplete in 2017, will be able to acceler-ate from zero to a 100 kilometres in 1.8 sec-onds. “This will be the first hyper car (highperformance super car) with a hybridengine,” said Gajapathi.

IIT Delhi has developed a rural utili-ty vehicle which will cater to the rural mar-ket. “For now, we have just made the dash-board but we will develop it soon,” saidHarikrishnan KM, automotive engineer.

INTERNATIONAL IDEASThe Eporo robots, at the

Nissan stall, might look ascute as a button but theyare very advanced. It is ina developmental stageright now but once it iscomplete, it will have theintelligence to maneu-ver itself. “Eporo is acollision preventingrobot car and cannavigate on its own.For this, we have teamed upwith NASA and it’s still in itstesting phase,” said VirenderjitSingh, national sales and market-ing, Nissan.

Have you ever parked in a crampedspace only to realise that there is no roomfor you to get out? Well, the BMWRemote Control Parking and display screentechnology, gives a driver the liberty to park

a car from the BMW 7 series in a smallspace. The all new 7 series comes withamazing ‘game changing’ technologies likegesture control and wireless charging.

And not just four wheelers, bikes, too,have undergone some serious upgradation.We could not take our eyes off of the newRoad Master 2016, the flagship model ofIndian Motorcycles, equipped with mod-ern features — key fob and hydraulic wind-shield. Pankaj Dubey, country head andmarketing, explained to us that though themodel has been upgraded, its vintage lookhas been kept intact. He explained the con-cept of the key fob. “This technology allowsyou to start your bike even without insert-ing the key into the vehicle. You just needto have the key with you. The technologyis integrated in the system so it sensors the

key and starts itself,” he said.

SOMETHING NEWJBM has partnered with Poland-

based company, Solaris to developIndia’s first 100 per cent electric bus.

Once complete, it can be chargedeither through plug-in or

Pantograph charging. “It willtake some time to bring theconcept to India because wehave to set up the infra-structure first,” said a

spokesperson.Now that you have a sneakpeek into the future of auto-

mobiles, you can go andvisit the expo to expe-rience it yourself.Though many ofthese technologieswill take time toreach the Indianmarket, we mustagree that the avail-ability would be of

great use, Rest, timewill tell.

Actress Tapsee Pannu, brand ambassador of Honda,was spotted at the stall

The future

is here

vivacity 16

In a chat with RIYA

SHARMA, actorMANOJ BAJPAIshares that actorsby nature are veryinsecure people,and that is thereason why otherscould have foundthe role ofRamchandra Siraschallenging

From a two wheeler pick-up bikeand a futuristic robot, which cannavigate on its own, to a 100 percent electric bus and a rural utilityvehicle concept, there are manysurprises that await you at theongoing Auto Expo. SHRABASTI

MALLIK takes a tour

After conducting ayoga session withRamdev, SHILPA

SHETTY KUNDRA, isset to participate inXYoga Dubai Festival.Shilpa will showcaseher skills for yogaalongside yoga instructor SuneelSingh. She said, “I am a firmbeliever in the power of yoga. Ithelps to develop a strong, clear,aware, and appreciative outlook onall aspects of life.” She added, “Ithink the festival is a greatplatform to promote Yoga and I’mglad that through this I canintroduce the benefits of it to sucha large global audience.”

‘I am also

insecure,

but very

little because I

am always

ready to lose

everything that

I have. This

fearless nature

of mine helps

me take tough

decisions’

Road less travelled