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www.thehindu.in ● Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 ● RNI No. TNENG/2012/49940 ● ISSN 0971 - 751X ● Vol. 7 ● No. 8 ● CITY EDITION ● 32 Pages ● Rs. 10.00

tuesday, january 10, 2017

Railways were used by earlier regimes to appease allies: PM Page 12

Manmohan Singhreleases Congressmanifesto for Punjab Page 13

Bashar Al-Assadsignals greaterwillingness for talks Page 14

Meryl Streep criticises Trump for imitatingdisabled reporter Page 14

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Courton Monday indicated that it mayorder, at a “relevant time,” thesetting up of a SpecialInvestigation Team (SIT) to lookinto the revelations made in thePanama Papers allegedly aboutnearly 500 high-profile Indianswho have money parked inoff-shore accounts.

Apex court hints at SITon Panama Papers leak

� NEWS | PAGE 12

BRIEFLY

SRINAGAR: Suspected militantsattacked a General ReserveEngineer Force (GREF)camp and killed three la-bourers near the Line ofControl (LoC) in Jammu’sAkhnoor district on Mondaymorning.

GREF is an organisationmeant to build and maintainborder roads in the country.

A senior police oicialsaid an unknown number ofPunjabi-speaking attackerscame close to the GREFcamp in the Battal areaaround 1.30 a.m.

“The gunmen entered thecamp and were instructingeach other to sprinkle com-bustible material in the tentsafter they shot dead three la-bourers,” said a police oi-cial.

The deceased were identi-fied as Salman Khan ofJharkhand and RameshTipnu and Rashid Aslamfrom Uttar Pradesh.

Security agencies fear thetarget may have been anArmy installation located inthe area. “We are not ruling

out militants crossing over inthe night and fleeing backafter the attack,” said policeoicials. A major search op-eration is on.

At the time of the attack,the camp was housingaround a dozen employees ofGREF.

All schools in the areawere closed after the incid-ent. Police said no eyewit-ness has come forward withany tip-of on the movementof the attackers.

In the past, the securityagencies have pointed out anincreasing role of Pakistan’sBorder Action Team, alongwith militant groups operat-ing in Jammu and Kashmir, incarrying out attacks alongthe LoC. The spot is around 2km from the LoC and the In-

ternational Border is alsonearby. On November 29 lastyear, militants attacked anArmy camp in Jammu andkilled seven soldiers.

CM condemns attack

Chief Minister MehboobaMufti condemned the attackin the Assembly. “No onefeels good over the killings.Everyone feels bad,” she said.

She conveyed her sym-pathies to the families of theworkers.

Both lawmakers of the Na-tional Conference and theCongress created a ruckus inthe Assembly over the at-tack, seeking a governmentresponse.

Security agenciesfear the targetmay have been anArmy installation

3 die in attack on J&Kroad engineers’ camp

PEERZADA ASHIQ

VIGIL: A soldier takes guard during a search outside the GREF camp at Battal on Monday. — PHOTO: AP

� EX GRATIA FOR KIN OFUNREST VICTIMS | PAGE 12

NEW DELHI: The Central Boardof Secondary Education(CBSE) has postponed theClass 10 and Class 12 boardexaminations by a week toMarch 9, in view of the As-sembly polls in five States.

The Class 10 exams willend on April 10 and the Class

“The board has givencareful consideration to thesituation before postponingthe exams, which will allowthe students to get moretime for preparations andensure uninterrupted se-quence of the examina-tions,” it said.

12 exams on April 29.

Assembly polls

“The annual examinationsof Class X and XII will beconducted from 9th March2017, in view of the Assemblyelections in Punjab, Goa,Manipur, Uttarakhand andUttar Pradesh,” the CBSEsaid in a release on Monday.

CBSE Class 10, 12 exams to start on March 9SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

� CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

NEW DELHI: Asking what will bethe fate of a State where aPublic Service Commissionof Class 10-pass persons in-terview Class 1 oicer-can-didates, the Supreme Courton Monday refused to stay aMadras High Court decisionto quash the appointment of11 members, including a “pre-maturely retired” districtjudge, of the Tamil NaduPublic Service Commission(TNPSC) by the earlier Jay-alalithaa government.

A Bench of Chief Justice ofIndia J.S. Khehar and Justices

D.Y. Chandrachud and L.Nageswara Rao directed theTamil Nadu government toconduct fresh selection ofthe TNPSC members after a“meaningful, deliberativeprocess.” The apex court

specifically ordered that theretired district judge in ques-tion would be ineligible forfresh selection.

It even asked why theTamil Nadu governmentchose to appoint him to the

14-member TNPSC, whenthe judiciary had retired himat 58 without ofering him ex-tension of service till the ageof 60.

‘Done in a day’

Chief Justice Kheharnoted that only “deadwood”are not given the two-yearextension. The Bench notedhow the entire appointmentprocess of the 11 memberswas completed in a “singleshot, in one day.”

Chief Justice Khehar ob-served that the manner inwhich the State used itsprerogative to make the ap-pointments was “nothing butarbitrary, with no duedeliberation.”

Says process followedby the government‘was arbitrary’

SC backs Madras HC orderquashing T.N. appointments

KRISHNADAS RAJAGOPAL

� CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

NEW DELHI: Oil Minister Dhar-mendra Pradhan told report-ers on Monday that neitherthe customers nor the deal-ers will bear the additionalcharge on digital transac-tions made at petrol pumps.

This statement comes aday after petrol pump associ-ations threatened to stop ac-cepting card transactionsdue to the extra charge

levied on them by banks.The oil marketing com-

panies will now meet thebanks to decide on who willbear the brunt of these addi-tional charges.

“Now petrol pumps willaccept card payment at leastuntil the meeting happensand they decide who willtake on the expense of theadditional charge,” an oicialat Hindustan Petroleum Cor-poration told The Hindu.

He said the meeting wouldtake place “in the next fewdays or so.”

‘A big burden’

“It is quite a big burden forthe dealers,” K.Ravichandran, Senior Vice-President and Co-Head, Cor-porate Sector Rating at ICRAsaid.

At the moment thecharges are one per cent onall credit card transactions

and 0.25-1 per cent on alldebit card transactions.

The Central governmenthad in November instructedthe banks to waive all suchcharges till December 31 toease the adoption of elec-tronic payment mechanismsfor fulfilling its cashless eco-nomy objectives.

No extra charge for card use at petrol pumps SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

� OILING CASHLESSWHEELS | EDITORIAL

� CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

WASHINGTON: Ashley Tellis, aSenior Fellow at the CarnegieEndowment for InternationalPeace, could be named the nextU.S. Ambassador to India,according to The Washington

Post. Mr. Tellis was notavailable for a response, but lastweek declined to comment onspeculation on his joining theDonald Trump administration.

Ashley Tellis to be U.S. envoy to India?

� WORLD | PAGE 14

NEW DELHI: Getting a drivinglicence will cost Delhiites fivetimes more, while taking adriving test would also beexpensive with a six-fold hike inbase fees as regional transportoffices in the city on Mondaystarted charging new rates.

Driving licence fee getscostlier in the Capital

� CITY | PAGE 2

� SEE ALSO | PAGE 9

NEW DELHI: A 28-year-old bankerdied after he was allegedlyattacked with a lethal injectionin north Delhi’s Sadar Bazar onSaturday. The deceased hasbeen identified as Ravi Kumar, acashier at a Kotak MahindraBank branch in Sadar Bazar.

Young man killed withlethal injection

� CITY | PAGE 3

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party su-premo Mulayam Singh onMonday night extended anolive branch to his sonAkhilesh, saying the latterwould be the next Chief Min-ister of Uttar Pradesh if theparty retains power, even asthe two factions escalatedtheir fight in the ElectionCommission (EC) for the bi-cycle symbol.

“Akhilesh will be the nextChief Minister. Our party iscompletely united. There isno question of the partybreaking up,” Mr MulayamSingh said.

The surprise statementcame on a day when theAkhilesh camp sought anearly decision from the ECon the disputed party symbol

while the embattled SP patri-arch asserted that he was stillthe party chief.

Mr. Singh has so far in-sisted that the newly elected

MLAs would choose theirleader after the polls.

‘No diferences’

Talking to reporters in

Lucknow, Mr. Singh saidthere were “no diferences”between him and Akhileshbut “one person has influ-enced his son” which had ledto “problems in the party” —an apparent reference to Mr.Ramgopal Yadav. Mr.Ramgopal Yadav had organ-ised the party convention onJanuary 1 which declared MrAkhilesh Yadav as partychief.

Earlier, Mr. Singh and hisconfidants, Rajya Sabhamember Amar Singh andformer SP State unit presid-ent Shivpal Yadav, met topEC oicials to claim majoritysupport in the party. —PTI

Akhilesh will be next CM, says Mulayam

Mulayam Singh, along with Shivpal Yadav and Amar Singh,arrives at the Election Commission in New Delhi on Monday. — PHOTO: V. SUDERSHAN

� MULAYAM STAKES CLAIMTO SYMBOL | PAGE 12

NEW DELHI: As he walked outof the Delhi High Court onMonday, Shyam Trivediwas still not certain if histeenage daughter,sufering fromextensively drug-resistant tuberculosis orXDR TB still had afighting chance or not. Onhis daughter’s urging, Mr.Trivedi took the Uniongovernment to court fornot considering the 18-year-old, wheelchair-bound girl’s plea for two‘miracle’ drugs calledBedaquiline andDelaminid.

The Patna-based familyrealised Siya hadtuberculosis in 2011.

What has become akeenly-watchedinternational legal battle,began with a simpleprescription ofantibiotics and anassurance from thedoctor that she will becured in nine months, Mr.Trivedi told The Hindu.“It was a few months laterthat we realised she wasresistant to the first line ofdrugs given to treat TB.The doctor then put heron a second line of drugs,

without testing whethershe is resistant or not. Shefailed the treatment again.The disease spread,” hesaid. The only option leftto the family wasBedaquiline.

While her doctors,including global expertProf. Jennifer Furin of theHarvard Medical School,have submitted to thecourt stating that the teendoes have XDR TB, thegovernment is not willingto believe it unless thefamily produces testresults, which may takeup to six weeks. Thedelay, her family andlawyers, believe will killher.

“Our other option is toapproach the company togive us the drug oncompassionate grounds— it could take anotherthree months. Mydaughter is dying. I amhoping that the court willensure that other TBpatients do not sufer thesame fate,” the father said.Final hearing in thematter will be on Friday.

(Names of father anddaughter changed toprotect identity)

‘My daughter isdying, save her’VIDYA KRISHNAN

2 |THE HINDU TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2017

NOIDA/DELHI

CITYMore staff may join strike by sanitation workers

Sanitation workers of north Delhi civic body, teachers,engineers and medical staff may join stir Page 4

Sex ratio in Haryana touches 900-mark

The sex ratio at birth in Haryana this past year touched the900-mark for the first time in almost two decades Page 4

Calling all readers to connect with us for all things Delhi at

twitter - @DelhiConnect www.facebook.com/NewDelhiConnect

DELHICONNECT

NEW DELHI: Flanked byRashtrapati Bhavan, IndiaGate, Supreme Court andDelhi High Court, RaisinaHill is the seat of the Indiangovernment.

Back in 1912, the area wasRaisina village. The Britishgovernment, which decidedto shift the Capital from Cal-cutta — present day Kolkata— to Delhi, acquired landfrom about 300 families,mostly farmers, who livedhere.

Now, 105 years later, somefarmers have moved theHigh Court praying that theland, which once belonged totheir ancestors, be returnedto them. If not, they havesought compensation as perthe market rate.

Revenue records

One among these farmersis Mahavir, whose ancestorKaalu owned 100 acres ofland in Raisina village. Ac-cording to revenue records,Kaalu’s son Nathu was theco-owner and the father-sonduo cultivated the landthemselves.

Armed with a chart toprove his descent, Mahavirsaid that as per revenue re-cords, compensation was an-nounced for both Kaalu andNathu but was not paid. Hisprayer, in fact, led the HighCourt to remark that “if over100 acres of land is returned,

the Rashtrapati Bhavan andeven the HC would go”.

Physical possession

His counsel Surat Singhtold a Bench of Justices B.D.Ahmed and Ashutosh Kumarthat since his ancestors werenot paid compensation, thesame be returned if it was va-cant, or he be paid compens-ation. Relying on the Right toFair Compensation andTransparency in Land Ac-quisition, Rehabilitation andResettlement Act, 2013,which was enforced January

1, 2014, onwards. Accordingto this, where an award hasbeen made five years or priorto the commencement of theAct itself, but physical pos-session of the land has notbeen taken by the govern-ment, or the compensationhas not been paid, the ac-quisition proceedings shallbe deemed to have beenlapsed.

“We want to know if theiris a time limit for bringing upsuch cases against the gov-ernment,” the Bench said,asking if their were records

to prove the petitioner’sclaim. “We can understand ifsomeone challenges an ac-quisition that might havetaken place in the 1980s or1970s. But, 1912, we have tosee,” it said.

The petitioner also toldthe court that the govern-ment was building on theland illegally and creatingthird party interests. Thecounsel, meanwhile, saidthat when private parties likethe Scindias could own ahouse in the area, whycouldn’t a farmer own one

where his predecessorslived.

Notification

It must be noted that inDecember 1911, the ChiefSecretary of the Punjab gov-ernment had issued a notific-ation for acquiring 150 vil-lages, including Raisina,when the Capital was beingshifted from Calcutta toDelhi. Compensation hadbeen announced for the landowned by Kaalu and Nathu,but this was not paid, said Dr.Singh.

Compensation policy

As per the policy backthen, farmers were entitledto 50 per cent of the com-pensation. The petitionerprayed that the compensa-tion announced in 1912 be de-clared lapsed. Referring tothe revenue record, Dr. Singhsaid the then compensationamount had been depositedin the Bank of Bengal, whichwas merged into the StateBank of India. Some landowners claimed compensa-tion, while a few did not. Ac-cording to Mahavir, Kaaluand Nathu did not claim thecompensation.

Demand right on land acquired by the British when they shifted the Capital from Calcutta to Delhi

Farmers stake claim to Raisina HillAKANKSHA JAIN One among these

farmers is Mahavir,whose ancestor Kaalu

owned 100 acres ofland in Raisina village

NEW DELHI: Getting adriving licence will costDelhiites five timesmore, as regionaltransport oices (RTOs)in the Capital onMonday startedcharging the new ratesrevised by the Centre.

“All 13 RTOs of theTransport Departmenton Monday startedcharging revised feesfrom the people,” asenior TransportDepartment oicial said.

Licence renewal

The fees for issuing adriving licence has beenincreased from theexisting ₨40 to ₨200 percategory (bikes, cars).

The oicial added that

charges will be higherwith imposition of the₨200 driving licencesmart card fee.

According tonotification issued bythe Union TransportMinistry, applicant whofail to renew theirlicences on time willnow have to pay ₨300and an additional fee of₨1,000 for each year ofdelay.

Fitness certificate fee

According to thenotification, the fitnesscertificate fee has beenincreased from ₨300 to₨600. If a vehicle ownerfails to get a fitnesscertificate before itexpires, he or she will

have to pay an additionalfee of ₨50 for each day ofdelay besides the regularcharge.

Opposition to new rates

The Delhi Pradesh TaxiUnion and Delhi PradeshAuto-rickshaw Sangh havedecided to oppose theCentral government’smove. “We will oppose therevised rates as they arenot in the favour of autoand taxi drivers. We havesought an appointmentwith Union TransportMinister Nitin Gadkari todemand roll back of thenew rates. If needed, wewill launch a series ofprotest across the city,”said the general secretariesof both unions. — PTI

Five-fold increase in driving licence fee in Delhi

NEW DELHI: The NationalGreen Tribunal has issuednotices to the Ministry of En-vironment and Forests, Delhigovernment, Delhi PollutionControl Committee andDelhi Cantonment Boardwhile hearing a plea thatchallenged the ban on manu-facture, sale, storage, usage,import and transport ofplastic bags in the city.

Next date of hearing

The NGT has now soughta reply before February 13,the next date of hearing. Thematter was transferred to theNGT in December from theDelhi High Court, which saidthe tribunal was alreadyhearing pleas against the useof plastic bags in Punjab andHaryana.

The court also asked the

Delhi government not to takecoercive steps against the pe-titioner, the All India PlasticsManufacturers’ Association,for eight weeks.

The Sheila Dikshit govern-ment’s order against plastic,which was to come into forcefrom November 23, 2012, hadbeen stayed by the court.

Notification challenged

The association had chal-lenged the notification say-ing that the city governmenthad exceeded its jurisdictionin issuing the notification.

The plea said “declare im-pugned notification of Octo-ber 23, 2012, null and void be-ing ultra vires to the parentAct, i.e. the EnvironmentProtection Act and Rulesframed thereunder. The no-tification also violates thefundamental rights of thepetitioner”.

NGT notice to Centre,Delhi govt over plastic banBINDU SHAJAN PERAPPADAN

NEW DELHI: Admissions toentry-level classes here un-der the EconomicallyWeaker Section (EWS) andDisadvantaged Group (DG)categories will begin fromTuesday, with the Delhi gov-ernment announcingguidelines for the process.

“Admissions to EWS andDG categories shall be madethrough a computerised lot-tery system in the schoolsagainst 25 per cent seats re-served. Filling of theAadhaar number for onlineregistration is compulsoryfor this session,” said a noti-fication by the Directorate ofEducation. The applicationprocess for the two categor-ies will conclude on January31. The first list will be dis-played on February 28, andsubsequent lists on March 15and 31. — PTI

Admission underEWS categorystarts today

105 YEARS LATER

ENGLISH:

A MONSTER CALLS: PVR(Anupam, City Walk), Wave (RajaGarden, Noida), Cinepolis, Spice(Noida), SRS Cinemas.

PASSENGERS: PVR (Anupam,Shalimar Bagh, Vasant Kunj, City

Walk, Naraina, Mahagun, Sangam),DT (Noida), Wave (Raja Garden,Noida), Satyam (Nehru Place, PatelNagar), Cinepolis, Spice (Noida).

HINDI:

DANGAL: (Aamir Khan, SakshiTanwar): Abhishek Cineplex, Delite,

Shiela, Milan, Liberty, Regal, Ritz,Amba, G3S (Rohini), PVR (Plaza,Rivoli, Priya, Saket, City Walk,Naraina, Vikaspuri, Prashant Vihar,EDM), M2K (Rohini, Pitampura),Movie Time (Raja Garden,Pitampura), FUN (Moti Nagar,Pitampura, Laxmi Nagar,

Karkardooma), DT (Saket, ShalimarBagh, Vasant Kunj), Satyam (PatelNagar, Nehru Place, Janakpuri), BIG(Odeon, Vaishali, Kaushambi,Noida), Wave (Raja Garden,Kaushambi, Noida), Spice (Noida),JAM Shipra, M4U, SRS Cinemas,Movie Palace, Movie Magic,

Galaxie, Star X (Vaishali),Chaudhary (Ghaziabad), MovieWorld and Silver City (Ghaziabad).(BOOKING ENQUIRIES: PVR51513391; Spice Gold012043890000; SatyamCinemas 25797385; Delite23272903; Wave 51832222)

CINEMA

CITY | 3THE HINDU TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2017

NOIDA/DELHI

D E L H I

Jan 10, Tue Jan 11, Wed Jan 12, Thu

RISE 07 15 SET 17 43 RISE 07 15 SET 17 44 RISE 07 15 SET 17 44

RISE 15 47 SET 04 40 RISE 16 46 SET 05 44 RISE 17 49 SET 06 44

Talk: A discussion on two books— “TheMillennial Sovereign: Sacred Kingshipand Sainthood in Islam” by A. Azfar Moinand “Negotiating Languages: Urdu,Hindi, and the Definition of Modern SouthAsia” by Walter N. Hakala, at SeminarRooms II & III, Kamaladevi Complex, IIC,6:30 p.m.

Dance: Antardrishti Day 2: neo-classicalinnovation in Odissi, at The Stein Auditor-ium, IHC, 7 p.m.

Music: Tribute to folk artiste lateChander Singh Rahi, at Amaltas Hall, IHC,7 p.m.

Exhibition: “Contemporary Artists fromVietnam : An Exhibition of Artworks” tocelebrate the 45th anniversary of Viet-nam-India diplomatic relations, at Gal-lery, Indira Gandhi National Centre forthe Arts (IGNCA), 11, Mansingh Road, 11a.m. – 6 p.m.

Exhibition: “Penal Colony”, a show byMadhusudhanan, at Vadehra Art Gallery,D-53 Defence Colony, 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.

(Mail your listings for this column atcityeditordelhi@thehindu.co.in)

DELHI TODAY

NEW DELHI: A 28-year-old bankerdied after he was allegedly at-tacked with a lethal injectionin north Delhi’s Sadar Bazar onSaturday.

The deceased has been iden-tified as Ravi Kumar, a cashierat a Kotak Mahindra Bankbranch in Sadar Bazar.

Main accused identified

The police have arrestedPalam resident Anish Yadav,who allegedly hired a contractkiller to eliminate Ravi.

Investigations have revealedthat Anish (30) wanted Raviout of his way so that he couldwoo the latter’s wife, whom heknows since childhood and hasa deep liking for.

Anish purportedly told thepolice that he was annoyedthat the woman had got mar-ried to somebody else. Al-though he himself got marriedlast year, he separated from his

wife in a few months. He then hired Prem to kill

Ravi for ₨1.5 lakh. On January 7, when Ravi was

returning home from work,Prem allegedly came from be-hind and pushed the injection

into his neck. The police saidPrem had been following Raviand attacked him near BaraTooti Chowk.

Killer caught

“Prem fled the spot after

committing the crime. He was,however, chased down by loc-als and Ravi’s colleague whowas accompanying him, andhanded over to the police,”said a police oicer.

Ravi was taken to St Steph-en’s Hospital, where he died onSunday. During interrogation,Prem purportedly told the po-lice that he was a physiother-apist and that the drug in theinjection was a combination ofMidazolam and Fortwin Phen-ergan.

“We are, however, waitingfor the autopsy report toidentify the nature of the sub-stance that was injected to thevictim,” said the oicer.

Murder plan allegedly hatched to woo victim’s wife; contract killer involved

Man killed with lethal injectionSHUBHOMOY SIKDAR

LIFE CUT SHORT: Ravi Kumar was attacked on January 7 when he was returning home from work. PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

CAUGHT OFF GUARD

NEW DELHI: Observing that“when the protector of pub-lic trust becomes a des-troyer, the very root of soci-ety is afected,’’ a court heresentenced a retired branchmanager of the State Bank ofPatiala and a chief executiveoicer (CEO) of a privatecompany to five years of rig-orous imprisonment in athree-decade-old corrup-tion case.

Fine imposed

Additional Sessions JudgePitamber Dutt also imposeda fine of ₨1.01 crore on thecompany — Keming ToolsCo. Limited, Mumbai.

The court found the con-victs— C.V. Madan, thenmanager of the Janakpuribranch of the bank, and 70-year-old H.S. Nageshwaran,CEO of the company, ofcheating the bank of ₨3.75crore. The 74-year-old bankmanager had lent the moneyto the company without any

sanction by the higher au-thorities.

The CBI had registered acase in the matter on a com-plaint by the regional man-ager of the bank.

“The loan was disbursedby C.V. Madan in furtheranceof a criminal conspiracyhatched by him with convictM/s. Keming Tools Co. Ltd.and convict H.S. Nagesh-waran,’’ the judge said.

‘Public interest hampered’

“C.V. Madan, instead ofacting as a guard of public in-terest, indulged in defeatingthe cause by divertingmoney of the bank,’’ thejudge said. “The counsel forall the convicts have claimedthat no pecuniary loss wascaused to the bank as M/s.Keming Tools Co. Ltd. paidall the outstanding amountas per the settlement. Thecontention, however, is notsustainable as the banksufered loss to the tune of₨3,59,42,000 despite the set-tlement,” the judge added.

Graft case: retd. bankoicial gets 5-year termNIRNIMESH KUMAR

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Po-lice’s Special Cell has bus-ted an inter-State syndic-ate of illegal armssuppliers with the arrestof two persons andseizure of 18 pistols.

Sanjeev Kumar Yadav,Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (Special Cell), saida team had been workingfor the past few weeks tocrack down on the gangthat was allegedly manu-facturing weapons inMadhya Pradesh’s Dhardistrict and selling themto criminals in Delhi, Ut-tar Pradesh, Haryana andRajasthan.

Team dispatched

On Friday, a police teamwas dispatched to Math-ura Road after it waslearnt that the prime sus-pect, Praveen Chaudhary,

would be headed to Delhifrom Faridabad in a Swiftcar. Barricades were putup on the road and thechecking of vehiclesinitiated.

Cops give chase

It was around 8.30 p.m.that the team noticed thecar they were looking for.The vehicle was signalledto stop, but the driver al-legedly tried to speedaway. The police gavechase to the car, and it wasintercepted a few metresahead.

When the vehicle waschecked, 18 sophisticatedpistols and 25 magazineswere found in a cavity thathad been created in theboot.

Two men, includingPraveen, were arrested. Acase under the Arms Actwas registered and aprobe initiated.

2 illegal arms suppliersarrested; pistols seizedSTAFF REPORTER

NEW DELHI: Four personswere injured when a groupof motorcycle-borne menopened fire in west Delhi'sUttam Nagar on Sunday.

A dispute over paymentsreceived allegedly from abetting racket is being seenas the reason behind theassault, said SurenderKumar, DCP (South-West).

The injured have beenidentified as Akram, Sajid,Sushil and Devendra. Thepolice said the men lived ina locality that wasnotorious for illegalactivities.

According to the police,the assailants arrivedaround midnight, when themen were seated outsidetheir homes.

There was a briefargument before the fourcriminals allegedly pulledout their guns and resortedto firing indiscriminatelyon the men. Locals saidthey came out of theirhomes on hearing thegunshots.

Locals to the rescue

“Anywhere between 20and 30 rounds were fired.We came out of our homesto find the men lying

injured,” said Raja, aresident of the area.

The police wereinformed and the injuredrushed to Deen DayalUpadhyay Hospital. Whilethree of them have beendischarged, the fourth isundergoing treatment.

One accused detained

A case of attempt tomurder and under theArms Act has beenregistered. The assailantshave been identified, andone of them has beendetained. The police saidthey were residents ofRanhola.

4 hurt in attack over betting disputeSTAFF REPORTER

The police are waitingfor the autopsy reportto identify the nature ofthe substance that was

injected to the victim

CMYK

ND-ND

CITY4 |THE HINDU TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2017

NOIDA/DELHI

NEW DELHI: The garbage prob-lem in east Delhi may spreadto other parts of the Capitalas sanitation workers of theNorth Delhi Municipal Cor-poration threatened to jointhe ongoing strike by thesafai karamcharis of theEast Delhi Municipal Cor-poration (EDMC).

Teachers, engineers andmedical staf have also saidthat they may join the stir.

Mounds of garbage on thestreets of east Delhi grewbigger on Monday as sanita-tion workers of the EDMCrefused to end their strikedespite the civic body claim-ing that it had started to dis-burse pending salaries.

The sanitation staf hadgone on strike from January6 to push for the release oftheir salaries.

The workers had not beenpaid for two months as theEDMC claimed it didn’t havethe funds.

Fifth such strike in 2 years

With January 5 being apublic holiday and the sub-sequent strike, garbage hasbeen collecting in east Delhifor five days.

This is the fifth time thatgarbage collection has cometo standstill due to a strike bysanitation workers in thepast two years, as the EDMChas been repeatedly fallingbehind on salaries.

“There is a political gamebetween the AAP govern-ment and the BJP-ledEDMC. The people of east

Delhi are stuck in the middleand are sufering due to thegarbage crisis,” said B.S.Vohra, president of the eastDelhi RWAs Joint Front (Fed-eration). Representatives ofthe front met Deputy ChiefMinister Manish Sisodia onMonday to ask for a solutionto the problem.

Blame game

Meanwhile, Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal blamed theBJP leadership of the EDMCfor financial mismanage-ment. “BJP playing dirtypolitics wid Delhi. Theircouncillors siphoned funds

meant 4 salaries of MCD em-ployees n then throw garbageon Del roads (sic),” tweetedMr. Kejriwal.

Jitender Chaudhary, chair-person of the EDMC’s Stand-ing Committee, said that thecivic body had receivedmoney from the governmentand had started releasingsalaries.

“But this is a temporarysolution. Till the Delhi gov-ernment implements the re-commendations of theFourth Delhi Finance Com-mission, we will continue tohave financial problems,” Mr.Chaudhary said.

The workers, on their part,refused to call of the strike.

On Sunday, Mr. Sisodia hadsaid that the Delhi govern-ment has released ₨119 crorefor the EDMC as an advance.

“Mr. Sisodia is trying to be-tray us again. Last time wewent on strike, the govern-ment promised to give ₨1,110crore. But, so far nothing hashappened. We want a per-manent solution. We don’twant to go on strike every fewmonths for our salaries,” saidSanjay Gehlot, of the MCDSwachhta Karamchari Union.

Rajendra Mewati, generalsecretary of the United Front

of MCD Employees, addedthat the sanitation workers ofthe north corporation will bejoining the strike in the nextfew days after which teach-ers, engineers and medicalstaf will also join the stir.

Late night confusion

Confusion prevailed as theEDMC said in a late nightstatement that the strike hadbeen called of and garbagetrucks had been deployed toremove the accumulatedtrash. However, workersdenied this and termed it asan attempt by the authoritiesto create divisions.

Safai karamcharis of north civic body, teachers, engineers and medical staff likely to support strike over pending salaries

Crisis looms as more staf threaten to join stir DAMININATH

HOLD YOUR BREATH: Garbage has not been picked up in east Delhi for the last five days. PHOTO: SANDEEP SAXENA

NEW DELHI: Both the BJP andthe Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)had been reducing the civicbodies’ share of Delhi’sbudget every year since 2013and were responsible fortheir financial problems, theDelhi Congress said onMonday.

‘Rahul may join fight’

Referring to the ongoingstrike by the sanitation work-ers of the East Delhi Muni-cipal Corporation (EDMC),Delhi Congress presidentAjay Maken said that Con-gress vice-president RahulGandhi was ready to standwith the workers. Mr. Gandhihad joined the EDMC work-ers protest over delayedsalaries last year as well.

Mr. Maken said that theBJP, which was in chargewhen Delhi was under Pres-ident’s rule in 2014, and theAAP, which came to power inFebruary 2015, had allocateda smaller percentage of Del-hi’s budget to the corpora-tions than what the Congressgovernment had in 2013.

Going down

As per the budget, Mr.Maken said that the muni-cipal corporations weregiven 11.76 per cent of thetotal budget of Delhi in 2013-14, when Sheila Diskhit wasChief Minister. In 2014-15,when Union Finance Minis-ter Arun Jaitley presentedDelhi’s budget, the share ofthe corporations came downto 10.27 per cent. In 2015-16and 2016-17, the AAP govern-ment reduced the share to8.74 per cent and 8.31 per centrespectively, said Mr. Maken.

“Both the BJP and the AAPare responsible for the mess.It is a sad situation that work-ers have had to go on strikefor the fifth time in two years.They are not asking for any-thing extra, just their salariesand arrears,” said Mr. Maken.

Govt allocatingless to civicbodies: Congress STAFF REPORTER

RAISING A STINK

NEW DELHI: The Delhi BJP onMonday demanded the dis-missal of Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) Minister SatyendarJain after reports emergedlast week that the Income-Tax Department had senthim a notice over allegedhawala transactions.

Delhi BJP president ManojTiwari, along with scores ofparty workers and leaders,staged a protest near the res-idence of Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal demandingthe removal of the PWD andHealth Minister from theCabinet. Some BJP workersand Mr. Tiwari were de-tained and taken to Maurice

Nagar police station.

‘Corruption and nepotism’

Speaking at the protest,Mr. Tiwari said that while Mr.Kejriwal had fought againstcorruption in the SheilaDikshit government, his owndispensation was involved in“corruption and nepotism”.

Mr. Tiwari said that the al-leged money laundering byMr. Jain, who holds sevenportfolios, had “exposed”him and he should eitherresign or be dismissed.

Delhi MPs MeenakshiLekhi and Ramesh Bidhuri,and Leader of the Oppositionin the Delhi AssemblyVijendra Gupta were presentat the protest.

BJP seeks Jain’s dismissal STAFF REPORTER

UNREST: BJP workers protest near Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal’s official residence on Monday. PHOTO: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

NEW DELHI: The Delhi HighCourt on Monday stayed theorder of the Central Inform-ation Commission (CIC),which had directed the Pres-ident’s Secretariat toprovide details of guests in-vited in the swearing-in ce-remony of former CentralInformation CommissionerVijai Sharma and formerCentral Vigilance Commis-sioner K. V. Chowdary.

Details of guest list

Justice Sanjeev Sachdevastayed the order on a peti-tion moved by the Presid-ent’s Oice, which chal-lenged the CIC orderdirecting it to share with anRTI activist the details of theprocess followed in invitingguests, including theirnames.

The activist, R. K. Jain, hadgone to the CIC after the

President’s oice refused todisclose the informationstating that the same doesnot serve any public interest.

Payment to ASG

Meanwhile, the court alsostayed another order of theCIC that directed the Centreto disclose payments madeto Additional Solicitor Gen-eral (ASG) Sanjay Jain.

Justice Sachdeva stayedthe November 1, 2016 orderof the CIC on the plea by thelitigation department of thegovernment, which claimedbefore the court that the in-formation directed to beprovided also included de-tails of the ASG’s appoint-ment and his resume.

The court also issued a no-tice to Harkrishan DasNijhawan, who had soughtthe information under theRTI Act, and sought hisreply before the next date ofhearing on April 29.

High Court stays twoorders issued by CICAKANKSHA JAIN

Ruf day

HOT DOG: A puppy tries to keep itself warm on a cold Monday evening in Delhi.PHOTO: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

GURUGRAM: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi launched theambitious “Beti Bachao, BetiPadhao” (B3P) campaignagainst female foeticide inPanipat in January 2015. Twoyears later, Haryana, notori-ous for its skewed sex ratioand patriarchal mindset, sawa historic turnaround.

Sex ratio at birth (SRB) inthe State this past yeartouched the 900-mark for thefirst time in almost twodecades.

“The Prime Minister choseHaryana to launch the BetiBachao, Beti Padhao cam-paign. The correction of sexratio in the State was an uphilltask, but we accepted thechallenge. The SRB inDecember 2016 was 914. Wehave to achieve 950, for whichwe will need support fromour neighbouring States. Thegood news is that Haryanahas shown the way and takenthe lead in correcting the sexratio in the country,” saidChief Minister Manohar LalKhattar in a statement to The

Hindu.This improvement was

made possible due to efect-ive implementation of the lawagainst illegal sex-determina-tion and female foeticide.

Multi-pronged strategy

Convergence of all depart-ments at the district-level,coupled with strong politicalwill and co-ordinated efortsby all districts in the State,helped achieve this goal, saidoicials.

“A special B3P cell was cre-ated by the Chief Minister’sOice to monitor the pro-

gramme. Since convergenceof many departments was re-quired, besides the need todeal with the Attorney-Gen-eral, due to which many caseswent to the High Court, it wasconstantly monitored by theCMO. The Chief Ministerheld a video-conference withthe Deputy Commissionersevery month to monitor theprogress. A social mediagroup, moderated by the Ad-ditional Principal Secretaryto the Chief Minister, wascreated to share and ex-change information. Thisforum enabled healthy com-

petition between diferentdistricts and helped themlearn from each other’s ex-periences,” said a senior oi-cial associated with theprogramme.

Enforcing the law

As part of its strategy, theState also initiated an ag-gressive drive against femalefoeticide by ensuring strin-gent implementation of thePre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques(PCPNDT) Act, 1994, and theMedical Terminal of Preg-nancy (MTP) Act. As a result,391 first information reportswere lodged in the State sinceMay 2015 and more than 1,000ofenders arrested. Doctors,paramedics and quacks werefound involved in the illegalpractice. In a few cases, polit-ical leaders were also part ofthe unholy nexus, including acase each in Karnal and Hisar.

The first positive result ofthe strict enforcement wasvisible in December 2015,when the SRB touched the900-mark for the month forthe first time. “The results

were encouraging and rein-forced what we were doing,”said the oicial.

Sex-selective abortions aremostly conducted in thefourth month of pregnancy.“We started out in a big wayin May and started receivingpositive results by December2015 itself,” the oicial added.

Creating awarenessthrough regular meetings,street plays and rallies inurban and rural areas was an-other key aspect of the pro-gramme. Those associatedwith the programme admit-ted that Haryana girls, includ-ing Sakshi Malik, GeetaPhogat, Babita and DeepaMalik, winning laurels for thecountry in sports helped thecause “tremendously”.

However, the programmenow faces new challenges:the mushrooming of illegalultrasound centres nearHaryana in Delhi, Rajasthan,Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.Haryana government oicialshave conducted 74 inter-Stateraids over the past year in thisconnection, with 37 (the max-imum) in UP alone.

Sex ratio in Haryana touches 900-mark for first time in 20 yearsASHOK KUMAR

BETI BACHAO: Effective implementation of laws against femalefoeticide and sex-determination made a big difference. FILE PHOTO

NEW DELHI: The Delhi HighCourt on Monday refusedto give an urgent hearingon a plea seeking adirection to the East DelhiMunicipal Corporationemployees to end theirindefinite strike, whichbegan from January 5 dueto non-payment of salary.

“Why today? The matter

can be taken up later also.List it for hearingtomorrow before theappropriate bench,” aBench of Justices B. D.Ahmed and AshutoshKumar said.

A petitioner, who claimsto be a social worker,moved the HC for urgentlisting of the matter on the

ground that if garbage isnot removed, there is“apprehension of anepidemic”.

‘Contempt of court’

Advocate Sugriva Dubey,appearing for petitionerSalek Chand Jain,submitted that the EDMCis in contempt of court by

disobeying the High Courtorder that salaries to all itsemployees, includingsanitation workers, shouldbe paid by the 7th of everymonth.

The counsel told thecourt that the Delhigovernment and thecorporation shouldimmediately be directed to

release salaries tosanitation workers whowent on strike.

The petitioner also saidthat the authorities shouldbe asked to imposeEssential ServicesMaintenance Act (ESMA)against nearly 25,000municipal employees of theEDMC. — PTI

No need for urgent hearing on strike, says High Court

NEW DELHI: The Delhi HighCourt has refused to transferto Bangalore the trial in acase of cheating and conspir-acy involving gangster Ch-hota Rajan and a retired wo-man passport oicer.

“...no case is made out fortransfer of the trial from Spe-cial Judge, Delhi to SpecialJudge, Bangalore,” JusticeMukta Gupta said.

‘No jurisdiction’

Justice Gupta dismissedthe petition of retired pass-port oicer Lalitha Laksh-manan, 62, who along withRajan and others, faces trialfor allegedly issuing a pass-port to Chhota Rajan onforged documents in 1998while she was posted as as-sistant regional passport of-

ficer in Bangalore.A special CBI court had

framed charges against herand others in June 2016. She,however, sought quashing ofthe charges on the groundthat the special court inDelhi did not have the juris-diction to hear the case.

‘Ofences outside India’

The court noted that thealleged conspiracy were partof an ofence committed inIndia and could be tried inDelhi.

“In the present case, initialconspiracy was hatched and

ofences of forgery, etc., werecommitted in Bangalore.However, pursuant to theconspiracy hatched and of-fences committed in Ban-galore, further ofences werecommitted outside India asforged passport was re-newed twice at Harare andSydney. The ofences com-mitted at Harare and Sydneywere not part of ofences butcompleted acts of cheatingand forgery,” the High Courtsaid.

“Thus, present is a casewhere some ofences werecommitted in India, some inHarare and some in Sydneyand the cause of actionsarose both in India and out-side India. The ofencescommitted in each jurisdic-tion were not part of ofencesor part ingredient of ofencesbut complete ofences. Sec-

tion 220 CrPC directs that ifa person commits more of-fences than one, in one seriesof acts so connected to formthe same transaction, he maybe charged and tried at onetrial,” Justice Gupta held.

Arrested in Delhi

Noting that the CBI had ar-rested Rajan in Delhi, thecourt concluded, “...when of-fences are allegedly commit-ted by a citizen of Indiawithin the country and out-side as well, both the Courtsi.e. where the ofence was al-legedly committed in Indiaand also where the accusedon being brought to India isfound would have territorialjurisdiction to try the of-fences so committed, if theofences can be tried to-gether...” Justice Guptaconcluded.

HC refuses to transfer Chhota Rajan’s trial AKANKSHA JAIN Case of cheating and

conspiracy involvesretired official whoissued passport toRajan on forged papers

NEW DELHI: The chief of theDelhi Commission for Wo-men (DCW) Swati Maliwalon Monday met newly-ap-pointed Lieutenant-Gov-ernor Anil Baijal and dis-cussed with him the issuespending since the tenure ofhis predecessor Najeeb Jung.

Women’s safety

“Ms. Maliwal met the L-Gand discussed increasingcrimes against women inDelhi and possible solutionsto ensure their safety. Issueswhich have not been re-solved and are pending sinceprevious L-G’s tenure, in-cluding non-payment ofsalaries to contractual stafwere also raised,” a DCW of-ficial said.

Mr. Baijal has sought a de-tailed note on the sugges-tions of the DCW vis-a-visimproving women safety inthe Capital as well as theproblems being faced by thecommission in its function-ing. — PTI

Maliwal meetsBaijal overpending issues

STATE | 7THE HINDU TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2017

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NEW DELHI: A woman and hertwo-year-old daughter werefound dead at their rented flatin east Delhi's Mandawaliarea on Monday evening. Thebodies bore multiple stabwounds and other injuries.

The deceased have beenidentified as 24-year-oldGeetanjali and her daughter,Ananya. Though a hand-writ-ten “suicide note” was foundnear the victims’ bodies, Om-vir Singh, DCP (East), saidthe mother and daughterseemed to have beenmurdered.

“The suicide note seems tobe fake and kept at the crimespot to mislead the police,”said the DCP.

Killer unidentified

The note suggested thatthe woman committed sui-cide after killing her daugh-ter. According to the note, thewoman was taking the ex-treme step due to personalreasons. But the scene of thecrime, the circumstances ofthe deaths and the handwrit-ing suggested that the note

was not written by the wo-man, said the oicer.

The killer remainedunidentified, but the oicerexpressed hope that the per-son would be nabbed soon.

Geetanjali’s husband Mith-ilesh is employed with the In-dian Railways as a locomot-ive driver. The family hailedfrom Bihar and had movedinto the East Vinod Nagar flata few months ago.

Ligature marks on neck

The murders came to lightaround 6.15 p.m. on Mondaywhen Mithilesh returnedhome from work. He re-peatedly rang the door bell,but got no response.

When his phone calls toGeetanjali also went un-answered, he informed thepolice and asked for helpfrom his neighbours.

One of the neighbours

entered the flat through thebalcony and found themother and daughter lying ina pool of blood.

The child was stabbed inher stomach. Geetanjali’sbody too had several stabwounds. The police foundligature marks on her neck,which suggested that she wasstrangled first and thenstabbed.

The two were rushed to anearby hospital where thedoctors declared thembrought dead.

The bodies were sub-sequently sent to Lal BahadurShastri Hospital forpost-mortem.

Friendly entry

According to the police,initial probe suggests that thekiller made a friendly entryinto the house. “The killermust have escaped from thebalcony after locking thehouse from inside to misleadthe investigators,” said asenior police oicer. Geetan-jali and Mithilesh got mar-ried three years ago. So far,the police have not learnt oftheir enmity with anyone.

STAFF REPORTER

Woman, daughter dead,‘fake’ suicide note found

The note mentioned

that the woman

was committing

suicide due to

personal reasons

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police onMonday registered an FIR inconnection with a viral You-Tube video, where a youngman is seen kissing womenwithout their consent inConnaught Place before flee-ing. The youth has beenbooked for molestation andposting obscene material onthe Internet.

“We have registered a caseunder Section 354 [molesta-tion] of the Indian PenalCode and Section 67 [Punish-ment for publishing or trans-mitting obscene material inelectronic form] of the In-formation Technology Act,”said Delhi Police spokesper-son Dependra Pathak.

FIR lodged againstprank kisser SHUBHOMOY SIKDAR

NEW DELHI: A police probe hasfound that Vibha Mahata,mother of Rahul Mahata whokilled his father and laterpulled a LPG pipe leaving 10policemen injured on Sunday,had locked herself in her ownhouse when the accused camelooking for her.

The accused, meanwhile,was produced before a courton Tuesday and sent to 14days’ judicial custody. Hismother is yet to provide herversion.

Earlier, the police had saidthat Ms. Mahata was not at theAjanta Apartments home atthe time of the incident. Thepolice believe that the houseitself was at the centre of thedispute between Rahul andhis parents. “His mother wasin the house when he attackedhis father. He wanted to killher, but she locked herself in aroom,” said a police oicer.

Another police oicer saidthat Rahul wanted his parentsto vacate the flat. Also, hismarriage to a woman the fam-ily disapproved of made mat-ters worse. His father, in fact,had recently disowned him.

The Hindu tried contact-ing Ms. Sharma, but was toldthat she was not in a state totalk.

Cops still criticalThree sub-inspectors who

were injured in the incidentcontinued to remain critical aday after the incident.

Madhu Viharmurder: accusedin judicial custodySTAFF REPORTER

NEW DELHI: A woman hasbeen arrested for allegedlyimpersonating a candidatein a competitiveexamination for KVSprimary teachers at anexam centre in north-westDelhi. The police said shewas part of a racket thatrigged competitiveexaminations.

The examination washeld on Saturday. A seniorpolice oicer said that theprincipal of a school inMukherjee Nagar, which

was the examinationcentre, informed them thatthey had detected onewoman who wasappearing in place ofanother candidate.

Cellphone recovered

“The principal told usthat the invigilator noticeddiference in the admitcard of the real candidateand the ID card producedby the accused.Accordingly, a case wasregistered. One mobilephone with earphones, onecopper wire covered with

doctor tape and a buttoncell were recovered fromher,” said the oicer.

During interrogation,the woman purportedlyrevealed that she was agraduate and appearing inplace of a real candidate.“Around six months ago,she came in contact withone Sunny at Panipat whointroduced her to Ajay,Anil and Johny who are themasterminds,” said theoicer. The police said theaccused were supposed tocall the woman during theexamination.

Woman held for impersonating examineeSTAFF REPORTER

NEW DELHI: Observing how itwas once all praises for thedevelopment of the AravalliBiodiversity park, the DelhiHigh Court on Mondayasked the Delhi Develop-ment Authority (DDA) tocheck any unauthorised treefelling there.

‘Check encroachment’

“We direct the DDA tocheck any encroachment orillegal tree felling in the Ara-valli Biodiversity park,” saida Bench headed by JusticeB.D. Ahmed.

“If any encroachment or il-

legal tree felling is found, thesame must be stopped,” saidthe Bench.

“We were once praisingthe DDA for developing thispark. Don’t force us tonow...,” said the Bench, stop-ping short of pulling up theDDA. Further, the Benchnoted that photographs of il-legal activities happening in-side the park had beenpresented during the hearingof a case concerning pollu-tion levels in the Capital.

Earlier, the Bench hadbanned all unregulated con-struction in Delhi. It had alsocalled for a check on burningof waste and straw.

Stop tree felling in Aravalli park: HCSTAFF REPORTER

CMYK

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8 |THE HINDU TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2017

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SOUTH

BENGALURU: Sushma Sahu,member, National Commis-sion for Women, said onMonday that a show-causenotice would be issued toKarnataka Chief MinisterSiddaramaiah if Home Min-ister G. Parameshwara failedto tender a “public apology”for his comments followingallegations of women beingmolested during the NewYear revelry in Bengaluru.

She was in the city to meetthe Director-General and In-spector-General of PoliceOm Prakash and city PoliceCommissioner PraveenSood over numerous com-plaints and reports of wo-men being molested and har-assed since January 1.

The NCW had sent Dr.

Parameshwara a notice afterhe had linked the incidentsto “western mindset anddressing”.

“This is a childish andnonsensical statement. Thedress women wear should

not matter to the Ministerwhose duty is to protect wo-men. He should issue a pub-lic apology for this,” Ms.Sahu told The Hindu.

The commission, how-ever, would not meet the

Home Minister. It wouldwait for a week to issue ashow-cause notice to theChief Minister.

‘Serious lapse’

During the meeting withtop State police oicials, Ms.Sahu took objection to the“shake up” and “transfers”within the city police onNew Year’s Eve. “The lawand order situation was ex-pected to be a sensitive one,and yet the government wentahead with the transfers. ThePolice Commissioner and anIGP took charge on January 1.At midnight, no senior oi-cial oversaw security ar-rangements. This is a seriouslapse, and we will send a no-tice to the State governmentdemanding an explanation,”said Ms. Sahu.

Else Chief Minister will be issued show-cause notice, says Sushma Sahu

Tender public apology, NCWtells Karnataka MinisterSTAFF REPORTER The dress

women wearshould not matter tothe Minister whoseduty it is to protectwomen.It is a childish andnonsensicalstatement. Sushma Sahu,Member of the National

Commission for Women

NEW DELHI: The SupremeCourt on Monday dismisseda Telangana government pe-tition against a decision ofthe Krishna Water DisputeTribunal-II to limit the re-al-location of the river wateronly to the two successorStates of Andhra and Telan-gana, and not dabble with theshare of water enjoyed by theother two riparian States —Maharashtra and Karnataka.

A Bench of Justices MadanB. Lokur and P.C. Pant cat-egorically refused —without prejudice to anyother writ or special leavepetitions filed by Telanganain the Supreme Court — tointervene in the decision ofthe Water Dispute Tribunal-II to confine the question ofre-allocation of river water,post bifurcation of erstwhileAndhra Pradesh, to the twosuccessor States of Telan-gana and Andhra and not allthe four riparian States. The

tribunal had decided that thedetails of the re-distributionwould be decided as per theAndhra Pradesh Reorganisa-tion Act of 2014 by an apexcouncil headed by top oi-cials. The Bench explicitlytold Telangana that it wouldnot want to go into the entireaward of the tribunal nordelve into a fresh considera-tion of the water dispute.

In its petition, Telanganacontended that, on its forma-tion, it was confronted withthe situation of “inadequate

utilization of Krishna waterout of the en bloc allocationof 811 TMC of 75 per cent de-pendable water, made by theKrishna Water DisputesTribunal-I.

“The projects identifiedand allocations made by theKrishna Water DisputesTribunal-II in Telangana re-gion of erstwhile A.P. is alsowoefully inadequate beingjust 9 tmcft of 448 tmcft ofsurplus water among the ri-parian States,” the petitioncontended.

LEGAL CORRESPONDENT

UNHAPPY DIVISION: A file photo of the Krishna in spate inVijayawada.— PHOTO: V. RAJU

Telangana plea against Krishnatribunal award dismissed

KOZHIKODE: Stoking yet an-other controversy, generalsecretary of the BharatiyaJanata Party’s Kerala unitA.N. Radhakrishnan hasasked the Kerala ChalachitraAcademy Chairman andfilm-maker Kamal to moveout of the country if he can-not obey the directives of theSupreme Court on singingthe national anthem.

At a news conference hereon Monday, held in connec-tion with the party’s northKerala regional yatra, Mr.Radhakrishnan alleged thatKamal was a worker of “ex-tremist outfits” such as theSocial Democratic Party ofIndia (SDPI).

Over a fortnight ago, Mr.Radhakrishnan had kickedup a row by questioning themotive behind the statementof Jnanpith Award winner

M.T. Vasudevan Nair that thecommon man bore the bruntof the Centre’s demonetisa-tion drive.

The writer was no eco-nomist to speak about theadvantages of a cashless eco-nomy, he had said.

Mr. Radhakrishnan alsoasked the Communist Partyof India (Marxist) leader-ship to remove posters andpictures of Che Guevara,which the party uses alongwith the pictures of Ma-hatma Gandhi, SwamiVivekenanda, MotherTeresa and Sree NarayanaGuru, at its oices and func-tions. Che symbolised bru-tality and barbarism, he said.

“The CPI(M) had propag-ated Che Guvara as a hero inKerala’s rural areas. No won-der its activists employ thesame method of violence ad-opted by Che Guvera againstpolitical rivals,” he said.

BJP targets Kerala film-maker,asks him to leave country SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vi-jayan on Monday got toughwith IAS oicials whothreatened to go on massleave in protest against Vigil-ance Director JacobThomas’s alleged vindictiveaction against some of theircolleagues.

Consequent to the ChiefMinister’s unrelentingstance, the IAS oicialscalled of their plan.

Addressing a press confer-ence after meeting a delega-tion of senior IAS oicershere, Mr. Vijayan made itclear that the governmentwould not succumb to antag-onistic methods.

The government viewedthe IAS oicers’ specialmeeting on Saturday andtheir mass leave seriously.Their move to go on masscasual leave could not be jus-tified in any manner, the

Chief Minister said. The oicers had informed

him that their move had beenmisunderstood. Their actionwas not aimed at the govern-ment.

The oicers met the ChiefMinister to put pressure onthe government to sort outthe mounting confrontationbetween them and Mr.Thomas. The flashpoint wasthe VACB’s decision to in-

clude Additional Chief Sec-retary (Industries) Paul Ant-ony as the third accused in anepotism case againstformer Industries MinisterE.P. Jayarajan.

The Chief Minister con-veyed to the delegation thathis government would notinterfere in Vigilance invest-igations and its policy forfree, independent, and trans-parent inquiries in suchcases.

On whether the chargesagainst the VACB Directorhad come up before him, Mr.Vijayan said the cases per-taining to the Director werefiled before he took over thepresent post. The govern-ment and the court hadlooked into them and onecase was still pending in thecourt. With regard to the Fin-ance Inspection Wing’s find-ings against him, its jurisdic-tion for conducting theprobe needed to be ex-amined closely, he said.

IAS oicers drop mass leave plan SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

The move of those who are at the helm of the administration to go on mass casual leave when an FIR has been registered as part of a VACB inquiry cannot be justified in any manner. The government will not succumb to such

antagonistic

methods.

Pinarayi Vijayan

Chief Minister

KOLLAM: A leopard on theprowl, which was triggeringpanic among people livingnear the forest areas of Path-anapuram, has been trappedby Forest Department of-ficers attached to the Path-anapuram oice.

It was a male leopard. Thebig cat had on Saturday nightlifted a dog from a house.The half eaten carcass of thedog was found the next daysome distance from thehouse.

Trap set

Forest oicers said that theleopard fell into the trap thatwas set at Kadassery on Sat-urday night. The leopard fellinto the cage after 1 a.m. onMonday, said people living inthe area.

A team of forest oicersled by the Range Oicer, C.K.Johnson reached the spot inthe morning and after form-

alities transported the an-imal to a deep interior area ofthe forest a good distanceaway from where it wastrapped and released it.

Forest oicers said that the

big cat is unlikely to return tothe trapped location fromwhere it was released.Moreover the released areais a location which has ampleprey base for leopards.

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

The leopard which was trapped near Pathanapuram in Kollam.

Leopard caught, released into wild

NEW DELHI: The SupremeCourt on Monday directedTamil Nadu and Karnataka tofile aidavits of witnesses tobe examined in the former’splea seeking about ₨ 2,500crore compensation for lossof crops for not releasingCauvery water in 2012-13.

A Bench of JusticesAdarsh Kumar Goel and U.U.Lalit gave four weeks’ time toboth the States for filing doc-uments in determination ofthe original suit filed byTamil Nadu.

Senior advocate Sub-ramaniam Prasad, appearingfor Tamil Nadu, and senioradvocate Fali Nariman, rep-resenting Karnataka, soughttime.

The court scheduled thecase for hearing after fiveweeks. Tamil Nadu hassought compensation con-tending non-implementa-tion of the order for the re-lease of Cauvery water.

Cauvery: SC tohear TN’s plea for damages LEGAL CORRESPONDENT

CMYK

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NATION | 9THE HINDU TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2017

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NEW DELHI: A Supreme CourtBench of Justices KurianJoseph and A.M. Khanwilkaron Monday expressed theirstrong reservations againstsenior advocate Indira Jais-ing’s request that JusticeKhanwilkar should recusehimself from hearing a caseof sexual harassment againstformer apex court judge andcurrent National GreenTribunal Chairperson,Justice Swatanter Kumar.

Ms. Jaising, who appearedfor the alleged victim and aformer law intern, pointedout that Justice Khanwilkarhad shared the Bench with

Justice Kumar in the BombayHigh Court.

Justice Kurian, who washeading the Bench alongwith Justice Khanwilkar, saidit would be diicult for a sit-

ting judge to function if re-cusal from a matter is soughton the ground that a judgeshared a Bench once withother judges.

“Yes, I had the occasion toshare the bench with him(Justice Swatanter Kumar)when he was Chief Justice ofBombay High Court. My re-cusal depends on how seri-ous are the objections be-cause it will be my personaldecision,” Justice Khan-wilkar said.

Additionally, the formerintern’s side does not wantany judge who shared workspace with Justice Kumar tohear the case.

The bench, however, gran-

ted liberty to Ms. Jaising tomention the matter beforeChief Justice J.S. Khehar forthe constitution of an appro-priate bench.

Justice Kumar has de-scribed the allegations as“incredulous and false” and“some kind of conspiracy”.

Ms. Jaising said a transferpetition has been filed by thealleged victim for shifting ofthe main case from DelhiHigh Court to any other HighCourt where Justice Kumarhas not served.

She said the very object ofthe transfer petition was toensure that the proceedingsare not afected by any kindof bias.

Counsel said he had shared a Bench with the accused judge in the Bombay HC

Sexual harassment victimseeks SC judge’s recusalLEGAL CORRESPONDENT

Indira Jaising

Business as usual

CLOUDS OF SNOW: A shepherd with his flock on a snow-covered mountain ridge in Pahalgam, south Kashmir, on Monday.The cold wave is likely to continue, according to meteorological department officials. — PHOTO: NISSAR AHMAD

NEW DELHI: Khanderi, thesecond Scorpene submarineunder Project-75 being builtat Mazgaon Docks Limited(MDL) in Mumbai is all set tobe launched into water laterthis week.

Meanwhile, the first sub-marine Kalvari is close tocompleting sea trials andlikely to be inducted into theNavy by the middle of thisyear.

Six Scorpene submarinesare being built with assist-ance and technology transferfrom DCNS and others ofFrance and under a $3.75-bil-lion deal signed in October2005.

The submarines are beingbuilt using modular ap-proach in which diferentsections are built separatelyand later assembled on apontoon. “Once the as-sembly is complete it will belaunched into water. The

launch means all equipmentis in place,” a senior Navy of-ficer said.

Khanderi, named after theIsland fort of Maratha rulerChhatrapati Shivaji, was sup-posed to have been launchedin December last year butwas slightly delayed.

“After the launch, the bat-teries will be commissioned,the submarine will be fuelledand machinery will be star-

ted so that it powers up on itsown,” the oicer stated.

It is scheduled to be com-missioned into the Navy inDecember 2017. The otherfour submarines are expec-ted to roll out at intervals ofnine months. After a series ofdelays in the project, the firstsubmarine Kalvari waslaunched in April last yearand was expected to be com-missioned by year end.

Earlier when a submarinewas through 80 per cent of itssea trials it was inducted andthe Navy took charge of theremaining trials.

However, the governmenthas now changed the policystating that the inductionwould be done once after theplatform is fully ready.

Data leak

The infamous 22,400-pagedata leak pertaining toScorpene submarines inAustralia has also put ashadow on the programmeeven before they joined theforce. However, the Navy hasasserted that the leak was notserious.

Navy Chief Admiral SunilLanba had said on the occa-sion of the Navy Day lastDecember that they wouldconduct a joint investigationwith France and if it was feltnecessary some modifica-tions could be undertaken inthe submarines.

DINAKAR PERI

NEW ASSET: The first submarine INS Kalvari is likely to beinducted into the Navy by the middle of this year.— FILE PHOTO: AFP

Second Scorpene submarine ready

NEW DELHI: Months after DelhiUniversity decided to stopthe use of Hindi translationof the late historian BipanChandra’s popular book onmodern Indian history as areference book for students,the Indian History Congresshas passed a resolution in fa-vour of the book.

The university had red-flagged the book claimingthat it denigrated revolution-ary freedom fighters likeBhagat Singh as “terrorists.”The resolution, however, un-derlines that Bhagat Singhchose to call himself “revolu-tionary terrorist,” a term thatdid not have a pejorativemeaning in those days.

Specious charge

“The country was shockedwhen a book written by oneof India’s best known histori-ans, Professor BipanChandra, India’s Struggle forIndependence, which wastranslated into Hindi andpublished by the Universityof Delhi’s Hindi Implement-ation Board on the recom-

mendation of the Depart-ment of History, has beenordered out of publicationon the specious charge thatthe book denigrates nationalheroes like Bhagat Singh bydescribing them as terror-ists,” the resolution passeddays back at the History Con-gress’ Thiruvananthapuramsession said.

“The book describes themas revolutionary terrorists,making it clear that no pejor-ative meaning was intendedin using the word ‘terrorists’,a description Bhagat Singhand his associates used forthemselves.”

Demanding that the “vir-tual ban” on the book be re-

voked, the History Congressadded that such “stifling” ofscholarly work should not beallowed in future.

‘ICHR going slow’

The History Congress ex-pressed displeasure over theIndian Council of HistoricalResearch “going slow” onsome volumes of the To-wards Freedom project,which are yet to be pub-lished. Among these isVolume-III of 1947 compiledby historian Sucheta Ma-hajan and Volume-II of 1941compiled by historian ArjunDev.

The project aims at bring-ing out the documents of theperiod leading up tofreedom.

“It appears that the ICHRis going slow on the projectwith volumes in the press be-ing put in cold storage formore than three years in thecase of Volume-III of 1947,while Volume-II of 1941 hasbeen ready for more than ayear,” the resolution said.“The IHC expects that thesewill be brought out as earlyas possible ...”

Lift ‘virtual ban’ on BipanChandra’s book, says IHCVIKAS PATHAK

Prof. Bipan Chandra

BENGALURU: Twenty candid-ates secured 100 percentilein the Common AdmissionTest (CAT) 2016, the resultsof which were announced onMonday. All of them are en-gineers.

Rajendra K. Bandi, con-vener, CAT 2016, in a pressrelease said that in the sec-tionals, many non-engineersand women candidates havescored 100 percentile.

The test is the first step toget into the 20 Indian Insti-tutes of Management andother top B-Schools in thecountry. On December 2016,1.95 lakh candidates took thetest, which was conducted in138 cities in the country.

‘Mock tests crucial’

Some of the candidateswho secured 100 percentileattributed their performanceto solving numerous mocktests. Rahul Sharma, who

heads the academics divi-sion of a coaching centre inGurgaon and Faridabad, tookthe test to help his students,and secured the 100 percent-ile in his third CAT attempt.He is an alumnus of IndianInstitute of Management,Ahmedabad.

“I took the test only to un-derstand the level of dii-culty of the CAT as it wouldhelp me in preparing my stu-dents,” he said, adding thatapart from hard work, pre-paration to crack the CATalso involves strategy andsolving mock tests.

Akshay Mehndiratta, whoattempted CAT for thesecond time, said he pre-pared for the test on week-ends as he had a fulltime jobat an analytics firm. “SinceJune, I have been taking testsevery weekend, and mystrategy was to improve inreading, comprehension andverbal ability since I wasweak in them,” he said.

20 engineers bag 100percentile in CAT STAFF REPORTER

NEW DELHI: Uncertainty con-tinues to shroud the fate of18-year-old girl suferingfrom extensively drug-res-istant tuberculosis (XDRTB)who is waiting for thedrug Bedaquiline (BDQ).The National Institute ofTuberculosis & RespiratoryDiseases (NITRD) onMonday told the Delhi HighCourt that the drug couldnot be administered withoutproper tests as it might leadto the TB-causing bacteriabecoming further drug res-istant and may spread to thecommunity and have cata-strophic efects.

The Institute said, “It iswrong to suggest that con-ducting Drug SusceptibilityTesting and waiting for itsresults is merely a bureau-cratic requirement. It is ab-solutely essential to studythe drug resistance of thebacteria in the patient’s caseso as to formulate the rightBDQ containing regimenlest the bacteria becomeBDQ resistant and spread in

the community.”The Centre, meanwhile,

sought two more days to fileits aidavit.

The NITRD’s statementwas filed before Justice San-jeev Sachdeva, hearing theplea of the girl’s father, whoclaimed that BDQ , manufac-tured by U.S. pharma major,Janssen Pharmaceutica, wasthe only option to save hisdaughter.

Limited availability

The court had asked theNITRD whether the patientcould be administered BDQwithout further tests. BDQ isavailable through limitedsources in India, one ofwhich is the NITRD inDelhi.

While the petitioner hadrelied upon the opinion ofDr. Jennifer Furin, PhD Lec-turer in Global Health, whoclaims to be an internationalexpert in the field of HIVand TB, to say that the girlsatisfies the requirement foradministration of BDQ , theNITRD has contradicted theclaim.

Contradicting Dr Furin'sclaim that administeringBDQ would curb the poten-tial spread of XDR TB , theNITRD said: “If BDQ isgiven with an ineicientbackbone regimen, the pa-tient is likely to fail the treat-ment and develop an addi-tional and fatal resistance toBDQ which may spread tothe community and havecatastrophic efects.”

“Eicacy and efects”

On the petitioner’s con-cerns about delayed rolloutof BDQ in India, the Institutesaid: “It is a new drug dis-covered after five decades ofresearch on TB treatmentand its eicacy and efectsare still being evaluated andtherefore, it is being rolledout in a phased manner toavoid its misuse, develop-ment and spread of fatalBDQ resistant bacteria in thecommunity.”

The Institute said the girlcannot be simply providedBDQ as the same is providedto the Institute from the gov-ernment bodies.

Tuberculosis institute warnsagainst use of new drugAKANKSHA JAIN

JAIPUR: Rajasthan UniversityVice-Chancellor J.P. Singhalhas resigned from his postfollowing the stricturespassed by the High Courtagainst his appointment inAugust 2015. His appoint-ment, recommended by a se-lection committee of theState government, had be-come controversial as it wasfound that he did not possessthe necessary qualifications.

Mr. Singhal resigned onSunday, a day before a Divi-

sion Bench of the High Courtwas to finally hear a writ pe-tition challenging his ap-pointment. It was filed byformer bureaucrat SatyaNarayan Singh, former HighCourt judge I.S. Israni andtwo others, contending thatMr. Singhal was appointedthe Vice-Chancellor becauseof his political ailiations.

Mr. Singhal is general sec-retary of the Akhil BharatiyaRashtriya Shaikshik Mahas-angh, an outfit associatedwith the Rashtriya Swayam-sevak Sangh.

Rajasthan varsity V-Cresigns after court rapMOHAMMED IQBAL

NEW DELHI: Invoking the legalvictory of West Bengal’sfarmers over the mightystate in Singur, WestBengal, their compatriotsacross the country,stripped of their agricul-tural land by their govern-ments in the name of Spe-cial Economic Zones(SEZ), found their voice inthe Supreme Court onMonday.

A three-judge Bench ledby Chief Justice J.S. Kheharasked the Centre and sevenState governments — Tel-angana, Andhra Pradesh,Maharashtra, Karnataka,Tamil Nadu, West Bengaland Punjab — to explainwhy vast tracts of fertile ag-ricultural lands, forcefullyacquired from farmers andtribal people, lay barren

and abandoned, or in thehands of private real estatedevelopers.

SEZ Farmers’ ProtectionWelfare Association, rep-resented by advocate

Sravan Kumar, sought theSupreme Court’s directionto the State government todeclare the compulsory ac-quisition of their lands forSEZs, which pushed them

to poverty, a violation oftheir fundamental rights tolife, dignity and work.

Issuing notice, the courtwanted the governments— at the Centre and theState-level — to respondon why it should not directa Supreme Court-mon-itored CBI investigationinto the “violations and di-version of loan money ob-tained by SEZ holdersagainst SEZ rules”.

Social impact study

The farmers said theywanted their lands backfrom the governments, SEZholder and private de-velopers. They wanted togrow crops, earn a living,and feed and educate thenext generation.

The association saidthere was a need to con-duct a social impact study

on the farmers who hadlost their land. It soughtboth civil and criminal ac-tion against the SEZ hold-ers for not performing theirduty under the contract,resulting in unemploy-ment, wastage of naturalresources and impact onfood security.

It said the governmenthas already admitted in theRajya Sabha that 40 percent of the total land ac-quired for SEZ across 20States remain unutilised asof March 13, 2015.

Over 77 per cent of noti-fied SEZ land is concen-trated in four States —Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat,Maharashtra and TamilNadu. These States haveacquired 35,415 hectares ofland out of 45,782 hectaresof total land acquired bythe 20 States.

Farmers move court for return of lands KRISHNADAS RAJAGOPAL

POINT OF CONTENTION: A file photo of the land acquired for aspecial economic zone in Telangana. — PHOTO: P.V. SIVAKUMAR

UDHAGAMANDALAM: More than300 adivasis participated in afestival in the Nilgiris thatcelebrated traditional slowfood with a ‘back to theroots’ message. The recipe:source local, stay healthy,spare the environment.

The ‘wild foods and slowfoods’ on show provided aglimpse of the culinary tra-ditions of indigenous com-munities at the KeystoneFoundation campus in Kot-agiri on Monday. Tubers,legumes, yams, fruits andother forest-sourced pro-duce were sliced and dicedby participants from TamilNadu, Kerala, andKarnataka, and activistsfrom Jharkhand and Chhat-tisgarh to work up the visit-ors’ appetite.

Cuisine is closely linked toculture, and the festival wasplanned with the idea of re-viving traditional, local dietsand sustainable consump-tion practices among indi-genous tribes and popula-tions, said Pratim Roy,Founder-Director of Key-stone Foundation.

Local communities fromthe three southern States gotto work on recipes that in-cluded sweets, salty snacksand other staples.

Slow food, Mr. Pratim Roysaid, is sourced locally,provides a fair price to pro-ducers and is sustainable.This is the guiding philo-sophy of locavores. Wildfoods and the slow foodmovement have a commongoal, which is mainly to getlocal communities and thegeneral public to return totheir older, more sustainableand healthy eating habits.They were urged to eat morelocally grown vegetablesand support such food.

Learning to love theslow, locavore lifeROHAN PREMKUMAR

An Irula woman displaysfood at the festival. — PHOTO: M. SATHYAMOORTHY

CMYK

ND-ND

10 |THE HINDU TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2017

NOIDA/DELHI

T U E S D A Y , J A N U A R Y 1 0 , 2 0 1 7

EDITORIAL

CARTOONSCAPE

The threat by petroleum retailers to stopaccepting credit and debit card paymentsled to a late-night intervention on Sundayby the Centre, with Dharmendra Pra-

dhan, Minister for Petroleum, declaring that theprotest action had been put of till January 13. Fueldealers raised a red flag on the decision by certainbanks to levy the merchant discount rate (MDR) ofup to one per cent on card payments. After the de-monetisation exercise began, the government hadwaived the service tax on the MDR surcharge fromDecember 8 for card-based payments up to ₨2,000and got banks to waive the MDR charges on debitcards till December 31, 2016. By Monday, the Petro-leum Minister said that neither the consumer northe dealers, operating on thin margins, would bearthe MDR for fuel refills even after January 13. Stake-holders, he said, will absorb the cost, but it is stillnot clear who will bear the cost of going cashless —banks are not out of line in expecting some revenuein return for facilitating transactions through pointof sale (PoS) devices. Since November 8, publicsector banks have been advised by the Centre tocharge a maximum of ₨100 a month as PoS devicerentals from small merchants, and the move has be-nefited 6.5 lakh of the 15 lakh PoS devices. Publicsector oil marketers were asked to ofer a 0.75 percent discount to customers using non-cash meansto tank up. The Railways, public sector insurers andothers have been asked to ofer discounts or chargelower rates for cashless transactions; so more suchspats could occur, although the Centre has prom-ised to foot the bill for some of these subventions.

Petroleum outlets are particularly important fora cash-lite economy push as they handle nearly ₨2lakh crore of cash a year. Queues at banks haveeased, but the weekly withdrawal limits haven’tbeen lifted. In a situation where people are cash-strapped and the government is nudging them to-wards alternatives, the uncertainty of the sort cre-ated at fuel pumps should be avoided as it couldlead to a crisis of confidence. Last February theCabinet had given the nod for rationalising MDRcharges. An expert panel to recommend legislativeand other changes was constituted in August and itmooted greater transparency in fees for digital pay-ments, protection for private data of consumers, amechanism to ensure they will not be liable to payfor unauthorised transactions or system errors, andthe creation of a new payments regulator. To buildconfidence in a less-cash economy, people nudgedinto a new way of life need clarity and consistencyin policy along with a visible road map to securetheir confidence. Lucky draws alone won’t suice.

Oiling cashlesswheels

The death of Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsan-jani, the former President of the IslamicRepublic of Iran and powerful cleric whowas widely considered a leading “moder-

ate” in Iran’s polity, is a major blow to the reformistsin the country. He had a complex and long tenure asa political leader, emerging as a revolutionary whoparticipated in the overthrow of the Shah regime,heading Parliament in post-Revolution Iran andlater being elected twice as President. He rebuilt aneconomy devastated in the near-decade-long waragainst Iraq. While in power, Rafsanjani promoteda liberal economic policy that moved Iran awayfrom statism, pursued a realist foreign policy thatsought to protect Iranian geopolitical interests andminimise tensions with the West. He was ruthlessas an administrator, presiding over the suppressionof dissent by arresting and executing several prom-inent liberals and leftists. Out of power, Rafsanjaniwas seen as a powerful moderate cleric with an ar-ray of business interests; he enjoyed the support ofthe bazaar, which acted as a bufer in the war of witsbetween the reformists and hardliners. In recentyears reformists have sought to establish the rule oflaw and better relations with the West, while hard-liners have emphasised the supremacy of theo-cracy and conservative values, flowing from theguardianship of the clerics who led the revolution.

In this milieu, Rafsanjani threw in his lot with thereformists in 2009 following allegations of wide-spread fraud in the presidential election that waswon by former president and hardliner MahmoudAhmadinejad. Since then, Rafsanjani went througha diicult political period, as he was seen to be atloggerheads with the supreme leader, Ayatollah AliKhamenei, who continues to support hardliners.Thwarted from becoming a presidential candidatein 2013, he rose to prominence again as the centristcandidate Hassan Rouhani he supported emergedvictorious in the 2013 elections. Rafsanjani played apivotal background role in the signing of the land-mark nuclear deal between the P-5+1 countries andIran. Hardliners have shown little inclination to goback on the deal that restricts any weaponising pro-gramme by Iran, but Rafsanjani’s death and a morevolatile world order with the rise of Donald Trumpin the U.S. suggest there could be challenges to thedeal in the near future. Considering that reformistsface stif challenges presented by the theocrats whocontrol the publicly owned media, the judiciaryand other clerical supervisory bodies, they will cer-tainly miss Rafsanjani. Even till the ripe age of 82, hemanaged to straddle various generations of pre-andpost-revolutionary Iran and was a diicult figurefor hardliners to overcome politically.

A blow to reformists in Iran

The policy outlook for 2017 appears not toopromising. Geopolitical risks will remainhigh. No improvement in the present un-stable global order appears likely. New terrorpatterns will increase the lethality of terrorattacks. Digital disruption and cyberthreatsare poised to grow.

The economic outlook, likewise, appearspessimistic, with the global economy caughtin a low-growth trap. Widening inequalityand increasing unemployment will worsenthis situation. After a decade of economiclows, the prevailing sentiment in the market-place will be uncertainty.

In some ways, the 21st century has, so far,proved to be a disaster for the ‘status quoistWest’, which failed to recognise the implica-tions of the shift in economic power to theEast, even as some countries of Asia turnedinto new engines of growth. Chinese Presid-ent Xi Jinping was possibly one of the fewworld leaders to recognise the nature of thetectonic shift taking place, and came up withthe ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative, accom-panied by huge investments in infrastructureto connect China with Europe and the world.

Dominant factors

What are the prospects for 2017? Historyand nationalism will continue to dictate thecourse of events; given the exponentially ac-celerating nature of the changes that are oc-curring, it will, however, play out diferently.For one, unpredictability and a desire tochange the status quo, primarily economiccircumstance, will increase. For another,populism will increasingly determine ‘polit-ical-speak’. Third, mistrust of institutionsand institutional power will grow, and per-sonal charisma and expediency will domin-ate. Additionally, concepts such as excep-tionalism and military superiority may gainmore traction — U.S. President-elect DonaldTrump’s slogan ‘America first’ and his state-ments expressing a need for the U.S. to in-crease its nuclear arsenal; Russian PresidentVladimir Putin’s references to the need to in-crease the country’s nuclear military poten-tial; and Mr. Xi’s emphasis on Chinese ‘ex-ceptionalism’, alongside strengthening of its

military, are reliable indicators of this.

The Trump efect

The year may well see a return to the era ofinsular policies, and strengthening of theanti-outsider syndrome. Opposition to freetrade and open borders will also be moremanifest.

The ‘enigma’ that is the U.S. President-elect exacerbates this situation. Anticipatingwhat he might do could be hazardous at thistime. Yet, unpredictability was Mr. Trump’snot-so-secret ‘weapon’ in overcoming theodds in his bid for the presidency of the U.S.,and the world should prepare for theunexpected.

Most analysts believe that PresidentTrump will roll back quite a few of the cli-mate change initiatives agreed to by Presid-ent Barack Obama. It is, however, more dii-cult to anticipate how the new President willdeal with Russia or China. U.S.-Russia rela-tions are at their nadir today. Retrieving thissituation will require resort to a series of un-

orthodox steps. A Trump presidency may bebetter suited than a conventional one to cir-cumvent the North Atlantic Treaty Organisa-tion’s Cold War logic, arrive at concessionsregarding Ukraine and the Crimea, and limitcyberwarfare between the two countries. Ad-ditionally, Mr. Trump’s idea of a ‘Coalition ofthe Willing’ to fight the Islamic State in WestAsia may find resonance in Moscow, givingan opportunity for further reduction of ten-sions between the two countries.

Asia and Europe

Reaching a modus vivendi with China mayprove more problematic. Talk of a ‘trade war’between the U.S. and China is in the air, andthe President-elect’s strong words about Chi-na’s trade practices make matters diicult.For the present, Mr. Trump has served noticeof his intention to pursue a hard line on tradewith China by choosing two China critics —Peter Navarro and Robert Lighthizer — tohandle trade matters. Whether unorthodoxywill pay of in trade negotiations remains tobe seen. The Chinese tend to be patient andcould even absorb a Trump ‘first strike’.

In the geopolitical arena, the competitionfor influence in Asia between the U.S. andChina will continue in 2017. It is possible,however, to envisage both countries takingsteps to prevent a total breakdown of rela-tions, and of being able to find commonground to accommodate mutual concerns inthe South and the East China Seas. This mayleave many of the East Asian and SoutheastAsian countries unhappy — given China’s ag-gressive postures towards them — but maynot inhibit Washington.

The U.S. reaction — under Mr. Trump — tocertain new alignments forged during 2015-2016 could be a pointer to what the futureholds in 2017. Most important would be theU.S. reaction to the ‘strategic congruence’ es-tablished between China and Russia (likelyto be cemented during 2017), aimed at coun-tering U.S. moves in Asia. As Russia andChina fine-tune their economic and securityinterests in 2017, a moot question would bewhether Russia will acknowledge China’s de-facto supremacy in Asia, in return for accord-ing Russia a special position in Eurasia.

2017 could turn out to be a defining year forEurope. Brexit, and the decision of the U.K. toleave the European Union, has already led towidespread concerns about Europe’s future.The year may see many of the issues coming

to a head.Grappling with an existential crisis

already, Europe is simultaneously confront-ing other dangers such as polarisation andthe threat to its liberal and democraticpolicies and image. The migrant crisis foundEurope unprepared for the consequences ofsuch mass inflows. Many cities in Europe, forinstance, seem to have lost the ability tomaintain law and order or contain the con-sequent surge in violent crime. These prob-lems could be further compounded during2017.

The terror threat

Terrorism will continue to remain a gravethreat during 2017. 2015 and 2016 were two ofthe worst years in terms of fatalities acrossAsia, Africa and Western Europe — thehighest in almost five decades. The portentsfor 2017 are none too propitious.

The year has begun inauspiciously. At least25 people were killed in a suicide attack inBaghdad on December 31. Another 39 NewYear revellers were shot dead in a nightclubin Istanbul. Twelve people were killed in aterror attack in a crowded Berlin Christmasmarket, in an incident very reminiscent of theJuly 2016 attack in Nice, France.

A sharp increase in ‘lone wolf’ and‘copycat’ terror attacks is likely and will res-ult in an increase in fatalities in 2017. Russia,which has not witnessed serious terror at-tacks for some time, could again come intothe crosshairs of Chechen and other terroroutfits. Southeast Asia may witness manymore terror attacks following a call by theHizb-ut-Tahrir to retaliate for the treatmentmeted out to Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.North and East Africa, where terror outfitslike Boko Haram and Al-Shabaab, as also theAl-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM),have been on a rampage during the past twoyears, will not see any respite in 2017. India,for its part, cannot hope for, or expect, any re-prieve from terror attacks from across theborder.

India and the neighbourhood

The Asian region will see heightened ten-sions between China and India, China and Ja-pan, and India and Pakistan in 2017. The over-all military power balance is unlikely to shiftdecisively — Asia already has one of thelargest concentrations of military capabilit-ies (China, India and Pakistan) with substan-tial presence of the U.S. and Russian militar-ies. However, the accelerated pace ofdevelopment of China’s military in 2017, in-cluding its acquisition of new weapon sys-tems, will be of increasing concern to coun-tries of East, Southeast and South Asia.

For India, a deepening of the China-Pakistan military entente in 2017 will add afurther dimension to the overall threat fromPakistan. Relations with Islamabad remainembittered, but in addition India may have tocontend with a more aggressive and determ-ined Pakistan, feeling greatly buoyed by theprogress achieved on the China-PakistanEconomic Corridor, and the new outreach to,and growing ties, with Russia.

India’s position in Afghanistan in 2017 maywell see a downturn, with new equationsemerging in the region. With the U.S., Chinaand Russia backing Pakistan’s moves for‘flexible ties’ with Taliban — ignoring India’sobjections — New Delhi’s interests are set tosufer.

Meanwhile, both Nepal and Sri Lankacould see a turbulent 2017. India’s ability toleverage matters in both countries, however,remains strictly limited.

In short, as 2017 dawns, the world and In-dia are at the crossroads.

M.K. Narayanan is former National Security Adviser andformer Governor of West Bengal.

The world at a crossroadsThe outlook for 2017 is anything but optimistic, with a sluggish global economy, widening terror footprint,and geopolitical realignments as the U.S., Russia and China jostle for spheres of influence

India may have to contend with amore aggressive Pakistan, feelinggreatly buoyed by a deepening

military entente with China andthe new outreach to Russia

M.K. NARAYANAN

From passage to gateway

While Pravasi Bharatiya Divasacknowledges Non ResidentIndians and People of IndianOrigin, there has not been much inreturn — in the form of these PIOsand NRIs investing in India(“Revisiting a passage from India”,Jan.9). Instead of reaching out toIndians in the West, thegovernment needs to focus ondiaspora in Fiji, Guyana, Mauritiusand the Carribean region whichwere populated by the British withindentured labour. These countriesalso ofer attractive visa policies toIndian citizens which need to bereciprocated so that theconnections are strengthened.A grievance some overseas Indianshave is that they cannot get theirOCI cards due to the lack ofrecords. Some desire tracing theirancestry and extended families asthey were taken away from Indiaforcibly. But there is no help in Indiafor this here. One way to do this isto hire genealogists who can tracefamily trees. The government mustalso be aware that the diasporakeenly watches domestic policies. Ifthey get a whif of the idea that theyare unwelcome because of issuessuch as religion, they will only stopwith acquiring an OCI card. Theywill not bother having an emotionaland comprehensive connect andengagement with India.

Akshay Viswanathan,Thiruvananthapuram

For a paper audit

The Election Commission should

introduce a paper audit trail thatcan be verified (“SC wants papertrail in EVMs for fair poll”, Jan.9).Technology has many benefits butis Janus-faced. Electronic votingsystems may solve a lot of problemsbut do introduce new ones in theirwake. How can one be certain thatvoting machines, especially thosethat have digital components,cannot be hacked? The best way toprotect the integrity of the votingprocess is to have a parallel papertrail as when doubts or disputesarise it will prove reliable. Paperballots may be cumbersome tohandle and make counting a long-drawn-out process but they arerelatively foolproof. Recent eventseven in the most advanced countryhave proved that cyber campaignsto sabotage elections can bemounted.

H.N. Ramakrishna,Bengaluru

How does one ensure that a voter isnot intimidated by a rival politicalparty? There is a chance of misusingballot paper. Instead of printingballot paper, there should be amechanism to store encryptedvoter data in a centralised databasefor better and efective verification.Such data must be transmitted themoment a voter completes thevoting process.

Gunreddy Srinivas Reddy,Hyderabad

Turf battles in Puducherry

The phases of confrontationbetween the Lt. Governor ofPuducherry and the Congress

government is an unfortunatedevelopment. It is no exaggerationthat the functioning of thegovernment and implementation ofits schemes have gone haywire eversince the cold war began somemonths ago. While the Lt. Governoris keen that the administrationshould run smoothly and deliverthe goods, she cannot forget that anelected ministry has also to be apart of the decision-makingprocess. The spirit of give and takeand accommodation appear to beabsent.

S. Nadarajan,Puducherry

The Lt. Governor is known to have acertain political ailiation and isbound to create problems for theCongress government. The BJP isno diferent from the Congresswhen it comes to matters of treatingrival parties which are in power insome States. Federalism is a goodconcept but, sadly, is followed morein the breach than in the observanceby the Centre in particular. The Lt.Governor, who says that finalpowers in the area of finance orservice matters lie with her, shouldnot forget that the electoralmandate is for the government.

S. Ramakrishnasayee,Ranipet, Tamil Nadu

On demonetisation

The Prime Minister blamed“political worshippers of blackmoney” while thanking the Indiandiaspora for supportingdemonetisation. Anyone criticisingdemonetisation is unfortunately

being branded as pro-black money.If only he was aware of the groundreality! The economy has slowedand the worst afected are the poor,casual labour and villagers whosurvive on cash. Even after 50 days,there are still restrictions onwithdrawing one’s own money. It isinteresting to note that there aresome in the government who admitthat “all deposited money is notwhite”. Several IT raids across thecountry have revealed the presenceof unaccounted money. Therefore,one of the very important aspects ofdemonetisation, namely a “surgicaloperation” against black money, hasbeen far from achieved. We needtax reforms and transparency inlarge-scale financial dealings.Curbing a culture of bribe-givingneeds more than justdemonetisation to achieve theobjective of clean governance andtransparent dealings.

D.B.N. Murthy,Bengaluru

The issue of CKD

Why Sri Lanka alone? Though thearticle, “Sri Lanka’s next big fight”(‘Weekend Being’ page, Jan.8)mentioned it in passing the fact isthat chronic kidney disease is also aproblem in the Uddanam area ofSrikakulam district in AndhraPradesh. The government seems to belukewarm in its response so far.More dialysis units need to beestablished here. Detecting cases,and ensuring proper and freemedication are needed at thisjuncture. The Andhra Pradesh

government needs to send a team ofdoctors to Sri Lanka to observe themeasures being taken there.

M.V.D. Mani Kumar,Hyderabad

Access to drug and TB fight

The government’s attempt torestrict the use of Bedaquiline inmultidrug- resistant tuberculosisneeds to be debated and the doctorsinvolved in treating such patientsshould be involved. In fact whenEthambutol and Rifampicin wereintroduced in India as wonderdrugs in treating TB, doctors wereasked to write out three copies oftheir prescriptions — for patient,pharmacy and the doctor. Only avery limited number of pharmacieswere to have stocks of these twomedicines. They were to beprescribed only by specialists ordoctors with an MD. With all suchrestrictions relaxed today, it is nowonder then that we have theburning problem of drug resistance.The pathogens of the same strainavailable in one area gain diferentqualities when compared to thesame one from other areas.Irregular dosage, inadequatenourishment and unhygienic livingconditions contribute to theproblem. Moreover in India, whereprivate clinics are also allowed totreat TB patients, the monitoringsystem is very weak, which tends toadd new dimensions. But denying adrug needed by a patient is a crimeand no reason can substantiate suchan act by the government.

A.G. Rajmohan,Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh

LETTERS TO THE EDITORLetters emailed to letters@thehindu.co.in must carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.

CMYK

ND-ND

PERSPECTIVE | 11THE HINDU TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2017

NOIDA/DELHI

China headingtowards civil war

Reports coming over the week-end from Peking paint a picture ofviolence and bloody clashes fastspreading to diferent parts ofChina amidst indications that the“great proletarian culturalrevolution” is deteriorating into avolcano of gigantic proportionswhich may erupt at any momentinto a civil war. That the situationhas taken a serious turn can begauged from the fact that theoicial Peking Radio reporting onbloody clashes between pro MaoTse-tung supporters and theiropponents, for the first time,publicly appealed to severalrevolutionary mass organisationsin Shanghai against the activitiesof the anti-Mao elements.Although the oicial radio did notgive many details, reports fromJapanese newspaperCorrespondents quoting Pekingwall papers indicate that theworkers in China’s foremost cityhave been engaged in suchsabotage as destruction ofproduction facilities and plottingto cut of water and electricity.

U.N. team to study industries

At the invitation of theGovernment of India, a team ofU.N. experts is arriving in Indianext week to assess the scope forincreasing production of specified

engineering and chemicalproducts for the purpose ofexports. The groups of industriesthat would fall within the scope ofthis team would be rolled steelproducts, ferrous castings andforgings, small and cutting toolsand hand tools, electroniccomponents, dies, jigs and fixtures,rubber products, pharmaceuticaland some other chemical items.The team will be in India for fourto five weeks during which periodthey will visit a number ofindustrial units, manufacturingproducts which have an export

potential.

TV station at

Bombay planned

Active steps are being taken forintroducing television in Bombay,before the current year is out, it islearnt from oicial sources. TheMinistry of Information andBroadcasting has already taken inhand the construction of televisionstudios in Bombay and otherpreparations in this connection arealso afoot. The idea is that themoment the draft of the FourthFive-Year Plan is approved andnecessary financial sanction forthe scheme obtained, T.V. camerasshould be switched on in thissecond largest city in the country.Calcutta and Madras are alsoreceiving attention in this matterand it will not be long before theyare placed on the television map.

(dated January 10, 1967)

FROM THE ARCHIVES

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has been in steady electoraldecline for the last decade. It swept Uttar Pradesh in 2007, se-curing 30.43 per cent of the popular vote, but it lost to theSamajwadi Party (SP) in 2012, polling only 25.91 per cent. Sim-ilarly, in the general election in 2009, its 27.4 per cent trans-lated into 20 Lok Sabha MPs; by 2014, it was down to 19.6 percent and no seats.

In these 10 years, the BSP’s upper caste vote — assiduouslycultivated in the run-up to 2007 through its ‘bhaichara sammelans’ andpromise of restoring law and order — melted away. Worse, by 2014, May-awati’s core constituency of Dalits began to shrink, lured away by the Bhar-atiya Janata Party (BJP).

As the BSP spiralled downwards, a galaxy of senior leaders, many hand-picked by party founder Kanshi Ram, either left or were thrown out of theparty. They included Babu Singh Kushwaha, R.K. Chowdhury, Swami PrasadMaurya, Jugal Kishore, Dara Singh Chauhan and Brajesh Pathak. Barring Mr.Pathak who belongs to the Brahmin community, the rest belong to mostbackward castes. Now only two of Ms. Mayawati’s old lieutenants —Naseemuddin Siddiqui and Satish Mishra — remain, while old faithful Am-beth Rajan continues in the wings. However, unlike those who left the party,those who remain do not command much of a following even in their owncommunities. BSP insiders say the original party structure has virtuallybeen dismantled. They point to the need to urgently rebuild the organisa-tion, groom new leaders, and frame a credible political message.

Infrequent interactions

Till the 2007 polls, Ms. Mayawati herself held regular workers’ meetings,impervious to inclement weather. In power (2007-2012), she had her handsfull with administration. But her growing dependence on her lieutenantsand coterie of civil servants saw hergrowing increasingly isolated from therank and file. The distance grew as shegradually became accustomed to a morelavish lifestyle. The only change in theparty has been in the modernisation ofcommunication. The BSP, which oncescofed at the media, began to vigorouslyuse social media platforms. But this was not enough for Ms. Mayawati’s sup-porters as she was rarely sighted till about six months back.

This did not go unnoticed even by her most committed voters. LastSeptember, while travelling through eastern U.P., I stopped in the Ganesh-pur Assembly seat of Basti district in Aaspur, a village populated almost en-tirely by members of Ms. Mayawati’s own community. Residents told methat they had always voted BSP and would do so this time too: “Haathihamara ghar hai, doosre ghar me mana hai (The elephant is our home, weare not accepted anywhere else).”

But to a question on Ms. Mayawati’s prospects in the upcoming elections,they expressed regret. “She won’t return to power this time because allother communities are against us,” said Anil Kumar. “One community is justnot enough.” Swami Prasad Maurya’s departure for the BJP, he stressed, hadsent a negative signal to the Mauryas and Kushwahas (a big chunk of whomhad voted for the BSP) just as the formation of the Nishad Party had seen theflight of the Nishads, Kewats, Binds and Mallahs, all supporters of the BSPearlier. As for the upper castes, Mr. Kumar said they had not just abandonedthe BSP but were actively campaigning against Ms. Mayawati at the villagelevel, recalling the liberal use of the legislation (while she was in power) thatpenalises those who commit atrocities against the Scheduled Castes. Be-henji no longer met people directly, he said, but left the job to her coordinat-ors, many of whom did not convey the right picture to her. “Now with elec-tions round the corner, she has finally begun to get out and meet people.”

A ray of hope

It is against this bleak backdrop that two events that took place in 2016provide signs of hope for the BSP. The first was the Dalit uprising in Gujarat.The assault on Dalits in Una that reverberated through the country did notjust remind Dalits of their essential condition, but also provided Ms. May-awati the opportunity to regain her vote base ahead of the Assembly elec-tions. BSP cadres hit the streets in protest, even as a video capturing the hor-rifying details of a violent upper caste attack on Dalit cow-skinners in Unabegan to circulate. After Una and the public meetings condemning thederogatory remarks made about Ms. Mayawati by the subsequently expelledBJP member Daya Shankar Singh, her core Dalit vote has returned. The ral-lies that she has held in the last six months, though few in number, have beenvery well-attended.

The second event has been the continuing Yadav family feud in the SP thathas presented the Muslims, constituting 18 per cent of the State’s population,with a dilemma: their first choice is the SP, and their target is to defeat theBJP, but can a divided SP do that? If the feud does not end, the BSP could bethe beneficiary. Ms. Mayawati has therefore been wooing the Muslims, un-derscoring the SP’s deep divide at public meetings. Last week, she askedsenior BSP leaders to make the electorate aware that the feud did not augurwell for the State’s development.

To get the message across more clearly, she has nominated 97 Muslim can-didates and 106 candidates from the OBC community, a section that had al-most wholesale abandoned the BSP in 2014. By comparison, Dalits havebeen given just 87 seats. Only two candidates are left to be declared.

It is clear that Ms. Mayawati is working on a plan. But being belated, will itbe enough?

smita.g@thehindu.co.in

Mounting a late comeback

Taking advantage of theSP family feud and theUna uprising, Mayawati is working to improvethe prospects of the BSP

POLITICS

SMITA

GUPTA

The Syrian Arab Army now controlsAleppo, which means that the Syriangovernment once more is in charge ofthe main population centres in the coun-try. Opposition armed forces arehemmed in around Damascus and in Id-lib, while the Islamic State (IS) stillholds the northern city of Raqqa. Theseforces, including IS, are on the back foot,disorganised, weakened logistically anddisoriented. Largely abandoned by theirbenefactors — the West, the Gulf Arabsand Turkey — these fighters have eithermoved to great desperation in their viol-ence or to near surrender. A ceasefirebrokered on December 30, 2016 holds inmost parts of the country. Peace talks areto begin on January 23 in Astana (Kaza-khstan). Iran, Russia, the Syrian govern-ment, sections of the Syrian opposition,Turkey and the United Nations will haveseats at the table. The United States andthe Europeans will not be there.

The war will not end in Astana. Ex-tremist groups such as the IS and the al-Qaeda-backed Jabhat Fateh al-Shamcontinue to hold territory. Frustrated ex-tremists who are unwilling to accede tothe new situation have already begun totrek to the IS and the al-Qaeda proxy. Forthem, there is little to be gained fromsurrender or reconciliation.

Western miscalculations

For the past five years, the main slo-gan from the Syrian opposition and itsGulf Arab, Turkish and Western allieswas ‘Assad Must Go’. It now turns outthat the government of Bashar al-Assadwill remain. It appeared, even in 2011,that the fall of Mr. Assad without majorWestern military intervention was un-likely. The Syrian military was far moredisciplined than the Libyan military,which had begun to crumble before theNATO bombing on Libya. There wasalso far less daylight between the Syriangovernment and its military than therewas between the Egyptian governmentand its military. Absent massive militaryforce, there was going to be no regimechange in Syria.

Direct Western military interventionwas curtailed — thanks to the fiasco inIraq — by the lack of domestic appetitein the West for the use of suicient num-bers of troops to fight in Syria. Regimechange in Libya and its disastrous after-math closed the door for a UN author-isation for war on Syria. By 2012, thismeant that the Assad government couldnot be easily defeated. The policy shif-ted from direct overthrow to a muchmore cynical use of power. Covert ship-ments of arms went to rebels of variousstripes to help delegitimise the govern-

ment. Al-Qaeda and other extremistgroups came across the Turkish borderand from Iraq as well as from the prisonsof the Syrian government. Casualtyrates edged upwards, with over half amillion dead. The impossible promise ofWestern bombardment kept the war go-ing in the hope that this would force Mr.Assad to negotiate.

The West miscalculated. On Septem-ber 22, 2016, U.S. Secretary of State JohnKerry made some of-the-cuf remarksat the Dutch Mission to the United Na-tions. The tape from that meeting, re-leased by WikiLeaks, reveals the generalWestern consensus on the Syrian con-flict. Mr. Kerry indicated that the U.S.had watched the growth of IS, and hadhoped to use it as a bargaining chipagainst the Assad government. As itturned out, Mr. Assad turned to Iran andRussia for help, which is when the Russi-ans intervened directly in September2015 — ending any possibility of regimechange in Damascus and of an IS cap-ture of Damascus. With Mr. Assad nowsafe, the Russians have begun to drawdown their forces, largely to build con-fidence towards the Astana meeting.

By 2015, it had become clear to theTurkish government that neither wouldMr. Assad’s government fall nor couldTurkey protect itself from the detritus ofits own making — attacks by the IS in-side Turkey and a reopened war with theKurdish resistance movement. Turkey’sgovernment lashed out at its critics —who had much to be critical about — andsought a rapprochement with Russia foreconomic and political reasons. Thisnew alignment for Turkey meant that its

border — long used to resupply therebels in northern Syria — had to close,substantially reducing the ability of theextremists in Aleppo. The Syrian gov-ernment, which had waited four years,then moved with great force. It was theTurkish shift that allowed Mr. Assad totake Aleppo.

On January 5, Iraq’s National SecurityAdviser met Mr. Assad in Damascus todiscuss their mutual fight against the IS,just as Iraqi forces cleared the road fromHaditha to al-Qa’im, which is on theIraq-Syria border. These public meet-ings, a senior Egyptian military oicerinforms me, mirror the more private in-teractions between the militaries ofEgypt, Iraq, Algeria and Syria. InNovember, Egyptian army oicers wentto Syria to re-establish connections thathave frayed over the past few years. NowEgypt is ready to send ‘peacekeepers’ tohelp manage the ceasefire. Meanwhile,the Syrian and Turkish governmentshave met secretly in Algeria over thepast five months to begin a conversationabout the status of the Syrian Kurdishenclave on the Turkish border. Algeria isnow openly talking about the restora-tion of legitimacy to the Assadgovernment.

The end is far

The frustration of the extremists willnot produce an easy end to this conflict.Harsh violence is the more expectedoutlet. Attacks in Jordan, Saudi Arabiaand Turkey — all accused, rightly, ofabandoning the uprising — will con-tinue to be a serious problem. Iraq,already accustomed to violence since

the illegal U.S. invasion in 2003, sawover 6,000 civilians killed last yearalone. It is often strategically targetedagainst Shia neighbourhoods and reli-gious places in order to deepen thetrough of sectarianism. After a spate ofattacks in Baghdad, Sunni leader SheikhMahdi al-Sumaidaie, the Grand Mufti ofIraq, made a plea on January 5 thatechoes across the Arab world: “I con-firm that Shias and Sunnis will meet andhold accountable all who betrayed, de-ceived and burned Iraq.” It was a state-ment of patriotism out of desperation.This seam of patriotism will be hard forthe extremists to rip apart.

North-west of Damascus is SouqWadi Barada. The al-Fija spring there isa crucial source of water for the capital.Extremist groups have held this sourcefor the past several years and on at leastsix previous occasions cut of the watersupply to Damascus. The fall of Aleppohas led to new fighting in the area, withwater now firmly cut of from all but onetank, which the military controls. Dam-ascus faces great hardship. Negotiationsare on to let the water flow again. Whenit does, it will show that reconciliation ispossible in these societies.

Vijay Prashad’s most recent book is ‘The Death of theNation and the Future of the Arab Revolution’.

Respite, not reconciliationThe ceasefire in Syria and the upcoming peace talks in Astana could be the beginning of the longdenouement in the war-torn country

VIJAY PRASHAD

The war will not end inAstana. For extremist groupswho continue to hold territory,there is little gain fromsurrender or reconciliation

LIMPING TO PEACE: “It was the Turkish shift that allowed Bashar al-Assad to take Aleppo.” Al-Rai town in Aleppo. PHOTO: REUTERS

A disturbing facet of lawmaking in Indiais that laws are often drafted without in-depth research, as a result of which theyare misinformed and remain paper ti-gers. Another is that a culture of token-ism prevails regarding pressing socialissues, seen most recently in The Trans-gender Persons (Protection of Rights)Bill, 2016.

Radical changes in draft

In April 2014, the Supreme Court de-livered the landmark judgment ofNALSA v. Union of India, which af-firmed the fundamental rights of trans-gender persons. The court gave a seriesof directives to the government to insti-tute welfare measures for transgenderpersons, including airmative action. Italso directed that the Expert Commit-tee Report prepared by the Ministry ofSocial Justice and Empowerment(MSJE) be implemented.

In December 2014, Tiruchi Siva, aDravida Munnetra Kazhagam RajyaSabha MP, introduced the Rights ofTransgender Persons Bill, 2014 as aPrivate Member’s Bill. On April 24, 2015,in a rare instance, the Rajya Sabha unan-imously passed the Bill. However, itnever made it to the Lok Sabha.

Instead, the government decided toget its own Bill — The Rights of Trans-gender Persons Bill, 2015 — drafted,which was put up for public commentsin December. The 2015 Bill was largelybased on the 2014 Bill, but it did awaywith provisions on Transgender RightsCourts and the National and State Com-missions. The Ministry also consultedcivil society and activists. In April 2016,the 2015 draft Bill was sent to the LawMinistry, in July the Cabinet approvedit, and in August it was introduced in theLok Sabha. It is unclear at which pointthe drafting changed, for the Bill intro-duced in the Lok Sabha was drasticallydiferent from the 2015 Bill. Not onlywas it shorn of many critical features of

the previous two Bills, it also com-pletely disregarded all existing dis-course and resources — the NALSAjudgment, the Expert Committee Re-port, and public comments. The 2016Bill has now been referred to a StandingCommittee.

What led to such radical changes inthe new draft? Given that the discourseon transgender rights has garnered suf-ficient momentum and visibility, thiswatered-down Bill reflects callousnesson the part of the legislature. Previousresearch, consultations, drafts, and judi-cial orders stand completely ignored inthe face of political (dis)interest, whichmeans that much of the work will nowhave to be repeated.

To start with, the 2016 Bill in manyways falls short in its substantive con-tent. Clause 2(i) of the Bill, whichdefines the term ‘transgender person’,has been inexplicably borrowed from aprovision of the Australian Sex Dis-crimination Amendment (Sexual Ori-entation, Gender Identity and IntersexStatus) Act 2013, which defines the term‘intersex’. This, even though the ExpertCommittee Report clearly explainedthe diference between transgender andintersex identities. The 2014 and 2015

Bills had more accurate definitions ofthe term transgender. In fact, the 2015Bill was the most progressive in this re-gard as it granted a transgender personthe right to identify as either ‘man’, ‘wo-man’, or ‘transgender’. Another prob-lem is the absence of a provision on re-servation, running contrary to theNALSA judgment and the 2014 and 2015Bills which directed reservations fortransgender persons.

Not a rights-based approach

While the NALSA judgment iscouched in rights language, locating thefundamental rights of transgender per-sons in the golden trinity of Articles 14,19 and 21 of the Constitution, the 2016Bill, though it uses the word “rights” inits title, deviates from a rights-based ap-proach and leaves transgender personsat the mercy of the “benevolent” state.

This is puzzling considering that the2014 and 2015 Bills, and even other re-cent laws like the Rights of Persons withDisabilities Act, 2016 and the MentalHealthcare Bill, 2016, are framed inrights language.

Further, the Bill is completely silenton how its content will impact the oper-ation of existing laws. Most laws, in-cluding of marriage, adoption and suc-cession, continue to be based on thebinary of male and female. Criminallaws, especially those dealing withsexual ofences, also continue to begendered. The cisnormative (the as-sumption that everyone has a genderidentity that matches the sex the personwas assigned at birth) foundation of thelaw remains a significant barrier to ac-cess to legal justice for transgender per-sons. Jurisdictions like the U.K., Ireland,Argentina and Malta, which have legis-lated on transgender rights, clarify intheir laws the impact gender changewill have on existing legal institutionsthat are inaccessible to persons withnon-conforming genders. The NALSAjudgment too recognises the need formaking civil rights accessible to trans-gender persons. However, the Bill failsto take this into account.

Finally, none of the Bills have ad-dressed the issue of Section 377, whichis frequently used to harass transgenderpersons, specifically transgender wo-men. The conventional understandingof Section 377 is that it criminalises allsex that is not between people of oppos-ite genders. But recognising trans-rights means recognising that there aremore than the “opposite” genders ofmale and female. Embracing rights ofpersons with non-conforming genderswhile criminalising persons with non-conforming sexual orientations is thusabsurd.

The 2016 Bill is the product of an un-interested and insincere attempt at law-making. India is within touching dis-tance of enabling the legalempowerment of a hitherto marginal-ised community and it would be ashame if it squandered the opportunityby passing a bad law.

Shruti Ambast and Namrata Mukherjee are ResearchFellows at Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, New Delhi.

The Transgender Persons Bill 2016 is the product of an insincere attempt at lawmaking

A FAIRER WORLD: “None of the Bills on transgender rights have addressed the issueof Section 377, which is used to harass transgender persons.” A queer pride marchin Mumbai. FILE PHOTO: SHASHI ASHIWAL

The Bill deviates from arights-based approach andleaves transgender persons atthe mercy of the“benevolent” state

A rights bill gone wrong

SHRUTIAMBAST

NAMRATA

MUKHERJEE

CMYK

ND-ND

NEWS12 |THE HINDU TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2017

NOIDA/DELHI

Chief Justice Khehar saidjust because the Constitu-tion leaves it to the State’swisdom to appoint its ad-ministrative oicers anddevises no procedure what-soever, it does not meanthat such appointments canbe made arbitrarily andwithout consideration.

At one point, the ChiefJustice cut short the justi-fications made by Attor-ney-General Mukul Ro-hatgi, appearing for theT.N. government.

“Mr. Rohatgi, you servesociety and not some Stategovernment. Remember al-ways, that is your role,”Chief Justice Khehar rep-rimanded the top govern-ment law oicer of thecountry.

The 11 TNPSC memberswere appointed on January31, 2016. Writ petitions werefiled in the Madras HighCourt through senior ad-vocate P. Wilson challen-ging the appointments.

The High Court, onDecember 22, 2016, con-cluded that the appoint-ment of the 11 commencedon January 30, 2016 andended the next day, mean-ing there was no applica-tion of mind by the State

government. The Tamil Nadu govern-

ment had appealed againstthe High Court’s decision.

Mr. Rohatgi said theposts in the TNPSC hadstarted falling vacant since2013, and appointment ofthe 11 members was madeafter considering a total of122 candidates from 2013 to2016.

“The High Court madean error in thinking that theState committed the phys-ically impossible task of ap-pointing them all in oneday… How is that possible?”Mr. Rohatgi asked.

He said the 11 memberswere well-qualified peoplelike senior lawyers, aca-demicians and a judge.

“But the High Court hasgone the whole hog to saythere was absolutely noprocedure and no consider-ation. Your Advocate Gen-eral says everything… bothrecommendation and ac-ceptance… was done in oneday. This is arbitrary. Thesemembers of the PSC shallselect Class 1 oicers… ifyou do not have bona fidepeople worthy of their jobs,where will your State go?”Chief Justice Khehar askedMr. Rohatgi.

SC backs order on T.N. appointments

FROM PAGE ONE

“The Government had is-sued guidelines in February2016 stating that the Mer-chant Discount Rate(MDR) charge will not bepassed on to the consumersand that the stakeholderswill take appropriate stepsto absorb the MDRcharges,” said Mr. Pradhan.

Mr. Ravichandran ofICRA said: “As such, thedealer margin is very low.They are complaining it’sone of the lowest in theworld. It’s the same for theoil marketing companies aswell. So, even bearing oneper cent would be achallenge.”

No extra charge for carduse at petrol pumps

The release said: “Theboard has made all efortsto maintain a reasonabletime gap between the majorpapers and ensured that thestudents appearing for theJoint Engineering Examand the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test(NEET) complete theCBSE examinations aheadof these entrance exams.”

The release added thatthe declaration of the res-ults would be timely, as the

adoption of several IT initi-atives would help in quickresult-processing.

The results are generallydeclared before the end ofMay.

The number of studentstaking the Class 10 examin-ations this year will be 16.67lakh, up from 14.91 lakh ayear ago.

Students writing theClass 12 examinations thisyear number 10.98 lakh, asagainst 10.65 lakh last year.

CBSE exams to start on March 9

JAMMU: The Jammu and Kash-mir government on Mondayannounced an ex gratia of ₨5lakh and a job to the next ofkin of those killed during the2016 street clashes, sparkedby the slaying of militantcommander Burhan Wani.

Seeking support of allshades of opinion in J&K tostop the “unfortunate cycleof violence like in 2016,”Chief Minister MehboobaMufti said, “Earnest efortwould be made to create acongenial atmosphere fordialogue and resolution ofissues.”

SIT probe

Ms. Mufti said the govern-ment would set up district-level Special InvestigatingTeams (SITs) to probe thekillings. Unoicial figuresput the number of dead at 93but oicials put the numberof civilian victims at 76.

She announced a SIT toprobe the killing of a collegelecturer at Khrew, Pulwama,and an ATM guard at KaranNagar, Srinagar. The lecturerwas allegedly beaten todeath, while the ATM guardwas found dead with pelletinjuries.

Announcing ₨ 5 lakh as exgratia to families of victims,Ms. Mufti said, “Possibilitiesof providing jobs would alsobe explored in cases of ex-treme compassion. Job op-portunities would be madeavailable to the persons who

lost their eyesight during thecrises.”

Pellet victims

Over 1,000 civilians werehit in the eye by pellets dur-ing the five-month streetagitation last year. The eye-sight of more than 300 civil-ians was afected. “Arrange-ments for education at Delhiand other places would bemade for the students whoseeyesight got afected duringthe turmoil. I have alreadyspoken to the Prime Ministerand the Union Finance Min-ister in this regard,” she toldthe Assembly.

She said 138 persons werestill in judicial and policecustody. “Of the 463 personsdetained under the PublicSafety Act, 145 have been re-leased.”

Opposition demand

The J&K Assembly wit-nessed uproarious sceneswhen Opposition MLAssought a judicial commissionto investigate the incidentsof killings in 2016 summerunrest.

“The government must setup a judicial commission tobe led by a Supreme Courtjudge,” said NC MLA Ghu-lam Mohammad Saroori.

J&K to give ex gratiato unrest victims’ kin PEERZADA ASHIQ Efforts will be made

to create a congenialatmosphere fordialogue, saysMehbooba Mufti

NEW DELHI: ActorWaheeda Rehman andpolitical and economiccommentator S.Gurumurthy are on the19-member panel toselect the Padma awardwinners this year.

The civilian awardsof Padma Vibhushan,Padma Bhushan andPadma Shri areannounced on the eveof Republic Day.

Nearly 150 personswill get the awards thisyear. A seniorgovernment oicialsaid that a lot of“unsung heroes” wouldbe on the list.

This is the first timethe Home Ministry hasinvited nominationsonline. An oicial saidthey had receivedmany representationsfor people from acrossthe country andabroad.

As reported by The

Hindu, the governmenthas recommended thename of MuftiMohammad Sayeed,the former ChiefMinister of Jammu andKashmir, for aposthumous PadmaVibhushan, the highestin the Padma categoryand the second highestcivilian award in thecountry.

A total of 112 personswere given the awardsin 2016. Tamil superstarRajnikanth, mediaentrepreneur RamojiRao, spiritual guru SriSri Ravi Shankar andfounder of RelianceIndustries DhirubhaiAmbani(posthumously) wereamong the 10 who gotPadma Vibhushan.

WaheedaRehman onPadma panel

SPECIAL

CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The SupremeCourt on Monday indicatedthat it may order, at a “relev-ant time,” the setting up of aSpecial Investigation Team(SIT) to look into the revela-tions made in the Panama pa-pers allegedly about nearly500 high-profile Indians whohave money parked in of-shore accounts.

A Bench of Justices DipakMisra and R. Banumathi said“everything” could not beunder the control of the SITset up to investigate blackmoney. That SIT is headedby the former SupremeCourt judge, M.B. Shah. “OneSIT should not controleverything. We are thinkingof another SIT. We want anindependent SIT,” JusticeMisra observed.

The government, repres-ented by Additional Soli-citor-General P.S.Narasimha, told the Apexcourt that it was “absolutelyserious” about investigatingdisclosures in the Panamapapers.

Meanwhile, SEBI hassought time to file itscounter to the writ petitionfiled by Supreme Court ad-vocate M.L. Sharma, who al-leged that the leaked docu-ments revealed the

commission of a seriousfraud.

At an earlier hearing, Ad-ditional Solicitor-GeneralTushar Mehta had submittedthat a Multi Agency Group(MAG) of various investigat-ing agencies was formed bythe government to go intothe disclosures made in thelist which included 500 In-dian entities.

The Panama papers con-tain huge amount of informa-tion, including over 11 mil-lion documents covering2,10,000 firms in 21 ofshorejurisdictions.

SC hints at setting up SITfor Panama papers probe

Team to proberevelations about 500 Indians whohave money parked inoff-shore accounts

LEGAL CORRESPONDENT

VIJAYAWADA: Union Home Min-ister Rajnath Singh said onMonday that Pakistan shouldcome forward for talks andput an end to violence inJammu and Kashmir.

Mr. Singh was here to laythe foundation for the con-struction of the new campusof the National Disaster Re-sponse Force’s 10th battalion.

Responding to a query onthe series of encountersalong the Line of Control(LoC) and on holding talks

and restoring peace in Kash-mir, the Union Home Minis-ter said “it is Pakistan whichshould come for discus-sions.” Speaking on the elec-tions in Uttar Pradesh, Ut-tarakhand, Punjab, Manipurand Goa, Mr. Singh said theBharatiya Janata Party willget a clear majority in all theStates. “We are getting goodsupport from the people ondemonetisation,” Mr. Singhsaid. He said 55 per cent ofextremist activities hadcome down in the Naxal-dominated States.

Pak. should come fortalks, says RajnathRAJULAPUDI SRINIVASNEW DELHI: In a bid to counter

growing intolerance world-wide, Canada will work to-wards advancing humanrights and diversity. Arguingthat Canada will remaincommitted to freedom ofperspectives and culturaldiferences, Ottawa’s Minis-ter of Communities and In-frastructure Amarjeet Sohisaid on Monday that hiscountry had created an im-migration policy based onsocial inclusion.

“We believe that our rela-tionship with countries like

India will benefit from ourknowledge of diversity, plur-alism, rule of law, gender par-ity and human rights, so thatthere is commitment to di-versity and inclusion and wewill advance some of theseideals at the internationallevel,” Mr. Sohi told The

Hindu.

Fourth Minister

Mr. Sohi, who is the fourthCanadian Minister to visitIndia since the governmentof Justine Trudeau wasformed in November 2015,will participate in the Vi-brant Gujarat summit.

Mr. Sohi, who was born inPunjab, said the Justin

Trudeau government wascommitted to upholding val-ues like multiculturalismand inclusive government.Canada has a strong Indo-Canadian population, which,the Minister said, benefitedfrom the inclusive environ-ment.

“My visit — I am the fourthMinister to visit India sincethe formation of our govern-ment — is a strong messageabout the government’scommitment to upgradingties with India.”

Canada is open for busi-ness with India, said Mr.Sohi.

He highlighted that im-migration from India toCanada was on the rise.

Unique opportunities

Discussing the unique op-portunities that Canada’sfree society provided to im-migrants, the Minister saidthey would make immigra-tion easier for the best tal-ents to enter the country.

“We design immigrationpolicy based on the need ofour country to focus on in-novation. In order for anycountry to be innovative itneeds to be open for diferentperspectives and cultural

backgrounds, and we frameour immigration policy withthat in mind,” Mr. Sohiadded.

Mr. Sohi highlightedCanada’s role in accepting30,000 refugees from Syriaand Ottawa’s role in interna-tional peace missions andsaid the current governmentremained committed tobuilding a peaceful and co-hesive society forimmigrants.

“Our relationship withother countries like Indiawill benefit from our know-ledge of tolerance and multi-culturalism,” he said.

Canada to work towards advancing human rights: Minister KALLOL BHATTACHERJEE

Minister of Communities andInfrastructure Amarjeet Sohi

NEW DELHI: Oicials will meetfor the first India-UAE Stra-tegic Dialogue here on Janu-ary 20 for preliminary talkson defence, security and in-vestment, sources say. Thetalks come 18 months afterthe two nations announced astrategic partnership duringPrime Minister NarendraModi’s visit to Abu Dhabiand a week ahead of UAECrown Prince Sheikh Mo-hamed bin Zayed Al Nahy-an’s visit to Delhi for Repub-lic Day.

Oicials say the talks willbe led by Union Minister ofState for External Afairs M.J.Akbar and will include Na-tional Security Adviser AjitDoval and Foreign SecretaryS. Jaishankar “if they areneeded”. In particular, a $75-billion infrastructure fundset up by the UAE for Indiaand India’s hopes for closer

counter-terror cooperationwill be discussed.

“Since this is the first Stra-tegic Dialogue, we are ex-ploring our options on theformat and the level of talksfor the future, which is whywe are keeping it flexible,”said a diplomat involved inthe planning for the visit,who said India and the UAEare “making up for lost time”on their relationship.

However, oicials refusedto confirm reports in the me-dia last week that the UAEgovernment had alreadymoved to seize property andassets of Mumbai blasts ac-cused Dawood Ibrahim, whois known to have based muchof his empire there.

Defence focus

“There is a lot we have onthe table,” Navdeep Suri, In-dian Ambassador to theUAE, told The National

newspaper, while describing

the upcoming dialogue. “De-fence is important becausewe live in a fairly volatileperiod and in a region thathas been particularly hit bythat volatility. In that region,India and the UAE are is-lands of stability and there isa recognition that by work-ing together, we can contrib-ute a lot more to regionalstability.”

Ahead of the visit ofSheikh Mohammad bin Za-yed, New Delhi is pulling out

all the stops to showcase tiesbetween the Gulf countryand India, with the UAEArmy expected to marchwith Indian soldiers downRajpath on January 26.

The invitation itself is arare exception for India, oi-cials said, as the governmenthas invited a leader who isnot a head of state or head ofgovernment for the first timein 50 years. In 1965, the guestfor the Republic Day parade,which was then a much smal-ler afair in Delhi’s NationalStadium, was Pakistan’s Ag-riculture Minister Rana Ab-dul Hamid, but since then,India has reserved the hon-our only for Presidents,

Prime Ministers and mon-archs. The importance ofSheikh Mohammad bin Za-yed’s visit can be gauged bythe fact that he was con-sidered over Canadian PrimeMinister Justin Trudeau andBangladesh Premier SheikhHasina, and despite the factthat the Crown Prince hadalready made a state visit toIndia less than a year ago inFebruary 2016.

The unspoken signific-ance of the UAE visit is about“ending Pakistan’s primacy”in the UAE. The PakistaniArmy traditionally trainedUAE defence forces and sev-eral Pakistani military oi-cials like former ISI chiefGen. Shuja Pasha haveserved in advisory capacitiesto the UAE. Last week,Pakistan’s outgoing ArmyChief Gen. Raheel Sharif wasappointed the chief of the 39-country Saudi Arabia-led Is-lamic Military Alliance.

UAE’s Crown Prince to get a royal welcomeSUHASINI HAIDAR

Sheikh Mohamed bin ZayedAl Nahyan.

The unspokensignificance of hisvisit is about ‘endingPakistan’s primacy’in the UAE

GANDHINAGAR: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Mondaysaid the Railway Ministry“was used as a “bargainingtool” by the main rulingparty to “distribute trophiesto its allies”.

Speaking after he had laidthe foundation stone for a₨250-crore redevelopmentplan for the Gandhinagarrailway station, which in-cludes building a 300-roomfive star hotel atop the sta-tion, Mr. Modi said: “Therailway was left to its fate inearlier regimes. The allies ofmain political party used todemand the Railway Min-istry to join the government.The party which came topower at the Centre alsoused the ministry as a bar-gaining tool to distributetrophies to its allies. This is abitter truth.”

Under the project, Gandh-inagar railway station will beredeveloped through a spe-cial purpose vehicle (SPV)formed between the Gujaratgovernment and the IndianRailway Stations Develop-ment Corporation Ltd(IRSDC).

The proposed name of theSPV is Gandhinagar Railway& Development Corporation

Ltd. The project includes re-development of the railwaystation and construction of afive star hotel atop the sta-tion. The hotel, with threetowers, will be around 65metres tall.

More stations

Railway Minister SureshPrabhu said his ministry wasplanning to replicate such re-development at 23 railwaystations across the country.

Later, while inauguratingIndia’s first InternationalStock Exchange at the Gu-jarat International Finance

Tech (GIFT) City nearGandhinagar, Mr Modi saidIndia needs 30 crore newjobs in the next 20 years.

“It’s a huge endeavour,” MrModi said. “The smart citiesare being created and will begenerating jobs.”

“The India InternationalExchange will create newstandards of quality in ser-vice and speed of transac-tions and it is an importantmilestone for creating 21stcentury infrastructure," MrModi said.

He said this after launch-ing the trading activities in

the new exchange set up bythe Bombay Stock Exchange.The new exchange aims togarner a piece of ofshorebanking activities fromSingapore, Dubai and HongKong.

During his tenure as Gu-jarat Chief Minister, MrModi had envisaged creatingan international financialservices hub on the lines ofSingapore, Dubai and HongKong where ofshore bank-ing and financial services aretransacted. The new ex-change will start tradingfrom January 16..

Railways were used toappease allies, says PMModi inaugurates revamp of Gandhinagar station; to have five star hotel

STARRY IDEA: Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for a redevelopment project for theGandhinagar railway station on Monday. — PHOTO: NARENDRA MODI’S TWITTER HANDLE

MAHESH LANGA

NEW DELHI: Even as SamajwadiParty patriarch MulayamSingh on Monday reiteratedhis faction’s claim to theparty symbol, the AkhileshYadav camp approached theElection Commission de-manding that the dispute bedecided before the nomina-tion process for the As-sembly elections in UttarPradesh starts on January 17.

Mr. Mulayam Singh, ac-companied by Amar Singhand Shivpal Singh, visitedthe Election Commission tosay that the conventioncalled to elect Mr. Akhileshthe party’s national presid-ent was against the partyconstitution.

He said Ramgopal Yadav,at whose instance the meet-ing was called, had already

been expelled and therefore,the meeting was not valid.

Also, the convention hadpassed no resolution to re-move him as party chief.

The Samajwadi Party su-premo, who has not yet filedany aidavits, requested theCommission to verify the af-fidavits submitted by theAkhilesh camp, alleging thatthey were forged.

“We will examine his rep-resentation and take a de-cision in due course,” said aCommission oicial. Be-sides, Mr. Mulayam Singhhas written to the RajyaSabha Chairman seeking de-recognition of Mr. Ramgopalas the party’s group leader,stating that he has been ex-pelled from the party.

Soon after Mr. MulayamSingh left the EC oice, Mr.Ramgopal met the Commis-sion oicials to request thatthe issue of party symbol beresolved before the nomina-tion process in the State star-ted. He also submitted sevencopies of the aidavits to layclaim to the symbol.

The Akhilesh camp hasclaimed that a majority of theparty’s members and legis-lators are in support of theChief Minister.

DEVESH K. PANDEY

Mulayam stakes claim to‘cycle’ with poll panel

Mulayam Singh at hisresidence in New Delhi onMonday.— PHOTO: PTI

NEW DELHI: BJP MP Sub-ramanian Swamy has writtento Prime Minister NarendraModi asking him to removecurrent Economic AfairsSecretary Shaktikanta Dasfrom a shortlist of candidatesfor the post of Chairperson,Securities and ExchangeBoard of India (SEBI). Citinga news report that Mr. Modihad shortlisted Mr. Das forthe position, Dr. Swamywrote, “It would be whollyimproper to appoint such aperson as the chairman ofthe SEBI as it would be en-tirely inconsistent with theanti-corruption campaign ofour party.”

In his letter, he says Mr.Das, as Finance Secretary,was widely perceived asworking to protect the in-terest of a former Minister.

Now Shaktikantain Swamy’scrosshairsSPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CMYK

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NEWS | 13THE HINDU TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2017

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BENGALURU: Her son wasthree years old when sherealised that there was noschool she could send himto. British and Americanschools were too expensiveand she didn’t want to sendhim to a local school.

That prompted ZeenatJafri to start the second In-dian school in Saudi Arabia— International IndianSchool — in 1982 with herhusband. She was amongthe 30 people feted for herachievement on Mondayduring the Pravasi Bhar-atiya Divas, when thePravasi Samman Awardswere given away by Presid-ent Pranab Mukherjee.

The 64-year-old MBAgraduate from Bhopal, whowas given the award for hercontribution to the field of

education, said she startedthe school from her house,gradually scaling it up tonow educate 12,000 people.

Another person of Indianorigin who was recognisedwith the award was Ariful

Islam, coordinator andnodal point in the Embassyof India in Libya.

The electrical engineerrelocated from India toLibya in 1980 following apact between the two na-

tions. He has seen his adop-ted country go through theworst of times, but contin-ues to live there alone,though his family hasmoved back to Aligarh. “Ihave spent half my lifethere. We have successfullyrescued many Indians,” hesaid.

The rescuer

The most recent episodehe was involved was in therescue of three abductedIndians from the IS in a dra-matic operation in 2016from the deep Libyandeserts.

Among the organisationsthat were awarded were theSingapore Indian Associ-ation in the category ofcommunity service.

The event saw double thenumber of awardees as itwas being held after an in-

terval of two years. Among the other prom-

inent winners of the awardwere Portugal Prime Minis-ter Antonio Luis Santos daCosta, Labour Member ofthe European Parliamentrepresenting the West Mid-lands Neena Gill, Britishpolitician Priti Patel andMauritius Minister of Fin-ance and Economic Devel-opment Pravind KumarJugnauth.

Nisha Desai Biswal, As-sistant Secretary of Statefor South and Central AsianAfairs in the United StatesDepartment of State, whowas also among the 30awardees, said persons ofIndian origin, who werebuilding bridges and con-necting in an “increasinglydivided world,” retainedstrong ties with India, shesaid.

Winners of Pravasi Samman Awards include Portugal Prime Minister Dr. Antonio Costa

K.C. DEEPIKA

President Pranab Mukherjee honours Dr. Antonio Costa,Portugal Prime Minister, who received the Pravasi BharatiyaSamman, as Suriname Vice-President Michael AshwinAdhin and Union Minister V.K. Singh look on, in Bengaluru on Monday. — PHOTO: G.R.N. SOMASHEKAR

Awarding PIOs in recognition of their services

BENGALURU: In a first of itskind contribution, the U.S.-India Chamber of Com-merce Foundation donated$25,000 towards the IndiaDevelopment Fund to beused towards skill develop-ment of war widows. Underthis, war widows will beprovided a laptop and anAmerican varsity will oferonline courses. — SpecialCorrespondent

Fund for skilldevelopment of war widows

BENGALURU: Are Indians partof gangs in the Westernworld? Yes, says an Indian-origin Professor from Clev-eland, Ohio.

Prof. Sree Sreenathraised the issue of Indiancriminal gangs rising in theU.S., and the need to tacklethem early. Speaking at asession on ‘Diaspora organ-isations: Bridging dis-tances, unlocking oppor-tunities’, he said the second

and third generation Indiandiaspora were getting in-volved in crime.

Most often, these gangsare diaspora-specific gangs.According to him, manychildren are dragged intogang activities when theyare around 14 years.

The discussion touchedupon the issues of manyyoung Indians getting intocontraband trade in co-caine and marijuana. InNew Zealand, Indian gangswere into small-time crime,

including drug peddling,theft and carjacking amongothers.

“Some of the 1.77 millionIndian diaspora are nowgetting involved in smallercrime,” said SreedharMysore, a social workerfrom New Zealand.

Cultural taboo

Despite a rise in the num-ber of cases, most Indianfamilies, fearing stigma, ac-knowledge the fact thattheir children have adopted

a life of crime, but try not todisclose it.

According to former Ca-nadian parliamentarianRuby Dhalla, cultural taboohad forced many Indiansnot to disclose informationwhen their children runinto trouble.

“A part of the problem isthat these children have notseen the pain with whichtheir families were broughtup, and end up getting intothe gangs,” the former Ca-nadian MP said.

Diaspora gangs and a life of crimeSPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Union HomeMinistry has reviewed thesecurity situation in Punjaband alerted the State policeto possible attempts byPakistan’s Inter-Services In-telligence (ISI) to fomenttrouble in the run-up to theelections.

Close watch along border

Since the State shares itsborder with Pakistan, theBSF has been asked to keep aclose watch. The meetingwas attended by Punjab’sDGP Suresh Arora.

“We are satisfied with thearrangements to maintainlaw and order in the otherpoll-bound States. In Punjaband Manipur we expect viol-ence and are taking adequatemeasures,” said an oicial.

Security alert in poll-boundPunjabSPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The BharatiyaJanata Party has put asideconcerns over declaringticket for the coming As-sembly polls in five States inthe inauspicious “khar maas”period and scheduled meet-ing of its Central ElectionCommittee (CEC) for Janu-ary 11.

The inauspicious period issupposed to end on January14 with Makar Sankranti.

“Seats for Goa and Punjabwill be declared on January 11after a meeting of the CEC,while seats for Uttarakhandand the first few phases forthe multiple-phase UttarPradesh polls will be an-nounced after meetings onJanuary 14 and 15,” said asenior oice-bearer of theparty.

The party headquarters atDelhi’s Ashoka Road is teem-ing with ticket hopefuls asBJP president Amit Shah re-mained engaged in meetingsin his oice.

Lessons learnt

One of the key organisa-tional decisions taken by theparty after poll debacle inDelhi and Bihar in 2015 is notto parachute non-local partyworkers from other States topoll going ones.

“After the national execut-ive, BJP general secretaryRam Lalji met with organisa-tional general secretariesfrom the State units, includ-ing Sunil Bansal from U.P.and the Rajasthan unit chiefAshok Parnami, as well as V.Satish who also looks afterorganisational matters,” saida senior source in the party.

BJP list for Goa,Punjab on Jan. 11 SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH: Farmloan waiver and free power,smart phones, free textbooksand doles to unemployedyouth, a promise to wipe outthe drug trade and revive theeconomy. All these feature inthe Congress manifesto forPunjab, a State in which theparty has been out of powerfor 10 years.

Releasing the manifesto inDelhi on Monday, formerPrime Minister ManmohanSingh hit out at the Shiro-mani Akali Dal (SAD)-BJPgovernment: “The challengebefore Punjab is to rise aboveall this din and recognise thatthe people of Punjab need abetter tomorrow. This elec-tion manifesto is a forward-looking visionary document,which promises the peoplethat we will undo the damagedone to the Punjab economyby the State government inthe last 10 years,” he said.

Praising the Congress’sCM face for Punjab, Dr.Singh described Capt. Am-arinder Singh as a leader ofgreat vision with a wealth ofexperience and commitmentto the cause of developmentin Punjab.

The SAD-BJP governmenthad damaged the economyand polity of Punjab, he said,while promising that “Am-arinder’s government willundo all this damage and seta new pathway... so thatpeople have a higher per cap-ita income, better distribu-tion of income, better em-ployment prospects andbetter infrastructure.”

The manifesto promisesloan waiver and free power

to farmers, currentlyburdened by a total ruraldebt of ₨67,000 crore, a sti-pend of ₨2,500 per month forunemployed youth, freesmart mobile phones foryouth, free textbooks for allchildren, free houses tohomeless dalits/SCs/OBCsand one job in every family.

25 lakh jobs ofered

If elected, Capt. Am-arinder Singh said his gov-ernment will create 25 lakhjobs within the next fiveyears, crack down on drugsand corruption, introduce anew industrial policy, andend the VIP culture, whilebringing in sweeping eco-nomic reforms and transpar-ency in governance.

On the contentious SYLCanal issue, he said that theAssembly will pass a law fornot sharing any of the State’swaters. “We are not for notgiving. But, we don’t have it[to share],” he said.

“For 47 years, I have beenin politics and this is my last

election,” he continued,stressing, “I am not going tocontest again. People knowthat what I say, I fulfil.”

The manifesto had takensix months to draft by a teamled by former deputy chiefminister Rajinder Kaur Bhat-tal who had travelled acrossthe State to meet peoplefrom all walks of life, he said,adding that Dr. Singh, too,had given his inputs for it.

The 120-page manifestoincludes a 10-page chargesheet against the Badal re-gime, exposing the alleged“Loot, Boot & Shoot” policyof the SAD-BJP government.

Rivals unhappy

Not surprisingly, the Con-gress’s rivals in Punjab werecritical of its manifesto. TheAAP hit out at the Congress,with Arvind Kejriwal raisingquestions as to why it had re-leased its Punjab manifestoin New Delhi, and why thepromises made in the mani-festo had not been made inother Congress-ruled States.

Congress dishes outsops to win PunjabFarm loan waiver, free power, phones, textbooks on offer

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with Punjab PCCpresident Capt. Amarinder Singh releases the Congressmanifesto, in New Delhi, on Monday. — PHOTO: KAMAL NARANG

NEW DELHI: The Election Com-mission (EC) has deployedabout 200 expenditure ob-servers in the five poll-bound States to keep a watchon abuse of money power toinfluence voters.

On Sunday, Chief ElectionCommissioner (CEC) NasimZaidi and Election Commis-sioners A.K. Joti and O.P.Rawat briefed the Expendit-ure Observers drawn from

various services on meas-ures to be taken to checkmalpractices as part of theModel Code of Conductguidelines.

Separate bank accounts

The CEC also apprised theobservers of the new instruc-tions issued by the Commis-sion.

If any payment exceeding₨20,000 is made to individu-als or entities during thecourse of election, it should

only be through accountpayee cheque. Also, the can-didates are required to openseparate bank accounts atthe time of nomination andto incur all election-relatedexpenditure through that ac-

sued to ensure that the ex-penditure on the same is tobe included in the account ofthe candidate as per notifiedrate cards.

On the mechanism of elec-tion expenditure monitor-ing, the expenditure observ-ers were also briefed byDeputy Election Commis-sioners, Umesh Sinha, VijayDev, Director-Generals DilipSharma, Sudeep Jain, andDirectors Dhirendra Ojhaand Vikram Batra.

count only. The expenditureincurred on the candidate’sbooths for distribution ofvoter slips on the day of elec-tion, would also be accoun-ted for in the account of thecandidate.

Election CommissionerO.P. Rawat expressed con-cern over the use of partiallyor fully owned newspapersand channels by the candid-ate or their sponsoringparties for electioneering.Instructions have been is-

Poll panel deploys 200 expenditure observers SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT Officials to keep a

watch on abuse of

money power and

malpractice that may

influence voters

Currency conundrum

Non-resident Indians flash their passports to enter the Reserve Bank of India to exchange their demonetised notesin New Delhi on Monday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention thatIndians living abroad will be able to exchange old notes at RBI offices till June 30. — PHOTO: V. SUDERSHAN

SRINAGAR: The J&K Assemblywas adjourned on Mondayover the issue of alleged fir-ing by Rashtriya Swayam-sevak Sangh activists duringa clash with a particularcommunity.

“Gujjar Muslims living inKathua were attacked by theRSS and BJP people. Theirhouses were burnt and themembers were beaten up,”alleged National ConferenceMLA Mian Altaf.

Preliminary reports sug-gest that Kathua’s Hari Chekvillage witnessed tense mo-ments when RSS workers ob-jected to alleged slaughter-ing of a cow. Five persons,including a minor girl, sus-tained injuries in the clash.

BJP Minister ChoudharyLal Singh visited Kathua andappealed for harmony.“Some disruptive elementsare hell bent upon derailingthe peaceful atmosphere ofthe State, especially in theJammu region,” he said.

Communaltension gripsKathua

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjeeon Monday coined a newterm for the Central Bureauof Investigation (CBI) dub-bing it the ‘Conspiracy Bur-eau of Investigation’.

The Trinamool Congresschairperson who was ad-dressing a public rally in theState’s Bardhaman districton the occasion of the MaatiUtsav (Festival of Soil) tar-geted the BJP saying, “A partyof conspirators have set upthe Conspiracy Bureau of In-vestigation.”

She was apparently refer-ring to the arrest of her party

MPs in a chit fund scam case.Ms. Banerjee alleged that theagency was functioning asthe “back oice” of theCentre and making arrestswithout any evidence.

‘CBI is ConspiracyBureau of Investigation’ SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Mamata Banerjee

NEW DELHI: Union Home Min-ister Rajnath Singh hasordered an enquiry after aBSF jawan posted a video onsocial media alleging thattroops are served bad qualityfood and sometimes theyeven go hungry.

The video, posted by con-stable T.B. Yadav of the BSF’s29th batallion, went viral.

“I have seen a video re-garding a BSF jawan’s plight.I have asked the HS [HomeSecretary] to immediatelyseek a report from the BSF &take appropriate action,” Mr.Singh tweeted on Monday.

Rajnath ordersinquiry into BSFjawan’s complaintSPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Come Wednesday,you will not have to worryabout missing an Air Indiaflight or paying a hefty last-minute fare to reach yourdestination.

The national carrier willlaunch a ‘Fly For Sure’scheme under which passen-gers can pay ₨2,000 andboard any other Air Indiaflight on the same sector onthe same day on missingtheir booked flight. “If youare uncertain about yourplans, pay extra ₨2,000 whilebooking the ticket and get toboard any Air India flight onthe same day and same sec-

tor,” as per the scheme, to belaunched tentatively onJanuary 11.

Air India Chairman andMD Ashwani Lohani said thescheme would help passen-gers to ensure they reachtheir destination the sameday. “This way we will notlose passengers to our com-peting airlines. Passengerswill no longer worry aboutbuying expensive last-minute tickets,” he told TheHindu. The voucher will benon-refundable and can beavailed on all domesticroutes ofered by AI. Low-cost airline SpiceJet hadlaunched a similar schemelast year.

Air India’s ‘Fly For Sure’scheme set to take ofSOMESH JHA

MUMBAI: The recently-re-leased data by the Director-ate of Revenue Intelligence(DRI) and the Customs showa 50 per cent jump in smug-gling of Indian, foreign andcounterfeit currency notesover the previous years. Thedata also reveals a 100 percent rise in smuggling of nar-cotics, electronic, fabrics,and aircraft parts.

Nearly ₨36.87 crore of for-eign currency notes wasseized in 2016, as opposed to₨25.09 crore in 2015. Theseizure of Indian notes wasto the tune of ₨6.85 crore in2016 as against ₨3.71 crore in2015, while the seizure ofcounterfeit Indian notes roseto ₨2.72 crore in 2016 from₨1.24 crore in the previousyear. The biggest haul wasreported at the IGI Airporton January 5 when two pas-sengers were caught with ₨1crore of foreign notes. Oi-cials said the figures are forthe financial year 2014, 2015and 2016 (up to March). “Thefigures do not mirror the im-pact of demonetisation. Webelieve the rise is owing toincreased seizure based ontip-ofs and close coordina-tion with other agencies,”said a senior oicial of the

DRI, Mumbai Zonal Unit.The recent seizures of

gold and currency notes inMumbai, Delhi, Goa andTamil Nadu have all beenbased on specific inputs tar-geted at syndicates operat-ing in Dubai. The syndicateis found to be using passen-gers as mule, oicials said.However, gold smugglingpost demonetisation has infact upped substantiallystarting of 2017, and the jumpwill be reflected in nextyear’s figures.

On January 9, the gold thatwas seized in Tamil Naduwas arriving from Dubai andit weighed three kilograms.Another seizure of gold atMumbai airport, whichweighed 6.5 kg, was toofound arriving from Dubai.The DRI Mumbai apprehen-ded a 26-year-old youth car-rying 4.9 kg gold when arriv-ing from Dubai.

“We have even seized(near Mandapam) 8.7 kggold arriving in a boat fromSri Lanka,” said an oicial.

50% jump in smugglingof currency, reveals DRI SHARAD VYAS

CMYK

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WORLD14 |THE HINDU TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2017

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CARACAS: Embattled PresidentNicolas Maduro on Sundayraised the minimum wage by50 per cent in Venezuela, acountry with astronomicalinflation.

Mr. Maduro said he wasraising the minimum wage to40,000 bolivars, about $60dollars at the highest officialexchange rate or $12 on the

black market. The wagecomes with an additionalfood bonus of about $93,which did not change.

Venezuela grapples withthe world’s highest inflationrate — set to hit 475 percent this year, according toestimates by theInternational Monetary Fund(IMF). — AFP

Venezuela raises minimum wage by 50%

BERLIN: German prosecutorssaid on Monday they hadclosed a criminal probe intothe Germanwings planecrash in March 2015 afterconcluding that the suicidalco-pilot bore sole

responsibility for the disasterthat killed all on board. Theprobe focused on whetherany doctors who treated theco-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, hadbeen criminally negligent innot reporting him toauthorities before the planecame down in France, killing144 passengers and six crew,mostly from Spain andGermany. — AFP

Germanwings plane crash probe closed

COLOMBO: It was the Christ-mas weekend last year.Praviinaa Raviraj woke upand looked at the newspa-pers. ‘All accused released’,the front-page headlinesscreamed.

Beneath was a photographof her father NadarajahRaviraj — a Tamil legislatorkilled in 2006 — alongsidethat of three naval intelli-gence oicers, celebratingwith their families, followingtheir acquittal in the case. “Itjust didn’t feel right,” the 25-year old said.

The day before, a SriLankan court had clearedfive men, including the threeNavy oicers, who were ac-cused of assassinating Nada-raja Raviraj and his body-guard on a busythoroughfare in Colombo inNovember 2006. An all-Sin-halese jury said eyewitnesstestimony identifying thesuspects was “insuicient”.

Fear and distrust

For ten years, not once didRaviraj’s family think aboutpursuing legal action againstthose who killed him. “Whatwe had was fear, and what wedid not have was trust,” hiswife Sasikala Raviraj said.The country’s long civil warwas fast approaching its finaland most brutal phase. Awayfrom the battlefields, an-other dirty war was being

waged by elements of thestate using surveillance,‘white van’ abductions andtargeted killings.

“I saw no point in raisingthe issue. I preferred to lead aquiet life,” Ms. Raviraj said. Amathematics teacher at aleading Colombo school, shefocussed on the education ofher children. While Pravi-inaa studied law, her brotherchose medicine. Ms. Ravirajdecided not to move out oftheir home, less than 200 mfrom where her husband wasgunned down.

First media interview

Well-nourished creepersadorned the short passage totheir apartment. Seated inher living room, mildly litand cosy, Ms. Raviraj spoketo The Hindu at length, herfirst media interview in the10 years since her husband’sdeath. “Hope you don’t mindthe smell of fried fish,” shethoughtfully said, settlingdown. At one corner was apicture of Raviraj, a beardedman with a beaming smile.

It was not an easy shift forthe family — from quietlytrying to come to terms withtheir tragedy, to encounter-ing a sudden promise ofjustice, nearly a decade later.

After defecting from theRajapaksa government,Maithripala Sirisena and hisbackers campaigned hard ona platform of good gov-ernance to win the January

2015 polls. They promised toreopen long-pending casesand ensure justice is served.“I trusted him... [and] votedfor him,” Ms. Raviraj said.

When the poll resultswere out, Praviinaa Ravirajmade a collage with photosof her father, well known ed-itor Lasantha Wickrema-tunge and rugby star WasimThajudeen, who were allmurdered between 2006 and2012, when Mr. Rajapaksawas in power. “I felt therewas finally some hope forjustice in all these cases. Butnow after the judgment,when I see people believedto be involved in my father’s

death walking freely, I feelback-stabbed.”

Few have doubts aboutwho killed Mr. Raviraj. “Youjust walk down the road andask common people, theywill tell you,” said his wife, ina matter-of-fact way. Duringinvestigation, Sri Lanka’sCID and Attorney-General’sDepartment gave evidenceciting the State IntelligenceService’s involvement in themurder. A former police con-stable who turned state wit-ness claimed that former De-fence Secretary GotabhayaRajapaksa paid renegadeLTTE commander KarunaAmman — who was later

Minister in Rajapaksa’s gov-ernment — a substantial sumfor the murder.

Raviraj’s murder was nottotally unexpected. Follow-ing his legal practice andthrough his years as a TamilNational Alliance (TNA)parliamentarian, Mr.Raviraj’s “peace politics”,which engaged the majoritySinhalese on the Tamils’ per-spective, made those inpower uneasy. He would taketo national television, speak-ing in broken Sinhala withlittle inhibition and reachingout to the majority com-munity in their own lan-guage, winning admirers

among them. “He did notknow fear,” his daughter re-calls. He was used to frequenttelephone threats, she says.

A week before the murder,Ms. Raviraj received a call.She vividly remembers thevoice at the other end asking:“Are you ready to wear awhite sari? Warn your hus-band.” She immediatelycalled her children to herroom, showed them a diarywith some phone numbersand said: “If anything hap-pens to appa [father] or me,reach out to these people.”

On the morning of Novem-ber 10, 2006, Praviinaa wassitting in her grade tenclassroom when the physicaleducation teacher walked inand asked the class teacherthat she be excused. Pravi-inaa was taken to the prin-cipal’s room. “I saw the prin-cipal standing near thephone, her palm covering hermouth. I knew somethingwas terribly wrong.”

In the 10 years that fol-lowed, Praviinaa spoke to fewfriends about her father. “Idid not want anyone’s sym-pathy. Even during the fu-neral, I saw my mother cryjust once; she was so strong. Isuppose I drew from her

strength,” she said. Breakinginto a chuckle, Praviinaa said:“We don’t talk like this in thishouse,” turning to her motherwho looked surprised. Heryounger brother seldomspeaks of what happened.

After returning to SriLanka from the U.K. as a lawgraduate, Praviinaa has beenreluctant to take up legalpractice. “I don’t want to besomeone practising black let-ter law without any ethics,”she says. The political envir-onment gave her little confid-ence in the legal system,prompting her to take upmarketing.

Deep disappointment

On Tuesday (January 10),Ms. Raviraj’s lawyer will ap-peal against the ColomboHigh Court’s order. “Not be-cause I have high expecta-tions of my husband’s mur-derers being brought tojustice. But it is to express ourdeep disappointment at thejudgment,” Ms. Raviraj said,adding that the governmentneed not have opened thecase if it was not committedto a just outcome. “Why didthey?” she asked, raising hervoice.

Echoing her disillusion-ment and anger, Praviinaasaid: “If you do take it up, dosomething right about it... nothaving him around to see megraduate, or to pick me uplate from a party all theseyears... it feels terrible.”

Five people accused of killing Nadaraja Raviraj were cleared of the charges late last year; family to file appeal on Tuesday

Tamil MP’s family awaits justice but hopes fadeMEERA SRINIVASAN

FACING IT HEAD-ON: Sasikala Raviraj (right), wife of murdered TNA legislator Nadaraja Raviraj andher daughter Praviinaa. — PHOTO: MEERA SRINIVASAN

Raviraj’s ‘peacepolitics’, as lawyerand as MP, had mademany in positions ofpower uneasy

Meryl Streep delivered anemotional speech at

the Golden Globes in whichshe criticised Donald Trumpfor imitating a disabled re-porter while campaigning tobe president, saying it “givespermission” to others to dothe same.

“There was one perform-ance this year that stunnedme. It sank its hooks in myheart,” Ms. Streep said as sheaccepted the Cecil B. DeMilleaward. “Not because it wasgood, there was nothing goodabout it, but it was efectiveand it did its job.

“It was that moment whenthe person asking to sit in themost respected seat in ourcountry imitated a disabledreporter. Someone he out-ranked in privilege, powerand the capacity to fightback. It kind of broke myheart when I saw it and I stillcan’t get it out of my head be-cause it wasn’t in a movie, itwas real life.”

The U.S. president-electdrew widespread oppro-brium in November when hederided The New York Timesreporter Serge Kovaleski.

Ms. Streep said Mr.Trump’s actions had legitim-ised bullying. “This instinctto humiliate, when it’s mod-elled by someone in the pub-lic platform, by someonepowerful, it filters down intoeveryone’s life because itkind of gives permission forother people to do the samething. Mr. Trump respondedby describing Ms. Streep as“a Hillary lover,” adding thathe was “not surprised” thathe had come under attackfrom “liberal movie people”.— The Guardian

Meryl Streeptears into Trump

Meryl Streep

WASHINGTON: Confirmationhearings at the Senate thisweek for key appointees inthe incoming Donald Trumpadministration will be thefirst round of face-ofbetween Democrats and Re-publican lawmakers in thenew U.S. Congress.

Democrats have accusedthe majority of trying to rail-road the Senate into con-firmation even before the Of-fice of Government Ethics(OGE) vetted the nomineesfor conflicts of interests.

Attorney-General-nom-inee Jef Sessions, who hasattracted criticism from civilrights groups and African-American leaders who con-sider his legal and legislativetrack record tainted by ra-cism, will have the first hear-ing on Tuesday.

Secretary of State-nom-inee Rex Tillerson, Educa-tion Secretary-nomineeBetsy DeVos, Housing andUrban Development Secret-ary-nominee Ben Carsonand Commerce Secretarynominee Wilbur Ross areamong the nine appointeeswho will face Senate com-mittees this week.

The richest Cabinet

Donald Trump will be therichest President, and hisCabinet the richest, in U.S.history. The Democrats havecontended that given thevast business ties of severalof the nominees, a thoroughreview of their interests willtake time. The Republicansargue that the Presidentmust have at least the na-tional security team in place,as soon as he is inauguratedon January 20.

OGE head Walter Shaub Jr.said last week that he couldnot recall a single instance inthe 40-year history of his of-fice in which the Senatekicked of a confirmationhearing before a nominee gotvetted. Senate Democraticleader Chuck Schumer hasaccused the Republicanmembers of being in “collu-sion with the transitionteam”. Majority leader MitchMcConnell said “these littleprocedural complaints arerelated to their frustration athaving not only lost the

White House, but having lostthe Senate”.

Hearings take place beforethe relevant committees,after which the full Senatevotes on the nomination.Many Trump nominees havelittle or no experience in gov-ernment. According to aPolitico report, they are be-

ing trained by the transitionteam in mock hearings, onwhat to expect.

U.S.’s relations with Russiacould prominently figure inseveral of the hearings thisweek, particularly that of Mr.Tillerson who has close tieswith many Russian leadersincluding President Vladi-

mir Putin. Republican Sen-ator John McCain, who hadearlier said he would vote forMr. Tillerson “when pigsfly”, has since then signalledwillingness for reconcili-ation, arguing that the Pres-ident-elect must be given thebenefit of the doubt in pick-ing his Cabinet colleagues.

VARGHESE K. GEORGE

Face-of likely at confirmationhearings for Trump’s nominees

BEIRUT: A Syrian trucebrokered by Russia and Tur-key was under growingstrain on Monday as rebelsvowed to respond to govern-ment violations and Presid-ent Bashar Al-Assad said theArmy would retake an im-portant rebel-held area nearDamascus.

Mr. Assad, in comments to

French media, also said hisgovernment was ready to ne-gotiate on “everything” atpeace talks that his Russianallies hope to convene inKazakhstan, including hisown position within theframework of the SyrianConstitution.

But he indicated any newConstitution must be put to a

referendum and it was up toSyrians to elect theirPresident.

The latest fighting hasbeen especially intense nearDamascus where the Armyand allied militia are tryingto capture a rebel-held areathat includes the main watersource supplying Damascus.It was bombed out of service

more than two weeks ago.Mr. Assad blamed truce vi-

olations on the insurgents,and said the Army must “pre-vent terrorists from usingthe water to throttle the cap-ital”. He said it was thearmy's job to recapture theWadi Barada area, which hesaid had been occupied by ajihadist group not covered by

the ceasefire. Rebels deny thearea is in jihadist hands.

The spokesman for one ofthe rebel groups that signedthe ceasefire said rebel lead-ers had concluded they couldnot continue abiding thetruce in what he described asa “unilateral way", and theywould respond to attacks bythe other side. — Reuters

Assad signals greater willingness to negotiate

BEIJING: China’s anti-graftcampaign has entered a newphase to ensure that deleg-ates who will bring about aonce-in-five-years leader-ship change later this yearwill be free from corruption.

A communiqué releasedon Sunday at the end of athree-day meeting of thepowerful Central Commis-sion for Discipline Inspec-tion (CCDI) highlighted thata “strong intra-party politicalenvironment” is requiredahead of the 19th CPC Na-tional Congress to be heldthis year.

19th Party Congress

China will undergo a majorleadership shake-up duringthe 19th Party Congress. Thechange of guard, the fore-most event on China’s do-mestic political calendar in2017, will lead to the emer-gence of a new standing com-mittee of the Politburo — thecountry’s most-powerful de-cision making body — onPresident Xi Jinping’s watch.

The CCDI is the top anti-corruption and rule enforce-ment organ of the Commun-ist Party of China (CPC).

“The CCDI conferencethat has just concluded is amajor benchmark. There isan implicit recognition here

that the three-year anti-graftcampaign has reversed thetide of corruption. So thenext phase has begun to en-sure that ‘clean people’ oc-cupy decision making bod-ies,” says Roger Wu, a Beijingbased political analyst, in aconversation with TheHindu.

Success of campaign

In his remarks during theconference, Mr. Xi spokeabout the major headwaymade against corruption.“The spread of corruptionhas been efectively con-tained and the battle againstcorruption has gained crush-ing momentum,” he wasquoted by Xinhua as saying.

Mr. Wu stressed that the

widely held perception thatMr. Xi’s anti-corruption cam-paign has essentially been acover for an internal purgeagainst potential rivals is anover-simplification. “TheCPC had been inflicted withserious corruption for manyyears. Its legitimacy was online had not Mr. Xi and WangQishan [the CCDI head] notcarried out the anti-corrup-tion campaign,” he observed.

The conference also de-cided to establish a nationalsupervisory commission aspart of an efort to reform thestate supervisory system.

The new body is expectedto draw from the experienceof three pilot projects thathave been launched lastmonth at the provincial

levels on supervisionreforms.

In an article in Sixth Tone,a website ailiated with thestate-funded ShanghaiUnited Media Group, LiYongzhong, a former vicepresident of the CCDI think-tank, observed that the ex-periment that is being car-ried out in three provinces ismeant to shift the power ofsupervision from the internalmechanisms within the CPCto a separate supervisorybody accountable to the locallegislative systems.

Mr. Li stressed that thenew initiative was in tunewith reforming a system thathad had borrowed too muchfrom the former SovietUnion.

He added that Chinaneeded to dig into its roots,for prior to the formation ofthe People’s Republic ofChina (PRC) in 1949, thecountry had a tradition of ex-ternal supervision, whichcould be traced as far back asthe Qin dynasty.

“The founding of thePeople’s Republic in 1949broke that long-standing tra-dition, making the party re-sponsible for monitoring thebehaviour of its own oicialsand thereby relegating suchoversight to a subordinaterole in state afairs,” heobserved.

Ahead of party congress, Beijing’santi-graft drive enters a new phaseATUL ANEJA

A NEW CHAPTER: Former Chinese president Hu Jintao andcurrent Chinese President Xi Jinping at the National People'sCongress in Beijing in March 2013. — FILE PHOTO: AFP

WASHINGTON/MEXICO CITY: A31-year-old naturalisedAmerican from India,identified as Zafar Zia, hasbeen arrested in Mexico’sGuadalajara city for allegedlyshooting an Americandiplomat over a possible visarow. The U.S. diplomat wasshot by a man wearing ablack wig and a blue nurse

uniform outside a shoppingcentre’s garage on Friday inGuadalajara, Mexico’ssecond largest city.

The suspect was arrestedin a joint operation by theFBI, DEA and Jalisco stateofficials in Guadalajara’saffluent Providencianeighbourhood early Sundaymorning, reports said. — PTI

Indian-American held for shooting envoy

WASHINGTON: Ashley Tellis, aSenior Fellow at the Carne-gie Endowment for Interna-tional Peace, could be namedthe next U.S. Ambassador toIndia, said a report in TheWashington Post.

Mr. Tellis was not availablefor a response, but had lastweek declined to commenton speculations about himjoining the administration.Mr. Trump has said that Am-bassadors who are politicalappointees will not be givena grace period after he takesover as President on January20th. The current U.S. Am-bassador to India, RichardVerma, is a political ap-pointee.

Mumbai-born Tellis was akey figure in negotiations forthe India-U.S. nuclear dealand is a proponent ofstronger ties between thetwo countries, particularly inthe area of defence coopera-tion.

He has served in the U.S.embassy in Delhi as an ad-viser to the Ambassador. Hehas also been on the NationalSecurity Council.

Mr. Trump is “close to se-lecting” Mr. Tellis as the nextenvoy to India, The Postquoted sources in the trans-ition team as saying. Mr. Tel-lis has good relations withboth the Democrats and theRepublicans and, if selected,could easily be confirmed bythe U.S. Senate.

Ashley Tellis could be thenext Ambassador to IndiaVARGHESE K. GEORGE

BUSINESS | 15THE HINDU TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2017

NOIDA/DELHI

BRIEFLY

CHENNAI: Sundaram BNP ParibasHome Finance has slashed theinterest rate for new home loansfrom 9.2 per cent to 8.7 percent. The new rate will comeinto effect from January 10,according to Srinivas Acharya,Managing Director. Thecompany registered a 13 percent growth in loandisbursements at ₨1,036 crore(₨917 crore) in the first half ofthe year. Separately, Indian Bankhas reduced the marginal cost offunds based lending rate by 75basis points to 8.6 per cent forone year. — K.T. Jagannathan

Sundaram BNP ParibasHome cuts loan rate

HYDERABAD: InstaEMI, which isinto underwriting and portfoliomanagement services, plans tostart operations this month inNew Delhi, Mumbai, Pune andKolkata, said CEO Hanu Yedluri.The firm is present in Kurnool,Tirupati, Hyderabad, Bengaluruand Chennai. It plans to raise$10 million from a U.S. firm. “Thefunds will help grow our assetportfolio in metro cities,” hesaid. Its loan disbursements maycross ₨100 crore from ₨60 croreas on December 2016.— Special Correspondent

Fintech firm InstaEMI to expand operations

BENGALURU: Flipkart haspromoted former Tiger GlobalManagement executive KalyanKrishnamurthy as the new chiefexecutive to run the operationsof India’s largest online retailer.Mr. Krishnamurthy, who joinedFlipkart in June last year as headof the ‘category designorganisation’, replaces co-founder Binny Bansal who hasbeen elevated as Group CEO.Nitin Seth, Chief AdministrativeOfficer, has been appointedChief Operating Officer.— Special Correspondent

Kalyan Krishnamurthyappointed Flipkart CEO

SENSEX

09-01-2017 26,726

06-01-2017 26,75933points

GOLD

09-01-2017 28,700

07-01-2017 28,74040

₨/10gms

RUPEE

09-01-2017 68.21

06-01-2017 67.960.25₨/$

BRENT OIL

09-01-2017 55.69

06-01-2017 56.680.99$/bbl

We are looking at ensuring that costof power remains affordable in IndiaPiyush Goyal, Power Minister

Exchange RatesIndicative direct rates in rupees a unitexcept yen at 4 p.m on January 09

TT TT

Currencies Buying Selling

U.S. Dollar 68.01 68.33

Euro 71.58 71.92

Pound Sterling 82.76 83.16

Jap Yen (100 Units) 58.27 58.55

Chinese Yuan 9.81 9.85

Swiss Franc 66.80 67.12

Singapore Dollar 47.27 47.49

Australian Dollar 49.83 50.07

Canadian Dollar 51.34 51.59

Swedish Kroner 7.49 7.53

Danish Kroner 9.63 9.68

New Zealand Dollar 47.50 47.73

Hongkong Dollar 8.77 8.81

Malaysian Ringgit 15.18 15.27

Kuwaiti Dinar 221.08 223.58

UAE Dirham 18.51 18.60

Bahraini Dinar 180.29 181.23

Qatari Riyal 18.73 18.74

Saudi Riyal 18.19 18.19

Omani Riyal 176.64 177.56

Source:Indian Bank

Bullion RatesJanuary 09 rates in rupees with previous rates in brackets

Chennai

Bar Silver (1 kg) 40,520 (40,390)

Retail (1 g) 43.40 (43.20)

24 ct gold (10 g) 28,780 (28,720)

22 ct gold (1 g) 2,751 (2,745)

Delhi

Silver 40,400 (40,450)

Standard Gold 28,700 (28,740)

Sovereign 24,200 (24,200)

LONDON: Tata Motors’ JaguarLand Rover (JLR) unit pos-ted 20% growth in 2016, defy-ing the uncertainty that fol-lowed the Brexit vote, assales for the year comfort-ably crossed the half-a-mil-lion mark.

In the 12 months endedDecember, JLR sold 583,313cars, up 20% year-on-year.Jaguar made a strong show-ing with sales climbing 77%,boosted by demand for the F-Pace – the luxury marque’sfirst SUV – and the XE andXF. Growth at Land Roverwas 8%, muted somewhat bythe upcoming introductionof the new Land Rover Dis-covery this February.

JLR’s Group Sales Opera-tions Director Andy Grossexpressed confidence aboutthe year ahead for the group,despite the persistent uncer-tainties around Brexit, whichthe auto sector has warnedcould hit the industry hard.

While the weak pound hassupported British exports inrecent months, should Bri-tain fail to reach an agree-

ment to maintain tarif-freeaccess for its auto sector tothe continent, it could hitboth raw material costs andsales.

Last year, the president ofU.K.’s Society of Motor Man-ufacturers and Traders urgedthe British government tostay in the single market andwarned that EU tarifs oncars could add £2.7 billionsto imports and £1.8 billion toexports. There would also bepressures on the U.K. mar-ket: the SMMT warned that

while sales were strong in2016, 2017 would be a chal-lenging year, with the mar-ket’s strength resting on its“ability to maintain our cur-rent trading relations”.

While both markets areimportant to JLR (it sold117,571 vehicles in the U.K. in2016 and 138,695 in Europe)Ian Fletcher, Principal Ana-lyst at IHS Automotive saidthe company remained wellplaced for 2017. “The F-Pacehas delivered an exception-ally strong performance, and

there is plenty more to comefrom it,” he said.

IHS Automotive forecastsJLR sales to rise 8% this year,and to reach sales of 800,000units annually by 2021.“There is still plenty of mo-mentum and new vehiclelaunches,” Mr. Fletcher said,pointing to the Land RoverDiscovery and the expectedbroadening of the RangeRover portfolio. He said thediversification of its manu-facturing base – the latest be-ing a plant in Slovakia wherethe new Discovery is to bebuilt from 2018 – andfoothold in markets such asChina and the U.S. wouldhelp ofset any weakness inthe U.K. and Europe.

JLR has also expressedconcern about the possibleimpact of Brexit.

In November, the BBC re-ported that CEO Ralf Spethhad said at an industry eventthat the company hoped todouble output to 1 millioncars but that its ability to doso would depend on govern-ment support, particularlyaround infrastructure andaccess to engineering talent.

Jaguar’s F-Pace SUV helps boost sales performance at Tata Motors unit

VIDYA RAM

JLR bucks Brexit uncertainties

MUSCLING AHEAD: IHS Automotive forecasts JLR sales to rise8% in 2017, helped by its new models. — FILE PHOTO

JAIPUR: Cisco’s ExecutiveChairman John Chamberssaid the Indian economy wasthe only one on which he waswilling to bet even as hetermed the Centre’s demon-etisation move a ‘bump.’

“There will be a fewbumps along the way like de-monetisation...If I would bebetting on any economy, itwould be this economy. Ayear from now, India’s GDPwill be stronger dramaticallybecause of the changes,” Mr.Chambers said.

Asked if sudden policychanges like demonetisationwould adversely impact for-eign firms’ views on India,Mr. Chambers answered inthe negative. He stressed thatIndia could be the “top ally”for the U.S. in the Asia-Pa-cific region.

“Does it bother me? It’s ac-tually reverse... I know thatinnovation by definition isdisruptive and uncomfort-able and there are bumps. Ithink the country (India) ismoving remarkably fast andit’s moving with a strategyand vision. There will be afew bumps along the way like

demonetisation. But they arejust that,” he said.

Mr. Chambers, who is alsothe Chairman of U.S.-IndiaBusiness Council, will alsobe leading one of the largestgroups of business repres-entatives attending the 8thVibrant Gujarat Summitlater this week. Mr. Cham-bers said, “You could arguethat very few people in thefinancial world say this isn’tthe right thing to do... What itis basically, it builds a found-ation for every citizen in thiscountry to participate trulyin a digital world…” He alsosaid for India, a GDP growthof 7 per cent was sustainable.

(The writer was in Jaipurat the invitation of

Cisco India)

Cisco’s Chambers betson Indian economy YUTHIKA BHARGAVA

John Chambers

NEW DELHI: The Centre willsoon hold discussions withinsurance and pension regu-lators on a proposal to enablepension funds and insurancecompanies such as Life In-surance Corporation to in-vest in start-ups.

Online pharma sales

It also said that onlinesales of medicines was al-lowed under the existing law

and the Health Ministrywould soon issue a clarifica-tion in this regard.

Stating that the Depart-ment of Industrial Policy andPromotion (DIPP), the nodalagency on the start-uppolicy, had held “preliminarydiscussions” on the proposalof insurance and pensionfunds investing in start-ups,DIPP Secretary Ramesh Ab-hishek told reporters thatfurther discussions would beheld soon with regulators

and stakeholders. “The pension and insur-

ance funds manage theirrisks in their own way. So, todo that [investing in start-ups], they have to do a reas-sessment of risks.”

The department conveneda meeting with start-ups aswell as incubators and accel-erators on Monday, whichwas attended by Commerceand Industry MinisterNirmala Sitharaman and Mr.Abhishek, among others.

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Start-ups may soon be able to access insurance, pension funds

NEW DELHI: Companies cansoon make statutory provid-ent fund contributions to theEmployees’ Provident FundOrganisation via private sec-tor banks. A Labour Ministrynotification dated January 4allows employers to makesuch payments “throughscheduled banks in India, in-cluding private sectorbanks.” At present, contribu-tion can be made onlythrough nationalised banksand payment portal PayGov.

Centre allows PFcontribution viaprivate banksSPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Finance MinisterArun Jaitley dismissed re-ports of a slowdown due todemonetisation as anec-dotal, and said the “real” taxcollection numbers gave amore accurate picture ofhow the economy was faring.

Direct and indirect tax col-lections for the nine monthsthrough December grew by12% and 25% respectively, ac-cording to figures releasedby Mr. Jaitley on Monday.

Tax consultants, however,said the performance in

some key areas had been dis-appointing, pointing to aslowdown in the economy.

Excise receipts grow

Central excise duty re-ceipts grew 43% in theperiod while service tax col-lections grew 23.9% and cus-toms duty collections ad-vanced 4.1%.

Last year, the same periodsaw excise duty collectionsgrow 68.2%, service tax rise24.45%, and customs collec-tions up 17.6%.

The slower growth in ser-vice tax “despite the increase

in cesses over the year, defin-itely indicates a contrac-tion,” D.K. Srivastava, ChiefPolicy Advisor at EY Indiasaid, adding that even the in-crease in direct tax receiptslikely reflected advance taxpayments made inDecember.

“And that is also one way inwhich the old notes could beconverted, so people werechoosing to do more of that,”Mr. Srivastava said. “Directtax figures for this yearwould also take into accountthe first and second IncomeDeclaration Schemes.”

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Tax numbers belie slowdown: FM

CMYK

ND-NDCMYK

OPEN PAGE16 |THE HINDU TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2017

NOIDA/DELHI

Contributions to this page may be e-mailed to openpage@thehindu.co.in to a length of up to 700 words. Please provide the postal address and a brief description of the writer. An e-mail id that is provided could be considered for publication. Certify in writing that it is original material; The Hindu views plagiarism as a serious issue. Also confirm that thesubmission is exclusive to this page. Taking into account the volume of material being received, we regret our inability to acknowledge receipt, or to entertain telephonic or other queries on the status of a submission. If a submission is not published within eight weeks, consider it to be out of the reckoning — in most cases owing to dearth of space. Thepublication of an article is not to be seen as The Hindu endorsing the viewpoint in any way.

SAMATHA SHARMA

green counter top in the kitchen, alltriggered events of an era gone by.

Wandering through the past, Iwondered about the future. Whatwould my own children remembermost about their home 40 yearshence. With my son ready to takewing and daughter having a nest ofher own I wish I had built morememories. I wish I had taken out theyellow picnic table more often andnot complained about the pools ofwater they brought in after gettingdrenched in the rain.

I wish I had allowed messiermarks on the growth chart, kept a petearlier and adopted another onewhen it got lost. I wish I hadsnuggled with them instead ofpulling them out of bed on Sundaymornings and had let the ‘incon-sequential’ conversations flow bey-ond bed-time. I wish I had made icelollies while they still cared andhadn’t forced aloo methi down theirthroats.

As they prepare to take flight Ihope they remember the fragranceof flowers at the front door, thesmoke rising from the barbecue andthe warm sun on our backs on wintryafternoons. Sadly, we never spentmuch time on the terrace swing orgot around to watch a storm from thegazebo in the garden. But I hopethey’ll cherish memories of our bed,where hoisted on pillows we playedcards amid accusations and counter-accusations of cheating. It is theplace in the house where we haveshared the most laughter per squareinch.

I wish they forget the fights andthe bickering, the sulks and the si-lences, and remember only the goodtimes. As I despair at the time lost,time which could have been put tobetter use, my only consolation isthat their most lasting memories willbe the ones I can neither predict norcontrol. They will surface at themost unexpected moment. I can justhope that they will be happy ones.

dr_manjugupta@icloud.com

“Hmm, so not even thechildren?” my maidasked, not caring tohide her disdain.

“No, just us siblings; our parents willaccompany us, though.” I repliedwithout a shred of guilt.

I had been through this drill somany times, had been judged by somany people, that I didn’t care any-more. After all it was just a holiday, a15-day break. It was a family vacationthat we had been planning for a longtime, and now that we were about toembark on this journey, we were let-ting the news out, slowly, and on aneed-to-know basis. The problemwas that the family was not a familyanymore, not by legal definition any-way, and we were quickly realising,the trip didn’t have social sanction.

It was a very generous rakhi giftfrom my brother. A 15-day breakfrom the present todwell in the past. Avacation with thefamily I was borninto. After four and ahalf decades wewanted to abandon(temporarily!) ourspouses and ofspringand travel back in time,to revisit our childhood.We felt that not having‘the others’ around wasnecessary for the sanctity ofthe experience.

Surprisingly the chil-dren, themselves youngadults, took the newspretty well. In factthey encouraged us tomake the most of this‘once in a lifetime op-portunity’. andhoped to replicate itthemselves in future.Our spouses wereunderstandably lessenthusiastic butagreed, albeit

MANJUGUPTA The memories came rushingback, ones that I didn’tknow existed. The scents,the feel, all triggered eventsof an era gone by

A break and a journey back

grudgingly. It was the rest of ‘ourworld’ who couldn’t see the need orrelevance of such a trip.

We took the holiday nevertheless.Spent a week bonding in London be-fore retracing our steps all the way toCanada. As I walked from onememory to the next, the line ‘therehad been no years....’ from E.BWhite’s nostalgic gem, Once More tothe Lake, kept playing in my mind.Just as he has described, the memor-ies came rushing back, ones that Ididn’t know existed. The scent of thewooden floor, the pattern of the walltiles, the feel of the door knob, the

Living in Bangalore and with family inChennai, the Bangalore-Chennai trip Ido often, but usually by the Shatabdi.

Recently, a last-minute programme duringChristmas had me doing the onward bybus and return by the Brindavan Express.

I may have done this journey during mycollege days, but have forgotten it in theannals of time and upgraded train journeysand discounted flights, so was in for a rudeshock. I had pictured the second classsitting as the one with the usualcompartment layout, but with a luggagerack above instead of the berths; I wastaken aback at the suburban train layout.And was soon in for a still bigger shockwhen I saw that a reserved compartmentheld no such pretensions as people got inat every station and occupied everystanding and sitting position.

Squished between the open window(thank god for a window seat) and a rathercorpulently endowed lady on the other, Ihad little wiggle room for comfort. A barelybroad enough and thinly cushioned seatwas to hold three people but held four. Bagand baggage liberally occupied the one-foot leg space between my seat and theone opposite, hung from hooks and thenarrow luggage rack above and squeezedinto every nook and cranny available. All inall it was cosy, euphemistically speaking.

But once I looked beyond thediscomfort, I started taking in thecacophony of life around me — pulsating,animated, and effervescent This wassomething one would never find in thealmost sterile cocoons of the air-conditioned Shatabdis.

The idli-vadai-pongal sellers remindedpeople the train had no pantry car. The leafand paper wrapped packages of the southIndian staple breakfast did look moreappetising than the affectations of anEnglish breakfast with plastic-wrappedslices of bread-butter-jam served in theShatabdi.

The jamboree started in right earnest an

hour into the ride. Roasted groundnut-sellers raised the octave in sync with hotginger cardamom tea-sellers. Thechildren’s books-colouring books-moralstory books-number books seller, whointoned his wares in the same order andtune every time, had parents perking ininterest; the children preferred the noddingdoggies and ingenuously put togetherplastic helicopter drones. Mobile holder-stands, earphones, chargers in many huesand shapes added to the melee.

The visually challenged singer-duo wasnot far behind. Their repertoire was trulyeclectic, and they effortlessly moved fromHindi to Tamil to Kannada. A single clap, adefiant stare and a synchronised thrust ofa bony hip and outstretched hand thatdemanded attention and remuneration hadpeople scrambling for the scarce loosechange in the time of demonetisation.

Somebody brought in shallots. Whywould someone buy shallots on a train?One lady thought it was a good idea, andso did the couple with three kids in tow.Shallots were followed by green cookingbananas. The combination, I must admit, ismouth-wateringly appetising; guess theones who bought it thought so too.

Once again, I was flummoxed over whysomeone would need to buy purplekanakambaram (firecracker flower) in thetrain. Why ever not, seems to be therepartee. Traditional South Indian ladies dolove flowers in their hair.

At Rs. 150, not only could I travel fromChennai to Bangalore, I wasn’t bored for asecond. There was drama, entertainment,music all packed in a seven-hour (yes, thetrain is invariably late) capsule.

And it has done so for 53 years now,introduced in 1964 as the first inter-cityexpress on the Southern Railway.

I guess the Brindavan is going to featuremore in my travels. Trains, especially theday journeys, are alluring: they pack in somuch more than just getting one frompoint A to point B. It’s the epitome of travelromance. And next up, a day bus journey.

sush69arora@gmail.com

SUSHMITA ARORA

The romance of day-time train trips

ted levers like a pilot, from a relaxedautomated mode to a panic-strickenmanual mode — I turned on theGPS and engaged in a mechanicaltelephonic conversation with afriend while perched at the edge ofthe seat in discomfort, slightlynudging outwards. The co-passen-ger seemed to be unfazed, lookingout on the other side.

Finally, he spoke in understand-able Hindi, asking for the auto to bestopped near a lane. The driver in-sisted on dropping him at his door-step, but he replied, “There mightbe some unruly men in the lane.Dropping here would be best.” Iwouldn’t know because I was toooccupied with relief.

After paying, the co-passengerturned towards me and politely

In Delhi, it was not very longago when autorickshaws werethe more preferred mode ofconveyance, cheaper and con-

venient. “OlaShare” and “Uber-pool” had not started competing.

One evening I’d been waiting forquarter of an hour hoping to hitchan auto ride for my meeting, forwhich I was late. Having suferedeight rejections, I was fluttering myarm at the next one. To my surprise,it stopped! I scampered towards itand came to a surprise halt on noti-cing a man already in the passengerseat. In mid-sentence, confusedand disappointed I started steppingback. But the driver said he was go-ing a certain direction to drop theman on board and I could “share” ifI wanted to go in the same direc-tion. I was heading in the same dir-ection, the co-passenger’s destina-tion would require only a smalldetour; but given another unknownperson on board, I was sceptical.

Then I agreed. But before theagreement nod came, my brain did

a quick matrix move. The Googlemap of my brain scanned the route— yes, I knew all the roads, the sky-line told me it was still 15 minutes todarkness and the driver and co-pas-senger both “seemed to be decent”.I would comfortably make it under15 minutes. I hopped on. The co-passenger shifted into the fartherend and I sat on mine.

After driving for a kilometre, thedriver and the co-passenger startedconversing in a certain dialect ofHindi which I could not compre-hend properly. It seemed they kneweach other.

I instantly became extra-attent-ive and extra-cautious. Then theauto took a few turns and I was onunknown roads and unfamiliar loc-alities. I would be lying if I said Ihadn’t started getting worried.Darkness had fallen and my expec-ted time of arrival at my destinationhad exceeded. Alas, the estimationarrived at by my brain’s route mapand interpretation of the skylinehad gone awry. Had looks also de-ceived me?

With rising anxiety levels, I shif-

questioned myself: was there a needfor the man to apologise to me? No.He could’ve just walked of, ormaybe given me a piece of his mindon how I was over-reacting and be-ing judgmental. Then why was hetendering me an apology and an ex-planation? I think it’s because hewas indeed a very respectable manand his graciousness was indeed re-markable. Seldom do we findpeople who not only empathise butalso take the whole world’s blameupon themselves and apologise.

Should I call it compassion, orshould I consider this a one-ofevent and never let my guard down?I suppose I’ll perpetually be en-tangled in this fight between trust-ing people to be righteous versusconstant scepticism. It made merealise that in this day and agewhere we are so quick to questionthe motives of a man, I must also bemore compassionate and be forevergrateful towards my fellow-travel-lers for their support. Since then,I’ve met some interesting peopleand made some wonderful friends.

senjuti.mallick@gmail.com

said, “Ma’am, I’m sorry I made youfeel so uneasy and unsafe. That wasnever my intention. I’m sure yourworries stemmed from justifiablereasons and I apologise. I’mashamed that “we” men have com-mitted such terrible crimes that wo-men are bound to keep their guardup at all times. Today I understandwhat my mother, sister and girl-friend might have felt on so manyoccasions and the worry I have forthem when they use shared modesof conveyance.” I was simply dumb-founded.

Struggling for words

The man, upon explaining thedirections to me added that theauto-driver had been his permanentdriver and was a good man. As I satthere struggling for words, he as-sured me I would be dropped safely.Sorry and thank-you only found ex-pression in gaping like a goldfish asthe auto sped of, leaving gratitudeand apology stuck in the throat.

At that time, on that day, I thoughtI was the only person ill at ease. Iwas wrong. That made two of us. I

A nerve-wracking journey ‘shared’ with a stranger and a gentlemanSENJUTIMALLICK

Question from theexperience: Was itcompassion, or should Iconsider this as just aone-off event?

Iwatched Arrival recently. Much as would have manyothers in cinemas across my city and country. It’s awell-made movie with an interesting story. I am not

writing a movie review; there are august critics who havedwelt on it scene-by-scene. I’m doing a self-reflection ofmy movie experience.

What sets my experience apart is the fact that I choseto watch it alone. And I am female, young female (40 isthe new 20) to be specific, mother of a wise eight-year-old with keen piano skills and dainty ballet feet. I justdidn’t find any friend, cousin, associate or anybody else toaccompany me to a matinee show, and after muchdeliberation decided to wing it alone.

What is surprising is the amount of thought andenergy that wereneeded to be investedon the right time,cinema and dress so asto be able to safelywatch a movie and getback home. My 63-year-old mother hadthe question: “Why do

you want to watch a movie alone?” My husband, ondeputation abroad, had some “stay safe warnings”followed by even more “wise” pronouncements: “Don’tassume that just because this went well it means alloutings will be hunky dory.” Unagi. Always stay alert.

Some questions

So it does raise pertinent questions on womenwatching movies alone in India. What about loitering ortravelling alone? When I step out, my bag has to containpepper spray and safety pins. There was a time it had aSwiss army knife, till airports banned sharp instrumentsand I was too lazy to be changing bags every time I had aflight to catch. I always glance furtively around myself. Iwalk quickly. I instinctively baulk inwardly when I seemore than two men on the street either standing aroundor walking behind me. I dress conservatively when I haveto step out alone.

I’m sure Rabindranath Tagore wrote, “where the mindis without fear”, for all citizens of India. And yet, howmany of us walk in the shadow of fear every day?Professor Michael Kimmel put it right: “Privilege isinvisible to those who have it.”

Borrowing a leaf from him, in the end it is all aboutgender equality and how you perceive the woman next toyou.

Starting at home

Charity begins at home, is not an adage written on thesands of a beach. Forgotten when we move fromelementary to middle school and beyond. It ought to beetched in our minds because good manners and habitsbegin with us and at home.

Respecting the ladies and girls around us and sharingthe space on this planet with them will not dent any man.It will only seek to complete him and make the worldtruly a place where the mind is without fear.

My little movie trip was incident-free (a huge shout-out to Bangalore). I am hoping that this new habitblossoms and stays with me — watching movies alone,peril-free.

sangeethamenon@gmail.com

Watching amovie aloneSANGEETHAMENON

I’m sure Tagorewrote, “where themind is withoutfear”, for allcitizens of India

As I leave after a philosophylecture, a man I only justmet there asks me where Ilive. I clam up for a minute,

and then tell him that it is an inappro-priate question to ask a woman at 8p.m. He replies that I am carryingemotional baggage as he meant to becaring of me. I feel the usual frustra-tion at being blamed by men for set-ting boundaries as a woman. I thinkbeing caring in India is often used asa cloak for being curious.

I lately see myself reacting tostrange men and strange situationswith fear. My experiences have valid-ated the society’s view that womenbest avoid the unknown. I think thereis a lack of awareness and empathyon the part of men on certain aspectsof a woman’s life, which is well-known to her sisters. That strangersin public spaces are not to be en-gaged with is a well known maxim.The New Year’s-eve molestation ofwomen in Bengaluru brings this is-sue glaringly to the forefront. How-ever, approaching known men is alsoquite awkward at times. In fact, nego-tiating men and connections can getso confusing that there is a tendencyon a woman’s part to declare all menquestionable until proved otherwise.

I used to think older men safe, thefriends of fathers. One of them,whose daughter was my age, askedme if I would dress up for him. Thathit me out of the blue. There was a

neighbour uncle, agrandfather even,who kept insistinghe would visitmy house whenno one else wasaround. I didn’thave the courageto question himfurther on his in-tentions. I keepmy distancefrom older mennow, make sure toalways addressthem as “uncle”,and preferablymeet them onlywhen their wivesare around.

I used to also thinkthat married menwere safe to talk to.Recently, the husbandof a friend sent me an in-appropriate messageabout my Facebook photo.One man kept saying hewanted to go for massages with mewhile I was his wife’s therapist. I cutthat unfortunate lady abruptly out ofmy life, for no fault of hers.

Before you get the idea that I ammyself a bombshell, let me set the re-cord right. I am just the average-looking adult woman with maybe asense of style. Men in general, itseems to me, are often led by uncon-trollable sexual urges that they reallyhave to work to keep in check. There

are the good men, the ones that ex-tend respect to women, treat themright and are safe. However, I doubtwhether even the good men areaware of this part of an adult wo-man’s life, the need to respond to thescary sexual energies of men allaround her in society.

Dating has arrived suddenly in In-dia with the Internet. Tradition is

merging with modernity. Matrimo-nial sites, however conservative theymay sound, can themselves be a riskfor a woman. One can date a guyfrom a matrimonial site and beforced into starting a physical rela-tionship with him, with marriage it-self becoming a mirage. Dating appssuch as Tinder make communica-tion between men and women more

honest and less hypocritical. Ro-mance seems to have become

old-school.Hookups, that is, sexualliaison for a short time,

seem to be the populardemand. If indeed

our young womenare bold enough toventure out withunknown men intoawkward places fa-cing social disrep-ute, I have only to re-commend they begiven an award forbravery. Personally, Ido not think the satis-faction worth it, butagain, my thoughts

seem to have becomeold-school and passe.

I can immediately hearthe elders telling us that

the sexual energy is thereason for the separation of the

sexes in some schools, and earlymarriage. So that the adult womancan live a life of respect and dignity.Indeed I agree that a good marriagecan be a boon.

However, should a woman live in astraightjacket so as to live with dig-nity? Does not a woman deserve tobe at least as free as the man and assafe? Is it not the responsibility of theman, being the physically strongergender, to treat those less strongappropriately?

samatha.express@gmail.com

In this time of egregious offences against women, some touch-and-go experiences

Which male is to be trusted?

ILLUSTRATION: SREEJITH R. KUMAR

CMYK

SPORT | 17THE HINDU TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2017

NOIDA/DELHI

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Zadran attacked

Afghanistan cricketer Shapoor Zadranescaped unhurt after he was reportedlyattacked in Kabul on Saturday night byunidentified gunmen, who opened fire atthe vehicle he was travelling in.

Conte non-committal

I’m pleased for John [Terry] because he’s shown megreat commitment when I’ve asked him to play and alsowhen he doesn’t. First of all, these decisions need to bemade with the club, not alone. — Antonio Conte on the Chelsea captain’s future

Pulled out

Cricket Australia has pulled out left-armspinner Stephen O’Keefe from theongoing Big Bash League to give himmore practice time with the red ballahead of the tour of India in February

Telecast schedule

Ranji Trophy final: Mumbai v Gujarat, STARSports 4 & HD 4, 9.30 a.m.PBL: STAR Sports 1, 3 & HD 1 & 3, 7 p.m.PWL: Sony ESPN, 7 p.m.NBA: Sony Six & Sony Six HD, 6 a.m. (Wednesday)

To give up something youlove can be excruciating.

Retirement from a successfulsporting vocation has alwaysevoked varied responses.Some bow out with dignity,some need to be pushed out.

In cricket, captaincy comeswith lot of privilege. And re-sponsibility too. When togive up the role is a decisionfew have made at the righttime. M.S. Dhoni ranksamong the top in this regardafter he making himself avail-able for selection only as aplayer.

Was Dhoni compelled totake the painful decision toquit captaincy? National se-lection committee chairmanM.S.K. Prasad insisted that itwas his call. “It was Dhoni’sdecision and quite a gracefulone. It shows his responsibil-ity towards Indian cricket,”he emphasised.

Prasad, much like previousselection committee chair-man Sandeep Patil, was onlyfollowing the long-standingtradition of engaging seniorplayers, including captains,in a stock-taking exercise.

Even Sachin Tendulkarwas spoken to but he had re-fused to get into a discussion.It was eventually Ten-dulkar’s decision to an-nounce his retirement andnot a forced one.

The current selectors, withspecific plans for the season,were exploring various pos-sible combinations for allformats of the game andDhoni was a part of theprocess.

Dhoni, at 35, may not be thelone option for the wicket-keeper-batsman’s job. Butthen, he, in the opinion of theselectors, is the best currentoption, with the acceptedneed to groom a successor —

Rishabh Pant on currentform and Ishan Kishan wait-ing to grab the spot at the firstopportunity.

The chief selector clearlydoes not want the impressionto gain momentum thatDhoni was eased out of thepost. The grace with whichDhoni took the decision iswhat Prasad would like theworld to understand.

Past instances

To appoint or sack a cap-tain is the prerogative of theselectors. It is a norm that theBoard president formally en-dorses the selection but ifneed there be, he can inter-vene. There have been casesof the Board president for-cing the National selectors tohave a re-look.

As Patil recalled, SunilGavaskar and he weredropped by the selectors forthe series against Australia at

home in 1986. “We were play-ing a match at Gwalior (Bom-bay vs Australians) when thenews came first, but Sunilwas reinstated following in-tervention by the then Boardpresident (S. Sriraman).However, I announced myretirement from interna-tional cricket after thatmatch,” he said. In anotherinstance, R.S. Dungarpur hadsought the removal of aplayer from North Zone fromthe list.

The selectors have accep-ted Dhoni’s move to put him-self in the pool purely as aplayer. The idea is to play onmerit and, of course, withfreedom to justify his pres-ence.

Dhoni does not wish to beseen as hindrance to a de-serving youngster. By givingup captaincy, he has onlydemonstrated his sense ofcommitment and timing.

‘It was Dhoni’s decision, and a graceful one’ CRICKET / Chief selector M.S.K. Prasad lauds the iconic player’s sense of responsibility and commitment VIJAY LOKAPALLY

VIJAYAWADA: The chairmanof the National selectioncommittee, M.S.K.Prasad, on Mondaydenied the allegationmade by Bihar CricketAssociation secretaryAditya Verma that theBCCI’s outgoing jointsecretary AmitabhChoudhary had askedhim to call up MahendraSingh Dhoni and ask himabout his future plans.

“The conversationnever took place.

“Mr. AmitabhChoudary did not call meand ask for Dhoni’s futureplans,” said Prasad.

“On the fourth day ofthe semifinal betweenGujarat and Jharkhand atNagpur, Dhoni, who waswith the Jharkhand teamas mentor, met me andexpressed his wish to stepdown as skipper of theODI and T20 sides.

“I do not know whyAditya Verma isunnecessarily draggingme into the issue,” hecomplained.

J.R. SHRIDHARAN

I never called upMSD, says MSK

Nehra who has been recalledout of obscurity forTwenty20s, Mohit Sharmawho had been sidelined for awhile, leg-spinner YuzvendraChahal who has had an im-pressive run in the shorterformats, and chinamanbowler Kuldeep Yadav.

Dhoni then padded up andbatted against all types ofbowlers for about 45 minutes,timing most of the deliverieshe faced; he showed no signsof rust. Before retiring to thedressing room, Dhoni obliged

MUMBAI: When an interna-tional side is out on theground training at the sametime as the local team aheadof a warm-up game, the focususually is on the visitors.

Not on Monday, though. As the England and India-A

squads trained under flood-lights at the Brabourne sta-dium, the attention of every-one gathered — Cricket Clubof India members and theirfamilies, former India teamdirector Ravi Shastri and hisdaughter, assorted mediapersonnel — was riveted onthe proceedings on the In-dia-A side of the ground.

In fact, all eyes were on oneman.

With Mahendra SinghDhoni gearing up for Tues-day’s warm-up match, andthe limited-overs series thatfollow, against Eoin Morgan’smen, it was only natural.

He was making an appear-ance on a cricket field in pub-lic for the first time afterpassing the captaincy batonover to Virat Kohli.

On the eve of what will per-haps be the last time he willlead a side in an internationalfixture, Dhoni went about hisbusiness with his usual calm.

Turning out in the team’sall-grey practice outfit, Dhoniand his men first played foot-ball in the warm-up sessionwhere the captain evenscored a goal.

Once the opening batsmenmoved on to the three nets,Dhoni headed over to the farside of the ground.

There he observed thebowlers, including Ashish

a group of children, who hadbeen waiting outside theboundary line, with auto-graphs and pictures.

Meanwhile, Yuvraj lookedfidgety in the nets, especiallywith the pacers moving theball in the evening breeze.

It will be interesting to seeif he can make a strong casefor a place in India’s XI for theODI series-opener in Pune onSunday.

The left-hander was laterseen discussing techniquewith Shikhar Dhawan and

Mandeep Singh before goingin for a second stint.

The teams (from): India-A: Mahendra Singh Dhoni

(capt., w.k.), Shikhar Dhawan,Mandeep Singh, Ambati Rayudu,Yuvraj Singh, Hardik Pandya, SanjuSamson, Kuldeep Yadav, YuzvendraChahal, Ashish Nehra, Mohit Sharma,Siddharth Kaul.

England: Eoin Morgan (capt.),Alex Hales, Sam Billings, Jason Roy,Joe Root, Moeen Ali, Jonathan Bair-stow, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (w.k.),Liam Dawson, Liam Plunkett, AdilRashid, Jake Ball, David Willey, ChrisWoakes.

Spotlight on Dhoni as teams practise AMOL KARHADKAR

BUSINESS AS USUAL: M.S. Dhoni was his calm self at the India-A nets on the eve of what willperhaps be the last time he captains against an international side.— PHOTO: AFP

MUMBAI: The last time Englandplayed an ODI series, last Oc-tober in Bangladesh, Jos But-tler was stand-in captain withEoin Morgan — the man whohas led England’s revival in thelimited-over formats —pulling out along with openerAlex Hales, citing securityreasons.

Naturally, more than Eng-land’s chances of winning itsfirst ODI series in India inthree decades, Morgan, duringhis first oicial interactionwith the media as Englandcaptain, was quizzed moreabout his return in Englandcolours after a sabbatical thatfetched him a lot of flak backhome.

“I don’t regret that at all. Iam comfortable about that de-cision,” said Morgan, who ledEngland’s march into the

World Twenty20 final in Indialast year, preferring to lookahead to the series.

England has been in topform in the ODI arena, havinglost just five of the 18 ODIs itplayed last year.

However, the fact that ninemembers of its squad were apart of the recent Test badger-ing by India will certainly beplaying on their minds.

Morgan, however, said theTest series results would notafect the group.

“They (the players) are verymotivated. In India, regardlesswhich format has been playedfirst, the side generally im-proves and since this side hasbeen together there has beenno backlash or repercussionsfrom any performance. I don’texpect it (Test series) to haveany efect,” he said.

Morgan was excited at start-ing the challenge with twowarm-up games against qual-ity sides.

While Mahendra SinghDhoni will lead India-A onTuesday, Ajinkya Rahane willtake over for the second gameon Thursday.

“I think the two warm-upgames have strong sides. It’s agreat preparation to adapt andperform at skill levels that areneeded to win here,” he said.

ODIs diferent ball game: Morgan SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Eoin Morgan. — PHOTO: AP

KOLKATA: Sourav Gangulysaid on Monday that hehad received ananonymous ‘deaththreat’.

Ganguly, who is alsoCricket Association ofBengal president,confirmed the news afterchairing a CAB WorkingCommittee meetinghere.

“The day beforeyesterday I received ananonymous letter with adeath threat. I amsupposed to attend afelicitation function [...]in Medinipur on January19. I have informed thepolice and the organisersabout the threat,”Ganguly told reporters.

However, Kolkata JointCommissioner of Police(Crime) Vishal Garg saidthey had “got nothing sofar” on the development.— Sports Bureau

Ganguly getsdeath threat

HYDERABAD: The HyderabadCricket Association is all set tosign a ₨1.6 crore agreementwith 21st Century for in-stadiarights for the India-Bangladesh Test at the RajivGandhi Stadium here nextmonth.

A confident HCA secretaryK. John Manoj, who had de-tailed discussions with BCCISouth Zone curator P.R.Viswanathan and HCA cur-ator Y.L. Chandrasekhar onpitch preparation, again in-formed The Hindu on Mondaythat there was no question ofbacking out from hosting theTest.

“Let me reiterate that even ifwe don’t get the BCCI fundswe are not going to back out.We deem it a prestigious eventas it happens to beBangladesh’s first-ever Test inIndia,” Manoj said.

“As part of our eforts, weare going to sign this in-stadiaadvertisement rights agree-ment which also means wewill get ₨80 lakh as advancepayment.

“Just in case we don’t get thefunds from the BCCI on time,this will be more than handy,”Manoj said.

The secretary wrote a letter

on Monday to BCCI CEORahul Johri expressing disap-pointment at the “doubts cre-ated about HCA hosting theTest”.

“It is unfortunate some sec-tions of the media reported,quoting a BCCI oicial, aboutHCA expressing its inability tohost this Test. I would like toreiterate that preparations arein full swing,” the secretarystated in the letter.

Manoj said they had writtenseeking around Rs. 65 lakhwhich had to be released toany association hosting a Testas per the Supreme Courtorder.

“We were only seeking a

clarification as the deadline isfast approaching. Ironically,there was no reply to our com-munication in this regard tillthis morning,” the HCA oi-cial said.

The letter, dated January 5,had stated “In this connection,we shall be highly obliged, ifyou can kindly advise aboutthe financials as non-receipt offunds would lead to a seriousdisruption in the conduct ofthe Test match and also theother ongoing domestic BCCImatches. Further, to run theday-to-day afairs/activities,we require funds as we havenot received funds from theBCCI so far.”

Will host Test even if we don’tget BCCI funds: HCA secretary V.V. SUBRAHMANYAM

MEET THE EXPERT: BCCI South Zone curator P.R. Viswanathan(right) shares a few thoughts on pitch preparation with HCAcurator Y.L. Chandrasekhar and secretary K. John Manoj (left)at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium on Monday. — PHOTO: V.V. SUBRAHMANYAM

KOLKATA: The Cricket Associ-ation of Bengal (CAB) onMonday decided that its of-fice-bearers who are ineligibleas per the Justice Lodha Com-mittee recommendationswould “stand disqualified withimmediate efect”.

“The committee has de-cided that those who havebeen disqualified as per the(sic) disqualification (norms)will stand disqualified withimmediate efect, subject. Asregards the oice of the assist-ant secretary, a clarification isto be sought from the LodhaCommittee. As soon as the re-port on qualification comes,that will be immediately ef-fective,” said CAB legal ad-visor Ushanath Banerjee. —Special Correspondent

Ineligible CABmembers ‘standdisqualified’

MUMBAI: With the TNCA ex-pressing inability to host nextmonth’s India Under-19‘Tests’ against England, DilipVengsarkar feels Mumbai —where the limited-oversseries will be played — oughtto host these matches.

“Mumbai can host it as ithas more international ven-ues than any other city in In-dia,” he said.

Vengsarkar also suggestedMumbai as the reserve venueif Hyderabad is unable to hostthe India-Bangladesh Test inFebruary. — PTI

‘Move u-19 gamesto Mumbai’

ZURICH: Cristiano Ronaldo wasnamed FIFA’s best men’s foot-baller of 2016 on Monday, thelatest prize after a glittering yearfor the Portugal and Real Madridstar.

Ronaldo bested France’s Ant-oine Greizmann and long-timeBarcelona rival Lionel Messi ofArgentina for the honour

Italian Claudio Ranieri won thecoach of the year award for lead-ing rank outsider Leicester City tothe English Premier League title.The Italian beat out France’s Zi-nedine Zidane, who steered RealMadrid to Champions Leagueglory in his first year as managerand Fernando Santos, the master-mind behind Portugal’s Euro 2016championship success.

Ranieri, 65, said the honour was“incredible” after receiving theprize from Argentine football le-gend Diego Maradona.

Under Ranieri’s leadership,

Leicester pulled of one of thegreatest shocks in English footballhistory by defying title odds of5,000-1 to lift the Premier Leaguetrophy. Asked about his ex-traordinary season Ranieri said:“The little team won the title. It’samazing.” — Agencies

FOOTBALL

Ronaldo is the best

Cristiano Ronaldo. — PHOTO: AFP

NEW DELHI: Erica Wiebe proved yetagain why she is consideredamong the best wrestlers in theworld today, coming from behindto win her third bout in as manygames and lead Mumbai Maha-rathi to its second victory in thePro Wrestling League onMonday. Mumbai won 4-3 againsttable-topper Jaipur Ninjas to golevel on points.

Canadian Erica, the reigningOlympic champion in the 75kgcategory, trailed arch-rival JennyFransson of Sweden for a largepart of the bout before turning thetables 20 seconds from time. Con-ceding the opening point forpassivity to trail at the end of thefirst three minutes, Ericastruggled to get her grip righteven as Jenny took her down toextend her lead to 3-0 with justover a minute left in the bout.

Erica fought back, earned twopoints and then, in one swiftmove, turned her opponent overand pinned her to the mat to winby fall despite trailing on points.The Mumbai captain is unbeatenin the competition so far but thiswas the closest she came to a lossbut that was not to be.

Rahul edges out KaleThe win also sealed Mumbai’s

victory in the tie after RahulAware had previously used all hisexperience to overcome UtkarshKale 9-6 in the 57kg. Aware led 3-0before Kale fought back and twotake downs on either side of thebreak put the youngster ahead4-3.

The lead kept changing handsas both wrestlers kept attacking,trying to get hold of the oppon-ent’s ankles and take control, be-fore Aware employed the Fitlemove to score four points by

rolling Kale over twice and winthe bout.

Earlier, Jabrayil Hasanov ofAzerbaijan managed to winagainst Jakob Makarashvili in the74kg to put Mumbai up in theopening bout before Vikas Kumarfought back against the more ex-perienced Rahul Mann to tie 6-6but won the bout by virtue of tak-ing the final point.

Jaipur, Mumbai Punjab andHaryana are all on four pointsapiece after Monday’s tie.

The result:

Mumbai Maharathi 4 bt JaipurNinjas 3 [74kg: Jabrayil Hasanov btJakob Makarashvili 3-1; 48kg: CarolinaCastillo lost to Ritu Phogat 1-4; 65kg: Vi-kas Kumar bt Rahul Mann 6-6 (virtue ofwinning final point); 53kg: LalitaSehrawat lost to Betzabeth Arguello 2-5;57kg: Rahul Aware bt Utkarsh Kale 9-6;75kg: Erica Wiebe bt Jenny Franson byfall; 97kg: Pavlo Oliynik lost to ElizabarOdikadze 2-3].

PRO WRESTLING LEAGUE

Erica excels as Maharathis subdue NinjasUTHRA GANESAN

CHENNAI: Although supportiveof the Decision Review Systemin the beginning, Glenn Mc-Grath is now in favour of um-pires having the final say.

“I think DRS kills the mo-ment. A bowler takes a bigwicket and the whole team cel-ebrates. Then the decision isreferred and the verdict is ‘notout’. It’s a big downer,” Mc-Grath, who is here at the MRFPace Foundation, said onMonday.

“Everybody makes mis-takes,” said McGrath. “But it allevens out in the end. I feel

when the umpire gives you out,it should stay that way.”

With Australia visiting Indiafor four Tests — the first be-gins in Pune on February 23 —much focus was on the upcom-ing series.

McGrath said playing spinwould be a big challenge. “TheAustralians have either beentoo aggressive or too defensivecoping with spin in India. Theyhave to find a way.

“Look at Matthew Hayden.He wasn’t a very good player ofspin to start with but learnt toplay here in Chennai. Whenthe Aussies toured India in2001, he was ready with a

game-plan, sweeping the spin-ners. I think the sweep is an ef-fective shot in theseconditions.”

McGrath said Australia hadsome good young batting tal-ent. “Peter Handscomb hasmade a very good start to hisTest career. And he is a fineplayer of spin,” he said.

McGrath said though spin-ners would play a role, the vis-itors’ quick bowlers will needto strike even in the back-breaking Indian conditions.

“Mitchell Starc can bowl atspeeds in excess of 150 kmph.He is a left-armer, swings thenew ball, reverses the old. Josh

Hazlewood moves the ball, getwickets. They will need to ad-just to the Indian conditions.Reverse swing will be a factor,”said McGrath.

On Virat Kohli taking over ascaptain of the Indian limited-over teams too, McGrath said:“This had to happen at somestage. When your Test captainis also in the ODI andTwenty20 teams, I think heshould be the skipper in allformats.”

McGrath said Test sidesthese days largely tend to dis-appoint away from home.“Now the teams are very goodat home and very bad away.That needs to change,” he said.“For India to be really con-sidered No. 1, it will have to winTest series in South Africa,Australia and England.”

Spin will be Australia’s biggest challenge in India: McGrath S. DINAKAR

McGrath. — PHOTO: K. PICHUMANI

CHENNAI: The match-winner whoproduced gems when the chips weredown, Gundappa Viswanath saved hisbest for the most trying conditions andsituations.

Whenever he made a Test hundred,India never lost. The little big man tookon the fastest of bowlers without fear.

Which contemporary batsman hascaught Viswanath’s imagination? It’sthe Indian captain, Virat Kohli.

While the wristy genius fromKarnataka admires Kohli’s wristwork,he also appreciates his all-roundbatting ability.

Viswanath, in the city to receive anaward, observed, “Kohli plays propercricketing shots even in the Twenty20format. That’s what I like the mostabout him. He’s got wonderful skills.”

Pat for AshwinHe had words of praise for off-

spinner R. Ashwin. “Right now, he isthe best spinner in the world... no twoopinions about that. And he winsmatches for the country with hisbowling. What more can you ask forfrom a spinner?”

Kohli’s gotwonderful skills:ViswanathS. DINAKAR

CMYK

ND-ND

SPORT18 |THE HINDU TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2017

NOIDA/DELHI

1 Bunch of Pagan gods (4)

2 Once ordered this bar's WelshRarebit (9)

3 Artist in India with CV that'sexceptional (2,5)

4 Good, mostly willing to becomeeducated (4-4)

6 Gentleman that appears inSpanish papers (7)

7 Bail out the individual primarily

17 Owl — a bird, Bats — mammal(4,4)

19 Variant of a drink found indictionary (7)

21 Wealthy setter hoarding oldcurrency turned up, got arrestedeventually (7)

23 Colour or the fabric? (5)

24 This money of yours isn'texactly yours (4)

26 Musical work from top Ustad (4)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9

10 11

12 13

14 15 16

17

18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25

26

27 28

29 30

having strong defence (5)

8 Tales and odes about deserts (9)

9 This monster is still seen on theisland (4)

14 Separating from others? It is along shot (9)

16 Current proposal overturned byreal jerks — that's narrow-minded (9)

THE HINDU CROSSWORD 11900 (set by Vulcan)

F ACROSS

GDOWN

Saiva Siddhanta lays great emphasis on the experience ofdevotion. The sacred bond between each individual andGod is sustained by the faith, devotion and trust which isclear to the omniscient Lord. But the greatest wonder isthat when this faith morphs into voluntary servitude to theLord, it is no match to the unbelievable extent of the Lord’sreadiness to be subservient to such devotion, pointed outNallur Sa Saravanan in a discourse.

This is explicit in the lives of the Nayanmars in generaland in the case of Sundaramurthy Nayanar in particular.From Sekkizhar’s account in the Periyapuranam, it is clearthat Siva prepares the ground for SundaramurthyNayanar’s brief but eventful earthly sojourn in Kailasaitself. It is Siva’s wish that his close attendant in Kailasa,Aalala Sundarar, should sing the sacred TiruthondarThogai on which Periyapuranam rests. The Lord had tocreate some reason for Sundarar’s life on earth andbrought about a situation in Kailasa when AalalaSundarar’s gaze strays upon two of Parvati’s femaleassistants. Sundarar is taken aback when Siva pronouncesthe order of banishment from Kailasa. But he soonunderstands the Lord’s wish and accedes, but not beforeextracting a promise from Him that He would personallyintervene in his earthly life and take him back into His fold.He knows that none but the Lord can release earthlyinhabitants from the power of Maya that binds them tosamsara. The Lord unfolds a course of events to removethis veil of Maya and reveal the purpose of his birth. Heprevents Sundarar from marrying the girl selected by hisparents. Sundarar is beholden to the Lord’s compassionand his hymns ring with the force of viveka and jnananecessary to uplift one from the depths of samsara.

Purpose of earthly sojourn

FAITH

Sudoku is a mind game and a

puzzle that you solve with

reasoning and logic. Fill in the grid

with digits in such a manner that

every row, every column and

every 3x3 box accommodates the

digits 1 to 9, without repeating

any.

TODAY'S SOLUTIONS

GOESDOWNREGARD

ARAEYSLE

NASHVILLEQUITS

GTILTUBO

TWINERINITIAL

HCERA

INIMICALDESIST

SLDWLE

ONEIDAAIRMILES

LILOI

AWKWARDDANUBE

THLEBEEO

IRATEBOOBYTRAP

NKCTAEAU

GAIETYGRIDDLES

VARIETY

SU | DO | KU

1 Drops good news for a change(4,4)

5 Reputation of The Pleasure

Garden (6)

10 Poet gets very sick on reachingterminal of the city (9)

11 Leaves rather shortly before thestart of show (5)

12 Twister time, in this season ithappens early (6)

22 With king stuck in a section, itgets tricky (7)

25 River's name, one passingEurope basically (6)

27 Angry after lift fails to start (5)

28 Error by an individual turninginto something explosive (5,4)

29 Cheerfulness shown by girl, onethat's typically disheartened (6)

30 Plates with good sieves (8)

13 One in LA, it could be this (7)

14 Harmful material smuggled intoIndiana and Illinois (8)

15 To some extent, made sister giveup (6)

18 A1 US lawyer, Native American(6)

20 Reveal market leader's liesabout rewards program (3,5)

INDORE: The rise of the youngkid on the block, Prithvi Shaw,has warmed the cockles ofmany a heart in Mumbai’scricketing circles and more soin the Mumbai squad, whichsaw him in action for the firsttime in many years at Rajkotlast week.

Captain Aditya Tare admit-ted he had not watched Shaw

bat in the last threeseasons and sowhen he scored acentury againstTamil Nadu in theRanji semifinals,Tare and coachChandrakant Panditfelt the problem offinding a soundopening batsman

had been solved before the fi-nal against Gujarat, set to startat the Holkar Cricket Stadiumhere on Tuesday.

Nayar factor

While Tare, Pandit and theselectors will be pleased withfinding an opening pair thatcan be relied upon to deliver,they are also happy that theseasoned Abhishek Nayar has

deployed all his means in theknock-out matches.

After entering the field withvarious combinations, Mum-bai has managed to find theright men for the business-endof the tournament that it haswon 41 times; absent though isseamer Dhawal Kulkarni. Theselectors have added left-armspinner Vishal Dabholkar togive Tare a choice between Vi-jay Gohil and Dabholkar.

The penultimate First Class

match of the season promisesmuch because there is a newchallenger in Gujarat, whichhas flaunted its batting poten-tial and depth in no uncertainterms. It has not been weigheddown by the reputation of op-ponents and captain ParthivPatel has said that the WestZone team is no pushover.

Gujarat has banked on itsbatting force right from thestart. Openers Priyank Panchaland Samit Gohil have had

triple centuries to their creditthis season. They are followedby fearless stroke-players likeBhargav Merai, Manprit Junejaand Parthiv himself.

Mumbai’s Shardul Thakurcould ask questions of theirtechnique and nerve but, asthey have repeatedly provenagainst a variety of bowlers inthe league, they should not befound wanting.

Gujarat will not have fast-bowler Jasprit Bumrah to share

the new ball with left-armseamer R.P. Singh as he hasbeen chosen for the limited-over series against England.

In his absence, Parthiv mayprefer Chintan Gaja, whocoach Vijay Patel said was sim-ilar in bowling style to Ab-hishek Nayar. Rush Kalaria,who had hurt his bowlingshoulder, turned his arm overat the nets on Monday after un-dergoing treatment inBengaluru.

The captains will pick theteam after having a look atpitch; the ground staf gave it acrop on Sunday and watered it.There is grass cover too. Theseamers have thrived here andthe batsmen who make runswill be a satisfied lot.

Mumbai is in quest of its42nd title and Gujarat its first,entering the final after 66 sea-sons. The teams went throughtheir practice sessions with theintensity characteristic of theeve of a big match.

The teams (from):Mumbai: Aditya Tare (capt/wk),

Akhil Herwadkar, Prithvi Shaw,Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav,Siddhesh Lad, Abhishek Nayar,Shardul Thakur, Balwinder SinghSandhu, Tushar Deshpande, VishalDabholkar, Royston Dias, SufiyanShaikh, Vijay Gohil, Akshay Girap,Eknath Kerkar and Praful Waghela.

Gujarat: Parthiv Patel (capt/wk),Priyank Panchal, Samit Gohil, Bhar-gav Merai, Manprit Juneja, RujulBhatt, Chirag Gandhi, Hardik Patel,Chintan Gaja,, R.P. Singh, RushKalaria, Ishwar Chaudhary, DhruvRaval, Karan Patel and Mehul Patel.

Umpires: Anil Chaudhary andNitin Menon; Third umpire: K.Srinath;

Match Referee: Manu Nayyar.

Stage set for an exciting summit clash41-time champion Mumbai takes on second-time finalist Gujarat

G. VISWANATH

PREP TIME: Mumbai players slog it out at the Holkar Cricket Stadium ahead of the Ranji final against Gujarat. Right:Gujarat pacerR.P. Singh hones his skill in an unusual way! — PHOTOS: K. MURALI KUMAR

INDORE: Gujarat captain ParthivPatel and coach Vijay Patel arenot surprised their team hasreached the Ranji Trophy finalto challenge Mumbai.

This Gujarat team has playedto its strength and this is whatParthiv highlighted after aworkout on Monday.

“If you look at our team, wehave played about 4-5 finals inthe shorter formats in the last4-5 years. The guys know theimportance of the game andeveryone is mature enough.

“They have been playingfirst-class cricket for almostsix-seven years. There havebeen a few who have been apart of the IPL as well.

“They know what pressure isall about. And we have playedagainst the biggest teams in 6-7years; whether it is against Viru(Sehwag) or other big playersand teams.

When asked what reachingthe final meant to Gujaratcricket, Parthiv said: “It is a bigmoment for all of us. We haveworked really hard.

“There are people backhome who know how muchhard work we have put in, howmuch planning we have doneto get qualified.

“I am sure playing a Ranji fi-nal will encourage a lot of ju-nior guys to step in and try andpush because they know

whenever they come into theRanji team, they will be cominginto a very strong side, so theywill have to raise their standardas well. That will encourage alot of youngsters to push them-selves and become betterplayers.”

“Pressure is somethingwhich depends upon an indi-vidual and a team atmosphereas well. We will be quiterelaxed.

Not worried

“We are not worried aboutthe outcome. Throughout theseason, we have believed in theprocess and we are quite happyto go in to the final. There is nopoint of putting extra pressureof a final. We deservingly arehere because we have playedwell,” said Parthiv.

Asked about the mindset of ateam playing Mumbai, Parthivsaid: “This is something verybig for us. We have grown upwatching Mumbai cricket inWest Zone. We always lookforward to compete againstthem and beat them. “We havebeaten them in one-day andT20 format but in the RanjiTrophy, in the recent past, onlyonce we have got the lead. As Isaid we have learned a lot fromMumbai cricket.

“A lot of guys have playedTimes Shield and club cricket;they go to Mumbai and learn alot of things.’’

A big moment for all of us: Parthiv G. VISWANATH

PUNE: The elite Indian cueists,including former world cham-pion Pankaj Advani andformer Asian billiards cham-pion Sourav Kothari, will beseen in action at the ManishaNational billiards and snookerchampionship to be held at thePYC Gymkhana from January12. — PTI

Natl. billiards and snookerfrom Jan. 12

NEW DELHI: Mritunjay Badolabounced back after beingblanked in the first set to out-wit second seed Hua-Chen Yuof Chinese Taipei 0-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) in the boys’ first round ofthe ITF grade-2 junior tennistournament here on Monday.

In the girls’ section, Sab-hyata Nihalani got past fourthseed Lexie Stevens of theNetherlands 6-4, 6-4.

The results (first round): Boys:Uisung Park (Kor) bt Sacchitt Sharma6-2, 6-1; Arthru Craig Pantio (Phi) btSrivatsa Ratakonda 6-4, 6-2; ParikshitSomani bt Joshua Bode (USA) 7-6(9),7-5; Alex Solanki bt Drona Walia 6-3,6-4; Dostanbek Tashbulatov (Kaz) 7-5,6-0; Rishabh Sharda bt ShashankTheertha 6-4, 3-6, 6-4; Roko Savin(Cro) bt Siddharth Thakran 6-2, 6-1;Hazem Naow (Syr) bt ShramayDhawan 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-3; Nitin KumarSinha bt Tonkla Mulada (Tha) 7-6(1),3-6, 6-2; Mritunjay Badola bt Hua-Chen Yu (Tpe) 0-6, 6-4, 7-6(4).

Girls: Zeel Desai bt Shivani Man-janna 6-1, 6-0; Priska Madelyn Nu-groho(Ina) bt Sathwika Sama 6-2, 6-1;Victoria Kalaitzis (Bel) bt MuskanGupta 6-4, 7-5; Mai Napatt Nirundorn(Tha) bt Tanisha Kashyap 6-2, 6-2;Sabhyata Nihalani bt Lexie Stevens(Ned) 6-4, 6-4; Eunji Oh (Kor) btSravya Shivani 6-1, 6-3; YasminaKarimjanova (Uzb) bt Shivani Amineni6-1, 2-6, 6-2; Akanksha Bhan btGemma Heath (GBr) 6-4, 6-4; Kuan YiLee (Tpe) bt Yubarani Banerjee 6-3,6-3; Esther Adeshina (GBr) bt RiddhiRamesh Sharma 6-2, 6-1; VaidehiChaudhari bt Vernika Pepelayaeva(Rus) 6-0, 5-7, 6-2; Mihika Yadav btHarsha Sai Challa 6-1, 6-1; Rhea Vermabt Aesha Patel (USA) 6-2, 6-3; Manan-chaya Sangkaew (Tha) bt ShivaniIngle 6-1, 6-0. — SpecialCorrespondent

Mritunjay stunsHua-Chen Yu

INDORE: Gujarat skipper ParthivPatel says he’s happy with theway Jasprit Bumrah is bowling.

When asked whether Bumrahwas ready for Test cricket, Parthivsaid: “As a ’keeper and captain, Iam quite happy the way he isbowling.

There are the selectors whowill definitely take a call over thecourse of time.”

Parthiv was not anxious abouthis bowling department gettingdepleted by Bumrah’s absence.

“Jasprit deserves to play forIndia. If he is not around, he is notaround.

“We can’t do anything aboutit, but as a team, it gives anopportunity for another bowler tostep in and do well.

“We always knew that if got tothe final, he won’t be therebecause he has done so well forIndia in one-day cricket and wasa surety to be picked.

“We have won a couple ofgames this season without(left-arm spinner) Axar Patel andJasprit; so we can take thisconfidence into the final.”

‘Bumrahdeserves toplay for India’

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

HYDERABAD: Far Sight has an edgeover his rivals in the Hyderabad Ju-venile Million (1,400m), the chiefevent of the races to be held here onTuesday (Jan. 10).

1 ADLER PLATE (1,600m), 4-y-o & over, rated 40 to 70 (Cat. II),12-40 p.m.: 1. Wonder Eye (8) A MTograllu 60, 2. Top Contender (4)Suraj Narredu 58.5, 3. Miracle King(3) Srinath 57.5, 4. The Blue (5) N.Rawal 55.5, 5. Grand Canyon (6) A.A. Vikrant 54, 6. Silver Dollar (2)Kuldeep Singh 52.5, 7. Coruba (7) K.Mukesh Kumar 52 and 8. Mahathi(1) P. Trevor 52.1. Mahathi, 2. Top Contender, 3.Silver Dollar

2 ANMOL RATAN PLATE(Div. I), (1,100m), maiden 3-y-o only(Cat. II), (Terms), 1-10: 1. City OfSails (4) K. Sai Kiran 55, 2. JumeiraExpress (7) P. Trevor 55, 3. NewHope (2) K. Mukesh Kumar 55, 4.Sugar Land (3) Kunal Bunde 55, 5.Turf Legend (5) Deepak Singh 55, 6.Ashka Ashka Ashka (8) Aneel 53.5,7. Palace On Wheels (9) DeepShanker 53.5, 8. Tough Princess (6)Ajeeth Kumar 53.5 and 9. Withrose-makeup (1) Ajit Singh 53.5.1. Palace On Wheels, 2. JumieraExpress, 3. New Hope

3 HYDERABAD JUVENILEMILLION (1,400m), maiden 3-y-oonly (Terms), 1-40: 1. Bayrd (4)Beuzelin 56, 2. Far Sight (5) SurajNarredu 56, 3. Highly Acclaimed (2)Srinath 56, 4. Tootsie Roll (3) P.Trevor 56 and 5. China Millennium(1) Akshay Kumar 54.5. 1. Far Sight, 2. China Millennium

4 ANMOL RATAN PLATE(Div. II), (1,100m), maiden 3-y-oonly (Cat. II), (Terms), 2-10: 1. FaceThe Facts (1) G. Naresh 55, 2.Moondancer (6) P. S. Chouhan 55, 3.Reach The Heights (2) Sai Kumar55, 4. True Hymn (8) Suraj Narredu55, 5. Warrior Supreme (7) Srinath55, 6. Asteria (9) P. Trevor 53.5, 7.

Glorious Grey (4) Deepak Singh53.5, 8. Negress Princess (3) Ak-shay Kumar 53.5 and 9. Takisha (5)Deep Shanker 53.5. 1. Warrior Supreme, 2. Takisha,3. True Hymn

5 BAILE LALITH PERSHADMEMORIAL CUP (Div. II),(1,100m), 5-y-o & over, rated 46 to70 (Cat. II), 2-45: 1. Par Excellence(10) A. A. Vikrant 60, 2. Columbus(7) Aneel 59.5, 3. Legend (4) Sai Ku-mar 59.5, 4. Brilliant Twist (8) AjitSingh 58, 5. Kohinoor Grace (1)Kunal Bunde 58, 6. WhisperingPines (6) Kuldeep Singh 56, 7.Egyptian Wind (11) A M Tograllu54, 8. Aakash Vani (2) Ajeeth Ku-mar 53.5, 9. Golden Angel (3) G.Naresh 53, 10. Military Cross (9) B.R. Kumar 53 and 11. Time Is Luck(5) P. Gaddam 53. 1. Time Is Luck, 2. KohinoorGrace, 3. Par Excellence

6 SRI A. S. KRISHNA ME-MORIAL CUP (1,600m), 4-y-o &over, rated 86 & above (Cat. I), 3-15: 1. Vijay Viraaj (3) Srinath 60, 2.Supreme Fairy (9) K. Mukesh Ku-mar 57, 3. Alameda (6) P. Trevor55.5, 4. Happy Guy (4) P. S.Chouhan 55.5, 5. Red Rambble (5)Gopal Singh 55.5, 6. Net Champ (1)Beuzelin 53.5, 7. Commanding Boy(7) N. Rawal 53, 8. Vijay Vaish-navee (8) P. Gaddam 53 and 9.Baashagar (2) Akshay Kumar 52.5. 1. Vijay Viraaj, 2. Happy Guy, 3.Red Rambble

7 BAILE LALITH PERSHADMEMORIAL CUP (Div. I),(1,100m), 5-y-o & over, rated 46 to70 (Cat. II), 3-50: 1. Rubyonrails (4)P. Trevor 60, 2. Super Falcon (7) S.Sreekant 60, 3. Mighty Swing (10)P. S. Chouhan 59.5, 4. Camborne(6) Kuldeep Singh 56.5, 5. SprintLegend (12) N. Rawal 54, 6. Fab-ulous Jewel (11) G. Naresh 53.5, 7.Catherine (2) B. R. Kumar 52, 8.Perfection (9) K. Mukesh Kumar51.5, 9. Midnight In Paris (8) Md.

Sameeruddin 50.5, 10. Naamdhari(5) P. Gaddam 50.5, 11. Picture Per-fect (3) Sai Kumar 50.5 and 12. Sym-bol Of Glory (1) Ajeeth Kumar 50. 1. Camborne, 2. Rubyonrails, 3.Catherine

8 MEMBERS CUP (1,600m), 5-y-o & over, rated 26 to 50 (Cat. III),4-25: 1. Lavender (14) N. S. Rathore60, 2. Hard Fought (3) P. Trevor 59,3. Upon A Star (2) N. Rawal 59, 4.Aware (10) Kuldeep Singh 56.5, 5.Proud Image (4) K. Mukesh Ku-mar 56.5, 6. Sea Change (6)Beuzelin 55, 7. Exclusive Mon-archy (7) K. Sai Kiran 54.5, 8.Forever Bullish (5) Aneel 53.5, 9.Hal Chal (13) G. Naresh 53.5, 10.Prudently Perfect (8) Kiran Naidu53.5, 11. Cash For Rank (12) A. S.Pawar 53, 12. Man Of The Series (1)Akshay Kumar 53, 13. Buckshee (11)Ajeeth Kumar 52 and 14. Dhool KaPhool (ex: Rose 'D' Mumtaz) (9)Ajit Singh 52. 1. Sea Change, 2. Hard Fought,3. Dhool Ka Phool

9 HOVERCRAFT PLATE(1,200m), 4-y-o & over, rated upto30 (Cat. III), 5-00: 1. Yes Baby (3)Md. Sameeruddin 62, 2. DistrictAttorney (14) Sai Kumar 60.5, 3. Di-vine Heights (11) N. Rawal 59.5, 4.Golden Joy (10) K. Mukesh Kumar59.5, 5. Mexican Rose (6) B. R. Ku-mar 59.5, 6. Take A Bow (8) N. S.Rathore 59, 7. Cruiser (7) K. SaiKiran 58.5, 8. Kohinoor Flare (13) S.Sreekant 57.5, 9. Princess (9) KiranNaidu 57, 10. Play It Cool (4) Aneel55.5, 11. Our Ensign (12) P. Gaddam54.5, 12. Rosecoloredglasses (1)Khurshad Alam 54.5, 13. Arracache(2) Deepak Singh 51 and 14. Ko-hinoor Love (5) Kunal Bunde 50.5.1. Golden Joy, 2. Play It Cool, 3.Yes BabyDay's best: Far SightDouble: Time Is Luck - VijayViraajJkt: 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9; Tr (i): 1, 2 & 3; (ii): 4,5 & 6; (iii): 7, 8 & 9; Tla: all races.

Far Sight has an edge

HYDERABAD: Mr Abdul Azeez’sRoyal Sceptre (S.Zervan up) wonthe Raja Bahadur Venkatram ReddyMemorial Cup, the main event ofthe races held here on Monday. NeilDarashah trains the winner.

1. RAJA BAHADUR VEN-KATRAM REDDY ME-MORIAL CUP (2,400m), Cat. II,4-y-o & over, rated 66 to 90: RoyalSceptre (S. Zervan) 1, WesternWind (P. Trevor) 2, Valerian Steel(P.S. Chouhan) 3, Tiger (MukeshKumar) 4. 3-1/2, 1, 1. 2m 31.50s. Rs. 7(w), 5 & 8 (p), SHP: Rs. 11, FP: Rs. 12,Q: Rs. 9, Tanala: Rs. 53. Favourite:Royal Sceptre. Owner: Mr. AbdulAzeez. Trainer: Neil Darashah.

2. ROMAN BEAUTY PLATE(D. II), (1,200m), Cat. II, maiden fil-lies 3-y-o only (Terms): Top

Starchy (Suraj Narredu) 1, Lim-ousine (Beuzelin Louis) 2, Raajneeti(S S Tanwar) 3, Jasmine Garden (P.Trevor) 4. Not run: Sweetie Pie. 1-3/4, 1-1/4, shd. 1m 14.11s. Rs. 19 (w), 5,5, 17 (p), SHP: Rs. 18, FP: Rs. 41, Q: Rs.11, Tanala: Rs. 216. Favourite: Lim-ousine. Owners: Mr. A.K. Jaiswal &Kunwar Digvijay Singh Shekhawat.Trainer: Anupam Sharma.

3. ROMAN BEAUTY PLATE(D. I), (1,200m), Cat. II, maiden fil-lies 3-y-o only (Terms): LuckyNicky (Mukesh Kumar) 1, NewsO'Star (P. Trevor) 2, Exclusive Sym-bol (P. Ajeeth Kumar) 3, Sharp Eye(P.S. Chouhan) 4. 2, 3/4, 4. 1m 14.35s.Rs. 48 (w), 11, 7, 9 (p), SHP: Rs. 15, FP:Rs. 252, Q: Rs. 81, Tanala: Rs. 1203.Favourite: Sharp Eye. Owners: M/s.D. Balarama Raju, K.T.Raidu &

Chalapathi Rao Parimi. Trainer: MSatyanarayana.

4. SARDAR MOHAN SINGHBAGGA MEMORIAL CUP(1,400m), Cat. II, 4-y-o & over, rated46 to 70: Mirfield (P. Sai Kumar) 1,George Cross (Y.S. Srinath) 2,Magna Carta (P.Trevor) 3, Batur(Beuzelin Louis) 4. 1/2, 1/2, 1/4. 1m26.80s. Rs. 13 (w), 6, 10, 7 (p), SHP:Rs. 31, FP: Rs. 115, Q: Rs. 49, Tanala:Rs. 292. Favourite: Mirfield. Owner:Mr. Teja Gollapudi. Trainer: Lax-man Singh.

5. BANARSILAL GUPTAMEMORIAL CUP (D. II),(1,100m), Cat. III, rated 26 to 50:Platinum (A.A. Vikrant) 1, KingDavid (Beuzelin Louis) 2, Matica(Ajit Singh) 3, Royal Dynamite (B.R.Kumar) 4. 3-1/4, 1-1/4, 1. 1m 06.14s.

Rs. 61 (w), 15, 9, 65 (p), SHP: Rs. 20,FP: Rs. 429, Q: Rs. 182, Tanala: Rs.10768. Favourite: Mandy. Owners:M/s. K. Ramakrishna, K. Mallikar-juna Rao, Mirza Ayub Baig & Mo-hammed Rashed Ali Khan. Trainer:S.S.F. Hassan.

6. MIGHT IS RIGHT PLATE(1,200m), Cat. II, 4-y-o only, rated 46to 70: Preciosa (Beuzelin Louis) 1,Paprika (Praveen Gaddam) 2, SevenColours (P. Trevor) 3, ScoobyDooby Doo (Ajit Singh) 4. Not run:Without Makeup. 1-1/2, 1-1/4, 1/2. 1m12.42s. Rs. 11 (w), 6, 8, 8 (p), SHP: Rs.20, FP: Rs. 42, Q: Rs. 27, Tanala: Rs.170. Favourite: Preciosa. Owners:Dr. K. Hemachandrudu, M/s. G.Krishnamohan Rao & Alluri AjayKumar. Trainer: D. Netto.

7. STARSKY PLATE (1,400m),

Cat. III, 4-y-o & over, rated 26 to 50:Sweet March (Beuzelin Louis) 1,Negress Pearl (Akshay Kumar) 2,Euro Zone (P.S. Chouhan) 3, Palis-ades Park (P. Trevor) 4. 1-1/4, 1-1/4,3/4. 1m 26.65s. Rs. 28 (w), 9, 12, 8 (p),SHP: Rs. 34, FP: Rs. 309, Q: Rs. 136,Tanala: Rs. 777. Favourite: EuroZone. Owners: Mr. P. PrabhakarReddy & Dr. Peddi ReddyPrabhakar Reddy. Trainer: D. Netto.

8. BANARSILAL GUPTAMEMORIAL CUP (D. I),(1,100m), Cat. III, rated 26 to 50: Ra-gas Ajalias (K Sai Kiran) 1, Ikigai(G Naresh) 2, Born To Do It (Ak-shay Kumar) 3, Chinese Thought(A.A. Vikrant) 4. 1-1/4, 1, 3/4. 1m60.42 s. Rs. 16 (w), 8, 11, 7 (p), SHP:Rs. 35, FP: Rs. 137, Q: Rs. 77, Tanala:Rs. 390. Favourite: Ragas Ajalias.

Owners: M/s. Sunder Peshwani &D. Balarama Raju. Trainer: M.Satyanarayana.

9. DARK ANGEL PLATE(1,400m), Cat. III, 5-y-o & over,rated upto 30: Pretty Star (B.R. Ku-mar) 1, Dorian (Mukesh Kumar) 2,Amazing Power (G Naresh) 3,Golden Xanthus (Md Sameeruddin)4. 1/2, 4-1/2, 1-3/4. 1m 28.53s. Rs. 13(w), 7, 22, 10 (p), SHP: Rs. 66, FP: Rs.185, Q: Rs. 139, Tanala: Rs. 706. Fa-vourite: Pretty Star. Owners: M/s. T.Rakesh Reddy, Premanand Sug-andhi, Gongireddy RamachandraReddy & Ashok Rupani. Trainer:Anupam Sharma.

Treble (i): Rs. 165 (219 tkts.), (ii):Rs. 330(164 tkts.), (iii): Rs. 373 (397tkts.); Consolation: Rs. 496 (444tkts.); Jackpot: Rs. 4997 (103 tkts.)

Royal Sceptre wins the Raja Bahadur Venkatram Reddy Memorial Cup

VADODRA: V. Laasya Subraman-yam of Telangana became thefirst to book her berth in the ju-nior girls’ main draw when shesent Kushi Viswanath ofKarnataka, the Group 1 leader,packing with a shock 3-2 ver-dict in the 11Even Sports 78thjunior and youth Nationalchampionships at the SAMAIndoor Complex here onMonday.

Among the boys, Delhi’sYashansh Malik, UP’s SarthakSeth, Maharashtra’sAniruddha Marathe and Tel-angana’s HarshavardhanLahoti notched up easy winsfrom the top five groups. Miss-ing the bus was Gujarat’sIshaan Hingorani, group 4leader, who lost his openingmatch to PSPBA’s Satyam GiriGupta 2-3, putting his qualific-ation in jeopardy.

With 48 and 56 players toqualify for the second stage ofthe junior boys’ and girls’events respectively, openingthe first match with a good winis always ideal. Unfortunately,it wasn’t the case with Kushiand Ishaan. As a result, theybowed out without making animpression in the all-import-ant Nationals, particularlywith selectors sitting down topick the national campers totrain for the 2020 and 2024Olympic Games.

With just one out of tworounds slated for the day com-pleted in youth boys and girls’singles, the big names are ex-pected to advance to the maindraw, as only 56 and 40 youthboys and girls can make the cutfrom as many groups, com-prising approximately 300players. They will be joined bythe eight top-ranked players,who have earned their byesbecause of their rankings, ineach section and will be seenaction from Tuesday. —Sports Bureau

Laasya surprisesKushi

NEW DELHI: Ministry of Commu-nication and InformationTechnology defeated DelhiAudit 3-1 to clinch the men’steam championship in theInter-ministry badmintontournament at the AIIMSGymkhana.

The women’s title went toDelhi Audit as it beat Ministryof Defence 2-0.

The results:

Team championship: Men, fi-nal: Ministry of Communication andIT bt Delhi Audit 3-1 (Amit Sharma btRajeev Sharma 21-15, 21-18; SurendarKumar lost to Vijay Sharma 5-21, 7-21; Amit a & Abhinav Prakash bt VijaySharma & Nitin Suman 21-15, 21-12;Abhinav bt Sunil Yadav 21-12, 21-15).

Third place: Ministry of Defencebt Ministry of Labour 3-0.

Women (final): Delhi Audit btMinistry of Defence 2-0 (SwatiSharma bt

Ruchika Aswal 21-15, 21-17;Sheetal Kargoti & Rachita Sahdev btAnnie

Pawan & Varsha Kohli 21-18,21-12).

Third place: Ministry of ExternalAffairs bt Civil Aviation 2-0.

Ministry ofCommunicationand IT triumphs

LONDON: Manchester Unitedmanager Jose Mourinho haspledged to bring out the heavyartillery for Tuesday’s LeagueCup semifinal first-leg at hometo Premier League basementclub Hull City.

United cruised into the FACup fourth round on Saturdayafter registering an eighth con-secutive win by crushingsecond-tier Reading 4-0 at OldTraford. It faces a showdownwith fellow League Cup semi-finalist Liverpool in the leagueat the weekend, but with a dayout at Wembley only 180minutes away, Mourinho doesnot want to take any chances.

“We play against Liverpool,a big match for us, but we wantto be in the final,” he said.

“So we are going to face thisHull match with everythingwe have, all the power wehave, as we know it’s two legs,but the second leg is away.

“If we can do something inthe first-leg that gives us theadvantage.”

Wayne Rooney equalledBobby Charlton’s United scor-ing record by netting his 249thgoal for the club against Read-ing, but he is likely to drop tothe bench against Hull.

Centre-back Marcos Rojo isa doubt after being withdrawnagainst Reading with a muscu-lar problem. With Eric Baillyhaving departed for the AfricaCup of Nations with IvoryCoast, it could leave Phil Jonesand Chris Smalling asManchester United’s only fitsenior centre-backs. —AFP

United, Liverpoolvie for final spot

CMYK

ND-ND

SPORT | 19THE HINDU TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2017

NOIDA/DELHI

PUDUCHERRY: It was billed as aprecursor to the final and it re-mained that way till the end.

The women’s Group Amatch between defendingchampion Indian Railwaysand Chhattisgarh went to thewire with the former winning71-68, at the 67th senior Na-tional basketball champion-ships here on Monday. Later,Kerala made mincemeat ofDelhi’s defence in its 62-40victory in women’s Group Bfor its third straight win.

Chhattisgarh relies heavilyon the 6’11” PoonamChaturvedi. Though not thebest of movers on court, onceshe has the ball in her hands,none can come close to touch-ing even her fingers.

The 20-year-old fumbled onand of with her shooting, butdid what was expected of her.

Her second successivematch tally of 40 or morepoints showed the team’s de-pendence on her.

Railways remained unfazedas it counted on its set patternsand admirable speed.

Trailing by a point at 69-68with less than eight secondsremaining, Poonam was ad-judged to be obstructing whenshe was getting ready at herend. Sitamani Tudu gleefullyconverted the two free throwsfor a morale-boosting win forthe 27-time champion.

The Kerala women’s teamhas been an under-achiever atthe Nationals. It has won the

title only once and emergedrunner-up six times. This timearound, it looks well-settledthough there is scope for im-provement in shooting.

In the 80-44 win over Delhi,last year’s finalist Kerala hasshowed it can challenge the

might of Railways andChhattisgarh.

After dominating the firstquarter, Kerala continued toshow no mercy in the next tooand scored 25 points to Delhi’sthree. Jenny was outstandingin steals and shooting in the

second for Kerala. In another women’s Group

B match, Tamil Nadu re-gistered its second consecut-ive win, beating West Bengal74-23. Earlier, it had defeatedDelhi 72-68.

In the men’s section, eight-time champion Punjabsufered its second successivedefeat, this time to Kerala 88-77 in Group A.

Albin Baby and Akhil scrip-ted Kerala’s victory. WhileAkhil scored heavily with hisdrive-ins, Albin sizzled withhis three-pointers.

Karnataka topped Group Awith an all-win record, the 76-73 win over Haryana being theicing on the cake.

The results: Men: Level-1:Group A: Karnataka 76 (Anil Kumar26, Rajesh Uppar 14, Naveen 13, A.Aravind 12) bt Haryana 73 (Pardeep24, Vikas Mor 16, Naveen 15); Kerala88 (A.R. Akhil 29, Albin Baby 20) btPunjab 77 (Gurvinder Singh 22, Arsh-preet Singh 19, Talwinder Singh 16).

Group B: Indian Railways 64 (Pal-preet Singh 30) bt Chhattisgarh 53(M. Rudraksh 22); Indian Railways 83(Palpreet Singh 30, S. Himanshu 19,Gaganjeet 14) bt Gujarat 61 (HarpalSingh 15, Kasirajan 10).

Women: Level-1: Group A: In-dian Railways 71 (Madhu Kumari 20,Sitamani Tudu 14, R. Rajapriyadhar-shini 14, P. Anitha 11) bt Chhattisgarh68 (Poonam Chaturvedi 42, Sharan-jeet Kaur 17).

Group B: Kerala 80 (P.S. Jeena 22,P.G. Anjana 12, Rojamol 11) bt Delhi44 (Raspreet Sidhu 29); Tamil Nadu74 (K. Prithi 15, K.K. Sruthi 15, S. ShriVidhya 11) bt West Bengal 23.

Railways women edge out ChhattisgarhBASKETBALL / Kerala demolishes Delhi; Punjab men suffer second straight loss

K. KEERTHIVASAN

NARROW WIN: R. Rajapriyadharshini (left) scores for Railways,which relied on set patterns and admirable speed to put itacross Chhattisgarh on Monday. — PHOTO: S.S. KUMAR

BENGALURU: Badminton Associ-ation of India (BAI) presidentAkhilesh Das Gupta is de-lighted with the 11-pointformat used in the ongoingPremier Badminton League(PBL).

The PBL is one of the mostpopular tournaments to em-ploy this shortened format,which was conceived in an ef-fort to make the sport morespectator andtelevision-friendly.

The more traditional eventsare played in the 21-point,best-of-three games format.

“The Badminton WorldFederation (BWF) wants themember nations to trial the 11-point, best-of-five gamesformat.

“Because of time con-

straints and television viewer-ship concerns, we decided touse the 11-point, best-of-threegames format in the PBL. TheBAI technical staf, Nationalcoach Gopi Chand and I arevery happy to see that Indianplayers have been doing verywell in this 11-point system,”Akhilesh said here.

Akhilesh added that discus-sions were on to launch newPBL teams from Ahmedabadand Jammu & Kashmir. Hestated that BAI was likely tostart a new league, which willsee only Indian players inaction.

“This domestic league willbe separate from the seniorNationals. All the top Indianplayers, including Saina Ne-hwal and P.V. Sindhu, will beasked to compete. We willmake an announcement on

this soon,” he said.He confirmed that BAI had

recruited seven foreigncoaches. “They should startnext month. The sevencoaches will work in cities likeBengaluru, Lucknow andHyderabad.

“We might appoint a fewcoaches for the northeast re-gion as there is a lot of talentthere,” he said.

Akhilesh explained that BAIcould not be expected to buildtheir own national trainingcentres.

“BAI is not rich enough toprovide complete infrastruc-ture. We have to depend onState bodies, Sports Authorityof India, colleges or private en-tities for facilities. Once the in-frastructure is in place, we cansend our best players andcoaches there,” he said.

Akhilesh happy with 11-point formatASHWIN ACHAL

NEW DELHI: Most of the resultsfollowed a predictable course,but some Grandmasters andInternational Masters en-countered unexpected roadblocks in the opening round ofthe 15th Delhi InternationalOpen chess tournament hereon Monday.

As is expected in a SwissLeague format, where the top-half of the draw plays the bot-tom-half, a large number of fa-vourites duly won. But thenews-makers were those whostole the thunder by punchingabove their weight.

Sixth seed S.L. Narayanan,Uzbekistan’s veteran MaratDzhumaev, Egypt’s HeshamAbdelrahman, IM AtanuLahiri, Anup Deshmukh, Pol-ish WGM Katarzyna Tomawere among those who failed

to get of to winning starts.Narayanan ran into a resol-

ute veteran Santosh KumarSinha and settled for a 60-move draw. The Kerala-ladwas better placed, but failed tobreak the defence of Sinha andeventually drew followingperpetual checks.

Lalith Babu gets a walkover

After second seed M.R. La-lith Babu received a walkover,two-time National championM. Karthikeyan had to dealwith some anxious momentsagainst local girl VantikaAgarwal who lost her wayafter attaining a fairly prom-ising position.

Much before top-seededTajikistan GM Farrukh Amon-atov needed 62 moves to over-power Aditya Mittal, Dzhu-maev played only 16 movesbefore splitting the point with

Soham Datar. D.B. Chandra Prasad

crashed to a shock 40-moveloss to Aditya Basu, rated 1967.

Bangladesh’s Sherajul KabirMohammad surprisingly heldIM S. Nitin in 60 moves, whileJitendra Kumar Chaudhary

held Egyptian GM Abdulrah-man Hesham in 63 moves.

Deshmukh blundered in awinning position and lost in 31moves to lowly-rated SambitPanda while Rakshitta Ravi,the 2015 World girls’ (un-der-10) champion provedequal to former Common-wealth champion IM AtanuLahiri in 58 moves. Mean-while, three GMs — Ukraine’sOlexandr Bortnyk, local boyVaibhav Suri and DebashisDas — pulled out of the event.

Earlier, the event was inaug-urated by Delhi’s DeputyChief Minister Manish Sisodiaafter Bharat Singh Chauhan,the CEO of the All India ChessFederation, announced thatnext year the event wouldcarry an enhanced prize-fundof ₨77.77 lakh — a whoppingraise of ₨26.70 lakh over thepresent purse of ₨51.51 lakh.

CHESS

Veteran Sinha holds NarayananRAKESH RAO

S.L. Narayanan.

BARCELONA: Barcelona’s LionelMessi rescued a 1-1 draw at Vil-larreal with a sensational latefree-kick in its La Liga clash onSunday but could not preventthe champion finishing theweekend third in the table, fivepoints behind leader RealMadrid.

Messi bent a stunning free-kick into the top corner in the90th minute after Villarreal’sNicola Sansone finished of abreakaway to open the scoringin the 50th. Barcelona has 35points from 17 games, one be-hind Sevilla, and trails a RealMadrid side which beatGranada 5-0 on Saturday, isunbeaten in all competitionsand has a game in hand.

The results: La Liga: Villarreal 1(Sansone 50) drew with Barcelona 1(Messi 90); Celta Vigo 3 (Aspas 7,Wass 60, Fontas 73) bt Malaga 1(Wass 86-og).

Serie A: Juventus 3 (Higuain 7, 55,Dybala 41-pen) bt Bologna 0; ACMilan 1 (Bacca 88) bt Cagliari 0.—Agencies

Messi deniesVillarreal

LOS ANGELES: Houston’s JamesHarden scored 40 points in his10th triple-double of the sea-son on Sunday as Rockets ral-lied to beat the Raptors 129-122in Toronto and notch up aneighth straight win.

The results: Los Angeles Lakers111 bt Orlando Magic 95; Detroit Pis-tons 125 bt Portland Trailblazers 124;Golden State Warriors 117 bt Sacra-mento Kings 106; Cleveland Cava-liers 120 bt Phoenix Suns 116; Mem-phis Grizzlies 88 bt Utah Jazz 79;Houston Rockets 129 bt TorontoRaptors 122; Los Angeles Clippers 98bt Miami Heat 86; Washington Wiz-ards 107 bt Milwaukee Bucks 101;Philadelphia 76ers 105 bt BrooklynNets 95. —Agencies

Rockets extendwinning streak

NEW DELHI: Seventh seed SriramBalaji fought his way throughthree rounds of the qualifyingevent in the $50,000 ATPChallenger tennis in Bangkok.

Vijay Sundar Prashanth andCorentin Moutet made thedoubles quarterfinals of the$75,000 Challenger inCanberra.

The results: $50,000 Chal-lenger: Bangkok: First round: EgorGerasimov (Blr) & Aslan Karatsev(Rus) bt Li Zhe (Chn) & Sriram Balaji6-4, 6-7(0), [10-3].

$75,000 Challenger: Canberra:First round: Corentin Moutet (Fra) &Vijay Sundar Prashanth bt ThomasFancutt & James Frawley (Aus) 6-3,7-5. — Sports Bureau

Sriram Balajiqualifies

RAMANATHAPURAM: RischikaThimmaiah scored four goalsin Hockey Coorg’s 10-0 victoryover Dadra & Nagar HaveliHockey Association in the B-division of the National sub-junior hockey tournament forwomen here on Sunday.

Ankita Dahiya scored a hat-trick as Hockey Him scored an8-1 win over HockeyRajasthan.

The results: Hockey MadhyaBharat 2 (Nandini Sikarwar, PriyankaYadav) bt Sports Authority of GujaratHockey Academy 1 (Khushi Patel);Hockey Him 8 (Ankita Dahiya-3, ArtiKashyap-2, Kirti, Srishti Bhojgi, Jyoti)bt Hockey Rajasthan 1 (ShivaniSahu); Hockey Himachal 1 (Kusum)bt Mumbai School Sports Associ-ation 0; The Mumbai Hockey Associ-ation 2 (Pallavi Shelar-2) bt KeralaHockey 1 (Khushi Singh); Hockey Ut-tarakhand 4 (Swati Kumari, Madhu,Khushi Kataria, Hema Singh Bisht) btTelangana Hockey 0; Hockey Coorg10 (B. Rischika Thimmaiah-4, B.Y.Ganavi-2, Padmavathi. S. Madali-2,B.M. Nithya, H.P. Sinchana) bt Dadra& Nagar Haveli Hockey Association0. — Sports Bureau

Hat-tricks byRischika, Ankita

BENGALURU: The BadmintonAssociation of India (BAI)has decided to expel itshon. general secretaryVijay Sinha, a decisiontaken at the BAI ExecutiveCommittee meeting heldhere on Monday.

Anup Narang has beennamed as Sinha’sreplacement.

“Sinha is facing a judicialinquiry with regard to thecharges of embezzlement,misappropriation, fraud,nepotism, favouritism,misconduct, harassment of

players,” a press releasefrom BAI stated.

Hike in prize moneyIn other developments, theBAI has decided toincrease the prize moneyawarded to chief nationalcoach P. Gopi Chand fromRs. 15 lakh to Rs. 25 lakh.

The committee hasapproved the addition oftwo more teams for thenext season of the PremierBadminton League.

The launch of a“Domestic BadmintonLeague”, only for Indianplayers, was also mooted.

PRINCIPAL CORRESPONDENT

BAI to sack Vijay Sinha

BENGALURU: Saina Nehwaledged out Cheung Ngan Yi 9-11, 11-5, 11-5 in a crucial rubberto guide Awadhe Warriorspast Bengaluru Blasters in thePremier Badminton League(PBL) here on Monday.

The victory took Awadhe tothe top of the points table, andall but guaranteed the fran-chise a spot in the semifinal.

Up 2-1 on match score, Sainatook on Yi(World No.19), inAwadhe’strump fix-ture. Yi

startled her opponent by tak-ing the first game 11-9.

Saina then clawed her wayback, thanks to some delicatenet play.

The Indian dragged Yi to allcorners of the court, and wenton to clinch the rubber.

The two points gained bySaina gave Awadhe an unas-sailable 4-1 lead.

Perfect start

In the opening men’s singlesencounter, Bengaluru’s Sour-abh Varma (World No. 44) puton a commendable show.Varma upset 17th-ranked Vin-cent Wong 13-11, 11-7 to give thehome side the perfect start.

Awadhe pulled level in thenext outing, with A. Savitreeand Bodin Isara taking outSung Hyun-Sikki Reddy in themixed doubles.

Bengaluru was let down byits star shuttler ViktorAxelsen.

The Olympic bronze medal-list was toppled by K. Srikanthin straight games.

The two players regularlyengaged in a battle of dropshots, and more often than not,it was Srikanth who came outon top.

On match point, Srikanthclosed it out with a stingingdown-the-line smash, relegat-

Saina clinches it for Warriors ASHWIN ACHAL

TRUMP CARD: Saina Nehwal came up with some delicate netplay against Cheung Ngan Yi in Awadhe Warriors’s winagainst Bengaluru Blasters. — PHOTO: G.P. SAMPATH KUMAR

ing Axelsen to his secondstraight defeat in this event.

Bengaluru, meanwhile,slipped to a fourth consecutivematch loss.

The results:Bengaluru Blasters lost to

Awadhe Warriors 3-4 (SourabhVarma bt Vincent Wong 13-11, 11-7;Sung Hyun & Sikki Reddy lost to A.Savitree & Bodin Isara 11-9, 4-11, 5-11;Viktor Axelsen lost to K. Srikanth 9-11, 9-11; Cheung Ngan lost to SainaNehwal (T) 11-9, 5-11, 5-11; Sung

Hyun & Yeon Seong (T) bt Shem Goh& Markis Kido 6-11, 11-9, 11-6).

On Sunday: Bengaluru Blasters lost to Mum-

bai Rockets 1-4 (Sourabh Varma lostto H.S. Prannoy 11-4, 6-11, 3-11; SungHyun Ko & Yeon Seong Yoo bt YongDae Lee & Nipitphon Puangpuapech11-7, 7-11, 11-5; Viktor Axelsen (T) lostto Ajay Jayaram 8-11, 9-11; CheungNgan Yi lost to Ji Hyun Sung (T) 7-11,8-11; Sung Hyan Ko & Sikki Reddy btNipitphon Puangpuapech & NadiezdaZieba 11-6, 11-7).

LIFE20 |THE HINDU TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2017

NOIDA/DELHI

Twitter boots former pharma executive Martin Shkreli for harassing journalist

Former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli has been suspended from Twitter forharassing a journalist who wrote a piece critical of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. Thejournalist, Lauren Duca, is a freelance reporter for Teen Vogue.

LOS ANGELES: Whimsical mod-ern-day musical La La Landpirouetted its way into majorOscars contention onSunday as it swept the boardat the Golden Globes, theglitziest party of the showbizyear.

Damien Chazelle’s nostal-gic tribute to the Golden Ageof Hollywood musicalspicked up all seven of thestatuettes for which it wasnominated — giving the filmmomentum as it launches itscampaign for next month’sAcademy Awards.

Its success struck an op-timistic note during a three-hour ceremony marked byimpassioned politicalspeeches voicing anxietyover Donald Trump’s elec-tion following a campaignwhich stirred simmering ra-cial tensions.

“This is a film for dream-ers,” said Emma Stone, whotook home the prize for bestactress in a musical/comedyfor her role as aspiring act-ress Mia. “I think that hopeand creativity are two of themost important things in theworld. And that’s what thismovie is about.”

Her co-star Ryan Gosling— who plays jazz pianist Se-bastian — won best actorhonours, while Chazelletook home prizes for bestdirector and screenplay.

Breaking records

La La Land had earnedawards for best originalscore and best song for Cityof Stars shortly after theglitzy ceremony began —setting the tone for a record-breaking night.

Prior to Sunday, the recordfor the most Globes wasshared by the 1975 releaseOne Flew Over the Cuckoo’s

Nest and the 1978 movieMidnight Express, with sixwins apiece.

Kenneth Lonergan’s un-flinching Manchester by theSea earned a Globe for CaseyAleck as best actor in adrama, but the film lost outto Barry Jenkins’s coming-of-age movie Moonlight forbest drama. But that covetedprize was the only one forMoonlight, a disappointinghaul considering it had sixnominations.

There was also a shock inthe best actress in drama cat-egory, where Natalie Port-man was expected to pick upthe award for her intenseturn as Jackie Kennedy inJackie. Instead, the awardwent to Isabelle Huppert forFrench rape-revenge tale

Elle, which also capturedbest foreign language filmover the heavily favouredGerman-Austrian dramedyToni Erdmann.

“It was wonderful to workwith you — you are wonder-ful. I love you, I love you, Ilove you,” Elle director PaulVerhoeven told Ms. Huppert.

Viola Davis picked up bestsupporting actress in a filmfor Fences, the screen adapt-ation of August Wilson’splay.

On the television side, FXtrue crime anthology ThePeople vs O.J. Simpson:American Crime Story tookhome prizes for best limitedseries or TV movie, and bestactress for Sarah Paulson forher portrayal of prosecutorMarcia Clark.

AMC crime drama TheNight Manager swept upthree acting prizes for TomHiddleston, Hugh Laurie andOlivia Colman. Netflix new-comer The Crown, a sagaabout Britain’s royal family,picked up statuettes for bestdrama series and best actressfor Claire Foy, who stars as ayoung Queen Elizabeth II.

Actor Donald Glover —who is due to star in the nextStar Wars spin-of film —picked up the best comedytelevision series award forAtlanta, which he created,and later won a best actorstatuette. For the first time,the arrival of Hollywood’s A-listers on the red carpet — atop moment for fashion lov-ers — was live-streamed onTwitter. — AFP

Damien Chazelle’s tribute to the golden age of Hollywood musicals becomes Oscar contender

The cast and crew of La La Land, which won the Golden Globe for the best motion picturemusical or comedy, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, on Sunday. — PHOTO: AP

La La Land waltzes awaywith 7 Golden Globes