english news paper | breaking news | latest today …...2019/01/26 · minister trivendra singh...

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Fish lovers are a worried lotafter wholesale traders and

vendors in the national Capitalcontinue to sell fish importfrom West Bengal and AndhraPradesh without tests and ver-ification. This is being donedespite the fact that laborato-ry tests confirmed presence ofhigh content of formalin andheavy metals like lead andcadmium in the consignmentsin Bihar. Bihar has recentlybanned fish sale whileJharkhand has issued alert onfish supply from these twocoastal States.

Interestingly, fish vendorsand wholesale traders inGhazipur fish market andSarojini Nagar in the nationalCapital appear to be ignorantabout the ban on fish sale inBihar. Traders say they have notbeen sounded about the for-malin content found in fishfrom Andhra Pradesh andWest Bengal.

It is estimated that 30-40per cent supply comes to Delhifrom these two coastal States.According to an estimate, Delhiconsumes 15-20 tonnes daily.Most are brought here fromAndhra Pradesh, Maharashtra,West Bengal, Gujarat WesternUP and Odisha. And given theCapital’s distance from these

States, preservation is a neces-sity since supplies take over aweek to reach the city markets.Used for preserving fish anddead bodies, formalin is a car-cinogenic substance, whileheavy metals such as lead,mercury and cadmium affecthuman kidneys, bones, liver,brain and reduce immunity.

Tarak Sinha who runs afish stall in Ghazipur, said thatmost household consumerscheck the gills for indication offreshness. Fresh fish have redgills, while those that are olderexhibit maroon gills.

A fish vendor at Sarojini

Nagar market said that despitethe dangers posed by formalin,the Delhi AgricultureMarketing Board (DAMB) hasnot yet taken any action, unlikeBihar and Jharkhand.

Ghazipur Fish and PoultryMarket chairman Nasir Alvitold The Pioneer that he wasnot aware about the formalincontent found in the fishimport from Andhra Pradeshand West Bengal.

Alvi also claimed that onlysmall quantity of fish comesfrom these two coastal Statesand fishes were tested by thesellers before being sold toretailers. “Authorities issuesadvisories from time to timebut traders do not abide them,”Alvi added. But traders say that30-40 per cent fish comes toDelhi from Andhra and WestBengal.

When asked, Delhi ChiefSecretary Vijay Dev said thatpanic would be created if advi-sory is issued. “The issue hascome into my knowledge, I will

take up the issue with theHealth Ministry,” Dev added.

As per reports from Bihar,excess level of formalin wasfound in seven out of 10 fishsamples sent to a central labo-ratory in Kolkata in October.The test report received by thedepartment last week alsofound heavy metals like lead,cadmium and mercury in allthe samples. Six out of the 10samples were of fish fromAndhra Pradesh, two eachfrom West Bengal and localponds and rivers.

On the other hand, reject-ing the allegations that fish fromAndhra contain formalin (atoxic chemical substance)Andhra Pradesh Chief MinisterN Chandrababu Naidu request-ed his counterpart in BiharNitish Kumar to revoke the banon the sale and transportationof fishes from the State.

India is the third largestfish producer in the world.India’s share of global fish pro-duction is 6 per cent.

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Former President PranabMukherjee, Bharatiya Jana

Sangh leader late NanajiDeshmukh, and notedAssamese singer late BhupenHazarika were on Friday con-ferred the country’s highestcivilian award Bharat Ratna.With these three recipients, 48

eminent people have been con-ferred the award so far.

The Bharat Ratna has beenconferred after a gap of fouryears. Former Prime MinisterAtal Bihari Vajpayee andfounder of Banaras HinduUniversity Madan MohanMalviya were given the awardby the Narendra Modi govern-ment in 2015. Mukherjee, fond-

ly known as ‘Pranab Da’, was thepresident between 2012 and2017.

The 83-year-old Mukherjee,who was also known as thequintessential Man Friday of theCongress, joins the elite clubwith Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan,Rajendra Prasad, Zakir Hussainand VV Giri who had beenconferred the coveted award.

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The CBI on Friday raidedseveral premises belong-

ing to former Haryana ChiefMinister Bhupinder SinghHooda provoking a strongreaction from the Congress,which warned officials of probeagencies of consequences fortargeting political opponents ofthe Modi Government.

The CBI on Wednesdayregistered a new case againstformer Haryana Chief MinisterBhupinder Singh Hooda andAdditional Chief Secretary ofHaryana and then ChiefAdministrator of HUDA TCGupta for alleged irregularitiesin land allocation in Gurugramin 2009 and carried out search-es on Friday at 20 locations inDelhi-NCR including inChandigarh, Rohtak,Gurugram and Mohali. Thesearches were also conducted atHooda’s residence in Rohtak.

The CBI case relates toalleged corruption in the acqui-sition of 1,417 acres of land in2009 in Gurugram.

Besides Hooda and Gupta,the agency has also named 15builders/colonisers in the case,including DLF, Emaar MGF,Buzz Hotels, Ansals amongothers.

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The Raigad administrationon Friday began demolish-

ing fugitive diamond traderNirav Modi’s beach-side

sprawling illegal bungalowlocated off Khim beach, near-ly 100 km from Mumbai.

Acting on the directives ofthe Bombay High Court whichhad on January 14 ordered the

demolition of 58 illegal beach-side bungalows, a team head-ed by Alibaug’s sub-divisionalofficer Sharada Powar startedthe demolition.

Detailed report on P6

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During the 22 months sincethe current State

Government assumed office,various measures have beentaken to execute the promisesmade to the public during theelections. Stating this, ChiefMinister Trivendra SinghRawat said that introduction ofnine new policies and amend-ments to seven existing policiesare among the major deci-sions taken by the StateGovernment.

Further, he also launchedthe general provident fund(GPF) online mobile applicationfor State employees on Friday.Additionally, an air-ambulanceservice and interest-free loanfacility for farmers and womenself help groups will be launchedon Republic Day, he informed.

Addressing the media, theCM said that in the past coupleof years, the economic growthrate of the State has improved.The per capita income of�1,76,000 in 2017-18 hadincreased by about � 15,000 to�1,90,284. The results of theinvestors’ summit held last yearare now becoming visible on theground. MoUs amounting to�1,24,000 crore were signed at

the summit with works amount-ing to �10,300 crore slated tostart soon, apart from whichworks amounting to �30,000crore will also be executed onthe ground in the comingmonths.

In the infrastructure sector,work is progressing on the all-weather road project andRishikesh-Karnprayag rail line.Further, full compensation hasbeen paid by the State to neigh-bouring Uttar Pradesh for farm-ers affected by the Roorkee-Deoband railway track.

The State has set a target of

constructing all the requiredbridges by 2022 for which 155bridges have been approvedand DPRs of 200 more bridgeshave been sought.

Referring to the low costair service started linkingDehradun, Pantnagar andPithoragarh, he said that talkswere being held with theCentral authorities to startsimilar air service to 23 otherdestinations across the State. Inthe health sector, while 1123doctors had been appointed till2017, 1137 new appointmentshave been made since then.

Under the Atal AyushmanUttarakhand Yojana, the Stateis aiming to provide the gold-en cards to all eligible citizensby May-June.

In one month since launchof the scheme, 3000 personshave availed of free treatment.Rawat also spoke of the mea-sures taken for welfare of farm-ers, women empowerment,power generation and tourismdevelopment.

The Information directorgeneral Deependra KumarChaudhari was also amongthose present on the occasion.

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Due to snowfall in themountainous regions,

about 71 roads including thenational highways toBadrinath, Gangotri andYamunotri are blocked to traf-fic. While national highway 107to Kedarnath is open, threerural motor roads are blockeddue to snowfall in Rudraprayagdistrict. In Uttarkashi district,NH 108 to Gangotri is blockeddue to snowfall ahead of SukhiTop while NH 94 is alsoblocked due to snowfall aheadof Radi Top.

Twenty four rural motorroads are blocked in the districtapart from which power sup-ply was also disrupted inGangotri, Yamunotri, Harshiland Gangnani areas due tosnowfall. In Chamoli districtthe NH 58 to Badrinath isblocked due to snow apartfrom which six rural motorroads were blocked in the dis-

trict. Power supply to 28 vil-lages was also disrupted due tosnowfall.

Four rural motor roadswere blocked due to the snowin Tehri district while powersupply was disrupted inChamba and Dhanaulti areas.In the Pithoragarh district, tworural motor roads were blockeddue to snow with power supplyand potable water through twolines disrupted in MunsyariTehsil. Work is underway toclear the blocked roads andresume power and water sup-ply.

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Shaken up by the incidentwhere the doctors and staff

of the female wing of theGovernment Doon MedicalCollege (GDMC) performednine deliveries under candlelight and under the light ofmobile phones on lateWednesday night, the principalof the college, Dr AshutoshSayana, has constituted aninquiry. The principal said thatstrict action would be takenagainst those responsible forthe power failure in the hospi-tal. He, however, appreciatedthe doctors and other staffmembers for performing insuch conditions and discharg-ing their duties successfully.

The freak incident hadoccurred on Wednesday when

between 8 pm and 10 pm, apower outage occurred.

When the guard of thefemale wing had tried to startthe generator, it had failed tofunction. He had promptlyinformed the doctors on dutyafter which the medical super-intendent (MS), Dr K K Tamta,had been contacted.

The MS had directed theelectrician and the supervisorto visit the hospital and fixfault. It is learnt that the super-visor and the electricianrefused to attend to the gener-ator, citing rain.

Meanwhile, labour painshad started in some admittedpatients and the doctors hadsuccessfully handled ninedeliveries, using candlelightand the light of the mobilephones.

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Terming the incident where the doctors of the female wingof the Government Doon Medical College (GDMC)

worked in the light of candles and mobile phones to facili-tate nine deliveries as most unfortunate, the state Congressspokesperson Garima Dasauni said that it has shown the levelof insensitivity of Trivendra Singh Rawat Government. “Itshows that the hospital does not have a power back-up whichis very shocking,” she added.

“If this happens in the biggest Government hospital ofthe State, one can understand the condition of the health ser-vices in the remote and mountainous locations. Owningresponsibility for such a bizarre incident, the Chief Ministershould immediately select one person from among 57 BJPMLAs and appoint him as the Health Minister of the State,’’she said.

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The UttarakhandElectricity Regulatory

Commission (UERC) hashighlighted the need to setup an ‘UttarakhandElectricity Training Institute'(UETI) to train the officersof three power corporationson technology and regulato-ry changes. The chairman ofUERC, Subhash Kumar, dis-cussed the issue with themanaging directors ofUttarakhand PowerCorporation Limited(UPCL), Uttarakhand JalVidyut Nigam Limited(UJVNL) and PowerTransmission Corporationof Uttarakhand Limited(PTCUL) on Friday.

In the meeting, Kumarsaid that time to time train-

ing should be imparted to theemployees to make themconversant with the tech-nology and regulatorychanges.

The MDs of three cor-porations presented theirsuggestions regarding estab-lishment and organisationalstructure of the proposedUETI. The institute would beset up near Dehradun andwould be suitably connectedwith the rain, road and air.

The secretary of the com-mission, Niraj Sati, suggestedthat the best operating sys-tems in practice among othersuch institutes functioning inthe country should be stud-ied and implemented here.

The MD of UPCL sub-mitted a proposal to handover a piece of land for theinstitute. The UERC chair-man directed that a commit-tee comprising of officers ofthree corporations should beset up for the institute. Thiscommittee would examinevaried aspects related withsetting up of the traininginstitute and submit its report.

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Ayouth from Saharanpurin Uttar Pradesh first

murdered his paramour andthen killed himself in a hotelin Roorkee under the juris-diction of Gangnehar policestation. Police said that theirparents not agreeing to theirmarriage, the couple hadtaken the extreme step ofending their lives together.The bodies had been sent forpost-mortem after beingtaken into their custody,police said and added thatthe parents of both thedeceased had been informed.A suicide note had also beenrecovered, informed police.

According to the police,the couple rented a room ina hotel located near AzadNagar Chowk around noonon Thursday. The youth hadkept his motorbike in park-ing area of a company run-ning nearby. “At around 10pm the same day, when thecompany car was to be takenout the company employeesapproached the hotelier.

The hotel ownerreached the room. As noresponse came from insidehe peeped inside from thewindow and saw the couplelying on the bed. We havetaken both the bodies intocustody,” said SP ruralNavneet Singh Bhullar.

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The complete details of proposed projects approved inthe Bhagirathi eco-sensitive zone in Uttarkashi district

should be provided by the executing agencies to membersof the Bhagirathi eco-sensitive zone monitoring committee.This will enable the members also to monitor theapproved projects at their level. Final shape should be givenaccording to the fixed procedure for the new projects onwhich work is to be undertaken. The Chief Secretary UtpalKumar Singh issued this instruction while chairing themeet of the monitoring committee at the secretariat hereon Friday.

Singh directed the Uttarkashi district magistrate toinform the committee members about the site selected forsolid waste management. In case, space is not availableanywhere for proper garbage disposal project, the proposalsfor various identified sites should be submitted to the StateGovernment. The Chief Secretary also directed that landshould be identified for solid waste management. As perthe directions in the guidelines, issued by the NationalGreen Tribunal, the garbage disposal work should be exe-cuted properly using modern technology.

It was unanimously decided that if space for waste man-agement project is not available at one location inUttarkashi town, sites should be identified ward-wise forworking on the possibility of smaller waste management

projects in theurban area.Coordinationshould beestablishedwith the localbodies toensure solidwaste man-agement sys-tem using lat-est technolo-g y . T h eBhag i rat h ieco-sensitivezone moni-toring com-mittee co-chair HemP a n d e y ,m e m b e r sM a h e n d r aS i n g hKunwar, Mallika Bhanot, additional chief secretary RanvirSingh, Forest and Environment secretary Arvind SinghHyanki, Wildlife Institute of India scientist VP Uniyal,Irrigation department chief engineer Mukesh Mohan, con-

servator of forests PK Patro and other officials concernedwere also among those present in the meeting of the mon-itoring com-mittee.

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The State Governmentemployees and pensioners

would be able to avail the bene-fit of Out Patient Department(OPD) and pathology under theAtal Ayushman Uttarakhand

Yojana. These benefits are notavailable to other beneficiaries ofthe scheme. The chairman of theState Health Agency (SHA), D KKotia told The Pioneer that thebenefit of OPD and pathology isbeing provided to the employees

and pensioners. “They were ear-lier availing the benefit of med-ical reimbursement which theynow would not be able to getsince the AAUY has been mademandatory for them. The SHAwould deduct a fixed amountfrom the salaries of the employ-ees, depending on their grade payfor the scheme. The StateGovernment had decided tobring all its employees and pen-sioners under the ambit of theAAUY from January 26,” hesaid. He, further, said that sincethe AAUY is being run on trustmode, it is different from earlierschemes like MukhyamantriSwasthya Bima Yojana (MSBY)where insurance companies were

involved. He informed that theSHA has entered into an under-standing with an ImplementationSupport Agency (ISA) to expe-dite the claims made by the hos-pitals.

Kotia said that a system toclear the claims made by the hos-pitals has been made underwhich they would get paymentwithin 15 days. For delay of every15 day period, ISA would pay aninterest of 1% which is deliber-ately kept high (24 percent perannum) to ensure early claim set-tlement.

The chairman SHA said thatthere is no issue of budget as anamount of �71 crore has beensanctioned by the State

Government in the supple-mentary budget. In response toa question regarding empan-elment of hospitals not regis-tered under ClinicalEstablishments Act, Kotia saidthat the SHA is not mandatedto implement ClinicalEstablishments Act. He addedthat the SHA is following theguidelines set up by theNational Health Agency forempanellment.

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Two Army personnel thisyear will be conferred with

Kirti Chakra, the second high-est peacetime gallantry award.The awards were for operationsagainst terrorists in Jammu &Kashmir last year. The firstrecipient is Major TusharGauba of Jat Regiment whilethe other awardee is SepoyVijay Kumar who died fightingterrorists in an operation inBaramulla in August last.Gauba led an operation inMay last year against a group ofeight militants who attemptedto infiltrate from across theLine of Control (LoC) inKupwara. The highest awardAshok Chakra will be given onRepublic Day here on Saturdayto wife of Lance Naik NazirWani, a terrorist turned soldierwho died fighting militants inNovember last year in Kashmir.

Besides these medals, nineArmy personnel will be con-ferred with Shaurya Chakra,the third highest peacetimegallantry award. They includeLt Colonel Vikrant Prasher(Special Forces), Major AmitKumar Dimri(14 Rashtriya

Rifles), Major ImliakumKeitzar( 4/4 GR), Major RohitLingwal(Special Forces),Captain Abhay Sharma(SpecialForces), Captain AbhinavKumar Choudhary(Signals),Lance Naik AyyubAli(Rajputana Rifles), SepoyAjay Kumar(posthumous) andSepoy Mahesh H N(44Rashtriya Rifles).

In all, the President hasapproved awards of 411Gallantry and other defencedecorations to Armed Forcespersonnel and others on theeve of the 70thRepublic DayCelebrations. This includes oneAshoka Chakra, four KirtiChakras, 11 Shaurya Chakras,28 Param Vishisht Seva Medals,03 Uttam Yudh Seva Medals,51 Ati Vishisht Seva Medals,oneBar to Yudh Seva Medal,nineYudh Seva Medals, twoBarto Vishisht Seva Medals, 120Vishisht Seva Medals, sixBar toSena Medals (Gallantry),103Sena Medals (Gallantry),sevenNao Sena Medals(Gallantry), twoVayu SenaMedals (Gallantry), fiveBartoSena Medals (Devotion toDuty), 35Sena Medals(Devotion to Duty), nineNaoSena Medals (Devotion toDuty) and 14Vayu Sena Medals(Devotion to Duty).

Army Chief General BipinRawat is one of the awardees ofParam Vishisht Seva Medal(PVSM).

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As many as 855 police andparamilitary personnel

were on Friday awarded policemedals, including 149 for gal-lantry in Jammu & Kashmir,Naxal violence affected areasand others, ahead of theRepublic Day.

The CRPF, the country’slargest paramilitary force, wasdecorated with maximum 44awards for bravery includingtwo paramilitary troops gettingKirti Chakra (posthumously)and one with Shaurya Chakrafor operations in Jammu andKashmir. Kirti Chakra is thesecond highest and ShauryaChakra is the third highestpeace time gallantry award.

CRPF was followed byOdisha Police at 26 medals,Jammu and Kashmir Police25 medals and Chhattisgarh 14medals.

Three Central ReservePolice Force (CRPF) personnelwere also decorated posthu-mously with the top categoryPresident’s Police Medal forGallantry (PPMG).

Other gallantry medal win-ners are from Meghalaya (13),Uttar Pradesh (10), BorderSecurity Force (8), Delhi (4),Jharkhand (3) and one eachfrom the Assam Rifles and theIndo-Tibetan Border Police.

A total of 146 Police Medalfor Gallantry (PMG), 74President’s Police Medal for dis-tinguished service and 632police medal for meritoriousservice were conferred on themen and the women in khakifrom various state police andcentral police forces and orga-nizations, the Union HomeMinistry said in a statement.

On the eve of the RepublicDay, the two slain CRPF jawanswere decorated with KirtiChakra and their commander

was awarded the ShauryaChakra for displaying daredevilry in taking on heavilyarmed terrorists in Jammu andKashmir’s Awantipora in 2017.

The military honours werebestowed on constables PradipKumar Panda and RajendraKumar Nain, who were killedwhile fighting the militantswho stormed their camp inAwantipora, while their com-mander AssistantCommandant Zile Singh wasdecorated with the ShauryaChakra.

The three displayed exem-plary bravery to thwart thedeadly fidayeen attack that wascarried out on December 30,2017, and went on for over 36hours, reads the citation. Threeheavily armed terrorists werekilled by the CRPF personnelafter the gun battle ended.

Five troops of the forcewere also killed in this pre-dawn attack on the multi-acrecamp that also serves as train-ing centre for jawans inductedfor counter-militancy opera-tions in the Kashmir Valley.

CISF Jawan Sushil Bhoiwon a “Jeevan Raksha Padak”for a selfless gesture of rescu-ing a 14-year-old boy, trappedinto a crevasse at a high-risebuilding in Ghaziabad.

Twenty-eight other offi-cials of CISF have also beendecorated with various policemedals for rendering excep-tional services. CISF is the

force tasked primarily to guardcivil airports and sensitiveinstallations across the country.

Amongst the other offi-cials, Inspector General (NCR)Sudhir Kumar has been award-ed the President’s police medalfor distinguished service alongwith R C Choudhary, theCommandant of the Jaipur-based 8th battalion. Deputy IGS Ambastha, DeputyCommandant Ombir Singhand Assistant Commandant(AC) A S Samyal have beendecorated with the meritoriousservice medal on the eve of theRepublic Day.

A brave ITBP officer, partof a security forces’ team thatkilled LeT commander AbuDujana in Jammu and Kashmirin 2017, was awarded the policemedal for gallantry. Fifteenother officials of the borderguarding force were alsoawarded the medal for exem-plary services.

Assistant Commandant(AC) Anurag Kumar Singhwas deputed with the Army’sRashtriya Rifles that went intothe operation in August 2017 inPulwama where two militantseach of the Hizbul Mujahideenand the Laskar-e-Taiba, includ-ing Dujana, were killed. Dujanawas a Pakistani national.

Fifteen other officials of theforce have been decorated withthe President’s police medal fordistinguished service and thepolice medal for meritoriousservice on the eve of RepublicDay.

While Deputy InspectorGeneral (DIG) Manoj KumarSingh has been awarded thedistinguished service medal,AC Gireesh Chandra Patni hasbeen decorated for meritoriousservice. The others awarded formeritorious service areInspector NS Sati andConstable Kunwar Pal.

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Against the backdrop of theimpending Lok Sabha elec-

tions, President Ram NathKovind on Friday urged thepeople to perform the “sacredact” of voting, emphasisingthis year’s polls should be seenas a “once-in-a-centurymoment” that will shape theIndia of the remainder of the21st century.

Observing that an elec-tion is not just a political exer-cise, Kovind said it is a collec-tive call to wisdom and a col-lective call to action. He main-tained the ideas and idealism ofour democracy will come intoforce to elect the 17th LokSabha. The President saiddevelopment of the countrycannot be completed without asalute to the “spirit of inclu-siveness and pluralism whichrests on a “tripod of diversity,democracy and development”.

Kovind also pitched forthe use of modern technologyin elections, saying India’s sheersize and logistics of polls in thecountry “make it critical” toembrace the latest means.

Kovind’s remarks cameboth during his address as thechief guest on the occasion of9th National Voters Day as alsohis customary address to the

nation on the 70th RepublicDay.

Ahead of the coming LokSabha polls, the ElectionCommission (EC) is reachingout to masses through variousmodes to increase their par-ticipation of electorates., the EChas launched a toll-free num-ber in which sending a textmessage would let you knowyour status in the list.

The new facility wouldprovide a hassle-free methodfor people to know their statusas voters in any constituency.This step is expected to be amajor relief for voters whowould like to know whethereverything is correct in theElectors Photo Identity Card(EPIC) before any elections.Now, people will not berequired to visit officials toknow their names in the elec-toral roll.

The ECI released ‘My Vote

Matters’, a Quarterly Magazine.The first copy was presented tothe President.

Vice President M VenkaiahNaidu and Prime MinisterNarendra Modi too urged theyouth to enrol in the voters’ list,saying people’s participationin the electoral exercisestrengthens democracy’s foun-dation. “I urge people from allwalks of life to create awarenesson voter registration and espe-cially request my young friendsto register themselves as votersif they have not done so already.Every vote cast enhances ourdemocratic fabric,” PM Modiwrote on Twitter.

And after CEC Sunil Arorastrongly backed the use ofEVMs, Union Law andInformation TechnologyMinister Ravi Shankar Prasadalso favoured its usage, sayingthere is a need to trust theElection Commission andrespect the sanctity of the insti-tution.

“I do not wish to make apolitical comment. I wish to sayit with all respect that thesame machine has shown thevictory of my party (BJP) andalso the defeat of my party. Thesame machine has shownregional players getting successtime and time again,” Prasadsaid.

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The Supreme Court onFriday refused to entertain

a plea seeking a CBI probe intothe murder of a security guardat former Chief Minister JJayalalithaa’s retreat home atKodanad Estate in Nilgiris dis-trict in 2017.

The PIL had sought anindependent investigation intothe allegation of involvement ofTamil Nadu Chief MinisterEdappadi K Palanisamy in thecase. Palaniswamy had deniedthe charge.

“Heard the counsel for thepetitioner and perused the rel-evant material. We do not con-sider the present to be a fit casefor admission. The writ petitionis accordingly dismissed,” abench comprising Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi and JusticeSanjiv Khanna said.

The plea filed KRRamaswamy alias Traffic

Ramaswamy had also soughtdirections to the state police tohand over the records relatingto the Kodanad Estate’s robberyand murder of Om Bahadur,home guard of Jayalalithaa, onApril 23, 2017.

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The HRD Ministry is con-sidering a proposal to

extend the Right of Children toFree and CompulsoryEducation (RTE) Act, 2009 upto class 12, according to seniorofficials. The RTE Act currentlyapplies to children betweensix and 14 years studying from

Class 1 to 8. It requires all pri-vate schools, except for minor-ity institutions, to reserve 25per cent of seats for under-privileged children.

A sub-committee of theCentral Advisory Board ofEducation (CABE), in a reportsubmitted in 2012, when UPAwas in power, recommendedthe extension of the RTE Act.

$%&�� '� ��%()��*++ New Delhi: India on Friday

said it was closely monitoringthe emerging situation inVenezuela and favoured reso-lution of the political crisisthrough constructive dialogue.

In fast-paced develop-ments, head of the NationalAssembly Juan Guaidodeclared himself as “actingpresident” of the country onWednesday, plunging the SouthAmerican country into a polit-ical crisis. PTI

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The Supreme Court onFriday refused to stay the

Modi government’s decisionto grant 10 per cent reservationto economically poor in thegeneral category but agreed toexamine the validity of the con-stitutional amendment whichpaved the way for this quota.

A Bench comprising ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi andJustice Sanjiv Khanna issued anotice to the Government on abatch of petitions challengingthe validity of the Constitution(103 Amendment) Act, 2019which allows grant of quota injobs and education to the poorin the general category.

“We will examine the mat-ter. Issue notice,” the benchsaid, making it clear that therewould be no stay on the deci-sion. The top court asked theCentre to file its response with-in three weeks.

Solicitor General TusharMehta, appearing for the

Centre, said the pleas did notdeserve a hearing and vehe-mently argued that thereshould not be any stay on theCentre’s decision. The benchsaid it has merely issued thenotice. When some lawyersstarted arguing simultaneous-ly, the bench said, “Don’t cometo this court to create trouble.Call the next case”. The benchwas hearing petitions filed byparties including organisationslike ‘Janhit Abhiyan’ and NGO‘Youth For Equality’ challeng-ing the Centre’s decision.

In poll year, the Modi gov-ernment has come out with theconstitutional amendment billgiving quota benefits to thepoor among general categorycandidates. The petition, filedby Youth For Equality throughits president Kaushal KantMishra, has sought the quash-ing of the bill saying that theeconomic criterion cannot bethe sole basis for reservation.

The plea has said the billviolates basic feature of the

Constitution as reservation oneconomic grounds cannot belimited to the general categoriesand the overall 50 per cent ceil-ing limit cannot be breached.

In the present form, theupper limit of quota goes up to60 per cent which violated thedecisions of the apex court.

Referring to the nine-judgebench decision of the apexcourt in the landmark 1992Indira Sawhney case, the peti-tion said the latest amend-ment completely violated theConstitutional norm that eco-nomic criterion cannot be theonly basis of reservation.

“Such an amendment ishence vulnerable and ought tobe struck down as it merelynegates a binding judgement,”it said. It also said that theamendments fail to considerthat Articles 14 and 16 form thebasic feature of equality, andthat they have been violatedwith the doing away of therestraints that were imposed onthe reservation policy, i.E. The

50 per cent ceiling limit andthe exclusion of economic sta-tus as a sole criterion.

“The Constitution amend-ment completely violates theConstitutional norm that eco-nomic criterion cannot be theonly basis of reservation as hasbeen laid down by the 9judges in Indira Sawhney, with-out removing the basis of thejudgement,” the petition said.

“By way of the presentamendments, the exclusion ofthe OBCs and the SCs/STsfrom the scope of the economicreservation essentially impliesthat only those who are poorfrom the general categorieswould avail the benefits of thequotas.

“Taken together with thefact that the high creamy layerlimit of �8 lakh per annumensures that the elite in theOBCs and SCs/STs capture thereservation benefits repeated-ly, the poor sections of thesecategories remain completelydeprived.

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New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Friday refused toentertain a plea seeking forth-with refund of money into theaccount of a person after afailed financial or bankingtransaction.

A Bench comprising ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi andJustice Sanjiv Khanna, howev-er, asked lawyer GS Mani, whohad filed the PIL in his personalcapacity, to give a representa-tion to the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI). The lawyer saidthat if a person, by using thedebit or credit card, entersinto a failed financial transac-tion, then it takes a lot of timein getting the refund or reim-bursement. He said that adirection be issued to the RBIto ensure that banking cus-tomers get immediate refundafter failed transactions.

“Heard the petitioner whois appearing in-person andperused the relevant material.The Article 32 petition is notentertained for the present andis, accordingly, dismissed.PTI

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Anew 5-judge ConstitutionBench was constituted by

the Supreme Court Friday tohear on January 29 the politi-cally sensitive RamJanambhoomi-Babri Masjidland title dispute in Ayodhya.

The bench was re-consti-tuted as Justice UU Lalit, whowas a member of the originalbench, recused himself onJanuary 10 after expressingdisinclination to participate inthe hearing any further as hehad appeared as a lawyer forformer Uttar Pradesh chiefminister Kalyan Singh in aconnected matter “sometime inthe year 1997”.

The new bench comprisesof Chief Justice of India RanjanGogoi and Justices SA Bobde,DY Chandrachud, AshokBhushan and SA Nazeer.

Justice NV Ramana, whowas in the bench which lastheard the matter on January 10,is also not a member in the newbench. Justices Bhushan andNazeer are the new members inthe bench.

A notice sent by theSupreme Court registry to var-ious parties said that theAyodhya dispute matter will belisted on Thursday, January29, 2019, in “Chief Justice’scourt before the constitutionbench comprising the CJI, andJustices SA Bobde, DYChandrachud, Ashok Bhushanand S A Nazeer.”

Justices Bhushan andNazeer were part of the 3-judgebench, then headed by ChiefJustice Dipak Misra (sinceretired), which on September27, 2018 gave a 2:1 verdictrefusing to refer to a 5-judgeConstitution Bench reconsid-eration of the observation in its1994 judgement that a mosquewas not integral to Islam. Thematter arose during the hear-ing of the Ayodhya land dis-pute.

Justice Nazeer had deliv-ered a minority judgement.

Fourteen appeals havebeen filed in the apex courtagainst the 2010 AllahabadHigh Court judgement, deliv-ered in four civil suits, that the2.77-acre land be partitioned

equally among three parties --the Sunni Waqf Board, theNirmohi Akhara and RamLalla.

On January 10, the benchin its order had noted thatSecretary General of the apexcourt registry has informed theCJI that in four suits, out ofwhich these appeals havearisen, in all 120 issues havebeen framed for trial and a totalof 88 witnesses were examined.

It had noted that deposi-tions of witnesses run into13,886 pages and a total of 257documents exhibited.

While the order was beingdictated, one of the counsel hadpointed that number of exhibitswere 533, including threearchaeological reports.

The bench had noted thatthe high court’s verdict ran into4,304 printed pages, whichaccording to the registry, are8,533 typed pages.

“The bench has beeninformed that the originalrecords are lying in 15 sealedtrunks in a room, which hasalso been sealed. Whether thedepositions and documentswhich are in Persian, Sanskrit,Arabic, Gurumukhi, Urdu andHindi, etc have been translat-ed is not clear,” it said.

It had said the apex court,in its August 10, 2015 order,had indicated that thoughcounsel for parties had attempt-ed to submit some translatedversion of evidence, “there is adispute with regard to the cor-rectness of the translationsmade”.

“In these circumstances,the registry of this court isdirected to physically inspectthe records which are lyingunder lock and key; make anassessment of the time that willbe taken to make the casesready for hearing by engaging,if required, official translatorsof the requisite number andgive a report thereof to thecourt,” the order said.

“The said report will besubmitted to this court by theregistry on January 29, 2019when the reconstituted bench(without Uday Umesh Lalit, J),as may be, will assemble onceagain to take up the matter forfurther orders,” it said.

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Defence Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Friday

pitched for expanding the pro-jected strength of the NationalCadet Corps to beyond 15lakh in a phased manner tomake room for more boys andgirls from across the countrywho are keen to join the NCC.

Interacting with reportersat the Republic Day NCCCamp in Delhi Cantonment,she also said, girls were “morekeen” to join the Corps thanboys.

The NCC strength is beingexpanded as part of a five-phase programme, which seeksto achieve a strength of 15 lakhby 2019-2020. The plan is toincrease the strength of theNCC, but the target need notbe restricted and the finalnumber should be increased,the Union minister said.

“We are moving smoothlyto achieve the target of 15lakh,” she said.

Asked if there was anynumber she was looking atbeyond the planned 15 lakhtarget, she said, “I don’t want to

speculate as to what extent itcan be increased. All stake-holders in the NCC andadministrators should sittogether and plan. The inten-tion is to expand more, but itshould be done in a phasedmanner.”

And, lot of girls and boys

are very keen to join and sothere is a reason for it beexpanded, Sitharaman said.

“Among the girls, theenthusiasm is al lot more (thanboys). They see fighter pilots(in the IAF), well-trained offi-cials in the armed forces, andas a result there is a great expec-

tation among them to soonerjoin the corps and the armedforces,” she said.

The current authorisedstrength of NCC is 14.2 lakh,Director General of the NCC,Lt Gen. P P Malhotra had saidat the NCC camp at a pressconference held earlier this

month, adding, 2,070 cadets,including 698 girl cadets,drawn from the 17 directoratescovering all the states andunion territories are partici-pating in the camp.

Asked abut the defenceminister’s pitch on Friday fortaking the expansion target tobeyond 15 lakh, he told PTI,“We will certainly look into it.”

Malhotra on January 5 hadalso said that girl cadets con-stitute about 31.84 per cent ofthe NCC strength, and target isto take that figure to 33-34 percent.

As many as 102 cadetsfrom Jammu and Kashmir and162 from the Northeast are alsoparticipating in the camp.

Earlier, the defence minis-ter felicitated NCC cadets whowent beyond their call of dutyby displaying acts of bravery.

She awarded the RakshaMantri Padak to cadet CaptSharma Bhargsetu Vipulkumarof Gujarat Directorate andRakash Mantri CommendationCadets to three cadets fromJammu and Kashmir,Maharashtra and Uttar PradeshDirectorates.

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In a renewed attack on theNarendra Modi Government

for dissolving the spine ofCentral Bureau of Investigationin order to perpetrate its poli-tics of vendetta against theOpposition parties and theirsupporters Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee onFriday said the central Agencywhich was headless earlier hadnow been rendered spineless.

Calling it an “ally” of theBJP the Chief Minister said the“headless” CBI which had nodirector had now become“spineless ally” of the BJP.

In a scathing attack on the“caged parrot” which had beenused to victimise theOpposition leaders Banerjeetweeted, “political vendettacontinues,” with the “BJP andits allies comprising multipleGovernment agencies harass-ing all allies of Oppositionfrom Kolkata to Delhi andbeyond,” wondering whetherthe BJP was scared of theOpposition unity which waswhy they were making somedesperate moves.

The BJP was sparing noone she said adding, fromAkhilesh Yadav to “BehnMayawati ji, nobody is spared.From north to south. From east

to west. Political vendetta bythe BJP. Are they scared? Arethey desperate” One headlessagency has now become spine-less BJP.”

Banerjee’s statement camehours after the houses of for-mer Haryana Chief MinisterBhupinder Singh Hooda wasraided and noted Bengali filmproducer Srikant Mohta wasarrested on ponzi fund charges.

Banerjee had on January 19organised a massive rally of allanti-BJP opposition parties atthe historic Brigade ParadeGround from where she gaveoust-BJP call.

Srinagar: The Jammu-SrinagarNational Highway remainedclosed for the fifth day on Fridayas fresh snowfall hamperedefforts of authorities to clear theroad for vehicular movement.

The arterial road wasclosed on Tuesday after a snowavalanche had blocked bothtubes of the Jawahar Tunnel onQazigund side. The official

said intermittent snowfall washampering road clearanceoperations. “The Jammu-Srinagar highway is still closedfor traffic. Efforts are on tomake the road traffic worthy atthe earliest,” an official of thetraffic department told PTI.

Snowfall has been experi-enced in the rest of the valleyalso since Friday morning with

Srinagar city getting nearlytwo inches of snow in theearly hours, a MET departmentofficial said.

Meanwhile, cold wave con-ditions persisted in Kashmir asthe minimum temperature atall places stayed well below thefreezing point last night. Theminimum temperature inSrinagar last night settled at

minus 1.3 degrees Celsius –slightly up from minus 1.5degrees Celsius the previousnight, the official said.

He said Qazigund — thegateway town to the valley —in south Kashmir recorded alow of minus 1.2 degreeCelsius, a surge of 1.8 degreescelsius over the previous night.

PTI

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More than two months aftertigress Avni was shot, her

on-the run male cub that “isdoing fine” in the jungles ofPandharkawada in Yavatmaldistrict of eastern Maharashtra.

Reports reaching the Stateheadquarters from Yavatmaldistrict on Friday said that themale cub was on Thursdaysighted “hunting and eating apony”. “The male cub is doingfine and healthy. We are in theprocess of trapping and rescu-ing it,” a senior state forest offi-cial said.

On 22 December, thefemale cub of Avni had beencaught and sent to a huge enclo-sure in the Pench Tiger Reserve.

Avni, aged around 6 years,was being accompanied by hertwo cubs – both 10 month oldones, when she was shot by

sharp shooter Asgar Ali, son ofcontroversial sharp-shooterNawab Shafath Ali Khan fromHyderabad, at compartmentnumber 149 of Borati forestunder the jurisdiction of theRalegaon police station.

The two cubs had gonemissing since the tigress waseliminated on the night ofNovember 2.

The State forest depart-ment officials had launched itsmassive search to secure thetwo missing cubs.

The operation to securetwo missing cubs is being over-seen by the National TigerConservation Authority(NTCA) of the Ministry ofEnvironment, Forest andClimate Change.

A few weeks after their dis-appearance, both the cubs weretrapped in cameras and spot-ted by forest guards.

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Well known author andpoet and regarded as the

future of Kannada literature,Jayant Kaikini, has been award-ed the prestigious DSC Prizefor South Asian Literature,2018 for his book, No PresentsPlease. The book has beentranslated into English by emi-nent translator TejaswiniNiranjana.

In a glittering award cere-mony at Tata Steel KolkataLiterary Meet here, the US$25,000 DSC Prize was award-ed to Jayant Kaikini andTejaswini Niranjana along withtrophy by eminent writer RuskinBond. As per the prize process,the prize money would be equal-ly shared between the authorand the translator. A galaxy ofwriters, publishers, media andliterary enthusiasts attended theAward Ceremony at iconicVictoria Memorial Hall.

This is the first time that atranslated work has won theDSC prize.

No Presents Please centresaround a protagonist who bat-tles for survival in Mumbai liv-ing a lonely life but carrying onwith his spirited struggle with

a touching big-heartedness.Empathy and survival are theconstant, codependent themesthat unify every strand of thisextraordinary book, creating ashimmering mosaic of a con-flicted city that is as kind as itis, at times, cruel.

The six shortlisted authorsand books in contention forthe DSC Prize this year wereJayant Kaikini: No PresentsPlease (Translated by TejaswiniNiranjana, Harper Perennial,HarperCollins India); KamilaShamsie: Home Fire(Riverhead Books, USA andBloomsbury, UK); ManuJoseph: Miss Laila Armed AndDangerous (Fourth Estate,HarperCollins, India); MohsinHamid: Exit West (RiverheadBooks, USA and HamishHamilton, Penguin RandomHouse, India); NeelMukherjee: A State OfFreedom (Chatto & Windus,Vintage, UK and HamishHamilton, Penguin Random

House, India) and Sujit Saraf:Harilal & Sons (Speaking Tiger,India).

Jury Chair RudrangshuMukherjee, speaking on behalfof the jury said, “The jury wasdeeply impressed by the quietvoice of Jayan Kaikini who pre-sented vignettes of life inMumbai and made the city theprotagonist of a coherent nar-rative. The Mumbai that cameacross through the pen ofKaikini was the city of ordinarypeople who inhabit the bustlingmetropolis. It is a view from themargins and all the morepoignant because of it.”

Malavika Banerjee,Director of the Tata SteelKolkata Literary Meet, wel-comed the DSC Prize to thecity of Kolkata.

Administered by the SouthAsian Literature Prize & EventsTrust, the prestigious DSCPrize for South Asian Literaturehas helped to raise the profileof South Asian writing aroundthe world by rewarding authorswho write about the region.The DSC Prize for South AsianLiterature which was institut-ed in 2010, is an establishedinternational literary prize thatawards the best work in South

Asian fiction writing each year.The past winners have beenfrom various countries andtheir work has reflected theimportance of South Asianvculture and literature.

Congratulating the winner,Surina Narula, MBE and co-founder of the DSC Prize said,“My heartfelt congratulations toauthor Jayant Kaikini and trans-lator Tejaswini Niranjana forwinning the DSC Prize forSouth Asian Literature 2018 fortheir brilliant book ‘No PresentsPlease’. It was a pleasure readingthe shortlist. The challengesfaced by the authors to weavetheir protests against the wave ofanti globalization into theirwritings of seemingly harmlesspieces of literature could beseen through their work, migra-tion being a major theme thisyear. The DSC Prize has com-pleted eight years and readingSouth Asian literature written inEnglish including translationshas enabled larger global audi-ences to understand the issuesglobalization has brought about.The jury as usual has to do thedifficult task of selecting the bet-ter amongst the best. My con-gratulations to the jury for theirexcellent choice of the winner.”

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The Raigad district adminis-tration on Friday began

demolishing fugitive diamondtrader Nirav Modi’s beach-sidesprawling illegal bungalow locat-ed off Khim beach at Alibaug,nearly 100 km from Mumbai.

Acting on the directives ofthe Bombay High Court whichhad on January 14 ordered thedemolition of 58 illegal beach-side bungalows, including thatof diamantaire, a team headedby Alibaug’s sub-divisional offi-cer Sharada Powar started thedemolition of Nirav Modi’sbungalow constructed in vio-lation of Coastal RegulationZone (CRZ) norms and theState’s regulations as well.

The demolition of stone-and-marble bungalow con-structed on a huge verdantgreen plot in the vicinity ofKihim beach began at 4 pm andit would continue for the nextcouple of days.

Nirav Modi’s bungalow,

which is spread over 33,000 sqft, is a ground-plus-one structure.

Nirav Modi, whose bun-galow has come under thehammers, and his uncle MehulChoksi are absconding accusedin the Rs.13,500 crore PunjabNational Bank (PNB) scam.

Surendra Dhavale, whoheads the NGO ShamburajeYuva Kranti that sought thedemolition of the illegal bun-galows of Nirav Modi and oth-

ers, has pegged the value of thefugitive diamond trader’s trad-er at Rs 13 crore, though thebungalow is worth over Rs100 crore.

Modi’s bungalow is among58 bungalows that have beenconstructed illegally in thecoastal regulation zone (CRZ)areas falling in the villages likeVarsoli, Sasvane, Kolgaon andDokvade in Alibaug taluka ofRaigad district.

During the hearing of a

petition filed by NGOShamburaje Yuva Kranti seek-ing directions to pull downunauthorised bungalows con-structed by “wealthy and law-breaking people” on the pretextof their being agriculturists, theMaharashtra Governmentinformed the Bombay HighCourt on January 14 that it hadissued demolition notices to 58illegal constructions carriedout within the low tide andhigh tide line in Alibaug.

On his part, theEnforcement Directorate (ED),which is investigating PNBscam involving fugitive dia-mond trader, had filed anapplication in the BombayHigh Court early this month,stating that Modi’s bungalowhas been attached by theagency as part of its moneylaundering case against him.The ED had sought a stay onthe Raigad district adminis-tration’s demolition order andrequested the court to give theagency a hearing.

Jammu: Jammu & KashmirGovernor Satya Pal Malik onFriday blamed Pakistan forcontinuing its support to ter-rorists and engineering infil-tration across the Indo-Pakborder to disrupt peace andharmony in the State.

He said the administrationwas taking required measuresto alleviate the sufferings ofborder dwellers.

“Our neighbouring coun-try (Pakistan) continues tosupport terrorists to disruptpeace and harmony in thestate,” Malik said in his messageon the occasion of 70thRepublic Day.

He said there have beenrepeated attempts to infiltrateterrorists across theInternational Border and Lineof Control. “Repeated ceasefireviolations have brought untoldhardships to the people livingin the villages along the bor-ders,” he said.

The Governor also hailedthe armed forces and statepolice for working tirelessly inmaintaining unity and integri-ty of the nation. “On this joy-ous seventieth Republic Day, Iextend warm greetings to thepeople of Jammu & Kashmir.On this day, we remember andpay tributes to the foundingfathers of the nation whofought for our freedom andhanded over to us a constitu-tion that guarantees liberty,equality and justice.

“Notwithstanding thetough terrain, climate and otherchallenges, our armed andsecurity forces continue tomaintain strict vigil and alert-ness on our frontiers,” he said.

“Our armed and policeforces also carried out effectiveoperations to neutralise thelargest number of terroristsever in a year,” Malik said.

“Our hearts also go out tothe families of the civilians wholost their loved ones in thewanton violence,” he added inthe message. PTI

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Gujarat BJP on Friday sus-pended its leader and for-

mer MLA Chhabil Patel fromthe party after the state police’sprobe revealed that he wasbehind the murder of anotherparty leader and ex-MLAJayanti Bhanushali.

Since Patel belonged toKutch district, state BJP presi-dent Jitu Vaghani asked the dis-trict unit president to suspendhim from the party member-ship, a release issued by theGujarat BJP said.

Patel’s suspension came aday after the Gujarat CID-Crime arrested Patel’s two aidesin connection withBhanushali’s killing. The probeagency has said that Patel hadfled to Muscat a week beforethe murder.

Bhanushali, who once rep-resented Abdasa seat of Kutchdistrict in the assembly, wasshot dead in a moving train onJanuary 8. The incident tookplace when the train wasbetween Bhachau andSamkhiyali stations in Kutch,the police had said.Investigations into the caserevealed that Patel along witha woman, Manisha Goswami,had hired two sharp shootersfrom Maharashtra to killBhanushali.

The sharp shooters alleged-ly stayed at Patel’s farmhouse inKutch before committing thecrime at his behest, they said.

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Stoking a controversy, seniorBJP leader and Bihar

Minister Vinod Narain Jha saidon Friday that newly appoint-ed Congress general secretaryPriyanka Gandhi Vadra has noother quality except being “verybeautiful” and the party shouldremember that beauty doesnot garner votes.

The remark by Jha, whoholds the Public Health andEngineering portfolio, was metwith disapproval from ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U)even as the oppositionCongress-RJD combinedemanded his sacking, accusedhim of having displayed a “per-

verse” attitude towards women.The BJP also sought to distanceitself from its leader’s sexistcomments with its nationalspokesperson Sambit Patra say-ing in New Delhi that his partyclearly believes that everybody,bet it women or any other sec-tion of the society, should berespected in politics.

“Except for being beautiful,I see no quality that PriyankaGandhi Vadra may be creditedwith. Nature has showered itsbounty on her. But theCongress should rememberthat beauty does not garnervotes. She is also a novice andher husband faces serious cor-ruption charges,” Jha said herereplying to a query from a

journalist on Vadra’s entry intoactive politics.

Vadra was appointed theCongress general secretary incharge of eastern Uttar Pradeshearlier this week.

JD(U) MLC AshokChoudhary said, “This is def-initely not a remark we wouldapprove of. Priyanka GandhiVadra has an undeniablecharisma and aura which mayor may not bring desired resultsin the elections. But the way shehas been spoken about doesnot appear to be in good taste.”

“Jha seems to have forgot-ten that he had been a paid staffof Youth Congress when RajivGandhi was at the helm ofaffairs. And now he is making

such a disgusting remarkagainst the late Prime Minister’sdaughter. Nitish Kumar shouldsack him immediately and tryto give him additional securityas his foul utterances could lead to serious reactionsfrom the Congress cadre,”Congress MLC Prem ChandraMishra said. RJD national vice-president Raghuvansh PrasadSingh said the remark isdeplorable. The minister shouldbe immediately sacked byNitish Kumar, else there will beserious consequences, he said.

“The remark makes ourblood boil. It betrays a perverseattitude towards women onpart of the state minister. In thepast, BJP leaders have made

unsavoury comments aboutSonia Gandhi’s fair complex-ion. I would like to cautionwomen in the BJP rank and filethat in the midst of such per-verts they must worry abouttheir own security and digni-ty,” RJD MLA and spokesper-son Ejya Yadav said.

Congress MLA fromBenipatti constituency BhavnaJha remarked sarcastically,“Vinod Narayan Jha wasdefeated by me — an ordinaryparty worker — in the lastassembly polls. It is natural forhim to feel scared of PriyankaGandhi Vadra. He may beupset with Priyanka’s beautysince he himself is notbestowed with good looks.”

Kolkata: A flash in the third rail,which carries power, at one sta-tion here led to suspension ofMetro railway services in the updirection for nearly 50 minuteson Friday inconveniencing com-muters during the evening peakhours, a spokesperson said.

The flash was noticed at5.34 pm in the third rail atMahanayak Uttamkumar sta-tion after a Dum Dum boundtrain left it, Metro spokesper-son Indrani Banerjee said.

Mahanayak Uttamkumarstation is located at Tollygungearea in the southern part of thecity. “The station masterinformed the control room

immediately and power supplyto the third rail was stopped at5.38 pm,” Banerjee said, addingthat Metro services in the updirection towards Dum Dumwas stopped. The third rail car-ries the electrical power forrunning the Metro trains. Afterinspecting the site of the inci-dent, senior electrical andmaintenance officials of MetroRailway found that there wasno reason to worry and gavethe go-ahead for resuming thetrain services, she said.

Three fire tenders weresent to the station on beinginformed of the incident, a FireBrigade official said. PTI$��/��8� �� /� ��9��"�� &�� $�� %&�

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/�8�6��<?@��6��8�� '=�#Jammu: Jammu & KashmirGovernor Satya Pal Malik onFriday said it was a matter of“deep anguish” that some of theState’s youth, who had beeninfluenced by extremist ide-ologies, were leaving profes-sional studies to pick up a gun.

Malik, in his message onthe eve of the 70th RepublicDay, said a number of innocentlives had been lost due to“mindless and dastardly vio-lence”. Malik said this hadadded to the sufferings of thepeople, particularly those resid-ing in the Valley. PTI

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More than 500 profession-al musicians, including

instrumentalists, paid musicalhomage to Saint Thyagaraja,one of the members of theTrinity of Carnatic music, atThiruvaiyaru, on the banks of River Cauvery onFriday in connection with the171st anniversary of theSamadhi of the musical geniuswho composed hundreds of‘kritis’ known for their devotionand divinity.

Described as the world’slargest musical tributes, the

Thyagaraja Aaradhana sawmost of the leading “superstars”of Carnatic music assemblingat the Thyagaraja Temple earlyFriday morning to take part inthe poojas held as a mark ofrespect to the all time great ofmusic and recited the PanchaRatna Kriti (the five gems ofCarnatic music) which elevat-ed the temple town to hither-to unexperienced heights ofmusic.

TV Goplakrishnan, SudhaRaghunathan, Mahati,Shobhana Vignesh, BinnyKrishnakumar, PapanasamAsok Ramani, Gayathri weresome of the leading stars who

were seen singing the kirtansinn unison with more than5,000 devotees who had gath-ered on the banks of Cauvery.Senior BJP leader L Ganeshan,veteran scribe R Rangaraj and

connoisseurs of music made ita point to be there atThiruvaiyaru to pay homage tothe Saint who lived between1767 and 1847.

“This is a thanks giving day

to our great guru (teacher)because there can never be aCarnatic concert withoutThyagaraja’s compositions. Wesurvive only because of hiscompositions and this is anoccasion when we should showour gratitude to the Saint forgiving us our daily food,” saidThiruvizha Jayashankar, thelegendary Nadaswaram playerwho makes it a point to attendthe Aaradhana without fail.

For VijayalakshmiSivasubramanian, it turned outto be a disappointing day. ThisTamil scholar who has manybooks to her credit could notmake it to Thiruvaiyaru from

Chennai. “My ancestral homeis near the temple, and I grewup listening to the Thyagarajacomposition, particularly thePancharatna kritis. I was relo-cated to Chennai after marriageand could not travel toThiruvaiyaru all alone becauseof old age. But I watched theevent in television and sangalong with the ensemble,” saidVijayalakshmi.

She has decided to be onthe banks of Cauvery nextyear for the Aatadhana. “For aThiruvaiyaru born person,nothing is great than the trib-utes to Saint Thyagaraja. It is agreat feeling,’ said Rangaraj.

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Terrorists on Friday hurledthree grenades to target

security forces in Kashmir Valleyahead of Republic Day injuringa policeman. The authoritiessounded alert in the Valley in thewake of Republic Day celebra-tions to be held at summer cap-ital Srinagar and district head-quarters amid tight security.

Terrorists hurled firstgrenade at a police station insouth Kashmir’s Anantnag dis-trict. One police constable wasinjured in the attack.

The security forceslaunched a search operation inthe area after the attack.

In another incident, sus-pected terrorists carried outgrenade attack followed by fir-ing on joint camp of army andCentral Reserve Police Force(CRPF) at Tahab village insouth Kashmir’s Pulwama dis-trict. No damage was causedduring the attack.

In a similar attack, terror-

ists hurled hand grenadetowards CRPF security bunkernear a central bank branch inSopore area of north Kashmir’sBaramulla late in the evening.

Security sources said therewas no immediate report about

any loss of life or injuries in thelast two attacks. A cop sustainedminor injury in Sirigufwaragrenade attack in Anantnag.

Meanwhile, authoritieshave sounded high securityalert in central and southKashmir areas in view of RDcelebrations across Kashmiron Saturday.

In Srinagar, the mainRepublic Day parade will be heldat Sher e Kashmir CricketStadium ground. The tradi-tional venue Bakhshi Stadium inSrinagar is under renovationsince last year. This is the secondoccasion when the RD functionwill be held at cricket stadium.

Adequate foolproof secu-rity arrangements have beenput in place to ensure smoothand peaceful Republic Day(RD) celebrations in Srinagarand other district headquartersin Kashmir region.

Adviser to GovernorKhurshid Ganai is scheduled tounfurl tricolour and take saluteat the Republic Day parade.

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Following in the footsteps oftheir Andhra Pradesh coun-

terparts a majority of theBengal Pradesh Congress lead-ers have decided to go it alonein the coming general elections.

After a prolonged meetingin presence of the party’s cen-tral observer Gaurav Gogoisenior PCC leaders decided togo it alone in the elections“though this will not mean theparty will stop all transactionswith the anti-BJP forces,” asenior leader said, adding theCongress for the past morethan a decade had been con-testing elections as subordinatepartner to either the TrinamoolCongress or the Left Front.

“This has affected the partyorganisationally. The PCC nowwants to tone up its organisa-tional prowess for 2021Assembly elections. Going italone in this election will helpthe Congress not only to test itscapabilities when left on its ownbut also it will rebuild itsorganisation,” said the leader

present in the meeting.Though the leaders

favoured the ekla chalo policy afinal decision will be taken bythe AICC after the district partypresidents give their opinion onthe matter, insiders said. Twoprominent leaders: former PCCpresident and Behrampore MPAdhir Chowdhury and seniorleader Deepa Dasmunshi wereconspicuous by their absence inthe meeting. Known for theirstrong anti-Trinamool Congressstance these two leaders haveoften aired their preference foran alliance with the Left Front.

A majority of the PCCleaders also feel PriyankaGandhi’s joining the Congresshelp the party’s cause in Bengalwith a number of disgruntledTMC leaders preferring ahome-coming. “In fact the

PCC is also exploring possi-bilities bringing Priyanka ji toaddress a mass rally preferablyin Brigade Parade Ground. Ifsuch rally becomes a successthen it will definitely helpCongress’ cause in future,” saida PCC leader and an MLA.

Meanwhile, the BJP saidPrime Minister Narendra Modiwill address two rallies inBengal in addition to threeothers likely to be held by UPChief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The Prime Minister is like-ly to hold two rallies onFebruary 2 at Asansol andThakurnagar in North 24Parganas. The UP ChiefMinister on the other hand islikely to address four rallies onFebruary 3 and 5 at Bankura,Purulia, Balurghat and Raiganj,party sources said.

Shillong: A miner, whose body was retrieved from a 370-footdeep coal mine in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills district after over40 days of getting trapped, has been identified as Amir Hussainof Assam’s Chirang district, officials said on Friday.

In a joint operation, the Indian Navy and the National DisasterResponse Force pulled the body out of the mine’s shaft on Thursday,nine days after it was spotted. “The body retrieved yesterday fromKsan has been identified as Amir Hussain of Chirang district inAssam,” East Jaintia Hills District Deputy Commissioner F M Dopthsaid. The body was identified by his wife and mother who arrivedin Khliehriat, the district headquarter, earlier on Friday, he said.

Dopth said the authorities were trying to help the family intransporting Hussain’s remains for the last rites. Hussain is oneof the 15 miners who got trapped on December 13. The inci-dent drew the nation’s attention to illegal coal mining in the Stateat the cost of human lives despite NGT ban. PTI

Bengaluru: Karnataka ChiefMinister HD Kumaraswamyon Friday claimed OppositionBJP was continuing itsOperation Lotus to topple theJDS-Congress Governmentand tried to lure a Congresslegislator with ‘gift’.

Accusing BJP and its Statepresident BS Yeddyurappa ofbeing behind the offer alleged-ly made on Thursday night, hesaid the MLA informed himthat he had rejected the gift.

“Operation Lotus is on.Yesterday night also they havetelephoned a Congress legisla-tor, asking him- where to sendthe gift, Kumaraswamy toldreporters here.

The CM’s fresh allegationcomes days after Yeedyurappahad said the BJP would notdestabilise the ruling coali-tion. The State had remained inthe grip of political unrest forseveral days recently with theCongress on tenterhooks tokeep its numbers intact amidfears of poaching by the BJPafter two independent MLAs

withdrew their support to thecoalition Government.

In a return of resort poli-tics, all 104 BJP MLAs hadstayed in a hotel in Mumbai forsome days recently while theCongress too shifted its legis-lators to a resort. Subsequently,the MLAs returned to the citylast week. Four Congress MLAshad skipped a crucial legislatureparty meeting on January 18,indicating all is not well with-in the party.

Operation Lotus is a refer-ence to the BJP allegedly luringseveral opposition MLAs toresign their assembly member-ship and defect and win theelection on the saffron partyticket later to ensure stability ofits then-government headedYeddyurappa in 2008. In hismedia interaction Friday,Kumarasamy, without naminganyone, said: “he (the legisla-tor) has already informed me.The legislator has told them(BJP) that he dont want theirgift and to leave him peaceful-ly.” PTI

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Elaborate security arrange-ments have been made for

the 70th Republic Day cele-brations in Rajasthan where aState level-function will beheld at Swai Mansingh Stadiumon Saturday.

Range IGs, district SPs andother senior officials have beenasked to remain alert.Additional police forces will be available as per therequirement, a Governmentrelease said.

Additional forces havebeen deployed in the city con-sidering the Republic Day cel-ebration and five-day JaipurLiterature Festival which com-menced Thursday.

A state-level Republic Dayfunction will be held at SMSStadium Saturday whereGovernor Kalyan Singh willunfurl the Tricolour, the releasesaid.

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In her message on the eve of Republic Day, BSPchief Mayawati urged people not to let go of

the opportunity elections provided them toimprove their lot and accused the BJP of ignor-ing the principles of the Indian Republic.

Without naming the previous governments,she said the Constitution has not been imple-mented in its right spirit in the past 70 years orelse poverty, illiteracy and unemployment wouldhave been removed to a large extent.

While not referring directly to the comingLok Sabha elections, she said a general electiongives people a chance to set things right.

Attacking the BJP-led Government at theCentre, she said the manner in which it has“ignored” the values and principles of the Indian Republic was “improper and mostunfortunate”.

Extending Republic Day greetings, particu-larly to the people of Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati saidit marked the day when Babasaheb Ambedkar’sConstitution, which provided equal rights to all,came into effect.

Hyderabad: Busting a mega job racket, citypolice have arrested the chief executive offi-cer and 13 others of a firm here for allegedlycheating over one lakh people, 35,000 of themfrom overseas, of Rs 70 crore after assuringplacements in MNCs.

The Wisdom IT Services India Pvt. Ltd hadcollected huge sums from gullible people andarranged fake interviews for jobs in multina-tional corporations over the past few years, apolice release said on Friday.

The overseas victims were mainly from theMiddle East, South Africa,Egypt, Qatar andThe Netherlands, it said.

The fraud involved was estimated to be Rs70 crore from one lakh people including 69,962from India and 35,000 job seekers from for-eign countries, it said.

The Cyberabad police seized Rs 19 lakhcash from the accused and further investiga-tion was on, the release added.

The company collected amount in USDollars for arranging interviews and certificateverifications, the release added.

Based on complaint by one of the victims, a case was registered and the 14,including the company’s CEO, had beenarrested,it added. PTI

Kochi: A three-member panelof observers appointed by theKerala High Court forSabarimala has submitted itsreport, saying it would take atleast one year to provide basicfacilities at the Lord Ayyappatemple due to Supreme Courtjudgement which allowed theentry of women into the shrine.

The High Court had direct-ed the observers to ensure that

adequate facilities are madeavailable by TravancoreDevaswom Board, whichadministers the temple, for theusual number of pilgrims andthe additional inflow expecteddue to the apex court judgement.

In a historic verdict inSeptember last year, the SupremeCourt ruled against the restric-tion on entry of women ofmenstrual age, between 10 to 50

years, into the temple.In its report, dated January

3, the panel noted that there aretwo separate steep roadsthrough dense forests — a 3.1km traditional path and a 3.53km long Swamy AyyappanRoad — to reach the hill shrine.

“For implementing theSupreme Court judgement,many more additional facilitieslike latrines, urinals, drinking

water etc are to be providedalong both the routes for thisadditional category of devotees,apart from tight police securi-ty, considering the age factor ofthe new category of devotees,”the panel said in its report.

The report also mentionedthe large scale devastationcaused in Pamba base due tothe floods in August 2018.

It noted that during the

unprecedented floods, much ofthe facilities at Pamba werewashed away, as a result ofwhich Nilakkal had to be madethe base camp.

The panel also said sincewomen devotees in the agegroup of 10-50 years were notvisiting Sabarimala at present,the number of additional devo-tees on account of the apexcourt judgement could not be

assessed with certainty.“Therefore, we are of opin-

ion that it would take a mini-mum of one year to provide atleast basic facilities for devotees,considering the additionalinflow on account of theSupreme Court judgement,when (it is) implemented infull,” it said.

The panel, comprisingretired Kerala High Court

judges S Sirijagan and PRRaman and senior IndianPolice Service officer AHemachandran, was set up onNovember 28 last year to over-see the pilgrimage atSabarimala. The court alsogave it to the power to overseelaw and order and other prob-lems faced by pilgrims.

The court had directed thepanel to submit its report while

considering a plea filed by ayoung woman devotee, seekingentry into the hill shrine. Thetemple was closed on January20 after a two-month-longstormy annual pilgrimage sea-son, which saw protests bydevotees and right-wing groupsagainst the CPI(M)-led StateGovernment’s decision toimplement the Supreme Courtverdict. PTI

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The Chinese use a term‘xuanchuán’, which literallymeans propaganda — an intrin-sic tact of the Communist Partyof China (CPC) to legitimise var-

ious state actions and to posture a certaininevitable destiny, muscularity and invin-cibility among all stakeholders, domestical-ly and externally. The Chinese leadershipoften teases and releases unverifiable infor-mation about its military preparedness andtechnological advancements. The deliber-ate sneak-peak of the fifth generationstealth fighter plane J-20, nuclear sub-marines, aircraft carrier programme andcruise missiles among others are all a partof the intimidation and muscle-flexing exer-cise. A carefully calibrated media environ-ment advances a narrative of the next-gen-eration capabilities like hypersonic weapon-ry, cyberwarfare and an overall securityframework that entails the most advanced‘anti-access/area-denial’ military doctrines(A2/AD). This perception of the People’sLiberation Army’s (PLA) capability (entail-ing ground forces, Navy, Air Force, rocketforce and strategic support force) then sup-ports the more political and diplomaticaggression that the Chinese leadershipindulges on its expansionist agenda inTaiwan and South China Sea belligerence.This sense of ‘war-clouds’ was implicit inthe Chinese President Xi Jinping’s first orderof 2019 to the PLA, where he stated, “Allmilitary units must correctly understandmajor national security and developmenttrends and strengthen their sense of unex-pected hardship, crisis and battle”.

Undeniably, the PLA is the largest mil-itary force in the world (two million activestrength) with the second largest defencebudget of $175 billion, annually. This is near-ly four times that of India ($45 billion) andit grew at an unprecedented rate of eight percent over the previous year. This generousoutlay was possible due to the Chinese eco-nomic juggernaut that affords the indul-gences of the interlinked diplomatic-militaryChinese footprint across the globe and fundscrucial investments for the PLA’s moderni-sation and technology development. Yet, mil-itary analysts are not entirely convinced ofthe PLA’s battle-preparedness.

For starters, the PLA is still technicallya ‘party Army’ and is given to distractive andtime-consuming indoctrination sessions atall operational levels by political officers ofthe CPC. While all career officers of the PLAare CPC members, the apex decision-mak-ing body for the PLA is drawn from the com-munist party committees that are dominat-ed by civilian party members and ideologues,as opposed to career military men. The stateis forever paranoid about regime-change(especially after the Tiananmen Squareincident), and, therefore, the top brass of thePLA is firmly reined in under the party direc-tive that could affect serious soldiering, cul-ture and professional efficacy.

The second major concernis the operational ‘jointsmanship’among various serving arms ofthe PLA as that requires a coor-dinated fighting capability,responsive command system,logistical/maintenance frame-work and inter-service interlink-ages for a seamless operation —these shortcomings have beenroutinely pointed out and inter-nally accepted with concertedefforts being made to overcomethe same. The days of Chinese‘human wave attacks’ a la 1962are passé, and the Gulf Wars ofthe 1990s exposed the hollow-ness of simple ‘numeric superi-ority’ and ‘ideological armies’ asopposed to professional soldier-ing. Islands of technologicaladvancements and advancedweaponry need to coincide withthe requisite skills, training andhandling experience of effective-ly deploying the same undercombat-stress situations by thesoldiers.

Unlike most major mili-taries (the US, NATO, Russia andIndia among others) that havepartaken in the invaluable andirreplaceable experience of com-bat operations, the Chinese PLAremains the most combat-inex-perienced major military in theworld. All four key elements ofwar — soldiering, leadership,weaponry and doctrines — areposited on conjecture and untest-ed claims. The last major com-bat for PLA was 40 years agoagainst Vietnam, where theostensibly inferior Vietnameseforces inflicted a serious blow to

the bungled Chinese invasion. Earlier still, and contrary to

1962, the Sino-Indian clashes atCho La and Nathu La in 1967had resulted in a bloody nose forthe PLA. Purely from the timeperspective, that leaves virtual-ly no one in the active PLA withany battle experience. Despitebreathing fire on Taiwan, Japanor incidents like Doklam, thePLA has not secured any tangi-ble ground on the ‘enemy’. Incomparison, the US has beeninvolved in the Middle East andAfghanistan in recent times, theIndian (and Pakistani) forceshave had Kargil and multipledomestic insurgencies that haveconsistently tested their ‘software’and ‘hardware.’ The US has test-ed its prime weaponry like theGBU-43/B (‘mother of allbombs’) in Afghanistan, its F-22Raptor stealth fighter jets in‘combat surges’ over Syria, asreportedly have the Russians,who deployed their SU-57 stealthfighter prototypes. VladimirShamanov, the Russian Duma’sDefence Committee head, hasclaimed that Russia has tested‘over 200 new weapons’ in Syria.Whereas, the efficacy ofadvanced Chinese weaponry isa matter of pure claims byBeijing.

The PLA is undoubtedlyundergoing a major overhauland investment in terms ofmaterial upgradation, trainingand integration. However, allthese investments are predicat-ed on the continuing ‘bull run’of the Chinese economy — dark

clouds of an economic slowdownloom and China has recorded itsslowest growth rate since 1990.The inevitable US-China tradewars, too, will take their own tolland can trigger unfathomableheadaches for the CPC to man-age. This could usher in a revisedset of priorities (for example, cutsfor PLA and defence industry)for the CPC in order to keep themore important lid on its restivemasses from questioning theregime during an economicdownturn. The famed ‘cheque-book’ diplomacy to ‘buy out’ sov-ereign loyalty, for exampleCPEC, Djibouti or Philippines,could also become an immedi-ate casualty. Lastly, the recentChinese belligerence has led tothe emergence of powerfulcounter-opposition to check-mate China’s ambitions. The‘Quad’ (US, Japan, Australia andIndia) is also symptomatic of thestrategic evolution that works tothe detriment of the Chinese.Perhaps like its economic jugger-naut that has apparently ‘over-heated’, China’s diplomatic-mil-itary assertions and bellicosity bythe PLA are a lot more aboutposturing than it can realistical-ly sustain or ‘bite’. It will remainthe cynosure for the US, and tothat extent, the saber-rattling bythe Chinese PLA is here to stay.A closer analysis, however, leavesa lot of unanswered questions onits battle preparedness.

(The writer, a military veter-an, is a former Lt Governor ofAndaman & Nicobar Islandsand Puducherry)

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Sir — Our country celebratesRepublic Day every year to hon-our the day when the Constitutionof India came into force. RepublicDay reminds us about the sacri-fices made by our great leadersand freedom fighters. The democ-racy received by us should be val-ued by everyone and should notbe taken for granted. Everyoneshould contribute their bit for thedevelopment of the nation andspread peace, love and harmony.

Jubel D’Cruz Mumbai

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Sir — As India celebrates its 70thRepublic Day, it would be worth-while to remember what this daystands for. Our country enjoys thesole privilege of holding the world’slargest parliamentary democracy.Indians feel proud that ourConstitution is the longest writtenamong countries across the globe.

But I wonder if we have beenfollowing our Preamble, in letterand spirit. Whereas it promises lib-erty of thought, expression, belief,faith and worship, in recent times

we have witnessed worrisome inci-dents wherein fundamentalistgroups have run amok whileGovernments remained mute spec-tators in bringing them to task.

Next, the Preamble talks aboutjustice — social, economic andpolitical — but all of them remaina mirage. Economic inequality,too, is on the rise. As regards thePreamble promising fraternity,assuring dignity of an individual,

everyone is aware of the commonman’s susceptibility. Although thephrases ‘socialist’ and ‘secular’ wereincorporated in the Preamble, therehave been voices that sections inpowers-that-be are not at all com-fortable with. There have beenvoices at periodic intervals of get-ting these two words omitted fromthe Preamble itself.

Hemant KumarHaryana

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Priyanka’s Gandhigiri” (January25). The inevitable has happened:Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has takena plunge into the cesspool of pol-itics in what could be a definingmoment for the country in the run-up to the general election. For quitesometime before Rahul Gandhi’s

entry into politics, the Congresshad been pining openly for a par-ticular Indira Gandhi look-alike tonurture the Nehru-Gandhi legacy.But Priyanka Gandhi Vadra resist-ed all pressure and quietly proppedup her brother, and then deflectedthe calls for her to take over asRahul Gandhi initially struggled toprove his mettle.

But then Priyanka’s entry intoactive politics did not happenovernight. The Congress brass hadbeen discussing a party position tomark her entry for quite a while,even though she has been knownfor more than a decade as the maincampaigner for her mother andbrother in the Gandhi pocket bor-oughs of Rae Bareli and Amethi.

Whether the Congress wins orloses the election, and no matterhow the ‘dynasty rule’ debate pansout, the latest political entry by aNehru-Gandhi descendant is a keyevent in Indian politics.Circumstances and her own perfor-mance will determine how hercareer unfolds. But for the momenther arrival has shaken up nationalpolitics.

J Akshobhya Mysuru

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Uttar Pradesh is caught in apolitical turmoil after PriyankaGandhi was appointed as the

Congress’ general secretary in chargeof the east. Euphoria has gripped theCongress. Its workers and leaders haveclaimed that Priyanka’s entry intoactive politics is a game-changer deci-sion. It goes without saying that thedecision has invigorated party workersand the Congress, which was pushedto the wall after the Samajwadi Party(SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP) ignored the grand old party whileforming alliance.

The question, however, remainswhether Priyanka’s appointment alonewill ensure the Congress’ victory in the2019 poll. Congress president RahulGandhi has already set the target offorming the next Government in Uttar

Pradesh with a mission of 30 seats.Rightly so because he wanted to sendthe right signal to party workers. Butwill mere appointments and announce-ments revive the Congress’ fortunes inUttar Pradesh? Ask anybody, the replyto this question will be negative.

Uttar Pradesh has the most com-plex political history and is difficult tounderstand. The election ‘dye’ is cast inthis politically sensitive State, whichelects the largest contingent of 80 MPsto the Lok Sabha. It was not the casein the beginning. Before the emergenceof caste-based parties, like SP and BSP,the Congress was the dominant partyin this State. Supported by uppercastes, Dalits and minority, the grandold party swept election after electiontill 1977 after which anti-Emergencywave blew the party away. It failed towin even a single seat. Even formerPrime Minister Indira Gandhi lost elec-tions from Rae Bareli.

The Congress recovered once after1984 but after 1989, it again started los-ing its hold. This was primarily becauseof the emergence of VP Singh, aMinister in the Rajiv GandhiGovernment, who rebelled against

his own party over the Bofors issue. In1990, Singh changed the political dis-course of the country when he intro-duced the Mandal Commission report.This lent voice to caste-based parties aspolitics of Other Backward Castes(OBCs) took centrestage in UttarPradesh. This tectonic shift led to theemergence of SP and BSP at theexpense of the Congress.

India’s grand old party got a bodyblow, when to counter ‘Mandal’, the BJPopted for ‘Kamandal’ politics andrevived the Ram Janmabhoomi issue.As this movement gathered momen-tum, there was considerable shift ofHindu votes from the Congress to theBJP. In this political realignment,Muslims, too, deserted the Congressand started supporting either the SP orthe BSP, depending upon who wasstrong enough to beat the BJP in thatedition of election — be it in the LokSabha or the Vidhan Sabha.

In 2009, the Congress sprang a sur-prise when its seat share rose to 26.3 percent against 11.3 per cent in 2004. Butin 2014, it again came down to 2.5 percent as the party was able to win justtwo seats of Amethi and Rae Bareli.

Interestingly, whenever theCongress did well, the BJP suffered andwhen the Congress failed, the BJP’s voteand seat share went up. Figures suggestthat in the last two elections when theCongress’ seat share was 26.3 per cent,the BJP’s share was 12.5 per cent. Butwhen in 2014, the BJP swept the elec-tions with 71 seats and its percentageshare rose to 88.8 per cent, theCongress’ share was just 2.5 per cent.

Interestingly, the BJP and theCongress’ performance have neverimpacted the SP-BSP combine. Since1996, the seat share of the BSP-SP com-bine has never felt the impact of emer-gence or fall of the BJP or the Congress.In 1996, the seat share of the BSP-SPalliance was 25.9 per cent; in 1998 it was28.2 per cent; in 1999 it rose to 47.1 percent; and in 2004 it was 67.5 per cent.In 2009, when the Congress did well,the SP-BSP alliance did better by win-ning 53.8 per cent of the seats but in2014, the alliance, too, was swept awayby the Modi wave. Its share fell to 6.3per cent, which translates to five seats— all of them won by the SP while theBSP drew a blank.

It is in this background that

Priyanka officially joined the Congress.Practically speaking, her entry into pol-itics happened much earlier thanRahul’s. She is now in charge of hermother’s constituency of Rae Bareli. Shewas also the one who introducedRahul Gandhi to the media in 2004,when he contested the Lok Sabha elec-tion for the first time. Since then,Priyanka has been actively taking partin the Lok Sabha election. But herinvolvement will be limited to RaeBareli and Amethi only.

Interestingly, voters’ loyalty in RaeBareli and Amethi towards theCongress is restricted only to the LokSabha election because in Assemblypolls, the party has suffered humiliat-ing defeats. The BJP, SP and BSP haveequally earned laurels despite Priyankaaddressing a few election meetings inselect Assembly constituencies ofAmethi and Rae Bareli. The canvas isnow bigger for Priyanka. Electionstrategy is no longer talking about merecaste equations and political messag-ing. In last two elections, the BJP haschanged poll dynamics. It is more of amarketing strategy where the focus issending right message at the right time

through different campaigns — may bepositive or negative. The strategy willnow hover around strengthening boothmanagement by making the partyleader feel important in this election.

Surely, it won’t be a cakewalk forPriyanka. One should not expect thatshe will revive a moribund Congress inone go. Her name might have createdripples but that needs to be transformedinto votes. Success will depend onwhether she will able to win urbanpockets by forming multi-caste coali-tions of upper caste, non-Yadav OBCgroups and non-Jatav Dalits. Her chal-lenge will be to stop the fragmentationof Muslim votes by sending a right sig-nal among the minority. Only then canthe Congress match the BJP at thenational level. To start with, theCongress must not aim high. It shouldtry repeating its performance of 2009when it won 21 seats. If Priyanka cando it, this will be a big achievement forher. The bottom line would be the strat-egy adopted by her, whose result willbe visible only in May.

(The writer is Executive Director(News) with Lucknow edition of ThePioneer)

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After prolonged indifference to thecontribution of the ProvisionalGovernment of Free India (PGFI)and its armed wing, the IndianNational Army (INA), on October 21,

2018, the Prime Minister hoisted the tricolourfrom the Red Fort in recognition of their con-tribution to the freedom struggle. But that ‘action’per se coming so late, and essentially symbolic,is not helpful to enable Indians appreciate theenormity of their role. It is imperative, therefore,to revisit the contemporary political activities inmainland India, where their contributions wereburied deep due to various political interests,motivated by insecurity and partisan gains.

The Cambridge dictionary defines ‘revolution’as “a change in the way a country is governed usu-ally to a different political system and often usingviolence or war.” The INA alone can be creditedto have brought the only ‘revolution’ in India. Noprevious attempt, including the 1857 mutiny, suc-ceeded. Having begun with the INA trials andended with the announcement of the CabinetMission, its duration can be considered betweenAugust 1945 and February 1946. It spanned acrossIndia to unite religious denominations, civiliansand military against the British rule.

How the INA revolution worked: The rebel-lion was born from patriotism and sacrifice of theINA that fought a four-month gruelling war alongin the Assam border in 1944. Subhas Chandra Bosefervently hoped this would lead to a massive upris-ing in India. Instead, either a stony silence or oppo-sition from Indian political parties greeted them;while the masses were kept unaware. After thou-sands of INA soldiers sacrificed their lives, the jointforce had to retreat to Burma. However, the verynext year, the INA spirit arrived in India with warprisoners and quickly transformed into a revolu-tion. The spirit connected directly with the mass-es and political parties were rendered irrelevant.In such circumstances, instead of using the ‘rev-olution’ for broader national interest, individualparties sought to use it for narrow gains .

In several communiques, Viceroy Wavellwrote to the Secretary of State (SoS) how lead-ers of the Congress were delivering violent anti-British speeches by leveraging mass sympathy forthe INA. On October 9, 1945, he wrote: “Therewere talks that Jawaharlal Nehru’s plan was tomake use of the INA and the large quantities ofarms smuggled into India from Burma, to trainCongress volunteers and use them against theGovernment. On October 22, 1945, he commu-nicated his aggravated fear that the Congress maysuborn the Army, which would be the most dan-gerous development in the near future.”

Governor of Central Provinces and Berar,Joseph Twynam, felt that the campaign against theGovernment was like the Irish revolution in theUK. On November 16, 1945, Bertrand JamesGlancy, the Governor of Punjab, wrote to theViceroy noting rising sympathy in favour of theINA men in Punjab and suggested that trials inthe future should be reduced only to a few. OnNovember 27, North-West Frontier Province(NWFP) Governor George Cunningham advisedthe then Government to not initiate any furtherproceedings against anyone as he felt that Indianopinion was clearly against the INA’s trial.

Remission of the transportation for life sen-tence in the Red Fort trial was followed by large-scale Naval mutiny and then a series of sympathystrikes in the Air Force and the Army. Hints thatBritain was considering leaving India were reflect-ed in Lord Halifax’s statement on February 2, 1946:“India’s best interests demand that completetransfer of responsibility from the British to Indianhands should be made in good order if that ishumanly possible.” Decision of the imperialGovernment on February 19, 1946, to send a teamof three Cabinet ministers was the formal admis-sion of British inability to continue to rule India.This marked the victory of the INA revolution.

The revolution and domestic politics: TheINA revolution not only mortally wounded theBritish regime but also challenged both theCongress and the Muslim League. It presented agolden opportunity to secure freedom for undi-vided India from the falling grasp of the British.This, however, challenged the League’s idea of a“separate homeland for Muslims”. The partystrove to communalise the INA issue in every pos-sible manner to tackle this challenge. On the otherhand, the Congress faced an additional and exis-tential challenge to its claim of the ideology of ‘non-violence’ as the sole driver of India’s freedom. Thismade the party engage in a process of ideologicalengineering. The process began institutionally inthe Bombay AICC session on September 1945.

The AICC, in a resolution expressing sym-pathy for the INA men, berated their methodas: “…and in view of the termination of the war,it would be a tragedy if these officers, men andwomen, were punished for the offence of hav-ing laboured, however mistakenly for the free-dom of India. They can be of the greatest ser-vice in the heavy work of building up a new andfree India.” This indicated the party’s plan toexploit the INA issue by subjugating it to theideology of non-violence.

Ideological engineering: Congress leadersfound the 1942 movement as the only one whichcould be claimed as their own while possessingattributes of revolutionary character. It was signif-

icant that in the same AICC session, leaders paidglowing tributes to 1942 and called it the real “rev-olution”. Incongruity of its violent character withnon-violence was rationalised citing self defence.

Nehru defended the 1942 violence saying:“The people organised themselves, found theirown leaders and own methods… The events inSatara, in Bihar, in Midnapore and elsewhere inBengal and in the united Provinces, have addeda glorious chapter to the history of the people’sfight for independence.” Sardar Patel compared1942 with 1857 showing the will of the peopleto be free. He said that the country in generalrose in self defence: “I cannot see anything wrongin this. We are after all human beings.”

The party seemed to bring a distinctionbetween violence for self defence and violence forliberation of the motherland. It put its seal ofapproval for the former but dubbed the latter asmistaken. The ideological engineering reached acrescendo in the Meerut annual session of the partyin November 1946, when the primacy of 1942 wasestablished irrevocably. In his presidential addressJB Kripalani said: “I believe that if the Congresshad not taken up the challenge of British imperi-alism in August 1942, we would not be occupy-ing the position we do today…our representativesand leaders have broken into the citadel ofpower. This is not the end of foreign dominationbut it is surely the beginning of the end…” A res-olution in the Subjects Committee also gave avaunted place to the constructive work ofMahatma Gandhi. In a nutshell, the Congress’ ide-ology of ‘non-violence’ was rehabilitated withoutany acknowledgement to the real revolution thatthe INA had brought.

Meek surrender: Despite usurping the con-tribution of the INA revolution, the Congressfaced a crisis on the issue of freedom for undi-vided India. Through mischievous provisions, theCabinet Mission proposals intended to facilitategreater Pakistan. There were repeated stalematesin the ‘transfer of power’ on Constitutional issues,following which the League indulged in a seriesof communal riots with the complicity of the

British to bully others on the issue of Partition.The Congress needed courage and acceptabili-ty among all sections of Indians — Muslims inparticular — to challenge this British League con-spiracy. Here, the party appeared vulnerable. Thiswas in sharp contrast to the indomitable courageand unflinching commitment to the cause ofundivided India which was the hallmark of theINA. Top Congress leaders spoke spiritedly butfailed to live up to the expectations.

In the Meerut session, Nehru declared, “I amnot afraid of bloodshed. The present civil strife inthe country has no doubt moved me but it has tobe faced with a brave heart… The Congress hasfaced many a danger in the past and will not shirkits responsibilities in a crisis like this even thoughsome of us may have to lose our lives.” Kripalanisaid: “It is quite possible that to avoid immediatetrouble we may accept principles that cut at theroot of nationality and democracy. If we do so, weshall not only be betraying the nation, but ultimate-ly, the Muslim and other communities…” However,belying countrywide expectations, the party eas-ily surrendered to the British League intrigue andsettled for Partition of India.

INA’s rightful place: It has been a nationaltragedy that the Congress, being the leader of thenationalist forces, not only failed to preventPartition but also did not acknowledge the con-tribution of the INA revolution to the freedomstruggle of India. Thus, the true reason for theBritish winding up their rule over India remainsunknown to many Indians even after sevendecades of Independence.

Rather, powers and resources of the rulers ofindependent India have been used to reinforce andperpetuate the theme of the non-violent strugglehaving fetched freedom. Such perceptions cannotbe removed by acts of symbolism or token ges-tures such as hoisting of tricolour at the Red Forton the anniversary day. It is necessary to revisit his-tory without a preconceived mindset, re-assess andrecognise the impact of the INA revolution onIndia’s freedom struggle.

(The writer is a columnist and an author)

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As the World EconomicForum Annual Meeting

2019 came to an end on Fridayafter five days of brainstormingby over 3,000 leaders acrosshundreds of sessions, theorganisers said the event thisyear made an impact on theworld in as many as 33 ways.

The WEF listed PrimeMinister Shinzo Abe of Japancommitting his country’s G20Chairmanship to launch an agen-da for global data governance.

Besides, a group of 70-pluscountries confirmed intentionsto commence WTO negotia-tions on trade-related aspects ofe-commerce following a min-isterial meeting on the marginsof the Davos meeting on Friday.

Shortly before that, mem-bers of the Forum’s businessand civil society trade com-munity issued a statement call-ing for a new digital trade dealthat should be both ambitiousand inclusive.

The community urgedgovernments to move forwardwith this agenda at the WTOin order to reduce costs andfacilitate greater participationin the global digital economy.

The leaders of Brazil,Colombia and Brazil, alongwith the Foreign Minister ofCanada, issued a joint state-ment Wednesday to offer theircountries’ backing to Juan

Guiado, leader of Venezuela’so p p o s i t i o n - c o n t r o l l e dParliament after he haddeclared himself InterimPresident.

A day earlier, ParaguayanPresident Mario Abdo Benitezcalled on Guiado to take action.

Mohammad Ashraf Ghani,President of the IslamicRepublic of Afghanistan, usedhis appearance at the annualmeeting to commit his countryto democracy.

Ghani used his address toremind participants thatAfghanistan has passed 390new laws since 2015 and sig-nificantly increased the num-ber of women in politics.

The President ofAzerbaijan and Prime Ministerof Armenia used a meeting atthe World Economic Forum toadvance negotiations on thesettlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakhconflict.

The Government of the UKannounced a five-year plan totackle the global threat of antimi-crobial resistance. The plan envis-ages containing and controllingAMR worldwide by 2040.

The forum continued mul-tistakeholder diplomacy dia-logues aimed at advancingpeace efforts on other keyglobal fault-lines including theWestern Balkans and Syria.

The forum also conveneda public-private community of

leaders for a Special Dialogueon Israeli-Palestinian relations.

With the help of PrimeMinister Abiy Ahmed ofEthiopia, a diplomatic dialoguewas held on the Horn of Africa.

Discussions were also ini-tiated on the Sahel, the KoreanPeninsula, European-Russianrelations and on a new devel-opment architecture for Africa-Europe engagement.

The WEF’s Closing theSkills Gap Initiative, launchedin 2017 with a target to reskillor upskill 10 million workers by2020, announced it has alreadysecured pledges for trainingmore than 17 million peopleglobally, 6.4 million of whomhave already been re-skilled.

The forum also announcedthat the initiative is now sup-porting public private part-nerships aimed at promotingfuture skills in four countries —Argentina, India, Oman andSouth Africa.

The forum also announcedit was expanding its network ofClosing the Gender Gapnational taskforces to eightcountries — Argentina, Chile,Colombia, Costa Rica,Dominican Republic, France,Panama and Peru.

The forum’s Centre forGlobal Public Goods helpedlaunch a USD 15 million pro-ject to launch a formal elec-tronic waste recycling industryin Nigeria.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Friday said India

is on the way to becoming thefifth largest economy in theworld and the Government istaking reform measures on a“daily basis” to furtherimprove investment climate inthe country.

Speaking at the India-South Africa Business Summithere, he said India is theworld’s fastest-growing majoreconomy and the Governmentis committed to building a‘New India’ with next genera-tion infrastructure.

At $2.6 trillion, the Indianeconomy is currently rankedsixth in the world behind theUS, China, Japan, Germanyand the UK.

The Prime Minister listedout some of the Governmentflagship initiatives like boost-ing domestic manufacturingthrough Make in India anddigitising the economythrough Digital India.

“We are on our way tobecoming the fifth largesteconomy globally...We are oneof the top FDI destinationslisted by UNCTAD. But, weare not satisfied. On a dailybasis, we are making necessary

changes and reforms in impor-tant sectors of the economy,”he said.

Modi also informed thelocal and South African busi-nesses that India has jumpedto the 77th position in the lat-est edition of World Bank’sEase of Doing BusinessReport, which is an improve-ment of 65 places in the lastfour years.

“We are committed tobuilding a ‘New India’ withnext generation infrastruc-ture and with emphasis onspeed, skill and scale,” he said.

Talking about bilateral eco-nomic relations between thecountries, Modi said tradebetween India and SouthAfrica is on the upswing andhas crossed the $10 billionmark in 2017-18.

“However, there is greatpotential still. I call upon allIndian and South AfricanGovernment agencies, invest-ment promotion organisationsas well as business leaders ofboth countries to work pro-actively to realise the truepotential,” he said.

India’s investment intoSouth Africa is constantlygrowing and this hasapproached $10 billion, creat-ing over 20,000 jobs locally.

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Okaya Power Group, a bat-tery and inverter manu-

facturing company has received“Emerging Energy StorageCompany of the Year” awardfrom India Energy StorageAlliance (IESA). IESA, a lead-ing body aimed at makingenergy storage sector in India

more competitive and effi-cient, gave the award to Okayafor its offering in EnergyStorage Solutions, and to pro-mote electric vehicles, solarpower and their applications inIndia.

The award was presentedto Anil Gupta, ManagingDirector, Okaya Power Groupat the 6th International

Conference & Exhibition onEnergy Storage EV andMicrogrids in India held at TheAshok in New Delhi.Organised by CustomizedEnergy Solutions and MesseDusseldorf India, the eventwas powered by IESA whichendeavours to carry forwardimplementation of NationalEnergy Storage Mission.

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Union Minister Arun Jaitleyon Friday welcomed the

Supreme Court decision touphold the validity of theInsolvency and BankruptcyCode, and stressed that bankdefaulters cannot get away forlong.

“The upholding of the pro-visions that bar the defaultingpromoters from bidding isboth ethical and proper —otherwise the defaulter willcontinue to manage the com-pany with only the banks tak-ing a haircut,” he said in a tweet.

Earlier in the day, theSupreme Court upheld the con-stitutional validity of the IBCsaying “the defaulters’ paradiseis lost” and the economy’s right-ful position has been regained.

“The Supreme Court judge-ment upholding the validity ofthe IBC is a welcome decision.The Bank defaulters cannot getaway for long,” he said.

With regard to the contro-versial provision of section29A of the IBC, which dealtwith the rights of erstwhile pro-moters to participate in therecovery process of a corporatedebtor, the court said that “aresolution applicant has novested right for considerationor approval of its resolutionplan”.

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Search for Fbb Colors FeminaMiss India 2019 Co-pow-

ered By Sephora andRajnigandha Pearls has startedfor participants with an aim toextend whole-hearted supportto the new generation womenwho have the potential to leadand represent the country inthe future.

The winner will representIndia at Miss World pageant.The others too stand a chanceto represent the country atInternational Pageants likeMiss Grand International andMiss United Continents.

This time too, the pageantwill conduct a nationwide huntin all the 30 states (includingthe Capital, Delhi). The Top 3contestants from every statewill win a Golden Ticket to theState’s Zonal crowning cere-mony which will be held inBangalore (South Zone) on24thFebruary 2019, Delhi(North Zone) on 06TH March,2019, Pune (West Zone) on02nd April, 2019 and Kolkata(East Zone) on 23rd April,2019. Each state winner willmake it to Grand Finale whichwill be held in June.

But before that they willundergo rigorous training fromthe best in the industry. Thegorgeous Neha Dhupia andDia Mirza will mentor thegirls; East and West Zone willbe handled by Neha and whileDia will take charge of theNorth and South Zone.

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The Government is setbreach the fiscal deficit tar-

get yet again by 40 bps for2018-19, and raise the target to3.5 percent for next fiscal in theforthcoming budget that maybe skewed towards the ruraleconomy, says a foreign bro-kerage report.

In a note Friday, Bank ofAmerica Merrill Lynch, how-ever, said the fiscal “risks areoverdone”.

“We expect theGovernment to target a fiscaldeficit of 3.5 percent for FY20,after ending FY19 at 3.7 per-cent, 0.40 percent higher thanthe target,” the note said.

It can be noted that theModi Government has not metthe fiscal targets in all theseyears, barring in FY15 when itimproved upon its own targetby a tad, and missing it mar-ginally in the rest of the years.

As of November, it hasused up 115 percent of itsbudgeted market borrowingsamidst slowing GST collec-tions and a poor show on thedivestment side. Against the�80,000 crore budgeted target,it has achieved only around�15,000 crore so far.

The report, however, notesthat Government may not bor-row more to the deficit will befunded by drawing down onGovernment balances with theRBI which as of March 2018

had stood at �1.675 trillion.The net Government bor-

rowing may come in at �5.07trillion for FY20, it estimated.

It can be noted that even inthe face of the budgeted targetbeing overshot, theGovernment has been repeat-edly stressing on meeting theFY19 target of 3.3 percent.

The brokerage said eventhough the 3.5 percent target ishigher than the target, it is stillbelow the medium-term aver-age of 4.3 percent.

Seeking to allay concernson inflationary impact of thefiscal gap being breached, itsaid “slippages of 0.25-0.50percent of GDP at this level canhardly be inflationary given theslack capacity in the economy.”

It said providing the ade-quate liquidity support is moreimportant than meeting thefiscal deficit targets andpitched for a $26 billion ofGovernment bond buybacksby RBI in FY20.

At the February 1 budget,the final one before the gener-al elections, the Governmentwill try to address rural distressby interest subvention/directincome transfers supportingconsumption over investment,it said.

“The budget should ideal-ly not propose any new directtaxes, and the Finance Ministershould take steps to alleviatestress in the hinterlands,” itsaid.

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More than 18 million jobswere generated by the

country’s formal sector in a15-month period startingSeptember 2017 and endingNovember 2018, suggests astudy based on payroll data ofretirement fund body EPFO,PFRDA and Employees’ StateInsurance Corporation(ESIC).

As many as 1,84,38,748new members joined the ESIscheme run by ESIC duringthe 15 months until November2018, showed the CentralStatistics Office (CSO) studybased on payroll data of dif-ferent social security schemes.

The CSO study releasedon Friday showed that asmany as 1,79,34,300 newmembers joined the socialsecurity schemes run by theEmployees’ Provident FundOrganisation (EPFO) duringSeptember 2017 to November2018.

However, the study statedthat 1,39,31,607 members exit-ed the EPFO schemes duringthe 15-month period and33,48,093 members rejoinedthe subscription again duringthe period. Thus the net addi-tion was 73,50,786 during theperiod under review.

The study showed that asmany as 10,31,484 new mem-bers joined the ESI scheme inNovember 2018, which was12.88 per cent lower than11,84,042 new subscribers inthe same month in 2017.

The highest number of14,68,880 subscribers joinedthe ESI scheme in July 2018during the 15-month period.

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Several key WTO membernations on Friday expressed

their resolve to work towards sat-isfactory solutions for preservingthe credibility of the multi-lateralbody and increase its relevanceamid increasing uncertaintiesat global trade front.

Various issues were dis-cussed at the meeting of 32members of the World TradeOrganisation (WTO) here onthe sidelines of the WorldEconomic Forum (WEF)annual meeting.

The Ministers, who par-ticipated in the meeting,emphasised on the urgency ofrestoring a fully-functioningappellate body, according to astatement issued by the SwissGovernment.

The statement assumes sig-nificance as any delay inappointment of members in theappellate body of the WTO’sdispute settlement mechanismwould hamper its functioning.

The US has blocked theappointment of these members.

“Ministers welcomed theprocess recently initiated toaddress concerns related toWTO’s dispute settlement system.

In this regard, they under-lined the urgency of restoringa fully-functioning AppellateBody,” the statement said.

The need to reform the164-member group and toimprove its functioning waswidely acknowledged at themeeting.

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The BSE benchmarkSensex gave up initialgains on Friday and

closed 169 points lower at36,025.54 as shares of MarutiSuzuki cracked after weak Q3earnings, offsetting gains in YesBank, HDFC, ITC and TCS.

After surging over 250points during the day to touchan intraday high of 36,474.48,the 30-share index gave upgains on widespread profit-booking in the later half of thesession and hit a low of35,953.15, before finishing169.56 points, or 0.47 % downat 36,025.54.

In similar movement, thebroader NSE Nifty ended 69.25points, or 0.64%, down at10,780.55, after shuttlingbetween 10,931.70 and10,756.45.

During the week, Sensexfell 361 points and the Nifty fell126 points.

Brokers said sentiment suf-fered a jolt after the country’slargest carmaker, MarutiSuzuki India reported 17.21%fall in its net profit for the thirdquarter ended December 31,2018. The company had post-ed a net profit of �1,799 crorein the same period of the pre-vious fiscal.

Maruti Suzuki emergedworst performer in the Sensexkitty, tumbling 7.40 per centafter the company announcedits third quarter results.

Shares of the companyended 7.40% lower at�6,516.35.

Other losers include HeroMotoCorp, ICICI Bank, AsianPaints, M&M, Tata Steel, TataMotors, NTPC and SBI, fallingup to 4.23%.

“Negative sentimentsswayed across the market,” saidParas Bothra, president, equi-ty research, Ashika Group,adding that barring select ITand Pharma stocks, all sectorssuccumbed to pressure.

Meanwhile, Maruti alsodelivered below consensusresults on account of high raw

material costs, he added.On the other hand, Yes

Bank, HCL Tech, Bharti Airteland TCS were among the topgainers, rising up to 2.71%.

Sector-wise, BSE realtyindex suffered the most byslumping 4.09%, followed byauto index 3.14 %, metal 1.08%,capital goods 1.02%, power0.99%, capital goods 0.84%,PSU 0.78%, infrastructure0.71%, bankex 0.63%, FMCG0.39% and healthcare 0.36 percent.

While, consumer durables,IT and oil and gas indicesended in the positive zone.

Small-cap and mid-capindices fell by 1.58% and 1.20%,respectively, largely in syncwith overall market trend.

Global cues were positiveas Asian stocks ended higher.

According Bothra, globalmarkets are cautiously opti-mistic over the next round oftrade negotiations between theUS and China next week.

Elsewhere in Asia, HongKong’s Hang Seng climbed1.65%, Korea Kospi surged1.52%, Japan’s Nikkei gained0.97%, and ShanghaiComposite Index rose 0.39%.Singapore Straits Times was up0.56% and Taiwan edged up by0.94%.

In the eurozone,Frankfurt’s DAX gained 0.93%,while Paris CAC 40 was up0.54% in their late morningdeals. London’s FTSE toogained 0.12%.

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Maruti Suzuki India (MSI)on Friday reported its

second successive decline inquarterly net profit with a17.21% drop for the third quar-ter ended December 2018, alsothe steepest fall in nearly fiveyears.

The India’s largest car-maker said its performance inthe quarter was adverselyimpacted by lower-than-expected sales in festive seasonand high commodity pricesand unfavourable foreignexchange rates.

The company said its netprofit for the third quarter ofthe ongoing fiscal stood at�1,489.3 crore as against �1,799crore in the same period of theprevious fiscal.

Total income during theOctober-December quarterunder review stood at�20,585.6 crore as against�19,528.1 crore in the year-agoperiod, a growth of 5.41%.

The company sold a total of4,28,643 vehicles during thequarter, a marginal decline of0.6%, over the same period ofthe previous year, MSI said in astatement.

This quarter was marked bya combination of several adversefactors coming together whichimpacted profitability, the com-pany said.

These included adversecommodity prices and foreignexchange rates, higher market-ing and sales expenditure, along

with higher costs in resourcesand capacities which were ear-lier planned to enable a higherestimated growth.

It further said these werepartially offset several steps,including cost-reduction andsuggestions from employeesand supplier partners.

“The company helped deal-ers retail about 90,000 vehiclesin excess of wholesale to keepdealer inventories lean as thefestive season sales growth wasbelow expectation,” MSI said.

This is the second quarterin succession that the companyhas reported decline in its quar-terly profit. MSI had posted9.8% decline in net profit at�2,240.4 crore for the secondquarter ended September 30,2018. It was the first decline inquarterly profit for the compa-ny in over four years.

The decline witnessed inthe third quarter is the biggestin nearly five years since MSIreported 35.46% decline in netprofit in the fourth quarter of2013-14 at �800.1 crore.

MSI said its performance inthe third quarter of the ongoingfiscal has “to be viewed in thecontext of particularly weakmarket conditions”.

While auto industry SIAMhad forecast a passenger vehicledomestic market growth of 8-10% for the year, industry couldgrow by 4.4% in the first threequarters of the year and declinedin the third quarter by 0.8%.

“The company grew by7.2% in the first three quarters

and by 0.4% in the third quar-ter in unit wholesales,” MSI said.

On the export front, MSIsaid passenger vehicle exportsfrom India also declined by

8.5% owing to weakness inglobal markets, protection insome markets and devaluationof most currencies with respectto the US dollar.

�� (�0��2+

Homegrown FMCG majorEmami on Friday

announced acquisition ofGerman personal care brandCreme 21, for an undisclosedamount.

Creme 21, which has majorbusiness in Middle East andother focus markets, has beenacquired at less than 1.5 timesof its sales, said Emami in astatement.

“This international acqui-sition is in line with the com-pany’s strategy for growththrough the inorganic route,”said the Kolkata-headquar-tered firm.

The acquisition is beingfunded from internal accruals,it added.

Emami director Harsha VAgarwal said: “We plan toleverage our existing networkof distribution and infrastruc-ture to grow the brand. Creme21 is an iconic German brandthat has a high brand recall.The brand has good potentialfor growth and we expect it toadd value to our growth tra-jectory.”

The German brand wasacquired by Ms Antje J WillemsStickel in 2003. Creme 21 offersskin care and body care prod-ucts, which include creamsand lotions, shower gels, suncare range, and men’s range.

;��CA��%�+D��J�� )-KL��23��New Delhi (PTI): Housing finance company DHFL on Fridayreported a 36.7% decline in its net profit to �313.60 crore for thethird quarter ended December 2018. The Mumbai-based com-pany had posted a net profit of �495.44 crore in the third quar-ter of last fiscal. However, total income rose to �3,255.9 croreduring the quarter, compared with �2,896.66 crore in the corre-sponding quarter a year ago, DHFL said in a statement. On theasset side, the firm’s gross non-performing assets (NPA) rose to1.12% compared with 0.96% in the year-ago quarter. Net inter-est margin stood at 2.91% at the end of December 2018. Loanbook outstanding grew 15.2% to � 96,839 crore during the quar-ter ended December 31, 2018, against �84,028 crore in the cor-responding quarter of the previous year. Following a series ofpayment defaults by group companies of IL&FS towards the endof August, concerns were raised about over leveraging and liq-uidity crunch to meet payment obligation in other NBFCs andhousing finance companies including DHFL.

New Delhi (PTI): State-owned Indian Bank profit halved to�152.26 crore for the third quarter ended December 2018, onaccount of rising provisions for bad loans. The bank had registereda net profit of �303.06 crore in the corresponding October-December period of previous fiscal. Total income was up at �5,269.10crore from �4,903.07 crore in the year-ago period, Indian Bank saidin a regulatory filing on Friday. The lender’s asset quality worsened,with gross non-performing assets (NPAs) rising to 7.46% of thegross advances by the end of December 31, 2018, compared with6.27% by end-December 2017. Net NPAs or bad loans also increased4.42% of the advances against 3.30%. Gross NPAs were �13,198.40crore during the quarter against �9,595.15 crore in the correspondingperiod of the previous fiscal. Net NPAs were �7,571.07 crore, asagainst �4,898.60 crore. As a result, provisioning for bad loansincreased nearly threefold to �973.88 crore for the third quarterof 2018-19, against �385.49 crore in the year-ago period.

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Mumbai (PTI): Therupee on Friday weakened by10 paise to close at 71.17against the US dollar amidincreasing demand for thegreenback from exporters andheavy selling in domesticequities. On a weekly-basis,however, the Indian currencyregistered a marginal gain of2 paise. The rupee had regis-tered losses in the previoustwo successive weeks. At theInterbank Foreign Exchange(forex) market, the rupeeopened higher at 71.03, butduring the day it came underselling pressure. It finally fin-ished at 71.17 per dollar, downby 10 paise against its previ-ous close.

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Script Open High Low LTPRCOM 12.90 12.99 12.52 12.56YESBANK 224.50 236.30 221.00 224.05ZEEL 438.00 439.70 326.00 356.80GRAPHITE 625.00 639.65 555.65 562.75HEG 3044.00 3072.00 2626.00 2811.55DHFL 211.00 223.65 210.00 211.95DISHTV 33.85 33.90 26.50 27.90SUZLON 5.18 5.19 5.05 5.07DEEPAKFERT 107.00 120.40 106.00 116.90RELIANCE 1250.10 1263.00 1236.55 1250.00MARUTI 7069.00 7131.00 6672.00 6681.00BIOCON 682.00 682.85 656.70 665.75LINDEINDIA 569.60 612.80 569.60 569.70IBULHSGFIN 783.70 792.60 753.10 760.00SUNPHARMA 425.00 430.00 420.00 425.40ICICIBANK 361.25 364.45 355.40 357.20JETAIRWAYS 268.90 270.20 258.50 259.30TATAMOTORS 176.30 178.85 174.70 175.30ULTRACEMCO 3850.00 3850.00 3496.45 3513.10LT 1306.00 1314.20 1290.00 1297.05ITI 105.90 110.70 105.25 106.15JISLJALEQS 61.00 61.20 56.85 57.65ASHOKLEY 85.00 85.85 82.50 83.05DLF 179.60 180.10 164.20 165.75EDELWEISS 152.00 167.10 152.00 160.70JUBLFOOD 1188.00 1224.70 1187.00 1213.45JINDALSTEL 141.90 145.60 136.55 138.50INFIBEAM 45.35 46.80 42.35 43.00ITC 279.10 282.60 279.10 280.65TATASTEEL 461.00 465.70 453.15 455.00AXISBANK 665.80 676.00 665.35 668.50TCS 1904.40 1933.45 1900.75 1914.55WIPRO 349.50 358.35 348.65 353.55HDFCBANK 2103.90 2109.75 2090.15 2103.15ADANIPOWER 52.10 52.15 48.30 49.15RPOWER 28.60 29.25 28.35 28.50HSCL 131.00 132.10 108.00 117.00RELCAPITAL 213.10 216.50 211.40 212.40INDIGO 1182.00 1188.60 1154.90 1160.50GSFC 106.20 106.20 99.60 99.80ASIANPAINT 1405.00 1415.00 1353.15 1369.10INDUSINDBK 1510.00 1511.95 1452.00 1495.20M&M 703.00 704.00 681.10 683.30ADANIPORTS 385.00 385.00 375.80 377.05MINDTREE 922.00 925.25 884.05 895.00FEDERALBNK 89.60 89.60 85.90 87.30SPICEJET 81.80 82.80 81.00 81.25L&TFH 138.00 138.60 132.80 134.10SBIN 288.50 291.00 286.00 287.25SUNTV 534.00 536.50 486.95 509.50ICICIPRULI 305.00 308.10 295.35 297.45PCJEWELLER 77.40 79.60 76.35 77.00STRTECH 292.10 296.00 285.80 286.15JPASSOCIAT 6.83 6.88 6.60 6.69MPHASIS 918.00 934.55 901.00 921.25PNB 78.85 80.40 77.20 77.60INFRATEL 263.50 280.10 263.50 278.55INFY 728.70 737.40 725.00 730.10ESCORTS 719.80 724.30 701.05 704.00RBLBANK 579.00 582.90 576.45 580.90PHILIPCARB 175.15 177.00 168.00 169.45BANDHANBNK 419.00 428.25 414.20 423.15RELINFRA 284.90 287.20 278.20 280.00TVSMOTOR 520.00 520.05 498.55 503.40INDIANB 257.50 260.25 243.10 246.60HAVELLS 700.00 723.55 700.00 710.05TATACOMM 522.95 526.75 486.00 494.40TATACHEM 687.00 693.00 678.60 684.55JINDALSAW 81.90 82.50 78.75 79.10BHARTIARTL 304.00 311.50 302.00 305.20HEROMOTOCO 2750.00 2790.70 2700.00 2700.00BHEL 69.00 69.45 67.05 67.40NIITTECH 1290.00 1322.00 1286.80 1295.95BERGEPAINT 324.20 324.20 308.00 313.45TITAN 969.00 983.45 969.00 975.10DMART 1395.10 1412.00 1385.45 1389.85AUROPHARMA 787.80 794.65 779.00 782.85GRANULES 96.50 97.75 91.05 93.90HINDALCO 206.25 207.85 203.45 205.40VEDL 194.50 196.25 192.60 194.30UPL 753.00 766.40 750.30 756.35DELTACORP 237.15 237.80 232.00 233.25SPARC 174.40 175.60 168.50 169.50M&MFIN 426.35 430.15 410.05 412.00HDFCLIFE 369.70 369.70 358.80 360.70GRASIM 790.50 794.10 757.15 762.00FSL 49.20 49.75 47.70 47.80UJJIVAN 296.00 296.00 284.00 285.20IOC 137.00 138.75 136.95 138.20BANKBARODA 113.90 114.20 111.00 111.30CROMPTON 218.75 218.75 210.35 214.60UNIONBANK 82.55 83.80 80.30 80.85RADICO 429.00 438.90 417.00 423.05BAJFINANCE 2644.00 2659.35 2605.10 2622.25GRUH 226.50 232.00 224.35 227.05TATAELXSI 945.05 945.05 905.00 916.00HDFC 1970.15 1990.00 1965.00 1981.50TECHM 730.00 734.85 727.00 729.40BEL 83.00 83.90 80.35 80.95KOTAKBANK 1267.10 1287.95 1267.10 1279.30BANKINDIA 98.00 98.95 96.60 96.80STAR 532.00 536.90 511.00 518.95RAIN 119.45 125.40 114.80 115.00HCLTECH 955.60 968.00 947.90 963.85WOCKPHARMA 486.10 489.40 477.25 480.50ACC 1424.90 1435.00 1373.25 1380.00JUSTDIAL 483.00 496.40 483.00 490.90RAYMOND 800.00 805.15 778.95 781.50

LTTS 1666.55 1718.75 1666.55 1682.45BEML 877.00 880.70 835.15 852.30HINDUNILVR 1765.85 1777.50 1751.10 1754.10ABCAPITAL 90.40 90.70 87.85 88.20IBREALEST 84.40 84.85 81.80 82.55ISEC 208.95 210.80 200.05 204.20PNBHOUSING 954.00 954.00 887.05 895.90DABUR 434.55 438.00 428.80 430.85SAIL 48.00 49.00 47.45 47.65COLPAL 1330.00 1344.90 1281.35 1286.90BATAINDIA 1154.00 1163.00 1125.00 1128.70PFIZER 2799.00 2844.00 2758.80 2772.25LICHSGFIN 470.95 473.00 456.10 457.95JSWSTEEL 285.00 285.60 275.10 276.65PARAGMILK 226.05 226.05 216.00 217.95IDFCFIRSTB 47.05 47.75 46.30 46.70CENTURYTEX 878.65 881.80 836.75 843.40INDHOTEL 136.15 136.15 132.70 133.55HINDPETRO 242.80 247.95 242.80 243.75NCC 85.00 85.70 81.85 82.85WELCORP 112.15 114.25 106.50 107.15BOMDYEING 118.00 118.90 112.00 112.60CUMMINSIND 821.30 845.35 821.30 829.00CANBK 264.60 264.60 255.85 256.80GODREJCP 791.00 804.70 783.00 783.00COALINDIA 224.85 226.25 221.40 221.90SUNTECK 342.00 349.15 336.00 340.45GNFC 338.95 341.20 328.25 329.00BLISSGVS 157.70 158.90 155.05 156.30BPCL 354.00 360.20 354.00 357.00IDEA 33.90 34.20 33.05 33.25

KSCL 584.45 599.60 577.80 595.55LUPIN 870.00 878.00 856.00 868.30FORTIS 135.90 136.50 135.20 135.50CASTROLIND 163.60 167.20 161.45 164.55IBVENTURES 364.35 365.00 350.00 350.00MARICO 379.00 379.00 369.30 369.30INDIACEM 84.30 84.80 80.95 81.50JAICORPLTD 106.55 108.40 104.20 104.45DBL 364.00 364.00 332.45 347.60RECLTD 122.70 123.70 119.40 120.50CGPOWER 38.75 39.60 37.75 38.10APOLLOTYRE 217.50 218.65 208.95 211.80BBTC 1220.05 1244.75 1211.65 1216.50SUVEN 204.00 204.75 192.55 193.25TATAMTRDVR 93.30 93.70 91.20 91.60EXIDEIND 234.00 235.20 231.10 232.30NTPC 140.05 141.80 138.20 138.40HFCL 22.30 22.60 21.65 22.00GODREJIND 518.30 529.95 518.30 520.25CIPLA 503.90 507.75 501.85 506.35FORCEMOT 1491.00 1510.00 1475.15 1475.65ONGC 142.10 144.30 142.10 142.95SIEMENS 1044.90 1045.00 1028.85 1035.55VIPIND 480.00 492.00 478.60 481.65PAGEIND 23515.00 23515.00 22690.55 22789.95NBCC 56.30 57.90 56.25 57.10GUJALKALI 515.50 515.50 486.85 492.55SHANKARA 452.90 458.30 433.10 436.00AMBUJACEM 212.65 213.50 201.35 202.45PEL 2314.85 2314.85 2275.00 2305.30TATAPOWER 74.55 75.25 73.90 74.05TRIDENT 67.60 67.60 65.35 65.75NAUKRI 1728.00 1750.00 1692.00 1699.65BRITANNIA 3225.00 3270.40 3210.00 3216.80IRB 143.85 150.65 143.65 150.00TV18BRDCST 34.10 34.50 32.95 33.35PIDILITIND 1111.80 1130.00 1110.00 1121.50KRBL 354.00 364.90 341.00 359.30JYOTHYLAB 181.05 186.60 180.00 180.50SOUTHBANK 13.85 13.90 13.55 13.60MOTHERSUMI 153.80 156.25 152.70 153.00CANFINHOME 255.00 261.80 255.00 256.05JSLHISAR 83.25 85.00 81.25 81.50PERSISTENT 552.50 563.95 552.50 559.00TORNTPOWER 259.55 260.75 251.35 251.90COFFEEDAY 290.00 294.60 280.85 281.55MANPASAND 81.30 81.80 78.85 78.85BALKRISIND 853.10 856.90 835.00 837.00REPCOHOME 410.75 428.05 410.40 421.95RAJESHEXPO 593.00 601.95 573.90 584.80RCF 62.55 63.75 61.80 61.95OMAXE 213.75 213.90 211.70 212.15ENGINERSIN 119.95 119.95 115.30 115.80IDBI 56.15 56.45 55.05 55.15GSPL 179.60 182.40 179.00 182.10GAIL 332.20 336.75 331.00 335.00MFSL 448.90 448.90 433.45 433.45NOCIL 151.85 152.70 145.90 146.00HINDZINC 258.45 258.55 252.25 253.00SUPREMEIND 1040.00 1045.00 991.00 998.45

PFC 104.95 105.70 102.40 103.30OBEROIRLTY 475.00 478.70 456.45 463.00RALLIS 163.30 167.85 163.05 163.10MEGH 56.80 57.35 54.80 54.80ORIENTBANK 94.50 95.95 93.65 95.10MCX 721.75 722.00 707.05 708.55NATIONALUM 62.00 62.50 61.05 61.35APOLLOHOSP 1323.40 1331.00 1289.15 1300.10ALBK 43.20 44.30 43.20 43.90SRTRANSFIN 1120.00 1132.85 1108.95 1115.30BHARATFORG 477.85 487.25 475.00 482.70REDINGTON 75.15 75.15 68.45 68.75AEGISLOG 197.95 199.15 194.00 195.85UBL 1462.00 1463.50 1424.60 1430.15NATCOPHARM* 678.00 684.85 671.00 680.45CONCOR 664.00 665.00 650.10 659.35VGUARD 204.50 204.60 199.35 202.35IGL 282.00 283.70 270.10 270.60IDFC 42.50 43.15 41.40 41.60EQUITAS 120.90 121.20 118.30 119.05KEC 255.05 258.45 250.50 250.50JAMNAAUTO 58.00 58.00 56.55 56.55FLFL 417.00 422.00 417.00 420.35JKTYRE 96.00 98.70 95.25 96.25WABAG 291.10 298.00 289.55 295.65AJANTPHARM 1151.45 1158.00 1128.20 1136.75SRF 2097.15 2135.85 2078.45 2092.85LALPATHLAB 1031.00 1073.60 1031.00 1066.15VOLTAS 544.00 544.00 532.65 534.65BAJAJ-AUTO 2650.00 2668.35 2639.65 2639.65MGL 906.80 913.70 897.00 907.75ABFRL 203.50 205.15 202.65 202.85RAMCOCEM 596.05 599.90 578.25 582.25EICHERMOT 20100.00 20334.40 20080.00 20165.75JUBILANT 729.00 729.75 708.50 712.00AVANTI 358.05 364.85 354.00 354.50PVR 1615.00 1617.00 1560.00 1569.55CAPPL 379.05 388.00 351.20 358.10DRREDDY 2671.00 2689.50 2646.95 2661.65BAJAJFINSV 6549.00 6549.00 6330.45 6347.85MAHINDCIE 232.70 242.65 230.20 232.20PETRONET 227.50 228.00 224.00 227.10NHPC 25.40 25.40 25.00 25.05CEATLTD 1220.05 1231.65 1194.05 1194.05IBULISL 328.10 337.75 313.00 317.75CHENNPETRO 266.80 266.80 257.35 259.50PTC 85.95 86.30 85.20 85.90MANAPPURAM 99.50 99.90 98.10 98.85ABB 1284.00 1284.00 1260.75 1261.60SREINFRA 31.25 31.95 31.05 31.20NMDC 90.60 92.25 90.25 91.20CHAMBLFERT 168.00 168.90 164.05 166.00SANOFI 6380.00 6500.00 6356.40 6357.45SBILIFE 622.15 631.75 618.50 620.45GODREJPROP 739.85 754.00 733.25 747.75HEXAWARE 327.30 328.95 323.35 325.70SWANENERGY 100.00 100.50 98.00 98.25HUDCO 43.30 43.70 42.35 42.45WELSPUNIND 59.05 59.50 56.95 57.40QUESS 641.00 650.00 635.00 641.15LTI 1750.75 1760.75 1716.30 1716.30SYNGENE 590.00 599.00 583.80 592.90POWERGRID 188.00 189.00 186.35 186.95SONATSOFTW 322.90 324.35 312.90 317.00KTKBANK 120.50 121.45 118.50 118.80INTELLECT 211.50 217.00 210.00 210.00GET&D 297.55 299.15 286.35 291.00JSL 29.25 29.50 28.35 28.50ICICIGI 852.80 866.65 852.35 856.90FCONSUMER 40.05 40.40 39.75 40.00TATACOFFEE 94.60 95.90 92.80 93.00GLENMARK 649.50 656.15 642.00 644.95WESTLIFE 378.00 385.90 372.25 372.25AUBANK 588.40 598.30 585.80 590.25DCBBANK 183.00 183.20 180.50 181.60ADANITRANS 202.75 208.50 202.75 204.55HINDCOPPER 47.45 47.75 46.60 46.75ESSELPRO 113.50 116.30 96.15 104.00J&KBANK 39.25 39.35 38.50 38.70OIL 170.05 173.90 170.05 172.80MINDAIND 298.75 305.00 292.00 294.95COCHINSHIP 359.40 368.55 359.40 362.05SYNDIBANK 36.00 36.00 34.90 35.00TATAGLOBAL 210.90 212.00 207.75 208.50GMRINFRA 15.85 16.05 15.70 15.80OFSS 3836.95 3836.95 3688.45 3707.95BHARATFIN 950.95 961.85 941.10 949.00TAKE 148.70 152.80 146.75 146.80KAJARIACER 538.95 544.45 538.10 539.40DEEPAKNI 216.10 221.65 213.00 216.00INOXLEISUR 245.15 258.90 241.55 251.20GUJGAS 125.25 131.35 122.25 129.00MOTILALOFS 643.85 650.85 635.65 641.75COROMANDEL 438.00 451.40 437.50 449.05CHOLAFIN 1162.05 1168.00 1145.00 1151.00BOSCHLTD 19143.70 19171.00 18644.95 18684.30SUDARSCHEM 317.15 320.80 313.20 315.25ZENSARTECH 223.05 227.00 219.90 225.65CADILAHC 348.00 350.50 344.80 345.50KEI 358.40 362.00 352.30 353.65DIVISLAB 1499.00 1507.45 1492.00 1494.80TORNTPHARM 1888.00 1897.95 1866.55 1874.90FRETAIL 442.40 443.00 440.10 440.45ITDCEM 119.65 123.00 119.60 120.00GPPL 87.05 91.25 87.05 89.10BAJAJELEC 460.00 464.65 455.20 457.50TEJASNET 189.70 189.70 184.00 186.15VIJAYABANK 45.00 45.40 44.25 44.45ADANIGREEN 37.00 37.55 35.15 35.60

THERMAX 1125.00 1131.45 1121.00 1130.00EVEREADY 217.85 218.20 207.50 213.05NESTLEIND 11470.00 11506.90 11365.00 11376.65BASF 1407.95 1422.00 1379.45 1379.45VENKYS 2250.00 2250.00 2209.90 2210.00MUTHOOTFIN 541.00 546.20 537.35 539.20AMARAJABAT 778.10 783.05 769.05 770.85IFCI 14.00 14.03 13.75 13.75BALMLAWRIE 187.85 190.60 186.00 189.00SHREECEM 16438.00 16438.00 15556.95 15709.40NAVINFLUOR 667.00 667.00 643.05 644.40GHCL 254.00 255.00 250.20 251.55EIDPARRY 203.40 203.75 200.65 201.10PRSMJOHNSN 79.85 79.85 77.05 77.65MOIL 161.15 161.50 159.20 159.50WHIRLPOOL 1464.00 1496.70 1456.60 1456.60SOBHA 499.00 504.20 490.00 492.00GDL 99.30 101.85 98.60 98.60GODFRYPHLP 957.20 960.50 949.55 953.45TRENT 356.30 360.90 349.80 350.25BAYERCROP 4285.00 4314.95 4285.00 4299.95DCAL 223.60 223.60 215.90 217.40JSWENERGY 68.00 68.30 66.50 67.05KANSAINER 455.95 458.20 446.90 448.95JMFINANCIL 83.50 84.00 82.50 83.15CYIENT 599.00 601.00 593.00 594.90ASTRAZEN 1640.00 1644.65 1563.95 1585.70THYROCARE 530.00 545.30 530.00 539.10HEIDELBERG 148.05 149.75 145.35 147.10VBL 770.00 790.00 767.60 774.55SHK 170.90 175.00 168.00 170.10DENABANK 12.80 13.10 12.75 12.80AARTIIND 1557.00 1572.50 1546.10 1551.45RNAM 147.35 149.40 145.70 148.10LAKSHVILAS 70.00 70.65 68.40 68.80MRPL 69.60 70.00 68.70 69.05PHOENIXLTD 613.50 624.90 594.70 606.65HATSUN 717.85 717.85 703.10 709.25MERCK 3281.00 3373.00 3281.00 3323.00NILKAMAL 1300.00 1328.00 1268.20 1288.95NBVENTURES 111.65 111.85 110.00 111.10MAHABANK 14.25 14.39 14.00 14.11UFLEX 262.30 262.30 257.00 257.00GESHIP 291.00 300.05 291.00 294.00JAGRAN 107.00 110.00 104.25 105.05SADBHAV 199.45 205.70 199.40 201.20HAL 752.00 761.00 749.20 749.50EMAMILTD 426.45 426.50 420.90 422.50UCOBANK 19.60 19.85 19.35 19.45PRESTIGE 213.20 215.65 210.00 210.00TATAMETALI 600.75 606.15 588.90 590.00CENTURYPLY 168.05 170.20 165.60 167.00SUNDRMFAST 525.00 526.00 508.00 522.95VMART 2456.25 2524.85 2456.25 2500.90ADVENZYMES 166.95 166.95 155.95 156.10MMTC 28.00 28.15 27.40 27.50ORIENTCEM 73.85 74.60 71.05 73.00ASHOKA 123.10 123.35 121.00 122.45GICRE 252.45 252.45 247.00 247.60SYMPHONY 1230.00 1247.75 1225.00 1227.00GODREJAGRO 502.90 504.65 500.05 501.40GLAXO 1413.00 1413.00 1382.00 1388.00SHARDACROP 305.15 306.25 300.00 306.10BDL 272.65 275.00 267.00 268.00HSIL 236.00 236.80 233.60 236.00FINCABLES 429.60 432.95 426.00 426.50BAJAJCON 357.55 359.55 354.00 354.00GSKCONS 7286.50 7329.00 7283.55 7286.50BLUESTARCO 605.10 614.20 605.00 610.50IOB 14.10 14.16 13.85 13.86MRF 65200.00 65529.95 64300.00 64381.95CARERATING 1008.90 1010.00 989.20 990.85JKLAKSHMI 293.45 300.00 290.35 290.85LUXIND 1220.30 1249.50 1220.30 1227.90GREAVESCOT 120.05 120.10 118.30 118.45BIRLACORPN 527.75 529.95 501.80 501.80MAGMA 103.00 103.70 101.70 103.65IEX 160.20 162.00 159.00 159.95MHRIL 205.50 205.80 202.20 204.60MONSANTO 2551.35 2571.80 2531.00 2549.70NETWORK18 37.75 37.75 36.75 36.90APLAPOLLO 1180.00 1180.00 1113.00 1116.45SOMANYCERA 347.25 359.00 347.25 348.80DCMSHRIRAM 329.80 330.80 322.00 322.00TIMKEN 551.30 575.00 549.00 549.00KALPATPOWR 377.65 378.05 373.00 373.70IPCALAB 786.10 787.95 778.20 779.15SCI 42.95 43.00 42.20 42.30SHRIRAMCIT 1715.15 1782.75 1701.50 1741.35TATAINVEST 832.85 833.70 823.00 823.90AKZOINDIA 1729.45 1740.50 1725.00 1738.60DBCORP 178.20 179.35 173.00 173.00NIACL 179.85 179.85 175.10 175.40ASTRAL 1059.60 1067.80 1035.00 1035.00GREENPLY 133.05 134.30 127.00 130.70CENTRALBK 33.50 33.50 32.25 32.50TIMETECHNO 100.55 101.00 98.50 99.20TVTODAY 359.95 362.20 339.35 352.40INOXWIND 72.00 72.00 69.25 69.25HERITGFOOD 520.55 520.55 510.00 511.05TIINDIA 337.00 337.00 330.00 330.00ANDHRABANK 27.20 27.25 26.70 26.85FDC 165.00 165.00 162.25 163.40BAJAJHLDNG 2959.95 2960.00 2894.80 2894.80APLLTD 601.00 601.00 587.05 591.00LEMONTREE 67.70 68.55 67.55 67.55CUB 190.10 190.10 188.25 188.65ITDC 288.30 295.40 287.55 288.60GICHSGFIN 240.35 242.35 235.10 235.80

ATUL 3546.45 3552.10 3509.00 3529.30ENDURANCE 1150.65 1152.30 1127.90 1137.00MAHLIFE 420.00 422.00 410.50 413.50EIHOTEL 180.25 180.30 179.10 179.80SCHAEFFLER 5407.00 5420.55 5292.90 5376.10JBCHEPHARM 316.45 320.40 312.10 313.00NAVKARCORP 48.45 48.45 47.10 47.40ELGIEQUIP 251.40 255.55 246.40 255.30JKCEMENT 711.45 723.25 702.85 703.00VINATIORGA 1599.15 1605.50 1575.60 1576.00NAVNETEDUL 109.45 109.90 108.40 109.00CARBORUNIV 362.00 362.00 359.00 360.30ZYDUSWELL 1288.30 1320.55 1287.00 1300.00THOMASCOOK 220.80 220.95 217.10 217.75MAHLOG 514.50 514.50 499.35 501.40ISGEC 4950.00 5000.00 4936.05 4936.05GRINDWELL 566.30 567.25 563.10 564.40KNRCON 210.80 211.80 209.70 210.90SHILPAMED 400.05 405.00 390.55 395.35PNCINFRA 150.05 151.10 149.60 151.10TEAMLEASE 2695.25 2725.00 2646.95 2692.95AIAENG 1630.00 1641.00 1619.80 1620.00PIIND 851.85 861.00 849.80 855.00TVSSRICHAK 2388.50 2416.00 2356.60 2369.20HONAUT 21691.00 22300.00 21691.00 21843.50FINOLEXIND 538.75 538.75 530.00 531.50TRITURBINE 108.00 109.40 105.55 107.10CENTRUM 33.65 34.50 32.90 32.90RELAXO 719.60 738.05 717.35 722.75IFBIND 859.00 865.80 840.05 840.05KIOCL 137.30 142.10 118.00 138.50ASTERDM 159.10 162.00 159.00 160.50RATNAMANI 885.00 894.95 860.00 884.00LAXMIMACH 5505.80 5555.00 5450.00 5450.00PGHH 9947.50 9962.25 9901.00 9954.45HIMATSEIDE 212.90 214.20 211.05 212.55TTKPRESTIG 7924.25 7924.25 7800.00 7815.00CERA 2624.10 2648.00 2527.45 2527.45ERIS 668.00 683.70 660.15 679.35GAYAPROJ 167.70 169.00 166.70 168.30SJVN 25.90 25.90 25.70 25.70FORBESCO 2045.00 2139.95 2045.00 2127.05INDOSTAR 325.85 337.75 325.80 330.05ALKEM 1901.95 1914.50 1880.95 1881.00ABBOTINDIA 8248.00 8265.00 8191.00 8240.00VTL 1065.00 1067.30 1050.00 1058.50SUPRAJIT 204.85 210.70 204.80 208.40MINDACORP 146.85 147.25 145.90 146.10NLCINDIA 67.65 68.15 67.65 67.90CORPBANK 27.05 27.30 26.70 26.95GEPIL 807.00 807.00 797.85 802.35BLUEDART 3033.00 3033.00 2948.00 3000.00SCHNEIDER 92.35 92.35 90.40 90.40CRISIL 1657.55 1657.55 1642.10 1651.50NESCO 449.90 454.00 449.00 453.10GMDCLTD 84.35 86.50 84.30 85.50SUPPETRO 189.65 191.20 187.70 188.45LAOPALA 216.00 217.00 214.05 215.00SOLARINDS 1014.80 1018.40 1002.30 1011.60ALLCARGO 107.00 107.35 105.95 106.753MINDIA 20734.95 20759.90 20545.10 20545.10GUJFLUORO 893.60 894.40 880.00 884.15SUNCLAYLTD 3065.05 3137.00 3049.95 3060.00TNPL 229.25 232.00 229.25 230.00MAXINDIA 85.50 85.60 84.80 85.25STARCEMENT 94.80 97.00 94.30 95.80KPRMILL 530.90 536.00 530.05 530.05SKFINDIA 1920.10 1933.00 1920.10 1930.90DHANUKA 411.95 417.55 409.00 412.95ECLERX 1066.35 1067.20 1047.70 1065.55APARINDS 615.05 615.15 615.00 615.10CCL 271.90 272.40 270.70 271.30SIS 793.00 793.00 775.05 775.05GALAXYSURF 1119.40 1128.25 1119.00 1120.10GULFOILLUB 853.00 862.30 853.00 858.00TIFHL 464.05 464.05 460.00 460.00LAURUSLABS 376.20 376.20 374.25 376.00SHOPERSTOP 515.70 515.70 511.60 511.60WABCOINDIA 6475.10 6475.10 6352.00 6352.00NH 192.00 192.00 189.40 189.40ASAHIINDIA 256.00 256.00 255.00 255.00SFL 1251.00 1275.00 1230.00 1275.00GILLETTE 6499.95 6499.95 6472.20 6472.20

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 10859.75 10931.70 10783.75 10814.60 -35.20INFRATEL 264.60 280.65 264.10 278.55 15.55YESBANK 225.00 245.00 220.35 223.80 8.40HCLTECH 949.00 968.80 946.10 963.90 17.45BHARTIARTL 304.00 312.00 302.00 305.10 3.45BPCL 355.00 360.35 355.00 357.75 3.80UPL 753.00 767.10 749.10 754.45 7.10AXISBANK 665.20 676.85 665.20 669.70 6.05IOC 136.80 138.80 136.80 138.00 1.20KOTAKBANK 1268.80 1287.70 1268.55 1278.90 11.15CIPLA 502.10 507.95 501.35 505.10 4.40TCS 1902.00 1935.00 1901.00 1915.05 13.50ONGC 142.10 144.45 142.10 142.65 0.95ITC 280.00 282.70 279.25 280.70 1.80TITAN 972.00 984.00 969.15 975.30 5.65HDFC 1964.40 1993.00 1963.95 1981.70 10.60WIPRO 348.25 358.35 348.00 353.30 1.55GAIL 334.00 336.90 330.70 335.00 1.40HINDPETRO 243.65 248.30 243.05 244.00 0.90INDUSINDBK 1496.30 1512.40 1482.20 1495.00 4.70VEDL 195.10 196.40 192.55 194.10 0.60SUNPHARMA 425.40 429.75 420.30 424.25 1.25TECHM 732.00 735.20 726.30 728.85 1.10RELIANCE 1250.45 1264.70 1235.40 1248.55 1.10HDFCBANK 2093.00 2110.00 2090.00 2104.00 1.75TATAMOTORS 175.95 178.90 174.70 175.45 0.05EICHERMOT 20200.00 20337.75 20050.20 20120.00 4.40HINDALCO 206.20 207.95 203.30 205.05 0.00LT 1300.00 1314.10 1290.00 1294.50 -0.85HINDUNILVR 1762.00 1778.75 1750.00 1757.00 -2.50POWERGRID 187.60 189.10 186.15 186.35 -0.40INFY 728.00 737.90 724.25 729.45 -2.55SBIN 289.60 291.00 285.90 287.00 -1.05DRREDDY 2670.50 2691.00 2645.50 2658.15 -10.30BAJFINANCE 2649.00 2661.00 2605.00 2622.20 -13.45BAJAJ-AUTO 2622.30 2672.00 2622.30 2634.10 -17.55BAJAJFINSV 6479.90 6479.90 6328.00 6340.15 -67.15COALINDIA 224.25 226.20 220.85 221.20 -2.65ADANIPORTS 382.50 383.75 375.25 376.25 -4.70NTPC 140.50 141.90 138.15 138.30 -1.75TATASTEEL 462.20 465.80 452.45 454.85 -5.90IBULHSGFIN 782.80 793.00 751.55 759.70 -13.80M&M 702.00 703.50 681.00 683.20 -14.10ICICIBANK 362.35 364.65 355.25 356.60 -8.20ASIANPAINT 1408.40 1413.70 1353.30 1369.90 -31.95JSWSTEEL 284.60 285.50 274.60 275.90 -7.75GRASIM 786.90 794.60 757.05 760.85 -24.95HEROMOTOCO 2755.00 2788.75 2687.45 2692.00 -98.20MARUTI 7054.00 7133.00 6610.10 6616.95 -423.65ULTRACEMCO 3800.00 3800.00 3494.30 3508.30 -282.40ZEEL 437.75 439.35 326.60 357.55 -76.30

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 27321.45 27375.45 26906.15 26918.15 -314.45BANDHANBNK 418.50 428.45 414.50 422.25 8.35OIL 170.40 174.00 170.30 172.50 2.50ICICIGI 856.00 868.00 849.05 859.70 11.30NMDC 90.35 92.45 90.35 91.10 1.00HAVELLS 700.25 724.60 700.25 708.85 6.25PIDILITIND 1119.00 1131.05 1109.15 1118.20 8.85SBILIFE 627.45 633.00 617.85 620.00 1.75PGHH 9968.00 10000.00 9900.00 9940.05 18.75PETRONET 227.05 228.25 224.60 226.65 0.35SIEMENS 1027.00 1045.00 1027.00 1029.50 1.55DABUR 432.15 438.45 428.70 430.85 0.45ABB 1264.95 1274.00 1259.00 1259.35 1.00CADILAHC 346.00 350.90 344.50 346.30 0.20SRTRANSFIN 1120.00 1133.15 1109.00 1115.00 0.45BRITANNIA 3221.00 3270.00 3206.40 3213.95 -2.90LUPIN 870.00 879.40 855.10 866.65 -1.75PEL 2315.00 2324.95 2275.10 2300.90 -6.85CONCOR 663.20 665.00 650.65 660.15 -3.90AUROPHARMA 790.00 794.70 780.05 782.90 -5.90HDFCLIFE 363.95 368.75 358.05 358.30 -2.90BIOCON 681.00 682.45 656.30 664.40 -5.70GODREJCP 790.60 804.95 781.30 781.50 -9.10MRF 65300.00 65533.30 64128.15 64150.05 -752.70NHPC 25.40 25.40 24.95 25.00 -0.30GICRE 252.40 254.30 247.00 247.00 -3.00MARICO 375.80 376.05 368.75 368.95 -5.00DMART 1397.50 1413.50 1370.00 1371.45 -20.10MOTHERSUMI 154.15 156.25 151.55 151.70 -2.35INDIGO 1180.00 1190.00 1155.15 1160.45 -18.10SAIL 48.50 49.00 47.40 47.50 -0.75BANKBARODA 113.30 114.20 110.90 111.05 -1.95ABCAPITAL 90.00 90.65 87.70 87.90 -1.55NIACL 179.00 179.90 174.00 175.70 -3.30ICICIPRULI 304.60 308.35 295.25 297.30 -6.50OFSS 3776.00 3830.00 3686.35 3712.00 -84.40ASHOKLEY 85.30 85.85 82.40 82.90 -1.90HINDZINC 258.95 258.95 251.45 251.90 -6.05BOSCHLTD 19085.00 19227.80 18637.00 18682.40 -473.00SHREECEM 16225.00 16318.30 15512.05 15770.95 -399.60L&TFH 138.30 138.70 132.80 133.95 -3.55BEL 83.20 84.00 80.30 80.65 -2.15LICHSGFIN 471.20 473.35 455.00 456.90 -12.70IDEA 33.80 34.20 33.00 33.10 -0.95COLPAL 1327.30 1327.30 1281.00 1284.90 -37.00BHEL 69.15 69.50 66.90 67.10 -1.95MCDOWELL-N 571.70 574.05 552.40 555.50 -16.25ACC 1427.40 1436.00 1373.10 1377.65 -42.05SUNTV 530.25 536.60 486.55 507.00 -20.00AMBUJACEM 211.90 213.70 201.25 201.85 -9.35DLF 178.85 180.10 164.00 165.35 -12.40

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Backed by Venezuela’s mili-tary, President Nicolas

Maduro went on the offensiveagainst an Opposition leaderwho declared himself interimpresident and his US support-ers, setting up a potentiallyexplosive struggle for power inthe crisis-plagued SouthAmerican nation.

A defiant Maduro calledhome all Venezuelan diplomatsfrom the United States andclosed its embassy onThursday, a day after orderingall US diplomats out ofVenezuela by the weekendbecause President DonaldTrump had supported the pres-idential claim of Juan Guaido.

Washington has refused tocomply, but ordered its non-essential staff to leave thetumultuous country, citingsecurity concerns.

The Trump administra-tion says Maduro’s order isn’tlegal because the U.S. No longerrecognises him as Venezuela’slegitimate leader.

“They believe they have a colonial hold in Venezuela,where they decide what they want to do,” Maduro saidin an address broadcast live onstate TV.

“You must fulfill my orderfrom the government ofVenezuela.” Meanwhile, all eyeswere on Guaido whose where-abouts have been a mysterysince the 35-year-old was sym-bolically sworn in Wednesdaybefore tens of thousands ofcheering supporters, promisingto uphold the constitution andrid Venezuela of Maduro’s dic-tatorship.

Speaking from an undisclosed location, Guaidotold Univision he would con-sider granting amnesty toMaduro and his allies if they

helped return Venezuela todemocracy.

“Amnesty is on the table,” said Guaido, who justweeks earlier was named headof the opposition-controlledcongress.

“Those guarantees are forall those who are willing to sidewith the constitution to recov-er the constitutional order.”

Besides the United States,much of the international com-munity rallied behind Guaido,with Canada and numerousLatin American and Europeancountries announcing that they

recognized his claim to thepresidency. Trump promised touse the “full weight” of US eco-nomic and diplomatic power topush for the restoration ofVenezuela’s democracy.

Maduro has been increas-ingly accused of undemocrat-ic behavior by his opponents,and has presided over sky-rocketing inflation, a collapsingeconomy and widespreadshortages of basic goods.

Meanwhile, Russia, China,Iran, Syria, Cuba and Turkeyhave voiced their backing forMaduro’s government.

China’s Foreign Ministrycalled on the United States tostay out of the crisis, whileRussia’s deputy foreign minis-ter warned the US against anymilitary intervention inVenezuela. Alexei Pushkov,chairman of the informationcommittee at the RussianFederation Council, calledGuaido’s declaration “anattempted coup” backed by theUS.

Russia has been proppingup Maduro with arms deliver-ies and loans. Maduro visitedMoscow in December, seekingRussia’s political and financialsupport. Over the last decade,China has given Venezuela$65 billion in loans, cash and

investment. Venezuela owesmore than $20 billion.

Diplomats at theOrganization of AmericanStates held an emergency meet-ing Thursday on theVenezuelan crisis, duringwhich 16 nations recognizedGuaido as interim president.

Domestically, attention hasbeen on Venezuela’s military, atraditional arbiter of politicaldisputes in the country, as acritical indicator of whether theopposition will succeed inestablishing a new govern-ment.

Venezuela’s top militarybrass pledged their unwaveringsupport to Maduro, deliveringvows of loyalty Thursday beforerows of green-uniformed offi-cers on state television.

A half-dozen generalsbelonging largely to districtcommands and with directcontrol over thousands oftroops joined Maduro in accus-ing Washington of meddling inVenezuela’s affairs and saidthey would uphold the social-ist leader’s rule.

Defence Minister VladimirPadrino Lopez, a key Maduro ally, dismissed effortsto install a “de-facto parallelgovernment” as tantamountto a coup.

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More than 350 people inVenezuela have been

arrested this week duringdemonstrations againstPresident Nicolas Maduro’sGovernment, the UN rightschief said on Friday, calling forimmediate talks to defuse the“increasingly incendiary atmos-phere”.

The United Nations HighCommissioner for HumanRights, Michelle Bachelet, saidher office had “reports of large-scale detention of demonstrators— well over 350 in total (thisweek), including 320 on 23January alone”.

Bachelet called for a full

investigation into alleged viola-tions by the state, includingsummary executions. Civil soci-ety groups in Venezuela haveput the death toll from days ofstreet protests at 26.

The rights office, citing“credible local sources,” said italso had indications that atleast 20 people “have died afterallegedly being shot by securi-ty forces or members of pro-government armed groups dur-ing demonstrations on Tuesdayand Wednesday”.

Bachelet, a former presidentof Chile who dealt with Maduroin her previous role, called for“immediate talks to defuse theincreasingly incendiary atmos-phere” in Venezuela.

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Roger Stone, a confidant ofPresident Donald Trump,

was arrested on Friday morn-ing in the special counsel’sRussia investigation and wascharged with lying to Congressand obstructing the probe.

The seven-count indict-ment against Stone, a self-pro-

claimed “dirty trickster,” is thefirst criminal case in monthsfrom special counsel RobertMueller and provides the mostdetail to date about how Trumpcampaign associates were awarein the summer of 2016 thatemails had been stolen from theHillary Clinton campaign andwanted them released.

It alleges that unnamed

senior Trump campaign officialscontacted Stone to ask when thestolen emails might be dis-closed.

The indictment does notcharge Stone with conspiringwith WikiLeaks, the anti-secre-cy website that published theemails, or with the Russian

officers Mueller says hackedthem.

Instead, it accuses him ofwitness tampering, obstruc-tion and false statements abouthis interactions related toWikiLeaks’ release.

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Queen Elizabeth II hasemphasised the need for

Britons to come together to“seek out the common ground”,in what is being viewed as anappeal to overcome bitter divi-sions over Brexit.

Government Ministersquickly interpreted the com-ments — a rare foray for the 92-year-old monarch into the polit-ical sphere — as broadly sup-portive of their desperate searchfor a compromise over Brexit.

With Britain in limbo justtwo months before the sched-uled withdrawal from the EU onMarch 29, some lawmakershave been calling for the queento intervene more forcefullyand seek to reassure Britonswho are worried about thefuture.

The queen appeared to doso obliquely in an address lateon Thursday to members of theWomen’s Institute (WI) near herSandringham estate in easternEngland -- an association thatshe joined while still a princessin 1943.

“Of course, every genera-tion faces fresh challenges andopportunities,” she said.

“As we look for new answersin the modern age, I for one pre-fer the tried and tested recipes,like speaking well of each other

and respecting different pointsof view; coming together to seekout the common ground; andnever losing sight of the biggerpicture.

“To me, these approachesare timeless, and I commendthem to everyone,” she said.

Her message comes amidintense argument in parliamentabout how to proceed on Brexitor whether to leave the EU at all.

“I think there is huge wis-dom in those words,” financeminister Philip Hammond toldBBC radio.

“It’s been our enormousstrength over centuries that wehave been able to find compro-mises that bring the nationtogether,” he said.

The royals tend to steer wellclear of politics and, as head ofstate, the queen in particular iscareful to stay neutral in public.Some Conservative MPs havesuggested the queen can blockany legislation seeking to delayor impede Brexit.

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Afghanistan is investigatingreports that at least 16

civilians including women andchildren were killed in an airstrike in southern Helmandprovince, the defence ministrysaid in a statement on Friday.

The reports come as civil-ian deaths from air strikeshave risen sharply in the pastyear, after the Afghan and USforces intensified their aerialbombardment of Taliban andIslamic State group militants.

Afghan forces backed byUS air power were conductingcounter-terrorism operations inSangin district late Wednesdaywhen the air strike was carriedout, the ministry and NATOsaid.

“Some reports have beenpublished that civilians werekilled and wounded, and thedefence ministry formed a del-egation to conduct a seriousinvestigation into the civiliancasualties,” the ministry state-ment said.

NATO’s Resolute Support

mission in Afghanistan said the“large Afghan-led, multi-dayoperation... Supported by USadvisors and coalition airstrikes” was ongoing, and thatit was still looking into theclaims. But the United NationsAssistance Mission inAfghanistan (UNAMA) saidthe reports of civilian casualties,including children, were “cred-ible”, and that it was also inves-tigating.

“I have got reports from theresidents of the area where thestrike took place. Sixteen peo-ple — ten children, fourwomen, two men, all civilians— were killed,” Afghan senatorHashim Alkozay told AFP.

Helmand provincial gov-ernor Mohammad Yasin saidthe strike “also hit an adjacentcivilian house”.

“A number” of Afghanswere killed and wounded, headded. The strike came asTaliban representatives weremeeting with US officials inQatar this week, with fourstraight days of discussion rais-ing expectations as both sidesseek a way out of the 17-yearAfghan conflict. Civilians con-tinue to pay a disproportionateprice in the fighting.

UNAMA says the numberof Afghan civilians killed byaerial bombings from Januaryuntil October 2018 reached arecord high of 313, with a fur-ther 336 wounded. The figuresrepresent an increase of 39 percent compared to the sametime period in 2017.

UNAMA data shows thatin total, 2,798 civilians werekilled and 5,252 wounded inthe first ten months of 2018.

The Taliban are responsi-ble for about half of civiliancasualties, with the remainingdeaths attributed to the Islamic State group and coali-tion strikes, according to thereport.

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5� � �7��#!�"��5� � �7Fiction is said to have an indepen-

dent existence in an author’s imagina-tion as the most relatable books arefirmly grounded in the creator’s reali-ty. An expert panel at the ongoing JaipurLiterature Festival explored whether athinly disguised autobiography is arequirement for authenticity in a novel.

In the session ‘Writing aboutWriting,’ characterised by Pulitzer Prize-winning author of six works of fictionAndrew Sean Greer’s humour andauthor Anita Nair’s deep insights intowriting, the point was discussed atlength along with other salient aspectsof the craft of fiction.

Greer described his endeavour as anattempt to capture “the grand momentsbut also the small moments of a writertrying to make a living,” and has a light-hearted take on life in general. In con-trast, Nair said she explores the dark-ness that drives her protagonist-writerto suicide.

While Greer said that writing abouta writer’s life is “incredibly self-indul-gent” and something he would do onlyonce, Nair stated that she had todescend into “that excruciating set ofcircumstances” that would drive her tokill herself and immerse into the mind-set of the protagonist.

Greer also recounted that many ofthe traits of his protagonist have takenon aspects of his personality.

The panelists observed that readersand the media both tend to relate theexperiences of the characters to the lifeof the author and often to extremes.

The finest literary work that mostcaptures reader’s imagination is whenthe writing is rooted in personal expe-rience, yet doesn’t directly convey it.

Greer described how he gathersmaterial for his writing on his travels,but relies on actual things he has writ-ten down at that moment rather thanmerely on his memory. “I didn’t wantto write some fantasy of other countriesthat American writers tend to do,” hesaid of scenes written in various coun-tries. In the same vein, Nair said, “I amdrawing on reality.”

She said she writes about Keralabecause she understands the “psyche ofthe people” and can relate to them. Thatis the level of engagement with her sub-ject and characters she requires. Butsubsequently, she described the final actof creation as a weaving together of allthe disparate elements as in a “patch-work quilt.” She said she decides at thatmoment what works and what does not.

This transformation of experienceinto fiction is a challenge and ultimate-ly a pleasure, Nair noted.

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Filmmaker and lyricist Gulzar atthe festival expressed hopelessness at thenew lows that the political discourse inthe country is hitting with every pass-ing day.

Without naming any politician orparty, Gulzar said that the “kind of lan-guage” some politicians use these daysdoes not only have an adverse effect onpolitics and mutual friendship, but inthe larger picture, it “may spoil theyounger generation.”

He urged politicians to be mindfulof the fact that their words reach themasses and the youth, in particular, takea keen interest in politics these days, “sothey should not use such language.”

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Pulitzer Prize-winning authorColson Whitehead’s The UndergroundRailroad is garnering critical acclaimfrom readers around the globe whilealso bagging some of the most presti-gious literary awards. The novel simul-taneously literalises the railroad andemploys it as a metaphor — almost asa living character.

“As a kid, you think it’s a literal train,until at some point, hopefully a teacher

or an adult corrects you and tells youhow it actually worked,” saidWhitehead, referring to the fact that inreality, it was “a network of people” thathelped slaves in America to escape fromthe Southern states to the North.

The novel also looks at the dilem-mas peculiar to the experience of afemale slave. “When a slave girl becamea slave woman, she was subject to herMaster’s desires; she was expected topump out babies as more slaves for herMaster,” pointed Whitehead.

The story required a certain matu-rity to handle it, and Whitehead wasglad that he had waited for as long ashe had to write it.

Instead, Whitehead dealt with top-ics such as 19th century eugenics andthe forced sterilisation of black women,and drew parallels between this partic-ular form of hegemonic injustice andothers, such as the Holocaust. “I want-ed to blend reality with fictive imagi-nation, and deploy research in an artis-tic way,” he said.

The author said he finds himselfviewing his book differently after theTrump moment in American politics.

“Police brutality was not a surpriseto me,” he asserted, adding that the ideaconnecting his novel to present day-America is the basic element that“being black in the wrong place” is stilldangerous and even lethal.

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The 2011 Egyptian revo-lution was sparked by a Dayof Revolt on January 25, 2011when tens of thousands ofpeople stormed public spacesacross the country to protestthe oppressive regime ofPresident HosniMubarak andeight years downthe line, an expertpanel cametogether at the fes-tival to present dis-patches from thosetumultuous days.

Max Rodenbeck,South Asia bureau chiefof The Economist, mod-erated the panel thatlooked back at the events ofTahrir Square, discussingwhether it’s ever possible fora revolution to succeed, and lookedahead to what the events of the ArabSpring heralded for the global future.

Veteran Egyptian author AhdafSoueif noted that the movement was “atrue grassroots endeavour.”

She said, “For a year, people wereprepared to be out there in the street,to be in harm’s way”, highlighting howpeople from all over Egypt were “will-

ing to risk grave consequences”in an attempt “to usher in a newdawn of freedom.”

“What went wrong?” askedRodenbeck. “So much of it wasbuilt on emotional and idealis-tic energy,” author and award-winning filmmaker Omar

Robert Hamilton said. “Unless you’re able to actually

destroy the enemy, they work on atimescale that’s unavailable to a vol-unteer-based public movement.They can move against you withcalculated, mechanical preci-sion,” Hamilton added.

Egyptian author YasmineEl Rashidi’s sense of regret forthe opportunities lostseemed palpable and deeplypersonal. “I emotionally

feel that we failed due to ourinability to organise,” she said.

Soueif countered her claim that thepeople of Egypt failed their own revo-lution. “People point a finger at thestreets and the young, but they did whatthey had to do. A political leadershiphad to step forward and seize themoment,” said Soueif.

The session concluded with whatthe world learned from the Arab Springin general, and the January 25 EgyptianRevolution in particular.

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Women writers have surely crusad-ed a war against age-old prac-

tices and established systems, callingthem out and unacceptable. They have shared varied emotionsrelated to female experiences andincidents of injustice in their works.From a woman like Elizabeth Bennettrying to express her individuality ina society that demanded social confor-mity to Bertha Mason, loud, subver-sive and sexually wanton as well aswomen like Virginia Woolf who wroteabout the need for some space and aroom for themselves. These womenhad initiated the feminist movementlong ago and continue to fight for iteven today. Many writers have alsostarted a debate about the empower-ment of other marginalised sectionslike the indigenous communities.

One such is Australian writerAnita Heiss who introduced the mean-ing of ‘Mr Right’ for a woman throughher works to the world and initiated aglobal dialogue on indigenous litera-ture that talks about experiences ofinjustice against not just women butalso Aboriginal communities andsocieties, especially Australia.

As she becomes a part of the ongo-ing Jaipur Literature Festival this yearas a part of the Australia Fest in India,she talks about how she feels aboutsuch festivals creating a socio-cultur-al impact and initiating an academicdialogue. She says, “Festivals of this cal-ibre and size provide the perfectshowcase for cultural exchangebetween a number of nations. It’s aplatform where various authors as pro-ducers of cultural products — novels,poetry, memoirs, histories etc — tellthe stories of countries but holding amirror up to their society to say ‘Thisis who we are.’”

She feels that without such literaryfestivals, many stories about the whyand how of authors are left unheard.

The reading audience needs to hearindividual stories of writers and inter-act with them and know about theirresearch and literary purpose.

Featuring deeply personal expe-riences of 51 aboriginal Australiansfrom remote locations, cities and sub-urbs, Heiss’s book Growing UpAboriginal in Australia, had providedan insight into how some of them hadto deliberately play down their aborig-inality to avoid scrutiny and endurecasual racism.

She speaks about her with time theindigenous literature has evolved.“First Nations writing or Aboriginalsyllabic from Australia has been trans-lated into many languages around theworld and we have toured internation-ally in groups and as individuals.” Shegives examples, “Works like DorisPilkington Garimara’s Follow theRabbit-Proof Fence is probably the mostwell-known literary work. That storyopened up the world’s minds to thereality of generations of stolenAboriginal children in Australia. Myown work has been translated into

French, Farsi, Spanish, and Mandarinto name a few translations, and I haveperformed by work across the USA,Canada and Europe. Increasingly,international audiences are wanting tohear First Nation stories from FirstNations Peoples, not anthropologistsand historians who often have anobservers’ role.”

For someone, who has stood sostrongly for the Aboriginality culturein Australia, the main focus at the fes-tival would be to initiate a dialogue on“Aboriginal identity and getting moresuch writers into print to share theirown stories through anthologies likehers. My memoir, Am I Black EnoughFor You? will also be discussed and I’llbe reading from I’m Not Racist, But...a collection of social observations.”

The author, who is known for herseveral awards and accolades for hercontribution in standing for theAustralian Aboriginal communities,believes that her capacity to tell a storyhas developed manifolds in the last twodecades.

She says, “I can see the differencein depth of a story told from my firstadult novel Not Meeting Mr Right(2007) to my most recent novel BarbedWire and Cherry Blossoms (2016). I’vechallenged myself more with everynew title. I set for myself a new chal-lenge with every new book. Forinstance, with Tiddas (2014), I had fiveprotagonists. The challenge there wasto tell the story through each one ofthem’s perspective. I needed to makesure that they all had equal develop-ment over the course of the novel andequal say. The challenge I have setmyself for the book I am currentlyworking on is to show dialoguebetween two characters in Wiradjurilanguage.”

She adds that she is still learningthe language and “it will be an enor-mous effort for me to get it right.”

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�� 3!�!$'!Saina Nehwal hardly broke a

sweat on way to her secondconsecutive semifinal of the seasonbut P V Sindhu and KidambiSrikanth lost their respectivequarterfinals to bow out of theIndonesia Masters badmintontournament on Friday.

Eighth seed Saina, who had

reached the semifinal last week atMalaysia Masters, beat Thailand'sPornpawee Chochuwong 21-7, 21-18 to make it to the last four ofwomen's singles.

The two-timeCommonwealth Games championwill next face sixth seeded ChineseHe Bingjiao, a player Saina hasnever faced in her career.

Sindhu couldn't adjust to thespeed and precision of three-timeOlympic champion CarolineMarin, going down 11-21, 12-21 ina lopsided contest.

Srikanth had to settle for asecond quarter-final finish afterlosing 18-21, 19-21 to local heroand Asian Games championJonatan Christie.

Saina enjoyed a good start andgalloped to a 11-4 lead at theinterval. The indian continued todominate proceeding after theinterval, moving in quick bursts ofpoints to close out the openinggame comfortably.

In the second game,Chochuwong ran to 8-4 lead, butSaina caught up with her at 12-12

before going ahead and shuttingthe door on her opponent.

In 13 meetings, Sindhu haslagged 5-7 against Marin in theirhead-to-head count, whichincluded defeats at the RioOlympic and 2018 Worldchampionship finals.

Marin seemed equallyunstoppable on Friday as she

marched to a 6-1 lead with herbetter court coverage and angledreturns. The screams and fistpumps were out right from thestart as Sindhu looked for anopening.

The Indian exchanged ralliesand made it to 5-8 before Maringrabbed a six-point lead at thebreak with a cross court smash and

a long return from Sindhu.Sindhu reduced the margin to

10-14 but Marin was going greatguns and eventually pocketed thefirst game when the Indian wentwide and long.

In the second game, Sindhucouldn't keep the shuttle inside thecourt, allowing Marin to againzoom to a 5-0 lead.

A net error from Marinhelped Sindhu break the run ofpoints but the Indian continued tocommit too many unforced errors.

Sindhu failed to see theinitiatives during the fast pacedrallies. A huge body smash tookMarin to 11-3 at the interval.

Marin eventually sealed thecontest when Sindhu hit the net.

Saina sails into semis; Sindhu, Srikanth lose

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english news paper | breaking news | latest today …...2019/01/26 · minister trivendra singh...

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