english news paper | breaking news | latest today news in ... · “bottle” symbol. jan sangh...

��

�� !��"�#��$$%�� &��&�� '� �� & ��&��(�� (��) �� *�� ) �� +� � ��

�� !"#��$ � � �� ,��-�� ( �� ./0��$�111��(�� ( �� (��(�� 2 ��

��%�� &��%��''�� 3�� ( �� 4�4-�*�� &��-�-*��(�� "�� 5�6 � � �� .7�8�� (� �� , ��

�� ($)*�� 7��$1�� &�� 2 �� & �� /% 91� ��7� �� '��

�� ,��2�� #�� &��& �� $7�(��

��

�� 3:�-38;�

The Lok Sabha elections willbe held in seven phases

from April 11 to May 19 andthe votes will be counted onMay 23, announced the ChiefElection Commissioner (CEC)on Sunday.

Calling the Indian parlia-mentary battle the “largest fes-tival of democracy”, CEC SunilArora on Sunday said 91 con-stituencies (spread across 20States) will see polling on April11, followed by 97 constituen-cies spreading across 13 Stateson April 18, 115 Lok Sabhaconstituencies in 14 States onApril 23, while 71 in 9States/UTs on April 29, 51Parliamentary constituenciesin seven States on May 6, 59constituencies (also 7 States) onMay 12 and 59 constituencies(8 States) on May 19.

With nearly 90 crore vot-ers across 10 lakh booths in 543constituencies as against aboutnine lakh in 2014, India is setto hold its 17th Lok Sabha elec-tions over the next few weeks.

Arora announced that the‘voter verifiable paper audittrail’ (VVPAT) will be used inall polling stations this time.

“With the announcementof the polls, the model code ofconduct would come intoimmediate effect from Sunday,”Arora said.

The tenure of the currentLok Sabha ends on June 3.Assembly polls in AndhraPradesh, Arunachal, Odishaand Sikkim will also be heldsimultaneously. However, elec-tions for the Jammu & KashmirAssembly, which was dissolvedafter the ruling coalitionbetween the BJP and the PDPfell apart, will not be heldalong with the Lok Sabha polls.

Both the NationalConference and PDP have crit-icised the decision not to holdJammu & Kashmir Assemblyelection along with the LokSabha polls.

Questioning ElectionCommission’s decision,National Conference vice-pres-ident Omar Abdullah said,“First time since 1996

Assembly elections in J&K arenot being held on time.Remember this the next timeyou are praising PM Modi forhis strong leadership,” he tweet-

ed.In another tweet Omar

said, “In 2014 we had LokSabha elections on time &Assembly elections on sched-ule even after the most devas-tating floods. Shows how badly

the BJP & earlier the BJP-PDPmishandled J&K,” Omar wroteon Twitter.

Former Chief Minister andPeoples Democratic Party(PDP) president MehboobaMufti also opposed the deci-

sion taken by the ECI of notholding Assembly and parlia-ment elections simultaneouslyin Jammu & Kashmir.

In a statement, Mehboobasaid, “Postponement ofAssembly polls in Jammu &

Kashmir is tantamount todenying basic rights of thepeople of the State to have apopular Government”. “It isvery dangerous to keep theState in the hands of unelect-ed representatives of theCentre. It will further compli-cate the problems in the Stateand the decision taken byElection Commission needs an immediate review,” Mehbooba said in astatement.

As per EC schedule, Bihar,Uttar Pradesh and West Bengalwill see staggered Lok Sabhaelections spread over all sevenphases starting from April 11to May 19. The nomination forthe first phase of polls willbegin March 18.

The phase I of the LokSabha election will take placeon April 11, 2019. The phase Ipolls will be held in 91 LokSabha constituencies in a totalof 20 States including AndhraPradesh, Arunachal Pradesh,Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh,Jammu & Kashmir,Maharashtra, Manipur,

Meghalaya, Mizoram,Nagaland, Odisha, Sikkim,Telangana, Tripura, UttarPradesh, Uttarakhand, WestBengal, Andaman andLakshadweep.

The polling in the phase IIof Lok Sabha elections will beheld on April 18, 2019 in 97Lok Sabha constituencies of 13States including Assam, Bihar,Chhattisgarh, Jammu &Kashmir, Karnataka,Maharashtra, Manipur, Odisha,Tamil Nadu, Tripura, UttarPradesh, West Bengal andPuducherry.

The third phase of pollingwill be held on April 23 in atotal of 115 constituenciesspread across 14 States. TheStates are: Assam, Bihar,Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Goa,Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka,Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha,Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal,Dadra and Nagar Haveli, andDaman and Diu.

The fourth phase of pollingwill on April 29 in 71 con-stituencies spread across nineStates.

��

�+� &�%�� 3:�-38;�

With social media becom-ing a significant tool in

poll campaign, the ElectionCommission (EC) on Sundayannounced measures to tighten the noose around theservice providers and broughtthem under the umbrella ofmodel code of conduct.

Political parties,Governments, administra-

tions and individuals who uti-lize applications like Twitter,WhatsApp, Youtube,Instagram and other digitalsocial platforms for postingpoll related materials willhave to adhere to the pollwatchdog’s laid down ethics.

Announcing the LokSabha elections schedule,Chief Election CommissionerSunil Arora announced guid-lines for the social media.

�� 3:�-38;�

Polls to the seven Lok Sabhaseats in Delhi will be held

on May 12 with the polls tobegin on April 11 and contin-ue for over a month till May 19across seven phases, followedby counting of votes on May23, the Election Commissionannounced on Sunday.

The seven LS seats werewon by the BJP in the last gen-eral Assembly polls. Accordingto the final electoral roll pub-lished on January 18 by the

Chief Electoral Officer, there areover 1.36 crore voters in Delhi.

After the announcement,Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted,“Ultimately back to ‘We thepeople’ — the real power ofour democracy. Time to throwout the most dictatorial andanti-federal govt in the histo-ry of India. Time to seekanswers on demonetisation,jobs, destruction of traders and destroying brotherhoodamongst different communi-ties.”

�� 4--��4+4+4�

Four Indians, including anEnvironment Ministry

consultant, were among thosekilled when a Nairobi-boundEthiopian Airlines planecrashed after take-off fromAddis Ababa, External AffairsMinister Sushma Swaraj said.

The Boeing 737 crashed minutes after an early-morning takeoff fromAddis Ababa on Sunday,killing all eight crew and 149passengers on board, IndianEnvironment Ministry con-sultant, Shikha Garg, who wason her way to attend a UNEP

meeting. “I am sorry to knowabout the unfortunate crash ofEthiopian Airlines plane ET302.

“We have lost four Indiannationals in the air crash. Ihave asked Indian HighCommissioner in Ethiopia toprovide all help and assis-tance to the bereaved families,”Swaraj tweeted.

She said the IndianEmbassy in Ethiopia hasinformed her that thedeceased Indian nationals areVaidya Pannagesh Bhaskar,Vaidya Hansin Annagesh,Nukavarapu Manisha andShikha Garg.

�� *3�-)4�4-4

Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supre-mo and Chief Minister

Naveen Patnaik on Sundayannounced a 33 per cent reser-vation for women in the list ofBJD candidates in the upcom-ing Lok Sabha polls.

He made the politicallysignificant announcement at aMission Shakti convention inKendrapada.

“In the 1990s, Bijubabushowed the way to the entirecountry by implementing, forthe first time, a 33 per centreservation for women in thethree-tier Panchayati RajInstitutions and governmentjobs. In 2012, our Governmentenhanced it to 50 per cent.Taking the move forward lastyear, our Government for thefirst time passed a resolution inthe State Legislative Assemblyto provide 33 per cent reser-vation for women in bothParliament and State legisla-

tures. I have also sent a pro-posal to all the national partiesand Chief Ministers in thisregard,” Patnaik said

“I would like to announcehere at Kendrapada thatOdisha will send 33-per centwomen to Parliament in thecoming elections. The womenof Odisha will lead the way inwomen empowerment inIndia. If India is to lead theworld, if India is to be anadvanced nation like Americaand China then womenempowerment is the onlyanswer,” Patnaik said in hisaddress to a huge gathering.

“I call upon all the nation-al parties that they be true totheir words and must followwhat they are propagating forwomen empowerment. Thisannouncement at Kendrapara,the sacred land of LordBaladevjew will create historyin the journey of womenempowerment in India,Patnaik added.

�+� &�%�� 3:�-38;�

What is common to lady’sfinger, green chilli, water-

melon, lunchbox, sewingmachine, pencil box, razor,boat with man and sail, violin,battery torch, man blowingturha, toothbrush and manymore? They are all electionsymbols allotted to 39 regis-tered un-recognised parties setto contest 2019 Lok Sabhaelections.

The Election Commission(EC) on Sunday allotted com-mon party symbols to 39 reg-istered un-recognised partiesthat included filmstar KamalHaasan’s Makkal NeedhiMaiam (MNM) and formerJanata Dal (United) presidentSharad Yadav’s Loktantrik

Janata Dal (LJD). WhileHaasan’s party has been allot-ted “battery torch” as commonsymbol, LJD was given thesymbol of a “man blowingturha”. A person contesting onbehalf of a recognised politicalparty will inherit the party’ssymbol.

Last year in February,Kamal Haasan announced hisplunge into politics launchinghis political party MakkalNeedhi Maiam (people justicecentre) at a massive rally inMadurai. In December, Haasanannounced that his party willcontest the 2019 Lok Sabhapolls in all the 39 parliamentaryconstituencies of Tamil Naduand the lone seat in PuducherryUnion Territory. The actor-turned-politician then in

February, announced that hisparty would go it alone in theupcoming elections.

An independent candidateor someone contesting onbehalf of an unrecognisedpolitical party has to approachthe EC and get a symbol allot-ted from the list of ‘free’ sym-bols available.

In the case of a recognisedpolitical party, the Commissionallows it to ‘reserve’ a symbol.For example, if a political partyrecognised in a particular Statewishes to contest in elections inanother State, it can ‘reserve’the symbol being used by it.The Commission will oblige,provided the symbol is notbeing used by anyone else.

As per the EC notification,Sharad Yadav’s LJD will contest

on all the 543 parliamentaryconstituencies. The LJD wasfloated by Yadav in 2018 afterhis fallout with Bihar ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar over thelatter’s decision to end thealliance with the RJD and enterinto a tie-up with NDA-led byBJP. After his fallout, the three-time Rajya Sabha member wasdisqualified from the UpperHouse under the anti-defectionlaw.

Loktantarik RastravadiParty has been allotted “tractorchalata kisan” sympol for 11parliamentary constituenciesin Gujarat. Communist Party ofIndia (Marxist-Leninist)Liberation) has been allotted“flag with three star” symbol.Jharkhand Mukti Morcha(Ulgulan) has been allotted

“bottle” symbol. Jan SanghParty has been allotted “greenchilli” to Delhi and Bihar while“dish antenna” allotted for 416parliamentary constituenciesacross the country.

Bahujan Awam Party hasbeen allotted “toothbrush”symbol to contestParliamentary constituenciesin Uttar Pradesh; HindustanPeople Party has been allotted“pencil box” for Uttar Pradesh,Bihar, Karnataka, GujaratGanasangam Party of Indiaallotted “lady finger” forTelangana, Andhra Pradesh,Karnataka, Kerala andPuducherry MaharashtraParivartan Sena is given ‘sewingmachine’ symbol and ApniParty given “lunchbox” symbolby the EC.

��

�� !��" ��#��$ %��

��

��

��

,�� 3�� &�� %1$7�8�� (� ��&�� &�� (��< ��,�'�,��-��

=�� ( ��:��"�� &�� ,��&�� "��

�� ,�� &�� 6�(�� (�� <�4��*�6��& ��

:��&�� $/��8�� (� ��

�� (�� (� �� '�� <�4��

!��$77>�4��(��?@* ��(��

)��(��#�� <A� ��4(��

32�� /"�� $/��8�� (� �� &�� 2�� (�� &��

�� )�� <�� & ��

,��!��8 &��-�� B�&� ��&�,��&�� 4&��(� �� :��

��&�� &�� &��

<4��C � �

&�� '� �� (��() ) "�� !�� ' (*

#��#��!��(�� *�� ! )� �� +��' �� % ��$��!�� ' *&�

�� !�"� �� #�� #��#� ��$��%�"&&�� '%(

�� :48�A)

Senior RSS leader BhaiyajiJoshi Sunday said the Sangh

will work towards creatingawareness to ensure 100 percent voting. The three-day con-clave of the RSS' Akhil BharatiyaPratinidhi Sabha (ABPS), whichconcluded here Sunday, alsodiscussed running religiousawakening campaigns and pro-moting nationalism, anotherRSS leader said.

The ABPS is the highestdecision-making body of Sangh,the ideological parent of the rul-ing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Joshi, who is the generalsecretary of the RSS, alsoobserved that time has come toexpand Sangh's work in a bigway, which insiders said is theHindutva fountainhead's strat-egy to expand its footprint inrural India, which is facingagrarian issues, with a humanface and a religious touch.

"The RSS's work has

reached a certain level. We feelnow that time has come to takea big leap in terms of expansionof the work," Joshi told reportershere on the final day of theABPS. He said Sangh alwaysbelieved that maximum votingshould take place. "Voters in thecountry are intelligent enough(to understand) the issues tovote for. We will work for cre-ating awareness to ensure 100per cent voting," he said.

The Election CommissionSunday announced that the

Lok Sabha polls will be held inseven phases in the country,beginning April 11. "Our soci-ety has started thinking moreclearly over a period of time,and the people now know whoworks for the nation's better-ment," Joshi added.

A Sangh leader said topbrass of the organisation dis-cussed sending volunteers to vil-lages connected with main road-ways of districts to run "MukhMarg Karya" (MMK) drive for"bringing social and economicchange and uplifting the people".The ABPS has also decidedthat a local level RSS leaderwould form a team of 10-15people with Sangh leanings, topromote education and cleanli-ness among other things intheir respective villages, he said.

Under MMK, Sangh vol-unteers will focus on issues likethe welfare and protection ofcows, safeguarding environ-ment, promoting sports, hesaid.

"��&�� ))*��+��,

�� RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008

��

��

�./��.��)012

&��3��&�))3�4*)(5�� )462��)7#*

�� !�"�#��$%&'!�#!��!(� )*+'!)��

��-��32,��

-3�A�3,��4,�A�

��2;��4��)A,3�,��=��2)�,�2��

A!��A8�2�3��A��)38��A�2�� -�7�$>��..8� >D

E4�� 3#�� 4�� (��

� �!�"#�$:A�3��548=3

CA=)�3853�B�5�-C4�+484�

!"��#$��% !&��

�� '�(��) '�(��**+�,-*.

�� !"#��$"�!"%&'!�( ��#�)�*��%�+,-*%��*#��./01,,2* 3�+�+4�� 251��6 71��8��*�+�+%��*9��2*#��7/01,22 3�+�4*&��:,;557155,<;;*�� +:,<=<-2-,-0/+'��:��*!%"!��+%�+��'%>?1,,/?2-;,-*!��+%�+�71?#��@%?/2?1,,071,,=*�"!�A!� �!>'��!�+2+,,'��:��*!��*#�� )�*%��B��:�� C�� :#��C��+��:��D��*E��@��:%�+0*#��>�� #�)�* #��9��*%�)E��722,,,1* ��:,227/,22,/55*��@��:87-2*��0*%@"E�*>��#��%��71,2-,2*A+�+��:,21,7/=;<=,,C/=;<<,,*�� @��:E�F��G�� %�+:,<=0;5;5<--*,<=<1=1<15<* ��G��)@��:/��8��*��*8�H �!��*��G��)110,20+&��:,51171-/0//-*1-/0///*1-/0//5+

�� !��"�� #�� $��%��&�� '�� "��(��

�� +;A�48

Entering the last leg of thethree-day Foundation Day

celebration in IGRMS, theprestigious Prof BK Roy-Barman Memorial Lecture washeld on the topic 'Ethic ofDevelopment: A tribute toProfessor BK Roy-Barman'.

While Professor KK Basa,former Director of IGRMS,chaired the lecture, the mainspeaker was Prof Vinay KumarShrivastava, (Director ofAnthropological Survey ofIndia).

The lecture's introductionwas given by SudhirShrivastava and brief intro-duction of the dignitaries givenby Prof Sarit K Chaudhuri. Hesaid that Vinay KumarShrivastava, his various acco-lades and his outstanding asso-ciation with IGRMS. VinayKumar Shrivastava started hislecture by familiarising theaudience with the prestigiousworks of BK Roy-Barman andhis contributions to the acad-emic world of anthropology.He jested how various knownpersonalities often labelled ProfRoy-Barman with titles like'library of knowledge' and a'walking encyclopaedia' andstressed on the fact thatthroughout his years of know-ing him, Roy-Barman hadinexhaustible knowledge.

According to Shrivastava,one should give memorial lec-tures on areas which areuntouched and not specialisedareas. His extensive lecturefocused on unveiling theunknown characteristics ofProf Roy-Barman like he wasan 'organic intellectual' and an'Anthrophile anthropologist(lover of human being)', whichtitles were given to him by var-ious people he met throughout

his life. He also said that Prof.Roy-Barman was an ardentsupporter of participatorydevelopments and more suchdiscussions on developmentand ethics of growth.

The lecture concluded witha few conclusive commentsgiven by the chairperson, KKBasa. After that, the bookrelease of Kanato Chophi'sbook, this was followed byhanding over of the mementosto the dignitaries.

An Exhibition on ‘KumarPara-Pottery Tradition of India’has been jointly inaugurated byProf Sarit Kumar Chauduri,(Director, IGRMS), Prof KKBasa (Former Director,IGRMS), Prof. KK Chakraarty,IAS (Former, Director, IGRMS)and Female artists. The presentExhibition endeavours to givea brief ethnographic account ofpottery traditions of differentparts of India specificallyAssam, Gujarat, Ladakh,Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur,Odisha, Tamil Nadu and WestBengal.

It explains about the com-

munity i.e. population of peo-ple involved in pottery; theirassociated socio-economicfacets, transfer of the traditionalknowledge system, beliefs, rit-uals and technique of produc-tion and their consumption interms of continuing tradition.This open air exhibition isentirely an outcome of potteryand terracotta workshops orga-nized by IGRMS in the last 10years.

� �%&�'�%� ��(�� )*� ��+

�� +;A�48

Women are changing theworld one day at a time

and creating a better tomorrowfor everyone, said Pallavi RaoChaturvedi, Executive VicePresident, AISECT Group andFounder, Brainy Bear Pre-School and Activity Club onthe occasion of InternationalWomen’s Day programme.

While talking to ThePioneer, she said that althoughwomen are leaving their markacross various fields, there arestill a number of challengesimpeding their overall growth.In order to create a lastingimpact and attain gender par-ity, the focus needs to be on allthree aspects of empowermentincluding Social, Political andEconomic.

“We have been workingsince almost four decades inthe rural and semi-urbanregions of the country toempower all sections of thesociety, including women,through ICT and skills basededucation and services. Over

the years, we have created anetwork of over 1,800 womenentrepreneurs, which hasresulted in their economicindependence and brokenevery stereotype associatedwith women. This InternationalWomen’s Day, Pehchaan, whichis an AISECT initiative forfostering women entrepre-neurship, is giving an oppor-tunity to women to be self-suf-ficient and independent bysetting-up their own enter-prise.

Under this initiative, we areinviting women to send acrossbreakthrough business ideasacross industries and verti-cals,” she said.

Vice Chancellor, RNTU,presided over the function.Four Self Help Group (SHGs)of Raisen District Awarded byExcellence Award duringInternational Women’s DayCelebration at RabindranathTagore University.

On the occasion, NSSGroup performed NukkadNatak on the theme Female.Safety is a major issue for

women and men can play acrucial role in ensuring a safeenvironment for women bothat home and workplace.

She also said that educationneeds to be more gender sen-sitive, so both boys and girlscome out of schools as youngadults who work hand in handto create a more equitableworld.

Also, training young girlsin self-defence and providingthem more opportunities tohone their talents can boosttheir confidence and selfesteem.

Pallavi further said thatwomen just need to focus ontheir work without worryingabout anything else. Peoplewill eventually recognise theirefforts and respect them fortheir work.

�� :48�A)

The newly appointedCollector Anurag

Chowdhary on Sunday askedthe departmental heads andofficers to accelerate the imple-mentation of the variousGovernment projects.

The instructions werepassed during an inter-departmental meeting held atthe conference hall of the col-lectorate today to review theprogress of the variousGovernment projects.

During the meeting, thecollector highlighted the role ofthe departmental heads inensuring timely and error freeimplementation of the variousprojects. The Collector askedthe officials to conduct week-ly and monthly review meet-ings to expedite work on thevarious schemes.

On the loan waver scheme,the collector said that someirregularities in the list of thebeneficiaries have beenbrought to his notice. He asked

the officials to look into thematter and finalise the list ofbeneficiaries as soon as possi-ble.

The Collector furtherinstructed the officials to lookinto all grievances made in theCM Helpline and do the nec-essary follow up so that issuescan be resolved without delayand hassle to the complainants.

On the collection of therevenue, Anurag Chowdharysaid that the target is still a longway away and asked the offi-cials to speed up the process ofcollecting taxes.

The collector furtherinstructed the officials to keepa strict vigil on the boardexams and see that no mal-practices occur.

The meeting chaired bythe collector was also attend-ed by Shivam Varma, the ChiefExecutive Officer of the districtPanchayat, AdditionalCollector, Sandeep Kerketta,Additional Collector AnupSingh and all the departmen-tal heads.

(�� ) ��,!(��*((-�� '��)� �� . ��/ ��' �� %�! �� ' �0�./�!1�� !�� ' *��

�� ! ��"�##$�%�� "� �� &��#� ��"�� !��

2��3��4�* �� %��/ ��#� ��%��

(�� % ��.�%��3��"#��

�� +;A�48

Former Madhya PradeshChief Minister Shivraj Singh

Chauhan on Sunday accusedthe Kamal Nath Governmentof making false claims andtime pass.

All that this Governmenthas done is talking. Theyshould not crack jokes at leastin the name of jobs. ThisGovernment is running a'samay katu (time pass)' cam-paign and waiting for the Lok

Sabha elections, he said com-menting on the announcementof Nath for a music band train-ing school in Chhindwara.

At times the StateGovernment talks of feedingcattle, at times they talk of play-ing bands because they knowthat if they don’t keep makingsuch false claims, youth wouldnot wait (navjawan pratikshanahi karega, wo band bajadega), the former ChiefMinister said talking toreporters here.

Touching upon the OBCreservation issue, Chouhan said,"OBCs should get the reserva-tion. We are in favour of it but itshould be implemented withproper constitutional process, hesaid.

Madhya Pradesh GovernorAnandiben Patel has approvedanordinance to increase reser-vation for Other BackwardClasses (OBCs) from 14 per centto 27 per cent.

The move is seen as an effortby the Kamal Nath Government

in the State to gain the supportof the OBCs ahead of the com-ing Lok Sabha elections due tobe held by May. It also comesbefore the model code of con-duct for the general electionswhich is set to be announcedsoon.

Chouhan also alleged thatthe transfer industry continuesto flourish. Transfer udyog is stillrunning. SP, DMs have beenreduced to a joke. This cluelessGovernment is making the entireState clueless and directionless,

he said.He termed

Mahagathbandhan asMahathugbandhan (alliance ofthe cheats) and equated it withwedding procession without agroom.

Efforts are on to establish aBand Training School atChhindwara, which will produceprofessionals for playing bandsat marriages and other functionsacross the country, MadhyaPradesh Chief Minister KamalNath had said on March 9.

#� � �� 5 � ��$ ��.�%��

* �� '�� 2��-�# ��/ ��'�� !�� ' *��

�� +;A�48

Shahjehanabad police havesolved a blind murder case

and nabbed a 21-year-oldyouth involved in killing anddumping a 35-year-old man onMay 6 at Idgah Hills area.

Sensation prevailed inIdgah Hills area after a bodywas found dumped wrapped ina blanket late in the night onMarch 6. After the investiga-tion, the deceased was identi-fied as Pappu Kushwaha (35) ofslums behind Church inShahjehanabad and during theinvestigation, police nabbedRajesh Malviya who killed anddumped the body.

CSP ShahjehanabadNagendra Pateria said thatdeceased used to demandmoney from the accused whoruns a laundry shop.

After the incident, theaccused went absconding,resulting into suspicion. Theaccused and the deceased usedto roam together in the areaand other parts and wouldconsume liquor but paymentwas made by the accused mostof the time and he haddemanded money from thedeceased for liquor.

The accused, along with hisuncle, had committed thecrime at his house in EWS atVajpayee Nagar and after that,his uncle too has abscondedand search has been intensified,he added.

Police said that the accusedconfessed that he, along withhis uncle Ram Gopal, hadliquor with the deceased andlater silted his throat withsharp edged weapon andwrapped the body in a blanket.

The accused does not holdany criminal record and hemurdered as he was not able toget rid of the harassment anddemands by deceased.

!� �3�� ) �� )��

�� "�� '��(��"��)�� !�� &�

�� +;A�48

“Milan Talkies is just not a‘title’, but it is a character in

itself ”, said Bollywood directorTigmanshu Dhulia.

Actor Ali Fazal, and direc-tor Tighmanshu Dhulia were inBhopal on Sunday for the pro-motions of their upcomingfilm Milan Talkies. Theresponse for the trailers hasbeen overwhelming, peoplehave been grooving on thepeppy songs Holi, Bakaiti andrecently released song Jobless.

The film is directed byTigmanshu Dhulia andProduced by P S Chhatwal,Filmy Keeda Productions starsAli Fazal and Shraddha Srinathin the lead roles.

While talking to the mediapersons, Ali Fazal said thatMilan Talkies is a Love Story setin Uttar Pradesh around 2010-2013 when single screen the-atres were still prominent insmaller Indian towns and filmprint was still in circulation.

Actor Ali Fazal says, “MilanTalkies is a very special film forme and I am glad that the audi-ence are loving the trailer andthe songs.” Elaborating further,he said that from past four yearsthe movie is waiting for its pro-duction and now it is here.

On his visit to Bhopal, Alisaid, “We had a great time inBhopal and I am looking for-ward to the release.”

Director TigmanshuDhulia shares, “We had a great

time in Bhopal. The responsefrom the people was over-whelming. I can't wait to showthe film to them.”

The romantic love saga -Milan Talkies’ story, screenplay,and dialogues are written byTigmanshu Dhulia and Kamal

Pandey. The film also starsAshutosh Rana, Sanjay Mishra,Reecha Sinha, and SikanderKher. Produced by Filmy KeedaProductions in association withOm Prakash Bhatt (Purple BullEntertainment), the film is setto release on March 15.

6�� & ��3�� ,��-"�)�� 7"� ��'��&��

� ��*+��!�"�,-��&��!��.�� %/�� "�� !��

�� 0�� '�(��) '�(��**+�,-*.

�� +;A�48

“Piracy is the strongest reasonwhy I do not want to release

my films in Pakistan,” saidFilmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia.

Tigmanshu, along with theactor Ali Fazal, was in Bhopalon Sunday. Tigamsnhu hadrecently said that his upcomingfilm 'Milan Talkies' will not

release in Pakistan, as it is a hubof piracy.

On asking about his idea ofbanning film releases inPakistan, Tigmanshu clearlystated that piracy is affecting ourbusiness badly. “Filmmaking isjust not a hobby or a passion forall of us, but it is a mediumthrough which we earn bread forour family too. This should not

get affected,” said Tigmanshu.While talking to the media

persons on Sunday, Tigmanshusaid, “This is a major problemand we should ban Indian filmto cross borders.” he quoted, "Iwill not let my work get affect-ed."

Elaborating on this, Alisaid, “Art, indeed has no geog-raphy and can go far beyond

borders. But, the thing is thatpiracy is hammering Indianfilm industry which should notbe the case.” Adding to this, Alisaid, “They also have actors,directors and they are doingtheir business in their filmindustry and so we are doing ithere and pretty well. As of nowthings should be as they are forfilms.”

This was not all, butTigamanshu also said thatrelease of Hollywood moviessometimes also affect the busi-ness of Hindi cinema in India.“It happens a lot many times,when Hollywood movies arereleased in India and are dubbedin many Indian languages whichgreatly affect the business ofIndian cinema and it’s sad.”

��-�� '��* ��)�� '"74�&��

�� +;A�48

The Nishatpura police foileda dacoity bid and nabbed

five miscreants near AwantikaGarden carrying weaponswhile planning robbery late inthe night on Saturday.

Police said that on thereceipt of the information ofmen carrying arms and plan-ning robbery police swunginto action and team ofNishatpura police rushed to thespot and nabbed five personsnear Awantika Garden. The

miscreants tried to escape thespot but were nabbed by thepolice.

After the five miscreantswere nabbed a country-madepistol, one live cartridge, threesharp edged weapons, torchand iron road were recoveredfrom their possession.

The nabbed accused per-sons have criminal record andwere identified as Abdul Aziz(23), Salmaan alias Kala (29),Sehtaj (32), Arman Khan (27)and Mohammad Sajid (28).Adbul was booked for more

than 15 crimes, Salman hasbeen booked for 22 crimeswhile Sehtaj has been bookedfor 13 crimes.

In the initial investigationwhen the dacoits were ques-tioned they confirmed that theywere planning dacoity at petrolpump in front of TRUBA collegelate in the night when the areaget deserted but were nabbedwhile they were planningdacoity.

After the preliminary inves-tigation the police have regis-tered a case under sections 399

and 402 of the IPC and sections25 and 27 of the Arms Act.

The crime record of the five

would be investigated. Theaccused have been booked byHanumanganj, Chhola Mandir,

Bagh Sewania, Gandhi Nagar,Aishbagh, Kotwali, GautamNagar, Jehangirabad police.

��)�*',�+��+-��.��) ��*�� *�+

�� '�� '�� !�� ' *��

.�� )�� "� ��!�� !�� !� �� '�$�� !�� !

#�� #��!� ��*��5 � ��$ �� 3 ��! � 3�* ��'�� "��3��#�� '� ��*##�� 8 �� !�� ' *��

�� +;A�48

Nishatpura police hasnabbed a vehicle-lifter

from Rasuli and recovered fourtwo-wheelers worth Rs1.8 lakhfrom his possession onMonday.

According to the police,acting on a tip off, a youth wasdetained and when he wasquestioned, he confessed thathis is involved in stealing twowheelers and had stolen 8 twowheelers.

In the initial investigationthe nabbed accused was iden-tified as Umesh Dubey (23) ofRasuli Karond. The police haverecovered eight vehicles fromhis possession which werestolen from different areas ofthe city.

Out of the eight vehiclestwo have been stolen fromBairagarh and six have beenstolen from Nishatpura policestation area.

Accused was trying to sellthe vehicle but was not able to

find and convince customer topurchase vehicle and before hecould sell the vehicle he wasnabbed by the police.

The accomplices in thecrime are yet to be determinedwhile friends and family mem-bers would be questioned in theinvestigation which could helpin obtaining more details ofearlier crimes and involvementin other crimes.

Police said that the seclud-ed places were used to park thestolen bike and which were tobe sold later. During the inves-tigation police have not foundany criminal record of themiscreant and told that searchfor the crime record would bedone in the further investiga-tion.

The details of recoveredvehicles would be provided tothe respect police stations. Thepolice have started search forother accomplices who havehelped the accused in stealingand disposing the vehicles.

+�� "��9��%��

�� +;A�48

A20-year-old youth wasnabbed from

Hoshangabad on Sunday forsexually assaulting his 16-year-old relative girl in Khajuri area.The accused had sexuallyassaulted the victim on March7 at her house when she wasalone.

Police said that the accusedSatish Vishwakarma hails fromPipariya Hoshangabad and rel-ative of victim girl.

On March 7, the accusedSatish visited victim’s house forproviding wedding card ofmarriage and finding the girlalone, he raped the victim andlater offered her of marriagewhich the victim accepted andwent to Pipariya Hoshangabadbut later her brother broughther back to Bhopal and lodgeda complaint against Satish.Based on the complaint after

the preliminary investigationthe police registered a case ofsexual assault and section ofPOCSO were also imposed.The accused was nabbed fromPipariya Hoshangabad.

During the investigation itwas found that few days beforethe incident family members ofaccused have proposed of mar-riage of accused with the vic-tim but as victim was parentsrefused to the proposal.

The accused do not haveany crime record and otherdetails are been searched saidpolice.

Meanwhile, Habibganjpolice have booked a city basedyouth for captivating and sex-ually assaulting a 22-year-oldIndore based girl at AreraColony on February 23.

:;9'� ��

(An Autonomous Organization under the Department of Higher Education,Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India)

Public NoticeDate: 11.03.2019

Sub: JEE (Main) 2019- Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) CategoryCandidates.As per the OM No. 20013/01/2018-BC-II dated January 17, 2019 issuedby the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the OM No. 12-4/2019-U1 dated 17.01.2019 as well as the Letters No 35-2/2019-T.S.I dated21.01.2019, 01.02.2019, 04.02.2019 and 15.02.2019 of MHRD Departmentof Higher Education regarding implementation of reservation forEconomically Weaker Sections (EWSs) for admission in CentralEducational Institutions, it is necessary to identify the candidatesbelonging to EWS category from amongst the candidates of JEE(Main)January and JEE(Main) April 2019.

The Candidates of JEE (Main) January, 2019 as well as April 2019Examination(s), who come under EWS category as per the Certificate issuedby the Competent Authority, may mention such category in the OnlineApplication Form available at www.jeemain.nic.in between March 11-15,2019.The EWS Category Certificate is not to be uploaded in the JEE (Main)Portal. However, the same will be required at the time of filling up of theapplication for JEE (Advanced).

This is for the information and appropriate action by all concernedcandidates.

davp/21354/11/0007/1819 JEE Unit, NTA

� ��1�� '�(��) '�(��**+�,-*.

�� 2;4�-��4);

The voting on the lone seat ofunion territory of

Chandigarh will be held onMay 19.

The actor-politician KirronKher of the BJP is the sittingMP from Chandigarh.

This time, the bigwigs fromthe Congress and BJP are eye-ing to contest from the lone LokSabha seat of Chandigarh,which is the joint capital ofneighboring states of Punjaband Haryana

Some of the big nameseyeing to contest from theChandigarh parliamentary seatincludes sitting MP KirronKher, BJP Chandigarh presi-dent Sanjay Tandon, formerRailway Minister and ex-cityMP Pawan Kumar Bansal, ex-city MP Satya Pal Jain, formerUnion Minister Manish Tewari,Punjab Minister Navjot SinghSidhu’s wife and former MLANavjot Kaur Sidhu among oth-ers.

As per the electoral rollfinally published on January 28,2019, the total electors ofChandigarh parliamentary con-stituency are 6,19,249 and theservice electors are 355.

In 2014 Lok Sabha polls,actor turned politician, BJP’sKirron Kher had trouncedCongress’ Pawan KumarBansal, breaking his winningspree maintained in the previ-

ous three parliamentary polls inChandigarh.

Fighting her maiden elec-tion, the city’s first woman MP,Kher was polled over 1.91 lakhvotes (42.20 percentage voteshare) and had registered a vic-tory with a margin of more than69000 votes from her main rivalCongress’ Bansal, who got121270 (26.84 percent voteshare) votes in his favor.

“With the announcementof the election programme byElection Commission, themodel code of conduct hascome into force,” said an officialspokesman.

Anil Garg, PCS has beenappointed as the nodal officerfor enforcement of model codeof conduct.

597 polling stations havebeen setup in the constituency,out of which 212 polling stationfalls under sensitive categories.As per the directions of ElectionCommission of India, the web-casting will be done in all thepolling stations in the currentelections, the spokesman said.

Various types of teams i.e.video surveillance teams, videoviewing teams, static surveil-lance team, & flying squadteams, accounting teams havebeen appointed and have start-ed working from the day ofannouncement of general elec-tions to Lok Sabha-2019, hesaid.

Nine flying squads and

nine static surveillance teamshave been appointed for thethree sub divisions ofChandigarh and shall be oper-ational 24x7. These teams willbe headed by the executivemagistrate and shall ensureenforcement of model code ofconduct, the spokesman said.

A district call centre hasbeen set up with 1950 toll freenumber in which any residentcan make a call and get theupdated information regardingtheir votes and on election.1950 will be operational 24x7for the facility of electors andcitizens, he said.

He further said that a con-trol room of the returning offi-cer has been set up at first floor,conference room, DC office,Sector 17 here. This controlroom shall function as thenodal point for resolution of allcomplaints and shall coordinatebetween various teamsinvolved.

The spokesman said thatthe new C-Vigil app has beenlaunched by the ElectionCommission of India in whichany resident can lodge the casesrelating to violation of modelcode of conduct.

On receiving the complaint,the flying squad shall reach atthe place of incident within 15minutes and report back with-in 30 minutes to the officer con-cerned. In this app, the com-

plainant has to capture theimage or videograph of the inci-dent so that the action can beinitiated within 100 minutes.The nodal officer for expendi-ture monitoring has also beenappointed to check the day today account of the contestingcandidates. An expendituremonitoring cell has also beencreated, the spokesman added.

�� 2;4�-��4);

The elections to10 Lok Sabhaseats in Haryana will be

held in a single phase on May12.

The fate of the politicalparties is set to be decided bymore than 1.74 crore voters inthe state.

This time, Haryana will bewitnessing a multi-corneredelectoral battle with rulingBharatiya Janta Party, Congress,Indian National Lok Dal(INLD), Jannayak Janta Party(JJP), Aam Aadmi Party(AAP), Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) and Bahujan SamajParty (BSP)- LoktantraSuraksha Party (LSP) combinein the fray.

Among the 10 Lok Sabhaseats in the state, the ruling BJPhad won seven seats, INLD hadtwo and Congress had won oneseat in 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Haryana Chief ElectoralOfficer Rajiv Ranjan on Sundaysaid that poll in Haryana willtake place in the sixth phase onMay 12 and counting will bedone on May 23.

He said that as per finallypublished electoral roll, thereare 1,74,48,293 crore electors inthe state out of which males are93,97,153 and females are80,51,140.

At present, 19,425 pollingstations are there in the state

out of which 5,494 falls inurban and 13,931 in ruralareas. Auxiliary polling stationwill be set up in case numberof electors cross the allowedlimit at a polling station.

Electoral Photo ID Cards(EPICs) are issued to 100 percent electors, coverage of photoelectors is 100 per cent, he said.

He said that with theannouncement of elections onMarch 10, the model code ofconduct has come into forcewith immediate effect.Instructions regarding the strictcompliance of the model codeof conduct have been issued tothe administrative secretaries ofall the departments, deputycommissioners and politicalparties.

Ranjan further said thatVoter Verifiable Paper Audit

Trail (VVPAT) system will beused in all 10 parliamentaryconstituencies. VVPAT dur-ing last assembly elections heldin the year of 2014 were usedin 13-Thanesar (Kurukshetra),21-Karnal, 25-Panipat, 31-Sonipat, 62-Rohtak and 77-Gurgaon in Haryana.

The instructions have beenissued to all the returning offi-cers/district election officers inthe state for launching anawareness campaign for themedia, political parties andpublic regarding the use ofEVM in the general elections toLok Sabha. Two stage ran-domization of EVMs will bedone as per ECI directions, i.e.first in the presence of repre-sentatives of recognized polit-ical parties and second in thepresence of observers, candi-

dates or their election agents,he said.

About law and order situ-ation during polls, Ranjan saidthat in order to maintain thelaw and order and to ensurefree and fair elections, arrange-ment of security will be madein accordance with ElectionCommission of India’s direc-tions. Further, the electioncommission of India wouldappoint expenditure observersand general observers to mon-

itor the activity of expenditure,election, poll and model codeof conduct.

Videography of all criticalevents including nomination,scrutiny, allotment of symbols,preparation of EVMs and theirstorage would be ensured bythe returning officers. Pollingparties will be formed throughrandomization as per ElectionCommission ‘s guidelines, hesaid.

The chief electoral officer,

Haryana also made an appealto the citizens and all politicalparties to cooperate with theElection Department for thepeaceful and smooth conductof elections in the state.

He further exhorted theelectors in the state to cast theirvotes fearlessly and withoutbeing influenced by consider-ations of religion, race, caste,community, language or anyinducement.

�� 2;4�-��4);

Welcoming the ElectionCommission directive

against use of pictures relatingto defence personnel for elec-tion propaganda or cam-paigning, Punjab ChiefMinister Capt AmarinderSingh on Sunday called for anend to politicisation of thearmed forces for political gains.

“Earning brownie pointsthrough politicisation of forcesis as wrong as using pho-tographs of defence personnelto take political mileage,” saidthe Chief Minister.

The Election Commissionhad on Saturday issued anadvisory to all national andstate political parties of thecountry, asking them to refrainfrom display of photographs ofdefence personnel or pho-tographs of functions involv-ing defence personnel inadvertisements, or otherwiseas part of their election pro-paganda or campaigning.

“It is good that the EC hadtaken note of the shamefulpractice of using such pho-tographs for electoral gains,especially in the wake of therecent IAF air strikes acrossthe LoC,” said Capt

Amarinder, urging the politi-cal parties to desist also fromany attempt to politicise theforces.

The Armed Forces areabove all petty considerationssuch as caste, religion or polit-ical affiliations and need to bekept so if India is to remain anindependent sovereign power,said the Chief Minister.

He said that any politicalinterference in the functioningof the forces would be highlydetrimental to the securityand the larger interest of thenation and its people.

“Political control of theArmed Forces could have dev-astating effects on a countryand its future, as much asinterference by the forcescould have on its polity,” saidthe Chief Minister, warningthe Indian political partiesnot to make the mistake whichsome other nations had doneto their peril.

�� ;��84

The voting for four LokSabha seats in Himachal

Pradesh will be held on May 19.The four parliamentary

seats in Himachal are Shimla,Kangra, Hamirpur and Mandi.

Himachal Pradesh has

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)government led by ChiefMinister Jai Ram Thakur.

The BJP had made historyin Himachal by winning allfour Lok Sabha seats in the2014 Lok Sabha elections forthe first time. The BJP is againcomfortably placed for a repeatafter winning assembly elec-tions in the state.

In 2014 polls, BJP’s RamSwaroop Sharma had wonfrom Mandi, former ChiefMinister Shanta Kumar fromKangra, Anurag Thakur fromHamirpur and VirenderKashyap from Shimla.

-��.��

Out of 10 Lok Sabha seats,two seats including Sirsa

and Ambala are reserved con-stituencies in Haryana.

Rohtak, which was theepicentre of the 2016 violentJat agitation, is considered astronghold of former ChiefMinister Bhupinder SinghHooda. During Lok Sabhapolls 2014, Congress hadmanaged to retain its Rohtakseat, with Deepender SinghHooda being the onlyCongress candidate recordingvictory during the polls in2014.

Two seats of Hissar andSirsa were won by INLD’sDushyant Chautala andCharanjit Singh respectively.

BJP’s candidate Rattan

Lal Kataria had won inAmbala, Rajkumar Saini inKurukshetra, Ashwini KumarChopra in Karnal, RameshChander in Sonepat,Dharmveer in Bhiwani-Mahendragarh, Rao InderjitSingh in Gurugram andKrishan Pal Gurjar inFaridabad.

The BJP had contestedthe 2014 Lok Sabha polls inalliance with Haryana JanhitCongress (HJC) of formerCM Bhajan Lal’s son KuldeepBishnoi. HJC has now mergedwith the Congress.

The BJP, which wonseven of the 10 Lok Sabhaseats, had managed to get avote share of 34.7 per cent ascompared to 17.21 per cent in

2009 when it failed to win anyseat.

The Congress, on theother hand, lost eight of thenine seats it had won in 2009and saw its vote share declin-ing to 22.9 per cent as com-pared to 41.77 per cent in2009. The INLD, which wontwo seats, increased its voteshare to 24.4 per cent from15.78 per cent in 2009.

The Aam Aadmi Party,which unsuccessfully con-tested all the 10 seats for thefirst time, got a vote share of4.2 per cent while the BSPwhich failed to win any seatalso saw a decline in its voteshare to 4.6 per cent from 4.98per cent in 2009.

%1$9�� ; ��

(��,!-�� .!�/�� .,0.��12!��,��.�,�� ! ��!3��.

2��# �%��'��

5��98�� ;��(�� $7

$2�� !��3�� !��&�� 41��&��

��

��,� /!� !� �!.��,!��!(�� /��!,�!��!��!� !4�+5

07/��A88��,4,�A��;453�+33��3,=��,;32A��,�,=3�2C��A=,�A!�:;�2;�%$%��A88��,4,�A�

!488��=�-3)��3��,�53�24,3�A)�3� �4��3)�,;3-�)32,�A��A!�3832,�A��2A��A��A!��-�4��,;3

:3+24�,��:�88�+3�-A�3��488�,;3��A88��,4,�A��,;3�2=))3�,�3832,�A��

�� +;A�48

Two plays ‘Vyang Kriti’ and‘Kisson Wala Musafir’

marked the conclusion of 13thRang Triveni Theatre Festival.Both the plays were stagedhere on Sunday at ShaheedBhavan Auditorium.

Presented by Nav NrityaTheatre Group, Bhopal, theplay was a collage of four shortstories by Harishankar Parsaiand was directed by TarunDutt Pandey. Beginning upwith the story ‘Shav Yatra katauliya’ the play was followed bystory ‘Madhyam Vargiya Kutta’,‘Veh Kya Tha’ and concludedwith ‘Baatuni.’

The first story ‘Shav Yatraka tauliya’ made the audienceslaugh their hearts out. It is a

story about a person whosomehow got a short-cut toheaven. He is told that if hewould be a part of 100 funer-als he would defiantly go toheaven after death. Followingthe tip with a pure heart heused to go to funerals as if heis attending a party. The nextstory ‘Madhyam Vargiya kutta’narrates the tale of a happy-go-lucky person who gets blend upwith everyone, but does notcome out of the boundaries hemade around himself.

Another short story ‘VehKya tha’ is about a middleclass man whose first priorityis to fulfill his needs no matterwhat. He lives in his own smallworld and does not care aboutwhat’s going on in his sur-roundings. The last story

‘Baatuni’ tells about a personwho talks unnecessarily with-out caring about other per-son.The theatrical presenta-tion had another enthrallingaspect, as it had only twoartists on stage playing thestories alternatively. YogeshMathe and Santosh were thenarrators and played the char-acter too.

The audiences were spell-bounded with the solo perfor-mance of the artists. The artistson the stage maintained tocaptivate the attention of theaudiences as they burst outlaughing on every event.

Another play MusafirKissonwala directed by VijitSingh was about a story of a girlwho fights for her dreams inmale dominated society.

/ '��0& �*�1-/&��(�� 1�� 2��+��$*��0" �.��"��* ��*

�� +;A�48

A45-year-old man died afterhis bike was hit by a speed-

ing vehicle at Kurana trisectionunder Parwalia police stationlate in the night on Saturday.

Police said that an injuredman was rushed to a nearbyhospital where he was declareddead. The deceased was iden-tified as Himmat Singh Meenaand was on his way to home inMubarakpur village afterattending a marriage.

He was hit by an uniden-tified vehicle at around 1 in the

night. The details of the vehi-cle remained unknown as thevehicle escaped the spot afterhitting Himmat’s vehicle. Thedeceased used to run cateringservices.

After the preliminary inves-tigation the body was sent for thepost mortem. The police haveregistered a case under section304-A of the IPC and havestarted further investigation.Drunk driving cannot be ruledout in this connection.

The CCTV installed in thenearby areas would be searchedfor investigation, said police.

Meanwhile a dozen youthswere found smoking at Hookahlounge operated illegally nearMinal Lodge in Shahpura late inthe night on Saturday.

Police said that several com-plaints were made by the localsregarding lounge operated inthe area and based on the com-plaint raid was conducted late inthe night and youths alongwith the owner was foundsmoking.

The nabbed youths wereidentified as Ameen, Sameen,Santosh, Shyam, Yash, Gautam,Ankesh, Janak and Sudheer.

�<9'� �9��

�� !%�� 3�#*��$�� '�-,��4� �� F�� .�111�� 01��"� �� , #�� )�� G��F�(�� #�� "��2� �� ),��G��!�(�� %0�� 2�� +� ��-��, # �� 01�(�� #�� &�� &�� #�� (��&�� $1�� H�� &��2+-,��!�(�� %0��%1$D�� 01��&�� #� �+��&� (��&�� #�� (��&�� $1�� H��

�� 9�� -:�� 4 ��(�� A��+ ��& ��2� ��IA+2J��$9��%/�� ,�� (��* � �� "��2�� A+2 �� 8�� (� ��4��"� � �� (�� &��(�� 3 �� >��2�� &�� G�� A+2��$9��%/�� ,��2�� $1�� &� �� &�� (��

.5�$$'.�*

��&��&��=�+4�

With the two major politicalformations — BJP-Shiv

Sena alliance and Opposition“Mahaghatbandhan” — havingmore or less formalised seat-sharing arrangements betweenthem, the stage is now set for abattle royale between the rulingsaffron alliance and Congress-NCP combine-led jointOpposition in the Lok Sabha

polls to be held in four phasesbetween April 11 and 29, 2019.

Unlike in the past, both themajor political formations hadbegun their preparations forthe Lok Sabha polls very early.While the BJP and Shiv Seastruck seat-sharing 25:23 deal onFebruary 18, the Congress andNCP have formalised 50:50seat-sharing arrangementbetween them and are current-ly in the process of cobbling tie-

ups with smaller constituents.Having decided on the

number of seats to be contestedby their parties, MaharashtraChief Minister DevendraFadnavis and Shiv Sena presi-dent Uddhav Thackeray are inthe midst of resolving issues overthe choice of a few seats onwhich both the BJP and ShivSena have staked claim. “We willsort out the issues in the next fewdays and come out respective

candidates’ list soon,” a seniorSena leader said.

It remains to be seen if theBJP-Shiv Sena combine willaccommodate smaller con-stituents like the RamdasAthawale-led RPI (Athawale),Mahadev Jankar-led RashtriyaSamaj Paksha and VinayakMete-led Shiv Sangram whichhave collectively demandedthree seats.

As against the 22 seats it had

contested in the 2014 Lok Sabhapolls which it had contested inalliance with the BJP, the ShivSena will contest 23 seats. Inessence, the BJP has given upone seat, by agreeing to contest25 seats instead of 26 seats it hadfought in the previous polls. Thetwo parties had put up a spec-tacular performance in the 2014Lok Sabha polls by together win-ning 40 seats (BJP-22 and Sena-18 seats) out of total 48 seats.

�6#��$3��6��47

34��%5� 36��!4

Kolkata: Availability of forceswas the most crucial reason indeciding the seven-phase LokSabha elections in West Bengal,Chief Electoral Officer ArizAftab said on Sunday.

Besides, there were "otherissues", Aftab said without elab-orating it.

The country will go for LokSabha election in seven phasesbetween April 11 and May 19,and West Bengal will have itsshare of polls in each of thoseseven days.

Counting of votes will beheld on May 23.

The opposition parties ofthe state claimed that the seven-phase polls reflects the "deteri-orating" law and order situationunder the Trinamool Congress

rule, while the ruling partyalleged that Centre has "misled"the Election Commission aboutthe situation in the state.

Polls will be held for twoseats on April 11, three onApril 18, five on April 23, eighton April 29 seven on May 6,eight on May 12, and nine onMay 19.

Aftab said while pollingwill be held in Coochbeharand Alipurduar in the firstphase, and Jalpaiguri, Darjeelingand Raiganj in the second.

The third phase polls willwitness voting in Balurghat,Malda North, Malda South,Jangipur and Murshidabad.

There will be higher num-ber of constituencies in thenext four phase polls.

For the fourth phase,polling will be held inBaharampur, Krishnanagar,Ranaghat, Bardhaman Purba,Bardhaman-Durgapur, Asansol,Bolpur and Birbhum.

The fifth phase will witnessvoting in Bongaon,Barrackpore, Howrah, Uluberia,Srirampore, Hooghly, Arambag.

For he sixth phase, it will beheld in Tamluk, Kanthi, Ghatal,Jhargram, Medinipur, Purulia,Bankura, Bishnupur.

The seventh and last phasepolls on May 19 will be held inKolkata and two neighbouringdistricts. The seats areDumdum, Jadavpur, KolkataDakshin, Kolkata Uttar, Barasat,Basirhat, Jaynagar, Mathurapurand Diamond Harbour. PTI

(% �� )��'��"�� =9�� "� '�#�>

�� '�(��) '�(��**+�,-*. � ��8

�� ;4K�4+4-

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday sent across

a strong message to terroristforces targeting India, sayingthe country cannot keep suf-fering forever and that hisGovernment has taken some"strong decisions" against suchelements.

"For many decades, thecountry and numerous familieshave suffered the wounds andpain given by terrorism,Naxalism and insurgency.What happened in Pulwamaand Uri was heartbreaking.We cannot bear this pain tilleternity. Enough is enough,"the Prime Minister said whileaddressing CISF personnel atits base. The paramilitary forceon Sunday celebrated the 50thyear of its raising.

This is the first time Modiattended the event of any of thefive Central Armed PoliceForces (CAPF) since he tookcharge in 2014. Raised in 1969,the Central Industrial SecurityForce has about 1.56 lakh per-sonnel in its ranks at present.

The PM said that followingdastardly acts of terrorist vio-lence, his government has

taken some strong decisions, inan apparent reference to theIAF strike on terror campsafter the Pulwama attack. Hesaid the government has adopt-ed "a new policy" to act againstterrorism and that it was itsresponsibility to live up to theexpectations of the families ofthe personnel killed in the line

of duty. The PM lauded the valour

and dedication of CISF menand women who protect "vitalassets" of the country in theface of a "hostile neighbourwhich does not have the capac-ity to fight a war."

Modi also hit out at theabuse of "VIP culture", saying

it was wrong on part of suchpeople to throw their weightaround, get angry and humil-iate security personnel, a majorbrunt of which is faced by theCISF. "I'd say the biggest prob-lem while carrying out yourduty is people like me, VIPs..The VIP culture at times is thebiggest threat to security," he

said. "When you frisk, some

people get annoyed and evensay 'I will see you' and you haveto tell them that it is your dutywhich has to be done," the PMadded. Therefore, he contin-ued, "I would dare tell suchpeople to be disciplined andcooperate with the securitypersonnel in carrying out theirtask." CISF gets a number ofcomplaints from legislators andothers categories of VIPs alleg-ing high-handedness by theirstaff at various airports.

The PM said it was his"emotional feeling" that secu-rity personnel donning the'khaki' have not got the recog-nition and respect they deserve.

The PM asked the CISF tocreate a "monitor and study inrealtime global trends andtechniques of terrorism" sothat a better preparedness isensured against. He also direct-ed the force to install 'digitalmuseums' or electronic walls atairports so that people get toknow about CISF's history,role and its expectations fromthe citizens. "You are not onlystanding at the gate, you arecontributing to the country'sgrowth," Modi told the CISFpersonnel.

*��$ �� #�!�?�<;��/ �� '"��.� @� ) ��!�� '� *&�

%&�� $�� 4��+� � ��*��(�� (��"�� #��(��4��$� �� *��(��& ��A��(��%1$9� �� F�A��I��AJ �;��& �� A��4��%1$> �*��(�� $7D."( ��4��:��+�� ,��4��2��2 (�� #�� -�� +�� * ��#��&��& ��

;� �� <��!�� (��6�� &�� (�� &�� &�� H��&��&��&�� H��6�� L�� )��2�� ,��F�� "� �� (��+� �� *��

� �� &��9��A�� :��F�� 4��8 &�� H-� ��)��:��%$�2�� B�4��& ��)��3G� ��H �,��(6��& �� & �� &�� (��&�� #�� I-� J�- * �+ �� 2� �� 4��8 &�� & �� M��&�� & �� (��&�� G� ��&�� &��

�� &�� %�� 4�4-;4�� -��"( ��A��&�� (��&��&�� (�� (�� &��2�� H2� ��2��(� ��H��&� �� + � �� !��4�4-;4�� H�� & �� & ��&� �� (�� &� �� H

.5�36'�

�� 3:�-38;��

As the Election Commissionon Sunday declared a

seven-phase general electionstarting April 11, political par-ties welcomed the much-await-ed announcement with the rul-ing alliance making a pitch forits re-election while its rivalexpressing confidence ofunseating it.

Prime Minister NarendraModi sought people's "bless-ings" for the NDA in the LokSabha polls, saying hisGovernment has made possiblewhat was earlier deemedimpossible, but Opposition par-ties said voters will throw it outof power for "wasting" its his-toric mandate and practising

"all talk no work".Seeking people's support

for the BJP, its president AmitShah said the ModiGovernment has taken bolddecisions for their welfare in itsfirst term and will ensure India'sgiant leap to make everyone"happy and prosperous" in itssecond.

The BJP-led NationalDemocratic AllianceGovernment has achieved "phe-nomenal results" in variousspheres of governance duringthis term, he said, citing anumber of its welfare initiatives.

The Congress, however, hitout at the Government sayingit will e best remembered for"wasting" its historic mandateand that all its promises

remained "unfulfilled".At a Press conference after

the announcement of the pollschedule, Congress leader K CVenugopal said people willchange the Modi Governmentthat believes in all talk and nowork.

All its promises haveremained unfulfilled, he saidasserting that it will be defeat-ed when votes are counted onMay 23. Senior Congress leaderAhmed Patel claimed theupcoming elections will heralda new era ending five years of"chaotic, despotic and destruc-tive" dispensation and the coun-try will return to the path of"sobriety, integrity and inclusiv-ity".

BSP supremo Mayawati

termed the government as"anti-poor and pro-capitalist"and which disturbed peace,caused unrest & anger amongmasses.

Modi in his tweets drew acomparison of his government'sperformance with the preced-ing Congress-led UPA govern-ment, asserting that the last fiveyears have shown what was ear-lier deemed impossible hasnow become possible.

The 2019 polls are about aspirit of confidence and posi-tivity with which India is ful-filling the aspirations of itspeople, he said.

In 2014 people compre-hensively rejected the UPA asthere was unprecedented angerover its "corruption, nepotism

and policy paralysis", he said,adding that India's self-confi-dence was at an all-time lowand people wanted to rid thenation of such "decay and pes-simism".

"Guided by 'Sabka Saath,Sabka Vikas, NDA seeks yourblessings again. We spent thelast five years fulfilling basicnecessities that were left unful-filled for 70 long years. Now,time has come to build on thatand create a strong, prosperous& secure India," he said.

CPI(M) general secretarySitaram Yechury said theannouncement of polls willend the unfair use of officialresources by the ModiGovernment as the model codeof conduct has come into force.

BJP ally and Lok JanshaktiParty president Ram VilasPaswan expressed confidencethat the NDA will win over 350of the 543 Lok Sabha seats.

The choice before people iswhether to elect a strong gov-ernment or a helplessGovernment, he said, express-ing confidence that Modi willbe Prime Minister for anotherterm. The NDA will sweep thepolls in Bihar, which sends 40MPs to the Lok Sabha, headded.

Samajwadi Party presidentAkhilesh Yadav predicted aloss for the NDA, saying thepoll announcement is also anannouncement of a "big change"in interest of people and thecountry

�� 3:�-38;�

Congress president RahulGandhi on Sunday asked

Prime Minister Narendra Modito tell the families of the 40CRPF jawans killed inPulwama as to who releasedMasood Azhar, whose Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsi-bility for the terror attack.Taking to Twitter, he allegedthat it was the present NationalSecurity Adviser who went toKandahar to hand over the"murderer" Azhar.

Azhar, along with someother terrorists, was released bythe Indian government inDecember 1999 in lieu of therelease of over 150 hostages ofthe IC-814 Indian Airlinesflight that was hijacked toKandahar.

"PM Modi please tell thefamilies of our 40 CRPFShaheeds, who released theirmurderer, Masood Azhar? Alsotell them that your currentNSA was the deal maker, whowent to Kandahar to hand themurderer back to Pakistan,"Rahul Gandhi tweeted. At least40 CRPF jawans were killed inthe terror attack in Jammuand Kashmir's Pulwama dis-trict on February 14 for whichJeM has claimed responsibili-ty.

Senior Congress leader

Ahmed Patel said BJP is walk-ing down a dangerous path by"using the military" to concealits own "failures" and assertedthat the EC's circular prevent-ing the use of armed forces inelection campaign was muchneeded.

The Election Commission(EC) on Saturday asked polit-ical parties to "desist from dis-playing photographs of defencepersonnel" against the back-drop of a picture showing ahoarding with images of IndianAir Force Wing CommanderAbhinandan Varthaman as wellas leaders of the BJP.

"The EC's circular on pre-venting the use of of armedforces in election campaignwas much needed. This needsto be implemented in letter &spirit. Let's keep security forcesout of politics," Patel tweeted."By using the military to con-ceal its own failures the BJP iswalking down a dangerouspath," he said.

In a fresh instructionissued to all political parties,the EC referred to itsDecember 2013 letter in whichit had "called upon all politi-cal parties to advise their can-didates and leaders to desistfrom displaying photographsof defence personnel or pho-tographs of functions involv-ing defence personnel inadvertisements".

�� 3:�-38;�

As the Election Commission(EC) announced the 2019

Lok Sabha poll schedule, theModel Code of Conduct cameinto force with immediate effecton Sunday evening. Amongother things, the Model Code ofConduct bars the Governmentfrom announcing any policymove that may impact voters'decision.

Opposition parties havequestioned the delay inannouncing the poll dates, withsenior Congress leader AhmedPatel asking the EC whether itwas waiting for the PrimeMinister's "official" travel pro-gramme "to conclude".

According to EC, the MCCdeals with eight provisions - gen-eral conduct, meetings, proces-sions, polling day, pollingbooths, observers, party inpower, and election manifestos.

Under General conduct,while political parties can criti-cise the other candidates basedon policies and programmes andtheir work record, they are notallowed to use caste and com-munal sentiments to lure voters.They cannot bribe or intimidatevoters and most importantly,they cannot criticise them based

on unverified reports. For meet-ings, it is mandatory for thepolitical parties to inform thelocal police about their ralliesand public meetings and providethem time to make adequatesecurity arrangements.

Carrying or burning effigiesof the opponents is not allowed.It needs to be ensured that incase two rival parties plan a roadshow in the same area, then theirroutes must not clash. Duringthe polling day, all those work-ers who are working for theirparties in the polling boothmust wear a badge with partyname and symbol.

In the polling booths, apartfrom voters, only those indi-viduals with a permit from theEC will be allowed to enterpolling booths. The politicalparty must not campaign forvotes within a distance of 100metres of the polling booth onthe day of voting. The rulingparty must not advertise at thecost of the public exchequer oruse official mass media for pub-licity on achievements. NoMember of Parliament or min-ister should combine their offi-cial visit with campaigning orparty work.

Ministers and other author-ities must not announce any

financial grants, or promise anyconstruction of roads, provisionof drinking water, and so on.Other parties must be allowedto use public spaces, and it mustnot be monopolised by those inpower.

�� 3:�-38;�

Fifty-six of the 112 “inspiring” personalities, who were select-ed for this year’s Padma awards, will be conferred the presti-

gious honour on Monday by President Ram Nath Kovind at a spe-cial function in Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Among those receiving the Padma Vibhushan, PadmaBhushan and Padma Shri on Monday are late actor Kader Khan,Akali Dal leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and renowned journalistlate Kuldip Nayar. Khan (posthumous) will be honoured withPadma Shri, Dhindsa and Nayar (posthumous) will be honouredwith Padma Bhushan, a Home Ministry official said.

Noted theatre personality from Maharashtra BabasahebPurandare alias Balwant Moreshwar Purandare (PadmaVibhushan), Bihar leader Hukumdev Narayan Yadav (PadmaBhushan), former CEO of multinational techno giant Cisco sys-tems John Chambers, renowned dancer and filmmaker PrabhuDeva (Padma Shri) will also be honoured.

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister NarendraModi and other dignitaries are expected to attend the function.The Padma awards were announced on the eve of Republic Dayand the remaining awardees are likely to be conferred the hon-our at another function to be held on March 16.

This year's awardees are from across the nation, all segmentsof society and the government has gone beyond excellence alone,recognising larger impact and their selfless service, the official said.

�� 3:�-38;�

Congress on Sunday claimedthat fugitive diamantaire

Mehul Choksi has applied forregistration of a new company inthe United Kingdom and askedthe Narendra Modi Governmenthow serious were its efforts forhis extradition.

Congress spokespersonPawan Khera said Choksi hadapplied for the registration in theUK of his company with its prin-cipal address in Dubai (UAE)only three days ago and askedwhether the Modi governmentknew about it. He also releasedpurported documents in supportof his claim.

Claiming that the Modi dis-pensation was facing an immi-nent defeat in the coming par-liamentary election, the Congressleader said the government musttell the people if it knew aboutChoksi's move. "Also, if agencieslike CBI and EnforcementDirectorate(ED) made any effortto extradite him," he told a pressconference.

The Congress spokesper-son also alleged that a "powerfulperson", who benefited fromChoksi, was protecting him."Who has benefited from Choksi

and who is this important, pow-erful man who is saving him.Why the Modi governmentapplied for extradition of Choksifrom Antigua with which Indiahas no extradition treaty," hequestioned.

Choksi, along with hisnephew Nirav Modi, is accusedof defrauding the state-runPunjab National Bank of Rs13,000 crore. He fled the coun-try last year after the scam cameto light. He has subsequentlytaken up citizenship of Antiguaand Barbuda.

Khera also asked whether itwas a coincidence that NiravModi was seen moving aroundfreely in London, and one-twodays ago Choksi got his "shellcompany" registered there.Referring to the BJP's slogan of"Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas",Khera said the government'sreal intention was "Bhagodon KeSaath, Bhagodon Ka Vikas' (help-ing fugitives to prosper).

Nirav Modi, 48, was trackeddown to a three-bedroom flatoccupying half of a floor of thelandmark Centre Point towerblock of luxury apartments,where rent is estimated to bearound 17,000 pounds a month,'The Daily Telegraph' reported.

�� 3:�-38;�

Dialysis is a way of life formany patients suffering

with kidney ailments in thecountry. However, as the WorldKidney Day approaches onMarch 14, health experts saythat one can definitely helpslow the disease's progressionand treat its symptoms andcomplications by following acareful diet, exercise and hav-ing medicinal plants likePunarnava based formulations,as has also been found by var-ious studies.

For instance, a study pub-lished in World Journal ofPharmacy and PharmaceuticalsSciences noted that a womankidney patient was givenPunarnava based syrup for a

month. It was found that thecreatinine and urea level in herblood had gone down signifi-cantly to a healthy level. Notonly this, her hemoglobin levelhad also improved. Hence, thestudy concluded thatPunarnava-based medicinesnot only ensure kidney's healthbut also improves hemoglobinlevel. The study was conduct-ed in Banaras Hindu University(BHU).

Similarly, another studypublished in the IndoAmerican Journal ofPharmaceutical Research tootalked about the efficacy ofPunarnava based herbal for-mulations including lotusleaves, patharchur and othermajor herbs besides Punarnavawhen given to the subjects. Itwas found that the drug had

helped in maintaining histo-logical parameter of kidneys,apart from reducing high lev-els of uric acid and electrolytes.The study said that "the syrup(Neeri KFT) is a potentnephro-protective formulation,protecting kidneys fromnephrotoxins including oxida-tive damage induced by leadacetate."

Head of Department ofBHU's DravayagunavigyanVibhag KN Dwivedi assertedthat herbal formulations inNeeri KFT can be an alternateto dialysis to some extent. Infact, because of limited optionsin allopathy for kidney treat-ment, which is witnessingincreasing trend due to chang-ing lifestyles, now emphasis ison ayurveda drugs. Seniornephrologist from Sir Ganga

Ram Hospital Dr ManishMalik agreed: "Scope of treat-ment in allopathy is very less,is costly and not fully suc-cessful as well. Hence, bal-anced diet and ayurvedic cost-effective drugs like Neeri KFTbased on herbs like Punarnavacan help all those kidneypatients who are under theregular dialysis."

Sanchit Sharma, ExecutiveDirector of AimilPharmaceuticals, which isengaged in manufacturing andmarketing of Neeri KFT saidthat it has been developedafter intensive research.

In view of increasing casesof CKD and rising cost of outof pocket expenditure of thepatients on dialysis, the gov-ernment has initiated nationaldialysis programme in PPP

mode in district hospitalsacross the States.

As per Indian RenalFoundation, in the private sec-tor haemodialysis with 12 ses-sions every month costsaround Rs 12,000 to Rs 15,000while peritoneal dialysis costsaround Rs 18,000 to Rs 20,000monthly. Kidney transplantscan cost Rs 4 lakhs to Rs 6 lakh,depending on the hospital.Annually about 2.2 lakh newpatients of CKD get added inIndia resulting in additionaldemand for 3.4 Crore dialysisevery year.

Doctors warn that in thenext two decades, apart fromheart ailments and brainstrokes, CKD will be the nextmajor ailment that wouldpotentially cause a lot of pre-mature deaths among adults.

��!�� !��!%6!(��3�� !-��!��.�� 7��8!��9�!,�!�4

�(��2�,��0�-!�0� �+�)*��7�*

��"�� -��'4�*�

��M�� & ��0>��

#�� #�� '��A5"�� .�%�

-��/��//��

�� 35��+ ��

�� (��9D��(��

�2��M��

�35��&�� #��(��

� D9 .�� %1$9

� 711�� A��$0�� $D"$7� ��

��(�� HA��F�� .D�.%0N

�,��(�� $>�//�.D>

�55�4,�� N4�� $/ 9�� 55�4,&��(��

�� (��&��(�� N

� 2�� (�� (�� 232��4�� # ��(��N

�5��8� ��M�� &��(�� 3��2�� N

�� (�� N

�4�� &��G��"�� N

� 2 �� N

�,��&�� &-��32� ��4��(��5��&��+� ��!� ��&��5��

+�� (�� 5��(��N

�,�� #�� $1�.0�7%D�� #�� 7�%D�111�� %1$9

� 3�� G��&��4�!��& �� N

� 2 �� &�� G��(�� &� �� ,�� N

� 4�� &��(��"��

��#�9�(�.:��.5��

4��(��:��?�� &�� & �� ( �� & �� (�� &�� (�� ;�� "( ��F�� (�� (�� ,��& ��+ � ;��=��I+;=J

�� (��4�� ?�� )�� (�� ( ��( �� 6��(�(�� &��(6�� & ��

��&��!;�� "��

This writer saw a glimpse or twoof demonetisation way back inearly 1946 as a nine-year-old.We had moved to Calcutta(now Kolkata) less than two

years before that. One evening, my fathercame home and promptly showed mymother two large currency notes with aportrait of King George VI, the like ofwhich the writer had never seen before.Each was worth a thousand rupees. Myfather explained how he was offered fivesuch notes at �600 each only and hedeclined, thinking it was i l legal.Eventually, his office colleague thrust twoof them into his jacket’s pocket. Hebrought that home. The next day, he wasmeant to go to the bank which would givehim new �1,000 notes in exchange. Myfather went on to explain that duringWorld War II, which had ended inAugust 1945, many a trader had profi-teered by selling war materials forAmerican as well as British troops, whohad been deployed on the Burma (nowMyanmar) front. The suppliers mademoney but did not always pay taxes. TheBritish Indian Government, therefore,decided to demonetise the thousandrupee note. Since then, this writer has notbeen unfamiliar with the process.

The year 1946 is too long ago but in1978/79, too, the Janata PartyGovernment of Morarji Desai haddemonetised high-value notes. But themeasure was so half-hearted that mostpeople cannot remember it. Even thiswriter cannot recollect the details. In con-trast, the Modi Government’s action hashad an enormous impact; though it tooktime for many people to comprehendwhat exactly were the implications. Butmost, who had stocks of untaxed cash,lost their money. Those, who could notfind a way out, deposited it in the bankon the fair assumption that they wouldsort it out with the Income Tax officer atthe time of assessment, with or withoutpenalty. A Kolkata person, who report-edly had �7,000 crore, could have donethe same unless his cash was gained notonly from an untaxed source but alsofrom a dubious earning like smuggling.

This writer discovered how unusual themove was on the evening when PrimeMinister Narendra Modi announced hisstep with regard to the demonetisation of�500 and �1,000 notes. The writer and oneof the most informed veteran journalistswere dining at a club when the announce-ment was made. But that gentleman need-ed to be explained the implications.

Those, who had bundles and bundlesof unaccounted notes of the two denom-inations, lost heavily that night. One per-son was rumoured to have become poor-er by �7,000 crore in one stroke. Manysmall holders managed to change theirnotes at a discount of between 20 and 50

per cent with the help of bro-kers, who had connectionswith willing bank managers.This was one of the severalmismanagements reportedagainst the Government.Another was the delay atmany banks of new supply ofcurrency. The rest was the lossof money by the middle classto upper class holders. Somefelt gravely upset and sinnedagainst for being suddenlydeprived of their hard earnedmoney. They were right,except that they overlookedthat they had not paid incometax on the money they lost.

The first reaction thiswriter heard of was fromthree of his acquaintances —a teacher, a technocrat and abusinessman. Each one ofthem stood to lose up to �50lakh, which were lying in thehouse or a safe deposit lock-er. They all swore against theGovernment. On the otherhand, the average lower mid-dle class and poorer peoplewere vicariously happy thatthe rich people have been hitfor their ill-gotten wealth.Until then, their impressionwas that only the poor getpunished while the rich getaway with the help of theirinfluence and wealth.

The real stunning effect

was that a great deal of infor-mal (euphemism for black)money ceased to be legal ten-der. Most of it went into thebanks. In the process for a fewdays to a couple of months,parts of over 85 per cent of thecurrency notes, �500 and�1,000, became non-legal ten-der. Immediately, there was aliquidity crunch also because ofthe delay in supply of newnotes. Except for �2,000 notes,others were not printed for rea-sons of secrecy. How much ofthe secrecy was for a dramaticeffect and how much was toprevent transfer of cash by thebig holders were a matter ofconjecture. But one thing wascertain that demonetisationwas a stinging message againstblack money as never before inIndia. It was also a warning thatmore steps were coming. Sureenough the Goods and ServicesTax (GST) was on the anvil.

For those not emotional-ly involved, could understandthat a digital, or just a mod-ern economy could not existon two parallel money streets— one white and bankableand the other black and notbankable. One which propos-es to be taxable and the otherwhich evades tax from start tofinish. The latter would con-tinually undercut the former

because it would always becheaper. Those opposed todemonetisation keep callingthe latter informal instead ofblack. Even well-known econ-omists and scholars talk inthese terms — possibly theyare being considerate to agreat portion of yesteryeartraders in our country.

This writer’s personalexperience is interesting. Mycompany manufactures tooth-brushes, whose sales shot upby over 50 per cent on themorrow of demonetisationand more so after the intro-duction of GST. The explana-tion was that his competitionin the cheaper varieties wastaking no notice of taxation;with the changes, several ofthe competitors stopped man-ufacturing. There is no doubtthat the so-called informalsector has been stunned.Liquidity had shrunk whilenew currency notes werebeing printed. Once theycame into full flow, there wasno such problem. The onlydifference was that blackmoney has to be spent; where-as money in the bank is usu-ally spent with care and cau-tion. The reported reducedconsumer demand is due tothe comparative reduction insuperfluous spending.

There are several othercountries, which have demon-etised their currency, includingthe UK and Australia, so hasPakistan. Zimbabwe had donesomething unique — it abol-ished its own currency andreplaced it with the US dollar.Yet other countries are NorthKorea, Myanmar, Nigeria andGhana. By and large, they havenot benefitted, not because ofdemonetisation per se, but dueto the lack of any improvementin financial management.Whenever the Governmentfaced a shortage of funds, itsbanks resorted to printing notesto meet its expenditure.

Regrettably, demonetisa-tion in India has been lookedat politically rather than withthe help of economic logic.Second, it has not alwaysbeen seen as preparatory tothe GST, which makes tradingwith black money almostimpossible. Moreover, pay-ing GST means also exposingone’s turnover to the incometax authorities. For those,who were used to tax-freetrading, these measures aredoubly painful. Its impact onthe general elections remainsto be seen.

(The writer is a well-known columnist and anauthor)��(

��

��)�� (��)*�� %��#��+ %#,��-��.��/00��(�� 121�34��5��(��67�� (

�� 801/��!��.��+�!�.,�� (��-9&�:�1;<��=�� >�� %#�� 3?��#�� *��-��(�� @��(�� -��"��.��(�� 7��&�� A�� (� ��

#��&�� %�� B��(��(�� #�� #��&�� &�� !��-9&��1�1��8�?��@*(.-��#�� &�� (��

#�� 7��

��>��*�� &��$��&�� 7��!��%��(��(��

C��@��D��$��*��$�� +*$,��E��7��%��&��!�@�� B��@��*��$�� +@*$,��F� ��(��$��&�� 5��6��F�� >��*��F��@*$��*$�� 7$�9��(F�� 7�� D��$��F��@��

��7��;0��D��$�� $�� %��-�� *$��@*$��(�� @G$&��(��>��*��.��*$��@*$��7�� (��@G$��(�� (��#��E�� @��7��$�� &��F��(�� @G$�.��*$��@*$�� (��7��&�� "��>�� (��

.��7��(��*$(@*$��.��(��(��@G$�� (��@G$��G�+D,&� ��C��@��*��*��&�D��#�� F��#�@G$��88��@��8014��12��*�� *��@��@G$��/0��*�� D$��7��*$(@*$��@G$��&��*��E��*�� *$��#��7��&��#�7��8014�� $��@G$�.��7��(��B��@�� @��

��.�, ��)��

��//��"-0+"-��

123��/��/��4��&��5�� 0��&��&��&

��

Sir — The terror attack on secu-rity forces in Pulwama has high-lighted the need to revamp thesecurity network at defenceinstallations like the InformationTechnology parks. Given themounting tensions betweenIndia and Pakistan, acts of ter-rorism are unlikely to end any-time soon. It is, therefore, imper-ative for India as well as theGovernment to put in placeappropriate security measures atvital and sensitive places.

Bengaluru is regarded asIndia’s Silicon Valley. Exportsfrom the city have been estimat-ed at bi l l ions of dollars. Besides, it a lso generatesemployment for a large numberof IT professionals.

Hence, it is essential that toeffectively meet the terrorthreats, physical safety audit ofall important economic anddefense installations — notablythe mega InformationTechnology parks, shoppingmalls, railways stations and air-ports — must be carried out andcorrective measures be taken.

The Central IndustrialSecurity Force (CISF) with its

vast experience has an importantrole to play. The IT parks canturn out to be soft targets. Thesystem of entry to these areasmust be tightened with bettercoordination among the securi-ty agencies. This can ensure aneffective and swift response ifdisaster strikes. India should beprepared to tackle any warfare.

Ramesh G Jethwani Bengaluru

��

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Facts over perception” (March 8).The Government’s stand in theSupreme Court on the Rafale deal,on the ground that the documentson which it is based were “stolen”,is untenable. So long as the authen-ticity of the papers is not challenged,how did the documents come into

the hands of the Press is irrelevantin a vast majority of cases. Let’s alsoremember that today’s Governmentwas yesterday’s Opposition andthat in its earlier avatar, it took thethen Government to task on thebasis of numerous Press reportsbased on “leaked” documents. TheAgustaWestland case, for example,saw a blizzard of leaked papers.

P ArihanthSecunderabad

��

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Facts over perception” (March 8).The whistle-blower, who made the‘secret documents’ on Rafale avail-able, must have done it after beingthoroughly convinced that it was amurky deal and he/she must havebeen disappointed over the way theGovernment has been trying tobury hard facts. In my opinion, theone who has taken such a grave riskto bring out the truth and exposethe Government for its suspiciousinvolvement in the deal, must be atrue nationalist.

Tharcius S FernandoChennai

��

Sir — Buying water has nowbecome common. But are we star-ing at a situation where buyingclean air may soon be the norm?We need to work quickly before thenext generation laments the lega-cy of an unliveable environment.

ShashiVia email

� � � 4 � � � " 8 � � 3 3 � � �

---�� (�� O� ��P Q,��- ��P �� O� ��O

�� '�(��) '�(��**+�,-*.

�<

��

�� 3"�� (6'�:.�

,�� (�� & ��(�� , �,�� &��8��

�� &�� 2�� 2��

-'=,�..��<4��,� ��

,�� (��(��"�� "(�� 6��R�) (��

��,�>/-,<4� ��6��

�� * ��"��

-,:.�-??�'��,<*?��-��

� 6 � 5 : $ . � �

� � � � � ' � � 6 � �� 3 � � � : . � 6 '

��

,�� 4�� (�� I� ��7J �,��+ (�� 6�� (��(�� (��&��6��&�� +��

�� 2�� &�� ?�� (� ��* �� ) �� "� �� "�� &�� 01�� "��(�� ,�� #�� (�� (�� "��"��&�� (�� (��

)�� (��(�� #��&��(��"� �� ,��4�� "(� �� 3#��

�� &�� "�� 4�� 2�� "�� B�� "�� F�� "�� +�� M�� <� �� <�(�� "�� &"�� 6��

��'�:�/�� /��

!��''��) ��4��//�,./-:�-'��,@=?��7>-?�

6 �� )� �

�� ) �� (�� 6��+?�F

�'�-'�?�'�./�,<=� �+� ��

"�/�� /��

;+�� &<�� +�� %� ��7��

�&��&��&��&�� 7A�%� ��

��%&�

��%� �� ;��%� ��<�&�� &�� ;��<�� 7A�� %� �� &�%��

��#��6�5��'��#�!

As we all know, 2019 is the year of gen-eral elections in India. And the students’union of any university in India plays a

vital role in raising issues of local and nation-al importance, lending a futuristic perspectiveof the nation’s goals. At the Aligarh MuslimUniversity (AMU), established in 1877 by sec-ularist and nationalist leader Sir Syed AhmadKhan, students have always raised their voic-es on several occasions in the past in an effi-cient manner. However, it has been observedin the recent past that AMU has become a softtarget and a centre for polarisation for right-wing groups. One incident after another clear-ly indicates the intention of a group of studentsbelonging to a political outfit to create nuisancein the peaceful campus. Whether it is the mat-ter of serving food in the dining hall, or tak-ing the “tiranga yatra” without permission orunauthorised entry of a TV reporter to thecampus to cover an event organised by AMUStudents’ Union, all these events seem to be pre-planned to disturb the peaceful academicatmosphere of the campus. It clearly shows thata group of students following a certain politi-cal ideology tries to distract attention fromunemployment and corruption within theGovernment before the 2019 general election.

There is no denying that the AMU sinceits inception has succeeded in maintaining acordial atmosphere for students and faculty ofall religious affiliations to live and worktogether. The Government of India must seeto it that this delicate balance is not disturbedby communalists of either kind. Likewise, oureducationists should consider the cause of theAMU as their own cause and seek to preserveits autonomy as well as its residential charac-ter. In his less than two years of tenure, ViceChancellor Prof Tariq Mansoor has taken manyinitiatives, be it smart classrooms or develop-ing infrastructure in the campus, maintainingthe academic standard of the university orreviving the tehzeeb among students and fac-ulty to make this great seat of learning unique.

Professor Mansoor believes that “talkingwith students and their representatives on a reg-ular basis and making them feel comfortableand relaxed is very important in resolving anycrisis.” Students always want the administra-tion to reach out to them and get their atten-tion. Prof Mansoor behaves like a fatherly fig-ure and keeps the communication lines openwith students so as to make them feel connect-ed, which helps in resolving any mattersmoothly.

Referring to a recent incident, ShashiBhushan Roy, who is an alumnus of AMU andwas in the campus recently for a corporatemeet, says, “I have been here for around 15years and received all my education from thisgreat seat of learning. I was never discriminat-ed on the basis of my religion or caste. In fact,I want my son to get admission in AMU. Hehas already applied for admission this year inthe university, which would be his first choice,if selected.”

In an appeal to the students’ community,the Vice Chancellor said, “Our glorious insti-tution, the Aligarh Muslim University, has been

passing through challenging times. Ourresilience and spirit has been and remains ourbiggest strength. During the recent past, myteam and I have been making the best possi-ble efforts to resolve the situation, which wehave successfully overcome.” He further said:“I will continue to see that innocent studentsare honourably exonerated, and no injustice isdone to any student because of false accusation.”This appeal boosted the morale of students andthey felt safer and connected with the admin-istration.

It is a matter of great satisfaction that AMUis ranked among top universities at the nation-al as well as the global level. It has successful-ly reached the top academic rankings in theworld. Academic standards are improving, thecurriculum is being upgraded and enriched ona regular basis in every department so as tomake sure the education and training provid-ed is relevant to the need of the times. At thesame time, the AMU management is trying topreserve the Aligarh tehzeeb by making surethat the faculty-student relations are cordial,respectful and beneficial to each other. Withthe help of alumni and well-wishers of theAMU, the management is also striving to makethe university serve its basic purpose, which isto provide good and relevant education that willenable graduating students to get easily placedin the global market.

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan dedicated his life forthe Hindu-Muslim unity in the country andworked all his life for the educational uplift ofthe community and to strengthen a pluralis-tic society of a modern India. He stressed onmaking education a medium to transform peo-ple into good human beings. AMU representsthe secular Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb and the

AMU community is committed to preservingthis identity of this great seat of learning.

The AMU management has to carry thelegacy of the great reformer Sir Syed. And thecurrent Vice Chancellor, with his over three-decade association with the university, has totake the lead in guiding the top brass in ensur-ing excellence for the famed varsity. A goodbeginning is seemingly visible. In the last twoyears, factionalism and groupism on the cam-pus have decreased. The need of the hour is tomaintain this momentum.

For the AMU management as also the ViceChancellor, their biggest challenge would bemaintaining law and order situation in the insti-tution. Understanding the dynamics of thecampus would come handy for them. Also, itis high time that the AMU community world-wide supports the Vice-Chancellor in makingit one of the best universities of the country.It now has around 28,000 students, 2,000 fac-ulty members and 6,000 non-teaching mem-bers. Non-Muslims among these employeeshave a very viable presence. AMU is one of themost prominent residential universities in thesubcontinent and receives students from allwalks of life.

It has an eminent history, which is intri-cately linked with the freedom struggle and theformulation of the Indian education system.People across communities have contributedto making it what it is today. It is necessary thatthe minority character of the AMU must beprotected in the national interest as it was estab-lished and administered by the minority com-munity which enjoys protection under Article30 of the Constitution.

(The writer is a well-known linguist, authorand columnist)

��#�6��/�� /�� 7�#��

��!�� =* . ' � � � 6 � � - 5

�� 2,!��1 ,!� !��,1� !��!1 ��.,

9:$##� :9�'

,�� C��& �� (��(��& �� (��

��'��& ��

4; >�'�.

*��H��*��&��5#��6�� *��

�� (��B��(@��I��5�� (��*��6

�� $��J�J@�� 80 �� I��;8( ��(��

@��&��8014��K��C�� 5��6� �� +��30��30�� ,�

#��@�� +��,�� (�� (��@��(��

�� $�� F�� B� �� (��+��*��,�� @��L#��(��(�� * ��8011�� 5�� 6*��*��)$��

E��&��(�� (��(��(�� M*�� (�� *��@��M��9��#��(��*��(�� @��

#� �� #� ��>��A�� 1<?8��@��80 ��@�� 30 �� *��L#��(�� "��

��*�� &��

.�*�� *��("��*��*�� 8011�� 8014�

#��&��*�� #� �� (�� &��

#��*�� @�� (��#�� (��@��+��,��( ��

#�� 1<<0��.��( �� (�� $�� (��(�� #�* ��E�� (��(��*�� "��&��

�� %��$��L#�A�� +��9��,,

The Indian diaspora’s long crymay turn bitter if the new draftEmigration Management Bill

2019 is passed. The need for a com-prehensive legislation, revamping theexisting Emigration Act of 1983, waswell understood by all parties andstakeholders in the field of migration.Even though the process for a newmigration legislation gathered steamin 2012, the Government nevershowed the needed political will toenact it.

It was a pleasant surprise at thefag end of the present Government’stenure that a sudden “stakeholders’meeting” was called and a draft Billprepared and published. For theIndian diaspora, it is a welcome sign,

even though it looks like an appease-ment exercise, keeping the morethan three-crore strong Indian dias-pora in mind. The Emigration Act of1983 had many anomalies like notbeing migrant-friendly and was notrepresentative of the the multi-layeredimmigration problems and chal-lenges.

The Government’s approachtowards the restructuring andrevamping of the Emigration Act wascallous, which was evident in the hur-riedly-convened stakeholders’ meetand the draft Bill. In the Bill draftingprocess, the real migrants, their CSOs,or the State Government bodies likeNORKA and APNRT were neitherconsulted, nor their opinion sought.Going through the provisions of thedraft Bill, it looks headed to meet thesame fate as the 1983 Act even as it istreacherously disappointing.

The new draft does not addressthe welfare needs and the kaleidoscop-ic changes in the socio, political, eco-nomic, demographic and culturalrelationships in the countries of des-tination. The need of the hour is aComprehensive Migration

Management Act (CMMA), whichshould end the stark exploitation inthe migration cycles, mainly in therecruitment process, at work andreturn and re-integration of themigrants. The new Act should beinclusive to result in a win-win situ-ation for all the migration stakehold-ers. Further, the new CMMA shouldview migration in the developmentalperspective and an economic activi-ty for both India and the Countriesof Transit and Destination.

A Migration ManagementMinistry should be created at theCentre besides a MigrationManagement Authority in all States aswell as the Centre. The responsibili-ty of complete restructuring andrevamping of the recruitment, place-ment, work, return and re-integrationshould be vested with the StateGovernments and the institutions andauthorities constituted for this pur-pose through the ComprehensiveMigration Management Act. TheProtector of Emigration is a colonialinstitution and it should be abolishedand put into the restructuring process.

A Pravasi Commission with quasi

judicial authority should also be con-stituted at the Centre and in all theStates. For the inclusion of migrantsin the democratic and developmen-tal process and for governance, a bodywith legislative powers should be con-stituted under this Act both at theCentre and State levels. The legislationaspects of the migration governancecan be through a quasi legislative body,having specific rules and regulations.

It is appalling to note that theIndian Government has no databank on its migrant demography. Itshould be provisioned in the Bill forcompulsory data collection of Indiansgoing abroad for whatever reasons.Identity smart cards should be provid-ed to the migrants. It should addressboth permanent and contractualmigration and should be able to pro-tect and safeguard the interest of allmigrant workers.

The underlying ethos of theCMMA should be based on theprinciples of freedom, equality anddignity, as enshrined in theConstitution of India and the new Actshould ensure the same in the desti-nation countries.

Well-managed migration bringsdevelopment to both India and thecountries of destination. In this per-spective or guiding principle, the newcomprehensive migration Act shouldbe developed.

The very basic element of the newAct should focus on implementing allthe UN and International LabourOrganisation (ILO) conventions,treaties, multilateral commitmentsto migrants’ human and labour rights.Those not yet ratified should bedone, made binding and applicable tomigrants across the board.

The proposed legislation shouldhave the migration elements relatedto those of the SDG goals and shouldbe in the broader framework of the 23directive principles and objectives ofthe Global Compact on Migration.Regularisation and regular pathwaysfor human mobility across the plankshould be core to the drive for the newCMMA of India and should facilitatehuman mobility with human rightsand labour rights of the migrants.

There should also be strict pro-visions for the protection of migrantwomen. “They are not by nature vul-

nerable population” in need of rescuebut too often, find themselves in vul-nerable situations due to (migra-tion) policies, values and the denial ofrights. Hence, this new enactmentshould ensure without fail the rightsto migrant women and their children,as enshrined in the Constitution ofIndia, UN treaties and conventions.

There should not be deportationof children in any circumstances andthey should not be separated fromtheir families. Provisions should bemade to protect and respect citizensand organisations that help undocu-mented migrants in need. The newlaw should have a human touch.Provisions against commodificationof the migrants/trading of migrantsshould be incorporated.

A majority of the Indian migra-tion is Asia-centered and economical-ly on temporary contractual migra-tion. The interest of this segment ofmigrants should be well protected inthe upcoming Act. The CMMAshould address the need for ethicalrecruitment, decent jobs and labourmobility with the protection of thelabour rights of migrants. Recruitment

fees should be borne by the employ-er, not the migrant worker and anyfees collected from the migrant work-er should be treated as bonded labourand trafficking in humans.

Portability of salary, social secu-rity benefits, indemnities and pen-sion etc should be guaranteed to themigrant worker without any hin-drance, both from the destinationcountries and the employers. Forcedrepatriation and administrativedeportation should not be allowed.Their voluntary return should betailor-made and context specific,involving a process with true choic-es, including choosing the momentof return. To change the narrativeand perceptions on migration, themigrants’ voices need to be audible.

What the Indian migrant wantsis a CMMA that will protect and safe-guard them in the true sense. We canalways wait for a few months more forthis to become a reality since we havebeen waiting for the last 35 years.

(The writer is an NRI working onthe welfare of migration workers in theGulf sector)

-� ��/��+�� !��"�� #�! �� $��

�*�4 )!4 �*� #�:�?.�

�� '�(��) '�(��**+�,-*.

---��

,;3�=��53)��,C;4��4��3��3�,;��,A)C��:;�2;��,)�24,38C

8��*3-�:�,;�,;3!)33-A�

�,)=��83�4�-,;3�!A)�=84,�A�

A!�,;3��-�4�3-=24,�A�

�C�,3� ��3A�8342)A��488

2A��=��,�3�;453

2A�,)�+=,3-�,A�4*��,�:;4,�,��,A-4C ��,��3��3�,�48�,;4,

�,��A)�,C2;4)42,3)��=�,

+3��)A,32,3-

� ��@�� '�(��) '�(��**+�,-*.

Srinagar: Four civilians,including a woman, wereinjured in a ceasefire violationby Pakistani troops along theLine of Control in Jammu &Kashmir's Baramulla district onSunday, officials said.

Pakistani troops resorted tounprovoked firing towardsIndian posts and villages inKamalkote area of Uri in northKashmir, a police official said.

He said four civilians,including a woman, wereinjured in the firing.

The injured were admittedto a hospital, the official said.

An Army official con-firmed the ceasefire violationby Pakistani troops, but said theIndian Army has responded toPakistani firing in adequatemeasure. PTI

2�� ! )� ��5��!�� '� *&�

Chennai: Days after formalis-ing seat sharing with allies forthe Lok Sabha elections, DMKhas convened a meeting of itssenior office-bearers onMonday to fine tune its strate-gy for the polls.

Deliberations on bypollsto the 21 Assembly constituen-cies and the Lok Sabha electionsscheduled for April 18 would bethe agenda for the meeting, theparty said.

The meeting, to be held atthe party head quarters 'AnnaArivalayam,' here would see theparticipation of district secre-taries, MLAs, and MPs, a partyrelease here said.

Coming days after DMKchief M K Stalin's State widetour covering gram panchayatsand a recent public rally atVirudhunagar, the meeting onMarch 11 is expected to fine

tune the poll work and theparty's propaganda drive toreach out to the electorate.

DMK president M K Stalin,meanwhile, held interviews ofcandidates seeking party tick-ets for the Parliamentary elec-tions on Sunday here.

Party Rajya Sabha MPKanimozhi, (her tenure ends onJuly 24, 2019) eyeing Tuticorinconstituency is also one of theaspirants who attended theinterview during which seniorleaders Duraimurugan and T RBaalu were also present.

Winnability and trackrecord in party work were

among the factors that weretaken up for consideration.

On Saturday, Stalin heldinterviews for aspirants seekingto contest bypolls to 21Assembly constituencies.

Recently, the DMK com-pleted the seat sharing exercisewith its allies for the Lok Sabhaelections.

Setting aside 20 LS seg-ments for itself in Tamil Nadu,the Dravidian party allottednine seats to Congress in thestate and the lone constituencyin neighbouring Puducherry.

The CPI(M) and CPI,besides the VCK, have beengiven two seats each and oneseat each to the MDMK, IJK,IUML and the KMDK. TheMDMK has also been assuredof one nomination to the RajyaSabha, the election for which isexpected in June. PTI

��5�� 9�� '�� BB

Panaji: The Congress onSunday criticised the GoaGovernment's decision to grantanother six-month extension toall offshore casino vessels in theState to move out of the riverMandovi.

There has been a demandfrom a section of people to shiftcasinos from the Mandovi riverin Panaji, where they are cur-rently anchored.

Goa Congress spokesmanSunil Kawthankar toldreporters here that the resolu-tion granting extension to off-shore casinos was passed by theGovernment on Friday by cir-culating a note among stateCabinet members, withoutholding any discussion on sucha crucial issue.

He said senior BJP leaderManohar Parrikar, who is cur-rently the State Chief Minister,

led protests against the casinosvessels in 2012 ahead of theAssembly polls that year.

"The BJP came to power in2012 with an assurance that itwill move out casinos from theMandovi river," he said.

Kawthankar said the BJPwas yet to set up a GamingCommission and draft a casi-no policy, as announced earli-er.

He also accused the BJP-led State Government ofparalysing the mining andtourism industry, both key rev-enue earners for the coastalstate.

The Manohar Parrikar-ledGovernment earlier gave exten-sion by six months to the ves-sel-mounted casinos onSeptember 30, 2018, whichwas to expire on March 31 thisyear. PTI

��/��2��2��/��8��//��

Jaipur: Asserting that theCongress is "gaining momen-tum", Rajasthan Deputy ChiefMinister and State Congresspresident Sachin Pilot has exud-ed confidence that "UPA PlusPlus" will secure the mandate togovern in the coming LokSabha election.

He claimed the NDA isbecoming weaker and the BJP,having lost three states inassembly polls last year, had tocompromise to form coalitionsfor Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP lost power to theCongress in Madhya Pradesh,Chhattisgarh and Pilot's homestate, Rajasthan, in December.

"The Congress party isgaining momentum by aligningwith many more parties in var-ious states, therefore, the UPAPlus Plus will be a formidablealliance which will be defeatingNDA in the coming Lok Sabhaelection," Pilot told PTI.

Raising questions on theperformance of the Modi gov-ernment, Pilot, a former Unionminister, said it should make

itself answerable on its perfor-mance to people.

"The current ruling dis-pensation is not confidentenough of its performance.Therefore, Ram Mandir, otherreligious issues, cow vigilantismand love jihad were brought infrom time to time to divertattention from the main issues.

"Lack of job in economy.Corruption is there.Autonomous institutions wereweakened and attacked byModi government. The gov-ernment cannot hide behindother (religious) issues," hesaid.

In Rajasthan, the PCCpresident said the party is fullyprepared for the general elec-tion.

"Congress is very well pre-pared for the Lok Sabha elec-tion. Right after taking chargeof the Government in the state,we have started living up to thepromises we had made,whether it is unemploymentallowance or loan waiver," hesaid. PTI

Bahraich: The forest depart-ment is using drone cameras tocatch a leopard which has killedthree children and cattle in thepast one month in villagesclose to Katarniaghat WildlifeSanctuary, officials said.

Speaking to newsmen onSunday, Field Director ofDudhwa Katarniaghat TigerReserve Ramesh Pandey said,"In the past few days, there havebeen cases of children beingkilled in leopard attacks. Apartfrom this, death of cattle wasalso reported."

He said two drone camerashave been launched to spot theanimal, further two elephantsare being used for patrolling.

Villagers have been told tonot venture into the forest area

alone, especially after dark, hesaid. "All the attacks committedby the leopard are accidentalkillings. The man-eating naturecan be confirmed only if it is

proved that the leopard isattacking humans and eatingtheir flesh," said Pandey, whenasked whether the animal hadturned into a man-eater.

He said thermo-sensorimages are being examined to ascertain whether there are more than one attackingleopards. PTI

2��

0"� !�1.!�1.<-�!��!9�=,�,!(� ,��8!��,

Jammu: Union MinisterJitendra Singh on Sundayattacked the Congress and NCfor blaming the BJP for the ter-ror outfit JeM founder MasoodAzhar's release in 1999, sayingthe two parties "were part of thedecision and will face difficul-ty if they go into the past".

The minister also defendedthe National InvestigationAgency's summons to sepa-ratist leader Mirwaiz UmarFarooq, asking if being a reli-gious leader grants one immu-nity from law "to receive hawalafunds and encourage terrorism".

Singh accused Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi andNational Conference presidentFarooq Abdullah of sufferingfrom selective amnesia of his-tory.

"Rahul Gandhi is a victim ofselective learning of history,while Farooq Abdullah is a vic-tim of selective recall of histo-ry," he told reporters here,responding to a question on thetwo leaders' recent statementsblaming the BJP for the releaseof Jaish-e-Mohammad'sfounder Azhar in exchange ofthe passengers of the hijackedIndian airlines flight IC-814 inAfganistan.

"When the Kandahar inci-dent happened, there was ademand from the entire coun-try for securing the release of thehostages and the then A BVajpayee government held talkswith all opposition parties andmoved ahead after getting theirconsent," Singh said.

"Among the oppositionleaders, the first meeting tookplace with Rahul's mother(Sonia Gandhi). That means shewas then equally responsible,"added Singh, the minister ofstate in Prime Minister's Office.

As far as Abdullah's state-ment that the terrorists werereleased despite his oppositionis concerned, Singh said he hasforgotten that his party (NC)was part of the then NDA, ledby Vajpayee and therefore wasequally responsible for the deci-sion of the then government.

"Handling the hijackingincident was the responsibilityof the Ministry of ExternalAffairs and Abdullah's son(Omar Abdullah) was thenworking as the minister of state(in the External AffairsMinistry)," pointed out Singh.

"He (Omar) had no regret,leave aside resigning under theprotest over the decision," he

said.Singh said the BJP can go

back into the history since 1947."Let us start from 1947, the

first mistake was done by his(Rahul Gandhi's) great grand-father (Pandit Jawahar LalNehru) when he forced SheikhMohammad Abdullah on thepeople of Jammu and Kashmir,"Singh claimed.

"Rahul's grandmother(Indira Gandhi) committed thesecond mistake when shepicked up Sheikh Abdullahfrom isolation and installedhim as the J&K chief minister.Another mistake was donewhen she engineered a coup topull down the Farooq Abdullahgovernment and paved the wayfor Gul Shah (G M Shah) tobecome the chief minister," headded.

"The fourth mistake wasthe 1987 state elections whichwere rigged by Abdullah,paving the way for terrorism totake roots in the State and hisbehind-the-veil support andencouragement to Jammu &Kashmir Liberation Front(JKLF), one of whose leaders isYaseen Malik (who was recent-ly arrested under public safetyact)," Singh said. PTI

Thiruvananthapuram: TheSabarimala temple will open forthe annual temple festival for 10days, starting from March 11.

A release issued by theTravancore Devaswom Board(TDB), which administers theshrine, said that head priestKandararu Rajeevaru wouldpreside over the temple open-ing ceremony.

The festival will end onMarch 21.

The temple will also get anew gold-plated door for thesanctum sanctorum when thehill shrine opens for the festi-val tomorrow.

The existing door, whichdeveloped tiny cracks, would bereplaced with the new one.

The holy door, made ofquality teak wood, has beenplated with at least four kilo-grams of gold after engravingand embossing it with copper.

A group of Sabarimaladevotees, led by one UnniNamboothiri, met the expens-es of the new door as an offer-ing to the presiding deity, TDBpresident A Padmakumar hadsaid. PTI

3�,� ��*��(� �� *�.��

Jammu: Pakistani troops onSunday resorted to unpro-voked ceasefire violations tar-geting forward posts and vil-lages at four places along theLine of Control (LoC) inJammu & Kashmir's Poonchdistrict, officials said.

The firing was intense inthe Krishna Ghati sector,where the Pakistani troopsresorted to mortar shellingand firing by small arms fromaround 04.30 AM, which wasretaliated to befittingly by theIndian Army, a defencespokesman said.

He said the cross-bordershelling between the two sidescontinued till 07.30 AM. Therewas no report of any casualtyon the Indian side, he said.

Officials said firing andshelling by Pakistan were also

reported from the Balnoi andMankote (both in Mendharsector), besides from Shahpursector, all in Poonch district,for a brief period in the earlyhours of Sunday.

The firing was mild innature and lasted for a briefperiod without causing anyharm, they said.

On late Saturday as well,the Pakistan army had target-ed Indian positions InSunderbani sector of Rajouridistrict for several hours.

There has been a spurt in

ceasefire violations by Pakistanafter India's preemptive airstrike on a Jaish-e-Mohammedterror camp in Balakot onFebruary 26 following theFebruary 14 Pulwama terrorattack in which 40 CRPF per-sonnel were killed.

Four civilians, includingthree members of a family,were killed and several othersinjured as Pakistan targetedover 80 villages in more than100 incidents of ceasefire vio-lations along the LoC in thestate since then.

A�� #��"�$#��)� ��*�� (@� �?�� BCCC

��>� �� ,�! �,,�!�� ,�.,!�# ..��!��Chennai: Top film starRajinikanth on Sunday said hewould not contest the bypoll inthe Tamil Nadu Assembly, near-ly a month after declaring thathis target was only theAssembly election.

While bypolls are expectedto 21 Assembly constituenciesin the State, Rajinikanth, whenasked if he would fight thebypoll since he had declared theAssembly polls to be his onlytarget, tersely said, "No."

The actor is yet to launchhis political outfit, though onDecember 31, 2017, he hadannounced that his politicalentry was sure to fructify.

To questions like whichparty he would support (in thebypolls), Rajinikanth toldreporters at the airport here,"Sorry, I cannot say anythingnow."

Asked whether he hadmeant a national or a regionalparty when he had mentionedlast month that only that partyshould be supported whichwould resolve the "water prob-lem" of Tamil Nadu, he said,"Both."

On February 17,Rajinikanth had said "water isTamil Nadu's important prob-lem" and asked his fans andpeople to vote for a party whom

they thought would perma-nently resolve the issue by for-mulating and implementingprojects.

The jargon "water problem"is perceived as a reference towater scarcity in parts of thestate and the vexed Cauveryissue as well.

Rajinikanth had stronglypledged his support for inter-linking rivers on more than oneoccasion in the past.

The top actor had alsosaid last month that he wouldnot contest the upcoming LokSabha election. "Our target isonly the Assembly polls. I amnot supporting anyone," he had said and barred anyonefrom using his images or the f lag of the Rajini Makkal Mandram for politicalpurposes. PTI

9�� -�&/��+��

Srinagar: Most of the lead-ing dailies in the Kashmirvalley printed a blank frontpage on Sunday as a markof protest against the"unexplained denial" ofadvertisements to twonewspapers by the Jammu &Kashmir Government.

The Kashmir Editors'Guild (KEG) had claimed lastmonth that the StateGovernment had stopped giv-ing advertisements to twomajor local dailies — GreaterKashmir and Kashmir Reader.

"With utmost regret, theKashmir Editors' Guild wishesto inform that the Jammu andKashmir Government hasstopped State Governmentadvertisements to two majordaily newspapers — GreaterKashmir and Kashmir Reader,"it had said in a statement,adding that the decision wasneither conveyed formally norwas any reason detailed to therespective publications.

As a mark of protest, the

leading dailies here — bothEnglish and Urdu — printed ablank front page on Sunday.

The front pages of thesenewspapers only carried a mes-sage from the KEG — "Inprotest against the unexplaineddenial of Government adver-tisements to Greater Kashmirand Kashmir Reader."

A spokesperson of theKEG said the guild and theKashmir Editors' Forum hadon Saturday taken the decisionto print a blank front pageagainst the Government's move"to scuttle" the media inKashmir.

He added that the guildwould also hold a protest at thePress Club here on Sundayafternoon against theGovernment decision. PTI

5 �� )� �� ,�� ?��.�%�� :��

��2.��*��)�� *9��)��)�, ��

Kohima: Nagaland ChiefMinister Neiphiu Rio on Sundaylamented that the solution to thedecades-old Naga political issuecould not be found before theLok Sabha election.

"We were hoping againsthope that the solution willcome before the election," hesaid.

Rio was speaking on theoccasion of the completion ofone year of his People'sDemocratic Alliance (PDA)government of which the BJPis a part.

A new Government, whichcame to power in Nagalandunder Rio early last year, hadraised hopes of a solution to theNaga political problem.

Earlier on Sunday in Delhi,the Election Commissionannounced that the Lok Sabhaelection will be held from April11 to May 19.

The Government and theNaga people now do not knowwhat the negotiating parties are

thinking, Rio told reporterswithout elaborating it.

"If it (Naga political solu-tion) does not come...It will beproblem for our Naga societyto carry on," the Chief Ministersaid.

Even after the signing ofthe framework agreement withthe NSCN(IM) in 2015 and sixNaga nationalist politicalgroups joining the peace talksseparately, there has not beena breakthrough on the decades-old Naga problem.

The PDA, comprising 17Nationalist DemocraticProgress Party (NDPP) MLAs,12 BJP, 2 NPP and one JD(U)and an Independent, came topower after defeating the 15-year-old Naga People's FrontGovernment in the 2018assembly election.

Thanking the allies, Rio said, "We could not havemade it, unless we receivedfirm support from our alliancepartners." PTI

$ � ��%��)�� !��"�� /��

�� '�(��) '�(��**+�,-*. � ��7

��&��%��&�� ?4��=�

Mainstream Kashmiri lead-ers on Sunday reacted

strongly over the postponementof Assembly polls in the State.

Questioning ElectionCommission’s decision NationalConference Vice PresidentOmar Abdullah said,”First timesince 1996 Assembly elections inJ&K are not being held on time.Remember this the next timeyou are praising PM Modi forhis strong leadership,” he tweet-ed.

In another tweet Omar said,“In 2014 we had Lok Sabha elec-tions on time & Assembly elec-tions on schedule even after themost devastating floods. Showshow badly the BJP & earlier theBJP-PDP mishandled J&K,”Omar wrote on Twitter.

He also said that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hascreated a mess in Jammu &Kashmir.

“In a Balakote & Uri are notsymbols of PM Modi’s handlingof national security, J&K is andlook at the mess he has madethere. The abject surrender toanti-India forces is a cryingshame.” “With the amount ofinternational attention electionsin J&K attract I never thoughtPM Modi would be willing toconfess his failure on a globalstage but we all make mistakes& that was mine,” Omar tweet-ed. “What happened to @raj-nathsingh’s assurance to LokSabha & Rajya Sabha as well as

to the all party meeting recent-ly in Delhi that all forces wouldbe made available for simulta-neous polls?,” Omar also wroteon Twitter.

Former Chief Minister andPresident Peoples DemocraticParty (PDP) Mehbooba Muftialso opposed the decision takenby the Election Commission ofIndia (ECI) of not holdingassembly and parliament elec-tions simultaneously in Jammuand Kashmir.

In a statement, Mehboobasaid, “ postponement of assem-bly polls in Jammu and Kashmiris tantamount to denying basicrights of the people of the Stateto have a popular Government”.“It is very dangerous to keep thestate in the hands of unelectedrepresentatives of the centre. Itwill further complicate the prob-lems in the state and the decisiontaken by Election Commission

needs an immediate review,”Mehbooba said in a statement.

The PDP president addedthat this was not expected of theElection Commission of Indiaand the decision to hold LokSabha polls and at the same timedelay Assembly elections does-n’t make any sense. “It sows theseeds suspicion among the peo-ple about the designs of theGovernment of India and does-n’t convey a good message to thepeople of Jammu & Kashmirabout an independent institutionlike the Election Commission,”said Mehbooba.

She added that ECI’s deci-sions goes contrary to what theHome Minister has repeatedlysaid that GOI is ready to holdsimultaneous elections inJammu and Kashmir. Thischange in the schedule makesthe entire process highly suspi-cious, PDP president added.

CPI (M) leader MYTarigami in a statement said thatthis was done despite that almostall the political parties hadurged upon the ElectionCommission to hold both theelections simultaneously. Notholding assembly polls will sendwrong signals to people withinand outside the state.

“The Chief ElectionCommissioner during his press-er in Delhi repeatedly quotedrecent incidents of violence inKashmir as the reason for notholding Assembly polls,” saidTarigami. “If that is true, thenhow could be Lok Sabha polls beheld? Even the J&K Governorrecently said that PM Modicomplimented him for “suc-cessful” conduct of the civic elec-tions in Jammu and Kashmir.When these polls could be held,what is the logic for deferringAssembly polls?,” he said.

�� *��*��5:&��,�'��*��+

Aizawl: Over sevenlakh electors wouldbe eligible to voteon April 11 for elec-tion to the lone LokSabha seat inMizoram, the state’sChief ElectoralOfficer (CEO)Ashish Kundra saidon Sunday.

Of the 7,84,405eligible voters, 51per cent are women,Kundra said.

A d d r e s s i n gmedia persons in Aizawl afterthe Election Commission ofIndia announced the dates forthe seven-phase poll exerciseacross the country, Kundrasaid polling would be held in1,175 polling stations, of whichat least ten per cent would bemanned by all women pollingofficials and security personnel.

Noting that the state elec-tion department was fully pre-pared to conduct the elections,the CEO said that expenditurefor the coming polls would beat least 15 per cent less com-

pared to the State Assemblypolls held on November 28 last.

Deployment of centralarmed police force would alsobe “immensely reduced” dur-ing the elections, he said.

“Though we are yet toreceive specific instructions,arrangements would be madefor Bru voters in six Tripurarelief camps by setting up tem-porary polling stations at theMizoram-Tripura borderKanhmun village, as was donein the last State Assembly polls,”he said. PTI

Siwan (Bihar): A marriageinvitation card urging guests tovote for Prime MinisterNarendra Modi in the generalelections as a wedding gift hasbecome the talk of the town inBihar’s Siwan district.

Ashok Singh, a resident ofSiwan Kala village, printed themessage on the envelope of hisdaughter’s marriage invitationcard, sources said.

“To bless my daughter andin the interest of the country,

please castyour votesin favour ofP r i m eM i n i s t e rN a r e n d r aModi in theupcoming Lok Sabha polls,” themessage on the card read.

Asked about the reasonbehind his appeal, Singh said:“There is no other objectiveexcept for the nation’s interest.”

“People should vote in

favour of Modi ji because thereis no other leader better thanhim. He thinks about the coun-try while others think aboutthemselves,” added Singh, whohas been staying in Kuwait forthe last 15 years where heworks in a private company.

His son Ravindra Singh tooechoed similar sentiments.

“Narendra Modi is the onlyone who can take the countryforward and no other leadercan do that,” he said. PTI

Srinagar: The Jammu &Kashmir unit of the Congresson Sunday alleged thatAssembly elections in the Statewere deferred due to theCentre’s “mishandling” of thesituation.

The Election Commissionon Sunday announced that LokSabha polls in Jammu &Kashmir will not be held alongwith general elections.

“The Centre’s tall claimsregarding the situation in thestate stand exposed. The Centrehas itself certified that the sit-uation is out of control and notconducive for holding simulta-neous polls,” Pradesh CongressCommittee president G A Mirsaid in a statement.

Mir said it was a goldenchance for the Centre to holdAssembly elections to give anelected Government to the peo-ple, as all political partiesfavoured simultaneously elec-tions in the State.

“But, the Centre has onceagain failed to hold assemblyelections citing volatile situationas the reason which is indica-tive of utter failure of the Centreto respect the urges and aspi-

rations of the people,” he said.The PCC president recalled

that during the UPAGovernment’s tenure, electionswere conducted in 2014 despiteunfavourable conditions, butthe state recorded the “highestpoll percentage”.

“This time, elections havebeen deferred due to the mis-handling of the situation on thepart of the Centre,” Mir alleged.

Senior CPI(M) leader M YTarigami said deferment ofassembly polls will send outwrong signals to people with-in and outside the State.

He said the Chief ElectionCommissioner during hispresser in New Delhi repeatedlycited recent incidents of vio-lence in Kashmir as the reasonfor not holding assembly polls.

“If that is true, then howcould Lok Sabha polls be held?Even the J&K Governor recent-ly said that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi complimentedhim for ‘successful’ conduct ofcivic elections in Jammu &Kashmir. When these pollscould be held, what is the logicfor deferring assembly polls?”Tarigami questioned.

(��)�'�� #�� D5�� 4�#�� %� �� %�� +3��48=)=

The Election Commission ofIndia (EC) on Sunday has

announced the poll dates forKarnataka in two phases onApril 18 and 23 for the 28 con-stituencies for the next LokSabha. Even though the coali-tion Government led by JD(S)leader HD Kumaraswamy asChief Minister has become aplatform for Opposition unity,the congress wants to gain bythis alignment to beat the BJPsdominance in the State.Already the leaders of the boththe parties have started vigor-ous campaign touring acrossthe State.

Prime Minister NarendraModi, BJP chief Amit Shah,union Home Minister RajnathSingh and other national andstate level leaders are cam-paigning as part of the strate-gy has been working to retainthe dominance of the BJP inKarnataka However Congresswith some skirmish with JDstheir partner is also workingout strategy to end the domi-nance of BJP in Karnataka.Congress President RahulGandhi and other leaders havebeen campaigning in the Stateto consolidate the votes ofbackward classes and minori-ties to counter the high voltagecampaign by the BJP.

Karnataka with 28 seats iscrucial for both the parties.However for BJP after thealignment of Akilesh Yadavand Mayawati, Karnataka hasbecome more important to thesaffron party. An insider in theparty said the party is workingout an inclusive strategy tocounter both the Congressand the regional party JD(S)led by HD Devegowda. Manypredict that the alliancebetween JD(S) and theCongress might help consoli-date some of the vote share incentral and southern districtsin the State.

Since 2004 for Karnatakahas been the BJP’s forte in thelok sabha elections. In 2004BJP won 17 out of the 28 seatsand won in 18 constituencies in2009 Lok Sabha polls. In 2014,the BJP won 17 seats; theCongress won 9 while theJD(S) managed to win only 2constituencies. In 1999 was thelast election Congress bagged18 seats.

Even though there is a dis-content in saffron party toaccept Lingayat strongman BSYeddyurappa , the reality is theparty at this juncture cant’dump Yeddyurappa owing toLingayat consolidation. Eventhough Yeddyurappa is over 75,

BJP will go to elections in hisleadership waving of the partyrule of not giving tickets toleaders who have crossed 75.The defection of someCongress leaders to BJP and thethreat of operation lotus mighthelp BJP to either retain samenumber of seats or might losetwo to three seats is the pre-diction of the party insiders.

Congress and JD(S) leaderssay confidently that they mightcross 15 seats in old Mysuruarea and north Karnataka inKalaburgi, Bagalkot, Ballari,Chikkodi, Raichur and Bidar .If there is a triangular contestBJP leaders say with the Modiwave might win more seats.BJP is confidant of consolidat-ing its position in MumbaiKarnataka and urban areas tofight the JD(S) – Congresscombine.

Karnataka has been crucialfor both Rahul Gandhi andNarendra Modi. The euphoriaof elections in Karnataka hasalready churned lot of heat.This time experts feel it is alsogoing to be violent.

According to ElectionCommission of India Pollswill be held across the state intwo phases with 14 con-stituencies going to the polls onApril 18 and 14 constituencieson April 23. The counting ofballots for the ParliamentaryElection will take place onMay 23. 14 constituencies inthat go to the polls on April 18,the last date for filing nomina-tions is on March 26. The lastdate for scrutiny of nominationis March 27 and the last date forwithdrawal of nomination isMarch 29. For those 14 con-stituencies going to the polls onApril 23, the last date for filingnominations is April 4 and thelast day for withdrawal of nom-ination is April 8.

%��&��2;3��4�

The fate of EdappadyPalamiswamy-led Tamil

Nadu Government would beknown on May 23, the daywhen votes are counted.

The Election Commissionof India announced on Sundaythat the bypolls to the 21vacant Assembly constituenciesin the Tamil Nadu LegislativeAssembly would be held onApril 18 along with the electionto 39 Lok Sabha constituenciesfrom the State.

While 18 rebel AIADMKMLAs were disqualified by theSpeaker of the Assembly underthe provisions of the anti-defection law, two seats(Thiruparankundram andThiruvarur) fell vacant follow-ing the death of sitting mem-bers including former ChiefMinister M Karunanidhi. Alegislator belonging to theAIADMK lost the membershipof the House following hisconviction by a court of law ina riot case.

The present composition ofthe Tamil Nadu Assembly isprecarious and fragile which

has made the PalaniswamyGovernment a ‘sitting duck’.The House has an effectivestrength of 234. The rulingAIADMK has 115 memberswhile the Opposition DMK has88 MLAs. With the eight mem-bers of the Congress and onerepresentative of the MuslinLeague, the Opposition benchhas a total strength of 98(including TTV Dhinakaran ofthe AMMK) .

The AIADMK’s 115include 3 members who wereelected under the Two Leavessymbol of the party. But it is anopen secret that they wouldcross over to greener pasturesat the first available opportu-nity. Palaniswamy governmentshould have a minimum of118 members in the Houseafter the by-elections. But fora trouble-tree administration,the AIADMK should win atleast ten seats out of the 21 atstake, pointed out commenta-tors and analysts alike. “TheAIADMK had won 136 seats inthe 2016 assembly election. Ifthey win 20 seats in the by-election, they may be able tosail through the remainingperiod of the tenure without

troubles,” said G Satyamurty,veteran commentator andscribe. According toSatyamurthy, even if the partymanages to win four or fiveseats and touches the finishline, Dhinakaran and Stalinwould be breathing down thenecks of Palaniswamy.

Stalin is giving top priori-ty to the by-election from the21 constituencies. He wrote aletter to the party cadre all overTamil Nadu reminding themthat the DMK has been out ofpower for the last eight yearsand they have to pull up theirsocks to bring the party back tothe government.

DMK observers are of theview that Stalin was morebothered about the by-pollsthan the Lok Sabha election.“He could complete the seatsharing discussions with thealliance partners because hewas considerate to theirdemands and allocated 20seats for them to contest. Buthe was adamant that the DMKwould contest all the 21 by-elections which is furtherproof of his immediate agen-da, that is to pull down theAIADMK government,” said

Sam Rajappa, veteran com-mentator.

That Stalin is in full controlof the DMK became clear withthe side lining of T R Baalu andthe Maran brothers from majorresponsibilities. “Stalin deput-ed Kanimozhi for holding dis-cussions with the CongressHigh Command to clinch thedeal for the ensuing election. Itis almost sure that she would bethe face of the DMK in NewDelhi,” said Sam Rajappa.

The final composition ofthe AIADMK-led team is yetto be announced as the dis-cussions for an amicable set-tlement remained inconclu-sive even on Sunday.Premalatha Vijayakanth, trea-surer of the DMDK, belittledthe AIADMK asking what wasthe contribution of the 37 MPsof that party. This led to around of slanging matchbetween the DMDK and theAIADMK.

But the AIADMK made astrategic move on Friday byreinstating K C Palamisamy,former MP and minister whohad been expelled from theparty last year for criticising theAIADMK’s links with the BJP.

3��(:��&��#��;��

2A��)3��4�-?-I�J�834-3)��4C2A�!�-3�,8C�,;4,,;3C��;,�2)A��

$0��34,��A8-�C�=)=�4)34�4�-�A),;�*4)�4,4*4

��*484+=)��+4�48*A,��+4884)��2;�**A-��)4�2;=)

4�-�+�-4)

� ��(�(��5�.�%��)�� '�:�-��<"��#��

2��%��) �� '� ��#��#�� .�� :;BC��*� ' �� 3�0(�� ) �1��!�� '� *&�

�� *A8*4,4

After much quibbling, theCPI(M) and Congress

seemed to be reaching anelectoral alliance. For the firsttime, it has happened indecades that the Marxists arebeing forced to leave as manyas 17 seats to a non-Leftalliance partner.

According to sources, theCPI(M) has agreed to conteston 25 seats, leaving 17 for theCongress. The deal wasclinched after the Congressgave up its claim on Raiganj atraditional bastion of lateUnion Minister PRDasmunshi and his wifeDeepa Dasmunshi — but cur-rently held CPI(M) MP MdSalim who in 2014 won theseat by a wafer thin margin oflittle less than 2,000 votes.

The second seat that theCongress had to shed to theLeft is Murshidabad from

where CPI(M)’s sitting MPBadruddoza Khan will con-test. He won the seat by 25,000votes in 2014. As a quid proquo the Left is likely to backDasmunshi in the next year’sRajya Sabha elections apartfrom leaving a whopping 17seats to the tri-colour party.

Settlement of Raiganj andMurshidabad apart, a minorissue still remains between thetwo groups as the Left wantsto go only for a seat-sharingsystem with the Congresswhile the latter wants a full-fledged alliance till 2021Assembly elections.

On whether it is going tobe an alliance or a seat adjust-ment CPI(M) State secretarySuryakanto Mishra said “thereis no question of alliance. Wewill go for a seat adjustmentbecause the issue today is notanything else but to keep atwo communal and fascistforces like BJP and TrinamoolCongress out.”

On the other handPradesh Congress presidentSomen Mitra says, “The vot-ers will want to know aboutthe nature of the partnershipand we will have to give thema substantial reason. Theywill not take any hide-and-seek. They will definitely wantto see a full-fledged alliancefor future. If there is noalliance then we will go italone.”

On whether the two sidescan contest on their own thepolitical analyst IK Lahirisays: “On organizational termsthe Left is a poor shadow of aglorious past which meansthat on its own it will not beable to win a single seat inBengal for two reasons. Firstlythe Left organizers at boothlevel have either joined theTrinamool Congress, or beensitting idle or joined the BJPfor its political clout in Delhiand secondly they have a clearleadership crisis to match the

charisma of Narendra Modi orMamata Banerjee.” Thoughthe CPI(M) still has substan-tial support base it is doubt-ful whether they will be ableto convert it into votes, headds.

The Congress is almostsure to get the Purulia seatdespite the fact that secondlargest Left partner ForwardBloc has a sizeable presence inthe district. The party willfield Nepal Mahato from thisseat, insiders say. Bloc hasalready objected to an alliancewith the Congress even threat-ening to go it alone in someseats if need be.

The problem this time with the CPI(M) thelargest Front partner it willhave to leave seats for itspartners from the given 25seats agreed upon in theagreement. In such a case theCPI and Bloc are likely to getthree seats each whereas theRSP may get one.

��-"��

�� 4�2�� %�� !�� Mumbai: At least three Lok

Sabha seats in Maharashtra,including the one on whichNCP chief Sharad Pawar willcontest despite his earlier deci-sion of withdrawing from elec-toral politics, will be keenlywatched in the upcoming generalpolls.

Besides Madha Lok Sabhaseat from where 78-year-oldPawar is likely to contest, theother constituencies such asNagpur and Solapur will also bein the limelight.

Pawar, currently a RajyaSabha member, had earlier

announced he will not contestthe Lok Sabha polls, but recent-ly changed his decision.

He said some of his partycolleagues were insisting he con-test the Lok Sabha poll fromSolapur’s Madha seat, currentlyrepresented by party leaderVijaysinh Mohite Patil.

According to a politicalobserver, prime ministerialambitions have always beenassociated with Pawar, but theveteran politician earlier said hewas not eyeing the top post.

“Pawar may still win fromMadha, but it may not be a cake-

walk,” the observer said.The former Union Minister,

whose party is in talks with theCongress for seat-sharing, earli-er said there will be state-specificalliances and not a national tie-up against the BJP and he will tryto bring all like-minded partieson one platform to take on thesaffron outfit. Besides, formerUnion minister SushilkumarShinde, who faced defeat for thefirst time in the 2014 Lok Sabhapoll, was also being persuaded bythe Congress leadership to con-test from Solapur again, a partysource said.

Another source said thatNagpur, from where UnionTransport and Shipping MinisterNitin Gadkari is likely to contest,will also be keenly watched bypolitical observers.

Former BJP MP Nana Patoleis likely to contest on Congress’ticket against Gadkari.

Patole, who quit the BJP lastyear, had defeated NCP stalwartPraful Patel from Bhandara-Gondia seat in 2014.

State Congress chief AshokChavan, the sitting MP fromNanded, may also contest theLok Sabha poll, though his sup-

porters want him to contest theAssembly election due in the sec-ond-half of 2019, a source said.

Maharashtra, which hasaround eight crore voters, sends48 MPs to the Lok Sabha, thesecond highest after UttarPradesh which has 80 seats.

The BJP, riding on the ‘Modiwave’, surged ahead in the statein 2014 by winning 23 seatswhile its ally Shiv Sena bagged18. The Congress, which ruledthe state in alliance with the NCPfor 15 years, managed to win justtwo seats while Pawar’s partybagged four. PTI

* � �-��9��'�� '��)�� '

�� '�(��) '�(��**+�,-*. ��!�4�

�� 3:�-38;�

India has invited Saudi Arabiato invest in its strategic oil

storage even as it looks to res-urrect a $44 billion (�3.08 lakhcrore) refinery project withthe world’s largest oil produc-er after the BJP-ruledMaharashtra governmentdenied land at the initial site.

Saudi Oil Minister KhalidAl Falih, on his second visit toIndia in three weeks, discussedwith its Indian counterpartDharmendra Pradhan the 60million tonne (MT) a yearmega oil refinery cum petro-

chemical complex, whose ini-tial allocated land in coastalRatnagiri district ofMaharashtra was denotifiedby the State Government ear-lier this month, as part of elec-toral understanding betweenthe ruling BJP and Shiv Sena.“The (two) Ministers reviewedvarious Saudi investment pro-posals in the Indian oil and gassector, including the urgentsteps to be taken to expedite theimplementation of the firstjoint venture West CoastRefinery and PetrochemicalProject in Maharashtra, esti-mated to cost $44 billion, whichwill be the largest greenfieldrefinery in the world,” an oilministry statement said Sunday.

The two Minister held talkslate last night. Shiv Sena hadopposed the project atRatnagiri district and the BJPagreed to its demand of shift-

ing out the project as part ofelectoral understanding for theensuing Lok Sabha polls.

No alternate site of the pro-ject has yet been identified and

the statement did not elaborateon steps to be taken for imple-mentation of the project. SaudiAramco and its partnerADNOC of UAE have signed

agreements to take 50 per centstake in the project.

The remaining is held bypublic sector oil firms — IOC,BPCL and HPCL. Pradhan

invited Saudi Arabia to investin India’s strategic oil reserves.“Invited HE @Khalid_AlFalihto partner in India’s StrategicReserves Program and furtherenhance Saudi investments inIndia’s refining & petrochem-ical sectors.

Strategic engagements inenergy will mutually benefitboth our countries and furtherbolster our bilateral ties,” hetweeted after the meeting.

The official statement said:“Saudi Arabia’s participation inIndian Strategic PetroleumReserve (SPR) program wasalso discussed.” India has built5.33 MT of emergency storageenough to meet its oil needs for9.5 days, in underground rockcaverns in Mangalore andPadur in Karnataka, andVisakhapatnam in AndhraPradesh.

It has allowed foreign oil

companies to store oil in thestorages on the condition thatthe stockpile can be used byNew Delhi in case of an emer-gency. Abu Dhabi National OilCompany (ADNOC) has hiredhalf of the 1.5 million tonnestrategic oil storage atMangalore and 2.5 milliontonne Padur facility.

In Phase-II, India plans tobuild an additional 6.5 milliontonne facilities at Chandikholin Odisha and Padur, which isexpected to augment the emer-gency cover against any supplydisruption by another 11.5days.

India, which meets 83 percent of its oil needs throughimports, built the storages asinsurance for any disruption insupplies. It has the right of firstrefusal to buy the crude oilstored in the facilities in case ofan emergency.

The statement said thatthe visit of the Saudi OilMinister was a follow up thefirst State visit of Saudi CrownPrince Mohammed bin Salmanbin Abdulaziz Al Saud lastmonth. “Both the ministersagreed to take concrete stepsfor early implementation of thedecisions taken in the oil andgas sector during the visit ofHis Royal Highness CrownPrince Mohammed bin Salmanbin Abdulaziz Al Saud to Indialast month,” it said.

The visit, it said, reflects theintensifying engagementbetween the two countries inthe hydrocarbon sector. SaudiArabia is the second largestsupplier of crude and LPG toIndia. In 2017-18, India’s crudeoil imports from Saudi Arabiawere 36.8 MT, accounting for16.7 per cent of its totalimports.

=+>?�1��

�� 3:�-38;�

State-owned Punjab NationalBank (PNB) has sanctioned

loans worth �689 crore to over1,600 Micro, Small andMedium Enterprises (MSMEs)through the psbloansin59min-utes.Com portal as part of itseffort to promote such indus-tries.

Under the Mudra Yojana,the bank has offered loan toover 2.69 lakh small entrepre-neurs this fiscal (till February14, 2019).

“In November 2018,Hon’ble Prime Ministerannounced the launch of the 59minute loan portal to enableeasy access to credit forMSMEs. Under this initiative,the bank has sanctioned loansto over 1,600 accounts withtotal sanctioned amount of�689 crore (till February end),”PNB managing director SunilMehta told PTI.

MSMEs through this por-tal can avail loans of up to �1crore in 59 minutes or less thanan hour. MSMEs apply forloans using their GST regis-tration as the portal is inte-grated with GST server at theback-end as well as IT, creditbureaus and banks. It is able toquickly score the applicant onindividual models of lenders(currently only public sectorbanks).

It is a strategic initiative ofSIDBI led PSB consortiumincubated under theDepartment of FinancialServices (DFS), Ministry of Finance. Otherpartner banks are the SBI,Bank of Baroda, PNB, Vijayaand Indian Bank.

With regard to the PradhanMantri Mudra Yojana, Mehtasaid since the inception of thescheme, PNB has sanctionedloan to over 17.16 lakhaccounts with total amount of21,019 crore till December 31,2018.

“In the current financialyear, the bank has offered theloan to over 2.69 lakh accountswith total amount sanctionedbeing 5,290 crore till February14, 2019. The scheme has

helped millions of small enter-prises in the country and willcontinue to do so, in the com-ing years. The bank has exceed-ed the government targetsunder Mudra scheme and hasprovided additional workingcapital limit to MSMEs,” hesaid.

PNB has bagged manyawards last month under theEnhanced Access and ServiceExcellence (EASE) reformsagenda. The bank won theReforms Excellency Award. Itwas also declared the winner inthe customer responsiveness,responsible banking and cred-it Off-take category.

The bank has also figuredin the Forbes world’s best bank2019 report in terms of cus-tomer satisfaction ratings.

6.*��2�3��+��.��*��*��* �*�0�)��* �0�=�� /��/��,��

�� 3:�-38;�

The RBI in reply to an RTIquery said it has no data on

the old 500 and 1,000 rupeenotes used to pay for utility billssuch as fuel at petrol pumps —payments that are anonymousand are believed to haveformed a good part of thedemonetised currency thatreturned to the banking system.

After the November 8,2016 shock decision to ban theuse of old 500 and 1,000 rupeenotes, the Government hadallowed the exchange of thejunked notes as well as theybeing used for payment ofutility bills for 23 services.

Both 500 and 1,000 rupeenotes could be used at govern-ment hospitals, railway ticket-ing, public transport, airlineticketing at airports, milkbooths, crematoria/burialgrounds, petrol pumps, metrorail tickets, purchase of medi-cines on doctor prescriptionfrom the government and pri-vate pharmacies, LPG gascylinders, railway catering,electricity and water bills, ASImonument entry tickets andhighway toll.

On November 25, 2016,the exchange of old notes wasstopped and the Governmentallowed the use of only old 500rupee notes at these utilities tillDecember 15, 2016. The

Government, however, stoppedthe use of even this currency atpetrol pumps and for the pur-chase of air tickets at airportsabruptly with effect fromDecember 2, 2016, after reportsthat they were becoming frontsfor laundering of old currencynotes.

In reply to the Right toInformation (RTI) query, theRBI said: “information on(invalidated) notes used forpaying utility bills is not avail-able with us”.

As much as 99.3 per cent ofthe junked �500 and �1,000notes have returned to thebanking system, the RBI hadstated in August last year, indi-cating that just a miniscule per-centage of currency was left outof the system after theGovernment’s unprecedentednote ban aimed at curbingblack money and corruption.

Of the �15.41 lakh croreworth �500 and �1,000 notes incirculation on November 8,2016, when the note ban wasannounced, currency worth�15.31 lakh crore have beenreturned.

On the issue of numberand value of invalidated ordemonetised currency notesbeing exchanged, the RBI in theRTI reply referred to aNovember 28, 2016 press state-ment where it had stated that“Banks have since reportedthat such exchange/depositseffected from November 10,2016, upto November 27, 2016amounted to �8,44,982 crore(exchange amounted to�33,948 crore and depositsamounted to �8,11,033 crore).

“The facility of exchange ofSpecified Bank Notes at banks’counter was available up toNovember 24, 2016,” it said.

Specified Bank Notes orSBN is the term used to denotethe demonetised currencywhich was allowed to bedeposited in bank accountstill December 30, 2016.

The Reserve Bank of Indiaalso said it did not have infor-mation on the number of SBNsused to buy KYC-compliantinstruments like insurancepolicies.

The central bank referreda part of the RTI to theInsurance Regulatory andDevelopment Authority ofIndia (IRDAI) which also stat-ed that it does not have infor-mation on old notes used topay for insurance policies as “itis not maintained by theAuthority”.

�#�!.� �,�� .!��,!-��,��?@5!��!,�!+A?66!4)4�.!�� 3:�-38;�

Petrol prices rose in therange of 9 to 10 paise in the

four metropolitan cities of thecountry on Sunday, while dieselprices remained unchanged.

In the national Capital,petrol was priced at �72.40 alitre, 9 paise higher thanSaturday’s level.

In Kolkata and Mumbai,the price of the fuel rose by 9paise to �74.48 and �78.03 perlitre, respectively, according todata on the Indian OilCorporation’s website. Theprice of petrol in Chennaiincreased by 10 paise to �75.19a litre. The rise in fuel pricescan be largely attributed to theincrease in crude oil costs.Petroleum Minister

Dharmendra Pradhan onSaturday conveyed India’s con-cerns over rising crude oilprices and its effects on thedomestic fuel rates during hismeeting here with SaudiArabia’s Minister of Energy,Khalid Al-Falih.

However, domestic fuelprices are likely to remain sub-dued till the upcoming gener-al elections end, to prevent anyoutrage among the consumers,said informed sources.

Diesel prices across thefour metros remainedunchanged for the thirdstraight day. While the fuel waspriced at Rs 67.54 per litre inDelhi, in Kolkata, Mumbai andChennai, diesel prices were at�69.33, �70.76 and �71.38 perlitre, respectively.

��* �� )��;��<��

�� ?4��=

The Jammu & KashmirGovernment on Sunday

appointed E Sreedharan, pop-ularly known as the ‘MetroMan’, as principal advisor totwo mass rapid transit corpo-rations in the State.

The government hasapproved setting up the twomass rapid transit corpora-tions. These have been namedthe Jammu Mass Rapid TransitCorp and the Srinagar Mass

Rapid Transit Corp.“While thinking anything

about the Mass Rapid Transitsystems in India, the first namewhich comes to everybody’smind is of Dr. ElattuvalapilSreedharan, a retired IES(IRSE) officer, Padma Shri andPadma Vibhushan, popularlyknown as ‘Metro Man’, who iscredited for changing the faceof public transport in Indiawith his leadership of buildingKonkan Railway and the DelhiMetro,” a statement said.

@��:�"��'%(��

�� 3:�-38;�

With an aim to bolster itsinformation-gathering

mechanism and fast-track itsprobe, market regulator Sebihas sought direct powers togrant immunity in select casesand to impose lesser penalty ifthe accused agrees to provideassistance against other wrong-doers.

In two separate proposalsfor the government, theSecurities and Exchange Boardof India (Sebi) has opined thatsuch provisions would help itin establishing and securingstronger findings and ordersagainst defaulters againstwhom sufficient evidence maynot be available otherwise, offi-cials said.

The new powers can becrucial for Sebi in some ongo-ing cases, including one involv-ing a large bank and severalhigh-profile names, officialsadded. At present, any immu-nity for securities law violationscan be granted only by the cen-tral government.

Citing similar powers avail-able with the fair trade watch-dog Competition Commissionof India (CCI), Sebi has pro-posed to impose a lesser penal-ty on a person who may haveviolated securities laws butprovides assistance to the reg-ulator in proceedings againstother accused before comple-tion of investigation, inquiry,inspection or audit ordered by it.

Responding to Sebi’s pro-posal, the Finance Ministryhas opined any such powersshould remain with the centralgovernment and a provision for that can be madeby suitable amendments to theSebi Act and the SecuritiesContracts Regulation Act(SCRA).

Clarifying that the pro-

posal to impose a lesser penal-ty is different from grantingimmunity, Sebi has said theconduct of a person in anactionable proceeding may beconsidered as a mitigating fac-tor and the regulator or itsadjudicating officer should beempowered to impose a small-er fine against an individualproviding help in probe.

This would, however,depend on the person havingmade a full and true disclosurein respect of his or her allegedviolations and the disclosureshould be vital for the regula-tor.

Also, the penalty cannot bereduced in cases where the dis-closure is made after receipt ofreport of inspection, inquiry,audit or investigation.

In cases where the infor-mant stops cooperating withthe regulator before completion of the proceedingswould also not qualify for theleniency.

Besides, Sebi can actagainst such an informant at alater stage if it finds that theperson has failed to complywith the necessary conditionsfor the leniency, had givenfalse evidence or the disclosurewas “not vital or to the satis-faction” of the regulator or itsadjudicating officer.

On the proposal regarding“power to grant immunity”,the regulator is of the view thatsuch powers currently lies onlywith the central government.

However, the Committeeon Fair Market Conduct hasrecommended that such apower can also be exercisableby Sebi.

The Committee has alsosuggested necessary amend-ment to the Section 24B of theSebi Act to give power to Sebito impose lesser penalty alongthe lines of a similar provisionin the Competition Act.

!�)�� '"�� '�� )� �� 3:�-38;�

IDBI Bank on Sunday said itis strategising to be a ‘one-of-

its-kind’ financial conglomer-ate and plans to bring bankingand insurance services under asingle platform.

The country’s largest andthe only state-owned life insur-er LIC now holds a majoritystake in IDBI Bank. Also, thechange in ownership of IDBIBank from a government-owned to LIC-owned has led tothe lender becoming a privatesector entity.

“IDBI Bank is putting inplace necessary businessenablers to bring the conve-nience of banking and insur-ance services at one stop for allof its customers. IDBI Bankand LIC, through its collectivenetwork of branches, offices

and workforce, have startedleveraging their mutual busi-ness synergies,” the bank saidin a release.

The bank said these strate-gic initiatives will pave theway for improved operationsand better financing which inturn would lead to wealthmaximisation for all of itsstakeholders, including LICand the government.

This strategic plan wouldenable IDBI bank as well as LICto realise the full potentialarising out of business syner-gies, the bank said.

The major areas identifiedare pertaining to selling of LICpolicies through IDBI branch-es, management of cash andother premium receipts of LIC,enabling the technical where-withal for offering digital solu-tions to both the policy hold-

ers of LIC as well as IDBI cus-tomers.

“Towards this end, bank’sboard has approved appoint-ment of LIC as a corporateagent under bancassurance,”the release said.

As part of this initiative, thechairman of LIC has beenappointed as the non-executivechairman of the bank.

“The bank is consideringthe name of Rakesh Sharma,the current MD of the bank, forappointment for a further peri-od of three years as MD andCEO of IDBI Bank,” it said.

The new board will beentrusted with the responsi-bility of charting out a freshgrowth strategy for the bankand also revamping the cor-porate governance structureto ensure best-in-class businesspractices, it added.

��%�)�� *��*��*, ��0,��2��0-�� )�� .�)��*��*� �

�� 3:�-38;�

Making suggestions fordrawing up election man-

ifestoes for the upcoming polls,industry chamber CII onSunday said the next govern-ment should lower the corpo-rate tax to 18 per cent andincrease the public expenditureon healthcare and education.

A statement by theConfederation of IndianIndustry (CII) said their “sug-gested election manifesto”favoured the “lowering of cor-porate income tax to 18 percent with no exemptions tomake Indian tax rates globallycompetitive”.

Currently, the corporatetax for companies withturnover of up to Rs 250 croreis 25 per cent, and for thosewith a turnover of over Rs 250crore it is 30 per cent.

The suggested manifestosaid public expenditure on

healthcare should be increasedto 3 per cent of the GDP.

“The healthcare sectorshould be notified as an infra-structure sector. ReducingIndia’s maternal and infant

mortality ratios must be takenup on priority basis,” the state-ment said.

The CII note advocatesraising public expenditure oneducation to 6 per cent of

GDP. It suggests making voca-tional training part of the cur-riculum and incentivising bet-ter performance of teacherswith upgraded digital schoolinfrastructure, especially in

rural schools. “A key measure would be

to link universities with theindustry and increase govern-ment funding for R&D(research and development) to1 per cent of GDP,” it said.

The industry body alsotargets an average GDP growthrate of 8 per cent per annum forthe next five years and calledfor reducing the Good andServices Tax (GST) rate slabs to2 or 3, from the current fourslabs of 5, 12, 18 and 28 percent.

Commenting on the sug-gestions, Chandrajit Banerjee,Director General, CII said:“The CII suggested manifestoenvisages a continued highpace of reforms, enabling Indiato take a lead in a world of mul-tiple transformations in theglobal and technology envi-ronment.”

According to the suggest-ed manifesto, industrial corri-

dors and sector-specific indus-trial parks need to be promot-ed through public-private part-nership.

Micro, small and mediumenterprises (MSME) should beallocated 25 per cent land inindustrial corridors at lenientrates, it said.

In the infrastructure sector,public-private partnershipsneeds to be strengthened, andthe issues of delayed projectsand delayed payments to pro-ject contractors must beaddressed, it added.

On electoral reforms, CIIsuggests devising a model forsimultaneous elections ofParliament and StateLegislatures from 2024.

CII said it has shared thesuggested election manifestowith all the major politicalparties, both national andregional, for their considerationand inclusion in their partymanifestos.

1�� ?��>>

�� 3:�-38;�

Subscribers of retirementfund body EPFO would not

require to file employee prov-ident fund (EPF) transferclaims on changing jobs fromthe next fiscal as the processwould be made automated,according to a labour ministryofficial. At present, the sub-scribers of the EmployeesProvident Fund Organisation(EPFO) are required to filetransfer of EPF claims onchanging jobs despite havinguniversal account number(UAN). The EPFO gets abouteight lakh EPF transfer claimsevery year.

“The EPFO is testing theautomation of EPF transfer onchanging jobs on pilot basis.The facility for all subscribersis expected to be launched any

time next year,” a senior labourministry official said. The offi-cial said, “The EPFO hadengaged the C-DAC to study itsoperating systems to achievethe goal of becoming paperlessorganisation. At present, 80 percent of the work is being doneonline. The automated transferof EPF on changing jobs is oneof the tools to be used toachieve that objective.”

The official explained thatthe moment the new employ-er would file the monthly EPFreturn including the UAN ofthe new employee, the EPFcontributions and interestearned on that would be auto-matically transferred.

This will enable theemployee to get the credits ofhis EPF contribution during hisprevious tenure with oldemployer into his or her UAN

automatically. At present after changing

job, a subscriber provides hisUAN to the new employer, whouses it for depositing his or herEPF contributions. But theUAN account does not reflectthe EPF contributions madeduring the subscriber’s previousjob and interest accrued onthat. The subscriber has to filean online claim through theactivated UAN to get credits ofEPF contributions made dur-ing his or her previous job.

The official said, “After theautomation of the EPF transferon changing jobs, the sub-scribers would be benefittedimmensely as the UAN wouldbe like a bank account. No mat-ter a subscriber changes placeor employer, his or her socialsecurity benefits would beaccessed through the UAN.

�-A��/��,� �� /��8��/��

�'��3��>��?��/.0!�:�,�>�'/�-B��/.-��'��.�/�,-8=��?:-,/.3��8��/�/��

./-,�=�.��.�'.8,�'>��B-,��'C��.,8:/�-'��'

.8::��.7��/��.�/��,�=�/�-B�B�,./�,�B8.��/-��8C�/��>,8��-��

./-,��'�/��B�>��/��.��'�>�.��-B�'��?�,=�'>C

�� '�(��) '�(��**+�,-*. ��44

��&�� 4--��4+4+4

An Ethiopian Airlines flightcrashed shortly after take-

off from Ethiopia’s Capital onSunday morning, killing all 157on board, including Indians,authorities said, as grievingfamilies rushed to airports inAddis Ababa and the destina-tion, Nairobi.

More than 30 nationalitiesare among the dead.

It was not immediately clearwhat caused the crash of theBoeing 737-8 MAX plane,which was new and had beendelivered to the airline inNovember. The pilot sent out adistress call and was given clear-ance to return, the airline’s CEOtold reporters.

The state-owned EthiopianAirlines, widely considered thebest-managed airline in Africa,calls itself Africa’s largest carri-er and has ambitions of becom-ing the gateway to the continent.It is known as an early buyer ofnew aircraft as it assertivelyexpands.

The airline said 149 pas-sengers and eight crew mem-bers were thought to be on theplane.

Indians, Kenyans,Canadians, Chinese, Americans,Ethiopians, Italians, French,British, Egyptians, Slovakiansand others were among thedead, said the airline’s CEO,Tewolde Gebremariam.

The plane crashed six min-utes after departing AddisAbaba on its way to Kenya’s cap-ital, plowing into the ground atHejere near Bishoftu, or DebreZeit, some 50 kilometers (31miles) south of Addis Ababa, at8:44 am.

The airline later publisheda photo showing its CEO stand-ing in the wreckage.

�=�2��+�4*�� 0�**��*) ��+

� ��'��)��%��%��%�� (��() ) �� !�� '� (*�

�� A�4)�A�8�!�38-

US-backed forces said onSunday time was up for

Islamic State group jihadistshunkering down in their east-ern Syrian holdout and anassault was imminent.

"The timeline (we gave)ISIS to surrender themselves isover," Syrian DemocraticForces spokesman Mustefa Balisaid on Twitter, using anotheracronym for IS.

"Our forces have received orders for militaryaction to finish off what is left of the terrorists inBaghouz," a village near theIraqi border, he said. "Theassault will start at anymoment," he told AFP.

The SDF, who are backedby air strikes of the US-ledcoalition, have slowed down their months-long campaign against the jihadistsin recent weeks to allow civil-ians out from the shrinkingenclave.

=�"( �� L��F �� CA��C4��

North Koreans went to thepolls on Sunday for an

election in which there couldbe only one winner.

Leader Kim Jong Un’s rul-ing Workers’ Party has an irongrip on the Democratic People’sRepublic of Korea, as the iso-lated, nuclear-armed country isofficially known.

Every five years it holds anelection for the rubber stamplegislature, known as theSupreme People’s Assembly.

The exercise has all thetrappings of votes elsewhere,from electoral rolls to sealedballot boxes to scrutineers forthe count.

But in keeping with one ofPyongyang’s most enduringslogans -- “Single-mindedunity” -- there is only oneapproved name on each of thered voting slips.

With portraits of theleader’s father Kim Jong Il andgrandfather Kim Il Sung look-ing down on every ballot box,voters lined up to drop their

slips inside.There is a pencil in the

panelled voting booths for any-one who might wish to regis-ter dissent by crossing out acandidate’s name. But no onedoes.

By 6pm, the official KCNAnews agency reported, all elec-tors in all constituencies hadvoted, “except for those abroador working in oceans”.

Turnout in 2014 was 99.97per cent and the vote was 100per cent in favour of the namedcandidates, a result unmatchedanywhere else in the world.

“Our society is one inwhich the people are gatheredaround the respected SupremeLeader with a single mind,”election official Ko Kyong Haktold AFP outside a polling sta-tion at the 3.26 PyongyangCable Factory.

Participation in the elec-tion was a citizen’s obligation,he said, “and there are no peo-ple who reject a candidate”.

An editorial in the RodongSinmun, the mouthpiece ofthe ruling party, reinforced

the message.Voters “should cast

approval ballots with their loy-alty to the party and the leader,absolute support to the DPRKgovernment and the will toshare their destiny with social-ism to the last”, it said.

With a total absence ofelectoral competition, analystssay the election is held largelyas a political rite to enable theauthorities to claim a mandatefrom the people.

It was the result of “estab-lished institutional inertia anda need to legitimise theGovernment by simulatingdemocratic procedure”, saidAndrei Lankov of Korea RiskGroup.

Soviet-style Communiststates had a long tradition ofholding general elections, hesaid, even if the ruling partyignored its own rules aboutholding regular congresses --something the North skippedfor more than 30 years.

“North Korea is just emu-lating all other Communiststates,” he said.

��-=(��?1��(��

�� ,A*CA

Aferry collided with whatapparently was a marine

animal off a Japanese island,injuring more than 80 people,local media reported.

The accident happened justafter noon Saturday off SadoIsland, Kyodo News agencyreported, citing Japan’s coastguard.

Five of the injuries wereserious and a 15-centimetercrack was found at the ferry’sstern. But ferry operator SadoSteam Ship Co. Said the jetfoilferry still reached its intendeddestination on the island, locat-ed off the west coast of Japan’smain island of Honshu, accord-ing to Kyodo.

The ferry, which departedfrom Honshu’s Niigata Port,was carrying 121 passengersand four crew members.

The cause of the accidentwas under investigation bycoast guard officials, who saidthe ferry may have struck awhale or some other sea ani-mal, Kyodo reported.

A��D1��6��? � ��

�� ;A��*A��

China has issued a protestover remarks the US

ambassador-at-large for inter-national religious freedommade criticising Beijing’spolices toward Muslim andTibetan Buddhist minoritiesand saying the country was “atwar with faith.”

The Foreign Ministry’soffice in Hong Kong said thespeech Sam Brownback gaveFriday “slandered” China’s reli-gious policies. It said it had reg-istered its dissatisfactionSaturday with the US Consulatein the semi-autonomousChinese region, where thespeech was given.

China’s constitution andlaws protect freedom of religionand critics should “cease theirslander of China’s policies onreligion and the situation withfreedom of faith and ceaseusing religious issues to inter-fere in China’s internal affairs,”

the office said in a statement.US officials and UN

experts say China is believed tobe holding 1 million Uighurs,Muslims and members of othermajority Muslim ethnic groupsin political education camps inXinjiang. The US and othergovernments have criticizedthe crackdown.

The Chinese governmentsays those camps are vocationaltraining centers designed to ridthe region of extremism.

Brownback said PresidentDonald Trump’s administrationis “deeply concerned and con-sidered it a deliberate attemptby Beijing to redefine and con-trol these Muslim minoritygroups, (their) identity, cultureand faith.” He urgedBeijing to grant free access tothe camps to investigate claimsof abuse of inmates.

More generally, Brownbacksaid, China is “at war withfaith.”

“It’s a war they will not

win,” he said. “The ChineseCommunist Party must hearthe cry of its people for reli-gious freedom.”

Brownback was expectedto meet local religious leaders and religious studiesstudents and instructors whilein Hong Kong. The territoryenjoys freedom of speech andreligion far beyond that inmainland China, where theofficially atheist governmentkeeps tight control over anypotential challenges to itsauthority.

Brownback, the formergovernor of Kansas, was due totravel to Taiwan for a regionalmeeting on religious freedomMonday.

In his speech, the Catholicconservative called on China to release Wang Yi and JohnCao Sanqiang, detained pastorsin the “underground” church that operates indepen-dently of official Governmentagencies. (AP)

��6"��/��

�� C-�3C

Australia’s former ForeignMinister says she was mis-

taken for the spouse of a politi-cian by US First Lady MelaniaTrump, in her latest commentson the subordinate role ofwomen in conservative politics.

Julie Bishop has been vocalabout the treatment of seniorfemale politicians since shestepped down after the ouster offormer prime minister MalcolmTurnbull last year.

Bishop, who was Australia’sfirst female foreign ministerand deputy leader of the LiberalParty, is among several seniorpoliticians from the centre-rightgovernment set to quit parlia-ment at upcoming national elec-tions amid expectations of anopposition win.

She told a talk in AdelaideSaturday that Melania thoughther partner David Patton wasAustralia’s foreign minister,instead of her, after President

Donald Trump stuck up a con-versation with him, theAustralian BroadcastingCorporation reported.

“Melania, standing by,assumed David was the foreignminister and she said to me:‘Julie, will you be coming to myladies’ lunch tomorrow?,” Bishopsaid of the encounter at the UNGeneral Assembly Leaders’ weekin 2017. “And I said ‘No, David’sgoing to the partners’ lunch’. Shethought about that for a while,thinking: ‘Why would Australia’sforeign minister come to thepartners’ lunch?’

“So this went on for a whileuntil the president explained thatI was the foreign minister.”Australia’s embattled minoritygovernment has been accused ofhaving a “women problem”,with Prime Minister ScottMorrison recently boosting thenumber of female politicians inhis cabinet to counter the criti-cism.

One cabinet minister who is

also leaving parliament, KellyO’Dwyer, reportedly said as awarning in a party meetingseveral months ago that theLiberals were widely viewed byvoters as “homophobic, anti-women, climate-change deniers”.

Bishop said she was notcomfortable being the onlywoman among 18 men in cab-inet after Turnbull’s predecessorTony Abbott won national elec-tions in 2013. “This isn’t fine.This is not completely normal,”she said of the situation.

There have been growingcalls for the Liberals to introducequotas to improve the low lev-els of female representation inthe party. This is not the firsttime the issue of sexism has beenraised in Australian politics.

Former prime minister JuliaGillard became a torchbearer forwomen around the world in2012 with her fiery speech aboutmisogyny in parliament, whereshe accused Abbott of sexism.

�� &��,�� (�� -

�� A�2A:

Thousands of people ralliedagainst Russia’s increasing-

ly restrictive internet policiesSunday which some say willeventually lead to “total cen-sorship” and isolate the countryfrom the world.

The mass rally in Moscowand smaller events in othercities across the country wascalled after the Russian lowerhouse of parliament backed abill to stop Russian internet traf-fic from being routed on foreignservers, in a bid to boost cyber-security.

The move was labelled bycritics as the latest attempt tocontrol online content underPresident Vladimir Putin, withsome fearing the country is ontrack to completely isolate itsnetwork like in North Korea.

Activists counting peoplesaid more than 15,000 peoplehave turned up to listen tointernet and media rightsactivists as well as music per-

formers who have complainedof government pressure inrecent months.

“The government is battlingfreedom, including freedom onthe internet, I can tell you thisas somebody who spent amonth in jail for a tweet,” oneof the rally speakers SergeiBoiko, an internet freedomactivist from Siberia, said.

Police detained severalpeople without explanation. AnAFP correspondent saw a manbeing dragged away by armsand legs near the entrance to therally.

The popular Telegram mes-saging app, which Russianauthorities have been unsuc-cessfully trying to block formany months, called on itsusers to attend the rally lastweek. A message in Russian onits official account said that thebill on internet centralisationaims to “cut off Russia from therest of the world, after whichthey can block foreign socialnetworks and messengers.”

&�� /� -�,�� -

�� +3�?��

China is defending its often-criticized policies toward

Tibet 60 years after the DalaiLama fled abroad amid anuprising against Chinese rule.

The official Xinhua NewsAgency says economic growth,increases in lifespan and bettereducation refute the claims ofcritics.

Tibet is ruled under asmothering Chinese securityblanket and many Tibetansabroad say the Himalayanregion’s resources are beingexploited for Beijing’s benefit

while Tibet’s unique Buddhistculture is being destroyed.

Xinhua said “undeniablefacts and figures” related todevelopment “debunk therepeated lies and accusationsthat aim to smear Tibet’shuman rights with vilemotives.”

The article didn’t directly mention Sunday’suprising anniversary, referringto the events of 1959 instead asthe inauguration of “democra-tic reform” that saw the dismantlement of the Buddhist hierarchy and feudalstructures.

E;�'� �� "#�� &�)��

�� 4�3C

Seven soldiers and 38 mili-tants died in an assault by

the jihadist group Boko Haramin southeastern Niger, thedefence ministry said onSaturday, the latest in a seriesof attacks that have shatteredmonths of relative calm nearthe Lake Chad basin.

“Armed forces... Stronglyrepelled an attack by the ter-rorist group Boko Haram onthe outskirts of Gueskerou,” theministry said in a statementread on state television.

Gueskerou is located inthe Niger region of Diffa closeto the birthplace of BokoHaram in neighbouring north-eastern Nigeria.

According to a provision-al toll, seven soldiers and “38terrorists” were killed. Onewas taken prisoner.

Five vehicles belonging tothe attackers and “a large quan-tity of weapons (four AK47rifles, eight machine guns, twoRPG rocket launchers, ammu-nition) were recovered”, thestatement added.

The attack on Friday was

the second in less than a monthand targeted a remote militaryposition on Lake Chad, whichstraddles Niger, Nigeria andChad, the scene of many raidsby the jihadist group since2015.

On February 16, sevenNiger soldiers were killed dur-ing an attack on ChetimaWangou, also in southeasternNiger.

In early January, the Nigerarmy claimed to have killedmore than 280 Boko Harammilitants in days of land and air

raids.In November, around a

dozen girls were taken in raidson several border villages in thesoutheast.

In the same month, sevenlocal employees of a Frenchdrilling firm and a governmentofficial were killed after sus-pected Boko Haram gunmenstormed their compound.

The government on Fridaynight named a new governor inDiffa. Mohamed Mouddourwill replace MahamadouBakabe who had been in postsince April 2018. No reasonwas given.

Boko Haram’s bloodyinsurgency began in north-eastern Nigeria in 2009 but hassince spread into neighbouringcountries, prompting a region-al military response.

Some 27,000 people havebeen killed and two millionothers displaced, sparking adire humanitarian crisis in theregion.

Militants have targetedboth soldiers and civilians andhave been blamed for abduc-tions of children and employ-ees of foreign companies.

=��"��@��F � �� $�� 4��'

L4�84)�3S=4�,�,C�A!:34�A��I!A=)4*9/�)�!83��3��;,��42;��3�=��,:A�)��)A2*3,84=�2;3)��4��=��,�A�J:3)3�)32A53)3-'

�� ,3;)4�

Iran’s president is making hisfirst official visit to Iraq this

week as he faces mountingpressure from hard-liners athome in the wake of the Trumpadministration’s unraveling ofthe nuclear deal.

Hassan Rouhani’s trip —billed as “historic and noble” byhis foreign minister — is meantto solidify ties between Shiite power Iran and Iraq’sShiite led-Government, astrong Tehran ally.

It is also Iran’s response toPresident Donald Trump’s snapDecember trip to Iraq and theAmerican president’s com-ments that US Forces shouldstay in Iraq to keep an eye onneighbouring Iran, with whichIraq shares a 1,400-kilometer-long (870 miles) border.

At the time, Trump slippedinto Iraq at night, withoutstopping in Baghdad, to greetUS Service members at a basefar from the Iraqi capital wherehe extolled the Americantroops’ fight against the IslamicState group.

Rouhani later mockedTrump’s visit, asserting that

flying into Iraq under the coverof darkness meant “defeat” forthe U.S. In Iraq and asking theU.S. President why he didn’tmake an “open and officialvisit.”

“You have to walk in thestreets of Baghdad ... To findout how people will welcomeyou,” Rouhani said at the time.

Rouhani’s visit to Iraq willprovide an opportunity forreaching “serious understand-ings” between the two neighbors, Iran’s top diplomat,Mohammad Javad Zarif toldthe official IRNA news agencyfrom Baghdad, where he waspreparing for Rouhani’s three-day visit that starts onMonday.

Rouhani, who had visitedIraq privately before becomingpresident, had planned an offi-cial visit in 2016 but that onewas cancelled over unspecified“executive” problems.

This time, Rouhani, who ison a second four-year-term, isparticularly vulnerable becauseof the economic crisis assailingthe Iranian rial, which hashurt ordinary Iranians andemboldened critics to openlycall for the president’s ouster.

Tehran sees the US militarypresence at its doorstep in Iraqas a threat — one that couldalso undermine Iran’s influenceover Baghdad.

Zarif alluded to that onSunday, saying that any coun-try which tries to interferewith the good Iran-Iraq rela-tions would “be deprived ofopportunities for itself.”

Iran also sees Iraq as a pos-sible route to bypass US sanc-tions that Trump re-imposedlast year after pulling the U.S.Out of the 2015 nuclear dealbetween Tehran and worldpowers.

Last year, Iran’s exports toIraq amounted to nearly $9 bil-lion. Tehran hopes to increasethe roughly $13 billion volumein trade between the twoneighboring countries to $20billion. Also, some 5 millionreligious tourists bring in near-ly $5 billion a year as Iraqis andIranians visit Shiite holy sites inthe two countries.

Under former dictatorSaddam Hussein, Iraq waged an eight-year war in the1980s against Iran, a conflictthat left nearly 1 million killedon both sides.

3��.,!,��!� !��/��8�� 2.!��.�� ,!,�!=�.�,!��B

�� 4+�-?4�

Amid-flight engine failureforced an Air France A380

jet with more than 500 passen-gers on board to turn back to theIvory Coast capital Abidjanwhere it landed without furtherincident early Sunday.

“We were flying over Niger(to Paris)... I saw a ball of flamefor a few seconds and then alarge bang on the left side of theaircraft,” Baudelaire Mieu, ajournalist with BloombergNews, told AFP.

“The plane began to roll,everything was shaking and

people started to panic. The pilotcame on and said ‘We have justlost a left side engine. We arereturning to Abidjan,” Mieusaid.

The Air France-KLM man-ager for West Africa Jean-LucMevellec confirmed the inci-dent. “Technically, it is what iscalled an engine blow-out. It isa well known problem,” Mevellectold AFP.

“It happens from time totime. It is a well known phe-nomenon, well understood andcrew are well trained on simu-lators all year long to deal withthis type of fault,” he added.

3�� 4��!� ��4.D1�( ��4(��6

�� ,3;)4�

Iran’s President HassanRouhani has demanded

Pakistan act “decisively againstanti-Iranian terrorists” in aphone call with the country’spremier, Tehran said, a monthafter a bloody attack on secu-rity forces.

Iran says a Pakistani sui-cide bomber was behind theFebruary 13 attack that killed27 Revolutionary Guards in itsvolatile southeastern provinceof Sistan-Baluchistan.

A Sunni jihadist group,Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice),which Tehran says operatesmostly out of bases in neigh-bouring Pakistan, claimedresponsibility for the blast.

Iran has accused Pakistan’sarmy and intelligence agency ofsheltering the jihadists andsummoned the country’sambassador in the wake of theattack.

Rouhani in the phone con-versation Saturday eveningwith Pakistani Prime MinisterImran Khan called to maintaingood ties and pointed the fin-ger of blame at Tehran’s tradi-tional regional and interna-

tional foes.“We shouldn’t allow

decades of friendship andbrotherhood between the twocountries be affected by ter-rorist groupuscules that weboth know from where they arebeing armed and financed,”Rouhani said, according to aGovernment statement.

The Iranian president wasalluding to the United Statesand Israel, as well as SaudiArabia and the United ArabEmirates, which it accuses ofaiding jihadist groups respon-sible for attacks from Pakistanisoil.

February’s bombing wasthe latest of numerous attackson Iran’s security forces andofficials in Sistan-Baluchistan,where the minority SunniBaluchis accuse the authoritiesof discrimination.

�� * �� ,��%��'� � ��-

;��.�-8��'</��-��>��.�-B�B,��'�.��:��'��,-/��,�--��/��'�/��/�-�>-8'/,��.��BB�>/��C�/�,,-,�./�=,-8:8.>8��./��/��-/��D'-��B,-?��,��/��C��,��'=�,?��'��B�'�'>��<�

�� :4�;��,A�

Donald Trump’s nationalsecurity advisor said

Sunday that the US presidentwould be “pretty disappointed”if North Korea conducted a newmissile test, but he refused toconfirm reports that such a testmay be near.

John Bolton appearednotably cautious when asked onABC’s “This Week” about areport that satellite imageryappears to show preparations ata North Korean site for the pos-sible launch of a missile or spacerocket.

“I would rather not get intothe specifics on that,” he said.

“I’m not going to speculate

on what that particular com-mercial satellite picture shows.”

On Friday, the website ofNPR posted a satellite imagethat the public broadcaster saidshowed intense activity aroundthe North’s Sanumdong site,where missiles and satellite-launching rockets have previ-ously been assembled.

NPR quoted an expert onthe North’s weapons programs,Jeffrey Lewis of the MiddleburyInstitute of International Studiesin Monterey, California, as say-ing, “When you put all thattogether, that’s really what itlooks like when the NorthKoreans are in the process ofbuilding a rocket.”

Trump, who once warned

Pyongyang of “fire and fury” ifit threatened the US, has beentrying to negotiate the North’sdenuclearisation with its leaderKim Jong Un, but their recentHanoi summit ended in failure.

Since then, Trump has beencautious in his prognostica-tions, continuing to suggest adeal remains possible.

He said Kim promised inHanoi that he would do nomore missile or nuclear testing,adding, “I take him at his word.”

Bolton declined to saywhether the US was aware at thetime of the Hanoi summit of anysuspect satellite imagery fromNorth Korea.

But he sent a strong signalto the North that it cannot

escape US scrutiny.“We see exactly what they

are doing,” he said. “We see it unblinkingly,

and we don’t have any illusionsabout what those are.”

Bolton said he was “notaware of any” contact with theNorth since the Hanoi summitbut was expecting an updateMonday from his South Koreancounterpart.

He said time remains onWashington’s side, adding thatthe president “is not underpressure to make any deal. Hewants to make the right deal.”

With North Korea stillunder economic sanctions, “theleverage is on our side right now,and not on North Korea’s.”

(�� '�&��)��,�� -�)'�$�5��

�� 4�� '�(��) '�(��**+�,-*.

��■ 8�53)�AA8

Roberto Firmino returned togoalscoring form at the perfectmoment for Jurgen Klopp's

Liverpool, hitting the net twice in a4-2 victory over Burnley that hauledthem back to within a point ofPremier League leaders ManchesterCity.

Sadio Mane was also on thescoresheet twice in a game in whichLiverpool were required to respondto falling a goal behind against SeanDyche's struggling side.

And with City having opened afour-point gap overLiverpool, with a victo-ry over Watford onSaturday, the pres-sure was clearly onKlopp and his play-ers to respond, whichthey did impressive-ly despite the con-troversial mannerof Burnley's open-ing goal.

Firmino had alarge role to play in steadyingLiverpool nerves, taking his leaguetally for the season to 11 and endinga six-game goal drought as his sidereacted impressively to going a goaldown in the sixth minute.

Defender Joel Matip needlesslyconceded a corner which AshleyWestwood took from the left wingand curled directly into the Liverpoolgoal, with home goalkeeper Alissonprotesting furiously that he hadbeen impeded in his attempts to dealwith it.

Replays suggested Alisson had astrong point, with defender JamesTarkowski leaning on the Brazilianfrom behind and Jack Cork makingcontact in front of him. The goal-keeper's furious reaction, sprinting 40yards to remonstrate with refereeAndre Marriner, earned him a book-ing.

This was a real test of Liverpool'smental fortitude after a run that hasseen them draw five of their previ-ous seven games in the league and

Champions League.They trailed for just 13 minutes,

equalising with a flowing movestarted when Mohamed Salah andGeorginio Wijnaldum exchangedpasses and the Egyptian drilled overa pacy near-post cross.

Burnley's England goalkeeperTom Heaton and Tarkowski both hadchances to clear but somehowallowed the ball to pass through themfor Firmino to tap into an open net.

��Liverpool were now firmly in

control, clicking through the gearsand placing the Burnley defenceunder increasing pressure beforeMane shot them into the first lead ofthe afternoon shortly before the halfhour.

The goal owed much to the per-sistence of midfielder Adam Lallana,who charged down an attemptedclearance by Phil Bardsley, with theball breaking for Salah, who was welltackled by Charlie Taylor.

The rebound fell for Mane, whocurled a magnificent finish past thediving Heaton from 15 yards, scor-ing in a sixth consecutive homeleague game in the process.

It was hard to see a way back forstruggling Burnley, who started theday just two points outside the rele-gation places as the second halfquickly threatened to turn into a one-way procession towards the visitors'goal before Liverpool struck againmidway through the second half.

Salah broke clear and was poisedto shoot when Taylor made a superbtackle which, unfortunately for thevisitors, left the loose ball sitting upneatly for Firmino to drive it into anopen goal from 12 yards.

There was late anxiety afterJohann Berg Gudmundsson made it3-2 with an injury-time consolationafter a knock-down in the area fromBurnley substitute Peter Crouch.

But with virtually the last kick ofthe game in the 93rd minute, Manechased a long through ball, round-ed Heaton and completed the victo-ry by kicking into the open goal.

��■ �4-)�-�

Lionel Messi and Luis Suarezmight have been rested but

instead both played and scored asBarcelona came from behind to beatRayo Vallecano, ahead of theircrunch Champions League secondleg against Lyon.

Raul de Tomas' scintillatingstrike gave struggling Rayo a sur-prise lead at the Camp Nou butMessi converted a penalty andSuarez finished a brilliant passingmove to seal a 3-1 win, afterGerard Pique had headed inan equaliser on Saturday.

When Barca kickedoff, Atletico Madrid hadjust completed their own1-0 victory over Leganes,although Diego Simeonewas more cautious, restingAntoine Griezmann,Alvaro Morata and SaulNiguez, with Tuesday's tripto Juventus in mind.

Barca stay seven points clear ofAtletico and, temporarily at least,move 15 ahead of Real.

Even with a two-goal cushionfor the final eight minutes, ErnestoValverde kept Messi and Suarez onuntil the end, which may have sur-prised some, given he was accusedof exhausting key players last sea-son at the expense of success inEurope.

Messi's appearance was his443rd for Barcelona in La Liga,moving him ahead of Andres

Iniesta and behind only XaviHernandez, on 505, in the club's all-time list.

Samuel Umtiti started his sec-ond match in three months afterrecovering from a knee injury.

"Little by little he is reaching hislevel," said Valverde.

But Philippe Coutinho wasunderwhelming again, despite beingpicked ahead of Ousmane Dembele.

He poked an early chance wideafter a Messi cross and De Tomasput Rayo in front soon after, driving

at Pique before unleashing a siz-zling shot past Marc-Andre

ter Stegen.Pique headed one

Messi free-kick wide andthen another in at thenear post, nipping infront of Rayo goalkeeperStole Dimitrievski to nodin his sixth goal of theseason.

Dembele came onfor Arthur Melo at half-

time and Coutinho dropped deep-er, but it was right-back NelsonSemedo that earned the penalty,after a foul from Jordi Amat. Messimade no mistake.

Rayo's belief, and energy, melt-ed away and Barca's third wastheir best of the night. Suarezfreed Dembele down the right andhe found Suarez again with a pull-back. Instead of shooting, Suarezbounced the ball off Ivan Rakitic inthe area before finally tappinghome.

��■ ��84��

Krzysztof Piatek struck again to rescue a2-1 win for AC Milan at bottom club

Chievo on Saturday, keeping theirChampions League push firmly on track, butthe Polish striker was accused of scoringwith a 'kung fu' kick.

Piatek joined Milan from Genoa inJanuary and has now scoredeight goals in nine matches, asthe club notched up a fifthstraight league win to remainunbeaten since beforeChristmas.

Returning from injury, Lucas Bigliaopened with a curling free kick after 31 min-utes in Verona. It was just his second goalfor Milan and first since February last year.

Finnish midfielder Perparim Hetemajgot his head to the end of Leris cross topull the hosts level four minutes before thebreak.

But once again Piatek proved crucial,scoring the winner after 57 minutes incontroversial circumstances.

The 23-year-old met Samu Castillejo's

header amid a goalmouth scramble, dur-ing which the Pole looked to have strucka Chievo player while attempting an over-head kick.

A VAR review confirmed the goal tothe fury of Chievo coach Domenico DiCarlo.

"I don't want excuses but in the lastsix matches all the VAR decisions havegone against us," said Di Carlo, whose sidehave won just one of 27 games played.

"Piatek's move on (Fabio) Depaoliwasn't football, it's kung fu.

"You can write the headline: 'Chievobeaten by a kung fu kick.'"

Piatek joins Juventus star CristianoRonaldo and Sampdoria's FabioQuagliarella on top of the Serie A scor-ers' chart with 19 goals this season.

Milan consolidate third position tomove five points behind second-placedNapoli who travel to Sassuolo on Sunday.

However, coach Gennaro Gattusowas sent to the stands for arguing on thesidelines with Chievo midfielder RiccardoMeggiorini in the first-half and now risksa suspension for the derby.

��■ �4)��

Lyon's stand-in captainMarcelo left the field with

a leg injury as his side strug-gled to a 2-2 draw atStrasbourg on Saturday, justdays away from theChampions League last 16second leg at Barcelona.

B r u n oGenesio's sidehead to the LaLiga giants withthe tie finely bal-anced at 0-0after the first legin France butthe Brazil iandefender is a doubtfor Wednesday's fixture.

"It's too early to know ifhe'll play against Barcelona.He has a little issue with hishamstring. We'll do every-thing we have to so he plays,but we have to wait until

Sunday," Genesio told Canal+.Genesio added he plans to

talk to the club's doctor afterextra tests are carried out onthe centre-back on Sunday.

Moussa Dembele scored

twice for Lyon at the Stade dela Meinau before LudovicAjorque claimed a double ofhis own in the space of 60 sec-onds during the second half.

Club skipper Nabil Fekir,

forward Bertrand Traore,attacker Memphis Depay aswell as midfielder TanguyNdombele started on thebench as Genesio attempted torest the influential four as theFrench club eye a first quar-ter-final in Europe's top-tiercompetition since 2010.

Fekir and Traore werebrought on during the lastquarter of an hour looking fora late winner but their effortswere in vain.

Lyon remain in third placein the table, four pointsbehind Lille who travel toSaint Etienne on Sunday.

Elsewhere big-spendingMonaco dropped down to17th place after a 1-1 drawagainst Bordeaux as 10-manAmiens beat mid-table Nimes2-1 to move to 16th and Dijonrose out of the automatic rel-egation places with a 1-1 stale-mate against Reims.

�� -�4��:388�

World number one Naomi Osaka launchedher Indian Wells WTA title defense with

a 6-3, 6-4 victory in a grudge match againstKristina Mladenovic on Saturday.

Osaka, whose second straight Grand Slamtitle at the Australian Open in January propelledher to the top of the rankings, was beaten by65th-ranked Mladenovic in Dubai last monthin her first match since she lifted the trophy inMelbourne.

Keen to avoid a repeat,Osaka marched through theopening set in 38 minutes,but she hit a speed bump asshe was broken when serv-ing for the match at 5-2 inthe second.

After Mladenovic held serve to narrow thedeficit to 5-4, the Japanese player faced anoth-er break point before wrapping up the matchafter one hour and 21 minutes.

She booked a third-round meeting withAmerican Danielle Collins, a 6-4, 6-1 winnerover Kirsten Flipkens.

Seven-time Grand Slam champion VenusWilliams pulled off the upset of the day, rally-ing from a set and two breaks down to topplethird-seeded Petra Kvitova 4-6, 7-5, 6-4.

"I just fought and tried my hardest," saidWilliams, currently ranked 36th in the world.

She booked a third-round clash with fel-

low American Christina McHale, a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 winner over 30th-seeded Russian AnastasiaPavlyuchenkova.

There was disappointment, too, for 2011winner Caroline Wozaniacki, who fell 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 to 59th-ranked Russian EkaterinaAlexandrova.

Elsewhere on Saturday, fifth-seededKarolina Pliskova shook off a slow start to defeatJapanese qualifier Misaki Doi 6-7 (4/7), 6-1, 6-1.

Pliskova next faces another qualifier,Belgian Ysaline Bonaventure, who defeated28th-seeded Donna Vekic of Croatia 1-6, 7-6(7/5), 6-4.

Eighth-seeded German Angelique Kerbereased into the third round with a 6-0, 6-2 vic-tory over Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva.

��■ ��-�4��:388�

World number one NovakDjokovic shook off a

nervy start to dispatch USqualifier Bjorn Fratangelo instraight sets on Saturday toreach the third round of theATP Indian Wells Masters.

Djokovic, playing his firstmatch since winning a recordseventh Australian Open titlein January, was less than sharpin conceding an early break tohis 128th-ranked rival.

He broke back asFratangelo served for the set toknot it at 5-5, and then racedto a 4-1 lead in the tiebreaker.

Djokovic had to dig deep,however, when Fratangelo bat-tled back to lead the tiebreak-er 5-4.

After a double fault and aforehand error from the 25-year-old American, Djokovicsuddenly had a set point, andonce he'd pocketed the set, thesecond went all his way.

Djokovic, currently tiedwith Roger Federer on fivewins in the California desert,can also tie world number twoRafael Nadal's record of 33Masters 1000 titles.

Djokovic next facesGerman Philipp Kohlschreiber,

a 6-4, 6-4 winner overAustralian Nick Kyrgios.

Kyrgios, seeded 31st, wascoming off a scintillating runto the Mexico Open title inAcapulco, where he defeatedNadal, ninth-ranked John Isnerand, in the final, third-rankedGerman Alexander Zverev.

As men's seeds swung intoaction after first-round byes,third-seeded Zverev advancedwhen Slovakian foe MartinKlizan retired with an ankleinjury with the German lead-

ing 6-3, 2-0.Action opened on stadium

court with 18-year-oldCanadian Felix Auger-Aliassime powering pastGreece's Stefanos Tsitsipas, 6-4, 6-2, for his first win over atop-10 player.

In a battle of two ATPyoung guns, 58th-rankedAuger-Aliassime came out fir-ing, and his aggression paid offwith a victory over 20-year-oldTsitsipas, who shot to promi-nence with a victory overFederer at the AustralianOpen.

Auger-Aliassime, whonext faces Japan's YoshihitoNishioka, is one of four teensin the draw, along with coun-tryman Denis Shapovalov,Alexei Popyrin and lucky loserMiomir Kecmanovic.

Kecmanovic gained entryinto the second round in placeof injured fifth-seed KevinAnderson.

He made the most of hischance, beating Germany'sMaximilian Marterer, 6-3, 6-2,to reach the third round.

At the other end of the agespectrum, 40-year-old IvoKarlovic advanced with a 6-4,7-6 (7/4) victory over 11th-seeded Croatian Borna Coric.

�� G� �� 6�� & � � ��(��&�� &��&��"(��$D��M�+ �� :�� 4,��

�� &� �� "� �� "��>"9�� >I>J"/�� /">I9J� �� &�� .%��

,�� &�� (�� 7/�� (�� 6�� (��+ �� F� �� .$��

,�� &�� &�� (�� &�� + �� 6�� #��

H�� & � �� &��(�� (�� & �� &�� (�� %1�H�� 6��

+�� 6�� &��(��%.-�� (��&�� 4,��%01��

�� 6��&��#�� &��(��D7�2�� F��* �� ;�� (�� !�� +��

3��4�#�A!4 #�!C��!�#!��"(*+�((��#�� &��(� ��9"%�&��+�� 4��

�$��*��*�* �)2�� 8A�-A��

Raheem Sterling's rapid sec-ond-half hat-trick moved

Manchester City four pointsclear at the top of the PremierLeague with a 3-1 win overWatford before it was reduced toone after Liverpool’s Sundaytriumph.

City and Sterling had for-tune on their side to endWatford's resistence after a goal-less first-half.

A minute into the secondperiod Sterling was initiallyf lagged offside as DarylJanmaat's attempted clearancericocheted off the Englandwinger and into the net.

However, after a long dis-cussion with his assistant, refer-

ee Paul Tierney awarded thegoal because Janmaat's interven-tion meant Sterling was onside.

"The first goal will be debat-ed. I don't like this situation butit is what it is. I'm sorry if it wasoffside but we deserved to win,"said City boss Pep Guardiola.

"Next season, hopefully, wewill have VAR and it will beclear."

There was no doubt whenSterling rounded off a fine teammove involving David Silva andRiyad Mahrez four minuteslater.

Sterling then completed hishat-trick with some neat foot-work from Silva's pass beforeWatford substitute GerardDeulofeu pulled a goal back just22 seconds after coming on.

�4-�A��4�3�:4�48�A�A��,;3

�2A)3�;33,�,:�23��4��4�3��:;�2;

8�53)�AA8�:3)3)3S=�)3-�,A)3��A�-�,A

!488��4��A48+3;��-�4�4��,�34��-C2;3F�

�,)=��8��-3

(��)��%� )�)��,�)2

/�)��)� �� '� ��(��!�� ' ��

�� )��)� ��

5�@'@��*� ��)� ��

<�� /��+��,��2.!�1 /!�1!/��!��.�1�.!4��

��

-6�� !� � ��2�*� ��*�,��(��+��.�)

��!D!;� 1�� 'EA!'6+5

:�4�#A!� �"�$�"�)��)8��$ !� � #

F�+%G ��!D!4�� ++A!'6+5

Everyone experiences occa-sional digestive symptomssuch as upset stomach, gas,heartburn, nausea, constipa-tion or diarrhea. However,

when these symptoms occur frequent-ly, they can cause major disruptions toyour life. Fortunately, diet and lifestylechanges can have a positive impact onyour gut health.

You know you've eaten more thanyour fill when you have that uncomfort-able ache in your belly that you can onlyrelieve by unbuttoning your pants. Inaddition to the discomfort, eating toomuch is bad for your stomach.Consuming large portions of food atone time puts strain on the loweresophageal sphincter, which separatesthe stomach from your esophagus,allowing the acidic contents of thestomach to back up into your esopha-gus and cause heartburn. Overeatingmay also cause you to eat more caloriesthan you need, which leads to weightgain.

To keep your stomach healthy, pre-vent the burning sensation and limitexcess calorie intake, try to keep por-tions in check. Use smaller plates andbowls, wait 20 minutes before you goback for seconds and don't skip meals.Skipping meals may lead to intensehunger, causing you to eat more thanyour stomach can handle.

Your digestive health is directlyimpacted by the foods you eat and thelifestyle you live. By taking steps toimprove your digestive health, you'llhelp your digestive system to functionmore efficiently, improving your over-all health and sense of well-being.

It's important to consume bothtypes of fiber, since they help yourdigestive system in different ways.Insoluble fiber, also known as roughage,

can't be digested by the body and there-fore, helps add bulk to the stools.Soluble fiber draws in water and canhelp prevent stools that are too watery.Good sources of insoluble fiber includewheat bran, vegetables, and wholegrains; get soluble fiber from oat bran,nuts, seeds, and legumes.

Protein is an essential part of ahealthful diet, but fatty cuts of meat canlead to uncomfortable digestion. Whenyou eat meat, select lean cuts, such aspork loin and skinless poultry.

Incorporate probiotics into yourdiet. Probiotics are the same kind ofhealthy bacteria naturally present inyour digestive tract. "They help keep thebody healthy by combating the effectsof a poor diet, antibiotics, and stress.Think about eating or making these fer-mented foods to keep your gut happyand healthy. Other than tempeh, all ofthese are best kept “raw,” so you don’tkill the beneficial probiotics.

Food additives, including glucose,salt and other chemicals, have been sug-gested to contribute to increased gutinflammation, leading to a conditioncalled leaky gut. Low fluid intake is acommon cause of constipation.

Red meat, beef and pork are alsolinked to colon cancer, so you also wantto limit your intake to help keep yourentire digestive system in good work-ing order.

Limiting your intake of these foodsand replacing them with healthieroptions may help keep your stomachhealthy and reduce your risk of cancer.So, instead of a salami sandwich, sliceup some grilled chicken to use as yourlunch meat. Fresh seafood and turkeyalso make good alternatives toprocessed meat. You can get proteinfrom beans, soy food and dairy prod-ucts such as milk and yogurt.

Experts recommend drinking 1.5–2liters of non-caffeinated fluids per dayto prevent constipation. However, youmay need more if you live in a warmclimate or exercise strenuously.

In addition to water, you can alsomeet your fluid intake with herbal teasand other non-caffeinated beveragessuch as seltzer water.

Another way to help meet yourfluid intake needs is to include fruitsand vegetables that are high in water,such as cucumber, zucchini, celery,tomatoes, melons, strawberries, grape-fruit and peaches.

Trans fats are found in manyprocessed foods. They’re well-knownfor their negative effects on hearthealth but have also been associated

with an increased risk of developingulcerative colitis, an inflammatorybowel disease.

What’s more, processed foods likelow-calorie drinks and ice creams oftencontain artificial sweeteners, whichmay cause digestive problems.

You may have noticed a feeling ofunease in your stomach during timesof stress. That's because anxiety andworry can upset the delicate balance ofdigestion.

In some people, stress slows downdigestion, causing bloating, pain andconstipation, while in others, it speedsit up causing diarrhoea and frequenttrips to the loo. Some people lose theirappetite completely.

Stress can wreak havoc on your

digestive system. Stress hormonesdirectly affect your digestion. Whenyour body is in fight-or-flight mode, itthinks, you don’t have time to rest anddigest. During periods of stress, bloodand energy are diverted away from yourdigestive system.

Vegetables and fruits-Give us nat-ural Vitamins and Minerals. Rememberthe rule of 5. Eat at least fruits and veg-etables of 5 colors & of seasonal vari-ety. But Eat according to constitution.

When it comes to maintainingyour microbiome at its healthiest level,nothing is more important than whatyou eat and drink.

The internal environment of yourgut is dictated by what you put in yourmouth— so the foods you choose to eatare a crucial component of maintain-ing gut health.

The good news is, even a lifetimeof bad eating is fixable —at least as faras your microbes are concerned.Amazingly, your body can create a newmicrobiota in as little as 24 hours— justby changing what you eat.

What you eat determines whichbacteria thrive in your gut. Andresearch tells us that the good “gut bugs”get stronger when fed colorful, plant-based foods.

High intakes of processed meatssuch as deli turkey, bacon and sausagemay increase your risk of stomach can-cer, according to the American CancerSociety. Although researchers need toconfirm the cause with more studies, ithas been theorised that stomach can-cer risk may be caused heme-iron,which is a type of iron found in meat.Other possible causes include salt,nitrate and nitrite compounds, and het-erocyclic amines and polycyclic aromat-ic hydrocarbons, which are createdfrom high cooking temperatures.

��! #�!��3�)�$��!(* #9�)!( #!* ��!

��)��!�4� (�!�#$�"�!9"�!*� ��*

,)4��!4,��4)3!A=�-��4�C

�)A23��3-!AA-� �,;3C')3

:388"*�A:��!A),;3�)��3�4,�53

3!!32,��A��;34),;348,;�+=,�;453

48�A�+33�4��A2�4,3-�:�,;

4��2)34�3-)��*�A!

-3538A��=823)4,�532A8�,��4�

��!84��4,A)C+A:38�-��34�3 :;4,'��A)3�

�)A23��3-�!AA-�8�*3�8A:"248A)�3

-)��*��4�-��23

4��&��E�� " ��)� ��(�� ,�� B��2 F�� &�� F��(��&�� &�� ; ��$9��(�� )� �� "�� &�� (�� &��)� � �4�� &��&��=�"( �� $777�� (��4��%11.� �)� ��%110 � �� (�� & ��6��&�� & �� &�� & ��G� ��&��

4��%&��&�� 8��& �� ( ��

4�� (�� "�� MM�� &�� ;��& ��&� ��

��6 �� ;�&��& �� &�� & �� 8 �� (�� &�� &��8�� &�� G��%1$/��

4�� % ��,��(�� (��&��"�� & �� "��& ��(��$771� �� %111��&�� &�� &��& � ��(��(�� ,�� #�(��(��"��

-��

A.��"��"�� !�� !�� ;��!� �� %�.�� !"� �� B�� &�� ;��C�� C�� ;��%DE?��!�$��

�� '�(��) '�(��**+�,-*. �� !�41

� � � 3 � � � � #

Of all the major spirits,gin gets the leastamount of attentionwhen it comes tostanding on its own.

There are different ways to enjoywhisky, women love their vodka,tequila too has got its time in thesun. But the world of gin is just somuch more than cool, cuttingjuniper and you owe it to yourtaste buds to do some exploring.

Over the past decade, wehave witnessed a sort of ‘ginrenaissance’ across the UK, USand parts of Europe, with espe-cially the modern variant gainingpopularity. As is often the case,India soon picks up and followsthese trends, especially in met-ros such as Mumbai, Delhi andBengaluru. This is clear notjust in the growing populari-

ty of gin in major cities butalso in the availability of amuch wider selection of the

spirit due to the influx ofnewer brands in the market.

Today, the variety ofmodern gins available inIndia has successfullymoved ahead from the ear-lier juniper-heavy strongtaste to deeper and moreengaging aromas andflavours and more impor-tantly managed to shrugoff the perception of beinga colonial old-age drink.This in turn has led tothese modern gins beingreceived with enthusi-asm even among the

well-travelled younger audi-ence.

The other significant cog inthe “gin Renaissance” has been therole played by mixologists andbartenders across the world. Thehistory of gin is closely tied tococktails as at one point it was thepreferred spirit for them.

However, with the advent andpopularity of vodka, it was seen astoo complex a spirit to work withand a majority of the bartendingcommunity began to migrateaway from it. That trend began tochange around a decade ago,partly due to the development ofnewer, more modern styles of ginand also largely due to the bar-tending community that began toembrace the complexity of gin-based concoctions once again.

A part of this is also due to theevolving palette of the consumer.Today's consumer has an increas-ingly sophisticated palate — onewho is keen to engage with brandsand seeks information to educateoneself across spirit categories.These are nuanced consumerslooking for authenticity andprovenance in what they are con-suming and are genuinely inter-ested in knowing more about theheritage and craft that goes intotheir personal choice of brands.

As a result of these changingdynamics among consumers,most bars and restaurants todayare looking for differentiation intheir offerings and, therefore,investing heavily in developingunique experiences for their clien-tele through their drinks andcocktail menus. This means morechoice for the consumers.

PREMIUMISATION As seen in the overall drinksspace, the consumers are becom-ing more inclined towards betterquality, even if it requires a greaterspend. Be it the influx of superpremium gin brands in the coun-try, or the demand for qualitytonic water that does justice to thepremium spirits being consumed,the increasingly discerning audi-ence is choosing quality overspend. In fact, this is why brandsget motivated to cater to the

Indian audience, even if today itis only to a small percentage in apredominantly brown spirit mar-ket.

PROVENANCEConsumers today are keen toengage with brands, seeking infor-mation on the provenance andcraft involved in the process ofmaking gin. This is evidencedtoday when consumers, whetherbuying a bottle or consuming adrink in a restaurant, are inquisi-tive about the flavour or aroma ofthe liquid and conscious of thebrand being served in their cock-tail, instead of going ahead with afamiliar choice. Caorunn, forinstance, gets a lot of attention due

to its locally foraged botanicalsuch as coul blush apple, rowanberries and heather. These areeasy to pick up in the hand-craft-ed gin, which gives it an extreme-ly smooth and fresh flavour pro-file.

COMPLEXITYWe are also noticing a trend ofbars engaging foreign mixolo-gists or spending time and effortin training their bar staff to pre-sent complex cocktails and beaware of the liquid and botanicalthat go into their drinks. This isgreat as it, in turn, enhances theexperience of the end consumeras well as increases the recall valueof both the bar as well as the liq-

uid consumed.

EXPERIMENTATIONExperimenting with cocktails,infusing them with unique ingre-dients is another hot trend. Thesedays, mixologists understandtheir ingredients well enough tocome up with interesting anddaring concepts and many ofthem become immensely popu-lar as signature offering at theirbars. There are some fantastic cocktailswith many unusual ingredients,such as coriander leaves, jamun,spinach and more on offer. Asthey say, every sip is a discovery.(The author is advisor of a glob-al drinks business.)

After building a social networkthat turned into a surveillancesystem, Facebook CEO Mark

Zuckerberg says he’s shifting hiscompany’s focus to messaging ser-vices designed to serve as fortress-es of privacy.

Instead of just being the networkthat connects everyone, Facebookwants to encourage small groups ofpeople to carry on encrypted con-versations that neither Facebook norany other outsider can read. It alsoplans to let messages automaticallydisappear, a feature pioneered by itsrival Snapchat that could limit therisks posed by a trail of socialmedia posts that follow peoplethroughout their lives.

It’s a major bet by Zuckerberg,who sees it as a way to pushFacebook more firmly into a mes-saging market that’s growing fasterthan its main social networkingbusiness. It might also help the

company ward off government reg-ulators, although the Facebook CEOmade clear that he expects the com-pany’s messaging business to com-plement, not replace, its core busi-nesses.

But there are plenty of obstacles.Facebook has weathered more thantwo years of turbulence for repeat-ed privacy lapses, spreading disin-formation, allowing Russian agentsto conduct targetted propaganda

campaigns and a rising tide of hatespeech and abuse. Zuckerberg sub-mitted to two days of grilling onCapitol Hill last April. All thatincreases the challenge of convinc-ing users that Facebook really meansit about privacy this time.

Encrypted conversations couldalleviate some of those problems, butit could make others worse. Securityis an “admirable goal,” said ForresterResearch analyst Fatemeh Khatibloo.“I’m just not sure it addresses thebigger issues Facebook is facing rightnow.”

Facebook grew into a colossusby vacuuming up people’s informa-tion in every possible way and dis-secting it to shoot targeted ads backat them. Anything that jeopardizesthat machine could pose a majorthreat to the company’s share price,which would also affect its ability toattract and retain talented engineersand other employees.

In an interview, Zuckerberg pre-dicted Facebook’s emphasis on pri-vacy will do more to help the com-pany’s business than hurt it. Whilemost of the stock market slipped inWednesday trading, Facebook’sshares gained $1.25 to close at$172.51.

The Facebook CEO has beentelegraphing some of these changesto investors for the past six months,but his recent blog post is the first

time he has explained the idea to themore than two billion people thatuse Facebook’s services and look atits ads. Those ads are expected togenerate $67 billion in revenue thisyear, according to the research firm.

If everything falls into place,Facebook will also display similaradvertising on the privacy-protect-ed messaging services. Those ser-vices are also likely to offer othermoneymaking features, such as adigital wallet, as Facebook attemptsto build something similar toTencent’s popular WeChat service inAsia.

“If you think about your life, youprobably spend more time commu-nicating privately than publicly,”Zuckerberg said. “The overallopportunity here is a lot larger thanwhat we have built in terms ofFacebook and Instagram.”

That’s far from proven. WhileFacebook has already tried to showads in the Messenger app, it’s seenonly limited success. It hasn’t eventested the concept in WhatsAppsince it acquired that service for $22billion in 2014.

“There are some hugeunknowns about how successfulFacebook is going to be rollingadvertising into a more private mes-saging environment,” said analystDebra Aho Williamson.

Some critics are convinced that

Facebook has become so powerful— even a threat to democracy as wellas to people’s privacy — that it needsto be reined in by tougher regula-tions or even a corporate breakup.

But unraveling Facebook couldbecome more difficult if Zuckerbergcan successfully stitch together themessaging services behind anencrypted wall.

“I see that as the goal of thisentire thing,” said Blake Reid, aUniversity of Colorado law profes-sor who specialises in technologyand policy. He said Facebook couldtell antitrust authorities thatWhatsApp, Instagram Direct andFacebook Messenger are tied sotightly together that it couldn’tunwind them.

Combining the three servicesalso lets Facebook build more com-plete data profiles on all of its users.Already, businesses can already tar-get Facebook and Instagram userswith the same ads, and marketingcampaigns are likely coming toWhatsApp eventually.

Facebook’s focus on messagingprivacy raises other concerns.Messaging apps have in the pasthelped fake news and rumoursspread fast, sometimes with deadlyconsequences. A report fromUniversity of Oxford researchers lastyear found evidence of widespreaddisinformation campaigns on chatapplications like WhatsApp. In oneparticularly brutal example, theIndian government last year accusedWhatsApp of fuelling rumours thatled to lynchings and mob violencethat wounded dozens.

Facebook responded by restrict-ing the number of groups to whicha message could be forwarded andlabelling forwarded messages assuch. Zuckerberg said that Facebookneeds to protect both privacy andsafety as it encrypted messaging ser-vices, although he noted to an“inherent trade-off ” between secu-rity and safety, simply becauseFacebook won’t be able to readencrypted conversations.

And in some cases, Facebookcould allow some content to auto-matically disappear in a day or two,as if it were a fleeting mirage.

“Some people want to storetheir messages forever and somepeople think having large collectionsof photos or messages is a liabilityas much as it is an asset,” saidZuckerberg, adding, “Figuring outthe balance is a really importantone.”

G(*

��A!��")�! #�!((�#3")��#8!)� )�#!''!

While season one chronicled the character ParomoSarkar’s journey of indecisiveness, physical explo-rations and confusion, that every millennial couldrelate to, season two will see her deal with more con-fusion between love and lust. As she also tries to stickto her newly created ‘don’t-do list’, Paromo will be seenworking on a graphic novel based on her relationshipescapades. The new season will see her experimentsome more in her bid to find true love, while still hav-ing to make decisions about people who lust for her.Starring Tara Alisha Berry, Gaurav Chopra and ShivPandit, among others, the series is available now onViu.

�*�!��

In this unflinching biopic based on Mötley Crüe’s best-selling book, The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s MostNotorious Rock Band, four LA misfits navigate themonster highs and savage lows of music superstar-dom.Starring Douglas Booth, Iwan Rheon and ColsonBaker, the thriller releases on Netflix on March 22.

��)��!��4�#�

In the second half of the series’ fifth season, pressuresmount on the Bluth family as Buster heads toward amurder trial. The Bluth company is on the hook tobuild a ‘smart’ border wall that puts them in debt andrisks exposing a software hoax perpetrated byGeorge-Michael. Soon the gay mafia is involved andit appears that even Michael can’t save the family thistime. And Tobias becomes a Golden Girl. StarringJason Bateman, Jefferey Tambor and Jessica Walter,among others, the series’ fifth season’s second halfreleases on Netflix on March 15.

> � $ $ � :

(� !H1��/!��!��!�!��=��&�� !3��I

>��/� ��

�(#5�2�&F�&F��(/��($

+4)��4)33��4��!A)3��TA8A��,��4�-

,)4��,;3�)�,4!!�,A��)3�3�,

2A��83T2A2*,4�8��4�-�+3

4:4)3�A!�,;38�S=�-�4�-

+A,4��248��,;4,�A��,;3�-)��*�

$��D�� &��

� ��!.�� !�.!,��!��J!�!.��,!,�!��!1.��!� !��,��.A!/� !��.!/�,!�! �-!��.��!��A!.�.!C �� #�

�� '�(��) '�(��**+�,-*. �� !�/��%�$"&0�48

9��!��

With the invention of nuclear weapons and theirsophisticated means of delivery, the nature of

wars has now changed dreadfully. As a result of thishorrendous development, mankind today is faced withthe problem of its very survival. In this situation, thequestion of disarmament, arms delimitation and pre-vention of war has attained foremost importance. But,while recognising the constant threat that a nuclearwar poses to global peace, it would be wrong to equatecalm with mere absence of war. For, conflict is noth-ing but a manifestation of the motives of violence anddestruction or of the ignoble emotions of hate andanger. The real villain, in the drama of war thereforeis a man's or a government’s base motive. One shouldnot, therefore, commit the folly of taking the woodfor the forest.

It is a man’s mind which is the repository of evil,of which violence is only one form. It is equally truethat it is a man’s mind which is a vast store of divinepotentialities as well. Wars, it has truly been said areborn in the minds of men; but the seeds of peace alsoare to be found in man’s mind. So, the problem of glob-al peace is, in its real essence, the question of man’smental equanimity and spiritual peace. If a manmoulds his motives in consonance with the pithy slo-gan: ‘Be good and do good’, peace will surely returnto Earth. Any other effort diplomatic, political,juridic and so on which is divorced from this prin-ciple, will attain, at best, only temporary and fragilepeace. It will be uneasy peace.

Peace, in the real sense, is a divine feeling and isassociated with love, unity, enlightenment, fraternalfeelings and inner joy. It has its roots in purity of mind.It is not even slightly touched by any ignoble motivesor by any one of the “seven deadly sins.” It shouldtherefore be remembered that the word ‘Peace’, haswider and more subtle connotations than the onewhich has generally formed the theme for discussionsat conferences that are held around the globe sincedecades. The subject discussed at these conferenceshas often centred around the threat of war, inter-reli-gious hostilities or breach of law and order. Most ofthe modern dictionaries also define peace in termswhich are equivalent to these. But, in truth, peacerefers to harmony of man’s mind with his intellect, hisconscience, his environment and with other beings.Equanimity of mind is an essential characteristic ofthe state of peace. In yogic parlance, it is the namegiven to spiritual experience which one gets when one’smind is linked to God, the Ocean of Peace with love.It is such a state of mind that spreads vibrations ofpeace in the world and can know the real solution tothe problem of global peace.

2��(�� (�� )4?CA�� +)4;�4*=�4) ��*=�? ?�

Society is changing and so arethe dynamics of women and

their role in it. Many of them arechallenging the norm to take uppositions of power in an other-wise male-dominated world.From Indra Nooyi, the formerchairman and CEO of PepsiCoand currently on the Board ofDirectors of Amazon, to Mary TBarra, the CEO of GeneralMotors, women have shown timeand again that they are capable ofhandling positions of power, evenin industries that are predomi-nantly male.

That said, the world is stilldecades away from achievinggender parity in positions ofpower which makes it importantfor people who have reached thetop to lend a hand and pull up therest. Comic books might have got

many things wrong, but theyweren’t incorrect when they pop-ularised the phrase “With greatpower comes great responsibili-ty”, and that of those in primepower is higher than anyoneelse’s. It’s in the power of those

who have made it into the core ofthe system to change it from with-in. Agreed, systems don’t changeovernight, but a constant effortfrom within and outside canhelp it evolve faster.

The reason why I emphasise

on the importance of womenhelping women, instead of menhelping women, is because onlya woman truly understands thereality of their gender. There is anelement of empathy and under-standing that is far stronger than

sympathy from a gender thatdoesn’t understand the struggle.There are also nuances that the‘stronger’ gender can’t even beginto understand.

Women have had to fightmany battles including the onesagainst pay disparity, being takenseriously at the workplace andmore. So, if one has fought andcome out victorious, it becomesa duty to help others cross overtoo, if only to level the playingfield.

I head my own company andactively take part in its day-to-dayoperations. Only I know the fullextent of my struggle in setting itup and now, at this stage, I try andgo the extra mile to ensure oth-ers don’t have to tread the samepath. I pick my team of expertsmyself, giving due importance totalent over gender. Unsurprisingly,when I hire purely on the basis oftalent, I find myself with a teamthat has an almost equal numberof men and women. I offer a fairremuneration to everyone on myteam, not based on their previous-ly drawn salary, but by industrystandards and the work that eachmember does. Both men andwomen in the team get equalopportunity to take up highermanagement roles and some-times women are even given acertain edge to push them to

become better. I nudge those whohave the potential to be much bet-ter and constantly endeavour tobecome better both individuallyand as an organisation.

If I can make the effort tochange the system in my work-space, then other women withpower can too. May be not a dras-tic change in work policy, but evensmall actions and the effort canmake a difference. An equalopportunity here, a little helpthere, and the system could bechanged to reflect an equal soci-ety. We have the authority andthus hold the power to bringabout changes in the lives of thosewho don’t. We’ve had our fairshare of struggle, but we canalways help to make sure othersdon’t have to. After all, that’s whatmakes a great leader.

Society is changing and soare the dynamics of women andtheir role in it. Carly Fiorinabecame the first female CEO ofa Fortune 20 company, HewlettPackard, while Indira Gandhibecame the first female PrimeMinister of India. More andmore women are finding them-selves in better positions and it istime that we use the power ofpower.

(The author is the CEO andfounder of an e-commerce websitefor furniture and home decor.)

4�!�6��4""43��&4�"��4��433�� 33� 43(�&��6!��34&��4#��34�34��3&: ��&��(��U, �� (��

,��&�� & � �� &�� ;��(��

�� >1��"� ��%9"�� I��(��J�(�� (��;� �

��"� �� &��(�� * �� 4�� ;�� 5��

�4��(�� &��;�� (��$1�� * ��

��>84�(4�?3��@6��(�343��4��34�344��#�� G��4�M��F�� &�� &��

4�M��F�� &�� (��&��(��(�� &�� <� �� (��

,��(��&��=�� &�� 4�� I��4J�� #��(� �� &��4�M��F ,�� (�� (�� ,�� 4�� & �� 4�M��F�� (� �

+�� #��"� �� I2*-J��&�� & �� &��

,��&�� &�� #��&�� (�� &�� &�� &��"� �� #��

��"� ��#�� &�� (��(�� ?��, �� C��=��

�,��#��& ��(�� &��2*-��&��"��G�� "� ��#��H� �� !��(��2�� ?�� 4�� $.$�$7>��"�� &�� B��"�#�� &��#�� &��#��

�� (�� 01 � ��91� ��&�� ( (��

,��(�� F�+�"��=��I+�=J� �� =�� 2�� &�� <��#�� <�� &�� &�� (�� 01��&�91�&��(�� 3� �� A(�� ,��(�� &�� (��(��&�� 01��

2�� &�� &��91&�� (��

!8��%��"8�"=<!�@��%43��4

=��"�� &�� &��"�� '�� ,��=��* ��=��&�� "�� &��&�� #��

�� & �0>�� .1�� & � �� (��(��(�$1�� 99��

�,�� & ��"�� & �� (�� "�� H� �� 5�� )�� &��G�� '��

� !"!�#�$��%�$�&'()*�+ ,+��

�� !�� !��"�� %E3��$��

Barely four, her tiny hand wrappedaround the plump finger of herfather, who carried the mental

weight of all that he had left behind andwithout any clue of the place that theywere headed, Dr Ramesh Sarin migrat-ed to India from her birthtown, Sahiwalin Pakistan, when the country was tornasunder in 1947.

It was during these troubled timesthat she observed her father, mother,aunts and uncles work hard to feed thehouse, earn a livelihood and have a per-manent source of income, which waslost in the backdrop of communal bat-tles.

Her memories of the way they tra-versed through the roads in her child-hood are blurred but what she has notforgotten was the manner in which sheand her siblings’ pursued education withno external help at that time. Their onlyinspiration were their hard working par-ents. “There were no tuitions unliketoday that could extend a guiding handto enable us to study better. Our parentsconstantly worked hard to give us a lifeof comfort where we could grow tobecome successful in future. If yourhome provides you with an atmosphereof empathy and love, you eventuallybecome that person. It all depends onwhat you are surrounded by,” says DrSarin, who works as a senior consultantSurgical Oncology, a breast cancer spe-cialist at the Apollo Hospitals, setting anexample for all the women who areunstoppable.

While talking about what a day, thatis dedicated to only women — the birth-givers and makers of the society —means to her, she says that it is good tocelebrate it since it talks about one-halfof the society and makes them the cen-tre of the universe which does not hap-pen regularly. “Even though there can-not be a particular day assigned to talkabout who and what is important, yetwe should use it to spread awarenessabout women empowerment and howthey need to look beyond their respon-sibilities and focus on themselves. Theycompletely ignore their health and Ishouldn’t be pointing that out as I havealso never looked after mine diligently.It is a universal problem with women.They seem to forget themselves amidsta mountain of chores and responsibil-ities. In her younger days, my daughterwould complain that I don’t give her asmuch time and attention as she want-ed. I used to be so engrossed with mypatients,” says the doctor who feels thatwomen are experts in multi-tasking andthat “no one could do that better thanthem.”

She goes on to add that Women’sDay is important as it makes people stopfor once to look at the qualities of empa-thy and compassion that women have.She says, “It’s like a god’s gift to us. Wehave it in us. And it’s the day toembrace every woman the way she is —beautiful. There’s one thing that I feelshould be done on this day and for thatmatter, almost every day — to makewomen realise their worth and tell themthat they’re capable. We need to tellthem that nothing is impossible andthey can achieve everything that theyever dream of. They should be fearlessin their spirit. No one should judge orstop them from doing something.”This, she believes, is the greatest tribute

that can ever be given to women.Indeed, if for one day this can hap-

pen, she says, it won’t be difficult tomake it happen every day.

Well, for her, the day isn’t just aboutempowering women or paying theirregards, rather also breaking socialtaboos. She says, “There is only thingthat needs to be done when it comes toempowering women, breaking the stig-ma around menstrual hygiene.Menstruation is such a beautiful phe-nomenon. Why can’t we talk about itopenly? It’s not some disease or adefect in the body. It’s natural and uni-versal. The moment we achieve the goalof an open society, we achieve the inde-pendence of every woman.”

In her journey of more than four tofive decades of treating and encounter-ing women of all age groups sufferingfrom breast cancer, Dr Sarin has alsobeen an expert in counselling herpatients. The cancer of the breast, shesays, is one of the few cancers which hasmethods available for early diagnosis,has effective treatment and high curerates as opposed to others. She lovestalking and counselling women withwhom she vibes well. “The first thingthat we do is to ask them to ‘accept it.’They tend to always question their ownacts and curse god for landing them inthis condition. However, there’s nocontrol that anyone could have over any-thing and hence, we tell them to acceptthe fact, face the truth, and live with itas it will make it easier for them to dealwith it. We ask them to dig out thepower within them and believe in it,”says she.

She began special support groupswhich have a number of NGOs andhealth foundations, for 20-30-year-oldpatients where they can come up anddiscuss their stories and emotions.

Dr Sarin was also invited to UAE forsetting up a cancer center in 1986 whereshe spent 10 years. She says that the onlydifference she found between India andUAE medical systems is that they are“more aware unlike people here.”

She believes that there is not a sin-gle thing that women cannot do and it’svery natural. “A woman winning anOscar is also normal and natural. Shedeserves the award as much as a mandoes,” says she, giving an example ofGuneet Monga who recently won anOscar for her documentary film, Period.End of Sentence.

For her, it’s important to remain bal-anced and work with a peaceful andcalm mind, no matter how harsh the sit-uation, she says as she signs off.

B��&�� / �A�� -� )4�3�;��4)�� &��(�� 2;4;4* ��,,48

B�� &��

�� /8��

��

1#3#".# '#>1

"��

,;3�!�)�,�,;��,;4,:3�-A��,A�4�*�,;3

�4,�3�,��,A�L4223�,��, ',;3C�,3�-�,A�48:4C�S=3�,�A��,;3�)�A:�

42,��A)�2=)�3��A-�!A)84�-��,;3��,;��2A�-�,�A� �;A:353)�,;3)3'��A�2A�,)A8A53)��=2;�,;��

;3�23��:3�,388�,;3��,A!423�,;3�,)=,;��-��A=,

,;3��A:3)�:�,;��,;3��4�-�+38�353��,

�� 4<�� '�(��) '�(��**+�,-*.

��■ �3:�-38;�

Kavinder Singh Bisht (56kg)struck Gold while Shiva

Thapa (60kg) and three othersclaimed Silver medals to end afine Indian campaign at the 38thGeeBee Boxing Tournament inHelsinki, Finland on Sunday.

Signing off with Silvermedals were three-time Asianmedallist Shiva Thapa (60kg),rookie Govind Sahani (49kg),Commonwealth Games Bronze-medallist MohammedHussamuddin (56kg) andDinesh Dagar (69kg).

In a rare all-Indian final, agritty Bisht was up againstCommonwealth Games Bronze-medallist Hussamuddin in the56kg summit clash. Both theboxers are from the ServicesSports Control Board (SSCB)and the familiarity with eachothers' techniques was apparentin the intense bout.

But it proved to be Bisht'sday and the Navyman overcamea cut sustained above his righteye in the final round to emergetriumphant against his Armyrival.

The boxer fromUttarakhand is a world champi-onship quarterfinalist in theflyweight category and this washis maiden international Gold

after making the jump to ban-tamweight.

Sahani started off stronglyagainst Thailand's ThitisanPanmod in his summit show-down, clinching the openinground unanimously. However,Panmod found favour with amajority of the judges in the nexttwo rounds and the messy boutended 3-2 in the flamboyantThai boxer's name.

Thapa (60kg), a three-timeAsian medallist lost 1-4 to localfavourite Arslan Khataev. In anintense battle, Thapa claimed thefinal round honours but thejudges ruled the first two roundsin favour of Khataev.

Dagar, a Silver-medallistfrom last year's India Open, wasup against CommonwealthGames Gold-medallist EnglandPat McCormack in the finals.The Indian entered the boutwith a heavily swollen left eyedue to an injury sustained in thesemifinals.

But to Dagar's credit, hefought hard and withstood threeeight counts before the refereeended the contest a few secondsinto the third round.

Ending with Bronze medalsafter semifinal losses were SumitSangwan (91kg), Sachin Siwach(52kg) and Naveen Kumar(+91kg).

��■ �=�+4��

Top Indian players like skip-per Virat Kohli and Jasprit

Bumrah need to be careful notto get injured or pick up nig-gles during the IPL that pre-cedes the ICC World Cupthis year, feels HarbhajanSingh.

Saying the mega event,commencing on May 30 inEngland, is still some way off,the former India off spinnersaid Kohli's men will go intoit with their confidence highby winning the ongoing ODIseries against Australia andbecoming the top ranked teamin the world.

"World Cup is still very far.We will have to wait andwatch what happens. But thisis a kind of a team which canlift any major championship.World Cup or any big tourna-ment, — they can definitelywin. They have the team (forit)", Harbhajan said.

"But they have to be care-ful. IPL is a tournament inbetween where they will beplaying a lot of cricket, onegame after the other. That's

where fitness will come intoplay.

"You don't want your keyplayers to get injured some-one like Virat Kohli, RohitSharma, Jasprit Bumrah youdont want them to miss theWorld Cup because of injuriesor niggles. You want them to

be on their best of form and(play) best of cricket," said theveteran who was part of the2011 World Cup winningsquad.

"Obviously, this currentseries (against Australia) willhelp them (India) to get thatconfidence (before the World

Cup). If they become thenumber one side in the world,going forward in the WorldCup, you go there as a num-ber one which will boost theirconfidence," he said.

Praising the phenomenalbatting exploits of Kohli, whocracked his 41s ODI hundredagainst Australia at Ranchi inthe third game of the series,skyhigh Harbhajan said theIndian skipper has hit a "pur-ple patch", and is one of thetoughest batsmen to bowl to ashe doesn't show any weakness.

Looking at his (Virat's)form, from the last four-to-fiveyears, he has hit that purplepatch and he is definitely oneof those toughest batsmenthat you will come across as abowler.

"Every batsman has aweak point where to bowl atand, at the moment, we dontsee that with Virat Kohli.Every ball you bowl to him, hehas got an answer for that. Butif I have to bowl to him, I'llhave to look for one thing toget him out somehow and tomake sure bowl the bestagainst him," said Harbhajan.

��■ :388��,A�

New Zealand short-ballmaestro Neil Wagner

believed a result in the rain-affected second Test againstBangladesh is still "definitelypossible" after New Zealandtrailed by 173 at stumps onday three in Wellington onSunday.

New Zealand reached 38for two in reply toBangladesh's first innings 211after the first two days werewashed out.

Thirteen wickets fell inthe 72 overs possible, leadingNew Zealand's chief wicket-taker Wagner to think therewas still time to force a resultin the remaining two days.

"It's definitely possible,"Wagner said having removedthe cream of the Bangladeshside with four for 28.

"If we keep taking it ses-sion by session and get our-selves into the lead and pile onwhatever we can, anything ispossible." New Zealand willresume on Monday with RossTaylor on 19 and KaneWilliamson on 10.

Tamim Iqbal gave thetourists a sound start with 74as Bangladesh reached 119 forone before the next nine wick-ets fell for just 92 runs.

New Zealand, in reply,were reduced to eight for twoas Abu Jayed claimed bothopeners cheaply, butWilliamson and Taylor stead-

ied the innings before the rainreturned to force an earlyclose.

Williamson, who won thetoss, had no hesitation inbowling first on a green wick-et but it did not hold thedemons that conditions sug-gested.

Tamim and Shadman

Islam put on 75 for the firstwicket — their third consec-utive fifty-plus stand as new-ball pair Boult and TimSouthee were unable to gen-erate much swing or effectiveseam movement.

Once they were out of theattack the wickets began to fallwith Colin de Grandhommeaccounting for Shadman for27 before Wagner weaved hismagic.

Unlike the first Test whenthe Bangladesh batsmen weretroubled by the menacingheight he extracted from thepitch, this time they were thearchitects of their own down-fall with the wickets comingfrom injudicious pull shots orunnecessary leg side flicks.

In a telling 13-ball spelleither side of lunch, Wagnerf irst removed MominulHaque (15) and MohammadMithun (three) before thebreak and soon after theresumption took the keywicket of Tamim, who top-edged an attempted pull shot.

Boult mopped up the tailwith three wickets for fourruns in nine balls.

��■ �3:�-38;��

To bowlers bruised and battered, andfaced with the frightening prospect

of again running into Virat Kohli, spingreat Shane Warne offered an advise:bowl at either leg or wide of off stump,but not at the stumps.

"If you're going to bowl to ViratKohli, you either bowl at leg stump andprotect the on side, or you bowl wideof off stump and you protect the off side.You cannot bowl at the stumps, becausehe can hit you both ways," Warne wasquoted as saying 'ESPNcricinfo'.

"So, I think you've to take out oneside of the field. Protect just one side ofthe field, that's how you bowl to verygood players," the Australian added.

Warne plotted Kohli's dismissal ifhe were to actually bowl to him.

"I'd be bowling wide of off stumpand letting him try to cover drive witha slip, short cover and some protectionout there. So then it'll be very hard forhim to get it over the leg side. That'swhat I'd be trying to do and hopefullyget a little bit lucky and he mis-hits one."

Warne said he has not seen anyone"dominate" one-day international crick-et like Kohli has, but steered clear of call-ing him the greatest of all time.

"I got asked the question last night

and again this morning: is Virat Kohlithe best player in one-day cricket? Is hebetter than Tendulkar, is he better thanLara? I'm still thinking about it, I'm stilltrying to work that out."

Since the start of 2016, Kohli hasamassed 3985 runs in 59 ODI innings,maintaining a staggering average andstrike rate at the same time.

Warne continued, "The one thingwe can say is I don't think we have seenanyone dominate one-day cricket likeVirat Kohli has. The best player I saw— (Don) Bradman's the best so he does-n't even come into the equation — butViv Richards is the best player I saw. Asa player, playing against them, Lara andTendulkar were the two best players thatI bowled to."

The Indian has just scored his 41stODI century, inching closer toTendulkar's record of 49 tons.

"You know records are different indifferent eras and it's very hard to judge.All you can judge is how a player is intheir era, and Virat Kohli is so far aheadin one-day cricket than everybody else- in hundreds made, especially whilechasing — that sets him apart fromeverybody else that is playing," saidWarne, known for his aggressiveapproach in his heydays as the world'sbest leg-spinner.

��■ -=+4��

India opener SmritiMandhana has jumped three

places to reach a career-bestthird position in the latest ICCWomen's T20I Player rank-ings released on Sunday.

Mandhana, the top-rankedODI batter who led the T20Iside in the absence ofHarmanpreet Kaur, scored 72runs in the three matches,including a fifty in the thirdmatch.

Harmanpreet, who hadmissed the England series dueto an ankle injury, slipped twoplaces to the ninth spot.

Among bowlers, RadhaYadav has gained five slots toreach fifth position after grab-bing three wickets from twomatches while other left-armspinner Ekta Bisht has alsofinished with three from two togain three places and reach 56thin the list.

Off-spinner Anuja Patil has

moved up from 35th to 31stposition.

England have overtakenNew Zealand to reach secondposition in the ICC Women'sT20I Team Rankings, gainingthree points to reach 277 points,six behind leaders Australia.

��■ �A;48�

Unheralded AshtonTurner took an experi-enced Indian attack to

the cleaners with some unbe-lievable hitting, helpingAustralia chase down a recordbreaking target of 359 runs andlevel the five-match series hereon Sunday.

It was the highest evertotal that Indian team failed todefend in its ODI history, los-ing the game by four wickets.

Playing only his secondODI, Turner hit an unbeaten 84off 43 balls with five boundariesand as many six sixes to helpAustralia win in only 47.5overs. Earlier in the day,Shikhar Dhawan fired India to358 for nine with a sublime 143off 115 balls.

The partnership of 86 off39 balls between Turner andAlex Carey became the turningpoint after Peter Handscomband Usman Khawaja had setthe platform with a 192-runthird-wicket stand.

The big lad, who has beena designated finisher for BigBash League side PerthScorchers, showed his finishingskills against world's best deathbowler Jasprit Bumrah (3/63),hitting him for an effortlessramp shot.

The swagger with which helofted Bhuvneshwar Kumar(1/67) over long-on and deepmid-wicket, earned him a fewfans among the home crowdand the poor Indian fieldingdid help his cause with KedarJadhav and Shikhar Dhawandropping sitters.

Turner used his big reachto hit those big sixes down theground off Kuldeep andChahal.

Khawaja (91 off 99 balls)and Handscomb (117 off 105)set the tone as they playedYuzvendra Chahal (1/64 in 10overs) and Kuldeep Yadav (1/80in 10 overs) with ease.

The duo kept Australia inthe hunt taking 73 runs offVijay Shankar (0/29 in 5 overs)and Kedar Jadhav (0/44)'s com-bined 10-over spell.

Khawaja and Handscomb

found the gaps with ease andthe dew made it difficult for theIndian spinners with ball look-ing like a slippery bar of soap.

Khawaja was finally donein by a short ball from Bumrahand once Handscomb was dis-missed, India was smelling vic-tory but Turner changed it all.

Batting first, India lookeda completely different side withopening duo putting on 193

runs on arguably the flattesttrack on offer during the ongo-ing series.

While Dhawan got his 16thhundred in ODIs, vice-cap-tain Rohit (95 off 92 balls)missed out on what could havebeen a very well-deserved 23rdhundred with Australianbowlers looking like lambs forslaughter.

Pat Cummins (5/70 in 10

overs) and Jhye Richardson(3/85 in 9 overs) shared thespoils but were taken to task bythe Indian openers for theirwayward bowling.

Dhawan, who last reacheda three-figure mark againstPakistan in an Asia Cup matchin September 2018, was in flu-ent touch from the onset, hit-ting 18 fours and three sixes.

It released the pressure onRohit, who initially was watch-ful even as Dhawan went afterthe bowling.

With another opening slothopeful KL Rahul inductedinto the playing XI, the 33-year-old Dhawan finally looked tohave been shaken out of hiscomfort zone and played likeonly he could.

On a ground where it allstarted with a dream Test debutback in 2013 against the sameopposition, the southpawdecided to ease any worries thatthe team management hadwith regards to his form goinginto the World Cup.

On a track, where thebowlers needed to pitch it fur-ther up, the Aussies bowledshort and it helped Dhawan tomuscle it through the mid-wicket region repeatedly.

Dhawan continued toattack as he surpassed his pre-vious best of 137 against SouthAfrica at the MCG during the2015 World Cup.

He looked good for a dou-ble hundred but was out tryingto give Cummins the charge butthe platform for a big score wasset by then.

"@��4� "@��3�"��

!�� )� �� '

&��&� �� 8'. ��,/'�,. ��'8� ��/�$7. �� -� & O)�� $1"1."%1$7$/D �� -� & O)�� .1"$1"%1$.$/> �� -� & O)�� ? �� $>"$1"%1$.$/0 �� O� ��,�� * �� 1/"19"$77D$91 �� O� ��,�� $9"$1"%11/

� ��

.�� '� �� H��) ��(�� <C� ��>��)'��%��:9:�

* ��+��

��0 ��3�)��&��

��.! ��!,�!��!��1!�� >1��.!�1�� /!��8!*��>�

2 ��(�&�� *��F��: ��(�&��

��■ -3;)4-=��

Paul Stirling and Andy Balbirnie blastedscintillating fifties to guide Ireland to a

comprehensive five-wicket win overAfghanistan in the fifth ODI and level the five-match series 2-2, here on Sunday.

Stirling hit a strokeful 88-ball 70 lacedwith seven fours and two sixes, while Balbirnieanchored the Ireland innings, making a 91-ball 68 as the duo added 81 runs to lay thefoundation for the chase after Afghanistanposted 216 for six.

Stirling also shared a 57-run openingstand with Porterfield, while Balbirnie forgeda 46-run partnership with KJ O'Brien to takethe team home, scoring 219 for five in 47.2overs.

For Aghanistan, Zahir Khan (2/55) tooktwo wickets, while Muheeb Ur Rahman(1/26), Mohammad Nabi (1/47) and RashidKhan (1/41) scalped one each.

"All the batters are aware how good theirspinners are. I just kind of knew my game, wewatched a lot of their footage," said AndyBalbirnie, who was adjudged the man of theseries.

Earlier put into bat, Asghar Afghan (82)starred in two valuable partnership — 76 withMohammad Nabi (40) and 65 with RashidKhan (35) — to help Afghanistan score 216for six in the stipulated 50 overs.

Afghan's 111-ball innings was studdedwith six fours and a couple of sixes.

"It was a good series, we are targeting theworld cup, so we made changes in everymatch. Top order's a concern, the Test matchshould offer an opportunity," Afghan said afterthe match.

George Dickrell (2/46) snapped twowickets, while Tim Murtagh, Andy McBrine,James Cameron-Dow and Simi Singh con-tributed with one wicket each for Ireland.

� ��+,��*��0��,'=��)2�*�

��*/+��*��'��,��?��A�+"��*

��■ �C-�3C�

David Warner smashed arapid-fire century for his

Sydney club side on his returnfrom elbow surgery, reinforcinghis destructive abilities ahead ofthe World Cup in England.

The opener plunderedseven sixes and four fours in his77-ball onslaught for Randwick-Petersham, better known as theRandy Petes, in a one-day gameagainst Penrith that they lost.

He was finally caught dur-ing Saturday's match, in front ofa few dozen fans, off the bowl-ing of 18-year-old left-armerHenry Railz, the CricketAustralia website reported.

Year-long ball-tamperingbans from state and internation-al for Warner and formerAustralian skipper Steve Smithrun out on March 28.

They were both left out ofAustralia's squad on Friday forthe upcoming one-day seriesagainst Pakistan despite beingeligible for the final two games.

Selector Trevor Hohns saidthey would be better served eas-ing their way back at the IndianPremier League, which getsunder way this month.

:�� !.��.�� ,1�!� !��,1� !

*��F ��)� �� >��

english news paper | breaking news | latest today news in ... · “bottle” symbol. jan sangh...

Documents